Chapter 36 – Post Date
A lot has happened... I am jobless, moved house, lost a lot of money on the stock market (pre-tariff), lost a very close grand Aunt who was like a grandmother, basically, life.
I've had several questions about starting a Patreon. I'll answer them here in case some people missed it. While I like money, particularly in my current situation, I won't be starting one for MGBT2 for two reasons.Firstly, MGBT2 is not my story, and I had not received express permission from the author, so I'm reluctant to earn money off it.Secondly, as you know from my release schedule, it has not been the smoothest to say it nicely. It would be disingenuous to take money when I’m not pumping chapters out regularly.On that note, my original story will be coming out on my SFW account. If you wish to support me, you may support me there when I create a proper schedule for that story.
After parting with Yui, Keiko, with a skip in her step, transformed into Magical Girl Eisst and took off in the direction of the distress call. Soon reaching the area, where instead of a battle, she found Feeu glaring at a closing teleportation gate.
“Feeu-chan, where’s the enemy?” Despite the apparent lack of danger, Keiko had her katana ready, just in case.
She received nothing but silence from her friend. Concerned, she glanced back at her friend, who seemed intent on glaring a hole through the pea-size teleportation gate while her witch date was nowhere to be seen.
“Feeu-chan, where’s Lust-san?”
Her innocent question hardened Feeu’s already severe expression, and if Eisst looked closer, she would notice Feeu’s armoured gauntlets balled up more than ready to smash something.
The gate closed, fizzling away into the ether. Feeu lingered for some time more, silent as a grave, before departing at full speed, leaving behind a single word reply.
“Gone.”
---
On the other side of the teleportation gate, a similarly different scene played out.
Deposited from the gate, into the sitting room of her mansion, Lust stood unmoving, her back turned to the closing gate. Memories of her first ever date flicker though her tumultuous mind. Shopping time, playing arcade, dinner.
She felt it, Feeu’s heavy gaze piercing through the space, the two remained locked in position like statues. One gazing and one being gazed upon as the gate shrank from human-size down to a pinhole.
Perhaps it was inevitable, this would happen sooner or later. A witch and a magical girl, destined enemies, could never be together, common sense really. The gate shutting place a seal of finality upon their fragile connection, severing whatever sentiments linking the two.
A flash of purple light, her witch avatar dematerialised and human Yui stepped out, a deep frown etched upon her face. Alone with only her thoughts as company, something dark and filthy like the blackest sludge boiling from her deepest depths, something she never wanted others to know. As seconds ticked by, her frown morphed, twisted into something terrifying.
Right at that moment, Miyu burst in, battle ready, brandishing her scythe. “Onee-chan, who do I need to kill?”
Watching amused as Miyu, that little bloodhound, scoured the room from top to bottom, searching for enemies for her big sister. Brought mirth upon her lips… or it should have. The writhing ick bubbling within her was not so easily unclogged. Though it did quieten down a smidge, when Miyu came padding up to her after she was certain there were no enemies around.
For a job well done, Yui reached out to pet Miyu’s head but Miyu had ideas. Miyu snatched her hand out of the air, flipping her palm skyward, to reveal deep fingernail incisions.
“Did you know, Onee-chan, recently, I’ve been able to sense when people are angry,” Miyu stated matter-of-factly, eyes locked on the trail of blood as it dripped off her wrist. Miyu leaned over and started lapping off the blood. Between licks, Miyu looked up, cherry lips stained crimson as if with Chanel lipstick, and said, “Right now, I can feel Onee-chan is very very angry.”
Not even wincing as Miyu dragged her tongue over the cuts, Yui said, “Thank you for worrying, but I’m not angry.”
“If Onee-chan is not angry, why do you have such a scary expression?”
“I don’t have a scary—Peering into a nearby mirror told a different story—Huh? I’m smiling?” She touched the corner of her curled lip, it stretched beyond her usual joyful smile, twisting it into crazed territory. Her tumultuous reflected eyes beheld a whirlpool of emotions fuelled by her wrath and darker desires.
Only after Miyu brought her attention to her wrath did Yui truly begin to register the smouldering darkness rising from the deep depths of her soul to cloud her mind. There was rage, yes, anger for being wronged, but more importantly, wrath for being rejected. She was naturally angry towards Hate for ruining her date, but Hate was not the culprit for her intense emotions.
She had been rejected before; that was nothing new, but never so totally, on such a fundamental level. Feeu’s fundamental rejection of her dragged the desires she sealed in her deepest depths out, her desire to completely dominate the Magical Girl, to make her hers, and break her beyond repair. Only I can break her. Only I can break her. Only I can break her. She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s mine...
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“I’ve brought Double back. I’m getting payment next time you make me be your chauffeur—” Vili’s complaint cut short when she felt the weird atmosphere of the room.
Once Yui identified her feelings, she could begin to work out a direction she would take with Feeu. This allowed her to rein in her worst impulses, like capping over a volcano. Yui thanked the one who allowed her to understand herself with a peck on her forehead.
In response, Miyu dived into her arms for a snuggle. “Are you feeling better, Onee-chan?”
“A little. I’m still sorting out my thoughts, but I don’t know what I’ll do without you.” Yui rubbed their cheeks together.
“Seems like something happened.” Vili, indifferent to interrupting the affectionate display, jumped onto the coffee table and summoned some tangerines.
“Something indeed happened.” Putting aside Feeu for now, Yui described her aggravating encounter with Hate.
“It’s suspicious, isn’t it? You sent Sebastian specifically because your friend had passed you the information. Why did Hate deliver the same message again?” Yui wanted to pace, but Miyu refused to give up her snuggle, eventually she relented, allowing Miyu to cling to her like a koala as she paced the sitting room.
“Mmm…” Vili peeled her tasty treat.
“We weren’t exactly hiding, parading around town in our Witch and Magical Girl outfits.” Yui vocalised her thoughts. “It would’ve made us easy targets if she wanted to attack, but she didn’t.”
“Mmm…” A particularly juicy sweet segment of tangerine sent delightful shivers down to the tips of her tail.
“Was it because I was with Feeu-chan? Hate’s appearance ended my fun date… Did she want to spoil my relationship with Feeu-chan, ‘cause she succeeded.”
“Mmm—Hey!” Vili was enjoying tangerines when Yui swiped them off the table.
Bouncing her loot in her hand, Lust asked, “So… what do you think?”
“It’s a valid guess but Feid Aur is one of the trickiest Etativi to deal with, so I can’t say for certain. Now, return my tangerine!” Vili’s magic hand made a bid to snatch it but missed.
“That’s saying nothing.”
“…”
“Mi-chan, Ah~” “Ahh~”
“WAIT!” Vili’s cry stopped her feeding her favourite witch… for now. “I already said Aur is super tricky. But one thing I’m sure of is that Hate did not act independently; this stinks too much of Aur. As for why she did it. My best guess is to test you, you and your bond with those Magical Girls. How you react, how would those Magical Girls react when they find you consorting with a hostile Witch? Don’t forget, you rejected her proposal of teaming up for those Magical Girls. She’ll want to see why, and ruining it in the process would be a side boon.”
Yui tossed the tangerine back. Catching it, Vili quickly stuffed it into her mouth doing her best imitation of a hamster. In return, Vili tail-tossed Yui a document. Yui settled onto the sofa with her koala Miyu on her lap; together, they began to read.
It contained Gam’s current situation as well as the potential location of his lab. According to Aur, Gam was currently secreted away. conducting some unknown research under the King’s supervision. So unless they were daring enough to break into the headquarters of the Etativi, their best bet lay in investigating the lab. They might gain something that would aid their goal there.
It went on to further explain details of the lab, which were not much. Located in an out-of-the-way Japanese abandoned village that Yui had never heard of. A barrier covered the entire area, preventing spying attempts. The other important fact was that Gam had not been there for the last 2 months.
“Another test or a trap?” Yui frowned.
“Mou mink (You think)?” Vili’s stuffed response made Yui click her tongue in annoyance. “M’lax, he immo mis memit, he mmony musmon mis mmat sel moo. (Relax, the info is legit, the only question is what she’ll do)”
“What she’ll do…” Yui drummed her fingers on her hugpillow-Miyu as she pondered. “What’s the chance she’ll inform Gam or some other Etativi?”
“Mero… Gulp… Though indirectly orchestrating a witch or Etativi to ‘coincidentally’ come across us when we’re investigating is a possibility.” Vili postulated. “If that happens, it’ll be at most one witch or Etativi, she knows better than to mess around too much when I called in the favour.”
Yui’s frown deepened, there were simply too many ways for Aur to screw them over. It vexed her beyond measure that they had to dance to Aur’s tune; worst of all, she saw no opportunity of seizing the initiative anytime soon.
“Your favour only got us an abandoned lab that might have already been scrubbed clean of anything valuable… Forgive me for sounding ungrateful, but I was expecting something a little more substantial.”
“What can you do? Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Restraining her frustration, Yui formulated a basic plan of action. “We’ll have some demons monitor the village, 24/7. If nothing unusual happens after three days, I’ll take a couple of demons to investigate. Mi-chan, you’ll wait outside as reinforcement like last ti—Mi-chan!?“
Miyu, who all this time was sitting quietly on her lap, suddenly bit her breast.
“Mi-chan, what’s wrong?”
Miyu shook her head, her teeth digging into Yui’s skin. “Mogether.”
“No way! For all we know, he could have something that would trigger your Incarnate.” Yui looked to Vili for backup.
Vili, for all her disinterest, added, “Gam may be a spineless coward. But his research and creative skills are undeniable. He is a researcher for the False King for a reason. And any researcher worth their salt would have a fail-safe for their research, particularly one as dangerous as incarnates. The only question is if it'll work.”
“We don’t know what’s there. There could also be something that endangers Onee-chan.” Miyu countered as tears pooled in the corner of her eyes. “I just want to go with Onee-chan… I levelled up, I got stronger but it doesn’t feel like it. I don’t want to be useless again… I want to protect Onee-chan.”
Yui sighed, cupping Miyu’s cheeks to look her eye to eye, and explained. “I can enter without fear because I trust Mi-chan to save me if things go wrong. Mi-chan’s power-up is still a secret, a blessing in disguise when you didn’t show yourself in the meeting with Aur and Hate, and I hope to keep it that way for as long as we can. You’re our secret trump card, Mi-chan. Not only against Gam but also Aur. I want you to be outside because I know Mi-chan can rescue me if Aur tries something funny or if trouble happens when I’m inside.”
Miyu looked unconvinced, forcing Vili to add. “After the encounter with Aur blocking our communications, I’ve devised a new magic communication that should work. I’ll be keeping in touch with Yui as she explores. Agreeable?”
“… Mmm…” Miyu finally compromised and began licking her bite as if to apologise for hurting Yui. Yui giggled at the soft tickling sensation from Miyu’s puppy-like licking.
“Let’s go bathe, I’ve had a long day.” Yui carried Miyu to their bath as they were leaving Vili reminded her.
“Don’t forget about the witch in your basement. Her treatment’s almost done. You better have figure out a way to deal with her powers when she regains consciousness soon.”
-
The very next day, after school, Yui received word from her demons on surveillance. She finally understood how Aur planned on testing her, and she did not like it one bit.
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