This Is Slander Against Perverts

She immediately blushed in embarrassment.

"Kiana, what are you writing?"

Whether it was because of March 7th's voice or because it was simply time for her to wake up, Bronya also woke up at that moment.

Because resources were tight, the two beds had been pushed together head-to-head.

Kiana's hand jerked at March 7th's cry, and the diary slipped from her grasp, landing beside Bronya's head.

Bronya picked it up and began reading.

Bronya glanced over it. It seemed to be a novel, but the names on it felt strangely familiar. One of the protagonists was herself, while the other name didn't spark any memories, yet somehow gave her an odd sense of familiarity.

To cut a long story short...

By evening, Bronya had left the Supreme Guardian's office and secretly used a hidden passage to reach the Lower District, where she found one of her special friends.

She looked at the friend she hadn't seen in a long time and smiled.

"It's good to see you."

However, her friend didn't seem pleased to see her. When Seele saw Bronya arrive, she turned her head away and said coldly:

"Well, well, if it isn't our Supreme Guardian. Isn't the Upper District treating you well? You actually remembered this welder from the Lower District?"

Bronya's face turned bitter. "Seele, you don't have to be like this."

Seele: "Hmph!"

Bronya: "I missed you."

Seele: "Sorry, but we're not close."

Bronya draped her clothes over the coat rack by the door, wrapped an arm around Seele's waist, rested her head against Seele's shoulder, and blew lightly against her ear.

"Don't you want to see me?"

"Sorry, I see you every day. Every time you appear in the square or on television."

"I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Bronya's words seemed to ignite Seele's fury, like a spark falling into a powder keg on the verge of exploding.

Faced with Seele's questioning and accusations, Bronya said nothing. Instead, she wiped away the tears that anger and disappointment had brought to Seele's eyes, then kissed her directly.

Seele could barely breathe and couldn't help saying, "You..."

But before she could finish, her lips were covered once more.

"You..."

Seele tried several times to break away and say something, but Bronya's passionate responses cut her off every time.

Bronya's blood was rushing. Having received aristocratic education and kept away from all sorts of vulgarity, this was the first time she felt as though she had truly grown up.

She had intended to keep reading, but suddenly felt the weight leave her hand.

"Ahem, Bronya, forget it. Just treat this as a dream."

"Do you think that's possible?"

This was the first time Kiana had felt that her inability to activate her powers at will was truly agonizing.

The next second, Kiana also felt the weight leave her hand. The diary she had just snatched back from Bronya had somehow ended up in March 7th's hands again.

"So exciting!"

Even though Kiana snatched the diary back and sent it into her storage space, March 7th still took a long time to recover.

Once she did, she blinked at Kiana. Although her pretty face was flushed, she showed no intention of looking away.

March 7th thought to herself, Wow, I think Kiana has said quite a few of these seductive lines to me too. Could it be that she feels the same way about me? Oh my!

As for wondering whether the protagonists' names meant the story was actually about other people...

March 7th didn't suspect that at all. Not to mention that no one even knew who Seele was or whether she existed, they hadn't even arrived in this world when the diary had been written.

Could it be Bronya's story?

Kiana: When I'm bored, I suppress my desire to get touchy-feely and write a novel for my own amusement. As for using Herta and Seele's names, I was worried that if I used my own and Mei's names, I'd die of embarrassment when I met this world's Mei.

Now that things had turned out this way, would Bronya be unable to face Seele after meeting her?

The atmosphere in the clinic grew stranger and stranger. Unable to endure their gazes, Kiana chose to stand up and leave the room.

Seeing Kiana get up and leave, March 7th also got out of bed and followed her. Bronya first looked around curiously, then noticed Natasha nearby. Instead of leaving at once, she went over to Natasha and tried to ask where they were.

"Kiana, wait up."

"..."

"Ah, those silky strands of hair sliding down against my chest, that soul-stirring..."

When Kiana heard March 7th trying to read out what she had written, she quickly stopped and turned around, attempting to cover March 7th's mouth.

But March 7th had clearly been prepared. The moment Kiana turned around, she dodged.

"Ow!"

Just as Bronya stepped out of the room, the two girls, who were chasing and fooling around, crashed into her. She fell flat on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

After wandering around for a while and listening to Sampo's explanations as their guide, they gained a rough understanding of the Lower District's situation.

Only Bronya looked utterly disbelieving.

"Little princess of the Upper District, even after seeing the Lower District with your own eyes, do you still believe that woman Cocolia's words?"

"Watch your mouth. The Supreme Guardian has her own difficulties."

Although she said that, Bronya's heart had already begun to waver. She had met Serval that morning and heard what she had to say, and now she had witnessed the Lower District's condition with her own eyes.

She could no longer help wondering whether the Upper District had been living in a lie all along.

I originally wanted to write this chapter's story separately and put it in the bonus chapters, but not everyone reads those, so I decided to include it here instead. I originally planned to make Kiana the focus, but tormenting other people really is more fun.

You Call This Slander Against the Perverted?

Several hours passed, yet Stelle still hadn't woken up. She looked as though she was having a nightmare.

If Natasha hadn't confirmed that nothing was wrong with Stelle, March 7th might even have brought someone to teach Sampo, the culprit, a lesson.

"Kiana, why hasn't Stelle woken up yet? Could something be wrong with her? Should we contact Himeko and the others?"

"No need. Leave it to me."

Kiana cleared her throat and leaned over to Stelle's bed.

"Stelle, time to get up. If you don't, Sampo's going to steal all the trash cans."

Sampo: ?

However, Stelle, who had been unconscious the entire time, suddenly opened her eyes and leaped out of bed. When she saw Sampo leaning against the wall with his still-charming appearance, she immediately pulled out her baseball bat.

Fortunately, Sampo ran quickly, and someone else held Stelle back. Otherwise, Stelle might really have unlocked the achievement of becoming a shit-stirring stick.

"Stelle, eat something first and calm down. How could Sampo steal all the trash cans by himself? But why didn't you wake up when everyone else called you, yet woke up the moment someone mentioned trash cans?"

As Kiana brought out a cake, Stelle accepted Kiana's feeding while trying to recall the memories from her dream.

But that feeling had vanished completely after she woke up. Even the wish of the young Cocolia in the dream was gradually fading from her memory.

So Stelle could only reply, "I don't know."

Natasha watched Kiana casually produce a small cake from thin air. Even as the actual leader of the Underworld Fire, it had been a long time since she had eaten one.

After the Lower District had been sealed off, pastries like cake were out of the question. Even ordinary crisp biscuits were extremely rare in the Lower District.

Even at the Lower District's finest hotel, the Goethe Grand Hotel, the most precious foods were no more than frozen rat meat or mixed vegetable soup made with moss.

"Would you like some?"

Kiana felt a gaze fixed on her hand. Following it, she saw Natasha staring intently at the cake in her hand.

Although Kiana asked, she directly produced another pastry and placed it on Natasha's desk.

Natasha didn't choose to eat it while waiting for Stelle to wake up and leave with the others. She merely stared at the cake on the desk.

Some time after everyone had left, Natasha finally couldn't resist her craving for cake. She picked up the small fork stuck into it and put a small piece into her mouth.

"Kiana, who exactly are you people?"

Natasha only took one bite to satisfy her craving, then carefully put the remaining cake away in a cabinet nearby.

"By the way, who are we going to find?"

"A hard-working welder."

"A welder?"

The group had originally planned to have Sampo take them to find an Underworld Fire member after Stelle woke up. But when he heard the name "welder," Sampo froze.

Did the Underworld Fire even have someone like that?

They hadn't gone far before they saw their target, Seele.

Whether by coincidence or not, Seele was holding a welding rod and standing with Bronya before an iron door.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Seele. What a coincidence."

"Seele?"

Bronya looked at the girl beside her. She had just been surrounded by a group of vagrants and rescued by the person before her. However, before she could ask the girl's name, the others had arrived.

"What? Does my name sound strange to you?"

Seeing the looks March 7th and Bronya were giving her, Seele felt something odd. But it wasn't the fear or hostility shown by those vagrants, nor was it the respect of her Underworld Fire companions.

Instead, it was an indescribable feeling that made her uncomfortable.

So Seele threw the welding rod in her hand onto the ground and picked up her scythe, looking like an angry, bristling cat.

"Nothing, nothing. We just saw your name in a book, so we were a little surprised."

"Oh, really? I've never read a book. Whatever. Why am I telling you this? Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

As for the other three girls, Seele only felt that Bronya seemed somewhat familiar, as though they had met somewhere before. The other two didn't give her any sense of hostility either.

But for some reason, the blue-haired girl before her immediately annoyed her the moment they met.

She had the urge to hit her.

When Sampo saw Seele's gaze, he hurriedly raised his hands in surrender. He also felt terribly wronged. What had he done to make all these people so hostile toward him?

He looked pretty good after transforming, too.

Kiana: "Looks are important, but honestly, your sleazy demeanor is even more infuriating."

"Miss Seele, have you forgotten? I'm Sampo! I've helped the Underworld Fire acquire supplies many times!"

"Sampo?"

Seele put away her weapon, tilted her head, and looked at Sampo while recalling her memories.

In the end, after struggling for a while, Seele could only squeeze out one sentence to express what she thought.

"Is this what they call a pervert?"

When Kiana heard Seele, she hurriedly objected. "Seele, that's not right."

Seele hadn't expected that Sampo would actually raise his eyebrows and look interested, as though he wanted to hear how she planned to refute him.

Sampo, meanwhile, looked flattered.

"You compared Sampo to a pervert. That's slander against perverts."

"Pfft."

"Hahaha!"

"I thought you were just an ignorant young lady from the surface. Turns out you're pretty decent. I like you."

Seeing Seele put away her weapon, Sampo instinctively wanted to tease her and added, "Miss Seele, the term is actually 'naive and inexperienced.'"

"Shut up. I haven't even settled accounts with you for bringing people from the Upper District down here."