Unohana... Chiyo

Half-kneeling on the ground, she held the completely unconscious Naked Fruit Girl in her arms.

She opened the oil-paper umbrella.

Su Youzi did her best to cover the girl's vital areas.

No matter what kind of person she had been before, or whether she had been an Altered User, now... she was merely a frail and helpless maiden.

What was more, Su Youzi recalled the title "Anomalous: Puppet" above the girl's head and the dark purple eye-shaped totem drawn over the maiden's lower abdomen.

"She's just a puppet."

She checked her Material Slot.

Most of the accessories she had obtained from Saotome Yukina were decorative... little items that increased attack speed.

There were no clothes like a maid dress or apron that could be worn temporarily.

Su Youzi could only hold the unconscious Naked Fruit Girl in her arms and wait for the academy's teachers to arrive.

Fortunately.

Perhaps the fanservice rules of adult games still applied.

Although the Anomaly girl had been struck directly in the vital area and stabbed in the lower abdomen, after her anomalous state was dispelled, her injuries seemed to vanish along with the anomalous materials.

Her body was so frail that her breathing was almost imperceptible, but it was already a blessing that she would not die from massive blood loss.

Behind Su Youzi.

With both hands covering her chest, Saotome Yukina looked at the naked maiden in Su Youzi's arms with an envious yet complicated expression.

After all, that girl had nearly slashed Senior Youzi with a single blow just moments ago.

But... she was really so envious.

Envious that she could be held in Senior Youzi's arms like that.

She did not throw a tantrum.

She merely moved a little closer to Su Youzi. The girl silently crouched down, concealing the last trace of that dazzling sight.

Hurried footsteps came from outside the combat practice field.

Just like police who always arrived one step too late in most anime and movies.

The teachers of Shiritsu Megumi Garden Academy also arrived belatedly only after the incident had ended.

"Youzi!!!" From afar... Unohana Chiyo spotted the girl who made her heart ache with pity.

She had always had an excellent memory for her students.

Especially... this Little Youzi.

Saotome Yukina, crouching beside Su Youzi, looked at the voluptuous mature woman jogging toward her and Senior Youzi.

For some reason... Little Rabbit's instincts smelled something called "danger" for the first time.

"How are you..."

"Are you hurt?" Unohana Chiyo looked at Youzi, who was tightly holding the Naked Fruit Girl.

Ever since retiring from the battlefield.

It had been a very, very long time since she had felt this tense.

A Calamity Domain had suddenly unfolded within the academy.

And the victim had actually been her student.

And it was... Youzi?

The moment she saw the scarlet eyes of the maiden half-kneeling on the ground.

It seemed as though an invisible thread connected Unohana Chiyo and Su Youzi.

Su Youzi, half-kneeling on the ground and sheltering the Anomaly girl, looked up.

A peach fragrance, like that of ripe peaches, seemed to drift toward her little by little.

She gently shook her head. "I'm fine."

Su Youzi had dealt with the Anomaly girl far too quickly.

So quickly that the students in the practice field who possessed support abilities had not even reacted before the battle was already over.

She glanced at Unohana Chiyo.

Teacher Unohana from gym class had actually been the first teacher to arrive?

Was it because of the Operator Cultivation game?

Or was it simply a coincidence?

"But right now, the most important thing..."

She lowered her head and looked at the girl in her arms.

Without the Altered User's outer layer, the girl's small face even looked somewhat childish.

She was probably a first-year junior.

"...is finding out the truth behind the Altered User's attack."

"And..." Su Youzi glanced at the Altered User's blade lying nearby, bent into the shape of a coil.

"...my telekinetic ability."

She could feel it.

At the instant the blade in the Anomaly girl's hand had slashed toward her shoulder, an invisible seed—

—had erupted in her chest.

Unohana Chiyo looked at Su Youzi and the Naked Fruit Girl in her arms.

She took off her teacher's jacket and draped it over the girl.

As teachers from the Assault Department and Healing Type Department gradually arrived, the incident temporarily came to an end.

Standing at the entrance to the combat practice field.

Su Youzi watched as the Healing Type teachers carried the girl onto a stretcher, yet she felt that the incident was far from over.

Perhaps... it had only just begun.

She gazed toward the distant street.

Su Youzi felt as though someone was standing there.

Standing in the shadows, watching her.

"Don't worry~" Thinking the girl was concerned about having "hurt" a classmate, Unohana Chiyo gently patted Su Youzi's shoulder. "It was only a First Sequence anomalous state..."

"And it was dispelled in time."

"Little Sakai will be fine."

"Sakai?" Su Youzi remembered the surname of the girl in the anomalous state.

"But..." She gently shook her head. "I'm not worried about Classmate Sakai's safety."

She looked at the ambulance in front of her.

Inside the ambulance, a pair of pitiful watery blue eyes gazed in Su Youzi's direction.

Saotome Yukina, a first-year Healing Type student, had already been "dragged" into the ambulance by her own teacher.

Treating the injuries of anomalous-state victims was a required course for Healing Type Ability Users.

Such a good internship opportunity.

How could the girl possibly escape it?

Saotome Yukina could only watch helplessly as her Senior Youzi stood together with Teacher Unohana.

For no particular reason, she always felt that Teacher Unohana was "dangerous."

In every sense of the word—

"I just feel that this isn't over yet."

Unlike the protagonists in many stories who concealed things from their teachers and investigated alone.

Su Youzi directly confessed the reason for her concerns to Unohana Chiyo.

Classmate Sakai's anomalous state seemed somewhat wrong.

It was completely different from ordinary Altered Users.

Classmate Sakai's anomalous form bore marks of ropes, as though she had been bound.

Even the deliberately cut-away, slender waist exposed beneath the usual First Sequence Altered User style of being tightly wrapped in black silk, as well as the strange dark purple eye-shaped totem drawn on the girl's lower abdomen.

All of it made Su Youzi feel that something was wrong.

And also—

Su Youzi looked toward the distant street.

That eerie sensation of being watched.

"I understand—"

"Classmate Youzi." Unohana Chiyo's face lifted into a soft smile entirely unlike her "wild," "Death Warrior" traits.

"As a Mental Ability User, Classmate Youzi..."

"Your senses must be completely different from those of a brute like me."

"I'll report Classmate Youzi's discovery to the chairman."

"And..." She looked at Su Youzi.

That soft smile finally slowly blossomed into something genuine.

The woman's tranquil eyes looked at Su Youzi.

Her slightly curled long hair was pinned up with a slender hairpin, while a small lock of hair naturally fell beside her ear.

The unique charm of a mature beauty blossomed with her smile, natural and effortless. "Congratulations, Classmate Youzi..."

"Huh?"

"You've finally successfully awakened your ability." The corners of the woman's eyes seemed to hold a bright smile.

Su Youzi looked at Unohana Chiyo before her.

[Ding—]

[Nurturing Unohana Chiyo Successful.]

[Unohana Chiyo Combat Experience Increased.]

[Level.22—Metal Manipulation Ability User Experience: 13%→17%.]

[Nurturing: Unohana Chiyo Affection +1.]

[Received Affection Boost Reward: Only-One Left Fishnet Stocking (Left).]

[Received Nurture Material Cost Compensation.]

["Beginner Combat Record"*2.]

Unfortunately.

Combat Records could only be fed one at a time.

Otherwise, Su Youzi would definitely have fed Little Rabbit and Teacher Unohana Chiyo until they were stuffed.