The eroge Su Yuzu had played before her rebirth possessed, in many respects, merits that made it impossible to define as an eroge at all—so much so that a considerable portion of players became obsessed with grinding themselves to exhaustion and speedrunning, and even refused to call it an eroge.
But—
When all was said and done, in its true, essential nature, it performed just as excellently and outstandingly.
The game also occasionally featured some amusing easter eggs that would suddenly make one recall—
'Ah, so this really is an eroge.'
Such as... being poisoned.
Tilting her little head, Su Yuzu looked at the chibi Su Yuzu on her [Operator Development] panel—the one who was likewise tilting her little head and wearing a cute expression.
Above the chibi Su Yuzu's head, pinkish-purple bubbles kept drifting up.
On Su Yuzu's operator attributes, the steadily rising stamina and dwindling willpower also seemed to indicate that there was something abnormal about this poison.
[Spring has arrived, and all things revive...]
That was roughly the vibe of it.
Ordinary poison, which manifested as black-purple bubbles, would rapidly slash an operator's HP and stamina, whereas this... easter-egg-like poison would only reduce stamina and willpower.
And then trigger some interesting CG.
Sometimes there were even certain special poisons... that would even massively boost an operator's stamina.
Just like right now—
Su Yuzu felt as though her whole body was brimming with strength—she even dared to arm-wrestle Sister Mai—but... the fists she threw felt like they were swinging into cotton, unable to land any force.
"Ha?" The girl exhaled a puff of scorching breath.
Su Yuzu began to seriously ponder just what exactly she had eaten to get poisoned.
And then... Su Yuzu's mind went to that electric ray's tail.
Unlike ordinary fish.
Electric rays generally can't grow all that large.
Especially the one Su Yuzu had slain... which looked a little different from an ordinary electric ray—a strange ray whose appearance was brimming with malice toward female operators.
Now that Su Yuzu thought about it... aside from that fish's appearance brimming with malice toward girls, and its bizarre electric-discharge ability, that tail—which looked like the sworn, mortal enemy of magical girls everywhere—might, perhaps, probably... also be poisonous.
'Thank goodness—'
'That tail was all eaten by me alone.' At this very moment, a tiny sliver of such relief actually welled up in Su Yuzu's heart.
'Thank goodness—'
'Because Sister grilled it just a touch too burnt, there didn't seem to be very much toxin left.'
Propping herself up somewhat unsteadily, Su Yuzu felt that even the distant sea horizon had grown a bit blurry, and the place where sky and sea interwove gave her a strange sense of disorientation.
"Yu... Yuzu?" Soga Yura looked at the girl's eyes, which seemed to have lost their gleam.
Soga Yura could plainly sense that something about the situation felt off.
"I feel a little unwell." Su Yuzu braced herself against Soga Yura's shoulder.
Soga Yura could clearly feel the girl's body—supple and scorching hot.
"Yuzu... Yuzu, are you feeling unwell!?"
For Soga Yura, there was nothing that made her feel more uneasy than words like these.
She hurriedly pulled Yuzu's head down.
The two of them pressed their foreheads together.
So... hot...
Yuzu seemed to have a fever.
"Th-then... th-then, what do we do!" Soga Yura wanted to go find Teacher Tsukiyomi.
Yuzu needed a doctor.
But before Soga Yura could make any move, the scorching breath spraying from between the girl's nose and lips had already pinned Soga Yura in place, as though she'd been frozen stiff.
"No... there's no need to tell the others."
"But..."
Before Soga Yura could speak, the girl's slender, equally scorching index finger had already gently pressed against the mouth she was about to open.
"It's not that I'm sick..." Su Yuzu looked at Soga Yura.
The two of them were pressed just a touch too close.
So close that Soga Yura felt the girl's murmured whispers were like an all-corroding poison.
So close that~~~ off to the side, the little rabbit and Unohana Chiyo were staring, almost without blinking, in the direction of Su Yuzu and Soga Yura.
Even Tsukiyomi Fuya—while, upholding her principle of never wasting food, slowly polishing off the squid the girl had barely nibbled a single tentacle of—kept her pale purple eyes fixed the whole time on the direction of Su Yuzu and Soga Yura.
"It's a breakthrough." Su Yuzu nodded earnestly.
After the Combat Records had been upgraded to "Intermediate Combat Records," the pace of Su Yuzu's ability progress wasn't much slower than back when she was still Level.0 and using the "Basic Combat Records."
In fact... because of the Combat Records upgrade, the number of Combat Records production maidens had already increased.
Su Yuzu's leveling speed was even a little absurdly fast.
By now she was already a Level.23 Hand of Paradox Esper.
And what's more... Su Yuzu had also hoarded more than twenty Combat Records.
If the girl were a bit more shameless, a bit less scrupulous—if she didn't spare even girls like Yamabuki Nanako, or like Asagiri Sachi, whom she'd happened to Recruit back while waiting for Lyudmila and the little rabbit, and Fed them Combat Records right on schedule—
Her rate of promotion could be even faster.
Although she couldn't break Soga Yura's record of reaching the Fourth Sequence before adulthood, still... surpassing Soga Yura was absolutely just a matter of time.
To make Soga Yura believe her, Su Yuzu checked "confirm" on all twenty-some Combat Records at once.
The girl's eyes went wide all at once.
Ordinarily... Su Yuzu would only feel the insatiable beast beneath her chest chewing those Combat Records to bits, bite by bite, until nothing remained.
But this time... under the influence of the ray's poison, Su Yuzu seemed to understand, just a little... how Lyudmila felt whenever she was bullied by her.
But as it happened—
The experienced Soga Yura and the little rabbit—or perhaps Unohana Chiyo—understood almost instantly what was happening to the girl.
Even as a sense of 'the Way of Heaven turns in cycles—whom has the heavens ever spared?' rose up in their hearts, they also harbored a certain worry for Yuzu's condition.
It was completely different from those times when Yuzu, after tapping "confirm" on [Develop], would always scheme by every means to pin down Soga Yura or Lyudmila, watching the girl put on a pleading look before her, until at last her eyes gradually went hollow and she gave up all resistance.
Soga Yura flusteredly helped run interference for Yuzu.
"Th-then... then Yuzu, hurry off to the lounge and get some rest."
"Mm~" Su Yuzu nuzzled against Soga Yura's cheek—and whether or not it was Soga Yura's imagination, the girl's voice even sounded a little hoarse.
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