Sen Getsusa sprinted across campus in a gauzy dress.
Thick mist had already spilled past the school grounds, drifting outward on faint air currents.
"New… New Building…"
She muttered brokenly, skirted the edge of the sports field, and reached the structure.
The freshly built block looked half swallowed by a colossal fog bank; from below only its ghost-like silhouette flickered in and out of view.
The door stood ajar, as if someone had just slipped inside.
With a fingertip she eased it open; the supposedly silent lobby hummed with countless beating wings.
"Get off! Get off me!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha flailed her arms, insects already scurrying up her lower body.
They opened razor mandibles and tore her stockings.
"Go away! Don't!"
Speckles of blood seeped through her plump thighs; the swarm tried to burrow under her skin.
She jerked limbs mechanically, mind fraying—Am I going to die?
Nishikido Shuichi grinned, savoring the delightful spectacle.
The woman he had "courted" for so long was being torn open alive, soon to become a fertile cradle for the mist—her womb would grow even tastier.
And he could still enjoy her when her belly swelled… "Mist… great mother!"
In ecstasy he clawed his own face, ripping cheeks away to expose maggots squirming beneath—
"Grant me pain…"
A tide of flies surged unabashed toward the entrance; soon the whole building would be a mother-nest of calamity.
Suddenly a scarlet chain lanced in front of him!
It shattered masses of insects and, carrying their corpses, bored straight ahead!
cyttorak's crimson chain!
Several cards orbited Sen Getsusa's body.
With a flick of a finger she sent one spinning forward—
Mid-flight the card dissolved, releasing a thick chain that burst through it!
Boom!
Insect bodies exploded.
The death of those "Little Darlings" made Nishikido open a mouth now lined with insect legs—his human lips were gone, replaced by black, beetle-like jaws.
He drooled as he stared past Kasumigaoka's back.
Clack, clack, clack.
High heels rang through the empty hall.
Parting a tide of darkness, Sen Getsusa strolled in. Her black gothic dress amid the sea of bugs made her look their sovereign; she arrogantly met Nishikido's gaze.
Whoosh!
A chain coiled around Kasumigaoka—
Then yanked hard, flinging the bewildered girl backward!
Controlling the chain, Sen scooped Kasumigaoka up in a bridal carry and sprang.
"Eh?!"
Instinctively Kasumigaoka clung to the underclassman who had just swept her off her feet, shouting over the swarm, "Sen Getsusa?"
"Hey, senior."
In mid-leap the two girls greeted each other at the worst possible moment.
Cradling her, Sen flicked stray bugs away and glanced at the exit—
It was already drowned under a crawling blanket of insects.
"Up to the second floor!"
Kasumigaoka curled smaller to stay out of the way, tightening her arms round Sen's neck while pointing.
"Go through here, turn right, up the stairs!"
At her word Sen dashed off.
"You won't get away!!"
Nishikido chased right behind while ceiling-high waves of black followed.
Spotting a moment, Sen kicked off her expensive heels and bounded barefoot up the steps—
Chains!
Bang!
Three black-Crimson Chains shot in, zig-zagging across the stairwell and sealing the corner.
Though gaps remained, they slowed the swarm to a trickle, letting Sen breathe.
The second floor was deserted.
She ducked into an empty classroom, shoved a cabinet across the doorway, and finally looked at the girl in her arms.
Kasumigaoka Utaha.
Wine-red eyes stared blankly; soft lips parted; black hair spilled unreservedly over Sen's lap.
"Senior, we're here."
Hm?
Kasumigaoka blinked, not quite grasping the freshman's words.
She lifted a slender finger and gently touched the teardrop mole at the corner of Sen's eye.
Sen tilted her face slightly.
Inside the closed classroom the buzzing outside seemed to give up—or overlook—them.
For the moment, they were safe.
So… Sen looked down at Kasumigaoka, who kept caressing that mole as if no one else existed.
"Senior, now—"
Before she could ask her to stand, Kasumigaoka shifted her gaze, lifted a finger to her own lips, and shushed.
"Shh—"
Then kept staring.
Sen blinked, shrugged, and sat in a chair still holding her like a koala.
The two girls stayed silent until finally Sen tilted her head.
"Senior…?"
"Mm?" Still hoarse from fright, Kasumigaoka's voice carried a strange charm.
"You can get down now."
Sen wanted to say they were safe.
Yet though Kasumigaoka answered "okay," her arms stayed locked around the girl's neck.
Sen repeated herself.
Again the senior politely agreed—"Sure, sure"—but made no move to leave her arms.
"So this is how the princess-carried one feels…" Thinking of Tojo Aoi, Sen sighed.
"The other one?" the senior asked, eyes narrowing playfully. "A boyfriend?"
"Not quite, but close." One girl feigned innocence, the other was half-crazy; neither cared about the crisis as they chatted: "A pretty human."
Kasumigaoka Utaha stared into Sen's innocent pupils—and saw herself reflected clearly inside.
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