Faced with him shamelessly leaning his ear right up to her, the girl, whose cheeks were nearly too red to hide, could only bow to conceal her embarrassment.
"Th-thank you for saving me!"
"~"
Watching the interaction between them, Megumi's expression gradually shifted from confusion into a rather pleased smile.
See? Aren't these two getting along just fine? My intuition is as accurate as ever, hahaha!
"D-don't laugh at me—"
Unable to bear the sidelong glances from Ash and Megumi, the purple-haired girl awkwardly scratched at her face, now hot and red as a tomato, trying in vain to hide how flustered she was.
So embarrassing! Lovely Angel's gaze is so piercing too—when I don't think I'm the kind of person who's easy to handle at all!
"I'm not laughing... pfft!"
Megumi really could not hold it in, and a little laugh slipped from the corner of her mouth beneath Iona's stare.
"We just thought of something funny—hahahahaha!"
Think whatever you want! With one of them openly clutching his stomach and laughing, the irritated girl could only stamp her foot and turn her gaze away to ease the burning shame.
"Honestly, is it really that funny? When you're clearly..."
When you were clearly such a strong person.
In Hikawa Iona's eyes, having trained in karate under her grandfather since childhood, strong people were supposed to be formidable individuals who never smiled frivolously—perfect people who only showed gentleness behind the scenes to those they protected... Yet Ash, who matched every part of her definition of strength, was completely different from what she had imagined.
He was a super-strong fighter capable of defeating the Phantom Empire's top executive, yet he was also a vile man who freely mocked a little girl like her... No, was it precisely because he was strong that