I am Succubus!

91 – Return to Normalcy

Imagine my surprise when I woke up the following morning and it was the first monday of October. After saving Hatsumi, she had cried herself to sleep. The stress of wanting to commit suicide and almost going through with it really did a number on her. We took her home, but all stayed in my room just in case she might try it again.

That didn't seem to be the case, as all of us fell asleep peacefully that night.

I remembered the week being reset, but it rubber banded me forward to where I was originally supposed to be. No one except Hatsumi and I remembered. All of the memories of those relived weeks merged together. Giving it too much thought hurt my head, but I wanted to remember them for everyone's sake. Kana and Mio were none the wiser. As far as they were concerned, nothing happened and the days continued as usual.

The two of them were waiting for me at the sidewalk to begin heading to school. I lingered at the doorway with my sister as she handed me a bento.

"No more wishing to turn back time, okay?" I teased her.

My sister's softened expression gave way to a small giggle at her own expense.

"At first I wanted to go back to redo the interview, but the outcomes never changed. Eventually I just gave up and wanted to spend as much time with you as I could." She sighed in disappointment of herself, but I hugged her to remind her what she meant to me. The embrace was returned two-folds, and while the two behind me weren't looking, we shared a tender kiss. A remnant of our sentiments from the previous timeline brought back to this one.

There was no going back. I would love my sister for as long as she loved me. If there ever came a time she found someone else, I'd support her nonetheless. No more hiding from my feelings anymore, even should the world shun us for it.

I was a succubus after all. Human laws meant little to me, and I could bend them as I saw fit. As long as I didn't mess it up too much.

"Hurry up! Rika's got an important announcement to make in class today!" Mio yelled from the sidewalk, uncharacteristically gung-ho about school.

I learned real quick why that was the case once we got to class.

Our homeroom teacher gave Rika the floor. She held a single piece of paper in her hand and was beaming. Whatever it was, she appeared excited about it as well.

"We have a special announcement to make. Upon a special request from our very own Mio to celebrate Halloween at school, the student council brought it up to the faculty and principal. They approved!" she cheered.

The rest of the class followed suit, roaring in excitement. Classrooms adjacent to us rumbled as they expressed their glee in receiving the news from their respective class rep. This was the appropriate response, given that Japan didn't really treat the western holiday of Halloween as a day worth celebrating. It was typically combined with bunkasai, our culture festival held on the third of November, where some classes did trials of courage and haunted houses.

"You guys can thank me by lavishing worship and adoration." Mio leaned back on her seat and kicked her feet up on the desk, basking in the praise of our peers.

I put a hand to my face and groaned. If she were ever to become a queen succubus, I suspected she would act exactly like this.

Rika continued, "Halloween at Tsukiji High will be like a mini trick or treat event. Each class will have their own unique treats and candy to hand out, and a few will secretly be tricking you instead. It just so happens we're among the group tricking!"

"Wait a minute… If we're celebrating Halloween, wouldn't that get in the way of preparing for bunkasai?" I raised a hand to ask.

"Short answer: yes." Rika nodded. "If this is what the student body wants, then we have to work overtime for it. Which is why we'll begin figuring out what we want to do for Culture Day early. Anyone have any suggestions?"

A dozen hands shot into the air to belt out suggestions. Haunted house, putting on a play, traditional painting workshop, and more that were written on the board. However, when it came time to vote, one clear winner came out ahead by a huge margin— cosplay cafe.

"I mean… after seeing Mio and Saeko at Isekai Gohan, how could I not want to see them in cosplay again?" a male student remarked.

"We get to see our class idols in costumes? Hell yes!" another student whooped.

"Dressing up sounds fun. I wanna do it, too!" one of Mio's gyaru friends exclaimed.

"It's decided! Waiters and waitresses for our cafe will serve in costumes. We'll rotate shifts so you can still have time to enjoy the three-day festival. So, who wants to be a server?" Rika asked the class.

Instead of people raising their hands to volunteer, most hands pointed to specific students in the room: namely myself and Mio.

"You're goddamn right I'm dressing up." Mio grinned, then turned to me expecting me to answer just as enthusiastically.

"I'll do it…" I sighed. My internal Mio-trouble radar was blipping, and I was worried what shenanigans she might pull during Culture Day.

Worse, what the hell is Hana going to be up to?

At any rate, it looked like our cosplaying endeavors hadn't ended yet. Students already wanted to see some of us in costumes. Mio and I locked eyes. She smirked, showing that this was exactly what she wanted.

"Have fun dressing up again," Kana whispered.

"Nu-uh. You're joining whether you like it or not," I declared.

He choked and turned white as a ghost. It was even more embarrassing for him since he was still a girl, which meant women's costumes that were likely going to be less than wholesome if Mio had any say about it.

Fortunately, some of the other girls in the class volunteered alongside us, including Rika. After all, as the class rep, she had an obligation to see the event to its success. Only a few boys volunteered, Kameshiro being one of them. I highly doubted he offered to be a server out of the goodness of his heart or to contribute to class.

"By the way, what kind of trick are we doing for the Halloween event?" a student asked.

Once again, people pitched in their ideas. As the trickers, we wouldn't be providing candy like the treat classes. Rila explained that we had to design some sort of small event for visiting students to partake in that was harmless.

"How about we paddle people's asses?" Mio suggested.

"Mio… it can't be anything physically violent." Rika turned her down.

"I think it's a good treat," she grumbled.

"We're tricking! That's not a treat at all," I fired back.

"How about wasabi apples?" Kana asked. All eyes fell on him, and suddenly he regretted speaking. "W-We can caramelize apples, but one of them will be coated in wasabi instead. Blindfold the students and dangle it in front of them to choose."

Everyone expressed interest in it. The trick was like a modified version of putting wasabi inside mochi. Some people were going to have an unpleasant surprise when they bite into an apple smeared with wasabi, but it was a fun idea nonetheless.

"Okay, it's settled! We'll go with the wasabi apples for our trick. Make sure not to tell anyone outside of our class. It's supposed to be our surprise." Rika winked.

For the rest of the day, my class plotted out the workload between managing the Halloween trick event and cosplay cafe. We had an entire month to plan. The Halloween event was on the last friday of October, then a few days later Culture Festival began on November third and lasted for three days. Between now and then, things were about to get hectic.

Students in every class participated in some manner. Be it making flyers, banners, and setting up attractions and whatever specifics to what their event was, the entire school was in high-spirits.

"I can't believe you managed to convince the student council to consider your proposal for a Halloween event," I remarked to Mio as we headed for the cafeteria.

"Heh. Some pictures might have been exchanged to get it to happen." Mio rubbed her nose, proud of peddling her contraband.

"By photos, you meant mine, didn't you?!" I cried.

"Who knows?" She shrugged as we entered the cafeteria.

I already had my bento from Hatsumi, so I only came down to accompany Mio and dine with her. Normally she could care less about school lunches. However, there was a special meal being made today-- szechuan mapo tofu. That spicy monstrosity of a meal. Of course, Mio would want to eat it.

"Now where the hell do I get this bread?" Mio asked, glancing around.

"Over here." I pointed to a series of terminals against the wall. Hungry students crowded around it, mulling over what they wanted to sate their appetite.

Our school's cafeteria used a voucher system. A certain amount of meals would be prepared in the morning, and students selected what they wanted to eat from the terminals. They received a voucher from the system, which was limited to a certain amount, take it to the cooks, and get their food. A first come first serve system that sometimes sparked wars when good food was on the menu.

A few students passed by with curry and mapo tofu. Mio sniffed in their direction, and her mouth watered more than when she was horny for sex. 

"Ahhh! It smells so fucking good. I want it now!" She gnawed on her thumbnail. We were at the back of the line of the voucher machines. No telling if Mio would get her beloved mapo tofu at this rate. 

"I get the feeling they're going to run out. How about we just share my lunch and come back early another week?" I offered in hopes that she'd abandon this pointless endeavor, but that proved to be a mistake. One that was paid for by everyone in front of us when they all stepped aside at once, making a clear path to the voucher terminal. My jaw dropped. "Mio!"

"Oh, would you look at that? Everyone is so nice to let me through. Must be my popularity at work." She fanned herself pretentiously as we walked to the front. 

Students from the other lines stared with a mixture of confusion and expectation that it might happen for them.

"You're unbelievable," I groaned.

Unfortunately, Mio's efforts were for naught. We got to the terminal and she about punched the machine if I hadn't held her back. The mapo tofu was gone. It wasn't a glitch, the other machines also showed that there were no more.

"This isn't a life worth living anymore," she said, staring blankly at the terminal.

I put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "If it makes you feel any better, Hatsumi knows how to make some."

"It's not the same, man. As far as I'm concerned, I just lost today." She brushed my hand away, leaving me floored by how tragic she was taking this.

Mio walked away with a tonkatsu curry voucher, shoulders slumped and feet dragging. I followed after her to make sure she was okay and ran into Kana in line to grab his lunch.

"I thought you two always ate in class?" he asked as we got in line behind him.

"She wanted to get mapo tofu, but they ran out." I thumbed behind me where Mio was sulking.

Kana glanced down at his hand which held one voucher for the spicy delicacy. Mio saw it, too. She wanted to speak out, but bit her tongue and clenched her fist.

"Saeko told me to be patient… I gotta resist…" she said, squeezing her eyes shut. 

Without asking, Kana stuck his voucher out to Mio. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see it within her grasp.

"I was craving some spicy food today, but I don't mind trading," he said, keeping his arm extended to offer the voucher.

Mio grabbed his entire hand instead and was on the verge of tears.

"I'll return the favor by eating you out so good later, you won't be able to live without me!" she exclaimed.

"On second thought…" He tried to retract his hand.

Mio and I only helped the kendo club set up equipment in the gym, then left the rest to Gouda and Selene to handle. As much as I'd like to help them prepare for next month's tournament, they were already in good hands and this entire month would keep me busy helping the class. 

Some students who weren't part of any clubs or extracurricular activity with free time to spare, volunteered to stay behind after school to help. Desks had been pushed together as the work was divvied up to multiple groups. They discussed and drew potential designs for flyers, banners, and signboards. Others helped as an excuse to hang out with friends, but their efforts were appreciated nonetheless.

"Saeko, Mio!" Rika called to us as we entered the class to give a hand.

"What do you want us to work on?" I asked.

"Actually, I was hoping you two can go around to some of the other clubs and classes. A cosplay cafe is nothing without costumes, and to make posters we're going to need extra supplies from the art class. Maybe you can work your… ahem, persuasion to get us what we need?" Rika suggested, handing me a list of classes and clubs to potentially get what we needed. By the sound of it, she was asking us to use our succubus charm to convince people. Was that her giving us permission?

Mio snatched the note from my hand to read off. "Home-ec for burners, plates, and cups; art class on the second floor for large construction paper and markers; drama and tailoring club for costumes. Gotcha."

By Mio's suggestion, we went to the tailoring club first. It was headed by Minabe Yuriha, a passionate and hardworking second year who manages a small clothing brand from her own home. The school's cosplay and drama club went straight to her whenever they needed adjustments or new outfits made.

A first year answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Is Yuriha in? We wanted to ask her about designing something," I said.

The girl glanced back inside and called for her club president, but returned empty-handed.

"Sorry… Senpai kind of gets too into what she's doing to pay attention to anything else. You can come in and wait for her if you want," she suggested.

We went in at their invitation. The modest club room had about a dozen members, with only six sewing machines that were already occupied. Mannequins and chest busts lined the walls, dressed in outfits and costumes designed over the current school year. Many more remained undressed, waiting for the next one to be finished by a member of the club.

The sharp-eyed Yuriha had a tongue sticking out as she worked, carefully sewing the seams on an ivory dress. There were no wasted movements. Not once did she take her eyes off the fabric, and the bangs in her eyes didn't seem to be a bother despite being all over her face.

"Hey—"

I covered Mio's mouth before she could interrupt Yuriha's focus.

"Why don't we hit up the drama club and come back later?" I asked Mio.

"No, you two stay right there. I'm just about done. Damn zipper was being difficult. Should be fine now," Yuriha said. The machine stopped, and she pulled the dress away to reveal a stunning lace wedding gown. "Guess you two need some things to be made? I'm kinda swamped right now. Drama club's putting on a play and need new costumes before they begin dress rehearsals. Basketball team's asking for a new jersey design. All because Halloween and Culture Day are coming up."

The entirety of the tailoring club pitched in to help. Even those not on a machine sewed by hand in order to meet the school's demands.

"Damn. I wanted a sexy ass costume, too." Mio sighed.

"Much as I'd like to help bring out the best your tits and ass has to offer, my hands are tied," Yuriha said, brushing her bangs aside.

"Costumes… What about Isekai Gohan? We might be able to borrow some from our old workplace," I wondered aloud.

My succubus girlfriend wasn't too keen on the idea and waved a dismissive hand. "I've already worn everything they had to offer. I want something new, hot, spicy."

It was like the mapo tofu influenced her decision or something.

"You guys worked at Isekai Gohan? I know the manager. Made costumes for him. They should have some fantasy costumes perfect for the drama club to use. Then I wouldn't have to make them new outfits and could help you instead," Yuriha suggested, shifting her attention between us.

"Deal." Mio clasped Yuriha's hands and shook. "Time to pay our sexy college minxes a visit."

I put a hand to my face and groaned, knowing full well where this was going.