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Chapter 40: A Girl's Mind
Ever since she followed Suyan and the others back to this house, Saya had felt a suffocating sense of displacement.
She felt entirely out of place, like an intruder trespassing in a world where she didn't belong.
During dinner, even though Suyan's cooking was genuinely incredible, it tasted like ash in her mouth.
Every single time she looked at Suyan's face, her mind violently flashed back to the extremely graphic acts she had watched him and Saeko perform just hours ago.
Her mouth would go dry, and her skin would prickle with uncomfortable heat.
She desperately wanted to escape.
That urge grew stronger and stronger with every passing minute, until finally, after dinner, she couldn't hold it in any longer and broke.
"Oh?"
Suyan looked at Saya, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you and Senior Saeko friends? Why didn't you wait for her to wake up and ask her to take you back? You saw how strong she is, didn't you?"
Saya nodded.
Suyan was right. Saeko's strength was undeniable. It was completely absurd. Slicing through a zombie horde looked as easy to her as playing a Dynasty Warriors game on the easiest difficulty.
But that was assuming they were actually friends!
She had just stumbled into Saeko outside the infirmary by pure chance, and Saeko had pulled her inside out of pity.
Saeko claiming they were friends was just a polite fiction to save her life.
In reality, Saya knew less about Saeko Busujima than she did about Suyan, whom she had unilaterally declared her ultimate rival.
With a relationship that shallow, how could she possibly demand Saeko risk her life for her?
So why ask Suyan?
Perhaps Saya herself hadn't fully realized it, but because she had spent so much time hyper-fixating on Suyan as her rival, she paid obsessive attention to everything he did. Without even knowing it, a tiny sliver of affection had taken root in her heart.
And when she witnessed his godlike Nen abilities, her deeply ingrained admiration for strength rapidly amplified that tiny sliver into something far more significant.
Because of this, she subconsciously harbored expectations of Suyan, even after witnessing his intimate moment with Saeko firsthand.
But Saya remained oblivious to her true feelings. She only knew that staying here felt unbearable.
First, Shizuka had thoroughly explained Nen to them.
According to the nurse, even if Saya were a once-in-a-generation genius receiving direct tutelage, it would still take years just to grasp the absolute basics of aura manipulation.
By the time she mastered anything useful, she'd likely be long dead.
Second, the harsh reality remained: she had absolutely no ties to Suyan. She had no right, no leverage, to demand he share that power with her.
What was she supposed to do? Throw herself at him the way Saeko had? Offer her body to him without a shred of dignity?
Saya Takagi was a proud girl.
She refused to degrade herself by trading her body for power.
But the most pressing issue was...
Every time she thought about the sheer scale of what she had witnessed between Suyan and Saeko, she couldn't help but look down at herself.
He's so huge...
There is absolutely no way that's going to fit.
Combined, these factors pushed Saya to the breaking point. Her only logical out was to beg Suyan to take her back to her estate—to a place where she felt comfortable, safe, and in control.
She just hadn't expected that in the heat of the moment, her panicked brain would blurt out, I'll do anything you want. It was a shameless, heavily suggestive phrase that sounded far too much like an indecent proposal.
Saya forced herself to be honest. "Saeko and I aren't friends. It was incredibly dangerous outside, and she took pity on me. It was entirely one-sided."
"Well, you're honest, I'll give you that."
Suyan looked at the pink-haired girl, slightly surprised.
In a certain light, Saeko really was quite kind-hearted.
Or perhaps her moral compass was just overly sensitive?
If Saeko had been even slightly selfish, she wouldn't have spent years agonizing in self-hatred just because she broke a bully's arm in middle school and realized she deeply enjoyed the violence.
If Saya was manipulative enough, she absolutely could have exploited Saeko's 'kindness' to get what she wanted.
Suyan hadn't expected her to be so upfront about it.
So, do I help her?
Suyan rubbed his chin, contemplating the pink-haired girl in front of him.
He quickly reached a decision. "I can do that. But I have one condition."
Watching Reizan tear through the horde had drastically boosted his Nen reserves, and claiming Saeko earlier had put him in an exceptionally good mood.
Besides, of the three women currently living in his house, Shizuka and Saeko were intimately bound to him, and his relationship with Rei was heavily flirtatious.
Saya really was the odd one out. She didn't fit the dynamic.
He had nothing better to do, anyway.
But Suyan wasn't running a charity.
He wasn't going to do it for free.
His mind immediately jumped to the sword Saeko used in the original anime.
It was a gift from Saya's father, Soichiro Takagi.
Even though Saeko could conjure Reizan now, the Murata-tou from the Takagi estate was still a high-quality blade with significant collector's value.
If he brought it back and gave it to Saeko when she woke up, she'd probably be thrilled, wouldn't she?
But to his surprise, Saya didn't answer right away. She froze in place, her mind seemingly racing a mile a minute.
After a long, agonizing silence, she gripped the collar of her shirt. Her face turned the color of a boiled lobster as she stammered out, "I... I'm still a virgin. C-Can you please be gentle?"
"In your dreams!"
Before Suyan could even process the absurdity of her statement, Rei completely abandoned her quest to pet the YukimiBotamon.
With a furious yell, Rei tackled Saya, pinning the pink-haired girl flat against the sofa.
Rei glared down at Saya, her eyes practically shooting daggers.
It was one thing for Saeko to steal a march on her. Saeko had known Suyan longer, and they clearly had a much deeper history.
Even though Saeko claimed they weren't dating, Rei had always suspected there was more to the story.
Seeing Saeko claim Suyan earlier had been a shock, but it made a twisted kind of sense.
But Saya Takagi?
What gave her the right to try and jump the line right in front of Rei's face?!
Rei's inner monologue screamed: Absolutely not! I will not allow this injustice to stand!
"Let me go!"
Struggling under Rei's weight, Saya could barely breathe.
It was to be expected. Saya was a pampered rich girl who had never done a day of hard labor in her life. How could she possibly overpower Rei, who trained relentlessly in the Sojutsu Club?
Especially when Rei had the element of surprise and the high ground.
"No!"
Rei's tone was absolute.
"Suyan, a little help here?!"
Desperate, Saya called out to Suyan for a rescue.
"Uh... Rei, maybe you should let her up."
Suyan rubbed the bridge of his nose. This situation had escalated in a direction he had entirely failed to predict.
Rei shot him a deeply reproachful look. "You did that to me earlier, and you still call me 'Miyamoto'? Are you really so heartless you won't even call me 'Rei'?"
Suyan sweatdropped.
What exactly did I do to you?!
I literally just played with your hair!
But if it was just a matter of changing how he addressed her, he didn't care. He wasn't Japanese; he didn't care about the rigid societal rules regarding first names and intimacy.
It cost him nothing.
Suyan scratched his head. "Uh... Rei, could you let her go?"
"Okay!"
Hearing her first name, Rei's entire demeanor flipped faster than a light switch.
The dark storm clouds vanished, replaced by radiant sunshine as she happily released her grip on Saya. Though, to be clear, that sunshine was reserved entirely for Suyan.
When she looked back at Saya, her expression remained decidedly frosty.
"Hah... I'm saved."
Saya gasped for air, looking completely disheveled and thoroughly defeated.
She looked back up at Suyan. "Um... Suyan... about our deal?"
Suyan deadpanned. "I think you've fundamentally misunderstood the situation. I never said I wanted to do anything to you."
"I just want that treasured sword your family keeps in their collection. I want to give it to Senior Saeko as a gift..."
"Huh?!"
Suyan's words struck Saya like a physical blow.
The pink-haired girl froze, completely paralyzed by shock.
I misunderstood?!
Saya Takagi, what is actually wrong with your brain?!
In a word: mortification.
Complete, utter, all-consuming social death!
Humiliation!
A wave of humiliation so intense it threatened to crush her soul crashed over the pink-haired girl.
If she had a sword in her hands right now, she would have unironically committed seppuku right there on the living room floor.
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