Oh, crap.
“Lindsay…”
Lindsay bolted.
“Shit! Lindsay, wait! Hold up!”
Lindsay didn’t hold up. Christine chased after the girl until she’d rushed out the door and disappeared into the crowd. She stood just outside of the restroom for several seconds, searching for her friend, but when it became clear that Lindsay had vanished, she gave up.
This… this is a good thing, right? I was going to let Lindsay know that I didn’t like her as anything more than a friend anyway. Christine clutched a hand to her chest. But if that’s the case, then why do I feel this way?
Standing amidst a crowded walkway but still feeling totally alone, Christine wondered if she’d just irreparably damaged her friendship with Lindsay.
Lilian knew that something had happened, but she didn’t know what. Lindsay had disappeared, and when Christine came back with Jessica, she was completely silent. No attempts at engaging the girl in conversation worked. Because of that, Lilian had decided to leave early.
She’d called up Kevin to let him know that she and Christine were going home, but he never answered his phone. He must have been doing something with his friends and didn’t hear his phone ring. She didn’t let his lack of response bother her.
The bus ride home was way too quiet for Lilian’s taste. She sat beside Christine, who looked like someone had murdered her goldfish. Lilian wanted to say something, anything, if only to break this monotonous silence, but she didn’t. There were other people on the bus. She didn’t want to confront her friend until they were safely at home.
“Hawawawawawa!”
As they walked home, she and Christine heard the familiar “hawa-ing” of her mom. Stopping, they turned their heads and watched as a naked Camellia ran away from a frantic Kirihime, who was holding a towel and looked like she was trying to dry off the older woman.
“M-My Lady Camellia! Please stop running! You’re showing yourself off to everyone!”
“Hawawawa! Camellia is free! Free!”
As the two disappeared around a corner, Lilian and Christine looked at each other.
“Let’s pretend we didn’t see that,” Lilian suggested.
Christine, after a moment’s thought, slowly nodded. “Agreed.”
They made it home after that. When they entered the small apartment, both of them caught the delectable scent of Kotohime’s cooking, which had a distinctly oriental aroma to it. After closing the door behind them, Kotohime wandered out of the kitchen and smiled at them.
“Lilian-sama, Christine-san, welcome back.”
“It’s good to be back,” Lilian said.
“Where are Kevin-sama and Iris-sama?”
“I think they’re still doing some shopping.”
“I see. And what of Lindsay-san? Has she gone home too?”
Lilian saw Christine flinch out of her peripheral vision. They were really going to have to talk soon.
“I think so,” she said.
Kotohime paused, and Lilian had the distinct sense that the woman was taking in her response. Another moment passed, then she nodded. “Very well. In any case, dinner will be ready soon, so please get cleaned up.”
“Okay.”
Because these apartments were all temporary residences, there was no plumbing. Of course, this also meant they didn’t have water coming directly to them. Their appliances were also all electric and not gas. They ran off a series of easily removable generators that were plugged up to each building.
Since they didn’t have plumbing, there was no shower in their apartment, which also meant they couldn’t get cleaned up. To remedy this, all apartments came equipped with sanitizer in the bathrooms and kitchen. Of course, the bathroom was nothing more than a glorified porta potty that was cleaned out every day by the sanitization unit, but that was neither here nor there.
“Come on, Christine.”
Lilian grabbed her nonresponsive friend by the hand and led her into the bedroom that she shared with Kevin and Iris. It was a very small room. However, some of the reason for that might have been due to how cluttered it was. While the room was neat, and the floor was clean, there was a lot of stuff in their room. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled to bursting with anime and manga. One wall was dedicated entirely to posters and wall scrolls. The bed took up a fourth of the room itself, and their desk another good chunk. Then there was the rest of the furniture.
Iris had once suggested they get rid of the bookshelves to make more space. She and Kevin had shot her down quicker than Char Aznable shot down mobile suits.
“Sit down.”
She directed Christine toward the bed, then sat down herself. Lilian spent another moment of silently contemplating the yuki-onna before deciding to speak up.
“Something happened with Lindsay, didn’t it?” Christine nodded. “Do you want to tell me about it?” When Christine said nothing, Lilian placed an arm around her shoulder. “You know, while telling me what happened may not help, I think it would make you feel a little better. Let me help you, Christine.”
Perhaps it was the physical contact, or maybe Christine was able to feel her sincere desire to help, but her friend broke down and told Lilian about what happened between her and Lindsay. By the end of it, Lilian had pulled Christine into a hug, letting the yuki-onna’s head rest against her bosoms. While her friend didn’t cry, she did shudder a little within her arms.
I wonder if there’s some way I can fix this, Lilian thought as she held the fragile-looking girl in her arms.
Iris woke up with a headache and cramped limbs.
Opening her eyes, she discovered that the reason she had cramps was because her limbs had been bound, and she’d been tied to a wall with ropes. She frowned. Had something interesting happened that she couldn’t remember? No, that couldn’t be it. The last thing that she remembered was…
Oh, crap.
Cracking her eyes open, Iris saw seven people hanging around what appeared to be the interior of a concrete hut. Some stood around, while others merely lounged on the floor. They were a mixture of human and yokai. To her left, a boy with floppy dog ears and a bushy tail sat. Beside him was an itachi—a weasel boy. On the other side, two creatures who looked like miniature oni sat playing a game of dice. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, was another human.
She recognized these people. They were the ones who’d tried to hit on her back at the mall. She’d enchanted them to “kidnap” her in order to convince Kevin to come rushing to her rescue. Her plan had been to make him realize how important she was to him, and then, after he “rescued” her, she would lecture him about how it was his fault that she’d been kidnapped. The goal was to force him into publicly announcing their relationship.
I think something went wrong… eh?
“I see you’re finally awake, Princess,” the human leaning against the wall said. “I hope you aren’t too uncomfortable. We were a bit rough with you.”
Princess?
Iris frowned internally, but smiled outwardly. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I rather like it rough, though I would like to know why you knocked me out and tied me up.”
“What do you mean? We’re just doing what you wanted us to do, Princess.”
“And that is?”
“We’re going to teach that arrogant son of bitch who’s been ignoring you a lesson, of course.” The words had not come from the man in front of her, but from the inu, who was no longer crouching on the floor but walking towards her. “That is what you wanted, isn’t it? You wanted us to kidnap you and kill the fool who would dare to ignore you.”
Uh oh. This isn’t good…
“I think killing him is a little harsh,” Iris tried to say. “Maybe if you just roughed him up a little…”
“What are you saying, Princess?” one of the oni-like creatures said. “Are you saying we should forgive this man for ignoring you?”
“That’s unacceptable!” the other spat. “For someone to ignore you is blasph
emy of the highest order. He deserves to die!”
Something was really wrong here. Iris might have enchanted these people, but they shouldn’t be reacting so violently. Her orders had been to put up a fight before giving up and surrendering. Why were they acting like deranged, overly obsessive stalkers…?
Their eyes…
She hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that she was paying more attention, she saw the delusional glaze in their eyes. They appeared almost drugged.
My enchantment overpowered their resistance.
Iris knew that her enchantment, Aura of Allure, was a powerful technique. However, she’d forgotten just how powerful. Living with Kevin, who could resist it, made her forget about the effect it had on normal people—even yokai.
I must have accidentally put more youki into my technique than I intended.
“Hey, Princess,” the human started talking again. “Do you think we can have some fun after killing that jerk who ignored you?”
Iris almost dreaded asking. “Fun?”
While the dog licked his lips, the human grinned. “Of course. Shouldn’t you reward your loyal subjects for doing such a good job? It’s only natural, right?”
Iris squirmed uncomfortably. Was he saying that they planned on raping her, or would they not do anything if she came up with an excuse for why they couldn’t have “fun” with her?
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Iris said, and all the boys nodded in eager agreement. “But, as a princess, I have to remain pure. I can’t have sex on a whim, you understand.”
The human chuckled. “This wouldn’t be a whim. We’re your loyal subjects, after all. It’s only natural for a princess to please her subjects.”
The men began to crowd around her, and Iris realized that her enchantment really had gotten out of control. They were losing themselves to their lust.
Damn it! All I wanted was to make a situation where the stud would be forced to accept our relationship more openly. I didn’t want this!
“Ha… ha… Kyle… I don’t think I can wait for that guy we’re gonna kill to show up,” one of the oni creatures said.
“Let’s have some fun before he arrives…” the other added. Both of them were breathing heavily.
“That sounds like a great idea,” the human said. She guessed he was Kyle.
Iris had never really felt panic before. Even when Lilian was kidnaped, or when she fought against creatures more powerful than her, she’d never felt the kind of terror that she was feeling now. She had always joked about how she loved to have random orgies, but now that she was in this position, the idea didn’t seem so appealing anymore.
No… I don’t want this… I don’t want these people… w-what should I do now?
The men closed around her.
Why… why did I do something so stupid… damn it…
The loud bang of a door being slammed open echoed across the room, stopping the boys in their tracks. Everyone turned around. Iris looked up, blinking several times as she realized who stood in the doorway.
Kevin.
Indeed, it was Kevin, and, maybe it was just her imagination, but he looked nearly apoplectic. He surveyed the men standing around her. One of them was close to groping her breasts, and his eyes seemed to lock onto that hand.
“I don’t know who you people are, but I suggest you step away from Iris,” Kevin said. Iris shivered. There was something not quite right about the timbre of his voice.
“Is this the guy we’re supposed to kill?” one of the oni creatures asked.
“I think so,” the other said.
“Then let’s hurry up and kill him.” The inu cracked his knuckles.
Iris was worried. She knew that Kevin didn’t have his weapons on him. In a one-on-one fight, he could probably beat any one of these yokai senseless, but she didn’t know if he could beat them all at the same time.
As the group rushed at Kevin, she tried to channel youki through her tails. However, the moment she tried, her mind exploded with pain, leaving her gasping. Something that had been coiled around her tail suddenly loosened. It was a hand, she realized belatedly.
“Sorry, Princess,” Kyle said. He must have stayed back because he was a human. “We can’t have you using your powers to slay this man. It’s only right that you let us servants do this for you.”
Does he really think that’s what I was going for or is he just delusional?
Left with no other choice, Iris forced herself to watch the fight that was about to take place.
Kevin hadn’t realized that he could get this upset.
Sure, he’d been angry when Lilian had been kidnapped, but he’d been too worried about her to stay angry for long. And yeah, it pissed him off when he’d learned that Justin was a spy, but he understood, logically, that Justin had been a spy since before they became friends. There were extenuating factors that kept his anger from growing.
He didn’t have anything keeping him from not being angry here. He didn’t know who he was angry at yet, but it didn’t change the fact that he was angry. Very angry.
There were seven people in the room besides himself and Iris. One was human. Two appeared to be miniature oni. He knew what they were, though their names eluded him at the moment. There was also an inu, an itachi, a satori—an ape-man—and a kamikiri—an anthropomorphic creature with a scissor-like beak and hands like razors. All of them were gunning for him.
That was fine.
He needed an outlet for his anger.
Kevin felt the wind soar past him as he shuffled across the floor. The wind that the itachi had summoned slammed into the wall on the far side and tore through it like it was wet paper. He ignored the damage and confronted the inu, who was the first opponent to reach him.
Raising his left hand, Kevin swatted the incoming fist away, knocking the underside of the inu’s wrist and forcing it over his shoulder. Then he was in the inu’s guard. The crack of his open palm slamming into the dog’s chin resounded through the interior. Kevin felt the impact in his joints, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through it.
Teeth flew from the inu’s mouth as the dog stumbled backwards, but it was only for several steps. Then Kevin grabbed his flailing wrist and tugged him into the line of fire for another blast of wind. The feeling of someone getting ripped out of his grasp nearly made Kevin stumble, but he planted his left foot firmly on the ground. His dog yokai opponent wasn’t so lucky. The wind smashed into the inu and sent him rocketing backwards, where he crashed into a wall, which subsequently collapsed and buried him under a pile of rubble.
“Seth!” the itachi screamed.
Get the weasel, a voice identical to his own whispered in his head.
Having been taught to always go for the weakest link, Kevin rushed at the itachi, who was too surprised to do anything. There were no words given. Kevin didn’t call out the name of his attack. He leapt into the air and drilled the yokai with a reverse spinning heel kick. There was an odd crunch sound, and he thought he felt the creature’s jaw break. The itachi spun around several times before crumbling to the floor.
“He got Michael!” one of the oni shouted.
“Let’s get him!” the other screamed.
Kevin danced across the floor, shuffling backwards and weaving between club swings. His hair was ruffled from several near misses. Slipping further into his false opening style, he purposefully left himself open to attack.
A thrust was dodged when he spun around. Grabbing onto the club, Kevin yanked the oni creature into his waiting fist. As the yokai stumbled backwards, bleeding from the nose, he spun around, raised his leg, and slammed it straight into the ground. His timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The club that had been swung by the other yokai was smashed into the floor, trapped between his foot and the concrete. Kevin then swung his foot back up, clipping the yokai in the chin.
Movement caught his attention, and Kevin spun around, knocking aside several razor-like hands that tried to pierce him. He present
ed an opening in his left flank. The kamikiri sensed the weak spot, as most yokai could, and didn’t hesitate to attack. Kevin shuffled to the right. As the hand whizzed past him, he grabbed the kamikiri’s wrist, then slammed the boy’s elbow into his knee.
Crunch!
“Gya!”
As the kamikiri stumbled back, his arm broken, Kevin took two steps forward, jumped, and planted his foot into the yokai’s face. The kamikiri went down like a sack of bricks being dropped into a lake.
He frowned when he saw the two oni creatures had recovered and were charging at him. Shouldn’t there have been one more opponent?
Gibbering from above caught his attention. Kevin leapt back just as something heavy landed on the ground, indenting the concrete floor. It was the satori. It stood with a stoop, and its hairy body appeared more monkey than man. Long arms and large hands dangled to the floor, while squat legs stood with a stoop. The yokai gibbered at him. Then it charged alongside the two oni creatures.
Kevin’s breathing grew labored as he was forced to dodge multiple punches coming in from multiple directions. Only his fighting style, which allowed him to force their attacks into a path of his design, kept him from being killed. A punch to his weak point was dodged when he slapped the hand down and leapt over it. Two club swings were avoided after he tucked himself into a forward roll. Coming up behind the oni creatures, Kevin grabbed one by the shirt, and threw him into the incoming satori. The two went down. He then attacked the other oni creature with a rabbit punch to the throat. Grabbing the club that the creature dropped, he bashed it over the head. Its body went limp.
“Bro!” the other oni creature shouted—only to also be knocked unconscious when Kevin cracked it upside the head with a heel drop.
Turning, Kevin faced the satori, who stood several feet away, gawking at him.
“You’re the only yokai left,” Kevin said. “Come here and let me smash your face in.”
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