As the Head Girls and their minions sweated themselves in an effort to transform the mundane gymnasium into a gothic dungeon the staccato rapping of their hurried feet sank into the floor. Cement split and crackled imperceptibly under the onslaught, creeping toward ruin, and settled onto dank black earth suffocated by the weight of the structure above. Pressure rose, pebbles and grit squeezing against itself like muscles in spasm, constricting the webbing of masonry tunnels that clogged Shokushu’s underbelly, the infamous basement. And yet deeper, beneath the howling, tormented girls locked in their basement pens, beneath the clammy maintenance passages and the defunct shells of boilers, secreted in the overgrowth of derelict chambers still cluttered with the detritus of lab equipment and moldy files, existed the lair of a creature created in the darkness of space, birthed by the conjunction of an innocent human girl with a being alien to the very fabric of the universe. Within this subterranean haven the creature slept, unbothered by the hubbub on the surface. However, her golem, the android named Leopold, heard the infinitesimal noise and responded.
“Arise Miss.” Leopold spoke, his even voice roughened in simulated age. White and black bristles quivered along his sculpted jaw line. “Wake up Miss Saika, my Natsuki, or else you will be lethargic during tonight’s event.” Leopold analyzed the way his creator shifted in her bed. She brushed the pillow with her lowermost hand (the right one, as it happened) in furtive, annoyed strokes, then became still. Leopold waited, counting to sixty, and then cleared his throat, provoking a sudden tension in Natsuki that splintered the pattern of creases in her sheets and made her draw her knees up tight to her belly. “Awaken Miss Saika.” Leopold insisted now, and took a step toward the foot of Natsuki’s bed. At the quiet thump of his leather shoe on the floor Natsuki’s eyelids parted and he met her gaze with a bow. She grinned at him and waved her fingers.
“Good morning Leopold.” Natsuki greeted the android while sitting up, holding out a hand for the android to help her out of bed.
“Thank you Miss.” Leopold said as Natsuki pulled herself to her feet with his hand as an aid. “May I wish you a fine day yourself? Is there anything you wish of me at this moment?” Natsuki paused.
“A fine day Leopold? How politic of you. I’ve slept past morning haven’t I?”
“Er, yes Miss.” Leopold folded his arms behind his back in embarrassment as he’d been programmed to when pointing out any flaw on his creator’s part. Natsuki stifled a chuckle.
“Help me stretch won’t you Leo? After that, it would be marvelous if you would prepare me a meal. I feel like having something light and a bit sweet. Something…nearly extinct.”
“I will see what the local poachers can provide Miss. Will you require assistance dressing?”
“No, Leopold. I think I would prefer to manage on my own today. I needn’t overexert myself to impress the girls at this establishment after all.”
“As you wish.” Leopold assented, and turned to do as bidden. Natsuki adjourned to her vanity to admire herself in one of her looking glasses, considering what sort of costume would be suitable for the much vaunted school prom. The entire spectacle was being arranged with an ulterior motive, and not a terribly subtle one in Natsuki’s opinion, but it would be novel for Shokushu, and she adored novelty.
Hours later, with prom preparations complete and the gymnasium redecorated and partitioned into themed rooms, the students of Shokushu made a chattering throng as they dispersed into the venue of their choice. Eager girls stood on tiptoe to overlook the incoming crowd of apparently human guests, window shopping for their ideal date, while others retouched makeup in a serial fashion and adjusted the busts of their dresses until their breasts nearly chafed. A circuit of girls, either indecisive or particularly restless, flowed from room to room, injecting a bit of disorder into the otherwise immaculately rendered settings. In the dark elements section, where pitch black was the rule, these girls seemed particularly out of place, which might explain why they tended to move through so quickly, flying from entrance to exit like intermittent, colorful sparks.
Natsuki had anticipated the trend toward dark colors, especially, black and had fashioned garments that were predominantly white. True to character, she stood out. Her hair had been gathered high behind her head and ornately shaped with plates and combs of white gold, leaving enough loose to form three perfumed streamers which she’d entwined with crimson ribbon, arranged so that the streamers on either side trailed to her shoulders and the centermost one spilled gloriously down her bare back. Burnished serpents modeled after crested Chinese dragons adorned her chest, their individual scales linked together for flexibility. Their ferocious visages concealed Natsuki’s nipples, while their bodies coiled along the outside curves of her breasts, swooping inward to meet beneath her décolletage and hooking around one another in a braid that opened up at the navel only to cross one more time on their way around her hips, tails finally terminating together at the small of her back. Lily-pale silk extended down from the backs of dragons to their tails to sheath her, leaving back, bust, and navel open. Wires of gold streaked the silk like veins, creating the illusion that the dragons were crested. Anchored to the loop that the serpents described around her hips was a layered skirt. The innermost skirt was a rich, form fitting scarlet, slit on the left to. It opened at the bottom to display Natsuki’s feet, which were clad in high heeled black sandals bound to her ankles by dark gemstone chains. Over that was a layer of diaphanous, iridescent white gauze and on the outside was a netting of more black gemstones, extending only to mid-thigh. Despite the extravagance, the sheer mass of students allowed Natsuki to move about without attracting more than momentary attention. Her escort Leopold, decked out in nothing more than a rather old fashioned black tuxedo, actually attracted more stares from the assembly of girls, looking at once gentlemanly and roguish.
“When shall I leave you Miss?” Leopold inquired, speaking into his creator’s ear. Natsuki gave him a befuddled look. “You will find it harder to mingle if you’re on the arm of a strange professor, which I suspect I resemble.” Leopold explained.
“Oh!” Natsuki said, and leaned into her android companion affectionately. “That’s what you meant. You’re probably correct, but I want to keep you close for now. Who knows what monsters the dance floor harbors, sizing me up as prey. If you’re with me the more aggressive predators out there will assume you keeping watch over your own prize.” Natsuki squeezed Leopold’s arm and smiled winsomely, to which Leopold grimaced sternly.
“I shall keep close then, but do not forget to dismiss me if you meet somebody you find interesting.”
“Not to worry Leopold. There’s at least one girl who’ll be looking for me herself. One of my games. She’s desperately infatuated with me and I fear she’ll attempt to make me jealous, somehow.” Natsuki snickered, continuing. “Regardless, I’m looking for someone by themselves. A wallflower, you know? The shrinking violets are so enchanting.”
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