Omake Week 2017, Day 4: The problem with writing 98 chapters of a fic idea (more than that if you count all the full-length one-shots that aren't included in D&KOT!) is that even with running gags, it's often hard to come up with fresh material (Duran, especially, suffers from this because he has to split the "he's a dog doing dog things!" jokes with Shuck from The Tome of Eldritch Omake). Thus, today appears for the first time a character whose entire screen time in My-HiME consists of running through the panel in the background once.

Sounds about right for someone who hangs out with Shiho.

~X X X~

Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Munakata family pet)

Shiho Munakata didn't really have a lot of friends.

That might have come as a surprise to those who only knew her casually. She was a cute, petite girl, the kind that always seemed to catch people's eyes, especially with the chirpy, bubbly mannerisms that tended to make for popularity (or at least a career as an idol singer). And she was the granddaughter of Fuuka Shrine's priest, so she'd been going to Fuuka Academy for years, giving her continuity in her environment.

Unfortunately for her social chances, she'd gone and invested about ninety-five percent of her emotional capacity into Yuuchi Tate. And Tate, in turn, had put her firmly into the "like a little sister" category.

"Ooooh, what does he see in her, anyway!" she fumed aloud, stamping her foot. "She doesn't even have the decency to sneak around behind his back with her other boyfriend, but does it right in front of his face!"

"Caw?" was Yatagarasu's remark. He was perched on her shoulder, his single claw clutching the strap of her bag for balance.

"Yeah, I think I have to agree with the crow on this, senpai," Arika Yumemiya said. A year younger than Shiho, Arika had only come to Fuuka the year after the HiME Festival. "She isn't cheating on Tate; she's just dating two men at once. Don't they call that…um…polyandry, or something like that?"

"She should just pick one already!"

"Caw."

"Well, obviously she should pick Kanzaki. That goes without saying!"

"Caw?"

"I said it even though it goes without saying because you said it first! And for being mouthy you can just go and fly your own way to school!"

Arika broke into giggles as Yatagarasu took off.

"That's so neat! I wish that I had a pet like that."

"Believe me, it's more trouble than it's worth sometimes."

A gust of wind yanked Arika's hat right off of her braids. As it went sailing through the air, the crow arrowed down and snatched it. After considering keeping it for a couple of seconds (the brim was, after all, studded with costume jewels and crows were fond of shiny objects), Yatagarasu's better nature, or possibly his taste, won out and he fluttered over to drop the hat into Arika's hands.

"Thanks, Yata-kun!"

"Caw!"

"See? How neat is it, to have a pet who's almost as smart as a person! They have so many advantages over ordinary animals!"

"Well, they come with problems, too—look out!"

Shiho grabbed Arika's arm and yanked her back out of the way just in time, as a beat-up convertible sports car whipped around the corner at speeds far too great for the Fuuka footpaths. Its stereo system was turned up way beyond any sensible levels, and the pounding bass hammered the girls like a physical blow. The wave of nausea Shiho felt might have been the effects of subsonic vibrations on the human body…or more probably a reaction to idol singers growling out gangsta rap.

As the car roared away along paths technically open to motor traffic but definitely not for eighty kilometers an hour, Shiho considered the virtue of having Yatagarasu use his laser breath on a tire or two. However, her dreams of disproportionately excessive vengeance were swiftly derailed. As a HiME, she had controlled Yatagarasu in battle by playing a flute, and the crow was still very sensitive to music in the environment. A gaggle of perky Japanese teenaged girls singing about how they'd put a cap in any thug who put a move on their ho had sent him wobbling square into a tree.

"I guess you were right about his having his problems, senpai."