Chapter Text
(Two months ago…)
The process of desertification comes with a variety of problems for the citizens of the area affected - the death of native flora, the thinning and sometimes the migration of the local fauna and a generally dryer environment are some of the most noticeable ones; that last one, coupled with the heatwave that was forecast to span across all of Kivotos (except Red Winter, the lucky bastards), is the reason the Foreclosure Task Force is hiding inside their clubroom, curtains closed and a large styrofoam cooler filled with ice, ice water and soda bottles by the table.
“Ayaneeeeee,” Serika loudly bemoans, leaning back against her chair and unsticking her wet shirt from her chest, “I’m trying my best, but I can’t work enough hours on my own…”
“My offer is still on the table, Hosh-”
A chorus of “No!” fills the room as Nonomi tries once more to convince her clubmates to let her pay off their debt with her family’s credit card.
Putting her tablet down, Ayane sighs. “I know, Serika, and you’ve already been incredibly helpful with all your gigs.” She pauses and pouts, eyes glancing to the ceiling fan spinning lazily above them. It being on or off barely makes a difference in this infernal heat. “We do need to find something that will pay out more, though… preferably something we can all help with.”
Unable to sleep because of the temperature, Hoshino glances towards the wall by the door to the clubroom, where the two Shirokos whisper to one another conspiratorially - her Shiroko seems excited, while Kuroko follows along with a dubious expression, if a little bit impressed. Hoshino feels a bit compelled to act like their senior for once and ask them to share with the class when Kuroko sighs and shakes her head, clearly amused by her counterpart’s thoughts.
Likely out of habit, Kuroko raises her hand before addressing the Foreclosure Task Force: “We do have an idea we’d like to suggest…”
-=-=-=-
Kivotos is, at its heart, a city of oddities - mysteries and rumors are always abound, almost as numerous as the academy city’s population, each one always coated in varying degrees of exaggerations and even outright lies. As a third year at Gehenna and as the school’s Head Prefect, Sorasaki Hina has heard about, witnessed firsthand and personally dispelled an innumerable amount of each of these kinds of stories; as such, it is quite a rarity nowadays for anything to give her pause, let alone for her to consider it for more than a few seconds.
Which is why the Prefect Team’s office has fallen to a deafening silence at Hina’s confused response to Ako’s briefing. “The ‘Horus & Nephthys Hotel’?” She repeats, disbelief clear in her tone of voice. A few of the more inexperienced prefects flinch or even shiver at her question. Please tell me this is a prank, she silently pleads.
Always quick when it comes to doing her job, Ako nods, doing her best to ignore the mounting tension in the air and dashing Hina’s hopes for a peaceful afternoon. “The rumors apparently started in Trinity about a month ago, although the Tea Party couldn’t identify the source.” Unlikely… Mika wouldn’t speak to us and Seia is still regaining her strength, so this was Nagisa. Hina rests her elbows on her desk and steeples her hands in thought. Her information network includes the Sisterhood, so there’s no way she wasn’t able to find the source - which must mean she’s hiding that person’s identity from us, for whatever reason.
“After some of their students took the investigation into their own hands, the topic spread to other academies, most prominently Shanhaijing, Red Winter and, of course, Gehenna.” Ako murmurs something under her breath that Hina is sure must be some insult towards Trinity before continuing: “The hotel is apparently located in the Abydos District, quite close to Abydos High School, in fact. Their secretary Ayane has assured me they are aware of its existence, but have no plans to act against it.”
Hina nods, a grim expression twisting her face as she near-instantly connects the dots between her prior knowledge surrounding Abydos with Ako’s report. She doesn’t want to believe it, and she certainly won’t bring up the possibility here, but… no, surely they wouldn’t… right?
-=-=-=-
(Six weeks ago…)
The air at their table feels heated as two pairs of eyes stare at the pamphlet that she placed face up in the middle of the table. Across from her, Hanako reads every line printed onto it with a keen interest, while Koharu hides behind the wings on her head, occasionally sneaking glances at it; by her side, her girlfriend studies the text with a sharp gaze.
“This is very unexpected from you, Hifumi~,” Hanako teases, and Hifumi can’t help but blush at her words. “These are some very naughty friends you have… I’d love to have a nice chat with them sometime!”
“Th-This is completely inappropriate, Hifumi!” Koharu whisper-shouts, her eyes the size of saucers as she glances back and forth between the paper and Hifumi. “I can’t-” Her words are cut off by a hug from Hanako that smothers Koharu between her breasts.
“There, there, Koharu,” Hanako coos, “it’s not a big deal, they’re getting paid for it! I remember hearing Abydos was in a real pickle with money last year.” Koharu struggles a bit, but eventually the warmth of the pillows against her face calm her down.
Hifumi nods, grateful to Hanako for defusing a scene in public. “Ayane-chan and Serika-chan asked me to spread the word about it, but I’m… a bit nervous about doing that.”
“You came to the right person, then,” Hanako says, “I still have friends who’d love to hear about this kind of gossip.” She giggles, and her eyes glint with dangerous amusement. “I wonder how the Sisters would react to finding out about this…” A shiver goes down Hifumi’s spine, and she wonders if maybe this was a mistake.
Before she can think too hard about it, though, a pat on her shoulder drags her attention away from that concern. “What is it, Azusa?”
Her girlfriend hesitates for a moment, like she’s picking her words out. “Do you know if these friends of yours have any part-timer openings?”
“Hmm… I don’t, but I could ask Ayane-chan if you want.” Hifumi has an idea of why Azusa wants to know, but she can wait until they’re alone to ask.
Azusa smiles at her and Hifumi’s heart skips a beat. “Thanks, Hifumi,” she mumbles, and Hifumi takes her girlfriend's hand onto her own, linking their fingers together.
“Anything for you, Azusa.”
-=-=-=-
Ignorant to Hina’s internal turmoil, Chinatsu takes the floor with a dirty look towards a squad of recruits, who all blush furiously and either look away or hide their faces with their hats. “It may call itself a hotel, but it’s clear to any who’ve seen it that that place is most assuredly a brothel.” Ako makes a scandalized noise at her word choice, but Chinatsu dismisses her in favor of continuing her speech. “Sena and I have already had to give some students a… refresher on the birds and the bees.”
“It is definitely odd for a place like this to just show up like that, all of a sudden,” Iori adds in as she and her subordinates return from patrol, slinging her sniper over the shoulder with practiced ease. “Not only is it outside the usual spots - those being Black Market streets or the district peripheries - , but it’s also so damn close to both Abydos High and Kaiser Corp’s office.” With a sigh, Iori lets herself fall onto the sofa, landing right by Chinatsu’s side and resting her head on the ex-nurse’s shoulder.
She watches Iori’s tail swish back and forth for a moment before it wraps around Chinatsu’s waist. Being this close to another prefect during a meeting is a breach of the code of conduct, but I’ll let it slide this time. It’s not like Makoto is here to berate them about it, anyway. The setting sun bathes the room in a golden glow, and Hina is in no mood for lecturing now.
Standing up from behind her desk, the prefects stand to attention as she addresses the room. “Thank you for your hard work today, everyone. Iori, Chinatsu, Ako, you three stay and we’ll decide how to handle this situation. The rest of you are dismissed.” With her permission, the Prefects begin heading out, the sound of conversation rising almost immediately and falling fainter until only the four of them remain.
-=-=-=-
(Three weeks ago…)
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
The noise of an analog clock fills the silence in the office space; three girls sit around a low table in the center of the room - two side-by-side and one across from them. All three of them have serious expressions, their discussion on the terms of their contract on hold for a moment.
Saori watches her… allies? Friends? Acquaintances from Problem Solver. Kayoko projects an aura of wanton disregard that Saori easily sees through, finding the tiredness and well-meaning concern underneath - Kayoko reminds her of Misaki, whose masks (both real and metaphorical) she is more than familiar with. Aru, on the other hand, is a blank canvas to Saori, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts as she takes a sip of black tea.
“You understand that this job will ask more of you than just getting rid of nuisances, right?” Aru asks, and Saori nods, thankful for her mask covering the slight blush she feels on her face.
Kayoko sighs, then picks up a pen and signs at the bottom of a document. “While you’re contracted as a part-timer, you won’t be expected to “perform” like the others, but you will be expected to stay on top of everything else.” She slides the document and pen to Aru, who smiles at her employee and quickly signs the page as well.
“Yes, uhm, about that…” she stumbles out awkwardly, and the pair looks at her expectantly, “I guess you could say I was… let’s call it sheltered from a young age, so I am… less knowledgeable on sexual matters than the average girl my age.”
For a moment, the silence returns as the two horned girls share a look Saori somewhat understands - she can see a whole conversation happening in their eyes, but she can’t tell what it is.
“I’m sure we can help patch up those gaps in your knowledge, Saori,” Kayoko tells her with a bemused smile that sends a wave of cold into her chest. What kind of friends does your “normal” girlfriend have, Azusa? Aru tries but ultimately fails to suppress her giggles with a hand over her mouth and, for just a moment, Saori feels like she might have bitten off more than she can chew with this contract.
-=-=-=-
Somewhat surprisingly, Chinatsu is the first to speak, rubbing her forehead with one hand, the other wrapped around Iori’s back. “Ako, I get keeping Hina up to speed on things, but do we even have jurisdiction to do anything about this case?”
“I’m sure we could get jurisdiction if Ayane wasn’t being so coy about it,” her secretary poutily replies. Iori snorts, and Ako glares at her.
“After what you pulled last time we went into Abydos as the Prefect Team? No way are they giving us anything, girl.”
“Iori’s right, Ako,” Hina says before Ako has the chance to get angry at Iori, “you went too far last time; it’s normal for Miss Okusora to not trust us completely yet.” Hina hides the fact that she was also somewhat hurt by the distance the Problem Solver incident brought between Abydos and Gehenna.
“I believe it’s fine to leave this be for now,” she tells the others, and gets nods in agreement from the pair by the sofa - well, a nod and a thumbs up, as Iori refuses to raise her head from where she’s using Chinatsu as a pillow.
(In the back of her mind, Hina pleads for Chinatsu to confess her feelings to the elf-eared prefect soon - their whole will-they-won’t-they has been agonizing to bear witness to for the last few months.)
Ako seems somewhat conflicted, but as would be expected of her role as her secretary, always defers to Hina’s judgement, and so she gets a small nod from the blue-haired girl. Hina feels a small smile take root on her face, and she stretches her arms above her head, her wings mimicking the movement behind her back before dismissing the trio and heading to the privacy of her own room.
She has to prepare for her own investigation into this “hotel”, after all.
I wonder… what exactly is your gameplan with this stunt, Takanashi Hoshino?
-=-=-=-
(One week ago…)
Erika yawns, trying as best she can to fight off the sleep from her eyes. “Kirara, it’s so late... You’re lucky tomorrow’s a day off or I would have dragged you to bed already.”
“We’re almost there, Eri! Should be just around the corner!” Kirara enthusiastically exclaims, pulling her by the hand. Taking a left turn around an office building, the pair stops…
“Kirara, are you sure this is the place?”
“Uh-huh! Peroro-chan said it was here!”
“I don’t think that was her name… ah, whatever.” Erika sighs and steps through the gates of Abydos High School, Kirara falling in step with her as they make their way to the school’s old dormitory.
When approaching the entrance, the two girls notice a sign hanging above the door; written on it are the words “Horus & Nephthys Hotel” - just like that Trinity student told them there should be.
“Ooooh, it is real!” Kirara marvels, stars in her eyes as she studies the eye-catching design of the lettering, and Erika feels a smile creep onto her lips at how adorable her friend looks when she’s excited.
“Come on, let’s get inside,” she says, “I’m sure it’s better than being out here in the cold of the desert.” Thankfully, Kirara nods in agreement and struts over to the door, confidently opening it like it’s the door to her own house.
Stepping inside, Erika looks around for a moment. The lobby isn’t too shabby, with a pair of plush red sofas both to their left and to their right; the walls are a soft purple that probably looks a lot better with dimmer lighting, and on the far end of the room there’s a receptionist’s desk… and a trio of women in pretty dresses fiddling with some kind of machine.
“If all else fails, a good smack is never a bad idea for fixing some oddity with the radio,” the one on the left says, lightly tapping a wrench to the top of the device. “Anything else I forgot, Ayane?” She turns to the girl on the right, who looks pensive for a moment before shaking her head. Their apparent junior makes a muffled noise before she turns around and her eyes lock with Erika’s, a look of surprise flashing over her eyes for a second.
“Welcome to the Horus & Nephthys Hotel,” she intones, the words somewhat muffled by her mask, “how can I help you two beauties?” Her voice is deep, but with a softness to it that Erika finds unexpected; it’s calm and collected too, but with a deep tiredness that sounds more existential than from any effort she’s had to put in recently; she would even dare to call it a little melancholic.
So caught up with replaying the masked woman’s voice in her head and trying to find more ways to call it beautiful, Erika is barely even aware that she asked them a question until Kirara replies: “I’m Kirara! This is Erika! We heard about this place and investigating sounded like a fun time to me, so we came to find out more!”
“Y-Yeah, we’re uhh… I-I guess window shopping at the moment,” Erika stammers, broken from her stupor, “so if you were doing something before we came in then please, don’t let us interrupt you.”
The white haired girl stares at her for a moment, before shaking her head. “We were just about done here, Erika-san.” She turns to address her colleagues: “Ayane, thanks for coming out here on your day off.”
“Helping Saori get acclimated is part of my job, Kayoko,” Ayane rebukes, crossing her arms with an amused look in her eyes.
“Still, you didn’t have to come today, so thanks.”
Their colleague (Saori, Erika repeats in her head a few times to remember) speaks up: “Have a good night, Ayane-san. You’re going back upstairs, Kayoko-nee?” Kayoko nods, and Saori pulls out a konbini bag. “Can you give this to Aru-nee? She bought me dinner last week, so this makes us even.”
Her seniors chuckle at Saori’s request, but Kayoko does take the bag off her hands and head for a door in the back, which Erika assumes must have the stairs to the other floors behind it. Ayane says a quick goodbye and heads out through the door the Twinkle Twinkle Club came in, leaving the two of them alone with Saori.
Standing up from her desk, Saori gives them a considering look. “Window shopping, huh?” Her heels click against the linoleum floor as she rounds the desk until they’re standing face to face.
Saori’s dark blue hair is pulled back into a waist length ponytail, with the more vibrant tone of her undercut in full display; her arms and legs - uncovered by her light blue sundress with white chrysanthemums - are quite muscular for a girl their age, almost like an athlete’s. Her sky-blue eyes are sharp, and Erika’s back straightens involuntarily when they fall on her - she feels bare under her gaze, like Saori can see deep into her soul.
Koans above, she’s way too pretty… please just fu- oh Koans, am I blushing?
Thankfully, Saori seems entirely unaware of Erika’s internal crisis. “Well, all the girls here are quite the lookers, so I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Saying that, she leans against the desk, pulls a pair of booklets from a drawer and hands them one each.
Kirara grabs hers quickly, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the photos and blurbs, a dumb smile on her face as she giggles, likely because of how cute she finds one of the girls in there.
Shaking her head in amusement, Erika moves to grab the booklet, only for her hand to brush against Saori’s, which makes her jump. “S-Sorry, static shock,” she mumbles when Saori looks alarmed and quickly hides her bright red blush with the book. Get it together, Erika tells herself, there’s no need for all this! Focusing on the paper in front of her, Erika starts reading whatever page she opened on.
Izayoi Nonomi
The second half of our namesake, Lady Nonomi, is a wonderful girl who could melt even the toughest of criminal’s hearts. As the embodiment of the expression “tall, blonde and gorgeous”, her figure is second to none with her soft skin, wide hips and large breasts (which, just between you and me, make for the most wonderful pillows).
And yet, good looks are not the only thing the princess of Abydos has to offer - no, Nonomi is also sweet, caring, and very well versed in a number of techniques that will leave you feeling more relaxed than you’ve ever felt before. If you do choose her, you most definitely will not regret your decision.
The writer is so into her it’s almost ridiculous. “See anything you like, Kirara?”
“Eri-chan, there’s a pair of sisters who work here, look!” Kirara says, turning the double spread with the sisters her way so Erika can see her booklet as well.
“Damn, they look crazy similar,” she mumbles, amazed, looking from Shiroko to Kuroko like it’s a game of Spot the Difference. “Besides their height, the two are basically the same person.”
“And Kuroko has a bigger rack.”
“Yes, but that’s rude to point out, so I didn’t.”
Kirara tilts her head like a puppy. “Oh, my bad, hehe… a-anyway! Did you like any of the girls?”
”I just read the page about Nonomi, haven’t looked at the others yet.” Saori perks up at that, and she pinches her nose with a sigh.
“I forgot to mention it, didn’t I… the Abydos girls aren’t here on Sunday.“ She sighs again, awkwardly rubbing one arm with a frustrated expression. “I’m sorry, I forgot we altered our schedule recently.”
Sitting down to Saori’s right, Kirara pokes her side. “It’s alright, I just came to look at cute girls today!” She flips through the booklet quickly before asking: “So what is the schedule now?”
“Well, if you come back tomorrow, Mondays are scheduled to be a day everyone’s here,” Saori tells them with a huff and a hint of humor in her voice. Erika sits down to her left as she continues: “On Tuesdays Aru, Nonomi, Ayane and Kuroko are working - that’s everyone with a C-cup or larger, by the way. On Wednesdays it’s the opposite - Hoshino, Shiroko, Serika, Kayoko, Mutsuki and Haruka, who all have B-cups or smaller.”
“And you, Saori-chan? When are you up for grabs?” Erika asks, half-joking, and to her surprise she sees the hint of a blush peeking over Saori’s mask.
“I'm s-still a part-timer, so I just work the reception for now. B-But… I would, uh… fall in with the first group, I think. …Hime and Misaki always joked that they were jealous of them…” The last part is barely a mumble, the melancholy and yearning thick in her voice. “A-Anyways, everyone’s working on Thursday and Friday, and just the Abydos girls are here on Saturday.”
Kirara makes a noise that Erika thinks would be far more appropriate from an idol fan when said idol blows a kiss her way, not here. “This place sounds so fancy when you explain it like that! Can I keep this little thing?” She gestures with the booklet, and Saori nods, which prompts another ear piercing sound before Kirara jumps from the table to her feet. “Alright, I’ve had my fun for today. Wanna crash at my place, Eri?”
”Sure thing, just give me a minute to talk to Saori a bit.” Already making her way to the door, Kirara spins around and gives her two thumbs up, then finishes the spin and keeps walking like nothing happened. Once the door closes behind her friend, Erika’s eyes meet Saori’s, and she gives the taller girl a smile. “We’ll probably be back sometime soon, knowing how energetic Kirara can be. Regardless, it was nice meeting you, Saori-chan.”
Saori huffs, amused, and pulls down her mask, her lips curled into a tiny smile. “It was nice to meet you as well, Eri-chan,” she teases, her clear, sonorous voice like a balm for Erika’s soul. “I look forward to seeing you again.”
Without thinking, Erika takes one of her hands into her own and pulls it up to her face, then presses a quick, chaste kiss to her hand’s back. “I’ll pay you for your time when I come next, Saori.”
Pulling herself away from the table, she makes her way to the door, pausing with the doorknob in hand. Erika risks a glance back, and their eyes meet again - this time, they sport matching blushes across their cheeks, and Saori is holding the hand she kissed to her chest.
“You can write down the name Hatami Erika as your first client, Sa-chan.”