“… I know.”
“I suggest you speak with Lilian-sama about this when we get back from our mission.”
“I… I will.”
Kevin hated this feeling. He hated feeling guilty. He hated the fact that Iris didn’t feel guilty. More than anything, though, he hated how he hadn’t said anything to Lilian. She would not have kept something from him. Whenever something happened, Lilian told him. When he asked her what was wrong, she told him. He despised how he couldn’t do the same thing.
“I promise.”
Kotohime ruffled his hair. “I expected nothing less from Kevin-sama.”
Kevin tried to pretend he was offended by her affectionate gesture. He pushed her hand off his head, which made Kotohime giggle.
“Ufufufu, Kevin-sama has become a fine harem protagonist.”
“Gurk!”
There was a car waiting for him and Kotohime when they arrived at the only road near their apartment. The driver, a yokai with three faces and six arms, drove them across Neo Seiryuu. It wasn’t long before they’d entered a tunnel, which eventually opened into a massive underground garage.
“Thank you,” he and Kotohime said to the driver as they stepped outside.
“Follow me, Kevin-sama.”
They strode across the garage as the car reversed course and left. Passing by car after car, they swiftly moved to the back, where several familiar faces were already waiting for them.
“Master Kevin!”
Kevin had barely a second to recognize the dark-haired woman with yellow eyes bounding toward him.
“Cassy—oof!”
This hasn’t happened in a while…
Kevin blinked several times as he stared up at the ceiling. Lying on top of him, Cassy purred as she rubbed her nose against his suit.
“Nya… Master. It’s been so long since we last saw each other. Nnnyaaa, I’ve missed Master’s wonderful male scent.”
“Uh…”
Kevin had no idea what to say to that. The last time he and Cassy had met, she’d been trying to keep him from rescuing Lilian and Iris, who’d had a hit put on them. They hadn’t really been enemies, but it still made him somewhat wary—the fact that she’d been the stray cat he’d picked up when he was younger notwithstanding.
“Master. Master. Master.”
Kevin squeaked when Cassy licked his neck—the only exposed part of his body besides his head. He gave Kotohime a pleading look, begging her to help him. She just smiled.
“Ufufufu, Kevin-sama is such a ladykiller.”
Traitor!
He looked at the others. Kiara was grinning, Phoebe was staring at Cassy like she wished they could trade places, and Heather was giggling as she jotted down in a notepad.
I hate my life. Still lying on top of him, Cassy giggled like a cat who’d gotten high off catnip.
Lilian had decided to visit Lindsay that morning.
Iris had gone off with Christine. After giving her a peck on the lips, the raven-haired vixen had dragged the yuki-onna off. Supposedly, they were going shopping, though she believed that her sister had other plans in mind.
Knocking on the door to her friend’s apartment, Lilian waited for Lindsay to answer.
Lindsay was thinking about Christine when the knock came to her door.
The previous night, Jessica had come over and comforted her. Her blond friend hadn’t spent the night, but she was grateful for the other girl’s support. It had helped ease the pain she felt at Christine’s words.
“Are you going to get that?” Future Lilian asked.
“I’ll let Mom get it,” Lindsay said.
“I’m not sure you want her answering the door.”
“Why is that?”
As if answering her question, her mom’s loud voice rang throughout the house. “What do you want, Harlot?”
“Harlot?” came an achingly familiar voice. It sounded just like a younger version of the one that belonged to the person lounging on her bed, reading a manga that had come from who knows where.
“Do not play dumb with me! Because of you, my daughter is… my daughter has…!”
As her mom began blubbering, Lindsay stood up and opened the door to her room. “I’m going to deal with this. You should probably make yourself scarce.”
“Don’t worry,” Future Lilian assured her. “I’m a nine-tails. If I don’t want to be seen by my younger self, then she won’t see me.”
“Right.”
Leaving her room, Lindsay padded down the short hallway and entered the living room. There, she found her mom arguing with Lilian.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I want to do is see my friend.”
“I refuse to let a scarlet woman like you see my daughter! You’ve already stolen Kevin from me—I-I mean, from Lindsay! I’m not going to let a vixen like you corrupt her further! Your days of debauching my daughter are over.”
“Debauching?”
As Lindsay listened to her mom’s outcries, she felt both a blush and the urge to facepalm come over her. “What are you doing, Mom?”
“Oh, Lindsay, dear.” Her mom sent her an unconvincing smile. “Please do not come over here. I am just making sure this vixen doesn’t—”
“Lindsay!”
Shoving her mom out of the way, Lilian burst into the room like a vibrant hurricane, grinning from ear to ear as she bounded up to her.
“Lilian, what’s up?” Lindsay grew more relaxed. She wasn’t upset at Lilian, after all, and seeing that vibrant smile of hers made her feel oddly peaceful—despite the headaches that her future version had been giving her.
“Ufufufu, I was wondering if you would want to watch a movie with me.”
She deadpanned. “I’m not interested in watching anime.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t have anime.”
Her grin widening even further, Lilian held up a DVD case. Lindsay took one look at it, gasped, and then snatched it from the two-tails.
“This… this is Blue is the Warmest Color! I’ve wanted to see this for nearly a year now, but Mom never let me. Where did you get this?”
Lilian puffed up her chest in pride. “I asked someone who’s knowledgeable about this kind of stuff to get it for me.”
“Heather?”
“Heather.”
“I thought you didn’t like these kinds of movies.”
“I don’t.” Lilian shrugged, then smiled. “But you do.”
Lindsay chest felt warm. Lilian really was a good friend. It was a shame that she was Kevin’s mate.
After barging into her friend’s residence, she and Lindsay popped in the movie and watched it in the family room. Lindsay’s mom, the large woman who spent way too much time drooling over men less than half her age, had tried to kick her out, but her tomboyish friend had put her foot down. Mrs. Dianne had left in a huff. Lilian assumed she’d gone to that strange club of hers.
Blue is the Warmest Color was about a woman named Adèle and her explorations as a lesbian. Lilian likened it to a yuri anime, though she didn’t like it as much as Kuma Ken or Pandora in the Crimson Shell. Maybe it was the fact that this was a live-action movie. Lilian preferred anime to live action.
“Thank you for watching this with me,” Lindsay said as she stretched underneath her blanket. Lilian didn’t have a blanket of her own, but she’d wrapped her tails around herself in a makeshift blanket.
“You’re welcome. So, about Christine…”
Lindsay flinched. “What about Christine?”
“What do you plan on doing about her?”
With the appearance of someone who’d just swallowed a lemon, Lindsay shrugged. “There isn’t much that I can do, is there? Christine made her opinion perfectly clear yesterday.”
“You know Christine still thinks of you as a friend.”
“A friend, is it? Well, maybe I don’t want to be just a friend.”
“But… you can’t really change how people feel…”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Lindsay snapped. “After all, you did change how Kevin feels.” Lilian winced, which caused Lindsay to flinch as she realized that she was getting angry. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It’s okay,” Lilian tried to play off her friend’s words. “Um, out of curiosity, do you still like Kevin?”
Lindsay shook her head. “No, I’m over him. He’s a nice guy and kinda cute, but I’m not really into men anymore.”
“Thought so. Just checking.”
An uncomfortable silence descended upon them. Lilian wondered if she should say something, but she didn’t want her friend getting angry again, so she kept her peace.
“Hey, Lilian…”
“Yes?”
“What do you think I should do about Christine?”
Because she didn’t want to give Lindsay bad information, she didn’t say anything at first. She wanted both of her friends to be happy. What’s more, she didn’t want Christine and Lindsay’s friendship ruined over something like this.
“I think you should talk to Christine. I mean, you and she never actually spoke, did you? You just overheard Christine’s conversation with Jessica. The best way to clear the air between you two is to talk it over.”
The blanket she was under shifted as Lindsay drew her knees up to her chest. “I guess… but I’m worried about what will happen if we talk. I’m afraid it will make things worse.”
“Things will get worse if you don’t talk,” Lilian said. “Trust me on this. The only way to have a healthy relationship of any kind is to communicate with each other.”
“Did you learn that from your relationship with Kevin?”
“Of course!” Lilian puffed up her chest. “I tell Kevin everything!”
“Does he tell you everything?”
Lilian shook her head. “Not always—not at first, at least.”
“Doesn’t that make it hard? I mean, if you’re being honest and he isn’t…”
“Kevin is honest. It’s just that he sometimes needs time to get his mind in order.” Laying on her back, Lilian put her feet on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “He and I are different. He tries to accept those differences, but Kevin has a lot more hang ups than I do. Still, even if it takes him longer to tell me something, he always does in the end.”
Lindsay said nothing. Lilian reached up and played with her own tails.
“Anyway, we’re not talking about my relationship right now. We’re talking about yours.”
Gracing her with a wan smile, Lindsay sighed as she said, “Right, right. I’ll talk to Christine some time tomorrow. Are you happy now?”
“Very!” Lilian beamed as she leapt to her feet. Clenching her right hand into a fist, she eyed her friend with a massive grin. “Now, since we’ve watched one of your movies, it is time to watch one of mine.” Reaching into her cleavage, Lilian pulled out six different anime box sets. “What would you prefer? Inuyasha, No Game No Life, Vampire Knight, One Piece, Gurren Lagann, or Valkyrie Drive?”
Lindsay’s response was to give a discontent groan and bury her head into several pillows.
It took six hours to drive from Neo Seiryuu to Cortez.
Cortez was a tiny city with a population of 8,568 people. Kevin didn’t even know if it could be called a city. It was more like a village. There were only a few buildings, some of which were houses while others looked like stores and warehouses. There was only a single gas station and Kevin also saw a McDonalds, Taco Bell, Subway, and Burger Queen. A trickle of sweat ran down his scalp at that last one.
Someone has been watching Freezing, I see.
The trip to Colorado had been difficult—for him, at least. Kevin had been forced to deal with Cassy, who was like an overly affectionate housecat. She’d spent almost half an hour nuzzling her face into his crotch. It had gotten to the point where Kotohime had been forced to knock her out. The rest of the trip, Kevin had been forced to deal with Kotohime, Kiara, and Heather teasing him. That would have been bad enough, but then Phoebe had decided to follow Cassy’s example.
Kevin had been the one to knock her out.
Heather parked their military vehicle—which had been stolen from the Sons and Daughters of Humanity for this mission—behind a small hotel. Everyone then unbuckled and exited the vehicle—except for Cassy and Phoebe, who were still unconscious.
“Hey, Boya. Wake those two up, will ya?”
“How about you wake them up,” Kevin shot back.
Kiara grinned. “You’re getting awfully cocky if you think you can talk back to your master like that.”
“Urk!”
Knowing a losing battle when he saw it, Kevin resigned himself to his fate. He first woke up Phoebe, who he had more experience with and therefore felt safer waking. As the woman groggily opened her eyes, she looked around before happening upon him.
“Please tell me that you’re waking me up after you filled me with your sperm and got me pregnant.”
Kevin twitched. “Yeah… no, we did not have sex, I did not fill you with sperm, and you’re definitely not pregnant. We’ve arrived in Cortez.”
“Damn,” Phoebe swore, “so it was just a dream.”
“What are you dreaming about?!”
After waking up Phoebe, Kevin shook Cassy awake.
“Nya…” The woman stretched her arms and legs as she sat up. Smacking her lips, she blinked several times, and then her eyes landed on him. “Nya! Master!”
Kevin held a hand up, forestalling what looked to be the beginning of a mighty fine pounce. “We’ve arrived at Cortez.”
He felt relief at seeing Cassy’s expression turn serious. He was safe… at least for the time being.
After exiting the vehicle, everyone followed Kiara as she led the way into the hotel. They booked a single room—and Kevin received a disgusted look from the receptionist, who no doubt thought him a sexual deviant. After they entered the bedroom, which only had two beds, everyone made themselves comfortable on the floor.
Kiara grinned at them. “Right. Before we infiltrate SOB headquarters, we all need to know the plan that we’re going to use to get in.”
“Hold on. What’s SOB headquarters?” asked Kevin.
“Sons of Bitches headquarters,” Kiara said proudly. “It’s what I’ve decided to call the Sons and Daughters of Humanity.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Now, then, listen up. Here’s the plan we’ll be using to infiltration SOB headquarters…”
As Kiara laid out their plan, Kevin wondered if it would really be as easy as she seemed to make it sound.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
The morning after spending time with Lindsay, Lilian decided that she was going to help her friends make up.
She’d cajoled her sister into helping her—in exchange for some extra alone time while Kevin was out on his mission. Lilian saw no problem with this and agreed.
That morning, she’d called up Lindsay and asked if she wanted to spend time with them. Her friend had seen right through her, which didn’t surprise Lilian as they’d had a conversation about Christine the day before. However, when she reminded her friend that she’d promised to talk to Christine, Lindsay had reluctantly agreed. They were going to meet up at a small maid café that Kuroneko had established after moving to Neo Seiryuu.
“Which one do you like better?” asked Lilian.
Christine groaned. “Do I really have to do this?”
“Yes. Now which one do you like better?”
“I like the one with less clothing better.”
“Nobody asked you, Iris.”
“That’s harsh, Lily-pad.”
“Christine?”
Lilian stared expectantly at her friend, who squirmed like she had to pee. Christine looked from one pair of clothes to the next. Lilian patiently waited for her friend to make a decision.
“I’d go with the skirt and sleeveless top,” Christine mumbled. “They have more frills.”
“Of course, you’d go for the frilly one, goth loli.”
“It’s no different than you choosing the skimpy one, fox skank.”
“The frilly one it is,” Lilian decided, much to Iris’s very vocal displeasure.
She donned the clothing that Christine had chosen. It was a frilly black skirt and sleeveless pink shirt combination. The shirt had several frills along the shoulder, neckline, and hem, giving it a floral appearance. As always, she finished her outfit off with the gladiator sandals that Kevin had bought her so long ago.
“All right!” Lilian beamed at the other two. “I’m ready to go!”
“Great,” Christine said with mock cheer. “Then let’s hurry up and get this over with.”
“There’s no need to sound so irritated.” Lilian frowned.
Christine clicked her tongue but didn’t say anything.
After saying goodbye to Camellia and Kirihime, they left for the monorail stop. They would’ve normally met with Lindsay upon arriving, but Lilian thought it would be better if they met at the café instead.
Café Yokai looked nothing like its Los Angeles counterpart—at least on the outside. It was a quaint, two-story building built to look like a well-loved home composed of red bricks and dark brown roof tiles. There were several support columns holding up a balcony, and the outside eating area was lined with cobblestone.
Several people were already eating there. Lilian was amused to notice that most of them were human. Wandering around the tables were nekomimi, usagi, and at least one kitsune.
“What a weird place,” Christine muttered.
“I think it’s cool,” Lilian said with a pout.
“I just want to wear a maid uniform,” Iris declared. “In fact, I think I’ll ask them if I can borrow one of those.”
“Fetishist.”
Iris winked at Christine. “You know it.”
They walked in and were greeted by one of the maids. She was a tall woman with a muscular physique and red skin. A pair of horns sat on her head, and her breasts looked several sizes larger than Kotohime’s.
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