Inori Yuzuriha did not actually do anything to Hare Menjou.
The reason was simple: she wasn't in any hurry. Because she knew that if things went that far, she'd have a whole new category of considerations to deal with afterward — and they were both girls, which meant every time Inori thought about that particular wrinkle, she couldn't help but feel that inhabiting this body had its advantages and its distinct, unfortunate drawbacks.
Making a girl fall for another girl might not be as difficult as it sounded. But Inori had a more pressing reason to hold back for now.
As she'd said before — the things that truly mattered were the things to keep at a distance, for the time being. Until she'd defeated the real enemy, she wasn't going to let her attention scatter.
...
...
(3)
The day after taking shelter on Oshima, Inori led the members of Funeral Parlor — along with the Tennozu High students — back to Tokyo, successfully passing through under cover as ordinary tourists.
Word of Gai Tsutsugami's death rippled through Funeral Parlor and ignited outrage across the organization. There were those who couldn't accept a young girl as their new commander, and more than a few chose to leave. But the louder voice was the one calling for their new leader to act — to move quickly, to strike back, to avenge Gai.
Inori reorganized the unit. She reassigned the younger members to logistics and rear support, positions where they were unlikely to ever see a battlefield. Part of that was genuine care. Part of it was the honest assessment that they weren't much use for frontline work anyway. Gai's original reason for recruiting them had been long-term thinking — control the youth, control the country's future, he'd said.
But Inori wasn't interested in playing a long game. She had no intention of spending every day leading a pack of high schoolers through fighting and killing, watching them pretend they were building a nation. That was Okouchi's script. Not hers.
Now that Shuichiro Keido had gotten what he wanted and taken the Stone of Beginning, his next move would almost certainly be to trigger another Apocalypse. But without her as the vessel — without a body to commune with Eve — how did he plan to do it? Inori's understanding of the mechanics was still too shallow to map his exact strategy. And Gai was probably not ready yet — she couldn't afford to rush. She needed to give him enough time to make his move.
The Apocalypse Virus could only truly be destroyed after it descended upon the world. Once it did, King Crimson would tear it apart — sever every thread of fate tied to it.
Almost there. Just a little further. And this was exactly the moment to keep her head, to remember the lesson from King Crimson's previous master: don't reach for the quick payoff. Don't throw away everything at the finish line.
The most immediate matter after their return was the Void Genome. Haruka Ouma had sent word that morning — she had it. For Haruka's safety, and not only because of Mana and Shu's connection to her but because of what the next step required — Inori overrode Shibungi's recommendation to wait three days for things to cool down, and went back immediately.
At this point, GHQ was little more than background noise. Shuichiro Keido and the Virus Countermeasures Bureau (Antibodies) were the real enemy now. The puppet-decoy escape had fooled GHQ easily enough, but anyone who already knew her abilities — the Gravekeepers, Keido himself — would never believe that a fleet of tin-plated warships had been enough to put her down. Concealing herself any further was pointless. Both sides had shown their hands.
From here on out, it was a real game. A fight to the death.
...
...
Around seven in the evening — dinner hour.
Haruka Ouma sat in her apartment, unable to sit still. She had risked her career, and potentially her freedom, to steal Void Genome No. 003. Now that Keido had been suspended and placed under house arrest for taking the Stone of Beginning without authorization, he was too occupied with his own situation to go after her. But she could no longer stay with the Antibodies either way.
The doorbell rang. Haruka shot to her feet.
Standing on her doorstep was a tall, imposing masked figure — Diavolo, the one who had approached her with the deal.
"My son — where is he?"
Haruka bit her lip.
The masked figure said nothing. It simply took a step back — and then, slowly, the boy Haruka had long ached to see came walking out from behind it. Head bowed, face heavy with exhaustion and grief, still not entirely recovered from the blow Inori had dealt him the night before.
"Shu!"
"Haruka…"
The young adoptive mother's eyes brimmed as she pulled him into her arms. The two of them held on in silence — nothing to say, only the smallest sounds of weeping — while King Crimson waited nearby without interrupting, patient, until Haruka finally surfaced.
"Diavolo — and Mana. Did you bring her back?"
"The goods first."
King Crimson answered in a flat tone.
She'd already been given more than she'd paid for — she'd seen her son, and not a single item had changed hands yet. Her daughter was a different matter. Delivery came after receipt.
"…One moment, please."
Haruka let out a slow breath. She was nervous — not about the Genome, but about what it meant to be face to face with her daughter again after ten years. What could she possibly say? A simple apology? An admission that she'd failed to protect her a decade ago?
She went back inside and returned carrying a polished metal case — something that looked at first glance like a high-end lockbox. She stopped at the door, hesitating visibly.
"I've already switched off every camera in the vicinity. Relax."
King Crimson pressed her, impatient.
Haruka Ouma passed the case over at last. King Crimson took it and opened it immediately: inside, sealed in a glass vial, sat a coiled strand of crimson genetic material — nearly identical to the one Inori had recovered from the white bone Christmas tree, but stamped with the number "003." A higher-order version than the 002 Inori already carried.
King Crimson blinked. It closed the case and cleared its throat against its broad chin.
"Please follow me. Due to certain circumstances, I can't allow her to return to your side right now."
"What does that mean?" Haruka's voice tightened.
"Our agreement was that Shu comes home. You get to speak with Mana — but I'm keeping her. I still have use for her. If that's not acceptable to you—" King Crimson picked up the case and turned to go. "—then I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
"No — that's not what I meant!"
Haruka called after it immediately.
Even a few minutes together was enough. She hadn't come this far — hadn't traded away her career for this — to walk away from a chance to see her daughter. Even if only to talk.
"I'm coming with you—"
"You're not." King Crimson stopped Shu before he could follow. "Stay here. I don't want you to hear this conversation."
Shu stared at it, baffled. Inori Yuzuriha hadn't briefed him on any of this before they came, and now she was pulling him aside to talk to Haruka alone. How could he not worry? This was Inori Yuzuriha — a woman who could reach for a lethal move with barely a second thought when something threatened her.
Haruka's worry was running in the opposite direction. She assumed the masked figure was trying to spare Shu the pain of dredging up certain memories, and after a moment of consideration, she agreed.
"Haruka!"
Shu genuinely wanted to say something — to tell her the truth — but he knew better than anyone what the cost of that would be. He swallowed it.
"It's all right, Shu. We're just going to meet someone."
Haruka could see her son was scared for her. She didn't know his fear was directed at that "sister."
She reached over and ruffled his hair with a small smile.
"What do you want for dinner tonight? Let me cook — how does that sound?"
"Anything is fine… just — be careful, Haruka. Please."