“It doesn't look like a processing centre,” Sayuri said. “It looks like a bedroom.”
“Indirect effects?” Hiroshi guessed, glancing round. A large bed dominated the room, but there was no other furniture visible, just mirrors covering the walls and ceiling.
“We're immune, right?” Sayuri said. “Can you tell what?”
“You could do the scan yourself,” Hiroshi reminded her, checking the readouts. “I made all our watches into remote terminals, and yes, we will be immune.”
“The instruction manual you gave us was too complicated,” Sayuri said. “You need to write another one, and this time, remember we don't all have your enhanced intellect.”
“I'll try,” Hiroshi said. “The room's set up so no girl can open the door from the inside, or damage anything belonging to Noboru. Um, that apparently includes the girls themselves.”
“And the bed?” Sayuri said warily.
“If a girl gets ... aroused on the bed, she gets ... curvier,” Hiroshi said, watching Sayuri carefully. “Every orgasm makes her dimmer, and more easily aroused. The details are set by the man's subconscious whims.”
“Men like that, do they?” Sayuri spat. “Is that-”
“Only the desperate,” Hiroshi said quickly.
“So, most of the boys in our school then?”
“In their dreams,” Hiroshi conceded. “They'd know it was wrong.”
Half of them wouldn't care, in the heat of the moment, but Sayuri didn't need to know that. She wouldn't believe him if he denied the obvious, but downplaying it should make his life easier.
“That doesn't make it any better,” Sayuri said, scowling, then hesitated, blushing slightly. “Still, we can't control our dreams.”
Hiroshi nodded. “And without the Master PC, it would only be an harmless dream.”
“Harmless? Would you want people thinking about you like that?” Sayuri said heatedly.”Wait. What am I thinking? You'd love it if girls were dreaming about do it with you.”
“With me, yes,” Hiroshi agreed. “I wouldn't like it if they wanted to turn me into a mindless puppet. I wouldn't be me any longer. They should just ask.”
“And you wouldn't dream of saying no, would you?” Sayuri said softly, then laughed. “Of course, the reason most boys can't get a girlfriend is because they think like that. If we thought they had anything on their little minds besides sex, they might actually get somewhere.”
Sayuri looked sideways at Hiroshi. “Don't worry, I know you're better than that. You could have taken advantage of us, but you didn't.”
Hiroshi smiled, then pressed a few buttons on his watch.
“Here,” he said, a chainsaw appearing in his hands. “Carve that bed up. It might make you feel better.”
“Good idea,” Sayuri said, taking it from him. “It's heavy.”
Hiroshi pressed a few more buttons. “Not now, and I've made it safe for us too.”
Grinning broadly, Sayuri switched the chainsaw on and started carving her way through the thick mattress.
Hiroshi watched a moment, enjoying the view, then shook himself. She did look great, bent over the bed jiggling with the vibrations of the chainsaw, but she'd made it clear enough that he wouldn't get to sample her goods if she caught him leering.
That didn't mean that behaving himself would let him talk Sayuri into bed, but it was the logical thing to try. Even if it failed, he should learn something from the experience. __
Cologne slowly walked round the edge of the room, carefully examining the geometric patterns she'd drawn in chalk. To probe the source of the foulness she'd sensed tainting Ranma's aura, she'd need all the protection she could muster, not just Amazon lore, but all the titbits she'd picked up over the long years.
That was why she'd waited until now, when the elements of the day, month and year were all aligned, the tide of fire at its highest, and the sun in Taurus, the sign ruled by the ox whose year it was. That was why she'd carefully aligned the symbols so she would be facing Mars, the planet of fire, why she'd enter the central circle from the east, ruled by the hare, her own birth sign, and why she'd fasted since Jupiter rose.
Extensive precautions, but they would be needed, for Ranma had been touched by abomination, nor was he the only victim in Nerima.
It had been quite a shock when she'd spotted the signs, several weeks ago. She'd not told him anything, of course, that could wait until she had a solution to offer him, for a reasonable price. There'd be no need to mention that the Jusenkyo curse would erode even that taint, given time.
He hadn't needed her help though. He'd walked into the café that morning, completely purged of the taint, and completely unaware that anything had ever been wrong, though subtle question had revealed a few interesting possibilities.
She would need to find out who'd cured Ranma too, but that was a lower priority. Finding out how he had been afflicted had to come first, and the other victims would need dealing with too.
Cologne smiled fiercely. Whichever sorcerer had set that abomination upon her son-in-law had maid a grievous mistake. If Ranma hadn't been touched, she might never have noticed, but once she'd spotted the taint on him, she'd checked the auras of all his circle, something she'd not done in months – an unfortunate lapse, but the lot of them were of only secondary importance. Ranma alone truly mattered.
Now that she knew though, there would be vengeance. Ranma was family, for all his whining; use of forbidden magics upon him could not be tolerated. The sorcery who had brought down the curse upon Ranma would soon learn what it meant to cross the Amazons, once she identified him.
Cologne drank the potion, prepared in the hour of the fiery ox, and took her seat.
Three deep breaths she took, centring herself, then opened her third eye and looked beyond the veil.
See other episodes by Stibbons
(Posted Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:28)
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