Villain: Your Heroines Were Delicious - Chapter 187 - 52

Chapter 187: Chapter 52

“We’re home after a grueling exam!” Yukina shouted, her voice echoing through the foyer as she threw the front door open with enough force to rattle the frame.

The rest of the group shuffled in behind her, like a chaotic tide of loosened neckties, unbuttoned blazers, and the heavy scent of post-exam exhaustion.

“Can’t eait for the food!”

“Yuko-san will definitely serve something delicious!”

“A nice food after exams! Nothing can beat this!”

But, at that moment, the lively chatter died instantly as a woman they didn’t recognize stepped out of the kitchen.

She moved with an effortless grace that seemed to command the very air in the room.

Her presence was cold, polished, and entirely alien to the warm atmosphere of the Kageyama household.

“Eh… who are you?” Yukina asked, her eyes narrowing as she instinctively stepped forward, her defensive posture flaring.

The others also narrowed their eyes at the stranger.

“Mother?”

The word was barely a whisper, slipping from Erina’s lips like a secret she hadn’t meant to tell.

Though her voice was low, the sudden silence in the room acted as an amplifier, making sure that everyone heard it.

Erina stood rooted to the spot, her grip on her cane tightening so hard her knuckles turned a stark, porcelain white.

“Mother? So after the dad failed, the mom came?” Yukina muttered, her tone dripping with suspicion.

Sakai glanced back at Erina, seeing the girl’s sudden paleness. “Don’t worry, Erina. If you don’t want to go back, no one can take you. Not even her.”

“That’s right,” Renji growled, stepping up beside Erina and cracking his knuckles as he glared at the purple-haired woman with the defiance of a stray dog guarding its territory. “We don’t care who you are. She said she’s staying, so she’s staying.”

Just then, Yuko walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and wearing a bright, welcoming smile.

But when she noticed the thick, vibrating tension in the room—the way the teenagers were bristling and the way Akane stood like an immovable statue—she paused, her expression shifting to one of genuine puzzlement.

“Um, is everything alright?” Yuko asked, her gaze darting from Seijirou to Erina.

“Nothing is wrong, Yuko-san,” Akane replied, her voice smooth and melodic, like silk sliding over glass as she offered Yuko a gentle, disarming smile that didn’t reach her calculating eyes. “It seems like my daughter still doesn’t want to go home, and her… ’friends’… are being quite protective of her. It’s a very spirited display.”

“Yes! Erina-chan is really loved by everyone here,” Yuko said, her face lighting up again, completely missing the underlying venom in Akane’s subtext. “She’s such a dear girl, so it’s only natural they’d want her to stay.”

“Mother, I—” Erina tried to find her voice, her throat tight with years of ingrained discipline.

She wanted to stand her ground, to declare her independence in front of the woman who had shaped her entire existence.

But Akane simply raised her hand. It was a small, effortless gesture, but it held the weight of an iron command, causing Erina’s words to die in her throat.

“That can wait for later,” Akane said, her violet eyes flashing with a brief, cold light. “For now, go and prepare yourself. We will be having dinner in a bit, and I expect you to be presentable.”

Akane then turned her gaze toward Seijirou, who had been standing at the back of the group, staring at her with an intense, unblinking scrutiny.

She didn’t flinch under his gaze; instead, she offered him a slight, respectful nod and a smile that held a hidden challenge.

Then, without another word, she turned on her heel and headed back into the kitchen as if she were the mistress of the house.

Seeing that, Yuko clapped her hands together, breaking the spell of the confrontation. “Alright, you all! You heard her! You should all go and take a rest. You deserve it after such a long day of exams. Go on, get comfortable!”

“YEAH!” Renji shouted, the tension breaking into a boisterous cheer.

“YES! Finally, some food!” Yukina added, though she kept a wary eye on the kitchen door.

The group began to disperse, heading toward the living room and upstairs to change, their youthful energy returning.

But as they cheered, Seijirou remained still, his eyes fixed on the spot where Akane had stood.

Really, it seems like trouble really like to come in uninvited.

*

*

*

“What do you want?”

Seijirou’s voice was like a low-frequency hum, devoid of warmth and heavy with suspicion as he stared at Akane.

They stood at the center of the rooftop of his house, silhouetted against the ambient glow of the neighbourhood’s lights.

His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, his posture radiating confidence and anger for suddenly going into his own home completely unannounced.

Erina stood a half-step beside him, her weight leaning heavily on her cane.

The cool night air whipped around them, pulling at their hair and school uniforms, but the atmosphere between the three of them remained stiflingly thick.

They had just finished a dinner that could only be described as a psychological battlefield.

But despite the laughter of the others during the meal, the air around Akane had been a localized frost.

And the moment the last plate was cleared, Seijirou had locked eyes with the Kurosaki Matriarch and gestured toward the stairs.

And that is how they got here.

Hearing his questions, Akane didn’t answer immediately and just walked toward the edge of the rooftop, her silken purple hair flowing behind her like a regal cape.

She stared out at the sprawling horizon of the city, her eyes reflecting the flickering lights below with a detached, haunting clarity.

“….All the females of the Kurosaki clan were captured,” she began, her voice barely louder than the wind. “Every cousin of ours, every aunts of ours, every nieces of ours, all imprisoned in cages. Your father, Kirei, intended to give them all away to someone… as an offering.”

“What!?” Erina’s voice broke, letting out a sharp sound of pure disbelief as her eyes widened, and her pupils trembling. “Is that true!?”

She had known her father was a man of desperate ambition, a narrow-minded and incompetent individual who saw the world as a game he was perpetually losing.

But not even in her darkest imaginations, did she ever think that he would stoop so low as to sell off their entire bloodline like livestock.

Akane didn’t turn around, but she rubbed her arms as if a sudden, internal chill had taken hold, her movements were less fluid than before, revealing a rare crack in her iron-clad composure.

“…Yes, it’s the truth. And the only reason he let me get away,” she continued, her voice trembling with a hint of bitter iron. “Was that he was hoping he could use my influence on you to bring you back into the family. He couldn’t deliver them now since the of us are still missing.”

“You’re not planning on taking her back, are you?” Seijirou asked.

He didn’t move an inch, but his eyes were narrowed, tracking every twitch of Akane’s muscles.

“No,” Akane said, finally turning to face them as she shook her head slowly, her expression hardening into something desperate. “I have no intention of returning to that cage, nor of sending my daughter into one. I hope… I hope you can use your family’s power to help us, and to stop this madness before it’s too late.”

“I see. So that’s the real reason why you decided to approach me today?” Seijirou mused, his voice dripping with skepticism. “You wanted to seek shelter into the arms of a more powerful house?”

Akane nodded, taking a step forward. The mask of the grieving mother was gone, replaced by the sharp, ruthless ambition of the woman who had once built an empire from the shadows of a shrine.

“I can give you anything, Seijirou. My loyalty, my daughter’s loyalty, the entire Kurosaki network. All I ask is that you help me purge Kirei and make me the official head of the Kurosaki Family. I will turn the clan into your most loyal vassal.”

“Hoh? That does sound very interesting and very tempting,” Seijirou chuckled, a dark, amusement dancing in his eyes. “However… I can tell that this isn’t that simple. How can we cooperate when you can’t even provide the full information.”

Akane paused as the wind seemed to die down for a brief, heavy moment as she looked at Seijirou, her eyes narrowing as if searching for something in his gaze that transcended the normal boundaries of a high school student.

“…Before I continue, I want to ask…” she began, her voice turning solemn, almost hushed. “Do you believe in the supernatural? In things that exist in the blind spots of the human eye?”

Seijirou raised an eyebrow, a faint, knowing smirk playing on his lips. “If I say I do… what then?”

Akane’s face went pale, her eyes darting toward the shadows of the rooftop as if fearing they might be listening. “Kirei… he hasn’t just found a new business ally. He has gotten himself involved with forces that are not human. He has made a pact with a supernatural entity that calls itself ’Mister’.”

As expected.

Seijirou sighed, knowing that nothing could be that simple.