She wiped the corners of Soga Yura's eyes, which were a mess from crying.
This guy hadn't changed a bit, not even a little... just like more than ten years ago.
So what if she possessed the peerless authority to look down upon heaven and earth, to let her gaze wander and her spirit soar? To Su Yuzu, nothing in this world was more important than the girl before her.
"Smile a little..."
"Really..."
"Smile a little..."
A childish voice rang in Su Yuzu's ears.
In that split second, she recalled a time from long, long ago. A girl crying her eyes out, kneeling before her, hugging her calf like a piece of chewing gum she couldn't shake off. Crying and shouting, begging her to come back.
Really...
Is she an idiot?
When have I ever left?
Everything she did was just so she could smile.
In the end, this guy was the one crying her eyes out, just like a crybaby.
Su Yuzu lowered her head and kissed the corner of the girl's eye, and the gray domain shattered with a loud bang.
"I'm so sleepy," Su Yuzu murmured in Soga Yura's ear. "Let me sleep for a while."
The girl's entire weight hung onto Soga Yura's body.
Soga Yura used all her strength to carefully lay Su Yuzu's body flat on the soft grass of the lakeside. Only then did the mental storm ravaging the lakeside cease.
Biting her lip, Soga Yura fished out her phone from her embrace and dialed Sakura Mai.
Then... listening to the busy tone on the phone, her entire person suddenly fell into a dazed and bewildered state.
Despite all her calculations, Soga Yura had overlooked one very important thing.
That was: this place was the laboratory of "Epiphany Manufacture".
Here... signals were blocked.
-
-
-
On the eve of the gloomy dawn, a deep red Aston Martin smashed directly through the giant trees at the mountain pass.
Bright headlights tore through the dark night, the engine roared, and the deep red sedan drifted beautifully to a stop not far in front of Soga Yura.
The car door opened.
The Knight Princess stood before Soga Yura with a helpless expression. Behind her was the first glimmer of white on the horizon, the dawn that had just torn through the dark night.
A new day.
A new world had begun.
"Ma... Mai..." Soga Yura wiped her tears.
"Why did you come up?"
"Didn't I say..."
"Don't come if you didn't receive my call, right?" Sakura Mai sighed.
She looked at Soga Yura kneeling on the grass, and at Sister Yuzu lying flat in front of Soga Yura.
She bent down and picked Su Yuzu up in her arms.
"I saw that strange domain dissolve..."
She hesitated for a moment.
"Then I waited for a long time, and calling you resulted in no signal. I guessed you must have destroyed that evil laboratory's field generation device, so I came to support you."
Would Sakura Mai not know the relationship between that strange domain and Su Yuzu?
No... she knew.
The Knight Princess's intuition was sharper than anyone else's.
Seeing that awkward dynamic between Soga Yura and Sister Yuzu, and hearing Soga Yura tell her... that if she still wanted to maintain this friendship, she should wait for her at the foot of the mountain—Sakura Mai had already guessed a lot.
But so what?
She and Soga Yura were friends.
So... regarding the secrets Soga Yura truly didn't want to reveal, she would absolutely not force it.
It was precisely because she and Soga Yura were friends. How could this friendship be something that damn idiot could cut off just by saying so?
Sakura Mai, who had called Soga Yura over a dozen times with no response, drove directly up the mountain.
She placed Su Yuzu in the back seat.
Then... she looked at the burly men lying all over the ground and that female superintendent of the Fourth Action Division wearing a tight skirt.
"So... what about this group of people?"
"Are they dead?"
Soga Yura wiped her tears. "Th... they are fine."
"Actually, they were fine long ago..."
"It's... it's just..." Soga Yura revealed a shy, embarrassed look. "Just as they were about to come to... I hugged Yuzu."
The corner of Sakura Mai's eye twitched.
She made a cross sign over her chest with her right hand.
In her heart, she wondered if she should really team up with this guy during the Imperial Capital University graduation assessment.
There were so many senpais and kouhais looking up to her. There was no need for her to follow a guy who had 'friendly fire' turned on and accidentally hurt teammates all day long.
Forget it... let's stick with her.
Who asked this guy to be so pitiful and unwanted, crying all day like a crybaby.
Who asked...
Sakura Mai looked at Su Yuzu, curled up in the back seat of the sedan, sleeping peacefully and cutely like a little kitten.
Who asked this guy to have such a cute little sister.
-
-
-
When Su Yuzu woke up in the hospital... it was already three days later.
The girl's hospital ward was crowded with people crying and sniffling.
Saotome Yukina, tightly holding one of Su Yuzu's arms.
Mihou Sakai, sitting obediently and timidly beside Saotome Yukina.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, who wanted to look as if she were relieved... but was actually worried about Su Yuzu.
And... on the other side of Su Yuzu's hospital bed.
Zero, arching her body, wagging her tail, and gently rubbing against Su Yuzu's arm, and... opposite Zero, Kujou Katora, whose eyes were already red.
Actually, a lot of things had happened that day.
For example... when Hayabusa threw Kujou Katora alone back into the bathroom of Su Yuzu's dorm... Mihou Sakai was preparing to give the little cat a bath.
For example—
The cat-and-dog war that day almost dismantled the entire dormitory building of the Assault Department girls' dorms.
Kujou Katora stared resentfully at the girl rubbing against Yuzu's arm.
She was an Aberrant.
But she had no way to lash out. Because Ms. Saionji said... she was a pet raised by Miss Yuzu.
When this was mentioned, that Aberrant actually nodded repeatedly without any shame.
Kujou Katora had never seen such a brazen Aberrant.
She didn't even want the face and dignity of an Aberrant anymore.
She also wants to be Miss Yuzu's dog... but Miss Yuzu surprisingly likes cats. (Misconception)
Finally, Kujou Katora could only leave the ward resentfully.
Hayabusa, wrapped in bandages with her right arm in a sling, looked at Kujou Katora walking out of the ward. "Boss... Miss Yuzu..."
Kujou Katora glared at Hayabusa. "She's fine!"
"But you're in trouble!"
"Your wages are gone!"
"This year's wages are gone!"
"Next year's wages are gone too!!!"
A sorrowful voice suddenly resounded through the entire school hospital of Keigunen Private Academy. "Boss, you can't do this!"
"I still need to save up a dowry to get married."
-
-
-
At the door of the ward, Lyudmila stood quietly in the sunlight, gazing at Su Yuzu.
"Then, one thousand years later—"
"The Eighth Throne is liberated."
"The sun is at the zenith, right in the middle of the sky."
"But when the end comes, one will see the sky gradually covered with black clouds, as if the dark night is fast approaching."
"But when the Ninth Throne is liberated."
"Eternal Night will arrive."
"At that point, the sun will never rise again, there will be no more dawn, and the world will end."
In the darkness... someone was also laughing wildly, chanting the same words as Lyudmila.
She hummed the girl's name softly.
"Su..."
"Yuzu."
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