Chapter 197: The Bell Jar
Shinobu held the hand by the pinky, like someone tugging a mischievous kid by the ear.
The same arrogant limb that a moment ago had been chasing the girls all over the room now lay motionless, playing dead.
"Ara~ weren’t you awfully lively just now?" Shinobu taunted with a sweet but dangerous smile. "You’ve got the guts to grope my girls but not to show your face, Marcus-kun?"
The hand didn’t so much as flinch.
Shinobu raised it to eye level and delivered a sharp smack to the center of the palm.
!!
The thumb curled up on pure reflex, but stretched right back out to keep up the act.
Shinobu let out a laugh of resignation and annoyance.
She tossed the limb onto the table and turned to Kanao, who was still in the corner with her head down and her face flushed.
"You really...," Shinobu tapped her forehead, looking at her with a mix of fury and disbelief. "He grabs your ass like that and you don’t even say anything?"
Kanao swayed in embarrassment, defending herself in a thin voice.
"I... I didn’t want to either... He insisted..."
"He insists and you just let him?" Shinobu challenged, arching an eyebrow. "If he decides to set up shop on top of you, are you going to build him a nest too?"
Kanao’s face turned even redder, to the point that her ears burned.
"I-I couldn’t pull it off..."
"That’s simple," Shinobu replied in a dangerous tone. "You stick needles in it or cut it with a sword. It’s his, after all—it won’t hurt you one bit."
Kanao looked up for a second and quickly dropped her gaze again.
"But... it’s Marcus-kun’s hand... I can’t bring myself to hurt him..."
Shinobu brought a hand to her forehead, utterly defeated.
This girl was already head over heels for Marcus.
"Anyway...," she sighed.
Aoi, her clothes rumpled and one pigtail undone, stepped forward with clenched fists.
"Shinobu-sama, don’t blame Kanao. I was the disobedient one who touched the hand first..."
Shinobu waved it off. "Don’t blame yourself. That pervert did it on purpose. Whether you touched it or not, he was going to grope you all the same."
"So... you’re not mad at me?"
"What good does blaming you do? Fix your clothes and clean up this mess—you look like a pack of wild cats."
The four distraught girls, along with Kanao, set to tidying the room quickly.
Shinobu took a seat by the table and watched the hand in silence.
"The problem now is...," she cut in, making everyone freeze in place. "Where do we put this thing for the night?"
The room fell completely silent.
Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho hugged each other and took a step back in unison.
Aoi shrank her neck with a nervous giggle. Only Kanao, still shyly covering her skirt, spoke in a very low voice.
"Maybe... you could leave it in my room. I promise not to touch it..."
Shinobu shot a grim look at the hand on the table.
"It’s not that I’m afraid you’ll touch it... what scares me is that he’ll touch you, you silly girl," she warned with a bitter smile. "With that personality of yours, even if it climbs into your bed at midnight, you wouldn’t let out a single scream."
Kanao opened her mouth but no words came out. Her face lit up to the tips of her ears, she lowered her gaze and began twisting her fingers against the edge of her skirt.
Shinobu rubbed her temples. "Anyway, leave it in my room."
"Shinobu-sama..." Aoi spoke cautiously, "aren’t you afraid it’ll climb into your bed at midnight?"
Shinobu kept staring at the hand with a sweet, razor-edged smile. "We’ll see if Marcus-kun dares~"
Knowing full well that Marcus’s shamelessness had no limits, Shinobu made a stop at the laboratory before turning in.
From one of the cabinets she pulled out a thick, transparent bell jar, the kind she used for her experiments.
Upon entering her room, she grabbed the hand and set the glass dome down on the table with a sharp thud, trapping it underneath.
To top off the security, she took a length of hemp rope from the drawer, wound it around the glass a couple of times, and tied it firmly to the table. She made three tight knots, gave it a couple of tugs to confirm it wouldn’t even wobble, and dusted off her hands with satisfaction.
"Now there’ll be some peace," she murmured with a confident smile.
Right after, Shinobu got ready to change clothes and rest.
But as she unfastened her uniform and slid the fabric down, baring the curve of her shoulders, the hand beneath the glass seemed to straighten up like an attentive spectator...
"Knock, Knock, Knock."
The sound at the door interrupted the moment.
The hand inside the dome froze, and the instant Shinobu covered her shoulders, it flopped limp, losing all its enthusiasm.
"Come in."
Kanao poked her head in. "Shinobu-nee..."
"Is something wrong?"
Kanao glanced over at the tied-down container, a touch of pity in her eyes.
"Don’t even look at it," Shinobu advised without the slightest interest. "The hand’s just like its owner. Instead of pitying that pervert, pity the poor girls he was groping."
Recalling how her ass had been squeezed just moments ago, Kanao flushed again.
"Shinobu-nee... are you going to Asakusa tomorrow?"
"...What is it, do you want to come too?"
Kanao fidgeted with her fingers shyly. "I... I’d like to go see... to see how Marcus-kun is doing right now..."
Shinobu laughed with amusement. "He’s doing wonderfully—surrounded by a group of girls waiting on him and sleeping soundly."
She expected a flash of jealousy from the young girl, but Kanao let out a sigh of relief. "That’s good... I was scared people would reject him just for turning into a Vampire."
Witnessing such devotion, Shinobu inhaled deeply to keep from losing her patience.
"Alright, go get some rest. We set out at dawn tomorrow."
Kanao brightened instantly. "Thank you so much, Shinobu-nee!"
The moment Kanao stepped through the door, the trapped hand came back to life and started thrashing with renewed spirits.
But the very next second, Shinobu tossed her haori over it, covering the bell jar completely and leaving it in absolute darkness.
"All you know how to do is charm young girls... I don’t want to look at you!"
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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
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