The hose is working just as Kokichi planned.

If the hose Tenko was holding blasted Himiko with anything more than the pressure that had just knocked Shuichi over, he could picture the mage getting seriously hurt. The detective wasn't sure if that was Kokichi's modus operandi, but he couldn't afford to take the risk. All he could do is run and gain control of the valve.

To the young man's surprise, the villain stepped aside for him with a big grin. "By all means, buddy! Roll up those sleeves you aren't wearing and show 'em your manliness!"

Shuichi only had a moment to wonder what Kokichi was talking about before it become obvious. The valve handle clearly wasn't ordinary: it had been lovingly painted in the miscreant's familiar white-and-black checkered pattern, and when Shuichi tried to apply pressure to it, it didn't obey him at all. Rather, it was slowly rotating the way he didn't want it to go. He could hear the noise of the hose getting wilder and wilder behind him, and when he turned around to survey the damage...

Well, it wasn't good news, but at least it wasn't a worn-down hole where his friends had been. Tenko had her arms tightly wrapped around the hose in a complicated grip. Surprisingly, she seemed to have the sense to know that throttling the pressure would cause a dangerous buildup. Instead, she had firmly planted her feet on the poolside pavement, gritting her teeth with exertion, and aimed the hose into the air. It was firing wildly at angles too high to hit anyone.

"See?" Shuichi shouted at Tenko. "It's a bad idea! Of course it was going to be a bad idea!"

The martial artist didn't turn to face him, apparently unable to let any compromising muscle movement distract her. "I cannot decide if your whining or your gloating is more despicable! Gh... Do something...!"

There was no telling how long Tenko would be able to hold it. Also, Shuichi noted, the water falling down wasn't harmless: plenty of stray drops were raining down, creating trickling drop patterns on the slime that temporarily protected Tenko's decency. It was easy to imagine that in no time at all, every curve of her body would be revealed, with her unable to protect herself.

Panting from exertion, Shuichi tried to work his brain instead. "I've got to think fast... If I'm not strong enough to move this thing or break it, there's only one person who is." Releasing his futile hold on the valve, Shucihi ran (then slowed to a powerwalk, remembering he was on an especially slippery poolside surface) to where Tenko was struggling. "Tenko! Let me hold this while you go shut off the valve!"

"Are you asking for ****?!" Tenko growled at him. "This beast is no less than a rubber dragon, requiring all of my strength to restrain! Do you truly believe you can-"

Shuichi didn't have time for another stubborn argument. "Tenko, the water is going to make you naked. All of the guys here are going to see your naked body! And probably Himiko's, too! Next to that, do you care if a guy like me dies?"

"... Of course not!" Tenko admitted. "A convincing argument for a man! Please, summon all of your strength for your task. These will be the most important seconds of your life, Shuichi!"

Gulping, the detective nodded. He got his hands wrapped around the rubber hose. Feeling his life flashing before his eyes, he saw Tenko release it.

However... As Tenko dashed off, and Shuichi screwed his eyes shut, imagining himself being thrown half-naked through the air by a powerful whip of the hose, the detective discovered the pressure had died down. He glanced around, unsure of what he could expect to see. Back at the valve, there was...

Nobody?! The hose was still slowly turning itself, now in the preferred direction. Unless she'd turned invisible, though, it had nothing to do with Tenko, so Shuichi looked in the other direction.

There was Tenko, who had moved to dig herself down into a new power stance, standing with her legs spread at the wall. Actually, Shuichi was pretty sure both women were somewhere in that drippy green mass, although Tenko was the one most revealed.

Shuichi was about to call out to her, but Kokichi was the one who spoke up first. "Tenko, look out! Shuichi tricked you into giving him the hose!"

"Wha- Y-you're the one who's tricking everyone!" Shuichi pointed out the obvious.

"Oh yeah? Isn't it kinda weird how the pressure died down once you got your hands on it? Preeetty suspicious."

"There's no way anyone's going to fall for that-"

"Enough!" Tenko shouted out. "Why should I care which deviant male is the most deviant? If the pressure is down, go ahead and do what you must! Do it with your eyes closed, and even your third eye! If I sense your deviant eyes upon us, I will end your life, Shuichi."

Kokichi laughed. "Yeah, Shuichi, go ahead and- what? Huh? Wh-what're you lookin' so mad for? What's with that creepy grin? C-calm down, Shuichi... don't turn up that pressure!"

Shuichi looked at Kazuichi without understanding his strange smile until a second too late. Before he could react, the pressure kicked back up, and he quickly discovered that he had no control over it, being thrown about like a ragdoll as it shot back and forth. The other thing he discovered, however, was that the hose wasn't uncontrolled at all: it was very specifically controlled to whip back and forth in an unstoppable serpentine pattern.

The target, as expected, was the exposed ass of the young woman valiantly defending her friend. Tenko was doing her best to stand her ground, but each pass of the jet-pressure whip across her body was eliciting a scream. "Aguuaagh! H-Himiko, I'll geeeeaagh! I'll protect- Aaaaheeegh!"

"P-protect me harder!" Himiko cried. "A-actually, I need you to crouch a little, nyeh! G-gah! I felt some water! Y-you're too tall, you're not shielding me all the way!"

"I... I can't s-s-squat like this gyoooagh!" Tenko cried, now seeming like she might actually be crying. "Himiko, you have to run- hiyaaaah!! Oooh!!!"

Realizing the futility of holding on, Shuichi had long since let go of the hose. He'd realized the velocity was lowest when the hose changed direction, and used the near-zero acceleration to safely dismount. Now, with no way to help, Shuichi was **** to watch as...

... The hose had, by this point, nearly washed Tenko clean, meaning her olive complexion was entirely on display. The only part of her that wasn't olive was her bare butt, which was getting reddened and rocked over and over by repeated passes of the hose. Each spray could be more accurately described as a slap (and more specifically described as a spanking), bouncing her cheeks one way or the other in a way that undermined her valiant sacrifice. Meanwhile, although Himiko was being protected from a similar paddling, the height difference of the two had let enough residual splashing get through that the lower body of the woman was totally visible, a wet, pale white bottom peeking through the legs of her friend. Both sets of knees visible there were shaking, one from exertion and one from fear.

Shuichi became aware of a growing discomfort that made lying stomach down uncomfortable, and he was also aware the slime was mostly gone from him. What should he do? He didn't feel like he could just leave them to fend for themselves. Furthermore, Kokichi had that recording...

... The recording! "K1-B0, whatever you do, you have to destroy the-"

With a knot in his stomach, Shuichi realized Kokichi had been next to K1-B0 this whole time. He could have acted at any time, he'd just been waiting for when he had his audience's attention. "Yeah, Kee-Boy, get rid of it! If you can't export the video to a format anyone can see, what good is having a recording function, anyway?"

K1-B0 had been dutifully recording the events this whole time, but he spoke up in response. "How rude! As I'm sure you already guessed, I do have an export ability. In mere, seconds, I can render the video and export it-" The android paused momentarily, making strange beeps and boops until a silver disc finally slid from his mouth, which had formed a wide slot. "Infu a fee-dee rmm," he mumbled around it.

Of course, without missing a beat, Kokichi swiped the CD. "Ahahaha! For once, you weren't completely useless! You either, Shuichi! Man, the school is gonna be real interested to see what you got up to. I bet with just a tiiiny bit of editing, I can turn this raw footage into a real popcorn-chewer. 'Detectives Gone Dirty: Two Hotties, One Hose,' something like that? You may not have stood out before, but you definitely will now, Shuichi!!" Cackling and turning on his heel, the villain left the chaos of the scene he'd created behind, undoubtedly eager to bring it to screens around the school.

Gasping, Shuichi started to run after him in spite of his nudity. After all, what did it matter if he was running a short distance covering his boner with his hands? If he didn't do something, the entire school was going to get a much less flattering picture than that!

Before he could, however, a skin-colored blur dashed past him. Tenko had apparently somehow heard Kokichi's declaration of victory, and she apparently had the same idea as the detective. "Leave that miserable male miscreant to me! I entrust you with Himiko's protectiooon!" That was the last Shuichi could hear shouted before Tenko's unprotected body bounded around a corner and her red ass disappeared from sight.

Shuichi supposed he should be happy with that... Tenko had a much better chance of stopping the mastermind. With her current level of anger, Shuichi really found himself hoping it didn't turn into a **** incident.

However, when he turned back to the reality of the situation, there was nothing to be happy about at all. The hose was now completely out of control; Himiko was huddled in a naked fetal position next to the wall; K1B0 had run off to some hiding place (fearing either a thrashing from the hose or a tongue-lashing from the others about how he'd let himself be tricked so easily).

Without plans and without clothes, Shuichi and Tenko nevertheless found themselves the last lines of defense for a helpless magician and three people's dignity...