Thus continued the low stakes slice-of-life adventures of Miss Kurosawa and the dragons she came to know.
When Kanan showed up at her door with an invitation to an aquarium, Dia had been delighted to accept. After all, it was a rare treat for Dia to have a day off without having Mari around to pester her, and what better way was there to spend it than with a friend?
The two had a blast as they explored the aquatic zoo, frolicking from exhibit to exhibit as they shared their insights on the various creatures within. Dia would spout off interesting bits of trivia she remembered from her upbringing while Kanan would regale her with firsthand observations about the animals she'd come across while swimming in the ocean.
It was a peaceful outing, one that Dia treasured and wanted to last.
Then Kanan wound up swimming with the fishies.
As in, the pair passed an extremely large tank of water and the blunette simply couldn't help herself. Dia was not amused when she turned back to find Kanan floating within. The only saving grace was that Kanan had finally remembered Dia's modesty lessons and conjured herself an appropriate set of swimwear.
"Kanan-san!" hissed Dia in annoyance and awe.
Kanan replied with a friendly wave. "The water's nice. Care to join me?"
"No I don't want to join you! Get out of there now."
"Eh? No way. I'm not hurting anyone, and these tanks have been tempting me all day! How could I possibly keep away, especially since I've been curious about them for so long?"
"...Kanan-san, did you invite me out with the sole intent of sneaking into these fish tanks?"
"No!" protested the dragon. She paused. "I mean, I guess it was at the top of the list, but I wanted to spend time with you too."
Dia's face formed an angry pout, and more words were exchanged.
A dark figure loomed in behind the blunette, growing closer rapidly as both girls were distracted by their argument. By the time it was noticed, it was too late.
Dia could only stare in horror as the shark dove in, bringing its powerful jaws down on Kanan's arm with a painful crunch.
"Kanan-san!"
Contrary to Dia's expectations, Kanan wasn't immediately disarmed, nor was she bleeding profusely from numerous gashes along her skin. In fact, she seemed rather nonplussed about the whole thing.
Kanan looked at the shark with an expression of annoyance. "That's very rude."
Before the shark could react, she spun, freeing herself from the shark's bite and loosening several of its teeth in the process. Then she reared back the same arm the shark had bitten, miraculously intact and pristine, before slamming her fist into the shark's nose, sending it flying.
On the other side of the tank, a few dozen observers shrieked in terror as a shark came hurtling towards them before slamming into the glass wall. Small fractures began to form, and the crowd stampeded away, panicking all the while.
Dia wasn't surprised when they were asked to leave.
Sitting at her dining table lost in thought, Dia heaved a heavy sigh.
"Something on your mind?" asked Mari as she looked up from her cooking.
Dia turned her emerald gaze to her dragon maid. "Mari-san... You've known Kanan-san for longer. Please explain her to me."
The dragon hummed as she thought of the best way to answer. "Some are destined for greatness, to be placed above the common rabble upon a golden pedestal and be admired and idolized by the masses, like me!" said Mari self-approvingly. "And some are destined to chase after fish and swim around all day, like Kanan."
Dia sighed once more. "I suppose that's the best explanation I'm going to get."
"We should move into a bigger place," declared Mari suddenly one day at breakfast.
Looking up from her food, the ravenette merely raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"There's no room in this apartment! We're always getting in each other's way, and we could all use some more space. I could use a little more room to practice dance routines, you can always use more storage for idol merchandise, and Kanan could use the space to really stretch out when she inevitably spreads herself out on the floor."
"Need I remind you, Kanan-san doesn't live here."
"She comes over so often she may as well. Besides, wouldn't it be nice to have a life-size cardboard cutout of Eli you can stick in your room?"
"Please stop using Eli in attempts to coerce me into doing things."
They went apartment hunting later that week.
"Dia! We should have a housewarming party!" exclaimed Mari, stars dancing in her eyes.
Dia looked up from her book and frowned in disapproval. "We just spent the last three days cleaning and putting everything away. I have no desire to invite others over to create more messes for us to clean up."
"I'll do all the clean up," volunteered Mari. "I'm the illustrious super maid after all."
"How very generous of you," deadpanned Dia. "But the answer is still no."
"But Dia! Where's your sense of fun? Of community? This is a momentous occasion for you! It's even, dare I say it, SHINY!"
"Use all the foreign words you want," said Dia dismissively as she returned to reading, "I'm not opening up my home for so trivial a reason."
The blonde pouted. "You just don't want to because you don't have any friends."
An involuntary twitch reached Dia's eye. "...excuse me?"
"Oh yes, I can see the truth clear as day now!" declared Mari dramatically, "Dia was always the lonely little penguin, left out in the cold as all the other humans had their own parties without her. Of course she doesn't have any friends!"
"I do too!" protested Dia, goaded by the dragon's antics.
"Oh yeah? Prove it. With a housewarming party," challenged Mari.
The next day at work, Dia did just that.
"Um... Riko-san, are you free this Saturday?"
"Hmm? Oh... well, I suppose. Why do you ask?" Riko decided not to mention her plans of dressing up in disguise to get more yuri manga at her local bookstore.
"I'm hosting a small get-together to celebrate my new apartment. Would you be willing to attend?"
"Oh? You're hosting a party?"
"S-Something like that," stuttered Dia. "There won't be many people I'm sure. Just me, my sister, a friend or two, and perhaps some of their friends. Nothing too extravagant, I assure you."
"I suppose I'd be delighted to. What time?"
When Riko knocked on the door to Dia's new apartment, she was confused when the door opened to reveal a beautiful blonde maid.
"Hello," greeted Mari with a welcoming smile, "May I help you?"
"I'm... looking for the Kurosawa residence?"
"This is the place. Come on in," gestured the maid. "Dia!" she called, "Your friend is here!"
"Ah, Riko-san! Thank you for coming so promptly."
"Of course. I brought a housewarming gift," she said, handing over a small bag of matcha flavored cakes.
"How thoughtful of you. I'll set these in the kitchen for now. Please, come inside."
As she stepped into the apartment, the maid offered a hand. "May I take your coat?"
"Oh! Um... I suppose?" said Riko as she acquiesced. "Uh... who are you?"
"This is Mari-san, an aspiring idol and my live-in maid," introduced Dia.
"Live-in maid?!"
"Yep! Dia-sama is such a wonderful mistress~!" sang Mari as she embraced the ravenette from behind.
"Mari-san!"
A single word rang in Riko's ears: Mistress... Mistress... Mistress...
A small trickle of blood began to fall from Riko's nose. Then she fainted.
