”Wooo-hooo! Nice hit, Vikky!” Said the happy pitcher as Vikky managed to hit the ball she threw so it flew straight across the field. Vikky was standing out on the sports-field together with one more person on the baseball bat, and she was currently looking up at where the ball flew with a rather content smile. She got this. It was really as a manager or coach that she had intended to join in any club or such, but nothing really beats feeling good about your own skills like this. The two of them were practicing their skills, Vikky her batting and the other girl (who’s existence is so minor she doesn’t even get a name) her pitching. Together they had stayed longer than the rest of the club simply because they enjoyed themselves. Vikky was enjoying a temporary break from studies, she had done so well lately that she felt she deserved it. The two of them were wearing the white t-shirt and dark-blue shorts that was the official sport-outfits of the school. The brown-haired girl smiled for herself, taking the moment to lose herself in the joy of training.

“Here’s the next one!” The other girl said, preparing to throw. Vikky grinned and put herself back in batting position.

“Got it!”

They continued that for quite a while, laughing and swinging, letting time flow as they were having fun. Maybe they let a little too much time slither away unnoticed? Now it was only the two of them there, and a single person was enough to make Vikky feel a lot safer. And it was getting later…

“Oh, my! Look at the time!” The other girl suddenly said, looking at her watch. Vikky silently confirmed that they had been out a while. Very well, then it was only for the two of them to cooperate to pick up the balls and bats they had spread out before curfew and…

“Sorry, I have to leave! I have something I simply HAVE to attend to! Can I leave the cleaning up to you? Great! Thank you so much, Vikky! I’ll make it up to you some other time!” … And with that, the other girl simply ran. Vikky looked after her, confused. She just… ran? But… Vikky had not said a word. And the girl didn’t even seem like she was going to the locker-room in between. … Oh, well, Vikky sighed and looked for all the balls that they had spread over the field in their training. … Gee, they were a few. And now, Vikky was out on the field… all… alone…

A ghastly premonition sent a chill up her spine. She was all alone. It couldn’t… NO. She had not encountered a… a thing like that… in a very long time. She had even went out actively searching for one, and not found any! There was no need to fear. She was just… going to pick up all the balls, put them back in their container, put it back inside the gym, and then finally get back to the locker room to shower and then dress into her normal clothes and back to the dorms for some last-minute studying. That’d be all. Nothing… nothing would happen. Nothing…

“Nothing strange will happen. Life will just continue as normal.” So Vikky told herself, hoping to calm herself down. And as such, the somewhat frightened girl started picking up the balls spread across the field…

Nothing strange? Depends on the definition of strange. Antipode, for example, had a very different view of what was strange than Vikky. After all, he was a creature that existed mostly outside of this dimension, dipping in just enough to interact with it. And today, he planned to interact once more. He'd seen this girl a few times, but only when she was with others. That wasn't in and of itself a problem, he'd taken multiple girls at once before, but he wasn't interested in that today. No, he was mostly interested in finding one girl who had enough of an emotional and physical reaction to get him going. And Vikky here seemed like a prime target.

She'd been targeted before, and knew what a monster could do to her, sure. But Antipode also knew from reading her mind that she hadn't been targeted often yet. The experience would still be novel to her, and the things he could do fairly unique. Perhaps, after all this time on Earth, that made Antipode more excited about it, in his own way. To tell the truth, there were some girls that he'd welcome a second encounter with, but the right girl could make all the difference.

So he'd been keeping tabs on Vikky, and waiting for a time when she was alone. He'd even avoided bothering her the time she went out alone in search of a monster, and because he'd been tailing her, the other monsters had, much to their chagrin, avoided her. It was not to protect her, but because he was curious that night, and a little bored, and interested in what the girl would think.

But now he wasn't going to wait. Now that she was alone, isolated from the other girls, Antipode would make his strike. He briefly debated when exactly to contact her, but decided to do so before she entered the locker room. The place was isolated enough now that he could take her there later after all. So, while she was still on the field, just getting done with picking things up, he made his move.

She wouldn't see him when he made his move.... No... he'd make himself known by voice. A voice that appeared in her head, the sound of it slightly strange, as though not coming from her ears at all.

"I'm sorry, Vikki, but something strange is about to happen to you. I hope you're prepared for it, because I'd rather like us to get started." The voice didn't seem to come from anywhere in particular, and there was no indication of a physical presence. But how would Vikky react to this voice in her head?

Oh, had she known. Had she known just why she never found any monsters. Not only had Antipode unwittingly protected her, he had also ruined her chance of finding proof monsters existed which she had been searching for to present to a head-girl calling her a liar due to saying she had been attacked by monsters on an island without animals. Vikky had ended up in so much trouble because of this. And she had not known why she never found anything. Life could be so unfair at times.

So, Vikky was walking about with a bat in one hand while she was picking up balls and collecting them against her bosom and holding them there with the hand holding the bat while the other hand was picking up balls, now just to drop the last one back into the box they were originally brought from, when…

She froze. Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened slightly. No way. No way. No way. There was no way that… Vikky had no idea who or what had just spoken to her, but the way she had been spoken to gave away all she would ever desire to know and much much more. Not to mention the contents of the words. She knew. After several encounters, she knew. Fleeing was pointless. Fighting was pointless. Resisting was pointless. … … … … But damn it if she was going to give in without a fight. One pointless effort to tell herself she did everything she could.

“… HYAAAH!” Vikky assumed whatever she was targeted by was behind her, approaching from where she was not looking. She spun around, dropping all the balls she had in her arms, except for a single one. This one, she pitched with the absolutely hardest fast-ball she could in the direction she figured the monster would be. So, the ball flew fast and hard the direction she pitched it. But… there was… no monster there…? Tsk! Panic was etching to her, faster than ever. The school was so close. If only she could get near other students, it would stay away…!

So, grabbing the bat with both hands and with a panicked expression, Vikky would attempt fleeing towards the school-buildings, leaving all else behind. Should anything come in her way, she’d bash it with the bat at full strength. But… she already knew. She wouldn’t get far.

The girl reacted with that mix of fear, resignation, and fight that he found interesting, not to mention contradictory. She knew that she couldn't escape, but wanted to try anyway. She even threw a baseball behind her, where she assumed he was at. Of course, he wasn't there. Technically, he wasn't physically there at all, until he willed it. Indeed, he could only be at one place at a time, but that didn't mean he was quite in phase with this dimension. It took the slightest amount of effort to slip through, and bring some semblance of his true form into the girl's world. But for a moment, he waited to do that.

She got closer and closer to the school building, but unfortunately there were still a few girls inside. (One, actually, was on the third floor on the other side of the building, being attacked by a different monster... and for a second Antipode thought of setting it up so that her only path would lead her to it. But that just seemed unnecessary.) With the girls inside, Antipode couldn't allow her to enter, because even he wouldn't break the unspoken rules and expose himself to a large number of girls.

So, when she was only about fifteen meters from the door, the tentacles appeared. They popped in from the shadows, from behind bushes and from behind the corners of the building. They did not come from a single source here, at least not yet, but she had no way of knowing that. All she would see is about a half dozen tentacles there, waving in front of the door as though attempting to block her.

But you know, he thought to himself, if she wanted to break through, and get into the building, he might well let her, if she tried hard enough. It'd just take a little work to dissuade her from going the direction of the other girls. He didn't mind playing a little game, before his other fun.

"Running? I suppose that's an option. And with that baseball bat you could, perhaps, do serious damage to my tentacles. But as long as you're running anyway, that doesn't mean we can't have a conversation." Was he making fun of her? Hard to say, the tone was a little too deadpan to tell for sure.

She wasn’t stopped immediately, as she expected to be. She ran as quickly as she could, knowing that with each step she should be getting closer to other students, other humans, and monsters did not attack groups. So much Vikky had learned. It was almost always one-on-one, sometimes two… never more. To her surprise, she almost arrived. Did the monster not hold the power to stop her? … Or was it just toying with her? Was the voice within her mind something projected from a long distance? The fear that it was going to target her over a long period of time and would constantly keep her company over her brain crept over her overactive imagination. In that case, she’d make a fool out of herself charging into school branding a bat like a weapon… Not to mention Vera would decide she had finally snapped… N-not good…

However, her worries of that particular danger disappeared with the appearance of tentacles from plenty of imaginable locations, blocking her way. Vikky slid to a halt. This revealed the nature of the monster she was facing. It was out of this world… But if it blocked the way into the school, it meant it couldn’t have her go through there. She’d be safe. C’mon. It was just six tentacles. She could take them. Now when she was armed and everything…

… But that thought did not disappear. If she succeeded, what would she be? A mad student, running around inside school with a baseball bat as a weapon. Vikky had barely escaped being expelled on this island before, and god knows what being expelled meant here. The slightest bit of ruckus and she’d be screwed. Her entire life would be ruined. Just because she had forced her way through that door to escape being raped. Being raped once. Those monsters always let her go for some reason. If she escaped being raped once, she’d ruin her life…

“… FAN!” Vikky cursed loudly in Swedish. The bat dropped from her hands, not because she had lost the will to fight, but because fighting and succeeding would lead to an even more horrible fate. The bat bounced loudly on the ground under her, broadcasting the sounds of her decision. Tears were breaking out as she stared angrily at the tentacles. This… this was so unfair. If she escaped, her life was wrecked. So, for long-term planning, it was preferable to let herself be raped. So… unfair. Vikky hated herself for making such a decision. … Not that the monster would have let her through, anyway.

“… So, what would you ever want to talk to me about?” Vikky asked grudgingly, staring at those tentacles with angry tear-filled eyes. “Can’t imagine anything but how much you’re going to enjoy raping me.” She could still make it, if she somehow got herself through the barricade of tentacles without the bat. But… the chances of that… were so abysmal that Vikky almost cringed…

The fact was, Antipode could hear every surface thought that the girl had. And, technically, if he wished it he could stay there in her mind indefinitely. But there was no reason to tell her that, after all she'd already done a good job of convincing herself otherwise, and he wasn't actually going to bother. In essence, he was amused by the way the girl's thoughts betrayed her. She didn't have the same knowledge he had, about the rules, about how if she escaped she'd be home free, and in this case, at least, would almost certainly not come to any harm. Well, unless she ran the wrong way and encountered that other monster that was raping a girl. That would have a rather different ending.

"Well no, I don't think that taunting you about it would do either of us any good, Vikky. I simply mean that there are a few things to discuss. For instance, the fact that I can read your mind, and know everything that you're thinking. That's rather important, and should help you decide what you believe is the proper course of action."

He decided to let that sink in. If she wasn't going to fight, he wasn't going to waste time. The half-dozen tendrils drifted over towards her, their tips oddly moist in the light. They approached her, but did not touch her quite yet. Instead they began surrounding her, almost as though caging her in place. Of course, with her athletic form and speed, she'd be able to dash past if she tried it. Would she, though, after that revelation?

"Just to let you know, though, that while I am going to take you, I am not interested in hurting or humiliating you anymore than necessary," he said. "In fact, to make this easier on you, I generally allow a girl such as you a request. Obviously," he said with a bit of humor, "I do not mean it as a request to not take you, but instead something a little simpler. A request not to destroy your clothes... or even a request to destroy them, I've gotten that instead once or twice, you'd be surprised. Point is,try whatever you'd like, and we'll see how it goes."

The tendrils waited there, a good five or six feet away from her if she hadn't moved. She still had her chance to try and escape if she willed it, or submit if she had given up. She had her time to have her say, as he always liked to give a girl before he began, but he would not wait long before "striking" unless there was an interesting conversation to be had. It happened from time to time, and he relished it, but he wasn't going to draw this part out more than necessary. If anything, he was waiting to see how she responded to his words.

... Read... my mind. With other words, he had practically read her entire reasoning to why she could never enter the school with a baseball bat. Vikky simply could not cause any trouble, and she would if seen by a teacher or student (or worse, Vera herself…) wielding a baseball bat within the school where it doesn’t belong. This was due to that rebellion which she had done against the school earlier… which had not amused the staff and head-girls at all. Of course, the original reason she rebelled was because the monsters present on this island. Vikky sighed, even if she got past these tentacles he was probably an omnipotent being which… she frankly didn’t stand a chance against, no matter where she went. Even if she escaped now… He’d take her again as soon as she was alone. Since he could follow her without being seen, anyway…

Those thoughts were rather discouraging, and knowing he could read them like she was holding an inner monologue was not any better. The tentacles approached her, and Vikky prepared to attempt not getting caught to the best of her ability. Her will was being sapped because of the overwhelming situation, and the anger from before was replaced with fear. As soon as they got close enough, she’d make a break for it. She’d attempt dodging the tentacles as well as she could, and attempt getting to the door. … She’d obviously fail, because now her opposition knew her plan. Though… they did not come all the way. They stopped on a distance, starting to surround her. The futility of trying to escape such a being was mind-numbing.

… Oh, he wouldn’t hurt her? … Damn gentlemanly monster-rapist. Vikky desperately warded off the emotions within her that wanted to tell her it was OK to let herself be raped just this once. So… she was allowed a request. Well, not destroying her clothes would actually be rather nice, but Vikky was much more interested in keeping out of trouble. Which meant…

“… Let me make sure the equipment used by the baseball club returns where it belongs before next class is going to use the field…” If it became known that she was the one that was cleaning up, and they discover a half-done job, there’d be no telling how much their image of her would drop… “… and get me home before curfew.” Which was probably going to be hard, because curfew was only forty minutes away this late. Vikky had figured she’d be able to clean up and shower in that time, but she hadn’t thought of being attacked by a monster. … OK, she had, she just hadn’t included it in the time-schedule. Vikky giggled at herself for actually making a request like that. … She really was thinking in the long-term run, huh…? Well, this situation was practically lost anyway…

“That is, if you can catch me.” … And with that, she ran towards the edge of the cage, towards the door, still with a smile from her earlier giggle. OK. Depending on the movements of the tentacles… she’d attempt dodging the tentacles, or jump over or slide/roll under them. Depending on where she saw an opening. If she didn’t, she’d just attempt knocking away one of them by charging into it with as much force as she could muster and attempt fleeing on from there. Vikky knew this was going to fail, but… the hell with it. She was going to try!

Antipode was actually a little bit surprised that she had dashed so suddenly. In fact, his tentacles were caught off guard. They hadn't been placed there as a real cage, they had obvious weakspots that she could slip through. Especially when she changed her mind so suddenly that her grin was still on her face. He could read surface thoughts, but that didn't mean he could delve any deeper unless he made an effort, and that kind of effort took both a little bit of time, and was quite noticeable by the girl in question. He'd only done it rarely, and not for these purposes.

Vikky's dash, in any case, swept right through a gab in the tentacles. They barely had time to react, but even then, the girl would feel one brushing against her shoulder. But it wouldn't grab hold, as it didn't have enough time to maneuver. In fact, she'd make it straight to the doors of the school itself if she tried, and Antipode couldn't summon any tentacles quite fast enough to stop her. But he could summon them elsewhere. Even so, he only had a range of operation, and stretching too far would be difficult.

Especially since, well, there was a bit of a mess left over from what she had left to clean up. The six tendrils followed her threateningly, but he was able to conjure a few more... and if she glanced back behind her even only a few seconds later, she'd see a few of them picking up baseballs and her bat and the like. It was really going to clean up, even though she was running! Antipode figured, well, that would at least take a load off her mind, and it was a simple thing to do, so why not?

After all, the last tentacles were going to be inside, though not in the main hallway. He'd give her at least a shot, even if they both knew she wasn't going to really escape. "I agree to your terms, albeit with one modification. You see, I know something you don't know about the curfew. Technically, you don't get in trouble for breaking it when you're with a monster. Technically. Now, if I left your unconscious form -for you will be unconscious at the end of it- where you lay, and other people catch you? Then you're in trouble. But I'm not going to do that. I'll simply take you back home. How's that for a compromise?"

The monster hadn't even spoken of surprise or concern as she ran. But there had been a brief delay. It wasn't like Antipode was hiding actual surprise... was it?

Vikky ran, quickly steering a bit to the right in order to go through a gap between the tentacles. She had hoped that her speed would be able to get her through, but that was a challenge considering these… things. Even as she got through the gap, she felt one of them brushing her shoulder. Dearly hoping it didn’t have some special means of affecting her with just a touch, Vikky ran on. Somehow, she got through. Had that tentacle she touched just been a little bit faster she’d have been immobile now. For now, there was no tentacles in her way. She wasn’t about to waste an opportunity like that. Full speed dash, directly at the doors, looking back was a luxury she hardly had.

Her dearest hope was that there were other students not far beyond those doors. She had never noticed any monster attacking more than one at a time, and staying in groups seemed to be protecting. However, this late, most students would already have returned to their dorms. But still, there were several places in the school where she could imagine more than one person. The library, for instance. Or she could make a break towards the staff-rooms, would like to see a monster come near a teacher. Please, human population of Shokushu, do not fail me now…!

Assuming she got so far, Vikky would grab ahold of the door and pull it open with all her might. If that was done, she might aim a quick glance backwards, but merely to gage how far away the tentacles after her were and then she would run into the school as fast as she could, seeking the existence of other students even while knowing a being with powers like that would only need to wait until the next time she was entirely by herself. But if she could get into company with somebody she knew… or several she knew… she could arrange sleep-overs, and a group of girls could sleep together in safety. Then they’d stay together until hopefully the monster lost patience and went for someone else… or something. It… it wasn’t much, but that was the only way Vikky could hope to escape a being such as this one…

Oh, he’d agree to those terms? How nice of him… Doing favors for her after having fucked her to mental oblivion… What a nice little solution he had come up with for the curfew. About in the same vein as ‘it is only breaking the rules if they catch you’, which had failed Vikky in the past… “Deal!” Vikky shouted, but still very much intending on getting away. Though, if he could set her alarm-clock to wake her up at seven for tomorrow’s lesson, that’d be nice too. Oh, gee…

Vikky would continue fleeing through the doors and the hallways of the school, unless she was suddenly stopped by one reason or another on the way.

(Sorry for the two-day delay! I was unfortunately quite busy! Shouldn't happen again.)

The fact was, Vikky was mostly correct about where to go. The library did have a couple of students, one over the limit imposed on Antipode by the school's rules. The staff rooms still held a teacher or two, but they were not such a great idea. After all, she'd be caught here, alone, with someone in ostensible command. That was never a good idea at this school, and what would follow wouldn't be precisely to Antipode's taste. So, Antipode had to do some damage control, and keep the girl in a place that he could easily take control in. In this case, that meant keeping her in the gymnasium area of the school, which was connected, of course, to the fields.

To do this, Antipode strained to make tentacles in just the right places to dissuade Vikky from going there. In this case, the library was up a story, and you had to take stairs to get to that "ground floor" level. So Antipode made sure to focus his tentacles there, shortly before she'd reach those steps. They were clear, visibly, and much more tightly wound around the area than outside. Could she make it? Maybe... just maybe... but the point was to dissuade her from trying. And besides, if she took the risk, Antipode was ready for her, and would definitely catch her there.

There was also another place she could go, the offices of the P.E. teachers and the like. But Antipode didn't want her there either. So another set of tentacles appeared in the hall leading her there, much like the ones above. But Vikky wasn't trapped, not yet. She could still exit out a hallway and end up in a lightly wooded, almost garden area, or bypass the place by going down into the locker room. There was another exit out of the locker room, one that led past the gym and into the outside, around where his tentacles currently presented themselves. But there was one final choice, the main gymnasium itself, visible through some windows, and still free from any tentacular presence.

"Our deal is agreed, then. I'll even add that thought that popped into your head about setting your alarm clock. I was meaning to ask that, and probably should more often, actually..." Antipode sounded vaguely embarrassed that he had not done so before. It was a good idea, but the strange thing was that his mannerism was not that of a creature trying to capture and rape her, but instead he was talking about it as if he was saying he'd forgotten to add sugar to her tea, or some other unimportant nonsense. Antipode's sense of perspective was certainly very, very skewed...

Vikky had hoped there would be students immediately inside the doors. Such hopes were in immediate vain as she found herself running through these seemingly abandoned halls. I-it still wasn’t over yet. She could reach the library. Yes, the library was her best bet. It was the only direction where it was guaranteed to be someone. If there wasn’t anyone in the library… then she’d be screwed in the library. Because then she’d give up hope on there being a student anywhere. As such she rushed towards the stairs, and…!

!? S-so tightly focused. Vikky flinched backwards. H-he obviously didn’t want him to go there. Looking further along the road, she felt that if she continued like this she’d be led towards an inescapable trap which the monster had devised. Which meant… following the free roads was not the way to go. It didn’t matter how dangerous the roads looked. If he wanted to, he could probably summon tentacles from right below her. That would spell her end, as there was no way she could prepare for that. He probably would do that if she got too close to an undesirable target. As such, Vikky made a split-second decision. She was going to the library if that was the last thing she’d be doing. … More than likely. He focused his tentacles here because he didn’t want her to take that route. If she crossed them, an even more inescapable trap awaited… but that was the only route that led her to safety. The most risky one.

Do or die. Vikky wouldn’t be led to her doom by some monster. She decided where to fall, and it was much better doing so against her best chance than otherwise. There was no need for anything to tell her just how much the odds were stacked against her. It was interesting, though. She felt she had a greater chance of getting away than usually. Many of her previous hunters had been completely inescapable. But she had already proven that it was possible to outmaneuver these tentacles. It was possible. She was already inside the building. She could do this! Just the library, that was all she asked for…!

Taking a quick glance backwards to see if those six tentacles were still after her, Vikky quickly approached the tentacles by the staircase. She went back and forth a bit, trying to gage how the tentacles reacted to her presence and attempt analyzing just how fast they could maneuver. Hoping she was out of range for a quick snatch, Vikky stayed on a few meters distance, stepping back and forth to tease the tentacles in order to find out more about them. How… freely could they move? Was she out of range? How big an opening did she need?

If the six tentacles that were following still followed her got to close, she’d simply take the bet. Attempt running up the stairs. Attempt at any opening, no matter how tiny. She’d push the tentacles aside and step on them if she needed to. This was… simply the one obstacle she simply needed to overcome…!

The problem with taking this big of a risk is that, yes, Vikky didn't know the capabilities of the monster. She didn't know the capabilities of the tentacles, and how well they could move. Unfortunately for her, he basically let her escape the first time through what passed for negligence. Now he was ready, and this was a trap set specifically to capture her. The worst part was, as Antipode noted when seeing her surface thoughts, she was absolutely right. This was, technically, the best option she had, or at least the one with the highest chance of success. And yet...

And yet, as Vikky made her move, and barreled up the stairs to try and get through the tentacles, the fact was that Antipode didn't intend for her to escape. And as Vikky moved, he struck. He didn't intend for her to escape. Maybe if she'd brought her bat... maybe. But the tentacles were fast. She'd surely dodge the first thrust, and jump over a second tentacle, but those two were already in motion, and the next four were ready for her too. She could even push past the third, due to its attempted movement, and now Vikky might well have a brief moment of hope. But that hope would be short lived, for Antipode had more than just three tentacles. And they were long, and flexible.

One of them, perhaps we could call it the fourth, would move close to her feet. And even if she attempted to step over this one... she wouldn't. It pushed forward, suddenly, with enough force to knock Vikky off of her feet. And so Vikky would fall... fall... until, that is, Antipode himself caught her. The other tentacles, moving to keep her from hitting anything hard, would go under her armpits, around her waist, and one even cushioned a knee that would have otherwise hit the hard stairs. In truth, Vikky was now caught.

Realizing she could remain no longer Vikky had attempted getting up the tentacle-infested stairs. Her hope was that, since the staircase was reasonably wide, she wouldn’t have to deal with all the tentacles. She only needed to deal with as many as would have reasonable room to attempt grabbing her during the time she ran through their nest. … Though, that was hopeful thinking.

First two launched themselves at her as she charged the stairs. Seeing the first one coming, Vikky was able to dodge it, but not without a spike of fright going through her. The second one… she jumped in sheer desperation, and somehow managed to get over it. Maybe she was more used to this life-threatening business than she thought. Sport experience for the win. Now on to the next, which she somehow managed to push herself past. G-gee, that was more risky than she liked it. N-now, just jump over as many steps as possible. Somehow, she felt that the next moment was all it depended on. She just needed to get up these stairs, and-

“Hyah!” Vikky had attempted jumping. It failed. A tentacle snatched her legs, pushing them backwards as Vikky started falling forward. Vikky couldn’t do anything to brace herself for the coming pain, but… Khg. Her fall was dampened as tentacles surrounded her. One clutched around her waist. One around each of her armpits. The one which just snatched her legs. One which just saved her knee from hitting the stairs. Vikky stared towards her goal in despair. She never reached it. She was caught. Maybe she never had an inkling of a chance after all? The top of those stairs seemed so far away…

“Ahh…” Vikky did a sound of realization of that she had lost. There was no way she could escape. She didn’t struggle, she knew the futility. Instead… she screamed. “Ih, IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAHHH…!!!” She screamed as loudly as she could. She didn’t scream any coherent words, just screamed. This was a god-damn school. Someone should have heard her. Someone…! Someone must have heard her! I-it could have been someone who fell in the stair! It makes sense to check! Using all her energy to scream rather than trying to get away, Vikky’s despair told her that nobody would come no matter how loud she was…

It took a moment for Antipode to realize what, exactly, she was doing. Not a long moment, but enough time for her to make her grand scream, loud enough for everyone in this wing of the school to hear, without his intervention. And he realized that she had made a more effective counter-attack than running ever was. For people heard her scream. She was completely correct, people who heard her could well assume she fell down the stairs, and come to see if she was alright. The three girls in the library, for one had already left and was too far away to hear the sound, got up and looked at each other nervously. One of them, Saburo, took control of the situation, and ran off herself, leaving the other two girls alone. Then, Saburo returned to the doorway of the library, frowning.

"That doesn't sound good. Are you coming, or what? We have to go see if that girl needs help!" The other two nodded at each other, and started running towards the door.

Antipode, of course, saw that this was happening... and also knew that there was something a bit less savory on its way. Another monster, interested in a fresh girl, hoping to capture one (or more!) alone. It, also, headed towards the sound of Vikky's screams, interested in finding out the source... but also interested in catching a girl unawares even if she wasn't the one who screamed. Antipode, after observing the clusterfuck in the making, actually cursed. Out loud. Where the human could hear it. Well, technically this wasn't true, as it was speaking into her mind. But Antipode didn't normally find an opponent with such a good strategy.

"Damn... I am impressed," the creature said, though that polite impressed nature was mixed with irritation for the first time, "You actually did it. You made everyone, human and monster, in the entire school come barreling down in our direction. And here I am, unable to warp time and space in the way I'd prefer, thanks to this school's rules... well, congratulations, you have made this a more complicated situation, and I applaud your tactics. But now I have business to tend to. Please stay right here, for if you run back the way you came, the monster from outside that heard your scream will probably catch you, and he will be far less gentle."

Antipode actually let the girl go, the tentacles releasing her and rushing up the stairs away from her. The other six, the ones that had originally been chasing her, went past the stairwell entirely, on a whole new direction. In truth, Antipode had to work with what he had, which in this case was several dozen tentacles and the ability to speak into the minds of creatures within a certain radius. And so, he used all of them to attempt to rectify this situation.

But from Vikky's perspective, she'd find that she'd been released, gently, onto the stairwell... and that the tentacles had extended, almost indefinitely, up the stairs as well as elsewhere. They were very long, but at this ridiculous length they'd be more like cords of wire than appendages. Dangerous, easy to get caught in, but not nearly so maneuverable, and furthermore not paying her any attention anyway. She could stand up and step over some of them if she wanted. If she truly wanted, she could try to escape again. She would probably get a good long way... but would it be enough?

Vikky, on the other hand, was thoroughly convinced that she was done for. There was no way that she had been heard by anyone. The monster had probably blocked the sound from getting somewhere some strange way. With all the directions her luck had been going, it was not unbelievable. So, tired out after a loud scream, Vikky relaxed and resigned herself to…

…

A wicked little grin formed on Vikky’s expression. Oh, really? Was that what was happening? Monsters AND students? Hadn’t this gone a bit complicated? You ARE aware that screaming is always the first and last defense of any girl in peril, right? I just needed to get close enough to people to make it work… it worked THAT well? … To be completely honest, she just did whatever came to her mind at the time, but seems like it had worked out fine. The absolutely exclusive feeling of having a monster PUT HER DOWN… She was put down on her knees on the staircase, leaning forward upwards. The tentacles retracted from their grips on her and left to handle the inconveniences. It was the first time a monster had ever let her go once she was in its grip. Such an… amazing feeling. As much as she’d like to feel this more often, it was quite… impossible to arrange. Oh, well. Now to make sure this chance doesn’t go to waste…!

Vikky stood up, slightly slowly as she was more exhausted than before. As much as she’d want to run into that other monster just to spite this one, it sounded like a truly horrible idea to do so. Looking where the tentacles were stretching, Vikky hoped those were not going off to do something to any other students. In any case. Still smiling due to her largest success ever in a struggle against a monster, Vikky started making her way up the stairs as fast as she could. Carefully making sure not to step on any of the tentacles, Vikky attempted to take hurried steps up the stair. Because… he had stopped her from going up, there was something up there he didn’t want her to meet. And Vikky suspected it wasn’t a monster. Up, up, up…!