She'd... talked with Soga Yura?
Lying back on the tatami, looking up at Kujou Iruka propped above her, Su Yuzu felt something in her skull go off like a struck bell.
Su Yuzu knew perfectly well that Kujou Iruka had never actually sat down face-to-face for a heart-to-heart with Soga Yura.
Because if she had, Soga Yura would sooner have died than put her own Little Sister into Kujou Iruka's hands.
But… judging from the way Kujou Iruka had phrased it—
There was a very good chance she had gone and deliberately provoked Soga Yura anyway.
Most likely she had used Su Yuzu's own phone to make her demands.
Or else… she had stood in front of Soga Yura and gloated, shameless and smug, with something along the lines of, your Little Sister is in my hands.
"Unforgivable—"
"Unpardonable—"
Kujou Iruka, still pinning Su Yuzu's shoulders, noticed that the beautiful crimson eyes beneath her — the Soga clan's unmistakable mark — had turned dangerous, forbidden.
Su Yuzu could picture it exactly: how far past reason Soga Yura would go the moment word reached her that her Little Sister had been taken.
Even if it meant starting a war. Even if it meant dragging the whole world down to die with her.
Soga Yura wouldn't count the cost for a second.
And on top of that, Kujou Iruka had gone and plucked at those raw, half-mad nerves to her face?
Su Yuzu's expression went cold. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Wh… at…?" Kujou Iruka stared down at the girl whose face had frozen over, as though she still hadn't worked out what was happening.
But soon enough—
Kujou Iruka understood.
It was the same as how, no matter how viciously she mocked Kujou Katora and looked down on her — called her weak, called her stupid, called her nothing but a small and lowly ant—
If anything ever truly happened to Kujou Katora,
she would turn the entire Tokyo metropolitan area upside down to avenge her.
The girl beneath her carried the exact same feeling for her Sister.
But—
So what?
Was she supposed to apologize for it?
Was she supposed to explain to Su Yuzu that all she had done was deliver a 'friendly' little letter?
Proposing to borrow Su Yuzu from Soga Yura for a while.
Until she got bored of playing with her?
Out of the question.
She was Kujou Iruka.
An existence on par with the Abyss itself.
The 'demon' standing at the highest point of this world's food chain — The Abyss of Eternal Smiles.
Whatever she wanted to do,
no one in this world was permitted to defy her.
Not even Su Yuzu.
There was no such word as 'repentance' in Kujou Iruka's dictionary.
She bore down on Su Yuzu's shoulders.
Those simulated, deep-blue, alluring eyes bled their color away bit by bit. Dark golden vertical pupils opened in their place, stately and dazzling, like a sun running molten, like a world in the act of melting.
"My darling junior—"
"You still don't seem to understand the rules of this world."
If strength was what commanded reverence,
then Kujou Iruka was the strength that stood at the absolute summit of the world.
One of only two known Seventh Sequence powers alive today.
The other Seventh Sequence Esper was Her Highness the Pope of the Holy Royal Court.
But that power came from the accumulated blessings of every Pope who had come before her; only within the sanctuary where the Kirishika bloom in full does the Pope's strength truly equal the Seventh Sequence.
In other words—
Kujou Iruka had 'invincible' written across her face.
"I—"
"am the rule."
Even the bravest, most fearless Saintess, faced with Kujou Iruka, could probably manage nothing better than a bitter, furious, "Guh… just kill me."
And then submit to whatever Kujou Iruka pleased to do with her.
But the one she happened to have run into was a reckless little hothead.
Su Yuzu didn't care in the slightest what Seventh Sequence was supposed to mean. All she knew was… in the game, she had pushed Kujou Iruka down again and again.
Just some World Boss.
Even the scripted, unwinnable plot defeats hadn't stopped her from unlocking every last CG.
Rules existed to be broken.
Bullying her was one thing.
She could be bullied to pieces and it wouldn't matter.
But she should never, ever have reached her hand toward Soga Yura.
If Soga Yura wanted the stars out of the sky, Su Yuzu would exhaust every ounce of herself to pluck them down for her.
Sure, day after day she tormented Soga Yura, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not.
But there was no denying it: no one in the world mattered more to Su Yuzu than Soga Yura.
Su Yuzu could tolerate Kujou Iruka taking a mile for every inch, hopping back and forth across her last line of Shame over and over again.
But Soga Yura… was off-limits—
Absolutely off-limits!!!
Snap—
Su Yuzu and Kujou Iruka seemed to hear the same string break at the same instant.
The next second—
The moon plunged and the blossoms snapped; the stars scattered and the rain came apart.
A domain of perfect darkness descended upon the earth.
Unexpected — and yet entirely inevitable.
All that bullying earlier hadn't driven Su Yuzu to this point, hadn't driven her to the point of liberating her Throne.
But… the moment Soga Yura's name was spoken,
that string inside the girl shattered completely.
"Are you out of your mind!!?"
"Once you fall into the Abyss, you can never be with your Sister again."
"You won't be able to hold her hand."
"You won't be able to go shopping with her."
"You won't be able to take her to the amusement park."
"You won't be able to wish her a happy birthday."
"You won't be able to watch her grow up, little by little, into a complete idiot."
She was talking about Su Yuzu, and yet every word of it, spoken and unspoken, sounded like she was talking about herself.
She stretched out a hand, reaching for Su Yuzu's chest.
As though she wanted to drag that Su Yuzu back, to keep her from walking the same road she had.
But then — smack—
Su Yuzu caught her wrist mid-air.
The gray domain, which had swallowed the entire mountainside in a heartbeat, stripped away every trace of color within it.
It felt incomplete.
And even so, it was already something no one could stand against.
Inside that dim gray domain, even the concept of space was Twisted and turned on its head.
Was it Su Yuzu who lay pinned beneath Kujou Iruka's hands on her shoulders?
No… it was plainly Kujou Iruka, left with no other choice, clinging to Su Yuzu's shoulders to keep herself from 'falling.'
In an instant both their bodies 'dropped.'
Kujou Iruka was pinned against the ceiling by Su Yuzu.
Before she could react, the girl's right knee had already wedged itself between hers.
In that gray world, scoured clean of all color, nothing remained but Kujou Iruka's blazing dark golden eyes.
And the girl's own crimson eyes, resplendent, burning.
Her eyes burned with Fire.
Like something reborn out of death.
Like something returned out of hell.
"Actually, I should thank you—"
"Sister Iruka," Su Yuzu murmured against her ear, her voice gentle, and yet cold and mechanical, scraped bare of feeling.
She really did owe Kujou Iruka thanks — for carrying her out of the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Which meant… Su Yuzu had nothing left to hold back for.
The Beast inside her had been chained for a very long time.
It was time to let it out.
"There's nothing left worth holding back for anymore."
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 10 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉