"What's wrong with you? Not apologising for what you did is bad enough, but actually trying to run away? Honestly, could you at least show some responsibility?"
Eriri held Chika Fujiwara's hand while complaining irritably.
Though neither was particularly athletic, thanks to the physical enhancements from their Familia contract, Eriri had easily caught up with Chika and apprehended the mischievous girl.
"I'm really sorry," Chika whimpered apologetically, like a punished child. "I won't do it again!"
"There was going to be a next time?"
Eriri sighed in exasperation, then turned to glance at the pavilion in the distance, muttering:
"Honestly, I've completely lost my mood now. Why did I even chase after you in the first place?"
Having caught her only to be faced with that pitiful expression made it impossible to scold her properly. In the end, she'd just wasted time and energy for nothing. What had she been thinking?
"Eh? Really? You're not going to punish me?" Instantly shedding her pitiful act, Chika perked up: "Eriri is such a bi~g softie!"
'This girl...' Eriri's face twitched, clearly dumbfounded by Chika's lightning-fast mood swing.
"Great, because of someone like you wasting my time... Now, when we go back, Luo Shu and that gloomy woman are definitely going to tease me about this."
As she spoke, Eriri turned to glance at the pavilion—and froze.
"What what? Tease you about what? Huh? Why'd you stop talking?"
Noticing Eriri's sudden silence, Chika turned to follow her gaze towards the pavilion.
Then came an astonished "Wow!"
"Wowee, someone's kissing in public!! So bold!!"
Chika Fujiwara immediately covered her eyes, but her fingers were spread wide apart, her face flushed with astonishment:
"Wait a minute, something doesn't seem right?"
"Where did that girl who looks like a cow come from?"
"I don't know..." Eriri replied with a dumbfounded expression. "I just turned around to chase after you for a second, and suddenly this huge person appeared?"
Watching the woman in the distance who seemed to be holding Luo Shu's face as if devouring him, Eriri fell into deep contemplation.
...
Under the pavilion.
Kisara, startled out of her daze after two or three seconds, suddenly snapped awake. With a wave of her hand, a crimson long-bladed weapon appeared in her grasp.
"How dare you..."
"How dare you do this right in front of me..."
"Die, you damned thieving cat!"
With a swift motion, the crimson blade sliced through the air like a scarlet crescent moon, aiming straight for Aya Natsume.
In that instant, Aya Natsume tilted her head slightly, her golden, serpent-like vertical pupils locking onto the approaching blade.
Yet despite seeing the attack coming, she made no move to evade.
Noticing this, Kisara's eyes hardened with fury as she abruptly increased the force behind her strike.
Just then—
Snap!
Maya Natsume had somehow appeared between the three of them, her hands clapping against either side of the blade to catch it mid-air using the Empty-Handed Blade Catch technique.
"Tsk! Close call, close call, close call!! I almost didn't make it... And this force is incredible... Pure brute strength?"
As she spoke, the shoulders of Maya's black kimono tore apart with a ripping sound, the fabric shredding into tatters and leaving the garment sleeveless.
Staring at the visibly enraged Kisara before her, Maya's face was a picture of astonishment:
"I'd already concentrated Qi into both hands, yet I still nearly failed to block it?"
Meanwhile, the halted Kisara looked down at Maya with hollow, lifeless eyes and asked:
"What are you doing?"
In that moment, noticing the signs of Kisara preparing to strike again, Maya hurriedly explained:
"I just wanted to say there's no need for all this trouble."
The next second—
A leg shot out and kicked Aya Natsume square in the torso, sending the startled girl flying. Then, with another step, Maya leapt into the air, locking her elbow around Aya's neck before landing with her captive on the pavilion's wooden railing.
The entire sequence flowed like water—almost before anyone could blink, Maya had Aya in a chokehold, standing precariously on the railing.
"This woman..."
Witnessing this, Kisara's eyelid twitched involuntarily.
Though Maya's strength and speed were inferior to hers, the sheer skill displayed in that instant left Kisara secretly impressed.
Truthfully, Kisara had already noticed earlier that Aya's vital points were all reinforced with that life energy called Qi—clearly prepared to endure Kisara's slash without relinquishing her grip.
That was precisely why Kisara had abruptly increased her force mid-swing, aiming to shatter the defence and grievously wound Aya.
Yet compared to Kisara's brute force approach, Maya's kick had been executed with masterful precision.
Not only had it struck Aya's weak point in defence, but it had also capitalised on the discontinuity in her reaction movements, allowing Maya to seize her neck and subdue her instantly.
Though it might have been possible due to familial familiarity with each other's movement patterns, the displayed skill still put Kisara on high alert.
Just then, Maya Natsume used her fist like a drill, vigorously grinding against her younger sister's head:
"You little brat... What on earth were you doing just now? Have you lost your mind?"
Aya Natsume yelped in pain, desperately slapping her sister's arm, yet couldn't break free for the moment.
Meanwhile, Utaha Kasumigaoka, who'd regained her composure after Aya's restraint, glanced at Luo Shu with an expression caught between amusement and reproach:
"How did that feel, my esteemed Director?"
"Being forcefully kissed by a beautiful girl must have been quite the experience, no?"
Wiping his mouth, Luo Shu shot her a look and said flatly:
"Experience my foot. She even knocked my teeth."
"This girl had zero technique, just clung to me and gnawed like mad."
"Huh?" Utaha Kasumigaoka instinctively stepped forward upon hearing this, concerned: "Are you alright then?"
"I'm fine, just received some inexplicable information..."
Luo Shu explained before raising his head to look at Aya Natsume, who was being restrained.
Noticing Luo Shu's gaze, Aya Natsume turned her head and met his eyes, immediately breaking into a silly grin upon doing so.
At this moment, Luo Shu sighed helplessly:
"Does the Natsume family have some technique where information can only be transmitted through kissing?"
"After that kiss just now, a flood of images rushed into my mind. What kind of move is this?"
"Eh?" Megumi Kato seemed surprised: "So Miss Aya did that to pass along intelligence?"
"Is... that really it?" Kisara loosened her grip on the sword hilt and turned to Maya Natsume, asking irritably: "But why did it have to be done this way?"
Hearing this, Maya Natsume blinked in surprise before replying oddly:
"That technique you mentioned does exist in our family... seems it's a method only usable by Dragon Eye bearers..."
"But... this technique should work with just physical contact?"
"So..." Utaha Kasumigaoka looked at Aya Natsume with a strange expression.
"She did it on purpose," Megumi added quietly.
Hearing this, Luo Shu also gave Aya Natsume a complicated look:
"So why did you do this?"
When Luo Shu asked this, though restrained, Aya Natsume still tried her best to greet him formally:
"This unworthy woman humbly requests your guidance and care for the rest of my life, Shu-kun!"
Instantly, Kisara raised her sword, eyes empty as she declared:
"I should just cut her down."