Kevin actually rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t.”
“
Eh?’
As Christine worked out what he meant, Kevin turned back to Lilian. “So, did I miss anything?”
“
Just Eric being Eric.”
“
Ah.” So Eric had been perving on someone. That made sense, but… “How is that any different from what he always does?”
“
Eric was being Eric to Kotohime.”
Turning his head, Kevin caught a glimpse of Kotohime walking slightly behind and to Lilian’s left, looking alert, composed and ready for anything. In her left hand was her sheathed katana.
Kevin also noticed how Eric had gone silent at the mention of Kotohime. His face paling and a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead, the most libidinous creature in existence was… staring at Christine’s backside. How expected. It seemed that not even being threatened with a katana could rid the boy of his perverse nature.
Kevin turned away from his best friend with a small shake of his head. “I really want to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. I should have expected something like this would happen. Hopefully, this will teach Eric not to hit on a woman carrying a katana.”
Lilian clasped her hands behind her back. “Do you really think it will be enough to stop Eric from being, uh, Eric?”
“
Not at first. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson after he hits on Kotohime a couple more times.”
Lilian snorted.
“
If Eric ever hits on Kotohime again, chances are good he’ll never be able to reproduce. She’s been known to castrate men who get too fresh with her.”
Eric paled even more, his face turning whiter than a sheet. Kevin and the twins also paled. Heck, even Justin paled, and he was still off in his own little world.
“
R-really? That’s… kinda disturbing.”
“
Well, Kotohime can act like a pretty disturbed individual sometimes.”
“
I resent that, Lilian-sama.” Despite saying this, Kotohime didn’t appear too bothered by her ward’s statement. Her tone didn’t even change from its calm, soothing overtones, as if she was acknowledging the truth to Lilian’s words without vocalizing it.
None of the humans felt comfortable in her presence anymore, if they ever had in the first place. Eric, in particular, seemed downright terrified―for his balls at least. He cupped them with his hands, like doing such a thing could actually protect them from Kotohime’s
katana
, should she decide to use it.
“
In fact, I remember this one time when someone from the―”
“
I believe that is enough of that, Lilian-sama.” Kotohime cut through Lilian’s words decisively. “There is no need to air my dirty laundry to everyone, now, is there?”
Despite her voice ringing pleasantly in their ears, everyone felt a strange tremor run down their spines. What was this unusual fear they felt whenever the kimono-clad femme spoke? Why did it feel like the grim reaper had just come calling?
“
A-ah, yes, I guess there isn’t,” Lilian stuttered. Kotohime may have been her bodyguard, but there were some lines that not even she could cross. This was one of them.
The rest of the trip was made in silence. When they reached the locker room, all the boys entered with Kevin being the last. He paused at the doorway, taking one last look at Lilian, whose brilliantly curled lips brightened the room by a factor of fifty, before heading inside.
“
Since practice is over, I’m out.” Christine turned and began walking away.
“
Why did you even show up?” Lilian asked in honest curiosity. “I mean, you don’t have any after school activities. School isn’t even open right now, and only the track team and a few other sports teams are still meeting at school regularly. Really, why come all this way to school?”
“
T-t-t-that’s none of your business! Skank! Hooker! Fox-whore!”
A single, delicate eyebrow began twitching. “That was rude! I was just asking a question!”
“
Whatever,” Christine mumbled before walking away again. “See ya.”
Lilian glared at Christine. She continued glaring even after the yuki-onna disappeared from sight.
“
Tch. Stupid
tsundere
,” she muttered under her breath.
“
Ufufufu,” Kotohime chuckled lightly. “It seems Lilian-sama has made some very interesting friends.”
“
You and I clearly have very different ideas on friendship,” Lilian said dryly.
“
Lilian?”
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Lilian turned and saw Lindsay walking toward them.
“
Lindsay,” she greeted congenially.
“
What’s up?” Lindsay brushed a few strands of hair behind her right ear and grinned. “Waiting for Kevin?”
“
Yeah…” Lilian looked behind Lindsay to see the other girls on the soccer team approaching. Like the tomboy, they were all dressed in blue shorts and a white T-shirt with shorter than average sleeves. They all looked rather haggard, their skin glistening with sweat and smudged with grass stains and dirt, much like Lindsay. “Did you just get back from soccer practice?”
“
Yep.”
“
I see,” Lilian murmured, before perking up. “Listen, Lindsay, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“
Eh? Um, sure.” Lindsay looked a little confused, but more than willing to comply, “Just let me take a quick shower, get changed and―”
“
Actually, I was hoping to talk to you right now. Kevin’s getting changed and I wanted to speak with you before he comes back.”
“
Oh, I see. You wanna talk to me about something that you don’t want Kevin accidentally overhearing.” Lindsay nodded her head in a sage-like manner, though the whole “wise woman” effect was ruined when several strands of grass fell out of her hair. “I gotcha. Well, okay, I guess it’ll be all right, so long as this doesn’t take too long. I’m smelling pretty rank right now.”
“
Don’t worry, this won’t take long.” Lilian turned her gaze to Kotohime. “I need to talk to my friend alone. I’ll be back soon.”
The raven-haired femme tilted her head, considering whether she should let her charge go. In the end, she nodded in assent. “Very well. I shall remain here.”
Lilian led Lindsay down the hall and around a corner. She had a very important question to ask the girl and didn’t want anyone interrupting them, especially Kevin.
There were some conversations that boys just weren’t meant to hear.
***
Steam billowed out of the shower stall as Kevin opened the curtain. He held a wet towel in his left hand, his red boxer shorts the only article of clothing protecting his modesty. Walking out of the showers, he saw his friends were almost finished getting dressed. The other members of the track team had already left.
He also caught the tail-end of their conversation.
“…
What do you guys think of Kevin’s new, uh, friend?”
“
I think she’s the hottest piece of ass I’ve ever seen,” Eric declared passionately, then looked around, eyes akin to a scared child’s, as if he thought Kotohime might appear out of thin air to perform a rectal exam with her katana. “She also scares the shit out of me.”
Alex nodded. “Agreed. I’ve seen a lot of pretty girls here at high school, Lilian and Christine included, but there’s just something about that woman that really gets the motor running. She’s one of those mature beauties. It helps that you don’t see many women with a body like hers.”
“
She’s like a super-hot anime fanservice girl from one of my eroge.”
“
Don’t let her catch you saying that. She might chop your balls off.” Kevin walked over to them.
“
Meep!”
Kevin ignored the dent in his locker as he opened and pulled out his clothes.
“
You guys are talking about Kotohime, right?” he asked, zipping up his pants. The four boys looked at each other, then back at Kevin. As one, they nodded.
“
I don’t know where the hell you found that chick, but she has to be the hottest, most bodacious, scariest woman I have ever laid eyes on.” Alex and Andrew nodded at Eric’s unwaveringly serious voice. Justin did, too, but Kevin was positive the young man didn’t even know what they were talking about, as he was wearing headphones. “Seriously man, where did you find her?”
“
It would be more accurate to say that she found us,” Kevin muttered.
“
Eh?”
“
Nothing.” Kevin dismissed his friends’ confusion and threw on his shirt, a black one with a red infinity symbols decorating the front. “Still, I’m surprised you don’t seem to like her.” Wasn’t his friend a masochist or something? Kotohime could easily be the “S” to Eric’s “M.”
“
It has nothing to do with not liking her.” Eric stood up on the nearest bench and raised a fist to his face. “She’s definitely the sexiest woman I’ve seen outside of my eroge! And she’s got the biggest breasticles I’ve ever laid eyes on!” Kevin facepalmed. Breasticles? Seriously? “But that doesn’t change the facts! That woman is no good! I’ve got no desire to have my throat slit and my body dumped in a ditch somewhere!”
“
Whatever.” Kevin didn’t really care one way or the other.
“
I might be a man whose perversity knows no bounds, but even I’ve got standards,” Eric continued, fervently remaining on his soap box.
“
Get down from there, Eric.” Kevin grumbled as he tried to yank his friend off the bench. “You look like an idiot.”
“
That’s because he is an idiot,” Alex pointed out.
His brother nodded in agreement. “A complete idiot.”
Heedless to the people making fun of him, Eric spoke with the fervor and zeal usually seen only in crazy people wearing cardboard signs and proclaiming that the end of the world was near.
“
Even I know that there are some places a man just isn’t meant to go, and that chick with the katana is one of them. Like the no-man’s land found in the center of the battlefield, the katana babe’s tittielicious body is a place no man can get close to without suffering a horrible death. I’ve seen it! One cannot grasp those heavenly mountains unless they want to get dumped in a ditch and watch helplessly as their life bleeds out of their broken bodies.”
“
Wasn’t that the threat she used on him?” Andrew whispered to his brother.
“
It was indeed.”
“
Perverts beware! You’re in for a scare!”
“
Dang it, Eric! Get down from there!”
***
After rounding the corner, Lindsay turned to look at Lilian, her face the epitome of quizzical. She and Lilian had never really spoken alone before, or at all, really. Until just recently, the redhead had seemed to harbor a grudge against her, so this new situation was more than a little odd.
“
So what did you want to talk about?” Odd or not, Lindsay didn’t dislike the girl, and thus, was willing to lend an ear.
Lilian stared at Lindsay, her lips curling downwards as her inner conflict came to the fore. A question was on her lips, but she seemed afraid to know the answer. Lindsay waited patiently, however, knowing that the beautiful girl would eventually talk. Lilian wasn’t the type to stay silent for long.
“
I want to know why you turned Kevin down,” she said at last.
Lindsay froze, eyes widening to the size of baseballs. It would’ve been comical, if not for the nature of the question.
Lindsay looked down at her feet, which suddenly seemed far more interesting than Lilian. “I’m not sure why it matters. Aren’t you happy? Now you can have Kevin all to yourself, provided that cute goth girl doesn’t grab him first.”
At the mention of her somewhat-rival for Kevin’s affection, Lilian scoffed. “Christine has no hope of getting with Kevin. She’s too
tsundere
.”
“
I’m still not sure what a ‘
tsundere
’
is.”
“
She will never admit to liking him, much less wanting to be something more than just friends. Relationships like that never happen in real life. It would take some kind of incredibly complex and ridiculously over-the-top Plot Device to get them together.”
“
What’s this about a Plot Device?”
“
Not even The Author is stupid enough to do that."
“
Who’s The Author? And are you ignoring me?”
“
And it’s not that I’m not grateful to you,” Lilian continued, making it clear that, yes, she was ignoring Lindsay. “I am. Truly. I just want to know why. Why would you let Kevin go like that?”
Despite her annoyance at being ignored, Lindsay did not lash out at Lilian like Kevin would have. She had more restraint than him, but she was also pensive. She decided to focus on the question being asked, and not the zany things Lilian kept mentioning. It was more important anyway.