Comfort Zone

Chapter 7 - Family

Half an hour after Harumi left for school, spatial fluctuations spread in her house's living room. Fuyumi glanced over at the rippling air. Neko stepped out of it.

"Good morning, Neko," Fuyumi said, bowing slightly. "What brings you here?"

"Suzu's sick," Neko explained, dropping her cat-like attitude.

"Oh? For you to come to me, what kind of sickness could it be?"

"It seems her meridians are blocked in some way," Neko said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. "The natural flow of mana in her body is obstructed, so she has a hard time gathering it. She kissed Harumi yesterday, which transferred what little she had to Harumi. Now, she's suffering mana withdrawal."

"Really?" Fuyumi raised an eyebrow. "I hadn't noticed such a problem when I last looked at her."

"Me either, it's strange." Neko shrugged. "Anyway, it's easy enough to fix in the short-term, I could just give her more mana. However, she won't be very useful to Harumi in this state. You should fix her. It'll also let her use magic in the future, which should make her happy."

Fuyumi smirked. "You care a lot about her."

"Naturally."

Fuyumi rose to her feet and glided over to a dresser. She took out a set of eighty-one silver needles and began to clean each one. "Do you talk to her?"

"Only slightly more than usual."

"Will you be changing that?"

"Not likely."

"I see. Then, I'll keep your secret."

Neko nodded.

It took around an hour for Fuyumi to finish all of her preparations. "Okay. Take me to Suzuka."

Neko waved a hand through the air. Their surroundings rippled and faded away, replaced with Suzuka's room. Suzuka laid in the bed, her breathing shallow, unconscious.

Neko's posture and expression changed, losing any sign of sharpness or intelligence, returning to the cat that Suzuka knew. She curled up on the floor as if to nap.

Fuyumi sat down on the edge of Suzuka's bed and set her supplies on the nearby desk. She placed her hand on Suzuka's chest, very slowly feeding some mana into Suzuka's body.

Fuyumi had well over a hundred times as much mana as the average human. She had to be very careful with it, lest she harm Suzuka.

After a few minutes, Suzuka slowly blinked open her eyes. Her vision was fuzzy. "Harumi?" She rubbed her eyes. "Eh? Mrs. Komori?"

"Good morning, Suzuka," Fuyumi said, smiling. Her smile was very different than Harumi's. "I'm here to make you feel wonderful again."

Fuyumi's voice always had a seductive tone to it, leading Suzuka to quickly get the wrong idea. "Wh-what?! Th-that... I mean, Harumi wants to be my first..."

Fuyumi covered her mouth and giggled. "Take off your clothes and lay on your stomach."

"I-I'm not ready for that!"

"Stop being silly," Fuyumi chided, flicking Suzuka's forehead. "I'm going to perform acupuncture on you. Afterwards, you'll be able to use magic."

Suzuka rubbed her forehead with both hands. "Huh? Really?"

"Really really. So, get out of those clothes."

"Er..." Suzuka turned her gaze to Neko.

"What are you feeling shy about? Neko's already seen everything, and I'm completely straight."