After breakfast was cleaned, Akihiro mentioned the idea of headed away to Aerendyl, and the godly angel grinned, nodded, clapped his hands... and then Hina was staggering softly, and Akihiro was on his ass, the cobbled general road of Mir all around them, a crowd blinking rapidly and staggering back.
"Aerendyl...?" Hina blinked slowly, confused. "If you needed to open up a rift and have a little ceremony to help me into Earth... then why was it safe to suddenly do THIS?"
"Humans don't know of magic, and can't feel it, since they're a broken world abandoned by all gods. There are some there with a life span of one hundred and thirty years or so suddenly, but they'll be none the wiser to what I just did... although I guess the animals might have felt the shockwaves. It'll be fine. Two headed bunnies are normal, right? Moving on." he finished with a lopsided grin, stepping forward and extending a hand to Akihiro. "Up you get, good man."
"Er... thank you, where... where are we?" The middle-aged man was blinking fairly rapidly, looking around. If Hina had to guess, the mass quantity of blue skin, cat ears, horns and so on- not to mention the abnormal appendages- was probably somewhat overwhelming when coupled with the suddenness.
"Welcome to Mir!" Aerendyl spread his arms, a playful smirk on his lips that made Hina worry he had mischief in mind. "Welcome, welcome, welcome- father of Hina Emilia, the Fell Hero!" Hina groaned, eyes widening as a collective gasp rippled through the street and Aerendyl spread his wings, laughing. "Forgive me Hina, I'll be taking my leave now. See you later, you two!" Beating his wings, Aerendyl rose, beginning to put distance between himself and the street, and then turning, whisking sideways and completely out of sight.
"Come on, dad!" Looking at the curious chattering, Hina suddenly snapped her wings outward, grabbed Akihiro and zipped off to find somewhere peaceful...
~~~
"H I N A." The Badger Girl had only just landed when she found herself and her father faced by Emily, Aurelia, Nao and Charlotte altogether, the four of them looking somewhere between stern, annoyed and concerned. Akihiro actually burst into laughter at the sight, shaking his head.
"Oh wow, Hina, are these...?"
"Hina why the HELL would you vanish without telling us?! I don't know whether to kiss you or bitch slap you!" Emily spoke first, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed. "I know I couldn't hide on Earth, but you could have taken Aurelia, Nao or even Charlotte!" Speaking of, Nao was looking at Hina and her father with a dry smile.
"Akihiro..."
"Aika," he replied with an equally dry chuckle. "Hina only just figured things out herself, you know? I don't know if she's more thick headed than the average anime protagonist, or she's just had a lot on her mind."
"Oh, it's DEFINITELY both," Nao smiled softly, turning her eyes to Hina. "Same old dad, huh? Ever young... you just figured it out? I'm sorry I didn't say something sooner... I think I mentioned that I fell for the kitsune hero. I felt guilty for that, and I didn't think you'd want to know any kind of quickly... plus, with how much you already had on your mind between the infection, Lily's hounding, the angels toying with you and of course, your top-tier harem collection skills cultivating." There was a moment of silence in which Hina and Nao exchanged gazes, Hina frozen and Nao amused, affectionate... and then both of them burst into laughter, Hina actually having to plant a hand on the alley wall as her vision swam.
"Wow... well, I guess, better late than never? We're young Nao, attraction like that isn't something to hate you for, and I'd rather you'd told me, but what's done is done."
"Wait." Charlotte seemed mildly confused. "So, Nao is your girlfriend from your old world, and she was reincarnated as part of the same ten that you were intended for?"
"That sums it up," the two in question spoke in unison, and then it was two, rather than six, laughing together merrily like old mates at a reunion.
"You know, I was pretty mad at first," Aurelia spoke with a small smirk. "Seeing you with your dad though, it looks like that little trip was exactly what you needed."
"I can mostly agree to that, but actually TELL us face to our faces next time! You left the shower and by the time I'm dry and out of the bathroom, you're nowhere to be found, just a note!" Emily huffed, very much emote-worthy.
"I will, I'm sorry, I'm not sure why I had such a one-track mind... but once I realized that I could go and tell my dad what happened? Most of our family has somehow died, and when I died, it was just us... so I wanted him to know."
"Something I appreciate enormously," Akihiro input with a warm grin. "It's true, I don't have much left back there, only a lonely home and friends I see once in several months- so I can never tell you how happy it makes me to be involved with your life again, Hina. So, let's start this tour? I want to see what life is like in a place like this!!" Grinning as an excited young boy might, Akihiro elicited yet another laugh from those gathered, and Hina smiled fondly, nodding.
"Let's go then, dad. Emily, Aurelia, Nao, Charlotte, if you don't mind, I'd like to show him around alone and meet you back... where are you staying? I'd like to meet you back around dinner time, forgive me."
"I'm coming with you," Emily stated bluntly. "I'm sorry, but after the way you ran off, you're being babysat, Hina."
"Well, I suppose we can leave Emily on this case," Aurelia spoke up with a quiet laugh. "Hina. we're staying in the castle like the other time. See you this evening~?"
"Definitely, I promise." The Badger Girl nodded with a grin. "You'll see me tonight even if I have to cut a thousand angels in two to reach you, I've gotten the flightiness out of my system."
"Alright, good." Aurelia answered with a smirk as Nao walked forward, standing on tiptoe to lightly brush her lips across Hina's, a playful grin suddenly on her face as she stepped back. "It's good to have the air clear. See you tonight, alright?" Turning then, the brunette girl walked off with Aurelia and Charlotte, the three young women chatting amongst themselves as friends do, leaving Emily alone with Hina and Akihiro.
"So, do we have another anime cliche here, for my daughter who dislikes anime? The star of the harem, the one who's secretly more important than the others?" Akihiro chuckled softly, holding out a hand. "Do you do handshakes in this world? I don't know. Either way, my name is Akihiro Nakano, and it's a pleasure to meet you... Emily."
"You as well, Akihiro- but I'm no more important than any of our companions, I simply refuse to leave Hina alone right now. Besides, what harm can come of you having a more detailed tour? Hina is the new girl in town, after all!" She shook the hand with a firm grip as if she was applying for her dream job in America, and the two of them laughed quietly... Hina sighed, eyes glassing over a bit as she watched some more of the endless, mortally plaguing tiredness drift out of her father's eyes.
"So, shall we begin the tour?" Emily spoke. "I'll appoint myself as guide for both of you, since Hi- Hina look out?!" Emily yelped as Hina hit the ground, feeling something slam into her from behind and twist round her neck. It was... thighs? What? Stunned as she was, Hina didn't even make a noise.
"Got you! Neither of you saw me coming, and you've both got magical affinity, I win!!" There was a laugh, and then whoever was straddling Hina's shoulders pivoted, flipping around and onto her feet in a startlingly rapid motion, grinning almost wickedly with a couple of new fangs in place of canines.
"Um... Lily?" Hina blinked slowly as she got to her feet. This young teenager... she looked a bit like the loli that was saved from rapists in Lop, who'd been protected by a maid, with parents in newly important positions... but she also looked wrong. Her features were more fair, her eyes a deeper, more crystalline blue, lashes longer. More of a swell to her chest, and from her hair rose the small, rounded and fuzzy ears of something like a raccoon and squirrel mixed. Behind her, a massively bushy tail rose, something like a squirrel and fox's combined... what was going on? Even Lily's hips had widened to almost uncomfortably sexy.
"Yeah, it's me, Hina!! You wanna know what happened, I guess?"
"Well... Lily, you've met Emily, but this is Akihiro, my father. Dad, this is Lily, a girl I met in a border town, a ways off."
"Met? Like you didn't save my life and my innocence," Lily answered with a smirk. "Nice to meet you, Akihiro, all the respect to the child you raised and you, yourself. She might have saved five hundred lives in the span of five minutes, with the way she helped to decimate my village's attackers!" Akihiro blinked slowly, laughing.
"Some super powers you've got, kid... Hina, I mean. So, what was it that you wanted Lily-chan to explain?"
"Lily... why do you look... weirdly sexual?"
"It's simple, but long story~ what would you guys say to talking over lunch? I know just the place!"
~~~
So it was that the four found themselves sitting in a small diner styled with a sort of blue, magical wood and dark stone, the selection of foods being rich and delicious- but thankfully, reasonably priced. Hina and Akihiro didn't exactly remember to bring bags of gold...
"So, you remember that I'm in training as an assassin, right Hina? That's the job title, but it also makes me a bounty hunter in training, if we ever need non-lethal force. Now, we've had some... weird stuff going on in the forest district and the city outskirts through it. Young women, and sometimes even men, are being mutated into weird things, like monster girls, or both genders, sometimes even uh... what did the king call them, furries? Demons, gargoyles, on and on- a lot of it, or rather most of it being weird, perverted kinky stuff! All of these people talked about a perverted green girl with tentacles and this massive flower that swallows you whole... so me and two others were tasked with tracking her down as a training assignment, subduing her and bringing her in- just had to avoid the tentacles."
"Oh gods, wait, Lily, please tell me this woman didn't rap-"
"She did NOT, no." Lily shook her head, laughing quietly. "I slipped up, when I was hopping through the trees- I fell, and everything went black. Apparently, when the girl moved toward me, my teammates were too scared to come down and ran off... and apparently my head hit a rock and went squish. The big squish, Hina." Badger Girl thought for a moment about the implications of this, listening.
"Alright...?"
"Well, it turns out that this weird girl is... her strength is on par and probably past that of angels. She said she's the creation of a thousand mages in an age long past, or something, that there were many like her but most gave up on life, and now, she's one of the last four. Aside from the perversion, her tentacles are weapons and her big flower thing could digest you as easily as violate you... but, the important part is that she has three flowers attached to her, all with a different kind of sap."
"Alright...? Following for now." Hina listened, and both Emily and Akihiro were also staring raptly, almost entranced in demeanor.
"One just makes you really horny, apparently- absolutely isn't the one I had. The second is a healing potion, but it isn't as strong as angel healing magic, and it couldn't save me from death. The third, is the mutagen that her tentacles shoot out, though... I can't remember everything she said, but supposedly the mutagen uh, loosens your DNA or something, makes changing your composition easier... and so by combining it with her healing sap, she was able to accelerate things and save my life before it was too late, even with half my skull caved in. On the flip side, that meant I became one of her perverted creations, hence my body being a little weird. I mean, it's fine though, I'm still thirteen and I'm still not hunting down something to ride, you know? I've got time," She added, snorting. "Apparently she, this golem girl, has total control during a transformation, and chooses how much to break your mind, or to not. Kind of scary..."
"So... you're one of her creations but she left out the horny, basically?"
"Yeah! You guys should meet her, she isn't really so bad at all. What she's doing is illegal, sure, and you could argue that it's morally wrong, but she's choosing her targets carefully."
"What do you mean?" Emily was actually the one to ask, raising an inquisitive white eyebrow.
"I mean that she's choosing people who are better off after a transformation, and picking the right transformation. For example, she took an uneducated woman and enhanced her intelligence while making her a beast girl. She might have mixed in some horniness, yes, but now that woman has inhuman strength and speed, meaning that she's more capable, and can earn money easily with her natural skills while learning quickly from here and forming a real life for herself. It isn't all nearly as bad as we thought it was, and she leaves people happier, if sometimes kind of in heat... even so, morally speaking, human transformations like that are wrong, so that's why the royals want her shut down."
"Why... would she even begin targeting people like that?" Hina spoke this time, glancing across at her father, who only seemed curious and happy to be there.
"I don't remember much from right after I woke up, I was talking so much she pushed the tip of a vine into my mouth and made me drink that healing sap like a little baby, and once my mind had healed enough for me to think sharply, she sent me off... but I vaguely remember something about a kind master who wished the world well, and who has passed on now? Think she's trying to do good in a way that she easily can without taking lives... she is man made, no matter how magical she is, and somewhat simple. But look at me, I'm not horny and I'm alive~! Three days ago my head was a crescent moon, so how bad can she really be? I'm even still in training, and trying to put in a good word for her with the royals when I get the chance. She literally said that I'm a child and should stay clothed with her, she only planned to help me in the way she can... and hell, did she!"
"I guess..." Hina sighed softly, laughing. "I guess I can easily see the points to the argument on either side, but I don't really know how to feel about it myself. You're right though, if she saved your life out of the kindness of her heart and she left you fine, with even more skills beneficial to your training... she can't be a rotten soul, at least not completely- assuming she has one. I wonder if it would be worth meeting her... I could probably dice her up before she got a tentacle around me, so it would be pretty safe."
"OR. Or, or, or, and hear me out, OR, you VOLUNTEER. Let them RAIL you Hina~" Lily giggled mischievously, slowly eating the last bite on her plate and getting to her feet. "It was good to see you, sis, and I hope to again, but I'll be going now. Rest assured I'm better off, not worse, and this weird golem girl... Thorn, I think she was called- she didn't mess me up in any way at all, I haven't become a toy or a bitch. I'm still just me, and in this world, that's probably the best thing I can hope to be. Ears, tail and body aside- I'm Lily, and I still love you for saving my life! Now, until next time, alright?" Grinning, the monster girl lolita turned and slipped off toward the door, almost seeming to melt into the shadows as she did... and then definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, being absorbed into the shadows around the door, never actually passing through it. Hina stared, confused, but the shadows themselves thinned and vanished, leaving the apparently newborn monster girl nowhere in sight.
"What the hell happened to her, exactly..." Confused, Hina looked back at Emily and Akihiro. "Well, guys, I suppose she's like a little sister to me, though she did mention having a crush on me, and she seems to know she's got a hero complex and wants me to ignore it- maybe she's already done with that line of thought, I'm not sure. Either way, that was her, and for context dad, she was human last time I saw her."
"I see..." He sighed quietly, not upset, perhaps overwhelmed? "Well, that was an interesting encounter- it's quite an interesting ensemble here, I'd say. That golem though... if she can turn anybody into something Lily, how powerful must she be... don't suppose you're planning on recruiting her? If she wants to do some good in the world~"
"Good in the world... I can't guarantee that I'd fit her definition of good, but you know, maybe I'll talk to her. That healing and mutagen sounds damn useful... she'd definitely be worth meeting, but I feel like it's something I should probably go alone for."
"I can respect that, but is now the time...?" Emily was glancing toward Akihiro, but the man himself abruptly stood with a smile.
"Hina, if this is going to benefit you and your endeavors, go. Nobody said I'm going home yet or that I can't visit again, so go, and hurry back."
"Are... you sure, dad?" Hina frowned slightly, uncertain.
"Absolutely."
A pause.
"Alright, then I'll see you soon dad, I love you."
Standing.
Creaking of the leather seat.
Turning.
Silence.
A breath.
Pause.
Another breath, gathering strength.
"Hina... kill me." The badger girl stiffened from head to toe, turning slowly on a dime as if she'd seen every demon in every hell running at her with teeth bared. Her father was smiling; he'd spoken quietly, so as not to disturb the... chattering, bubbling throngs that belonged to the crowd... but the look in his eyes was both immensely heartbroken and the look of a damned man finding salvation in the same breath.
"Dad?"
"I want to be killed... in the way that you were killed. Hina, I've got no family left- I had to kill my wife to protect my child and you know, where we live, that has brought us dishonor and quiet hate, malice from our friends, neighbors, the community as a whole. I have nobody left, not in all of that corrupted, vile, damnable world, where the streets run with blood, more of it from our young than those out fighting for an unrealistic and corrupt idea of good, or right. So, daughter, family I lost and found, kill me, and bring me here, so that I might see you more often, even if only to quietly support from the sidelines."
"Dad, I-" Hina faltered. Had Aerendyl always been leaning on the bar nearby? She didn't think so, somehow.
"Akihiro." The angel spoke, a grin twitching the corner of his jaw upward, his pointed ears rosy with a blush- was he intoxicated? "Akihiro, good man... I told you that it's about time for me to step back from Hina's life and let her take her own reins, yes?"
"Yes," Akihiro agreed without hesitation in his voice or eyes. Hina swallowed, unsure how to handle where this was going.
"Then, if I will be leaving," Aerendyl spoke with a quiet grin, unwavering. "I will offer her one final gift, and you a gift as well, Akihiro. I will send you home now, and give you a few hours to pack. Once you have... you will die, painlessly hit the floor, and be reincarnated here as Hina was with your most treasured belongings. I will not send you to combat, but you have my word that you will be granted an ability as she was- yours will be aimed at helping people, doing good for those who need it." Aerendyl stepped forward, his wings snapping out so that nearby patrons edged away, staring and quieting at the spectacle as the angel clapped Akihiro's shoulder. "I will kill you myself and bring you here with the power to never let a loved one die again, under the condition that your loyalty is mine, need I ever call on it- unless, all gods forbid, my enemy is Hina. Then, I release you, unconditionally."
"I accept," Akihiro spoke again, never hesitating but still meeting Hina's eyes.
"Dad, are you sure? That's a huge decision to make-"
"Yes."
"Your life there-"
"My life there is months on end without a guest, no family. A dark, empty home that I can't bring myself to empty of your belongings, eating foods you liked just to pretend you're still around... my life there does not exist. I accept, Aerendyl."
"Then go and be at peace. In a few hours, you will see Hina and I waiting for you, Akihiro. Are you ready?"
"Without a shadow of a doubt," spoke the man, a small tear leaking from the corner of his right eye. "Allow me this selfishness, Hina, please."
"I... I'll see you soon, dad...?" Hina stepped forward and hugged her father, sighing quietly as he vanished in her arms as if snapped to dust. The entirety of the restaurant was staring now, and Emily was walking closer, lacing her fingers with Hina's in a gentle show of support.
"It's alright, Hina," she murmured, leaning in and softly kissing the badger girl's cheek.
"I... I know, I just didn't expect..."
"You have my word, Hina." Aerendyl spoke gently but more than seriously. "He will feel no pain, not when he dies and not as long as I can help it. My final gift to you before things begin anew."