If we reach 100 power stones, there will be extra chapters.
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The sound of footsteps echoed along the sidewalk.
The sky still had a grayish hue, but the edges of the clouds were tinted orange by the morning sun's first rays.
Yuu walked beside Yue, and the sound of steps belonged to both of them.
They hadn't said much since leaving home.
Time had started to flow again after being frozen. It was strange to think that, for everyone else, not even one day had passed.
For Yuu, however, several days had gone by.
So, even though he'd spent days visiting other worlds, officially he hadn't "missed class."
Umu. Very convenient.
He wouldn't be seen as a bad student.
"Yuu…"
"Hm?"
"I'll go with you today."
The little vampire had spent most of the previous day locked in her room playing video games, refusing to even step outside. She'd even skipped class.
But this morning, that was the talk from before. With a voice so soft it nearly blended with the wind, she'd decided to attend class.
It wasn't like she cared about human education, nor was it because she wanted to make friends.
During the time she'd spent observing Yuu, Yue had learned a lot about him.
That he was immensely powerful. That his heart was empty. And that, despite his calm smile and his teasing, there was something deeply lonely about him.
She, who knew what loneliness was, understood him.
That's why she'd put aside her gaming addiction. To spend time with Yuu.
'…Um, but after class, I'll make Yuu play with me.'
She nodded discreetly while glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
Yuu turned toward her, and she quickly looked forward again. Her steps were light, but by no means hurried.
He knew she'd been getting more insistent lately about being with him.
She said she wanted to make him fall in love.
She wanted to be the first to make that unchanging heart finally move with love.
Precisely because of that…
'I want to love her.'
Not long after…
Kuoh Academy appeared in the distance. A red-brick building surrounded by well-kept trees.
"Are you sure you didn't wanna stay home and play?"
"No."
Sometimes, Yue was more stubborn than she looked.
'Hah… she'll probably drag me into playing with her later anyway.'
Knowing exactly how his little vampire worked, Yuu sighed inwardly.
As they entered the classroom, the chatter of students stopped for an instant. It didn't take long before everyone noticed the two.
When Yue sat down in the chair next to Yuu's, the girls were the first to approach. They surrounded her with smiles.
"Ah, good morning, Yue-chan!"
"Good morning…"
"You didn't come yesterday, are you okay?"
"Hey, hey, are you close to Izumi-kun?"
After a few questions, one girl finally gathered the courage to ask that directly. It was inevitable that question would come.
After all, everyone had seen them arrive together. They also spent recess together on previous days.
Some of the boys were listening too, pretending to read their books. Just like the girls, they hoped it was all a misunderstanding.
In their imagination, maybe Yue was his cousin, or his neighbor, or some distant relative.
Anything but what they actually suspected.
Yue tilted her head slightly. Then, without a single hint of emotion, she answered.
"Yuu is my partner. I live with him."
With those words, the world seemed to freeze, and lightning struck somewhere in the sky.
"Pa-partner!?"
"Eeeeh!? You live with him!?"
"In the same house!? The same room!?"
While the girls got noisier around Yue…
The boys collapsed into their seats, eyes filled with pure despair.
One of them slammed his fist against the desk.
"Damn you, Izumi! Share some of your luck with us too!"
Even so, none of them dared to approach him for questioning. From the students' point of view, Yuu was a bit hard to deal with. It was like he had an invisible shield around him that kept others away.
Yuu felt their gazes stabbing into his back and face, along with the curses muttered under their breath.
He didn't look up. He kept his eyes on the half-white, half-red sphere floating over his hand. It looked like a Pokéball. He let it fall, caught it, and repeated the motion.
He'd learned to ignore that kind of noise long ago.
The sphere glowed faintly. The next moment, its shape stabilized. He watched it for another moment and murmured softly,
"This should work to catch Rias."
Yue turned to look at him.
Even with the commotion around her, she seemed satisfied.
She'd successfully driven away the girls who wanted to get close to Yuu and crushed the hopes of the boys who wanted to get close to her.
Even if they were persistent, she could easily kick anyone who tried to get too close. It was a privilege she fully intended to use.
Not everyone could read her expression, but Yuu knew her well enough that, even behind her blank face, he could tell there was a faint smile there.
×××
As soon as the bell rang and recess began, Yue approached Yuu's seat.
"Yuu... let's go out."
They walked down Kuoh Academy's hallways, and right then Yuu saw what was inevitably about to happen again.
A girl with long black hair was chasing a brown-haired boy down the corridor. Her voice rose above all the noise.
"Yuki Rito! Stop! You must accept your punishment for your perversion!"
"I-it was an accident, I swear! Please stop chasing me!"
"If you don't want me to chase you, then stop right there!"
"But if I do, Kotegawa-san will crack my skull open!"
Kotegawa Yui chased after him, her face burning with fury, waving a textbook in her hand.
'Yui, huh…'
She had that determination to punish Rito for his supposed transgressions, though honestly, watching her act like that was pretty entertaining.
If this world were actually a novel, Yui would be the kind of character whose sense of moral justice was so naive it became comical.
Rito was just about to run right past Yuu and Yue when...
His foot caught on something, or maybe on nothing at all. It was hard to tell.
Suddenly, his balance vanished, and his body began to lift off the ground.
There was no logic to it. Because he spun backward in a trajectory that would land him right on top of Yui, who was directly behind him.
Ah.
This felt familiar.
"I'm having déjà vu right now…"
Yuu said as he casually reached out a hand. He grabbed Yui by the waist and pulled her out of the way.
Rito's body crashed right where she'd been a second before.
"Kuhagh!"
The sound of Rito hitting the floor echoed down the hallway, followed by a pitiful groan, the kind you only make when something really hurts.
Then came the laughter of the students spilling out for recess.
"That had to hurt!"
"Rito-kun did it again…"
The irony of Rito's life was that his misfortune had become public entertainment.
The event was just funny enough to laugh at, and just embarrassing enough for most people to facepalm.
"…!"
Yui, still in Yuu's arms, blinked a few times as her brain slowly processed what had happened.
When she finally looked at him, when their faces were close enough, she went completely red to the ears.
"Izumi-kun! L-let me go right now!"
Yuu released her waist and shoved his hands into his pockets.
He allowed himself a smile. People around here took that as friendliness.
"Hehe, aren't you gonna praise me for my good reflexes?"
"Ekk! Don't smile so creepily!"
It was clearly not a friendly smile, more like a pervy one. That made Yui back away with a wary look.
Yuu could tell she still remembered the incident from a few days ago when he'd hugged her in front of everyone, and her pride wouldn't let him get away with it twice.
'Hah… young people these days. Don't even know how to say thank you properly.'
"What happened this time?"
When Yuu asked, she immediately pointed at Rito, whose body was still trembling on the floor.
"T-this pervert fell on top of a girl on the stairs! And now he almost fell on me! I'm completely convinced he does it on purpose!"
"I-it wasn't my fault!"
Rito defended himself desperately from the floor, waving his hands.
Yuu placed a hand on his chin, thinking. His golden eyes glowed faintly as he watched him.
He'd seen enough worlds. He'd seen enough realities. That's why he knew exactly what caused it. It wasn't fate, nor bad luck.
"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore."
Yuu said that, and when Yui asked in confusion what he meant, he didn't bother to answer.
What happened next, none of the students in the hallway saw, except Yue.
A white snake slowly emerged from the sleeve of his uniform. Its head was triangular, its scales shone like white pearls, and its eyes were as golden as his.
"…?"
Yue tilted her head and blinked a few times. She realized it resembled the one that lived in the Castle of Fate, the massive serpent that had once intimidated Jasmine. But this one was smaller, though it retained the same power.
The snake glided silently through the air, approaching Rito, who was still lying on the floor, unaware of what was happening.
—Ssshhhh!
Then it opened its mouth, and a golden vortex formed inside its throat. Golden threads began to pour out of Rito's body. They glimmered like sunlight and moved like tentacles, drawn toward the vortex.
Once the threads were completely consumed, the snake closed its mouth and obediently slithered back into Yuu's sleeve before vanishing.
"Wha… what just happened?"
At that moment, Rito stopped groaning. His body completely relaxed. He slowly sat up, like someone waking from a deep dream and unable to remember where they were.
Yui, who'd been about to scold him, noticed his abnormal state and narrowed her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"Eh… yeah, I think I feel better."
He stood up, dusting off his uniform. Then his expression subtly changed.
"Huh? I don't even feel that unlucky anymore."
He was referring to his constant accidental falls that always ended in perverted situations.
Yui turned her head toward Yuu.
He was already walking down the hallway beside Yue, who glanced up at him while walking.
"Mm… Yuu, did you do something to that person?"
She didn't really care what happened to Rito, but she was curious about Yuu's methods.
"Hm? Yeah, my pet ate Rito's 'fate.' Well, I don't really like calling it 'fate.' It's more accurate to say it ate his script."
The thing that made him constantly fall on girls. The thing that made him the accidental pervert. His mark of shame, his very nature, engraved deep within his existence.
He'd extracted it completely from reality.
If you put it as an example, it'd be like someone using an eraser to wipe that whole part off a page.
Rito kept walking down the hall, scratching his head with a lost expression. He felt like something important had vanished from him. But he couldn't remember what it was.
Rito had been freed. From his absurd luck. From his perverted falls and accidents.
It might've looked like a compassionate act, but it wasn't.
It wasn't a matter of morality. Yuu didn't feel morality in that way.
Because Yuu didn't allow that kind of person to exist near the ones he cared about.
And if that meant rewriting, or erasing, someone's script, then Yuu would do exactly that.
×××
I'm feeling better now. Although I wish I had fully recovered already, since it's my birthday.
You can read 15 advanced chapters on my Patreon.
patreon.com/OlwinMoriarty