"Losing control?!"
"I actually lost control too!"
Hoshimi Aya looked at the demon blade tail-less in her hand with lingering fear.
She had thought she wouldn't face the danger of losing control.
Moreover, in the game, Hoshimi Miyabi only lost control because some 'ingredients' were added to her blade; she was usually incredibly stable.
If it weren't for those ingredients, Hoshimi Miyabi wouldn't have lost control.
Yet on her end, it happened without any warning, leaving her zero reaction time!
Fortunately, she restrained it; this time, it could still be suppressed.
But this situation would definitely happen again in the future.
This was very annoying. Clearly, her Tailless was different from Hoshimi Miyabi's.
The memory scenes from Hoshimi Miyabi's loss of control were completely different from hers.
In Hoshimi Miyabi's case, there was no fox as big as a heavy truck, just some sounds and images.
In her case, a Nine-Tailed Fox had appeared right in front of her face.
"...Should I go find Hoshimi Miyabi and ask?"
Hoshimi Aya pondered, but quickly discarded that plan.
Forget asking questions; she'd probably get slashed the moment she showed up.
It was better to think of a way herself to see if there was any method to prevent her from losing control.
"Forget it, I'll take it one step at a time."
"Just remember not to draw the blade."
Having said that, Hoshimi Aya took her clothes and walked toward the bathroom; she had just broken out in a cold sweat from the scare.
Now her body was damp, so taking a bath now meant she wouldn't have to wash up at night.
Besides, it was getting late. She didn't know if Rin had finished Belle's commission yet.
As everyone knows, time in games is generally quite vague.
Of course, that might just be her personal opinion; at least she wasn't sure how long this commission took to complete in the game, and she was even less sure now.
But it shouldn't take too long.
After Hoshimi Aya finished her bath and went to the secret room downstairs, she found Rin and Wise in front of the computer, seemingly cracking something.
In any case, Hoshimi Aya couldn't understand it.
As far as she could see, the commission should be finished.
"Rin, Wise, is the commission finished?"
"What are you two doing right now?"
Hoshimi Aya asked, looking at the two of them.
"The commission is only half-finished."
"We are currently cracking this data disk to get the password for the safe belonging to Belle's client."
"We'll have to go into The Hollow again tomorrow to retrieve that safe."
Rin stood up and came to Hoshimi Aya's side.
As for the cracking, she'd leave that to her brother. It was too much trouble, and Hoshimi Aya's arrival gave her the perfect chance to slip away.
Thinking this, Rin pulled Hoshimi Aya directly out of the secret room.
Seeing this, Wise sighed and had to crack the password with the HDD by himself.
...
"Finally, I can rest for a bit."
Rin said, stretching her arms.
"Um... is it really okay to leave Wise to crack the password alone?"
Hoshimi Aya asked.
"It's fine, have a little faith in my brother."
"I believe he can crack the password by himself."
Rin said with a smile.
She seemed very at ease with Wise cracking the safe password alone.
"Alright. By the way, Rin."
"I have something I want to tell you."
Hoshimi Aya said, looking at Rin.
She had thought about it while bathing and decided to tell Rin about her losing control earlier.
Rin listened, looking dazed.
"Aya, are you serious?"
"If you put it that way... I'm a little afraid to sleep with you tonight..."
Rin said with some lingering fear.
If Hoshimi Aya suddenly lost control while sleeping at night and slashed her, wouldn't she die a wrongful death?
"It's not as serious as you say."
"At least for now, everything is fine."
After saying that, Hoshimi Aya pulled the blade out slightly and clicked it back in.
"Normally, as long as the blade is in the scabbard, I won't lose control."
"So I just won't draw the blade then."
"You don't need to worry, we can just keep things as they were before."
Hoshimi Aya comforted her.
"No, I'm still a bit worried."
"Aya, from now on, you're not allowed to bring the blade to bed when you sleep."
"It's too dangerous, I'm not comfortable with it."
Rin said, looking at Hoshimi Aya.
Just listening to Hoshimi Aya's words gave her goosebumps.
"Okay, I understand."
Hoshimi Aya nodded.
On that first day, she couldn't sleep for some reason and only fell asleep after bringing the blade to bed with her.
So Hoshimi Aya had been keeping the blade by her side all these days.
Now that this situation had arisen, she definitely couldn't keep the blade by her side while sleeping like before.
...
The next day.
Wise finally cracked the password in the middle of the night.
Belle, Anby, and Billy from the Cunning Hares also arrived, waiting in the garage area.
"Martial Arts Maniac Fox?!"
"You're coming along for this operation too?"
Belle asked in surprise.
Hoshimi Aya:...
"I told you, I'm not the person you know."
"I don't have the nickname Martial Arts Maniac Fox."
"Also, my name is Hoshimi Aya. You can call me Aya just like Rin does."
"Or Hoshimi Aya is fine too."
Hoshimi Aya explained. She remembered that she had already explained to Belle yesterday that she wasn't Hoshimi Miyabi.
"That's impossible. There's no way I'd mistake you for someone else."
"At the very least, I wouldn't mistake that blade in your hand."
Saying this, Belle pointed at the demon blade tail-less in Hoshimi Aya's hand.
She remembered Hoshimi Miyabi saying back then that this was an ancestral treasure of the Hoshimi Family, the only one of its kind, with no second copy.
"Belle, you really have the wrong person."
"Although Aya does look very similar to that Hoshimi Miyabi, she really isn't her."
"I saw them when I was out shopping with Aya before; they are not the same person."
"And for certain reasons, Aya cannot appear before her, nor can she be discovered by her."
"Otherwise, it would be very troublesome."
Rin explained, while also hoping Belle wouldn't tell Hoshimi Miyabi about this.
Listening to Rin's explanation, Belle chose to believe that Hoshimi Aya wasn't the Martial Arts Maniac Fox she knew.
Then, everyone began discussing the plan.
Anby laid out a map of New Eridu before everyone while explaining their plan.
Enter the Crete Void, eliminate the high-level Etherals Durahan, and take back the safe.
"Anby, is that it?"
"Just that one sentence?"
Rin said, somewhat incredulous.
"That's it. This is our plan: Enter the Crete Void, eliminate the high-level Etherals Durahan, and take back the safe."
Anby nodded.
"Is there some other meaning to bringing out this map?"
Wise, who already had dark circles under his eyes, looked at Anby and asked.
"Belle said we need to show a professional attitude so it's easier to bargain..."
Before Anby could finish, Belle covered her mouth.
"Billy, what's wrong with you!"
"Why didn't you stop Anby!"
"She's saying all sorts of unnecessary things!"
Belle scolded.
"Boss Belle, don't blame me! How was I supposed to know Anby's plan was just that!"
"No wonder Anby watched so many investigation-type meeting clips before coming!"
Billy explained with exaggeration.
Hoshimi Aya:...
As expected, the Cunning Hares was exactly as she remembered.
"Um... we heard all of that, you know."
Rin interjected.
Cough, cough, cough Anyway, our plan this time is to take down the high-level Etherals Durahan and snatch back the safe!"
Belle pulled the topic back.
...
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