《Red Mantis and Avenger Doll》


 Gig 1: Part 1 - Girl Meets Girl

    "Self-proclaimed name is Ootsuki Senka - a name from the planet called Earth in Quadrant 3201a-3. Age unknown, 1242 height units. No detectable signs of life, impossible to distinguish from a preserved museum specimen of an Earth child''s body when not moving of her own accord. An extremely high Sieval level of over twelve million, basically suggesting an infinite lifespan." Sovialid Mution speaks in a mechanical tone due to his vocal replicator, while facing the person in question. He is an Aphilean, an insect-like humanoid being that requires a delicate breathing apparatus to survive in oxygen-rich environments.


    They are in a brightly lit, blank white room with a metallic table and chairs and not a single piece of decoration. It is evident that it serves as an interrogation chamber, even though the typical one-way mirror, for onlookers to monitor the unfolding situation through, is missing. Hologram technology that can replicate the interior of the room with sensors built inside the walls has rendered such a weakness in the room''s structural integrity obsolete. After all, there are dangerous beings in this galactic quadrant.


    "Do you know the charges being pressed against you?" The officer asks when she does not respond and a strange gurgling noise escapes from between his mandibles. A sigh. Her presence is causing him slight discomfort, as she keeps staring at his compound eyes without moving, making her seem like a well-crafted doll.


    "... yes, I''m being accused of murder." Senka finally responds and her expression changes to one of annoyance. This action completely belies her appearance of a porcelain-faced doll and would have been thought of as impossible, if they had not performed an in-depth scan of her body. She is basically a moving corpse, and no scientific explanation could be found for how she does it, although the anima specialist correlates the phenomenon with her immense Sieval levels. "Someone got a heart attack and died when I appeared out of thin air in the middle of the street."


    Her tone is filled with cynicism and Sovialid can understand where she is coming from. Normally, it would be filed away as an accident - if it was not for the fact that she was monitored absorbing the Sieval from the victim as it escaped his body. Complicating the matter is that the victim also happened to be a Trombulan, a race with famously high Sieval levels. While she does seem to be unaware of that phenomenon herself, there have been many cases of criminals from certain species attacking them to steal their Sieval. Senka''s own immense level might suggest an intentional connection, although it could be entirely coincidental, too.


    "Is that enough of a reason to keep me here?" She inquires and looks around while barely moving her head. There used to be a popular holo-experience where a living doll chases the players, but it was discontinued after a Trombulan suffered a major anxiety attack in it. Why a member of such a notoriously weak-hearted species even tried it out is questionable in the first place, but the fact remains a stain on the company''s name. "Actually, I''d like to talk to my lawyer."


    "What is a lawyer?" Sovialid asks and would have lifted an eyebrow, if he had any. His expression, paired with the mechanical voice, has earned him plenty of jokes from superiors, subordinates and criminals he has taken in, about him actually being a robot.


    "... you know Earth, but don''t know what a lawyers is?" The living doll looks at him in disbelief, but then leans backwards on her metal chair with a resigning expression.


    "Oh, you mean a legal representative. That system has been abolished a long time ago." Clicking his mandibles, Sovialid comes to the realization as to what Senka means. "We have the Quanton Justiciar system, which comes to a verdict with no need to involve any irrational petitioning and emotion-driven responses."


    "That sounds like a system that can be easily rigged..." It is understandable for citizens of a planet with a less advanced level of technology to think that way, but there has not been a single wrong decision since their implementation. Sovialid believes that she will be acquitted of the charges, but due to her Sieval level, which is as high as that of the highest ranked Star Guardians, she will receive an overwhelming amount of soliciting.


    "Off the records." The officer speaks the phrase to pause the voice recording. "From the circumstantial evidence, and in my personal opinion, you are innocent. Trombulans are easily scared and oftentimes sever their tails upon a loud noise. The recording shows that you appeared out of nowhere, and while teleportation technology is in a gray area, it is not illegal."


    "How much weight does your word carry?" Senka asks with understandable skepticism, and the Aphilean officer gurgles a sigh again.


    "Just appreciate my sentiment, even if I may not sound very sincere with my lack of expressiveness and robot-like voice. The Quanton Justiciar system has all the authority and will not be overturned by anyone''s personal opinions." Upon these words the doll-like girl lowers her gaze apologetically.


    "I''m sorry... you''re right, I''m venting against the wrong person." She finally says and smiles, the stitches on her cheeks stretching to reveal even her molars. If Sovialid had entered the room at this time, it would have scared the living daylights out of him. But now he finds it a little charming, even if it still remains very disturbing to look at.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "I believe you should go free by the end of tomorrow at the latest." He states confidently, even if it does not translate well due to his physical shortcomings.


    "The verdict is guilty. You will serve a celestial lifespan sentence of imprisonment at the Blackpoint Maximum Security Bastille." The mechanical voice representative of the Quanton Justicar system states in a matter of fact tone. A symbolic sound reminiscent of a judge''s gavel hitting the sound block echoes through the needlessly large halls of justice and Senka is taken away from the defendant''s stand, her face remaining completely expressionless as if she anticipated such an outcome from the start.


    "Welcome to Blackpoint, prisoner. Please enter the Reclothing Booth to receive your uniform. Enjoy your stay." A pleasant sounding female voice recording plays on repeat as the column of criminals of various ages, genders and sizes are guided out of the transport craft onto the prison space station, aptly named for its location at the edge of a black hole''s gravitational field.


    Senka steps into the booth, which automatically closes behind her. Once inside, her current clothes are annihilated by a red wave of light, before she is practically packed like a parcel in the prison uniform of an ceruleanblue with white trims. All the while, her expression is one of utter non-amusement.


    "Say hello to your new roommate." The Aphilean guard from the alpha caste, covered in natural heavy armor and of a stocky but tall build that towers over Senka at twice her height, guides the doll-like girl into her cell. "This is Prisoner OS72, give her a warm welcome, Prisoner OS69."


    On the lower bunk bed inside the room sits a well-endowed and beautiful woman, looking barely over twenty. She sports long straight natural-looking red hair, green eyes and a rather pale complexion that contrasts well with her prison uniform. Her most notable features are her extremely long and pointy ears, which are flopping downwards like those of a scolded dog. Coupled with her expression, she radiates submissiveness - or boredom, depending on how one looks at her.


    "Prisoner OS69 is an eldar and serves a life sentence as well, so the both of you will have a lot of time to get chummy in here, until here eventually ends up there." The guard points at the wall opposite of the door, which is completely transparent and gives an incredible view of the black hole outside. It acts as a constant reminder of one''s status as a prisoner who can be jettisoned into space at any moment, should one misbehave. "I say eventually, but I''m retiring tomorrow, so I won''t be seeing either of you around." A strange repetitive sound emerges from his strong mandibles, which may be laughter.


    With this, Senka is ushered inside and the door is closed behind her. Aside from the two bunk beds, the small room is furnished with a small sectioned off area with a showerhead sticking out of the wall, over an automatic toilet and a shallow sink inside which a suicidal prisoner could not drown himself. A very bleak abode, even if it''s squeaky clean and almost sterile-looking.


    "Um... hello. My name is Olethea Sykoria..." The eldar introduces herself with a shy smile.


    "Ootsuki Senka..." The doll-like girl responds after a short pause during which she looks her roommate up and down. An eldar is basically a space elf, and this one fits the description of one perfectly: An almost otherworldly beauty that will never wane over a virtually eternal lifespan, pointy long ears and a figure that can enchant any mortal.


    "So... what are you in for, if I may ask?" Olethea asks cautiously. It is quite apparent that she has a very agreeable personality, and her manners are proper despite their locality and Senka''s appearance.


    "I don''t really know... something about killing a Trombulan for his Sieval." Pacing through the room, she responds in a casual tone. She has had enough life experiences to know that one can never trust those who act nice in prison - at least not blindly. That mistake has cost many their peace of mind or even lives. "And you?"


    "I killed the President of the Galactic Republic." She responds with a bashful smile and scratches her cheek in embarrassment. For a moment, Senka looks at her expressionlessly, before she rubs the bridge of her nose and turns away to take a deep breath.


    "Hey, isn''t this a little too abrupt?" She says towards something only she can see. "Only because that other story''s taken off into space, you make this instantly high sci-fi? You''re going to lose a lot of people over this choice..." Pausing for a bit to put her face in her palm, she seems to feel a little faint, as she leans on the transparent wall and looks at the black hole outside. "Even I can''t survive that, you know? Then again, I''d rather take a dip, than spend eternity locked in a space prison cell."


    "Who are you talking to, Senka?" Olethea asks as she stretches her neck a little. Her expression changes and it becomes clear that she was not being submissive earlier, only very bored. Spinning her head around in shock, the doll-like girl stares at the eldar in disbelief, before turning back to the invisible person she seems to be talking to.


    "Wait, don''t tell me she... oh no, you didn''t!" Her voice is beginning to sound desperate and angry.


    "Oh, is this the famous fourth-wall breaking thing?" Looking into the general direction of where Senka seems to be talking towards, Olethea asks in innocent thoughtfulness while tilting her head slightly. Then she waves with a radiant smile. "Hi~ I''m Olethea Sykoria, hyper-dimensional assassin for hire. Very nice to meet you~ ?"

 Gig 1: Part 2 - Recreation Day

    "Self-proclaimed name is Olethea Sykoria, background and origin unknown. Genetically very close to an eldar, but obsolete genetic expressions such as the long and mobile ears suggest that she is an ancestor who survived into modern days. Age unknown, 1821 height units. No pre-registered crimes, no photos or genetic prints in our database..." The Amphilean officer with one bad compound eye reads out the information on the criminal sitting across the table in a relaxing posture. "Killed the President of the Galactic Republic with an anti-matter knife. Method of acquirement of said weapon unknown..." With a gurgling sound - a sigh - the insect-like officer slides the holographic display aside and turns to the red-headed woman. "There''s no two ways about this, you''re going to Blackpoint Maximum Security Bastille with absolute certainty."


    "Oh~ ?" Olethea makes with an expectant smile.


    "I just want to know one thing... why did you let yourself get captured so easily right after?"


    "If you had a bunch of disintegrators pointed at your face by men with itchy trigger fingers, would you have tried to fight back?" She responds with an indifferent smile and shrugs casually.


    "... what are you plotting?"


    "Well, you seem to be important to the plot, so I can tell you." Olethea waves the doll-like girl over with an exaggeratedly secretive expression. It''s met with skepticism, but ultimately, her persistence pays off and she has Senka''s ear. "You see, I killed the president so that I would be locked up in this very prison. It was all part of the plan~ ?" Her gleeful snicker is like that of a mischievous child who has confirmed the viability of a prank and is only waiting for the target to unwittingly stumble into it.


    "... how long have you been in here?" Senka does not know how long ago the President of the Galactic Republic was assassinated, since she simply appeared in this dimension without any warning.


    "Three standard days ago, why do you ask?"


    "Because it feels like you''re ready to be moved to the mental ward from delusions caused by isolation... but if it''s only been three days, it means you''re always like this... In either case, why do I feel like I don''t want any part in that plan of yours?"


    "Come on, don''t be like that. Now that I told you about it, there''s no taking back. In fact, if my theory about you is right, I''d have a very specific part in mind for you." Olethea''s childlike grin would have been contagious, if not for the fact that Senka values peace above anything else. "But first... strip."


    "... excuse me?" With a blank expression, she asks. She heard it loud and clear, but she simply does not want to believe it. "Please don''t tell me she''s a raging lesbian!" Snapping her head around, she looks in the direction she talked into before, and just as it was then, nothing responds to her now.


    "Hm... if you wanted to categorize me, the term ''pansexual'' would be much more fitting." The eldar''s ears perk up to almost ninety degrees as she announces proudly. The mix of disgust and irritation in Senka''s reaction would have made the most cynical person in the multiverse proud, if he had been watching. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she turns away from Olethea once again and looks at the black hole outside the window.


    "Why does that look more and more like a pool to me now? I''m beginning to develop the desire to take a plunge after all." It would appear that Senka''s mind is at its breaking point, as suicidal thoughts are beginning to take over at an alarming rate. "Whose fault do you think that is?!"


    "Now now, don''t get your panties in a twist. Oh wait, the prison uniform doesn''t come with any, my bad~ ?" Olethea says in a joking manner to calm the doll-like girl down. Instead, it causes the latter to finally realize that she is naked under her new clothes. For a moment, tension leaves her body and her head hangs down as if her energy has run out. The eldar tilts her head in wonder and motions to slowly approach her from behind, wondering what happened. Then, Senka begins to rip off her own uniform in a mental breakdown.


    "I get it already, just do your worst!" Tears are forming in her eyes as she screams towards the invisible entity she has been talking to earlier.


    "Gladly~ ?" The horny eldar exclaims with drool hanging from the corner of her mouth, while beginning to undress herself eagerly.


    "NOT YOU!!!"


    "What did I do to deserve this..." Senka lies on the top bunk in a fetal position and cradles her knees.


    "So, the plan..." Olethea says while rubbing her chin - where Senka knocked her over with a head-butt moments earlier - before she rests it on the doll-like girl''s bed - right in front of her face.


    "You''re too close..." The latter makes that statement with a less-than-amused expression.


    "... it''s obvious that this prison is co-ed, right?"


    "Hey, don''t ignore me."


    "And there''s this tradition that every full rotation of the black hole - which generally takes two hundred standard days - the guards retreat into the command module and detach it from the station for one day. The prisoners are then left to their own devices. Basically, it''s one day of sanctified carnage, where everything is allowed. Since the death penalty is officially abolished by the Galactic Republic, this is the only way to cull those criminals everybody would just love to see dead." Olethea''s face fills with excitement, just as Senka''s fills with horror. "And that day is today~ ?"


    "... wait, what does that have to do with this being a co-ed prison?" Senka asks, but the moment she does, she regrets it, as Olethea''s expression brightens up immensely.


    "That''s the best part! They just brought a male Zenoshan in, two days before I was, and he basically took over the prison since then."


    "I have no idea what a Zenoshan-"


    "They look like this-" The eldar puts her hand to her mouth and wiggles her fingers like tentacles. "They go like this-" She wiggles both her hands to denote that a Zenoshan''s hands are also tentacles. "And they have this~ ?" Stepping back enough for Senka to see her full body, Olethea puts her hand in front of her crotch and wiggles her fingers one last time. At that thought, a shiver of anticipation runs over her back and she begins to drool.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "I see..." Senka looks on with a complete lack of amusement, before sitting up from her bed abruptly. "No, I don''t. How does that factor into your great plan? Or wait, don''t tell me you let yourself get captured and thrown into prison just for that?"


    "What do you mean, just for that?" Olethea wipes the drool from the corner of her mouth and asks in slight indignation.


    "I''m sorry, I was stupid for asking..."


    "It''s a Zenoshan! Not only do they have near infinite stamina, their mucus is a natural aphrodisiac that can make even the most prudish person in the universe become a slave to her desires." Olethea seems to be well-versed in those things. To Senka, that just sounds like a convenient monster usually found in perverted fantasy literature. "I tested it on her, after all. It was an incredible sight - so much that I''ve been dreaming of trying it out myself, along with the whole package."


    "I can''t really share your enthusiasm... you said something about an escape plan, can we talk about that instead?" Sighing, the doll-like girl lifts herself into a sitting position on the bed and looks down on the red-head.


    "Well, the Zenoshan is part of the plan. The reason why I wanted you to strip was to gain certainty in my theory about you." With an unexpectedly serious expression, Olethea looks over Senka, mentally undressing her to imagine the body underneath. It sends a shiver down the target''s spine.


    "Stop that! Just ask me what you want to know." She turns away while covering herself with her arms.


    "You''re an undead, aren''t you?" Spoken in a matter of fact way without any judgmental undertones, Olethea assesses, while looking Senka into the eyes intently.


    "In a sense, yes. I died once and have been immortal since. I''ve existed - since this state can''t really be called living - for a long time now." A hint of loneliness appears on her face as she says this. She has been thrown through dimensions, never meeting anyone who could remain with her for long, always remaining in a position of an onlooker as their stories unfolded and ended, before she would move on again, alone. This time will be no different, of that she is convinced.


    "Then you can do a space walk without a suit, right?" Once again, Olethea''s face shows the joy only found in a child who is discovering the versatility of a new toy.


    "... I feel like I won''t like my part in your plan..."


    "It''ll be fun, I promise~ ?"


    "You''re not making it better..."


    "Dear prisoners of Blackpoint Maximum Security Bastille, Recreation Day has arrived. Please be advised that any criminal activity committed during this period of time is subject to punishment with an increase in your individual sentence..." The friendly female voice announces over the invisible speaker system installed throughout the prison facilities.


    "Maximum Strength. Recreation Day... that''s such an ironic name for what''s about to go down. Physical Trauma Nullity. And threatening with an increase of the length of a celestial lifespan sentence is completely meaningless. Laceration Resistance Up." Orethea says, warming up her body with some exercises and chanting what can only be seen as buffing spells in between sentences. She has been muttering them since earlier and has finished up with all offensive buffs before the announcement started. "Quick Coagulation. I''ve made quite a few enemies since I came here. Acid Nullity. And as the prison boss, the Zenoshan is bound to come for me as well. Toxin Nullity."


    "What did you do?" Senka asks with skepticism in her voice while watching differently colored auras appearing and seeping into the eldar''s body. She is completely unbothered by the fact that she is using magic, even though this is a dimension that seems to be completely dominated by science. Science advanced enough to allow for the construction of a space station at the Lagrangian point of a black hole.


    "Confusion Nullity. Let''s see... the Falushians should hate me because I went and crushed one ball of their leader. Sleep Nullity. They''re a race very proud of their family jewels." The eldar speaks with a wholly unapologetic sneer. "Exhaustion Reduction. Several Renubians will most likely want me dead because I insulted their family names - they''re a clan-based people and put a lot of weight into those. Stamina Regeneration. But it''s not my fault if they have easily exploitable names like Shid''Edd or Phuk''Faise. Liquid Regeneration. And then, there''s-"


    "... the administration of Blackpoint Maximum Security Bastille wishes everyone an enjoyable Recreation Day." The announcement ends and all cell doors automatically slide open. Within an instant, angry voices grow loud throughout the entire facility, and prisoners begin to move about in a frenzy, many out for blood.


    "-ah, time for you to move out. I trust you when you say that you can sneak about this place without being detected." Olethea winks at Senka, who responds with a sigh.


    "I''ll be back for you in twenty." The doll girl says, runs out of the cell and disappears around the corner.


    "Make it an hour instead! I want to have some fun first~ ?" Calling out after her, the eldar speaks her true intentions unhesitatingly. Then the trampling footsteps of a crowd of people approaches the cell, and she begins to unbutton her shirt while humming.


    "You''re dead, bitch!" An overly muscular bald man standing at almost two heads taller than Olethea steps into the cell while shouting with an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice, and cracks the knuckles of his four-digit hands. Following him are several more, similar-looking men, who voice their support in a much lower pitch. The one in front has his crotch bandaged, but those that follow have cutouts in their prison uniforms, which allow their coconut-sized balls to dangle out freely due to their straddle-legged gait. It goes without saying that these are the Falushians out for her blood.


    Olethea snorts through her nose upon hearing the voice and seeing the bandaged family jewels of their leader. This only serves to further aggravate them as they look ready to pounce.


    "Stay back, muscle-heads! We shall kill this peasant for insulting the honorable names of us Renubians!" An overly refined-sounding male voice announces from outside the cell, behind the Falushians. Several men, each about as tall as Olethea, gracefully squeeze their ways into the room. "I, Azz''Had of the Digg''Bud clan will claim your head!" The man who just called himself Asshat Dickbutt pulls up his right sleeve, revealing a bladed forearm.


    "Please, stop it, you''re killing me~ ?" The lone woman presses out through her uncontrollable laughter as she holds her stinging stomach.


    "What do you puny Renubians think you''re doing?" One of the Falushians pushes one of Asshat Dickbutt''s followers away, who promptly flashes his own forearm blade and slashes at the much larger opponent. At the same time, a commotion breaks out outside the cell as well, where others who came to kill Olethea begin to fight each other. Within moments, the entire cell block is immersed in a brawl, as their intended target watches with a gloating grin.


    "I will make you swallow your own teeth!" The leader of the Falushians, not engaged in the scuffle, steps forward and swings his fist at her. Grabbing the arm that is nearly as wide as her waist, she spins around and throws the much larger alien over her shoulder and onto the ground. With a light hop, she jumps over his body and puts all her weight into one heel - right onto the alien''s bandaged crotch. A spine-chilling and heart-breaking sound echoes through the room and causes all who hear it to shirk away in horror. The unfortunate victim''s mouth flaps open and closed in a silent scream, before he loses consciousness from the pain.


    "I think his voice will be off the piano now." Olethea wipes the tears she shed from laughter and says with a smug expression.


    "Out of the way you useless trash!" A voice in the deep bass range resounds through the corridor and several of the besiegers are pushed aside. Making way for the newcomer, both Falushians and Renubians step aside and reveal a towering figure, an order of magnitude taller than even the now castrated leader. Tentacle face, tentacle hands and several bulges in the tight prison pants make it clear who this is. "I will rape you to death, you whore!"


    "Be my guest~ ?" Olethea responds and licks her lips.

 Gig 1: Part 3 - Im Walking on Hawking Radiation~ ?

    Senka''s part is simple. She has to sabotage the command module''s connection mechanism, which the guards will use at the end of the day to return to the station. In order to do so, she will have to perform a space walk without a suit - as not only will there be none for her size, but also will there be none provided on the side of the prisoner''s block. The guards inside the module are watching everything happening within the entire prison, so her actions will surely be noticed, even if not by the prisoners themselves. To that end, Olethea is creating a diversion to keep their attention occupied to a certain section of the screens - which is far from the one that overlooks the control panel Senka has to tamper with.


    "Diversion... right. She''s just a nymphomaniac out to have some fun." The doll-like girl comments quietly to herself. "But really, where did she get all the knowledge of this prison''s layout from?" She asks herself in skepticism, while speeding through the crowded hallways, dodging brawls and falling people left and right. She may not wish to admit it, but her tiny stature in this place filled with overwhelmingly large alien beings is a blessing, as it allows her to go practically unnoticed. Paired with her incredible reflexes, she can easily navigate through narrow openings left by moving bodies and flailing limbs.


    According to the red-head, the connection mechanism is hidden behind walls, and only exposed when the command module is detached. However, with exposed she means that it lies in open space and while Senka is able to walk in space without problems, the real difficulty lies in getting through the blast doors that seal off the rest of the prison from the vacuum outside. But she was not an intelligence officer and infiltrations expert in one of her previous worlds for nothing.


    "I would appreciate it, if you refrained from mentioning that world ever again." She mutters in irritation while ducking under a flying leg, maintaining her speed without slowing down at the sudden obstacle appearing in her way. Jumping up and rolling across the large back of a bent over gray-skinned man being locked in a chokehold by an even larger, red-skinned woman, she continues on towards her destination unhindered.


    As far as Olethea is concerned, she seems to know what she is doing. The fact that she commands magic interests Senka, considering the science-dominated universe they seem to be in, but she has been through so many dimensions that seeing different world systems mixed together does not surprise her at all. Among them was one that uses both technology and an individual''s inner energy in conjunction to create the strangest of miracles.


    "I told you to stop mentioning that world!" Senka shouts and spins around the corridor''s corner, just in time to not be caught by someone''s face getting smashed on it. Sliding across the floor to dodge a bunk bed, that has somehow been ripped out of its fixtures on the wall and is being used as a weapon, she continuously avoids everything that gets in her way with expert timing.


    Finally, she reaches a corridor that is completely empty, as it only leads to a dead end - the blast door she has to get through. Walking forward, she scans the walls closely to see if there are any hidden control panels or covers that could reveal wires underneath - which will open the door when short-circuited. However, as expected of a prison that supposedly boasts a history of zero prisoner escapes, it does not have something so convenient. After all, Olethea cannot be the first prisoner to know the interior layout so well.


    "Ohhh, a little girl!" The deranged voice of a man comes from behind Senka and she rolls her eyes before turning around. Approaching her is an exceptionally tall but extremely slim alien being with pale white skin and a bald head. His eyes are covered with cybernetic lenses, which are clearly zooming onto her small, underdeveloped body. Even upon seeing the gruesome scars that cover her face, his excitement is not dampened in the least, and instead grows. "Those scars! If I cut the stitches, that mouth will be able to fit all of me! Brilliant!!!" He runs forward, a makeshift knife in one of his six-digit hands.


    "Damn you lolicon!" Senka ducks under his opened hand trying to grab her and lunges at the slender man, using her head to collide with his crotch at a tremendous speed. The crunching sound emerging from it signals that his species shares that obvious weak spot with seemingly all humanoid races. Doubling over from the impact, the alien very nearly buries the little girl under his body, but she sidesteps him skillfully. She catches the knife he drops in favor of holding his crushed manhood, and unhesitatingly slashes his throat.


    She licks the alien''s reddish purple blood from the blade unceremoniously and a skull-like shadow flashes over her face a split second after she swallows it down. The man''s movements stop abruptly, even though the wound was not enough to make him bleed out within seconds. Senka wipes the blade on his uniform, before stabbing it through her own, weaving it in to create an improvised sheath. What was a simple knife to him is almost as long as her wrist, and will surely serve her well.


    "Now it''ll be a walk in the park. How convenient for him to show up here." She mutters, her voice dripping with sarcasm, and walks towards the blast door once again. Without hesitation, she steps right through it, her body seemingly becoming completely intangible, allowing her to pass through solid matter. On the other side, the darkness of space greets her. Luckily, the accretion disk of the black hole emits enough light to illuminate the station itself. Above her floats the command module, in which the guards are most likely watching the spectacle while enjoying themselves.


    Apparently the simplest way to sabotage the docking mechanism is to block one of the small power outlets with a piece of conductive material or to jam a brittle piece of debris into the air purifier that pumps oxygen into the command module the moment it reconnects to the station. The former will cause it to short-circuit and result in a power outage within the entire station. The latter is more gruesome and may involve the death of several guards from shredded pieces of whatever she puts into the air duct causing an explosion in the module''s interior.


    Weighing her options, Senka goes for the former. While she has absolutely no qualms about killing people, whether they be humans or aliens, a power outage will be a much better distraction. Under those circumstances, the mechanism for cell blocks to be purged into the black hole will be deactivated, which also means a higher chance of survival, in case one of the guards gives in to his anger and performs an impromptu mass-execution in retaliation.


    Sticking the knife into the power outlet, she can feel electricity coursing through her body and disappearing into the hull of the station through her other hand without causing any harm. She would have been hard-pressed to find a piece of conductive metal out here otherwise, but she was lucky to have appropriated that weapon from her assailant.


    "Yes, so lucky..." She rolls her eyes once more and speaks, although her voice is not transmitted anywhere in the vacuum of space. Just to make doubly sure, she breaks off the knife''s tip and leaves only a small piece stuck inside the outlet, before moving onto another one to repeat the process. With several of them blocked this way, the likelihood of a proper short-circuit is higher. Olethea did say that it is only meant as another layer of distraction, since their main goal lies elsewhere.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    With this, she returns to the blast door and once again turns herself intangible, before simply passing through it. She walks by the dead long-limbed alien while yawning from sleepiness. "I hope everything is going alright on that perverted eldar''s end..."


    "Oh yes, do it harder~ ?" The perverted eldar named Olethea moans with an ecstatic expression on her face. With several tentacles secreting one of the most potent aphrodisiacs in the galaxy jammed up her important bits, she is unexpectedly able to retain her reasoning. Yet, her reasoning at all times seems to consist of wishing to experience even more pleasure, to the point where her self-preservation instinct seems to have been completely shut down. Both her mouths are salivating uncontrollably, to the point where she will be left extremely dehydrated soon.


    Even Xil''Aiol is perturbed by how she appears to be enjoying herself. He is a member of the hermaphroditic and one of the galaxy''s most promiscuous species, the Zenoshans. He utilizes his biological advantage and well-developed techniques to their fullest, fixing her body to the wall with one tentacle hand and plunging into both her lower holes with the other, but she has not climaxed even once. And while Xil''Aiol has yet to use his strongest weapon, he never met anyone who was still able to retain the amount of fine motor control to speak properly after this much.


    "Come on, you''re capable of more than that, right?" She encourages him, but all he hears is mockery. He is surrounded by other prisoners whom he has come to rule with both charisma and an iron fist, so being questioned like this makes it seem like he is weak. "This won''t be enough to keep me satisfied for long~"


    "Shut up, bitch!" Xil''Aiol growls and rams two more appendages into either of her lower holes, eliciting an euphoric squeal from Olethea. Her stomach is bulging from the inside as the squirming of tentacles can be seen on her belly. Even then, her eyes have not lost any of their will, as she stares into his large black ones while licking her smiling lips of the mucus left behind from his previous oral assault. Rather, she seems to be asking for even more.


    "Something like this isn''t going to cut it~ ?"


    "That does it! Let''s see if you can still laugh when I give you this!"


    Ripping his pants open, he frees the mass of tentacles that form a Zenoshan''s reproductive organs. Looking down at them, Olethea notes that many of them appear to resemble sex toys in their shape, and an excited expression appears on her face. As a race with excessively dominant genes, Zenoshans can impregnate practically any living being to bear them viable offspring. To that end, they are able to mimic the forms most suitable for intercourse with those races.


    But Xil''Aiol does not seek to impregnate Olethea; he aims to use his sperm, an even stronger aphrodisiac than the one secreted with the mucus from his other tentacles, to break her mind completely. Aligning a gigantic curved rod with bumps all over it against her front and a corkscrew-shaped one against her back, he gurgles a jeering laughter. They are actually shaped for other, usually more resilient species, but she has shown a complete lack of regard for her own safety, and the look in her eyes as she sees the things soon to enter her is filled with anticipation rather than fear.


    Without warning, he pushes them inside her until he can go no further without ripping her apart, violently bulging out the eldar''s stomach in the process. She coughs out the air in her lungs and for the first time, the smile is wiped off her face as she gasps for oxygen. Laughing in triumph, Xil''Aiol begins to thrust in and out of her, not caring that she appears to be gasping for air.


    "Not so tough anymore, huh?"


    "... you just... surprised me." Olethea brings out between short breaths and once again, a grin that reveals her slightly pointed canines flashes over her face. "If you... want to make me cum... you''ll have to... use quite a few more at the same time~ ?"


    Xil''Aiol grabs hold of the red-head, spins her around and folds her legs up, before inserting as many of his reproductive organs as he can without utterly destroying her body. At the same time, he forcefully shoots out his first load, which will immediately take effect and ravage her senses. The reason he has not used his mouth appendages to shut her up is to hear her voice at the moment of her complete breakdown. Judging from the unintelligible scream emerging from her throat and the delirious expression as he turns her head to face him, that seems to have been accomplished; her eyes reveal that she has just experienced a mind-melting climax, and her body twitches from the waves of pleasure running through her nervous system.


    However, he is far from done, and begins to thrust each of his tentacles at a different rhythm, every motion sending a shiver across her spine as her voice devolves to hot, mindless moans. She has broken completely.


    "Haha, where is your attitude now, huh?" His laughter is shared by those around him, who look like they are unable to hide their excitement. As expected, most of them came here a long time ago and have not had an outlet to relieve their stress with since the last Recreation Day. And no matter how foul-mouthed and disrespectful this eldar is, her body is one to kill for. Her insides are the most pleasurable ones Xil''Aiol has ever experienced, and he feels that he can enjoy himself thoroughly with her. "I''ll give her to you when I''m done. Do with her what you want."


    "Woohoo! Thank you, boss!"


    "You''re going to completely stretch her loose, boss! Hahaha!"


    "Let''s keep her around as a sex slave!"


    "Oh, I would love to do that, but it''d be getting old quite fast~ ?"


    For a moment, the elated mood in the room continues unabated, until Xil''Aiol realizes whose voice just said the last line. Looking down, he sees that Olethea''s consciousness appears to have returned after her mind-blowing climax, and she has somehow freed her hands from his grip. Before he can react, an elbow buries itself into his face and he lets go of her legs. Kicking off of his body, all the tentacles still deep inside her are pulled out forcefully, as he falls to the ground.


    "Oh! ??" The eldar makes at the sensation, before landing on her feet and slipping on her own bodily fluids. She is unable to maintain balance due to the spine-arching pleasure from just earlier which cause her legs to be still wobbly, so she hits her head against the wall. "Owie!"


    "Why are you standing around with your dicks in your hands?! Get her!" Xil''Aiol commands angrily while moving to stand up again. The prisoners react to his voice and begin to step forward, but stop when they see Olethea reach down and stick her hand into her overflowing flower. Watching in fascination and horror as she pulls out a weakly squirming maggot-like creature the size of her palm, everybody is frozen in place. Even the Zenoshan stares in disbelief; she should not have given birth to his spawn that quickly. "What-"


    "Oh no, that''s not one of yours. I just needed you to fertilize it for me~ ?" The red-head winks and points the thing at him while squeezing it hard. A hole filled with sharp teeth opens and a high-pitched screech emerges from it. An expanding shockwave blows away the Zenoshan''s head, along with several other prisoners and the entire wall behind him. "Oops, that may have been too hard~ ¡î"


    Once the first shock at the immense destruction is overcome, the surrounding men scramble away in terror, as Olethea points her organic weapon at them with a childish giggle. With every squeeze and ear-piercing screech, one or more of the alien prisoners are blown away, some exploding into pieces while others splatter against walls when their bodies survive the initial blast. Walking leisurely while slinging the creature around like a gun, the red-head walks out of her ruined prison cell.


    "That''s what I''m talking about! Now we have ourselves a party~ ¡î"

 Gig 1: Part 4 - Red Mantis and Avenger Doll

    "Where did she get that thing from?!" Chief Tarikan exclaims as he watches the scene unfold on the screens. The panic within the prison is mirrored in the command module, as the guards scramble to gear up in preparation to storm in and get the situation under control. It is not because they care for the lives of the incarcerated, but because Prisoner OS69 has somehow obtained a weapon that could compromise the structural integrity of the entire station, if she is not stopped. He turns to the staff member sitting at the control desk. "Flood the station with sleep gas!"


    "I have been trying to do so, but the remote controls are not responding!" The Aphilean in question exclaims, his voice replicator unable to do the urgency of the situation justice. "It must have been sabotaged!"


    "... don''t tell me..." An Elorian guard mutters as he runs his long and bony fingers over the control panel before him. Reflected in his mechanical lens eyes is a screen displaying the footage from when Prisoner OS69 was first brought to the station. There had been a temporary system shutdown when she entered the Reclothing Booth and it had to be pried open manually. She had emerged half-naked, her remaining clothes singed and her body covered in soot. Apparently that had been the result of her underwear being made of the newly synthesized material called Plexatoom, which explodes violently and releases an EMP burst when hit with the booth''s particle annihilator. "She must have done something at that time!"


    The footage shows her entering the booth, before the camera cuts out and then comes back online moments before she is freed. At first glance, there is nothing special about it, but the Elorian puts the footage into holographic feed, with a before and after comparison of Prisoner OS69''s physical appearance in the most similar pose possible. The Elorian''s eyes zoom in on it and realization hits him.


    "She had something inside her body! See here, there is a small bulge around her stomach, but it''s gone afterwards." He points at the difference in the footage and everyone immediately sees what he means. The fact that she did it in plain sight causes anger to rise up within them; she wore a skintight bodysuit that accentuated her curves at the time, even though more baggy clothes would have hid the bulge perfectly.


    "Commence docking! We are going to go in and shut her down. This facility is not going to see its first breach on my watch!" An enraged Chief Tarikan growls and puts on his enforcer helmet. "Set vaions to kill." Grasping his gun, he makes sure to follows his own order and turns the switch from stun to lethal.


    Lowering the command module onto the station, the automatic guided docking mechanism locks, before air and power are connected. The instant the lamp denoting a successful attachment lights up in green, the power goes out throughout the entire station. Panicked voices resound in the guards'' room as everything shuts down and the artificial gravity disappears. Moments later, the backup lights come on and barely illuminates the interior in a dim orange.


    "That must be Prisoner OS69''s doing!" The chief shouts, as his anger boils over. "Find that whore and kill her! This is not an execution, it is to prevent a prison break." He does not really need to justify killing anyone under the given circumstances, but if these actions are called into question by a higher authority, that is the response all his men are going to give. It is only a measure to cover his bases in case public criticism over this incident mounts.


    The guards activate their magnetic boots and regain their footing, before gathering in front of the blast door leading into the prison quarters. Powering the door''s automatic mechanism with the backup battery, which can only be activated with one of three master keys, Chief Tarikan and his men move out to eliminate this troublemaker and regain control over the facility.


    Senka turns the corner and nearly runs into Olethea, bottomless and with her shirt open, carrying a cat-sized creature that could only be described as an oversized maggot. The latter squeezes the thing and from a circular, teeth-studded maw, emerges a screech followed by a shockwave tearing through the corridor behind the former and blasting away several prisoners that were pursuing her. Silence follows as the two stare at each other for a moment.


    "What is that thing!?" Senka is the first to speak, as she points at the creature in Olethea''s hands. She has seen her fair share of strange beings, but this living weapon is bizarre enough to elicit such a response from her. It quivers and wiggles weakly, as if trying to escaped the eldar''s grasp.


    "This is a Sendarian Tunneler." Olethea holds it out as if to gesture for her new partner in crime to try and hold it. Senka shakes her head with an expression of clear disgust. After all, its surface is covered in slime. Then again, the red-head is also covered in slime with a very distinct and familiar smell.


    "Ugh, you stink... But really, where did you get that thing from?"


    "From in here." The eldar points at her abdomen, suggesting that it was smuggled into the prison inside her womb. The flabbergasted expression from the doll-like girl causes the red-head to laugh. "Their eggs are only as small as a marble and they can lay dormant for many centuries, until exposed to the right mixture of proteins."


    "... that?" Senka''s eyes move to her completely soaked crotch.


    "Oh no, not just any sperm cuts it. And within this prison, only the Zenoshan had the right stuff~ ?" Olethea corrects the misconception with a grin. Holding the Sendarian Tunneler in one hand, the eldar picks up a piece of meat from a prisoner she blew apart earlier and dangles it in front of the creature''s half-open mouth. With a blindingly fast snap, its maw extends forward and swallows the offered food instantly. "Good girl~ ?"


    Senka watches in bewilderment as the creature''s body seems to expand slightly after that meal. Apparently it has an extremely fast growth rate. Before the eldar can bend down to pick up another piece, the entire station shakes from an exterior impact and a second later, the power goes out, causing the emergency lights to come on. Everything begins to float.


    "So, what''s the escape plan?" Asking in the dim orange twilight, the doll-like girl puts her hands on her hips with little care for the absence of the artificial gravity.


    "Remember that the command module can detach from the station?" The eldar replies with a question of her own.


    The two exchange a glance and no more words are needed. Kicking off the walls, they begin to move down the corridor, making their way towards their escape vessel.


    "How did you get your hands on something like that in the first place?"


    "It involves falling into one of their tunnels during breeding season and the fact that they have needlessly large ovipositors~ ?"


    "... I was the dumb one for asking..." Bringing a palm to her forehead, the stitched girl mutters in exasperation.


    "Ahaha~ ? But it''s all to finish my job."


    "Halt, Prisoners OS69 and OS72! Drop your weapon!" The voice coming from a replicator announces that an Aphilean guard has spotted them. Spinning around and squeezing the creature without hesitation, Olethea splatters the insect-like humanoid against the wall. Senka recognizes who it was despite the mess he has been turned into; the guard who led her to her cell and was going to retire soon... or something like that.


    "Wait, all of this is part of a job?" Ignoring the fact that her opposite just killed a guard without blinking, the doll-like girl asks curiously. The former notices the complete lack of moral apprehension in the latter and smiles. She must have been through enough carnage for a lifetime to become so desensitized that it does not emotionally register, even in passing.


    "Yes, did you think I''m doing all this just for fun?"


    "To be honest, I did."


    "To be honest, I am." The red-headed nymphomaniac admits with a sideways glance. Then she turns the Sendarian Tunneler towards a sound coming from the other side of a closed blast door at the end of the corridor. "I mean, all my jobs are for fun, I don''t really need any more money than I already have."


    "Yeah, thought so." With a sigh, Senka turns her head towards the door with a shrug. She was not the type to judge people for their hobbies.


    In the next moment the heavy bulkhead slides open and four guards emerge, guns blazing. With a single screech from the living weapon, they are swept off their magnetically secured feet and slam into the walls of the corridor. However, it appears that the force was not enough to kill them all; two of them are still conscious and flail their limbs to regain their footing. Olethea and Senka kick off the wall, fly forward and each hit one of the guards to induce an even more erratic spin to them in midair to keep them distracted, before continuing onwards.


    "The tunneler''s attack is really hard to control, and the larger it grows, the bigger the stimulus for it to cry out has to be." The red-head explains as they run towards the entrance to the command module. "At the same time, it has to grow to nearly half its adult size within about an hour after it''s born, or it''ll die. That''s why they''re not used as weapons normally... but you take what you can get."


    "Like one of their laser weapons?" Senka shows off the gun she took from the guard she hit just earlier.


    "Those are locked to the chips in their palms, so it''s useless to us." Olethea responds, but shows a fascinated expression at how quickly and unhesitatingly her opposite appropriated the weapon under these circumstances. "Well, you could go back and ask them for a helping hand, but..."The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Nah, I''m fine." Tossing the weapon aside carelessly, the stitched girl responds. "That thing should be enough."


    "This baby''s not going to do anything to my actual target. Well, maybe tickle it a little."


    "What kind of monster is your target?" Senka stares at the red-head questioningly.


    "Chief, the noise came from there!" One of the guards speaks over the helmets'' inbuilt communicator and points forward and a little towards the right. He is a Halyxian, a race of green-skinned humanoids that have incredible hearing, which allows him to pinpoint the source of sounds through walls. The noise caused by the biological weapon that Prisoner OS69 is carrying is very easy to spot, so as long as she keeps using it, they will know her exact location.


    "That is the cantina. Each team take the entrance from the block corresponding to your call sign and we enter on my command. Shoot anything that moves, we do not need to be conscious of the other prisoners." Chief Tarikan speaks his orders. "Move quickly, before she leaves the cantina." The guards split up to fulfill his commands and rush through the corridors in teams of four. With overwhelming firepower from all sides, they will kill this troublemaker instantly.


    "Team Aspina in position."


    "Team Bratu in position."


    "Team Gindo in position..."


    One after another, the six teams report in over the communicators and soon, the cantina is put under lockdown. All the while, the noises from the living weapon continues unabated, denoting that Prisoner OS69 has not left. She is now trapped and will face the shooting squad with no means to escape her fate.


    "On my command, prepare for entry!" The chief begins, but realizes that something is off. Why did she not move for all this time even though, according to the Halyxian guard, the weapon has discharged more than thirty-four times while the teams were setting up their encirclement? However, that thought comes too late, as his mouth already finishes what it started, before his mind could put a stop to it. "Go!"


    All doors open at the same time and what greets them is the interior of a slaughterhouse. The cantina is filled with blood and gore, with a dozen dismembered prisoners performing a dreadful dance of death in midair. Floating in the middle of the room is the maggot-like creature, which has grown to the size of an elephant and sprouted countless stumpy legs. There is no sign of Prisoner OS69. The huge, eyeless beast seems to have heard the sound of the bulkheads opening. It turns its head towards the closest group of guards and with a screech, practically evaporates them.


    "Fire at will! Fire at will!" Someone shouts and all hell breaks loose.


    "DAMN YOU OS69!!!" Chief Tarikan screams at the top of his four lungs as the beast turns towards him and opens its maw.


    "You what?!" Senka makes in disbelief.


    "Yes, that''s why I needed to get into this prison." Olethea responds nonchalantly while opening the blast door to the command module with a key she appropriated from one of the guards along the way. Since there is nothing of importance left in it, and due to the power outage, it has been abandoned temporarily.


    "You''re insane!"


    "Don''t worry, we''ll be able to escape and people will be none the wiser~ ?"


    "Who gave you this job?"


    "I have a policy to never reveal my clients, unless they want me to do so before the targets die. You know, some people have that kind of sentimentality about them. But that''s impossible this time." Waving Senka off, Olethea moves to the control panel and places her hands on them. She closes her eyes and breathes in and out a few times.


    Then she opens them again and begins to sing, her voice taking on an ethereal pitch as ancient sounds pass through the interior of the room. Senka watches in wonder as a glowing blue aura surrounds the eldar and begins to flow into the buttons and screens. With a flicker, the power comes back online and the entire station hums to life.


    "There we go. Now, for the repurposing of the anti-matter reactor." Olethea says and licks her lips.


    "... how does an anti-matter reactor get short-circuited in the first place?" The stitched girl asks in skepticism.


    "Rather than short-circuited, it shuts down as a safety measure in case of an error in the system. But this is now running on my song, so it''s fine."


    Senka''s expression suggests that she does not really understand what she means, but her concern lies more in the fact that the next step of this plan feels like the shortest route towards a gruesome death - or in her case, a gruesome eternity of torture.


    "That is, if the author doesn''t just choose to deus ex me away to my next story..." She mutters in annoyance. Then she sighs and an almost mad grin stretches the stitches holding her cheeks together, as something inside her clicks. "What the hell, I''ll just enjoy the ride!"


    "That''s the spirit~ ?" With a toothy grin of her own, Olethea welcomes that shift in the little girl''s attitude. She begins to sing once more, the otherworldly melody vibrating the very air, until Senka realizes that the entire station is actually shaking. Crystalline pillars erupt from the control panels and screens around them, and glow rhythmically to the eldar''s song. With every moment, the intensity of the shaking increases, before it ceases completely with the sound of metal locks disengaging.


    "What happened?"


    "We separated from the station. It''s done. Now, let''s enjoy the show." With a touch of one of the crystals, the shutter to the windshield opens to reveal space before them. The command module is floating away from the Blackpoint Maximum Security Bastille, which is overgrown with crystalline structures caused by Olethea''s song.


    "Really... couldn''t you have just done all this while inside the cell?" Senka asks, wondering about the necessity for everything leading up to this moment. She could have controlled the rest of the station from there using this strange magic, and maybe locked out the guards from the command module, before creating a path for herself to get there without the need for all the chaos involving the Sendarian Tunneler.


    "The cells don''t have any physical connections to the command module, so that would have been impossible. And where would be the fun in that?" The red-head shrugs and watches as the prison implodes on itself as it travels towards the black hole. From within the ruined structure another black hole emerges, which rapidly grows in size, while their ship speeds away from it. "Enjoy it, you don''t get to see a warp gate every day~ ?"


    The warp gate begins to suck in the corona of the much larger black hole at an incredible rate, and grows quickly. Within minutes, as if mocking the scale of cosmic lifetimes, the latter celestial body disappears completely, and the gate closes on itself. The scenery is replaced by the stars and galaxies behind it, which become visible for the first time in billions of years. Senka''s mouth is hanging open at witnessing this phenomenon, before she turns away and stares into space.


    "Hey, you sure you want to do this? Something like that is hard to top, you know?" Her expression is filled with bewilderment.


    "Oh, don''t worry. Size isn''t everything, technique is important, too~ ?" Olethea puts a hand on the tiny doll-like girl''s shoulder and smiles.


    "Of course, you need to make it an innuendo..."


    "Always, my dear~ ?"


    " Leaving aside the fact that this method seems to be just way over the top and will result in a massive amount of innocent casualties just for that one kill... how do you know that it worked in the first place?" There is one last question Senka needs an answer to.


    "Oh, no, that''s why I used this method in the first place. There won''t be any other casualties, as long as my target keeps to her schedule. And this is pretty much the only way she can be killed." Olethea touches a crystal and it glows softly, upon which one of the remaining screens flickers and shows a television program. "Any second now..."


    "... breaking news! The vice president, Zyxxxas Yyyhozyx, on the way to her inauguration to the position of the President of the Galactic Republic, was caught in an inexplicable phenomenon, wherein a black hole spontaneously burst from inside her vessel. Yyyhozyx''s fate is unconfirmed, but given the circumstances, the likelihood of her survival is..." The screen flickers out at the eldar''s command and she turns to Senka with a smug expression.


    "I''m fairly certain the next President of the Galactic Republic, of all people, won''t be flying her own ship..."


    "Oh, those ships were steered by robots..."


    "Alright, I know where this is going, so I''ll stop you right there." Massaging the bridge of her nose, the stitched girl gestures for Olethea to drop that line of thoughts. "In either case, are you sure your target is dead?"


    "I am, but my client will confirm that for me." She shrugs, sits down on the pilot''s seat and puts her feet on the control panel casually. Flopping down on the copilot''s right next to her, Senka sighs once again and looks out the window, at where the black hole used to be. This is the first time that she has witnessed something on such a grand scale and the realization still has not fully settled in. This woman next to her just transported a celestial body many times more massive than a sun to another point in the galaxy, just to kill the vice president, who is apparently from a race of star vampires that are invulnerable to all known weapons.


    "... Red Mantis." A deep rasping voice comes from the screen before Olethea, as it buzzes with white noise and switches to the ghastly gray visage of a man with no mouth and four eyes. They are filled with an intensity that may cause people of lesser mental fortitude to look away immediately, but the red-head responds with a smile. "The client''s observer transmitted the presence of the target inside the vessel until the moment it was swallowed by the black hole. Your job is complete."


    "Aha~ ?" She makes and turns to Senka before whispering. "That''s Paznik Snerod, my inter-dimensional middleman. Despite appearances, he''s actually quite happy right now."


    "Who is that?" Paznik turns his four eyes to the doll-like girl, who is undecided on which pair to look into. She settles on the upper pair, a relaxed expression on her face despite the intensity in his gaze.


    "My new partner." Olethea states in a matter of fact tone, causing both Paznik and Senka to spin their heads around to her in bafflement.


    "Wait, I never agreed to that!"


    "The infamous Red Mantis taking a partner... just do not let her become a weakness." The four-eyed alien speaks, his feelings about this revelation impossible to glean from his lack of expressiveness. "I will send you your pickup. A list of new jobs is already waiting."


    "Thank you~ ?" The screen cuts out and the red-head turns to Senka almost ceremoniously. "So, to introduce myself once more. I''m Olethea Sykoria - among other names - but best known as Red Mantis, the inter-dimensional assassin."


    "... I''m Ootsuki Senka." The doll-like girl responds with a resigning smile. "I used to be called Avenger Doll." After a short moment of contemplation, she turns her head around and stares into space in exasperation. "Wow, way to shoehorn the title in... fuck it, roll credits!"


    "Bye bye~" Olethea waves in the same direction. "See you next week~ ?"


    Spoiler:Image<input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">

 Gig 2: Part 1 - The Transfer Student

    Sitting all the way at the back of a high school classroom, and one seat removed from the window, which would have been the typical transfer student seat, Senka is staring outside in boredom. The school building is overlooking the suburban neighborhood, which appears sleepy despite the fact that it is actually located in urban Tokyo. As if realizing that someone is watching her, she turns around and raises an eyebrow.


    "How did I get here? - you may ask... All I can say is that it has a very profound reason. One so profound that I can''t even begin to explain." She mutters in a muffled voice, as her mouth is covered in a surgical mask. Her hair is completely black rather than bleaching out towards the tips, and almost all the skin visible under her sailor school uniform is covered in bandages to hide the gruesome scars and stitches all across her body.


    "Senka-chan, who''re you talking to?" Matsuda Hitomi asks in a hushed voice. She sits in the seat in front of the stitched horror girl, and is the only person who seems to care about the latter in this class since she transferred to this high school one month ago. After all, Senka is neither very outgoing nor a beautiful foreigner.


    "I was thinking that Onodera-sensei is going on about how her latest marriage interview went badly again." Onodera Ritsuko, their homeroom and math teacher, is about to reach her thirties, and despite looking cute and being empathetic in her duties, she has been unable to find a partner. Within the past month she has had six marriage interviews, all of which turned out unfavorably. Several of them even had the audacity to point out her age directly. In a way, Senka has grown to like her, so if she had been present at the interview, she would have punched the man who dared to say something so insensitive.


    "Ahaha, Ricchan always has bad luck with men. Even though she''s so cute." Hitomi chuckles and shrugs.


    "If you have anything to say, Matsuda-san, would you care to share it with the whole class?" The teacher''s voice resounds through the completely silent room and the girl in question shows an expression that seems to say ''crap, I''ve been caught'' while sticking out her tongue. However, Hitomi is a brazen person who is not afraid to speak her mind and turn an unfavorable situation around for a laugh.


    "I was just thinking that if by the end of my time at high school you''re still single, I wouldn''t mind asking you to make me miso soup every morning, Ricchan!" She states with a straightforward grin, earning a wide-eyed blushing expression from Ritsuko. In the next moment, the female half of the classroom fawns over Hitomi''s gallant and confident appearance, while the male half laughs while cheering them on.


    "S-stop teasing your teacher, Matsuda-san! This is an actual problem for me, you know?" Ritsuko speaks with a flustered blush. Hitomi is the type to attract both genders with her charisma - so much Senka has been able to notice in her short time at the school. As a member of the track and field club, she has a great figure, is rather tall for a Japanese girl, and possesses an attitude all those spineless men of today could only dream of.


    "But I''m not joking?" She adds with a shrug, earning her another round of cheers.


    "A-anyway, we have a new transfer student today." The teacher announces after clearing her throat.


    "You should have started with that, teacher." The class representative Sendou Takeshi states while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. This causes a wave of laughter to run through the students again. Senka shakes her head at the fact that Onodera appears to have so little authority, but at the same time it seems that she is well-liked by her students, as they do respect her and never cause any problems.


    "Please come on in." Ritsuko calls out to the door, ignoring Takeshi''s interjection. Upon her signal, the door slides open and a girl with combed back red hair, tied in a large braid reaching down to the back of her knees, enters. The murmur runs through the class at the sight and everyone''s eyes are locked onto her, as they are entranced by her appearance.


    The transfer student has beautiful and smooth white skin, a large chest that seems to try and squeeze out of her uniform, and piercing green eyes highlighting her beautiful face. Walking with confident strides, she steps up to the teacher''s platform and stops next to the podium to face the class. Standing beside Ritsuko and towering above her, it becomes clear that she is as tall as the new ace of the basketball club, Takanashi Kei. "Introduce yourself to the class."


    With swift motions, the red-haired girl picks up a piece of chalk and writes her name out on the blackboard. It reads Reshia Shikora and is written in katakana, which is used to approximate the phonetic reading of foreign names; and her heritage as a foreigner is indisputable. Turning to the class with a self-assured smile, she puts a hand on her hip and addresses everyone with a single look through her attentive eyes.


    "My name is Lethia Sykora. I''m from Russia and will be attending this school from today onwards. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She speaks in fluent Japanese with a foreign accent, and the class breaks out in voices filled with awe.


    "So beautiful!"


    "Her hair is so smooth, I''m envious..."


    "How cool. "


    "Her skin is white like snow."


    "Look at that rack!"


    "Hey, who said that just now?!" Unohara Rika growls when the voice of a boy comments on Lethia''s large breasts. She is a petite girl with twin tails and a childish face, which a certain type of people may prefer to the more mature looks of Lethia.


    "A flat board like you has no right to judge our preferences." Kitagawa Satoshi replies with a smug expression. If not for his good looks, nobody in the class would take him seriously, as his abrasive personality does not garner him any friends. However, he possesses a dark charisma that makes him attractive to some girls. And those girls rush to his aid in this situation.


    "You''re only jealous because Kitagawa-san would never pick you." Asahina Yasuko remarks snidely. She is one of those girls who could be considered beautiful, if she did not ruin her looks with the wrong type of makeup.


    "Go back to being a cutting board." Hanayama Aki heckles, despite the fact that she is only slightly larger than Rika, but lacks all the cuteness the latter brings with her well-shaped face and petite frame.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Everyone quiet down! You are giving Shikora-san a bad impression of this class." Ritsuko claps her hands together and brings order to the chaos that is beginning to break out caused by the separation of genders. "Do you have any questions for your new classmate?"


    "What''s your cup size?" Ishihara Ginji, emboldened by Satoshi''s earlier remarks about chest sizes, asks with his nostrils flared in a perverted grin.


    "In Japan, I have to buy H." She states and puts a finger to her lips innocently. The whole class is speechless and even Furukawa Ino, who people always associate with the saying ''looks smaller under clothes'', is staring in disbelief. "Anything else?" Lethia''s expression has a hint of mischief mixed in, but on the surface she appears slightly clueless as to why everybody''s jaws are slack.


    "Umm, do you know what club you are going to join?" Kotobuki Hikari asks reluctantly. She is from the volleyball club and her intentions are obvious, seeing as the new transfer student is almost ten centimeters taller than her. And judging by her slender but slightly toned legs, Lethia is clearly the athletic type. Others immediately realize the opportunity and raise their hands in anticipation of being picked for asking her, so that they may try and invite her to their respective clubs.


    "I would like to take a look around, first." Lethia responds with a radiant smile. It is an indirect invitation for the students to give her a tour for their clubs after school. As expected, both boys and girls are already eyeing her ravenously, each with different priorities in mind. "But I think a club where I can learn more about Japanese culture would be the best." Upon these words the sports club members show a hint of disappointment as they lower their hands again.


    "Do you have a boyfriend?" Imagawa Masashi asks boldly, causing everyone to stare at Lethia expectantly.


    "No, I don''t." With an almost seductive expression directed towards the entire class, she responds unhesitatingly.


    "Alright, that''s enough with the personal questions, everyone." The teacher steps forward to stop the introduction session. "You''ll have time to get to know her better after homeroom, so for now, let''s find you a seat." She looks across the classroom to see where it would be best for Lethia to sit, spotting the one right next to Senka, all the way back and beside the window. "How about that one?"


    "Where else, it''s the typical seat for the student transferring in during the school year." Senka rolls her eyes and mutters, which Hitomi overhears and responds to with a chuckle. Staring at the red haired girl as she approaches, the stitched girl shows a hint of irritation, which is answered with a friendly smile.


    "Hello, my name is Lethia Sykora, what is yours?" She introduces herself once again and asks in a whisper upon sitting down on her new seat. Looking at her sideways with a dubious glint in her eyes, Senka does not respond immediately.


    "... Ootsuki Senka." She finally says, her voice muffled by the surgical mask covering her Glasgow smile. Her expression makes it clear that she considers this a bother, and she turns away from the transfer student. This causes her gaze to meet with Hitomi''s, who has a smug grin on her face that speaks volumes about what she thinks Senka''s feelings at the moment are. "Turn around, class is starting." Waving at her, the stitched girl rests her chin on her palm and looks down on her notebook to avoid further conversations.


    "Ugh, what a drag..." It is lunchtime and Senka is sitting on the rooftop alone, eating the sandwich she bought at the cafeteria. She suddenly turns her head and stares into space, a skeptical expression on her face, as she purses her lips. "What''s with the sudden character dump? It''s almost like they''re going to be relevant this time around..." She finishes the sandwich, takes a sip from her canned coffee, and sighs.


    "Hey, you''re up here all by yourself again, Senka-chan." The door to the rooftop opens and Hitomi sticks her head out from the crack. "Too busy in the classroom?"


    "What about you, Matsuda-san? I expected that you would be among those to surround the new transfer student and shower her with questions." The doll-like girl quickly covers her mouth to hide the scars. Luckily, she has already finished her meal and won''t have to tiptoe around the foot to avoid showing off the gruesome stitches holding her cheeks together. While the fact that she is covered in scars is not a real secret, it has grown to become a source for rumors, since she keeps it under wraps at all times. Even though Senka knows that Hitomi is not the type to gossip needlessly, she prefers not to let anyone know in the first place.


    "Jealous about your shiny spot as the new transfer student being taken? By a busty Russian girl no less." Flopping down on the bench next to Senka, Hitomi remarks with a sarcastic laugh. Her own chest is considered to be on the large side, and is one of the largest in the class, to the point where people wonder why she is in the track and field club, where they may get in the way. Furukawa Ino was indisputably the largest - before Lethia came along - and she attends the tea ceremony club after all.


    "You have no right to speak about busty..." Senka says with an annoyed look at the chest of the girl beside her.


    "Hey, I''m going to get a breast size reduction first thing when I graduate." Hitomi answers and opens her homemade lunch box. Within is a huge portion that could feed more than two people, but this is what she eats every day due to her fast metabolism and the afternoon club activities. She takes out a carton of milk and begins to drink from it in large gulps.


    "Others are worried about their chest being too small, and you speak about getting yours turned smaller?! Damned privileged people!" Grabbing Hitomi''s chest in irritation, the stitched girl squeezes them around, causing the former to make an incredibly girlish voice that only further increases the latter''s anger.


    "Stop it, Senka-chan! Ahn!" Hitomi is unable to resist, as she is holding an open carton of milk in one hand and grasping chopsticks in the other.


    "What are your hobbies, Shikora-san?" One of the girls surrounding Lethia asks, her expression filled with wonder at seeing the silky red hair from close up.


    "I like to travel when on vacation." She responds with a smile while employing her fork and knife in a refined manner, picking up a slice of potato from her homemade salad. "And I like journeys where I can meet and... mingle with locals."


    "So you have been all around the world?" Another asks while hanging onto Lethia''s every word.


    "Not to as many places as I would want to." The red-head answers with a longing distant look in her eyes. "I wish to see and experience so many more cultures."


    "What do you know about Japan?" Hikari inquires, interested to hear what views of this country the foreigner who speaks Japanese fluently may have. She bears no ill will, but it is clear that she hopes to affirm her image of overseas people and their lack of knowledge of her culture aside from the stereotypes perpetuated by movies and pop culture.


    "I hear that every school has their own legends." Lethia says and the surrounding girls look at her in surprise. Then one of them begins to laugh and the others follow her example. Astonished by the response, the former looks around in incomprehension, before Hikari releases her from her ignorance.


    "That in itself is a legend." She states while laughing.


    "... but, to tell the truth... there are a set of rumors about this school." The first girl reluctantly admits in a hushed voice, as if she fears that the wrong people might hear it. While several others react with dismissing laughs and disapprovingly raised eyebrows, Lethia immediately turns to the one who spoke with an intrigued glint in her eyes.


    "Mouri-san, right? Please, tell me more~ ?"

 Gig 2: Part 2 - School Mysteries

    A member of the student council, whose name remains undisclosed, went to the old school building to check on a rumor that people were seen there after school. When she went into one of the locker rooms, she discovered traces of torture all over it. There were wooden vaulting blocks that had one extra block that could be added on top, which was shaped like a triangle and was covered in stains. On an old couch in the corner of the room lay ropes and chains, and a horse whip could be found in one of the broken drawers.


    She was a person with a curious streak, but even she thought that it was eerie. When she backed away and turned around at the door to leave, a low rumbling sound in the room caused her to take a stop and look once more, but...


    "... BAM!" Akane shouts loudly all of a sudden. The others, who had been dismissive of her stories before, had started to listen intently, and jump at her loud voice. "The door of a locker slams shut right next to her, and she ran for her life!"


    "Don''t scare us like this, Akane!"


    "Yeah, the story wasn''t even that spooky, but your voice was too loud!"


    One after another, they begin to complain, and the girl pelted under their words shrinks as she pushes up her glasses. However, one person''s voice remains unheard, and Akane looks up to her carefully.


    "That was quite an interesting story, Mouri-san." Lethia comments with a warm smile. Encouraged by her praise, she returns the expression. The other girls are unable to complain any more when the transfer student says she likes it. "Please tell me more."


    "Oh, alright." With a shy laugh, Akane changes her attitude once again and becomes serious. Even if the stories she tells are not particularly scary, she has the right approach in her delivery. With coherent speech and an almost hushed voice as if fearing that someone unintended could overhear her, she begins once again. "This is the rumor about the split-mouthed girl that has been sighted at night, walking through the school aimlessly."


    Lethia very nearly does a spit-take upon hearing this and sets her carton of milk down on the table. Luckily, nobody notices as she struggles to keep her composure.


    "This is coming from someone in my literature club, so it''s a reliable source." The glasses girl continues ominously. Of course, she does not give that person''s name, to keep his or her privacy, but also to lend the story a sense of mystery. "She says that just at the beginning of this semester, she fell asleep after club activities. It was dark and the school had closed down already, when she finally woke up, so she went to ask for the key to the gate from the guard on night watch duty. On her way through the corridor on the second floor, she saw a small girl come up the stairs."


    Pausing for dramatic effect, Akane takes a deep breath, as if preparing herself mentally. Everyone hangs onto her every word and an anxious silence lays its blanket over the group of girls. Lethia is nervous for a different reason, as she knows clearly who this small girl with the split mouth is. Then again, judging from the fact that nobody seems to have drawn the connection, it may be safe to say that nothing has been revealed yet.


    "A small girl that looks like an elementary school child walking through the high school building at night, moving completely silently... it caused her skin to break out in goose-bumps. She instinctively hid behind a corner and watched the girl look around. Then she began to come towards her location; she was trapped!" Akane''s voice takes on a hint of fear and it becomes contagious, as the other girls begin to stare at her in anticipation.


    The fact that this person from the literature club was able to tell her the story means that she survived it, is all that Lethia thinks, but she does not show any of it on her face.


    "When the small girl passed by her, she almost breathed out in relief, but then she suddenly stopped and turned around to look at her. There were gruesome stitched scars that split the corners of her mouth open, up to the ears! She ran with all her might, climbed over the school gate and sprinted all the way home, then collapsed the moment she closed the door behind her." With this, Akane concludes the story. The group remains silent and exchange nervous glances among each other. Unexpectedly, Lethia looks uncomfortable as well.


    "Shikora-san?" Akane asks while blinking in confusion. The red-haired girl did not seem the type to be shaken by horror stories like these, but apparently she took it quite hard.


    "It''s just a scary story told among students. There''s no truth to it." One of the other girls says nervously, not a hint of composure in her attempt to write it off as fiction.


    "Y-Yeah, I guess you''re right." Lethia says and smiles in slight relief. In reality, she is still concerned about somebody making the connection between this split-mouthed girl and a certain student in this class.


    "Let''s get onto a more light-hearted rumor." Akane says with an apologetic expression. Now she feels bad for making the girl with the glasses think that it was the story that caused her discomfort. "This is about someone in our class, a certain transfer student who came before Shikora-san."


    This time, Lethia chokes on her salad and is unable to suppress the coughing fit. What has that girl been doing?!


    "What''s wrong?" Hitomi asks the previous transfer student in her lap. They somehow ended up in this position once again, as if it was completely natural. Senka seems strangely fine with being treated like a child or a doll, as she is being hugged from behind.


    "Nothing, it just felt like somebody was talking about me..." The masked girl responds with a slightly irritated expression.


    "Who could be talking about you? I''m here with you right now?" The track and field girl asks in an overly innocent tone, teasing the girl in her lap for having such a small presence ever since she transferred in. After all this time, Hitomi is the only friend she made, despite how different they are in both looks and personality.


    "Very funny..." Senka makes and leans back. Even though she may be cynical and always complaining, she still seeks human closeness and warmth.


    "Class dismissed. Everyone, don''t forget your homework for tomorrow. Especially you, Matsuda-san." The teacher, Ritsuko, specifically points out Hitomi, since she is notorious for not doing her homework and only concentrating on her club activities instead. "You may be on the best way to get into a good university on an athletic scholarship, but that doesn''t mean you can slack off on school work." Her reprimanding tone would be much more persuasive, if not for her amusing reaction to the girl''s advances during morning homeroom.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "If you promise me a kiss as a reward, I''ll do it, Ricchan!" The girl in question states boldly and the whole class breaks out in laughter. Blushing and puffing up her cheeks, Ritsuko is unsure on how to respond, before slamming down her textbook.


    "Stop teasing your teacher, and don''t call me Ricchan!" She yells, but nobody can take her seriously, as she looks like a child throwing a tantrum and appears cute rather than intimidating. Still, the students know when to stop as to not cross the line, and Hitomi is one of them, as she does not pursue the matter any further. Seeing as nobody else speaks up, Ritsuko leaves the classroom with a pout. When she closes the door behind herself, the class begins to move as well, some going to club activities while others return home.


    "Shikora-san, I would like to show you the tea ceremony club." Ino, who has been dethroned as the bustiest girl in the class, comes up to Lethia. "I am sure it would make for the best learning experience in traditional Japanese culture." She is faster than all the other club members that want to scout the new transfer student, since she sits right in front of her.


    "Ahh, unfair, Ino!"


    "Ino-chan is sneaky!"


    "I would love to... umm." Lethia agrees, pausing as she was unable to remember her full name.


    "Furukawa Ino, but you can just call me Ino." She responds with a radiant smile. The others surrounding them have an expression of defeat on their faces, as there is no fast way to view a tea ceremony to gain insight into it. This means that there will be no time to visit any of the other clubs for the rest of the day.


    "Don''t worry everyone, I will take this whole week and visit all the clubs before making my decision." The red-haired girl states, shining a ray of hope upon those gathered, whose faces light up in joy at these words.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to ask her?" Senka turns to Hitomi, who just finished packing up her stuff and is moving to leave for the track and field club activities.


    "Nah, I doubt she''ll have any interest in running. And she''s not really built for it either." Clearly, she is referring to Lethia''s height and chest size. "I still don''t understand how that one senpai in the club does it, she''s almost as big as Ino." With a contemplative expression, Hitomi looks at the two busty girls, comparing their sizes over their clothes, before shrugging and turning away. "See you tomorrow, Senka-chan."


    "Bye..." Waving her off, the masked girl shoulders her bag and leaves the classroom through the back door. She is a member of the going-home-club and it would appear that she will remain with little presence for her entire time at the school. After all, she makes no conscious effort to find any friends, and even the relationship with Hitomi is mostly one-sided. "Leave me alone..." She mutters.


    "To attend the tea ceremony, it is preferred to wear a kimono." Ino says, a hint of calculating in her eyes. Lethia notices it, but does not pay it any attention. They are in the tea ceremony club''s private changing room and the former has already begun to undress, showing off her mature lace underwear. "And it is preferred to not wear anything underneath, to prevent its outline from being visible."


    Lethia unhesitatingly takes off all her clothes, and everyone in the room stares at her in awe, their eyes as round as plates. She is the type to look small under clothes, too; her breast size is in a completely different order, compared to even Ino''s. In fact, they must be the largest within the entire school. Speechless, they just keep staring at her, while the red-haired girl looks around in confusion.


    "What is it? Is there something wrong with my body?" She asks innocently and looks down at herself questioningly.


    "N-no, we just thought that you had such an incredible body..." Ino finally says with a sense of defeat.


    "Oh, you have a great figure, too, Ino-san." Lethia responds shyly and picks up the guest kimono given to her. It is the only one available in her size, of a sky blue color with a pink cherry petal print. She slips into it but begins to fiddle with the sash, not knowing how to put it on. Seeing that, Ino approaches to help her, while still only in her underwear. "Thank you."


    The image of one busty beauty helping another dress in a kimono entrances the other girls, as they watch without making a sound.


    "So, how was the tea ceremony club?" Senka asks while looking up from her book, when the door to the hotel room-like space opens. Closing it behind herself, Lethia walks through the room on shaky legs while pulling off her school uniform and untying her hair, before finally falling onto the bed face-first in exhaustion. "Better question, how was sitting in seiza for hours on end?" She chuckles.


    "That''s not funny at all." The red-head turns over on the bed and says with an indignant frown. "I couldn''t cast pain resistance because everyone was staring at me all the time. You could have warned me..." Sitting up and muttering a spell, her ears grow longer, until they are nearly as long as her shoulders are wide.


    "Then I would have missed out on the fun of watching you stagger through the room like that." Closing her book, Senka puts it down and looks at the Olethea she knows. "Really, to think you passed as a sixteen year old with that needlessly large body of yours..." She comments on the eldar''s look in her underwear with a hint of wonder and plenty of irritation. "Found out anything?"


    "Yeah, I found out that the Japanese are making a needless fuss out of drinking a cup of very bitter tea... although the tea cake was really nice, I''d like to eat more of that." Olethea responds while running her fingers through her hair to undo the braid. While the tips would normally reach below her buttocks, her open hair tickles the back of her knees. "And I learned that kimono look better on those with small breasts." Touching her own immense bust, she muses.


    "... that''s not what I meant." At the mention of chest size, Senka''s eyebrows drop down onto a perceived straight line in annoyance. "Did you find out anything about our target?" The fact that she speaks about the job as if it involves herself puts a smile onto the red-head''s face. It means that the doll-like girl has fully accepted working with Olethea as an inter-dimensional assassin. While she did have a perfect track record on her own before, having someone alongside her in the field makes for much more fun. "What are you smiling about?"


    "Just thinking that you''re really cute~ ?"


    "Take this seriously. I don''t want to stay another month or even longer around here..."


    "Oh, even though you seem to have made a friend?" Olethea teases with curled lips and a knowing look. "What was her name again... Hitomi?"


    "I know not to make friends when on a mission." With a dismissive attitude, Senka states in a matter of fact tone.


    "Hey, where''s the fun in that? Between jobs we can always come back here and you can visit her, you know?"


    "I''d rather not. Japan has changed a lot since I last came here."


    "Was it the same dimension?"


    "I don''t know, but it was a thousand or so years ago." The doll-like girl says casually and waves her hand to dismiss the topic. "So, anything?"


    "I only visited the tea ceremony club, so nothing turned up yet. But I did hear an interesting set of rumors about you..." Olethea''s expression changes. "Namely that you have been spotted in the school at night, with your mask off. I told you I could put a disguising spell on you to hide those scars." Sighing, the eldar gestures at her own ears, which had been turned into those of a normal human''s during the day at school.


    "And I told you that I can do it myself, if I have to. I showed my scars on purpose, so that it would stir up new rumors." Grimacing almost childishly, Senka stretches her stitches and shows off all her teeth at once. Their target this time is someone that thrives on rumors and mystery, so it is the right decision to try and fuel the school with more of it.


    "I see. Nice thinking... I can''t even retort." Impressed, Olethea backs down on the subject. "In either case, at this rate we''ll be here for a while."


    "Not like time matters on this job." Leaning back on her seat and picking up the book again, Senka states with a shrug and proceeds to continue reading. The red-head looks at her curiously for a moment, before fully undressing and walking into the adjacent bathroom. Watching it from the corner of her eyes, the doll-like girl sighs and shakes her head. "Although I''d prefer not to spend too much time here after all..."

 Gig 2: Part 3 - Oh, Those Russians

    "Ahn... no... we should not be doing this... ahhhn." The heated voice resounds through the tea ceremony club room.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be gentle~ ?" The Japanese words with the Russian accent make it clear who is involved in this.


    "... incredible... she is so bold." A third, hushed voice says.


    "... how beautiful..." A fourth voice mutters in awe.


    "... n-not in front of - ahn - the others..." Ino presses out from between her lips, unable to hold back her moans of pleasure. Her weak attempts at pushing Lethia away are completely unsuccessful, as the latter is sucking on her neck while massaging her back and large breasts through the disheveled kimono.


    "But you seem to get more excited while being watched~ ?" The red-haired transfer student breathes into Ino''s ear before nibbling on the tip of it, eliciting a surprised moan.


    "Th-that is not true... uhhhn..."


    Club activities have ended and the supervisor as well as the upperclassmen have left only moments ago, making the first-year students clean up before they can finally leave as well. Lethia is using this time of relative isolation from the rest of the world to begin her seduction plan. The small teahouse is separate from all other buildings, so nobody will pass by and overhear anything going on inside. And she will make sure that those within the club would keep what happens here a secret by making them addicted to her techniques.


    "Why don''t you join us, Miho-san?" Lethia glances at the girl from the neighboring class, who is the very definition of a Yamato Nadeshiko, out of the corners of her eyes. She beckons her to come over with a seductive smile. "And you, too, Ashina-san." Shifting her gaze to the girl next to Miho, the red-haired girl invites another to the mix. The two look at each other and swallow their saliva nervously, before turning back to Lethia.


    "Y-yes..."


    "W-with p-pleasure..."


    One after another, the members of the club fall to the irresistible ways of the Russian transfer student.


    After a week of visiting various clubs and joining in on their activities - with the occasional seduction afterwards - Lethia''s name has become known throughout the school. Rumors about her promiscuous nature has spread among the students and even the staff, but because there have been no complaints, the teachers cannot issue a warning. And due to the fact that she is a student with perfect grades across the board, performs above and beyond the skills of any high school student in sports, music and the arts, nobody even thinks of speaking badly of her.


    To the dismay of all the competition-based clubs, she eventually chose to return to the one she visited on the first day of school. Some whisper that it is because the tea ceremony club members are all beauties in their own rights - and because of the presence of Furukawa Ino, who was, before Lethia''s arrival, the girl rumored to have the largest chest at this school. And as expected, she began to show more and more of her promiscuous side, until it escalated in an orgy involving all the members.


    Of course, that is only a rumor, like so many other things involving the new transfer student, including her actual bust size - despite the fact that she already revealed it to her entire class on the first day. It led to a decline in other rumors and mysteries coursing through the school at the time, to the point where many completely disappeared over the following months.


    Slowly, the school was overflowing with gossip about Lethia''s actions after school, rather than the mysteries that seemed to plague the old school building. When the demolition of the building was finally scheduled to commence during the summer vacations, nobody really talked about it anymore.


    "Things are going well." Lethia comments when asked by Senka. "Just a little longer and our job here will be done~ ?"


    "Tomorrow''s the inter-high marathon, wish me luck." Hitomi announces to Senka after school, for the fifth time this week. They are sitting at the very top of the stands of the school''s sports field, enjoying the gentle sun on the afternoon of this last day before the summer vacations. Looking at her with a disinterested expression, the masked girl does not respond. "Come on, is that how you send your husband off to battle?"


    "... at this point..." She begins, but stops and walks to the trees behind them, to pick up two rocks. Watching her curiously, Hitomi says nothing of this strange behavior. Standing next to her, Senka begins to beat the two rocks together. "May thee be victorious in battle and return safely to mine side, dear husband!" Speaking with a deadpan serious expression, she performs the traditional good-luck rites women carry out to see off their men to a war or a duel.


    Staring at Senka with large eyes for a moment, Hitomi is left speechless. Then she breaks out in laughter and jumps up to hug the masked girl, who carelessly tosses the rocks aside without changing her expression. She pets her hair and showers her face with kisses, then spins around her own axis as if dancing a waltz.


    "You''re really the best, Senka-chan!" Setting her down again, Hitomi stems her hands into her waist and looks up into the sky with a determined expression. "I''m going to win the trophy for you, just you wait!" Speaking with dedication, she looks back down on Senka, who has an eyebrow raised in skepticism.


    "Even though you keep telling me that there''s no way you could ever beat that senpai of yours?" With a simple matter of fact statement, she beats down Hitomi''s high tension immediately.


    "D-don''t say that... I''ll do it! ... somehow." The determination has dissipated a little, but she is not the type to give up even when it seems hopeless.


    "... do your best and good luck, Hitomi." Senka finally says in a more amicable tone, looking up to her opposite with a smile - although it remains hidden behind her mask. This marks the first time that she has referred to Hitomi by her first name, and the latter realizes that fact. A soft smile on her face, the track and field girl nods in assurance.


    "You up for the test of courage tomorrow?" Olethea, lying sprawled out on her bed in a state of half-undress, asks the second Senka enters their pocket-dimension. It is one of the eldar''s many futuristic gadgets, a self-adhering finger-print lock that can be attached on any door to turn it into a portal leading to this fully furnished hotel room-like space. The doll-like girl has commented on how the name - Anywhere Hotel - is both stupid and a potential copyright infringement, but no such meanings or boundaries exist for the inter-dimensional assassin Red Mantis.


    "... what?" Looking at the red-head with a dispassionate glance, Senka sits down on her bed, takes off her surgical mask and picks up a volume of the manga series called Lone Wolf and Cub, which she has been reading recently.


    "You haven''t heard? They''re planning to go to the old school building in the evening, and have a test of courage, before it''s demolished."


    "Who is they?"


    "The guys and girls from class. I think it''s an attempt by some of them to do a little matchmaking for the summer vacations." Sitting up in a swift motion, Olethea looks at the stitched girl with a smirk. "Why don''t you invite Hitomi?"


    "She has a marathon tomorrow, so she''ll be too tired to play along with such a childish thing." Senka''s straightforward response leaves the red-head dumbfounded, causing her to open and close her mouth without saying anything.


    "Whatever... but I think that''s going to be when we''ll finally get to meet our target." Lying back down on the bed, Olethea rolls herself into her blanket. The days are getting hotter, but the Anywhere Hotel has a broken air conditioner, which is always set to "too cold". Sighing, the eldar looks up to the light panel. "This life might be over tomorrow already..."


    She suddenly sits up with an abrupt motion, an expression of realization on her face. Gathering up a dark blue suit and a white shirt, she shuffles to put the clothes on, before quickly braiding her hair. Senka watches in surprise, slightly alarmed at seeing Olethea so perturbed, especially when even being ganged up on by several large alien creatures out for her head did not cause her any concern. However, she regrets paying attention to it at all, when the latter explains her strange and hasty actions.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "I forgot that I had a date with Ritsuko!" Olethea shouts out quickly and rushes to the door under the disapproving gaze of the doll-like girl, who rolls her eyes at how serious she was taking the eldar''s flustered expression just now. "See you tomorrow!" And she leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind herself.


    "Why do I put up with her?" She says into the empty room, as if a counter-question to being asked. "Because I have no choice... but you know that already." With this, Senka continues reading in silence.


    "... actually..." Looking up from her book, she stops and thinks for a bit. "I have to admit... it''s quite fun with her sometimes..." Scratching the stitches on her cheek, she states while looking away in slight embarrassment. Then she shakes her head, as if trying to free herself from these uncharacteristic thoughts, and fixes her eyes on the pages of the manga in her hands once more.


    "Shikora-san?!" Ritsuko, in a beautiful but slightly uptight dress, tenses up upon seeing her student come towards her with a charming smile. They are in the very expensive-looking restaurant where she was meant to meet her prospective partner for a marriage interview - the seats reserved by the same - but with Lethia coming towards her in the most natural way, confusion washes over her. What is she doing here? How does she know about this appointment? Why is she dressed so formally?


    "Good evening, Ritsuko." The red-haired girl greets as she sits down opposite from her teacher, an unceasing smile on her lips. Seeing that the reserved table for two is now occupied by both announced customers, a waiter comes over and asks what they would like to order. "A bottle of the 1988 Barolo Cannubi Boschis." She states without looking at the menu and with no hint of hesitation in her words.


    "Certainly." The waiter immediately responds and turns to Ritsuko, who stares at Lethia dumbfounded. "Anything for you, dear customer?"


    "N-no, thank you." She mutters and the waiter bows, before leaving to bring the ordered item. Blinking at her student a few times, the small teacher begins to look through the menu to find what she just ordered with such assurance. She finds it among the wines, which already rings her alarm bells, but when she sees the price, her eyes almost pop out of their sockets. Ninety thousand Yen for one bottle! "Wait a moment, Shikora-san! The wine-"


    "Yes, it is a vintage from the year you were born in." An enchanting smile on her lips, Lethia interrupts her teacher before she can finish what she is trying to say. "I think it is the perfect wine to celebrate this occasion." What occasion? Ritsuko does not understand the meaning of her words.


    "B-but you''re a-" Before she can say that the red-haired girl is a minor, the latter stretches a hand across the table and puts a finger on her lips. She signals for her to play along with a wink, and for a moment she completely forgets her duties as a teacher over the disarming expression her opposite gives her. Her resistance melts under the enchanting green eyes and the flawless curled lips, even though she is fully aware of the fact that Lethia is not only a girl, but also her very own student.


    "I believe that there is no man alive suitable to be by your side. Therefore, I have come to claim you myself." The red-haired girl states with utter confidence, not a hint of mischief in her gentle smile. For some reason, she cannot bring herself to rebut Lethia for speaking such foolish words, like she would normally do when Matsuda Hitomi makes the same joke. Because coming from this Russian beauty, it does not sound like a joke at all; Ritsuko is completely convinced that she speaks the truth.


    "The Barolo Cannubi Boschis, as ordered. Please let the wine breathe for a while before drinking." The waiter returns with a decanter filled with a full-bodied gold-colored wine. For a moment, Ritsuko remembers the price tag on it and wonders if that is actually liquid gold. "Do you know what you would like to have for your meal?" He asks after pouring a little into each of the two large glasses in front of them.


    "We need a little more time." Lethia states and looks at her teacher, who has been unable to think straight ever since she sat down across from her. With a respectful bow, the waiter leaves again. "Please, order whatever you like. Tonight is my treat."


    The only thing Ritsuko remembers of the meal afterwards was that the bill was in the upper six figures. However, at that point she was already too drunk on both wine and Lethia''s overwhelmingly charming presence, that she could never recall how it all tasted. She would regret it whenever she reminisces about that dinner, feeling like the money was wasted on her uncultured palate.


    They left the restaurant late into the evening, finding their way into the famed Hibiya suite at the Peninsula Hotel. Ritsuko can hazily recall having read about it being an exclusive room that requires a reservation months ahead of time. And the price tag is equally ridiculous, as expected; when she researched it later, she found that it costs a whopping one million Yen per night. She felt faint and a tingle in her abdomen upon reading it.


    Regarding the hotel room itself, it is shaped more like a luxurious apartment with several separate rooms - the overall size much larger than the one she is living in - and has a beautiful view down into the Imperial Palace from the master bedroom. She remembers almost every single detail of the various rooms'' different pieces of luxurious furniture, because she lay or sat on every single one of them, in one way or another.


    "Do you think it strange that we are going to be doing this despite us both being women?" Lethia asks as she approaches in her bath robe, her body steaming after the shower she just took. Lying on the king-sized bed, Ritsuko is covering herself up shyly and looking up at her student, whom she can no longer view as just that at this point.


    "W-we are teacher and student... we shouldn''t be doing this..." Offering one last bit of very unconvincing sounding resistance, the small teacher slowly lowers the blanket as Lethia crawls onto the bed and opens her robe to reveal her incredible body. Within Ritsuko''s eyes the red-haired girl''s voluptuous chest is reflected, its sublime form testament to the fact that there is true perfection. "We... shouldn''t..." She mutters with a blank expression, trailing off the closer Lethia comes.


    "Just enjoy the moment, Ritsuko~ ?" Whispering into her teacher''s ear, the red-haired girl pushes her down and softly touches her blushing cheek with one hand, while the other slowly slides open her loose robe and traces her collarbone. All resistance in Ritsuko melts away the moment Lethia''s lips touch hers lightly. They withdraw for a moment and return, and this time they are met with a conscious response, as the two begin to share a sweet, wine-fueled kiss.


    Sliding a finger across the shoulders of the more cute than mature teacher, Lethia guides her bath robe off of them while keeping their lips locked together. Their tongues entwine and dance, seeking to take the other''s breath away; from Ritsuko''s awkward motions, it becomes clear that she is not very experienced in this regard. Retreating from their heated union, the red-haired girl takes a look at the woman''s exposed chest under the dimmed light of the bedroom. It is heaving from heavy breathing, two small but supple mounds.


    An expression of shame and embarrassment fills her face at being watched so closely, but Lethia gives her a warm smile, before bringing her lips to the former''s neck. At the same time, one hand slides around Ritsuko''s body and runs across her slightly arched back. The exposed breasts are neglected, the nipples perking up in the coolness of the air conditioned room. But with every passing moment, with every shiver running across her skin, the small teacher can feel the heat coming over her, alongside the waves of pleasure from being touched in a way nobody has touched her before.


    Lethia slowly moves downwards, kissing all the way from the collarbone to the breasts, before blowing a heated breath onto their tips. Her hands are massaging her back and waist, without a moment''s rest for both her fingers and her teacher''s body, which grows more and more sensitive. With a light bite, an unsuppressed moan escapes Ritsuko''s slightly parted lips, and she brings a hand to her mouth in shock. Looking at the gesture, the red-haired girl begins to suck on the nipple while bringing a hand up to her other one, to roll it between two fingers.


    Muffling her own voice, all she can do is grab the sheets and twist her body. But Lethia, holding her down with her own weight, does not cease the assault on Ritsuko''s senses. The hand massaging her waist slides down and sensually glides across her outer thigh, and into the back of her knee.


    One after another, the red-haired girl finds the erogenous zones on her teacher''s body: Plunging the tongue into her belly button, running the tips of her fingers over the ribcage that protrudes due to her arched back, kissing all over her inner thighs, and pressing a thumb into the soles of her feet. With every new point, another layer of pleasure is added onto the last, slowly but surely building up to a climax. To facilitate that, Lethia finally brings her fingers between Ritsuko''s legs, sliding them around her most important place. That is when she realizes that they are really going to be doing it.


    "W-wait, Shikora-san..." She makes and grabs Lethia''s hand. "I-I don''t... I don''t think I''m ready yet."


    "But you certainly look like it." The latter responds with a straightforward smile and uses her free hand to spread Ritsuko''s folds, before sliding her middle finger across the slit, eliciting a surprised moan from her. "See?" Holding up the glistening fingertip right in front of her face, Lethia shows that the small teacher is physically more than ready.


    "Th-that''s not what I-" She is interrupted by the red-haired girl''s lips locking with hers. Ritsuko''s tongue comes out to meet her student''s instinctively, and they play with each other for a while. "Mmh... hmmm?!"


    Lethia''s middle finger slides into her depths in a sneaky attack on both ends. The small teacher''s half-hearted attempts at pushing her much larger student away become weaker and weaker, before ceasing completely. Separating her lips from the former''s, Lethia moves down for a deep kiss with her lower mouth. A breathless squeal at the sensation and an arching back shows that her body is on the verge of climaxing from all the earlier foreplay.


    Thus, the red-haired girl begins a more relentless assault, extending her tongue as deeply as she can, and wiggling it around vigorously to stimulate as many points in as quick a succession as possible. Ritsuko turns her face away and uses a pillow to bury it, to muffle her voice, which she can no longer hold back from escaping through her lips. Grabbing her legs, Lethia does not let up and drives her higher and higher, until an unbridled scream from above, and a spray of a clear liquid from below signals that she has reached a toe-curdling orgasm.


    "That was incredible, Ritsuko." Lethia comments and licks her lips clean. Looking up at her with clouded eyes, the corners of the small teacher''s eyes are filled with tears. Apparently she is the type to cry after climaxing. "I knew you would be one capable of experiencing all of my techniques~ ?"


    "... fue?" With a sound of non-comprehension, Ritsuko''s eyes show her confusion at these words. Is it not over?


    "We have all night~ ?" With a lascivious smile and a seductive wiggle of her fingers, Lethia signals that it is far from over.


    "Ah... hah?"


    "Here I come~ ?"

 Gig 2: Part 4 - A Test of Courage

    "Ahaha... w-what''s going on?" Unohara Rika asks with a deranged laugh as she looks down on Ishihara Ginji''s bloodied face. While his eyes are filled with fear and suffering, his mouth is the mockery of a wide grin, exacerbated by the fact that his cheeks have been ripped open all the way to his ears. It is a twisted throwback to his nature as the class clown, who brings people laughter by making oftentimes inappropriate jokes. "This... this must a bad dream, right?"


    She turns to Mouri Akane, whose glasses are sliding off her nose as she trembles from the sight. With shaky fingers, she pushes them back up and averts her gaze from the corpse as well as Rika, looking through the dirty and dark room with restless eyes. The sound of old creaking floorboards coming from below them causes the two girls to flinch, as they both stare at the ground in dread while pressing their hands to their mouths to suppress any sounds they could make. The two girls look at each other with bloodshot eyes.


    "... whatever it is, it''s coming..." Akane whispers in terror. "... we... we have to run!"


    "N-no, I''ll hide in the locker! Hahaha, I''m small, so I can fit." Rika responds and runs to the narrow and dirty metal doors in the back of the room. When she pulls one open, the squeaking of rusty hinges echoes through the room. Looking at each other in shock, they suppress their breathing to listen to any sounds coming from outside the room.


    To their horror, the noise of footsteps rushing through the corridor below them resounds throughout the old school building.


    "I''m sorry, Akane. But you''ll have to find some other place to hide." Rika mutters with a fearful look at Akane and immediately presses herself into the locker. However, no matter how she pushes, chafing her beautiful and smooth skin, she cannot fit her head. Then she realizes that she is stuck, unable to go either in or out. For a moment, her movements stop and she stares at the girl with the glasses with an aghast expression. In the next, desperate tears fill her eyes as the footsteps come up the staircase. "Help! Help me, Akane!!!"


    Sitting on the ground, Akane simply stares with a terrified expression, her mind overloading from the pressure of the situation. Her mouth opens and closes without making a sound. All the while, Rika twists and wiggles her body in mortal fear, trying to unstuck herself using her own strength. As the creaking sounds approach, her face fills with even more desperation and her secret idol facade crumbles. She begins to spew abuses and shouts at the other girl for her help. "You bitch, don''t just sit there and get me out of here!"


    "I... I can''t-" With a trembling voice, Akane mutters as her mind ceases to work the same moment as the footsteps end outside their room. The glasses slide off her nose and her shaking stops completely. In the next instant, the door to the classroom slams open.


    "Alright, time to move out." Olethea states and zips up her bodysuit. She presses a button on the included wristband control panel, upon which all the air is vacuumed out from inside the suit, causing it to become skintight. Attaching a flat metallic drum to one of the hard points on her waist, she fixes a holster containing a small futuristic looking gun to the other side. With the press of another button, the blue suit takes on the color of her skin, and she begins to put on her school uniform, right over it. "You got the proton pack?"


    "I would appreciate it if you didn''t call a device to combat ghosts with by that name... And yes, got it." Senka responds and pushes the button on her oversized suit. It shrinks to fit her body and becomes skintight as well. She attaches the drum-shaped proton pack to a hard point on her lower back, where it is less visible than it would be on her waist, due to her small stature. Forgoing the bandages as she feels that there is no more need to hide her scars, she covers her mouth with a surgical mask out of pure habit.


    "How did Hitomi''s contest go?"


    "She placed fourth." In a matter of fact tone, Senka responds as if it is nothing important. Hitomi tried to keep her composure while reporting that her senpai from the track and field club won pretty much effortlessly, leaving behind the leading pack and completely ignoring the benefits of slipstream rotations, even though it was a windy day. It was clear that her cheerfulness was forced and there was a sniffle in her voice. Hitomi is not as strong as she tries to show herself to be. A twinge of regret tugs at Senka''s heart at the thought that they will not meet again, most likely forever. She would be hugged and cuddled for the track and field girl''s comfort, if they did.


    "Don''t worry, we can always come back here to visit your sweetheart~ ?" Olethea quips, a mischievous grin on her lips. Looking up to her in irritation, the stitched girl rolls her eyes.


    Attaching her own holster to a hard point on her thigh, Senka weighs the gun in her hands, examining its properties. It is shaped like a normal handgun, but has a cubic body, lacking a barrel opening. Apparently it will change its form when the trigger is pulled, and does not fire projectiles, but rather creates a negative gravity space within a straight path, which collapses any and all matter in a set space around it. In other words, it is an incredibly devastating weapon, in complete contrast to its size. Olethea calls it a Quasar gun.


    "Why are we wearing our school uniforms? It''s summer vacations now..." The stitched girl comments while holstering the weapon. She puts on her skirt and hides the weapon underneath it, before buttoning up her short-sleeved shirt.


    "Because we''re going to school and it''s the most fitting thing to wear." The red-head replies with a raised eyebrow, as if she does not understand the problem.


    "It was an insinuation... you know, people in fiction always wear the same clothes and... never mind." Sighing, Senka ties her hair up into a ponytail and denotes that she is ready to depart for the test of courage at the abandoned old school building.


    "Is everyone here?" Kitagawa Satoshi asks, his arm over his delinquent-looking girlfriend from another school. She appears to be incredibly disinterested and is playing around with her phone, while he organizes the event.


    "Wow, even Rika and Akane came." Lethia whispers to Senka, as the two girls in question approach them. Akane is known to be a rumor nut, so it was to be expected that she would not miss out on this opportunity to explore the old school building, which is ripe with them. Rika is a friend of hers, and was most likely taken along so that she would not be alone. Considering the fact that the pairs are to be decided on by drawing lots, they will most likely be split up, though.


    The group has swelled to an overall of twelve people, with the majority being girls. Considering it was organized by Satoshi, Asahina Yasuko and Hanayama Aki would be present without a doubt. However, seeing that he already has a girlfriend has devastated them, and they are uncharacteristically quiet, biting their thumbs and standing slightly apart from the main group.


    "The goal is to leave behind your names on the blackboard of the faculty room on the third floor, but you have to take the long way around." Ishihara Ginji explains while Imagawa Masashi prepares the lots. There is an overall of fourteen people, including Satoshi and his girlfriend , Rika and Akane, Lethia and Senka, Yasuko and Aki, Ginji and Masashi.


    Satoshi ignores the lots, deciding on his own to go with his girlfriend, and are the first to enter the school building. Ginji draws the same number as Akane, and Masashi is with Rika, but there are more girls than boys, so the end result is that Lethia is paired up with Aki and Senka is going with Yasuko. Thus, with a three minute delay between each other, the pairs go into the old school building, wielding cheap flashlights to illuminate the darkness before them.


    "This is all so exciting." Akane points the cheap flashlight they were given before entering all over the corridor and seems to be completely fine despite the creepy atmosphere. The creaking floor boards and noises of wind blowing through the cracks of the building create a choir of sounds that put Ginji on edge. He is unexpectedly the type to be scared of dark places, even though he was one of the people who organized the event.


    "I didn''t think the old school building would be so creepy at night..." While looking around nervously, he remains close to Akane.


    "What''s this, you''re scared of the dark?" Teasing him, she says with a mischievous grin and switches off the light in her hand.


    "Ahhh, don''t do that!" Ginji shouts and waves his arms around trying to grab Akane, but she avoids it skillfully. Switching it back on, she stretches out her tongue and shines it at him. "Never do that again..." He mutters and looks away in embarrassment and for a moment, there is silence between the two.


    "Ahn, yes, there!" Just then, a female''s voice echoes through the hallway of the second floor. Looking at each other, the two share a long stare, remaining silent to try and catch any more sounds. The only two that entered before them are Satoshi and his girlfriend from another school. "Ah, so good!"


    "... don''t tell me..." Ginji mutters.


    "... let''s take a look..." Akane whispers with a hint of excitement on her blushing face. Seeing it, he is stunned by her charm for a moment and goes silent. "Come on." Taking his hand, she pulls him along and they venture deeper into the building.


    They ascend the last few steps to the second floor as quietly as possible, with Akane showing Ginji that when trying to be sneaky, using the edges of wooden stairs makes the least amount of creaking sounds because that is where they are fixed and most stable.


    "I learned that in a book and tested it at home. It''s true, I can now sneak up on my sister and play pranks on her." With a mischievous smile, she explains in a hushed voice. Ginji feels his heart beat faster, thinking that he never noticed how cute she was before. He had always only heard that she has strange tastes and a weird personality, but seeing her now, he cannot help but think that she is just a normal girl with an interest in rumors and mysteries.


    "It''s coming from the last classroom. They went out of their way to go to a place people wouldn''t pass by normally." This whisper takes him out of his thoughts and he stares at Akane blankly for a moment. "Let''s go."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Walking along the wall of the hallway, once again to avoid causing any floorboards to creak, the two slowly approach the room where the noises are coming from. It becomes more and more audible the closer they get, until they finally reach the door beyond which Satoshi and his girlfriend are undoubtedly engaged in lovemaking. Akane peeks into the classroom through the window in the door, and sees two shadowy figures, barely illuminated by the flashlight dropped on the floor carelessly.


    "They''re really doing it..." She mutters in amazement, her face flushed red from seeing the scene unfold before her. Ginji follows her example and watches the rhythmic undulating movements of two human bodies against the wall, accompanied by a girl''s moans. Even though not much is visible, his imagination is filling in the blanks and he can feel his pants becoming uncomfortably tight.


    Furthermore, being so close to Akane, he can smell her sweet scent and feel her body heat, as her breathing is growing more intense from watching. Is she feeling it, too? Peeking at her from the corners of his eyes, he once again realizes her charm. In the spur of the moment, he turns around to her and grabs her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. She is stunned by the suddenness of his actions and is unable to react. Moving his face close to hers, their lips touch and Ginji forces a kiss onto her.


    "Mmhhh!" Akane realizes the situation a moment later and protests in a muffled voice, before pushing him away. "What are you doing?!"


    "Ah, shhh! It was just a joke." He tries to calm her down, but she is clearly upset about his actions and looks down at her own feet with trembling shoulders. "You know, to lighten the mood..." Really, he does not understand what he is saying himself; his mind is going blank at his own actions.


    "Huh, is there someone out there?" The girl''s voice from inside the classroom yells with a mixture of shock and irritation.


    "I''ll go take a look." Satoshi''s says and creaking footsteps approach their position.


    "Oh shit, they''re coming. We have to get away from here!" Whispering to Akane, Ginji tries to bring her to begin moving, but she seems to have frozen up.


    "What, it''s just Ginji and the rumor nut?" The door slides open and Satoshi, topless, pants open and clearly drunk, stands before them. "Peeping on us, huh? Not a nice hobby, you know." He turns to the glasses girl and tilts his head a little. "What''s with her? Must be horny from seeing us do it, huh?"


    "Satoshi, what''s going on?" His girlfriend asks in an impatient voice.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be right back with you." Turning back to the two before him, he grins. "Why don''t you join us?" He puts a hand over Akane''s shoulder casually, upon which she flinches. But when he attempts to pull her along, all resistance disappears from his grasp. "Huh?"


    "Wh-what?" Ginji''s eyes are wide open, a terrified look in them. "Y-your arm."


    Looking down at himself, Satoshi realizes that his arm has been severed right below the shoulder. Blood is flowing from the stump with every beat of his quickening heart. He goes white at the sight and tries to stop the bleeding with his other hand, the corners of his mouth twitching in a disbelieving smile.


    "Wha-what is this? What''s going on...?" His voice is shaky and his knees buckle. At the same time as he falls, his head separates from his shoulders and slowly turns around in midair, a deranged grin frozen on his face. It comes to face Akane, who whimpers at the sight.


    "Huh, Sato-" His girlfriend, who has only seen a shadowy figure collapse at the door moves towards it. But in the next moment, her crotch rips open and spews blood and organs onto the floor. Before she can even realize what happened to her, her legs give out and she falls straight onto her face and stops moving.


    "A joke, huh?" An ethereal voice echoes in Ginji''s mind and he flinches. Without a second wasted on thoughts, he runs away, down the hallway towards the stairs. His mind is giving out from incomprehension and fear, but self-preservation takes over and allows him to run faster than he has ever done before. He makes it all the way to the last classroom before the stairs, when he has the inexplicable urge to turn around and see what has happened to Akane.


    However, before he can, a force pulls him sideways and sends him crashing into the classroom. Sitting up on the floor and looking around in fear, he suddenly feels a tugging on the corners of his mouth and his face distorts into a forced smile. Before he can even bring his hands up, his head is bent backwards at a hundred and eighty degree angle from his lower jaw, ripping open his cheeks and breaking his neck. With a slow, almost gentle motion, it comes up again and settles into its natural place. Then he falls onto his back, a bloody grin disfiguring his face, distorted in a twisted mixture of terror and joy.


    "So, what''re you going to do during summer break, Rika?" Masashi asks casually as he walks beside Rika, through the hallway of third floor, approaching the faculty room which is the goal of the test of courage.


    The two are the third pair of the night and are childhood friends, but ever since the petite girl has entered show business as an aspiring idol, any possibility of a relationship between them has practically been eliminated. As an idol, Rika is not allowed to have a boyfriend, and even just being seen with a boy outside of work may cause a scandal, which would result in her losing any prospects of succeeding in the business. Since she is not very well known, and this is within school grounds at night, the likelihood of her being seen is very slim. Especially after making a point in coming together with Akane.


    "... you know very well what I''ll be doing." Rika''s response may sound abrasive, but in reality, she is frustrated about the fact that she cannot make up her mind in choosing between her promising career as an idol and her feelings for Masashi. And the fact that he seems completely oblivious to that fact is causing her irritation. On the new transfer student''s first day at school, he asked her if she had a boyfriend, after all.


    "More idol work, huh?" He gives her a bashful smile. She wants to scream at him to realize how she feels, but averts her gaze to hide her developing blush. Whenever he makes that face, she cannot hold herself back from falling for him all over again. "Ah-" Masashi suddenly makes.


    "Huh, what is... it...?" Rika turns to him and shines the flashlight at him, but her voice trails off at the sight.


    Masashi stands before her, a hole in his chest through which the wall behind him is visible. In his raised hands is a red and glistening object, of which the identity is unmistakably that of a human heart. Blood spurts out of his mouth as he tries to say something, before his eyes roll back in their sockets and he falls forward. The heart seems to magically jump out of his hands and out of reflex, Rika catches it. Her eyes widen in horror and she drops it.


    "What is this?! What''s going on???" Rika mutters and spins on her heels, immediately running down the hallway and down the stairs in a frenzy. Her mind is telling her to find a hiding place rather than run out of the building, even though she should be aware that it seems to be a wrong choice.


    She immediately enters the first classroom on the second floor and quickly closes the door, trying to steady her breathing while listening intently for the sound of footsteps that may be following her. When she finally calms down and silence lays itself like a blanket over the school, the image of Masashi''s death returns to the foreground of her thoughts.


    "Rika-chan?" A voice makes behind her and she flinches, before spinning around with a whimper.


    "Akane?" Upon realizing who it is, her knees give out and she sinks to the floor. Then her eyes fall onto Ginji''s mangled corpse. That is her breaking point and she screams at the top of her lungs.


    "Ugh, why am I with you... even Ishihara would''ve been better..." Yasuko says in a straightforward complaint about her pairing. She walks ahead of Senka, not a hint of fear despite only being able to illuminate a small circle on the ground with her flashlight.


    "At least the feeling is mutual." The doll-like girl mutters with a shrug and continues on. She has night vision, which allows her to see in the darkness even without the use of a flashlight. Due to the fact that it is a moonless night, nobody has noticed that she is not wearing her bandages tonight, but upon her clearly audible words, Yasuko spins around with an angry expression on her face, and points the light at her.


    "What did you just- huh?" She sees the stitched scars covering Senka''s body and her eyes go wide in shock. "Where did you get those scars from?!"


    "Make-up. I''m just dressing for the occasion." With a dismissive gesture, the stitched girl responds and points forward. "More importantly, don''t you think that this hallway has been going on for a little too long?"


    "Huh?" Turning around, Yasuko shines the light deep into the corridor, to reveal that it seems to continue on endlessly. "Wait, that doesn''t..." She shines it down the way they came and realizes that the entrance area has disappeared in the distant darkness. "... how is this... possible?"


    "There it is." Senka sighs and sharpens her senses, immediately seeing through the illusion with her keen eyes, upon which it breaks and reality snaps back into place.


    "Wh-what?" Completely unable to comprehend the situation, Yasuko looks back and forth, trying to make sense of what she just saw.


    Just then, a girl''s scream echoes through the building.


    "Which brings us to this situation at the start..." The stitched horror girl mutters while looking at the thoroughly terrified Akane, sitting in a puddle of her own mess, and Rika, who has torn and cut her skin in several places trying to fit into the rusty metal locker.


    "Hey, you were about to leave me behind alone, weren''t you?!" Yasuko comes up behind Senka and shouts while out of breath. Then she notices Akane''s state and her expression changes to one of mockery. "Huh, seriously?" Senka takes the flashlight from her hand and shines it at Ginji''s corpse, causing the laughter to get stuck in her throat. "What the...?!"


    "... Ootsuki-san... and Asahina-san?" Rika stutters and shakes in a mixture of fear and disbelief. It is very dark in the old school building and neither of the girls are pointing their flashlights at the door, so they do not really see her full appearance. Her scars would have made the situation worse, and if her mask had been off, they would have thought that she was a ghost. "It''s you, right?"


    "Yes, it is." Shining the newly appropriated flashlight onto her face from below, Senka states, and the two girls flinch at the ghastly sight. "Ok, sorry about that..."


    "... Ishihara-san is..." Akane mutters, her expression frozen in anxiety. Tears are forming in the corners of her eyes and the doll-like girl shakes her head with a sigh. She is aware that those who survive tonight will need psychological counseling, potentially for the rest of their lives. But collateral damage has always been part of their line of work, and with a target such as this one, it is unavoidable.


    "What happened here? What''s going on?!" Yasuko stutters and slowly steps back from the door to the classroom, into the corridor.


    "Come, we have to get out of here." Holding out her hand to the bespectacled girl kneeling on the floor, Senka speaks with a serious expression. Then a shiver runs down her back and she spins around while pointing the light cone above Rika, who is still stuck in the locker. Two ethereal glowing hands are passing through the wall, holding a pair of garden shears, and coming down on the girl.


    "Wh-what is it? Get me out of here already." She asks upon noticing that Senka is facing her. Then her eyes open wide, when she realizes that the stitched girl is looking above her. Unable to turn her head, she begins to grow desperate again and shouts at her. "Tell me, what''s going on? What is above me?! Help me! Heeelp!!!"


    In the next moment, before the stitched girl is able to do anything, the blades of the shears come together and separate again in a quick motion. Rika''s voice stops and her face grows blank, before it slides down and falls to the ground with a wet squelch. The two-faced girl relying on her cute looks has just lost all that defined her, along with her very life. The hands wave at Senka in a mocking gesture and disappear into the wall again.


    "Noooooo!!!" Akane screams when the light cone is lowered and reveals the remains of Rika''s once endearing face. Quickly averting the flashlight, Senka pulls out the proton pack and switches it on.


    "This is so going to leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth..." Muttering this, she prepares to follow their assassination target.

 Gig 2: Part 5 - Real Horrors

    "Why am I with her..." Aki mutters under her breath and looks at Lethia with a jealous glance. Her already less than favorable chances with the boys in class disappeared completely after the transfer student came and became the school idol. In fact, almost all the boys within the entire school are exclusively fawning over her, so Aki is being completely left in the dust. She has to admit that Lethia''s figure is exceptional and her foreign, exotic beauty is something that cannot be found among the Japanese. Her fiery red hair and piercing emerald eyes cannot be replicated even with dyeing and contact lenses, and would never look as natural. Wherever she goes, she stands out. "Haah..."


    "What is it?" Lethia turns to the much smaller girl when a sigh escapes the latter''s lips, and asks innocently. "Are you afraid of the dark?" In the past three months, her Russian accent has begun to fade noticeably, and while her speech still has a foreign note, it is no longer as jarring as it used to be.


    "Huh? No, who''s afraid of the dark?" The poorly endowed girl responds angrily, feeling belittled by this busty transfer student who is just so much more superior to her in all regards. Stomping forward, she tries to move faster, so that she will not have to share as much alone time with this girl. However, when she points the flashlight deeper into the hallway, she realizes that it seems to go on forever. The stairs to the second floor were visible from the entrance before, but have now completely disappeared. "Wait, how...?"


    "It seems I was right." Lethia says with a vigilant expression, her eyes never resting as she surveys the surroundings. "It''s here."


    "... what''s here?" With a shaky voice, Aki asks in confusion. Turning back, she realizes that the entrance has disappeared in the darkness behind them, and the weak flashlight is unable to illuminate the vast distance into which the corridor seems to have stretched out. "Huh...?" Her knees go weak and she wobbles on her unsteady feet at the sight.


    "Don''t worry, everything will be alright." With a reassuring smile, the red-haired girl unbuttons her shirt and unzips her skirt, dropping them to the floor carelessly. She is naked underneath, but with a press of a button on her wristwatch, her skin color, except for that of her head, changes to a dark purple - a bodysuit. Picking the flat metal drum from a metal clasp on her waist, she takes the small handgun from a holster on her thigh.


    "Wh-what are-" Before Aki can finish her question, Lethia lunges forward and kicks her in the stomach, causing her to fold at her center and collapse to the ground. Coughing violently, she looks up at the transfer student in incomprehension, but is unable to see the glowing pair of garden shears coming from inside the wall, clasped together just where her neck had been a moment earlier. The blades disappear back into the wall.


    "You''re not getting away that easily!" Aiming her gun there, Lethia presses the button and a perfectly circular hole, almost two meters in diameter, opens up in the wall without making a single noise. Then, a moment later, the sound waves appear to have caught up with the phenomenon, and an ear-splitting roar echoes through the hallways. Right behind the hole is the glowing figure of a girl with disheveled black hair and dressed in white rags. Even though her face is not visible through the long hair that falls over it, it is clear that she is surprised.


    "Didn''t expect that, huh?" Pressing the center of the metal drum, the red-haired girl throws it at the glowing apparition. It opens up in midair and a whirring sound, accompanied by rays of light, emerge from within. However, the ghost with the garden shears sinks into the floor before it approaches her, upon which the proton pack falls to the ground and ceases its functions after a few seconds. "Damn, she got away after all... Next time, less talking, more doing..." Walking up to the device, Lethia picks it up and presses a button on its interior. It begins to close itself slowly and she attaches it onto the clasp on her waist once again.


    "Wh-what..." Aki presses out through the pain as she squirms on the floor.


    "Lots of whats, Aki. Don''t ask, it''s better if you don''t know." With a wink, the Russian girl addresses her by her first name casually, even though they have been on a distant last name basis so far. "But this is a strong one, to be able to shape space and move around in it so easily..." Lethia extends her free hand to show that she wants to help the poorly endowed girl up, but the latter ignores it and holds her stomach. Shrugging, she turns away and looks through the hole her immensely destructive gun created. "Seems like the entire school building is under her control."


    "It''s just an illusion." Senka speaks into her wristwatch while Yasuko helps Akane along, whose eyes are unfocused, with a hint of rising madness creeping into them. She just witnessed several people being killed in gruesome ways, so it is obvious that the mind of a simple high school girl will not be able to withstand such stress unaffected. "I broke through it quite easily."


    "Yeah yeah, I''m a weak-minded fool who can''t even break through a simple spatial illusion..." Lethia''s impatient voice emerges from the same wristwatch. "I''m on the first floor, we just entered the building when it attacked us."


    "We''re on the third floor, we''ll come down, wait for us there." With this, the stitched girl stops the transmission and keeps the proton pack at the ready. Her perfect timekeeping ability suggests that the next pair is just about to enter the school building, so she has to make haste, or more people are going to die. While she does not care about their lives, especially since they are from a world she has no real sense of connection with, not preventing unnecessary deaths whenever it is within her abilities leave a bad aftertaste in her mouth.


    "... what the fuck is going on?" Yasuko mutters, looking around in fear. "What happened to the others?"


    "Do you really want to know?" Turning to look at her with a straightforward expression, Senka''s gaze appears to bore into her very soul. Shaking in her boots, the girl wearing too much makeup shakes her head nervously. "In either case, I''ll get you out of here." Of all people, the stitched girl knows best that it is a promise easy to make but hard to keep.


    They reach the stairs and begin to descend them, while Senka takes the quasar gun out of its holster. Ambushes are best in vertically challenging environments, so the apparition that killed all the people earlier will most likely strike again here. With a finger on the button to activate the proton pack whenever necessary, her mind is concentrating to its limits to pick every single interference in the surroundings, even while her eyes are staring forward without really seeing anything.


    Suddenly spinning around, she points the gun up the stairs, where the garden shears are emerging from the ground and approaching Yasuko from behind. Pulling the trigger, a coin-sized hole opens up in the wooden board right next to the glowing blades. A moment later, the shears draw back and an ear-splitting shriek resounds throughout the old school building. The girls press their hands onto their ears in response. Apparently Senka''s shot hit the target.


    However, because of Yasuko''s sudden movement, Akane loses her footing and tumbles down the stairs. When she stops at the bottom, she holds her left arm with a pained expression and whimpers.


    "Th-that wasn''t my fault. The noise... and she struggled..." The girl with too much makeup stutters, trying to justify her inability to keep the glasses girl safe. Rolling her eyes at her feeble excuses, Senka quickly jumps down the last few steps of the stairs to check on Akane''s condition.


    "Show me your arm." Requesting thus, but without waiting for confirmation, the stitched girl turns the glasses girl over and looks at the place she is covering with her hand. Blood is trickling out from a wound, but Senka''s eyes go wide at the sight. "... wait..."


    "Wh-what?" Akane asks, intimidated by the seemingly unjustified glare she is receiving.


    "How did-" Before the stitched girl can finish speaking, a scream from behind interrupts her. Spinning around, she finds Yasuko being pulled up by her collar, the perpetrator a floating girl in ragged white clothes and long black hair falling over her face. Even though her lips should not be visible, a gleeful grin seems to radiate from her very being. Wordlessly, Senka points the quasar gun at the apparition, but it uses her hostage as a human shield. Olethea would have pulled the trigger unhesitatingly, or so she believes, but she does not want to incur any collateral damage on the job. People on death row are a different thing, though.


    "What''s going on?! Help me, Ootsuki-san!" Yasuko flails her arms wildly, not understanding what is happening as she is unable to see the girl lifting her into the air. A ghostly giggle behind her makes her skin crawl and she turns her head, trying to see who it belongs to. But then she is dropped carelessly. Even though the fall is not from high up, from underneath her the apparition reappears. Senka quickly aims her weapon at it, but Akane suddenly pulls her back just when she draws back the trigger, causing the shot to miss.


    In the next moment, Yasuko is cut in half from the crotch upward.


    "Wait for them, she says... but I have a bad feeling about this." Lethia mutters and leans against the boarded up window casually. Aki slowly sits up from the dusty floor boards, holding her stomach and staring at the red-haired girl in the bodysuit cautiously. Her expression is filled with suspicion, but at the same time there a hint of pity at the thought that this otherwise perfect girl seems to have a weird streak to her.


    "A-are you a spy?" She asks carefully, trying to discreetly creep away from her opposite at the same time. Not outright saying that she must be crazy is the best way to keep her from becoming violent, Aki''s train of thought goes.


    "Asking if the Russian transfer student is a spy... how original." Lethia lays on a thick Russian accent demonstratively and rolls her eyes. "I thought I told you it''s better if you don''t know." Spinning the gun in her hand once, she smiles mysteriously. "Just sit back and you have a fair chance of surviving this."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Wh-what?" Aki''s jaw drops.


    "Oh yeah, you can''t see it, so you have no idea." Pointing at her green eyes, the red-haired Russian begins to explain. "I think it''s called a ghost here. But there''s a perfectly scientific explanation for that phenomenon." Looking at her dumbfounded classmate, she shrugs and ceases any further attempts at teaching a simple high school girl about the wonders of the universe. "Just think of this as a horror movie. Use your common sense, don''t do anything stupid and you should live to see tomorrow."


    "Th-this is crazy... y-you are-" Her eyes wide open in fear, Aki points at Lethia and quickly gets up, before stumbling away down the hallway.


    "Ah, wait!" She immediately runs after her. "That''s exactly what I meant! Did you never watch any horror movies?"


    "Leave me alone! I''ve never seen any, they''re all dumb!" Aki screams and runs with all her might. However, the corridor before her just seems to continue on forever, and the flashlight is unable to illuminate it in its entirety, the light cone disappearing in the darkness before her.


    "Well yeah, because the people in them act dumb on purpose! It creates drama where none should normally be!" Shouting after her, Lethia quickly catches up. "And splitting up is one of the dumbest things to do when you''re being targeted by an unknown killer!" With a dropkick right into Aki''s back, the red-headed girl brings her classmate down once more - just in time for her to avoid the shears cutting through where her neck would have been only a moment earlier.


    "Agh, you... you... are crazy!" Rolling on the floor in pain, the poorly endowed girl glares at her busty assailant.


    "I just saved your neck, so be more grateful." With an expression that seems to say that this is all just a major bother, Lethia looks around once again, to make sure that the apparition is not trying another attack right after. "Keep this up and I can''t guarantee your life. I mean, it''s not like I receive a bonus for rescuing your ass or anything." Squatting down next to Aki, she brings her face close to her opposite''s, staring into her eyes with an intense gaze. "People die and disappear under mysterious circumstances all the time. If you don''t want to become one of them, do as I say." Her expression is serious, no longer a hint of mischief in them. It is clear that she is annoyed.


    "I-I understand..." Aki mutters, her whole body shaking in fear, as even the stinging pain in her back from the dropkick earlier seems to fade away under the shiver that runs over it at Lethia''s soul-piercing green eyes.


    "Great!" Returning to her previous laid back self, the latter points her gun at the wall next to them and pulls the trigger. Once again, a hole opens up without making a single sound, with the boom of an explosion following a split second after. Screaming at the suddenness of Lethia''s actions, Aki holds her ears and backs away.


    Beyond the destroyed wall is a storage room, and in the middle of it stands a vaulting horse - one that features a small but significant modification; the topmost block ends in a narrow edge rather than a cushioned surface. And straddled atop it is a ghostly figure, her arms tied behind her back and ropes binding her feet to weights meant to pull her downwards, causing the edge to dig into her exposed crotch. This is a wooden horse, a medieval torture device that has found its way into the sadomasochism branch of sexual deviation. However, the glowing apparition is very obviously not enjoying it, tears streaming down her face as she struggles against her restraints.


    "Ohhh, nice~ ?" Lethia grins at the sight, but since Aki is unable to see it, all she knows is that this crazy red-head appears to be happy to have discovered this sexual torture device. "I knew something was in here."


    "Wh-what are y-you going to do w-with that?" She stutters nervously.


    "Just ask it a few questions... wait, you can see it?" Surprised at this revelation, Lethia turns around to her classmate, just in time to notice the pair of hands holding garden shears coming out of the wall right beside the latter. With a quick motion, the quasar gun''s setting is changed and fired at where the apparition''s body should be. Just in time, the shears are drawn back, before a basketball-sized hole is punched through not only the wall but also the ground behind it. There is no sign of anything having been hit and Lethia clicks her tongue. "Tch, missed again."


    "Ahhh, what''s going ooon!!!" Aki screams, not understanding that she just barely escaped with her life for the third time in a row, even as her other classmates are dying one after another.


    "Dammit, Akane!" Senka slaps the girl in question across the face to make her let go and activates the proton pack. She does not want to believe it, but this girl''s actions have made it clear now. "To think you could fool even me..."


    "... huh? Wh-what do you mean?" Akane looks around in confusion and holds her bleeding upper arm, where a coin-sized hole was burned out of the short-sleeved summer uniform. "What happened? Where is Asahina-san?" For a moment, Senka is taken by surprise at her reaction, but that moment of hesitation is enough.


    Grabbing the stitched girl''s delicate throat, Akane squeezes with all her strength. Under her seemingly inhuman grasp, a wet breaking noise emerges from Senka''s neck and her whole body goes limp. Dropping her carelessly, the glasses girl looks down on the small corpse with a victorious smile on her lips.


    "Ohhh, I always wanted to know what''s under that mask." Akane remarks innocently, squats down and extends her hand to remove Senka''s surgical mask. Suddenly, the latter grabs her wrist and twists it with unnatural strength, before snapping her head around and staring into the glasses girl''s eyes with her intense blue ones. Pulling aside the mask on her own, the gruesome stitched scars forming an eternal grin are finally revealed. "Ah."


    "Do you want to know how I got these scars?" With a low, almost growling voice, the stitched girl asks. Akane is unsure of whether that smile is because of the scars or her true feelings, but that has become irrelevant.


    "Ohhh, don''t we all have our similar circumstances? Hahahaha!" She laughs in delight and her jaws open farther than they should be able to. Her cheeks rip open, layers of thick makeup crumbling to reveal two jagged cuts reaching all the way up to her molars. Her irises turn corpse-white, their intense gaze meeting Senka''s fearlessly. "Hey, tell me, am I pretty?"


    "You''re not my type." Blue irises become black, before their darkness spreads all across her sclera and then spills onto her face in a pattern reminiscent of a Rorschach image. In the next instant, space rips open and a pair of rusty garden shears snap out from inside it, cutting at Akane''s face. Avoiding them by opening her mouth wide, the blades slash through where intact cheeks would have been, and she moves back to gain some distance.


    "Ahahaha, Kuchisake-onna against Kuchisake-onna? What a twist of fate!" With an unnatural movement that would make any normal human''s skin crawl from the sight, she stands up fully and removes her glasses, tossing them aside carelessly. A ghostly apparition comes out of the wall and hands her a pair of glowing garden shears, which immediately turn material the moment she takes hold of its handle.


    "No, I''m not a Kuchisake-onna." Senka gets back up and cracks her neck demonstratively, showing off her teeth to express her feelings at having it snapped just moments earlier. "I''m the Avenger Doll."


    "Aww, and here I thought we could have some fun with that. I don''t have a doll template, yet." A playfully innocent pout on her lips, Akane responds with her head tilted. "But maybe I should add you, then?" Her face breaks out in a deranged, wide-eyed grin filled with sinister joy.


    "Sorry to disappoint, but I''m not a spirit, either." Throwing the proton pack she dropped earlier towards her classmate, Senka grabs the rusted garden shears still suspended from a rift in space and pulls them out from it completely. Just as the portal disappears, her eyes return to normal.


    "Then let me dissect you, and find out what you really are!" Swinging her own, new and completely clean weapon, she swats the proton pack out of the air and lunges forward.


    "Now..." Lethia begins, but is immediately interrupted.


    "Couldn''t you help me sooner? You were staring at me for a long time! Did you enjoy the sight?" The ghostly girl is sitting on a gymnastic block after having been freed from the torture device, but she shows absolutely no hint of gratefulness. She is covering herself in a glowing blanket that appeared out of nowhere and looks at her savior with a frown.


    "... you know what..." With a false smile, the red-haired girl mutters, an eyebrow twitching in irritation.


    "I''m sorry! I''m so sorry!!!" The ghost is on the wooden horse once again, with even more weights attached to her legs than before. She pleads for release, but upon seeing the horse whip in Lethia''s hands, her eyes go wide in dread. "No, please don''t do this! I''m sorry for getting carried away! I won''t do it again!"


    "Hm, who knows? You might enjoy it~ ?" It is clear that she is still angry at the ungrateful treatment of her goodwill, and she smacks the whip against a piece of gymnastic equipment demonstratively.


    "Nooo!!!"


    "What are you doing?" Aki watches, unable to see the ghost; therefore, all that is happening before her eyes is Lethia seemingly miming all kinds of movements while talking to herself. However, she is too scared to run away, lest she receives another dropkick to her back, or even gets shot by the gun that can blow entire walls away. "Who are you talking to?"


    "Like I said, you can''t see them, so there''s no point in explaining. Just stay away from any walls, or else I''ll have to keep my eyes on you all the time." Lethia''s lacking explanation is compounded on by the fact that she casually waves at Aki to gesture that she should stop bothering her. "Now, for you."


    "Please, anything! I''ll do anything you say!" The girl on the wooden horse pleads, struggling against her restraints while trying to push herself up with the strength in her thighs alone. The weights bound to her ankles are too much, and her actions instead cause the edge to be driven deeper into her crotch.


    "Anything, you say? Hmmm~ ?" Looking up and down her body, Lethia licks her lips. "I''ve never done it with a ghost before, so this could be the perfect opportunity~ ?" Her bodysuit has a phase adapter that allows her to touch phase-shifted apparitions as if they are within her plane of existence. It is what enabled her to free the ghostly girl and then restrain her again.


    Seeing her expression, the girl shudders and squirms her body fruitlessly, unable to fight her restraints. Once again, the wooden edge grinds into her most precious spot and she moans in pain.


    "But I don''t have time for that right now... some other time maybe." Sighing, the red-haired girl shrugs and her expression returns to a serious one. "Tell me what you know about the one that''s haunting this school and maintaining the illusion in the hallway."


    "... no, I can''t... I... anything but that!" Real fear enters the bound ghost''s expression and she shakes her head frantically. "If I tell you anything about her, she''ll eat me!"


    "Eat you, huh? It would seem not in the sexual sense..." Tilting her head and rubbing her chin, Lethia mutters and frowns. Flicking a finger against the proton pack attached to her waist, she clicks her tongue once again. "Then this is going to be useless. I just hope Senka''s not engaging her in a straight battle." A hint of worry appears in her expression as she looks up at the ceiling.

 Gig 2: Part 6 - Soul Eater

    "You know, this is the first time I''ve had so much fun on a night like this!" The slit-mouth woman known as Akane exclaims in an exhilarated tone as she swings the stainless steel garden shears at her opponent. "Surrounded by murder and death, it''s the best I can imagine!"


    "I''ve had my fair share of murder and death nights, so I''m not having much fun." Senka responds in kind with her own, albeit rusted version of the weapon. It is from an age where the knowledge of smelting techniques to create stainless metal alloys did not exist yet. However, even as it appears brittle, the edges instead chip away at the modern weapon that Akane is wielding.


    Their battle takes them up and down the stairs, as the blades clash and generate sparks that illuminate the darkness. Ghostly lights dance around them, accompanying their death waltz with a spectral rhythm. While Akane is clearly enjoying herself, laughing maniacally at times and chuckling innocently at others, Senka''s expression is a mask of neutrality, not a hint of any emotions regarding fighting her classmate in a battle to the death.


    "You''re incredible, Senka!" The former glasses girl remarks with an almost ecstatic expression as she takes some distance after a heavy attack. "But all good things have to come to an end." Her mouth opens ever so slightly, cracking a sinister toothless grin across her face. From inside her back a glowing female apparition emerges with a tormented expression, separating from her and rushing forward at Senka, holding a kitchen knife with both hands to stab her.


    "Thank you for the meal." The stitched girl opens her mouth wide and simply sucks in the tormented spirit as if it was a bubble of air underwater. Staring at her with wide eyes while blinking a few times in bewilderment, Akane''s grin disappears as her lips settle onto a straight line, the jagged scars on her face closing up to turn practically invisible. She did not expect that to happen and is completely perplexed for a moment.


    "Wait, give her back!" Finally regaining her presence of mind, a hint of desperation becomes visible in Akane''s eyes as she points at Senka.


    "No. You gave her to me so I took her." She responds with an exaggerated defiant look.


    "That''s not what I was doing, dammit! She''s really precious to me, it took me great pains to get her!" Akane''s previous playfulness and nonchalance has completely disappeared, and she seems close to tears.


    "... too bad." Realizing that the ghost she just consumed was really important to her opponent, Senka states with a shrug and a mischievous grin with the sole intention of aggravating Akane. That appears to be very effective, as the latter''s expression immediately turns into one of rage. She charges forward with the garden shears spread wide, her intention to decapitate the stitched girl in a single move.


    Slamming her own weapon between the blades, Senka stops the attack dead in its tracks. The second round begins.


    "Hey, Senka, where are you?" Lethia speaks into her wristwatch, but receives no response. To do so, the person on the other end would need to press a button, so either the doll-like girl is in a situation where it is inconvenient to respond, or she is incapacitated and unable to move. Whichever the case, without her, the red-haired girl is unable to break through this illusion on her own. "Well, the fact that no new specters have appeared means that the one controlling them must be busy."


    "Can you please free me now?" The ghost still bound onto the wooden horse asks sheepishly, fidgeting and squirming, trying to make the edge grinding into her crotch more comfortable, but judging by her expression, failing to do so. Turning around to her, Lethia''s glance seems to imply that she does not feel like doing so.


    "You didn''t tell me anything of worth, so I don''t wanna." Speaking in a childish tone, she pouts exaggeratedly and looks away again.


    "I''m sorry! Please, it hurts! Any more of this and I''ll..." Pleading in a whining tone, the glowing girl quivers.


    "You''ll what?" With a sideways glance, Lethia asks teasingly.


    "I''ll lose my virginity!" She cries in response and tears roll down her face.


    "Even though you''re a ghost? A thing like virginity doesn''t matter anymore, when you get to that point, no?" Waving her serious concerns off, the red-haired girl turns away disinterestedly. She searches her memories for spells that may be useful for breaking through illusions, scratching her chin, tilting her head and walking in circles. While she is stuck here, Senka may be fighting for her life. Then again, she did say that she is immortal, so there may be no real reason to be worried about her wellbeing.


    "Nooo!" The ghost cries, but knows not to struggle pointlessly, so as to not make things worse for her private parts. Lethia plugs her mouth with a ball gag she found in one of the drawers with an annoyed expression.


    "You''re being too loud, I can''t concentrate!" With a thick Russian accent, she chastises her and turns away again, sinking back into thought.


    Aki watches in both fear and confusion, as Lethia''s mood seems to be unstable, seeing how she continues to talk to herself. All she wants is to go home and roll herself up in a blanket on her bed, to cry herself to sleep. However, she is also afraid that in her sleep, this crazy Russian spy is going to come into her room and silence her for finding out about her identity. But since the hallway has become infinite - something she still cannot comprehend, much less attempt to explain rationally - there is nowhere for her to escape to, where Lethia could not catch her. After all, this transfer student is much better at sports than she is.


    "Ah!" Finally, the red-haired girl appears to come to a realization and a figurative light bulb seems to flare up above her head. "I haven''t used this combination since my battle with Lord Madereik seven millennia ago... I wonder how he''s doing. He''s one of the only people who can consistently satisfy me whenever we meet." With a thoughtfully raised eyebrow, Lethia muses while holstering the quasar gun. "Mental Fortitude."


    "Huh?" Aki notices the light blue aura that surrounds the red-haired girl at these foreign-sounding words. The aura gathers around her head and gains in intensity, before disappearing into her.


    "Matter over Mind." Another aura, this time an orange one, places itself over her body and seeps into her. "Mind''s Eye." With this one, a large spectral eye opens in midair in front of Lethia and blinks, before shrinking and disappearing into her forehead. She opens her own eyes and turns around to look at Aki, before a smile plays over her lips. "You saw that, I assume."


    Nodding slowly, the unfortunately-endowed girl can only stare at her opposite wide-eyed, unable to comprehend what she just witnessed. Most of her mind just wishes that this is a lucid dream and she will wake up in the morning to find out that nothing of it was real.


    "Alright, let''s see if it worked." With this, the red-haired girl readies her gun and walks through the hole in the wall, out onto the hallway.


    "Mmmhmmm!!!" The ghost girl on the wooden horse makes, realizing that she is really being abandoned in her helpless tied up state. Aki, unable to hear it, quickly follows Lethia and leaves the storage room behind.


    "Give them back!!!" Rotating her body while wielding a large wood cleaver - a new weapon taken from another apparition - Akane gouges pieces out of the surrounding building. More and more rage fills her heart as Senka has, by now, devoured more than three spirits she sent out to kill her with. Compounding onto that is the fact that she simply cannot seem to land a single strike on the stitched girl. "Raah! Why won''t you die?!"


    "You gotta ask that one." Senka points behind herself, into empty space, and blocks another attack casually. Unlike Akane, she has no other weapon at her disposal, but it is clear that she does not need it; she is far superior in armed combat, and the only reason she has not yet defeated her classmate is because of her healing factor.


    "Who are you talking about!" Taking some distance, Akane throws the cleaver at her small opponent and another spirit hands her a katana.


    "Be careful not to slice off your own ear with that. It can happen to amateurs, you know?" Her fake concern is spoken with a mocking expression, as she dodges the cleaver flying at her with minimal movements. This only serves to further anger her opponent, who charges forward with reckless abandon, forgetting the fact that whenever she did so in their last few clashes, she would receive a grievous wound in a counterattack.


    And this time is no different, as Senka sinks each of the two double-edged blades of her garden shears into Akane''s left thigh while avoiding the telegraphed swing effortlessly. Dropping to the floor as her supporting leg is taken out, she receives a stitched knee to her temple that causes an explosion of stars before her eyes and causes her to drop the katana.


    "That didn''t last long." Pulling out her shears in a swift motion, Akane screams from pain but still narrowly avoids the blades closing on her neck in an attempt to decapitate her. Licking the blood off the blade, Senka comments in an almost bored tone. "Seems like you''re losing your skills with every spirit I take from you."


    Unable to argue this, the girl comes to a stop after tumbling across the floor, and stares at Senka with a hateful glare. The wound on her thigh is healing at the same rate as before, but the stitched girl has spoken the truth; her skills with various weapons derive from the spirits she has collected. Although almost all of them were amateurs during their lifetime, adding all sorts of experiences together, they should amount to an existence that can stand toe to toe with a martial arts master.


    "No way, that''s impossible." Senka says while waving Akane''s thoughts off.


    "Did you just..." Apparently her mind is being read.


    "Yes, I did. But returning to your illogical thoughts: How can a bunch of amateurs added together ever amount to one master? Maybe if they all attack at the same time, they could pile up on him and force him to the ground." Musing with a raised eyebrow, the stitched girl leans on her weapon like one would on a cane. "But you''re just one person, one body. You don''t have the number''s advantage."


    Speechless at her argumentation, Akane stares with her mouth open, unable to refute the sound logic.


    "I''ve fought beings like you before. You''re all the same, relying on your inborn strength because all you have to fight are humans. Maybe you can easily overpower humans that way..." The slit corners of Senka''s mouth open in unison with her lips to reveal a sinister grin. "... but I''m not a human."


    "What?!"


    "I''m a monster, just like you. But unlike you, I learned to fight against humans of old, who were far stronger than monsters of today." Flipping the garden shears up in a fluid motion, the stitched girl grabs their handles and approaches Akane menacingly. "So be a good girl and let yourself be exterminated."Stolen story; please report.


    "Heeey, Senka!" A familiar voice resounds through the hallway and at the sound, the girl in question turns around with a hint of irritation. Running towards her is Olethea in her skintight bodysuit, her breasts bouncing up and down with every step, and as if mocking the small and flat Senka, seemingly moving in slow motion. "Damn you!" She grinds her teeth at the sight of this unfairness and glances up into space angrily.


    "Ah. Watch out." The red-haired girl says in realization, but it is already too late.


    "I win!" Akane announces in a triumphant tone and stabs a rusty spike into Senka''s back. It emerges from her chest, running right through her heart.


    "M-murderer!" Aki, who catches up to Olethea, screams at the sight and stops dead in her tracks.


    "A-aaagh?" Unexpectedly, the one performing the stabbing is the one to express her pain as she lets go of the weapon and stumbles backwards. A light red flower blossoms on her shirt, spreading out in a circle in the exact same spot as where Senka''s wound is located. Staring at her with a dumbfounded face, Akane does not understand what just happened, and appears to have difficulties standing.


    "Shot through the heart, and you''re to blame~" The stitched girl hums innocently, turning to face her monstrous classmate. "You give love a bad name~" Her eyes are black once again and extend outwards in a skull-like pattern covering the entire upper half of her face. The wound on her chest does not bleed and she sticks a finger into the hole in her school uniform and the bodysuit underneath. "Why are we wearing these bodysuits again?"


    "They''re meant to allow you to touch spectral forms as well as protect you from various environmental hazards." Olethea states nonchalantly, not in the least surprised about the fact that Senka is not only still alive, but appears to be able to ignore a spike through her heart. "But I guess they don''t do much against that one."


    "In other words, just some fanservice, huh?" Sighing, Senka looks down on Akane with a cold expression.


    "Wh-what did you... do to me...?" She coughs and holds her chest, the wound in it not showing any signs of healing. Before, a small hole like this would have closed up within seconds, but now it continues to bleed profusely. "Why... am I not... healing?"


    "Because it''s a curse." Saying in a matter of fact tone, the stitched girl lifts her garden shears up to Akane''s neck.


    "... what... are you...?"


    "Like I said, I''m the Avenger Doll."


    In the next moment, the blades come together and with a dull thud, Akane''s head drops to the wooden floor and rolls across the ground. For a moment, the torso remains upright, before it falls over and convulses in death throes. From within the stump of the neck a burst of spirit fire emerges and a ghostly wind whips through the hallways.


    "Ahhh, murderer!" Aki, who witnessed the entire scene unfold, screams once more and scrambles to get away. Olethea makes no move to show that she will stop her, but Senka spins around quickly with a serious expression.


    "Protect her! This isn''t over yet!" She shouts and cancels the skull pattern covering her face, returning it to its normal color.


    "Indeed... this isn''t over." The severed head says and floats up into the sky, spirit fire burning from her neck. "I am so much more than just the sum of these parts!" The headless body sits up unnaturally and a cold blue aura begins to emanate from it, illuminating the surroundings in an eerie light.


    "Uwah, this is like a multi-stage bossfight..." Olethea comments with a frown before running after Aki, who is stumbling away like a headless chicken.


    "You''re not getting away!" Akane''s voice has changed to a banshee-like whisper on the wind, echoing in different octaves at the same time, its grating sound setting off goose bumps and causing shivers to run down the spines of those who hear it. Of course, Senka is not affected, as she fearlessly gazes at the floating head, whose eyes have come ablaze with blue lightning.


    The headless body lifts an arm and in the next moment, a heavy chain rips through the wall of the corridor and whips at Aki from the front. Just then, she stumbles forward and everything indicates that she will be unable to avoid it. Olethea instantly switches the setting on her quasar gun, aims and shoots. A beam of negative space cuts through the corridor and straight through the center of the chain, just in time to break its links right in front of the poorly endowed girl''s neck, causing it to leave her unharmed.


    While she was unable to see the spectral apparitions attacking her before and could only explain away the power of the gun with secret technology, witnessing a girl getting decapitated in front of her and then seeing that head float into the air, speaking of things she does not understand, before summoning a chain that can move on its own and rip through reinforced wooden walls flipped a switch inside her. Finally reaching her mental breaking point, Aki plops to the floor and relieves herself uncontrollably, a blank expression on her face as she looks up to the pieces of the chain that almost killed her.


    "Man, bodily functions are a pain, huh?" Olethea walks up to her and says so jokingly, trying to console her classmate after her act. However, it does not seem to reach her, as she just remains on the ground, shivering with unfocused eyes. "Yeah, guess that is quite traumatic." Kicking a broken chain link, she remarks casually and turns back around to see the battle that is about to begin between Senka and Akane.


    "A Dullahan template, huh?" Commenting casually, the stitched girl looks up at the floating head and lifts an eyebrow. "Where did you get that from?"


    "I was in Ireland last summer." Akane replies, her cheeks ripping open once more to reveal her gruesome grin - all in accordance to the legend of the Dullahan.


    "Where''s your horse?" Apparently that question touches upon a nerve, as the floating head frowns and looks away silently, before glaring at Senka as if implying that she should not have asked this. The cold blue aura surrounding her body flickers and slowly spreads outwards.


    "I don''t know how to ride..." But she still answers truthfully, trying to play the issue down by keeping her voice low.


    "Pfft." Senka is unable to suppress the air from escaping through her open cheek, so she just rolls with it and laughs unabashedly. "Hahaha, the Horseless Headless Horsewoman? Now that''s what I call a nice one!"


    "Silence!" Akane''s sinister voice that seems to vibrate the very air is clearly filled with anger. The aura surrounding her body explodes in all directions and take the form of countless spirits, but they leave Senka unfazed. "I will rip your soul out and enslave it for eternity! That way, I will regain the spirits you stole from me, too."


    "Uhm, sorry to tell you, but those spirits don''t exist anymore." Stating with an almost disinterested looking expression, Senka squashes the headless girl''s hopes.


    "... wait, what do you mean by that?"


    "Hm... I guess saying that I digested them is the easiest way to explain it. I turned them into energy."


    At these words, Akane''s face goes blank and her turbulent aura ceases all its motions. Her lips quiver and tears form in the corners of her eyes, as the cold blue spirit fire emerging from the severed ends of her neck slowly change to orange and then a blazing red. With a murderous glare, she stretches out her hand to the side. Her aura whirls about her open palm and forms a handle, which she grabs and pulls forward. Following her motion, a stream of spectral energy takes the shape of a human spine; this is the traditional weapon of a Dullahan.


    "I do not like to use a template to this degree, but against you, I will have to." Akane''s skin color changes to that of a decaying corpse, as her clothes flake off like leaves crumbling in a fire, replaced by a black suit of armor that lays itself over her piece by piece. "A Dullahan cannot be stopped by any means and brings death to all mortals!"


    "Gotta pop your bubble again: I''m immortal." With an almost bored expression, Senka''s eyes grow black again and the skull pattern spreads out to cover her entire face.


    "What?!" Before the headless girl can say any more, Senka extends her palm towards her and in a grabbing and pulling motion, yanks out her soul. Watching the spectral apparition that is her main spirit distance itself from her body, Akane is unable to comprehend how that could happen. Then she looks down in horror and sees the drum-like object that was thrown at her when their battle just started, opened and whirring with a sound that appears to be charging up, right underneath the spirit. "Wai-"


    "Nope." Interrupting the headless girl''s plea with a simple denial, the stitched girl opens her hand once more, and Akane''s soul is sucked into the device, which promptly closes and ceases its functions. "That was kind of anticlimactic, don''t you think?" She looks down at the proton pack and then back up to her former classmate, who blinks in confusion. "You don''t get it? You just became mortal."


    For a moment, Akane stares at the device blankly, then she looks at her own body, where the wound in the chest has begun to bleed again. Her eyes widen in disbelief as she makes her head slowly float back onto the stump of her neck to reconnect with it. The hole should have healed when she changed into a Dullahan, since they are immune to curses, but it appears that Senka was speaking the truth.


    "How... can you do... that?" She presses out from between her bluish lips and her knees buckle. Due to heavy blood loss, she is weakening at a rapid rate, and even she knows that this means the end. "What... are you...?"


    "... I said it two times already, but I guess third time''s the charm." Flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder in a haughty motion, Senka looks down on her dying opponent and remarks with a hint of displeasure. "I''m the Avenger Doll." The skull pattern on her face fades once more and she turns away, just when the spiritual aura surrounding the girl''s body fully dissipates. Akane falls forward with lifeless eyes and stops moving, the air escaping her mouth for the last breath.


    "Wow, you''re so cool, Senka~ ?" Olethea runs up to the doll-like girl and lifts her into her arms. "I didn''t have much to do this time."


    "Yeah, it''s as if this was an episode meant to show off my powers or something." Rolling her eyes, the stitched girl lets the embrace happen. But when her face is pressed into the red-head''s large breasts, irritation on her face. "Seriously, what''s the point of these oversized lumps of fat?!" She slaps them and Olethea lets go of the Senka in surprise.


    "Ahn~ ?" That only serves to further irritate the latter and she slaps them once more from the other side.


    "They''re only there to spite me, right?" She looks away and spots Aki, who is looking in her direction with an expression of joy at having found a comrade in chest size. Ignoring it deliberately, Senka points behind herself, at the proton pack lying on the ground. "I suppose that concludes our job?"


    "Yes, it does. Good work." Giving her a thumbs-up, Olethea smiles broadly, before lifting the drum-shaped item with one hand. She suddenly fumbles and drops it with a thud, causing Senka to stare at her in shock. Quickly picking it up again, the red-head holds it up with a forced innocent smile, a waterfall of sweat pouring from her forehead.


    "... I hope that was meant to be an unfunny joke." The stitched girl is clearly not amused.


    "O-of course it was. W-who do you think I am?" Her eyes swimming left and right, Olethea avoids looking directly at Senka.


    "The Red Klutz." Taking the proton pack from the clumsy red-head, she attaches it to the hard point on her thigh, where she will be able to keep it safe.


    "Well done, and without causing much unnecessary collateral damage, for once. I will take care of the cleanup." Paznik speaks, even though he has no visible mouth. With his two pairs of intense eyes, he is looking at Olethea and Senka at the same time with a pair each.


    "What do you mean, for once?" The eldar inquires in indignation, but the doll-like girl sighs and looks up to the gray-skinned alien on the screen.


    "So that''s what a Soulstealer is, huh?" She asks, considering the similarities between their target and her this time. "Would you categorize me as one, too?"


    "We have no idea what exactly you are. Genetically, you are a human, and judging by your Spiritas level, you are comparable to a Star Vampire." Without showing a hint of what he thinks about Senka''s question, Paznik responds truthfully. "You could seek counsel from the-"


    "Nah, I''m not really that interested." The stitched girl interrupts him and leaves her seat, plopping down on her bed and picking up a manga to read.


    "What is with her?" A hint of confusion can be seen in the middle-man, as he turns all four eyes to Olethea once more.


    "Don''t mind her, she''s just miffed that we''ll be leaving this dimension soon and she won''t see her new friend for a while." With a shrug, the red-head whispers, but a book comes flying and hits the back of her head. "Ouch!"


    "I can hear you." Senka states without looking up from her reading matter. Sighing once more, she turns over a page, before looking up into space. "Hm, you''re still here? Are you expecting some long-winded aftermath story? Want to know what happened to the survivors?" Closing the manga, she sits up from the bed and tilts her head with a wholly disinterested expression. "Or what''s going to happen between Olethea and the cutesy little teacher?"


    "Hm?" The girl in question turns her head but Senka simply waves at her to return her attention to Paznik, who is speaking about the details of the cleanup work.


    "Or maybe... you''re one of the few who realized that something''s up?" A mischievous smile that stretches the stitches on her face, she asks quietly. "You want to know if this is the world a certain tentacle monster girl is from, right?" Pausing for dramatic effect, she looks at Olethea''s back, before returning her gaze into space. "... who knows?"


    With an exaggerated shrug and an impish, toothy grin, Senka returns her attention to the manga in her hands.