Simply put, Kiryu Aika was someone without many friends.
But Kiryu Aika did not care about that.
Friends?
They were not important to her. She only liked the things she liked.
That was anything even remotely related to eroticism.
Even so, Kiryu Aika was unquestionably a virgin.
It sounded strange, didn't it?
She clearly liked lewd things, yet she had never touched them herself.
She had never even comforted herself once.
A bad girl in other people's eyes, yet a girl so pure it made people want to laugh.
But that was Kiryu Aika.
Walking down the streets at night, the streetlights had already come on, casting bright pools of light.
On her way home after work, Kiryu Aika let one hand hang by her aching shoulder as she grumbled to herself about the hardships of her part-time job.
Fortunately, she was off work now. If she had been kept another half hour, she might have quit on the spot.
It was not the first or second time she had thought that, but that damned middle-aged woman of a manager always gave her the freedom to leave just before she reached her breaking point.
It felt as though that middle-aged woman had her completely in the palm of her hand.
She stopped, shook her shoulders, and kicked her slightly sore legs.
I sweated today, and I stood for so long. My socks must smell by now.
Just thinking about it made her imagine taking off her socks and holding them beneath her nose for a sniff.
Her face reddened slightly, and a trace of shame rose in her heart.
She still did not make such a move.
How could she possibly do something like that?!
She broke into a run, using it to hide her embarrassment. The girl did not see that behind her, beneath the flickering lights, two figures—one large and one small—stood watching Kiryu Aika's retreating back.
"My master, is that your interest?"
Sweet, elegant, intellectual... one could find every trait one liked within that voice.
She had a tall figure for a woman, orange-pink medium-length hair, and features that were not particularly refined. Yet paired with those strange golden ringed eyes and her peculiar aura, they created an eerie sense of beauty, forming a stunning appearance.
Perhaps that was what harmony meant.
.
It was a charm difficult to describe with simple words.
She wore a standard business outfit, though without a jacket. Her white shirt almost perfectly accentuated the girl's perfectly proportioned figure.
She was Makima, yet not Makima.
The Control Devil, the so-called bad woman.
She could go by many names: devil, Control Devil, Makima, bad woman, and bad woman Makima.
Different names represented different selves.
But to Sakura, she was Sakura's power—the devil who had made a contract with Sakura, the Control Devil controlled by Sakura.
Wasn't that funny?
A devil meant to control everything was now controlled by an unusual existence.
Funny, interesting, and then terrifying.
What exactly was capable of controlling the Control Devil that was meant to control everything?
A human? A cute child to the naked eye, so harmless that even a little force seemed enough to tear that adorable face to pieces.
At least, that was how she appeared.
"She's an interesting child."
Sakura smiled softly and opened her arms to the devil she controlled, exercising her rights as the controller.
The controlled devil did not mind. Smiling, she reached out and embraced the master who controlled her in an intimate gesture. "What an adorable master."
Those bewitching ringed eyes reflected Sakura's small figure. She truly wanted to turn the master controlling her into food. It would surely be exquisite food, and she would elegantly eat Sakura bite by bite, letting Sakura become a part of her.
But a living master was a good master...
The slight curve of her lips formed an eerie smile.
She stepped forward on her long legs, slowly walking toward the streetlights that had begun to flicker as well.
"I'm finally here."
Seeing the apartment building before her, Kiryu Aika immediately let out a sigh of relief.
For some reason, she felt that the road home had been especially long today, as though someone had stretched it out.
But she was probably overthinking it. The road was right there—how could it possibly have been stretched?
Casting that fantasy from her mind, Kiryu Aika first took the apartment key from inside her chest.
Not many people lived in this apartment building, and she had already reached the stairwell, so there was nothing to worry about.
The key was warm in her hand. If neither her school uniform nor work uniform lacked pockets, she would not have needed to keep her key there.
Sometimes it bumped against her while she walked, and that feeling was not very pleasant.
Her schoolbag?
She could just leave that sort of thing at school. How many people still took their schoolbags home these days?
Usually, a small bag was enough, but unfortunately, she had overslept this morning. Afraid of being late, she had rushed to school and forgotten the bag.
Fortunately, she had not forgotten her key. Otherwise, she would have had to ask someone she knew to replace the lock again. If she replaced it once more this month, her part-time wages would not be enough to buy the books she wanted!
She would never give up on her books!
Arriving at her apartment door, Kiryu Aika lowered her head and froze when she saw faint light seeping through the gap beneath it.
Had she forgotten to turn off the light this morning?
Impossible. She had not turned on the light at all this morning!
Had she gone to the wrong place?
She took a step back and checked the number. It was 414. That was right.
She knew the number was not very lucky, but the room was cheap, and she had lived there for a year without anything strange happening.
Could something be happening now?
Kiryu Aika had a bad feeling. She wanted to leave, but where could she stay if she did?
Her phone was out of battery, and her body could not charge it.
Biting her lip, Kiryu Aika hesitated for a while before deciding to open the door and take a look. Maybe she really had turned on the light that morning and simply forgotten.
She inserted the key into the lock and turned it.
Just as she was about to open the door, footsteps sounded from behind it. She yanked out the key and prepared to run!
Then the voice that followed made her stop dead in her tracks.
It was as though it carried some kind of Magic Power. She did not know why, but she stopped anyway, standing stiffly where she was.
"Sister Aika?"
Sister Aika?
}+
Is that calling me?
Sixty-Eight: The Living and the Dead
"This is quite a good ability."
Looking at the work before her, the girl who resembled a loyal dog, Sakura's smile was radiant.
The Control Devil's ability was control, just as its name implied.
But it differed somewhat from ordinary understandings of control.
Everything she subjectively considered beneath herself could be controlled by her, whether human or devil.
It was like some kind of rule written into reality, though now it had been elevated a little.
Looking at Kiryu Aika, who had already been bound by invisible chains, Sakura wrapped her arms around her neck.
Sakura's tiny body looked like a large accessory hanging from the kneeling Kiryu Aika.
Sakura leaned close to her ear and spoke gently.
"Please die for me, okay?"
Light returned to Kiryu Aika's vacant eyes.
Her distinct black-and-white eyes underwent a subtle change.
Makima's lips curved slightly as she watched with amusement the toy her master had made using her ability.
Another self.
She was still Makima, the so-called Control Devil.
But now, the seed of control had been planted within this human.
It sounded profound, but it was merely another form of control.
With so-called death as the bottom line, she was bound by chains called control.
The chained girl still existed as a loyal dog, only the method of issuing orders had changed.
Her neck twisted, rotating a full 360 degrees in a manner only something inhuman could achieve.
The once-beautiful girl now looked horrifying.
But she carried out the controller's command—the so-called death.
An ugly bluish tint appeared across her pale body, and as time passed, a touch of purple spread through the blue.
"I thought you'd make good use of her, Sakura."
Makima narrowed her eyes and smiled at the unusual masterpiece before her.
A beautiful death, without complaint, with a twisted smile and a heartbeat gradually slowing amid excitement.
Unfortunately, this world did not contain the hell that had given birth to her and them. Otherwise, she could have seen this interesting human again there.
Measuring the value people saw through the standards of art, this masterpiece before them already possessed value in some people's eyes.
"This is only an experiment."
A cute child's voice slowly emerged from Sakura's mouth, carrying so-called innocence.
That was unimportant. The meaning of words was decided by people, or by life. A single character or word could carry different meanings.
"Are you going to revive her?"
Makima understood her master's thoughts.
This world did not have a hell that belonged to her and them, but creating one was not difficult for Sakura.
This world, this rather interesting world, was an excellent foundation.
A brand-new hell would reappear before her with this world as its basis.
Before you continue