Mozunono Nono's mouth fell wide open; her baton clattered onto the wooden floor with a crisp sound, while her gaze darted back and forth between Onigawara Rin and Kikakujou Mary.
"Rin-nee…" Mozunono Nono stammered out, "So when you two squabble all the time, it's actually—"
"Shut up!"
Onigawara Rin and Kikakujou Mary roared back in perfect unison.
"What in the world is all this nonsense crammed inside your head?!"
Kikakujou Mary coughed again and again, pounding her chest hard with her hand, her blood pressure climbing in a straight line.
Onigawara Rin pointed at herself, then pointed at Kikakujou Mary. "Me? With her?"
"Which eye of yours saw the two of us having that kind of relationship?! And besides, we're both Kami-sama's Familia—the one we mean to follow is Kami-sama too!" Onigawara Rin's voice was actually trembling.
Ubaragasaki Choka, for her part, shrank her neck back at being yelled at, the tears at the corners of her eyes not yet dry.
"But… but you just said you can't marry outside the Familia…"
Ubaragasaki Choka pursed her lips in aggrieved sulkiness.
"And then you said you can live a thousand years… and on top of that, the two of you are inseparable every single day…"
"That's because we're comrades-in-arms! Comrades who fight side by side—don't go letting your thoughts run crooked!"
Onigawara Rin stepped forward and seized Ubaragasaki Choka's cheek in one hand, tugging it out to both sides.
"I'm warning you—from now on, less of those weird magazines! Otherwise I'll stuff you into Kyoubou's mouth and let it chew you a couple of times before spitting you back out!"
Ubaragasaki Choka hissed in pain, slapping repeatedly at the back of Onigawara Rin's hand.
"Boo-hoo-hoo… I-I was wong… I was wong…"
Kikakujou Mary let out a sigh as well, pressing down on her throbbing temple. "In any case."
Kikakujou Mary looked at Ubaragasaki Choka and slowed her pace of speech.
"If you want to keep up with us, if you want to go and see that world, then you have to put away all these useless notions and pour all your energy into getting stronger."
"If you can manage that, then the next time I come back, I'll recommend you to Kami-sama." "Choka will remember that."
Ubaragasaki Choka rubbed her bright-red cheek, eyes brimming with tears, and nodded heavily.
…
And so it was. The next morning. Sunlight spilled through the heavy clouds, washing over the courtyard of the private Aichi Symbiosis Academy.
After a night's rest, the girls came out of the guest rooms one after another.
They had changed back into their usual everyday outfits, folding their laundered clothes neatly and packing them into their travel bags.
The first-floor lobby of the girls' dormitory was bustling with life. "Enju-chan! You absolutely have to take this with you!"
Several academy girls came trotting over and pressed a few brightly drawn manga books into Aihara Enju's arms.
"This is the latest issue of "Magical Girl"—the story inside is super interesting!"
Aihara Enju hugged those thick manga books, her eyes sparkling.
"Really? Thank you so much!"
Aihara Enju bounced on the spot twice, the twin tails behind her swishing along with the motion.
"If you like magical girls, Enju! Once Enju finishes reading these, I'll find you new ones next time you come!"
"Mm! It's a promise!" Aihara Enju laughed and stuck out her pinky.
Several academy girls reached out and hooked pinkies with her.
Aihara Enju's whole face was alight with excitement.
In the past, as a Cursed Child, Aihara Enju could only scavenge for tattered, discarded picture books down in the sewers.
Even just lingering a couple of glances too long at the manga in a bookstore window would invite disgusted passersby to shoo her away—sometimes even with fists and kicks.
But now things were different.
Not only could she wear clean, pretty clothes, she could be treated sincerely by friends, exchanging gifts with one another.
At this thought, Aihara Enju carefully tucked the manga books into her new backpack, even straightening out the corners, afraid of creasing them into wrinkles.
Then she turned her head to look at Hiruko Kohina, standing not far off.
Hiruko Kohina had likewise received a gift in her hands, and was holding an exquisitely carved wooden short sword. It was precisely the one that several of the academy's craft-skilled girls had stayed up late specially carving for her.
"Can this… be used to cut people down?"
Hiruko Kohina swung the wooden sword through the air a couple of times, producing a "whoosh-whoosh" of wind.
The two girls who had given her the gift jumped back half a step in fright, waving their hands again and again.
"No, no! This is just an ornament, for display!"
Hearing that it couldn't be used to cut people, Hiruko Kohina immediately puckered her lips.
"So it can't cut people after all—Kohina's a little disappointed."
"But… the big sisters did make it really pretty."
Seeing Hiruko Kohina tuck the carved wooden short sword into the inner pocket of her belt, the two girls were immediately delighted.
…
On the other side. Hanasaka Warabi gave Kyoubou's broad, thick back a slap.
The black bear yawned and rose to its feet sluggishly, the little bear still hanging on its back, eyes not even open from oversleeping. "Time to get ready to set off!"
Hanasaka Warabi called out to the people in the lobby.
Kikakujou Mary and Onigawara Rin had also just finished their final conversation with Choka and the others, and came over hoisting their somewhat bulging travel bags.
Everyone walked out of the girls' dormitory.
Following the coordinates set at the start, they arrived at the open clearing in the center of the courtyard.
A door of light radiating a faint blue glow hung silently in midair.
It was none other than the cross-world transfer portal that would take them back to the master bedroom in Orario. Only, at this moment.
Before the door of light.
The academy headmistress, Fujibayashi Yukino, stood in a crisp dark suit less than two meters from the door of light, seeming to have already waited there for quite some time.
She stood with both hands folded together.
Upon seeing the girls approach, Fujibayashi Yukino at once drew a tightly sealed thick white envelope from the inner pocket of her suit and strode forward to meet them.
"This letter—please be sure to deliver it to Kami-sama."
Fujibayashi Yukino held the envelope out in both hands, extending it toward Onigawara Rin, who walked at the very front; her waist bent slightly, her posture held very low. Onigawara Rin reached out and took the envelope.
Gripped in her hand, the envelope felt very thick and solid; inside it were not only several folded sheets of paper, but also a few stiff, rectangular cards wedged in, which felt to the touch like several photographs.
"What is this?"
Onigawara Rin pinched the edge of the envelope and asked, somewhat puzzled. "It's a progress report on Miss Narukami Koharu's recent activities."
Fujibayashi Yukino answered in a low voice.
Narukami Koharu? Onigawara Rin rummaged around in her head for a moment but found no memory attached to that name.
Still, since it was something the headmistress had entrusted to be handed to her own Kami-sama, she didn't ask much, just nodded, carefully tucked the envelope into the inner pocket of her travel bag, and zipped it shut.
"Don't worry, Headmistress, I'll deliver it to Kami-sama with my own hands." "My thanks to you."
Fujibayashi Yukino bowed once more.
After a brief farewell, the academy girls stood on the lawn and waved.
The girls stepped one by one into that faintly blue door of light.
With a slight sensation of weightlessness, the scenery before their eyes was swiftly swallowed up by blue light.
A few seconds later.
Their feet came down again on solid wooden flooring.
They had returned to Orario, to the master bedroom on the second floor of Haimer's mansion.
When Nomura Satori, walking at the very rear, stepped through the door of light and steadied her footing, the door of light behind her dissolved into countless tiny blue points of light that scattered into the air of the bedroom.
…
"Phew, this side's Magic Stone climate-control system really is more comfortable…"
Onigawara Rin had just let out a breath, the words barely spoken. And then. The very next second.
Onigawara Rin's gaze swept across the wide, spacious cloud-silk cotton bed in the center of the room. Right after that. Onigawara Rin's words stuck in her throat. Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, and the others following behind her all froze stiff in unison. For there—
On the broad bed, the quilt was heaped somewhat messily in one corner.
Amou Kirukiru sat cross-legged in the center of the bedding, wearing nothing but an oversized white men's shirt.
The shirt's hem just barely covered the base of her thighs; the collar gaped wide, and the several conspicuous red marks across her collarbone and chest were not concealed in the slightest.
She held a cup of plain water in her hand, sipping it at a leisurely, unhurried pace.
Hearing the sound of the door of light dissolving, Amou Kirukiru raised her head, those long, narrow eyes sweeping with a touch of languor over the girls standing frozen in place.
"Yo, you're back."
Amou Kirukiru offered an offhand greeting, her voice still carrying the rasp of someone not long awoken.
The air in the master bedroom froze utterly solid in that instant.
Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina poked their heads out curiously through the gaps in the crowd, wanting to get a clear look.
"No looking, you children!"
Seeing this, Nomura Satori was quick-eyed and quick-handed, pressing the two little ones' heads back behind her. By now, Onigawara Rin felt her scalp go numb.
Especially seeing Amou Kirukiru's utterly unabashed posture—a provocative stance that plainly declared her claim of ownership—it was practically slapping last night's events right onto their faces.
"What… are you doing here?"
Onigawara Rin all but ground the words out through her teeth. "Resting, of course."
Amou Kirukiru gave a stretch, and because of the motion of raising her arms, the hem of the shirt slid up a stretch. Then. She yawned, leaned back again against the soft pillow behind her, and casually patted the large empty patch of mattress at her side.
"Kami-sama's stamina really is something extraordinary."
"Right now I don't even have the strength to stand up and walk downstairs."
Watching Onigawara Rin's face go iron-blue from holding it in, Amou Kirukiru cracked the corner of her mouth into an exceedingly wicked curve. "Oh, by the way."
"If you've got something to take to the god—the god's already gone downstairs, so if you need him, you'd best hurry along."
"Or." "Would you like to stay and hear all about how Kami-sama and I conducted our in-depth 'discussion' on this very bed last night?"
With that. Amou Kirukiru's expression turned thoroughly intriguing.
Crack, crack. The veins on the back of Onigawara Rin's hand twitched; she nearly couldn't suppress the urge to draw her blade and hack at her. "We're leaving!"
Onigawara Rin spun around abruptly, shoving aside Hanasaka Warabi who blocked the way in front, and led the charge toward the bedroom door.
"Right, let's go, let's go, quick!"
Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, and the others didn't want to linger even a single second longer either, and walked out of the master bedroom.
Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina, meanwhile, were squeezed somewhat bewilderedly in the middle. Aihara Enju's cheeks flushed slightly, as if she had dimly realized what had happened.
Hiruko Kohina, on the other hand, kept looking back as she ran, her whole face full of bewilderment.
"What's wrong? Is that big sister sick? Why are there so many red spots on her neck from bug bites?"
"Idiot! Those are from poisonous mosquito bites! Don't go looking around!"
To cover up her own awkwardness, Hanasaka Warabi blurted out some random, perfunctory excuse.
As the girls came pouring out of the master bedroom,
with a "bang," the master bedroom door was slammed shut heavily.
Lying on the bed, Amou Kirukiru gave a cold little smile.
The corridor rang with chaotic footsteps.
Everyone strode quickly along the spacious hallway toward the stairwell. By now, in nearly everyone's heart, the highest-level alarm had been sounded. After all.
Amou Kirukiru had now thoroughly torn off all pretense and declared open war.
This woman was not only a madwoman in her pursuit of the ultimate in martial arts—now she had gone straight ahead and, right in the master bedroom, dealt every last one of them a clean, decisive show of dominance.
If things kept going like this, what foothold would be left for them within the Familia?!
At this thought, Onigawara Rin and Kikakujou Mary exchanged a glance, the sense of urgency in their hearts climbing straight to its peak—they had to get stronger, and fast!
Meanwhile. The first-floor lobby. From the kitchen came the "sizzle-sizzle" of frying bacon.
Ryu, Chloe, Lunor, and Anya, the four of them, were dressed in maid uniforms, shuttling back and forth between the kitchen and the long oak dining table.
After a few days of getting used to each other, they had clearly adapted to this kind of morning routine.
Anya carried a plate of freshly baked caramel toast, a half-eaten crust of bread still held in her mouth, humming a tune as she walked out of the kitchen, ready to set the tray down on the table.
Hearing the footsteps, the catgirl stopped what she was doing. "Good morning, everyone."
Anya offered a polite greeting.
She glanced at the girls and found that every one of their expressions looked none too pleasant—especially Onigawara Rin, walking at the very front, whose face was so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
What had happened?
Anya felt somewhat puzzled, yet she did not open her mouth to ask.
As for Haimer, he was leafing through a hardcover book in his hands.
The rising morning sun shone through the glass onto the side of his face, throwing his already deep, well-defined features into even sharper relief. "Kami-sama, this is what the headmistress asked us to deliver to you."
At this moment, Onigawara Rin handed the envelope over in both hands.
Haimer was momentarily startled.
A letter from Fujibayashi Yukino?
Then it could only be about that matter.
At this thought, Haimer took the envelope.
Without any concern for the others standing off to the side, he tore the seal open directly.
He drew out the letter inside, and along with it came several developed color photographs. In the first photograph.
A middle-aged man in a Japanese kendo uniform lay sprawled in a pool of blood; there was a half-meter-long impaling wound through his chest, and the tatami all around him had been dyed a dark crimson. The second photograph.
Inside a European dojo, every wooden sword had been cut clean in two; several martial artists who looked powerfully built lay on the ground wailing, the tendons of their hands and feet all severed, the wounds smooth and even.
In the corners of the background of these photographs, one could faintly make out a girl carrying a long blade. The shutter seemed to have caught her mid-motion. Narukami Koharu.
Haimer gave the photographs a brief glance, then shifted his gaze to the letter paper.
In the letter, Fujibayashi Yukino reported in detail the trajectory of Narukami Koharu's recent activities.
Over the span of these few days, Narukami Koharu had already completed the greater part of her task, kicking open the doors of those so-called prestigious dojos one after another, blade in hand.
Whether they conceded or not, she beat them all to death. Narukami Koharu carried this through completely.
And at the end of the letter, Fujibayashi Yukino had specially added one more line of report: "During this period, Miss Narukami Koharu's mood has remained in a state of extreme exhilaration. Not only does she feel no fatigue in battle—on the contrary, as her kill count rises time after time, she laughs more and more happily."
____
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