51. Uninvited Guest
At 2 a.m., when the world had fallen completely silent, a woman arrived at Takuma’s room.
However, Takuma was fast asleep and completely unaware of her visit.
That was only natural — because the woman had slipped into his room while he slept.
With practiced hands, she picked the lock on the closed door and quietly entered the room.
“So you really were the creator of Age Mono…”
The woman slowly approached Takuma’s bed while gazing at his sleeping face.
The reason she had come here was none other than the man sleeping peacefully before her.
“This is also an order, after all…”
She leaned her body closer to the sleeping Takuma.
“What are you doing?”
At that moment, a girl’s voice came from the direction of the room’s entrance.
When the woman turned toward the voice, she saw Rena standing there.
“I came to see this person.” “Why?” “That’s not something I should tell a child like you.” “I wasn’t told anything.” “Oh? Could it be that you’re someone precious to him?” “I’m that person’s slave.” “Is that so? How pitiful. I’d like to help you if I could, but I’m afraid I can’t…” “It’s fine. For now, I think being his slave is okay.” “My, what a wonderful relationship. By the way, could you leave us alone for a bit? Even I feel a little shy doing this with a girl like you watching.” “Are you a prostitute, miss?” “Yes, that’s right.” “Then why were you at the bar earlier?”
The verbal back-and-forth that had been going on suddenly stopped.
It was only for a brief moment — less than three seconds — and nothing particularly strange, but the woman felt a slight panic at the silence and Rena’s sharp insight.
“The bar? I’ve been at the shop the whole time…” “No matter how much you disguise yourself, your scent is the same. You’re the big sister who came to tell us that Miss Lorraine had collapsed.”
Rena accurately identified the woman standing in front of her.
The woman at the bar and the woman standing here now had completely different clothes and hairstyles. They were even wearing entirely different perfumes.
An amateur wouldn’t have noticed they were the same person even if the scent hadn’t changed. Yet despite the woman’s thorough disguise — one meant to fool even the few who might notice — Rena had seen through it completely.
“What do you mean by ‘order,’ big sister?” “If you’ve figured out that much, you should already understand, shouldn’t you, little beastkin girl?”
Once again, their words ceased and silence fell.
This time, it wasn’t a silence that would be followed by more conversation.
The woman and Rena stared at each other, frozen in place. Then, moving silently, the woman turned her back on Rena and dashed toward the room’s only window.
Rena knew that if she let the woman escape now, she would surely come back again. So she reached out toward the woman’s back, determined not to let her get away.
Although the woman had the advantage in size, there was no way Rena — a beastkin — would lose in physical ability. She easily grabbed the back of the woman’s clothing.
Rena pulled hard, trying to drag the woman toward herself, but the clothes tore instantly. The recoil from the sudden release of force caused Rena to lose her balance slightly.
The woman, who had been waiting for that opening, turned back toward Rena instead of the window.
She bound Rena’s legs with something like an invisible rope, then grabbed her left arm.
Rena was surprised by the woman’s movements, but quickly realized this was dangerous. She immediately released the torn cloth in her right hand and swung a fist at the woman, but the woman easily dodged it.
The woman then seized Rena’s outstretched right arm and bound both of her arms with the same invisible rope.
With both arms and legs restrained, Rena could barely stay standing. As a last resort, she opened her mouth to shout for help.
But before she could make a sound, the woman bound her mouth open in that exact position.
Rena had no idea what had just happened, but she could feel something being forced between her teeth. Visually, she couldn’t quite tell what it was.
Even so, that didn’t matter right now. Rena desperately tried to think of a way to break out of the current situation.