'Heat... so much heat...'
All Rinko could perceive was fire. The toxin had raised her body temperature until every inch of her skin became a burning surface, and her mind floated in a dark limbo where thoughts evaporated before they could form.
And the fever kept climbing.
Every second dragged her deeper and if this continued, whatever was left of her on the other side wouldn't be Rinko.
!
But right at the exact instant the fever threatened to melt the last remnants of her brain, something reached her.
Drops of a thick liquid landed on her parched lips.
The stimulus was so unexpected it pierced through the fog of her consciousness. Her lips moved.
"What... is this...?"
And without waiting for an answer, guided by a purely animal instinct, she stuck out her tongue with absolute greed and licked up whatever had fallen on her.
The liquid had a distinctly salty taste, dense, hot, and in that moment her nervous system received it like water in the middle of a desert.
An immediate relief coursed through her nerve endings, pushing the fever back a few degrees for the first time since the toxin had taken control.
And her body knew before her mind did.
She needed more.
The thick spurts continued falling on her face, one after another, splashing her cheeks, her chin, her lips.
Rinko opened her mouth wide and swallowed every drop of the fluid with voracity, without questioning what it was, where it came from, or why it worked.
She only knew that each swallow pushed the darkness a little further away and returned a tiny fragment of clarity to her head.
Drop by drop, the fog began to recede.
First the sounds came back: her own ragged breathing, the creaking of the ropes on her wrists, and a voice... a familiar voice drilling into her eardrums.
"Rinko-nee! Wake up!"
'Yukikaze...?'
"Rinko-nee!"
"Mhm..."
Prying her eyelids open heavily, as if each one weighed a ton. The world came back blurry, swimming in blotches of color that took several blinks to become recognizable shapes.
The first thing she focused on was Yukikaze's sweaty, tense face, leaning over her with reddened eyes and an expression of relief.
And behind her, standing like a silent tower, the imposing silhouette of a ridiculously attractive man stared back at her from above.
"Yuki... Yukikaze."
Opening her mouth, she discovered a sticky sensation covering her lips, tongue, and palate.
A raw, salty taste permeated every corner of her mouth. Frowning, she ran her tongue over her lips without fully understanding.
She didn't remember anything from the last few minutes.
Untying the straps from the bedposts, Yukikaze helped her sit up. "Rinko-nee, how do you feel? Do you remember what happened?"
"I..."
Rinko pressed a hand to her forehead.
The memories came back in jumbled fragments, like pieces of a puzzle: the meeting with Muneichi, the box, the gas flooding the room, the heat taking over her body... and after that, darkness.
But what she did remember was more than enough to understand the gravity of what had happened.
"I remember." Her expression hardened. "Where is that bastard? Yukikaze, are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"
"I'm fine, luckily... and it's all thanks to Jin-kun." Offering a tired but sincere smile, Yukikaze pointed to the man standing a few meters away, watching them calmly.
What followed was a rushed summary of events, though she omitted certain specific details about the method used to obtain the antidote.
Rinko listened in silence and when Yukikaze finished, the full picture was clear: without this man's intervention, both of them would have ended up as Muneichi's permanent toys.
Understanding the magnitude of the debt, she got off the bed with Yukikaze's support. Her legs were still shaky, but she forced herself to stay steady as she approached Jin.
"I'm enormously grateful for your help. Ending up in that man's hands would have been an ugly fate..."
Performing a deep bow, she expressed her gratitude.
The abrupt movement made her enormous breasts, each one bigger than her own head, bounce heavily.
Giving Jin a sublime view.
Especially with the flat chested Yukikaze right next to her as a point of reference.
He appreciated the gesture... Both gestures.
"It was minimal effort." Extending his hands, he held Rinko by the shoulders gently, helping her straighten up. "Besides, Yukikaze already gave me a very personal show of gratitude."
'BASTARD!'
The blood boiled in Yukikaze's face so hard she felt steam coming out of her ears.
And inside her shoes, her toes curled restlessly. The sticky sensation still lingering.
However, Rinko didn't catch the hidden tension in those words.
To her, coming from a man who had just saved their lives and beaten the hell out of the one responsible, it simply sounded like a comment about Yukikaze's gratitude for the rescue.
She nodded briefly and let the subject go.
Yukikaze exhaled internally.
Still, Rinko shook her head to finish clearing the remaining traces of fog from her mind and raised her gaze toward Jin with seriousness.
"As the interim leader of the Ittou-ryuu style, I assume full responsibility for repaying this debt of gratitude, Jin-kun. What you did for us today isn't something that can be settled with simple words..."
After reflecting in silence for a few seconds, she reached inside her suit and pulled out a business card.
"This is the address of the Akiyama Dojo, Yukikaze's house is nearby as well. In the future, if Jin-kun ever has any problem, you can come find us and we will absolutely do our best to help you."
"Exactly!" Yukikaze crossed her arms, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I'll help you too!"
'You two... are lucky you didn't end up in the lions' den again...'
Holding back with all his might a sarcastic laugh that would have ruined the moment for both of them, Jin composed an appropriately grateful expression and accepted the card.
"Thank you. I'll keep it safe."
He slid it into his pocket with genuine care.
He didn't accept it out of courtesy, but because that address could prove very useful in the future. For purely strategic reasons.
"Oh, look at the time. I have pending business, I'll take my leave first." Checking the time on his watch, he raised a hand as a farewell.
"Huh? Wait—"
Rinko reached out her hand, but her voice cut off abruptly. The silhouette in front of her eyes simply... was no longer there.
No sound, no flash, not the slightest hint of movement. One blink: present. Next blink: empty.
"..."
Left standing with her hand outstretched and her eyes wide open, she processed what she had just witnessed.
She hadn't felt his energy move... He simply vanished.
"That's incredible!" Her pupils burned with curiosity. "I didn't even notice how he left. That speed... or whatever that was... is on another level."
She stood staring at the empty space a moment longer, biting her lip with a smile that mixed admiration and challenge.
"I really want to train with him…"
"Rinko-nee!"
Yukikaze tugged on her sleeve impatiently, dragging her back to reality. "We should head back too. Tatsurou is still waiting for us!"
"Ah..." Rinko blinked, snapping out of her daydream and a guilty grimace appeared on her face. "I almost forgot about him."
'Poor Tatsurou,' Yukikaze thought with an internal sigh.
Recomposing herself instantly, Rinko raised her arm and traced a complex seal in the air with her fingertips.
Instantly a luminous circle sprouted from the floor beneath their feet, expanding until it covered them completely.
And the next second, the room was completely empty.
...
While Jin crossed the dark streets toward his house, the system's voice rumbled inside his head.
[Congratulations on successfully massacring the Chief Secretary and his team.]
[Mission accomplished by dismantling the sexual abuse conspiracy orchestrated by Muneichi Yazaki, securing the physical integrity of the Taimanin agents. Reward unlocked: "Demon King Lineage."]
'Demon King Lineage?'
It sounded excessive even by the system's usual standards. But hey, he wasn't going to complain.
[You have acquired the following abilities:
[I — Demon of Desire: Sexual performance undergoes an extreme evolution. The user will develop an insatiable carnal appetite directed toward beautiful women. When copulating, both sexes will receive a permanent increase in energy and physical strength.]
[II — Altered Genetics: Excellent talent and a body with rapid strength growth of infinite potential.]
[III — Strong Luck: Extraordinary luck that allows obtaining favorable results or avoiding unfavorable situations with an extremely low probability.]
[IV — Rance Attack: Rance's ultimate technique, releasing spiritual power to form a powerful shockwave.]
[Note: "Demon King Lineage" is actually the lineage of "Brutal King Rance," protagonist of the "Rance Series," a warrior driven by pure lust, acting on his whims and completely free from the moral chains of modern society.]
???
'Who the hell is...?'
The name meant absolutely nothing to him.
Brutal King Rance? Rance Series? A warrior driven by lust and free from moral chains?
Shaking his head, he resumed walking. He didn't have the slightest fucking clue who that guy was, but the abilities were good... Very good.
But the biggest win of the night lay in having secured direct contact with the Taimanin organization. The lives of Rinko and Yukikaze represented an invaluable asset for his future.
The criminal scum of the city was disappearing at too fast a pace and he needed to open new hunting routes to maintain his growth.
...
The midnight moonlight spilled through the gap between the curtains, bathing the room in a layer of ambiguity that blurred the outlines of the furniture.
Sliding through the window like just another shadow, Jin landed noiselessly on the floor. While his black trench coat still carried the scent of the night like a memento of everything he'd done.
Another successful hunt.
Now all that was left was to strip, shower, and sleep until the alarm woke him up.
Or that was the plan.
!
His instinct alerted him! There was another breath in his room... It was subtle, but unmistakably present.
Someone had gotten into his room.
And just as he was preparing to strike...
Click.
The bedside lamp turned on, flooding the room with a warm light.
"Welcome home, Jin-chan~"
Jin froze on the spot.
Sitting elegantly on the edge of his bed, with one leg crossed over the other and the lazy posture of someone who'd been waiting too long, was... Mira.
A white lace nightgown, thin as a cobweb and nearly transparent under that light, clung to every curve of her body like a caress frozen in fabric.
The dark outline of her nipples could be made out through the lace like forbidden shadows, and the fabric pulled taut in the exact places where your eyes couldn't help but stop.
She had her arms crossed under her chest, and the gesture pushed those juicy breasts upward, squeezing them until they formed an overflow that threatened to spill out.
Rising. Falling. Rising.
Every inhale was a silent provocation that Jin felt directly between his legs.
"M-Mira?" Sweat appeared at his temple. All the self control he'd boasted about in front of Rinko and Yukikaze suddenly seemed a lot less impressive. "So late... what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here~? I'm here to inspect the room~"
Laughing softly, Mira rose from the bed and began approaching him.
Slowly. Each barefoot step on the carpet was measured. Her hips swayed with a hypnotic pendulum rhythm, gentle but impossible to ignore, dragging Jin's gaze from side to side.
With each step, the hem of the nightgown swayed, and the lamplight slipped through the lace creating a spectacle of light and shadow across her body.
Her thighs appeared and disappeared between the fabric. The silhouette of her wide hips was outlined with every movement. And those breasts, free from any support, bounced softly with each step, shaking just enough to remind Jin that gravity was his worst enemy and his best ally at the same time.
'Shit... I'M BEING HUNTED!'
Mira stopped in front of him, so close he could feel the warmth of her body through the nightgown. She tilted her chin up to look at him with a smile that was half maternal tenderness and half something completely different.
"But Jin-chan... dressing up so handsome in the middle of the night..." She tilted her head. "Did you go out to do bad things?"
Her tone was playful, but underneath there was an edge that Jin knew well.
A question disguised as a joke that was actually neither of those things.
And before he could make something up, something changed in Mira's expression. Her nostrils fluttered several times.
Sniffing the air around Jin with a subtlety that would have gone unnoticed by anyone not staring directly at her face.
And immediately a dangerous light gleamed in her blue eyes. The smile remained, but it cooled.
What Jin didn't know was that Mira's presence in his room wasn't coincidence. Due to Jin's scheduled visit to Kyouka's house tomorrow, Mira had decided to pay him a surprise visit tonight to help him "relieve" some of his stress.
After all, she knew her friend deeply, and had no intention whatsoever of letting Kyouka play with what was hers.
But her discovery upon getting close to Jin changed everything.
Her sense of smell, always exceptionally sharp, picked up something coming from his trench coat, from his pants, from every inch of that man who was supposed to be exclusively hers, and it was unmistakable: the scent of another woman!
'HOW CAN THIS BE?!' The frozen smile on her face concealed a volcano. 'What damn woman stole what's mine...? NO, what damn WOMEN? Because there are TWO distinct fragrances.'
"Jin-chan... I think I smell..." She ran a finger softly along his trench coat. "A scent that doesn't belong to you?"
The question was like a guillotine suspended by a thread.
Jin kept his expression neutral, but his brain was working at full speed, and, in a flash of inspiration, he said: "A classmate called out of nowhere to say she was being harassed by some thug with bleached blond hair, so I went to help..."
"..."
Mira's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly.
She stayed silent for a couple of seconds.
Then, explosively she reached out, grabbed him by the collar of his trench coat and yanked him downward with a strength that didn't match those delicate arms.
The distance between them was so small that each other's breathing was audible. The sweet fragrance of bath gel mixed with her unique body scent ambushed his face like a trap.
Mira's lips hovered centimeters from his, but the expression in her gaze had nothing romantic about it.
"A blond thug...? I think Jin-chan is the thug, isn't he?"
He was trapped!
The excuse hadn't just failed, it had backfired on him.
But having her that close, seeing that sweet face slightly angry with her cheeks barely puffed and her lips pressed into a pout that tried to be threatening but came out devastatingly adorable, something clicked in Jin's head.
He seemed to have found the solution!
________
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