29-142

EP.142 Fire Moth 

The next morning. 

Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the living room of a luxury officetel just as brightly as any other day. 

But that light failed to reach the figure curled up on the sofa its owner shrunken in a tight ball. 

Mizuki’s gaze, sleepless the entire night, remained fixed beyond her phone screen, stuck on that incident. 

[Honestly, I never liked her because she always seemed to look down on people. Serves her right.] 

[She still hasn’t posted an explanation? Is she ghosting?] 

[Why did she suddenly flip out like that anyway, after doing fine all this time?] 

[Says she’s a hero of justice and all, but in the end she just wanted attention, lol.] 

Last night’s streaming “accident” had instantly swallowed the Internet whole. 

After all, this was the incident where Magical Sapphire an actual hero of justice insulted the very viewers who had supported her. 

Why had she suddenly acted that way? 

Had there been an actual accident of some kind? 

The few voices of rational speculation were quickly drowned and buried in an even stronger tide of mockery and condemnation. 

Bzzzt  bzzzt  

Notification after notification came in, scrolling over a screen already filled with malicious comments. 

[Haruto: Mizuki, are you okay?] 

[Haruto: Don’t pay attention to what people say on the news or online.] 

[Haruto: I’ll come over after class.] 

[Akane: Hey.] 

[Akane: Why aren’t you picking up?] 

[Akane: Haruto’s so worried about you he can’t even focus in class. Know your limits or something.] 

[Akane: If you see this, get in touch. If not, I’ll come drag you out myself.] 

Mizuki gave a faint, unthinking smile at the mix of warmth and bluntness in those messages. 

But immediately after, a crushing wave of heaviness surged over her. 

She didn’t want to show her ugly and broken self to those two. 

Especially not to Haruto. 

Only when she reached the end of the comment thread did Mizuki finally look up from her phone, standing up shakily. 

The crumpled silk robe falling off her shoulders seemed to mirror her wretched state. 

[Disgusting.] 

Shuffling like a zombie toward the bathroom mirror, her eyes were drawn to the black letters now covering over half her face. 

Those faint, mist-like words seemed to insist that last night’s events weren’t just a nightmare. 

“Gh…” 

At first, it was just unwanted thoughts slipping out of her mouth by accident. 

But as time went on, the letters began appearing everywhere on her skin just like this as if being branded. 

[Pigs.] 

[Seriously disgusting.] 

“No, I never thought anything like that…!” 

Yes. 

It was true Mizuki may have harbored impure feelings toward the citizens. 

But it was the sort of thing everyone felt in their hearts sometimes, just like the sometimes unseemly feelings citizens had about the Saviors. 

But ever since yesterday, what was happening to her seemed like those fleeting thoughts were being twisted and forced to the surface as if they were her true nature. 

“Go away…! I said erase yourself!” 

With emotions boiling up, Mizuki turned on the water and scrubbed at her skin as if trying to peel it off, frantically trying to erase the letters. 

But the words refused to disappear, leaving only ugly red wounds behind. 

At this rate, there was no way she could go outside. 

“Haa… haa…” 

After her vain, painful efforts, Mizuki’s eyes moved on to another spot. 

Unlike the scattered black words, a distinct strange mark on her forearm stood out. 

She hadn’t had this mark as recently as two days ago so she couldn’t doubt this was the source of what was happening. 

And she didn’t even need to guess who was behind it. 

“Dark Redemption…” 

But, when? 

How? 

Was it in the last battle? 

No if anything like that had happened in battle, she would have noticed immediately. 

‘…That transfer student.’ 

Suddenly Kai’s face from yesterday’s encounter on the rooftop flashed through Mizuki’s mind. 

His sly expression when asking about Hikari. 

And the mark in the very spot where he’d grabbed her. 

‘No way…’ 

The moment her deductions narrowed it down to someone within the academy, she broke out in goosebumps. 

The way he’d gotten so close from the first day, the somehow unsettling vibe he gave off. 

But still, questions remained. 

If her guess was right and Kai had transferred into the academy as a Dark Redemption spy, that meant he knew the Saviors’ real identities as students to begin with. 

Where did he get that kind of information? 

The only people who knew the three’s secret were Haruto and Lumina. 

“...No way, was it the goddess?” 

That worst possible supposition flickered through her mind just as  

Ding. 

A new notification popped up on the phone’s dark screen. 

[Sender unknown] 

And underneath, a single line with a link: 

[Shocking Scoop] Magical Topaz Her Shocking Whereabouts After Abduction!? 

“What is this?” 

A clickbait title so absurd it was almost laughable. 

It screamed malicious spam or a virus at first glance. 

Normally, she would have deleted it without a second thought. 

But then a few accompanying photos managed to hold her attention just a bit. 

Honey-blonde hair, a rashguard torn and dirtied in places. 

Blurry, but the image unquestionably conjured Hikari. 

On top of that  

[Aren’t you curious about your abducted friend’s current state? Magical Sapphire.] 

“What the how does this person… know I’m Magical Sapphire…” 

‘Don’t tell me Dark Redemption?!’ 

Even if this were just some prank, if they had gone this far, she had no choice but to check. 

The moment she clicked the link, the screen flickered a few times, then she was redirected not to any familiar streaming platform, but to a dark, shoddy, unfamiliar site. 

At the center of the screen, a noisy, low-resolution video began playing. 

“Chuubop♥ Chuubobop♥ Churup♥” 

A dark room, somewhere unknown. 

A woman, her face half-shrouded in shadow, was fervently sucking on someone’s cock off-screen. 

At that, Mizuki realized this was a porn site on the hidden web. 

[Sucking that dick so damn good.] 

[Wait, is that actually Topaz?] 

[Isn’t that just cosplay? Didn’t Topaz not have boobs like that?] 

[Now this is how a real hero should be.] 

As they watched the woman greedily mouthing a thick cock, all sorts of voices went back and forth in the chat. 

Most seemed half-skeptical if the woman was actually Topaz, even if the title had drawn them in. 

[Still, damn that body… how does that waist even support those tits?] 

[Thinking Topaz is getting used like that after being captured is hot as hell.] 

[Now that there’s the Sapphire scandal, if she comes back with a masturbating apology stream on an 18+ site, would you forgive her?] 

[For real.] 

[If she stripped naked and apologized, then spread for us, maybe I’d consider it.] 

Sickening sexual harassment. 

On top of it, seeing herself as a talking point in the chat, not just Hikari in the video, Mizuki felt even more disgusted by the commenters than by the woman on screen. 

“Sigh.” 

What did she expect from clicking the link? 

And anyway, jumping on controversy for a broadcast like this. 

She felt cheated out of even her sight as she moved to close the site  

“Churup♥ Does it feel good, having your dick sucked?” 

Mizuki’s finger froze in midair at the voice coming from the screen. 

“...Hikari?” 

Did she mishear? 

No, there’s no way she’d mistake that unique voice after knowing her for years. 

Her thoughts tangled in confusion when  

WEEEEEEEOOOOOOO ! 

“Ugh?!” 

A citywide sharp emergency alarm tore through her confusion. 

[Emergency Alert! Monster appearing in the commercial district! All local citizens, please evacuate immediately!] 

“A monster?” 

Right when her mind was already spinning, a monster appeared as well. 

Coincidence had its limits. 

“Or maybe… it’s not a coincidence.” 

Yesterday’s incident. 

The link she just opened. 

And now this monster. 

What if it was all connected? 

‘A trap…’ 

Just as they’d lured Hikari, now they were probably trying to bait her. 

If so, moving alone right now would be risky. 

But  

“Good. I was just in the mood to take my anger out on someone anyway.” 

For Mizuki, this was both a crisis and an opportunity. 

To once again imprint her image as a ‘hero’ on the public. 

This was the perfect chance to turn around her reputation, now in free fall. 

Bzzzt. 

As if reading her thoughts, her phone buzzed in her hand. 

A call from Akane. 

Honestly, the way every timing worked out so perfectly since yesterday almost made Mizuki laugh. 

“...Hello.” 

[You finally picked up! Hey, you heard the alarm, right?] 

“Yeah, I heard. Lower your voice; my head hurts.” 

[Guess you’re fine, by your tone! Don’t do anything rash, just stay put and wait!] 

She never thinks things through unless it’s at a time like this. 

Native wild-animal intuition, perhaps? 

“Take your time. I’ll have it all sorted before you get here.” 

[Hey, don’t go acting alone! What’ll you do if you end up like Hikari?!] 

“I’m not you. I won’t get caught so easily.” 

[You think this is the time to joke around?! I said just stay put and wait!] 

“I hate sharing the spotlight with anyone else. Why don’t you just watch while I elegantly defeat the monster?” 

[Hey, Miz…!] 

Click. 

Before Akane could finish, Mizuki had already ended the call. 

“Hah.” 

Isn’t this ridiculous? It’s only been a day since I warned that idiot not to act on emotion… 

With a bitter, self-mocking smile, a cold gleam returned to her eyes. 

As she stretched out her arm, blue light wrapped around her, transforming her into Magical Sapphire. 

“If this really is those guys’ doing… I’ll make sure they realize they messed with the wrong person.” 

Boom! 

With an ear-splitting roar, a blue meteor shot up into the sky, Mizuki launched into the air not even knowing where she was headed. 

“Hey! Hello? Hello?!” 

The moment the alarm sounded, Akane dashed out of her lecture hall and furiously kicked a random pebble in frustration at Mizuki hanging up on her. 

Next to her, swept along by Akane’s momentum, was Haruto. 

“Mizuki?” 

“That idiot, telling me to keep calm and now she’s the one…” 

“Let’s hurry. I’ll explain things to the professor.” 

When Haruto urged her, Akane nodded and started to head for the academy’s main gate. 

“Huh?” 

As if black smoke was rising from the ground, human-shaped shadows began to slowly ‘rise up’ from the asphalt. Not just one or two. 

Dozens, hundreds of shadows writhed to their feet, and began to swarm in perfect formation toward the front gate. 

They were Dark Redemption’s lower-ranking combat soldiers. 

In an instant, what had been a peaceful campus was plunged into the prelude of chaos.