Monstrous Distinction Part 8 (Patreon)

This was definitely a first. Even when the most life-changing and difficult exams were right around the corner, Fuutarou had never never even felt half as nervous as he did at that moment. For exams, he always knew that with his constant studying every night, he had nothing to worry about. He would ace the test and be done with it.

Not this time. He knew he studied a lot, but there was always the chance that, whatever  information he managed to procure, the girls would already know or worse, don’t need. Yesterday, not only did he stay up much longer than he liked, he also felt like he didn't manage to study even nearly enough. To him, It was just a nervous situation all around.

At least he managed to be his usual self in one way, arriving at the library a good 10 minutes before the designated time. Even if he never thought that his ability to study hard would ever be called into question, at least his punctuality was as top tier as ever. Now all that was left was to wait for the girls to arrive…

“Uesugi-saaaaan~” A voice rang out from the side, causing Fuutarou to snap out of his thoughts and turn towards them. Two of the Quins were moving towards him though their moods couldn't be more different, as one of them happily waved her hands to catch Fuutarou’s attention while the other looked like she was dragging herself along, barely able to catch her breath.

And while Fuutarou’s first instinct was to label any girl that was completely out of breath after the 5 minute walk from the Quins’ apartment as Miku, this time, this clearly wasn’t the case. Because even if their faces looked similar, and with Fuutarou being inherently bad at telling people apart, noticing that the completely exhausted girl had to be Nino because of her 8 tentacles on her lower half was not outside of Fuutarou’s observation skills.

“Ugh…” Nino panted, seemingly barely able to keep up with the other quin. And while Fuutarou would have loved to just say that the energetic girl was Miku having a great day, there was this little fact that Miku was a genie that had a smoke puff for legs. And this second girl beside Nino was clearly human.

From the way she acted… maybe it was Yotsuba…?

“Did you have to wait long for us~?” Yotsuba happily chimed, greeting Fuutarou in a friendly manner while Nino joined the two of them a little bit later, still looking completely out of breath.

“No, you two arrived even a little bit early. Though, are you okay, Nino?” Fuutarou asked, looking with a mixture of confusion and concern at the panting Nino.

“It’s… fine. I tried something… on the way here… And it didn't work…” Nino spoke, trying her best to stand up straight and dignified while stopping to pant as much.

“What did you try that put you in this bad of a shape?” Fuutarou asked, trying to see whether anything was wrong with her in a different way. She had a shopping bag around her shoulder, but it was very clearly empty, and other than that, she wasn't carrying much.

“I’ll tell you later.” She said, brushing off dirt from her skirt with her tentacles while pulling her phone out from the bag with another one, putting it into her human hands and starting to check something on her phone. “Okay, I’ll be going now. Just call me when you are done and then we can figure out where to go from there.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that when we are done.” Fuutarou nodded and Nino turned around, gave off a small wave with her free hand and walked away slowly, moving her tentacles rhythmically and skillfully. The biggest question in Fuutarou’s mind at that moment was how she was so easily able to keep track of so many limbs at once.

“Should we get going~? I can’t wait to get a hold of these books~” The energetic Yotsuba chimed, pumping her hand into the air, almost making her own bag slip off her shoulders. “Let’s go to the library! Yay!”

Fuutarou had to take a deep breath, before turning to the energetic girl next to him. There was no way that he was not about to address the elephant in the room. This girl might have human legs, a bow in her hair and a super energetic attitude, but he also knew who he was dealing with.

Everyone who knew the quins knew that Miku was a master of disguise and impersonation, and thanks to something Fuutarou had found out yesterday while studying, it gave him a pretty good feeling that the person in front of him was in fact, not Yotsuba. Time to play along.

“Yeah. I would be excited as well if I was you.” Fuutarou said as the girls turned towards the library. “After all, you get your next issue of historical drama and my help with your new body. Am I right, Miku?”

“Eh?” The girl stood still for a moment, looking like she had been caught completely off guard, then turned around and looked at Fuutarou with wide eyes. “You knew? How?”

“I told you I’d research genies for you.” Fuutarou answered with a smug look on his face, walking past Miku who was still just staring at him blankly. But then she quietly started to follow him when he added. “Let’s get inside and see if we can find that book of yours.”

…

“Yeah, I talked to Ichika and Itsuki a lot yesterday, probably more than I should have.” Miku admitted as the two of them strolled through the library past bookshelves after bookshelves. “Itsuki was actually the one who told me that I ‘was always able’ to change my body to match that of other species, like scyllas, lamias or even humans.”

“In the many articles and books I researched, I also found that Genies have the power to adjust their race at will. It has a few restrictions, but really nothing you and your sisters can’t manage in tandem.” Fuutarou said dismissively, making Miku’s head peak up.

“What? Restrictions? Itsuki never mentioned anything like that!” Miku let out, clearly shocked but still quiet. It was good to know that she knew how to behave in a library.

“Restrictions is just a word that means: You can’t just turn into anything you want whenever you want.” Fuutarou explained and turned to look at Miku. “Let me give you an example. Try turning into a sphinx right here and right now. Itsuki’s and my homeroom teacher is one, and I am pretty sure you have seen her too, so go on. Try it.”

“Uhm… okay…” Miku hesitantly said, closed her eyes and looked like she was concentrating. A thin blue stary mist appeared around her almost immediately, enveloping her lower body. The mist grew thicker and thicker until her legs were nowhere to be seen again, causing her lower body to just look like a puff of smoke again.

“Huh. So this is what a genie transformation looks like. Interesting.” Fuutarou wondered out loud, putting his hand on his face in a thinking pose.

Despite her legs dissolving in the first couple of seconds, after that not much happened afterwards. Her body just stayed in the form of a genie, with her upper body normal and her lower body as a puff of mist connected to her lamp, which he now knew was in her bag, because the smoke seemed to be drawn into there. There was nothing to connect her body to the ground either, as her feet were gone and her smoke curved around into her bag. She was just straight up floating. It looked quite interesting.

“I… can’t.” Miku resigned, letting her head hang a bit while her body hovered a bit lower to the ground as before.

“I won’t blame you. But I will show you something else that you probably are not expecting. Do you think you can turn back into a human?” Fuutarou asked, smiling at her with a bit of a smug look on his face.

“I… don’t think so? Itsuki told me that I always needed one of my sisters nearby to turn into her race.” Miku scratched her head while looking at Fuutarou expectantly. It looked like she was ready for him to correct her, and he was more than willing to oblige.

“So you need one of your human sisters nearby to turn into a human. Itsuki is not wrong with that, but you can actually do one better.” Fuutarou grinned while Miku just stared at him wide eyed. “Just look at me and try to turn into a human.”

“Uh… should I really? I mean… you are a guy and all…” Miku fidgeted nervously while her gaze drifted away. And with a deep breath Fuutarou gave Miku another smile. “Just trust me on this one.”

“Uhm… I’ll try…” Miku was clearly nervous and a bit scared, but seemed to have decided to try her best anyways. She started to do the same thing as before, closing her eyes and starting to concentrate, causing the mist of her bottom half to move and start forming.

“Don’t forget to look at me.” Fuutarou reminded her, causing her eyes to slowly open and look at him. Almost instantly after that, the mist split into two distinct limbs and began to reform into the same two legs she had before. Though, for some reason, Fuutarou could still see the faint track of the mist emanating from her body and connecting her to the inside of her bag.

“What? It worked…?” Miku looked very confused at first, then raised her head and expectantly looked at Fuutarou for an explanation of what just happened. And thankfully, Fuutarou knew exactly what had just transpired.

“I first need to get a misconception out of the way. You are not turning your body to match that of your sisters, you are changing your race to match them. There is a difference.” He said, taking one deep breath before continuing.

“To say it in simpler terms, your body answers the question: If I was born as the race of the person in front of me, what would I look like?” Fuutarou explained while Miku just looked at him and blinked. “Granted, if you were to try to turn into the race of your sisters, I would very much expect you to look similar. Don’t you think so too?”

“..So you are saying that I am not actually copying their bodies, I am just turning myself into… myself as a human. And we just happen to look similar because we are quins?” Miku asked, making Fuutarou breathe a huge sigh of relief. It was good to talk to someone who was this quick on the uptake.

“Yes, and this is a very fortunate thing for you, as it means you are far less limited in your power than you may have thought.” Fuutarou smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, just think about it. Instead of just being able to copy your sisters, you can copy the race of everyone you meet, as long as you can keep a good look on them for like 10 seconds.”

“That is true. That sounds very powerful…” Miku admitted, thinking to herself for a brief moment.

“And wanna know what the best thing is? You cannot just shapeshift into the bodies of other people, only into their races.” Fuutarou announced happily, making Miku give him a confused look. “Before you say anything, yes that is a good thing. Doppelgangers have historically always had a very difficult life, because they are seen as very dangerous by basically everyone. Genies don't have that problem as they always look like themselves, regardless of if they have tentacles, horse legs or a snake tail on their bottom half.”

“Oh. I didn’t even think of that.” Miku blinked, seemingly stumped by Fuutarou’s explanation. “I guess it is better if I can’t just turn into anyone… Wait! Doesn’t that mean that I am completely unique?”

“Hmm?” Fuutarou wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at.

“I mean, Genies can’t usually impersonate people… but I can. Just 4 people, but I am confident in my acting skills with them.” Miku proudly spoke, padding her chest a little bit. Though quickly slumped back down a little bit embarrassed and added. “...but I probably shouldn’t be proud of that.”

“You should be proud, and you are completely correct. Transforming into different species, being able to doppelganger people and also not causing a mass panic by being a doppelganger. I don’t think anyone can do what you can.” Fuutarou confirmed and he could literally watch as Miku’s eyes started to shine.

“This is so cool…” Miku let out and quickly looked around the place, though Fuutarou wasn’t sure what for. “... Oh right. The book! I completely forgot. Let’s see… part 8 was somewhere around this shelf, so part 9 shouldn’t be far off.”

The two of them walked a bit further into the building, Fuutarou following Miku who had her own very subtle way of expressing her excitement, though he could definitely tell she was looking forward to that book. As Miku arrived at a shelf and started to look through it, she suddenly asked a question out of nowhere.

“As far as I remember, Genies have always been known for granting wishes with magic and stuff. Do you know If I can do anything of that sort?” She asked, just shooting a brief glance towards Fuutarou before getting back to digging through the shelfs.

“From my research as well as Itsuki directly, I have heard that Genies granting wishes with magic is just a complete myth, no doubt about it.” Fuutarou spoke, matter of factly. “You really don’t have to worry that anyone could grab your lamp to enslave you either.”

“Yeah. I handed my lamp around to my sisters and never had this movie-like compulsion to call them ‘Master’ all of a sudden.” Miku laughed, though Fuutarou could tell that she was really relieved to hear that. “Makes me wonder though how this rumor came to be.”

“I think I actually know this one.” Fuutarou started, catching Miku off guard again for a moment, but her gaze went back to the shelf quite quickly. After scratching his head for a bit he added. “Though this one is only from online speculation. It sounds plausible to me, but I can't promise that it's 100% correct.”

“Oh! There it is! Part 9, just what I wanted. I am glad no one else rented this one out~” Miku chimed and picked a thick book off the shelf. After smiling at it for a few seconds and checking out the backside, she slid the book into the bag she was carrying.

“I am still curious. I like medieval ‘most likely true’ stories~” Miku said, giving Fuutarou a big smile.

“Okay, then let me ask you this question. Let’s say you are a medieval shogun in a world where extra species girls exist. You have heard the rumor that genies could grant you any wish you desire and actually manage to find a lamp of one. The genie appears in front of you and offers you three wishes. What do you wish for?” Fuutarou asked, like it was an exam question in school. Though he knew that Miku could answer this one easily.

“Probably for money, fame and sex.” Miku answered flatly, then blinked a few times, seemingly having realized something.

“You are completely correct. Let’s tackle each one of those separately.” Fuutarou said, nodding at Miku’s answer. “Genies can store quite a lot in their lamp, including themselves, so it isn’t too far-fetched to say that they could pull money ‘out of thin air’ to impress the shogun.”

“Fame is really easy to grant too. If a person suddenly gains a lot of wealth and is told that they will get famous, then they probably will. It's only a question of their mindset.” Fuutarou explained while Miku nodded slightly. “And finally, sex. Pretty sure they wouldn’t just want any girl, but extra species girls of all varieties, since those are very rare to find, even today. And wouldn’t you know it, what is the one ‘magical’ ability genies actually have?”

“But that would mean that they transformed in front of the shogun with no reference nearby at all.” Miku interjected, making Fuutarou nod.

“That is true, but it is also most likely that these genies of the past were scammers, pretending to grant wishes only to disappear, not only with their own money in the lamp, but also with the entire treasury of the shogun emptied, causing their wealth to grow and grow.” Fuutarou said while shrugging his shoulders. “A person who is dedicated to taking money off of big guns would have trained her entire life that her charade actually worked, meaning they needed to be super skilled in transforming into whatever extra species their shogun desired.”

“So you mean that they trained so much that they can just transform without a reference? I mean… I can see how that makes sense.” Miku nodded, then added. “And that would also explain why basically every story with genies ends with the wishing guy losing or getting screwed over.”

“I didn’t even think of that. But that’s true. The rumor would definitely start getting around like this. The genie will grant you every wish, but if you are not careful, then the wish will come back to bite you.” Fuutarou said as the two of them made their way back towards the entrance of the library and Miku added. “Since the shoguns actually got their wishes granted, they couldn’t even deny it and most likely thought that they had messed up instead of them getting screwed over.”

“Exactly.” Both of them nodded at each other, then Miku started to giggle as the two of them approached the counter of the librarian. She then handed the book to the old lady and said. “I would like to borrow this book and here is my card.”

“You know, it's fun to talk to you about these things.” She said as the librarian gave her the book back and she turned towards him. “Hey, if you find more classical speculations and theories about any extra species, please call me. I would love to talk mooooraaaah!”

Miku suddenly yelped as her lamp dropped out from her bag while she was trying to put the book in, making it seem like she lost balance for a second. After a brief glance downwards at the lamp, Fuutarou got down and picked it up, making sure to look very closely at it.

“Uhm… what are you doing?” Miku asked, though Fuutarou gestured her to wait for a moment. There was definitely mist coming out from the lamp, just faintly connecting Miku’s body to it in a way that was very difficult to see. Even though she was mimicking a human at the moment, it seemed like her connection with the lamp wasn’t severed.

“Hey, let me try something for a second.” He said and walked a few steps away from the librarian counter. And just as he expected, Miku seemed like she was dragged along with him, barely able to stop herself from following him.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” She cried, making Fuutarou stop and nod to himself. She then looked at him upset, walked even closer and snatched her lamp out from his hands while saying. “What was that for!?!”

“Can you see why in media Genies tend to be unable to leave their master's side?” Fuutarou smiled at her, while she clearly thought about it for a moment before blushing.

“...yes…”

“Your body is still connected to the lamp, so you should probably make sure that you always make sure where it is and who is holding it.” He added and Miku just nodded, still looking ever embarrassed.

“Anyway, it seems like we are done here. Do you want to message Nino or should I?” Fuutarou asked while the two of them left the library, making Miku immediately fumble through her bag again, putting her lamp away and pulling her phone out, this time without dropping her lamp.

“I’ll do it.” She typed a bit on her phone, then pushed send and turned back towards Fuutarou, who was impressed with her typing speed. With a bit of a smile, Miku added. “She should be here in a few minutes.”

“Great. I still wondered about something though. Do you mind if I take a look at your lamp again?” He asked, though the answer he received was quite ironic. “Nope~ not giving my lamp to you again, good sir~”

…Yeah, he brought that one upon himself…

—

It's finally time for Miku to take the spotlight. I wonder what Fuutarou found out about her body thus far.