Chapter 370 – The Answer of Desire for Power
“Bang–”
The sound of a door slamming shut from behind echoed, causing the already dilapidated door frame to shake a few times. Dust that had accumulated from not being cleaned for a long time drifted down, scattering speckles onto the ground of the entrance hall.
However, the young girl was clearly not in the mood to care about such things. She pulled her cute feet out of her sneakers, changed into the gray slippers on the shoe rack, and stomped angrily towards her room inside the house.
“Idiot!”
She flopped onto her soft little bed, her face cold. The girl didn’t even bother to change her clothes that she had worn back from outside. She crossed her arms and angrily shouted her innermost thoughts.
Kazumi was probably beyond angry at this point. The long car ride hadn’t calmed her extremely agitated heart one bit. And then, the stupid look on the boy’s face as he chased after her asking what happened had reignited her inner rage.
If it weren’t for the need to maintain her current physical and public persona, Kazumi would have even considered beating Sato Shinichi.
Stupid, stupid, incurably stupid!
She had originally thought that the golden retriever she had raised would be much more mature than her peers, but in reality, he was as self-righteous and foolish as immature children!
Her mind flashed back to the unexpected incident on the beach earlier, and the young girl could clearly feel her blood pressure starting to “soar.”
Kazumi didn’t care about what happened at the time or the so-called harm she suffered. For the young girl, even the worst outcome was within her expectations and had her own solutions.
This was why Kazumi had casually brushed off the psychological counseling provided by the police afterward. After all, compared to the girl’s experiences, such an incident was probably as trivial as eating and drinking.
But the problem lay in Sato Shinichi’s actions. Initially, the boy’s strong desire to rescue her and his calm and wise method had truly impressed Kazumi, even giving her a sense of joy that she didn’t know her stupid child was so intelligent.
But after the situation escalated, everything changed. When faced with a situation beyond his plan, he had no countermeasures, and instinctively chose the most reckless approach of snatching. And in the end, he was unwilling to let go and dodge the attack. If Kitahara Itoru hadn’t intervened in time to freeze the entire space, the young girl didn’t want to imagine what the outcome would have been.
“You could have died doing that, you brainless idiot!!”
She punched her bed forcefully, and the young girl’s cold expression immediately crumbled. Gritting her teeth, she shouted.
She knew better than anyone the fragility and helplessness of being a civilian. Even if Sato Shinichi had always undergone combat training from his elders, how much could an ordinary physical body achieve with training?
Even she wouldn’t dare to go head-to-head with such a massive array of metal swords using Little Black. She could only temporarily evade using the capabilities of [Black Coffin].
And Sato Shinichi, that fool, was trying to use his body to block it in order to protect her.
“Where did all the things taught in practical combat classes go? You can’t even maintain basic reason, and you still think you’re cool, don’t you?!”
“It was the same last time. Doesn’t this person have a brain? When facing danger, does he only know how to resist with his body? You don’t care about yourself, but there are plenty of people who worry about you!”
“Hoo-hoo–”
Breathing heavily, the young girl felt herself becoming increasingly agitated by the venting of her emotions. Worries about the boy and anger mixed with guilt poured out uncontrollably, and even her words were somewhat beyond her rational control.
“Little Black, help me calm down.”
Kazumi knew she couldn’t have such a reaction due to her body’s emotions. While rubbing her forehead to stop herself from thinking about Sato Shinichi, she decisively commanded Little Black, who was inside her body.
And inside her body, where the girl couldn’t see, a withered, slender, greyish-white hand appeared and responded, placing itself on the slowly beating, pale pink heart. It gently clenched, stopping the red heart that was beating violently due to her emotions.
“Hoo–”
Feeling the throbbing pain of dizziness from the forced physical calming, Kazumi let out a slightly comfortable sigh of relief.
It wasn’t that the girl enjoyed the suffocating pain, but the feeling of her body no longer being controlled by emotions and her reason returning brought her some peace.
“I don’t care, I’ll just leave this infuriating guy hanging for a few days! I have other important things to do!”
Fiercely setting a rather severe punishment plan for her boyfriend, Kazumi also used this calm buff to quickly shove all thoughts of Sato Shinichi into the corner of her mind and return to her normal life after a long-awaited vacation.
“My abilities probably weren’t exposed. That police superintendent who uses ice abilities is quite strong. [Black Coffin] couldn’t even break out from underground, and judging by the fact that they haven’t treated me specially afterward, they probably haven’t discovered my abilities either. I don’t have to worry too much about this.”
“Right, that organization’s name is [Life Foundation], right? Noted.”
“It’s still four days until the internship test at the agency with Noyoru Yokota. There are still some practice test papers that I haven’t reviewed completely. I can use these few evenings to finish them. It would be best if I have the chance to do so.”
“If I really fail to be selected, I remember Aunt Dragonji mentioning that she knows the hero in charge of this agency very well. So, I’ll have to complain to Dogzi and ask him to plead for me.”
“Hmph, that’s a backup plan for now.”
“My abilities have also mostly recovered. The territory reconstruction plan also needs to be put on the agenda. The supplies left by the organization are all in the territory, so it’s possible to restore some buildings.”
“The people from [Shell] have also started inquiring about the recovery of my abilities. If my predictions are correct, there might be new missions soon. Are [Shadow]’s activities becoming more frequent? Does the Association have any countermeasures?”
“…….”
The familiar Black Coffin was summoned beside her. Her arm, extending from her body, naturally reached into the coffin and took out a worn, yellowed notebook, presenting it to the young girl. The girl casually picked up a pen and began to write and draw in the notebook, talking to herself.
Just like before.
“Power, huh…”
After a long while, Kazumi looked at the filled, yellowed pages. She gently turned to the next page, looking at the blank, worn pages, and murmured inexplicably.
The pursuit of power had always been an important driving force for the young girl to survive in this dangerous world, even her only reliance. But at this moment, for some reason, her yearning and desire for power had become increasingly strong, to the point of affecting her decisions.
Shaking her head, the young girl closed the notebook in her hand and slowly stood up.
The massive coffin exuded an ominous aura of death. The dark, deep interior of the coffin was like a gaping mouth of a man-eating beast, waiting for the next meal. The skinny girl stood before the immense mouth of the abyss, the strong contrast naturally causing a sense of physical discomfort.
The girl stood before the soul-stirring, endless darkness, momentarily lost in a trance. Finally, she let out a helpless smile, firmly shook her head again, and walked into the Black Coffin with the notebook in her hand.
If that question truly required a new answer…
It was probably just that she didn’t want to see that fool get hurt for her and be unable to do anything about it.
