The Malayan Krait [Closed]

Spoiler:

"Fwaaaaaah~" Reaching her arms up into the air and looking at the sun that had lowered itself through its path in the sky, Michiko could only feel calm and happy about the time she was getting to herself. After a more-or-less frightening day involving scary people and scary animals, she was quite happy to just sit on a swing and watch that sun go downwards. Even though she knew that they weren't actually viewing the real sky, it made her feel good to know that the people in this place were trying their best. Right now, however, was not a time for thinking and feeling, but a time for relaxing and winding down. Feeling her bum touching upon the wooden seat of the swing and the slow back-and-forth motion that it was making as she smiled, Michiko felt at peace for the first time all day. Reaching up the small pot of tea to her lips and sipping it calmly, she waited until she felt it stream down her throat--when she felt that, she brought the cup down and gave a sigh of relief. Honestly, she hated the fact that she was so anxious around people. All she wanted to do was make friends, but whenever someone got close enough to her she would curl up--they'd make a sudden movement, and that would be it; Michiko would be off like a frightened deer into the woods. It wasn't her fault. Grandmother, in all of her infinite wisdom, had decided to teach an anxious girl that everything was out to hurt and possess her, killing her just like it did her mother. Of course a younger Michiko would've believed it--and she was stupid to. So when she finally got sick of her Grandmother's teachings, she had basically told that woman that she was leaving Japan and going to Hephaestus, to learn to properly control her powers no matter what. She was beaten to within an inch of her sanity, but she managed to make it out. She hadn't seen that cow again. She didn't want to, because that woman's teachings had left Michiko permanently scarred. Even considering that just a little interaction with someone made her feel queasy, so Michiko made it her goal to remain away from people until she knew that she was brave enough to be able to do so. But to become brave enough, it required her to at least try to interact first. This was the dilemma she found herself in.

Unbeknownst to her, of course, the snake was close at hand. Unmoving and the like; Michiko didn't know it existed, and it didn't know that she did. In fact, she was quite happily sitting with her tea, swinging casually on the swing with a satisfied smile on her face. She felt sorry for the children who came here, younger than 8 years old, without their parents to guide them--sometimes born here, even. People who knew this life to be the only life. She almost chuckled at the irony: she had spent so long trying to escape the confines of her Grandmother's shrine, only to be trapped here at this school, in a cave beneath China. The fact that they managed to hide an entire city here was amazing in the first place, let alone keep it it hidden. She had heard rumors of a powerful source of energy locked underneath the school; enough to power them for millenia: but she didn't think it true. Why would there be so much energy stored in the first place--and why, if it did exist, would it be used to power one city? It boggled her mind. "Oh, well~" She chimed to herself, unusually cheerful due to the lack of company. Slipping the now-empty-of-tea cup into her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder, Michiko stood up off of her swing, before a flash of black and white caught her eye. "Strange..." Slowly making her way towards the shape, she suddenly jumped back with a screech.

"ohmygodohmygodwhatisthatdoinghereohmygodohmygod..." A snake was in the grass, eyeing her (not really) as if she were prey. But she didn't taste nice! Backing away slowly, Michiko decided to retreat to a place that she knew the snake wouldn't get her--and the girl in black shorts and a light purple shirt would now be seen, kneeling on a swing, bag over her shoulder. "Eeeeeee...getitaway..." Curled up into a defensive position, Michiko watched the shape that she now knew the existence of, waiting for it to leave so that she could go home. She knew nothing of snakes, just that some were poisonous--so if this one wasn't poisonous, she wouldn't know until someone proved it. Poor girl.

Hiss. Hiss hiss hiss. Even from her position high above him, Michiko felt completely and totally threatened by this snake. As she knew nothing, she was certain that it was going to strike her, kill her, eat her... ahh... the thoughts were just too much--she felt herself beginning to black out. No, Michiko, if you faint you die. Shaking her head and slapping herself mentally in order to bring herself back to normality, she began to watch the coils of the snake once more. It hissed more, and Michiko had no idea that it was trying to tell her to stop. As she had no personal understanding of the language of snakes, she instead thought it to be a threatening hiss. Having no knowledge of how beings like this acted, she assumed that it was readying itself to kill her. It started backing away from her, moving away approximately five feet. This was going from back to worse. If she didn't know any better, she'd be almost willing to stake that the snake was backing up and about to lunge. "pleasedon'thurtmeeee..." With her hands on her face and watching through her fingers, she felt her heart reaching speeds that were almost supersonic. It could be any second now. An instant bite, a feeling of heat through her blood, and then the slow feeling of her heart reaching its pinnacle... and then death. She would fall to the ground. Nobody would mourn her.

"Michiko Hasegawa," they would say, as they stood around her grave, "We didn't know her too well, she was always so scared of us. Even when we tried to make friends with her, she'd scurry away." Someone would probably comment on her much-larger-than-average breasts. Then, everyone would scatter and leave her to be buried by the perverted old guy who'd casually open the coffin and grope her dea--that's enough thought for one afternoon. Closing her eyes and rapidly shaking her head, Michiko tried to get all thoughts of death out of her mind. It's just a snake. It's scared of you. Don't be--OF COURSE I'M GOING TO BE SCAAAAREEED! She felt her body jolt for a second, hearing the snake hiss more as it raised its head up into the air. No matter what she knew about snakes (very little), it was trumped by that one knowledge from a few images she'd seen. When they've coiled up and raised their head like that, they're more than likely going to attack you with their fangs. Shivering more, and with tears at the edge of her eyes, Michiko finally felt her consciousness pass the point of no return. Falling backwards off of the swing and onto the soft sawdust, Michiko watched the sky fade to black, sprawled out on the ground where she had fainted. Until someone roused her, she would likely not move an inch. Not even the snake would be capable of waking her up from this slumber...

After the blackness had came, she felt a few things handling her--had she been caught as she'd fallen backwards off of that swing? Michiko had no idea, and she was most certainly not in any state to wake up and find out--not yet, at least. Instead, she was having a few amusing visions, involving snakes, swings, and grope-y guys filling in graves. It wasn't the best of visions, at least not in Michiko's eyes. Although she didn't move physically, she would continue to squirm internally, her mind telling that weird guy to get the hell out of there. Why, why, why could she only be brave in her own dreams? The images meshed a few seconds later, into a snake-faced guy on a swing reaching out to grope her.

"Aren't you precious," he started, "Why don't you come here and tell me all about your day?" She blinked and stared, not quite sure how to react to this bold-faced-snake-guy-on-a-swing. "Uhm..." She blinked again. "Aww... well you should--Wake up girl!!" Eh? Blinking again, Michiko looked to the side, certain that she'd just heard a female's voice. "E-excuse me, I just need to go and find something." And she ran. Away from the weird man on the swing with his hands that were shaped like claws and ohmygodhe'ssodisgustingewwww.... However, no matter how far her feet took her, she would always turn up at the same place, facing the guy with snake skin who wanted to grope her jiggly bits. No sign of that female with the voice anywhere, it seemed. Strange. Resigning herself to death, Michiko sat down and sighed brightly. "Well, are you going to be entertaining, or just perverted?"

Sarcasm, that's a new one." What? He talked back? Don't look so surprised, girlie. I'm just a weird manifestation of your subconscious, of course I'm going to talk back!" E-eh?! Nothing was making sense! "YOU'RE ASLEEP." Oh. That made sense. And like that, without warning, a pair of hands materialized from out of nowhere and gripped both of her shoulders, shaking the hell out of her with a shout.

"WAKE UP!" And wake up Michiko did, right in the hands of a girl with brown hair and eyes. She seemed around the same age as Michiko herself. Upon closer inspection, Michiko found her to be exceedingly pretty, if a little slender and a bit too youthful for her tastes. She wore red-and-white garments, but that was not specifically caught Michiko's eye. For around her neck was a necklace of black and white coils, quietly humming with each breath and really just keeping to itself. Of course, how was Michiko to know this? All she saw was that little beast that had threatened to kill her before--but she was no hero. Why would she try and save this girl's life, when it was really better to just get away! Launching herself away from the stranger with an inhuman speed, Michiko quickly put her back against a tree and stared. "S-s-s-s-snaaaaake...." The girl was petrified of the little thing, not knowing that it was as scared of her. "S-s-s-s-snaaaake..." It was likely that, until the snake was actually put away, Michiko probably wouldn't be doing much else--her voice was barely a whisper after all. She really didn't like snakes...

Though they rarely liked her either.

There were many, many, many times in which Michiko Hasegawa spurned the fear that she had been taught to feel about everything in this world. She cursed her grandmother and that foolish tuition of hers. She cursed her bloodline for being so susceptible to danger and damage. But at the same time, she cursed herself the most of all. She cursed herself for not being able to stand up for what she wanted to be able to; it was foolish and worthy of getting her killed if she wouldn't even be able to stand up to an attacker--would that be the reason that she died? Scared, alone, unable to stand up for herself out of pure fear? Her breathing grew heavy and more rapid by the second as she started--and continued--to hyperventilate. The girl in front of her spoke to her, saying that the snake was definitely harmless and most certainly not going to hurt or kill either of them. Sure, she could say that now. But what would happen if it decided to change its mind?! Michiko didn't know that the girl was capable of speaking to the snake, so why the hell would she know any better?

"If I wanted to hurt you, or if he wanted to... We would have done it when you opened yourself up by fainting in front of us..." Exactly why Michiko knew that she needed to get better. She needed to get stronger, but she could never do it properly. It was as if everything she had ever learned about in the world was a lie, and her Grandmother had been doing it just to keep her at home. "Stupid old hag." She cursed the woman further underneath her breath, despite still being curled up with her back against a tree. Strange, that such a small and harmless-appearing creature could cause so much fear in one person without actually having looked at it before, but this was the psyche of Michiko Hasegawa. If she didn't understand it; she feared it. If she understood it, chances are she feared it more than she previously did--it was a downward spiral for most things. Closing her eyes, she suddenly heard something out of the ordinary--though she didn't know if there was a difference in sounds usually, she noticed that there were two distinctively different snake hisses--the one she knew from the little striped bastard, and something new. Peeking through her outstretched fingers, Michiko noticed that the new girl's lips were moving, but she didn't even seem to be whispering. When she stopped moving her lips, the snake sounds stopped. She was almost... speaking to the snake. No, that was silly. But in a world like this, where Michiko could contract herself to other beings, maybe something as crazy as that was possible as well.

She didn't notice the snake approaching, but when it started to move its head, she tensed up further, staring at it through frightened eyes. "J-just get it--him away from me... I... don't hate him. I'm just... waaah..." Tears were streaming down her face from pure fear, and she didn't know why. She shouldn't need to be frightened, she just was. "He's being a dumb ass... He can't even hurt you. The most his venom could do if he was stupid enough to bite you is give you a cold..." S-still. How was she to know that this girl was telling the truth? Breathing out as the snake slithered away and around her waist, Michiko allowed herself enough room to finally get to her feet, but still staying about five feet away from Ai, in the case that the snake decided to turn around and strike her. "S-sorry... I... my grandmother instilled fear of almost e-every living and i-inanimate th-thing in the w-world before I c-came here. It's... n-not an easy thing to g-get over, b-but I'm working on it." Her voice was low and shivering still, but she was slowly trying to get her demeanor back, wiping the tears from her eyes and off of her cheeks, flushed bright red in embarrassment.

She hated this. She loathed this. She merely wanted to disappear and live out her days free of people, fear and that subsequent embarrassment that she received when she discovered that the thing she was afraid of, was merely a harmless thing. She could see that the snake was gone, and raised her hands up--slowly--in order to wipe the tears from her face. It was a hard-done thing, to live like this. "My name is Ai." Oh... such a pretty name. She smiled meekly to show that she had acknowledged that, and responded with a quiet "M-Michiko." She didn't want to be like this. She cursed this with all of her person, yet nothing came out of it. Letting out a long (and quiet) sigh, Michiko curled into herself tighter in order to better defend herself. "As you can probably see... I can talk to animals, not just Kiokure. ...oh. That would explain a lot of things, and potentially help Michiko out. In fact, it really would assist her endeavours. Letting out another long sigh, she tried to relax herself a bit more, listening to this Ai girl talk while she did so. She talked a little bit about how she had felt the same way; that it was something really difficult to remove from your being. Michiko just nodded, wanting to listen, wanting to stand up and shout to Ai just how much she understood and agreed with that pain--but it wouldn't work. Her body was still paralyzed with fear, and her mind was still shunning all assistance. That snake's very presence was irksome to her, simply because knowing it was there was more than enough to frighten her.

"If you want to change being afraid of everything..." Yes, she did! Force herself, don't sit back and let things happen--she knew already how hard that would be for her to accomplish. She knew what Ai was talking about though, and she could do it if she had the tools. A... friend? Michiko didn't have many friends. In fact, she didn't have any. Every person was a potential threat, something that could end her life in a heartbeat without any thought in the matter. That was a fact, but only because it was forced upon her. What she needed was to attempt to make a friend herself, but to do that.. she would need assistance. She needed to understand, and there were only a few ways she could do so. Yes. She could do it.

Yes, I can do it.

She got to her feet, awkwardly shaking and completely in fear. Her face was bright red, and she was already completely frightened.

"S-sorry in advance. I normally ask first, but I worry that if I don't do this now and quickly, then I'm simply going to chicken out. P-please forgive me." Her right hand was brought up to her forehead--yes, talking to animals was definitely a 'mind' power. The translation process could only be attributed as such. She didn't know if Ai had any other powers related to the body or the soul, but she didn't need to worry about them right now. If she could understand animals, maybe she could understand Ai a little more!

I have to do this now.

Two outstretched fingers--her pinky and her middle--were placed upon the invisible location of the seal. The location grew hot, and she started to quietly speak. "Under the Seal of the Mind, the King of the Three, I contract thee--please, lend me your power." And as if nothing were worrisome anymore, the exceptionally red-faced Michiko stepped forwards, uttered one more plea of forgiveness and brought her face right up to Ai's (she hadn't noticed Kiokure, thankfully). After a moment's hesitation, she pursed her lips and placed them against the other's--with merely a second of contact, the contract was forged and the link made. She didn't want to linger, and pulled away with an even redder face than before, but the soft glow of the symbol on her forehead gave clear notice that she had maintained the contract. "Sorry again..." If she looked at Michiko's posture, Ai would probably notice little change--her face was just as soft as before, but there was also something in her eyes that was different--a hardness that would almost be like looking into a mirror for Ai. "I needed to do that before I stopped myself, so I hope I don't regret this..." She was standing up straight now, and looked a little less scared. Above her, a bird tweeted--"LOOK OUT BELOW, BITCHNUGGETS!" And a bit of shit landed not five feet away.

"Ehhhh..."

Yeah, most people tended to react like that. She felt the other girl pull away from her, and stepped backwards a couple of feet as well; mouthing 'I'm sorry' again and again. The girl's head hit the pole, and Michiko immediately felt guilty and worried. She knew that she shouldn't normally do it that way, but she was worried that she'd mess up somehow beforehand, so she felt it necessary to do this before she chickened out. "Uhm... Uh..." She knew that it was a bad thing to do in such a situation, but she stepped forwards and offered her hand to help the girl. "Why....? It's the most intimate two people can get without, uhm, s-sex," Her face reddened at the very mention of it, "And it's n-not really a kiss, since I only sat there for long enough to forge the contract." She gave a weak smile in an attempt to convince Ai of that fact. "Hahahaha! She kissed you. That's hilarious. You know what? You'd make a cute couple. You ready to do anything and her scared to death of everything, what a wonderfu-..." AH!

"S-so you can talk to him. I thought as such, and you certainly did confirm it," She was speaking in the snake's tongue, smiling quietly at this, "I hope I didn't injure you too much, Ai. I don't want your friend here angry at me." Nodding quietly and calmly this time, she stood up straight and walked over to the swing beside Ai, sitting down with a smile. "Sorry about that; I felt it was the only way that I could understand," She lifted up her fringe, showing the softly-glowing glyph on her forehead. If Ai read closely, she'd be able to make out the kanji for 'Head', "My power is why Nana kept me wary of everything. I have the ability to contract beings with spiritual powers, and up to three at once. From those three beings, I can borrow specific powers--if I keep them contracted for long enough, I can even have the power bleed through and stay with me permanantly." A meek laugh, and she looked away, "Nana was so worried that I'd be taken by evil people, so she kept me locked away and forced me to be scared of everyone and everything." She hated that fact, and really didn't like sharing it--but she felt that this time, she could.

"O-oh, sorry for being so scared of you, Mr. Snake."

Mistrust. She was met with mistrust, as she always would be. Of course they wouldn't completely trust her; she had borrowed a copy of some of their power--not all of it, but enough to make them suspicious of her motives. She disliked that suspicion, but she didn't want to not use the gifts that had been brought down her family line. It was a tentative issue, and one that she rarely thought too hard upon. It was probably made worse by the fact that Michiko had reached out and kissed Ai on the lips; but she really didn't want to expand on that right now. Closing her eyes, Michiko sighed softly. This was bothersome.

So, the snake's name was Kiokure? An interesting name nevertheless. Smiling quietly, Michiko listened to him attempt to question her on her 'theft of his master's powers'. With a careful hand, Michiko reached out and softly touched him on the head. He felt weird, and slimy, and strange. "It's rather simple, really. I only borrowed her powers, and even then I only borrowed the powers related to her mind--which is the ability to translate back and forth from the language of other animals, into the language that I speak," She turned her head towards Ai's completely and tilted it to the side slightly at her question, the tied-up hair at the side of her head bobbing with the motion. Her eyes scanned over her face for a second, and she smiled again.

"It's nothing serious, really. My personality does tend to change when I'm using my contracts, into an amalgamation of the personalities of every one of them, plus my own personality in the mix. It can be rather strange at times," She giggled quietly, "But if it makes you feel any better, I can only talk to animals. If you have any powers unrelated to your mind and more to your body and soul, then I don't know of them and cannot use them. You can relax, okay?" She tried to give a reassuring smile, knowing that this would be weird for both parties involved.

The snake seemed happy. It was... a nice feeling. Michiko thought back momentarily to her food, but decided that no; she would continue eating meat. After all, there was nothing wrong with not knowing. Ignorance was bliss. She giggled to herself, placing her hands onto her hips and staring out at the sky with a soft smile. It had been a while since she'd last used her powers; confidence was nice to have for once. She didn't need to be scared of everything--maybe her consistently being scared was a divine allowance to get her to appreciate confidence, and therefore not get overzealous. As she pondered this, she heard the voice of Ai coming from her side. "How long does it last? The personality change... I mean." She blinked a couple of times, before placing a finger softly against her bottom lip.

"Honestly, it depends. Usually, it'll last as long as the power remains with me. All things depending, that could be forever--although I haven't experienced it yet, my grandmother told me of the 'Bleeding Effect', wherein powers that were contracted by my ancestor were capable of remaining with her after a certain length of time, even if she got rid of the contract. Her personality would change slightly, but not much--she'd mostly revert. I don't know, however. You may break the contract at any time you wish, and I won't hold it against you if you do," she nodded, "I understand, because I know how precious one's power is to them. In fact, this power lets me understand that more than anything else in the world could." She chuckled softly, shaking her head. "So, doing something?" She tapped her chin lightly, before placing her finger onto her bottom lip once more.

"I really don't know. I'm actually kind of hungry, now that I think about it!" She laughed softly, lightly covering her mouth with her fingers. She enjoyed having the confidence to speak like this. She really did love it so much.

"Alright then... Is there a certain place you want to go?" She almost seemed a little disappointed, that Ai did. Was she that intent on going to the zoo? Well, Michiko didn't think there was a zoo around--not even a petting zoo, and students were, to a very lesser degree, only allowed to bring pets in from the outside world. As such, there were only pet supply stores; not actual animal shops. There was very little that actually appealed to an animal lover in this city for students. Michiko felt rather sorry for Ai in that sense; and she honestly wondered just how many friends she had that were actually human. Smiling kindly, she then decided to hold out her hand. "You'll have to follow me. It's okay; I won't bite." She winked slightly, before leading on--whether or not her hand was taken.

The streets were rather busy this afternoon, despite what she had originally thought. Honestly, Michiko had no idea what people did with their time in this city. There were arcades; game stores and everything in between--it actually reminded her a lot of that one visit she had taken to Akihabara in Tokyo with her grandmother. The only time she'd ever been to Tokyo; probably the only time she'd want to be there without at least one person contracted to her. Laughing softly at her memories of running away from gigantic crowds of people, she noticed that her destination was a little way ahead--certainly close enough to be visible to all parties involved now.

Above the small teahouse was a sign that said 'Teahouse'. It was generic, but she knew the owners. There was a little table in the corner that she almost always buried herself into; but this time she'd be happy enough to sit in one of the central tables with Ai. As the finally reached the door, she opened it before her, the bell making a soft noise to allow her passage. As she expected, there was nobody in here. It was out of the way, and not too well-known, but Taiga was a lovely woman whom Michiko adored. "Welcome to the Tiger Teahouse. It's a small place, but few people will come in. In fact, I'm pretty sure Taiga-sama is happy to cater for all kinds of pets as well." She smiled kindly, finally letting go of Ai's hand (if it were in hers in the first place).

"You sure...? Even a snake?" Michiko nodded happily. She'd seen almost an entire menagerie in here from her little table in the corner at times. Students were pretty much allowed any pets they wanted to have, as long as they were capable of taking care of them. That's what Michiko loved about Taiga--she was a former student who started working around Academy City, and one of Michiko's few actual friends around here. Although Michiko would rarely approach Taiga openly, there was something about the woman that had always drawn her closer... of course, there was another reason that Michiko had brought Ai to this specific teahouse, though there were closer ones.

"Trust me, I think you'll like it here." At that moment, a petite and youthful-looking woman strode out of the back room with a confident stride. She turned instinctively towards the table and waved--"Michiko-chan, yahoo!" Michiko smiled and nodded, waving back with a cheery smile. Taiga knew what that meant, and pranced up to the table with a big smile. "You have a friend with you, Michiko-tan~? And she has a snaaaaake?" The woman giggled and laughed. "Does she like animals, then? Does she want to meet Shishima?" You could almost see the anticipation in Taiga's eyes. Michiko merely nodded, answering for Ai. "Yahoo!"

As quickly as she appeared, Taiga returned behind the curtain. "You know how students can keep almost any pet? Well, this pet is Taiga-san's. This pet is the reason Taiga-san named the teahouse what she did." Michiko giggled quietly as the sound of a guttural growl escaped from the backroom. As Michiko watched, a calm-looking tiger started padding out from the back, looking around the tables with a kitty-like expression. "Don't be afraid, Ai-chan. I mean, I usually am, but still. Shishima isn't going to hurt you. He's just a big kitty." She smiled softly, tilting her head to the side. There weren't any zoos here, so this was the closest to a menagerie that one could find around here.

Aha. Michiko knew that she was right in bringing this lovely young lady here. She couldn't hide the smile on her face--there were things about her powers that she was only really coming to grips with, but this was one of the nicer ones. To be able to understand a person's heart and feelings through the usage of that which meant everything to them--it was great and wonderful, and Michiko wondered if that was the reason behind her usually timid nature. To be able to become brave enough to break the ice... allowed her to do this; allowed her to become confident and talkative, even if only for a little while.

She laughed softly at the actions of the girl petting the tiger, and even giggled at the expressions Taiga was making. Honestly, she figured that even the bubbly woman would have a hard time figuring out what was going on, and yet Michiko understood both Ai and Shishima flawlessly. Before things got too hectic between those two, Michiko quickly waved down Taiga with a smile. "Might I have a green tea and a lemon tart, please?" Taiga nodded energetically, before rushing off into the kitchen with a yelp. It would be good to get Taiga going, and Michiko knew that Ai would get something sooner or later. Michiko would even pay! Yes, that would be nice. Smiling to herself as she tilted from side to side in her chair, Michiko gave thought as to what else they could do. Honestly, it was pretty boring here. Well, not here, but in Academy City in general. Maybe... maybe she could go fight something. No, no, that was a bad idea.

Her thought was immediately broken with another 'yahoo!' from Taiga, who brought out some tea and a tart with a huge grin. Michiko pulled out her purse, but Taiga shook her head. "I've never seen Shishima this happy. It's on the house~" Michiko nodded and thanked, returning the purse to her pocket.

"Hehe~" It was cute, watching Ai interact with the tiger as her tea was placed upon the table in front of her. In fact, Michiko was kind of jealous of that tiger. To be fawned over, by such a cute girl... did Michiko actually have feelings in that direction? She blinked a couple of times, thinking it over. She'd never really put much thought into her own sexuality. She didn't like men that much, even when she was around them--if it was the wrong kind of man, her breasts were the only thing on his mind. Any other kind of man was either not interested, gay, or a gentleman. But even then... Michiko loved watching girls walk by with a soft smile on her face, marvelling at their beauty and wondering what they got up to in their own home. Did they lay with man or woman--or both? She giggled softly at the thought before shaking her head and getting rid of all of that mindset. No need to think about romance and sexuality, Michiko. No need at all.

As the last of the thoughts drifted away, Michiko noticed Ai look up at her with those amazing eyes fading back into normality. She breathed a soft sigh of relief, placing her hand on her thigh and yawning slightly. She took up her tea in her other hand and brought it to her lips, drinking back some of the warm liquid while making a satisfied noise. As Taiga turned towards Ai to take her own order, Michiko suddenly blinked. What.. was the time? No, no, it didn't matter... right? "Oh yeah... No one is going to come in here and freak out over the animals right?" Michiko blinked and tapped her chin lightly, before returning to her tea with a calm smile; "Oh, no, don't worry--there's no way that'll happen. Well, it's possible that someone who doesn't know what Taiga does could walk in here and get scared out of their wits. I know I did when I first arrived." She giggled and finished off the tea, before hearing a quiet beep from her wrist.

"Oh! Crap, I'm suddenly needed for something. A meeting, if you will. I'm going to have to run--sorry." The girl quickly got to her feet, bowing multiple times with a determined expression. "I got so lost in having fun, that I completely forgot about it. I'm really sorry, but this is important." She dropped a small sum of money onto the counter, "Here's the payment for mine and Ai's food, Taiga-san--plus a little extra for the show!" She bowed once more and turned towards the door, preparing to run before realizing something and turning back: "I'm going to break the connection. These people don't know about my power, and I'd rather keep it that way," she smiled weakly, "It was fun while it lasted. And you as well, Kiokure! She nodded, bringing her fingers up to her forehead and drawing it across as if cutting a string. "Break!" When done, she nodded in thanks and ran off, trying to hide the fact that she was slowly going back to her old self. She was jealous of Ai... but also thankful that she'd made a nice new friend. Now, to deal with groups once more.

[EXIT]