Alinea

Flashes of electrical discharge danced, in a beautiful, yet, deadly tune. Thunder boomed as beads and ribbons of radiance crossed the darkened sky before lightning rained down on the earth like a meteor shower. There was a sudden increase in pressure and temperature within the oracle as the sky continued to wreak havoc to the ground below.

For a while, there was nothing but sharp, loud crack, to a long, low rumble echoing in the place, until Ara released the seal, and the chaos came instantly to a halt.

Silver-grey eyes watched as the clouds slowly retreated, revealing the starry, night sky. It was as if the earlier anarchy had never happened.

A long pair of legs slowly slipped on the ground as Ara slumped, her body fatigued from the earlier commotion. She searched for the monsters, but all five of them – including the first one she had killed were fried.

Uh-oh…

Ara looked at the compact car she had thrown towards the spider. Like the giant monsters, it too had burned beyond recognition. She smiled sheepishly, feeling guilty at destroying someone else's property. She would just try to find a way to compensate the owner for his loss as soon as she found out who he was.

As to how she'd find out without sounding suspicious…

"Well, I'll just think about that tomorrow," Ara muttered under her breath as she sniffed and gagged.

EEEW

The acrid smell of the spider's innards had intensified now that her adrenaline's down. It reeked too much, it was disgusting. Which meant…

"I need another bath."

The slime was all over her, soaking her clothes. Of course, she totally stank.

Ara sighed as she slowly got back up on her feet, and trudged towards the electrical pole to return to the ryokan. When she reached it, she went directly to her private outdoor bath. She took a shower first in her private bathroom, before soaking in the nice, hot water of the spring.

The heat of the water felt heavenly on her sore muscles. She couldn't believe that even after gallivanting at night to beat up people, her body still hadn't gotten used to intense fights. Well, she couldn't say beating up drunks were intense fights after all. It was always one-sided with her ending up just throwing them around.

When she was finally totally relaxed, her eyes turned into slits as she recalled the giant arachnids earlier. There was no mistake. Those were monsters from her world. Ara had always wondered how she was able to come here. She thought it was just a coincidence set up by the heavens as Perun took pity on her, and wanted her to experience a different life. But, seeing the monsters from her previous world here…

"There must be a portal somewhere."

There was no way those things could just barge in this place without coming from somewhere.

Also…

"It must be near here," she surmised.

The spiders appeared here in Hakone, then, the source must be just around this area. Because if not, then there would have been commotions and news about monster attacks before today. Giant spiders were highly aggressive. They didn't stop killing even if they had enough food. It was as if they lived to kill.

Back in Ritz, when these giant arachnids attacked, the whole village would be ravaged in a matter of hours. They were fast, ferocious, and voracious. If someone asked about a total pest, it would be at the top of the list.

Ara's heart raced fast.

If there truly was a portal, she wondered if she could go back to her world.

An image of Aki and Kou flashed in her mind, and she faltered. One was her brother here, and the other, her future husband.

"But I'm a fake one…"

Although technically, that wasn't true, since the body she had now was Suzuki Ara's and not Alinea's. If she found the portal and returned to Ritz, what would happen to Aki and Kou?

Then, an image of a beautiful silver-haired man with a pair of amethyst eyes appeared in her mind.

"Alistair, if there's a way to go back, would you want me to return?" she wondered out loud, her voice, a nostalgic whisper.

But maybe not…

After all, the reason why she was here in Tokyo was that her real brother didn't want her. Besides, all her friends there were gone. She should just stay here.

Before melancholy gripped her heart once more, Ara suddenly stood up from the water, the beads of liquid streamed down on her milky skin, that seemed to be glowing under the moonlight. Standing n.a.k.e.d in the pool as deep only as half of her t.h.i.g.hs, with her hair that had become longer tied in a messy bun, she looked like a nymph in a pond.

Nope.

She wouldn't think about those things yet when she wasn't sure that there was indeed a portal. But, in case there was one, Ara decided that maybe she would just be a guardian and kill beasts that got lost and transported into this world if they were the aggressive type like the arachnids.

"Ah, but I don't want to be a heroine. I want to be a villain," she muttered as she walked towards the rocky wall where a small waterfall was. She stood under the cascading water and felt deliciously relaxed as it fell against her shoulders and back.

"Oooh, this is heaven…"

She fervently hoped that the portal was real. Even if in the end she chose to stay here, she would at least be able to visit Ritz time and time again. Regardless, Ritz was her homeland. She missed going on adventures in dungeons, and beating up drunks in Roponggi was already getting boring.

Yep.

On the other hand, while she still hadn't found the portal, then maybe she could go to Ueno next. She heard there were gang wars there – or to Kabukicho. The Yakuza controlled most of the area and there were lots of illegal activities there. Maybe she could go and mess them up next time.

Ah, but she had to stay with Kou at the Cedar Palace for a week. She couldn't go out at night for a while.

"But I killed five giant spiders tonight…" she thought, cheering herself up.

Even if those things were horrible, at least she did a lot of exercises worth more than a hundred stinking drunks in Roppongi.

With this, she felt cheerful again, she started humming an upbeat song she heard the other day, and swayed her h.i.p.s under the water, unaware of a pair of heated blue gaze on her every move.