At this moment, Yazuki truly felt the somewhat disdainful, contemptuous gaze from this bob-haired, presence-lacking girl.
Why was this happening? Because standing right in front of them was a girl so beautiful she looked like a god's masterpiece, a doll-like figure—her name was Ikaros.
Although Ikaros was still wearing her previous battle outfit, most of the armor had already been destroyed in the earlier fight. The moment she had just leapt into Yazuki's arms, the remaining pieces finally gave out and turned to dust.
As a result, the armor that originally covered her shoulders and collarbone disappeared, exposing a large area of dazzling, fair skin.
On her upper body, she wore a modified chest wrap-type outfit—mainly silver-white with black patterns. Simply put, it was a strapless, low-cut V-neck top that plunged nearly to her stomach.
As for her lower half, she wore a pleated mini-skirt, and her beautifully shaped, full and smooth legs were wrapped in light blue over-the-knee socks.
No matter how one looked at it, this outfit oozed sensuality inside and out.
Ikaros, with her naturally stunning form that drew the gaze of any male nearby, looked even more irresistible dressed like this.
Countless men would probably lose themselves at the sight.
As Ikaros' master, Yazuki couldn't possibly let other men see her like this. So of course, he wanted Ikaros to change into something more normal.
But the problem was—where would he even get a normal set of girls' clothes? Go buy it himself? He'd surely be looked at like a pervert.
Besides, having never bought women's clothing before, how would he even know if what he picked would fit Ikaros?
The best solution was to find a reliable girl to bring an outfit for Ikaros to change into, and then go shopping together for more.
But who among the girls Yazuki knew could he rely on for this?
After thinking through all the possibilities and shaking his head at each, he finally settled on a girl he had only just met—Megumi. A calm, ordinary girl with little presence—she was exactly the kind of person suited for the job.
So, he contacted Megumi.
At first, since his phone was broken, he had to get in touch with Eriri to obtain Megumi's number.
By the way, this all took place at a hotel. Normally, carrying an unconscious girl into a hotel would surely raise eyebrows, right? But by sheer coincidence, Yazuki ran into the café owner from Angel Café who was out collecting rent.
That same owner gave him a ride to a nearby hotel—which also happened to be one of the owner's properties.
Back to the present: when Megumi arrived and saw a girl dressed like this, even her normally blank expression changed slightly.
Her gaze toward him was clearly off.
Some things are just too hard to explain, so Yazuki could only awkwardly scratch his head.
That said, it was pretty amusing to see the usually serene Megumi finally showing a look of disdain. Don't get the wrong idea—he wasn't a masochist, and he definitely didn't enjoy being stared at like that.
"Master."
That was Ikaros, who came running over when she saw him return.
Though her face didn't show much expression, Yazuki could sense that she looked like she had been waiting anxiously, afraid of being abandoned.
In that moment, Yazuki wanted to open his arms and hug the adorable Ikaros tightly—but as soon as he reached out, his hands froze mid-air.
Because at the same time, Yazuki felt Megumi's increasingly intense, suspicious gaze.
With a sidelong glance, the corner of his mouth twitched—Kato was already holding her phone and had typed in the number for the police, clearly debating whether to report him as some pervert luring innocent girls into inappropriate cosplay scenarios.
"Yazuki the pervert, could you please step outside for a moment?"
"Huh?"
"Please leave the room for a bit. Don't tell me you want to watch a girl change clothes? That's not okay, you know."
Said with a completely calm tone.
"Did you just call me Yazuki the pervert?"
"What? You must've misheard."
Came Kato's surprised reply, which made Yazuki's mouth twitch again.
"Master."
"It's okay, I'll be just outside. Megumi is trustworthy, she's my—"
BAM!
"—friend."
Before he could finish, Megumi pushed him out and shut the door.
On the other side of the door, Megumi took another look at the angel-like girl in front of her. She got the feeling this girl had been removed from society for a long time and didn't understand common sense.
Everything about her radiated baby-like innocence.
"I'm Kato Megumi, just call me Megumi, okay? What's your name?"
"Na—me? Na—me—what?"
The pink-haired girl tilted her head and spoke the words unclearly—not slurred, but more like a foreigner trying to pronounce a language for the first time.
"Code—name? It's—Ikaros."
This answer made Megumi's eyes widen slightly.
Ikaros? Compared to the Ikaros she knew, this one was the complete opposite—not just in personality but in appearance too.
It was hard to connect the two at all.
"Haah~~~"
Megumi let out a soft sigh. Better not to overthink it.
...
Somewhere on a street, there were two female figures—one tall, one short.
One of them had flowing black straight hair, a white headband, and a sunhat. Though her face was hidden behind large sunglasses, her fair and delicate features still hinted at a stunningly beautiful appearance.
Under her pale blue dress, her voluptuous figure couldn't be hidden, and her shapely legs wrapped in black stockings exuded charm.
The other had shiny golden hair, mostly hidden under a detective cap. Below her slender neck was a petite and adorable frame.
She wore a pink-and-blue short top that wasn't particularly girlish, layered with a rather tacky green jacket. Her thin legs—so delicate they looked like they could break with a touch—were wrapped in black knee-high socks.
"This is your fault, dragging things out! Great, now we've lost them!"
"Eriri, you've got some nerve to say that! Weren't you the one who messed up the train stop where Megumi was supposed to get on?"
These two were the top two beauties of Toyonozaki Private Academy—Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sawamura Spencer Eriri.
Eriri had suspected right away that someone was trying to go on a date with Megumi and immediately contacted Utaha to tail them. This was a good chance to gather intel on their "enemy."
As for where Megumi lived—Eriri had found that out the same day she met her.
She and Utaha had been tailing Megumi the whole time, but due to one misstep, they got off at the wrong stop and lost her trail.
"It's possible Megumi already realized we were following her. She might not be as simple as she looks."
Utaha, rubbing her chin, had suspected it all along. Something felt off during their tailing—as if Kato had been leading them in circles.
"But it's fine. I know where that guy lives. Let's head there and—mmm!"
Before Eriri could finish, Utaha covered her mouth and pulled her behind a nearby signboard.