Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume7 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 6===

“There we go.”

Meinokawa Aoi’s voice echoed within the stone temple or stone crypt. The lovely bell-like tone of her voice sounded out of place with her archaic accent, but that aside…

A rustling of clothing followed.

The Queen’s lookalike had circled behind the mysteriously-constructed miniature shrine and then just her slender arm appeared from behind the structure and dropped the Queen’s clothing to the floor.

“I may have asked for excitement, but I didn’t expect you to ask me to strip not five minutes after we met.”

“You misunderstand.”

“Well, a god is meant to grant the meaningless wishes of you humans. Here, will this do?”

When Meinokawa Aoi appeared from behind the miniature shrine, she had removed the skimpy wedding dress with silver armor attached. Instead, she wore the bright white ''kosode'' and red ''hakama'' of a shrine maiden. She wore thick boots on her feet.

Kyousuke sighed and poked his index finger at the side of his head.

[[Image:BloodSign_v07_089.jpg|thumb]]

“You really are shockingly sensitive. I of course mean it in a negative way, but that Queen might have become a part of you at this point.”

Aoi followed his instructions and undid her silver twintails. Once her flowing long hair spread out behind her back, she really did seem to have more in common with black-haired Meinokawa Renge than with the pure white strongest of the strongest at the peak of the Unexplored-class. Renge and Higan were seen as twin sisters, but when standing alongside the shrine maiden, Aoi also looked like Renge’s sister.

Meinokawa Aoi seemed a little bothered with how the shrine maiden clothing fit because she bent her arms and pressed her elbows against her sides.

…Which of course squeezed her surprisingly large breasts from either side.

“Mhhh… Traditional clothing is such a poor match for large breasts. It seems to catch or grab at them and it’s like something is missing. It doesn’t quite fit right!”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Will this really survive a Summoning Ceremony battle? I’m afraid they’ll pop right out if I move too much.”

“For one thing, you’re wearing it wrong,” sighed black-haired Renge. “Why are your shoulders exposed? You aren’t wearing the red undershirt like you’re supposed to, are you?”

“Mh? Mhhh???”

“Don’t strip right here! You’re just making it worse!!”

“I always wear the same thing, so it’s easy to forget how these things are supposed to work.”

“But you shouldn’t have anything popping out even without the undershirt. I’ve done a lot of traveling and I’ve never had an accident like that, so don’t worry.”

“You have nothing that jiggles around, so I’m not sure your assurance means much, Renge.”

“I hope you’re aware that mocking my body is the same as mocking Higan’s, you scrap heap!!”

Kyousuke did not want to interrupt while she was blushing so brightly, but he had business to take care of.

“Um, can we get back on topic?’

“Of course!” announced Meinokawa Aoi while grabbing and lifting her two large masses with a somewhat dissatisfied look on her face. “I more or less understand. The ''star-ter pak'' already out there in the world is insufficient to defeat the White Queen, so you want to create a ''boos-ter pak'' that will provide the new rules you need.”

“Has someone been tossing trading cards in the offering box at the shrine out front?”

“But the existing vessels are only made to handle the ''star-ter'' cards, so something might go wrong if you shove your own ''boos-ter'' card inside one. So you want me to create a vessel designed to handle that ''boos-ter'' card. Hm, it’s a natural enough thought. …I suppose the most important part would be the heart…no, the blood.”

“Hold on! Wait! Um, as my ‘ancestor’, should you really agree to this? I mean, this means making an enemy of ''the'' White Queen!!”

“Well, I am honestly jealous of the fear she inspires in everyone.”

As Renge had pointed out, Meinokawa Aoi had no reason to directly fight the White Queen like Kyousuke and Biondetta did. Taking on an opponent so ridiculous that she could blow away the entire world with a single forehead flick provided an unbelievably high risk and nothing in return.

“I hate boredom.”

But the Joruri Method vessel who had given up on being a lookalike only grinned.

She also continued the ''jiggling'' to test the durability of her shrine maiden outfit.

“And the primary reason for my boredom is the fact that I was created as her lookalike. As long as she is the strongest, people will appreciate me as a mere decoration. But what if the White Queen were to die? Who would need a lookalike anymore? Wouldn’t I be able to walk the world as a true individual, bound by no one?”

She may have been similar to the Yellow Gills, one of the Unexplored-class Three, who utterly loathed the White Queen for restricting her freedom. But unlike the Yellow Gills, Meinokawa Aoi did not greedily seek victory. It was her desire to escape boredom with a life-risking thrill that made opposing the White Queen look so appealing.

(Her foundation is a lot like the Yellow Gills and her self-destructive desire is a lot like Biondetta… She tries to act like a funny eccentric, but it’s already obvious that this hedonist has a screw loose.)

“Are you thinking something rude by any chance, sir?”

“It’s getting harder and harder to know what ''you'' would find a compliment.”

Kyousuke sounded exasperated, but Biondetta narrowed her eyes a little.

He frowned.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that you’ve changed, Kyousuke-chan.”

“That’s too abstract.”

“It used to be that you would never just come out and say there was something you didn’t know. Is this the result of transforming your weakness into strength? How cute.”

“…”

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s a lot like a Roman encountering the concept of zero after always counting from one on his fingers. Or maybe even coming across variables like X or Y. You’re willing to keep going when you come across something you don’t understand because you know it will help you solve even more complex calculations, right? I’ve always thought it was your tendency to solve all the equations placed before you that makes it so easy for that cruel white to predict exactly what you’ll do. It’s like you open every single email in your inbox from top to bottom, whether they have a virus in them or not.”

“That’s being rather harsh.”

“My apologies, sir. I will restrain myself in the future. As long as I am feeling nice, anyway.”

As the Freedom 900 levels held their conversation, so did the two shrine maidens.

Meinokawa Aoi spoke in a tone that suggested she had an overabundance of heat inside her artificial body.

“Yes, if you would break the chains of this stagnant peace, I would be willing to offer you my assistance, human. So in exchange, you ''help me''. Free me from this restrictive position where everyone sees me as that Queen.”

Kyousuke sighed.

He had been planning to help her in the first place. He had also been planning to finish off the White Queen. So he had no reason to refuse. In addition to her knowledge, he could use a vessel in order to fight since they had already seen signs of Bridesmaid.

But something still bothered him.

For the time being, he stamped an X on that odd feeling inside him and he gave his answer.

“As you wish.”