Fuse Midori.
A Cursed Child.
A registered Initiator.
Today was the official day she was assigned to meet her Promoter.
As a Cursed Child, Fuse Midori was, naturally, a petite little loli.
She wore a simple white long dress. Her long white hair was braided into a single plait hanging over her chest—
A mature-looking hairstyle.
On her head sat a massive, pointy witch hat.
Midori was a cat-type Initiator.
The oversized hat was to hide the cat ears that had grown due to her high virus corrosion rate. Because of the cat-type genes, her body was light and her movements nimble. She could freely extend and retract her claws like a cat's, making her extremely proficient in close combat.
However, Midori's personality wasn't like a haughty cat—Instead, she was shy, timid, and soft-spoken.
You could even guess this just by looking at her hairstyle.
On her way to meet her Promoter—Midori couldn't help but feel curious inside.
What kind of person would her future partner be?
She was looking forward to it.
Though... not too much.
After all, the world she lived in—was full of people who rejected Cursed Children. Still, if she was going to be someone's partner, they'd at least talk to her, right?
To Midori—
As long as she wasn't constantly punished, and they occasionally exchanged a few words...
As long as she had somewhere to sleep...
That would already be considered a kind and gentle treatment.
Clinging to that fragile hope—Midori arrived at her designated location.
It was a somewhat remote alleyway. Judging by appearances, her Promoter didn't seem to be very wealthy.
But that didn't bother Midori at all. If anything, she preferred it that way.
She didn't fear hardship—In fact, rich people often had... some unacceptable hobbies.
Midori believed that if she worked hard with her Promoter, the future would slowly get better.
On the roadside, a lady from a "massage parlor" noticed the cute little girl.
She couldn't resist teasing Midori a little.
Even though the words weren't very vulgar—Midori still blushed, lowered her head, and quickly rushed past.
As a trained Cursed Child, she could control her eye color.
As long as she didn't use superhuman powers or get overly emotional—
She was indistinguishable from a normal child.
Quickly, she climbed the stairs.
According to her assignment, the second floor was where her Promoter lived.
"Excuse me, I'm the assigned Initiator, Fuse Midori. Is Promoter Haruto-sama here?"
With hopeful anticipation, she knocked on the door as she called out.
But as her small hand touched the door—With a soft creak, it opened.
Apparently, it hadn't been locked, just left ajar.
Midori froze and tensed up.
Going in without permission felt... too rude.
Should she just close it again?
But—what if the Promoter had deliberately left it open? After all, there had been an appointment scheduled.
As Midori wrestled with indecision—
Her gaze fell into the room.
And her pupils suddenly shrank.
Her little brain just froze.
Inside the room, a girl about the same age as her was lying on a table. And a man—was stabbing into the girl's eye socket with a blade.
Beside him, a woman assisted him.
Both were spattered with blood.
The scene looked like—
Either a grisly murder scene, or some sort of underground human experimentation lab.
Midori's small mouth opened in shock. Her little body began to tremble uncontrollably. God knows how traumatic this scene was for a tiny little loli.
Inside, the man and woman also paused their actions—
Clearly surprised to see Midori.
Haruto gave Kisara a glance.
She nodded in understanding and quickly walked toward Midori.
Midori: !!!
Midori: D-don't come any closer!!
If she weren't so well-trained, she'd probably have screamed.
Thankfully, before she could run, the two explained everything.
And Midori understood—they were performing surgery on the loli on the table.
She was still in shock—
But... she could just barely accept it...?
In the end, Midori stayed.
Haruto quickly removed the solidified lead metal that had built up in the beggar girl's body over the years.
Some of it had even fused into her bloodstream.
Had she not been a Cursed Child—She probably would've died long ago from severe heavy metal poisoning.
But after injecting RC cell repair fluid—
The excess lead would naturally be expelled from her body over time.
Before the operation, the girl had also been injected with a special anesthetic developed by the Foundation.
She wouldn't feel any pain.
The surgery went very well.
Although her eyes were still wrapped in bandages—In a few hours, they would regenerate.
Her sight would be restored.
That could've been done more easily with the Blacklight virus—
But it was incompatible with the Gastrea virus.
Until further experimentation, it wasn't worth turning a loli into a test subject.
Once the beggar loli sat back up from the table—Midori finally let out a breath of relief. Haruto took off his surgical gloves and turned to her.
"Fuse Midori, right? I'm Haruto—your Promoter. Let's get along from now on."
Hearing that, Midori snapped back to reality.
She gave a polite bow.
"It's my honor. Please take care of me, Haruto-sama."
But she bowed too hastily—
And her big witch hat slipped off her head.
A pair of fluffy, white cat ears were suddenly revealed.
Midori panicked, quickly picked up her hat—And buried her entire head inside it. After a long moment, her eyes peeked out from under the hat.
"H-Haruto-sama... d-did you just see that?"
Those cat ears—clear signs of her virus corrosion rate—were something Midori never wanted anyone to see.
Because most people—
Hated her for them.
But Haruto simply nodded calmly.
"Yeah. They're very cute."
That made the already-panicked Midori utterly flustered.
But it was obvious—
She let out a huge sigh of relief.
Thank goodness... I wasn't hated...
Haruto, too, was in a good mood.
He didn't expect that the Initiator assigned to him would be this little loli.
In the original story, Fuse Midori didn't get much screen time, but she left a deep impression.
This cat-eared loli—Despite her gentle nature, she never feared danger. She was surprisingly strong-willed.
Even with a dangerously high corrosion rate—
She always faced life with optimism.
And this bright, adorable girl—In the original plot, after a brutal battle, her virus level exceeded the limit.
Before turning into a Gastrea—
She asked Rentaro to kill her.
Even in death—
She tried her best to make it easy on everyone else.
Tch. This bleak world doesn't deserve such a cute and kind-hearted loli.
"Um... may I ask—who is she?"
Midori's cat ears twitched, her face a little red. Realizing Haruto was still looking at her, she quickly changed the topic.
She was very curious.
About the other Cursed Child.
After all, a Promoter was only assigned one Initiator. Outside of that partnership, most people didn't interact with Cursed Children at all.
If anything, they avoided them like the plague.
Haruto gave a quick rundown of the beggar girl's situation.
After hearing it, Midori fell silent.
As a Cursed Child herself, the fact she was chosen to be an Initiator was already considered a blessing.
She had seen many others who never got that chance—
Suffering in misery.
Even so, every time she heard of one like that—Midori couldn't help but feel pain for them. Even though her own life wasn't that much better.
"Then... Haruto-sama, are you planning to keep her?"
Midori finally caught on, sounding a little shocked.
She had never met someone who treated Cursed Children this well.
Haruto reached out and patted her head.
Hmm. It didn't feel that good through the pointy hat.
"Midori... are you jealous?"
Midori: !
Her heart pounded, and her face flushed pink.
Seeing her stunned expression—Haruto turned toward the other little loli.
"You'll stay with me for now. Also... you don't have a name yet."
After being tortured and abandoned by her own mother—
That woman hadn't even bothered to give her a name.
"We'll call you Ai, for now. As for your family name... take mine. From now on, you'll be Ai Takamine."
Haruto smiled gently.
(A/N: This blind loli indeed had no name in the original. But her voice actress is Ai Kayano, so...)
(T/N: Counting this one, how many Ai do yall think is running around on this fic?)