Shoujoai ni Bouken: Adventures of Yuriko

 

Omake, Part 2

"Trail and error"

Light filled the room, moving in baroque sweeps of color and sound. As the forces swept Yuriko up and spun her around in a spastic ballet, she swore she was able to hear tinny background music.

The light subsided, leaving Yuriko breathless; one was hand extended forward in a half fist, the other pulled back to her waist, legs spread, leaning forward in an anticipatory crouch. With some resignation, Yuriko awaited the inevitable inane speech to tumble from her lips, but she was spared the indignity for the time being.

Yuriko stood upright, and turned to look at herself in the mirror that hung on the wall. Nagusa-chan's lisping voice cried out, "No, wait! Don't move!"

Yuriko turned back quickly. "What? Why not?"

Nagusa flapped her arms at her side, then gestured at Yuriko. The blonde tilted her head in confusion, then her eyes widened slowly as she turned her head. Great black wings spread out from her back, the feathers shining with an eldritch light. Yuriko flexed her shoulders to feel their weight, and they pulled in slightly, furling themselves with little effort.

"Hey, cool!" Yuriko said and spun around to look at herself without thinking. Nagusa threw herself face down on the sofa, her arms over her head as the wings, still half-spread, just passed over her ducking figure. A crash sounded and the room went dim.

"Uh, sorry," Yuriko said to no one in particular. "I think I knocked over the lamp."

Nagusa lifted her head slightly and watched as the tall blonde regarded herself carefully.

"You know," the idol spoke as if to herself, "I would have never thought I'd look so good in black." She patted herself down, caressing the soft leather blouse and tight-fitting pants she now wore. "And it's not exactly a short skirt..." She nodded, rocking her head back and forth. "Needs sunglasses, but okay, I don't look like a total dork." She pulled her wings in completely, then turned back to the child on the sofa. "So, what next?"

Nagusa ticked off points on her fingers. "Learn your powers, obviously, fight a bad guy or two, then go kick some greasy Kintaro butt and save the world."

Yuriko grinned. "Okay - what are my powers?"

The doll-woman looked up from a clipboard. "You can fly," she said wryly, "duh, and you can, let's see, manifest any weapon you need. She stared at the clipboard and colored. "And, uh..." she prevaricated.

"What, what else?" Yuriko asked eagerly. Nagusa shook her head and held the clipboard out for Yuriko to read. The blonde reached out and took it, spent a moment reading and choked. "But...but...that's got to be wrong! I can't, I'm not..." She pushed her hair out of her eye and heaved a breath. "Killer orgasms? That's *got* to be wrong."

Shaking her head, Nagusa apologized. "I don't write 'em, I just make deliveries."

Yuriko scratched her head for a moment. "Look, Nagusa-chan, it's a pretty useless power for me - I'm a lesbian."

Nagusa shrugged. "You'll have to branch out. I'll tell you what, I'll make sure, when I get back, that you can actually use the weapons you manifest." She grinned evilly. "Including that one."

Yuriko rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

The little doll-woman slapped her hands together with satisfaction. "Okay then, I think I'm done here. Thanks for your time and best of luck..." she stepped off the sofa, only to be dragged back by her collar.

"Oh, no you don't" Yuriko said as she plopped the little woman firmly on the sofa. "You're not going anywhere just yet."

Nagusa shook her head wildly as she tried to wriggle free of Yuri's grasp. "Come on! Let me go! I *told* you - I have two more deliveries to make...."

"So the sooner you tell me what's what," Yuriko said, holding Nagusa pinned to the sofa cushion with one hand, "the sooner you can go." The blonde, after checking to make sure her wings were tightly stowed, walked around the sofa and perched on the edge. "Spill it - what's Kintaro up to and what can I do about it?"

Nagusa pouted, but when it became apparent that the actress was not about to let go, she relented. With a long-suffering sigh, she said, "He's doing the usual energy-sucking thing. Through..." she stopped as Yuriko bounced to her feet.

"I knew it! Through bad TV dramas and movies, right? I knew there had to be an explanation for that crappy movie I'm doing."

Nagusa watched her, her mouth hanging open in surprise. Yuriko whirled, "I'm right aren't I?"

The doll creature shook herself out of her surprised paralysis. "Um, no actually - there's really no good reason for that movie you're making. I was going to say that he's planning on drugging the water supply...tonight in fact."

Yuriko stared at the diminutive creature with a frown. "Oh, well, there's no accounting for taste, is there?" She looked towards the door. "Water supply, huh? I guess I'm supposed to foil that, fight a few henchmen, be captured, stage an implausible escape and defeat the bad guy? Is that the plan?"

Nagusa smiled, relieved. "Pretty much! So, since you seem to have it under control..." she made as if to leave, but squawked with indignation as Yuriko scooped her up with one arm.

"No way, chibi, you're coming with me. I don't have a clue and you're my only resource." She slammed the door behind her and headed for the emergency stairs. "Come on, Nagusa-chan, we're going to learn to fly."

The doll-girl scrambled to break free once more, screaming, "Not me! I'm afraid of heights!" but found her mouth muffled against Yuriko's hand until they were on the roof.

Yuriko looked out onto the twilit city. "Whoa, we're pretty high up here." She glanced at the despondent doll in her arms. "You sure we're not going to die horribly?"

Nagusa said nothing, or at least nothing intelligible, her mouth covered as it was by Yuriko's hand, so Yuriko stepped closer to the edge of the roof, checked that both wings were unfurled and stood, as if awaiting a signal.

"Here goes nothing," she said and plunged off the roof.

The wind was the major thing. It buffeted her body and face so hard that she thought it must surely be solid. The ground rose up to meet her at an alarming rate - and showed no signs of slowing. At some point she became aware of Nagusa struggling violently at her side. She loosened her death grip on the creature who began to scream as loud as she could. Yuriko heard only faint sounds torn away by the relentless wind, but at last, as the ground loomed large in her vision, a single word penetrated her frozen brain.

"UP!!!!" Nagusa shrieked and Yuriko, her paralysis broken, looked up at last. With a sensation of pulling, her body arced away from the ground with mere meters to spare. She reached as hard as she could for the sky until the people below were mere specks and only the tallest buildings remained as obstacles.

Her whole body shaking with fear and relief, Yuriko collapsed onto the roof of a nearby skyscraper. She lay with her face pressed against the solidity of the structure while Nagusa jumped up and down in a screaming frenzy.

"What the HELL were you doing? Were you actively trying to kill me or are you just stupid?!" the little doll figure shouted.

Yuriko moaned into the roof. "I'm sorry I don't know how to fly," she groaned, rolling her body over with an effort.

Nagusa breathed hard and her arms waved in the air. "Up, I said, UP! Not down!"

Yuriko sat up with another groan, covering her face with her hands. "Stupid power," she muttered.

"It's not a stupid power!" Nagusa insisted. "It's a great power - it's all you magical girls who are stupid." She stamped her foot against the roof in impotent rage. "Ugh. I gotta get another job."

Yuriko staggered to her feet and faced the void at the edge of the building. "Up," she said dazed. "this time we go up."

Nagusa squealed with indignation as Yuriko grabbed her once again. "No wait! How about you practice up here - just fly around a bit."

Yuriko peered down at Nagusa acidly. "Why didn't you just suggest that last time?"

Nagusa made a face. "You didn't give me a chance."

Yuriko took a deep breath. "Okay, let's try this again. You wait here." She let the little figure drop to the roof and crouched a little. "Hey," she said, glancing at the doll-woman, "can I manifest weapons while I fly?"

Nagusa shrugged, "I dunno - how badly do you want to find out?"

"I suggest," a cold, yet sexy, voice spoke from above, "that you find out

sooner rather than later."

Continued