"GO CRAZY BABY."

- Miho Morikawa, By Yourself

"VERY VERY TASTY VERY."

- Myth & Roid, Voracity


Any jewel could shatter into gravel if too much pressure was applied to it. Malachite just took less pressure to break compared to most others. The stress of all those close calls with her Master and all the bullying from her strict Column superiors was fraying the last of her nerves. She changed her mind on what kind of Otome she should be.

It was not a peaceful or quiet night in the palace courtyard. Two young figures embraced in the obscured shadows of a large gazebo, rustling and murmuring in the midnight hours like a pair of wild nocturnal animals. Kazuya was wearing a regal cape tossed over an expensive set of pajamas. Akane was fully armed in her formfitting white Robe.

The couple hugged, swooned, and thrust their mouths together in a series of rapid, frantic, heated kisses. They managed to turn simple cuddling and smooching into a more physical and lurid activity than some forms of sex. She was a little more than three-quarters his size, and her gloved hands rested on his shoulders as she kept him pinned against the marble architecture with a tiny careful push from her augmented strength. He might blow away in a sudden breeze and she'd never see him again if she wasn't constantly holding him in her protective grip.

The emperor wasn't used to his Otome being so assertive. But there was never a point where he wasn't enjoying this.

"Never let me out of your paws, Akane." He whispered pleadingly with gasping breaths in the dark. He chuckled between all of their anxious kisses.

"Heheh! I love how you squeak when I catch you, mousey! I won't let anyone else have you!" Akane giggled frantically. Her tongue lapped hungrily toward his tonsils.

Being Robed made her inhumanly strong, gave her the amplified hearing of an apex predator, and honed her eyes into magnified golden discs that seemed to gaze straight into Kazuya's soul. But her kisses remained just as sweet and smooth as ever. Akane was still Akane in any form when she was kissing him.

After pressing her mouth into his for what may have been a whole minute and nearly sucking the life straight out of him with a deep breath (which he didn't resist in the slightest), the Otome parted their kiss and sighed in delight.

"I've made up my mind, Kazu," she privately lowered her voice as she spoke. "I'll make everyone respect you on my own. Mahya. Chie. Shiho. Haruka. Nina. Arika. Shizuru. I'll cut them all up if I have to. I don't care. I'll make sure you're the only boss of me."

The light from the full moon made her teeth and her glossy Robe glow like extravagant platinum. She just wanted to be back in that secluded love hotel where she and Kazu were no different from all the other couples there, and no one butted into their business asking why did he have such a fancy car and why was she wearing a Meister uniform. But a hundred different people would chase her and Kazu down like fugitives if they ever tried to go back there, so there was nothing she could do except carve her own path to free will. Why did everyone from that stupid Academy have to insist it was criminal just to be in love?

They just had to be the most important couple in all of Cardair, and they just had to be forced onto a throne neither of them really wanted when all it did was put more restrictions on their already strained lives. So Akane was going to fight until they were fully in control.

"I'll rip them all to pieces for you, Kazu." She grinned in the dim light. "That's the only way they'll leave us alone."

The emperor was a little horrified, but also… a little enticed. Any aspiring ruler was supposed to consider things that would strengthen his public image, right? Being the personal Master of the most fearsome Otome alive may have been the highest possible honor in this era.

But at the same time, Kazuya was no heartless tyrant. He could see the fear that was making her so assertive quiver in her eyes. Those big, emotive, attractive brown eyes.

"Akane. If you're scared about being an Otome, I could just help you retire. Garderobe can't punish me for using my own servant however I want. They're the ones who gave you to me," he whispered to put her anxieties at ease. His ring hand dotingly brushed behind her long-range microphone ears. "I won't ask them for a replacement. I'll tell them I seduced you and you were too devoted to me to stop me."

His other palm left the space between her bare shoulder blades under her capelet. The searching tips of his fingers brushed down her nimble spine, over her flight belt, and followed the curved glossy seam of her lower Robe. His hand traveled toward the narrow gap behind her thighs.

"Careful, Kazu!" the Meister bashfully giggled as her tail stabilizers wrapped around his wrist and lightly pushed his arm away. "I still need my powers to protect you!"

"You've done enough for me. Let me make this easy for both of us," the emperor said softly, romantically. "I'll take all the blame if anyone else complains. I'll provide anything you need from now on. I could marry you the next day and no one would stop me."

"Nm-mm! I have to stay an Otome until all of your enemies are gone! Garderobe's orders!" Akane shook her head with conviction, swinging her bob cut in a small tornado.

"But you just said…" Kazuya began to reply, looking a little confused. She wanted to rebel against the Academy, but she also wanted to follow what they told her?

"Mm-hm." Akane diligently nodded in the dark. "The Columns won't be able to boss me around anymore if they're dead, too. I'll use their dumb rules to get rid of their rules. As long as there's only blood on my hands and none on my legs, I get to keep being an Otome. I just need your authorization."

Odd euphemism, but Kazuya caught her meaning. All Otomes were required to be virgins for their nanotech to remain functional. She was committed to solving this with her Robe, with the contract that bound her to his life force.

And if she failed, they would just die together and never have to worry about being separated.

"I'll make sure no one can keep us apart." Akane purred softly as she curled her arms around his neck and leaned in for more kisses. Her eyes were narrowed in devious slits.

Kazuya didn't even have to consider his answer.

"You're free to do whatever you want, Akane. You're the expert and I'm just your Master. I'd never treat you like a slave and tell you you're not allowed to do something."

He closed his eyes as she nuzzled against him and their lips melted together. He existed in a world where there was only darkness and Akane. Whatever happened, her sweet, tender, playful kisses made everything worth it.


Author's note: Akane and Kazu died approximately two seconds after putting their cunning plan in action.