The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is the creation and intellectual property of Nakamura Rikito, Nozawa Yukiko and Shueisha.
All other characters and franchises mentioned in this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.
If you have read previous stories set in this universe, you should know about Library Island by now. It was a large library built on a small island in a huge lake by Mahora Academy, easily accessed through a stone bridge built two centuries ago. It also was one of the best stocked libraries in the Eastern hemisphere, holding relics centuries old, including dozens of volumes containing arcane knowledge and hidden in secret underground chambers.
This morning, Rentarou, Hakari and Karane were visiting said older and approaching the front desk where Saotome Haruna was working as a receptionist.
"Ah, guys, good morning!" the younger girl smiled at them, at which Karane predictably reacted grunting and averting her gaze. "Good to see you've worked everything out!"
Rentarou nodded. "Indeed we have, Saotome-san. How are you? We came for books on-"
"Oh, you haven't met my two best friends yet, have you?" Haruna pulled two smaller girls into the frame. "This is Ayase Yue-chan and this is Miyazaki Nodoka-chan, and they both work here with me, as fellow members of the Library Exploration Club!"
Hakari smiled and nodded. "That is wonderful, and it's nice to meet you, Ayase-san, Miyazaki-san. Do you know where-"
"Eeep!" cried a thin, petite girl with dark hair and large dark eyes, around Rentarou's age and still holding an open book in her hands, as she also was pulled in by Haruna.
"And this is Shiomiya Shiori-senpai!" Haruna kept on talking a storm, making sure to place the trembling, suddenly cowering Shiori between herself and the young man. "She's our fourth member, well, Konoka-chan also helps out every once in a while, but don't you think she's very cute?"
Hakari and Karane frowned as Rentarou looked at Shiori's timid face. Those huge Bambi eyes looked back in fear, and although he found her very cute, there was no strong reaction like that he'd felt with his girlfriends. Haruna noticed his lack of reaction and, somewhat disappointed, shoved Shiori back off panel while the two girlfriends sighed in relief. "What kind of books are you interested on, Aijo-senpai?" Haruna asked, talking more evenly now.
From a nearby table, a classmate of Rentarou, a skinny handsome boy with dark brown hair and glasses, looked up from the PFP galge he'd been playing instead of reading the stack of books set by his side.
"We wanted to read books on the history and psychology of polyamory, for completely academic and not at all personal reasons, wink wink," Hakari said.
"Oooohhh!" Haruna grinned. "Good to see you are interested on resorting to the actual books for that kind of knowledge, but that info is also widely available in the Internet, you know?"
Hakari clenched her teeth. "Yes, but any web search on those topics mostly yields just cheap pornography, and naturally, as wholesome people with no deviant interests, we wouldn't stand to be exposed to such things..." she said patiently.
Karane huffed and rolled her eyes back.
Haruna took a pensive pause. "I see. I see! Well, we have to work the front table all day long, but a new member of our association will ably assist you!" She clapped. "Shizuka-chan! Come here a moment, will you?"
Another girl peeked out from another a gigantic bookshelf, and then quickly moved closer, also holding a thick old tome in her small white hands. She had very long light brown hair, not all that well combed and giving her an extra layer of adorableness, combined with her diminutive size, barely any bigger than Evangeline's in her child form. She looked like a lovely living doll, and then, when she stopped clumsily by the others, Rentarou gasped quietly.
The new girl looked up at him as well, with very round and big innocent eyes a beautiful shade of light hazel. She made a very, very faint sound that almost could have passed for a gasp too.
Tiny angels shaped like caricatures of Haruna, Nodoka, Yue and Shiori appeared around them, flying in circles while holding Cupid bows, and the rest of the world briefly stopped existing. The sensation was quite different from those he'd experienced when first seeing Hakari and Karane, and yet it also was completely the same.
This shock hitting me to the core... he thought, feeling as if the universe was reshaped around him in a wonderful, pleasurable surge of goodness and warmth. Is she my soulmate too...?!
Still sitting at the sidelines of The World Only God Knew, Katsuragi Keima watched on and softly sneered out a side of his mouth.
"Such terrible writing," he spoke to himself. "This is why 3D can't hold a candle to 2D..."
The 108 Girlfriends who Really, Like Really, I mean it, Man, Really Love You, Dude.
Chapter Three: Never Judge Covers by their Books, Whatever that Means.
With special thanks to Darkenning.
Haruna had to notice this as well, since the next thing she did was to clench a smile and gently shove the paralyzed Shizuka towards Rentarou. "Shizuka-chan, I want you to show Senpai here all the books we have on the subject he's looking for!"
Before the much shorter girl could do anything but nodding shakily, Haruna turned towards Nodoka, grabbed her by the shoulder, and directed her towards Hakari and Karane. "As for you, Nodo-chan, please assist Hanezono-senpai and Inda-senpai as best as you can!"
"But, but Paru, I'm on frontline duty today, too…!" the girl with the thick bangs obscuring her face (no, not that one. We won't be seeing that one just yet. Please be patient) said.
"Our first duty is to help any and all students in need, Yue and I will cover you!" Haruna said.
Yue raised an eyebrow. "What about Shiori-senpai?"
"Why, she'll be helping Senpai here, of course!" Haruna laughed, grabbing the yelping Shiori by a hand and pulling her towards Keima's table, where she blushed very deeply and seemed to shrink a few sizes down. Satisfied, Haruna dusted her hands off. "Well, what's everyone waiting for? Do you want me to handle the boys myself?"
Sharing very quiet, yet distressed gasping hiccups, Shizuka and Shiori immediately took each respective boy by a hand and led them away, taking off into different hallways lined up by impossibly tall shelves full of books of all description.
"Are, are we just going to let her wander all alone with him?" Karane gulped, her eyes fixed on the way Rentarou had taken. "I mean, not that I care or anything, why would I be that insecure, but…!"
Nodoka sighed and began guiding the duo in a third different direction. "It'll be fine, Shizuka-senpai may seem shy, but she's actually rather able…"
"That… That is what we're fearing, actually," Hakari said, following her reluctantly.
"What books did you say you were interested in, Senpai?" Nodoka seemed to ignore this last remark, stoically leading the way.
"Polygamy," Hakari said bluntly.
"What? No! Cooking!" Karane blurted out. "C-Cooking, that's what she meant! It's just that she's dyslexic! Why would we want to read anything on perverted topics like kissing a boy and each other at the same time while the boy's prime to gather a harem, that's just ridiculous! We want to learn how to cook better, um, not to make said boy happier, but, but- We want to open a restaurant!"
Hakari rolled her eyes. "Love is also about being honest with your feelings, you know!"
"I understand," Nodoka said with noticeable aplomb. "Books on polygamist cooking, then." She stopped by a shelf and began pulling books out. "These might help. How to make your shared man happy through Okonomiyaki by Saotome Ukyo, Advanced Harem Cooking by Urashima Shinobu, Principles of Polyamorous Cuisine for Dummies by Tohno Kohaku if you feel you aren't ready for complicated recipes just yet…"
Hakari blinked. "Are they illustrated?" she dared to ask.
Meanwhile, Rentarou was chuckling nervously while following Shizuka, who was hugging her book tightly against her flat chest. "Wow, Saotome-san sure has an overwhelming personality, doesn't she…?"
Without looking back, the girl pulled out a small notebook and opened it on a certain page, showing it at Rentarou over her shoulder.
He leaned closer and read aloud. "You must give the aggressive and hostile aspects of yourself constructive ways of expression through assertiveness, determination, self-assuredness, boldness, mental toughness, decisiveness, learning how to articulate one's feelings, speaking directly, forcefulness, and sport. -― Laurence Galian."
He sweatdropped. "Ah, ha ha, yes, that is a very wise thing to say…"
Once they were all alone, she stopped, turned around, and showed him another page of the notebook, this one reading a simple What would you be interested in reading, Sir?
"Oh, you'll see, I want to read about…" Then he kept on looking at this cutely gorgeous face, so full of vulnerable innocence, and felt like he couldn't ask her about anything like a man marrying several women at once. Not yet, at least. He decided to instead ask for what he truly felt in his heart when looking at her. "Happy fantasy stories! Something fanciful and inspiring, with a strong, spirited message! And happy endings! Stories of romance persevering in the face of all odds…"
The girl's face brightened, and she nodded very quickly. She pointed at another line that only read Wait here just a minute, please and then sped off, turning around a corner.
A few moments later, she returned pushing a cart easily bigger than herself, and in this cart there was a pile of books twice as tall as the cart itself, despite of which she seemed to have no problems pushing it at full speed, grinding to a screeching halt before him.
"Th-That was fast!" Rentarou commented.
Will these suffice? read the next line the small girl pointed at on her notebook.
"Yes, yes, thank you very much!" he nodded. Then, after a moment of doubt, he asked carefully, "Sorry if I'm intruding where I shouldn't, but can't you speak…?"
She looked down, contrite, for a moment. And then she pointed at a paragraph on another page. My apologies. I just happen to be incredibly bad at making conversation.
"I see…"
If you want me to, I will just call someone else.
"What? No! No!" he waved his hands before himself. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to say I minded! This is just fine, I actually think it's very cute! I mean…"
The girl blushed, looked down, and pointed at another token go-to annotation. Thank you.
He smiled at her. "Would you please help me out to select a few, so I can take them back home?"
Her face brightened again oh so wonderfully, even though the redness of her cheeks, and she nodded again. I would love to!
They sat together at a table, and began pulling books from the pile. "What's your full name, Shizuka-san?"
She held up her ID card. It read Yoshimoto Shizuka and listed her as a first year, having been born on the 8th of August.
She's even younger than I expected… a mildly troubled Rentarou said while cracking one of the books open. Will this really be okay…?
"Age doesn't matter when love is true and honest," whispered Haruna's voice, as the busty girl spied behind Rentarou, peeking through a shelf, from its other side.
"Ah!" he gasped. "Weren't you supposed to be at the front desk?"
A mildly upset Shizuka timidly threw one of the books, passing over Rentarou's shoulder and hitting the moment-ruiner in the face with unerring accuracy.
"Wah, Shizuka-chan!" Haruna wailed. "That's no way to treat a book and you know it better than anyone…!"
Shiratori Yukina looked at her roommate, later that evening.
It wasn't strange that Shizuka acted distracted and faraway in her own world while reading, but she almost never smiled while doing it. Now, many would often accuse Yukina of being selfcentered, but much like Misa, deep inside she really cared for those few who actually could call themselves her friends, and so-
"Have you found a boy you like?" the girl with short reddish brown hair asked abruptly, looking up from her smartphone and making the other girl in the room start gagging in her saliva.
Well. Thank you for sort of helping me prove my point, Yukina-chan.
"You're welcome!" Yukina told the narrator peppily, and then addressed her roommate again with a wry smile. "I've hit a bullseye, haven't I? Oh, Shizuka-chan! That isn't anything to be ashamed of!"
Shizuka blushed, hid her face in the book, and made Yukina wait patiently, with an unwavering smile on her face.
Finally, Shizuka left the book aside, reached for the nightstand for her notebook, and flipped through it. After realizing she didn't have an entry for this kind of situation, she hastily wrote it herself and held the pages up for Yukina to see.
"Ooohhh, that handsome?" Yukina said. Well, she doubted he could ever be as handsome as Tsukomo-oniichan, but if it made Shizuka happy... "Then you have to do your best for him!" She grinned and wagged a finger. "I'll help you with a little makeover, okay?"
Shizuka's eyes opened a whole lot, and she was left even more speechless than usual.
She had a bad feeling about this...
Meanwhile, in his room, Saruyama snored in the lower bunk while Rentarou sat by their window, reading one of the books Shizuka had recommended to him.
'Circlet Love Story'! he sobbed silently inwardly as he read. I had misjudged you from the reviews! You aren't merely a cheap power fantasy self insert romance, you are so moving...!
It was a love story between Princess Io and her guardian knight in goblin slayer armor, Kamacle, who fought against all manners of threats and villains for her sake. It was so, so much better than the anime adaptation! He also would have to check the video game one of these days...
"Don't give up, Kamacle!" Rentarou wiped a few manly tears off as he reached the end of the book. "I know you can do it! No matter what everyone in the court thinks! My heart is with you...!"
Saruyama drowsily lifted his head from the pillow. "Dude, you're still reading that? Tomorrow's a school day!"
Rentarou closed the book and sighed sadly. "End of Volume One! I have to read the continuation ASAP!"
Saruyama turned around on the bed. "You really have gone nuts. Is this what actually getting game does to a guy? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
Rentarou pumped a fist up. "I'll see her again tomorrow! And we'll read the continuation together!"
"What's this 'tomorrow' you're talking about?!" Saruyama said irritably. "You mean later today! It's three A.M. already, you weirdo! Go to sleep, for fuck's sake!"
"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep after having so much excitement..." Rentarou confessed, eyes wide open.
Saruyama kindly helped him by knocking him out with a thrown lamp to the back of his head.
It's good to have friends who care!
"Gonna return that book already?" Karane asked as she and Hakari followed Rentarou into Library Island, later that afternoon.
"Yep, I already finished it but not the others, and I've gotta return one before being lent the continuation," her boyfriend said. "You guys really should borrow it too, it's great!"
"I'll make sure of it then," Hanezono smiled pleasantly. "Truly you are a man of great culture, Rentarou-kun!"
He chuckled awkwardly while they made it to the front counter. "Do you think so? W-Well, I've always liked books, but… but…" He trailed off, his gaze laying on Shizuka, who was attending the main desk today and had been dolled up, rather nicely combed, and her makeup subtly but remarkably accentuating her beauty. Yukina had made a good job, what, did you think she'd made her look like a clown? "G-Good morning, Yoshimoto-saaaaaan…"
The other two girls stopped behind him, then, after a few moments of pause, shared a weary sigh.
Shizuka looked back at him, shyly, and then gulped and showed a fresh annotation on her notebook. Good morning. Did you like it, Aijo-senpai?
"Oh yes, quite a lot! I already finished it and I'd like the second part, if you won't mind!" he smiled, gently setting the tome on the desk.
Shizuka smiled back, and showed him an excerpt of a review she'd copied. "A remarkable enough effort from a first time author, this book MIGHT just mark the start of a decently competent mainstream career. While the story lacks a strong dramatic spine owing to its escapist, carefree nature, the motivations for the main characters are understandable and solid, and the setting shows a certain amount of potential that would be greatly explored in the hands of a LeGuinn or Scarlet." –Fukawa Touko, The Tragedy of Genocide Jack.
"Oh, that's high praise from the likes of her, indeed!" Rentarou noted, enthusiast. Shizuka nodded rapidly.
"By the way," Rentarou said, pink hearts fluttering out of him, "what did you think to your hair? It's very fetching…"
Karane rasped loudly into a fist. "Rentarou! Aren't you gonna introduce us?!"
"Huh? Oh, yes, naturally!" he blushed, embarrassed. "You only met her briefly yesterday, but I got to speak with her for a while. This is Yoshimoto Shizuka-chan, an authority of books of all fields, and these are Inda Karane-chan and Hanezono Hakari-chan…"
"We are Rentarou-kun's girlfriends," Hakari said with a self assured smile.
Shizuka's eyes grew very, very, very open, and very, very, very, very round.
Rentarou nodded, since there was no point in hiding any of this and he'd never be ashamed of his girlfriends. He still braced himself, because while unavoidable, this was probably about to get kind of ugly. "I know that might sound kind of strange to some, but…"
There was a thud as Shizuka's back hit the floor.
"GAHHHHH!" Rentarou gasped. "SH-SHIZUKA-CHAN!"
From a nearby table, a tall woman in blue jeans and a tight black sweater remarking on her large bust looked up from the book she had been absorbed into. Behind opaque glasses, her eyes briefly shone with subtle interest. Extremely long light purple hair, tied back into a ponytail, snaked behind her, almost reaching the floor.
Medusa hungered for mana a weak Master couldn't supply, but the area was tightly watched over lately, and she hadn't been able to bite a girl for days. However, surely nobody would find anything strange about a fainting damsel appearing drained and weak on her bed.
Watching in silence how Haruna and Yue emerged from around a hallway and helped Rentarou carry the unconscious librarian away, the quiet woman moved with stealth befitting an Assassin, making her way after them without Hakari and Karane, who were closing the formation, noticing her.
The girls surrounding her took a look at the book passage she was pointing at.
"What?" one of them asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Can't you talk?"
"I, I, I can," Shizuka stuttered, "it's just that-"
"Then why don't you just do it?" another classmate asked. "Does it hurt or something?"
They wouldn't understand, of course.
"My opinion is," Arai Chie-sensei was telling Shizuka's parents now, "that you should take her to a specialist. She doesn't answer to treatment here, so there must be a deeper issue at hand..."
"No, absolutely not!" Shizuka's father had said. "If word gets out that my daughter is a mental case, we'll fall in disgrace...!"
Back at home, her mother was scolding her after spanking her. "Why must you do this to us?!" the woman demanded. "After all we've done for you!"
Shizuka shuddered and kept on staring at the floor.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" her mother demanded. "Do you know why you don't make any advances? Because you don't want to! If you only left that damn book aside and tried to speak, you could do it! You just refuse to, because it's easier for you!"
Shizuka tried to apologize, but only a garbled sound came out of her throat.
"Enough! Speak! Speak! Speak!"
"I, I, I am...!"
"Why do you insist on being such a creepy child?!"
She opened her eyes widely and found herself staring at the ceiling of that small room at the back of the reception, where they'd sit to eat lunch and dinner while on duty.
Someone had pulled a futon out of the emergency closet and set her on it. Looking around, she saw Aijo-san, Paru, Nodoka, Yue, Shiori and... Aijo-san's two girlfriends... all sitting on the floor, surrounding her.
"Thank God you're okay," Aijo-san breathed out. "You scared us for a moment...!" And then he made a pause. "Because you are okay, aren't you?"
Shizuka pondered this for a moment, and then nodded slowly.
Haruna sighed, standing up and pulling a jacket on. "That's great to know. Look, I'm not getting any reception here so I'll have to go look for Ako-chan myself. Inda-senpai, Hanezono-senpai, I'd like it if you could come with me."
"Eh? Why us?" Karane asked.
"Who is this Ako-san you are talking about?" Hakari inquired.
"A friend of ours who works at the nurse's office. I'd also like to talk with you for a moment, Aijo-senpai." She motioned at the boy to come along, and he obeyed quietly after another worried look at the strangely still Shizuka. Haruna closed the door after the four of them, then told Rentarou very seriously, "Listen, as you can see, Shizuka-chan is kinda frail. I should've told you this earlier, but she was getting better lately, so I thought that-"
"Why don't you just use one of those magical cards to call her over?" Karane asked.
"Ako doesn't have a Pactio," Haruna said, "and we couldn't use magic before Shizuka-chan and Shiori-chan, they don't know about it."
"Why did she react that way?" Hakari asked. "She..." She looked at Rentarou, who blushed and lowered his head. "She and you, right...?"
"I'm sorry," he said. "I mean, I should have made it clear to you before, too..."
"What is done is done," Haruna said. "Right now, the last people she'll want to see are you two girls, but you," she pointed at the boy, "she needs to see that you haven't done this to her on purpose, just because you're a careless dork."
"I'm a careless dork," he admitted contritely. "But I'll do my best to make up for it!"
"Send Shiori back to the frontlines, Yue and Nodoka will help you out, stop you before you mess up again if necessary," Haruna instructed, beginning to herd the two older girls away despite Karane's protests. "Try to explain things as best as you can until we come back, and remember... all that is at risk here."
Rentarou gulped loudly. "Of course!"
"At risk?" Hakari said. "It's just a broken heart! It'll hurt, of course, and it's awful she has to go through with this, but she'll recover, just like-"
Haruna blushed for once and pulled her along, biting her tongue. "Put yourself in her place before downplaying it!" she demanded, and before long she had stormed away with them.
Rentarou stood there for a moment, silently contemplating what he hadn't wanted to dwell into yet.
Haruna-san is right... If I reject Shizuka-chan, or any of the others, she... they...
He tightened both fists by his sides and trembled impotently, closing his eyes.
How can I claim to love them if I can't even protect their lives?!
But there was no time to feel sorry about himself, he decided, so he sniffled tears back, turned around, and returned to the small back room, closing back after himself.
Appearing from thin air where Haruna had stood moments ago, and edging ever closer to the door, the tall shapely woman shifted into a tight black minidress with tall boots, and a thick blindfold replaced her glasses.
Shiori was sent back outside, and Rider let her pass while briefly shifting into her invisible astral form. The less people she would be detected by, the better. After the girl was out of sight and hearing, the Servant leaned against the closed door and listened.
Inside, Shizuka gestured at Nodoka with a hand. It took the older girl a moment to realize she was asking for her notebook and pen. Nodoka quickly gave them to her. Then the even shorter girl began writing.
These arrangements are pretty much like the ones you have with Negi-sensei, or am I wrong?
Yue gagged in her saliva as Rentarou sweatdropped. It was Nodoka, actually, who answered calmly. "No, Sensei has no actual girlfriends yet, he's too young for that."
Still, it is clear from Haruna's words...
"H-Haruna is always exaggerating a lot!" Yue coughed. "S-Sensei's closest associates are just too enthusiastic, that's all!"
I see...
"Besides," Nodoka added quietly, "I'm not part of those who are interested in him, not anymore. I... I have grown interested in another," she confessed with a small blush.
Shizuka raised an eyebrow. She didn't know about that, and for once Paru hadn't ever commented on the subject either, at least not in her presence.
I'm sorry for overreacting. That, of course, is no business of mine.
"No, don't say that!" Rentarou told her. "It's me who should apologize. On behalf of Hakari-chan and Karane-chan, too. They can be too direct at times."
Shizuka began writing something else down, and it was then that Rentarou truly realized how shortly into the notebook her annotations had gone yet. It was clear that even through this method, she rarely communicated directly with others.
It's not my place to judge you, or to be scandalized by you. I'm too strange myself, far more than you.
"We are the way we have to be," Rentarou said. "If you truly want to change, then by all means you should do so, but it should be your own decision. You shouldn't be pressured by what anyone would think."
"We don't think you are strange, Shizuka," Yue said.
The long haired girl gave a long, but very soft sigh.
I know, and I'm thankful to you for it. But I cannot escape the fact I can't and shouldn't stay like this forever. I'm just being childish.
"Oh, no, you are very mature," Rentarou said. "For starters... you didn't react by hitting me or anything..."
I did hit Haruna yesterday.
"That's Haruna-san, nobody could blame you," Rentarou smiled, and after a moment of blinking surprise, Shizuka had to let out a tender joyous sound.
"Ah, so that's how you laugh!" he said. "It's a very pretty laugh..."
Shizuka blushed and raised the notebook enough to cover her face, but not exaggeratedly so. Yue and Nodoka smiled too.
Shizuka wrote something else in a hurry and showed it to him. I'd like us to be friends, if you won't mind.
"I'd love to," Rentarou said.
Noticing something that had been left unsaid and probably should have been said, Shizuka blushed again and added, in a hurry, I'd like to be friends with your girlfriends as well!
He nodded. "I'm sure they'll be just as happy!"
Then he reached over and gently stroked her hair, marveling at how silky it felt between his fingers. "I'm so glad you are feeling better now."
She nodded. Sorry for worrying you. Would you like more books? We could read them together...
Nodoka tensed up for some reason, glancing back over her shoulder. "Yue," she said. "Behind me."
"Huh?" Yue said, right before the door was kicked in and down.
Interlude:
Seeing Hakari leave Library Island with her roommate and one of the librarians, a girl with short black hair stood at a distance of the bridge leading to terra firma.
She was dressed in a boyish style, complete with masculine pants and a long sleeved white dress shirt. As usual, she kept her observations from afar, and she started moving along to follow them as best as she could, while keeping her binoculars well in hand.
"She isn't with him right now," she said, radioing someone, "but she's still with Inda. She looks worried for some reason."
The voice at the other end of the line hummed. "I see. So soon after entering..."
"Do you want me to bug the place after this?" she asked. "It's obvious that something is starting to happen there, involving the three of them."
"Yes, you should do that," the voice approved. "I'll give her a couple weeks more. If she hasn't left him by then, you know what to do."
"Yes, Ma'am. Of course, Ma'am," the young woman said as the communication was cut. For now.
Ojou-sama, what are you thinking?! she wondered in her mind. The Mistress might even allow you a normal relationship, but never something like this...!
At some point, Hakari slowed down and looked aside intently. "What's wrong?" Karane asked.
"I don't know," Hakari replied, confused. "I felt, for a moment, that someone was watching me..."
"Someone is watching us," said Haruna. "Not too close, and I don't think they've got any ill intent, but they are," she added, without ever stopping.
"And how the hell can you be that sure?" Karane said.
Haruna smiled proudly. "My father is Saotome Ranma!"
"Who?" Karane asked.
"The demigod of martial arts! Master of attack and defense!" Haruna proclaimed. "I inherited his keen senses, sharper than a panther's! And, well, Auntie Kodachi has a ninja retainer too, Sasuke-san. He taught me a couple things," she shrugged.
"I'm sorry I asked," Karane moved on.
Hakari hummed to herself, and then smiled. "Oh, I see, so it's only that! Never mind then! When one is beautiful, rich and popular, one has secret admirers watching from the shadows all the time! It's no big deal!"
"People like you inevitably end up kidnapped at some point of their lives, didn't you know that?!" Karane foreshadowed.
Still on the prowl after them, Tsugumi Seishirou despaired inwardly. Oh, Ojou-sama...! Why did I have to report you? Nobody, anywhere, could understand my pain for you...!
"Wow, Setsuna-san," Asuna was saying somewhere else on the campus. "I had no idea someone could sneeze THAT strongly! It made your wings pop out and everything!"
"I swear it's never happened before!" Setsuna gasped, hastily trying to pull her long white wings back in, ashamed of them.
Yue pulled Shizuka against herself immediately, as a strange tall woman clothed quite suspiciously strode into the room with those long legs of hers. In a hand, she held a long chain attached to two small daggers, one at each end.
Nodoka grabbed her neck pendant, and it flashed, turning into a long staff. Shizuka couldn't see this quite clearly herself, pressed against Ayase, as she was. "Rider-san!" Nodoka said.
"How would you know about me?" the beautiful lady said.
"I'm friends with Saber-san," Nodoka said, materializing an open book in her left hand.
"I see," the Legendary Spirit said. "Then I have an actual reason to destroy you, don't I?"
"Then she'll be even more furious at you when she gets here," Nodoka said, standing her ground. Rentarou had moved before Shizuka and Yue to shield them, Yue still holding Yoshimoto still while using her other hand to text Shirou in silence.
Rider smiled. "I never expected anything for a duel to the death next time we fought," she said, slowly stepping towards the youngsters and swinging her chain in circles. "That wouldn't change anything."
Nodoka took a very deep breath. "Please, Medusa-san, don't do this..."
Rider stopped, eyes widening behind the blindfold. After a moment of mutism, she scowled. "I have even less reasons to let you live now."
The tip of Nodoka's staff touched the pages of the book. This, Shizuka could see it, managing to look past Yue and Rentarou and gasping softly to herself. "Don't you want to know how I learned it?" she tried to negotiate, knowing well that she could kill them all, and leave before Saber could arrive.
"I always could just torture it out of you."
Nodoka's mind went through everything she remembered from Kuro's descriptions back in Kyoto. Rider was apparently inhuman, and used a cold survival logic, but otherwise could be reasoned with. At least, she hoped that world's Rider was like this one, in that regard. Otherwise... "Please, Medusa-san. You aren't a monster. And killing us won't get you anywhere."
"I need your mana, right now," Rider began advancing towards them again.
"Monster-san is with our circle of allies right now," Nodoka said, while Yue placed a hand on Rentarou's mouth and stopped him from talking. "You don't know the truth about the Holy Grail yet. Achieving it wouldn't do any of you any good..."
"I'll be the judge of that," Rider said, hefting one of the daggers, poised for a death strike.
Nodoka sighed and slammed the open book. "Saber!" she shouted, summoning the Servant card, the anomaly in her collection.
The room seemed to explode in a surge of white light.
Shiori thought she had heard some noise coming from the back room, and since the only thing to do right now was putting the Oberon Sexton books in order, she headed back there to see if something was happening.
The door was closed when Shiori got back there, but before she could open it, Nodoka was sent out flying through it, wearing some sort of long blue dress, and holding a sword in her hand. She crashed against Shiori's midsection, knocking her down and out as she dropped on her.
"G-Gah!" the younger student scrambled up, panicking at what she'd just done. "Senpai!"
Rider walked out, still swinging her chain around casually. "I told you that this would be pointless. Even if you can take a Servant's appearance, you obviously cannot fight like one…"
"Remains to be seen!" Nodoka said, lunging ahead with her blade and pushing Rider back from Shiori's prone, swirly-eyed body.
"Cute," the actual Servant said, easily dodging the strike by arching her back away from Nodoka. "You seem to have a lot of mana, you'll do better than that girl…"
"Leave her alone!" Rentarou and Yue found themselves screaming at the same time. Shizuka looked around desperately for anything she could use to help. This was a serious matter, so just tossing a book at that woman definitely wouldn't work…
"Don't make this harder for yourself," Rider asked softly, kicking Nodoka in the chin and sending her stumbling back. "I can tell your body isn't up to par with your spirit."
"I have a lot of mana," Nodoka said stubbornly, pulling out a Clow card and using it. "Windy!"
Rider was blown off her feet and flew against a wall, which genuinely startled her. "What are you?" she wondered, trying to toss her chain at Nodoka, only to find that the compact streams of air she was being bombarded with now made it impossible for her main weapon to connect. "That is not a Saber's style!"
Rentarou held Yue and Shizuka up, holding each under an arm. "I, I'll come back with help!" he promised, taking off running with both. Since the fight was blocking the way out, he had no choice but fleeing deeper into the Library, even though he didn't know the place all that well. Usually he'd mostly resort to reading e-books. "I promise!"
"No, let me go!" Yue gasped. "I, I can't leave Nodoka like that!"
"There's nothing you can do!" the boy said, and Yue lowered her head, having to admit that was the case indeed. If only I had made a Pactio with Negi-sensei, like everyone else…! she thought regretfully.
Shizuka made a small, choked hiccup. "N-N-Nodoka."
She was, actually, amazed by how fast this boy could move, carrying both of them at once. Even though they were small and light, he hadn't thought he was likely to pull such a feat, since he wasn't remarkably big or muscular.
Even though her first thoughts were with Nodoka, she couldn't help feeling swooned by him as well. He was like a knight in shining armor, taking his damsel away from danger…
A tiny Rentarou appeared at a lower corner of the screen, scratching his chin with a chin and sweatdropping. "Come on, I'm only escaping…! I'm a Sir Robin at best!"
Well, that's still better than nothing, right?
"You two stay here, okay?" Rentarou asked, finally setting Shizuka and Yue down under a table, several empty hallways apart from the battle. It was as far as he could take them since he had hit a dead end. "I'll go see if there's another exit…"
"From here, the only way out is the front," Yue informed him while Shizuka grabbed him by the sleeve. "You're thinking of heading back, aren't you? Don't."
Rentarou paused. "I'm sorry, but if there's anything you can do…"
"You can't even imagine the power of someone like that Rider woman," Yue said, pulling herself out from under the table. "Stay here and look after Yoshimoto-san. I'll go instead, as I'm a trained library defender…"
Shizuka shook her head vehemently, now grabbing her sleeve as well.
Yue looked down at her. "I'm sorry, but Nodoka… I can't just stand back and let Nodoka fight alone, okay?! There must be something that I can—Never mind, looks like they've settled the matter for us," she finished, sweating a large drop as she saw Nodoka being hurled their way from around a corner.
Yue, rather quickly, threw herself ahead to catch Nodoka in her arms, diving down for a save. The other girl was battered and bruised all over, and if not for the powerup the Class card had given her, she would be unconscious or worse right now. "UQ Holder 187…" she muttered groggily. "It's UQ Holder 187 all over again…"
"D-Don't say that!" Yue gasped, even as Rentarou and Shizuka moved in to see to her wounds, and Rider appeared again, stalking towards them in long lurches. "Please, Nodoka, hold on…!"
Miyazaki breathed very deeply, pulling herself back up and softly pushing Yue back. She half smiled at the incoming Rider. "Jump," she said, summoning another card and using it to start bouncing around the Servant, hitting her with her staff from every angle.
Rentarou hugged Shizuka, who was just hiccupping with horror now. "Dammit! When did this story become this grimly serious?! There must be something we can do!"
Rider blocked Nodoka's blows with her forearm, expertly stopping each with the experience granted by years of fighting and killing Greek heroes. "I'm sorry to tell you this," she said, a hand becoming a blur of motion. She took Nodoka by an ankle and slammed her on a shelf, sending books flying everywhere and making Yue scream. "But you aren't even starting to inconvenience me."
She held the stunned Card Captor up and brought her neck towards her mouth, as she bared her teeth. "Regardless, you can provide me with richer mana than your friend. There is no need for them to—"
And then Rentarou threw himself at Rider's legs, hugging them before she could drain Nodoka. "NO!" he shouted. "Take me in her place!"
Rider looked down. "Excuse me?"
"You, you didn't come here for her in the first place, did you?! Whatever you're going to do, you can do it to me instead! But please leave them alone!"
Yue had to restrain Shizuka, who was trying to reach over to them and drag him back as best as she could.
Rider looked hard and long at this pitiful creature clinging to her. Her eyes were hidden, and yet she somehow seemed to be studying his eyes, looking for sincerity or falsehood there. She didn't feel any special spark—if anything, there was something instinctively repulsive about this boy—and yet she couldn't feel second intentions or selfish purposes in him either.
She was mostly unused to seeing people sacrificing their lives for others. Even those who would visit the Shapeless Island would most often just look for personal glory, thinking they would succeed easily, rather than thinking of the greater good. Deep inside, the woman who cared dearly about her sisters thought of these small young men scattered around her, confused and in fear, and she felt ashamed about herself.
"You may be a better person than me," she told Rentarou, gently setting Nodoka on the floor and grabbing him by the throat, pulling him up like you could lift a kitten. "So be it, then. Thanks on their behalf."
"Suh-Senpai!" Shizuka screamed, struggling free from Yue and stumbling towards them.
But Rider already had sunk her teeth on Rentarou's neck and started suckling.
Then she was punched in the back by a metal gauntlet, and she was forced to throw the dizzy Rentarou aside, as she spun around to see a familiar valiant figure standing there, blocking the way she had come from.
Artoria Pendragon's bright green eyes glowered at her in righteous anger. In her hand, the air around the invisible blade seemed to shimmer and shift in constant flux.
"Rider!" the Saber said. "Let us finish what we started in the observatory!"
The world had gone completely insane.
This thought just wouldn't leave Aijo's mind as he recovered as best as he could, grabbed Shizuka, and raced with her in his arms, bridal style, past where Saber and Rider were now colliding in close quarters, hitting each other with incredible amounts of brutality. Yue was also doing the same with the stunned Nodoka, once again surprising Rentarou with how strong she could get despite her diminutive size.
"Rider, you must listen!" the blonde said, whacking the taller woman against the wall. "The Grail may be cursed! Activating it would be flirting with disaster!"
"Must you resort to lies to get the better of me, Saber?" Rider growled, lashing out with a kick, and managing to hit Saber across the jaw thanks to the length of her legs. "It won't work! I'll only surrender the Cup with my very life!"
"God, are they always like that?" Rentarou said, then screeching to a halt as they ran into Shirou, who was entering the main hall where Shiori was still unconscious by the door of the back room. "Ah! Emiya-san!" he recognized him.
"We'll talk later!" the redhead promised, running past them without ever stopping, and heading towards the site of the battle between the Servants.
Rentarou looked after him. "Should we...?"
"Yes. Yes, we should!" Yue said, getting ahead with Nodoka through the front door. "Trust them! They're used to this!"
Once outside, they still kept running for a few minutes, until they had crossed the bridge. Yue, out of breath, stopped by a tree and placed Nodoka on the roots, catching her breath back in loud gasps. "Shiori-san..." she said. "We should..."
"On it," Rentarou said, also setting Shizuka down and running back to the Library. Shizuka, giving a small terrified hiccup, tried to run after him, but stumbled on her own feet and fell on her face, allowing him to get away.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Yue asked, helping her back up. Shizuka shook her head, wincing a bit as two crossed band-aids suddenly appeared on her face for just a moment, like a visual gag in a manga. Yue pulled her cellphone out. "We should have signal now we're here, let me call Sensei..."
Shizuka, very pale and confused, looked back towards the building, and breathed out only when she saw Rentarou sprinting back with Shiori flung over a shoulder. He panted and wheezed while stopping by them, putting the sleeping librarian next to a slowly waking Miyazaki. "I'm... I'm sorry you had to see this..." he apologized to Shizuka.
She blinked, and then shook her head briskly. "N-No..." she managed to say.
He smiled sadly, and then put a hand on her head. He waited until Rider's latest blood curling scream finished, and then told Shizuka. "No. I must be honest with you. This... This is the kind of life I've been dragged off, more or less. To be fair... it's more like I entered it, out of my own will..."
"... No, I'd say that this has nothing to do with what happened to you," Yue opined, fanning Nodoka back into full consciousness. "Completely different kinds of strangeness..."
Rentarou exhaled. "Maybe. But even so, I can't deny what my life has become, and what that implies for anyone approaching me. I'm really sorry, Shizuka-chan. Yes, indeed, not only I have two girlfriends already, but... I might have to get myself more, actually, horrible as that may sound. And every day of my life, of our lives, from now on will probably be filled with oddity and craziness. Still, I'll do my best to protect Hakari, and Karane, and everyone else around me, no matter what. That includes you, naturally, no matter what you decide to do about me."
Shizuka looked up at him, with large, shiny eyes that almost seemed to swallow him whole.
A pair of students passed by, coming from the library and leaving the sounds of shattering glass everywhere behind. "I don't know what's happened to the management...!" one of them was telling the other. "You can't study in peace there anymore...!"
When they were gone, Rentarou sighed and spoke again. "Shizuka-chan. I really, really, really like you," he confessed. "The last thing I'd want is to see you brought to harm by my proximity. It's okay if you just want to walk away from me, but please, someday, we should talk about this subject again. Maybe by then, things have changed enough as to-"
"I..." a weak sound erupted from Shizuka's throat, struggling to be heard. "I... I like... you... too..."
He blinked, then blushed, even as Nodoka and Yue paid close attention and even the KOed Shiori perked an ear up, cheeks flushing. "Shizuka-chan?" the boy gulped. "Are you sure...?"
Shizuka tried to speak once more, failed, and then desperately made hand gestures at Yue.
"Ah, sign language," Ayase said flatly. "Yes, of course I understand." She looked blandly at Rentarou. "Senpai, she isn't afraid of living an exciting, dangerous, romantic adventure with you everyday, but she says she's kind of afraid all the same, because your love is forbidden..."
"Hakari and Karane won't object," Rentarou told Shizuka. "Well, Karane might, but that's just her being Tsundere!"
Yue almost gagged. "What, what kind of answer is that? Do you realize how sexist are you- Huh?" she blinked at Shizuka's newest hand signs. "Seriously? You would be willing to give it a try...?"
Shizuka blushed again and nodded.
Rentarou beamed. "Ah! Shizuka-chan!"
Yue facepalmed. "For the love of God! I can't believe it, even for the standards of Ala Alba this is too-"
A sharp male cry of "SABER!" interrupted her, right before Rider was blasted out a window, then flew across the air over the bridge, crashlanding vilently several steps away from them.
A few moments of stunned stupor from them later, a badly battered Rider rose back on wobbly legs, even as Saber also jumped out that window to land on her feet before the other Heroic Spirit, much phsyically better and still ready to keep on fighting. "So, Rider..." the blonde said, "You were saying?"
"I might just hear after all, since you have made... a convincing case so far..." Medusa coughed.
Haruna walked into sight, with Ako, Hakari, and an already groaning Karane in tow. "Oh my God, our windows," the librarian gasped, staring up at the building. "I swear, if a single book was damaged in there, I'm so killing all of you...!"
"U-Us as well?" Nodoka stammered nervously.
"Friendship is one thing and the line of duty is another!" Haruna said with a fist on her heart. "You knew the responsibilities when you made the Club's Oath!"
When Shiori woke up, she was in a clean bed in the infirmary. That oddly likable Katsuragi-san sat by her bedside, playing a galge in his PFP, and Izumi Ako and Haruna stood at each side of him.
"Ah, you're awake now," the boy noted calmly, briefly putting the portable console now. "Are you feeling well?"
"... Y-Yes," Shiomiya stuttered, blushing brightly. "Katsuragi-san, why are you here...?"
"Oh, he heard you were here so he came to see you!" Haruna smiled. "He's been here for the last half hour, never leaving your side!"
The boy rasped uneasily. "It's the least I should do after how you helped me..."
Shiori paused, wide eyed, while Ako took her pulse. "Th-Thanks..." She looked at Haruna. "What, what happened? I thought I saw..."
Haruna moved a hand in circles. "Just a troublemaker throwing a tantrum and tossing books around! That's all!"
"Ah," Shiori said. "But I thought-"
"She might have been wearing some sort of costume but that's all what was strange about her!" Haruna said while Ako rolled her eyes back subtly. Like most of the school knew already anyway, so why to keep these farces at random? Maybe Chao was right after all. "Yue and Nodoka are cleaning up now since it happened under their watch!"
"Ah," Shiori said. "And Shizuka-san? Is she feeling better now?"
Paru giggled. "Oh, yes! I gave her an early leave since she's gone on a date, believe it or not...!"
"We came to put on posters!" Hakari said, passing by the janitor with the wary Karane, neither of them carrying posters anywhere.
The man hummed from his chair, indolently reading his latest super interesting volume of To Love Ru. "Ah, again...? Well, don't take too long..." he yawned.
Hakari smiled as they went up the stairs of the already mostly deserted building of the malae academy. "I told you. Pay up!"
Karane groaned, pulling her wallet out and slapping two bills on Hakari's open hand. "Why do you need money? You're rich!"
They reached the rooftop, and sure enough, Rentarou stood there with Shizuka. "Ah, good you could make it!" he smiled at the duo. "I trust you didn't have any problems?"
"It's not like I'd be here if getting in were difficult!" Karane folded her arms and glared aside. "N-Not like you're worth the extra effort or anything, b-baka!"
Shizuka blinked. Was this girl for real, or she just liked acting like a manga character?
Rentarou drew a deep breath. "I took the liberty of calling you here since, in light of all the recent events, and after considering a lot of our life choices in the face of deadly danger, I have decided that-"
"Don't start a long ass speech, just give us the short notes!" Karane snapped. "We know everything that transpired, okay?!"
"... not everything," Rentarou had to point out meekly. "That is the key of the matter, I have decided that I can't live without Shizuka-chan any more than I could live without you, and she can't live, I mean, she doesn't want to live without me either, so please, if it's not much of a bother, could you accept her as my girlfriend out of the goodness of your hearts?"
Shizuka's eyes grew to the size of saucers and she began trembling violently, almost weeping. Had he really just put it like that...?!
"ARE YOU DELUSIONAL OR SUMTHIN', YOU SENSELESS MOTHERFUCKA?!" Inda screamed, eyes bugging out. "THE HELL IS THAT A WAY OF PHRASING SUCH A STUPID THING?!"
"I know it's a lot to take in so quickly, but you didn't have an issue with sharing with each other before!" he pleaded, raising his hands.
"THAT'S DIFFERENT! Hanezono, and I, well, we are not friends or anything, but we have learned to tolerate each other!" She then realized how Shizuka was on the verge of tears and made an abrupt swerve, blushing as she apologized. "I mean, sorry, you look tolerable enough, more than this slut here, but, ah, ah, you tell her, Hanezono!" She turned to her roommate. "Explain why it's kind of okay with you, not that I care if you even try or not!"
Hakari bit on her thumb. "Rentarou-kun...!"
He swallowed. "Y-Yes? Hakari-chan?"
"Thank you for not only not dumping me, but even consulting my opinion before having an affair...!" Hakari wailed. "I had no idea I meant THAT much to you...!"
"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, ARE YOU THAT ARISTOCRATS JOKE GIVEN LIFE?!" Inda demanded.
Streams of tears began descending from Rentarou's eyes. "Oh, Hakari-chan! You are so understanding...!"
"BRAIN DAMAGED IS MORE LIKE IT!" Karane roared.
Rentarou turned to Shizuka and pulled a small wrapped package up. "Since the girls have accepted you, Shizuka-chan, I can give you this..."
"AH!?" Hakari gasped, making an emotional U turn. "A WEDDING RING ALREADY?! NO, NO, NO, NOT BEFORE ME, THAT, I'LL DEFINITELY NOT APPROVE...!"
He looked at her reassuringly. "I'm not going to propose marriage to anyone yet, Hakari-chan."
"Oh, in that case, please go on. My apologies."
"*I* HAVEN'T SAID I'M OKAY WITH IT!" Karane loudly reminded them.
He gave her a worried look. "Oh? I assumed you were being Tsundere, Karane-chan. Do you actually have an issue with it?"
"DO YOU NEED TO EVEN ASK?! Of course I... I... I...!" she stammered, taking another look at Shizuka's small, vulnerable, tender form about to break into tears again. Karane shuddered at the force of this all too cute vision of kawaiines and, like in an old outdated Western gag anime, she felt her head replaced by a giant shoe heel reading 'First Class Heel' for a moment. Then she humphed, blushed, and again her head whipped aside. "Of course I'm consistent on these matters! Do as you wish, as if I'm gonna stop you!"
Shizuka thought this wasn't exactly the most reassuring way to express acceptance, but since she was far more accomodating herself, she gave a small nod while receiving Senpai's gift, and then unwrapped it.
"It's a new smartphone I paid Hakase-san for," Rentarou explained as she held it in wonder. "It comes with an app that allows you for a fast copy of manuscript data, either downloaded from its Internet connection or saved through this memory card. It will be much faster to write in than the notebook, and it comes with an e-book copy of 'Circlet Love Story'..."
Shizuka gave several sobbing shudders.
He smiled again and put a hand on her shoulder. "That way, it'll be much easier for you find quotes to express your feelings through."
"She didn't do that all that often in this chapter, did she?" Karane wondered. "More like just once."
"It's easier for the author that way," Hakari explained.
Shizuka sniffled, then quickly typed a reply, which she immediately showed Rentarou.
In a distracted world,
full of barely controlled chaos,
when you lock your eyes onto mine,
focusing, listening, hearing, caring,
the comfort and pleasure you create
is priceless.
By Joanna Fuchs.
"Awwwww!" Rentarou cried Manly Sensitive Tears as she drew her into a hug. "I don't deserve any of this, any of you! But please, I beg of you, if any of you feels like I'm not living up to your expectations... that I'm making you unhappy or something... tell me honestly, and-"
He made a proper serious pause, and then declared with every note of solemnity, "- I will commit seppuku!"
Shizuka stiffened in place and her eyes grew several sizes.
"You... You have just spent far too long with Itoshiki-sensei, haven't you...?" Karane sweatdropped.
"You're not a samurai, Rentarou-dono, I mean sama, I mean kun!" Hakari panicked.
"Whether I am or not, I am still just as tied to the responsibilities I have with you," he said, gaze high and fixed. "If I failed at them, I would be scum, the worst of the worst. There is no bigger crime than making girls unhappy. I have already ordered a dagger through Amazon, and Setsuna-san has agreed to be my kaishakunin in case of need..."
"I'M PRETTY SURE THAT AIN'T EVEN LEGAL NOWADAYS!" Karane yelled. "HOMICIDE, SHE'D BE CHARGED WITH HOMICIDE!"
Shizuka began hiccuping several times, very loud, and clung onto him for his dear life.
Fight on, Rentarou! You are only left with 105 more to go...!
To be Continued.
Next: Someone Debuts Way Before her Intended Time!
Omake!
"You know what, we should fish out all of your girlfriends already!" Haruna decided.
"Eh? What's the hurry?!" Karane said.
"It'll take too long otherwise!" Haruna argued. "And there's too much else to do as well! The Grail War! Negi-kun's search for his dad! The pony sidestory! That World God Only Knows spinoff that we never got started!"
"Pony sidestory?" Hakari blinked.
"We'll post advertisements in the school newspaper, so girls come here and look at your face, Senpai!" Paru told Rentarou. "That way, the proccess will be much faster! 'See if you can find the love of your life'! We'll charge for the chance to look at your face, and we'll make a mint!"
"... why would anyone want me to be the love of their life before they even meet me?" Rentarou asked.
"..." Haruna said. Slowly, she began rubbing her chin, then she sped the rubbing up, and when her hand was starting to sizzle against her flesh, with tiny sparks flying off, she brightened up with a huge smile before the Senpais could stop her in concern. "Ah! Of course! Negi-kun is popular everywhere, so we'll charge to get a good look at him, and you'll usher them in, so you share a look in their way in...!"
Hakari sighed and looked at Shizuka. "Yoshimoto-san, if you would please."
Shizuka tossed her notebook on Haruna's head.
Omake!
"Ah ha ha, roommates with Hasegawa-san's type of personality can be quite a handful, can't they?" Hakari laughed a bit stiffly, sitting down to have lunch with Hakase. "I can sympathize with you. Why, sometimes I wish I could move out! Would you believe that there are actual girls who fantasize about having roommates of that kind... to tame their wild personalities... to enjoy the newfound tenderness under the brash surface... to appreciate the warmth of such fiery hearts... and then... maybe... to walk hand in hand with them towards a sunset, across a nudist beach or something like that?" She panted heavily to herself, cheeks red, pupils turned into pink hearts, and a thin line of drool running down one side of her mouth. "Truly, those are deviants, w-wouldn't you agree...?"
Satomi expulsed some steam out of her ears, and nodded rigidly. "I, I, I believe I do...!"
Sitting at some distance having lunch with Chisame, Karane dragged her fork against her plate, growling along the awful screech. Her head was a web of pulsing arteries. "We can hear you easily from here, you know...?!"
"I don't what you're talking about, I can't hear anything," said Chisame, eating rapidly for some reason and glasses gone translucent.
"I can hear them though," growled Sakurako, who was eating with Misa and Madoka just a bit further away.
"Good for you," said Chisame, absently.