Volume Three: The Academy Runs Completely Amok - Preparing for a Rainy Day

What exactly happened...?

Ah, I remember now.

A scoundrel suddenly appeared.

A sticky, dark blue light.

A strange, sharp blade swung down.

Also, the strange perspective of looking down at one's own body from the air—

"... Look... pay attention..."

My body feels so heavy.

The connection between consciousness and limbs seemed to be severed.

"She... no... be careful..."

It seemed as if someone was walking back and forth around me.

What are they saying?

I feel so bad...

"Hmm..."

He groaned, and those around him seemed to freeze in their tracks.

"... Look! She... said it!"

"... He spoke!"

"Can you hear me? Sister... are you... okay?"

You guys are so noisy.

At least give me some time to catch my breath...

"Ugh... tsk!"

I forced my heavy eyelids open and slowly regained my vision. Finally, the blurry patches of color in my eyes solidified into real objects.

The girls were staring at her with worried expressions.

Don't make that face, you guys...

I finally felt the presence of my limbs, along with the floor covered in gravel. The sense of loss in my body was still very severe, like a puppet with loose joints.

But now is not the time to act cute.

Ignoring the excruciating pain coursing through her body, she struggled to prop herself up with her arms while carefully assessing her physical condition.

His clothes were completely torn to shreds, his internal organs were severely damaged, and several of his joints were loosely joined, indicating a very bad condition.

But it did recover.

Actually, it could have recovered much faster.

"That bastard, his weapon... has something that inhibits regeneration."

However, in the end, its own recovery ability prevailed.

"You guys."

"""""--yes!"""""

Suddenly struck up a conversation with Xiao Wu, the lolis immediately straightened their backs.

"Who helped retrieve my head?"

"Ah, uh, it's me..." A little girl raised her hand fearfully.

"... Luckily you had the guts, otherwise I would have been finished. The torso and limbs are okay, but once the head is too far away, it can't be reattached."

Heave-ho!

Xiao Wu gritted her teeth and stood up, her whole body making cracking sounds, and a small amount of blood was still flowing from her not-fully-healed wounds. After standing up, she repeatedly opened and closed her hands, feeling the flow of blood.

"Fortunately... those inhibitory factors have mostly become ineffective. However, the effort of fighting the inhibitory factors while also rebuilding my fragmented body was too great, otherwise the recovery wouldn't be so slow now..."

If possible, Xiao Wu wants to rest and recuperate for a while first.

But--

"... And them?"

Evelynths isn't here.

Monet was also not there.

The girls looked at each other, then lowered their heads in unison, some even sobbing.

Judging from their reactions, Xiao Wu roughly knew what had happened.

"They've been arrested?"

They nodded silently.

"..."

He looked up again.

The entire upper floor of the department building has disappeared.

It appears to have been blasted open by brute force.

Only the first floor floor remained relatively intact, but it was still covered with rubble and debris.

These little girls were also injured to some extent, but fortunately only slightly.

Xiao Wu, her body not yet fully recovered, walked to the wall of the room, which could now be considered ruins, and rummaged through the only cabinet that was still relatively intact.

"Not there... not there... Ah, found it!"

Xiao Wu pulled out a small box, took out a syringe from it, which contained a pale green liquid mixed with extremely fine, grain-like particles.

"I made it almost on a whim, but I never expected it to actually come in handy."

Muttering to herself, she inserted the syringe into her arm and injected all the liquid inside into her body!

"It's always good to be prepared, and never forget the importance of being ready for anything"—this is a phrase her mother often told her when she was little.

Although she didn't want to listen, she was forced to memorize every word of her mother's teachings, which even affected her lifestyle.

Ye wasn't the only one who benefited from the Serpent's Egg incident.

When Xiao Wu brought out the Serpent's Egg, she had torn open her outer garment to wrap it.

Although Ye had eaten the Serpent's Egg, when Xiao Wu was tidying up her clothes after returning, she found that her outer garment was covered with a lot of bright green, fragment-like things.

It was clearly peeled off from the Serpent's Egg.

Although it's just a small piece of dried meat scraps, its value is enormous.

For example, it can be ground into powder and made into Spiritual Medicine.

Actually, at this moment, Xiao Wu was not relying on the residual life force in the Spiritual Medicine to recover her body.

All she wanted was a catalyst, a catalyst to revitalize her body's weakened self-healing abilities.

Stimulated by the fragments of the Serpent's Egg, Xiao Wu's proud self-healing ability quickly returned to normal, and all the damage to her body was repaired at an astonishing speed. In just a few seconds, she was back to a state where she could move normally.

"..."

Moving her limbs and making various movements, she breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that her physical condition had finally recovered.

Looking around--

Ruins and ruins.

Rubble and broken stones.

The little girls, covered in dust and dirt.

We have lost two important members.

The place I've always considered home turns out to be such a fragile existence.

"... It's really, really ugly."

Why does everything that should belong to me always slip away from me?

Mom is gone.

Campus life has collapsed.

Auntie Lucy is dead.

Margaret is dead.

The room that served as our home was destroyed.

Monet and Evelynths were kidnapped.

In this vast world, the only place I could find refuge is gone.

After gaining, there is always loss.

But,

"There's still hope..."

This time is different from before.

There is still a possibility of saving it.

At least, she hadn't seen Monet and Evelynths' bodies yet.

As long as there is a possibility of survival, there is hope.

So--

"I need to go out now."

Incredibly, Xiao Wu is now completely calm, as still as a placid lake.

"He might come back soon, or he might... never come back."

"Sister Sakura Dance ..."

"But,"

Xiao Wu looked at them, a gentle smile on her face for the first time in her life.

Even the angels or the Virgin Mary in mythology are no more than this.

"No matter what the outcome, you must survive! Even if you are the weak, pretend to be strong, support each other, and live on! This is the minister's order!"

"...!"

Evelynths suddenly woke up from her dream.

I was covered in cold sweat and my whole body ached.

The cold touch of the metal floor beneath me.

I propped myself up with my aching arms and looked around.

Left, right, back, above, below, all are silver-gray metal, and light sources, seemingly placed out of nowhere, illuminate the small room.

In front of them was a thick, transparent wall, like glass, through which one could see outside, but outside was only pitch black.

"No way... this is... where is...!"

A chill ran through her, and Evelynths hugged herself, shivering.

They're back, they're back, they're back.

This place is both cold and familiar.

A place I never want to see again.

The laboratory has endured countless cruel treatments.

The mere fact of being "back here" sent a chill down her spine.

"Wait... why did I come back?"

That's when she noticed the problem.

The answer is -- she was brought back.

By whom?

By that mad scholar who calls himself Dr. Fiaz.

How were you caught?

Fiaz has invaded World's Little Corner.

Sharp blade. Blue light.

The older sister, whose body was separated from her head.

"... elder sister?"

The last thing I could recall before I lost consciousness was what I saw.

A laughing doctor, a headless body, a flying head, splattered blood—

"Waaah... No, no way... Sister... Sister Sakura Dance? Why... why..."

The one who gave her shelter was her strong, beautiful, and gentle older sister, Xiao Wu.

Killed by someone -- killed by someone -- killed by someone --

"Why... why why why why is it impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, waa..."

--Dead, dead, dead!

But that's not all --

"Yo yo, you're finally awake, my little Evelynths ~"

Trembling violently, Evelynths looked out almost instinctively. Above her in the darkness on the other side of the reinforced glass, a window lit up—it was an observation room.

The culprit, wearing six glasses, was there, grinning at her.

"Now that you're awake, I have some good news for you—your dearest Sister Sakura Dance —she—is dead! Oh!"

It's dead.

Just as I see it.

He died.

"No--no no no no no impossible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He screamed, denied, and deceived himself with the last shred of reason he had left, but this only made the ruthless doctor happier.

"Arguing? Are you arguing? You're just deceiving yourself! Humans, in extreme despair, will deceive themselves—to prevent themselves from breaking down! This is a sign that you've finally fallen into despair! Hahahaha!!!!!!"

Fiaz stared excitedly at the instruments in the observation room, his face showing an expression of having discovered a new continent.

"Fantastic! The sensor data shows that the mysterious energy within you has started to fluctuate! And... tsk tsk tsk, it's getting more and more intense! That's amazing! But it's not enough... not quite enough... so, I specially brought a guest!!!"

Beep beep beep-- The darkness before us was suddenly illuminated, revealing a test field with pure white walls, separated from Evelynths's small room by only a glass wall.

But Evelynths didn't notice any of that.

The girl, who stood helplessly in the center of the testing field and seemed to have just been woken up, completely caught her attention.

"Monet!"

"What— Evelynths!"

Monet immediately stumbled and ran towards Evelynths, as if he had found a savior.

"Evelynths —where exactly is this place? What is Sister Sakura Dance— "

Click!!!

Halfway through her run, a strange sound made her stop.

That was the sound of the safety gate at the edge of the testing ground opening.

A clattering, clattering sound—like countless suits of armor rubbing together—something was emerging from within.

"Now, let's welcome the assistant for this experiment! Killing Urahara Sakura Dance was a bit too sudden, it didn't shock you enough, so this is the backup plan! If you had to watch your best friend be tortured to death right in front of you, how would you...?"

Entering through the security door was a giant metal centipede, ten meters long.

The sides of the body, which serve as feet, are covered with a dense array of sharp metal blades.

The inorganic, large eyes scanned the entire room.

Then they identified the only living creature in the testing ground—Monet.

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My ranking on the Monthly Votes chart has dropped, and so has my ranking on the hot list. At least offer me some comfort while I'm frantically studying for finals and squeezing in time to write... ╮(╯╰)╭