A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 6

by Brandon Varnell

  “Ha-have fun,” he said, despite every fiber of him wanting to say, “Don’t go.”

  Gabrielle’s expression, the disappointment so clearly shown on her face, hurt him more than anything he’d ever experienced. It was worse than getting stabbed by Nyx’s sword. It felt like his very soul was being pierced with an electro-blade. He was hurting her. His words, his inability to act, all of it was hurting her.

  But it was better this way. This kind of pain was sharp, but it would be over quickly. Once she married Prince Arthur, she would be with someone who could treat her right, someone who would be faithful, someone who wouldn’t want to sleep with other girls. This was for the best.

  “Oh… okay,” Gabrielle murmured. “I will have fun.”

  Alex turned his back to them as Prince Arthur left with Gabrielle in tow. He heard the door open and close, listened to their footsteps recede, and heard the entrance door open and close. They were gone. They were gone on their date, and there was nothing he could do now.

  I’m doing the right thing.

  “Keep telling yourself that, idiot.”

  “I think you made a huge mistake.”

  Shut up…

  A heavy silence filled the room. However, that silence was broken by Michelle.

  “Why didn’t you stop them?” asked Michelle. The look in her eyes, the frustrated furrow of her brow, the way her lips curled in distaste, all of it invoked an image of immense displeasure. “Why did you let Gabrielle go with Prince Arthur?!”

  “What right do I have to stop them?” asked Alex.

  Michelle growled. “Are you not her boyfriend?! Aren’t you supposed to be Gabrielle’s fiancée?! You should have told her not to go! You have every right to tell her that you don’t want her going on this date!”

  “It’s not my place to tell her that.”

  “Of course it’s your place! Were you not listening to me?!”

  “I am listening to you.” Alex smiled at Michelle, who took several steps back as her face went from fierce to shocked. “I know… I know what you two were trying to do, but I… I can’t be what Gabrielle wants me to be. She’ll be happier with someone who can treat her right.”

  “You… you…” Michelle’s face twisted as she glared at him. “You are absolutely unbelievable! You are the dumbest, most incapable idiot I have ever seen in my life! I used to think you were pretty cool, but now I can see that it was all just a pretense! You’re nothing but an indecisive jerk!”

  Michelle whirled about and stormed out of the living room, leaving him, Nyx, and Ariel in awkward silence. The two girls were staring at him. Nyx’s expression was blank, but Ariel’s eyes had gone so wide they reminded him of dinner plates.

  “Well,” he began, “that could have gone better.”

  “What in the name of Angelisia just happened?” asked Ariel, still sitting on the couch.

  “Nothing you need to worry about.” He looked at his IDband. It was after 1200. “Anyway, I’ll see you two later. I’m meeting someone.”

  Alex didn’t say another word as he went to the front door, put on his boots, and left, feeling more disgusted with himself now than he ever had before.

  3

  Michelle sat in front of her desk, knees curled up to her chest, one hand on the keyboard as she clicked away at her game. It was one of her dating simulation games. O-Heart. She must have played it a thousand times. By now, she had memorized every route that could be taken and even knew all the loopholes and the fastest way to get the harem ending.

  Why?

  None of it seemed to have done her much good. Alex hadn’t reacted the way he’d expected her to, and now Gabrielle was stuck going on a date with someone she didn’t like. Her honorable sister could tell Arthur off if she wanted to, but she wouldn’t. Gabrielle always saw things through to the end once she set her mind on something. Since she had told Arthur she would go on a date with him, she would go because Alex hadn’t stopped her.

  Why why why?

  She wanted to blame Alex for all this—well, she did blame him for what happened, but it wasn’t all his fault. She also bore some of the blame. Michelle knew that Alex had hang-ups. There were some deep-rooted problems within his psyche that she hadn’t asked about. He probably wouldn’t have told her if she had asked, so she’d left them alone.

  She regretted not asking now. She really should have.

  What do I do now?

  Her plan had been to get Alex worked up and frustrated by Gabrielle’s seeming infatuation with Prince Arthur, enough so that he would tell Gabrielle that he didn’t want her going on the date with Arthur, that he wanted her to be with him. She never expected that Alex’s problems would be so deeply embedded into him that he would let Gabrielle go so easily.

  Alexander…

  Michelle thought about what she knew of him. He’d been raised on Mars. His parents were dead. Alice was his stepsister, and he took very good care of her. He liked to invent machines just like Gabrielle. According to Gabrielle, Alex was not human but Angelisian, or at least half-Angelisian. She could confirm this. Michelle had seen him use the Aura of Creation during his spars with Nyx.

  There were seals inside of him, one inside of his mind and the other on his core, which should have sealed his Angelisian powers, though it looked like the seal was breaking now.

  Is that really all I know?

  Thinking about it, she really didn’t know anything substantial about Alex. Everything she knew was surface stuff. It was what people could see just from observing him. It seemed to her that all of the important information, his feelings and thoughts, were buried deep within him, locked away for reasons she couldn’t understand.

  He’s a lot like my dearest sister in that regard. Instead of hiding his true feelings behind a smile, he locks it away and denies that it even exists.

  Michelle sighed as she finally got to an H-scene in her game, a rather lewd depiction of the main character being sucked off by a plant woman with suckers at the end of her tentacles. It was one of her favorite scenes. She’d lost count of the number of times she had masturbated to this. Right now, though, she didn’t feel any arousal whatsoever.

  “Sis?” The door suddenly opened and Ariel walked in.

  “Ariel?” Michelle shut off her monitor and spun the chair to face her sister. She paused upon seeing the determined expression on the other girl’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I want you to tell me what’s going on,” Ariel said, clearly referring to what happened in the living room. “Don’t leave anything out.”

  “You should probably sit down, then. This is going to take a while to explain.”

  Michelle could have denied her sister, but that wouldn’t have solved anything. Besides, maybe having a second opinion would help her solve this problem somehow.

  Even if her sister had even less experience with love than she did.

  4

  Alex arrived early at the statue of Marcus Denantien, which was located in the Market District, in a hub that was attached to one of the largest skyscrapers of the middle level known as the Museum of History. Despite arriving nearly fifteen minutes before he needed to, Alex was not the first one there. Kazekiri was already waiting.

  “Hey,” Alex greeted as he walked up to her. “You’re here early. Did you wait long?”

  “N-not at all,” Kazekiri said, tucking a stray lock of flaxen hair behind her left ear. “I only just got here myself. It’s not like I came here to wait for you.”

  Kazekiri was wearing clothes that were a lot more girlish than he remembered seeing her in. Her skirt was a light yellow and stopped just above her knees, pleated to give it a frillier aesthetic. A strapless shirt hung from her shoulders. It had a casual dip to expose just a hint of cleavage. Thrown over it was a basic black jacket that cut off just below her breasts. Black knee-high socks and white spacer boots finished her ensemble.

  “Huh, wow.” Alex blinked several times as he took in her appearance. He reigned his impulsi
ve urges in when he realized he was checking her out and looked back at her face. “You look amazing.”

  “Y-you think so?” Kazekiri looked at something to their left.

  “Yeah,” Alex said. “Somehow, this look really suits you, though I also think you look pretty cool in uniform, too.”

  “T-thank you,” Kazekiri mumbled before coughing into her hand. “Anyway! We should be heading off, right?”

  “Right.”

  While their original plan had been to travel to the café they had eaten at before, the wait ended up being more than an hour long, so he took Kazekiri to Jasmine’s café. Café Love Love was the name, which hung on a sign above the door. The two-story structure sat on a hub surrounded by several skyscrapers, making it look out of place. Plasteel designed to look like wood made up the walls.

  “This is where we’re going to eat?” asked Kazekiri. “Isn’t this the place where my brother pulled the dine and dash?”

  “Yep. This is the place where you were forced into a maid outfit for nearly an hour. Since our other café has too long of a wait, I thought it would be a good place to grab a bite. Come on,” Alex said, tugging on Kazekiri’s sleeve to get her moving.

  As they entered the café, he and Kazekiri were greeted by a girl with brown hair and bored eyes. She wore a frilly black dress with short and puffy sleeves. Her white apron was equally frilly. Black garters and heels, visible because the skirt and apron only went to mid-thigh, adorned her legs and feet. What shocked Alex was not her clothing, but who she was.

  “Alice?!” he shouted.

  Alice’s eyes widened. “B-big bro?!”

  “What are you doing here?!” they shouted at the same time.

  “Jasmine tricked me into working here,” Alice muttered, looking away.

  “How did she do that?” asked Alex.

  “N-nevermind that!” Alice said in a hurry. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be stopping Gabrielle from going on her date with that prince?”

  Alex ignored the acute pain in his chest. Alice didn’t know about the problems he was facing right now, so she didn’t understand why he couldn’t stop Gabrielle from doing what she wanted.

  “What Gabrielle does is none of my business.” The expression Alice sent him clearly said otherwise, but he continued before she could say anything. “Would you mind showing us to a table?”

  “I guess I don’t have much choice,” Alice sighed.

  “Alice, that is not how you greet guests,” another voice said.

  The owner of the voice was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties, with brown hair and brown eyes. Like Alice, she wore a maid uniform. Unlike his sister, she walked with an undeniable grace, complete with a unique sashay that made her hips thrust out with each maneuver. Several eyes followed her walk, which was accompanied by the clicking of her heels.

  Having only come to this café once before, Alex had never seen how Madison acted when she was working, but the aesthetic and demeanor she now held as she walked toward them was completely different from what he was used to. He wondered if this was a result of her learning program.

  “I didn’t know you and Jasmine were working today,” Alex said.

  “Unfortunately, Mistress is currently out running an errand,” Madison said, bowing apologetically toward him. “Master, Mistress, welcome back. May I show you both to a seat?”

  “Yes, please,” Alex said.

  “By the way, Bro,” Alice began, “why are you with this girl? Don’t tell me you’re taking her on a date while Gabrielle suffers from the machinations of that stupid prince?”

  “D-d-d-d-d-date?!” Kazekiri squeaked. “I-I would never go on a date with this neanderthal!”

  “Of course not,” Alex added more calmly than Kazekiri. “Since Gabrielle was going on her date with Prince Arthur, I thought now would be a good time to fulfill my promise.” He also wanted to ask Kazekiri for advice.

  “Right! That’s what this is,” Kazekiri added. “It’s because of his promise to me.”

  “Uh huh…”

  Alice clearly didn’t believe them, but she also didn’t say anything. Madison showed them to their seats, wandering through a series of round tables with white cloths covering them. Several older gentlemen were being tended to by the maids of this café. Café Love Love had a strict no touch policy, so everyone kept their hands to themselves, but that didn’t stop them from smiling at the young women as they were served.

  The seats he and Kazekiri were given was a booth next to a window. It wasn’t the same booth as last time. They sat down and Alice told them that she would come back to take their orders once they had decided on something.

  Alex did his best to make small talk with Kazekiri, though he mostly asked her about the police department. Ever since the incident with Nyx, he and Karen Kanzaki had become estranged. Matters had only been complicated after Karen ordered his arrest. He knew she had been controlled by someone else, so he didn’t blame her. However, she had refused to communicate with him ever since then.

  “The police department is currently undergoing a lot of serious reforms,” Kazekiri said. “Karen was apparently really pissed off that not a single person aside from myself and Vice Commander Yumi were able to figure out that something was going on. Everyone is currently undergoing personal evaluations to see if they’re fit to continue working on active duty. I hear Commander Karen is personally overseeing this process.”

  “Sounds like she’s been busy,” Alex said.

  “Very. No one’s seen the commander outside of the evaluations.”

  “Well, I hope she’s at least getting enough rest.”

  Alice came back a little while later, asked for their orders, and then left once she had them. Alex had ordered omurice. Kazekiri had ordered a lettuce wrap with ham, tomatoes, and provolone cheese.

  Alex thought lunch was enjoyable. He liked talking to Kazekiri, enjoyed the topics they discussed, and generally thought her presence was comforting. However, he wasn’t having fun like he should have been. Deep within him, the many worries, regrets, and shameful secrets that he kept hidden from everybody else threatened to consume him.

  He also couldn’t get his mind off Gabrielle, the girl who had told him that she loved him, who had begged him with her eyes to tell her not to go with Prince Arthur. He had let her go because someone like him couldn’t give her happiness. That didn’t stop him from feeling like an ass, didn’t stop the guilt, the shame, the self-loathing from gnawing at his insides.

  I’m no hero. I’m just a sicko.

  More and more, Alex was realizing that he would never become the hero that his father was. His thoughts were too dirty, his mind too stained. He was indecisive, incapable, a burden.

  “Alex,” Kazekiri said suddenly, “are you okay?”

  “I’m…” He was about to give her his typical “I’m fine” answer, but then he paused, sighed, and started over. “I’m conflicted. I’m lost. I don’t know what to do. Part of the reason I asked if you wanted to meet with me was because I was hoping to get your advice.”

  “Is this advice for your friend?” asked Kazekiri, and the way she said “friend” let him know that she knew who his friend really was.

  “I’m not surprised you figured that out,” he said. “Yes, it is. I was hoping you could help me.”

  “I don’t mind offering you advice.” Kazekiri leaned back. “Is this… about Prince Arthur and Gabrielle?”

  “That is part of it,” Alex answered, “but not all of it. Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk in private. I… don’t want anyone else hearing what I have to say.”

  Kazekiri agreed to speak privately with him, so the two left soon after paying the check, and Kazekiri led him to the nearest shuttle stop. The shuttle they road took them to a park.

  There were several hubs located in Mars City that had been created for the purpose of letting children play and adults relax. Parks. They were recreated based on the parks often seen in holonet pic
tures of Earth. Filled with grass, sand lots, playgrounds, and the like, these parks were a great place for people to spend time at after a long day of work and school.

  The park that Kazekiri led Alex to was filled with trees. Cobblestone paths granted them a place to walk, several benches lined the paths, and the tree line was marked by a small fence that kept kids from trying to climb the trees. Most of them were bonterras, the genetically modified trees that cleaned the atmosphere of pollution. However, Alex spotted a few sakura trees as well.

  Kazekiri said nothing. She was probably waiting for him to say something.

  “This is… difficult to say,” Alex said at last. “I, um, I have a problem.”

  “Isn’t that why you’re coming to me for advice?” Kazekiri asked in a slightly joking tone.

  “Yes.” Alex chuckled just a bit. “Yes, it is, but this problem is… it’s not the kind I normally talk about. I’m not sure who I should talk to this about at all, but you helped me when I discussed the other problem, so I thought… well, I thought it couldn’t hurt.”

  “The girl you rescued.” Kazekiri nodded. “The one you had to do… things to… to save her life. That was Nyx, wasn’t it?”

  “It was.” He sighed. “Ever since that moment, I’ve been feeling more and more guilty, more ashamed of myself, I guess. The thing is, even before I rescued Nyx, I used to find myself thinking about the girls in my life in ways that are… less than pure. I’ve even dreamed about them, about doing stuff with them… and stuff.”

  Getting the words out was a lot harder than he thought it would be. It felt like something was clogging his throat, blocking him from talking about this subject. It wasn’t anything physical. Reluctance. He didn’t want Kazekiri or anyone else to know what he was feeling, what he was thinking, because he was afraid they would think less of him once they knew the truth.

  “Oh…” Kazekiri’s cheeks turned red. She must have known what he was talking about.

  Everyone at Atreyu Academy took at least two courses on sexual education. One dealt specifically with the act of sex itself; what it was, how it worked, and why consent and using protection were important. The other class dealt with puberty, particularly, how puberty and sex worked in conjunction with each other.