I'll kill you after I finish this game!

Fujii Ren nodded to Himuro Reia and waved before walking past her.

After passing through the school gate, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Most of the people in the school were around her age, making it essentially a closed space that kept outsiders out.

Although there aren't many people who are close to Fujii Ren, apart from Skadi-senpai, no one would be so foolish as to come near this place.

Although I haven't witnessed her power, the fact that she could easily suppress my past rampage and loss of control speaks volumes about her strength.

Daytime is undoubtedly a symbol of daily life. Skadi also said that most of the daytime is a truce period for those guys, which is a time for Fujii Ren to rest now.

...In truth, not long ago, Fujii Renka never imagined she would view school the way she does now.

With a wry smile, Fujii Ren walked into the school building.

"------!"

However, when she entered the school, the demon's senses made her feel an unfamiliar and frozen atmosphere.

A strong sense of incongruity, or rather, oppression and overcrowding, exists in this school.

It was as if the school building had sunk into the deep sea...

It felt like being swallowed into the stomach of a giant monster...

Cracking or splitting due to freezing.

And like blood seeping from cracks, slowly, slowly eroding everything indescribable, strange sensations.

It's different now, completely different.

Fujii Ren sensed that everything had undergone a very subtle and even demonic change compared to before, which seemed to her extraordinary abilities.

Fujii Ren vividly remembers this feeling; it was exactly the same as the nausea he felt back then.

A mixture of blood, corpses, and decay—so thick it was suffocating, the scent of a demon that had slaughtered countless lives.

Looking up at the stairwell, the backlight distorted Fujii Ren's vision. Even though it was noon, the sunlight looked inexplicably blood-red.

In that radiant light, two familiar girls... dressed in the uniform that Fujii Ren was familiar with, yet standing there out of place.

At first glance, they look like beautiful flowers, so lovely and endearing.

However, this is a poisonous flower that can devour and kill people.

The thorns of the flower are filled with deadly poison.

In this world, isolated from reality, which forces one to believe so strongly...

"Nice to meet you, Ren-chan~~~, I'm Rusalka-Shuveglin."

The petite, pink-haired girl with a bewitching aura, whom he had encountered one night, greeted the stiff-bodied Fujii Ren with a smile, saying:

"This scary-looking girl is Sakurai Hotaru... This school is a really nice place, I like it very much."

Beneath her swaying dark pink hair, a mocking and amused smile appeared on her seemingly innocent face.

The young girl, or perhaps the witch—Rusalka Shuveglin—greeted Fujii Ren in this seemingly ordinary way.

Judging from their appearance... they must be a transfer student!?

"Absolutely right, we're even in the same class~~~"

As if reading Fujii Ren's thoughts and feelings from her expression, Rusalka said with a smile:

"It's the same with you, and with Kasumi... so let's get along well..."

—Merkelius's agent, Zarathustra.

Rusalka didn't say the last words aloud; instead, they echoed directly in Fujii Ren's mind.

Fujii Ren's face immediately turned pale as she felt a profound spiritual force, as deep as the universe, making her dizzy and almost causing her to fall down the stairs.

Why are these guys even at a school?!

Even a quiet and peaceful place has to be mixed with these foreign things that she finds repulsive.

What are these guys trying to do? Senior is right here. Even if this is one of the nodes of the transmutation array, they can't possibly act in broad daylight.

"You guys..."

Fujii Ren was not afraid of them; he gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sound of rejection and disgust.

"Don't worry, we didn't come here to start a fight, and I don't have the strength to do so anyway."

The witch Rusalka spoke to Fujii Ren in a teasing tone, while on the other side, Sakurai Hotaru, wearing the uniform of the private Tsukinozawa Academy, spoke to Fujii Ren with a self-deprecating tone.

It's not about using force, and we don't even have the ability to use force?

What is going on here?

"Literally, lotus."

Suddenly, a reassuring voice came from the stairs, accompanied by footsteps. Skadi, a tall and slender figure, descended the stairs, glanced coldly at the two people, then looked at the sweat-drenched Fujii Ren and said:

"Don't worry, it's a truce during the day, and everyone tacitly maintains this rule. I also had my reasons for calling them here."

Skadi's words reassured Fujii Ren somewhat, after all, with his senior there, both of them showed obvious helplessness and apprehension in their eyes.

Although I teased her before, I really didn't intend to use violence.

Moreover, the senior student also said that they came here because of her intention.

Puzzled, confused, and curious, Fujii Ren hoped his senior could give him an explanation.

However, seeing the atmosphere at the scene, she knew it was inappropriate and could only suppress her anxiety and unease and wait for the right opportunity.

--------

And so, the two ill-timed transfer students adapted to the school without any apparent problems.

Rusalka is a cheerful, lively, and amiable international student who is popular with both men and women at the private Tsukinosawa Academy.

Hotaru Sakurai – a silent, aloof, and mature figure, and a similar eccentricity to her senior, Skadi.

Although they are two people with completely opposite personalities, together they become a perfect picture.

In fact, it could be said that they conquered the campus just like Skadi, solely based on their looks.

There were no schemes, no violence; he simply stood there and made those around him his partners.

It could be described as an extraordinary charm, but no matter what, Fujii Ren couldn't accept them.

What are these two people doing at this school? No, what kind of work are they doing here, and why were they called over by the senior student?

Their goal might be Skadi, or it might be Ren Fujii himself.

Therefore, as long as Fujii Ren is at school, he has to pretend to be normal.

Don't let them see through you; instead, observe them from their perspective.

There are now two dangerous wild beasts in the school.

However, the presence of her senior provided a layer of security, but it didn't completely put Fujii Ren at ease.

On the school rooftop, Fujii Ren saw Skadi-senpai again, but this time there were two more guys she didn't want to see.

However, the situation at the scene made Fujii Ren's originally solemn mood become somewhat... blank.

Sakurai Hotaru squatted on the ground, her face filled with anger and humiliation, her hands raised like little animal paws in front of Skadi.

Meanwhile, Rusalka, as her companion, chuckled and mocked Sakurai Hotaru's embarrassing moment with amusement.

Upon noticing the arrival of Fujii Ren, Sakurai Hotaru looked extremely ashamed. Her exquisite and usually indifferent face turned bright red, and she glared at Skadi and Fujii Ren through gritted teeth.

Fujii Ren felt confused. She hadn't provoked the other person, so why was she glaring at her?

"Senior, what exactly is going on...?"

Skillfully bypassing the witch Rusalka, Fujii Ren looked subtly at Sakurai Hotaru, who was half-crouching in front of Skadi, and asked Skadi in a somewhat bewildered tone.

“This guy is my prisoner of war, that is, a hostage. Lian, you don’t need to worry about her doing anything bad. As for the other one, he is a ‘special envoy’ sent by me to communicate with the Black Round Table.”

Skadi, with the air of a queen in a superior position, casually explained the day's events to Fujii Ren, then patted Sakurai Hotaru's head as if she were a pet, before speaking in a commanding tone to Fujii Ren's dazed expression:

"Come on, bark once so I can hear it!"

"Woof! You bastard...woof woof...bastard! If you've got the guts...woof! Kill me! Woof woof woof woof!!!"

Faced with the witch's amused gaze and Fujii Ren's strange and subtle look, Sakurai Hotaru felt so ashamed that she wanted to commit suicide. She cursed Skadi as a bastard, but her body barked uncontrollably like a dog.

What are you barking at?

Seeing that Sakurai Hotaru, this dangerous demon, was so humiliated by obeying her senior's orders, Fujii Ren really wanted to ask her what she meant by it.

But when Skadi said that the guy was a prisoner of war, that is, a hostage, and the other was an envoy sent by the Black Round Table, she was surprised.

The fact that they weren't going to use violence relieved her.

However, looking at Sakurai Hotaru, who was on the verge of tears with a face full of humiliation, Fujii Ren didn't know what method his senior had used to forcibly control her.

But...surprisingly, this girl seems so pitiful, and even her companions are mocking her as if they're enjoying the show.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, before Fujii Ren's eyes, a mark appeared on Sakurai Hotaru's delicate, fair neck, different from the decapitation scar on her own neck.

To Fujii Ren, the mark looked like... a collar, and it was engraved with unknown purple runes that shimmered with a faint light.

A chain made of unknown energy extended from the rune mark on Sakurai Hotaru's neck and then fell into Skadi's hand.

Skadi smiled as she held the chain attached to Sakurai Hotaru's neck. The scene before her was like that of a queen and her disobedient little pet, which had a rather strong impact on the young Fujii Ren.

"As you can see, Lian, there's no need to worry about this guy causing any dangerous trouble. Right now, as a prisoner of war, she's just a dog that completely obeys my orders."

As she spoke, Skadi used her toes to lift the chin of the immobile Sakurai Hotaru. The other party's clenched teeth and inability to resist did not pose a danger, but it felt like she might bite.

"You scoundrel..."

"Did I tell you to speak like a human being? Keep barking like a dog."

Seeing that the extremely ashamed and indignant Sakurai Hotaru was about to yell again, Skadi, with an indifferent expression shrouded in shadow, issued the order from her superior position.

"Woof...woof..."

I cried, I really cried, I was really moved to tears!

Seeing Sakurai Hotaru, who was so humiliated that she was crying, Fujii Ren could hardly bear to look at the extremely shocking scene.