Veritas wasn't the kind of guy who would have unkind words to say about almost anyone. He'd tend to roll with what was going down, look for the best in people while recognising the bad was also there. Right now, though?
"Those goddamn overreacting arrogant prudes!" he mumbled to himself while rushing down the street. "They're making him a target already and they're not holding back the big guns!"
"Who is targeting him?" asked the girl being dragged along behind him. A busty young woman by the name of Aisa, a girl on the verge of becoming his first full convert in this city of soon-to-be perverts and devout followers. "Veritas, the way you're talking makes it sound like Touma is being targeted! Who is after him?"
"I'll explain in a bit!" Veritas promised. He looked around and part of him found it amusing. Aisa was rushing after him while wearing a mid-length skirt. Without even meaning to she may have brought a couple of lucky onlookers further onto his path of Eros. Oh! When things were a bit calmer he'd have to take a quick peek under there too. "For now we need to fetch something that you need to see anyway!"
There we go. At the very least they'd made it here without incident. His home, his place of residence, and his temple. Sure, it took him the better part of an hour to get here but that was more the fault of public transportation. Even a city with science as advanced as this hadn't figured out a decent way to solve that problem yet!
"It seems likely that the Catholic church has decided that Touma boy is an enemy to their faith." There. Away from security cameras, away from the general public and inside his personal residence, he could actually start filling Aisa in on what's going on around here. "I'm retrieving a few items that might help him out..."
"I see," Aisa said. "So you were serious about your religious faith after all? You are a magician of some kind, aren't you?"
This was good and also worrying at the same time. From what Veritas had heard the people here didn't believe in magic any more than the bulk of the population outside this city did. Parlour tricks. 'Sufficiently advanced science'. Not actual magic. He couldn’t help but wonder where Aisa had learned about magic, and if her knowledge was genuine or just of tricks and illusions. "Retired," he said. "I could get some trinkets working, but that's about the extent of it. If I became an Esper I'd almost certainly be much more powerful." He turned around and grabbed hold of her shoulders. "But hey, never mind that. Right now we've got to worry about that Touma guy. We don't have a whole lot of time and -"
... Huh. Funny, but he never imagined that she would suddenly up and kiss him like that. Got a good solid hold of his head and was trying to suck the breath right out of his lungs, that was a deep and clumsy smooch she had going on there.
"I... feel strange," Aisa admitted. "Ever since I entered this apartment, it's like my skin is crawling. What did you do to me?"
"Eh..." Veritas sighed, then shook his head to clear out the cobwebs. "I suppose that's not too unusual... I didn't do anything, but maybe the fact that this is my temple did?" he gestured to the room where he was keeping his segment of the Croce. "The power of Eros is at its strongest in this home. Therefore, you are more aware of your physical needs than you would normally be. If you want, you can wait outside while I retrieve the things I'll need."
Aisa stepped back. Blast it. Bringing her here was a mistake. Not only had he revealed the central point of his operations, but he might well have scared her off. She ran out of the front door, and without thinking he followed after. "Aisa, wait! It's not what it seems!"
"In my experience, when someone says that it is <i>exactly</i> as it seems."
Huh? Where did that voice come from?
"Fukiyose kick!"
Veritas wheeled around mid-step and brought his arms up just in the nick of time, catching the devastating kick between his crossed wrists. He still slid back a hell of a distance, and he was certain that there would be some serious bruising on his arms in a couple minutes. Or immediately. Son of a bitch that stung!
"Calling out your attack name," Veritas tutted. "That's a cliche I simply cannot stand."
"Well then, lucky you. I don't have attack names," said another voice. Behind him? Veritas whirled around, but nobody was there. "Chasing a fleeing girl out of your residence... My, my! How suspicious! You're even worse than the gorilla. You're a baboon!"
"It's a misunderstanding!" Veritas insisted. He turned around again - and came face to face with a judgement armband, which was attached to a girl who was cute, but really not his speed. She was in need of a lot more curves before he'd normally give her a second look.
"I'm with Judgement!" the redhead yelled, thrusting her armband forward. "A misunderstanding you say? Who would have thought?"
Judgement? This was the worst case scenario for him! That big breasted girl was one thing, but a part of the city's internal security was something else. He didn't have time for this anyway, Touma's assassin would be arriving in the city any moment.
"What's this? You're going to arrest me for going on a date?" Veritas shrugged. "Really now. That's a bit excessive don't you think? What do you think Aisa?"
"... I don't remember either of us asking the other to go on a date..." Aisa bluntly answered, hiding behind Fukiyose. Great. Some first convert she turned out to be! It felt like there was a phrase he probably should be saying right about now, but also that this phrase was already someone else's catchphrase.
"Oh come on..." he complained. "You have to at least play along in this sort of situation!"
"Play along?" little Miss Judgement said. "I've heard enough. We've got some questions for you about this mysterious cult you're apparently a part of. You're probably a spy trying to steal this city's secrets or something equally ludicrous!"
He really, really didn't have time for this. Veritas had to get going. He had to locate Touma and prevent whatever scheme the Catholic church was planning from coming to fruition. That was his priority right now over all other things. With that in mind there was only one thing he could reasonably do in this situation.
"I surrender!" he said, raising his hands into the air. "I'll come peacefully! I won't run or try to escape or fight back or anything!"
Cooperate totally and fully in every way that he could. Really, that's typically the best thing to do when you're dealing with an authority like this. If you run, they'll chase. If you fight and win, they'll call backup. Of all options this was the least troublesome by several magnitudes.
Besides which. He already had a plan to escape. And maybe while he was at it, he could subvert the very security system of the city itself to suit his own needs...?
<hr>
It just goes to show that righteousness and hard work will always prevail in the end over slovenliness and evil! That wicked cultist trying to brainwash Aisa had been caught by the proper authorities. Now that creep was sure to get his! What would it be? Imprisonment for life? A hundred lashes? Turning a crank underneath the city to provide a relatively miniscule amount of its overall power output? The thought made Fukiyose smirk triumphantly. Whatever it was, it was too good for him in her opinion!
"How are you feeling?" Fukiyose asked Aisa, who was still hiding behind her from the mean, creepy and properly perverted cultist. "Do you want an energy drink to perk you up?"
"Oh no, that will not be necessary," Aisa immediately answered. She stepped out from behind her and immediately pulled Fukiyose into a hug, resting her cheek on her shoulder. "Thank you for being my... friend."
"No problem," Fukiyose said. Huh. Weird. There was something a little off about this hug. It didn't really matter though. Who could say no to hugs? "So? What did he make you do? What did that wicked, evil man make you do?"
"I'm still here you know."
"Quiet, villain!" then, to Kuroko. "Shouldn't you take him down to the cells and clap him in irons?"
"Not yet," Kuroko said. "Unfortunately, we cannot leave the scene of the crime until it has been properly cordoned off."
"Well then, we might as well wait inside shouldn't we?" Veritas suggested. Aisa tensed up at this for some reason, but didn't say anything. "It looks a lot like it's going to rain..."
"And that's all the permission I need to do a warrantless search of the premises!" Kuroko beamed.
"W-wait, that's not what I meant by letting you in! This is like a bad cop movie!"
"Aha, too late!" Kuroko gestures to the security camera. "By now my colleague has already recorded you saying that. You can't take it back now."
Yes. The security cameras had been a big help actually. Thanks to them they had been able to eventually work out where Veritas had taken poor Aisa. Now, Fukiyose wasn't too keen on heading inside there with him. What if Aisa saw something that traumatised her in there?
Then again... If he doesn't want it searched there must be something inside that could be used to put him down for much, much longer! Brow set, forehead first, Aisa clutching onto her side, Fukiyose marched right inside the building -
And felt... something as she crossed the boundary. It was hard to put into words exactly what it was. A thrill went down her spine. In the moment she thought it was nothing more than the excitement of participating in a criminal investigation.
"In there," Aisa whispered. "I'd like to sit down for a moment."
That seemed like a perfectly reasonable request to Fukiyose. It was also perfectly reasonable that Aisa's hand had slipped down Fukiyose's back somewhat, and was lingering dangerously close to Fukiyose's butt. Which only seemed reasonable. The girl needed support, after all and what kind of class president would she be if she didn't support those in need? Not a class president at all! Even if Aisa had to squeeze her butt as though she was a groper on a train, Fukiyose would allow her body to be used as any kind of support in this time of need! Even if such thinking was quite abnormal for her, it didn't feel so currently.
Within the room was something pretty spectacular actually. It was quite difficult for Fukiyose to look at. Somehow it was almost like her gaze was always pushed away the moment she concentrated on that particular wall. There was a small desk with a silvery goblet on it. On the wall itself hung pictures, images of various people. Each picture showed a different situation involving them. A image of strange colours and bodies pushing against each other, a image of a woman putting on black flashy underwear. Another showed a group of women wearing short skirts and tops that revealed a lot of skin. Her eyes swerved from image to image, never quite able to stay at the same location. Somehow she knew they were 14 images, like that number was some perfect truth. And hanging just above the pictures was a cross, big but not giant, made of a silvery-white metal that she couldn’t identify. It was covered in strange signs and as she looked at it, the dark-haired girl felt strangely calm.
"I have a question," Aisa said all of a sudden. Fukiyose grunted in answer. "How long are you going to allow me to play with your breasts?"
"As long as you need..." Fukiyose dreamily answered. Then frowned. Strange. Some deeper instinct was rather insisting that Aisa was her superior in all things. That she should listen to Aisa. She should let Aisa do whatever she wanted, and follow any instructions given to her by Aisa. That was definitely not normal. Maybe she ought to try disobeying, just to see what happened?
"Sit down," Aisa instructed, and Fukiyose did so. Not because she had been told to. She was going to do that anyway. "You asked me what he did, right?" Fukiyose opened her mouth to speak up, but Aisa put her finger over Fukiyose's mouth. "That's alright, there's no need to speak yet." She was right. The question was obviously rhetorical. "If you want to understand what he did, you need to see it from my perspective."
From her perspective...? Ah, of course. It must be difficult to put into words. Then again, wouldn't going through it from her perspective risk subjecting her to whatever brainwashing techniques had resulted in Aisa wearing that sluttier, widely inappropriate version of a school uniform?
"Th-thanks but no," Fukiyose forced herself to say. She was sweating by the end of it. Denying Aisa was incredibly difficult! Of course, she had no way to understand why this was: Aisa was much, much further along the path of perversion than Fukiyose. They were currently sitting before the Croce di Eros, in the place where Eros had the most power of all. It was the same thing as trying to fight off three opponents at once, a feat that even the most skilled fighter will find a challenge. "You sit here and rest. I'll help Kuroko with her investigation."
"You're just a civilian though," Aisa observed, suddenly hugging onto Fukiyose from behind. "Wouldn't that taint the investigation? Wouldn't that put you at risk as well? You should sit here and relax with me. I know a little breathing exercise that should help."
Exercise. In that moment, Eros found its way into Fukiyose's stubborn brain. Exercise. Yes. She was kind of a fitness freak, wasn't she? The kind of girl who would give any fitness gimmick a try for even a little while, only to give it up a little later. Energy drinks. Gadgets that measured how much you'd walked. Gizmos that read your heart rate through the day. Yoga. Jogging. Biking. Tai-chi. You name it, she's tried it. <I>How could a breathing exercise be bad?</i> a voice whispered in her ear. A voice which had been there all day, poking and prodding and trying to find its way to get her to listen. Now, at last, it had its way.
Before she knew it she was sitting on the floor. Aisa had grabbed hold of her arms, and forced them onto the opposite shoulder. Her breasts were trapped, pinned in place by her arms. "Ehhh?" she gasped, sucking in air without meaning to. Her eyes fluttered as that same feeling from before coursed through her body. She tried to pull her hands away, but Aisa was holding them in place with a surprising amount of strength.
"There. You see? This isn't so bad is it?" Aisa asked with a smile that was probably intended as reassuring. "It's totally harmless. A simple breathing ritual. That is all it is."
Fukiyose stopped struggling. She hated to admit it but Aisa was completely correct. A dumb little breathing ritual. Totally harmless. Do you know she actually did kind of feel like relaxing now. She was worried Aisa was going to try to brainwash her, that she was only pretending to be free from that creepy cultist's influence. Turned out she had nothing to worry about.
"Is this what he made you do?" Fukiyose asked, taking a steady string of deep breaths one after the other. Aisa pulled her hands away. Fukiyose kept hers in place.
"That's right," Aisa smiled serenely. "He gave me some random sounding nonsense that was completely unscientific. He claimed that his religion was all about listening to the body's needs, but when you examined it you could plainly tell there was perverted intention underneath."
Aha! She was correct! Not that it made her drop her hands at all. It felt really nice like this. Her eyes were starting to get droopy too.
"In fact, do you know what he claimed?" Aisa said, leaning in really closely all of a sudden. "He said that that phrase Ego sum excitatur was a kind of magic spell." She shrugged. "But I just said it and nothing happened. So there you go."
"Magic spell?" Fukiyose repeated more than a little sleepily. "That's really dumb. As if magic exists."
"Well... We should be careful not to assume anything," Aisa said. "We learned in class about the scientific method. I've tested the phrase. Now you should try saying it to see what happens. Close your eyes and give it a try."
As a resident of Academy city and someone who had gone through the Esper program, Fukiyose could hardly see the harm in it. Magic didn't exist! Everyone knew that. Some stupid probably latin phrase was totally and completely harmless to say aloud. "Ego sum excitatur."
This time, her breathing in was deep and long and very squirmy.
"So? Did anything happen?" Aisa innocently asked.
"N-no!" Fukiyose vehemently denied. Red faced and still squirming around, with her hands still on her shoulders and her breasts still gently rising and falling. "Nothing happened. Magic is not real, so obviously nothing happened. Watch, I'll say it again! Ego sum excitatur."
This time she didn't squirm. She didn't take a deep sucking breath. This time Fukiyose simply fell over onto her back and wound up staring at the ceiling with a faint smile tugging at her lips.
"S-See?" Fukiyose grunted. "Nothing happened and - Where did your skirt go?"
"My skirt?" Aisa innocently asked. "Why, I took it off when we entered the house." Eh? What? "I didn't want to say anything, but it is rather rude that you are sitting there still wearing your skirt inside of another person's home."
"It's... rude...?" Fukiyose repeated. Her mind was a total mess by this point. She barely even registered the fact that her friend was wearing a thong. Once again her thoughts tried to rebel against this, but the proximity of the Croce combined with Aisa's superiority along the path of perversion made this more than just an uphill struggle. It made it an uphill slog that was damn nearly vertical. Especially now that she had invited the power of the cross inside of herself by performing this ritual. Now the voice was in her head, whispering to her <i>you don't want to be rude do you?</i>
"Stand up," Aisa said. The command was obeyed without question. "Keep on breathing in and out, regular rhythm. Keep on saying the phrase. I shall remove your skirt, and we won't speak any more of it." A slight smirk crossed her face. "Although, perhaps I should punish you for this mistake first? To make sure you don't do it again."
That was wrong, wasn't it? She was sure it was. Thinking was so... Difficult all of a sudden. It had been getting worse and worse since the moment she'd set foot inside this residence. She needed to calm down. She needed to relax. And taking a deep, deep breath was the best way to help her do that.
"Ego sum excitatur." A hand whipped down and struck her square in the middle of her right buttcheek, then lingered there for a few seconds sneaking a quick grope in the process. Fukiyose's tongue flopped out of her mouth.
"Mm... You have such a healthy figure, don't you?" Aisa remarked. "Such wonderful breasts. And that ass is quite sublime..." All Fukiyose could do was repeat the ritual. Inviting Eros into her heart and her soul and her mind a little more each time she did it. "It's such a shame... Somehow I can sense that when you're further away, you won't be quite so eager to play along. With a body like this you'd have no problems converting people to our cause."
"E-Ego sum excitatur!" another smack, quickly followed by a rather thorough grope.
"Don't worry. You'll get there in the end. Let's start by finding out what you find attractive in other people and move from there...?"
<hr>
For a city that was supposed to be built entirely on scientific principles, Academy City still felt completely and totally magical to Index. This adorable ravenous nun with the perfect recall still wondered and oohed and aahed at all the things she encountered regularly. Cleaning 'robots'. Things called 'vending machines'. It was beyond imagination! The things that science could do! Amazing, astounding and yet today she was after something else entirely!
"Excuse me?" she said to a random passerby. "Do you know where I could find emergency snacks?"
"Emergency... snacks?" the man repeated. He was staring at her as though her head had spontaneously transformed into a giraffe. Which was the kind of thing that should only happen if there were any misbehaving Egyptian Magicians running around. "I suppose there's a candy store around the corner..."
"They kicked me out for no good reason!" Index yelled. Honestly, it didn't make any sense to her at all! She had simply described what emergency candy was, and then a woman had screamed, covered her son's ears and then she was thrown out of the store!
"You were probably too sweet for them to handle... Ah, maybe try that mall over there? There's bound to be something."
"Thank you mister! May the lord be with thee."
With that, she skipped off on her merry way while wondering what a mall was. Maybe someone inside that big building could tell her? It did seem that there was a lot of foot traffic going in this direction. There must be something good in there - Oh no! Maybe they'd all recently heard about emergency snacks as well! All of a sudden her cutesy gait became a heady steamroller, and it was quite a sight for a petite nun to suddenly bowl people over while dashing at full pelt.
Lesson one. Do not get in between Index and yummies.
"Uwaaaaah! There's a lot of shops in here!" Index cooed. She looked around. Food shops! So many food shops! Oooh! Yes! So many places to drag Touma to, so much to try! But no! She had a mission and she should stick to it. She could torment Touma's wallet at a later date!
Elsewhere within that very same mall, Touma was gazing at his wallet in despair.
In the meantime Index was looking at the shops carefully while walking through the mall. That was the trouble. There were a lot of different kinds of shop. Some of them (for some reason that mystified her) didn't even sell food. There was a shoe shop over here, an electronics shop here, furniture there, books and sporting goods.
But no candy store! Bah! Index frowned. Her eyes began to well up with tears. All she wanted were some emergency snacks! What was so wrong with that? Why was this city full of wonders conspiring to keep these delights hidden from -
"Double Delights!" she suddenly gasped. There it was! Just across from her! Double Delights was one of the brand names used for emergency snacks! Index made an immediate beeline for the store, heedless of what the store actually was. "Yaaaay!"
Though it must be remarked upon that many in the mall did a double take at the sight of a young nun charging headlong into a sex shop with such infectious and adorable enthusiasm. That would be including the owner of the store, who stared at her in total and abject silence for a full minute. To him, it felt like a lost puppy had run into his store and was begging for treats. Though to be honest he wasn't all that far off.
"Where are they?" she asked, quickly looking over the store. "I know they're around here somewhere!"
Somehow it felt like he would be better off not knowing what she was talking about. It was kind of a surreal experience watching a nun innocently picking up and cooing over, for example, a dildo as big as her arm. Then rushing over to puzzle over the orgazmotron, which was a whole new sex toy that looked like someone fused together a giant rubix cube, a saddle and a blender.
"Uh, that isn't something for untrained folk!" he quickly yelled when she started trying to put it on her head. "Is - Is there something in particular you want?"
"Double Delights!" Index enthusiastically answered, punching the air. "I want some Double Delights!"
'Hi dear, how was work today?'
'Oh, it was the usual. A nun came into the store today and demanded edible underwear.'
'My how unusual. I hope she liked what she got. That man must be something special.'
To seduce a nun? He'd have to be... The shopkeeper shook his head to come back to reality, to the here and now, then saw that she was about to put the orgazmotron on her head again. "No, really! That is purely for people who are trained to handle it!"
"Eh? What sort of job needs this sort of thing?" Index asked. All innocence and sunshine.
Job, she says? Maybe it would be better to ignore that question and get down to business. 'Mother told me to become a doctor, but I had to go my own way. I had to prove to her that this was a perfectly acceptable business in the modern world... '
"A-Anyway, we don't actually have any Double Delights in stock right now..." Suddenly the nun was towering over him. Her teeth reminded the shopkeeper of a shark's gaping maw. Rows and rows of deadly sharp teeth, and a hunger that cannot be sated. "H-However, we do have a brand that sells something quite similar! It's an experimental batch that is intended to improve the experience."
"How much?"
They're not actually on sale yet..."
"How much!" the nun repeated. This time brandishing a fistful of cash.
Oh, but medical school was seeming like such a wonderful idea right about now. He could've gone alongside his good buddy, that frog faced guy who went out of his way to help people... What was he up to these days?
"W-Well, I strictly speaking am not allowed to sell them quite yet," the shopkeeper said. Rows of teeth! Endless rows of teeth! "The experimental stage isn't finished yet..." The teeth didn't end. There was no final set. They stretched on into the horizon, and maybe went further than that! "I can... Let you... Sign onto the experiment though, if you want?"
"Eh... Sign onto the experiment?" Index asked. "What does that mean?"
"It means that I would pay you to try them out! Of course, you'd have to sign a waver. And there's no telling what might happen to you or your partner..."
"Sign me up!"
"Seriously, your partner might turn into a giraffe for all we know!"
"Don't worry! I'll keep an eye open for any Egyptians!"
What? Must be a nun thing... Now he really was sweating! He'd somehow managed to persuade a nun to sign on to an experimental sex toy tryout! "Y-You'll also have to try out the other prototypes. Salves, lubricants..." he gulped. "The orgazmotron 2.0."
"Ehhhhh?" the nun sighed. "I thought that thing could only be used by professionals?"
"W-Well... If we paid you to use it, then that would make you a professional. Right?"
Flimsy logic. The flimsiest. He was going to hell. He didn't even believe in hell, but he was still going there anyway. All he could do at this stage was to accept his fate and put the paperwork in front of the bright eyed innocent nun.
'Then I persuaded her to sign up for the experimental group. You know, the one where I genuinely worried it might turn one or two of them into sex addicts?'
"Don't worry mister! I will test them thoroughly! I will test them in a lot of different places! As many as I can think of!"
'I want a divorce.'
'Already got the papers.'
And so we see that Index is a master of tormenting through her cuteness and innocence. It's not just Touma who has to suffer misfortune. He was just the first one that trademarked the catchphrase.
- Back to the Sisters as they explore these strange sensations.
- Kuroko searches Veritas' apartment, and discovers a small piece of the croce in a drawer.
- Hyouka manifests in the city and notices something is wrong right away.
- Vento begins her assault! Notices that the people here are a touch pervier than she would expect.
- Something else
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