Chapter 16: Liquid Villain – Flux②

"Oh my, so the hero had a bodyguard after all. You should work a little harder, don’t you think? That precious kid of yours already died once, you know."

The drink in my cup squirmed and leapt out, swelling far beyond the cup’s volume before reshaping into a humanoid form as if water itself had solidified.

No way—she was this close the whole time?

"Since I’ve got such a handsome man and beautiful woman in front of me, I’ll make an exception and introduce myself. I’m Flux, better known as the Liquid Villain. Do keep me in mind, won’t you?♡"

Her entire body was composed of a translucent liquid with a faint bluish tint. Her eyes shimmered like rainbow light, and her hair flowed like a river.

"Appreciate the manners. Guess I’ll introduce myself too, though you probably already know me. Katagiri Inori, a pretty and cute med student in grad school."

"My, how lovely. That deadpan face and monotone voice matched with such a charming line—that gap moe really hits."

"Yeah. On the inside I’m just an old man. A downer-type old man."

"Ufufu. What a funny boy."

As Flux laughed, her watery surface rippled gently, recreating the curves of a feminine figure in liquid. From the waist down, her body spread outward like the skirt of a gown, supporting her form without any visible legs.

She looked like a slime girl, shifting and flowing.
Man, this could mess with my preferences. Wait—wasn’t I just drinking her a second ago?

"But I’ll have to apologize. I get bored easily, but I do make sure to finish every job I accept. Trust is important, isn’t it?"

"Eh? So how do I get out of this alive, then? What if I put out a counter-request to have your client assassinated instead?"

"Oh my, you’d have to hire a different assassin for that. Do you have any connections?"

"Of course not. Look at my carefree face—do I look like I’ve ever made it through the underworld?"

"Ufufu! Normal kids don’t usually talk about the underworld, you know!"

…Wait. Was “underworld” old-man vocabulary?

"If you can afford a hero bodyguard, surely you can afford something better, no? Well, if all you could manage to hire was some pampered housecat that can’t even catch a rat, then maybe not."

Yukiya thrust out his hand at Flux. A sound like cracking ice echoed through the cafeteria.

Flux only giggled—"Ufufu!"—before melting on the spot into liquid, slipping away from his attack.

I shot him a warning.

"Change before you start fighting. You just got your face exposed to an assassination specialist."

"How can you stay so calm when you were killed and then mocked by the culprit, Inori-san!? I can’t stay calm at all!"

"You’re the only one getting worked up."

Some ice hero he was—always overheating at the worst times.
No resistance to provocation. Though to be fair, Flux’s taunting was sharp. Telling an overworked hero on the brink of collapse, “Why don’t you work harder?”—I had to admire that precision.

As for that “pampered housecat that can’t even catch a rat” jab—she wasn’t calling herself a rat. She meant RatLord. Which meant she already knew I’d been in contact with him. That’s impressive.

At last, the students in the cafeteria realized a villain had appeared, and chaos spread as they bolted for the exits.

I stood up too, ready to start evacuation work like always. I could probably hold out alone until Yukiya came back changed. Not sure how many times I’d die in the meantime, though.

"Today’s the day we settle this, Flux! I love you so much I could hug you, so don’t run away from me!"

Cracking a joke as he barged in was none other than Raiden.

Seriously? He planned to throw down here, of all places? My safe zone was about to become a battlefield.

"Oh my, Raiden, you loved me all along? Well, I wouldn’t be opposed to that."

Flux shifted back into human form, pressing a delicate hand to her cheek. Combined with her gown-like figure, she looked every bit a princess.

No way. Don’t tell me this is turning into a rom-com.

A glance to the side showed Yukiya’s face frozen stiff. Figuratively—but honestly, it might turn literal any second now. He was the type to lose control of his powers under stress or excitement.

And now, standing face-to-face with his hero idol—this was dangerous.

"Yukiya. Cold."

"S-sorry…! It slipped out…!"

Frost was already leaking from him. But after a deep breath, he seemed to rein it back under control. The frost on my clothes faded, and his breath stopped fogging.

"Go on. You heroes should work together."

"I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Raiden-san…!"

"Embarrass yourself already assumed, huh?"

"I’ll do it perfectly this time…! Hina’s not here, so…!"

Calling Hina in would be cutting it close. Inferna could fly and arrive quickly, but she’d said she was headed to the career office today—kind of a hard place to summon her from.
Seriously, the government needs to start putting heroes on salary already.

"What if I mess up and trouble Raiden-san…!?"

"Then just don’t mess up."

"You’re underestimating how clumsy I am, Inori-san!?"

"You’re the one saying it out loud. And you’re already half-freezing everything, so of course I know."

"S-sorry!"

Another deep breath. Yukiya steadied himself.
If Raiden got in real trouble, I’d shove him forward myself if I had to.

He was a founding hero after all—Raiden could handle Flux, even if she was his bad matchup. Losing was unlikely. Winning might not be guaranteed, but at the very least he’d drive her off. Honestly, the sooner she fled, the better—less damage to the campus that way.

But now Flux knew Yukiya’s face. If we didn’t deal with that, he’d end up on the same hit list as me.

Each time the air dropped a few more degrees, I reminded Yukiya to hold it together—until I realized Raiden had already beaten Flux down.

…Sorry, Raiden. I was too busy babysitting Yukiya to watch. Maybe he pulled out some new trick to overcome his weakness. I’d have to ask him later.

"Inori, are you safe!?"

Or not even later—he was already here. Raiden rushed over in a flash of lightning speed, Flux evidently defeated.