Cultivating Anthro CEO RPG Hero Harem Reincarnation In Another World

Nestled deep beneath the Cultivator Fort, only one of the four missing girls was to be found: held within a lone [Maidé Ball]: the sole item that was left behind in an otherwise empty small iron vault, located in the head jailer's private quarters.

Akira held his breath as he grasped the ball in his hand, brought almost to tears from wondering who it might be.

"Kiki. Please let it be Kiki. Kiki. Kiki. Kiki."

"I would surmise that the Stormfleeces ran off with the other items in the vault," Zhao remarked. "Though, I find it strange they would take all the other [Maidé Balls], but leave behind just this one."

Akira shook his head, wiping his sniffling nose off on his sleeve. "That's...fine. At least that means they're probably safe."

And at least one was safe, now.

…

She had endured, for all this time she'd been waiting for Akira's rescue, as a captive of the virtual world that existed inside of the [Maidé Ball]. Lying in a curl upon the cold roof of a skyscraper, beneath a night sky pierced by bright city lights: in an empty, but still brightly lit cityscape, reminiscent of her home...

From a very early age, she had learned that, in order to earn anybody's love and approval, she would always have to wear a facade.

Her name was Ai Shinazawa. 

Her way of life never did fit the Japanese ideal from the start, being the product of a mixed heritage: Her mother, native Japanese. Her father, an English teacher that had briefly come and gone back from overseas, and was the source of her darker complexion—rarely seen or spoken to, but always existing as a cloud hanging over her disturbed heart.

It didn't help matters that, whilst growing up, she was teased incessantly for her differing appearance that was the product of her so called "impure" heritage: a skin tone that, in the words of her tormentors, wasn't so much like caramel as it was like mud; as well for her pronounced lips, which earned her nicknames like "fish lip," from boys and girls alike. But also "pirate" or "blackbitch," because of the eyepatch she always wore over her left eye, following an accident. With such harshness forcing her to reside mostly in the shadows, with ever-growing resentfulness; containing most of her interactions to various online spheres, wherein she would make a habit of choosing random targets to destroy. Simply for the satisfaction it provided her.

That was, until the start of her first year of High School...when, all of a sudden, her male classmates began to take a greater interest in her.

Practically overnight, she would go from being the class pariah to the most popular girl in school. A change which Ai, herself, was wholly unprepared for, as it meant she was no longer well-hidden in the shadows: as, from then on, her actions were constantly being monitored by her classmates; any criticism or critical gossip she would receive now would be solely the consequence of her own actions.

Since she was now at the center of everyone's attention, Ai Shinazawa began imitating the social gestures and actions of other popular girls she's observed; doing everything in her power to keep from slipping through the cracks of the brutal hierarchy ever again—whatever changes it took to remain feeling "accepted."

However, being accepted within the "cool crowd" very quickly proved to be an entirely loathsome existence, as Ai's inner contempt only further continued to grow, as a consequence of this newfound closeness with the same group of schoolmates who previously made her life a Hell on earth. Persons who presented themselves as one way, feeling a great sense of pride in their perceived superiority over others who acted more honestly, all the while secretly talking behind everyone's—including each other's—backs. An endless series of one drama, one bit of bickering after another, and nonstop gossip and rumors being spread…

Ai...hated these people: regarding them as cockroaches; swarms of them forming wherever a crumb of strife had fallen in their falsely idyllic little worlds.

Yet still, she constantly fought for their approval. Still, she played it straight by their invented rules, and shared in their backstabbing talks. Laughed along at every one of their pathetic, unfunny jokes. Just...playing along. By their rules. In the process, becoming that which she despised most:

A "perfectly normal" person, like what the virus at the Shiroichi school tried to make everyone out to be; dredging up bitter memories of those days, and of how it all came to a head on one otherwise seemingly normal school day…

It was lunchtime, so all the students were off to their usual places, eating and chatting; when Ai Shinzawa, beaming cheerfully, plopped down the plastic bag she was carrying on the desk of her then-boyfriend from another class: one whose name didn't matter, so much as the fact that he was the handsome captain of the school's swimming team.

"Uwa! Ai-chan, are my eyes deceiving me?!" he exclaimed, almost falling out of his chair in gleeful surprise. "Or has the lustrous and divine Ai-chan made a delicious lunch box just for me…?"

She nodded. "Mhmm!" She held up her arm, flexing non-existent muscles. "So you'll be plenty strong, for the swim meet!'

"Oh? Was that supposed to be today…?" he jokingly replied, scratching the back of his head of bristly dark hair with one hand as he discreetly extended the other: gently laying his palm on the back of Ai's hand, still resting on top of the bag.

"Swim Captain-kun!" she gasped, as his sultry stare then rose to meet hers.

"Ai-chan...thanks for this," he said to her softly, squeezing her hand. "I really appreciate that you've always been there—by my side, supporting me, every step of the way."

Ai said nothing, at first; remaining plain faced, watching his sweet expression for a time before abruptly pulling away.

After which, she gave a fraudulent smile. "I put all my love and care into that lunch. So, you'd better win first place, or I'll be sore!" Her expression then darkened, revealing a hint of her withheld malice. "And besides that, if you do manage to win first place, I'll reward you by letting you make me sore in other ways."

"H-uh…?" The swim captain, thrown by such a bold insinuation, dispensed with his usual cool confidence as he promptly broke into a sweat, swallowing nervously with a widened stare.

"Best of luck!" Ai told him. Then, leaned forward to bestow him with a quick peck on the cheek before turning, waving and giggling—reconstructing her facade, just as quickly as she had let it slip—before slipping out of the classroom, heading straight into the hallway with an unseen mischievous look.

"Ai-chan…" he uttered faintly, looking on sadly in her wake. "It's okay for you to be open with me."

She'd always been elusive like this: making such sweet gestures, but never sticking around for long. And, even though most of his friends would say he should just be content with what he had—with just being the one who was dating the hottest girl in school—he couldn't help but feel something was missing.

'I only see glimpses, but I'm sure of it…' he thought to himself, at that moment. 'There's a whole other side to Ai-chan, which not even her boyfriend knows.'

Just then, his friends all began excitedly crowding around his desk.

"Yo! Did she just say she'll let you do it with her if you win?!" one of them said, grabbing him eagerly by the shoulder. "Seeing sweet, innocent Ai-chan talking all slutty like that is so hot, bro!"

The swim captain sighed, rubbing his eyes with embarrassment. "She says stuff like that all the time…" he said.

"Then the rumors must be true, huh?" Another of his friends chimed in, then gawked like an ape as he checked to make sure the coast was clear. Before continuing, in a whisper: "some girls were saying that they saw Ai-chan getting into the back of a limousine, with some old guy."

"No way!" The first friend gave an uproarious laugh, turning to the swim captain. "Is that the kind of girl you're dating? How much do you think he pays her…?"

The swim captain shook his head somberly, hiding his mouth against his clasped hands that were propped up on the desk. "That's all bullshit—you know how jealous girls are. Ai-chan told me once that she's still a virgin, and I haven't seen her with any fancy jewelry or shit like that."

"Dude...you're so naive, thinking all girls are angels. Especially at this age, when they're really starting to mature."

"Yeah, man. It's time you opened your eyes to the truth:"—the friend made a flamboyant, proceeding with a mocking pose and highly pitched voice—"that your sweet, precious, adorable little Ai-chan takes dicks from middle-aged salarymen for money."

While their laughter ensued, the swim captain, groaning, buried his face into his arms against the desk.

Minutes later the school bell rang: signaling the end of lunch break, as well as the start of the inter-school swim meet. The swim captain had eaten even every bite of the delicious curry and rice Ai had prepared for him, already feeling better after his friends' harsh teasing, while he was in the locker room getting changed.

'Ai-chan...would make for the perfect housewife,' he thought fondly, as his face grew warm and his swim briefs tightened.

By the time he assumed his starting position at the edge of the pool, he was fully convinced that the rumors about Ai had to be untrue: that maybe his friends were just jealous of him, too, because they knew she'd one day make a perfect wife for him, once they were both out of school—with plenty of steamy, hot sex!

Upon casting his gaze across the bleachers, though, at all the cheering students and faculty in attendance...he searched, but couldn't find any sight of her.

"Maybe she just went to the restroom.'

It was then that the starting whistle was blown, and he made his dive…

And immediately, felt a sharp pain in his stomach. An unstoppable twitching, centered in his nether regions, as he made his elegant plunge into an Olympic-sized swimming pool, in front of an audience of hundreds who all got to witness what happened next.

The referee furiously blew his whistle, several times, to make the swimmers stop as the audience in the bleachers burst out laughing.

"My stomach…" the swim captain groaned.

Whilst struggling to stay afloat, he saw the brown clouds rising in the water around him—realizing it was he that the audience was laughing at.

Meanwhile, Ai was nowhere near the swimming pool: rather, in a stall in the girls' bathroom, making sweaty hot love with one of her fellow—attractive—female classmates. When suddenly, she pulled her lips away long enough just to crack a smile to herself—as if, somehow, she knew. As if she could sense that her plan, of throwing a handful of laxative pills into the curry she had specially cooked for the swim captain, had succeeded in the most glorious way she could've imagined.