Morning walks and sudden shadows (part 2)

"I'm home!" I call as I cross the hallway and head for the couch in the living room, mmm... I should take a bath.

While I'm taking off my sweatshirt and shorts, I hear a happy Nicole coming out of her room.

"Welcome~!"

She looks at me, then looks around... and her ears droop a little while her tail slowly stops wagging.

"..."

"... What?"

"What happened to my skewers?"

"Ah, uh... maybe the booth was not open?"

"Look at your tail," she says, pointing behind me.

I turn my head and see my tail pointing up, completely stiff and a bit bristly... Traitor. I let out a brief sigh as I return to undressing.

"Sorry, I forgot. Should I go back and get some?" I ask.

"Sigh... No, that's fine. Let's buy some on the way to work."

"Or I can cook you some— huh, we'll buy some?"

"Yeah, you come with me."

"Why!?" I can't help but raise my voice a little as I stand in my underwear and throw my clothes through the open door into the laundry room.

"You need to get out more. Also, someone might see you from the window."

"Uh, hardly anyone comes through this neighborhood; it's early and you're the one who gave me this exhibitionist habit." I say as I look at her figure. She's only wearing a shirt that exposes her belly button and black panties. She doesn't seem to be wearing a bra either...

"It's not exhibitionism if no one is looking at me."

"I'm looking."

"You don't count; you're still coming with me," she affirms, putting her hands on her hips.

"Eh... but there are a lot of people in the castle."

"You'll get used to it."

"What do I do if they talk to me?"

"You answer them?"

"And how am I going to do that?"

"Like you're doing now," she says, sounding increasingly exasperated.

"But—"

"You're coming with me!" she interrupts.

"Ugh, fine!"

Finally satisfied with my answer, she goes back to her room... And I can't help but stare at her butt. Her panties do a great job— uh, I mean, they don't do a great job hiding it, plus her wide hips give her a sexy wiggle when she walks.

"Stop looking and hurry up; we're leaving in forty minutes." That makes me look up again and see her with a big grin on her face.

Eh... Damn, she caught me looking.

"Haaa..." I sigh again.

Oh well, it's hard not to stare at a body like hers; her choice of clothes doesn't help... Luckily, I'm over my, uh, horniness towards her after an accident a few years ago, where I was... De-stressing in my room, when I carelessly said her name out loud and she walked in...

...

'AAAAHHH!!! DON'T REMEMBER THAT!!! DON'T REMEMBER THAT!!!'

I repeat to myself as I cover my face with my hands. Luckily, I'm closer to her than any other member of my family, so it wasn't too awkward. We both dismissed the whole thing as teenage hormones.

Although she did tease me about it for a long time.

As I go upstairs to the bathroom, I stop and look down... Mmm, she already knows— thinks. She already thinks I'm a pervert, so screw it. I also take off my underwear and throw it in the laundry room as I go to the bathroom next to my room, upstairs.

Even though I denied it... Walking around naked feels, um, interesting. Somehow... refreshing.

Let's leave it at that.

If a stranger saw me now, I would gouge out their eyes. But I don't mind if the one looking at me is an acquaintance. Shouldn't it be the other way around...? Or is that normal? But actually, I have my moments the other way around, too.

Well, it doesn't matter.

-----

After a quick shower, drying off with magic, a quick brushing, and a change of clothes, we both go to the castle.

Nicole is now wearing a navy-blue women's suit, with the crest on her chest indicating that she belongs to the court magicians. She usually wears casual clothes when she works; this must be a special occasion.

She looks really dignified and trustworthy! You could mistake her bored look for one of coolness and confidence.

What would all those who admire her think if they knew that her favorite pastime is to lounge around and make fun of me...?

Meanwhile, I decided on a brown sweatshirt over a simple white shirt and black jeans. I would have preferred a skirt; it's more comfortable and easier to fit my tail, but I love how the jeans accentuate my bottom.

I finish the look with a simple hair tie at the end of my hair.

While I'm proud of my body and love being dressed lightly at home, I can't help but feel incredibly self-conscious when I get looks from strangers. Even though I also want to show off a little.

'It's a contradictory feeling I'm still deciphering.'

"Didn't you work in a bakery? You should be used to dealing with people by now," she asks me as we make our way to one of the main roads leading to the castle.

It's not the shortest route, but there's a skewer stand that sells the best skewers in the world, according to Nicole. Yet, it's still early; even if they're open, I doubt they'll have anything ready at this hour.

"Usually, the interactions I have are based on greeting, charging, dismissing them, and not much else. Plus, a lot of salespeople were coming in, so I think my social skills were regressing rather than advancing..."

"You mean vendors? What's wrong with them?"

"Yes," I keep my face completely deadpan.

"Ah?"

"They are my natural enemies. Listen, they just talk about how great their product is, how generous the discount is, how expensive it usually is without their awesome once-in-a-lifetime promotion. Basically, they talk and talk and talk."

"Just tell them you're not interested," She rubs the bridge of her nose, letting out a long sigh.

"They won't let me! They won't shut up; I have to talk over them most of the time. It's very stressful and maybe rude."

"Mmm... Well, your face is very expressive; any vendor should know from the beginning that you're not interested. If you interrupt them, they can't get mad at you; they asked for it," she tries to be reasonable, but...

"Last time, I was serving customers at the bakery when a guy came in and tried to sell me perfume."

Her expression tells me that even she thinks it's stupid.

"For the sake of my sanity, I tried to ignore the fact that he was trying to sell that thing to a race known for their powerful sense of smell. When I finally found a break in his rant, I told him that I was just an employee and couldn't take money from the register."

Nicole gave me her 'this girl is just talking nonsense' look again. Although this time she looked a little more understanding.

"He said his super awesome offer was for me, not for the store owner; and then lined up several bottles on my counter and asked me to try them." I explain.

"What kind of idiot distributes perfume in a bakery!" she says with a scandalized look on her face, as if her gluttonous side had overpowered her tutoring side.

"I know! The smell of freshly baked bread is what attracts customers the most! Well, I guess... at least for me. Anyway, I tried to act disinterested by ignoring the bottles and pretending I didn't have any money on me, and you know what he did?" I ask, raising my voice a bit.

It's not like my normal voice is loud to begin with. When I "raise my voice," it's only at the same loudness as Nicole's normal voice.

"What?" she replies, reverting to her strict but lazy tutor mode.

"He got mad at me! He even said as he grabbed his stuff, 'Unbelievable, people have terrible taste here; I know where to never go again.' The damn guy attacked me like that! Shouldn't you be nice to your potential customers? Why get angry if someone doesn't want your stuff? That's your fault, not the customer's."

"..."

"Haaa..." I sigh and take a breath, trying to calm down before continuing.

"You good?"

"Yeah. But as he was leaving, I thought about his situation. Maybe he hadn't sold any of his obviously cheap perfume in days. Seeing a girl not even glance at his merchandise might have made him a little upset. So, I felt kind of bad for him. But I was also really angry at him for taking it out on me. I also felt attacked and vulnerable, and like I was in danger... All those feelings came together with stress, some panic, and a terrible urge to cry... Complicated feelings got mixed up and made it worse. Needless to say, my day was completely ruined."

"..." Nicole makes a complicated face.

"... In short, I don't like door-to-door salespeople."

"... Seina... I don't know if I should be angry at that idiot, or at you for caring so much about something so insignificant."

"It's not insignificant!"

"On the other hand," she says, ignoring me. "It's been a long time since you've said such long sentences! Maybe I should thank the man."

"..."

"Next time you run into someone like that, just tell them to get screwed and get on with your life; it's not—"

She stops talking.

Suddenly, a light in my peripheral vision catches my attention; it appears in the sky, bursting from behind a cloud. It approaches the ground quickly and is so bright that it illuminates the sky and the land blue-white.

My ears also pick up a hissing sound coming from the thing, like meat cooking in its own fat.

I just stand there and watch it fall without really reacting... At least until it hides behind one of the Academy's tallest towers, visible from all over the city, and half a second later...

BOOOOM!!!

I hear a loud bang that makes me jump and cover my ears, followed by a loud shudder that vibrates all the way up through the soles of my running shoes.