Kyouka forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to pull her composure back together.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen a man's naked body. Not by a long shot.
During her years on the battlefield, she'd witnessed countless men stripping down without shame, training under the blistering heat of hell with their bare skin glistening in sweat, muscles flexing as they moved. She'd seen all kinds—scars running across hardened bodies, flesh built from years of discipline. And yes… she'd noticed that many of them carried something far more pronounced between their legs.
None of that had ever made her flinch. Not once. Not a single heartbeat quickened, not a single breath caught in her throat. She could look those men straight in the eye and never feel the slightest bit of embarrassment.
But somehow… Kouhei was different.
Her stomach twisted in a way she hated to admit. Her pulse drummed against her ears. And damn it all—her knees actually felt weak.
It was pathetic. Shameful. What in the world was she even doing?
She'd had stronger, more intimidating men try to woo her before—men with a physical presence that screamed years of battle and training, men who could crush stone with a swing of their arm. And yet… not one of them had ever made her falter.
They called her the Maiden Warrior for a reason. She'd never been with a man, not once. She was still a virgin, and for the longest time, that title had been nothing more than a fact—something she carried without care.
Romance? She could've lived her life without it. She was already at an age where she had no need for a partner.
And yet here she was, heart giving the faintest, most treacherous flutter just from looking at him.
"T-This is stupid…" she muttered to herself, a quiet, frustrated sigh escaping her lips. "I'm not… in love with him at all… right?"
The voice made her freeze.
She snapped her head up and saw Nagisa standing there, looking right at her.
Her eyes flared red in an instant. Without thinking, she seized Nagisa's wrist, yanked her close, and in a flash, they were both out of the hall.
By the time Kouhei opened the door, the hall was empty. He blinked in confusion, scratched his head, and wandered off.
From behind a wall, Kyouka kept her arms wrapped tightly around Nagisa, one hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
"Mmm…! Mahhhh!" Nagisa finally broke free, gasping for air. "What the hell, Kyouka?! You almost suffocated me there!"
"What you heard and saw back there… you're misunderstanding it…" Kyouka said, her voice low but tense.
Nagisa turned her head away. "Misunderstanding what?"
"You're clearly misunderstanding it!" Kyouka shot back quickly, like a soldier trying to shut down a rumor before it spread.
Nagisa just stared at her for a moment, then exhaled a slow, knowing sigh. "Look, I don't know why you think what you said—and what I heard—is some kind of misunderstanding. If you blurt out something like that out of nowhere, doesn't that make it pretty clear it's not a misunderstanding?"
"W-What do you mean?"
Nagisa tilted her head slightly, one eyebrow raised, her face holding that incredulous are you serious? look.
"I mean, if you just unconsciously blurt something like that, it probably means you said what you really feel."
For a moment, Kyouka's mind went completely blank.
It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head, shocking her nerves into stillness.
"Fufufufu… well, it's only natural, I guess. I can't blame you. Kou-kun is really handsome, after all," Nagisa said, her lips curling into a sly grin. The way she said it… it was like she'd just witnessed yet another woman fall to Kouhei without him even trying. He wasn't seducing anyone—he was just being himself. And somehow, that was even more dangerous.
"I-I am not…" Kyouka stammered, fingers curling slightly. "I mean…"
"If you bottle that up, Kyouka, it's only going to eat you alive," Nagisa said, her tone teasing but with a strange warmth beneath it. "And honestly? It's not that big of a deal. The more women who love Kouhei, the prouder I feel that people are recognizing how amazing he is."
Nagisa gave her one last glance before smiling faintly. "Well, if you really want to pursue it, I'm not stopping you. You can't exactly stop your heart from beating for someone, can you?"
With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Kyouka alone with the weight of her own thoughts.
Kyouka's arms folded around herself, hands clutching at her clothes like she could hold her composure together by force.
"This is absolutely stupid… There's no way I would fall in love. Especially since… it's already too late for me," she whispered to herself.
Her eyes drifted toward the window, and there he was—Kouhei—stepping out of the mansion, casually greeting everyone in his path.
And despite herself, her gaze followed him. Every step he took, every turn of his head—her eyes trailed after him like they were bound to him. Like a moth helplessly pulled toward the flame.
Something about him was making her see a side of herself she never thought existed.
No. She had to stop this. She needed to stop this.
But no matter how much she told herself that, her heart refused to listen.
Nagisa was right. No one could stop the heart from beating for someone. It had always been that way.
A sound made her twitch.
She turned her head to see Nagisa peeking from behind a wall, grinning so wide it was almost infuriating.
A vein pulsed visibly on Kyouka's forehead.
Kouhei, on the other hand, felt eyes on him—but the presence didn't give off danger, so he pushed the thought aside.
Right now, he and Yuuna were preparing to head back to Hell. They had a reason—a certain destination in mind.
The Great House of Sarushima.
News had reached them and that was that Souichiro had woken from his coma, and they were being invited to a feast.
Kouhei didn't know what exactly would happen when they arrived. But the Sarushima Clan was powerful—too powerful to ignore. An alliance with them could be a valuable move, and Kouhei wasn't about to miss the opportunity.
That was why they were going.
"Are you ready, Kouhei-kun?" Yuuna asked, her eyes steady on him.
"Yes," Kouhei replied simply.
And in the next instant, they teleported to the school—where the entrance to Hell awaited.