Journal Entry 4.4

"Yuto!" An energetic voice shouted before less than one-hundred pounds of teenage girl jumped onto my back and I intentionally stumbled a bit before straightening up as Haru fully settled into a piggy-back-ride position.

"Nice to see you again too, Haru." I chuckled before turning around to see Taizo step out of his house and down the steps of the small porch. "Long time no see, Taizo."

He flashed me a grin before giving me an awkward high-five as Haru tightened her grip, legs wrapping around my torso. "You said you wanted to hang out today man?" He asked. "It's been awhile since we just got to pal around, and you've missed the past few days of school too."

I grinned sheepishly before responding. "Yeah, I got pretty sick and decided to on top of school for the week. But I'm better now, and since it's the weekend I figured I might as well visit." I turned with Haru still on my back and heard both of them gasp as my three guests rounded the corner and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of their house. "I brought a new friend with me too."

Neither were surprised by Rinko and Himari stepping into view, they'd been friends with them for months now. No, who caught their attention this time was Amare, or at least how her glamour made her appear to them.

Amare now looked a head shorter than before with the youthful curves and figure of a college freshman in lieu of the more mature figure she usually struck her. She had lightly tanned skin, as if she had lived in a tropical climate, and her hair was a natural looking jet-black but instead of letting it hang down like Himari did she wore it in a tight pony tail. The way the almost too-tight school uniform that she had conjured hugged her assets didn't hurt the image either.

"Hello~" She called out with a slightly British tinge to her accent before jogging up to the now slack-jawed Taizo and gave him a firm handshake. "My name is Amare Novus. It's a pleasure to meet you."

I felt Haru silently get off of my back before she cautiously approached the disguised and intimidating demoness. "Y- you're Yuto's new friend?" Her voice was uncharacteristically meek compared to her usual energetic tone, though she still did extend a hand in greeting. One that Amare eagerly shook.

"Yep! I'm a foreign exchange student from out of town. From the same one that Himari-san is from, in fact, she's the one that introduced Yuto and I. Isn't that right?" Amare said and turned her head to look back at Himari.

My bodyguard just put a hand on her hips and rolled her eyes until Rinko gave her an elbow and she nodded in the affirmative. "It is as she says."

It was pretty flimsy as covers went but it seemed us betting on Amare's glamour and natural charm to take care of things would probably pay off. "Why don't we head on inside, you said you had some movies prepared Taizo?"

"Uh, yeah." Taizo almost stuttered before Amare grabbed his and Haru's hand, leading them both inside. She really turned up the charm then, Taizo and Haru gazes were firmly fixed upon her as they all walked forward and out of sight.

The glamour made Rinko blink rapidly before shaking her head to clear her mind. "Wow, she's scarily good at that."

Himari didn't look affected at all, just slightly annoyed. "It is in her nature but do not be too concerned about it. She has proven herself to have at least some self-control. And besides," Suddenly she was beside me and her arms interlocked with mine. "Our life mate isn't affected by such blatant trickery." She said before leaning in and giving me a firm kiss, nothing to deep but possessive.

I reciprocated for a few seconds before putting a hand on her shoulder and disengaging the kiss. But before I could say anything Rinko was at my side and had captured my lips in short order after getting on her tip-toes. I nearly melted into her embrace as well, hands gripping her waist, before I felt a purr against my ear and a long leg hook around my waist.

With a little effort and a lot of blushing I detangled myself and pushed them both toward the front entrance. "Ok, I get it, I get it. But I need to start working and we shouldn't be doing that kind of thing in public." I said hastily as I scanned the street and thankfully saw no one else walking about. "Amare's glamour will help but they'll eventually notice if I'm gone for too long."

They both pouted but relented and went inside, leaving me to my work.

I scanned the street one more time before starting a circuit around the house and using Light Ferry to amplify the spell I began casting. I opened my well of power and started pouring it into a large circle around the house, a lot of power poured into a relatively thin line that, when connected and encircling something, would form quite the impressive barrier that would repel malicious yokai.

My thoughts drifted to last night's preparations for today. I'd wanted to bring more of Amare's friends but every last one of them had rejected the offer. Sorina simply wasn't interested, to the surprise of no one. Lilinora, Anjelica, and Ageha were hanging out themselves today, which worried me a little. And Sophie was busy servicing Tama the entire day at the fox girl's personal request, something that worried me even more but wasn't something I could do much about. Tama was plenty strong enough to take care of herself anyways.

The circle closed with a muted gold glow from the ground where I had worked, and I quickly joined my friends inside, careful to close and lock the door behind me. They were seated in the living room and an action movie was playing on the TV. Amare turned down the charm as soon as she caught sight of me, Taizo and Haru losing the glazed look in their eyes in short order.

"So, this is the movie you picked?" I asked Taizo after sitting down on the main couch, which predictably set him off on a rant about the plot of the movie. Something about a lone man facing down a city of raiders during the apocalypse. My lap was suddenly full of busty cat-girl half-way through his explanation, but he seemed too into the movie to notice and put I my arms around Himari to bring her closer, resting my chin on her shoulder as we both settled in to watch.

I hadn't been lying about my wanting to hang out with him and Haru again. This quasi sense of normality was exactly what I needed; To both ease the weight off my shoulders and to keep me grounded and connected to normal society.

The visit with Yu went far quicker both because she was busy cramming that day and because her residence was small and thus easier to secure. Though, due to Yu's relative resistance due to her experience with Tama, it was amusing to see Amare have to use actual charisma instead of relying on her charm magic.

Though if I was being completely honest about it, I may have also rushed with Yu because Himari, Kuesu, and I had a prior engagement that I wished to get over with as soon as possible.

As such it was seven PM when we all arrived at the meeting spot; the top of a small skyscraper in the heart of the red-light district. The high concentration of active people decreased the chances of any rouge Yokai appearing and the constant noise and flashing lights would also help prevent us from being overheard. Assuming Kuesu hadn't already been concealing us at the time.

"So, are you ready to talk?" Kuesu asked as she jumped down from a mini-water tower and onto the roof. She stood up straight, both hands on her hips, as she gave me a level look.

"What do you-" I almost said in a poor attempt to buy time before Himari cut me off.

"The nightmares." She said simply as she sat atop an air conditioning unit, legs swinging slightly.

"Oh… well. How long have you known?"

"Ever since we slept together the night before we destroyed Eparsi." Kuesu responded.

"I have known for a few days longer but I had thought they were mild things." Himari added.

"They were usually less intense whenever either of you two were with me." I said, which seemed to bring a brief smile to both their faces before their expressions turned serious once more. "I'm guessing you want to know why I hid it from you all?"

They both nodded.

I shrugged and almost shuffled my feet a bit. My secrecy was something I'd never really thought about much so it took me a few seconds. "In the beginning I guess I thought I could just muddle through and after they got worse there always seemed to be something more important going on."

Kuesu nodded before striding over to me and taking my hand. "I thought as much. It is disturbingly reminiscent of how I did not handle my… 'resentment' very well and instead buried it. The fact that you also didn't exactly look happy after we attacked Eparsi only served to confirm my suspicions."

"And that brings us to another problem." Himari said before striding over and taking my other hand. "I understand that you two took on that mission alone because you wished to reaffirm the non-carnal side of your relationship. But I know the opportunities that will call for such collaboration are few and I doubt your deficiency has been solved with that single mission."

"Deficiency!?" Kuesu nearly squawked and I suddenly felt very nervous about being between the two.

Himari simply shrugged. "That is how it appears to me. I am perfectly secure and confident in my relationship with Yuto. Even if current circumstances mean that we only enjoy the romantic side through physical trysts." She responded before giving my neck a light nuzzles, biting playfully.

Kuesu grumbled and lowered her head a bit while I almost sulked despite Himari's affections. Eventually the neko stopped with a sigh before giving us both an annoyed look. "Why not go to a therapist?"

"What?"

"Or a counselor, whichever it's called. I've heard of the profession when watching one of those 'soap operas' that seem so popular these days." Himari said.

"I- I never even thought of that." I stuttered a bit before mulling it over. The idea had never occurred to me before, but it didn't sound too bad in hindsight.

"I don't know." Kuesu mumbled.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, our department does have one. It's just usually used by underlings like Kaburagi. Demon Slayers making use of one could damage our reputation."

"I believe a stable relationship is worth far more than a temporary dip in opinion others might have about us." I said, giving her hand a squeeze.

Kuesu locked eyes with me before sighing and drawing closer, burying her blushing face into the crook of my neck. "Fine. The nearest local one that Kaburagi's department uses is called Mrs. Diana. I'll try to get in touch with him tomorrow about it."

I lifted up her chin and gave her a kiss on the lips, wiping the pout off her face while also making her blush a bit more.

"Is that all for tonight then?" Himari asked a little exasperated from my other side, purple kimono running up as she pressed herself to me.

"There is one other thing." I said. "I think Anjelica is hiding something from us and we need talk with Amare about exactly how things work back in west with her faction. Both of which should go fine but I believe we should prepare just in case things become… volatile."