“What?!
You and Uzumaki Kushina are actually together now?”
Eriri stared at Riku in shock as their little Thomas the Tank Engine ride trundled slowly along its track.
“Yeah.
Didn’t you figure that out ages ago?” Riku turned toward her.
“I did, but I didn’t think things had progressed that fast!” Eriri drew a deep breath, her cheeks puffing out.
“And another thing!
Didn’t you swear in the group that you two had a completely innocent brother-sister relationship?
You even swore on Uchiha Madara!”
“That was true at the time.” Riku spread his hands helplessly.
“Feelings change.
You can’t exactly reason with them.”
He sighed.
“So Great-Uncle Madara will just have to suffer a little.”
“You really are the model of filial devotion.”
“Hey, it’s all for the continuation of our branch of the family.
I’m sure if Great-Uncle knew the circumstances in the afterlife, he’d forgive me.”
“You—”
Eriri nearly laughed from sheer frustration.
The shamelessness of this bastard group owner truly knew no bounds.
Clack, clack.
The little train passed through a dark tunnel, and the children aboard immediately cheered when daylight appeared ahead again.
Eriri remained quiet for quite a while before finally lowering her voice.
“Have you and Kushina…
done that yet?”
Riku raised an eyebrow.
“Done what?”
“You know exactly what I mean!” Eriri stared at him.
“That question is so vague I genuinely have no idea.”
“I mean…
have you slept together?”
“Of course.
We sleep together every day.”
“E-Every day…”
The color seemed to drain from Eriri’s entire world.
‘It’s over.’
She had lost completely.
And she could not even blame anyone else.
This was her own fault.
She liked him but never had the courage to say it honestly, always hesitating and second-guessing herself until things ended up like this.
‘Damn it…
This sucks.’
Her blue eyes were already beginning to sting when Riku suddenly added, “We share one body and two souls right now.
Of course we sleep together every day.
What’s strange about that?”
“Huh?”
Eriri’s head snapped up.
“You mean that kind of sleeping?”
Riku’s lips curled into a knowing smile.
“What other kind were you asking about?”
“You bastard!”
Realizing he had deliberately led her on, Eriri grabbed his arm and bit down.
“Ow, ow, ow!
What are you, a dog?!”
“You deserved it!”
…
Behind the landscaping near the haunted house, Kasumigaoka Utaha, Gokou Ruri, and Yukinoshita Yukino crouched suspiciously behind a row of bushes, watching the blond boy and girl walking toward an ice cream stand.
“Do you think we might’ve misjudged him?” Yukino finally asked, drawing her gaze away.
“He doesn’t actually seem to have any bad intentions.”
“I’m starting to wonder the same thing,” Ruri admitted.
They had followed the pair through the carousel, bumper cars, and now the children’s train.
Despite looking exactly like the sort of blond delinquent who normally spelled trouble in anime, Riku had behaved himself the entire time.
He was even surprisingly good with children.
Whenever a kid started crying badly enough that their parents could not calm them down, Riku somehow managed to cheer them up with a few words.
Honestly, he seemed like perfectly decent boyfriend material.
“I once watched an anime where the blond guy acted exactly like this,” Utaha said coolly.
“He behaved like a gentleman at first, earned the girl’s trust, and only showed his true colors after she fell into his trap.
You can’t judge people by appearances.
We need to understand what he’s really like first.”
Yukino stared at her.
“You decided to follow him entirely because of his appearance.”
“Maximum alert!” Ruri suddenly whispered, eyes widening.
“Golden Eriri just asked him for a kiss!”
“Her name is Eriri,” Yukino corrected automatically before glancing back toward the couple, who were now embracing in the distance.
“Well, this is developing quickly.
Should we stop them?
Wait…
what are you doing?”
Utaha was holding up her phone and carefully adjusting the camera angle.
“Taking pictures, obviously.”
“Is this really the time for that?
Shouldn’t we—”
BOOM!
A heavy impact suddenly came from the haunted house beside them.
An enormous dark-purple tentacle smashed through the wall and hurled Yukinoshita Yuno outside.
“Mother!”
Yukino rushed forward in panic and caught her mother, supporting her with both arms.
“What happened?
Are you hurt?”
There were scrapes across Yuno’s face and arms, but fortunately nothing appeared serious.
Her expression, however, was terrified as she seized her daughter’s sleeve.
“Run…
Get out of here!”
BOOOOM!
Another deafening crash followed.
The entire haunted house collapsed.
From the wreckage rose an enormous creature with a swollen humanoid upper body and a lower half composed entirely of writhing tentacles.
Malevolent black-purple energy surged around it in violent waves.
“Aaaah!”
“A Calamity Beast!
A Calamity Beast appeared!”
“Someone call the Sacred Guard!”
The nearby visitors had seen it as well.
Screams erupted as the crowd scattered in every direction.
“Hehehehe!
Dear guests, come and become one with me!”
Nishida Rintarō looked down at the fleeing humans as though they were insects, shrill laughter spilling from his mouth.
His bloated body shook violently.
Chunks of rotten, foul-smelling flesh tore free and splattered onto the ground.
The pieces immediately began swelling before bursting apart one after another, transforming into grotesque creatures with triangular heads and long, razor-sharp claws.
They threw themselves indiscriminately at the fleeing civilians. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
“Protect the visitors!”
Kasumigaoka Utaha had already transformed.
She immediately took command as several brilliant blue spheres of magical energy formed around her.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Each sphere fired a beam of magic that tore through one monster at a time.
With Gokou Ruri and Yukinoshita Yukino supporting her from either side, the number of triangular-headed creatures began dropping rapidly.
Then several massive tentacles descended from above.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The ground trembled beneath repeated impacts, throwing dust and debris everywhere.
Utaha and the others managed to evade the tentacles, but Nishida used the opening to direct his remaining monsters toward the landscaped area.
Within seconds, Yukinoshita Yuno was completely surrounded.
Even a strong-willed businesswoman like Yuno could not keep the fear from her face as the hideous creatures closed in on her step by step.
“Mother!”
Yukino clenched her teeth and ran toward her as fast as she could.
“Sigh.”
A quiet sigh drifted through the chaos.
The tanned boy with spiky blond hair and black sunglasses appeared in front of Yuno so quickly that it looked like teleportation.
‘Him?!’
Yukino’s eyes widened.
Why was he here?
Was he an ability user too?
Tap.
Riku kept both hands in his pockets and calmly took a single step forward.
An overwhelming pressure erupted from his body.
The air around him instantly became thick and suffocating, making it difficult to breathe.
Streetlamps, decorations, bushes, and flowers all began shaking violently as though the weight of the sky itself had suddenly descended upon the amusement park.
Splat!
Splat!
The triangular-headed creatures surrounding Yuno were crushed apart by the invisible pressure alone, spraying dark-purple blood across the ground.
“W-What kind of power is that?” Utaha murmured, staring blankly.
“Reiatsu.”
Eriri had appeared beside her at some point, her small shoulder bag hanging at her side.
Her voice was perfectly calm.
“Keep watching.
He’s about to do something.”
“Reiatsu?
You mean…”
Utaha turned back toward the battlefield.
Riku stood before the enormous monster in his Hawaiian shirt, looking almost absurdly casual.
Black light gathered around the index and middle fingers of his right hand.
His lips moved.
“Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi.”
Hum—
A gigantic black cube rapidly took shape around Nishida Rintarō, completely enclosing his enormous body.
One black spear after another pierced into the structure from every direction, resembling shadowy crosses driven into an immense coffin.
Heavy impacts echoed from within.
Riku casually turned his back on it, a faint smile on his face.
Then the black cube dissolved into countless motes of light.
Behind him, Nishida’s massive body collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Ruri covered her mouth, staring in disbelief.
“A…
tanned blond version of Aizen?”