Omake Week 2022, Day 7: And we conclude Omake Week where we began it, with the antics of our favorite HiME and...

...no, it's actually Shiho. Who at this point is rivaling Nao for second-most appearances in this collection after Shizuru and Natsuki. Hope you enjoyed the antics, and I'll see you next year for more of the same. Probably literally, given my penchant for running gags.

Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Munakata family pet)

A/N: This chapter is set before chapter 113, just for continuity's sake.

~X X X~

"I can't believe it!"

Shiho Munakata plucked another walnut from the bag and punctuated her statement by crunching down. The nuts were already shelled, but Arika had the feeling that if they hadn't been, her senpai wouldn't have even noticed, so furious was her chomping.

Neither girl noticed the ominous shadow creeping across their bench as an otherwise unseen threat moved into position. Shiho was far too concerned with romantic threats to worry about things that posed no danger to her heart. And even some things that did, as evidenced by the wrapper from the double cheeseburger she had drowned her sorrows in.

"It's been an entire month!" she moaned. "Not only has oniichan not gotten fed up with his situation, he seems happier than ever!"

It had been this past Valentine's Day when Shiho's nemesis in love, Mai Tokiha, had settled the two-year love triangle between her two boyfriend candidates by picking both of them. Shiho had been certain that this would be the final straw that got her beloved Tate to see the insert-insult-condemning-a-woman-for-assumed-sexual-promiscuity-here (Shiho was a bit sheltered; she really needed to do some proper research on insults if she was going to express her feelings) for what she was.

Instead, the polyamorous trio seemed happier than ever.

"Well, Reito-san seems like the kind of person who'd patiently play the long game to get what he wants," Arika mused, "and Tate-senpai is too stubborn to let Reito-san win. Or they might just be happy. My grandmother says that lots of people would be much happier if they just did what they enjoyed and stopped worrying about what they thought they 'should' do."

Another walnut was obliterated as thoroughly as if it had been in a hydraulic press.

"I can't believe it! There's no way that oniichan could be happy in a relationship like that. How could he, when there's a beautiful young maiden ready to devote her all to his every need!"

"Um, is this what Nao-senpai means when she says that you're backsliding?"

Given the grisly fate of yet a third walnut, it was probably for the best that Shiho hadn't really processed what Arika was saying. In fact, she was so distracted that she failed to notice her crow, Yatagarasu, slowly extending his head towards the snack bag...

Suddenly, the shadow overlooking them wasn't a shadow at all, but a squirrel plummeting out of the tree above them down towards the nuts. Its launch angle wasn't perfect, since its branch was where it was and the squirrel couldn't do anything about that, but it was going to land right next to the nuts and be ready to knock the bag flying, so that it could gather the spilled nuts out of the grass for not only today's lunch but to stock up its larder.

"Caw!"

The squirrel's plans did not include a three-eyed crow flapping its wings angrily as his plans were ruined by the new invader. Startled, it sprang off the bench, seizing only a single nut in its mouth.

"Stop that thief!" screamed Shiho, who after losing out on a potential boyfriend wasn't about to let even her snacks slip from her grasp. A searing laser blast speared out, singing several hairs on the squirrel's tail from the near-miss. The rodent zigzagged, heading for cover in the high grass, as Yatagarasu flew after it, sending laser fire carving trails in the lawn that Shiho was probably going to have to pay to repair, either in cash or in landscaping work or both.

"I guess this is sort of like you and Mai-senpai," Arika decided as the animals reached the treeline.

"What, them?"

"Sure! My grandmother says that battles over who and what we love can lead to people having a caw-stic relationship."