Story: UY Splitter

Meanwhile, back on Neptune, there was something far more sinister afoot than a mere prank war. It was a game of hope and despair like no other before. Lives hung on a thread, including countless numbers who don't even play, for they are little more than pieces. Throughout the galaxy, many thousands of lives would be made or ruined by these two before they were done.

"Ah, it seems as though you have quite the knack for foot rubs," Oyuki said. Though her voice was a trifle flat, she meant every word. The two of them had just finished their negotiation, and were moving on to discussing broader interests on the Intergalactic Stock Exchange. Right after this foot rub. "I wonder if the original Ataru is talented in this as well? That may explain Lum's infatuation with him."

"Nothing can explain that," said the Ataru fragment rubbing her foot. "Now, as we were saying. Given current market trends, I anticipate a dip in the Snozberry market, which will doubtless invite Mondasco - who do not deal in Snozberry juice - to make a move on Starfame, who do. They've been trying to get their hands on that smaller company for quite some time and a dip in their market value is bound to provide an interesting incentive to purchase."

"Interesting," Oyuki said. She relaxed in her chair and pondered this carefully. "And why would they be interested in Starfame, do tell? I had not heard anything about this."

"It's obvious if you read between the lines," her Ataru remarked. "Given their respective company structure and focus, I'd estimate that Starfame has some sort of technology they use somewhere in their process that Mondasco wants to make use of without having to pay a licensing fee." He squeezed her foot, and it felt like the muscles in it were all melting back into places they ought to be in, but hadn't been for some time. Even Oyuki was hard pressed to resist the sigh of contentment such a feeling brought about. "Of course, how you use that own information for your own investments is entirely up to you. You still seem a little tense, Miss Oyuki. Perhaps a shoulder rub next?"

"Yes, why not?" Oyuki asked. He slipped up behind her with remarkable elegance and speed. Such refinement is rare in a man, and that thought made her think of a question she had been meaning to ask him. "Does the cold not bother you at all, Mister Ataru?"

"Not really," he said. His hands fell upon her shoulders, still covered by her robe. Even from that much contact Oyuki felt she might melt away. "I find it quite bracing."

"How interesting," Oyuki calmly said, and he began to rub. Oh. Oh! Oh my goodness! Recalling her earlier comment, Oyuki wondered if this might be the better answer. "I did some research into human anatomy after your previous visit," she continued, her voice showing absolutely no sign of the rising bliss building up in her body. "Apparently humans have a rather low tolerance for cold. Yet here we have been, sitting in a room that has a minus thirty degrees on your centigrade scale. We have been talking for some considerable time. Lower, if you would please."

He obeyed. A flicker of emotion crossed her normally stoic expression.

"It doesn't bother me," he claimed. "When I am in such intelligent and sincere company."

Now, Oyuki was not your ordinary woman by any stretch of imagination. One might think this means her amazing level of power regarding cold and snow,  but that's rather missing the point. On the surface Oyuki seemed like a bit of a coldly intelligent person, but in actuality she was a little more than this. Oyuki rather enjoyed attention, since she received company so rarely.

"You have expressed knowledge on topics you should not understand," Oyuki continued. The Ataru rubbing her back slipped his hands back up before Oyuki could ask him to do so, lightly caressing the side of her neck. Those warm hands slipped under the collar of her robe, and the fingertips danced slightly on stress points she didn't even know she had. "The Intergalactic Stock Exchange is quite a lot more complicated and involved than the one on Earth. Yet you have ascertained facts that took a dozen experts a few hours of discussion to determine within one hour."

"Pardon me for asking, but what might your point be?" Ataru whispered in her ear. His breath was hot, but oddly pleasant.

"If Ataru Moroboshi was even half as intelligent as this... He would be a good deal more wealthy and respected on his own planet. Whatever you are, you are not an aspect of Ataru Moroboshi. You do not represent a fragment of him."

"And why might that be?" he asked. Her robe slipped from her shoulder, leaving her in only her ice blue bikini. He began to rub her skin directly. Oyuki made no attempt to resist, nor did she try to stop him in anyway. This shoulder rub was divine. Yet she still had to know, still had to ask.

"I think you are reading my mind," Oyuki suggested. "Not consciously, but it might explain a lot of peculiarities about your behaviour. And why the other versions of you are behaving the way they are. Each of them is attuned to a different girl. In my case, granting you a better tolerance for cold weather. Does this sound congruent?"

"I suppose it is a hypothesis worth consideration," Ataru agreed. "Though it does raise the question of how to test it for veracity. Any test you might devise, I could cheat with ease. That is to say, if you attempt to trick me into revealing that I am a mind reader, whether I am or not the outcome will stay the same."

"If you are, then you will read my mind and know it is a trick," Oyuki agreed, seeing the inherent logic in what he was saying. "So you will behave as though you are not, in accordance with what the test anticipates if you are not a mind reader. Please do not stop rubbing there."

This whole situation felt so thoroughly bizarre. She was sitting in her bikini, with a simulacrum of her friend's fiance behind her rubbing her shoulders, and she would give up absolutely everything she had if it meant she could make this feeling last a moment longer. Yet she remained as cool as the room they were sitting in. That was simply who Oyuki was: cool. Calm. Emotionless and detached.

"What do you want?" Oyuki whispered to him. "What is really happening? With you and the other clones?"

"The same thing Ataru's always wanted," was the answer. "A happy harem of pretty girls!"

"Oh!" Oyuki said. That... Answered a lot less than she was expecting it to. How anti-climactic. "In that case, I believe we should return to our earlier negotiation. We may have some new terms to discuss."

Including, but not limited to, a better look at that teleporter. Immediately following what was gradually turning into a full body massage, of course.

<hr>
Elsewhere on Neptune, more specifically Oyuki's gym. It's rather an impressive feat when you get right down to it. Carving out an entire gym from ice, and making it usable. Oh sure, the machinery isn't ice, but at this temperature you'd expect it to get quite stiff and hard to use. Not so here! Only the best for Oyuki.

Not that she used it nearly as much as Benten did at any rate. The tough biker chick liked to use it as an excuse to hang around her Ice Queen friend. Gossip a bit, chew the fat. Maybe wrestle some snow golems while she was here, keep her skills on the level. Good bit of multitasking if she did say so herself. Hang out with her friend and also keep fit.

Right now though? She was getting her butt creamed. Benten was a tough chick. You know the kind. Can't ever back down from a challenge. Not no how, not no way! She expected Moroboshi - or some transporter clone of him - to be a pushover. Nuh uh! First time she grabbed his shoulders and tried to push him back, it was like trying to push a mountain!

"Is that all you got?" he taunted, easily making her slide backwards towards the outer circle of the ring. "Cuz if so, I'm about to spank you silly and that's a promise."

"Momma always told me," Benten grunted. "Never make a promise you can't keep!"

She shifted her weight and turned his own strength against him. Ha! Served him right, falling on the floor like that! Completely undignified pose. Face first, ass in the air! His very... nice and surprisingly shapely ass. And when he spread his legs a little wider apart just now, she was pretty sure she could see the outline of his - Gosh, but he was packing some heat!

Benten shook her head. Huh! Weird. She never usually checked out guys. Hell, even Rei didn't get a reaction out of her, and she intellectually knew that he was hunk of the universe. When he wasn't literally a giant cow. Guys didn't tend to get her motor running, so why this guy?

"Lucky! Fluke!" Ataru protested. He rolled over and kipped up. "Best two out of three?"

"Your funeral buddy," Benten grinned. "I can go all night long."

"Baby, you ain't seen half of my stamina yet."

Heh! This was gonna be more fun than she was thinking.

1. Back with Ryunosuke, her dad shows up to interfere in the notadate.
2. Sakura and her Ataru simulate a date to lure out a spirit.
3. Oyuki continues her investigation while allowing herself to be seduced.
4. Lum and Shinobu wind up at Ran's spaceship for some reason.
5. Something else