Hundreds upon thousands of shafts of starlight fell upon the surface of the sea.
The fireflies born from those stars' phantoms dyed the sea into an almost resplendent star-blue.
The next second—
The fireflies that swallowed the ocean stirred up boundless raging waves.
The sea heaved up a towering wall reaching the heavens, and the white breakers crashed outward beyond the bay.
But this was not the end of Tsukiyomi Fuya's attack. On the contrary—
This was merely the beginning of Tsukiyomi Fuya's bombardment.
The stellar fireflies falling from the sky, once they plunged into the sea, latched onto the mermaids who were trying to dive down and escape. Undercurrents churned beneath the water and the mermaids struggled with all their might, but how could their strength ever hope to move the stars?
The next second—
Beneath Tsukiyomi Fuya's gaze, the dazzling multitude of stars exploded with a roar.
The stars erupted.
Su Yuzu watched the resplendent starlight before her.
She watched the countless motes of faint light mingling together... the Catastrophe aura that slowly leaked out from the death of the "Beast," drifting upward as it prepared to return to the Edge of Aberration.
She seemed to be standing within a galaxy.
And also as if within a forest of fireflies.
The pattering sea rain thrown up by the explosion came pouring down. Even a vessel like the survey ship, already docked with its force field deployed, pitched and swayed among the wind and waves from the aftershock of Tsukiyomi Fuya's stellar bombardment.
But... facing this sea rain and raging surge, the willowy woman stood at the ship's rail, the girl cradled crosswise in her arms, still as unmoving as a mountain.
Su Yuzu even saw the sea rain hurtling toward them freeze in midair, held there by Tsukiyomi Fuya.
At first they were droplets like beads of water.
Then they became a curtain wall of running water.
Sensing that it was all over, Su Yuzu let out a soft breath in front of Tsukiyomi Fuya. "Tsukiyomi-senpai..."
"Ah... ah..." Only then did Tsukiyomi Fuya seem to hurriedly come back to herself, and she set Su Yuzu down again.
After she'd set the girl down, she pressed a hand to her chest without thinking.
Her fingertips even felt somewhat damp from the girl's long, drawn-out breathing.
Tsukiyomi Fuya looked at the girl in front of her and was suddenly seized by a little regret for having blocked those winds and waves.
Perhaps being soaked to the bone right now would have been better than her present state.
And besides—
Tsukiyomi Fuya looked at the girl standing before her, head bowed.
Perhaps that way she might have glimpsed a rather different sort of view.
Wiping away with her fingertips the faint moisture that seemed to carry a citrus scent, Tsukiyomi Fuya swiftly recovered her composed air.
She began directing the researchers to clean up the mess.
Slowed by the tides raised earlier by the stellar eruption, Soga Yura and the others' fishing boat came back a little late.
But... thanks to the shelter of the breakwater, the boat hadn't run into any mishap. Otherwise—
Akiyama Yo and Unohana Chiyo would probably have each had to drag someone back through the water.
Soga Yura's state looked rather bedraggled. She had no ability to manipulate gravity the way Tsukiyomi Fuya could, and against the sudden wind and waves, the girl had been battered soaking wet.
The silk dress clung tight to the girl's body, and beneath the white silk fabric even the color of her skin showed faintly through.
Of course—
Ms. Unohana and the little rabbit weren't faring any better.
Only Ms. Akiyama, in her amphibious combat suit, looked slightly better off.
But... the combat suit, already so like latex material, seemed to glisten under the ship's lights once soaked through, and the highlights just happened to gather on the woman's most shapely places, or on her thighs.
Its degree of eroticism was in no way inferior to the girls' drenched skirts.
Su Yuzu took Soga Yura to the changing room to change.
Unohana Chiyo and the little rabbit followed along too.
Tsukiyomi Fuya, her clothes neat and dry, lingered where she was, watching the girls' retreating figures, and those pale-purple eyes suddenly blinked.
Recalling how Little Yuzu's body had abruptly gone taut in her arms earlier, Tsukiyomi Fuya fell to wondering whether blocking the wind and waves had actually been the wrong thing to do.
[Strange... just what am I thinking?]
[Never mind—]
Tsukiyomi Fuya turned and headed toward the control room.
First get a read on the situation, then brew Little Yuzu and the others a cup of black tea to warm them up.
Back from the wind and waves, Soga Yura trembled beside Su Yuzu.
Her constitution had never been good to begin with.
Add to that how long she'd stayed soaked to the skin, and what's more... though it was summer now, the night wind off the sea was still bleak and cold.
Su Yuzu really couldn't stand to watch, so she scooped Soga Yura up crosswise into her arms.
This familiar posture stirred some memory in Soga Yura, and with a touch of shame she curled up shyly in Su Yuzu's arms.
Breathing in the soft fragrance from the girl, Soga Yura felt her whole body ease.
And then... she caught that rich, cloyingly sweet gardenia scent on Yuzu.
—Ms. Tsukiyomi.
The little hand Soga Yura had fisted in the cloth at Yuzu's shoulder gripped even tighter all at once.
When they reached the changing room, Soga Yura instinctively went to tug at Yuzu's clothes, signaling for Yuzu to put her down.
This place was nothing like the Soga family home.
Here... there was also Sakura Mai, and Saotome Yukina, and Ms. Akiyama.
But Su Yuzu wasn't about to bother with all that.
How long would it take if she left Soga Yura to come around at her own pace?
They'd already lost more than enough time getting back from the wind and waves.
Under the gaze of a faintly bashful Sakura Mai and the little rabbit—whose pink-blue eyes had gone wide and whose very ahoge was speeding up like mad—Yuzu... Yuzu-senpai carried Sister Yura straight into the shower room.
The little rabbit stared at the transparent lower section of the shower room.
Even by now, Senpai still hadn't set Sister Yura down.
She watched Sister Yura's clothes get flung onto the shower room's partition one piece at a time, until at last... a soft, tender little toe, all but pointed on tiptoe, came to rest in front of Yuzu-senpai's feet.
The little rabbit's ears shot straight up.
And then her ears seemed to flush red.
In a flash she felt she could picture a little film running over two hours and fifty minutes.
It seemed she had all the material she needed for tonight's dreams.
Tok.
Unohana Chiyo crooked a knuckle and gave a light rap to the little rabbit's forehead, signaling for her to hurry and change out of her soaked dress and go take a hot shower.
Only then did the little rabbit seem to snap out of it, sluggishly peeling off her clothes.
She was so caught up in it that she'd all but gone blank.
The little rabbit was terrified that Teacher Chiyo and Senior Sakura might notice how odd she was acting.
And then... the little rabbit watched Teacher Chiyo step into the shower room in her underclothes, and only then did it suddenly click.
Oh, right—
There was no need for her to strip bare after all.
She glanced toward Senior Sakura without thinking.
Sakura Mai's hand, resting on the buttons at her chest, abruptly went stiff.
It was as if she'd lost a piece of her memory.
After she'd woken in the changing room, Sister Yuzu had already helped her back into her clothes.
Only now... did Sakura Mai notice that beneath her jacket it seemed...
Under the little rabbit's watchful gaze, Sakura Mai walked straight into the shower room in her white blouse.
But how could the girl's reaction possibly escape the little rabbit?
And what could a soaked-through blouse hide?
The little rabbit's eyes went round and wide, feeling as though she alone had been left behind the starting line.
Feeling thoroughly wronged, she went into the shower room along with them.
The little rabbit tried to shut the door.
And then... her pretty blue eyes fell on the broken lock, and she breathed in the lingering, almost sultry floral scent left in the air.
The ahoge on her forehead gave a sudden wobble.
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