Taming SSR And UR RANK Superwomen-Chapter 68 — The Team’s First Mission: Taming Himiko Inori
Elvira spoke in her usual tone. Dry, direct, without embellishment.
"Once your friend leaves, she doesn’t come back until Sunday night."
"Thanks, bitch," Thomas replied. "You can go now. I don’t need you anymore."
Elvira frowned. It wasn’t exactly annoyance. It was something closer to a discomfort she didn’t quite know how to process. She grabbed her elbow with the opposite hand, squeezing lightly, as if searching for something to hold onto.
Thomas glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
"You’re still here."
Elvira didn’t respond immediately. Then she spoke in a tone that tried to sound indifferent but didn’t quite manage it.
"Will you give me my reward tonight?"
Thomas looked at her. She held his gaze with an expression that tried to seem neutral but had too much color in her cheeks to pull it off.
"I’ll think about it," he replied. "The point of humiliation is for it to be a punishment. It loses all meaning if you enjoy it."
Elvira’s cheeks flushed instantly.
"I don’t enjoy it!"
Her voice rose more than she intended. She crossed her arms tightly.
"Idiot!"
She turned on her heels and began walking away quickly. Thomas said nothing. He watched her head toward the corner of the alley.
Before turning the corner, Elvira stopped.
She turned just enough to look at him over her shoulder. Her blue eyes shone with a fury that wasn’t entirely anger.
"You better come humiliate me later."
And she disappeared. Thomas stared at the empty corner for a second. Then he made a skeptical face as he exhaled through his nose.
’It was supposed to be a punishment for her. It loses all meaning if she enjoys it. I didn’t know she was this much of a masochist.’
The alley was in shadow. Streetlights barely reached the entrance, leaving the interior in a bluish dimness that smelled of moisture and cold concrete.
Behind Thomas, six figures stood waiting in silence.
Seraphine stood with her hands clasped in front of her, her usual calm expression. Ashley had her arms crossed and was looking at the building across the street with that active awareness she never fully turned off, as if she were always evaluating something.
Freja swayed slightly on her heels with a small smile. Lucía observed the scene with a frown and her arms crossed.
Evelyne stood slightly apart from the group, adjusting a screw in the joint of her right arm prosthetic with a fine-tipped screwdriver, without looking at anyone.
Selene stood with her arms crossed, her expression mixing resignation and embarrassment in equal parts. The black Neko girl cosplay she was wearing left her abdomen completely exposed, along with her thighs, her arms, and her collarbones.
The black Neko ears poked out from her short dark hair. The tail of the same color hung behind her with a small bell at the tip that jingled every time she moved. Around her neck, another smaller bell made the same soft sound with each breath.
"You can’t just show up and demand my presence," Selene said in a tone that tried to be firm but came out too mortified to achieve it. "You caught me in the middle of a convention!"
Thomas looked at her, gave her a thumbs-up, and commented:
"You look very sexy."
Selene opened her mouth, made a face of displeasure—almost disgusted—and exhaled through her nose.
"I’ll try to be quick," Thomas added.
Selene looked at him for another second. Then she sighed with the resignation of someone who already knew there was nothing to be done.
"Fine."
Evelyne lifted her gaze from the screw for just a moment.
"Do you know what time she’ll be alone?"
Her voice was calm. Cold in that way of hers that wasn’t hostility, just natural temperature.
Thomas opened his mouth to answer, but didn’t get the chance. The door of the building across the street opened and a woman came out.
"Right now."
Thomas recognized her immediately. Inori’s friend. Bag over her shoulder, quick pace, headphones on. She crossed the sidewalk without looking toward the alley and turned at the corner.
Thomas followed her with his eyes until she disappeared, then turned toward the group.
"You already know the plan and where the fight for the contract will take place. I’ll wait for you there."
He scanned the group once more. His eyes stopped on Ashley.
She was already looking at him. Her heroine suit fit her figure with that precision that made any posture seem calculated.
She had a small, almost permanent smile, as if the entire world were a joke only she fully understood. Her gray eyes, one of them completely white from blindness, watched him with that active awareness that never faded.
"I’m leaving you in charge."
Ashley nodded.
Her smile didn’t change, but something in her eyes sharpened slightly. The difference between her usual smile and the one she wore when she took something seriously was almost imperceptible.
Thomas walked away down the alley without saying anything else. Ashley positioned herself in front of them all and looked at each of them in turn.
"Alright."
Her voice didn’t rise, but the tone changed. It had that particular quality of people who don’t need to shout to be heard.
"This is my first mission as captain. I expect everything to go according to plan. Inori is not as difficult a target as Luminara will be, but take this as training. Learn to work as a team today, because when Luminara arrives, there will be no room for improvisation."
Lucía frowned. Her arms were crossed, and she looked at Ashley with an expression that wasn’t exactly hostility, but wasn’t far from it either.
"I’m surprised you look so obedient coming from someone who works for a man who kidnaps women," she said bluntly.
Ashley looked at her. Not with annoyance. With something closer to the patience of someone who already knew that conversation by heart.
"Lucía." Her voice was soft. "You’re new to the team, right?"
Lucía didn’t respond. Ashley smiled slightly.
"You’ll soon learn there’s no point in protesting once you’re already in."
Lucía pressed her lips together. Then she looked at Evelyne, searching for something—maybe confirmation, maybe support.
Evelyne wasn’t looking at her. She continued with the screwdriver at the joint of her prosthetic, adjusting the last screw with calm focus. Then she put it away in the inner pocket of her jacket and finally looked up.
Lucía wore her straight blonde hair falling over her shoulders as usual. She wore a white jacket that covered a sapphire-blue blouse, covering her chest while leaving her toned abdomen exposed.
Her golden eyes met Evelyne’s with an indifference that wasn’t cruelty, just distance. She exhaled slowly.
"She’s right," she said. "Don’t waste your time."
Lucía looked at her in confusion.
"You too?"
Evelyne flexed the fingers of her prosthetic once, testing the movement. Then she lowered her arm naturally.
"Don’t get me wrong." Her tone was flat, without inflection. "I don’t care if you ignore me. You’ll understand it on your own, but under no circumstances put me in a position where it seems like I agree with Thomas on everything."
Lucía looked at her for another second. She said nothing. Ashley clapped once. The sound was sharp and clean in the silence of the alley. They all turned their heads toward her.
"You’ll talk later." She gestured toward the street with a tilt of her head. "It’s time to continue the procedure."
Her eyes moved to Selene.
"You first."
Selene nodded. She took a breath. Then she crossed the street with a calm step, the small bell around her neck jingling softly with each step, and disappeared into the entrance of the building.
The gazes of men and women ran over her from top to bottom. She didn’t feel uncomfortable, as she was used to being seen by thousands of people at the same time.
The rest spread out in silence toward their positions. Selene entered the building and thought:
’The faster we finish this and the less I protest or complain to that man, the faster I’ll go home. So, what does it matter? Even if I feel bad for the woman who ends up as his target.’
