Aquila stared at the back of the couch, and tried to figure out if the couch was staring back.

    It sat at the edge of a large lake of lava, facing a geyser of molten rock frozen as it gushed out of the centre of the pool.  The heat was so intense that all three of them had to keep their distance from the lake...and the couch.

    “I...have questions,” Kasumi said.

    “I have to admit, this may be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” Cap added.  “How is it not on fire?”

    Aquila shook her head.  “I have no idea.”

    “Perhaps it’s some cosmic horror disguised as a couch,” Kasumi suggested.  “Basking in the warmth of the lava, or something like that.”

    “I’ll check,” Aquila said, and then intoned, “Eleventh Stage.”

    The truth of the couch was revealed to her.

    Aquila frowned.  “No, it’s just an ordinary couch.”

    “It should be on fire,” Cap said.  “The heat it’s exposed to...”

    “I have a lot of questions about this story,” Kasumi declared.  “And its author.  And this couch.”

    Aquila heard footfalls behind her.  She turned to see Natsuki, Sayori, Yuri, and Yukari enter the chamber.

    “Did you four manage to sort everything out?” Cap asked.

    Natsuki nodded.  “We did.  So what do we have–”  Her gaze fell on the couch.

    “We have no explanation for the couch,” Kasumi stated.

    “Maybe it’s some sort of monster,” Yukari said.  “It’s waiting for somebody to come and sit on it, and then it will eat them.”

    Aquila shook her head.  “It’s not – I checked.  It’s just a couch.”

    Yukari groaned.  “Well, that’s just disappointing.”

    “No it isn’t!” Sayori declared.  “Don’t be disappointed that something doesn’t want to eat us!”

    “Why isn’t it on fire?” Natsuki wondered.  “Surely it should be on fire.”

    “It just isn’t,” Aquila replied.

    “I think my brain just broke,” Sayori muttered.

    “That goes for all of us,” Aquila said.  “Let’s go back and try another door.”

Aquila searched her mind as they headed down the corridor, the Blue Lotus Academy girls once again hanging back and talking amongst themselves.  “Does anybody remember if we’re on door five or six?”

    “I think it’s seven,” Cap replied.

    “Does anybody know how long we’ve been at this?” Kasumi asked.  “It feels like hours.”

    “I’m sorry,” Cap said.  “When Aquila stopped time, it stopped my watch too.  How much longer can you keep this up?”

    Aquila turned the corner, leading them towards a door.  “I’ve got plenty of power left.  I can keep time stopped for a good long while still.  That said, I really hope this is the exit.”

    She opened the door to find an orgy.

    “Oh,” Aquila said, closing the door.

    Kasumi stared at her.  “What is it?”

    “Um...see for yourself.”

    Kasumi opened the door, looked inside, said, “Oh,” and closed it.

    Cap blinked.  “What is with you two?”

    Aquila swallowed.  “Behind the door is, a, um...”

    “I’ll just use my powers to look through it,” Cap said.  He stared intently at the door, and then said, “Oh.”

    “I don’t see why we should be this shocked by it,” Kasumi said.  “I mean, we’ve done most of those things in there.”

    “What are you talking about?” Aquila demanded.  “It’s out in the open, behind that...closed door.  Also, we’ve done less than half of those things.”  She opened the door, glanced in, and closed it again.  “Okay, maybe slightly more than half.”

    “Better tell the girls to stay back for a moment,” Kasumi said.

    “Got it,” Cap said, and then called back down the corridor, “Girls, we need to hold off for a moment.”

    “Okay,” Sayori’s voice called from beyond the corner.

    “We need to consider age appropriateness,” Kasumi said.  “I mean, we’re basically their adult guardians here.”

    “Well, we’re all mature grown-ups,” Aquila declared.  “And we’re people of the world.  So, obviously we can handle this.  And the girls are what, sixteen?”

    “I think they’re sixteen,” Cap said.

    Aquila nodded.  “So, they know what sex is, and, I mean, Kasumi and I were seventeen when we first...got together...around five years ago, so...”

    “Wait a minute,” Cap said.  “Where I come from, sixteen means fooling around in the back of a car in a make-out spot.  Not...that.”

    Kasumi glared at him.  “The back of a car?  Seriously?”

    Cap blinked.  “What’s wrong with the back of a car?”

    “It’s unhygienic!” Kasumi retorted.  “What’s wrong with you Americans?  Get a love hotel!”

    Cap chuckled.  “Trust me, Kasumi, in my country a motel room you can rent by the hour probably isn’t going to be that much better than the back of a car.”

    “Anyway!” Aquila declared.  “We need to make a decision.  Do we let the girls see this or not?”

    “I vote no,” Cap said.

    “Same,” Kasumi added.

    “Fine,” Aquila said.  “The ‘no’s have it.  Let’s head back.”

    As they turned the corner, Natsuki and her friends stared at them.

    “So, what was it?” Yukari asked.

    “It was...an adult thing,” Cap replied.  “We’re heading back.”

    “An adult thing?” Yukari said.  “Wait...people were having sex, weren’t they!  We’re old enough to see that!”

    “Um...not in this case,” Kasumi stated.  “We think.”

    “How’s that fair?” Yukari demanded.  “We’re old enough to make our own decisions about what we’re old enough to see!”

    Kasumi shook her head.  “Come on.  When we get back, I think Aquila will have to do something she doesn’t want to.”

    “It will be fine!” Aquila said, leading them back down the corridor.  “The next door will be the exit!  We’ve got to be close by now.”

    Kasumi sighed.  “I know you feel that way, but we’ve been at this for hours.  You are going to unfreeze somebody and ask for directions.”

    “They’re slavers!” Aquila protested.  “They’re not going to tell us the truth!”

    “You’re a former god of destruction,” Kasumi pointed out.  “Scare them into it.”

    Aquila rolled her eyes.  “Fine.  You’re lucky you’re my creator, you know.”

    Kasumi chuckled.  “Oh, I know.”

    Aquila opened the door to the main chamber and pointed at a slaver at random.  He unfroze and blinked, and then gasped as an invisible hand picked him up off the ground.

    “I am a god of destruction,” Aquila declared.  “I have frozen the flow of time across this entire world, and it will not be restored until I decide it will be so.  My friend there is a invulnerable superhero with laser eyes.  So, if you lie to us, very bad things are going to happen to you.  Now, tell us how to get out of here!”

    The slaver stared at her in terror and disbelief, and then at all of the open doors.  “Wait – you were searching the labyrinth?  But it’s a magical maze!  What’s in there–”

    “Oh, we know,” Aquila stated.  “We’ve seen things.”

    Yukari raised her hand.  “We’ve seen fewer things.”  She glared at Aquila, Kasumi, and Cap.  “Because they wouldn’t let us!”

    Yuri nudged Yukari with her elbow, and whispered, “Actually, I went back and took a quick look.”

    Yukari blinked.  “Oh?  What was it like?”

    Yuri blushed and then grinned.  “It was amazing.”

    The slaver stared at Aquila in disbelief.  “But...but why didn’t you just use the exit?  It’s clearly marked.”  He pointed at the door with the sign.

    Aquila blinked.  “That...that’s an exit sign?”

    “Of...of course!” the slaver stammered.  “Our base is in the middle of a dangerous magical dungeon – we can’t just let our people get lost in it!”

    “Now wait just a moment!” Aquila demanded.  “If the exit just has a sign on it, how do you stop slaves from just running away through it after you capture them?”

    “We put a bag over their head in the other room so they can’t see,” the slaver replied.  “Isn’t that obvious?”

    Aquila stared at Kasumi and Cap.  “When we get back to the hotel, we are going to forget that this incident ever happened.”  She turned to the slaver.  “Don’t you dare follow us or leave this place before I restart time.”

    With that, she released the slaver, strode over to the exit, opened the door, and walked up the stairs with Kasumi, Cap, and the others following close behind.

The leader of the slavers grinned at his fresh captives as he spoke.  “If either of you two women are virgins, do let us know – our clientele pay a premium for those.  As for you, sir, I know a number of mines that would pay handsomely for a strapping young man like–”

    He blinked.  The captives were gone, and before him stood one of his men.

    “I quit,” the man stated.

    “What?”

    “I said I quit,” the man said.  “This place is too damned weird.  I’m going back to my family’s farm to raise basilisks like a normal person!”

NEXT: “The Wedding of Daiki Yamato.”