Chapter 410: “Mad Dog” Takina (Patreon)

After a rain, Satania stepped out of her house in slippers and looked up at the dim, hazy night sky. For no particular reason, she felt like reciting a line or two of something that sounded really cool. But her growling stomach left no room for thought and kept nagging her to hurry to the convenience store for food.

"Good evening, Satania." Raphiel walked up beside her and greeted her with a pleased smile.

"Oh, good evening."

"Where are you headed?"

"There's no food left in the fridge, so I'm going to the convenience store."

The smile at the corner of Raphiel's mouth grew even harder to contain. She pulled a pineapple bread out of her pocket. "I happen to have one right here. If you get on your knees and lick my feet, you won't need to go to the store."

"Seriously, haven't you fallen from Heaven like Gabriel did?" Satania didn't think someone acting like this qualified as a normal angel. Having gotten that off her chest, she couldn't be bothered to keep chatting and waved her off. "I'm starving, so I'm going."

"Wait! Satania, would you be interested in visiting the café Jhin runs sometime?"

The words stopped her in her tracks. Satania blinked her red eyes. She really hadn't gone to hang out with Jhin in a long time. Ever since coming back from the South Pole, she'd spent ages being pinned down by Vignette to review her studies. Then again, that was partly because she hadn't studied at all while she was at the South Pole.

I kind of want to eat the pineapple buns he makes.

Thinking that, she nodded and agreed. "Sure. When?"

"I'll let you know when the time comes."

"Oh." Satania left without hesitation, because she'd spotted that mischievous grin on Raphiel's face, the one that meant she was planning to mess with her again.

*

Sachi Komine looked naturally airheaded and carried herself just like a maid, yet in combat she put far more pressure on Chisato than Makina Irisu did. Even in the middle of a fight, Makina would tease Chisato in her playful way, while Sachi fought strictly by the book, following Jhin's orders to the letter.

She'd been told to train Chisato, so she wouldn't go easy on her for even a moment.

Chisato twisted away from a fruit knife made of a special material and backed off to open up some distance. Facing Sachi Komine, who stood perfectly straight in her maid outfit and gas mask with a knife in each hand and not a single opening, she thought, This is a nightmare.

Earlier, she'd tried to snatch the weapons out of Sachi's hands to weaken her. But Sachi was much stronger than she'd expected, and had nearly pinned both of Chisato's arms behind her back and put her on the ground, ending the fight in an instant.

Sachi's strength is way too unfair, isn't it?

In the Central Analysis Room.

Nymph pushed a comparison chart of Sachi Komine's physical analysis in front of Kazami Kazuki. Just like Makina Irisu, her physical stats had jumped by a wide margin. Strength that could already carry a gas canister with one hand had become even more frightening.

"The numbers seem to be a little better than Makina's. Does it have something to do with her original physical condition?"

"We only have two samples right now, so I can't confirm that yet."

Kazami Kazuki teased, "Why don't you count yourself too?"

Nymph said regretfully, "Artificial angels don't grow."

"Then let's find a way to increase the sample size."

"Understood."

Once they finished talking, Takina walked into the Central Analysis Room and greeted them very politely. "Sister Kazuki, Nymph, did you want to see me?"

"Takina, perfect timing." A flicker of amusement crossed Kazami Kazuki's deep crimson eyes. "Do you feel like you're improving too slowly?"

Takina was silent for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "Yes."

"I happen to have a new piece of technology that can help you improve faster. Want to try it?"

She badly wanted to agree right away, but Takina held back the words rushing to her lips and asked instead, "Does Store Manager know about this?"

"I told him. He's been agonizing over not being able to go hard on you in certain kinds of training, so he agreed without a fuss."

"Certain kinds? But I told him he doesn't need to worry about my injuries..." Takina had suffered through who knew how many hardships in her childhood training, and she considered herself good at enduring pain.

"Never mind that. Since you've agreed, put on this helmet and lie down in that experiment pod."

Ask less, do more had always been Takina's rule. Without a word, she lay down in the pod and put on the helmet. Her consciousness went dark, and when she came to, she was standing in a pitch-black forest. Kazami Kazuki's voice drifted down from the sky.

"This is virtual reality. Think of it as a dream where your mind is clear and all five senses are sharp. The first lesson my little brother asked me to teach you is 'pain.' When every stage of training in the virtual world is finished, I hope you'll have gained something from it."

"Then... training begins."

A flash of fire stood out sharply in the dark. Takina dropped flat without hesitation, and only then did the gunshot catch up with the light and reach her ears.

"!"

Even though she'd dodged in time, she was still hit in the calf. The searing, burning pain nearly made her pass out.

Does the pain really feel this real?

That was the only thought she had time for. The next second, a merciless bullet pierced her pale neck, and blood gushed out, carrying her body's warmth with it.

Only at that moment did Takina understand what Kazami Kazuki meant by "going hard." It was the very thing she had believed she didn't fear: "[Death]."

When her consciousness cleared again, she was standing unharmed in the forest. The night wind rustled the leaves, as if warning her that the hunter was about to arrive.

The lingering shadow of [Death] in her heart dulled Takina's thinking. She stood frozen where she was, and a bullet announcing [Death]'s return found her again. This time it went through her brain.

She died more than twenty times.

Just as she was growing numb to [Death], her consciousness slowly drew away from the virtual space and returned to reality. Her painful memories of [Death] faded as though someone had deliberately smoothed them away, leaving only a sense of awe toward it in her mind.

When Takina took off the helmet, she found her clothes soaked through with sweat. There was even a faint, acrid stench in the air.

"Go take a shower. The pod will clean itself."

"Thank you, Sister Kazuki." Takina took the change of clothes and fled the Central Analysis Room.

Nymph came over with the analysis data. "Kazuki, you seem quite pleased with her."

"Mm. A girl who doesn't ask unnecessary questions and takes things seriously scores high with me." Kazami Kazuki could already picture roughly how Takina would look after her transformation. She took the data, thoroughly satisfied. "A 'mad dog' tailor-made for my little brother. Takina Inoue... I'll train you well."

"And what about Chisato Nishikigi?"

"That girl? Let my little brother handle her himself. Personally, I think taking her straight to a hotel would be perfectly fine, but he's so greedy that he'd surely never do that."