Instinctively, she held the girl a little tighter, as if worried the girl might slip out of her arms.
In truth... she only wished the girl's lips and nose would shift position just a fraction, even a touch higher, pressed against her collarbone—that would be fine.
But—
Tsukiyomi Fuya had clearly misjudged her own figure.
The woman's graceful curves were squeezed into an awkward shape.
And Su Yuzu... still simply curled up, seemingly docile, in Tsukiyomi Fuya's arms, letting Tsukiyomi carry her sideways.
For Su Yuzu, being cradled like this in someone's arms was a rare experience.
What could she do—her own Sister was a frail little fool.
The last time Su Yuzu had been carried this way, it had been Sakura Mai, and the time before that... she'd nearly fainted, carried in Kujou Katora's arms.
As for Soga Yura.
In Su Yuzu's memory there was only the image of herself carrying her exhausted Sister to the bath, her Sister's soft, childish whimpers like those of a little kitten.
The reverse had seemingly never happened.
But long, long ago—when she herself had fallen into darkness, she seemed to have seen Soga Yura, trembling, her little face smeared with tears.
A young child, wiping her eyes while stumbling shakily toward her.
And in the end, gathering her into her arms.
Su Yuzu tilted her little head.
Holding Su Yuzu in a princess carry, Tsukiyomi Fuya looked down at the girl in her arms, her movements seeming to stiffen even more.
Soon—Tsukiyomi Fuya had already carried Yuzu back near the temporary dock where the research vessel was moored.
Though Tsukiyomi Fuya's flight with Yuzu looked as graceful as a butterfly beneath the moon, her speed was extraordinary, like a meteor slicing through the night sky.
Su Yuzu could already see the erosion domain unfolding near the dock.
Tsukiyomi Fuya lowered her head and whispered by the girl's ear.
"Those mermaids are all mental-type creatures."
"They can plant a brand in their prey's mind."
"No doubt the moment that researcher observed the mermaids, he was already enthralled by them—"
"He may have come to his senses afterward... but the mermaids had already planted a brand in his mind."
"These mermaids came chasing that mark, to savor this feast."
The sea wind howled fiercely along the nighttime shore, all the more so during such high-speed flight.
Though Tsukiyomi Fuya used gravity manipulation and the power of celestial bodies to sustain their body warmth, keeping herself and Su Yuzu from being turned into "fools" by the night wind, still... to let the girl hear her soft words, leaning close to her ear was simpler and more convenient.
Tsukiyomi Fuya could clearly feel the tension in the girl's body pressed against her.
From the occasional romance novels or doujinshi she'd glanced at... this meant Little Yuzu was... reacting?
Just like the way the girl had rested her little head against her chest a moment ago, the air stirred by her breathing brushing across her chest.
Now—Tsukiyomi Fuya had evened the score.
Holding Su Yuzu, Tsukiyomi Fuya gazed at the erosion domain below them.
It was the first time Su Yuzu had looked at the erosion domain from such an angle.
The dark red erosion domain looked even more somber and heavy beneath the color of the night, and... its edges didn't look like a perfect hemisphere either.
Instead—the dark red domain formed by layers of overlapping erosion domains looked more like a flower of death blooming in the dark.
And at this moment, the research vessel was trapped deep within the pistil of this flower of death.
A faint, pale yellow glow shimmered around the research vessel.
The beams of light that should have pierced the night like a lighthouse were confined near the research vessel, holding off the mermaids' mental assault.
Researchers in combat suits stood on the deck, wielding special firearms, driving back the mermaids trying to swarm the research vessel shot by shot.
Su Yuzu didn't have Soga Yura's keen ability to sense minds.
Even so, she could tell that the number of mermaids here was no fewer than those that had hunted them earlier—if anything... more.
The good news, though, was that Su Yuzu still didn't sense the aura of any Fourth Sequence mermaid.
That was normal enough.
It was much like the vast, chasm-wide gulf between the Third Sequence and the Fourth Sequence among Espers.
The same held true for the Beasts and the Aberrants.
Wild Fourth Sequence Beasts and Aberrants were rare as well.
Even in the game's World Boss battle—though Kujou Iruka's power was terrifying enough to almost equal an incarnation of the Abyss Will, even reaching the legendary Seventh Sequence—
even so, among her foot soldiers the number of Aberrants above the Fourth Sequence remained few.
Precious few.
And quite a few of them were her former classmates.
Holding Su Yuzu, Tsukiyomi Fuya dove down, plunging straight toward the Catastrophe Domain.
Su Yuzu saw... that around Tsukiyomi Fuya there seemed to exist an invisible domain.
That dark red flower blooming in the night, the very instant Tsukiyomi Fuya lowered herself and plunged into the erosion domain, opened inch by inch—
Or rather... crumbled apart.
The researchers aboard the ship saw the night sky again, and the moon more dazzling than the night, and the bashful girl cradled in the moon's arms.
Ms. Tsukiyomi?
Some of them had never in their lives seen Tsukiyomi Fuya hold anyone.
But... the way Tsukiyomi Fuya held the girl now, the way she gazed at her, was truly gentle.
Holding Su Yuzu, Tsukiyomi Fuya came to stand at the edge of the ship's railing.
Even now... she still hadn't set the girl down.
Whether she'd forgotten, or... simply wanted to hold the girl a little longer.
Tsukiyomi Fuya gazed at the mermaids.
The mermaids glaring hungrily from the sea lifted their heads too, gazing back at Tsukiyomi Fuya and Su Yuzu.
These mermaids seemed not to have received that Throne's protection.
They bared their seductive forms.
Their Dark golden vertical pupils seemed clouded with an erotic allure, making one want to leap into the sea for a bout of pleasure, not caring even if one were drained dry.
But... to Tsukiyomi Fuya's eyes, such alluring mermaids were nothing more than a pack of wanton, evil Beasts.
Over this gaudy, blatant seduction, she preferred the stars.
And besides—she looked down at Yuzu, who watched the mermaids with the wide-eyed wonder of a curious child.
Feeling a little jealous?
Tsukiyomi Fuya held the girl tighter. "Yuzu, don't let yourself be tempted."
As if!
Su Yuzu was simply admiring the view.
In the game, facing this group of mermaids, she'd definitely have lost on purpose a few times to enjoy a few rounds of defeat CG.
But in reality... better not.
Tsukiyomi Fuya looked down at the pack of mermaids with something close to contempt.
From the corner of her eye she caught the girl in her arms turning her gaze back to her, and for some reason a fierce sense of accomplishment surged up in her.
That was how it should be!
Little Yuzu's eyes should be on her!
Wasn't she far prettier than those mermaids?
What was so great about bare bodies—she had so many lovely clothes she could wear for Little Yuzu to see!
But Tsukiyomi Fuya probably never guessed... that what Su Yuzu was actually thinking was—
Why, even now, did Tsukiyomi-senpai's bearing look exactly like the Starry Night Queen from the Recruit screen, the one who gazed down upon the earth, down upon her.
Why hadn't she managed to Recruit Tsukiyomi-senpai yet?
The more one craved something, the harder it was to obtain?
Then she... certainly wanted it more.
Su Yuzu nestled into Tsukiyomi Fuya's arms, and Tsukiyomi Fuya... held the girl a little tighter too.
Towering over the night, Tsukiyomi Fuya's long hair whipped wildly.
Above... hung a brilliant, luminous full moon.
Her cream-white wool coat snapped in the sea wind, and Tsukiyomi Fuya's pale purple eyes gazed tenderly at the girl in her arms, then... regarded the mermaids in the sea with contempt from the corner of her eye.
The woman looked like a goddess.
When Tsukiyomi Fuya descended and tore through the erosion domain, the mermaids had already sensed something was wrong.
They dove into the sea to flee, but it was already too late.
Tsukiyomi Fuya seemed to murmur softly by the ear of the girl in her arms, yet that voice rang clear and resonant, as if it would pierce through the night, through the very stars.
Su Yuzu saw a whole sky of stars falling to the earth.
Countless drifting motes of light, the sea's surface trembling, hundreds upon thousands of starlights swallowing the night, swallowing the world.
She said...
"All celestial bodies revolve around my will."
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