Hi.

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Naruto

(Tuesday, April 24th)

I strolled down the street on my way home from school with an extra pep in my step, whistling along to the beat of my new cane tapping the ground, my latest interaction with the Student Council filling me with amusement. I had now interacted with them three times in just as many school days; The first time on Friday, the second time yesterday when I went to pick up my school bag before classes, and once more today.

Apparently they had some sort of issue with the kid who "fell" from a second-story window "needing" to use a cane to walk for the foreseeable future. What a bunch of insensitive jerks.

It's not like they'd caught me walking around just fine, twirling my walking stalk around in my hand or anything, no way. That would be ridiculous.

I snickered to myself at my genius while admiring the craftsmanship of the walking stick and the weight of my wrists.

It was fairly unassuming on the outside, looking like a normal dark brown polished-wood cane, with a rectangular profile and a sharply angled hook-grip that was neatly wrapped with black cording. Aside from the durable hardened-leather that capped the end of it and the handle's joints, it seemed to be carved and shaped from one singular piece of wood.

This was literally all wrong though, aside from the leather cap and the outer layer of polish. In reality, my cane(sword) was made almost entirely out of a lightweight but durable blend of metals that I didn't understand the first thing about, other than the fact that it allowed me to use the sheath as a bludgeoning weapon alongside the sword. While the seam was invisible to the naked eye, if I gripped the "wooden" cane by the middle and pulled it away from the handle with a relatively decent amount of force, the powerful magnets holding the two pieces together at the end of the grip would fail, and reveal a chokuto style straight blade.

The wooden look was actually just a decorative veneer coating the metal, so when I inevitably got into a fight with it at my side, no one would expect it to hit as hard as it does, or be durable enough to take some hits.

I'd just have to be sure not to hit anyone in the head or neck if I don't want them dead and aren't sure if they can take it. At least, that is until I've trained with it enough to get used to the weight of each swing.

With that thought in mind I continued home, stepping foot through the gate that separated the old man's property from the rest of the residential buildings around the area.

I looked around, not seeing any of the usual stay-at-home moms in the courtyard as I walked down the path towards my apartment. When I arrived at my front door, I hooked my cane on my elbow and reached into my pocket for my keys, taking note of the aluminum soda can tab on the ground in front of me while turning the knob with my other hand.

I stepped into my home and shut the door behind me, twisting the little latch to engage the lock while I hung my keys on a wall hook. Walking to my kitchen without taking my shoes or jacket off, I set my school bag on my couch as I passed behind it, and went straight to my sink to get a glass of water, setting my cane against the kitchen table as I passed that as well.

As I filled the cup, I made an idle humming sound.

"What is this, amateur hour?" I mused to my uninvited guest, while staring at the water slowly nearing the top. "It's not that hard to re-lock a door after breaking into someone's house, ya'know, and that's just step one. You made it way too obvious. I'd give you a D at best."

I whipped around and flung all of the water at the intruder's face in a spray while keeping a tight grip on the glass, holding it out in front of my chest at the end of the motion, intercepting and directing the tip of a glowing blade past my chest with it. In the split second it took the glass cup to split apart in my hand from the blade I'd subjected it to, I caught a glimpse of the barrel of a gun moving in the direction of my head as my assailant blinked the water out of his eyes, and I jerked my head to the side while letting my kunai drop from my sleeves into my palms.

My motion saved me from certain death just in the nick of time, a bright light whizzing past my head with a much quieter sound than I expected, slicing the side of my right ear and piercing one of the overhead cupboards behind me with a muffled sound of shattered glass, the dropped halves of my cup bursting to pieces on the floor half a beat later.

"Keheh, looks like Dohnaseek wasn't lying, the midget kid isn't helpless after all!" The white haired young man had a disturbingly euphoric expression on his dripping face, having stepped just back out of easy range with both his weapons at the ready. "I would've been fine with killing some retarded school-brat anyway, but this just got way more exciting! Lucky me, lucky me!"

I wasn't exactly fluent in English, so I didn't recognize every word he said, but I was proficient enough for medical research purposes so I got the basic gist of it. Particularly, my eyes narrowed as he mentioned killing school kids, and the name he mentioned tugged at my memory.

'The Fallen Angel guy?'

The crazy guy was wearing a weird looking robe that went all the way down to his shins, leaving it open to show his formal black shirt and pants, as well as the silver cross thing hanging from his neck.

'Is this one of those church guys Koneko told me about?' I thought. 'An exerciser or whatever?'

"Man, I can't even sense energy, but even I can tell the amount of bloodlust you're giving off seems unhealthy," I deadpanned as I settled into a more reactive stance. "You ever tried getting therapy for that?" The gun posed more of a threat both the closer and further I got from it, depending on how I looked at it. It would be easier to dodge or divert his aim up close, but on the flip side, it would be harder to keep track of it in the midst of close quarters combat with that bright-ass sword.

'I'll have to keep a careful balance between attack and defense, then.'

"Kehaha! The shitty Devil-lover has jokes too!" The murderous priest cackled, this time speaking in Japanese. He settled down and leveled his sword my way with a demented grin. "My name is Freed Sellzen, an exorcist belonging to a certain organization that hunts down filthy Devils and the heathens like you, to cleanse the world of their evil through the time-honored tradition of bloodletting." His grin widened. "Don't bother introducing yourself to me, because I've already forgotten your name, and don't want it taking up space in my mind after I kill you. Please do your best to entertain me until you die; I want us to savor the moment you stop breathing, together."

Yep.

'Fucking crazy.'

Warm blood slowly dripped down my ear and onto my jaw. I couldn't see any distortions in the air around his Light sword, and really didn't feel anything when I redirected his initial thrusting stab.

I idly wiped some of the blood off of my neck with an extended index finger as he gave me a moment to dwell on what he said. That, or he was just reveling in the buildup to violence. He seemed the type.

Light-based weapons didn't seem to give off any heat by default, only higher than normal sharpness. Probably weighed less, too. 'Can't rely on any wounds I take being cauterized then, to keep blood loss low. Guess I'll have to be more proactive then.'

"Fine then," I began. "Let's-" I didn't complete my sentence– not that I was planning on it in the first place– rapidly swinging one leg back as I ducked to kick off of my stove, launching myself into his personal space with my kunai up as a flash of light shot through the space my head had occupied. He danced back away from the swipe I sent towards his gun hand even as I deflected his retaliatory sword swing over my head with my right hand, the supernaturally sharp Light blade biting slightly into the metal of my kunai before it was fully diverted.

The red-eyed would-be murderer turned his deflected swipe into a downward slash that I back stepped out of range from, his sword's passing revealing the barrel of his gun aimed at my center mass. With a slight tilt of my left knife that I'd already pulled back from my initial slash, the expected flash of light ricocheted off to the side, My wrist jerked by the impact.

Freed had continued to step back until he was in the living room. "You got jokes, but let's see if you can dance!" He said with a twisted grin, holding up his pistol.

With our current distance, another seven flashes came in rapid succession.

By tracking the barrel and his trigger finger, I was able to dodge or deflect five of them entirely, but one of them only partially. The fourth shot nicked the side of my chest, just missing my rib when I couldn't shift my body's momentum as fast as he could adjust his aim, and the last one pierced straight through the left side of my hip bone.

I couldn't have dodged it in time, but I could have deflected it if I attempted to. The issue was that his pistol didn't have a visible magazine, and fired energy projectiles, so it was entirely possible that he could just keep shooting indefinitely. Either I would eventually make more mistakes, or he would get bored and change things up despite being in a winning position.

I couldn't let the former happen, so I'd chosen to throw both of my pitted kunai at him, taking a hit that wouldn't cripple my movement in exchange.

One of them was easily deflected by a swipe of the Light sword, but the other needed him to take his eyes off of me for a moment to track the trajectory and dodge.

My hands flew to my pockets Immediately after they were free and I rushed towards my table.

"What kind of retard throws away his wea–Fuck!"

My left hand had whipped out of my pocket and threw a third kunai at him, slicing the skin on the top of his gun hand.

Credit where it's due, I was aiming at his wrist, but even while making a game of the fight and having his focus split, he was able to somewhat notice and react.

"You shitty—! The fu- Kuh!?"

What he got caught by was looking back my way, only to see my school jacket blocking his vision as it flew towards him, followed shortly by my unsheathed cane sword piercing through the fabric to stab him in the gut.

I didn't stab him very deeply, pulling back near instantly to raise my blade and block a series of retaliatory slashes that caused my tattered jacket to fall to the floor. His gun shifted at his hip, but I batted it out of his hand with my sheath before it could be pointed my way, sending it bouncing across my floor.

I tried jabbing him in the solar plexus with the sheath while we continued trading slashes, stabs, and blocks in my living room, but instead of him getting hit or dodging, his now free hand moved in front of the strike, stopping it dead with his palm and wrapping his fingers around it in an iron grip before I could pull back.

Freed grinned a vicious grin, and despite my hip injury, the two other cuts I'd received, and the situation being a life or death battle in my own home, it occurred to me that I was grinning as well, if in a much less bloodthirsty way.

He used our shared anchor point to pull himself forward, pivoting his body faster as he swung his Light sword to give it more power, bringing it down in an overhead strike that I brought my own sword up to block horizontally. I I struggled to hold the block up with just one hand, my own blade being pushed down enough that it almost bounced off the top of my head. Unlike previous times, he held the pressure up on this clash, so we were locked in a contest of strength and leverage.

Either of us could shift our swords slightly to one side or the other and change that in a moment, but I currently preferred the stalemate we were in to risking taking those options and coming out worse for it, and I could only guess Freed felt the same. So we stood there, locked in two different struggles; a tug-of-war for my sheath, and a blade lock.

"Heh, heheheh! Not bad, not bad!" Freed cackled "Almost fucking got me with that tricky ninja shit, you shitty heathen!"

"You're pretty good yourself," I admitted. "If you weren't a complete and utter psychopath who should be locked up in prison with the key thrown away, I'd say I wouldn't mind fighting you again." He put more pressure down, and I tensed my arm, locking my wrist to prevent from buckling under the weight.

'Definitely some enhanced strength, though not to the extent of Kiba, let alone Koneko-chan.'

Freed's eyes crinkled and his smile twisted in glee.

"No way, hahah! You'd have to live through this fight first, and that ain't happening!" The albino declared. "Time to die, midget!"

He yanked on my sheath with force I wasn't prepared for, and while I kept my sword up, I still stumbled forward.

It didn't matter that I kept my block up though. My eyes widened in shock mid stumble as the glow of his blade disappeared in an instant, along with the weight on my sword, throwing me further off balance. I thought I saw a flicker of black behind him, but I had much more pressing things to focus on and ignored it. In almost slow motion, I watched as Freed's hand came down, the bladeless hilt tilting to point at my head.

My right arm was out of position, but my left had already left my sheath on its way up to try and save myself.

When my hand hadn't even made it halfway while I was staring straight down the metaphorical barrel, I knew that I was dead.

And then said barrel disappeared from view, along with Freed's white hair. It was replaced by different white hair lower down, and an extended fist.

I distantly noted a loud crash over the sound of my blood pumping in my ears. My arms fell to my sides, with my sword barely being held above the floor. My hip began feeling like it was burning and freezing at the same time, and I was jittery from the second adrenaline spike that came with my near death experience. It had been quite a while since I'd last had such a close call, or at least one that I hadn't voluntarily thrown myself into. Shaking my head and clenching my hands a couple times, I forced myself to calm down as Koneko-chan turned to face me with a worried look in her eyes, glancing at the patch of red staining my hip.

Her brows were heavily furrowed and she was frowning, her eyes darting from my hip to my chest to my ear, and back again.

'Oh wow,' I thought, 'she must be seriously concerned if she's actually expressing that much.'

Would it be weird to admit that made me really happy?

"Heh, thanks for the save Koneko-chan," I said with a tiny chuckle instead. "I'd say 'what kinda psycho turns off their sword in a fight', but really, I'm just annoyed that I of all people didn't think of the possibility."

"You're hurt." She stepped closer to me, ignoring my attempt to lighten the mood and reaching out to put her palm over my gunshot wound.

I let her.

"By the way, I might need a new summoning paper at some point," I spoke idly, suppressing a wince as she put pressure on it. "The one I keep in my pocket is probably stained with blood."

"Mm," she hummed distractedly. I wasn't sure exactly what she was doing, but with the way the area started numbing, I figured she was trying to stop the bleeding.

She grunted a moment later.

"Not good enough yet…" she muttered in annoyance, pulling away to instead reach up to my chest. "I'm going to ask Rias-buchou to come heal you," she stated with her hand pressed warmly against my ribs. I nodded in consent, though it sounded more like she was telling me and not asking for my opinion.

I felt something I hadn't felt since I was back home, the small gash in my skin sealing up at a rate that put a human's natural healing to shame. Even my current self's much faster than normal healing had nothing on what it used to be. For a second or two, I could focus on the familiar sensation, almost pretend that nothing had changed and I was back to normal.

It was looking down into Koneko's focused golden eyes, her nose scrunched up cutely in concentration, that brought me back to the present.

Even if I would prefer to be back to my normal self… I smiled contentedly.

'I'm fine right where I am.'

Koneko glanced up when she finished, now reaching to heal my sliced ear, the bleeding having already stopped. When she caught sight of my expression, she averted her eyes with a tiny tint of red on her cheeks and slightly pursed lips.

I almost got distracted watching her face again while she sealed that cut, but her eyes widened and narrowed a moment later in the direction she'd sent Freed flying. Tensing my sword arm, I snapped my own gaze to the side just to see a hole in the wall slightly larger than a human, leaving an opening to the outside with the exorcist nowhere in sight.

"Looks like he survived, and got away while we were distracted…" I sighed and let my guard back down. I caught sight of my sheath sitting just next to the rubble, and his gun a couple meters further away on my floor. An odd thought came to mind as I glanced down to inspect my sword for damages, and it came back clean to my partially-trained eye.

"Not a single scratch or chip…" I muttered. "Would it be weird for me to thank God for Devil blacksmithing?"

Koneko rolled her eyes. "Idiot…" She muttered as she turned away from me and pulled out her phone, but I caught the tiny twitch of her lips and grinned, counting that as my win.

Within the next few minutes, we'd gotten a couple of towels and washcloths. One set was to clean the area around my wound and lay on my couch so I didn't drip blood all over it while we waited, and the other was for cleaning my weapons so I could re-sheath my cane.

Koneko sat next to me, twisting at the hip to face me so she could keep both her hands pressed against my entry and exit wound, doing her best to stabilize the bleeding. I'd only just slid the two pieces together with a satisfying clack of the magnets connecting, when there was a dim glow in between us and the TV in front of us, my center table moved to the side of the room again.

'Maybe I should just keep it there from now on, if this sort of thing is going to become normal,' I idly thought as I watched the new figure flash into existence.

My expression soured when I saw the ever-smiling witch whose thoughts were as dark as her black hair.

"Who the hell invited you into my apartment?" I groaned.

"Buchou was engaged in an important meeting with foreign dignitaries, and so I volunteered in her stead," Himejima said with a pleasant smile to hide her true intentions.

"She was watching anime with a pair of youkai who like to goof off on the job." Koneko translated flatly at my side.

I sent an accusing look at the purple-eyed girl who was still standing there demurely.

Just a hint of her real personality peaked through, her smile widening in glee at my discomfort.

"As I said. Very Important."

I turned to the small girl next to me, deadpan.

"Can we return it? I want a refund."

Himejima ignored my semi-joking comment, smile shifting into a more neutral look as she addressed Koneko. "Rias explained the basics of what you told her, but I'm sensing the remnants of a discrete Fallen-based barrier around the area. It's likely that our missing exorcist wasn't working alone," She stated seriously.

"Huh. That would actually explain how he got away, since he definitely wasn't durable enough to not get his lights knocked out by a hit like that," I admitted. "During the fight, he mentioned the name of a Fallen I had a confrontation with on Friday night, so that makes a lot of sense."

Both girls turned to me in surprise.

"You fought a Fallen after I left?" Koneko asked with a tense tone of voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I shook my head. "'Fought' is a strong word. He was stalking me, I confronted him about it, and he almost attacked me, but I ended up spooking him off in the end." I shrugged. "It was actually the main reason I ended up asking you about my commissions. I wanted to have access to my usual disposable weapons, and a sturdy backup just in case he and I had another run-in" I paused. "Thanks again for covering that by the way, having them today probably saved my life."

Koneko shook her head. "Nn, there was no charge. It was a gift from the old man, said that if you're satisfied with his product, you'll keep going back to him as a 'proper customer' when you need more work done."

I'd certainly need more kunai if things continued in the direction it seemed they might. The first two I threw were already in rough condition, as expected of basic multi-purpose knives when clashing against actual supernatural weaponry.

Akeno spoke up.

"In any case, given recent events," she started while looking at Koneko, "it would be for the best if you go check on the safety of the other residents, and hypnotize them into ignoring the damage for now." She nodded her head in the direction of the broken wall.

Koneko-chan shared a glance with me, and I gave her a small nod. The mention of my civilian neighbors' potentially compromised health was enough to get me to take this seriously, swallowing my distaste for our upperclassman's personality.

"Mm." Koneko nodded reluctantly in response, and stood up as Akeno stepped close to take over healing me.

I definitely wasn't pouting as she took Koneko's place on the couch, the cat girl stepping out through my wall.

"Ufufu, it looks like you and I are alone now~"

I was probably pouting.

"Take off your shirt," came a whisper directly in my ear.

I whipped around to stare at her in alarm and scooted away from her into the armrest. "The hell!?" The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I ignored the burning pain in my side from the sudden motion.

"What's wrong?" She questioned with exaggerated concern, leaning closer to me as she did so. "Didn't you know? Devil healing magic works better without clothes. I need access to your skin to be the most effective."

I grimaced at that reminder, internally grumbling at the way she kept messing with me.

I ended up just lifting the hem of my shirt with a hand while she placed a palm on my bare skin above my waistband, that being close enough to the affected area for someone of her skill to heal. Unlike with Koneko's attempt, I could outright feel the hole closing on the front and back of my hip. The skin and outermost layer of muscle were sealed up the fastest, leaving me waiting in relative quiet for minutes at a time as Himejima worked on repairing the bone and other connective tissue.

"Sooo…" I started, the silence finally getting to me. "What's up with the whole 'elegant and refined' act you put on?" I asked bluntly, after failing to think up a more polite topic to talk about. "Is it just because it makes it easier to mess with people like me, who see through the bullcrap?"

"Ara?" She blinked in 'confusion'. "I'm not sure I know what you mean by that." Her eyes shone with mirth as her 'gentle' smile stayed the same as always. "I only ever act in a way that comes naturally to me."

I rolled that one around in my head for a moment. "... So it's a privacy thing, then? You don't want people seeing the real you behind the mask?" I snorted as I thought about it. "I see it, that makes sense. With how rotten your mind is, no way anyone would see you as an 'upstanding young woman' if they knew."

Her lips curled into a pout. "Rude. You sure claim to know all about how my mind works, for someone who's never had a full conversation with me until now." Her eyes glared playfully at me. "Who knows what kind of wrong idea people will get about an innocent young lady like me, with you saying things like that."

"Innocent, right." I rolled my eyes. "From the North to the South, the East to the West, even among the Heavens he is the enemy of all women," I recited from an old memory, slight changes made on the fly to actually fit the reality of the man's personality. "The Super Pervert Jiraiya, who even children cringe away from in embarrassment, that man was my shinobi master." Himejima looked genuinely amused and confused in equal measure, not sure where I was going with this. "If someone were to ask me what two things I value most, out of everything he taught me during our three-year long training trip, neither of them would be related to fighting; that wouldn't even be in the top five."

I wistfully thought back to the quiet times, editing his manuscripts and reading the story of my namesake.

"The first would be an appreciation for books, and reading for the sake of enjoyment. Jiraiya was also an author, and I was a dumbass who thought reading was for nerds, so he sometimes forced me to help edit his books before they were published, in order to expand my horizons. Most of it was smut because that sold well, but his older and more unknown works really left their marks on me."

The smile had slowly slipped from Himejima's face, but her expression looked a lot more natural to me now, being one of someone who was simply listening attentively. I just barely succeeded in hiding the smirk that wanted to grow on my face, instead smiling softly.

"The second thing I cherish most, would probably have to be…" I paused to build dramatic tension. "The ability to point out perverts and dangerous women," I said flatly, completely breaking her expectations. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment as she was caught off guard. "Don't look so surprised, I literally told you and Koneko-chan last week," I deadpanned. "I could tell from the moment I met you, you triggered the warning bells for both categories. I don't have to know anything about you personally, it's like a sixth sense I have."

Closing her eyes and chuckling lightly, she regathered her usual bearing. When she opened her purple eyes again, this time it was with an amused smirk.

"You don't know me, but you know my type, is that what you're saying?"

I shrugged. "Something like that. Like you said, we haven't really talked at length before, So I'm just working off of instinct, more or less." I considered the past minute or two of our current interaction as I said it, and noted that I didn't feel quite as wary of her, now that she wasn't even pretending to deny my judgement of her character. "The ones who try to hide it are way more noticeable to me. Talking to you like this right now is downright pleasant, at least in comparison to seeing how you act on school grounds. I can almost pretend you aren't some sort of shark, looking for its next meal."

Then she went and slid her hand up my bare skin, feeling up my abs and chest underneath my shirt.

I yelped and jumped away, scrambling to my feet with burning cheeks. "W-w-what the hell was that for, you perv?!"

"Ara, I was just checking you for any remaining injuries, of course," she said with a close-eyed expression, poorly hiding her smile behind the offending hand. "Aside from some slightly excessive muscle tearing that I fixed, it seems I wasn't able to find anything out of shape ufufu, so you should be free to move around without pain. I give you a clean bill of health."

I blinked and experimentally lifted my leg to test flexibility, ending with a mimed karate kick.

"Huh, convenient…" I muttered as I settled back onto both feet, not having felt any strain at all.

With that said, she stood up herself and stepped towards the middle of the room.

"If you'll excuse me now, I have to go prepare for a client of mine," Himejima announced. "I'll text you the contact information of a discrete contractor we use for similar 'incidents'," she nodded at the broken wall as she said this. "Just let them know the Gremory family is paying for the costs, and it should be done within twenty four hours."

"That's awfully generous of you." I responded with my eyes narrowed suspiciously in her direction, my guard still up for any more of her shenanigans even as a magic circle spun into existence at her feet.

"No," she shook her head in denial, "It's simply us taking our commitments seriously. As the de facto protectors of Kuoh, it is our duty to do our best to protect its citizens from supernatural threats." Her purple eyes flickered to Freed's gun which still laid where it landed on the floor. "That goes especially so when it is our own enemies that threaten those under our purview. This much is the least we can do. I'll return later tonight to set up a temporary warning barrier over this compound, just in case they return."

I nodded once, satisfied with the explanation. It wasn't a serious concern of mine that I might be getting maneuvered into some sort of entrapment, but having two major (to me) expenses in such a short time, covered entirely by a group of Devils I hadn't officially formed a concrete alliance with, was at least a little bit eyebrow raising.

My eyes widened when her magic circle began shining much more brightly as something much more concerning occurred to me, and I shivered in dread.

"Wait!" I called out to delay her exit, and she looked at me curiously. "... When the hell did you get my phone number!? I don't consent to that!"

"Pff!" She stifled a snort with a hand. A split second later, her mask fell completely as she was overcome by giggles, just shy of full blown laughter.

I may have pouted, I'll admit it. I was being serious, and here she was laughing at me!

She got herself under control a couple seconds later, folding her arms underneath her bust as she straightened her posture.

"By the way," the young woman addressed me with a light smile. "You had it backwards a couple minutes ago; It's not that I want to hide the real me from others, I don't really mind one way or the other if they know what I'm like. It's because I only want to show myself to my family, and people who interest me."

"And you, Uzumaki-kun…" Her half-lidded purple eyes stared into my own with a lick of her lips. "... Are becoming interesting to me."

I tried to tear my gaze away from her eyes, only for it to drop down to–

My eyes snapped back up to hers as I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks.

'... Holy shit. That's completely unfair.'

I suppressed a shudder. Whoever designed the female Kuoh uniforms was a pervert.

The other guys at school might be onto something. Himejima Akeno was way too attractive.

Starting with a moment of genuine school-girl laughter, then going directly to the succubus routine, should be illegal.

I opened my mouth to say something– what that something might be, I hadn't figured out yet– but Himejima turned to face the hole in my wall with her usual innocent smile before I could.

"Ufufu, you're back quickly, Koneko-chan." She brought a hand up to cup her cheek as her teleport circle stopped glowing. "Did you need something from me before I leave?"

I turned as well and saw the… smaller… girl step into the room, staring suspiciously between us with narrowed eyes and Nekoshou features exposed. Her tail was twitching agitatedly.

"Quit messing around with him, sexual harasser." Koneko called out the older girl.

"Ara ara, what do you mean Koneko-chan?" Himejima giggled. "Uzumaki-kun and I were just finishing a completely normal conversation. Isn't that right?"

They both looked at me.

"Eh? Ah, uh, y-yeah." I agreed after being put on the spot. No way was I getting between them when Koneko-chan looked that annoyed at the minx.

"There you have it," Himejima said matter-of-factly. She sent the younger teen a smug smirk, her teleport circle starting back up again. "Koneko-chan had a head start, so I was just testing the waters, seeing if it would be possible to catch up." Head start? Catch up? What the hell was she talking about? "I've decided to have some fun and join the race." Her smirk widened when Koneko's annoyed frown deepened. "If you're not quick enough, I just might beat you to the finish line, Koneko-chan~. Who knows, maybe we'll reach it together, ufufu."

She disappeared with a flash of light immediately after the devious laugh left her mouth.

I warily turned to observe Koneko's reaction, cautious of her still visibly agitated cat-parts.

I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. "Uhh…"

Her frowning gaze flickered over to me. I almost debated just dropping the question I wanted to ask and changing the subject, but, well, I was off-balance enough from everything else that happened in the last half an hour that I was completely lost here.

"What race was she talking about?"

"... Forget about it, the cow was just trying to mess with me."

Koneko never did end up explaining further, seeming like she was distracted with her thoughts from that point on. She excused herself and teleported home after an awkwardly quiet half hour of clean up, helping me clear the shattered glass and other debris off the floor.

As I watched the glow die down with my friend's departure, I sighed with a feeling of restlessness and flopped onto my couch spread eagle, not sure what to do with the rest of my day while waiting for Himejima to come through with that contractor's information.

I sat there staring at the ceiling for a couple minutes, feeling oddly exhausted for a moment despite the urge to move around and do something. I eyed the TV remote next to the screen and debated wasting the day watching something mindless. I didn't really want to, but I wasn't really feeling all that good right now.

"Meow."

I lifted my head, craning it around to look in the direction of the sound.

"Heya girl," I spoke to the black cat that was slinking its way down my staircase, coughing to clear my throat when it came out with a rasp. "I didn't realize you came back." I made to stand up, intending to go to the kitchen and get a can of food for her, and some water for my dry throat.

"Wha-?" I couldn't find the strength to push myself up. My sight swam and my limbs felt weak, to the point of feeling like jelly.

I belatedly noticed my whole body aching dully everywhere except for the middle of my stomach. I didn't even realize that I'd toppled over until my cheek collided with the couch cushion.

A large, black blur appeared in my darkening vision, looming over me.

'So cold… but it burns…'

It was like all the heat was leaving me, and the warmer air stung my cooling body.

It was getting harder to focus, my sense of balance twisting dizzyingly despite not moving an inch.

A soft sensation pressed persistently into my chest as a weight draped itself around me, and a warm feeling spread throughout my body, washing away all the aching with a pleasant feeling of relief almost instantly. While the world slowly stopped spinning beneath my eyelids, and the pain was gone, I still couldn't bring myself to open my eyes back up

With just a bone-deep exhaustion remaining, I yawned and smacked my lips a couple of times, closing my eyes.

"G'nite…" I mumbled, wrapping an arm around the source of comfort and hugging it close.

Then I was out like a light.

When I awoke over half a day later feeling better than I had in nearly a year, it was to the loud meows of a hungry cat in the process of squishing its paws against my cheek, just in time to get me up for the school day.

~,,––,,^^-

AN: As usual, let me know what you think, what you like, what you dislike, etc. I'm kinda expecting a mixed reception for the chapter regardless of how much I tell myself I like the way I wrote it, so please let me know if that's just me psyching myself out or not. As an avid reader myself, I'm well aware that it's a tightrope walk when ending chapters with something that seems a bit out of the blue the way I did with this one.

In other news, I have an announcement pertaining to the all-important subject that many of you have likely been anticipating; Lewds.

This story's current timeline is still quite a ways away from truly lewd material, if you ignore the brief mentions of teenage horniness, however, I began writing this story with the expectation that I would use the setting and characters I am building as a base for various non-canon or semi-canon omakes whenever an idea that doesn't fit in the plot gets stuck in my head. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that the first of these non-canon omakes will lewd indeed, and will be posted as the first entry of a separate story I will be putting up around a week from now.

It is 1/19/25 as of posting this, so check in on my profile around the end of the month if you're interested. I'm not sure yet what I'll title the story lol.