"I. said. what. the. hell. is. going. on. here." Matsuko enunciated each word clearly, but the shopkeeper didn't seem to feel the danger yet.
"Your friend here asked me to try on some very expensive custom made gear and then tried to run off without paying for it. Are you going to pay the bill? Of course now there will be a silence fee to keep me from going to the police. You seem well off, so it shouldn't be a problem to help out your friend, huh?"
"Hinari. Figure out what happened here while I deal with this person." She cracked her knuckles as she took one step at a time. Naruyo jumped in front of Matsuko and blocked her.
"Please wait. Contact authorities first. Beatings later." Naruyo looked around for some event staff to bring over.
After a few minutes Erimi arrived to mediate the situation. Hinari also stood up from the ground where I was and walked over to share what she had learned with Matsuko and Naruyo.
"Well, what Ko-chan says is that she was tricked into letting this shopkeeper lock her arms together. Then, she was blackmailed into trying on that armbinder or else she would not be let go. After she got locked into the armbinder too, the shopkeeper told her to call over her rich friends so they could pay the bills for her." Hinari narrated the story for the other two, which caused Matsuko to get animated again.
"Wow, I've met some real bitches in my life, but you're something special. Now can I make her pay?" Matsuko was barely being held back by Naruyo.
"What a crock of shit, your little friend can make up a story as well as anyone can. All I want is for someone to pay me for my merchandise and then we can all go home happy." The shopkeeper seemed confident that she would win this game of 'she said, she said'
Erimi seemed completely offended that someone had the guts to do something to ruin the Young Mistress's outing, and made a call on her phone. "Yes, can you please pull the video for me? Stall 38C, about 15 or 20 minutes ago. The shopkeeper claims a girl is trying to steal her goods, but the girl is saying she's being framed. Yes, I'll wait." She stood around tapping her foot for a few minutes before she started talking again. "You got it? Hmm... I see. Well, that seems like the far more likely case to me, yes. Thanks." She hung up the phone and came over.
Matsuko was using the leash disconnected from my collar as a makeshift whip, and seemed like she was about to go into battle at any minute. I was hiding behind Hinari, while Naruyo was standing in the middle keeping the peace.
"We ran the video and watched the interaction between the young girl and the shopkeeper. There was no audio, but the girl was not restrained when she entered the stall. She had some discussion with the shopkeeper, at which point the shopkeeper altered her restraints. From this point the girl started to show increasing signs of distress as they continued their conversation, which led to the shopkeeper showing the product in contention and putting it on the girl. Then she put a leash on her at which point the girl became extremely distressed and started to cry. To me, this is obviously not a case of someone attempting to steal your goods. I don't know what you talked about with her, but I think it's best if you just take your item back, drop your complaints, and move on with your business."
"Do you expect me to be okay with that outcome? My friend has been extremely frightened by this encounter and what is to keep the next person that walks by from getting extorted in the same way?" Matsuko's anger was not abated by the decision of the organizer, but before she could truly erupt, she was interrupted by an outside voice.
"I think I have some information of interest here, if you would let me speak?" A nearby con-goer stepped forward and waved their hand. "I was standing in the next stall over when this all went down, and my attention was drawn by their increasingly animated interactions. I happened to hear the shopkeeper explaining how she had specifically targeted that poor girl out of jealousy and a desire to force a sale of an item that they had a hard time selling. Later, she mentioned wanting to extort her rich friends out of extra money. It is shocking to me that someone would use this event to prey on young attendees in a place that should be a celebration of our interests. That's my point of view, I hope it helps."
After hearing more from the passerby, several more people who were drawn over by the spectacle chimed in "That shopkeeper tried to force me to buy something she clearly broke herself earlier." "She gave me incorrect change and then claimed I just didn't remember what I had given her."
Sensing the tide turning against her, she backed down from her self righteousness. "Fine. Give me back my item and we'll forget this happened." She held out her hand, but Hinari snapped back "Okay lady. How exactly should I do that? If you forgot, you locked it onto her with a half dozen locks."
This set Matsuko off again, and she was about to start a scene again when Naruyo blocked her from the shopkeeper and held out her phone. "Better way. Ask for help." Matsuko sighed, looked over at me, then took the phone.
"Thanks. You're right as usual. Starting a fight myself would cause a lot of disruption to the rest of our plans." She picked up her phone and dialed it. "Hey, I need some help. I'm at the convention and there was an incident. Yes. The stall at 38C. The shopkeeper extorted and blackmailed poor Ko-chan, and is suspected of doing it to other people as well. My desired outcome? Suffering. At least five times as much as she made Ko-chan suffer, and she was sobbing when I got to the scene. Thanks, I owe you one." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. I only heard one side of the conversation, but my eyes teared up again that she was willing to go so far for me. Hinari held me close and smiled.
"Now, before you surrender to your fate, give me the keys." Matsuko walked up to the shopkeeper, who backed away defensively.
"Who do you think you are? The queen of the world? Get away from me." The shopkeeper shouted, but at this point, no one was willing to stand up for her.
"[Keys, now.]" Her eyes ignited again, the shopkeeper froze up before robotically handing the keys to Matsuko.
"What the fuck did you do to me!? Back off, or I'll sue you!" Matsuko grinned as if she enjoyed the thought of what she was going to do next. She forced the shopkeeper over the desk and the complaints turned into groans of pain as Matsuko's hand landed on her behind.
Even though the shopkeeper was wearing thick linen pants, her slightly flaming hand hit like a full force paddle on bare skin. "Gah, what the fuck? Are you hitting me-rgh? I'll press cha-a-aaah" After about a half dozen whacks, her protests broke down into whimpers of pain. Regardless, she didn't stop even after the begging and pleading began.
Naruyo spoke up at the side as if to save the shopkeeper. "Security coming. Best stop." Matsuko finally let the shopkeeper fall to the ground with a tearsoaked face. She knelt down next to the shopkeeper and grinned ferociously. "Still want to cause problems?" The shopkeeper trembled as she shook her head pathetically.
"Very good. Thanks for being so cooperative." She patted the girl on the cheek with her flaming palm, but to the girl, it felt like she had just been clobbered, causing her head to jerk to the side with a clear handprint on her cheek. Matsuko walked away satisfied, while the shopkeeper struggled to get to her feet, clearly dizzy and having trouble finding her balance.
Security members came and surrounded the entire stall, and the leader approached the still dazed shopkeeper and held up a sheet of paper. "Site 38C, charged with 47 counts against the con vendor code of behavior, and additional counts of blackmail, extortion, and fraud to be forwarded to county authorities."
The shopkeeper looked as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. What the hell? County authorities? What the hell was this? Weren't they just coming to kick her out?
"No need to go that far, just let her work as a pony for the rest of the con. I hope you enjoy your few days of hard labor." Matsuko interjected while the shopkeeper was trying to figure out what the situation was.
Erimi walked up to the shopkeeper on the floor. "So what's it gonna be? Are you going to work for the con for the rest of the event? Or shall we haul you down to the station for formal indictment?"
The shopkeeper trembled again, knowing she couldn't escape the serious offenses she was accused of if she was actually sent to the justice system, so she submitted to Erimi's 'punishment' instead.
Several other security guards surrounded her, and one dragged a large trunk in from outside and clicked it open. They started to pull pieces of gear out one by one and place them around. With Erimi's signal, the security guards had no problem controlling her, stripping her, and reequipping her with the same pony gear Asami found herself in earlier. She was unable to protest at this point, and after she was led off by one guard, the rest bowed and withdrew.
The final guard, the captain, saluted to Matsuko as she walked by. She gave a curt "good work" to the guard, before coming back and embracing me.
She rubbed my head and hugged me close, which made me feel extremely safe, saying softly "I'm sorry, I've let you see something disgraceful. Worse, I wasn't there when you were in trouble. I can only hope to make up for this in the future." She looked extremely distressed, which made me feel distressed again, and somehow I became the one comforting Matsuko.
Hinari clapped her hands loudly and spoke to both of us "Alright ladies, show's over, and we still have more of the convention to see. Are you done with your cry session? Or should we come back later?" I couldn't help but let out a pfft sound at how abrupt Hinari's announcement was. It was scary a while ago, but I was determined not to let that ruin a day that had been pretty amazing so far.
"Let's go, My Lady, there's still a lot to see." I pulled out of the hug and stood up on my own. I gave a kick to the chain that was still hanging between my ankles just to try and get blood flowing in my legs again after sitting for a while, then started walking towards Hinari, Naruyo, and Sakari. Matsuko stood up, gathered her emotions, and joined as well.
"Hey, um, I hate to ask this at this point but... Why am I still stuck in this armbinder? Didn't you get the keys from that shopkeeper?" I struggled a little but it held just as tight as it did before.
Unexpectedly, I got a response from all four members present at the same time. "Too cute." "You look better like this" "I don't want to." "Looks too good to spoil." Hey guys, won't you think of my comfort instead of just how cute I look sometimes? But.. on second thought, it does feel nice to be complimented, so I guess I'll let them off this time.