A completely gray domain covered the foothills.
A dark red sedan drifted beautifully to a stop at the edge of the gray domain.
This Aston Martin had undergone special modifications. Her hood and bumper were specially modified, as hard as a battering ram, and even featured a ram. When necessary, the driver could even attach their ability to the ram.
The combination of the ram and "Sword of Will" was enough to break through the vast majority of roadblocks. This was the Sakura family's fully modernized mount.
Even so, the dark red sedan's hood and bumper were already mottled and dented, full of nearly black, viscous bloodstains. She had rampaged all the way from the Tokyo metropolitan area to the southernmost tip of the Boso Peninsula, and then doubled back to Kasumigaura.
Actually, Sakura Mai preferred motorcycles. Motorcycles ran faster in the wild, but unfortunately, she still had to carry a pampered eldest young lady.
Unlike Sister Yuzu... who, although a "mental-type Esper", had excessively good physical fitness—a physical condition completely different from someone who could graduate with "Excellent" grades in mixed martial arts classes relying solely on physical strength and technique—Soga Yura was a genuine physical wreck.
She might not even be as healthy as an ordinary girl who exercised regularly.
The first thing the girl, whose face was full of worry, did upon getting out of the car was to hold onto the sedan and vomit for a while.
Sakura Mai walked behind the girl, gently patting Soga Yura's back.
Soga Yura waved her hand with difficulty. She looked at the gray domain before her, her crimson eyes filled with anxiety.
"Mai..." Rare for her, Soga Yura addressed Sakura Mai directly by her given name.
Sakura Mai's expression became solemn almost instantly.
Soga Yura was very polite; no matter how close their relationship, on ordinary days, she addressed Sakura Mai as Sakura. Only when the aunts from the Sakura family and... the aunts came to visit Sakura Mai and Soga Yura, or in those very important occasions, would Soga Yura call the girl by her given name.
"If..." She revealed a forced smile. "If Mai still wants to maintain this friendship of ours... then wait for me here."
"Wait here."
"After the matter is finished... I will call you."
Soga Yura spoke very seriously, and Sakura Mai also nodded seriously.
She didn't know what the gray domain before her actually represented. Even in the Sakura family's heirloom documents, such a completely gloomy domain had never been mentioned. But Sakura Mai instinctively sensed... it was related to the secret on Sister Yuzu.
And Soga Yura had always been guarding this secret.
The Knight Princess always put herself in others' shoes to think for them, which was also one of the reasons why Sakura Mai's popularity within the academy always remained high.
"I understand."
"But your body..."
Sakura Mai looked at Soga Yura's swaying figure.
"I'm fine..." Soga Yura waved her hand with difficulty, fished out a small blue pill from her pocket, and swallowed it directly.
For Yuzu... it didn't matter what happened to her.
Soga Yura walked with difficulty on the path in the foothills. The road was not easy to walk. There were also giant trees that had been pushed over, blocking the road.
But it didn't matter... she could go around. If she couldn't go around, she would climb over. If she couldn't climb over, she would find a place to crawl through.
Even crawling through a hole like a little dog didn't matter.
For Yuzu... it didn't matter what happened to herself.
The gray domain ceaselessly deprived the girl of her few remaining reserves of stamina. Soga Yura bit her lip and fished out another small blue pill from her pocket.
That kind of small pill was originally a military product. It could rapidly restore stamina within a short period of time. But later, because of its rather subtle side effect of... enhancing physical sensitivity and receptivity, it became a popular item in the dirty society.
Thorns on the vines cut open the delicate skin of the girl's calf. Catalyzed by the small pill, Soga Yura almost convulsed from the sudden pain.
She was already an extremely sensitive mental-type Esper; under the catalysis of the pill, this kind of pain would usually make her cry for a day.
But not now... looking up at the starry night that had lost its color, Soga Yura wiped away her tears.
Now... was not the time.
The stumbling girl finally walked to the lakeside.
She saw that light blue research institute. She saw... the ground full of devastation and the shattered flesh and blood of the Walking Husks. There were broken Walking Husks, palms still trembling, turbid dark golden vertical pupils... the flames burning in their eyes were gradually extinguishing.
Then she saw... the combat members of the Fourth Action Division lying all over the ground.
And that lake surface glowing with a glimmer.
In this gray domain, almost all colors had been stripped away. Soga Yura could only smell the heavy scent of blood in the air... bit by bit, step by step, walking toward the lakeside.
The solitary young girl stood just there.
Becoming the center of the gray domain.
Becoming the center of the world.
"Yuzu—" She called out softly.
Su Yuzu tilted her head and looked back. She looked at Soga Yura walking toward her with some surprise. She even thought... this was her own hallucination.
"Why did you get yourself hurt again."
The girl who had just been high above, commanding heaven and earth, slowly half-knelt in front of Soga Yura. Her slender fingertips gently stroked the dripping wound on Soga Yura's leg.
In the gray domain, bright red blood was flowing.
A mental storm bloomed the instant the two made contact, but this time it was completely different from all previous mental storms. The center of this storm... was Soga Yura.
More precisely, it was the ring on Soga Yura's finger.
"Because... I wanted to see Yuzu."
"Idiot."
"I was so worried about Yuzu."
"What is there to worry about..."
"I was so afraid... so afraid Yuzu would leave me."
Su Yuzu sighed softly. She gently plucked a certain invisible string, and the wound on Soga Yura's leg healed in an inconceivable way. Blood flowed back from her stockings, even retracing from afar; the injured skin was restored in a manner akin to a film playing in reverse.
"Yuzu..."
Tears the size of beans poured down from her crimson eyes as if they cost nothing.
Su Yuzu stood up and looked at the crybaby in front of her. She actually hadn't stood this close to Soga Yura, face to face like this, for a long, long time. Unknown to when it happened, Su Yuzu was actually already a tiny bit taller than Soga Yura.
"Why do you still love crying so much..."
"Not a single bit of change."
The smiling girl was like an older sister scolding her younger sister after a long reunion. Soga Yura just let out a "waa" and hugged Yuzu.
"Yuzu..."
"Yuzu..."
"Come back, okay?"
"I beg you..."
"Come back, okay?"
One step forward was peerless authority, looking down on heaven and earth, letting one's gaze wander and heart open. But in front of her... was a girl crying into a mess, like an idiot.
How to choose?
What kind of joke was that? Did that kind of thing need choosing?
Just like more than ten years ago.
The girl reached out her hand, wiping the other girl's wet eyes.
"Don't cry."
"If you keep crying... you won't look pretty."
The gray domain shattered with a loud bang.
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