Komekko woke up as early as possible the following day, she stretched out in her bed, the blur of sleep in her eyes was strong, and the lure of the impossible comfort of a real mattress was a siren's song, calling her to stay.
But the blur faded almost immediately as excitement took hold. Her red eyes became bright in the darkness as energy flooded her when she contemplated her next actions. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, gently rustling the soft fabric of the sheets, she dangled her feet over and gently pushed off.
She landed quietly on the plush carpet and threw on the clothing she'd worn the day before. Then out the door she went.
'Darkness' was up early, and Komekko caught the radiant monster just as the woman left her room. The door was poorly secured, left cracked open again, 'Why does she do that?' Komekko wondered, it seemed crazy, but all she could conclude was that nothing was a danger to the food hiding boob monster.
She slipped into the room, went to the dresser drawer, and found what she sought. 'Panties. Gosh, and she's even got more than two sets.' Komekko thought and grimaced down hatefully at the tiny white fabric that lay neatly stacked under her eyes, their cleanliness was an affront, like everything was washed daily. Not a patch to be had, they were so white as snow that they had to be new or nearly. She darted out her hands and snatched every one of them away. Her patchwork cloak made for an improvised sack when she removed it and dropped the undergarments into place, and then she tied the corners of her cloak together, and rushed out of the room.
Komekko scampered down the hall with her heart pounding in her chest, fear of capture, fear of suspicion, fear of even getting sent away… that loomed largest. 'If I get sent back, I'll be hungry again, don't get caught! Don't. Get. Caught.' She told herself over and over until she reached Kazuma's room.
She set the improvised sack down and pressed her ear and hands to the door. The rhythmic sound of snoring was barely audible, but it was there. She rose up to her tiptoes and worked the handle. It was unlocked.
The creaking noise of the door was like thunder, and the slowness with which the door opened seemed to take longer than the time between meals, rather than the mere seconds it truly was. But Mr. Kazuma remained asleep.
Komekko snatched up her little cloak over her shoulder and stole into the room as quietly as she could, crouching next to his bed, she opened the cloak, took the panties out, and tossed them one by one under his bed.
A mischievous broad smile spread out when she stood up, pride welled up from the depths of her soul, she raised her chin in defiance of fate. A tiny snicker slipped out, and she froze. Mr. Kazuma rolled onto his side, his eyes were still shut, his lips moved like they were chewing something and he started to mumble in his sleep.
"Useless goddess… needlessly sexy bimbo crusader… do something useful and send me Megumin… yeah, c'mere… I'll show you a real boom boom..." He mumbled.
Komekko felt her face turn tomato red, and she crept stealthily from the room.
From there it was off to the kitchen.
"Hi there, good morning." Darkness said, looking down at the little girl as she rushed into their cozy dining area. Despite the availability of a large hall, the team had taken to preferring the more intimate setting of eating where their food was prepared, a place typically left for servants.
Despite Darkness' upbringing as a Dustiness Ford, the more close knit setting appealed to her sense of camaraderie and her distaste for higher status. She thought nothing of her morning chore being interrupted by a small dark haired girl. "Feed me!" Komekko shouted and pointed to her open mouth.
Darkness bent over to pat her head, she tussled the hair a bit and gave a playful smile down at the little girl before telling her, "It's not quite ready yet, give it a few minutes."
"Now!" Komekko shouted and waved her hands, her belly rumbled audibly, "Now! Now! Now!" She stamped her tiny foot and stared through angry red eyes up at the food stealing beautiful monster.
"Well how about a wheel of cheese to tide you over? Just cut away what you like." Darkness suggested, allowing the angry little girl to push the head pat away.
That gave Komekko a reason to be quiet. 'Cheese is really 'spensive, comes only in tiny blocks… what's she talking about?' Komekko wondered.
Her wondering stopped when Darkness brought her elbow down on a corner of a barrel top and she watched the blonde woman pry it up. A moment later, she saw the woman approach with a massive wheel of cheese held in both hands, thick as Komekko's forearm and bigger around than Komekko's body, Darkness plopped it with a heavy thud onto the table.
"Just slice off what you want while I get this ready." Darkness said when walking back to the pot.
Komekko looked at the cheese like it was her first time seeing a moon, she tore into the large yellow wheel, with wild abandon, slicing pieces and shoving them in her mouth as if she were afraid it would vanish if she stopped.
"More!" Komekko shouted when the wheel was gone and only the table remained.
She ate, and ate, and ate, and it was all Darkness could do to keep up with the little girl. 'I'm being ordered about by a mere child! What could be more degrading… why can't I ever say no?!' She kept her own thoughts to herself, but with them came a sense of pity.
Komekko was young, but it wasn't lost on Darkness that she should still be taller than she was. Nor had Darkness forgotten the memory ofMegumin and Komekko eating river bugs and being happy about it. 'How many meals has she missed in her short life?'
Thus even if she could have found it in herself to refuse by way of will, the pretty little girl had wormed her way into Darkness' heart by way of sympathy, such was Komekko's obvious happiness at something as simple as a cheap hunk of cheese.
Unsurprisingly, between the cooking and the hauling of helping after helping of food to the little wild girl, Darkness keenly felt her own uncleanliness. So she took an oversized bowl in both hands, dipped it into the large cast iron pot that radiated the heat of the flame beneath, and filled it to the brim with a fresh cooked meal.
Darkness then laid it down in front of Komekko, who stared at with her open mouth heavily salivating. "Eat up." She told the little girl, "But leave some for the rest of them, I'm headed to the baths."
Komekko nodded joyfully and began to devour the meal, yanking a long loaf of uncut bread, she began to tear it to pieces to soak in the juices of the dish laid before her. But her eyes were beady and sharp on the retreating back of the blonde enemy of her world. 'I've got everything but one pair left. There's no escape for you!' She thought, and counted out the seconds while she ate.
When Komekko finished, she still wasn't 'done'. She picked up the bowl in both hands, held it upright, and dove her face into it, slavering her tongue all over the inside to catch every drop of flavor soaked into the wood.
She then wiped her mouth on her sleeve, and rushed toward the baths as fast as she could. Her ears were open for anything at all that might catch her in the act, but with the hour still being early, nobody did. She pressed her ear to the door of the bathing area. Inside was a small changing area, her little fingers reached up to the door handle and pulled it down. 'Unlocked!' She grinned and pulled it open.
Such was her fear of getting caught that Komekko could hear her own heartbeat, however after two steps within, she heard the sound of humming and the splashing of water in the room beyond. 'Pretty demon! Hide all that food will you! I'll make you pay!' She vowed and looked around, steam was billowing slowly from under the crack in the door, making the stone and cedar walls seem to sweat.
There was a wooden bench of light tan shade, rendered extremely smooth and then lacquered, there was no chance of splinters from it. A hint of guilt touched Komekko's heart, 'Mr. Kazuma lets me live here with big sis, I'm sure he won't like this… or… wait, will he?' She asked herself, and then thought more about it. 'I heard he likes stealing panties… maybe these are the best gifts I can give to him after all…' She thought, and reaching that conclusion, she walked lightly over to where Darkness's neatly folded clothing sat.
There they were, white and looking new like the rest, it only fueled her resentment, and Komekko snatched them up and rushed to take them to Kazuma's room.
It was over and done in minutes, he slept right through her creeping in, and didn't do more than stir when Komekko laid the pair in his open hand.
Though when she looked behind herself again before slipping out of the door, she saw him close his hand into a fist and with a murmur, bring them in close to himself. 'Yep, best gift I can give him. He really does like panties.' She gave a sharp decisive nod, and slipped out of the room to return back to the kitchen, thoughts of cheese and stew on her mind again, and her recent act all but forgotten.
All but forgotten that was… until a shout echoed all over the estate. A shout Komekko recognized, and intended, a shout from the food hoarder herself.
"Kazuma Satou! Did you steal my panties?!"