Second floor.
In the shattered mirror dimension, everything that had been manipulated reverted to its original form.
Kasumigaoka Utaha looked around in astonishment as the iron fortress slowly peeled away and dissipated, the setting Sun shining through the window and dust motes floating in the air.
As the mist dispersed, the space was no longer silent, returning to its usual noise and bustle.
"Hey, Senpai?"
Sen Getsusa gripped the wall and hopped in nimbly.
The absurd girl, having just pulled off a major stunt, still had remnants of excitement and lingering thrill on her face; she licked her somewhat dry lips and reached out her hand.
"We should go."
As the mist thinned, with Sen Getsusa's eyesight, she could already vaguely see the dense crowd of SWAT officers, police cars, and cordons surrounding the school after the lockdown.
Staying here any longer would likely be troublesome.
Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't ask anything; she wiggled her toes, the red of her feet contrasting with her fair skin inside her black stockings.
Sen Getsusa followed her gaze downward—
Oh, her shoes?
Just as the girl was about to bend over and take off her own shoes, a palm blocked her view.
"If you give yours to me, what will you do?" The senior's low, mature voice entered the girl's ear; she was leaning very close, and a strange scent of perfume clung to Sen Getsusa's body.
"I'm fine—"
Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head, took two steps forward... and held out both arms.
Sen Getsusa blinked.
"Haven't we hugged once already?" Kasumigaoka Utaha asked with a faint smile. "We're both women, so what does it matter?"
"Miss Superpower?"
As she spoke, she leaned closer and closer.
That unfamiliar perfume scent wafted out again.
"Hold me."
Her wine-red pupils gazed at Sen Getsusa as she spread her ten slender fingers.
—Facing the afterglow of the setting Sun, Kasumigaoka Utaha opened her arms and quietly watched the hesitating girl before her.
"Hold me."
Sen Getsusa sighed.
She gently stroked Kasumigaoka Utaha's back with one hand, bent down, and hooked her other arm under the crook of her knees.
Swish.
A princess carry.
The other seemed to like this position very much, subconsciously wrapping her arms tightly around Sen Getsusa's neck—
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
With two people whose assets were very prominent pressed together, they could clearly feel each other's advantages.
Kasumigaoka Utaha nuzzled into Sen Getsusa's embrace and suddenly began to giggle.
"Ara, it turns out Sha-chan is even more impressive than me..."
The girl in her arms restlessly kicked her legs, and the nuzzling gave Sen Getsusa a strange feeling... Was Kasumigaoka Utaha doing this unintentionally?
Or... with those wine-red eyes right in front of her, Kasumigaoka Utaha held Sen Getsusa's neck intimately and whispered in her ear, "Miss Superpower, you saved me."
Sen Getsusa turned her head away uncomfortably.
"I really need to thank Sha-chan properly."
"Save the thanks for later." Sen Getsusa held Kasumigaoka Utaha tightly and walked to the window; outside, the dense crowd of SWAT officers had already begun to slowly close the perimeter.
"We're leaving."
Sen Getsusa bent her knees.
"Eh?" The sound of her voice instantly broke the ambiguous atmosphere Kasumigaoka Utaha had created—the other was standing by the window.
—Wait, shouldn't we take the stairs?
—What is she doing?
Sen Getsusa curled her lips in a mischievous smirk, glancing at the startled senior in her arms.
"Superpower girls never take the stairs."
She giggled and held Kasumigaoka Utaha tightly, and amidst the other's look of disbelief, she bent her knees—and leaped!
"W-Wait a moment, Sen Getsusa—AAAAAAAAAH!"
The sudden weightlessness made Kasumigaoka Utaha bury her head into Sen Getsusa's chest!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Thud.
Landed.
"Hahaha, we've landed!" Sen Getsusa adjusted her hold on the person in her arms and started running.
"Sen Getsusa..."
"Hahahahaha!" A cheerful laugh came from above.
Having just experienced high-intensity facial shock absorption, Kasumigaoka Utaha was still dissatisfied: "Couldn't we have just used the stairs..."
In reality, she avoided the stairs to prevent running into the official Ritualists or Tojo Aoi. Besides, if Kasumigaoka Utaha were exposed, it would inevitably involve her as well.
The heavily armed SWAT officers advanced slowly like a rising black tide; Sen Getsusa detoured into the woods and, under the cover of the not-yet-fully-dispersed mist, quietly jumped onto the treetops.
Kasumigaoka Utaha leaned against Sen Getsusa's neck.
In her sight, the golden treetops swayed in the breeze; in the silent campus, it seemed only she and the one holding her were breathing.
There was lingering mist on the path, and petals fell to the ground like golden coins.
Kasumigaoka Utaha stayed quietly in her arms; Sen Getsusa's stroll-like pace gave her a sense of adventure, as if they were meeting in a secret garden known to no one else.
Various wonderful flowers held their heads high on the path, walls, cliffs, and railings. They grew in tangles, breathing silently.
Bees buzzed among yellow flowers and blue oleanders, while spiders spun long threads, swinging on the tendrils of ivy.
The girl's profile was focused forward; at this moment, the setting Sun and Kasumigaoka Utaha reached a synchronization—together they admired this exquisite and beautiful girl, leaping through the woods with the grace of an elf.
"Phew..."
With a light breath, after returning to the old building to retrieve her spare shoes, the two finally slipped out of the school grounds unnoticed.
"Senpai?"
Looking down, Sen Getsusa found that the other had made herself quite comfortable in her arms. At that moment, the girl was propping up her chin, staring at her intently.
"Senpai?"
Sen Getsusa called out again.
"Mm, I'm listening."
Her mature voice replied, yet Kasumigaoka Utaha continued to gaze closely at Sen Getsusa's features.
"We've arrived."
Carrying Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't particularly tiring; the problem was that they had now reached a place where the mist had cleared. Any further, and this intimate embrace would be seen.
"Oh," she replied nonchalantly, still staring blankly at Sen Getsusa.
"Get down..."
Only after repeated soft calls did Kasumigaoka Utaha, with a lowered face, reluctantly climb down from Sen Getsusa's arms. After tidying her outfit, Sen Getsusa returned the shoes to her.
"About today..."
"I won't say a word."
Kasumigaoka Utaha spoke first. She smiled, her toes wiggling slightly inside the shoes that still held Sen Getsusa's warmth:
"Superpowers, secret societies—for someone with a writer friend, such things couldn't be more normal."
"That girl Kasumiko often talks to me about these things."
"I didn't expect it to actually happen right next to me." Kasumigaoka looked at Sen Getsusa sincerely. "You saved me, Sen Getsusa. I won't tell anyone."
Eh?
Kasumiko?
Sen Getsusa tapped her cheek. "Kasumiko... is your friend, Senpai?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha nodded curiously. "That's right. Do you... do you know her, Tsukisa-chan?"
"Mm..." Sen Getsusa pondered for a moment, thinking that there seemed to be nothing worth hiding.
"Of course."
As they spoke, the two left the school via the path and headed toward the station.
"I see, so you're Tsukihime." The senior raised her hand with a smile.
"I was that girl's first reader. She used 'Kasumiko' as her pen name without even asking my permission, saying it was to thank me for my help and suggestions..."
Kasumigaoka Utaha explained, her hand naturally taking Sen Getsusa's.
"So you're the Tsukihime-sensei she often mentions."
The two girls chatted about Kasumiko-sensei's novels, Tsukihime's Dragon Ball, school life, and their favorite authors. The golden sunset behind them burned intensely yet quietly on the horizon.
If one didn't know what they had just been through, it would have been a beautiful scene.
"I like novels and manga too." Kasumigaoka Utaha stroked the back of Sen Getsusa's hand and toyed with her hair. "Can I tell 'Kasumiko-sensei' about Tsukihime's identity?"
Sen Getsusa nodded noncommittally, then asked, "But Senpai, aren't you curious about what happened today?"
Sen Getsusa found it strange; the other seemed not to care about today's events at all, but was instead very curious about her.
To a normal person, supernatural powers should be more important, right?
Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head with a light smile.
"Supernatural powers like Nishikido Shuichi's?"
"I certainly don't want that."
"I'm someone with self-awareness. Tsukisa probably intended to advise me like that, right?"
"'Don't be too curious'?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha blinked, her eyes shimmering. "I can feel those chaotic and disordered things affecting my thoughts—exciting knowledge, occultism, unheard-of deep space..."
"But Nishikido Shuichi... heh." She reached out a finger and tapped her temple with her nail. "So, I can probably guess what the price was for him to gain that power—or rather, that strange knowledge."
"I don't know if there's a 'normal' way to obtain it, but I don't want to turn into a bug."
Kasumigaoka Utaha lifted her chin; the soft, light clouds above were tinged with the color of caramel by the setting Sun. "The original tenet of Gnosticism is 'the clearer, the stronger'—that is, the more you know, the closer your soul's sublimation is to perfection."
Her finger traced the outline of a cloud in the air.
"Yet in some myths, it's 'the more you know... the closer you are to madness...'"
"Sha-chan, which one is it?"
It had to be said, this senior who was slightly older than her was indeed very clever.
"Are they conflicting?" Sen Getsusa stretched toward the setting Sun. "The more you see, the more 'things' see you."
"Protect yourself well, Senpai."
"Going back, I'm hungry." The girl waved her hand, bidding farewell to Kasumigaoka Utaha. She wasn't Kasumigaoka's elder or some righteous person; one such warning was enough.
She was still in a hurry to get back to Yuno.
"Sen Getsusa."
Hmm?
Sen Getsusa turned around, feeling something soft and warm.
A kiss, as light as a dragonfly skimming the water, touched the girl's tear mole for a fleeting moment before pulling away.
"...This is a thank-you gift." Carrying her schoolbag, Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled quietly, took a few steps backward while facing Sen Getsusa, and then jogged into the subway station without looking back.
Sen Getsusa stood there dazed.
For a long time.
She touched the tear mole at the corner of her eye.
A straight girl flirting with a lesbian—may heaven strike her down with lightning.
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