The Saint’s Capacity for Tolerance

Hearing the curiosity in Flona’s tone, Hoshino Sakio felt deeply conflicted inside.

She guessed that next, Flona would ask what her special ability was.

But if she said it out loud, it would only invite other people’s disgust.

Because of this ability, her classmates had isolated her and called her a harbinger of misfortune.

Even the monsters were drawn to her because of it.

She didn’t want to be rejected by Flona, who had just saved her.

After hesitating for a while, Hoshino Sakio kept her head lowered, yet the question she had expected never came.

“Aren’t you going to ask what my special ability is?”

“Why should I?” Flona’s gaze remained fixed on Kirishima Shiro’s battle, and she answered casually, “If you don’t want to say it, Sakio, I naturally won’t force you.”

Compared to Sakio’s special ability, much more of Flona’s attention was focused on Kirishima Shiro.

She had finally found a monster.

Shiro had better not kill it too quickly.

Flona still wanted a chance to interrogate it about the monster organization’s location.

After confirming that most of the crowd had been evacuated, Kirishima Shiro stopped entangling herself with the eyeball monster.

To avoid repeating the previous mistake of a hostage situation, she decided to show no mercy this time and decisively drew her twin blades.

“Let’s end this quickly.”

This time, it was the eyeball monster who suffered.

It had originally been fighting Kirishima Shiro back and forth, and even thought that Magical Girl Silver Moon wasn’t all that impressive, not as strong as the rumors claimed.

But once Kirishima Shiro revealed her twin blades, her offensive grew far more ferocious.

The eyeball monster couldn’t withstand it.

Several thick tentacles were severed one after another by the blades, dark green fluid splashing onto the ground and sizzling as it burned.

Fear instantly took root in the eyeball monster’s heart.

Maybe it should retreat immediately and preserve its life.

“It’s over!”

The twin blades in Kirishima Shiro’s hands gleamed with a cold, sharp light.

【Magic Reinforcement · Efficiency 57%】
【Armament Type · Twin Blade Core · Loaded】
【Frost Chill · Thrust】

Piercing frost mist erupted wildly from the blade tips, surging outward like a tidal wave.

The eyeball monster was instantly covered in a thin layer of crystalline ice, completely immobilized.

“No—!” Staring at the blades right in front of it, the massive eyeball was filled with terror.

If it was hit, it would definitely die.

At the cost of severe damage to its vitality, the eyeball monster split itself into several smaller eyeballs.

This allowed it to escape the restraints of the ice and scatter in all directions.

As the twin blades thrust forward, frost bloomed like a lotus, and most of the eyeballs were frozen into small spheres of ice.

But a few slipped through.

“Trying to run?”

Kirishima Shiro spun and swung her blades, cold flashes of light streaking through the air.

Several eyeballs shooting off in different directions were chopped to pieces.

Surveying the monster remains around her, Kirishima Shiro let out a sigh of relief.

It was finally over.

But what Kirishima Shiro failed to notice was that one much smaller eyeball was flying straight toward the students behind her.

Surprised, aren’t you, Magical Girl Silver Moon.

This is my escape route.

The blood vessels on the eyeball’s surface stretched taut from the high-speed movement, making it look like a blood-red shell about to explode.

With the decoy eyeballs drawing attention, the eyeball monster had already put a great distance between itself and Kirishima Shiro, and even if she noticed it, catching up again would be extremely difficult.

Who should I parasitize?

As the eyeball monster scanned the crowd below, its auto-aim seemed to have forgotten to turn off, and its gaze quickly locked onto Hoshino Sakio.

Thinking that its exposure was likely related to her special ability, the eyeball monster burned with resentment.

I’ll parasitize you, Hoshino Sakio.

I’ve decided.

“Um, it looks like a small eyeball is flying toward us.”

Sharp-eyed Sakio hurriedly pointed at the sky.

How could Flona fail to see that the eyeball monster’s target was Sakio.

Perfect timing.

She had been thinking about how to catch a small eyeball anyway.

And now the eyeball monster had delivered itself right to her.

Flona warmly hugged Sakio.

“Sakio, you really are my lucky charm.”

“Ugh!”

Faced with Flona’s sudden embrace, Sakio’s mind completely shut down.

“Can I borrow your book for a moment?”

Still shy in Flona’s arms, Sakio answered instinctively, “Yes.”

Then she realized she couldn’t let Flona see the book.

But Flona already had it in her hands.

Written boldly on the cover were the words:

Citrus-Scented Girls

“……”

Sakio felt like crying.

It was over.

Flona would definitely think she was a girl with questionable tastes and distance herself from her in disgust.

However, Flona didn’t care at all and weighed the book in her hand.

“It’s got a nice heft to it.”

“Huh?”

Did Flona not understand what the title meant?

Then as long as no one she knew saw the cover.

Just as Sakio thought this, she saw Flona raise the book above her head.

Wouldn’t that make everyone see it?

Please no.

This is public execution.

“Bang!”

Because Flona had calculated the eyeball’s flight path, it was as if it jumped straight into a trap and slammed into the book.

Flona pressed down on the book as it trembled violently.

“The eyeball is gone. Did you smash it?” Sakio asked in confusion.

Flona shook her head.

An eyeball monster didn’t necessarily need to parasitize a living being.

“Can I borrow the book for a few days?”

“Th-this…”

“Please.”

Once she had extracted the monster organization’s location from the eyeball monster, she would return the book to Sakio.

“…Alright.”

Seeing Flona ask so earnestly, Sakio agreed with difficulty.

“But Flona, can you promise me one thing. After you finish reading it, please don’t hate me.”

The moment she said it, Sakio regretted it a little.

Wasn’t that request too unreasonable?

“No matter what, I won’t hate you.”

A Saint held a certain tolerance toward all things.

So far, the only thing Flona truly disliked was the goddess’s dress-up play.

But in Sakio’s eyes, it was a completely different story.

Flona is really so gentle.

“Sakio.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“You’re standing too close.”

At this moment, Sakio was practically pressed against Flona, and the fullness pressing against her made Flona feel a little at a loss.

It seemed bigger than Kirishima Shiro’s.

Thinking this, Flona felt a faint chill for no clear reason.

It was as if something bad was about to happen.

Facts proved that a Saint’s sixth sense was extremely accurate.

“Flona. Who is the person next to you?”

Kirishima Shiro’s voice came from behind, gritted through clenched teeth.

She had just解除 her transformation and came over to check on Flona.

Instead, she saw Flona being intimate with Sakio.

An inexplicable flame of anger flared up in Kirishima Shiro’s heart.

I fought so hard.

And you’re over here flirting with another woman.

At this, Sakio stiffened all over and instinctively shrank back behind Flona.

She hurriedly looked at Kirishima Shiro.

“Y-you are?”

The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.

“Don’t worry. Hoshino Sakio is a friend I just met.”

Flona’s voice was as gentle as ever as it reached Sakio’s ears.

A friend.

Sakio instinctively pressed a hand to her chest, and the pounding there was even stronger than before, even her panic easing a little.

So in Flona’s heart, they were already friends.

Someone like her.

A so-called harbinger of misfortune.

Could even make friends?

Heh.

Hehehe.

Just friends?

Kirishima Shiro couldn’t help but glance at the foolishly smiling Sakio.

“Kirishima Shiro is my family.”

Family.

The two words were like a pebble dropped precisely into Kirishima Shiro’s heart, her tightly pressed lips relaxing slightly as the fire in her eyes faded by more than half.

She had only let Flona stay for one night, and that had been an unintentional act during a loss of control.

Yet she hadn’t expected to be regarded as family.

For Kirishima Shiro, who had lost her relatives at a young age, an indescribable joy quietly welled up.

“So she’s family.”

“So she’s a friend.”

Sakio and Kirishima Shiro spoke in unison.

Witnessing this scene, Suzuki Megumi scratched her head in confusion.

What are they doing?

Are they practicing some kind of Pacific Rim-style synchronization drill?

Meanwhile, in the distance, Seriana glanced sleepily at the lively scene around Flona.

A Saint?

Mmm…

I must not have slept enough.

My eyes are playing tricks on me.

Hugging a pillow she had no idea where she picked up, Seriana fell asleep standing up.