Chapter 4: School Daze
(Trigger warning for transphobia, though it's tame)
Alas all good things come to an end, and Spring break was no exception to that. Many a child were struck with disappointment at the prospect of returning to school until the term came to its end…
Except for Natsuki Adams. Who rather than disappointed, was feeling a rushing cocktail of excitement and anxiety! Her first day of school as… well, her!
Her mother had already given the school a heads up with the changes. Her main friend group was aware, so all that was left was ripping off the bandage and living life as a girl.
Finishing her morning prep, she was looking herself in the mirror. Her hair was about as untamable as ever, but she did manage to at least keep it out of her face with her star hair clip.
Her outfit was one of her favorites thus far! A short, powder blue Lolita dress with white bows, two down the middle, one on each arm, and a heart shaped pocket on each hip. Paired with a dark blue skirt, her lavender tights, and her new boots. Tying everything together, she was trying out her new glasses, hoping to see a bit more of her mom's side in her reflection.
"Looking lovely as always, Miss Natsuki," Whisper said, floating over with a purse the same color as her dress, "YokaI-pad is already inside, and I trust that should see you for the day."
"Off doing your 'important errand' again?" The girl asked, taking the bag from her yokai butler.
"Unfortunately so, but I feel you should be fine without me!" Whisper said with a smile… though Natsuki could see just a bit of sweat running down his head.
"Alright…" the girl sighed.
"Don't worry Nyatsuki!" Jibanyan spoke up from the bed, "you're probably gonnya call me anyway, so I figured I'd tag along!"
"Well, I'm grateful for that!" The girl said.
"See, you'll do just fine without me," Whisper said, before checking the clock, "speaking of, I must get going. I hope you enjoy your day."
"Alright, you too…" Natsuki sighed, "...and don't do whatever got you so banged up last time, alright?"
"Hehe…" Whisper gave a nervous laugh, before bowing and wordlessly leaving the room.
His charge looked at the door for a few seconds.
"Weirdo," Jibanyan said, before leaping off the bed and running up to Natsuki. Before the girl could say anything he jumped up and landed inside her purse, poking his head and tails out, "Alright! Let's get a move on!"
Natsuki let out a bit of a giggle at the frankly adorable sight, "yeah, we should."
With the cat in the bag, the girl left her room and began descending downstairs. She figured her mom had already made a bento for today.
"Hey mom!" Natsuki said, entering the kitchen.
"Hey, sweetie, all ready?" her mother asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Natsuki replied.
Her mother looked at her with a bit of worry in her eyes, "you sure? If you need another day there's no shame in it…"
"No, no… I can't put it off forever…" Natsuki sighed.
"Well, that's pretty mature of you honey," Lily said, pulling out a bento box, "Alright, here you go."
The girl took the box, and set it in her bag, being careful to put it somewhere Jibanyan couldn't squish it, or steal from it.
"All set?" her mother asked.
"Yep…" Natsuki replied, taking a breath, "Alright, I'm heading out!"
"Have a nice day sweetie!" Lily called out as her daughter took her leave.
After exiting her house, Natsuki began walking toward her school… maybe a little slowly… yeah…
"You got weights in your shoes?" Jibanyan asked from her bag, "what's the hold up?"
The girl just sighed, "nerves, what else would it be?"
"Ugh, Enma, you're a mess lately," the nekomata groaned, "it'll be fine!"
"I know, I know… just not as easy to internalize as it is to say…" Natsuki sighed, trying to quicken her pace.
Little did she know, an unseen presence was listening in on the conversation.
"Huh… she seems like just the kinda person I'm looking for…" the unseen yokai said to himself…
…
A short walk later, and Springdale elementary was now in sight. Hard to believe this was her last year attending the place, and soon enough she'd be heading to one of the middle/high-schools in town… she just really hoped it wouldn't be the all boys school…
As she was about to come up to the school's front gate, Natsuki's feet seemed planted to the ground once again.
Jibanyan couldn't help but roll his eyes. This was gonna be his whole day, wasn't it?
Thankfully though, the issue was swiftly resolved when the two heard a voice call out behind them, "HEYA NATE!"
Turning to meet the voice's owner, Natsuki saw it was Katie.
"Love the outfit! Really going all in, aren't ya?" The other girl said, running up.
"Umm, yeah! Figured I just gotta rip off that bandaid, you know?" Natsuki gave a nervous grin, "also, it's Natsuki now…"
"Hehe, cute~!" Katie said, "I'm sure everyone's gonna love the new look!"
"Yeah… I certainly hope so," Natsuki sighed, "truth be told I'm kinda nervous…"
"Ah, don't be!" The other girl said, taking her hand, "it's gonna go just fine! I guarantee it!"
Before she could even process what was happening, Natsuki felt Katie dragging her to the school.
"Now come on! We don't wanna be late!" The other girl said.
"Ah! Katie!" Natsuki yelled out as she was strung along.
…
Meanwhile, Whisper had also arrived at his destination for his second butlering lesson from Verygoodsir. Wondering what the other butler was going to pull this time.
Dressed in butler garb once again, Verygoodsir led him to one of the rooms of the manor.
"A butler must keep things neat and tidy for their master, no matter the cost," the senior butler said, "if someone can't so much as keep a single room clean, why should they call themselves a butler?"
It made sense in principle, Whisper supposed. Though the wording made him worried.
"that shall be your task. Clean this entire room in one hour," Verygoodsir spoke again, "simple enough…"
Whisper gazed around the room. It was a bit messy, but overall well maintained… it was a simple task, but that made things just a tad suspicious.
"Alright, and… begin!" The senior butler called out, starting the timer on a stopwatch.
With that, Whisper quickly took to gathering the rubbish spread across the floor. Pieces of crumpled up paper mostly… though as he continued, he noticed the amount of trash never really decreased…
"What the…?" He said, as he turned to see another piece of trash had appeared exactly where he'd last cleaned, "... what is going in here…?"
"YA!" He heard someone yell behind him, before feeling a soda can smack against his back.
"Gah!" He quickly turned around to see his assaulter. Only to be met with no one.
Soon enough, another piece of trash hit him, he turned again still finding no one. Growing wise to this, he quickly turned back, this time catching the assailant in the act!
In front of him was a small squad of yokai in red samurai armor, armor Whisper had seen before…
"GAH! YOU!" Whisper shouted.
"Correct white one, it is us," one yokai said, "THE MESSYRAI!"
Verygoodsir let out a chuckle, "did I forget to mention? The Messyrai are here to impede your progress. Back to work boys!"
The senior butler gave a clap, and the Messyrai proceeded to begin absolutely destroying the room, almost taking the form of a giant cartoon dust cloud.
Whisper panicked as he watched the unfolding chaos, he was practically against a perfect storm of trash and dirt, and somehow expected to mitigate the damage.
With such a task, Whisper was left with his jaw wide open as he was left to ponder… how was he gonna get through this one…?
Good question!
…
Back with Natsuki, her first day of class as herself was just about to begin. Mr. Johnson had met her before class, telling her to wait outside the room for the moment so he could start up the announcement that 'Nate wouldn't be coming to class anymore.'
Kinda a jerk move to the class to word it like that, but whatever. Gave her a bit more time to get over her nerves. She was so looking forward to the future when this was just a dumb memory and she's laughing about it.
If she hadn't already left her bag in the classroom, and by extension Jibanyan, the nekomata would probably berate her for still being on this.
With no better options, she decided to just listen in for her que. So, she inched closer to the door.
"So in short, Nate won't be attending class here anymore…" she heard her teacher announce. The reactions to that news were various levels of surprise, and even a hand full of shocked "Whaaat?!" in there as well.
The girl couldn't help but giggle just a bit. It was a cruel joke, but a joke nonetheless.
"buuttt… we do have someone that will be joining us instead!" Mr. Johnson continued.
Hearing her que, Natsuki took a deep breath, "Alright… no more putting it off…"
Swallowing her doubt, she opened the classroom door and stepped in. Predictably, her entrance was met with immediate confused silence, and a lot of wide eyed stares.
Normally it'd probably be quite overwhelming, but at that moment she saw some of the friends she'd already told giving her reassuring looks, namely Eddie, Katie and Maya.
Bear if anything seemed like he was trying to mentally solve some equation or something. And it was a bit harder to see, but there was an unmistakable grin on Zoey's face that told her the raven haired girl would be thoroughly enjoying the chaos of this situation.
Finally there was Jibanyan perched beneath her desk, shooting her a thumbs up… or about as close to one as a cat's paw could manage.
Deciding it was up to her to get them on some kind of track again, she decided to break the silence, "um… hey everyone!"
The yokai watch user gave a nervous wave and a smile to her classmates.
After yet more silence, someone from the class decided it was time to just be straight forward.
Stephen stood up, "ok, if no one else is gonna ask. Mr. Johnson, you said Nate was leaving, why's he still here then…?"
"And what's with the dress?" Kenny decided to ask.
"Yeah, that too," Stephen's eyebrows sank.
"Hehe, well, I admit I wasn't being entirely honest about that…" the teacher gave a chuckle.
"For the record, he did this of his own accord," Natsuki said quickly.
"Technically we don't have a student named 'Nathan Adams' anymore," the man explained, "because instead, we have Natsuki Adams."
"T-Thats me!" The girl tried to go along with her teacher's explanation. Really she was resisting the urge to cringe at it.
"Um… that doesn't really explain much…" Alex said, a particularly disappointed look was on her face for whatever reason.
"eh, let me take this…" Natsuki said before Mr. Johnson could keep his bit going, "basically, I've kinda been doing some soul searching lately, and… turns out I'm a girl! Who knew right…?"
"Nate… is actually a girl…?" Megan Jones looked as if she'd just been told something that shattered her worldview, "...oh…"
"Nate's actually a girl…" Andy also said, in more of a tone of realization. A light blush came to his cheeks, "Oh…!"
"This is obviously a big change for Natsuki here, so try and make her feel comfortable, alright!" The teacher spoke up.
The class murmured amongst themselves, most saying some form of agreement.
"With that out of the way, best get class started!" Mr. Johnson said, turning to Natsuki, "you can take your seat."
"Right," the girl nodded. Leaving the front of the classroom. She made her way over to her desk. Her deskmate Shelly seemed to be eyeing her oddly, but she put it out of her mind.
Sitting down, Jibanyan tucked away in her desk, she exhaled. Finally, the worst of it was over. Now she just had to make sure this was a good day!
…
Welp, this definitely wasn't a good day. With his time limit finally up, Whisper had somehow managed to clean the room with pure brute force despite the interference of the messyrai.
That said, the process had left him both physically and mentally exhausted. Left on the floor huffing and puffing.
"By some miracle, this room is just above acceptable…" Verygoodsir said, examining the room with a magnifying glass, "I'd have had it twice as clean in half the time, but this is a step in the right direction."
"My, what high praise…" Whisper groaned.
"Yes, yes, but we'll improve that at a later date," Verygoodsir said, "for now, it's time to improve your most lacking area as a yokai butler."
"R-right…" the white yokai groaned as he rose back into the air, "a-and what pray tell is that…?"
"I'm glad you asked~!" Verygoodsir said with a grin, before snapping his finger.
As the sound echoed through the room, the lights blacked out. The sounds of movement surrounded Whisper as he looked around in vain for some kind of explanation as to what was happening.
His confusion continued when he felt something attach to his head as he was shoved into a chair. What the devil was going on?!
When the lights came back on, the room had turned into… a game show set up…?
Oh, and much more stressing was that Whisper realized he was now strapped to an electric chair.
"AAAHHHH!" The yokai yelled in fear.
"Welcome one and all to the yokai world's most electrifying trivia game show! 'Guess that yokai!'" Verygoodsir said into a microphone, mimicking a game show host, "I am your host, Sébastien Verygoodsir, and let me introduce our special guest, Whisper!"
"What is this?!" The other butler yokai screamed out.
"Let me explain the rules to our dear contestant!" Verygoodsir ignored Whisper's pleading and kept up with the show, "I will read off the yokai wiki entry of a random individual, and you will try your best to tell me which yokai this entry belongs to!"
The senior butler did a twirl before winking to the camera, "and you at home of course can try to beat our contestant, make sure to tell us your score below!"
Verygoodsir floated back to his place, "though our contestant had better think carefully~! For each time he answers wrong…" he paused for dramatic effect, "He'll receive an electric shock~!"
"AAAAH!" Whisper screamed.
"For the sake of fairness, I have limited the yokai pool to those who've been recorded encountering a certain yokai master," Verygoodsir began shuffling a set of flash cards, "Alright, without further adieu!"
The game show screen shifted to read: question one!
"the yokai wiki describes this yokai as 'A bratty Yo-kai that's always kicking people's shoulders. The kicks just make your shoulders stiff,'" Verygoodsir read off the card, "what yokai is this?"
A musical jingle played, clearly counting down his time to answer.
"AK! Alright, alright, kicking, kicking…" Whisper wracked his brain for the answer, he felt like he knew this, "kicking… kicking… legs…. AHA! IT'S YOKAI LEGGELY!"
"Incorrect," Verygoodsir said flatly, pressing a button.
At the moment the button was pressed, Whisper was jolted with enough electricity to make his brain short circuit.
"The answer was Ake," Verygoodsir said, as the screen changed to show the miniscule yokai, "does Nate even know Leggely?"
Whisper, now a dark gray from the electric burns, let out a cough, "...actually she goes by Natsuki now…"
"Whatever," Verygoodsir gave a shrug, tossing the card away, "moving on!"
As Whisper recovered from his electric shock, the screen changed once again to show: question 2!
"'Blank creates rain clouds wherever it goes. You can find it in places that are thoroughly wet,'" Verygoodsir read off another card, "which yokai is this?"
Not wanting to be electrocuted again, Whisper began furiously wracking his brain "rain… rain… aha! It's Drizzelda!"
"Close, but no," Verygoodsir pressed the button again.
"AAAAAHOOOHOO!" Whisper yelled out as he was shocked again.
"Are you done?" Verygoodsir asked as the electricity stopped.
Whisper let out another cough, "...Finland…"
The screen turned to an image of a yokai that looked like a large drop of water.
"The answer was Drizzle," Verygoodsir sighed, "question 3!"
The screen once again to depict the question.
"'This Yo-kai visits homes asking 'Any brats here?' It's a way of scaring kids into behaving well. Kind of like a reverse Santa,'" the elder butler read again, "which yokai is this?"
"'Any brats…'" Whisper repeated. That was so specific, there was only one yokai he could think of! "THAT'S SNARTLE!"
"Correct!" Verygoodsir happily clapped.
"YES!" The other yokai called out triumphantly.
"Unfortunately, you didn't phrase your answer in the form of a question, so unfortunately you'll be penalized!" Verygoodsir snickered, pushing the button a third time.
"WHAT?!" Whisper said in equal parts rage and shock. Speaking of shock, he once again felt a charge of electricity run through his ectoplasm, "AAAAAHHHH! YOU'RE A DIIIIII-"
…
All things considered the first few classes had gone well! It certainly helped that attention had been taken off of Natsuki and onto the lesson at hand.
Honestly she was glad not to be the center of attention right now. Which now that she thought about it was almost funny.
Just a year ago she would have pulled some hair brain scheme to ditch her status as "average" that she hated so much. Couldn't very well call her average now, huh?
The school day was almost at its halfway point, the first few classes were already through and at the moment Natsuki's class was cleaning the room before recess and lunch.
"Bet I can sweep faster than you, Katie!" She heard Alex challenge her friend.
"You're on!" The other girl said with a smirk.
Natsuki chuckled a bit as she tied up a garbage bag. She was about to start taking out of the room, when Bear came up behind her.
"Here, lemme get that for ya," he said, taking the bag from her.
"Oh, uh… thanks I guess!" Natsuki said, "but I could have done it myself you know…"
"Hey, it's no problem!" Bear said, seemingly not even hearing the second part, "mom taught me to be a gentleman!"
With that, the large boy walked away.
Natsuki rolled her eyes, and went to the next task at hand.
…
After sufficiently cleaning the room, the class was allowed to make their way to the cafeteria for lunch.
"Man, about time, I am starving," Eddie groaned as he walked.
"Here, here," Bear said in agreement.
"Put you two together, and all you can think about is food," Katie sighed.
"One time they made me settle an argument between Wasabi and pizza flavored chips…" Natsuki sighed, thinking back on that incident, "really thought they were inspirited, but nope. Just hungry."
"Ha! What a dumb argument, sad I missed it," a previously unseen Hailey spoke up, causing the other two girls to flinch at her sudden appearance.
"Gah! Hailey!" Natsuki jumped a bit in surprise, "you can't just sneak up on me like that!"
"Really, Natty? Cause I'm pretty sure I just did~!" Hailey snickered, causing her friend to blush, "speaking of, a little birdy told me you went with the name I picked~ when were you gonna tell me the good news?"
"I was gonna get to it…" Natsuki said with a bit of a pout.
"Hehe, sure you were~!" Hailey snickered.
"Oh hey, the crazy girl from last week!" Katie spoke up, "how you been?"
"Just dandy!" The bespeckled girl replied, either ignoring the 'crazy' comment or just oblivious to it.
"Good!" Katie smiled as if she hadn't just called her crazy, "hey, how bout you sit with us today? We haven't gotten properly acquainted yet!"
"Probably my fault, Hailey can be a little much so I was worried about exposing you guys to her," Natsuki gave a chuckle.
"Ah, come on, Natty! You know you love me~!" Hailey said, pulling her friend into a side hug.
The physical contact caused a bit of a blush to form on Natsuki's face, "yeah, yeah."
Hailey seemed oblivious to the blushing girl she was hugging, but Katie was very much not, and a silent smirk came to her face.
"Alright, alright," Natsuki said, wiggling out from her nerdy friend's arms, "Let's go eat already."
….
After entering the cafeteria, the group made their way to the line. In front were Katie's friends, Alex and Sarah, who had been chatting with each other prior.
"Oh, hey ya guys," Alex said, noticing the group approach. Though once her eyes fell on Natsuki a bit of a pout came to her face.
Noticing the look on her face, the watch barer became confused, raising an eyebrow.
Sarah also seemed to have noticed, and gave her friend an elbow to the gut.
"HMPH!" Alex grunted in surprise, before making eye contact with Sarah and rolling her eyes, "hey Nate- Nat! You can go in front of us if you want."
"Really? You sure?" Natsuki asked.
"Yeah, go ahead!" Sarah said in a chipper tone with a grin.
Natsuki just gave a shrug, taking up the offer and passing the girls.
"Sweet!" Bear cheered, moving to do the same.
"Oh, no Bear, we're just trying to be nice to Natsuki," Sarah explained, blocking the larger boy.
"...awe…" he said, lowering his head.
"Why am I getting special treatment?" Natsuki questioned, "I mean, I have lunch I'm just in line to talk…"
"Because you're gonna be dressing like a princess now, might as well treat you like one…" Alex said in an annoyed tone.
Noticing something was clearly wrong, Natsuki folded her arms, "is something bothering you Alex?"
"No!" The tan skinned girl said, getting nothing but a skeptical look, "well, kinda… but it's stupid…"
"She's mad because she had a crush on you but she's not into girls," Sarah blurted out.
"SARAH!" Alex shouted.
"Oh ho~! Tea's been spilled!" Hailey said with glee.
"You had a crush on me?!" Natsuki said in surprise.
"You aren't into girls?!" Bear said in equal confusion.
"Wha- of course I don't! What ,you think because I'm rough and tumble that I'm a lesbian?" Alex groaned, "I'm straight, dude."
"I'm not~," Sarah added with a grin.
"Besides the point," Alex deadpanned. She took a breath, and turned toward Natsuki, "look, Nat. It's not your fault at all. Gender ain't a choice."
That brought some mental relief to Natsuki. One thing she was dreading was the possibility that her being trans would cost her a friendship.
"Honestly, I didn't even know you had a crush on me…" a blush came to her face.
"Yeah, I know. You're kinda oblivious like that," Alex groaned.
"Honestly, she isn't even the only one~" Sarah said.
"Doesn't surprise me! Who wouldn't love this face~!" Hailey said, squeezing her friend's cheek.
"stop that!" Nat smacked at her hand, her blush becoming even worse.
"Eh, I mean, she's cute, but…" Katie piped up, "eh, well, I'm straight. Maybe I could just tell you were a girl subconsciously!"
"Alright, enough about crushes, that wasn't my only reason," Alex said.
Internally, Natsuki was thankful the conversation was heading away from that subject. She'd already had the "marry her, be her" debate weighing on her mind. She didn't need to also throw on there that Katie wouldn't be into her either way…
Yeah, as much as she hated to admit, the S.S. Natie was probably chilling with the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean.
In order to avoid depressing herself with that thought, she tuned back into the rest of Alex's reasoning.
"Its not just that Natsuki's a girl…" Alex said, "it's that she's going all girly with it."
Nat just stared at her, "...what?"
"Like, literally the first day and you show up wearing a frilly dress with little white bows!" The sporty girl continued, gesturing at Natsuki's dress, "you're being dragged to the girly side!"
The watch baring girl had to breath in real quick, "ok, alex… that's dumb."
"I mean, just cause you're a girl now do you gotta be stereotypical about it?" Alex asked.
"Alex… you know regardless of which gender I am, I'm still me, right?" Nat deadpanned.
Alex went quiet… "huh…?"
"Look, am I gonna be experimenting with more 'girly' interests? Yeah. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna lose all my old ones," Natsuki explained, "like I'm still gonna go see that new space wars spinoff, and my mom literally got mad at me for scuffing my new tights bug hunting!"
"Uh… well…" Alex gave a fake cough.
"I mean, yeah girl. Live and let live," Sarah said.
"Gender roles are dumb and we should all embrace whatever weirdness suits us!" Hailey piped up.
With that, there was a brief silence as Alex seemingly had nothing more to say.
The silence was broken when Eddie spoke up, "this was an odd conversation…"
"Yeah, can we just eat now?" Bear asked.
"I second this!" Katie said.
"Yeah, let's just eat," Alex said, half sighing.
…
After finally getting their food, the group occupied a table to finally eat.
"About time!" Bear said with glee, digging into his chicken nuggets.
Everyone else gave a quick thanks and began following his lead.
"So, Natsuki~!" Katie said between bites, "Alex and Sarah too!"
"Yeah, what is it girl?" Alex asked.
"Ahem," Katie said, wiping her mouth, "I was wondering if you guys wanted to have a slumber party this weekend! It's been forever since we did that!"
"Oh! That's actually a fun idea," Alex perked up.
"I didn't have any big plans!" Sarah nodded.
"Wait… me too?" Natsuki said in surprise, pointing to herself to confirm that her ears weren't playing tricks on her.
The ponytail wearing girl gave a cheerful nod, "course!"
"I mean, are you sure that's a good idea…?" The watch bearer asked nervously, "I mean, you've seen me as a guy most of our lives…"
"You don't have to worry about my parents, they already know," Katie assured her, "our dads are friends, remember?"
"Well, yeah that does kinda figure…" Nat said, "you sure it'd be fine…?"
"Totally!" Katie smiled, she then turned her gaze toward Hailey, "and I might be able to extend the invitation to your friend!"
"Eh, I'll have to pass," Hailey waved her off, "Unfortunately this weekend I have front row seats to Next HarMeowny, and getting those far too much work to miss that show!"
"What the! Those tickets were sold out everywhere!" Jibanyan yelled out, poking his head out from Nat's purse beside her on the floor, "How the heck did she get them!"
"I have ways, kitty~!" Hailey quietly snickered at him.
Jibanyan groaned while the girls went on about their sleepover plans. He started to tune them out, when something else caught his attention… was that the smell of shellfish?
"Hey Nat!" The voice of Andy cut through the conversation, getting the girl's attention. He had a bit of a blush on his face, "I had a big breakfast today, so you can have my chicken nuggets!"
"Oh, uh… thanks!" Natsuki gave him a grin as the boy dumped them on her plate, before walking away, "well that was nice of h-"
"Hey Natsuki, you can have my chocolate milk if you want it!" Daniel said, coming up to her table.
"Well, uh, thanks Dan-" the girl didn't even get the chance to say anything before another voice spoke up.
"I've still got some fries left!" Kenny grinned at her.
"If your gonna have all that junk food you might as well have my celery to balance it out," Stephen added.
"And then you can have my cookie as a pallet cleanser from that yucky stuff!" Megan popped up from behind him.
One by one the offers seemed to increase to a frankly ridiculous degree. Natsuki was utterly speechless in response…
"Well, you're classmates sure are nice!" Hailey grinned.
…
"Well, I'm not gonna be able to eat for a month…" Natsuki groaned as she switched out her shoes for recess.
"You didn't have to eat all of that you know," Eddie said.
"But they were all just giving me puppy dog eyes…" the girl said with a pout.
"That's Natty for you, too nice for her own good," Katie chuckled.
"Good news is she'll get to burn off some of those calories real soon," Bear said, "I heard Alex was setting up a dodge ball game today!"
"Hehe, making USApyon angry has finally payed off!" Hailey snickered as she ran outside.
"What…?" Eddie questioned.
"Ignore her, that's just how she is," Natsuki sighed, following her outside.
Soon after entering the school yard, she found Alex and a random assortment of her classmates and joined them.
"Alright, I think we got an even amount of people here…" Alex called out to everyone, "obviously, I'm one team captain, so… how about you Nat!"
She pointed to the girl, causing all eyes to once again be on her… ok…
"Um… are you sure?" Natsuki said, "... you don't wanna ask anyone else…?"
"It'll be fine, you just gotta pick people out," the tan girl smirked, "tell you what, I'll even give you first pick!"
"Alright I guess…" the girl said, "Hailey! You can dodge like nuts and you'd be annoying to play against!"
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Hailey said, practically skipping to her friends side, "first pick, that's a first! You must really like me, Natty!"
Natsuki was quiet at that comment, but pink glow did appear on her cheaks.
"Alrighty, Bear! I can definitely use your cannon arm here!" Alex pointed to the large boy.
"Alright!" He grinned, "no hard feelings, Nat!"
The two girls went back and forth deciding who would be on who's team, until finally everyone was picked.
"Really?! I'm the last one…?" Casey groaned.
"Just get over here so we can start," Alex sighed.
The boy grumbled as he joined his team, both now completed. Standing opposite to eachother, with a row of balls between them, the game was about to begin.
"Alright, on the count of 3…" Alex called out. "1… 2… 3!"
She immediately sprinted toward the row and took the first shot. Throwing towards Hailey, who dodged with ease, directly behind her Natsuki barely dodged, and behind her, Eddie had about a split second to scream before getting knocked in the face.
A collective "oooh!" Was heard as they sound of the impact rang out.
"You ok, Eddie?" Nat asked.
"Yeah… I'll be fine!" The boy grunted, holding a red mark on his face, before walking off from the match.
Once he was gone, all hell broke loose as both teams all began taking shots at each other.
As dodgeballs flied through the air in all directions, Hailey dipped and weaved through them with absolute ease. You could mistake her for a trained gymnast.
…inversely, Natsuki was very barely dodging everything, and having a few balls go too close for comfort.
Though he dodging was serviceable, she panicked as one was about to hit her dead on!
"Not today!" Her teammate, Natalie called out. The larger girl slid in front of her and caught the ball.
Seeing that, Natsuki let out a relieved sigh.
"Here," Natalie said, lightly tossing the ball to the smaller girl, she gave a thumbs up "us Nats gotta stick together!"
"Uh…" speechless, Natsuki nodded.
With that Natalie went off to catch another ball.
Looking at the one currently in her hands, she figured it was about time to get rid of it. Getting a running start, she locked on to the first person she saw…
"Huh?" Andy, the unfortunate sucker, saw the watch bearing girl moving toward him, and immediately went red in the face, "oh, heya Na- Gack!"
He was cut off as Natsuki through the ball toward his gut, maybe with a tad too much force.
"Oops…" Nat said quietly.
"Ugh, why did I pick andy…" Alex facepalmed.
"Wow, they're taking this really seriously…" Jibanyan said as he lazed on the sideline.
The nekomata yawned, taking a bite of his chocolate bar. The chocolaty goodness melted on his tongue, it was practically a little taste of heave-... wait a minute.
Jibanyan's nose began twitching as a familiar sent came to his nose.
"There it is again…" he pondered.
At the same time the smell of shellfish hit Jibanyan's nostrils, something odd happened with the game.
Once again it seemed as if Natsuki was about to be hit, when suddenly Kenny jumped in front of her taking the hit.
"Ah!" The short boy cried out as the ball made contact and he dramatically fell to the ground
"Kenny? Why the heck did you do that?!" Natsuki questioned.
She didn't get an answer before she saw yet another ball was flying her way. And yet again, another of her teammates took the hit… and again…
"WHAT THE HECK GUYS?!" It seemed her entire team had sacrificed themselves for practically no reason at all! "Ugh, am I the only one left?!"
"Course not!" Hailey said, taking a break from her acrobatic dodging routine and smiling at her friend "you've still got me!" And as soon as she said that, a ball hit her lightly in the back of the head, causing her expression to droop, "nevermind."
A sour expression was on Natsuki's face as she realized she was now a loner, and Alex still had what, 3 or 4 people? All signs of victory had very clearly gone out the window.
"Well, no point in trying now…" she thought with a groan, "no, no… remember what mom told you in 1st grade. If you're gonna go out, go out swinging."
She saw Bear going for one of the last balls still on their side. She eyed at her feet, plenty of them on her side…
As she leapt for one, Bear fired off his signature move, "CANNON SHOT!"
As he threw his ball, Natsuki threw her own…
Which Alex immediately caught, about the same time she got knocked in the forehead by bear's attack.
"Ow!" The watch bearer whined as she rubbed her head.
"Can't win 'em all, Natty!" Alex said in a cocky tone
"Yeah, yeah, congratulations…" Natsuki said, slipping toward Hailey, she spoke to the other girl in a hushed tone "so we're in agreement something weird is up, right?"
"Really, I just thought your classmates were incredibly hospitable," Hailey stuck her tongue out.
"Nah, something fishy's going on," Jibanyan said, scampering over to the girls, "and I mean literally. I keep smelling shellfish every time people start acting weird."
"Shellfish eh…" Nat thought to herself, "yokai?"
"Seems like it," Hailey said, bringing up her watch, "first one to find it gets bragging rights~!"
Natsuki followed her lead, lighting up her searchlight. As the two girls began scanning around with their watches, Jibanyan began focusing on the scent…
"Follow me!" The cat said, scampering off.
Following the scent to the edge of the school, where it became especially potent. Something caught Jibanyan's eye.
"Over here!" He said.
Heeding his advice, Natsuki and Hailey turned their watch lights where he was pointing.
As the purple lights flooded the area, a black blob became visible floating in mid air.
When the light faded, the yokai's true form was revealed. It resembled Spemp in all but color, it's shell bebeing a shade of bright red instead of olive green, and a bright teal eye.
"Oh my oh my," the yokai said, spinning a coin on its tongue.
"Spemp's twin brother…?" Natsuki questioned.
"Huh, you were right about it being 'fishy'" Hailey said, eyeing the clam yokai.
"Alright, let me see here…" Natsuki said, taking out Whisper's yokaI-pad, "Red Spemp… here! His names apparently 'Almi'"
Almi: B rank
Slippery
"Got that right, sister!" The clam yokai did a midair twirl, "the spirit of Hospitality, at your service!"
"Spirit of Hospitality…?" Natsuki questioned, "wait… what exactly do you do…?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Almi said in a cheery tone, "when I inspirit folks they feel the need to make those around them feel as welcome as can be!"
"Yeah, I'd call all that 'trying to be hospitable,'" Hailey said, putting a hand to her chin.
"I'd guess…" the other girl said, "can I ask why you're doing that here…?"
"Oh, I just thought you'd need the help!" Almi said.
Both the girls were quiet for a moment, "...huh?"
"I was just minding my business when I over heard you mumbling to yourself," the clam yokai explained, he seemed to smile with his eye, "you seemed really worried about today, so I thought I'd ease things up!"
Natsuki was honestly caught off guard. A yokai, for once, was trying to help instead of just screwing with her for convoluted reasons.
"Wow… I'm just… thanks I guess," the girl smiled, before a sweatdrop rolled down her head, "but… you kinda overdid it by… a significant margin…"
"Did i?" Almi seemed surprised hearing that.
"I'm glad you wanted to help me, but I don't really need all this attention right now!" Nat said, "I just wanna have a normal day, ya know?"
"Oh my, oh my, my sincerest apologies!" Almi seemed to bow(or as much as floating clam could bow, at least), "I didn't mean to be a bother at all!"
"And honestly, that sentiment is appreciated!" Natsuki returned it.
"I'll get out of your hair then," Almi said, before glowing blue, "but in case you need some hospitality in your life!"
His medal flew into Nat's palm, and the red clam yokai departed.
Hailey audibly sighed, "man, I was expecting a climactic battle!"
"Honestly, I'm happy I don't need to put up a fight for once," the other girl said, "Alright, how bout we actually enjoy recess before other yokai get any ideas."
"Yeah, alright," Hailey said in agreement, and the small group made their way back to the school yard.
…
After dealing with that, the rest of the day went by without serious incident. Her class still tried to treat her kindly, but it wasn't nearly as over the top.
Now, she was simply ready to go home for the day, packing up her things into her purse, trying not to squish Jibanyan in the process.
All in all, she had to consider it a good day! Her fears had proven to have been for nothing!
Most of her classmates had already left for the day, but her deskmate, Shelly, seemed to still here, her expression hard to read due to her seemingly perpetually fogged up glasses, though her mouth seemed to be in a frown for some reason.
"Hey Shelly, is it just me or have you been even quieter than usual today?" Natsuki asked jokingly.
The braid wearing girl was silent, as she grabbed her bag and stood up, seemingly about to leave.
"Um… shelly…?" Now Natsuki was worried she'd said something wrong, she reached out to grab her shoulder, "are you ok-"
"D-don't touch me," Shelly said, her voice uncharacteristically filled with bile, "...I don't wanna associate with things like you…"
She walked off without another word…
Leaving Natsuki in a stunned silence, practically frozen in place, "...what…?"
…
Well, that was torture.
After about 20 rounds of that sadistic game show Verygoodsir called a "lesson" Whisper was finally allowed to go home for the day…
Well, after passing out from 20 rounds of electricity being shot into his face. That wasn't fun by any means.
After finally waking up late in the afternoon, he had made his way back to the Adams' house.
He lazily floated up the stairway and toward his charge's room.
Phasing through the door, he lazily greeted his roommates, "I'm back…"
Though he didn't get a reply. Looking up Natsuki seemed to be glued to her phone, a worried look on her face.
The girl was typing away on Entropy, in chat room with Arachnia and Yoko. They'd exchanged contact info after meeting in New Yokai City, and had said they were always there if she ever needed someone who just… got it.
Natty: it's just, I've known her since kindergarten but… she sounded like I disgusted her…
Sunnyside: that's the unfortunate thing about hate, dear Natsuki. It's quite insidious and very good at hiding.
You could go entire years without knowing if someone you know harbors hate for someone, no matter what reason they may have.
Spiderbites: I can totally eat her if you want.
Natty: No!
I just… is she transphobic…?
Like I've read about it online, but she didn't outright say anything like that…
But she also never said anything like this before…
Sunnyside: it's unfortunate indeed, though I'd recommend not jumping to any conclusions.
I'd first say to gather more information, to ensure you're not misunderstandings…
Then you can deal out punishment! :3
Spiderbite: like summoning me and letting me eat her!
Natty: why are you too so murder happy!?
Arachnia: yokai morality is murky at best!
The girl let out an audible sigh…
"Are you alright, Natsuki?" Whisper asked.
"Something weird happened before we left the school," Jibanyan said, perched by the girl's legs, "She's been like this since."
"Oh dear…" Whisper gained a worried look of his own.
"Shelly said…" the watch baring girl didn't even want to think about it, "she said she didn't wanna go associate with me… and called me a 'thing'..."
All was quiet for a moment. Whisper put a comforting on his charge's shoulder, "well, you aren't a thing. You are bright young girl, who is far kinder than this world deserves."
The girl's frown broke a bit, instead a small smile forming, "thanks, Whisper…"
"tomorrow we'll get to the bottom of this…" Natsuki said… it was then she actually noticed Whisper, and the fact he looked like he lost a fight with a bug zapper, "WHISPER!?"
The butler was taken aback by the sudden and loud expression of concern that his charge donned.
"What happened to you?! You look awful!" The girl shouted at him.
"I've… simply had a rough day!" Whisper tried to dismiss her concerns, "I'll be just fine, I just need some sleep!"
"not buying it! I'm calling a healer!" Natsuki said, leaving no room for argument. She proceeded to rant about Whisper coming home in such a state that it almost reminded him of a worried mother.
Though ultimately she didn't get an answer as to what he'd been doing.
…
The night went by, and morning soon came around. Natsuki, with a bit of apprehension, was determined to find Shelly as soon as possible, and get her to explain yesterday…
She wanted to understand why one of her friends, even if not a close one, said such a thing… even if she might not like the answer.
First she just had to find Shelly which wouldn't be too difficult. They were deskmates afterall.
She'd gotten to school a bit early, since she knew Shelly liked to read in the library before classes started, so that was probably the best chance to talk to her.
Natsuki approached the door with worry, the very real possibility of this going badly present in her mind.
She soon found herself just staring at the doorknob, unable to bring herself to open it…
"Apprehensive?" Whisper asked, popping up by her side.
"I knew it was a possibility I might have to deal with transphobia, especially after that close call with you…" the girl sighed, Whisper gave a bit of a nervous laugh as that fiasco replayed in his mind, "but now that it's right in front of me…"
The girl was quiet as she stared at the doorknob… scared at how this may go…
…And as if the universe was saying "get over it" she heard the door open from the other side, surprising her.
"Gah!" She said as a blonde man dressed in a white suit was revealed, "oh, uh, Mr. Barton! You startled me…"
"Many apologies, Miss Adams," the science teacher gave a slight bow.
"Its alright, my fault…" Natsuki said, before mumbling, "least you're being supportive…"
"Of course," Mr. Barton clearly had heard her, "one cannot teach science if they lack an adequate understanding of it," after that, he walked off… though he added one last part as he left, "...and I was a woman in the forties."
"Huh…?" Natsuki wasn't sure what to make of that last part, the man clearly wasn't that old… she wrote it off as a joke.
"That's your science teacher…?" Whisper asked, "odd fellow…"
"Yeah, you get used to him though," Natsuki said, "Alright… here goes nothing."
Swallowing her fear, she walked through the Door. The school's library wasn't too big, especially since she heard the local girls highschool had one that dwarfed it in comparison. It shouldn't have been too hard to find the girl.
"I-i said I'm not in the m-m-mood to try your p-p-prissy clothes!" The watch bearer heard a familiar voice practically growl from the corner of the library… that couldn't have been her… right?, "n-n-now screw off! I-I-I'm trying to read!"
"Alright, jeez!" She heard another voice, Maya's shouted back. Sure enough the fashionista walked by, a sour expression on her face, "what crawled up her butt today…"
"What was that about…" Natsuki questioned.
She proceeded toward the corner she heard the voices come from. Sure enough, Shelly had her nose in a book.
"Um… hey, shelly?" Natsuki said in an unsure tone.
If the braid wearing girl heard her, she didn't show it. Not looking up from her book.
"Shelly… I, uh… wanted to talk to you…" Natsuki said, a bit louder, "... about yesterday…"
Again quiet.
"Shelly, i-" this time she got a response.
"WHAT?!" Shelly angrily snapped her book shut, making the other girl jump back in shock.
"I… I wanted to talk about yesterday," Natsuki said.
"And w-w-what's there to talk about?" Shelly practically growled, "i-i thought I was pretty clear."
"You said you didn't want to associate with 'things' like me…" Natsuki said, "that's not clear at all! Like… what do mean calling me a 'thing'..."
"Ugh, n-n-not enough you took everyone's attention yesterday, n-now you gotta waste my time with it?" Shelly scoffed.
"Took their attention…?" The watch bearer repeated…
"I-I can't believe you were so desperate to ditch your 'average status' you'd start wearing dresses," Shelly scoffed, "h-how pathetic can you be…?"
"Desperate to ditch my- What!?" Honestly, that accusation just offended Nat, "this doesn't have anything to do with people calling me 'average!' I mean, don't get me wrong I hate that, but I'm not doing this for attention! I'm doing this to-"
She didn't have a chance to finish, as the warning bell sounded off, telling the students classes would begin shortly.
"So much for reading," Shelly grumbled, getting up from her seat and walking passed the other girl.
Natsuki wanted to say something, but the braid wearing girl was gone before she could.
"Well, that went well…" Whisper said, the sarcasm palpable in his voice.
"Somethings not right…" Natsuki said, "that… didn't sound like Shelly…"
…
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to test her suspicions for a while.
Class had begun and given this was their last year at springdale elementary, things were hectic this year. Not as many opportunities to pull someone aside or search for… trouble makers…
It was finally when lunch rolled around that she'd have some chance to talk to her again. Rather than the classroom or the cafeteria, she'd once again seen the bespeckled girl heading for the library.
Natsuki had caught up with her when she saw her talking to, or rather, growling at, Sarah.
"Look Shelly, I just want to know when you're planning to return my book," Sarah sighed.
"M-m-maybe if I wasn't constantly being i-i-interupted by everyone wasting my time, I'd have finished it by now," Shelly groaned, "I-I-I'll get you your crummy romance novel back, j-just get off my back!"
Sarah groaned, but knew well enough she wasn't getting anywhere so began walking back to the classroom.
"What's with her, she's acting like a different person…" Sarah grumbled, before she realized who else was in the hall way, "oh, hey Nat!"
"Hey," Natsuki gave a shy wave.
As the third girl left. It became clear that Shelly was now aware of her presence.
"W-what, being told twice i-i-isn't enough for you?" it still felt unnatural to hear such bile in Shelly's voice. It added to the hope that Natsuki was right… but first…
"Shelly… we need to talk," Natsuki said, keeping her breathing steady, "I want to know exactly what problem you're having with me lately…"
"W-what, you mean it still didn't get through your t-thick skull?" The braid wearing girl asked, "I c-can't believe you'd start pretending to be a girl just to get attention, it's d-disgusting."
Natsuki took a breath.
"I'm not doing this for attention…" Natsuki said, "I'm doing this because it feels right… plain as that. And I want my friends to accept me for me… so if you really don't want 'things' like me around… well, then that's one less friend…"
Whisper stared at his charge as she spoke. Her voice clear, if not tinged with a bit of uncertainty.
"But… right now I don't think you really do," Natsuki said, "and I'm hoping I'm right."
"Ugh, I'm tired of you wasting my time with your nonsense, Nate," the other girl groaned. That part stung… dead naming her, huh…? "If you're done with s-some meaningless speech I'll be going now…"
Natsuki didn't try to debate her, she just leg the girl keep walking.
"Natsuki…?" Whisper asked, "are you alright…?"
"We're about to find out…" Nat said, bringing up her watch, "Shelly's been acting weird, not just to me, since at least yesterday. If that isn't a yokai, I don't know what is…"
"I know I'd usually refute…" Whisper said in a sad tone, "but for once I hope you're right…"
Natsuki nodded, starting her watch's light and scanning the area around the departing Shelly.
Sweat formed on her brow as she searched the area, hoping to find something… anything…
After a few seconds raising her anxiety, she finally found something. A black silhouette… a yokai. She and Whisper sighed with relief, before the girl gained a determined look.
When the light faded the yokai's form was revealed. The vague shape of a plump, ghostly pale woman dressed in expensive garb. A woman of influence if Nat had ever seen one, with a scarf of dark clouds seemingly suspending her in midair.
On the yokai's face was a similar sour expression to the one Shelly had been wearing all day. Clearly if she had a nose, it'd be upturned.
"Alright Whisper, who's she?" Natsuki asked.
"Hmm, she's familiar, I'll tell ya that… But I can't put my finger on from where," Whisper produced his yokaI-pad and began searching frantically through it, "ghostly pale, high status…"
"And just what do you think you're doing?" The yokai spoke up, an air of superiority was palpable in her voice. Her gaze meeting them with a similar feeling.
"I could ask you the same thing," Natsuki said, "like why you're making my friend act like a jerk?"
"I don't know what you're on about," the yokai woman huffed, "those I inspirit are simply aware when they're superior to their lessers."
"That's a terrible mindset," the watch bearers eyes narrowed, she looked to Whisper who was still searching.
"Superior to their lessers…" Whisper repeated, "AHA! I knew she sounded familiar!"
He quickly typed something on his YokaI-pad before handing It to his charge.
"That is Snobetty!" The butler announced.
Snobetty: B rank
Shady
"I once encountered her back 260 years ago, while serving as the butler to a noble in the Kansai region!" Whisper explained, "she inspirited my master's daughter, completely embarrassing the family while negotiations of marriage were taking place."
"Hmph, the puffy one?" Snobetty said, "Ah, no wonder I didn't remember you. Your rice balls were terrible!"
Whisper floated back a bit in embarrassment.
Natsuki sped read the page, "Snobetty; the ghost of a woman who married into money, she gives people the same sense of self importance she possessed in life."
That checked out. And explained about everything else.
"Wait… Whisper, you actually remembered a yokai for once!" Natsuki realized.
"Huh… why, yes! I suppose I did!" Whisper said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Hello! Still here!" Snobetty spoke up, "Ugh, does anyone in this modern world learn manners anymore?"
"Big talk coming from you," Natsuki narrowed her eyes at the snobbish yokai.
"Oh, hush up. You're a perfect example of what the world's coming to!" Snobetty snapped back, "some 'yokai master' gets a big head and thinks if he starts dressing like a lady, that everyone will just accept it. Gah!"
And now the girl was getting mad.
"Now see here!" Whisper spoke up, "Miss Natsuki here has spent a significant amount of time sorting out the issues of yokai like you, and quite frankly gotten no real thanks in return!"
Honestly this part was just catching Natsuki off guard.
"And when she decides to make a change for herself so she doesn't have the same issues for someone else to solve, yokai like you have to make a fuss!" Whisper tore into the noble woman, "for shame, Miss. For shame!"
"Says the no nutton butler who was fired for spilling hot oil on his lady's expensive kimono?" Snobetty huffed.
"I was trying to rid her of you!" Whisper shouted back.
"Alright, enough!" Natsuki spoke up, "you insulted me, my butler, and made my friend say terrible things about me… leave. Now."
"Or what?" Snobetty asked, "you'll 'befriend me' into submission?"
"No… cause I don't wanna be friends with you whatsoever," Natsuki said, pulling a medal from her pocket, "...but I got one for you to play with…"
She wordlessly popped it into her watch.
"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Eerie tribe!" The watch chimed, as purple runes burst from its face.
"Arachnia!" The spider girl said as she hit the ground next to Natsuki, folding her arms with a smirk, "Whatcha need, sis?"
"You know our conversation yesterday?" The human girl asked, before glancing back at Snobetty, "guess who caused it."
"really… I see," Arachnia said, cracking her knuckles, "sit back, I'll handle this."
"Wait a moment… sir Arachnia…" Snobetty seemed to recognize her, "... of the bony spirits army…?"
"that's lady Arachnia, actually…" the spider girl said, "and you screwed up, lady."
Snobetty took a step(well, she floated) back.
"Natsuki… don't watch. This won't be pretty…" Arachnia said as she approached the other yokai.
Knowing the kinds of things Arachnia joked about… she did as she was told and turned around.
"Honestly this was nice timing… I missed lunch today…" Arachnia grinned.
"Wait… what?!" Snobetty suddenly had panic in her voice.
Natsuki didn't turn to see them, but she suddenly heard running, screaming and a very disturbing sound she'd never heard before and wasn't sure she'd ever want to again.
"Alright, we're good!" Arachnia said, approaching the girl. She took a breath in, then spit something out.
"Ew…" Natsuki said as a small, blew flame left her mouth, "is that… Snobetty's soul?"
"Yeah, she'll be fine in a couple hours," Arachnia stretched a bit, "but I imagine I mentally scarred her enough that she won't come anywhere near here."
"That… you know what, that works," Natsuki shrugged, "sorry I had go call you."
"Don't be putting bigots in their place is kinda a hobby of mine," Arachnia snickered.
As the two had been talking, the inspiritment that been affecting Shelly subsided.
"Huh…" she suddenly felt a sense of clarity to her… and a feeling of realization struck, "oh my god…"
She immediately took a turn back Where she'd come from seeing Natsuki was still in the hallway, talking to someone she… didn't recognize.
"U-UH! NATE, I MEAN… N-NATSUKI!" The shy girl called out, running back over there, "I am so sorry for what I said, I don't know what I was thinking!"
The braid wearing girl gave a deep bow as she continued.
"I-i'm so sorry for how I acted, please forgive me…" she said.
At the sight of her apology, Natsuki could only grin in relief, "honestly… I'm just happy you don't hate me!"
"Hate you…? Na-Natsuki, I don't think anyone in our class could hate you, but…" Shelly bowed again, "I can't believe I gave you that impression! Sure, I don't really understand what you're going through but that's no excuse!"
"Hey, it's ok!" Nat tried to calm the other girl down, "I know you didn't mean anything you said, I'm not holding it against you."
"Well… it still doesn't make it right!" Shelly said, "there's gotta be some way I can properly make it up to you…"
"Shelly, i… actually, there is!" Nat said, "Katie was offering me a plus one to our sleepover this weekend, and my first choice has other plans… so. That's how you can make it up to me!" She beamed at the other girl, "if you want."
"Um… yes, i-i think I can do that!" Shelly said, the same in her voice subsiding a little, and a bit of blush appearing.
"well then, that's what will do!" natsuki smiled.
"alls well that ends well," Arachnia piped up.
There was a bit of a silence after that, as Natsuki seemed to have notes two things. One, Shelly was staring at Arachnia like she could see her… and two, that arachnia now wore modern clothing and lacked her spider themed kabuki make up.
"Is… she a friend of yours?" Shelly questioned, breaking the silence.
Yep, she could definitely see her. Natsuki quickly thought of a cover story, "Oh… yeah! Nya here! She's uh, in another class!"
"Yep! That's right, different classes!" Arachnia nodded. She then leaned toward Natsuki and whispered, "forgot to say, jorogumo like me are completely visible to everyone. That's why we're great shapeshifters."
"Yeah, that's explains a bit," Natsuki whispered back.
"So yeah, be mindful of when and where you call me," the spider yokai finished. She then said in her normal tone, "welp, was fun talking to you, Natty, but now I'd better get to 'class'!"
She winked as she walked away, disappearing into the stare way.
"But… it's lunch time…?" Shelly questioned.
"She's just bad at keeping track of time," Natsuki quickly said, "anyway, I'm glad we got that sorted out."
"Y-yeah, like I said, I'm really sorry with how I acted toward you…" Shelly said… before a realization struck her, "...and Maya and Sarah! I-I-I was just as rude to them today! I-I gotta go apologize!"
With that the bespeckled girl ran off.
"Well, it as Arachnia said, seems alls well that ends well," Whisper said.
"Yeah…" Natsuki nodded, a small smile on her face, "and… thanks Whisper… for sticking up for me I mean."
"Think nothing of it, Natsuki," Whisper said with a bow, "after the patience you've shown me, you need not thank me!"
"Hehe, yeah right," the girl snicked, "you had my back today… and I'm glad you did…"
That thought, knowing Natsuki appreciated him, brought a smile to Whisper's face, and strengthened his resolve to be better. There was nothing that Verygoodsir could throw at him that he wouldn't take for her sake…
"come on, let's go eat before lunch is over," Natsuki said. The butler nodded, and followed his charge.
Thankfully, they'd have a moment of peace before such trials.
…
Hey everyone, Nat again! Whisper's still not telling me what he's up to, though he seems to be getting better at this 'butler thing.' I'm really wondering what he's doing…
But I've also got my own with my sleep over at Katies, and… wait, what? You want to be 'twinsies…?'
Next time, chapter 5; Dupli-Kate!
Don't miss it!