She left Zero two strawberry cream crepes that belonged to the Little Rabbit.
After confirming that the doors and windows were all properly closed, and even the curtains were drawn tight, Su Yuzu left the dormitory.
It was getting late outside.
If she went back too late, Ms. Unohana Chiyo and Big Sister would get anxious.
Clang—
Hearing the sound of the door latching, the shoulders of the girl paralyzed on the bed flinched.
That was the side effect of the "Primary Combat Records".
In order to uphold the fundamental principle of not wasting anything, Su Yuzu had stuffed a "Primary Combat Records" into the little kitten before leaving.
[Ding—]
[Developed Zero successfully.]
[Zero's combat experience has increased.]
[Level.30 Agile-type Aberrant Experience: 100%→100% (Awaiting Breakthrough)]
[Development: Zero's Favorability +1.]
[Obtained Favorability increase reward: Common White Flower found everywhere.]
[Obtained Development material cost compensation.]
["Primary Combat Records" *2.]
[...]
Facts proved that even when feeding an Aberrant, as long as there were signs of the Aberrant's Favorability sprouting, one could obtain Favorability increase rewards and double the material compensation.
Su Yuzu always felt that this strange [Operator System] was inciting her to defect to the enemy.
But... is it defection?
Pressing her right hand against her chest, Su Yuzu suddenly thought of a very interesting phrase.
"The enemy and I share the same origin."
Yamabuki Nanako said that the Black Gears, also known as the so-called "Trial Aberrant Activation Device," are essentially the "Medical Units" for Aberrants.
The technology between the two is completely identical.
The difference lies in that the "Medical Unit" repairs the damaged human body.
And the "Trial Aberrant Activation Device"... is what repairs damaged Aberrants.
However, in the judgment of the "Trial Aberrant Activation Device," humans... are simply damaged Aberrants that need repairing.
It was quite interesting.
Although the "Medical Unit" appeared in the public eye much earlier, Su Yuzu keenly sniffed out the scent of anomaly within it.
Is that really the case?
Before the "Trial Aberrant Activation Device"... was there a prototype for the "Aberrant Activation Device"?
However, those things had nothing to do with Su Yuzu for the time being.
What the girl wanted to do now was simply return to Ms. Unohana Chiyo's home, and then have a good meal with Unohana Chiyo, Soga Yura, and Sakura Mai.
Inside the western-style house where Unohana Chiyo lived.
It was brightly lit, a rare sight in recent years.
The girls' laughter, accompanied by the unwilling owuu owuu sounds of the cat struggling to get out of Soga Yura's arms and back to Su Yuzu's lap, filled the dwelling of this battlefield remnant soul—which had been lonely for too long—with vitality once again.
Meanwhile, inside Su Yuzu's dormitory—
It was unknown how much time had passed... before the Aberrant girl's pair of dark golden vertical pupils slowly recovered their luster, bit by bit, from that hollow trance.
"Nyaa——" The sound squeezed involuntarily from her throat had turned into a cat's mewl.
Her body had already memorized the orders issued by the superior.
The laboratory's blockade on the artificial Aberrant had thoroughly become a laughable sieve.
In front of the massive, pitch-black Throne of Ultimate Evil, the so-called blockade was nothing more than a ridiculous white flag, possessing not even a shred of capital to cover its shame.
Slowly stretching her curled toes, the girl gradually regained consciousness.
Originally, Su Yuzu's intention was to just let the girl sleep after she finished eating the "Primary Combat Records".
The air conditioning and heating in the room were warm enough.
Even without wearing clothes, it could be described as comfortable.
Unlocking the shackles or anything of the sort was fundamentally impossible.
At least until Zero obtained the forgiveness of Mihou Sakai and the others, and received the permission of Director Saionji and the others, it was absolutely impossible to unlock them.
Hmm—
Regarding Zero, Su Yuzu did not intend to hide it from Director Saionji.
Zero's strength was very high, infinitely approaching the Third Sequence, and she had the enhancement of an Aberrant's physical toughness.
Ordinary Second Sequence Espers would have no way to deal with her at all.
Yet Zero had suffered such heavy injuries.
Associating this with the faint smell of blood on Director Saionji, Su Yuzu could guess who had shot Zero down without even trying.
It was impossible to hide it.
Moreover... keeping an Aberrant in private captivity was a matter that could be considered big or small.
Speaking of the big picture.
This was colluding with the enemy.
But... speaking of the small picture.
In the filthy circles of those prestigious families, Su Yuzu had also heard of similar things.
The bodies of Aberrants were so ravishingly beautiful and... durable for play, and they also held the 'interesting' title of 'Enemy of Humanity'.
There would always be people extending their claws towards Aberrants, wanting to capture them.
However, because it was far too easy for Aberrants to seek death.
Wanting to return to the Abyss was merely a matter of a single thought.
For low-sequence Aberrants... how to destroy the highly polluting Catastrophe Crystals on their bodies was also a problem.
This matter should be very difficult to accomplish.
But if it was just keeping them as pets or experimental subjects to show off one's status and ability, Su Yuzu had still heard a bit about it.
As long as Su Yuzu wanted to, she could naturally become an owner too.
Furthermore... Zero was completely different from those Aberrants with obvious Aberrant physical traits.
When Zero disguised herself as an ordinary human girl, even Su Yuzu couldn't detect it immediately.
Concealment was never a good recipe for solving problems; Su Yuzu intended to be honest.
Of course—
That was also because she had the capital to be honest.
Rustle rustle, inside the warm room.
The fair and cute girl wanted to arch her body up.
But because of that strange sensation from before... the feeling of being crushed by the powerful Throne, as well as the heavy shackles on her body, meant that even getting up was a very difficult task for the girl.
If her hands were cuffed in front of her, it might have been slightly better, but for safety's sake, Zero's arms were cuffed behind her back by Yuzu.
The [Ascetic's Fetters] were not as simple as just cuffing the wrists; they cuffed the section from the elbows to the wrists together as much as possible.
Just maintaining the posture felt sore.
This could reduce the Aberrant's danger to the greatest extent.
Clatter clatter—
The sound of chains was crisp. In Su Yuzu's room, the girl's "nyaa—nyaa—" cat cries were subtle and cute.
Expending tremendous effort, the girl, whose forehead was beaded with fine sweat, finally managed to kneel and prop her body up.
Su Yuzu hadn't realized that every sentence of hers was an order that the Aberrant girl absolutely had to execute.
For example... 'I will be back tomorrow morning.'
For the Aberrant girl, the meaning was that she had to wait... wait until the superior returned.
Even... without the superior's instructions, any action other than waiting was a transgression on her part.
Except... the girl's gaze fell upon the strawberry cream crepes on the bedside table.
The King said... that could be eaten.
With her head almost pressed against the bedding, the Aberrant girl inched and rubbed her way to the edge of the table.
She looked at the cream and the cut strawberries in front of her.
It looked... very beautiful.
It smelled... great too.
Like the scent on the King's body.
In the laboratory, she had never seen such beautiful... food?
It should be food, right.
Aside from the laboratory's nutrient fluid, the most delicious thing she had ever eaten... was the thing called an apple brought to her by that sister who was like a nagging old auntie.
The girl curled her tongue slightly like a little kitten and licked a tiny bit of cream.
In the dim light, her dark golden vertical pupils lit up.
If the girl had a tail, it would probably be curled high up like a cat's.
Only suddenly—
The girl kneeling there felt the hairs all over her body stand on end.
She stared vigilantly outside the door.
At the entrance of Su Yuzu's dormitory, Saionji Sagara looked at Su Yuzu's room door.
The woman's gaze was sharp, as if she could see the heterogeneous being hiding behind the door.
But... looking at the small "Su" character on the nameplate, after hesitating for a moment, she turned and left.
________________________________________
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