The two of them used tables and chairs to block the main door, pricked up their ears, and only slowly exhaled a sigh of relief after the flapping sounds faded into the distance.
Along the entire new building, rising gray-white mist made it seem as if they were in a giant hot spring. There was no gurgling of hot springs, but instead, the rustling of colliding carapaces and the scuttling of crawling creatures, like the sound of tides.
The strong smell of burning filled their noses, and even the ceiling creaked under the immense pressure.
It's... not safe here.
Sen Getsusa looked up. The senior in front of her seemed not at all surprised. She sat on the desk, her feet out of her leather shoes, gently tearing her tattered stockings and throwing them piece by piece onto the floor.
Her black hair fanned out, obscuring her face—her slender hands trembled slightly, hinting at her restless heart.
"Thank you."
Kasumigaoka Utaha's voice was no longer clear, but hoarse and weary. The thrilling chase and escape just now had caused the girl's adrenaline to surge wildly, leaving her utterly exhausted.
After the mischievous joke came endless fear and lingering apprehension.
"That was a super— "
Sen Getsusa wanted to explain a little, but was interrupted by the girl who had finished tidying her stockings and putting on her shoes.
"Thank you, Sen Getsusa." Kasumigaoka Utaha exhaled with a sigh. The name 'Sen Getsusa' rolled on her tongue a few times, perhaps because there was too much she wanted to say or too many questions, but in the end, she just repeated 'thank you' several times.
"Thank you..."
Kasumigaoka Utaha's crimson pupils shone brightly through her black hair, looking over. After putting away her playful ambiguity, she stared seriously and solemnly into Sen Getsusa's eyes.
"Thank you for saving me."
She survived.
Sen Getsusa shrugged, her gaze sweeping over her a few times, not finding any deep wounds—those full, slender legs, no longer covered by stockings, immediately appeared fair and tender. A few scratches on her skin showed faint red bloodstains, and her feet rested casually on another desk.
As she watched, those legs suddenly lifted and crossed, changing position.
Sen Getsusa:...Huh.
She looked up.
Behind Kasumigaoka Utaha's half-smiling eyes was a peculiar mix of teasing and excitement. She silently extended her index finger, gently touching her knee with the tip, and then, under Sen Getsusa's gaze, slowly slid it upward, upward... Sen Getsusa averted her eyes.
→_→
"This is our second meeting, isn't it, Senior?" Miss Sen, who had finished admiring the scenery, took a few deep breaths and turned her back to Kasumigaoka Utaha, facing the door. "How did Senior end up here?"
Nishikido Shuichi?
Kasumigaoka Utaha recounted what happened in fragments—a person very good at concealing her emotions, her voice still trembled when she mentioned the insects.
"Senior, just wait for me here." Sen Getsusa squeezed her fingers, and under Kasumigaoka Utaha's unease, walked back, gently patted her hand, calming her: "I'll be quick—"
"No."
Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head with difficulty, her crimson pupils suddenly contracting.
"Are you going to abandon me?"
She uttered a few gloomy words, staring intently at Sen Getsusa.
"After I resolve the trouble, I'll come back for you, Senior."
Perhaps out of fear, Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly grabbed Sen Getsusa's hand: "I'll go with you."
She struggled for a while, then gave a bitter smile in Sen Getsusa's calm, lake-like eyes: "If I'm going to die, I'd rather die together than quietly be eaten by bugs in an empty place—"
Silence.
Sen Getsusa couldn't help but smile.
She stood up, straightened her skirt, and then, as if to her younger siblings, gently stroked Kasumigaoka Utaha's black hair: "Don't worry, I'll be back."
Kasumigaoka Utaha's lips pressed into a thin line.
Seeing this, Sen Getsusa sighed: "If you insist on coming with me, it's not impossible."
"It's just that if you come with me, the danger will be greater."
"I don't have magic. Wouldn't I just get in your way if I went with you?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha gazed out the door for a long time, biting her lip unwillingly, and lowered her head: "This is too selfish, isn't it? Because I'm afraid of death, I plan to 'drag someone down with me if I'm going to die.' Isn't that a shameless mindset?"
Sen Getsusa curved her eyes, tilted her head with a smile, and her thought tendrils opened the void of the land card—
Spell Power, should be... enough, right?
With a wave of her hand, a card appeared before the girl, shifting from blurry to clear.
[Mirror Dimension]
With a light tap of her finger, the sound of glass shattering was crisp and pleasant.
Crack—
The entire space seemed to fold and distort!
Kasumigaoka Utaha noticed that an invisible transparent barrier was slowly unfolding towards her—
Cracks, like snowflakes, white and fuzzy, grew profusely in the space. The sound of shattering, from nearby, echoed throughout the entire space!
"I am the lock and key of dimensions."
An ethereal voice, like a fawn in the forest, leaped from one ear to the other. Sen Getsusa held her palms inward, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble incessantly!
A giant two-person tall steel cabin rose from the ground, bringing with it dirt and gravel, appearing right there in the classroom. It passed through the reinforced concrete beneath their feet, like a naturally growing plant. A solid, gleaming, and blackened fortress instantly stood before Kasumigaoka Utaha!
"Th-this is..."
Amidst Kasumigaoka Utaha's astonished expression, Sen Getsusa walked over and opened the door.
Creak.
The small fortress opened.
"Just hide inside for now. I'll be back."
Sen Getsusa pulled the entire building into the space, which happened to suppress the surging insect swarm.
However—she still had to be quick.
Wantonly twisting and modifying the Mirror Dimension would cause Sen Getsusa's Spell Power to drain at an extremely rapid rate.
Kasumigaoka Utaha cautiously stepped into the steel-forged fortress, sitting on a small sofa still carved with patterns, her cheeks slightly flushed—
"Th-thank you..."
She looked at Sen Getsusa's fair, small feet, covered in quite a bit of dust, bit her teeth lightly, and reached her hand towards her calf.
"Here."
She offered her shoe.
"Your feet..."
Sen Getsusa had forgotten that her high heels had long been discarded halfway during their escape.
Sen Getsusa smiled as she took them, sat down, and slipped her feet in.
To her, the shoes were a bit big, after all, Kasumigaoka Utaha was taller than her.
—There was still the residual warmth of the previous owner inside.
The girl tapped the tips of the shoes and made do with wearing them.
"Please... be careful."
Kasumigaoka Utaha stood before Sen Getsusa, looking at her worriedly.
At this moment, she no longer asked 'what happened' or about 'magic'. For Sen Getsusa, who was about to leave, Kasumigaoka Utaha felt a faint worry.
The ocean-like tide of insects, Nishikido Shuichi, those nightmare-like monsters—who was manipulating them?
Could she handle it?
Kasumigaoka Utaha watched the other's retreating figure silently, like a wife worried about her husband leaving home.
"Or, wait... wait for the Police?"
She asked tentatively, Kasumigaoka Utaha bounced her calves, her black stockings treading silently on the ground, a sign of nervous tension.
She wanted to stop Sen Getsusa from leaving.
The girl shook her head: she hadn't been able to take Kasumigaoka Utaha away, instead choosing to hide on the second floor.
At that point, they had no retreat.
Not to mention the consequences after Nakajima Saki's ritual was completed—
Judging by the current trajectory, once her Spell Power was exhausted... the two girls could only clean themselves up and wait for death.
Either escape, or deal with the source of the danger.
Sen Getsusa looked out the window at the layers of black insect-sea, surging like a tsunami, obscuring the Sun, a scene like the end of the world.
"Wait for me to come back, Long-Legged Senior."
Sen Getsusa smiled brightly, turned neatly, and pushed open the classroom door.
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