Chapter 19: Is Reconciliation Possible?

Besides those two points, Aizen Sou Hazuki was fundamentally different from Jakui Rinrincho and Kanzaki Sumire in two more ways.

First: she came from the Aizen Sou family, an ancient lineage dating back to the Bunwa era. The power they held wasn’t surface-level wealth or authority, but something deeper, rules that could rewrite the rules themselves.

The darkness of the Aizen Sou clan.JPG

Second: she was a true genius. Calling her “genius is merely the entry ticket to meet me” wouldn’t be an exaggeration at all.

Painting, piano, singing, dancing, acting, psychological analysis, behavioral manipulation, corpse dissection; she could do anything. And she did it all simply because she was bored. She’d master something impossibly complex on a whim. No one knew what she wasn’t good at, and no one knew why she was always smiling.

“You bumped it…”

Her voice was so gentle it could melt. Aizen Sou Hazuki softly pressed the faint red mark on the girl’s shin where it had hit the fridge door. Her lashes trembled; pale purple eyes flashed with heartache and pity.

“So careless.”

The tone was slow and soft.

Her fingertips on the girl’s skin were slow and soft.

Even the aura she gave off felt like being inside a cathedral: pious, compassionate, as if it could embrace all human sin and suffering.

Whimper!

Someya Sara was not happy at all.

This woman is a pervert!

The kind that appears in novels, anime, and games all the time: completely unhinged, super twisted pervert.

QAQ!

And so, our Miss Someya Sara hugged her knees, buried her chin in her clothes, bit her lip hard, and, very disappointingly, started crying.

Aizen Sou Hazuki tilted her head.

She looked at the tiny, red-eyed, watery, red-tipped-nose face, lips trembling even though they were bitten.

Strange, she thought.

I’m only checking the bruise. I haven’t done anything, haven’t even pressed hard; why is she crying? What a crybaby.

So strange.

Really strange.

…

Maybe because she genuinely didn’t understand why the girl was crying, a moment later Aizen Sou Hazuki slowly raised her head, gaze tender, voice low.

“Why are you crying?”

Someya Sara didn’t answer.

She just kept sniffling, brain filled with one thought: I’m gonna get beaten, I’m gonna get beaten.

“Why are you crying~?” Aizen Sou Hazuki didn’t get impatient. Instead, she leaned closer and asked again.

Now her breath, fine, warm breath, brushed the girl’s neck, then slowly moved upward, leaving vivid heat along the jaw, the corner of lips, the tip of the nose, the brows.

“Wu…”

A tiny sound escaped the girl.

It didn’t mean anything in particular.

Just fear and confusion.

And also a silent: Isn’t it obvious why I’m crying? You scared me! And you’re still asking! I hate you…

*

[Baby.]

Xiao Nuosang couldn’t watch anymore.

[Um… be a little tougher. The original host is someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong. Against someone like Aizen Sou Hazuki who’s gentle, no, only pretending to be gentle, your attitude should be… uh…]

Xiao Nuosang paused, searching for the right words.

[More aggressive. Like a bratty little villain. You should say something like: Let go of me! A trash pervert like you thinks you’re worthy of touching me? Weakling~! A weakling who only picks on disabled people~! ❤️]

Someya Sara: “?”

She had a feeling that if she actually said that, the next second would be: Sniff… can we reconcile?

[I’m kidding!] Xiao Nuosang realized how weird that sounded and hurriedly backtracked.

[But baby, do something! The original host is a spineless coward, yes, but she’s the kind of spineless coward who bullies the weak. She wouldn’t just keep crying like this.]

[If you OOC too hard, both of us will be kicked out of the world and we’re totally done for! Lord Main God will personally welcome us and give us the official Tasker Mental Injection!]

Someya Sara: “Woof.”

And so, the very next second, our Miss Someya Sara raised her head with the determination of someone marching to the gallows and declared:

“W-who are you people…”

“Why did you kidnap me? Let me go!”

Her misty blue eyes blinked in panic, wet and uneasy, her nose was red, her voice stuttered and tearful, the very picture of “please don’t bully me.”

Yet somehow her expression was fierce and serious, as if she actually had the right to negotiate with Aizen Sou Hazuki and the others.

Aizen Sou Hazuki smiled.

“Shaa…”

A breeze must have blown outside; the camphor trees rustled, casting silent, dappled shadows across the car windows.

Aizen Sou Hazuki actually laughed out loud.

“What are you laughing at!” Someya Sara desperately tried to keep up her villain act, unilaterally “bullying” the woman. “Let me go right now.”

“Hey.”

Aizen Sou Hazuki lifted her head. Those bright pale purple eyes reflected the girl, the fierce yet impossibly cute girl.

“Think carefully. Have you done anything bad lately? Accidentally pissed someone off?”

N-no I haven’t!

Someya Sara wanted to bluff, but the moment she heard the next line, all her confidence vanished.

“Otherwise, why are you still trembling like a scared little kitten? Hm… you definitely did something bad!”

“I-I didn’t…”

Her voice came out as a guilty puff of air, soft and barely audible. Her little head drooped instantly drooped; she was obviously feeling guilty.

Aizen Sou Hazuki laughed again.

She had only come along because she was bored and Jakui Rinrincho and Kanzaki Sumire asked.

Now, watching this timid, cowardly girl who normally only cried when something bad happened suddenly turn aggressive for some unknown reason, Aizen Sou Hazuki’s eyes revealed something unusual: curiosity, interest, excitement, heat, like a child who just found a fascinating new toy.

[Baby…]

Xiao Nuosang suddenly poked her.

[Follow her lead and steer the conversation toward them.]

Otherwise you’re going to confess everything yourself in the next second.

…

“Y-you’re the ones who broke into my house last night?! C-coming to rob me again?”

Someya Sara stiffly changed the subject.

“I already told you I don’t have any money…”

Before she finished, the system vision feed suddenly cut out. Everything went black; she couldn’t see anymore. Panicking, she instinctively tried to pull her leg back.

But Aizen Sou Hazuki’s fingers abruptly tightened, gentle yet allowing no refusal, holding the girl’s ankle. And this, too, was unconscious on her part.

She didn’t know why she did it.

Didn’t know what meaning it held.

When she realized what she’d done, she discovered she had also tugged, placing the girl’s slim calf across her own lap.