Who Da Boss Lady? 19 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

Who Da Boss Lady?

Chapter 19

-VB-

Mari didn’t accept the request for a spar. For that day. 

But she did accept it for the weekend. 

It was only after asking for a spar that Shirone felt a little stupid. How the hell was that supposed to give her friend a good impression of her full real self?! Now she sounded like some kind of battle maniac! 

It was her sister’s fault. It had to be. It’s because she was constantly ambushing her that Shirone was corrupted into becoming some kind of … some kind of … macho battle maniac.

Except she wasn’t macho but she certainly sounded like it when she challenged her newly turned magician friend into a fight! 

She groaned quietly into her pillow before pulling her head up. 

It was morning. 

And today was Saturday. 

School was going to end early today, so they were going to have their spar after school. 

… Shirone couldn’t help but wonder about just how well Mari was going to do against her. 

Eh, she was going to find out later anyway. 

As excited as she was about the friendly spar, she was more immediately interested in what delicious food Mari’s mom was going to pack for her. Or maybe they would have a meal after the spar? 

-VB-

“So you scheduled a spar session with your friend,” Venalita asked with a grin.

Mari glared at the annoying little shit that was her “mascot.” “Yes,” she grumbled out as she prepared to go to school. 

“Mari is already growing up so quickly! She’s getting herself a rival!” the black doll squeaked-sobbed. 

“Oh? Does that mean there will be a love triangle soon?” her mom asked, making her grimace. “It’s the trope, honey!”

“... Only if he can fight,” dad grunted out from the kitchen table. 

“Dad, I’m not getting a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend.”

“Good. You can’t protect them as you are right now.”

She glared at her dad. “Dad, I’m more powerful than you.”

“More powerful, yes,” he said before wetting a finger and turning his newspaper. “But are you truly stronger when you still get hit during our dodging training.”

“... I hate you.”

“Love you, too, honey.”

Mom giggled in the background. 

She just groaned to herself and left the house to get to school in time. 

But Venalita didn’t leave her alone. 

She floated around, slightly shimmering with rainbow hue along her silhouette. 

“Won’t people see you like this?” she asked the magical girl(?) mascot. 

“Nope! I learned how to turn invisible!” 

“... Then how do I see you?” 

“Because I keyed the invisibility spell to your vision, of course.” 

“And why are you following me to school?”

“Aww… but I’ve been following you to school more than a few times already!” 

“Yeah. Because you wouldn’t leave me alone because you were lonely-.”

“I was not!”

“But now, you are busy spying on everyone and have my parents to talk to. I can’t fathom just how much you must be bothering them.”

“Oh, I am not bothering them at all~,” she giggled. 

“... I don’t like that giggle.”

“You don’t have to, honey. Now, we can talk about what I see your parents do later. Let’s talk about that spar you’re going to have after school today!” 

“It’s just a spar.”

“Oh, you say that, but you have to be on your guard. You’ll be fighting against a devil, right?”

“... I didn’t tell you that.”

Venalita giggled. “You smelled of her, you know. But only on your back for some reason.”

“... Devils have a smell?”

“Of course! Slightly bitter and sour like a rotting cabbage.”

She crinkled her nose. “I didn’t smell anything.”

Venlita paused. “Eh,” she uttered and then shrugged. “Anyway, devils are tricksies. Maybe you can trust your friend, but you definitely can’t trust the other devils. It might not be now. It might not be later. But they will eventually force you to do what they want. And a strong girl like you make for a very good slave.”

She glared. “Shirone wouldn’t do that.”

“Shirone? Is that her name? Maybe she won’t. But she’s not the only devil in the school, right? And you didn’t ask Shirone to keep your sparring private? Which means they’ll be swarming to see you.” She smiled. It was not a nice smile. “But there is something you need to know about devils as well. See, they respect strength. Your dad said that, remember?”

She nodded slowly. “He did.”

“It’s simple then. Show them how strong you are.”

-VB-

The school came to an end quickly, which was normal for Saturdays. 

“So where are we going?” Mari asked her, and Shirone hummed. 

“Does the gym work?” 

Mari paused before nodding. 

“Sure.”

So they made their way there… and Shirone found herself in a gym with a bunch of people she didn’t expect to find. 

She wanted to groan. She thought this was going to be a friendly thing, not a whole intro thing!

---

“... Who are they?” she asked Shirone as the two of them approached the new people. Mari recognized a few of the older girls; they were two of the three Queens of the Kuoh Academy’s high school student body: Gremory Rias and Himejima Akeno. Now that she was this close with no one else around her, it was unmistakable to her that both of them were devils. 

The one that was utterly a stranger to her was a big busted onee-chan who was looking at Shirone with a smirk. 

She too felt like a devil to Mari’s senses.

“Hi, Mari-chan! I’m Kuroka. I’m Shirone’s older sister!”

Mari blinked as she looked between the two of them.

“Wait. Kuro. Shiro. You were named for your hair color?!” Mari cackled. 

Shirone lashed out at her with a blush on her face. 

“Shut up!” 

Mari felt a little better now that she was confirming Shirone was acting like herself, but she turned to look at the other two devils in the room. “And you are Gremory-san and Himejima-san, right?”

“That’s right! Just call me Rias!” Gremory … Rias-san said with an enthusiastic wave of her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Himejima-san replied with a bow, and Mari returned the bow. 

“Okay, let’s get to it! No interfering, okay?” she demanded at the end to her sister. 

“Pfft, as if you’ll need it.”

… That sounded like a challenge. 

---

Mari and she got to the center of the gym and turned to face each other. 

And Shirone felt nervous. 

Like… there was a crackling energy in the air and she was facing someone as strong as her sister at least. 

“So how do we want to do this?” Mari asked her casually while her knees unlocked and bent a little. 

“Five minutes?” she asked. 

“Five minutes…? Sure. That and tap out, yeah?”

“Okay.”

Mari turned to her sister. “Can you give us the go?”

“Sure,” Kuroka-nee shrugged. “Go.”

To Shirone’s surprise, Mari was quick to take up on the surprise start. 

Immediately, there was a burst of magic from her and she was -.

Her eyes widened and she heard buchou squeal. 

“You’re a magical girl…?!” Shirone gawked in awe.

Mari grinned. 

She looked so different now. Instead of black hair, she had blonde hair. Instead of black eyes, there were red eyes. Her student uniform was gone, and a frilly white dress replaced it. 

And the wand in her right hand. 

The eight pointed star at the end of the wand - it kind of looked like a golden sun - radiated power. 

And just like that, Shirone realized that her assumption so far had been mistakes. 

She wasn’t the stronger of the two.

Mari wasn’t in some kind of slave contract that Rias might be able to break.

Mari was strong. 

Stronger than anyone here. 

“Here I come, Shi-chan.”

And then she was gone. 

Shirone barely lasted the five minutes and came away with bruises.