Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
"And so I guess that the problem with Reito is that while I feel like he really understands me and my feelings, I don't always trust him, as if he might use that knowledge against me someday," Mai Tokiha said as she removed her shoes.
She and Natsuki Kuga walked into the front room of the house Natsuki shared with her girlfriend Shizuru Fujino. The gleaming steel dog stood up from his rug at the sight of a guest.
"Hey, boy!" Natsuki greeted him.
"Hi, Duran," Mai echoed. Duran turned and bounded towards the back of the house. Mai looked at Natsuki in confusion. "Doesn't he like me?"
"I don't think that's quite it. Can I get you something to drink?"
"That's all right; I'm good."
"Okay."
They walked into the living room and Natsuki sprawled onto the couch, leaving the armchair for Mai. The redhead settled herself.
"You were saying how you don't trust Kanzaki?"
Mai nodded.
"He's so impenetrable sometimes. I never really know what he's thinking. He's a lot like the Kaichou that way."
Natsuki shook her head.
"No, that's not it. I mean, yeah, Shizuru's great at keeping stuff to herself and putting on that fake smile so no one knows there's something else going on. Half the time I have no clue what's going on with her."
"That's Reito, all right."
"No, it's not."
Mai felt something poke against her hand where it was dangling over the side of the chair. She looked over and saw six pairs of eyes looking eagerly back up at her.
"Does Kiyohime want something?"
"Probably to snuggle," Natsuki said.
Six snakelike heads bobbed up and down.
"Okay, come on, girl," Mai invited. The hydra slithered around to the front of the chair and Mai bent over and helped her into the seat. Kiyohime squirmed a bit, nesting up in Mai's lap. Reflexively, as one does when there's a pet in one's lap, Mai let her fingertips stroke down the back of the closest neck, the third, she thought. That head let out a little purring noise. "Now, why isn't that like Reito?" she got back on topic.
"Because I can trust Shizuru. I mean, she's sneaky and likes to surprise me and tease me and she's a complete perv if I give her half a chance...or even if I don't...but I know she'd never betray me, and that I can absolutely count on her if things get serious."
"Oh, I see." Mai nodded. "Yeah, you're right. That's what I wished I felt towards Reito. Maybe it's because of what happened when he was possessed by the Obsidian Prince, but I think it's just because of who he is. I mean, he makes me feel like I'm the most special, most adored girl in the world, but then I'll get this twinge where I don't know if he's doing it because he feels that way or if he's just playing a game with me or he just can't take the idea of a girl picking another guy over him."
"Like if, as soon as you decided to stop juggling and take him over Tate, he'd be satisfied and lose interest in you?"
Mai nodded.
"Exactly."
"Well, what about Tate?"
Several of Kiyohime's heads had curled around Mai's left forearm, squeezing and relaxing in snaky snuggles.
"Yuuichi is the other way around," Mai sighed. "I mean, I know I can trust him—just look at what he did during the Festival!"
"Plus he's pretty transparent, anyway."
"Yeah, he is," Mai said with a smile. "But he can be such an idiot! You know how I said I was afraid Reito would use what he knew about me against me? I don't have that problem with Yuuichi because most of the time he doesn't have a clue!"
Natsuki considered this. It was true that Tate had a bad case of "guy," misreading the signals Mai was sending out or missing them altogether. You only had to look at how he'd totally fumbled his relationship with Shiho to see how he could botch stuff. Arguably he was even worse than Natsuki herself, which was saying a lot.
Hm, if Kanzaki reminds me of Shizuru and Tate reminds me of me, maybe they ought to be dating each other? Not that that would make anyone involved happy except maybe Aoi and Yukino.
"So basically, you either need to get inside Kanzaki's head or educate Tate."
"Yeah. Except...part of why I like them is that they are who they are. I mean, the Kaichou's teasing bothers and embarrasses you, but you wouldn't want her to quit, right?"
"No, probably not," Natsuki admitted. "Though she could work on her timing...but yeah, while we're still feeling out the boundaries for some things, Shizuru is Shizuru."
"But on the other hand, there's a difference between 'improve' and 'change,' right? Some gray area?"
"Maybe. I'm not really an expert here. I've had one relationship my entire life."
"And it's very annoying that you did it right the first time, but I'm keeping you as a friend in spite of that," Mai said archly. Natsuki would probably have had some rejoinder to that, but was interrupted when Duran bounded back into the room.
Well, not "bounded." More like "minced."
His walking was hampered because he had gotten himself wrapped up in Natsuki's heavy blue winter bathrobe, even managing to tuck it under his cannons instead of draping it over them. His slow movement was very likely to keep from stepping on the trailing hem. Duran made his way over to Mai and nudged her arm.
"Um, Natsuki, what is he doing?"
"Inferiority complex."
"Huh?"
"Well, he's made out of metal, and some people don't think that's very cuddly." Natsuki's scowl expressed her confusion and dislike towards such an attitude. "So he figured you'll be more likely to pet him if he wears something soft and fuzzy."
Duran woofed.
"Thanks for the object lesson, Duran," Mai said. "I'm definitely not going to try to change Reito or Yuuichi."