Sakaki Yui, seventeen years old. Her only wish was to greet each tomorrow quietly, without ever being hurt by anyone. However, her daily life—corroded by domestic violence and isolation at school—is completely trampled by the trap of a human trafficking organization, and her body is sold into an illegal underground pleasure district. Amidst violence, drugs, and endless exploitation, Yui's heart disconnects from emotion to protect itself, transforming the very act of "living" into mere instinctua
The Corpse Flower Blooms at Night - "Corpse Flower Blooms at Night" Episode 9: "Demonic Rumors, or the Miscalculation of Abduction"
One
The underground of Shinjuku perpetually holds a thick sediment of damp desire and the stench of mold.
Sakaki Yui, as always, was bringing a hundred-yen vanilla ice cream to her lips in the waiting room of the newly renovated illegal establishment's basement. This space, resurrected through Tominaga's financial power and the supernatural expedited construction of the white-faced ones, retained the faint traces of its previous form while being perfectly equipped with deodorization and anti-fungal measures. Clock in at the scheduled time, complete the assigned work, bite down on the cold sweetness. For Yui now, that alone was the pinnacle of peace.
Yet, beyond her knowledge, the darkness of the city was swelling of its own accord.
"In the basement of Shinjuku, there lives a supernatural woman who, once tasted, drains one's very soul."
"Yakuza who touch that woman apparently end up like hollowed-out husks, rolling around by the roadside the next day."
The rumor made its rounds through Kabukicho with embellishments, eventually reaching the ears of Kito Seiichiro, the wakagashira of the Ginsei-kai, the largest radical yakuza organization in the Kanto region. To Kito, a ruthlessly rational pragmatist, that "supernatural woman" appeared nothing more than a supreme plaything for displaying the organization's authority.
Two
11 PM. Yui, as always, patrolled the area around the mixed-use building and stepped into the dimly lit alleyway leading to her apartment.
In that instant, a black van slid in with the inorganic sound of exhaust. The sliding door burst open, and large men clad in sportswear tumbled out.
"Now kid, I'm gonna need you to stay real quiet," the lead man said without hesitation, shoving a stun gun against Yui's ribs.
Purple, vicious sparks crackled. An electrical current that would normally send an adult collapsing in an instant. Yet Yui merely fixed the man with an indifferent gaze. For a non-human body, high-voltage surges were nothing more than "a slight tingling sensation on the skin."
"...Um, what is it? Suddenly. Blocking the path is a nuisance."
Yui's voice was terribly flat. However, the golden rings deep within her pupils began to glimmer like those of a beast before its prey. Her nasal cavity was scorched by the "wariness" and "murderous intent" erupting from the men's entire beings. It carried an aroma—fresh, juicy, like cheap candy—more vivid than any malice she had consumed before.
"What, it didn't work...?! You bastard, I'll kill you!"
Another man's face contorted, and he swung a titanium baton downward. Yui didn't even bother to dodge, simply extending her delicate bare hands to catch it head-on.
A dull cracking sound rang out. The baton snapped easily, and the man's wrist bent in an unnatural direction.
"Wh...what the hell is this...?!"
True "fear" flashed across the operatives' faces. In that moment, the switch for Yui's ferocious appetite flipped completely.
(*...Ah, these people have such a fresh smell*)
The primordial survival instinct of humans—refined only in the extreme state of mortal peril. For Yui's famished factor, it was an irresistible delicacy of the highest order.
Yui's body slid through the alley at a speed that defied gravity.
One of the men drew a pistol from his waistband and pulled the trigger. A gunshot tore through the silence of the night. The bullet pierced Yui's left shoulder cleanly. Yet faster than the flesh could tear, black threads beneath her skin writhed and crushed the bullet in an instant, suturing the wound closed. Not a single drop of blood spilled.
"Sto...stop, let go, you monster—"
The man's scream was silenced by Yui's lips forcibly pressed against his own.
A sensuous, maddening embrace. Her thin, snake-like arms coiled around his neck, tightening with ferocious passion that would never let go. Her eyes grew glossy and wet, lewd breath leaking from the corners of her mouth. She sank her fangs persistently into his mouth, his neck, sucking them in. Her throat trembled with rapture as though drenched in love juices. The man's terror at its peak, his life force surging, flowed as an invisible amber liquid down Yui's throat. Every cell in her body cried out in rapturous, wet ecstasy at the finest nutrient it had ever tasted.
With each pull, Yui's limbs arched delicately with sweet pleasure, the tips of her breasts hardening with sensitivity.
This. This was what she wanted. The rapture of pulverizing the most pure, raw "attachment to life" of foolish beings who attempted to trample her with violence, converting it into her own flesh. A predator and prey melting together in a dark broth of carnal love—an obscene yet beautiful communion of the inhuman played out in the darkness.
One by one, the operatives collapsed like marionettes with cut strings. Until the last man lost control of his bladder and fainted with eyes rolled back, Yui's "passionate predation" continued without mercy.
When it was all over, the alleyway held only bullet casings and the wallets full of cash that the men had dropped. Their bodies crawled like hollowed shells back to the van and vanished into the night's darkness. Burned into their minds like indelible brands were absolute commandments that Yui had carved there: "Don't make noise in front of the shop" and "You will definitely come again."
Three
Yui picked up the thick wallet that had fallen on the asphalt and confirmed the bills stuffed inside. A few unfamiliar business cards touched her fingertips.
"...Strange people, but they left some pretty nice things. With this, I can buy ice cream tomorrow too."
She tucked the wallet into her bag and began walking toward her apartment as though nothing had happened. For Yui, this was merely an extension of "trouble handling on the night road." She harbored not the slightest awareness that a full-scale war with an organization was about to begin.
Yet the very next morning, an incomprehensible report landed on Kito Seiichiro's desk: the operatives had been discovered as "hollowed-out invalids with everything drained from them." Kito twisted his mouth into a sinister grin.
"Interesting. That woman—she's no mere supernatural temptress. Very well. Next time, we send a separate unit equipped with the latest anti-yokai apparatus."
Meanwhile, Kuze Reiji, observing this scene through a remote magical communication channel, simply held his head in despair.
"That organization doesn't understand what they're picking a fight with at all... This is no war. It's merely the beginning of one-sided slaughter."
Unaware of the premonition of "fresh provisions (yakuza)" automatically marching toward her, Yui would likely spend tonight on a park bench, sharing a warm canned coffee with an elderly cleaning woman.
The everyday life of the demon lord was guarded with a cruelty so absolute it seemed innocent.
(*Corpse Flower Blooms at Night*, Episode 9: "The Rumor of the Supernatural Woman, or the Miscalculation of Abduction" - End)
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