Thud.
The schoolbag slipped from her arms and crashed to the ground.
The moment pain shot through her shoulder, Yukina felt as if her heart had stopped for a second.
The blood in her body seemed to reverse its flow, and a chill ran up her spine.
The fear from yesterday in the tin shack—when she had been pinned motionless on the soft mat, facing those approaching fangs—suddenly revived inside her.
No.
Her body reacted faster than her mind. Almost instinctively, she struggled and jerked her head back hard.
“Ow!”
The back of her head smashed solidly into something hard, followed immediately by a pained cry from behind.
The teeth biting her shoulder released, and the arm around her waist withdrew as well.
Yukina staggered forward two steps, then immediately crouched down, curling her body into the smallest possible ball.
She covered the bitten shoulder, her chest heaving with rapid breaths, the corners of her eyes already a little red.
Thump thump.
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, so fast it felt like it might split open.
Calm down, calm down. Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. You’re still alive, still alive…
She muttered repeatedly in her heart, trying hard to soothe her trembling self.
Just then—
“It hurts, it hurts… It hurts so much, my head is gonna swell up.”
A childish loli voice reached her ears from behind.
Yukina froze for a moment.
This voice… she seemed to recognize it.
She slowly turned her head.
A small figure in a similar crouched posture, covering her forehead with teary eyes, appeared before her.
Messy light blue short hair.
On top of her head, two round raccoon dog ears drooped into airplane ears from the pain, and a fluffy tail behind her had puffed up into a fur ball.
Yukina stared at her, silent for three seconds, waiting for her crashed brain to reboot, before finally saying the other’s name.
“…Ningning?”
“It hurts so much… Little Yukina, your reaction is way too exaggerated! I only gently bit you once, I didn’t even use force. How could you use your head as a weapon to hit me!”
The culprit named Ningning slowly stood up, one hand covering her reddened forehead, the other pointing at Yukina, muttering complaints.
Yukina blinked, looking at that somewhat silly face in front of her, and her tensed nerves finally relaxed.
Kurosaki Ningning
Yukina’s good frie—no, more accurately, the original owner’s good friend.
The two of them were somewhat similar in various ways.
Ningning was also a member of Yumiko’s bullying group, and likewise one of the lowest-tier small-fry villains in this game.
However, Ningning’s status was a tiny bit higher. According to the game’s ranking, Yukina was “Small Fry F,” while Ningning was “Small Fry E.”
The artist had even carefully drawn a proper face for her.
Honestly, she was pretty cute.
Those fluffy raccoon dog ears, big round bright eyes, and when she smiled, two little fangs would show.
She was quite short to begin with, only a little taller than Yukina.
In her school uniform, she looked lively and cute, always wearing a large camera around her neck that completely mismatched her petite frame.
The artist had clearly put effort into designing her.
It was just a shame that everything was dragged down by that dog-chewed-looking bangs.
According to the original owner’s memories of chatting with Ningning, those bangs were something she had cut herself with scissors out of laziness.
Of course, a small fry was still a small fry in the end.
Just like Yukina, in most of the storylines, Ningning was someone who got instantly killed by the female protagonist in one strike, and her death was pretty tragic.
“…Why is it you, Ningning.”
Yukina slowly stood up and sighed tiredly.
She had already been scared the same way twice today—once by her sister, once by the Ningning in front of her.
Both times it was a sudden attack from behind. If this kept up, her heart was really going to have problems.
“Who else would it be? Who did little Yukina think it was?”
Ningning rubbed her forehead, pouting high.
“Besides me, is there anyone else who would bite you from behind on the street?”
…Hard to say.
Yukina pressed her lips together and didn’t answer.
She bent down, silently picked up the schoolbag that had fallen to the ground, and patted the dust off it.
“Anyway!”
Ningning tilted her head and leaned in, her two raccoon dog ears twitching curiously, launching a new round of attack.
“I sent little Yukina so many messages yesterday, why didn’t you reply to any of them? And you even skipped class without taking me along. That’s too mean!”
She raised her index finger and poked Yukina’s side over and over.
“I was even planning to invite little Yukina to go take photos at that newly opened maid café, but all the messages I sent sank like stones in the ocean! Damn it, little Yukina, you’ve changed. You’ve become so cold, uwu… you heartbreaking scumbag girl…”
“Don’t say weird things. We’re just ordinary friends, right?”
Yukina frowned, using the schoolbag as a shield to block the attacks.
This Ningning was strange.
Two months ago, after Yukina had transmigrated over, most of the original owner’s friends had gradually drifted away because her personality had changed too much.
Only this Ningning was the complete opposite. Seeing that Yukina’s personality had changed a lot, she became even more interested and always kept following her around.
“Pfft pfft pfft, and you still have the nerve to say ordinary friends! Do you know how long I waited for you at the maid café yesterday? You! Didn’t! Come!”
Ningning’s cheeks puffed up, her finger attacks upgrading to little punches, her mouth full of complaints.
“I had my own things to take care of…”
Yukina was having some trouble blocking, answering perfunctorily.
“What things were so busy?”
“…Not telling you.”
“So mean! Aren’t we best friends?!”
Ningning let out an exaggerated wail, her raccoon dog tail puffing up again.
“Little Yukina used to tell me everything. Like that time half a year ago, we even snuck into the boys’ bathroom together and tried peeing while standing…”
“Don’t say that kind of thing on the street!!”
The surrounding students all turned their gazes over in unison.
Yukina was so embarrassed her ears turned red.
She buried her head into the schoolbag and quickened her pace toward the school.
No good. If she kept getting entangled with her, it would definitely never end.
“Aww, is little Yukina embarrassed? What’s there to be embarrassed about? Friends are supposed to be completely open with each other!”
Ningning hopped and skipped after her.
After a few steps, she seemed to notice something and looked Yukina up and down as they walked, examining her outfit today.
Soon, those big round eyes lit up, as if she had discovered some novel and interesting toy.
“Oh right, oh right, little Yukina, what’s with this look of yours? Did you awaken some weird power? Or maybe…”
She circled around Yukina once, then clapped her hands, a brilliant smile appearing on her face.
“Got hit by a big truck and sent flying?”
“…Let’s just say that’s it.”
Yukina replied weakly, too lazy to explain.
“Whoa, for real? That’s so awesome.”
Ningning wasn’t scared at all; instead, she got even more excited, her tail swinging behind her with a whooshing sound.
“Then why didn’t you go to another world? After getting hit by a big truck and sent flying, aren’t you supposed to transmigrate to another world? Little Yukina, was the way you got hit the wrong posture?”
The corner of Yukina’s eye twitched.
“Oh right, oh right, little Yukina, if you really went to another world, what would you want to be?”
Ningning still wouldn’t let up, her tail sweeping against Yukina’s ankles over and over, leaning in close, eyes sparkling.
“A hero? A demon king? Or a villainous young lady in an otome game?”
Yukina fell silent for a second.
“…A small-fry villain.”
“…Huh?” Ningning’s raccoon dog ears twitched.
“The kind with only one or two lines of dialogue, who could get instantly killed by the protagonist at any time, used to highlight how strong the protagonist is. That kind of small-fry villain.”
Yukina’s tone was calm, without any fluctuation.
“Best if the model is very ordinary, the kind where the artist doesn’t even bother drawing a face.”
“Why?”
“Because that way I can…”
Yukina stopped walking. Through the gaps in her bangs, her cherry-colored eyes gazed faintly at Ningning.
Both hands gripped the schoolbag in her arms tightly and raised it high.
“That way I can openly beat up a certain blue-haired idiot raccoon dog!”
Thud thud. The soft schoolbag smashed onto Ningning’s head twice, producing two muffled sounds.
“Waaah—!”
Ningning covered her head and exaggeratedly squatted down, putting on an expression that was unclear whether it was pleasure or pain, her open mouth revealing two little fangs.
“Violence! This is domestic violence! Little Yukina has finally laid hands on me. Now we can only get divorced, and the kids go to me!”
“Then let’s divorce.”
Yukina hugged the schoolbag and walked off without looking back.
Ningning squatted in place, narrowed her eyes, raised the camera hanging around her neck aimed at Yukina’s back, and quietly made a “click” sound with her mouth.
Then, she stood up satisfied, patted the dust off her skirt, and hopped and skipped after her.