The atmosphere instantly became ice-cold. With skin as pale as snow, pupil-less eyes and ocean-blue hair, Chizuki looked like an ice goddess. And with her facial expression contorted in fury, she was out for blood.
With blue mist surrounding her like aura, Chizuki bolted forward and arrived in front of Shikibu. If not because Shikibu had Uehara in her arms, she would've killed her in an instant.
Shikibu was greatly surprised when she saw Chizuki release such intense killing intent. Not one to miss an opportunity to poke at someone, she released a coy smile.
"Oh? What has you so angry?"
Chizuki didn't know what to do. All she wanted to do was kill Shikibu but her master was pressed up against her. But she couldn't sense any semblance of conscious thought from him. She also didn't detect anything that indicated he was harmed. However, seeing how Uehara was peacefully sleeping on the arms of another woman she doesn't even recognise made her extremely angry.
The reason why Uehara was unconscious was that he was in hyper-sense mode when he was fighting Shikibu. Even when the fight had concluded and Shikibu was asking for his help, he never lowered his hyper-sense since he wanted to be able to detect any sort of malice or lies from her.
Although it was very beneficial, hyper-sense mode had one fatal flaw. If one is overflowed by emotions, their brains will temporarily shut down conscious thought. When Shikibu hugged Uehara, the emotions of gratitude that emanated from her were so dense and massive like a tsunami that Uehara couldn't process them at all, causing him to seize up and shut down.
Although Sakura was also shocked and even a little angry when she saw Uehara in Shikibu's arms, she never expected for Chizuki's reaction to be so intense. Sakura knew Chizuki's affections for Uehara was high but she never expected it to surpass even the so-called "fanatic" level.
Recalling a passage she read in a book, she shuddered.
[Is she a…yande-]
"Sakura! Help me kill this bitch!"
She was awoken from her thoughts when Chizuki called out to her. Hearing her request, she shook her head.
"She definitely is one."
…
After eons of quarreling, the three of them finally decided to let Uehara rest on a slab of earth that Sakura would control until they reached the island of Aokigahara. Although Chizuki continued to direct killing intent towards Shibiku, the fox woman would still continue to provoke her.
Eventually, Sakura had to use the fact that they were disturbing Uehara's recovery as an excuse to silence the two women.
As they slowly cruised along the clouds in the direction of Aokigahara, Sakura was suddenly filled with curiosity about Uehara's condition.
Turning her gaze towards Shikibu who was gently humming a tune, she spoke.
"Baa-san?"
"Hm?"
Shikibu turned towards Sakura and waited for her to continue.
"I was wondering. You said Aoki-sama became unconscious because his brain was over-exerted. What exactly caused his brain to over-exert itself?"
Shikibu's mouth twitched. She was hoping this question wouldn't come to light. She naturally had an idea of what happened to Uehara. After having her hope taken away, she was distraught. But when he gave her an alternative, she completely lost control of her emotions and hugged him while assaulting him with kisses.
She just never expected that he would be on hyper-sense, which caused his brain to be so overwhelmed by her emotions that he directly lost consciousness.
Averting her gaze from Sakura, she spoke softly.
"I-I'm not sure as well."
Sakura shrugged.
"I just hope it wasn't related to you baa-san. Or else, Aoki-sama will surely kill you when he wakes up."
…
"Where.Is.Murasaki."
After they arrived at Aokigahara, it took a few more hours for Uehara to finally wake up. After pushing off the quilt that covered him, he waited for Chizuki to give him an answer.
Standing up from her chair, she put aside Uehara's coat that she was patching up.
Lowering her head, she spoke.
"Lady Murasaki went to explore the island. If I recall correctly, she went north, sixty-seven-kilometres, four-hundred-metres and thirty-three-centimetres to be exact. She was last seen ten seconds ago."
Jumping off the bed, he was currently only wearing grey pants worn by martial-artists.
"I see."
He was about to search for her when Chizuki stopped him.
"Please wait, master."
Chizuki opened her palm and a cup of tea from the kitchen was brought over to her by a gathering of mist. Bringing her free hand to her mouth, she bit her thumb and allowed a few drops of blood to spill into the cup.
Uehara's eyes became blood-red in hunger as he caught the scent of Chizuki's blood. It had been more or less a month since he fed and although he could continue on for a while without it, he wouldn't be able to now after what Chizuki just did.
Gently stirring the tea using a spoon, she lowered her head as she gave Uehara the cup.
"Please enjoy it master."
Receiving the cup, he was very tempted to down it in an instant but he held himself back, wanting to enjoy the tea his attendant made for him.
"Thank you."
Bringing the cup to his lips, he was completely oblivious to the gentle smile Chizuki was giving him.
[I wish master and I could just stay like this. If only that woman would never come back. Is it too late to ask master to kill her? Maybe I should've killed her myself. Ah, but Sakura was there as well. But it doesn't matter. As long as master cares about me.]
Looking at Uehara enjoying his tea, her eyes darkened.
[Only I can share such moments with master~]
Unfortunately, her emotions were so strong that Uehara felt them. Finishing the rest of his tea, he gave her the cup while silently pondering how to say what he wanted to say.
Before Chizuki left the room, he called her.
"Chizuki."
"Yes, master?"
"If you want, we can go to a nearby settlement where I can help you find a few boys to…satisfy you."
"?!"
Chizuki.exe stopped responding.
"W-w-w-w-w-wait mast-"
"We'll go at the end of the week. There are plenty of youthful boys for you to choose from. I'll help you find one. Just…don't look at me like that again. I'll be tempted to rip your eyes out."
Without waiting for Chizuki to explain herself, he vanished. As Chizuki was left alone, she gently placed the cup on the nearby table and went to sleep on Uehara's bed by the window.
She laid there for some time before her calm expression was replaced by a pout of indignation.
"Stupid master. I'll wait for you to grow up. Then I'll show you who likes little men."