Now that bit of excitement was over, it was time for the boring part of today. Standing in line. Waiting to meet the mysterious Miss D so she could get this book signed. Honestly now, why had she agreed to this? Worse than being at work. At least if she was working she'd be getting paid.
Well, whatever. This gave her a chance to think about that whole magical hero thing she'd been pulled into. Thinking about it, that was likely going to be a big distraction for her, wasn't it? Just as she thought she might make some headway on the dating scene, all of a sudden she has to go and save the world. It's not that she was resentful of the opportunity to do some genuine good out there, but... She did want to get herself a nice boyfriend, you know? Real marriage material.
There were a couple of cute guys lurking around the store today. Likely helpers, or assistants, or security for Miss D. She knew full well how some fans could get. I mean, why was she here again? Because a fan she knew wanted three signatures on different books and they were giving one per customer. Urgh, honestly now. If the Evening Empire or whatever figured out that you could drain energy from fans without trying, they'd have probably won already. Hell, some of those fans would likely defend them even if evidence came out that they were wanting to conquer the planet and enslave all mankind. She could see it now.
'Oh, don't misrepresent them. They only want to enslave antis!'
'People should give them a chance. Maybe we'll like having them step their military boots on the back of our necks forever and ever? Did you lameos ever think of that?'
'Lol, look at all the sheeple who buy into this garbage. They say they like freedom, but what about my freedom to be a dipshit?'
And so on, and so on. Yumiko made herself not think of that anymore, it actually started to depress her a little. Anyway. The line was moving at a decent enough pace, almost as if they were trying to get as many people signed as possible -
Although... she did feel a bit weird just then? Sort of like something passed over her. It was a sensation not entirely unlike being licked by a bear, and then the bear made a face as though you tasted bitter and moved on to lick the next person over. Indeed, looking ahead Yumiko got the feeling they all looked a bit... tired? Would that be the right way to describe it? Not quite as excited as they should be, all things considered.
"Hey, by the way, how are you feeling right now?" Hitohi asked out of nowhere. How to answer that question. It wasn't a feeling she could really put into words very easily. It was sort of like... She wanted to leave the line. Right now. Find a quiet spot. Transform. Right now. It was nibbling away at the back of her head, but that wasn't something she could just say out loud to anyone.
"I'm fine," she lied, "Maybe didn't get enough sleep last night."
"There are a few people ahead of us who didn't get enough sleep last night..." Hitohi noted. Which was true. Was there something to that? Ugh, she couldn't tell. "Um, do you... mind holding my place in line for a bit? I gotta go check on... something... real quick."
Hitohi didn't even wait for an answer before rushing off. Okay. Fine. Whatever. She'd hold her place in the queue. It wasn't like anything else was going -
"Hold it right there!"
... You've got to be kidding. A girl in a familiar uniform just jumped in out of nowhere, standing on top of some of the bookcases looking out over the crowd. We can see your underwear from down here - Gosh, how embarrassing! She surveyed the crowd, seeming to stop on Yumiko for a moment, briefly nodding before continuing.
"Eternal Night Empire! I have discovered your sinister ploy! You will not drain these people today!"
That's what that was? An attempt to drain her energy? Well, that changed the complexion on things quite a bit, didn't it now? Hell! She had to do what her instincts were telling her to do, get the heck out of here and transform, stat!
... That being said, the reaction from the audience wasn't exactly what she'd hope it would be.
"Uwah, look at that cutie!"
"Is this part of the show? I don't remember a character like that being in the book."
"Maybe it's an advertisement for a sequel!"
"Or, it's a chunni trying to hog the spotlight for herself."
Oh lord, this was in line with what she'd just been thinking about. She knew this was genuine, but telling them that would give the game away. How the hell was she gonna get away without raising suspicion?
"Miss Yumiko, I- uh, I need to go take some pictures of that girl," Akari whispered. "Be right back!"
"Alright, you run off too!" Yumiko waved, planning to scarper herself the instant she was out of sight. Phew, that was lucky! Now she had the perfect chance to change into her other form. Wait for it, wait for it, three two one... "Hey, buddy, have you seen the bathroom?" Yumiko whispered, while in front of her, the audience began to clap as a lightshow began. "I- I, uh, really gotta get going. Now!"
<hr>
Of course. Of fucking course. No sooner had they started but one of those do-gooders had showed up out of nowhere trying to ruin everything. Luckily the general public were extremely dumb, and they thought it was all a part of the show. Or something asinine like that.
Well! Luckily for Dionne, she had already figured something like this would happen. That's the difference between her and her ditzy, half witted subordinates/peers. Oh dark lord help us those airheads were technically her peers. A-Anyway, the point was that she had already figured something like this might happen. To that end, those runes placed around the bookshop didn't <i>just</i> drain energy. With a quick nod to one of her subordinates, concealed among the regular people, he snapped his fingers and -
"Yipe! Woah! Where is this coming from?"
'This' being a series of energy blasts. Now, you might think that was a waste of energy. You might think it would defeat the point. Far from it. Those attacks that missed? Reabsorbed, repurposed - and then refired!
But! That's not even the best part! Turning her attention to the audience, Dionne quickly made a few suggestions.
"Cool light show they're putting on!" she whispered to the nearest ordinary human. "Really cool, don'tcha think! Come on, let's cheer her on!"
Hehehe! It didn't take much. It didn't take long! Her subordinates all got the idea right away. "Go hero! Go!" began to echo throughout the room. Then, just to rub some salt into the wounds, one of her goons jumped out in a cheap fake rubber monster suit and bared his fangs. Hah! This was going swimmingly! She really had thought through all the angles, hadn't she.
"Rawr! Ahem, rawr!" her goon called out. "I will eat all these tasty humans here and - " He stopped to look at the notes she had passed him. Normally that would annoy her, but this played into the show aspect as well! If she hadn't been convinced that was incompetence, she would give him a raise for that kind of thinking. "And savour every morsel! Stop me, hero, if you can! Rawr!"
This was perfect! Perfect! Absolutely perfect! The more the people cheered their hero on, the more energy she could drain from them! And the more energy she could drain from them, the more of those infinite energy attacks she could summon! Feel the frustration, you short skirt wearing idiotic do-gooder! Interfere in their business, would you? Let's see how you fare dodging all those energy blasts!
No comments:
Post a Comment