Editing Kaze no Stigma - Français:Volume2 Chapitre1 (section)

===Page 18===
Kirika’s. Future development or hidden potential had no effect now. Because in a battle in the real world, current capabilities decide everything.

Even so, if her opponent were just someone who devoted all nutrients &#8211; even those that should go to the brain &#8211; into her breasts and hips, Ayano would not concede defeat.

But Kirika was different. Those thin, long eyes of hers carried the light of wisdom, clearly indicating that she was not just some vulgar woman who only knew how to fawn on guys.

Slightly older than Kazuma, she looked as if she was around twenty-five. From the way she could casually face up to Ayano’s killing intent as if it were not there, she was clearly not an average businesswoman. Maybe they were in the same trade?

Ayano bore the silent torture of inferiority and continued to glare at the two with angry eyes.

“Kazuma?”

Kirika accepted Ayano’s eyes generously and held her body even more closely against Kazuma’s arm. Rather than a demonstration of love, this action seemed more like she was trying to hang on tightly.

“Should I arrest you for lewd acts against an underage female?”

“Don’t be like that.”

Kazuma seemed very displeased.

“She is just a distant relative. I’ve done nothing, nor have any intentions of doing anything.”

“Then why is she angry?”

“She’s always angry. Just ignore her.”

“Oh~”

Kirika looked towards Ayano once more, her face showing a smile with deep meaning. Ayano noticed, her mind tangling in an instant.

“I think it would be better to explain.”

“There’s no need for that. It’s too troublesome. Let’s go!”

Upon saying this, Kazuma pulled Kirika and walked away. As his eyes meet Ayano’s, he put on a serious expression and warned Ayano, “Go back quickly! This is no place for children.”

Kazuma walked past Ayano with ease, who was so angry her whole body was trembling. As the two sides passed one another, Kirika looked at Ayano before departing in an utterly relaxed manner. Those eyes, filled with sympathy, totally enraged Ayano.



Yukari remained where she was, silently sending off the close pair with her eyes. She looked to the side and coincidentally met Nanase’s eyes.

At that moment, silence was golden. The two exchanged bitter smiles, and as if they had discussed it much earlier, looked towards Ayano who still had not turned back.

“So that’s it.”

Nanase nodded heavily.

“No wonder you were so harsh to those people who tried to pick us up.”

“That’s right. It is really tough to like someone like that.”

“But what a surprise. I never thought Ayano would like flippant guys like that.”

“...You two...”

Ayano turned slowly. 

In a gentle, but equally chilling tone, she answered, “What are you two talking about?”

“What else?”

Yukari answered straightforwardly.

“Ayano, you like that guy right? Although it looks one-sided.”

“You... What makes you two think that way?”

“Just think about your reaction just now. No matter how we look at it, it is the reaction of &#8216;a jealous girl seeing the guy she likes getting snatched away,’ right?”

“There is no such thing! It is definitely not that way!!”

Ayano shouted out, blushing. Her voice was so loud it almost seemed to reach as far as the eye could see.

“Ayano, you’re too loud.”

Ignoring Yukari’s warning, Ayano furiously continued to say, “Why would I like that kind of lowlife?! That is the type of person I hate most in this world! If I could have, I would have sliced him into pieces!!”

“Then why are you angry?”

Yukari rebutted with a calm voice.

“If you really didn’t like him, then it wouldn’t matter who he sleeps with, right? What would there be to be angry about?”

“That... That’s because... That...

...I just cannot bear to see someone like Kazuma sleep with that kind of beauty! They are not at all compatible!”

Ayano gripped her fist tightly and tried her best to explain, as the other two looked at her with cold eyes.

(What do you think?)

(She doesn’t seem to be lying... Could it be that she hasn’t even realized it herself?)

(If that’s the case, then she’s not just slow &#8211; there’s something completely wrong with her...)

(But... that is just like Ayano.)

(Yeah, that’s true)

“You two! Don’t whisper among yourselves right in front of me!”

Having gotten shouted at by Ayano, Nanase swiftly straightened her body. Following this, she used a very serious expression, like someone who is faking marriage just to grab a hold of the password to a credit card, in order to say, “Ah. Okay, okay. I get it, you really hate that man.”

“Yup, completely understood.”

Yukari chimed in instantly. They were indeed Ayano’s best friends, their actions matching flawlessly.

Ayano’s expression revealed her continued suspicion.

“...Really?”

“Of course.”

“Fine then.”

Ayano nodded, though her expression still showed displeasure. After everything had come to an end, and the two of them had given a sigh of relief&#8211;

“Ah, that is the girl. Mr. Hanagi.”

Those guys had chosen the worst possible time to appear.



“These are the ones?”

The man they called Hanagi pointed his finger towards the three and said...

“You guys were scared off by these three girls?”

“Because the girl in the middle has a really scary stare...”

“That girl is really arrogant. Please teach her some manners, Go-san!”

The men who were saying these things were the punks, numbers one and two (temporarily named), who had been driven off by Ayano earlier. It seemed that because they had been rejected so vehemently by Ayano, resentment had arisen, and so they had found someone to help them take their revenge!

&#8211; They don’t come any lower than that.

“We invited you so nicely to have some fun, and yet you told us to &#8216;get lost.’ That was really rude. Now apologize.”

“...”

Ayano stared at the group of men, her eyes indicating that they were unworthy even of notice. Seeing those ice cold eyes, punks numbers one and two couldn’t help but retreat several steps, though Hanagi showed no sign of fear.

“That trick of yours won’t work! Hanagi-san knows Shaolin fist techniques!”

“Please do it! Go Hanagi-san!”

Numbers one and two cowered behind Hanagi and continued to shout. Ignoring the two who were merely relying on Hanagi’s strength, Ayano stared at Hanagi alone.

As they had mentioned, the man before her eyes seemed to have undergone a certain level of training. As he wore only a thin, sleeveless sweater under his leather coat, his protruding muscles could be clearly seen. It was a body specially made for combat.

“For a woman to be so arrogant, that’s why you are having such an unlucky encounter. Don’t try to go against men from now on.”

Hanagi reached his hand out in a rough manner, intending to grab Ayano’s chin to lift her face.

At the instant his fingertips touched her chin, Ayano moved swiftly.

She angled her body and moved forward, while at the same time dodging Hanagi’s hand. Ayano cleanly swung her bent left arm into Hanagi’s defenseless chest.

Ayano’s elbow struck the lower region of Hanagi’s earlobe, where his jaw was. This was a sudden, full-force attack and a powerful strike that even contained ''ki''. It would not have been surprising if his jaw had fallen off of his face.

Hanagi’s body flew into the air in a spiral. His legs, which had left the ground, tangled together like twisted bread and subsequently splayed outwards with reactive force.

Hanagi’s body kept on spinning, and after a sickening three and a half round rotation, he naturally had a failed landing &#8211; his whole body flattened against the outer wall of a hotel.

Splat.

A wet sound propagated along the entire street. This was definitely not a sound made by a human body. If a freshly slaughtered piece of flesh, with blood still dripping, were smashed into a wall, it would probably make this kind of sound.

Several seconds after Hanagi has been hammered into the wall, he fell to the floor like a flattened cockroach.

On the red bricks of the hotel wall, a fluid even more red than the bricks formed an eerie human figure.

“Uh... Uh~”

Seeing Hanagi, blood pouring out of seven holes and his body twitching, Nanase drew a cross towards the sky. Beside her, Yukari placed her hands together and closed her eyes to pray.

“Huh... Huh huh...”

“Hanagi-san...”

The remaining two guys gave voice to pitiful cries in tones that had reached the utmost limit of fear.