Summer’s Height, Year 999 of the Demon Lord’s Reign

  ***

  Six more months. Only six more months and the Demon Lord’s power would be too great to ever be opposed. A full millennium of tyrannical rule over the majority of the continent with only a few kingdoms to oppose him – with daily sacrifices made in his name. The sheer number of souls empowering him was staggering, and only a chosen hero could stand up to him before it was too late. Rufus was this supposed reincarnation of a hero of ancient times who fought this Demon Lord five millennia ago and banished him for four, yet he was stripped of his powers, shunned by his former allies. All he had on his person was a regular sword made from steel and his training as a soldier.

  No more holy magic, no more protection from the goddess, and most of all, no more legendary sword. He was a nobody right now.

  But he never regretted his decision. When it came to choosing between duty and family he chose the latter – and the proof of which was Lyselle who was currently busy getting dinner for the two of them.

  However, every time she approached a stall, people ran away or simply closed up shop. No one dared to say it out loud, but Rufus knew what they were implying with their actions:

  We don’t offer our services to the lackeys of the demon horde.

  Lyselle turned around towards him, shrugging in her black robes with blood-red accents. She was a beautiful woman with red hair worn in a ponytail, though her face was marred by the torture inflicted on her last month, most noticeably by the irreversible damage to her left eye which she now covered with an eyepatch.

  “I don’t know what they have against me, brother.”

  Rufus sighed – for being a genius mage his dear sister was sometimes incredibly dense when it came to interactions with people.

  He pointed at her robes – the insignia sewn into the back, showing a demonic visage, complete with horns, was probably a dead giveaway.

  “We need to get you some new clothes first, Lyselle.” He suggested – and only now his dense but lovely sister looked down at what she was wearing.

  “Oh!” she said – as if she truly never noticed until now.

  Rufus shook his head and approached the nearest apparel store.

  ***

  “Excuse me, sir?” Rufus addressed the owner who right now wanted to flip the store’s sign to ‘closed’, lodging a foot in the door before it could be slammed shut and locked.

  “Please leave! We don’t serve servants of the demon horde! It would ruin us!” the man behind the door shouted at him.

  “That’s the thing, mister. This is a huge misunderstanding! I freed this lady from a demon horde prisoner camp and that robe was all the clothing that was available. I don’t think anyone’s reactions would have been better if I brought this woman naked into town, would they?”

  The tailor looked at Rufus with a long, skeptical look before he stopped his attempts to close the door.

  “So you want to put her in normal clothes?”

  Rufus nodded.

  “And burn the demon horde robes after we’re done. I promise you we have nothing to do with them. I mean, just look at her: the demons took her eye.”

  His lie was convincing enough for the tailor to reconsider, opening his store for the two of them.

  “Alright. But hurry, before someone sees!”

  Rufus gave the man an appreciative handshake before he went to fetch Lyselle. Once they were inside, he wasted no time picking out what would look good or what would be practical. He heaped clothes upon clothes into Lyselle’s arms before he pushed her into the changing room.

  At first, they tried out wizard robes not dissimilar to those she wore before, but Lyselle didn’t like this similarity – she wanted something fresh.

  Next were simple linen clothes, but Lyselle felt like she looked too much like a civilian.

  The next one was the one she decided on: She wore clothes reminiscent of an adventurer, a linen shirt with leather bracers, leather boots and a leather corset that supported her midsection. Her traveler’s pants were hugging her form, a bandolier offered a variety of options to store utensils for combat and travel, while also fastening a half-cape to one of her shoulders, keeping her left arm hidden to ready weapons in tense situations.

  Lyselle twirled in place once and grinned.

  “Oh, I look good! I look fantastic! I could take on the Demon Lord himself wearing this!” Lyselle exclaimed excitedly, while the tailor cleared his throat.

  “Please refrain from these comments in my shop, I don’t want undue attention from the horde.”

  Rufus paid for the clothes and let out a sigh as they finally left – throwing the demon horde robes into the garbage where they belonged.

  “You look like a true heroine now, Lyselle.” Rufus said with a sad little smile.

  “Hm? What are you talking about, brother? You are the hero.”

  “You are far more powerful than I am right now. I am only good enough to be your attendant. I am no hero anymore.”

  Lyselle stopped and let out a long sigh before she turned Rufus’ way and gave his face a light slap – more like a tap. It didn’t hurt at all.

  “Listen here, brother: there is a reason why you were chosen as the hero of this cycle. You don’t need one puny kingdom’s blessings to be that. I’ve seen how you tried to shield those children in the last town when demons attacked. It wasn’t guaranteed that I would be there to save you, and you still went to protect the people. It’s in your nature.”

  Rufus looked to the side, grimacing.

  “And what does that achieve when the ‘hero’ has to rely on the strength of his sister to save anyone?”

  Lyselle shook her head and grabbed her brother’s hands, gently squeezing them.

  “You have the disposition of a hero. And if you’re lacking in power to turn it into action, I know just the thing: No one said that you needed holy, goddess-blessed weapons and armor, right?”

  “What are you hinting at, sister?” Rufus finally looked at her again.

  “This world is full of magic artifacts and weapons. We just need to conquer enough of them to bring you back to your former strength.”

  Rufus raised an eyebrow – somehow, his sister’s self-assured grin melted all his doubts away.

  “Alright. Let’s look for these magic artifacts.”

  September 2024

  ***

  Seika read Yoshida’s new manuscript for ‘The Demon Lord’s Right Hand Woman is my Little Sister Volume 7’ and nodded as she took note of the implemented changes she suggested during last month’s meeting. As she suggested, Lyselle was getting a new wardrobe, and Yoshida came up with a good enough reason for the change. She put the manuscript aside and picked up the first sketches which AKITO sent in. To her surprise Yoshida was actually proactive this time. The moment he finished Lyselle’s description after the shopping trip, he sent it as a snippet to the company’s artist who already received the order for this particular piece beforehand.

  Lyselle wore a leather corset that reached under her breasts, with half circle shaped recesses, allowing the character’s bosom to spill over her tightened chest in a quite alluring manner. The tight-fitting pants were also greatly accentuating the heroine’s butt and thighs – surely enough this would send fan artists into a frenzy, enough to assure that the sales remained stable for a while. The desire of the otaku readers to see the main heroine in something sexy were sated without Yoshida having to put her in degrading situations to achieve it.

  Seika finally looked up from the sheets of paper, at her rarely punctual writer. They were seated in a private room in an izakaya, though both only ordered light snacks instead of a full meal.

  “Very good, Yoshida. I think this makes everyone involved with this happy. I won’t push you to do an incest romance route, either. The latest polls revealed that the largest part of the siscon demographic has already dropped the series, but you still got a growing audience doing it your own way.”

  Yoshida looked at her with a triumphant grin.

  “See? Didn’t I tell you? Brothers and sisters can be an unstoppable team together without resorting to the usual tropes!”

  Seika pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose to adjust them after having looked down for an extended period of time.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “You stayed true to yourself, but that was a huge gamble. Siscon is a tried-and-true genre with a well-paying audience. The title of your novel will have people assume that it’s rooted in the genre, yet you’re adamant about never taking that route. Your initial reader base was siscons and then via word of mouth and online complaints people interested in general fantasy learned that it isn’t the regular old incest romance. Be happy that it worked, but don’t try to recreate it with your next work.”

  Yoshida made a dismissive gesture at her words.

  “Oh, please. I’m a genius! I know how to make them fall for my stories!”

  He let out a laugh as Seika looked on with tired eyes.

  “Well… whatever you say, Yoshida.”

  Seika packed her things together and called for the bill.

  “There’s nothing further to discuss on my end, so I’m going to sign out of work after this. If you have any more questions, you can always send me an email.”

  Yoshida looked up at her in surprise.

  “Signing out early? How unlike you.”

  “I have to be somewhere after work.”

  “Maidlicious?”

  Seika shot him an immediate glare and he slapped a hand on his mouth like that was something he absolutely didn’t mean to say.

  “He looks afraid.” Minerva chuckled in Seika’s mind.

  Might as well have some fun with it.

  “Oh dear. You saw.” Seika did her best to look at him with a threatening glare, slowly stepping closer with her head hanging to one side.

  “I didn’t mean to! I was just in the area!” Yoshida covered his head with his arms as she stepped closer.

  “Oh?” Seika grinned as she squatted to be on eye level with the author.

  “And what were you buying?” She tapped him with a finger on the forehead.

  “Eh?” Yoshida blinked and lowered his arms, seeing Seika smile at him.

  “I’ve been out there for Magical Girl merch. I’m not ashamed of my otaku side. Are you?” She tilted her head.

  She savored the look of confusion on his face before she patted his shoulder and stood up again.

  “But no, I’m not going to Akihabara today. I’m meeting someone. Someone dear to me. Maybe you should find someone like that, too!”

  With that she left her befuddled author behind and exited the Izakaya. Miori was waiting for her.

  She met Miori in front of the Tokyo Dome. The plan for today was to spend some time together before the big concert happened, then afterwards she would introduce her to the Celestial Sisters, take her to their apartment and confess her feelings to her there. The girls would be able to support them both with rings from Madame Bille’s chest allowing them to cross dimensional boundaries, just like Minerva’s own ability allowed her to do. Seika still didn’t like the thought of involving the two girls in her fight though and considered doing all of this on her own.

  The beautiful blonde waited for Seika in her gothic lolita getup, smiling gently at her beloved ‘Senpai’ as she stepped next to her.

  “Hey.” Seika rubbed the back of her head. Even though she harbored ulterior motives today it still made her heart flutter to meet Miori on dates like these.

  “Senpai.” Miori stepped forward and hooked herself into Seika’s arm, getting awfully close to her face – and before Seika could even protest, she planted a kiss on her cheek.

  “…you keep breaking those rules.” Seika remarked, but she didn’t try to chastise Miori for it. If everything went well, the two of them were an official couple starting today, so she let Miori have this.

  “I like skirting the line to see how far I can drive you.” Miori said with a little mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

  The two made their way to the nearby amusement park. Every single screen and poster around them featured Miyu and Momo in their Magical Girl getups, promoting today’s concert to the masses. For some reason Seika had an odd feeling that she couldn’t shake – a sudden feeling of dread. She looked over to Miori, who still wore her smile that was able to weather any hardship. Something didn’t seem right with it, either, like she was simply putting up a front.

  Back in their convenience store days Seika could often see the difference between the smile Miori gave a creepy customer and the one she gave her senpai. This right here was the former and Seika furrowed her brow, trying to think of a reason why.

  “By the way, Senpai. Are you wearing that?”

  Seika blinked and took a step away from Miori as she saw the younger woman’s teasing smile.

  So she didn’t forget about the lingerie. Should have expected that.

  “She’s as crazy for you as you are for her. You heard Madame Bille. ‘Fated lovers.’” Minerva chimed in.

  Seika averted her eyes and scratched her cheek.

  “…yeah. I’m wearing it underneath.”

  “Very good, Senpai. Here. A reward.”

  Seika felt another kiss on her cheek, closing her eyes.

  “You’re very aggressive today. Any special reason for it?”

  “No. Not at all.” Miori lied. Quite obviously so.

  “I’ve been wearing them right on the date after I cancelled the previous one, like you demanded. But you’re still making me do it.”

  “That’s because you made me feed the hedgehogs with bugs, even though you know I hate bugs!”

  “That was because you kissed me on the cheek despite our agreement! I told you I was going to make you squirm!”

  “I simply needed to get you back!”

  “That’s not how punishment works!”

  The two jokingly bickered back and forth for the entire walk – and Seika forgot about her doubts about this outing.

  ***

  The two went on the rollercoaster first. Seika always stowed her glasses away when she went on rides like this, out of fear of losing them – sadly this also meant that the experience wasn’t as sharp as she would have liked. Blurry cityscapes dashed around in front of her. She could see as far as the tracks right before them, then everything started to blend together.

  She recognized them passing through the Big O and the nearby building’s hole, at least.

  Miori screamed next to her – whether out of joy or fear, Seika couldn’t tell. She herself was simply letting the forces of gravity and inertia work on her – and the feeling of Miori’s hand gripping hers.

  After the ride they went for a little snack at one of the many stalls around the dome – eating before a rollercoaster ride would only have been a recipe for disaster, or so Seika believed. The occasion called for Takoyaki while the both of them sat on a bench.

  “So, do you have your glowsticks on you?” Seika asked Miori.

  “Hmm? I guess. I just picked up some generic ones. Do the Celestial Sisters have specific colors?”

  “Just yellow and white.”

  “Then I have a correct one.” Miori grabbed a white light stick from her bag and turned it on, flicking it from side to side.

  “That one’s for Luna. Be sure to cheer for her!” Seika said with a little chuckle.

  “Oh? Hmmm… which one did you bring, Senpai?” Miori tilted her head to the side.

  “I brought both, naturally.” Seika puffed out her chest, knocking her fist against it.

  “Trade me, then.” Miori suggested with a smirk.

  “Huh? Why?”

  “I think I like Sol better.”

  Seika raised an eyebrow but relented and reached into her bag to hand Miori the yellow light.

  “Here you go. Make sure you cheer lots for Sol, yes?”

  “No worries, I will, Senpai.”

  Seika smiled and looked at the Big O. She remembered the vision from one of Lethe’s flowers that played here. A love confession on the Ferris wheel – and then an abduction before the kiss could happen.

  She pondered her options a little longer before she came to a decision – she suddenly grabbed Miori’s hand and pulled her along.

  “We still have a little time before the concert. Let’s ride the Ferris wheel.”

  The ride up was slow and torturous. Both of the wannabe-lovers sat next to each other in complete silence, looking out opposite windows. Seika knew what happened the last time during such a ride, yet she still insisted – meanwhile Miori seemed to be pondering some worries of her own.

  “Have you been on here before?” Seika asked to break the silence.

  “No, Senpai.” Miori answered, looking over to the dome.

  “Hm… me neither. As far as I can remember.” Seika added the last sentence with a hint of bitterness.

  Miori’s hand twitched in response. She knew what Seika was talking about – and there was an implicit understanding between the two of them.

  Seika closed her eyes and let out a long sigh before she put a hand on Miori’s. Her left hand was in her bag, clutching the potion that Madame Bille gave her.

  Sorry, Miyu and Momo. I’ll do this without getting you two involved.

  “Listen, Miori.”

  The beautiful blonde turned her head Seika’s way and tilted it quizzically.

  “There’s something I meant to tell you for a long time. I- “

  She didn’t get to finish her confession. Miori’s hand blocked her mouth and Seika found herself suddenly straddled by her beloved.

  “Don’t! Don’t ever say that cursed word!” There were tears in her eyes.

  Seika’s eyes went wide, and she slowly nodded to signal her understanding, causing Miori to pull her hand away. She sighed, then she suddenly started unbuttoning Seika’s shirt with an uncanny determination.

  Seika flew into a panic, trying to push Miori off – even as she felt kisses against her bare skin and wanted to melt into the sensation, she still struggled.

  “What are you doing?!”

  “We can do anything… as long as we never say that word or try to kiss, right? We could just… do everything else and…”

  The younger woman stopped, and Seika felt wet, warm drops against her skin.

  As she pulled away her face was a mess – her lolita make-up was running everywhere and part of it was stuck to Seika’s cleavage.

  “I don’t know what to do… Lethe is invincible. Whatever you were trying to do, please don’t drag me into it! I don’t want to lose my memories of these past months! I wanted to break up with you today so I can keep our memories… but we’re not even really dating! It’s all so absurd!”

  Seika wanted to reply to her, to explain the plan with the potion, but in that moment the cabin door opened.

  “End of the ride!”

  Miori immediately grabbed her bag and ran away, audibly sobbing.

  The ride employee raised a brow while following Miori with her eyes, then she looked at Seika and cleared her throat, looking away again.

  “Looks like a messy breakup as things just got good. My condolences, ma’am. But… please hide those again.”

  Seika blinked and looked down, blushing furiously as she saw her shirt unbuttoned far enough to reveal the racy lace bra. She hurriedly buttoned up again and left, running like the wind.

  That was a mess. I’ve never seen her this scared. Then again, I’ve been the same way for nine years.

  “She must have encountered Lethe while we were with Madame Bille and learned the whole truth herself. I wonder how.”

  Seika sat on a bench outside Tokyo Dome’s gates. The show had already started, but even with her Magical Girl obsession, she didn’t want to indulge in idle entertainment right now. She kept staring at a spot in front of her as an idol song’s bass audibly came from the inside. The distance and walls made the voices unintelligible, but she could guess that Miyu and Momo were hyping up the audience right now.

  She buried her head in her hands and tried to think about her next course of action.

  I can’t force Miori into this. I would only hurt her. Maybe I can make Lethe try to erase my memories of someone else and mix the potion in with that?

  “Whatever the case, we should probably talk to Miyu and Momo after the concert to form another plan.”

  Agreed… I’m not in the mood to watch right now, though… huh?

  Seika looked up and saw people leaving from the Dome’s gates.

  She checked her phone; It was by far not the time for the show to end.

  She got up from her bench and looked around as people walked past her and she caught snippets of conversations.

  “…hope they’re fine…”

  “…only one, right?”

  “…who was that woman in the costume?”

  “…looked like there was blood on her face…”

  Seika’s vision narrowed and she flew into a panic. She walked to the first person and grabbed the man by the shoulders.

  “What happened?!”

  “Ugh, leave me alone! They cancelled the show in the middle of the opening song. No clue what happened, looked like they collapsed from exhaustion. Not like I could see much all the way back.”

  He shook Seika off and kept walking.

  “What a scam… fake Magical Girls doing fake shows…”

  Seika was at a loss for words. Her heart hammered in her chest as that feeling of dread from earlier returned to her stomach.

  In that moment her phone rang – from an unknown number. She shakily accepted the call.

  “Y-yes? Hitoishi here.”

  The voice on the other end was a man who sounded as much at his wits’ end as she felt.

  “Hitoishi? Never heard that name before. Why would she give me…? No matter, orders are orders.”

  A long sigh followed.

  “My name is Kosuke Imina. I’m the manager of the Celestial Sisters and Sol gave me a note to call you if something happens. I assume you can guess from the fact that I’m calling you, if it’s not already all over the news.”

  Seika swallowed hard and suppressed tears. Her voice trembled as she inquired further.

  “What happened…?”

  “Come to the Shinjuku Medical Center, we can talk there. But long story short: They were attacked. Luna is missing and Sol is on the way to the hospital. Again: Meet me at the Shinjuku Medical Center!”