Mmmm...Saeki's right breast filled my hand, so wonderfully firm, yet amazingly pliant. Her nipple had grown ripe as I caught it between my fingers. I pinched it between my knuckles, refusing to release my urgent grip. I loved her tits and I'd been dreaming of them. Perhaps I still was, but no. I kissed her neck and hair, opening my mouth as if I might bite her, but all I did was suckle gently and tease her with my tongue and teeth.

    "Uh-hmmm..." she sighed, sleepily, contentedly as she lifted her top leg, the right one. 

    My cock had grown through the open fly of my boxers and the pulsing shaft rode along her pussy. We were moving together, slowly at first, but with increasing energy as we came more fully awake. She still wore her panties. I couldn't get inside the girl, but I felt her heat radiating from between her spread thighs. Saeki lifted her head, wanting a kiss, I thought. I couldn't see her, because I wanted to keep my eyes closed and explore her by touch and taste. It didn't matter -- I had memorized every part of her.

    "Oh my God!"

    "Huh?" I opened my eyes and screamed. "Aiiiii...Yukiko!"

    "You dirty pervert! Get away from me!" She shouted, slapping my hand away from her tits. She clamped her legs together, briefly trapping my erection against her pussy.

    "What are you doing here?" I yelled, blinking my eyes as she twisted her body, rolling over and quickly sitting up.

    Her top, the ragged  t-shirt, had been pulled upward and Yukiko's luscious breasts jutted proudly from her chest. I couldn't help but stare at them, noting how plump her nipples had become after being gently pinched and pulled in our sleep. They much resembled my cock that way, which was exactly where her attention was fixed. I sported a long, fat erection that bobbed sharply every few seconds with eager desire. Never mind the shock and horror I felt at cuddling with her, my cock had plainly enjoyed every second of it! 

    "You'd rape your own sister?" She shoved me off the bed with a painful THUD! when my skull bounced off the floor. "You sneaky jerk! I should castrate you!"

    "But...What happened to Saeki?" I rubbed my head as my sister ran from my room. It took me a few seconds to actually believe that I'd only been dreaming. She'd seemed so real.

    Sunrise must have been another hour or two away. Through my window, the sky was still dark without even a hint of morning.

    "Five in the morning?" I frowned at my clock and crawled back into bed.

    Now that the excitement was over, I hoped that it wouldn't take me long to fall asleep again. My cock refused to soften, however, and I could smell Yukiko on my bedding. The mattress was still warm where she'd been laying. I tried to turn my thoughts back to Saeki, but as I squeezed my erection, she kept turning into my sister.

    Instead of sliding my swollen erection into Saeki's moist pussy, in my imagination it was Yukiko pulling me inside. Her tits rubbed my chest. Her stiff nipples inviting my mouth to suckle them while we made love. She wrapped her legs around my hips, pulling me deeper. I felt her fingers scratching my back, urging me to fuck her faster and harder. We were going to cum together!

    "Fuck!" I let go of my cock as if it had burned me.

    I'd been jerking off, but I hadn't cum. I didn't want to! Masturbating to obscene visions of fucking my own sister? I felt almost sick to my stomach. Humping her in my sleep was one thing, like accidental, but this was something else completely. I blamed her for it. Stupid Yukiko and her teasing. What did she expect? She walked around the house wearing next to nothing, sharing every dirty detail of her sex life, and trying to make me spill in my pants for her amusement.

    She's lucky I didn't rape her! A man can only take so much, after all, and a little bit of gorgeous, sexy Yukiko went a long way. Sleep would be impossible now. I needed a cold shower. Imari would be coming around at seven to wake me up anyway and while I'd normally leap at the chance to get even a few more minutes of sleep, I was more interested in deciphering my black book.

    The heavy tome sat on my desk, calling me like a siren to explore its mysteries. Yukiko had translated quite a bit the night before, but so much more remained. We hadn't even gotten to the really complicated spells yet. Yeah, I decided, a cold shower, some breakfast, and a good hour alone with my notes sounded better than laying in bed with a boner.

    "Uh-huh! Oh! Little brother...Yes! Fuck me!"

    I stopped short, blinking at the closed door of my sister's bedroom.

    "Your cock is so big," she groaned. "Be careful with me, I'm a virgin! Oh! Like that! I love it when you touch me there!"

    The sound of her bed shifting on its old springs lent a curious melody to Yukiko's breathless narration. I didn't have to see her to know that my sister was masturbating.

    "My little brother's cock is in my pussy!" she gasped. "Fucking me! Fuck...ing...me!"

    Obviously, Yukiko had no issues with her incestuous fantasies! What surprised me, as stupid as it sounds, wasn't that my sister would play with herself. I just couldn't believe she actually got off on the idea of having sex with me. I'd always thought she'd been teasing me, torturing me with her body and lewd innuendo. My sister really did want to fuck me? So why had she run away?

    She needed a doctor!

    Perhaps I did as well, considering the way my cock had instantly grown hard as steel beneath my towel. I'd been on my way to the bathroom, but instead, I turned the handle of Yukiko's door as cautiously as possible. She probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd kicked it down, but I didn't trust her either. This could be just a ruse to torment me further, especially as she wasn't even trying to be quiet.

    "Uh-huh! Uhhhh...God! I'm going to cum! Make me cum all over your big cock!"

    I peeked around the barely open door and felt the bottom fall out of my stomach. This wasn't another of my sister's tricks! She was on her knees, ass high in the air with her shoulders on the mattress. I had a perfect view of her tight, round ass, and especially her dripping wet pussy as Yukiko rubbed her vulva with wanton delight.

    "So good!" she gasped. "Bite my nipples, little brother! Fuck my cunt! I want to feel your cum inside me!"

    My cock jerked beneath my towel, already leaking clear precum, and I had no choice but to rub myself through the rough cotton. Yukiko's eyes were tightly shut, her panting voice loud and clear as she filled the bedroom with obscenities. She didn't finger her pussy at all, I noticed, but kept moving them around in a tight, frantic circle. She'd pull her rubbery labia one way and then the other, bucking her hips every time she crossed over her distended clitoris.

    Juices streamed down her spread thighs, a thin, whitish discharge that reminded me of Mika Ito. Lubricant for a stiff cock, I told myself, that's what it was. Yukiko's flushed body shivered as she grabbed her right breast, digging her fingers into the tender flesh and pretending they were mine.

    "Yes! Love my tits! Squeeze the milk out of them! Fuck your milk into my pussy! I love you!"

    And with that, my sister's orgasm arrived with a spurting flood of female ejaculate! The oily juice squirted between her fingers, spattering like rain between her legs. Yukiko spread her pussy lips apart, showing me the bright pink flower of her sex.

    I had my fist wrapped around my cock, having loosened the towel so it could lay at my feet. I stroked my erection, lost in the unexpected and brutal display of my sister's sexuality. Everything that had come before, all those years of merciless teasing, paled by comparison to the awful truth...

    "You made me cum, little brother," she whispered, staring with her bright, brown eyes wide open and fixed on mine.

    A smile played at her lips as she massaged her drooling cunt and I froze with my cock pointed right at her.

    "Ugh!" I hitched a sharp breath and threw my hips forward, pulling back on the shaft with the first violent spasm of my climax.

    Semen flew through the open door to land on her bedroom floor. I squeezed the base of my cock as if I might choke the remainder off, but it was too late for that. Hot ball cream burst from my cock with reckless abandon. Six or seven deep contractions pulled the sperm from my balls and sent it flying towards my pink-faced sister.

    She didn't move from her bed, but kept rubbing her pussy, pulling it open with both hands between her drenched thighs. She was giving me a target, or so I imagined, but my cum landed far short of her bed. It didn't matter. As soon as I'd finished cumming, even before the weakest pulsations stopped completely, I felt the unwelcome taste of guilt rising in the back of my throat. We'd just had sex, Yukiko and me, and even if we hadn't touched each other physically, I'd felt another, much more personal connection. We'd shared something taboo and foreign to my conscience...I'd fucked my own sister!

    I pulled the door shut, almost slamming it in my haste, but I was terrified that she would say something to stop me. What if Yukiko invited me into her room and onto her bed, would I say no? I couldn't have feelings like that for her, but she obviously felt something more than sisterly affection for me. This was wrong! It was just a game to her. She'd acted outraged in my bedroom, only to fantasize about me in hers. She'd wanted me to catch her doing it too, of that I had no doubts. Yukiko had planned the whole thing. She was seducing me, slowly but surely, and I couldn't stop her.

    My penis hadn't even gone soft. I wanted to turn around and go back, throw open her bedroom door and bury my cock inside Yukiko's pussy. That would finish it, I thought, once and for all. There would be nothing left after the ultimate betrayal of our family honor. We'd be damned for all time, but free of guilt and shame. That would be Saeki's argument, and I could hear the girl's lilting voice urging me on.

    "Obey your instincts and leave morality to the sheep," she said, smiling. "It's only wrong because someone else wants it to be. Go ahead, Minase. Fuck your sister and loose the demons from their chains...and then you can fuck me."

    I shook my head, nearly falling down as I wave of dizziness washed over me. She's been there! Saeki. I'd seen her and heard her voice, but not in the bathroom. I looked around, trying to remember the way people do with dreams, forgetting the details in that split-second between sleep and waking. But it felt like deja vu, not a dream at all. Had she said something like that before? No, I didn't think so, but her voice had been so clear. The smile on her face and the humor in her lavender eyes. All of it seemed so familiar, and I was lucky that way -- Saeki made me forget about Yukiko for the moment, and an ice cold shower did the rest.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

    "Minase?" Imari rubbed her eyes. "I can't believe this! You're awake!"

    "Did you see Yukiko out there?" I asked, ignoring her theatrics. She'd just walked through the front door like she did every morning.

    "I must be dreaming!"

    "Don't make such a big deal out of it," I told her. "Did you see my sister or not?"

    "Yukiko?" Imari shrugged. "I saw her outside, walking towards the train station. Why?"

    "Nothing," I said, going back to my notes.

    After my shower, I'd stayed in my room, grateful that my sister hadn't decided to bother me. She probably didn't have time, since she was supposed to be at work by the time Imari showed up. I'd eaten a muffin for breakfast, barely tasting it as I compared the translated spells to the originals. I definitely didn't want to depend on Yukiko for any more help!

    "You're studying, too?" Imari asked, looking genuinely astonished. "What's come over you this morning?"

    "Hey! For your information, I study a lot," I protested. "Just because you've never noticed before..."

    "I would have noticed something as strange as that!" she exclaimed. "What's this book? Encyclopedia of Demonology? Witchcraft? Where did you get this?"

    "Saeki let me borrow it," I answered, turning in my chair. "Give me that."

    Imari frowned as I took the book out of her hands. I closed my notebook and the Bible Black as well, stuffing them inside my book bag. There wasn't enough room for the encyclopedia, so I'd just have to leave it a home. I wasn't in a real hurry to give it up just yet anyway. I still had a lot to learn.

       "So you like magic now?" Imari asked. "Or is it just her?"

    "I don't know," I sighed. "It's complicated."

    "She's very sophisticated, isn't she?"

    "Saeki?" I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. I guess so. She's different."

    "From me?" Imari looked decidedly unhappy.

    "Well, of course," I said. "There's nobody else in the world like you."

    Her irrepressible smile returned with a vengeance. "Really?" she asked. "You're not just saying that, right?"

    "Of course not," I insisted. "You're the only girl I know who can be annoying and fun at the same time."

    "Annoying?" She narrowed her eyes.

    "And fun," I repeated. "You're one in a million, Imari."

    "Now I know you're teasing me!"

    WHAP!

    "Ouch! Jeeze! What did you hit me for?" I asked, rubbing my shoulder.

    "Because you deserve it," she replied. "Hurry up and get ready. You have to buy me a bean cake now."

    "You just wanted to kiss me," I told her. "Didn't you?"

    "Excuse me?" Imari's cheeks turned pink.

    "That's why you hit me all the time, isn't it?"

    "No!" she protested. "Where did you get that crazy idea?"

    I wondered what I was doing. Seriously, I asked myself why I'd ever want to venture into the minefield of romance with my oldest and best friend. Maybe because I had feelings for Yukiko? I didn't even want to look in that pocket! Something had happened that morning, but I'd pushed all thoughts of my sister away. I had to resist any desire to explore such a perverse relationship as incest.

    But Imari was like my sister too, wasn't she? I felt the same discomfort when I considered Imari sexually that I did with Yukiko. There was one significant difference between them, however...I could have sex with Imari and be guilty of nothing more than taking our friendship to the next level. Falling in love with her would be normal, even expected by everyone who knew us. Maybe I'd had the perfect girl all along and just didn't know it.

    Or maybe I wanted to fuck Yukiko and Imari would be the perfect stunt double. It would be like incest, but not incest. Shoot, I felt ashamed of myself just for thinking about seeing Imari naked, which was the whole point. Fucking her would feel exactly like fucking Yukiko, except I couldn't get in trouble for it. Why did I want to feel guilty though? There had to be something wrong with me, but I couldn't shake my excitement.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" she wondered. "Are you feeling okay?"

    "Huh?" I blinked at her. "Sorry. I was, um...I didn't get much sleep last night."

    "Well, I'm not going to kiss you," Imari said. "So you can forget about that!"

    "Okay."

    "Okay?"

    "Uhhh..." I smiled a her. "It's not okay?"

    "I don't even know what we're talking about anymore," she sighed. "Buy me a bean cake."

    I did exactly that, but Imari's reaction hadn't been anything like I might have expected. She seemed almost embarrassed when I suggested she wanted to kiss me. Why had I imagined anything else? It's how I would have responded to such a strange idea. The girl wasn't going to suddenly leap into my arms. Imari probably didn't even like me that way. I wasn't even sure if I liked her that way! Neither of us wanted to ruin our friendship, I knew that, so of course we couldn't kiss.

    Just like I couldn't possibly kiss Yukiko? Definitely. But still, the idea had been planted and as we walked to school, I couldn't help but appreciate Imari in a whole new light. She might have been thin, hardly voluptuous like my sister, but in a firm, athletic sort of way. If her tits were on the small side, they were definitely perky beneath her blouse. Imari wore a bra, of course, but it didn't hide the wonderfully upturned shape of her breasts. 

    She had long, coltish legs toned from years of martial arts practice. I'd always thought them skinny, but that's because I remembered how awkward Imari had been as a girl just entering puberty. Our friendship made it almost impossible to look at her with any sort of objectivity. My memories were so strong and clear. I'd never been able to separate my past feelings from the present, but now I could finally see the beautiful, sexy young woman Imari had become.

    For the first time in my life, just looking at her made my cock stiffen with desire. Man, I thought, this was getting complicated!

    Arriving at school, the first thing I did was check Ito's shoe shelf. After masturbating in front of the entire class, I didn't honestly expect her to return the very next day. I breathed a silent sigh of relief when I saw her school shoes undisturbed. She hadn't come back, but Imari and I had gotten there even earlier than usual, so it was possible Ito could still show up. I really hoped not. I didn't want to be confronted with the fact that I'd not only cast a spell on the girl, but I'd raped her as well.

    "I guess Mika isn't here today," Imari sighed. "I hope she's going to be okay."

    "Yeah, me too," I agreed, with somewhat mixed feelings.

    We changed our shoes under an oppressive silence. It was like the girl had died or something, which seemed pretty ridiculous. I half expected to see Ito's ghost reaching for her shoes and I wrote off my apprehension as guilt. She'd been humiliated, that's all, I told myself. She'd get over it.

    "Did you bring my book?" Saeki asked, already in our classroom and playing with her Tarot cards.

    "I'm still using it," I said. "I hope you don't mind."

    "No, it's okay." She shrugged, returning my smile. "I hope you find it interesting."

    "Hmph!" Imari made a face 

    "Do you want me to tell your fortune, Imari?" Saeki asked. "You look a little worried about something."

    "No thanks," she replied. "I think I already know what's going on."

    I didn't like the sound of that and I remembered her warning about Saeki being a predator. Their politeness was a poor mask for the tension between them, but I didn't know if it was jealousy or what. Saeki didn't strike me as the jealous type though, and Imari probably only wanted to protect me. Whatever was going on, it put me right in the middle. 

    "Do you think so?" Saeki wondered. Her smile bordered on a smirk and I really hoped Imari didn't decide to smack it off the girl's face.

    "Maybe you should just worry about yourself," she retorted.

    Saeki looked down at the cards laid out on her desk, then turned her lavender gaze on me.

    "My future looks pretty good from here," she decided. "It all depends on..."

    "Miss Kitami?" I blinked at the school doctor as she entered the room.

    She wore the same black leather dress and white lab coat that I'd seen her in the day before, and a cool smile on her lovely face. The woman definitely knew how to make an entrance as nobody said a word, we just stared at her. Kitami pulled a lock of blonde hair from her blue eyes, tucking it behind her ear. It was the first time I'd noticed the crucifix earrings she wore. 

    "I'm looking for a first year student," she said, looking down at a sheet of paper. "Kurumi Imari...Is she here yet?"

    "Me?"

    "Are you Miss Imari?" Kitami asked.

    "Yes."

    "Follow me, please," the doctor said. "Oh! Don't worry. You're not in any trouble. I just need to update your medical history."

    "Um..." Imari glanced at me, seeming quite reluctant. "Alright. Will it take long?"

    "Not at all," Kitami said with a smile. "But it won't get done standing here, will it?"

    "No ma'am," she agreed.

    Saeki and I didn't say anything as they left the classroom. It struck me as a little odd that the woman would come all the way up to third floor looking for a perfectly healthy girl, but I suppose the reason was plausible enough. Doctor Kitami was new to the school and doubtless she had to worry about her students' medical records. I remembered filling out numerous forms and health questionnaires when I'd enrolled, but I'd never had a reason to think about it since.

    "Did you have to do that?" I wondered, looking at Saeki.

    "Last Friday," she said. "I think Kitami's just getting her kicks."

    "What do you mean?" I asked, taking a seat beside her. Other students were slowly filtering into the classroom.

    "She wanted to see if I was a virgin," Saeki explained with a grin. "You know...Like, she wanted to actually look? It was weird."

    "She looked?"

    "I told her I wasn't, but Kitami made me take off my panties anyway," she said. "I didn't really mind. She has very gentle fingers."

    "Oh." I swallowed hard and Saeki giggled.

    She obviously knew in which direction my mind was wandering. I could happily imagine Saeki on her hands and knees, ass in the air as Dr. Kitami spread the girl's pussy lips. Had she done more than that? I liked to think so, but then I remembered Imari and she was so uptight about sex that she'd probably die of embarrassment if anyone tried to examine virginity. I sort of hoped Saeki was teasing me, but I didn't think so.

    Around us, our classmates were talking about Ito and her strange behavior. Already she'd become something of a joke as I heard them laughing at her expense. It didn't seem very fair, but that's just the way school is sometimes.

    Saeki gathered her cards, pulling them into a neat stack. She shuffled them slowly and I admired her delicate fingers. She had long fingernails, but they were painted with a clear lacquer, not colored like most of the other girls. It seemed such an odd, interesting detail about her. Like the way she avoided too much makeup and kept her hair in that simple ponytail with her long bangs falling around her cheeks. The girl wasn't trying to draw attention to herself at all, but then again, she didn't have to.

    "What's that?" I asked, gesturing towards the book bag hanging over the back of her chair. The flap was open and I could see a name. "Yeats?"

    "This book?" She set her cards aside and reached for it. "William Butler Yeats. It's a collection of his poetry."

    "Poetry?" I smiled at her. "I didn't think you liked that romance stuff."

    "He was an Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize."

    "I kind of pictured you reading about black magic and listening to death metal or something," I continued. "At least tell me that you have a black cat."

    "Very funny," she said. "Yeats was an occultist, the president of the Order of the Golden Dawn."

    I remembered seeing something about that in the encyclopedia. The Order of the Golden Dawn was a secret society that included renowned occultists like Mathers and Crowley. The book started to make a little more sense then, but I still expected Saeki to tell me that her favorite bands were Napalm Death and Carcass.

    "Hey!" Murai bounced into the room with a smile. "You're going to do my reading this morning, aren't you?"

    She practically shoved me aside with her enthusiasm. Apparently she'd made an appointment with Saeki to get her fortune told, but after what had happened the day before, I thought it seemed kind of thoughtless of the girl.

    Saeki seemed to think so too. "Sorry," she said. "I'm doing anymore readings for awhile."

    I didn't know if that was true or not, considering she had her Tarot cards on her desk. Saeki had offered to do a reading for Imari, but maybe because she knew Imari would turn her down. It wasn't hard to believe that having her prediction for Ito confirmed had put a damper on Saeki's enthusiasm though. She probably felt a little guilty herself, and not only that, but some of the other students wondered if Saeki's prediction hadn't caused Ito to go a little crazy. If she wasn't careful, I thought, Saeki could end up taking the blame for something I'd done.

    "Whaaaat?" Murai whined. "But you said you'd do my reading today! You promised!"

    "I know, but..." Saeki offered the girl an apologetic shrug.

    "You have to help me!" Murai insisted. "I'm at my wit's end! I just don't know what to do!"

    "About what?" I wondered, but she ignored me.

    "Please, Saeki? You can't let me down like this!"

    "Oh, alright," Saeki sighed, putting her book back into the bag. "I did make a promise, but just one reading. Okay?"

    "Thank you!" Murai gushed. "That's all I need. Just a love reading, alright? I have to know what's going to happen!"

    "Your love life?" Saeki grinned as she shuffled the cards. "That never changes, does it?"

    I had to make room for Murai, giving up my chair to her. She didn't even thank me, being much too concerned with getting her silly fortune told. Who would have thought that little Murai might actually have a love life?

    "The guy is Asada in Section B," she said. "You know the one I mean, don't you? He's so cute! I'm trying to decide if I should tell him how I feel...What do you think?"

    "Let's take a look," Saeki said, laying out her cards.

    A dozen other girls gathered around the desk to watch, but none of them said anything. Murai couldn't sit still as Saeki scrutinized the cards in front of her. A few days before, I would have laughed at all this theatrical mumbo-jumbo, but after yesterday, I was paying close attention to everything that Saeki did and said, especially when she looked up with a stern expression on her face.

    "Well?" Murai squeaked.

    "It's not good," Saeki told her.

    "Really?" The other girl looked suddenly downcast. "But I thought that if I told Asada how much I love him..."

    Saeki pointed at a card. "The inverted moon represents the present," she said. "He already has a girlfriend, see? In fact, they have such a strong relationship that he'll never let her go. If you tell him how you feel, he'll only humiliate you."

    "He will?" Murai looked as if she might start crying any moment. She didn't look surprised, however, and I suspected she already knew about the other girlfriend.

    "This card proves it," Saeki continued, tapping a jagged lightening bolt striking a tree. "Inverted Power means that he's apathetic to your feelings. You'll never be more than just friends, and not even that if you insult him."

    She pointed at another card while Murai digested that bad news.

    "The results card," she said. "The Hanged Man, right-side-up. There's no good outcome no matter what you do. I'm sorry, Ayumi. There's nothing else I can tell you."

    "It can't be!" she protested. 

    "It is what it is," Saeki said. "I'd advise you not to tell him anything, but it's up to you. This is just a simple reading, sometimes it's right, and sometimes it's wrong."

    The girl thought about that for a moment, staring at the cards as if she might somehow change them.

    "Listen," she finally said. "Isn't there some way you could use your magic to tear them apart? You could cast a spell to make him fall in love with me!"

    Murai was begging Saeki for help as if she were a god or something. Well, in this case, more like a demon, I thought. Gods have no need of black magic, after all.

    "No," Saeki shook her head. "It's true that there are some spells like that, but there's no guarantee that it would work. Besides, I'd be the one taking all the risks."

    "Well..." The girl frowned. "Teach me how to do it then. I'll cast the spell myself."

    "Absolutely not!" Saeki said, softly but with inarguable conviction. "Magic isn't something to be trifled with by amateurs with no idea of what they're doing."

    "You're just being stingy!" Murai whirled around, pushing one of her classmates out of the way. I'd never seen her so angry before. Actually, I wouldn't have believed the girl could get angry!

    Saeki looked unfazed by her friend's outburst and started gathering her cards. Some of the other girls were whispering about Murai now, and I almost felt sorry for her. She obviously loved this Asada guy, whom I barely knew at all. I had no idea why Saeki refused to cast a spell, but I suspected she might not actually know one that could make someone fall in love.

    Despite her obvious knowledge, I had serious doubts about Saeki's actual abilities. She was good with Tarot cards, I believed that, but actual spell casting? I knew that my spell had worked on Ito. What few questions I'd entertained about magic had been largely answered when I'd discovered that the Bible Black was authentic and in my hands. If Saeki was unwilling or unable to cast a spell for Murai, I wondered if this wasn't my chance to step up and demonstrate my own growing abilities.

    I should have known better, but the urge to impress Saeki was one I couldn't ignore. She thought I'd drugged Ito, but if I cast a love spell for Murai, she might realize what had really happened. And then she'd have to recognize that my power was superior to hers! I wanted to turn the tables on her. Instead of Saeki playing her games with me, I could make her play mine for a change. And my games didn't involve standing in the middle of the street with a hard-on while she went to visit her stupid friends!

    Besides, I told myself, it couldn't just be coincidence that my sister had translated a love spell the night before. The more I studied that book, the more convinced I became that someone or something bound to it was watching out for me. Perhaps the Bible Black itself had some strange, cosmic awareness, and having no desire to be lost for another hundred years, was determined to prove its usefulness.

    Or maybe it was just Murai's lucky day.

    "Hey, Ayumi..." I smiled and waved at her as I approached.

    "What do you want?" she asked, snatching her notebooks out of her bag and slapping them onto her desk.

    "I want to help you," I explained, getting her to pause for a second. "I heard what Saeki said and it doesn't seem very fair to me."

    "It's not!" she snapped, dropping a textbook. "She's being stuck up, that's all."

    "Well, you know I like you, right?" I said. "And I have a few spells that might work. Saeki isn't the only one around here with power and if you want..."

    "Really? You know magic?" She blinked at me, momentarily taken aback by my claims. I had to admit that they did seem a bit preposterous coming from me.

    "Minase, you really shouldn't be saying things like that," Saeki said, staring at me from her desk a few feet away.

    She'd adopted her more usual serious and aloof posture. I could hear the disdain in her voice and see it in her eyes. The other students were looking back and forth between us and I honestly hadn't expected some sort of showdown like this. I felt angry at being dismissed so easily. I thought we'd at least become friends, even if fucking on a crowded train meant nothing to her at all.

    "You don't know the first thing about magic," she continued. "You've read a few library books, so what? Don't listen to him, Ayumi."

    "I might not know as much about black magic as you do," I admitted, "but at least I'm not afraid to use it."

    "I don't know what you think you can accomplish," she countered. "You should stop fooling around with things you don't understand, before you get hurt."

    "Nobody is going to get hurt," I said, smiling at Murai. "I'm going to give you what you want most, that's all."

    "I believe you!" she said, nodding quickly. She probably would have believed anyone at that point, but I didn't mind her confidence either. "If you can make Asada love me, I'll give you anything you want."

    "Anything?" I narrowed my eyes. I hadn't been planning on asking for any sort of payment. Murai was just a handy pawn in the game I was playing with Saeki.

    "Anything!" she insisted. "I swear. Just give me Asada, please!"

    "I will," I promised, returning to my desk and removing my notebook.

    Murai followed me as our classmates whispered. Some of them gave me curious looks, but others were openly dubious, much like Saeki who only crossed her arms over her breasts and frowned.

    I turned to the notes I'd taken the night before, finding the Love Spell that Yukiko had translated for me.

    "What do you think you're doing, Minase?" Imari demanded, having returned from the beautiful clutches of Dr. Kitami. "Are you trying to imitate Saeki now?"

    "Don't worry about it," I told her. "I'm busy."

    "Busy?" she snorted. "How dare you leave me out of the loop?"

    Typical Imari. We'd always shared everything, but not this. Magic, and the black book, belonged to me alone. I didn't worry about her too much. I had to cast a spell and do it right. After all that talk, I'd put my reputation on the line! And I knew Saeki would just love to see me fail. So I couldn't let that happen.

    I had Murai bring me a blank sheet of paper and a pair of scissors. She watched as I cut the paper into a human shape. They all watched, even Saeki from beneath her hooded eyes.

    "Do you have a pin or a needle?" I asked, and Murai opened her purse to find one. "You have to prick your finger and write the first initial of the guy's name on the paper."

    "In my blood?" she asked.

    "That's why you have to prick your finger," I said, explaining as if to a child.

    "Will it hurt?"

    "We can stop right now if you want," I suggested. "It's just a little blood."

    "No!" she said. "I'll do it."

    We watched as she pricked her finger, wincing like a baby, and then drawing a capital A on the paper doll.

    "Is that okay?" Murai asked. "Did I do it right?"

    "That's perfect," I assured her. "Let's begin the spell now."

    I held the blood stained doll cupped in my hands and lowered my head, whispering the ancient incantation over it. Murai could hear what I said, but probably not anyone else, although they all shuffled closer.

    "O Uvall, Amon, Astaroth...Come ye forth, Oriens, Regent of the East. Boul, Regent of the West. Amemon, Regent of the South. Eltzen, Regent of the North.

    "I charge thee in secret, in the name of the Almighty Adonai, to answer my liege's demands, that thy spirit shall enter this doll herewith.

    "Elohi Elohim Elohei Sabaoth Elion Ischiros Adonai Jah Tetragrammaton Sadai!"

    "Ah!" Kaori Saeki gasped as I'd spoken the last words loud enough for her to hear them. Perhaps they meant something to her, I wasn't sure, but the dumbfounded look on her face filled me with a smug sense of joy.

    There was more to the spell and I lowered my voice, breathing the incantation across the doll and into Murai's awestruck face. If she had any doubts at the beginning, they seemed to be gone completely by the end. I took a deep breath and offered the paper doll to her with a serious look.

    "You have to take this doll and give it to Asada," I told her. "Not directly though...Put it someplace where he'll be sure to find it. Only him, do you understand?"

    "I will," she agreed. " I mean, yes! I do understand. Oh! Thank you, Minase!"

    "Well, when your wish comes true," I reminded her, "don't forget your promise."

    "I won't forget!" Murai said. "Whatever you want, just ask!"

    "Okay," I said. "You'd better hurry. Class is going to start soon."

    She gave me one last smile before hurrying out of the room. I didn't know if the spell would really work or not, of course. I'd done everything according to my sister's translation, but I had to admit to some small doubts. Magic was still something difficult to put absolute faith in, at least for me. This would be a good test, I decided. If by some miracle Asada did fall in love with Murai, then I couldn't possibly doubt the book's power...And Saeki wouldn't be able to doubt mine!