"I can't understand it. I don't want to understand it. I won't accept it."
Hinako Shimizu shot back, her tone cold and unyielding.
She could feel the Shichibi's affection — after all, it wasn't spoken aloud but sent through telepathy, and emotion was hard to disguise that way.
But she didn't want to accept that kind of affection.
"It doesn't matter."
The Shichibi drifted across the mirror-smooth water, its crimson fur glowing with a faint, flickering fire in the boundless dark, its seven thick tails swaying lazily behind it.
"It's precisely because I love you that I've followed your people's customs all this while. But to make you mine, I'll switch to our own way of doing things from now on. From this moment, you will vanish suddenly from the human world, and the missing-person notices searching for you will wither under sun and wind until they scatter and are gone."
Behind it, jagged bolts of crimson lightning tore through the black sky, the light twisting and writhing until the entire pocket dimension trembled faintly. The water rippled in layer upon layer of fine waves, casting the shapes of the woman and the fox in flickering light and shadow.
"Your disappearance will become a legend... the fox spirit's being spirited away!"
The moment the words fell, the Shichibi snapped its head around to fix its gaze on Hinako Shimizu, a raw, savage snarl tearing from its throat. Its massive body moved with a speed that belied its size — its four legs slammed against the water, sending ripples exploding outward as it became a streak of crimson afterimage, lunging straight for her.
Its claws tore through the air with a sharp, piercing whistle, raking toward her throat!
"Too slow!"
But to Hinako Shimizu's eyes, that swift strike was nothing extraordinary. She shifted her body half a step aside, and the claws that tore toward her scraped past the armor over her chest, leaving three faint streaks of crimson light in the air.
In the same instant, she swung her right arm, her fist carrying a howling gust of pressure as it slammed into the seven-tailed fox's flank!
Ultra Punch!
"Boom—!"
A dull, heavy impact burst across the lake's surface. The fox's massive body was sent skidding sideways several meters by the blow, its four legs plowing four long furrows through the water.
Its body curled slightly, a low, muffled groan rumbling from its throat.
But it didn't fall. Its crimson, slit-pupiled eyes stayed locked on Hinako Shimizu, something fiercer burning in their depths.
"Not bad, that strength..."
The hoarse, rasping voice forced its way through the fox's teeth, tinged with labored breath but still stubborn, still refusing to yield.
"But if you think that's enough to make me give up — it isn't!"
It abruptly wrenched its seven tails into motion. The once-fluffy, massive plumes stretched several times longer in an instant, hardening like iron, the crimson fur blazing with dazzling fire as power poured into them.
The seven tails carved seven fierce crimson arcs through the darkness, like seven burning blades, striking at the Giant of Light simultaneously from above, below, and every side, the wind roaring with menace.
"You really don't want to back down, Tsuneki."
Rather than retreat, Hinako Shimizu pressed forward. Her feet drove down hard against the water's surface, and the mirror-like lake dented slightly beneath her — her massive body launched upward, soaring into the air beyond the reach of the fox's tails.
Up there, she twisted her body with fluid precision, coiling into a clean, sharp arc. Her right leg gathered the full weight of her body and the power of light, and with a fierce whistling cut through the air, she brought it down in a savage axe kick, straight at the top of the fox's head!
Ultra Kick!
The blow came down with crushing force, an unstoppable weight behind it. Every hair on the fox's body bristled as it sensed the lethal threat, and it instinctively rolled across the water at high speed, scrambling to dodge the killing blow.
"Boom!"
The giant's heel grazed its fur and slammed into the water, blasting up a wall of water dozens of meters high.
The fox's pupils contracted violently. For all its bold talk, after just two exchanges it understood one thing clearly — it was no match for Hinako Shimizu.
The power of light she borrowed was surely inferior to the real Ultraseven — it might not even surpass the crude special effects on television.
And yet, even so, its own strength fell far short of that giant's.
Hinako Shimizu slowly settled back down onto the water's surface, her feet touching down without stirring a single ripple.
"Stop resisting. Tsuneki... I don't care whether you're Tsuneki or something else — just surrender."
She watched the fox thrash and stumble on the water, a flicker of impatience in her silver eyes, her voice flat and touched with weariness.
Its identity was too complicated a matter for her, and it wasn't even much of a threat — fighting it barely stirred any real effort.
The Shichibi steadied itself, its crimson slit-eyes locked on Hinako Shimizu. It crouched low, its seven tails swaying slowly behind it.
"Not enough! Still not enough!"
Before the words even finished, its forepaws slammed down onto the water!
Boom!
The lake's surface burst open as countless fine red threads shot up wildly from beneath the water — blood-red spines woven from fur, each as thick as an arm, tipped as sharp as spears, thrusting toward Hinako Shimizu from every direction!
Her legs drove down with sudden force, and her massive body leapt into the air, dodging the spines erupting beneath her feet.
Those spines seemed to have a limited attack range, confined to the water's surface — once the giant's body floated in midair, they could do nothing.
Just as Hinako Shimizu was about to destroy the spines below, she caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye — the seven-tailed fox had vanished.
In the same instant, a fierce gust of wind rushed at her from behind.
"This kind of pointless nonsense—!"
The giant's body tilted sharply to the right as sharp claws grazed past, sparks bursting densely across her armor.
Just as Hinako Shimizu's momentary carelessness exposed an opening at her back, the fox — its claw striking her shoulder guard — flashed bloodred eyes with excitement, moving in to press its advantage. But a large hand caught the arm it had extended.
The next instant, the world spun upside down!
A Flying Mare!
Hinako Shimizu twisted at the waist, unleashing tremendous force, and hurled the fox's massive body clean off her shoulder, smashing it down into the water!
"Boom——!!!"
The lake's surface exploded again in a towering column of water, ripples spreading wildly in every direction. The fox felt the world spin, disoriented, no longer sure which way was up.
But Hinako Shimizu's attack wasn't finished. Her two red hands seized the fox's two tails and hoisted its massive body up off the water!
Ultra Swing!
The fox's body, over a dozen meters long, was swept up and spun at tremendous speed by the giant's strength, its crimson fur tracing violent streaks of light through the darkness, its seven tails thrashing wildly under the force of the spin, its anguished whimpers utterly swallowed by the howling wind.
The fox instinctively tried to fight back, its seven tails flailing madly in the air, but it couldn't break free from the grip of those two silver hands.
In a flash, Hinako Shimizu twisted her waist sharply and hurled the fox — its momentum built to its peak — forward with tremendous force. The fox's body plunged down like a burning crimson meteor, crashing heavily onto the mirror-smooth water.
A column of water shot up a hundred meters high, and the lake's surface caved in around the point of impact, ripples spreading wildly outward from the center, the shockwave's waves slapping against Hinako Shimizu's calves and splashing countless fine droplets of water.
The Shichibi lay sprawled across the lake's surface, its crimson fur in complete disarray, the base of two of its tails nearly torn loose. It struggled to rise, its limbs trembling uncontrollably.
But it stood up anyway.
Those crimson, slit-pupiled eyes still stayed fixed on Hinako Shimizu, something almost obsessive burning in their depths.
"Why...!"
It growled, its voice trembling with something it couldn't suppress — pain, resentment, and a deep confusion all tangled together.
"Why won't you accept my feelings?!"
"Are we really still talking about this?"
Hinako Shimizu looked at the fox, her eyes full of weary resignation.
"I've given everything, all my effort, for you."
The fox stood there trembling, shouting at Hinako Shimizu in something close to hysteria.
Its voice echoed across the water, carrying an emotion on the verge of collapse.
"I studied how to conduct myself among humans. I learned all your tedious etiquette, all that knowledge I never even needed. I amassed wealth, built a household, gathered prestige — everything your kind values, I obtained all of it."
Like a bitter accusation, the fox poured out its devotion and sacrifice to the woman it loved.
With every sentence, its voice rose another degree, until by the end it was practically a roar.
"I can give you a life in the human world free of any hardship. I can give you the life every woman envies. I'll give you happiness, I'll protect you, I'll..."
"Enough!"
Hinako Shimizu cut it off coldly.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority that stopped the fox's words dead.
"Do you think I wanted any of this? Wealth, status, prestige, a life free of hardship... you gave me all of that. Your people arranged all of it for me. Did you ever ask me what I wanted? Did you ever ask if I was even willing?"
Hinako Shimizu's tone grew heavier and heavier, her voice carrying emotion held back for far too long, as if accusing every act of self-righteous kindness, every person who had cast her own wishes aside without a second thought.
The fox stared at her, speechless, its eyes full of an incomprehension it couldn't shake.
After a moment, Hinako Shimizu's tone slowly softened, no longer raised, left with only a faint sigh, her voice as light as ripples on the water's surface.
"I've truly had enough — this kind of forced kindness, this self-righteous love. Why must I always be treated as an object that needs to be given happiness, that needs to accept being arranged for and controlled? Why can't I be treated as a person — a living, breathing person, someone with a mind of her own?"
But unlike the fox, Hinako Shimizu's tone had gradually slowed, no longer so raised.
She only sighed, only reflected quietly.
"Whether it's right or wrong, whatever the consequences might turn out to be, I just want to make my own choices. That should be a simple enough thing to ask for, shouldn't it, Tsuneki?"
She looked steadily at the fox before her and asked the question calmly.
There was no anger in her, no hatred — only the quiet peace of having let go, and a faint hope for whatever was still to come.
____
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