ATOQ: Nina's Valentine's Special 2017

>>ROUTE 2.

Nina corners you at lunch time. One minute you’re walking along the front courtyard path, wondering about the assignment Akasha-Alea set involving bullet trajectories. The next, there’s a psychic girl standing in front of you, gazing up with those sleepy, silver eyes of hers and shoving something into your hands. You’re not expecting this, mostly because Nina coming to school out of her own volition is a miracle in of itself.

“Here, Keiichi.” Nina half mumbles, half tries to force a yawn down. The likely cause is another late-night streaming session. She blinks twice, ridding the tiredness from the corners of her eyes, before continuing her speech. “This is for you.”

She shoves a sealed plastic bag into your hands. “24-pack Venus Bars.” You read the label out loud. “Did you get this from a convenience store?”

“A supermarket sale, but it’s basically the same thing.” She replies. “So, are you going to accept it or not?”

“I guess? Thanks.” You say. “What’s the occasion?”

“My uncle said I should. Said I didn’t have enough friends, so I should treasure the ones I have.” Nina replies, her voice going soft for a moment. “That’s why I bought you chocolates. Chocolates are delicious.”

“Can’t argue with that.” You admit. “You didn’t try and make your own?”

“Nope.” A pause. “The last time I tried, I fed the results to my uncle and he had to go to the hospital from indigestion.”

Yeah, that makes sense. Can’t expect decent cooking from a girl who subsists on frozen meals and instant ramen cups, even if she is supposed to be a prodigy at the psychic arts.

“I sure dodged a bullet, huh.”

“Mm-hm. Cooking and me don’t mix.” Nina confirms. “Besides, Venus bars are tasty.”

Another, an argument that can’t be reputed. “Thanks, Nina.” You smile. You take a chocolate out and eat it. It tastes like all Venus bars do: a little too much sugar in the caramel, but not without its merits.

“Mmm…no problem.” She responds. “Want to play some games after school?”

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>>In another reality altogether...

Boredom was a troublesome emotion for a band of heroes. It made them mix the mundane and the outlandish in an effort to stave off their tedium. A certain shades-wearing, sword-wielding boy stepped into the living room of the housing complex he shared with his friends. Usually this would be the point where he challenged a friend to a spar, resulting in them reducing their surroundings to so much dust in the wind.

Thankfully, fate was smiling mercifully to the citizens of Japan. There would no explosions in the middle of a shopping mall today.

“Hey guys,” He said. “I got tickets to a go-karting rink. Let’s go.”

The five adolescent girls that sitting in the shared lounge, all of which were among the strongest humans in the world, muttered and whispered to each other and in general looked rather apprehensive at the suggestion.

“I was going to try a new spell today…” The elemental mage murmured.

“I promised to teach my student…” The mistress of time said.

“This is a waste of time.” The solider growled, crossing her arms.

“Such activities are beneath me…” The fallen angel declared.

“I have to interrogate someone.” The assassin reported.

Fuck, the sword-wielding boy groaned to himself, they actually have shit to do. This was unexpected. It was a Sunday. Who the hell worked on a Sunday? And these tickets expired today! He didn’t want to pull his trump card, he didn’t wish to fuel their rather unhealthy indulgence, but damn it to hell if he was going to race alone.

“The winner of the race gets an exclusive night out with the boss.” The boy said, making himself sound as casual as possible.

The whiplash that resulted was so quick it could have broken the sound barrier.

“On the other hand, it could wait until the afternoon…”

“How very interesting…”

“Some relaxation might be nice…”

“It’s always enjoyable to try something new…”

“I’ll pass it off to my subordinate…”

Hook, line and sinker, the boy thought, with a touch of despair. He made a prayer to the boss.

And that’s how six heroes who saved humanity from the king of the demons ended up competing against each other in the go-kart race. Magic was banned in the race court, but it didn’t stop the staff on hand from almost pissing themselves when the six arrived at the front gate. The murderous glares the five girls were shooting at each other weren’t helping.

But once the engines started and the green light flashed, the elemental mage found she was having a lot of fun. Mostly because she was in the lead. Okay, entirely because she was in the lead. She had started out last, but managed to snag one of those strange shrinking lightning bolts from a gift box (magic arts were so weird these days) and shot up to the front using that. With it being the last lap, she was almost guaranteed to receive the winning position. The only real threat was the soldier in second place, but she had a good enough lead on her.

All was going well, she thought. Then she heard the enraged roar of the soldier, a loud crash and a frenzied, maddened and voracious laugh from the back.

“Out of my way, suckers!”

“†ye1™ŸA­ CòÂ]?” The elemental mage shouted. What the heck was the demon princess doing here? And why was she in her berserker mode? “You’re not supposed to be in the race!”

“I joined in halfway!” The demon princess roared. “Got a problem with that, big tits?”

…big tits? What in the five elements was with that slur? True, she had the largest bust of all the female heroes, as the fellows on the Internet were fond of reminiscing about, but that didn’t mean it was to be used as an insult. The boss thought it was quite charming, in fact. “I’m not letting you get first place!” she yelled.

“Too bad! I hate to lose!” The demon princess roared back, whipping out something from beneath her seat. When the elemental mage took a closer look at it, all levity she had vanished in a slithering gulp. The object could only be described as a tool of mass destruction. “Get out of my way, big tits, or I’m burying you six feet under!”

“W-wait!” The elemental mage shouted back as they rounded a sharp bend. “†ye1™ŸA­ CòÂ], you forgot something. The five of us joined this race because we wanted a date with @zÀý¤Ü, but you’re in a relationship with Ü“™‡É<g©J•R!”

“And you think this race means nothing to me?”

“Yes!” The elemental mage shouted.

The demon princess paused, lifting her foot off the accelerator for a second. “Huh. You’re right.” She said.

“See?” The elemental mage said, relieved. “Let me take first place! In exchange, I’ll take you out to sushi tonight!”

“You have a good point, big tits. And sushi is delicious.” The demon princess began, then her face up with gleeful madness. She cackled loudly, a terrible crimson aura radiating off her form. “But winning is more delicious so I DON’T GIVE A FLYING SHIIIIIIIIT!”

She tossed the weapon of mass destruction. The elemental mage could only watch in wordless, abject horror as it advanced towards her like a nuclear bomb towards the capital of Japan. There was a bright flash of light, a piercing scream of fire and ash and then her entire world went black.

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Back in the real world, you sit on the floor of Nina’s apartment, a twin-stick plastic game controller in your hand. You stare at her flickering flat-screen television. On your side of the screen, the left, are the words ‘YOU WON’. On Nina’s side, the right, are the words ‘YOU LOST’.

Did…did you seriously beat Nina at a video game? You’ve never being able to do that. Wow, this is pretty amazing. Yeah, you got lucky with the items from the party boxes, but they’re never brought you victory to this extent. This feels damn awesome. You turn to smile at Nina, joy present. Then stop.

You then see Nina glaring at the screen, her eyes squinted and her slender fingers wrapped around the grips of her own controller. If it was any normal person you would give them a minute or two to calm down. Not in this case. If Nina is like this, it means she’s vibrating with sheer murderous rage.

She slams her controller down on the floor. She breathes in, and out. Then she turns to you, glowering.

“Give me those.” She demands.

“Give you what?” You ask, getting ready to flare up your magic in case of an attack.

“Your chocolates.” Nina clarifies. “Give me them.”

“What? Those are mine. You said they were mine!”

“Using blue shells is cheating.” Nina sniffs. “I’m taking those as your penance.”

“What fucking penance?” You growl back, incensed. “I won fair and square with the mechanics of the game. It’s legitimate.”

“No arguments. Give me the chocolates.”

“I can’t believe you’re being this much of a sore loser!” You growl.

Nina glowers at you, then waggles her fingers. “Don’t make me use telekinesis.” She threatens.

“Give it a rest, Takai!” You growl, scooting back.

“Your sister would be disappointed in you, Keiichi.”

“She would be disappointed in you for not accepting the results of a fucking video game!”

“Tatsuya would be disappointed in you, too.”

“Who the fuck is Tatsuya?”

“No more words. Prepare yourself!” Nina snarls, closing her fist. You feel the force of her telekinesis pull you through the air, like the hand of an invisible giant. Before you know it, your handgun is in your right hand and your finger is wrapped around the trigger. Nina makes a motion to suspend you in the air. You fire a shot. It hits the invisible wall Nina creates, dropping to the floor. You fire another. It’s blocked again. You then leap forward and grab Nina by the shoulders.

The combined weight and lack of balance make you both fall down. Pain rushes through you for an instant, then your eyes widen as you realize the position you are in.

You are now positioned above Nina’s prone form. The edge of your fringe brushes against her forehead. Your hands are pressed on her chest, your right hand wrapping itself around something moderately sized but soft. Your noses are almost touching each other. In this close distance, you can feel her rapid breaths, smell her oddly-sweet body scent, sense the thumps of her heartbeat and see the intense shock in those wide, round azure eyes.

You notice that both of you are very hot. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why. The tension is so high-strung it could be used as assassination wire. If her uncle saw you in this position, he’d carve you up with a scapel.

Shit, you didn’t mean for this happen. You could guess what Michiko would do in this kind of situation, but Nina is a complete wild card. Is she even still pissed at you? You can’t tell. She’s definitely bewildered as hell, that’s for sure.

You gulp, suddenly experiencing trepidation instead of rage. “Nina, I…”

Her eyes flicker over to the television screen. She scowls, lashes out with her foot and hits you square in the balls. You roar from a pain that no man ever deserves to feel.

>>And that’s the story of how you and Nina nearly destroyed her own apartment.