Free From the Warlord's Empire by Gakuto Mikumo Page B

of something made-to-order, it suited Yukina to a frightening degree. The outfit was tidy, pretty, and gave off a slightly risqué feeling. Even Kojou, well acquainted with Yukina’s beauty, could only look in shock with a dumbstruck look on his face.
    “Senpai?”
    As if delivering a warning, Yukina glared at Kojou with her eyes half-narrowed.
    “Y-yeah?”
    “This outfit… It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”
    “No, it’s not at all… But! Eh?! Wa… Why’re you pointing that spear at me?!”
    Seeing the tip of her spear thrust right before his eyes, Kojou’s expression tensed in a hurry. Still keeping her silver spear at the ready, Yukina coolly gazed at Kojou, finally speaking in a sharp tone.
    “I’m sorry. I sensed danger and reacted without thinking.”
    “Th-that so.”
    Kojou’s face scowled as he sensed the presence of a metallic scent inside his nostrils.
    Though he was poorly aware of it himself, Kojou was now a vampire, and the vampire species was known as such because of the existence of a dangerous instinct. Namely, vampiric urges—the craving to sink his fangs into another’s neck and suck on blood that he desperately wanted to resist. And the trigger for vampiric urges was lust. Just now, Kojou,aroused from looking at Yukina, had apparently been in danger of having his mind taken over by vampiric urges. Yukina had no doubt drawn Snowdrift Wolf because she’d instinctively sensed that.
    So this is a Sword Shaman’s Spirit Sight,
he thought in quiet admiration.
    “…You’re too easy to understand, senpai. When you’re thinking indecent thoughts, it’s written all over your face.”
    Timed as if she was reading Kojou’s mind, Yukina spoke with a sigh mixed in.
    “The back really is…too exposed, isn’t it? The fabric’s thin, the skirt so short, it’s just…”
    “Means it’s easy to move in, doesn’t it? It’s better than if the skirt’s in your way if it comes down to a fight.”
    “…Even if what you say is sensible, your ulterior motive’s smeared all over your face.”
    “It is not.”
    Kojou sullenly groaned. Yukina made a small shrug, and thinking something, she suddenly tugged down on the edge of her skirt a little.
    “Well, it’s fine. The underskirt the cheerleading club gave me has been put to good use.”
    “An underskirt?!”
    Unconsciously leaning his body forward, Kojou slumped his shoulders as he lamented.
    “Senpai, so you really were…”
    “Er, no. I wasn’t trying to peek at all, I just mean, an underskirt with that outfit is like, unfair, I feel like my dreams have been shattered, I mean, the reason Schrödinger’s cat has philosophers all worked up is because they don’t know for sure if it’s dead or alive…”
    “I have no idea what you are referring to, but I do take from it that you have an extraordinary interest in what is under a girl’s skirt, senpai.”
    “So stop pointing that spear at me already!”
    Kojou, driven all the way back to the wall, made desperate, pleading gestures.
    “Senpai, really, you’re…”
    For some reason, Yukina made a sigh of apparent surrender, quietly lowering her spear. She transformed it back to its storage configuration and put it in the case at her feet.
    What she had with her was not the usual black guitar case, but a case with an attaché-style handle. It didn’t seem all that out of place with her party-dress look. She looked like a player of a classical instrument heading to an orchestral theater performance. Then…
    “This outfit…it’s really not ridiculous?”
    Yukina, closing the case and standing up, suddenly looked up at Kojou with upturned eyes, inquiring in a quiet voice.
    “No, not at all. It looks good on you.”
    “Is that so?”
    Kojou nodded curtly in reply and proceeded to walk with Yukina ahead to the elevator. Where her hair was raised, her nape was faintly red. She seemed to be secretly blushing.
    Kojou inclined his head as he noticed the hair ornament holding Yukina’s