Yuzu's voice... doesn't it sound a little strange?
On the other end of the line, Unohana Chiyo caught the odd note in Su Yuzu's voice at once.
A pretty flush rose across Unohana Chiyo's cheeks.
She might not have much experience with romance, but her age and years of living spoke for themselves.
What kind of strange little "Play" the girls were getting up to under cover of her phone call — she could hazard a guess at that much.
Su Yuzu, for her part, desperately wanted to tell Ms. Unohana Chiyo: it isn't like that!!!
It's not what you're imagining.
I've been kidnapped by an utterly vicious, terrifying monster.
Please, come save me.
But then she remembered that Kujou Iruka was a Seventh Sequence Aberrant, standing above every other Aberrant, a horror on par with the Abyss itself — and Su Yuzu abandoned the idea of calling for help.
"M-Ms. Unohana!!!"
"It's quite late. Is something the matter?"
Perhaps it was her imagination, but Unohana Chiyo couldn't shake the feeling that the one being bullied right now... sounded like Little Yuzu?
Not at all like a bullied party seizing the opening of an incoming call to mount a counterattack.
Strange—
Unohana Chiyo found herself a touch curious.
Just what manner of divine being could possibly bully Yuzu — that little troublemaker favored by Lady Fate, who borrowed Lady Fate's authority at will to hand down a Blessing and toy with girls however she pleased?
"It concerns 'The Abyss of Eternal Smiles.' Kujou Iruka, in other words."
The voice on the other end raised every hair on Su Yuzu's body.
Ku-Kujou Iruka!???
She stared rigidly at the Kujou Iruka right in front of her.
Su Yuzu couldn't make sense of it at all — why, of all moments, Ms. Unohana Chiyo's call had to be about the very Demon Lord pinning her down.
Kujou Iruka only watched her with a beaming smile, holding the phone for her, savoring the sight of the girl squirming helplessly in her grip. Her expression grew more delighted, more languid by the second.
"A little after four o'clock this afternoon—"
"The one we've had under constant satellite surveillance..."
"That erosion domain 'The Abyss of Eternal Smiles' always keeps unfurled, the one that drifts across the land — it stopped moving all at once, and then it vanished."
"We've lost our fix on The Abyss of Eternal Smiles' coordinates."
"At present there are two possibilities—"
"Either The Abyss of Eternal Smiles was slain by another Aberrant, or she was recalled by the Abyss."
"But..."
"If what Yuzu told me is accurate—"
"Kujou Iruka has already stepped into the Seventh Sequence."
"Nnh!" Su Yuzu wanted to shoot a furious glare at the woman deliberately breathing against her ear — then remembered which of them held the upper hand at the moment, and melted back into silence, listening to the call.
"Yuzu?" Unohana Chiyo's voice paused.
"It's nothing. Go on, Ms. Chiyo."
Unohana Chiyo sighed. Hearing the strain in Su Yuzu's voice, she decided to keep it brief.
"In any case—"
"No traces of combat were found at the site, nor any sign that The Abyss of Eternal Smiles had opened a gate leading back to the Abyss."
"So we can basically rule both of them out."
"The Abyss of Eternal Smiles—"
"Kujou Iruka, that is — has finally shut down that seemingly undying erosion domain of hers and left the scene."
"Frankly, this is a very bad situation."
"We've lost all surveillance on Kujou Iruka."
"The upper echelons of the Tokyo metropolitan area are extremely tense right now."
"Because we have no way of knowing whether Kujou Iruka will slip straight into the Tokyo metropolitan area."
"Saint Michael's radiant power is already gone, and the new defensive works aren't fully built yet."
"If Kujou Iruka does infiltrate the Tokyo metropolitan area and calls upon the Abyss from within it..."
"That would be—"
"A calamity."
Su Yuzu stared into Kujou Iruka's eyes, very nearly in tears.
How badly she wanted to tell Ms. Unohana Chiyo: yes, your guess is exactly right.
Kujou Iruka really has slipped into the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Not only that — she's right here, inside Keigunen Private Academy, inside my own dorm room, doing whatever she pleases with your adorable student.
"I... I understand," Su Yuzu answered Unohana Chiyo.
Unohana Chiyo sighed. Imagining the state the girl must be in, she had to concede that calling at this hour had been rather poor timing. "Then let's leave it there—"
"I won't keep bothering you, Yuzu."
"I'm sorry—"
"I'd meant to tell you this afternoon."
"But I heard... that Yuzu had finally gone to an amusement park for once, so I waited until you were back."
For some reason, Su Yuzu thought she caught the faintest trace of... something distinctly sour in Ms. Unohana Chiyo's tone?
And she probably wasn't wrong.
She really hadn't brought Ms. Chiyo along.
Letting Ms. Chiyo look after Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" would have worked out nicely, too.
"I'll send Yuzu the relevant files shortly."
"Yuzu..."
"Rest well. I won't disturb you any longer."
"Although—"
"Yuzu, do remember... you still have class tomorrow. Don't play too late," Unohana Chiyo reminded her delicately.
Su Yuzu's small face crumpled toward tears.
Whether or not she played too late... was that even hers to decide?
She was just about to get a word in when — beep, beep, beep—
Kujou Iruka had already hung up.
"They really are jumpy, aren't they."
"Such pitiful, tiny creatures."
"Wouldn't you agree—"
"my adorable junior."
Kujou Iruka held Su Yuzu down, gazing at those crimson eyes that shimmered faintly with rainbow light in the darkness.
One of the main reasons Kujou Iruka had done nothing more than tease Su Yuzu all this time...
...was that she didn't want to push things too far, either.
If she riled her cute little junior into truly bristling, there'd be no more fun to be had.
"You used to be one of those pitiful, tiny creatures yourself," Su Yuzu said, forcing steel into her voice. "Your Little Sister—"
"—is still one of those pitiful, tiny creatures now."
"And what of it?" With a sharp rustle—
Kujou Iruka spread the pitch-black wings at her waist, and Su Yuzu found herself staring into the woman's brilliant, blazing Dark golden vertical pupils.
"The me of now..."
"...is no longer one of them."
"The me of now... can throw those pitiful, tiny creatures into a panic for half a day just by dismissing an erosion domain."
"They live as though bedded down on a great dragon's couch."
"Though—" Kujou Iruka drew the word out.
"Did you hear it?"
"My adorable junior."
"Hear what?" Su Yuzu blinked at her, thrown.
"I dismissed my erosion domain hours ago."
"You really did..."
"...keep me waiting such a long time~"
"Such a very, very long time."
The Dark golden vertical pupils fixed on Su Yuzu without wavering, and something almost sulky, almost wounded, colored Kujou Iruka's gaze.
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