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Decadent Habits	By : OverMaster Category: +M to R > Mahou Sensei Negima/Magister Negi Magi Views: 8829 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Negima. No profit at all is made out of this story.

Chapter List
- 26
- 27
- 28
Darkenning at bat here:

Standard issue disclaimer: Akamatsu Ken created and owns Negima. I am not him. This is a parody, protected speech. Thanks to my cowriters and the reviewers.

Decadent Habits

Chapter 27: Shizuna

Night fell on Mahora, as it must fall everywhere. And darkness will always cover the activities of predators. But it also frees those who would defend against those predators to use techniques that they might not wish to use in the full light of day. Which can, of course, be a mixed blessing.

On these particular nights, there was an extremely dangerous predator running around loose, and so the most effective defenders of the campus had been sent out to patrol and hopefully bring her to bay. Unfortunately, all was not well with them.

"I can't believe you'd say that," Kuznoha Touko said disgustedly as she slowly moved down the dimly lit alleyway. "The man is beneath contempt."

"I'm not expressing approval of what he did," Katagiri replied wearily. "But nevertheless -"

"Nevertheless nothing," Touko snapped. "Parents send their children to this school, entrusting their future to us. What that man did is a slap in the face to every single parent who has ever worried about what might happen to their child here, separated from their parents, and a vile black mark on our reputation. I cannot believe that you -"

"Nevertheless," Katagiri repeated, just a bit louder. "You can't really stand there and tell me that you wouldn't welcome Takahata as backup on a night like this, when we're hunting a Most Wanted fugitive. Can you?"

Touko avoided looking at him as she replied, "My personal feelings don't enter into this."

"Of course they don't," he sighed. "In any event, it also abruptly occurs to me that we're very much operating on rumor, here."

"Yes, of course we are, but your earlier argument undermines that one!" Touko replied, ignoring the sarcastic tone to focus on the words. "You saw how the Headmaster looked. I've been working for him for five years, and he's never looked that ... beaten," she said after searching for the right word. "Firing that man was like cutting off his own right arm. He wouldn't have done it if that man hadn't given him cause."

"That man has a name, you know."

"Yes, and unlike you, I do not want to say it, since I'd rather not have disgusting things in my mouth! There was enough of that when I was married!" she sneered. Then blushed as she realized that she'd said far too much, and resumed silently scanning the area.

Katagiri resisted the impulse to chuckle, because, honestly,it wasn't all that funny. He was well aware of how hurt Kuznoha had been by the dissolution of her marriage, even if it hadn't been a particularly happy union. Though she never explicitly said it, she felt that she'd failed, and her sense of failure and humiliation was a key factor in the anxiety she felt about her more recent relationship.

She'd never believe it, but he honestly understood exactly what she was going through, having been through the same experience himself - albeit from the other side. (Which of course was why she wouldn't believe it.) He had been married, and seen his marriage wither and die. Unlike Touko, he hadn't been lucky enough to get out of it before the children had come along. So he'd probably wrecked three lives beyond his own.

Well, maybe only two lives. By all accounts, his daughter was doing fairly well. His son, on the other hand ...

Young mages, when they were told about pactios, thought it would be so easy. You'd find someone who would be your perfect partner and seal it with a kiss. But life was never so simple, was it? Feelings change, and even if you still love the one you made that pactio with, the nature of that love will change too. The person you want to have with you in all your struggles becomes the person you want to shield from all harm ... and no matter how wonderful that might seem at first, they will resent your attempts to control them in the name of shielding them.

Katagiri snorted. How arrogant they were! Touko and him both. The truth was that it hadn't been all his fault, any more than it had been all Touko's fault in her case. Believing that it had been was a frankly pathetic defense mechanism to cope with the fact that matters had been beyond their control. Power breeds arrogance, unfortunately, and both of them were well supplied with -

"Did you hear that?" Touko said quietly, nonetheless breaking his chain of thought.

He didn't answer aloud, instead trying to hear what she had. And the faint sound of girlish giggles reached him.

"Call for backup and then follow me," Touko ordered, drawing forth her sword. "And if she has the seal on that damned sword off, then by all that's holy, get it out of her hands." Then she was running

Katagiri promptly cast a simple telepathy spell to alert some of their fellow teachers as to the situation, then turned to follow Touko's headlong dash ... but paused before doing so. This was a little too easy, as though someone were trying to draw them in a specific direction. He paused to consider his surroundings, and thus saw the shadow just behind the corner of the building they had just passed.

There was no time to call out to Touko, no time for much of anything at all. He tensed and threw himelf in the direction of that shadow.

"Oh, excellently done!" Tsukuyomi said brightly. "I was hoping that one of you wouldn't fall for ventriloquism!"

He didn't respond to her, merely started to cast a spell to, as Touko said, get the damned sword out of her hands. But then he saw, somewhat to his shock, that her sword was nowhere to be seen. She was simply standing there in her allegedly-pretty dress, smiling cheerfully at him. He dropped the spell he was casting and began to create a bind instead.

It took him at most two seconds to switch gears. That was enough. The garage door they were standing beside slid open with a clatter, and something reached out and grabbed ahold of him, pulling him off his feet and towards the garage before he could do anything. And then he turned and saw it and there was no time to do anything, no time even to scream.

It took his left arm first. The shock almost made him pass out, but he retained just enough consciousness to be able to think, to understand what was happening to him. Perhaps that was the true hell, to be able to understand and do nothing to stop it. Even if he'd been able to form a spell, his remaining arm was pinioned against his side, leaving him with very little chance of correctly directing it.

His final thoughts were of his children. His daughter would be all right, but his son ... oh, if he ever found out about all of this, all it would do would be to make him even more cynical and hostile to the world. His sister had even given the boy a nickname about how cynical he'd become.

Kyon, he thought, as the teeth came down around his chest.

Tsukuyomi paused to delicately wipe the blood spatter off her glasses - she was nearly blind without them - before she closed the door to let the nice monster enjoy itself. She wished she was having nearly as much fun, as she darted off into the night with a sour expression on her face.

The night ended, as all nights must. But the day that followed was cloudy and sombre, though the meteorologists assured everyone that the rains that had drenched the area in the previous week would not return.

Minamoto Shizuna almost wished that they would. Rain would keep people (which included students) indoors, so they wouldn't come to her for advice and counsel. Rain would allow her to just sit in her office all day long and do absolutely nothing until it was time to pack it in and go home, to her small apartment, her cat, and the remnants of the bucket of ice cream that she'd started to devour last night.

Some days were better than others. That was true for everyone. Today was not going to be a good day. By now, the rumors that had been circulating among the teachers and staff would have reached the students. Takahata had been very well-liked by his students, particularly ... especially ... by his female students. They'd want to talk to her.

Shizuna didn't want to talk to anyone. Her own feelings about the subject were in an uproar. She felt hurt, she felt grief, she felt immense anger. At least she could feel relieved that she'd never given in to her attraction to him, never acted on it beyond joining him for coffee on a few occasions. What if she had? What if she'd let herself be so lonely that she'd joined with someone who could do that sort of thing to a child? She shuddered.

But she couldn't let any of that show, not to the students who'd be coming to her for counsel, not to anyone. She didn't have to smile through the pain, but she did have to maintain equanimity and poise. No matter what happened, she could do that. She'd been through worse things than this. She'd been through the worst thing that could possibly happen in anyone's life; what was this, to that?

So she sat at her desk, hoping that no one would come to talk to her, and knowing that they would.

Sure enough, there was a polite knock at the door. "Enter," she said ... and found herself utterly unsurprised to see Kagurazaka Asuna peering in through the door as it opened, looking nervous and upset.

"Um. Good, good morning, Shizuna-sensei," the girl stammered. "I, um, I really need to talk to you, if that's all right?"

"It's fine. Please, come in and have a seat," Shizuna said. "Actually, I've been expecting you," she added a moment later.

Asuna was almost in the seat when she heard that, and promptly froze. "You have?" she asked faintly.

"Of course. Under the circumstances, you would certainly have questions you wanted someone to answer, and I am the guidance counsellor, aren't I?" Her lip quirked up momentarily in what someone might have mistaken for a smile.

"The circumstances," Asuna repeated as she oh so slowly settled into the seat of her chair.

Shizuna blinked. "Well, yes. After all, your feelings are pretty well known, to be honest," she confided. "Naturally, you'd have issues you need to address."

"Well ... known," Asuna continued to repeat slowly.

"Certainly. I mean, Takahata was fairly discrete about it, but it's usually fairly obvious when a student has a crush on their teacher," she explained.

Asuna stared for a long, silent moment. "Y'know," she finally said. "I think we might just possibly be talking at cross purposes, here."

"Eh?"

"What situation do you think brought me here, Shizuna-sensei?" she asked, trying to use as polite a phrasing as possible.

Shizuna coughed. "Well, I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that you were upset about Takahata's dismissal from the faculty."

"Oh. That."

Now Shizuna stared. That had sounded almost like ... could she have completely misread the situation? It had been a crush, after all, and those things don't last. But to go from the point where one asked the object of one's feelings out on a date to the point where one didn't care whether he left his job under a cloud? In just a month or so? "Yes," she said. "Is that not it?"

"Um, well, no," Asuna admitted. "I mean, I-I'd heard about that, but, y'know, it's just one of those things, I guess. People ... don't stay." She looked embarassed to be saying that so bluntly.

"I see," Shizuna said, quietly marvelling at the girl's sang-froid. Or perhaps she'd only heard about his departure, and not the rumors about the circumstances. Well, in any event. "So, then, what seems to be on your mind?"

"Um ... this is confidential, right?" Asuna asked, looking worried again.

"Well, unless you admit to some sort of academic or criminal offense, then, yes, it's confidential. What's the matter, Asuna-san?" Just a bit of pressure.

"Well, you see," Asuna said, starting out slowly and then rushing ahead. "When we had sex ed, one of the other girls in our class had these after-school sessions where she filled in what she said they were leaving out, and one of the things she mentioned was a morning-after pill, and I was wondering whether you knew where I could get some?"

Shizuna sat frozen for a moment.

"Sensei?"

"Ah. Well," she finally said. "Actually, no. I don't think any of the various types of emergency contraceptive medicines that are in use in other countries are legal here in Japan."

"Oh," Asuna said.

"Should, should I take it from your inquiry that you are, um, sexually active?" This was not a conversation she ever enjoyed having. Particularly not considering the next question she was going to have to ask.

"I guess it wouldn't really be right to pretend that I was asking on behalf of a friend, would it?" Asuna replied, trying to lighten the mood a little without really succeeding. "Yes," she added a moment later, not looking directly at Shizuna when she said it.

Shizuna cleared her throat. "Asuna-san. I'm going to ask you a very rude, very hard question now, and I would really appreciate an honest answer, and if you'd look at me when you gave it," she said. "I promise that I won't get mad - at you - no matter what you say." Once the girl had hesitantly met her eyes, she asked the question. "Were you sexually active with Takahata?"

"NO!" Asuna snapped. "God, no!"

Shizuna kept looking at her for a moment, then sighed with relief. "Thank you." And then she opened her mouth to ask the even harder question.

Are you sexually active with Negi-sensei?

It stuck in her throat. She couldn't. It was just too disgusting to even think about. Negi was about the same age as her own son would have been if ... she crushed that thought, mercilessly. But she still couldn't bring herself to ask the question she knew that she had to ask.

So she didn't. Instead, she rolled open one of the drawers of her desk, took out one of the cards she kept there, and held it out for Asuna to take. "This is the business card of a discrete gynecologist here in Mahora," she said. "Should it become necessary, you can visit her and ... take care of matters."

Asuna stared at the card, not lifting her hand to take it. "By 'take care of', do you mean -"

"Yes," Shizuna interrupted flatly.

"I don't -"

"That's something you and your partner and ... that you'll need to think about when and if it becomes necessary," she interrupted again, narrowly avoiding saying, And your families. "In the meanwhile, I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that you start using standard birth control methods, such as a condom. The gynecologist can also give you a perscription for oral contraceptives." It wasn't easy to keep her tone as level as she was. There was no time to be proud.

After a moment, Asuna reached out and took the card. "Thank you," she said as she got up. "That's, that's all, I think." But she still paused, and said, "I'm really in love, you know."

"That's nice, dear," Shizuna said. "I hope it lasts."

And then she was gone, out the door, leaving Shizuna in even more of a confusion than she'd been before the girl arrived.

As she exited the buidlding, Asuna breathed deeply for the first time since she'd arrived at the school. She looked down at the card Shizuna had given her. At the very least, she'd need to visit this doctor to get some -

"Why do you need to visit a doctor?" asked Arika, who was standing just beside her.

It was difficult, but Asuna mastered the impulse to shriek and jump away from the woman who had, to all appearances, come out of nowhere to stand beside her. She couldn't quite keep aggravation out of her tone when she spoke. "You followed me, didn't you?"

"Daughter. There is a person loose on this campus who specifically wants to kill you, and has already killed one person. Of course I followed you; were the world mine, you would go nowhere without a small army of bodyguards."

Asuna's head snapped in Arika's direction. "She's killed someone? What, who -"

"Apparently, one of the magic teachers disappeared last night while patrolling, leaving only a quantity of blood to mark his presence," Arika answered, her face utterly still, her voice low and level. "I haven't been able to find out more than that. My subversion of the school's surveillance system is not complete. Be that as it may, I would ask that you not try to get around my question. Why do you need to visit a doctor, Asuna?"

"I don't," Asuna answered, looking away and trying to tuck the card away in one of the pockets of her jeans. "But, y'know, if I did, it'd be good -"

"I saw the characters for Obstetrican and Gynecologist on the the card, daughter," Arika said, in the same low, level tone.

Asuna said nothing.

"This is a foreign land to me," her mother continued, looking away herself. "I really only know about it what I have learned since you brought me here, and what Nagi told me he had learned during his journeys here. One of those things was that the primary method of dealing with ... unwanted childen ... was one that required a surgical procedure."

Asuna struggled to keep her calm. "That, that was true, once, but not anymore. But ... yes. The doctor I'm seeing ... does that procedure."

"Indeed." Arika still wasn't looking at her. "I find that notion disgusting. But on the other hand, the primary method of dealing with unwanted children in my homeland was, at one time, to abandon them on a hillside shortly after their birth. Perhaps your way is more humane. Perhaps."

"I don't know from humane," Asuna snapped, no longer trying to keep calm. "But, but - do you really want to have this conversation in public?"

"I took the liberty of casting a spell to deceive the ears of those near us. Please try to avoid raising your voice, both to make it easy for the spirit it called up to improvise a plausible conversation about tonight's dinner, as well as for the obvious reason," Arika replied, facing her daughter again.

Reigning it in, Asuna began walking and Arika walked alongside her. "I got to talking with Negi last night, after we, well, and after you fell asleep."

"I don't sleep, I -"

"Uh-huh, well, while you were making snoring noises while waiting, we were talking about what he did with Chisame-san and Hakase." She glared at Arika. "I'm a little pissed that I didn't get to stick around and watch that."

"That is your right," Arika agreed.

"Gee, thanks. He, he was a little freaked out about it, about being a father, and, and then he told me about what you said a few days ago ..." She trailed off.

"Ah." The former queen nodded. "Yes, I can see why you might grow concerned."

Asuna clenched her fists and stopped in her tracks. "You are so damned casual about all of this!" she bit out. "I'm fifteen years old! And don't give me any crap about, 'I was twelve'!"

"Very well. I will not give you such crap. I will give you the truth. I would very much like grandchildren." She spread her hands. "I think most parents would."

"Yeah, but most parents don't want to become the parents of their grandchildren!" Asuna snapped.

"Voice," Arika said warningly. "That was a different thing. I think you can understand why I'd want more children, whose lives I would hopefully not miss as I've missed yours and Negi's." Her face clouded. "But it doesn't seem likely that will happen, now."

Asuna almost wanted to keep pressing her, but something about her air of sorrow stopped her. "What do you mean?" she asked after a moment.

Arika sighed before answering. "One of the attributes of the Royal Magic which I have cultivated is an awareness of the functioning of my own body. With effort, I can extend that awareness to perceive changes in another's body as well, but that's not important right now. Since that time which he told you about, I have been studying my reproductive system in detail, and discovered ..." She trailed off, then shook her head.

"I should have realized it before then," she murmured, just loud enough for Asuna to hear. "I told you, didn't I, when I was freed from that cell that they'd put me in, that I'd lost track of how long I'd been there, and didn't know how many years it had been? And yet every woman born has a foolproof way of telling when a month has passed. At the time, I thought my captors were putting drugs in my food to stop my cycle for ... well, I couldn't figure out why they'd want to do that. But now I believe that whatever they did to me was more permanent in nature than that."

Asuna felt herself go white with horror, not unmixed with anger. "That's, that's awful!"

Arika shrugged. "That's life." She eyed Asuna's gaping expression with a certain dark amusement. "But perhaps now you understand why grandchildren have become such a priority to me."

"Yes, yes, okay, I got it, you don't have to ... but I'm afraid!" Asuna finally burst out.

"You have a right to be."

As though she hadn't heard that, Asuna continued. "What if, what if it -"

"He or she, not it," Arika said, just a bit sharply.

"What if the baby is, is wrong? If he or she is sick, or twisted, because Negi is ..." She trailed off again.

"Asuna. Daughter. That is a possibility that you must face regardless of who you would choose to be the father of your children," Arika reminded her softly. "You are my daughter and my sister, for good or ill, and given how closely our father and my mother were related, I could probably add cousin to the list as well. Will you let fear rule your life?"

"I don't want to, but it's bigger than just my life, isn't it?" Asuna pointed out, almost tearfully.

"So it is," Arika allowed.

"It's easy for you, your crazy religion says all of this is all right," the girl said as she started to get angry again.

Arika seemed startled. "My reli- Ah." She nodded. "Tatsumiya. I'm afraid she's given you some bad information. Yes, I was associated with the Mysteries of Aphrodite and Eros for a short while after you were born. It was a casual thing ... well, no, it wasn't. I was looking to the gods in hopes that they'd grant me understanding of what had happened to me. I followed many paths in that time. But while the Mysteries accept incest, they don't actively encourage it, and in many ways try to subtly discourage it.

"And in any event, after the destruction of Ostia, I was officially anathematized by every religion in which I'd ever been initiated, including that one," she concluded. "Even without that, I don't really believe in anything I learned from them, anymore."

Asuna had listened to this in silence as her assumptions were undone. "Then why? If it's not because of that, then ... why?"

Arika drew in a deep breath. "Because it gives me pleasure, and I believe that it gives you pleasure too. Am I wrong? If so, then we'll stop. All you have to do, is say no. And I will respect that."

Asuna stared at her for a long moment, before falling forward and pressing her face into Arika's shoulder. Startled, there was another pause before Arika's arms came up to wrap around her daughter's shoulders.

"I don't want to stop," Asuna murmured. "Even though I'm scared, even though I don't know if it's right or not, I don't want to stop."

"Then we won't," Arika said.

Of course, when one is of a certain sensual temperment, as they both were, an agreement not to stop engaging in sexual antics with each other almost inevitably becomes an agreement to start engaging in sexual antics with each other as soon as possible. And so it was that they set out to find a convenient set of shrubbery, which wasn't terribly hard.

Kissing passionately as they rubbed up against each other, hands sliding up and under shirts to squeeze and caress firm breasts, Asuna took the lead, or was permitted to do so, and reached up with a free hand under Arika's skirt. Her lips twisted in mild aggravation. "You had to pick today to stop going commando?" she asked as she slid the lacy undergarments to the side.

"It's a moderately windy day and I'm not really an exhibitionist," Arika explained as she settled back to let Asuna do with her as she pleased.

It pleased Asuna to pause, look around at their surroundings and then fix her mother with an extremely ironic expression.

"Would you rather engage in commentary or sex?" Arika asked dryly.

"Sex," Asuna admitted, then lifted the skirt and leaned down to begin licking at the lips of her mother's vagina. The older woman leaned back with a pleasant sigh, enjoying the novel sensations; Asuna hadn't done this to her before this, but she was clearly showing the skills she'd acquired from her practice with Setsuna and Ayaka. Introducing a novice to sex was wonderful, but an experienced lover was worth his or her weight in rubies.

After she was brought to a shuddering orgasm, Arika attempted to lift Asuna up so as to return the favor. She was once again reminded that, although it was still not clear which of them was stronger, Asuna was considerably stronger than she seemed, and was not to be moved without her consent. She lifted her head just enough to shake it. "Nuh-uh," she said. "This time, it's all about you. I love you, mommy."

It seems a day for firsts, Arika thought as she fought desperately to keep from crying in joy as Asuna lifted her head up to start suckling at her teats. "You didn't get to do this when you were a baby," she murmured, the pleasure at the sensation almost overwhelming that of the three fingers Asuna kept pistoning below. "I wanted you to; every day, my breasts ached with the milk that was going to waste ..."

Asuna answered her only with a sigh as she added a fourth finger. Her mother shuddered with the sensation.

"Oh, daughter, are you going to?" she asked.

"Can I?" Asuna answered. "Do you want me to?"

"Yes," Arika replied without even a thought.

Asuna drew in a deep breath, folded her thumb against the palm of her hand ... and pushed. Arika let out a deep, low groan that dissolved into pants of exertion as her head fell back. "Keep going," she said between gasps.

"Uh," Asuna temporized nervously.

"Do not be gentle, Asuna. I do not want or need gentleness. Twice before, things much larger than your hand have passed through those gates. That was pain; this is pleasure. Give me your fist, my darling child," she said through clenched teeth. "And swiftly! My cunt hungers!"

Before Asuna could really get going, there was a sudden rustling in the bush behind them and Yue abruptly stepped into sight, opening her mouth to say something, perhaps some variation on, 'What's all this then?' The words never cleared her lips and she just stood there, looking rather stupid with her mouth open.

"Yue, what's going on, why did you - ohhhh," Nodoka said as she followed her into the bushes and saw what had her friend all agape. She stared in suprise as well, but had enough presence of mind to close her mouth.

"This, this is -" Asuna started to say.

"- exactly," interrupted Arika, "what it looks like."

"Right," said Yue. "Ah, well, I, um ..."

"A little privacy would be welcome, unless either of you would like to join in," Arika continued.

"No, no, we're, uh, we're, we're patrolling, you see, and -" Yue explained as she backed up.

"We'll just be on our way," Nodoka added, backing up with her.

"'Join in'?" Asuna repeated incredulously once they were out of earshot.

"Reverse psychology, dear," Arika explained. "Mostly, at least. I admit to a certain curiousity where Miyazaki is concerned ... are you going to continue?"

Back on the pathway, Nodoka and Yue walked together in silence for a moment. The silence was broken when Yue finally said, "Well. You were right. I didn't believe it, but, you were right."

"Mm-hm," Nodoka said. "All that time with Setsuna-san and Konoka-san, the way that she acts like Negi-sensei's big sister, the jealousy towards Iinchou - they all make sense when you realize that Asuna-san is also a lesbian."

"Well, that clearly seems to be the case, but I still don't buy your idea about Hasegawa being the one Sensei really cares about," Yue noted dubiously. "Makie just seems like a much better candidate. And she's a lot more savvy than she lets on."

"Be that as it may, I'm telling you -"

A little while later, Asuna poked her head out of the bushes to make sure they wouldn't be seen when they emerged. No one was present, so she stepped out of cover and beckoned for Arika to follow, which the former Queen did with unhurried grace.

"I can't believe you can walk after all that," Asuna said, just a bit enviously.

"Stamina, dear. One of our many gifts. Feeling better, I hope?" Arika asked as she walked beside her older child.

"A little," Asuna allowed. "I'm still not sure -"

"Nor should you be. Such decisions should never be untroubled. But I think you now are in a better state of mind, daughter, to listen to a theory of mine. What I said to you before about the risks you will face is the cold fact, but there's more to life than facts. Asuna, I believe that the Royal Magic may -"

By that point in Arika's monologue, they had reached an intersection in the tree-lined pathway, and began to turn to head back towards the dormitory.

"Ah! Asuna-san and Arika-san, what a pleasant surprise!" said Ayaka from behind them.

Asuna couldn't quite suppress a sigh. She'd really been enjoying her private time with her mother, and even though she and Ayaka had gotten a lot closer than she'd ever thought they would, this was an interruption she hadn't looked for. Still, maybe she could just exchange a few pleasantries and be on her way without an argument breaking out.

Okay, it was never going to happen, but she might as well give it a shot. So she painted on a smile and turned to look at Ayaka, who was wearing a bright pink sun dress and white heels. She was surprised to see that the class representative was being accompanied by a handsome looking fellow who looked to be in his sixties or so, who was regarding them from behind a pair of thick spectacles. The impulse to tease her about hanging around with the sort of guys she thought Asuna found attractive was almost overpowering, but she pushed it down.

"Ayaka-san," she said instead. "What a fortuitous meeting!" Let her puzzle that one out.

"Indeed," Ayaka agreed, sort of ruining the effect Asuna had been going for. "I was hoping to introduce you and Arika-san to my grandfather. Grandfather, this is Asuna-san, whom I believe I've told you about already, and her mother."

"Indeed," the old man said, looking long at Asuna. "She's just as I imagined her to be, from your descriptions of her."

The hairs on the back of Asuna's neck started to stand up for no readily apparent reason. She had to be imagining things. He couldn't be leering at her, could he?

Beside her, Arika had gone utterly still. "Ayaka," she said, not bothering with honorifics. "This man is the person you know as your grandfather?" Her voice was nearly without tone.

Ayaka blinked at the odd question and the informality with which she was being addressed. "Yes, that's what I said. He's my grandfather. Is something -"

"Have you ever seen this man," Arika asked, voice unchanging, "without his glasses?"

And suddenly, the old man laughed. It was not a pleasant sound, not an indication of mirth or pleasure, but something far colder. "I suppose I shouldn't really have expected these to fool you, of all people, with these," he said, touching his hand to the spectacles' frames.

"Not when your face is indelibly etched in my memories," Arika agreed steadily.

Ayaka, who had clearly been spooked by the sound of the old man's laughter, took a few quick steps that brought her to the side of Asuna and Arika before turning to face him. "Grandfather, you are behaving very strangely all of a sudden," she said with feigned calm. "May I ask how it is that you know Arika-san?"

"Let us dispense with the absurdities," he replied. "You are not the daughter of Yukihiro Teruo, and so should not call me grandfather. I was involved in other affairs, or I would surely have done something about Springfield's cuckolding of the boy when it occurred. Or perhaps not, since the other side of the absurdity of calling me grandfather is that Teruo is not my son." And with that, he removed the glasses.

And abruptly, they could all see his mismatched eyes, one blue, one green.

Just like Arika's.

Just like Asuna's.

"No," Asuna whispered, knowing who this man was, knowing who was leering at her, knowing -

"Who are you, sir!" Ayaka thundered. "Who do you think you are, posing as my grandfather? Where is he? And who are you? What is your name?"

"Your companions already know my name, but allow me to introduce myself nonetheless. I am Alladia Autarkia vespertatia Entheofushia. As to the whereabouts of your supposed grandfather," he continued, much more scornfully, "he is long-dead, since before you were born, in fact. He provided me with a useful cover identity that I have enjoyed a great deal. But the time for such deceptions is over, and I've known that since you escaped from your captivity, daughter."

Arika simply stared at him, saying nothing.

"Not a word of greeting for your dear old dad," he asked tauntingly.

"I believe that I said everything I had to say to you eighteen years ago, when they took you away to be imprisoned for your treason," Arika spoke at last.

"Yes, I remember your sickening sanctimony well," the old man sneered. "'I do love you, father,' you said. How revolting. I hope our daughter has not inherited your weakness. Well, girl?" he snapped at Asuna. "Have you anything to say to me?"

Asuna stared at him, at her father, the man who had given her life and then sentenced her to spend years alone and cold and lonely and hidden away and ill-treated and with a voice thick with fury she spoke one word. "Adeat," she said, and the sword was in her hand, and -

"No!" Ayaka said, standing athwart her. "This isn't the way!" The girl looked utterly terrified.

Of me? That ... no, that isn't right. Ayaka might hate me sometimes, but fear me? No, that should never be.

And it came to Asuna that her life, given her by this man, had not been a constant stream of pain unending. There had been joy, and the girl before her had been a cause of much of it. And so, with effort, the fury slowly, slowly eased to mere anger.

"Weak," the man called Alladia sneered.

"Valuing life is not weakness," Ayaka snapped, not looking at him.

He ignored her. "In any event, this is not quite the way that I wanted our reunion to occur. I still have considerable work to do before that occurs, but I suppose that this is for the best. I am free now to do that work rather than continue the pretense of touring this place with a certain hoyden." That got Ayaka to snap her head around to glare at him, but he ignored the look just as he ignored her words.

"If you'll excuse me, then, I'll be off and attending to my plans," he said, taking a step backwards.

"What are you planning, father?" Arika said, anger finally starting to show in her voice.

"Why, vengeance, of course. What else could it possibly be?" he said lightly ... then turned and bounded off in a gigantic leap that soon had him out of sight.

Arika swore an unfamiliar oath. "Ayaka, you fool! Why did you stop her! We could have engaged him, and ended this before he got away, and ... why are you smiling?"

"Because whatever he's planning, he just lost," she said. "Right, Miyazaki?"

"Right, Iincho," said Nodoka as she stepped from behind one of the trees lining the pathway, with her Diary out and open. Yue was quick to step out from behind one of the other trees.

"Teamwork and forgiveness," Ayaka said to a startled Arika and Asuna, as Yue also stepped out from behind one of the other trees. "Aren't they wonderful lessons?"

NEXT: Misa.
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Decadent Habits