035 - How to enjoy the beach and work through trauma


Senator Esposito left that very day, cutting his vacation short to focus back on 'pressing concerns affecting their beloved Union'. A considerable chunk of his charismatic exuberance seemed to have disappeared overnight, which convinced the masses that he truly was working on something important.

Those who really took the time to pay attention beyond skipping over the headlines and eyeing the front page pictures would even notice and praise the determined glint in the eye of his wife, who didn't seem to feel put down in the slightest by the well-deserved time off they'd been forced to give up for the good of their people. That's some dedication.

Kochou leans on the backrest of her reclining deck chair, stretching and cracking her joints as she examines the reactions her multiple comments through various accounts in multiple news sites and social media are already generating. She's not an expert in manipulating public opinion, but she's fairly confident she's doing a good job here. Esposito's reputation might even rise after this.

Her task done for the day, she finally looks up from her laptop to take a glance around. They are now in one of the many private beaches around the hotel, one they've reserved for the day. Kochou would've rather stayed indoors, but Ashikabi-sama insisted and the place isn't actually that bad. White sands, gentle waves and a nice marine breeze, practically a paradise.

Of course, she would be singing a different tune if not for the beach umbrella keeping the harsh tropical sunlight away from her sensitive skin and eyes. Or the ice box by her side full of cold drinks to fight off the heat. Or the fact that she'll be destroying this laptop the moment they get back home, so she doesn't have to worry about it long-term.

The clean white sands might be beautiful to watch, but sand is coarse, and rough, and irritating, and gets everywhere. Including the internals of an electronic device, which are a bitch to perform maintenance on.

Shaking her head to dismiss the unpleasant thoughts, Kochou checks over the rest of the group, trying to decide what to do now that she has free time.

Haihane is in the other chair, set parallel to Kochou's on the other side of the ice box. She reclined it as far as it would go the very moment it was set up and immediately proceeded to fall asleep. She's still going strong, softly snoring with a satisfied expression on her face.

Considering her nocturnal tendencies, they had offered to leave her at the hotel so she could sleep, but Haihane shot that plan down without hesitation. She wanted to go out with the rest of the group and, Kochou suspected, wanted an excuse to wear her swimsuit. A black slingshot bikini that was barely more than a set of strings.

As she thinks that, Kochou steals a glance up and down her flockmate's body. Pale skin marked with a fascinating pattern of criss-crossed scars and barely restrained breasts that slowly rise and lower in tune with each of her breaths… Kochou finds herself swallowing thickly at the sight of the practically naked woman in front of her

Sekirei as a whole tend to not be very self-conscious or body shy, thinking little of nudity in general, even in public. Heck, Kochou herself considers herself a bit of a prude and here she is sunbathing in her own micro-bikini. But Haihane's own slingshot swimsuit is straight-up erotic. It makes the brain-type want to sneak into the other woman's chair and do… things.

That's… Actually, that's not the worst option in the world, not by far. But not quite what Kochou had in mind when she tried to find something to do. Besides, that would necessitate waking up the nocturnal Sekirei and that would be a bit of a dick move.

Trying to find something else to attract her attention, her eyes next land on Akitsu.

The Ice Sekirei is sitting at the edge of the waves, letting them wash over her legs with every ebb and flow as she idly plays with the wet sand around her, shifting it in nonsensical patterns and watching them get erased with every wave, only to immediately start making new ones.

It would take knowing her well to see past her naturally inexpressive features, but Akitsu has been positively glowing ever since she finally got together with Ashikabi-sama. There's a faint but insistent smile on her lips that seems to widen a tiny little bit every time she looks towards their human.

She's also fully naked, having 'forgotten' to take a swimsuit before they left the hotel building. As expected, even nudity manages to be less erotic than Haihane's swimsuit. But that's not the sort of thoughts that Kochou wants to focus on right now, either.

Which leaves…

Kochou's head turns towards the other side, where Ashikabi-sama is sparring with Karasuba-sama. Much to everyone else's disappointment, their swimsuits are far more practical than everyone else's, sporty one-pieces both. A black and green one for Ashikabi-sama and a plain black one for Karasuba-sama.

It wasn't supposed to be like that.

Ashikabi-sama had originally chosen a much more enticing piece, but then Karasuba came back from wherever she'd spent the night with a stormy expression on her face and that wonderful swimsuit had been thrown back into the suitcase in favor of the current piece.

Considering they're both sparring with live steel, that was probably a good call.

Kochou just wishes she knew what snuck up Karasuba-sama's ass and died. Through the past weeks, the brain-type has seen the dangerous woman slowly relax and mellow down in their company. Her fake cheerful behavior becoming a bit more genuine and the sharp edge she always carries herself with getting… not duller, never duller, but rather… Not aimed at them anymore?

It was hard to put it into words, but the feeling of impending danger that seemed to ooze around Karasuba at first, like a naked blade leaning against the back of your neck, had turned into something a bit more nuanced. It was a subtle process, and not a thing Kochou was stupid enough to comment on out loud, but it was there.

And now… this.

(Kochou can't help but feel a bit worried about the older Sekirei.)


With the clanging sound of metal against metal, nodachi strikes spear. The strange shapes of Momo-chan's weapon causes both weapons to tangle together, forcing a lock where Karasuba would've rather pulled back to try another angle. But that's half the fun, isn't it? Momo-chan doesn't simply let her do whatever she pleases. Not without putting up a fight!

"You know, Momo-chan?" She comments idly, putting her weight behind her arms to try and overpower her Ashikabi. "I've been reading that book about crows and shit."

Momo-chan raises an eyebrow to show she's listening, but doesn't waste her breath formulating an answer. Karasuba might not be trying to overpower her with all she has, but that doesn't mean a simple monkey, even one as special as her Ashikabi, can contend without giving their everything to the task.

"I hear most monkey myths actually talk about Sekirei, from the first seven ships." She muses, slowly shifting her footing to prepare a sneaky trick. "Well, most of it is boring crap."

As soon as she finishes the sentence, she takes a swipe at Momo-chan's feet, aiming to trip her. It doesn't work, of course, the Ashikabi easily reacting in time and dodging the attempt. But the dodge itself is a weakness, forcing a shift in balance that Karasuba takes advantage of to push forward.

"But crows are cool, so I kept reading!" She cackles, feeling Momo-chan's center of gravity tipping over the point of no return, causing the woman to start falling backwards. "And there are some that are actually interesting!"

Karasuba's eyes widen in surprise when Momo-chan's body abruptly stops halfway through her fall. The shock barely lasts a fraction of a second and it takes her maybe just as long to realize where the problem lies. Momo-chan is using the butt of her spear to prop herself up the ground!

Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. This is Momo-chan she's talking about here~!

Before she can decide how to tackle this new development, Karasuba notices Momo-chan's left arm swinging around, having shifted the grip on her black shield to use it as some sort of improvised cestus and obviously aiming to slam it right into her guts.

For a moment, Karasuba considers simply taking the hit. She's fairly sure she can absorb it without any real harm, as long as she properly coils her muscles. The only problem with that is that she would be stretching her self-imposed limits quite a bit to pull it off.

While she's sure Momo-chan won't complain about it, it always pisses her off to go beyond whatever strength she had planned to use in the first place. It's no different from acknowledging defeat, as far as she's concerned.

Fortunately, the part of her mind that had been struggling with untangling the weapons while the rest of her attention was on the fight finally managed to free her blade, allowing her to jump away from the strike without having to acknowledge any silly nonsense.

And to think she accused Momo-chan of pulling her leg with those weird puzzle games that made her brain itch! Turns out, multitasking is a really useful skill!

"Like that Morrigan chick. I think she was pretty neat, for a supposed monkey goddess." Even as she finds herself panting a bit under the adrenaline rush of the close call, Karasuba continues her conversational monologue with casual ease. "Whoever wrote that story, they captured the actual Sekirei underneath the myth pretty well."

While two women circle each other, looking for a good opening to start the next trade of blows, Karasuba's mind goes back to that little book about crows and what it had to say about that European goddess. It was an obscure one and most of the lore about her was full of unknowns and contradictions, but Karasuba really liked what she found there.

That was a goddess she could respect. If there was an actual Sekirei behind that character, that's one Karasuba wouldn't mind meeting one day. Maybe challenge to a fight to the death with, just to see how much of the myth was real.

"A goddess of doom, death and victory." Momo-chan speaks up for the first time, drawing Karasuba's attention away from silly reminiscing. "That sounds like you."

Hmm…

Hmm…?

Hmm…!?

Is Momo-chan suggesting what Karasuba thinks she's suggesting?

"Momo-chan." She drawls out slowly, a glint of interest sparkling in her eyes. "Could it be…"

"Could it be what, Karasuba?" Momo-chan shoots back, her usually cool and emotionless voice colored with a hint of amusement. "I'm good, but I can't actually read your mind."

"Could it be that time travel is a real thing that can happen?" She asks out loud, carefully angling her face so her lips can't be read from, say, an MBI spy satellite orbiting right above them. "Could that be something Momo-chan knows about?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." It's Momo-chan's turn to drawl out. "But if I did, it would be classified information."

"Ah, Momo-chan~! You always know how to put me in a good mood!"

"That's good to hear."

Momo-chan nods and… that's that, really. No invasive questions she's unwilling to answer, no fussing over that would only spoil her mood again, no attempts at forcing some heart-to-heart nonsense like life is some sort of shounen fantasy world. Just a quick evaluation, a quiet acknowledgement and a silent helping hand.

No fuss, no buzz. And shit gets done. She doesn't even care about that dumb dream anymore.

In all fairness, Momo-chan has probably figured out more than Karasuba would be comfortable sharing, just by her behavior today. But that's the clinch, Karasuba doesn't really care about that either, as long as it's Momo-chan.

Having an Ashikabi truly is a marvelous feeling~!

And, with that thought in mind and her heart feeling considerably lighter, Karasuba goes back to one of her favorite pastimes: Trying to make her Ashikabi bleed without going all out.


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