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Chapter Text

A butterfly is caught in a spider's nest. Seeing such a scene, Jacqueline Muscle stopped in her tracks.

The victim is an ordinary swallowtail butterfly, which also inhabits the planet Harabote. Its colorful wings were entangled in sticky threads, and it moved violently, then stopped, and after a few seconds it began to move again. But it has not been able to escape at all.

If this goes on, this butterfly will either become a spider food or dry up ugly.

(Poor you....)

Jacqueline extended her beautiful arm without hesitation. Then she clamped the butterfly's large wings between her slender index and middle fingers, held down the nest with her free hand, and rescued it from the hellish crossing of threads.

The butterfly was probably tired, and it was quiet throughout, so the rescue was easy. After landing the wriggling butterfly at the tip of her index finger, Jacqueline muttered.

“Don't be trapped in such a thing, fly in somewhere more beautiful. A spider's nest doesn't match you.”

As Jacqueline let go of her finger, the butterfly immediately flew away.

Chapter Text

It was late at night one fall. After waking up suddenly, Kevin Mask kept his eyes closed for a while. He lied back with his right ear to the pillow and his back toward the entrance of the room.

It was still dark behind his eye lids. He decided to at least get up when the sun rose, so he continued to take quiet breaths.

He did not feel like getting up because he wanted to rest his body, which was tired from training day after day, for as long as possible. Moreover, Chojin Olympics were currently underway, and the semifinals were scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Rest must be taken when it should be taken.

However, he had to react when something cold snapped against his back. He opened his eyes first. Then he got up and tried to see what else was in the room - but.

(...I'm stuck! )

Kevin's body was as if it were entangled in spider nest, unable to move. He could blink and change facial expressions, but from the neck down he could not control the way he imagined.

"Why...? "

His mouth moved, too. He twisted his neck as possible as he could, but there was no way he could see anything.

As Kevin did this, the number of cold objects touching his back increased from one to two. They snuggled in close together and pinched the center of Kevin's back - the center of the Spider Nest Tattoo. Both the coldness of them and the biological feeling which was soft but it was tugging at his skin were unpleasant, so he raised his voice in anger. It was the only resistance he could make then.

"Get your hands off me! "

Perhaps frightened by the swashbuckling, someone gasped behind him. The fingers moved away, too. Kevin was relieved at their amenableness, but then he heard a giggle and a small laugh.

"Uh huh, is that how you blow up? I've never heard before, but that's cool I guess."

It was a lustrous, clear, young woman's voice.

"Who's there? "

"It's me."

The woman responded, still laughing, as if she was so amused. But this was not an answer, even a hint.

"So who? I don't know you."

"Oh! You're so mean, don't you remember even my voice...? Didn't we talk at noon? "

She made a sultry, sweet sound and pressed her thin fingertips against the tattoo and slid them back again. Kevin frowned under his mask the moment he realized what she had written. JACQUELINE - Her name was Jacqueline Muscle, the younger sister of the head of the Universal Chojin Committee, which managed the Chojin Olympics.

Kevin hates her. She is rude and arrogant enough to suddenly touch other people's bodies, and she seems to think that chojin martial arts is an entertainment show for her ....... He didn't find anything attractive about her beauty or her charisma that attracts people.

"What the hell are you doing? Why are you here? "

"Why...? I'm here just because I want to."

She sounded as if she wanted to say, "What's wrong with that? ". Everything was wrong. Even just being touched by someone was uncomfortable, but when it combined factors such as someone he doesn't like, bare skin, late at night, and wanting to sleep, the degree of it became extreme.

"Give it over."

"Nope."

A romping princess would not listen to a voice. On the contrary, she slowly and deliberately traced the thread crossing on Kevin's back.

"Your body is warm. I thought it would be colder.... Is it because you had been asleep? "

Jacqueline's fingers were cold as she said so.

"I'm glad. You are also alive, right? "

Kevin was a mysterious loner who wore a mask on a regular basis so gave us the impression of being somewhat inhuman. However, beneath this stiff skin were blood vessels, in which red blood flown.

"You're same as me."

Her voice was so cheerfully that Kevin wanted to hit Jacqueline from the bottom of his heart. Jacqueline, who did not care what was in his heart, moved her face closer and closer to his back.

"This is Jijimman, and... is this Legox? It's amazing, these are so small but look right. You must know a good tattoo artist."

Kevin should have suspected why she could look so clearly in this darkness. But with Jacqueline's fingers on his bare skin and her breath on his back, he had no emotional leeway to think about it.

He was feeling what could be described as the greatest discomfort of his life and prayed that he could move his body as soon as possible.

(Then I get up and get rid of this woman... and I'm so uncomfortable with her sticky touch, so take a shower....)

"Getting a tattoo hurts, right? But you bother to get a new one even though it hurts, so maybe you are actually...."

Jacqueline deliberately didn't say anything else, but laughed meaningfully. Her little laughter was taken into consideration at night, but it sounded terribly deafening.

"Ah, but if I were a wrestler, I could have been carved into your body."

The cold, soft female skin, as if it absorbs even melancholy or libido, was simply depressing to Kevin then.

"Then you will see my face, remember it, tattoo it, make it your scar for life, and keep me so long as you will live."

Jacqueline's fingertips tracing his back was getting lukewarm. Kevin was a little scared. Their body temperatures and softness had been different so far, but if this continued, they would eventually become the same, melt and become one.... Perhaps it is because it is now midnight that he thought of such an unrealistic idea, which is unlike him.

"That's so lovely! "

Jacqueline was also thinking the impossible. She sounded like she had a feverish dream, but it was not that she really wanted to be.

"...Why did you aim at me? "

Kevin asked, and Jacqueline's hand stopped.

He has never done anything to make her like him. Looking back at his past behavior toward her, it seems more natural to dislike him. Kevin had no idea why she liked himself so much.

"...Do I have to tell you everything? "

Kevin wanted to nod but couldn't, so he didn't. Jacqueline finally removed her fingers from his back.

"I have no feelings for the one who is clean-living and plays fair and square. I prefer the one who is strong,cruel and show me bloodthirsty fights to him."

The bed creaked loudly. The sound told Kevin that Jacqueline had stepped over his body and staggered down to the floor. It led Kevin to open his eyes, and a beautiful woman's face was right in front of him. A refreshing, dainty face, but worth nothing for Kevin.

Jacqueline scooped Kevin's hair, which had overflowed from his mask onto the pillow. Unkempt blonde hair spilled between soft fingers. More fiercely than detesting it, Kevin glared at Jacqueline. His gaze was painfully sharp, but Jacqueline found it comforting.

"So you are my favorite above all other chojins."

Was it incitement or earnest? Her voice with a faint smile, sounded sweet and gentle like Träumerei.

◆

Without noticing, there was a faint white behind his eye lids. Kevin opened his eyes first, fearfully. All that could be seen were the furnishings that had been installed from the beginning. There is no one else in the room. Afterwards, Kevin got up. He turned his head blurred from sleep, and checked his surroundings.

As far as can be seen, not a single long pink hair has fallen out. Kevin, a good sleeper, slept alone, so the sheets were not too disheveled.

Then, that incident that just befell him was....

(What a relief! ) Kevin thought. He was so glad that was a just dream and that today was not thd day of the match. But he is also in a bad mood. His eye lids were heavy as if he had stayed up late, and even he woke up, the feel of her graphic fingers lingered on his back sickeningly like the trail of a slug. But they flowed with his morning routine of showering.

After getting ready for the day, Kevin met up with Chloe stayed in the next room. As they were heading to the breakfast room, they passed the Harabotes, who stayed on the other floor. Jacqueline smiled and waved at Kevin when she saw him, but he ignored her.

Chapter Text

Jacqueline Muscle reflexively accepted something that Kevin Mask gave her, "I have a gift for you".

It easily fit in Kevin's one hand, but for Jacqueline, it overflowed even from both hands, and was the remnants of Legox that Kevin had defeated in the previous match. They were chipped some parts and covered in blood.

"What...? "

When she looked up, Kevin had already walked away with his second, Chloe although she wanted to ask "Why did you give me this? ". He is unkind.

Now, Jacqueline felt the gift was unmanageable because she was not at all happy to be given something of no value, such as the remnants of a loser. She leaned her hands down and brushed off the block unceremoniously. Then she wanted to go straight back to the waiting room, but her hands were stained with blood.

(Oh well....)

She entered the restroom and twisted the faucet. The clear water flowed down with a slight reddish tint, and after a few seconds of washing, her hands were completely clean. Later, using a handkerchief soaked in eau de parfum, Jacqueline had this thought.

(It's in such bad taste that something like that is a gift! Why are boys always so unobservant, no matter how old they are? )

Then what would have made her happy? What if the block she immediately threw away was that piece of unkind armor? What if the blood that stained her hands was from that surly man? Would she have clutched it with joy? Would she have displayed it in her room as a special gift?

No, she wouldn't. That can never be true. She loves him when he wins, regardless of his title, personality, or appearance. But if he loses, he becomes worthless for her. That is Jacqueline's values. She only loves the strongest him.

Chapter Text

Kevin Mask was in trouble.

He had won the second round of the Chojin Olympics the Resurrection - and he noticed something lumpy and hard in his hand.

He didn't need to see what it was. It was probably the remnants of his opponent from earlier, Legox. He was a formidable opponent whose entire body was composed of LEGO bricks, which he could freely reassemble and transform into any shape he wished.

Be that as it may, Kevin was now more preoccupied with disposing of this garbage than victory. A quick look around but he did not see anything that looked like a wastebasket. It is bad manners to litter around there.

(I'll just dump this in the waiting room....)

With that thought, just as he exited the ring, a woman slowly approached him.

"Well done...."

The moment he noticed her, Kevin unconsciously clenched his hands. The blocks stung his palms, but he didn't care.

She - Jacqueline Muscle - apparently liked Kevin. But Kevin dislike her. So he wanted to avoid her and left, but he was stuck because she was in front of him. Kevin was inwardly venomous about a lot of things. But then it hit him.

(Let's get her to do something about this.)

Most people accept something offered by someone they don't have a strong aversion to. In other words, the masked devil prince is trying to win this non-powerful wrestling with his brains.

Jacqueline talked a lot to Kevin. Waiting for her flashy lips to finish moving, he held up his right hand closed in front of her. Then, as expected, her face lit up and she held her hands out, thrusting them out although a few moments earlier she had complained, "I'm sure I'm disappointed in you", and "I wonder if I'm overestimating your abilities! "

He laughed and coffed, his voice hushed at the childish turnaround. What did she think she was going to get? Jewelry... or a hotel room key?

"I have a gift for you, a bloodthirsty miss."

Kevin dumped what was in his hand into a wastebasket shaped like a woman's hand and left the place with a clean slate. He didn't even want to think about Jacqueline's feelings left alone.

Chapter Text

Both of on the earth and in the space, everyone talks about a certain man. He is Kevin Mask, the son of Robin Mask, a disciple of Warsman, and the champion of the Chojin Olympics the Resurrection.

He is now participating in a triumphal parade in his hometown of London. Everyone, young and old, men and women, gathered along the roadside, are enthusiastic about him.

Jacqueline Muscle is watching the live broadcast on a big-screen TV at the Space Chojin Committee headquarters.

On the monitor, Kevin holds the championship trophy on his right arm and the championship belt on his left arm, and occasionally waves to the cheering fans. He has become much more affable than he used to be. In the parade held before the Olympic semi-finals, he even escaped by feigning a brawl with the seconds instead of providing fan service.

(You have changed.)

Jacqueline smiled. Not only Kevin, but she too has changed after the Olympics. After watching the life-threatening final match between Kevin and Kinniku Mantaro, she learned the horror of bloodthirsty fighting. She also learned the true thrill of serious fight and the folly of seeking bloodshed without thought.

So she is no longer euphoric even though she sees blood or irritated by clean fights. And the slight feverish affection she once had for Kevin Mask has gone down.