Saber Always Has Some Brilliant Ideas

The slender Exusiai also seemed to be enjoying it, her fair cheeks slightly flushed, transmitting comfort and warmth through our delicate, skin-to-skin interaction.

I heard her whisper softly in my ear, her breath a warm, sweet puff of air, “I’ve given you such a peaceful embrace. Let me draw a little beauty and indulgence from you in return, okay?”

Before I could agree, I felt her slender little hand move, taking the beauty of this illusory flesh into her palm with the confidence of a master artisan.

She closed her gorgeously lashed eyes and indulged for a moment, then whispered in a voice as sweet as apple pie, “Thank you for the treat~”

The pleasure is all mine…

I rested my chin on Exusiai’s slender, beautiful collarbone and whispered, my voice barely audible, “Whatever you want…”

Yukino’s soft voice came from ahead, pulling me from my reverie. “Did you trip?” she asked me.

Saber’s solid voice also chimed in. “It’s my fault. You were talking to the comments and weren’t watching your step. I should have reminded you. There’s a fire extinguisher on the floor.”

My hand reluctantly gave Exusiai’s slender back a tight squeeze, my arm rubbing against her soft waist, before I stood up, embarrassed. “I was too absorbed, I should have watched where I was going.”

I looked down at my feet. A red fire extinguisher was right in front of me. “So this is what tripped me?”

I bent down to pick up the fire extinguisher, intending to put it back against the wall, when I suddenly noticed a dim stain near the bottom of it. I lifted the extinguisher to take a look and found that the stain was a dark, blackish-red, looking like…

“Is that a bloodstain?” Exusiai, standing right next to me, lost her smile, her voice sharp.

Yukino and Saber also came over to take a look. They agreed that the stain looked very much like blood, as if someone had once swung this iron canister and hit another with it, leaving a permanent mark of violence.

The cruel events that had taken place in this abandoned dormitory had revealed another horrifying corner through their lingering traces.

We were speechless for a moment. Finally, I was the one who said, “Let’s keep looking,” and after putting the fire extinguisher back against the wall, we continued on our way.

We reached the end of the second floor. At the corner was the staircase leading to the third floor.

We ascended the steps and arrived on the third floor, which was just as dark, with its doors tightly shut, and looked no different from the second floor. This sense of similarity was as horrifying as if we were trapped in a recurring ghost wall, a looping dungeon with no escape. Even our breath was cold.

This reminded me of something Exusiai had told me before the transformation. She had said she loved going to thrilling and scary places with girls. She said that in the midst of fear, the feelings between two people would heat up rapidly, eventually exploding like an overheated water heater, surging between the sheets. So she always went to haunted houses, dark paths at night, and dangerous mountain trails with girls.

Until one time, by a strange coincidence, she went into a haunted house with a burly guy. At that time, still a handsome man through and through, he practically fled the haunted house, screaming like a little girl.

I was surprised when I heard about it later and asked him, “Don’t you go to haunted houses all the time? Why were you so scared this time?”

He had a mournful look on his handsome face. “Didn’t I tell you? In fear, the feelings between two people heat up rapidly. The more fear, the more intense the heating. I never expected that the burly guy who went into the haunted house with me would be so afraid of ghosts that our feelings would overheat…”

“…And the result?” I was a bit confused.

“The result was that I was almost got banged by him in the haunted house!”

Recalling this incident, I couldn’t help but let out a “pfft” of laughter.

Exusiai, who was still holding my small hand beside me, was a little surprised. My sudden laughter made her laugh too.

This Exusiai, who for some reason was missing the white halo above her head, smiled and asked me, “What happy thought did you have?”

I said, “I was thinking about that time you went to the haunted house with the burly man.”

Exusiai’s smiling face instantly fell. “Don’t mention that… it’s given me a complex about being in scary environments with men… I’m afraid of being… taken by force.” She whispered the last three words, her voice barely audible.

Her words made me a little curious.

I moved the streaming phone away to prevent the viewers from hearing, then whispered into her fair, delicate ear, “You said you have a complex about being in scary environments with men? But forget Yukino and Saber, I’m still a man, and it feels pretty scary here. How come I don’t see you having a complex?”

Her beautiful red eyes glanced at me, then looked away as she muttered, “You’re different.”

This answer was a little unexpected, a critical hit right to my heart. I whispered back to her, “Are you so sure I won’t lose my mind and do something to you?”

Exusiai glanced at me again, quickly looking away, and mumbled indistinctly, “Didn’t I say before that if I were a girl, I would marry you? Besides, you look even more to my taste now than my little lovers. Being… with you… it’s not like I’m losing out.”

Her words made my face flush red. Thankfully, we were whispering, the hot breath and soft words flowing only between the two of us, unheard by anyone else.

My lips moved, but I didn’t dare to continue the conversation, afraid that if I got too excited, I would say something crude again.

Several flashlight beams explored the darkness of the third-floor corridor. The doors were still mostly closed, the monotonous and gloomy scenery repeating itself, creating a depressing atmosphere. Fortunately, I was holding Exusiai’s small hand, a ray of dawn in the darkness.

“Hm? Another open door.” We were about to reach the end of the corridor and see the staircase on the other side when Yukino suddenly made a discovery.

The beam from her hand turned to the side, shining into the open doorway. It was another room with only basic furniture left.

After entering, we were old hands at this. We immediately pointed our cameras and lights at the trash can.

“This time… are they teeth?” Looking at the dozens of teeth at the bottom of the trash can, enough to string a full necklace, I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Uh… let’s think on the bright side,” Saber’s tough-guy nature prevented her from always dwelling on pessimism. “If the person captured here was a child who was losing their baby teeth, and these are just the teeth they lost, then no one was harmed, right?”

My mouth twitched. “By your logic, that homeless man is a high-level alchemist capable of transmuting a grown woman into a child.”

“Let’s see what’s written on the note first.” Yukino probably felt it was unfair to always let Saber do the dirty work, so this time she gently lifted the knee of her straight-leg jeans, squatted down with her slender legs together, and reached her clean, white hand into the trash can to retrieve the note.

Unfolding it, the note read:

[Don’t do this anymore… Don’t do this anymore…]

The handwriting was crazed and rugged, the sorrow, despair, and helplessness hitting us like a wave, suffocating us.

After everyone had seen the contents of the note, Yukino furrowed her slender, ink-stroke eyebrows and put the note back in the trash can.