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The most frustrating part about some events of Yuri's lives was that even now she couldn't predict exactly when they were going to happen. There were always at least a few that varied, no matter how much she had narrowed down the things that led to those events. In this life, at least she had started to learn one simple rule about avoiding them:
Invite Melissa.
It had been so long since she had been able to have a carefree day in this particular forest, but she was determined to try. As long as she kept Melissa in sight, which was not something she ever had any qualms about doing, it was basically impossible for any dumb inevitable events to fall on her. Or, well, they might try but Melissa would probably throw things off enough to make that not matter!
The only downside was that Nine had apparently also been through this forest and had told Melissa about a good picnic spot before Yuri had gotten the chance to do so. If Yuri had thought of it, she would have specified in the invitation! Instead she was now reduced to begging.
"But I really wanted to show you this place!" Yuri said, pressing her fists up against her mouth and widening her eyes in her best begging look. "It's really neat!"
It was, too! And, importantly, it wasn't a place that she'd ever had a picnic in with any stupid boy that she was being forced into a romance with!
"We can stop at both spots," Melissa said, looking between them. "It's not a big deal."
"But we can only eat at one and it's almost lunchtime!" Yuri protested, knowing she was being a brat and not really caring.
Melissa looked at her, looked at the sky, and then sighed. "Okay, we'll go to your spot." She reached out and pat Nine on the shoulder. "We'll go see yours on the way back, okay?"
Nine's ears dipped in disappointment.
Yuri skipped ahead, triumphant, but her mood fell as she looked back to see Melissa still talking to Nine, trying to cheer him up. Melissa was focused so entirely on Nine's mild sadness that it was like nothing else really compared.
Yuri's least favorite entity chose that exact moment to show up. [You're a Heroine, not a Hero,] it said. [Turning yourself into a Rival, a Rival who is losing, is degrading yourself. Can't you see this road was never open for you?]
And that was her cue to go insert herself into things again, because the alternative was absolutely not an option. Even if it meant Nine making pouty faces at her for the rest of the walk because of her interrupting Melissa's doting time.
She spent the rest of the walk trying to monopolize as much as Melissa's attention as possible. Right as she felt like things were going well, Yuri looked up and there it was. A single crabapple on a branch, probably left there because the birds took one look and went 'not today' and flew away instead of eating it like all the others.
Yuri hadn't even wanted to eat it in her first time living through this, not really. She had just wanted out of an awkward conversation and saying yes when asked if she wanted the dumb crabapple seemed like a good way to get Jake out of her space for five seconds and gave her a good excuse to not talk while she speed walked towards the edge of the forest.
It had been a bad idea. Just a little common sense and caution would have told her that, but any time four particular guys showed up she had seemed to make stupid mistakes just constantly. It had been easy to be persuaded that it was some sort of attraction messing with her head.
In this particular case, the crabapple was supposed to show up when she was almost 'locked in' with either Ian or Jake. The whole thing was less about her and more about the two of them learning they could still be friends even though one of them had 'lost'. It was really annoying. Couldn't they have their friendship quest together without her? It just added insult to injury when she had to be there like some sort of distressed accessory!
That couldn't happen this time, though. It couldn't! The last interaction Yuri'd had with either of them was Melissa making sure that they would leave her alone (at least in this loop, if things restarted...best not to think about restarting). Maybe that had broken things a bit so the crabapple just randomly was showing up? Maybe for once it was just a normal crabapple?
Melissa, sharp as ever, noticed her gaze.
If Melissa wanted to get her a crabapple she would actually be happy about that! Well, not this one. But! Other fruit! Other fruit from Melissa would be great!
Even this fruit from Melissa would be great. Melissa wouldn't ignore her to have arguments with someone else! Even if there was some sort of rivalry going on, Melissa would listen to Yuri and help her solve things and not get distracted by a rival at all. And there wasn't any rival, so Yuri would get all the attention and Nine would just have to pout about it.
Yuri resisted the urge to give Nine a smug look, because the fantasy in her head had not only not happened but would never happen because Yuri wasn't actually going to eat the crabapple. If Melissa offered she'd say no, and then they could continue on to have their picnic! With no forest spirits or binding spells at all!
"That looks tasty," Melissa said idly.
Yuri panicked. Nine was, predictably, already rolling his sleeves up to climb the tree. Could she come up with a warning before he--No she could not!
Yuri sent her magic out in a panic and teleported the crabapple into her own hands right before Nine could actually get it. He looked down at her in affront, but Yuri couldn't even count it as a win because this was serious!
Yuri looked down at the crabapple in her hands, trying to pretend like she was examining it when really she was trying to figure out the best way to lie. It needed to be vague enough to give her some room to explain more later but specific enough that they knew something nasty was lurking in the woods.
Maybe just saying it felt malevolent would be best? That wouldn't be a lie! This whole situation absolutely felt--
Melissa plucked the crabapple from her hands and bit into it before Yuri could do anything to stop her. "Thanks!"
"Don't!" Yuri exclaimed. "I think there's something wrong with it!"
Melissa shoved the rest of it into her mouth--the entire crabapple!--almost smugly. Yuri tried not to flail in distress and tamped down the urge to pry it out of Melissa's mouth. The damage had already been done!
"It's fine," Melissa said once she had finished chewing, looking entirely unconcerned. "Now let's keep going towards your picnic spot!"
The forest practically sparkled as they walked, trying to tempt Melissa further into the forest spirit's territory. As they neared the edge of the territory it shifted, the trees starting to look malevolent up ahead and some branches even reaching out for Melissa. She didn't even seem to notice. She just strode right past with Yuri and Nine trailing behind her, her skirts swishing dramatically around her legs as though even they knew that something was up.
Yuri smoothed out her skirt nervously, trying to figure out some way to explain...or at least get Melissa to stop?
Nine fell back slightly, frowning at her and saying in a low voice, "What was wrong with the crabapple?"
"I don't know," Yuri whispered back, falling on a lie without a good excuse to use. "It just felt wrong."
"Miss Melissa would know if it was actually wrong, wouldn't she?" Nine fretted.
"Miss Melissa has declared herself ready to fight while seconds from passing out, so I'm going to go with probably not. Be ready to catch her if she falls and I'll be ready with healing spells," Yuri hissed at him. A plan was forming in her head. A rushed plan, but a plan! This wasn't the same plot that she'd had to deal with before. It wasn't! She and Nine didn't exactly get along, but they were entirely able to put that aside without any stupid quest to teach them to do that! Because they were responsible adults who cared about other people! Especially Melissa!
So, they could do this.
Yuri tried to stay close behind Melissa as they kept walking towards the forest edge, ready to rush up when she fell dramatically like Yuri always did. Nine would catch her, surely, he was hovering right next to her clearly ready for it, and then Yuri could at least help with the pain and nausea while they dealt with the forest binding.
It really would have been so much better if nobody had eaten the crabapple!
That one point, the one Yuri always fell at, was coming up ahead. It was an entirely innocuous spot. It wouldn't even be possible to describe, because it looked in no way distinct from the rest of the path. The only reason Yuri recognized it was because it was where she always fell over, and then she'd spend ten minutes doubled over in pain while Ian or Jake picked her up and walked even further away until she finally managed to get their attention through their arguing and croak out that going away from the forest center was making it worse.
Melissa, at least, wouldn't have to go through that last part. Yuri would be certain of that! She squinted up at Nine, who was still hovering alongside Melissa, and decided that he definitely wouldn't try to take Melissa further if Yuri told him it would hurt Melissa to do so.
Unless Melissa told him to carry her further which...which...well, Melissa wouldn't. Melissa getting up and walking herself was a possible issue but no one here would dare pick her up and carry her anywhere, and if they did, the moment Melissa tried to say a word everyone would listen.
Yuri still kept an eye on the spot up ahead, wondering if maybe she should dart up to grab Melissa's arm and stop her from hitting the falling point. Surely Melissa had to be feeling the effects of it by now, so if Yuri stopped her just a bit early….
Just as Yuri was preparing herself to do exactly that, Melissa very suddenly stopped in the middle of the path. "I think you were right about that crabapple being cursed," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "It seems to be tying me to the center of the forest. We should go deal with that!"
Nine looked aghast, spinning around to glare at the trees.
Yuri pressed her hands to her face, emotions a tangle of confusion and relief. How had--well of course Melissa had figured it out early! She wasn't distracted and she was fifty times smarter than Ian or Jake! Yuri probably could have mentioned it several minutes ago and saved Melissa some nausea! "I'm sorry!" she cried, knowing that it would be impossible to actually apologize for what she hadn't done but wanting to say the words anyways.
"It's not your fault," Melissa said cheerfully. "You tried to warn me. Anyways, we should go polish off the side-quest really quick and then it won't matter."
For the thousandth time, Yuri wondered if Melissa somehow knew things. Sometimes she thought that maybe Melissa was stuck in her own loop...but then there were things like this. Things that Melissa surely couldn't possibly know. Unless she had her own 'guide' feeding her hints? Like an extra-dimensional battle using Yuri and Melissa as pawns?
Or maybe Melissa was just much more in tune with her reactions than Yuri was. The first time Yuri had been through this she had been too distracted by Jake and Ian's posturing to realize that the building headache and roiling in her stomach hadn't been caused by her own emotions. Every time after that she hadn't had any choice but to keep walking despite knowing what was coming.
Melissa didn't have anyone stressing her out. Melissa had been whistling, adorably off tune, for half the walk here. Of course she would know instantly when she started to feel badly and be aware enough to stop walking before it knocked her down. She had probably spent the last several minutes verifying that it was distance based! The path was curvy enough to provide evidence if someone was looking for it!
"We could stop and have a picnic on the way," Melissa continued, still entirely unconcerned.
It took awhile, but Nine and Yuri eventually got Melissa to agree to dispel the curse before they had their picnic. Melissa seemed to think it was entirely unnecessary which...Yuri supposed she was probably right. It would probably be fine? The forest spirit wanted Melissa to stay, so as long as they were in its territory it would probably wait. Or maybe it would venture out and crash the picnic.
But she still wouldn't be able to enjoy a picnic knowing that something had a curse on Melissa!
Weirdly, that had been the argument that had done it. Her busting out with that and Nine tearfully agreeing and--somehow that had broken through.
"You two worry too much," Melissa scolded as they walked back into the forest at a much more determined pace. "The forest wants me to stay. It would probably just go all disney princess and give us a show while we had our picnic."
Yuri had no idea where or what disney was. It wasn't a place she'd ever heard of, but if anyone would know about obscure forest princesses it would definitely be Melissa. Melissa seemed to have completely thrown the dream of being a princess in the bin along with her engagement to Ian, but Yuri supposed that it might be more that the princess dream wasn't feasible anymore so Melissa had set it aside.
Yuri scowled at the path as she tried to think of any other princes who might revive that dream.
"What's wrong!" Nine whispered, sidling closer as he noticed Yuri's expression. He probably thought it was something to do with Melissa's current predicament.
"Nothing! Or--well--nothing now! I was just--It's not important," Yuri whispered back.
Nine pouted at her, but Yuri ignored him. His puppy eyes were powerless over her! She was immune!
Nine's lip trembled a little bit.
Yuri gave in. "I was just thinking--about the princess thing--" She paused, collecting her thoughts. "If some prince from some faraway land or something shows up and takes a shine to Melissa we have to make sure she never knows!"
"She doesn't want to be engaged to a prince though, she doesn't like them."
"She doesn't want to be engaged to Ian anymore because he's the sort of asshole who cheated on her in front of her, but what if the disney prince or whatever is an actual nice person!"
"Then--then--then that's her choice!" Nine argued, carefully keeping his voice low.
"Obviously, but it would mean she would have to leave and that would be terrible!" Yuri hissed back.
"She'd take me with her!" Nine bit at his lip, worried.
"Are you sure?" Yuri asked, ruthlessly.
Nine's lip trembled and he looked at Melissa's back with watery eyes.
At exactly that moment Melissa turned around with a huff and a swirl of skirts. "What are you two whispering about back there--" She cut off, looking concerned. "Nine don't cry! It's just a little curse!"
Nine sniffed a little and rubbed at his eyes. Yuri would have been mad at him if she didn't know it was completely genuine and also actually her fault.
Melissa strode back over to them, pulling out a handkerchief and fussing at Nine.
Of course, at exactly that moment, Yuri's guide chose to show up to snark. [I supposed you do need a quest to remind you that you're a Heroine with a destiny, not a Rival for a--]
Go away!, Yuri thought at it viciously. They weren't--she wasn't--they weren't rivals! Not really! She wasn't trying to recreate this whole 'scene' with Melissa in her part and herself and Nine in Ian and Jake's part, it wasn't like that! And--and--and for the rest that just would remain to be seen. Yuri was pretty sure that Nine had never even been alive at this point in her other lives so in theory nothing involving him could be set at all. Melissa at least was completely unchained by fate in this loop!
The guide kept hovering ominously, so Yuri steeled herself and edged closer to Melissa and Nine. "Are you feeling better?" she asked her. "I have some spells that could help if you're feeling off!"
"I'm fine right now," Melissa said, stopping her scrubbing at Nine's face and scrutinizing him. "Once we start breaking the spell I might get a bit dizzy, but since I don't have any magic left there's not really much it can do to me past that."
That--oh.
Of course.
Melissa probably hadn't even felt as bad as Yuri normally did! She might not have even fallen down! Yuri felt a little bit better, at that. She always forgot, because Melissa was so formidable, that the only magic she had was contained in objects or spells that Yuri helped out with. Most curses needed some seed of magic to actually root themselves in; it was why most commoners didn't really need to worry about them.
Not for the first time, she wondered if Melissa burning out the last of her magic had been more of a boon than a drawback.
"I can definitely fix dizziness," she said resolutely. "But it might try to do something else if it realizes that isn't working!"
"If I feel anything else I will definitely tell you," Melissa reassured. "I don't think it's an especially clever spirit, though."
Yuri squinted at her, then glanced at Nine in the hopes that he would maybe be better than she was at identifying when Melissa might be lying.
No luck there. When she glanced back at Melissa, Melissa was grinning fondly at them. "If you two are so determined to conspire to fuss at me I'll just leave you to it."
When they reached the spot where the forest spirit was waiting, Melissa stopped, hands on her hips.
Nine looked suspiciously at Yuri, who shrugged at him. Sure, this was his picnic spot, but she hadn't known this plot would happen! It was a good picnic spot precisely because of the energy of the spirit who lived here, who was sort of fascinated with humans and didn't mind visitors. It was a nice oak shaded clearing with birds singing and the sunlight streaming through the leaves and a babbling brook nearby--of course it was a magical spot!
The forest spirit was waiting in the branches, seemingly made of leaves, but when he burst through a portal into their plane it was as a handsome half-naked man with antlers. "My princess!" he exclaimed, looking directly at Melissa. "You've come to me!"
Melissa let out an annoyed 'ugh' sound.
Yuri let out a sigh of relief that she instantly tried to hide. Nine seemed to relax minutely as well.
"Has it occurred to you that tricking someone into eating a cursed fruit to try and drag them back to your realm isn't a valid dating strategy? Take the curse off. This is me asking nicely." Melissa crossed her arms. "You don't want to make me tell you meanly."
"You took the offering of your own free will!" the forest spirit declared. "That makes you my bride!"
What was supposed to happen in this event was that both Jake and Ian would argue with the spirit for a while before they both rushed forward to fight it. They would tumble into it's realm, learning lessons about fighting together to be stronger as a team blahblahblah while Yuri sat on the floor and tried not to pass out. And then they would return victorious just in time for her to shake off the effects of the spell and look loving up at the one she was stuck with and then at that moment the other one would realize he had "lost" and she was "in love" and--bleh.
Even if it wasn't a completely stupid way for them to "realize" things, considering all the significant looks they each had with her over and over and over--
Even if it wasn't completely stupid, which it was, the fact that it was literally a reversible situation where either Ian or Jake could be in either role just showed how contrived the whole thing was. It was like the cosmos had realized it wanted Ian and Jake to be friends despite Yuri and came up with the dumbest way possible to make that happen.
What happened this time was that Yuri looked at Melissa, Nine looked at Melissa, and Melissa pulled out her sword. "Mean way it is!" she said with a wild grin, before knocking the spirit back into its realm and jumping in after it.
The other 'realm' was sort of halfway combined with their own, but they could clearly see a Melissa made of flowers walloping the hell out of the poor spirit.
Nine ran up to the place the portal had been, which had shut as soon as Melissa jumped through, his tail thrashing nervously as he circled around it and tried to find some way in to help.
Yuri watched the fight for a moment, smiled as flower-Melissa gave the spirit a particularly harsh hit, and started pulling picnic supplies out of her basket.
"What are you doing?" Nine demanded. "We need to help Miss Melissa!"
"She's fine!" Yuri defended, as flower-Melissa sent the leaf-man flying between Yuri and Nine across the clearing and through an oak. She was pretty sure that flower-Melissa took the time to pat Nine on the head while speeding after her prey and Yuri tried not to feel jealous about it. She reached out to cup a ghostly flower left in Melissa's wake in her hands until it dissipated.
When she looked back up Nine was also looking at the spot where the flower had been, looking dejected.
"Since she's busy teaching that spirit what-for, we may as well get the picnic set up," Yuri said.
Nine turned and watched Melissa for a moment. The spirit seemed to be actively fighting back now, launching at her only to be sent spiraling back again by a well placed blow from her sword.
"If she gets hurt in there, I can't help her," Nine protested.
Yuri swallowed, for a moment spun by a mental image of a bloody Melissa holding her throat and the panic of being stuck in a box and not able to do anything to help and just having to watch and--she shoved it away. "She'll be fine!" Yuri insisted. "She's always fine. It's Melissa! That guy is no match for her."
She finished setting out the picnic supplies, placed a few spells over the food to make sure it stayed fresh out of her magical storage and no bugs were able to get at it, and then they both sat down on the blanket to wait for Melissa to finish thrashing her opponent.
It was tense for a little bit, with her and Nine holding their breath every time the leaf man seemed to get too close. Especially when he seemed to get a blow near her neck that sent flower-Melissa staggering and both Yuri and Nine to their feet in a panic.
But after that the tides turned and the leaf man started shrinking back more and more until he was half defending even as he tried to fight. At one point he was running around with his hands over his head. Flower-Melissa was still going after him with her sword, so he'd probably said something very rude that she felt he needed to learn a lesson about.
It was entertaining but also very repetitive.
Yuri took out a bit of candy and offered a piece to Nine. They munched on it as flower-Melissa stopped and put her hands on her hips, presumably yelling at the leaf man for being a jerk.
"I know you like Miss Melissa--" Nine started, after several moments of Melissa standing still.
"Nope! I mean I do, but nope! Not having that conversation here!" Yuri said firmly. "This is a 'no rivalry conversation zone'!" She shoved another piece of candy into her mouth, to punctuate the point.
Nine looked a little bit startled. Probably because neither of them had really...admitted the whole rivalry thing before. They'd mostly just played a pouty game of 'pick me', which was pretty immature but since all the romantic rivalries that Yuri had seen happen around her were downright poisonous until someone capitulated and suddenly everyone acted like the rivalry had never even happened...pouty games were infinitely better in comparison.
"I just…." Nine's ears dipped down and sadness stole over his face. "Miss Melissa really likes you."
Yuri frowned at him in confusion. From her point of view the whole day had been Nine getting attention? He'd even gotten to have the picnic in his preferred spot in the end! Why was he acting like he'd been losing some sort of--
Maybe it was the magic of the area. Acting up. And since Yuri refused to play along it was messing with Nine's head?
That wasn't allowed! She wanted to win but not like that!
"We aren't even the worst rivals either of us has to worry about," she said, chucking another bit of candy at Nine.
Nine caught the candy, frowning. "The prince you mentioned earlier?"
"I don't even know if that's an actual person," Yuri admitted. "But even if it isn't, someone like that could exist! And want to make Melissa into a princess!" She waved a hand at the leaf man, who was currently cowering. "He did!"
"I don't think he's a real prince," Nine said, ears flicking.
"You know what I meant." Yuri put her hands on her hips. "Anyways I think we should be more focused on that than on the two of us. That's a way bigger threat."
"But she likes--"
"You think she likes me better? Well to me it looks like she likes you better," Yuri admitted. "So maybe that means she likes us both! That can happen!"
It was, admittedly, probably a dream that Yuri was fooling herself with...but...it could happen, right?
She and Nine both turned to watch Melissa, who was now faced towards the forest in a yelling stance with the leaf man nowhere to be seen.
"Alright," Nine agreed as he turned back to Yuri, ears perking up. He sounded determined and looked happier than he had all day. "We'll both make sure that a prince doesn't steal Miss Melissa's heart and we can work together to win her heart instead!"
"Yes!" Yuri said, smiling. One rival down and not by winning! She could share! They could share! Now all they had to do was woo Miss Melissa--which would be far easier if they weren't distracting each other by trying to one up the amount of attention they got.
There was a swooshing sound, and they turned to see Melissa back in their realm with her hands up by her chin. She looked delighted. "You two are so cute together," she cooed.
Yuri made a confused sound, but Nine didn't even miss a beat as he reached out for the picnic basket and started setting the food out.
Melissa shook her skirts out and sat down on the blanket, reaching for a sandwich that Nine was holding out for her. "Did you make these, Miss Yuri?"
"I did!" Yuri said. She caught Nine's eye and he passed her a sandwich, almost like a reminder that they weren't competing anymore. "You weren't hurt were you?" Yuri asked, suddenly remembering the blow that had sent flower-Melissa stumbling.
Nine focused on that, good mood visibly tumbling. They both peered at Melissa's neck.
Melissa scoffed at them, taking a giant bite of her sandwich. "I'm fine." She reached out and pat Nine fondly on the arm. "Stop worrying so much! He didn't even hit me."
Nine's tail flicked, his eyes darting from Yuri to Melissa.
"I should check anyway," Yuri said, scooting a little closer.
"She should," Nine agreed, almost tearing up a little bit. Melissa's stubborn look faded in the face of Nine's puppy eyes.
"Oh, okay. You two are lethal when you team up," Melissa complained. "Check, and then we can have our picnic!"