Chapter 85 - Okay, Maybe Not So Normal After All

Akari was in the girls' restroom, washing her hands after having just finished with a quest to [Make Love with the School Janitor in the Girls' Restroom for 30 Minutes], for 15 [Social] merit points. 

There was a bright smile upon her face when she looked into her reflection in the wide restroom mirror. Although, it wasn't because the "mild exercise" she'd just engaged in was particularly glamorous: a simplistic pre-programmed artificial entity like the schlubby, balding, middle-aged looking [School Janitor] did, by definition, lack creativity.

"Haha! I came up with a prize-winning idea just now!" she gloated to herself. "One even the smarty pants school president didn't think of!"

She was, of course, referring to her sole contribution at the meeting with the [Student Council President]. After which, the investigative team—now with the president himself to be counted among their members—had elected to split up. To not "arouse suspicion," according to Keiko's own words.

'What'd she mean by that, though?' Akari briefly wondered, screwing up her face in contemplation. But ultimately relenting, with a dismissive shrug—little knowing that she was already, at this very moment, being watched.

Meanwhile, on the school rooftop...

Keiko was standing with the [Student Council President]: clinging to the tall, chain link fence border while he stood stolidly beside her. Gazing out, in contemplative silence, through the impermeable curtain of silver-grey.

In Keiko's mind, its very existence was the biggest mystery of all.

"Has anyone ever seen past the fog?"

The president stirred back to life beside her, his eyes jolting open as though he'd just been dozing off. "None that I have heard of—and I am one to keep my ear close to the ground." 

He paused, biting his lip. As though hesitant to continue. 

"However...response measures are in place for us members of the judicial body to take, if a student should ever be seen attempting to leave school grounds." He held up his wrist, showing his [Shiroichi Watch]. "According to the guidelines given to us through the System."

Keiko turned to him sharply. "What are the measures?" It was her first time hearing of this.

"We report it to the Principal's Office."

"Does it happen very often?"

The president scratched his head, his focused gaze remaining fixed forward.

"Well?"

"Um...never. Not even once."

Keiko was incredulous. "No student's ever been caught trying to escape?"

"Indeed. And it's awfully strange, now that I think about it," the president said, crossing his arms with an intense stare. "It could only mean one of two things: either there's never been a situation where students attempted to leave the grounds; or else such cases do exist, but they've all gone unnoticed."

"Neither of which sounds plausible," Keiko interjected.

"I agree. It's incredibly suspicious."

"We've already managed to prove some memory tampering is going on, so maybe it's linked to that. Maybe some students really have been caught trying to leave the school, but something's happening to cause everyone to forget."

"It must involve…" The president's eyes widened. "The principal!"

Keiko mirrored his shocked reaction.

"Since the principal is the one we're instructed to report the incidents to, it would make sense if he's the source of the memory tampering."

Keiko nodded. "Nobody has ever seen the principal, and he never leaves his office."

"In other words, it's the perfect cover."

"A cover for what, though?" Keiko questioned.

Meanwhile, back in the girls' restroom...

Akari was just finishing up with applying some [Dumb Slut] [Exclusive] makeup she'd purchased at a merits kiosk, humming to herself but stopping when she could hear the door slowly open and close shut behind her.

"The janitor's in the first stall from the right, if you need to use him," Akari said, without distracting herself from her present task of applying a streak of bright red to her small, soft lips. "I just got through with my quest." She giggled. "I love when you're grinding your butt off against him, and all of a sudden he's like"—she puts on an imitate grouchy tone: 'damn kids these days!'"

Receiving no response, her ensuing laughter gradually faded as she became warier of the other presence in the room. Whom, she first laid eyes upon—with a startled gasp—standing behind her in the mirror's reflection, as she was glancing up from her [Makeup Kit]: 

It was a girl, tall and slender, with billowy locks of snow-white hair falling to the middle of her back. Dressed in an elegant, pure white short dress with short sleeves and a high neckline, no shoes or socks. The restroom's array of fluorescent lights, she saw, were reflecting off her spotless, fair complexion in a dazzling shroud of sparkles and glimmers.

There was a sharp, unblinking gaze found within her large grey eyes, fixed squarely upon Akari—causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. 

"W-why are you staring at me like that?" Akari demanded, still facing the mirror.

"Akira Maximilian," the mysterious girl seemed to say, although her lips did not move. In a pleasant yet stiff, robotic voice, sounding like it had been run through multiple filters to produce a chilling, distorted effect. 

"You are presently in danger."

"D-danger…?" Akira turned to face the mysterious girl, inching slowly toward the door as she did. Until, all of a sudden she heard a shrill, apelike shriek, followed by another voice speaking: 

A curmudgeonly man's, annoyedly griping, "I'm a janitor—not a housemaid!"

As then, shortly after, the door to the first toilet stall from the right slammed open as the [School Janitor] was being forcibly pinned to the tiled floor, beneath a hideous monstrosity. An ungodly beast bearing the appearance of a darkly furred, grey-skinned chimpanzee with glaring red eyes and a pair of furiously flapping red membranous wings.

Overcome by terror, Akari climbed on top of the sink counter, whimpering between panicked sobs as she watched it proceed to dig into the [School Janitor's] body with its huge fingers, showing no mercy with its vicious, flesh-rending bites.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Akira frantically glanced around, but the mysterious girl was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd you go? Don't leave me here!"

"It is a Flying Monkey," the mysterious girl's voice could be heard saying in reply.

"Oh, right. Of course. A flying monkey."

"But fear not, for I am still here! Inside of you, currently."

Akari blushed, giving a small giggle.

"Oh, my," she said. "I've never been this close to anyone before."

"Please, do not make this awkward."

With that, Akari's arm suddenly lifted by itself, her hand balling into a fist.

"What the—"

"I have assumed full control of your motor nerve functions. All except for your speech and facial expressions."

"Come again?"

"I have commandeered your body."

"Eh, I still don't get it."

The mysterious girl sighed. "It pains me to see you in such a sorry, reduced state."

Akari gawked. "Have we met before?"

Unfortunately, now was not exactly the best time to delve into backstories, as the Flying Monkey—evidently tired of the janitor's flavor—reared back, pounding its fists against its muscular chest and howling, in an aggressive show of dominance.

"Can't we just make a run for it?" Akari questioned. 

However, just as she had suggested this…

The door leading out into the hallway opened—revealing a second Flying Monkey! Standing there, still grasping the door handle. Poking its head through the crack with its lips pronounced in a definite "o" shape, letting out a string of curious hoots.

"AHHH!" Akari exclaimed. "Now there's another one!"

At the sound of some muffled grunts and churning water, she looked over to see a third monkey now pulling itself out of the toilet, in another one of the bathroom stalls.

"Oh, shit! They're everywhere!"

"Indeed. We stand little chance of escape."

"So what are we supposed to do...?"

"You: will watch. I: will fight."

"Using my body?!" Akari snapped. "You're just gonna get us both killed!"

"Not likely," she said, while raising both of Akari's fists in front of her as they became basked in a golden yellow glow. "Because even though your strength has been greatly reduced, your body is still capable of wielding chi."

"Chi…"—Akira's [Dumb Slut] brain somehow recognized the word—"you mean, the same power Keiko was using?"

She thought for a moment. 

"Who the heck are you, anyway?"

The first monkey dove forth, at an upward angle, jaws wide open in the lead-up to a devastating bite.

"I am called CITA," said the mysterious girl controlling Akira's body. As then, she cleanly ducked and rolled them beneath the monkey's flying lunge attack, causing it to continue hurtling through the air until it crashed—headfirst—and loudly shattered the mirror in a rain of glass shards, as she landed softly on her feet. "And until you are restored to your full strength, I shall do what it takes to protect you."

It was then that the second Flying Monkey came to action.

Rushing from the door, pitting its wildly swinging arms against CITA's masterful dodges: deftly swerving, rotating and weaving Akari's limber body all across the restroom, all the while seeking out openings for quick, retaliatory jabs from her chi-empowered fists.

As this went on, Akari—acting as a spectator from within her own body—was noticing something.

"My uniform is getting all slashed up!"

The culprit was the nails of the attacking ape: its claws repeatedly ripping through the thin cloth of her Shiorichi blouse and skirt, exposing more and more bits of her naked flesh.

Eventually, CITA found an opening for a brutal kick, landing the ape flat on its back.

Then, while it was knocked down, she hunched over with Akari's hands on her knees, panting to catch her breath. "My apologies"—pant pant—" for the deteriorating condition of your clothes," she said. "It is necessary that I conserve as much energy as possible, while I fight in this state. Therefore, concessions must be made, so as to ensure that no harm"—pant pant—"comes to you directly."

Akari gave a concerned groan. "CITA-san, you don't sound so good."

"My…[Mana]...is almost fully depleted."

"W-w-what does that mean?"

"I will not be able to maintain this form, to control you, much longer." 

"Crap!"

"My work here is complete."

With that, Akari fell to her knees as she could feel CITA's presence leave her; an insect discarding its molted shell.

However, the two Flying Monkeys were still alive, and the third had just fully emerged from the toilet. So now all three were encroaching upon her, as she cowered up against the wall screaming. Only this time, more slowly, with a newfound air of caution.

'So much for protecting me!' Akari thought, left with seemingly no hope to survive. 'You didn't do shit but give these dumb apes a striptease!'

But then, Mizuru kicked down the door. 

Her face was coursing in sweat, her uniform stained in blood: signs of her previous battles, with the other packs of Flying Monkies that had started popping up around the school.

Battleworn as she was, though, upon seeing Akari's predicament, a cocky grin emerged across her lips.