Chapter One: Markers, Mayonnaise and Maki Maki (ver 2.0)
Natsuki's hand hovered over the door, a sudden wave of hesitation halting her movements. What was this feeling? Excitement? Natsuki tilted her head. Anxiety? No, that wasn't it either. Fear? She paused at the last thought. Fear? Was it fear? It couldn't be.
Today was a good day. It would be a very good day.
The sun's rays dipped with calming, drowsy, warmth. The pink sakura petals danced in the gentle breeze. Even the songbirds were twittering away their silly love melodies. It was an idyllic spring day. Nothing could possibly go wrong on a day like this.
No, it couldn't be fear.
Natsuki shook the thought out of her head and knocked aggressively against the door, nearly hitting Shizuru in the face when the former student council president finally opened it.
"Ara, what a pleasant surprise." Shizuru said with a genuine smile. "Did Natsuki miss Shizuru so quickly?"
Natsuki smiled back, trying sheepishly to rub the nervousness out of the back of her neck. "Hello, Shizuru. Can I come in?"
"Of course."
Even though Natsuki could begin to feel the panic bubbling up, it really was good to see Shizuru again. Despite the older girl's threats of staying back a year, she had moved to the local university in the area, and from the look of half-opened boxes in the room, she still had a bit of unpacking to do.
"It looks like Natsuki has something to say to me."
"Uh, yeah," Natsuki said gruffly. "Here."
Natsuki held out a piece of paper to Shizuru.
"What is this?" Shizuru asked.
"Well," Natsuki began, "I've been thinking about several things." She paused, realizing she hadn't actually thought through the execution of her plan. "I think it would be the best for the both of us to look at the relationship from a different angle. You know, like some formal ground rules for our behavior."
"So, a contract of sorts?" Shizuru lifted an eyebrow.
"Right, something like that."
"Ara, Natsuki is thinking of such things for our future." Shizuru gave a warm smile. "I shall look forward to reading it."
Shizuru took the paper from her hands and began to read, leaving Natsuki to wait for a response.
Over the years, Natsuki had come to notice the more subtle moods of the former president that others would miss. It might have been a small curve of the lips or the subtle darkening of the eyes, a raised eyebrow, or maybe just a slight tensing of the face, but today was different. Her poker face was perfect. No matter how much Natsuki stared; she only saw the calm mask of ease that blocked any outsiders from knowing her true feelings.
It was unnerving and dangerous. All Natsuki could do was wait in antagonizing silence as Shizuru read the contract several times over, her eyes flicking over the neatly typed and numbered rules.
Natsuki coughed. "There's also something on the back."
Shizuru flipped the page over.
The document so far had been carefully calculated and worded. Printed on thick resume paper and likely spot-checked by Yukino, the document resonated with professionalism. However, all of this contrasted dramatically against the single line scrawled in pencil that read: "I, Kuga Natsuki, will not run away."
It was a line that made Shizuru's heart skip a beat.
Shizuru held her impassive, gently smiling expression, with nary a twitch in sight.
"Natsuki," She began, letting the word roll seductively over her tongue, "It appears that Natsuki gets many more points than Shizuru does. This can't possibly be fair."
Despite the hairs rising on the back of her neck, Natsuki couldn't help but let the words slip out, her mouth moving much faster than her brain.
"Life isn't fair. Just sign it."
Shiziru contemplated it for a moment, with an ever calm smile on her face. "Hmm, if it is what dear Natsuki wants, Shizuru will sign it."
"Yes," Natsuki stressed the syllable, "Natsuki wants Shizuru to sign it."
Impulsively, Natsuki offered a sharpie pen to Shizuru, letting her dreams of safety get the best of her.
Shizuru's smile turned into a more dangerous, sinister one, as she took the pen and motioned forward to sign the paper. However, not a single drop of ink appeared on the paper for Shizuru went straight for Natsuki's face instead.
The cold sensation of ink drying on skin. The distinctive fumes that screamed of permanent-ness.
"What is this?" Natsuki said, with a dead pan expression, as she felt the felt-tip marker swirling counterclockwise on her left cheek.
"Punishment."
ch 1
It was a duel.
A battle to end all battles.
It was a marker fight with permanent ink.
And Shizuru had fired the opening shot: a spiral on Natsuki's left cheek.
Natsuki jumped backwards, whipping out her spare sharpie. She had prepared for the eventuality that Shizuru would simply steal the pen, but she had not considered the possibility that she would start a marker fight.
It was also not on the contract.
The two circled each other, wolf and snake, looking for weaknesses. Both wielded the markers as if it were more a knife than a harmless pen, with arms loosely held out in front so as to counter any attacks and be able to quickly jab if the opportunity presented itself.
Now that both were on the offensive, they were quite even. After the surprise attack, Shizuru hadn't managed to get any more marks on Natsuki, nor could Natsuki land a mark on Shizuru.
A tense silence took up the room that was further highlighted by the sound of irritated breathing. Shizuru took this opportunity to discuss matters further. She cleared her throat, and began to read verbatim from the contract.
"Rule number 34: Shizuru must not ever bring negi, leeks, spring onions, or any other sort of insidious vegetables near Natsuki. Ever."
Natsuki frowned, warily taking another counter-step to face Shizuru directly. "And, what exactly is so wrong with that?"
Shizuru's mischievous smile returned, "Ara, but what about when Natsuki gets feverishly sick? It would be terribly lonely for Shizuru, if you were to die from fever." She pouted making Natsuki involuntarily wince. Shizuru smirked at that and continued: "And, well, you must admit that it was fun wasn't it?"
Natsuki felt a vein pop in her temple while her face took on an unnaturally red hue. The two took another step counter clockwise, looking for further weaknesses.
Shizuru kept on grinning like a Cheshire cat at the unnaturally long pause.
"No it wasn't. I just--NO," Kuga defended herself, "I was sick, and everyone was THERE. Don't bring up traumatizing memories!"
"Hmm, but I thought Natsuki was rather cute when—"
"Stop, just shut up about that!"
Without any warning, Natsuki dashed forward with the marker in hand aiming for Shizuru's upper arm.
Shizuru blocked the attack with her own pen, and they found themselves merely a step away from one another, sharpies in deadlock. The plastic casings of the pens rattled in an absurd manner.
"Come on, there's nothing wrong with the contract. Just sign it!" Natsuki said, getting more annoyed by the moment at her inability to make a mark on the other woman.
"Ara, but I don't really feel like it."
"And why not?" Natsuki gritted through her teeth.
Shizuru pulled dangerously closer to Natsuki's face, so close that Natsuki could feel the other woman's warm breath tickle her face.
"Because," Shizuru said smoothly, despite feeling the strain in her arm from the prolonged battle, "Then I can't do things like this."
Shizuru kissed Natsuki quickly on the lips before the other girl could pull away.
Sputtering, and another shade of red darker, Natsuki took another step back. "I—I'm still mad at you!"
"Are you really?" Shizuru smiled at her.
Irritated enough and as bright as a Christmas bulb, Natsuki couldn't take it anymore. Her leg swept out, catching the taller girl's ankle, and then pushed forward. They both fell, with Natsuki landing on top. She scrambled to pin down Shizuru's arms with her knees.
With the breath knocked out of her, Shizuru looked up at Natsuki in surprise. It took her a moment for her brain to catch up to the situation. "Now, what exactly does Natsuki have in mind?" Shizuru looked quizzically into those triumphant emerald eyes.
Natsuki grinned, bringing her sharpie closer to Shizuru's face. "Nothing much," Natsuki replied in a sinister tone, before frantically writing upon Shizuru's forehead in thick, hurried, movements.
Shizuru being both somewhat intrigued and annoyed by this position sighed.
"How easily I am tricked. Natsuki is being so mean today too."
To prevent Natsuki from completing the decorative border that Shizuru could feel was being drawn around her forehead, Shizuru bent her elbows, for there was thankfully enough leeway to do so, to tickle Natsuki's sides.
The girl immediately stopped her drawing, and started bursting out in peals of uncontrollable laughter.
"Ha, Hahaha that's no fair—" Natsuki protested, her pen dropped, as she tried to protect her sides from the attack. "No--HaHa--fair."
Such a weak spot for a girl to have. With Natsuki properly distracted, Shizuru them rolled over, with her landing on top this time, and then continued tickling Natsuki.
"And as you ask, I shall sign, since my dear Natsuki asked so many times."
Before Natsuki could react to prevent the coming attack, Shizuru began to write on Natsuki's forehead with frightening speed and accuracy. When it was done, Shizuru could not help but continue to tickle Natsuki.
The poor girl just couldn't take the torment anymore.
"Stop! Truce! " Natsuki got out in between involuntary laughter. Finally realizing what it would take to make it stop, Natsuki yelled: "CONTRACT VOID!"
Oh, that last one got Shizuru's attention. Shizuru gave Natsuki another smile before letting her up.
Composing herself, Natsuki still couldn't help but snicker at the sight of Fujino.
"Ara, what exactly did you write?"
"Well, what did you write?"
Shizuru smiled devilishly at her.
Almost at once, they bounded toward the small bathroom laughing along the way—that is, laugh they did until they finally got a look in the mirror.
Silence overtook the room as they gazed in horror at their reflection.
"Ah…." Both of them said in unison.
ch 1
After hearing the apartment door slam, Shizuru, pondered upon whether she had teased Natsuki a little too far this time.
Well, maybe just a little too much.
It was worth it though. Today was fun. Her heart was still fluttering out of control, racing like it always did after playing with Natsuki. Her Natsuki.
Shizuru couldn't help but smile. Even though Natsuki had brought over that silly document filled with wanton recollections of all the times she had deeply embarrassed the girl, it still spoke volumes by just existing. Natsuki was trying to guard herself, but still, she still wanted this to work. She wanted them to work, and Shizuru couldn't be happier.
Because Natsuki wasn't going to run away.
Fun and revelations. It was a good mix. Though, it would have been better if Natsuki had brought water-soluble markers. Shizuru gingerly touched her forehead. It wouldn't do walking about the school in this manner. It would definitely give off the wrong impression. The words on her forehead might have helped to deter any more fangirl clubs from forming, but on the other hand, it might just attract the wrong crowd.
Well, it was better to be safe than sorry. Resisting the urge to perform any new social experiments at her own expense, Shizuru walked toward the half-opened boxes placed in the corner of the room.
Shizuru frowned upon the clutter. That too would be dealt with in time, but there were more important things to take care of. After a few minutes of rummaging through the boxes, she managed to take out a set of white headbands that had been left over from spirit week.
Perfect.
Dusting off the headband, Shizuru tied it around her forehead and nodded in satisfaction. One problem was taken care of at least.
Her other problem was that Natsuki would be angry for a while too.
Natsuki being angry wasn't necessarily the issue. Observing a grumpy Natsuki was an amusing experience in itself. Shizuru loved that part of her, all of those parts. Anger, embarrassment, joy, her emotions were displayed to the world, as clear as could be, despite the distance she put between herself and others in order to shield herself.
Watching her was intoxicating.
There was so much emotion, raw and undistilled, that others simply failed to see.
An angry Natsuki was not the problem. An angry Natsuki that was mad at her just would not do.
Shizuru would help cheer her up.
A very simple way to do this would be to tone down her actions for a week or so. Natsuki would be pleased that Shizuru had listened, happy that perhaps she had won out on her argument, but then again that was no fun. After all, who needed stifling change when simple bribery would work?
Now, what to bribe her with?
Natsuki's favorite things besides Shizuru were dogs, motorcycles, and mayonnaise.
Unfortunately, Natsuki's apartment was far too small for a dog, and she already had a favorite motorcycle, so all that was left was mayonnaise.
Yes, she would fix things with mayonnaise.
This was a simple misunderstanding, surely, (though it would be a misunderstanding visible in the mirror each day), and in exchange a simple gift should patch things up. Mayonnaise was, after all, just eggs and oil beaten into submission until it emulsified. Shizuru thought that that in itself was rather poetic.
But, any old store bought would mayonnaise not be sufficient. Shizuru knew that the other girl kept stashes of the stuff hidden in the apartment, even if there was no other food left in the girl's fridge.
She would have to make it by hand.
It was just her luck that she had all of the ingredients too: salad oil, eggs, white miso, lemons and salt. Bringing all of the ingredients together, Shizuru found a whisk and a large bowl before sitting down. This would take a while to make, but it would be quite worth the effort.
After a few attempts at breaking eggs, she put them in along with the lemon juice, and then slowly began adding the oil. Stirring round and round with the whisk, Shizuru could not help but say: "Maki Maki."
She stopped for a moment, her head tilted in thought.
"Now where did I hear that from before?"
ch 1
"STOP LAUGHING!" Natsuki yelled into the headset.
"But I, But I. --" The tinny voice from the speaker started laughing uncontrollably, "I—I CAN'T BREATHE!" she managed to make out.
"Idiot!"
Natsuki hung up the phone.
The permanent marker, Mai had assured her, would not come off for a full week.
Natsuki was mortified. She would either have to live like a hermit for the rest of the week, skipping her extra classes and be forced to repeat a year, or suck it up and become the laughing stock of the school.
Well, would it really be that bad repeating a year?
A knock on the door interrupted her internal debate. Natsuki sighed, it was probably her again. She just wasn't in the mood.
"Go away."
"But I come bearing gifts!" A muffled voice floated from the doorway.
"Beware of gifts from Greeks."
"Hmmph, at the very least I know you didn't skip that history lecture, and I'm not Greek." Natsuki could feel Shizuru pouting from outside the door. "Come on, let me in. Please? Pretty please? I can tell you that what I have is one of Natsuki's favorites."
"Please?"
Natsuki's eyebrow started to twitch. If she didn't open the door Shizuru wouldn't give up. She huffed in frustration, and got up to open the door.
"What is it?"
Shizuru smiled at her, a white head-band covering the word written on her forehead. "As I said, I come bearing gifts."
Shizuru held out a similar white headband and a jar of yellowish substance.
"The headband is so Natsuki can go to school without too much embarrassment."
"So I can show my fighting spirit, huh?" Natsuki picked up the headband halfheartedly. Shizuru might get away with such a display, but Natsuki couldn't.
"And this is, mayonnaise, lovingly made by me!"
Natsuki eyed the jar of her favorite condiment and felt her resentments buckling by the second.
"Come on in then."
Sure Natsuki was still upset, but who on earth could resist home-made mayonnaise?
ch 1
What had started as a simple peace offering would create severe and unknown consequences in exactly another 5 hours 42 minutes and 24 seconds.
It was not particularly the mayonnaise's fault.
Like everything else in the world, every effect stemmed from a multitude of causes.
For example one could blame the poor cute bacteria that had been living in the raw eggs.
Or how Natsuki had absent mindedly threw the mayonnaise on the counter to protect her lips when Shizuru tried to steal a kiss.
Or perhaps it was the very fact that someone was bored enough in the 18th century to try and mix eggs and oil for a very long time.
Regardless of the reasons why, the Salmonella multiplied easily on the counter, no doubt, helped by the warm spring time weather.
ch 1
Time passed.
Mayonnaise was mixed with instant ramen.
And then things were not good.
ch 1
Kuga Natsuki wasn't quite sure what she had done to deserve this hell.
Revenge, this must be revenge wasn't it? Or was it Karma?
Oh, Natsuki was sure that Shizuru hadn't intentionally done it. After all, Natsuki had only forgotten that Shizuru couldn't cook. But how the hell could she possibly turn away mayonnaise?
Another wave of nausea sent Natsuki running to her bathroom, and she found herself staring at the toilet bowl. Feeling hot, sweaty, and nauseous, Natsuki wished that her body would make up its mind about the contents of her stomach. There couldn't possibly be anything left to throw up could there?
Natsuki sat down on the tile, and waited out for her body to calm down. Sitting was a bit better. She was a bit dizzy at any rate, and wait, was that a slight ringing in her ears? Natsuki shook her head.
She supposed that it would be best to call someone up to help her.
But…
Well, she didn't want to let anyone else to see her like this.
And, they might bring negi again.
Natsuki found herself staring into space, before two thudding footsteps made her look up. Shock couldn't quite reach her muddled brain. There was someone there, but the footsteps had come from the distinct area where Kuga knew was supposed to be a good solid wall, filled with plaster and concrete.
Was she hallucinating?
A somewhat imposing figure towered over Natsuki as she curled up around the toilet for dear life, fighting yet another wave of nausea. If it was not for her trying to puke out her guts from the comfort of her own bathroom, she could have swore she had seen this exact same scene from some place.
Deciding to let her finish, the man in question stared down at her with small reflective sunglasses. He had a bald head with dark complexion and an equally dark trench coat to match. Seeing that Natsuki finally caught her breath from all of the dry retching, he held out his hands in front of him and slowly opened them with dramatic flair.
It was all strangely familiar. Too familiar.
In his hands were a red and a blue pill.
"Greetings," The voice was a deep rumbling baritone, which oddly enough reminded her of a domesticated Lion, "My name is Mor—"
"Bu-Bu-BLUE!" Kuga blurted out, suddenly remembering from memory. "Blue, fucking, Blue!"
Natsuki leapt out and grabbed the blue pill out of the startled man's hand, fighting another wave of nausea as she greedily dry swallowed the pill.
"Oh. Oh really? But, I didn't even get to explain what the colors meant yet." He frowned. "You ruined my part you know."
The man let out a "humph" and zipped away as soon as he came. Presumably down the toilet if her eyes were to be believed, but just to make sure, she gave it another flush.
Whoosh.
The world warped again, and Kuga let out a sigh of relief. The blue pill meant she would go back to her own reality: of clutching the toilet bowl, and hopefully not waking up unconscious on the bathroom floor. She would never hear the end of it, if Shizuru had found her there, or Mai, or anyone else for that matter.
Content with her decision, and her nausea curiously sated for the moment, Natsuki waited for the world to warp back to her familiar surroundings. She wanted to wake up after all.
However, her surroundings didn't cooperate with her. Instead, she felt her cheeks flush with even more fever, as the room got substantially darker. An unsettling feeling reached the pit of her already unsettled stomach when she realized that there wasn't much here at all, except for the pink elephants in the room.
"Oi, Duran, why the hell are you here?"
Duran, who had all the reasons in the world to be where he was, merely scratched his head in embarrassment with his hind paw.
"And," Natsuki continued, "why the hell is Kiyohime here too?"
A serpentine tongue flicked out in greeting.
Natsuki could not help but think that there was something spectacularly wrong, like perhaps she was now dying from food poisoning, or rather just poisoning in general.
She could see her epitaph now:
Kuga Natsuki, had to repeat a year, died from eating mayonnaise. Fujino Shizuru dances on grave.
PuriPuri Puri Bang!
Juliet Nao Zheng looked over her companion and held her grin at bay. Kruger definitely lacked the street smarts that Nao had gained during her leadership of the Stripes. Without Nao, Kruger would have undoubtedly been captured from the get go, but still, she liked the woman, respected her even.
Who else could pay attention to all of the boring politics that kept Earl relatively peaceful?
And maybe that's why she was enjoying this so much. Well, that, and the fact that the woman was so easy to tease.
"Are we really doing this?" Kruger asked.
Oh, so more encouragement was needed. Nao looked at her.
"Aren't we going to see that President who wears glasses? Even though we've crossed the border, it's still pretty far to the capital of Ealis." Nao paused. "Don't tell me, you don't have any confidence?"
"Shut up! If I get serious, getting a car or two won't be a problem." The Gakuenchou's face contorted into an angry pout.
"Then why don't you prove it to me?" Nao spoke, letting the challenge hang in the air.
With a huff, Kruger threw her overcoat over her shoulder, and stiffly stuck out her thumb.
Nao stopped herself from laughing. Oh, this was, wow, the Gakuenchou was hopeless. Didn't that Viola woman teach her anything? Nao looked at Kruger with appraising eyes. At this rate, they would be stuck in this desert forever.
"You think that's enough for them to stop? Your pose should be sexier." Nao demonstrated her technique, perfected with years of practice.
"Why would I do something that embarrassing?" Kruger's eye twitched.
Oh, yes that Gaukuenchou was totally hopeless. She would need some help. Kruger's guard was wide open too and Nao just couldn't stop herself.
Her nail file came out, the one that she kept surprisingly sharp at all times, and just like that, the belt was cut in two like a hot knife through butter.
"Yaaaa!" screamed Kruger dropping to her knees.
Nao smirked, as she saw the truck approaching closer, but something was wrong. In her peripheral vision she saw green sparks?
Frowning, Nao could only stare in shock as the Gakuenchou vanished before her very eyes. Kruger was disappearing, body fading into nothingness as the surreal green fireflies winked out in the daylight.
What was going on? The Gakuenchou had no master but Fumi-Shinso herself. Did someone destroy the Fumi-system?
As Nao thought of all the insane possibilities of what could have caused the demise of the Gakuenchou, a darker thought came into mind.
"Oh, crap." Nao spoke aloud. Viola was going to kill her.
ch 1
The green sparkles wavered in and out of existence, skipping along the air currents in the afternoon sun. Normally, they would have long ago disappeared into the ether, waiting to be reborn again, but they were being called. They were being drawn.
They were being summoned.
Slowly, slowly, for the journey had been long and the wind especially strong, the green sparkles drew themselves together at the center of an enormous incense spiral. Situated around the spiral were three slumbering students. Had the girls been awake to see it, it would have been a grand show, powerful, emotional, and most important: it would have been shiny.
The green sparks swirled mesmerizingly around and around the spiral, twirling like a wayward emerald encrusted twister. The sun hit its zenith, and then…
Kuga Natsuki appeared.
She landed on her ass, and before she had time to consider that, she smelt her clothes burning. Rolling as fast as she could, she fell off of the giant burning incense spiral before she let it set her school uniform on fire.
"Shit."
Natsuki patted out the smoldering cinders on her shoulder.
The person who had just materialized from shiny, magical, green particles was quite disoriented.
It wasn't just the appearing out of thin air, or the fact that she had landed on a giant incense spiral, or the knowledge that Munakata Shiho and two other unknown girls were dressed in odd maid uniforms and were sleeping around the spiral. It was something quite different from all of that.
She was forgetting something.
Just a moment ago Kuga had been playing a game of maid with Duran and Kiyohime (and had been losing quite horribly), but it felt like she was missing something. It was as if she had been told the secret of life, a truth so vitally important that was at the least very relevant to her situation. However, when she tried to recall what exactly it was, all her mind could do was draw up a complete blank.
But then again how does a squid-snake hold cards anyway? Or a metal wolf for that matter?
It must have been a hallucination. No, she took that back. She was still hallucinating.
Her thought was further validated by the sight of flies with faces. The horrific apparitions were diminutive and yet larger than what any normal house fly should rightfully be. Where a fly would naturally have the familiar multifaceted eyes and proboscis, was instead the face of a child.
It was weird and bad and gross. Natsuki was sure that she was probably twitching on her bathroom floor, in her last death spasms.
Despite the horrific hallucination, it was not enough for them to simply exist. The three mutated flies moved steadily toward her face. Natsuki leapt back from the predatory flies and felt her stomach lurch in an unpleasant manner. As much as she could handle, Natsuki tried avoiding the flies and swatted them away several times, but time after time they kept on approaching her left cheek. Was there something left on her cheek that would attract the flies? But then again, since when did hallucinations ever make sense?
After a few minutes of running about, Natsuki was finally overcome by a wave of light-headedness that forced her to sit down. In her moment of weakness the flies landed on her face. Natsuki heard a triumphant but faint burp and the odd "Maki Maki" reaching her ears.
Leave me alone already.
In irritation, Natsuki smacked her left cheek, but before she could either feel proud that she had stopped the flies, or disgusted that there was bug guts on her face, three shrill screams pierced the air.
The sleeping girls snapped up simultaneously, and panted in fear, not noticing Natsuki at first.
"Shiho, we should stop this. I've been getting bad dreams," said unknown girl #1.
Natsuki looked at her right hand in curiosity. There was nothing there, not a mark or scratch, or trace of any bug innards. How odd. Natsuki's cheek still stung though.
"Yes, we should stop this!" said unknown girl #2.
"How can you stop? You can't just stop now." Shiho growled as her hair started to move impossibly by its own free will. "We're so close I can feel it!"
"Um, Shiho…" unknown girl #1 tried to point out Natsuki.
Noticing what the first girl was pointing at, unknown girl #2 felt her jaw drop.
"You two have no passion. That's why it isn't working!"
"Shiho…" unknown girl #2 whispered.
"Don't interrupt!"
"But, just look behind you." Unknown girl #1 continued to point in Natsuki's direction.
"Look behind me? Why there's nothing behind me but trees." Munakata turned, "See there's noth—"
Shiho stopped in mid sentence.
Natsuki wasn't feeling very well at this point, and this irritability made her next statement drip with menace. "Greetings Munakata, I would ask you why you're wearing that ridiculous outfit, but this is all just a figment of my imagination, after all."
Shiho was speechless, though she did wonder who this Munakata person was, and why the Gakuenchou was wearing such strange garb.
"Shiho we should stop, really, I mean, we cursed the Gakuenchou!" unknown girl #1 said.
"Gakuenchou, why are you wearing that headband?" unknown girl #2 blurted out.
"If you're referring to me, I'm just feeling very spirited." Natsuki felt her eyes narrow. "Don't ask me about it."
"Oh." Unknown girl #2 muttered, "Oh… right that and those weird clothes. Gakuenchou, must be, um what do you call it, sneaking, uh, in-cog-ni-to."
Natsuki looked curiously at them all. Why on earth are these people calling her Gakuenchou? True, she had been held back a year due to the coma, but she was still a student all the same. Natsuki racked her brain trying to think of any situations that would have merited such an odd nickname.
Nothing came to mind.
"See how it worked? And to think that you people doubted me. It brought the Gakuenchou all the way back to campus, didn't it" Shiho declared.
The two girls nodded in acknowledgement.
Shiho rubbed her chin and squinted at Natsuki, "Being incognito is clever, but aren't you a little too old to pass for a student?"
Natsuki clenched her jaw"Am not!" Natsuki growled. Why were her figments of her imagination so rude to her too?
"But besides that," Shiho looking away from the death gaze, "Gakuenchou, the Bewitching Amethyst has been taken captive."
"A gem?" Natsuki asked.
Shiho's face scrunched up in slight confusion before clarifying, "Well the gems are offline, as you should probably know."
"And ever since that Nagi took over, things have just been falling apart!" Unknown girl #1 piped up.
Natsuki laughed. Everything that Nagi touched would fall apart.
Oh, Natsuki could play along at this game. "So basically you just want me to take the Bewitching Amethyst that has been locked in that tower? And it's really important right?"
"Ga-Gakuenchou, are you sure that headband is just for spirit?" Unknown girl #2 asked, "I mean, uh have you hit your head, to ask such odd questions…"
Natsuki looked at the girl quizzically.
Shiho ignored the previous statement, "But you do have a plan don't you?"
"Sure, I do" Natsuki calmly replied.
This hallucination was strange, but if it allowed her to torment Nagi by stealing some sort of weird gem, then by all means she would do it. With a determined gaze, Natsuki summoned her pistols.
"But the gems are offline, how did she—"
Natsuki ignored the comment, and instead focused on the cool feel of metal gracing her finger tips, as she drew her arms around herself and called out to her child.
"DURAN!"
Huge shards of ice erupted from the ground, growing impossibly huge, and inconceivably from nothing.
"A materialization!"
An icy gust invaded the forest; the unusually cool and pure air chilled them to the bones. As the girls looked on in shock, the shards hung there for a split second, an improbable manifestation of ice in spring, before it shattered—the tiny broken shards glittering like diamonds in the afternoon sun.
What it revealed left their jaws hanging open.
"A giant wolf…" the three girls whispered.
ch 1
Natsuki had to admit that Duran in this hallucination was rather impressive. He was large. No, more like impossibly huge; he was as big as he had been when she had fought Shizuru at their last showdown—perhaps even a little bigger than that.
This wasn't what she had been aiming for.
"Duran why are you so damn enormous?" Natsuki muttered to herself.
The dark mountain god, the great beast Yufasa, also known as Duran, or more commonly known as "puppy" by his master when no one was looking, cringed.
Duran tried to communicate in the least threatening manner possible.
"WOOOF"
The girls cowered behind Natsuki, making Duran whine. Well that didn't work quite so well. He was not used to being so large. He could not help it, after all.
Natsuki frowned. Well, so much for stealth.
Oh, to hell with it anyway. If she was more imaginative in her hallucinations, she could probably just fly or something.
"Duran, could you let me up?"
The giant wolf lowered himself and his head, so Natsuki could climb onto his snout.
"Are you girls coming?" Natsuki looked behind her.
The girls were frozen in spot.
"But… But how did?"
"Look, I don't feel like telling my life story right now. So are you coming or are you not?"
Shock still in their systems, the girls climbed on top of the giant metal beast, and settled at the far end of Duran's head.
Natsuki took a seat on the top of Duran's snout and then they bounded off into the distance, ready to steal the bewitching amethyst.
ch 1
Trees snapping like twigs, and students running away in abject horror from the sight of the giant wolf, all Natsuki could think about was the fact that she was getting motion sickness. She hoped they would find that building soon.
"There," Shiho said excitedly, "They just moved her to that room a while ago."
Odd how people personified inanimate objects, but Natsuki didn't question it.
"Over there you say?" She looked squinting at yet another European style building.
"Duran, get closer."
The huge wolf obliged, and positioned his snout just inches away from the room in question.
Natsuki looked through the barred window.
She couldn't believe what she saw.
Gem my ass.
Natsuki's face turned bright red, but out of embarrassment or out of anger she wasn't quite sure.
On the bed in a fumble were two naked bodies that had hands in places were no hands should go, doing things that normal people wouldn't do, and oddly enough there was a pacifier involved?
And then when she saw exactly who was doing things to what, Natsuki's blood boiled.
ch 1
Shizuru was a pervert.
It was something that she had decided long ago; not only because of the girl's unnatural libido, of course, but also for the unnerving way her hands would roam in the most inappropriate situations. People were afraid to buy lingerie with her for good reason.
It was true. She had accepted that fact long ago. Shizuru may be a pervert, but she was her pervert.
And now her pervert was doing perverted things to some, to some other girl!
It was unforgiveable.
But then again this was a hallucination wasn't it? That Shizuru would go that far with other people.
Shizuru was a cheater, or rather the hallucination of Shizuru was a cheater.
Weird mental images, or subconscious messages, or whatever it was it, all of it didn't matter in either case.
Natsuki was still pissed off.
Traveling further down Duran's head, Natsuki waved at the girls to move.
"Get back." Kuga muttered at the other girls.
"But what did you see?"
"Back." Natsuki growled.
The girls quickly scampered further back and then tentatively dropped down onto Duran's back. They had never seen the Gakuenchou in such a scary mood before.
Duran had to admit that being so large did have its advantages. For example, all that it took to break into a heavily fortified building was a little push.
And so he pushed.
Duran nudged forward against the stone wall with his snout. The room exploded from the sudden impact, sending stone bits ricocheting into the other walls. The occupants inside were left intentionally unharmed. Duran was not so careless in his actions.
Withdrawing so that his master could get a better view, the occupants soon found red glowing eyes peering at them, followed by the more dangerous emerald set.
"SHI-ZU-RU" Natsuki gritted out of her teeth.
"Ara, it appears that Tomoe lied about your imprisonment. " The bewitching amethyst said smoothly without a single guilty twinge.
This was infuriating. Maddening. She wanted to-- to--.
"DU-DURAN" Natsuki's eye's blazed in anger, "DO SOMETHING!"
ch 1
"--DO SOMETHING!"
Duran, as much as a giant metal wolf could, tried to sigh. He had tried to get it through his master's head that she needn't actually yell out her attacks. It was enough to mentally send a command. He had also tried to convey the idea that it was, in fact, very bad tactics to scream out attacks like some juvenile sentai show. But well, some things just couldn't be helped. After all, Duran could only growl, bark and whine. He had once tried to devise an intricate tapping scheme, but she never caught on, thinking instead that he was trying to kill some cockroach that had been at her feet.
Well, he was much too large for any of that now anyway.
As always, Natsuki was blunt and in this case his master was truly at a loss for what to do.
Seeing no better alternative, Duran ignored the green-haired interloper and simply grabbed the bewitching amethyst with his front canines. He gently threw her across his back to land near Natsuki. As an afterthought, the wolf picked up some clothes that had been knocked free from the now broken wardrobe and flung them on top of the naked woman.
Duran withdrew, giving one last intimidating stare at that green-haired woman, before taking a leap backwards into the courtyard.
"This—This is all your fault Shizuru!" Feeble fingers tried to strangle the bewitching amethyst. "The mayonnaise was bad! And you, -- you!" Natsuki yelled, not quite sure of what exactly she wanted to say, and seeing the beguiling amethyst looking terribly confused, Natsuki stopped.
"Oh crap, you're just a hallucination anyway."
Glancing backward, Duran studied the odd doppelganger. The woman smelled like the key, but it wasn't quite right. Similar but different. This one was more refined, more calm, and still strong to be sure, but not quite as dangerous.
Duran paused. That might be a welcome change.
"Uh, Gakuenchou, what about…" unknown girl #1 trailed off trying not to look at the naked column, and the incoherent Gakuenchou. "Uh, you know shouldn't you save the other students too?"
Natsuki ignored her.
"Who was that other girl?" Kuga spat.
"…Tomoe Marguerite."
Duran positioned himself in the direction of the demolished room. Yes, she should do that all the time. Sending her commands mentally! Duran knew exactly what his master was getting at.
"I see." Natsuki flipped her hair away in irritation. "DURAN, LOAD SILVER CARTRIDGE!"
The girls had a very bad feeling about this, especially when they saw the very large bullets being loaded into Duran's very large guns.
Nastsuki motioned her arms forward.
"FIRE!"
Faster than they could blink, a storm of sharp and pointy shards of ice materialized and hurtled toward the poor building. The icy projectiles ripped through solid stone, steel and wood and tore it all to shreds as easily as a grater cuts through cheese. The girls blinked. Before they could comment on the destruction, the remnants of the building exploded in a very satisfying way.
Natsuki let out a deep breath. That was silly, overkill really, but now she felt much better. As crazy and insane as this hallucination was, at the very least, the physics in this world still held true. Natsuki could still smash things up as much as her heart desired.
Nodding to herself, Natsuki felt the rage and jealousy recede just a bit. She was little more relieved, a little more relaxed. But then again, there was a game to play as well, and she was sure that after playing it she would feel terrific. She was sure that she would feel almost as good as if she hadn't seen that terrible act in the first place. Natsuki laughed. Oh, Nagi would suffer, even if this world was just all in her head. With a newfound purpose, Natsuki turned to face the girls with a slightly feverish grin on her face.
"Now, shall we go and save the other students then?" Natsuki asked.
End of Chapter
Author's Note (ver 2.0): This was my first MaiHime/MaiOtome fic and also my first attempt at a humorous story. As you might have noticed, I've revised this chapter. Nothing in the plot has been changed, but I basically cut down awkward sections and filled out others that seemed to have left readers confused. Comments and suggestions are always welcome because they motivate me to write and improve on what I have written.