Easing the door of the girls' dorm room shut, Su Yuzu backed away one careful step at a time.
The soft pattering of water from the bathroom showerhead cut off completely as the latch clicked home.
Su Yuzu looked at their door and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
Changing bedsheets really was a troublesome business.
Luckily, she was long since used to it — practiced at it, even.
Still… standing there in front of the wooden dorm door, Su Yuzu had the hazy sense that she was seeing someone else's figure there instead.
Back when she and Kujou Katora first met, Kujou Katora had lived directly across from her — the very room Kirishika and Kirikashi shared now.
Every morning in those days, when Su Yuzu got up and pushed her door open, she would find Kujou Katora with that pretty face schooled into coldness, fighting to hide the eagerness on it, breaking into a smile the moment she saw her.
After Kujou Katora left Keigunen Private Academy, Su Yuzu had never quite gotten used to the empty space — and never quite let go of it, either.
Like now. The iris authentication cleared, the door unlocked, and out of sheer habit she nearly called out, "I'm home~"
If the little cat were still here, she would already have come shooting out of the room with her tail tucked in, thrown herself into Su Yuzu's arms, and with misty eyes and those tiny na~ya~ kitten mewls, pestered her to go out flower-picking.
She wondered how the little cat was getting on over at Auntie Asumi's place.
Whether she'd settled into life there yet.
And at the thought that the little cat might never need her to take her flower-picking again… Su Yuzu found herself oddly wistful.
She let herself fall backward onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep—
Her phone was ringing.
The caller was Soga Yura.
Su Yuzu took the call. A blue light-screen unfolded in front of her, and Soga Yura's face appeared on it, worn with something very close to open panic.
"Yuzu!!!"
"What made Sister think of calling me?" Su Yuzu propped her pillow up a little higher, shifting into a more comfortable position as she looked at Soga Yura.
"Shouldn't Sister still have class today?"
University wasn't like high school.
Keigunen Private Academy's management model already ran close to a university's, but its class schedule clearly wasn't as… scattered as Imperial Capital University's.
As Su Yuzu remembered it, Soga Yura still had a wilderness survival lecture today.
On the screen, Soga Yura took in the girl lying across the bed with her hair spread loose around her — a girl who looked, frankly, rather bewitching — and swallowed before she could stop herself.
Ever since the knot in her heart had come undone, the girl's hair had grown longer and longer.
And Yuzu seemed to grow more alluring right along with it.
So much so that… even Soga Yura had the faint feeling she couldn't quite hold her ground against it.
"Because of Yuzu being prosecuted by the Investigation Bureau, obviously!" Soga Yura's information ran far better than Su Yuzu would have guessed.
Or rather—
When it came to news that touched on Su Yuzu, she never let a single scrap slip past her.
"I hear Teacher Unohana Chiyo stepped in to shield Yuzu, is that right…"
"How dare that lot at the Investigation Bureau!!!" There was real anger on Soga Yura's face, and the authority in the girl's brows and eyes reminded Su Yuzu, all at once, that Soga Yura was not always the soft, weepy thing she turned into in front of her.
More often than not—
In front of most people, Soga Yura was the one who carried the banner of the Soga clan, the Eldest Young Lady who ruled over every last part of it.
"It's all right…" Su Yuzu said, trying to talk her down.
She knew that anything involving her got Soga Yura's full attention — got her worked up past all reason. Su Yuzu understood that, and more than understood it: if something happened to Soga Yura, she would be every bit as frantic, if not worse.
But panic wouldn't fix anything.
So Su Yuzu walked her through the situation as it currently stood.
"The Investigation Bureau has filed charges against me."
"Two counts."
"The first is that I've been harboring Aberrants. That one can be blown up or brushed aside, depending on who's handling it."
Su Yuzu looked at Soga Yura. "Sister, on your end… how far along is the paperwork for Zero and Feng Ke's identities?"
Soga Yura frowned. "Zero and Feng Ke's identities are both settled already."
"But that researcher…"
"Asaba Maki?" Su Yuzu meant Raven; after she had brought that woman back out of the Edge of Aberration as well, she had learned her name.
"Yes—" Soga Yura gave a small nod. "She left the hospital not long ago…"
"Her? …She shouldn't be a problem." Su Yuzu turned it over. "I can say for certain she's already returned from the Edge of Aberration."
"At the very least, the overwhelming majority of people won't be able to find any evidence on her that an Aberrant was ever there."
"The only thing worth worrying about is… whether she might expose the fact that I can purify Aberrants."
But Su Yuzu ran back through every girl she had carried out of the Edge of Aberration — Sakai Miho, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, the Seat of Evil… Without exception, the Favorability of every girl she brought back seemed to lock itself at "Obedience."
Su Yuzu wasn't particularly worried that Asaba Maki would sell her out.
"If Sister has already sorted out Zero and Feng Ke's identities, then the Investigation Bureau's first charge is probably wasted effort."
"But—" Su Yuzu drew a slow breath, and her expression darkened.
"There's still the second charge."
"The Investigation Bureau alleges that I'm already standing on the very fringe of the Edge of Aberration, and could plunge into the Abyss at any moment."
She watched Soga Yura's face turn just as grim.
Teacher Unohana Chiyo and Director Saionji Sagara had both dismissed that second charge out of hand.
They didn't believe a girl like Su Yuzu could ever fall into the Abyss and become an Aberrant.
But only Soga Yura and Su Yuzu knew how close Su Yuzu truly stood to the Edge of Aberration.
In fact… she had been standing inside the Abyss for a long time already.
Only Soga Yura and Su Yuzu could smell the danger in that accusation.
"How could this happen…"
"Does Sister remember Lin Jingjing? The Miss Superintendent who cuffed me and hauled me back to the Investigation Bureau that time." Su Yuzu held Soga Yura's gaze. "She said… someone has already submitted evidence to the Investigation Bureau."
Soga Yura understood at once what that meant. "So this time… there's someone standing behind the Investigation Bureau?"
"That's right." Su Yuzu nodded, then glanced at [Operator Development]. "I think…"
"…we need a little help."
"A little help that comes from the Investigation Bureau as well."
Inside [Operator Development], a chibi Kujou Katora was hurrying toward Keigunen Private Academy alongside Miss Hayabusa.
[Ding]
[Part.0 - Toyer of Lives]
[The Toyer of Lives' minions have already reached their scheming hand toward you. Do not let your guard down. The plot in front of you is no more than the tip of the iceberg; a far greater one still lies dormant.]
[Mission Requirement: Uncover the true name of the Toyer of Lives.]
[Mission Reward: Third Sequence Promotion Emblem.]
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