Story: Ran Alter Ego

 

Shinobu stared at the mirror. The image staring back wasn't the "ordinary girl" she had spent years cultivating. Instead, a pink-haired, horned alien in a tiger-striped bikini floated three feet off the ground. The wig felt unnervingly natural, as if it were rooting itself into her scalp. The fabric of the bikini clung to her skin with a warmth that didn't feel like cloth, but like a second skin-a biological membrane that hummed with a faint, rhythmic pulse.

"I look ridiculous," Shinobu whispered. Her voice sounded different, breathier, echoing with a slight melodic lilt that wasn't her own.

"You look gorgeous!" Lum chirped. She circled Shinobu, her own boots clicking softly against the air. "The colors really bring out the frustration in your eyes. It's a very chic look for a displaced Earth girl."

Shinobu tried to cross her arms, but the floating sensation made her drift sideways. She flailed, her limbs moving through the air like she was underwater. A spark of electricity snapped from her elbow, popping a nearby lamp.

"Whoa! You're a natural!" Lum laughed. "Most people take weeks to calibrate their discharge. You're just leaking sparks everywhere. It's adorable."

"Stop calling me adorable. Just tell me the second thing. I want my strength back."

Lum landed softly, her expression shifting from playful to something more predatory, though still draped in a smile. She stepped closer, the scent of ozone and something sweet, like ripened mangoes, filling Shinobu's nostrils.

<i>Do it, Lum. Push her. Make her forget she's even human</i>, a voice whispered in the back of Lum's mind.

Lum blinked. Ran was there, lurking in the subconscious periphery. The alter ego wasn't asleep. She was awake and she was watching, a voyeur in their own mind, urging Lum to turn this into a game of psychological collapse. Ran loved everything about it, especially the moment where a person's identity fractured under the weight of desire and confusion.

"The second thing is simple," Lum said, her voice dropping an octave. She reached out, her fingers grazing the exposed skin of Shinobu's waist. "Ran says you're in denial. She says you loved every second of that kiss in the theater. And since you're wearing my clothes, playing my part... I think it's only fair you act the part."

Shinobu stiffened, her breath hitching. "Act what part?"

"The part of the girl who can't resist a little alien affection," Lum murmured.

She pulled Shinobu closer. The floating sensation intensified, drawing them together in a slow, gravitational orbit. Shinobu's heart hammered against her ribs-not with fear, but with a terrifying, electric anticipation. The costume seemed to react to her arousal, the fabric tightening, the horns on her head buzzing with a low-frequency vibration that rattled her teeth.

"I... I'm not... I'm an ordinary girl," Shinobu gasped, though she didn't pull away.

"Ordinary girls don't float, Shinobu. Ordinary girls don't shoot lightning from their fingers." Lum's lips were inches from hers. "And ordinary girls certainly don't feel this kind of heat just from a look."

<i>Tear her down,</i> Ran hissed internally. <i>Make her crave alien pussy. Make her wish she never had to be 'ordinary' again.</i>

Lum leaned in. The kiss wasn't the sudden, predatory strike Ran had delivered in the theater. This was a slow burn. It started as a graze, a tentative exploration of lips that were trembling. Shinobu let out a soft, broken moan, her hands finding purchase in the fabric of Lum's bikini. 

As the kiss deepened, the electricity between them synchronized. Blue and pink sparks danced across their skin, creating a miniature storm in the center of Ataru's room. The air grew heavy, ionized and thick. Shinobu felt her consciousness slipping, the boundary between her own identity and the persona of "Lum" blurring. For a moment, she wasn't Shinobu Miyake; she was a creature of light and lightning, unbound by the suffocating expectations of Tomobiki's social hierarchy.

She pushed Lum back onto the bed, her newfound "Oni" instincts taking over. The floating slowed, the two of them sinking into the mattress in a tangle of tiger-stripes and pink hair. 

"Wait," Shinobu murmured against Lum's neck, her voice hazy. "This feels... different. When that other girl kissed me... the one who looked like you... it felt like someone was stealing something. But this... this feels like I'm giving something away."

Lum froze. The "Alter Ego" conceit was the only thing that kept their world spinning. If Shinobu realized that Lum and Ran were two sides of the same coin - one the mask, one the monster - the game would end. The mystery was the hook.

<i>Quick! Distract her!</i> Ran shouted in the mental void. <i>Anything will do!</i>

Lum shifted her weight, pinning Shinobu's wrists to the pillows. 

<i>Gonna be honest, was expecting you to do something stupid!</i> Ran replied. <i>Nice work, now finish her off!</i>

Shinobu didn't answer with words. She arched her back, pulling Lum down into another kiss that tasted of static and desperation. The room echoed with the sound of short-circuiting electronics as the bedside lamp finally exploded, plunging them into a dim, neon-lit haze.

Whatever resistance Shinobu had simply melted away under the ministrations of the girl on top of her.

For the next hour, the "ordinary" girl disappeared. Shinobu surrendered to the tactile overload of the alien costume and the overwhelming presence of the girl wearing it. Every touch felt magnified, every spark of electricity a jolt of pure adrenaline. She found herself laughing, a wild, liberated sound, as she played with the powers the bikini granted her, accidentally welding a nearby chair to the floor, even as Lum kissed and sucked at her neck.

Eventually, they lay spent and panting, draped across each other in the wreckage of the room.

"I hate you," Shinobu whispered, though she was cuddling closer to Lum's warmth.

"I know," Lum replied, stroking the multicolored wig on Shinobu's head. "It's the most honest thing you've said all day."

=====

Ataru Moroboshi was lost in the desert. This was not, by any means, the first time such a thing had happened to him. No, really, the boy is just that unlucky. This particular incident had occurred when he was twelve, well before Lum appeared in his life, and in all honesty? You would think that a person who had been subjected to such an absurd series of misfortunes would eventually learn to take precautions. Perhaps he might have studied a map or two, learned a little about survival, or at the very least made a habit of carrying a compass.

But this was Ataru Moroboshi we were talking about, so naturally, he had done none of those things. Instead?

"Hello there, pretty ladies~!" he called out cheerfully, upon spotting a group of women travelling through the desert. "How are you today? I'm a little lost, and I was wondering if you lovely girls might be willing to help a poor, unfortunate boy like me~?"

One of the women tilted her head. "Eh? Japanese?"

He was elated to hear his own language spoken by such a pretty woman! "That's right! Ataru Moroboshi, at your service! And may I say, what a pleasure it is to encounter such beautiful women in such a desolate place! Perhaps fate has brought us together, hmm? Heh heh heh..."

"That's very nice," the woman replied, with a politeness that suggested she had encountered strange men before. "But how exactly did you get lost?"

"Well, you see, I was just minding my own business when, all of a sudden, I was teleported here from out of nowhere! Can you believe it? One moment I'm somewhere else, and the next, I'm in the middle of this awful desert! Terrible, isn't it? And now I'm all alone, without a single person to comfort me..."

"That is peculiar," she admitted. "But that's not what I meant. How did you get lost? Cairo is right over there."

Ataru blinked. "...Eh?" He turned around. And there it was. A great big city. Just sitting there. Right beside the pyramids. Ataru stared at it in total disbelief, wondering how exactly he'd managed to miss such a big, bustling centre of human activity. Actually, now that he was looking at it, he could also hear it as well.

"...Ahahahaha! Of course! Of course I knew that!" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking into a nervous laugh. "I was just, you know, checking to see if you were paying attention! A little test of your powers of observation! You passed with flying colours, miss! Ahahahaha!"

The woman gave him a look that suggested she was reconsidering whether the desert was really the most dangerous place she could be.

"Well, good luck getting there," she said, before continuing on her way.

"Wait! Wait a minute! You can't just leave me here! What about showing me around the city? Surely a beautiful woman like yourself wouldn't mind keeping a poor boy company! Hey! Come back!"

But the woman was already walking away. And so Ataru Moroboshi, who had somehow managed to become lost within sight of one of the largest cities in Egypt, was left with a choice.

He could walk towards Cairo. Or he could chase after the women. Now, I wonder which one he chose?.