«Why does life have to suck so damn much… why?» Aoshi Toya — nineteen years old — whines. He staggers through the narrow backstreets of Ueda, dragging a huge bouquet of roses behind him.
«My sweet Miori… why did you do this to me? Why did you dump me today, of all days — our one-month anniversary? Sure, it's only been a month, but I'm totally falling apart — I've never loved anyone the way I love you!» — not that it helps that she was his first and only girlfriend.
Her last words — barely an hour old — keep replaying in his head like a broken record:
«This month together was fun, really. But, well… sorry to be so blunt, Aoshi. You were just a way to make my ex jealous. When he saw me replace him so quickly with someone like you, he came crawling back. To tell the truth, he fucked me so hard this morning I can barely walk — and it's all thanks to you. You're a nice guy, I'm sure you'll find a nice girl someday — but that girl isn't me. Bye-bye.»
«Not even a lifetime would be enough to fill the hole you left in my heart! My sweet Miori, what did I ever do to deserve this? And worse — how the hell am I supposed to tell my friends, after bragging for a whole month that I was dating a bombshell like Miori Yukinaga…»
Aoshi lifts his eyes to the night sky and sighs in defeat. «I really am an idiot… thinking that someone like her — the most popular and desired girl in the entire university — could ever fall for a total nobody like me. Well… it was nice while it lasted. Time to come back down to earth.»
Aoshi turns right, heading back toward the main street — when...
CRASH!
«Hey, watch where you're going, you idiot!» Eliss shouts, landing right on her butt after colliding with Aoshi as they round the corner at the same time.
«S-Sorry… I was kinda lost in thought,» Aoshi Toya mumbles, offering her a hand to help her up.
She swats it away with an imperious flick of her wrist.
Ugh, here we go again — another pathetic pervert who's gonna see this as an excuse to flirt with me, even after I yelled at him. Humans are all the same… boring, predictable...
But...
«Sorry again. Have a nice evening,» Aoshi Toya says, giving her a small, polite bow. His voice is as flat as a dead heart monitor, his eyes just as empty as his wallet — especially after dropping fifteen thousand yen on that massive bouquet of roses he's dragging behind him.
He simply walks past her, leaving Eliss frozen on the pavement, still sitting there in total disbelief.
Is he kidding me right now?! Me, the gorgeous Princess Eliss Narkhalis, ignored — by an ordinary human?! No way! Maybe… maybe he didn't see me properly! Yeah, that's gotta be it!
Eliss springs to her feet in an instant. She pops open her blouse, widening her neckline until her absurdly large breasts are practically begging for attention. Then she hikes up her miniskirt, leaving her thighs completely bare — so much that even her lacy red bra and matching panties are perfectly visible.
Okay, that loser's definitely going down this time! Still… the fact that I had to go this far means he's earned at least a tiny bit of respect. Without a doubt, the toughest human I've met so far.
«Hey, you — where do you think you're going?» Eliss calls, raising her voice toward Aoshi, who's already several meters away.
He turns slowly — his eyes as empty and cold as the Siberian tundra.
Not a twitch, not a flinch, not even a spark of reaction. Zero. Absolute zero.
Even though Eliss is one step away from standing there half-naked right in front of him.
«Do you need something?» Aoshi Toya asks, his tone calm and detached. His body's here, but his mind's clearly light-years away.
Eliss freezes. No — she's more than shocked. She's devastated. Never, in her entire twenty years of life, has anyone ignored her like this. This is beyond insult — it's humiliation.
«Well…» Her voice turns warmer, softer, dripping with sensuality. «…after bumping into me, the least you could do to make it up to me is…»
She doesn't even bother finishing the sentence — just lifts her skirt higher, right up to her navel.
A divine, irresistible sight beyond imagination. Eliss, standing there in her underwear, could drive anyone insane. Anyone… except, apparently, Aoshi Toya.
«You're a friend of Miori, right?» he asks flatly. «Did she send you to comfort me — or maybe just to make fun of me? Look, it's really not my day. You should head home — it's late, and there are plenty of creeps around. It's dangerous for a girl to be out alone.»
Miori? And who the hell is this Miori?! Of course… dead eyes, bouquet scraping along the asphalt — there's only one possible conclusion. This loser just got dumped!
I don't know who this Miori is, but I'm at least a million times hotter than her! And yet, even now, he's still thinking about her?! What's wrong with this idiot?! I've never felt so humiliated in my life!
Alright then — it's time for the big guns!
Eliss strides toward him, determination blazing in her eyes. Now they're standing face-to-face.
«You've done well to resist me, but know this — I never lose! Now you'll fall at my feet like everyone else! Game over, loser!»
Her eyes flare with a sinister violet light — and Aoshi's reflect the same glow.
She's casting a powerful charm spell — a signature succubus enchantment that amplifies any spark of attraction inside the victim's heart until it becomes a full-blown, uncontrollable obsession.
Even if his mind's still clinging to his precious Miori, as long as there's even a tiny flicker of desire for me, this magic will make him fall head over heels in an instant! And with someone as irresistibly gorgeous as me, that's basically a given! Just one second, and...
The violet glow fades from both their eyes. The spell went off perfectly.
And yet… Aoshi Toya looks exactly the same — still drowning in his dark little pit of depression, staring blankly with the same lifeless eyes.
What… what the hell just happened? Why is he still just standing there like nothing happened? Everything should've worked perfectly — so why… why is my heart suddenly pounding like crazy?! Why are my legs shaking… my breath getting heavy… and why do I feel wet down there…?!
Eliss's eyes shoot wide open. She's frozen in place, terrified.
No way… it can't be that?!
Eliss freezes, her eyes locked on Aoshi.
Th-That guy… his messy hair, those ridiculously plain eyes, that hopelessly dorky face… why is he so… so… hot?! What the hell is happening to me?! No, no way! There's no way I'm in love with him! My own spell… it backfired?! How is that even possible?! And now what?
The only way to undo it is to cast a counter-spell myself… so why can't I do it?! Damn it… I'm so in love with him, my own body's staging a mutiny!
This is bad… really bad!
«You sure you're okay? Should I call an ambulance?» Aoshi asks.
His voice… so flat, so dull — yet somehow ridiculously sexy! I feel like I'm about to melt right here! So this is what being under a succubus spell feels like? What a pain… Raelor, where are you?! Help me!
Eliss can't get a single word out.
Aoshi shrugs and turns away — he's only a few steps from home now. But something — or rather, someone — stops him. Eliss suddenly dives at his feet, clutching his legs desperately.
«How can you just leave me here all alone after making me fall in love with you?! You heartless jerk!» she whines.
«Fun's fun, but the game's over,» Aoshi mutters flatly. «Let me go — and if you see Miori, tell her I said goodbye. Tell her that, despite everything, I truly was happy during our month together. I just froze from the shock back then and couldn't say it to her face.»
«Stop going on and on about this Miori already!» Eliss snaps, a faint note of jealousy slipping into her voice. «I don't even know who she is, and I don't care! The sooner you forget her, the better — then we can spend the rest of our lives together, happily ever after!»
Oh crap… why am I saying stuff like that out loud?! If the incubi I turned down ever saw me like this, they'd never stop laughing! And my big sister Vanya — she'd tease me till the end of time! What humiliation…
Aoshi looks down at her — his eyes clouded with something close to pity.
Poor girl… she's either drunk, high, or both. She looks about my age — and she's already ended up like this? What a pain…
Still, I can't just leave her here. It's late, and there are creeps around who'd take advantage of a girl like that.
«All right,» he sighs, resigned. «You can stay at my place for tonight.»
He holds out his hand to help her up — but this time, Eliss doesn't slap it away like before. Instead, she clings to his arm, wrapping herself around him like a monkey clutching a tree branch.
«But tomorrow morning, once you've sobered up, you'll go back home, okay?» Aoshi says firmly.
Eliss nods rapidly, her eyes sparkling with joy.
The nerve of this guy — he didn't waste a second before inviting me to spend the night at his place! What a shameless man… taking advantage of a young and innocent beauty like me! Then why am I so damn happy about it?! Why is my heart racing like crazy?! And why… why do I really hope he'll say something like: "Sorry, my apartment's tiny and I've only got one futon — guess we'll have to share"? Ahh… this is completely insane! How can I be totally head over heels for such a plain, clueless guy?!
It takes barely a couple of minutes before they reach Aoshi's place — an old apāto with thin walls, rusty stairs, and tiny balconies cluttered with plants and drying laundry. Cheap, noisy, and far from luxurious — perfect for a broke college student like him.
When Aoshi opens the door, Eliss's eyes sparkle even brighter as she realizes it's exactly the kind of tiny dump she pictured in her wildest fantasies — only even messier.
It looks like a bomb went off: wrinkled clothes scattered all over the floor, piles of dirty dishes stacked in the sink, a thick layer of dust covering the furniture, and more.
As a princess, a sight like this would normally have sent Eliss into a panic, but right now, that cramped little den — clearly uncleaned for ages — seems more luxurious to her than the grand royal palace she called home just a day ago.
«Sorry, my apartment's tiny and I've only got one futon…» Aoshi begins — and Eliss is already drooling, hanging on his every word. «…so you take it. I'll manage somehow. For one night, I can handle sleeping in the bathtub.»
W-What?! He didn't even try to suggest we share the futon?! Either he's hopelessly depressed… or the most asexual human alive!
Fine, whatever! Tomorrow morning I'll head back to Elyndra and ask Raelor to break this stupid curse — he's the strongest incubus alive, it'll be a piece of cake for him.
Wait… how the hell am I supposed to get back home?!