The Uninvited Guest and the Shape of Divinity

Ter Citrine.

At the appearance of the uninvited guest, I blinked.

"What do you want with me?"

"My, my. No need to glare at me like that. I'm not here to cause you any harm."

"Am I really making that kind of face?"

The Writer answered my question about my own appearance indirectly by posting a goblin emoji in the chat window.

Sob. My filthy, wretched face.

Should I seriously consider getting plastic surgery someday and starting over from scratch?

It was genuinely something to ponder.

"I simply came to claim my rightful due."

"Your rightful due?"

"You're not about to tell me you forgot, are you?"

Ter's expression had gone ice-cold. Lightning gathered and crackled at her fingertips.

"I know. How to use the Divine Artifact. I promised I'd teach you, didn't I?"

"It's already been days since that promise. Don't let my looks fool you — patience isn't exactly my strong suit."

Ter pressed herself against my side.

With her body clinging to my arm and her weight subtly leaning my way, the soft sensation of her chest pressed through the gaps of her uniform and made itself very clearly known.

Her platinum-blonde hair, gleaming as though embroidered with gold thread, sent a sweet strawberry fragrance wafting up to tickle my nose.

"So, may I ask a favor? Because I'd like to do it right now."

What a pain. Such a pain.

I sighed at the sight of Ter latching onto me.

I'd been deliberately putting it off, and here she was, hunting me down in person.

Her obsession ran deeper than I'd expected — which, I suppose, meant she wanted to become head of the family just that badly.

"Fine, fine. As it happens, I have some free time, so I'll teach you."

"Why the face like I'm twisting your arm?"

"Honestly? I figured it didn't matter whether I taught you right away or not. It's not urgent."

"And by what criteria exactly did you arrive at that judgment? Care to share with me?"

"There's no 'criteria' to speak of. The answer's written all over why you enrolled at the Academy in the first place."

I peeled Ter off my arm.

No one else's presence lingered nearby, but if anyone had happened to catch us, it would have been a scene best left unseen.

Anyone else I could handle — but if it reached Yupi's ears, things were going to get very, very complicated.

"Three years. That's how long it takes to graduate from the Academy. You came to this island aiming to become head of the family — an island where no one enters without permission and no one leaves. The picture practically paints itself."

"You're sharper than you look. So, in other words, since you figured the timeline was generous and there was no need to rush, you simply never came to find me?"

"Exactly."

It wasn't a matter that demanded immediate resolution, so I'd judged it could wait. That was all.

'Even if I taught Ter how to use the Divine Artifact right now, it would be a wasted effort.'

The true owner of the lightning she carried was Yupi Citrine.

It was something ill-suited to her in the first place — force it into use, and the risk of it running rampant was considerable.

And yet she'd come all this way to find me, which meant she intended to extract that promise from me no matter what.

Since I had no confidence in enduring the insufferable obsession she'd displayed so often in the web novel, I reluctantly decided to grant her request.

Hearing that, she'd apparently felt even better about tracking me down.

"Well, hearing that makes me glad I came. Consider the con artist apprehended~."

"This time, the fault's largely mine for not arranging a schedule in advance, so I'll grant the favor. But there won't be a next time."

"Oh my, is that a broken promise? How unlike you."

"That's not what I mean. I'm saying, in advance, that I have no intention of entertaining demands like this — showing up out of nowhere with no warning. I'm a man with a schedule too, you know."

"I see what you're getting at. So as long as we talk things over beforehand, there's no problem. Got it."

Ter rummaged through her pocket and produced her phone.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

A handset in an adorable bunny-shaped case, charms dangling from it like clusters of grapes.

She pulled up the contact app and handed the phone to me.

"Let's exchange numbers. With this, we can set up a schedule anytime, anywhere — no matter the place or the hour."

"Yeah, yeah, fine."

I punched in my number and handed the phone back.

Ter reclaimed it and pressed the call button to check that it connected.

Riiing-ring-ring-ring!

Click.

"There. All good now?"

"Connection confirmed."

And with that, my number exchange with Ter was complete.

Save for exactly one person, I now held the contact information of every major player driving the narrative of Academy Yuri Princess.

"We've exchanged numbers and all, but if you screen my calls or leave my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠texts on read, I'll come find you. Just so you know."

"I've been swamped lately, so I might run late, but I'll do my best to respond as quickly as I can."

"Busy because of that Yupi bitch? Or maybe those girls gathering at the café?"

"Recently, my group members and I formed a study group, so it might be that keeping me occupied."

True to her reputation as the Academy's top scout, Ter was an exceptional information gatherer.

Her tailing skills were first-rate as well.

If she put her mind to it, figuring out where I was and what I was doing would be no trouble at all for her.

Anyway — enough chit-chat.

"Follow me. I'll take you somewhere we can train."

"Wouldn't the Academy training grounds do just fine? The ones open to students twenty-four hours a day, complete with all sorts of support equipment to help with training?"

"You might get away with pulling it out in front of others. I wouldn't."

"Thank you for that excellent answer."

Yeah, yeah. That was obviously the answer she was fishing for.

Already picturing Ter gleefully waving that slip of the tongue over my head, nagging me about it for weeks to come, my head was starting to ache. Tch.

...

Dilmun lay in the palm of the Headmaster of Purity Academy.

He knew everything that happened on this island, down to the finest detail — it was fair to say there was nothing he did not know.

But there is always an exception to every rule.

A handful of methods existed for slipping past his surveillance net.

One was entering a dungeon.

That place was not the Headmaster's domain — it was a world ruled by monsters, and beyond them, their kin. A separate dimension, cleaved off from this one. No matter that a dungeon sat within the island itself, his reach could not extend that far.

The other was the shoreline.

The farther one moved from the island's center, the weaker his dominion became.

The fact that he never once pressed me about the lengthy, thorough romp Yupi and I had enjoyed down at the pier was proof enough of that.

In other words: near the sea, his surveillance could not follow.

And if you added the condition of a place where no people's eyes would fall — there was exactly one such spot on the entire island.

The sea cave on the eastern shore.

Later, when Part Two began, Eva would seek out this very training ground to temper herself.

"I had no idea a cave like this existed out here."

"Watch your step. Slip up and you'll take a fall."

Using the jagged rocks jutting from the crevices of the coastline as footholds, we arrived at the hidden cave mouth.

A dark fissure revealed itself only between the surging waves. The salt stench carried on the sea breeze mingled with the slick sheen of moss crusted over the rock.

I kindled a light with magic and squeezed myself into the gap.

The floor was damp and slippery. Only a thin stream of water trickling down the walls caught the glow I cast, shimmering faintly.

"No one will spot us here, so feel free to bring out the Divine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Artifact."

"Understood."

"Fair warning — control your output. Cave collapses on your head make ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for a catastrophic accident."

"I have enough sense for that. Don't worry."

Once inside the cave, Ter gathered mana into her hand at once.

Crack! Blue lightning flashed, flooding the dark cave interior with light, and smacked against the rock wall.

"As you can see — out."

"How is it? What do you see?"

"What do I see? Well... electricity?"

"Right. Nothing but electricity. It hasn't taken any particular form at all. That's exactly where we start."

"To handle a Divine Artifact, you must at minimum know its true form. And you have no idea what shape your lightning — the Wrathful Heavenly Thunder — actually takes."

"So if I grasp the Thunder's true form, I'll be able to wield the lightning more easily than before?"

"No need to overcomplicate it. Pure electricity on its own is lethally dangerous, but in our daily lives, we put it to practical use all the time."

Computer power supplies, charging phone batteries — map it onto the things we share our lives with, and the scope of its applications was easy to infer.

"Up until now, you've handled that lightning bare-handed. Every time you used it, your palms must have burned away. Am I right?"

What you wield has never been the lightning itself — only a weapon that cradles it.

I planted that concept firmly in Ter's head.

"And you can actually do that?"

"As leisurely as you see before you."

I undid my bracelet and poured mana into it.

The ring, once no larger than my palm, swelled outward until it floated up behind my back.

A ring of light symbolizing the Sun. Like one that brightens the dark night sky and ushers in the dawn, it blazed through the cave, illuminating everything.

"If you can construct the true form your Divine Artifact possesses, you'll reap effects at least twice as powerful as what you have now. Practicing that is the entire heart of today's lesson."

"..."

"Why'd you go quiet all of a sud—"

No reaction from Ter.

Wondering if I'd just been muttering to myself, I turned my gaze to where she stood.

"Ahh... ha..."

And there, I witnessed something astonishing.

Ter's cheeks had flushed scarlet.

She bit down on her lip, straining to hide the tremor running through her.

Her thighs quivered faintly; her knees folded and flexed, folded and flexed again, and the hem of her skirt fluttered with the barest of movements.

Shhh...

Then, from beneath the skirt, down the inside of her thighs, a clear stream of liquid began to run.

One trickle, then two — thin as threads of silk, they slid down and soaked her white socks through to a stark, glistening white.

"Ngh... ah...!"

Ter pressed one hand against her skirt and bent forward at the waist.

She looked like she was fighting to swallow her moans, straining to endure it — but the faucet had been open a long, long time.

The warm liquid seeping from beneath her skirt soaked the cave floor thoroughly.

"..."

A heavy silence filled the cave.

Eyes brimming with tears, Ter squeezed out her words as if forcing out her very last breath.

"D-don't look."

At that desperate, shame-defying plea — wrung from her with everything she had — I quietly, considerately, closed my eyes.