Claire Kagenou joins Shadow Garden

Chapter 9: Team Bonding

"Mind telling me what you and that girl did last night?" Claire asked, choking Cid harder than she usually does. "W-w-w-we d-did n-nothing," Cid said struggling to breathe much less speak. "Then what was she talking about?" Claire asked loosening her grip so he could speak. Cid coughed a bit. Cid said, "We hunted a lot of animals so we could keep Delta busy for a while.". After hearing this, Claire's anger greatly diminished. She understood that if Delta was busy, she wouldn't keep bothering her and she would be a lot less noisy. She was kind of like a child you needed to feed to calm down.

"Then why did you ask that Epsilon girl to help you instead of your big sister?" Claire questioned. "She's known as Epsilon the precise because of how skilled she is in magic. If you kill an animal in the wrong way, its meat flavor goes down so I had Epsilon kill a bunch of animals using magic while I skinned them." That answer seemed reasonable enough to Claire. "But why do you need to keep her busy?" "I and 2 other shades are going on a mission," Cid said getting up and dusting himself off. "It's an infiltration mission so Delta got ruled out and one of the other shades has to manage Shadow Garden." Cid sounded very grateful saying that last part since he didn't have the time for all that trouble. He just wanted to play Background Character A while showing off his power at night. "What about the other members?" Claire asked. One of them is out and two of them aren't suited for combat missions." Cid said. "Anyways sis I'm out Don't do anything unnecessary" Claire decided to let him go since she believed he was telling the truth. Maybe I'll go meet the two that aren't suited for combat. Claire thought to herself. They probably aren't as bad as the ones I've met so far. Zeta was the only one I didn't have problems with.

Claire decided to go back to Alexandria since she didn't want to fall too far behind her brother. Since she already mastered the slime suits she could see what was slime and what wasn't which is how she knew Epsilon's breasts were fake. Claire decided to focus on her swordsmanship for now so she decided to participate in squad mock battles. There was a mock tournament going on but Claire decided not to do that since 559 was participating. Claire wasn't dumb, she knew that 559 was way out of her league which pissed her off. Even though 672 and 673 were obsessed with her brother, Claire started to grow fond of them.

It's been a while, Claire. Where have you been? 673 asked. "672 has been lonely since you left." "I have not!" 672 pouted. "I've been... busy," Claire said reluctantly. She told them of how she went hunting Delta to meeting Zeta and Epsilon. "Wow, who knew Delta was that troublesome?" 672 asked. "I thought the seven shades were all strong and scary." "They are strong but not as scary as you think," Claire answered. "Maybe you just got special treatment?" 673 asked. "You did say Delta was calling you bosswoman." Claire replied, "Maybe so, but let's focus on our training." Claire had great potential. She had already grown strong enough to fight both squad members at once using the slime suit. As they continued to train, Claire adapted very fast. 672 and 673 were impressed with her progress and called Claire "the most powerful member of the squad".

After they finished battling, it was already lunchtime. 673 usually scolds 672 about her eating habits as she has a major sweet tooth. Claire didn't blame her as the sweets were things she had never seen before. 672 likes to tell Claire about different sweets and how they taste. She was like a walking advertisement. Claire was enjoying her time, that is until 559 showed up. "Looks like you're not as bad as I thought." Claire didn't even look up to her, She just decided to keep eating. "Though it doesn't change my opinion about you. In my eyes, you're still far below my Lord Shadow and his greatness. 559 started rambling about how much she loves Shadow and how great he is.

"There she goes again." Said 672

"Shh, she gets angry when people bother her when she likes this." 673 warned.

"It doesn't matter she's basically in a trance. Look at her!" They both looked at her and then back at each other.

"Yeah you're right but it's still not worth the risk."

"You're too worrisome."

"Am not!"

"Let's just get out of here." 672 said. She grabbed both Claire and 673 and dragged them out of the cafeteria. Claire was slightly pissed because she didn't finish trying out whatever the cupcake thing she was eating.