Chapter 102: Branch 15: Hitomi

"Am I wrong?  Again?"

The japanese senior high school girl wants to scream.  But she can't.  Lost a lot of blood and is fighting just to stay conscious.  So confused.  How could she be wrong again?

Had already sent another update telling Kojiro that there was more than one tourinese hero.  Must look like a fool to him.  Like a stupid little girl.

The hero has a body double, no a puppet, no there's two.  Maki and Umeka are probably laughing.  Is, Kojiro laughing?  No, he would never do that.  Would he?

Why did she save Milti?  Why did that jock trying to grab the wheelchair make her so mad?  Its not like they're real.  They can't be.  If they are, then that means everything she's been doing to them was to real... people?

The weight of how she's been playing this game, for months, comes crawling from the back of her mind again.  The killing.  The torturing.  The violence.  The sex.  If all those were real people then...  Then that means...  She's...

"[House of Grannus]"

Its okay.  It is?  Yes.  Its going to be alright.  I've done terrible things but, I had too.  It will get better.  I will get better.

Is this?  [Slavery Magic]?  No.  There's no control just, support?  Encouragement?  Its like [Charm Magic] but also, not.  The magic.  The mana.  Has a familiar smell.  Familiar taste.

Cigarettes.

Magic nicotine?

"I miss Seven Stars."

Thief hero had started smoking after Umeka and Maki began throwing themselves at her Kojiro.  The nicotine really helped her deal with the stress.  But there was no way she could admit it.

All the sprays to cover the smell.  Hiding cigarette butts.  Sneaking smoke breaks.

Kojiro didn't like the smell of cigarettes.  Thought they were dirty.  Poison.  If he knew she had started smoking?  It might give Maki or  Umeka the lead.

Shinobi girl tried the nicotine gum but it just didn't feel as good as smoking a cigarette.  Something about smoking was just, right, to her.  Okasan had been a terribly heavy smoker.  Ugh.  Otosan and those damn cigars.

Smoking's probably in her genes.

A thousand miles to find a mountain of a man.  A monster.  And maybe finally see another real person in this stupid game.  Instead?  She finds an average looking NPC.  A double.  A puppet.

Acting like everyone around him, is real.  That's what NPC's do.  Then, that guitar.  That music.  No native would do that.  No native should know that.  No reason too.

So, he's real.  There's more than one.  But now?  There's only one again?  This is the Beast?  Must be.  The power.  She could feel it when he healed her.  That last spell?  Could smell the burning mana.  For just one spell.

He's really been hiding it this whole time.

And his healing?  Umeka couldn't do anything like that.  At least the ninja girl didn't think she could.  Probably wouldn't even if she could.  Umeka hates the NPC's.

Hitomi had never been this far away from Kojiro before.  Nor for this long.  Weeks getting here.  Only to find a, what, otome mini-game?  High school simulator?  Had even met the BFF character, Miltinnia.

She was sure Kojiro would love it here.  A new life in a magic school, far away from demons and dirty old men.  Of course he would be the school star.

Maki had warned her plenty of times.  The longer she was away?  The more real everything around her would seem.  Begin thinking this world was really real.  Start dancing with wolves.

But Milti really seemed real.  She had gone thru so much but somehow was still so friendly.  So open.  Everyone liked her.  There was something, not intimate, but familial about her.  Like a long lost sister.  They had bonded.

Had never learned that much about an NPC before.  Their lives seemed so, complete.  So, real.

And then she met Juri.  That same instant attraction.  But Juri wasn't even alive.  Not a zombie.  Not a ghost.  Something, in between.

Her daydreams had changed since coming here.  It wasn't Kojiro and Hitomi going to school here with Maki and Umeka anymore.  It was Kojiro and Hitomi going to school here with Milti and Juri.

They would never fight her for Kojiro.  They like that boy.  No, that man.  That average man.  The man who played for her.  The man who healed her.  The man who fought for her.  The man who, rescued her.

"Jon."

She has to go back soon.  Too much longer and she really will want to stay.  Feels so good for the shadows to embrace her again.  Are they really the leftovers of souls?  Is that why they feel so, warm to her?

As soon as he defended her?  They came too.  If she had not been in such pain?  She would have cried for joy.  There are so many.  All, so strong.  All so, happy.  All, family.

"[Shadow Rise]"

"Aiyeeeyahh!"

*skyryrahkahk*

Except for that one.  The japanese high schooler could not believe her eyes.  The power of that spell.  No, that curse. 

She watched that dirty old man's soul ripped from its body.  Saw it crawl thru that crack between the material and astral.  Witnessed a thing of smoke and ink being born.

Had all of them been born this way?  This one, was bad though.  Too much ink.  Too much evil.  It would never do.

He knew too.  She could tell.  No.  She must be delusional.  Imagining things.  Lost too much blood.  Too, woozy.  Too, fuzzy.

*zzkkrryysshh*

He killed it?  How?  Its already dead.  Its crumbling?  So...  Dizzy...  Just a quick...  Nap...

...

---

"Elma?  Are you feeling better?"

What a strange voice?  Is it Milti's?  But it also sounds a bit, like Juri's?

Where am I?  Its, so soft.  That smell.  Wood and some sort of incense.  No, its a...  Cigar?!

The thief hero's eyes snap open to see a familiar ceiling above her.  Not the ceiling of home.  Nor the ceiling of the Mordeca Trade Company store.  No, this was the ceiling of the Grand Suite in Lions Keep.

"Its okay.  You are safe here.  All children of death are."  Shinobi girl looked at the speaker.  "And you are clean because we washed you.  There was, a lot of blood.  Your clothes were also not in a, good state."

The speaker looked like Milti, mostly.  Sounded like Milti, mostly.  But there was a bit of Juri there too.  And Milti didn't have legs below the thighs.  This girl, does.  Wait, are those really legs?

"Wha?  Whe?  How?"

That smile is all Milti though.

"Its only been a few hours.  We brought you here while our lord remained to settle things."  A grimace.  "That bad duke caused a lot of trouble.  Left a big mess that Tenno needed to cleanup.  But its better now."

The high schoolers mind still feels, muddled.

"Who...  Who are..."

"Relax.  Take your time.  I, am a half-dead."  Half dead?  "When a living and an unliving are very close in mind and heart.  And one is material and the other astral?  They can, well, blend."

"L-legs..."

That gentle friendly smile again.

"Tenno calls it the, uh, oh yes.  Self-image.  With two spirits working together in one body?  There is enough to regrow missing limbs."  A sad face.  "It only lasts as long as we are merged though."

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No wonder she was attracted to both of them.  They are the same person, sometimes, it seems.

Passed the bottom of the bed she can see light from the fireplace on the main floor.  Moonlight shines in from the massive crystal clear windows.  Can hear muffled voices by the fireplace.

"They are waiting for you."  The japanese student suddenly has a nervous look.  "You don't have to go.  We can leave if you want and go back to the store.  Our lord has accepted you.  So we all accept you."

The hero in disguise is unsure what to do.  She's not a fool.  Knows today was a trap for her.  Knows she's been betrayed.  It could have been the Bea-... Jon.  But he didn't know her weaknesses.  And he could have let her die.

No.  He would never do that.

There was only one possible source for this assassination.

Aquecia.

But who?

Her friends?  Never.  It was them against the game.  Maki said it over and over again.  'Divided we fall.'  Someone in the Companion Guard?  Possible.  They had seen her fight many times.  Could figure out her weakness. 

Though she still wasn't sure what that powder was.

The Emperor?  Of course.  He's a puppet and knows it.  Would love to cut the strings.  The Senate?  Absolutely.  All the factions and infighting.  The only thing they agree on?  Is that the heroes shouldn't be in charge.

Could be any of the patrician clans really.  Especially any they had persecuted and driven out.

The shinobi girl laughed to herself when she realized the only ones it couldn't be?  Were the demons.  If they knew that stuff cutoff her gift?  They would have used it long before now.

Laughter from downstairs.

A lot of people could have been behind this.  And if they want to kill her?  They want to kill the other heroes too.  May have already tried.  She needs to send a message back as soon as possible.  Is her Kojiro safe?  As if reading her mind, or in this case, face.

"Father has already sent an alert.  Highest priority."  An alarmed look.  "Tenno already knows.  He understands and accepts that there will be spies around him.  He holds nothing against father or Luvine."

So Jon knows about her too.  The thief hero is a bit ashamed that she does not remember saving the girl.

What she needs now, are allies.  And the strongest 'Elma' could hope for?  Is sitting by the fireplace below.  His aura fills the room.  Not that small steel ball.

The japanese girl laughs at herself again.  This man can kill her anytime he wants to.  Even Kojiro would be crushed.  Maybe if all four fought him at once?  Maybe then...

~The little shadow is awake.~

"I know."

~Oh my.  Aren't you being, nice?~

"She's had a long day.  Not-sebastian?"  Not-sebastian?  What kind of name is that?

"Viscount Barton."

"Ha!  Metia's nuts.  How does he just appear like that?"  She knows that voice.  Met him.  Mister, Nigs?

"[Butler Magic].  I don't get it either.  Butler.  We have guests so whether she chooses to join us or leave?  Please make sure she is properly attired."

[Butler Magic]?  Whats bu-

"Lady Strenger."

"Hiii!"  Where did he come from?!

"Fufu."  Milti?  "I hear you get used to it.  Me?  I leak."

Maids rapidly come up the stairs and throw open wardrobes that line the walls next to the bed.

*clap* *clap*

A maid now standing next to the butler claps her hands twice, and the entire loft is lit up by lights hanging from the ceiling.  Dressed more formally than the other maids so is probably the, head maid?  She speaks.

"You may use anything but the harem's favorites.  She is physically active so something not too tight nor too loose.  Begin."

---

What must have been a half hour has gone by.  And the maids attack is finally over.  It wasn't just maids either.  Some mother daughter seamstress pair was adjusting the fit of the clothes on the fly.

Not just apparel too.  Perfumes, powders, even an oil rub, was somehow all being done at once.  She'd never experienced anything like this.  Even at the palace.

By the end she an entirely new outfit and two new daggers at her waist.  Not magical but good quality steel at least.  Would do until she could get to her stash at the store.

And of course she has cleavage now.  The heroes never figured out why but its somehow ingrained into every NPC that women's clothing must create and display as much cleavage as possible.

The only exception?  Armor.  And even then, not always.  She had gotten used to wearing a light leather jerkin, buttoned all the way up, pretty quickly.

"Should I stay or should I go?"

I need allies.  Protection until I can find out how widespread the betrayal is.  How deep it goes.

The thief hero resolves herself and walks down the stairs at the eastern end of the loft.  The magic upstairs has gone out.  Leaving the large fireplace and moonlight as the only sources of light again.

She sees undead guarding every entrance.  And her senses cannot reach beyond the room.  That same ward she encountered on that first night, still seals the room.

~Here little shadow.  I saved a place for you.~

The same dragon she's faced twice now is on the backtop of a fancy chair.  Patting it with his claws.  But, this time, its dog sized?  Well, if she's gone this far its not going to hurt to trust a dragon.  At least a little.

"Thank you- Eh?"

The moment she sits, the dog dragon slides down the back of the chair and ends up in her lap.  Belly up.  Its neck and head hang over one arm of the chair and looks at her.

"Wh-what a-are you d-doing?"

~I am the winged tyrant.  The lizard lord.  Pinnacle of life on this world.  And the first shadow dragon.~

"Y-yes?"

~I require scritches and tummy rubs.~

"O-okay?"

The feel of the unliving reptile is, strange.  Parts made of smoke are like putting your fingers in ice water.  But the thief hero does not find it unpleasant.  The ink parts are like a cold but slightly pliable plastic.

Both have some resistance to them but also feel, pleasant to the high schooler.

"Ahem."

The noise from Viscount Barton brings her attention back to the others.  The Black Lion catches the Thief Hero's eye.

"So.  Which hero are you?"

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