“The audacity of that woman!” Ayeka’s voice practically echoed through Washu’s lab. Clearly she was upset, and based on the tone and the princess’s volume, Yumi assumed it was something related to Ryoko. That was a bad sign for any hope of her doujins not corrupting this reality into a perverted parody of itself.
“We had an agreement, and that, that, that whore violated it!” Ayeka was coming closer to where Yumi was still somewhat strapped down to some manner of cross between a hospital bed and an operating table. She realized she probably should have asked Washu to release the straps keeping her from getting up, and made a note to do so once Ayeka had calmed down some.
“So shameless, using her body like that on Tenchi! I just, I just…” and as Ayeka finally came to where Yumi could see her, the princess broke down, collapsing on the lab floor and sobbing. Whatever Ryoko had done, it must have been serious for Ayeka to be so upset.
“Princess Ayeka, it’s perfectly normal to want to be physical with someone you’re in love with, or at least have the hots for. What did Ryoko do to Tenchi that’s got you in such a tizzy?” Washu’s question was enough to get Ayeka up off the floor, at least.
“She, she, oh, just the thought is too much, and it was so lewd!”
“What, did she have sex with Tenchi out in the fields for all of nature to see?”
“Washu! While I’m sure Ryoko is so brazen as to perform the deed in such a manner, she would never do so before our contest is decided and Tenchi has chosen which of us he truly loves.”
“Is ‘both’ a valid answer to your contest?” Yumi chimed in. She couldn’t help herself. Yumi identified more with the prim and proper Ayeka than the more uninhibited Ryoko, even if Yumi’s taste in romantic activities would make normal versions of both women blush, but the two women honestly made better romantic partners for each other than for Tenchi, if you started to look at it.
The question made Ayeka pause for a moment, honestly thinking of her answer. “As long as we share Tenchi-dono equally, or close enough so that neither feels she’s getting less than agreed to, I don’t see why not.”
Yumi blinked in surprise. In another version of this reality, that would be the answer she expected, given Tenchi essentially married the entire female cast, but this was not that continuity. “Have you ever considered asking Ryoko if you shouldn’t just focus on that option?”
Ayeka nodded. “If that woman were to suggest we focus our efforts on convincing Tenchi that monogamy is a provincial way of thinking, I would be forced to admit that that approach has benefits.”
“Not all of which are attached to Tenchi, I’d bet,” Washu chimed in. This drew the princess’s ire once more.
“If she could simply have not shoved Tenchi face-first there, perhaps.” Washu and Yumi glanced at each other, exchanging a question with a look. Which “there” was Ayeka referring to? Washu was the one to broach the subject.
“You’ll need to be a bit more specific if you’re here asking for a solution to your problems, princess,” Washu said, moving beside the princess. “Oh, right, I should explain our, ah, captive guest’s situation, shouldn’t I?” Ayeka had been eyeing Yumi warily. Yumi assumed she was being sized up as another possible romantic rival.
One brief explanation on multiverse theory later, and Ayeka looked more confused than ever. “So you’re suggesting that somehow I traveled through this hole between realities and ended up in the bookstore Yumi worked in, and that later Yumi fell through the same hole into our reality?”
“That is the working theory so far,” Washu answered, nodding in satisfaction. “Most likely, she’ll integrate into our reality in a week or so. It’ll take a little bit of work to create an identity for her here, but nothing this universe’s greatest scientific genius can’t handle!”
“But you mentioned that Yumi also brought some comics that have the potential to change our world in their likeness. Should we be worried?” Ayeka’s concern here was genuine. Washu had glossed over the details, such as those comics being about them, or their highly erotic content. Even without those details, the idea of your very existence being changed in a way you couldn’t perceive did sound terrifying to Yumi.
“I’m working on setting up a little something to monitor for disturbances from a hyperreal level. That will keep me informed if anything changes significantly, and as a bonus, it should also be able to show us the changes so that we can remember how our reality should be.”
“In that case, maybe I shouldn’t have bothered you, Washu. This sounds dreadfully important.”
“Ayeka, I could afford to explain the situation, I can afford to help you with whatever Ryoko did. By the way, what did Ryoko do? You mentioned shoving Tenchi face-first somewhere, but that suggests a few options, and most of them I wouldn’t put past Ryoko if she really was doing whatever she could to get Tenchi’s attention.
Again, tears welled up in Ayeka’s eyes as she recalled the events which had led to her visit to the lab. “It was her, her, oh, it is hard to say something so indecent aloud.” Ayeka took a breath to calm herself before explaining herself more indirectly. “Ryoko is always flaunting her chest. Unlike Mihoshi, who I genuinely believe doesn’t realize what she has, that pirate has always been proud of being, of being, well, bustier than me! And today I saw her shove Tenchi’s face into her sordid cleavage and laugh. She called it…she called it ‘motorboating’ and claimed that she’d seen it in a…Washu! It was a comic! Was there a comic that came here with Yumi that could be so lewd?”
Yumi couldn’t help snorting. “That’s all? And here I was worrying she’d hiked up her dress and sat on Tenchi’s face or something.”
Ayeka processed Yumi’s statement for a moment, and then another as her brain tried to process what sitting on Tenchi’s face would have to do with any of this, until realization struck her like a blow. Washu and Yumi both got to watch as Ayeka’s face turned a bright red.
“Washu, let us pretend we didn’t hear that and continue,” Ayeka managed. “What I need is something, anything, that will let me put that pirate in her place! She thinks that all she needs is to flaunt her physical assets and that Tenchi will be ensnared! Well, if I were to have a body that puts hers to shame, then the game would end quickly and I can enjoy what should be mine: Tenchi!”
“So you want something to give you stonkin’ big tits?” Washu asked, making sure she understood Ayeka’s request.
“Well…if it enhanced all of my, ah, physical assets, then that would be fine.”
“How fast do you want it, then, princess?”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be immediate, but I would prefer something quicker-acting. Who knows what Ryoko’s assault has done to poor Tenchi. The sooner I can put her in her place, the sooner we won’t have to worry about whatever corruption is affecting her spreading to others.”
As if from nowhere, Washu produced what appeared to Yumi to be an ordinary prescription bottle of pills, aside from the labeling, which was both somehow unreadable yet made perfect sense to Yumi in spite of it. In addition, Washu had somehow changed into what appeared to be a cross between a stereotypical sexy nurse outfit and a doctor’s coat and accouterments.
“Follow the guidelines on the bottle for dosage, and allow two to four hours for effects to take place. Whatever you do, do not take another dose within twenty-four hours of the previous dose. Unless you’re trying to make yourself a permanent fixture in my lab, that is.”
Ayeka quickly claimed the bottle from Washu and made her way out of the lab, once again leaving Washu and Yumi alone.
“This one of them?” Washu asked.
“Sadly, yes,” Yumi confirmed.
“So what should we be expecting?”
“Ayeka will start with a modest dose, but once Ryoko realizes Ayeka’s using something from your lab to enhance her physique, Ryoko will ‘borrow’ something and it’s off to the races.”
“Oh, is that all?” Washu teased.
“I mean, by this time tomorrow, you’ll be lucky if either of them can fit through your door, and they’ll probably be struggling with the ceilings anywhere but the ground floor.”
“Ooh, now that sounds like fun. We should get some monitoring on our key players so we can watch the fun as it unfolds.”
“Whatever happened to your hyperreal monitor or whatever?” Yumi asked.
“Oh, I finished it while we were talking with Ayeka. I didn’t want to activate it because there’s a small chance it could connect our reality to another version of it.”
“In terms we non-geniuses can understand?”
“You mentioned there being other versions of our story, specifically one that’s gone on for a lot longer, where I am part of a triumvirate of higher-dimensional beings performing a great experiment in lower dimensions to create something greater than ourselves. The problem with anything that can monitor this reality in a way that can detect the sorts of changes we’re looking for is that it will be the equivalent of a flare going off in a sufficiently high dimensional space. Usually not a problem, but since you’ve come from a reality where there is a version of our reality with higher dimensional beings, chances are that it’s basically right next door right now. So anyone over there with sufficient power will be able to perceive our reality, and that’s a Bad Thing.”
“But they’d also have an almost infinite number of other versions of their primary dimension to go through, wouldn’t they?”
“Yeah, and that’s the only reason I was willing to build this in the first place, but now I’m second-guessing on whether turning it on is a good idea.”
Yumi thought for a moment. “In that case, let’s go with…”
Tue Jul 25 01:00:06 2023