You Are My Servant

That day, Yukino Yukinoshita was on her way to Sobu High School in her family's limousine.

Since school had just started, her mother and older sister were in the car with her.

However, on the way to Sobu High School, a dog suddenly ran out and blocked the car.

A boy happened to rush out at that moment, too. He grabbed the dog and shielded it in his arms.

Everyone panicked—the people in the car, the boy who had blocked it, and even the person who'd failed to keep hold of the dog's leash and caused all this.

If nothing unexpected happened, a car crash would follow.

The moment Yukino realized this, an intense emotion burst forth inside her.

Then... something incredible happened.

Yukino would never forget what had happened that day, at that moment.

First, a howling wind reached her ears, as if a powerful gale had blown in from beyond the sky.

Then the temperature plummeted, as if they'd suddenly gone from a sweltering summer into a bitter winter. White mist rose around them.

A sharp crackling sound followed, as though something were freezing over.

When these strange phenomena finally stopped, Yukino noticed that her mother and sister were sitting beside her, hugging themselves and shivering uncontrollably from the cold. The limousine had also stopped at some point, less than a meter from the boy blocking its way. The fear on his face was unmistakable.

He was shivering from the cold, too, frost clinging to his brows. Apparently, he later missed the opening ceremony and took leave because of a severe cold.

The car that had suddenly stopped had its tires frozen to the ground, encased in ice.

What was more, the entire street had been frozen to varying degrees. The road, the streetlights, and the buildings on either side were all covered in scattered patches of ice and snow.

Everyone present fell ill afterward. Some even suffered frostbite. Only Yukino was unharmed, standing there at a loss.

The strange incident troubled Yukino for some time. It wasn't until people reviewed the security footage that they discovered a freezing gust had suddenly blown down from the sky, causing the scene.

The event was attributed to the increasingly frequent extreme weather of recent years, dismissed as a pure accident and coincidence. Only then did Yukino gradually put it behind her and stop paying attention to it.

Now, Leo had deliberately brought it up, and Yukino immediately thought of an unbelievable possibility.

"You're saying that I caused all of it back then?"

Yukino looked at Leo in disbelief.

"Don't doubt it. You caused it." Leo left no room for wishful thinking and spoke frankly. "I was at Sobu High School that day, not far from the scene, so I can tell you with complete certainty: that situation was your doing."

"Even though I didn't see it with my own eyes, I truly felt a powerful force appear at your location in that moment."

"That day, perhaps because your emotions were too intense, you awakened the Sacred Gear inside you for the first time, causing its power to erupt."

"At the same time, the Three Factions sensed the disturbance here and discovered the Sacred Gear inside you."

That was why Leo had chosen Yukino as his first target, hoping to make her his first servant.

He had even secretly dealt with a few problems for her. Otherwise, the Church personnel stationed nearby would have come to her door and made contact with her long ago.

Compared with him and the Church, the Fallen Angels had been slow to act. Chiba Prefecture wasn't their territory, after all, so even if they noticed something, they'd need time to take action.

He hadn't expected them to make no move for so long, only to act by going straight for Yukino's life.

"You were just unlucky enough to run into the faction that reacts most strongly to Sacred Gear wielders."

Leo kept stirring the tea in front of him with his spoon, then pursed his lips under Yukino's dazed gaze.

"Of the Three Factions, the Fallen Angels know the most about Sacred Gears, pay them the most attention, and take them the most seriously. They even established a central organization—the Grigori—whose job is to study Sacred Gears, find living wielders, and monitor or recruit them. If they think someone could pose a threat, they send people to eliminate that person."

At that, Yukino clenched her hands.

"Is that why I ended up in that situation?" Yukino bit her lip. "What gives them the right to decide on their own that someone is a dangerous threat?"

"Are you not?" Leo stopped stirring and narrowed his eyes. "Think carefully. What would have happened if the Sacred Gear that awakened in you that day had unleashed even more of its power?"

"Would your mother and sister beside you have merely shivered from the cold? Would the people on that street have merely caught colds or suffered frostbite?"

"And if things had been worse—if the temperature had dropped further and that freezing wind had been stronger—would the street have only been covered in patches of ice?"

"Couldn't everyone around you, along with the street itself, have been frozen solid, beyond anyone's ability to save?"

His words made Yukino's heart jolt, and her face turned pale.

"That kind of thing..."

She wanted to say that something like that could never happen.

"It could," Leo said, mercilessly shattering her illusions and laying bare reality. "If the Sacred Gear inside you really is the one I think it is, then I can only tell you that all of this could happen—and the chances are high."

"If the true power of the Sacred Gear inside you were fully unleashed, pushed to its absolute limit, it could freeze an entire small country solid. A mere street would be nothing."

"Now, tell me: are you a dangerous threat or not?"

Leo's words left Yukino utterly silent.

"So, was everything that happened to me only natural?"

Yukino's expression darkened as she spoke in bitter self-mockery.

But then Leo abruptly changed tack.

"No. Just like I said, you were simply unlucky." Leo shrugged. "There are Sacred Gears in this world more dangerous than the one inside you. The Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels both fear this power and covet it, hoping to use it to strengthen themselves."

"For example, the Grigori I just mentioned takes Sacred Gear wielders far more seriously than you can imagine. Its Governor General is a fanatic researcher of Sacred Gears. He's given many dangerous wielders a place to stay and has always been responsible for teaching them to control their Sacred Gears so they can master their own power."

"I'm guessing the Governor General didn't directly order your elimination. Instead, he instructed the operative sent here to observe and monitor you for the time being, then eliminate you only if you showed signs of losing control, right?"

At this point, Leo laughed mockingly.

"Unfortunately, that instruction was passed down through one layer after another, until it reached an idiot who considers humans lowly, inferior creatures and genuinely looks down on every race besides the Fallen Angels. He couldn't be bothered to secretly observe a human, and he didn't want to stay somewhere Church personnel might show up at any moment. So he simply went after you, figuring it would be quick, easy, and convenient."

Hearing this reminded Yukino of something important.

"What happened to that man?" Yukino hurriedly asked. "Where is he now?"

"Him?" Leo smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "He's definitely not in Heaven or Hell. If there's anything left of his soul, he's probably waiting to be reincarnated and hoping to be a good person in his next life."

Yukino understood what he meant.

"Y-you killed him?"

Yukino's gaze toward Leo grew complicated.

"Do you think he didn't deserve to die?" Leo met her eyes and smiled meaningfully. "Or do you think I was too cruel?"

Yukino said nothing.

Though she was the daughter of a prominent local family in Chiba Prefecture, she'd never encountered anything like this in the world she'd lived in before—someone who casually talked about killing and then carried it out.

The old her would certainly have thought it wrong. Even if the other person were a murderer, the law should decide his punishment.

But she wasn't stupid. She knew that in the world she was in now, human law had no power.

So Yukino asked a different question.

"Are you really a Devil?"

A day had passed, and at last she asked the question that had seemed so meaningless to her.

This time, Leo's smile was no longer empty. It grew deep and vivid.

The next second, three pairs of Devil Wings suddenly spread behind Leo as Yukino watched, her pupils trembling.

"A genuine Devil, no doubt about it." Leo smiled brightly, looking nothing like a sinister Devil. "Just like you are now."

Yukino soon understood what he meant.

As if summoned by their King, Yukino's back began to itch when Leo spread his own Devil Wings. Then a pair of Devil Wings burst from her back, too.

"Congratulations, Miss Yukinoshita. Your surgery was a success."

As Yukino's mouth slowly fell open, Leo spoke cheerfully.

"From today onward, you're my servant—a Devil reincarnated from a human. I look forward to working with you."

His words echoed in Yukino's ears again and again, leaving her speechless for a long time.