[Chapter:23][Not for the faint hearted.]

"I guess I'll take it now."

Grace murmured as he looked at the little loli sleeping on his lap, her head leaning against his chest.

Opening his inventory, he took out a vial of blue liquid, and popped the cork open before gulping the serum down.

"I know the original needs to be injected, along with a tonne of electricity for energy, but eh."

Grace shrugged lightly, but then he froze as he felt an unfamiliar warmth spread across him.

It was not the bone chilling yet pleasurable cold that brought him into a daze every time he integrates with or Ranks up an ability. No, it was something far different.

Something completely opposite to that sensation.

'Hot…!'

Like lava flowing through his veins. Grace gritted his teeth as his skin turned a bright red, as though a piece of metal placed within a furnace. He felt as though every cell in his body was being burned by flames so hot, even steel would perhaps melt just from being near them.

'Damn it! Author-san! Do you need to make me suffer like this!'

Grace took in deep and long breaths, even though he no longer needed to breath, in an effort to bear the pain.

'You can at least let me go unconscious!'

Alas, it seemed that 'Adaptability (low) : F-' had done more harm than good in this particular instance. Grace knew for a fact that the reason he could quickly adapt to the feeling of Ranking up abilities was because of this one. Yet, since the Ability only included the physical body, the effect wasn't that obvious,

After all, it was not merely his body that undergoes that chill during the integration and Ranking up.

Unfortunately, the 'Super Soldier Serum : D+' only served to enhance Grace's physique, and though his brain, and in turn, a part of his mind are also enhanced, the effect was less visible.

Meaning, at the moment, Grace's resistance against physical pleasure, which somehow extended to physical pain as well, prevented him from fainting.

Thus, he could only curse his bad luck as he was forced to stay awake throughout the several minute process, which to Grace felt as though he had been drowning in a sea of magma for hours and days instead.

"Haa!"

Instinctively, he took in a deep breath of fresh and cool air as the pain finally receded, and the heat died down.

Grace took several more breaths and moments to calm himself down, and looked down to realise that despite the unbearable heat, he hadn't actually sweated that much.

'How weird…'

At the same time, however, he could also feel the difference quite distinctly. Whether it be his body, which had increased in height a little and in muscle quite a lot as well, or his senses, which had improved drastically, or the fact that he was now able to think faster, his thoughts much clearer than before.

'I didn't get a 'Super Soldier Body' ability? How unfortunate, I thought I could cheat my way to the peak of strength by Ranking it up to EX++.'

Grace didn't let that bother him, however, as he smiled.

"Forget it, this is good enough already."

At that moment, Dea-chan quivered, and she opened her eyes and looked at Grace who was staring at her before smiling.

"Good morning~~!"

"Good morning Dea-chan, though the sun is actually just setting."

The two felt like their relation had deepened a little, and if there was a 'Affection Meter' function, Grace was sure their bond had grown from 'friendly' to 'between friends and lovers' or something along the lines.

Dea-chan laughed softly as she became smaller and flew back to her spot on top of Grace' head.

Grace, on the other hand, stretched his now stronger body as he did a few basic boxing moves, that is, punches and kicks that looked amateurish at best.

'Well now, time to go back down I guess.'

He didn't need the Group worrying about his position, especially since he needs them all to sleep quickly so that he could go on raids across the city looting any and every supermarket or departmental store he finds.

He still had to finish that Quest and grind some SP, after all.

Walking downstairs, he saw the boys doing whatever they decided to do, and the girls still seemed to be in the bath.

'Man I'm bored…'

Scratching his head, Grace walked around the apartment, before he heard something which made his boredom vanish.

A soft, muffled cry.

'The bath?'

Grace blinked as he made his way to the bath's wall, and closed his eyes as he concentrated. And indeed, while before, he might have only heard indistinct shouts and noise, his vastly improved senses enabled him to listen to everything that was being said inside.

"…the manager…my father…Highschool…"

'…'

(…)

Both Grace and Dea-chan quieten down as they heard Yuuki continue her story.

And mid way, Grace frowned, before his expression became cold. Utterly cold.

(…)

Dea-chan didn't say anything as she simply sat on top of Grace's head, while our MC in question walked to one of the rooms where his target was staying.

*creak*

He opened the door and looked within, to find the guy laying on top of his bed while staring at the ceiling in thought.

"Grace-san?"

He sat up and looked at Grace, but stiffened when he saw him smile.

A cold, frightening smile.

"Wha-"

Before he couldn't even finish his word, Grace practically flashed to his position with his improved speed,

*bang!*

And hit his face with enough force to jolt his brain, almost instantly knocking him out.

...

*bang!*

The bathroom door was flung open harshly, as an enraged Rei accompanied by a similarly enraged Saya and Saeko who was smiling coldly came out of it, their hair still wet from the bath and their clothes nearly translucent.

"Where's Yamada?"

"H-Huh!?"

Takashi nearly jumped up when the three angry lionesses appeared before him.

"Wh-What?"

"Hmm? What's the matter?"

Before the girls could repeat what they said to the bewildered idiot, Grace appeared from outside and asked as he looked at them in confusion.

"What happened? Why are you all so feisty?"

"Grace-san, where is Yamada?"

Saeko walked forward as she asked with a smile, and Grace didn't need his new 'Psychology' skill to see how much cold anger was hidden behind it. No, rather, she didn't even bother to hide her anger, her smile colder than an iceberg.

Grace, however, just smiled.

"Ah, that, I was just about to call you to tell you all about him."

He closed the door behind him as he walked forward with his usual smile.

"Yamada-kun left."

The scene froze for a moment.

"What?"

Kyoko, who came out of the bath as well, asked from behind the trio.

"He left. Literally. He said he didn't want to stay in the Group, and took some food and water in a backpack and left. And it's not like I could force him to stay right?"

Grace looked at the faces of the girls which alternated between confusion and anger.

"I was actually just coming back from sending him off. Why? Did you need something from him?"

"Eh? Ah, n-no…"

Rei and Saya looked at each other as the rest of the girls' group began to exit the bath. They, too, had expressions which were a mix of anger and confusion on their faces, having listened to Grace's words.

Saeko and, surprisingly, Shizuka, looked at Grace and felt as though he was hiding something from them, but decided not to ask at the moment.

Of course, Grace hadn't missed their strange looks at him, making him raise his brows inside.

'I can understand Saeko, but even Shizuka?'

(You shouldn't underestimate women's intuition you know~~?)

Dea-chan's sing-song voice replied to his thought, making him smile.

'Looks like you're in a good mood.'

(Yup~~! Your actions have greatly satisfied me, mortal! Rejoice, for you have impressed this Goddess~!)

Grace rolled his eyes as he looked back at the girls.

'Looks like they decided to keep Yuuki's story a secret for now. Which is good. I'm not sure she'll be able to handle it if she knows other boys know about her.'

Psychology : D- told Grace all he needed to know about such cases, and he knew it would take quite a while for the pitiful orange head to come out of her trauma for men she probably already has.

In fact, Grace was honestly a little surprised that she had been acting natural among boys till now, but subtle signs, like her body quivering lightly, or her unconscious action of moving away and keeping a distance from men, told Grace a different story.

'She's been putting up with all that fear inside her heart and trying to act normal, poor girl. In the original, when left all alone with the boys that had caused her all that pain, she must have broken down.'

"I-it's nothing, just, uhh, we thought he had been peeking at us! Right!"

"Y-yeah, I thought I saw Yamada opening the bathroom door."

The boys nodded, believing the rather lame reason they were given, as they secretly felt relieved that they didn't attempt to do the same. Well, mostly Takashi and Kohta, while Hisashi felt excited at taking a bath together with his crush.

"Is that so? Well, I guess the steam caused you to be confused then."

Grace smiled at them as he recalled the state he had left Yamada in.

...

((A/N : The following is only for sick fUcks like me. I'm warning you in advance, skip it if you want. The next chapter too.))

...

*splash*

Ice cold water, fresh out of the freezers from Sevensons, forced Yamada to wake up with a start.

"!!!"

As he awoke from his stupor, however, he realised he could neither move nor speak.

"!?"

Yamada panicked as he tried to remove his bindings in a hurry, yet not only was he gagged, his head, as was the rest of his body, appeared restrained to the chair he was sitting on.

In fact, he couldn't even turn his neck, that was forced to look up, and neither could he look down to see what exactly was binding him.

"Mm! Mmm!!"

His entire body felt wet, sticky. There was a pungent smell of iron in the room. Whatever he was gagged with felt wet and soft, and strange to taste.

He continued to shake his body, before suddenly, his restraints tightened.

"Mm!"

Now, the restraints had tightened so much he couldn't even tremble. His entire body was completely immobile, yet it only caused Yamada's heart rate to spike.

His breathing turned erratic as fear began to set in.

He tried to distract himself by looking at the ceiling, the only thing he could look at, yet the entire ceiling was pitch black.

Suddenly, the restraints around his neck loosened, and he quickly looked down to see what exactly was binding him.

"!?!!"

His heart nearly stop beating at the sight of the 'things' that kept him bound to the chair.

Intestines. Nerves. Bloodied muscles.

"!!"

Yamada's stomach churned as his face turned a sickly pale.

He looked further down, at the chair he was sitting on, and his eyes froze at the sight.

Shido. The teacher he liked the most in the school.

The teacher who helped him lose his virginity to the girl he fancied, even as she wept and cried and begged to be left alone.

The teacher who had made him discover the dark side of himself.

The teacher whose death by that white haired freak nearly made him faint in shock and fright, thinking he could possibly be next.

There he was, his body bent in ways no man should ever have to, his own body sitting on top of his stomach. Shido's legs were bent up, his knees clearly broken, as they served as his backrest. His arms were what his own rested on, while Shido's face…

It looked straight at him from between Yamada's legs. His eyes wide open, his mouth bereft of all teeth, an expression of utmost horror still remnant on it.

Shido's hands, that were turned into armrests, were split open, the muscles and nerves and tendons wrapping around his arm. From his elbow to his finger tips, his arms were mirrored by Shido's, only difference being, unlike his, Shido's were opened up. There was no skin, no flesh, only bones and muscles and nerves.

Muscles and nerves which were bundled together and tightened his hands to the bloodied white bones on which his hands rested.

Slowly, he looked further down.

If Shido's legs were serving as his backrest, then what about his own legs? What were they tied to?

Then he saw a friend of his, someone that he had shared several girls with.

Tsunoda.

"!!"

His body…it wasn't there. No, rather, half his body was missing. The lower half, to be precise. The upper half, well…

Tsunoda's torso was what his legs were tied to. His stomach was gutted open, and the bloodied intestines were wrapped around his legs. Yamada's ankles could feel something thin and hard, several horizontal rods, like a railing of sorts. It took him a while to realise what they were.

His feet reached all the way to Tsunoda's exposed rib cage. No, rather, his feet were 'inside' Tsunoda's rib cage. As for what bound them to the bones, the hard, spiky chain-like structure couldn't be anything else but a spinal cord.

And then there was his head. Tsunoda's head. With empty eye sockets. A missing nose. Ears ripped apart. His teeth all pulled out. The dark cavity that his mouth was seemed filled with crimson blood, and something small and fleshy floated inside it, probably his cut off tongue.

And Yamada looked straight into the bloody holes where Tsunoda's eyes once used to be.

And for the first time in his life, and most probably for the last as well, Yamada realised how Fucked he was.