Chapter 150 – The Queen Has an Idea

Chapter 150 – The Queen Has an Idea

Days after the strange weather phenomenon of dark, swirling clouds appeared above Tsukiji, we still hadn't found a single clue as to what it was. I ordered every succubus living in the neighboring cities to keep an active eye out, but not so much as a single trace of Tamamo's whereabouts had been unearthed yet. Now, after an entire weekend of restless searching, Monday had come. Mio and I were due back to school to face the music.

That being the entire school and public knowing that succubus exists.

"I dunno what the big deal is. So that cat's outta the bag. That just makes fucking whoever we want easier," Mio said, shrugging as she scarfed down a bowl of cereal from across the kitchen table to me.

"Mio, no vulgarity at the dinner table. It's bad manners," Hatsumi scolded her.

My sister cooked me an omelet, but I had zero appetite gazing at her wonderful cooking. Too full of anxiety to eat anything.

"My bad~ Still getting used to these new rules." Mio rolled her eyes.

Hatsumi sat down next to me and sighed. No longer a succubus, she was back to her usual self, house reeking of lust and being the domestic housewife-sister she always wanted to be.

After returning the Blade of the First Temptress to me, Hatsumi lost the ability to drain sexual energy directly from the sword. She would have eventually starved out of the principle of not wanting to be intimate with other people, so transforming her back was the only option.

We were one less greater succubus down, but it had to be done unless we wanted to risk Hatsumi frenzying. At which point, that would mean having an evil yokai and powerful succubus on the loose.

One side effect to Hatsumi becoming human again was that she was trying to control her lingering desires to a manageable state. So Mio and I had to keep our own horniness in check for her sanity's sake.

"Any word on our parents, sis?" I asked.

"Nothing..." Hatsumi shook her head. "I'm honestly worried. What if they haven't called because they're on their way home? That's the last thing I want. Our life up until now has been so peaceful, too. But now, with everyone knowing that succubi exists..."

Mio wolfed down her bowl and belched out loud.

"Wish we could do something, but we can't anymore. It's too out there in the open, and no amount of charming folks is gonna set 'em back to factory settings. Reminds me of the time during the war, me and a couple of succs charmed an entire regiment of light elves to think we were one of them. It was working! Up until we got too horny and started having orgies in the middle of the night, then their commander realized what we were because no respectable light elf fucks before marriage."

Hatsumi and I simply stared at Mio.

"What? Oh, right. No horny. Sorry!" she apologized, then went to fill her bowl with more cereal.

I put a hand on top of Hatsumi's. I felt the trembling of over twenty years of trying to live up to our parents' expectations, failing, and having to raise me in their place. All that I was and currently am, I owe to Hatsumi.

"If they really are coming home, then boy do I have a lot to say to them. We have a lot to say to them," I offered her a reassuring smile.

After breakfast, Mio and I headed straight for school, but as we were walking along the usual route there, some people began looking our way.

"Excuse me!" An older man who looked to be on his way to work ran up to us. "You're the succubus from the video, right?"

"Uh, I—"

Before I could get a word in, a young woman intercepted us.

"C-Can I get a moment to talk to you?"

Most people were minding their own business. However, fellow students from Tsukiji whom we used to walk side by side to school with were gathering in mass.

"If they know we're succubus, we might as well fly, right?" Mio suggested, leaping into the air.

The act drew a bunch of eyes and made things worse, attracting more attention to us than before. Now students were racing over to try and hit on us.

"Great." I sighed, then sprouted my wings to fly away from the crowds.

"Saeko, Mio! Wait!" they shouted to our backs.

"We're just trying to get to school!" I yelled.

It wasn't any better at school. A larger group of students was waiting at the gate like they were expecting to run into us. The instant they saw us, they started hollering and clamoring to get our attention.

"The window!" I pointed.

We flew up to the window and accidentally startled Rika, who was watering potted plants along the sill. Rubbing her eyes, she unlocked and opened the window.

"Saeko? Mio? What are you two doing flying up here?" Rika asked, but quickly noticed the stampeding students. "Oh. That's why."

Inside our class, which was currently only partially occupied by the punctual students with their jaws dropped, provided a momentary respite since they didn't seem as interested in what we were.

Suddenly, bursting through the door, an artbook in one hand and drawing pencil in the other, was Kaede. Breathing heavily and covered in sweat, she marched into our class to confront me and Mio.

"Hey, Kaede... I can explain—"

"I can't believe you two are succubus! That's the coolest thing in the world!" Kaede exclaimed.

"Eh?" I was at a loss for words.

She let the stuff in her hands drop and grabbed both of mine. "During our school trip, remember? I thought there was something off! After you saved me from falling down the cliff. I knew there was no way we could have survived. That's why I started imagining you as a succubus, and it turned out to be true! If this is really you, I want to draw it— yes! That obscene body, perfect for my doujins!"

"So that's why you drew me as a succubus?! And... I'm sorry, Kaede. I didn't mean to hide this from you or anyone. It's just that I wanted to keep this part of my life a secret," I explained.

"Don't be sorry! It's thanks to you that I found the courage to break up with my boyfriend. You and Mio gave me so much inspiration to do what I love. I also received a letter that my debut manga is going to be featured in a popular magazine, too! I'm really glad to have met you!"

Mio put an arm around mine and Kaede's shoulders.

"See? Good fortunes can still happen!"

After Kaede's artwork got soaked from her misfortune of falling into the river, I thought I wouldn't be able to look her in the eyes anymore. Now here she was, one of my friends, thanking me.

It was easy to forget that, even though so much had gone wrong, there was just as much that had gone right. Like Kaede getting her manga being one step closer to being serialized. If that wasn't good fortune, then—

"About you being a succubus?" I asked.

Smiling, she scoffed. "Nah. Hacchan already knows. One of the first humans I told a while ago."

Mio sprinted away without explaining any further. I figured I could just ask her about it later.

I paused as soon as I opened the door.

"Yo, guys! What's gucci?" Hana waved from the desk normally occupied by Naruse.

The pink-haired helion was in her full succubus form, not even in school uniform at school. She was in the middle of tinkering with a sybian machine.

"What are you doing here? Where's Naruse or Yumi?" I asked.

"Dunno about Naruse, but Yumi's out expanding the search for Tamamo all the way to Okayama. Shit's getting hairy. We're all getting the heebie-jeebies from the swirling butthole in the sky," Hana said.

"Oh, god... Please, don't refer to that thing in the sky as a butthole... I can't get the image out of my head now."

Hana turned on the sybian machine, causing it to vibrate like crazy. However, something sparked and sputtered which made it stop completely. Disappointed, she put the machine away somewhere under the desk.

"Saeko... I just wanted to say, I'm sorry," Hana said as genuinely as possible that I thought I had misheard.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I ever heard such a sincere apology from you. Is there a punchline waiting at the end of this?" I joked.

"Hey, come on! I'm trying to be serious here! This disaster is only because I told Bea about your world. I know I'm the reason Kana got possessed, your god-husband grounded, and poop coming outta the butthole!" She pointed out the window behind her.

I rolled my eyes and sat down across the desk.

"You're trying to be serious, and the last word out of your mouth is 'butthole'? If we're looking for someone to blame, we can all point to the demon lord. At the end of the day, I also made choices that I regret. What's important is that you're helping set things right, Hana. Besides, in a way, I have you to thank for finding earth. Otherwise, Mio wouldn't have come and changed me into a succubus. We were all able to meet because of you!"

Hana, who had her face buried in both hands, peeked out between her fingers. That sad look, worn away by my words, flashed with the slight curve of a troublesome and happy grin. She suddenly leapt onto the desk, fists on her waist and flat chest puffed out.

"Heh. Well, if you put it that way, I guess I really don't have anything to be sorry for!" Hana nodded to herself.

"Okay, you're not out of the water just yet..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She jumped off and landed gingerly on her feet, knocking off a couple of papers from the desk. "So, whatcha needed Yumi for? Bet I can help!"

Hana was technically the undisputed, oldest succubus among us. Even though she wasn't of greater status, she possessed the strength of one. Come to think of it, I always confided in the others before I did her. Taking the appearance of an elementary school student didn't exactly inspire confidence with regards to age and wisdom.

"I was thinking we were going about fighting Tamamo all wrong. Succubus aren't really fighters. We're supposed to take more creative approaches to tackling a problem, right?" I asked, recalling the story Mio told me and Hatsumi during breakfast.

"Sure." Hana nodded. "Going down with fisticuffs didn't really work out against that foxy lady. You got something else in mind?"

"Tamamo gets stronger the more misfortune there is. We should be countering the only way we succubus know how— by having sex with people. To a lot of lonely bastards out there, sex might as well be scoring the lottery. It should weaken her enough that we can fight her on even footing, then Kana comes in to deal the final blow."

"Ooooh! I getcha. Your world already knows we're real, so we might as well use that to our advantage. What say we call in the cavalry?" she said, reaching the same conclusion as I did.

Bring more succubus into the world. That was how we were going to fight back against Tamamo and yokai.

Hana left school to inform other succubi of my plans. Meanwhile, I was left ruminating on just how crazy this idea was. Bringing a horde of succubus into this world? Exactly what Beatrice did. However, unlike her, I intended to protect my world.

As I left the infirmary, someone was racing down the hall towards me.

"Saeko!" Kameshiro shouted to me from down the hallway.

"Oh, boy..."

I made a full 180 to go the other way.

"Wait!" He sprinted ahead to block my way, panting as he skidded to a stop.

Folding my arms, I waited until he caught his breath to continue.

"What do you want? I'm busy, you know?" I said.

"Just hear me out! We're all gonna graduate soon, and I just wanted to apologize for all those times I got on your nerves. From the bottom of my heart, I'm really sorry! Before the year ends for us, I was just hoping to get that off my chest. We got off on the wrong start, so it'd be nice if we can get along."

"Sure. We can try to be friends," I offered. "But that still doesn't mean I'm going to have sex with you."

"WHY?!" Kameshiro cried.

Bingo. I had a feeling it was never about being friends. He just wanted to get into my pants after learning that I was a succubus. In fact, that's all he had been doing since I became a girl.

"I don't care. I'll be as pathetic as I need to. I want to have sex with you so bad!" Kameshiro dropped to his knees and scraped his forehead against the floor.

"Sorry, not interested."

As I was about to walk away, I noticed a ghostly spirit attached to the top of his head that wasn't there before. It wriggled like a worm trying to burrow out of the ground, but in Kameshiro's case, his head.

A yokai? I couldn't be sure, but there was only one way to find out.

"You know what? I changed my mind," I said.

Kameshiro lifted his head, filling with hope.

"R-Really?" he asked.

I let my human form drop to show him my true succubus appearance.

"The infirmary's empty right now, so why don't we take a step inside?"