"Hey, blondie. Uh. You know about... the facts of life, right?"
"... yes, I do?"
"Dammit, Kirika. I'm assuming you mean about Witches. Yes, that's why we're in here. Also, you're not allowed to call it 'the birds and the QBs'."
"Cool. Right, so uh, you gave us Yuuri's Grief Seed, yeah?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, so. Crazy bitch is convinced the Clear Seed is Yuuri's. Because it's special, Yuuri was special, so the special Grief Seed musta been hers. She's, er, how do I put this. A bit annoyed we're trying to give her a fake? D'you have a Clear Seed we can pretend with, maybe?"
You nod. You don't want to quite let go of Hildegard, your most loyal Seed whom stuck with you from almost the beginning, but needs must, you think as you reach into your pocket for her Seed...
Unrelated to your current thoughts, your
other hand snaps up-
The black haired girl startles, closing her eyes as your hand lands on top of her head, only to quickly rub back and forth across her scalp. You grin as you lightly mess up Kirika's hair, coming to a stop as she blinks up at you, half narrowed orange eyes peering at you
intently.
... You hurriedly comb Kirika's hair into a semblance of order and present Hildegarde's Seed to her.
For a few seconds, she
stares, and so does Niko from the sidelines, both sets of eyes weighing on you, judging you.
Kirika's mouth twitches. She snorts, and you feel just a tiny little bit relived as she returns your grin.
"I'm gonna let that one go
this time," she punctuates the word by poking your ribs. "But it's Oriko who's got the right to pat my head, got it?" she asks/warns as she takes the Seed.
"Totally," you nod, ignoring the way Niko is furiously taking notes on her cellphone, which wasn't in her hand two seconds ago. "Ah," you blink, "back on track, wouldn't two Clear Seeds show-"
"Ms. Kirika should get to pat Mami's head," pitches in Niko.
Both Kirika and you turn to look at the Sciencist meguca, who stares back completely serious.
"That would be fair, right?" she asks.
Without turning, you glance aside at Kirika, to find her orange eyes studying you intently. After a few seconds, she turns back to Niko.
"Nah, I'm good."
The slimmest amount of tension leaves your shoulders. As you once more get back on topic, commenting on crazy bitch- on Anri's madness, and send Kirika away with Hildegarde, you ponder about why you feel somewhat relieved, yet at the same time insulted.
"... Wait," you frown, interrupting Niko's rambling thoughts about Soul metaphysics. "Is Mami's head
not good enough for her to pat?"
Somehow, you get the feeling that two interdiction barriers away, Kirika's grinning
smugly at you. That B...
Buddy.