She sheepishly tried to pry her hand off the base of Kujou Iruka's wing.
Since Kujou Iruka's wings weren't some vital spot you could break in a single strike, and touching them only stoked the woman's surging fighting spirit, then... keeping a grip on Kujou Iruka's feathers was nothing but asking for trouble.
"Force of habit is going to get me killed!"
Su Yuzu wailed inwardly.
Grab a cat by the base of its tail, grab an angel by the base of its wings, and you have the thing completely at your mercy — who made that up?
Had any of them ever actually tried it!?
But—
What Su Yuzu never expected was that the moment she sheepishly let go of Kujou Iruka's wing, Kujou Iruka's left hand closed around her right.
Now she'd done it—
Both of Su Yuzu's hands were pinned.
If she wanted to turn this around, the only weapon left was a headbutt.
But... however good Su Yuzu's physical conditioning might be, she was no match for the Seventh Sequence, the "The Abyss of Eternal Smiles."
Su Yuzu had a feeling that if she slammed her skull into that woman, the next thing she saw when she woke up would be the sun rather than a ceiling.
Although... in a situation like this, if Kujou Iruka decided to carry her out of Private Keigunen Academy, she didn't have much room to resist anyway.
Should she just unfold the "Seat of Karma" and fight Kujou Iruka to the death?
Never mind whether the "Seat of Karma" would even be enough to bring Kujou Iruka down.
A standoff between one "Throne" and another was no longer a simple contest of raw strength. It was a collision of authority.
And even supposing she unfolded the "Seat of Karma" and got lucky enough to win—
the Calamity Aura a Seventh Sequence Aberrant unleashed in a single instant would be enough to contaminate the entire academy and every residential block nearby.
And then what would she do?
Devour every last one of them?
Or sit and wait for The Empire's Assault Department, or the Fourth Action Division, to show up and purge the place?
All Su Yuzu could do was pick a different battlefield and take her chances with Kujou Iruka there.
But Kujou Iruka clearly hadn't trapped both of Su Yuzu's hands just to enjoy the sight of her squirming in her arms.
Her left hand gripped Su Yuzu's, then guided it back onto her wing.
"If you like touching them—"
"—then go right on touching."
Kujou Iruka's dark golden vertical pupils were brimming with the flavor of a game played purely for fun.
She really did love speaking right against this girl's ear.
So much fun!
Far too much fun!!!
Inside her head, a furious, grief-stricken Su Yuzu had already pinned Kujou Iruka's skull down and was cramming "Combat Records" into her mouth by the fistful.
"Choke on them!!!"
The reality, however, was that she was the one being held by the throat.
So Su Yuzu recited it to herself instead: a gentleman's revenge keeps for ten years!
Sooner or later she would sweet-talk Kujou Iruka into being Recruited.
And then... and then... just watch how she paid it back, piece by little piece.
Cramming her with "Combat Records" wouldn't be enough, either. She'd do it right in front of Kujou Katora, so Kujou Iruka would have to keep up her dignity as an older sister while her wings trembled hard enough to shake every feather loose.
Sadly... standing in front of Kujou Iruka right now, all Su Yuzu could do was shake her head as hard as she could. "Don't like it, don't like it."
Kujou Iruka's face went cold.
"You don't like it?"
Su Yuzu felt the wings snap upright, every feather standing stiff as an arrow — or a blade.
She remembered the razor-edged feather she'd seen the first time she stood in Yamabuki Nanako's Laboratory.
One flick of those wings now and she'd likely be snapped in half at the waist, forced to unfold the power of her "Throne" just to survive it.
In the middle of the city—
Inside a school—
One "Throne" squaring off against another "Throne."
Just picturing it made Su Yuzu feel ill.
She even thought of that classic line from Ultraman next door: "Just look at what you've been protecting!"
And the most terrifying part was that she... she couldn't even win.
Su Yuzu slowly brought her hand back to Kujou Iruka's wing. "I love it!!!"
Thank goodness — the feathers were soft again under her fingers.
"Good girl~~~" Kujou Iruka laughed, thoroughly delighted.
Su Yuzu kept adding line after line to Kujou Iruka's tab.
Run with the crowd long enough... and sooner or later you pay up.
Except... a question surfaced out of nowhere. Then... what about her?
And the chibi Su Yuzu in her mind burst into tears.
See? She was already paying off the debt.
"Sister Kujou…"
"No—"
"Sister Iruka, what did you come to the Tokyo metropolitan area for?" Su Yuzu grabbed for a change of subject.
In the game, Kujou Iruka's full-scale invasion had been for Kujou Katora's sake.
Kujou Katora, swept up in the "Eye of Insight," had fled the shores of Lake Kasumigaura, her fate unknown, in danger of plunging into the Edge of Aberration at any moment.
Judging by how badly that damaged music box could shake Kujou Iruka's fighting spirit and even her performance in battle—
even after falling into the Edge of Aberration, Kujou Iruka still cared a great deal about Kujou Katora.
But... what was the reason this time!?
Kujou Katora wasn't in any danger whatsoever. If anything, meeting Su Yuzu had buried every worry she'd been carrying around.
Under Hayabusa's attentive feeding, Kujou Katora had plainly filled out, pale and soft and round.
The I-shaped weapon strap around her thigh used to look merely dashing, biting into the flesh just slightly. Now it cut in with exactly the kind of unmistakable line you'd find in an ecchi illustration.
So... so... so why did Kujou Iruka still have to come to the Tokyo metropolitan area?
Fine, come to the Tokyo metropolitan area. But why come straight for her?
"This is my hometown, after all—" Those dark golden vertical pupils were practically pressed against Su Yuzu's face; when Kujou Iruka blinked, Su Yuzu could have sworn the woman's long lashes brushed across her skin.
The tone was all nostalgia, and yet the words landed cold.
As though she loathed this place.
Loathed this land.
As though she longed to see every inch of it turned into Purgatory.
"That dull creature's leftover Word of Command has finally faded. Is there a problem with me coming back to the Tokyo metropolitan area for a look around?"
"None!!!"
"None at all!!!"
Su Yuzu was on the verge of tears.
You are the noble Seventh Sequence, you are magnificent, you are invincible.
Who would dare have an opinion?
"Besides—"
Kujou Iruka's left hand lifted and stroked Su Yuzu's cheek.
Even the pitch-black wings at her waist rose with it, as if to fill the whole corridor.
"I also wanted to see—"
"To see—"
"—the master who made my weak, adorable Little Sister forget even her resentment toward her own Sister, until all that girl wanted was to be someone's dog…"
"—and find out just how sweet... how tempting she really is."
"Don't you agree—"
"Su~" "Yu~" "zu."
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