Just a fluff fic I decided to start doing purely for fun, and to help with the old Writers block. Don't take it too seriously.
Chapter 1: Nate's first 'Girls' day'
It's was a brisk spring afternoon in springdale. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Hailey Anne Thomas was yelling about her favorite show.
"YEAH!" The young girl called out as the on screen fight seemed to be reaching its climax, "kick that tuxedo wearing villains butt, sailor Heart!"
Her cheers continued as it seemed that Sailor heart was about to deal the finishing blow against her arch nemesis, Bah Gye…!
And then the end credits started rolling, accompanied by dramatic anime outro music.
"Aw, what!? A cliffhanger?!" Hailey whined, "but that was so epic! I can't wait another week to see what happens…"
"Dangrabbit, can you keep it down?" USApyon, her irritable yokai companion called out, "I don't know how the neighbors don't give a barrel of noise complaints…"
"... they kinda do…" Hailey admitted with a sigh, slumping on to the couch, "ehhh… what am I supposed to do now, that was so epic! I'm gonna die of boredom before the next episode comes around…"
"Yer not gonna die… an word of advice yokai hate those jokes.." USApyon said, though recognized that it likely wouldn't stop the purple haired girls complaints.
"But I'll be so boooored!" She refuted.
"Have you furgotten what antics happen every week? Somethin will come along and you'll furget what you were whining 'bout," USApyon shook his head, walking off to the next room.
Hailey let out a groan, "it's not like something interesting is just gonna pop out of nowhere."
As if to reply to the girl, suddenly her doorbell rang. Causing her to perk up.
"Thank you, cliche gods~!" Hailey snickered to herself.
With an enthusiasm she didn't have seconds before, she hopped off the couch and ran up to the door.
Checking the door cam briefly, she instantly saw that the one at the door was none other than the famed yokai master, Nathan Adams!
It always amazed the young girl how someone with such a reputation among the after life could be so unremarkable on the surface.
"Psych! Hey, yokai master!" Hailey grinned opening the door.
"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?" Nate sighed.
"Hehe, I'll never stop!" The girl snickered, before giving Nate a friendly grin, "whatcha doing here?"
"Oh, I uh… I just wanted to hang out!" Nate said, returning the grin. Though there was something off about his tone…
Shrugging it off, Hailey grinned, "Nice timing! Mom's taking Joshua to the dentist, so I got the apartment all to myself~! Come on in!"
She moved out of the way, allowing her friend through the door.
"Heh. You know I don't think I've ever been in here before," Nate said, staring at his feet.
"Well, no time like the present~!" Hailey said as she shut the door, "I see Whisper isn't here? What's that about, you're usually attached at the hip!"
"Oh yeah, he's… off playing detective with komasan, or something like that," Nate replied a bit hesitantly, taking off his shoes, "he and jibanyan are always off doing something when yokai are quiet for a few days."
"Hehe, so things have been have been boring lately?" Hailey said, making a bit of small talk. It had been a fair bit since they talked last.
"I… wouldn't say that…" Nate said, creating a bit of a silence between the two, before he quickly clarified, "...I mean, someone's moving in next door soon, so that'll be interesting…!"
"Oh, fun!" Hailey said, as the two of them sat on her couch. Though something about Nates tone was… off… eh, for now she shrugged it off, "wanna watch something? Maybe we'll find an anime I haven't seen on bitflix!"
"Y-yeah!" Nate said somewhat enthusiastically, but there was clearly something up with him…
"Hmmm…" Hailey gave him an inquisitive look, "Alright, Adams, spill it. What's on your mind?"
"Huh? W-what are you talking about…?" Nate gave a clearly forced smile, his tone betraying his facade.
"I may be an airhead, but I'm not dumb!" Hailey huffed, "somethings up with you, and you aren't doing a good job of hiding it!"
"Eh… I…" Nate was about to refute, before he sighed, "...ok, yeah, there's something I want to tell you…"
"That's what I thought," the bespeckled girl snickered at her accurate observation, "I'm all ears~!"
She gave a beaming grin to Nate, who in return gave her a worried look.
"Promise me that you won't tell anyone…" Nate gave his friend a pleading look.
Hailey made a "zipping" gesture against her mouth, followed by flicking the air away.
"Alright then…" Nate took a deep breath, making an expression of clear uncomfort, "thing is… im… I'm actually a girl!"
Following those words was a long, awkward silence…
Before Hailey broke it in the most characteristically "Hailey" way;
"WWWWHHAAATTT?!" The bespeckled girl cried out in over the top surprise.
"And here we go…" Nate said quietly, now simply waiting for Hailey to process it.
"I can't believe it…" Hailey said with a shocked expression, "...the yokai master has actually been a crossdresser this entire time! I should have known!"
This response caused Nate to practically fall over.
"No, that's not what I meant…" Nate clarified, sporting a bit of an annoyed look.
"Hold the phone, you just said 'you're actually a girl'" Hailey said planely, "what else could you have meant?"
"I mean it like… well, I thought I was a boy, but turns out I'm not…" her friend said, the uncomfortable tone still very much present in… her voice. Burying her head in her knees.
"Wait…" the bespeckled girl's mental gears began turning, until it clicked, "wait, you mean like you're trans?"
Nate didn't reply, but gave and affirming nod.
"Oohh!" Hailey said, before the full weight of the implications hit her, "oh…"
"Yeah…" Nate said quietly.
"Wow… i… huh…" it was a rare moment, Hailey Anne Thomas was at a loss for words, "... how'd you find out?"
The recently revealed girl gave an uncomfortable expression, clearly gathering her thoughts. She took a deep breath.
"Ok so… let's just say something that happened a few months ago cause me to… start rethinking things," Nate explained, "I started asking myself a lot of questions about… well, myself…"
As she spoke, Nate twiddle her thumbs.
"... I didn't really want to believe it at first. The bulk of that time was kinda spent in denial…" she sighed, "but the more I thought about things, and looked into it online, well… it just kinda clicked…"
A small smile crept onto Nates face, which combined with her lack of continuing indicated she'd said her piece.
"Wow… no wonder you wanted this secret…" Hailey said, processing her friend's story.
"Yeah… Whisper and Jibanyan know, obviously, but… I didn't know who else I could talk about this to…" Nate sighed.
"So… what are you gonna do?" Hailey questioned.
"I have no idea…" the brunette sighed, "this is… something I've never expected to have to deal with… I don't know how I'm gonna tell my parents, or my other friends…I just… ugh…"
Nate buried her face in her knees again, groaning.
Seeing her friend in such a state, Hailey felt awful. Clearly she needed something to distract her…
And with that thought, Hailey's mind jumped into action! Nate had always gone out of her way go be kind to her, so she was gonna return the favor!
"I've got it!" Hailey announced, causing the other girl to jump, "come with me!"
…
"Oh my darlin', oh my darlin," USApyon said as he polished one of his model rockets, "oh my darlin', clemen-"
"USAPYON, CLEAR THE ROOM!" Hailey shouted, slamming the door open.
With both the noise, and the vibration the rocket slipped from USApyon's hands, which promptly flew into the air, and fell onto the floor with a loud "crack!"
"Mah rocket!" USApyon yelled out at his destroyed model kit.
"I'll buy you another one, but first, get out!" Hailey said.
"Why you…!" USApyon said, clicking the buttons at the bottom of his helmet. Having seen this, Nate instantly became worried, "invader mo-"
Before he had the chance to do anything, Hailey grabbed him by the neck, "NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR SHENANIGANS!"
She chucked him out the door, barely missing Nate's head, and flying into the bathroom wall, face first, then back to the floor he fell.
"Uh…" Nate said as he saw the yokai lying on the floor.
"Come on in!" Hailey said in a cheery tone, as if she didn't just chuck her yokai partner like a ragdoll.
Nate hesitantly entered the other girl's room, a bit hesitant at how quickly she could shift from aggressive to friendly.
Hailey happily skipped over to her closet, which she opened with a swift motion, "here we go!"
"Huh?" Nate raised a brow
"You can borrow one of my outfits, my treat~!" Hailey said with a smile.
"Wait, really?!" Nate said in shock, "are… you sure that's ok?"
"Don't see why not, we're about the same size, and we are both girl's, so it should be fine~!" Hailey just kept smiling, walking out of the room, "I'll leave you to it, don't take too long~!"
And with that, the other girl shut the door behind her.
"Oh, hey USApyon!" Nate heard her muffled voice through the door, which almost immediately turned panicky, "wait, wait, wait! I'M SORRY!"
…The sound was immediately followed by the muffled noise of a rapid fire laser gun and a girl doing impromptu acrobatics…
"Ugh, when will you learn, hailey…?" Nate felt a sweatdrop role down her head.
Honestly she should have expected this from those two… but she certainly didn't expect the offer…
Looking at the open closet, she saw it was at least halfway filled with cosplays(typical hailey!), while the other half was filled with some actually cute clothes, including a few of Hailey's regulars.
Thinking about it, it would feel nice to at least get to try some more girly clothes, better than 20 versions of the same red shirt at least.
After internally debating with herself for what felt like ages, she began looking through the closet. It couldn't hurt to try something.
She passed over some of the outfits she knew Hailey wore often, before coming to one that caught her eye…
"Hmm…?" Nate looked at it, one thing definitely evident in her mind… it was perfect!
…
Both Hailey and USApyon were sitting on the couch, giving eachother glares.
"... I said I was sorry…" Hailey grumbled.
"After ya threw me…" USApyon said.
The two kept their glares up, at least until they heard a door open behind them.
"...alright, here it is…" Nate said.
"Ooh! About time!" Hailey said with instant enthusiasm. Ignoring whatever she was angry about before, she jumped off the couch to see her friend, "lemme get a look at you!"
She skipped to the hall, seeing Nate nervously hiding behind the door.
"Oh come on, I wanna see how it looks~!" Hailey said, pulling on the door, which Nate clung to, red in the face.
"Ok, ok!" Nate said, releasing the door…
With that, Hailey got a decent look at her friend, prompting a simple response: "EEEEHHH!"
Hailey squealed with delight at just how adorable she thought Nate looked!
The other girl had dug out a simple outfit that Hailey had honestly forgotten she had. A pale blue dress, accompanied by a darker blue, light sweater, along with lavender tights designed to look like a starry night. All of said cool colors clashing against Nate's massive blush.
"Awe~! You look great Nate!" The nerdy girl squealed.
"Uh… t-thanks," Nate's blush somehow deepened, despite it seeming impossible she could get any redder.
"Like I thought, it is a perfect fit! And choosing a dress~!" Hailey began closing examining the other girl as if she were some scientific specimen, "I must say I anticipated you'd start with something more gender neutral, but you dove straight in! You must be quite girly at heart~!"
"Um… c-could you please… not get in my face…" Nate asked, hiding her face in her hands a bit.
Unfortunately, Hailey seemed to already be in her own little world.
"The outfit definitely looks adorbs~! But there's something missing…" Hailey brought a hand to her chin, making a very audible "Hmmm" sound. Before she looked as though a light bulb appeared above her head, "That's it!"
"What?" Nate questioned.
"We gotta do something with your hair!" Hailey exclaimed, striking a dramatic pose and pointing at the other girl.
"Oh… I… guess that wouldn't be too bad…" Nate gave a shy smile.
"Yeah, your hair is a decent length… but not long enough to do much…" Hailey once again pondered, before she smirked, "but that isn't a problem for us!"
"Wait… Hailey, what do you mean…?" That exclamation immediately turned the girls face from blushing to one of concern.
"I know just the yokai for the occasion!" Hailey flashed a yokai medal, immediately sending the other girl into a panic, "come on out my friend, calling Hairis-" "NO!"
Nate swatted the medal from midair as Hailey was doing the coin flip thing they always did when summoning a yokai.
"Huh?" Hailey was caught off guard as the medal landed on the floor, "what was that about?"
"Listen Hailey, when I said don't tell anyone, I mean anyone! Yokai included!" Nate practically yelled, "you know they love their gossip! If you summon one yokai that can't keep their mouth shut, the whole yokai world'll know by tomorrow!"
"Oh…" Hailey said, processing her friend's words, before hitting herself in the forehead, "OH RIGHT! Sorry!"
"Its ok, but please don't summon any yokai while I'm dressed like this!" Nate pleaded.
"Hehe, yeah I promise I won't!" Hailey gave a bit of a grin, though her face read she'd realized her mistake.
Seeing that her friends apology was genuine, Nate gave a sigh of relief.
"Alright, so no yokai cheats… " Hailey returned to her speculation, a bit of disappointment on her face, "very well, looks like we'll have to do things the old fashioned way!"
"I think it's just the normal way…" Nate said in a dry tone.
Regardless, Hailey led her friend back to her room, had her sit in front of her bed, grabbed a hair brush, and began fiddling with her hair.
"Alright, not a lot to work with, but short hair can still look good…" the bespeckled girl said as she tried to get Nate's cowlicks to stay down, "heck! People say Rifletta's best look was in 2, when she had a pixie cut!"
Hailey proceeded to go on her signature nerd rants as she brushed, which Nate didn't entirely understand. Though from what she did know, it raised a question, "... isn't that game not for kids?"
"Eh, they put her in Hyper Bash Family, so it can't be that bad…" Hailey gave a shrug.
She continued brushing for a few minutes, occasionally ranting herself as she went. After a bit, she set the brush down and hopped over to one of her shelves, and opened a drawer. The nerdy girl rummaged through it for a bit, before grabbing something, and coming back to kneel in front of Nate.
"And… here!" Hailey clipped something into Nate's bangs, "I still feel like somethings missing buutt… this looks pretty good!"
"Does it…?" Nate asked.
"Sure does! Go take a look~!" Hailey said, pointing her to the bathroom.
With a bit of curiosity, Nate cautiously decided to walk into the room. At first she kept her eyes off the mirror, nervous of how she'd end up looking.
Swallowing her fear, she took a look at her reflection and… she… looked like a girl. Sure, she could still tell it was herself, but…
With her hair smoothed out, it looked longer, like a really short, uneven bob cut. And seeing her reflection, she could tell what Hailey had put in her hair was a shooting start hair clip,reminiscent of the star shirts she wore every day.
The more she looked at herself, she couldn't help as a grin slipped onto her face. She brought at hand over her mouth as she continued to stare at her own reflection.
"Eeeeh~!" Nate squealed in pure joy. She actually looked like a girl!
And with that little worry finally out of her mind, she started admiring her outfit! She'd be lying if she'd said she never wondered what dresses and skirts felt like. And she always admired how girls Katie and Megan could just look so cute.
Granted, she also always thought she admired how cute Katie was because she wanted to marry her but… eh, she shoved that thought out of her mind. Crisis later, she felt good right now!
And Nate had to admit, the dress was comfortable, especially paired with the soft cardigan. She couldn't help but do a little twirl, giggling to herself as she did.
"Having fun there~?" Hailey said playfully, a sly smirk on her face.
"Eh?" Nate's pupils shrank as she stopped mid twirl, realizing the other girl was in the doorway. Almost immediately her face lit up bright red, "h-how long were you standing there…"
"Hehe, you can chill, yokai mistress~!" Hailey snickered a bit, "I only just walked in."
"Oh…" Nate said, ripe with embarrassment.
Hailey shook her head a little, deciding to just change the subject, "I was comparing our shoe sizes. Unfortunately I am a size smaller than you, so I can't lone you anything."
"Oh… uh…" the other girl said, her blush fading a bit, "that's ok…"
"Yeah, besides, with my limited knowledge of fashion, I would say your boots go with that outfit!" Hailey said, lifting up said shoes in one hand. In her other she brought up a pair of lavender socks, "I got you some comfy socks too~!"
"Oh! Thanks," Nate said, realizing she was barefoot.
She took the socks from Hailey and slipped them on. They definitely felt comfortable, softly sliding onto her feet. Afterwards she took her boots back, stepping into them and sliding them up.
While the red accents did kind of jet out against the blues and purples of her outfit, at the very least it wasn't too bad.
"Not too shabby…" Hailey shot her a grin, before taking out something from her pocket, "give me your face for a moment~!"
"Hmm?" Nate tipped her head just a bit as she turned to face the Otaku. Before she could even realize, Hailey placed some sunglasses on her face, "what the?"
"Its what I thought was missing! Riffletta always has her signature shades, they compliment her, no matter the haircut~!" Hailey called out, "I made sure to find some that match the outfit~!"
"Eh…?" Nate looked back at her reflection. It definitely did look like they went with the outfit with the lavender frame and blue lenses, but she questioned why she needed shades at all. She was about to ask that very question, when she noticed something else her friend had, "Hailey… what's with the backpack…?"
"Oh, your boy clothes are in here, in case we lose track of time!" Hailey explained.
"...why would that be an is-sue!" Nate could barely finish the thought as Hailey began dragging her out of the bathroom by the arm.
"Because I am gonna take you on your first girls day out! My treat!" Hailey said as she dragged the girl to the front door,"USAPYON! WE'RE GOING OUT!"
Before Nate could even protest, suddenly they were both outside the apartment, Hailey locking the door behind them.
"We'll leave once USApyon's ready," the bespeckled girl said, "we'll need him incase of random yokai shenanigans."
"Hailey!" Nate practically hissed, as her tomato face returned with a vengeance, "I can't go out in public like this! What if someone I know sees me?!"
"Relax, Nate, I thought of everything~!" The nerdy girl replied, "an outfit no one would expect you to wear, a different hairstyle, and sunglasses that obscure your eyes! You are completely incognito~!"
"Huh… wait, you were planning this?!" Nate asked.
"Yes! I am returning your kindness, yokai mistress!" Hailey declared with a dramatic pose.
Nate stared at her for a solid fifteen seconds, "...huh?"
"Nate, you're unreasonably nice to everyone, human or yokai! Even if they've screwed with you!" Hailey said, "you're obviously feeling a lot of stress right now, with your realizations and the thoughts of coming out, so I'm giving you one day to ignore it!"
Hailey stared into her friend's eyes with determination.
"You and I are gonna go out and have a fun day, just us girls! And I won't rest until you have fun!" Hailey said with a fiery passion, to the point Nate was tempted to say Blazion was inspiriting her, "because, girl, you need a break!"
Nate honestly wasn't sure how to respond. While yeah, the thought was definitely great, Hailey was just trying to help.
"...you're sure no one will recognize me?" Nate asked.
"Of course! And I have an air tight story~!" Hailey nodded confidently, "they'll see not Nathan Adams, but my friend from out of town, Natsuki Shirongane!"
Nate stared at her again, "...Natsuki… shirogane?"
"Yes! It's a combination of two of my favorite video game characters' names!" Hailey said, before briefly thinking it over, "I mean… unless you have a Name that you're set on already, of course!"
"Um… well, no, not really…" Nate rubbed the back of her head, "and actually… Natsuki is a pretty nice name."
"Hehe, glad you like it~!" Hailey said, "it means 'summer moon,' doesn't it?"
"Well, that's one way to think of it," Nate said with a bit of a grin, "so… I guess I'm Natsuki today…"
"And Natsuki is gonna have the best day of her life~!" Hailey put her arm around her, pulling her into a half hug. Both girl's smiling a bit, "anything you wanna do, my treat~!"
"Heh, I guess I may as well take that offer.." Nate grinned slightly.
"Alright, I'm ready," the two heard USApyon behind them, the two turned to face him as he phased through the door.
The little yokai had a confused look for a second, clearly starring at Nate, making her a bit uncomfortable.
"Um… why's Nate dressed like that..?" He asked.
"Um…" Nate immediately realized he was probably gonna have to explain this.
However, before she had the chance to say anything, Hailey piped up.
"You know how you started out an otter, but everyone basically treats you like a rabbit?" Hailey asked the yokai.
"Uh… yeah?" USApyon said.
"Similar thing with Nate, she started out a boy, but she's a girl," Hailey said.
"Uh… oh," USApyon said, a little confused, but gave a nod, "I see, I see."
The yokai astronaut shot Nate an approving thumbs up.
"Huh…" the girl said, quietly adding, "better than last time I guess…"
Either not hearing, or just ignoring that last part, Hailey piped up again.
"Alright! With that out of the way, what're we doing, Natsuki?" The Otaku asked.
"Well… I guess I wouldn't mind going to the arcade…" Nate replied.
"Then arcade it is! Let's go~!" Hailey said, grabbing the other girl's arm once again. The two took off, with USApyon following close behind.
…
"I'm telling you, that twist was dumb" Kenny said as he, Stephen and Casey left the theater.
The three had recently decided to watch the most recent "Space Wars" movie since most of them had missed its prior showing…
What they were unaware of, was that something was watching them from the shadows…
"Hehe… I smell a juicy secret~!" The little imp said, his unseen from smirking as he jumped from his perch.
"I don't see why you're so mad about it," Stephen said, "Krill is Lark Pulsar from the future, who came back in time to prevent the death of his sister."
"But that doesn't make any sense! Literally everything Krill did made things worse!" Kenny shouted, "the twist didn't make any sense!"
The invisible imp cackled as he stalked closer to the group of boys.
"Well, sometimes things just don't make sense in life…" Stephen said. The imp cackled again, before it leaped toward him. The boy felt an odd sensation fall over him… along with a compulsion to say, "...like How Casey is really into Next harmeowny for some reason."
Though he'd kept out of the discussion of the movie, the third boy spoke up, "STEPH! I TOLD YOU THAT IN CONFIDENCE!"
"Uh… I don't know why I said that, it just slipped out!" The bespeckled boy tried to defend himself.
The invisible creature cackled as Casey began tearing into his friend. He reveled in chaos like this, he craved it!
"Hehe~!" The imp cackled, "Let's see here…"
The little imp scittered up a light pole, scanning the area for his next target. What chaos could he drum up~?
As he gazed over the streets, he took in the scents, the auras coming off the humans.
Taking it in, he sensed on particularly strong smells coming from a couple of girls. Particularly the one in blue.
Fear, anxiety, doubt, and above all… embarrassment. Delicious~
"Those two must have a really juicy secret~!" The imp grinned, descending from his perch. He knew exactly who to mess with next!
…
Well, here she was. Dressed fully as a girl… in public.
Needless to say Nate was basically one minor scare from a full on panic attack.
"Hey, calm it down, Natty" Hailey said, grabbing her hand assuredly, "no one has said anything, which means they either haven't noticed, or don't care~!"
"Well…" Nate had to admit she had a point. Not a single person had said anything to them, "ok… you're right.."
"As usual~!" The Otaku grinned.
"Please don't let her get a big head…" USApyon sighed at his partner's smug face.
"I think we both know that's impossible…" Nate sighed, though smiled a bit. So far, this had been… pretty nice… which is why she had to immediately freak out as some people she knew came into view.
The girl froze up as she saw her friend Zoey, and another girl she knew, Maya, came into view.
"Ooooooh.. no!" Nate felt her legs go wobbly.
"Um… you ok?" Hailey asked her.
"Those two are my classmates…" Nate whispered, "they're definitely gonna know its me!"
"All they're gonna know is you're a girl freaking out, you can chill!" The bespeckled girl assured her, keeping the two moving.
As the two groups of girls passed each other, Nate struggling to keep herself from freaking out.
That panicky seemed to be justified for a moment, as Maya stop a bit to look back at her.
She tugged at Zoey's arm, "hey, do we know her? I swear she looks familiar…"
A chill went up Nate's spine, that was it. She was caught.
The resident spooky girl however shrugged it off, and began walking again, "nah, but she is pretty cute."
"Well, I mean, yeah," Maya said following her friend, "I just swear I know her from somewhere…"
Nate let out a sigh of relief as she heard them walk away, "that was a close one…"
It was then she noticed Hailey was looking at her with the biggest smug faced she'd ever seen in her life.
"See? Not only did they not notice, but they called you cute~!" The Otaku grinned, "you're worrying over nothing!"
"...yeah… you're right…" Nate admitted.
"Course I am," Hailey grinned, "now quit this worrying! We almost to the arcade, and we're gonna have fun, Natty~!"
Nate looked at her friend, who was now wearing a more sincere expression, a took a deep breath. She then gave a smile of her own.
"Yeah… this is gonna be fun!" She said.
"That's what I wanna hear!" Hailey said as the two approached the Arcade.
…
The two girls entered the building, Hailey immediately going to one of the coin machines, taking out some bills from her bag and exchanging them for coins.
She then returned to Nate and split the coins between them.
"I could have gotten my own ya know," Nate said.
"Yeah, well I'm supposed to be treating you, aren't I?" Hailey snickered.
The two laughed a bit. Before going off to find a game, while USApyon went to find somewhere to sit in the meantime.
After a bit of searching, Hailey stopped at a machine she recognized.
"Hey, Natsuki! Bet I could beat you as bash!" The nerdy girl snickered.
"Heh, you're on!" Nate grinned.
The two each went to one of the controllers, and put a coin in each, prompting the character select screen.
"Alright, Astro Vixen! You and me!" Hailey cheered as she selected a cyberpunk looking humanoid fox with a laser gun.
"Reswob's been my main for years, you're going down," Nate said confidently, selecting a green and spiky dragon.
"Heh, good luck with that!" Hailey grinned.
With both their characters locked in, the game began, "three. Two. One. Fight!"
Nate was the one to make the first move, moving her dragon in a forward charge, which Hailey's fox leaped out of the way of.
The Otaku returned fire with a couple of Laser blasts at the beast.
"Oh, I'll get you for that!" Nate said.
"Bring it, Natty!" Hailey kept up her laser attacks, though Nate had begun to block, taking less damage.
The dragon let out a stream of fire, which Hailey quickly jumped onto an above platform to avoid it. Unfortunately for Nate, Astro Vixen was just a faster character.
Nate went in for another charge, which Hailey once again dodged only this time, it left Nate's dragon dangerously close to the edge of the map.
"Ah!" Nate stopped in just the nick of time, only for Hailey to take advantage.
"Rocket charge!" Hailey called out, as her character propelled herself with a jet pack, knocking Reswob off the map.
She quickly tried to jump back upward, but it was too late, causing her to loose her first life.
"One more and I win~!" Hailey snickered.
"Well, it's not gonna happen!" Nate said, donning a confident look.
The second round began, Reswob started off strong with a fire stream, this time hitting Hailey's Vixen, which backed away to stop taking damage.
The fox began shooting again, chipping away at the dragon's health. While she was firing, Nate gave another charge, this one connecting and doing some decent damage to Vixon.
"Not down yet!" Hailey made her character do a roundhouse kick, putting a bit of distance between her and the dragon, before firing some more blasts.
Nate let out yet another stream of fire, doing some damage before her opponent could leap way again.
"Alright, time to wrap this up!" Hailey grinned with confidence. Suddenly, she began hitting buttons on her controller seemingly at random, "combo time!"
"Wait, what?!" Nate cried out before the final attack began.
The on screen Vixen gave a wink, before spinning around and rapidly firing. Somehow Hailey had triggered Vixens Ultimate Bash, the strongest move they could do.
Of course, even with his tanky body, Reswob couldn't take all that damage at point blank.
Sure enough, the Victor screen came up, declaring Hailey the winner.
Nate stared at the screen in a stunned silence, her mouth agape.
"Did I mention I knew a few cheat codes?" Hailey said, sticking her tongue out.
"That's cheating!" Nate said, "you can't just pull something like that, it's not fair!"
"If it wasn't fair, they wouldn't have put it in!" Hailey laughed a bit, before her a more genuine smile, "...ok, yeah its kinda scummy, but you could have stopped me if your character was fast enough."
"Well, yeah, but Reswob is built more for heavy hitting than speed," Nate replied in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Yeah, it doesn't fit your playstyle at all," Hailey said.
That little tidbit caused Nate to pause again, "...what's wrong with my playstyle?"
"Well, nothing really," her Otaku friend said, "you use a lot of sporadic attacks, great if your character has the speed to back it up, but Reswob definitely doesn't."
Nate gave her a blank stare for a bit.
"Here, let's try again, but this time I'm picking your character!" Hailey said, putting a few coins in again, "I promise I won't pull that combo again!"
"Hmm… alright," Nate said, coming back up to the machine.
"Alright, let's see here, a speedy and sporadic character…" Haileg made a 'serious thinking face' as she scrolled through the character select, "Ooh, wait! That's perfect!"
"Huh?" Nate asked, as Hailey selected a tall woman in dark blue, Gothic clothing and sporting mutilple brightly colored guns.
"You know that character I used to inspire your look earlier?" Hailey answered, "ta-da, Rifletta! The Witch queen herself!"
"...huh…" Nate said.
"She's a much faster character than reswob, try her out!" Her Otaku friend gave an earnest grin.
"Alright I guess," the girl took the controller. The two pressed start, the next game commencing.
Nate did have to admit, Rifletta was a lot faster than reswob, dodging was much easier, as well as having a more ranged attack was definitely helping.
"...so, why did you pick her exactly? She's not exactly a character for kids," Nate asked as they continued to play, trading and dodging blows.
"You could learn a lot from her!" Hailey replied.
Of all the answers she could have received, Nate didn't expect that one, "...eh?"
"A lot of people take one look at all the guns and provocative imagery and assume Riflettas supposed to appeal to the male fantasy," Hailey began to explain, not looking away from the screen.
"Seriously, why do you know so much about this character?" Nate said under her breath, though attentively listened.
For her part, the Otaku girl kept on, "but thing is, Rifletta's story is all about her being comfortable in her femininity. All these big baddies are getting taken out by a dancing beauty, and they can't do anything about it," she continued as the she blocked some of Nate's hits, "she's unapologetically herself, and anyone who has a problem with it gets they're butt kicked!"
Nate thought about the words of her friend. 'Unapologetically herself.' Oddly enough, she did see some wisdom in that.
"You know, for something you said, that actually makes a lot of sense," the girl snickered.
"Because it's true, dummy," Hailey stuck her tongue out at her, "you're the nicest girl I've ever met. If you just be the person you wanna be, everyone that actually cares about you'll understand."
"You've got a point there…" Nata said… before shooting the girl a smirk as she gave a swift in-game kick to Hailey's Vixen, shooting her off the map.
"AH! WHAT!?" The bespeckled girl shouted in surprise, turning back to the other, "did you use our sentimental moment to get the drop on me?!"
"Maybe!" This time, Nate was the one sticking her tongue out.
"You are truly evil, Natsuki!" Hailey gave a cocky laugh, "now it's on!"
"Alright then," Nate said, turning back to the game, "you know… I think It might be time I changed up my main."
And with that, the two were back at it!
…
The hours flew by as the two girls kept gaming, engaging in a bit of friendly competition, and wasting far too much money on a claw machine with only a stuffed penguin to show for it.
Soon enough, the two had exhausted Hailey's weekly allowance, and had decided to call it a day.
"Well, that was fun, eh Natty?" Hailey asked as the two left the arcade.
"Actually, it really was!" Nate gave her a smile, her new plush in her arms, "you actually had a good idea for once!"
"A broken clock's right twice a day," USApyon piped up.
"I almost forgot you were here!" Hailey said.
"Of course you did," Nate said with a laugh.
"Hehe, well, we've been at a while, guess we should head back and have you change back into your boy clothes?" The bespeckled girl asked, checking the time on her phone. No doubt her family would be back home before too long.
"Huh… I kinda forgot I was dressed like this to be honest," Nate said, reminded of her current wardrobe.
Sure, she'd been really nervous about it, but as the two had kept on having fun, she grew comfortable. No one was bringing it up, or calling attention to it. It was just as if this was how she always was… she honestly hoped it could be like this everyday. At least at some point.
Hailey saw the grin her friend was sporting, seeing her with just genuine joy plastered on her face, it gave her one of those warm and fuzzy feelings.
The two kept up some idle chatter as they walked, Hailey bringing up the latest yokai scuffle she had to break up lately, Nate joking about her friend, Bear, trying to wrestle a catfish.
"Pfft, you've gotta introduce me to you other friends at some point, Natty, especially if those kinda shenanigans happen!" Hailey said, barely holding back a laugh.
"I don't know, you get into a lot of shenanigans yourself!" Nate said.
"You're one to talk!" Hailey joked, causing both of them to laugh.
While they were laughing, Nate saw something, or rather someone, in the corner of her eye.
Walking by on a nearby sidewalk was her usual friend group of Bear, Eddie, and her long time crush Katie… people she spent a large bulk of her time with, and would most definitely recognize her if they saw her… oh no.
Any sense of comfort she'd gotten over the day was suddenly ripped away, replaced with anxiety returning with a vengeance.
She once again stopped in her tracks, which got Hailey's attention pretty fast.
"Hmm? You're freaking out again?" The Otaku girl said with a disappointed tone, "what's got you now?"
"M-my best friends… are right over there…" Nate squeaked out, pointing out her friend group.
"Aw, I see…" Hailey said, "guess this is my chance to introduce myself! Let's go!"
"Wait, wha-" once again, Nate couldn't even finish her sentence before beginning dragged off in the direction she definitely didn't wanna go in.
As the Otaku dragged her off, the unseen imp cackled.
"About time, thus should he perfect to get some embarrassment out of her~!" The invisible creature grinned, waiting for its moment to strike.
"I'm telling you Eddie, the gorilla would beat a lion easy, they're like pure muscle!" Bear said as the trio walked.
"Lions are bread for combat, it would win no contest," Eddie argued, "gorillas aren't typically as violent, so they'd get overwhelmed pretty easily."
"I literally just asked if anyone else wanted to go to a zoo, why is this where the conversation went?" Katie said.
Before this invigorating debate could continue any further. They were interrupted by two girls they didn't know.
"HAAAIII!" Hailey said excitedly, running up to them and dragging Nate behind her.
The three simply stared at the bespeckled girl, unsure how to respond.
"...hello?" Katie gave an unsure smile.
"The name's Hailey Anne Thomas! I'm a mutual friend of Nate adams!" Hailey happily introduced herself, "he's told me a bit about you guys, so I figured I should introduce myself!"
"Oh! That actually makes sense," Eddie said, "Nate is pretty Average, but he's also pretty good at getting along with people."
Hearing that, Nate wasn't sure if she should get annoyed with the first part, or glad at the second.
"So uh… who's that?" Bear pointed Nate out, causing the girl to stiffen up.
Hailey's pupils seemed to shrink, as if she had immediately realized the mistake she'd made.
"Oh, that's my friend Natsuki!" Hailey quickly said, "don't mind her, she's kinda shy!"
"Um… nice to meet you…" Nate made her voice just a tad higher, hoping that it was convincing enough they wouldn't figure it out. She'd barely worked up the nerve to tell Hailey, she wasn't ready to tell anyone else yet!
"Same to you, Natsuki!" Katie gave a friendly smile, "I really like your outfit!"
"Uh… t-thankyou," Nate blushed a bit at the complement. What could she say, she'd been crushing on Katie for a bit now.
"Hehe, anyway, I just wanted to come around and say hi, you guys sound fun from what Nate's told me!" Hailey said, thankfully taking eyes off of Nate.
"Well, glad to know he doesn't trash talk about us when we're not around!" Eddie said in a joking tone.
Hailey returned with a laugh, before a strange feeling washed over her… a feeling that compelled her to say, "you'd actually be surprised what Nate does when you guys aren't around…"
"WHAT?!" Nate mentally screamed as those words left her friend's mouth.
Before giving her the chance to say anything else, Nate grabbed Hailey and bolted, "SORRYGUYS,WEGOTTAGO,BYE!"
And just as quickly as they arrived, the girls were gone, the trio giving blank stares.
"...I'm not the only one who found that weird, right?" Bear asked the other two, who weren't able to give an answer.
…
"Hailey, what the heck!" Nate yelled, a mix of panic and anger in her voice, she'd ducked the two behind a building a decent bit away, "you almost outed me back there!"
"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY. I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME!" Hailey yelled back in over the top shame.
"I can hazard a guess," USApyon spoke up, getting both the girls' attention, "what usually causes people act all strange-like?"
"Wait. A yokai's behind this?" Nate asked, before hitting her forehead, "Ugh, of course it is. I thought it'd been too long since they messed with me."
"I will never forgive the yokai that made me dishonor out friendship!" Hailey said with an aggravated tone, "Let's find that sucker!"
Giving a nod, both turned the lights to their yokai watches on, scanning the area for the little trouble maker.
"Gotcha!" Nate said as her light finally picked something up.
Soon enough. The yokai casually lounging on someone's mailbox was made visible.
Their body was a dark brown, with a devil tail, contrasted by their chocolate brown head that came to a point with a single horn. Their eyes were small and beaty, and their mouth was in a sinister smirk.
"Hehe, you're too easy to get a rise outta, girly!" The yokai cackled.
"What the heck is wrong with you, you can't just spill people's private information!" Nate yelled at the smaller yokai.
"You made me a bad friend, you jerk!" Hailey shouted.
"What can I say, I live for the drama~!" The imp grinned, "I just love seeing trust explode as friends turn on eachother~!"
"What? That's cruel!" Nate said.
"That's kinda this yokai's whole thing," USApyon said, reading off his YokaI-pad, "that guy's name is Snitchin!"
Snitchin: E-rank
Shady
"Snitchin?" Hailey asked.
"Like his name implies, he's a total snitch!" USApyon said, "he has the same power as Tattletell, but he only uses them to cause chaos! He'll sniff out any secret he can get and tear people's trust to pieces!"
"What?!" Both girl's yelled.
"What can I say, I'm an agent of chaos~!" Snitchin smirked, "now then… back to business!"
"Wait, what…?" Nate suddenly felt nervous.
Snitchin cackled as he leaped off the mailbox, jabbing his horn into Hailey's shoulder.
"Ah!" She said as a dark aura washed over her. Causing her to suddenly change expression, "oh yeah, I didn't get the chance to tell them!"
"Wait, Hailey, no!" Nate grabbed onto her before she had the chance to run off, "fight it, Hailey!"
Unfortunately, the Otaku girl managed to break from her grip, taking off.
"Ugh, she's stronger than she looks…" Nate said, "oh, what do we do?!"
"Ain't it obvious? Fight an inspiritment, with an inspiritment!" USApyon said, "they'll cancel eachother out!"
"Well, yeah, but if I summon someone, who knows who they'll tell?!" Nate argued.
"And if ya don't, who knows who Hailey will tell!" The space themed yokai argued back.
Unfortunately, he was right, there was a risk if she did, and she was doomed if she didn't. What could she do?!
"Ergh… i can just let her out me, but theres no way to-..." the girl's words sparked an idea, "... NOWAY!"
Nate quickly went through her pockets, pulling out a familiar yokai medal.
…
"Hey guys!" Hailey said, running up to Nate's other friends once again.
"Oh, you're back…" Katie said.
"I didn't get the chance to finish my thought earlier, so I came back!" Hailey said.
"Um… ok…" bear said.
"Is it really OK for you to be saying what Nate does in his off time…?" Eddie questioned
"Alright toots, spill the beans!" Snitchin grinned.
"Alright, so the thing is…" Hailey started, before suddenly a different aura washed over her, causing her to drop midsentence.
She stood there in silence, making the other three just a bit uncomfortable, and thoroughly confusing everyone, Snitchin included.
"Are… are you gonna say it?" Katie asked.
"No way~!" Hailey said, making an odd gesture with her hands.
"...what?" All three kids gave varying reactions, mostly of annoyance.
"WHAT?!" Snitchin yelled out in a much annoyed tone, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! SPILL THE TEA!"
"No way~!" Hailey repeated both the words and gesture.
"Are you gonna say anything other than that?" Eddie asked.
"No way~!" Was the reply.
"Right… I dunno about you guys, but I've got better things to do," Bear said, walking away.
"Uh… yeah, seeya weird girl," Katie said, walking away as well.
"Wait, hey guys wait for me!" Eddie said running after the other two.
"What the- WHY ARENT YOU TELLING THAT SECRET!" Snitchin yelled out.
"Noway!" Another voice, much deeper than Hailey's, called out, getting the imp's attention.
Snitchin's gaze met another yokai, one much bigger than him. With a body made of solid brick, a living wall.
"Noway!" The yokai said, taking a sumo stance.
"Noway?! What the heck are you doing here?!" Snitchin called out, "I'm inspiriting this chick, get lost!"
"Noway!" Noway stood firm like the wall he was.
"I called him," Nate said, walking up to them, "I know from experience, if he's inspiriting someone, you can't get them to do anything!"
"Ergh… this ain't over yet, Girly!" Snitchin said, taking an offensive pose, "I'll just make you spill that secret yourself!"
The imp leaped toward Nate… only to be blocked by the wall yokai, who was in turned covered in a golden aura, "NO-WAY-THROUGH!"
the wall yokai acted as a barrier, taking Snitchins attack without a sweat.
When the horn made contact, it bent from the impact of the attack.
"AH?!" Snitchin screamed as he hit the ground, "MY HORN! NOT MY HORN! I NEED THAT TO INSPIRIT PEOPLE!"
"Its gonna be worse than that if ya don't skedattle!" USApyon said, aiming his ray gun at the imp.
"Yeah, you can't go around breaking people's trust!" Nate said.
"Ergh, you can't tell me what to do!" Snitchin growled, "I'm not gonna let some girly 'yokai master' ruin my fun!"
"Listen, varmint, we're nice so I'll give ya once chance before I blow your form to Smithers!" USApyon warned, his weapon still drawn.
"Ergh… this ain't over!" The imp scowled, running off.
"Really, he didn't even leave a medal?" Nate questioned.
"Eh, I don't think you'd even wanna be friends with him," USApyon said.
"Well, I don't really like thinking like that…" the girl said, before turning to Noway, "but anyway, thanks Noway! You aren't gonna spill my secret, are you?"
"Noway!" The wall yokai replied.
"Good, now don't stop inspiriting Hailey!" Nate said, remembering reverse psychology was the only real way to get Noway to cooperate.
"Noway!" The yokai said, clapping as he walked away. The inspiritment around Hailey then faded.
"Huh? Hey, hold the phone, what happened to Snitchin?" The Otaku asked, returning to her senses.
"Don't worry, I took care of it!" Nate said.
"Hehe, that's our yokai mistress for you…" Hailey said with a bit of nervous laugh, before her face dropped a bit, "look I'm … really sorry."
"Huh? What for, I know you were inspirited!" Nate said.
"No, I mean dragging you around today," Hailey said, "I was just trying to help, but I put us in the perfect situation for a yokai to mess with us…"
"Well… you did kinda ignore a lot of my misgivings…" Nate admitted, "but you also kinda pushed me out of my comfort zone and… I had a really nice time, even if Snitchin tried to ruin it."
"Well, that was my plan I guess…" Hailey gave a bit of a smile.
"I… I do wanna be able to tell everyone at some point, when I'm ready of course," Nate said, "but for now, let's just take it one step at a time, k?"
"I can respect that," Hailey gave a grin.
"And seriously, thankyou. I don't think I could have gone out like this on my own…" Nate said.
"Hehe, don't worry! I'll make sure to keep pushing you!" Haileg grinned, "within reason of course~!"
"Hehe, sounds like you!" The other girl returned the grin, "I think once I get out of your outfit, I'll just head home, I've had enough excitement for one day!"
"Mm… nah, keep it," the Otaku said.
"Huh?" Nate looked at her confused.
"I never wear it anyway, and I saw how happy you were," Hailey said, "besides, blue is more your color than mine!"
With that confirmation, Nate had no words. All she could do was happily squeal and pull her friend into a tight hug.
She quietly said into her shoulder, "thankyou~!"
"No problem, Natty!" Hailey said with a grin.
With that decided, Hailey returned Nate's usual clothes, and they went their separate ways for the day.
Thankfully, her parents had texted her about going out tonight, so the house was empty by the time she arrived home. She figured she had some time before they came back.
Honestly, even just walking about her house with these clothes felt great.
After heating herself up some leftovers, she returned to her room, where a certain red cat was awaiting her.
"Oh hey, Nyate!" Jibanyan greeted her, before noticing her unusual look, "hey, you're all dressed up!"
"Hailey gave me the outfit!" Nate said happily, sitting on her bed.
"Well I think it looks nyice on you!" Jibanyan said, jumping up to her, nuzzling on her as if he were a normal cat.
"Hehe, why have you been so clingy lately?" Nate asked, given the nekomata a few ear scratches. Gazing about the room, she noticed a certain absence, "Whisper's still not back yet, huh?"
"Yeah, haven't seen him all day," Jibanyan replied, "are you still mad?"
"Im… not sure how I feel," Nate said, laying down.
Jibanyan looked at her, purring a bit into her chest, "it'll all be ok."
"Yeah… you're probably right," Nate gave a sigh. She wasn't sure how any of this would go… but for now. All she wanted to do was stay like this.
…
Meanwhile, in the yokai world, a certain demon was hard at work… on his tabloid article.
"Let's see, the people want a story, what can I give them…" the Yokai, Injurnalist said to himself.
As the head writer of an infamous magazine in the yokai world, he was expected to be a source of gossip for any schmuck who came across his work.
A knock at his door distracted the perpetually injured yokai.
"Ugh, whatta you want! I'm really busy 'ere!" The yokai said opening the door.
At his doorstep, was none other then Snitchin, horn still bent from the earlier incident.
"Heyya, Injurnalist…" the imp said, "have I got a story for you~!"