Here we go again… Sigh.

I watched from across the desk intently towards my lady and mistress as she began to flick nervously through a textbook about world history. I remained silent as she seemed lost in her own thoughts, assuming that these constant high-pitched shrieking schoolgirls surrounding us were the result of her unfocused attention.

In all honesty, I despised attending this wretched school with her. Not only was the shrine left unattended for such a long period of time but having to protect Nanami put most of my weekly familiar duties on hold until the evening. That damn woman.

I rolled my eyes, continuing to ignore the large cluster of screaming bodies and dazzled eyes that only seemed to become worse the quieter we remained. After a few long moments, Nanami finally spoke.

"This isn't good at all Tomoe… My land god duties have been keeping me so busy that I haven't had the chance to keep up with this material for my exams."

I chuckled a little too much in my thoughts at her sentence. Land god duties? Surely, what had Nanami done recently that were deemed the appropriate duties of a land god? Not to mention that she was wasting her time attending this stupid school.

Humans. They are so incompetent and weak. This school reeked of them.

Nanami gazed down towards the delicious meal that I, Tomoe had humbly made for her. Shocked at the sight of shiitake mushrooms, she began to complain about how much I don't listen to her requests.

Hehe. Even though I am Nanami's Familiar and was bound by her sacred words, there was a part deep within my soul that loved to tease her. I smiled slyly and began taunting her for all the reasons why she should just leave this pitiful place already.

"Not only are you a poor land goddess but you are an equally poor student as well. I highly suggest dropping out to save yourself the utter embarrassment."

Nanami was unimpressed. She bitterly returned the mushroom that I packed for her lunch to the bento and turned away to ignore me. Wait a second… How dare she!?

Suddenly, the classroom door burst wide open which caused every loud shriek inside the room to heavily intensify. I groaned under my breath knowing exactly who it was… As I casually glanced my eyes towards Nanami, she had already begun to move her chair further away from the entrance.

"What's up, fox?" The male Tengu snickered sharply. "Tagging along with Nanami again? Make sure you study extra hard."

Ah I see, so Kurama was up for a fight today, was he? How delightful… Little did this ridiculous bastard Tengu realize that I could dish out his sarcastic remarks twice as hard.

"Still shepherding a flock of naive sheep, are you?" I winked in return, mocking his pride and irritating his poor feelings. This was great. The Tengu was obviously offended because he suddenly brought Nanami into the conversation.

Ah yes… He had fallen so hard for Nanami and this pathetic yokai could not try to fool me. I had already secretly played that stunt on him a few days ago, using my magical leaves to shapeshift as my mistress so that she could remain at the shrine to recover from a bad fever. I still remember watching him as he annoyingly insisted to peruse me. He had no idea how perfect my transformation spell was. That foolish Tengu. He will never have the chance to lay those hands on Nanami.

I watched her cautiously as Nanami hastily ran over to the classroom window to greet that young pink-haired girl I had saved earlier from a perverted yokai hanging around in the women's locker room. If I were grateful for one thing from the Tengu it would be that he had promised her to keep the existence of yokai a secret. There was no doubt that the event would have ended disastrously otherwise.

The school bell suddenly echoed throughout the building for what I assumed was the next class. I honestly couldn't really care less. I just wanted to leave that classroom immediately and find Nanami. As I quickly grabbed my belongings and the ones that she had also left behind, it suddenly occurred to me… Where had that girl slipped off to this time!?

I remembered hearing her talking outside the classroom earlier with… Ami, wasn't it? However, Nanami and her friend were no longer there. Where could she have disappeared to!?

After searching the hallways anxiously, I had finally found her on the rooftop gazing sheepishly towards the opposite building across the school yard. Sigh… Whenever she smiled like that, I knew immediately that she was up to something foolish again…

I turned my eyes toward her direction and noticed that Kurama and Ami were inside the opposite building a little too close for comfort. Nanami was laughing excitedly with a second-sight talisman attached to her chest. Ever since the incident with that wretched snake who kidnapped her (and began to visit the shrine regularly much to my distress), I was required to be much more cautious and protective of her random disappearances.

"What are you doing!?" I demanded, slightly frustrated at both the fact that she had run off earlier and for carelessly setting up a yokai and human conversation behind my back. What the hell was she thinking!?

Nanami gazed towards me excitedly with that sheepish smile still plastered across her face. "Wouldn't you say that my divine powers are working pretty well, Tomoe? I think that I might be starting to get the hang of this…"

The truth was that I admired her greatly, but the act was indeed extremely foolish. How would Ami react when she discovered that the object of her affection was not even human? I voiced my utter displeasure regarding the situation, but her eyes stared back into mine with a deep sadness. Nanami was such a hard woman to deal with sometimes… I could not understand my own emotions and why I felt so strongly attached to her. I was afraid to admit that Nanami was my rock. Yes, it was true… I could not even bear to imagine my life without her in it. Nanami…

I had to tread very carefully regarding my own feelings towards her. Humans are fragile and weak so any kind of bond would be utterly disastrous. Not to mention that I was also indeed Nanami's Familiar and therefore I was forced to act accordingly.

She seemed distracted again by her own thoughts while staring at me. Confusion washed over me as I pondered what she had been thinking about. Breaking the pattern of my own rampart thoughts, I cunningly threw the textbook that she had left behind earlier directly at her forehead.

"Keep studying!"

We sat on the rooftop in awkward silence and continued reading our own textbooks. At least she was attempting to study this time. Even though Nanami was easily distracted, careless and extremely hard to deal with, I genuinely wanted her to receive good grades and be happy.

Yes. I wanted to see her smile and be happy.

I caught Nanami peering from her textbook towards me for a long moment, so I decided to ask her politely.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" The words spilled from her mouth quicker than a cup of tea being knocked over. "I just want humans and yokai to get along with each other, that's all!"

I was both unconvinced and puzzled by her statement. "So, what purpose then does the two creatures becoming friends serve?" Yokai and humans were completely different beings from two entirely separate worlds. Once again, Nanami's words made no sense whatsoever.

She smiled awkwardly and startled blabbering some ridiculousness about me getting closer to another human girl. Seriously? Where did she come up with this nonsense? They are such fleeting creatures and therefore I could never be involved with them. Nanami was the only human in this world that I truly cared for and vowed to protect with my life.

"There is no need" I replied bluntly. "Protecting you is all that I care about."

She beamed silently at me with her wide brown eyes for a split moment, before turning her gaze away slowly.

"Tomoe… You shouldn't say things like that so casually."