Monstrous Distinction Part 13 (Patreon)

“Hello and welcome~” A familiar voice, that Fuutarou immediately recognized, chimed throughout the shop, making Fuutarou’s hairs briefly stand on end. This was her, no doubt about it. The woman that somehow and inexplicably cursed him and transformed the entire world so that no one would believe him.

“Hi there~” Yotsuba also chimed in return, her large, heavy and hooved body barely fitting through the door frame. “We were hoping that…”

“Your name is Nagisa, right?” Fuutarou asked, interrupting Yotsuba’s pleasantries on purpose. This woman was no doubt incredibly dangerous, so it was important to be somewhat on guard around her.

“Yes? Have you visited my store before?” She asked in return, looking like she had forgotten about their interaction last week. All in all, Nagisa looked just as mysterious and mystical as she did the first time around, only now Fuutraou wasn’t going to underestimate her anymore.

“I’m sure I would have remembered a boy in the company of five lovely ladies, all of them being of a different species. Quite a sight to behold really.”

“Oh we were here, only that no extra-species existed at that time, since you were the one who cursed us in the first place.” Fuutarou replied, pointing his finger at the caramel-skinned woman behind the counter, who just stared at him, shocked at his words. “And now we came back and want some answers. Do you understand?”

“Wow, Mr. Tutor. Aggressive much?” Nino lightly punched his side with one of her tentacles while moving into the forefront of the pack. And although he wanted to be the one who guided the conversation, he also knew that stopping Nino was a very difficult thing to do.

“Okay lady, answer me one question first.” Nino spoke, her voice was cold and intimidating. “Were you the one that turned this entire world on its head and created all the extra species?”

Nagisa just looked at her in confusion for a second, before her expression changed to a big smile. And with a slight giggle, she answered: “Parts yes, parts no. The wish itself came from someone else, I just supplied the certain magical ‘something’ to make it happen.”

Then she glanced at Fuutarou and let out a short laugh. “And I am guessing that you were the guy from last week that made that wish, correct? I think your name was Fuutarou, if i am not mistaken. And he was in the company of a girl named Ichika, which I believe is…”

“...me. I’m impressed you remembered.” Ichika slithered forward, right beside Nino, even if it became immediately apparent that her tail was just a little bit too long to comfortably fit into the store. Regardless, she continued. “We want to talk about the curse you put on Fuutarou-kun. Can we borrow some of your time for that?”

“Hahaha~ Wow, all of you look so serious, it's actually impressive.” Nagisa laughed, then just put on a knowing smile. “Sure thing. Let's go into my backroom since there is more space back there. I hadn’t had the chance to update my store's size since the big change, so as you might have already noticed it's a little bit too small for some of you all. Follow me.”

There was a door to the side of the counter, which Fuutarou had actually never noticed before, that Nagisa was now smugly striding towards. He wasn’t dense enough to not realize that the quins definitely didn’t like his cutthroat approach to this situation, but he could tell that they also had a lot of questions for that mysterious woman.

At least the room next door was a lot spacier than the cramped together shop, though it only really felt cramped because three of the five girls took up more space than ten people combined. Nagisa casually guided them to a massive table that for some reason had already the perfect seats for every type of extra species he brought along, with three normal seats, a centaur bench, one for scyllas and a lamia seat as well.

It was almost like she had known that they would visit in advance.

“I can tell that you guys have a lot of questions, so then, shoot away. I am all yours~” Nagisa chimed, though Fuutarou had the feeling that she was most likely going to dodge most of the questions.

“Let’s start from the top. Why did you change the world… and us as well?” Nino asked, being the first to speak up. Though Nagisa only shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “You already know the answer to that, my dear. Fuutarou wished for it and I granted it. There isn’t much more to it~”

“And how, if I might ask, did you do it…?” Yotsuba asked, clearly intimidated by the intense atmosphere. Nagisa once again shrugged and answered with a bright smile. “Magic~”

“Alright then. Pointless questions will get us nowhere.” Fuutarou spoke up, looking more serious than he did before. Then he took a deep breath and looked at the girl clad in the black robe again. “Is there a way to reverse this curse?”

“There is usually a way to reverse anything, if you look long enough.” Nagisa replied, taking a sip of water from a glass that seemed to just have magically appeared out of thin air. Fuutaro then once again took a deep breath and asked. “Let me rephrase that: Can you reverse this curse for us? And what would we need to do to get you to reverse the curse?”

“I could answer this question for you, but are you sure that is even the right question to ask?” Nagisa replied, tilting her head while just giving a big smile. “Are you sure that you even want me to reverse this ‘curse’?”

There was a bit of silence in the room after that question. This was exactly that thing that Fuutarou was worried about too, because he knew how Ichika felt. She definitely didn’t want to turn back, yet at the same time still felt guilt that it was her curiosity that robbed her sisters of their humanity. And because she confessed that to him with tears in her eyes, he now didn’t have a response already.

“Yes, we would like to at least get rid of the curse that's on Uesugi-kun specifically.” Itsuki suddenly broke the silence, making all in the room look at her for a moment. “We can talk about turning some of us back into humans afterwards, but first I would like you to make it so that I don’t constantly have to live in fear of Uesugi-kun all the time.”

“You know, there is an easy way for you to fix it yourself.” Nagisa replied sheepishly.

“And turn myself into an Extra Species?” Itsuki asked rhetorically.

“Do you know that you wouldn’t like it?”

“What? I…!” Itsuki wanted to say something, but Nagisa once again interrupted her. “Let’s be honest here. How would you know that you wouldn’t like it? The only reference that you have are your sisters, and those certainly seemed to have no problem enjoying themselves.”

“I… I… I just prefer to have human legs, okay?”

“And how would you know that if you have never tried something else?”

“I… wouldn’t…”

“I see what you are so afraid of and I am pretty sure that I can make you an offer that can fix it for you. Let me offer you a challenge, a game, if you will.” Nagisa grinned, to which Fuutarou immediately stood up from his chair.

“Absolutely not.” He resolutely declared, slamming on the table with his hands. “Don’t you think for a second that I have forgotten about what happened last time we played your little game. I am not going to fall for that a second time.”

“Hahaha~ My little ‘grant your wish’ game really left a bad impression on you, didn’t it?” Nagisa just laughed in response and just waved it off. “Then how about this: Let's play a game that you cannot possibly lose. A game where you can in every sense of the word decide your own outcome without anyone else’s interference. A game that can turn all of you back into humans, keep you as Extra Species or any combination in between. What do you say?”

Fuutarou was understandably skeptical and ready to decline any sort of game Nagisa was going to suggest, and Nagisa clearly knew that as well as she added. “And don’t worry, I know that you are not a fan of my games. You can just wait outside in the shop while I explain the rules to the girls.”

“That’s…!” Fuutarou wanted to object, yet Nagisa cut him off as she spoke in a tone that was indescribably sciphoning his will to talk out of him. “Don’t worry about it. They are free to refuse my game if they want to. Now go and wait outside~ The girls will soon follow…”

Next thing Fuutarou knew, he was closing the door behind him, standing in shock in the shop where all the weirdness of the last few days began…

—

The day has finally come. Time to confront the source of the curse.