The Crimson Maiden

by Leebot

Mai Otome AU. The scars of Fuuka run deep. Hundreds of years later, lives are being twisted to unknown ends. Bonds will form, bonds will break, and the specter of history may overcome all. Pairings include Shiznat, Harukino, and others.

21. Howling Silverwolf

Title: The Crimson Maiden

Chapter 20: Howling Silverwolf

Rating: M

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part One

A good scam doesn't rely on beating the mark at a game. A good scam relies only on getting the mark to accept the basic premises you lay out for her. So the question becomes: Is the Crimson Maiden playing a game, or is she running a scam?

If she were playing a game, there would have to a chance she would lose. Out of all the people the Crimson Maiden has fought, Mai Tokiha seems to be the only one who even had a remote chance of defeating her. For everyone else, her victory was a foregone conclusion. It's pretty much what you'd expect if a Crystal picked a duel with a Pearl or Coral, or a Pearl picked a duel with a Coral. There's nothing against that in the school rules, of course – it can be a good learning experience for the younger student – but no one ever duels someone from a different year for any significant stakes.

So how does the Crimson Maiden get duels at all, given the stakes that she demands? Well, I can look at the two cases I know about. Mai accepted because she thought the Maiden was Anh Lu, who she had a crush on at the time. Yukino Chrysant accepted because she thought the Maiden was Haruka Armitage, who she had a crush on. How many other students who dueled the Maiden were led to believe that it was someone they were crushing on?

Now, the catch to all of this is that the Maiden is dueling in disguise. If her disguise were ever successfully dispelled, the blowback from it would give the Maiden's opponent a real chance to win the duel. This actually gives some people the incentive to accept the duel – Mai thought that she could win after she dispelled the Maiden's glamour – but it relies on the opponent always being wrong. In fact, if the opponent is wrong, then the attempted dispel would backfire on them, making the Maiden's victory assured.

No, this isn't a game at all. The Maiden's stacked the deck in her favor. I can see her working on Mai right now. She's trying to convince Mai that she's Nao, so that Mai will be willing to accept the Maiden's challenge and try to unmask her. It's almost certainly part of the scam.

The point of all of this is that if I approach this as a simple mystery, a simple case of ruling out some people and looking for evidence toward someone else, the Maiden can be expected to be one step ahead of me. The only way to solve this is to see through the scam. I have to figure out what basic premise of the mystery is being violated here, and only then can I figure out who the Maiden really is.

Let's look at this carefully, and see if I can spot the thread I need to tug on.

X-X-X

Although she was pretty sure she'd figured out who the Crimson Maiden was, Natsuki wasn't going to make the mistake of barging in and trying to unmask the Maiden as soon as their duel began. The Maiden was running a scam, and Natsuki knew better than to try to beat a scammer at their own game. Perhaps this time she was right, but she couldn't count on that. She'd keep the option open in case things went badly in their duel, but that was Plan B. Plan A was to win the duel by running a scam of her own.

There weren't any official rules at Garderobe for duels between students. Students were free to set up whatever rules they wanted for duels, and the duelspace spell would automatically enforce them. The spell had a few automatic rules of its own, such as preventing permanent harm to anyone inside the space and removing any weapons before the duel began, but there was really no concept of cheating. If it was possible to do in a duel, it was fair play. If you tried to push the limits of what you could do, other students would soon find out and demand "fair" rules be put into place before they'd agree to duel you, or you might have trouble finding anyone to agree at all.

But for a case like this, Natsuki wasn't the slightest bit worried about fair play. The Maiden certainly wasn't going to be in a position to complain that Natsuki was being unfair. The only trick was figuring out what Natsuki could do to help tilt the odds in her favor. She already had one ace in the hole, thanks to her Dream Shizuru powering up Duran for her, but it almost certainly wouldn't be enough. It would give Duran an edge against most Childs, but he could still have a hard time with some of the naturally powerful Childs like Kagutsuchi or Kiyohime. He would probably be able to fight either of them to a standstill, Natsuki hoped, but that still left her with the problem of how to fight the Maiden herself.

Her recent duel with Nao had given her an idea, though. Nao had set up a spell to protect herself from ice magic, but it came with the drawback of making her more vulnerable to fire magic. It was something Natsuki remembered from her Abjuration courses: To make yourself immune to a type of magic, you had to attune yourself to it, which would naturally result in making the opposing element more effective against you. As such, elemental protection spells weren't typically very useful – as soon as your opponent figured out you'd cast one on yourself, you were worse off than if you hadn't cast it at all.

The Crimson Maiden primarily used fire, so if Natsuki could somehow prevent her from realizing that Natsuki was using a protection spell, she could help herself survive for quite a while in battle. The problem was, she had next to zero skill with Illusion. There was a way around that, but first she'd need to figure out how to set up the spell in the first place.

A few seconds after Natsuki had knocked, the door opened. "Natsuki?" Yukino said. "What's up?"

"I need your help," Natsuki said. "Can we talk?"

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Two

Let's look at motive for a bit. What's the Maiden's goal here? Well, I can really only think of one thing: Fun. She gets some perverse kick out of having complete control in an encounter, and this is how she gets it. Shinso knows there are a ton of people out there into some crazy shit, so this really isn't that odd of a kink, when all is told. But with all the manipulation that she does in order to engage in it, she's really crossed a line. Yukino thought she'd been raped after her encounter with the Maiden, and I think Mai might be feeling a bit violated as well. It's just unforgivable.

So let's go through our suspects list, and think about who might have a matching motive:

Mai: Well, I'm pretty sure she has a libido, but I've seen no indication that it's this kinky. Plus, she's just a nice person. I can't imagine her being manipulative. On a five-point scale, I'd rate her a two.

Nao: She can definitely be manipulative. It wouldn't even surprise me if it's a fetish for her. But I haven't seen much evidence that her libido is all that strong. Plus, she's been devoting a lot of her free time to getting extra money to pay for her mother's medical bills. Would she really waste time to indulge her own kinks? She'd have to have a ridiculously strong libido to motivate her to do that, which doesn't strike me as that likely. I can't rule it out, though. I'll rate her a three for motive.

Haruka: No. She's not manipulative, she's not at all driven by sex, and I'd be surprised if she even knows the meaning of the word "fetish." Plus, her moral compass is just far, far too strong. She gets a big fat zero for motive.

Midori: Kinky as hell, and way too horny for her own good. According to Akane, she particularly likes games (though not scams). She might be a bit subtly manipulative, but Akane doesn't seem to think it's to the extent of the Maiden. She does seem to have a strong moral compass, though. I'm giving her a three here, though maybe that's a point low.

Shizuru: Well... she has admitted to having some... indecent dreams about me. But she's been holding herself back for my sake. There are rumors around school that she's kinky, but I don't think they have any basis in fact. She can be a bit manipulative though – her teasing relies on that. But the big problem with motive is that if she really does care for me, there's absolutely no way she'd challenge Yukino as the Maiden. If she can really fool me that well... No. Just no. I'll give her a one here.

Yeah yeah, I know three of 'em have alibis for the fight with Yukino. I'll get to that.

X-X-X

Natsuki checked over her shoulders to make sure no one was around. She wasn't doing anything wrong here; she just wanted to make sure her secret didn't get out to the Maiden before their duel. The field looked clear, so Natsuki focused her mind and called to Duran.

When Natsuki had summoned Duran in the past, she could often hear faint echoes of his bark. This time, however, it was a bit different. An image of Shizuru passed through her mind unbidden, and it merged with Duran's spirit. Duran let out a fearsome howl from within Natsuki's mind as he began to take form in the real world.

The ground shook beneath Natsuki, and she nearly lost her footing. Somehow, though, she was able to remain standing while Duran rose up beneath her. Natsuki first thought that she'd ended up on his back, but no, this was just his head. Natsuki balanced herself as Duran rose to his full height, and she had to remind him not to let out his usual howl. She didn't want to attract any attention she could avoid right now, though it might be a bit difficult given Duran's current size.

Natsuki knelt down and stroked her hand across Duran's head. "Good boy, thanks," she said. She took a moment to look around, trying to judge his current size. This was really something – he had to be at least as big as Kagutsuchi now, perhaps even as big as Kiyohime. She might actually have a shot against the Maiden with Duran on her side.

However, in the worst case scenario, Duran might only be able to fight the Maiden's child to a standstill. Natsuki needed a backup plan in case that happened. Taking care not to fall off of the side of Duran, Natsuki slid down his neck to his back, and looked up at one of his cannons. A bit big, but with a few modifications, it would serve her needs. Natsuki raised her hands up to the cannon and opened up her mind to its form.

This wasn't even close to how a Crystal was supposed to form her Element, but it would work. She didn't have time to memorize the summoning spell and make it a part of herself, but she only needed to be able to summon this once. Once she had a complete picture of the cannon locked in her mind, Natsuki reached into her pocket to take out the ink she'd prepared.

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Three

Alright, let's look at opportunity now. For most of the Maiden's encounters, we hadn't been trying to see who had an alibi or not, so this is all based on the encounter with Yukino.

Mai: At work, coworkers vouch for her. 1/5

Nao: Unaccounted for. 4/5

Haruka: At a disciplinary committee meeting. Could possibly have altered the memories of everyone there, but not very likely. 2/5

Midori: Unaccounted for. 4/5

Shizuru: On a date with me. Waitress remembers her, and I have the receipt from it. 1/5

I'm not going to go up to a 5/5 for Midori or Nao, as we're really just basing this off of one incident.

X-X-X

"Are you sure about this, Natsuki?" Mai said. She sat down on her bed while Natsuki took a seat at her desk. "The Maiden really sounded like she wouldn't be happy if I backed out of the forfeit, and I doubt things will be any different for you."

"I know," Natsuki said, "but I have to do this. I can beat her. And even if things do go bad, I can always just unmask her."

"If you're that sure, then why fight her at all? Why not just unmask her first?" Mai said.

"...Because it's time she lost," Natsuki said. "I can do it. I've already got three aces in hand. With one more, my victory's assured. And as much as I'm sure I have it figured out, I'm even more sure I can beat her."

Mai was silent for a bit as she stared at Natsuki. "You do know that a straight flush still beats four aces, right?"

Natsuki glared back at Mai. "It's a metaphor."

Mai rolled her eyes. "That's not the point. The point is, don't underestimate the Maiden. She's as good as a Crystal, just without an Element."

Natsuki smirked at this. "My goal is to overestimate her. But to do that, I'm going to need to know everything possible about how she battles. In particular, I'm going to need to know how you managed to land a hit on her."

"Haa..." Mai let out a sigh. She shook her head. "If I refuse to tell you, will you give up on challenging the Maiden?"

Natsuki narrowed her eyes at Mai. "No. I need to settle this."

"Ugh, fine," Mai said. "Will you at least consider Yukino's 'dead man's switch' idea? Promise to do that, and I'll help you however I can."

"Alright," Natsuki said, a smile crossing her face. "I promise."

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Four

The last big factor is means. That is, who's skilled enough to do what the Crimson Maiden has done?

Mai: She's good in battle, and she could beat any other Pearl. But I don't think she'd be able to fool Yukino so thoroughly. She's not that good at Illusion, so she probably couldn't pull off a detailed memory charm, and she has no skill at Divination of her own to help guide her on what she'd need to do to manipulate people. 2/5

Nao: She could beat some Pearls, and any Coral, but probably not Mai. She is good at Divination – perhaps too good. Her reputation as the Oracle was pretty ridiculous, though some of it may have been exaggerated. I don't know how good she is with illusions, though. Problem is, I can't see her challenging Mai to a fight – she'd be gambling big time with that. 4/5

Haruka: Certainly strong enough, though she doesn't have any particular skill with Divination, and she probably has a moral compulsion against illusion. 1/5

Midori: Same deal as Haruka, pretty much, although I doubt she has quite as much of a compulsion against Illusion. 2/5

Shizuru: She does have some skill with Divination and Illusion, and she's more than powerful enough in battle. 4/5

X-X-X

"I see you came," the Maiden said as the duelspace coalesced around Natsuki, her tone perfectly neutral. Her face was nearly impossible to read as she spoke. "Are you certain about this?"

It was hard for Natsuki to tell, but she thought that the Maiden might have made that question a bit ambiguous on purpose. If she was right, then it just further confirmed Natsuki's conclusion. "I am now," she said. "I'll give you one chance, though. Come clean now – about everything – and I might forgive you."

A small smile appeared on the Maiden's face, although it seemed to hold no joy. "I suspect you know full well that that is not a possibility," she said. Her eyes seemed to flicker momentarily, and her expression hardened. "Which makes me wonder: Why would you ask at all? Do not expect to impress me with a facade of bravado. You are the one here who should be hoping for mercy, not me. If you expect the slightest amount of regard for your desires, you had best not disappoint me in battle. I have heard great things about you, and it would be a shame if you were to fail to live up to your reputation."

Natsuki let out a grunt. She wasn't going to get anything more out of the Maiden at this point. Rather than speaking any further, she shifted into a battle stance. Everything was as ready as it possibly could be; she'd even worn her official battle robe for this duel. It was now or never. Without a word of warning – at this point, the Maiden deserved no courtesy – Natsuki cast a spell to strike at the Maiden with a pillar of ice from below her feet.

The Maiden was easily able to evade the attack, shifting off to the side and grinning at Natsuki, as if to ask if that was the best she could do. Natsuki hadn't been planning to hit the Maiden with this attack, though. As soon as the pillar had fully formed, it shattered, spraying ice shards around the room near the Maiden. The coverage of her attack was too wide for the Maiden to avoid, but she was able to neutralize it by raising a shield of flame, which was exactly what Natsuki had been counting on from the beginning.

According to Mai, the Maiden held tightly to her fire theme, deviating from it only when absolutely necessary. Of note, this included her shields, which had the side effect of blocking out her view more than traditional shields when they were used. And so, while the Maiden had her shield up, Natsuki used her opponent's momentary blindness to send magical energy coursing through her left arm. The runes she'd drawn on it lit up with energy, casting the spell she'd prepared with Yukino to shield Natsuki from the Maiden's fire attacks while presenting the illusion of taking damage from them.

Natsuki's body flickered for a moment as the spell took effect, but she'd already begun to charge toward the Maiden. She was expecting a counterattack, and the Maiden didn't disappoint. The Maiden shot off a barrage of fireballs at Natsuki as she charged, while Natsuki focused on summoning a blade of ice within her hand and dodging as many fireballs as she could – she didn't want to make it obvious that she was using a protection spell, after all.

As Natsuki got close to the Maiden, one of the fireballs managed to strike her arm. Natsuki didn't feel any pain from it, though her body winced automatically to make it look like she did. She didn't let it stop her, though. She swung the ice blade she'd conjured at the Maiden, trying to anticipate the Maiden's dodge and adjust the path of her strike so it would land true, but the Maiden managed to keep just a step ahead of Natsuki. She dodged Natsuki's first two strikes and then, when Natsuki thrust toward her, she conjured her flame shield again to melt the blade.

The Maiden's reflexes were good, easily on par with Natsuki's, but Natsuki wasn't going to give up her offensive this easily. She quickly began to conjure small shards of ice, which she launched at the Maiden, trying to get at least one through her guard. The Maiden did have to raise her shield to defend against some of them, but none managed to actually hit her. She even managed to shoot a few fireballs of her own at Natsuki while dodging, but Natsuki was able to avoid being hit by any of them.

Natsuki needed something to break the stalemate. Gambling that the Maiden's shield would be tuned to ward off elemental attacks, Natsuki expended a bit of extra energy to conjure shards of stone inside her ice shards before she shot off the next wave. She gave the shards an extra push in hopes of doing some actual damage to the Maiden, but the time she spend focusing on this gave the Maiden an opening to strike Natsuki with a whip of flame. Natsuki winced automatically, but her shards had already been fired. The Maiden raised her shield to defend against the barrage, but it only succeeded in melting the ice, while the stone shards sailed through and struck her body.

First blood, Natsuki. Natsuki thought, grinning. Not that she knows that she hasn't actually harmed me yet, though.

The Maiden scowled at Natsuki. A shockwave emanated out from her, throwing Natsuki back. Natsuki managed to land on her feet, but it gave the Maiden the opening she needed to summon her Child.

"Kiyohime."

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Five

Totals so far:

Mai: 5/15

Nao: 11/15

Haruka: 3/15

Midori: 9/15

Shizuru: 6/15

Looking at it like that, the Maiden's probably either Nao or Midori, with an edge to Nao, but neither of them is really a good fit. There's something missing here. Some key premise that I've been taking for granted is being violated here.

The first thing to check is whether I might be missing someone who could fit the bill. Is there someone else who could pull off the glamour? In short, it doesn't seem like it. Illusions are finicky things, and I'm not just trusting Yukino here. I checked this in the library, and I asked Miss Steinberg about it. There's no way around the basic rules of Illusion. If you dyed your own hair before trying to cast a glamour on yourself with your new hair color being the maintained feature, it would fizzle. Wear colored contact lenses, same deal. Pad your bra, get a haircut, whatever. A glamour relies on how people are used to seeing you.

The second assumption is that the Maiden is human at all. Something came to me and Mai in our dreams, and humans can't do that, but spirits can. However, spirits can't manifest without a human host, and even then, their new appearances are still bound by the same rules as a glamour. Plus, there's the way the duelspace spell works. It was designed for two humans to use, and it's triggered based on that. I haven't checked to make sure that spirits can't use it, but there's really no reason for the faculty to have programmed that possibility into it, since they can't manifest on their own anyway. Perhaps someone could be possessed, though.

If we allow for the possibility that someone might have been possessed, then we can ignore all the motive scores. They still need the means and opportunity, though. A spirit can give a person more experience, but they can't compensate for a lack of talent in a particular area (at least, as far as I know).

Mai: 3/10

Nao: 8/10

Haruka: 3/10

Midori: 6/10

Shizuru: 5/10

Not much difference here, really. Assuming spirit possession doesn't really help us out, so we can probably ignore it. Maybe it's the case, or maybe not, but it's not going to help solve the mystery either way.

The final assumption here we have to check is that the Maiden is actually just one person. This is the key. As I mentioned, no suspect is perfect, but that's only if they have to do everything. If different duels were performed by different people, then we can solve a few big problems. In particular, I suspect exactly two people are acting as the Maiden. Mai presented a story about the Maiden's origins, involving two students, "Coral" and "Pearl." It's not much of a stretch to believe that the two of them have since been working together as the Maiden and keeping the secret, but it's much more of a stretch to believe someone else was brought in, and the secret still hasn't managed to slip out.

X-X-X

"Let me handle this one," the spirit said. "I have a bit of a grudge to settle." Kiyohime tried to focus on this other spirit, but it didn't seem quite right. At times, it looked like a raven-haired human, but at other times it looked like Kiyohime itself.

The pull of the summoning spell on Kiyohime began to wane as the other spirit moved toward the caster. The other spirit pushed toward the edge of the spirit realm...

...and before the Child could fully form, it collapsed into itself and withdrew back to the spirit realm. The Crimson Maiden stared stunned at the spot where the Child had failed to form, but Natsuki wasn't asking questions at the moment. She was able to use the Maiden's momentary distraction to successfully strike her with a pair of icicles. One just hit her upper arm and bounced off, but the other lodged itself into her shoulder.

The Maiden grimaced as she cast a spell to help her wounds heal and raised her shield. "Very well," she said, her voice betraying a hint of pain. "If Kiyohime does not wish to fight you, I shall call a more obedient Child. Miroku! Your master calls out to you!"

"Miroku..."? Natsuki tried to recall if she'd ever heard of that Child before, but the name didn't ring a bell. She wasn't going to let herself get distracted, though. She shot off another barrage of icicles as soon as the Maiden's shield dropped, but the Maiden was able to dodge them all. Natsuki didn't have anymore time to attack right now, though, as the ground beneath the Maiden had split open, and a rock creature of some sort was beginning to rise from it.

"Duran!" Natsuki called out. She kept an eye on the Maiden as Duran formed beneath her, ready for any attack that might be incoming. However, the Maiden seemed to be content to show off her Child right now, and Natsuki couldn't entirely blame her. It was easily the biggest Child that Natsuki had ever seen – even dwarfing Kiyohime. It wasn't very fancy – just a big floating boulder with a couple arms and a huge sword – but it certainly looked tough. Even when Duran reached his newly-enhanced full size, he still stood shorter than Miroku. This wasn't going to be as easy as Natsuki had hoped.

"I see that I'm not the only one with a surprise," the Maiden called out, "but do not think that your pet dog is any match for Miroku." Miroku glowed slightly as the Maiden used her own magic to enhance it, and it swung its sword toward Duran.

"Dur-" Natsuki began to say, but Duran had already leaped out of the path of Miroku's sword. As soon as the blade had passed, Duran charged after Miroku's arm, as if reading Natsuki's thoughts before she could instruct him. He'd already begun to it so by this point, but Natsuki felt compelled to call out, "Load Chrome Cartridge!" as it just didn't feel right without saying that.

Duran waited to fire until he'd gotten some distance from Miroku. He dodged a vertical slash from Miroku's blade, then aimed toward the head of the Child and fired off his cannons. Miroku seemed to shrug off the attack, although from a flicker of light near its head, Natsuki hoped that the Maiden had at least needed to use her shield.

This was going to be a long fight.

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Six

Let's start with a simple question: Who dueled Yukino? We're limited to just Nao and Midori here, unless we really try to stretch things. Yukino isn't that good of a duelist, so it's not much of a stretch to think Nao could confidently defeat her. Nao is also good enough with Divination to come up with a plan to convince Yukino to accept the duel – it's somewhat similar to the tips she gave criminals as the Oracle. I don't know if she could do a memory charm, but I wouldn't put it past her. Midori, on the other hand, has no particular skill with either Divination or Illusion.

Already, Nao is looking to be a lot more likely, but there's one more thing to clinch it: Irina believed that Nao had a crush on me, as Mikoto had noticed her gazing at our table during lunch a lot. However, her actions when we've met are nothing like how a sane person would express a crush. But the thing is, I wasn't the only person to join that table at the time Mikoto first noticed Nao staring: Yukino joined as well. If Nao had a crush on Yukino, then suddenly a lot about this particular duel begins to make sense. Let's say Nao was afraid of rejection – she did turn out to be sentimental about her mother, so she does indeed have a heart. She wanted a way that she could confess to Yukino and find out her reaction, but still be able to go on without embarrassment if she were rejected, which was why she offered to reveal her identity after the duel, but only with Yukino under a memory charm.

Was this the only time Nao acted as the Maiden? Probably not, but I'll get to that.

X-X-X

One of the benefits of fighting with your bonded Child was that you knew everything about their capabilities – though you might not necessarily remember it right away. Natsuki searched through her mind, finding her link with Duran and searching it for any information about Duran that might help him deal with Miroku. So far, he'd had no luck with piercing the other Child's armor, but there had to be a way around that. A teacher had once mentioned that in principle, any Child could beat any other, so they would all have to have a way to deal with something like Miroku's armor. Natsuki was certain that there was something she was forgetting, but she needed time to focus and pull out the information from the depths of her mind.

Natsuki had gotten complacent; that was her problem. She'd figured out how to battle well with Duran, and she'd never tried to do anything new. She'd never experimented with another Child, and she hadn't even tried some of Duran's more obscure abilities. As she pulled up information in her memory right now, she was finding things she'd never thought of before, like the fact that Duran actually had a flight mode for long-distance travel. She really should have looked into this before.

It wasn't long before Natsuki's distraction resulted in her misjudging where Miroku was going to strike with its sword. She didn't have any time to shout out a command when she realized that the sword was swinging directly toward her, and Duran was barely able to begin to move in time. The sword missed Natsuki, but it struck one of Duran's cannons and sliced through it, cutting a large gash in Duran's flank. The Child cried out in pain, and Natsuki's heart jumped into her chest. Duran... This is my fault. I'm sorry, boy...

Natsuki gazed at Duran's injury and the broken cannon. She would find a way to win this, and she would make it up to Duran later. Wait... Natsuki blinked as she looked at the broken cannon. She could see Duran's spare cartridges in it now, but one of them wasn't familiar to her. Looking up the information in her mind, it came to her. She should have been ready for this, but at least she could try to do something now. "Duran! Load Magnum Cartridge!"

Duran began to move beneath Natsuki, running to dodge Miroku's next attack as his remaining cannon loaded up the new type of cartridge. Natsuki mentally hit herself for forgetting about this option. She'd learned about it when she was a Coral, but she'd never run into a Child whose armor could withstand Duran's other attacks before, so she'd never needed to use this option. Find an opening, aim for the center, Natsuki mentally commanded Duran.

The Magnum Cartridge on its own wouldn't be able to do enough damage to Miroku. It was designed only to pierce through armor, not to cause significant damage to another Child. For that, Duran would have to follow up with another attack. Natsuki didn't like his chances of being able to do that, though. As soon as he paused to fire, Miroku would probably be able to land a hit on him before he could run off again, thanks to his injury slowing him down. At that point, Natsuki would have essentially lost the battle.

She'd have to pull out her final ace. Natsuki charged energy through her right arm, pausing briefly to raise a shield to guard against a barrage of stones that Miroku shot at her and Duran. Duran grunted as the stones hit him, but he was able to remain on his feet, and he could dodge the Child's next attack without too much trouble. With the time this gave her, Natsuki was able to finish casting the spell she'd prepared, and a replica of Duran's cannon materialized over her shoulder.

Natsuki quickly cast an Abjuration on herself to support her strength, letting her hold up and stabilize the cannon. The Conjuration spell she'd cast had filled her mind with instructions for operating the cannon, so she loaded up a Chrome Cartridge and began to charge it up for as powerful of an attack as it could manage. "Duran, fire as soon as you can!" Natsuki said.

Duran growled in understanding. Natsuki focused her efforts on stabilizing the cannon and not falling off of Duran's back while the Child dodged Miroku's attacks. She winced as a fireball from the Maiden struck her, but her protection spell was still working to prevent her any harm. After Miroku's sword was lodged in the ground from a strike, Duran paused and aimed toward the center of the Child. As soon as Duran had aimed at it, Natsuki engaged the firing protocol on her own cannon. Natsuki looked through the cannon's sights and aimed it, while the readout began to count down.

Howling Silverwolf Engaged...

3...

The sound of a blast came from Natsuki's side as Duran fired his Magnum Cartridge at Miroku. The Child let out a fierce, pained roar as its armor was broken off.

2...

Natsuki adjusted her sight, aiming the cannon at the expanding dust cloud coming from the center of Miroku's body. A fierce pain ran through her exposed shoulder as a falling fragment from the Child struck her, but she managed to hold the cannon steady.

1...

Natsuki and Duran were pushed back as a red beam shot out of her cannon. The blast pushed into Miroku, and red light soon began to leak out from cracks in the Child's armor. Within seconds, the energy was too much for it, and the Child's armor was blasted apart. Natsuki caught sight of a falling human figure amid the Child's rubble, which became more easily visible as Miroku's body was absorbed back into the spirit realm.

The Maiden was able to cast a spell on herself to slow her descent, but without a Child, there was almost no point. Duran walked over toward her on Natsuki's mental command, and Natsuki looked down at the Maiden.

"Surrender," she said. She was still angry over Duran getting hurt, and she let it be heard in her voice. "I want to hear you admit that you lost."

"I cannot," the Maiden said, looking up at Natsuki. A blue glow began to emanate from her hands as she prepared an ice spell. Had she finally figured out about Natsuki's protection spell? There was no time to wonder, though. Natsuki had Duran charge forward and block the attack and then slam the side of his face into the Maiden. The Maiden was knocked down, and Duran placed his front foot on her to hold her to the ground.

Natsuki let out a sigh. Of course it would have to come to this. Of course the Maiden couldn't admit defeat. Natsuki cast an Abjuration on herself to slow her fall as she jumped off of Duran, and she approached the Maiden. The other girl looked over at her, not with anger, but with sadness. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, her expression sharply changed.

"Do you really think you've won here?" the Maiden said. "You have no idea what you're up against."

"I know enough," Natsuki said. She gazed into the Maiden's eyes, focusing on their crimson color as she cast an unmasking spell. "Be unmasked, Shizuru Viola!"

X-X-X

Report by Natsuki Kruger on the Crimson Maiden

Part Seven

The next question to ask is: Who did Mai duel? Not Nao, almost certainly. I just can't imagine Nao would do something like this with the chance that she would lose. She's dueled Mai before and lost, so why would it be any different doing it under disguise? Adding to that, the Maiden is now dropping hints to Mai that she's Nao, which means that she probably isn't. So, this leaves Haruka, Midori, and Shizuru. Midori's already on her way to the other side of the world. She'd have no reason to try to convince Mai of anything, as if the duel's accepted, she won't be able to show up in any case.

That leaves Haruka and Shizuru, along with the possibility that Mai herself is the Maiden, and this duel is all a fabrication. To be honest, it's hard to imagine any of these three as the Maiden. Haruka would never do it in the first place, Mai would probably never do it in the first place, but she certainly wouldn't try to manipulate her friends. She's in the same year as Nao, so this wouldn't seem to fit with the "Coral and Pearl" story, but I can't use that as evidence, as she would lie about the story in that case. That doesn't mean I really think it's her, though. As for Shizuru, she might have done it before as a way to handle her own libido without her image suffering, but at this point, she'd confess to me in a heartbeat.

This brings me to the note I received. I think it was trying to send me a message. There are two possible things to take from it: My name, and a drop of blood. Of the five suspects, only Mai and Shizuru would be so casual with me. It's probably from one of them trying to send me a message.

Now, the blood. The spell that Mikoto found mentions, "Any person bound will be unable to discuss this matter or the presence of this spell, as enforced by empowered spirit through bound person's blood." That's pretty vague about how exactly it's enforced... but if I'm right, it points to Shizuru.

Let's say Shizuru were the Maiden in the past, and she wanted to confess to me. Even if she were bound by this spell, she'd make an effort. At which point, the spirit would take hold of her blood to prevent her from doing so. Maybe no one would notice. Maybe it would cause some minor internal harm to her. Perhaps she'd get a mysterious bruise. Perhaps a nosebleed. "Dry air" indeed.

If I'm right, then Shizuru eventually decided to find some loophole to get around the spell. She tried to write a note to me, in case only talking was banned. But she was only able to get my name written down before the spirit took hold of her. She gets a nosebleed, and perhaps one drop hits the note before she can stifle it. I'm not sure why it would be on the opposite side from my name, though. Maybe she made a few attempts before giving up and turning the note over, and it was only at that point that the blood finally dripped from her nose. Or maybe it was a way to try to hide the relevance of that drop from the spirit who was watching her. That way, she could later turn the note over, and send what appeared to be a blank message to me.

The only question remaining is: Why is Shizuru under this spell in the first place, if she is indeed the Maiden? The only idea I have for this is that Nao has also been acting as the Maiden, and she and Shizuru were both in this together from the beginning. Perhaps they're both bound by the spell, possibly because they weren't sure they could trust each other. Thinking about it, there was that time at the jeweler's, where Nao appeared to be injured from a fall. It was quite an awkward fall though, and with way too much blood too quickly. Maybe she too had been trying to confess, and when her efforts began to take a toll on her, she faked a fall in order to cover up the blood.

I'll admit, I'm guessing a lot here, but it all seems to work. If it was Shizuru, then she has indeed been faithful to me since we got together. That doesn't mean I can forgive her, though. A lie of omission is still a lie, and if I'm right about this, she willingly accepted being bound by the spell.

The only thing I don't know is why. Why go through with all of this just to satisfy a fetish? How could it possibly be worth it to them? Shizuru really has some explaining to do.

X-X-X

"I surrender." The words left Shizuru's mouth almost before the unmasking spell had finished removing the glamour from her. Duran faded back into the spirit realm above her, and she turned her head away from Natsuki. "Forgive me..." she said.

"Not yet," Natsuki said. She hadn't wanted to believe it. Until this moment, she hadn't even been completely sure. She approached Shizuru and said in a low voice, "and maybe never. What the fuck did you think you were doing?"

"I... I was..." Shizuru said. "I wasn't the perfect person I made myself out to be... I was weak..."

"Weak?" Natsuki said. "Tell me the truth. Why did you do this? Tell me every detail. Every reason. Every excuse."

"I was unfulfilled," Shizuru said, the duelspace's magic taking control of her and making her obey Natsuki's command. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, though she still didn't meet Natsuki's gaze. "I was just acting the part of the model student, but I didn't truly feel it. It was all an act. I didn't know who the real me was behind the facade, but I tried to find myself, however I could. When Nao challenged me to a duel and tried to seduce me, for a moment, I felt a real thrill."

"A thrill? From Nao trying to seduce you?" Natsuki said. Nao having a crush on Shizuru was already hard enough to believe, but Shizuru feeling something in return was even less credible.

Shizuru shook her head. "It could have been anyone. She was the first person to be so bold with me, and that made me start to think. I think she was being manipulated herself, though. She explained later that a spirit had made a bargain with her. It was particularly powerful, and it would assist Nao with making money in any way possible, if in turn Nao would oblige it from time to time. I believe the duel with me was one such incident, though I can't say for sure whether Nao actually felt anything for me or not.

"But I did feel a thrill. I thought I'd finally found something I could be engaged in, twisted as it was. I don't think I was in the right state of mind when Nao asked me to help her out. I agreed without really thinking about it, and I let her cast a spell to keep the secret between us. I don't blame her, though. I think she was being manipulated even more than I was. She was doing it so that she could help her mother. I was doing it... because it was fun."

"...Fun?" Natsuki said. "It was fun for you to manipulate other girls into surrendering themselves to you? Fun for you to taunt me?"

"I..." Shizuru shook her head. "Nao told me that was what I'd have to write to make sure you'd eventually agree to duel me... I didn't know you then... I would never do that to you now. Please, Natsuki..."

"I don't fucking care," Natsuki said. She gritted her teeth for a minute, trying to keep herself from exploding in anger. "You did it. You should have known that it wouldn't go over well. What excuse do you think there could possibly be for that?"

"...I... I have no excuse," Shizuru said. She looked up at Natsuki, revealing that tears had been running down her face this whole time. Nevertheless, she met Natsuki's gaze. "I thought I could be better, though. I gave it up when I met you... I tried to confess... I... I..." Shizuru closed her eyes and turned her head downward, letting out sobs. "I don't deserve you..."

"...You probably don't," Natsuki said. She turned away from Shizuru, and she began to walk toward the exit from the duelspace. The pain in her chest was becoming too much to ignore. She had to get out before she broke down.

"Are... are you leaving me...?" Shizuru said from behind Natsuki. Her voice was resigned, as if she already knew the answer.

Natsuki paused in her step, trying to find the right words. "I don't know. I don't know if I can forgive this..." Natsuki's voice failed her at this point. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down. "But this wouldn't hurt so much if I didn't care about you." I just don't know if it's enough.

X-X-X

Author's Note: The official winner of the contest for guessing the Crimson Maiden's identity is... *drumroll*... Dragonmaster352! His/her guess was in the forum, and I'll paste it below:

1) Nao has a chrush on Yukino (SHOCK) why do i think this? in chapter 3 Mikoto points out that Nao is watching their group and that it started just when Yukino joined them. now i know that alone isn't enough to base something like that on and it may look like it has nothing to do with the actual Crimson Maiden which leads me to number two

2) Yukino didn't duel the actual Crimson Maiden it was actually a copy-cat. You guessed it: Nao. stay with me now, as an illusionist Yukino isn't the strongest one of the group yet she was able to land not one but several blows to the "Maiden" who until then only got hit by Mai. that and the suggestion the Maiden has dueled a large number of students, it's logical to assume there must have been other illusionists, perhaps stronger or maybe even smarter than Yukino, that were not able to hit her. that still not being enough to provide conclusive evidence or relevance to all this leads me to number tree

3) at the end of chapter 11 Shizuru was very shocked when Haruka confronted her claiming she raped Yukino. WHY? there being little to no OOC-ness in the story, should she not have acted concerned or at least less shocked? BUT. what if she was in fact the "real" Crimson Maiden, would she not be shocked that some one copied her?

Send me a PM once you've read this, Dragonmaster352, and let me know what you'd like to request as a reward. It can be canon/non-canon for any of my stories (though I may have to choose to make something non-canon), publicly posted or private, tame or smutty, as general or as specific as you'd like. I'll only state a length limit of roughly one chapter's worth of material, though I won't be a stickler for that if I like the idea enough.

I'll be taking a brief break from this fic to work on a birthday fic for a friend, but I'll be back to continue it soon enough. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing!