The Disappearance of Aqua Mizu
Chapter 2: Special Agent Himbo
Sitting in class, Mikuru did her best not to squirm. It was very uncomfortable being a boy. The girls in her class had become very distracting and interesting, which made her fidget even more. Worse still, she had to wear clothes that were, frankly, rather uncomfortable. How did boys stand having to wear a tie and pants all the time!? She just didn't understand.
The really horrible part though was that Mikuru no longer had the calculator in her head. She just about burst into tears when the teacher called on her to answer a math question. She went up to the board, looking up at the daunting equation. She looked nervously at her classmates, and was very grateful when Tsuruya, only that wasn't his name but they were the same person as far as Mikuru could tell, held up the answer. She hastily copied that down, then bowed nervously to the teacher.
"I-I think that's right…"
"Hmph. Well, next time, Mr. Asahina, I expect you not to be getting your answers from your friends," the teacher said sternly, which made Mikuru blush furiously and bow again, stammering an apology before she scurried back to her seat. There were giggles and laughter, which just made Mikuru more self conscious.
Still, she managed to look up and glance around. When she did so, she realized that everyone was a stranger. Mikuru was typically shy and kept to herself, partly to avoid time paradoxes, and partly because she had a hard time talking to new people. She hadn't made friends with Tsuruya, Tsuruya had seen someone who was all alone and needed a friend, and had adopted Mikuru. She would always be grateful for that, even if Tsuruya was a demon or something.
Even with her reclusive ways, Mikuru realized that their teacher was now a man instead of a woman, and all her classmates had swapped genders as well. She wasn't really observant enough to tell, but she was fairly certain they retained most of their personality traits and physical characteristics, along with some minor tweaks to accommodate their new circumstances.
At lunch, Mikuru dashed out of the room before anyone could talk to her. She found Aqua sprinting for her, and the two girls who were now boys hid behind the garden building to eat their lunch together.
"I don't get it, why do only the two of us remember?" Aqua asked forlornly. "Not even Kazuma remembers!"
"I don't know, it doesn't make any sense to me," Mikuru admitted. "But, um, you can fix this, right?"
"How?! I don't have any of my powers," Aqua moaned, looking down at her half eaten bento in despair. "And even if I did, how could I fix this?"
"Can't you like, you know?" Mikuru waved her hands. "Make it go back to the way it was."
"Maybe. I don't know, I never had to do anything like that before. I helped create worlds, sure, but that's different from fixing them. Usually I just reincarnated some NEETs to do that for me," Aqua admitted.
That came so far out of left field that Mikuru could only blink in confusion for a moment. At last she managed, "Um, no offense, but...why NEETs? Wouldn't almost anyone be better?"
"Because they were lonely and sad," Aqua explained.
"Oh. So...they were easy to trick then?" Mikuru asked, feeling disappointed in Aqua.
"Well, a little. But mostly...because life is short, and you should enjoy it while you can. Mortals are only here for a little while, and they should make the most of it! I picked people who never got to have adventures or friends, and sent them to a world where maybe they could. It mostly worked out, actually. Some of them, well, um, they maybe cause a few minor problems, but mostly they led better lives and enjoyed themselves! It's the same thing I did with my cult. Anyone can join, but I always tried to find people who no one else liked. That way, they could have a bunch of friends and a good time! They were always super grateful and gave me lots of prayers, so it must have been a good idea!"
"Oh. Is that...is that why you helped me?" Mikuru asked timidly.
Aqua nodded seriously. "Yes. I could tell you were abused and neglected, and that you just wanted to be happy and have fun. That made you the perfect candidate for the Axis Cult! Also you really needed a bra."
"Not any more," Mikuru said forlornly, and looked down at her shrunken chests. Both girls shared a moment of silence for the critical shortage of perfect breasts in the world.
"So, um, no one else knows, and the others don't seem to be, you know, aliens and stuff now," Mikuru said, breaking their revelry.
"Yeah, that's weird. Who would want the world to be more boring? I always liked a few fun fantasy elements, even in the worlds that were more ordinary," Aqua mused.
"B-but it also means we don't have any way of going back to the way the world should be," Mikuru sniffed. "I...I don't want to be a boy for the rest of my life."
"Me neither, but...but Kazuma really loves me here," Aqua admitted. Then she blinked, as if just realizing something. "He said...oh no."
"What?" Mikuru asked, curious. She had thought Kazuma had loved Aqua before too, but she knew she wasn't all that good at figuring out relationships. The future didn't even let children stay with siblings or parents, instead they were raised communally with stern caregivers who didn't love them very much. Mikuru's had been kind, but she hadn't given nearly enough hugs for young Mikuru's taste.
"Can I stay at your place tonight?" Aqua said, turning suddenly to MIkuru. "I don't...Kazuma's not thinking right. I don't want my first time to be- and not as a boy!"
"Er, OK. I could sleep on the couch…" Mikuru agreed.
"Thanks. You're a good friend," Aqua sighed. Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the two hurried off to return to their classes.
The afternoon crawled by for Mikuru. She noticed that for historical figures, everyone was still the right gender, or at least she thought so. There were still Emperors and politicians, but those differed from time plane to time plane so she wasn't sure if anything had changed. The books in literature were identical as well, which was good because Mikuru had a hard enough time remembering what they had read before everyone got their chromosomes swapped.
After school, Mikuru dashed to the SOS Brigade classroom. She almost put on the maid outfit, but then paused and stepped back, frowning. It was made for a much less well endowed girl than she was. Or...had been? That made her break down and start crying.
"Good grief, what happened to you, Asahina?"
MIkuru blinked away her tears, looking up to find a petite dark haired girl in a ponytail and jacket frowning at her.
"I d-don't know," Mikuru admitted. "I just...I feel sad today."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but you still have to leave. You know how Haruki gets if he thinks someone is perving on me," the girl said, taking the maid outfit off the rack. "Except himself, of course. Good grief, he still thinks I should be happy he got me that bunny girl outfit. You know I have to pad the chest? What a joke."
"Are you...Kyon?" Mikuru guessed, frowning slightly.
"Oh wow, I guess you are acting strangely. Normally you go red and run off when I talk about that sort of thing. I guess you can call me Kyon, but everyone else is probably going to call me Kyonko still. It's not like that's really my name. Now are you going to get out or do I have to go to the bathroom to change?"
"Oh, I, um...I'll go," Mikuru said, and hurried out of the room.
A few moments later, Aqua arrived with the girl who went by Kazuma. That still seemed strange to Mikuru. Why had everyone else's name changed, but not Kazuma's?
"Is your name really Kazuma?" Mirkuru blurted.
Kazuma paused, frowning. "As an advocate of True Gender Equality, I refuse to go by my slave name. I will not be called Kazuko. I'm going to go by Kazuma. Besides, I had to pretend to be a boy when I was hiding out in America and it would confuse my poor pretty Aquarius if I changed names on him."
Kazuma made to go inside, but Mikuru blocked her path. "Wait! Kyonko is changing."
"Yeah. So? I'm a girl too. She's not got anything I haven't seen," Kazuma said bluntly, trying to shove past Mikuru.
"Don't go stealing her panties!" Aqua snapped, grabbing Kazuma's shoulder and jerking her back.
"Why would I want some other girls smelly panties!?" Kazuma demanded. Then she leered at both Mikuru and Aqua. "But I might be up for stealing your underwear. I could start a collection."
Both Aqua and Mikuru jerked back, protesting that Kazuma was a pervert (and a NEET) but she just laughed and waltzed into the club room.
"My goodness, it seems you two boys are still acting strangely," Koizumi's voice said, making boht Mikuru and Aqua jump about a meter into the air and spin around to face the smiling girl.
"W-we were just," Mikuru stammered, but trailed off, uncertain of what they were doing anyway.
"You two seem sick. You should really come to the nurse with me. You'll feel better afterwards," Itsuki said, smiling jovially.
"Um, no, it's OK, we don't need to go to the nurse," Mikuru assured her.
"Ah, well, perhaps it will pass on it's own. If it gets worse though, please, go straight to the nurse, I'm sure you'll get sorted out," Koizumi laughed, then headed inside the room.
"Stupid nurse can't heal as good as I can," Aqua grumped, and Mikuru nodded instead of pointing out that without her powers Mikuru didn't trust her friend to know how to put on a bandaid. Sometimes, it was better just to smile and make people feel good about themselves.
Just as Mikuru was wondering if she should feel sympathy or vindication at having the SOS Brigade boys have to cosplay as she had so many times, heavy footsteps thundered behind her. She turned just in time to see a tall, grinning boy with a yellow sweat band around his forehead barrel towards her. She shrieked and tried to dodge, but it was too late.
"Aww, how's my club's favorite mascot doing?!" the boy laughed, grabbing Mikuru and giving her a noogie. "Where are the girls, they getting changed? I've got big plans for today!"
"H-Haruki?" Mikuru guessed.
"What, you don't trust me, your fearless leader?" the boy laughed. Mikuru noticed a red armband similar to Haruhi's, and a bit of her spirit sank even further. How were they going to get things back to normal if even Miss Suzumiya wasn't normal? And what about their date?
"C-chief!" Aqua stammered. "You...you don't...do you remember? How things used to be?"
"What, you mean before you and Kazuma showed up?" Haruki demanded, his forehead wrinkling. "Well, sure. It was only a few weeks ago. Or do you mean before I nutted up and asked Kyonko out? Ha! How could I forget? We haven't even gone on a proper date yet! Speaking of which…"
Haruki grabbed Aqua and Mikuru around the shoulders, pulling them in close. He looked around, then dropped her voice. "Alright, look. I need some help planning a big date with Kyonko! What do you think she would like to do?"
"W-well, um, maybe...she likes movies?" Mikuru stammered, feeling uncomfortable being this close to someone else. However, Haruki's muscles were rather nice, and- Mikuru cut off that line of thought very quickly. This wasn't really her friend, this was someone else.
"Movies?! That's far too ordinary and boring for a date with a girl like Kyonko! What about you, Aquarius? Where do you take your lady?"
"Ummm…" Aqua looked to Mikuru, who stared back helplessly. "...To the Adventurer's guild?"
Haruki let them both up, frowning at Aqua in confusion. "Adventurer's guild? Where's that?"
"Um, well, it was in Belzerg, and you could get drinks, and hang out with your friends. I'd do party tricks and we'd sometimes get a quest if we were broke or something…"
"Hmm. So, like a pub or bar? That's still pretty ordinary, plus we're too young to drink. We could get some fake IDs though," Haruki mused.
Just then, Yuuki arrived, nodding to the other three boys, or at least, what looked like three boys. "I apologize for my lateness, I had cleaning duty."
"No sweat, the girls are still changing. Man, what is taking them so long?!" Haruki complained.
"Quit your whining, nerd!" Kazuma snapped, opening the door and glaring out. "It's your stupid fault we have to wear these dumb costumes anyway!"
Whatever had been floating around in Aqua's mind apparently fled, as when Mikuru looked over, Aqua was gaping at Kazuma, a bit of drool leaking down her cheek. Mikuru wasn't really sure why. Kazuma wasn't a bad looking girl, but she wasn't a knock out by any stretch of the imagination. True, a bunny girl outfit could make any girl look at least a little cuter, but not that much.
"I never said you had to wear a costume, you just volunteered, Kazuma!" Haruki laughed, slapping Aqua on the back and jarring her out of whatever she'd been thinking. Mikuru didn't really want to know; it was probably very crass.
"Hmph. Well, at least someone appreciates my efforts," Kazuma declared, sticking her nose in the air and flouncing back into the room.
Once inside, Haruki stood at the head of the table, while the others all sat around it. Kyonko was dressed as a maid, while Itsuko was wearing a cheerleader uniform. Mikuru could not help but feel a sense of vindication and smug satisfaction at seeing the boys she knew perfectly well had leered at her forced to cosplay as well.
Then she felt utterly horrible that she would ever think such mean things about anyone. It wasn't their fault, Mikuru had been ordered to generate "sexual appeal."
"I'm sorry you have to dress up like that," Mikuru said softly to Kyonko as she served tea. Squaring her shoulders, Mikuru turned to Haruki even as Kyonko's mouth flopped open. "I-I have something to say!"
"Huh? What about?" Haruki asked, lowering his cup of tea.
Standing and shaking slightly, Mikuru took a deep breath. "It isn't right that you make the girls dress up like that! T-they should only have to dress up if they want to! They're not your dolls, a-and you shouldn't treat them like that! I-if you're going to make the girls dress up, t-then us boys should dress up too! I-I'll dress up like, like a bunny boy, a-as a protest if you make them dress up!"
Dead silence. Everyone turned to look at Mikuru, and she hunched up and tried to shrink back down into her seat.
Until Kazuma popped up. "PREACH IT, MITSURU! I TOO APPROVE OF TRUE GENDER EQUALITY! MAKE THE BOYS COSPLAY TOO!"
"You just want to see Aquarius in a bunny boy outfit," Kyonko huffed. She turned to Mikuru and smiled. "And I do choose to dress up like this, Asahina, but I appreciate the sentiment."
"This is a phenomenal idea! This beats my plan to have us form a volleyball team black and blue!" Haruki declared, clenching one hand into a fist. "Yes! We shall all cosplay! I have within my heart now a burning desire to see Mitsuru as an adorable bunny boy! Kyonko! You must come and help me pick out an appropriate outfit!"
"I don't think what you have planned could be construed as appropriate at all," Kyonko said with a roll of her eyes. "And since when did we become the cosplay club?"
"We are the Spreading Happiness Throughout the World with Haruki Suzumiya Brigade! Kyonko! Just think: How many people would be happy to see this adorable boy in a cosplay outfit?" Haruki said, coming over and wrapping an arm around Mikuru's neck.
"I'm going to be very disappointed if my brand new boyfriend turns out to be gay," Kyonko said, turning away.
"Aww, don't be like that!" Haruki begged, letting Mikuru go and hurrying over to Kyonko. "I'll even let you pick out my outfit! It can be whatever you want!"
"Oh really? How about a dunce cap and a sign that says 'pervert?'" Kyonko demanded, though she was smiling now.
"I'm going to pick out something EXTRA pretty for you, don't worry Aquarius," Kazuma said with a lecherous grin.
"What?! You can't make me dress up like that!" Aqua protested. "I know your ways, Pervzuma and I-"
Aqua cut off as Kazuma leaned over and started whispering in her ear. First she went red, then her jaw dropped open. Finally, she jerked away. "S-stop it, I-I'm not a pervert, like you!"
"Past experience says otherwise," Kazuma sniggered.
"Right, come on everyone! Let's head on down to the mall and pick out some cute outfits!" Haruki proclaimed.
Mikuru stood up with the others and trooped out, looking around nervously. This seemed like a normal enough day for the SOS Brigade, all things considered, but…
But it was still all wrong.
Later, after Haruki dismissed the SOS Brigade, Mikuru had to try very hard not to think about Haruki in a bunny boy outfit. Or Aquarius in a bunny boy outfit. Or Yuuki. Actually, it was best just not to think about the whole thing, especially not when Kazuma and Haruki started taking pictures.
"I, um, I have to go with Mik-I mean, Mitsuru," Aqua was telling an obviously irritated Kazuma.
"Why?! Didn't you hear what I was planning on doing to you tonight? We've still got that amazing Bunny Boy outfit!" Kazuma protested.
"It's um...boy stuff?" Aqua offered, sounding very unsure.
"Boy stuff? What, are you going to make truck noises and talk about sports all night, then have a farting contest?" Kazuma demanded.
"Um, yes. Definitely," Aqua agreed. "And er...shave our beards?"
Kazuma gave Aqua an exasperated look. "We've lived together for two years, Aquarius. I think I would have noticed if you needed to shave more than once every two or three days by now. I have to shave more often than you do."
"Really? What do you shave?" Aqua asked, sounding both intrigued and slightly disgusted.
That was when Mikuru intervened. She knew perfectly well the travails of shaving parts of her, and had absolutely no desire to discuss such things practically in public.
"So sorry we have to go now call you later bye!" Mikuru babbled, grabbing Aqua and dragging her off before Kazuma could plunge the rating of this fic into undesired territory.
Together, Mikuru and Aqua hurried down the street until they were well away from the school.
"What are we going to do?!" Aqua wailed. "I'm so confused! I don't even understand how all this happened!"
"Well, um, something like this did happen before, Kyon told me," Mikuru said. "Yuki did it around Christmas last year. I don't really understand what happened, but I did have to take Kyon back in time and it was all very messy."
"Oh, well what happened exactly, and how did you fix it?" Aqua asked.
"Er, well, I didn't really do anything. I think Nagato borrowed Miss Suzumiya's powers? And then made the world into a normal one. Only...I was still a girl there. I think. I don't actually remember it. I should have asked Kyon and paid better attention," Mikuru lamented.
"There are a lot of things you should have paid better attention to, um, son," a low voice growled from a nearby alleyway and made both Mikuru and Aqua jump.
"W-who's there?" Mikuru yipped, hiding behind Aqua. She really was much taller than Mikuru, who had gained only a few centimeters, and she was nice and muscley for hiding behind.
Two men in dark suits with dark glasses on despite the dimming light stepped out of the alleyway. One had on a blue tie, the other a yellow one. The first was taller, the same height as Aqua with blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, while the other had shorter brown hair in a messy, fashionable sort of cut.
"You two are going to need to come with us," the shorter man growled.
"Why should we do that? We don't even know who you are!" Aqua protested.
"We're your ticket to saving the world," the same man replied, and both reached into their jackets, flashing official looking IDs that had official American covers on them. "I'm Agent T. This is my partner, Agent-"
"Wait, wasn't I supposed to be Agent T?" the tall one interrupted. "Who am I supposed to be now?'
"Er, you're Agent, um, A!" his partner snapped.
"Right! We're Agents T and A. We work for the CIA," Agent A growled.
Mikuru blinked. Something about this didn't seem right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Er, what does the CIA want with us?"
"You're the only ones who remember, aren't you? The world changed around you, and only you recall what it used to be like," Agent T said, pointing an accusatory finger at both Aqua and Mikuru.
"Wait, if we're supposed to be the only ones who remember, how do you know?" Aqua asked suspiciously.
"Er, we um," Agent A stammered, then looked to Agent T.
"That's classified," Agent T snapped, though he had got faintly red for some reason.
"I understand, I had to work with a lot of things that are classified," Mikuru sighed. "So can you, um, help us?"
"Maybe. But the street isn't the best place to talk. Come with us," Agent T ordered.
Mikuru looked to Aqua, but the other transformed girl could only shrug helplessly. The two of them hurried after Agents T and A. They didn't go far, going into a brightly lit cat cafe.
"Oh, I always love going here!" Mikuru gushed as the nekko waitress greeted them. "The cats are so adorable! I bring Wells here sometimes to play with the other kitties!"
"I know, aren't they just so precious?" Agent A said, bending down to pet the cat that was rubbing up against his legs. "I took my daughter here once, but she said it wasn't inter-"
Agent T roughly elbowed Agent A. "We're on a mission! And if Agent A wants to see his daughter again, you'll remember that!"
"Oh right. But they are cute, aren't they?" Agent A asked, holding up a kitten that meowed happily.
"Oh, yes you are, yes you are," Agent T agreed, happily petting the kitten.
Mikuru began to suspect that these two were not actually MI6 agents. Those were supposed to be scary. These two seemed more like people she wouldn't mind having over for tea.
They went over to a booth, where everyone was given menus.
"I'll have the bubbly and something with a lot of grease and salt!" Aqua said happily, until Agent A smacked her hand with his menu, making Aqua cry out and drop hers.
"No you won't! You're supposed to be a high school student, and you can't go around eating grease and salt all the time! You're going to have to watch your figure!" Agent A lectured.
"Why? It's not like I can gain weight I just convert it all to mana," Aqua grumbled.
"Enjoy it while it lasts, honey," Agent T muttered behind his menu.
"Yes, it's very important to eat healthily if one wants to maintain a good figure," Mikuru agreed. "Aqua, we should just have a light salad and maybe some green tea."
"But salads are boring! I like greasy food!" Aqua whined.
"You're going to have to learn to watch your diet young...man!" Agent A argued. "Besides, the salads here are named 'Nekko Yum-yums.' Isn't that just precious? And they cut the carrots into little cat shapes!"
"Well that does sound pretty cute," Aqua grumbled. "Fine. But I want a side order of the cheesy Mewtzerella breadsticks with Red Sauce."
Everyone agreed that sounded delicious, and they called over a cat waitress to take their orders. She had on both cat ears, a bell, and a tail, which Mikuru considered to be absolutely adorable. She wondered absently what she and Haruhi would look like in a neko-meido outfit. She privately decided she would suggest it before Haruhi could, and this would be an excellent location for a date.
"Right, by now, you've both probably figured out what's happened," Agent T growled while they waited for their food.
Agent A shook his head rapidly at the same time that Aqua did.
Mikuru sighed and nodded. Since when was she the smart one? "Somehow, Miss, er, Mister? Suzumiya changed the world to be one without things like, um, you know…"
"We're fully briefed on the situation," Agent T said confidently.
"We are?" Aqua asked, looking to Agent A, who shrugged helplessly.
"I thought you prepared for this!" Agent T hissed at his partner.
"Well, I mean, I was busy this morning…" Agent A admitted, tapping his pointer fingers together and blushing. "With...you know."
"Oh, um yes. Well, that was very important," Agent T said, blushing himself. Then he rallied. "Look, we're talking about people such as yourself. Time travelers. Sliders. That sort of thing. You'll find they've all been changed. Everyone now is completely ordinary."
"But aren't you secret agents?" Mikuru blurted, thinking that wasn't normal at all.
"We're FBI agents. Those are mostly normal," Agent A said helpfully.
"Right, our um, special training protected us from the reality warp," Agent T said. "Just like yours."
Aqua and Mikuru exchanged a puzzled look. "Special training? Oh, um, yes! I remember that!" Mikuru said, not wanting to look foolish.
"I have like, the best training," Aqua agreed hastily.
"No, you remember because she's an Axis Cultist," Agent A said pointing to Mikuru. "And you're-"
"Also an Axis Cultist," Agent T interrupted.
"Ohhhh." Mikuru and Aqua said, nodding their heads in agreement. Mikuru hoped Aqua understood because she certainly didn't.
Further discussion was interrupted when a cat leapt up on the table and the four "men" cooed over it for a few minutes. Then the food came, and of course everyone had to eat before they could discuss things further. Aqua picked up a dessert menu, until a glare from Agent A caused her to put it back down.
"I can have dessert if I want, I'm a g-grownup," Aqua huffed.
Agent A blew a raspberry and rolled his eyes while Agent T had a sudden coughing fit. "Er, I'm sure you are, dear. Anyway, Agent A and I are here to instruct you on how to return the world to the way it was."
"Why can't you do that?" Mikuru asked. "We're just a couple of highschoolers now. Aren't you NSA agents?"
"We might be members of the IRS, but unfortunately this is something our, ah, mission charter prevents us from doing," Agent T said.
Agent A reached across the table and took Mikuru's hand, giving her a gentle smile. That made her blush slightly, to have such a handsome older man display such an intimate gesture. She was sort of a boy now though. Did boys do things like this? They had to, otherwise this would be very awkward.
"You're the ones at the center of this. You know who is responsible. Haru...ki. He's changed the world. You have to set things right."
"Well I could if I had my, um, powers back," Aqua said. "I think. Mostly. But how do we do that?"
"You have to find where they've hidden their powers," Agent T said. "They can't just get rid of who and what they are, not like that. They've not given up their mantles, simply hidden them under a bushel so to speak."
"What's a bushel?" Aqua asked.
"It's, er," Agent T looked to Agent A. "You tell them."
"Um, it's what you hide things under?" Agent A guessed.
"Ahh," the others all nodded in agreement.
"So how do we find that power?"
"It will be nearby. It's not in their homes, we're nearly certain of that. It will be somewhere important to them," Agent A explained.
"Wait, they? They who? Isn't this just the Chief?" Aqua asked.
"It's both Haruhi, and her cousin. You may know her as Sasaki," Agent T said, tears coming to his eyes. He sniffled and wiped at his eye, while Agent A gave him a quick hug and rubbed his back.
Mikuru wondered if they were lovers or something.
"But, they're like, boys right now, right?" Aqua asked suspiciously.
"Yes, they are," Agent T agreed, drying his eyes with a napkin. "Or, rather, they're pretending to be boys. Our, that is, those two are still the same girls they've always been underneath all of this. We have to believe that. It's our only hope of getting things back to normal."
"Well, if Haruhi was going to hide something important, it would probably be at the school," Mikuru mused. "Um, I don't know about Sasaki."
"That's a good place to start. Aqua, you'll have to be the one to find it. Your...nature...means you can harness that power to wake Haruhi and Sasaki up," Agent T said.
Mikuru and Aqua both looked confused by that revelation, which prompted Agent A to put in, "It's because you're a goddess. Or mostly one, anyway. You still haven't made your Choice, right?"
"What choice?" Aqua asked.
"You'd know if you'd made it. It's not something you can do accidentally," Agent T explained. "Just, ah...stay away from Kazuma. Go home with Mikuru. I don't trust the two of you together, and we don't know what would happen if the two of you did the horizontal hula."
"Why does it matter if Kazuma and I dance?" Aqua asked.
"That, um, that means," Mikuru leaned over and whispered in Aqua's ear.
"WHAT!?" Aqua shrieked, causing several cats to yowl and the rest of her table mates to try to shush her. "I would never! Not with the pedo-NEET!"
"Do you really mean that? Do you really not wish to give yourself to Kazuma?" Agent A demanded.
Aqua went bright red and looked down. "Not a mortal lover," she grumbled.
"It's alright, dear. Just...make sure you think about it before you make your Choice," Agent A said, gently patting Aqua on the hand. "It's permanent."
"I think that's just about enough for now." Agent T hastily wrote down a number on a pad and tore off a page, passing it to Mikuru. "Call this number if you are lost. We'll help however we can. Here, at least, the restrictions on us are lifted to a degree. I wish we could do more, but...we did make our Choice. And this is the sort of problem we can't fix. I'm sorry we failed."
"We knew something like this was going to happen," Agent A said consolingly. "Besides, I'm sure these two can take care of things. They're capable young...men."
"No, we're definitely not," Aqua said firmly. "Men, I mean. I'm super awesome and capable and so is Mikuru!"
"I certainly hope so," Agent T sighed. "This morning was fun, but I don't know if I want to spend the rest of my life like this."
"Like what?" Aqua asked.
"You know, as-" Agent A began, but Agent T yanked him up.
"Oh would you look at the time. We'll get the bill, you boys hurry up and fix things. Ta-ta!"
After one last round of petting, Mikuru and Aqua headed back to her apartment. Aqua didn't have a change of clothes besides the bunny boy outfit, which made for a strange set of pajamas while Mikuru washed her uniform in her machine.
"Do you think we can fix it? I always had Kazuma before, now I'm not sure," Aqua whispered as they lay on the mats Mikuru had laid out.
"Don't worry, I'm a Special Time Agent. We can fix this temporal anomaly," Mikuru said confidently.
"Oh good," Aqua sighed, then rolled over and went to sleep.
Mikuru spent most of the night worrying that she was now an ex-agent, and she'd only ever been an intern. She wondered if Agents T and A knew what they were doing, they seemed much wiser.