Chapter 248 Governor
“Ho ho, is this how boys in their rebellious youth should be? So transparent that one can see through them at a glance.”
In the dim small room, the young girl who had just taken her seat took a sip from the ancient tea cup in her hand. Through the gap in the window beside her, she watched the black-haired boy excitedly editing something on his mobile phone. With a hint of boredom, she shook her head, then pulled the curtain shut again. Her other hand reached out towards a mass of black shadow crouching at her feet.
“Don’t you think so, Little Black?”
“Hiss—”
Little Black on the ground seemed to hear his master calling him and instinctively raised its head. However, its current spiritual intelligence was not enough for it to truly comprehend the complex content of what Kazumi was saying. It could only let out a silent growl, then rub its long, thin face forcefully against the girl’s fair palm.
“Mmm, you’re right.”
Dodging Little Black’s attempt to lick her, Kazumi gently patted its head with her left hand, suppressing the restless ghoul. She casually uttered words that might or might not be useful for comforting someone, her attention focused on her mobile phone.
[Going to the library with Yokota-kun today was a very happy thing. Thank you~]
After finishing the message in the chat box, she added a cute cat emoji and sent it. The expressionless girl then considered her task complete. She pushed her phone to the back of the desk, leaned back lazily against the chair, and used her legs to lift the front two legs of the chair off the ground, swaying back and forth with her body’s rhythm.
“It seems my ability in this area is quite good? As expected, being with that guy affects my body too much.”
Casually looking up at the ceiling, the cold and distant girl muttered to herself, her expression unchanged.
For Kazumi, flirting was something she was very familiar with from her past life’s games. However, virtual reality and reality were, after all, different. Fearing that mistakes might lead to accidents, she had formulated several temporary strategies.
But now, it seemed the girl was overthinking things. The calm thinking provided by her undead state was a great help. The series of experiences that the boy found romantic that afternoon were, from Kazumi’s perspective, completely devoid of emotional fluctuation. It was as if she had become a machine operating solely to achieve a certain objective during that time.
“The influence of being undead?”
She raised her hands to her eyes, and what greeted her were those pale, almost sickly looking palms. Her slender arms were like those of someone who hadn’t ingested enough nutrition, as if a little force could snap these tiny limbs.
Kazumi pursed her lips indifferently. She had been noticing the effects of her undeadification for a long time. But given the situation at the time, ignoring pain and illness, focusing intently with calm thinking, and the potential for bodily modification through undeath – these characteristics were completely irresistible to someone who only wanted the ability to protect herself.
Or rather, the girl couldn’t find a reason to refuse. Was she supposed to not use her cheat? In that kind of predicament, no one would be foolish enough to give up their only lifesaver, right?
The subsequent changes were, in Kazumi’s opinion, mostly beneficial: a more efficient way of thinking, greater control over the “[Black Coffin]” ability, and, furthermore, more detached emotions.
Normally, such changes would be readily apparent in daily life. However, whenever she interacted with Sato Shinichi, the dormant emotions would always resurface with intense fervor. To put it colloquially, she became “lovestruck.”
Using the emotions triggered by her “darling” each time, Kazumi, despite her perpetually cold demeanor, still retained a trace of humanity. She still appeared to be an unsociable girl with a bad temper.
However, this time’s actions gave Kazumi a completely new feeling. Due to the jealousy at the amusement park (scratch that) and the organization’s mission, the girl had not had any meaningful communication with the boy for over a day. Coupled with the increased death aura within her body due to her rapidly improving strength, she felt a distinct sense of detachment from the boy when interacting with Yokota Noyoru. And the feelings in her heart seemed to have stopped beating altogether. If there were greater benefits, even if she were asked to suddenly lash out on the street and kill Yokota Noyoru, she felt it would be a perfectly natural thing to do.
“I admit I’m a scumbag with few moral principles, but if I lose my emotions, it doesn’t seem like a good thing either.”
With this thought, Kazumi sat up abruptly. She crossed her long, slender legs, leaned forward, picked up the notebook beside her, and began to draw and write.
The girl thoroughly enjoyed her current state of heightened calm and emotional detachment. She didn’t reject killing and was willing to resort to any means to achieve her goals. However, as a human, the pursuit of emotions was probably a fundamental instinct of a living being.
While the benefits of becoming undead were many, if she truly became a cold, emotionless machine due to her abilities, what meaning would be left for her? After all, she didn’t just want to survive; she had other things she wanted to do!
Frantically running her hands through her hair, she picked up her pen and crossed out the hearts drawn around “Sato Shinichi” on the first page of the notebook, whom she didn’t know who had drawn. She then gently bit the cap of the water-based pen.
“Which means I can’t get rid of this guy for now. He can supplement the humanity lost from my body, and if I completely become undead due to my abilities, I fear it might lead to some undesirable consequences.”
Helplessly, she smeared the pen across the notebook, and the girl was once again filled with a new wave of worry. Her current plans were all within her own calculations. While thinking as an undead being was efficient and cold, if she lost human emotions, would her inherent caution and consideration also be suppressed?
The girl neither wanted nor dared to gamble. Having died once, she cherished the opportunity of being alive more than others. This was also why Kazumi was so persistent in her pursuit of the strength to survive in this world.
“Forget it, forget it! I don’t want to think about it anymore!!!”
Though she reached a conclusion in her mind, the girl, unable to face it, forcefully closed the notebook, ostrich-like, refusing to think about it.
She reached out and pulled the curtain, which had a slight gap, shut. She fiercely kicked Little Black, who was dozing nearby. Raising her right hand, a large, black coffin materialized before them, and they walked into the territory of the Black Coffin.
The cold, gentle aura of death smoothed away the girl’s anxiety, and the furrowed brow returned to its usual calm. Dark green mist drifted by, and the familiar territory appeared before the girl’s eyes.
But in the next moment, a cold and hoarse mechanical voice suddenly sounded in Kazumi’s ears.
“Achievement: First Civilian Completed. Governor Panel, activated.”
