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The curtain rises.
Infinite black yawns before her, howling into the murky unknown. Where there should be backlights and beams lies only darkness, equally inviting and nefarious. The chill wind of oblivion coils around her ankles, slinking up to draw chilling caresses down her spine, whispering of gentle nothingness. The wails and groans of stage equipment are the only indicators that this is any sort of tangible reality… that, and the touch of the polearm in her hands, smooth and cold and comforting.
She steels herself, and steps onward.
The runway is supposed to light up, to signal the arrival of a star, to relish in the spectacle that will play out before the unseen eyes of the world. But there is only the stygian infinity, choking and oppressive, inviting her to lose all sensation and submit to her base despair. What purpose is there in trudging ahead? All that could lurk ahead is fear, and pain, and loss. But still she trudges onward. She came here with a purpose, after all.
A candle lights.
Singular, violet. Like the deepest poison, intoxicating in its lurid blaze, too minute and far away to erase any of the dark. But its glimmer reflects in her eyes, the same hue as the flame, burning with the same vigor. She halts, feeling her breath enter and exit her lungs, waiting for ignition.
It comes, one by one.
Candles alight, crisscrossing in disparate patterns – lines, circles, pentagrams. The flames stagger and rise, lighting braziers and torches and chandeliers that reveal the stage before her: a grand velvet staircase, red as blood, surrounded by mezzanines filled with torn tapestries and ripped banners hanging from dark stone walls. At the top of the structure looms a stained glass window, murky and incomprehensible in the dim candlelight, its faded purples and reds bleeding onto the framework.
An organ plays.
Her grip around her weapon tightens as she stares down the object lurking at the top of the staircase – ebon, oaken, angular. She can’t make out the exact shape from down here, but there’s no need to; she implicitly understands what it is. The aura coming from it is so fraught and menacing that she feels an instinctive urge to run away. But she holds her ground, even as thunder quakes and the lid of the object begins to slowly creak open.
“Mweheheheheheh…”
A shadow rises above, its silhouette smattered against the wall in the sudden flash of lighting.
“Gweeheeheeheehee…!”
A mass of purple and black sharpens, raising a scythe as sharp as the crescent moon.
“MWAHAHAHA-akhakh!”
Suddenly the figure at the top of the stair keels over coughing, hand reaching for her sternum.
“A-Ako-chan! Are you alright?”
“I’m – HACK – f-fine!” The totally cool and mysterious person at the top of the stairs pounds her chest a few times, heaving. “S-Spit just went down the wrong way, that’s all.”
A sigh of relief. “Ah… would you like to start over from the beginning, then…?”
“If you don’t mind! Thanks, Rinrin!”
The figure crawls back into her casket and closes it. For a beat, all is still.
And then on cue, thunder flashes again, coaxing the very enigmatic and awesome figure to once more ascend from her grave.
“Eheheh… gyehahaha… MWAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!”
Fire blooms across the stage as Ako Udagawa hoists her scythe with a flourish of her cape, the organ blaring alongside electric guitars in an overwhelming display of sheer gothic rock.
“Welcome, mortal, to the Court of the Demon Queen! Where angels become devils, day is turned into night, and all the forces of holiness bow before… uh… th-the dark displays of darkness!” Ako’s dramatic pose drops as she giddily looks down at her fellow stage girl. “How was that, Rinrin? Was that cool or what?”
Rinko tucked her weapon into her elbow and clapped politely, a tiny smile etched onto her face. “You did… very well, Ako-chan. Your look… really good.”
“Heh, thanks!” Ako puffed up her chest, showcasing her deep violet vestments, outfitted with black trimmings in the shape of rose stems and sterling buttons emblazoned with R’s. Her cape – the same deep crimson as her eyes - engulfs have of her figure, held in place by bronze thread and a large brooch patterned after a rose, its fuzzy pining reaching down past the waist of her pants. “I mean, you did design the costume, after all!”
“That’s true…” Rinko examined her own dark gray-and-black attire, largely identical to Ako’s own save a few key differences. She was in a black skirt and matching leggings, and the sash covering her abdomen was of a dusky purple instead of a vivid red… not to mention that the cape didn’t look quite as big on her. “But you look really cool here on stage…”
“Heheheh! Of course I do! After all, this is my domain!” Ako cackles as she extends her arms, thunder once again booming from the stage speakers. “And if you’ve come here, Rinrin, that can only mean one thing.”
Rinko says nothing, the grip around her weapon tightening.
Ako furls herself up, her scythe waddling as she attempts to dramatically pace down the first few steps. “To think, my most loyal companion would try to usurp me from my throne… this betrayal stings more than… than… a-a hornet!”
Rinko is still silent, unsure of what to say. She understands where Ako is coming from – why she’s doing this – but that doesn’t mean she can abide by it. Her quest is for Ako’s own good. But how can she say that?
Before she finds the answer, a voice rings out from above. “Stage girls… musicians… gamers… the bonds you share are deeper than mere hobbies or interests.”
“Wha-?” Ako’s head swiveled around. “Who said that?”
Rinko turns to lock eyes with the unblinking gaze of a bear, watching from the stands. “You’re…”
“But when a bond so deep conflicts with what you feel is right,” the bear continues, “what recourse is left? Duty begets action, doesn’t it? Everything in moderation…”
The bear’s low, almost tired drawl keeps their attention for just a moment before their eyes snap back towards each other.
“Ako-chan…” Rinko begins, her gaze narrowing. “…you know why… I have to do this. Why you have to do this…”
“Say no more!” Ako bellows with injected gravitas. “I told you, Rinrin. This is my domain. You have no power here!” Her maniacal laughter booms off the ramparts.
Rinko readies her weapon: a swallow, a polearm with smooth, curved blades on both ends. “Ako-chan… for the stage I envision… I will defeat you. No matter the cost.”
The intensity in Ako’s gaze is replaced by a fawning glimmer. “Wow, Rinrin, that was awesome! I-I mean!” She clears her throat before cackling again and raising her scythe. “I have my own stage that I desire! One full of abysses and terror and… other stuff! And that’s why I’ll win, here and now!”
The violet candles continue to dance as they stare each other down. Rinko gulps. “Ako-chan… do we really have to fight…?”
For just a second, she catches a glimpse of hesitation. Frailty. Regret. But soon…
“Geh… geheheheh…”
The fires start to roar.
“Teehheheheheheheheh…”
The organ crescendos.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
And bats swoop down towards Rinko as Ako begins to sing, accompanied by the distorted riffs of the most buttrocky of death metal:
The messenger from hell is at the gates
Soles spattered in bile, mud, and blood
Rinko deflects each one of the diving bats, swinging her weapon around in a figure-eight pattern as her blades cleave each cardboard creature right in two.
Beginning the ultimate battle of… fate…
Calling for the demonic… uh… er…
“Flood?”
Flood!
Rinko fells the last of the bats, returning to a ready stance with a flourish. Ako gawks. “Wow, Rinrin! That weapon’s so cool! I’ve never seen anything like it before!”
“Thanks…” says Rinko her eyes tracking to the side. “It’s… based on a weapon from Chrono Cross…”
“Oooh, I know that game! It’s got really good music!” Ako bounces on the balls of her feet until she realizes how she’s coming across. “W-Wait! We should be dueling! All dramatic and cool and stuff!”
Rinko focuses her gaze as she begins running up the staircase. Striking a menacing pose, Ako… turns around and begins hiking up further, still singing all the while.
And from the deepest, darkest abyss
Comes monsters raging big and… screaming!
Ako disappears past the top of the stairs. Rinko – ever unathletic – struggles to catch up.
They stomp and snarl and bite and hiss
Their fangs are… are…
“Darkly… gleaming?”
…Darkly gleaming!
Rinko finally reaches the top, where she only finds Ako’s empty coffin. Just as she’s about to pass it over and look for the absent imp, a large puppet-vampire with fangs and dot eyes leaps out at her with sword in hand, forcing her to hard block with her swallow.
“Mwahahaha…” Ako’s voice laughs, echoing from an unseen place. “Do you really think you’d get to fight the final boss so easily? You’re not even at the top of this castle!”
Rinko shoves the puppet away before delivering two quick strokes to its abdomen, cotton stuffing bursting from its insides like fresh entrails. “The top… of the castle…”
On cue, the murky stained glass before her slides away to reveal a secret staircase. “I’m waiting, Rinrin! Mwehehehe! You can’t beat me if you can’t catch me!”
Rinko clenches her fist as she recognizes the length of the trial ahead of her. She wishes Ako would confront the issue head-on instead of fleeing… but then again, that’s what was causing this whole ordeal in the first place. She has no choice but to pursue.
The stage mechanisms whirr and spin and pull an entire array of smoke and mirrors to appear as some grand ascent as Rinko begins climbing… even as she really remains at the same altitude. She finds herself beset in stone corridors by more false monsters – corkboard orcs, googly-eyed goblins, and balsa wood basilisks – all guided by invisible strings and unseen guides. Rinko cuts through the array of mobs easier than she plays Chopsticks on the piano, Ako’s thunderous vocals bouncing off the walls as she pushed onward:
The sky opens up; this is the end!
Fallen angels begin to descend!
Your, er, ill doom is what they portend…
…
“Reality itself…” Rinko murmured, shredding a toilet-paper mummy to shred, “…will tear and rend.”
Wh-What she said!
Rinko pauses as she watches the lifeless constructs crumple before her. After catching her breath she ascends to the third floor, where a miniboss awaits: a chimera made of cardboard tubes and pipe cleaners, its joints rattling as it roared to life.
“I’m pulling the strings, Rinrin!” Ako cackles. “They may not be as strong as me, but I don’t need to unleash my full power on the likes of you! Mwehehehe, I’ve always wanted to say that…”
Rinko doesn’t grant her a response, instead leaping into action, the ends of her blades clashing against the jutting knives of the chimera’s claws.
The depths of hell are alive tonight!
Hellions, fiends, and demon knights!
Your future doesn’t look so bright!
So draw your blade, and prepare to fight!
Rinko stops, caught off-guard. “Ako-chan… you didn’t need my help that time…”
Ako crows gleefully as she hoists one leg up on the railing. “I told you, right, Rinrin? I’m the coolest around! I can form my own lyrics now!”
And then, right as Rinko lies stunned, the chimera rears an arm and slams into her, sending her reeling into the wall. The wind’s knocked out of her as she struggles to stay upright.
“S-See, Rinrin?” says Ako, somewhat stilted. “I’ve got this super cool… what’s it called…? J-Jabberwocky guy right here, and he’ll tear that cape right off you! So you might as well give up! Y-Yeah!”
Rinko knows that would be simple. It certainly be easier to not confront Ako about this. To avoid conflict and contact, just as she’s always done, and relent before the massive menace before her.
But she can’t do that.
What she can do… is sing.
Cocytus blooms with flowers red
Budding through the brittle ice
Rinko is steady on her feet as the chimera leaps towards her once more.
Harbingers of the grateful dead
Payments for an untold vice
SCHWIP SHICK SCHWIP SCHIIK
It takes four strokes of the blade, each as quick as a blink of lightning. But in an instant, the strings imbibing the chimera with motion fall slacken to the ground.
Ako doesn’t speak, and yet Rinko can somehow tell that wherever she is above, she’s speechless. She pays that thought no mind, continuing her ascent.
In frozen hell, in grueling winter,
Of joy and warmth, there lies a dearth
The fourth floor’s glass skeletons are barely an afterthought.
Yet even as emotions splinter
I find dear comfort by your hearth
The fifth floor’s spiders fall like the tissue paper they’re made of.
Quiet rain like piano’s trickle
A world inside my closed off room
The sixth floor’s trapdoors are vaulted over effortlessly.
One who bears the crescent sickle
And beckons me to soothing doom
The seventh floor’s glass golem shatters in a second.
Sable moments of sheer glee
Searching for what’s “cool”
The eighth floor’s felt phantoms don’t stand a ghost of a chance.
But now in sight the demon flees
Inciting me to cruelly duel
The ninth floor’s emptiness braces her for what’s to come.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Rinko’s breath steadies and stretches as she sets the swallow aside for just a moment. She knows what awaits beyond the final set of double doors. Taking the temporary reprieve to heart, she steadies her quaking heart as she heaves the entrance to the top floor open.
Demon queen atop this tower
Of whom the deepest hell’s devoured
Grant me a display of dread power
That makes the very heavens cower
The sky cracks atop the spire.
Cutouts of dark clouds hang from the rafters, twisting and coiling beyond the rim of the circular roof. A ring of black candles illuminates in sequence, wavering in a nonexistent wind. A fog sets in, curling around their ankles with a mysterious mystique. The music that’s sounded all throughout the tower is now louder than ever – because Ako is before her, playing the organ with extreme flourish.
She cackles as she continues facing the instrument. “Ah, Rinrin… I’ve been expecting you. To think you’ve come so close to foiling my plan.”
Rinko tenses up, the blade in her hands not as steady as she’d like.
“Isn’t it awesome?” Ako strikes a flamboyant pose that would make Kaoru Seta blush. “Playing the organ on top of a cool castle like this… it’s a totally demon queen thing to do, isn’t it?”
“Yes…” Rinko replies, nodding. “I remember it… in Ocarina of Time…”
“See, Rinrin?” asks Ako brightly. “You’re the only one who understands. Whenever I talk like that, I’m spurned… shunned… mocked! Called the most insulting thing anybody in this world can be called… the awful title of… of…”
Ako turns, clutching at her eye with a pained expression.
“Gamer.”
The G-word sends a chill straight from the ninth circle of hell down Rinko’s spine. “Ako-chan…”
“You and I really are devils, Rinrin…” Ako monologues, rising wearily to her feet. “The people of this world holds no pity or compassion for us. They don’t treat us like friends. They treat us like items. Sometimes I’d like us to be treated as more than accessories… but as gamers, we don’t get respect.”
“Gaming… has nothing to do… with the issue at hand,” says Rinko. “Please, Ako-”
“I thought you would get it!” Ako cries. “Don’t you feel the same, Rinrin? Don’t you want to rise up against the normies who oppress us?”
“Gamers… aren’t oppressed, Ako-chan…”
“You were supposed to be my right-hand woman!” Ako stomps a foot against the tower floor. “Why? Why have you betrayed me like this?!”
“I haven’t… betrayed you,” Rinko ekes out. “I’m doing this… for your own good. Whether you’re a devil… or a gamer… or something else… I care about you no matter what…”
For a moment, she spots something heartfelt in Ako’s eyes. But it’s just as quickly replaced by vengeance, burning and obsidian. “Hmph. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else, considering why we’re having this super cool duel in the first place. I guess you’ll never understand.”
“You—”
“S-S-Save your breath!” Ako brandishes her scythe, wobbling slightly as she adjusts to its heft. “I-I’ll show you what it means to be a true gamer! I mean, a true demon queen!”
Even as the organ sinks below the stage on a nearby platform, its mournful dirge continues to howl. A Gregorian choir begins in earnest as the two stare each other down, well-aware that this will be their climactic duel.
They grip their weapons tightly.
Revue of Duty
And charge.
The queen’s adjutant breaks her vow
The time for games is over now
Treason stings like a scorpion’s… sting
Our hearts may ache, yet still we sing
The duel is no highly choreographed display of stagefighting. Ako’s scythe is weighted awkwardly, causing her to swing wide and brazenly, but she’s nonetheless ferocious in her assault. Rinko’s own weapon is similarly unwieldy, and there isn’t much space to properly wield it, forcing her to sidestep to the best of her ability – difficult, considering the reach of Ako’s horizontal swipes. Only now does she realize just how tiny the platform is, and how much space she needs to dodge properly.
The devil weeps for her lost hand
End the battle and escape this land
All she wants is to hold her hand
…A repeat rhyme wasn’t well planned
The sheer force needed to heft such a large, menacing scythe seemed impossible for one so small, but Ako’s drum-honed biceps were more than up to the task, accidentally cleaving through several candles as Rinko barely rolled out of the way in time. “Are you just going to keep running, Rinrin?”
“I’m not… the one… who fled to the top of the tower…”
Ako’s cheeks puff up as she flies forward, spinning the scythe around and around like a certain green-hatted hero. Rinko recognizes the opportunity and readies her swallow, waiting for the precise moment…
CSHICK CLANG
She dives in at the exact time needed to block the scythe’s path, her polearm lying perpendicular to its wooden shaft as the scythe’s blade lies curled around the nape of the neck. The two girls’ weapons are pressed against one another as they stare each other down.
Devil, take my heart away
Far beyond this darkened day
So that my love won’t ever stray
From you who always seems afraid
“Rin…rin…!” Ako grunts, fruitlessly trying to force Rinko away. “Go… away…!”
Grinding her teeth, Rinko slowly began sliding her swallow down, the end of its rear blade parallel and facing Ako’s body. She could feel her feet begin to shift back, forcing her to replant her embattled heels once more into the floor – she had to resist. Stay, wait, and watch for an opening. So long as she holds out longer than Ako…
“Gggkkkhh!”
Ako grunts and growls and mewls, but eventually her awkward positioning makes it hard for her to apply heft, and she slackens her push—
Rinko wastes no time.
SSCHWICK
She brings her blade up in one singular swift motion to cut the thread holding Ako’s cape aloft.
The end has come
The battle’s done
There’s no more need for you to yell
Sheathe your blade
You’re outplayed
All of your arguments, I will fell
Rinko exhales the breath clogging up her lungs as she steps back, watching Ako’s scythe fall dazedly to the floor. “It’s over, Ako-chan…”
Ako says nothing. A wind whips the ends of her tailcoat dramatically.
“I know… it’s tough… but it’s all something we have to—”
“Mwehehe…”
Laughter cuts Rinko’s interjection short.
“Gyehe…eheh…! GWEHWEHHEHHEHEHEHWEHHWEHHWEEHWEHHHEHW!”
Ako’s crowing isn’t that of someone in the throes of defeat. Rinko warily raises her guard, a disturbing malaise creeping over her shoulders. “A-Ako-chan?”
Ako grasps at her own face, heaved over in hysterics. But instead of explaining herself with words, she does so in song:
I’ve been slayed
So you say
But you’re the greatest fool
It’s only then that Rinko notices that the top of Ako’s waistcoat has been revealed, showing what looks like another thread underneath… along with some sort of jewel.
I’m not weak
Like you think
What you don’t know is…
Ako grasps at her sternum, grinning evilly.
THE DEVIL RULES
Light explodes.
Rinko is sent reeling back, her arms reaching up to shade her face as her feet are sent teetering towards the edge of the roof – she’s barely able to ground herself in time to avoid careening off, planting the swallow into the ground for support. Eventually the shockwave dissipates, and the light fades to manageable levels; slowly, carefully, she opens her eyes.
“Don’t you know, Rinrin?”
A hulking monstrosity looms before her – a two-meter tall abomination with leering claws, gnashing teeth, and wings larger than Yukina’s ego. With each movement it shudders and hulks, every part of its frame shaking and sputtering as one large, tattered half-cape is threaded around its neck. It’s grand. It’s imposing.
“There’s always a phase two!”
It’s… cardboard.
“Mwahaha, how do you like—ah, nuts!” Ako klutzily drops her scythe, squatting awkwardly on her knees in a feeble attempt to pick it up. The cardboard construct she’s draped herself in looks incredibly difficult to move around in, and even the various bells and whistles – spikes, armor, even a tail – pale in comparison to the sheer amount of duct tape the entire ensemble is wrapped in.
“Ako-chan… are you…”
“Give me a sec!” Ako manages to finally squirm her scythe’s handle back into her hand, lifting it verrry slowly as she rises (even while keeping the heavy part of the weapon – the blade – firmly planted on the ground). “Ahem…. Mwahaha! Behold, the true Demon Lady Ako, First of Her Name, who has, um, you know…”
“Razed the heavens unto naught?”
“Yeah, that! E-Except like, ten times cooler!” Ako forces a giggle as she tries to compose herself. “Behold! I’ve transformed once more into an awesome being… though this transformation pales in comparison to the last…”
As she says it, the remaining candles surrounding them change color to blue, pink, and white.
“…Get it, Rinrin?” asks Ako, nudging towards them with her bulky, encased arm. “’Cuz it’s a ‘trans’formation, and—”
“I get it…” said Rinko, smiling softly and applauding. “That’s very clever, Ako-chan.”
“Ehehe, thanks! I-I mean!” Ako widens her stance in an attempt to look menacing. “Your doom begins here, Rinrin! This is the ultimate showdown of, er, ultimate destiny! This is your last chance for redemption… will you join me, and rule this world by my side?”
Rinko shakes her head resolutely.
“…Then only oblivion awaits you!” says Ako, unable to hide how cool she thinks she sounds. “Now let’s begin!”
Organs, guitars, and more rev up once more:
The eve of the apocalypse has arrived
Come to take—akh!
SCHWICK
…Huh?
SCHWIP SHWICK SHICK
Wh-What’s going—
SCHWIPSHWICKSHICK
SCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICK
The storm of slices is without end.
More gracefully than the most trained of ballerinas, more forcefully than the fiercest of storms, Rinko dances. Her blows waste no movement – they come to the joints, to the strings, to the very tape that holds Ako’s very form together.
W-Wait Rinrin! I haven’t—
Her plea falls on deaf ears. Ako lacks the agility to so much as dodge, let alone fall back. And so Rinko concludes her ballet unhindered.
SCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICKSCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICKSCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICKSCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICKSCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICKSCHWIPSHWICKSHICKSHWIPSHWISHSHWICK
The rooftop floor is littered with papercraft and debris. What was once a spike or limb or appendage is now nothing but tatters. The same menacing black cape that billowed as a symbol of menace has been torn to ribbons. All that’s left is the gremlin at the center, no longer cackling now that her exterior’s been vanquished.
“You forgot, Ako-chan…”
Rinko stomps her foot into Ako’s scythe, twirling the swallow around before pointing it directly at her adversary.
“…The second phase… is always easier than the first.”
Ako falls flat on her butt, skittering back as Rinko begins pacing towards her. “H-Hey, Rinrin… th-th-th-there’s no need to do anything hasty, y’know?”
Rinko says nothing.
“W-We can play co-op or something together! I’ll even let you be player one! I-I mean, you’re, um, uh…”
Ako reaches the edge of the tower, several meters away from the stage floor. She has no choice but to halt with trepidation as Rinko continues shambling towards her like a silent killing machine.
“W-Wait! There has to be something else we can do! O-Or something else I can get you! I mean, er, uh…”
“…There’s only one thing I want,” says Rinko hollowly. “And you know what it is.”
Even from a half-meter away, Rinko can hear Ako’s gulp. “W-Well…”
“Ako-chan.”
Her voice is uncharacteristically firm. Maybe that’s what makes the nerves scatter from Ako’s eyes, replaced by a grim acceptance.
For a moment they remain silently still.
“O… Okay…”
Ako trembles, tears spilling from her eyes.
“I’ll. I’ll do it. I’ll…”
She raises her head and screams for everything under the heavens to hear:
“I’LL DO MY HOMEWORK BEFORE WE PLAY VIDEO GAMES, OKAY?!”
The tower begins to fall.
Not in some grand crumble of destruction, but instead a gentle, level descent, the platform of the rooftop gradually sinking into the stage floor. Rinko tiptoes over and begins comforting Ako, ruffling her hair with relief. “I’m glad…”
Ako chokes down a sob, smearing her forearm across her face in a meager attempt to wipe away her tears. “I-I thought you were cool, Rinrin! Not like Sayo-san or Lisa-nee or Big Sis, always yapping at me to do schoolwork on time… you were a gamer… you were supposed to understand…!”
“Education… is important, Ako-chan…”
“B-But it’s the NFO Cup Noodle event today!” Ako whined. “We have to grind if we want to tier properly, don’t we?”
“Instant ramen… isn’t as essential… as reading comprehension…”
“It’s not the ramen that matters though! It’s, it’s…” Ako’s voice dims as her eyes pan away. “It’s spending time with you.”
Pink dusts Rinko’s cheeks. “A-Ako-chan?”
“I… I mean, you’re really busy these days,” Ako continues, her head hung low. “You’re practicing for more piano stuff, and doing student council work, and… urrghgh, I’m being selfish, huh…”
Rinko watches Ako’s shrunken, dejected figure for a moment before crouching down. “Ako-chan… rest on my lap.”
It’s the little demon’s turn to turn red. “H-Huh?”
Rinko pats her thighs welcomingly and smiles.
Blinking, Ako slowly crawls over and rested her head on Rinko’s lap, stifling giggles that leak out of her throat as Rinko began to run a hand through her hair. After only a moment of intimacy, Rinko crooned:
Demonic, dark, and devious duelist
There’s no doubt you were the coolest
How dearly I wish I could be like you
The most I could be is player two
“Rinrin…”
There’s no room in hell for a seraph
Especially one I dearly cherish
For when you fell from heaven above
I knew in my heart that this was love
Ako is stunned speechless, the final line thundering all throughout her veins. Rinko feels thrice as hot, in disbelief that such direct fawning could escape her mouth.
But she knows the stage she desires. And that’s why… she needs to ask. To make it a reality.
“A-A-Ako-chan… um…”
Ako swallows, peering up at her with those deep crimson eyes. “Wh-What is it, Rinrin?”
Rinko closes her eyes. She was never good with words, or feelings, or actions, or anything involving any manner of expression. But there’s no more doubt in her heart. All of her wishes are encapsulated in one, singular request:
“Do you… want to move our Minecraft beds together…?”
Ako gapes at her, unblinking. Her eyes, still wet from her previous sobbing, began to wetten again. “R… Rinrin… I… that’s…”
From her trembling lips comes a devilish smile.
“That… That would be so poggers…!”
Rinko’s heart blossoms. She’s unable to resist, and leans down to lay her lips upon Ako’s own.
Darkness encircles them from every angle. There’s not a trace of light left upon the gloomy, empty stage. But in that deep, atramentous abyss… they feel warmth all around. A place that could manage to be so hot, while so lightless… could only be described as hell.
The devil’s games are fun to play
Alas there is a price to pay
But we’ll indulge in them anyway
They leave us feeling very gay
And they reign in those comforting depths for all of their days.