Plus Two to Dexterity
It was my favorite class of the day. No, in fact, it was the only period that I can honestly say that I enjoyed. I’ve always been athletic, I guess it’s in the genes or something; not my parent’s though, grandparents maybe, but certainly not the mother or father who preferred to stick their noses in a text book over any form of physical activity on any given day. My Hime powers only enhanced my already god-given abilities so when it came to class activities I was the top of the class…or at least I would have been if I actually attended every day. Anyway, I was good at no matter what our coach had us doing, and on top of that I was getting some decent exercise so there was no reason for me to hate P.E…except for the fact that my classmates were there, and by classmates I mainly meant the boys who thoroughly enjoyed staring at me no matter what outfit we were having to wear for the day. Because of this, my uncanny ability to ignore people only grew, and oh how it grew…I do believe that it had come to be one of my greatest talents, and I was exerting it at full force right at this very moment.
I had just completed my laps for the day, in record time I might add, pulling myself out of the Olympic sized pool when the comments and the glares began. I immediately switched over to‘deaf-tunnel-vision-mode’ as I quickly dried myself off before striding towards the locker room. There was no point in being exposed like this for longer than needed, so I sought the shelter of the school’s walls with eager haste.
I could hear the constant low murmur of chatter from the girls inside before I entered, so I was sure to slip in as quietly as possible. I usually didn’t have too much trouble with my female classmates, aside from them being their overly giddy and talkative selves, so usually I just had to deal with them trying to involve me in their conversations. That could be dealt with easily enough, however, by a simple glare or a series of one-word answers, sometime both if I was in a particularly cross mood. Luckily today didn’t seem to be one of those days, so I continued on to my locker without any interruptions and proceeded to dry my hair with my towel.
And then, suddenly, my nice peaceful little day shattered to pieces.
“It’s gone. My bra,” one of the girls stated.
“No way, mine too,” I heard Akane follow, sounding just as shocked.
Several other girls seemed to have fallen under the same predicament due to the chorus of similar baffled exclamations that erupted soon after.
It’s one of the few times I come to class, and this happens.
Standing, I opened my own locker and peered inside.
What a lame tale…Eh?!
No…No, that couldn’t be right.
I blinked and looked again. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Steel. Just silver steel. My eye twitched on its own accord.
How could…I mean, the other girls I can understand, but no one’s brave enough to pull this kind of stupid prank with me…right?
Apparently there was in fact someone who was brave enough to steal from Kuga Natsuki because I, just like the other girls in the locker room with me, had been rendered officially bra and panty-less. I was still staring in disbelief of my obviously pilfered locker when Akane’s voice brought me back to my cruel reality.
“Kuga-san, were you safe?”
Quickly spinning on my heels, I slammed my locker door shut and leaned back against it to hide my lack of clothing, “Was what safe?”
“You always wear one that looks expensive,” the girl continued.
“It’s obviously fine,” I lied, “There’s no way I would let something like that happen.”
“That’s true,” the brunette agreed, a smile on her face, “Kuga-san, you’re always on the ball, so it’s only natural.”
“T-that’s right.”
Well…usually. Dammit!
Thankfully the conversation ended there, allowing me to get back to my number one priority at the moment: figuring out what the hell I was going to do about having no undergarments.
Okay, just think. I have a bathing suit, I could wear tha—er—but it’s still wet…I really can’t believe this…I can’t just go commando all day…I wonder if…hmm…Second period should be starting soon, which means Shizuru will probably be in the student council room. God! I’d never hear the end of this from that woman, but I really don’t have a choice…Everlasting teasing or…eh, I really don’t want to think about it… How do I always find myself in these types of situations?!
Choosing to go with my first option rather than the latter, as little consolation as it brought me, I stormed off to the stalls to change into my uniform before placing my swimming equipment into my locker and heading out the door.
Putting my pride on the line, and at the risk of flashing anyone who walked by, I carefully made my way down the hallway; my hands clasped right behind my derrière unless the unthinkable should happen.
Right, one foot in front of the other. Slowly, slowly…Is that the air conditioning coming on?! Eh…I hate being on edge like this…Ah! Movement detected!
There was a group of guys approaching so I quickly sidestepped to “look” out the wonderfully placed window, all the while watching them out of the corner of my eye. Once they had passed, I released a sigh of pure relief.
“If I can at least make it to the Student Council room…” I uttered to myself before continuing my long treacherous journey.
Honestly, I don’t know what I though Shizuru was going to do about this. But she was Fujino Shizuru, Seitokaichou of Fuuka Academy. If anyone could figure out what to do, it would be her. She would come up with some kind of plan. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself over and over again as I continued to creep closer to the room.
I can see the look on her face now—!
“K-Kuga!”
I gasped and nearly fell over at the sound of my name, but quickly recovered as I turned to face…Masashi Takeda?
“T-Takeda…”
As much as I hated to admit it, it was a pretty well known fact around the entire school that Takeda, the captain of the kendo team, had a crush on me. Why? I had no idea. Luckily for me we didn’t run into each other all that often since he was two years ahead of me. He had tried to talk to me on a few other occasions, but every time I always shot him down. You’d think he would get a clue that maybe I didn’t like him, but apparently he had taken too many strikes to the head or something because it certainly wasn’t getting through to him. Apparently this was going to be another one of his lame attempts to start a conversation with me…
The boy stood stiffly at attention, refusing to actually look at me while his face continued to turn red, “Y-yo, K-Kuga.”
“W-what do you want?” I questioned while blushing myself, making sure to keep my skirt down with my hands.
“I see you’ve come to class today.”
“What?!” I growled.
Takeda twitched as he tried to actually compose a sentence, “No, you see…the class here…and…”
“Why you…You stopped me just to say that?” I nearly yelled, my anger quickly rising by the second, “Move out of the way.”
“W-What are you angry about?”
“I said move!” I commanded once again.
Before either of us could say anything more, a familiar voice came ringing through the crystal arena. A voice I really didn’t want to hear at the moment…
“I have my part time job today. You sure you can take care of the room while I’m gone?”
I reluctantly turned my head to see who I knew it would be…Tokiha Mai. And sure enough, my fears were dead on that Minagi Mikoto would be at her side.
“What’s ‘take care of room’?” the younger girl replied to her busty counterpart.
“You really are,” Mai began before finally waking up to what was in front of her. “Huh? Umm…”
I cringed as I watched the dark haired HiME remove the large black case from her shoulder and place it on the ground, her eyes filling with that same battle lust as before.
No…not now…not here!
Takeda glanced back and forth between the two of us in the middle of a staring contest. Mikoto began growling at me much like a cat would do as my fingers itched. I really didn’t want to summon my element, but what choice did I have if she decided to strike?
Suddenly, Minagi positioned herself into a fighting stance, and by instinct, I did the same.
“Hey!” Mai called out.
And then…and then…
“Ah!”
I hastily ceased the fluttering of my skirt that had just proved to the world that I was indeed a woman. I could feel the blood rush to my face instantaneously. With my eyes tightly shut, I could only hear the thud of that damn kendo pervert hitting the ground as he apparently fainted.
No, that didn’t just happen. It couldn’t have. This is all a bad dream. A horribly cruel, sadistic…very, very real—
“Eeeeaaaahhhh!” my screech radiated throughout the arena, and most likely the whole school itself.
Silence.
“So I guess he got you too,” I heard Mai state, her tone completely hysterical as she covered her mouth with her hand.
“W-What?”
“The lingerie burglar…”
“S-Shut up!”
“So it is true!” the redhead proceeded to burst into a fit of laughter, the girl beside her looking at her quizzically. Eventually she calmed herself enough to talk again, “O-Oh…okay, just…heh…wait in the girls bathroom. I’ll go…hm…get you something to wear. Ha ha ha!”
Not having any other choice I grunted as I stormed off towards the nearest restroom, my hands keeping my skirt down securely, “Fine.”
Once I reached the girl’s bathroom I paced the length of the stalls back and forth, waiting for Mai to return. It wasn’t too long before I could hear her continued laughter down the hallway. When she burst through the door, I immediately swiped the pair of black spandex shorts from her hands and hurriedly locked myself in the nearest stall to put them on. That dumb girl wouldn’t stop laughing the entire time I was changing.
“You’re laughing too much!” I yelled, slamming the door open once I was finished.
“But...Oh…Oh God, I’m going to die from laughter,” she managed to respond, shaking as she leaned over one of the sinks.
“Shut up!”
“Make sure to return that washed, all right?”
My cheeks flushed out of anger and embarrassment, “I’ll give you a new one.”
“Anyway, you owe me one.”
“I know,” I snapped back.
“Okay then, right off the bat, I want you to pay me back.”
“What do you want?”
“Tell me,” Mai began, her tone turning surprisingly serious, “What’s HiME?”
I stared into her violet eyes, and she stared right back, her gaze unwavering. Sighing, I shook my head, “You really want to know?”
“Yes,” came the stern reply.
Walking past her, I pushed open the door, “Follow me then.”
“What’s wrong with talking here?” she questioned as she caught up to me, Mikoto close behind and still eyeing me suspiciously.
“You never know who’s listening. We’ll talk outside.”
Fortunately enough, she obeyed and remained silent as we exited the school.
I led us outside and near the gardens out back before finally stopping, “Alright, what is it you’re wanting to know? I don’t guarantee that I have all the answers, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
Mai sat down as she pondered for a moment. Mikoto was quick to follow suit, and it wasn’t long before she reclined using the redhead’s lap as a pillow.
“What’s going on in this academy?” Mai finally asked.
“You’ve met the Director, right? What did she tell you?” It wasn’t like I didn’t already have a good guess, but I just wanted to make sure since I hadn’t exactly met any other HiMEs who had talked to her as well.
“I’m the one asking the questions,” she replied stubbornly.
“Just answer,” I protested back.
She gave in, “Orphan...She said to fight with those monsters. She said that she called us for that.”
“You two aren’t the only ones who were summoned like that. They haven’t been identified yet, but there are HiMEs in this academy other than us. There are people who are plotting to do something by gathering HiMEs. And their objective probably isn’t to kill Orphans.”
“Objective?”
“Right, that’s why I wanted to prevent any more HiMEs from gathering at the Academy,” I answered, wanting to add a ‘but you two certainly didn’t help any now, did you?’
“I see. So, do you still want to kick us out?” the girl continued questioning.
It was certainly a valid question, so I gave her a valid response, “Well, it can’t be helped now that you’re here. I’ll see how things go for a while.”
“Then you don’t have any intentions of killing us for now. Is that right?”
“As long as you don’t hinder my work.”
And don’t speak of what occurred earlier…
“Okay. Got it, Mikoto?” the dark haired girl raised herself drowsily before Mai continued, “You don’t go fighting anymore either, got it?”
“But…” the young HiME began to protest before she was cut off.
“I’ll stop making the lunch box.”
This certainly won the redhead a drastic reaction, Mikoto forcefully nodding her understanding with a completely petrified expression at the apparent threat.
“Got it.”
I could only cock an eyebrow as I watched their interaction.
“How sad,” I jokingly remarked as I sat down beside the pair, receiving a small pout from the younger girl in the process.
“But you’re pitiful, too,” Mai retorted while lying down on the grass, “Do things like this happen often at this academy?”
“No way!” I hastily shot back, “This is the first time, this lingerie burglar mess.”
Suddenly Mia yelped in surprise, and when I glanced over, the amber-eyed girl was in the middle of groping the redhead’s ample bosom.
What the…?!
“Hey, Mikoto! What are you doing?”
I could only stare on in awkward silent perplexity.
What’s up with this kid?
“Is what you have there bra?”
She certainly is strange. They’re both strange…
“Yes.”
How is it that I get involved with the weirdest people?
“That disappeared?”
And I was doing so well about mainly keeping to myself…
“Yeah, and panties too.”
That last statement got me talking again though, “Shut up!”
“I see, then,” Mikoto stated as she sat up, “must be the same from earlier.”
“Same?” I eagerly questioned.
“Orphan,” came her simple reply.
Both Mai and myself got on all fours as we intently stared at the girl in disbelief. The redhead was the first to speak, “Hey, Mikoto, that means…”
“There wasn’t any bloodlust, so I forgot about it,” came the innocent reply from the younger girl.
“Don’t forget about it,” Mai responded, hanging her head in defeat.
“Orphan…” I muttered, already on my feet again, “I see…” My fingers dug into my palm as they formed a fist. “I’ll make sure they get what’s coming to them,” I vowed, shaking said fist in the air defiantly.
Because of that thing…Just wait you damn Orphan…just wait…
“Grr…Don’t ‘ara’ me, Fujino! This crisis must be delft with immediately!”
“Dealt, Haruka-chan.”
I was currently seated at my desk in the Student Council room, listening to the persistent droning of the head of the Executive Committee…with the help of her human spellchecker. Apparently someone was going around robbing the girls at our school of their precious unmentionables, not only on the school grounds, but also at the dorms and apparently Haruka wanted me to do something about it. But…I had other plans…
I took a sip from my steaming cup before setting it back on the table, “I agree, Suzushiro-san. And I assume that the Executive Committee already has a planned course of action?”
“Eh…O-Of course!”
“Just as I expected. You’ve never let me down before, Suzushiro-san, I’m counting on you to handle this situation with equal endeavor,” I concluded with my trademark smile, tilting my head slightly to the side for an added effect.
“Right, just keep drinking your tea and let us handle this,” the blonde announced, swiping the folder of complaints off my desk. “Yukino, we’re leaving!”
I watched the two girls disappear out the door before letting out a content sigh.
Honestly, what would I do without you, Suzushiro-san?
Chuckling to myself, I took another sip of my tea before returning to my previous paperwork.
“Nat…suki…? Is something wrong?”
“…It’s been a long day…”
Standing, I noticed that the girl had what looked like dark spandex shorts on under her skirt. It hit me immediately.
“Ara…it seems that Natsuki fell victim to the school lingerie burglar as well…”
“S-shut up!” the girl pouted, her cheeks flushing, “…I’ve been laughed at enough today…”
“Do you need to cry on my shoulder? Or shall I just comfort you in my arms?”
Either would be perfectly fine with me.
“…You’re not helping, Shizuru,” came the not-so-thrilled reply.
“Mou, Natsuki, I’m only trying to help,” I smiled at her, which I was only rewarded with an unconvinced glare in return.
The sound of polite coughing at the door caused us both the look in its general direction to see two familiar faces.
“Yes, Reito-san? Tate-kun?”
“Shizuru-san, we’re not intruding, are we?” the older male asked.
I stole a quick glance at Natsuki who only huffed before looking away, “Of course not. Is there something that you needed?”
“Did you happen to give Suzushiro-san control over the lingerie burglar matter?” the dark haired boy continued.
“Yes, in fact, I did. Have they discovered the culprit yet?”
“Takeda,” Tate finally spoke up.
“What?” Natsuki and I both questioned, making eye contact briefly before turning our attention back to Reito.
“The Executive Committee apprehended Takeda-kun,” the vice president took over.
“Ara…” I murmured while sitting down again.
Natsuki stood, turning her back to the two males who had made their way across the room to sit on one of the empty tables.
“It’s a false accusation,” the emerald-eyed girl sternly protested.
Her tone made me curious, but before I could question her, Tate beat me to it.
“We believe so too, but…How can you say it with so much confidence?”
“Isn’t it another one of Suzushiro’s jumps to a conclusion?”
“Why do you care so much?”
“What?”
“Well, he’s my, you know…”Reito finally decided to pipe in again, my teasing nature seemingly having rubbed off on him a little too well.
“NO. It’s just him approaching me, and me…”
I decided to be nice and actually bail my friend out of her awkward position for once, but that was mainly because it wasn’t me getting the cute reaction out of her, “Well, it’s not that I’m on his side because we’re in the same class, but I don’t think Takeda-kun is capable of doing anything like that.”
Reito smiled mischievously, “He isn’t the type that could fulfill his desires with lingerie. You see, he needs the contents.”
Natsuki’s visible reaction made me wonder just what had made her day so horrible, especially since she quickly changed the subject.
“So, what happened to Takeda?”
Reito’s visage, which had lit up during his teasing, immediately darkened once again, “He didn’t confess his crime to the Executive Board…”
“So he was sent to the Church,” Tate completed with a similar look.
Both Natsuki’s and my expressions quickly mirrored the boys.
“Church is it?” the raven-haired girl asked, her hand pressed against her forehead.
“What a poor guy…So, what are you planning to do now?” I inquired.
“I know it’s probably pointless,” Reito began, “but the two of us are going to try to talk to Haruka-san about the matter.”
“Good luck with that…” Natsuki sarcastically remarked.
I silently agreed with her, but didn’t show it in the least, and decided to take the more optimistic sounding path instead. “I don’t see any harm in trying.”
“My thoughts exactly,” the older boy replied while standing. “Well then, since we have your support, we’ll be on our way.”
I silently nodded at the two as they departed.
After they had made it a good ways down the hall, Natsuki grunted, “They’re just wasting their time.”
“That might be so, but at least they’re trying to help their friend.”
“Mmm…I guess…”
“I would do the same for Natsuki if she found herself in a similar situation.”
“What?! I’d never do something like this!”
I chuckled at the girl’s reaction, “I didn’t mean it like that, Natsuki. I meant if everyone ever turned against you…I would stand by your side.”
My sudden seriousness apparently caught her off guard, “Sh-Shizuru…”
“So,” I pressed on, “what are we going to do about clearing Takeda-kun’s name?”
“O-oh…umm…” the girl uttered before slipping into a contemplative silence for several moments. Suddenly she slammed her hand down on my desk, causing me to blink several times at the action. Before I knew it, she was moving away from my desk, “I’ve got to go talk to someone. It might help with this mess. I’ll be back in a bit, alright?”
“Okay, but be careful…if you know what I mean.”
“Baka!” Natsuki exclaimed, already halfway out the door.
If anyone knew about this Orphan, it would be that creepy little pale boy. I had to find him, and I had to find him now. The problem was, I never knew where he would show up. On a few different occasions when I was fighting Orphans on the school grounds he would spontaneously pop up, ramble out a few riddles at me, and disappear again. It was annoying as hell, but I was usually too preoccupied at the moment to actually do anything about it, although I had been successful in sending a few“stray” ice bullets in his general direction every now and then. However, there was no Orphan around at the moment, and there was also no Nagi.
Come on, think. That kid always has a book with him…Mmh, but I doubt that he’d risk going to the school library…But wait…what about that other building with the giant clock on the floor…There were books in there too, weren’t there?
It was the only clue I had, so of course I immediately began heading towards the old building. I had only been inside the eerie place once before, it’s dimly lit interior made it hard to see since the only source of light was coming through the windows. I wondered if it had once served as the library for the school since I saw no other reason for the building to be on the school grounds. But then again this was Fuuka Academy. Logic and reason seemingly had no presence in this place.
Making my way through the inside of the clock building, I quietly made my way up to the second level and was pleased to hear Nagi’s childish voice radiating through the empty room.
“…and the remaining HiME’s are…”
The sound of my footsteps warned him of my presence, and he turned to address me.
“Hey.”
“I’ve been looking for you,” I bluntly stated.
“I’m so happy, to be sought by Natsuki-chan,” the boy began, spinning around like the little kid that he was. Or at least that he looked like, I wasn’t entirely convinced of his child-like appearance. “Did you miss me that much?”
“Spill it. Where’s the Orphan hiding?” I questioned in my no-nonsense tone that I had come to use with the boy at all times, “Because of it, I was…”
“Did your cute hips catch a cold? Ouah!”
Damn. I missed.
I kept my recently fired element trained on Nagi’s head even as he hung from the railing by his frail little arms.
“I’m just kidding,” he insisted, “This is one of the types that just popped up, so I really don’t know.”
“How will they appear? What’ll draw them out?”
His childish grin returned, “What should I do?”
I shoved my pistol in his face to…hasten his thinking process.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” the boy smartly continued, “You see, Orphans and Childs are basically the same thing, right? So they have the characteristic of being attracted to HiMEs. That means…”
My eyes widened at the sudden realization.
Of course! Why didn’t I think of that earlier? It’s so obvious…
As much as I wanted to smack myself right then and there, I didn’t have the time. Dispersing my element, I took off at a sprint out of the building and towards my bike. As I ran, I pulled out my cell and rapidly punched in Shizuru’s number.
“Yes?”
“Shizuru, it’s me. I have a plan to draw out the burglar.”
“Natsuki? That’s great. So what is it?”
“All we need is to place a lot of lingerie out and about and he should present himself right to us.”
“I see…but where are you going to get enough articles?”
“I’m going to the apartment to get my collection right now.”
“Your collection? Ara, but I thought it was rather precious to you…”
“It’s not like he’s actually going to get away with it.”
“I suppose so. Where are you planning to set them up?”
“Hmm…somewhere on campus I guess…now that school’s out, maybe we should try the dorms?”
“That’s probably the wisest choice. Do you need any help?”
“No, I should be able to handle it from here. You just worry about your school stuff, and I’ll deal with this mess.”
“Okini, Natsuki.”
“Alright, well, I’ll see you later after I’ve nailed this guy.”
“Okay. I wish you the best of luck.”
“Luck? Heh, I don’t need luck. This guy’s already in the bag.”
“Of course. Goodbye.”
“See ya.”
Hanging up the phone, I chose not to waste any more time by changing into my leather suit, and instead just threw on my helmet, straddled my Ducati, and blazed off towards home.
Finished with my work for the day, I packed up my laptop and set out for my dorm. When my building first came into view, I could have sworn what appeared to be clotheslines were strung about on one side of the structure, but I couldn’t be for sure. Once I got closer, I confirmed what I had previously theorized. It didn’t completely surprise me that Natsuki had chosen to use my building. Besides, it was the only dorm building she had actually been in from what I knew. A part of me did wonder how she had managed to set this up in such a short amount of time, but I decided to just dismiss the though and chuckled to myself instead.
Approaching the side entrance, I noticed a slack-jawed Tokiha Mai frozen with bewilderment as she stared at the newly decorated exterior of the building that she apparently called home as well.
“What the?” I heard her mutter as I walked closer.
“That’s quite a view we have,” I stated, pausing to take a good look at it as well.
“President.”
“Mai-san, correct? On your way home now?”
The girl seemed a little shocked that I was talking to her for some reason, but she answered anyways, “Y-yes. Umm, what’s this?”
“A trap like this is useless,” a familiar harsh voice interrupted and I turned to see Haruka storm up to us, hands on her hips in disdain. “Do you not trust our work, President?”
“Haruka-chan,” Yukino tried to calm her friend.
“It’s nothing like that. Actually, I always give the Executive Board members all the difficult jobs.” This seemed to break through Suzushiro’s thick insulted skull so I continued, “I feel bad about it. That’s why I hoped we could help some. These are all borrowed, so if any disappear, no harm is done to the people in the dorm. Please be at ease.”
I wasn’t particularly trying to take the credit for this plan, but somehow I thought that Natsuki would probably prefer not being mentioned for coming up with it. Especially if it risked her little secret being revealed to the entire school.
“I wasn’t really…” the blonde mumbled, seeming to regret her previous outburst, if only a little.
“Camisole, petticoat, waist nipper, garter, shape pants, bras and shorts, ah, a body suit, too,” Yukino called out, peering through her small binoculars to take in all that had been strung up around the building.
“How did you manage to get so much?” Mai questioned in a completely baffled tone.
I simply smiled, “Kindness from a certain connection…” Leaving it at that, I turned to the head of the Executive committee, “Suzushiro-san.”
“What is it?”
“I’m counting on you.”
Haruka paused for a moment and I thought just maybe she was catching on to me, but then she returned to her usual self, “Of course. Let’s go, Yukino.”
The mousey girl simply hummed her understanding as she trailed after her brutish companion.
With that taken care of, I turned back to my orange-haired underclassman, “Well then, Mai-san, it was nice speaking with you again.”
“O-oh, yes, you too, Fujino Kaichou.”
“Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
And with that, I made my way around the building and up to my room.
Moving on, I bounded up the stairs and made my way back towards the room Mai and Mikoto shared since we had set up the trap in a way so we could use their room as a base of operations so to speak.
Knocking on the door, I was met with a very surprised busty redhead, “K-Kuga…san?”
“Oh, hey, you’re back. Here, this is for the other pair,” I said, shoving a new pair of spandex shorts identical to the ones she had let me borrow into her hands. I had just bought them a few minutes ago, which was the reason I had left the dorm in the first place. Ignoring her continued astonished look, I let myself in, “Mikoto, have you seen anything yet?”
The dark haired HiME who was currently crouched on top of the desk by the window shook her head back and forth, “Nope.”
“Alright, well, I’ll take over the watch from here,” I said, peering out the window myself.
The girl was quick to jump off and return to Mai’s side to investigate the little present I had brought with me. The two of them conversed momentarily as I continued to scope the area, pulling out a pair of binoculars to get a better look.
After I had checked over my setup one last time, I finally set the binoculars down, “Okay.”
“So, why are you here?” Mai’s voice piped in from behind me.
“I’m the one that came up with the plan. Is there a problem?” I replied, keeping my gaze fixed outside the window.
“Not exactly…”
“Smaller than Mai’s,” Mikoto chimed in.
“What did you do with that perky, uplifting one?” the redhead questioned, causing me to actually break my concentration and peer back over my shoulder to realize the horror of what was currently happening to a piece of my beloved collection.
“There were lots outside.”
I was quick to bound over and save my prized possession, “Stop stretching it!”
“’Kindness from a certain connection’, meaning…These are all yours?!” Mai proclaimed at her sudden realization.
“Shut up!”
“Why?”
I immediately knew what she was implying, “I can tell you the reason, but you have to help me.”
“I’ll pass on combat,” she immediately declared.
“I’m not counting on that anyway.”
“Then what do you want me to do?”
I pondered momentarily before a clever grin crossed my face, “Give me your favorite bra.”
“What?! Why? Don’t you own enough already?”
“It’s not for me, baka, it’s to put out there.”
“Like there isn’t plenty—”
“A new scent might help draw him out. So are you going to give it to me or not?”
She squinted her eyes at me before getting up and going to her closet to retrieve the item in question. Once she placed it in my hands, I hung it up outside without delay. As I did so, I informed her of how my little collection had started out of my stress from school and exams. She looked at me skeptically the entire time, but I assured her that it was the only answer I had and would be giving whether she believed me or not.
Now seated at the small floor table, Mai switched spots with me to gaze out at her now unprotected garment.
“My special one…” the girl pouted childishly.
“You said you’d help,” I reminded her.
She hung her head, “It turned into Orphan bait.”
“That’s just one piece. My whole collection is out there.”
“You and your dumb stress reliever hobby…” Mai muttered under her breath, barely loud enough to hear as we continued to wait.
I couldn’t exactly recall just how I managed to get myself bound by my arms and legs to the bed, another body straddling my own, but that was the position I was currently in.
I gazed up into the sparkling emerald eyes hovering above my own…the lips that were continuingly being pulled back just out of my reach…I watched as they curled into a grin.
“Who are you calling ‘meanie’?” my dark-haired captor playfully questioned, “You said it was my turn tonight.”
“Mou…but Natsuki is being so cruel…making me wait like this,” I pouted, straining myself to try to get closer to her.
She leaned in, oh so much closer, only to slip her finger between my waiting lips and hers, mocking me yet again, “Un-uh. Patience.”
I grumbled in protest again much like a small child awaiting their presents on Christmas morning as she pulled back from me once again, but rather than lean back, she inched down, taking the red tie of my school uniform between her teeth. She pulled lightly and the knot easily came undone. I watched as the girl took the cloth in her hands and proceeded to cover my eyes with it.
“A blindfold too?” I inquired as Natsuki gently lifted my head to tie the thing in place.
“If that’s how I choose to play, you can’t object…” she stated, finishing up her work.
“Who said I was objec—nh.”
Before I could finish, my lips were captured by Natsuki’s, silencing me instantaneously. Although I was left breathless, the kiss ended far too soon.
I felt the girl’s hands snake their way to right below my chest as the raven-haired girl began to unbutton my tan jacket. Once she was done with that, simply leaving it open since she couldn’t exactly take it off of me, she moved on to my blouse. Before I knew it, my bra was undone as well, but this, unlike the previous two items, was quickly removed and discarded. I heard the rustling of more clothing being removed, and the girl confirmed this when I felt her warm flesh upon my own.
Natsuki took my lips with hers again, both parting enough for our tongues to mesh as I felt her hand wander to my chest and grope my right breast. I moaned into the kiss as I arched my back, forcing my breast further into her palm supplying me with gentle ministrations.
When our lips parted, she took her time tracing my jaw line with her tongue before eventually reaching my ear. Immediately taking my lobe into her mouth, she lightly bit the soft skin before allowing her tongue to have it’s taste as well.
Planting kisses on my fiery skin as she made her way further south, I squirmed with anticipation as she licked the chasm between my breasts.
“Nh…Natsuki…” I couldn’t help but sigh as my body tensed.
I felt her hand leave my breast…
…Her body shift over mine…
And then my veil was lifted.
I opened my eyes to realize I was on my side, clinging tightly to my pillow, and more notably, I was all alone.
“Gun…fire…?” I groggily stammered before awakening fully to the situation, “The thief!”
Quickly rolling out of bed, I threw my pastel violet robe over my nightgown, and slipping into a pair of slippers, I dashed outside.
“Honestly…” I whispered, leaving my post to go fetch a blanket from her closet.
When I returned with the item, I carefully placed it over her, causing her to stir slightly. A flash of that first night I spent with Shizuru crossed my mind, causing me to gasp slightly at the sudden visual memory.
All reminiscing was cut short, however, when I looked up to see a small green creature in the window, his claws wrapped around one of the bras hanging over him.
He was tiny, ugly, had a few pieces of lingerie about his small frame…and was in the middle of stealing one of my precious garments.
Releasing a bloodcurdling scream, I fired as many rounds as my poor revolvers could possibly manage. Once my trigger finger calmed down and the lights flickered on, I stared straight ahead at the demolished window while breathing rather heavily from the shock of it all.
“What-what was that?” Mai asked, totally shaken from the rude awakening. It took her a few seconds to take the current situation in, “EH?! Wait, all the lingerie is gone!”
“I won’t…let it escape!” I bolted out. “Duran!”
A beam of light radiated from the room before giant shards of ice broke through the window. As soon as it shattered, taking some of the building with it, Duran few out with me on his back.
“BAKA!” I heard Mai yell after me, but I was too engrossed with my current objective to even care.
In pursuit, I let Duran have full control over tracking the little bastard down. It didn’t take him too long to catch onto his scent, and I soon spotted the Orphan running across the football field as we flew overhead. Without any command, Duran immediately dropped down in front of the thing, the speed of our decent causing him to slide forward a bit as he shot his legs out to land.
“This is as far as you go,” I dangerously warned the creature while taking aim.
The Orphan sent me a toothy grin, and in the blink of an eye, the entire field was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of similar green monsters. I jerked back at the sight, and gasped as I looked around to see the whole of them surround my Child and me.
“No way!” I shrieked before attempting to compose myself again, “No matter how many of you there are…”
And then they lunged. They all lunged.
Before I could even react, Duran bucked, sending me flying as the Orphans piled on top of him. I landed hard on my shoulder, sliding several feet after I hit the ground.
Grimacing, I sat up, and when I opened my eyes, my Child was nowhere to be seen. “Duran!” I cried out in concern, but my attention was quickly averted when it became aware to me that the creatures had formed into one giant Orphan.
So this is the real form.
Still nursing my sore shoulder as my eyes passed over the large monster, I suddenly caught movement coming from one of its feet, and I was horrified to see Duran struggling to free himself.
Duran.
The next thing I knew, several pink tentacles were flying in my direction. I turned to shoot, but I wasn’t fast enough as they wrapped around my body and hoisted me up off the ground. I tried to fight back, but the thing was just too strong as it continued to try to crush me. Darkness was beginning to take me when the Orphan violently jerked.
“Mikoto, do it now!” I heard a familiar voice command, followed by an animalistic growl, the sound of metal against flesh, and then a horrible pained cry.
The rustling of the wind and my own weightlessness woke me from my near unconsciousness. Luckily for me, Duran had also been freed and came to my rescue before I could crash into the ground.
“This is as much as we’ll help,” I heard Mai call out to me as I landed.
“You guys…” I whispered to myself before getting back to the matter at hand.
“Duran! Load Silver Cartridge…Fire!”
The two missiles flew through the air, erupting into a barrage of ice shards before lodging into the monstrous Orphan. The thing immediately swelled, looking something like a blowfish, before exploding mere seconds later.
I looked up to the sky as I watched it disappear, allowing myself a relieved sigh.
Thank god that’s over…and we don’t have to worry about having anything stolen again either. Hey, speaking of, whatever happened to…No…nononono…
My contented visage shattered revealing one of pure dismay as I snapped my head skyward again. I watched in horror as little pieces of fabric flittered through the air like snow back down to the earth. I held out my hand and caught one of the flakes only to confirm what I was seeing.
“My collection…” I barely managed.
It wasn’t long before my hands clinched into fist and my teeth gritted together. I could feel myself steaming as I roared.
“STUPID BASTARD!”
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