Patreon Stories - March

Long Live Lelouch

Kallen Kozuki sat in a cell hugging her knees, a deep set scowl marking her pretty face. So this was it, then? After everything they'd been through, after everything they'd done, here she was sitting in another damned cell. At least this time she was in a straightjacket rather than that dress. Honestly, that hadn't suited her at all. He was pretty sure that was someone's pervy idea of trying to demean the important prisoner.

In comparison to that dumb thing, a straightjacket was much better. Way less showy, and she might actually be more mobile in this than she was in that dress.

"Kozuki, his Majesty wishes to see you."

Kallen's eyes flicked up to the guard, taking note of the rings around his eyes. Oh yes, those rings. It had taken her a while to spot them, but once she knew where to look it became obvious. Almost trivial, really. Those under the irresistible influence of his Majesty's Geass.

"His Majesty can kiss my ass," Kallen spat. But, futile. She knew it was pointless trying to resist at this point. There was nowhere for her to run, nowhere to hide, no way to fight. Her friends and allies were in an assortment of other cells nearby, and if she did manage to break free and cause some trouble, she was certain they would be put on the chopping block to lure her out.

That certainty hadn't existed a week ago. Now, she was absolutely sure of it. For the first time in her life, the fight had been stomped out of her. Eight years. It took her eight years to get to this point. She'd had a hand in earning the freedom of the Japanese people, but in the process the entire human race had been put under the heel of the boy she once thought she loved.

"Greetings, Kallen!" Lelouch said. There he was. The 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. Sitting on his throne. Next to him, his cyborg companion. The white and gold both suited him, and didn't at the same time. That is to say, the way he moved made it seem effortless but it contrasted horribly with the image she had of him in her memories. "I do hope the guards weren't too rough with you."

"Oh no, they were perfectly polite." Biting sarcasm was the only weapon she had left. "So, how've you been? I'm sure you've been busy, crushing dissenting opinions, monopolising the media to broadcast whatever propaganda you want... Oh, and topping it off by bathing in the blood of your enemies."

"Yes, yes, let your vitriol spill freely," Lelouch said. Dismissively. That made her want to lunge forward by itself! "I have earned it, and worse besides."

"Oho, now that you're asking for it, I don't want to insult you anymore," Kallen said. "Though it makes me wonder - what do you want now?"

"I want a gentler world." When he said that, Kallen scoffed. "It's true, it's true. I even had a plan to make it happen... a plan that reality seems quite insistent on keeping from working as I intended."

Now, that made Kallen plenty happy. This mad tyrant's plan was being stopped cold, huh? Well, good! Whatever he meant by a gentler world was probably a dystopia with him at the top anyway. Ruling over everyone, using that power of his to puppet the entirety of humanity at his will...

"It is a Gordian knot," Lelouch continued. "And I am bereft of sword to cleave it in two. The Zero Requiem was supposed to do so - but no, alas, it will not be enough. There is too much history, too much distaste, too many monsters lurking in the wings for me to effectively contend with as quickly as I had hoped. It will take time. Perhaps it will take me the rest of my life... Tsk! And that will be longer than I had thought!"

"Yeah, bullshit, it sounds to me like power is all you really want," Kallen said. "You're just trying to justify it all to yourself, the same as every power mad tyrant there ever was."

"Perhaps," Lelouch said, snapping his fingers. "Alas, it has become apparent that the hard work I intend to put into untying this enormous and unwieldy knot of global politics will require assistance and companionship."

Gottwald stepped forward just then, and that weird mechanical thing over his eye slid away from it. A moment later Kallen was struck by -

"I want answers"

Huh? A new memory slotted itself into her brain. Herself and Lelouch at Ashford Academy. Him appearing out of nowhere, and then asking her questions...

"Oh, I see," Kallen grumbled. "That's what it was, huh? You used your Geass to interrogate me."

"Indeed I did," Lelouch said. He nodded, and Jeremiah left the room with this weird smile on his face. Risky thing to do when dealing with a dangerous prisoner like her. Leaving them alone like this. Unless... No, that couldn't be it. Didn't his Geass only work on a person once? "That's why, Kallen, I command you to embrace your true feelings for me."

Imagine a bomb going off in your chest. Except it doesn't kill you or hurt you. Just imagine what it would feel like if, somehow, your body contained it completely. That's what it felt like for Kallen. Looking up at Lelouch from the ground, she stared up at his handsome face in true wonder. He was... really handsome, wasn't he? So smart, and dashing. Charismatic to the point he barely needed that Geass to get people to do what he wanted.

He knelt down next to her, placing his face near hers. She leaned in and kissed him deeply, even deeper than their kiss at Ashford. Longer, too. Back then there had been a risk. The snipers might have thought she'd been taken by his Geass. His hand snaked around her back and found the series of clasps keeping her restrained, undoing them one by one with surprisingly nimble fingers. When her arms were free enough, she shrugged the rest of the straightjacket off, struggling to get them free so she could wrap her arms around his head, pulling him closer and closer to her, revelling in this feeling and hoping it would never, ever end.

Alas, it did. He pulled away, and she let a needy whine escape her lips. The beautiful redhead whimpering in a way she would have once found pathetic.

"Hrmph, I thought as much," Lelouch said. "Your feelings for me weren't cut down by my cruelty after all. Kallen, you are a stunning woman. Strong, intelligent, gorgeous. Having you languish in a cell hating the one you adore is a hell I cannot subject you to. Become my Empress, and together we shall create the gentler world of my dreams."

"Yes, your Majesty," Kallen replied without a moment's thought. "I love you! I love you so much, how could I do anything else?"

He seemed uncomfortable about that. Of course. Such feelings were alien and new to him. That was fine. She intended to teach him. Oh, she'd have so much fun teaching him! He gestured to a door to the side of the room.

"You may change in there," he instructed. "It would hardly do for an Empress to be as attired as you are now."

Indeed, she hurried off to the room, eager to make a good impression on him. Kallen knew she was pretty, of course. She'd been a bit too much of a tomboy (and resistance fighter against an evil Empire) to do something as mundane as flirt with boys, but she knew what she had going for her. Within the room she found a stunning dress hanging from a rack, and a mirror adorned with all manner of makeup equipment and hairstyling... Oh, how wonderful! Everything that she might need!

The remaining portions of the straightjacket still hugging her waist were removed and dropped to the floor without a care, leaving her in her underwear striding a cross the room, drinking in the dress.

It was a bright red, of course. Kallen suited that colour well. Although when she put it on, she noticed that there was something strange about the collar. It naturally flared out, leaving her shoulders bare (in fact, not even touching them) and making no effort to hide the top half of her breasts.

There was a black belt tied around her waist with a series of hearts across it. While wearing the dress, the ends of that belt naturally fell in front of her legs, and - Ah! Now Kallen understood. This collar's shape, the entire upper half of the dress was intended to look like a giant heart! How elaborate, how very clever.

And it also gave her a good idea of how to arrange her hair... Oh, Lelouch would be thrilled at how clever she was being! Or perhaps he'd already seen through it, and anticipated this reaction! Either way, she could hardly wait to see his face!

"Knock knock."

"Yeah, yeah..." Kallen replied. No, wait. That was wrong. She should be more like an Empress now, right? "You may enter."

It was C.C. The mysterious immortal witch who was Lelouch's closest ally. A beauty in her own right, with distinctive green hair that gave her an ethereal quality. On seeing Kallen, she whistled. "Not bad," C.C. said. "As for your hair... Oh, I see what you're going for. Allow me."

"Most kind," Kallen replied. "What business do you have with your Empress?"

"You're really getting into this, aren't you?" C.C. mused. She grabbed a brush and started to carefully mould Kallen's hair, sticking in hairpins and folding hair over them to keep them hidden. "Lelouch asked me to contract with you. For some reason, he seems to think that giving you the Power of Kings would make things smoother."

"Should that not be the Power of Queens?" Kallen quipped. "Oh, very well. If he is so insistent that I gain that power, then I suppose I shall have to."

"There is another matter," C.C. said. "Someone that Lelouch wants you to deal with, as your first duty as Empress."

Ohoho, her darling Lelouch was already asking her to take on important duties? Very well then! She would first floor him by fulfilling this duty to the utmost - and then stun him with her new appearance! C.C. finished her new hairstyle, and a wicked grin fell upon Kallen's face. She could hardly wait to show this off!

=====

Shirley Fenette is almost the living image of the girl next door. You know, the nice and down to earth beauty who was perfectly ordinary, well meaning, a little bit on the clumsy side and always slipped into a bossy tone when someone clearly wasn't living up to their full potential.

The tragedy of her life was simply this - she didn't deserve to be pulled into the situation that she'd been pulled into. Her father's death. Discovering that the boy she liked was actually Zero. Shooting Villetta to keep that secret.

In some worlds, she died as a consequence of getting drawn in yet further into this web of tragedy. In others still, she barely managed to avoid it. This was one of the latter worlds. She'd kept quiet this whole time. Lelouch was Zero. She'd been silent about it, supporting him in her own way and not believing what she saw on the news about him. Simply because - because she knew it herself, for a fact. She knew what the real Lelouch was like. She knew he wasn't a monster, she knew he wasn't a villain.

Funny thing how wrong people can be about the things they 'know', huh? Lelouch turning up as the new Emperor wasn't on her bingo card. Rivalz was actually more stunned than she was, barely able to process it.

The other thing not on her bingo card was sitting here, in Pendragon, at the personal request of his Majesty. She was pretty sure the others got invites too, but for some reason they were being kept seperate. Which was weird. Super weird. Shirley had begun to pace the room, taking note of a vase that probably cost more than her parents had made in their entire life. Then, when she turned, her sleeve caught it nad she wound up spending the next half minute juggling it between her hands trying to keep it from falling to the floor.

"Woah! Woah! Wooooah!" she yelled, hands moving faster than they did when she was in the middle of a swimming race. Desperation, frantic and manic energy, somehow keeping the expensive, breakable - and I repeat expensive item from falling to the floor somehow, returning it to its rightful place. "Phew... Just about gave me a heart attack."

"Hohohoho, typical Shirley, such a clumsy well meaning girl," a familiar voice said in an unfamiliar tone. "Speaking of heart attacks, my dear, what do you think of my new look?"

Shirley turned to see - Kallen, in a weird dress with a strong heart motif, her crimson hair dressed up into a heart shape itself. "Huh?" Shirley grunted in confusion. "Wh-what the heck, Kallen? Is that you?"

"It is, indeed," Kallen curtseyed. "Do you like it? My new look, as the Empress of Hearts. Together, Lelouch and I shall change Britannia - no, the world itself for the better. We shall solve world hunger, eradicate poverty, push for humanity to reach its truest heights! For now, the people hate him, but in time... in time they shall adore him as I do. Of that, you have my word!"

This was really weird. Kallen wasn't acting like herself. Which, uh... didn't mean much now that Shirley was thinking about it? They'd first met when Kallen was pretending to be a sickly nobleman's daughter. Quiet, reserved, a little shy, kept to herself most of the time. Then during the Black Rebellion she'd revealed her true self, a brash outspoken rebel, a key member of the Black Knights.

The behaviour she was showing now was very much nothing like what Shirley would expect from either of those personas. She could understand one as going undercover, but the other one...?

"As I recall, Shirley, you used to have quite the crush on our Emperor," Kallen said. "How do you feel about him now?"

"I think..." Shirley said, stopping to really think about it. What did she think? Based on Kallen being here helping Lelouch out, and what she knew of Lelouch himself... "I think you're up to something else. This whole thing is a big plan to trick everyone, isn't it?"

"A trick...?" Kallen asked, suddenly inside Shirley's personal space. Oh gosh! The way she was being looked at just now, it was like - it was like she was being stared down on from a great height, even though the two girls were just as tall. "Or a treat."

A flash came from Kallen's left eye. Something in Shirley's brain shifted, ever so slightly. She wobbled, she gasped, she fell into Kallen's surprisingly strong, yet gentle grip.

"Hrmph," Kallen snorted. "I wouldn't think this would be necessary to use on you, but your opinion on our beloved might have changed a little due to his recent actions."

Her opinion? On Lelouch? Ohhh... Shirley swallowed nervously. How did she feel about him? The answer was obvious. Despite everything, she adored him. With all her heart and soul. If she died and became reborn, then she would fall in love with him again and again. It was a bottomless well, she could forgive anything, would do anything for him. That's what she felt.

"His Majesty desires you as his Third Empress, Shirley Fennete," Kallen chuckled to herself. A snap of her fingers, and a dress was brought into the room. It was orange, to match Shirley's hair, with a black trim around its edges. And those edges looked sharp, extremely sharp, especially when compared to the rounder edges of Kallen's dress. It was a shoulderless dress with its collar snugly wrapping around Shirley's neck, almost like it was a point. From there it flared out, showing a hint of side-boob, before reaching the middle - and then it sort of shrunk again, the edges coming closer and closer until they too reached a point a little above her knees

A diamond shaped dress. It sparkled like a diamond too, and she was given matching earrings to go with them. Ah, how pretty. Almost as pretty as First Empress Kallen...

"To put it simply, my Geass makes anyone I make eye contact with fall madly in love with our amazing Emperor," Kallen smirked.

"Oh, is that so?" Shirley asked. "Well, I do love him. Love him lots! But I don't want to be his Third Empress, I want him all to myself!"

"Shush now," Kallen whispered. "We can discuss the details later on. For now, It's time for you to dress. You do want to impress him, don't you?"

Hrmph! Of course she was! She'd gladly get herself dressed up to properly impress Lelouch, and definitely show Kallen up! Oh, but Shirley was still bristling a little at the whole Third Empress thing. It was making her wonder, too. If she was Third and Kallen was First, who was the second?

As if in answer, a green haired beauty strolled into the room and made Shirley a quite unusual offer. An offer which would, by sheer accident, make her change her mind about sharing Lelouch with others.
=====

Milly Ashford had come far hadn't she? From the president of a student council all the way to here! She'd risen fast in the journalistic world, owing to her natural charisma, photogenic looks and overflowing confidence. Known internationally, the one that even broke the news of Zero's death to the whole world, she was the success story of Ashford Academy!

...

Sure didn't feel like it when she was standing around waiting for an interview with his Majesty! Ooh, Milly was pacing the room, biting on her pencil, genuinely upset at that boy. She had half a mind to - Oh! She didn't even know! It went without saying that she had to be careful, had to play to the narrative that his Majesty wanted at all times. Suppress stories he didn't want out, highlight stories he wanted the public to know about. Now, he would certainly go out of his way to explain (or rather, his mooks would explain) that one set of stories were 'true' and the others were 'only half the story' and shouldn't be released in case it gave the public the 'wrong impression'. Yeah. Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Be the arbiter of truth, see how long it lasts before people start to see through the nonsense and -

And what? Rebel? They'd be flattened by a FLEIJA warhead before they knew what was happening. That was the problem really. It was too much to go against. No nation, no resistance movement could take the risk. Because, the second they knew your hometown? Wiped from the face of the planet Earth. He hadn't actually done that yet, but the sheer threat of it was too much. Given what Lelouch had done to rise in power...

That bothered her too, and was riling her up yet again. In fact, it kept on riling her up when she started thinking about FLEIJA. The way he got into this position of power in the first place. All that time, her keeping his secret, keeping him safe and what does he do? Step out on stage and bend everyone to his will in the blink of an eye! She still didn't know how he made them all submit like that, Odysseus was literally mid-sentence asking Lelouch to cut that out when all of a sudden he's going 'All hail Lelouch!' with the rest of the room!

Eerie. Creepy. Unsettling. She didn't like it. She didn't care for it, and she was going to get some answers. Even if she couldn't publish them, she'd know herself. Although, there was one thing she was kind of wondering about.

"What's that dress doing over there?" she asked aloud, regarding the strange black dress hanging on a delicate yet expensive looking hangar at the back of the room.

"Oh, that's for the Fourth Empress," said the voice of Shirley Fenette. Huh?! Milly whirled around, and couldn't believe her eyes! Shirley! Dressed up like a walking diamond! With her hair done up to a point at the top of her head, perfectly sized to make her entire head look like a giant diamond! And next to her was, of all people, Kallen Stadtfeld/Kozuki, dressed up in a weirdly erotic heart shaped dress with heart shaped hair! If they'd shown up like that in the student council days, Milly would have mocked them mercilessly, teased them for days. This would have given her material for a lifetime! But here, in the Imperial palace, it was yet another weird thing that was completely throwing her off.

Nonetheless. She had to get one jab out. She was still Milly, after all.

"My, my Shirley. I always said your figure was worth more than a diamond, and now we can see how nicely you cut it up!" Milly said, prompting Shirley to laugh into the back of her hand. "And as for you, Kallen, I always thought you'd be a good heartbreaker, not a heart itself."

The two girls then began to stalk around Milly, and - okay, this was making her a bit nervous. Like sharks circling a raft lost at sea.

"What do you think of his Majesty?" Kallen asked pointedly.

"Be honest now," Shirley added. "You won't be judged for speaking your mind, not here. In private."

Protip. If you're asked to speak candidly in private when you're standing in someone's palace, you don't tell a damn word of the truth. Not if you want to live the next day, not if you have a nounce of common sense about you.

Luckily, Milly Ashford had very little common sense to speak of, and so she could freely speak her mind.

"I think he's being a stubborn idiot, that's what I think!" Milly said. "That goofball, what was he thinking, taking over the world like that? Does he think he's a Saturday morning cartoon villain or what?"

"That was a little of the aesthetic he was going for," Kallen said.

"Not so much anymore though," Shirley said. "He's going to need to correct that image a bit, and for that we'll need your help."

Before Milly could make her displeasure at such a notion known, or ask what the hell had gotten these two girls to throw in with him like that - A question made it quite clear.

"Do you like him?" Kallen asked.

"Do you love him?" Shirley corrected.

"Huh? Love Lelou- Oh, I get it. You're both spellbound by his charm! Well, he did learn from the best, didn't he? That vice president of ours is my understudy, after a fashion. He learned everything he knows about being flamboyantly charismatic from yours truly."

"We ask because if you didn't... you do now." Kallen said with a bright and glorious smile, that was suddenly replaced with - with sheer and total adoration towards Lelouch vi Britannia. Of course. Of course! It made so much sense, all of a sudden! Why shouldn't she adore him? Why shouldn't she love him? He was wonderful, glorious, so smart and perfect in every way! Honestly now, these two girls weren't good enough to be his Empresses -

"And now you're okay with sharing him with us," Shirley said, suddenly entering Milly's line of sight. Do you know, it was funny, but she was completely and totally right. Why not share him with these two busty beauties? "That is the nature of my Geass, after all. Welcome aboard, Empress Number Four."

"Let's get you ready to see his Majesty," Shirley giggled.

And Milly couldn't wait.
======

Heavy lies the head that wears the crown. Lelouch felt that now more than ever. He was certain beyond reason that his position as Emperor was safe for as long as he wanted it. The trouble was, the amount of time he wanted it could only be expressed as a negative value. Take him off the throne yesterday! He hated this! Hated this power that he had to use! The responsibility that weighed upon him! The knowledge, the - Everything!

It was easy to see why this position might drive others to madness. He had no great ambition for himself. The instant he'd set everything up the way he needed it, he'd gladly die without a second thought. The Zero Requiem was meant to satisfy that urge, that drive, that need.

But now, after seeing every entanglement that needed to be resolved, every crisis that would pop up within weeks or months of his death... He wasn't quite so eager anymore. Easy to say that you would draw the world's hatred upon yourself. However, people fight for reasons other than hate. Pride. Food. Land. There are other considerations at play here. While solving the history of mutual hate would solve some of this, it wouldn't solve everything. Or even close to it.

He had hoped three months would be enough. Six at most. He should have been able to set things up the way he needed. However... however, this would take years to untangle to his satisfaction. Decades, possibly. Even with the allies he had, it would be unthinkable to let this go within a year, however he might feel on the matter.

And in the meantime, good men and women would rot in his jail. The very people he'd intended to use to fix the world after his death would be in no mental or physical condition to do anything about it.

What he needed was an excuse. A reason to let them out of prison. One might think that he's the Emperor, he could just order it so, and that would be that. But no. That was the one thing all tyrants were slaves to. The fear of losing their power, or authority. Even those dictators who might genuinely have benevolent intentions are trapped by it. The fear that they might lose respect, that their image would be diminished by doing what they wish to do to help people.

But Lelouch wasn't going to have his hands tied so easily. He was going to get them out of jail, and have them help him rebuild the world so it could stand tall after his death.

C.C. had suggested his first step. After all, she'd long warned him that the Power of Kings cursed its bearers to a lifetime of loneliness. Why not use it to ensure he was never lonely again?

"Presenting, Empresses One through Four!"

And here they were now. His Empresses. How weary it was to think that he was, however inadvertently, following in his father's damned footsteps in having multiple wives. However, the sight of them cast such considerations to the winds. And why shouldn't it? They were all visions of loveliness.

Kallen, his first Empress. The Queen of Hearts, adorned in that gorgeous heart themed dress he'd discovered in the palace somewhere had been the inspiration for the theme. Playing cards rather than chess. Yes, that worked quite well. Her hair had been further adorned since he had seen her last, with more heart decorations in her hair. Further, the outer section of her hair had been dyed white, while the inside was still the same radiant crimson as before.

C.C., his second Empress. The Queen of Spades, wearing a slinky black dress comprising a straight miniskirt and a large round top that hugged her breasts while leaving everything above them completely exposed. Indeed, a club shaped dress, while her hair had that same distinct rounded top. How fitting for her, as she had been there all this time putting in the hard work by his side as his accomplice.

Shirley, his third Empress, The Queen of Diamonds. She had taught him over and over how valuable things truly were in this world, things that you could not put a monetary value on. And now, seeing her here in this slinky dress, he felt a strange awareness of her that he had not felt before. Not just a friend, but... Yes, he had made a smart decision here. To place greater emphasis upon her value, her hair had diamond attachments adorning it, making her sparkle all the brighter.

And lastly, Milly as his fourth Empress, the Queen of Clubs. She too was wearing a jet black suit, with large round shoulder pads and a slinky black dress that resembled her suit. Atop her head, her normally blonde hair had been dyed jet black, and curled up to help complete the look. Amazing, elegant, stylish! Truly astounding.

All four of them were magnificent. A keen distraction. What had he said to Kallen, once upon a time? A man needs a woman for comfort. Well, here he had four of them, and even he could tell that they were looking at him with hearts in their eyes.

"You see?" C.C. said, gesturing to the girls around her. "You didn't think this would work, did you?"

"I admit to some scepticism, but now I see the benefits of your suggestion," Lelouch admitted. "Very well then! Kallen, from now on you shall be Empress Heart!"

Kallen curtseyed. "Of course, my beloved."

"C.C. you shall be Empress Spade!"

"You don't need to do the other two, I think we get the - "

Ignoring her, Lelouch continued. "Shirley, you shall be Empress Diamond, and Milly shall be Empress Club! Now, my Empresses. Come to me, together we shall discuss the future of the planet!"

"Can that wait a little longer, Lelou sweetie?" Empress Club asked. "The girls and I were thinking this would be a good time to... discuss a few things in a private setting."

Is that so? Well, given the hungry look in their eyes, Lelouch could hardly disagree with them. A man needs comfort every now and then, and these women would be capable of providing him with all the comfort he could ever need.




Danganronpa - The Ultimate Playboy

Hello there. I'm Makoto Naegi. A pretty ordinary guy on the surface, but I've received a special invitation that doesn't go to just anyone. Have you ever heard of Hope's Peak Academy? It's a school where graduation might as well be a signed guarantee of success. To understand better how big a deal this is? For a school at that level, they don't let anyone in - they scout their students. They find the very best in an area of expertise, and then they send out an invitation. I can't imagine anyone would turn it down.

So, if you're the best baseball player of your generation, like Leon Kuwata who has been scouted by professional teams already, they'll send you an invite. Or you could be a talented painter, or computer programmer, or any skill at all. If your talent extends up above what normal people would be capable of, Hope's Peak wants you. Their reputation is sparkling, their standards impeccable.

And they invited a perfectly ordinary, normal looking guy like me. Seems weird, right? I sure thought so! I'd always wanted to attend Hope's Peak, but... Well, there's only one thing I'm good at, and it's a talent I try not to use, or let anyone know about. Imagine my surprise to learn the truth.

The Ultimate Lucky Student. That's what the invite said about me. They picked me out of a lottery of all students in Japan and my name came up. Yeah, that's lucky alright. No doubt about it. Although I had to wonder what kind of talent luck is supposed to be, anyway. My other talent, while kinda embarrassing, almost felt more worthy of a place like Hope's Peak.

...

I should probably explain what that means, right? Fine, fine. It's hard to go any further without saying it. Though it will make me sound conceited, arrogant, cocky or boastful. It's The Ultimate Playboy. That's the name I gave this secret talent of mine. I hear you laughing at the back there! No, iit's fine, I'd laugh too. Look at me. I'm not that tall, my physique isn't obviously rippling with muscles, I don't give off the impression of the playboy type. Yet there it is. I am very convinced that this is my true Ultimate Talent.

I'll explain it in a little more detail. To start with, think about other things you'd more easily accept as Ultimate Talents. Like baseball, let's stick with that. Now, in order for a player to be really good at baseball they're going to need to be good at a whole bunch of things. Running, catching, pitching, they'll need good strength and precision, excellent hand eye coordination and reaction time. That's by no means an exhaustive list, I'm sure someone that knows more about baseball than me can make it twice as long - but you get the idea. They're not just "good at baseball". They're good at a whole bunch of other things that happen to make them good at baseball.

Mine is the same. It has multiple facets to it that let me be a hypothetical Ultimate Playboy. For example, I have what you might call an almost supernatural understanding of the fairer sex. It's something I've always had. I can intuit the mood a woman is in, her general likes and dislikes, her tastes, her habits. I can't really help this one.

The second aspect is probably more due to my overall appearance than anything else. I'm pretty unremarkable. Cute, some might say, if they were being generous. It kind of makes me seem completely harmless. Which I am! Though by choice, believe me. I've found myself in countless situations where it would have been easy to take advantage simply because the woman I'm talking with completely drops her guard around me.

As for the third aspect, that's something my girlfriend noticed. Oh, right. I have a girlfriend. We've been dating for a few years now. Sayaka Maizono, who had also been invited to Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Pop Sensation. Yep. I'm dating an idol.

For those of you not aware, that is also a fairly big deal. Pop idols aren't meant to date. It tarnishes their image, and can turn fans against them. And yet, there I am. I've been caught on dates with her by her fans, and they don't pay me any mind at all. Harmless. Totally harmless.  That's the second aspect coming into play. Hold on, I'm going on a tangent here - the third aspect was... how did Sayaka put it?

Ah. Underneath the desk in my room, Sayaka pulls her mouth off my dick and smiles up at me with that impossibly infectious smile of hers. Bright, radiant, lights up a room. Then, with that knowing cheeky way she talked, she said -

"Your body fluids contain some kind of pheromone that makes women nice and wet, and may also contain mildly addictive qualities." Sayaka punctuated her observation with that playful giggle of hers. "At least, that's my hypothesis."

"Huh," I said. "How did you know I was internally cataloguing my secret talent?"

"I'm psychic!" Sayaka said. Then resumed blowing me without a second thought. This, incidentally, is why I try to keep this hidden. I didn't mean to do this to her. It's one of those classic 'one thing led to another situations. Which ended in me getting regular blowjobs from the Ultimate Pop Sensation.

It all started with that bird landing in our courtyard at middle school. I tried to help it get away, then afterwards noticed Sayaka looking at me. I picked up that she had a crush on me, we started talking, discovered we had stuff in common, and then things went from there. I could do this to almost any woman I found attractive. I've sort of tested it out. Never going all the way, but... yeah, it definitely works, for sure. Maybe seventy five percent of women wold absolutely fall for me if I pushed for it. Huh? That last quarter? Well... some plain aren't interested in men at all, others have some sort of health issue, be it mental or physical, and others have kinks that I can't tap into.

Anyway, some of you are asking - nay, demanding - to know why I've not used this so called talent to seduce my way into the panties of every cute girl I know. Well, to start with, none of them I know hold a candle to Sayaka. More importantly? I'm happy with just her. Going for more felt greedy, you know? That's just the kind of guy that I am. Hah! There's a joke, right? The self proclaimed 'Ultimate Playboy' is monogamous.

Needless to say, but that was going to change. It was going to change right before my eyes. I'd almost say by my own volition, but... that wouldn't quite be true. It would change when I got a taste of something that should be anathema to a place like Hope's Peak, said to be the guiding beacon for the country's future.

It changed when I got a taste of despair.

======

I was a bundle of nerves on stepping through the front door of this famous building that first time. Honestly, when I did it felt like reality itself was falling away from me, like everything was getting distorted. Twisted up, changing beneath my feet. A mere dizzy spell, but I caught myself in time. I'd seen the outside often enough, but the interior was a whole other matter. This was it. Here we go. Ah? My phone rang in my pocket. Of course, I pulled it out.A message from Sayaka. She'd arrived a bit ahead of me and sent a picture of the class.

"Really, Sayaka?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head while returning the phone to my pocket. It was a picture of the girls in class. A cute tanned girl, a gothic chick, a small adorable shy girl, a pale skinned beauty - I could name most of them but that last due to the research I'd done on this year's class. Aoi Asahina, Celestia Ludenberg and Chihiro Fujisaki. This one slipped the net apparently. No matter. I'd find out who they were in good time, when the class introduced itself.

But I knew why Sayaka was showing it to me. She knew about my secret talent and was trying to whet my appetite. She'd got it into her head that they needed to 'test it out' to make sure it wasn't just a series of coincidences, and would often point out 'suitable candidates'. I gotta give it to her, if anyone would be a 'suitable candidate' it would have to be an Ultimate. But... I don't feel the need to do that. What kinda guy wouldn't be satisfied with having the Ultimate Pop Sensation as their girlfriend? Going for more girlfriends is kind of greedy, you know?

At least, that's how I felt at the time.

I strode into class with my head held high - and immediately faceplanted. Great start, Makoto. nailed that first impression. A hand was offered to help me to my feet.

"Greetings!" yelled the boy who had helped me up. "My name is Kyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate Moral Compass! Please introduce yourself to the class, so that we may begin fully enjoying the springtime of our youths together!"

"Makoto Naegi," I answered right away. This guy sure did have the commanding presence the Ultimate Moral Compass ought to have. It already felt like I'd regret it if I set a foot out of line. "The Ultimate Lucky Student!"

"Tsk, Ultimate Lucky Student?" a voice at the front of the class said. A boy wearing glasses, who peered at me like I was the muck scraped off the bottom of his shoe. Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny "You win out of a lottery of names, and that's how you're allowed to enter this prestigious school, isn't that right? You do know, that the majority of lottery winners wind up in an even worse financial situation than they started, don't you?"

"But of course," Celestia tittered into the back of her hand. Was that meant to be a French accent? "That is because those not used to such wealth will overestimate how much they have to spend. I do not believe Makoto will be so foolish as to squander this rare opportunity."

I was getting a really good look around the classroom now. We were still ten minutes from the first bell, and I could see a couple of seats were still empty. I must be the third last to arrive. So this would be the class I would be spending time with over the course of the next year? You could already tell there were some cliques forming. Boys settling in among boys, girls settling in among girls. Despite myself, my attention primarily went to the girls of the class. Sayaka, obviously, I knew very, very well. Then there was Aoi, the Ultimate Swimmer. Fit, athletic, chipper and upbeat. The sort of girl who could make friends with almost anyone, and would passionately defend her closest friends at the drop of a hat. She'd buddied up to a true mountain of a girl, the largest person in class, Sakura Ogami. The Ultimate Martial Artist. She had bulging muscles in places I didn't know muscles could bulge. She looked like she could fold a person in half by accident, and her outer appearance truly earned her the nickname 'ogre'. However, that was only skin deep. My own talent with women saw something else deeper down. Gentle, warm, courageous. A beautiful soul. Stunning in its own way. Next was Celestia, The Ultimate Gambler. Clever, but hiding from her true self. Ashamed of... something about herself, I can't tell what yet, and wearing this personality like a mask to hide it.

Chihiro was next, and again surface level was deceptive. You see, Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer, may look like a girl. A rather small, thin, delicate little thing that might blow away in a breeze... But I couldn't read him at all. Yeah, him. This only ever happened with boys. I wasn't going to out him, if he wanted to pretend to be a girl there was probably a good reason for it. I might talk with him about it later on. Next was that mysterious pale skinned beauty, sitting at the back of the class, not talking to anyone. Minding her own business. She looked almost doll-like. She was the smartest person in the room by a country mile. Eyes always assessing, evaluating her surroundings, extremely aware of everything. Including him looking at her. Which he stopped right away to look at -

Toko Fukawa, the Ultimate Writer. Imagine your stereotypical bookworm. She almost looks like that. But, I return to the apparent theme of this class, appearances were deceiving. I resolved to myself never, ever to stay alone in a place with Toko if it could be helped, and by God, I was going to have to find a way to get this girl the help she needed. 'Disturbed' wasn't the word for it. I couldn't stand to look at her for more than a second, before looking back at Sayaka, who was cheerily trying to make nice with her without knowing how much she was poking at a sleeping bear -

"Oho, nice taste Master Naegi!" said a morbidly obese boy, nudging me in the side. "The Ultimate Pop Sensation has your attention, does she?" Oh yes. This was Hifumi Yamada, the Ultimate Fanfic Writer. "My own preference does not go towards the three dimensional, but sometimes it is good to draw inspiration from that realm."

"Keh, good luck with that," said a boy who I couldn't place at first. It was the hair and goatee that threw me off. Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseball Star. I'd only seen pictures of him with short hair in the middle of a game, but - there was no doubt, this was him for sure! "I'm sure you're a nice enough guy, but a chick like that won't give you the time of day."

"Hold on, my intuition is acting up!" said Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Clairevoyant. A weirdo with hair all poofed out around his head. "My prediction is... That Makoto will have a girlfriend from this class by the end of the year! How about that for a free reading? My predictions are correct up to 30% of the time, you know! You won't get a better shot than that!"

"Uh, thanks, but that's a bit too generic to be helpful," I said. I took one of the spare seats. Wow, this class sure was energetic! In fact, it was more energetic than I thought, because someone had me in a pretty tight headlock.

"Hey now, where's your manly spirit!" Ah! This was Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Gang Leader. "Whatever your talent, if your in Hope's Peak, you gotta have something going for you! My gut instinct is telling me already, you're a standup guy, so don't be down on yourself! Got it?"

"G-Got it!" I managed to squeak out. Oh gosh, this is why I get on better with girls! Despite my preference for baggy clothing, I'm stronger than I look - but this guy was on a whole other level! Show some restraint, Mister Owada!

Still, I should be able to make some good friends here. Aside from Toko and Byakuya, there weren't any strictly bad or dangerous people in class. I could see myself getting on with pretty much any of them. Developing a close friendship, spending free time together, building a relationship... a connection, with people who were likely destined for a great and hopeful future.

That's what I thought at the time. But as I would soon learn, things can change fast. As easy as a door opening and a new person entering, everything can transform in the blink of an eye. Because... that's what happened. The door opened. Two new students entered. And then -

I saw the face of Despair.

Junko Enoshima. Seeing her in person, rather than in a magazine, it was quite the trip. For whatever reason, my Talent didn't work on a girl unless I saw them in the flesh. Not on television, not a picture. They had to be right there in front of me. I actually didn't even recognise what I was seeing at first. It was like... pure undiluted shadow had walked into the room. A swirling endless void in the shape of a human girl. Bottomless. Nothing there. A sucking abyss in which hope died, then was reborn only to die screaming over and over again. That's what it was like seeing Junko for the first time. Something coiled around my heart, something cold and clammy, and -

"Yahoo, hi everyone!" Junko said, chipper and upbeat. The spell dropped, but the memory lingered. Her bright smiling face replaced it. "Junko Enoshima here to get this party started! Who is ready for the Ultimate Fashionista?"

She moved gracefully into the classroom, quietly followed by another girl I didn't recognise. I barely paid her any heed. Junko had my full undivided attention. Junko set eyes upon Aoi and Sakura, approaching them in a way that reminded me of a shark heading towards a wounded fish.

"Ohmigod, you're Sakura Ogami, right?" she said. "So cool! You're so much taller than I imagined!"

"Hrmph," Sakura said. "You've heard of me before?"

"Of course, of course! The ogre of the martial arts world! You're a total beast out there in the ring, I can't wait to see how you do IRL!"

She was talking like a valley girl, but I caught it. That very, very subtle wince from Sakura when her nickname came up. That must hurt to hear. Being judged by her physical appearance only... Junko had done that deliberately. Junko had noticed her reaction as well, following it up by calling her a beast. Making it sound like she was talking Sakura up, but all the while she was actually... breaking her down. Hitting her in ways that martial arts couldn't protect her from.

I took a few deep breaths to control myself. This was... not an expected development. For the first time in my life, I felt something horrible overcome me. An overwhelming sense of true Despair. When someone feels that, they will do anything to overcome it. To taste the sweet fruit of hope yet again. It would lead me down a dark path to try and remove that Despair. A path others might call morally wrong... but it would be a path I would follow nonetheless.

====

The dorms at Hope's Peak were as top tier as you might expect. Supreme comfort, beds so comfortable you almost couldn't help but fall asleep on them. The only complaint I had was that my bathroom door stuck a bit - oh, and the girls were on the floor above, while us boys were at ground level. Sensible really, would you leave a bunch of unsupervised students of mixed gender near each other? That would be asking for trouble.

Still, Sayaka is a girl of many, many talents. When she's in the mood I don't think there's anything on earth that can keep her from finding me. That first night, she was at my door inside the first half hour after lights out.She knocked on my door four times, in tune with her band's first hit, and I had that door open before she would have the chance to knock a fifth. Stealth is great and all, but there are still faculty patrolling the grounds.

She practically tackled me to the bed like a pouncing lioness, climbed on top and started stripping down without saying a word.

"Gee, hello to you too," I quipped back at her. Not that I was complaining. "You're eager, huh?"

"It's your fault, dummy!" Sayaka giggled. "I mean, you're right there  in class all the time. Do we really have to pretend not to know each other?"

"Don't wanna ruin your reputation, babe," I replied. "I know how much your friends mean to you. I know how much you love being a pop idol. Even though nobody seems to really notice me, I don't want to take any unnecessary risks."

"No complaints about the sex, I notice!" Sayaka stuck her tongue out at me. No, that was certainly true enough. I sat up and held her close, our lips delicately pressing into one another. It had been quite the first day, getting to know everyone. Settling in at this famous school. Learning the lay of the land, making new friends. Our hands disrobed one another with practised ease, we'd done this so often now. Clothes tossed aside, hers to the left and mine to the right. Yeah, this was an arrangement we could certainly get used to. In time, we'd be able to reveal a bit more of our relationship to one another. Make it clear we used to know each other. Maybe drift a bit closer together as time went on.

After a moment we were naked. Fully erect, I penetrated her and lay back, deeply sighing, closing my eyes to relish the experience as always. Sayaka, my Sayaka. No matter what my secret talent might make me capable of, she was more than enough to keep me sated. No other woman could possibly -

"Puhuhuhuhuhuhu! Enjoying yourself?"

Huh? Huh? Huh?! That wasn't Sayaka's voice. I opened my eyes and saw something absolutely unbelievable. It defied common sense. There I was, on my bed, naked and on my back, with a beautiful woman riding me in the cowgirl position. Her heaving naked breasts bounced along as she enthusiastically rode my dick. My hands resting on sublime hips, her perfectly proportioned legs pinning my hips, and... The blonde hair on top of her head absolutely nothing like that of my girlfriend?

"J-Junko?" I sputtered. She chuckled a dark, sinister chuckle, then reached down. Patting my cheeks in a condescending way, before smoothing her hands down my chest. As if rubbing oil down them. Or merely taking the time to appreciate my surprisingly fit physique.

"Relax, Prince Charming. This is all in your head," Junko said. She licked her lips and pouted cutely at me. "You're still being fucked by that pop idol girlfriend of yours." Suddenly, her expression sort of shifted, and... it seemed like mushrooms were growing out the top of her head? Her tone became much more morose, even as she continued to rut into him. "How depressing. You're in bed with your hot girlfriend, and you're not even able to enjoy the experience because you'd rather be with me."

"N-No, I - " I began to protest, but then she shifted again, a crown appearing on her head out of nowhere, her manner suddenly more regal.

"Of course! 'Tis only natural that you would feel that way!" Junko said, punctuating her declaration by smacking her own ass. "It is the way of men! To desire that which they should not have. We at least appreciate the attention, for that much you can rest assured!"

Another shift, and she was suddenly wearing glasses, her hair tied back and giving her the look of a smouldering yet stern teacher, who smoothed her hands down her curves, all but forcing me to drink her figure in. "On the other hand, I have been on your mind all day. Why shouldn't I be? You caught a glimpse of my soul, and it scared you so much that you forgot that there was a schizophrenic serial killer in class."

Another shift, and she was sticking her tongue out like a punk rocker, her eyes wild, her hair suddenly an untamed mass. Her hands flew to her chest, rolling her breasts around in them in a way that seemed simultaneously methodical, yet chaotic.

"Fuck yeah! If anything can drive someone into despair harder than the truth, fuck if I know what it is! You wanna stick your pecker in between my big udders, don'tcha?!"

Still yet another shift, and she became this cutesy playful and almost innocent...thing.

"You're scared out of your mind. You've been thinking about it all day. That pwetty giwl is sooooo scary! She might do something simply awful if she's not dealt with! She wants to do the worst, most awful, most twagic event in all of human histowy!"

"I... I won't let you!" I protested. But this imaginary Junko made some twisty motion with her hips that nearly drove me to release. E-Even in my own imagination, she was -

"Yes, that's right," that stern teacher again. "You've already done that assessment. You can easily seduce me. You might even be able to drive the despair from my mind for a little while with sheer, unrelenting lust."

"Bu-But it's not enough," I said. "You're drenched in despair. Even if I was able to overcome your natural physical abilities and drive you wild - That despair will come back with a vengeance!"

"Exactly," Junko said, back to her first personality. She leaned down and got right in my face, playfully biting my chin, then kissing - no, more like sucking all along my jawline. "I mean, like, it's totally true, y'know? You're good with women but I'm out of your league, and you haven't even been practising your talent! What're you supposed to do about little ol' me?"

This was it. This was the culmination of the conflict that had been building inside me all day. The only evidence I had that anything was wrong was this... overwhelming sense. I couldn't provide any evidence to anyone else, and if I made that sort of move, tried to warn people of what Junko was, they'd laugh in my face. The only thing I could think of to stop her would be... to use the rest of my talent to 'tame' her. Seduce her into bed. Get her hooked on my dick. make her forget about despair. Mitigate the problem and then -

"But then, maybe that's just an excuse?" Junko suggested. "Maybe the truth is, you noticed how fucking hot I am... and you're more interested in a good hard lay? Better than Sayaka, right? The Ultimate Fashionista. The Ultimate Despair. My despair drenched pussy will satisfy your needs in ways she couldn't ever dream of. It's just a roundabout way of getting what you've always actually wanted from the very beginning. Puhuhuhuhu!"

"You're right," I admitted. To this delusion. To myself. I sat up and reached under this delusion of Junko, grabbing her spectacular butt. Then I lifted her up, showing off the deceptive strength I tried to keep hidden away. "I... I do want to fuck you. I wanna see that pretty face screw up in orgasmic relief. No... It's more than that. What I really want to see is what you look like when you're not drowning in despair!"

I tackled her over, laying on top of her. Her wrists pinned down to the bed, my hips thrusting back and forth like a piledriver. My shaft forced its way into her so fast and so deep that it must have knocked the air out of her lungs.

"Won't let you," I muttered to myself. Pounding away at her in a way I'd never dreamed of doing before. Claiming her. Claiming that stupidly hot body, trying my absolute damndest to fuck the Despair right out of her! "Won't let you do it! Whatever you're planning! Whatever evil you're intending! I'll show you... I'll show you something better than despair!"

"Oh, fuck, Makoto!" Sayaka yelled, the image of Junko disappearing as she climaxed in a way I'd never seen before. I'd snapped back to reality so fast it almost gave me whiplash. "What's gotten into you?! You're like a wild animal!"

"Ah, sorry!" I said, slowing down as I realised what I was doing to my girlfriend. Oops! I didn't intend to go so hard on her.

"No, no, do it more!" Her breath was husky, her eyes pleading, and her ankles were locked nice and hard behind my back. "Go as hard as you like! You've been holding back on me, stud!"

I took several deep ragged breaths before giving her what she wanted. Alright. Alright. I wanted to deny it, but there really was no choice, was there? I was going to have to -

"You're going to finally seduce some new girlfriends for us, right?" Sayaka asked.

"Huh?" I grunted in surprise.

"Teehee, did you forget?" Sayaka tittered. "Your girlfriend has amazing intuition."

So she did. Well, there wasn't much else for it, was there? For now, I would enjoy her companionship. Tomorrow, I would set about building a base of allies. Through which, we would build hope to fight against true despair.
Fate skill grinder
By this point Sakura didn't need to pay much attention to where she was going. Her feet automatically travelled the distance. One might say that she'd travelled these streets enough times by now to know the route so well she didn't even need to try to follow it. She was going to the Emiya residence. To meet up with him rather than going home. Pretending, if only for a few hours, that her life wasn't a living hell from which there was no escape.

However, she had something else to occupy her thoughts today. It was still related to magic, but was nowhere near as disgusting, nor violating her body in any way, nor humiliating or degrading her or -

It was that encounter with Rin earlier. The fake Rin. Sakura wasn't quite sure whether to believe that little story or not. In fact, the more she thought about it the more likely that was to be a lie of some kind. But why? To what end? Sakura was busy trying to wrack her brains on the matter, but the truth of it was that she lacked the sufficient training to properly figure it out. At the time she'd gone along with it, feeling this weird compulsion to believe her and play along... but now it was hours later she wasn't so sure anymore. Little inconsistencies started niggling away at her.

When a human is confronted with a problem they cannot solve easily, they go back to the information they have and try to piece together the puzzle from there. Quite often it works. Other times, it fails miserably. Sakura felt like she was lacking in information, but she didn't have the faintest idea where to go to find the answers. Should she go to the 'real' Rin and warn her about it? Yes, potentially. Except the other Rin had asked her not to do that very thing. Which led to the question of whether she should trust that warning or not.

Was it really Second Magic? Using that so carelessly could get her into trouble with the Mage Association if they found out about it. She thought? She was pretty sure about that much at least. Was it something to do with the Holy Grail War? That should be starting up soonish, right? It's entirely possible that Rin was coming up with a weird strategy to fight in that war. No, not to merely fight it. Her clever big sister would surely win that conflict. Sakura sincerely hoped she wouldn't have to fight in it, she'd rather give up her Servant than do that!

Fortunately for Sakura, she did have an option. An unusual option. One she had thought she'd closed the door on for various reasons. She didn't want Senpai to know how dirty she was. She wanted to be pure and pristine in his eyes. And yet, she had seen him. Practising some sort of Gradation Air while using his magical circuits all wrong. If he kept on doing that, it would probably kill him.

But she didn't step in. There was a little nasty voice at the back of her mind, like a sinister version of herself asking what would happen next. He'd demand to be trained. He'd insist on it. If he's going at it this hard, he'll want to train in magic no matter what. So he'll approach grandfather and wind up in -

The pit.

The very image of that by itself was bad enough. So, warn him off it. Ah. But that creates a new problem. It would mean telling him about her own training. The things done to her during that training. The fact that she was unclean. Dirty. Used. Spoiled.

So... she had done nothing. It wasn't like she'd thought it would be better if he died than find out what she truly was, but that insecurity had simply paralysed her into inaction. Until today. Weirdly, after that encounter with Rin (fake), Sakura was feeling... oddly more confident about herself. She couldn't place why. If Senpai insisted upon receiving training, then instead Sakura would divert his attention to Rin (real). She really should be told about a magus at work in her territory.

Not to mention... since it would be magus business, she'd have an excuse to talk with her outside of school. Grandfather and Shinji couldn't complain then, right? She could spend time with her sister... and with Senpai , too. For perfectly natural reasons. She could pretend to be happy for a few more hours each day. That sounded... nice. So nice. She should have done this a long time ago. Maybe that was what Rin (fake) wanted from the start? Was that her purpose? It was nice to think that it might be, but - Oh, she was getting off topic. This was her plan to figure out what Rin (fake) was up to by discussing the matter with Senpai . Thinking about retraining him with Rin (real) was a matter for another day. She should stay practical, not engage in dirty, selfish thinking. One step at a time. One step... at a time.

She knocked on the door, and he greeted her in a quite clumsy, yet affable way. Smiling like he was forcing himself. It was kind of cute. "Hello Sakura-chan! It's nice to see you!"

"Hello, Senpai. May I come in?" Sakura asked. The sight of his smiling face, however awkward he might be, immediately making her forget what she'd been thinking about. Most magus put on a mask when dealing with ordinary people. Sakura put hers on when she was talking with this boy. That mask subsumed her, put aside all the bad things, made her not think about magic for just a few hours so that she could not wallow in fucking misery every moment of the fucking day  and not have to think about magic, which she dearly wished did not exist, because she just wanted to be fucking normal, is that too much to ask for?! "I'm afraid Taiga is running late at school, shall we surprise her with a new recipe I found?"

"Sounds great!" his voice cracked, but he did not bar her entrance.

"Ehhhh, senpai, are you hiding something?" Sakura playfully asked. "You're acting funny today."

"Who, me?" He looked like he was about to crawl out of his own skin to avoid having to seriously answer.

"Hrmmm..." Sakura leaned in close. "When someone says 'who me?' when asked if they have something to hide, it means 'yes'. So? Are you going to tell me - Or do I have to hint to Taiga that you're up to something~?"

That was the equivalent of a tactical nuclear strike into any conversation. No, it might even be called a war crime. Well, it is his fault for being so bad at keeping secrets to start with, wasn't it? Gosh, for some reason she was in a very flirty mood with him today. It was only now she realised she was standing... quite close. Neither of them moving away from each other.

Of course, Sakura wasn't aware of the device sitting in his pocket. The Skill Grinder, with a remarkably, inhumanly high skill devoted to maintaining a harem. That was having a rather profound, yet subtle effect on the girl - amplifying and playing upon her own strong feelings towards him. Her adoration, her admiration, and the dirty, dirty side of her that she tried not to show him. It wasn't even as though he was doing it on purpose. His presence was enough to have that effect, and in turn was making him become more aware of how pretty she was in turn...

A shadow flickered on the corner of her vision. What was that? Sakura turned and rushed around the corner, finding nobody there. How strange. She could have sworn she'd seen a shadow and maybe heard some footsteps? "Senpai, do you have a guest?" Sakura asked, venturing further down the hallway. None of the doors had closed. Suspicious. Very suspicious.

More crucially - Now that she was away from him again, her willpower was firming up. She had to talk to Senpai about magic, and -

And...

=====

A common joke made about Shirou from our perspective is the idea that he has the Harem Protagonist skill at an EX level. It's not hard to see what is meant by this. It almost feels like every cute girl in Fuyutsuki is tripping over themselves to get his attention, when he isn't really trying for it.

He doesn't actually have such a skill, mind. The simple fact of the matter is, he's a relatively handsome and genuinely nice guy. And I don't mean one of those nice guys who is only behaving that way because they see it as a way into a girl's panties. He's genuinely like that. It's not hard to tell the difference, really. He's not actively trying to get their attention, he's merely stumbled onto the button for certain cute, pretty girls he knows by sheer oblivious happenstance.

So ask yourself. What might happen if he did have a skill similar to that, at such an absurd level? As high as it could go, impossible to improve upon by man or God? The effects are a bit more subtle than one might imagine. Once again, he is not trying for a harem, he's not trying to even get a girlfriend. Such a thing might be nice if it were to happen, but he had other priorities in mind right now. More mindful of his long term future, trying to become a hero.

However, when one is especially talented in a given area it doesn't matter if you're trying to use the skill or not. An instinct will tell you all about how to use it. That instinct will evaluate the situation, and whisper things in your ear. This was happening here. Shirou's newfound talent was pointing out a fact that he had been aware of for some time, but he had been steadfastly ignoring as much as he could. What fact might that be?

'Sakura's really pretty'.

She is. But she is also the little sister of his friend.

'Shinji's an asshole, and you spend more time with Sakura these days. Come on, look at those boobs. Check out those hips!'

Nope, nuh uh, not happening. He refused to look any more than would be normal. He would not leer at Sakura. Especially not when that copy of Rin - and oh boy was bringing up Rin in the same context as Sakura making his heart hurt after tracing Rin - was in the next room actively planning to seduce him or get him laid or whatever she's up to!

'Look at the way she's moving. She's super into me.'

Nope! Nope, nope, nope! Not even going to entertain the possibility! It would make sense in a way, she was coming over all the time and that reserved personality of hers would probably be holding her back from trying or saying anything. Also, the fact that he could already sort of imagine a few ways to seduce her in a really effective and quick way was definitely not getting any mind paid to it! Focus on other facts, like her threat to tell Taiga he had a secret.

'You know what that is kind of a turnoff, please focus on that, it is a red alert situation all hands on deck.'

Sakura stepped around the corner in pursuit of a moving shadow that had most surely been the Rin copy. Ack! He slipped around after her to try to mitigate the situation - but found the hallway empty. Unless you count Sakura herself.

"Huh?" Sakura muttered to herself. "I could have sworn I saw something. Is there someone else here today?"

By chance Shirou glanced upwards while Sakura was looking down the corridor. Up above, holding onto the corner of the ceiling, was the Rin copy. Making full use of that stealth power, huh? It's true, most humans don't look up, and that ceiling would normally be too high anyway.

"Ehhh, I don't know what you mean," Shirou said. "Maybe you're the one playing a practical joke on me today, Sakura? Did Shinji ask you to mess with me?"

A cute little pout formed on her pretty face. "Oh well, be that way," she shrugged and strolled off towards the kitchen. "I'll ask Taiga about it later on."

No prisoners were being taken today! Shirou rushed ahead of her as Sakura calmly strolled towards the kitchen without any apparent rush or hurry. "Ah! Don't even hint at something like that to her!" Shirou begged. He slapped his hands together and bowed his head. "Please, please don't! She'll tear the place apart seeking something that doesn't exist, and make my life a living hell! You know how she is!"

"Even if I don't tell her anything, you're so bad at keeping secrets she'd notice anyway," Sakura all but sang. "If I told her, it would merely speed thing alo~ong, don't you think? Like ripping off a bandaid, you'd best get it over with quickly, right?"

What was with her today? Sakura was being far more playful than usual? Also, the way the light was hitting her face in this room was like putting a frame around her features, making him extremely aware of how pretty her smile was. How bright her eyes were shining. C-Come on, why were you noticing this today?! Had that Rin copy really gotten to you so much that you're now looking at every woman you know differently? Was that what this was?!

"What will it take to keep you from saying anything to her?" Shirou asked.

"Hrmmm, you can either tell me your secret, or...?"

"Or?" He couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell her anything about magic!

"How about a kiss?"

He couldn't do that either! However... Out of the two things he could not do, one could be rated at a hundred and the other a mere seventy five. He absolutely could not tell her about magic. For so many reasons. It wasn't something she was meant to know about. It would involve telling her that he was that hero going around saving people. It would mean explaining why, exactly, he had created a copy of her estranged big sister (oh, please, don't dwell on that connection for even a moment when you already have so many things to worry about) who was apparently quite insistent on getting him laid.

On the other hand, he couldn't kiss Sakura because of who she was. Because it would change the nature of their relationship going forward. Those were big reasons. Titanic reasons. Absolutely huge. Normally they would overshadow anything else... but telling her about magic somehow dwarfed even that.

Or, at least, that's what his instinct was telling him when she closed her eyes and pouted.

"Okay," he replied, and leaned in. "If you're sure about this."

Her eye creaked open, as she saw him nervously lean in. She didn't back away. She didn't flinch. It would just be a chaste kiss on the lips, right? Press them together like so. Innocent. A sign of mutual affection with nothing more involved.

Well. It was that. For the first five seconds of contact. After that, Sakura's hands flew around the back of his head and the kiss took something of a less innocent turn. She pulled his head closer with remarkable strength, opened her mouth and licked around his lips until he opened his out of surprise. Then her tongue pushed its way in, and with a quick, methodical and yet chaotic turn pushed itself against every surface of the inside of his mouth that it could reach. His tonsils were cleaned, his teeth slurped against, his own tongue wrestled with and sucked and pulled until it was inside her mouth. Shirou's hands reached down her spine, until they reached her rather pleasant posterior

Oh yes, there could be no doubt. The young girl he'd occasionally seen thanks to his friendship with Shinji had become a rather splendid woman.

'Stop for now, best not to go further... yet.' that instinct whispered in his brain, and so Shirou pulled away, leaving a thin layer of drool extending between their mouths. It was only now, after the fact, that he could truly appreciate he'd awakened something of a beast inside of Sakura, and that beast had tried its best to consume him alive.

"Ah!" Sakura gasped. "I - I didn't think you'd actually - "

"W-Well, you kinda backed me into a corner, so..." Shirou muttered. "I mean, I thought you'd push me away or something when I said okay."

"Fine, fine, I won't tell Taiga anything then," Sakura said. "Would you like to kiss me again?"

"Uh, sure?" Shirou said. Honestly, why not at this point? Sakura closed her eyes, pouted out her lips. He leaned in - and met her finger.

"Secret fi~irst," she said teasingly. Oh darn, she'd found a new avenue of attack! "You can take your hands off my butt now, by the way."

"Ack!" His hands flew off like he'd suddenly realised he'd touched a hot stove. "S-Sorry, got caught up in the moment."

"I didn't mind, maybe we can have more fun like that later on?" Huh. Sakura had this weird look in her eyes that he'd never seen before. It was sorta like... she was extremely happy, but guilty about feeling happy? Or maybe worried about something or other? "Why don't we try out that new recipe I found?"

Yeah, that seemed like a good idea. They set up quickly, gathered all the ingredients they would need and prepared themselves for another round of cooking. Sakura had really improved since she started to come here. She seemed happiest in an apron, preparing food. It was nice to see. Relaxing. Everything was going normally, and Shirou could almost forget all the weird events of the day, to the point he was letting his guard down, until -

"Ah... Where is that peeler?" Sakura asked. "Have you seen it, I can't find it anywhere."

"Oh, here you go!" Shirou said, suddenly holding a peeler. He held it out to Sakura without thinking about it. Then continued holding it. And kept on holding it. Without her taking it. Indeed, when he looked up at her eyes, he noticed that she was staring at it quite intensely.

"Senpai... You weren't holding that peeler a moment ago."

Grk! All the colour drained from his face at that proclamation. He'd used Projection to create that peeler out of nowhere! He'd done it without thinking - no, that weird instinct he'd been having for a while now had asked him to do it for some reason.

For Shirou, such a thing might seem inexplicable. For you, dear reader, all shall be made clear shortly. This was, indeed, a calculated action by his harem master skill that was intended solely for the purpose of growing his harem in the most intelligent and reasonably efficient way possible.

Nonetheless, Shirou was panicking a bit now. "Oh, no, just a bit of sleight of hand - "

"Your hand was empty, your sleeves were rolled up, and your hands never went near your pockets," Sakura said. "Senpai! You should be more careful! Don't use magic in front of someone when you don't know if they're a magus!"

Huh? What? What had she said? "Don't know if they're a magus...?" Shirou muttered, sounding the words out inside his own head. There were implications wrapped up in that demand. Implications which led him to believe that -

"That's right, senpai! The Matou family is a family of mages!"

Whaaaaaat?! What were the odds of - wait, hold on a moment, he should have known that already. Yeah... yeah, now that he was thinking about it, when he traced Rin earlier he'd picked that fact up, hadn't he? Sakura was originally a Tohsaka, but was sent to the Matou family to be raised as their daughter to help them regain use of their family's magic. Since a family's magic crest can only be passed on to one child, and both Rin and Sakura had talent it had been judged a worthwhile endeavour by their father, who could have the pride in seeing them both become talented magus in different areas.

Why hadn't he made that connection before? Obviously Sakura would know about magic! He'd been worried over nothing! He could have told her at least part of the truth rather than kiss her before, so why hadn't he -

Oh, that's right, the truth about the sisters being separated had been so painful that he'd deliberately tried to ignore it and focused on the overwhelming and more immediately pressing issues he was dealing with at the moment.

Oops?

"Senpai, this is a really good projection..." Sakura muttered to herself, now inspecting the peeler. Even testing it out on a potato. "In fact, it cuts even better than the original. This is amazing!"

"Ah, well, it's something of a speciality of mine," Shirou muttered to himself. "So, you're not freaking out about this?"

"Oh, I am! I am!" Sakura said. "Senpai, you need to register with Rin right away! She is the local administrator. If she finds out there's a magus in the area operating without her knowledge... Especially now of all times!"

And here it came. The reason that he had let that slip now. He knew already that Rin was the local administrator. He understood that fact very well. However, merely going to see her and informing her of what he'd been up to would have Gone Badly, most likely. On the other hand, if Sakura brought him, if she introduced them? Rin would be more reasonable. Right?

The perfect plan to get them alone, enacted by Shirou's harem master instinct, his innate talent, without him even knowing it. This is how frightening the Skill Grinder is. At its very top tier levels, those level 100 Skills will act like a reverse monkey's paw. Instead of granting you what you ask for in a way that causes you hell, they will move you towards what you really, truly desire deep, deep down without you even knowing it's happening. Whether you intend to move towards that desire or not.

For Shirou, though... This did provide a key opportunity. Dealing with that Rin copy would probably be too much for him by himself. Talking with the original, demonstrating what he could do with this power, she might be able to offer him invaluable ideas, act as a sounding board and help him contain it before things got worse.

He could only hope that the Rin copy behaved herself while he was gone. The last thing he needed was her getting up to something behind his back...

=====

Sakura blinked. The world had gone wobbly there for a moment, and now all of a sudden she was standing in Senpai's bedroom. How did she get here? She didn't remember walking here, and didn't open any doors. It was like - poof, one moment out in the hall, and the next she was here. Before she could process anything, a slender hand slid over her mouth.

"No loud noises please," her sister's voice whispered in her ear.  "We have a lot to talk about and I don't want undue attention. Got it?"

Sakura nodded. The hand slid away. This was Rin (fake) wasn't it? Sakura had half a mind to scream anyway, but had a funny feeling she wouldn't get a sound out before eating a knockout spell to the back of her head. So instead, she turned around to face the fake sister, and when she did she might as well have been hit by a mute spell of some kind.

This... was not the kind of attire she would normally see her sister wearing. Either out about town, or at school. It was a far flashier outfit, in more than one meaning. At first Sakura took it to be some form of bikini, with a white top with gold lining and very tiny black bottoms with a golden emblem at the front. However, the sight of a single black boot with golden lining while the other leg was bare was giving her a very different impression. A bikini would have felt like it wasn't as showy as this. Whatever Rin was wearing was... Almost regal or divine in inspiration. What were those gold stripes on her upper arm meant to be? What about that golden choker?

"You like?" Rin(fake) asked, giving a quick twirl in place. "I don't know where I got the idea from, but when I started thinking about projecting something sexy it popped into my head out of nowhere. I simply had to try it on."

"Um...?" Sakura began to ask, but that was as far as she got before Rin (fake) tackled her into a hug, squeezing her tightly, holding her close in a snug and affectionate embrace. This time, face to face rather than from behind.

"I am so, so sorry," Rin (fake) said. "When I traced you out there in the hallway, I saw it. I saw everything. You were waiting for me, huh? While they were doing that to your body, you were waiting for your dumb big sister to come and save you, like some knight on a horse. A dumb, stupid big sister who had no idea at all, and went along with it because she had this stupid idea she wanted to be a proper magus. Guh! Dumb priest, it's probably his fault somehow too. I bet he knew and kept it from me to keep that old fart happy."

Ah? Ah?! Wh-What was happening here? Her big sister Rin was saying a few things that didn't make much sense. Traced her? What did that - No, that wasn't even the important part. Something welled up inside Sakura. From all that time, since she was little, the things they'd done to her. The worms. The endless gnawing, corrupting, wriggling, disgusting worms. Everywhere. For years and years and years it mounted up and up and up until she felt nothing, became nothing, felt less than nothing, became less than nothing, while holding onto a thread that felt thinner and thinner with each passing day, until you could only see it if you used an electron microscope.

But now she was being pulled up by that thread. It felt like a dream had come true. Rescued at last, by her sister, who had always been so close yet so far away at the same time. They talked, they interacted, but not as sisters in such a long time. The tears flowed freely from her eyes, and she had to stifle herself from bawling by burying her face in Rin (fake)'s bare shoulder.

"Shush now, it's fine," Rin (fake) said. "Your fake big sister is here to take care of everything. Uh... but there really is a lot we need to establish here. Sakura,  I need you to listen to what I have to say."

She nodded and wiped at her eyes, then waited for this fake Rin to explain herself. Oh, she'd acknowledged herself as fake as well. That didn't stop the tears from flowing.

"So, Emiya-kun found this thing called a Skill Grinder, and used it to transform Gradiation Air into an absurdly powerful ability," Rin said. "I'm thinking of calling it Unlimited Anything Works? No, no, let's not get carried away here. The point is, so long as someone is holding this device." She held out some weird looking gizmo. "You can trace literally anything, and make a copy of it - except you can also modify that thing to your own specification. Including - This is the important part - both people and yet more Skill Grinders. Loaded up with any skill you want at any level."

"Eh?" Sakura blinked, wiping at her eye. "You can't copy people, that's - "

Rin (fake) shushed her, and lead her over towards the door. She opened it just a crack, and gestured for Sakura to cup her ears.

"S-Sakura, are you sure about this?" That was Senpai. "If we leave now, what's Taiga going to think when she doesn't find us here?"

"She will probably think we went on a date," said a voice that sounded a little familiar, but it took her a moment to recognise it. We don't really hear our own voices. The sound reverberates along the jaw, through the skull and that can influence how we hear ourselves by making very small changes to the voice. We don't tend to, for example, hear ourselves at a distance. That's why it's always so jarring to hear oneself on a recording, it doesn't match our own self image.

Sakura stumbled back into the room in sudden realisation, and found herself embraced once again by Rin (fake) who - who started to punctuate kisses along her neck. To her mild surprise, Sakura did nothing against this. She turned her head to give the fake sister better access.

"So, Emiya-kun made me by accident when he got all hot and bothered about the real deal," Rin (fake) said. "I'm the manifestation of his sexual desire and - Mmm, babe, he wants you, but doesn't want it to affect his friendship with Shinji."

"D-Don't say his name at a time like this," Sakura (fake) said. "S-So what am I?"

"The manifestation of my guilt for not saving you," Rin(fake) said. Then, she grabbed hold of Sakura's hand and left something in it. Then, began to nibble on her ears. That felt good. That felt really, really good. "So here's the plan. You murder the everloving fuck out of Zouken. Do whatever you want to Shinji. Then meet back up here, seduce Emiya-kun, and the two of us rock his world. How does that sound?"

"How does that sound?" Sakura (fake) asked, turning her head back to seize Rin (fake)'s lips. Kissing her deeply, hungrily, ravenously. "It sounds like what heaven would actually feel like."

             


TLR rito the pervert
Look now, upon this street. You might see a pretty girl, content and practically skipping her way along on this mild spring morning. This girl was, of course, Haruna, beaming ear to ear as she contemplated her plans for the day. This morning, she'd run into her crush, future boyfriend and future harem master Rito Yuuki. Then he'd 'accidentally' do something lewd to her. She'd play it off all innocent, while he used those expert fingers of his to make her love every single second of it. What form might it take? Who knows! That's the fun part. Then they would talk a little on the way to school, and from there -

From there...

"Huh, he should have been here by now..." Haruna muttered to herself. She fidgeted with her skirt and looked around nervously. "Where is he? This is definitely where our routes intersect. He usually arrives around this time, so..." Was he running late? Had he arrived early? Oh dear. This was quite troublesome. it wasn't exactly an encouraging start to such a big day. Maybe she should put things off until tomorrow?

No! Stand tall! Don't let this old shyness stand in your way. Haruna slapped her cheeks to wake herself up. Focus, focus, focus! You would run into him again later on, and the surprise will only heighten the experience. Instead, she should focus on her main goal for today: Expanding Rito's harem! Yes, that would be her primary focus for today. She was starting to feel a little silly dressing up by herself, dancing by herself, etc. It's the sort of thing that makes a burgeoning harem-fetishist feel a bit awkward about the whole thing, not having someone to share it with.

She had considered various targets, of course. Kotegawa was super hot, but her guard was all the way up. Bringing her on board was like going straight for hard mode. Then there was Mikado, the school nurse, was definitely a top contender. Her body was amazing. A true pinacle of the female form, from head to toe. You couldn't get more beautiful than that! All Haruna had to do was head over to the nurse's office, and -

"Ohohohohoho! What a beautiful day it is! Well suited to match my presence - though even the sun cannot outshine my radiance!"

Change of plans. A better target had appeared in front of her. From what Haruna had heard, there's always a girl like this somewhere around. The Queen Bee of Sainan High. Tenjoin Saki! A stunning beauty in her own right, with radiant golden locks, with spiralling twin-tails framing her face. Arrogant? Check! Conceited? Check! Competitive? Big check!

She was also rich, popular, and well deserved her role as Queen Bee with only her looks. Add it all up, and you have an ideal package. A harem is going to require space and resources. Food, water, shelter, clothing. Rito wouldn't be able to work hard enough to support them all! Recruiting Saki was a must, but owing to the difficulties in gettnig her alone Haruna had put her to the side for planning purposes, with a high priority of going for her out of opportunity when she was alone. Which she didn't think would happen. She was always normally flanked by her two other friends, but not today. Oho, not today at all. She was all alone, on a quiet street. If there was a more suitable time for this, she could hardly think of when it might be.

"Good morning," Haruna chirped happily, and she didn't have to act at all, because she was really happy right now. "You seem very bright and active today."

"Only today?" Saki replied. "Haruna, is it not? I am feeling magnanimous, how may I help you today?"

How indeed? Here goes nothing. If it works, great. If it doesn't work... Best not to think of that. Anyway. Haruna pulled out an old coin that she'd found and held it up where Saki could see it.

"Well, to be honest I was looking for some advice," she said, and started to roll it across the back of her knuckles. "Um, I found this old looking coin, and was wondering how much it might be worth? I've heard you know a lot about this sort of thing, so..."

"So you thought you'd come to me for advice? One can hardly fault you for your intelligence," Saki said. Her eyes started to track the coin as it rolled across the back of Haruna's hand. She'd practised this for hours trying to get it right. Despite its age, the coin was gleaming in the sunlight, and... haruna lifted her hand up towards Saki's eye level, keeping the movement going,and then started to move it back and forth. A little at a time at first. Keeping the movement subtle. "Hrm... Yes, that's quite the coin you've found there..."

"Isn't it though?" Haruna said. "Please keep a close eye on it, Miss Saki, you're the only one I can rely on." Play to the ego to keep her attention. This was the tricky part. Drawing her into watching the coin as it drifted across her vision, moving her head very slightly so she can see it. "it's such a pretty looking coin, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Saki said. "Surprisingly well kept for its age."

"Forget about how old it is," Haruna said. By now her arm was practically swinging like a pendulum, the coin still moving perfectly back and forth, back and forth. That uneven strange motion working its magic. "Do you see how I'm keeping it balanced? Do you see how I'm keeping it moving back and forth like that, even though my hand is moving and swaying, to and fro, side to side."

"Yes, that's quite impressive," Saki said. "How long did it take you to - " A yawn hit her out of nowhere. "What was I saying, please pardon me?"

"Shhhh..." Haruna whispered. "You were asking where I found this coin. Well. I found it at an antique's store. Apparently, it was used by a magician during his performances to implant suggestions in a person's mind."

"Heh, how ridiculous, hypnosis?" Saki asked. "You're not trying to - "

And then she completely stopped cold. Staring dead ahead, stock still. Like a switch had been put off in her brain. Haruna let a breath escape her that she didn't know she had been holding. Now then. According to the instructions, she had to place this coin against Saki's forehead. She'd be in the trance so long as it stuck there, and Haruna could order her to do whatever she wanted. Implant any suggestion. Any idea. It would be easy to make her go crazy for Rito right now, but... That would draw all sorts of undue attention. Based on her own practise, she had maybe a minute or two to do whatever she wanted, and after that...? After that, apparently the coin wouldn't work on her again.

"What do you think of Rito Yuuki? Be brief."

"Cute, like a teddy bear. Don't pay him much attention." Said in a quite un-Saki like manner. Blunt, to the point, tone completely devoid of emotion.

"I want you to develop a crush on him," Haruna whispered. "Gradually, slowly, over time. Every night, I want you to... Fantasise about being part of his harem. Sharing him with other girls. Sharing him with me. At first you will deny enjoying those fantasies, but the more often you have them, the more you start to enjoy them."

There. That ought to do it. She'd had to speed up at the end there, because she could already see the coin start to slip off, and - It fell into her outstretched palm.

"I think you'd get a decent price for that coin, from a collector!" Saki said,. "Why, if you like, I could even introduce you to one!"

"No, no, that won't be necessary," Haruna replied. "I was just wondering how much it was worth, that's all. Thank you very much for helping me!"

"Think nothing of it, this was a trifle for I, the great Tenjoyin Saki!"

Indeed, that might even be the case. For now though... Haruna was going to rush off to Sainan High. From there she'd have to keep an eye on the Queen Bee. From a distance. Judge how that little spell affected her.

However, rather than following Haruna as she excitedly dashed off, let's keep our attention on Saki for a bit longer. The instant that Haruna was out of sight, another girl slipped out of the bushes nearby. This was Rin, Saki's personal bodyguard, come from a family that served in a similar role for Saki's for generations.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Rin asked. "I mean, she did just try to hypnotise you."

"Hrmph! I was curious to see what she would do, that's all!" Saki shrugged. "It's not like something that ridiculous will work on one as strong willed as I! Besides, you would have interfered if it looked like I was really going under, wouldn't you?"

Rin responded with silence. Not because the answer was actually 'no', but because the 'yes' was so obvious she didn't need to say it. That's the kind of relationship these two have.

"Ah, I wonder if the other girls will play along as well," Saki said. "The poor thing is going to be so disappointed when she realises that coin doesn't work."

"The entire school is aware of his buffoonery, even if he seems to not be aware of that," Rin said. Her eyebrow twitched a bit here. While she's normally quite, shall we say, expressionless, Rito's antics did irk her somewhat. "If you hadn't ordered me to stay silent, I would have informed the proper authorities some time back."

"Now, now, it's all harmless fun, let's not ruin it for everyone," Saki waved it off. "When the line gets crossed, that's when we do something about it."

"Like hypnotising girls into joining his harem."

"He didn't order her to do that now, did he?" Saki said. "Haruna's doing that off her own back. Ohohoho!" Laughing into the back of her hand here, going full ojou-sama, as is her wont. "Honestly now, ordering me to have erotic fantasies about that boy, building up until I can no longer resist him? How ridiculous! Ludicrous even!"

"Quite so."

"I mean, how would that go, exactly?" Saki shrugged. "I show up in some skimpy outfit and dance for his pleasure while surrounded by other, similarly attired girls?"

"That is how those things tend to go."

"And then he might pull me into his lap because, obviously, he would recognise my beauty."

"Now you're starting to get a little too into it."

"Then his hands, his busy dextrous hands, which have driven the girls at school to distraction, gently rub against my thighs. His hot breath tickles my neck. I feel another girl hugging me from behind."

Saki then got to experience a playful, but painful, poke in her shoulder.

"Bad Saki," Rin said. "Bad! No harem daydreams, they're bad for you."

"But Ri~in!" Saki whined. "I wasn't enjoying it, I was just speculating on what it would be like!" Saki rubbed at her shoulder

=====

If he thought about it, this was probably the earliest he'd arrived at school for a while. Normally Rito picked out a middling time to leave for school, where he could have encounters en route. A quick tumble here, an accidental grope there - The ideal situation for him to have a bit of fun. The streets weren't empty, exactly, but there weren't that many girls around for him to help work out his frustration.

That came out wrong. Though the right way wasn't honestly much of an improvement. He was frustrated because of Lala. That ridiculously hot alien babe who popped up naked in his bath, that he absolutely could not risk doing a single dirty thing to or the entire world burns and humanity ends. There was a little amusement in the idea that indulging in the reproductive instinct might result in armageddon - but that was the kind of dark amusement Rito didn't normally much care for.

Anyway, that hyperactive extra-terrestrial had left him all hot and bothered under the collar, and Rito didn't much care for it. He'd heard of the Sword of Damocles hanging over a King's head, but he'd never thought it would hang over his in this way! Could his libido hold out? Could he resist her? The answer was - no! No he surely could not! Unless... unless he stepped up his plans to build his harem quickly and promptly. At the very least if he was to think clearly he needed to indulge a little in his favourite hobby: 'Tripping and stumbling until he was face first with soft yielding female flesh'. Up ahead he could see two rather cute girls engaged in conversation. A quick examination of the scene, and he could already see a fallen tree branch. All he had to do was carefully saunter over to it, trip over it, and then from there -

"Shameless!"

Feel his ear tweaked back, pulling him away from the branch before his foot could land atop it. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Rito found himself whirled around, and a hand planted itself firmly on his chest before he could faceplant into the extremely nice chest of Yui, who had found him quite quickly this morning.

"Utterly shameless," the pretty girl scowled at him. "This early in the morning? Though I must say, it is unusual to see you up and about so early. Is the early bird trying to get the worm? What devious debauchery are you up to this time, Rito Yuuki?!"

"Nothing Kotegawa - Yow!" It seemed like she was in no mood for bullshit today!

"In my experience, troublemakers only change their routines when they have something devious going on!" Yue insisted. Oh, if only she didn't scowl so much, she'd be much more beautiful! Still, this was awakening something new in him that he was starting to appreciate! "So? What has led you to leave your home so early this morning? What traps were you going to establish?"

"W-Well, I left my home early because an alien appeared in my home, having run away from her Galactic Emperor father, and I offered her a place to hide at my place, but she's a real hassle to deal with so I left early to try and get away from her." None of this was untrue. Not a word of it was wrong. It didn't go into the fuller details, like the idea that he had to keep his hands off if he wanted to keep his hands, but she didn't really need to know that part.

"Right," Yui slowly said. "I know your father is a mangaka of some sort, but surely you could take some lessons from him in terms of coming up with a good story? That sounded ridiculously contrived and unbelievable! Aliens? Don't make me laugh!"

Rito felt a prickling upon his skin as the girl holding his ear ranted about how unbelievably aliens were, how unlikely it was they'd come to Earth, and a variety of other bits and pieces, in particular pertaining things like the differing evolutionary course that beings from another world would likely take, how improbable it was they'd appear human, how improbable it was they'd have any real interest in Earth in the first place, the idea that a concept like a Galactic Emperor would exist in outer space which was so close to a human concept, that they would likely not know the language, would probably not be able to communicate in the same way...

And all of it was making him think one thing over and over again. She is asking, begging for something to happen to prove her wrong. Practically like standing in the middle of a thunderstorm with a giant metal sword proclaiming your intention to slay all the Gods.

"And let me guess, this alien Royalty happens to be a super cute, busty Princess who is totally naive and wanders around completely shamelessly, flaunting a body that would be utterly flawless by the standards of human males?"

"Ah, you've met Princess Lala Deviluke? How helpful."

Peering over Yui's shoulder, Rito could see a man standing there. A man in full plate armour with a quite demonic design. Tall, rugged looking, with piercing blue eyes that seemed determined to pin him and Yui in place. Alien. Everything about this guy screamed alien from head to toe. From the top of his silver hair, to the bottom of his metal boots.

"Uh..." Rito began, while Yui stared at him with a look of genuine surprise on her face. But then... her thighs clenched together. Huh? Was that a sign of arousal from the prudish girl? Or was that his own lewd imagination?

He blinked, and in that time the alien had moved, reaching out for Yui and pulling her away, twisting her arm behind her back and holding a hand at her jaw. Well, she tricked kicking his shin, but he was in full armour so she likely hurt herself there.

"Unhand me! You brute!" Yui yelled. "I-  I won't let you have your wicked way with me, no matter what! I'm not that kind of girl, do you hear me?!"

Seeming to grow tired of her outburst, the alien grasped a hand over her mouth and stared directly at Rito. What the hell?! What was this?! What was he meant to do, here?!

=====

Oh, the things you have to do as a bodyguard for the Deviluke family. This villainous act was far beneath him, but... He had to think of the Princess and her future. When the Emperor had informed him that this mere human, a random boy from a backwater planet, was to be Lala's future husband, he had balked at the idea. The concerns were not voiced, as it was not his place - but his Majesty noticed anyway.

"Then test the boy," he had said. "Go to Earth. See what he's made of. Even an Emperor's order cannot beat true lived experience for persuading a loyal subject."

And so he had arrived this morning and watched. Not because he distrusted his Majesty, but because he had been ordered to test him. In Zastin's mind, the Emperor had sensed the hesitation and made the order to set his mind at ease, and so, he would indeed test this boy via the only means available.

"I would like to know where Lala is, boy!" Zastin said. Ah, let's see... he should sneer at this point, yes? Something like this? The upturned curl of the lip probably wasn't cruel enough for the role he was determined to play. "I know your sort! You won't talk at all if I try to torture you. And so, my attention will turn to this girl. I will -"

"Nooo," the girl somehow got her mouth free from his hand. "Don't - Don't spank me! Please! Not in public, not in front of everyone! I - I couldn't stand it if a handsome brutish alien forced me over his knee and brought the flat of his hand upon my rear end like that! I'd rather diiiiie!"

With the way her head was moving around it was a bit of a hassle to get his hand back over this girl's mouth, but he managed it and held on tighter this time. He'd been trying not to hurt her before, but she was hardier than he'd expected!

"Anyway! As I was saying!" Zastin said, holding the girl close. How to put this? His intention here was to see what the boy would do in this situation. Would he try to fight? Would he run? What was he made of? What was he capable of when his back was to the wall? He honestly expected this Rito boy to turn tail and flee with his tail tucked between his legs. Especially when Zastin casually lifted his foot, stomped the pavement beneath him and left a nasty looking crack. He'd use a line he'd once heard from a wannabe criminal he'd encountered early in his career. "This girl's face will be like this pavement by the time I'm -"

How strange. He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, before he was suddenly flying backwards. Zastin could also taste blood, which must be coming from his nose. Huh? What had happened? Had something struck him? He hadn't sensed any danger - at least until now, when there was a very sudden burst of pure, undiluted killing intent.

He tumbled, he rolled, he was back on his feet in a moment's notice. That boy - what was this? He was standing in front of him, holding that girl in the bridal carry position with a strange look on his face.

"Nobody threatens a pretty girl's face in my presence."

Do you know, he could believe that. He could fully accept the idea that this boy would never, ever permit a cute girl to be harmed while he was in the vicinity. He was the best swordsman their Empire had, bar none, and he hadn't seen the boy's attack at all. He still didn't know if it was a bunch, a kick, some kind of weapon, or maybe even something else that had been used!

Just like that... he understood. This boy, this human, may be from a backwater planet but... he was worthy. He was undoubtedly, unquestionably worthy of becoming Lala Satalin Deviluke's husband. Well then. His mission here had been a success. He could freely withdraw now, satisfied with the answer he had been given. A true warrior like him could tell from a single blow what an enemy is worth, and this boy was worth his planet's weight in gold.

How shrewd of you, your Majesty, to recognise this boy's full potential and to use your daughter like this... Taking what you want while making her happy at the same time, that is the act of a truly brilliant man.

"I'll take my leave for today," Zastin said. Rito likely would not listen at the moment if Zastin tried to explain the truth. "Next time we meet, it may be on friendlier terms."

And so, he departed, leaving Rito still carrying that girl in bridal style, as he watched closely until his enemy left. It felt like a thousand knives were aimed at his back the entire time. Yes, this would do. This would do nicely. He hadn't felt this refreshed in years! Rito Yuuki, he would be watching your next moves with great, keen interest! He couldn't wait to see what would happen when he learned to fully tap into that potential!








UY - Daddy's Girl

The life of a certain young woman named Sakura has been rife with stress, despite her natural beauty and despite her natural talents in her preferred area of expertise. She has a handsome fiance who shares many interests with her, and who cherishes her as surely as she him. Yet that stress abides. For the longest time it had been because she was beset by disease spirits with quite literally plagued her with all manner of malady, ensuring that when she was knee high she could not play with others her own age, keeping her from dating as a teenager, and only recently was she able to rid herself of this utter living hell.

You know, looking back, it's not always true that the grass is always greener on the other side. She was still in a kind of hell, but it wasn't nearly as bad as 'oops I randomly woke up with a hunchback, an ingrown toenail and conjunctivitis, while we're at it let's spin the wheel to see what I have at lunchtime'. Compared to that, being annoyed by certain cretins at her workplace was not that bad.

Having to deal with her uncle was still awful - but that wasn't a unique torment to her.

Little did Sakura realise... Little could she possibly guess, but she was about to find herself in a brand new hell that would make her long for what had come before. And it all began with a pretty face suddenly filling her vision, staring at her wide eyed and smiling broadly. A face that felt familiar, yet in a way that didn't quite fit her expectations...

"Oh wow, Cheryl's hot bod and Tooru's cute face!" the weird floating girl said, blinking rapidly while leaning in uncomfortably close. "There's no mistaking it, this is the MILF before she became the MILF. Hrm... Is ILF a thing? It should be a thing."

Cue the bane of her existence Ataru Moroboshi bopping the girl on the back of the head with a fan and gently pulling her away. "Don't mind her Miss Sakura, she's a relative of Lum's in disguise, you know how these Oni can be."

Now, there are two things that are important to note here. The first is that Ataru Moroboshi is an idiot. That's obvious after exchanging two sentences with him. The second thing, more crucial to this particular moment in time, is that Sakura is not an idiot. Furthermore she has seen some shit. Ghosts. Goblins. Vampires. And most recently, aliens from outer space with all kinds of totally bullshit technology that breaks the laws of physics in ways that she didn't even think they could be broken, fundamentally redefining what mankind must think of the nature of the universe <i>to a greater fucking extent than the fact that she can literally commune with the dead caused</i>.

So, her not stupid brain went to a conclusion most others might find irrational while she found inevitable. And horrible. So utterly, utterly horrible. But it was there. The eye colour. That smile. That damnable smile, that facial structure, the floating, being a relative of Lum's -

"This is your daughter, isn't it?" Sakura asked, feeling all the strength drain from her body while asking that dreadful question. "My god. One day in the future you're going to procreate with Lum, and then she's going to come back in time."

He was going to reproduce. Part of her had hoped that the fact he was most likely going to wind up with an outer space alien whose physical similarities to humans was likely surface level only would result in a situation where they would be too genetically incompatible to produce offspring. On the other hand... certain species of animals could reproduce between themselves, but create sterile offspring (like lions and tigers creating ligers). The same thing could happen here? No, surely this was the universe warning her that the future of humanity and the Oni race was now doomed, for Ataru Moroboshi had not only reproduced but also created a girl that was clearly a pervert and also extremely cute.

It was inexplicable. Impossible. Somehow, blending Moroboshi's DNA with Lum's had created something... adorable. Even though she could pick out the features that were Moroboshi's rather than Lum's, the overall product was... It was cute. This girl must be popular with boys, meaning she would have no problem at all in - In continuing the Moroboshi line.

Once, Tsubame had attempted to summon the Devil himself. Even then Sakura hadn't shaken in fear. Now, though. Now she was. Apparently she would have a son called Tooru at some point in the future. What if... what if he fell under this perverted hybrid's spell and - And did the unthinkable?

<i>Would she be forced to invite Moroboshi to family reunions!?</i>

"Gosh Miss Sakura you don't look so well?" Moroboshi - that is to say Ataru - said, rushing in to dab a handkerchief at her forehead. "Would you like us to get you anything?"

"Water, a comfy chair, a backrub?" his daughter asked from behind her. Ugh, Sakura's eyes crossed involuntarily. "Oh dear, Daddy. I think she's about to faint!"

"Shush on the Daddy thing," Ataru whispered. "We're trying to keep this quiet, right?"

"But she already guessed," the girl sniffed. "Right Miss Sakura? The mere thought of my Daddy and Mommy together made you all weak at the knees and want to join i~in."

“Why were you allowed to breed?”

“Will be allowed to breed.” The girl said. “Future tense. I'm Aoi, by the way. Nice to meetcha!”

Aoi Moroboshi. Truly, nothing could possible represent her idea of hell on Earth more than this girl. Her body language was a perfect blend of mother and father, every bit as much as her appearance was.

No. This girl might be worse. Sakura knew how horny and desperate and terrible even non-Ataru teenage boys could be. If this girl had all the perverseness of Ataru mixed with Lum’s general attractiveness… a demon. She would be a demon in multiple senses of the word. She literally couldn't think of anything worse than -

"Say, wanna join Daddy's harem, part time?"

Sakura wasn’t one for slapstick violence that much of the time but that remark deserved a mallet to her half-alien head. “No! What is wrong wi- never mind.” If she externalised that question, some demon might show up to show her the list, and make her aware of how awful this truly was.

"Don't tell me you came back in time for something that stupid," Sakura said. It wasn't a question, but rather a request. She already knew it was that stupid. Tsk! If she was up to something like that, then who knows what sort of havoc she could cause? Outer space tech was advanced as it was already, if she'd come from the future, then....

Then Sakura had a responsibility. A weighty, dreadful responsibility. She could not allow this pllution, this corruption to linger on. She must stop it. She must ensure that it does not happen. If somehow Ataru Moroboshi had a harem, he would... he would inflict a terrible curse upon the entire universe!

"That tears it! I'll be keeping my eye on you!" Sakura yelled.

"Oh, you want to watch me build a harem?" Ataru asked, resulting in an ofuda being slammed into his forehead. To no effect, as usual, for his mind was already pure. That is to say, it was untainted by anything but lust.

"Aw, don't be like that Auntie!" Aoi pouted, suddenly in Sakura's face. Cute! Damn her, she was too adorable! Being cross at her like this felt like being mad at a puppy! "You and Daddy get along so well, teehee!"

"Enough of the Auntie and - What's that you're holding?" Sakura asked.

"What's what I'm holding?" Aoi innocently replied. Sakura lunged to grab it from her hand before something terrible happened, who knew what kind of weird effect might happen if she - Click!

And now she was out in public wearing an erotic parody of a shrine maiden outfit. A short white hakama top that showed most of her cleavage, all of her midriff, and barely covered her shoulders, and the red bottom was a miniskirt. A slight breeze would reveal her panties If she was even wearing them. Right. So. It was time for her to kick the dog, so to speak. This girl... she was every bit as rotten to the core as she believed. If she thought for one moment that she was getting away with humiliating her like this -

"Hey, cutie! Those lips look like they need a little action."

"Aoi! Stop hitting on every cute guy and girl you see! Tell me how you were going to get Miss Sakura to join my harem!"

"But Daaadddyyyyy! Look at her, she's way too cute!"

Oh, that's right karma is a thing that exists. Horny father raises a cute and horny girl, horny father is going to suffer like no other.

Still, if she thought that Sakura would leave them alone just because of this ridiculous outfit that she couldn't remove no matter what she tried - and oh, she was trying - then they had another thing coming! That was pretty much the only trait she'd admit to sharing with her uncle. Tenacity to be where she wasn't wanted, but ultimately needed!

Believe it or not but Aoi has a plan. A plan that is now all but guaranteed to end with Sakura in the harem!
Aoi continues on her mission to put girls in this series in hot outfits. She got distracted from her plan, alright?
Back with Ryoko, is she trolling or being serious?
Shinobu and Lum discuss what to do about Aoi.
Something else


Oni Virus

Being sneezed on by her ex's current girlfriend was not on Shinobu's agenda for today. An alien disease? Oni germs? With their freaky biology? Who knows how her ordinary human immune system would react to it! Urgh! It didn't bear thinking about!

However, when Shinobu woke up in the nurse's office she was... fine. She got out of bed and it was like she was walking on air. A feeling that persisted as she left the school building and went on her way home.

"How ya feeling?" Ryuunosuke asked as she left the building. Shinobu wasn’t surprised to see Ryuunoske waiting out for her. She was just gentlemanly like that. Unlike <b>some</b> people she knew.

"I'm fine now," Shinobu replied, and stretched out. "Much better, perfectly normal."

"You sure about that?" Ryuunosuke asked, and that was never a reassuring question to hear after waking up. If anything, it's quite effective as a further wakeup call. Shinobu quickly checked herself. She was fine. Right? She patted down her body, examined herself and didn't see anything wrong at all. She felt fine, she looked fine, and like she'd thought earlier it felt like she was walking on air.

Then she realised that she actually, literally was.

"What?!" she yelled, stumbling over nothing and suddenly finding herself rising fast into the air like a hot air balloon. Oh no, up into the open sky! Why couldn't this happen while she was indoors? "Woah!"

"I gotcha!" Ryuunosuke yelled, grabbing onto Shinobu's ankle and hauling her back down to earth. Then, she grabbed Shinobu's shoulders to firmly plant her on terra firma, looked her in the eyes and asked "You sure you're okay?"

In answer to that, Shinobu did the most logical thing she could do at that moment. She sneezed right in Ryuunosuke's face. This didn't seem to impress Ryuunosuke all that much as she slowly wiped the little globules of snot off her face.

"Hey, Shinobu! Are you feeling better? Uh, are those horns?"

Ah. Ataru was out of school late. And what do you know, he had discovered yet another question that one should not be asked upon awakening. Now Ryuunosuke had taken a keen, biting interest in the top of Shinobu's head, prompting this perfectly ordinary - and I cannot stress this next word enough - <b><i><u>human</u></i></b> girl to reach atop her head and delicately, oh so delicately tap away at her scalp.

"Whaaaaaaat?" Shinobu whispered, but it might as well have been a yell. "H-Hold on a moment,  Iwas flying before, right?"

As easily as thinking it she started to rise once again. Slower this time. Steadier. Both Ryuunosuke and Ataru stared up at Shinobu with utter disbelief, and why shouldn't they? Shinobu could hardly believe it either!

She felt wobbly, like a newborn, hovering and floating in the air like this. Helpless and stumbling around. Wading through the air was nothing at all like floating in the ocean. You can more easily feel the resistance of water around you, its bouyancy's effect on your water. This levitation felt quite uncanny by comparison.

Nonetheless, once she was used to that Shinobu felt a bit more at ease here, Able to shift and change directions. Huh! This was actually pretty fun. While it was very strange that she was suddenly able to do this, and the horns on top of her head were making her quite worried from their sudden appearance, those concerns were quickly forgotten by the simple delight of -

"I see, I see," Ataru said. "White, today huh?"

Aha. Okay. A prompt and unsubtle reminder that Shinobu was wearing a skirt right now. Anger quickly boiled up in the pit of her stomach, and then - her teeth became quite fang like. Sharp and pointed like spikes, and then -

"Ataru!" she yelled, pointing dramatically at him - and then lightning coursed out of her fingertips and struck the boy down, smiting him as if she were Zeus. Which is amusing, because of the two of them Ataru had more in common with - No, let's not go onto a mythology kick here, let's just say that the phrase "and then Zeus was horny" explains a lot (seriously, a *lot*) of the trouble in Greek mythology, and leave it at that.

"Oooh, that felt really good," Shinobu whispered to herself. Then zapped Ataru again. "I see, I see, that's why Lum does that all the time. So cathartic!"

"Ow!" Ataru whimpered from the ground.

"Yeah, yeah, making him suffer is always fun, 'cuz he's got it coming," Ryuunosuke said. "But you! How'd you learn to fly like that? I thought Lum and Oni were the only ones who could that?"

That was a good question. The only thing Shinobu could think of was... She'd caught something from Lum. In which case, she had to track that annoying alien down pronto and ask her what this was all about!

<hr>

Oni physiology isn't quite like humans. In the important ways? Yeah, it kinda is. But there are a few fundamental differences. Aside from the horns, and the weird hair colour, they have the ability to defy gravity. Depending on the Oni they can shoot lightning, breathe fire (or more accurately, exhale fire), transform into monstrous forms, and all manner of other weird freaky energy tricks that humans most definitely cannot replicate, at least not without a weapon of some sort.

Another key biological difference was their sense of taste. Oni like spicy food like humans like sweets. The hotter? The better! And right now Lum was engaged in a time old tradition among humans and oni alike.

Make the hottest, spiciest food you can in an attempt to utterly devastate anything lurking in your naval cavity. Make the bacteria, snot and phlegm taking up residence there regret the moment the universe decided to let them come into being. Bring unto them the annihilation of a curry so spicy, that depending on what country on Earth you were in it might qualify as toxic waste. Lum's stomach growled as she stared down at this concoction - no, this abomination unto the Gods of human taste, her palette dulled by the cold and yet anticipating its revival, for surely this would awaken even the most exhausted of beasts.

"Lum! We need to - Ooh, that smells amazing!"

"Hi, Shinobu!" Lum said, taking note of Shinobu flying in through the window of Darling's room. "Oh? You've learned how to fly? And - nice horns, when did those come in? I didn't know you were part Oni, you should have said something."

"I'm pretty sure I'm not!" Shinobu yelled, then sniffed the air. "Ooh, that smells amazing. Wait, no - I woke up like this after you sneezed on me!"

"Hrm, I did think it was a bit weird that happened earlier on..." Lum admitted. "You know, when you started flying around the classroom. I had to drag you down, remember?"

Shinobu stared at her in utter horror. "I thought that was a dream! Oh no, now that I think about it, that did happen, didn't it?"

“You wouldn’t be the first half human to come from a one-night stand. On the bright side, you’re not Tengu.” Lum said, to Shinobu’s wide eyed panic."Here, some curry?"

Shinobu took the offered spoon and collapsed down onto the air, sitting in it as though there was a chair there instead of, uh, an assortment of gases that were invisible to the human (and oni) eye. Then she sneezed.

"Oh dear, you've caught that, have you?" Lum tutted. "It's a nasty cold, this one. Based on what I've seen, its symptoms seem to progress under certain conditions."

"Huh? Conditions?" Shinobu asked. The spoon wavered in front of her mouth for a moment before she took the plunge and - Oh that's so good.

"Oh yes, that's right, most outer space diseases are like that," Lum nodded. "So far, I've figured out four stages. Stage one is the starting symptom, in my case a head cold. Stage two is 'being hugged by your crush', which made me start sneezing. Stage three is getting annoyed, which caused some pretty bad congestion - "

"Ahhhhhchooo!" Shinobu sneezed, and her clothes violently flew off her, revealing -  not the white bra and panties she'd been wearing up until now, but a distinctive tiger print bikini and gogo boots. A very familiar outfit, wouldn't you say?

"Oh dear, based on that sneeze, eating spicy food might be another trigger," Lum tutted. "Ah, the fourth trigger is saying 'Darling', by the way. So please try to avoid saying that. It will only make you feel worse if you do."

"I'll bear that in mind..." SHinobu muttered.Then, she looked down at herself, and - "ooh, hey, this is really nice. I like this."

Yes, that's right. Shinobu 'liked' wearing the tiger print bikini and gogo boots. In fact, if anyone asked her she'd have no trouble at all going out and about exactly like this.Not that Lum would see a problem with this herself, because she didn't have a problem with it either.

However... We should have a quick look in on how someone else is doing.

<hr>
"Ryuunosuke! Take inventory!"

Said the old man lying on the floor picking at his teeth like the lazy piece of shit he was. Urgh! Fine! Whatever! Ryuunosuke wasn't in the mood for an argument anyway. Her mind kept on going back to earlier, with Shinobu flying around like that. It was so weird!

"It looked like she was having fun when she was getting used to it..." Ryuunosuke muttered to herself. "Huh... I hope she feels better - Aaachooo!"

And in that moment, a pair of horns shot out the top of Ryuunosuke's head. Not that she would notice until the next day. After all, the only thing her father said on the matter was -

"Ryuunosuke, stop thinking dirty thoughts! Boy, I know you're horny!"

Needless to say, but she was left very confused by this. Not confused enough to scratch her head, but confused nonetheless.

Inevitably, Shinobu says 'Darling' and experiences the last of the symptoms
The next day, Ryuunosuke sneezes her clothes off.
What do Shinobu's parents make of this?
Ataru returns home, and both Shinobu and Lum are being weirdly affectionate to him.
Something else


LS Ranma

Yuka understood full well the positions she was in. Ranma, poor Ranma, didn't have any cute clothes to her name. When the cutest thing in her wardrobe was the Furinkan Girl's uniform, that says a lot. None of it good. And none of it lasting beyond today if she had a mind to it! Steam shot from her nose! She would have Ranma as a living dress up doll! She could see it plainly now! Cute flowery skirts! Pastel blouses! She'd teach that girl about how to match colours, form her own style and -

And...

A sudden dizziness overtook her. As thought a fragmented Lesbian Goddess was going 'no, no, you idiot don't go so quickly! Look, here's what you do instead' right in her earhole with great insistence.

"So, what kinda clothes were you thinking of getting me?" Ranma asked. Oh, look at how her shoulders were sunk down. She didn't really want to be here did she? Poor thing!

"Ah, how about... some shirts and some shorts? Does that sound okay?" Yuka asked. Right! There wasn't a need for anything <i>too</i> intense here. Cute skirts could wait. All things in their time and place. Don't rush things and it will all work out in the end!  Without waiting for Ranma's answer, Yuka ran off into the store and grabbed the first shirts and shorts that she thought would look good on her. Without a thought towards little matters like 'size', she was just a little bit too caught up in the moment for that sort of thing.

"Yeah I guess that'd be - Uh, where did you get those from?"

It turned out that Yuka was able to get those clothes so fast even Ranma hadn't noticed she'd gone. Without a word, Yuka put them into Ranma's arms and pushed her into the dressing room, her heart pounding in her ears from anticipation. Oooh, okay. Don't be so excited, this is just the first set of clothes you've found. Girls never went for the very first outfit they picked out, because it never quite looked the way they imagined. It would be the same thing for Ranma, right?

Of course, Yuka didn't know about a little thing called the lesbian shard, which was easily able to use its magic to twist and change and shape things the way that it wanted them. So long as it increased the amount of girl on girl going on. In this case, when Ranma opened up her dressing room, one member of staff was inadvertently set on a path to dump her boyfriend and spend much, much more time with his sister in the foreseeable future.

"Huh, not bad!" Ranma said, casually standing there with her hands behind her head. She rolled a little bit on her feet. "I was worried the shorts wouldn't fit, they looked a bit too snug but... Nah, they're pretty good. What do you think?"

What did Yuka think? Well, let's see. Ranma was currently wearing a bright crimson crop top that hugged her breasts like long lost relatives. Her cute slim waist was practically framed for display, and her navel sort of acted like an exclamation point for her breasts. Sort of like saying 'Oh yeah, my boobs are big, but they're not the only thing about me that's hot.'

Then, of course, there were the shorts. Jet black and super, super snug. Actually, Yuka didn't realise it but she'd grabbed a pair that were a size too short for Ranma to normally fit. Enter the Lesbian Shard! No more need to worry about whether your clothing gifts will fit, just make sure the intention behind them is yuri-adjacent and it will take care of the rest.

It was as though someone had been aware that Yuka had been entranced by Ranma's cute face and bountiful bosom, and was making a point that there was a whole hell of a lot mor to this shortstack she should be paying attention to. Ranma had the very embodiment of the ridiculously hot tomboy just now. The only way it could be improved would be if, instead of those black shorts!

Ranma blinked, and suddenly Yuka was handing her jean shorts.

"Try these on now!"

Please please please please please! Yuka felt like she might die if she didn't see this at least one time in her life! Jean shorts! Tiny snug jean shorts! On that body! The image of the super hot tomboy must be completed before her eyes!

<hr>

Meanwhile, not too far away, a pair of shoppers were behaving completely inconspicuously. Their names just so happened to be Akane and Sayuri, and sure, they were friends with Yuka, and sure, they just so happened to have entered the store within a minute of her coming in with her 'this isn't a date - but it's <i>absolutely</i> a date' Ranma. And sure, Akane was worried about what Ranma might try to pull on this date, and sure they kept on looking over at the pair rather than paying attention to the clothes...

But none of that meant a single solitary thing. They were shopping. That was all.

"Oooh, just look at what she's wearing!" Akane seethed. "Are those meant to be shorts or underwear? She's trying to seduce and corrupt Yuka, no doubt about it!"

"I dunno, it seems like Yuka's the one trying for the corruption here..." Sayuri muttered to herself. Ignored by Akane, whose attention was one hundred and ten percent focused on Ranma. Wait, hold on that can't be right. It's mathematically impossible to go over a hundred percent, let me check out the maths on that...

Oh, it is accurate. Her attention was being artificially boosted by the shard, allowing her to retain even greater detail than she would normally be capable of. Duly noted, maths is satisfied, on with the story.

Really now, clothes like that? For someone like Ranma? Akane couldn't quite handle that! What if she got hit with hot water and changed back into a boy? While wearing clothes like that! It was bad enough that she was rocking the girl's uniform at school... and doing a better job of it than the other girls in the school at that!

"Hey, Earth to Akane!" Sayuri waved her hand in front of Akane's face. "We came here to do clothes shopping, right? Well, the staff are starting to notice you're staring. Head in there and put this on and stop staring at Ranma's - My god you could bounce pennies off that tush. Rawr!"

"n-Not you too!" Akane yelped. "Okay, okay, fine! I'll try this on, and then we can go on our date. Away from them. Happy?"

"Thri~illed!" Sayuri sang.

Oooh, Sayuri was so weird sometimes. Still, Akane couldn't help but worry. What would Yuka think when she found out about the curse? Would she let it slip? Would she judge Akane for being engaged to someone like Ranma? Maybe try to steal her away somehow, or - Or break off ties with Akane? Ah! This whole situation was a mess! If only Ranma had showed up in boy form, this would have all been so much simpler to deal with. Why did that absolute sex bomb have to be the person everyone thought Ranma was, rather than that kinda handsome boy instead?

While thinking about that, and running through the alternative scenarios, and things that might have been, Akane had been getting dressed. Putting on the clothes that Sayuri had given her. Which turned out to be a button up short sleeved shirt, slacks and a tie. Which Akane had to admit, she looked super cute in. Huh. You know what, maybe she would wear this for the rest of the date instead of the girlier clothes she'd gone out in. While Akane could rock a good miniskirt with the best of them, she knew full well that she could just as easily go all in on the tomboyish appeal just as easily as Ranma could.

"Alright, I've calmed down a bit, let's head out and do some karaoke!" Akane said.

"Hah, serves you right for not paying - Uh? What?" Sayuri went through a range of emotions here. Triumph at her prank succeeding, all the way to confusion at Akane's response. "Hold on, you like this sort of thing?"

"Well, it's not what I'd normally wear, but... I guess it kinda suits me." Akane said.

"Needs a bit more…” Sayuri said, looking a bit flushed, as she slid behind Akane and adjusted her hair. Trying the ponytail up higher and a bit tighter. “P-perfect.”

<hr>

If there's any way to get Ranma to do something, it's to appeal to the old ego. One thing that she hadn't thought much about until now was fashion, but - Damn, looking at herself in the mirror she really was a cutie, wasn't she? Yuka had wound up buying her a whole bunch of shorts and shirts, and for some reason the staff had taken one look at her and given a really big discount on all these clothes. All they wanted was for her to take a few pictures while wearing them and sign some weird form.

"Uh, Ranma... I think you just gave them permission to market those photos of you," Yuka whispered.

"Huh? Really? You mean, like, use me for advertisements and stuff?"

Yuka nodded, seeming unduly worried. Oh, whatever. Let them use those pictures. Hehe! What would be the big deal, anyway?  So a whole bunch of people were going to see this super cute cursed form, big whoop. If it got this store more business, well good for them! What, would something bad happen from that? Like a sneaky Lesbian Goddess using those pictures to subtly spread her influence throughout Furinkan, ensnaring the unwary into her yuri web before anyone knew what was happening? Pft, whatever! As if that could be real!

Right now the two of them had left the store to resume their - Huh, what would you call this? It's not a date, exactly - but honestly it was the best thing Ranma could think to call it. She was on a date with Yuka, who was showing her around town. Letting her see the sights. Drink it all in. Of course, Ranma had decided to wear some of her new clothes. That was why Yuka had bought them for her, right? So that was only logical, yes?

"There's the ice rink over there," Yuka said, excitedly hugging into Ranma's shoulders and pointing with great enthusiasm at the building. "It has a cute little cafe built into it, and there's a ramen place next door. This is the perfect spot for a date, if you find someone you want to go with."

"Heh, awesome! Maybe we can hang out there next weekend!" Ranma said without thinking. "Ah, did I say something wrong? You're turning a weird shade of red there."

"N-no, it's nothing, it's... nothing..." Yuka gulped. "Um! Let's see, let's see...Uh, the bath house is just around the corner here. If the heating breaks at your place, you can come here instead."

"This would be a lousy place for a date," Ranma quipped without thinking. "Haha, all those naked people sitting around rubbing themselves down with towels and soap! I mean, can you even imagine it? The two of us sitting naked in the bathhouse trying to have a date?"

Oh dear Yuka had tripped and was falling over. Good thing that Ranma was here to catch her.

"So, uh, is there anything else you wanna show me?" Ranma asked. "We spent a while getting clothes, so maybe we can do one more thing before calling it a night?"

"Ah! Ah! Ah... Arcade!" Yuka yelled. "L-L-L-let's go to the arcade!"

Seemed like a good plan as far as Ranma was concerned. Ah, this was a nice, fun, completely innocent night out with a girlfriend. Heh! But knowing Akane, she probably thought that something dirty was going to happen! As if!

<hr>

Dear diary, today your friend Sayuri hit the jackpot. I've finally - finally - managed to get Akane to not only go out on a date with me, but also to dress up in slacks, a button up shirt and a smart tie with a ponytail.

To summarize my feelings right now succinctly: Hrnk!

Okay, so Sayuri didn't actually have a diary, and that's really just what she was thinking she'd put in it if she did have one. Plus she was honestly tempted to buy one just so she could record the events of this day. The truth was, she'd had a bit of a gay crush on her friend for a while now. As in, years. Pretty much since they first met. She hadn't thought anything would come of it, but she could dream couldn't she? She could dream! And she could dream that Akane would one day wear clothes to fully and truly match her 'type'. She knew all too well that Akane would hammer every single button in her libido if she only adopted this style of clothes.

"And then that loudmouth had the temerity to imply my butt was too big and my chest was too small! Can you believe that?"

If only she would shut up about Ranma for a second. She understood, of course. If you offered Sayuri the chance to remove a finger for a chance to dive between Ranma's legs for an hour, she'd have her pinky in a tiny little guillotine before you finished speaking. Not even Akane was that hot. That pigtailed beauty just sorta... made you super aware of how supernaturally sexy she was the instant she walked into the room. If you tried to not notice it, then your face would still get crammed into it anyway.

"See, this is my point from before," Sayuri said. "Why does it bother you if Ranma's hanging out with Yuka? Do you really think something's going to happen there?"

"W-Well, Ranma's into girls, so..." Akane muttered. Well that was interesting information to file away for later. "She'll probably take advantage of Yuka at the first chance she'll get."

"Oh, puhleeze!" Sayuri rolled her eyes. "What, you think she's going to sneak a kiss like - " And then, in a moment of boldness, she pecked Akane on the lips. "Like that?"

Oh, that was far too bold! Far too daring! Surely, after a move like that, Akane must be really shocked! Appalled! Horrified that her friend could just up and do that out of nowhere! Yet Sayuri couldn't help herself, couldn't hold back, even if it cost her friendship she'd have to step forward with no regrets-

Yet somehow Akane seemed nonplussed. "Nah,” She said, and then in an almost casual tone she continued,  “I'm more worried she'll kiss her like this."

Table one, here is that open mouth kiss you ordered, with a side of tongue. This was quite a bit more than a peck on the lips. Both in terms of depth, but also in the dimension we call 'time'. At first Sayuri was a bit too stunned to react, the sudden sensation of lips up against hers and a powerful tongue pushing its way into her mouth without warning was  -well, wow! Hot damn, wow. Not what she was expecting at all.

Aftera moment the kiss parted and Akane leaned back, not seeming to really notice anything amiss.

"Uh..." Sayuri burbled. "So... So, what else are you worried Ranma might do to Yuka?"

To her absolute fucking amazement, Akane proceeded to show her exactly that. In precise, occasionally repetitive detail.







NGE Dreamscape

For some, administration was hell itself. A tedium from which there could be no escape. Red tape as far as the eye could see, processes that looped in on themselves driving the unwary to the brink of madness. Kozo Fuyutsuki understood such notions, but did not feel them whatsoever. Administration was the lifeblood of any organisation, especially a military one. It is said that amateurs look at tactics, while professionals look at logistics, and here was the living evidence of it made flesh.

Sitting in this office, surrounded by paperwork that had been meticulously sorted was... a silver haired beautiful middle aged woman, with broad hips, a pair of breasts that had to be carefully tied back to keep from interfering in her work, and a butt so large it doubled as a pair of cushions. For three seats. Yes, the deputy commander was, and always had been a badonkalicious MILFy wonder, who never once allowed herself to get distracted by little matters like, for example, the Dummy Plugs twerking in her office in lieu of an office fan. All that mattered to her was her duty, and-

"Tsk, I've been registered as a male member of staff all this time?" Kozo tsked. "Someone really dropped the ball there." A quick correction and - Yep, female. Just like she always had been. "Gendo, it's not like you to overlook something so obvious."

The Commander had been away for a while now, come to think. It was Kozo's responsibility to run NERV while he was gone and - How long had he been now? Quite a while. Or was it only an hour? To be quite frank it was hard to tell. Ever since they'd started using the Dreamscape Pods to help facilitate things, keeping track of time had been strangely difficult. That probably should be a concern, but - The Reis fanning her inched a little closer in anticipation - compared to the benefits it provided it was a trifling thing. The Reis then returned to their places.

"In conclusion the problematic but necessary update of the MAGI has been fully completed, ensuring that all three understand the vital, essential role that ass worship plays in human mental health," Kozo wrote. There we go. One report down. Though... come to think, perhaps that last part was a little longer than needed? It was so obvious that ass worship played a vital role human mental health, so obvious it didn't bear saying. In fact, it was a wonder the MAGI hadn't been programmed with that understanding right away! He removed that part of the report, although his mind did register the fact that, hypothetically, if someone were to read this without knowing about ass worship, or maybe thought such a thing was... abnormal, then such a report would be vague enough that they wouldn't pay it any mind. Yet that could hardly be on purpose, no, no, let's not be ridiculous here.

The next report to need written up was for the Dreamscape Project. A resounding success, through and through, and of course Kozo praised it as such. A truly refreshing experience, makes you feel like a whole new person. Minds are fresher, bodies healthier, and the only side effects are - Without warning, Kozo's head was entirely engulfed in Dummy Plug ass. Oil dripped down from the ceiling as well, from seemingly nowhere, trickling down like syrup over pancakes, gently glazing the healthy posteriors of the Dummy Plugs, who reached back and took the time to rub it in while Kozo was caught right in the middle of them.

"There are no discernable side effects," Kozo said, suddenly wearing a string bikini. The oil continued to drip down, this time landing on her. The Dummy Plugs then took their time to use their butts to rub it directly into Kozo's body until it was gleaming and shiny, with oil covering every single inch of her flesh so thoroughly that if she took a dip in the ocean, the next day celebrities would be scrubbing seagulls. Now, on with the report. There were a few odd alerts here and there while the project was in use. Which had to be explained to the UN and to SEELE, who were no fools and would see through any deception. Not that Kozo intended to deceive them, because there was nothing at all weird about -

Without warning, Kozo did a handstand on her desk, did an upside down splits, and then proceeded to clap her cheeks together through sheer muscle control, and then continued typing away her report. Oh, that alert about an unusual energy surge into the Geofront? Nothing to worry about, the Geofront was using that energy to supplement the experiment. Commander Ikari hasn't been in touch for a few days? Bedridden. Obviously. A most unfortunate time to fall ill, but it cannot be helped. Kozo was perfectly capable of handling things while he was away. Though, in truth, Kozo was quite certain the Commander was on an action on his own initiative, for his own goals. It was hardly a strange thing for Kozo to cover for him while he was doing so.

All the while, her cheeks were clapping in time with the Dummy Plugs. Yes, teamwork of this nature was of vital importance, in order to build - Hrm? What was this now? Another alarm? While still upside down, Kozo tapped away at a monitor to take a look Who was reporting an alert? Alpha team, was it? What were they going on about now, of all times?

<i>"Can't get into the Commander's -"</i> the reporting officer began, before a Dummy Plug appeared as if from thin air and trapped his face between her cheeks. There we go, much better. If Kozo recalled correctly, the Commander's standing orders were -

"Ignore all alerts."

Kozo sat back down on her seat and looked onto the other side of the desk. There, she found Ritsuko Akagi standing there, riding atop a naked oiled up Misato Katsuragi as though she were a pony rather than a hot busty woman. She rode Misato around the room, staring down at Kozo as if from on high.

"You would do well to remember that, subcommander," Doctor Akagi said. "The Commander's instructions were quite explicit. No alerts. They are to be ignored. Do I need to remind you of Gendo's wishes?"

"No," Kozo said, her pretty face turning into a scowl. "However, you seem to be overstepping your bounds, Doctor. I'm in charge around -"

But then, Ritsuko snapped her fingers and Kozo - as she ought - got out of her seat, slapped her hands upon her thighs, squatted down and performed her daily exercise. Twerking that big round MILFY butt, feeling the fabric of this string bikini clenched between her cheeks, letting those mounds of flesh be split asunder as she shook them, jiggled them, bounced them up and down on the air all in the sake of keeping herself nice and fit. Or should that be nice and thicc? Honestly, at this point Kozo couldn't quite recall clearly. What mattered was, it was time to twerk her slutty little brains out. All work and no twerk makes Kozo a... something something?

"Guuuurgh!" Kozo burbled as the inevitable orgasm crashed through her body. It was only natural, wasn't it? This was a consequence of a big booty MILF twerking away like that. It was like brain freeze, have too much of a good thing at once and you cause your body to overreact. In this case, violently making her hips go boom boom boom was making the flesh in her rump rub up against some nerves in a quite pleasant way, causing a chain reaction that resulted in a big messy climax that left her tongue hanging out, her legs too weak to stand - and yet, even though she'd fallen over her hips were still moving to some impossible to hear rythym that, apparently, only Kozo and the Dummy Plugs could hear.

"I'll leave you to your work, shall I?" Ritsuko asked mockingly, then smacked Misato's ass and turned to leave. Content that she'd reaffirmed her authority over her world.

However... As she left, light shimmered around the desk. After a moment, a familiar figure was sitting there. Hands steepled as if in prayer.His distinctive orange glasses hid his eyes, but anyone looking could tell that he was staring at Kozo as if peering into her very soul.

"Subcommander," he said. Then, after a moment of no response he rose from the desk. Calmly, methodically, but to anyone who knew him there was a hint of panic undercutting him. "Snap out of this. I did not hire you as my subcommander because you were so weak willed."

"Gendo...?" Kozo burbled. "What are you - When did you get back?"

"I never left," Gendo replied. "This Dreamscape project. Every other member of staff is now trapped within a bizarre, twisted dream. It would have been fine, if not for the corruption of the MAGI - from that point, everyone was instructed to enter a pod at the end of their shift for 'refreshment'. I do not know what's going on, but - Focus, man! Stop that ludicrous dance!"

"Ludicrous?" Kozo gasped. "What's ludicrous about twerking your awesome fat ass off?"

Gendo grabbed onto her face and took his glasses off, staring her right in they eye. "You are a man of science, not a woman of debauchery," he said. Firmly, with full sincerity. "Concentrate! Do not let your will be broken like this. You are trapped within the Dreamscape pod!"

"Then what about you?" Kozo asked. "Wouldn't you be trapped as well, if you are here?"

"I am taking a severe risk, being half in and half out," Gendo said. "I am connected through an entirely independant source. With the MAGI corrupted, this is the only avenue left to me. Hrmph! To think that I would have to step in like this! Trapped within my office by my own systems!"

"You're so stressed out Commander," Kozo said. Suddenly, they were surrounded by Dummy Plugs. On all sides. Hands on their knees. Kozo got up onto her feet to join them. "I good hard twerk session will surely -"

But then, out of nowhere and for no apparent reason at all the subcommander's body went limp and toppled over, as if suddenly flash frozen in place.

"Talking will do little, and time is of the essence," Gendo said, letting his assessment out. He returned his glasses to his face, twitched his head a little to the left and then - "There. It wasn't easy getting to your pod, subcommander, but I have now pulled your body free from it. "Now, let's see how I wake you up."

"That might be a bit harder than you think, Gendo Ikari," Ritsuko said, suddenly behind him once again. He turned and sneered at her with true contempt, a rare display of emotions. For a long time now he'd kept such feelings bottled up as they interfered with the work he had in mind - but here, there was too much of it to store away, so some of it spilled out. "You've proved a hypothesis I had for what might happen if one is forcably removed. It leaves the body in a comatose state. Even I hadn't dared experimenting with what might happen there."

"Doctor Akagi," Gendo said. "It is clear to me that this machine is warping and twisting your mind, and corrupted you with the feeling of limitless power. However, this is all fleeting."

"Like your obsession with a certain dead scientist?" Ritsuko countered, gesturing to the Dummy Plugs all around. Gendo didn't seem too concerned about any of them. "It's funny, really. You keep your distance from your own flesh and blood as much as humanly possible. Is it because he reminds you of her? Because you think you'd hurt him more? Or because you're even more emotionally stunted than he is?"

"Attempts to undermine each other on a psychological basis will clearly not work here," Gendo said. He pulled out a gun and aimed it squarely at her. "As I am half inside of reality, and half inside this artificial construct, what might happen if I were to pull the trigger? Would it harm you? Kill you? Or would you merely shrug it off? Make the bullet vanish mid shot?"

"I cannot influence you or anything you brought into this reality," Ritsuko admitted. "There's the shades of the once brilliant scientist you were, coming to the surface. However, I can influence the environment around you."

A snap of her fingers, and the office transformed into something otherworldly. Impossible, beyond belief. The sort of thing that, were anyone to experience it in a dream, would be automatic grounds for the dreamer to realise this was not reality and thus begin a lucid dream for them to take control over. Gendo was not so fortunate. The floor became more... pinkish. Off pink, in fact. Soft to the touch. If you dropped a coin upon it, then surely that coin would bounce back into your upturned palm. The walls, the ceiling, the floors, all followed suit.

"I'm not surprised you would have no trepidation about hauling Konzo out of the pod without care for his wellbeing," Ritsuko said. "Not surprised, but a little disappointed."

"What -?" Gendo yelled as his feet began to sink into this strange fleshy ground. "Ah, don't tell me - You've turned every surface into a pronounced posterior?"

"The word you're looking for is ass," Ritsuko corrected. Indeed, they began to form more fully, now. A series of butts popping out, bouncing and twerking away. Squished into each other, the same way that a row of piglets would at the trough. Narry a beam of light could go through them, in fact, it was a continuous barrier of butt. What had started as merely a roundish pink mass now had row upon row of quivering bouncing cheeks shoving and pushing into one another to the point that it almost gave the illusion there might be actually people behind them, rather than that solid barrier.  On such a surface, Gendo found aiming impossible. He couldn't stand, and while he did open fire his shots went wide.

But worse than that his feet began to sink into the ass. Almost as though the act of him standing there had caused the twerkers to shift their positoin to let him through. From his perspective though, it was like he had suddenly set foot in quicksand. Well, no. That's not quite right. Actually, for one thing, quicksand isn't nearly as dangerous as it's depicted in fiction. Don't misunderstand, it's far from harmless, but falling into a silo full of grain is far more likely to kill you in that way than quicksand would. Secondly, the feeling you would get from falling into quicksand would be one of being gripped by cold damp slime. Gendo, being a scientist, would be aware of this fact and so he would likely not have made the comparison.

Nonetheless he was sinking into a sea of hot, smooth butt. On instinct, he did try to keep himself out of it. First by trying to wade his way out. Pushing on ass with his hands to keep himself afloat. The butts then made a "teehee" noise and sunk down, leaving his wrists trapped between another pair of cheeks. From there, the quivering ass began to grind up against him with clear malicious intent, dragging him down bit by bit, in essence twerking him into a quite humiliating fate.

"Don't worry, you won't die from this," Ritsuko said. "Where would be the fun in that?"

"Doctor Akagi - Ritsuko! Cease this madness before the Angels - "

Whatever protest he was going to make was quickly silenced, as he fell completely in. Ritsuko herself shrugged, and if we take a greater perspective we can see that the room itself hadn't actually changed at all. The ass that Gendo had fallen into was, in fact, Ritsuko's. His body was trapped, miniaturised in comparison to her now, unable to move or yell or do anything but remain in this quite humiliating position, perched between her cheeks as she walked around.

"And oh, Gendo, the fun we're going to have together," Ritsuko said, spanking herself with both hands. "Now that the final obstacles have been removed, we shall begin the next stage of our process - A Dreamscape Pod for everyone in Tokyo 3. Then, from there, we can move out further still. Bring this gift to the entire human race! The whole world deserves this wonderful experience!"

"Ooooooh!"

An otherworldly moan broke her concentration. It was Kozo Fuyutsuki. Still lying on the now normal office floor. Her body completely still. Where it had been from the moment Gendo had foolishly and heartlessly removed Kozo's body from its pod in the real world. Ritsuko's full attention fell upon it, and she scowled. What was this now?

"Oooh fuck yes that's so fucking good!" Kozo groaned orgasmically. Huh? Huh?! What in the world?! "More of this, please, more! More ass. More ass! Need more assssss!"

"What in the..." Ritsuko Akagi began, but finished with stunned silence. Eye boggled horror. For the dream body of the subcommander had begun to change right before her unbelieving eyes.



Lesbian Shard Usagi

The slightest shard of a Goddess is no mere thing. Any being truly worthy of being called a Goddess wields power unimaginable by mortals. Any attempt to do so would surely shatter their sanity, and so even a tiny fraction of that power is, quite frankly, absurd beyond belief. This shard in particular flew through the multiverse, seeking out a host that would be suitable for its gifts. A woman, of course, for it was a Lesbian Goddess. One who desired sapphic satisfaction for all of womankind, across all worlds, all galaxies, all universes where life existed.

And in this universe that it had entered it sensed a soul. One brimming to bursting with purity, love and immense power of its own right. Just barely under the requirements to become a Goddess of its own right, but lacking the knowledge or experience to wield it correctly. It finds her in a palace upon what appears to be the moon orbiting this universe's Earth. By her attire, demeanour and residence, a Princess. Upon landing upon her pretty head and integrating into her body... yes, a Princess. Princess Serenity, in fact. Of the Moon Kingdom. A most suitable host. Through her, the Lesbian Shard would be able to achieve many wonders.

However, the poor thing seemed fretful. About a boy, of course. Not to worry, poor thing. You won't be worried about him for long. It would take a litlte time to work with someone this powerful, but once it was taken care of...

Alas, the Shard would not get the chance. Within hours, a series of tragedies unfolded, while the Shard was too deeply integrated into its host to leave, yet not strong enough to influence the events of the world outside. Her male lover Endymion died, and then Serenity threw herself upon the sword that slew him. Even the Lesbian Shard was moved a little by such loving devotion, though it dearly wished that had not been a man... Oh, what a waste! The things that it could have done! The fun it could have had working through this Princess!

However...

Not too long after this, the Queen was forced to take drastic action. With the enemy at the gate, so to speak, she had little recourse but to drop the ultimate sanction. The erasure of her own kingdom, to spare its people from being ruled by true evil. A decision that no Monarch, no ruler, should ever have to take. And yet... take it, she did. For what choice had she? What alternative? She trapped them all, her own daughter and her friends as well as their enemies... all sealed up, destined to be reincarnated with no memory of what came before.

A tragic end to a majestic kingdom, brought to ruin because of the selfish greed of a select few. Little did that Queen realise exactly what she'd sealed alongside her daughter, or the effect it would have on the future that she was hoping to bring about.

=====

We come now to the present day, where Usagi Tsukino is sleeping. Shush now! Let's not wake her. She's like an angel tucked up in bed, gripping onto her pillow, having a very nice dream. She dreams of four beautiful friends. A genius, a priestess, a fighter, a bodyguard. She dreams of the five of them meeting in a lavish palace. She dreams of those four friends in fetching tiny pleated skirts that do an amazing job of highlighting their legs and hips. She dreams that they adore each other. She dreams that she will meet them again, and meet them soon, and she dreams of something potent in her slumbering as she is now, waiting for the day when -

"Oy, dorky big sis, sleeping in again!"

Of an annoying little sibling jumping on her bed then rushing off cackling into the corridor as she topples out to the floor. Instantly, she is awake and just as instantly she has that fury that only an older sibling of a total brat could ever feel!

"Shizuko Tsukino! You get back - Oh crud, is that the time?!"

Hold up, you might be thinking now. Shizuko Tsukino? Yes, that's right. You read it correctly. Not Shingo. Shizuko. You see, dear reader, Usagi was the modern day reincarnation of poor Serenity and as such had a piece of the Lesbian Shard embedded into her very soul. It slept, it slumbered and yet it still nurtured her. Influenced her surroundings with a passive aura - Surroundings going back to her mother's womb. Influencing it so that she could only give birth to daughters, and never sons. And so? Shingo was born, after a fashion - Shizuko is still every bit the brat that he was. The only difference really was the gender.

At least, the only difference with Usagi's little sibling. As the girl herself arose, we can see that there are quite pronounced changes here. Not so subtle alterations. Her figure is massively improved upon, in every way and from every angle. Her breasts were large, perfectly proportioned, and impossibly soft and warm to the touch. Truly the envy of any woman. Her waistline was trim regardless of what she ate, and you'd best believe that Usagi Tsukino ate quite a lot, especially sweets. Her hips flared out, her butt was a masterpiece of the posterior, her legs rivalled any model you care to point to - And yet, would you believe it dear reader if you were told that she was far from done improving in her raw sex appeal? Neither her own hormones nor the lesbian shard were done with her development yet. She was the lazy beauty of Juban, regarded as a well meaning ditz who put even the prettiest and most mature of the teachers attending to shame. Her twin odangos might as well be a local sign of pure desire, to the point that a few girls briefly tried to emulate the style - then stopped when the realised that they were only furthering the comparison between themselves and her, and that her beauty, her appeal, came from something else. Something otherworldly, ethereal, and impossible to match.

Luckily none of them had the bad sense to try to emulate her diet or exercise routine. A few considered it, but after careful research decided it would only go badly for them. This was likely the influence of the sleeping shard at work here, of course.

In any event - Usagi dresses in her uniform in something of an approximation of an impersonation of the Tasmanian Devil. All awhirl, to the point she was kicking up dust and seemed as a living breathing miniature tornado. Sending out limbs in all directions in her madcap frantic desperate dash to dress herself. When she was done, she patted herself down, checked herself in the mirror. Found, once again, that she had no need of makeup to look pretty. Then turned and left the room, hurrying out so that she wasn't late.

"Oh, Usagi! You're up early," her mother sweetly said. Ah yes, her mother. Ikuko had by far the longest exposure to Usagi outside of the girl herself. Carrying her for nine months had quite the impact. Her pregnancy weight never came off, but it did go to all the right places. Honestly, she had aged tremendously well, to the point that she and Usagi were often mistaken for sisters. Hell, even Shizuko had been starting to get that! Her body put Usagi's to shame, too. Imagine the MILFiest MILF you can imagine - and then take her a step beyond that. Of course it should go without saying that such prolonged exposure to her had left Ikuko Tsukino pretty darn gay.

Sometimes Usagi thought about it. How her parents sort of drifted apart. The whole thing was amicable enough - her father had sensed the lacking attraction. Perhaps himself influenced in his own way, leading to a relatively decent divorce for the pair of them. A mutually beneficial arrangement for both of them, no venom, no malice, it was as though the two of them were friends who just so happened to have children together.

However, that was not what Usagi was thinking of right at that moment. Nor was it the right family member. Her attention and her ire fell upon her little sister tittering away. "You set my clock forward, huh?" Usagi asked, grabbing her little sister's ear and giving it a good hard tweak. "Waking me up early and giving me a fright like that!"

"At the very least, she didn't make you late," Ikuko said, gently extracting Usagi's hand from that ear. "Now, some news: I've decided to re-enter the dating scene. Your father recommended a website that should cater to my interests, and so, if you see any strange women hanging around with me... they might well become your new second mommy."

"Blegh, don't need to know, don't wanna know!" Shizuka rolled her eyes. "Gross adult stuff, blegh!"

For Usagi, it was good news. She was happy her mother was branching out and seeking new romance. Ah, if only she had someone that was interested in her, she'd never once received a love letter... Because they were all intimidated by how hot she was and unable to see themselves getting a 'yes' from asking her out, as well as another reason that would be made more clear shortly. Oh, but she would love to be in a romantic relationship! It would be so... romantic! And dreamy!

"Good morning everyone!"

Cue Naru Osaka, entering from the back. Coming roughly from the direction of the bathroom. Freshly showered, by all appearances. Her hair was still ever so slightly wet. She was Usagi's long term friend. Yes. Friend. This is not the relationship literally anyone else thought they had, but as far as they were concerned it was a platonic friendship. Why would it be anything more than that? I mean, sure. They sometimes practised kissing with each other for hours at at time, so they'd know what to do when they found the right partner. Also, they tended to hang out in their underwear together, and showered together, and they slept in the same bed almost every night, often waking up coiled up in each other's arms. Basking in each other's warms, staring at the sleeping face of the other - or maybe waking up as well and spending the next hour or so simply staring into one another's eyes. Noticing little things they hadn't noticed before. Pulling each other closer, feeling the warm breath of the other tickle their nose or neck...

Of course, such constant proximity over the years had much the same effect on Naru as it had on Usagi and Ikuko. Her body was very much more well developed than it ought, though of the three it was definitely in 'last place'. This was still head and shoudlers above most other women in terms of raw sex appeal, if you crunched the numbers. Her breasts were large, but not as large as Usagi's. Her waist was perfectly trim, though Usagi's had a certain something about it that made it more appealing. You get the idea. She didn't mind being second place, of course. The girlfriend of Juban's beauty was envied both coming and going for many reasons, as you can surely imagine.

In any event, Naru slipped into the room and gave Usagi her usual greeting. A kiss upon the lips that was, of course, purely platonic. Yes, even the tongue. Shizuko made a gagging sound, Ikuko made a 'how cute' sound, and then everyone sat down for breakfast.

"I'm afraid it's just cereal today," Ikuko said. She unbuttoned her top, and let her breasts hang out over the bowls. "Here you go!"

And then, with a gentle squeeze, she brought thick creamy milk out of her nipples, pouring it over their breakfast, with none of them acting like it was any big deal at all. She hadn't actually stopped lactating, you see. As such, this was totally and completely normal. None of them complained, none of them remarked upon it, none of them thought to even mention it to other people. Why would they? It wasn't a big deal at all!

After breakfast Usagi and Naru thanked Ikuko, rose to their feet and kissed her on the cheeks before rushing out the door hand in hand, oblivious to the impression they gave the outside world with what they saw as playful skinship. It was only a matter of time, really, before they advanced from "kissing to practice" to "fucking with practice", but there you go. The two of them were happy, they were content, they were utterly oblivious to the changes that had happened to their lives and to the all powerful shard that resided within Usagi's body.

"Hey, look at this dumb cat!" a young boy yelled.

"Hit it with this stick!" another added.

Usagi slowed down and scowled at the boys. Ooh, such brats! She seperated from Naru for a moment, who looked back briefly to see Usagi sticking her nose in where it didn't belong, yet again.

"Clear off!" Usagi warned, and the boys did exactly that. She was much bigger and prettier than them, after all, and something about her made boys tend not to want to be around her anyway. "Aw, poor thing. They stuck a bandaid to your forehead."

Usagi was oblivious indeed to the thing lurking within her very soul. The corrupting influence it wielded, the effect it had on her and the world around her. It slumbered, but its influence was strong. It would take something remarkable to awaken it after all this time.

"Let me get that off for you."

Something truly remarkable, like, for example, the awakening of a legend.

Reilouch of the Reibellion

It is a scene you will no doubt be familiar with. Within Shinjuku ghetto a massacre was taking place. The Imperial military was systematically going door to door, killing everyone they met. Correction- every Japanese, every Eleven, every Number was being shot. Blown up. In some cases burned to death. Such unimaginable pointless cruelty was being enacted because the Viceroy cocked it up and is now trying his damndest to cover that up. Lying about poison gas. Instructing his forces that all who lived here were in fact enemy forces conspiring against the Holy Britannian Empire.

We join a different Prince though, as he panics and flees through the underground tunnels. Carrying with him a strange young girl bound in a straightjacket. A few minutes ago she had been in the pod purporting to carry poison gas. The young Prince was, of course, Lelouch vi Britannia, although most know him better as Lelouch Lamperouge. He had not been having a good day. It had started out great. He'd beaten another nobleman in a game of chess, rubbing his face in it while taking his money. But then, he had wound up embroiled in this incident. He'd had a brief respite upon encountering Suzaku Kururugi, an old friend of his.

Then along comes the Royal Guard. They order Suzaku to shoot him. Suzaku refuses, stating he knows Lelouch is not a terrorist, or allied with them. And for that, is himself shot. If not for a timely explosion, Lelouch himself would have been shot as well.

“Who are you?!” he yelled at the girl. “For your sake, all this death! My best friend died before my very eyes! Suzaku... I haven't seen you in so long, and now... Dammit!”

The girl stared at him in muted fascination... But if you think this girl is C.C. then think again. She has not green hair, but blue. Every bit as unnatural, every bit as surreal.

“I am Rei,” the girl said after a moment. Then, before Lelouch can stop her, she jumps at him, kissing him on the mouth. “And I want to pla~ay.”

She had said that even though her lips and tongue were quite preoccupied. Lelouch had a moment of utter confusion, total bafflement... And that feeling only got more intense as something both pleasurable and bizarre happened. This blue haired girl was, somehow, pressing her face into Lelouch's. No, it would be more accurate to say she was shrinking from the feet up. Lelouch felt something pouring into his pores, spreading through his body in a way he couldn't think of as natural.

And yet, despite how strange it was, despite how bizarre it was, despite the fact that his imagination telling him about what was happening was insisting on going about it in vivid exacting detail, he couldn't help but think that... Despite all that, it still felt really, really good.

As in, absurdly good. If you could put a value on absurdity, some numerical system, then surely the number for 'how good this feels' would be ten, maybe even a hundred times greater than 'how weird this is'. In the blink of an eye, the girl's entire body had slurped itself up inside of his, causing his body to contort and shift and change from the extra mass. Lelouch stumbled around, at one moment feeling his calves pop out. Then his wrists would swell up and deflate. His cheeks puffed out, then settled down. His flesh rippled like that for a little while, with the occasional sound of tearing fabric, ripped stitches until at last his uniform could take no more and fell apart around him, leaving Lelouch totally naked, flopping back onto the ground landing on big meaty cheeks and breathin heavily from inexplicable sexual exhertion

“Wh-What was...?” he began to ask, taking quick stock of himself. There were two immediately obvious incongruities. Namely, an oversized erect aching penis. Sitting like this, its head easily reached up to his own head, sitting comfortably at eye level. But also, his hands flew to his chest and felt a pair of enormous round globes that absolutely should not have been there. Breasts! Enormous heaving breasts!

In fact, aside from the penis his body had taken on something of a feminine appearance. That strange blue haired girl had jumped inside him somehow, and -

“Let's pla~ay!”

Inside his head? Yes, that seemed to be the best thing to do right now. Lelouch closed his eyes. Let the darkness subsume him – then in that endless void three key things appeared. A table, a chessboard, and that same blue haired girl, wearing that straightjacket though her arms were unbound. A chair then appeared for both of them, and finally pieces adorned the board in their rightful place.

“This is how you like to pla~ay, right?” the girl asked. “I'm Rei, by the way. And that rhyming was unintention~al.”

“That singsong thing you are doing with your voice is quite irritating,” Lelouch said. An attempt to undermine her as she was obviously trying to get under his skin by playing cute. It didn't actually annoy him, but he judged that the idea he was might annoy her. She pushed up the corners of her mouth into a smile, and stared at him with her blood red eyes becoming all the more obviously inhuman. “So? You are white. Move first.”

She did so. “If I win, I take full control, oka~ay.”

“If I win, you leave my body .”

“Deal!” Rei tittered, and pushed her King's Pawn forward to begin the game. “So, I'm a visitor to this world, you know? I didn't come from this version of Earth.”

“You don't say?” Lelouch replied. Strangely, he could almost sense that she wasn't lying. His own innate talent at it. He replied to her move, and – let us assume for now that they were exchanging chess moves as the conversation continued. Only those fluent in the language of chess would likely care what moves were made, correct? “We might as well exchange a little information about one another as we play. My name is Lelouch Lamperouge, a student at Ashford Academy. Tell me a bit more about this world you came from.”

“It's a world teetering on the edge of total collapse,” Rei said. “There are these enormous monsters called Angels running amok, and humanity wound up letting some really, really bad people get in charge in the shadows so they could stop them. Say what you will about Britannia, they're at least honest about wanting to take away everyone's freedom.”

“Oh, believe me, I've said more than my fair share of nasty things about my own nation,” Lelouch replied. Studying the board after a few turns, it became obvious to him that this girl may seem ditzy and weird, but she'd plainly played chess before. “How do you fit into that world?”

“An artificial construct made, in part, from one of those captured Angels,” Rei replied. “Mixed with the DNA of the wife of a man who just cannot let go of her death.” She tilted her head. “You know, something about you reminds me of his son, Shinji. Maybe he would have turned out like you if he'd been smarter, more self assured, had more of a backbone...”

“In other words, the similarity between us is superficial at best,” Lelouch said. Yes, this girl definitely knew what she was doing. She was expertly cutting of his strategies at every turn. Not to mention that he'd noticed something else. She wasn't asking him about himself at all. If she did intend to take his body and maybe even live his life in a world she didn't know, she'd have to pick up on the things that Lelouch knew. The fact that she wasn't asking that, plus this game... could it mean?

“That I'm reading your mind?” Rei asked, once again pushing up the corners of her mouth into a strange twisted smile. “Ma~aybe. Or ma~aybe I'm just that good.”

There would be a kind of sense about it. If she could merge with his body like that, she might be able to get access to his brain. So, why bother with this game? Because she was playing. It was fun for her. Or maybe he was somehow holding her back from total control? Those were the only two options he could think of at the moment. That didn't mean there weren't other reasons, but...

“By the way, that Shirley girl has a super hard crush on you,” Rei said out of nowhere. “You're really missing out, you should be tapping that booty every single night.”

“This is hardly the time for hedonism,” Lelouch said. Right. He was getting a feel for her personality now. “You're a pervert, aren't you? That's what this game is truly about. An attempt to break my spirit by beating me at my own game.”

Rei shrugged in response.

“All around us people are dying!” Lelouch yelled, rising from his seat. “Yes, Britannia exerts its cruelty in a quite straightforward manner! Is that really better than this shadowy enclave you speak of from your own world? Do they pull innocent people from their homes and shoot them dead?”

“They're planning to unite all mankind into a single gestalt entity for the purposes of their own immortality, which will lead whatever is left over to stagnate and decay from losing its ability to evolve further,” Rei answered right away. Alright, that was pretty evil, he had to admit. Even so!

“Do you truly believe you can escape them? Even if you take my body?” Lelouch demanded. “No, the truth is we are trapped in here! They will not let anyone leave! They will inspect us! They will discover your presence inside my body! Then, they will either kill us, or experiment upon us for the rest of our lives!”

Rei leaned back in her seat, no longer seeming interested in taking the next move. “You're repressed,” she said after a moment. “I mean, sexually repressed. You're aware of your body's needs, but you're ignoring them because you're obsessed with two things. Destroying Britannia, and your sister's care.”

“What of it?” Lelouch snapped back.

“Well, for one thing, I can fix your sister's spine,” Rei replied. Then, leaning over the table, she batted her eyes at him. “And, I can give you the power to obliterate Britannia. Take revenge upon them for all the things they've done to wrong you.”

Offering up everything he wanted on a plate. In a sense, she had also turned his own argument around on him without directly doing so. Perhaps relying upon him to notice it after her statement? He could not escape this place any more than she could. His mere presence here had been enough for the Royal Guard to want to kill him as a witness. Would he fare better at a security checkpoint? Would he be gunned down for merely making the approach?

“Hrmph,” Lelouch scoffed. “You're too lewd for my tastes.”

“And you're too stuffy for mine,” Rei replied. “All work and no pla~ay makes Lelouch a dull boy.”

Looking at the board again, Lelouch noticed something new. She was not playing to win. If anything, she was playing for...

“Threefold repetition,” Lelouch said. “That was your true goal from the start of this game, was it not? You didn't want total control. You wanted cooperation.”

“Who can say?” Rei replied.”A bunch of my sisters wound up in this world too. Clovis has them captured and stored away somewhere for further experimentation. How about we set them free?”

Leaning back in his seat, Lelouch slowly nodded. The game was tied. However, he couldn't think of it as something other than a victory, in its own way. Hopefully his own tendencies would be able to reign this girl in... Though a part of him was also dearly hoping that her playful nature might pull back on the worst of his own imagined tendencies.

After all, a few of his more pleasant dreams had involved some quite nasty and creative punishments for those who had wronged him.

From this conversation something new was born underneath Shinjuku Ghetto. Something that might actually be worse than what should have been born here. Not a Devil. Not a God. Something... almost worse. Something very nearly Human.


When you're a member of Britannian's Royal Guard, you tend to be a bit of an unfeeling bastard. Numbers? Little better than animals in their view. It was fine to slaughter them. It was fine to kill them. It was fine to do whatever you wanted with them. That's the kind of bullying, horrid attitude that it takes to get to this point.

Always remember: If you're a fascist, you were a bully first. That's the kind of person such a belief system relies upon to maintain any level of popularity. A monster lurking in human skin, waiting to pounce out upon the unwary.

Today, they had the unenviable task of cleaning up after one of Prince Clovis's experimental subjects got taken by a Japanese terrorist cell. One might quibble from our real world view whether or not Naoto's cell truly can be described as such – but consider. What do you suppose they were planning to do with the poison gas they were trying to steal? Destroy it? Or use it on Britannian targets.

Regardless. This troop had all but cornered their quarry now. There was only one way in and one way out from this tunnel, and they now had guards at both ends. Japanese corpses already littered the other side from where the boy and test subject had entered. Now all they had to do was wait for them to arrive – they would come out sooner or later...

But then, as they were discussing the merits of moving into the tunnel to make the capture, a phone began to ring. Obviously, all their attention went directly to that phone. Whether it belonged to the boy or to a corpse (which raised some questions on where the Elevens got the phone – they weren't allowed to have them) it merited investigation and interest.

Which was exactly what she wanted. Yes, she. Her name was Reilouch, an amalgamation of the two very different people. She had been waiting in plain sight, you see. Using her bizarre twisted body morping abilities to hide inside the dead body of one of the women present. This was a trick that Rei herself would never have considered using. But it was so, so effective. Especially since she had given Shirley a call earlier and asked her to call back in about ten minutes time, as a mere safety precaution in case of this evantuality.

While their attention went to the phone, Reilouch reached out of this corpse with a hand, and grabbed the ankle of one of the soldiers. He reacted right away, whirling around to shoot her – but by then it was too late. She had full access to his nervous system at that point. A trivial matter to make him turn around and fire that gun upon his fellows instead, and then she retreated immediately back into the corpse.

Within a minute flat they were all dead by each other's hands. In the confusion there had been retaliatory fire, and from there it had been a simple matter to jump from body to body, corpse to corpse, until each of them were gone.

Well... Not all of them were gone. One was left alive. Reilouch had a hand over his mouth and was nuzzling into his neck, enjoying the fact that she was practically forcing him to be shockingly, painfully erect right now. While standing around his fallen friends.

“Shush now,” Reilouch whispered. “I see, I see. You know that the Rei are strange, but are unaware of their abilities. Until now you've been cautious about them, but this situation has forced you to be less cautious.” The Royal Guardsman squirmed in her grasp. Futile. This new body was strong. Flexible. Dangerous beyond all comparison. “Interesting. Infantry are no threat to me now. I'll need to figure out whether bullets can even kill or hurt me – but a Knightmare frame, that's a whole other issue.”

Speaking of which, the wall behind her started to make disturbing noises. She poured herself inside this guardsman's body like water into a glass, assumed direct control over his nervous system – and just in time, for a Knightmare did indeed burst through the wall.

“What the hell? Royal Guardsmen?” a woman's voice came from within. “Sir, what happened here? Who killed your unit?”

“A.. new enemy weapon,” Reilouch made the guardsman say. “What is the condition of the battlefield?”

“The condition? We're slaughtering them, obviously. What new weapon is this?”

While she was in that Knightmare there was nothing Reilouch could do to her. She had to leave for some reason.

“It was an automated turret with modified Landspinners attached,” was the reply. “It attempted to retreat into the tunnel back there when it ran out of ammunition, but I was able to land a grenade on top of it. The damned thing's disabled now. Help me get it back to base, it's too heavy for one person to lift.”

“One moment.”

The cockpit opened up and – Reilouch had to resist licking her lips. Or the guardsman's lips. Ooh, nice. A slender, tall, dark skinned, silver haired beauty. She left the cockpit and hopped down with effortless grace. The aprt of her that was Rei very much wanted to pla~ay with this beauty – but the part of her that was Lelouch insisted that they stay on course. Getting out of here was the goal, and this admittedly pretty Knight was exactly the person to assist them. Whether she meant to or not.

The instant she was close enough, Reilouch pounced, leaping from one body to another. The Knight was able to actually grab onto Reilouch mid-pounce on sheer instinct alone, and even had her gun drawn – but too little too late. The contact was all that was needed. Once she'd left the guardsman, she had Villetta (the Knight's name as it turned out) shoot him in the forehead while she set to work taking control over -

Huh.

She has a pretty strong will, doesn't she? Well, that sort of makes sense. Those Royal Guardsmen were trumped up bullies given more authority than they deserved. While Reilouch could tell that Viletta was a monster, she was at least the kind to put some hard work into it.

Nonetheless, she was in over her head. It was a good warning though – don't assume the person you're jumping into will keel over immediately. Sometimes a little effort must be put into it.

“What's happening?” Villetta asked, feeling her breasts swell out under her uniform. Fortunately, this was made of a more flexible material than Lelouch's uniform had been. She grabbed at them, as if doing so would stop the growth. “Stop that! Get out of my body.”

“Nuh uh!” Reilouch teased inside her head. “I need to use it.”

Villetta let out an inhuman whine when her hips suddenly popped out. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and no wonder. Reilouch wasn't playing around today, teasing her until she broke. Time was of the essence here – if she was to escape, she needed as many resources as she could muster. Based on what Villetta was saying, each second wasted meant less pieces to pla~ay with on the board.

While Leouch would have found this method of breaking someone... distasteful, under these conditions the lesser of two evils was vastly preferred.

“Stop it, I can't take it anymore!” Villetta begged, sinking to her knees- or at least attempting to, because her butt was so large now that it cushioned her collapse. The back of her legs caused her to topple over from it, making her land on her hands and knees. The perfect opportunity to replicate the sensation of her enormous, jiggling posterior being spanked nice and hard, like she deserved.

Reilouch didn't hold back an inch. She went all out. She overstimulated the pleasure nodes in Villetta's brain, making her feel good all over her body. Never staying or focusing on on one point of her body at a time. She made her feel like her nipples were being sucked, that her clit was being flicked, that her butt was being spanked, that her tummy kissed with a tongue swirling around the navel, her thighs caressed, and her pussy being given a deep vigrous dicking the likes of which she'd never dreamed possible.

The part of her that was Rei was disappointed that they weren't playing with her a bit more. The part that was Lelouch simply wanted to get this over with... but had to admit, there was a little bit of fun to be had in seeing such a strong willed Britannian bitch broken like this. After the things she'd done, or wanted to do, to Elevens, this was far from the punishment she should have received.

That iron willpower was, therefore, whittled away to nothing at all. Now, carrying the full mass of both Lelouch and Rei inside her body, the now thoroughly voluptuous Villletta returned to her Knightmare, and began the essential work of turning the tables in this battlefield.

=======

Clovis had been having a bad day. To recap – A month or so back a weird portal had opened in one of their research facilities, and numerous copies of the same girl fell into a quarantined area. For the sake of safety, they were isolated at gunpoint by researchers and soldiers in full protective gear. Blood samples were taken, and found to be like nothing on this Earth. Their unusual hair and eye colour, combined with their generally Eleven like features and pale skin had made them a top research priority.

One of them was in the middle of transit to a new research site when all of a sudden some Eleven terrorist cell hijacks the transport, and their subject is allowed to wander freely. Can you blame him for such harsh action as exterminating everyon in the ghetto? Honestly, given what little they knew of this test subject that seemed to be the best course of action for all involved. Who knows what might happen if she was left to wander among the Elevens? She was clearly not human, merely appearing and presenting as such. The main thing they knew is that these girls wanted to pla~ay. Whatever that meant. Clovis almost didn't want to know, if he was being quite honest.

More importantly than any concerns related to what she might do was, of course, the question of his own inheritance. Secret experiments of this nature, not reported to the homeland, as he wanted to gain a potential technological advantage over other factions was... not a great look for him, especially after briefly losing a test subject.

Things had started well. Then all of a sudden, the Elevens seemed to gain a second wind. They'd somehow acquired Sutherlands when the best they should have was a smattering of Glasgows. Those were names of Knightmare frames, for those unaware – Glasgows could be thought of as inheriently inferior to Sutherlands, as the latter was designed to fight other Knightmares and the Glasgow was designed to fight conventional forces.

However! Whatever advantage the enemy may have had, it was left useless before Earl Asplund's newest model. The Lancelot had singlehandedly turned the tides in his favour again. He could relax. Let his forces mop up everyone left in the ghetto. Then it would be a simple matter to track this test subject down, assuming she was still alive. Captured, killed, at this point it made little difference.

“Pardon me, your highness, we have a report from one Villetta Nu regarding something of great importance.”

“Can it wait?” Clovis replied.

“Apparently, she has encountered the Royal Guard on the field and has vital information from them regarding the location of a mysterious blue haired girl.”

His back stiffened. “We can trust her?”

“She's an ambitious member of the Purist faction.”

The word 'ambitious' there would generally be considered redundant. That faction was hungry for power as if they had been starved of it. No matter how much they had, they always seemed to want more. For an ambitious member of that group, it must be someone who is both fiercely loyal to the Empire and hungry for advancement. He nodded his agreement. This matter wouldn't have even been brought to his attention if the identification hadn't checked out.

When she entered the room, he was especially pleased of the decision. My, my. What a treat for the eyes. A womanly figure like that was wasted behind a Knightmare. Perhaps he could make better use of her off the battlefield than on? Schneizel had been teasing him about settling down and picking a wife, and – yes, he could easily see himself spending the rest of his life with a body like that next to him every single morning. Hourglasses were envious of her, that was for sure. Curves like that were beyond anything he'd imagined, and he found himself utterly fascinated with every facet of her still clothed phsyique.

A more careful, detailed up close study was clearly necessary here.

“Leave us,” he commanded. Villetta smiled faintly at him, and shyly adjusted her hair. “So, Miss Nu? You have a report that must be delivered in person?”

“I do indeed, your highness,” Villetta bowed to him.”May I approach?”

“You may,” Clovis replied. It seems she had sensed his attraction, and was seeking to exploit it. Very well. “You know the wherabouts of our missing test subject? The blue haired girl, I mean?”

“Have no fear, your highness. I appreciate the need for secrecy. Nobody will know.”

Almost as soon as she finished speaking she leaned in for a kiss, which he permitted – and then he felt something very strange. It was almost as though his lips were moulding into this woman's. Almost as if – ohhhh- something was tickling his brain. It was like -mmmm – no kiss he'd ever experienced before.

Then, she shifted her attention away from his mouth and trailed a series of kisses along towards his ear. Her tongue then pushed its way into the canal, reaching deeper and deeper than should be possible and – ahhhh, there it was, that feeling of having his brain tickled again! Ah! Ah! Ahhhh!

Something quite bizarre happened next. “All units, stand down at once,” a voice that sounded very much like his commanded. “You are to immediately cease fire and offerr medical assistance! Permit all Elevens to leave unharmed and deliver prompt medical assistance! That is the order of your Viceroy, Clovis la Britannia!”

“Very good,” said a voice inside his head. “How strange, I thought that I would find this disgusting, but it turns out that Miss Nu truly does desire you. Allowing that to take control makes this easier. Curious.”

He felt giddy. Dizzy. Like he was intoxicated. No, this went beyond merely drunk or inebriated, something was wigglign around inside his skull poking and prodding at all of his secrets, drawing them out, sucking it through his ear like water through a straw. And yet, despite the implications that had, if someone offered him the chance to have it stop right now, he might have the person suggesting it shot on principle. Why would he stop this? Why would anyone stop this?!

Alas, stop it did. “No, please. Don't!” he begged and pleaded, falling to his knees and grabbing her legs. “I'll do anything, anything! Keep doing that, please!”

“Pathetic,” Villetta sneered down at him. “Take me to them. Take me to my sisters. I mean, the test subjects. Then I'll think about letting you have another taste.”

How could he refuse?

========

Lelouch awoke from his slumber in a cold sweat. What a bizarre dream he had the night before! That girl called Rei, who had morphed into his body, turning him into a busty big bootied girl with an enormous phallus! From what depths had that come about? Had Milly somehow planted that dream into his head? No, that might be too extreme even for him!

He checked himself, and found his body normal. Which meant it had been a dream. All of it was a completely strange, utterly bizarre dream. For that, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

“How unusual,” Lelouch quipped, noting one oddity at least. “It seems as though my body has reacted to that dream in a way I would not have expected. It's been a while since I've been this erect.”

“Would you like one of us to take care of it for you?”

“We don't mind pla~aying with it for you.”

A gripping terror seized Lelouch's soul. He looked up, and immediately regretted it. Oh no. Sitting up from the floor, upon which they had apparently been sleeping, were at least a dozen Reis. Scattered around his room. Utterly naked. Staring at him with transparent, naked lust.

A shudder shot through him. His penis felt like it was growing stiffer, his balls tightened and his heart skipped a beat. His hand went to his head as he tried to reconcile it. That really happened? He'd brainwashed Clovis into helping him release the Rei into his care? What happened after that? He couldn't recall the details! What happened to Villetta? What about Suzaku?!

The Rei fell upon him before he could do anything at all, and such questions suddenly became a lot less important. After all, it was time for them to pla~ay.














Negima Stultus Pulchram Rewrite
One would think that a portentous day such as this would have been foreseen in advance. One would think that those who dabble in magic would have seen warning signs. One would think such things. And yet, quite often the world of magic is full of pretty stupid people, who aren't quite as smart as they think they are.

"Going somewhere?" Asuna asked, flanked by her friends and classmates Haruna, Nodoka and Yue. In front of them was their teacher, a boy younger than they were touted as a genius. And, on top of that, a mage. A fact that they had discovered after this and that happened.

"Are you sneaking off to fight Frankenstein's monster?" Haruna asked, miming the famous monster. "Or maybe an ancient evil slowly awakening?"

"Y-You're not going to be doing anything dangerous, are you?" Nodoka asked nervously.

But Negi simply smiled at them. "No, girls. I'm only going to a conference. I'll be back tomorrow. Please take care of the place while I'm gone and stay out of trouble."

"Not to worry, I'll keep an eye on things!" Asuna said, and privately the other four in the conversation all thought 'that's what he's worried about', or some variation thereof. "Have fun at your conference!"

"Given who is doing the introduction speech, I doubt that I will," Negi said. He had a brave face about it, then smiled and waved as he left them to their own devices. "Bye for now, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, bye, sensei!" the four girls cried out.

"Alright, listen up!" Asuna said, immediately taking charge. She turned to regard the other three with her arms folded, and determination set upon her face. "Negi asked us to take care of things while he was away, so we're going to - Haruna what are you doing?"

In a quite literal sense, what Haruna was doing was going through the things Negi had left behind. In the middle of doing so, she lifted her head to give a 'who me?' expression aimed squarely at the wannabe leader of the group, as if daring her to raise a fuss, or asking what she was going to do about it?

"Cut that out!" Asuna said. "You shouldn't be poking around his things like that!"

"Oh? That's boring!" Haruna harrumphed. "And here I've found this book of old spells. It's all dusty and ancient and oh so interesting~"

She was always like this. Haruna had a way of worming under your skin and wriggling around until you did what she wanted to make it stop. In this case, they were all interested in that book right away. A book of spells! How exciting! So far they had only a peek into the world of magic and wonder, what else might they find contained within?

"I want to read it," Yue said. "What harm can it be? It's not as if Negi would leave a dangerous spellbook behind."

"He's not quite that reckless..." Asuna reluctantly admitted. "Still! We shouldn't be rooting around in his stuff."

"If you don't read it, I wi~ill!" Haruna sang, and that was the clincher. Letting Haruna have a chance to read a spellbook, unsupervised, was asking for all kinds of trouble. Asuna snatched it out of her grip, knowing full well she was giving the girl what she wanted, then gently placed it on a table so she could open it up and give it a quick read.

"This should be interesting..." Yue mused, leaning in closer.

"Are you sure this will be alright?" Nodoka asked.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Asuna said. "I'm immune to magic, remember? If there's anything weird in here, I won't be affected by it."

Which was probably the reason that troublemaker wanted her to read it in the first place, now that she thought about it. If Negi or someone else had put a restriction on this book to punish anyone reading it when they weren't meant to, she could probably get by it unscathed. It wouldn't work if it was more of an alarm, but - What the hell, let's just get this over with. She was a little curious herself, to be honest.

"Alright, alright, let's see..." Asuna said. And by chance, her random flipping through pages landed on a particular one. "Here we go. Magic for Dummies. Even idiots can cast these."

"That sounds about right for our group," Haruna said, earning her an elbow from Yue. "Come on, come on, give us an example. Make it something juicy!"

"Well, there's this one," Asuna said, her eyes settling upon a particular spell. "Make yourself more appealing to a romantic partner. It's called Stultus Pulchrum -"

The instant she said those words, something truly remarkable happened right before their very eyes. A strange pink light engulfed Asuna totally, making it impossible to see her at all, but only for a brief moment. The girls shielded their eyes on reflex, and then, when it faded, they heard a strangely vapid laugh. One by one, they took their arms or hands away from their eyes, and the moment they did that their jaws fell slack and a gasp of absolute shock escaped their mouths.

"W-Well, that sure would make you appealing to a romantic p-partner, I guess!" Nodoka stammered out, and none of the other three girls could disagree.

Asuna had changed, you see. Right before their eyes was a girl so different you could almost find it hard to believe it was the same person at all. Granted, she had the same hairstyle, and her face was mostly unchanged. That is, unless you count the expertly applied makeup that enhanced her eyelashes and made her lips look absolutely kissable. No, those changes were quite subtle compared to the rest of her. To begin with, her physique was almost absurdly feminine. On a scale of broomstick to Jessica Rabbit, we're talking 'how does your spine function?' levels of curves here. Breasts larger than her head, barely constrained by a hot pink tanktop that, in turn, left her trim waist utterly exposed to anyone that wanted to see it. Her hips flared out, and her butt had also developed a bit more flesh to it, which was itself only just restrained by the snuggest and tiniest pair of cut toff jean shorts imaginable. Top this off with a pair of white sandals with elevated heels, and you complete Asuna's new look.

But the changes didn't stop there, as the vapid tittering might well imply. Asuna cutely raised her index finger to her mouth, leaned over and said "Wow, I feel totally hot all of a sudden! Teehee!"

Asuna then rose to her feet and began to strut around the room, looking down at herself as though assessing her new physique. "Holy crap..." Haruna muttered. "That might be the most effective spell in history! I'm not even into girls and I could stare at her all day!"

"You're definitely into girls," Yue said without missing a beat. "You were into girls for a long time before today."

Asuna spotted something on the ground. A dropped coin. She bent over to pick it up at the waist, and all three of the still normal girls leaned their heads over in unison to get a better look. As if sculpted by a Goddess of Love. Or a bored Succubus. It was honestly hard to tell what part of Asuna's body was the most absolutely perfect. It felt like, it didn't matter what your tastes were, that body would find a way to appeal to it.

"Asuna, how do you f-feel?" Nodoka asked. "Are you okay? You're acting a bit strange."

"How she's acting is what you're focusing on here?" Haruna asked. "Check those boobs out! My goodness! Who knew there was a spell like that in that book?"

That caught Asuna's attention for some reason, and she turned around to give them all a seriously focused look, even if her eyes were utterly lacking in intelligence. "Of course I have big tits, dummy!" she said, slapping both of them from underneath in the process. Oh wow, that was a hell of a jiggle. Like a plate of jelly in an earthquake. "I'm a bimbo!"

"Bimbo...?" Nodoka asked.

"Think, western version of gyaru stereotype," Yue said. "Vacuous, shallow, but very pretty. Obsessed with boys -"

All of a sudden, Asuna was right in Yue's face. She'd moved surprisingly quickly, especially in those heels. "Actually, we're into girls as well, if you wanna play around." Asuna's hand trailed down the side of Yue's face, the sudden proximity making her step back nervously. "Oh, pooh. You shouldn't be so shy. You'd have way more fun if you let me play with you."

"Interesting..." Haruna said, circling around Asuna. "Very interesting. So, it sacrifices intelligence for sex appeal? Marvellous, simply marvellous! To think something like this could exist in the world of magic!"

"Shouldn't she be immune to magic?" Yue asked.

"M-Maybe it's because she cast it on herself?" Nodoka suggested. She reached for the book on the table and tried scanning the page. "What was it called again?"

"I think it was  Stultus Pulchrum- " Haruna said, too busy admiring Asuna's new physique to take on board what she had just said. Instantly, the same pink energy burst out of her body, completely covering her - but in her case the result was a bit different. Her glasses out right vanished, and while her physique maintained the same impossible proportions that Asuna had, the clothes she was wearing were quite... different. To put it simply, she was wearing most of what could normally be called a bunnygirl outfit. The ears were lacking, a crucial oversight obviously, but everything else was there. The red shoulderless thong leotard with a high waist, the collar, the leggings, the heels to match her leotard. About as much of her body was on show as Asuna had, though the look was quite markedly different.

"Wow, Asuna!" Haruna giggled to herself. "Like, you should have said! Being a bimbo is totes awesome!"

"I know, right!" Asuna tittered away to herself. "It's soooo much better this way, huh?"

Scintillating conversation. Still, the two of them seemed quite happy, and rushed into each other's arms. Jumping up and down excitedly about... their general bimboness? To be honest, neither Yue or Nodoka could see what they were so happy about.

"Saying the spell is enough to cast it on yourself," Yue firmly said. "Nodoka, whatever you do, don't say it aloud!"

"Say what aloud?" Haruna immediately asked.

"Stultus pulch-" Yue began, but then zipped her mouth up nice and tight. Not saying another word, no sir, no how, not happening.

"Awww, poo!" Asuna stomped her foot. "You girls would have way more fun being bimbos, you know?" Yue shook her head. "You sure?" Nod, nod! "Well, fine. Not like we can make you or anything."

"Ah, here it is!" Nodoka said, putting her finger on the page. "Apparently it was made by a woman mage who was super frustrated that all the 'vapid sluts' were stealing the attention of all the good men. She cast it on herself to try and find a husband- Haruna!"

"Stop talking about boring nonsense," Haruna said, having knocked the book off the table. "Teehee, come on, let's talk about boys! Negi's super cute doncha think?"

"Yeah, he's adorbs!" Asuna replied. Stepping in front of the door, Yue noted. Barring their escape. Nodoka scrambled for the book, kneeling down on the floor to flip through it. When Haruna tried to knock it from her hand again, Yue got in the way, scowling at the pest. And she thought Haruna was annoying when she had full control over her faculties!

"Um... Um... um! I can't find it!" Nodoka whined. "It's - It's not anywhere in here! It must have some sort of seal on it preventing anyone from turning to that page, normally... " Which Asuna would have been immune to. Great. They'd given the book to her to prevent any issues through her magic immunity, and it wound up landing them in this mess in the first place!

There was only one way to sort this out. Yue took the book from Nodoka, and handed it over to Asuna. Giving her a warning glare, that she'd better not try anything funny. Yue refused, adamantly, to be outsmarted by some - some airheaded bimbo!

"You want me to find it for you?" Asuna tittered airily. "What do you want me to look up?"

Yue's gaze narrowed and her cheeks puffed out.

"Fine, fine, tee hee, I'll do it in exchange for exchange for a kiss. You kiss me, Nodoka kisses Haruna. Deal?"

Hrmph! Nodoka was trembling a bit, but Yue's determination stood strong. She wasn't going to give up that easily. So she let Asuna lean in, eyes closed, and let her kiss her on the -

Ah! Ohhh, soft. So soft, she could feel herself sinking into it. These lips were like nothing else Yue had ever felt. Sweet and gentle, welcoming and comforting. She could lose herself in these lips. Her own parted ever so slightly, and then - The kiss ended. She stumbled back, bumping into Nodoka, who - by all appearances - had much the same experience with Haruna.

Those bimbos might be dumb, but they're geniuses at kissing! Wow!

"Stultus Pulchrum," Asuna read from the book. Nothing happened to her this time around. "Teehee, it's a totally awesome spell that turns anyone that says it into an oversexed airhead. A total bimbo in body and mind! Warning, side effects might, like, include ditziness, nigh nymphomania, hard bisexual urges, a change in fashion sense, and the ability to totally seduce unwary members of either sex."

"Totally written in a time when there were only thought to be two genders!" Haruna sang to herself. "Teehee, could probably also seduce intersex people or whatever too!"

You know something, Yue could sort of see it herself. It felt like, the longer they spent in the presence of these bimbos, the more that she was becoming attracted to them. That kiss had really sent her over the edge. She couldn't think of herself as straight anymore. Not when she was yearning to touch these two. Couldn't stop herself from admiring their physique, barely hold back from drooling over every inch of exposed creamy flesh.

But Yue wouldn't be beaten like that. There had to be a way to beat this.

"Um, what's this word say?" Asuna asked, letting Haruna have a look.

"Counterspell," Haruna said.

"Oh right!" Asuna giggled. "So, like, the counterspell needs... ramen, apparently!"

"Ramen?" Yue asked. And then felt something explode inside her. Earlier, she had said "Stultus Pulch-" and then silenced herself before finishing the spell. Saying "ramen" had concluded it. Despite her precautions, despite her insistance, Yue had in fact been completely outsmarted by a bimbo.

A flash of pink light later, and she was tittering away as well, in a group hug with the other two while Nodoka watched on in muted horror. In Yue's case, she was wearing an elegant dark blue dress that was attached to a choker around her neck. Its neckline was ludicrously deep, and the dress only barely covered the curve of her ass. To add to the overall appeal, she was also wearing thigh high socks that matched her dress, creating a gap between them and her dress where you could plainly see her thighs. No, that's the wrong way to think of it. You could almost not help but notice her thighs.

"Yay, you're a bimbo too!" Asuna tittered away.

"Yay, I'm a bimbo too!" Yue said, bouncing excitedly in place and hugging both of her fellow bimbos with tremendous enthusiasm.

This left only Nodoka, who made the mistake of letting out a strangled 'meep' while trying to sneak towards the door. The three airheads immediately rounded on her. Their eyes lacking in greater intelligence, but their intentions extremely obvious. Within moments, Nodoka found herself being circled around, with nowhere to go, unable to do anything but look at these extremely hot babes that were her friends, transformed by that spell.

"So, like, you should say it too," Yue said after a moment. "It's totally awesome. All my worries went poof! Teehee!"

"Ah, no, I'm fine thanks," Nodoka said. "Can you please let me go? You three must have, um, a lot you want to talk about..."

"Not much talking, more fucking," Asuna corrected. "You should get in on that action too."

Nodoka bit her lip and tried to ignore the part of her that wanted to say 'yes please'. She had to get out of here, pronto! But... How? What would be the best way for her to -

Then something happened that left her quite a bit horrified. Haruna winked at her. No, that's not it. A certain book appeared in her hand, alongside a quill. Her outfit changed only a little, in that something like a wing adornment appeared in her hair. This was - Oh no! Her Pactio! She could still use her Pactio as a bimbo?! The implications of that were quite terrifying!

Then, as she had so many times before, Haruna created an embarrassing version of Nodoka to tease her. "Teeheehee!" the created bimbo Nodoka said. "If my regular self won't play, then I totally will!"

"H-Haruna, cut that out!" Nodoka yelled. Ooh! She always did this! Creating a weird ero-version of her, who would behave all pervy and - This was way beyond that this time! This ludicrous version of herself had a body that put the others to shame! Bigger boobs, thinner waist, taller, with longer legs, wearing pasties and a thong! "Nooo! Put that away! D-Don't make her appear like that!"

"Like what? Like an absolute bombshell bimbo?"

Then, she created a perfect replica of Negi himself, who embraced this bimbo Nodoka from behind. "Ah, how sweet! How can I resist you?"

Then, that bimbo Nodoka leaned back and stole his lips! Stole them! Took them! Negi's precious lips! That - that harlot! Oooh! Now Nodoka was steaming mad! She turned away, staring at Haruna with a fiery gaze. As if trying to make her ignite on the spot. Alas, that premise was put paid by the fact that Haruna was already pretty damn hot as it was, so fire could not hurt her anymore. If Nodoka thought she was done teasing though, she had another thing coming. Because then, Haruna made a book appear, that Yue picked up.

"Oooh, what's this?" Yue chirped. "Nodoka's Steamy Negi fanfics, volume 69 out of 500!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Noooo, I've not written that much! Not to fill 500 volumes, not even 69!"

"So, you admit you've written at least some?" Asuna asked.

Just bury her here. Find a spot to dig a hole in, and pile it over her!

"So, which volume is it you turn yourself into a dumb bimbo for Negi?" Haruna asked. "Is it before or after the chapter where you and Yue double team him, after sneaking into his bed totally naked in the dead of night?"

"I haven't written that!" Nodoka protested. But to deaf ears. The bimbos giggled and tittered. "Cut that out! You guys are acting really weird, and not just because you're b-bimbos! You're being really mean!"

"Yet," Yue said. "You've not written it yet. That's what you meant to say, right? I bet we're giving you, like, loads of inspiration. Wow, look at them go! They're having a blast!"

"Hrm... Maybe I'll make, like, a ton of bimbo Nodokas and parade them around the school," Haruna warned, twirling her quill around in a quite threatening manner. "Unless Nodoka-chan gives in and casts the spell on herself~..."

"A-And become a ditzy bimbo too? Not on your life!" Nodoka said. Though really, she was being backed into a corner here. And it didn't help that when Yue had pointed it out, she couldn't look away. In front of her was... something of a dream come true. It was herself. And Negi. Taking each other's clothes off. What little the other her was wearing at any rate... Him having a rippling physique, like a modern day God come to life. Groping her, lovingly touching her, kissing her on the mouth, on the neck, holding her close. It was insanely erotic, and embarassing, and yet - And yet!

D-Dare she play along with this? Obviously, this was a problem that someone would solve. But- but maybe it would be better if she didn't? If she tried to escape, to warn people? Ah! Now Yue was nibbling on the nape of her neck! Ohhhh! That felt really good! Her arms wrapped around Nodoka's waist and pulled her closer - Ohhh, her breasts were so soft, pressing into her back like that felt amazing!

"You could feel like this all the time," Asuna said, leaning in to lick her earlobe. Haruna moved in to her other side, and mirrored her action. Then, after circling the drain for a bit, both of them plunged their tongues riGhT iNtO hEr EaR cAnAl. Nodoka's eyes rolled up, her breath hitched. This was amazing! Ah, so hard to think! S-So difficult to reason! Someone would solve this! It would only be temporary! She could - Shecould have a bit of fun forr a little while. It wouldn't even be her fault!

"Stultus pulchrum!" Nodoka all but yelled, but this did not stop the other three or even slow them down. When the light faded this time, Nodoka was dressed in something a bit more modest than the version of her summoned by Haruna's pactio. It was more of a party girl outfit. A violet, shoulderless top, and a flowing black miniskirt.

"Tee hee hee!" Nodoka tittered away, utterly brainless, completely devoid of any of the concerns or worries she had before. "Being a bimbo is the fucking best! There's noooo way, that Negi can say no to all of this!"

And so began something truly frightening. A plague of bimbos was about to spread out across Mahora Academy. Already, the four ditzes were conspiring, planning, and plotting in their completely stupid way about the best method for them to persuade other girls to say the spell. While they were vapid, while they were dumb, it's important to never underestimate the capabilities and guile of another human being. No matter your view of them, underestimating the capacity for manipulation another person can show is the downfall of so many supposedly smart people.

"Say, let's share this with everyone! Let's make everyone a bimbo!" Asuna cheered excitedly, and all four of them agreed. What a wondrous fury shall they unleash upon the world.
Akane Kun's New Day

"I'm not a pervert!"

Akane sat up in bed, breathing heavily, trembling away. The discovery of that journal had been a shock, to say the least. Seducing those girls, had he really done that? Had he really - Hold on! Akane patted himself down and found... A girl's body, in girly pajamas with a cute duck print! A deep sigh of relief overtook her and she flopped back in total relief. That was all just some weird sick dream brought about by... Who knows what? She could relax, put it behind her, go aboud her life and -

"Not a pervert huh?" a familiar voice whispered on one side of her head.

"Could have fooled Shampoo," came from the other.

A mortal dread overtook Akane, as she looked to her left and right. Curled up in bed next to her, unnoticed until now, were both Ranma (girl form) and Shampoo (also girl form, as opposed to cat). Neither one of them wearing a stitch of clothing, and staring at Akane with what could only be appropriately called bedroom eyes. Very appropriate, due to their location. Upon seeing this, Akane rolled forward, tumbled out of her bed with the grace of a dying swan, then popped up to her feet and shrieked in a deep, baritone voice - "What are you two idiots doing in my bed?!"

Having got that out of her system, Akane got a really good look at them. The two girls were indeed absolutely naked. They had her sheets clinging to their bodies, with most of one leg sticking out and the thin cloth making it very, very obvious there wasn't a stitch of clothing underneath. Akane's eyes drank them both in, fully aware of what both girls looked like naked. They were voluptous temptresses with glorious figures, and she remembered far too well the hours in that dream that had been spent thoroughly getting to know Shampoo, in particular.

"Trying to get laid, duh!" Ranma said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She streteched out her arms, then made a beckoning motion with her index finger. "Come on, stud. Don't keep us waiting."

"Shampoo know that Akane is too too horny for Shampoo, no can say no to this body." The foreign tease smoothed her hands down along the sheet, pressing it even more against herself. Then punctuated it by smacking her barely covered butt. An underrated part of her body in Akane's - Wait, what was she thinking, stop that! "See, you no can keep eyes off."

Instead of going there, Akane turned tail and fled the room - then immediately found herself in the kitchen instead of the hall outside her room. There, she found Ukyo in a naked apron. "Morning sugah!" Ukyo said, all bright smiles and god she's so hot. "We'll have a nice steamy breakfast this morning, you'll get a yummy treat from yours truly... and a nice filling breakfast to boot."

She left the kitchen hurriedly, finding herself in the training hall, and there... was Kodachi in a thong leotard, bound to a vaulting horse. Spreadeagle, staring at Akane in absolute rapture.

"Akane-sama, make me yet another notch on your bedpost, please!"

"N-No, you're not another notch on my bedpost!" Akane protested. Though she had to admit, Kodachi did have a nice body too. Nice long legs, very slender flexible physique - What was she thinking?! Cut that out! She backed off, and bumped into Ukyo, who started to nibble on her - On his neck. Ohhhh, when did she become a boy again?! Suddenly Shampoo was in front of her as well, rubbing her breasts into Akane's chest. It felt amazing, and before he could stop himself his face darted forward to enjoy the taste of her lips. "Not a pervert," Akane uselessly protested. "N-Not a - Oh, Ranma, that's not even fair!"

Ranma had appeared last, on her knees, using her boobs to rub Akane's dick. Soft. Impossibly soft. Then to tease her further, that naughty minx started using her tongue, circling around it as if she was swirling it around an ice cream cone. Not fair, not fair, not fair! "I'm not a -"

"Pervert!"

Akane's eyes shot open for real this time, awakened by a very distinct sensation. Something moist and warm around his penis. There was a shape that should not be there under the sheets, and so he pulled them up and saw... a pigtailed beauty giving her a big sloppy blowjob. Enthusiastically, ravenously bobbing her head back and forth along the shaft of her rock had dick.

One loud plop later as Ranma pulled herself off his dick - "Morning, sleepyhead!" Then right back to planting a kiss on the side of it. Licking it, running her tongue from base to head, swirling that tongue around and then going down the other side. "You slept in again, dummy! What are you like? This is your punishment for being lazy."

"D-Doesn't feel like a punishment to me!" Akane managed to say, somehow.

And then, Ranma got this super cocky smirk on her face. Pulled her face back - and strutted out the room with a very deliberate, exaggerated sway of her hips. Stopping only at the door to bend at the waist, before smoothing her hands alllll the way up her legs until they groped her own butt, and then - "Kasumi sadi breakfast's ready in five minutes, don't be late!" Then she slipped out of the room leaving Akane with a painful, aching, throbbing erection.

A pillow hit the back of the door a moment later. Akane didn't remember throwing it, but he must have done so. Gugh! All he could think about now was... was Ranma waking him up with a blowjob! According to that journal they'd already done more than that, and yesterday he had fucked Shampoo for literally hours and -

Ah! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Akane too too good~

"Nnnnrgh, no...I am not a pervert..." Akane grumbled to himself as his hand went to his shaft and started to pump furiously. "Not a pervert. Not a pervert! It's not my fault! Ahhh, ahhhh, ahhhhh..."

It was really hard - difficult! Difficult was a better word to use there! It was difficult to justify to himself that he wasn't a pervert when he was stroking off to... not just Ranma, but also memories of Shampoo. That dream, too. So many cute girls... So cute, so pretty, so sexy! The idea that he'd seduced all of them at some point or another was playing havoc with his head! It made him erect, it made him hard, it made him want to - want to!

"Breakfast is ready!"

Noooo, that timing though! Akane shot his load, and all but fell back into bed at the same time that Kasumi called for everyone to come for breakfast! Fortunately there was a handkerchief to wipe it away, but Akane also wiped a sleeve across his forehead to get rid of the sweat. Oohhh, he felt exhausted after that! Deep breath, now. Walk out of here with your head held high, try not to react when you see Ranma in girl form...

"Morning little brother, did you sleep well?" asked Nabiki, in a pair of shorts that were honestly far too snug. Urgh! "And there was Ranma saying he woke you up? Maybe did too good a job of it?"

Akane turned to glower at Ranma - who was sitting over there at his place, in boy form, all smug and cocky and - Oooh, Akane wanted to wipe that smile off his face! You'd get yours, Saotome! Mark his words, you'd get what was coming to you!

"Something on my face or something?" Ranma asked. "Or maybe you couldn't take a harmless joke? Is that it?"

"Loudmouth jerk," Akane grumbled. It was a lot easier to be annoyed by Ranma when he was in boy form. Oooh! This stupid male penis was obviously clouding his judgment. It wanted Ranma to be a girl right now, because then he'd be less annoyed because he'd be looking at something cute! Now, instead, all he could think of were ways to punish Ranma for humiliating him like that. That was something he'd never, ever dare do when Akane was a girl. So what made it suddenly okay for it to happen because Akane was now a boy?

"Hello, good morning?" a familiar voice broke through the Tendo residence. A voice that Akane knew very well, but now that he thought about it he hadn't heard yesterday at all. Despite her now staying here as well, Nodoka Saotome had been weirdly absent. Akane hadn't noticed until now because... well, he had other things on his mind right now. But that was strange, right? Hadn't Nodoka moved in? Hadn't she found out about Ranma's curse already?

Judging by Ranma's reaction - spilling water over his head, going girl, and immediately leaping into Akane's lap - the answer to that was no. As Nodoka came into sight, Ranma had gone full girl mode in both body and benaviour. Meaning - over the top girly action, like a stereotype of femininity. Giggling away, all smiles, clinging onto Akane for dear sweet life and oh dear lord she was fluttering her eyes.

"Good morning everyone," Nodoka Saotome said. "Oh, I see that Miss Ranko is joining you for breakfast today. My, my. Akane, you truly are lucky to have such a cute, affectionate girlfriend."

"Tee hee!" Ranma wriggled in Akane's lap. Grinding her butt right into Akane's crotch. "It's so nice to see you again, Auntie  Nodoka."

"I had been hoping that my son would be here today, but alas..." Nodoka tsked. "I suppose he's off on another training trip with his father. Well, that just gives me more time to get to know my future daughter in law."

Meaning Nabiki, not Akane. It was practically ingrained in Akane at this point, that Nodoka was - That Nodoka was 'her' new mother. For a long, long time the only mother figure that Akane had to look up to was Kasumi, who was a mere three years older than her. While she's an amazing woman, an incredible housekeeper and an ideal form of femininity, it wasn't quite the same thing as having a real, actual mother in your life. In all honesty, Akane felt jealous of Nabiki for stealing that attention away. Like she stole the engagement to Ranma. All because in this world, Akane had been born a boy.

On the other hand, the feeling of girl form Ranma squirming in his lap was making it really hard to focus on that jealousy right about now. Or much of anything else, either. Had she always smelled so good? So soft and tiny! Urge to embrace rising...

"Oh, I wish I could see Nabiki being like this with my son," Nodoka sighed wistfully. Nabiki, for her part, nearly spat out the water she'd been drinking. "The two of them must be just as adorable together."

"Being cute and cloying isn't really my style, Auntie Nodoka," Nabiki said, wiping at her mouth.

"Don't be like that, Nab-chan!" Ranma said, tittering away all girly, and oh no even though Akane knew it was far too over the top the attack was proving to be super effective nonetheless! "Ranma's such a manly hunk that you can barely keep your hands off him! Tee-hee! So manly, isn't that right?"

"Right," Nabiki said. "By the way, Ranko. Didn't you owe me some cash for that cute skirt you wanted to buy? I think it was about a thousand yen, wasn't it? You wouldn't have that on you, would you?"

It didn't take much for Akane to see what was going on here. Nabiki was blackmailing Ranma into playing along, trying to make himself seem like the manliest man to ever man manliness.All in fear of a stupid contract his stupid father (currently in panda form and playing with a tire out in the garden) signed when Ranma was little, promising to make him a man among men on pain of seppuku. Ritual suicide, with Nodoka acting as their second!

"Whoops!" Nodoka somehow tripped while trying to sit, sending the sword she was carrying flying into the floor right in front of Akane. "Pardon me, I'm all thumbs today."

Having her as a second seemed like a really bad idea! She might miss the neck with her swing! Even so, it was extremely difficult for Akane to recognise Ranma as a boy while she was sitting in her lap like this. If Akane hadn't just jerked off, he'd be getting hard again. Nice, this was really nice! He didn't want it to be nice! He had to get out of here quickly before this swirling storm of emotions overwhelmed him!

"Hey Ranko, we really ought to go..." Akane whispered, and tried to resist the urge to kiss Ranko on the cheek. Failed. Didn't regret it. Just to be safe he planted another big wet one on a different point of her cheek. Still no regrets.

"Oh? To the training hall, you mean?" Ranko asked. "Teehee, you just want to show off again, don'tcha? That new martial arts routine you've been practising..."

"Don't mind us," Nodoka said. "You two have fun. Now, Nabiki. Have you been practising your cooking? If you're to marry my son, he's got a tremendous appetite..."

Akane scopped Ranma up in her arms and dashed off towards the training hall as fast as possible. That was the worst feeling ever! Ew, gross! Having Ranma in girl form draped all over him like that in front of his family? In front of Nodoka? It was obvious what was going on here. Instead of pretending to be "Ranko Saotome", Soun's niece, Ranma was now feigning being Akane's girlfriend to throw Nodoka off! Why though?! But why?! It almost came off as an excuse for Ranma to be all flirty with Akane without being judged too harshly by the rest of the family!

...

"Phew, thanks a bunch for that," Ranma said, wiping the sweat off her brow. "After that little trick this morning, I thought you'd maybe not play along this time."

"Trick? You call waking me up with a blowjob a trick?!" Akane whisper yelled. "I'd hate to see what you consider a treat!"

"This, mostly," Ranma said, grabbing Akane's collar and hauling him in for a kiss on the lips. Once again, at first Akane tried to fight it off. Tried to hold on to his identity as a girl... But this body. This accursed body was reacting too strongly to this stimulation. His hands were draw in by Ranma's far too cute girl form. Like a magic spell had grabbed onto his arms, guiding his hands, they moved on their own to encircle this adorable shortstack, starting at the small of her back before circling around her hips, drawing her closer and closer allowing Akane to relish the soft feeling of her breasts pressing into his chest. Then, his hands moved downwards, quickly cupping Ranma's cheeks - At which point she pulled back. "Ooh, aren't we handsy today? Don't get fresh, buster. I'm just paying you back for covering my ass. I didn't give you permission to feel it!"

"Huh, but..." Akane burbled. Ohhh, what was their relationship in this world? Were they lovers or not? So many mixed signals! This was somehow worse than her normal reality! If only he could know for sure one way or the other.



Naruto - Hinata the Princess

If not for the candles adorning the room, it would have been pitch black. The shadows crept along the walls, ceiling and floor like a living, slumbering entity. A presence unto itself. Thirteen robed men stood at equal distance upon a pentagram-esque shape in the middle of the room. Hands clasped together, chanting ominously. In the middle of their ominous circle, atop the floor, was a would be sacrifice - a young girl, the daughter of a local village elder who had gone missing not too long ago. Her eyes were milky white. She wasn't moving. Beyond breathing and blinking, that is. She was not bound, she was not being held in place by any apparent mechanism - but the symptoms were clear enough to those who had the knowledge to look for it. At first he had assumed genjutsu, but drugs seemed more likely.

It hadn't taken him long to locate this place. It had been so easy he had expected it to be a trap of some kind. But no, to Naruto's relief, the mission he had been sent upon today had been ranked a bit higher than it should have been. An odd reversal of his first mission outside Konoha, as a matter of fact. Knowing what he knew now, he would rather like to swap their levels around. Even as a dumb kid with brooding Sasuke and Sakura, with no real combat experience, would have mopped the floor with this group. They might not have even needed Kakashi helping them out to do it.

The first they knew anything was amiss was when he made thirteen clones and dogpiled them. Pinned them to the ground, while he watched from above just in case something unexpected happened. In case it really was a trap - But no. It was almost boring how easy it had been. He made another clone and sent her to pick up the girl. Best get her back to her father, pront, while he checked this place out and tried to work out their deal.

It was entirely possible this was merely the branch of a bigger organisation. Maybe that was some well earned paranoia speaking, but under the circumstances who could blame him?

"Ah, what were these creeps up to anyway?" he asked himself. No, he wasn't speaking to a clone, he was trying to puzzle it out. Well, let's see. What else is obvious about the room? Well. There was a table at the back. Had a bust on it. You know, a marble statue of a person's head and neck. Bringing a candle closer, it looked like a woman with long hair... with a sparkly tiara on it. Once upon a time Naruto would've picked the tiara up, said something like 'hey I bet this would look good on Sakura' and rushed off to give it to her.

He was not that dumb kid anymore. This was obviously magical or something. An occult group like that having a tiara like this, working a ritual on some kidnapped girl? Had to be something weird about it. Or there was going to be something weird about it if they'd finished. Hrm... Nah, felt more likely that they were going to put the tiara on the girl as part of the ritual, either part way through or at the end, so...

"Oi! You guys, what's this for?"

He was answered with an attempt to spit at him. Classy. Oh well. They had interrogation specialists that would get the answers out of them. As for the tiara itself, leaving it here didn't seem like a smart move. He needed to work out what it did just in case it was dangerous. It prob
ably did something to disrupt a person's chakra network, or something like that... And if that was the case then he knew exactly who to get to have a look at it.

======

Hinata Hyuga was a very lucky girl. She hadn't really felt that way until relatively recently. Try to imagine, you've had a crush on a certain boy for as long as you can remember. He's the village outcast, but he's so... brave and roguishly charming. Determined to overcome his own weakness, admirable in ways that only you can see. Then, over time, others start to come around. They see what you see. He becomes admired. He becomes beloved. All the while, you're unable to say two words to him without stumbling over yourself. You recognise, intellectually, that you are a beautiful young woman. Brilliant in her own way. However, those feelings blossom every time, without fail and leave you a stammering mess.

Then, one day, he notices on his own how you feel about him, and he reciprocates.

Can you imagine that joy? That feeling of having the one thing you've ever wanted handed to you on a silver platter? Oh, that wasn't fair - Hinata had worked hard in her own way. She'd trained in her family style to the point of mastery. Yes, making full use of the Byakugan their Gentle Fist way of fighting was a devastating martial arts style to go up against. They could see chakra in a way that others could not. They could manipulate it in others, such that a single touch might leave a person incapable of moving their limbs, or it could disrupt other body functions without warning. Such was their ability, such was their influence, and such led to the Hyuga family's importance within Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"I hope he's not late today," Hinata said to herself. She took a deep breath. "He was going on that mission, wasn't he? Oh dear, we were going to meet up today for a date, but.." Old insecurities started to crop up. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. The boy had been at the forefront of her thoughts for a long, long time. That boy had grown up into a fine young man, worthy of his dream to one day become the Hokage. For now, Kakashi would run things, until Naruto was ready... but nobody truly believed it would be long in coming. Part of Hinata wondered if she was worthy of him. Part of her wondered if, perhaps, this was a little too easy. She'd heard some rumours among other girls that she was 'spoiled' or 'handed her position' due to circumstances outside her control...

Echoes of things that Neji had once said to her a long, long time ago. Oh dear. Neji... She picked her spirits back up, determined to enjoy her date today. Even if she'd have to wait for Naruto to show up, she'd find a way to enjoy herself. Neji would have wanted that, right? She'd changed from those days. She'd worked hard to get where she was now, in terms of skill and role. She would correct her earlier thoughts - she had not been handed Naruto's heart on a silver platter, it had been through hard work and determination that she'd earned it. And so, she would continue to earn it, through hard work and -

"I can see you, Naruto dear," Hinata said. "Trying to surprise me? Did you forget my family's eyes?"

"Nah, just trying to relax a bit after a long day!" Naruto said, popping into sight right before her eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Hehehe! To be honest, this dating thing is still new for me. You know? What am I meant to say when I show up for one of these things?"

"You could start by handing over the contents of that box behind your back," Hinata said. She tittered as he grew flustered. "A gift? That's very nice. A... tiara of some sort?"

"It is, but it's not a gift exactly," Naruto said. He pulled it out and - my word. It was very beautiful. It must cost a fortune. It struck her that the jewels embedded along it were extremely finely cut, she couldn't even guess at how much all that must be. "I found this on that mission I was on, and it seemed really suspicious. Could you take a look at it for me?"

The mask of the girlfriend was quickly put aside. "Of course," said Hinata, Kunoichi of Konoha. "I shall have it stored somewhere private and secure for the purposes of analysis."

With great care, she took the box from him, and felt... something. Ah? What was this chakra? Something like a static shock jumped into her arm when she took the box from Naruto. She quickly checked over her own chakra network and found nothing amiss. Nonetheless, if taking ownership of the tiara from Naruto was enough to make her feel something then his instincts must be correct. There was something ominous about it. Something dangerous. Something tha required her attention... After the date.

For the time being, she quickly returned the box to her room and placed it inside a small hidden safe, usually used by her to store personal valuables. Whatever this might be, whatever its purpose was, she'd have it solved quickly... After the date. She'd been looking forward to that a little too much to put it off for some matter such as this. And so, she returned to the front door where Naruto was waiting for her. Upon seeing her, he went into an exaggerated bow, and proclaimed in a deliberately haughty manner - "My lady, my Princess, shall we away?"

Awkward silence. Hinata could feel those old insecurities hammering away again. "I'm... no Princess," she said.

"Ah, too much?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Oh, what the hell. Let's go out and have some ramen. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like heaven, my dear Prince," Hinata replied. Thoughts of the mysterious tiara disappeared to the back of her mind. The one and only thing that mattered here and now was this boy... Although, as the date wore on, she kept on imagining herself and her potential future. As the hokage's wife she would have to meet with foreign representatives. She would have to make sure to represent her husband and the village properly. In that sense, she sort of would have to take on something of a Princess like role, wouldn't she?

Such things weren't helped when they arrived at the ramen place and she very quickly and without the slightest hint of trouble completely demolished their Greed King challenge. Quite unladylike of her! Naruto didn't mind at all, but Hinata herself couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by that. Oh dear. She really did have to put in more hard work to make her dreams come true, didn't she?

======

After a certain amount of time, Hinata was left with the feeling this thing was simply taunting her. A glittering gleaming tiara, mocking her with its obviously dangerous nature. She could tell that it manipulated chakra in some way, but the methods were absolutely bizarre. It felt like she was glimpsing into something beyond her normal understanding, even the Byakugan wasn't able to figure out. Once again, Hinata found herself getting caught up in old insecurities. Was this down to lack of training? A limit in her knowledge that she should have had filled long ago? Something she wasn't even thinking of? It was eating away at her.

What didn't help was that date. Honestly now, embarrassing herself by easily eating that much ramen, it was quite unladylike of her. Naruto was nice about it, showed her that big warm smile he always gave people. But didn't the fact he was using that smile mean that he knew she needed reassurance? Hinata let a yawn escape her mouth. Tried to focus on the tiara.

"It is quite pretty, isn't it?" Hinata asked nobody in particular. She wobbled in her seat. The gems dotting it gleamed enticingly. "I wonder... what it would look like if I..."

Without a second thought the tiara was left upon the top of her head. It probably looked quite regal. Hinata felt a swell in self confidence. What was she thinking, criticising herself in such a manner? If Naruto did not like you, do you think he would lie and tell you otherwise? No! He would tell you! That is the sort of man you fell in love with! Show more confidence, show more backbone! You are a strong, beautiful woman who has earned her position and -

"Why am I wearing the tiara?"

The instant that Hinata looked in the mirror at her reflection, she was struck cold by how pretty she looked. Like a pretty little Princess, spoiled and pampered, not the hard working kunoichi that she truly was. The shock made her freeze for btu a moment before instinct kicked in, and she knocked the tiara from her head sending it clattering across the floor. Stepping back from it, Hinata activated the Byakugan and looked at herself. Her own networks, her own chakra, and carefully meticulously studied herself for the slightest sign that anything was amiss.

Nothing came up. It should go without saying that she knew what she should look like if looking at herself, but... This was not entirely reassuring. Not as much as it should be. That tiara obviously had a potent effect of some sort attached to it, and - And it had made her put it on. She should definitely get someone to look her over. Maybe Sakura? Maybe -

Her legs gave way and she collapsed back onto her bed. Strangely, it felt... uncomfortable. What was this all of a sudden? Why did her bed feel so uncomfortable? Normally she had no trouble at all nodding off, but here it felt like every lump, every imperfection was screaming at her. Experimentally, she tried lying down and could barely stand it. How had she ever slept upon such a lumpy mattress? Hinata rolled around in it, tried pounding it with her fists, feeling increasingly frustrated at the inexplicably...

"Oh, this is much better now," she said, feeling her body all but sink into the mattress. "Hrmph! Just goes to show, sometimes things need the right treatment to remind them of their place."

Remind them of their place...? That felt quite unlike her.Her head was pounding. Her body felt weird. She couldn't concentrate no matter what. The only thing that Hinata could do was let her eyes drift close and fall into a deep, deep slumber as the magic of the tiara quickly took hold of the rest of her room.

To start with, the room becomes quite a bit fancier than it had been already. The walls turned a regal red. Her bookcase grew until it hit the ceiling, her wardrobe expanded and the curtains gained numerous austere frills. All the while, the tiara pulsed on the floor, spreading its insidious influence throughout the room, throughout its new owner. Hrm? New owner? You query such a thing? Why, what else would you say she was, if not its new owner? After all, she had put it in a safe full of her personal belongings. She had even put it on! This was why the difference in response to her mattress, of course. She had changed first, her body requiring a higher standard of mattress to sleep upon than most. However, once the tiara had worked its magic on that very mattress there wasn't a problem anymore. Why would there be?

As she slept, Hinata dreamt a strange, bizarre dream. She was wearing a pretty pink dress, locked up in a distant tower with a single window. Of course, it would be a trivial matter for her to use chakra to walk down the mossy outer wall... but such a thing would make her shoes dirty. It wouldn't be proper. Especially in this dress. Hold on a moment, what was she thinking? Something like that shouldn't keep a kunoichi from such a simple escape! And yet, she remained within the tower, her body not even making the effort to do what she so reasonably figured out.

"Hey, Princess!" a voice cried from the outside. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she rushed to the window, looking out to see her Prince Charming below. Naruto! Oh, she felt faint! As if she might swoon at any moment! "I'm coming, Princess! That mean old dragon won't keep you for long!"

As soon as he made that bold proclamation Naruto, her dashing Prince Charming, rushed forwards with his hands held out by his side. He planted one powerful foot upon the wall, and then zipped up in a second, right beneath Hinata's window in the blink of an eye. His lips met hers, and she melted into him, almost falling into his arms as he carried her down in the bridal position. The pretty pink Princess, carried away from the tower by the handsome, courageous, wonderful Prince Charming. Her heart was going a mile a minute. Everything about her felt good, warm, comfortable, right... but something deep inside her was raising the alarm .Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Hinata had the sensation of falling, but not in the sense of 'falling in love' or something like that. She'd done that a long, long time ago. Rather, this was more literal - she'd fallen out of bed! The morning light streaked through her windows, though she honestly didn't recognise them. Looking around, this room... was it truly hers? It seemed so... so... Rich. That was the best way to put it. Bright pinks and reds everywhere. She'd made her room for practicality over comfort where possible, but it seemed to have been undone overnight.

"What?" she asked, and hobbled to her feet, feeling oddly weak. Her body wasn't quite reacting the way it should have. "What happened to my - The tiara!"

Yes indeed, the tiara. There was a sort of swirling pattern in the fabric around it. Like a spiral emanating out from where it lay. A pretty little tiara sitting innocently in the middle of it, almost as though it was emanating "Princessness", oozing it into the room. Deep breaths. Deep breaths! This thing was more dangerous than she'd thought! Capable of something like this overnight?! Biting her lip, she activated her Byakugan to take a better look and -

Pink. Pink. Pinkpinkpinkpinkpink! Bright swirly pink as far as the eye can see. Fractally pink and fluffy and pampered and spoiled and girly and - She had to stop because it was making her giddy. Not in a bad way, because she couldn't stop herself from smiling while viewing it... but in a sense you could see that as bad as well.

That being the case Hinata rushed to her wardrobe to dress more appropriately. She needed help. Desperately needed assistance in order to seal this... whatever it was. Maybe she could have Sakura look at her? Or maybe Naruto knew something that could seal this effect away? Her friends all specialised in different areas of Ninjutsu, at least one of them had to know something that could undo... whatever this was! Of course, her bed clothes would be grossly inappropriate and she'd need to wear something a bit more proper, like -

"Pink dresses?" Hinata gasped. She pulled them out, one hangar at a time, finding nothing within but a variety of pink puffy dresses. None of her kunoichi clothes. None of her casual gear. It was all fancy, all rich, as if she'd spontaneously decided that her only public appearances would be at a high class ballroom dance. "I have a bad feeling about this. If I put these on, then..."

Then what was the alternative? Not wear clothes? Go out in her bedclothes? Unthinkable! There really wasn't anything else for it, was there? Hinata picked out the dress she thought would be the least unusual to be seen in public in, but it was still quite... daft. The skirt had more frills on it than she'd seen in her entire life up until this point, It hugged her chest quite snugly as well, and she couldn't quite get any kind of flexibility going. If she pushed it, she could probably break into a run, and that honestly seemed like a really good idea right about now. Put some distance between herself and that accursed tiara!

However, her torment in getting dressed was not finished yet. Because her footwear had also been replaced .Every single one of them. With high heels the likes of which you could probably use to stab a person to death. Hinata glanced over to the tiara. Was it trying to make her 'look the part'? She briefly considered venturing out barefoot - but dismissed that right away. Her feet? On bare ground? Disgusting! Better to wear heels!

Of course, this led to a few odd problems. Her balance was fine, much to her surprise. High heels were not in her normal wardrobe, but she'd adjusted to them quite quickly. Couldn't run in them, that much she could tell right away. However, she could walk perfectly well. It did rather slow her down. As in, slowed her to a crawl. Step, step, step. Each step had to be elegant, refined, dignified, or she feared falling over. Furthermore, this dress was all but forcing her to keep her back straight and her head held high, which she feared was giving her something of a pompous air. Oh, what must the people of Konoha think of her, seeing her out and about like -

"Good morning, your highness!" a random citizen of the village said, bowing slightly to her as they passed one another.

"Good morning," Hinata said, giving them an odd wave and a friendly smile. What was this? Actually, they weren't reacting the way she expected. They were... showing her respect? Bowing a little, showing reverence to her.

When she noticed this a strange warmth began to flourish deep inside the pit of Hinata's stomach. It was nice being acknowledged like this. Pleasant. It wasn't actually her, of course. She was a shy yet hard working kunoichi, not this dignified confident Princess who walked around in high heels and fashionable dresses, and - And!

And she did feel confident, didn't she? The intellectual awareness that she was pretty was no longer being squashed by irrational fears and inadequacies. Each step she took, Hinata felt more aware of herself. Of how pretty she really was. A flawless complexion. A tremendous womanly physique. A gorgeous, well structured face... Why had she been so insecure before? She honestly couldn't quite recall.

Oh dear. There was a puddle in the street ahead of her. Luckily, a young man dashed forward and laid his jacket out over it.

"You didn't have to do that," Hinata said, though her voice had this oddly superior lilt to it. "I could have stepped around it."

"And risk you ruining those gorgeous shoes?" the peasant said. ""No, no, that won't do at atll! Your highness, please use my coat like this, it needed to be cleaned anyway."

She took a dainty, delicate step over the puddle, trodding on the back of the jacket despite herself. A little guilt washed over her, but... he seemed happy enough. She rewarded him with a smile and continued on her way. With each new step feeling more and more regal. More and more confident. Superior, better, higher class in every way that could possibly matter.

=====

"So, what exactly was that cult up to anyway? I'm a little confused."

Ah, nothing like a good lunch catching up with an old friend. Naruto slurped down his ramen fast, while Sakura sat opposite him. He had to think about the best way to phrase this.

"They were trying to create some kinda  'Super Royalty' or something like that," he said. "They imbued all this weird freaky magic into a tiara alongside a chakra manipulator."

"Super Royalty?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever, that sounds really stupid."

"Yep, they would've probably beaten themselves even if I didn't show up!" Naruto said, jabbing a thumb confidently at his own chest. "Heh, but at least they were smart enough to have a counterspell."

"A counterspell?"

Naruto pulled it out. A regular hand mirror. Every bit as ornate and fancy as the tiara. "One look in this, and anyone affected by the tiara goes back to normal."

"Where is the tiara now? It sounds dangerous."

"Hinata has it," Naruto replied, tapping at his forehead. "Hehehe, I wonder if it's worked its magic by now...?"

"Naruto!" Bang! Yep, Sakura still had it! That was a mean hook she had, it might be even worse than ever now! "What the hell?! You deliberately gave it to Hinata so it could affect her? What sorta pervy fantasy are you trying to live here?"

"Ah, it's not like that!" he protested. "I mean... Look, when Hinata and I hang out, I can sorta tell, you know? She's still got that attitude she had when she was little. I figure, this tiara would give her a good shakeup. A bit of a confidence boost. I'll turn her back to normal once it's done its job."

"I see," Sakura said, nodding slowly. Weird. Her temper settled down even faster than usual there. "So, you're saying that you deliberately gave the tiara to Hinata, knowing what it would do to her, as part of a ploy to give her a confidence boost."

"Yeah, I mean, she's really pretty and talented, this sorta thing will be good for her in the long term."

Danger. Danger. Naruto sensed great danger. Ah? Was this a shadow being cast over him now? It felt longer and darker than it should do, for some reason, what was... going... on...?

Behind him was a woman. He almost didn't recognise her at first. She was gorgeous. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Naruto had this overwhelming urge to drop to one knee in front of her. Bow his head, swear fealty, the whole thing! But then, it was like something caught up with his brain and told him who this actually was, and it made his heart skip a beat. From a mixture of fear and adoration.

"H-Hinata?" he asked. The woman in the pink dress stared down at him with an eerie smile that he could get lost in for days. "You overheard what I just said, didn't you?"

"That would be Princess Hinata to you," she said in an oddly haughty tone. "My, my, Prince Charming. It seems as though we are about to have our first blazing row. Come along. Let us show you what this confidence boost gets you."

He nervously swallowed. Genuinely now, Naruto had never felt more in fear of his own life. Not when he was fighting Pain, nor any of the times he'd gone up against Sasuke, not during the war - never. He should run. He should hide.

"And then, if you prove to be adept at giving a good footrub, we shall have our first bout of passionate makeup sex," Hinata said. Almost casually. Tossing it out there like it was no big deal. "If you excel there, then perhaps you might see more of me in this form when I'm off duty. What say you?"

"Y-yes, your highness!" Naruto stood up smartly. He heard a small laugh from Sakura, who apparently found this whole thing tremendously amusing. For some reason! "R-Right away! I'll give you the best foot rubs going! Mark my words!"



Mariko's New Team - Kasumi

If there were two examples of different eras of Japanese femininity, you could find them in Kasumi Tendo and Nodoka Saotome. Kasumi was very modern, with a tendency for more western dresses and styles. Nodoka gave off a more classical and traditional air, always seen in a kimono. Both of them were graceful, beautiful women, the ideal wife in terms of personality and outlook. Thus, despite the differences in styles, the two of them were quite close. Often sharing tips and tricks for homemaking and housekeeping, cooking and cleaning and suchlike.

Today though, Kasumi had something else on the forefront of her mind.

"Hello Mrs Saotome," she bowed slightly. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

Nodoka smiled brightly back at her. "My pleasure, Kasumi dear. Please, tell me what's on your mind."

Oh dear, how best to phrase this. Kasumi thought about it carefully for a moment first. "Well, I'm concerned about my sisters. They've been acting strangely recently."

"Strangely?" Nodoka repeated. Surprise evident on her face. "How so?"

Now, that was the crux of the matter. Kasumi cast her mind back a few days when she first noticed something amiss. It hadn't seemed like such a big deal at the time, but as time went on her concerns grew and grew until she had to consult the more experienced housewife on what to do.

"Good morning, sis! You look totally cute today!"

Kasumi smiled and turned back to greet her sister, Akane, who had given her a very warm and upbeat greeting this morning. However, she faltered a little on seeing the unusual clothes that she was wearing. Now, Akane was hardly any stranger to cute girly clothes. She was actually quite fashionable, and could easily be considered her most girly trait.

However, this was quite outside the norm. It was, without question, an adorable cheerleader's uniform. Blue to match the Furinkan girl's uniform, but showing off a lot more leg. Indeed, the frilly skirt seemed determined to show off more of Akane's thighs than the other skirts in her wardrobe, and the rest of it clung to her body quite insistently, almost determined to show it off.

"Good morning," Kasumi slowly said. "Ah, I see... Have you taken up cheerleading, Akane?"

"You B-E-T!" Akane said with tremendous, infectious enthusiasm, punctuating each spelled out word with a new cutesy pose. Kasumi giggled to herself, it was nice to see her little sister so upbeat for a change. Her relationship with Ranma always seemed to leave her high strung... Save those little moments they had together when they thought nobody was watching. Akane pulled out a baton and began to whirl it around. "You know, I bet you'd look super C-U-T-E as a cheerleader as well, sis."

"Oh dear, that's really not my sort of thing Akane, but thank you for the kind words," Kasumi said, assuming that would be the end of it... Until a few seconds later when Nabiki walked into the kitchen as well. Clad in the same gear as Akane. Huh? That's strange, the two of them had such disparate interests. Both of them picked up cheerleading at the same time?

"Hey sis! What do you think?" Nabiki said, then gave a quick twirl in place. "Super C-U-T-E, huh?"

"Yes, Nabiki. It suits you well," Kasumi replied. Nabiki began to bounce around excitedly. Was she chewing gum? After a moment, she blew a bubble, confirming it. "I must say, it's refreshing to see the two of you take up a common interest."

That's what she'd thought at the time... however...

"It's hard to describe," Kasumi told Nodoka. "They seem a lot peppier than usual, and the two of them have taken up cheerleading."

"Cheerleading?" Nodoka quirked an eyebrow. "That's not so strange, is it?"

No. It wasn't. However, the next day...

"How is the cutest girl in the world doing today?"

"Oh, Ranma. You F-L-I-R-T." Akane giggled. Kasumi looked on in genuine surprise at the sight before her. The mutual affection between these two was obvious to everyone but them. To her, they had seemed like a pair of children unable to get over their mutual affection. Instead preferring to tease one another. Poke each other with sticks rather than admit how they truly felt. It had been cute in its own way, and not her place to interfere.

However, within the training hall she could see them quite plainly. Ranma, in boy form, embracing Akane from behind. Kissing Akane on the cheek while she leaned back into him. The two of them are happy. The two of them are content. Nabiki watches on from the side, bouncing away and doing alternating knee lifts, waving around a pompom, making absolutely no effort at all to blackmail or extort either one of them.

"I didn't say stop," Akane said, snuggling back into him, the cheerleader uniform somehow feeling a bit more erotic to Kasumi's eyes. It was the expression on Akane's face that was doing it... No, maybe a combination hit, between that and the way Ranma was holding onto her.

"You're too cute for your own good," Ranma said, with no trace of sarcasm or teasing. It sounded absolutely genuine. "So cute! Won't let other boys look at you. Mine, all mine, this cuteness is for me and me alone."

"Lucky girl," Nabiki sighed. "Doncha think, big sis? Wouldn't it be nice to have a B-O-Y treat you like that?"

Much like with Ranma, there was no sarcasm, no teasing, merely a genuine observation. This was when Kasumi started to become a bit.. Unnerved.

"Also, Akane is being a lot more affectionate with Ranma," Kasumi whispered, as though letting loose a great and terrible secret.

"Ah! I suppose that is a bit strange," Nodoka gasped. Yes, Kasumi had brought it up a few times to Nodoka, how those two got on like cat and dog, like sodium in water. Though, of course, she had always done so in a way that made it clear they were deeply in love, a fact that Nodoka seemed to have no trouble accepting. For a sudden change in personality like this - it beggared belief! Which led nicely into Kasumi's main concern.

"I'm a little worried that someone might have brainwashed them," Kasumi whispered. She looked around. "Please come in, so we can discuss this more privately."

"Hypnotised?" Nodoka said. Kasumi turned around to enter the room, guiding Nodoka to somewhere they could discuss the matter more privately. "It comes with the territory."

Indeed, it did seem to. Now that Nodoka mentioned it, quite often strange shenanigans did seem to follow around the martial artists in the family. Love spells, enchanting spirits... why, Kasumi herself had been possessed by an oni once! Behind her was the sound of a kimono hitting the floor, but Kasumi took no notice of it. Nodoka's observation had distracted her a bit too much.

If it hadn't, then she might have noticed. Underneath her kimono, Nodoka was wearing a particular kind of outfit that would look very familiar to her. She completely missed the more experienced housewife looking over Kasumi's body in an almost dirty evaluating manner. Replacing in her mind the modest dress that Kasumi was wearing with something much more... F-U-N.

What Kasumi didn't miss was the question that Nodoka asked: "Have you watched your sister practise their routines?"

"Hey sis, could you, like, watch us for a bit?" Akane asked.

"We're trying out something new and want some feedback," Nabiki added.

Well, how could she say no to something like that? Especially with them giving her the classic puppy dog eye treatment. Quivering lips and all!  Luckily, Kasumi wasn't doing anything she couldn't put off, so she went along with them to the training hall to watch their 'new routine'.

The two sisters stood side by side with their hands on their hips, took a deep breath, and then they began. The determined little scowl on Akane's face was completely adorable. Kasumi had to resist the urge to go 'aw' when she got like that. They started with alternating kneelifts, turning from side to side with each one. Their hands stayed steadfast on their hips, and each time they turned the sisters stepped a little further away from one another.

Then, once they were about five feet apart, They suddenly kicked up high into the air, revealing a collapsible baton strapped to their thighs. In one fluid motion they pulled the baton out. Spinning them around quickly while lifting that same hand up and down, then left to right while bouncing side to side, their off hands still firmly planted on their hips.

"Hey, hey! Watch here, Tendo sisters love to cheer!" they both chanted in unison

"I'm the nice but violent one, discovering that cheering's fun!" Akane cheered on her own.

"Who needs cash? Who needs money? Cheering makes me super sunny!" Nabiki cheered on her own.

"There is nothing we should fear! Because us Tendos love to cheer!" they both finished in unison.

In the present, Kasumi felt an odd muscle reaction around her knee. It was as if it had just tried to lift up, but had been restricted by the lengthy skirt she was wearing. "A little..." Kasumi mentioned. "Mostly while doing housework."

Indeed, she had done exactly that. After that first day, the two of them had taken to cheer practise out in the garden. Smiling. Happy. Bouncing away. Cutely chanting away.

"Tendo sisters love to cheer."

Oooh, she felt a bit dizzy there for a moment. Kasumi shook it off, and then turned around, only now noticing the truth, the cheerleader uniform that Nodoka was wearing, and the pompom being thrust into her face.

"A-auntie Nodoka?" she gasped. When had this happened?

=====

It was Nodoka's honest opinion that she could not have chosen a more suitable wife for her darling son than Akane Tendo. That might seem a strange decision for some, as the girl could not cook and had certain bad habits ingrained - but hear her out on this. To start with, it was obvious how much love there was between the two of them. An important factor, but not even the main one in Nodoka's consideration.

You see, Nodoka is the wife of a poor travelling martial artist. She knows full well what such a life entails. She knows full well how foolish a Saotome man may behave. She knows what the basic requirements were, and how much hard work it was. Akane met those requirements. Passed them with flying colours.

It was so nice having Akane come and visit. The two of them sat, having tea, Nodoka didn't think anything strange of it at all. That was, until...

"Auntie Nodoka, I've picked up a new hobby," Akane said. She then pulled off her school uniform and - Goodness, what a surprise. She truly was taken aback at first sight. A cute cheerleader uniform. "Do you like it? Super C-U-T-E, right?"

"Yes, indeed," Nodoka said. Goodness, Ranma must like this quite a bit. A very cute and revealing outfit. While Nodoka would prefer a more traditional taste, she was not the sort to force others to her preferences. "This is... cheerleading, correct? I'm afraid I don't know very much about it."

Akane then pulled out a pair of batons, smiling warmly as she started to spin them around. "Not to worry, mother, your future daughter is going to T-E-A-C-H you all you need to know about cheerleading."

How amusing. To Nodoka's eyes, it all looked like a strange elaborate dance - but it was Akane's face rather than her body that she found herself watching. The girl looked so... happy. Smiling broadly, warm like the sun.

"I'm fiancee number one, future wife of your son," Akane began, moving in time with her own dancing. All while keeping those batons spinning away. "I love him, love him, love him lots, he ties my heart into tight knots."

"Oh my," Nodoka tittered. "I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that, Akane."

"So mother dearest why don't you, tell me how you love him too?" Akane continued. "Come and tell your daughter dear, and tell her in a sexy cheer!"

Nodoka blinked. Normally that's not something she'd notice herself doing, but this time she did it in slow motion. Her son? Yes... She did love her son. She loved Akane too. Now Akane wanted her to 'cheer' about how much she adored her Ranma? Well, let's see... this cadence seemed simple to follow. However...

"Ranma makes me proud
His strength shines on the world like
A man among men."

A simple haiku was more her style. Not perfect, it could definitely be improved upon... especially that middle part.  Still, it had been quite fun to do that. A girlish giggle escaped her lips. Oooh, yes. She wanted to do this more. Proclaim to the world how much she loved her wonderful son - and her adorable daughter in law.

Nodoka looked down in her lap. Akane had dropped something in it. Biting her lip, she pulled it out and looked at it. Sized to her. A matching uniform.

"Come on mother, it's our dream! Come on, join our cheering team!"

Those words made so much sense to Nodoka, the more that she listened. In that moment she knew. Full well. That joining Akane's cheering team was the B-E-S-T thing that she could do.

====

Kasumi stepped back in shock. It was one thing to think this might be the case, it was quite something else to see it before her very eyes! There could be no doubt now, someone was hypnotising the people in her life and turning them into adorable, cute, fun loving cheerleaders.

She should turn and run. She should flee to her father and tell him what's happening. She should maybe even go to the Cat Cafe and ask for help there - but Kasumi found it impossible to look away. Nodoka was now waving around bright pink pom poms, and Kasumi couldn't look away from them. They were simply too cute. Too adorable. She almost wanted to pet them.

"It's too late, Kasumi!" Nodoka said. "You can't fight it anymore. You've seen your sister's routines."

Her sister's routines...?

"Tendo sisters love to cheer!"

Kasumi's knee shot up and she nearly tumbled over. Not from that, but from the bliss that followed. A deep breath shot out of her. What was that?

"Tendo sisters love to cheer!"

"N-No, you're - Ooooh," Kasumi wobbled, her hands starting to bounce around seemingly at random. This feeling in the pit of her stomach was growing and growing, moment to moment, and Nodoka looking absolutely radiant in the midst of her routine was very much not helping.

"You barely need anything to make you join the team now," Nodoka said.

"How sweet Kasumi
Tried to resist the urge to
Cheer her heart right out.

Radiant defeat
Her beauty brightly shines
In a short skirt"

Kasumi shook her head. Nodoka was right. Trying to fight this was pointless, wasn't it? Her body was already moving along, trying to mirror Nodoka. It felt amazing. No, not amazing. It felt beyond amazing. This dress was so... restrictive. She couldn't wear this. Kasumi practically tore her skirt off her body, and tossed it aside as if it had insulted her parentage. Freed from the lengthy covering fabric, she did a high kick right there, and - And she could swear that she felt the spirals forming in her eyes!

"Haaaa... Haaa... Haa.... I suppose I could t-try it O-U-T!" Kasumi said.

"Attagirl!" Nodoka smiled brightly. "I have a uniform for you, and a cheer we can practise!"

Not five minutes later, Kasumi's pretty face was grinning ear to ear as she ran through a standard cheering routine with Nodoka. The two of them happier than they had ever been. Nodoka ensnared by her adoration of her son, Kasumi by her love for her sisters. She kicked, she frolicked, she waved around her pom poms, and had never once in her life felt better than this.

"How do you feel now?" Nodoka asked. There was only one answer to give.

"One, two, three, four! I'm not worried anymore!" Kasumi tittered. Hrm... You know, if she was going to be a cute sexy cheerleader, she really should look into getting herself a cute B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D. Let's see, let's see, she did like older men... Perhaps that handsome Doctor would do nicely?"







Mariko's New Team - Ranko

In the middle of a dark forest lies an ominous mansion. Isolated, with few visitors, and when they do arrive it is because they are either lost or desperate for shelter. Those who live nearby know well enough by now to avoid this cursed place, for they know too well what lies within. They know that if they are lacking in caution they will risk suffering a terrible plague, a curse, a humiliation that will last a whole week.

The sole servant who resides within hears a knock on the door, on this particular night. He answers it, weary that another traveller will lack the due caution and wind up accidentally breaking the seal yet again. It happened recently. Twice to the same person! To have it happen again so soon would be quite embarrassing. As the weather is pleasant he intends to turn them away, if possible. Or at least not allow them entry.

But he finds nobody out there. Instead, he sees a coin lying on the ground. "Oho!" he says to himself. No sign of anyone. He chuckles to himself, remembering his youth, knocking on doors and running away. He shakes his head, youth doesn't really change with the times so much as it seems. Still! In their haste to depart they had dropped this shiny little coin on the ground outside his door. If he were as reasonable and rational as he liked to think himself, he might have figured out that this was yet another layer to the trap set to him.

At the instant he bent over to retrieve the coin, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck - then nothing at all, for at least an hour. A precision strike, designed to leave him unconscious for a time. But have no fear, dear reader. His belongings would not be taken. His person would not be harmed any further than it had been here. He would awaken, none the worse for wear, on a sofa in the mansion. Brief panic perhaps, but that would be a fleeting thing.

The attacker in question would have been quite familiar to him. A pretty young girl with her hair tied up in a distinctive pigtail, wearing a costume quite unlike her norm. A green outfit. Sleeveless and snug at the top, extending down her body until it flared into a tiny frilly skirt. Indeed, it was Ranma Saotome in girl form wearing the same cheerleader uniform she had used when fighting Mariko Konjo. Ranma leaned down to check on the caretaker. Found him to be out cold, but otherwise healthy, then rose to her feet smiling warmly as her ally approached from the shadows. Another beautiful girl, the same age as the first. This one, wearing a blue version of the same uniform, strutting out of the forest while twirling around a baton. Her eyes bore directly onto the feminine figure of Ranma, alternating knee lifts seemingly at random as she walked.

"Good work H-O-N-E-Y," Akane Tendo, for it was she, said to her gender swapped fiance. Ranma turned back to her, that cute face turned up her lips into a genuine smile at the praise. Ranma sighed in a way that none others would hear from those lips, genuine contentment and happiness. Almost like a lovestruck fool - In fact, if you were to look into Ranma's eyes you might well see hears reflected in her pupils as she stared at Akane. Smitten beyond reason. Lost in love, or perhaps in lust.

Upon reaching Ranma, Akane folded her baton and slid it into a concealed compartment at the back of her uniform, then linked arms with Ranma and let her head lie upon her shoulders. While Ranma was shorter than her in this form, male instincts were still driving her forward, and so her arm went around Akane's slender waist in a protective way, holding her close affectionately as the pair of them entered a building that Ranma had recently swore to never go inside of again.

The reason for that was found in the grand entrance hall to this mansion. A giant covering, a curtain at the very back, obviously hanging over something huge. To those who knew where to look there were obvious signs of religious scrolls and sigils sewn into the fabric. Nodding to one another in understanding, Ranma leaped up to the top of the curtain, used a hand and a foot to steady herself, then carefully pulled the seal away before hopping down to the ground below. In so doing, Ranma revealed what lay beyond that large seal, a large ornate mirror. Well suited for a mansion such as this.

Ranma and Akane are well aware of the background here, and so had no need to discuss it further. In brief - a young maiden who lived at this mansion was desperately lonely. She desired a boyfriend, and would spend hours staring into this mirror, lamenting their loneliness and talking about how much they craved companionship, especially of the male variety. As such, a most unusual effect fell upon this mirror, and it was pne that Ranma herself experienced not too long ago - those who look into it will encounter a mirror duplicate of themselves that is absolutely, ravenously horny, but also heteronormative. As such, copies of girls will flirt with any cute boy that falls in their line of sight, and any copy of a boy will flirt with any cute girl that they happen upon. As the seal over the mirror takes a week to replace when removed without due care - well, you can see why this is annoying for the owner of the mansion. The copy cannot be sent back in until the seal is replaced, otherwise they will simply come on out again.

Akane tilted Ranma's chin up, standing very close to her. Ranma smiled back, almost seeming giddy at the contact. Then, Akane leaned in close as if she was about to kiss Ranma on the lips, before instead whispering to her "Now, let's get you a brand new cute little sister."

"She won't be as cute as you," Ranma said. Completely lovestruck. Incurably so. Taking a deep breath, Ranma stepped up to the mirror and deliberately looked in. Her reflection, garbed in the same cheerleader uniform, stared back. Their blinking desynced, and then the reflection stepped forward with a great big smile on her face.

"Yahoo! Free again!" the reflection cheered. Appropriate given her attire. "I knew you couldn't keep away!"

Ah, yes. The mirror Ranma had discovered Ranma's curse early on, and like far too many martial arts girls in his life had fallen for him at first sight. Unlike him, she had no Jusenkyo curse to turn her into a boy - and so, she had incessantly flirted with him, to the point of trying to kidnap him back into the mirror. The matter seemed settled when boy form Ranma looked into the mirror as well, and the two of them hit it off disturbingly well, to the point that even Kasumi found their mutual sweetness... off putting, to say the least.

Nonetheless, here she was ready to try to hit on Ranma yet again. For the sake of brevity, from now on let us call her Ranko.

Ranko sauntered out of the mirror, and caught sight of Akane, now draped around Ranma. The two of them clinging onto one another tightly, securely, comfortably. Naturally this caused some jealousy to spike up, for the two of them made quite an adorable pair. As Ranko's base personality was, to some extent, based on Ranma's, she dealt with this envy to only way that Ranma knew how. Merciless teasing of the playground variety.

"Oh, it's the fat chick!" Ranko teased. Do note that Akane was actually quite slender for her height. Granted, her hips might be a bit wider than she'd like, and she had a decent amount of muscle packed away - but fat? By no means. "Are you here to interfere in our love?"

Akane, naturally, scoffed at that. She now understood full well what Ranma's true feelings were. Something like that could never faze her. Not now, not ever again. Regardless, she clung tighter to Ranma, who in turn squeezed her back affectionately. Not because they were afraid of losing one another. Simply because they both enjoyed the sensation of being in one another's arms.

"On the contrary," Akane said, kissing Ranma on the cheek. "I want to be F-R-I-E-N-D-S."

It was Ranko's turn to scoff, tapping herself on the side of the head. "Did she hit her head or something? Why did she spell that out?"

Ranma ignored the question, attention totally upon the girl she was clinging onto. In truth, what we are seeing here is like a dam bursting. Ranma and Akane had both been in such total denial about their feelings, for so long, that now there was an escape avenue for those feelings it was flooding out. The two of them could hardly keep their hands off one another. The only reason the two of them were not currently engaged in something a lot more intimate involving a lot less clothes is that, not too long ago, they had been indulging heavily in such activities. Even so. It was plain to see that at the first chance that either of them got after this matter was resolved, their clothes would not be on their bodies and the intimate, affectionate hugging they were doing so far would seem quite tame in comparison to the passion they would show one another.

Ask Akane now which form she preferred: Ranma's boy or girl form? Her answer would be, what's the real difference? They are both the same person. Both the same idiot that she fell head over heels for. the brave courageous adorable cocky little loudmouth, whose lips often cashed cheques his or her body couldn't handle. While there was a strong element of lust present in the air, it was the person underneath that Akane had grown attached to. That person had been the anchor which Mariko had used to ensnare her mind, awakening a deep obsession with cheerleading, and had in turn allowed her to easily seduce Ranma earlier on when she was fully in touch with her feelings.

"She's so cute," Ranma whined, suddenly diving her mouth into the nape of Akane's neck. Suckling on it hungrily as though she were a vampire having a midnight feast. Akane knew it would leave a mark, letting Ranma be so ravenous and sucking on her neck like that... but she no longer feared what others might think of their relationship. Now that she knew how Ranma really felt she had no reason to be. None whatsoever.

"As you can see, Ranma is all mine," Akane shuddered. Her hand stroked down Ranma's waist. "Maybe he always was."

"Akane is the cutest girl ever!" Ranma confidently proclaimed. A little over the top. But it got a giggle out of Akane.

"Maybe I went a bit overboard for our first time," Akane mused. She pulled back so she could properly look into her lover's eyes. Stare at that adorable face. "He's been like this for a while now. Longer than I'd thought he'd be..."

"F-First time?!" Ranko yelled. "With a fat chick like - "

In a fluid motion, Akane pulled the baton out from its concealed spot and whapped Ranko over the head with it.

"Anyway!" Akane chirped, forcing a smile without missing a beat. "I'm making you an offer. Join our cheerleading team, and you can have any man under your thumb."

"Except me!" Ranma immediately piped up, sticking her tongue out at the reflection. Making it clear that no other girl stood a chance of getting with her. Not anymore.

For Ranko, it was a moment of pained consideration. She looked down at herself. At her uniform. She looked over at the obviously loving couple standing in front of her, as their mutual attraction and everflowing affection spilled out, hands wandering, eyes fixed upon each other. Entranced by one another. Cast under the spell put in place by the other's presence. Enthralled, bewitched, and utterly, thoroughly seduced.

"Hrm.. If she can seduce him that easily..." Ranko crossed her arms and closed her eyes, thinking of all the things she'd tried to seduce Ranma's boy form to absolutely no avail. Even the vaunted naked apron had no apparent effect! "Then for a chick like me..." Comparing her own body to Akane's - to her mind there was no contest which had the better physique! "I'm in!"

"Glad to have you aboard..." Akane grinned. "Ranko Saotome! Now, why don't we teach you our special recruitment tactic...?" Which Akane was going to get around to shortly. After she had finished the extremely vitally important task of reminding herself of what Ranma's tonsils tasted like.