<i>Kurumu</i>
The succubus that was madly in love with him. Some might choose to put their emphasis on the “madly” bit given her behaviour, but Tsukune knew better. Her species fed upon love, and it was a funny thing in a way. He did love her. But not quite the way she wanted. Tsukune was the kind of person that loved all of his friends, but his heart belonged to -
Tsukune blinked. The room was empty. Everyone had dashed off without even a goodbye. His own feet were starting to hurry off towards the door, which made rather a tremendous amount of sense given that he had to find an appropriate gift for the purposes of the game. Tsukune mulled over the situation for a moment: Perhaps - just perhaps - all of the others were as excited about the game as he was feeling at the moment? Yes. It was a perfectly mundane and safe activity to take part in. It wasn’t as if he had anything to worry about. He was just buying a gift for someone close to him. A friend that would - honestly - probably guess that she was the one that got the gift for him anyway.
He saw footprints in the snow, and shook his head. Of course, only one of them was heading in the right direction and he could even see her off in the distance. Dashing off towards the shops. Kyoko was the only other person that knew the area remotely well enough, and so the other three were dashing off to heaven only knows where.
Though come to think of it… Tsukune realised he would be better not going to the same shop as Kyoko in case she was buying something for him. The game was predicated on not knowing who was buying something for whom, so - Screw it. He’d probably see her running into a shop, so he could just head into a different place and wait in there for her to leave. Yes. Yes. That made sense. So long as one of the others didn’t head inside, he’d probably be okay.
Before long he saw her running inside a jewelry shop, which was a little bit surprising but whatever. Kyoko wanted something expensive, it seemed. Well then. Tsukune dashed into the shop next door, checking the change in his pockets to see what he had. The answer: Not much. Certainly not enough for a gift! He clocked himself in the side of his head, and an image of a disappointed Kurumu flashed across his mind. No, no, no! Idiot! Of course he didn’t have any spending money! What was he thinking dashing off like this?! He needed to raise a little money, then buy Kurumu the most perfect gift he could -
But then his breath caught when he saw a sign hanging just above his head. A sale! They had a sale on today? His eyes frantically scanned the price tags, desperately searching out something - anything - that might just fit within his meager budget!
There! He grabbed the item in question and looked at it, imagining Kurumu opening it up. Gasping with delight. Then hugging Tsukune even as he pointed out he might not have bought it for her at all. Of course she was using it as an excuse to rub her chest all over his in an effort to point out how cute and hot she was, but for some reason - For some reason he was having a difficult time imagining the other girls stepping in to stop her. Almost as though he knew they would be too wrapped up in opening their own presents to even notice.
Tsukune turned the camera over in his hand, and wondered why it had been marked down in price. It looked like it was in pretty great condition, so far as he could tell. Funny though. He hadn’t heard of the company. Or, at least, he assumed it was the company name. It looked like a logo. An English word. “C-O-P-Y” he read, and shrugged. It was exactly the amount of change he had in his possession, and he could easily see Kurumu loving it. So. Why not?
<hr>
Moka was rather a timid person most of the time. Completely unaware of the depths of her physical abilities, particularly her strength. But. When the girl wanted to move, she had little problem moving. For the time being, she was running through unfamiliar streets with a particular name crashing through her mind. A person she absolutely had to buy the perfect gift for! Luckily, she’d thought to bring her bank card with her, which meant she really shouldn’t have much of a problem with funds.
<i>Stop! Think for a moment about what you’re doing!</i> a voice insisted. <i>You are being compelled in some way!</i>
It was the voice from her rosary. Her inner self that had been sealed away. At times, Moka felt awfully intimidated by this inner her. She never remembered what happened when the rosary came off, but from what others had told her… The word ‘scary’ didn’t seem powerful enough. Judging by the voice alone, she was clearly a force of nature to be reckoned with.
But not today. It was far too important for her to buy a gift for “that” person. Nothing else mattered right now, and what could be the harm in giving someone a gift? None. There was no harm in it at all.
<i>Idiot!</i> her Inner self barked, and Moka very nearly stopped in her tracks at that. <i>A compulsion is a compulsion, no matter the reason! You must concentrate on my voice. Perhaps if we focused our will we could break the spell and then we could potentially assist the others.</i>
Assist the others? The only assistance any of them needed right now was a nicely wrapped pressie! The only thing was, what to buy and where to buy it from? She didn’t know this part of town, and hadn’t seen any shops that -
She screeched to a halt, in the process causing a pile of snow almost as tall as her to gather right in front of her. Moka turned and stared, sniffing at the air. It wasn’t nearly as tasty as Tsukune’s blood, but the scent within… It was rather sweet! A chocolate shop! Yes! That was perfect! She’d pick out a box of sweets! Oh! They’d love it! Let’s see, what flavour should she get? Hrm… On consideration, that “Tsundere Potion” flavour sounded pretty interesting…
<i>No, wait… Stop! I see it now! I understand what’s happening! You can’t buy that!</i>
Moka nodded and giggled to herself. Yes. She understood what was happening as well. Her Inner self was jealous that she wasn’t going to get any presents. Well! Tough on her! If she wasn’t such a meanie to everyone -
<i>I am not mean! I am simply above almost everyone you have befriended! It is hardly my fault that you have elected to spend your time with such low-class weaklings!</i>
Moka looked at her reflection in the mirror and stuck her tongue out. Gosh. She was certainly feeling a bit rebellious today, wasn’t she? Well. She’d buy the chocolates and wrap them up, and put that person’s name on it when she got back home. By which she meant Tsukune’s place. Obviously.
<hr>
Kurumu let out a cute sneeze and silently cursed the weather. No doubt the stalker was loving this weather to bits, but she preferred things a little bit on the hotter side. It wasn’t exactly helping that she didn’t know her way about this town. But she would persist! She would persevere, and she would find a gift that would show them all up! Sure. By the rules of the game she couldn’t tell anyone what name she had drawn, but she’d at least be able to savour a private victory.
The succubus was also reasonably certain she’d be getting a gift from her one true love. Oh, Tsukune! What wonderful gift would you give when your name didn’t have to be attached to it? You can truly express how you feel without having to worry about what the others might think!
“You felt it, didn’t you?”
Kurumu stopped cold, and even shivered for emphasis. Oh, wonderful. She’d thought the atmosphere had gotten both colder and more stalkerish all of a sudden. Now she knew why.
“That hat was not normal,” Mizore said, tilting her head a little and rolling the damnable lollipop around in her mouth. She extended a finger upwards and caught a single snowflake on the end of her finger.
“… Yeah,” Kurumu begrudgingly admitted. “I felt… something.” Another shiver. “As soon as I drew the name out of the hat, I felt this strange perverted energy wash right over me. Affecting a succubus with hentai magic… It must be pretty potent.”
She bit her lip and tried to hold onto that memory. It was so strange, now that she was thinking about it. It had been her intention to hang back and watch the others to try and figure out the nature of the effect, but once her feet were out of the door it was like - Like she’d just forgotten completely. Even now she could feel it slipping away. The obsession was creeping back in. She had to get a gift. Had to buy a gift for -
Another person would have slapped their face to bring themselves out of it, but Kurumu would probably prefer to just be shot on the spot than risk damaging her perfect face. Instead she pinched her thumb and shook her head. That was close! She’d very nearly continued running off to buy that present she absolutely had to buy for - She pinched her thumb again and concentrated on Mizore.
“Perverted magic?” Mizore said, tilting her head the other direction. “I felt a connection to winter, and… And I have to buy…”
Now, slapping other people’s faces, that was something Kurumu didn’t have a problem with. Not in the slightest. Still. That cold, cold flesh wasn’t quite as satisfying to slap as she had hoped it would be.
“Snap out of it!” Kurumu insisted, grabbing Mizore by the shoulders and giving her a thorough shake. “It’s sneaky, whatever this is. And pretty powerful as well, if it got all of us at once like that. What we have to do now is try to concentrate, and figure out… Uh… Figure out…”
“Figure out what to buy,” Mizore said in a dreamlike voice. Kurumu blinked and felt her arms go slack. There it was again. That perverted energy, sexual magic of a sort she’d never dreamed possible! She watched as Mizore virtually dove into the shadows, and had the extra rare experience of trying to stalk a stalker. If she was going to figure this out, the thing that might work the best was following someone that was under its influence….
<hr>
<b>Gifts so far</b>
To Kurumu, From Tsukune: Copy Camera. Creates life-sized copy of whatever it takes a picture of, though the copies are usually flawed in some way.
To ???, From Moka: Tsundere Potion-flavoured candy. Turns whoever eats it Tsundere for Moka.
- Kyoko buys a gift while thinking about Tsukune’s friends.
- Kurumu and Mizore alternate between who is under the influence of the hat and who is not.
- Hang on, who was Moka buying the gift for again?
- Tsukune returns home and wraps up the present.
- Kurumu follows Mizore and tries to figure out what the deal is. The spell tries to make her stop.
- Something else
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