Chapter 58: Three-Year Sakura
With a practiced motion, Rovel drew the Mobius's Scalpel across the corpse of the fallen Death Soldier. The blade, humming with a faint energy, made a clean, light slice.
[Mobius's Scalpel has collected: Death Soldier's Blood ×3.]
[Mobius's Scalpel triggered Extra Harvest effect: Death Soldier's Blood ×1.]
Immediately after, the Death Soldier's body dissolved into a cloud of black ash, which the night breeze promptly scattered into nothingness.
Watching this strange spectacle, Funahiki Shin was utterly bewildered, but he knew better than to ask questions. He simply stood by, waiting quietly for his guide's next command.
"Lead the way," Rovel said, his tone flat and businesslike.
"Right away."
Funahiki Shin scurried ahead, his steps quick and nervous. He kept glancing back over his shoulder, a flicker of fear in his eyes that Rovel might not be keeping up, or worse, that he might have changed his mind.
Following a few paces behind, Rovel found the entire situation faintly comical. The terrified guide, the silent hunter… it was a scene straight out of some low-budget horror film.
"Wait," Rovel called out suddenly.
Funahiki Shin spun around, his face a mask of confusion, clearly wondering what had gone wrong now.
Rovel's gaze, however, wasn't on him. It was fixed on a narrow, dark alleyway just off the main street. He'd been down this path before. He had even saved someone here… Asakura Miyuki, that was her name, wasn't it?
But…
'Is the plot repeating itself?' he wondered.
Rovel tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he took in the familiar scene: Asakura Miyuki, backed against a graffiti-stained wall, surrounded by three leering thugs. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind. It was too much of a coincidence.
Still, he couldn't just walk away. With a resigned sigh, he stepped forward and dealt with the three delinquents in a matter of seconds, leaving them groaning on the grimy pavement.
"Are you… okay?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral. This wasn't a question of comfort; it was a clinical inquiry.
The answer was immediately, glaringly obvious. Floating above Asakura Miyuki's head was a bright pink affection meter, filled to a perfect 100%. Yet, no matter how he looked at it, the edges of that vibrant pink seemed to be fraying, showing faint, unsettling signs of turning black.
Asakura Miyuki lifted her head, her eyes locking onto his.
"Mr. Rovel… Mr. Rovel…" Her voice was a fragile whisper, her expression so pitiful it could move the heart of any man.
"You know me?" Rovel asked, a note of caution entering his tone.
"Yes… Mr. Rovel is very famous at Chiba Academy. I've been searching for you for so long… but I couldn't find any trace of you…" Her voice hitched. "Today, I've finally… finally seen you again… Mr. Rovel!!!"
The gentle, pitiful expression on her face shattered, twisting into a grotesque mask of madness. Her power level, which had been a mere 1, exploded upwards, surging with unnatural speed until it stabilized.
[Asakura Miyuki, Death Soldier, Level 15, Affection: 100%]
"She's already turned," Rovel murmured, taking two involuntary steps back.
"Mr. Rovel, why are you backing away?" The voice that came from her was distorted, a high-pitched, scraping sound. "Am I scary?"
The whites of her eyes had flooded with an inky blackness, swallowing the irises until only two void-like pools remained. She stuck out her tongue, a long, gray thing from which saliva dripped onto the ground, sizzled, and evaporated. She looked like a mutated zombie from a nightmare.
"…You clearly had the power to kill them, yet you only attack the person who saved you." Rovel's gaze flickered to the three thugs still moaning on the ground. "Asakura Miyuki… you really are a coward."
Their stats were slightly better than the last group; one was level 5, the other two were level 4. Against the current Asakura Miyuki, they wouldn't have stood a chance. With her newfound strength, she could have torn them apart with ease.
But judging from how she'd been cowering just moments ago, it was clear she had been genuinely afraid, with no intention of resisting. Perhaps she was so conditioned by a lifetime of being bullied that even after becoming a monster, the thought of fighting back against her tormentors never crossed her mind.
And now, she had turned those sharp, newly-grown fangs toward him—the one person who had saved her, not once, but twice.
Was she hateful, or merely pathetic? The light he offered had been a lifeline, but perhaps to someone drowning in darkness, any light was something to be dragged down, possessed, and extinguished.
"Mr. Roveeeel!!!" With a guttural shriek, Asakura Miyuki lunged.
Rovel sighed, a soft, weary sound. If only he had found her sooner, perhaps this ending could have been avoided.
But now…
Inch Force: Heaven Opening!
He didn't hesitate. A single, precise strike connected with her charging form. The impact sent her flying backward, slamming her hard against the brick wall of the alley. She slid down to the ground in a crumpled heap, the health bar above her head reduced to a sliver of red.
[Do you wish to kill Asakura Miyuki?]
A system prompt suddenly appeared in his vision. If he remembered correctly, The Know-It-All of the Honkai World had mentioned this feature—a final confirmation before killing an NPC.
'So the system still considers her an NPC, even now,' he thought.
"Mr. Rovel…" Her voice, now weak and listless, was almost her own again.
She raised her head, her blackened eyes somehow finding him in the gloom. With agonizingly slow, trembling movements, she reached into her uniform and carefully withdrew a small, embroidered sachet.
"This is… a Three-Year Sakura… I made it myself…" she rasped, her breath catching. "I've always wanted… to give it to… Mr. Rovel…"
She strained to hold her hand out, offering the small pouch to him. As she looked at him, the inky blackness in her eyes seemed to recede, and a glimmer of their original light returned.
"Truly… thank you so much… for saving me…"
Her hand went limp, her strength finally failing her. The sachet slipped from her fingers. A split second before it could touch the filthy ground, Rovel's hand shot out and caught it.
Seeing his action, a faint, peaceful smile touched the corner of her lips. A single, crystalline tear traced a path through the grime on her cheek.
"If only… I could have met Mr. Rovel sooner…"
[Asakura Miyuki has died. Gained 520 experience points.]
[Three-Year Sakura: Legend has it in the Far East ancient text "Miscellaneous Tales of Konohana Sakuya-hime" that if a young girl in her prime makes a sachet from the petals of the same cherry blossom tree during her 14th, 15th, and 16th years, the Mount Fuji deity Konohana Sakuya-hime will bless her love. Effect: When worn, Charisma +3.]
"Goodnight."
Rovel gently draped a piece of his own clothing over her still form, then turned and walked away from the alley without a backward glance.
Unseen on a nearby rooftop, a lone figure watched the tragedy unfold. Moonlight cast her silhouette in sharp relief, catching the silver of two long, white braids as they danced in the night wind. She remained a silent, motionless observer to the entire scene.
…
"Ahead is where my younger brother, Funahiki Gyō, is located," Funahiki Shin said, pointing a trembling finger toward a massive Titan mecha patrolling in the distance.
"The Titan he pilots is incredibly strong, at least level 20! It kills Death Soldiers with a single punch!" Funahiki Shin held nothing back, spilling every detail he could in a desperate attempt to be useful.
"You have a grudge against him?" Rovel glanced at the man, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"We are both heirs to the Funahiki Family," Funahiki Shin stated, as if that explained everything.
"I see…" Rovel nodded slowly.
"Lord Rovel, if you are willing to help me seize the position of the Funahiki family heir, I am willing to… to swear my loyalty to you!" Funahiki Shin proclaimed, his voice thick with a sincerity that was entirely feigned.
If Rovel had a walking stick, he might have been tempted to throw it just to see if the man would fetch.
"Ah, my first impression of you wasn't very good," Rovel said, his voice casual. "So let's just forget it."
He swung his arm, and a blade of compressed air shot out, striking Funahiki Shin squarely in the chest. The man's eyes widened in shock before his body dissolved into shimmering fragments of data and vanished.
Back in reality, Funahiki Shin logged out of the game. There was no anger on his face. On the contrary, his features were alight with malicious glee.
"My foolish little brother, it's time you tasted the feeling of being killed, too! Hahahaha…"
He himself had only had a minor conflict with Rovel. Funahiki Gyō, on the other hand, had actively plotted against him, arranging for Anti-Entropy to imprison him. The difference in the severity of their offenses was as clear as day.
He couldn't wait to see the rage that would soon wipe that disgusting, smug smile right off his brother's face.
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