On the other side, Aoi vented her anger without holding back. The frustration she had been suppressing finally exploded, and the easiest target in front of her was none other than Takeshi.
"What are you looking at!?" she snapped sharply.
Takeshi staggered on the floor of the narrow apartment. His body was already covered in bruises from the rough treatment earlier. He tried to control his heavy breathing while his head still spun from the pain.
Aoi cursed Kazuma in her mind.
For her, this situation should never have happened. A man—especially an ordinary man like Kazuma—should not have the right to reject her. In a world where the norms had already reversed like now, men were placed at the very bottom. Those chosen by women were supposed to feel grateful.
Yet Kazuma had done the opposite.
He rejected her.
And he did it without the slightest hesitation.
That felt like an insult that slapped Aoi's pride.
"All of this is because of your friend," she muttered coldly, looking down at Takeshi lying on the floor. "If only he hadn't acted as if he were someone special…"
Takeshi clenched his teeth, trying to endure the pain spreading through his body.
"Ka… Kazuma has nothing to do with this…" he said weakly.
Aoi snorted softly.
"Quiet."
She walked back and forth across the room, her steps heavy yet restless. Her anger had not subsided. In fact, the longer she waited, the more chaotic her feelings became.
Kazuma should have called again.
Or even come looking for her.
But until now nothing had happened.
That thought made Aoi's expression grow darker.
She did not know since when her feelings had turned into something so heavy and suffocating. At first it had only been something small—a brief meeting that the other person might have already forgotten.
She first came to know Kazuma in their first year of university.
At that time Aoi had gotten lost in the engineering faculty building—a place almost entirely filled with men. She had still been awkward back then. A world that reversed social positions had made her accustomed to seeing men as something she needed to keep distance from.
But that day was different.
Kazuma approached her without hesitation. Not with a strange gaze, nor with bad intentions. He simply asked whether Aoi was lost.
Then, with a relaxed attitude, he escorted her back to the economics faculty until she reached her classroom.
That was all.
A simple act that, for Kazuma, probably held no special meaning.
But for Aoi… the world seemed to change from that moment.
For the first time she saw a man who did not lower his head, did not try excessively to please women, and did not look at her with fear. Kazuma treated her like an ordinary person.
Since that day, Aoi began paying attention to him.
She tried several times to approach him. Sending small signals that other men usually understood immediately.
But Kazuma was different.
He was always polite, yet he kept his distance. His focus was almost entirely on his studies in nuclear engineering. His ambition and curiosity toward science were far stronger than any desire to think about a relationship with someone.
All the signals Aoi gave… seemed to never be noticed by him.
Until one day Aoi was influenced by her friends to try eating a peach from Mato.
That was when her life changed.
The peach blessing she obtained was called Crimson Devotion.
An ability born from obsessive emotion toward a particular individual. When that power awakened, someone would naturally be marked as an Anchor—the center of the entire ability.
The bond was not merely emotional.
It was also spiritual.
Every ability possessed by the user would become far stronger when related to the person who became the Anchor.
The energy of that blessing manifested as a dark red aura that pulsed softly, following the heartbeat of its owner. The stronger the obsessive feelings she possessed, the greater the power flowing from her body.
And without the slightest hesitation—
The Anchor chosen by that power was Kazuma.
Since that moment, Aoi's slender body changed drastically. When she was near Kazuma, her physical strength increased abnormally. Her reflexes sharpened, her endurance rose, and even the strength she possessed could surpass that of an ordinary adult man by twice as much.
That ability drew the attention of the MDF—Mato Defense Force.
They had once attempted to recruit her.
But Aoi refused at the last moment for one reason.
For her, none of that mattered.
Only one person mattered.
Kazuma.
Kazuma.
Kazuma.
That name kept echoing endlessly in her mind.
That was why when she finally gathered the courage to approach him directly—offering all her attention and feelings—
Kazuma rejected her.
The same question kept appearing in her mind.
Why?
She had already given everything.
Everything she had… all for him.
What was wrong with her?
That question kept spinning endlessly in Aoi's head.
Why did Kazuma reject her feelings?
She remembered that moment clearly. At that time she had even seen with her own eyes how Kazuma interacted with Takeshi—so relaxed, so close. They joked without limits, even throwing vulgar jokes at each other as if it were completely normal.
Kazuma laughed freely when he was with Takeshi.
An attitude he had never shown to Aoi.
That made her thoughts become even more tangled.
Aoi could not understand a relationship like that. From her perspective, that kind of closeness should have had a certain meaning. Yet right before her eyes, the reality she saw contradicted her own understanding.
If Kazuma could be that open with Takeshi…
Then why did he reject her?
A strange suspicion began to grow in her mind.
Could it be… that Takeshi was the reason?
Did Kazuma actually have some kind of deviation?
That thought grew stronger until Aoi finally asked the person directly.
When the question came out of her mouth, Takeshi—who was already badly beaten—instantly widened his eyes.
"You've got to be kidding! Kazuma and I are not like that! We're purely just friends, nothing else!!"
With a face full of bruises and a body still aching after being beaten, Takeshi shouted desperately, trying to defend himself from an accusation that felt utterly ridiculous to him.
However, his shout only triggered Aoi's anger.
The girl looked at him with an expression that grew darker, then without hesitation swung the whip in her hand.
SRAK!
The tip of the whip sliced through the air before striking Takeshi's body.
"Agh—!"
Takeshi grimaced in pain. His body, already battered and bruised, received another blow as a burning sting spread across his back. He tried to hold himself back from screaming again, but the relentless pain made it difficult even to breathe normally.
Aoi did not stop immediately.
The whip rose again, then came down once more with a sharp motion.
"Don't lie to me!"
Her voice was filled with emotions that were difficult to control—a mixture of anger, frustration, and something far darker.
Takeshi could only lower his head while clenching his teeth, trying to endure the merciless pain. In his mind, there was only one hope.
Kazuma had to come quickly.
Before something inside him truly awakened.
Takeshi held his breath, trying to swallow the pain that continued to spread through his body. Every strike he received pushed the limit of his patience thinner. Even he did not know what would happen if he truly lost control.
Meanwhile, Aoi stood a few steps in front of him.
The whip was still in her hand, but the swings had stopped. She looked at Takeshi with a flat expression, as if observing something that had caught her interest.
Her gaze slowly narrowed.
Takeshi was no longer shouting.
He simply lowered his head, gritting his teeth, his body trembling as he endured the pain.
An odd silence filled the room.
Aoi's thoughts began to drift in a strange direction.
'Is he enjoying it?'
BAM!
Suddenly, a loud crash shook the room.
The apartment door that had previously been tightly shut burst open violently, its hinges creaking loudly from the unnatural impact. The wooden door even cracked slightly near the lock.
Aoi's eyes widened.
She was certain she had locked the apartment door.
Yet someone had just forced their way in as if the lock meant nothing.
Footsteps entered the room.
The person they had been waiting for finally appeared at the doorway.
Kazuma Satou stood there.
His breathing was still slightly heavy after rushing over, his shoulders rising and falling slowly. But the most striking thing was his gaze—sharp and cold, far different from the relaxed attitude he usually showed on campus.
That gaze immediately focused on one thing.
Takeshi, bound and battered on the floor.
Then on Aoi… who was still gripping the whip in her hand.