Chapter 12: Do Cats Actually Get Down From Trees Because We Ask Them?

"Wow~... it changes so quickly! How do you get it to do that? What kind of hair dye do you use?"

"Tell me where I can get such contacts from!"

"And your accessories! Aren't you a bad girl~. No boy even dared approach you with the way you looked at them!"

The compliments Yuurei was being showered with floated all the way up a tree to Haruto's ears. The boy looked down on the one whose fashion secrets only he knew of—at least partly.

"A student who just happens to know all of our curriculum as if she has been taking classes together with us for a whole year, huh?" the boy acknowledged the coincidence that sounded too convenient to be true, and as he looked down at the girl whose name was already enough of a giveaway, he couldn't keep back the smile that bloomed on his face.

Meanwhile, another group of girls approached the same tree from another side.

"What? That thesis thing is mandatory for EVERYONE? When was the teacher going to tell me?..."

"Airi... What are you doing at university not knowing at least that much is the real question..."

"I mean, where would you want me to be? Dressed in a suit with my hair dyed black? Bowing my head to old fat executives who fantasize the dirtiest things while glaring at me? I'm good on that!"

"You know, there is always the option of night work—"

"I'm fine on that too!"

With her usual two friends to her left and her right, Airi approached the group that kept itself busy with analyzing Yuurei's looks.

"Oh? I've heard the boys talking about a new crazy-looking girl on campus, and I thought I should come say hi, but you've surpassed even my expectations. I like your style, girl!"

Soon enough, the commotion was brought to silence by a clash of gazes, and Yuurei was the first to break that silence, her hair and eyes now an emotionless, platinum white.

"Airi-senpai, it is a pleasure to meet you," she said in a manner reminding Haruto of the highschool Ice Queen.

"Waaaaah! She knows my name already! And she even calls me by my first name casually! Anna, what's up with this girl?..."

"How am I supposed to know? And stop pulling my hair!"

"Waaaaaa! Hers really changes color!"

Meanwhile, unable to control a certain emotion, Yuurei's hair turned red once again, prompting reactions from everyone around.

"Ahem... well, let's leave that aside for now. Hi! You already know my name, so call me Airi all you like! I'm a 4th-year student looking forward to enjoying my last year here on campus!... Or to make sure I spend a couple more here... Let's get along well!"

Despite her emotions leaking through her hair color, Yuurei bowed her head to her senior student.

"I also hope that we can get along well. So? You can't have come all the way here just to present yourself to me, is that right?"

"Waaaaaaa! Why does she know that much? Anna, what's up with this girl?"

"I said I don't know! And stop pulling on my foot, you weirdo!"

A couple of seconds into her circus, Yuurei stopped Airi with an "ahem," and the latter got back on her feet and spoke formally.

"That's right. I wanted to make sure of one thing. You know, you've got this insane ero-demon allure about you that I can't help but think my boyfriend would really like, and I heard that you already met eyes with him. I just wanted to make sure that the newest beauty around doesn't steal my man from me, you know?"

"Oh? You have a boyfriend?" Yuurei confirmed, and just then, as if to cut the tension around with his own body, a young man entered the fray, falling from his high branch right into the middle of the group.

"I thought there were no fruits in spring—" Anna tried to speak, but the boy interrupted her with a shout.

"You have a boyfriend?!" Haruto shouted, and everyone around cast their shocked gazes at him.

"Hihi! Of course I do, silly!" Airi answered, grabbed Haruto by the arm, and kissed him on the cheek after helping him up.

"Yuurei, this is the boyfriend I was telling you about~"

"Oh?" I see..."

"No, no, no. You already know that isn't true! What's this all of a sudden?" Haruto tried to protest, looking the ghost—no, demoness—in the eyes.

"Yuurei, you believe me, right?"

He looked through her eyes, trying to reach for her heart. At the same time, Yuurei looked at the young man who had laid his soul bare for her to peek at it.

After the long exchange of glances, Yuurei turned around, nonchalantly scratching the boy on the face with her tail as she did so.

"Boyfriend or not, what does that matter to me?" she said, and then the demon girl departed under everyone's gazes, leaving Haruto with his hand stretched towards her.

*****

"Hey... do you think he's fine?..."

"Airi-chan-senpai, what kind of question is that? Aren't you the one who's got him in this situation?"

"Ha?" the gal answered, baffled. "How am I to blame for how blunt that Yuurei girl was with him? I mean... I get that such words would hurt anyone's feelings, but where does it say that he has to climb that high in that tree again? He fell from there once already! Do something!"

To the impossible request, King Kobra shrugged his shoulders.

"Even if you tell me to do something, it's not like I can call to him like to a cat..."

"How do you know if you haven't tried?"

Kenta wanted to object once again, lifting his finger as he searched in his head for an answer, but a couple of seconds had passed and still nothing had come to him.

"You know what? You're making a fair point..."

"Of course I am."

Then, after singing a couple of notes in an attempt to make his voice sound more suave, Kenta faced the highest branch of the tree, where Haruto stood with his gaze lost in the horizon, and called to his friend.

"Come down here, Haru-kun! I know exactly what you want~ You want food, don't you?"

"I don't think 'food' is what you should call him down with."

"Come here! I have your favorite snack on hand. I have a fairly large wooden bat that you can smack the smugness out of me with~"

"No, that's certainly not how you make him come down. Are you into that kind of play?"

"If you don't come, I'll have Airi-chan-senpai do it in your stead! You wouldn't let this bad senpai hit your dear friend, would you? I mean, I sure hope you would but—"

Before Kenta could say something that would make the air between them taste even more sour, Airi covered the young man's mouth with her hand, hoping that she may never again have to be put through such an embarassing situation in front of everyone walking the campus grounds.

"Ah! Enough, Haruto! I'm already mourning at the thought of what everyone looking at us might think! If you're not going to come down, then I'll have to shake you down myself!"

After speaking her mind, Airi let go of Kenta, and the boy turned around with a less than pure face to look at her.

"Go on..." Airi prompted the boy, and Kenta's lecherous gaze turned to a confused one.

"Go on with what..."

"Go on and kick the tree! How else are you king to shake him down from there?"

"..."

"Kenta... we haven't got all day, you know?"

But instead of doing as told, Kenta shook his head and hands.

"Airi-chan-senpai... I must have misheard you. Didn't you say you were going to do it yourself?..."

"And risk hurting my pretty self? No way I'm doing that! We both know that you'll do it if I ask you nicely enough, so let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to it!"

"..."

"...Ahhh... Pretty please~"

Kenta gulped down his hesitation, looked one more time at Haruto, who kept ignoring both of them, and he backed up a couple of steps. Then, with a loud shout worthy of one to call himself Kind Kobra, the boy ran towards the tree and kicked it with all his might, making the branches shake ever so slightly. Or that might have been the wind.

"...So?" Airi asked.

"My leg hurts," Kenta gave an emotionless response.

At that point, both of them sighed and were about to give up. Just then, Haruto jumped down from the top of the tree.

"Haruto! So my mighty kick wasn't for no—"

... and hit Kenta over the head with the gifted bat for the ruckus he was causing.

As this happened, two boys passed by the group.

"Yo... what's up with those guys?" one asked.

"I don't know," the other answered.

"I think they're from overseas."