Chapter 400: I’m Telling Your Mom!
Chapter 400: I’m Telling Your Mom!
All seven tails rose up simultaneously, each with its own printed Mika face, and they all started smacking her butt in turn.
And Astrid—
Astrid responded to each one individually.
"No, angry Mika! What are you doing?! You can’t follow dirty Mika like that! Ahhh!"
SMACK!
"Sad Mika! I thought you loved your sister! Why are you hitting me like that?! Mmmm!"
SMACK!
"Sleazy Mika! You have other women! Why do you come after me?! Nooo!"
SMACK!
"Prince Mika! You’re supposed to be noble! This isn’t noble at all! Haaan!"
SMACK!
"Happy Mika! Stop smiling while you hit me! Hyaa!"
SMACK!
And on it went.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
And through it all, despite her protests, despite her cries, despite her dramatic pleas—she was smiling.
A genuine, happy, blissful smile.
Like she was having the time of her life.
Like this was exactly where she wanted to be.
Like—
CRASH!
A loud sound from the doorway.
Something falling over and Astrid froze instantly.
Her head snapped toward the door, her eyes going wide with alarm.
No one was supposed to be here.
She’d sent everyone away. The building was empty. She’d made sure of it.
But even still, someone had entered.
Her eyes narrowed, pupils sharpening, ready to kill whoever had dared to witness this—
And then she saw him.
Mika.
On the floor.
His legs had given out and he was sitting against the base of the bookshelf, staring at her with an expression she had never seen on his face before.
Horror.
Pure, absolute, soul-deep horror.
But worse—so much worse were the tears.
Tears streaming down his cheeks.
Genuine tears of sadness, pity, and sorrow.
He wasn’t crying because he was scared.
He wasn’t crying because he was embarrassed.
He was crying because he couldn’t believe, couldn’t handle that Astrid had become such a sad, lonely individual that she resorted to...to this.
Roleplaying with her own tails.
With printed faces of him.
Acting out elaborate scenarios where he dominated her and rescued her and betrayed her and loved her.
It was pathetic.
It was heartbreaking.
It was the saddest thing he had ever witnessed.
And Astrid knew it.
The moment she saw those tears, the moment she saw the pity in his eyes, something in her chest shattered.
For a second, she was too shocked to move.
How had he gotten here? How long had he been watching? How much had he seen?
The answer to that last question was obvious: everything.
He had seen everything.
Every single moment of her insane, humiliating, deeply disturbed roleplay.
Her face went through a rapid transformation: shock, horror, embarrassment, and then—desperation.
"H-Hold on, Mika!"
She shrieked, scrambling to her feet, her tails flailing everywhere.
"Hold on a second! Hold on! Don’t misunderstand your big sister!"
She held up her hands, a strained, manic smile plastered on her face.
"This isn’t what you think it is! This—this is a play! Yes! A play!"
Mika just stared at her, tears still flowing.
"I’m participating in a play!"
She continued desperately.
"But since no one else is here, I can’t practice properly with anyone else! So I decided to use my tails as—as replacements! Stand-ins! That’s exactly what this is! A play rehearsal!"
She looked at him with pleading eyes.
"See? That makes sense, right? That completely makes sense!"
Mika blinked.
The tears kept coming.
He looked at her for a long, agonizing moment.
Then—slowly, shakily—he forced a smile onto his face.
"O-Oh." He said, his voice hollow. "Oh, so it was a play. Sure, Astrid. A play. Okay. I see. I understand."
He slowly started pushing himself up, using the doorframe for support.
And then, slowly he began backing toward the door.
"Sure, sure, Astrid. You can continue your play."
He took another step back.
Another.
Another.
And then—he was out the door, his head poking back in for one final moment.
"I’m sorry for interrupting. Please, go ahead. Continue whatever you were doing!"
And then he slipped out the door.
Astrid stood there for a moment, frozen.
Had he...had he actually believed her?
Had her ridiculous lie actually worked?
She felt a surge of hope—
And then she heard it.
Footsteps.
Fast footsteps.
No, frantic, desperate, escaping footsteps.
He wasn’t walking away calmly. He was running.
Running like his life depended on it.
Running like he’d just witnessed something so traumatic that his only remaining survival instinct was flight.
Panic seized her.
"WAIT!"
She screamed, launching herself toward the door.
"Mika! Wait! Don’t go! Hold up! Please let me explain! LET ME EXPLAIN!"
She burst into the hallway, chasing after him.
Mika glanced back while running, and the look on his face—the pure, unfiltered fear—made her heart shatter.
"There’s no need to explain, Astrid!"
He shouted over his shoulder, still running.
"There’s no need! You can do whatever you want! No matter how crazy your hobby is—even if you’re going to roleplay with your tails using my pictures—you can do it!"
"I don’t need to know! I don’t want to know!"
"M-Mika, please! Listen to me!" Astrid pleaded as she raced after him through the corridors.
"I don’t care!" His voice cracked. "I don’t care at all! I don’t want anything to do with this! I don’t want to hear your excuses!"
He kept running, faster now, putting distance between them and he couldn’t help but shout in a pitiful manner,
"I came here thinking you were down in the dumps! Sad! Irritated! Like you always are! I-I thought I needed to cheer you up!"
He glanced back again, and his eyes were full of something she’d never seen directed at her before.
Genuine horror.
Genuine fear.
"But you’re doing more than a good job of cheering yourself up!" He let out a tear-filled chuckle. "And not just by yourself—there are seven Mikas with you! Seven Mikas cheering you up!"
"So there’s no need for me to be around!"
He reached the stairwell.
"You can use those seven Mikas! Talk with them instead! I’ll leave!"
And he disappeared down the stairs.
Astrid stood frozen for half a second.
Then—determination flower through her.
"No." She growled. "No, you don’t."
She ran after him.
Down the stairs. Through the hallways. Following the sound of his frantic footsteps.
"Mika! Stop! Don’t try to run away from me!"
But he didn’t stop.
And then—she saw him do something that made her blood run cold.
He pulled out his phone.
While running.
And started dialing.
"Who are you calling?!" She shrieked, running faster. "Mika! Who are you calling?!"
His voice floated back to her, agitated, panicked, absolutely unhinged.
"I’m calling your mother!" He shouted back. "She deserves to hear what you’ve done today, especially since she asked how you were doing!"
Astrid’s heart stopped.
"NO! NO, MIKA, DON’T! DON’T TELL HER ANYTHING! PLEASE!"
But it was too late.
Mika had already put the phone to his ear.
"Hello, Nadia?" His voice was breathless, running and talking at the same time. "Sorry for disturbing you right now. I know you’re busy. But it’s just that—your daughter. Your daughter..."
"...she’s gone absolutely batshit crazy!"
Astred stumbled, almost falling.
"I know she’s already been a nutcase before." Mika continued, his voice rising. "But I think it’s about time that we admit her to a hospital or something."
"Not just for her—for the people around her as well! I don’t know how long it’ll take for her to absolutely go on a breakdown!"
"I think it’s about time she gets some professional help!"
On the other end of the line, Nadia’s voice came through, confused and concerned.
"Mika? What are you talking about? What’s going on? Did something happen to Astrid? Speak clearly—what exactly did she do for you to panic in such a way?"
Mika opened his mouth to answer—
But then— he was surrounded.
Seven tails.
Coming from every direction.
Blocking his path.
Wrapping around his limbs.
Before he could even process what was happening, he was completely caught—bound in fluffy ropes, lifted off the ground, unable to move.
One tail—the dominant one, with the arrogant Mika face—plucked the phone from his hand.
"Mika? Mika, what’s happening? What’s that sound? Did something go wrong?"
Nadia’s voice came from the speaker, small and distant.
Click.
The tail ended the call.
Then, slowly, the tails carried the bound and traumatized Mika back toward Astrid.
She wanted to be mad.
She really did.
After everything he’d seen—after everything he’d witnessed—he’d tried to run away.
He’d tried to call her mother and snitch on her.
He’d said she needed to be admitted to a hospital.
She should be furious.
But she was too embarrassed.
Too humiliated.
Too utterly mortified by the fact that he had seen everything.
So instead of anger, her face was frozen in a strange grin—like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream or simply disappear from existence entirely.
The tails brought Mika before her.
He hung there, wrapped in fluff, staring at her with wide, traumatized eyes.
They looked at each other.
Neither spoke.
The silence stretched.
And stretched.
And stretched.
Finally, Astrid opened her mouth.
"So..."
She said, her voice small and squeaky.
"How much...How much did you see?"
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