12 Chapter VIII: A Second Showdown – Didn't You Forget About the Explanations?
8 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.
Alexandra slowly opened her eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. She was lying on a bed in a room she didn't recognize. The walls were painted in a deep shade of blue, and the ceiling was high, creating a sense of spaciousness. There were no windows, but the room was well-lit by a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, casting a warm and inviting glow.
As she sat up, she realized she was still in her clothes from the previous night, but her hairstyle was changed to a long braid now lying across her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes, trying to remember how she ended up here.
"Ah!"
The girl touched her mouth.
"That didn't happen right? It couldn't have happened!!! Yes, it must have been a nightmare!!! I probably had a nightmare!!!"
She tried to convince herself as much as she could. After all, there was no way she kissed a doll, especially Shogo.
"..."
Yet, it felt so real. It sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn't really remember whatever happened afterward, but it did feel real. However, she couldn't accept that as a nightmare either – why would she dream about kissing that doll in the first place? It made no sense!
Alexandra breathed deeply. "Calm down, me. Where am I anyway?"
Looking around, she noticed that the room was filled with books. They were everywhere, stacked on the floor, piled high on the shelves, and even on the bed. Some of them were open, as if someone had been reading them recently. She ran her fingers over one of the spines, feeling the rough texture of the leather.
"(This must be the perfect place for a bibliomancer.)"
As she got out of bed, she noticed her grimoire and a note on the nightstand. It read : "There's a maid outfit on the bed. Wear it and go downstairs."
Alexandra frowned. "A maid outfit?"
On the bed, there was indeed a black and sleeveless maid outfit. Alexandra eyed it for about 2 seconds before opening the door and ignoring it.
Once downstairs, she found Nya who was consulting and healing a few people, mainly from benign things like colds or cuts. She stood a bit farther to observe the woman; she used bibliomancy to cure everything and the only words written on the pieces of papers she used were either "Regenerate" or straight up "Heal".
Alexandra found that amazing if not absolutely abnormal. Again, it seemed too simple for her, but she couldn't say what was wrong.
Well apart from one thing…
Helping her was a familiar face. It moved around Nya like her shadow and promptly gave her anything she needed before she even asked for it. Of course, it was that doll, Shogo.
After a moment the place emptied and Nya finally looked at Alexandra. "Stop standing here, looking at the patients. You made them uneasy."
Alexandra twitched. "A-Ah! Yes! Hum… good morning, master."
"Good morning. Umm? You are not wearing the maid outfit I prepared for you."
Alexandra eyes narrowed. "Wait. You really did expect me to wear that?"
"Well, you ARE my servant so I thought I had to dress you up for the occasion. Normally that would count as disobedience, but I will spare you this time."
"(Disobedience?! I know I am her slave and everything but…)"
Alexandra eyes widened. "Master, you didn't do anything to me while I was asleep, did you? (My hairstyle aside, that is.)"
"What if I did?"
"... Nothing. I will go and wear it now. Excuse me for a bit." Alexandra said, going toward the stairs.
"Ah! Girl, before you go, there's something I should tell you about your body."
Alexandra turned around. "My body?"
"Yes. Listen well, it might become dangerous for you and mainly for others. You see, your body is…"
And so, Nya explained what she discovered about her body to Alexandra. The teenage girl opened her wide in shock, not wanting to believe what she heard. While holding her face with one hand, she gestured with the other for Nya to wait.
"Umm, wait," she said, confused, "so you are saying that for 'SOME REASON' I will randomly get mad from horniness starting today?"
"That's more or less it."
Alexandra looked at Nya with incomprehension. The woman nervously scratched the back of her head. She didn't like it, but she acted carelessly and felt that had to take responsibility for that.
"To be more specific, I don't exactly know how the code I used to heal you reacted with the codes already carved on your body." Nya explained.
"(Those already carved on my body? But wasn't my skin flayed? Did that doll lie to me?)"
As Alexandra thought that, Nya continued her explanation. "To be able to regenerate someone regardless of the body mass or the type of tissues, I use a really complex guide of instructions. Simply put, it's akin to a man-made grimoire. We call that a 'memoir'."
"A 'memoir'?"
Nya nodded. "Parasite, could you—"
"Here."
Shogo presented Nya with a book she produced from under her dress. Nya looked at her with discomfort, but slightly shook her head before continuing.
"Inside this book is an ensemble of regenerative procedures I wrote. This is about 500 pages and is not the only one. To simply explain how it works, I could say I changed my definition of the term 'regeneration'," Nya explained before turning the book's cover toward Alexandra. "Can you see? This book's name is 'regeneration'. When I write down that word, I actually make reference to this memoir. That's what allows me to do precise and powerful regenerations with a single word."
Alexandra was even more confused. While she was happy that Nya explained something so important to her on her very first day, she wasn't sure of what it had to do with her being horny at random times.
"Um… Master, I feel honored to being teached by you right now, but—"
"Master," Shogo intervened, "she doesn't understand what it has to do with—"
"I can end my sentences alone, thank you very much!" Alexandra yelled. "Besides, you and I must have a little conversation later. I hope you are ready to end up in the garbage pile where your place is!"
Shogo got a knife out of her left sleeve. "Don't get cocky. I wasn't ready this morning, that's all. Should you attack me again, I will make sure to cut those big marshmallows of yours, marshmallow girl."
"Hmph! You sure have a lot of nerve for someone who attacked me first! I guess that wasn't a dream after all! Don't worry! Once I break you, I will make sure no one learns that dirty secret of yours. We have standards as members of the Wolf family!"
"Don't worry. Once I beat you, I will make sure to keep you alive long enough to see everyone's disgusted face as they learn what you did. We have standards as dolls."
"You piece of garbage!!!" Alexandra said, clenching her fists.
Shogo put herself in guard. "Come at me." she said, infuriating the other.
Alexandra charged at Shogo, aiming a punch at her face. Shogo quickly dodged to the side, grabbing Alexandra's arm and using her momentum to throw her over her shoulder. Alexandra landed on the ground with a thud, but quickly got back up, taking a defensive stance.
"You are bad," Shogo said, twirling her knife between her fingers. "I guess I will kill you after all."
Alexandra gritted her teeth and charged at Shogo again, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks. Shogo expertly dodged and weaved around each attack, her movements fluid and graceful. She slashed her knife at Alexandra, but the girl managed to block the attack with her arm, wincing in pain.
Shogo looked at the blood on her blade and sighed. "Do you want to stop the—"
A light suddenly flashed close to Shogo's face. She instinctively jumped back and touched her face. On her bandaged fingers, she could see blood stains – Alexandra had slightly cut her cheek with a knife similar to hers.
"What's wrong, mind reading doll?" Alexandra taunted. "You did say I could use it, didn't you? Besides, didn't you say a minute ago that you would kill me? I am waiting!"
Shogo's eye narrowed. "Aaah… I guess I did, didn't I?"
Shogo lunged forward, the two girls engaging in a deadly dance of blades. Sparks flew as the knives clashed against each other, their movements so fast that it was hard to keep track of who was winning. Shogo managed to land a few glancing blows on Alexandra's arms and legs, but the girl fought on, fueled by rage and adrenaline.
"You think you are better than me?" Alexandra spat, throwing a wild punch that Shogo easily dodged.
"I don't think anything," Shogo replied calmly. "I just do what I have to do."
The two girls continued to fight, their knives flashing in the room. Shogo was clearly the more skilled fighter, but Alexandra's raw strength and determination made her a formidable opponent. The fight continued even on the table with each one trying to best the other by any means necessary.
As they circled each other, looking for an opening, Alexandra suddenly sprang forward, tackling Shogo to the table and pinning her arms to the wood.
"I have got you now!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
But Shogo was not so easily defeated. With a sudden burst of strength, she threw Alexandra off her and stood up, her knife at the ready.
"So weak," Shogo said, her voice cold and emotionless. "How did you pin me down this morning? I can't figure it out."
Alexandra looked at Shogo in incomprehension. "(How?! She shouldn't be able to escape me once I pin her down!!!)"
Shogo pointed her knife at Alexandra. "Surrender now and I will let you live. Maybe."
Alexandra glared at her, her eyes filled with anger and defiance. "I had rather die than surrender to scum like you," she spat.
Shogo shrugged. "Well, I would have killed you anyway."
She then lunged forward, her knife aimed at Alexandra's heart. The girl managed to dodge at the last moment, but Shogo's blade grazed her arm, drawing blood.
"Just give up, will you?" Shogo said. "As far as I am concerned, you are going to lose."
"As if! Don't think that, because you negated my code or something, I will give up! You won't kill me a third time!"
"How about a 100th then?"
"Hmph! You are talking about yourself here!" Alexandra said, arrogantly.
The fight resumed, more intense than before. Plates were flying in every direction, chairs were covered in cuts, pages were scattered all over the ground. Nothing had been spared by the two hurricanes clashing that day.
Nya had been watching the fight with a growing sense of annoyance. She had been trying to run a peaceful clinic, but these two girls had decided to turn it into a battleground. Also, they interrupted her explanation for their pointless 'kid's problems'. As the fight continued, Nya could see that neither girl was willing to back down. She sighed and shook her head, wondering how she was going to stop them without causing any serious injuries.
With a quick movement, she stepped between the two girls and raised her hands in a defensive stance.
"Ma, Master?!"
Shogo and Alexandra were taken aback by her sudden appearance, but they didn't have the time to back down as they both lunged forward, their weapons at the ready.
Nya moved quickly, dodging their attacks with ease. In a matter of moments, she had disarmed them both and violently threw them to the street outside the clinic.
"Get out of my clinic, you two!" she scolded. "If you have that much energy, why don't you go do errands for me, you useless kids? We will need sugar really soon so just add it to the list."
Nya then closed the door leaving the two girls confused on the cold bricks. It was Shogo who got up first and kept her knife inside her sleeve. She then turned to Alexandra and extended her hand to her. "You seem out of breath, marshmallow girl. Do you need help?"
Without a word, Alexandra got up by herself. Indeed, she was tired and started to feel extremely uncomfortable around Shogo. Her body was hurting all over, and she was bleeding from the many cuts Shogo did to her.
If you asked a total stranger who won between the two, she would clearly answer Shogo. It frustrated Alexandra, but she tried to remain as calm as possible.
"Here."
Shogo presented her with a piece of paper with 'regenerate' written on it. It was probably one of Nya's but who knew? Alexandra stared at Shogo in disbelief, but the doll didn't say anything else. Finally Alexandra decided to take the piece of paper, ready to fight Shogo again at the single hint of hostility.
