Watching Sahara now fully submerged beneath the pressure of Shushu's chest, which had swollen to the size of a swimming pool, one of Naoki's eyelids gave a slow, involuntary twitch.
(If this were Issei, he'd be treating this as paradise on earth and cheering at the top of his lungs.)
The memory of a certain degenerate protagonist from a particular series surfaced in his mind, the one with a breast obsession so extreme it had earned him the title of Breast Dragon Emperor.
Naoki could only snort with dry amusement imagining how hysterical that person would be witnessing Shushu right now.
(Hmm... now that I think about it more carefully, Shushu's Peach Fruit Blessing, the one that lets her manipulate her own size, really is an extraordinarily valuable asset from a certain kind of man's perspective.)
His thoughts wandered further into questionable territory.
The girl was an impossible complete package. She could shrink down into a petite frame and offer one kind of experience, or expand into any size a partner could want. Paradigm Shift could technically fulfill every conceivable fantasy within a single person.
A second later, Naoki shook his head and chased the thoughts away.
(Ah, but forget it. She's already started showing obvious interest in Yuuki. The window for pursuing anything romantic there has closed firmly shut.)
With no appetite for lowering himself to the level of chasing after something already out of reach, Naoki set aside any notion of adding Shushu to his list.
Back in the fight...
"Phew." Shushu exhaled slowly, settling her body down onto the broken ground after releasing her big attack. Her hair was a mess, but the smile of someone who believed they had won was still on her face.
Catching her breath, she glanced toward Ginna.
"Referee, check on her. Can she still continue?" Shushu asked, nodding toward Sahara's motionless form.
Ginna paused before responding.
"Ah... yes!"
But the victorious mood didn't last. From within the settling dust, a silhouette rose with an aura that was deeply, unmistakably wrong. Sahara's eyes had gone white. Her consciousness was entirely gone. And yet her body stood straight, muscles pulled taut and coiled.
(This is bad... I used too much of my Blessing... I can't move...!)
Shushu's confidence turned to panic. She felt a terrifying presence beginning to lock down her position.
"..."
Watching from a distance, Naoki narrowed his eyes. He understood exactly what was happening.
When Sahara lost consciousness while «Crazy Sheep» was still active, her body didn't stop. Her combat instincts, amplified to their limit, took over completely, converting her into a fighting machine with no reasoning left to constrain it.
(The biggest danger is that she'll attack anything in range without distinguishing between enemy and ally.) Naoki noted, continuing to watch the shift in Sahara with steady attention.
*WHOOSH!*
Sahara charged. Shushu, still drained from her last attack, could only stare as Sahara's hand seized her with a speed that was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.
The instant that grip locked onto Shushu's uniform, Sahara gave her no room to breathe. Eyes closed, awareness absent, her body moved with an agility that defied explanation.
*CRACK!*
With one explosive motion, Sahara slammed Shushu into the ground, then followed it with a kick that sent the giant form tumbling. For someone who could fall asleep anywhere at a moment's notice, this unconscious state had become the most lethal hidden mode imaginable.
Ginna, Yuuki, and the other onlookers could only watch, wide-eyed, as Shushu, who had been so clearly in control just moments ago, ended up flat on her back with eyes rolled white.
"Shushu is unconscious!" Ginna called out the final verdict. "Wakasa Sahara wins!"
In the middle of the thoroughly wrecked arena, a small flurry of activity broke out the moment Shushu went down.
Yachiho, her smug smile firmly back in place, stepped forward quickly and caught Sahara's body as it began to crumple from exhaustion.
"She won! And it's all thanks to my incredible support, isn't it?!"
Tenka watched Sahara going limp in Yachiho's arms with a faint smile. "She managed to win right at the final second of her three-minute limit."
"Yeah, that was genuinely close." Naoki agreed, his gaze still on the dust settling across the arena. "If her opponent had held on even a few seconds longer, Sahara would have lost her power and gone down."
Across the arena, Yuuki and Nei immediately rushed toward Shushu's fallen form in a panic.
"Shushu-chan?!"
"Are you all right?!" Yuuki asked, his voice urgent. At the same time, Ginna worked to calm the situation while gathering her ability. "Hold on, I'll heal her injuries right away!"
Slowly, Shushu began to come back to herself.
"Mmh..." she groaned faintly, trying to sit up on a body that still felt completely wrung out.
"..."
But the moment she managed to sit upright, the atmosphere turned distinctly awkward. After such a brutal fight and the extreme size changes her Paradigm Shift had put her through, her uniform had torn badly and was no longer capable of covering her chest.
Without anything underneath, the full, unobstructed view of her was suddenly on display for everyone present, soft and entirely exposed.
"!"
Yuuki, positioned directly in front of her, went instantly wide-eyed, his face coloring completely as though it might burst. Nei beside him went equally still and speechless.
Watching from a distance, Naoki pressed two fingers to his temple.
(Good grief. The fanservice in this unit truly never ends.)
"Don't look~"
His vision went dark as Tenka gently but firmly covered his eyes with both hands.
Yuuki had already stripped off his uniform jacket in one quick motion.
"Your chest is showing! Put this on for now!" He draped it over Shushu's bare shoulders. "It's fine, I have a spare!"
"..."
Shushu simply sat there, expression blank, as though her soul hadn't quite returned to her body after such a thorough defeat.
"Oh... so that means... I..."
The reality was settling in. She had just suffered an embarrassing loss, directly in front of Yuuki.
With unsteady steps and shoulders slumped, Shushu made her way to Kyouka to account for the result.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I lost."
Kyouka placed a firm hand on Shushu's shoulder, her gaze carrying a concern she didn't put into words.
"That was genuinely close! Don't let this get to you. I'll give you my full evaluation later."
She tried to pull Shushu's spirit back up from where it had sunk.
But the encouragement wasn't enough to reach the part of her that hurt.
Shushu walked away from the match area toward the building with a listless gait. In a quiet corner, the composure she had been holding together finally gave out. Tears ran freely down her face as she pressed her hands together, swallowed by a shame that went deep.
"I showed Yuuki... the side of me that isn't cool at all..."
Losing a fight was one thing. But looking weak and pitiful in front of the person she liked was something else entirely.
🎇Keep reading and support this story on Ko-fi:
📎Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/lovefanfiction or bit.ly/4sbFiOM
✅More early access chapters from WebNovel
✅5 translated fanfic chapters & 1-2 new original fanfic chapters every day (Monday-Saturday), exclusive on Ko-fi.
Thank you so much for your incredible support!