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Beneath the shroud of night, dust and smoke coiled upward, vast swathes of flame illuminating half the sky. The scars of battle radiated from the study's ruins, sprawling across dozens of meters in every direction.
The colossal reiatsu flare had roused the Genji School's slumbering students and nearby patrol teams. Alerted, many grabbed their blades and converged on the source of the disturbance.
By the time the clash subsided, a throng of silhouettes had gathered.
"Hey! Anyone hurt over there?"
"We're fine here, the study's still ablaze."
"Hurry over! You, report to Sasakibe-sama!"
"That guy over there, isn't that jerk Makoto?"
"And the other's Librarian Katori!"
"What are they doing?"
…
At the battlefield's heart, Katori's gaze was frigid.
Gone was the timid, self-conscious caution she'd worn in the study.
"You with him?"
Makoto, freshly robbed of his kill, blinked at the question. Then a spark of nameless fury flared within him.
"Hold on, you're the one who swooped in and stole my victory!" He shot back, chest puffed, voice brimming with righteous indignation.
Katori faltered, her brows knitting. "Then why did you stop me from finishing him?"
Realization clicked, and Makoto clutched his forehead, feigning exasperation, "For intel, obviously!"
He jabbed a finger her way, lecturing, "Think about it, if they're bold enough to strike inside the Genji School, there's no way it's just this handful, right? Who knows how many more are lurking among us? Imagine the secrets we could've wrung out if we'd kept their leader alive! That's why I dragged it out so long, why I only took his arm at the end, sparing his life! And you, what were you doing?"
The louder Makoto's voice swelled, the clearer Katori's book-rage-addled mind became. With his words, the ice in her eyes melted away unnoticed.
She shrank into herself, head dipping like a child caught in a blunder, as if burrowing into her ample chest, quivering like a scolded quail.
The encircling Genji students, stirred by Makoto's reasoning, grasped the gravity of the situation. Many chimed in to back him up.
"Yeah, Katori-san! I saw it, Makoto fought like a beast out there!"
"Exactly! After slicing off SatĹŤ's arm, he was grilling him for info, we all saw it when we rushed over!"
"That jerk Makoto might love pounding people, but he's got some sense of duty."
"Even if he's a jerk."
"No wonder Sasakibe-sama rates him."
"Still a jerk, though!"
The students' chatter wove together, fleshing out the chaotic scene bit by bit.
Katori's cheeks flushed deeper, steam practically rising from her head. Her naginata unconsciously reverted to its sealed ZanpakutĹŤ form, held timidly before her.
Makoto stood tall, sword in hand, chin high, radiating smug triumph.
"Steal my kill and slander me? The masses' eyes see true!"
Sure, the truth stung a little.
But in that moment, Makoto overlooked something critical.
As the students rallied, piecing together the facts, a sultry, lilting voice, dripping with perverse delight, pierced the crowd's center, echoing in every mind.
[Ohhh! Such big boobs and lewd! I fucking love it! Please, oh please, squeeze me tight with that boobs! Ah, let me suffocate in there!]
The voice, sickly sweet and piercing, rang through their heads. Instantly, all chatter died.
Every mouth shut or gaped, all eyes swiveling to Makoto at the crowd's core. A deathly silence fell.
Stare.
In that instant, as his body trembled, a forgotten word surfaced unbidden in Makoto's mind. "A person dies thrice in life. But for some, social death precedes the physical."
Makoto didn't know what that wise soul had endured. All he knew, as countless eyes bore into him, right here, right now, mirrored that then, that there.
The graveyard hush stretched endlessly. Then the students, so earnest in their testimony moments ago, stirred anew, voices rustling.
"Ahem, now that I think about it, there were some shady gaps in that fight."
"This jerk doesn't strike me as decent!"
"He's gotta be after our sweet Katori-san, that's why he did it!"
"That filthy outsider, trying to steal my Katori-chan!"
"I hit the study seven times a day!"
"Twelve for me!"
"See? I knew he was a jerk!"
The crowd erupted again, a cacophony of accusations. Amid the tide's reversal, Katori, who'd just doubted him, glanced around, trembling as she faced the mob, her frail voice teetering on tears.
"Um, everyone, it's a misunderstanding! Makoto-kun didn't do anything weird to me. It was my mistake! Sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"
By now, no one was listening to her anymore.
The moment the girl's voice trembled out, Makoto who'd just braced himself for the shattering of his reputation felt a flicker of hope ignited within him.
A man of action, he didn't waste a heartbeat on deliberation. His body sprang into motion.
He sidled up to Katori, voice dropping low, "Katori. Have you ever heard of the legendary forbidden books?"
The instant his words slipped out, a brilliant glint flashed through Katori's bespectacled eyes.
Her timid demeanor vanished in a blink.
Forbidden! Books!
Her gaze locked onto him, unyielding.
She'd never heard of such a thing, but no matter how she spun it, they had to be utterly fascinating tomes!
Makoto, now a devilish uncle dangling a lollipop before a child, laced his tone with wicked temptation. "If you can help me clear this up, I'll share one with you. Think about it. Days in the study without books wouldn't that be unbearable?"
"…"
"Really?"
Her deliberation lasted less than three seconds before Katori took the bait, her gaze beneath those glasses blazing with near-feverish intensity.
"Of course!" Makoto's voice rang with conviction.
Katori pressed her lips tight, staring him down with grave intent, straining to muster a threat, "If you're lying about this, Makoto-kun… I-I don't even know what I'd do!"
Her words jolted him, a chill creeping up his spine as he recalled what she'd said to Yamamoto.
But the specter of his future at the Genji School, shunned, mateless, stripped of courting rights flashed before him. With a mental vault brimming with stories, he steeled himself.
"No problem!"
Seeing his resolve, Katori drew a deep breath, as if cementing her own determination.
She gripped her blade tight.
With a flick, it morphed into the ferocious naginata from before.
In an instant, the fragile quiver faded from her face, replaced by an icy edge as she turned to the still-squabbling students.
She stepped forward, her petite frame a shield before Makoto.
Her ferocious stare cut like a blade and a torrent of reiatsu erupted from her, flooding outward in all directions, a metallic screech tearing through the air.
Her voice, low and crystalline, dripped with killing intent that pierced to the bone.
"All of you. Shut Up!!!"
That roar, laced with savage menace, struck the frail souls of the students like a chisel to the ear. Their minds blanked under the onslaught.
In a heartbeat, silence reigned.
Even Makoto, standing beside her, froze and his ears ringing.
He stared, dazed, at Katori's taut expression.
This girl, in every sense…
Was beyond fierce!
***
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