[Ding—]
[Part.5 - The Flowers of Evil.]
[Mission Requirement: Find Kirishika.]
[Mission Complete.]
[Mission Reward Obtained: Ten-Pull Search Voucher.]
[…]
Just as Su Yuzu turned her gaze toward that reef flat still some distance away.
The familiar voice of the mechanical woman rang out beside her ear almost in the same instant.
The mission to find Kirishika was complete.
Su Yuzu looked at the dark-gold card that had appeared in her Material Inventory, a gilded card marked with a conspicuous "x10."
Su Yuzu never would have imagined it.
Kirishika had been that close to them all along.
What's more, earlier, when they'd returned to the base from the research vessel, they had practically passed right by that reef flat on the way back.
And yet neither Su Yuzu nor Soga Yura, with her keen senses, had noticed Kirishika.
Just the same as before, when Su Yuzu and Feng Ke, right before the battle broke out, had failed to notice Kirishika standing at the mouth of the street.
"Kiri… Kirishika!?"
The little rabbit, who had informed the researcher sisters at the base and asked them to alert that girl, the very first one to spot a trace of Kirishika, froze on the spot.
That girl… was the very Kirishika whom Yuzu-senpai and Sister Yura had been searching for all this time!?
The little rabbit's eyes went wide. She felt as if she'd missed something terribly important.
If, back when they were returning, she had gone to alert Yuzu-senpai right then, wouldn't she have earned a reward from Yuzu-senpai!?
A pat on the head, a cheek pinch, all of that would be nothing.
Even… even pushing it a little further, hoping to be held in Yuzu-senpai's arms to sleep, probably wouldn't have been a problem either… right?
The little rabbit felt at once as if she'd let a hundred million slip through her fingers.
No—
Compared to Yuzu-senpai, what was a hundred million?
A mere little goal, a hundred-million bit of pocket change, that's all.
Mm. As a five-star character gifted to the player at the very start of the game, the reason the little rabbit was so beloved by Su Yuzu, aside from the little rabbit's own excellent figure and her CGs and Interact scenes being pure enough, alluring enough, and useful enough… there was one other important point: the little rabbit's own wealthy-heiress attribute.
Unlike the Soga clan and the Sakura family, those old-line aristocrats who prized martial prowess and bloodline above all.
The little rabbit's family was newly risen commercial nobility of a business empire.
To put it crudely… the reason the little rabbit's father chose to send her into Keigunen Private Academy, which was 'particularly harsh toward Healing-type Espers,' and had her attend the banquet hosted by the Soga clan, was partly out of a wish to bring the little rabbit's social circle closer to old-line aristocrats like the Soga clan.
Even her roommate had been a carefully selected Saintess of the Holy Royal Court… When the little rabbit suddenly went to seek out a non-Esper, a girl who at the time was even living in somewhat straitened circumstances, to learn mixed martial arts, how could the Saotome family possibly have failed to notice?
It was only… that after investigating the girl's surname, the Saotome family let the little rabbit 'have her way.'
Even if she was the second young miss whom the Soga clan didn't esteem, she was still one of the Soga clan.
The Saotome family had even made up their minds… that if the little rabbit could reenact that fairy tale from years ago, when Sakura Koishin abducted Tennoji Jurei.
The Saotome family wouldn't mind holding a wedding of the century to fit this era.
The little rabbit had even already decided what surname her future firstborn would carry and what it would be named.
And then… she watched Yuzu-senpai and Sister Yura sprint off toward that reef flat, and the hand she'd reached out halfway drew back again, aggrieved.
Her merit… had just been delayed like this… had even slipped away.
But, if she told Senpai… that she had actually discovered it long ago and simply hadn't said anything.
Would Senpai punish her?
Just like how Senior Sakura had been punished, being bullied until she couldn't even cry out loud, that would be fine too!
The little rabbit's imagination ran wild.
And then, she saw Yuzu-senpai halt in her tracks, turn back, and cup her little face.
Su Yuzu knew, of course, that it was the little rabbit who had told the teachers there was still a girl in a very dangerous area who hadn't evacuated, that it was the little rabbit who had discovered Kirishika.
Su Yuzu vigorously kneaded and toyed with the little rabbit's slightly plump, soft and tender little face, the one that felt the best to squeeze out of all the girls.
"Yukina really is my lucky star—"
Bringing Saotome Yukina along this time really had been the right call.
The little rabbit's 'Dragon King' Talent was, after all, a Talent with a luck rating that broke the mold.
Under the little rabbit's almost disbelieving gaze, Su Yuzu planted a quick peck right on her cheek.
The little rabbit could barely even stand. Like Sakura Mai, she had to lean against the wall to hold herself upright.
The girl's little face began to burn and redden almost in an instant.
The little rabbit gently stroked the citrus fragrance lingering on her cheek… Tonight… tonight she wasn't washing her face!
Only then did Su Yuzu and Soga Yura sprint toward the reef flat.
Soga Yura silently watched the exchange between Su Yuzu and Saotome Yukina, the girl's expression even carrying a trace of jealousy.
Still… she understood that this tiny bit of reward was really nothing to fault.
After all, the little rabbit's discovery might well change the perilous situation before them.
How strange… even her own mental power hadn't noticed Sister Kirishika sitting on the reef flat.
So how had that little rabbit, one who ate from her own doorstep, managed to find her?
Purely by luck?
But sometimes that really was the truth of it.
The sea's surface was trembling.
Beneath the black curtain of night, streak after streak of dazzling fireflies slid down from the horizon.
Su Yuzu saw the figure of a woman hovering in midair.
Tsukiyomi Fuya stood alone barring the way of the tide. Against the surging sea her figure looked so small, and yet so towering.
Hundreds, thousands of those fireflies plunged into the sea, kicking up waves that seemed in no way inferior to that surge of tide.
The whole ocean was dyed a near-gorgeous star-blue.
Su Yuzu heard, echoing across the bay… the weeping that belonged to the mermaids.
This was a Fifth Sequence Esper.
And not even a combat-oriented Fifth Sequence Esper at that.
Beyond the Fourth Sequence, the gap between each of the Sequences was like a heaven-spanning chasm.
If the one who ascended to the Fifth Sequence at this moment were Soga Yura… Su Yuzu glanced at the girl panting beside her, and under the girl's expectant, bashful gaze, scooped her up in her arms and leapt down from the high platform near the base.
If the one who ascended to the Fifth Sequence at this moment were Soga Yura, perhaps she too could be as dashing as Tsukiyomi-senpai.
A single look, and a thousand armies and ten thousand horses would retreat.
A single look, and that jungle of fiends would fall under "Domination."
Su Yuzu bounded across the reefs with Soga Yura cradled in her arms.
The girl in the white gauze dress slowly rose to her feet.
Tiny sprays of foam curled and rolled. Even now, though the girl had stood up, the seawater still came up over her thighs.
"Long time no see~"
"Little~ Yu~ zu~"
It seemed to be the first time Su Yuzu had ever heard her speak.
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