Kujo Ryuko: NMD, WSM!

[Ding--]

[Recruitable Operator detected.]

[Would you like to recruit?]

Without any hesitation, Su Youzi clicked recruit.

Sakai Miho's appearance could be considered pretty and youthful. When she was freed from her anomalous state and fell into Su Youzi's arms earlier... Su Youzi, who held the girl tightly, felt the astonishing potential within her chest.

Perhaps not yet comparable to Saotome Yukina.

But... as a fighter-type Ability User, Sakai Miho's perfectly upright figure was something Little Rabbit couldn't compare to.

Nurturing Little Miho would definitely be a profitable endeavor.

Moreover... Sakai Miho's resilience and kindness were enough to make even a bad woman like Su Youzi feel pity.

[Ding ding ding ding ding--]

Sakai Miho's character illustration appeared before Su Youzi.

[★★★★★]

This was somewhat unexpected for Su Youzi.

She had initially thought that the girl she casually picked up might just be a 1-star or 2-star Operator, like POI or Yamabuki Nanako.

But... she turned out to be a Golden Legend.

Su Youzi felt a sense of joy, as if she had gotten a huge prize for free.

The world instantly turned into dark squares.

Sakai Miho, with her twin-tails tied, knelt on the hospital bed, only draped in the plain white hospital sheet.

The girl's right hand, which was gripping the sheet, was gently raised, and on her left side... the plain white sheet slid down her delicate shoulder.

The illustration froze.

"Senior Youzi's sleeping face... is really... really beautiful."

"Ah!"

"Sorry."

"It seems I accidentally stared for too long."

Gulp--

Su Youzi swallowed subconsciously.

This... this sheet is so white.

No, this sheet is so round.

Fighter-type Ability Users are indeed different.

Got a huge prize for free?

This is an ace!

An ace!!!

[Operator: Sakai Miho]

[★★★★★]

[Level 10 - Physical Restoration Ability User]

[Talent: Perfect Proxy]

[Talent: Unyielding Will]

[Innate Ability: Abyss Return]

[First-year student at Shiritsu Megumi Garden Academy, a victim of the "Insight" project. She appears to be a somewhat insecure girl who will absolutely obey the commander's orders on any battlefield.]

[Initial Affection Points: 51 (Favor)]

The girl's affection points color was the same vibrant red as Soga Toyura and Teacher Unohana Chiyo.

Looking at Sakai Miho's illustration, Su Youzi immediately set the girl as her system assistant without any hesitation.

"Eh..."

"Is it me?"

"Senior..."

"Will you really choose me?"

With a timid voice, the girl in the illustration seemed to want to prop herself up.

Su Youzi was so moved that tears almost streamed down her face, sob sob sob... she's really so well-behaved.

Then... Su Youzi looked at the illustration that had stopped moving again and the plain white sheet that was steadily stuck at the girl's elbow.

I silently gave the System a bad review.

She was just too enticing.

Just then... tilting her head, Su Youzi looked at Sakai Miho's rarity.

[★★★★★]

Dark gold stars.

Clicking on "Operator Compendium," Su Youzi reconfirmed with Little Rabbit, who was also a 5-star Operator.

[☆☆☆☆☆]

Sparkling gold stars.

It wasn't her imagination.

Sakai Miho was a completely different type of Operator from Little Rabbit and the others.

Su Youzi meticulously examined Sakai Miho's abilities.

[Physical Restoration] was nothing special.

It was purely literal.

And "Perfect Proxy"... meant that as her abilities improved, the girl would continuously strive for perfection in all aspects.

Including... her figure.

This was great.

An ability that in the game only balanced and strengthened stats was incredibly useful in reality.

No matter how hard she trained, she wouldn't develop the strong muscles of the "Protein Queen" from the textbooks.

But her strength, flexibility, speed, endurance, and the beauty of her figure would continuously improve.

Sakai Miho was indeed an ace that luck could pick up.

"Unyielding Will" would grant the girl tenacious willpower, and each time she was injured, it would make her stronger.

Combined with "Physical Restoration" and "Perfect Proxy," it was a perfect combo.

These were all fine.

The problem must lie with... "Abyss Return."

Su Youzi clicked on the description for "Abyss Return."

[Abyss Return: A girl who returns from the Abyss of an anomalous state. ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, all abilities will be greatly enhanced.]

The problem was indeed this.

"Sen... Senpai..." a timid, soft voice.

Sensing the fingertips of her Senpai tracing the calluses in her palm, Sakai Miho hastily tried to pull her hand back.

She didn't know if it was from shyness... or if she didn't want Su Youzi to touch her ugly parts.

Su Youzi tightened her grip on Sakai Miho's hand.

"There's nothing to hide..."

"These are all proof of Classmate Sakai's hard work."

"Huh?" Her beautiful light green eyes suddenly lifted.

She meticulously examined Su Youzi, as if wanting to imprint the girl's smile onto her heart.

[Ding--]

[Soothing: Sakai Miho Affection Points +1]

[Received Affection Boost Reward: Girl's Recipe Notebook.]

"Ha... hard work..."

"Everyone has always seen Classmate Sakai's efforts," Su Youzi gently held the girl's hand.

Teacher Unohana Chiyo said... Sakai Miho often trained until past 11 PM.

During the entrance examination, the girl had so many injuries that the teacher in charge almost thought Sakai Miho was being abused at home.

Only after observing the girl for over a month and realizing these injuries were indeed from her own training did they relax.

The girl trained too crazily.

So crazily that even "Physical Restoration" couldn't keep up with erasing her injuries and calluses.

"So gentle..."

"Senpai... you're really so gentle..."

In her light green eyes, tears seemed to well up.

But--

The gentler her Senpai was, the more she praised her efforts, the closer Sakai Miho's heart came to collapsing.

"There's no chance anymore."

"There's no hope left."

"Myself..."

"The me who was once in an anomalous state... has no future."

Biting her lip hard, the girl tried with all her might not to cry.

But tears were already starting to fall uncontrollably.

"Unfortunate, unfortunate, unfortunate, unfortunate--"

Her unfortunate destiny had almost brought her to her knees.

The girl could only try to lift her small head, preventing tears from spilling from her eyes.

"M-Mom said... when you want to cry, just look up and smile, and you won't cry anymore."

At the hospital room door, Kujo Ryuko watched Su Youzi with a sneer.

"Your kindness... is just poison she drinks to quench her thirst."

"And you... will have to pay the price for your kindness and recklessness. Kneel before me like a puppy, stripped of all dignity."

"If you want to cry..."

"Then go ahead and cry," Su Youzi gently hugged Sakai Miho.

She pressed her chin against the girl's small head.

The body in her arms... was so soft.

And so slender.

It made one's heart ache.

"Waa..."

"Waaahhhhhh..." The girl, unable to hold back any longer, hugged Su Youzi's waist and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Goddess of Destiny..."

"She favors strong girls," Su Youzi whispered in the girl's ear.

"Stop spouting that useless platitude..." Kujo Ryuko's expression suddenly turned cold.

"Goddess of Destiny?"

"Who actually believes in that kind of bitch?"

If there really was a Goddess of Destiny in this world.

Why was she so unfair to the Kujo family.

Hadn't the Kujo family sacrificed enough for this world, for the fate of humanity?

Why did they have to... curse the Kujo family again and again.

Kujo Ryuko's scarlet eyes fixed on Su Youzi.

"Su Youzi--"

"I thought you'd at least be as interesting as your older sister, but I didn't expect..."

Holding Sakai Miho tightly, Su Youzi listened to Kujo Ryuko's words.

Then... she gently tapped [nurture].

She selected the shining emblem and tapped confirm.

Dark golden runes suddenly bloomed, pushing Su Youzi, who was tightly hugging Sakai Miho, away. They circled Sakai Miho.

Kujo Ryuko's sentence was cut short.

She stared blankly at Su Youzi and Sakai Miho, and after a long pause...

"Seriously."