Comfort Zone

Chapter 5 - Routine

The next morning brought with it further difficulties. Some time during the night, Neko had released Suzuka and instead draped herself over Suzuka's legs, splayed out in an unflattering manner. Suzuka tried to move Neko, but found the girl to be unexpectedly heavy. She had to carefully slip out.

Suzuka started to change into her school uniform, but felt a gaze. She slowly turned and saw Neko staring at her with interest. She decided to go to the bathroom to change instead.

By the time she returned to her room, Neko had fallen asleep again, though had also changed into her uniform at some point.

"She'll probably come to school on her own if she wants to," Suzuka decided. "It's not like I'm responsible for her or anything."

Suzuka left Neko alone and headed off to school on her own. She paused at the intersection where she parted with Nanmei the previous day. She glanced in the direction of Nanmei's house but didn't see the hellhound.

Upon arriving at school, she spent some time looking around and found Nanmei sitting in the stairwell, smoking. Suzuka sat down near her, leaving a meter of distance between them. If she ever went closer to Nanmei than that, Nanmei would retreat.

"Good morning, Nanmei."

Nanmei examined Suzuka, suspicious. "Morning. Did you need me for something?"

"I was wondering about the power rankings of the students, and you seem like a relatively neutral party."

"Power rankings, huh?"

"Yeah, like, who's the strongest."

"Hmm." Nanmei considered it, drawing from her cigarette. "We never really fight, so it's hard to make a ranking. I'm probably top five. Harumi is rather weak, but she'll be top ten after getting her second tail, and might be third or fourth after getting her third."

"Ah, yeah, I heard that kitsune's magical power doubles with each tail."

Nanmei nodded. "In terms of mana base, Asahi is second place, but she sucks at fighting, so you can't really call her the second strongest. Kimiko and Yumi are also top five. Anything beyond that is hard to rank."

Suzuka tilted her head, curious about a strange omission. "What about first place?"

Nanmei gave Suzuka a confused look. "Well, Neko, of course. Even if we all joined forces, teachers included, we wouldn't be able to scratch her."

Suzuka blinked, waiting for a few seconds to see if Nanmei had been joking. "What, seriously?"

"You didn't know?" Nanmei's confusion deepened. "Neko's the guardian deity of this area. She has total control over the energy of heaven and earth. I don't know how strong she'd be outside of here, but within, she's untouchable."

Suzuka simply couldn't believe it. "That Neko? The Neko who sleeps all day, who people pet without a care?"

Nanmei nodded. "Well, strong or not, she's a cat at heart. She's definitely the least dangerous, despite being the strongest."

Try as she might, Suzuka couldn't connect the image of Neko with that of a powerful being, much less a guardian deity. She chatted with Nanmei for a bit longer before they headed to the classroom, where Neko was once again sleeping on the desk next to Suzuka's.

Harumi's nose twitched as she handed the lunch box to Suzuka. "Neko this time, huh? Who's next?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose," Suzuka replied with a faint whine.

Harumi simply giggled, but Suzuka could see a bit of longing in Harumi's eyes, a trace of envy like when she'd watched Suzuka petting Neko.

Suzuka hesitated, then asked, "Do you want to eat lunch together today?"