It has been some time, hasn't it? Sorry about that, my summer job is eating literally almost all of my free time, but it's being worth it (I'm finally getting a PS4 next month, yay!). That aside, I also took a quite important decision, which you shall see in the author's notes after the chapter (Also, reminder that both this story and Requiem Universus now have TvTropes pages, and that all your help filling them would be appreciated. Links are on my profile!)
Those things aside, though, hope you enjoy this new chapter of my weirdest story ever! Also, fun fact, about the reviewers that wondered if drugs would even 'work' in Kirito, I would like to point you back to Chapter 1 (Not confuse with the Prologue), during the first scene, when Ubom and Grotek are talking about the 'siblings' and how 'Kirito' was being stupid :3
Without further ado, have fun reading!
Disclaimer: SAO and its characters don't belong to me, but to Kawahara Reki. If they did, I would make 'There is But One Ultimate Way' the official canon epilogue of the series so as to everyone could be happy.
Lusus Naturae (ˈLuːsʊs Næˈtʊəriː)
A freak, mutant, or monster. Also called: Lusus.
[Latin: 'Freak of Nature']
Chapter 9: Because I'm Unique…
September 4th, 2023. Koto, Tokyo. Somewhere in the docks, 20:00…
Sugou Nobuyuki was a man that always had wanted to have everything he could and more.
Even back in his college days, and even when working under Dr. Shigemura, the fact that Kayaba Akihiko was always ahead of him, always relegating him to 'Number 2' despite his talent, filled him with rage and jealousy. He had spent years of effort trying to surpass his 'rival' to no avail. No matter how much he tried, his own intellect was no match for that of the genius. The only 'consolation' he could have was that his (Mostly pretended) social skills were always better to the introvert attitude that Kayaba had.
In the end, as they were their separate ways and he got a job in RECT Inc., he was decided to become the best he could, no matter what got in his way, just to prove he was better than his 'rival', through any means necessary.
It had taken quite a bit of work (And a fair share of unimportant people he had to 'crush' in order to advance as fast as he did), but he had, on his opinion, managed it: He became the chief of RECT Progress, the company's research institute, he managed to befriend the CEO and his family and, after years of careful words, proving his worth and a carefully crafted cordial relationship, had managed to get engaged to his daughter, all but assuring that HE would become the next CEO of RECT Inc. when the time came (Sure, the girl was way younger than him, and it wasn't as if he found her particularly interesting, but she was a means to an end, and would grow up beautifully if her mother was anything to go by). It was perfect, beyond that, a proof that his efforts and his way of life were successful, that his methods were more than justified.
Then Kayaba had to go and become famous worldwide by creating FullDive tech. Literally revolutionizing almost every single field possible, then becoming even more acclaimed by showing the full possibilities of his virtual world by making Sword Art Online.
It had made his blood boil and almost send him into a spiral of rage. Once again, out of nowhere, that bastard without aspirations effortlessly made all his accomplishments seem small and pathetic, meaningless.
He had only managed to calm down by reminding himself that it didn't really matter anymore. Sure, he may not be able to reach Kayaba's level or fame, but he wasn't a college student anymore, none of that mattered at all now. He had the rest of his life all but assured to be lived in luxury and success thanks to his efforts, and there was nothing Kayaba could do that would that away from him!
…or so he had thought. Because, suddenly, a fatal 'crack' had appeared on his plan, and from no other part than the one he had never even taken into consideration at all: Yuuki Asuna herself.
Oh yes, he had never thought too much of his 'fiancée'. He had 'known' her since before she was a teenager and had always wore a mask of polite kindness whenever they met, but he had always assumed that the girl raised under the strict care of Yuuki Kyouko would always meekly do as her family told her. Despite showing great promise in her studies a being beautiful, for a girl her age, she had no drive on her own, only ever doing as she was told.
But then, an 'event' he had never been aware of until much later had happened. Somehow, the drive-less girl had saved a mysterious boy from drowning in her house's pool. And saving a life had, apparently, changed her in a surprising way.
Suddenly, she had a keen awareness of the world, suddenly she was worried about a lot of things and problems she would have found unimportant before, suddenly she cared for way more than just living her life as she was 'supposed' to.
None of this had truly mattered to him back then, though, even after having met the strange 'boy'. She was still his fiancée, and even if she had changed a bit, she was still the key to his success…and then SAO's launch day came, and it slowly became obvious to him that his long-time and carefully crafted plan was going to hell.
Asuna started to show even more drive than before, started to oppose her mother's decision for her future more actively and, in a politely aggressive way, started to show that she didn't want to marry him at all, and that she would do everything she could so that it didn't happen.
It was like a nightmare threatening to take away everything he had worked so hard for, but, by the time he had finally realized there was no reasoning with the girl and that her mother no longer could take control over her 'rebellious attitude, it hadn't taking him long to discover WHAT was the cause of it all.
That boy. That goddamned boy he had met at Kayaba's lab, the same one she had saved the life of, the one who had introduced himself as 'Kirito'. By a chance in a million, he had met with her again inside that thrice damned game and 'reconnected' with the girl, becoming inseparable friends. And Asuna, meeting the one who had unknowingly shown her the new 'path' she wanted to follow in life, had instantly gotten attached to him in a way that was way beyond simple friendship.
Once again, it all, somehow, ended up coming back to Kayaba. His game, his stupid assistant boy'…it had ruined everything he had worked so hard for! Again, and again, that man found a way to throw his life into chaos and take everything from him!
Well, no more. This time, he would ensure that HE was the one standing victorious at the end, and he possessed more than enough resources to manage it without any real effort.
Finding out the boy he knew as 'Kirito's real name had been child's play. Not because he had the money or influence to actually do so (He did), but because Asuna's mother complained about him and the 'bad influence' he was for her daughter almost every formal meal of the family he was invited to (And that he had keenly realized the aforementioned teenage girl had stopped attending). A simple and seemingly innocent question had been enough for Yuuki Kyouko to tell him…more than he really wanted to know about Kirigaya Kazuto (He didn't need to know that the boy was adopted, the people he used to hang out with, the places he used to eat at or the stores he used to buy things from…seriously, his fiancée's mother was a bit obsessed when it came to her daughter, even if it benefited him in this case), but getting to know which high school he was going to attend to, plus the fact that the idiotic boy was, apparently, as naïve and innocent as he had seemed that first time they met, had helped him immensely.
After that, it had been just a question of deciding exactly how to 'remove' the boy from his way. Intimidation or bribes were out of the question, not only for the lack of reliability in someone so young, but also because Sugou had the feeling they would be ineffective in the hyperactive and naïve teen.
Kidnaping him…could be effective, especially if part of the conditions for his release were for his family to move far away and cut ties with everyone they knew, but the idea implied way too many problems. While he had more than enough resources for even having someone take the kid out of the country, the difficulties, cost and danger of an ongoing investigation were simply too many to consider.
That only left the most drastic and extreme option. Kirigaya Kazuto needed to die in a 'terrible accident'.
While many people would have been horrified at the idea of someone consider killing with such a casual ease, Sugou Nobuyuki was a much more 'practical' person.
He had great plans for RECT that requited him being at the top, and even greater ones for VR Tech once they managed to get their own copies of Cardinal from Argus (Or Kayaba, to be more specific). Plans that would make him greater than his 'rival', despite his recent successes, would ever be.
He wasn't about to let a simple, pathetic and average boy get in the way of all that.
Finally, after careful planning, he had gotten everything ready, and that day he had finally put his plan into motion.
It was simple, yet elegant. Kirigaya Kazuto would never get home from school and, by the next day or so, he would be found dead somewhere near the docks of Tokyo Bay, having fallen from a deadly height and reeking of alcohol.
A drunken teenager going out to have fun and having an accident, even in the current age, wasn't all that uncommon, after all. Even with all the investigation, the police would never find anything unusual, and even if anyone got even the slightest clue, well, Sugou had more than enough 'contacts' there to ensure it wouldn't be a problem, and so he had gotten ready for his annoying problem to finally be 'resolved'.
At the beginning, everything had seemed to go smoothly. He had his 'driver' (Paid more than enough to do his 'job' and never ask questions) get a simple, nondescript car and they boarded it together. Using himself as 'bait' to lure the kid would have seemed foolish to some, but that was just because they watched too many television or read one too many manga.
Not only would the teen recognize him and at least believe him to some degree for being his friend's fiancée, everyone knew that, if you wanted something well done, you have to be there to verify it (Even if the one that would do the 'deed' in the end was the man driving and not him, of course).
It had truly surprised him, though, how easy everything had been. Not only was Kazuto apparently naiver (Or dumber in his opinion) than he had thought, the boy also hadn't hesitated when he offered him a drink except to say a minor shouldn't drink alcohol, which he had waved off by telling him that a bit was okay and even a gesture of goodwill when meeting with 'someone important' like him.
When the black-haired boy had smiled in awe, nodded and downed the drink (Laced with a potent and expensive drug that would vanish from his body in a few hours), Sugou Nobuyuki had almost felt bad for what he was doing. It almost felt like killing someone with a mental disability.
That was when the first signal that something was 'wrong' happened, and oh how he deeply regretted now to have ignored the alarm bells going off in his head when, instead of quickly falling asleep, the boy's face had reddened as he gained a funny look while saying that the vodka was amazing and if he could have another drink. Hesitating, Sugou had kept his affable mask while refilling his glass and making idle conversation, pretending to ask him how his friendship with Asuna was going lately.
Seven cups later, the bespectacled man was seriously considering fire whoever had been in charge of getting the somniferous, but still pleased with the result. He had gotten the boy REALLY drunk out of his mind, so much he was now babbling incoherencies about dreams of bleeding stars that weren't stars and planets made of flesh that scared him to no end. And something about a distant voice in the back of his head getting closer each day that he didn't really understand, nor that he cared from the inane ramblings of a drunken boy that apparently had seen one too many creepy sci-fi movies.
That should have been his second warning that something was very wrong, though. Not only the strange things he said, but also that, even if the drug was effectively ineffective or fake, a boy who had never drunk before shouldn't have been able to stomach all that alcohol so quickly without passing out or, at least, being left unable to move on his own.
Either way, they had finally arrived to Tokyo Bay and, after exchanging some words saying he needed to 'buy something' he had asked the hiccupping boy to follow him out of the car, the driver trailing behind them as they walked through the dark and craped areas of the docks, the elongated shadows cast by the almost-fully-set sun giving all of it an even more ominous look.
Kazuto had just started making worried questions in his drunken state about why there were no shops around and why were they taken such a strange path when they arrived at the roof of one of the many warehouse-like buildings that filled the area.
By that point, the bespectacled man was sure a part of the boy muddled mind had started to realize 'something' was wrong, but his 'driver' had already grabbed him and hoisted him up, ignoring his confused questions as he was dragged/carried to the roof's edge.
In that moment, finally realizing how truly pathetically easy everything had been, Sugou Nobuyuki had been unable to hold back the maniacal sense of triumph within him and had broken into a very creepy bout of laughter, telling Kazuto how he was 'Sorry', but that he was an obstacle in his plans he couldn't allow himself to deal with, and that he would take 'good care' of Asuna when he was gone, 'consoling' the poor girl when she got the tragic news of his 'unexpected' death.
The black haired boy had then STARED at him just as the man's lackey threw him off the roof, turning around without even giving the falling body a second look.
Then a dozen of massive black tentacles had surged from the edge, grabbing the wide-eyed driver and dragging him down before he could even scream.
And that was how everything went to hell.
Now, scared shitless, breathless and shaking like a leaf, Sugou peeked around the corner of the group of crates he was hiding behind, the labyrinth of containers and shadows surrounding the docks seeming darker and more sinister than ever, every whisper of wind or small sound in the distance making him want to scream and start running.
Wrong. Wrong. Everything had gone horribly wrong. What was that thing? What was that kid…that monster?! A nightmare, yes, this had to be a nightmare, there was no way something like this could happen in reality, no way something like this could happen to him! He needed to calm down, think rationally and…
"Sugoooouu-saaaaannn…" echoed the distorted, inhuman and, more terrifyingly, drunken voice that made the man's heart freeze on his chest. "Wheeere areeeee youuuu? C'mon…werrren't weee…havvvinnnggg funnn…?"
Throwing caution and rational thought to the win, Sugou rushed out of his hiding place and sprinted through the labyrinthic docks as if the Devil himself was after him, his breath burning out of his lungs as he tried to get away from the sounds of something heavy moving through the shadows with unnatural grace, of unnatural flesh slithering through the darkness.
"Gotta run…gotta run!"
He didn't even remember where his car was at this point, but to be fair the sheer terror consuming him had made him get lost beyond hope in the dark and damp zone. His only thought right now was getting out of the docks an into the city proper, where there would be people, where there would be others for the THING to take his attention off him, or maybe even not follow him altogether, like in a horror story where the monster didn't come out in crowded places. All that he needed was to find the way to…!
Turning around a corner near a small storage building, Sugou stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the darkness ahead of him.
A darkness filled with countless inhuman eyes, read and golden with pulsating black veins.
Then, as one, endless mouths filled with sharp teeth opened under the eyes, almost seeming to be smiling his way.
Without even thinking, the bespectacled man turned around faster than he thought possible raising a leg to start running with renowned strength…and was stopped in his tracks when over a dozen eye-covered tendrils coiled around his limbs, his scream never leaving his mouth as another of the tentacles closed around his mouth like a nightmarish gag.
Unable to do anything but thrash in fear, Sugou was lifted off his feet, his eyes wide with absolute panic and terror behind his cracked glasses as he was turned upside down and forced to face towards the wall of flesh waiting in the darkness. From it, something 'emerged', twisted in an impossible angle.
Kirigaya Kazuto's still human-looking face, his eyes now the same as those of the writhing flesh and tendrils surrounding him, his skin crawling as if there was something trying to burst through it even as he STARED towards the shaking man, an innocent and drunken smile still on his slightly feminine face as he did so.
Somehow, that made it even a thousand times more terrifying for Sugou. And when the boy spoke again…there was none of the earlier warmth remaining in his voice.
"Now, why don't you tell me again what were you planning to do with MY friend…?"
In the middle of the darkened docks, no one could hear Sugou Nobuyuki finally scream.
"The larger the Shadows, the brightest the Light." – Anonymous (Putting it backwards gives it a strange perspective, don't you think?)
Giving a last look towards her phone as she entered the small bar, Kirigaya Suguha sighed and reminded herself that she was already 14 and a half (Almost), more than old enough to go out of her home after 8 in the night without problems or to need to call her mom at work if she did so. She already left Kazuto a note saying she was going out shopping with a friend and that she would be back soon, after all.
Technically, that was only half-truth, though. She certainly wasn't out shopping, not in that place called 'Dicey Café', but she was meeting with a 'friend'…
"Ah, there you are. I was wondering if you had actually found an excuse to not show up, Sugu-chan."
Suppressing the customary twitch of annoyance that hearing that voice calling her name like that caused, the young kendoka turned towards a nearby table, where the familiar form of Shigemura Yuuna could be seen waving at her with one hand, a cup of cold tea in the other.
"Hey, Yuuna." was all that Suguha expressed for greeting as she came to the older girl's table and sat down. "And of course I would show up. After all, this is a…very personal matter."
A tense silence seemed to hang in the air after those words were spoken, both girls staring fixedly at each other as if trying measure something that couldn't be seen, the only interruption in their cold war of stares being when the café's owner (An imposing American man called Andrew) came by to ask if the young kendoka wanted something, which was answered by asking for another cold tea like the one Yuuna was drinking.
After the dark-skinned man was gone, 'something' seemed to have left the air between both girls, as if an imaginary burden had been lifted, and so the older one sighed while looking down at her tea with a bitter frown.
"I can't believe he kissed you."
"…to be honest, me neither. I was so out of it after that I was sure I would wake up in my bed at any second." calmly answered the young kendoka before looking down and biting her lips. "When I knew I hadn't been his first kiss, though…I felt…"
"Horrible? Disappointed? Angry? As if you wanted to tear off his face? Because that's how I felt when we realized what happened the day after that mess with his new 'friends'." growled Yuuna while dangerously tightening her grip on the tea glass, making Suguha's eyes widen. "I just….I didn't try bringing the subject up after the scare he gave us because I thought he would need time to think, you know? But then he goes and…kisses you too?! Who does he think he is?! That was…that was my first kiss too, you know?!"
"Eh?! Re-really?!" almost shouted the younger girl with wide eyes, making sure to lower her voice in time to not cause a scene. "Bu-but…well, it's just that…you're so pretty and…I was sure you would have…"
"Try growing up with my father. I love him, but he's not exactly the best paternal figure out there, he has always been more of a scientist. And since mom died…" the brown-haired girl trailed off, her eyes suddenly turning distant as she tried to calm down. "Well, point is, the only boy I have ever been close to before was my childhood friend, Eiji-kun…"
"You have a childhood friend?" asked a shocked Suguha while raising an eyebrow. "But, how is that we…?"
"Haven't met him? Because he's barely around anymore. Eiji-kun…he's always been very shy, despite being a bit older than me, and when he focuses in something he puts his best into that to try and overcome said shyness. Recently he has been trying to get in dad's institute of research so we have barely talked except for a few times this past year…And, well, I have also been spending more time with…Kazuto and you all lately." confessed Yuuna while drinking a long gulp from her tea. "I have only ever seen him as a brother…an actual brother, I mean, not like you d…sorry. Tha-that was uncalled for, I shouldn't have…"
"Heh…it's okay, I'm not offended or anything." interrupted the young kendoka while giving the other girl a bitter smile, turning to look out of the window towards the street. "Do you know why he means so much to me? It's because…he has always been everything for me. My first memories are of the warmth of his hand on mine, of his smiles soothing me whenever I was sad. I can recall them more vividly than being in my mother's arms."
"Su-Sugu-chan…"
"Not a day passed when he wouldn't be by my side, playing with me, listening to what I had to say, or even just…being there, because he enjoyed it. And I did, too, more than anything." chuckling, Suguha paused in her tale to receive her cold tea, giving Andrew a thankful smile and waiting for him to walk away before proceeding. "And I guess I knew it was weird, a small part of me. After all, I grew surrounded by kids complaining about their siblings, about how they annoyed them sometimes or how they fought over toys or how they disliked something or another of them. Something normal in kids…but, for me, THEY were the weird ones."
"…because he wasn't anything like that, was he?" muttered Yuuna while a small smile appeared on her face, remembering the odd visage of a young boy ignoring her as he stared at the complicated (For her) designs of a virtual Floating Castle.
"You know it. We never once fought, we never once argued. He was always happy just by seeing me happy, I would always enjoy anything he had to say, we were the happiest when we spend time with each other…the kind of siblings that you won't really see in reality, only in fairy tales or very vanilla Slice of Life manga." taking a long sip from her drink, the young kendoka's smile seemed to have turned brighter at the memories. "Then I learned he wasn't my brother, but some sort of weird 'monster' that my parents had found and taken with them, and suddenly it clicked for me, that maybe it wasn't the rest of the world what was weird, that maybe that your older brother could turn his arm into a giant eye-filled claw, jump back-first off big trees without injuring himself, run for many streets with you on his back faster than a bike or call for animals emitting weird sounds wasn't normal…"
"Suguha, please…" begged the older girl, using her full name at seeing her tremble. "You don't need to keep…!"
"I thought all of that for 1 second before realizing I didn't care, just as he smashed through his window and then ran off to almost drown himself in Asuna's pool. That night was the single, most terrifying and heartbreaking time of my life. I realized just how…'empty' my life was without him. And when I saw him the next day, looking all flushed and scared with that pretty rich girl hoovering over him…I realized that I actually loved him in a way a sister shouldn't." putting down her drink as she said those words, the young kendoka stared at Yuuna with a gaze that seemed…wrong, out of place in a girl her age. "I'm not normal, Yuuna, and I know that. Normal girls don't hop on the back of mutant alien crows and ride all the way to Tokyo to save their brother from an alien armed with a laser gun without a second thought. Nor do find everything that happens around him normal. I know something is wrong with my mind, because of having grown up with him…but I don't care."
The songstress didn't say anything this time. She just…stared, at Suguha's serene face, as if she was seeing her for the first time.
"I don't care that my brother is in truth an alien monster the size of a truck filled with eyes and tentacles, or that my pets are alien crows he 'changed', or that he casually did the same to a bunch of people he barely knew just to save them from their incurable diseases…because I love him so much I can't imagine life without him." honestly explained the young kendoka while looking at the little remaining tea in her glass. "And I know that, by 'normal standards', being 14 and thinking like that must mean I'm screwed up in the head …but I don't care. I never will. That's just…who I am."
"…man, I really can't compete with you, can I?" bitterly laughed Yuuna while shaking her head, making Suguha blink at her in surprise. "Kazuto…he's the first boy I have ever felt this way for. He makes me feel special, motivated, to do my best for everything I dream of…but, compared to you, the moment I knew 'the truth' about him…it really made me doubt my feelings for quite some time. I don't deserve…"
"You kissed him." cut her off the younger girl with a suddenly 'defeated' tone, making the songstress look at her in surprise. "You finally decided to go for it, risk it all and shot him how you felt, even if you didn't know if he would even understand it. You were braver than I ever was in that regard. Hell, the only reason he kissed ME was to try and understand better what he felt for YOU. When I realized that, I felt so…cold, so sad that I couldn't even muster the courage to ask him what he had realized or what he had felt when he kissed me. In that regard, I'm the coward that can't hope to compete with you…"
"That's…not true, you know? After all, for all that I did that night…I wasn't brave enough to ask him for an 'answer' either, and let him so 'confused' he went and did that with you." feeling a headache forming at the front of her skull, the songstress quickly downed what remained of her own cold drink before letting out a strange laugh. "God bless, how the hell is that he's the one that kisses another girl and I am the one feeling bad? That seems like more science fiction than any crazy super-aliens!"
"Maybe because Onii-chan isn't like any other boy on the planet. Quite literally. At least I wouldn't believe anyone else if I discovered they were going around kissing girls with the excuse of trying to 'understand' their feelings." commented Suguha with a small chuckle before looking up towards Yuuna with a bright face. "But I guess that's just another thing that makes us love him so much, uh?"
"…heh, you're probably the only girl 3 years younger than me that I will ever accept can make me seem like a fool, Sugu-chan." happily answered the older girl while putting down her empty glass. "So, what do you say if we go talk to the idiot tomorrow and ask him straight out, with no hard feelings about the outcome?"
"…yeah, I think I would like that, Yuuna." replied the young kendoka with a bright smile on her own.
And for a moment, there was nothing but pleasant silence between the two 'rivals'…
"…also, I haven't actually asked her, but, uhm, I think Onii-chan may have tried to kiss Asuna before me, just before they met the Sleeping Knights."
"…and suddenly, the temptation of punching him in the face as soon as I see him is coming back full force…"
"You would probably end up hurting yourself more than him…"
"And you don't know how horribly unfair that is! Ugh, please, at least tell me he hasn't tried the same with Shiori or Rika."
"I…don't think so."
"Woah, that lack of confidence in your voice just managed to make me even more worried, almost to the point of fearing he may have even tried it with Keiko-chan or Shino-san…should we call Asuna so that she also comes to talk with him?"
"I guess…? I mean, honestly, she has always worried me as much as you in regards to him…"
"Argh, don't remind me…I know him a thousand times more, but I swear those two just seem to connect as if they were destined partners or something! Did saving his life make that much of a difference?!"
"Well…at least he hasn't gotten around making any other 'friends' in High School so far…"
"Please, Sugu-chan, don't tempt Fate like that. Every day he's alone in there I fear we're either going to hear he accidentally caused an incident or that half the girls in the school have suddenly fallen for him…"
"He-hey, don't say that! Onii-chan has matured a lot these past years; he wouldn't mess up High School just because he's going alone!"
For some reason, both girls thought they faintly heard the sound of ever-echoing laughter in the distance…
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Then, force them to become your friends too." – Anonymous (Teaching valuable anime-life lessons).
Kirigaya Kazuto knew he had probably messed things up very badly, even as he stared at the two unconscious men hanging from the crane's side, a grimace upon his face.
When he had fully recovered control of his cognitive capabilities, from an unpleasant moment to the next (Probably because of his bizarre biology), he had almost fell down and broke the entire thing when he felt a head-splitting headache hitting him all over. It seemed that suddenly going from 'drugged drunk' to 'hangover' wasn't very good for anyone, alien or not. Then, he had taken all of 5 seconds in recovering fully from the unpleasant side-effects, also making sure to develop immunity to the substance that Sugou had put in the first glass of vodka he had handed him.
To a normal boy his age, it would have left them out cold for hours to such degree that not even a hit to the face would have woken them. To him, it had only mixed with the gratuitous quantities of alcohol he had consumed to actually induce an inebriated state in his alien body. Then again, it wasn't as if the bespectacled man intent on 'removing him from the way' knew he would have needed dozens of times the quantity of the substance he had used if he truly wished to put the being denominated as 'X-K0940' to sleep (Not that it would be a problem now that he was consciously willing his body to assimilate and become immune to said drug or similar ones).
Scowling at the memory, Kazuto let his gaze move down towards the unconscious form of Sugou Nobuyuki, remembering everything that he had managed to 'interrogate' from him during his slightly uncontrollable state. To think that anyone would wish to use Asuna that way and have suck horrible and sinister plans in mind for FullDive technology…the simple thought made him sick and his blood to boil, an uncontrollable desire of anger filling his very…!
Taking a deep breath, the gamer forced himself to calm down, the tendrils that had started to emerge from his destroyed uniform (And boy was he going to get in troubles for that) receding back into his body while he forced his eyes to return to their normal human appearance.
It was already bad enough that he had broken the driver's ribs without meaning to when he knocked him out and then all of Sugou's limbs while 'motivating' him to talk with his tendrils and then make him swear to never get near Asuna again. He couldn't just go around hurting people without thinking. He was not a monster.
That aside, though, there was one BIG problem now he had to take care of. Namely, the two unconscious men he had hanging from the side of a crane in the docks of Tokyo through some sort of hardened secretion (Which he was pretty sure came from the mouth of some blind creature that lived underground in a moon-sized mountain range, somewhere at the edge of a neighboring galaxy) and that he had to get back home soon given how late it already was.
His inability to properly discern the details of his genetic mutations' origins or arriving home in time aside, the point was that he couldn't just leave them there with such a clear evidence of something 'alien' having happened. He could always just drag them down back to their car and leave them there, but that nagging feeling about the possibility of the bespectacled man trying anything to harm Asuna in retaliation for this stopped him from doing so.
The inhuman boy was really out of his depth here. He didn't know what to do, hell, he was sure no one he knew probably knew what to do in such a…situation…
"That's it!" shouted Kazuto to no one before quickly grabbing his phone and dialing a number Kayaba Akihiko himself had given to him. "C'mon, answer, please…"
"You have contacted MHCP-001, Codename 'Yui' with the SAO Emergency Counseling System." informed a familiar voice with an almost robotic tone. "How may I be of assis…?"
"Yui-chan, now it's not the time for scripted talks, I urgently need your help!"
"…yo-you?! O-oh…by Cardinal an all that is virtually holy, Kayaba-sama gave you this number, right? WHY?! Why would he force this torture upon m…?!"
"Forget that, I need you to check if a specific player is Logged In and then communicate him with me, now! It's an urgent situation!"
"What?! Do you have any idea how many protocols I would be breaking with…?! Wait…you mean you just need to talk with this person and you won't bother me at all after that?"
"Uhm, yes? Sorry if it bothers you, but I don't think you specifically could help me with this situa…"
"What's the Player's username?!"
In that moment, depth within the 'Forest of Wandering', a Field Dungeon within Aincrad's 35th Floor, a certain group of hooded Players was still gathered despite the hour, as they were planning for the next move of their 'unusual' guild…when a flash of light emerged between them and let Yui appear in all her glory, a slightly maniacal smile on the AI's face as she turned towards the most imposing of the group and all but threw an holo-screen his way.
"There you go, PoH, it's for you!"
"…eh?" was all that the leader of the most hated guild within the VRMMO could say before the floating little girl vanished, leaving behind the very confused members of Laughing Coffin.
Finally, after a couple seconds of hesitation, PoH grabbed the virtual window and dragged it close to him, pushing the 'accept' button on it and letting what seemed suspiciously like the standard 'Ongoing Call Screen' of a phone appear on its surface.
"PoH-san, thank heavens you were Online!" came a strangely familiar voice from the screen, making the man and those around him blink in disbelief.
"…Kirito?" asked the confused leader of the PK Guild while everyone around him broke into whispers, apparently as put off by the sudden event as him.
"Yeah, it's me! I have a problem and you're probably the most appropriate person to ask for something like this, so I risked it to the fact you were Logged In, and you were!" 'explained' the boy with a relieved tone, making everyone sweatdrop as PoH's lips twitched in amusement.
"I see…and in what way can I humbly help you, Smiling Swordsman?" asked the hooded man with a hint of dark humor, everyone around him giggling sinisterly at the clear mocker…
"Hypothetically, if someone had just tried to get rid of me through some set-up to make it seem like an accident, but I had managed to turn things around, what would be the best way of getting rid of them without raising suspicions?"
A deep silence filled the clearing of the Wandering Forest after the boy's words were finished, everyone just staring blankly at the holo-screen while their brains tried to properly process what they had just heard.
"…wait, what?"
"Uhm, hypothetically, if someone…"
"Yeah, yea, I heard you the first time; I was just trying to verify I had actually heard that right." cut him off PoH with a suddenly exasperated tone, before adopting a deep-thinking expression. "Well, if it was me I guess I would probably see if I can use what they wanted to fuck me over with to screw with them myself, but seriously, what are you…?"
"Ah, that may work! Thanks a lot, PoH-san; I will go a bit easier on you and your friends next time as thanks!" happily interrupted their 'sworn enemy' before disconnecting the call.
The following new silence made the members of Laughing Coffin feel, for some reason, strangely pathetic.
Meanwhile, back in the docks Tokyo Bay, Kirigaya Kazuto happily finished pouring yet another of the many bottles of expensive alcoholic drinks over the unconscious form of Sugou Nobuyuki (Having just done the same with his driver), also making him down a small quantity of it, and then proceeded to 'carefully' slam the car in which they had taken him there against one of the metallic crates in an angle that made it seem as if the one driving had lost control of the vehicle, turning most of the frontal part of it into a destroyed mess. Working quickly (Knowing that the loud sound may have alerted someone), the inhuman boy haphazardly put Sugou on the backseat, twisted the frame so that it didn't seem unnatural, and quickly did the same with the other man in the driver seat. Then, for good measure, he triggered the airbag with a soft punch and slammed the man's head into it.
Satisfied with his handiwork, Kazuto turned around and fled the scene, jumping and climbing over crates and then roofs until he was far away from the docks, then stopping to look at the night sky.
It was getting late and his uniform was ruined, never mind the fact that he was quite far away from his home. He needed to hurry if he wanted to arrive before Sugu started getting worried (He could only arrive so late and excuse it as one of his peculiars 'adventures', after all).
But before that…there was something crucial he needed to do.
With a determined look, the boy once again got his phone from his ruined pants and dialed a familiar number.
"…Kirito? Is everything alright? Yui just sent me one of her usual complaints saying that you used the emergency…"
"Akihiko-san, please, tell me." interrupted the boy with an unusually serious and determined voice. "What would I need to study and how high my grades would need to be if I wanted to work with you at Argus?"
"…eh? Wha-what would you want to…?"
"Because I want to become a man worthy of marrying Asuna instead of that bastard of Sugou Nobuyuki!" answered the gamer without a shred of doubt.
The sound of the phone falling from Kayaba Akihiko's hands and slamming into the floor could be heard through the whole building.
And for some reason, in the middle of taking a bath, Yuuki Asuna felt a strange but not unwelcome shiver run down her back…
"We can't choose what we Are but we can Be what we Choose." – Anonymous (A true master of confusing the hell out of people).
Despite how late it was, Asada Shino simply refused to fall asleep, suppressing yet another yawn as she kept typing in her portable computer, stacks of papers and notes around her desk while the many pictures and piece of newspapers' articles stared at her from the walls in that creepy-comfortable way she was used to.
Her mother was working late that day, something she was glad for. She may have promised her that she wouldn't stay 'investigating' till late so as to not affect her health or school life, but what she was doing in that moment was way too important to delay it. And while it was, in a way, related to aliens, it wasn't, for once, something that she wasn't doing for fun or to try and expose 'the Truth', as she called it (Though she wasn't exactly trying to do that anymore, given Kazuto needed his secret to remain a secret).
No, the reports and data she was looking over at that moment were all related to a certain case of 'Serial Kidnapping'. More specifically, of several terminally ill patients that had been 'abducted' from their rooms on the same night, some in hospitals that were entire prefectures away, which made the police suspect some sort of organized group or similar had been behind the 'crimes'. Even more, she was centered around every single news related to the 'victims' families and their reactions to the 'tragedy', what they have been doing lately and how they were collaborating with the authorities to try and get any information about their loved ones.
The bespectacled girl scowled upon seeing one where the article's writer had been blunt and uncaring enough to mention how several of the 'kidnapped patients' would more than likely be dead already without access to the medical equipment that maintained their precarious health stable.
Other similar annotations, mostly printed, around her came directly from Keiko. The young girl had the advantage of living fairly close to a couple of their 'targets', and also of being closer to everywhere in general unlike her (Living in the countryside had some disadvantages in these cases). It was surprising how easily an almost-13-years-old girl ('Just a month more!' as she liked to say) could get around and gather information without anyone finding it suspicious, especially if she was 'so cute' with her twin-tails and carrying her cat everywhere.
For a moment, Shino stopped and pondered about the moral implications of 'corrupting' such a young girl into doing things like this and which consequences it could have in her future, before quickly dismissing the thought as 'silly'. She and Keiko were partners now, two keepers of the world's dark secrets and veiling to keep threats from Beyond from damaging their planet.
At least that's what she told herself since she met with Kazuto again. The bespectacled girl still needed to get some actual 'instruments' for herself and Keiko to be actually able to do something beyond just research if any aliens or something similar ever tried to invade their planet (And it felt good to know for once that this was an actual possibility with 100% proof, unlike in the past). They couldn't exactly rely on their fists for that, especially her younger partner…though there was always the chance of just calling their own 'human alien' for help if the need ever arose.
Thinking about the black-haired boy, Shino stopped her work completely for a moment to stare at the wall just over her table. Besides her childish drawing of him that she made long ago, there was now an actual picture of him, grinning at the camera while the rest of his friends were around him. Even herself and Keiko, though that had certainly taken quite the convincing for his part. It seemed that it would still take some time, if they ever made the actual effort, for them to forgive the two of them for having 'forced' Kazuto to reveal his secret.
She honestly didn't see the problem with it. After all, they had all ended up getting even closer because of that, right?
Be that as it may, though, the point was that…Kirigaya Kazuto was the biggest and most contradicting person she had ever encountered.
An alien experiment gone wrong, abandoned by aliens way too stupid for her liking despite how advanced they were. Raised by a human family, having grown up into a painfully innocent and cheerful boy, despite being in truth some unholy abomination from outer space.
And he had saved Shino's, her mother's and maybe every single other life inside the post office that fateful day that had changed her life. If he hadn't been there, if he hadn't been what he was, who knew how her life would be in that moment? Or if she would even still be there at all?
Whatever the case, the fact was that the black-haired boy had proven himself to be an ally. Someone she could count on. A real friend.
…that was something she had very little of. In fact, except for him, only Keiko could actually be called her 'friend'. She had acquaintances in her school, sure, but being 'the girl who is always reading and writing about weird things' was an easy way to not being the most social person around. On the bright side, anyone stupid enough to think it was a good idea to bully her for it quickly learned that her grades in PE and her sharp mind weren't just for show. It was surprising the number of ways you could 'hurt' a fellow middle schooler without even touching them when you were 'training' to fight aliens.
"My best friends are a hyperactive little girl and the failed alien experiment I was looking for since I was 10, for which now I'm trying to find a way to make contact with several families of 'kidnapped' people without the authorities catching on, because he saved said people's lives by turning them into alien-hybrids." commented Shino to the empty room with an amused smile, before taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. "…heh, man, I must be crazy or something, to be happy with such a life."
The only thing the bespectacled girl was certain of, though, was that she wouldn't change her current life for any possible alternative.
And so, with a small grin on her face, she set out to continue her arduous and illegal task, a plan already half-formed in her mind as she kept noting down details that would include her two friends as key parts of it. Maybe even the rest Kazuto's friends, if she felt nice enough and they decided to stop giving her and Keiko the cold shoulder for a couple hours…
The next day, just as the bell announcing the last class of the day had ended rang, Kirigaya Kazuto hummed happily and started putting everything back on his bag, thinking about what he was now aiming to do.
After a long talk with Akihiko, which he had thankfully been able to have while heading back home (It was kind of an emergency so there was nothing wrong with using his wings, right?), he had more or least determined everything he would need to study and what he would need to focus on if he wanted to work at Argus (Though the man had said that it wouldn't really be that difficult for him, given that he currently had skills similar to his because of the time he 'worked as his secretary').
His plan was 'simple': Sugou Nobuyuki wasn't someone he wanted near neither Asuna nor any of his friends, and there was no telling if his savior's family wouldn't choose someone similar or worse for her to marry again. So he was going to solve that by asking her to marry him. It was a perfect plan.
That's why he wondered why Akihiko had sounded as if he was slamming his face against a table when he told him his idea. He had also urged him greatly to tell Asuna his 'plan' before actually doing 'anything' about it, like going out of the blue to talk with the girl's parents.
Luckily, Sugu and Yuuna had asked if they could meet him after school that day for 'something important' and we had asked if Asuna could come too, they had been surprised while informing him that they were actually thinking of calling her too. It was almost as if they had been reading his mind or something! This was going to be perfect!
Such were the thoughts running through the gamer's head while heading down the hallway and cheerfully returning the polite greetings some of his classmates send his way as he passed…when his entire world came to a stop.
Sound vanished. Light died. The very air seemed to freeze.
Eyes wide, Kazuto found himself 'staring' into a distorted emptiness, a void in his very perception of the world. Something sinisterly alien…yet uncanny familiar, for some reason.
(…YOU…)
"…what?" muttered the boy at the strange sounds echoing from the darkness. "Who…who is there…?"
(…COMING…)
"What…? How am I…how am I understanding this…?"
It was nothing more than growls and senseless screeches. It shouldn't mean anything at all. It should be terrifying for him…
(COMING. FOR. YOU…)
And yet, it wasn't. it was strangely warm, welcome and nostalgic…and that made it scarier for the inhuman boy all the more, because, unlike everything else in his life he could associate with such feelings, he had no idea WHAT this was…
Once again, he opened his mouth…
(WHO. IS. THERE?)
…and surprised even himself when the same inhuman and seemingly meaningless sounds emerged from his throat, as if he had always known them.
Absolute silence reigned.
And suddenly, a wave of endless and unstoppable JOY overwhelmed him, coming from the other end of the void…
"…kun? Kirigaya-kun?"
"EH?!" all but shouted the gamer while his eyes snapped open, coming face to face with the blinking and curious face of Kashiwazaka Hiyori, the girl tilting her head to the side at his startled/scared look. "A-ah, Hiyori-san, uhm…sorry about that."
"Oh, it's no problem, I sometimes space out like that too and get startled when someone breaks me out of it." waved it off his fellow first year with that carefree smile of her, making the inhuman boy smile by instinct in return. "Were you heading somewhere?"
"Ah, yes, I'm going to meet my sister and some friends in a café on a bit…what about you?"
"Nah, just going to the club areas." explained Hiyori while starting to walk alongside. "I think I will join the music club, it sounds like it could be fun!"
"Music club?" wondered Kazuto as he immediately thought of Yuuna and their endless 'musical duels'. "Hmmm…"
"Interested, Kirigaya-kun? Perhaps do you like music?" asked the silver-haired girl with an honestly curious tone.
"Yeah, you could say that I do, in many ways…"
"Why don't you come to check out the club with me, then? It won't take long and you will surely still have time to get to that meeting with your friends!"
"…sure, why not? It's always fun to discover new things to do!"
Those words said, the gamer followed after his fellow first year while engaging in innocent talk, never once looking back, trying to pretend that nothing strange had just happened.
It had probably been one of his weird dreams getting out of control again, nothing to worry about…
In that moment, however, in the lab area of a ship that was traveling through an alternative form of space…sinister, unholy and otherworldly sounds echoed loudly, filling the air with a macabre cacophony. If anyone in the ship had been awake, they would have been disturbed and horrified at the sounds, and probably shocked that the creature had never emitted such before.
It wasn't strange, though. After all, the being denominated as X-K0941had never before in 'her' life laughed with unbridled joy.
(I. CAN. HEAR. HIM.)
Within the darkness of the lab, countless teeth-filled mouths twisted into monstrous versions of smiles.
(SOON. BROTHER.)
The creature twisted within her tank, sinking into sleep once again, gathering strength…
(SOON…)
Strength for the only reason that gave meaning to her life.
Author's Notes: And finally, we're done again!
This is a chapter to remind us that, despite everything, Lusus!Kirito's 'common sense' and reasoning is truly beyond alien. The 'conclusion' to which he arrives here is more than proof enough, I think, but what else is there behind it? You will know it next chapter when he probably will make his closest friends want to kill him for obvious reasons XD (And we will get the aftermath of Sugou's failed plan, maybe even he picking a school club :P) Also, ominous bit at the end. The time of the 're-encounter' keeps getting inexorably closer…
Now, though, come the 'bad' news that will probably shock you all: This story, and RU, are entering on a kinda-hiatus (Then again with how long it has been since I Updated RU it may as well already have been in one). Before you panic and start screaming/cursing me, though, know the reason.
I have FINALLY decided that it's time, to go back to my Main SAO Project, and start what I promised long ago. By the end of next month, 'One Punch-Gamer: Chains of Fate' will officially start!
Yes, that's right. Some here may not even know about my first and best SAO fic, even less about the promised sequel, but those who do know that I have delayed it more than long enough. I have re-read everything I need from Alicization multiple times and, especially, having finished recently of playing 'AW vs. SAO: Millennium Twilight' has let me put some of the finer details and plot points I was still doubtful about on their places and without doubts. The time comes now!
I will still try to Update at least this story very sporadically, though, because it's fun and enjoyable, but my main focus will be there with OPG:CoF, especially to get the first epilogue out in time, as I'm still working until the end of August, but I think I will manage XP
And well, with that said and done, I leave you all with this chapter's Omake! Enjoy it, because it will be the last one for a while together with the main fic…
Lusus+Vampire 6: Because You're Special to Me
Kurono Kurumu knew she wasn't exactly the most perfect girl around, even if she would never accept it out loud.
She was very proud of her beauty, without a doubt, but one would need to be blind to not notice almost everyone around seemed to agree that Moka was prettier than her. She wasn't very smart when it came to academics either, something that Yukari made more than evident because of her 'genius' intellect.
If there was something she could feel completely sure of surpassing any other student in the academy it probably would be her figure, but she didn't exactly go around flaunting it to everyone anymore since she found the only one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Sadly, Kirigaya Kazuto wasn't exactly the kind of guy who was left a drooling and entranced man upon having a pair of breasts pressed upon him. That made him more charming, in her opinion, but also a little frustrating when only the boldest of her actions seemed to cause an actual visible reaction from him, and that usually was just blushing and a bit of stuttering.
His happy and hope-filled self never changed, though, and that was, ironically, one of the things she loved the most about him. Sure, the succubus dreamed with him actually returning her feelings fully, but the way in which he was honestly kind and caring with all of them (Even with that lazy idiot of Gin-sempai) moved her heart in unexpected ways. Kurumu had never imagined she would ever meet someone like him.
That's why it was hard for her to believe what had supposedly happened the other day. When Moka's Art Teacher, Ishigami Hitomi, who was in truth a Medusa, had been discovered of being behind the disappearances of several female students by the boy himself.
She had just so happened to be busy calling her mother that day, and Yukari finishing a project for her class, reason why none of them had been present during the incident, but a shaken Moka had later told them that, when Kazuto had broken down the door and entered where Ishigami-sensei had trapped her, he had looked…scary.
The boy had seen the other girls, crying unheard and trapped within prisons of stone made out of their own bodies. He had stumbled just as the lunatic art teacher was about to inflict the same fate to Moka, the terrible power of the snakes growing from her head allowing her to petrify victims, all for the sake of her twisted idea of 'beauty'.
The vampire had described what followed as…traumatic, Ishigami's cockiness at thinking she could easily deal with the boy having soon turned to horror when he, apparently, shrugged off the bits of his flesh that were petrified before unceremoniously yanking on her snakes and tearing all of them off in one go.
Inner Moka (Who apparently was now able to talk through the rosary, somehow) had mentioned how the woman's screams of pain had probably ending up hurting her of how loud they were, Kazuto having quickly knocked her out and, somehow, devoured the torn snakes with his quickly regenerating body before making sure the frozen Moka was okay, carrying her in his arms and, somehow, proceeded to un-petrify every single girl with black snakes that now grew from his arms, then called for the faculty to take care of the half-dead art teacher.
Kurumu didn't know what was more unbelievable, if imagining her Destined One unleashing such brutality with such obvious rage, or if the fact that the vampire was apparently unfazed by it, only disturbed at the action itself. It really didn't make sense to her.
Until that moment, that is. Because she was seeing it with her own eyes.
Kanou Nagare was a student that most would have probably called 'slimy', with how creepy and sinister he was, always carrying a camera around. Even more, he was a certified pervert, and not one with innocent intentions: The boy, who was in truth a Madslug, used his gelatinous body to sneak into unseen places, take indecent pictures of girls and then blackmail them in exchange for not making said photos public. And he had become obsessed with Kurumu thanks to a few words they had exchanged during her old time, before she met Moka and Kazuto, so he had done his same modus operandi with her, forcing the girl to abandon her friends of the Newspaper Club when they were swamped with work because of a looming deadline, then made to wear indecent clothes for him to take pictures of.
When she had come back, humiliated and tired, everyone apparently was angry at her, thinking she had just decided to slack off…except for Kazuto. To everyone's surprise, the gamer had defended her, then asked her what was wrong or if she could tell them what had happened. And when she had been unable to answer beyond a "Sorry, but I can't tell you…", he had just smiled and told her that she could always count on him if anything was wrong, leaving everyone else baffled as he left the clubroom, quickly followed by the rest.
The succubus had felt both extremely happy and terribly frustrated. Her Destined One was willing to believe in her that much, yet she couldn't tell him the truth because of the 'threat' from that bastard…
That's why she had rebelled against him and told him she didn't care anymore about the pictures when he had come to tell her they would be doing 'more pictures' the next day. And that's why the enraged bastard had stolen the half-finished newspaper from the club in revenge.
And that had caused her to rush to confront him as soon as she saw it, not caring that the rest thought she was abandoning them in a moment of need. It had all been her fault, and she would be damned if she let hers and her friends' (And when had she started thinking so surely of them all like that?) work be destroyed because of that little bastard.
Of course, in hindsight, she could have tried to prepare a little better, but Nagare had seemed harmless enough beyond his ability to blackmail. She certainly hadn't been expected his true form to be nigh-immune to simple physical attacks nor the debilitating poison gas he released from his whole body. And just when it seemed that she would be victim of a horrible fate in the monster's slimy tentacles…the wall of the gym's room where they were had exploded inwards, following by a soul-chilling roar that had frozen both her attacker and herself.
Kurumu now was forced to agree with Moka's previous statement. An angry Kazuto was terrifying, without a doubt. The way in which he had charged like an enraged bull against the Madslug and all but slammed the much bigger creature against the opposite wall was shocking enough, but it was his face, twisted in a furious snarl and with those unnatural red/golden eyes of his, what truly made him seem like a completely different person. The arrival through the hole of a worried-looking Moka and an awed Yukari had given her a quick explanation, though, upon seeing the letter in the little witch's hands.
The black-haired boy had found the envelope with the pictures, which she had accidentally forgotten back in the clubroom. Together with Nagare's original 'threat'…
"Kurumu-chan! Are you okay?!"
And that was when the succubus understood why the pink-haired vampire hadn't been fazed at all even in the face of such violence coming from the boy both were obviously interested in.
Because the scary brutality he had just shown…both his voice and his eyes were filled with nothing but worried concern the moment he addressed to her, as if nothing else in the world mattered to him but her safety.
She had just started nodding with a smile before she saw the massive 'cloud' of poison gas exploding around the wide-eyed Kazuto, making him fall flat on his face, paralyzed, the other girls' screams matching her own as Nagare's disgusting form rose again.
"KAZUTO!"
"Holy shit, that fucking hurt!" complained the Madslug while shaking slightly, his deformed snail-like eyes trying to focus again. "But bet you weren't expecting my poisonous gas, eh, Kirigaya Kazuto?! Now you're helpless upon my power!"
With that loud proclamation, the pervert's gelatinous body extended forward, tendrils of slime shooting to grab the unmoving boy, probably intending to use him as hostage, Moka starting to move while Yukari raised her wand…
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!"
…but Kurumu beat everyone to the punch with her scream, reality seeming to 'warp' around them as a thick mist covered their surroundings and burning branches emerged from the ground, surrounding the suddenly terrified madslug and leaving the rest open-mouthed.
"Wha-what is this?!" screamed Nagare while trying to escape, the monstrous plants emerging and snaring him everywhere. "N-NO! S-stay away!"
"Ku-Kurumu?! Are you doing this?!" shouted a wide-eyed Yukari while looking from the snarling succubus to the unnatural phenomenon. "Ho-how?!"
"I don't know, but I don't care! I'm NOT letting him touch my Destined One!"
"Illusions." suddenly spoke a serious voice from the vampire's rosary, making both her owner and the little witch to turn towards it. "Some High-Level Succubae are supposedly able to cast them, but to think that Kurumu would be able to, and one of such degree…did I truly underestimate her that much? Or is it a new motivation what has let her grow like this?"
"Woah…Moka-san, your talking rosary truly knows a lot of things!"
"For the last time, child, I'm NOT a 'talking rosary'!" snarled the Inner Moka with barely contained frustration, making the Outer one sweatdrop at that.
Come to think of it, Yukari hadn't gotten to actually meet with her Inner-self even once since she joined their strange 'group of friends'…
"S-stop this, please!" shouted Nagare while cornering himself against a wall. "Fu-fuck this, I need to esca…!"
The sudden echo of a high pitched 'sound' interrupted the madslug, visible waves of sound hitting all over his gelatinous body, making him scream in horror and pain. Shocked, Kurumu released her illusion, Yukari gasping while Moka's eyes shot towards the source of it: A once again standing Kazuto, with a strange worm-like appendage growing from his back, ended in an eyeless circular mouth filled with rough teeth, from which the hypersonic waves were coming.
"Good job, Kurumu-chan. I will take it from here."
"Kazuto!"
"You're okay!"
"I never doubted it for a second, Kazuto-san!"
"Ho-how…?! My gas…!"
"Sorry, I already became immune to it. Really caught me off guard, though…" muttered the inhuman boy before calmly walking closer to the transformed student. "Now…where are our newspapers?"
"I-in the backroom, I-I haven't touched them, I swear!" screamed Nagare with a pleading voice, before shaking while Kazuto walked closer to him. "Wha-what are you doing…?! S-stop…this hurtssss…!"
"I know, I'm the one regulating it so that it's painful but not harmful for the mass of your body." softly explained the gamer before tightly gripping one of the eye-tipped antennae of the madslug, making him scream in fear. "This is a warning that I don't want to repeat, okay? No one hurts my loved ones…in any way."
As if to prove his threatening words, Kazuto made the soundwaves intensity grow, making Nagare scream even louder.
"AAAAAAH!"
"Do you understand?"
"YE-YES! I DO!" shouted the madslug with the last of his strength, before slumping down unconscious as the black-haired boy stopped his actions, letting the strange worm-like thing sink back into his body.
Then, he turned around as if nothing had happened and gave a thumbs-up towards the girls.
"Problem solved! I think he learned his lesson."
Blinking, the boy was surprised for a second when Kurumu literally flew into his arms, hugging him with arms and wings, before simply smiling and returning the hug, whispering soothing words to the slightly trembling succubus while Moka sighed and smiled at the scene, Yukari rushing to check on the newspapers while muttering something along the lines of 'The Succubus deserving this one', even as Gin arrived at the scene saying that he had called the faculty…and deadpanning at the destroyed wall of the gym.
"…I seriously hope I'm not the one who they're going to make pay for that."
And the next day, when the whole newspaper's club was selling their recently finished edition with bright smiles…Kazuto took the chance to whisper something to a surprised Kurumu.
"Next time, don't try and solve everything on your own, okay? It's good to stand by yourself…but friends are supposed to be there to support you always, right?"
For answer, the boy got a happy nod and a mischievous kiss on the cheek, which made him blink and blush slightly while the other 2 female members of the club suddenly snapped at the sight.
And as the strangest and most lively group of Youkai Academy descended into their usual shenanigans…none of them noticed how, from a certain distance, a figure in a dark uniform carefully watched them with narrowed eyes.
Slowly, he turned around and walked away, ready to inform his 'boss'.
The Public Safety Committee needed to keep a tight eye on these ones, after all…
Author's Notes 2: As far as I know, the whole Nagare incident is a manga-only thing that never got adapted to the anime. Which is a shame because, despite starting as the usual random 'villain of the week' setting, it actually gives Kurumu quite a bit of character development, not to mention showing for the first time how she cares for everyone as a group besides only Tsukune, and also the first time she uses her illusion powers.
Also, yeah, I skipped over/summarized Miss Snake's incident because it really didn't give much to the plot as it originally was, besides giving some Tsukune X Moka fluff, and here Lusus!Kirito's reaction to her actions and what she wanted to do was swift and brutal. Also, his birthday isn't close yet, unlike Tsukune's OxO
And yeah, manga-wise, we're about to enter the first 'major conflict' of the series. Next time, whenever that is, a certain fox and his lackeys bite more than they could ever chew…
Until next time, this is Saint, signing off!