Chiyo paused for a moment, her bright expression shifting as she slowly looked around the chaotic atrium once more.
Her violet eyes swept across the scene with sharp awareness;
The masked robbers standing tensely with weapons still raised, the civilians huddled on the tiled floor, the abandoned shopping bags scattered everywhere, and the tall figure of Yuri standing calmly in the center of it all.
She took in every detail with a single, measured glance before speaking.
"No, this is definitely a robbery," she said, her voice carrying a mix of casual realization and mild annoyance. "And why is that person's arm like that?"
She gestured with a small tilt of her head toward the robber whose forearm bone was still visibly protruding through the torn sleeve, the limb hanging at an awkward angle.
Yuri answered immediately in her calm, straightforward tone, her red eyes blinking once as she explained without hesitation.
"That human took hold of this part behind me," she said, turning her body slightly and gesturing clearly with one long, pale hand to the curve of her own ass. No
She then demonstrated the motion by gripping the area firmly with her fingers for a brief moment. "And it made me feel a tad of what Master taught me earlier. So I punished him."
"…Huh?" Chiyo's gaze darkened noticeably, the playful light in her violet eyes fading into something much colder and more dangerous as the full meaning of the explanation sank in.
She turned slowly toward the group of robbers, her expression hardening into a sharp, icy glare that seemed to cut through the air between them. "I leave you for a few minutes and you ended up raped?"
The robber with the broken arm shivered visibly under the weight of that glare, his good hand clutching the injured limb tighter as pain and fear mixed on his face.
"N-No! I only touched her ass a little! It wasn't a rape!" he protested, his voice cracking with urgency and a hint of desperation.
"Same thing," Chiyo said flatly, raising her arm in a deliberate, threatening motion as if preparing to cast something.
Her ponytail shifted with the small movement, and the temperature around her seemed
to drop as her presence grew more imposing. "I will teach you to respect a woman's body now."
The robbers shifted uneasily in their positions, fear spreading through the group like a visible ripple.
Their stances grew more defensive, weapons held a little tighter, eyes darting between Chiyo and Yuri.
The smaller girl seemed to carry even more authority in this moment than the tall, unharmed woman beside her, and the thought of what a suspected hero — especially one with such a cold, commanding glare — might do to them made several of them swallow hard.
Shooting or fighting back suddenly felt far more risky than it had moments ago.
Yuri only watched the scene unfold with quiet attention, her starry eyes softening slightly at the edges as she observed how effectively Chiyo was intimidating the armed men.
A small, warm feeling of happiness stirred inside her at the sight — the sister of her Master was clearly a badass, handling the situation with confident strength that matched the chaotic energy of their household.
"Ara?" Chiyo suddenly paused, lowering her raised arm and looking down at her open palm with a puzzled frown.
She flexed her fingers once, then glanced sideways at Yuri standing beside her. "Someone deactivated my skin-ripping spell."
The words hung in the air for a moment.
The robbers yelped in collective panic, their bodies tensing further as fresh waves of fear washed over them.
A few took half-steps backward, their breathing quickening at the casual mention of such a violent-sounding ability.
Meanwhile, the civilians still on the floor felt their hearts relax just a fraction, a tentative sense of relief spreading as they realized the two women might actually be capable of protecting them.
The robbers were clearly torn — some gripping their rifles as if considering opening fire on Chiyo and Yuri, while others glanced desperately toward the exits, weighing the chances of simply running away.
Shooting at the pair might prove pointless, only wasting bullets on targets who had already shown they could shrug off a direct headshot.
At the same time, trying to escape from two pissed-off heroes felt about as easy as killing a lion with both hands tied behind one's back.
"Good day, heroes…" the quiet robber from earlier finally spoke up, the one who had simply watched his companion's arm break without intervening.
His voice was calmer and more measured than the others, cutting through the rising tension. "I do believe we ought not to escalate things any further."
Chiyo turned toward him with a casual, appraising glance, her violet eyes narrowing slightly as she studied his posture.
"Are you the one who deactivated my skin-ripping spell? You don't seem like an ordinary robber to me."
"More importantly," the man continued, reaching up to pull down the mask that had been covering the lower half of his face, slowly revealing his complete features — a surprisingly ordinary yet attentive face with sharp eyes that seemed to hold more knowledge than his criminal role suggested. "Are you a hero… or are you the sister of Dragon Lord Ryu? In the novel of the famed author Chris, Ryu had a sister with violet hair named Chi-chi…"
Chiyo's expression remained outwardly calm, her face composed and almost neutral as she listened.
But inside, her thoughts raced quickly.
'Tsk. Sometimes Chris can be sooooo dumb. Why add my features in the diary of a criminal? And how come this robber cares so much about it…? Should I… take him back to meet Munganda-chan for questioning?'