Kurumi and Her Clones

Kurumi had just bought groceries and opened the front door when she saw the four clones who gave her the biggest headaches—oh, no, five clones—together with Qian Huanyue.

If they had merely been hanging out, it would not have been a problem.

But...

"Ah~"

The Kurumi clone who had first spent time with Qian Huanyue that day—First-Meeting Kurumi, for short—scooped up a spoonful of pudding and gently held it to Qian Huanyue's lips.

"Ah~" Qian Huanyue opened her mouth and swallowed the pudding.

Bandage Kurumi was persistently wrapping Qian Huanyue's left wrist in bandages she considered "extremely cool."

Kimono Kurumi was painting the nails on her other hand.

Gothic Lolita Kurumi was putting on cute hair ornaments that would match a white dress, though there were rather too many of them.

On closer inspection, Qian Huanyue's hairstyle had also been changed into the exact same twin hanging ponytails as Kurumi's. The ends of her silver hair were slightly curled, tied with black lace ribbons.

She wore light makeup that was not too noticeable, making the entire Spirit look even more radiant and captivating.

Eyepatch Kurumi pressed the shutter with satisfaction.

A trace of restrained endurance flashed through Qian Huanyue's eyes, but it quickly turned into enjoyment. She took another bite of pudding from First-Meeting Kurumi, her unfocused gaze settling on Original Kurumi, who had just entered.

Original Kurumi: ...How interesting. No, wait! How infuriating.

These "mes" actually did something like this while I was away...

Original Kurumi narrowed her eyes slightly, her lips curving into an almost-smile—an omen of her anger.

As another "Kurumi Tokisaki," she understood these clones' twisted sense of fun all too well.

"My, my—" The five clones simultaneously revealed sweet yet guilty smiles, their movements freezing in perfect unison.

Bandage Kurumi instinctively tried to hide the freshly tied bandages behind her back, only to pull up Qian Huanyue's hand as well. Gothic Lolita Kurumi hurriedly tried to remove the hair ornaments, but caught several strands of silver hair, making Qian Huanyue inhale softly.

Original Kurumi smiled as she stepped across the floor, shadows spreading behind her with every step.

"My, Original, wait! We were only—" First-Meeting Kurumi tried to explain. She wanted to quickly distance herself from those other four, claiming she was not like them, but suddenly emerging arms unceremoniously covered her mouth. Several pale arms rose from the shadows and dragged her into them.

"Huanyue's makeup isn't finished yet..." Kimono Kurumi backed away half a step with the nail polish brush raised, only to walk straight into a silently unfolding shadow. Her figure was instantly swallowed.

Gothic Lolita Kurumi, standing closest to Original Kurumi, received a merciless kick from her. "Eek!" she cried out briefly before falling into the shadows.

Eyepatch Kurumi cautiously stepped back and shielded the camera behind her.

Kurumi approached with a smile, extended her hand, and calmly said, "Give it to me."

"My, even if you're 'me,' I won't surrender so easily." Eyepatch Kurumi responded rather coolly, trying to preserve her last shred of dignity.

However, that cool declaration lasted only a few seconds before pale arms stretched out from the shadows and ruthlessly dragged her back into the darkness as well.

Kurumi took "her own" camera and flipped through its pictures with great interest. Then she turned to look at Bandage Kurumi, the last one remaining, and smiled faintly. "Is 'me' going to defy me too?"

"No." Bandage Kurumi calmly shook her head. She raised her bandage-wrapped right hand and gave it a rather dashing wave.

Then she fell backward of her own accord, gracefully melting into the shadows—since she could not resist the original, she could at least choose a dignified exit.

With the departure of the last clone, the noisy living room abruptly fell silent.

Kurumi casually placed the camera on the coffee table and turned her gaze toward Qian Huanyue. The silver-haired girl now wore Kurumi's signature twin ponytails, with unfinished bandages still wrapped around her wrist. She looked like a carefully dressed doll.

Actually... she looked quite good.

After all, it had been done by "Kurumi," so naturally it suited Kurumi's tastes perfectly.

"It seems they caused you quite a bit of trouble."

"It was actually pretty fun." Aside from having makeup applied and nail polish painted on her, Qian Huanyue had enjoyed it quite a lot.

Getting to see all those limited-edition clones at once was amazing!

Did she know that aside from Eyepatch Kurumi, who had appeared in the main story, the other Four Heavenly Kings of Kurumi could only be seen in the novel's encore side stories?

And there was one more. That was right, that one had definitely been the Kurumi she had met at the very beginning. Of course, she liked her too.

The excitement of collecting limited and special editions made her eyes sparkle.

"Mm..." Kurumi made an ambiguous sound, her fingertips brushing the lace ribbon at the end of Qian Huanyue's hair. "It seems 'we' had a wonderful time."

"Mhm!" Qian Huanyue raised her chin with a hint of smugness, and her matching hanging ponytails swayed.

"To be honest," Kurumi finally chuckled, tapping Qian Huanyue's nose with a fingertip, "this look suits you very well, you know? Even I'm a little tempted."

Of course, the bandages on her hand and that inexplicable nail color did not count.

She gently lifted Qian Huanyue's bandaged wrist, inspecting it from left to right with slightly raised brows.

"Still, 'my' taste in certain areas really is... uniquely distinctive." There was a trace of helplessness toward her clones in her voice.

"Yes, I never expected the Kurumi of the past to be so full of personality."

Teasing someone else's embarrassing history, Qian Huanyue secretly snickered to herself. She was practically about to grow an Aha.

"My, my—" Kurumi uttered a knowing sigh and leaned forward slightly, her mismatched eyes nearly gazing into Qian Huanyue's. "It seems Huanyue not only enjoyed being dressed up by 'us,' but is even speaking up for 'us'?"

She reached out, not to remove those decorations, but to gently pinch the silver ends of Qian Huanyue's ponytails.

"Since Huanyue likes 'our' handiwork so much... how about keeping it on a little longer?"

Qian Huanyue looked at the dark red nail polish on her fingers. A loosely snug layer of bandages had been wrapped around her hand. Some of the ornaments on her head had been taken back, but a portion remained, leaving it balanced without seeming overly complicated.

The light makeup in the mirror made Qian Huanyue want to sigh, What a rare beauty I am, such a narcissistic thing to say.

"Sure."

Qian Huanyue used the bandaged part of her left hand to cover one eye. A peculiar wave of spiritual power radiated from her body, creating a dark-toned visual effect.

"My left hand has been covered by the jet-black power of darkness. These bandages are the vessel sealing the calamitous power in my left hand. Once the bandages drift from my hand, I will no longer be able to control my power and will bring pain to the world."

Kurumi: ...O_o

Hit by that sudden chuuni blast, Kurumi was speechless for a moment.

A familiar and embarrassing memory awakened in her mind—right, who had not gone through an age of indulging in dark fantasies? Precisely because of that, she completely understood what the other girl was saying.

This was awkward. Incredibly awkward!!!

—What exactly had my clones been teaching her?!

Faced with the scene before her, Kurumi turned her head away and placed all the blame for it squarely on her clones.