Humiliation and Indignation Always Come When No One Is Around

Let it be stated upfront: Chen Huijie wasn't afraid.

She had never been afraid.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Hoshiguma watched helplessly as Chen removed her weapons and slammed both swords onto her desk, looking like an office drone clocking out on time. This was an unprecedented emergency.

Just as Hoshiguma thought Old Chen was about to go home and sleep for a while, she crouched down and picked up the broken sword from the floor.

"Looking at you, you're probably going to squat in the Guard Department all night again, huh?"

Without even looking up, Chen answered, "We'll see. I might sleep here, or I might not sleep at all. That attack just now left me disoriented for a moment. I even wondered whether I'd actually swung that blade."

"Even you couldn't see it clearly?"

"Too fast."

Chen had never feared admitting her shortcomings. She turned and began studying the flame-like patterns along the break. The burning metal had long since cooled, but the intricate oxidation marks resembled the remains of flames. Half the blade was covered in such rainbow-colored traces, showing just how high the temperature had been in that instant.

She needed to study it further.

She would use the cross-section of the blade to conduct a technical analysis similar to ballistic analysis, to determine the directions from which both weapons had come and where they had collided.

Hoshiguma knew her old friend was always like this, forgetting food and sleep.

She went downstairs to get two cans of energy drink, then returned. She was just about to hand one to Chen and leave. Clocking out on time was every office drone's wish.

"You're past the age for staying up all night. You should learn how to slack off sooner."

Hoshiguma offered her honest advice.

Chen treated her colleague's words like they were blowing past her ears, paying them no heed as she continued burying herself in her research.

Hoshino's words had truly provoked Chen.

They were both sword users.

Having someone see that her swordsmanship had not improved in a long time, that she could not even fully control her own weapon, and then being mocked right to her face—regardless of why that pink-haired Cautus had said it, it was utterly humiliating.

"'Not planning to move forward?'... Saying such sarcastic words in the gentlest tone. She really isn't someone to take lightly."

As if she could improve just because she wanted to?

Outrageous!

Hoshiguma watched her mutter to herself with great interest, suddenly feeling like staying late with Chen.

"Why haven't you clocked out yet?"

Not wanting anyone to see her in such a sorry state, Chen asked hesitantly. In return, Hoshiguma gave a lazy yawn, showing absolutely no respect for her superior.

"Yawn~ I'm waiting to punch out. Gotta slack off a little before work ends."

That was Hoshiguma's answer.

Chen frowned. Hoshiguma was always like this, acting completely contrary to her true nature, unlike ordinary Oni. This deliberate disguise seemed to have seeped into her bones, but Chen knew that wasn't the case. There were always things capable of tearing through her facade and letting violence a hundred or a thousand times greater flow freely beneath the sunlight.

For now, there simply hadn't been any.

There was still some time, so they might as well exchange opinions as usual.

Studying the broken blade, Chen asked, "You both have that very [Japanese-style] quality, and you were so familiar with each other. Could you be from the same lineage?"

"No."

Hoshiguma shook her head. "I'm an Oni. She's a shrine maiden who exterminates Oni. There's a blood feud between the two."

"Uh..."

Seeing the old colleague's momentary look of shock, Hoshiguma couldn't help laughing. "Just kidding. It was my first time seeing a living shrine maiden too. That profession is far too rare. It's basically extinct."

A rare profession?

Chen carefully committed that detail to memory and decided to gather information about shrine maidens later.

"By the way, what exactly did she mean by 'not planning to move forward'? I thought about it for ages and still couldn't figure it out. Why did you suddenly get angry, Old Chen?"

"I permit you to clock out early."

The temptation of leaving work early was clearly not enough.

Chief Inspector Chen made quite a few promises. Only after she agreed that leaving early would not affect Hoshiguma's end-of-month performance rating and that she could still receive her perfect-attendance bonus did Hoshiguma finally go home willingly.

The moment Hoshiguma left, Chen's posture became much freer.

She bit down on her dragon tail.

"What else could it mean? Of course she was mocking me!"

With no one around at night, her emotions naturally spilled out without disguise. Chen looked like a stern student who had been caught red-handed.

Humiliation and indignation intertwined.

"And it was the worst kind of mockery—seeing through my shortcomings and striking right at my weak spot. Her swordsmanship must be exceptionally skilled to make that judgment in such a short time. Fine, I admit my swordsmanship is inferior to hers. Is that enough?"

Of course not.

Chen's heart had already answered for her.

She stared at the desk. Chi Xiao rested peacefully in its sheath, like a slumbering mad dragon, exactly as it always had.

As if possessed, Chen gripped the hilt.

An agitation from nowhere made Chen gradually exert more force. The immense resistance that arose was the same as every time she had tried to draw it. Chen did not stop while she was ahead. Veins slowly bulged in her arm, and her teeth clenched tighter.

"Chi Xiao—"

"Draw!"

Lungmen's night sky abruptly burst into dazzling light at that low roar.

A thunderclap erupted from level ground.

Hoshiguma, who had just left the Guard Department building, turned around in stunned disbelief at the sound. She watched as every window shattered in unison, while fine sword marks wound their way across the brick walls with vivid motion, like tens of thousands of snakes twisting together in a mad dance.

"Was that really necessary..."

Hoshiguma said, still shaken.

The disturbance affected more than just the Guard Department.

Naturally, the first to sense it were the two who had left through the window.

Rope and Hoshino.

Rope had originally thought that this big shot who had been dragged into trouble because of her would leave directly the moment she jumped from the windowsill. After all, a swordsmanship master and a slum thief did not seem like the kind of people who could spark anything between them.

But the instant she landed, Rope stood up before even raising her head and saw a pair of long boots.

Looking further up, she saw white stockings.

The pink-haired shrine maiden stood silently in place, holding the broken sword, waiting for Miss Rope to lead her home. In Hoshino's eyes, Rope was not merely a rabbit, but the key to obtaining her exclusive weapon, [Sakura Fubuki]. Naturally, she had to follow her without wasting a moment.

Rope found it somewhat strange.

"Miss... why are you waiting for me?"

"I need an attendant, and you look quite suitable," Hoshino replied.

An attendant?

She thought about it. Perhaps following a big shot would let her earn more money. Perhaps she could stop living in that filthy, miserable slum and fulfill her wish.

Rope's wish...

She only wanted to live openly beneath the sunlight.

Rope had just opened her mouth, not yet able to utter even half a word, when the ringing song of blades suddenly came from behind them, like a torrent of steel.

She hurriedly turned around.

Just in time to witness every window of the Guard Department shattering at once.

Rope turned back suspiciously to look at Hoshino. The latter shook her head helplessly, seemingly not having expected this.

"Why are you looking at me?"

Hoshino shook her fox ears in confusion. "It wasn't me."