It had been a week of this already, and Otoha's alleged friends had not let that one stupid comment from Ayana go. She supposed it had to happen eventually, of course. That girl's memory was only becoming worse, it seemed. She used to at least manage to call Otoha "Kiji-something" on a fairly regular basis, but now she seemed to have been demoted to "the one with too many 'i' sounds in a row," or "the one with the lightning that doesn't work very well." Or, in this particular instance, for reasons she could not begin to fathom, "Mimi."

"Ki. Ji. Mi. Ya," she had spelled it out with great emphasis.

Naturally, she had also checked to see if there was something wrong with her ears, and found nothing amiss. They were hardly her most striking physical feature, if she said so herself. Of course Momoka had made a big show of how funny the whole incident was. Even Isuzu had laughed. She had done her best to maintain her composure, but the eventual failure ended up being all the more obvious for her efforts.

But Michi... Oh, dear, sweet Michi… Surely that was the unkindest cut of all. Apparently she had a new pet name.

Michi was also the reason she was wearing a headband with a pair of fuzzy feline ears attached to it just now. If only her shinyu was not so damn hard to refuse, and so damn hard to stay mad at, she would not be in this predicament.

"Look, Mimi-chan, they even match! They've got white tips too!" Michi had said, giving her the most evil puppy eyes, along with the cat ears. "It'll be really cute!"

"I don't do cute! I do powerful… I do dangerous."

"Oh come on! Please? I bet Mudou-san would even remember your name, if she saw you with these."

"I do believe I can even pull off sexy…"

"...if you do say so yourself," Michi had added, sparing her the necessity. Also rolling her eyes, which was really uncalled for, as far as Otoha was concerned.

"But never with that thing on!"

Alas, her resolve had weakened under the onslaught, and here she was.

In the dining hall.

Wearing the goddamn cat ears.

And, for once in her life, hoping with every fiber of her being that nobody noticed her at all.