Murasaki's eyes positively shimmered with mischievousness. I felt her body sway as she looked up at me, biting her lip as she thought.

"I'm going to prove to you that I'm not the wicked succubus you think I am. How's that sound as a reward? Hmm?"

She leaned forward, pressing herself against me. She looked up at me with heavy-lidded eyes.

"We can't stay in here all day, darling, tempting as that may be. If we could cause a distraction, we could slip out the door."

Yeah. I'd thought of that. But I wasn't about to send Yuki to knock over a pile of books so I could be alone in a tight spot with Murasaki.

I felt her touch my left arm. She put her hand on my wrist, softly, and smiled. "But Rōshi-sensei doesn't have to catch us both, does he?"

I looked down at her hand. "Are you suggesting that we sneak out, you cause a distraction while I slip out the library door?"

She nodded. "If you'll go on a date with me, provided I survive, of course."

I backed up, slipping my hand from her grasp.

She frowned when I moved. "You still don't trust me?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't. Every time I'm around you, things start getting… weird. It's like all I can smell is your perfume, and it's impossible to think around you. What're you even doing that for?"

She rolled her eyes. "Since you put it that way, I guess I can see why you'd be nervous around me. But, darling, I haven't tried charming you once since we've been stuck here, have I?"

I felt her move, slightly. Enough to suggest her body's curves, and she grinned.

"I could have, you know, but I didn't since you saved me from that horrible librarian and his shoggoth," she sighed.

And I saw her thinking for a moment, considering what she was about to say to me. Finally, she looked back at me with her violet eyes.

"I saw Inego, at First Year Orientation. I went there hoping to catch the eye of a handsome new student."

She giggled at me and shrugged a little. "I'm just being honest, darling. After all, I am a succubus, and a girl has to eat, doesn't she?"

Oh my god, she sounds just like Shion if Shion decided to put her feminine charms on an altar and slip into an evening gown.

I nodded, listening.

She continued. "As soon as I saw Inego, I wanted him."

Her voice took on a possessive tone. She shifted her weight, and her flirtatious nature gave way to a predatory one.

Even though she was dangerous, I had to suppress a slight grin. She really was like Shion.

"You should have seen the way all the other girls were looking at him, and he was very charming, funny. He knew what he was doing, how to work the room, but he was a fool surrounding himself with those lesser girls, humph."

She crossed her arms defensively. "Especially since he'd seen me earlier. But I knew he was trying to make me jealous, and it worked."

I heard Yuki from the corner. "Wow, Ryu, this girl's life could be the evil stepmother's backstory."

I shouldn't find this amusing, but something about Murasaki's jealousy felt almost familiar, comforting even, after dealing with Shion.

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"But then, at the end of the evening, he came up to me and said that he wanted to speak to me the moment he saw me. He thought I was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen! I knew he wasn't lying," Murasaki whispered, remembering.

She looked at me, her eyes wide and sincere. "People don't lie about how pretty I am, do they?"

I shook my head. "No, they don't have to," I said quietly. Strange how a girl so powerful could sound so fragile.

She smiled. "Well, of course not, darling. I get my looks from mother, and I'm even prettier than she is."

Yuki rolled her eyes. "Of course you are, darling."

Murasaki was quiet for a moment. She breathed in, slowly, remembering the evening. "I knew he was going to ask me to his room, and then," she whispered, biting her lip. "I would've marked him and claimed him as my own. He would've had my succubus mark and then everyone would have known that I had the most handsome boy at Crescent Moon Academy. Then…

She took a breath. The confidence drained from her voice, everything deflating at once.

"…then they would've known that I have value. They'd see that… that… I'm not just…"

She shook her head. Her shoulders fell, and her brunette hair hung over her face.

"He left though. Once he found out what I was. When another boy said, 'you know she's a succubus,' to Inego he ran. Now you know he won't look at me twice."

The way her voice cracked when she said he ran stung.

Then her violet eyes locked with mine.

"You're still here, though. You saved me even though you knew what I was. I saw you with Shion, you know, after she attacked Inego… you protected her."

Murasaki's voice was tight as she kept her eyes locked on mine.

"I admit that in class, I was talking to you to make your friend, Inego, jealous, but now…"

Oh no. "Murasaki, please," I said, not exactly knowing what I was asking.

"Ryu-kun, I want you to protect me too," she said.

Oh goddamn it.

I don't want to be ignored anymore.

You can do anything, Ryu-sama. You can save me!

Just let me pretend I'm a girl who's having a bad day.

How can I protect anyone when I can't handle the problems in my own life? How am I supposed to do anything right when I don't even know what I am or who I am?

Am I Andrew Benjamin Davis of West Virginia, or am I Andrew Ryu Kazeyama, the black dragon of the windy mountain, first year student of Crescent Moon Academy and part time handy man of Shin'yume-sou.

Was I even alive?

I looked at the violet-eyed girl standing in front of me hoping, desperately, that she hadn't just asked me to do the impossible.

"How am I supposed to protect you, Murasaki? You saw Inego. I couldn't do a thing to protect him from Shion," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "I saw exactly what you did. You got that… beast to see you, and she stopped, didn't she? You saved your friend," she sighed.

"Both of them. Inego and Shion."

She spat Shion's name out like it was a bad taste, but she had a point.

Then she smirked. "And I know you will, whether you want to or not because that's just the type of person you are, isn't it, darling. Oh, you are. I can tell. You just can't help yourself, can you? Darling, don't you ever change. You're perfect the way you are."

She leaned forward again, just enough to remind my fifteen-year-old hormones that she was standing way too close.

Yuki scoffed. "As if that'll work. You're smarter than to fall for such a cheap trick."

Smart enough, yes, but not old enough, despite what my brain was yelling at my pineal gland.

I scoffed. "Yeah, if I'm perfect then what am I supposed to do about Ken?"

She looked confused. "Ken? What are you worried about? You're a dragon and he's an orc."

She leaned forward, making sure to press her chest against me.

"Squash him, darling," she purred.

"Yeah, easier said than done. How? He's twice my size. What, am I supposed to turn into a dragon and eat him?" I asked.

Her eyes grew wide. "You can do that?"

I shrugged. Could I?

"I seriously don't know," I said.

She nodded, understanding. "Ah, let me guess. You're a dragon spirit aren't you? You've got some attributes, but you're still learning. Ken knows what he's capable of, but you don't. Hmm…"

Yuki snorted. "Delightful. You're drowning, Ryu, and she's describing the water for you."

"Well, I can't help you with that," Murasaki said.

Yuki crossed her arms. "You can't help him at all."

"But I can sneak out and distract Rōshi-sensei… do you trust me now?"

She smiled, and that was when I noticed she had dimples that made her look exactly like how I always imagined a changeling would.

"Be a dear and remember your promise. A date if I survive the shoggoth."

She opened the door to the audio booth, blew me a kiss, and shut the door, leaving me there with Yuki wondering if I really could trust her.

And I cursed in my head, knowing I didn't have a choice.

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