Title: The Crimson Maiden
Rating: M
Chapter 11: Process of Elimination
X-X-X
Yukino paused just outside the entrance to the dueling room. The rooms were off in their own hallway, and it wouldn't be too hard for the Crimson Maiden to slip out unnoticed and return to her dorm room without raising any questions. It would be easy to monitor for when no one was near the door before leaving, but that was assuming that no one was watching it, waiting to see who might come out. Sara hadn't mentioned it in her article, but she certainly would have said something if any student had reported ever seeing the Crimson Maiden outside of a dueling room. She would have to drop her glamour before leaving, then.
Yukino was tight on time, but this could be the only chance they had. She pulled out a scrap of paper from her pocket and scribbled a quick note.
Irina,
Stake out dueling room 3; see who leaves it.
-Yukino
Yukino send it off for immediate, emergency delivery, then turned her focus back to the door. Taking a deep breath, and feeling like she could very well be walking to her own execution, she opened the door. Before Yukino lay a stretched and distorted image in place of the room. A duelspace spell was already in effect, but still open to allow one more person to enter. Yukino took a step forward, into the distortion, and the rules for the duel read themselves out within her mind. One more step would signify that she accepted the Maiden's challenge, and the only retreat would be forfeiting the duel. Steeling herself, Yukino stepped forward.
The world blurred, twisted, and finally came back into focus in front of Yukino. The duelspace took the form of a simple room with stone walls, floor and ceiling, lit by four braziers in the corners. There were no doors out of the room, but one could always end the duel by speaking the words "I forfeit." This would put into place a spell that prevented the inhabitants from feeling any pain, dispel any active magic cast by the forfeiting student, and begin to enforce the stakes of the duel. Given who Yukino was facing off with here, it would almost certainly come to that point sooner or later, but she had no intention of going down without a fight.
"I'm pleased to see that you showed up," the Crimson Maiden said. Only when she spoke did Yukino finally focus her eyes on the woman. She'd heard that the Maiden was beautiful, but she hadn't mentally prepared herself for the sight. Her heart leaped into her throat at just how much of the Maiden's flesh was exposed. That can't possibly be Haruka... can it?Yukino shook her head. It was an illusion. She knew illusions. The entire point was to hide the user, and make it seem impossible that it could be them. The Maiden didn't look at all like Haruka. In fact, she looked quite a bit like Midori - the hairstyle was only a bit different, and the Maiden's eyes and bust were the only aspects that truly differentiated her from Midori. But that just made it less likely in Yukino's mind that it could be her. It was just too obvious.
"I can't exactly say I'm pleased to be here," Yukino said, locking her gaze with the Maiden's. Whether this was Haruka or not, the Maiden's past actions, in particular the way she'd treated Natsuki, weren't something Yukino could simply forget. "Just because I'm good with illusions doesn't mean I can respect what you're doing. Whoever you are, you'll have your work cut out in trying to justify yourself to me. Even if you best me in combat, don't expect me to submit to someone I can't respect."
The Maiden raised an eyebrow as she responded to this. "If you lose to me, do you truly believe you'll have a choice about whether or not to submit?"
I've been wondering that myself,Yukino thought, though she didn't give any outward indication of her doubts. No one had yet tested whether the Maiden would actually let them back out, and Yukino still hoped it wouldn't come to that. But she'd at least prepared for that eventuality. "I do. If it turns out that I've overestimated your morality, and you do try to force the issue, I have a rescue arranged. I'll get in trouble for trying to back out of a forfeit, but not nearly as much trouble as you'll get into." Yukino could feel courage welling up inside her as she spoke. She swore that she could see a flicker or doubt cross the Maiden's features, but it didn't last long. It was enough, though.
"We'll see about that. Once I win, I have little doubt that you'll be perfectly willing to submit yourself to me," the Maiden said. A smile spread across her face, and the flame from one of the braziers reflected off of her eye. She thrust her hand out, pointing at Yukino. "En garde, Yukino Chrysant."
The choice of the proper Child could make or break a battle. Some students specialized in their bonded Child and always chose this, while others strived to be more flexible. Yukino's bonded child, Diana, the seer-Vine, was far better at defense than offense, and so was a poor choice for one-on-one duels. She might be able to hold out for a long while, but she'd never be able to strike a significant blow against the Maiden or her Child. Eventually, the Maiden would wear her down.
Simply put, Yukino was outclassed here. Her bonded Child was useless, and she only had familiarity with a couple other Childs. But if she summoned either of them, the Maiden could easily choose something that would counter it. If Yukino delayed summoning her Child, the Maiden could likely defeat her without ever summoning hers. However Yukino decided to play the game, she would lose. The choice was therefore quite simple: Toss the game out the window and make her own rules.
Step one: Stack the deck. Yukino thrust her arm forward in the same manner as the Maiden had, and she called out, "Gennai!" In response to her call, the floor around the Maiden darkened. The Maiden leaped out of the shadows before they could latch onto her feet.
"Interesting choice," the Maiden said as the shadowed patch began to bubble. A figure began to rise up from it, but the Maiden was already summoning her own Child. "Come, Kagutsuchi."
The room began to shake as the Maiden uttered the name of the dragon. Yukino could sense the boundaries of the duelspace expanding, as it enlarged itself to accommodate a battle between Childs. The walls of the room faded away as the duelspace transformed into a vast plain. Yukino winced as her eyes adjusted to the sudden onslaught of sunlight, but the sound of a dragon's roar helped her focus on what she needed to do.
Yukino dismissed her illusion with a wave of her hand. It had taken a fair bit out of her to make a convincing illusion of a Gennai being summoned, but it had served its purpose now. With a smirk, Yukino began to summon her actual Child for this fight. "Yatagarasu."
Yukino had spent many hours reading up on strategy, partly to better understand Haruka's mindset, but partly to compensate for her lack of raw power in duels. Kagutsuchi was an offensive Child. Yukino couldn't summon anything that could take a hit from it, but she could summon something that had a shot at evading it. Yatagarasu was faster and more agile than the dragon. Kagutsuchi wouldn't be able to hit it easily, but Yatagarasu would be able to slowly chip away at the dragon. It wasn't a sure thing, but one of the key facts that Yukino had learned was that an increase in randomness always favors the underdog. In almost any one-on-one duel, that was Yukino. Luck was her ally. This way, she at least had a chance, however small, of defeating the Maiden.
Yatagarasu appeared from the direction of the sun. Silently commanding it to come toward her, Yukino ran off in it's direction and leaped into the air, using a bit of magic to enhance her jump. The Maiden shot off a few fireballs at Yukino as she leaped, but her luck held out so far, and none of them hit her. Yatagarasu swooped in to let Yukino land on its back at the apex of her leap. Yukino grabbed on to the crow's feathers and silently commanded him to fly back up, directly toward the sun.
"Follow me if you can!" Yukino called out in a challenge to the Maiden. If the Maiden had the slightest bit of pride, she wouldn't allow her Child to fight it out with Yukino and Yatagarasu alone in the sky. She would want to be there herself, where she could better direct her Child and add her own offensive power to the assault on Yukino. Yukino needed to be there as well, as her only real chance to win this battle was if Yatagarasu could strike the Maiden directly and take her out. Kagutsuchi was far too powerful for Yatagarasu to take down before it landed a lucky strike. Yukino's only choice was to roll the dice and go for a decapitating strike.
Thankfully, the Maiden didn't disappoint Yukino's expectations. Kagutsuchi, who had been chasing after Yatagarasu up until this point, veered off so it could pick up the Maiden. Yukino used the extra time this bought her to fly farther away, always flying directly toward the sun. By the time Kagutsuchi resumed its chase of her, she hoped that even the dragon wouldn't be able to see her against the sun's glare.
One of the most fundamental limitations of illusion magic is that the truth can never be completely obscured. It could be surrounded with lies, it could be distorted, it could even be twisted to give the casual observer the exact wrong impression, but it must always remain in some form. It seemed to be a fundamental limitation of magic; perhaps some sort of conservation law. This fact led many people to write off illusion magic as useless, but that just betrayed their lack of imagination.
For instance, right now, Yukino and Yatagarasu would appear as little more than a spec against the sun to the Crimson Maiden and Kagutsuchi. By casting an illusion between herself and the Maiden to distort the path of light, Yukino was able to make it appear as if she were maintaining her distance from the dragon even as she ordered Yatagarasu to turn around and dive toward Kagutsuchi. She had to strengthen the illusion as they dove to keep the Maiden from getting suspicious, and even that was gambling that the Maiden wouldn't be looking too closely at her.
Yukino mentally guided Yatagarasu to aim directly at the Maiden herself. She tightened her grip on the crow's feathers as she and the Maiden neared the location of Yukino's illusion, readying herself for impact. She could see that Kagutsuchi's mouth was open, and flame was building up within it, but it didn't have a chance to attack. Yukino's illusion shattered as she and Yatagarasu burst through it. The Maiden had only a moment to react to Yukino's presence before Yatagarasu slammed into her. Yukino almost couldn't believe her eyes as the Maiden was knocked off of her mount. She'd actually struck a blow against the Crimson Maiden - and without even getting hit herself.
She couldn't get cocky, though. That was dumb luck, and she knew it. Yukino cast a couple more illusions - one offensive, one defensive. The first was on the Maiden herself - she made it appear that the Maiden was a bit higher than she in fact was, in hopes that when Kagutsuchi would try to catch her, he'd miss and end up hitting her instead. The illusion didn't last long, though. The Maiden was prepared for illusions now, it seemed, and she was able to dismiss this one within moments of it being cast. She wasn't able to easily dismiss the defensive illusion Yukino had cast though: A series of reflections of herself and Yatagarasu that helped to hide her true position.
The reflections soon paid off, as Kagutsuchi breathed fire on a random reflection while on its way to pick up the Maiden. Yukino dismissed that particular reflection and summoned another. She ordered Yatagarasu to turn around and head back toward the Maiden for another attack. Yukino readied an orb of ice energy as she, along with all of her reflections, approached the Maiden once more. She pulled away at the last moment and lobbed her ice orb at the Maiden, guessing that the Maiden wouldn't let herself get hit by Yatagarasu this easily.
Yukino guided the ice orb toward the Maiden, but the added concentration she was using meant that she didn't have enough time to respond to the Maiden's counterattack. Rather than go after any of the individual targets before her, the Maiden had opted to attack them all at once. A massive orb of flame grew from the Maiden's position, scorching Yatagarasu and Yukino and nearly knocking her off of her mount. Yukino's ice orb was dissipated by the Maiden's sphere of flame, so Yukino shot off a quick beam of ice at the Maiden, while the Maiden returned fire with lashes of fire at random images of Yatagarasu.
The Maiden was able to evade the beam of ice, but when Yukino ordered Yatagarasu to attack with a flurry of feathers, she was pleased to see that one of them successfully struck the Maiden's shoulder. Her joy was short-lived, though, as a lash of flame from the Maiden struck Yatagarasu. Now that she'd found the correct target, the Maiden began to focus on it. Kagutsuchi wasn't able to aim its breath at the agile bird, but the Maiden seemed to be having no trouble striking it. Yukino generated a quick flash of light in an attempt to hide herself as she formed more illusions, but it was no use. Yatagarasu was moving too sluggishly now for her new illusions to be convincing possibilities for where he might be, and the Maiden easily saw through her trick.
After a final blast of fire, Yatagarasu let out a cry and began to fade beneath Yukino. In desperation, Yukino manfested a disk of ice in her hands. She through it off toward the Maiden, hoping that by some miracle it would strike her neck for a decapitating strike. It wasn't to be, though. In fact, her disk didn't even come close to hitting the Maiden - it ended up shattering against one of Kagutsuchi's wings.
Yukino considered casting a levitation spell on herself as she began to fall back to earth, but it didn't matter at this point. Without her Child to help her evade, Kagutsuchi was easily able to envelop Yukino with its breath attack. As the fire touched her, Yukino immediately felt herself tumbling against the ground, though she didn't feel any pain from either it or the fire itself. The duelspace had entered its post-combat mode. Yukino had lost.
"I must say," the Maiden said as she approached Yukino. "That was an impressive performance. You're only the second opponent of mine who has ever managed to land an attack on me in a duel. Perhaps I should allow you something of a reward for that."
Yukino pushed herself up to her feet. She'd been expecting to lose, but that didn't mean she was any less nervous now. She wouldn't be able to resist if the Maiden didn't give her a chance to back out of her forfeit, and it would be at least fifteen minutes before Irina would try to save her. She had to hope that Sara was right, and the Maiden was in fact honorable, somewhere beneath her guise.
"I don't suppose you'd consider allowing me to know your identity without a memory charm, would you?" Yukino asked.
"I'm afraid that's not negotiable," the Maiden said. Yukino wasn't able to say whether or not there was actually any regret in her voice as she said this. She was having a hard time judging much of anything about the Maiden right now. The Maiden approached Yukino as she continued to speak. Even though she was just walking, there was something about it that was getting to Yukino. "Although if you wish, I can proceed without revealing my identity at all. That will allow you to remember the events tonight much more clearly. I can guarantee that if you choose this option, I won't give you cause to regret it."
Yukino shook her head, trying to focus. "No. I only came because of your promise to reveal your identity. I'll do what I have to."
X-X-X
Irina,
I'm safe, although I won't be exiting the dueling room anytime soon.
-Yukino
X-X-X
Yukino couldn't remember much of anything after that point. She was sure that the Maiden revealed her identity, and she was sure that they talked for some time. After that point, her mind was almost completely blank. She found herself standing in the empty dueling room alone. According to the clock, it was nearly 10:30. She'd stayed there the whole two hours. Did that mean she'd accepted the Maiden's advances? Her body did feel vaguely warm... She'd been planning to back out if it was anyone other than Haruka... but if it was Haruka, and she had accepted, then that meant that she wouldn't even be able to remember her first time. But if that was occurring to her now, wouldn't it have occurred to her earlier? Or had she let herself get so caught up in the moment that it didn't cross her mind?
Yukino let out a sigh. There was nothing she could do about it now. It was a mistake, but she would accomplish nothing other than driving herself crazy if she obsessed over it. Besides, if it was Haruka, then there was no reason she couldn't simply go to her friend's room and do this all again - this time without any memory charms to prevent her from remembering. A warmth filled Yukino's cheeks at the thought of what she was planning to do, and what this all meant, but she tried to suppress it as she exited the room.
Fortunately, Yukino didn't run into anyone on her way to Haruka's room who might have questioned her blush. She probably wouldn't have even noticed the presence of anyone else, given her current state of mind. It didn't even occur to her to check in with Irina and see if she'd spotted Haruka leaving the dueling room. All Yukino could think about was what she would say to Haruka. It would probably be best to simply start by saying that she knew Haruka was the Maiden and that she was willing to forgive her for it. She'd then have to ask why Haruka felt the need to hide this.
"Yukino!" The sound of Haruka's voice managed to grab Yukino's attention. As Yukino turned the corner into the hallway toward Haruka's dorm room, she'd come into sight of her upperclassman. "Did you come to see me?"
Yukino smiled at this. "I did, Haruka. Can we talk in your room?"
"Of course," Haruka said. She opened up the door to her room and walked in. A note popped into existence in front of Haruka, but Yukino didn't pay it any mind. Haruka was involved with a lot of things, so even at this time of night, there was nothing unusual about her getting a note from someone. Haruka, however, seemed to find something quite odd about it. "Yukino...?" she said as she looked at the note.
"Hmm?" Yukino said. She took a seat on one of Haruka's spare chairs. "What is it?"
"A note from you..." Haruka said, taking the question a bit more literally than Yukino had intended. Yukino normally would rolled her eyes at this behavior from Haruka, but her mind was in quite a different place right now.
Yukino stood up and went to see the note. "Wait, I didn't send you anything else..." she said. It had to be someone impersonating her. But Haruka would recognize Yukino's handwriting, so that didn't seem likely. Perhaps she'd written it while the memory charm was in effect, but she didn't remember it. But why would she have done that? Yukino looked over the note, and her body froze as she realized what it was. It was the note she'd send earlier this evening, confessing her feelings to Haruka. Haruka must not have been in her room when Yukino had sent it, and she hadn't been until now.
And if Haruka hadn't received that note until now, the timing of the challenge from the Crimson Maiden had to just be a coincidence. Okay, so it was a coincidence... but I still found some evidence that led me to believe it was Haruka, and I wouldn't have spend the full two hours there if it wasn't her."Um, Haruka... it was you, wasn't it?" Yukino said.
Haruka looked at Yukino and blinked in confusion. "What was me?"
"The Crimson Maiden," Yukino said. "That was you tonight, wasn't it?"
Haruka blinked again. Yukino's comment wasn't registering with her. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Tonight? I was having a meeting with the disciplinary committee... But this note, Yukino, I didn't know you..."
"No..." Yukino said. This couldn't be. It had to be Haruka. There was no way she'd have consented to anyone else. "Stop it. Don't joke about this, please. Please, just tell me it was you tonight."
Haruka might have been dense at times, but she had no problem noticing the panic that was beginning to overtake Yukino. She put the letter down and placed her hands on Yukino's shoulders, looking into the younger girl's eyes. "What happened, Yukino? You can tell me anything; you know that. What's wrong?"
X-X-X
Natsuki was nearly knocked off of her feet by the sound of Haruka's yell. Her survival instinct kicked in, and she said, "Perhaps we should find something else to do for a few minutes..."
Shizuru nodded at this. "That sounds like a good idea. I wouldn't want to get in Haruka's way while she's in one of her moods."
"Oh, I know. Do I ever know..." Natsuki said. Haruka had caught her slipping out of campus once, and the results hadn't been pretty. A teacher had been able to talk Haruka down to just a detention, but if Haruka had had her way, Natsuki would have found herself suspended for a good week. Another time, she'd had the misfortune of simply being in Haruka's warpath, and Haruka had tried to Natsuki detention for impeding a criminal investigation. Thankfully though, that particular one didn't go through.
Unfortunately, Natsuki and Shizuru were only able to take a couple of steps toward a bench before Haruka barged between the two of them. She shoved her finger into Shizuru's chest and said, "You! I don't care if I don't have any proof. You've gone too far this time. No one, not even the untouchable Shizuru Viola, hurts Yukino. I don't care what it takes I will see you in prison in for this!"
Shizuru was too stunned by this accusation to respond. Without even thinking, Natsuki grabbed Haruka's arm and spun the other girl away from her girlfriend. "What the hell is this about? Shizuru would never hurt Yukino, or anyone else for that matter," Natsuki said. At this point, she couldn't care less that she was manhandling an upperclassman. She wasn't going to allow Shizuru to be accused like that.
Haruka glared at Natsuki. "Don't interfere with this, Kruger. This is between me, Shizuru, and Yukino. Back away now, or I'll get you for aiding and abetting."
Natsuki lowered her brow. She worked in law enforcement, even if she couldn't tell Haruka that, so she knew that she Haruka's threat was a mere bluff. But if Haruka was going to play that game, Natsuki could at least play along to try and get some straight answers out of Haruka. She let go of Haruka's arm and said, "So tell me: What crime is Shizuru accused of? You can't touch a hair on her head before you at least say what you think she did."
Haruka grunted. "Fine." She turned back to Shizuru and pointed her finger at the girl's chest again. "This lech has been masquerading as the Crimson Maiden and molesting girls on campus. I wasn't able to get anyone to admit they hadn't consented until tonight. According to Yukino, the Maiden forced her to do something tonight and then had her wipe her own memory of it. But a memory charm won't get you out of a rape charge. I will fill evidence, whatever it takes."
Shizuru slowly backed away from Haruka. "Tonight...?" she said weakly.
"Shizuru and I were on a date," Natsuki said. Her mind was torn in three directions right now. She was still angry at Haruka for the accusation against Shizuru, but now she was worried about what had happened to Yukino, and there was also a part of her which was ready to jump for joy at the fact that she finally had conclusive evidence against Shizuru being the Maiden. She could figure that out later, though. Natsuki shook her head clear of those thoughts, and she said, "We've been in Windbloom since around 6. She hasn't been out of my sight the whole time. There's no way she could have done anything to Yukino. It had to have been someone else."
Haruka froze in place. She blinked slowly. After a long minute, she turned to Natsuki and said, "If you're lying about this, I will find out. If not..." Haruka gritted her teeth and turned back to Shizuru. "I apologize. Now tell me, who is the Crimson Maiden!"
