"No! No! Absolutely no way I'm wearing something like that!"
Clara shouted as she stared at Mical and Jessica in their country-style clothes, with plaid and checkered patterns and sleeves down to their wrists. Their skirts reached their knees.
Mical's hair was divided into pigtails that reached her waist. Her delicate face, as always, was adorned with green eyes and little rosy freckles.
Jessica's loose hair was like a black waterfall flowing down to her butt. Her light brown eyes resembled honey. Even the loose clothes could not hide the beautiful curves of her body.
The succubus disappeared, as if the air had imploded around her, leaving a small puff of red smoke behind.
A few minutes later she reappeared wearing country-style clothes too, but with far less fabric than the others. She wore a top that revealed the tan line shaped like a bra strap, and a very tight mini skirt that shaped her butt and thighs. Both had plaid patterns.
Her eyes glowed red just to match the strong lipstick. She curved her lips into a smile.
"I call this the slutty farm girl."
"More like just 'slutty'," Jessica said.
The entrance of the school was decorated with banana and coconut leaves and a string full of colorful little flags.
Inside there were many people: students, parents, and residents from the area walking around, visiting stands, eating hot dogs, cocada, and peanut brittle. Some tried their luck at the fishing game stand; others preferred target shooting with air rifles.
Countless colorful flags with drawings, stripes, and polka dots crossed overhead on strings, swaying in the wind.
For the children there were inflatable jump houses and ball pits. From time to time a familiar character like Iron Man or Wonder Woman walked through the crowd carrying candy and toys.
As soon as they entered, Renato noticed some looks and whispers. He ignored them without a care.
"There are so many people!" Mical said.
"Yes, there are," Renato nodded with a certain pride.
"Wow." Clara made a face. "I didn't remember that clustered humans smelled this bad! Ugh! What's in that direction?"
"That's the student bathroom."
"And how long has that thing gone without being cleaned?"
"It's cleaned every day, but you know how school bathrooms are. Besides, it's packed here and all these people end up going to the bathroom and…"
"There's a pooping baby nearby! Which irresponsible mother isn't changing the diaper of her miniature human?!"
Clara looked around indignantly.
Renato burst out laughing.
"Succubus enhanced senses, huh?" He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Poor little demon with a super nose!"
Clara snorted.
"Let's hurry and find those super special brigadeiros so we can get out of here as soon as possible!"
"But weren't you the one excited about studying here?"
"If I study in a place that smells like this, I'm setting everything on fire!"
Jessica tugged timidly at Renato's sleeve.
"The teacher who sells the brigadeiros… do you think she came?"
"Of course! Teacher Dilze never misses a good festa junina!"
"IT'S TIME FOR THE QUADRILHA!"
It was the voice of the man on the microphone at the futsal court calling the students for the performance. Some parents moved closer and pulled out their phones to take pictures while the children formed two lines, girls on one side and boys on the other.
"Let's take a walk. Her stand must be around here."
"Yes," Jessica said, her eyes shining with happiness.
"LOOK OUT FOR THE SNAKE! JUST KIDDING!"
As they walked, Renato saw Hiro and Alicia sitting at a small table at the skewer stand. They were chatting happily.
As they moved away from the court, the sound of the quadrilha grew distant and was gradually replaced by electronic music.
In a dark corner under some trees there was a line of teenagers heading toward a discreet little door.
"W-what's there?" Mical pointed with a trembling finger.
"It's like a mini nightclub. I don't know why, but every year they do this at festa junina parties. It's actually kind of fun."
Clara sniffed the air.
"The smell changed. It's better."
"There! Teacher Dilze! And the brigadeiros!"
The succubus frowned and looked around suspiciously.
"What is it?"
"I don't know. I have a strange feeling."
"How so?" Jessica asked.
"I felt like someone was following us. Must be lack of sex. My succubus neurons stop working properly when that happens. You know how it is. For a succubus, staying too long without sex is like a fish being out of water."
"If you've got a sex shortage problem, I'll take care of it, my love," Renato thought. But only thought it.
They approached the stand.
Teacher Dilze was a friendly little old lady, a bit chubby and always smiling, with freckles drawn on her cheeks with marker and pigtails in her short hair.
On the small table there were so many different kinds of sweets, with various colors and shapes, that Renato thought it would be impossible to memorize all their names.
"Hello, young ones. Welcome to the sweets stand!"
"Your stand has the best aroma in this entire party, ma'am," Clara said.
"Uh… err… thank you, young lady. Would you like to try some of the famous sweets from Teacher Dilze?"
"I want the fighters!" Jessica said excitedly.
"Fighters?" Dilze looked confused.
"Brigadeiros, teacher. The famous brigadeiros! Give me four, please."
With great care, the teacher picked one brigadeiro at a time and gave one to each of them. The brown balls were the size of ping-pong balls, covered with chocolate sprinkles. The paper cups were colorful, with little star-shaped edges.
Jessica took the first bite. The sweet flavor, with a hint of dark chocolate, touched her tongue. The exterior was crunchy, but the filling was soft and moist, with grains of grated coconut. Possibly something spicy too. It was hard to be sure.
"It's delicious!" Jessica said with shining eyes.
"It warmed my heart," Mical said. "It's like a mother's hug."
Clara Lilithu narrowed her eyes.
"This woman's life must be protected! The reapers must never take her!"
"It's good, right?" Renato said.
"Good, Renato? Good?! I want to know what kind of secret alchemy she used in this recipe! There is nowhere on this pale blue dot anything like this!"
Then the succubus turned her wild gaze toward the teacher.
"How much do they cost? I want all of them!"
"All of them?" The teacher looked surprised, then smiled. "I'm happy you liked them, young ones. They cost two fifty each. Well, there are still forty left, so all of them would be one hundred reais. These four can be a gift."
"You have the gratitude of this succubus, confectioner teacher! Your happiness matters to me now!"
Clara stuck her hand inside her top and pulled out a hundred-real bill that had been stored between her breasts. Then she took a pen from her purse and wrote her phone number on a small piece of paper. She handed both to the teacher.
"If someday your life is in danger, call me and I will help! I will not allow anyone to hurt you!"
Dilze scratched her head near her right pigtail.
"Er… thank you, young lady. Come again. God bless you!"
Clara froze like a scratched record.
Renato placed a hand on her shoulder.
"At times like this it's polite to answer with 'amen'."
Clara remained frozen, unable to react. Renato thought she was having a meltdown like a cartoon character. "Your happiness matters to me now" was what she had said. In any other situation she would insult the person without caring about their feelings, but this time…
Her lips trembled with nervous tics.
"A… a… a…"
"I think she's having a heart attack," Renato said.
"I think she's being exorcised," Jessica replied.
"A… a… a…"
"Maybe she's in shock," Mical suggested.
"I bet money she's going to explode," Renato said.
"Do you think she'll spontaneously combust?" Jessica asked.
"I think she'll melt like that monster from the horror movie you told us about," Mical said.
"AMÉÉÉN-achoooo!"
Finally Clara managed to say it, the word mixing with a bizarre sneeze coming from deep in her throat. When she sneezed, a little flame escaped between her teeth.
"May God give you health, young lady!" Dilze said worriedly.
"Let's go before she really combusts," Renato said, grabbing the straw basket full of brigadeiros Dilze had prepared. "See you later, teacher!"
"Bye, Renato! Don't forget to finish that assignment you still haven't turned in! Go with God!"
They walked away.
"You killed my cousin!"
Renato recognized the voice full of rage and sighed.
But Jhonatan was not talking to him.
"I didn't kill anyone!" Tamara shouted with tears in her eyes.
"Murderer! You killed my cousin with that knife you always carried!"
Jhonatan pulled a knife from his waistband.
"You think I'm stupid? Where's the knife now, huh?!"
Tamara stepped back in terror.
"Help me, Renato! Please! Don't let him kill me!"
"Stay behind me."
She obeyed.
"Going to defend this crazy bitch?" Jhonatan shouted.
Clara approached calmly.
"Renato, sweetheart, explain."
"Apparently Jhonatan is a paranoid idiot and thinks Tamara killed his cousin."
"Hmm… did she?"
"Of course not."
"I don't know… she looks suspicious."
"Not helpful, Clara."
"Got it!" Jhonatan shouted again. "You think you're brave because you've got your gang of sluts here! But I didn't come alone either!"
Clara inhaled deeply.
"I'm going to explode his dick."
"Isn't there something less drastic?" Renato asked.
Clara thought for a few seconds.
"I've got it."
In the blink of an eye she disappeared and reappeared behind Jhonatan. The strike to the back of his neck was so violent that he flew forward and hit the ground face-first. The knife flew away.
Jhonatan got up with his nose crooked and bleeding heavily.
"You bitch!" he shouted nasally.
"Aggressive priapism of madness."
The bulge inside Jhonatan's pants began to grow uncontrollably like a balloon. He screamed in agony, twisting in pain.
He ran through the crowd begging for help, crashing into a hot dog stand and knocking everything over.
Smoke rose from his skin as the swelling grew even bigger.
He ran blindly through the party like a beetle flying around a light.
"Someone should call an ambulance," Clara said calmly.
The silence around them was absolute.
Later that night Renato sat alone in his bedroom.
Moonlight entered through the open window and cut through the darkness. The breeze was cold.
Jessica and Mical had locked themselves in the other room since they arrived home.
Clara had left again saying she had things to resolve.
Renato felt small. He barely understood Clara and understood Jessica and Mical even less.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from Hiro appeared on TalksApp.
"Turn to channel 4."
Curiosity won.
Renato went to the living room and turned on the TV.
A reporter stood in front of a house talking about a body found with a knife stuck in the neck.
Renato frowned.
He recognized the house.
It was Roger's house.
He grabbed the phone.
"Holy shit!" he typed.
"Yeah. His mom found the body," Hiro replied.
"Holy shit!"
"One stab to the neck. They say the vocal cords were ripped out. And the weirdest thing… there was a poem written on the body."
"Holy shit!"
"They killed Jhonatan!"