Lust

His gaze was like that of a beast in the dead of night, sweeping over Miyamoto Rei's body beneath her school uniform. Her perky butt lifted the hem of her skirt, setting his heart aflame, but now... was not the time.

No one noticed a thing. Busujima Saeko, the most perceptive among them, leaned against the school bus with her Oak Sword in her arms and her eyes closed, resting peacefully, completely unaware that danger had already come knocking.

"Creak—"

Komuro Takashi gently opened the store door. "Excuse me, is anyone here?"

His voice echoed through the dim, cramped interior, but there was no response. Documents were scattered messily across the floor. Seeing this, Kurumi, who stood behind him, also let out a sigh of relief. It seemed there was no danger.

The room was visible at a glance. The cash register sat beside the window. Komuro Takashi pressed a few buttons, but nothing happened. It was probably because there was no power.

Kurumi pulled Komuro Takashi aside. He looked at her in confusion. With a slight exertion of her right hand gripping the blade, she spun it around.

"Buzz~" The blade cleaved through the air, its sharpness unmistakable.

With the tip pointed upward and the hilt held below, before Komuro Takashi could understand what was happening, Kurumi raised the hilt and smashed it down hard!

"Bang!—Bang, bang!"

The first blow smashed a hole into it, cracks spreading through the surrounding plastic like a spiderweb. The second and third blows reduced the cash compartment to pieces. Some coins even flew out and fell to the floor with crisp "ding ding" sounds.

Kurumi shifted aside and let Komuro Takashi take the bills stored inside. As for committing a crime... they could talk about it if anyone managed to catch them later. Of course, if they really were caught, Komuro Takashi would not mind spending quite some time safely locked up before coming back out.

Looking at the empty street outside, Komuro Takashi felt as though he were dreaming... Order had already collapsed to this extent, so who cared about all that? Wasn't the government's first priority supposed to be protecting its citizens' lives and property?

Forget property. It would be good enough if they could preserve their lives. As for this money, he would consider it support for minors. Surely the shop owner would not mind. Or perhaps he was already dead?

Miyamoto Rei jumped at the sounds coming from inside the store, but quickly realized they were smashing something...

"They really can do whatever they want..."

Violent images of her own actions flashed through her mind. She leaned against a pillar, looking somewhat helpless. "I'm not qualified to criticize Takashi either..."

The shadow behind Miyamoto Rei felt that the opportunity had come... From this angle, he was completely in everyone's blind spot... As long as he grabbed this one, it would be easy to threaten them into handing over their things, especially since they were only a bunch of middle school students...

The moment the thought arose, he lunged toward Miyamoto Rei! In an instant, he flashed in front of her, grabbed her arm with his left hand, and yanked her over with a burst of strength. His right hand held a small knife to her neck, pressed against her carotid artery.

Only then did Miyamoto Rei react. What had happened in those two seconds was too much for her to accept, but driven by instinctive terror, she screamed!

"Ah—!"

Komuro Takashi and Kurumi, who had been squatting on the ground counting money, both narrowed their eyes. "Rei!"

The accidents that were meant to happen would always happen... Why couldn't she remember this? The more Kurumi thought about it, the stranger it felt. Her beautiful wine-red eyes narrowed into slits as a dangerous aura naturally radiated from her.

Komuro Takashi, beside her, sensed it and glanced at Kurumi... It was like falling into an abyss, a coldness that filled him with fear. It felt as though all the oxygen in the air had been sucked away...

He slapped himself hard twice, forcing himself back to his senses, then ran outside.

"Could the Main God be behind this?" Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, audible only to Kurumi herself as it echoed by her ear.

She blinked, revealing a smile like the warm sun of February. The dangerous aura around her immediately vanished without a trace, and she followed Komuro Takashi out of the store.

What they saw was, well, a burly man with bronze skin... and a white headscarf. He had the standard appearance of a villain.

The large man stood in stark contrast to the petite Miyamoto Rei. One hand restrained her slender waist while the other held a knife, though he still lacked the courage to actually use it on her. Miyamoto Rei struggled continuously.

On the other side, Takagi Saya and the others stood some distance away, not daring to advance rashly, while Busujima Saeko slowly approached with her Oak Sword in hand.

"Don't come any closer! Take one more step and I'll stab her to death!" The man looked somewhat crazed. The muscles in his arms bulged as he forcibly pinned Miyamoto Rei down. The knife in his hand cut a bloody line across her fair neck!

Too frightened to struggle any longer, Miyamoto Rei had never experienced anything like this. Even when fighting Dead Bodies, she had never been this close to death. She could clearly sense that the strong man behind her was mentally unstable, as though... he had suffered some kind of shock!

She did not dare move. If that knife accidentally cut her neck... she would probably be reunited with Hisashi. Of course, she had no desire to see Hisashi just yet!

Busujima Saeko and the others stopped advancing as well, lest Miyamoto Rei be harmed. It was best not to provoke someone on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Rei! What happened?!"

The moment Kurumi heard that, she wanted to cover her face. Couldn't he approach slowly? Shouting like that did not do much, but it did draw the man's attention to Kurumi and Komuro Takashi behind him.

They stood at angles, the three sides forming a triangle. The man's face was clearly filled with panic. Looking at Komuro Takashi, he suddenly laughed. "Hey, kid, is this your girlfriend? She's pretty cute."

"Let Rei go!"

"Idiot, why the hell would I let her go?" The thug-like man mocked Komuro Takashi, as though he had found something amusing. "If you want to survive in a world full of monsters, you need a woman."

As he spoke, he tightened his arm around her again, feeling the softness beneath it. His smile grew even more wanton.

Komuro Takashi watched every detail of the man's movements, preparing to snatch Miyamoto Rei back. "You've lost it!"

"Lost it? Bullshit!" The man showed signs of madness again. "Do you know what happened? My family! They turned into those monsters right in front of me! I... I'm going to blow everyone's heads off!"

"My dad, mom, grandma, and little brother! They all turned into those monsters! Only I escaped! What the hell do you know?! Students like you have never faced the pressure of society, have you? Even at a time like this, you can run away safely with your girlfriends! I hate people like you the most!"

"Actually, people who turn into monsters can turn back, you know~"

The man looked at Kurumi behind Komuro Takashi, the greed in his eyes completely undisguised. "Bullshit! Don't try to seduce me. How about this? If you take this bitch's place, I'll let her go."

"Oh my, big brother, you're so direct. I'll come over right now, okay? Let Miyamoto go~" Kurumi covered her mouth and giggled, releasing her charm to its fullest in that instant!

Even Komuro Takashi, beside her, shifted his gaze from Miyamoto Rei to Kurumi. As for the man, he swallowed, a trace of intoxication flashing through his eyes.

Suddenly, a cold wind blew past, and the man immediately snapped awake. Looking into Kurumi's alluring wine-red eyes, he cursed, "Damn it, you little vixen, you're practically killing me. You almost stole my soul away."

"Come here. Let me tie you up, and I'll let this bitch go!"

Watching Kurumi walk toward him step by step, the lust in his eyes rose to its peak. All sorts of filthy thoughts gathered in his mind, and he was already imagining finding a place to have sex with this little vixen...

"Wait!"