My luck was running quite oddly today.

The good part was that so far, Haruhi and the rest of the Brigade have yet to find me. That meant me not having to explain more about my old life or the uniqueness of my companions. I'm pretty sure that means more closed space would be forming until Haruhi got her answers. Hopefully, it won't be too much work for Koizumi.

Who am I kidding?

The bad part was that we would need to walk back to the house. Now, the walk itself I won't mind but it's the fact that I got designated as the pack mule who has to carry v-13.

And let me tell you something... mecha musumes are seriously heavy.

At least we managed to make it home without any other incidents happening. Saya went in first and headed upstairs. Probably to change out of her damaged uniform into something else.

"Rowr!"

I'm home, Shamisen. Don't mind the mecha girl I'm dragging in. She's only here so we can watch over her and make sure she doesn't fall into the clutches of some mad scientist.

Voice mailbox is blinking. Pretty rapidly... 15 messages? Most of these belonged to Haruhi's cell number but I think I even saw my own cell number flash by when it was showing the list of callers.

Oh, right... v-13's kidnapping of me and all my stuff being left behind in the clubroom. That means, I should expect a visit from the Brigade to my house in the near future.

"Mrow..."

An empty food dish? Ah, right... Saya usually feeds you after school but since she came to my rescue, you didn't get your supper. I'll be there in just a bit...

Rachel, why are you still standing outside the front door?

"I have to be invited in."

Oh... well, come in and please take the robo girl upstairs while I fill Shamisen's food dish.

"Alright but I expect you to pay me back for this little service."

Excuse me? You're only using a little wind magic to levitate the mecha girl upstairs while I had to shed blood, sweat and tears dragging her! Argh, forget it!

"Meow..."

Yeah, yeah... gimme a second here. Canned salmon a la Kyon coming right up.

"Merroww..."

You want to eat outside? It is a nice day outside so I guess it's okay. Just let me open the door outside and...

"FFFOOOOOOOODDD!"

"WAAAAUUUGGGHH!"

...... wonder when the hell did catgirls start raining from the sky right after I recover from my near heart attack.

I honestly was pretty lucky back there that my hands weren't eaten off when the catgirl pounced on the salmon dish. She was dressed pretty oddly in some large yellowish coat, thick sleeves that concealed her paws (with openings in the hand section presumably for claws to come out) and a pair of yellow coverings to conceal her cat ears. Her legs were exposed, showing off some dark skin while her feet were covered in stockings. And there were even holes in her coat to allow room for two long braids of light brown hair.

As for her face, it looked like something that a toddler would draw. A pair of red eyes and sharp teeth against a black surface. Is it a mask of sorts?

"Ragna, what happened?"

"Nii-san?"

I have to admit that their response time to my yelp of surprise was damn fast. Both of them were ready to go into battle within moments although my sister's attire was a bit rushed with only a blue plaid skirt, black knee stockings and a barely buttoned up white dress shirt (with nothing underneath since I could clearly see some cleavage).

In any case, once they saw who was greedily devouring the salmon, they seemed to relax a little bit. That meant the catgirl wouldn't be hostile... for now.

"Wait a moment... is that...?"

"A member of the Kaka tribe." Rachel approached the new arrival, hardly flinching at the sounds of someone pigging out. "How did you manage to come here?"

A pause as the catgirl lifted her face, showing bits of salmon on her cheeks. "Cat person told Taokaka to go to the bright shiny place, nya!" And back to scarfing she went.

"Cat person..." Another pause before realization came to her eyes. "So even Jubei was aware of the time loops. He must have chosen her in his attempt to break the continuous cycle."

Jubei... that name sounds familiar. Wait a minute... Jubei-shisou? And what's this about time loops? I've had enough of that already this past August thank you very much!

"Ne ne... does Good-Guy have more food for Taokaka, miya?"

You remember me?

"Taokaka remembers Good-Guy! Good-Guy shared some shrimp with Taokaka, nya! That's why Taokaka likes Good-Guy, nya!"

Oh... that's all well and good but do you mind not hugging me and getting salmon bits all over my uniform?

"Hey, get off of him!"

"Taokaka doesn't wanna! Go away, Lacking Lady!"

*PPBBBBTTT*

"L-lacking lady? L-l-lacking…"

Rachel, please deal with Taokaka while I try and snap Saya out from her sudden bout of depression.

"I'm putting that on your tab."

What tab?

"The tab I intend to collect from you when we go on our honeymoon."

Dammit, would you just go already, you dumb rabbit?

One small moment later and I was finally able to breathe. Rachel's familiars had worked to pry off Taokaka, who was now fast asleep. Just how did she do that?

"Zzzzzzzz..."

Okay... now how to deal with Saya-chan?