Pride's Origin

Chapter 5 - With You

    Pride.

    This word evinced a type of pressure that came from her very being before it disappeared in its entirety.

    ‘Gasp!’

    Makoto took deep breaths as if he went without air for much too long. The perspiration from before was dripping down his chin, creating a small puddle at his feet.

    “Wa-was that the pressure that you guys felt!? Forget it, I can do without the powers, I don’t want to have to go through all that.”

    After some time, what she intoned started to sink in, “Wait, pride!? So the weirdness you guys are giving off is beca… well, the increased amount of weirdness is because of a strengthened feeling of pride?”

    Makoto couldn’t be blamed for how he was feeling. He had been friends with these girls for the longest time, even before they came to this facility.

    So suddenly feeling like an outsider among them was an uncomfortable feeling in and of itself.

    Still, he steeled himself, and the next words that he said were enough to throw even them off guard.

    “Alright, so when are we leaving?” Even though he knew they were like this because of the recent events, after thinking it through, he knew it made perfect sense.

    It’s not like the people in this world had ever shown a shred of them putting their differences aside to work together. Giving them something like this was akin to putting wings on a tiger. It probably wouldn’t bring about the outcome they were looking for.

    Both Kura and Rikona were in a bit of a daze. The elevated pride they felt made them feel both subconsciously and consciously superior to regular humans.

    It was hardly something they could fight against, this was becoming more and more a part of them the more of their abilities they discovered.

    Hence, even though he was their friend, his earlier comments were cementing their innate thoughts that all humans were the same, thinking only of themselves. This was why when he chose to join them, doing a full 180 as it were; it threw them for a loop.

    “Uhm, Makoto, do you know what you’re saying? You know you’re gonna be a part of more of… us, who don’t care much about making humans like us, right?” Kura had to take the initiative in letting him know.

    At this comment, he simply shook his head with a smile, “Seriously girls? You don’t get it, seems like that knowledge doesn’t make you omniscient hehe. That means you can still learn, that’s good. You know, when you guys finally made it here, I was happy, knowing my two girls who I protected back in their freshman years in college are gonna be here.

    “It was obvious you guys were gonna be bullied, I mean, who told you to come to college at 12 and 14 years old? Anyway, I couldn’t leave you alone when I just saw two pretty good kids just trying to get by.”

    When he reached this point, he finally leaned back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling while the two sisters went quiet.

    They both sat there listening, waiting, a complicated expression on their faces.

    After a while, he continued, “When I saw those bozos bullying you, I told em to get lost, and then we kinda stuck from there. Based on what I know, I don’t care what’s inherent or innate or whatever to you now. You guys are good people by nature, and you can’t tell me you don’t care about humans,” he raised air quotes at this, eliciting a small smile from Rikona and a cute giggle from Kura.

    “You guys are not gonna leave them… or I should say ‘us,’ alone. You’re gonna do something, so if I can do something to help, then why not? Plus, I get to be around with superpowers! I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Plus, you may have been dependent on me when we just met, but it’s the other way now, right? So I’m stuck on you and I ain’t leaving.”

    He shamelessly laughed, holding nothing back.

    When they heard up to here, the two sisters’ mindsets underwent a change, giving them a bit more control over themselves.

    Kura quickly got up from her older sister and promptly went to the opposite couch where Makoto was and sat beside him, planting a small kiss on his cheek, obviously pleased with his response.

    Then Rikona, after listening to the end, slowly got up and with a smile and came towards him seductively before sitting down on his lap. She then wrapped both her arms around his neck and looked deeply into his eyes before rewarding him with a deep kiss on his lips.

    She soon withdrew and moved to his ears before whispering, “I’ll be sure to award you more appropriately tonight.”

    Kura who sat to the side rolled her eyes at this, obviously aware of their late-night escapades.

    Even though Makoto wasn’t involved with either of the girls romantically, it didn’t mean that he and Rikona haven’t done anything before. So there would, of course, be times when they would get together, and tonight would seem to be one of those times.

    Still, hearing what he said really did move her, so who knows if she wouldn’t start feeling more than just the need for something carnal.

    Makoto turned his head away and blushed when he heard this, betraying his expectations for tonight. “Y-You’re a tease, you know that.”

    She released a giggle of her own when she heard him and planted another kiss on his forehead before she playfully replied saying, “Careful, I might just fall for you.”

    “Now where did I put my gag bucket? I’m pretty sure I left it around here somewhere,” Kura pretended to be looking for something after seeing the two ‘dogs in heat,’ beside her.

    “HA HA, very funny,” Rikona couldn’t help but respond sarcastically at that.

    She then turned her attention back to Makoto, “Well, we’re not gonna leave yet. There are a few things we need to take care of first before anything else.”

    “What do you mean?” Makoto showed a great deal of interest at this and had to ask.

    Kura answered saying, “Well, why would we leave when we have a high-powered facility like this at our disposal? Plus the old man has stopped showing his face around here so, y’kno, the creep factor’s gone down too.”

    The old man she was referring to was naturally the director of Exélixi, Shihai Yokubo.

    “Hmm? The old man’s finally given you girls some breathing space? Finally, it’s a miracle I haven’t bumped into him, what with the number of times I find myself over here.”

    “Don’t remind us, anyway, since he found something else to keep himself busy, we can use that time to do what we need to do a…”

    Before Rikona could finish, her expression changed to one of contemplation and then annoyance.

    ‘Sighs.’

    “We have company.”

    “Wait, don’t tell me it’s the old man. I don’t want him to see me over here. I don’t even like seeing him on a normal day!” Makoto was panicking at the moment before Rikona calmed him down.

    “Pipe down you big baby, It’s just Mr Overum.”

    “Mayuri!? Why didn’t you say so? Let me go downstairs and say hi,” Makoto showed a devilish smile when he heard.

    Obviously, he intended to send Mayuri on his way, “Oh wait, how did you know? I mean, we didn’t even hear the door tone.”

    “Oh, so our senses kinda underwent an upgrade after everything, and Mayuri is the kinda person who we can feel even when we don’t want to… and on that note, I’ll deal with him. We’re gonna be leaving eventually so we don’t have to mind that backing of his,” Rikona said, heading downstairs herself.

    Outside of the girl’s lab was Mayuri, who was just about to press the door button to request entry, but it opened up before he could to reveal Rikona standing at the entrance. “Hello Mayuri, and to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

    His face then showed that same expression of thirst and lust as he scanned her body, even licking his lips as he did so, something that drew a feeling of disgust from her.

    “Hello Rikona, I was just here to ask if you’ll accompany me on a walk through the compound. Surely it’s not a bad day for such an activity.”

    She simply stared back at him before responding, “Mayuri I wouldn’t go on a walk with you even if you were the la-“

    “Is that Mayuri I hear? How’s my favourite s**t stain!?” A loud outburst from inside the lab interrupted Rikona’s reply.

    Mayuri’s expression changed, obviously aware of who alone had the gall to refer to him as such.