When Rika awoke in Leon's dream, she found herself in dark woods. The trees were black, their trunks twisted into spirals. A black sun filled the sky, barely visible through the forest canopy of equally dark leaves.
She immediately took stock of herself. The first thing she noticed was that her clothes had been changed into a strange outfit.
"I'm going to kill him!"
She wore a predominantly black crop top with thin green lines running along the edges of the fabric. On her arms, below the short sleeves, were her usual fishnet arm stockings. Though they weren't enchanted in the dreamscape. A crisp white collar framed her neck, with a green ribbon tied neatly beneath it.
The skirt was black as well, falling to just above the knees in evenly spaced pleats. A narrow green stripe ran along the hem, matching the accents on the top. Instead of stockings, she wore her usual fishnet pantyhose, but none of her weapons were attached to them.
"Well at least I know where that Farm boy is"
In the center of the dark forest, stood a build of unique architecture. A house from a world different then her own, but in this Forest of uniform black trees, Rika knew where she had to go.
• • •
"Look at the screen. You press this button to jump."
"Okay."
"Now you have to dash while you're in the air…"
"Why can't I jump higher?"
"I don't know. It's a game. You can only jump so high."
Leon sat next to Maria on the living room couch. With a controller in her hands, he was teaching her how to play a game when a knock came at the door.
"Who's that?"
"It's, umm… 'The Tsundere Childhood Friend Archetype'…? Probably best you don't answer."
Leon patted Maria on the head before getting up and making his way toward the door.
"Do you even know what those words mean?"
"Of course I do, big brother! I'm your adorable little sister!"
Leon opened the door and couldn't believe his eyes. Yet he refused to look away in case the sight before him disappeared.
It was Rika, wearing what was clearly a standard school uniform. Though it had been altered with her usual fishnets and a few other small touches to match her usual style.
"WOW!"
"WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?!"
Rika immediately pushed him back inside the house. But before she could continue yelling, she caught sight of Maria.
The demon of sloth looked the same as she had outside of Leon's dream. However, here, she didn't have her massive cape buffalo horns. Inside here, she also wore an outfit similar to Rika's, rather than the oversized sweater she had on in reality.
"Hey! Why are you being mean to my big brother!"
"Big brother!? You look nothing alike!"
"I'm his step sister so it's fine! Big brother, you should kick her out!'
"It's fine...
Leon stood back up and shook himself off.
"She, my bratty tsundere, remembers? It's perfectly normal behavior for her. This outfit though!! Wow!"
Her eyes narrowed at Leon's teasing.
"I still don't know what that means.. I should stab you, but clearly I can't as you put me in this outfit WITHOUT ANY WEAPONS!"
"Yeah no idea why you're in a school girl outfit but I'm so happy it kept the fishnets!"
Rika cheeks instantly blushed, while her eyes shot daggers
"I already told you they are for combat! The sleeves are magical and the bottoms hold weapons!!"
"Yeah I get it, you store weapons on both the pantyhose and the inside of the baggy pants... Huh. I guess that also explains the side holes in the pants."
"You're an idiot, Farm boy."
"Hey! Tsundere or not, you need to stop being mean to my big brother!"
"You're not his sister!..."
Rika turned back to Leon.
"Farm boy, listen to me. You're in a dream..."
"I know."
"That girl is a Mare, demons of.. huh! You know!?"
"You know!?"
The two girls started at Leon in shock.
"Yeah I think it's like Celestine, and how I'm not a mindless succubus servant. I out heal the negative effect, but I'm not immune to the status effect."
"Pillow, that's mean! You know how hard it's been trying to understand all this stuff in your head!?
"Yeah I've known for a while, it's been kinda fun watching you try. Sorry about that. Also Pillow? What happened to big brother?"
"YOU KNOW EVERYONE IS WORRIED ABOUT YOU, FARM BOY! We're all coming in here to save you and you're just here relaxing! It's your dream, make me something to stab you with!"
"I don't know how to just make stuff appear, but the kitchen is over there if you want a knife or something."
Leon pointed towards the kitchen.
"More importantly, I'm really touched that you guys are worried about me. What kinda monster girl is Maria?"
Tsukihi's voice joined the conversation from the top of the stairs.
"She's a Mare, meow. Demon race of sloth that puts people to sleep, woof. Then they chase them in their dreams, eating them as they die of exhaustion, meow!"
The three of them turned toward the stairs. Tsukihi was walking down in a kitty-cat bikini. The bikini top had a cat face cutout, with little cat ears on the top edges of the bottom bikini and stockings. She also wore massive cat paw gloves and boots, along with a dog's collar and leash around her neck.
"WOAH!!! Maria, you're the best...!"
"That wasn't me..."
"YEAH, this was my idea, meow! I was originally in some teacher uniform but that was boring. Since this is your mind, as a mana caster, I was able to change into this!.. woof!"
Tuskihi finished going down the stairs and rushed towards Leon. Once again he refused to look away in case the sight before him disappeared.
"Do you like it?"
"I... ouch! ouch!"
Rika had found a knife and was getting her payback.
"Hey, we don't know if I can heal in this dream."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take, Farm boy!"
"Come on Rika. It's not even that bad, woof! If it was me instead of the Mare, I would have put you in some sorta hot konichi outfit, woof… Wait, no. meow!"
"Don't you dare! I don't know what that means but no! Don't forget we're on a mission!"
"Yes I know! We're here to recruit wife number 3!"
"NO!"
Another knocking came at the door.
"I'll get it!"
Leon immediately rushed back to the door to see who it was.
Valeria was cast as the delinquent school girl, holding a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. Her school girl outfit had piercings and chains like her normal Victorian punk dresses. But instead of the school girl top, she had the standard jacket. Too small to close, revealing the bandages warped around her massive chest.
I'm in the typical school harem show and it's perfect!!!
"Leon, why am I wearing this!??"
Valeria ran up and hugged Leon to hide herself in his embrace.
"Oh oh! I know! She is a delinquent girl. The one who's all tough and punk but still supper gape moe. You know, the one who adopts dogs in boxes on the street in the rain."
Tsukihi looked at Maria expecting. Yet the demon showed more confusion than understanding.
"Yes? She is the "Gap Moe Delinquent girl archetype'… but I don't know what you mean by punk and dogs in boxes."
"Huh? Wife number 3, can you not read Leon's memories too?"
"Kinda. Dreams are mixed memories but Pillow's dreams make no sense."
Valeria looked up from the hug, her cheeks a burning red.
"This is your dream? Me in this outfit? It's a bit more revealing than what I usually wear... But the chains are nice… if you want..."
"Oh Yes!..."
"No!"
Rika pulled Leon off of Valeria.
"Did you all forget we're on a mission!"
"Didn't you just stab me like a minute ago?"
"Shut up, Farm boy!"
Rika turned towards Maria.
"Demon of Sloth. We're here for Leon, you need to release him."
"No. He's my pillow."
Another knocking came at the door. Leon made his way over to open it.
It was Celestine, wearing a white standard school uniform with blue trim. Unlike the others, it was prim and perfect.
"Celestine, you're here too? How did your mom agree to this?"
"She didn't, but I wasn't going to be your only fiance who didn't come to save!"
Well that's going to cause me problems later…
Celestine looked over at the other girls in the room and then back at Leon.
"I was going to say that my outfit was a bit weird. But it seems mine is the normal one.... Leon, why are they all more revealing than mine?!"
Is that really her question?
"Oh oh! I know this one too! She is the popular girl, or the class president? Prim and proper but with a dark secret underneath!"
"Bingo."
"Tsukihi, don't say I have a dark secret! That sounds bad!"
Leon raised his hands to grab everyone's attention.
"Alright alright. Since everyone is here, let's get started."