Chapter 90 - Breaking The System

One would think Tadaaki and Mizuru were working on gaining the [Shameless Sexual Deviant] title, based on their activities that morning.

There was steamy hot, passionate, romantic cultivation between the two long-lost lovers with so much catching up to do. Their bodies, filled to the brim with positive youth energy, blossoming with perspiration and saliva as they found their bed upon the bloodied tile floor.

Tadaaki had always been of a slow, romantic sort. Whereas Mizuru, oftentimes acting as the aggressor, is nonetheless easily—wilfully—eroded, by a pair of loving hands.

"Do the arms make it...weird?" Mizuru asked at one point, in an uncommon hush. With uncommon timidness.

As they were taking a moment to rest, Tadaaki raised his head from where he was laid beside her. "No. Of course not," he said, facing her. A look of surprise etched across his face. "Why would it bother me? Nothing makes me happier than being with you." Because she was so beautiful, like this, with her pastel pink hair loosened in silky waves. An intoxicating, vacant expression with her cheeks flushed bright red, her eyelids softly listing, her pretty mouth agape: that of a woman who is lost entirely to passion.

"But...why me? I'm nothing special." She said as Tadaaki curled his back, to hover over her. "I was already a second-rate warrior, even before I lost my arms. And I'm constantly making bad decisions that hurt everyone around me." 

"Because you never give up," Tadaaki said. "When there's something you want, you never stop fighting for it. Unlike me—a person who gives up and hides."

She gave a sarcastic smirk. "Ara ara, but aren't all women stubborn?"

"Not stubborn like you are."

"Does my...stubbornness turn you on…?" she coyly asked, patting him on the face.

"Yeah." He beamed, breathless. "I want to see how stubborn you'll be with our kids someday. You'll probably spank the shit out of them, but I won't stop you—not that I could if I tried. 

Mizuru giggled. "You're so weird," she said. As, truly, nothing sets the mood right quite like talk of child abuse.

She stared deeply into Tadaaki's beautiful brown eyes, her innermost pains placed on full display through her soft, vulnerable gaze. "But Vash...it was my bad decision that killed you."

Tadaaki stared back. "I...died?" He could barely recall.

Mizuru nodded, tears forming. "Akira and I both watched it happen." She turned away sharply, laying the side of her face flat against the floor. Squeezing her eyes shut in anguish. "And it's all because I—" 

Tadaaki's gentle touch, upon her cheek, elicited a small gasp. 

Whereupon she reopened her eyes, to see Tadaaki's warm expression like a sun shining above; enshrouded by the fluorescent rays of light spilling forth from the ceiling.

"It's okay, Kanna. You're alive, I'm alive. Don't replace your anger with grief."

"V-Vashi…" Mizuru whispered.

How could he be so patient, and tolerant of her continual mistakes?

At the same time, only his presence alone could tear these negative feelings away. Though it would take more than just talk, and the touch of their bare skins.

She wrapped her legs around his back, pulling him in. Beckoning his urges.

"Please," she begged. Craving release. To be shown she belonged to him, and no other. To have that calming serenity shelter her in its wings, forevermore. Filling her completely, and leaving its indelible mark upon her with his divine warmth.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I thought we were gonna hold off until we made it back to Acquama."

Her grip grew tighter in answer.

It was an invitation with which he was more than happy to comply.

Some minutes later…

Keiko, Akari, and CITA burst into the student council room.

"Tadaaki-san!" Keiko immediately declared. I need your input on some—" Then broke off, blushing with Akari at the sight of Tadaaki having his way with Mizuru against the wall. Too locked in their kisses to even care whether they were being watched.

CITA appeared curious, more than anything. "Ah, these two appear to be enjoying themselves." Earning a skeptical glance from Akari.

"Yeah. They're enjoying themselves, alright."

"What does one call this activity?"

"CITA-san!" Keiko exclaimed. "Don't you know about sex…?"

She shook her head, frowning. "Does not compute," she said. "As embarrassing as it is to admit, there is still much room for my memory banks to expand."

"What!" Akari choked back a laugh, continuing: "are you for real?'

"I will not withstand your mockery," Cita replied, her eyebrows furrowed to impart an "angry" look. Though, succeeding more in being cute. "I am very much in the real, with regards to my lack of knowledge in certain areas."

Akari, her whole face lit up with a burgeoning laugh, glanced at Keiko. "'In the real,' she says. Did you catch that?"

"Quit teasing her, Akari-chan," Keiko said, following it with a sigh, suppressing an amused smile of her own. "It's fine. We'll show you later," she said, as Tadaaki and Mizuru were still going furiously at it—both their watches beeping, due to the demerits they were acquiring from being observed in the act. Sounding in tandem with Akari's, to create a most unpleasant auditory plague.

It was extreme enough that she had to vacate the student council room at once, taking her entourage with her to reconvene in the hallway. Where she gave an exasperated groan.

"Fine. I guess we'll just have to"—she sighed—"wait, for those two to finish."

It was then, Akari became chibi. 

"We're all a bit tense and could use a break, now couldn't we? And this means we have some time." Cackling mischievously, she rubbed her tiny deformed stubs for hands together. "Does a robot girl even possess the necessary parts, though…? Kekeke."

CITA huffed. "I never claimed to be a 'robot girl.'"

"Yeah. And we've already had a long enough break," Keiko said, stiffly crossing her arms. Then, turning to you—the reader—with an annoyed scowl. "This arc has dragged on long enough as it is, don't you think?"

But then, upon returning to her place behind the fourth wall: when looking around, expecting to see the others, she instead spotted them disappearing further along the hallway. With Akari leading CITA, by the hand, God only knows where. Doubtless to commit some obscene acts against the unsuspecting android.

Did no one else care about how urgent it was for them to escape? Did they really have time to spare on cultivating, before the next monster attack!?

She would have to act fast, and of her own accord. Even though she was...afraid. A small part of the old Keiko Nakamura was still alive inside of her, doubting every move she made. Constantly seeking the approval and input of others, even when her mind and instincts were united; a clear path stretched out before her.

While others were busy cultivating, Keiko would have to be the one to get shit done.

So, with this train of thought as her motivation, she hurried to the nearest Tooki-san kiosk, charging her fist with chi as the screen automatically flickered on.

"What do you want?" Tooki-san bitterly greeted her.

"I want out of this place."

"Then go ahead and leave." He grumbled, your friend...was right—it's perfectly safe."

"No way it's that simple. Otherwise, more people would know about what's actually going on here, in the Ivory Quarter. But instead, even the monks who deliver the pizzas don't remember anything."

Her gaze narrowed, in rage.

"That's because a person's memories are partially wiped whenever they leave this place, isn't it?"

"Only the memories of what they witnessed while they were in the dome," Tooki-san replied. "So you'd hardly be missing out on anything important if you and your buddies just went along on your merry ways." His voice darkened: "And left me the Hell alone, to pick up the fucking mess you've made."

"No deal," Keiko said firmly.

"What?"

"I'm not leaving without all my memories."

"Well, tough luck. 'Cuz it ain't gonna happen."

The corner of Keiko's lip raised in a subtle smirk. "We'll see if I can't convince you otherwise," she said. "I know your weakness, now. And I fully intend to make use of it."

"Tch. You're bluffing," Tooki-san said.

But she wasn't.

Keiko slammed her Chi Fist into the kiosk, obliterating it in a shower of sparks and crumpled plates of metal—the first of many still to go. Gaining demerits for [Destruction of School Property] as a result.

After which she ran to destroy the next one, then the next. And so on, until...

"Wait, wait! Stop it!" Tooki-san cried out, as she was rearing her fist back to destroy yet another kiosk."Crazy bitch! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm hitting you in your weak spot, like I told you I would," she said, triumphantly grinning. "When I thought about it, I realized there had to be a reason why you designed the system to force us to do average, normal things for merit points. And not just because it helped form the illusion we were in a school..."

She then smashed the kiosk, as she did the others before it. Resuming her speech at the next one in line:

"There's a reason most demerits are only given if another student has seen you. Most demerits, that is, except for [Destruction of School Property]. Which you get regardless if anyone's watching."

She smashed the kiosk.

"Except...you," she said, knowing Tooki-san could still hear her every word. "You're always watching. And these kiosks are so important to your plans, that you made it so the system would give demerits out to anyone who tried to damage them—even if no one is around to see. Because they're far more important to you than the lives and wellbeing of the students."

She was about to destroy another one, when Tooki-san quickly yelled, "okay! Okay! You've cracked the code! So what do you need me to do, to get you to stop?"

Keiko lowered her fist. "First, I want to meet with you. Personally."

There was clear panic in his voice: "Okay, okay. That's cool. You wanna get to the bottom of things, and I get that. I'm just gonna need you to—"

"Second, I want a way out of here that won't cost any of us our memories."

Tooki-san sighed. "Seriously?"—she raised her fist again, scowling, in a silent threat—"okay, okay! It's doable. But like I was saying, you'll have to tell all your friends to hold their [Shiroichi Watches] up. So that I can run my teleport program."

"Shit," Keiko cursed. Because she knew where Mizuru and Tadaaki were, but what of Akira and CITA?

And all the while, time was ticking.. Because the next monster attack (bound to be even more devastating than the Flying Monkeys, if CITA's observations were to be believed) was due to arrive at any minute.