Back to P5

“...fuck a duck. That was a lot.” I said as I lurched away from the doors. The three sisters looked a little weirdly at each other, then back at me. Whatever, I was processing the crazy and verbal vomit was spewing out.

But, like, it’s fair, right? To recap, I just sat here and watched the time wrapped slivers of two Wild Card users who also got the power to change reality at the same ‘time’ as me. Both looking like average teenagers with VASTLY different agendas to their motivations.

“So… you must have both been included in that from the sounds of things…” I surmised, though both of their expressions seemed to say otherwise.

I couldn’t help but note a hint of superiority from Lavenza as she explained, “Neither of my sisters ended up being chosen by their guests. They are ”

“Makoto did not include me, in the end.” Said Elizabeth, looking surprisingly sour about not being mind manipulated, “He said ‘after Christmas’, treating my joining of his harem as a New Year’s treat for that year. Yet… even with his ultimate power, he could not stop the return of Nyx. Some gods do not overpower others, though they can be deterred through strange means…” The girl looked somewhat wistful, looking up at the sky as she spoke, “Makoto could only use his power to make the avatar of Nyx a woman, and is still currently keeping her busy with endless sex beyond a single door. If he stops for even a moment the end of humanity will occur, so be glad his appetite is truly insatiable.” Fucking hell. Weird blue haired harem guy sacrificed himself for humanity’s survival? There’s some mixed emotions in me now…

Margaret spoke up too, looking far more put out by her reality, “As for my guest, he wished to set me up with my Master. When I said that was impossible, he sought to arrange a marriage with me and a sword wielding redheaded boy to which he had just met. I politely declined and chose to not see him again after that. I think the redhead is currently betrothed to himself, or something strange…”

“Only Theo slept with his guest, and she managed to separate her body and soul so now the lazy bones never his room.” Elizabeth explained while opening the door we were passing by.

A single double bed lay in a dark blue room. The lighting was extremely moody, it was impossible to see where the floor ended and the walls began. Only the bed was visible, with a white haired man kneeling atop it. Wide shoulders, eye covered, mouth gagged, bound in only chains, erect and ready for the girl in front of him. Auburn hair in a high ponytail, nearly completely naked apart from some S&M gear, and slowly turning to glare horrifyingly at me.

The eyes behind my mask made contact with the brunette girl just as she whipped her riding crop against her hand, all while grinning directly at me. “Leave us or join us.”

“WE’RE LEAVING!” I yelped, grabbing the door handle to Theodore’s room and slamming it shut quickly. The other three had averted their eyes completely, so seemed somewhat thankful I’d closed it. Still, this was a lot to process, “Yeesh… this is nuts…”

Once more Lavenza’s kind hand found my shoulder, “Come, we shall return to your Velvet Room once more." I nodded and began to follow along with her, "As you can see, Benzaiten is a powerful demon now. His actions have fragmented your timeline significantly, the Velvet Room being the only bastion that his influence cannot permeate. We need your help to discover his plans, and if he can be stopped."

I nodded, my head swimming in new information.

I wasn’t the first to get this power, yet I was clearly the slowest to figure out how it worked. The other three's goals seemed to permeate all their choices on how to use their version of the power for their beliefs… I couldn’t help but ruminate on the topic by myself as we walked back to prison.

“So those are my two paths to take… Will I become a man that gives in to his base desires to form a harem? Will I become a man that makes sure his guy friends get girlfriends too? That’s my big…” Just as we returned to the main area I was greeted by some very smirky expressions on the Velvet Sisters. “...what, why are you guys looking at me like that?”

Lavenza was cracking a smile at me, “Trickster… the answer to both those questions is ‘yes’.”

My eyes bugged out as my blood ran cold.

“Wah?! That-that can’t count! I was talking to myself! That counts?!”

They were all actively giggling now, but Margaret managed to respond, “Well, definitely yes now.”

“FUCK!” I yelled, slamming my hand into my prison bars in pure self made frustration, “I’M SUCH AN IDIOT! Why can’t I stop fucking asking questions?!” My body rippled in anger as I realised that was another question, looking back at Lavenza who shook her hands.

“That one was fine, it was more open-ended, not a yes or no question.”

I growled, then having a pure lightbulb moment, “Wait! Will I NOT become a man that gives into his desires? That’s a yes! I win!”

“Sorry, I don't think it’ll be that easy, my dude.”

My head throbbed, I could have sworn… was that from inside of me? No…

“D-did...?” I nearly asked the girls, all who looked at me in confusion, “Somebody said…”

Their eyes turned to suspicious concern, “We didn’t say anything, Ren.”

“Oh…”

A tension seemed to overcome the room.

They were looking at me like someone had put a loaded gun between us, and I was a known murderer.

But I didn’t want to hurt anyone…

“Hey,” Another voice that sounded… sort of like mine… “if the God you hate so much is so powerful, hasn’t he already taken over the Velvet Room?”

I slammed my hand over my mouth too late. It was my voice, but I hadn’t meant to say it! Betrayal and shock crashed into the three’s faces. Eyes switching from calm observers to animals fighting for survival. All three of them suddenly raising their hands, causing balls of energy to erupt from their fingertips, aimed right for me.

I could feel the power of their attacks from here. They were kill shots.

“Wait! T-time out!” I tried to yell, knowing I only had seconds to live…

…

“...girls?”

They’d all… stopped. Completely stopped, like Sumire behind me. Sexy bodies all perfectly still.

The quiet prison became suffocatingly silent. I hand’t asked any questions that had paused them… their fluctuating Megidolan attacks dissipating to nothing as their forms failed to move.

My rapid heatbeat was in my ears, so I didn’t hear for a few seconds the sound of slurping.

I slowly turned, finding that the prison cell that usually held me was open.

Not only open, but occupied.

“Quite an entrance, eh?” The being smiled, acting rather calm and collected as my panic attack was demanding entrance to my head. The only other part of my body that felt anything was my finger, also in pain, as it burned in the presence of this figure.

Someone I somehow knew the name of... “Benzaiten.”

“We should talk, Ren.”