Chapter 456: Himeno Yui In Italy

Kouhei didn’t waste any more time and immediately rushed into the medbay, his mind already focused entirely on Kozue and the situation waiting for him inside. He had barely managed to get through the entrance before his eyes quickly moved across the room, searching for Kozue and the others, and the moment he saw them, the seriousness of the situation became painfully obvious.

Nagisa was still holding Kozue tightly in her arms while Kozue’s body continued spasming uncontrollably, with her movements looking painful enough to make anyone watching feel helpless. Misuzu was standing nearby as well, and she had placed a handkerchief between Kozue’s teeth so that Kozue wouldn’t accidentally bite her own tongue while she was convulsing. Ruriko, on the other hand, was simply standing there with an extremely worried expression, watching everything unfold without saying much as she waited for someone to figure out what they could actually do.

"Kou-kun! K-Kozue... Kozue is..."

Nagisa sounded so frightened that she could barely get the words out properly, and the way her voice trembled made it clear that she was struggling to keep herself together. She had probably wanted to explain everything the moment Kouhei arrived, but panic had gotten in the way, leaving her unable to form a complete sentence.

"Please..." Kouhei said as he looked toward Ruri, his expression making his request clear even though he didn’t have the time to explain himself in detail.

Ruri let out a long sigh, almost as though the entire situation had already exhausted her before she had even decided to get involved. Even so, she appeared willing to help them now, which was ultimately what Kouhei needed more than anything else.

Kouhei still had absolutely no idea what kind of thing Chiemi had told Ruri to finally make her move, and honestly, he was still quite irritated about the entire situation. They had gone through an unnecessary detour while Kozue’s condition had continued getting worse, and the frustrating part was that Ruri could have simply helped them from the beginning if Chiemi had managed to convince her earlier. Kouhei couldn’t exactly forget how much time they had wasted running around when they could have been dealing with Kozue’s condition instead.

Still, there was no point in continuing to complain about it right now.

Whatever argument he had with Chiemi, and whatever had convinced Ruri to finally lend them a hand could all be dealt with later. Kozue was the only thing that mattered at that moment, and Kouhei wasn’t about to waste another second being angry about something that had already happened.

The important thing was that Ruri was finally willing to help.

If Ruri could freeze time around Kozue, then they would have the opportunity they desperately needed. Kozue’s condition would stop progressing for the moment, giving them enough time to search for a way to counter the holy power inside her and, hopefully, save her before things reached a point where even their combined abilities couldn’t do anything.

Ruri then activated her time-freezing ability.

The flow of time around Kozue immediately stopped, effectively freezing her in place. Her body, which had been spasming only moments earlier, became completely still as the ability took effect. It was an unsettling sight in its own way, but at least Kozue was no longer getting worse right in front of them.

Of course, Ruri’s ability came with its own obvious drawback.

Since the ability also froze Ruri in time, Ruri herself became frozen at the same moment, meaning that she was no longer capable of moving while the effect remained active.

"It seems like you managed to do it on time, thankfully," Yuka said, sounding relieved as she looked toward Kozue.

Kouhei also let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

"Thank you for the assist, Sano-san," Kouhei said sincerely. "If it weren’t for this, then we might have lost one of our precious members."

"I didn’t do anything to deserve such thanks," Yuka replied, her tone remaining rather reserved. She then continued, "For now, I think it would be best that we proceed immediately with searching for a way to stop the holy power that is currently inside her."

Kouhei listened.

"Yuuna is currently back at the Hell to speak with the Head of the Sarushima House," Yuka said. "However, judging from the fact that she hasn’t returned yet, it would appear that she hasn’t found anything useful so far, and the Head of the Sarushima House apparently has no idea about this either. This is the first time in recorded demon history that a half demon and half fallen angel has ever been born," Yuka explained. "Something like her shouldn’t have existed in the first place, so naturally, something like this would be extremely difficult to understand, let alone cure."

Her words carried considerably more weight because of the amount of time she had lived.

Yuka had already existed for centuries, and during that incredibly long period, she had undoubtedly encountered countless strange abilities, unusual beings, and situations that most ordinary people could never even imagine. Yet even she had never encountered anything like Kozue.

"I don’t think there would even be a cure for this," Yuka added.

The statement was frightening precisely because it came from someone like her.

If Yuka, with all of her centuries of experience, couldn’t think of a solution, then the situation was far more complicated than they had initially hoped. The others had also lived for centuries and possessed plenty of knowledge themselves, but none of them had ever encountered a situation where someone was simultaneously a half demon and a half fallen angel.

Kouhei was technically the youngest among them, considering that he was still only eighteen, so he obviously had even less experience with something like this. Even with everything that had happened to him since becoming involved with demons, fallen angels, and all sorts of supernatural nonsense, he still couldn’t magically produce an answer just because everyone else was looking at him.

For once, even Kouhei’s usual tendency to somehow stumble into an impossible solution wasn’t helping them.

However, while everyone else was discussing the lack of options, Kouhei began thinking.

There had to be something they could do.

He didn’t want to accept that Kozue’s situation was simply hopeless, especially when they hadn’t exhausted every possibility yet. If they gave up now, then they would have effectively decided that Kozue couldn’t be saved without even searching for someone who might know more about her condition.

Kouhei considered everything they knew about Kozue, the holy power inside her, her unusual origins, and the fact that she possessed both demonic and fallen angel characteristics.

Then, one possibility came to mind.

It was someone who had already helped him before.

Yui.

The fallen angel who had helped Kouhei in the past might know something that the others didn’t. If anyone could potentially understand the strange circumstances surrounding Kozue, then she was certainly one of the people worth contacting.

Kouhei didn’t know whether Yui actually had an answer, but at this point, they couldn’t afford to be picky.

If there was even a small possibility that Yui knew something useful, then they needed to find her.

***

Meanwhile, while all of that was happening, somewhere in a completely different part of the world, in the country of Italy, someone was enjoying a considerably more peaceful situation.

A woman was sitting inside a fancy restaurant, casually enjoying her meal as though nothing particularly important was happening anywhere else. The restaurant itself was elegant, with the sort of atmosphere where people were expected to sit quietly and enjoy expensive food without causing trouble.

She seemed perfectly relaxed.

For the moment, at least.

"Looks like... he’s in trouble again," she said quietly.

Her expression changed slightly as she suddenly felt the emotions of a certain someone stirring inside her awareness.

She didn’t need to hear his voice or physically see him to understand that something was happening. She could feel the emotional disturbance coming from him, and judging from what she sensed, the person she was thinking about was in need of help yet again.

"Fufufu, what am I supposed to do with you?" she said with a quiet laugh.

Despite the situation, she didn’t immediately get up or rush out of the restaurant.

Instead, she calmly took another bite of her food.

The food was incredibly delicious.

Unfortunately, her peaceful meal didn’t last much longer.

Suddenly, someone aimed a gun directly at her head.

The man holding it looked like a priest, and the weapon in his hands was a double-barrel shotgun that he had apparently brought into the restaurant without caring about how much attention that alone should have attracted.

"I didn’t expect a fallen angel to be hiding among humans like this and having such a good time," the priest said, his voice filled with hostility. "Are you that thirsty for attention that you went so far as to dress yourself like this and do something like this?"

The woman didn’t look particularly concerned.

"Can’t a lady have some time to relax and enjoy herself every once in a while?" she asked, her tone surprisingly calm considering that someone was pointing a shotgun directly at her head.

The woman was a fallen angel.

Her name was Yui.

Yui continued looking at the priest without showing any obvious fear, almost as though she found the entire situation more annoying than threatening. She had been trying to enjoy her meal, after all, and being interrupted by an armed priest was certainly not how she had planned to spend her afternoon.

The priest, however, didn’t seem interested in hearing her complaints.

"No fallen angel deserves to have time to relax," he said coldly. "The Church is going to hunt you, along with demons and witches alike, and rid this world of all of you."

His words were filled with hatred, and the way he held the shotgun made it obvious that he wasn’t there to have a friendly conversation.

Yui simply looked at him.

The priest then pulled the trigger.

The shotgun fired directly toward Yui’s head, but Yui didn’t even flinch.

Instead, she calmly activated her barrier.

The attack struck the barrier and was stopped before it could reach her, leaving Yui completely unharmed.

She looked at the priest with a faint smile.

"For someone who works for the Church, you’re certainly the type of person who shoots at someone out in the open, huh?" Yui said, sounding more amused than frightened by what had just happened.

The priest barely had time to react.

Before he could properly understand what was happening, Yui’s barrier struck him with tremendous force and sent him flying straight out of the restaurant.

The sudden movement left the surrounding customers staring in shock, with several of them clearly having no idea what had just happened.