Editors: Joker, Speedphoenix
"I was unable to catch even a wink of sleep last night, and it is all your fault!" shouted Lefi. "I cannot believe you! You continued to fondle my wings even after falling asleep!"
"What can I say, they just felt so nice that I couldn't stop," said Yuki. "If anything, you should take it as a compliment. It just means your wings feel that good."
"I-I suppose," said Lefi, with a blush. "Wait…! I shan't fall for that trick!"
"Yuki! Lefi!" Illuna shouted to get the pair's attention, but they were too busy arguing to notice. "Hmm… they're not listening."
The little girl frowned before turning to one of her other adoptive siblings instead. "Leila! I'm going out to play!"
"Me too!" said Shii.
"Come on Enne, let's go have fun!" said Illuna.
"Okay. I'm coming," said Enne.
"Have fun out there," said Leila. Seeing the three run off as a happy group caused the sheep-horned demon to smile in the same way she always did. "Do be careful, and don't go any further than the plains, okay?"
"Okay!" two of the three replied vocally, while the last answered with a small nod as all three made their way out the door.
***
"Wow…" Though it remained mostly as expressionless as usual, Enne's face almost seemed to convey a sense of wonder as she looked up at the castle. The way it towered over its surroundings could only be described as majestic.
Seeing the new girl act the way she did led Illuna to giggle before speaking in a tone tinged with pride. "Yuki's castle sure is cool, isn't it?"
The purpose of today's excursion was to show Enne around the castle. And that was why their first destination had been the plains, where one could take in the whole thing at once. Enne often went out with Yuki, but she had always just been a weapon, and one without a sheath at that, so she had been stuck in his inventory with no real way to look around. She had barely known what the dungeon's interior looked like.
She had obtained a scabbard relatively recently, so she no longer needed to remain inside Yuki's item box during transport, but she still ended up getting carried around, so she never had much of a chance to explore.
But now, she had a body. She could go wherever she wanted. That was why Yuki had told Illuna to help show the new girl around the castle. Illuna had easily agreed. As far as she was concerned, she was everyone's big sister, and duties like the one she was given were just a part of the job. Yuki had told the vampire that he didn't plan on going out today, so she had decided to take the opportunity to finally get around to what he had asked her to do.
Looking to her side, the vampire found Enne enthralled by the sight. It was an impressive one, even Illuna herself had to crane her head as far up as it would go if she wanted to see the top of the castle. Looking up inspired Illuna to think of the person who had made it all, her big brother. He was amazing. The castle looked like something out of a fairy tale, and yet, he had made it really quickly right in front of her.
And equally as amazing was the big sister of hers that helped him. Out of the three she had, Lefi was the one that Illuna was most attached to. Though she was young, and though she loved them both, even Illuna could quite easily tell that they weren't exactly what one could be called normal. They were different from other people. They were both kinda weird. And though they were weird, they were weird in the same way. She had always thought that they were very much alike.
One of the bizarre incidents had actually happened just earlier in the morning. Yuki and Lefi had slept in the same bed, and they had both slept in really late. They got along so well that Illuna ended up looking at them with a childish envy. She wished she could have joined them. Yet, for some odd reason, the two had started to argue the moment they got up. It really made Illuna wonder why they couldn't do what her parents did and just be all smiley and happy after every time they shared a bed. She remembered that her parents would always like looking into each other's eyes the next morning, so she was really confused.
She asked both her smart but carefree big sister, Leila, as well as her scatterbrained, kind, and fun big sister, Lyuu, but neither provided her answers she really understood.
Leila's response had been, "they're getting along quite well, just in their own way," whereas Lyuu had said that "it's just 'cause love comes in lots o' different forms."
Illuna thought long and hard about what they meant, but she didn't quite get it. Still, she could at least tell that Yuki and Lefi were still kinda getting along just by looking at the way they acted around each other, so she just shrugged off her confusion and accepted it for what it was.
"Look! Over there!" Shii, who, like Illuna, had been standing beside Enne, suddenly turned around. "It's Rei, Rui, and Lowe!"
The vampire followed the slime's lead and directed her gaze towards her three half transparent friends. They were a bit younger than her, and they floated instead of walking around. Like Shii, they had both been born because of Yuki's mysterious powers. According to him, they were wraiths.
Illuna had actually freaked out the first time she saw them. She had thought they were ghosts and panicked. But it turned out that the three of them were all really nice and fun to hang out with, so her aversion to them had soon disappeared. They played together all the time. And though they were good friends, Illuna knew not to let her guard down around them. All three of the girls really liked pranks, so they would often try to startle Illuna and Shii by catching them unawares. Most of these incidents would quickly transition into games of tag. The wraith girls would run away right after their pranks, and Illuna and Shii would chase after them.
As they were sisters, the three ghost girls looked fairly similar, but they were still easy to distinguish because of how different their personalities were.
Rei, the oldest, acted as a big sister should. She was smart and usually had everything sorted out in her head. She would mediate arguments between her two younger siblings whenever it was necessary. However, she loved pranks, and she would often put together complicated tricks and rope her sisters into helping her perform them.
Rui, the middle sister, was of the more stubborn breed. She was both the most prideful and the most honest of the bunch. Her sisters' shenanigans would often cause her to panic.
And then there was Lowe, the youngest of the three. Like Enne, she had the tendency to be relatively quiet and reserved. But she was also much more mischievous than her two older siblings. The pranks she pulled would often leave both other wraiths shocked stiff.
Illuna didn't find it strange that the three had completely different personalities, nor did she ever question why they were siblings, and why they had specified who was oldest despite being summoned all at once. Her older brother, however, found these questions extremely confusing. They were the kinds of things that kept him up at night.
"Enne, meet Rei, Rui, and Lowe! Wraith girls, meet Enne! Now let's all get along!" said Illuna.
None of the three spectral monsters could talk, but it was fairly easy to tell what they wanted to say given the way they floated around the new girl with welcoming, happy smiles plastered all over their faces.
"Nice to meet you." said Enne. She seemed to understand that she was being welcomed. There weren't any changes in her expression, but she seemed to be happy nonetheless.
"We're in the middle of showing Enne around the castle right now! Do you girls want to join us?" asked Illuna.
Though the vampire had spent a good amount of time exploring its interior, she doubted she knew as much about it as the wraith girls. Unlike her, they didn't live in the true throne room. The whole castle was their home. It wasn't as if Illuna hadn't memorized its layout. Rather, the problem was that the layout Illuna memorized was outdated.
Her beloved older brother renovated the castle on a near-everyday basis. Walls would often suddenly turn into corridors. New rooms would pop up out of nowhere, and sometimes, she'd even find entire new buildings. It wasn't just the interiors that changed either. Plain courtyards would transform into beautiful gardens. Flowerbeds and ponds would suddenly show up where there wasn't anything before. Landmarks were unreliable and often subject to change. The castle was like a labyrinth. While those attempting to clear the dungeon may have found the changes inconvenient, the girls thought of them as a way of spicing up their play and making it even more fun.
The three wraiths responded to Illuna's question by twirling around in the air. They were completely on board.
With that decided, the sisters joined the group and began to lead their friends around the castle. However, it didn't take long for them to forget their original objective. The youngest of the bunch soon began to smile.
The moment Illuna noticed the change in Lowe's expression was the moment she acted. The wraith spun around behind Enne and put her prank into action by sticking both her face and her hands through the sword girl's body. She looked up at the girl with an expression that effectively screamed "Boo!"
There was a pair of reactions, a scream and a monotone wow. The scream had come from Illuna, who, despite knowing something would happen, was caught off guard nonetheless. The wow had come from Enne, who found the disembodied head coming out of her stomach more interesting than freaky.
Although the prank hadn't shocked its intended target, Lowe didn't seem to mind. She simply shot all the way through Enne's body before soaring down one of the castle's long corridors. Her face was decorated with a happy smile. She was definitely having fun.
Why, one might ask, did the wraith run away? The answer to that question was simple: because she knew she would be chased.
"Geez, that startled me!" Illuna shouted as she started running after Lowe and her sisters, who, for some odd reason, had retreated alongside their youngest sibling. "Wait! Come back!"
The wraiths' bodies were phantom-like. They couldn't actually be caught even if they were chased down, but none of the parties involved cared. All that mattered to them was that it was fun nonetheless.
"We should chase them too, Enne!" Shii, who had yet to run off, spoke to the girl who had silently watched the events unfold and extended her an invitation to the game of tag.
"How..?" Enne tilted her head.
"All you have to do is run after them! It'll be really fun!"
"Okay."
The pair pumped their legs and began to chase the other four girls deep into the castle. And in doing so, they completely forgot about showing Enne around, their original objective, and instead engaged in an all-out game of tag.
"Alright girls, it's time for lunch!" Enne stepped out of the tall patch of grass she had been hiding in as she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Hey Enne. Where's everyone else?"
One of the doors that had been standing around in the courtyard all by itself had opened. Enne expected to, naturally, see more courtyard on the other side. But instead, the mysterious door displayed the room that everyone lived in. Out from it stepped a man who shared Enne's hair colour, the master she adored with all her heart, the person whose side she wanted to remain by forever.
"We're playing hide and seek," she said.
"I guess that explains why everyone's missing," he said. "How far were you guys allowed to go? Just the courtyard?"
"Mhm."
Though the sword's master had referred to it as one would a smaller area, the courtyard was by no means tiny. He had put a lot of work into it and it even seemed like it might be a little too big for the purposes of hide and seek. But because the girls were practically bursting with energy, they didn't find it to be a problem.
The rules of this particular game session were constructed to be as fair as possible. The wraith girls had possessed the dolls that Enne's master had given them so that they wouldn't be able to hide in trees or walls. And the reason they had chosen the courtyard in particular was because Enne was unable to get more than a hundred meters away from her true form, which had been placed on a nearby bench in order to maximize her range of motion. Enne herself hadn't really minded, but the other kids had fussed over her needs and adjusted the location to cater to them.
"That sure sounds fun," said her master with a smile.
Warmth filled Enne's chest the moment she saw it.
"So whaddya say? Think you can be friends with everyone?" he asked.
"Mhm." Enne nodded. "Everyone is really nice."
Enne was quiet. She still wasn't all that great of a talker. And yet, all the other girls had immediately accepted her and included her in their activities. She was a bit embarrassed by the way the others were fussing over her, but she was happy nonetheless.
"That's good to hear," said her master.
He seemed happy that she was getting along with the others, as he promptly began to pat her on the head with his big, warm, rugged hands. So comfortable was the sensation that, without realizing it, Enne had extended her own hands and placed them on top of his. She had even tried to hold his hand against her head to ensure that he would keep rubbing it.
But then she realized what she was doing. She immediately began to panic and question her own actions as she let go. She was confused. At a loss. Bewildered. She just didn't know what to do. She thought that her actions might have been disrespectful and that they might have made her master unhappy. Enne was still unused to this new form of hers. She didn't know how she was supposed to best express her affection.
Yuki, however, didn't mind. In fact, he almost seemed to find the relatively expressionless girl's panic entertaining, as he chuckled before continuing to affectionately stroke her hair. The smile on his face led Enne to judge that he hadn't been annoyed by her actions. Realizing this, she recovered from her state of agitation and lowered the arms that she had been waving around while at a loss. She simply went meek and continued to allow herself to be pet in much the same manner as a housecat.
She knew that her face had turned red, but she continued to silently enjoy the sensation of her master's touch, which could only be described as anything but unpleasant. Before long, she heard a voice coming from behind her.
"There you are Enne! I finally found you!" declared Illuna triumphantly. "Oh, hi Yuki!"
She was accompanied by Shii and all three of the wraith-possessed dolls, which meant that Enne had been the last of the group to be found. All three wraiths happily floated towards their master and encircled him the moment they saw him.
"You girls sure are full of energy," he laughed.
He then took his hand off of Enne's head in order to play with the three hovering around him.
"Oh…" A sad sound leaked from the sword's mouth. She hadn't realized that she was going to make it, so she hadn't managed to stop herself in time. Enne raised her hands and used them to cover her mouth immediately, but it was too late. The sudden noise had already caused her master and the three wraiths hovering around him to suddenly turn to face her.
Rei, Rui, and Lowe looked at each other and nodded in tacit understanding. They then suddenly floated behind Enne and started to use the dolls they were possessing in order to push her towards her master.
She tried to say something, but the only noises that came out of her mouth were incoherent panicked stammers.
Her master grinned as he watched her approach against her will. Once she was close enough, he wrapped an arm around her thighs and lifted her up.
"Master…"
Only after a bunch of panicking did she finally manage to stammer out a word, but he seemed to ignore it.
"Alright kids, it's time for lunch. You can play all you want after you're done," he said. "Rei, Rui, Lowe, you three might as well come with us. I know you can't eat and all that, but I'm sure you'll have more fun hanging around us while we do, right?"
All three dolls nodded in agreement. Likewise, Illuna and Shii happily vocalized their intention to engage in their midday meal.
With her girl form still in his arms, Yuki grabbed Enne's real body with his other hand and headed towards the door leading to the true throne room.
"Good for you Enne!" Illuna, who was walking right by her master's side, looked up at Enne, giggled, and flashed a big smile.
"Mhm…"
The sword girl didn't exactly understand why, but she felt as if being seen as she was now was extremely embarrassing, so she nodded in order to respond to Illuna's words before burying her face into her master's shoulder.
***
Editor's note (Joker): Hey, guys! Joker here. Another couple chapters down, and I had to schedule a dentist appointment because they were so sweet, I got a cavity. So thanks a bunch, JM. You've officially messed with my health. Oh well, Lefi probably will have it worse. Just imagine, the Supreme Dragon getting a cavity and having to have it taken care of. That would be a hilarious side story, in my own opinion. Also, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is only a day or two away, so I'm really excited for that. I'll be leveling up SAM mainly, since it fits with the story I'm building for my character. Been a BLM all through ARR, HW, and SB, but after the final fight of SB, realizes she needs more power, so turns to SAM for that power. Might get Dark Knight to level 70 as well, just for that bit of extra flavor. Thanks to Tonatsi for the question, even if it annoyed the heck out of me… See y'all in the next chapter!