"Hi, Shiena! Did you see this new anime about bear girls who eat human girls? I'm not really into those otaku's stuffs, but if you want we could watch it together. This sounds awesome! Btw, I always thought that a bunny's costume would suit you, but now I remember the fluffiness of your hair and maybe a sheep's costume would be better, don't you think?"
The brunette had wrong when she thought that the message Otoya sent her on her cellphone could be important. It was just one of her disconcerting messages, Shiena's inbox was full of them, but strangely, the brunette never erased them.
"Oy, waiter! Can you come here please?" asked a feminine voice.
Shiena hesitated for a moment, it took few seconds to understand that she was the person called. The brunette approached from a table and discovered who the client who called her was.
"You know, usually we use 'waiter' to call males server…" corrected Shiena.
The Mikage twins were sat at one of the manga café's table. They seemed to have follow Shiena to her workplace.
"Well, you wear a butler uniform" pointed out the girl Mikage.
"This is the theme today, tomorrow would be a maid's theme" said Shiena.
"Then, I should come here tomorrow too!" said the guy Mikage.
"Don't mind my brother, he's a little bit pervert…" added her sister.
Shiena took out a note book and a pen, trying to consider the twins as regular clients.
"What would you order?" asked the brunette.
"I'm Mikage Hiyori, and this is my brother Tatsuya"
The brunette sighed, knowing that she won't get rid of them easily. They were rumor about those twins at school. Their relation was ambiguous, some people thought that they had an incestuous relationship. In fact, they were just best friends in addition to be twins, they didn't have an illicit relation. Anyway, Shiena never paid attention to rumors, and she didn't care about what other people do in privacy.
"Well, both Mikage, I'm working. If you want to stay here, you need to order something" said Shiena.
"Don't worry Kenmochi-san, we're clients. We'll stay until the closing time, to be sure that you won't run away from us" said Hiyori with a friendly smile.
"What are you, some stalkers? A never mind, what's your order?" asked once again Shiena.
"Hey, the message you received at work, was it your girlfriend?" asked Tatsuya.
Shiena blushed instead of answering to his question. After that she finished her work, the Mikage twins were still there, waiting for her. They insisted to escort her at her apartment.
"We saw you the other day, leaving school with a handsome woman, really tall with red hair. Is she your girlfriend?" asked Hiyori.
"N-no, it isn't Namatame my girlfriend…" answered Shiena.
The brunette immediately regretted her answer, or rather the way how she answered.
"So you do have a girlfriend!" conclude Tatsuya.
"Then, you're, you know, you're a…"
"Lesbian? If it's your question, yes, I'm attracted to girl and I have a girlfriend" admitted the brunette, before stopping to walk. "Is it bothering you? Do you find this disgusting? That wouldn't be the first time someone thinks this about me…"
Suddenly, Hiyori grabbed Shiena's shoulders, giving a serious gaze to the brunette.
"Love can't be disgusting, Kenmochi-san. Only idiots would think something like that. When two people truly love each other, then gender is irrelevant"
"Exactly! I have nothing against two girls in couple" added her brother.
"Yes, but in your case, you're a pervert obsessed with yuri" said her sister.
Tatsuya scratched his head, a little bit embarrassed. Shiena continued to walk, heading to her apartment. The twins were still following her.
"Why did you help me with Takana?" asked Shiena.
"Well, when she was still at our school, my brother and I also being victim of her bullying. Tatsuya can be really violent sometimes, so she stopped to bully us"
"We don't know if it was the reason why she began to bully you instead of us, but we felt guilty about this, because we didn't help you before" said Tatsuya.
"This is why we couldn't let her do as she please today" added Hiyori.
Shiena was thankful to the Mikage twins, but she couldn't find words to express what she felt. She never had experienced the feeling of being protected from bullying. No one helped her when she was bullied, her classmates preferred to stand back and only watched the bullies tormenting her. In this situation, the only solution the brunette had was to rely on her group to kill them. Maybe if someone helped her in the past, no one would be dead now. But we can't change the past, Shiena should stop living in the past and start living into the present. Because she kept the pain she felt in the past in her heart, the brunette was scared to be bullied again, so she closed her heart to everyone who tried to approach her. She couldn't enjoy the present because of that, and in the long run, it would affect her future.
"It seems like Kamikuro-sensei has right, I shouldn't close me heart to people's kindness" thought the brunette.
After a long moment of silence, they arrived to Shiena's apartment.
"See you tomorrow at school, Kenmochi-san!" said Hiyori friendly.
"Don't worry, I won't miss the maid theme!" added Tatsuya.
Her sister gave him a reprehensible gaze, before grabbing his arm and began to walk away, heading to their house. Shiena watched them leaving, feeling a little bit weird. Holding out with people of her age, from her school, it was new for her. But that wasn't unpleasant. Maybe she could give a chance to the Mikage twins.
When Shiena entered into her apartment, Otoya was watching through the window. The brunette didn't seem surprise by her girlfriend's behaviour. When she approached from her, she noticed a piece of paper on the table. Curious, Shiena took it and read it. It was a message from Kouko.
"Thank you for your hospitality, but we have to go now. The people who want to kill me are more dangerous than you think. I could never forgive myself if something bad happen to you because of me. Don't worry for me, Suzu found a safe place to hid, I should be alright"
"That does explain why I didn't see them this morning" thought Shiena. "Hey, Otoya, did you see them leave?" she asked.
The serial killer was still looking through the window, but she didn't ignore the brunette.
"Nope, I was still asleep when they left" answered Otoya. "But more important Shiena, who are those people who were with you outside. Judging by their uniform, I suppose they were classmates, but I don't remember you having friends…"
There was something strange with the way that Otoya was talking. Shiena never heard her girlfriend with that voice's tone. The serial killer turned back, facing the brunette.
"I just meet them where I work" lied Shiena.
The brunette found that it was safer if Otoya didn't know the truth. If she knew that the Mikage twins helped her because someone was trying to bully her, the serial killer would probably do the same thing she did with the client who menaced Shiena. She would kill Tanaka.
"Is it bothering you, Otoya? Don't tell me that…you're jealous?"
Jealousy, it was a feeling that Otoya was familiar with. Sure, she wasn't furious when Midori kissed Shiena, but it wasn't jealousy. She knew that the green haired only did this to provoke her, and it was totally normal to be angry at someone who kissed your lover.
"No, I'm not. I don't care if you have friends, especially if they are cute girls. You can even bring them here if you want…"
"When pigs fly!" immediately said Shiena.
"…but I admit that I don't appreciate to see you with a guy. I don't know why, but it worrying me. Anyway, I thought that you have zero interest into boy…"
"Even if I'm not attracted to them, I don't hate them"
"Then, why I found some yaoi mangas in your bookcase?" asked Otoya.
"I-it's not because I don't find boys attractive that I can't find two boys together cute, and…I don't have to justified my taste in manga!" shouted the brunette, embarrassed.
The serial killer absolutely loved the way her girlfriend was blushing when she was embarrassed. This was the reason why she liked to tease the brunette.
"Anyway, I think that you were talking about Yuri Kuma Arashi into your message. I already saw the episodes that were out, but I don't mind to watch it again with…" began to say Shiena.
But she couldn't finish her sentence. Otoya suddenly pushed her on the couch and straddled Shiena, while her knee rubbed the brunette's crotch. Otoya grabbed Shiena by her tie, looking her with hungrily, like a bear ready to eat a delicious sheep.
"Otoya, what are you doing!?"
"Shiena, if you really saw this anime, you should understand the reference"
'Growl' was the last word that Otoya said before slightly biting Shiena's neck.
Did you see Yuri Kuma Arashi? You should, even if it's a little bit weird, I find this anime interesting and it's definitely a yuri (Unlike AnR that was a slight shoujo-ai).
Btw, one of the girls in YKA (Ginko) is voiced by the same person who did Sumireko's voice ;)