Chapter 10: Tentacle

“These are…”

Yukina crouched down, blinked her eyes, and pulled open the cabinet door.

The cabinet was divided into two layers. 

The upper half held daily necessities such as tissues and cleaners. 

The lower layer was stuffed with a folded black plastic bag. 

A section of fabric peeked out from the opening, its edge trimmed with dark purple lace.

What is this? Clothes?

She lifted the plastic bag out and untied it. A sharp smell of mothballs rushed over her face. 

She instinctively turned her head slightly to the side.

It was fabric.

Layer upon layer of black fabric.

Yukina pinched one corner and shook it open. She discovered that it really was a piece of clothing.

No.

Strictly speaking, it should be a dress set.

The entire thing was pitch-black. The skirt was fluffy and flowing. 

The cuffs and collar were densely covered with elaborate lace. 

The ribbons at the chest crossed into the shape of a butterfly bow. 

The waistline was drawn in tightly, and the hem was edged with a circle of dark purple trim.

At the bottom of the bag still lay matching items: a black lace choker, safety shorts, black pantyhose, and a single white eye patch.

What was this? 

Gothic style? 

Lolita? In her previous life Yukina had rarely paid attention to clothing knowledge, so she was not very clear.

Why would something like this be in the corner of the bathroom?

Yukina tilted her head and looked at the pile of clothes she had dug out. 

A huge question mark floated up in her mind.

The original body’s memories had no impression of this mass of black cloth at all. Could it be Onee-chan’s clothes? 

But looking at the size, it was not something Onee-chan’s figure could wear either.

Could it be… a mysterious gift Onee-chan prepared for me?

Yukina lifted the dress and held it against her chest, comparing it in front of the mirror. 

She found that it fit perfectly, almost as if it had been tailor-made.

An unreliable idea surfaced in her mind.

Maybe… I can use this set of clothes to cover the injuries on my body?

She placed the clothes on the toilet lid, then turned and looked once more at the tattered version of herself in the mirror.

Messy hair, eyes swollen from crying, a school uniform wrinkled into a ball, binding marks on her wrists, bruises on her knees, red marks on her neck, and scratch marks beneath her collarbone.

The moment Onee-chan saw her in this state, she would probably explode on the spot within a single second.

There was no other choice.

“Anyway, first take the clothes off.”

Rustle rustle.

The sound of fabric rubbing against skin echoed inside the small bathroom.

Buttons loosened one by one. 

The shirt slowly slid down from her shoulders. 

When the fabric brushed past the scratch marks under her collarbone, it still hurt quite a bit.

Her fingertips found the hidden clasp at the side of the skirt’s waist. 

She pried it outward. 

The skirt hem slid down along both legs and piled up around her ankles.

Yukina happened to glance at herself in the mirror. Small and thin, the faint outlines of a few ribs could be seen. 

The places that should have developed had not yet had the chance to develop properly. 

The gap with her peers was far too large. 

Her charm value was basically zero. 

She wondered whether there would still be a chance to grow in the future.

The wounds still could not get wet, so she could not take a bath for the time being. 

She could only soak a towel in warm water, wring it half-dry, and wipe downward from her neck, carefully avoiding the wounds as she traced the contours of her skin.

“I remember the first-aid kit is in…”

Yukina searched hard through the original body’s memories.

The bathroom mirror was a cabinet-style one. She hooked the edge of the mirror surface and pulled it outward. 

Sure enough, she found the first-aid kit sitting on the partition shelf.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho…”

The position was a little high. Yukina tried hard to rise onto her tiptoes. 

Her fingers barely managed to reach the bottom of the box. 

She shifted it outward bit by bit and finally managed to lift it down.

Disinfectant, cotton swabs, adhesive bandages, gauze.

She counted the contents. It was quite complete. More than enough to use.

“Sss—”

In order not to be discovered by Onee-chan, Yukina could only force herself to endure the pain while disinfecting, then wrapped the wounds circle by circle with the gauze.

There happened to be foundation that Onee-chan normally used on the sink. 

She squeezed a little onto her fingertips, dotted it in various places on her face, and slowly blended it with the pads of her fingers. 

The dark circles became noticeably lighter.

Her right eye had been rubbed too much while crying and was badly swollen. 

The eye patch could conveniently cover it.

The process of putting on the dress also went surprisingly smoothly. 

Although it looked complicated, as long as she figured out the positions of the waistline and the hidden clasps, the rest was just stuffing herself into it.

The black lace choker was fastened around her neck. 

After adjusting the position, it perfectly covered those marks.

Yukina sat on the toilet lid, curled up her knees, stretched open the mouth of the pantyhose, and slipped her toes inside. 

She pulled them upward inch by inch. 

Accompanied by the smooth friction of the nylon, the fabric stretched over the curve of her calves and evenly wrapped around her knees, covering that patch of bruise.

Finally, she dug out half a bottle of perfume from the cabinet, sprayed once into the air, and let the fine mist slowly settle onto her body, masking the unpleasant smell of the disinfectant.

“…This should be fine, right?”

Yukina turned her head and looked at herself in the mirror.

How should she put it… it was a little strange.

The dress itself was quite pretty. 

The edges of the gauze peeked out from the lace cuffs, looking almost as if they were part of the design. 

It was just that it did not match Yukina’s small-fry aura at all. It was far too gorgeous.

Previously she had been a roadside small-fry NPC. 

Now she had upgraded into a small-fry NPC that might drop a healing item after being killed. 

In short, there was not much difference.

As expected, there was no scene of the “Ah, I only changed into a different outfit, so why did I suddenly become this cute!” 

variety.

There was no helping it.

This was already the limit of what she could do right now. 

Although she looked a little strange, at least the wounds were covered. 

That could be considered achieving the goal.

Alright. 

She could not stay in the bathroom this long any longer. 

If she did not go out soon, Onee-chan would start to get suspicious.

Yukina walked to the door, placed her hand on the lock, and took a deep breath.

Click.

She gripped the doorknob and slowly pressed it downward. 

The hinge gave a soft sound. 

The door opened little by little. 

The cool outdoor air rushed in.

Thud thud.

Her small feet, wrapped in pantyhose, landed on the wooden floor of the hallway, producing muffled soft sounds.

Why aren’t the lights on?

Yukina stood in the hallway and blinked.

No lights were on in the house. 

The curtains were also drawn tightly shut. 

Even though it was morning, the interior was as gloomy and cold as evening.

The strangest part was… it was so quiet.

Onee-chan had still been making a racket outside the door just a moment ago. 

Why was there not the slightest sound now?

“…Onee-chan?”

Yukina called out experimentally. Her voice echoed from near to far down the hallway, receiving no response.

What was going on.

Could something unexpected have happened?

Terrifying conjectures once again rose unbidden in her mind, but Yukina shook her head and threw them all away. 

She mustered her courage, supported herself against the wall, and walked step by step toward the living room.

Light leaked in through the gaps in the curtains, falling on the floor in flickering patches.

Yukina was like Alice lost inside a dream. 

Before she knew it she had reached the end of the hallway and arrived at the living room.

Suddenly a slippery, damp sensation came from underfoot.

Something brushed past her ankle, then climbed upward along the calf, winding around her pantyhose-wrapped lower leg as flexibly as a snake.

The skirt was too long and blocked her view of her feet. 

She only vaguely felt that something was silently gliding across the floor, brushing past the seams of the wood grain and producing an extremely light rustle.

What is that? Huahua?

Meow.

A sudden cat cry.

A cat-shaped creature was squatting on the shoe cabinet by the entrance. 

Its tail stood high. 

It tilted its head and looked at her, its pupils glittering in the dim environment.

It was Huahua.

Then the thing that had just brushed past her ankle was…

Hah.

From above her head came the sensation of breath blowing past—warm, carrying a faint presence that drifted over the top of her hair.

Yukina froze.

Directly in front of her was a glass cabinet. 

In the instant the breeze lifted the curtains, the mirror surface reflected a blurred face floating above her head.

“Got you.”

—!?

Before she could even react, two arms reached around from behind and locked around her entire body. 

She was suddenly lifted up. 

Both feet left the ground. The skirt spun open.

Wah?!

Yukina opened her mouth. 

Before any sound could come out, something slipped in from under the skirt—cool, slippery—climbing all the way up along the inner thigh and, like a living thing, steadily sealed her mouth.

Her brain instantly exploded into chaos.

W-What is going on?!

Had Mashiro come to kill her?

But what was this slippery, soft, tentacle-like thing? Mashiro was a vampire, not a tentacle monster. Had she mutated? 

Wait, no no, she should be thinking about how to escape right now…

Yukina’s eyeballs rolled in circles. Her brain was on the verge of crashing.

Just then, a smug soft laugh came from above her head.

Then…

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss————

It was simply a vacuum cleaner that had gained a spirit. 

Yukina could feel the other party bury their entire face into her hair and suck in a huge breath with all their strength. 

Even her ahoge was nearly yanked away.

“Ahh——————”

Afterward came an exhalation lasting a full ten seconds. 

Hot air sprayed across the top of her head.

“This is the exact scent. So good.”

A floating, satisfied sigh of praise came from above her head, the ending trailing with a tremor of contentment.

Yukina froze.

This voice was…

The wind blew the curtains open with greater force. 

Daylight briefly flooded in and completely illuminated the gloomy living room. 

The reflection on the glass cabinet finally became clear.

Yukina was being tightly held in someone’s arms like a doll. 

Above her head was Onee-chan’s face, looking as if she had just inhaled some incredible forbidden substance—mouth almost stretched to her ears, two suspicious patches of red floating on her cheeks.

And that thing in the middle was…

Yukina lowered her head and carefully examined the thing that was still sealing her mouth. 

Long and black, the tip shaped like a heart.

This was not some tentacle. It was a tail—Onee-chan’s succubus tail.

Right. Onee-chan was also a succubus.

Hah.

A false alarm.

After a while, the succubus tail finally moved away from her mouth and instead wound around her waist, holding her even tighter. 

A chin rested on top of her head and contentedly rubbed against it.

“Yukina, my cutest little Yukina. Sniff sniff.”

“…Onee-chan, isn’t it about time you let me go?”

“No. The ‘little-sister energy’ still hasn’t been fully recharged.”

“Ugh, Onee-chan is so sticky.”

“This is Onee-chan’s privilege, you know.”

“A normal older sister would never do something like this.”

“I am Yukina’s most special older sister.”

…

Huahua squatted on the shoe cabinet, watching the scene before it, and licked its own paw. 

That expression seemed to say:

So the way humans lick each other’s fur is this intense?