Scarlet 6

Scarlet 6 

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Commissioned by Citino

Word Count: 2516

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“Fight me, you bastard!”

As far as picking fights went, that was the clearest thrown gauntlet I’d ever had.

Eh, 5/10. Albion usually set my whole mountain of fire while I slept, so I woke up to an inferno before our fights. 

I doubted Genshirou Saji was as capable of such a thing.

He’s a Devil. He could’ve set fire to your room with magic, and waited outside the hall to declare his intentions. It would’ve been VERY thematic.

I suppose, but that would put me in an odd spot. Namely, being unable to refuse.

“No.” Which I did.

“W-what?! No! You can’t just say no to a fight! What kind of a man are you!? Don’t you have any pride!?” Genshirou Saji, the answers to your questions are as follows: Yes, I can. One who doesn’t need his prove himself. And, finally, no. I don’t have any pride. If I had any ounce of pride, I would never have pleasured myself to my best, female friend in my previous life. Sorry, Lisa. “I’m not going to let you take Kaichou away without putting up a fight!”

I saw this coming from a mile away. Genshirou Saji was the only male Sitri’s peerage, and the only male in the Student Council. It’s only natural that he lusts after the individual who convinced him to abandon his humanity. Thus, myself, an outsider who is spending time with his literal mistress, as an individual that needs to be threatened into compliance and dealt carefully with, is someone he sees as competition.

Manly, but stupid. A whelp ought to know when to just let a female handle her business. Going out of your way to fight any potential suitor of the one you pursue is a good way to get killed… or worse: beaten in front of the one you adore and cucked thereafter. It seems you’ll be living out your fantasies, Taylor. 

I did not like how I couldn’t deny that statement outright. Damn, this male reproductive drive of this damn over excitable body... 

However, back to the issue at hand.

“I’m not interested in Sitri. We are in a working relationship. Nothing more.” As clearly as possible, I laid out the fact. No bullshit. Nothing to be misinterpreted by the blonde boy interrupting my breakfast, before my next bout of training. All the thoughts that arose of me NTRing him was nothing more than childish male fantasies that I had no control over whatsoever. Those were put in the very darkest depths of my mind. Maybe for later. “Rest assured that you have nothing to fear from me.”

“You’re a filthy liar! I can tell! I see it in your eyes! A man’s burning desire is showing quite clearly in your gaze, Hyoudou!” Well. Genshirou probably wasn’t wrong. Not having a swarm to offload emotions into, while also being influenced by the fact that I had a Dragon sharing my mind with me, meant that I was probably incapable of hiding many of my tells in situations that weren’t that serious, nor dangerous. In battle, Dragons thought about battle, and such things were drowned. I didn’t think Genshirou was a threat, so he naturally didn’t elicit that particular response from me. Ergo: “You… you want me to lower my guard! That’s what you’re doing. Before I know it, you’re going to be my friend, then I’ll find you NTRing me! You bastard!”

Wow, he’s seriously got you pegged down to a T, Taylor. You should really stop being so scummy.

I chose the moral high ground and didn’t respond.

Your definition of “high” is quite different from my own.

Raku will never love Tsugumi.

BEGONE, HEATHEN.

However, back to the matter at hand.

“Alright, I have to admit that does entice me, but I don’t intend to do it. It’s a fantasy. Nothing more and nothing less.” When you can’t hide who you are, then there’s no point in trying to hide. I’m a terrible liar, I’ve already been found out, and apparently I was going to be betrayed by my body at every turn, due to both puberty and its inherent perversity. Dying upon a hill, just to keep face, is foolish. “I’m too busy to do something like that, even if I would happily enter a romantic relationship with a woman for the purpose of both recreation and gaining access to her resources.”

“So, you’re a manwhore!”

Yeah, this guy has you totally pegged.

“…” There were nearly no lengths to which I would stoop for victory. Spiders on crotches. Cockroaches down or up orifices. Emotional leveraging. However, for some reason, admitting that I was a “manwhore” in order to defuse the situation was a bit much. I had to bite my tongue from outright responding in anger against the accusation by the blonde, prissy twat of a boy accusing me. Actually, considering those thoughts, only my grand self-control prevented me from inflicting copious amounts of violence upon him. However, while I was controlling myself, words I didn’t intend to say slipped out of my mouth. “No, I am not a manwhore. I’m just repressed, unable to have time for a girlfriend, and want one very, very much.”

Again, if Lisa somehow appeared and took one look at me, she’d run or shoot me.

Actually, she’d do both. 

I cut off Genshirou before he could somehow make me lose control over myself.

“Look, I have no intent to date, or enter a romantic relationship with anyone in the near future. I am enticed. I want to have a girlfriend. I am… slightly depraved. However, I won’t indulge in such things unless my family’s safety is assured.” The words were difficult to admit. They had to be said, but they were said because of circumstances of not my own choosing. My stupid, new body was simply perverse. It didn’t help that there was an alarmingly large number of very pretty girls everywhere in this world, of whom I could not touch nor interact with, because I really didn’t have the time for them. I had to choose between getting stronger, or alleviating my instinctual urges, and getting stronger barely won. I had to stick to my decision, too. Otherwise, I could become a monster of hedonism born from being repressed too much. “You have my word that I’m not interested in Sitri whatsoever.”

The word of a stronger male who he doesn’t know, who has admitted certain fetishes that he doesn’t like, and who admits to himself that girls would shoot him on sight if they knew what’s going on his head.

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!”

Dammit.

I told you he’s got good instinct, Taylor. Stupid, but good instincts. Do the world a favor and teach him a lesson before he outlives anyone as-is.

“Okay, fine. Let’s fight.” I got up.

“Huh, alright! When—

“Now.”

Without hesitation, I knocked Genshirou out with my chair.

Nevermind, he doesn’t have good instincts at all. 

…

Sitri sat before me, before a table, with the sun shining through the window behind her. Typical power move. She had the glare in our eyes, so that we couldn’t look straight at her. Save for the glare of her glasses, she was merely a shadowy silhouette before the two of us. 

Genshirou was to my left. He nursed a bruise. However, being a Devil, he only had a bruise from receiving an antique, very well crafted chair leg crashing into his skull and sending him flopping onto a wall. By all means, he did more damage to the tile wallpaper than I did to him. 

It’s completely possible that if I didn’t just leave him lying there to be found, I’d have gotten out of this scot free.

However, I didn’t want my training for a potentially-life threatening battle to be interrupted by any more masculine posturing, so I let this happen.

The moment Sitri dismissed her Queen, Tsubasa, I made my case without the slightest hint of hesitation.

“Genshirou-san is infatuated with you. He thinks I’m a danger to you, so he confronted me. He continued to confront me due to his feelings regarding me, to which a then responded by listening to his request, and hitting him with a chair.” Undoubtedly, given Genshirou’s look of shock and horror at my direction, I was infringing on the male code of honor. It could be something as silly as what happens between men stay between men, or that men don’t tell women of other men’s interest, but I didn’t care. This situation was silly. I wanted the situation to be less silly. So, I was settling here and now. “Disregarding that, one of your Peerage approached me, challenged me, and then I defeated him without causing him permanent, nor significant harm. That is my view on the matter. You are free to convince me otherwise, Sitri.”

“Your perspective is appreciated, even if I didn’t ask for it, Hyoudou-san.” Sitri’s voice was cool and concise. Some lizard-part of my stupid, perverted brain was filled with the urge to cower… and memories of latex. I ignored both. Aggressively. And, crossed one leg over the other. Inconspicuously. I learned how to do that a long time ago. “While the circumstances of the altercation will be reviewed by myself, through this villa’s security system, I will be taken action to stop this immediately. Genshirou-kun, Hyoudou-kun, I do not want either of you in the same room as one another. There was no need for you to interact. There is no need for you to interact. There will be no need for the two of you to interact. Is that understood?”

The temptation to call this my victory was strong, but that would be pre-emptive. 

Compromises typically meant everyone suffered equally. 

And, Sitri seemed to very inclined toward such a thing.

Less arousal, Taylor. More being ready to not being outclassed in negotiations. Again.

Right.

I nodded.

“Genshirou-kun, that order is active this instant. I will speak to you later.” Genshirou seemed to nearly protest, but he kept his tongue and arose. That was an appreciable quality amongst followers. Sitri ran a tight ship. He’d nearly went out of his way to antagonize me out of loyalty for her, but the fact that he followed that particular order, where he’s blatantly put in the wrong, is something else entirely. That was trust. Implicit trust. His actions made sense, even if his methods left much to be desired. Once he left the room, Sitri shook her head and sighed. “My goodness, Hyoudou-kun, you’re an absolute magnet for trouble. I’m almost inclined to think that you’re doing this so that I’d break our contract.”

Sitri was correct. My training under her care had resulted in many incidents with her Peerage. Many of which were… not innocent. I couldn’t look any of her council in the eye anymore, and it didn’t take much logic to determine why Genshirou looked at me with so much apprehension. The moment I stepped into the Villa, it was as though fate saw fit to laugh at me at every opportunity, and set me towards many, many incidents where I groped, fell upon, and witnessed too much of nubile girls my body’s age. Needless to say, them being Devils meant that those incidents escalated into issues.

And, unlike manga harem protagonists, I did not allow myself to be struck without striking back, especially when I wasn’t in the wrong… and the one about to strike me was a Devil, while I was a human.

Sitri, by all means, had every right to terminate our contract, even without the latest misunderstanding.

However, she needed me. 

Which, I was very thankful for, because I needed just as much, if not more.

Asia wouldn’t be able to hide and survive, without Sitri’s current help, and I was without the resources to provide it if Sitri pulled her support.

Whatever her punishment was, I’d have to accept it.

And, I told her as much.

“Very well. Then, after your training, you will be joining me for chess.”

Wait, what?

…

At first, I didn’t understand how playing chess would be a punishment.

Then, I realized that I gravely underestimated how well Sitri can break an individual down.

Not in the physical sense, though being a Devil certainly meant she punched well above her weight class, but in terms of simply interpreting and understanding a person. I should’ve guessed by the way she controlled the student council, and how she had nearly defacto control over the school, that she was talented socially. I’d thought that she had such things because she was a Devil that was born into a Pillar Family, with all the influence that entailed, not due to her own skill and charisma.

Suffice to say, I fully underestimated how I would feel being soundly defeated again and again and again, while Sitri completely and utterly understood how it would make me feel. 

The fact that Sitri was extremely skilled in chess didn’t matter to me in the slightest. It was the fact that I lost completely and utterly each time, with no sign of progress, that mattered to me… and Sitri knew that… and she knew that I knew. The losses, combined with the insight of her knowledge, was the true punishment that she inflicted upon me. Seeing the board devoid utterly of my pieces, while she didn’t lose a single piece, was made more terrible knowing that she did it to punish me… and that I couldn’t stop myself from continuing, even when she asked me if I wished to quit.

Sitri didn’t provide me with a single hint. Beyond the rules of the game, she explained no strategies, and simply had me crash and burn by my own power. Even then, with everything I had, I failed and failed and failed again. Anger arose within me, only for me to feel angry at myself for being angry, because it was just a game. I shouldn’t have felt anything from such a silly, frivolous thing, yet I did. The losses, the anger, and the two combined had me more frustrated than I’d ever been in my new life. 

It was truly a punishment. 

In the end, she’d departed for dinner, and I’d barely stopped myself from calling out to her for another fruitless, terrible match.

In the silence, after hours of matches and in the gaze of the setting sun, I couldn’t even be angry at her for putting me through it, because I realized there was also an underlying message beneath it.

I never backed down. 

Not once.

Despite the fight being impossible, the fact that there was a chance and I was able, had me fight again and again. 

In my previous life, I would’ve retreated. I’d have looked for another way. Heck, I ought to have simply tipped over my king, and told her winning against her was impossible, and quit the moment she’d allowed me to quit.

I wasn’t me with just boy parts.

No matter how much I wanted to be.