"Lord Neuvillette, the people in the hospital have been fully evacuated..." At that moment, Clorinde reported back.
"But why, even at this stage... is the eerily controlled Kirara still not revealing her true form?" Aether murmured thoughtfully to himself.
Then, to his surprise, he realized that he had successfully spoken the word "eerie" without it transforming into strange, distorted speech...
Could it be that once others became aware of this truth, he was no longer restricted when saying it aloud?
Tears shimmered in Kirara's eyes as she clutched her head, covering her ears, trembling in the corner.
Even Chiori started to feel a pang of guilt.
She turned to Su Yuan and said, "Su Yuan, could it be that you were wrong about the conditions for Kirara's eerie transformation...?"
"From what I see, this Kirara is still the real Kirara..."
"But eerie entities can disguise themselves..." Chevreuse, though equally puzzled, still voiced her concern.
"But Kirara is such a simple-minded person—how could she possibly disguise herself so flawlessly that I can't detect anything?" Chiori questioned in confusion.
Su Yuan was also struggling to make sense of the situation.
Logically speaking, with no one else around, if Kirara had been possessed and was only pretending, she should have already revealed her true nature by now...
Su Yuan carefully recalled the rule about Kirara:
[14. If you give Kirara's delivery service a bad review, something bad might happen...]
He quickly noticed a key detail he had previously overlooked—
The word "might" itself implied uncertainty.
If this was truly the condition for Kirara's eerie transformation, then it should have been explicitly stated, rather than using such vague and ambiguous wording...
Instead, it should have been stated more directly:
[If you give Kirara's delivery service a bad review, then Kirara will no longer be Kirara...]
This is similar to how Chevreuse's rule hint worked—not explicitly clear, but something that had to be deduced and discovered!
For example, Chevreuse pointing her gun downward wasn't the condition for eerie transformation—it was a symptom of already being transformed!
"Kirara's eerie transformation isn't triggered just by receiving a bad review!"
After a moment of deep thought, Su Yuan suddenly spoke loudly, startling everyone!
"A bad review is just a catalyst—there must be a deeper reason behind it!"
"I knew it! Look at her—there's no way Kirara is being controlled by an eerie entity right now..." Chiori said, stepping forward, intending to comfort Kirara.
Everyone started to lower their guard.
If even Su Yuan was saying this, then there really shouldn't be any problem...
But in the next instant, something completely unexpected happened!
A surge of eerie energy erupted from Kirara's body, and the claws that had suddenly grown from her hands lunged straight for Chiori's heart!
Chiori stared in disbelief at Kirara's now grotesquely twisted face, then looked down at her own chest—where sharp claws had pierced through, blood gushing out...
Su Yuan stared at the scene in shock, unable to comprehend—had he misjudged the situation?
Ever since receiving Chiori's bad review, had Kirara been under the eerie entity's control the entire time...?
Had everything she just did—all of it—been nothing more than an act?
"I love human cities. I love being with humans..."
"But why do you insist on rejecting me? Denying me?"
"Kirara" spoke slowly, withdrawing her bloodstained hand from Chiori's chest.
Chiori collapsed into a pool of blood, motionless...
Su Yuan's mind raced, rapidly piecing together everything about Kirara.
Kirara was a nekomata—a cat yokai.
She loved the scenery of human cities, loved the sound of human laughter, and wanted to blend in with them...
Her job as a courier had actually been recommended by that pink-haired fox from the Grand Narukami Shrine...
"If you want to integrate into human society, you need to have a normal job like them. That's the most important thing."
That was what the pink-haired fox had told her...
And suddenly, it all clicked in Su Yuan's mind.
Kirara's eerie transformation wasn't triggered simply by receiving a bad review on her deliveries—it was about her own sense of identity and self-worth...
If someone gave her a bad review and shattered her confidence, making her feel like she wasn't fit for the job, then that also meant she couldn't integrate into human society...
And that was what could push her into eerie transformation!
Chiori and Kirara had a good relationship, and her so-called "bad review" had only been a playful, offhand remark.
Kirara hadn't taken it to heart, which meant she truly hadn't undergone eerie transformation before...
But after what he had just done—forcing everyone to stand on guard against her, isolating her—he had likely filled her with fear and anxiety, making her feel like she could never belong among humans...
And that was what finally pushed her over the edge.
Now that he had a general understanding of the conditions, how could he possibly turn "Kirara" back to normal?
Subjective conditions were the hardest to deal with, because they wouldn't change simply based on objective facts...
That meant the only real solution was to avoid triggering the conditions for eerie transformation in the first place, rather than hoping to reverse it after it had already happened.
Or... could it be possible to convince eerie-transformed Kirara that integrating with humans and coexisting peacefully was still possible?
But as Su Yuan thought about it, that seemed incredibly difficult...
It was like trying to reason with a madman—no matter how well you spoke, no matter how convincing your argument, would they even listen?
Those under the control of eerie entities became deranged, ruthless, and nearly impossible to communicate with.
Persuasion alone wouldn't work.
Unless... you had overwhelming strength—enough to make the eerie entity obediently listen.
Eerie-transformed Neuvillette did have that kind of power, but all he ever did after subduing people was stand there and talk nonsense...
Su Yuan sighed inwardly.
This was going to be tough...
Chiori was already dead.
There was no avoiding another rewind this time.
"Clorinde, challenge Kirara to a duel..." Su Yuan said.
Clorinde hesitated. "Even though Chiori is already... shouldn't we at least try to save Kirara?"
"I have my own way of saving her. Just do it."
Seeing the determination in Su Yuan's expression, Clorinde nodded.
Su Yuan knew—this was his last stable rollback opportunity today.
If possible, he even wanted to wait until nightfall before triggering it...
Up until now, every rewind had seemed to return him to a relatively safe environment.
But he also feared that there might be a time span limit on the rewind—what if it only went back up to six hours at most?
If that were true, then if he waited until nightfall to rewind, Chiori's death would become an irreversible reality...
The timing of this rewind was a tough decision to make.
More than anything, it was because he had no room for error left today.
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