Who Da Boss Lady? 18

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

Who Da Boss Lady?

Chapter 18

-VB-

Shirone was fast.

How did Mari know? Aside from the fact that Shirone always scored high whenever they did P.T., Mari knew because she was now under Shirone in some park.

Her friend sat on her back while looking like she wasn’t doing anything weird or wrong. Because it was apparently per

‘Vena, can you help?’ 

‘No,’ Vena responded, surprisingly. ‘I’m busy right now.’

‘How busy can you be that you won’t come to save your one and only magical girl?!’

‘Busy enough that I might consider finding another magical girl.’

Her jaws nearly dropped at the audacity. 

‘What?!’

‘Neener neener, you’re going to get a junior, so you better start getting stronger, First!’

And then, just like that, Venalita cut off whatever it was that they have been doing to talk in their minds. 

That bitch! 

“... So when did you become a magician?” Shirone interrogated her after a long while of just sitting on her back.

“Why do you want to know?” she grumbled while resting her elbows on the grass and propping up her head. “I don’t particularly feel like I want to tell you.”

“I’m asking,” Shirone stressed with a hiss to Mari’s surprise. “Because there are dangerous things out there. “Magicians are vulnerable. They are weak. And if you have mana, then nasty things out there will come out to eat you.”

“... like Devils?”

Shirone froze. 

“... You knew?”

“Found out today,” she huffed. “When you hugged me.”

“Oh.”

Shirone suddenly looked uncertain. Maybe even upset. 

“... So are you pinning me down so that you can recruit me?”

“What? No!”

That was the most emotive Mari ever saw from her friend. An inimical rejection of what she just suggested. 

She huffed. At least Shirone wasn’t planning on anything. That was good. But she also knew that Shirone was probably not the decision maker. This town was, after all, owned by Gremory and Sitri. For all she knew, Shirone was working with them, and what the owners wanted, owners would get. 

“Then what?”

“... You ran, so I chased.”

“... That’s it?”

“... Yeah?” she sounded embarrassed but it was buried in her usual monotone deadpan. 

“So it wasn’t because you were a devil and wanted to do lewd things to your friend?”

Shirone slowly turned to her with the most disgusted face she’s ever seen on her face. 

Mari couldn’t help it. 

She laughed. 

After a while Shirone huffed and then giggled, too. It took a little longer before she got serious. “I still have to tell you about … our side of the world, though.”

“... Fine, then,” she huffed. “But can you get off my back?”

“No.”

“What? Why?!”

“This is the perfect place for me to be right now.”

Mari looked at her friend - current: nemesis - over her shoulder. “Are you a cat or something?”

“... No.”

“Am I going to need to get some catn-?” she cut herself off when she saw Shirone freezing. “Seriously?”

“What? It’s a physical reaction. I can’t help it.”

“Uh huh… get off.”

She did.

“Alright,” Mari said as she got up and sat on her ass on the ground just like Shirone did. “Tell me about the Other Side as you see it.”

“... I’m a Devil,” Shirone began. “But before that, I was a youkai. A Nekomata.”

“Huh. So what’s that like?” Mari asked. Because youkai! Youkai was, like, proper Japanese. Kind of. Were they? Did they even consider themselves Japanese or was being Japanese just a human thing? 

“Normal? We’re not that different from humans,” her friend mumbled. “I guess we have to hide from normal people? Yeah, that’s about it.”

“But why hide?” she asked. Mari had asked her dad that, but his response of “that’s how it’s always been” didn’t satisfy her. 

“Because of the Bible.”

Huh?

“You know the Big G from the Bible?”

“Yeah…?”

“It hurts, like a headache, when we hear his name.”

“... Like actual pain?”

“Yes. Like someone is pinching your eyeballs.”

“Ouch.”

“It really sucks. That’s how you piss off a devil, by the way. Keep spamming His name in their face.” 

“Go…”

Shirone glared at her, and Mari giggled. 

“How did you get magic?” she asked her. 

“Hmm.” What should she tell? “I guess I made a deal?”

Shirone immediately looked concerned. 

“What?”

“I made a deal with a clutz.”

‘What?!’

So Vena was listening.

‘You bitch, you left me by myself!’

‘You weren’t in danger!’

‘And what exactly were you doing that had you “busy”?’

‘Your mom and your dad were in bed -.’

‘Stop. Stop. Stop.’

She cringed. 

“Something wrong?” Shirone asked with a frown. 

“No. Just … horrible memories,” she replied. “Mom and dad.”

“... Okay…?” Then she cleared her throat. “Okay, devils. Devils are … probably as bad as you’ve heard about them. Not like manga but more traditional myth.”

“So the Bible.”

“Yes.”

“Are there even any Christians in our town?”

“I think there’s like a dozen?”

“Out of tens of thousands?”

“About.”

“Huh.”

“So…?”

“Right, Devils. A lot of Devils are horrible,” she said. “A lot of them are greedy, prideful, angry, lazy, and powerful. And power means everything to Devils. Devils that are strong determine everything, and that’s why the Four Satans that rule the Devilkind are the strongest Devils out there.”

“How strong…?”

“Strong enough to destroy mountains like Mt. Fuji.”

Mari gulped. “Pretty … strong, huh?”

“Yeah. And there are plenty of people who are strong in town right now.”

“Are you strong?”

Shirone looked at her and grinned. “I’m stronger than most magicians.”

“Oh, you think you’re all that?” Mari teased. 

“I know I am.”

“Then do you want to?”

“Hmm?”

Mari got up and stared at her friend. “Let’s have a spar.”

-VB-

Venalita whistled as she watched Mari’s dad go down on Mari’s mom. 

That man knew how to go down on a woman properly!

‘Let’s have a spar.’

She blinked and tried to look through Mari’s eyes. Because apparently she could do that. 

And things were getting interesting. 

Because Mari from before wouldn’t do what Mari was doing right now. 

Sparring? 

Fighting? 

Those weren’t things that normal girls like Mari did. 

Except Mari was asking for one right now from her own friend.

Yesss… corruption of her first magical girl was going well…

“H-Honey, yes~!” 

Venalita’s eyes swerved right back toward the couple. 

“Oh, mama,” Vena muttered, sitting on a rooftop far away from Mari’s house but with a spell that let her bend light and sound to see and hear things around corners. “You’ve been hiding that under that dress? And your daddy is a big man, ain’t he?”

She giggled. 

Mari might just get a new sibling before the end of the year.