Chapter 25.1

 "Hey wake up, it's Tuesday. We've got school today," Emily roused Asami, who groaned and turned away from her.

The sky was brightening as the clouds parted, indicating a new day had arrived. Emily in her night clothes, otherwise known as underwear, tried waking Asami up. Nearby, Michelle sat calibrating her prosthetic arm while Alina was nowhere to be seen; she had left for the bathroom some time ago.

"Five more minutes," Asami groaned, her voice muffled by the bedsheet she covered her head with.

"Alright, but she's gonna wake you instead," Emily shrugged and gestured to Michelle who cocked her gun while aiming at Asami.

Asami heard the gun cocking and jumped up from her futon.

"I'm awake, I'm up, don't shoot!" She cried and Emily giggled. Asami looked around and realized that Michelle pointed an empty gun at her: she was doing her morning maintenance on the gun's SEC armaments when Emily asked her to wake Asami. "Oh, that's evil, you're pure evil!"

"It got you up, non?" Michelle said as she shrugged.

Asami didn't say anything and slouched her shoulders while pouting at Emily who smiled back. After a sigh, she checked her phone and jumped again.

"Holy! Dude, it's, like, six in the morning! Why wake me up so early?" Asami asked in disbelief.

"Because you'd take about an hour to get dressed?" Emily suggested. "Also, eating breakfast, heading to school, that'll all take another hour for you."

"Ah … how did you know?" Asami's hand clasped her mouth as she gasped exaggeratingly.

"Your mom eu une conversation with Jason," Michelle answered. Asami who was stretching her back lost her footing and fell backward.

"She what?!" Asami asked, mortified. Her fair face turned pale with horror and her cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

"Yeah, she had a nice talk with him," Emily added gloatingly while folding her futon. "She said how you sleep in all the time and told him to play loud music while splashing you with cold water if you don't get up."

"He told you that?!"

"Non, he had the phone on orateur," Michelle replied, a grin of satisfaction plastered on her face when she saw how embarrassed Asami was. "He wanted Alina to listen."

"What … omg, my life is finished," Asami covered her face with her hands.

"You have a life? C'est une nouvelle pour moi," Michelle said.

"Oh give it a rest, my HP is down by a quarter already!"

"... Quoi?"

Emily shook her head with a wry smile as she heard them squabbling, she was enjoying the banter these two had as she left the room and headed to the shower stalls. It was a single large room with shower stalls designed like the one found in a locker room, but each stall had a one-way mirror glass door installed as opposed to a curtain, giving the users more privacy.

After a nice shower, Emily looked for a robe in the wardrobe that was attached to the shower room. She found a black fleece bathrobe to wear and found that settled a few inches above her ankles. The sleeves were long while shoulders were wider than she expected and one side slipped off her shoulders because of it. Despite the robe not properly fitting her, Emily shrugged it off and exited the shower room, preparing to return to the bedroom to get dressed when she heard a clanging sound from the kitchen.

The kitchen was nearby and, when Emily entered, she found Jason preparing breakfast. Across him was a dining table that was used for informal meals and right now, it was full of food that made Emily dizzy from counting.

"Oh hey, didn't know you girls were up," Jason turned and spoke to Emily but his smile faltered when he saw her.

She was wearing a bathrobe to cover herself with, and she was unaware that it was actually Jason's robe. Her fresh, pink-tinged skin glowed against the black velvet and one shoulder was exposed as her legs, despite being covered, played peek-a-boo when it revealed itself through the opening of the robes.

"Morning. Something wrong?" Emily asked with a small smile after she noticed Jason looking at her speechlessly. She was curious to see how Jason would respond and his reaction had her satisfied. She took a few steps forward and, as she walked, the opening of the robes extended and Jason caught of glimpse of her milky thighs.

"Uh … that," Jason seemed reluctant to respond and he swallowed as he gestured at her.

"Yes?" Emily asked teasingly.

"I'll - uh, you should take that robe with you," Jason finally said.

"Oh? Does it look good on me?" Emily asked as she spun around. Luckily, she had tied a knot on her waist using the bathrobe belt, or else it would have slipped off.

"Yes. It does suit you," Jason said slowly and awkwardly. "But, uh, the thing is that's … my old bathrobe."

Time seemed to freeze as neither Jason nor Emily moved, the latter frozen in shock while Jason avoided gazing at her eyes.

"I - it was a gift from Alle," Jason explained awkwardly while Emily's face turned cherry red from blushing. "Didn't have the heart to, uh, throw it out. But, now, you should take it -"

- God knows what Alle would do to me if you leave it behind, Jason thought in his head.

"So," Jason said, trying to change the subject. "Why don't you get dressed and come back. Breakfast will be done by then."

Emily barely nodded at Jason, who had returned to flipping pancakes, and dashed away only to bump into Alina who exited the shower room.

"Oh," Alina looked at the robe Emily was wearing in surprise. She tilted her head, reminiscing as she looked fondly at the robe, her mind recalling the old memories she had with Jason when she was younger.

"I swear, I didn't know," Emily said while nearly covering her face with her hands. The strong, muscular smell of musk and spices flowed into her from the sleeves and her face blushed even harder; she realized this was Jason's scent that was covering his robe and she removed her hands from her face.

"It's alright," Alina smiled. She was wearing a pink fluffy, plush bathrobe that reached her knees. Her naturally half curled hair was clinging to her face as drips of water fell from her hair and down her collar bones. "I haven't seen that robe in a while. Ah, Jason's face when it didn't fit him anymore was priceless."

Alina's laugh was infectious and Emily also smiled as she imagined a sulking Jason trying to wrap the robe over his bulging muscles while trying to shrink himself.

"Let's head to the changing room and start getting dressed," Alina said as she beckoned Emily to follow her.

"Changing room?" Emily asked.

"That's what I named it," Alina said. "Notice how the showers were built? This place is meant to support a large group and so there's a shower room, a changing room with an entire wardrobe of stuff, a gym and training room, and god knows what else Jason installed."

"Wardrobe. So .."

"Well, you guys weren't planning to stay over so none of you brought spare clothes," Alina explained. "And there's no way you're wearing those leather pants. Ms. Silvia would kill you if you were to go to school dressed like that."

"Oh, god. Do you have extra school uniforms?" Emily asked as she realized how dire the situation was.

"Nope, none that would fit you," Alina replied. "I talked to Jason about it and he said that he'll give us a permission slip so we can go to school without uniforms."

"He can do that?"

"You know anyone who would say no to him?" Alina asked back and Emily agreed while nodding her head.

While the two dressed themselves in rather moderate clothes, Michelle and Asami joined in. Alina and Michelle dressed up quickly before waiting for Emily and Asami to finish as the latter two spent a long time prettying themselves with makeup in front of a mirror.

"I'm curious, why are there so many outfits of different sizes?" Asami asked as she applied eyeliner. "Some of these, like, totally wouldn't fit you, even when you're a milf."

"Gee, thanks," Alina replied sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"It's a compliment! It is! You've got really narrow hips like -" Asami said while turning to Alina.

"Uh huh, yeah, sure," Alina said. "Back to your question. The reason why Jason got so many clothes in different sizes is literally cause he can't stick to one girl."

"Ah, the Bruce Wayne Syndrome at its finest," Asami muttered while Emily stopped her hands which had a sponge dabbed with foundation.

"What do you mean he can't stick to one girl?" Emily asked.

"Well, there are lotta reasons," Alina answered. "Top one being, he can't open up to them."

"So, grand, noir, et beau?" Michelle asked. "What is so bad about cette?"

"It's not bad, per se," Alina replied. "But think about it. You date a guy and after, I dunno, three dates, he knows you so well, like, what you like wearing, eating, or watching and stuff. But, you don't know anything about him. Just when you think you know him, you find another aspect that only mystifies him. He's like the perfect dream guy, but not someone you can see yourself being with forever. And that's just one problem."

"And the other problems?" Emily asked pressingly.

"Hmm, the next one would be him being too much of a horndog," Alina said after pondering for a while. "These four years, I've seen women complain about how they can't satisfy him. And then he ends up flirting with other women and that bothers his lovers 'cause they're concerned that he'll cheat on them."

"But … that can't be his fault," Emily said rather defensively and Alina raised her eyebrows at her.

"Sister, tell me that after you've seen him go at it," she answered with a wrinkled nose. She still had nightmares of those memories. "I mean, he's at it every day for hours."

"Ok so, that's like a plus demerit. Next," Asami said while handing Alina some lip balm. The latter looked at her confusingly and Asami gestured at her to use it.

"Let's see … ah, he frightens some girls away," Alina said after using the lip balm and tossing it to Michelle.

"Comment?" Michelle asked, bemused.

"I mean, you guys know by now, right?" Alina said while shrugging. "He's got … issues ... because of his childhood. He can't let go of the anger and hate, so sometimes it explodes. Like, he'll break someone's arm if they slap or insult his girl. And some of them can't handle that ... intensity."

As Alina spoke she looked at Emily knowingly, but the latter was preoccupied with her thoughts. Emily remembered the night she met him, how vicious he was to the would-be rapist that tried assaulting her. If the man hadn't gone so far with her, if he only slapped her and Jason broke his arm for that, how would she feel?

A shudder passed through her back as she realized that, just like Alina said, she would've been frightened and probably would've done her best to avoid someone who was so aggressive and violent. Her stomach churned as she now realized why Jason was so nonchalant that night; he thought that, like the others, she was scared of him and that was why he kept his distance.

It must be lonely, Emily thought. Saving people, only to have them look at you like a monster.