—He fell asleep.
—Great chance, let's kill him while we can.
—Then I just have to keep killing him before he dies.
Pierced, crushed, sliced to ribbons.
Then, his mangled body was slowly repaired by the healing flas, only to be continuously destroyed by an unknown sothing once more.
He couldn't wake up. Even though the pain receptors all over his body were screaming in agony, even though his brain was frantically telling him to wake up, he still couldn't snap out of his deep sleep.
And so, Itsuka Shido could only defenselessly transition from a deep sleep into an eternal slumber he would never wake from.
...
"...Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
With a scream that tore his throat, Itsuka Shido violently bolted upright in bed.
"Was it... a dream...?"
He frantically checked his body. To Shido's imnse relief, although his pajamas were completely drenched in cold sweat, his body was perfectly unhard.
"Thank goodness..."
Letting out a long, heavy sigh of relief, Shido looked around. It was his familiar bedroom. The cool morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, and the alarm clock by the bed ticked steadily, displaying the current ti.
"It's already this late... Damn it, what a terrible nightmare."
Shido couldn't help but complain. Even though he couldn't recall the specific details of the nightmare, it felt inexplicably real. Even now, the fear echoed through his body. Just thinking about it slightly made him shudder.
"I definitely had a nightmare because I was too nervous! Don't be scared! Relax! You can do this, Itsuka Shido!"
Slapping his cheeks hard to chase away the lingering fear in his heart, Shido hyped himself up in front of the mirror.
Then, to wash off the sticky, uncomfortable sweat, Shido left his room and headed downstairs for a quick shower.
On the way, he caught a whiff of a delicious aroma. At the sa ti, the comforting sound of a kitchen knife rhythmically chopping on a cutting board—chop, chop, chop—reached his ears.
"...Yutsuki?"
Shido felt a bit confused. Today was indeed Yutsuki's turn to cook, but how should he put it? The sound of Yutsuki cooking was usually brisker. The way this person was using the knife sounded a bit unfamiliar and cautious.
"Yo, you're up really late today, Shido."
"Shido-san... Good morning..."
The voices of Kotori and Yoshino ca to his ears.
"Good morning, Kotori, Yoshino—?! O_O"
The next second, Shido's voice trailed off, and his eyes widened in sheer shock.
The reason was simple. The two of them, who just yesterday had the appearance of sweet, petite loli...
Had sohow inflated in the direction of sexy, mature won today!
———————————
"Crap! I overslept!"
Looking at the ti on her phone, Yutsuki scrambled out of bed in a panic.
(Ah, today is my turn to cook! I slacked off!)
Yutsuki thought with intense frustration.
Honestly, after returning to her room, Yutsuki started regretting saying unnecessary things in the heat of the mont. After all, to stop DEM's assassination of Shido right now, Kurumi was an indispensable source of intel. If Kurumi got angry and abandoned their alliance, Yutsuki's side would be at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Thinking about the severe consequences her impulsive slip of the tongue might cause, Yutsuki tossed and turned in bed, agonizing over it until 4 AM before barely managing to fall asleep.
(That idiot Shido always sleeps in on days he doesn't have to cook, I can't rely on him. I have to hurry.)
After a quick wash and hastily throwing on so clothes, Yutsuki dashed out of her room and rushed to the Itsuka residence.
"Sorry, everyone! I accidentally overslept! I'll start cooking right away—"
Pushing the front door open, the scene before her instantly robbed Yutsuki of speech.
Kotori, wearing nothing but a white button up shirt, giving off the aura of a lazy office lady;
Yoshino, overflowing with gentle, motherly tolerance like a young housewife, wearing a naked apron;
Tohka, wearing alluring black tights and a tight business suit, showing off her devilish figure;
Natsumi, wrapped only in a bath towel, maintaining her adult form;
Kaguya and Yuzuru, cosplaying as a doctor and a nurse;
Mukuro, dressed as an alluring courtesan in a vividly colored kimono, bearing her shoulders;
And Nia, Miku, and Origami, carrying "sorry we got a head start" signs. In stark contrast to the others who had taken on adult forms, these three were in loli forms.
And finally, Shido, who seed to have tried to flee from this forest of flesh, only to accidentally trigger his lucky pervert skill and plunge face-first into Reine's massive cleavage.
Yutsuki silently closed the door.
"Phew... It must be a hallucination from being too tired."
Letting out a long breath, Yutsuki rubbed her eyes, adjusted her mindset, and opened the door again.
What greeted her was the exact sa harmonious space as before.
"...What the hell are you guys doing?"
Yutsuki asked, completely speechless.
"Y-Yutsuki-nee... Didn't we agree yesterday? It's training to build up Shido's resistance to girls."
Under Yutsuki's icy stare, Kotori explained awkwardly.
"Ah... now that you ntion it."
A look of realization dawned on Yutsuki's face. Last night, they had indeed discussed using Natsumi's power to transform into mature won and seduce Shido. If Shido's heart rate exceeded a certain threshold, they would upload his chuunibyou era character designs to the internet.
Recalling this, Yutsuki had practically pieced together the exact sequence of events that had just transpired here.
(Well, it's true that to prevent Shido from losing to Kurumi, building immunity to female bodies is very important. But...)
Wordlessly yanking Shido out of Reine's cleavage, Yutsuki pinched his cheeks and pulled hard without any rcy.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! What are you doing, Yutsuki?"
"Shut up, Shido! My heart is full of envy, jealousy, and hatred right now!"
Understanding it logically and accepting it emotionally were two completely different things.
——————————
"Honey~! Honey~! Hugs!"
As they were getting ready to eat, Miku, maintaining her loli form, waddled over to Yutsuki, tugging at her pant leg and calling out in a sweet voice.
"Alright, alright~"
Yutsuki sighed helplessly, picking her up and placing her on her lap.
"Yay~ Successfully infiltrated Honey's embrace. Kids rule!"
Miku cheered happily.
"If you touch anywhere weird, I'll toss you onto the floor."
To prevent Miku from pushing her luck, Yutsuki gave a warning.
"Biri-chan, Biri-chan."
Just then, Nia called out from the side.
"Hm, what is it?"
"Can you eat the cherry tomatoes in my salad for ?"
"I rember you could eat cherry tomatoes, couldn't you?"
"When I'm an adult, I've overco it, so it's fine. But right now, my kid tastebuds just can't handle it."
Nia answered with a bitter face.
"No, you can't be a picky eater. Say 'ah'—"
"Eh? Fine."
Seeing Yutsuki bring the tomato right to her mouth, Nia knew she had brought this upon herself. With tears in her eyes, she ate the tomato.
"Honey~! Honey~! I want so too!"
"I really can't say no to you. Here, say 'ah'—"
"Ah— Delicious!"
"You really like kids, Yutsuki."
Watching this heartwarming scene, Shido couldn't help but smile.
"Well, if I had to categorize it, I guess I do like them, since I am a lolicon. Besides, with kids's bodies, you don't have to worry too much about accidentally touching sowhere inappropriate, and just looking at them is pretty healing. But..."
Looking at Miku, who was showing an angelic, blissful smile, Yutsuki let out a long sigh with complicated feelings.
"Why do such cute kids grow up into such disappointing adults?"
"Mhm!"
Natsumi nodded in deep agreent.
"Also, Yoshino, sorry for making you cook instead of ."
Yutsuki said with a wry smile.
"...No... I wanted to do it... Besides... cooking... is very fun..."
Yoshino shook her head and answered softly.
"Oho~ And then? As our usual resident chefs, Yutsuki-chan and Shido-kun, can you score the breakfast Yoshino-chan made this ti?"
Right then, the rabbit puppet Yoshinon popped up from the edge of the table, pointing at Yutsuki and Shido as it asked.
"Well, 83 points."
After thinking for a mont, Yutsuki answered honestly.
"I think it's delicious enough that we don't even need to score it. But if I had to say... 89 points?"
After a wry smile, Shido also gave his evaluation.
"Ah— Neither broke ninety points? You two are strict critics."
Yoshinon held its head, seemingly very disappointed.
"Actually, there aren't any major mistakes. Her knife skills and heat control are both good. It's just that maybe because she was too cautious, she added a bit too little seasoning, so the flavor is slightly on the bland side."
Shido explained.
Of course, Shido's evaluation of Yoshino was still very high. After all, to use a kitchen knife to cook, Yoshino had to take off Yoshinon. This action alone caused Yoshino considerable ntal stress. Being able to cook under that kind of tension was already incredible.
"Well, my thoughts are basically the sa as Shido's. If we're scoring purely based on effort, giving it a perfect score would be no problem."
Yutsuki smiled and shrugged, saying to Yoshinon,
"However, I don't want Yoshino-chan to be satisfied with just this. Rather than a perfect score, a stricter critique will leave her room to keep improving in the future."
"Oho~ I see!!"
Yoshinon nodded in realization, pumping its arms energetically toward Yoshino.
"Then you have to do your best, Yoshino-chan! Strive to snatch the role of head chef away from Shido-kun and Yutsuki-chan in the future!"
"O-Okay... I will do my best... Yoshinon..."
And so, after the relaxing and laughter-filled breakfast ended. Taking a deep breath and adjusting her mindset, Yutsuki told everyone about her disagreent with Kurumi last night.
"Everyone, I'm sorry!"
Yutsuki bowed her head in sha.
"You don't need to apologize, Yutsuki. If anything, I should be thanking you."
Shido shook his head, then asked sowhat confusedly,
"But why did you guys fall out?"
"Mhm... how should I put it? I just felt there was a problem with Kurumi's approach and offered a little bit of my own advice."
"Ah... I see."
Seeming to understand exactly what happened, a subtle, bitter smile appeared on Shido's face.
"Yutsuki's advice, how should I put this... is usually far too piercing. She flawlessly exposes the exact troubles people subconsciously try to avoid. Should I call it being too observant? There's a sense of defeat in being seen through so completely with absolutely no room to argue back. It's very easy to make soone snap out of humiliation."
To this, Miku, Kotori, Natsumi, Origami, Nia, and Mukuro all nodded in profound agreent.
"Ugh... I get it. I'll reflect on it."
Yutsuki said dejectedly.
"Well, assigning bla won't fix anything. Let's figure out what to do next first," Kotori said seriously.
"Yutsuki-nee, are you sure your alliance with Kurumi is completely voided?"
"Mhm, it's hard to say for sure if it's voided, but it's best not to expect Kurumi to provide us with any more intel."
"Then, we'll just have to find a way to protect Shido ourselves."
After a period of discussion, the group decided to assign one person specifically to protect Shido's safety before his date with Kurumi tomorrow.
Of course, Shido stated he would be fine on his own, but this was naturally rejected by everyone without hesitation.
As for the candidate to protect Shido—
"Shido, who do you choose?!"
As always, with everyone eagerly volunteering, the right to choose ultimately fell back into Shido's hands.
"Um..."
Feeling the intense gazes of the crowd, Shido sweated slightly. After hesitating for a mont, he carefully replied,
"How about... drawing lots?"
"What do you think your life is, you idiot Shido?!"
Smacking Shido over the head with a paper fan, Yutsuki sighed speechlessly.
As a side note, she herself was not among the candidates this ti. Considering the heavy burden Yutsuki had borne over the past few days, Kotori told her to properly rest and recover today.
A candidate capable of protecting Shido... After thinking for a mont, Yutsuki made the decision for the indecisive Shido.
"Origami! Shido's bodyguard duty goes to you."
"—!?"
Hearing Yutsuki's words, a look of surprise flashed in Origami's eyes. But she quickly nodded solemnly.
"Understood."
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