MIA took Shou to the riverbank, away from the town center. She landed, planting her feet firmly on the ground, let go of Shou’s hand, and jumped a few steps back to put some distance between them.
Shou, only scratched his head awkwardly, mumbling, “Oh man… And I was really looking forward to that new machine…”
“Stop saying it in such a mournful voice! You are a member of the Crow Rangers, are you not?! I suggest you take this more seriously!”
“Yeah, I know, but see, I’m a pacifist. Unless you do something really terrible right before my eyes, I won’t feel like doing anything. …But you won’t do anything bad, right? You’re a good girl!”
Shou was only honestly telling Mia what he thought, but to her it sounded like he was making fun of her. Clearly offended, she forcefully waved her wand and cast a spell, “O wind, tear and rend!”
Swishing through the air, razor-sharp blades of wind flew straight for Shou. He jerked his arms up to cover his face, the fabric on his jacket sleeves ending up torn and full of shallow cuts. He stared at his arms, his face expressionless. …Eventually, one corner of his lips curled up, and he turned his face to look Mia dead in the eyes.
Shou’s smile, for some reason, made a chill run down her spine. Mia shuffled backwards, her legs suddenly feeling unsteady.
“Hmm, so you really wanna fight me, even though I’ve just told you I’m a pacifist. You little monster.”
“Monster?! No! This is how it was supposed to be from the beginning! I was just too soft on you lot until now!”
“Too soft, huh…? No. You just don’t know what the world is like, and all the dirty and wicked things that exist in it. Well, I guess I’ll have to humor you, but remember, you were the one who picked a fight with me, ‘kay? I’ll just give you a spanking for being such a bad girl.”
A crooked smile still plastered on his face, Shou slowly slid his feet into a fighting stance. Apparently, damaging his jacket proved sufficient to get him in the mood for a battle. Mia could do without that chilling smile of his, but all in all, the situation was finally progressing in the way she wanted it to. She clenched her stomach muscles and whipped her wand forward.
She let an image fill her head, poured the feelings it evoked into words, and finalized her spell by shouting out, “O Earth, rise up!”
A rumbling noise came from somewhere deep in the ground, and then the earth under Shou’s feet bulged, surging up high.
“Whoa!”
He jumped back down to the safety of the flat ground, but the soil swelled under him again. All around Shou, piles of earth shot up in a circular pattern, and then spread and fused with each other to form a single thin, long conical shape, attempting to block his field of vision. Shou evaded the wall of soil sealing him inside by performing a running jump off the enclosing walls and over the top and dashed towards Mia.
“Tsk. O wind, tear and rend!”
“Pff, that won’t work on me twice!”
The blades of wind were thin and straight, which meant that their area of effect was highly limited. Shou seemed to have realized that, so he quickly kicked off the ground with his right foot to gain momentum, and leapt to the side.
“You can run in a straight line and jump to the side on a moment’s notice?! I didn’t know you rangers had reflexes like that!”
Astonishment flooded Mia’s face, but she refused to be beaten, and, drawing strength from her ever-blazing will to fight, she braced her wand.
“O sh-shield of ice, protect me!”
As soon as she pronounced those words, a wall made of ice appeared in front of her, its expanding edges twisting themselves to form a circle which was closing around Shou. It seemed that Mia was out to buy herself some time, but all she had done was change her attack from wind, earth, wind again, and now to ice. While the elements changed, the attacks were relatively the same.
“And now I shall make hail rain down on your head!” Mia exclaimed, raising her wand high overhead.
A ghost of a smile crossed Shou’s face at that declaration. He exhaled in a short burst to even out his breathing, and then, raising a battle cry, he slammed his fist into the ice. With a sharp sound, a crack opened in its surface, widening and branching out with tremendous speed. Before long, the wall of ice shattered into pieces, emitting a high-pitched noise.
Mia’s eyes swam with fear—she hadn’t anticipated Shou breaking through her wall with such ease. Shou deftly hopped over the broken shards of ice and bolted towards Mia, taking off his jacket while running. Coming to a skidding halt before her, he spread his jacket out in front of Mia’s face, put it over her mouth and then tightly wrapped it around her head while sliding behind her. In a single motion Shou had Mia gagged and was in a position to debilitate or even strangle her if he wished.
“Mmph!”
“There, there. Now, zip those lips.”
With Mia’s mouth thus covered, she couldn’t do a thing. She squirmed and struggled, trying to free herself, but Shou had already restrained her arms. The only places left uncovered by the jacket on Mia’s face were her eyes; her nose too, but just enough to be able to breathe.
Shou bent down and whispered sweetly at her ear, “Hee-hee… Looks like you’ve lost, Mia. Now, like I promised, I’ll give you a spanking.”
“Mpamkimph?!”
“I need to make sure you won’t dare come bugging me ever again, so I’m gonna instill some respect in you—through your body,” Shou chuckled softly against her ear.
Shou was basking in sadistic glee, his voice coming out in a lazy lecherous drawl. There was a bewitching quality to its lilt; if someone with masochistic proclivities heard it, they’d melt into a puddle on the spot.
“You’re powerless at close quarters, right? I heard from Ren. Your magic has an area of effect, so if you attempt to use it in close proximity to your target, you’re gonna suffer damage as well. …I’m gonna call a cab now, and for the ride I’m gonna remove the jacket, freeing your mouth, but don’t even think of crossing me! If you try anything funny, the poor taxi driver will suffer for it. You don’t want that to happen, my sweet little Mia, so you’ll do as I say, won’t you?” Shou uttered, his words much more befitting a villain than a Champion of Justice, and giggled, blowing a gentle puff of breath over Mia’s earlobe.
Immediately, something cold crawled up Mia’s spine, her eyes filling with terror. She felt so different from Shou’s touch than she had at Ren’s; it baffled her.
Ren made her heart beat wildly in her chest, while Shou evoked a mysterious sense of fear in her, making her tremble. Shou eyed her with satisfaction, evidently savoring the way her face twisted in dread.
Shou took out his phone and called for a cab to pick them up, just like he had said he would. The car appeared quickly enough, and Mia, her face completely jacket-free, was hauled into the taxi by Shou, his hand draped over her shoulders as if they were a couple of young lovebirds. They rode for some time before arriving at Shou’s apartment complex.
As soon as he got out of the car, he put his hand over Mia’s mouth and ushered her to his unit, almost dragging her there. The apartment he called his home was pretty big for one person, and looked quite expensive. Evidently well-cleaned, it was neat and tidy.
Shou, pulling Mia along, opened the front door. …Mia took a peek inside and her eyes grew wide as saucers. Wha-What is this? What in the world is this place?
The first thing that stood out to her was probably the bed. It seemed extremely uncomfortable to sleep on—being X-shaped and all. Moreover, something resembling belts dangled from it here and there. Above the bed was what looked like the oddest seat she had ever seen made up of black leather straps and a way to move, raise, or lower the entire thing anywhere around the bed.
Next to the bed was a triangular piece of wood lying horizontally with its sharp edge directed upwards—another chair, probably? Visual evidence suggested it would be a pain to sit on. It had black belts attached to it, too. A set of handcuffs hung down from a nearby wall, and on the ceiling, a number of sturdy-looking iron bars were mounted. Mia had no idea as to what the use of all of this equipment could be. On another wall was an assortment of masks, some that covered the entire head, and some just the mouth.
As she was gazing dazedly at the interior of the room, she felt something cold against her lips. She jerked in surprise at the sudden sensation, but it was too late. Mia had something resembling a small golf ball with a lot of holes in it slipped into her mouth and immediately fastened behind her head with a black strap.
“Mmph?”
“I feel a bit bad about using a mouth gag on a first-timer, but we don’t want you accidentally using your magic in the heat of the moment, now do we? You can breathe through it, so you’ll be fine,” Shou cooed, putting handcuffs around the girl’s wrists and attaching them to a chain dangling down from the ceiling. Mia’s arms were forcibly raised overhead as Shou tugged on a nearby chain, her legs the only part of her body she could move freely.
“Mmh—Um-mph! Mmph?!”
“Hmm, I think a collar would really suit you. I would love nothing more than to put one on you, but let’s save that for Ren. After all, he’s the one who owns you, hehe.”
Owns?! I don’t remember being owned by anyone! Mia stomped her feet, but Shou only watched her indignation idly, his eyes twinkling with amusement.