Feng Ke... was a child of the Soga clan?
That had to be a joke. And yet... and yet the girl had always given Su Yuzu the feeling of someone strangely, inexplicably close.
And yet... when Feng Ke was fast asleep, that face of hers did look, just a little—just the tiniest bit—like Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
But still—!?
Even when Asumi brought it up herself, Su Yuzu still found it nearly impossible to believe.
And at the same time, a premonition took root in her chest—something close to a bad omen.
"Aunt Asumi..."
"Mm?" Soga Ishikawa Asumi looked at Su Yuzu with the gentlest of smiles.
Her smile wasn't always like that.
As a doctor—and not just any doctor, but the finest surgeon at the Soga clan's hospital—she was perpetually, unavoidably exhausted. Worn down in body and soul alike.
Even mustering a smile was an effort.
Her husband, Soga Ishikawa Irube, who doted on her endlessly, was always trying to convince Asumi to rest at home. But... Asumi refused him every time.
There was a fixation lodged somewhere deep in her heart.
An obsession... with someone no longer of this world.
If only her skills had been a little stronger back then.
If only... she had been a little braver. If only she could have shouldered the full weight of the delivery and the surgery herself.
Then maybe... Yuzu, and Yura too—maybe neither of them would be carrying so much pain today.
Asumi always wore her gentlest smile whenever she looked at Su Yuzu and Soga Yura.
Always... when she was with the two girls, she seemed to hold them with even more tenderness than she gave her own daughter, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi. As if she could scoop their little heads right into her arms and never let go.
Perhaps——
That had also been one of the reasons why Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi had always looked at Su Yuzu with such resentment, once upon a time.
Her own mother seemed to love the main family's sisters more than she loved her own daughter. What was that supposed to mean.
Su Yuzu watched Asumi, that motherly softness spilling across her face.
"Aunt Asumi... could you go run a check on Feng Ke—mm, the girl my sister sent over—her genetic sample?"
"For an Aberrant..."
"Taking the sample and running the analysis will be tricky, but if it absolutely has to be done—it should still be possible, shouldn't it."
Su Yuzu recalled the reams of analytical charts and data that had scrolled past during Yamabuki Nanako's examination of Zero, back in Keigunen Private Academy's lab.
Asumi's brow furrowed. "It's doable... but... a genetic sample?"
"Since Aunt Asumi already suspected Feng Ke's facial structure looked like Kiyomi's..."
"Then let's just compare Aunt Asumi's own genetic sample against Feng Ke's."
"After all, compared to Uncle Irube—who is very much built like a tank—"
"Kiyomi's face should take more after Aunt Asumi, shouldn't it."
"Yuzu!?" After the hourglass and the mask inside her heart had been shattered, Soga Yura always looked like a tearful mess in front of Su Yuzu.
But... she was not stupid.
In almost an instant, she understood exactly what Su Yuzu was suspecting.
And so did Asumi.
The woman's expression shifted in a split second—storms crossing and clearing across her face—but... in front of Su Yuzu and Soga Yura, she fought to keep her composure, to hold onto that gentle, calm exterior with everything she had.
"I'll go right now——"
"Yura, if anything feels off with your body, make sure to ring the bell. I'll come straight over."
"And that goes for little Yuzu too."
"If the bandaging needs to be redone or the wound needs cleaning, you have to tell Auntie, alright."
Her medical professionalism made Asumi appear utterly calm—but... from the way her words kept coming faster and faster, Su Yuzu could still catch the faint tremor of unease beneath the surface.
Asumi left the hospital room.
Inside the room... Soga Yura and Su Yuzu looked at each other in silence.
For once, Sakura Mai wasn't at Soga Yura's side watching over her.
Because she had drawn the Sword of Erasure—or rather, because of the after-effects of the demonic blade Erasure—she'd had no choice but to leave Soga Yura's side and make a trip back to the Sakura family.
But handing Soga Yura back to Yuzu? That she was perfectly at ease with.
And conveniently... it also gave her an excuse to call Su Yuzu over to Soga Yura's room, so the two sisters could have a proper talk.
"Yuzu suspects... that Aberrant is Kiyomi's..."
"Clone," Su Yuzu confirmed Soga Yura's guess.
"Or rather——"
She thought of Zero.
"An Aberrant construct... engineered using Kiyomi as the base template. One that had a massive quantity of Kiyomi's human genetic factors injected into it during production."
Soga Yura's face went very ugly very fast.
"But... why."
"Why Kiyomi?"
Faced with Soga Yura's question, Su Yuzu pressed her lips together.
She knew the reason.
Ever since "Raven" had realized that Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi was the Nightmare-type Aberrant who had once fallen into the Abyss—and been pulled back out by Su Yuzu—she had been deeply, obsessively interested in Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
But... under Soga Ishikawa Irube's personal escort and protection.
"Raven" had no possible way of studying Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi directly.
So she had very likely chosen to find another way around it.
She had created Feng Ke—in order to research the secret of how Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi had returned from the Edge of Aberration.
Of course——
That line of research was destined to be a dead end.
Because... the reason Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi had been able to fall into Aberration and return from the Abyss was entirely, completely, because of Su Yuzu.
And yet... right now, what Su Yuzu was even more worried about...
She pulled up her Operator Development panel.
In the far-right corner of all the operator entries, the only one whose border was a distinctly different shade—dark purple-black—was Zero's Development slot.
The moment she opened Operator Development, Su Yuzu's expression went dark.
Zero wasn't in the dormitory.
She was somewhere else.
Zero's Q-version chibi was an endearingly pitiful little cat girl, the kind that made you want to protect her.
But right now——
That little cat girl was standing in a place whose backdrop looked rather... sumptuously, ominously grand.
And on top of that...
Every single status bar in Zero's panel was filled with the same description: [Abnormal].
[Weakened].
[Under Control].
[Abnormal].
She had been home-invaded.
"Those absolute bastards!!!" Su Yuzu couldn't hold back—she swung her fist.
Su Yuzu's Hand of Paradox had long since been fed and developed all the way to Level.19.
Add to that a quarter-share of "Blood Manipulation" power gifted to her by Kujou Katora.
Her physical conditioning now matched that of a Second Sequence Physical-type Esper.
The punch cut through the air with a sharp, howling whistle.
Soga Yura caught the scent of something ominous.
"I should have seen this coming ages ago." Su Yuzu's eyes burned red.
She should have seen it from the moment "Raven" had deliberately mentioned that Zero's birthday was six days away—the same day as hers and Soga Yura's.
She should have seen it when... the mission's name wasn't the standard Wind · Fire · Mountain · Forest, but the inverted [Wind · Fire · Mountain · Forest].
Zero was the final piece of the conspiracy's puzzle.
Zero...
Was 「Forest」.
The instant Su Yuzu realized this—
[Ding——] The familiar mechanical woman's voice chimed in Su Yuzu's ear.
[You have uncovered all the secrets of 「Wind · Fire · Mountain · Forest」.]
[First-stage reward acquired.]
[Congratulations — you have received: Intermediate Combat Records × 1.]
[Part.3.1 — Eve of Fate.]
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