Author's Note: Most of this has already been posted on my LJ; just the last small section is new here.
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Title: Crimson Maiden
Rating: M
Chapter 10: Crimson Snare
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Who is the Crimson Maiden?
A report by Sara Gallagher
Published November 20, 1406
Over the last year, numerous students have received a challenge to a duel from a figure known as "The Crimson Maiden." Some of the facts about her are well known: She's sexy as hell. She dresses in red and uses primarily fire magic. She demands the body of her opponent as the forfeit to their duel, and she's never even come close to losing. It also seems to be the consensus around school that it's more than worth it to lose to her - she's apparently that good.
But who is she? No one knows for sure except the Maiden herself, and she's not telling. We know the Maiden has handily defeated many Pearls and Corals in combat, but there's no indication she's ever challenged a Crystal. From this, we can safely rule out any Coral student, and all but a handful of Pearls. It's possible to narrow things down further if one looks at the glamour the Maiden uses to mask her identity. Since she must retain a noticeable feature of her appearance, even under the illusion, there must be some physical attribute in the Maiden's appearance that matches how she truly appeared.
Putting these limitations together, we can come up with a suspects list. From the Crystal class, Shizuru Viola, Haruka Armitage, and Midori al-Aswad all fit the requirements, and from the Pearl class, Mai Tokiha and one other student who declined permission to publish her name fit the requirements. Not all of these suspects are equally likely; for the cases of Shizuru, Haruka, and Mai, fellow students have gone on the record saying they don't think it's at all possible she could be the Crimson Maiden, but there's circumstantial evidence against the other two students as well.
To collect more evidence, I surveyed the student body, looking for students who'd accepted the Maiden's challenge to a duel. Here are some of my key findings:
1) The Maiden tends to keep some distance, even in her victory. She has never once kissed a defeated opponent, and only one student who had fought her reported that the Maiden had touched her with her own hands. Every other student reported that the Maiden used only magical effects and items on them.
2) The Maiden always makes it clear that she'll entertain requests to back out of one's forfeit. I wasn't able to find anyone who had actually done so, however. A few students did mention that she seemed sincere in her offer, though.
3) The Maiden's offers to duel are often followed up by a second message if the first is declined. Some students have mentioned this second message as being insightful, and one described it as "manipulative."
4) The student who described the Maiden's second message as "manipulative" reports that the Maiden later cast lucid dreaming spells on her, which is a serious infraction of school rules, but extremely difficult to prove.
5) The Maiden's duels always take place late at night, when few students have regular conflicts. This makes it hard to find anyone that can be ruled out, especially when looking back at past encounters.
6) Only one student claims to have been challenged twice by the Maiden, although she didn't accept the second offer.
7) The Maiden has used a different Child in almost every encounter. I could find a few cases where she used the same Child multiple times, but no pattern is apparent.
8) The Maiden has never been seen to use an Element in battle.
Looking at these points, I found myself most curious about the seeming contradiction between point 2 and points 3 and 4. Point 2 implies that the Maiden is honorable, and doesn't truly wish to rape anyone, but this doesn't seem to be consistent with other methods of manipulating students. It's possible that she wouldn't actually honor a request to back out of one's forfeit, but we have no way of knowing this for sure. On the other hand, only one student has reported feeling manipulated like this, so it's possible that there's something unique about her case. Perhaps someone else sent this student notes in the guise of the Maiden?
Readers are invited to send in their opinions on who the Maiden might be, and any evidence or had proof for or against anyone will be greatly appreciated.
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"What the-" Mai said, though she caught herself before she earned the ire of the librarian for disturbing the peace. The afternoon study break was supposed to be quieter than lunch break after all, at least in theory. She dropped her voice as she threw an issue of the student paper onto the table and said to Sara, "What the hell is this? Since when am I a suspect?"
Sara's eyes shot over to Irina nervously. Was she in on this as well? At least Mikoto seemed innocent of all this, judging by her look. Unfortunately, Natsuki and Yukino weren't around right now - Yukino had class this period, and Natsuki always had one excuse or another. They would have been able to back Mai up if they were here. They knew Mai as well as anyone, and she was sure they'd vouch for her.
"Well, you said it was alright to use your name in the article..." Sara said. She swallowed nervously as she stared up at Mai.
"That was when I thought you were intending to quote my opinions on the Maiden. You didn't say it was because I was a suspect," Mai said. The temperature around Mai rose a couple of degrees as she fumed, though Mai caught it and forced herself to calm down a bit - she could get in a lot of trouble if she lost control. She was supposed to be a role model here. With a deep breath, she pulled out a chair and sat down. "And you didn't answer my question. Since when am I a suspect here?"
"Well..." Irina said, shuffling in her seat a bit. "We can't really rule you out. I mean, you're strong enough, you have the same fire theme as the Maiden, and your... er, well... you have the right figure to use that for a glamour as the Maiden."
Mai narrowed her eyes, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. "I fought the Maiden, you know. I lost my virginity to her. Well, if you count that... which I do..." Mai shook her head, trying not to let her mind drift back to that experience, and certainly trying not to let herself consider the prospect of accepting the Maiden's offer to duel again. "The point is, I wouldn't lie about something like that. I wouldn't even be talking about it at all if you weren't suspecting me now."
"Well, it's just that... You know you wouldn't lie about it, but we can't know that for sure, can we?" Sara said. "It's not like you're at the top of our list or anything... It's like with Haruka. None of us really suspects she's the Maiden, but without any hard evidence against her, we can't rule her out too soon. We just don't have any firm proof that it can't be you. I'm sorry, Mai, but we just want to be thorough here."
"Yeah, come on," Irina said. "You can even take it as a compliment! If you're a suspect, that means we're willing to believe you're powerful, sexy, and an amazing lover."
"It also means you suspect that I would deliberately mess with Natsuki's dreams," Mai said. Her eyes narrowed and focused on Irina. "I would never do that to a friend. And I can't forgive anyone who would do it to her, either." Sara and Irina looked at each other for a moment. Mai could see regret there, but no acceptance. She just wasn't getting through to them. "Fine. Just tell me what I can do to prove to you that I'm not the Maiden. Circle of Truth, divination, whatever it takes."
"Well..." Sara said. "Let me see..." She picked up her backpack and rifled through it, pulling out a notepad after a bit. She flipped through it for a moment, then said, "As far as I've been able to figure out, the Maiden sends out a challenge every week or so. It's been about that long since Natsuki was challenged, so the Maiden might be sending out another pretty soon. If we can figure out when it happens, and then make sure someone can vouch for your location at that time, then we should be able to rule you out."
Irina's eyes lit up at this. "Perfect! I'll spread the word that I want to know who's fighting the Maiden and when. If anyone can find out, I can. Just leave it to Ultra Detective Irina Woods!"
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It felt like Yukino had been staring at the printout of her letter for hours. She'd let herself chicken out from sending it the past two days, but enough was enough. She would do it today, and let the chips fall as they might. At least, that was the plan. She'd promised herself she'd sent the letter by 7 pm at the latest, and according to the clock, she was down to her last five minutes.
Why am I making this so hard? I mean... what's the worst that could happen? Well, Haruka could reject me and be so disgusted that she won't even be my friend anymore... Or she's mad at me for not telling her sooner and implicitly lying to her... But if that's the case, I'm just making it worse by not sending this as soon as possible. So I have to do this.
Without giving herself a chance to rethink her conclusion, Yukino signed her name to the note and cast a quick spell to deliver it to Haruka as soon as she was in her dorm room. On some level, Yukino was expecting to be filled with dread as the letter vanished from her sight, but this didn't turn out to be the case. Instead, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was done. She'd done all she could do. All that was left now was to wait for a reply.
Haruka probably wouldn't take long to reply. She believed in being as prompt as possible with one's communications. Even if she didn't know what she felt about this situation, she'd at least send a quick reply saying that she needed time to think about it. The only reason it might take longer than that was if Haruka wasn't in her room right now. If that were the case, it might not be until much later that Yukino got a reply.
Given that possibility, there wasn't much point in sitting around and waiting for a reply to appear. Yukino let out a sigh and turned to face her computer. She might as well get some homework done while she waited. However, she'd only managed to get a couple minutes worth of work done before a piece of paper popped into existence in front of her monitor. Grabbing it just a bit too eagerly, Yukino began to read.
Good evening, Yukino. I trust this message finds you well. Tonight, I have a special proposal for you. Should you wish, come to dueling room 3 at 8 pm to meet me. I challenge you to a duel with the highest stakes: victor's choice for the duration of two hours, beginning from the conclusion of the duel, the only limitation being that only the two of us may be involved in any activities.
I realize that you are wondering who I am, and so I will make a special offer for you, and only you. If you come to face me, and I turn out to be victorious, I will nevertheless grant you the privilege of knowing my true identity, but only under the condition that you perform a memory charm upon yourself to erase this knowledge upon the conclusion of our meeting. I hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
The Crimson Maiden
"It can't be..." Yukino muttered to herself. The timing had to be a coincidence. Haruka couldn't be the Crimson Maiden, not the Haruka that Yukino knew. She would just have to wait for Haruka's real reply, which would prove it. Putting the letter out of her mind, Yukino went back to her homework.
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It's her, as far as I can tell. Confirmation code YClt3HA.
-Yukino
Even though she'd written the note herself, Yukino still had trouble believing it. Her mind was still sorting itself out from the aftereffects of the memory charm she'd used on herself. She remembered that she'd gotten worried about the lack of a reply from Haruka, and the worry had led to suspicion. But there was no way she'd accept a challenge from the Crimson Maiden without knowing for a fact that it was Haruka, so she needed some proof. She still had the password to Haruka's computer from when she'd helped her friend set it up, and as long as it was turned on, she'd be able to connect to it through the school network and snoop around.
Of course, she couldn't simply invade her friend's privacy for something like this. When the idea had first come to her, Yukino had dismissed it out of hand. But a suspicion kept gnawing at her: What if Haruka did have another side to herself that she couldn't face? What if this was her way of acting it out? It wouldn't affect how Yukino felt about her - she already knew that Haruka wasn't perfect. Granted, it would take Yukino some work to be okay with all of this, but she'd do that for Haruka.
So, if this was the case, Yukino had to do something to be there for her friend, particularly if this was going to be her only chance. It wasn't the most airtight work of logic in the world, but it was what Yukino had used to justify her actions. She'd used a memory charm on herself - inspired by the Crimson Maiden's letter - so she wouldn't remember anything of what she found on Haruka's computer, and then went searching for evidence. According to her note, she'd found some. It wasn't conclusive, apparently, but it had been enough to convince her before, so she should just trust herself.
And once she had a chance to talk to Haruka - outside of any guises or memory charms - she'd confess to this breach of privacy. She just hoped it would be enough.
Yukino glanced at the time. It was 7:44 now. She'd have to get going if she wanted to get to the Maiden's duel on time. If it really was Haruka, then she wouldn't appreciate Yukino showing up late. And if it wasn't Haruka... then Yukino was risking giving up her virginity to someone other than her love.
Deflated, Yukino sunk back into her chair. She couldn't take that risk. She'd have to be sure the Maiden would let her back out if it turned out to be anyone other than Haruka. According to Sara's article, she was probably sincere about that offer.
Probably. If she trusted her note, the Maiden was probably Haruka. If she trusted Sara's findings, the Maiden would probablylet her back out if she asked. If not, then there was one word for it: rape. Yukino would be putting a lot of trust in "probably." She'd need a trump card, just in case.
Going with the first idea that came to mind, Yukino pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled out a note.
Mai,
This is Yukino. If you don't get another message from me by 8:30 tonight, get a faculty member to dispel the duelspace in dueling room 3 immediately, as it will mean the Crimson Maiden isn't letting me back out of my forfeit, and you know what that means. I'm willing to take any penalty for backing out if it comes to this. I'll explain later; I'm running short on time now.
-Yukino
Yukino stared at the note. That should do it. She simply had to tell the Maiden about this, and she was in the clear. ...Unless Mai was the Maiden. It didn't seem likely, but it wasn't a risk Yukino could take. She scribbled out Mai's name and wrote in Irina's. There. Everything was set. She sent the message off to Irina with a spell for immediate, emergency delivery, and took a deep breath. It was time to go.
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Irina,
If you have a chance, look up "Sisterhood of the Crimson Flame." I can't tell you why, and I won't even remember sending this if you ask me about it later, but it might be just what we need.
-Yukino
Despite the recommendation from Yukino, a search online had turned up nothing. Irina was beginning to wonder if this was just a joke. Perhaps it wasn't even Yukino who'd sent the note. Come to think of it, Irina had never inspected Yukino's handwriting, so there wasn't any way to know right now. She could ask Yukino if this was her handwriting, though. She'd already sent a note back to Yukino asking what this meant, but she'd received no reply so far.
Perhaps there would be something buried somewhere in the school library. Perhaps not, and that would be a lot of time wasted if this was a dead end. If only Yukino could be straight with her... but no, she had to be cryptic, and she had to play this "I might not remember" game. It was almost as if she was trying to be as useless as possible.
Just as this thought crossed Irina's mind, another letter popped into existence in front of her. She grabbed it and began to read. It was the same handwriting as before, and also signed by Yukino. As she finished reading it, three thoughts crossed Irina's mind: 1) What the hell? Yukino's fighting the Crimson Maiden? Why didn't she talk to us about this beforehand? 2) That is a clever idea, though... 3) Wait! I can use this to rule people out!
Irina began to work on a series of notes. They might only be able to locate one or two of their suspects in the time they had, but it was better than nothing.
