Otto is male. Kiki is male. Mars is female. I keep confusing myself, so CLEARLY I need a periodic reminder!
I hope Thanksgiving was full of good food and good vibes for those of you who celebrate.
23 December 2024: Of course I'm still writing! It's hard out here for a gift giving bitch like me!! I hope your holidays were full of love, laughter, and well wishes. I'm already planning next year's gifts. :)
31 December 2024: last update of the year, anyone?
— ML
Chapter 19: Your Body, My Power
21 October, X820
The training montage looked so much easier in Reiji's head. 26 October was fast approaching, pushing her to cram more and more training and studying into a shorter time span. But outside, it was different. The physical training was still intense: long-distance running, hunting, fighting Ferals that challenged them (thankfully rare), and most importantly, triggering Riki.
Michele instructed Reiji to go out of her way to summon Riki by any means necessary. If the entity could be passed off as just another contract demon with questionable origins, Reiji had to be able to tame and then summon its power with ease. Michele claimed Reiji already had the potential to accomplish that. The green-haired female still had her doubts.
Some moments with Riki were manageable. For example, Reiji was partially conscious up against a second Feral bird attack. However, Riki proceeded to attack Michele the following hour. The blacksmith merely transformed into her serpent form to swim. Reiji still carried a little bit of annoyance over Michele's prank. Riki turned that annoyance into carnage. Michele thought it was sweet and hilarious, while Reiji was absolutely furious at the entity.
Today, Riki was as silent as can be. Reiji opted to enjoy that relaxation while it lasted. Just like her anxiety, the entity would eventually creep back in at any moment. Michele and Reiji had caught food for the day and roasted meat on an open fire.
"Y'see that settlement down the river?" the blacksmith asked, pointing to the horizon. Reiji snapped out of her thoughts and nodded.
"We see it every day," she said before tearing cooked meat off a bone. They never went farther than the lake. There was no reason to. If someone wanted to find them, they could track them with no problems. Probably.
"Are you thinking about the creatures that might live there?" Reiji asked.
"Nah, I went there already," the blacksmith replied. Reiji tilted her head to the side in confusion. She would have noticed if Michele left.
"Astral projection?"
"Yup. It's nothin' spectacular. Hell, it's completely abandoned and really small fer a village. Only reason they look like buildings is 'cause of our strong eyesight," Michele explained. That thought did not occur to the green-haired demon. It made a lot more sense than an unprotected, visible village.
"We're goin today, and we're runnin' the whole way," the blacksmith declared. Reiji groaned, collapsing on her back.
"No, please! Anything but running!" she moaned in grief. Michele snickered at the complaints.
"Relax, ya baby! It's only two hours away on foot."
"I could easily fly us in less than an hour!"
"Ye ain't gettin' tested on yer wings, Rei!"
"Well, maybe I should. They carry plenty!" A small part of her secretly wanted an excuse to carry her, but that was beside the point!
The two laughed at their own useless bickering. Of course Reiji would go to the village. She would go anywhere with Michele. Anywhere.
The green-haired demon sat up, clearing her throat. No time to think about that right now. Her increased heart rate was over nothing!
Michele sat crisscross in front of her. The silver-haired female closed her eyes as she began to go through her locs, pulling them apart gently. Reiji recognized this small process as a way of preventing her roots from tangling. With only eleven thick locs—Michele counted every time—this took only a few minutes.
"After we meditate, we'll head out there," the blacksmith said.
Reiji hurriedly ate the rest of the meat off her bone, then tossed it away. She crawled a bit closer to Michele and sat crisscross with her. This much closeness was not necessary, but the naked demons were accustomed to sitting close together by now. Michele put her hands up. Reiji raised a thick brow.
"What are you doing?"
"A while back, I read somewhere that partners do this meditation ritual te be spiritually closer. I figured we could try this fer Riki and Trevon too," she said.
P-partners? No, she means professional partners, not... g-g-girl... Reiji pressed her palms against Michele's. Her heart would not relax. The green-haired demon willed locks of hair to bind her large breasts.
"Ye know I don't care about that, right?" Michele chuckled a little. "I've seen basically everything."
"Oh! Uh, r-right, old habit," Reiji blushed. Her hair unraveled, falling loosely down her chest and back. Michele closed her eyes. Reiji did the same.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Sometimes a cool breeze made her bangs tickle her nose. Eventually, the green-haired female braided her locks towards the back of her head until no hair could touch her face.
She inhaled through her nose, then exhaled slowly. She repeated the breathing technique ten times before Michele broke the silence.
"Reluse. Dekert. Akral bodyl."
(Release. Depart. Astral body.)
Takeshiro definitely used the same incantation that one night. This time, Reiji did not know what to expect from the chant while she was awake. It felt like an invisible weight pulled itself out of her body like a ripped bandaid. The feeling left her squeamish and uncomfortable.
Before long, she was back in that smoothed-over body. No body hair, no stretch marks, no rosary, and maybe no scar. Her hair floated, freed from the braids, and her usual connection to those individual strands was weaker in a ghostly form. She looked all around her, twirling in thin air. She made eye contact with Riki, as expected. Those creepy red eyes and those ten little marks always looked so dead inside. Reiji thought she too would feel dead inside, permanently stuck as a ghost attached to a cursed artifact.
Reiji faced towards her and Michele's physical bodies. To her surprise, her body's forehead had rested against Michele's. From a certain angle, they looked like they had shared a kiss. Reiji shot a glare at Riki, the only possible culprit for such a sly move. The entity averted her gaze.
I know you did it! You little...
"Hey."
"AAHH!" Reiji shrieked at the sight of the blacksmith in her projected form. She was smoothed over as well. Her hair bore no decorative rings, and her bracelets were obviously on her physical body. The eight-foot-tall blunt force that was Trevon hovered close by. Michele floated towards Reiji, who instinctively moved away. The silver-haired demon grabbed her hand, silently insisting that Reiji stop moving so much.
"Whoa, you can touch me!" Reiji exclaimed in amazement, grabbing Michele's other hand. The blacksmith let out a soft laugh.
"Come on, quit yer squirmin'! We've got a village to explore."
"Right! W-wait, what about the run?" Reiji questioned, suddenly reminded of that chore. The blacksmith shrugged.
"Fuck it! I don't wanna run either."
Even mentors get lazy, Reiji giggled softly to herself. Jeez, even her laughter sounded lovesick...
"Hey, Michele. Do I have anything on my face?" the green-haired demon asked. Keep distracting me, please!
The blacksmith looked at her for a moment.
"Yer scar is only on yer real body, if that's what ye meant," she shrugged. Reiji touched her smooth cheek. She felt no lines of that X-shaped scar. She did not feel joy, however. Because she was essentially a ghost, she would never get to see her unscarred face.
Trevon and Riki floated by their respective owners without making eye contact. Reiji figured they were incapable of caring about each other without a third entity present.
So, one entity is partially feral and speaks some modern Kanaji; two are docile and still partially mute; three speak in tongues. How convenient, she grumbled inwardly. Michele nudged her arm, bringing her back to the second (?) plane.
"Ready to explore? We're gonna get there in a jiffy," the blacksmith said with caution.
"Ready as ever," the green-haired demon grinned. How fast could a "jiffy" be?
The duo began to fly along the path of the river in a straight line. She noticed the land passing by faster and faster, but her body did not feel the wind current. She saw blurred figures by the water, most likely Ferals and other wild desert land creatures. She hardly noticed when they suddenly slowed to a stop. Reiji turned to Michele with a questioning look. Did "jiffy" pass already?
"We're here!" Michele announced, motioning her arm to a wooden sign. It read "STYX HELIX" in highly faded letters. Past the worn-down sign stood a few old structures identical to the color of the ground. One structure was a very fragile house, close to crumbling at the touch of a storm. A majority of the structures had also crumbled with time. Old remnants of books, dishes, clothing, and other dusty things were scattered among wrecked remains here and there. Very little of it was intact due to the weather slowly eroding what was left of the tiny settlement. It could have been a camp at one point with how small it was.
"Wow, this village must have thrived a very long time ago," Reiji whispered. The air was so calm, it almost felt offensive to speak too loudly.
"Yeah, fragile stuff here. I'm surprised explorers ain't come back around fer the rest of it," the blacksmith added.
"What is Styx Helix, anyway?" Reiji asked. She hovered toward the remains of a house that were merely a wall and a stone slab supporting said wall.
"Styx is an underworld river in ancient mythology where gods swore big oaths to somethin' or someone. Helix is some kinda bindin' tool fer stability. Together, it's basically a river of strong bonds. As old as the place is, I bet this was a sacred place long ago," Michele answered. "I was worried about disrespectin' the ancestors by stompin' around, so I chose to leave our bodies."
Reiji was amazed at Michele's knowledge of a virtually unknown settlement's name. She would have to ask about more mythology later.
Then, something else twisted her gut just a little bit. "W-will our bodies get attacked?" Reiji questioned. She was so preoccupied with the trip, she forgot all about the risk. Michele shook her head.
"The moment there's danger, Riki and Trevon'll take care of it. Like that one mission," Michele pointed out. Reiji looked away shyly, hugging herself. She did not mind remembering that day. The praise was still a little embarrassing. She barely did anything that day.
"Y'see these?" Michele hovered over a square perimeter. In the ground were multiple rows of small pyramid structures. Reiji counted each row and column, rounding up to only 15.
"A cemetery!" Reiji realized. "Even the gravestones are unique."
"Yup, and check this out," Michele motioned for her to follow. Upon closer inspection of a miniature pyramid, there was writing on all four sides.
"It ain't English or Kanaji; hell, I ain't never seen a language like this," the blacksmith said. Reiji had to agree, although she only really knew two languages.
"I reckon these gravestones are some kinda ancient Kanaji," Michele mused. "It's all really faded. Gotta be more than 200 years, right?"
"I have no idea what 100-year-old graves look like, let alone two or three hundred," the green-haired demon shrugged. When Reiji looked around again, she noticed that Riki and Trevon were missing.
Ugh, my attention span is very bad today...
"Ain't even ten minutes and they're already fightin'," Michele chuckled. Reiji did not respond to that. She wanted to look around more.
"Can you show me more things you found?" the green-haired demon asked. The silver-haired demon continued on to the barely intact little house. The duo phased through what was left of the wooden front door. The inside was as decrepit as the outside, but empty of absolutely everything.
Reiji was a little disappointed at the lack of discovery. Michele ascended through the ceiling. She followed, poking her head through the floor above. They were looking at a crawl space much too small to call an attic. At one end of the space, the floor had collapsed into a room below. Above that hole was a drape nailed to the wall. At the opposite end, there was an opening where a glass window or tarp might have been. And next to that window sat a small black box. Michele pointed at the box.
"Oh, okay. A box," Reiji deadpanned. Michele nodded.
"It don't look like much, but listen carefully."
Reiji furrowed her brows and shut her ears, straining her ears. Silence ensued for several seconds. Through the long pause, a faint, tiny tap sounded from nearby. Reiji looked at Michele in shock.
"It makes a faint sound. Is it a music box?"
"No idea. I just thought it was creepy," she murmured. A faint tap sounded again. Reiji jumped a little. She descended to the ground floor in a hurry. She had to admit, strange noise in a deserted area was a little creepy. Reiji looked up. Michele appeared to be tapping her fingernails together. Reiji playfully punched her leg.
"Don't prank me like that, Michele! It's not funny!"
The blacksmith hollered with laughter, flying out of the house.
"Get back here, you ass!" Reiji shouted as she chased her.
The green-haired female halted in her tracks. Her ears twitched at another tap. Michele turned back around. She was across the dirt path.
"That wasn't me!" she exclaimed when Reiji shot her a look. "Maybe it was a Feral!"
Reiji went back to the fragile house, looking into the crawlspace through the tiny window instead. Michele was soon beside her, phasing her head through the wall. The small box was in the same spot. On the other side of the small space, the drape had fallen, hanging by just one nail.
Behind it was a magic circle of some kind. It did not look like any modern magic Reiji knew of. She floated forward for a closer look. The drawing was in fact a carving in the old wood. The symbols were small and evenly spread around the circle's three layers. At the center of the circle was an eye with a thin pupil.
Reiji and Michele exchanged glances.
"That... wasn't there a minute ago, was it?" Michele asked.
"I-I don't remember," the green-haired demon replied. "Is this magic or curse? I don't recognize it."
"I think we gotta leave," Michele whispered with a little urgency. Reiji turned back to the circle. Something about the close attention to detail drew her in. A single tap sounded from the wall again. Michele shuddered.
"I'm going elsewhere. Nothin' good comes from explorin' actual creepy noises, Rei." Michele disappeared through the wall. Reiji ignored her. She inspected the lower right corner of the circle. She realized the symbols were just small letters of Kanaji.
My domain... naked guts... Drazaron chains?
Reiji recalled from Porlysca's school teachings that "modern" Kanaji came along around 300 years ago. Michele had also said this abandoned settlement was around the same age.
The rows of Kanaji must be lines of an incantation, Reiji gasped in excitement. And that meant this circle was readable! She felt proud for easily identifying something this rare.
The green-haired demon looked behind her. She jumped in surprise when Riki phased through the wall. Her eyes stared at the circle, then back to Reiji.
Reiji looked puzzled as Riki came close, extending her hand out to the wall.
"Riki, do you recognize this?" As always, her expression was impossible to read.
"An." (No.)
"Is it safe to read?"
"An."
Reiji narrowed her eyes. Riki didn't recognize the writing on the wall, but it was also unsafe to read. Was it really a coincidence that Riki reappeared right after the old carving was brought to her attention?
"What if I want to read it?" Reiji challenged.
"An!" Riki stared intently at Reiji. The green-haired demon backed away from the wall slowly, raising her hands cautiously. It was clear that the entity was warning her against something.
"Easy, Riki. I won't read it. I promise." I totally read every word of it.
"Yia lon." (You train.)
"I train every day," Reiji frowned. She deserved to relax for once! Why is that so hard to ask for?!
"Useler," Riki mumbled. "Useless child."
Reiji gasped, clutching her invisible rosary. She had nothing to say to that. Riki never called her useless before, had she? It didn't matter; that was just rude!
Michele tapped her shoulder. Reiji turned to her with the same hurt expression. "I think we should go back," the green-haired demon declared.
"Tired already?" the blacksmith teased. "Nothin' wrong with a little break."
"I-I know, but still..."
"You're right, though. This place is sacred and all, but I'm not messin' with lost magic and shit."
"Wait, really? Whoa!" Riki and Trevon were already flying away from the village, tugging their unwilling hosts away.
"Noooo! Have mercyyyyy!" Michele fake-sobbed. Meanwhile, Reiji still thought about the incantation circle. The words of the magic circle (if that's what it was) came easily to her head after reading it all once. Oh well, she most likely still had time to come back before that old house collapsed. If only the entities weren't so persistent on leaving!
The travel back to their bodies was as quick as the trip away. The bodies of several Ferals were scattered along the river shores. The lake itself was still at least an hour away. Before either female demon could process what might have happened, they descended into their bodies.
Michele and Reiji woke up to nothing odd at first. Michele was the first to try sitting up, groaning weakly in pain. The blacksmith managed to climb to her hands and knees on the third attempt. Her body looked like it was used as armor in a nasty street fight. Scratches, bruises, and cuts were scattered all over her back, arms, and chest. The blacksmith spit out a tiny chunk of flesh bitten from inside her cheek.
"What... what the hell—aaah!" She cringed in pain, grabbing her head. A gash on her temple was still trickling blood. Crying out stretched her cheeks and worsened the injury inside her mouth.
The headache worsened when Reiji screamed in pain, curling into a fetal position. Her left arm was dislocated at an odd angle, but not enough for bone to tear through flesh. Michele crawled toward her. She held part of her right rib with a painful expression.
"Shut up... y-you screechin' fool!" she spat, still bleeding from her mouth. Her face scrunched up in a silent scream from the throbbing in her head wound.
"Tiath f-fier Thurun! Tiath... tiath fier T-Thurun!" Reiji shouted over and over through labored breaths. She screamed through tears as the bone popped back into place. Several areas of her body produced faint healing light in the worst parts of her body. Michele looked up at Reiji, squinting her eyes. Her dark green hair was sliced sloppily at chin length.
"W-what the... yer hair...?"
She took one look at Reiji's horrible haircut and snorted with laughter. It soon turned into more blood from her cheek and grabbing her ribs in pain. Reiji muttered the spell as she placed her hand on Michele's. The blacksmith coughed up blood, possibly from internal bleeding.
Luckily, all of her bleeding stopped and the injuries faded from Touch of Chiron. The female demons exchanged glances, then looked around at their surroundings once more. A herd of Ferals must have assumed they were sitting prey. Riki and Trevon killed at least 20 that Reiji could count among the bodies and body parts. Other Ferals would surely feast on the messy remains.
Michele burst with laughter at the sight of Reiji's ruined hair again. The green-haired demon blushed brightly, growing her locks out to their full length. She instinctively crossed her arms to cover her chest. Using hands of her Hair Shower, she shoved Michele to the ground. The blacksmith laughed harder at Reiji's reaction, wrestling against the strength of her hair. Reiji's Hair Shower hands grabbed Michele by her wrists in a light grip.
"It's not funny, you jerk!" Reiji grunted.
"Yer right, it's fuckin' hilarious!" she squealed. If looks could kill, Michele's goofy grin would have melted her at once. Damn it, she always knew how to pull at Reiji's heartstrings!
"C-calm down, I was joking!" Michele panted, struggling under the growing mound of green hair. She could not get her wrists out of the hairy restraints. Reiji crawled over to the blacksmith until she loomed over her, hands and knees on either side of her body. Her vision looked like two lenses peering into the outside world.
Riki, no! Stop it!
Hmm? An.
Her vision became blurry from the (slightly exaggerated) waterfall filling her eyes. Michele was not laughing anymore, stunned by Reiji's sudden emotional switch. The green-haired demon sat up, burying her crying face in her hands. Michele remained still even when Reiji sat on her stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of her.
"W-why... why d-don't you... l-like me?" she sputtered through sobs. What was wrong with Riki? How could she embarrass her like this again? She just wanted to get over these feelings, not drown in them!
An eipa. (Not me.)
I hate you!
Sheesh...
Michele was speechless. Reiji kept crying, having no words left in her after that stupid question. The silver-haired demon frowned sadly.
Well, this is awkward.
"Why?!" Reiji demanded against.bShe froze up, turning red. Like a lightbulb popping, the tears stopped. She jumped off her friend, nearly stumbling backwards. Unbeknownst to both of them, Riki's stripes had slowly covered her skin with the threat of a full-body takeover. Reiji took deep, slow breaths, eyes staring widely into space.
Riki... t-tried to take over. That conniving monster! The green-haired demon glared at nothing, grabbing her head. Riki obviously saw yet another opening in Reiji's weakness. What the entity planned to do next, Reiji did not want to know. She couldn't keep letting this happen. This had to stop.
Michele looked at one gold-bronze eye and a red eye to the right. Even the ten marks formed within her crimson iris. Michele slowly stood up with a cautious hand out.
"Y-you, uh, controlled yer instincts, sort of," the blacksmith murmured, breaking the silence. "Good job."
"Heh... haha. Ha! Ahahahaha!" Reiji laughed at her observation. Seriously? Is that all she was to her, controlling herself like some... some beast? Reiji's laughter turned into more tears. Michele winced at her sobbing. Michele stepped forward, then Reiji stepped back. Another step forward was met with another step back.
"Reiji, come here."
"No!"
Go.
Fuck you, Riki!
"Please, Rei," the blacksmith pleaded. "I don't dislike you, really! We just aren't meant fer more than this!" Damn it, I had no idea it was THIS bad!
"What is all this?!" Reiji shouted, motioning her arms at the gory mess around them. "Are we only meant to slaughter creatures and control stupid curses that know nothing? Bond over cold-blooded murder? Are we only meant to live as beasts in the wild?!"
"N-no, Rei..." her voice tapered off.
But... chosen for...
"Shut up, Riki! Shut the fuck up!" she shrieked, hitting her palms on her temples. "I wish I'd never been—" she inhaled sharply before she could finish that sentence. She grabbed her hair, screaming loud enough for her voice to travel several yards.
I wish I had never been born!
Michele's mouth hung open when a magic circle suddenly spread under Reiji's feet. A real magic circle typically contained many overlapping layers of symbols in a range of languages. This circle, however, lacked depth, and the symbols were straight Kanaji. It was not a curse either; those did not require circles that Michele knew of.
The circle was composed of three layers of phrases in a minuscule font. At the center was a single eye with one thin pupil. The blacksmith soon recognized the same circle drawn on the wall of that one old house.
"No way," she marveled, taking several slow steps back when the force of her power spread. When Reiji spoke, her voice sounded much deeper, deeper than Riki or Trevon.
Eipar domon, eipar life
(My domain, my life)
Yiar bodyl sepal eipar kieir
(Your body is my power)
Kir sin som nakil gutal
(Drink sin from naked guts)
Dre Ludr sepahiln drine ioal
(The Truth behind thine eyes)
Tsid fier Kateron thonal
(Blood of Drazaron chains)
Yiar bodyl sepal eipar kieir
(Your body is my power)
Michele understood the words and nothing more. Reiji's hair, flowing upwards in the dark energy around her, darkened to black. Riki's stripes stayed. Both her eyes became crimson and marked. Even her bone structure shifted and grew taller. Michele cringed watching her friend's shoulders narrow ever so slightly. Her hips were just a bit slimmer, legs longer, arms longer. Her ears were the same, long and stuck straight out like a typical elf.
What to do, what to... oh!
In solidarity, Michele transformed as well. Her feminine physique spiked to the features of Trevon: rectangular face, wide square shoulders, a slight hunch in her back, darker skin, stripes, and everything else that made up the eight-foot monstrosity. Michele grew three feet, towering several inches over her friend.
"Yier bodyl... s-sepal eipa... kieir!"
Reiji's thoughts felt like her own and Riki's. She didn't know what she was doing, but she also knew exactly what was going to happen. She extended her palms out. The battle axe materialized in a whitish-red flash. Without Riki completely taking over, Reiji took on the entity's form. A full transformation without losing herself. The obstacle of the feral mind was finally contained.
The circle beneath her feet gradually shrank to nothing. Reiji's heartbeat was slow and steady now. Michele looked down at the black-haired demon. The blacksmith gave a thumbs up.
The green—well, black-haired demon was slightly caught off guard by Michele's appearance. She had nearly forgotten what Michele looked like in that form. Black locs, black hair down her tall spine and reptilian tail, and lower canines that produced a mild underbite. Reiji cracked a wide grin, showing her own sharper canines.
"I did it! I don't know what I did, but I did it!"
"Ye look great," she smiled back. "We can test yer skills in the new body," Michele suggested. After stating that, Michele summoned the twin mallets. "So, how are ya feelin'?"
How I'm feeling?
"You hurt my feelings," Reiji confessed. Michele's smile faded. "But, but that's okay! Love hurts sometimes. And it has hurt a lot," Reiji emphasized. She paused, watching Michele's facial expression. The deadpan blacksmith said nothing. And so, she continued.
"I've loved you since the first time we ate lunch together in school. I was only 14, so obviously you saw nothing in me. I didn't know it at the time, but... I felt warm and comfortable. I could be myself, even if I was a mess," she chuckled lightly. She placed her hand on her chest. Her anxiety was so at ease in this form, she thought it was completely gone. Like that pleasant evening with Otto, her mind was crystal clear.
"Er, what else?" Michele asked quietly. Now she was invested. Reiji hardly spoke so freely. She couldn't stop now; the takeover could break at any minute and destroy her self-esteem again.
"That face you make when you're messing with someone? You look adorable," she recounted fondly. "I wanted to see that smiling face all the time, happy and laughing all the time! I only went to your shop to see you. You're so, so..." Reiji felt herself swooning at the memories of watching Michele work. Even as a teenager, Reiji went out of her way to watch her forge weapons, repair armor, and pitch sales with her customers as often as she could.
"You're hot when you work, and I might never outgrow my attraction to you! I don't care if you're repulsed by me. You're the best heartache that's ever happened to me. Out of all the creatures I've messed around and experimented with, you're the one I truly want."
Not even Michelle "Immi-chan" Imitatia could replace Michele.
Reiji panted slightly, having spoken without taking a single breath. She wasn't embarrassed to confess her feelings. How could she be embarrassed after all the time they've spent together? Besides, she might leave Loner Village with a new guild. There was a chance they might drift apart forever one day. She had to face her fears before that happened. Right here and now.
Michele didn't know what to say. She always had a feeling Reiji liked her. No, she was in love with her. The blacksmith could not imagine how it felt to suppress those feelings for so long, just to get rejected. She searched for the right response deep in her thoughts but found nothing.
Reiji waited for Michele to say something. Anything.
"I..." Michele hesitated, blushing. She felt horrible, having ignored Reiji's feelings for almost a decade. To be fair, she was a child when they met, and Michele was always older, too old. It felt wrong to acknowledge the littler Reiji's feelings. She could not stand the thought of breaking a young creature's spirit. It was hard enough breaking a 24-year-old's heart.
"I'm sorry I ignored ye, Rei. I knew for a long time. I figured you'd get over it once ye got older and realized I was too grown for ya."
"We're both adults now," Reiji replied with a gloomy expression. Michele frowned. She was right, but it was still not right to her. Reiji blinked a few times. Her eyes looked tired. Michele walked over to Reiji. The buxom demon nodded tiredly. The blacksmith gently tilted her chin upwards. Reiji had dark circles forming under her baggy eyes. She couldn't believe the facial signs of fatigue she had missed!
Reiji's crimson eyes widened. She did expect the blacksmith to get too close. She couldn't help but look from her eyes to her lips, then her eyes again.
"I know yer gettin' tired in this form. To transform back, ye gotta let go of..."
Reiji didn't care to let Michele finish her instruction before kissing her. Michele froze in shock. Reiji's lips were so soft and full compared to hers. A small part of her was afraid to move and make the moment even more awkward than it already was.
Reiji began to pull away, regret plaguing her mind. But then, Michele pulled her back by that hand, grabbing her cheeks and kissing her deeper.
Michele decided to let go instead. She had to let go of the silly notion that Reiji was somehow still a child. This "child" had gone through more maturity and growth than Michele could ever know. That "child" followed her into the dangerous Scarlet Desert with very little planning. That child, despite her doubt and fear, had devoted an entire month to training for assessments to conquer whatever goals she wanted to accomplish through a guild. This "child" had grown into an incredible adult. It was about time Michele respected her as such.
Reiji's heart soared and flipped with joy. She had no idea that kissing her long-time crush could feel so good. The buxom demon no longer cared that Michele's nearly flat chest pressed against her bosom. She wrapped her arms around Michele's waist. She traced her fingers along the soft, black hair of Michele's spine. Reiji felt the blacksmith's hands run through her soft hair. Reiji would have done the same, but Michele's locs were too thick.
As if on instinct, Reiji's hair spread out into several snaking strands. Just out of their sight, a feral came rushing in search of prey. Michele separated from the kiss when Reiji turned away to look at the feral. Her locks grabbed its body and threw it away. It shrieked in fear, scurrying off.
"Bad timing, huh," the blacksmith snickered. Her smile faded when Reiji pulled away from their embrace. Michele watched as Reiji suddenly shrank nearly a foot in height, her skin paling back to its normal tan.
"Rei!" The blacksmith rushed forward. Reiji collapsed straight into her arms. The takeover finally broke.
"Let's... g-go home soon," Reiji whispered.
"Yeah, we will," Michele whispered back.
Does a kiss in the middle of October count as a New Year's kiss?
— ML