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Chapter 56: Minami Rika's Choice
The Minami Residence.
The hallway entrance—the very place where Sora Kasugano had once fought her battles.
The battle between Suyan and Minami Rika was still going strong.
However, after Minami Rika suddenly and forcefully claimed Suyan's lips mid-fight, the nature of their struggle began to shift.
Didn't Minami Rika want a man who could thoroughly conquer her? Suyan suddenly realized: he immediately decided to grant her wish and take her down hard!
Therefore, he didn't relinquish the initiative to her. Instead, just as Minami Rika tried to wrestle for dominance, he flipped them over and pinned her firmly beneath him.
An unknown amount of time passed before the battle finally ended.
Minami Rika lay nestled in Suyan's embrace, drenched in fragrant sweat. Her tanned, sun-kissed skin flushed with a rosy, radiant glow.
The untamed, leopard-like ferocity she usually exuded had completely vanished. Instead, she looked like a domesticated kitten, radiating a unique and alluring charm.
Right now, she felt as if every ounce of strength had been drained from her body.
Looking up at Suyan, whose face was mere inches from hers, she spoke, her breath warm and sweet. "I have to admit, you little bad guy… you've thoroughly conquered me."
"Who are you calling little?" Suyan threw a dissatisfied glance at the woman in his arms and shifted his body.
"Don't—I was wrong." Minami Rika immediately softened her tone, yielding completely. "You're a big bad guy. Big bad guy, happy now?"
If anyone who knew Minami Rika were to witness this scene, their jaws would have dropped to the floor.
The resolute, valiant, and fiercely untamed Minami Rika—a woman who never lost to any man—was actually speaking in such a soft, submissive tone. And she was showing such an unbelievably cute side?
"That's more like it."
Suyan was very satisfied with her submission. It had nothing to do with anything else; it was just like how an avid angler would never admit to going home empty-handed after a day of fishing.
The only difference was that Suyan didn't need to lie.
He really was well-endowed.
The kind of big that allowed him to comfortably live off a woman. Marikawa Shizuka could fully attest to that.
"What a childish guy," Minami Rika muttered, curling her lips.
There was a time when the fiercely competitive Minami Rika believed she would never meet a man capable of truly conquering her. She had even prepared herself to stay single until the day she died.
She never expected to finally be defeated at the hands of this big bad guy, Suyan.
Still, she didn't feel any dissatisfaction. In fact, she was incredibly pleased with him. Whether physically, mentally, or spiritually, she felt a profound sense of fulfillment.
It was a feeling she had never experienced before.
Looking at the bad guy in front of her, she suddenly asked, "Big bad guy, you've been living with Shizuka at my place for over a year now, right?"
"What? Are you trying to collect rent now?" Suyan glanced at her, firing back a question of his own.
He had earned his place as Shizuka's kept man through his own sheer skill; why should he pay rent?
"Collect rent? No." Minami Rika shook her head and sighed. "I'm just feeling a little regretful."
"Regretful?" Suyan was confused.
"Yeah. If I'd known you were this amazing, I would have come back a lot sooner. What a shame."
Her initial sense of regret quickly faded into a relaxed acceptance. Finally, she playfully slapped Suyan's chest and spoke with a hint of her usual fierce attitude, "But you just reminded me—I definitely should be collecting rent from you."
"Living in my house and messing around with my best friend… I'm very unhappy. So, however much you gave Shizuka in the past, you have to make up for it and give the same to me from now on."
Suyan sweatdropped.
As expected of Minami Rika.
Before the battle had begun, Suyan had intended to carry her into the bedroom to shift the battlefield. But Minami Rika had flatly refused. She insisted on fighting right there in the hallway.
As a result, Minami Rika's first time had been taken by Suyan in the exact spot where Sora Kasugano had once fought.
"It's almost dawn. It's not good for us to stay here much longer," Suyan said. "I'll take you to wash up first. Besides, I have something to tell you."
"You decide. After all, I don't even have the strength to stand up right now. Whatever you want to do to me, I can't resist."
Minami Rika didn't object, but just as Suyan scooped her up into his arms, she raised a hand and pointed at the heavily stained clothes scattered across the floor—the makeshift blanket they had fought upon.
"Pack up those clothes first. That's the proof of my first time."
Suyan was a bit surprised.
He hadn't expected a woman like Minami Rika to care about such sentimental things. But he didn't refuse; in fact, he had planned to do so anyway.
Formless psychokinetic energy flared from his body, enveloping the clothes on the floor and neatly storing them away, just as he had done with the items belonging to Marikawa Shizuka and Busujima Saeko.
Once he finished, he asked, "Is this good enough?"
"What was that? Superpowers?"
Minami Rika had never encountered Nen before. To her, it just looked like the clothes had mysteriously floated into the air and neatly folded themselves right before her eyes.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about," Suyan replied.
"Oh?" Minami Rika sensed a deeper implication. She shot him a meaningful look. "I suppose this has something to do with why you're so incredibly strong? But is this really okay?"
"What do you mean?" Suyan asked.
"Sharing a secret like this with me… aren't you afraid that I—"
Before she could finish, Suyan cut her off with a resolute gaze. "I trust you!"
"You trust me?"
Minami Rika was stunned. He trusted her? A woman he had spent less than twelve hours with?
It sounded almost laughable. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Suyan's unwavering answer genuinely moved her.
"Because of Shizuka?" she probed.
"At first, yes. But after our battle just now, I've come to thoroughly understand everything about the woman named Minami Rika. So even if we put Shizuka out of the picture, I would still choose to trust you."
Minami Rika fell silent.
Suyan, however, didn't stop moving. He carried the exhausted woman into the bathroom and gently began to wash her, explaining the concept of Nen as he did.
By the end, he presented her with three choices.
First, she could follow Marikawa Shizuka and Busujima Saeko's path—forming a Contract directly with him, receiving a Nen seed, and learning the ability right away.
Second, she could take Takagi Yuriko's route—allowing him to forcefully open her Aura Nodes. Regardless of whether she succeeded or failed, they would form a Contract afterward.
Third, the ultimate challenge—she could attempt to awaken her Nen autonomously with guidance from Suyan and Marikawa Shizuka, without any artificial interference, and then sign the Contract.
Suyan offered these three options mostly because forming a Contract with Busujima Saeko and acquiring her awakened ability meant he no longer had a desperate need to blindly Contract others just to quickly boost his own strength.
Furthermore, he wanted to see if there was any fundamental difference between manually opening someone's Aura Nodes, having them awaken autonomously, and giving them the power directly via Contract.
It was worth noting that although Takagi Yuriko had successfully awakened her Nen, Suyan hadn't actually formed a Contract with her yet. His level of trust in her simply hadn't reached that threshold.
"So, which one will you choose?" Suyan asked, looking down at her.
Minami Rika blinked, her red lips parting into a light chuckle. "Shizuka must have told you… my favorite thing in the world is challenging the impossible."
"Is that so?" Suyan immediately understood. He offered her a knowing smile. "Then you'll be troubling Shizuka quite a bit from now on."
"Isn't that perfect? It's about time that lazy woman got up and did some actual work. Besides, since she practically sold me out to you, the seller ought to pay me a little commission, don't you think?"
A profoundly mischievous smirk blossomed on Minami Rika's face.
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Achoo!
At that exact moment, Marikawa Shizuka sniffled in her sleep in the other room.
Rika-chan must have finally realized how amazing my little Suyan is, and now she's thanking me from the bottom of her heart, Shizuka thought dreamily to herself.
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