Duo mission

"YESSSSS!!!!!!" Ayame screamed while jumping into the air. She finally got the win she had been trying so hard to get.

"Well done, you started getting pretty good." Kasumi lightly applauded as Ayame genuinely played well for a beginner.

"Mhm good job Ayame." Anna gave her congratulations, but on the inside, she was cursing herself since she was actually trying.

Ayame after the rush of adrenaline from winning crashed back down onto the couch. All her body wanted to do was fall asleep as now her mission was complete.

"Looks like it's time to sleep, I'll go get you a blanket and pillow for you Anna." Kasumi saw the time and it was much later than they usually stay up. Getting up from the couch, she entered her room and opened up the closet where some spare blankets were.

Coming back out, she threw them to Anna, Kasumi then saw that Ayame had passed out on the couch. Facepalming and shaking her head, she walked up to the front of the couch to pick Ayame up. Getting her in a princess carry, Anna smirked which got Kasumi's attention.

"What are you smirking for?" Kasumi didn't know how much Anna knew, but it wouldn't surprise her if Ayame told everything to Anna.

"Oh nothing, just think you look really cute together." Anna tried to play it cool, but it only confirmed that Ayame indeed had told Anna about Kasumi's feelings. This caused a burning curiosity in Kasumi as she loved to know everything and hated not knowing what someone had said about them.

*Sigh* "I'll put her to bed and I'll come back out." Kasumi wanted to chat with Anna for a moment, but doing so with a sleeping fox in her arms was a little awkward.

"Oh okay." Anna suddenly became nervous despite her newfound confidence. Kasumi to Anna was extremely intimidating like she was talking to a CEO.

"Alright, so what did Ayame tell you?" Kasumi hadn't even moved from where she stood yet, but Ayame disappeared from Kasumi's arms. Anna felt goosebumps invade her skin as suddenly the room filled with this invisible pressure weighing on her.

"O-oh u-ummm, s-she just told me she is feeling a little confused and needed help in understanding herself." Anna instantly cracked from the pressure as Kasumi towered over her, making Anna's presence feel extremely small.

"..." Kasumi stayed silent which made Anna think she had said something wrong.

'Come on me, we just played games for 6 hours straight, she isn't mad.' Anna realised she was looking way too deep into it, so she tried to calm herself down, but the atmosphere of the room made it difficult to think straight.

"Ahh, I won't bother to pester." Kasumi dropped the tense atmosphere allowing Anna to relax. It then occurred to Anna that Kasumi could forcefully create a domain of pressure. It wasn't obvious at first since it was a play on emotions and to anyone weaker, it is a very effective tool. However, it seemed like Kasumi didn't even know she has this ability which made it all the more terrifying.

"I mean it, she is just confused at the moment, so please give her space and time." Anna managed to collect herself and tried to reassure Kasumi.

"Alright…" Kasumi wanted to know what was exactly said, but Anna sounded like she was being honest, so Kasumi didn't want to ruin a friendship by not believing her.

"If there isn't anything else, goodnight Kasumi. It was nice getting to know you." Anna was glad that Kasumi actually was just an anxious girl with a terrifying ability than someone who is out to get Ayame.

"Goodnight and sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I didn't mean to." Kasumi didn't see it in the moment, but she noticed Anna looked afraid of her.

"Haha, it's okay, I'm fine now but I have to say you definitely have a strong presence." Anna couldn't imagine what it would be like to be around Kasumi as a stranger. It would feel like if she made one mistake her life would be forfeited which made Anna wonder how the hell Ayame was able to befriend Kasumi.

"Oops, well see you tomorrow." Kasumi didn't realise she had that kind of effect on people, but this was her first time making friends as herself, not some CEO's daughter.

"Cya." Anna waved while Kasumi walked back to her room.

***

*Bzzt*

Ayame's phone vibrated which created just enough noise for her to wake up and instinctively grab her phone. Squinting her eyes at the screen she read the notification which came from Tomoe about a new mission.

This made her spring up awake from excitement as it had been a while since she had gone out on a mission. However, when she got up, noticed that someone was hugging her waist. Looking down Ayame saw Kasumi which was not a surprise, but what shocked her was the fact that they were hugging.

They hadn't done anything of the sort since they first moved in so seeing that it happen made her blush.

'Damnit… We probably hugged all night too.' Ayame felt her heart rate go up which was the exact reason why she wanted to avoid these situations.

'Calm down, like Anna said this is a good thing, not a bad thing… It means that I… have some feelings… No, no, no that can't be right. This is just an awkward situation that I'm uncomfortable with.' Ayame tried to rationalise it in any way other than she has feelings. This was the cycle she was put in, and until she is out of it, she won't realise her feelings.

Trying to stealthy get out of Kasumi's hold, Ayame managed to do so without waking her up. Now able to calm herself down, she had a look through the mission details. It was a standard assassination of a gang leader who was causing a little too much trouble.

However, right at the bottom were details explaining that Kasumi will be allowed to join. It was instructions on what Ayame should do and the kind of approach. The mission itself will be more of a learning experience and if all goes well Kasumi can possibly join the government missions.

Tomoe would also issue Kasumi her own soul dagger if she can perfectly execute the mission. Certain criteria had to be met which was outlined as well, but it shouldn't be too hard.

'Interesting, I thought the daggers were a family thing, not something you can just give…. Unless Tomoe already considers Kasumi as family.' Ayame found the process much different from when she first became an assassin. Especially the soul dagger, which is linked to your god or goddess that you fall under.

For Ayame and Tomoe that would be Akene, the god of fire as that's their main affinity. It would make sense if Kasumi was under Akene, but her flames were rather unique which can be a whole different god in itself.

'I guess I never really asked how it worked. Oh well, at least now I will have a partner for my missions.' Ayame smiled thinking about the number of times an extra person would have been helpful, so seeing that now it has become a reality made her happy. Especially when it came to dealing with a lot of people like gangs or organisations.

'I should wake her.' Ayame looked over to Kasumi who was still sound asleep. It would be ideal if they could go over what to do as well as some training on common habits just before they have to leave.

Walking to Kasumi's side of the bed Ayame grabbed the sheets and pulled as hard as she could. Kasumi ended up going with the sheets causing her to fall to the ground right in front of Ayame.

"What!? Who's there?! Ayame?!" Kasumi got up in shock trying to figure out what the hell happened, but once she got her bearings saw Ayame standing over her with sheets in hand.

"Phew, it's just you… BUT! Did you have to wake me up like that?" Kasumi pouted as she valued her sleep so to have it ruined made her slightly annoyed.

"We have a mission tonight." Ayame explained her reason which instantly forgave the sin of abruptly waking up Kasumi from her slumber.

"Really? We need to get ready… wait Anna is still here." Kasumi was in the middle of rushing to her draws, but then it occurred to her that they still had a guest.

"Oops forgot we had her over." Ayame had completely forgotten that Anna stayed the night as she was too focused on winning that nothing else mattered.

"We should see her out before doing anything right? Does she know what you do orrr it doesn't matter?" Kasumi stood still itching to go, but she didn't want to accidentally say something she shouldn't.

"I don't remember if I ever told Anna, so I guess be careful. But It's usually better if people don't know." Ayame tried to remember when Anna first came to the shrine if Tomoe told Anna about the assassination gig they do, however nothing came to mind. It was normal for kitsunes to enter the business, so if Anna knew it wouldn't be a surprise, but it isn't something talked about to keep secrecy.

"Okay got it." Kasumi decided to just avoid talking about it altogether, just to be on the safe side.

Ayame and Kasumi then walked out to the lounge where Anna was chilling on her phone watching videos.

After saying their good mornings they had some breakfast together and since Anna had to leave for work she left shortly after eating. They woke up rather late so there was not much time for chatter, but it was their fault for staying up later than they usually do.

"Alright, now that we are free I can teach you a few things."