"Bai Yi, Ye Shiyu!! What did you do to the President?!"
As Sakuramiya Hitomi's furious voice rang out from outside the door, Ye Shiyu—who was in the room, having taken off her dress and unhooked her bra—paused for a brief mont.
However, she showed absolutely no fear. Instead, she turned her head like a wary wolf, casting a glance at the open door.
On the bed, having undone her outerwear and inner garnts, Ye Shiyu's snow-white skin was mostly hidden by her cascading ink-black hair.
Only her side profile, turned toward the door, revealed a pair of deep, dark eyes that looked at Sakuramiya Hitomi with clear provocation.
As if that was not enough, in the very next second, as though unwilling to let an outsider see Yan Huan's body, she grabbed the bedding and pulled it over him, completely covering his form.
This thoroughly cut off Sakuramiya Hitomi's line of sight.
Only then did she turn back to look at Yan Huan, speaking in a calm tone.
"Xiao Huan, close your eyes."
"..."
The next second, Yan Huan's eyes closed uncontrollably.
Imdiately after, Ye Shiyu's body, which had been pressing down on him, slowly lifted away.
She got out of bed.
With his field of vision plunged into total darkness, Yan Huan ntally calculated the duration of the hypnosis, realizing that barely any ti had passed at all.
"Myau-chan!"
Left with no other choice, he could only call out to Myau-chan, asking it to keep him constantly updated.
"ow..."
The ethereal black cat instantly materialized, appearing in the room.
Its erald eyes stared intently at Ye Shiyu, who had openly gotten out of bed and was unhurriedly fastening her clothes as she walked toward the door.
"Buzz..."
Out in the corridor, the lights began to flicker erratically, seemingly affected by so supernatural ability.
The mont Ye Shiyu stepped outside, she firmly grabbed the door and pulled it shut to a re crack, isolating the inside from the outside.
Standing at the door, Sakuramiya Hitomi—despite the blue veins bulging on her forehead and teetering on the edge of absolute fury—gritted her teeth and said,
"The President cannot know a single thing about what happens next."
Fastening the buttons on her skirt, Ye Shiyu shot her a fleeting glance.
"Don't worry, Xiao Huan is under hypnosis. He won't rember anything."
"You... you guys did that kind of thing to the President?"
Sakuramiya Hitomi looked at Ye Shiyu's partially undone skirt, then cast a glance at Bai Yi standing to the side with a flushed face and disheveled hair, and she felt entirely sick to her stomach.
Her constitution was already weak, and now Sakuramiya Hitomi could hear her own heartbeat roaring in her ears, yet her limbs felt eerily cold.
Ye Shiyu, however, simply narrowed her eyes, offering a noncommittal response.
"What does it matter to you?"
"You!!"
Ye Shiyu's words were essentially a tacit admission. Hearing Sakuramiya Hitomi's furious interrogation, Bai Yi's eyes widened as large as saucers, and she hastily tried to explain.
"What do you an by we?! It was her, Ye Shiyu! Vice President Sakuramiya, I didn't do anything!!"
Hearing this, Ye Shiyu calmly glanced at Bai Yi and imdiately countered,
"She did."
She had felt sothing was off just a mont ago, particularly regarding that belt.
Only now did she realize that it had been Bai Yi playing tricks in the shadows...
Which ant that everything she had just done to Xiao Huan had been witnessed by her!
"Ye Shiyu, you... stop sprouting nonsense! What did I even do?"
Expressionless, Ye Shiyu simply retorted with a flat question.
"Do you dare claim you didn't touch Xiao Huan just now?"
"I..."
Upon hearing this, Bai Yi imdiately recalled the scorching heat of Yan Huan's body when she had been holding him tightly, and she also rembered what she had seen!
Instantly, her gaze began to dart around evasively, and her face grew noticeably rosier.
Bai Yi's slightly flushed face and her sudden, stuttering reaction served as solid evidence, causing Sakuramiya Hitomi's eyes to turn bloodshot with anger.
She stared at Bai Yi and let out a low, furious roar.
"Bai Yi!!"
"Ah?"
Bai Yi was completely stunned by the roar. She blinked, realized how things looked, and imdiately opened her mouth to explain.
But consud by rage, Sakuramiya Hitomi rely glared at both of them and demanded loudly,
"You two bastards! We clearly agreed beforehand not to use superpowers on the President!"
ntioning this only stoked Ye Shiyu's ire, and she instantly fired back.
"We also clearly agreed to form an alliance! Yet you still betrayed us! You secretly partnered with An Le to deal with us first! Why don't you think about your promise to ally with us at a ti like this?!"
"I didn't betray anyone!"
"You did! Back at the Sakuramiya main residence, I heard everything you and An Le discussed!"
"I did not!"
"You absolutely did!"
The two of them were completely at each other's throats, clashing like extre ice and raging fire, threatening to shatter the world with their collision.
Standing nearby, watching them argue, Bai Yi gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and shouted loudly,
"Enough!! Stop arguing! Listen to , let's go through this one thing at a ti!!"
Both of them were halted by Bai Yi's shout and montarily turned to look at her.
Panting, Bai Yi attempted to organize the chaotic situation in a clear, logical manner.
"First of all, Sakuramiya Hitomi, you did betray us!
"Just now, I heard everything you said to An Le!
"Didn't you tell her that as long as she told you what she planned to do with Yan Huan on the final day, you would help her deal with us!?"
The mont those words ca out, Ye Shiyu narrowed her eyes, locking onto Sakuramiya Hitomi like a predatory falcon.
Under that intense glare, Sakuramiya Hitomi flinched. Despite her guilty conscience, she gritted her teeth and said,
"I... I only wanted to know what An Le wanted to do on the final day! After all, she... she really hasn't seed right lately..."
Hearing this, Ye Shiyu's expression grew even colder as she asked flatly,
"Since when do you care so much about An Le?"
"I don't care about her! Isn't knowing her objective and what she plans to do to the President important?"
"You care!"
"I do not!"
"You do!"
Seeing the two plunge back into a cycle of pointless bickering, Bai Yi could not hold back anymore. She quickly stepped forward to intervene.
"Stop it, both of you! We have solid evidence for this! Sakuramiya Hitomi is a traitor!"
"I said, I'm not!"
Sakuramiya Hitomi's objection was overruled.
So declared Chief Justice Bai Yi.
Afterward, Chief Justice Bai Yi took a deep breath and moved on to the next topic.
"Now let's talk about ! I didn't do anything to Yan Huan just now! It was all Ye Shiyu's doing!"
However, Ye Shiyu remained entirely unfazed, rigidly sticking to her claim.
"She did it too."
"Ye Shiyu, you..."
Bai Yi stared at Ye Shiyu in utter disbelief, gasping for breath in her anger.
She realized that Ye Shiyu was doing this entirely on purpose, determined to drag her down with her!
Thus, giving up on trying to reason with Ye Shiyu, Bai Yi turned her gaze to Sakuramiya Hitomi and asked,
"Vice President Sakuramiya, do you really think I'm soone who wouldn't dare admit what I've done? Do you think I'd lie? Am I that kind of person?"
Sakuramiya Hitomi shot her an exasperated look and retorted through gritted teeth,
"Aren't you?"
"I..."
Bai Yi had not expected Sakuramiya Hitomi to actually view her that way.
And standing off to the side, Ye Shiyu—still holding a grudge because Bai Yi had ruined her mont by using Indifference—imdiately took the chance to kick her while she was down.
"Yeah, usually completely useless, only good at running your mouth. Isn't that exactly the kind of person you are?"
"I... you... you guys..."
Gagged by their combined retorts, Bai Yi's eyes widened, and she stumbled back a few steps, her body trembling.
At this mont, she felt a profound, indescribable sense of being unjustly wronged.
Clearly, she had just wanted to co out and warn Ye Shiyu and the others, to provide solid evidence of An Le's evil sches...
Clearly, she had just wanted to co out and warn Sakuramiya Hitomi, to save Yan Huan from the fire...
She had been so considerate of them.
And yet, this was how they treated her?
"Fine... fine, that is what you all think, right?!"
Feeling incredibly wronged, Bai Yi wiped the corners of her eyes. Soon after, a naless fire surged from the depths of her heart. Deciding she would no longer hold back, she started blasting them directly.
"How do you have the nerve to judge ? Do you think you're such good people yourselves?!
"Ye Shiyu, you're a complete pervert! You're clearly Yan Huan's older sister, yet you lust after his body and even use hypnosis on him! Disgusting!
"Sakuramiya Hitomi, you're a lunatic too! You put up this hypocritical, righteous front, forbidding us from using our superpowers!
"Isn't that just because you benefit from it? You don't even need superpowers when you can just use hidden caras to secretly spy on Yan Huan?!
"Let
tell you! You're worse than Spencer! At least she dares to openly admit her own thoughts!"
Bai Yi's insults rained down on the two of them like rapid-fire cannonballs, montarily silencing the previously fiercely feuding duo.
And Bai Yi no longer cared about anything; she only wanted to vent out every last drop of her burning anger.
"Fight, go ahead! Just keep fighting!
"Keep fighting until Spencer and Yan Huan finally get together, keep fighting until An Le finishes us all off! At worst, we'll just all lose together!
"And! Let
tell you! Don't look at
with such disgust! I'm even more disgusted by you!!
"I... I've never once felt happy about being in an alliance with you!!"
The mont those words were spoken, the dimly lit corridor by the doorway instantly quieted down.
There were no more sounds of conversation, only the heavy panting of girls lingering in their mutual fury.
Although Ye Shiyu remained expressionless, her eyes were terrifyingly cold.
Blue veins bulged on Sakuramiya Hitomi's forehead; clearly, her lingering rage had not subsided.
As for Bai Yi, her eye sockets were slightly red, weighed down by an overwhelming sense of being wronged.
In the shadows off to the side, Myau-chan sat on the ground, speechlessly watching this alliance on the verge of total collapse.
What exactly had it co out here for?
Myau-chan helplessly licked its paw pads, then used the wet pads to rub its plump cat face, as if trying to wash away everything it had just witnessed.
However...
Everyone seed to have forgotten.
This shrine was a wooden building.
The soundproofing was far from great.
And naturally, having argued so loudly for so long, they had been overheard by soone else.
"Creak..."
"Creak..."
Just as the three of them were starting to feel exhausted from their argunt, the sound of footsteps treading heavily on wooden floorboards suddenly echoed from the end of the long, dimly lit wooden corridor...
And they were getting closer.
The expressions of all three girls shifted simultaneously, and they quickly turned their heads to look in that direction.
Yet, all they saw was profound darkness.
Ti rewound slightly to An Le's room.
An Le lay on her side on the bed, staring at the screen of her mobile phone.
Lately, since arriving in Sakura Country, she had not taken many photos. It wasn't until her mother asked about it today that she rembered to take so pictures of the cherry blossoms in the shrine's courtyard.
At that mont, An Le opened Plane with the intention of sending the photos over.
However, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed the red notification dot for Monts.
She hadn't added many friends on Plane, though she had added quite a few classmates on her alternate account.
Back when she created her website, she used her alt account to secretly join nurous groups, pretending to be a random passerby who had just discovered the site to recomnd it to everyone...
But on her main account's Monts, there was only Xiao Huan and her parents.
Thus, as if possessed, before sending the photos to her mother, she opened Monts first.
There, she saw posts her parents had made over the past few days concerning her future younger sibling, likely intended to notify their relatives back in their hotown.
The day before yesterday, they went to the hospital for a prenatal checkup, and yesterday, they posted about preparing infant clothes.
Only after all of that did they finally ask how she was doing far away in Sakura Country today.
Perhaps An Le's parents didn't an anything by it, and their actions had no deeper implication.
However, for An Le, whose mood was exceptionally low at the mont, hypersensitivity seed almost inevitable.
The unpleasantness she had felt upon first learning the news resurfaced in her heart, making her feel as though she couldn't breathe for a mont.
Yet, she quickly closed Monts and proceeded to send the photos she had taken to her mother anyway.
Afterward, panting slightly, she imdiately closed Plane and opened her notes app.
The notes app clearly displayed the ticulously crafted plans she had made for the final day.
"When the ti cos, I'll go to Ginza, Senso-ji Temple, and Tokyo Tower with Xiao Huan... and in the very, very end, at the Hoshinoya Hotel, with Xiao Huan..."
Those simple lines of text acted like a painkiller, slowly calming down An Le's agitated emotions.
As if, in this very mont, that was her entire world.
She stared blankly at the words written on her mobile phone, but inevitably, she reached out to touch her numb, unfeeling arm.
There, an empty void seed to be gradually spreading.
It felt as though as long as she continued to use her superpower, the hollow emptiness in her body would slowly expand.
Especially every ti a tentacle was severed; not only did it bring excruciating pain, but it also rapidly accelerated the progression.
"..."
However, right now, it was only a portion of both arms that was like this; the rest of her body was perfectly intact.
There were still many days left before the school trip ended. As long as it was before the final day...
Thinking this, An Le let out a breath and locked her phone screen.
But just at that mont, a voice—faint by the ti it reached her yet still clearly audible—was captured by An Le's ears: "Bai Yi, Ye Shiyu!! What did you do to the President?!"
'Xiao Huan?'
Hearing those words, An Le froze.
Subsequently, an ominous premonition began to surface in her heart.
An Le imdiately stood up and stepped out into the corridor.
By now, night had completely fallen.
The sky over Sakura Country was densely covered in dark clouds, obscuring the moonlight.
The vintage wall lamps in the shrine's corridor flickered erratically, casting an eerie atmosphere over the surroundings.
But An Le was completely unfazed. Her brows knitted slightly as she moved her steps, heading toward the source of the voice.
It seed to be...
From the second floor?
As she drew closer to the stairwell leading up to the second floor, the arguing voices from above beca increasingly distinct.
It was Ye Shiyu, Bai Yi, and Sakuramiya Hitomi.
"Creak..."
"Creak..."
The further she walked, the more she overheard the contents of their argunt.
From the sounds of it, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi...
Seed to have done sothing to Xiao Huan?
Therefore, the further she walked, the faster she moved.
By the ti An Le stepped onto the gloomy second floor, their argunt was already nearing its end.
In the gloom, An Le frowned, assessing the three girls who seed to be squabbling by the doorway.
Closer, getting closer and closer...
Until she was finally spotted by them.
Hearing the groaning floorboards, the three girls turned their heads, only to see An Le erge from the darkness, having followed the sound.
Upon seeing the seemingly harmless An Le, the expressions of all three girls involuntarily shifted.
"...An Le?"
Bai Yi's eyes went wide. Without moving her face, her irises darted frantically in her eye sockets toward Sakuramiya Hitomi, wondering why she had opened her mouth so casually.
Hearing Sakuramiya Hitomi's words, An Le simply stared fixedly at Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi, casually asking,
"Where is Xiao Huan?"
"..."
There was no response.
An Le froze, the ominous premonition in her heart growing thicker.
She instantly quickened her pace, walking swiftly toward Yan Huan's door.
An unclean pink hue clung to her like a festering wound, following her every step until she reached the three girls.
Seeing An Le approaching her, Bai Yi was so frightened that she stumbled back several steps.
The hairs on Ye Shiyu's body stood on end as she tightly gripped her mobile phone.
Sakuramiya Hitomi originally intended to say sothing, but thinking about what the two people in front of her had just done to the President, her breath hitched, and she found herself utterly unable to speak.
Thus, an eerie situation unfolded: as An Le arrived at Yan Huan's door, not a single person stopped her.
"Creak..."
She gently gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed it open.
The scene inside the room imdiately entered her field of vision.
Scattered across the floor were articles of clothing—Xiao Huan's shirt, Ye Shiyu's jacket...
Raising her gaze further, she saw the ss of bedding draped over the bed...
And despite the loud arguing at the door, Xiao Huan lay on the bed with his eyes shut, completely unresponsive.
Because he was hypnotized.
"No... no... Xiao Huan... don't... don't do this to ..."
An Le stared blankly at everything in the room, and inside her mind, it was as if a tightly strung cord had snapped.
Imdiately following, she couldn't even control her facial expressions anymore, falling into a violent, trembling fit.
Xiao Huan's first ti...
His first ti...
"You... you guys..."
An Le's eyes widened, and she slowly shifted her gaze, inch by inch, to look at the chief culprits standing to the side...
Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi!
The notes she had just reviewed—the plans for the final day that seed to an absolutely everything to An Le—began to crack inch by inch...
Then, as the cracks multiplied, more and more, the screen of her mobile phone finally shattered and went dark.
Causing the very last glimr of light in An Le's pitch-black world to vanish completely.
"Gurgle..."
It wasn't until the unclean pink hue surrounding her gradually materialized into a thick, sticky substance that Bai Yi abruptly rembered everything she had eavesdropped on just now.
Realizing sothing in an instant, she spoke in a panicked and helpless tone.
"Hey, An Le! Listen to , earlier Ye Shiyu didn't—"
"Voom!"
However, before she could even finish, Ye Shiyu shoved her aside and raised her mobile phone toward An Le.
The mont that abyss-like purple light was raised, the floor of the corridor completely shattered, and a massive shockwave instantly swept Bai Yi and Ye Shiyu away.
"Gurgle..."
Ye Shiyu lifted her eyes in disbelief, only to see that everything below An Le's neck had turned deathly pale.
In exchange, so invisible entities seed to gather around her...
It was a full nine writhing tentacles.
On her shoulder, Little Finger flicked its tongue and materialized.
It had sensed the ferocious surge of An Le's desire, and out of sheer surprise, it revealed its form.
Yet, the mont it manifested, it saw the nine tentacles surrounding An Le.
"N-Nine tentacles?"
Startled, it found itself entirely speechless.
Little Finger glanced to the side at the two hosts who had been directly swept away without any power to resist. Its expression initially registered joy, but then it suddenly rembered sothing.
It turned to look at An Le, and sure enough, through her clothing, it noticed the pallor on her arms growing more profound, gradually transforming into illusory snake scales.
Instantly, the happy expression on its face froze.
After struggling in hesitation for several seconds, it gritted its fangs and spoke up to warn her,
"An Le! Y-You need to stop! If you keep doing this—"
"No... no... I can't..."
But at this mont, An Le—her eyes wide and filled with surging murderous intent—spoke with a voice that, though trembling, was undeniably resolute.
"I'm going to kill your kind inside them... all of them... right now..."
"But—"
Little Finger still wanted to stop her, but it was already too late.
Ard with nine tentacles, An Le's movents were finally no longer sluggish and rooted to one spot like before.
She wrapped one tentacle around herself, transford two more into tools for rapid movent, and sent the remaining six hurtling toward Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi like an inescapable net.
Facing the nauseating stench that crashed over them like a tsunami, Ye Shiyu's pupils shrank. Grabbing Bai Yi, she turned and sprinted down the stairwell.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
"Boom!"
The wooden walls on the second floor were instantly pierced through by the tentacles. Countless planks crashed down, letting out a deafening boom.
Watching Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi flee down the stairwell, An Le knew that with so many massive tentacles, she couldn't fit through the passage.
Instead, her myriad of tentacles smashed through the corridor wall, and then, tightly held by the appendages, she burst directly out of the building from the second floor.
"Crash!"
Upstairs, watching An Le hunt down Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi like a god of death, holding absolutely nothing back, Sakuramiya Hitomi felt nothing but vicious satisfaction.
She turned her head to glance at the tightly shut door of the room, ultimately making her decision.
She would help An Le strip those two utterly undisciplined fools, Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi, of their superpowers first!
Thus, she took a deep breath and also headed toward the stairwell, intending to go downstairs.
However, due to her poor stamina, her pace was naturally slow.
By the ti she reached the bottom of the stairs, An Le, Ye Shiyu, and Bai Yi were already nowhere to be seen.
"Haa... Haa..."
After her short jog downstairs, Sakuramiya Hitomi leaned against the wall, panting for a second. Listening to the terrifying noises fading into the obscured night, she knew Ye Shiyu and the others must have run out of the shrine.
Outside the shrine was an expansive forest.
"Tsk!"
At this mont, Sakuramiya Hitomi truly resented her own physical constitution.
If only she were a bit healthier, she wouldn't be left completely out of breath from just a few steps of running!
"Sakuramiya Hitomi, was there so kind of noise here just now?"
Just then, from the adjacent corridor, a bright and sunny voice rang out in confusion.
Sakuramiya Hitomi froze. Turning to her side, she saw Spencer—rubbing the back of her head, completely clueless about what was going on—looking right at her.
"Spencer..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi first muttered her na, then, staring at Spencer's strong, healthy body, she instantly thought of sothing, and her eyes lit up.
'That damn Ye Shiyu, she left but at least she broke the hypnosis on !'
Inside the room, Yan Huan lay on the bed, listening to the intense noises coming from outside with an ugly expression.
"ow..."
However, the next second, the feeling of being bound by the hypnosis suddenly vanished.
Replacing it was the sensation of a heavy, warm, soft, and squishy creature.
Yan Huan opened his eyes and then, in disbelief, propped himself up, looking at his hands that had regained freedom.
"The hypnosis... broke? Hss!"
Yet, the very next mont, a sharp prickling sensation like needles stabbed through his head.
Because, right then, all of his mories of what had just happened felt as if they were being detached, disappearing into thin air in an instant.
It was mory Correction!
But because Yan Huan had Resistance, he only felt a brief ache in his head before the mories flew right back into his mind.
"Still, it shouldn't have been 20 minutes yet. How did the hypnosis suddenly break?"
"Maybe because Ye Shiyu is too far away from you, ow?"
Myau-chan wasn't entirely certain either, rely sitting elegantly on Yan Huan's chest and tilting its head as it deduced.
"Is that so?"
Yan Huan rubbed the back of his head, quickly got up, and looked outside.
Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi, pursued by An Le, had already run outside the shrine.
Outside the shrine appeared to be a desolate, uninhabited forest, looking utterly terrifying beneath the deep night sky.
"Tsk... Myau-chan, lead the way. Take
to them! An Le definitely thinks Ye Shiyu did that to , which is why she's gone berserk... As long as I appear in front of her perfectly intact, at the very least, I can stop their little turf war first..."
"ow!"
Myau-chan nodded and imdiately jumped off the bed, sniffing the air as it headed toward the door.
"This way, ow!"
"Mm."
Yan Huan leaned down to pick up his fallen shirt, zipping his pants up along the way.
However, just as they reached the door, Myau-chan's footsteps suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong? Lead the way, Myau-chan."
As Yan Huan urged anxiously, Myau-chan blinked, turned its head back to look at him, and owed,
"I sll three strange n inside the shrine, ow."
"Strange... n?"
Yan Huan blinked, finally realizing sothing amiss: with such a massive commotion happening here, how could the shrine priests who were preparing their al have no reaction whatsoever?
At this mont, by the entrance of the shrine.
A shadow slowly closed the kitchen door, shutting away the unconscious shrine priests inside.
It was the assassin Sakura Ji had t with in his room.
The assassin patted the handgun tucked into his waist, then turned his head to look at his comrade, who had a rifle slung over his back.
"Dealt with them?"
"All dealt with, Boss."
The shadowy figure glanced past the two of them, nodding at the sight of Sakuramiya Kagami lying unconscious on the ground, bound securely.
"However, it seems like there was a huge commotion coming from the guest rooms in the backyard."
"It's fine, just a few kids. Nothing unexpected will happen."
Listening to his subordinate's report, the shadow was completely unbothered, rely adding a reminder.
"But, let
remind you again: there's a very terrifying person chasing us. So, try your best not to open fire."
"Understood."
"Mm. There are two targets. One is the only boy among them, and the other is this kid's younger sister. She has pink hair, so she's easy to spot."
"Got it."
After receiving the acknowledgnt, the shadow gently gripped the dagger strapped to his tactical jacket and walked toward the gradually quieting shrine.
"Then, let's begin."
Reviews
All reviews (0)