"...My head hurts."
The moment I regained consciousness, a sharp pain shot through my skull. I clutched my head, the agony so intense I couldn’t even open my eyes, let alone move for a while.
This was why I hated using this ability.
Every time I did, I blacked out, and I couldn’t remember a thing afterward.
And once the duration ended, I was left too weak to move for a long time.
No matter how many times I used it, I’d never get used to it. Maybe I never would in my entire life.
After clutching my head for a long while, the headache finally began to subside.
...It felt worse than usual, though.
"Are you awake? Does it still hurt?"
"Ah, Arte? Yeah, it still does..."
"Hmm, that makes sense. I was so shocked. I never expected you to get *that* strong. You’d be surprised if you saw it yourself."
"Huh? What do you—"
I mumbled a response, about to lie back down, but the awe in her voice made me open my eyes without thinking.
And then I saw it. I understood why Arte had said that.
"What the... Where is this?"
"Where else? It’s the same place where you used your ability."
"...This ruin?"
"Yes!"
The buildings, which had been a little dirty but otherwise intact, were now on the verge of collapse.
"...You’re saying *I* did this? That’s impossible."
Yeah, impossible.
My ability wasn’t as versatile as Arte’s or as powerful as the investigator’s.
It wasn’t like Yu Siwoo’s ability—always available and exceptional.
...Mine was just a temporary frenzy that burned itself out. That was all.
From what I’d heard, even if I was attacked, I wouldn’t feel pain—I’d just go wild. But in the end, it was still *my* body. There was no way it could cause this much destruction.
So how was *I* the one who did this?
"Normally, it would’ve been difficult, but you *did* take something, didn’t you?"
"Took something?"
"The pill. Wow, it was *terrifying*."
I instinctively touched my lips.
Now that she mentioned it... I *had* taken something.
The fangs I’d felt before losing consciousness had already disappeared.
"It’s great that your ability got stronger!"
"...Yeah, sure. Great."
"It was a lineage regression pill—it lets you inherit the power of your ancestors. Can you believe it? Turns out Laila’s ancestor was a werewolf!"
"Oh. So *my* ancestor was a werewolf... Wait, *what*?"
Another one.
I’d lost count of how many bombshells I’d heard today, but here was another.
What? My ancestor was a... *what*?
"As soon as you used your ability, you turned into a werewolf and went wild! It was *incredible*."
"R-really...?"
"Yep! Look over there, at that wall. See the claw marks? You did that."
Where Arte pointed, there were indeed long, deep claw marks—savage, like a feral beast had carved them. ...I did *that*?
"I think your ability mutated. Instead of just going berserk, it’s like you borrow your ancestor’s power while you lose your mind. And since today’s a full moon, it might’ve been even stronger!"
Arte kept chattering, but her words barely registered.
...So, what she was saying was... I *actually* turned into a werewolf?
And that was the effect of the pill she gave me? That pill let me inherit my ancestor’s... *power*?
It was shocking.
Even if someone told me my mom was originally my dad, it wouldn’t have hit me this hard.
And for good reason—*werewolf*! A dangerous beast straight out of textbooks!
A creature with human-like intelligence, capable of blending into society... but on a full moon, it went completely feral!
…That’s my ancestor?
"Th-Then…"
"Lady Laila’s ancestor had quite the unique taste!"
"…"
I poured scorn on an ancestor I didn’t even know the name of.
It seemed my ancestor had been completely out of his mind.
Who would’ve thought he’d do *that* with a werewolf—something that, aside from walking on two legs like a human, had almost nothing in common with one?
"Just what kind of ancestor…"
"A true mutt of a bloodline!"
"Can you please shut up?"
Looking at the heavy corpse sprawled out in the distance made me even more depressed.
As if proving Arte’s words true, there were wounds that looked like a wolf had bitten and torn at it.
I never would’ve imagined such a pill existed.
Even though that person had attacked me, I ended up feeling sorry for them.
…Surely they hadn’t *wanted* to take a pill like this.
"Ah, since you went through so much, should I make steak for dinner?"
I almost got annoyed, thinking Arte was mocking me, but then I saw her expression.
This girl didn’t give a damn that I’d just been chased by a cow.
"…Since it was a cow, make it pork instead."
"Got it. Hmm, what would be good…"
Humming to herself, Arte started walking, looking just like any other girl her age.
If you ignored the thick scent of blood in the air and the fact that her seemingly new clothes were splattered with it.
The gap between her ordinary appearance and the extraordinary situation gave off an eerie dissonance.
So much so that it made me think she was an outsider this world couldn’t accept.
"Hey, did you hear?"
"Yeah, yeah. Who *hasn’t* heard about it lately?"
"Right?"
The students’ chatter filled the classroom.
It wasn’t just the group of boys over there.
The girls huddled together, the students gossiping in the hallway, even the teachers—
Everyone was talking about the news.
"…Sigh."
"Arachne showed up again. They say there were roughly 800 this time?"
"That’s a lot. How are there so many villains in this tiny city?"
"Beats me."
Yu Siwoo let out a sigh.
He was in no mood to focus on class. The school’s atmosphere wasn’t helping either.
…Maybe that was why the teacher sighed and declared self-study. Probably meaning they could chat freely until the next class, then buckle down.
"This time, it was a group of people who raided a villain organization all at once. They estimate there were four of them."
"…Four?"
"Yeah. The killing methods point to four people."
Amelia dropped the info casually, as if it were nothing, but in reality, it was incredibly valuable.
The news only said Arachne had wiped out another group of villains… nothing more.
"Hey, Yu Siwoo."
"Hm?"
"…You know, maybe we should just give up."
"…"
I had a good idea what Amelia was getting at.
The ultimate goal she and I shared—stopping Arte.
Or rather, figuring out *how* to stop her.
"No matter how I think about it, directly capturing Arte is impossible."
"Hah, but…"
"But what? It’s already 1,600. We’re talking in the *thousands* now… I never imagined there’d be this many villains, seriously."
"…"
Amelia didn’t say it directly to me.
But her intention was clear.
…She wanted to abandon the idea of subduing Arte and focus on seducing her instead.
"Do we really have to do this?"
"What else? Can’t you see we’re already drifting apart? It was impossible from the start."
"Haa…."
Amelia wasn’t wrong about a single thing.
I thought stopping Arte meant stopping Arte alone, but that wasn’t the case.
Turns out Arte was part of an organization—one capable of slaughtering thousands of other villain groups.
The difficulty was far beyond what we’d originally aimed for.
"There’s no other way."
"…Huu."
Compared to that, seducing Arte was always the same level of difficulty.
Amelia, who valued efficiency above all, probably couldn’t understand why I was hesitating.
…But, but. Just think about it.
"Isn’t the idea that I can even seduce Arte just arrogant?"
"What nonsense are you spouting now? You’ve got the looks, so just do as I say."
"Y-Yes…."
That didn’t work.
In the end, under Amelia’s enthusiastic support, the Anti-Arte Alliance (membership: two) decided to change their strategy against Arte.
From the "Stop Arte" route to the "Seduce Arte" route.
"…So what’s the plan?"
"Hmm, the standard approach would be to keep going on dates…"
Amelia started pondering, muttering that Arte probably wouldn’t fall for anything standard.
Well, I had to agree with that.
When I didn’t even know why she was interested in me in the first place, how could I seduce her the normal way?
…Hmm. I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I doubt that would get a good reaction.
My lack of romantic experience was absolute. Even if Arte felt uncomfortable, I wouldn’t notice.
"Let’s go with the slow-and-steady approach."
"Slow and steady?"
"You know—classmate to friend, friend to brother, brother to honey, honey to daddy. That kind of operation."
"…?"
What on earth was Amelia talking about?
We were definitely speaking the same language, but I had no idea what she just said.
"Tomorrow’s the end-of-term ceremony, right?"
"Yeah, that’s right."
"When you think of summer break, what comes to mind?"
"…I dunno?"
"The beach! The beach!"
Watching Amelia wave her hands at me in excitement, I thought…
…Maybe Amelia didn’t really care either way?
I was always agonizing over what to do, but maybe Amelia was just having fun the whole time?
Just as that doubt crossed my mind, Amelia said to me,
"We won’t get to see Arte much during break! …But we’re in the same club! It’s not like we have no way to meet!"
"So… why the beach?"
"Let’s go on a trip to the beach."
"A trip?"
"Yeah. For bonding. Just us going out to have fun. Whaddya think?"
I was surprised.
For Amelia, that was a surprisingly normal suggestion.
Going on a beach trip wasn’t that strange of an idea.
Maybe Amelia could think normally after all…
"And then you pounce on Arte while she’s in her swimsuit… She won’t be able to resist if she’s not wearing any clothes, right…?"
Never mind.
She was still out of her mind.
Of course she was.
"Or maybe we could lock you in the changing room with her…?"
"…Amelia. Are you actually trying to help me seduce Arte, or are you trying to get me killed?"
I sighed as Amelia spouted more nonsense.
Tomorrow was already the end-of-term ceremony.
With summer break right around the corner, even I couldn’t help but get a little excited.