Hisaki stood on the roof of the minshuku… She closed her eyes.
In the darkness, the trail of Shiro’s scent re-emerged in the air…
It stretched all the way from the shattered glass on the 23rd floor, growing stronger and closer, finally converging on a certain room in this minshuku.
It was so intense that the heart in her chest, the one she’d just had ribs removed for, was pounding wildly.
Right here.
“Qi, wait for me outside.”
Kurose Qi stood behind her sister, her dark red pupils filled with worry.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say that her sister had only just been promoted to Count, wanting to say that the wound from her core soul bone hadn’t healed yet, wanting to say that forcibly using bloodline talent would mean the wound from removing the rib would never recover.
But she didn’t say any of it.
Because she knew that her sister’s eyes held only one thing, one person, right now.
She couldn’t stop her.
She hadn’t been able to stop her since the day her sister decided to pull out her third rib.
Hisaki’s body began to sink.
Like ink seeping into paper, her entire form melted into the shadow at her feet.
This was a bloodline talent only available to Vampire Counts… shadow assimilation.
Part of it was an extension of her senses, a passage that let her move freely through any patch of darkness.
Qi watched as her sister’s shadow sank into the darkness inch by inch, until only she was left standing on the roof, the night wind filling her clothes.
In the minshuku room, Chiyo was deep in a sweet dream.
A silent scream, the corners of her mouth crazily upturned, mumbling vaguely “Rin-chan… Rin-chan’s feet… hehe…”
She was completely unaware.
Hisaki rose from the corner of the room, where that patch of ordinary shadow was slowly swelling upward.
First her head, then her shoulders, then her entire body, appearing silently in the minshuku room.
She saw the bed… Her first reaction was relief.
Because the blanket cocoon was wrapped tightly, Shiro had protected herself well.
Then her gaze shifted to the person lying next to the blanket cocoon.
A woman with light brown hair, lying on the same bed, less than an arm’s length from Shiro, a foolish grin on her face that made Hisaki’s pupils suddenly contract.
That woman’s lips were moving, mumbling something vaguely…
Hisaki’s hearing caught the words “Rin-chan’s feet.”
This person dared to get this close to Shiro, dared to call Shiro’s feet in her dreams.
Pure killing intent churned in Hisaki’s dark red pupils, her finger joints letting out faint cracking sounds as she clenched her fists.
But she didn’t move.
Because she heard Shiro’s steady breathing…
Wait.
Her gaze fell back on the blanket cocoon.
Shiro had wrapped herself up tightly, only her small face exposed, silver-white hair spread across the pillow, eyelashes resting quietly beneath her eyes, lips slightly parted, breathing steady and gentle.
Hisaki bent down and, along with the blanket wrapped around Shiro, gently scooped the blanket cocoon off the bed and into her arms.
The blanket cocoon sank slightly in her embrace, then came the familiar warmth and texture…
That scent seeped out from the gaps in the blanket, drifting into Hisaki’s nose. Shiro’s natural body fragrance.
So reassuring.
Hisaki closed her eyes, buried her face into the edge of the blanket cocoon, and took a deep breath.
All the rage, the killing intent, the fear and despair that had accumulated on the flight from the 23rd floor—all of it was soothed by this scent in that instant.
This was hers.
Her thing was still here, not destroyed, not gone.
Hisaki hugged the blanket cocoon tightly, momentarily forgetting why she had come here.
She should have immediately taken Shiro and left…
Qi was waiting outside, and the Demon Hunter was still asleep nearby.
But she didn’t move.
She just held Shiro, breathed in Shiro’s scent, and immersed herself in the reassurance of having regained what was lost.
Then her gaze landed on the small face peeking out from the top of the blanket cocoon.
Lips slightly parted, glistening with a faint moist sheen under the warm yellow nightlight.
Hisaki lowered her head and gently kissed them.
She forgot to control the time.
The small body in her arms began to tremble slightly… a sign of oxygen deprivation.
The petite form in the blanket cocoon instinctively tried to struggle, but its hands and feet were bound by the blanket, so it could only squirm gently like a fish caught in a net.
Rina’s consciousness jolted awake from her slumber… someone was forcefully kissing her.
Disgusting, so disgusting… That Perverted Obsessive really did make her move, night raiding her.
Tears began to gather in the corners of her tightly shut eyes. She felt her breath being greedily stolen, the oxygen in her chest growing less and less.
Was she going to die?
Suffocated to death by a pervert’s kiss?
But no.
This kiss felt wrong.
The suction force of the lips, the rhythm of breathing during the kiss… All these details perfectly overlapped with someone from her memories.
The one who always let go right before she was about to suffocate.
Not that Perverted Obsessive.
It was the Kidnapper.
Rina’s eyes snapped open.
Her vision was blurry from lack of oxygen, but she still saw the dark silhouette in front of her…
Black long hair, dark red pupils faintly glowing in the darkness, and that cool, refreshing familiar scent wrapping around her entire body.
Her hands and feet were still bound in the blanket, unable to move.
She could only gently, with her teeth, bite the tongue that was tangling with hers.
Hisaki’s eyes opened at that moment.
Her dark red pupils met those tear-filmed sky-blue eyes…
Fear and grievance filled them, tears not yet fallen, but they also silently said “I’m suffocating.”
Hisaki released her mouth.
Rina panted heavily, her lips swollen and red, the rims of her eyes flushed.
She looked at the familiar face before her. Her brain hadn’t fully recovered from the oxygen deprivation and shock, but her mouth was already starting to work first, driven by the survival instincts she’d learned during this period of imprisonment.
“I, I didn’t run away…”
Her voice was hoarse, carrying the soft mushiness of having just been kissed and the rapid panting of oxygen deprivation.
She buried her face into Hisaki’s chest and pressed the blanket cocoon closer into Hisaki’s arms.
“I wasn’t bad… I was good, didn’t run… really…”
She frantically organized her words in her head as she spoke.
The Kidnapper appearing here meant she’d seen the shattered glass, seen the phone wreckage, seen the kidnapping scene she’d carefully arranged.
The Kidnapper kissing her meant she wasn’t here to punish her…
At least not right now.
The Kidnapper didn’t have that chilling coldness that scared her…
Those pieces of evidence worked. The Kidnapper believed she’d been kidnapped.
Now she just needed to reinforce that understanding, push all the blame away, and keep herself clean…
She raised her tear-filmed sky-blue eyes and jerked her chin toward the bed.
“It, it was all that person…”
Her lips were still swollen, her voice still carried the nasal tone of having just been kissed, but she was quick to tattle.
“She broke in from the window, shattered the Kidnapper’s floor-to-ceiling window, kidnapped me here, and was touching me… and wanted to do bad things!”
She emphasized her tone when she said “touching me,” and when she said “do bad things,” she buried her face into Hisaki’s chest, her voice turning muffled and soft, as if she were stating facts and also acting cute while tattling.
Hisaki looked at the silver-white head frantically tattling in her arms and smiled.
Just a smile from being charmed by Shiro’s cuteness.
“Shiro’s a good girl.”
Hisaki lowered her head, her lips gently brushing Shiro’s forehead.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Her voice remained gentle…
“I’ll kill everyone who wants to bully Shiro.”