(New Leaf) Accretion 1 (Patreon)

Naruto
(Monday, April 30th)

I picked up my phone from where I had set it next to the ventilation system earlier and stopped the timer, sweating lightly and carefully controlling my breathing as I checked the stopwatch in the light of the dawning sun. I then glanced over to watch said sunrise as I lazily compared my current time to my best from two previous days in my head.

'That's, what… twenty two, twenty three percent better than Thursday morning? Something like that?' I did some rough math while looking at the view. This high up, it was pretty enough that I sorta just stopped and stared, my mind pausing in its thoughts to take in the sight.

I was standing on the tallest part of the rooftop of my apartment complex, some five stories up, having just completed my morning workout. This last exercise consisted of a sort-of obstacle course time trial without any of my makeshift training weights. The goal was to make it from my spot on the roof to the nearby kids park and back, while trying not to be seen by any early morning joggers, commuters, or cameras. The idea was originally just to keep my stealth and climbing skills sharp while maintaining my endurance and speed at the end of a workout, but after my first encounter with Freed when my body began feeling stronger than it had in a long time, I started timing myself as a way of keeping track of my general improvement.

'So I am still getting stronger after all, huh?' I thought with interest. 'It's still happening faster than normal for sure, but not as crazy fast as when my strength doubled overnight last week...'

According to Koneko the day after the encounter with the mad exorcist, my body suddenly had a bunch of extra life force that I hadn't had before, life force that had to have come from somewhere or someone. Something that any serious Senjutsu practitioner in this world could do.

I was on my own in my home the whole time though, so someone would have to have been keeping tabs on me the whole time to even get there in time to save me…

"Eh, whatever."

I shrugged to myself.

It was still the same situation as last Wednesday. Not knowing who it was or why they helped wasn't going to change anything, especially since whatever was going on was helping me get back some of my strength again.

I'm still physically weaker than my twelve year old self was, but it's a work in progress.

I pocketed my phone and walked towards the edge of the building, glancing down at the grassy communal courtyard five stories down. Without a moment's hesitation, I leaned forward, tilting casually over the edge.

'Besides, the current me would still wipe the floor with twelve-year-old-me either way.'

Before I picked up too much momentum and fully fell over the edge, I flexed my ankles and lightly pushed away from the building, angling my trajectory horizontally towards one of the tall lamp posts lighting the area. With a partial flip and twist as the ground rushed closer, I managed to right myself in the air while hooking my arm around the pole, a kick of my legs sending my weight swinging around the structure to bleed some of my momentum during the descent. I let go at the last moment, a couple feet above the ground.

During the couple seconds between my feet leaving the roof and my landing in a roll that brought me back to my feet, a random thought popped up that made me reconsider my mental stance.

The current me would wipe the floor with the pre-Kage Bunshin twelve-year-old-me.

'Even as experienced as I am now compared to back then, a thousand clones is still a thousand clones,' I thought with a wry grin.

Either way, I headed back to my own apartment block. I needed a shower, and then to do the prep-work for the week's meals.

A couple hours later, I began making my way to school.

-----

(After classes)

Koneko-chan sat on my desk, her feet kicking lightly while Mitsuri leaned against the edge of another one with her arms crossed. The soft-spoken black-haired girl, Norika, stood next to the tomboy, her hands wrapped neatly around her school briefcase's carry handle in front of her.

"So," I spoke from my chair below Koneko, pointedly trying not to stare at the mostly-bare thighs sitting right next to me. The girl uniform's skirts were unreasonably short, not that any of the male students would ever complain. "You mentioned over the weekend that Red challenged Shitori to a club contest. Any idea what the competition will be?" I asked while packing away my school supplies.

The kicking stopped.

"Nn, not sure," Koneko replied with a blank face. She followed up after a moment of thought. "It's a small team sports contest, so probably basketball or tennis."

Her feet started swinging again.

"'Red'?" Mitsuri asked in a confused tone.

"Huh?" I glanced up at her, and my eyes were drawn to her own similarly red, if shorter, hair. "Oh, right. I guess you haven't met her yet. Rias Gremory, the pipsqueak's club president."

Koneko's hand reached over, and I let it happen when she flicked the side of my head with a small thunk. My head tilted slightly from the force.

"Ow." I deadpanned, getting a giggle out of Norika. "When I met her, the first thing I noticed was how red her hair was, but I had other things on my mind and forgot her name for a while, so I decided to just call her that instead," I finished explaining. Mitsuri rolled her eyes with an amused huff.

"Um, what's the contest for, Koneko-chan?" Norika asked the other girl curiously. "Ah, If you don't mind me asking of course!" She hurriedly tacked on at the end. She was still a little nervous to speak up when part of the group, and frequently found herself second-guessing her contributions.

"Nn, I don't mind," Koneko shook her head. "Our club and the student council both want to go on a trip taking a tour of a private nature reserve, but there's only enough spots available for one group."

The other girl made an excited noise with a dreamy smile. "That sounds like a wonderful time, I hope whoever wins enjoys it! I used to love going on walks through nature with my family."

I glanced between her and Mitsuri, before turning to Koneko. "You think Red will mind a couple of tagalongs sticking around to watch?"

She glanced at me in a way that gave me the feeling she wanted to roll her eyes. "No. She would like the attention, if anything."

I turn back to the other girls.

"How about it?" I asked, "Do either of you want to come watch too?"

Norika and Mitsuri shared a look.

"Ah, umm, t-that–"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ahwah?!" The shorter girl turned on the tomboy, making a weird sound in surprise. "Bu-but, what about the club?!"

"It'll be fine," Mitsuri waved her off casually. "It's just for one day, and it's not like club attendance is super strict anyway. Uzumaki will be skipping his own club too, see? Besides, it's good to get out of your comfort zone and live a little sometimes."

Norika didn't immediately voice a refusal, but she was clearly still uncertain. I decided to be a little shit and poke fun at the tomboy.

"Mitsuri's got the right of it, y'know?" I said to Norika with a grin, getting her attention. "If a delinquent ogre like her can skip out on the arcade to enjoy some girly tea-party thing, I'm sure you can– hrk!"

"WHO'RE YA CALLIN' AN OGRE, BASTARD!" I was cut off by the ogress herself, two-handing me by the collar and lifting me out of my seat, shaking me back and forth with an enraged blush on her cheeks.

"Aaaaahh! Save me Koneko-chan!" I wailed dramatically. She took one glance up from her phone at what was going on, before looking back down.

"Nope."

"Traitor!"

"I'm not the one who picked a fight with an ogre while empty-handed."

"Wha– K-Koneko, you?!" Mitsuri paused in her assault on my person to look at Koneko with an expression of pure betrayal.

"Pffft–" Norika began to giggle at the byplay, but quickly smothered the sound with a hand when Mitsuri's head whipped around to her as well.

Her fists clenched tighter around my collar, and her head hung to shadow her eyes. "I'm being attacked," she said defeatedly in an empty voice. "My friends are attacking me from all sides."

"No way, I'm innocent here! You're the one attacking me," I argued with a grin. "You're just lucky I don't have my secret ninja sword in hand to defend myself with."

Koneko glanced at me, but I ignored her. It wasn't like I was going to reveal the Devils or anything.

"'Secret ninja sword'? Is that what your martial arts thing has been for this whole time, why you still have that stupid cane?" Mitsuri snorted, letting go of me and stepping back. I slipped my wandering left hand into my pocket sneakily. "Don't think I still haven't noticed that you walk without making footsteps after all this time. That's a ton of effort just to pretend to be a ninja. Just how chuunibyou can you get?"

"I don't really get it, but even I can tell you just made fun of me," I deadpanned, before shrugging. "Whatever, believe what you want. Just don't be surprised when something of yours mysteriously disappears under your nose, heheheh," I chuckled with a maliciously wide grin.

Her hazel eyes narrowed into slits of green as she glared suspiciously at me.

Before Mitsuri could figure it out, Koneko put her phone away in her waistcoat pocket, and hopped down off my desk.

"It's tennis," she confirmed, looking at us. "They're about to get ready to head to the courts in a couple minutes. If you're coming, it's time to go," she said, tilting her head towards one of the exits.

"Sweet, let's get going." I grabbed my bag from the floor to sling over my shoulder and snatched my walking stick up, making my way to the rear exit right on Koneko's trail. "We can cut through the assembly hall on the way and grab some drinks from the vending machine." I slipped my left hand into my pocket and pulled out a wallet that was definitely not mine, holding it up between two fingers like a shuriken. "Mitsuri's treat!"

"Huh? What do you– HEY! Give that back!"

Mitsuri was quick to chase, and I made a game out of keeping her wallet from her while laughing, the more timid Norika trying unsuccessfully all the while to get us to calm down.

-----

"I told you, I was just joking…" I said awkwardly as I stepped out of the building behind Koneko and Norika, holding an unopened can of cherry soda. The two girls were having a conversation about the best tea and pastry combinations, Koneko-chan's sheer gluttony having prepared her surprisingly well to comment on different aspects of tea ceremony. She was probably as experienced in the practice as any member of that club, just by virtue of being a wealthy foodie in her day-to-day life.

"You didn't actually need to get us drinks, ya'know?" I continued. "I could have gotten them for us myself."

Mitsuri tilted her own drink back, taking gulps of some sort of energy drink I hadn't seen before.

"Hahhhh!" She let out a big sigh of satisfaction when she stopped her chugging to step out next to me. "Shut the hell up and drink your soda already, Uzumaki. I already told you, it's not a big deal." She glanced at me for a second, before looking towards the other two walking ahead of us. "Keep acting like I can't spot my friends a little cash at a vending machine, and I'll hit you for calling me stingy," she drawled airily.

I held up my hands in surrender. With a quick stop at our lockers, we'd all put our school stuff away, so aside from my drink in one hand and the cane hooked around my elbow, I had full freedom of motion.

"Alright, alright, you've made your point," I said with a nervous chuckle, backing away from her. "No need to get violent. I was just joking when I called you an ogre, ya'know? Don't go taking it as a challenge." I laughed.

Her eye twitched.

"Oi."

I cracked open my soda and loudly sipped at it, pointedly looking away from her burning stare.

Coincidentally, the direction I turned my head in faced the female locker room, and I saw a quartet of familiar girls stepping out dressed in white tops with colorful trims and skirts.

"Looks like we are just in time," I said, nodding in the girls' direction. "We'll reach the court at the same time as Red and the others."

Mitsuri glanced over, annoyance forgotten.

"... Okay, I see why you call her Red."

While the two had similarly colored hair, Mitsuri's was much shorter and a bit darker, more of a blood-red.

Rias, Himejima, Shinra, and Shitori walked across the field, getting the attention of plenty of other students who were hanging around that saw the way they were dressed.

Rias's crimson-red hair stood out like a fire truck compared to the three other girls' black hair and immediately drew the eye, nearly outlining her form from all angles due to how full and long it was, especially with the way it curled slightly at the ends. Ignoring color though, there was only one girl who looked out of place compared to the other three, the one I had designated as my true nemesis and the antithesis of everything I stood for!

While the other three girls had long, flowing hair, hers was cut above her shoulders. Where they had full, curvy figures and honestly massive chests, she had a more lithe build with not much more than a modest handful up top. On top of that, she was also the shortest of the four, the strictest, and the one person with the most authority in the school even among the teachers.

Himejima might be annoying and go out of her way to mess with me, but I could at least admit in the deepest recesses of my mind that I maybe, possibly, sort-of enjoyed the attention. Any normal boy going through puberty would. There was a reason I called her a dangerous woman, and half of that reason was because of the genuine temptation to play along to her whims.

I stared hard at the student council president.

As if sensing my eyes on her, Shitori Souna turned her head and stared right back at me from across the field with a stern gaze, before facing forward once more.

That woman was all of the "danger" and none of the "tease" that Himejima had going for her, all business and no play.

I shuddered internally.

I refused to be caught in a room with her without an escape plan. I feared for my ears and sanity if that ever happened, I'd probably be lectured to death in that case. It was one thing to take my education seriously, and it was another thing entirely to become a stick in the mud again. I was lucky enough that Koneko-chan pulled me out of that state the first time, so willingly engaging more than necessary with someone like that again?

'No thank you.'

It didn't help things that even she was taller than me, too.

We caught up to the other two girls quickly, walking a few paces behind them on our way to the courts.

"By the way, why do you still carry that cane around?" Mitsuri asked with casual curiosity. "I don't think I've actually seen you use it to walk a single time since you got it."

"Because it's freaking cool, that's why." I stopped twirling it in my hand for a moment, gripping it by the shaft. I held it to the side, placing the hooked grip in front of the redhead. "Here, grab the handle in a strong grip, and don't let go."

She did as I requested after a moment of confusion. I lightly tugged to test her grip, and when she firmed it up a moment later, I gave a short but sharp pull, revealing a few inches of the polished blade within with a quiet shing sound.

Koneko glanced over her shoulder, causing Norika to look back at us as well a moment later.

"What the fuck, Uzumaki?" Mitsuri asked incredulously, looking at me like I was crazy while she held the grip of my sword. "Why the hell is your cane a sword?!"

"Gee, I wonder," I drawled sarcastically with a smug grin, "It's almost as if I'm a ninja who literally pickpocketed your wallet just a few minutes ago, or something. But nah, there's no way that could be the case, right Mitsuri?"

Mitsuri looked between me and the other two girls intensely. "...Why am I the only one reacting with surprise to this?! This is crazy, right?"

"I, ah, um…" Norika shifted around and adjusted her glasses with a nervous little chuckle. "... I'm used to ignoring the weird things I see, I guess?" Her eyes flicked to Koneko.

The cat youkai shrugged. "Already knew about it," Koneko stated blandly.

I snorted at the understatement.

"I'm teaching her martial arts, and her clubmate is a practicing swordsman," I explained in more detail. "Koneko-chan's the one who got me into contact with Kiba's usual blacksmith in order to get this made in the first place."

Mitsuri pushed the handle towards me, the magnets engaging with the sheath to snap the two segments back together seamlessly with a clack, and brought her newly free hand up to her face to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"There, there." I reached up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, cane back in the crook of my elbow. "The more time you spend around me, the less stuff like this will throw you off. Once you accept the fact that I'm a ninja, you won't even bat an eye at the stuff you see, hahahah!" I patted her back heartily a couple times as I laughed at her distress.

"I refuse."

I took my hand off her back to hold in front of us, and with a flick of my wrist and a twist of my forearm, I was holding one of my kunai by the ring, letting it dangle from my extended index finger. Giving it a quick spin, another flick of the wrist sent it back into hiding within my sleeve.

Mitsuri glared at me with dull eyes.

"I've made up my mind. I think I hate you."

I shook my head with a grin, and we continued walking as a group.

"Koneko-chan, is this what people online mean when they say 'Tsundere'?"

The redhead attacked me, trying and failing to smack me in the shoulder.

'What was that other thing people sometimes say online?' I wracked my brain as I easily fended off the girl a whole head taller than me.

Koneko beat me to it in a flat voice, as if she was reading my mind.

"Not beating the allegations."

-----

With all our little delays, the four girls got ahead and reached the courts before us. Considering that they were apparently some of the most popular students in the entire school, there was even a small crowd following behind them to watch, a dull roar of conversation following the students.

Koneko took the lead of our own group, bringing us over to watch alongside the other members of the Occult Research Club.

"Oi, Kiba!" I called out and waved as we approached, getting a few heads turning my way. Two of those heads in particular were familiar blonds, Asia turning as well when the boy in question reacted. They were standing at the far end of the chain-link fence surrounding the court's perimeter, away from the crowd that had gathered to watch on the side closer to the sports field. A quick glance around the area showed me Issei a short distance away with his two pervy friends, all three of them practically pressing their faces to the fence to get a closer look at the competitors.

"Naruto-kun, Koneko-chan." Kiba nodded in greeting as we got closer.

"You made it on time, Koneko-chan!" The former nun addressed the small girl with a happy smile, getting a nod in return. She turned to me. "Ah, hello to you as well, Uzumaki-san. Thank you very much for your assistance the other day!"

"E-eheheh," I chuckled awkwardly in response to the suddenly bowing girl. "Don't mention it. Seriously, I was glad to help." I tried my best to ignore Mitsuri's stare burning a hole in the side of my head.

Thankfully, Kiba took notice and stepped forward to save me.

"I see the two of you have brought some friends along," he smoothly changed the topic, turning to our normal classmates with a princely smile. "You may have already heard of me through conversation, but please allow me to introduce us. I'm Yuuto Kiba, and this is my cousin who recently arrived from Italy, Asia Argento, both from class 2-B and members of the Occult Research Club." He gave a light bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two," Norika replied politely with a quick bow of her own. "I'm Amatsu Norika from class 1-B, member of the Tea Ceremony club.

"Yo. Ueda Mitsuri, 1-B," the tall redhead said with a bored tone, giving the swordsman a slow once-over. "... Tch. I still don't see it."

Kiba blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Why you're so popular with-" Mitsuri gestured vaguely towards the crowd of students, the majority of which were girls, "-them. I mean, you're attractive enough I guess, but in a kinda generic pretty-boy sort of way. I don't really get the appeal."

Koneko snorted, while Norika buried her face in her hands in mortification.

Kiba looked surprised at her statement for a moment, before he laughed. Not one of his polite chuckles, but a more genuine actual laugh.

Unlike Mitsuri and I, who deliberately chose to ignore certain Japanese social customs, Asia simply wasn't aware of the emphasis on keeping your thoughts to yourself and maintaining politeness at all times, and so she watched in confusion as the others reacted to Mitsuri's blunt nature.

"Would you believe me if I told you I agree?" Kiba said with a small conspiratorial grin a moment later. "The attention I tend to get can be a bit difficult to deal with at times."

Mitsuri snorted. "So tell them to cut it out, plain and simple." She turned to me. "How did you let a softy like this guy beat your ass?"

I shrugged in a 'what-can-you-do?' manner.

"He's pretty strong, ya'know?" I said simply. "Speaking of-" I turned to Kiba with a grin, "-we need to spar again soon! Last time was fun."

Kiba's eyes narrowed and his own grin widened, mouth opening to reply.

Before he could get a word out though, Koneko cut him off, looking towards the court.

"Looks like they're starting," she pointed out, turning fully towards the fence.

I looked and true enough, saw the players getting into their positions; Red held the rear, while Himejima and Tsubaki stood across from each other in the forward zones. Rackets were readied and Shitori was preparing to serve the ball, while the crowd pressed up against the fence excitedly. Glancing back at Kiba as the others joined Koneko, I shrugged again.

"Let's trade phone numbers later, yeah?" I suggested.

"Definitely," he agreed with a sheepish smile, hand rubbing the back of his head. "... We probably should have done that last time anyway."

We joined the girls just in time for the first serve to begin the game.

"Ready yourself, Rias!" Shitori called out. "We won't hold back!"

The Student Council president tossed up the ball, swinging her racket to perfectly smack it out of its apex and send it across the court. Rias reacted calmly, taking two quick steps towards the court's edge to return it with similar grace and a forehanded swing. Certain parts of her figure swayed with the motion, her hair and edges of her skirt lifting with the momentum when she planted her foot to stop.

Predictably, a bunch of the dudes spectating made all kinds of appreciative sounds.

"Was that all you've got?" Red taunted back competitively as Tsubaki intercepted the ball and sent it Himejima's way.

"Ara ara~, you'll have to do better than that if you want to beat us!" Himejima made a sudden lunge look completely relaxed as she reacted, returning the ball with a flourishing backswing while sounding perfectly unstrained.

The ball went back and forth a few more times with the players throwing taunts to go with it, before a spike from the taller Tsubaki got past Himejima's guard.

While team ORC easily tied the score up shortly after, the initial expression of sheer annoyance on the witch's face the moment she gave up that first point was something I would cherish in my memory.

After all the shit talk from both sides, the fact that it was her to fail first was absolutely hysterical to me.

I wasn't sure what I really expected when I first heard from Koneko about the contest other than adrenaline-fueled competitive spirit, and after hearing it was just tennis my expectations were lowered a bit, but seeing the four girls going at it in person…

Well, it started off normally enough, with the crowd of students cheering for their favorite to win with each team scoring a point. It's just, maybe they had a little bit too much competitive spirit, because I could swear the Occult Research girls began cheating with magic pretty damn quickly! I almost thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, like maybe I was just getting distracted by the swishing skirts, the bare thighs and arms, the bouncing–

I shook my head to rid myself of the intrusive thoughts.

I glanced at my more 'normal' friends watching the match, as Himejima gave a serve that had the tennis ball sparking with electricity, and I blinked as Mitsuri and Norika seemed to be watching as if nothing was out of the ordinary; Mitsuri's eyes were focused on tracking the upperclassmen players' movements, while the glasses-wearing girl's head was turning back and forth to follow the ball at a rapid enough pace I thought she might get dizzy soon.

Kiba must have noticed my confusion, because he leaned down next to me

"Sona-kaichou's [Bishop]s put up a perception barrier that hides their use of magic," he muttered just loud enough for only my ears to hear, answering my unasked question. "As much as she'd like to deny it, she's just as bad as Rias at keeping her powers secret when distracted, so stuff like this is pretty common for our peerages to handle." He chuckled quietly.

"Oh, that makes sense." I thought for a moment. "Just like the mansion, right?"

"Exactly," he nodded. "Except that one is a permanent feature that only needs to be recharged once in a while."

'Sounds almost like Fuinjutsu, like with Konoha's barrier seal,' I thought curiously. 'I wonder how they do that sort of thing– hold up.'

He said something really suspicious a moment ago that I completely glossed over.

'"Sona-kaichou's [Bishop]"? Her powers? "Peerages", plural?! Eh!?'

"... Did you just tell me Shitori is a Devil too?" I asked, staring with dull eyes as the bossy girl in question returned the ball. Now that I was actually paying attention to the student council's team, it was obvious they were cheating just as hard, just slightly more subtly. Moments where the ball redirected away from the ORC girls off of a bounce that I'd previously just thought was due to spin or something, turned out to be because of seriously small magic circles appearing on the council team's rackets and the ground for a split second.

Now that he all but told me Shitori was also cheating, it was like I couldn't not notice the flashes of light and weird ball movement. Just like with the mansion's barrier, being aware that something was fishy let me ignore its effects.

"Huh." Neat.

Kiba turned his head in surprise. "You mean Koneko hasn't told you yet?"

I deadpanned at the back of the girl's head as she pretended she wasn't listening in.

"... Must have slipped her mind or something. I'm sure she would have told me at some point that the students stalking and harassing her teacher for the past week were Devil friends of hers, right?" I said dully as her body remained perfectly still without the slightest hint of movement in reaction.

While she continued feigning ignorance, Kiba chuckled awkwardly.

"... Ah."

My student disappeared in a hurry when the match finally ended in a draw, giving a quick goodbye to the other girls with us before leaving without a word to me. I let her go without giving chase.

Letting her dig her hole a little deeper before our next training session was fine by me.

-----

(Later that night)

After the tennis match was abandoned due to the increasingly magic-fueled stalemate and the growing crowd of regular people watching, the both parties decided to switch the competition to a bigger team game of dodgeball, and ditch the spectators. By that point, I'd already had my fill and decided to head home to work on some things.

The fight against the Fallen hadn't really taught me anything I didn't already know, but it definitely drove home the point that my decision to equip myself for the future was the right call, a call made just in time. I decided to continue in that direction, and put my rusty crafting skills back to use, remaking whatever utility gear I could to replace the old stuff I lost before arriving in this world.

I sat working over my desk for a few hours. A pair of old thrift store boots broken down for their leather, my sewing skills putting in work to turn the raw material into a rough thigh pouch. A metal saw and a rivet gun on loan from one of my neighbors, and my childhood of engineering elaborate traps for my pranking sprees turned a pile of scrap metal and the extra leather strips into a pair of forearm braces to hold and release the kunai I hide in my sleeves.

I made them as slim as possible to not stand out against my clothes, so they weren't super complicated at all, but anything was better than my previous method of just hanging the knives by the ring on little hooks I'd sewn into the sleeves.

I had to be careful not to knock them loose with a stray swing of my arms before.

Now? Not so much.

I leaned back in my chair with a stretch and a groan as I finished tweaking the thigh pouch's latch, stretching my arms above my head and popping my tense fingers in the process. I made note of the bracer's tightness on my arms and the rough friction of the old leather as I did so.

'Not my best work, but not a bad first attempt,' I thought to myself. If I had better materials on hand I could have probably done better. Either way though, it was a good way to knock the rust off, and everything I'd made today would be serviceable enough until I had the time and spare cash to get fresh material.

I may be friends with a bunch of rich people, and the sword was awesome, but it would feel awful to mooch off of them for stuff that was within my ability to get done. Even the sword itself was only really acceptable to me once I treated it as both a gift, and as payment for my tutelage.

I looked at the clock on my bedside table.

11:39 PM

'Damn, I seriously lost track of time.'

I got up with a yawn, deciding to go get some dinner to sate my suddenly rumbling stomach. Before I went downstairs, I poked into the guest room down the hall, getting the attention of a pair of yellow eyes in the darkness as I refilled Kuro's water bowl for the night.

That done, I made my way down to my kitchen, passing by the pale flicking light of my living room as did so.

The dinner I made was a basic, but hearty meal consisting of a chicken and cheese omelet, a couple of large, pre-made vegetable-puree-filled onigiri, and a package of mochi snacks for dessert.

Food made and plated, I went into my living room and plopped onto the couch to watch whatever anime was playing quietly while I ate. I scarfed down my meal in less than five minutes, feeling hungrier than I originally thought.

"What show even is this?" I asked as I reached into the opened box for a mochi. "It's pretty boring."

"Mhm."

I pulled out a chocolate mochi, then paused as I brought it to my mouth.

I never opened the package.

I never turned on the TV.

I turned with a dull look in my eyes.

"Koneko-chan?"

"Mm?"

She was in the middle of chewing, wearing the same black sweatpants and pink sweater with the cat icon she'd worn that night after the bathtub training, sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest and a half eaten strawberry mochi held up to her mouth.

"... Why are you watching TV in my house?"

Her furred ears twitched, the end of her tail lifting up a little just to drop back down to the couch with a soft thump.

"... No reason," she muttered.

Her cheeks were slightly red as she said it, practically pouting as she glanced away.

I rolled my eyes at the obvious deflection and planted my palm on the top of her head with another thump. She made a halfhearted attempt to tilt her head away, but I had a greater reach than the distance she had to escape.

"Well, if you're going to watch anime in my apartment without telling me, at least put on something good for us to actually enjoy." I ruffled her hair messily, taking care not to bend her ears uncomfortably. "This one sucks."

We sat for a moment in the relative quiet.

"... 'Kay." She picked up the remote from the cushion next to her, and began the search for something interesting in the sea of bland. "I did text you though. Not my fault you didn't answer."

I paused in my ruffling to think for a moment. Given I'd been working on something with pretty much all of my focus, it was possible I didn't notice.

"... Like that makes it any better." I snorted.

I let my hand fall from her head to lean back and spread my arms across the couch cushions.

If she was too embarrassed to tell me why she was here this late, without even getting actual permission to come over, I wouldn't push it. I was definitely gonna push her even harder than I was already planning in training the next day, but that was doubly her fault and sounded like a 'her problem' to me.

I chose to ignore the way her head unconsciously tried to follow my hand when I released her.

It was a lot harder to ignore when her shifting in her seat brought her closer and her tail settled across my lap, but I sharpened my will by mentally repeating a mantra in my head, one that I made up on the spot.

'Hormones are temporary; resistance training is forever!'

Mind successfully fortified against the close contact, a perfectly innocent smile slid onto my lips and I posed my question.

"So, just when were you planning on telling me the student council, who I've been trying to avoid, were also devils?"

The tail in my lap tensed, as if sensing a predator nearby. I could practically feel her regular desire to cause me trouble clashing with her desire to avoid the consequences of her own actions.

Too bad for her, I let my arm drape down across her back to clamp my hand onto her thin shoulder, trapping her in my grasp. She could easily overpower me to escape, but it was a psychological thing, her own sense of being boxed in keeping her from fleeing as she nervously sat stock-still.

"Why don't we have a tiny lesson about friends helping out friends with their troubles?" I looked down at Koneko with a small squinty-eyed smile, her eyes staring widely back up at me. "What do you say, friend?"

Ah, so this was the joy of a sensei putting the fear of punishment into the student…

'I understand it now, Kakashi-sensei!' I cackled within the safety of my mind.