"Nope—this elf is broken."
Lyra sighed, helplessly watching Ryuu sit there looking like her soul had left her body.
Kaguya walked up, grabbed Ryuu by the collar, and slapped her a few times without hesitation.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Wake up, you useless elf!"
Ryuu's long ears twitched from the sting, and her eyes finally focused again.
She blinked at the faces in front of her. "…Kaguya? Lyra? What… what's wrong with me?"
"We're telling you we found where Takumi is, that's what!"
"W-What!? R-Really!?"
"Don't make us say it again." Kaguya narrowed her eyes. "Get your head on straight and go make sure that guy hasn't lost his chastity."
"A-Ah… that kind of thing…"
Smack!
Ryuu's brain started drifting again, so Kaguya slapped her right back to reality.
Tears pooled in Ryuu's eyes as she looked up at Kaguya, but she still bowed her head. "…Thank you, Kaguya."
"Hmph."
Kaguya's mouth curved into a satisfied little smile. She'd finally gotten to smack this useless elf around—and Ryuu was thanking her for it.
…
While they sprinted toward Takumi's direction, Horn led him to a deserted clearing and stopped.
She turned to Takumi, cheeks flushed, eyes soft enough to drown in—half like a girl in love, half like a puppet being dragged around by a violent impulse.
"Because of the contract… this is the last chance I negotiated." Her voice trembled like she was begging for rescue. "Please… look at me."
She rose onto her toes, bringing that stunning face close.
On the roofline nearby, Chloe muttered under her breath, exhausted and furious in equal measure.
"As a cute assassin catgirl, I haven't slept for a whole day and night, nya! My proud tail fur's split and lost its shine, nya! And I don't even get to enjoy being used by a gorgeous young man like him—getting pet and played with, nya! After this job, I'm never taking work like this again, nya!"
Lunoire glared at Horn with pure resentment.
"This feels like suicide. But once you accept an assassination job, you do it or you get a bounty on your head."
She clicked her tongue. "Ugh. Whatever—this is just a feint. You take the left, I take the right. We just draw his attention. Got it?"
"Got it, nya~."
They exchanged a look, then launched from opposite sides of the roof.
The instant they moved, Takumi glanced back at them.
"Huh. You two are brave."
His voice was easy, almost amused. "No killing intent. Pretty clean concealment, too. But you really think I can't feel you?"
Both of them froze mid-step.
They hadn't even taken a full step—how the hell were they already discovered!?
"Run, nya!!"
Chloe had zero interest in fighting Takumi head-on. The memories of him demolishing monsters and gods were stamped into every adventurer's brain.
Lunoire had the same survival instincts. She flicked out two smoke bombs.
"Eat this!"
Except the smoke bombs never landed.
Takumi's Limitless pinned them in midair.
The canisters spun and hissed out white smoke… but everything moved like the world had been slowed a hundred times over.
As the Stop Power spread, Chloe and Lunoire's bodies slowed to a crawl.
Only their thoughts stayed normal—which made the despair on their faces even funnier.
"You've gotta be kidding me, nya… he's even stronger than we thought, nya…!"
"We're screwed."
They stared at Takumi like people reading their own death sentence.
Every escape plan they'd prepared died before it could even be born.
"You know," Chloe mumbled, giving up entirely, "assassins shouldn't be so principled, nya…"
"I'm not an assassin," Lunoire snapped. "I'm a bounty hunter. But, Black Cat… you're right. I'd rather take my chances getting hunted than die like this."
"Waaah… we're done for, nya…"
And then Chloe's eyes slid to Takumi, and she blurted out the most shameless thing imaginable.
"Takumi, sir, nya… before I die, can I touch your ass, nya? It's my final wish, nya!!"
"…"
Lunoire looked at her like she'd stepped in something disgusting.
"You freak. Have some shame. You've got a reputation and this is what you're like?"
"Shut up, Iron Fist! This is my one true hobby, nya! Nobody gets to stop me, nya!"
"…In that case," Lunoire said with a straight face, "I want to touch too. I'm not a pervert like her—I'm just a pure looks enjoyer."
The two of them somehow managed to turn an assassination into a discussion about groping Takumi.
Takumi's face went deadpan.
"Weren't you here to kill me? Why do you sound more like you're here to assault me?"
He was so close to laughing that it pissed him off.
He hadn't even gotten handsy with them—and they had the nerve to reach for him?
The audacity was unreal.
Especially this black-haired, green-eyed catwoman with that killer figure—Chloe. Pretty enough to make people commit crimes, and her taste was this unhinged.
Takumi took a slow breath, then turned his head—toward Horn.
She was holding a dagger, driving it toward his chest.
No matter how hard she pushed, the blade couldn't come within even half an inch of him.
Horn gave a bitter smile.
Her one-sided assassination was a joke—both to the goddess and to Takumi.
No wonder Freya had agreed so easily.
She'd already seen through Horn's intent… and more than that, Horn was simply too weak.
Too weak to ever hurt Takumi.
Clink.
Accepting that she'd lost, Horn's fingers went slack.
The dagger fell and rang against the ground.
Takumi twitched a finger. A wave of telekinesis yanked Chloe and Lunoire down out of the air, dropping them beside him.
Then he stepped in close to Horn and brushed her flawless cheek with his fingertips.
"Horn."
His voice was quiet. "Why did you do all this?"
That single question shattered what was left of her defenses.
Horn trembled, staring at him. "H-How did you know I was… Horn?"
Takumi leaned in to her ear, voice low and intimate.
"Your scent is unique. I remembered it the first time." Then he added, just as calmly, "And you bled again last night—did you think I was blind?"
"…"
Horn's face burned. She lowered her head and went completely silent.
After a long stretch of silence, she forced herself back into composure. When she looked up, her pale-gray eyes glimmered with something sharp and dark.
"Then why… why didn't you expose me? Why did you let me try to assassinate you?"
"Why would I?" Takumi shrugged, like it was obvious. "You're cute, Horn."
"And your assassination was what—calling two people over and poking me with a tiny dagger?" He tilted his head. "I honestly couldn't even tell if you were joking."
He bent down, picked up the dagger, and flicked it with his index finger.
BZZZ—!
The blade vibrated once—then shattered into metal dust.
"Stuff at this level?" Takumi said lazily. "Even if I stood still and let you stab me, it wouldn't matter."