Faced with Takumi's accusation, Maria didn't even blush.
Instead, she cheerfully called out to the two of them, "Come on, come on! Face the camera properly!"
Takumi stared at her with dark lines practically covering his forehead, only for Maria to respond with complete confidence.
"A moment this important has to be recorded! Yuki-onee-san, you agree, right?"
"I do."
Yuki completely agreed with Maria's reasoning.
Seeing Maria secretly flash a V-sign, Takumi was truly left speechless.
Maria was deliberately leading her on, but Yuki herself enjoyed going along with it. If both of them wanted this, there really wasn't much he could do.
Still, the contrast was incredible.
Normally, Yuki was pure and aloof, yet dressed in this sexy, goddess-like outfit, she looked completely different.
If she wore something like this in private, Takumi would genuinely want to get his hands on her.
The problem was that this wasn't private.
There were way too many people here!
The tightly shut bedroom door had somehow cracked open.
Stare~~~
Tohru, Kurumi, Irina, Asia, Yuki Suou, Zest, Sheila, and Mio were all peeking in.
All those gazes made Takumi's back crawl.
Asia and Zest weren't too bad, and Yuki Suou was purely there to enjoy the show.
As for the others...
Tohru: Damn thieving cat~~
Kurumi: Onee-san... looks really happy?
Sheila: Yes! This is exactly what I wanted to see!
Mio: Hmph! Maria~~ Onii-chan~~
Mio's resentful stare in particular made Takumi feel uncomfortable all over.
He wanted to ignore them, but under circumstances like these, that was simply impossible!
"Ahem~ Yuki, I think you should change into something else. That outfit isn't really appropriate."
"It's not appropriate?"
Yuki frowned slightly.
Seeing Takumi avert his eyes, displeasure immediately appeared on her face.
"If you don't like it, Takumi... then I'll take it off right now."
"Stop! I actually like it quite a lot!"
Takumi sucked in a breath and hurriedly stopped her.
At this rate, he was genuinely afraid things would get out of hand in front of everyone.
He still had some sense of shame here in the main world.
Takumi immediately kicked backward.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
If I can't see them, then I'll just pretend they aren't there.
Having thickened his skin by yet another layer, Takumi stared directly at Yuki.
But he had to admit, that provocative outfit of hers was seriously difficult to endure.
Seeing his body react so honestly, Yuki looked embarrassed, yet there was also a faint sense of satisfaction on her face.
"What is she looking so smug about? Damn it!!"
The whispered complaints of Mio, Tohru, and the others came from behind him again.
Takumi glanced over his shoulder—
And immediately saw that the door had turned transparent.
Damn it!
They're not even pretending anymore!!
Sheila had directly cast transparency magic on the door so everyone could see straight through it!
Takumi's face darkened as an intense sense of embarrassment washed over him.
Yuki, meanwhile, deliberately pushed out her chest after hearing Mio and the others commenting, looking rather proud of herself.
"Ahem~ All right, that's enough. Let's begin. Onii-chan, take out the [Divine Envoy Piece]."
Maria smiled in complete satisfaction and waved at Takumi.
With a dark expression, he condensed a [Divine Envoy Piece] and complained, "We're still ending up using this anyway. Why didn't we just fuse it directly?"
"This is a tradition passed down by our ancestors. How could we simply abandon it?"
Maria answered as though it were obvious.
"Yuki-onee-san also said the traditional contract was better."
Then she grinned.
"Besides, Onii-chan... don't you think doing it this way is more exciting?"
That last part is your real reason, isn't it!?
Takumi couldn't even be bothered exposing her anymore.
Maria wasn't pretending in the slightest at this point.
Every single one of them had laid their cards openly on the table—and in a way like this, no less.
It was embarrassing as hell.
But it was also extremely difficult to refuse.
"All right, Yuki-onee-san. We're starting now~"
"Mm. I'm ready!"
Standing in the center of the room in her sexy goddess-like outfit, Yuki wore an expression of unwavering determination.
Seeing her like that, Takumi took several deep breaths, trying to suppress the pounding in his heart.
But without using any extraordinary abilities, he simply couldn't calm himself down.
And that allowed Yuki to clearly see just how "moved" Takumi was.
Her cheeks reddened, but her expression only grew even more pleased.
As Maria conducted the master-servant contract ritual, the magic circle began to glow.
Under Maria's guidance, the [Divine Envoy Piece] transformed into a stream of light and fused into Yuki's body.
Her power immediately surged—
increasing, skyrocketing, exploding upward.
At the same time, the pattern of a pink collar appeared around her neck.
A magic circle also appeared on the back of Takumi's hand for the first time in quite a while.
The remaining procedure was simple.
As long as Yuki kissed the magic circle, the contract would be complete.
Yet Yuki simply stood there without moving, her expression completely blank.
"Uh... Yuki, do you not know what comes next?"
"I do."
She paused.
"I'm not kissing it."
"...?"
Seeing the confusion on Takumi's face, Yuki let out a soft, coquettish "hmph" before saying quietly, "I decided from the very beginning that I absolutely wouldn't form the contract the normal way!"
As she said this, Yuki turned her gaze toward Mio on the other side of the transparent door.
"I made myself very clear earlier... I don't want to lose to Naruse-san."
After learning from Maria that Mio had formed her contract in an abnormal way and had gone straight to the stomach in one step, Yuki had already made up her mind.
"..."
Mio clenched her fists and wore an expression that clearly said, I knew it.
She already regarded Yuki as a formidable rival, and now she silently declared in her heart:
If you refuse to lose, then I refuse to lose too!!
As the magic circle gradually began to dim, the determination in Yuki's eyes remained unchanged.
She had deliberately questioned Maria about everything earlier.
Yuki believed that her loyalty toward Takumi could never possibly be inferior to Mio's or anyone else's.
But she couldn't deny her own weakness—she knew very little about romance between men and women, and she had started far later than the others.
If she didn't put in several times more effort than Mio, she would never catch up, much less surpass her.
That was why she had asked Maria to help her and had put on such embarrassing lingerie.
But even that wasn't enough.
She still needed to use one final method to close the distance between herself and the others all at once.
"It's okay. Whatever you did with Naruse-san... do the same thing to me."
Yuki slowly walked toward Takumi, her soft voice continuing to reach his ears.
"Please, Takumi... make me yours."
The instant those final words left her lips, the magic circle on the back of Takumi's hand vanished.
In that same moment, an enormous wave of curse power surged out, making Yuki's entire body tremble.
The sweet yet aching sensation made her reach forward and tightly wrap her arms around Takumi.
Then, in the next moment, she took the initiative and lifted her head to kiss him.
Their first kiss after so many years apart felt at once unfamiliar... and yet so deeply familiar.
The scorching heat radiating from Yuki's body became like a fuse—and ignited Takumi completely.
...
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