Guest reviews:
E- yeah, I agree with you in the idea that Lovecraft doesn't really make compelling protagonists, usually not a whole lot to them aside from being the primary medium through which the narrative is communicated. The Outsider is a noticeable exception to that, and remains one of my favorite works from Lovecraft perhaps as a result.
I'm always happy to know that E isn't alone in enjoying watching Minato strive to find his place among a world he shouldn't belong in, and we'll see that in this chapter, as we brush past more of what sets our different races of alien apart.
Life, if her current state could be called that, had become a never ending parade of surprises since Mister Guest, as she had privately taken to calling Musubi's Ashikabi, had found his way into her all-white prison.
"I rebuilt a human and made her my sister," Minato told her after seating himself on the couch.
A never ending parade of surprises, and tonight would be no exception, it seemed.
"Oh… hmmm… good work!" Yume said after a moment, smiling at him from her seat on the bed. She wasn't entirely certain if that was the right thing to say, she just had a vague sensation that Mister Guest was proud of himself.
"Thank you, I worked hard," Mister Guest smiled without smiling.
It did make a certain amount of sense that rebuilding a person could be tricky, doctors were paid a lot for a reason, right?
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you rebuild… Chiho, was it?"
"She was too frail to be Homura's Ashikabi, and Homura's survival hinged on finding an Ashikabi," Mister Guest told her. "Since her frailty was an obstacle to their love, things worked themselves out after I meddled and ate all her frailty."
"And you're probably the only person in all the world who could say that at and have it make sense," Yume said after a moment.
"I am not a person, though I try my best," Mister Guest replied.
"You know... You've said that before," Yume's smile was slowly replaced by a probing look. "In fact, you're rather insistent on that idea. May I ask why?"
When Mister Guest went still, Yume immediately found herself feeling a little guilty, worried she might have said something she shouldn't have, and that she might have offended the only visitor she had ever-
"I mostly do it without thinking," Mister Guest admitted with a rather person-like shrug, "but there is a reason."
Yume remained silent, unsure if she should prompt him further or not.
"A complacent person can be a danger to others, depending on the circumstances," Mister Guest said softly. "A complacent monster is always a danger to others, no matter the circumstances."
And as Mister Guest often insisted, he was a monster before anything else.
A monster who meddled to help those around him. A monster who suffered in the place of another to give her a chance at her 'forever and ever'. A monster who never let himself stop being careful with those around him.
A monster who…
Took it upon himself to be the only visitor a lonely woman who was supposed to be dead could ever hope to see.
... Who knew monsters could be such gentle things?
At first, when Mister Guest would part ways with her, Yume's only wish was that he would someday return.
When many 'somedays' quickly followed, that wish lost some of its desperate edge.
But Sekirei Number 8 had always been a selfless soul, how could she not be, when she had willingly offered up that soul for the sake of another?
And so the next time the darkness seeped out of her bright cage, there would be a different prayer on the tip of Yume's tongue.
A prayer on behalf of that gentle monster, that he would be allowed to keep that smile of his that was often felt yet rarely seen.
Two new tenants and a newly formed flock were a lively addition to an already lively home, though Chiho's status as an absolute sweetheart kept things from getting out of hand, as the dynamic settled.
Truthfully, Miya had been more than a little concerned that a topic as potentially sensitive as adoption had been broached to Chiho so quickly. However, the girl's explanation suggested she had been decisive, not hasty-
"Mother was really mad at herself for that too, and said something about how she must have been going through a fit of… um… 'maternal insanity'?" Chiho had gingerly revealed, blushing and ducking her head. "But then I admitted that… well she kinda felt like a long-lost family member from the first time I saw her after the… y'know, and then she just kinda hugged me for a really long time without saying anything, and, and…!"
At that point, Chiho had seemingly run out of words, but the near-solar smile upon her lips was more than enough to put Miya's concerns to rest.
… And leave her with a not so inconsiderable desire to embrace the young sweetheart herself, but no one needed to know that.
Suffice to say, every single member of the household had easily come to adore Chiho, and it warmed her heart to see. That such a kind and gentle soul had needed to spend almost two thirds of her life bedridden was proof that something wasn't quite right with the world.
Echoes of that could be seen here and there in the silent wonder Chiho took from simple things, such as walking down a staircase or sitting at a full table. The latter had brought her to quiet tears once or twice, but the smile on her face rarely faltered.
Miya had her suspicions that the 'welcoming party' they had planned for the following night might bring a similar result, but as she had told the girl, happy tears were nothing to be ashamed of.
Typically they would hold such gatherings the night after new tenants moved in, but they'd planned it later out of consideration for Chiho, who still found shared meals just a little overwhelming.
Her flock had also wished to hold a celebration for her release from the hospital, and had nearly been put out of commission when an innocently confused Ashikabi asked them "hasn't that been every day?".
Despite only having an elder brother for less than a week, Chiho seemed to resemble her strangest tenant in some of the more amusing ways.
Miya hadn't quite wrapped her head around that one- or rather, she'd capitulated immediately after privately receiving Minato's thoroughly unhelpful explanation.
Naturally, Miya had no way of knowing that Yume had received the same explanation, repeated verbatim. Aware though she was of Yume's lingering presence around Musubi, she lacked the means to 'investigate' the phenomenon in the way Minato could, nor had she seen any need to do so when Yume's sacrifice offered a ready explanation.
Perhaps for the best, or Miya might have discovered that most dreams were too small to fit her.
"... Haruka?"
"Yeah, no getting around it Kuno, we're lost," Haruka admitted, scratching his head with his free hand. "Makes sense that the sewers would be a maze if the city is a maze, I guess?"
Kuno looked nervous, well she always looked nervous, but he should probably do something about that-
"But hey, cheer up, if we don't know where we are, you can sure as hell bet the crazy girls chasing us don't know where we are either!" Yep, opening his mouth was the worst idea he'd had all day-
It was a shy sound, and she whipped her head away to hide it even more, but Kuno had definitely laughed.
Haruka decided to take the win, feeling just a little more motivated as he wracked his brains to try and get them out of their current mess, while paying enough attention to his feet to keep himself from stepping in the worst on the ground.
Honestly though… didn't make sense at all, weren't there manholes like… all over the city? Wasn't something he normally paid attention to, but there was like one entrance to the sewer… per block or something like that?
How the hell had they been wandering all that time without even seeing one?
And man, why was his throat so dry after walking for what… half a day tops?
His flock were enjoying a quiet day at home, his sister and her flock were out enjoying a group date, but Minato himself was currently sitting in an examination chair.
Even though they both knew it was futile, he'd decided to humor Mother in an effort to give her peace of mind, but, as expected, there were no new abnormalities with his body, just the usual abnormalities.
But Mother was both a scientist and a parent, so he could understand the need to at least attempt to confirm things for herself.
"Fine, tests inconclusive," Mother admitted with a huff. "You're sure you don't feel anything different? No lingering pain, no accidentally borrowed memories giving you nightmares, nothing?"
"Nothing," Minato confirmed. "I truly did heal without any issues."
It had been very painful, it was true, but in the end, removing half a person's worth of body from his own to give to Sister barely qualified as an injury. If he were to phrase it in a way that was less literal (truly mysterious that such things could help others understand ideas better), he would say it was akin to forcibly removing a cup full of water from a pond.
The pain hadn't come from that to begin with, he'd just been intercepting Sister's pain on her behalf, that's all. A necessary measure to compensate for how the new parts of her body didn't quite understand yet that anesthesia wasn't something to defend against.
Mother's body had taken years to adapt to that, and much less of her was Myriad.
"Alright, I'll drop that part of things for now," Mother said. "Now, are you going to tell me the actual reason you decided human experimentation was the best solution to the problem in front of you?"
"I needed them to matter more than they did," Minato began.
"Okay, easy to understand," Mother nodded, prompting him to continue with her hand.
"And I also needed practice."
"You rebuilt half a person for 'practice'?"
"Yes," Minato admitted without hesitation.
"And which reason mattered more?" Mother asked without batting an eye.
"The… first one?" Minato tilted his head, confusion coloring his tone.
"... That so?" Takami's expression relaxed into the hint of a smile as her son lowered his head, frowning softly to himself.
The more she thought about it, the more her smile grew.
Maybe someone else would have been doubtful of the hesitant answer, but not her- her son routinely hid things from her, but he could never lie to her. He'd hesitated to tell the truth because the truth had caught him off guard, that's all.
And a conversation that might have been terrifying to anyone else was, to her, nothing more than a clear case of her son putting more weight in the 'kinder' of two options.
Obviously, it was cause for her to be proud as a mother. Morality was as alien to her son as he was to Earth so he had to work hard at it, but wasn't this a clear showing of his effort bearing fruit?
Smiling didn't come easily to Sahashi Takami, but what kind of mother would she be if she couldn't take joy in her child's success?
Shopping for clothing was tricky.
Shopping for clothing for a girl was even trickier, or maybe it was just that way because the girl was Chiho.
How was he supposed to help her pick specific clothing when Chiho looked good in everything?
Wait, if Chiho only had a handful of outfits and she needed lots of clothing, couldn't they just buy everything?
"No Shiina, we're not buying the whole store," Homura said, sitting at his side with arms crossed and eyes lightly shut.
"I know, just-"
"We can leave the stuff that doesn't fit Chiho," Homura nodded wisely.
As expected of his big brother, what a perfect solution-!
A dangerous line of thought was cut short as the dressing room door swung open, Meiko smoothly stepping out to present their blushing Ashikabi.
Briefly finding himself to have run out of words, Shiina once again felt a surge of gratitude for his elder flock brother as Homura gave a low whistle of appreciation.
"A little classy and a lot of cuteness, good combo," Homura smiled. "How's it feel to wear?"
"Breezy?" Chiho offered tentatively. "Aren't t-too much of my legs showing?"
"I meant the fit, but that answer works too," Homura laughed.
The current outfit (one of many) consisted of a loose, shoulderless blouse the color of wheat, tucked into black denim shorts with a high waist. Slender white legs that Chiho could have sworn were longer than she was used to were left bare, and on her feet were dainty brown ankle boots with a modest wedge heel.
"You look really pretty in that outfit Chiho," Shiina brightly joined in, "but also kinda cool!"
"And aside from how beautiful you make them look, the boots are light and well-made, perfect for someone not used to doing a lot of walking," Meiko said from the side, arms crossed beneath her prodigious bust as she admired her handiwork.
Truly, the chance to help her Ashikabi dress was reason enough to be grateful she was born a woman.
After a moment or two of adorable fidgeting, Chiho seemed to make up her mind.
"O-okay, let's get this one too."
Without looking at each other at all, Shiina and Homura bumped their fists together.
"Hmm, then it's high time you sat down and rested for a while," Meiko instructed. It was the fifth outfit to pass muster, so it was a reasonable start to Chiho's wardrobe by her measure.
"And this store only has women's clothes so… Meiko's turn next?" Chiho asked innocently.
… Asked 'innocently', while holding up a smart-looking purple blouse that was clearly too big for her.
… With several more articles of clothing draped over her other arm and posture that radiated enthusiasm.
"It's gonna be a long day, huh?" Homura said so quietly that only Shiina could hear.
Shiina didn't have to look at his expression to know that Homura's words weren't a complaint.
Latest in a long line of discoveries was that people could go on dates without leaving their homes.
Valuable information, given how Matsu couldn't leave the house. Minato was fairly certain that something could be done about that with all of his MBI 'connections', but he hadn't made the offer. Matsu didn't want him to make that offer after all, though he was uncertain why he knew that.
Truly mysterious.
Thus, the two of them were alone in Matsu's room in front of her new computer screens, Minato seated on a cushion and Matsu on his lap.
While she casually typed away at something on one of the side monitors, Matsu's veiled gaze was focused on another, where one of the screens showed a word document labeled 'TheList'. It had a dizzying number of questions on it, every one of them about him.
It had started off simple, Matsu catching up with the information she and the rest of the flock already knew, such as his ability to absorb information from things he ate, or his ability to freely shift his form.
Matsu had already known all that, due to listening to recordings of the conversation so Minato wouldn't know she was listening.
"-I kind of felt like I was in a spy movie, it was pretty fun," Matsu was saying. "Okay, so maybe I freaked out a bit because you could always see me when I could see you, but in hindsight it's all awesome, must be bond-bias at play."
Minato held his silence, waiting for the inevitable.
"Wait, how come you can see me like that anyways?"
"If I can be observed, I must be able to observe as well?" Minato tilted his head. Truthfully, he didn't quite understand why people couldn't look back at what gazed their way. "Perhaps it is because I have many eyes."
Matsu gave a hum. "Do you really have a lot of eyes, or is it more accurate to say your whole body is an eye?"
An eye, a mouth, and a few other things besides.
"The latter," he said instead. "I just restrict my field of view a little because that is natural for people."
"You really put a lot of work into that, huh?" Matsu idly commented, while scrolling down TheList and typing in notes.
"Ooh! This is a good one, can you make clones of yourself!?" Matsu asked, her excited smile reflected on the computer screen.
"Yes."
"Ooh, show me, show me!"
"No."
"But whyyyy!?"
"If you could make copies of yourself, would they be Sekirei, Matsu?"
"Well I assume so?" Matsu tilted her head. "Hard to say for sure obviously, but…"
The typing stopped.
"If you make copies of yourself, you're making more Myriad."
Minato nodded.
"Humans can't divide themselves, and neither can the human part of me."
Some people wouldn't ask further, but Matsu was not those people.
"Would it be dangerous?"
"To you? Not at all."
"Then the real problem is…?"
"I think you would find it extremely unpleasant."
"..." Matsu twisted in his lap to 'look' at him properly.
Minato nodded slowly in response to a question left unspoken.
"... Ashikabi's can't divide themselves either, huh? They wouldn't be a danger to me, but I'm guessing they wouldn't be anything else to me either?" Matsu murmured.
Minato nodded again.
In other words, even if the copies looked exactly like her Ashikabi, they wouldn't be her Ashikabi, and they wouldn't act like it.
"... You're right," Matsu grimaced. "For someone who looked like my Ashikabi to not look at me like I'm his Sekirei…"
"Oh, yes, this is the part where I distract you before the silence settles in," Minato said abruptly, his tone bland yet somehow decisive.
The blindfold concealed several slow, confused blinks of ruptured orange eyes.
"... Hubby, why'd you bring out all those extra hands?" 'Something dark' was rising into the air above his shoulders, defying the artificial light of the computer screens.
"Matsu, I have noticed that your seated posture is poor," Minato 'explained'. "Poor posture can create complications in a human's body, and you Sekirei are virtually identical in body structure."
At least in terms of shape, when it came to structures like skeleton and musculature.
"I-is it just me, or did that explanation sound weirdly like a threat?" Matsu stammered.
"What was it I am supposed to say here again?" Minato tilted his head. "'I am only after your body'? No, that does not sound right…"
Even as he pondered, the hands closed in from every angle, cutting off the already limited avenues of escape in such a small room.
Though outwardly she gulped, inwardly, she was kind of curious, and she had wanted to get a little more physical-
"... I have never seen someone pass out from a shoulder massage," Minato said to himself, minutes later. Kazehana had passed out from the late night massage, but he'd been touching a good deal more than her shoulders.
It was probably for the best, though, the extra rest would be good for Matsu. It hadn't been his place to intervene before, but when she was simply 'the shy one' he had noticed that she seemed awake more often than not, regardless of what hours he let his thoughts wander the house.
Indulging Matsu's curiosity as much as he safely could had been enjoyable, but left to his own devices, his current concerns drifted to the forefront.
He could only conclude that one of his primary motivations for rebuilding Sister was a failure, though the effort was far from wasted. In a happy miscalculation, he had underestimated the happiness Hidaka, or rather, Sahashi Chiho was capable of bringing to her immediate surroundings, of which he was included.
He had done a 'good thing' so to speak. A good thing that brought him no closer to helping Akitsu, but a good thing nonetheless.
Though the similarities in anatomy meant that operating on Sister's body still served the important role of helping him practice, an Ashikabi's body was missing too many of the 'relevant structures' to offer an acceptable level of applicable knowledge.
He needed to know more about Sekirei, more than MBI could or would offer him.
Matsu awoke with her head in her hubby's lap and his fingers tenderly stroking her head.
Blissfully unaware that he had just made the resolution to murder and devour more of her kind in the name of 'research'.
"Hmm~" Matsu nestled in close, demonstrating without speaking that she had no intention at all of sitting up.
She could see her Ashikabi's gentle smile reflected in the screen, and being spoiled was fun, and really, she wouldn't mind if he kept doing it until she'd been reduced to a useless woman fit for nothing but pampering-
Wait no, that was a really awesome idea but totally not what she was supposed to be thinking about.
Hubby was totally worried about… something, and it wasn't the fact she was still wearing clothes in his presence, though he could totally worry about that any time he wanted-
Highly intelligent though she was, Matsu was also an excitable person who easily got carried away when her mood was good, and her mood was definitely good after an inhumanly skillful shoulder rub.
While stretching cat-like over Minato's legs, arching her back to give the goods a little extra bounce, Matsu let the question out without meaning to-
"Were you thinking about another girl while you were with me?" Wait, bad brain, that wasn't-
"Sorry, I was thinking about Akitsu."
"... Oh, so it's her you're worried about, huh? Hit a roadblock on figuring out how to help her with… with…?" Failing to think up a nice way to say it, Matsu instead circled a finger around her forehead.
"... I do not know enough about Sekirei Cores," Minato answered after a moment.
Matsu froze in place, and then sat up.
"So how come you haven't taken the time to look at ours? The house is full of Sekirei, and most of them are your Sekirei? Wait no, lemme take that back, of course you've probably looked during those examinations-"
"Carelessly touching your Cores would be too dangerous," Minato shook his head. Clumsy intrusion ran the risk of unwittingly bringing harm to things such as personality or identity. The fundamental building blocks of what defined an individual as that individual. "What if I hurt one of you-"
"Man, now I feel kinda bad about not asking about this topic sooner," Matsu interrupted.
"And why is that?"
"Because you're totally worrying about something you have zero reason to worry about," Matsu replied frankly, pulling off her blindfold so that their eyes could properly meet.
"... Explain."
"Hm… no, actually, I don't think I will just yet," Matsu replied, a keen gaze obvious even though her eyes were concealed. "We need this to really click, so the best way to do that is to go ask the others."
Minato tilted his head.
"Everyone in the flock except Lil Kuu, to be specific," Matsu clarified. "Tell them that you need to examine their Core, but don't explain anything unless they ask. As for why you're skipping Lil Kuu, she's not an adult so her Core might not be fully formed, and I don't know if that's important or not. Miya or Mother-in-law might, but I don't."
Deeply puzzled by it all, Minato nonetheless obeyed, multiple minds trying to make sense of what Matsu was alluding to.
The first person he ran into-
"Sure, Hun, any time you want," Kazehana said, her tone breezy but her gaze piercing. "We can do it right now, even, unless you've got some preparations to make first?"
Kazehana could recognize the utterly motionless silence for what it was- her Ashikabi's equivalent of his jaw dropping.
"Come on, now," she pushed him along when the silence threatened to stretch. "You were planning to ask the others, right? The twins are in their room."
The twins were in their room, side-by-side on the bed and watching a video on their tablet.
"Vid has like two and a half minutes, mind if we finish up first?" Hikari glanced over her shoulder as Hibiki paused the video.
"Ah, yes, it… wouldn't be right away," Minato said quietly. "... Thank you?"
As their monster turned away to leave, the twins looked to Kazehana, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed beneath her bust.
"... Is he alright?" Hibiki asked.
"And what was that all about?" Hikari continued.
"Matsu put him up to it," Kazehana said. "I haven't figured out why just yet, though I have my guesses."
"Well, let us know if we're needed, alright?" the twins said, entrusting their Ashikabi to the first of their flock.
With an absent-minded nod, Kazehana followed after the dazedly wandering monster.
They bumped into Musubi on her way to the bathroom, and her response was "um, do I need to take my shirt off?"
Tsukiumi was at the desk in Minato's room, and put down her book to twist in her seat.
"'Tis odd thou feelst the need to seek permission," she said, looking at him with a searching half-glare.
Kazehana was grinning from behind Minato as she placed a finger to her lips, gently pulling their once more silent Ashikabi from the room.
"I shall expect a proper explanation in due course," Tsukiumi told her, turning back to her book after an affirmative gesture from the older Sekirei.
She was well aware that the first of their number never dragged things out without good reason, when their Ashikabi was involved.
Akitsu and Uzume were in the living room, the ice maiden listening with silent attentiveness to a story the Veiled Sekirei told with animated gestures.
His confusion having done nothing but grow, Minato glanced towards Homura, then Kazehana.
Sensing something wasn't quite right, and as Uzume and Akitsu zeroed in on their Ashikabi, then glanced at Kazehana, who just shook her head slowly.
"Uzume, Akitsu, I… may need to examine your Sekirei Cores," Minato said, his voice absent of any hint of emotion, which was a hint to his Sekirei in and of itself.
Akitsu just nodded, her careful scrutiny of his face unwavering.
"Okay, uh, need us to do anything first, Babe?" Uzume asked, sending another glance Kazehana's way.
"... I am…tremendously puzzled by all this," Minato admitted, after a moment.
"And why is that, Hun?" Kazehana draped herself over his shoulders. "Why is asking to look at our Cores such a big deal to you?"
"... I am essentially asking to hand-examine your inner bodies. Your souls."
"So that's what you mean by 'inner body', huh?" Kazehana made note. "Say, Uzume, how'd you explain what he's asking? Just go with whatever impression you got."
Uzume, who'd been looking at Minato askance, gave a small hum.
"Pretty much… it's a totally normal day, and out of nowhere the husband decided he can't walk in the front door without the permission of his loving wife?"
Several thought processes that had been racing in vain came screeching to a halt, Minato once more going truly still as he forgot to maintain every human function but his outward shape.
Kazehana meanwhile, gave a brief chuckle, smiling warmly at her flock-sister. Uzume blushed a little, scratching her head with an awkward laugh.
"It really is just like Uzume said, Minato," Kazehana straightened up, twisting his cheek so that he was looking her way. "Can't say I've ever considered the topic before, but the moment you asked, I knew with complete certainty that there wasn't even a shred of danger in your request."
A glance their way confirmed that Uzume and Akitsu felt the same.
Releasing him, she stepped back a pace as Uzume spoke up.
"Yeah, bet you're worried about not knowing what's in there, right?" she said. Then she puffed out her chest, saying with all too much confidence "I don't know how I know, but I do know that you'll know!"
"Any secrets… belong to you," Akitsu softly assured.
Minato closed his eyes, those both seen and unseen, and didn't open them for a while.
And when he did, he glanced at one of the cameras hidden in the corner of the ceiling, meeting the blindfolded gaze on the other side.
"... I think… I understand now." He kept secrets from the ones he loved by necessity, and always would. It was his nature as a monster that demanded such.
And because it was their nature as Sekirei to offer up everything to their Ashikabi, their very being would facilitate that in ways he never could have guessed.
It was not the first time his misgivings had been overturned by their devotion, and he suspected it would not be the last.
So once again, there was nothing to do but swear to himself to never betray that freely offered trust.
Sister returned just before dinner, pleasantly fatigued, and with her flock in tow.
Even putting aside the many bags carried by the Sekirei, he could tell it had been a very successful day for them.
After all, the affection shared between Ashikabi and Sekirei had only grown since he'd seen them that morning.
"How was your day, Sister?" Minato asked without needing to (a 'people habit' he'd picked up).
"It was lots of fun!" Chiho beamed. "The malls are way, way bigger than they look on TV! So many people, so many stores, and…" she gave a little twirl, showing off the blouse and shorts combo she'd worn since purchase. "How do I look?"
"Cute." Behind Sister, Meiko pursed her lips at the one word answer, but relented with an inaudible sigh at Sister's happy laughter.
"You should probably relax a bit before dinner, the girls will want to see your new outfits. All of them."
Sister's expression turned lopsided for a moment, warring between excitement and trepidation. Idly, Minato found himself wondering if her flock realized they weren't exempt either.
"Oh, yes, I nearly forgot," Minato said suddenly.
Sister tilted her head, and then her eyes widened as Minato echoed the words Miya had told her on the porch.
"Welcome home, Chiho."
For a moment, Sister was frozen in place, even while surrounded by warmth.
A warmth quickly outshone by the smile upon her face.
"Mm!"
Though truthfully they hadn't had nearly as much contact as she would have preferred, herself and Tsukiumi still shared a bond formed of both terror and discipline.
In short, they'd shared an adjuster.
Thus, Meiko once more found herself naturally seeking the counsel of her sister-in-arms.
"I do not understand your Ashikabi."
"And I wouldst denounce thy falsehoods shouldst thou make claims to the contrary," Tsukiumi admitted frankly.
"Men are beasts," Meiko insisted. "Rough, crude, and-"
"And none of the menfolk in thy life prove that as they ought?"
"... And precisely that." Meiko admitted with a huff.
It wasn't like her to beat around the bush like that, a sign of her internal disarray if nothing else.
"'Tis simple in theory, in regards to mine Ashikabi," Tsukiumi stressed, feeling the need to speak up on behalf of her beloved, while knowing full well the conversation wasn't truly about him. "By his own words, he is monster before he is man."
"It pains me how reasonable that sounds."
Tsukiumi nodded wisely- that explanation had no right to sound as apt as it did.
"By my reckoning, tis simply a matter of one truth superseding another." Tsukiumi said with a shrug. Left unsaid was that the greater 'truth' Tsukiumi was referring to was actually Minato being her Destined One. That vastly outranked trivialities such as gender and species.
"So then, the fact that they are a part of my sister-in-law's destiny must surely override any and all lesser points of contention?" Tsukiumi ventured, dragging the conversation back on track.
"It is as you say." Once spoken aloud, admitting it felt easy. Too easy. Being the only woman in the flock just didn't matter like it should, when less than a week prior it had mattered seemingly above all else.
"... I have admitted to the correctness of your statement, so explain the meaning behind that damnable smirk."
Tsukiumi's smile widened in the face of a glare that would make most falter.
"Tis of little import," Tsukiumi brushed her hand through her hair. "Affection has made a fool of me, and I merely find myself awash with curiosity to know when thou shall admit it has made a fool of thee in turn."
A retort was silenced as Meiko's lips clamped shut.
"Tis not a puzzle that mere words may solveth," Tsukiumi relented. "Share thy time with them, and I reckon thou shalt persuade thyself in due course."
It was the way of things with her, after all- Tsukiumi had been adamant against having an Ashikabi, and even more so about binding her fate to a male, and yet the Tsukiumi of then seemed an utter stranger to the Tsukiumi of the present.
Meiko then quietly excused herself, moments later, and Tsukiumi found herself once more pondering how love didn't need to make sense.
And if love would insist upon making a fool of her, then perhaps the life of a fool was not such a bad lot.
As Tsukiumi lost herself to her whimsical musings, Meiko traversed the halls in an equally distracted state to chance upon yet another distracted soul.
A distracted soul who had forgotten to lock the door, changing the source of Meiko's confusion from the nature of her relationship with Homura, to confusion over how a slim fit shirt so perfectly concealed Homura's bosom.
"I-I-I… can explain?" a red-faced Homura stammered as the silence threatened to stretch.
One hand to her forehead and the other closing and locking the bedroom door with her inside of it, Meiko gave a slow nod.
"I would appreciate that greatly," she admitted. Of the possible reasons for her androphobia to be absent in Homura's presence, Homura potentially being a woman had never once crossed her mind.
… Was Shiina also?
"Hmm, no, you couldn't have concealed that so easily," Meiko shook her head as she seated herself on the bed, crossing one long leg over the other.
"I actually had a bit of practice," Homura admitted ruefully. His brain was short-circuiting a bit after having had his 'secret' stumbled upon, but rolling with the verbal punches was part of why he got paid so well as a host.
… Rolling with Minato's 'punches' was above his pay grade though.
"I would ask if you had chosen to conceal your gender, however…" Meiko made a vague gesture his way, clearly struggling with her words. Homura obligingly glanced down his open shirt front to discover there was no cleavage to be seen.
"Huh."
It really was that simple now, wasn't it?
He could just be… he or she?
"This is new, in case you're wondering," a once again feminine Homura told Meiko, in what she hoped was a helpful tone. "Not the gender bit, but the 'having any sort of control over it' bit."
Homura caught the look of understanding dawning on her flock-sister's face while idly noting that yes, any movement on Meiko's part really did cause a little bounce.
"Your powers?" Meiko asked carefully.
Homura nodded as he casually returned to his preferred gender midconversation. Switching got a little more comfortable each time, huh?
"Every time I lit myself on fire, and a few other random occasions besides that," Homura joked, somewhat darkly. Meiko seemed to appreciate it though, rolling her eyes with a soft huff. "And I know I sound calm, but you walked in on me thinking 'hey, I haven't randomly turned into a girl for a while'."
"Which triggered the change."
"Yyyyep."
"Are you quite sure that doing so is…" Meiko made a gesture as if groping for the word. "Safe?"
"Hard to say, but don't feel anything off? It was always the 'actual fire' side of things that was dangerous," Homura explained. He'd probably need to talk to Takami though, she was the doctor not him, he just took his medicine when told-
"... Homura?" Meiko half-rose from her seat, only stopping when he held out his hand. "What is the matter?"
"Haha… ha?" Homura gave out the most awkward laughter of his life as he stiffly made his way over to the dressing table. Opening it, he took out the case of his 'medicine' and held up one of the vials so that Meiko could see.
Meiko's skin paled to match the way his skin paled, as both stared in silence at a vial full of 'something dark'.
"... Oh, that is where I left that," Minato said.
"... Left what?" Homura asked with a quiver in his voice and a vial in his hand.
"My blood?"
"W-why did that sound like a question? Wait, I've been drinking-!?"
"I don't actually have blood, Homura, I am just faking it." Or borrowing it, but Minato was trying (and failing) in his own way not to complicate the conversation.
Meiko's eyebrow rose, but she kept her silence.
"Did you know…?" Homura began, after several awkward moments and having decided not to dwell on certain details. "About… this?" He actually wasn't entirely sure what he himself meant by 'this'.
Minato slowly shook his head.
"I am a far-branching research subject," Minato began. "Usually, Mother will tell me what she wishes to use me for, but I trust her to have good reason when she chooses not to explain. Your privacy is a good reason."
It really was, and agreeing to that blessedly mundane reasoning helped the two Sekirei settle their thoughts somewhat.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, admitting to himself that he'd been drinking his roommate's 'blood' without knowing made Homura feel less weird about it.
… Maybe his threshold for weirdness hadn't stopped increasing just yet.
Elsewhere, Miya felt a vague sense of indignation, unaware that Homura had essentially just admitted to himself that life in Miya's home was corrupting him.
"So then, can you perhaps explain what that medicine does?" Meiko asked, deciding to stick to calling it medicine so she didn't have to ponder it in detail.
"It says its job is to minimize 'unwanted changes in the host'."
"... I have even more questions and I know I don't want most of them answered," Homura said with another nervous laugh. "So let's stick with this one- because I didn't 'want' to switch my gender all the time, the medicine helps prevent that?"
Minato nodded, wondering why the two kept going all pale on him.
"Do you think it has anything to do with how I can just… 'switch'," Homura decided to stick with that term, "on a whim now?"
"No," Minato denied. "It has nothing to do with me."
"Then do you have another explanation?" Meiko asked, then mildly regretted asking.
"Homura was winged by Sister," Minato said plainly. "It has nothing to do with Myriad, and everything to do with being winged granting a Sekirei being an answer to their wishes… be that for love or 'stability'."
Homura was speechless.
… He had always hoped that if he were to somehow gain his wings, he'd gain some measure of control over his power.
It had never once crossed his mind that the ability to shift his own gender might count as a 'power' of sorts too.
"I told you, Homura, didn't I?" Minato's voice was soft and slow. "I do not believe she will mind, and I do not believe you think she will mind, either."
… Of course she wouldn't mind.
Homura had kept his secret from Chiho because he kept it from everyone, it wasn't a conscious decision on his part, and he certainly wasn't afraid of what she might think.
Somewhere along the way, though, he had all but forgotten that the tampering had been meant to make his body more malleable to his Ashikabi's will.
So then, what if he had an Ashikabi who valued his will?
The result had suddenly become plain as day, even before actually speaking to Chiho on the matter.
… Which of course didn't mean he wasn't going to.
Which of course didn't mean he wasn't a little nervous about doing so, in spite of knowing both mentally and emotionally that he had nothing to worry about.
Minato, who had been pretending not to notice Meiko's concerned and awkward hovering, politely averted his eyes as she took her fellow Sekirei's hand without meeting Homura's gaze.
Leaving the two to their awkward bonding moment, Minato slipped from the room with a steady sense of relief settling in.
Chiho liked to think she'd made pretty good progress on the self-esteem front. Oh, she knew she was taking baby steps, but it felt like she'd taken quite a few of those?
Actually, it was mostly just that she couldn't possibly ignore how much a trio of beautiful people kept treating her like the center of their world.
If that didn't make a girl feel a little desirable, probably nothing would.
This didn't mean that her being in a better place emotionally was a done deal, case in point, she was essentially making a small recap of her mental health situation to distract her from what was to come. After dinner, Homura had carefully asked to talk to her and Shiina in private (Meiko already seemed to know?), and a not-so-small part of her was wondering if something was her fault.
That not-so-small part of her was having trouble staying on topic though, because all of her kept noticing that she was hand-in-hand with a walking beacon of trust and affection.
It had been her and Shiina's turn to do the dishes, and was it weird that being well enough to actually do chores felt amazing?
Also, Shiina's hands kept surprising her by being bigger than they seemed, which must be a boy thing since he didn't look like he had big hands, and she was a little taller than he was.
Oh, and they were at the door, and now they were through the door, wasn't being all alone with people who loved her really special and…
Chiho blinked once, twice as she made sense of what she was seeing.
And then she started to blush.
If she had to think about it, then she'd imagine that Homura would be gorgeous no matter what gender he was.
That didn't mean she'd ever imagined seeing proof.
Speaking of Homura, was Homura using… her powers?
It was kind of warm in the room, and Homura could make the room warm, and wow Homura was really pretty and she'd definitely just said that out loud because Homura was blushing too-
But the visible tension in Homura's shoulders had melted away like it was never there, so maybe she had done something right.
"Right, uh, not that I didn't think about how to start this conversation, but I kinda came up blank, so…" Homura shrugged and looked to her, then Shiina, and back to her. "Apparently I can switch genders whenever I want and turn into a girl."
"A very pretty girl," Chiho heard someone, that may have been her, immediately reply.
Oh look, Homura was blushing even more too.
That meant they matched, right?
It took them a little while to start the actual conversation on the topic.
Minato didn't like keeping Kusano out of things, but hiding it from her didn't seem fair either. Though it was difficult at times to determine what fit into what category, he was trying his best not to hide what didn't need to be hidden.
"Tomorrow, I have to borrow the grownups in the flock, other than Matsu because she can't leave the house."
"Oh, Kuu wants to come too!"
"You can't."
Little cheeks puffed out as little cheeks clenched.
"Sorry Kuu, I don't like leaving you out, but I need to look at grownup Cores to see if I can figure out the difference between Akitsu's Core and the others."
"Mm… will that let you finish making Snow Sis your Sekirei?"
"I hope so."
"Hmmm… if it's for Snow Sis then Kuu doesn't mind. Kuu likes Snow Sis lots and lots!"
"So do I, Kuu, so do I," Minato agreed. "But since you're being left out of this, is there anything you want instead?"
"Oh!" Kusano held up her little hand. "Kuu wants to ride a flutterfly!"
"A flutterfly?" Minato tilted his head. "Sure, I can work with that."
With how big the flock was, everyone took turns sharing a room with Minato… except Kusano, as she wasn't an adult. Thus 'Kuu's nights' were a little different, because those were nights when she'd get to play with her big brother in the world beyond sleep.
That night, when Kusano dreamed, an enormous dark butterfly would carry her on its back in a flight between the stars.
Chiho had teared up when Homura revealed, as gently as possible, how he'd been tampered with during the adjustment process. Shiina and Meiko had not teared up, Shiina and Meiko had been livid, and only the fact that the uncannily matching scowls earned a chuckle from Homura made those icy masks crack.
"I'm not going to say I'm ready to forgive or forget," Homura smiled, deeply touched by the way they reacted on his behalf, in spite of his outwardly casual tone, "but it's fine, really. I mean… all part of what led me right here in a way, isn't it?"
Even Meiko blushed just a little at that, though she glared pure death when Homura took note.
"...Moving on," Homura smirked, 'the idea was that my body would shift to match the preference of my Ashikabi," Homura said, "but they didn't plan for me to be able to do it on purpose."
Chiho gave a little start as she caught on to the unspoken implications.
"Sorry to pass the buck like that, but honestly, your preferences are kind of the most important thing to me," Homura continued, giving Chiho's hand a gentle squeeze. "Actually, let me put it this way- as long as I'm with you, I don't care whether I'm with you as a man or with you as a woman."
Chiho's pale cheeks flushed brighter still as Homura fed her a line like that without a trace of shame.
She shot a glance at Meiko and Shiina both before returning her gaze to Homura and saying "well… I… um… like both girls and boys? S-so… I like boy Homura and girl Homura, so maybe whichever Homura you're most comfortable being?"
Chiho fidgeted, more than a little embarrassed she couldn't phrase that in a more eloquent way.
But a conversation between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi always involved more than words.
"So you'd like to see both now and again, but you don't mind if I choose how much time I spend in either gender?"
Chiho gave a jerky nod.
"Okay, I can work with that," Homura nodded. "Honestly, I'm not too comfortable being a woman just yet, but when I am, you'll be the first to know."
Chiho smiled, lifting Homura's hand with both of hers and bringing it close to her heart as she stared earnestly into his claret red eyes.
"Take your time, and don't feel pressured, okay? And don't feel like you can't change your mind about any of this, and especially don't feel like you need my permission, got it?"
The Sekirei were (pleasantly) taken aback by the sudden shift in confidence, but only for a moment.
After all, in spite of how her home had been a hospital when they met their Destined One, none of them had truly ever believed that Chiho was weak.
A girl who could be unfailingly kind in a world that had once seemed so determined to deprive her of everything could not possibly be weak.
But even if she was stronger now, it did not change at all what their mission in life was.
They were the wings of Sahashi Chiho.
They would carry her forth as long as it took for her to reclaim all the happiness taken from her and more.
A row of bulky operating chairs dominated the center of the room.
And though each chair was occupied by a woman in a medical gown, there were no wires nor tubing in sight. These chairs were state-of-the-art MBI tech capable of doing everything from monitoring vitals, to delivering medication through the injection, via the arm-cuffs each woman was strapped into.
Most importantly of all-
"Wow, I could nap right now," Uzume commented with a languid yawn.
"Facts, these really are that comfy," Hikari agreed.
"Hm, not enough space for snuggling, but our Honey can take whatever shape he wants," Kazehana joined in. "Even still, we'd have to cling together all nice and tight~"
And Honey was going to be touching them all over, in just a few short minutes.
Kazehana's thighs rubbed together as she imagined her husband gently, carefully, caressing every nook and cranny of the deepest parts of her very being.
Honey was probably the only Ashikabi to ever exist who could massage a woman's soul.
… No, hold on.
Kazehana's thoughts screeched to halt as she considered the implications.
Honey's massages were amazing. Almost mind-blowingly so.
… Could they really handle it if he made them feel incomparably better than usual?
… They… were in a lot of danger, weren't they?
Minato had his own concerns about the 'operation'.
His Sekirei were convinced that there was no problem with him handling their Cores, and he trusted that, but trusting himself was another thing entirely.
Well, he would just have to handle their Cores with supreme levels of delicacy.
Like a gentle massage.
Thus, like the eldritch space monster he was, Minato confirmed Kazehana's fears without even being aware of them.
After a final check and a hasty reassurance from Kazehana about her elevated heart rate, 'something dark' descended upon the bound Sekirei and swallowed their everything whole.
To an observer it would have resembled a scene straight out of a horror show, but to the monster responsible, what he hoped would be the last test needed quickly became an indescribably precious experience.
Because no matter where he 'looked', he found love meant for him and him alone.
And for the Sekirei, it was an indescribable experience in an altogether more dangerous way. Dangerous in a way that Kazehana had accurately predicted yet sorely underestimated.
Intimately entwined with the midnight blue was a sticky sweet pink, as if the heady nectar of forbidden fruit was staining the night itself.
At first, it was harmony, harmony bordering upon the divine.
They could feel with all their beings that they and the one their heart beat for were closer, more intimately entwined than they'd ever dared to dream. And then, that seeping, blissful darkness began to move, and each and every one of them was forced to accept that they'd had no idea what 'closeness' really was.
A tender invasion of their deepest, most private selves.
A reverent touch whispering its way through the fundamental essence of who they were.
Until that delicate darkness was all there was.
Experiencing his touch was not the only thing that mattered, it was the only thing at all.
… They wanted to drown in that sensation.
Surrender their everything, become more than they ever were simply so they had more to offer up.
It had started with harmony, bordering upon the divine.
It ended in ecstasy that could only be called transcendent.
… Pink.
The room was drowning in pink, in that clingy color that shone like the light of a sticky sweet sun.
None of them were conscious, seemingly having fainted with their eyes open.
So it seemed to Minato, but that wasn't quite accurate.
Kazehana had fainted with her eyes open.
… Everyone else had fainted twice.
Glossy lips hanging open and slack, plump breasts heaving fitfully, soaked skin shivering beneath the thin hospital garments all but glued to the skin.
Every inch of their bodies soaked with sweat, tears, and hot liquid lust.
"... I tried very hard to be gentle, you know."
Not a one of his victims could hear their monster sulk, and it took hours before any of them were anything approaching coherent.
From Minato's perspective it's a metaphysical medical examination.
From the girl's perspective it feels more like a Tantric ritual.
Perspective can be funny that way.
We got into more of the particulars of Homura's settled circumstances now that he's been winged, and it was kinda fun to subvert things a little.
I mean, Homura can change his gender, and a Myriad can change their gender, so being winged by a half-Myriad should help Homura control his genderbending right?
Nope, Chiho just likes Homura regardless of gender and wants Homura to be happy in his own skin- thus, Homura' body responding to Homura's will is the best way to 'suit his Ashikabi'.
So ultimately, we're just taking a wholesome step forward in their relationship dynamic.