Several days had passed since Steven's change. Things were still far from normal, but the trauma of her experience had faded at least a little bit. She no longer woke up shocked by her new body, and she was beginning to sleep easier as she realized that her abductors really weren't coming back. Of course, every silver lining has a cloud, and Steven was still not even close to being used to her new body, let alone willing to face the prospect of life as an Oni girl.
And new stressors had sprung up to fill the void; for instance, her growing taste for very spicy food. This, she knew from the manga, was an Oni trait, and it frightened her to think that her personality might be changing. There was some relief to be had in the fact that this was the only noticeable change in her behavior, and it was entirely possible that she just had a biologically higher tolerance for capsaicin now, but it still bothered her.
There were also areas she was doing okay in. She was pretty much past the trouble she'd had with hygiene; after all, she hadn't really had much of a choice about going to the bathroom as a girl, and once she had gotten over that, it had only taken a couple days for her to decide "the hell with it" and start taking showers again. And it had helped, when she was coming to terms with wearing women's underwear, that her mom wasn't pressuring her to dress femininely.
But the only thing she had truly accepted was flight. Steven loved being able to hover in mid-air, and often found it more comfortable than sitting; in fact, about the only times she rested on horizontal surfaces any more were at the table (at her mother's insistence) in the bathroom and during sleep. Unfortunately, it turned out that clothing did impair her aerial mobility, which had led her to stick pretty much with bikinis, but she felt it was worth the tradeoff.
On this particular morning, Steven was listening to Close To The Edge and sorting through the manga she'd bought that fateful night. Things were going just fine until she finished sorting, which was when she realized that a volume of Elfen Lied she'd bought was missing. The series had been recommended to her by an online friend; she'd been told it was good, but also that it was terribly violent and quite a downer. She was willing to give it a shot, although the only thing she knew for sure about it was that it was about a race of mutants with small horns and telekinetic powers.
Steven was busy looking for the missing volume when she heard a car coming up the driveway. She looked out her window and saw it was the nondescript vehicle driven by the Men in Black. Since there was no need to hide with them,she simply opened the window, scooted through, and drifted down to a few feet above the ground. She wondered whether they might have found a way to change her back, but the look on Agent Fields's face was too grim for that.
Agent Thomson got out of the car as well, but neither of the men showed any inclination to talk until Steven's mother came out. "Well," Fields said, "first things first you ought to know that HQ has finished the 'official' version of your story. It will be arriving in a couple of days, in the form of a medical case document on Steven's 'experience.' We would suggest that you wait a month or two before re-introducing her to the public; after that, the officiality of the document should allow people to retroactively remember Steven as showing nonspecific warning signs the last time they saw him."
"That sounds good," Steven's mother said. "Is there anything else?"
Fields sighed. "Yes. I'm afraid we need to ask for your help. We found another victim, apparently a target of the same ship that altered Steven. Her changes snapped an already strained relationship with her family, and she has no place to stay."
Steven's mother laughed. "Is that all? Of course she can stay here. We have plenty of room in the house, and more than enough privacy to keep her a secret if necessary."
Fields allowed himselfa half-smile. "We do appreciate your willingness to assist, but there's more than that. She's obviously troubled, and although she hasn't turned violent or given any such indication, it's possible she might. And if she does, you and Steven could be in grave danger."
Steven looked at her mother, who seemed contemplative. "Well," she said, after a minute, "we'll take that risk. I doubt you have any better place to put her, and I won't just sit by and let some poor girl go homeless. Besides, Steven probably understands what she's going through better than anyone."
Fields nodded. "Very well. Anna, why don't you get out and say hello?"
Thomson opened the rear passenger door of the vehicle, and a girl stepped out. She looked much like any other teenage girl except for her deep blue hair and the small, triangular horns on her head. Her face was tear-streaked, but right now she just looked...numb.
Thomson handed something to Fields, who in turn handed it to Steven. "She had this with her," he said. "We believe it's yours."
It was the missing volume of Elfen Lied.