Editing BlazBlue:Bloodedge Experience Part 2 Chapter 7 (section)

==Part 4==

Only the front door watched Saya leave, and when the living room was left with only Naoto and Raquel, they both let out deep, weary sighs. Raquel’s hand gradually released its grip on Naoto’s clothing. Once freed, Naoto languidly ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up before collapsing onto the sofa.

Saya had been there for only a few dozen minutes, but it felt like hours had passed. He was mentally exhausted. As Naoto slumped down, he noticed a pair of white toes in his line of sight.

Raquel, who had been near the entrance to the living room, had somehow come to stand right beside him without a sound or presence, as one would expect from a vampire. He thought of it as a joke.

"Ah... sorry about that. I put you through a lot," Naoto said, still hunched over without raising his body, directing his words toward the white toes in the corner of his vision. Once again, he had been saved by Raquel. If he hadn’t been able to break free from Saya’s grip, he would have died two or three times over.

"She's your sister, isn't she?"

"Yeah. Haruka told you?" While responding to Raquel's somewhat displeased voice, Naoto unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. He could still feel the sensation of a small hand that didn't seem capable of holding a grown man.

"What happened? No... what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, I almost got killed by her..."

“That's not what I'm asking!” Raquel's tone was sharp, prompting Naoto to reluctantly look up. Her voice was uncharacteristically emotional—like she was anxious or confused, as if she were trying to sort through her tangled thoughts. In Naoto's lifted gaze, Raquel appeared even more serious than her voice suggested, her arms tightly crossed as if hugging herself.

"That girl... the power your sister used. It's a 'Drive.'" Raquel glaring at Naoto as if demanding confirmation. Naoto instinctively looked away, placing a hand on his forehead to bear the weight of her words.

"I guess so," Naoto said, his words accompanied by a heavy sigh.

When Raquel had previously told him about a power called Drive, he had briefly wondered if Saya had it too. But he had thought it was irrelevant to the current situation and had tried to push the thought to the back of his mind.

And yet, here was his sister, showing up out of the blue at a time like this.

"And it's not just any drive. It's the 'worst' kind of drive," Raquel continued, her tone increasingly serious, adding to Naoto’s dread about his sister's bad timing.

“What do you mean by ‘worst’?” he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. It was not a word he could ignore. 

Raquel looked at Naoto with an unusually stern gaze. The small silver mark between her brows gave her an urgent impression that didn't quite suit Raquel, who was usually arrogant and overbearing. With her chin tilted up, Raquel nodded as if to affirm.

"Yes. It's a Drive that absorbs life - a 'Soul Eater'." Raquel’s words, light in color but heavy in meaning, cast a dark shadow over Naoto’s heart.

A Soul Eater.

Naoto placed his palm against his neck again, this time over the mark left by Saya's hand.

As the name implied, Saya had the power to absorb the life force of anything she touched, especially when she touched it with her lips. It was as if she were devouring them.

“Wha—” Naoto’s voice involuntarily escaped him, and he was about to ask something. But suddenly, the front door swung open, cutting him off. 

Both Naoto and Raquel reacted instinctively. Naoto jumped up and rushed into the hallway, bracing himself as if ready to take on an ambush.

Naoto glared ahead, ready to face whatever might come. Behind him, Raquel crouched low, ready to leap over Naoto at any moment and launch a surprise attack. But that preparation was soon unnecessary.

In the short, straight corridor, at the half-open door leading to the entrance, was not the kimono-clad girl with a katana that Naoto and Raquel had simultaneously imagined, but Haruka, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

"Wh-what? Why are you making such a scary face...?" The door closed with a small sound. Naoto slumped his shoulders and looked back at Raquel, lowering his eyebrows. 

(You startled me.)

“Oh, it’s just Haruka…” 

"What do you mean, just? Oh, Raquel-chan! You're here. That's a relief. I was so worried about where you went that I went looking for you at the convenience store," Haruka's face shifted from a pout of discontent to a bright smile as she spotted Raquel behind Naoto, relief washing over her.

Naoto glanced at Raquel and saw her take a half-step back, shrinking and looking down.

“Ah… um, I-I’m sorry… Just don’t say anything…” Raquel stammered awkwardly, barely managing to get the words out.

(Is she starting to get used to Haruka…?) 

Compared to when she couldn't even speak and was frozen in place, this was progress. Naoto smiled wryly as he watched Haruka walk past him and Raquel, who stiffened up when spoken to so closely. Even though she was getting used to it, it would still be a long time before Raquel could interact with Haruka normally.

"Hey, has Saya already gone home?" Looking around the living room and seeing that no one was at the table where the tea had been, Haruka said in a disappointed voice.

"Yeah. She said she had something to do."

There was no way Naoto could say she had been chased away after attempting to attack him.

As he replied casually and returned to the living room, he gulped down the remaining tea in his cup, which he hadn’t touched yet. He let out a sigh of relief.

In this moment, the world felt normal again. With Haruka’s arrival, Naoto’s surroundings suddenly regained their everyday light.

"Ah, I'm so tired, I'm starving..."

Forgetting about Saya, vampires, and the 'Hunter's Eye', he wanted to do something completely ordinary. Naoto lowered his eyebrows slightly in an exaggerated manner, and Haruka's expression brightened.

"Oh, we have baumkuchen. Want some?" 

"Yeah, sure. Let's go, Raquel." Naoto patted Raquel on the shoulder, encouraging her, and she took a step forward. Haruka grabbed Naoto's hand and urged him to walk.

“O-oh, u-uh, okay, okay.” With that, Raquel, who had become as timid as a small animal, had no choice but to follow. After all, it was Haruka, and Raquel was already well aware of her personality. She wouldn’t do anything bad.

As Raquel reluctantly put on her shoes, looking somewhat displeased, and Haruka watched over her, Naoto began to walk behind the two girls. He discreetly shoved the letter from Mei, which had fallen by the table, into his pocket.

That single piece of paper felt heavy. He didn’t need to reread its contents. It had already been firmly imprinted in his mind. It wasn’t even that long. Written in a hurried handwriting, the contents were almost purely business.

“We can no longer keep Saya here. You must kill her yourself. P.S Don’t you dare die on me!”

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