Chapter 37. Medusa hunts Yukino again, Satou Kazuma masters Dogeza!
The scene changed abruptly, the camera shifted to the moment when Yukino was on the verge of death.
[A young girl lay in a pool of blood, when she suddenly heard clearly the sound of footsteps echoing from the end of the hallway.]
[Who is it…]
[Who could make it to this place…]
[She tried to think, but her whole body was stiff, her mind blank from lack of oxygen.]
[Her eyelids were heavy, seemingly about to drift into eternal slumber on the cold floor.]
[That shadowy figure slowly knelt down, reaching out to examine the wound on her chest, the icy-cold fingers pierced her, making Yukino instinctively feel a strange mix of shame and pleasure.]
[Right after, a clear, composed voice rang out in the air.]
["Her heart was damaged... but she can still be saved."]
[Swoosh~]
[Like the gentle friction sound of a necklace.]
[That mysterious finger circled her neck, putting on a cold chain.]
[Waves of warmth continuously flowed into her body, the pleasant sensation felt like ascending to heaven, as if even the damaged cells around her heart were being healed, a dreamy feeling like a hibernating snake slowly spread through her mind.]
[In the mist of her consciousness, she seemed to hear a young man and woman conversing.]
["Let's go, Archer."]
["Not planning to stick around and wait for her to repay you with her body?"]
["With a favor this big, you could totally make her repay you with her body—and maybe pop out a few cute kids together."]
["Huh…?!"]
["Yukinoshita-san has no boobs and no butt—definitely not my type. At the very least, she needs to be a C-cup to meet my standards."]
[The lazy voice of the Young Master rang out, with a teasing tone.]
[As if he didn't care at all about saving a life.]
[Hearing those "insults" about her figure, the weak girl faintly moved the corner of her lips.]
[She really wanted to argue back.]
[That she did have boobs, just… a bit hard to notice, that's all…]
[But in the end, she couldn't resist the instinctual exhaustion, her head tilted to one side, and she passed out.]
[Before her consciousness completely faded, she vaguely saw a white sleeve.]
[That style… so familiar…]
"Ahahahaha…!!"
At Celestial Curtain, everyone instantly burst into laughter.
The flat-chested girl's reaction was just too adorable, to the point people forgot about her beauty.
Someone pointed at the image of the girl who, even in death, was still stubbornly arguing back, laughing to tears: "That line 'I have boobs, just not obvious' is the go-to excuse of every flat-screen girl!"
"Probably throw the corpse into a crematorium for a whole week, that 'stubborn mouth' still wouldn't melt, still mumbling 'I have boobs,' hahaha…"
Satou Kazuma grinned from ear to ear, feeling even happier than staying home playing visual novels.
Suddenly, all the sound around him stopped.
Sensing the silence in the atmosphere, he turned around confusedly to look at everyone:
"Huh? Why did everyone stop laughing? Don't y'all think that was hilarious?"
Hearing that, everyone silently took a few steps back, looking at him with eyes full of pity.
The boy finally realized something was wrong, his expression turned panicked, his back gradually turned cold.
Ma-Masaka…
"Excuse me, was that really so funny?"
Yukinoshita Yukino smiled gently, appearing right behind him, her voice incredibly soft.
"My mother once said the support walls at Tokyo Bay are still missing a few pillars. I think you'd be quite suitable for that task."
"Rather than being a Hikikomori wasting national food resources, wouldn't you rather become a productive talent for society?"
"Sumimasen, sumimasen…"
Satou Kazuma broke into a sweat, immediately dropping to his knees in a very practiced fashion, performing a textbook Japanese dogeza.
He tried hard to squeeze out a few crocodile tears, choking as he spoke.
"Ojou-sama, I swear I had absolutely no intention of mocking! Above me, I've got an eighty-year-old mother waiting for food every day, and below me, an innocent wife at home depending on me for support!"
"Please be generous and merciful, spare this lowly one's life!"
"Hmph…"
Yukinoshita Yukino let out a light hmph, like a noble flower atop a lofty mountain peak, flicked her hair and walked away.
Outwardly, she still maintained a graceful, haughty demeanor, but inside she couldn't help silently complaining.
Wasn't it said that a man's knees are as precious as gold?
Then why the hell was that guy's dogeza so damn practiced?!
Not long after.
Once Yukino had walked far enough, someone finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
Like a domino effect, those who had witnessed the entire farce all broke into loud laughter, some even shouted out:
"Are, Satou-kun's kneeling and begging for forgiveness again!"
Kazuma wasn't angry, on the contrary, he puffed out his chest proudly.
"A real man doesn't sweat the small stuff!"
He even dusted off the hem of his shirt as he spoke, face beaming.
The crowd deliberately shouted even louder.
"Just looking at you, it's obvious you kneel all the time!"
Satou Kazuma could no longer sit still, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"How could you people slander someone's good name so casually…"
From within the crowd, even one of his close friends betrayed him, speaking up with a devious face:
"What reputation? I saw with my own eyes just the other day, back in our hometown — you were caught stealing someone's fruit, got hung up and beaten, and ended up kneeling for a whole day and night."
Kazuma's face turned red like a ripe persimmon, veins bulging on his forehead as he rushed to argue back.
"I wouldn't call that stealing! …I was just resting my hand on a tree branch for a bit! If the damn fruit falls into my hand on its own, how's that stealing?!"
Then he started muttering strange things like "the fruit wasn't ripe," "didn't even taste good"… making everyone laugh even harder.
All of Celestial Curtain was drowned in an atmosphere of laughter and joy.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Celestial Curtain gradually brightened from dimness, and the unconscious girl's finger twitched slightly.
[Yukinoshita Yukino slowly opened her eyes, her gaze a bit bewildered.]
["I… I'm still alive?"]
["My heart was clearly pierced, yet I didn't die…"]
["No, I remember… before I died, someone saved me… and even insulted my chest size."]
[She tilted her head, thinking deeply, feeling the cold sensation around her neck.]
[This is…]
[A ruby necklace?!]
[The girl looked in astonishment at the treasure around her neck, her emotions a mess.]
[A life-saving favor must definitely be repaid, but right now there were too many uncertainties. She wanted to investigate the truth. That purple-haired woman was both mysterious and powerful, capable of killing her with ease — if left unchecked, someone else would surely become the next victim.]
[Therefore…]
[Whoosh!!]
[The familiar tip of a red chain blade shot forth again, tearing through the air with a fierce gust of wind.]
[Yukino's pupils contracted violently, on high alert, instinctively diving to dodge.]
[BOOM BOOM BOOM!!]
[The concrete wall, several meters thick, exploded immediately, chunks of rubble scattering. The girl escaped to the window's edge, her expression tense, the scratches on her face only adding to her steely resolve.]
["Being too cautious isn't always a good thing. Watching yourself get killed… that's gonna hurt a lot."]
[From the thick cloud of dust, a sorrowful female voice sighed softly.]
[From the shadows, a woman slowly stepped out, her dark purple eyes glowing with pity.]
[In her right hand was the blood-stained red chain blade — the very weapon that had killed Yukino before.]
The BGM suddenly cut off, the air growing suffocatingly silent.
Only the tense, heavy breathing of the girl echoed in the dark.
The pressure seemed to crush the entire space, like mountains collapsing and oceans cracking — there was no escape. This was a battle of life or death!
How could a mere human… stand against a Servant?
"This is bad. Don't tell me Yukinoshita Yukino's gonna die a second time?"
Someone murmured, hands trembling slightly as he held a cigarette.
"This Rider is brutal as hell. Just got saved, and already took a damn backstab."
Another person took a deep breath, unable to look straight at the screen anymore.
Now… all they could do was hope that Raku Sou and Archer hadn't left yet.