Chapter Thirteen

"You know, this is a pretty small bed," Tsuyu giggled as she reached out and dragged me onto my bed. I'd nearly threw her against the wall thinking she was trying to break my neck or something!

"You need to cut your nails," I grumbled, trying to move my attention away from the mess she nearly caused. "And don't get too comfortable. I'll be buying a new bed when I can."

"Oh my~ Oh my~" She giggled and poked my side. "You're a real tsundere, you know?"

I nearly choked on my own spit. No! What the hell did she mean by that?!

"I'm not!" I hissed, hopping off the bed and sending a mighty glare at the ex-assassin.

"What is a tsundere?" Fim's voice whispered within my mind. His curiosity and excitement fluttered out like that of a child's.

"Don't worry about it," I whispered back in my mind.

"Maybe so," Tsuyu said with another giggle. "But you can't deny that you act all tough but took me along in the end, right?"

I winced.

"I told you why already." Did I really need to say it again?

"That you did," she said with a nod. "Again, I'm really thankful. Especially now that I don't have to go hunting for a home."

And that was the crux of it, wasn't it? I couldn't just let her roam free. It'd be incredibly irresponsible and probably lead to a lot more problems down the line.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, blowing a sigh. "Anyways, you got a look at my house, so I'll go ahead and call my job. Tell them I'm sick or something."

Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

"You know, maybe you could take me out around town? You said you needed to buy that bed, yes?"

…

I couldn't exactly expect to keep her as a prisoner in my home. Maybe some fresh air would help calm that trickster attitude of hers.

"Sounds good," I said, giving her a casual thumbs up. "Now, where's that phone."

The less I gave her, the less she could use against me.

———————

"You know, I really find all these shows of affection to be quite distracting," Tsuyu spoke up as we walked down the street.

What was she talking about?

"Do you mean that couple kissing over there?" It was the only "affectionate" thing I could see.

"Yes," she said with a small nod. "I guess I'm just not used to it."

…

"Are you being serious right now?" I stared at her with a deadpan expression.

She raised a brow questioningly.

"What?"

What? What?!

"Do you not remember all the things you did to me? I'm pretty sure those would blow kissing way out of the water."

She rolled her eyes and moved a bit closer.

"Yes, but those were in my house. These people are doing it out in the open."

…

"I'm not even going to challenge that," I said, shaking my head. "Is this a you thing or some sort of cultural difference?"

She blinked and brought a finger to her lip.

"I guess it'd be cultural, yeah."

Ah, right. I think I heard something like that once. Wasn't sure If I was right. Still, it was hard to believe she of all people would be bothered by stuff like that. Actually, was she just messing with me? That was always a possibility.

"It's fine. They're not bothering anyone." I eventually decided on.

Tsuyu took a moment to compose herself and nodded. "I guess that's fair."

A cheeky grin slipped across her face.

"Though, we're catching a few stares ourselves."

Uh…

"What do you mean?"

She motioned to a few, nearby kids. They looked around my age. Great. I could deal with children and adults, but people my age were always difficult.

"We're speaking Japanese, you know? I think that's very eye-catching, right?"

All of a sudden I felt very self-conscious. My eyes darted around. Just as she said, quite a few people were giving us odd glances. Whether it was because we were speaking another language or not was still up In the air. A few guys were just checking Tsuyu out.

"I-I guess I have to teach you more English then."

She smiled and laughed, What she said next was quite the riddle. It was broken English but not so bad that I couldn't make out some of what she was trying to say.

My guess was, "Teach me, Lee sensei."

I cringed. Yeah. That was bad.

"Oh? Did I say it wrong?" Tsuyu spoke up with a small frown.

"All I'm going to say is that you could really use some lessons, yeah."

"Hmm. I'm afraid I don't have too much money right now," she said with a despondent sigh. Suddenly, a teasing grin tugged at her lips. "Is there some other way I could pay-"

I just couldn't. I burst out laughing, drawing even more attention from those around us.

Seriously? That was the cheesiest, more overdone porn line I'd ever heard! Was she trying to make me laugh? Oh, man. Maybe she wasn't so bad at telling jokes after all.

"What?" she asked, lip pursing into a small frown.

"Wait, so you weren't joking?"

She blinked and then looked at me with a furrowed brow.

Huh.

"You know, for someone that makes themselves out to look wise and dangerous, you really don't know all that much," I said.

If I'd upset her before, then I embarrassed her now. Her cheeks were like tomatoes.

"Well, I'm sorry," she said with a huff, taking a step away from me. "I didn't have the luxury to try and learn as much as everyone else. Half of my life was spent being trained and the other half I was running from place to place."

I winced. Ah… I'd forgotten about that. How old was she again? In her early twenties? She never had the chance to go to school, let alone experience a normal life.

I sucked in a breath and gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry. It was a bit insensitive of me."

She shrugged.

"It's fine. I doubt you'd understand."

Alright. I'd gone and done it now. She was angry.

==========

"You think I'm so easily bribed?" Tsuyu asked as I held out a delicious cone of ice cream.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "I think you're a fair and smart young woman who will forgive others' mistakes. Like a lady would."

She blinked. I blinked.

"Wow!" A giggle rolled off her lips. "It seems you can be charming just as well."

She reached out and snatched the cone from my hands.

"I didn't think you had it in you." She brought it close to her mouth and gave it a lick. "You really do know how to make someone laugh."

Tsuyu let out a small chuckle and then took a bite out of her ice cream.

"It's a very good skill to have. Also, thank you," she said and took another bite. "Vanilla's alright, but I like mint."

I scrunched up my face. Mint? Who the hell likes mint?! I almost shouted. Thankfully, I had good enough sense not to upset her again.

"I'll go get you another cone," I told her with a nod. "Just wait by the bench."

That line did not look fun to stand in again. It wasn't exactly scorching out, but standing in line for fifteen minutes wasn't fun.

Why the hell did so many people want ice cream today?

"Sure thing," Tsuyu said with a smile and gave me a small wave.

It was all annoying to be sure, but honestly… it was nice.

When was the last time I went out with someone?

…

I couldn't remember.

—————————

Ten minutes later and I had Tsutyu's ice cream. A bit of a shorter wait than I'd expected, but hey, I wasn't complaining.

"Here's your mint ice cream," I said and handed over the new cone. Her lips rose into an amused smile.

"Thank you," she said and started taking short, light licks.

"Say, so you said there wasn't anything supernatural about this world, right?"

I raised a brow.

"She'd be wrong," Fim spoke up. "You, I, her, and my fragments would all count as supernatural."

"Aside from me, you, and maybe one more thing, yeah. There shouldn't be anyone else with powers."

Should we be speaking about stuff like this out in the open? I mean, the chances of anyone knowing Japanese were small, but still.

"Maybe we should move somewhere more private to talk about this stuff."

She blinked and then put on a coy smile.

"Acknowledging it will just attract more attention." She rolled her eyes and made a subtle motion to a tea shop across the street. "Anyways, I was asking because I'm sure that person over there has been watching us since we got here."

"Wha-"

"Don't look," she said, reaching out and squeezing my nose. I blushed and nearly stepped away.

"Y-You sure they're not just curious?"

She shook her head and turned me in such a way that I could get a look at the tea shop. There were too many customers to really spot anyone suspicious from the bunch, but I did see one guy look away.

Curious.

"Average build. He's got brown hair and a white cap. Eating some salad with his tea."

Ah. Yeah, that was the one.

"W-Why do you think he's watching us?"

Tsuyu shrugged.

"Could be any reason, but if what you said is true… then It probably has nothing to do with our powers."

She grabbed my hand with hers and started leading me away. With her other hand, she brought up her ice cream and took a small bite.

"Just to be sure, use your phone's reflection."

Oh. That was smart!

"You sure know a lot of tricks."

I took out my phone, and wouldn't you know it- the guy finished his tea and stood up.

"Who do you think I am?" Tsuyu shot back with a furrowed brow. "Anyways, I think it's probably safe to ignore him for now. If anything happens, we'd have the drop on him."

She winked and let go of her ice cream for a fraction of a second. It floated in the air and then she had her fingers around it once more.

"I could just discretely take care of him if you wanted."

Take care what-

My stomach churned.

"I believe she means to kill the man," Fim mused. "It's not a bad idea. Though, it might attract more attention in the end."

I swallowed and shook my head.

"That's a bad idea on many levels. If his boss found out, it could mean more people following us. But more importantly- It's wrong."

Her eyes lit up mischievously as she quickly munched down the rest of her ice cream.

"I guess you're not as clueless as you sometimes look," she teased and pulled me closer, giving me a good view of her cleavage.

And now even more people were looking at us.

"But I'd probably still be looking behind my shoulder and barely getting any sleep if you were any less innocent."

I furrowed my brow.

"I'm not innocent, ok!"

She giggled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to say kindhearted."

She was laughing at me! Maybe not literally, but her eyes told me more than any words!

I sighed. At least she wasn't in a sour mood anymore.

"I guess having people follow us put you on edge? It'd be pretty spooky, right?"

Her smile vanished. She looked straight ahead.

"Maybe it's a bit much, but I've been running for most of my life. Call me paranoid, but it's going to take a while before I stop seeing everything as people coming after me."

I nodded.

"If it's any help, I'm pretty sure they'd be after me. You just got here, after all."

"I can assure you no one else came through the rift. I closed it as soon as we returned," Fim whispered.

And that was that.

I blew a hum. Right. Time to get that bed and then… well, maybe I could let Fim get back to that game of his.

"I encourage this course of action!" Fim beamed.

"So, anything you want to do when we get back home? I've got a few games."

Tsuyu blinked and gave me a funny look.

"Games? Like Go and chess?"

Oh my.

A huge grin slipped across my face.

"I'll show you."

This was going to be fun to watch. Maybe I'd let her try dark souls first?

She laughed all the time. It was the least I could do to get back at her!