"Here, wipe off your sweat first."
Shuya smiled, pulling out the same pack of tissues he'd used earlier during the Nen demonstration. He drew one out and offered it to Saeko Busujima.
The girl's sweat-dampened purple hair clung to her face, giving her an indescribably alluring charm.
"I feel like my body has no strength left right now… Shuya-kun, could you help me wipe my sweat?"
Still savoring the warmth from when he'd caught her earlier, Saeko's brain seemed to short-circuit. Using the excuse of nearly falling just now, she said something she would normally never dare utter.
But halfway through, her natural modesty and conservatism kicked back in. Her voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.
Saeko lowered her head, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. A deep blush spread across her youthful face.
Shuya saw everything and immediately understood what she was thinking.
Body weak?
It was just wiping sweat—how much effort could that possibly take?
Besides, he had only released a bit of aura pressure earlier; they hadn't even fought. How much stamina could she have lost?
"Sure. Want me to hold you while I do it?"
Not only did he accept her request, he escalated straight into an attack.
Saeko didn't answer.
It wasn't that she didn't want to—facing Shuya's advance, her mind had gone completely blank. Inside she was screaming: Say yes, you stupid mouth!
But the words reached her lips and refused to come out.
Just how conservative was Saeko Busujima?
To put it simply, among all 2D female characters, school uniform skirts are usually 15–20 cm above the knee.
Saeko's skirt, however, was far longer than her knees—an extremely rare sight in the entire 2D world.
Seeing she wouldn't answer, Shuya remembered how, over the past year, she always unconsciously stepped back whenever he tried to get closer. Assuming she simply wasn't ready yet, he didn't push further. He quietly picked up the tissue and gently wiped the sweat from her face.
There was a small sting of disappointment in his heart, but not much.
After everything he had already done with Shizuka, this level of contact felt completely normal.
Saeko was different—she was still a pure maiden. Asking him to wipe her sweat was probably already her absolute limit.
Shuya wasn't in a rush anyway. She had already signed the contract; their futures were tied together. There would be plenty of opportunities later.
What he didn't know was that Saeko was currently regretting it so hard her intestines were turning green.
She only needed to nod, or even just say one word…
Just as regret flooded her, her body acted faster than her brain. She went completely limp and tilted straight into Shuya's arms.
"Want to rest a bit first?" Shuya asked gently.
The girl didn't reply. She simply lay against his chest, greedily soaking up the warmth coming from his body.
For some reason, Saeko suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to tell him everything about herself.
"Shuya-kun, did you know? Back in middle school…"
"I know!"
Shuya cut her off directly.
Saeko looked confused. "You know?"
"I know!" Shuya answered firmly.
"You really know?"
Saeko stared into his black eyes, as if trying to see whether he was lying.
"Whether it's the past no one else cared about, the violent urges and confusion hidden inside your body, or even the deep-seated inferiority and timidity in your heart—I know all of it."
Seeing she wouldn't let it go, Shuya looked straight into her eyes and said seriously, word by word:
"In this world, no one understands the woman named Saeko Busujima in my arms better than I do!"
Every single word struck her soul like lightning.
A misty haze rose in Saeko's eyes. It felt as if an electric current had shot from the top of her head straight down through her entire body.
Her toes, wrapped in black socks inside her little leather shoes, curled tightly without her realizing it.
This was a feeling she had never experienced before—far, far more intense than the rush she'd felt back in middle school when she shattered that stalker's bones with her wooden sword.
Only at this moment did Saeko realize there was something in this world even more pleasurable than freely fighting and venting her urges.
"Shuya! Although I'm still very weak compared to you right now, I, Saeko Busujima, swear here and now: From today onward, I will use my life to protect you—forever!"
Saeko looked into his eyes with absolute determination.
Then the usually reserved swordswoman bravely leaned in and kissed him.
Her technique was clumsy and inexperienced, but the emotion behind it was stronger than anything she had ever felt.
Shuya responded to her passion with everything he had.
A long time later, their lips finally parted.
Saeko lightly wiped the corner of her mouth, then pushed him away like a woman who had eaten her fill and cleaned up afterward.
"That's enough. You should continue teaching me Nen now."
She knew very well that to fulfill her vow of protecting Shuya, she needed power.
If she indulged too deeply in the warmth he gave her, she was afraid she would never want to leave his arms again.
"Okay."
Whether because of the kiss or something else, Shuya somehow understood exactly what she was thinking.
The two of them smiled at each other, as if an invisible thread had connected their hearts.
However, neither of them noticed that the Nen seed inside Saeko's body—the one created by their contract—had begun to grow at an astonishing speed.
No one could have guessed that, right after first touching Nen, Saeko had unknowingly created her own Vows and Limitations.
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