Novels2Search
Himemonogatari
Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The morning after left Pro with a splitting headache and wrapped in bandages, having been pushed to her limit battling the hightier dragon she captured in a card the masked girl gave to her. She was informed further after the battle to use capture cards to capture true dragons for their power. Power to do something. Pro didn't exactly know what. The hightier dragon she captured was Fafnir, the fiend of destiny, she read in a book about the war on dragons on her shelf. Some fiend of destiny he was, unable to prevent his own and trapped within a piece of paper.

True dragon defeated; when they fell Fafnir using the magic and skills they trained over the course of a week they, mostly Pro, had a brief moment to question their existence in an alternate world. Instead of giving a direct answer, Fafnir dodged around the question and was impressed by their strength, saying to her-

"How could you possibly have more power than the men of old?"

--to which a bloody Pro bellowed, "Our fate is in our hands. We'll drag on until we meet our ends."

A spur of the moment answer since her mind was scattered after the tough battle. An answer Fafnir was satisfied with, closing his eyes and muttering. "Perhaps mankind is the strongest dragon of all."

But he warned them not to get in over their heads for that kind of hubris standing on pride and power is a tragic tale that all too often occurs with those who called themselves the heroes of light. The dragons and challenges they will face were going to require much more than pure strength and will. Beware the ones under the moon, his final warning before Pro encaptured him in a card.

A card she didn't even acknowledge, the card resting on her dresser to the left of her bed. Instead she would pet her familiar Monai resting on her lap and complain out loud. "Fighting dragons is hard."

School went on normally but an oddity for Murakumo having to readjust to regular life.

When Pro checked to see if she could transfer there, the name was greyed out. Naoto checked and saw that all of the magic there was gone, the despair was supposedly completely lifted. Their first hightier dragon subjugation was a complete success, but there were some loose ties, namely how adverse Cocoa was behaving towards the group despite being appointed leader. Bearing the red band, many students started sucking up to her authority and acting friendly. To her it was a weird sudden change from being ignored and avoidant all her life. She owed it all to Murakumo yet it was difficult to show it in the way she wanted to, never showing up to help with their requests and even ordering her maids to prevent them from visiting her home again.

Another loose end was Kris' position in the Tokyo Magic Government Agency. He had kept their attention away from his underlings but with the growing despair they were getting more interested than usual in Murakumo's affairs. Not wanting to leak their secrets he departed with Lari and Naoto back to the agency to keep their attention elsewhere on more governmental matters. Soon after, Gachi's sister would be dragged back into work with the TGA. Whatever their work was, Murakumo was instructed to keep a low profile and not use their magic or fight further in the superdimension.

Noire, Judith, the masked girl… Without investigating the superdimension further they couldn't answer the questions of these mysterious people they encountered. Who were they and why were they there? Who were they allied with and so much more…

Rei, who was given detention by the council personally for a made-up reason, was left to sit in the school's library. He wasn't a fool, knowing well they were going to pull him aside for questioning his involvement in the other world and Judith, Getting their answers by trickery or by force. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Pro's fire or whatever weird stuff Kyokai could do, but what could he do besides sit in this small library?

He looked to his right and saw another in detention with him. A student he didn't recognize, and a female one at that. She was resting with her head on the table and arms covering her face but from what he saw from where he was sitting was quite an alluring mature girl. She was tall, sitting uncomfortably in a seat too small for her size and her legs stretched out under the table. She wasn't asleep because her tall fox ears on top of her unbrushed light blue hair twitched occasionally along with her legs trying to find a comfortable position to rest in. Then, either from her unrest or feeling Rei staring at her, she stood up tall and let out a loud frustrated groan mixed with a yawn.

That's when Rei saw her full glory. Wearing the boy's uniform and an oversized cardigan, her massive breast size was still protruding from her chest. The biggest he'd seen out of all the girls in Nokken Academy. She had a natural pretty face, completely smooth like cream and a pure silver hairband that shined at all angles. Her eyes were narrow, the kind of eyes full of sorrow and looking for answers--he saw that look for a second before she switched her gaze to him. The color of her iris was magenta and it froze his heart when his gaze connected with hers. Rei wanted to take his eyes off her but he just couldn't. It was a genuine attraction beyond love, what was the word…

"..." Rei didn't have a word for it and didn't have time to think of one as she moved to the row of shelves mouthing off to herself.

"This is totally boring, agh! Is there like, a book I can pull out that reveals a secret exit? Maybe I should just…"

Her voice lowered as she delved deeper in the book shelves. Rei got up wanting to follow but froze in place when the library door slid open. Here comes the janitors to sweep it up, he thought. Kyokai, Remy, and Luka. The last of the three wore an arm sling and cast and bandages around her head. Probably from the fight she had against Judith but Rei couldn't remember it all. To avoid lie detectors and suspicions he had to empty his head completely, even of that beautiful girl.

"So this is Rei Valoris? Students call him the handsome idol from Mariellir and the ultimate pervert. I hear he knows every girl's panty color." Kyokai said, acting like Rei wasn't there.

"Why are you saying it like you're reading it off a file?!"

"Sorry I got carried away." Kyokai replied while rubbing the back of his head. Luka however, "Is that rumor true?" expressed a real interest in learning that skill.

Rei snickered and cupped his chin proudly. "Hell yeah! I'm not just the womanizer but also the boob expert and panty analyst."

"Sounds like you should be arrested."

"Wait, wait, wait! I was joking!" Rei waved his hands defensively in front of Remy who was shooting glares at him. He did know her panty color but he wouldn't say here. "I'm just one very handsome guy! I can't get the ladies away from me."

Kyokai scoffed. "I don't believe that for one second."

"You should know! You're surrounded by girls all the time. It's your harem in the council."

Harem in the council? Kyokai rolled his eyes at the name but Remy didn't crack a smirk.

Her tone would be ruthless. "Enough distractions. We didn't come here to be friends or to make jokes. Rei, you know what we want to know."

He averted his eyes. "Ummm I do not..?"

"Who is Judith and why were you captured in the superdimension with her? What does she want from that world?" Remy stepped forward being more relentless with her words. Going as far as to stab her finger in his chest causing him to wince.

He sighed deeply. Unfortunately he wasn't going to get that date with Judith. She changed her plan, using him to bait out Murakumo to fight them again. If it wasn't for the tsundere cat rushè coming in to save them, they were going to lose to her overwhelming strength. Rei explained this, even telling them the embarrassing parts like secretly getting information about the council for what would be a short date, a minor reward. He was blinded by her beauty to notice the signs of betrayal. As for Judith's motivations in the superdimension…

Pressing his forehead, he said, "I can't tell ya. They didn't tell me anything when I joined along to help."

Remy furrowed her brow. "They?"

"Two other girls working with Judith. No, there were more… I think." Rei shrugged and slouched his shoulders. "I was knocked out but I remember their voices, and Judith's not the leader of whatever party she's with."

"That means another group is out fighting the dragons, among other things." Kyokai then looked at Luka. "I have a bad feeling about this. How about you, Luka?"

Luka tapped her chin then smiled back. "If we play our strategies right then we'll beat them and get our answers. I'm proposing Rei join us in the council."

Rei almost stumbled back. "M-me?! Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Tch!" Remy clicked her tongue.

"I think I understand your line of logic but…" Kyokai shot a side glance at Rei and shook his head. He hoped for another guy to be by his side in the council but not a pervert. Their personalities wouldn't mesh well–-hell, his personality wouldn't mesh well with anyone currently in the council. Pro, Maine, Gachi… And most especially. "I think… We should leave it to the president to decide, yes?"

"That's if she talks with us." Luka had a point, sharing a frown with Kyokai. Remy rejected both ideas, not recognizing Cocoa's position as student council president and refusing to have an ill mannered pervert be in their already large council.

While they argued between each other, Rei slipped out and walked between the hall of shelves looking right and left for the girl with him. He didn't get too far having Luka call his name.

"Were you looking for something?" She asked, noticing his puzzled expression.

He nodded slowly and spoke with a quiet curiosity. "There was another person here with me, a girl, but she's gone. I'm not crazy enough to see figments of my imagination, or at least I hope so."

He described the girl's look and much to his surprise Kyokai had encountered the same girl, believing she was dead after being crushed under the weight of a dragon. Rei knew a lot and that was all the more reason to add him to the council if not then the party.

"I'll have to think about it. But why are you of all people inviting me?" Rei scratched his head looking at Luka in particular. "Aren't you… retarded?"

"It's a long story." The same response Luka would give whenever asked about her sudden change. Something she saved for later after Rei came to a decision whether or not he wanted to join the council and possibly help fight dragons. And the next day--

"As you can see here. This equation…"

Filled with utter boredom, the lesson flew over Rei's head. Forgetting the subject and daydreaming about the girl that snuck out of detention, he fantasized like many of his stalkers, that girl in his arms. Her sweet voice and forced valley girl accent going "Rei I've come down with a total fever."

And him replying all cool like, "Don't stress, babe. Around me, all your colds and sicknesses will go away."

It wasn't a very deep and intricate dream but he barely knew anything about the girl. His foot tapped the ground in an unbalanced rhythm wanting class to be over with to find her again. By the end of it he calmed down a little but any more distractions and he would be at his wits end. He packed his school bag and hurried to the door with a cheeky grin on his face. His buddy, the rough looking boy, asked what was the rush and all Rei said was "I've caught a big one." Before hurrying out into the halls.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Though, something compelled him to check on the council first, going to where they normally hung out at, the school rooftops. He'd never visited this spot often having no reason to reflect in melancholy like most students would in the vast open and grey feeling zone. There was a lot to life Rei looked forward to. Women, boobs, dates, love--the things that completed a man's heart. The same couldn't be said for the new student council president who he found staring beyond the fence. He almost let out an audible grunt, surprised that Cocoa was here of all places. He would've left had he not cared much for her help back then. At least stepping close enough to say,

"Thanks back there. I probably would've died if you didn't intervene."

By her sudden flinch he could tell he wasn't the person she was expecting. She spared him the formalities and rudeness and turned her head to give him a side glance. "It was… Nothing too important." Then returned to facing the interlocked bindings trapping her gaze below where she watched students pouring out from the doors.

Cocoa wasn't his type but Rei couldn't stand to watch fair maidens be taken by the hands of despair. It was in his blood, in his heart to solve the needs of every woman he could. Walking closer, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay? You don't soun--"

Before he knew it, a fist was shot through the wind and hitting his face right where it hurt the most, his nose. Blood flew from his nostrils as he fell back on the ground holding his precious glass face and Cocoa towering over him. "I'm fine! Ugh… don't ever touch me again either! Your sick perverted thoughts are contagious."

"What the hell?!" The bleeding stopped but that didn't make this any less painfully nonsensical. He blamed himself knowing that Cocoa was a rich snob but he didn't believe it completely. No respect for anyone, even for the council she joined. She had saved him so why was she so hostile?

"This bitch is crazy! The unhinged and vile kind of crazy." Rei thought while wiping his nose. Every bone in his body was itching to fight back, a feeling that never was a speckled thought in his mind to ever hurt a girl unreasonably, but a lot about Cocoa was unreasonable to the point where he wanted to hurt her permanently.

Then her gentle voice was heard from afar. "Umm, is the student council president here?"

"..!" Rei let out a sharp gasp and his head turned to see the light blue haired fox peek her head from behind the doors. The fair maiden he'd been looking for came straight to him!

Cocoa replied to her question bluntly. "Yes, I'm here."

She waved her hand. "No, no, no. I meant, the real president-- Shijunko-san."

"Tch!" Cocoa turned back around. "Why does it matter to you?"

"My sister told me how they're traveling in the superdimension fighting the dragons. I want their help."

Cocoa's ears perked up and Rei hopped back to his feet, both setting aside their conflict for a brief moment now that this girl was a part of the equation. She bowed her head introducing herself as, "My name is Shiro de' Chevalier. I wanted the council's help with a growing concern involving the wildlife outside the city. My sister and I are having trouble finding the source of the problem and the hightier dragon."

"If you want their help then fill a request form with your stupid request. That's the rule, no exceptions."

"I have, like, a bunch of times."

"Then our answer is obvious."

This caused Rei to click his tongue. "You're so hopeless! The council's supposed to help students in need. This beautiful girl here needs you and you're just going to ignore it? The world's at stake and all."

"The council has no obligations to students' stupid needs." Growing more smug in tone, her lips curled at the ends. "Our objective is to fight dragons in our own way. Everything else is irrelevant."

"Why are you in the council if you're not gonna help? You shitty kitty, you probably only joined just for authority. Maybe Hinata had a point about all rich snobs and powerful people being the same!"

"I don't want to hear that from a slimy perverted fiend! And I joined Murakumo for my own reasons. A mindless moron like you wouldn't understand."

They bickered at each other taking stings at each other's personality weaknesses all while Shiro watched awkwardly at them hurling insults at each other until the insults didn't make sense. It was when Rei cracked his knuckles and Cocoa rolled up her sleeves that she intervened by stepping in between them and pushing them away from each other.

"Pleeeease don't fight!" Her angelic voice calmed their minds, making them lower their arms for the meantime.

"Whatever! The council won't need you once I join and actually help people." Rei flipped his hair and started walking away.

"Hmph, As if we'll let you in. We don't need something like you to help." Cocoa crossed her arms looking away.

Shiro watched as Rei parted from the scene and soon after, Cocoa. Left to sigh and wonder if the rumors about the council were true…

During his leave, Rei found Maine and Remy washing away tomato sauce from the windows and he hurried to them. A serious look painted his face and his hands were bunched in his pockets like a delinquent. His demands were clear, "Is the council still open? Let me join and I'll tell you everything I know about Judith."

══✿══╡°˖✧✿✧˖°╞══✿══

"Bye-bye…" Gachi waved to their last customer and once the doors closed she fell backwards passing out immediately. Luka tried to carry several plates in one hand and her other occupied in a cast; only for her balance to tilt and hurl the plates on the ground with a loud shatter.

Pro and Lutz watched the disaster from a distance. It was hard for the manager to get mad since the girls came in carrying disheveled looks. Playfully uncharacteristic, Pro flipped the front of her bangs. "I'll clean it up." And quickly became a mess herself when she stumbled into a table and fell on her knees.

"Ladies! You're ruining everything!" Lutz shouted out.

Though injured from Fafnir's battle, they were eager to fight dragons again. Luka's fractured arm stuck in an arm sling, Pro completely drained of magic and frequent headaches that made it hard for her to focus and Gachi's even lower blood pressure making her pass out randomly if worked herself. All three girls Kyokai had to watch over, but he too was eager to get back into action.

A brunette cracked open the door before fully entering the cafe. When Lutz' saw her his mouth fell agape. But the issues plaguing his cafe came first. "Lan," He said her name.

The brunette, his other employee maid that had been missing before Murakumo came around; Lan Lhant was her name and she technically was the real metalsmith that made the weapon Murakumo used. Lutz was just the seller. Already dressed in her own custom maid-like clothing, she also wore a baseball cap atop her short length hair and often tilted the cap downwards so the brim hid her face. Upon seeing the state of the girls and cafe her surprise was lifted from the shadow.

"W-what's going on?" She shuttered.

Gachi snapped awake and realizing she passed out, she hopped back up to her feet embarrassed. "Nothing! Everything is alright. Leave it to us, Panzer Dragon."

"Panzer Dragon?" Lan gave her a weird look.

Lutz rubbed his temples. "Little birdies, please. Take the evening off and come back after your wings have rested."

"So sorry…" Pro hung her head low.

Not necessarily kicked out but removed from the premises so Lan could properly do their work of tidying up. They dragged themselves outwards and homewards trying not to faint then and there on the sidewalk.

Gachi chatted endlessly in an attempt to stay awake while on their way home. Speaking every thought, going as far as to start dividing themselves into groups, an idea she came up with after noticing the pattern of them going into groups of three. The first group consisting of herself, Pro, Kyokai and Luka--brilliantly naming themselves Panzer Dragon after Fafnir viewed them as the strongest dragons of all, and what was stronger than the force of a tank? At least in Gachi's mind nothing was stronger than a tank and its long cannon that shot out a barreling unstoppable shell, just like their resolve to slay every last dragon until the world was saved.

"Panzer dragon…" Kyokai said it out loud to get used to the name. "Sounds like we're starting our own true dragon legend."

"I like it quite a lot." Pro agreed.

"Heh heh! I knew you would. I'm a genius just like Kyokai." Gachi then thought up a name for their second group consisting of Maine, Remy and Cocoa. "Wolfbelle!" She called it "Because the wolves are led by a ring of a bell."

It didn't make much sense, and it seemed like a bad idea to pair Cocoa with the two she disliked the most. If Maine's personal nickname was any indication of how she felt towards the two, master and servant. Perhaps ringing a bell was accurate in that regard.

Though they didn't have any disagreements with the name, they were still hesitant with pairing Cocoa with them… or with anyone in Murakumo. She did as she pleased for all the wrong reasons--and again they doubted Pro's decision to pass leadership to someone who didn't understand the ramifications of being student council president. What was Pro's thought process deciding she of all people was fit to bare the red band on her right arm. It was an insult to the previous beloved council president and most of all disrespectful to everything she worked for. The topic brought them back to the silence felt before they began this entire story of theirs. Not knowing how to approach the issue.

Changing the topic to something less heavy on their shoulders. "How goes practicing with Tatesaya?" Luka asked.

"Oh that? Apparently she's been absent a lot. Silique and Eric don't know why."

Getting in their brisk walk's way was a fanged girl with long auburn brown hair styled similarly to Pro, even having a side braid that was longer than hers held by a white lily rather than a red ribbon. But that white flower was made of plastic lacking any sort of fresh aroma and petals growing not from age but from time, and the long braid looked more like someone's intestines attached to the side of her head waving around as she moved around vividly, circling around the group before stopping in front of them. Proudly puffing out her chest she rested her hand there and not introducing herself but interjecting herself in a place she did not belong. "Tatesaya hm? I couldn't help but hear that name, that name."

She wore a uniform in blue, perhaps the same as Judith's, no--it was the same as Judith's. A blue sweater with their school's symbol, a dove over a blue cross, embroidered on the left and a black tie neatly wrapped around the collared shirt and tucked under the sweater. Lastly the blue plaid skirt that mirrored Nokken's black and red color scheme, and her legs covered by thick black tights.

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, as a child." She answered Luka. "That wannabe guitar is still trying to be radical? She doesn't know a nth thing about music."

"Just who might you be?" Kyokai said with half interest and caution.

She would introduce herself boldly. "I'm Juno Suwahime of the school Seven Saints High. It's Nokken's rival, I'm sure you've heard?"

It was more a forced rivalry between the schools as the students cared very little about what happened between them. Sometimes Nokken won in their sports competition and sometimes Seven Saints won. There was nothing deeper than that.

Juno held out her arm and instructed, "Give me your hand." a random request that Kyokai and Gachi were wary of having not known Juno for more than a second. Pro, being the most clueless and naive, placed her hand in Juno's, surprised to feel that her hand was cold as ice. Instinctively she closed her eyes and a relaxing sensation of magic started to ease her wounds and headache.

Pro pulled her hand away now feeling more refreshed than before. Naturally she asked, "What did you do?"

"You looked tired. Same with you, you and you." She pointed at Gachi, Kyokai and Luka respectively. She asked the same of them to give their hand and one at a time their wounds and stresses faded away at the cost of making them feel sleepy.

"You know something about us don't you?" Kyokai tried inching closer to see if she knew Judith. She would play dumb, or so he thought, replying with "Anyone can sense that roaring magic inside you. I just wanted to see it myself."

Pro patted herself down. "Is it that noticable?"

"People with large amounts of magic are easy to sense, even for a novice magician." Kyokai then turned to Juno, both knowing the implications of her actions. "Do you happen to know about…" He trailed off hoping not to be obvious.

Alas Juno had not a clue of what he was implying. Shaking her head she said, "About..? I'm a non magic user like you and I was interested in testing my skill on people who need it."

"Is that so…" Kyokai tried thinking of other ways to get closer to an answer without scaring away Juno but Gachi's loud yawn interrupted his line of thinking.

Juno would step back offering them to hang out another day when they weren't tired. "Rest easy. We can go shopping in Akihabara tomorrow if you're interested."

Pro didn't have a chance to accept or deny the offer as Juno hurried away clearly busy with something, pulling out her phone hastily to speak to whoever was on the other end. It was weird how she, from a rival school, was so friendly on their first meeting. It wasn't any coincidence they met Pro knew for sure, she was after something, maybe after Tatesaya, a long lost childhood friend of hers. Juno Suwahime… Luka never heard Tatesaya utter the name or hint towards a childhood friend that supposedly had some feelings about Tatesaya's guitar playing. Not jealousy but mockery of her ineptitude guitar skill. Luka wouldn't say to her face but she hasn't improved much during their practice. Both because Luka and the other council members weren't the greatest at music and Tatesaya's stubbornness to play in a radical way.

Her reasons for such on a poster she showed Luka the next day they met.