[ She almost half-expects Haruka to pop out of nowhere and beg her not to beat this guy's face in. But he's not coming.

And that's good. Yes. Her breathing slows out of blackout attack zone into something that resembles something normal and she slumps down. ]

That's a really crappy joke.

I mean, this situation-- getting killed, apparently-- is bad enough, but if Ayano-chan died, wouldn't that be too unfair?