Actually, I need you

Finding a spot in the shade, Ayame and Kasumi enjoyed their coffee. There wasn't much to talk about since they didn't have much of a life outside of their jobs which they shouldn't really mention with so many people around.

However, Ayame's phone began to ring which was quite rare so she instantly picked it up.

"Hello? What's wrong Mum?" Ayame saw that it was Tomoe calling which only caused Ayame to stress out. Especially with all the information she has learnt recently, has put her on edge thinking about the worst-case scenario.

"First of all calm down, nothing is wrong… well there is but nothing big." Tomoe could hear the panic in Ayame's voice which made her feel bad for calling in the first place.

"Okay?" Ayame calmed down a little hearing that it wasn't anything major, but a part of her still was freaking out. Kasumi was tempted to comfort Ayame by grabbing her hand or wrapping an arm around her, but then she realised it would make it worse.

"I said the shrine would be okay without you, but I can't get find any kitsune to hire so Im going to need you to come back. At least for the afternoon shift when you can." Tomoe overestimated her ability to help run the shrine, but unlike Ayame, Anna wasn't able to be there all the time so Tomoe needed to work.

This turned out to be a bad decision as now she had no time for anything else and with her being outside using magic was a no-go. People from the surrounding apartments would see which is a risk she is not taking.

"Oh, so you DO need me after all." Ayame now was completely calm and was more unimpressed.

"Yeahhhh, if it isn't too much to ask I will still need to come back. Plus I will even pay now, so how does that sound?" Tomoe knew she just let Ayame out of the nest, but Tomoe needed her to come back at least for a while.

*Sigh* "Fine, It isn't like I was going to say no anyway." Ayame didn't plan to say no and if anything she was really happy that Tomoe still needed help. Being a shrine maiden helped filled the time as hanging out in her room all day was getting rather boring.

"Hehe good, well can I ask you to come by now? You can bring Kasumi along if you're not busy." Tomoe would like the help now but understood if they couldn't since it was orientation for them.

"Kasumi wanna head to the shrine for a little bit of work?" Ayame quickly turned to Kasumi asking her since she was in charge of their little outing.

"That's fine, it seems like she really could use the help." Kasumi would of preferred if they didn't, but it was also a good chance to see if she could join Ayame on the assassin contracts.

"Alright, we will be right over." Ayame was glad that Kasumi didn't seem bummed out by the idea.

"Thank you sweetie, I will see you soon then." Tomoe felt relieved hearing Ayame could come.

"Alright see you soon." Ayame hung up the phone while getting up from the ground with Kasumi. It would be about a 30-minute walk, but trams ran through the city cutting down the time needed to travel.

The shrine was essentially a central park, so it was close to all the major places in the city. It was part of the reason why it's so popular since it was so central. Also, the location was right by where a lot of people lived so it became routine for people to drop by as they passed. It even made Tomoe create another entrance to make it easier for people to travel through.

"So am I helping or tagging along?" Kasumi didn't know if she accidentally agreed to help or was just following Ayame.

"Lucky for you I don't think we have spare shrine maiden clothes that will fit your… assets unless you want to give fan service to some of the boys?" Ayame stared directly at Kasumi's chest while imagining the spare clothes they had, but with her height and sizeable chest, there was no way it would fit.

"Yeah no thanks, there only for your eyes anyway." Kasumi smirked while leaning in closer on purpose.

"Ahh! There are people around you know." Ayame stepped back just before she got knocked out by a pair of mountains. Ayane also saw some people looking at them which was the opposite of what she wanted.

"Oops, can't let people stare, let's get going." Kasumi walked past Ayame while grabbing her wrist.

"Jeez." Ayame blushed while using her free hand to cover her face from the people looking at them.

**

Walking out to the street in front of the university, a tram was just slowing down at the stop. The doors opened and the majority of the passengers walked out as they were students. Some were doing semester break classes so there were students still attending classes.

Quickly getting on the tram, they managed to get a seat by the door.

"Should be a 10-minute ride." Ayame opened her phone looking at the route of the tram they were on. The fifth stop was the closest to the shrine and was the end of the free travel.

"You probably didn't need to move at all." Kasumi realised that Ayame lived super close unlike her who was across the city.

"Well it's nice just being a couple of minutes walk away, but I'm doing it more for the experience than the distance." Ayame knew she didn't have to move in, but now she had a sense of freedom.

"Fair enough, I won't complain." Kasumi was initially worried that Ayame wouldn't want to move, but things turned out well.

*

[Silver street, This is the last stop for free transport so please scan your card if you want to travel further.] An automated announcement echoed out in the tram telling them where they were. Ayame and Kasumi didn't keep track of where they were so hearing the announcement quickly squeezed past the people. Making it out of the tram they saw the forest that the shrine was surrounded by.

"It's close to peak time so let's be quick before it gets too busy." Ayame saw the time and was worried they would get stuck in the wave of people.

"Surely we can cut through the trees." Kasumi didn't know why they couldn't shortcut their way through, so she wondered if there was a reason.

"We could, but that would trigger the alarms and I rather not spend our evening setting them back up." Ayame didn't know where the alarms were, but there were many times when teenagers would try to run through the trees and cause trouble.

This made Tomoe set up magic alarms so she could deal with them. It also stated at the front to not enter the forest as it is also a sanctuary for small animals. It had become protected land and Ayame didn't want to break the rule.

The only place she could go was the waystone, but it wouldn't be useful in their current situation.

"I guess we can only hope." Kasumi understood the reasoning so she picked her pace while dragging Ayame.

"I can walk fast you know!" Ayame could walk perfectly fine, but Kasumi kept pulling almost causing her to fall.

**

Arriving at the entrance people were starting to walk in, but it was still quiet allowing them to speed past everyone.

Walking to Tomoe's house Kasumi did not hesitate to open the door.

"Who are you?" Anna who had just changed into her shrine maiden outfit was just about to walk out when the door suddenly slammed open.

*Huff* *Huff* "Hey Anna, this is Kasumi." Ayame pulled herself up by using Kasumi's sleeve since when she suddenly stopped Ayame fell to her knees.

"Oh Ayame! So you're the woman that stole her away." Anna looked Kasumi up and down while nodding as if she was a parent approving of Kasumi's looks.

"Good I can see why, I would too." Anna muttered to herself trying to gauge what kind of person Kasumi is.

"Uhhh hello?" Kasumi felt a little uncomfortable, but it would be stopped as suddenly Anna fell forward.

"Enough staring and get to work, you can talk later." Tomoe came out of her office and saw Anna was getting distracted. It was about to be peak hour for the shrine so Anna needed to get to work.

"Hai!" Anna didn't protest and instantly left to go attend the shrine.

"Alright Ayame I need you to get changed, your room is as you left it so don't waste any time. Kasumi come with me I can use you and I need to talk to you." Tomoe didn't waste any time and the tone she spoke instantly got Ayame moving. It was a serious tone, so she knew not to mess around and just listen.

Kasumi was a little surprised that Tomoe wanted to talk, but it also gave Kasumi a great chance to ask about the missions.

"Follow me." Tomoe walked back to her office with Kasumi following behind her. Tomoe leaned on the front of her desk with her arms crossed which intimidated Kasumi. Tomoe hadn't dropped the serious attitude so it must be serious if she is still acting like this.

"Let's talk about your father."