Chapter 10: New Blossom
It was the second time he passed out in a single day, and Jun decided he had had enough. That is until he woke up with the wonderful view of a smiling Souseiseki, looking in front and apparently amused about something.
He gained full consciousness after staring at her for minutes, and after realizing he wasn't dreaming. He tried to get up, but the moment his head became level his surroundings began to twirl. That forced him back on the bed, and his attendant to turn to him.
At first Souseiseki had that very worried face, but it softened into a tiny smile when Jun gave her a grin.
"Hi!" she whispered.
That was a very sweet greeting, Jun thought.
"Hello there… how long was I out?"
"Two hours… say, Jun, what was the last thing you remember?" the girl asked.
"I remember… you guys turning human, and… Suigintou."
"Ah, good, you're awake." The voice broke his answer. Jun's eyes scanned the room to find the owner of that devious tone.
A girl stood there by the edge of the bed, wearing an oversized shirt. Jun was still debating with himself if she had anything on besides that. Her figure was so fine and curvy even through the rugged outfit. Her long white hair flowed down to her waist, lose and wavy and shining. She had a very pretty face, sharp penetrating eyes and thin lips railing up to a smile, reminding Jun of the event before he passed out.
The memory of her lips got him excited, forcing blood to circulate faster across his body.
"What did you do to me?" Jun asked in an accusing tone, ignoring his hearbeat.
"I believe I should be the one asking that. In fact, all of us here in this room should be asking you that." She said, walking towards the bed. She sat beside Jun and crossed her legs, purposely moving the hem of the shirt to expose a greater part of her thighs as she did so.
Jun looked around and tried to process what she meant by that statement. A sudden, soft tackle from a little blonde girl gave him an answer.
"Juun!" Hina squealed after bouncing on Jun, "Are you well, Jun? Hina was worried."
"I'm fine." Jun said, stroking the girl's head, which felt of finer hair compared to what she used to have when she was a doll, "How about you? You seem livelier than usual."
Suigintou's earlier remark got him worried, so he asked that question. He feared he might have done something without him knowing it.
"Yes! Yes I am!" Hina cheerfully answered, jumping off from the bed, "Look at Hina! Isn't she pretty?"
Hina twirled around, making the blue dress flutter as she did so. It was still hard to believe for Jun that just a few hours ago this girl was half the size, had skin and flesh made of glue, sawdust and melted paper, and practically ran in magic juice.
"Yes, Hina is very pretty." Jun commented softly.
Before she could celebrate that compliment, Hina was suddenly pushed on a pile of pillows placed beside the bed.
"Step aside, shrimp." Entered Suiseiseki as the smaller girl went flying, "I'm sure Jun prefers something more mature."
The first thing that Jun looked at was her eyes. They were still two different colors. She stood in a rather ridiculous pose that irritated Jun, partly because she was indeed beautiful, but her definition of 'mature' if it be that pre-teen appearance she had even in a blouse similar to what Hina was wearing, left a lot to appreciate.
"Well? Aren't you going to tell me I'm pretty?" Suiseiseki asked, getting impatient.
"Yeah, you're pretty… pretty annoying."
"Hmp!"Suiseiseki flared in rage, giving Jun that familiar puffed-up cheek, "How dare you?!"
She began throwing all the pillows at the boy, one after another. They didn't hurt, but they certainly annoyed the hell out of Jun who was blocking each ballistic cushion with a weary arm.
"Hey, stop that!"
What began as a vengeful act ended up becoming an entertainment, with Hinaichigo joining Suiseiseki in the attack. The two girls laughed as they continued to shower on Jun, while Suigintou simply walked towards the mirror and started examining her newly found body.
At a certain point, one of the flying pillows managed to crash on Jun's face. It would have been enough reason to explode on the two, but because it made Souseiseki giggle, Jun let it slide. The delicate sound never fails to appease Jun's indiscriminating temper.
While his assailants managed to divert their attention on each other, utilizing pillows as hand-weapons this time, Jun took his time staring closely at Souseiseki. The girl was sitting on the bed with him, knees up on her chest, looking timid and reserved. She has grown a bit after turning human, but the stunning features were still there, along with the bi-colored eyes. One could still mistake her for a doll, if not for that shirt. Like Suigintou, who was still busy admiring herself, she was wearing one twice her size, giving the base of her neck to exposure.
The left sleeve was slightly pulled down, revealing one of her shoulders. It was an unkempt appearance carried innocently and beautifully, even though she was simply sitting there. Jun let his eyes travel down and saw that she was wearing what seemed like a simple pair of shorts. In contrast to her top, they were undersized and too short for her. Still, it completed the alluring display she made. The way she held up her knee made it seem like she was purposely showing the back of her thighs, which got Jun staring for the past minute.
"What is it, Jun?" Souseiseki asked, catching his stare.
"Nothing." Jun answered, looking away.
"You were pale a moment ago, now your face is completely red. Are you feeling ok?"
Jun considered that sudden change, and realized that Souseiseki being human didn't diminish his attraction towards her. It scared him in fact, thinking that being human could actually pose a greater threat to the boundary he has kept between them.
He reached out towards the concerned girl and pulled up the collar a bit to cover her further.
"Your… your shoulders are showing." He said.
Souseiseki didn't say anything but just beamed at him, forcing Jun to look away, lest the blush grow deeper.
"Are these supposed to be this big?" Suigintou asked, "It's a bit unsettling."
That wasn't the first word that came to mind when Jun looked at the albino, who was tracing fingers at her chest. There was a mixture of disdain and admiration in the boy while he watched her, along with the curious discovery of age-gap she had compared to her sisters. Her body and face were quite mature, although her height says she was about Jun's age, maybe a year older.
"How should I know?" Jun asked angrily.
"Well, haven't you touched one before?"
"Of course not!" he said it loudly, and it made his head suddenly constrict with pain.
"Would you like to touch mine, Jun?" Souseiseki offered innocently.
She had a very docile and submissive look on her smiling face. Jun absentmindedly considered such generosity and glanced down at her chest – not much in that shirt, he thought. He then looked at the grinning Suigintou and those awfully huge racks she was carrying, and how she graced such grin with deviousness.
"No, no thanks, Souseiseki."
It would be unfair to compare them, hers and Suigintou, primarily because Souseiseki looked too young to even have noticeable breasts. That aside, Jun's preference doesn't really circulate around female fronts. He then remembered that precious day when Souseiseki, still a doll then, accidentally landed on him. That was quite a memorable buttocks, he thought, forcing up waves of blood rush on his face.
The consequence of such mental review was his headache being amplified.
"Thinking pervy, human?" Suigintou teased, walking towards him while swaying her hips. "I wouldn't exert too much effort on my mind, if I were you."
"Suigintou, please stop it." Souseiseki subtly pleaded, "You're upsetting him, can't you see?"
"Oh, I can assure you, sister, he is everything BUT upset."
Jun's eyes, slightly squinted because of the overbearing pain, gazed up at the teen. The teasing part seemed to have passed, as she now stood there, arms crossed, looking down at him, with a surprisingly serious expression. "You know I still haven't decided if I should be happy about this." She said, "Considering of course, being human has completely diminished me of my powers."
"Well, if it were up to me, not only would I not have involved you, I would also have prevented something like this from happening." Jun answered, softly this time, as it seemed to have lessened the pain in his head. "But I guess, you not having any powers also meant you're no longer a threat."
For a moment, the kid thought he had her. Long have he feared the days when this creature would come back to haunt them again, when the Alice Game and the nightmare it brings to the dolls would renew the loop of death and misery. Now, having been void of everything ancient, they now cut ties with Rozen, their creator, and could potentially live more or less normal lives fit for rational beings.
"Is that so?" the way her voice swerved in the air with such lure was very alarming for Jun. For certain, she wasn't intimidated with what he said. On the contrary, much to Jun's further terror, it seemed to have given her a new set of 'threatening' ideas, one of which she acted out by crawling on the bed toward him, purposely letting lose the collar of the shirt down to expose her cleavage.
Jun looked away and tried to distract himself with how Suiseiseki was making Hina cry again while pounding on the blonde's head with pillows. Souseiseki, completely clueless, observed her sister squirm her way towards Jun.
"You know, Jun, I may have lived a doll's life up until now, but I've been around humans long enough to learn a few things… especially about 'powers' all men are weak against." She whispered, marking a line on Jun's face with a finger on his left cheek.
The only consolation in that was her no longer being a danger to the dolls, er, girls. Compared to how she reacted earlier, Souseiseki seemed to be relaxed with Suigintou now, even up this close. The downside to all that was her intensely critical resourcefulness, with her lone triggers of panic and chaos she is often left to fend for herself, and to make use of what little she had. Now, what she has is more than what any woman would need to claim the world for their own.
While the riot of the usual pair continued, and while Souseiseki kept eyes and thoughts determining if Suigintou's advances were to be taken lightly or not, and while Jun struggled to keep his spinal cord connected to his brain and detach from the mere heat of Suigintou's breathe rendering him to a melted sexualized mess, the door swung open. Enter once again, Shinku, hair tied in that childish pigtails-style, standing proud underneath gym bloomers. At least, on that regard, Jun was still thankful that she wasn't showing herself as another busty, tempting teen like Suigintou.
"You herd of idiotic, noisy simpletons- dinner is ready!" she announced, obviously not pleased with her role as fetcher. Jun saw in her hand still the same magazine she used earlier, and already stitched up the scene of her busying herself with a woman's catalog, his sister having been done with the cooking, asking her to get the rest of the gang.
"Hey! Who do you think you are, calling us like that?" Suiseiseki roared, at least as loud as she could.
"Yeah," followed Hina, "Who do you think you are? Hina is not noisy, you know!"
He didn't even bother processing Hinaichigo's disdainful statement. His head was already struggling with how Shinku looked on those bloomers – obviously another distraction. Sure, she may not be another walking beastly-breast, but her long legs and tight figure, even under the young appearance like Souseiseki's, was another dangerous zone his mind must avoid.
"Perfect, taking this sudden human form made me famished." She declared, then looked at Souseiseki, bearing a sudden meekness, "I trust you won't mind having me for supper? History is not the brightest detail of our relationship, but…"
"A decent meal with all of us would be great, especially with the Alice Game no longer in your shoulders, sister. Come join us! Nori makes the finest salads." Souseiseki said generously.
The two crawled out of the bed and waited for Jun to follow suit. Relieved of having been rid of any further antics from Suigintou, the boy pushed the sheets aside and placed both feet on the floor for posture. But the moment he tried to get up, everything around started spinning again. He wobbled, came close to puking, and almost feel on the bed again, had it not for Souseiki's arm around his shoulder and Suigintou's hand supporting his chest.
"Easy." The whit-haired girl said calmly.
She wasn't the sultry temptress or the hateful doll of vengeance anymore. She was human, and a worried one at that. Never had Jun imagine he would be seeing such an expression on her face that didn't reflect any self-centered motivation. He felt bad for boxing Suigintou, albeit he also felt justified in doing so.
"Shinku," she called out, "did you bring him a…"
"Oh, yeah… here, drink this Jun."
Shinku handed him a bottle of coke. Amidst the difficulty in keeping mental focus on check, he was able to give her and Suigintou a questioning look.
"Just drink it."
Jun placed one hand on the trunk of the bottle and tried to open the cap with another. His body was still worn down by some unknown weakness, rendering his mandible functions almost useless, but he still tried to twist the plastic cover. He cursed under his struggling breath when he couldn't open a simple bottle of coke, and just ended up shaking. Even though the five girls around him were not girls to begin with, for a boy it was such a ball-busting embarrassment.
"Let me." Souseiki took the bottle and gave a quick twist.
Jun's face was burning with humiliation, yet none of the girls, unbeknownst to him, saw him any differently.
"Thanks." He softly said, face down and hot. Souseiseki still had an arm around him and was still supporting him up. She smiled at Jun and then ushered him to drink the fizzling liquid.
The cold fluid with its spirit prickling the inside of his mouth travelled down his throat. As soon as Jun leveled his head from the first, long gulp, the piercing headache began to disperse. His dizziness soon followed it out the window, completely restoring Jun's composure. Although he didn't want Souseiseki to remove her short, comforting arm around him, he had to straighten up and show that he was alright.
"I didn't know soda could do that." Jun said, picking up his glasses from the table beside his bed and wearing them.
"Caffeine and sugar… you'll be needing more of that." Suigintou said.
It was another confusing statement, but it had to wait. Nori called out, and she sounded close to getting her patience spent.
Hina and Suiseiseki chased each other out the room and down the stairs. Shinku, still wearing those bloomers, tossed her hair at Suigintou and began to walk, but she was overtaken by the taller girl who purposely bumped her with her seemingly age-refined figure and brandished her proud breast. Jun saw the fuming blonde chase after her, while he and Souseiseki took their time behind.
It wasn't something new for him, having people run around the house, but Jun felt a sudden, warm and familiar sensation inside. Two years ago this house was devoid of anything save for his sister's busy school activities and his self-degrading enclosure. Now, as he sat on the dinner table, with five faces, three of which he has accepted as family, one which he adored, and another which he used to fear, everything felt like it just got a little less space.
Jun scratched his head as beside him the childish Hinaichigo was so into her pasta she was messing up her entire face with red sauce. The girl with long hair and two colored eyes beside her seemed no different. He reached out towards the brat's head and wiped Suiseiseki's face with a clean napkin. Nori and Shinku were both busy with some topic Jun didn't consider worth knowing, while Suigintou and Souseiseki were in a discussion of their own.
In that moment, Jun realized his space just got a lot smaller, but also more alive than it had ever been before.
Still, with this sudden, unexpected turn of events in this almost normal continuation of his life, he could not shake the feeling of something… something that he should be worried about.
"A binding spell?" Jun heard Souseiseki ask.
"Yes, similar to the one we use to make when we contract with humans." Suigintou said, putting more cheddar on her salad. "Take a look at your fingers, Jun."
Jun raised his hands and took note of something odd on his left. The fingers in his left hand each had a silver ring decorating it. Everyone looked at Jun and at the sparkly new bands. Out of curiosity he tried to remove one of the rings, but it was placed too tight. He couldn't remember feeling them there – in fact, his hand felt no different at all. Anything new should give a new feeling, but the rings felt like they have been there all along, as if Jun was already used to them.
"…is this… the Alice Game again?" Jun asked, suddenly getting frightful.
Suigintou chuckled at him and explained, "Yes, and at the same time, no."
"That's not something you should be making fun of." The boy said with a dark tone. "What the hell is this all about?"
"Well, to put it simply." She began, "The Alice game is over, as you can see. But what is happening now is something very similar to it."
"How so?" Shinku asked. "Does it involve another competition of some sort?"
"Hina doesn't want to fight anyone." The blonde girl said, sharing Jun's unwarranted terror. She clutched at Jun's sleeve by instinct, forcing the boy's attention. Jun grinned at the little girl and wiped her face clean the same way he did with Suiseiseki. He further reassured her by putting a hand on her soft, yellow-ridden head.
"That I am not really sure of. For certain, it doesn't have to do with anything violent, otherwise the spell would've retained our powers." Suigintou answered, finishing her portion and handing out a bowl towards Nori with a shy look, "I'm sorry, Ms. Sakurada, but your cooking is beyond satisfying. May I please have some more?"
"Of course! Eat as much as you want!"
The girl then filled Suigintou's bowl with another helping. Jun scanned the entire table and saw that Nori has prepared quite a feast. Perhaps, he thought, it was time to stop hating overseas parents and start thanking them for all the funding.
"But Suigintou," Souseiseki called, "Jun's fingers has five rings. In the Alice Game, he only had one even though both Shinku and Suiseiseki made a contract with him." Without notice Souseiseki took Jun's hand and held it up, emphasizing the rings. The boy blushed with that contact, but didn't mind it one bit.
"True, I noticed that as well. It's a little tricky to explain, but let's put it this way. The end result of the Alice Game involves only one winner. The game that we are in right now requires us to battle not with each other, but with ourselves."
"Does that mean it's possible for more than one person to win?" Jun asked.
She timidly tapped her lips with her napkin before answering, "I don't really know, to be honest. You guys should eat. The food is getting cold."
They all realized that aside from her and Nori, everyone were all too much in attention to the details, mostly because it was fascinating, but for Jun it was also worth being cautious about. While everyone resumed their meal, Jun, along with the thoughtful gaze of Shinku towards him, dug on another detail.
"So," Shinku began, "the nature of the game is still unknown. Can you at least tell what triggered it?"
"Mm," Suigintou, setting her mind to answer the question for later, decided it might also be an interesting info for everyone, "Good question… to find the answer, I believe we have to get some info from Jun himself."
"Me?"
"Yes. I hate to admit it, but it would seem that you have already surpassed father in terms of magical faculties."
He blinked a couple of times before completely processing what Suigintou said before she took another fork full of her side-dish salad. While slurping on their pasta and making another grand mess of themselves, Suiseiseki and Hina were also looking at Jun. Shinku and Souseiseki were busy with their tea, but were also at steadfast attention as well.
"No, no, no, that has got to be a mistake," Jun declared, waving his hands at them, "I mean, sure I got caught up with all this stuff but there is no way I'd have any power of some sort."
"If you say so, but let me at least educate you on the basics of ancient magic." Suigintou set her fork on the table, already done with her food, "There are two forces at work in this universe: chaos, and order. In a similar way, there are two forces at work in the human person: emotion, and reason. The ancient scholars were able to tap on those two forces: using emotion's chaotic principle for change, and reason's guiding influence to set it in an order they would want. Thus, magic was born."
"Father was the son of a great scholar." Suiseiseki suddenly said, "He used one of those books, yes? That's how he gave life to us."
"Indeed. We exist and persist in the game because of ancient magic." Shinku said.
"Well, that's all good and interesting, but what's that got to do with me?" Jun further asked.
"Like you said, you got caught up with the Alice Game." Suigintou said.
"Yeah, so? The game is set with the use of contracted humans, right? I'm sure I'm not the only one who you guys dragged into it."
"True, but you're the only one who got involved in such a prolonged period, and even managed to change the very fabric of the game. You're virtually dripping with traces of magic. Laplace even said he could smell Rozen on you."
"Ooookay…" Jun tried to think about, though he was very much in contempt with the thought of having Rozen involved in any way, "So exposure to magic makes a person… magical? Is that how it works?"
"In a way, yes. Better yet, you could say that exposure to magic FILLS a person with magic." Suigintou clarified.
Nori was also all ears to the discussion, and she still was so as she stood up and took out two plates of mango cake from the fridge. Suigintou was momentarily distracted with the sight of that sweet, but soon went back to Jun when he spoke again.
"Cool, but that still doesn't explain why you guys suddenly turned human, and why it involves me."
"Magic is a game of threshold, Jun." Shinku said, taking the turn to explain, "The force of reason sets that threshold. Now, in order for magic to take effect, what you need is something to break that threshold."
"Something?" Jun asked.
"Emotion, Jun, emotion… remember? The force of change? The only other force in humans aside from the force of reason. The threshold of magic is broken by emotion." Shinku said. "And needless to say, only a very powerful emotion could make changes such as this."
"Does that mean Jun broke the threshold already?" Suiseiseki asked, following the line of thought.
"Obviously," Shinku answered, "otherwise, we wouldn't be humans now."
The questioning expression on everyone's face again fell unto Jun, who felt like he was already driven to a dangerous corner. He gulped a lump of panic-induced saliva down his throat when he saw Suigintou's thought-filled smile and sneaky eyes. She has taken a discussion into a turn where Jun would come across a dead end.
"Another point worth noting is the kind of emotion that could trigger such change. I'm sure it is not mere superficial flow of blood rush, or shallow doze of happiness." She said, eyeing Jun. "And seeing as it affected us so, it must mean such emotion is brought forth by one of us."
"W-where are you getting at with that?" he asked nervously, though he was already aware of the answer.
"It must be something strong, something distracting, perhaps even something you couldn't control. It fills your mind with images you never made up before, constructs dreams in your nights and fantasies in your days."
He looked at his plate, and saw that his first serving was already finished. He then began to device a plot to excuse himself, and escape a grandiose conclusion to the current flow of premises.
But Suigintou was already over this plot.
"Let me summarize that into one simple question, Jun, to further enlighten this odd, cosmic event…" Suigintou continued, taking a small plate catering a slice of cake from Nori.
"…have you fallen in love with one of my sisters?"
To be continued...
Ok, first of, I'm not even sure if Nori knows how to cook, but i had to make use of her...
Also, God knows if Rozen has anything to do with Magic, but i had to make use of him too..
And thanks to James Birdsong and Savaris for your reviews, i don't I was able to reply to them... As for Yalah, I'm not really sure what you're getting at but I still appreciate your reviews... I'm currently asking a friend's help on translating them, because the only way i was able to pass Spanish class was through Divine Intervention... sorry...
I'd appreciate some suggestions... There'll be a date scene in the next chapter, so look forward to it.