{Nao}
A week’s passed since Crescent Moon’s exhibition match, and I still can’t get that blonde bitch’s face out of my head.
"Nao-chaaan! Your lunch!" Mom calls out as I’m trying to escape our apartnt. She’s practically bouncing on her tiny feet, holding up another aggressively cute bento. Today’s wrapper has little tigers doing backflips.
"Yeah, yeah. Got it, thanks." I take it reluctantly.
[Fucking bentos. What am I? 12?]
"And rember!" Dad pops up behind her like so kind of wholeso ninja. "If you get tired, just call! We’ll co pick you up in the-"
"The Tiger Mobile. I know, Dad."
Our family car is painted orange and black. With racing stripes. And a tail. And little ear-shaped antennae.
[So days I seriously consider just living in the gym.]
I check my phone as I head out, and imdiately regret it.
ManaGram’s absolutely plastered with Akari fucking Nakamura. Her latest post shows her sprawled across so fancy desk, uniform half-undone, with the caption: "showing the honda guild what crescent moon’s really about 😈💦"
[... That’s the Chancellor’s desk. What the fuck? Did she sneak in there or sothing?]
I scroll down, which is an unfortunate mistake.
The next post down is an old one. One of those things where a post is so viral you’re still seeing it a week later. It’s of her railing Lily Amano in what looks like the student council room. Then there’s one of her and Haruka making out in the library. Each one’s got thousands of likes, hundreds of comnts thirsting over the "S-Class Dick-Queen."
My grip tightens on my phone until I hear it crack.
"Nao-chaaan!" Dad’s voice carries down the street. "You forgot your motivational stickers!"
Several passersby turn to stare as my tiny tiger dad waves a sheet of sparkly stickers in the air. They’ve got ssages like "You’re Grrreat!" and "Pawsitively Perfect!"
"Dad, I swear to-"
"And your ergency snacks!"
Mom appears beside him, holding up a bag of what I know are fish-shaped cookies. Also tiger-striped.
[Maybe if I walk faster, people will think they’re calling to soone else...]
But as I power-walk away from my excessively loving parents, my phone buzzes again. Another ManaGram notification.
Akari’s posted a video from the exhibition match. The one where she absolutely demolished the Honda Guild’s top fighters while barely breaking a sweat. While I...
[While I couldn’t even qualify to participate.]
The video’s already got more views than I’ll probably get in my lifeti. Comnts are rolling in:
"omg queen snapped!"
"s-class energy fr fr"
"step on mommy 😩"
"built different no cap"
My tiger-like tail lashes behind as I walk, rembering how I spent that whole match in the audience. Watching. Always fucking watching while others shine.
"Have a magical day, sweetie!" Mom and Dad call out in perfect sync.
[I’m going to prove them all wrong,] I think, shoving my phone in my pocket. [I’m going to make them see .]
But first, I need to survive another day of watching Akari fucking Nakamura living the life I’m trying to work toward.
---
Third period hits like a migraine with sparkles.
"What’s good, bitches?!" Haruka announces her presence to the class like she’s headlining a concert instead of walking into Mid-Level Runic Theory.
I let my head hang, the deepest of sighs escaping my throat.
[Here we go again...]
Sitting up, I keep my eyes on my perfectly aligned notebook as she drops into the seat next to .
Three different colored pens, a ruler, and a protractor are arranged on my desk with military precision. Maybe if I look busy enough-
"Nao-chaaan! Looking like a whole al as always!"
Mission failed.
[God, why does she always...]
She’s been annoying like this since the sester started. I’m half-used to it but on days like this, where I feel particularly... whatever, it’s a little more annoying than normal.
"Hey." One word. Curt. Unfriendly. The kind of greeting that usually makes most people back off.
But Haruka isn’t most people. Haruka is a force of fucking nature.
"So like," she launches right in, propping her chin on her hand, "I was thinking about your biceps-"
"Why?"
"-and I realized you’d be perfect for this ManaGram post I’m planning!"
Despite myself, my ear twitches.
In the weeks since she started sitting next to , Haruka’s "plans" have ranged from starting a magical girl idol group to opening an enchanted maid cafe.
"No."
"You haven’t even heard what it is yet!" She pouts.
I roll my eyes, but I let her continue.
And so, Haruka’s now detaling how she wants to pose like so kind of tiger-striped ManaGram model ("The lighting would be PERFECT in the sunset!").
Thankfully, Professor Chen walks in. She’s got that look in her eye that makes even Haruka shut up - the one that says she’s about to ruin soone’s day.
"Class," she announces, adjusting her severe bun, "today we begin our unit on Resonant Runic Pairs."
[Oh no.]
"As such, you’ll be working in groups of two-"
[Please no.]
"-with your current seat partner-"
[FUCK.]
Beside , Haruka’s grin grows so wide it threatens to escape her face entirely and start crawling around .
She turns to with the energy of a puppy that just found out treats exist.
"Nao-chaaaan!" She actually bounces in her seat. "It’s fate!"
"It’s alphabetical seating," I growl back, but my protests are drowned out by her excited squealing and victory dancing.
Professor Chen continues, either oblivious to or choosing to ignore the chaos she’s unleashed:
"You’ll be designing and implenting a paired runic array. One that requires both partners’ magical signatures to activate. I’ll be emailing you all so more detailed instructions."
I glance at Haruka, who’s already doodling what looks like little hearts in her notebook. Next to them are... are those little tigers? With bows?
I cringe.
"The project will count for thirty percent of your final grade, by the way," Professor Chen adds, like she’s not just casually destroying my GPA. "I expect excellence from all of you."
Haruka leans over, close enough that I can sll her strawberry lip gloss.
"Okay, so, hear out - what if we did the runes as temporary tattoos? Like, matching ones! You could get yours on those absolutely killer abs-"
I let my head thunk against the desk, rattling my perfectly arranged pens.
[Mom, Dad... your "little kitten" might actually commit murder.]
But as Haruka chatters on about magical theory and Instagram aesthetics in the sa breath, I catch sothing interesting in her notes. Between the hearts and tiger doodles, there’s actually a complex runic diagram. One that... might actually work?
[Huh. Maybe she’s not completely-]
"Oh! And we could do it shirtless! For the aesthetic!"
I take it back. She’s exactly what I thought she was.
---
The cafe Haruka picks for us to keep talking about the project is exactly what you’d expect from a gyaru’s hangout spot. Everything’s pink and gold, the drinks co with little magic sparkles, and there’s at least three people taking selfies at any given mont.
I sit ramrod straight in my chair, trying to focus on the runic diagrams spread across our table instead of... other things.
[Like how the fuck does her uniform contain those tits?]
"So I’m thinking," Haruka says, leaning forward to point at sothing on the page. Her blazer gaps open in a way that should be illegal. "If we combine these two arrays here-"
Her phone buzzes. Again. For like the fifteenth ti.
"Sorry!" She grins, checking it. "Akari’s just updating on her latest conquest."
[The fuck is that supposed to an?]
"Can we focus?" My tail lashes behind . "Please?"
"Right, right!" But she’s still texting, her thumbs flying over the screen.
She sets her phone down (finally) and leans in again. This ti I catch a whiff of her perfu - sothing sweet and tropical that makes my nose twitch.
"Okay, so about these arrays-"
But my traitor eyes keep drifting down to where her brown skin disappears into her uniform. The way her tits press against the table as she leans forward, that one button holding on for dear life...
Haruka notices.
"See sothing you like, tiger girl?"
I snap my eyes up to find her grinning at , all knowing and smug.
"I- what- no-" My ears flatten against my head as heat rushes to my face.
"Aww, you’re blushing!" She actually reaches out and pokes my cheek. "That’s adorable!"
"I am NOT adorable." The growl in my voice would send most people running. "I am trying to work."
"Mhm." Her grin gets wider. "That why you’ve been staring at my titties for the past ten minutes?"
"I have not-"
"Girl, it’s fine!" She pushes her boobs together for emphasis. "My titties are great titties. Grade A. Premium content. They’re ant to be stared at~" She actually stretches, making that poor button work even harder. "You should see them in a bikini."
[I should see them in a...?]
"... Can we PLEASE just work on the project?"
"Fine, fine." But that shit-eating grin doesn’t leave her face. "But you know, if you wanted a closer look..."
My tail wraps so tight around my chair leg I might need magic to untangle it later.
[This is karma. This is absolutely karma for sothing.]
"The arrays," I manage through gritted teeth. "Please."
"Right! So if we combine these two-" She leans forward AGAIN, and this ti I swear she’s doing it on purpose.
As she explains her actually brilliant idea for linking our magical signatures, I have one crystal clear thought:
[This project is going to kill . If her brain doesn’t fry mine first, her tits definitely will.]
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