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"Saeko-senpai, let's head back."
Shuya expanded his En and quickly located Saeko. She was a short distance away, happily hunting down the few stray zombies near the gas station after finishing with the bike.
The second she sensed him coming, Saeko dropped out of combat mode and jogged over, Reizan vanishing in a swirl of purple light.
Because the punks had already cleared the immediate area earlier, there weren't many zombies left. Plus she still hadn't learned En yet, so after two straight days of full-on mowing down hordes, these scattered stragglers barely counted as a warm-up.
She dismissed her blade and asked curiously, "All done?"
"Yeah," Shuya nodded.
Thanks to those "helpful" thugs, he now understood exactly how the zombie virus worked in this world.
It wasn't saliva.
It wasn't the teeth.
The real culprit was a venom sac in the zombie's upper jaw—basically a snake-fang-style gland full of what he'd decided to call "zombie toxin." It only released when the zombie actually bit into flesh, pumping the toxin straight into the wound. Once it hit the bloodstream, it triggered a crazy-fast chemical reaction that spread through the whole body in seconds. Even chopping off the bitten limb instantly wouldn't save you—there was no reaction time at all.
On top of that, the toxin carried a faint, almost unnoticeable hallucinogenic effect. That was why people who got grabbed could barely fight back. The virus eventually concentrated in the brain and rewrote the victim into a mindless monster that only wanted to attack anything alive.
The biggest pain in the ass? The toxin oxidized and lost all potency the moment it touched air.
So yeah—their risk of accidental infection had dropped dramatically. But the way the virus worked left Shuya scratching his head. With so many restrictions (basically only a real bite could spread it), how the hell had the outbreak spiraled out of control worldwide? The only explanation he could think of was straight-up world-will bullshit. He shelved the thought for now.
Extracting the stuff had been a headache too. In the end he'd had to conjure a whole toolkit of medical instruments just to pull a single tiny vial of concentrated zombie toxin from one of the corpses.
Saeko wasn't interested in the science project at all. She gave the vial one quick glance, then looked away.
"So… we heading home now?" she asked.
"Yep. It's getting late. Let's grab lunch, rest up, and I'll take you out for another round this afternoon."
Seeing she didn't care about the toxin, Shuya didn't push it. Even though Transmutation was right next to her Conjuration type and she had the talent for it, he wasn't going to force her down that path. First, she clearly wasn't into it—her heart belonged to killing. Second, training in something that didn't perfectly match your natural type was just wasting potential.
He'd handle it himself.
Thanks to the contracts, he already had access to Specialist (his own), Emission (from Shizuka), and Conjuration (from Saeko). Over time he'd pick up every single Nen type and the talent to match. So no matter which path he ran down, it was never a waste—just six different racetracks, and he got to pick which one to sprint first.
Actually, looking at how fast his Conjuration was improving, Shuya was starting to suspect his real talent was "jack-of-all-trades." In the original series it took Kurapika three whole months to manifest his chains. Shuya had copied Saeko's white-oak practice sword in under two months. And after that first success, everything else came faster and faster—especially after contracting Saeko. It was like his Conjuration had rocket boosters installed.
Take the motorcycle he'd been riding since last night. Give him a few more days and he was confident he could perfectly conjure an exact duplicate. Anything he'd seen and touched in real life? He could manifest it at ridiculous speed.
The catch? He still couldn't create anything with special abilities except Reizan. And even then, because the contract was his ability, the Nen feedback from kills went only to him—not back to Saeko. That was exactly why he kept handing the zombie-slaying duty to her and barely touched them himself. Sure, it fed her bloodlust, but the bigger reason was simple efficiency.
...
"We're back~" Shuya called out as he and Saeko stepped into Rika's house.
"Mii!" "Mii!"
Two fluffy little snowballs immediately bounced over to greet them, tails wagging like crazy.
Shuya scooped both Snowball Beasts up and parked one on each shoulder, striking a cheap knockoff Sage Mode pose. Honestly, it looked way better on him than on the old toad sage.
With two adorable fluffballs riding shotgun, he slipped on indoor shoes, walked down the hallway, and stepped into the living room.
"Shuya-kun, welcome home."
"Shuya… welcome back."
Rei set down what she was doing and pulled Saya over with her. Both girls greeted him with bright smiles.
Except Saya looked a little stiff. She said the words, but her eyes kept darting everywhere except straight at him.
Shuya blinked, genuinely surprised. "What's with the outfits?"
Both girls were wearing the exact same style of apron Saeko had worn in the original story… minus the "nothing underneath" part.
Rei tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled gently. "We can't really help you with the fighting or Nen stuff yet, so we figured we could at least handle the little things. We prepped all the ingredients so you wouldn't have to waste time when you got back."
Shuya's eyebrows rose. "Really? Thanks—that actually helps a lot."
"It's nothing," Rei said, shaking her head. She nudged Saya with her elbow. "Saya helped too."
The pink-haired girl immediately got defensive when Shuya looked at her. "D-don't get the wrong idea! I'm not doing this to make you like me or anything! Rei just said she needed an extra pair of hands, so I helped. That's all!"
"…Is that so?" Shuya gave her a weird little smile.
When did these two get so buddy-buddy they were calling each other by first names? And Saya's reaction was honestly adorable.
Was this what tsundere looked like in real life?
Cute. Must pet.
He reached out and gently ruffled her pink hair. "Well, thank you anyway. I'll take it from here."
Saya turned her head away with a huff, acting like she hated it… but she didn't actually pull back. If you looked closely, she was even subtly rising up on her tiptoes, leaning her head a tiny bit more into his palm.
If she had an ahoge, it would've been wagging like a golden retriever's tail right now.
Everyone watching had the exact same thought at the same time:
Saya… you really are way too easy to read.