A/N:
Don't ask me why I took so long for this chapter cause even I don't know.
If she were to put her feeling to words when she saw the cat girl, she felt shocked and enraged. "Mahiru chan, this is Hikari chan. Hikari chan, this is Mahiru chan " Karen introduced. Mahiru, other than feeling shocked and angry, did not like the aura of the quiet girl one bit. But this was Karen's friend, she shouldn't hate her especially when she barely knew her.
"Hello." Mahiru said as nicely as she possibly could. The girl gave her a curt nod before turning to Karen who dragged her into her room.
Mahiru freaked out. They can't be alone together in a room, especially when they haven't seen each other in years! Who knows how that girl would be after so many years. "Karen chan don't-" but they had already reached the room.
"We're going to play video games for sometime before eating!"
"But Karen chan we need eat! The food is already at the table."
"It's alright. We'll eat right after this game, right Hikari chan?" Hikari shrugged in response. Guess it wouldn't hurt if it was one game. "Do you want to join us?" Karen asked, her arm slung around her old friend making Mahiru's heart burn with a feeling she knew very well and hated. "No, you haven't seen each other in a while. You should have some time together."
That game that turned into hours, and hours of waiting for them to come and eat made Mahiru feel tired and bored. Mahiru's stomach grumbled, begging for the delicious food.
Mahiru lost her patience after three hours. She was starving and those two hadn't eaten yet. When Mahiru opened the door to Karen's room she got a heart attack.
It was worse than pigsty. She had just tided the room that morning and it wasn't that long from then. There were food crumbs… wait a moment, food crumbs? Why were there food crumbs all over the floor? Mahiru guessed Karen had a secret stash of food somewhere. That explained the disappearance of some of the packets of food items on the other day. There were paw prints, fleshly made ones on the floor and somehow on the walls as well. Mahiru shreaked.
After a small scolding, they finally stop and join Mahiru to eat some proper food. She could feel her stomach thanking her for her kindness and finally putting something in. But this behavior of her guest was unacceptable. This made her want to confront Hikari on such behavior. The girl sitting right across the table, munching on the food she made as she listened to Karen. It ticked her off. How was she the cute and cuddly cat? How could she just sit there nonchalantly? Normally Mahiru was nice to anyone but for some reason Mahiru didn't like her much. Probably because she lacked some manners like intruding their house. Sure they had allowed her, believing she was an actual cat not an animagus.
"I'll get the album!" Karen, who still hadn't completed her food sprang up from her seat running to the room. "Karen chan, you must finish your food before-" Mahiru stopped herself realizing that it was useless. She sighed turning to Hikari who was wiping her mouth with a tissue.
"Why are you here?" Mahiru asked. "I wanted to see my friend." Hikari said before mumbling something incoherent after that. "Then why fool us?" Mahiru glared daggers at her when she revived no response except for Hikari stuffing more food into her mouth.
"I'm back!" Karen exclaimed, oblivious to the rising tension in the room, holding the ginormous album close to her chest. "I hope you two got along well?" Karen dropped the album onto the table, the dishes rattling due to the force. "We sure did." Hikari muttered. Mahiru's brow twitched in irritation. "That's great!"
Mahiru was getting sick of the girl with every passing moment.
After hours of walking down the path of nostalgia and memories Karen and Hikari had planned to go to Hikari's place across town and have a sleepover, for "old times sake". That was good, she could get her thought together, and maybe stop staring at Karen's friend not only because she wanted to drive her away without sounding mean. "Karen chan be careful. You haven't seen her in awhile you never know how she'll be." Mahiru whispered into Karen's ear who was busily packing up for the night's stay while Hikari was waiting in the living room. "Mahiru chan, there's no need to worry. Hikari chan hasn't changed one bit, except that she's an animagus now!"
"But Karen chan you never know. People can change over time!"
"Mahiru chan there's no need to worry." Karen gave Mahiru a vibrant smile. That very smile that made Mahiru weak no matter what. "Fine." Mahiru grumbled. She'd have to keep her faith in Karen. She might as well use the time alone to get a hold of her feelings and thoughts. To know how sometimes her heart skips a beat when Hikari would make an expression, on hearing one of many stories Karen told her, though that expression vanished as fast as it came. It was just to... cute? Cute!? What was wrong with her? She just met her and she didn't even like her!
Yep, she definitely needed to clear her mind.
She woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. Mahiru groaned, groggily looking at the clock. It was midnight. What was so late? Who was it so late? Whatever it was she was prepared. She got up stumbling to retrieve her baton. She clicked the button to transform it into her mace. The bell rung once again.
She moved to open the front door. She took a deep breath, opening the door quickly, closing her eyes and sticking out the mace at whoever was at the door. "Please don't accidentally kill someone, Tsuyuzaki san." a deep voice, belonging to a person she knew, her neighbor to be precise. The visitor nudged the mace pointed at her head away. Mahiru opened her eyes and sighed in relief. "It's just you Tendou san."
"You have an investigation so late at night?" Mahiru's asked. Maya was a part of the police force aiming to become the Director General if the Police force soon in the future. Usually she'd never see Maya in her uniform so late at night unless the case was something major or something that rewired her expertise. After all she was a Tendou; part of a family of great policemen. "Actually it's because of Aijo san and her friend."
"WHAT DID THEY DO!?"
"Please come with me and I'll explain things in the way as we pick them up from the station. You know how Saijo san gets when I make her wait for long in the car."
Guess things just don't work Mahiru's way.
How was she supposed to react to all of this? Why did fate have to be so… cruel? Why must Karen and her supposed childhood friend have to be so stupid at times? No most of the time. Though Karen was much more likeable than her childhood friend. It's not like she tried not to like her but...
"So what happened?" Mahiru stopped pacing the room and slammed her mace onto the floor. Karen winced, her eyes puffy from crying earlier while Hikari was nonchalantly hugging her half burnt Mr. White plushie, whispering into its ear. "W-we were ma-making toast for dinner but we messed up." Karen sniffled. "I threw a knife." Hikari said, shrugging. "YOU WHAT?"
"Hikari chan is skilled at throwing knives. I wanted to see that for myself" Karen began explaining, "The toast was inside the toaster. It flew out if it once it was done. Hikari chan threw the knife to show me and it ripped the bread in half and then hit the socket and the building sortofburstedintoflames."
Mahiru glared at the two of them. That was by far, the most stupidest thing she had seen ever since she met Karen. "Both of you listen up, no entering onto the kitchen without supervision, or using the toaster without supervision and especially using knives." Mahiru pointedly glared at Hikari, inching near her face. Hikari didn't even flinch. "And you better not be throwing them around you got me?"
"Yeah sure whatever."
Mahiru's sighed. Why was she a pain even though she barely knew her? "Kagura san you can go back home now."
"Eh? But Hikari chan's house is burnt." Hikari nodded supporting her friend's words. "Uh… then-"
"Mahiru chan can Hikari stay with us!?" Karen's eyes gleamed, "Pretty please? She doesn't have a place to stay and also staying in any other place is dangerous."
At this point Karen was just giving her puppy eyes. Giving into Karen's request was irresistible but Mahiru listened to her heart. There was just no way she was going to sleep under the same roof with that deceiver. "Karen chan don't you think it's a lot of people in one house?"
"No, we can adjust if needed."
"But-"
"Please Mahiru chan. I'll help you with the chores, I promise." Karen placed her right hand over her heart. Mahiru just had no other choice.
"I'll get the remains what needs." Hikari said before transforming into a cat and made her way to the nearest window.
"I'll be going to sleep then." Mahiru announced, dragging her mace on the floor. She had resigned to her situation. She might as well mentally prepare herself for all that is to come in the future with Karen and the crazy cat human, right? All she could hope was things would be back to normal, once she woke up in the morning with a fresh mind and pray that the whole day was just a fragment of her sleep deprived mind.