The four of us split into two groups— Mio and I search from the sky while we're invisible; Rika and Hitomi search from the ground. We broke away from the hiking group, letting them go on ahead while we stayed behind.

It made me even more angry that Nogi isn't trying to find Kaede. He sent a few texts to her and thinks she just went back to the inn. I know better than to hope for that. The fact that the delinquent girls haven't come back yet either, tells me they went after Kaede when she left.

Mio flies up to me shaking her head. "Can't see shit with all the trees in the way. Maybe Hitomi and Rika have better luck down there."

Just as she says that, I get a text from Rika telling me they haven't made any progress. This is beginning to turn out worse than I thought. It's one thing if the girls are just bullying her, but it's been an hour now since we started searching. There might be some foul play involved.

"Let's fly down and search from the ground, too." I suggest.

Both of us head down, and by a stroke of luck we see one of the girls from the delinquent group leaning against a tree. She's smoking a cigarette, absorbed with whatever she's doing on her phone.

Mio points to her, and we fly just above her head to see what she's doing. With a single hand, the girl texts into her phone at lightning speed. It's almost inhuman, but I guess that's the power of gyarus who don't pay attention in class and spend their time playing around.

It looks like she's in a group chat with her friends.

One text reads: just scared the shit out of k lol

Another reads: think she pissed her pants running away. dunno where she went after

When they mention 'k' that must be short for Kaede.

The girl sends one last message about getting something to eat later before putting the phone away. She takes a long drag of her cigarette and unwittingly blows it into Mio's face.

"Cough! Cough— what the fuck, bitch?" Mio shouts, choking on the smoke.

The student turns around, freaked out by Mio's exclamation but doesn't see anyone behind her. "Who's there? Is that Mio's voice?"

I throw Mio the universal 'look-what-you-did' face, and she apologizes silently.

"Hey! If someone's there, this isn't funny!" she yells.

The two of us dive behind the tree and walk out with the invisibility spell dropped. 

"Just now, you guys were talking about Kaede, weren't you?" I accuse her.

"Tsk. You two are invading my privacy right now, so how about you screw off?" She turns to leave but Mio grabs her shoulder. "Let go—!"

She pinches the girl's lips shut and puts an arm around her. "You just blew smoke in my face and didn't bother saying sorry. How do ya think I feel?"

Now that I think about it, Mio does give off a very delinquent feel. Less of the yankee kind and more of just being a gyaru troublemaker.

"Are you and your friends the ones who've been bullying Kaede?" I ask. Mio lets go of her mouth, but she doesn't answer. She spits at my feet and turns the other cheek. "I wanted to play nice…"

Mio holds the girl steady while I pat her down for her school ID. It turns out her name is Yaguchi Ruriko, a third year from the same class as Koga.

I could charm her, but that would only resolve Kaede's bullying problem temporarily. There's still the rest of Ruriko's group…

Mio leans down to sniff Ruriko and nibble on her ear.

"Kyaa—! What the hell do you think you're doing, freak?!" she screams.

I'm just as taken aback. "We're not here to sexually assault her!"

Mio pulls away and clears her throat. "Oops! This bitch is in heat, I couldn't help myself. You probably can't smell it because you had your fill already."

"Hitomi and Rika said they're offering themselves, you don't have to go after— er… forget what I said." I abandon my argument realizing too late that I made the first offense.

"Oh, that's big coming from the succubus that fucked four people last night." Mio says, slapping my boobs.

At that moment, we both realize Mio said the s-word in front of a human being.

"You two— succubus? What are you even talking about…?" Ruriko looks between us confused.

"Ah, shit." Mio throws her hands in the air and charms Ruriko. "That's not my fault, alright?"

I wanted to avoid charming one of them, because that might mean we have to charm the entire group. But this is becoming more and more unavoidable.

I shake Ruriko by the shoulders as the charm takes effect. Since she's more inclined to speak with us now, might as well make the best of it.

"Ruriko, tell me the truth— have you guys been bullying Kaede?" I ask.

She blinks over her glazed eyes and then looks at us with friendly recognition. "That fidgety, quiet girl? Yeah. She's such an easy target, we can't help it."

"Damn. She's proud of it, too." Mio remarks, putting her hand on her hips.

I continue to press Ruriko, hoping to get an idea why. "You and your friends are hurting her. Don't you feel bad at all? She's got so many bruises on her body that she wears long sleeves even in the summer!"

Her head tilts to one side. "Bruises? We never hurt her that bad. Sure, it's hilarious scaring her silly, but none of us ever laid a hand on her."

"Uh— what? You aren't lying, are you?" I ask her, but turn to Mio to ask again. "They wouldn't lie while charmed, right?"

"Nope. Not unless you want them to lie, or it's something they can't answer." Mio answers.

Ruriko shakes her head at my question.

If Ruriko and her friends aren't physically abusing her, then who is? The boyfriend?

Mio and I get a text from Hitomi that they found a shawl on the ground that might belong to Kaede. They have gps tracking on their phones turned on for us to find them. It looks like they aren't too far away from where the meadow was.

One last thing before we go.

"If your friends ever think about bullying Kaede again, tell them you 'don't feel like it,' got it?" I order Ruriko.

Mio's eyes flash, tightening the charm's control over her and she nods in response.

With one bully settled, we fly over to Hitomi and Rika's location. Hitomi has the blue shawl in her hand, it has leaves and twigs clinging to it from being on the ground.

She hands the shawl to Mio and asks, "Can you smell her out?"

"What am I, a dog?" Mio snatches the shawl being handed to her. "It's one thing if Kaede was horny and left a scent, but that girl's drier than a desert."

"Rika and I saw the other group heading down the mountain. I wanted to question them, but didn't want to lose the spot where we found her shawl." Hitomi explains, catching us up to speed.

"Bad news is, they are bullying Kaede." I show Rika and Hitomi pictures I took of the texts from Ruriko's phone.

"In that case, I have some disciplining to do." Hitomi gives me the shawl and cracks her knuckles. "I'll question them with as little restraint as possible. See if they know where they chased Kaede off to."

"Alright, Mio and I will stay and keep looking."

The four of us split up again, hopefully with better luck this time. The sun is starting to come down, we've lost track of time and it's creeping into the late afternoon. It would be bad if we can't find her when night falls.

We search for another half hour. I'm about to throw in the towel and notify our chaperones and local authorities when I hear people arguing. Mio leads the way until we come across Kaede and Nogi bickering dangerously close to a ledge.

It turns out her boyfriend did come looking, but Kaede doesn't look happy to see him.

"Come on, let's go back to the inn together. No one's in my room right now, and we can try other stuff." He says, pulling on Kaede's arm and not bothering to hide his impatience.

"No. Didn't you have enough last night? Let me go back to the hiking group—" Kaede tries to resist, but loses her footing. Nogi doesn't make an effort past watching her slip off the ledge.

"Oh, shit— Kaede!" I race past Nogi and jump after her.

I manage to grab her just inches away from hitting the ground. With her in my arms, I levitate us the rest of the way down. She's unconscious, with a few scrapes from the crashing through the branches.

Mio shouts from above. "I'll fly—" She notices Nogi right next to her and smacks her face. "I mean, we'll find a way down to get ya!"

Kaede's eyes flutter and snap open. Realizing that she's laying on my lap, scrambles to her feet and apologizes. 

"W-What happened?" she asks.

"You were fighting with your boyfriend and you slipped down a slope." I answer.

Kaede finally notices the height she fell from and gasps.

"You risked yourself for me…? I'm sorry for ruining your trip. I didn't mean to get anyone involved in my personal problems." Her voice becomes softer each time she speaks.

"Aha… I figured you've been hurt enough. Besides, this is nothing to me." I say, patting my chest.

She sits down next to me with her eyes cast to the ground.

"My… My boyfriend gave me these bruises because he likes it rough." Kaede admits, tears welling around her eyes. "I used to like him. Whenever we… do it, it's not even fun for me."

"I think your boyfriend is an asshole." I give her a handkerchief which she gratefully accepts.

"We've been together for two and a half years, leaving him now just feels wrong…" she says, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"You know what else feels wrong? That you accept getting hurt for his happiness. I think you should look for your own. Like has he ever even given you an org… asm...?"

Wait… what am I saying…? 

Why am I saying this?!

"Eh— w-w-what?" Her face turns beet red. "I don't know if this is s-s-something we should talk about…"

"Of course, it's important!" I shout, louder than I expected to. Since I'm already scolding her, I might as well go all the way. "If he doesn't care about your pleasure, why should you care about his?"

"My… pleasure?" she repeats, as though the words are a foreign concept.

There it is. The scent of lust that's beginning to emit from her body. Now I understand what Mio meant when she said Kaede was 'dry.' If I push her some more, I might get her to stop thinking about her boyfriend.

"It's not you, at all. Nogi is just bad at sex because he doesn't know how to lead up to it. For example…" I reach up to stroke her face. She jerks back, surprised by my bold action, but seeing that I meant no harm lets me continue touching her. "When you love someone, you want them to feel good."

Kaede shuts her eyes, leaning into my hand's caress. At some point, she's so entranced that she presses my hand against her cheek. Then, coming to her senses, Kaede pulls away embarrassed.

"I'm sorry—! It just felt..."

"Good?" I say, finishing her sentence.

She nods.

"Do you want to feel better?" I ask.

She nods again, consenting as she stares into my eyes. 

Kaede wears a light t-shirt with a mascot print on it. I can tell by the outlines around her chest she's wearing a sports bra underneath. Slowly, my hands slip inside her shirt, giving her every chance to back out.

She doesn't.

Her breathing grows shallow as my fingers find their way under the sports bra to her breasts. They're small, but all sizes deserve the same amount of attention. Pinching her nipples causes her to squeal. That Kaede seems to be enjoying this for the first time tells me her boyfriend sucks at the foreplay.

Behind her, I see Nogi creeping up. Just as I think to stop what we're doing, Mio sneaks up behind him and puts a charm that pacifies him. Mio disappears into the trees, while Nogi lowers himself into the underbrush to avoid being seen.

"Um… Saeko, nnh… I'm feeling weird…" Kaede says, biting down on her lower lip.

"Kaede, have you and your boyfriend kissed before?" I ask.

Her blush flares up again. "W-We have. Why?"

I lean forward, lifting her by the chin to meet my lips. When we kiss, only our lips touch. I hold myself back from putting my tongue into her mouth so as to not scare her. The next few minutes are spent like this, readjusting the position of our lips, putting pressure on each other.

Kaede's eyes are screwed shut, still red in the face but not pulling away from our embrace. Suddenly, I feel a wet sensation between our lips, surprising even me. I didn't know she had it in her.

I part my lips to receive her tongue, it hangs idle in my mouth. When I start teasing it with mine, her head jerks away.

"I don't know what came over me!" she says, covering her face in embarrassment.

Kaede has no idea her boyfriend is behind her hiding in the grass. I'm sure Mio was joking about the whole cuckolding thing, but we've already done things that would be considered cheating.

After recomposing ourselves— mostly Kaede recovering from her first orgasm— we pick ourselves up to get ready and leave. As I get to my feet, I feel Kaede tug on my hand. Her timid expression tells me she has something to say, but is too embarrassed to bring herself to speak.

"The truth is… I don't want to leave my boyfriend…" Kaede says, turning away ashamed at her own words.

"Despite all the terrible things he did to you?"

A part of me wants to charm her, but it would be just as wrong to rob her of that decision.

"Almost three years is a long time. We've had our ups and downs, but I want to try and work it out." Kaede speaks with a maturity that I wouldn't expect from someone as timid as herself.

At a time like this, Hatsumi pops into my head. My sister may be eccentric when it comes to me, but she understands when to be an adult about serious matters. I'm an adult now, too, but so much of what I've been doing has been based on my emotions.

Today as well—

Oh, god. By having sexual contact with Kaede who already has a boyfriend, haven't I basically committed adultery?

Can I even be considered a responsible adult?!

Sighing, I reach out to pat Kaede on the head. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't let him near you again. But I won't tell you how to live your life."

Kaede appears entranced by the headpat, and smiles for the first time since I took notice of her. 

"If you were still a boy, I'm sure you would make a great boyfriend." She says, an off-hand compliment cuts me deeper than I expected.

"Aha… a boy, huh. I guess I'm stuck as a potential girlfriend now."

When it comes down to it, I haven't given being a boy again much of a thought. The Blade is charged with enough sexual energy through me to reverse my gender, but I've been having a lot more fun as a girl.

Well… in more ways than I'm willing to admit out loud…

I have noticed that as a girl, my thought process from when I was a boy hasn't changed all too much. I still enjoy reading harem and isekai manga, I get turned on from seeing women naked, and school will never not be a chore.

All that's really changed in me is a heavy dose of horniness and uncontrollable urge to screw or get screwed.

Only a short walk through a cluster of trees and we're back on the main road along the side of the island. I can already see the ryokan from here, and the many students along the beach. Behind us, Nogi is still hidden in the tall grass.

I wonder what sort of charm Mio put on him? I'll have to find out from her when I get back to the inn.

Kaede pinches my shirt to keep me from walking ahead and asks, "Can we… try holding hands? Nogi's hand is always rough and sweaty."

"Sure." When I take Kaede's hand in mine, intertwining our fingers together, her lips fold into a goofy smile.

"When you reintroduced yourself to the class as a girl, I was surprised." Kaede suddenly says. "I thought it must have been so nice to just start over as a new person. I was jealous that people started liking you just because you changed."

"There was nothing nice about it… I had a miserable time, you know?!" I exclaim, thinking back on all the times Mio messed with me. "Well, you can change all you want, but you can't put a hard restart on your circumstances. I heard about how Ruriko and her friends are bullying you."

"I want them to stop, I just don't know what to do. Did you ever have to deal with bullies?" she asks.

"In grade school and middle school, I had bullies. But I also had a childhood friend beat them up. From now on, if they do anything to you, just let me and Mio know. We'll take care of them." I assure her.

Kaede brushes the messy hair from her eyes and gazes out to sea. "Being hand in hand with someone who promised to protect me… this feels nice. Do you have someone you like?"

The first person to pop up in my mind has the most obnoxious grin and is none other than Mio. "I do, and if I told her, it would only stroke her ego. She'd probably tease me about it for days, and won't let me hear the end of how great she is."

We get back to the inn without much of a fuss. The delinquent group steers clear of Kaede. Whatever Hitomi said or did to them must have put the fear of death in them.

"If it isn't too much to ask, would it be alright if I hang out with your group for the rest of the trip?" Kaede asks.

Mio smacks my back to push me forward. "If… if you don't mind five being a crowd, we're more than happy to have you around."

"Thank you!" she then lowers her voice and asks, "C-Could you teach me more about feeling good later?"

I gulp hard.

A moral battle is being waged in my head.

"S-Sure." I answer hesitantly.

Ugh… Horny succubus Saeko, 1; responsible adult Saeko, 0.