Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Yuuki family pet)

As suited her part-arachnid nature, Julia the drider was generally a very patient creature, one who rarely got herself in trouble by acting hastily. However, everyone has her weaknesses, and new furnishings and fixtures in Nao Yuuki's room was Julia's. Almost as soon as the workmen had left, she scuttled up the wall and across the ceiling, and then set to work building a web on the new wood-and-brass addition.

Then Nemesis struck.

Aoi Senoh was Nao's roommate. Her relationship with Julia could best be described as "armed truce": Aoi found the drider to be very creepy, but Julia refrained from playing tricks on Aoi because Aoi wielded a lethal broom and in her present form Julia was only as wide across as a large dinner plate. Julia had a suspicion that given Aoi's irritating inclination towards cleanliness that she was studying maid-fu under Headmistress Fumi.

This time, though, Aoi required no mystic arts to ruin Julia's day. She merely turned on the new switch the electrician had installed, which in turn activated the ceiling fan.

It was probably a good thing that Julia had been hanging from her web, not standing on the fan. If she'd been on the fan while it worked itself up to speed, she might have been flung across the room. Instead, the web was ripped to bits at once and she fell straight down to land on the sofa, dizzy but apparently unhurt.

"Eep! Sorry, Julia; I didn't know you were up there," Aoi apologized while no doubt snickering inwardly concerning her victory.

"What happened?" Nao asked, following Aoi into the room. Apparently they'd come back from class together despite being in different grades.

"I turned on the ceiling fan, and Julia fell."

Julia looked up at her mistress and whimpered. Surely Nao couldn't resist the cries of an innocent drider, rudely abused by a thoughtless roommate who ambushed her. Why, now that Julia thought about it, the ceiling fan had probably been installed as a trap!

Nao looked at Julia, her eyes widened, and she started laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Oh, man, look at her!"

This was not the response Julia was expecting. Startled, she glanced over herself. Everything seemed all right, arms, torso, legs...Then she glanced back over her shoulder and realized that she'd still been spinning when she fell, and the loose web, with nothing to attach to, had gotten scrunched up in a ball.

Aoi giggled at the damage she'd done.

"I didn't know they had cottontail driders!"

Nao snapped her fingers.

"You know, that gives me an idea."

"What?"

"Midori collects anime figures and stuff, right?"

"I think so..."

"Great! She's probably got a set of ears that'll be the right size for Julia."

Aoi gave Nao a strange look.

"Why do you want ears for Julia? And what kind of ears, anyway?"

"The church is holding an egg hunt for the elementary-division kids, and lucky me, I get to spend my Sunday setting up and supervising. So I'll bring Julia along and she can be our Easter bunny."

Aoi twitched.

"An eight-legged, web-spinning...bunny?"

"She hops, doesn't she? And besides, arachnids know lots more about eggs than rabbits do anyway."

Julia crossed her arms over her chest and sniffed in a self-satisfied manner.

"...I can't wait to see what you come up with for the flying reindeer at Christmas, Nao."