Chapter 122: Chou Part 2: Behind The Mask

In the shopping district of the Chou Empire's capital. A pair of rabbits could be seen dancing in the streets outside of two rabbit themed retail shops. One was a pink rabbit dressed in fine jewelry, while the other was a blue rabbit dressed in fancy clothes. They were advertising the 'Jewel Rabbit' company's new wares.

After being reminded of her time limit by Sakura, the fox masked woman in charge of the small accessory business they were running, decided to expand their brand, making her the CEO of their newly established 'Jewel Rabbit Company'. Their new shop took the form of a clothing store, featuring a blue rabbit as its mascot.

One might assume that there are two people dancing together from within the costumes, but that would be wrong. The blue rabbit suit was actually a golem built to respond accordingly to the movements made by the sleepy pink-haired girl inside the pink rabbit costume.

"The sun is setting! You can stop now!" Sakura's demon CEO spoke as her 18-hour shift was finally ending.

After walking into the store with the blue rabbit in tow she was finally permitted to take off her costume.

"If you have this thing, why do I have to keep dancing like this every day?" Sakura asked, while pointing at the animatronic endoskeleton the CEO was removing from inside the blue bunny.

"Because it can only perform simple moves on its own!"

"Then why not just use that dance mode thing you used on me before? In fact, why did you even need me in the first place if you could just have used these from the get-go?" Sakura inquired, giving her demon boss a suspicious glare.

"The dance mode installed in these costumes only have one dance routine, and as much as I would like to see you with a posse of breakdancing rabbits, it is not ideal to show off our wares! When we got started, we needed a hook, something attention grabbing that the people here have never seen before!"

"So, you had me do some strange dance while dressed like a giant bunny?!" Sakura spoke, as anger could be seen in her bloodshot eyes.

"Exactly! Nothing says, 'look over here!', quite like a human sized rabbit doing an acrobatic dance from a foreign land! But now that our name has spread far and wide throughout the capital, we no longer need to limit ourselves to that style anymore! Instead, it would be better to do a slow and elegant dance that would make it easier to see our wares decorating the costumes. And since you already know how to dance like that due to your background, we don't need to hire a new employee!"

"That still doesn't answer why I had to be the one dancing for nine hours straight all of last month!"

"Oh, that! I just had you do that because I thought it would be funny! And it totally was! Hehe!"

"Why you! If it wasn't for this blasted contract, I would have slapped you to death by now!"

"HA! As if I would let you! No! If it was not for my master's contract with you, I would be relaxing with a nice glass of red wine, while I listen to the beautiful melody of your agonized screams after I fashioned your freshly peeled skin into my new coat!" The fox masked woman spoke, as her bloodlust became palpable.

"W-What is this?" Sakura muttered in response to the sudden shift in the atmosphere.

"I have been thinking for a while now! You have been getting a bit too full of yourself lately!"

"What?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed! You have been meddling in my fun over this last month, and I don't mean how you keep reciting my liege's words like a parrot!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but if you don't-!"

"If I don't what?! You're going to report to my lord? You have no way of contacting my master without me! Do you expect me to tattle on myself? You have been intervening in my games when you think I'm not looking! Like how you threw a rock through those hooligans' window to get them to leave their hideout when I was about to burn it to the ground. Or how you tattle about my assassination plan to the guards when I was going to kill that official. But most irksome of all is how you seem to think yourself to be my equal when you are nothing more than my plaything!"

"Y-You can't kill me! I-It's against our deal!" Sakura stuttered out as she backed away in fear.

"Oh, is it now? If I recall correctly the deal was that I would let you take your revenge, but it never stated you had to be in one piece as you did, nor that I couldn't kill you after the fact!"

"What?! No, stay away!" Sakura whimpered when her back reached the wall.

Meanwhile, the fox woman closed in, while reaching to remove her own mask.

Underneath the mask was the face of a beautiful woman in the midst of a transformation. Her round pupils turned into vertical slits. Her eyes shifted colors, going from black to red, as the whites in her eyes darkened. Her elegant nose flattened out before vanishing completely. Finally, her mouth stretched into an inhumanly long grin, stretching up right next to her eyes, showcasing her shark-like teeth, as drool ran down her chin.

"I am only helping you insects because it was the will of the great one! If not for that, I would have already slaughtered you all for my own amusement! So, if you do not wish for me to slowly tear off your limbs out of boredom, then I suggest you stop acting like we are equals and stop meddling in my fun, you little bug who has caught the eyes of the abyssal nightmare!" She spoke hunched over the cowering little pink-haired girl who was sliding down the wall into a sitting position.

"MADAM!"

Just as the CEO was looking about ready to bite Sakura's face off, one of their employees rushed into the room holding a paper in his hand. Putting her mask back on, she turned around to face him.

"Why, if it isn't our employee of the month Yuchen! Whatever has got you so flustered?" The CEO asked in a friendly manner without a trace of her earlier hostility.

"It is our supplier Madam!" He spoke while handing her the paper.

Seeing her opportunity to escape, Sakura tried to quietly crawl towards the exit, without getting noticed. As soon as she escaped the room, she could hear the bloodthirsty monster cackling, which was never a good sign. However, being too exhausted from the 18-hour dance with a magical animatronic and along with the sudden and terrifying face reveal of the monster she has been working under for the last few months, she just couldn't care. She hurried to get what remained of her 6-hour sleep, hoping that the sudden terror she experienced wouldn't deprive her of what little sleep she was permitted.

…

The next day.

"Hohoho!"

As the sun rose on this day in July, the 'Jewel Rabbit Company' was visited by Santa Claus.