Episode 31: Unseen Influence

"Smoking kills, you know? Not to mention, second-hand smoking harms those around you," Blair said as Stein finished one stick and brought out another.

"Well, second-hand smoking is the least of your worries," he replied. After a quick puff, he immediately charged forth. In a split second, he closed the distance between them and attacked from a low angle.

By doing this, he made himself a smaller target. If she unleashed something like a sonic blast at that range, then at least the sound waves would only affect a small portion of his body. Had he leaped up and attacked from above, then his entire body would've been exposed to a sonic attack.

Thankfully, Blair was so overwhelmed by the sudden burst of speed that she could only reel back in shock. "W-Wait—"

"Gotcha!" he quickly lunged with an open palm to her neck.

Craaackle!

The sharp sound of electricity came from his hand. Afterwards, there was silence. For a minute, it was as though time had stopped as the two were frozen like statues. Blair stood with her arms dropped and shoulders slumped. Her head was titled up with hair covering her eyes. Meanwhile, Stein was in a low battle stance with his right arm stretched forth. He was grinning maniacally.

It was quite a remarkable scene. The only thing that didn't seem to be still was Stein's lit cigarette as smoke continuously rose up and fouled the air.

Cough…Cough…

Blair broke the frozen setting. "Too bad," she coughed again.

Craaackle!

Immediately, electricity surged through Stein's hand once more. However, Blair only grinned at his attack as his hand was only a few millimeters short of her throat and, try as he might, the electric attack would not arc.

Carefully backing away, she heaved a sigh of relief once free of any danger. "Close call," she chuckled to Stein who remained perfectly still.

"For the onset to be delayed this long, you're not a normal human, are you?" she questioned.

In response, he struggled to unclench his teeth just enough to let the cigarette stick drop freely to the floor. Afterwards, a large amount of electricity surged through his body.

Blair stepped back in surprise, "W-What are you doing? Self-electrocu…Oh, I see. So you think I tampered with them, eh? You think I slipped in a snake or two?" Looking carefully at his actions, it would seem that he was trying to purge himself of magical parasites. Well, it wasn't surprising that he developed such a move, considering his previous experiences with Medusa's snakes.

"Sorry. But for one, I don't use magical snakes since they're hard to come by. Although, I find ordinary fugu works just as well," she said, snuffing out the cigarette with her shoe. "Oh, before I forget. I'd never touch these filthy things. So, I laced the box cover instead," she laughed.

Knowing how dangerous Stein was, she took no chances in making sure he was taken out of the picture. Had she tampered with the cigarette sticks, Stein might have noticed an odd smell when he lit one or he could've easily just thrown them away considering how he held her in such bitter contempt. Furthermore, the toxin extracted from fugu had to be ingested in order to take effect so even if he did finish smoking the whole pack, she wasn't sure if it would affect him or not.

On the other hand, by tampering with the box cover, Stein would've already sealed his fate once he took the gift-wrapping off. But then again, this hinged on whether or not he would wash his hands before eating or drinking something. To make sure he didn't get a chance to do so, she timed it so that he'd receive the deadly present during afternoon tea time when the school cafeteria just so happen to be serving club sandwiches. Truly, nothing was left to chance.

"So, still think you can stop me, Stein?" she asked.

"…" the professor remained motionless.

Well, seeing as he was rather quiet about it, Blair grew bored and decided to go on her merry way.

6:53 p.m., same day—with only a few minutes before the party starts, Liz and Patty were getting a bit nervous. Looking around, Blair was nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do? Blair-san isn't here yet," Patty said, anxiously.

"Yeah, I know. If she doesn't show up in time, we're gonna have to—"

"MAKAAA!" Spirit suddenly came rushing past them.

"What the hell?" Liz turned to see the death scythe running around the yard, calling out her daughter's name. "Ugh, if things weren't bad enough," she groaned.

"Wow, looks like things are starting to liven up a bit," Tsubaki chuckled, beside her.

"Woah! Where did you come from!" gasped Liz.

"Eh? That's so mean," she pouted, "I've been standing here for the past twenty minutes now! Don't tell me I've been demoted to an 'extra' student!" Unbeknownst to her, had her statement been said any louder, dozens of students would've quickly taken offense. Fortunately, they didn't hear it over the ruckus of Spirit's shouting.

"Well sorry; things have been so busy lately…and well we…" Liz was having trouble thinking of an excuse.

Then, Patty started asking, "Where's the monkey? Where's the monkey?" She would laugh as she repeated this.

"Y-Yeah, that's right!" her sister quickly capitalized. "We didn't notice you 'coz your monkey wasn't around making an idiot of himself! Yup, that was probably it!" she said, trying to convince her.

For a moment, Tsubaki looked as though she was about ready to throw a fit, but then…"Oh, I see," she sighed with relief (and so did Liz). She thought herself silly for worrying that her existence was dwindling away. "Well, Black Star said he was going to make a big entrance when the party starts so, I guess he'll be up there later shouting his name," she smiled, pointing to the large spire protruding above the school yard.

"Uh-huh… speaking of which, where's the rest of —Wow! Now that's an entrance," Liz said in awe.

"Oh my," Tsubaki went red.

"He-he, she's like a princess!" commented Patty.

The three girls were surprised by the sight of Maka and Chrona as they made their grand entrance.

"I-I thought you said you couldn't carry me at all!" Maka cried out as Chrona carried her bridal-style.

"I can't. But, I forgot that I could turn my black blood into a cast," she chuckled for underneath her white tux, black blood had solidified to form a sturdy frame for her arms.

"Well, okay. But still, to arrive looking like this. I hope nobody noti..ces," she froze when she realized that all eyes were pretty much on them at that point.

"H-Hi everyone," Chrona said with surprising confidence.

"This is so embarrassing," Maka cringed, seeing all their judging eyes. She really wished nothing more than to find a hole nearby to hide in. What must have been really hard for her to face wasn't the reaction of her classmates or the fact that dozens of cameras were broadcasting all of it to the world, but it was the eerie silence that persisted.

As everyone kept starring at them, nobody said a word. It was really difficult to get an idea of what'd happen next. Will everyone suddenly laugh, point, and throw stuff at them? Or will they just pull out the torches and pitchforks and start lynching? It was this uncertainty brought by their silence that really troubled her almost to the point of crying.

Then as she looked up at Chrona, expecting to find her in an even worse state that hers, she was shocked. Instead of tears on her face, there was conviction as Chrona looked defiantly back at the peanut gallery. It was as if her expression was shouting out: "So what? Got a problem with this?" Seeing her in such a splendid form, Maka couldn't help but blush and wonder, "Was Chrona ever this…manly?"