"Is there a way for humans and Crimson Denizens to coexist together?"
When I asked Lamies that question, we were interrupted by the Chanter of Elegies, Margery Daw, a Flame Haze, a protector of the balance between the two worlds who also possessed a deep hatred for Denizens. It turns out that Satou and Tanaka were involved with her, and aren't exactly approving of me and Hecate.
After a vicious battle between the two, we came to a truce with the help of Lamies. Margery's still staying in this city, probably watching our every move from afar. Either way, we'll definitely meet her again.
In the meantime, after at least two battles one after another, it's only natural to take a break…
"Keep showing her your world, Yuji Sakai, and keep looking into hers, and one day you will find the answer," Lamies had said. That's just what I intend to do.
"So, Hecate, think you could teach me how to fight?" Yuji asked the Priestess as they walked to school together. "Lamies said it was only the beginning, so I want to be able to help as best as I could."
Hecate turned her gaze to him, assessing him for a moment, and answered. "You already have an impressive battle sense," she told him. Then, she paused as she gave the idea more thought. "We can start with channeling your Power of Existence."
"Is it anything like me giving you that just before midnight?" Yuji asked her.
"We can do both," Hecate told him. "It's a good place to start before learning to use Unrestricted Methods."
"Like Aster?"
Hecate nodded in reply.
Unbeknownst to them, two girls witnessed the two of them together. One of them had short brown hair and the other's was long and black with little pigtails.
"They're together again," Yukari said. Her tone was one of worry, although she was not sure if it was for Kazumi's sake or for her own.
"You think they have feelings for each other?" Kazumi asked her friend.
Before replying, Yukari glanced at her friend's troubled expression. She just couldn't bear to say what she really thought. "Of course not!" she said as optimistically as possible. "Didn't he tell you that himself?"
"Y-Yeah, he did…" Kazumi said, forcing a little smile.
"Don't worry about it," Yukari continued to encourage her. "She probably just doesn't have any other friends to talk to."
Kazumi, although still unsure, nodded in response.
A Wet, Hot and Burning Day
"Man it's really scorching. How can it be so hot early in the morning?" Yuji groaned as he trudged along with the girl with the appearance of Konoe Fumina. They were in their summer uniforms now, but it was not much help against the severe heat that cooked them.
The Denizen girl seemed wholly unaffected by the temperature, and walked with him the same way she usually did. She looked at the boy curiously. "Hot?" she said, as if she did not understand his plight.
"Yeah, can't you feel this heat roasting you alive?" Yuji asked. Hecate shook her head.
"I guess being a Crimson Lord helps huh?" Yuji muttered. They continued to walk together in the companionable silence they were used to.
As the school neared, the Mystes spoke again. "Honestly, though, I'm getting kind of worried about your fitting in here," he said. Hecate just glanced at him, but they both had the same thought.
Not too long ago, that very morning in fact, the two had found Chigusa searching all over the kitchen with a broom in hand.
"Something wrong mom?" Yuji had asked.
"Oh, I saw a huge rat somewhere around here," his mother answered.
Just after she had said that, Hecate caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and reached towards it in a swift blur. In her hand, she had caught the said rodent. Unlike mice, a rat was nowhere near as cute or clean as they were.
"Oh, thank you Heca-chan, but…" Chigusa began. Yuji continued for her.
"Don't you find it disgusting or gross?"
In response, Hecate stared at the rat. Its head was restrained from biting her, which it had been trying to do, with her finger pinning it from the nape. All it could do was hiss at her through its hideous fangs.
Either way, Chigusa continued with her request. "Well, could you please be a dear and dispose of it?" she asked.
Hecate blinked, but now she stared at the rat coldly. A moment later she squished it in her hand. It made a sound like a fruit being squeezed, and blood squirted out from both ends of its compacted corpse. Yuji flinched and stepped back in shock, and even the normally adamant Chigusa, although she seemed the same as always, had let a couple of large sweat drops form.
"I thought you liked small animals," Yuji said.
Hecate gave him a look that was as close as she could get to a pout. "I do not like disgusting vermin," she said.
When they rounded a corner in the hallway to their classroom, they almost literally ran into Keisaku and Eita. The two pairs backed away from each other, as if to avoid even touching, while exchanging respective looks of coldness and worry. Yuji, who was the latter, had been trying as much as possible to act as if their conflict was nonexistent.
"Good morning Satou, Tanaka," he said as cordially as possible with a forced smile.
"A-ah, good morning Sakai and Konoe-san," Eita responded in the same, albeit more troubled, manner.
Meanwhile, Hecate and Keisaku continued to glare at each other icily. Without even a single word spoken, the latter walked past the former, knocking Yuji's shoulder as he went. Hecate glared at him fiercely.
"For the sake of those around us, we can act like nothing happened," Keisaku said. "But don't try and get all buddy-buddy with us, Sakai. You're still our enemy."
Yuji sighed and continued to the classroom with Hecate alongside him.
When they entered the room, they were met by Ike, who seemed to be handing out tickets to their classmates.
"Hey Ike, what's up?" Yuji asked as he approached.
"Oh hi, check this: my dad's connections at work scored us these free passes to Misaki Waterland," his best male friend answered. "I thought I'd hand them out to the class." He handed one of the mentioned tickets to his friend.
Hecate tiptoed a little to take a peek of the strip of paper as the boy also examined it. On it was an image of an adult girl with a model figure in a bikini, making a bent-forward pose and a cheerful yet sultry wink.
"Oh, I remember, that's the place with all those "get wet" commercials," Yuji said.
"Right, I figured it'd go pretty well," said Ike.
"I'm sure they're going to love it," Yuji told his friend with a grin.
Hecate glanced at Yuji's face, then turned to Ike curiously. The bespectacled boy handed her a ticket as well.
"Here's yours Konoe-san," he said. The girl blinked in mild surprise, and took it from him, studying it closely.
At lunchtime, Hecate approached Yuji, still holding the ticket in her hands. The boy turned to her.
"Hm? Something the matter Hecate?"
The girl showed him the ticket with an innocent expression. "What is this Waterland place?" she asked him.
"Ah, well, it's pretty much a big place with a lot of pools and water," Yuji explained. Once again, he was reminded of how vastly different his world was from hers.
"Pools and water?"
"Basically there's a bunch of big baths."
"I see," Hecate said, allowing herself a small and very brief smile. She remembered the warm, embracing feel of the water from a bath, and liked the thought of sharing the same feeling with Yuji.
"Hey you two," Yukari greeted as she approached the two with Kazumi beside her. Both girls had a boxed lunch with them. "Kazumi-chan and I were thinking that well…" She glanced to her friend beside her, who continued the statement.
"Maybe we can eat our lunches together?" Kazumi proposed. Normally, she would have been too timid to ask of such a thing from the boy she liked, but the encouragement of another girl who understood her was more morale support than anyone else could give her.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," a male voice said. They turned to find Ike approaching them as well. "Mind if I join in too?"
Yukari's face turned a slight pink and she smiled shyly. "Sure, no problem with us," she said.
Yuji and Hecate just glanced at each other. It did seem like a good idea, Yuji realized, since Hecate could learn to interact with other humans for once.
Joining five desks together, they sat together and opened their lunches. While Kazumi, Yukari and Ike had more decent meals in their boxed lunches, all Yuji had was a couple of packed rice balls; Hecate was not much better off either, although soba bread was at least a lot less bland than what he had.
"This was a good idea you two," Ike told Kazumi and Yukari. "Friends and good conversation make food taste a lot better, after all."
Yukari glanced at him and nodded half-nervously yet half-excitedly. "Y-yeah," she said.
The girl with pigtails turned to her friend beside her. Kazumi just ate silently, unable to even look at Yuji, who was sitting right in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, to the boy's left, Hecate silently nibbled on her soba bread with a blank expression.
"Go for it Kazumi-chan" Yukari whispered. The brown-haired girl glanced at her and nodded.
"U-um, well, Sakai-kun," Kazumi said timidly to the boy before her.
Yuji looked up from his food and blinked. "What is it?" he asked.
"W-Well, I-I noticed you're always bringing in rice balls from the convenience store…" Kazumi said, oblivious to the fact that Hecate was in the same situation.
"Yeah, it's my mom," Yuji replied with an embarrassed smile. "She says a man who counts on his mother for three square meals a day isn't going to go far in life."
"I-I see," Kazumi said before going back to her meal.
"Not what I was hoping for, but well, at least now you know something you can do for him," Yukari whispered to her best friend with a wink.
Kazumi nodded. "Yeah, sorry but, could you be the one to ask them please?" she whispered back, blushing a little. "It's too hard for me to say it."
Yukari glanced towards Ike. It would have been embarrassing for her as well, but she had to help her friend out. She spoke, facing towards Yuji and Hecate, and avoiding Ike's gaze.
"Hey, here's an idea," she said cheerfully. "How about we all go to Waterland this Sunday?"
"That sounds good," Yuji replied.
"And what about me?" Ike said, feeling a little left out from her lack of eye contact.
Yukari couldn't avoid him for too long of course. She turned in his direction.
"O-of course!" she said nervously with a face full of embarrassment. She turned to Hecate. "How about you? It'd might be a good chance to get to know each other better."
Kazumi blinked and glanced at the two other girls inquisitively. Despite the quiet girl's closeness to Yuji – or probably because she needed to find out how close she was to Yuji – she was being invited along too.
The Crimson Lord in disguise looked up from her bread at the two girls, then turned to Yuji.
"Why not? It'll be fun," he said.
The Priestess turned back to the other girls and gave one silent nod. But why would she have to turn to Yuji for a question she could answer herself, Kazumi wondered.
"So, what time do we meet?" Ike said.
"W-well…" Yukari fidgeted. Deep down, although she had to voice out the idea, she was never really one for planning out a group activity; in fact, she was just as shy as Kazumi was, despite her cheerful demeanor.
"How about 10:00 this Sunday?" Kazumi came to her rescue, since it was her who put her friend in such a situation in the first place. Alike to each other, while Yukari had no real trouble talking to Yuji and Hecate, yet could not face Ike, Kazumi was the same, though vice-versa.
"Sounds like a plan," Yuji concluded.
"Hold it," said another female voice. It came from a tomboyish girl with dark, slightly unkempt, almost maroon-ish hair. She was dragging Keisaku and Eita behind her. "Make that the eight of us."
Eita and Keisaku's eyes made contact with Yuji and Hecate's. As before, Satou glared at them, although this time Hecate did not even bother to look at him. On the other hand, the former of the two attempted to hide the awkward atmosphere.
"Sure," Yuji said, slightly nervously. "It'll be a good chance to get to kn-."
"Don't just decide for us," Keisaku interrupted with a tone that seemed to hold back his anger. "There's no way we're going." With that, he turned around and walked out of the classroom.
Eita watched his best friend go and bowed his head. "Sorry Oga-chan," he said to the girl who had brought him over to the group. "We've sort of got some issues. Maybe next time?"
As Matake Ogata watched the other boy leave, she sighed. "Shoot…"
Behind her, one of the seated girls spoke to her in a gentle and kind voice. "You're still welcome to join us Ogata-san," Kazumi said.
Ogata turned back to her with a sad smile. "Thanks," she said.
Meanwhile, setting aside her barely-eaten bread, Hecate took the ticket out of her pocket and looked at it. Finally, she spoke on her own. "Why is this girl wearing almost nothing?"
Yuji flushed and almost gave in to the urge to spit the rice in his mouth. "Ah, that… is an excellent question," he said, although he had absolutely no idea how to answer that. It was probably mostly to attract the eyes of young men with hormones like him, but he couldn't say that. To the side, Ike couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.
"Hmm, how about you come with me and Kazumi-chan after school?" Yukari suggested to the Priestess with a bright smile. "Then you'll find out for yourself."
Hecate just nodded once again in reply.
"Oooh, I'm coming along too then," Ogata said with a wide grin. Somehow, she had suddenly regained her spirit upon hearing their plans.
Somehow, her sudden cheer also felt somewhat ominous, but Yukari and Kazumi had no real reason to refuse her. "Sure," Kazumi answered on both of their behalf.
Later that day, the four girls went to the department store together. Yuji tagged along as well, although it would be better to say that he was forced to come along by Hecate, who held onto his sleeve the whole way.
"Looks like you have your work cut out for you," Ogata whispered to Yukari, who quickly made a "shh" gesture before Kazumi noticed what she had said.
"I don't want Kazumi-chan to get any more worried than she already is," she replied.
"Then why'd you invite her along?"
"Well," Yukari fidgeted. "It would have been rude not to, and more importantly, it seemed like she was always alone. But now she's always with Sakai-kun…"
"And you're worried to know their relationship for Kazumi-chan's sake huh?" Ogata said. "And at the same time, you wanna be friends with Konoe-chan so that maybe she would not have to stick to Sakai-kun all the time. Am I right?"
"Dead on," Yukari admitted. She did not know it, but right now her expression was even more troubled than whenever Kazumi would see Yuji and Hecate together, as if something even deeper was bugging her.
Just before going in the store, Ogata held a palm up to Yuji, stopping him in his tracks.
"From here on, it's a girls only zone," she said with a serious face that quickly turned to a teasing grin and wink. "You'll just have to look forward to Sunday." She winked. "But stick around so you could carry our stuff on the way back."
The group of girls went in, with Hecate coming in last, giving Yuji a look of anxiety from being separated from him. The boy gave her a reassuring smile and watched as she disappeared within the aisles of clothes. He leaned against the wall and smiled to himself.
He was still a boy after all, although he could only imagine what the girls would wear to the pool. Being forced to be their pack mule for one trip was a small price to pay. He was glad Hecate was going to start learning to get along with other people.
Inside the store, past the rows of swimsuits, Kazumi and Yukari went into neighboring dressing rooms. Hecate had already gone in another one after Ogata had helped pick out something for her.
"So, how are they?" Ogata said to the two human girls as she passed by their curtains.
"It's good, it's not too showy," Kazumi replied.
"Mine's pretty fine too, although I think I should go for a different color. I don't think red really suits me," Yukari answered after her.
Plain one-piece swimsuits for the both of them? How dull, Ogata thought. She grinned like a Cheshire cat as she remembered the whole reason she had come along with them.
With swift and stealthy hands, she reached into both curtains and snatched two sets of folded uniforms. Setting them aside, she took a pair of bikinis and slid them under the curtains. For Yukari, the top was little more than a strip of cloth clasped at the front by a plastic O-shaped ring; as for the bottom, it was simply a loincloth; and both were covered in tiger print. Meanwhile, Kazumi received a certain light pink bikini – tied with thin laces at the back and nape for the top, and laces again at the sides for the bottom – it was also lined with frills along the edges.
Ogata grinned with gratification as she heard a gasp and its echo.
"W-we can't wear these!" Yukari protested in embarrassment as she poked her head out of the curtains.
"Y-yeah, there's no way," Kazumi agreed, doing the same.
"Look, you're going to the pool with boys, don't wear something boring," Ogata said. "Just look at Konoe-chan," Ogata said as she directed their attention to the girl who had just stepped out of her dressing room.
The girl they knew as Konoe Fumina wore a white two-piece swimsuit that seemed like a leotard with its belly and back sections stripped away. It was a haltertop that showed her whole back, and at the same time, emphasized her milky white shoulders. It was also cut at the middle in a diamond-shape, making bare the fair skin between her neck and chest, near-flat though it was.
"K-Konoe-san," Kazumi said in surprise and awe.
"So bold," Yukari said with the same tone.
Ogata just grinned more from their reactions.
To the Priestess herself, although oblivious to what was considered modesty, she found it as a very strange feeling, to be willingly made vulnerable. Not to mention that it was rather drafty.
"I'm sure a certain boy is gonna love it," Ogata reassured her with a wink.
"A certain boy?" Hecate pondered with a soft voice. The image of Yuji came to mind as soon as she had said that, and a small smile formed on her lips.
Kazumi eyed her for a while, then gulped, but finally resolved herself. "A-alright, I'll wear it," she said, her face red.
"Are you serious?" Yukari said as she turned to her friend. But seeing the mixed expression of determination and embarrassment on her face, she took it back.
That Sunday, as planned, the two boys and the four girls gathered at the front gate of Misaki Waterland. Just beyond were a number of pools and towering slides that led into them. All around them, a multitude of people had the same idea to escape the heat.
While her friends were eager to go in, Ogata was busy with her phone. "They're really not coming," she said. "They're not even answering the phone." Then, aware of the people with her, she forced herself to bring back her usual spirit. "Well, we don't need them to have fun do we?" she said with a wide grin of denial. "It's their loss if they couldn't come today."
As they went in, Kazumi caught sight of a poster to the side.
"What is it?" Ike asked.
"Look at this," Kazumi said as the others gathered around them.
On the poster, two women in swimsuits, each mounted on a man's shoulders, wrestled for a white headband on each other's head.
"Couples Water Battle Competition," Ike read.
"Mixed couple teams will compete against each other in the pool," Ogata continued. "The winning team will win an all expenses paid dinner with all the fresh bread you can eat at an exclusive restaurant with a night view."
"Dinner for two at a night view," Kazumi repeated, drifting into a fantasy of her and Yuji dining together alone. The simple thought made her eyes sparkle. Next to her, Yukari glanced at the two boys looking at the poster, although she focused more on Ike.
Hecate, however, was completely indifferent about the whole thing. After all, she didn't really need to go anywhere to be alone with Yuji, she was already staying at his house as it was.
"It looks like fun!" Ogata said enthusiastically. "It doesn't start 'till this afternoon. Who's up for it?"
"I'll give it a try," Kazumi said boldly, raising her hand.
Yukari glanced at her and raised her hand as well. "I'll do it too," she said, whether for her own gain or to support Kazumi.
"Then it's settled! We don't have enough boys but we'll deal with that later," Ogata concluded.
Later, Ike and Yuji, already in their trunks, waited for the girls outside of the changing rooms. It wasn't long until Ogata came running to them.
The tomboyish girl wore a blue and white tube-top swimsuit, hanging from her neck by a string that wrapped around her chest. Her triangle-shaped bottom bore the same pattern as the top, and revealed the long, slender legs of a female athlete. Yuji and Ike grinned open mouthed in admiration.
"Sorry for the wait," the girl said.
"Where are the others?" Ike said as he looked beyond her.
"Relax," Ogata said as she raised a fist to her mouth as if holding a microphone. "Without further ado, our swimsuit fashion show." She gestured to the changing room. "First, Konoe-san, come on out."
On cue – the result of Ogata convincing her that such a one-by-one entrance would make a better impact on 'a certain boy' – Hecate walked into view, her poise neither confident nor nervous. Her short, dark greenish hair was tied to one side in a pigtail, probably the work of Yukari. Had it been anything else, the boys probably would have been turned off by her flat chest, but the swimsuit knew how to redirect their attention elsewhere. The white swimsuit seemed to blend well with her fair, unblemished, milky skin, and Yuji found himself suddenly aware of her thighs and shoulders, as well as the smooth, likely soft skin on her very subtle cleavage. She had a cute navel too.
Ike seemed to like it too, but Yuji's smile was even bigger as he eyed her from head to toe. The Priestess stopped before him.
"Do you like it?" she asked him with her soft, monotone voice that carried a hidden feeling of expectancy.
"It really suits you Hecate," Yuji said. "Yeah, I really like it."
At his words, the girl smiled.
"Next, we have Hirai-san," Ogata announced.
Following Hecate's path, Yukari walked out slowly, fidgeting a little. Her long, black hair was tied into buns on either side, each running down as long, thick ropes. She wore a green, one-piece turtleneck swimsuit that fit to her body closely, like a second skin. It his much in terms of flesh, but at the same time it effectively showed every shapely curve from the bottom up; and curves were certainly something she was not lacking in, having even better ones that Ogata and Hecate. The girl had a luminescent blush on her face, and she smiled when she saw the satisfaction on Yuji and Ike's expressions.
Hecate noticed it too, and glanced back and forth between the two. Ogata gestured to the changing room one more time.
"And finally, Yoshida-san."
No one came out. All, save Hecate, blinked at the unexpected turn. "Kazumi-chan?" Ogata called gently.
The head of the girl in question peeked out from around the corner. "I really can't do this," she said with an embarrassed tone.
"Maybe it was too much for her after all," Yukari said. Ogata frowned at the two of them before taking Yukari's wrist and dragging her along with her to Kazumi. The two disappeared around the corner, leaving behind Hecate and two very expectant young men.
"Go, get out there!" said the voice of Ogata.
"Sorry, but you can't really turn back now," Yukari said with a gentle, convincing tone.
The two girls – one gently and the other roughly - pushed out Kazumi into view from behind. The final contestant wrapped her arms around her chest and tummy, and her face was a deep dark crimson. The frilly, light pink swimsuit covered nothing but the essentials, and almost all of her smooth skin was laid bare for the eyes to feast on. Her creamy thighs that could easily invite any normal boy's head to rest on pressed together in a vain attempt to hide her lower exposure. Finally, although partly covered, one could see the deep cleavage between her two very generous bosoms.
Ike's jaw dropped straight to the floor and his glasses fogged up completely. Beside him, Yuji stood stiff, not even attempting to hide the awe that overwhelmed him. "Whoaaa…"
To his side, Hecate looked at the very embarrassed Kazumi, then turned to Yuji's face. The Priestess began to feel very anxious, even so far as to let it show in her eyes.
"So, what have those two been up to lately?" Margery said as she lounged in her room. The air conditioner had somehow broken, and she had resorted to fanning herself. Although she was a Flame Haze, she was much less tolerant when she was half-drunk.
"They're at Misaki Waterland today," a sweaty Keisaku said as he poured himself some ice water.
"I kinda feel bad for Oga-chan though," Eita said. "She invited us, although has no idea about what's going on."
"Can't be helped," Keisaku said. "Besides, there's no point to us being there."
Margery groaned as she stood up. The two boys turned to her sudden movement.
"Margery-san?"
"Onee-san?"
"You kids really passed up on that chance to get away from this unbearable heat for something so dumb?" she said as she slung Marcosias over her shoulder. "Come on, we're going."
"Wait, weren't they your enemies to begin with?" Keisaku replied.
Margery wagged a finger at Keisaku. "Aren't you the least bit worried about your other classmates?" she said. "We can also keep a close eye on them at the same time. Now come on."
"Besides, wouldn't you rather see her all sweaty and wet while she's half-nude, rather than when she's in such a boring suit?" Marcosias guffawed.
Margery slammed her fist into the cover of the tome. "Shut up, stupid Marco."
She was already out the door when Keisaku followed her, sighing. Eita came after him.
"I have a bad feeling about this," he said.
Eventually over their embarrassment, Yukari and Kazumi played in one of the pools, splashing water at each other and giggling as they got wet. Ogata was quick to join in and dove headfirst into the pool with a splash. On dry land, while Ike was digging through his bag, Hecate sat at a corner under some shade, her eyes on Yuji as he swam in the same pool.
The boy's attention turned to her. "Come on in Hecate, the water feels great," he called to her.
The Priestess blinked, and then nodded. She stood up and walked over to the pool before slowly and cautiously lowering herself into the water. It was cold, but warm at the same time, and very wet. But it was a nice feeling. As she relaxed, the girl let her whole body into the pool…
Only to sink like a rock. The Priestess, wide-eyed in shock, was about to fly out of the water when she remembered that she could not do so in the presence of humans, for Yuji's sake if not for anything else. Having no idea how to swim, she flailed wildly.
It was Yuji who pulled her up from the depths and into the shallow end of the pool. With a pained expression, Hecate coughed out the water she had taken in.
"Are you alright Hecate?" Yuji said, his voice filled with concern. "Why didn't you tell me you didn't know how to swim?"
Hecate just glared at the boy sharply in response. There were no spoken words, but her thoughts were obvious to him: "I didn't know that either!"
Suddenly, the Priestess sensed a familiar presence, and she turned her head in its general direction.
"What is it?" Yuji asked, realizing that he had just been let off the hook.
"The Chanter of Elegies," Hecate simply told him.
Yuji blinked. "That woman's here," he said. "You think she's here to fight us again? Don't we have a truce right now?"
Hecate nodded and climbed out of the pool before silently and calmly walking towards the general direction of the Flame Haze. Yuji followed after her.
"She must be curious too," he said to himself.
"Are you guys going to the food stand?" Ogata said as she came out of the water. "I'll come with you."
Hecate stopped and turned back curiously when the human girl spoke. Yuji was hesitant to let Ogata get caught in the middle of everything if it came to another fight, but he also did not want to arouse suspicion. "Sure, why not?"
"Well, look where we are," Keisaku said. He and Eita had separated from Margery, and were standing together with drinks in their hands.
"It can't be helped, once she wants something, that's it," Eita replied. "But this is a risk, what if we really do run into Oga-chan and the others?"
"She said we were here to keep a close eye on them, but I doubt that's what we're really here for," said Keisaku. "If Konoe really wanted to cause any trouble before, she could have done so at any time, whether we were there or not. Besides, look at all the people here, chances are we'll never even see them anyway."
As fate would have it, Ogata, having split up from Yuji and Hecate as the two searched for the Chanter of Elegies – with the excuse of looking for the restroom - encountered them face-to-face.
The three humans stepped back a pace in surprise.
"Wh-what are you guys doing here?" Ogata yelled at them angrily. "You better have an excuse."
Dumbfounded, the two boys just put up a nervous, and slightly terrified, smile.
In the meantime, not too far away, the Mystes and the Crimson Lord found the Flame Haze rested under the shade of a parasol at the side of a pool. Like everyone else, she was in a swimsuit of her own, which left little to the imagination. It was a bikini printed with a pattern of dark and light violet. Her top was barely anything other than two strips of cloth with a black string crisscrossing over a deep valley of flesh. She also wore a black collar on her neck. Her long, blonde hair was tied into a pair of drills.
Hecate glared at her enemy with a silent, icy stare. The boy next to her could feel the tension emanating from both of them.
Despite that, however, Margery's demeanor was relaxed, so she was probably controlling herself. She stretched and looked at the two from the corner of her eye.
"Do you really want to spoil the mood right now and turn this place into a battlefield," Margery said. "Don't worry, I don't intend to break our fragile little ceasefire, not yet anyway. I'm just here for the same reason as you, to relax with a cool drink and beat the heat."
"Is that really all?" Hecate said with a chilling voice.
"My Patient Persecutor is just waiting for the right time to kill you," Marcosias said. "But while we're convinced that you know something we don't, it would be a while. Could it be that you regret sparing us now?"
Hecate narrowed her eyes, but did not answer, instead, it was Yuji. "No, we don't regret it, at least I don't," he said. He still fully intended to learn about the side of the Flame Haze, and an answer to their hatred of the Crimson Denizens.
To end the conversation in her own way, Hecate coldly turned away from the Chanter of Elegies and began to walk away. Just as Yuji was about to follow her, Margery spoke to him.
"Must be tough for you, huh?" she said.
"Not really," Yuji replied. "I'm willing to accept her, despite who and what she is."
Margery chuckled lightly. "So naïve," she said. "Though, I could probably say the same for those two over there." She gestured towards the two boys being scolded by a certain tomboyish girl. It was only then that Margery noticed their predicament. "What's going on over there?"
Yuji laughed a little. "Looks like Ogata-san caught them," he said.
"Oh, that girl Eita said invited them?" Margery said.
"Looks like they'll be in for an earful today!" Marcosias said.
"Well, I should probably help them out," Yuji said. "It was me and Hecate they were trying to avoid in the first place after all."
As she watched him go, Margery smirked. "He's actually a decent kid," she said.
"For now," Marcosias added. "He's already chosen his side."
Ogata was still in the middle of reprimanding Keisaku and Eita when Yuji stepped in.
"It's not their fault Ogata-san," he said. "Last week, I accidentally broke something important to Satou, so it's only natural for him to avoid me."
Keisaku harrumphed. "You did that intentionally," he said. In a way, it was all true, albeit in a sense vague enough for him to play along.
Ogata crossed her arms. "Real mature of you Satou," she said sarcastically.
"Hey, it's not something you can just get anywhere!" Keisaku replied angrily.
This time, it was Eita's turn to attempt to diffuse the situation. "At least you know what was the matter now Oga-chan," he said. "So, could you please forgive us?"
Ogata let Keisaku off the hook and turned to Eita with an appraising look. "Hmm, well, only if you can make it up to me," she said, her smile returning. "Help us with the water cavalry fight."
"Water cavalry fight?" Eita repeated.
Keisaku turned away with a frown. "Like I said, don't just decide for us," he said.
"Fine, be that way you big baby," Ogata taunted him, smirking smugly. "I guess in the end you're just a little kid who couldn't let little things go."
"It's not-!" Keisaku replied, but stopped with a sigh. His pride was hurt, but he had little choice now it seemed. As much as he disliked Sakai, he hated being badmouthed just as much. "Fine, I'll do it."
Yuji smiled with satisfaction at his small intervention and headed back, leaving Ogata with the other boys. On his way back, Hecate met up with him. Apparently, she had never let the Mystes out of her sight. As they walked past the poolside, Yuji chuckled.
Hecate blinked and turned to him. "What is it?"
"Well, a fearsome Crimson Lord and a tough Flame Haze showing up at the pool just to relax and have fun," he said. "Pretty ironic and amusing in a way."
Once again, Hecate made another one of her awkward pouts, keeping her eyes forward and away from his.
The time for the competition was close to hand, and the eight classmates gathered together in a circle, each holding one end of a string.
"Got that?" said Ike, concealing the middle of the strings in his other fist. "The person on the other end will be your partner. Okay, I'm letting go."
As if determined by some strange destiny, the resulting pairs were: Eita and Ogata, Ike and Yukari, Keisaku and Hecate, and Yuji and Kazumi. Keisaku and Hecate were not exactly happy at how it had ended up, but they quietly went along with it anyway, it was just a game after all. As for Yukari, she shyly looked at Ike with her head bowed a little, though she was smiling; at the same time, Kazumi looked at a smiling Yuji with twinkling eyes.
Three eager pairs along with one reluctant team gathered together in a wide but shallow pool, with the girls mounted on the guys' shoulders. As they tied white bands to their heads, they listened to the emcee.
"It's the moment you've all been waiting for: the Couples Water Battle Competition," he announced. "It's pretty simple, the person with the most headbands by the end wins the contest. However, if you should lose your own headband or if the rider falls off her mount, they are out of the competition…"
Out of the corner of his eye, Keisaku swore he saw Margery among the people in the crowd, half-tipsy but still drinking. He grumbled inaudibly between Hecate's legs.
"The team with the most headbands at the end of regulation time will receive a prize package including dinner at the city's finest restaurant," the emcee continued.
As she heard that, Kazumi put on her game face, repeating the thought to herself.
"Hey Yoshida-san," Yuji called from below with a smile. "let's do our best, okay?"
"Y-yeah, okay," the girl replied.
"Don't be so tense, try relaxing a bit more."
"I'll try."
As they exchanged words, Hecate turned to them, anxiety showing on her face even more than before.
The emcee made one more call to signal the start of the game. "It's frantic, it's fun, it's the Couples Water Battle! You only have three minutes, and ready…"
At the sound of a whistle, every team began to spread out to attack each other for their headbands.
"There's no sense jumping on each other, let's target other teams first," Eita suggested.
They agreed mutually with an "okay" from Keisaku, an "alright" from Ike, and a "good idea" from Yuji, and they too, scattered.
Almost as soon as the battle had begun, Yuji and Kazumi went head to head against a woman in a red two-piece.
"Oh no!" Kazumi exclaimed with an open mouth and wide eyes.
"Come to mama!" her opponent said as she reached for her headband.
Quick as he could, Yuji sidestepped. Although their opponent had missed her intended target, her hand snagged onto Kazumi's bikini top and yanked it off her by accident.
The brown haired girl gasped loudly and screamed. Had she still had her top, she would have shoved her opponent away with brute force, but as she was, she wrapped her arms around her chest, squirming in such a way that Yuji lost his balance and the two fell into the pool.
"First blood already?" Ogata said with disappointment. "In hindsight, maybe it might have been a bad idea to pick her that flimsy swimsuit," she added with an embarrassedly.
She turned to her first prey: two women wrestling for each others' headbands. With a wide open-mouthed grin, she swiftly snatched both of their headbands.
"You've gotta keep your wits about you in this kind of fight," she said.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ike with Yukari, running away from a couple chasing after their headband. It wasn't too long until he either lost his balance or gave in to exhaustion and fell face-first into the water. As he did, Yukari fell with him, knocking her head into another woman's and toppling another couple over as well.
"…unlike them too," Ogata said. Unlike Kazumi though, Ike did not really have an excuse for failing so miserably.
"I'm kinda worried about them," Eita said as he observed Hecate and Keisaku, who have not moved from their spot since they had dispersed.
Being so seemingly vulnerable, one couple attempted to take their headband. While Keisaku made no effort to evade, Hecate caught the hand reaching out to her and gripped it firmly. The Priestess's opponent could not move her hand any further or back from the petite girl's hold, and she suddenly felt terrified when she looked straight into Hecate's cold, piercing stare. The poor girl nearly peed in her swimsuit as Hecate's hand, menacing even as she was, reached out towards her face as if to gouge it out. To the random girl's relief, all the Priestess took away was her headband. As she relaxed her body, she fell over into the pool, limp as a dead fish.
"Konoe-chan's pretty scary," Ogata commented.
"Looks like Satou's still pissed though," said Eita.
As the battle raged on around them, Yuji looked around the pool for Kazumi's bikini top.
"Did you find it yet?" Kazumi asked the obvious question with her hands still covering her bosoms.
"Not yet," Yuji replied as he turned and ducked under the water to search the pool floor.
"Sakai…" Kazumi suddenly noticed something pinkish and frilly drift by on the surface of the water.
"There it is!" she said as she hastily came forward and reached out to it. As she did though, momentarily forgetting who was bent down before her, she accidentally collided into Yuji and pressed her boobs on his back.
Instantly, Yuji stiffened and his face turned a deep shade of red. The same could be said of Kazumi, although she was quick enough to get off him, with her heart thumping wildly. Besides her embarrassment, she realized how broad Yuji's back was, not to mention how warm he felt even in the cold water.
As she watched the two of them, Hecate felt something click inside her, and she dug her nails into Keisaku's shoulders.
"Ow! Stop that Konoe!" Keisaku said as he shook her off, letting her fall off his shoulders and into the pool, not giving a care that they had just lost, as long as she let go of him. "Well, looks like we're out."
Hecate did not reply. She just stood with her head just barely above the water and stared at Yuji and Kazumi, alone, together.
"Oi, listen," Keisaku said, suppressing his anger and changing his tone to a serious one. "Do you really know something about the Silver guy Margery-san's been chasing after?" Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Flame Haze herself, thoroughly enjoying the game before her and downing another glass of ice cold beer.
Hecate just glanced at him, then turned back to Yuji, but she did not respond. But it was a response nonetheless, Keisaku noted.
The contest was over, and none of the eight had emerged in victory. But that didn't mean their day was over just yet. With two added members, they continued to enjoy themselves in the pools.
Dipping her legs in the pool as she sat on the edge, Yukari let out a disappointed sigh. A little ways into the pool, Ike was playing around with Eita and Ogata. She had expected him to be very reliable, as he was when it came to social and academic matters, but she was disappointed by the lack of strength and willpower he had.
She shook her head. No one was perfect, she knew. It wasn't a big deal really. Just as she told herself that, she noticed Yuji and Kazumi swimming together. Despite their premature blunder, the two were still able to enjoy themselves. Just how was it that things ended up so differently for them? Was it because it was Yuji?
Wait, why did she suddenly think that? What did she mean, 'because it was Yuji'? The girls shook her head again to dispel the thought.
Sitting on the floor with a nonchalant face far away from the pool, Hecate watched the same pair Yukari did. Recalling the incident between Yuji and Kazumi, she bowed her head to her own chest.
Flat as a washboard.
Why did she even have that as her true form again? She was a Crimson Lord for crying out loud, she could easily change her form however she wished.
…and with that thought in mind, she discreetly used her power to change her form, at least for one part of her body. She enlarged her once tiny grapefruits into large melons to the point that her swimsuit was in danger from flying off.
She wasn't satisfied though, and she knew not why. Through with experimenting, she changed herself back to her normal self and brushed away the idea. It would be too unnatural, even she knew that.
She stood up and approached the deeper end of the pool. Yuji would save her again, she knew, and he would be hers from then onward once more. She stepped into the pool and sank.
The air from her lungs was quickly spent, and along with it, the flame within her began to suffocate. But she did not mind, that Mystes, that boy would pick her up. This time, she did not flail as she drowned, although she extended one hand upwards. It was getting dark, she eventually realized.
As she had hoped and expected, Yuji rushed to her and pulled her to shallow waters. As she looked at the boy with glazed eyes, she smiled a little.
Yuji gripped her shoulders tightly. "Hecate, you already knew you couldn't swim," he said. "So why did you…?"
The Priestess just gripped his trunks softly as an answer. Not quite understanding, Yuji just sighed. "Nevermind, just be more careful, okay?" he said, and Hecate nodded.
Close by, Kazumi watched the two, but now it was her turn to be worried. She had seen Hecate willingly hop into the deep end of the pool herself, even when she could not swim. So why would she do it? Did she really do it just so Yuji would save her again? Another, more disturbing thought came to mind: did she really have feelings for Yuji?
oooooooooo
As the sun set, their day of poolside adventures had come to an end.
"So, you get anything out of her? I noticed how close the two of you were," Margery said to Keisaku as they headed home.
"I thought you were wasted," Keisaku replied.
"Oh, believe me, she was," Marcosias said. "I was the one who told her everything that happened! The whole time, she was swaying back and forth like a flag in the wind, weren't you, my Bottomless Booze Hound, Margery Daw!"
The Flame Haze promptly slammed a fist into the Grimoire.
"Did you really find out something though?" Eita repeated the question.
"Yeah," his friend simply said. It was a vague answer, but an answer nonetheless.
"I'd say that was a pretty fun day all in all," Ike said as he and Kazumi stood on one path at an intersection. "Well, tomorrow's Monday. I'll see you at school."
"Yeah, take it easy," Yuji said.
"Take care," Yukari said beside him with a bright smile.
Between the two neighbors, Hecate acknowledged their partings with a simple nod to Ike and Kazumi.
"See you tomorrow," Kazumi said as she waved.
As the trio headed back, Yukari spoke to Hecate. "Are you alright Konoe-chan?" she said. "You nearly drowned twice now."
Silence.
"What were you thinking anyway, you got us all worried," Yuji said.
Silence again.
"Hecate? Are you feeling alright?" Yuji asked.
A silent nod.
Watching them as they walked down the road towards the sunset, Kazumi let out a sigh.
Author's Challenge:
Who else wants to see the heroine, Hecate, along with Yukari and Kazumi in a sort of eyecatch style? Hope to get a PM from an artist on that.
