"Goodbye, Mama!" Rumi waved at her mom from the coach.
With Kurai's help, who was sleeping on the seat next to her, they had already put all their luggages in the coach's alloted compartiment.
Today was the day. They were finally going to Okiwawa. Indeed, two weeks had passed since the festival.
Thanks to Kurai's ideas and their great performance, they had managed to take the first place for the most profitable stand. They also had enough money to pay for the machine rent, to complete what was left to pay for Rumi, and Kurai kept the rest to use in Okinawa for both of them.
He told the bunny girl that he was more 'responsible', although she pouted at his innuendo, she couldn't disagree.
Seeing her mother's frame becoming smaller and smaller, Rumi tore her gaze away from the coach's window.
It was the first time in her whole life that she'll be apart from her mother, for more than a day at least. Their trip to Okinawa lasted a bit more than a whole week!
'Fortunately, he's here…' She calmed after looking at Kurai's sleeping face, not noticing a small blush appearing on her face.
'He looks kinda cute…'
A few strands of purple fair were falling on his eyes, he actually fell asleep directly after entering the coach, thinking about how much more comfortable than his past life's coaches it was.
He also didn't have his family to say his goodbyes, well, he called them the previous night. And the meeting was at 4am, that's also why he fell asleep directly.
They had their flight to Okinawa islands scheduled at 8 am, but the school was 1 hour far from the airport.
'*Cough*'
Noticing her thoughts, Rumi faked a cough and looked outside to distract herself.
'Why do you keep bothering me even when you're asleep?' She couldn't help but shake her head.
It's only after 50 kilometers that Kuri woke up, exactly when they arrived at the airport.
Eyeing the white haired girl who was gazing at the window, he yawned, "Aaah! It felt so good."
Hearing him, Rumi took back her gaze and looked at him, "You're really a cat, huh?" She sneered at him.
"Yep! And proud to be!"
Seeing him smirk like that, she couldn't help but click her tongue, which further made Kurai laugh.
"Anyway, did you sleep too?"
"No… I don't need to." She shrugged.
While his face didn't betray his emotions, Kurai nodeed at her, "Suit yourself, but we won't be in Okinawa before 3 or 4 in the afternoon."
She smiled at him, carefree, "Don't worry, I'm strong!" Rumi even flexed her growing biceps.
Kurai exasperatedly raised his eyebrows then nudged her shoulder, "Yes, yes, now come on, we need to take our luggage!"
They got out and presented themselves before Ms. Ishikawa who was taking attendance for her class.
In the 5th grade there were only 4 classes, with about 20 students per class.
Obviously, the number thinned out over the years.
After taking their luggage, everyone started walking toward the airport in rows of 2.
Rumi and Kurai were naturally next to each other, and the homeroom teacher for each class was at the front.
They had to go through all the mandatory procedures to get their plane, like the check-ins, dropping in the luggages, going to the gate and all that with 80 kids and a few teachers.
It was only around 7 am, one whole hour before the departure that everyone settled.
Seeing this a few teachers stepped up in front of everyone,
"Please everyone, listen to me so I don't have to raise my voice!" One of the teachers from another class clapped his hands.
"Good, we're going to list and retell you once again a few importants things. First..."
Another teacher stepped out, "You are forbidden to stray away from our main group. Even more so without a teacher or the local guide."
"The town we will be residing in is called Kunigami. It's not even a town, but more like a small village in the middle of the forest."
"And this time the forest is a national park, untouched by human hands. So it's even wilder, hence our warning, so please keep it in mind." Again, another teacher was going through the students.
"Take those small papers, it has our phone numbers, if you ever get lost." The teacher spoke while pointing to his colleague going through the rows.
"Then, I'll repeat for the umpteenth time… But we aren't lodging in a hotel or anything of the sort…"
"We are going to a village, so we'll live like the locals… Well,fortunately we were lucky, thanks to the people's kindness to live in their templeshrine." Even though some of the kids listening sighed, the rest was more overjoyed than anything.
Same for Kurai and Rumi, the trip just became more interesting for them.
"And their Miko in formation, the daughter of the actual priestess will be our guide. She is your age too, so she'll accompany us."
"That is because most of the activities we decided to do are either in the forest, which is a protected and wild national park, or at the beach, another unknown and maybe hostile environment for you." The little rabbit and cat boy shared a grin at those words.
Just then their excited mood didn't go unseen.
"The priestess assured us of her strength, so we don't have to worry about anything when we'll start our activities, but still I implore you to be wary of your surroundings." The teacher continued his talk and at the same time 2 people approached Kurai.
The teacher moved his glasses and made it flash, owing the kids, "We, teachers will also be there to assure your security with our quirks."
While everyone was clapping their hands for the teacher's performance, Kurai's attention was caught by 2 'older' women, one black haired and one blond.
""Hello there, sweetie~"" Although, both women were beautiful in their own way…
'Only Miku can call me Sweetie.' A vein popped on his forehead.
Still he was in public, so he kept his cool.
Flashing a smile, he greeted back, "Hi!" This caught Rumi's attention too, who was applauding too until now.
"So, where are you going like this, can you tell this Onee-san?" The blond one sent him a flirtatious wink.
Rumi was confused at this, were they trying to hit up on him?
"Umm... Okinawa." Kurai simply answered not wanting to fuel the discussion more.
But it didn't seem to work on those two.
The black haired one exclaimed, "Ooh! Isn't this fate?! We are going there on vacation too!" She even took Kurai's hand into her's.
This time Rumi was clearly incensed, how dare they do this in front of her, "Cool for you I guess." Though, Kurai shrugged, undisturbed by all this.
"Mouuuh, I thought you'll be glad for this Onee-san!" The other woman pouted cutely.
Kurai wanted to take his hand back but the woman held it firmly, "Sorry but…" She still continued to smile at him.
'Yikes, sometimes I'm too cute for my own good…' His narcissistic thought was interrupted all of a sudden by an angry rabbit who just slapped their hands away.
Therefore breaking that woman's hold on him. It's not that Kurai couldn't pull it away but he just didn't want to bother with civilians.
Rumi stood up from her seat and growled out, showing her teeth, "Grannies, he's mine! Take your dirty hands away!"
Both women were shocked, the pressure was a bit overwhelming for civilians, so much that they froze seeing the little bunny's outburst.
Rumi then took Kurai's hand who was chuckling at the side and went to join their classmates who started boarding the plane now.
Before leaving the 2 women's line of sight, who were still looking at them gobsmacked, Kurai turned back and flashed them his half-cat, half-human transformation.
It was the first time he used this form for something else other than fighting. A form which can enhance someone's strength used as a mere teasing tool…
Kurai could see the direct effect from his little stunt, although he didn't grab anyone's attention by doing it quickly, those 2 saw him.
...And their noses bleed.
'Um. It really confirms my theory.' Kurai thought, not bothering to even remove his hand from Rumi's grip while they were going to the plane.
'And it's not only my mom… But the whole Japon… Older women have a thing for children…'
'How was this called again?? Umm… Shoto? Shotu? Shato? Ah nevermind.' He shrugged, turning his attention back to the still upset rabbit on his side.
Thinking about women's weird sexual preferences wasn't worth it for him, mainly because he couldn't enjoy it.
That's why he decided to not bother with those 2 again and turned to Rumi instead.
'So… Now I'm yours, huh?' He smirked.
Rumi only glared at him after hearing his laugh and pulled stronger on his hand toward 2 front row seats.
They had now to wait for the plane to embark everyone so it could start.
But during the whole time, Kurai who was looking at Rumi, saw her more restless than ever.
So just before the plane took off, he tapped on her shoulder and put his hand over her's.
Funnily enough their hands had the same skin tone, one wasn't darker or lighter than the other.
"Looks like it's your first time." He gently smiled at her.
Rumi, who wanted to take back her hand from his 'perverted' claws, without knowing that she did the same during their way here, was interrupted by him again.
"Don't worry, me too!" At least in this life.
This caught Rumi's attention, but just when she was about to say something, she saw his trademark smirk.
At the beginning, Kurai didn't want to tease her but reconfort her instead. He quickly changed his thought process after seeing it fail, or not work as well as he intended.
Once again he underestimated the power of dreams. Still, he actually promised himself that they won't go back from their trip without Rumi curing, this was his personal deadline.
That's also why he thought about teasing her instead, because it might divert her enough.
"Kurai… You're talking about your first time on a plane right?" She looked at him suspiciously.
"Huh… Yeah… But I was gonna ask about that 'He's mine!' stuff, I just remembered...I was probably too shocked to think about it back then…."
Seeing him put his hand over his forehead, Rumi didn't get fooled by his act, though she now remembers all the embarrassing stuff she said too.
"T-this! I-I meant it as a friend! Ya' know! Like: He's my friend!" She tried to defend herself the best she could, even though she was far from fooling Kurai.
"Oh ho! Then I should say thanks, friend~!"
Nervously laughing, Rumi didn't notice that the plane took off long ago, 'Guess I accomplished the main goal.' Kurai nodded.
"Ah ah ah…" She continued her laugh, with her cheeks dyed red. It's only after looking out of the window that she noticed it.
They were flying, it also clicked in her mind, 'He planned it all along.' She saw Kurai smirking and sent him a punch on the shoulder.
'This b-bastard dared to make me remember that embarrassing t-time.' In the end, she blamed him for her jealous outburst.
…
…
…
"See, it wasn't that bad right?" Kurai asked Rumi, while taking both of their luggages.
Rumi took her luggage and nodded, still not forgiving him for that 'shameful' tease, even after 2 hours of flight.
"Um."
Suddenly, while they were talking and following behind the main group, Kurai felt a tap on his shoulder.
When he and Rumi turned back to look, they saw them again…
"Arara~! Didn't I say that we were going in the same direction, Sweetie?" It was those 2 women again.
This time even Kurai couldn't tolerate them, 'Sigh, it's my bad, looks like showing them my half-cat form wasn't the best choice.'
He also stopped the little rabbit from jumping at tem with a few pats, "Wait, lemme handle it." He whispered to her, and it was enough to make her have a mild blush, which also calmed her.
Turning back to the 2 civilians, he said, "Sorry, but do I know you?"
"But of course!"
"Earlier."
Then they both exclaimed, at the same time, ""We have met!""
Kurai adopted a thinking pause, and after a few seconds of bland silence, where the 3 girls around him waited eagerly, he finally told them, " I've met a lot of people... And you don't particularly stand out."
He hence crushed their heart further and this time he was the one taking the giggling rabbit's hand to leave.
That's how he left them gobsmacked for the second time of the day, and this time, the shock was even deeper.
"Hihi!" Rumi was all smiles though.
All the way to the coaches and even during what was left of the road, she only smiled, thinking that they got what they deserved. Kurai couldn't help but find her reactions cute.
Now that they landed in Okinawa, more precisely at the Naha airport, they took the coaches again to the small village called Kunigami.
Feeling good for once, Rumi didn't notice the 100 km of distance from Naha to Kunigami.
She even hooped joyfully out when they reached their destination in the afternoon.
'She's so simple to understand.' Kurai was laughing while looking at their antics.
After getting out they followed their teacher to the temple they were going to reside in, just before a teacher stepped in front of everyone with a speaker, "Attention please, our guide will come soon."
He continued, "And I repeat she is an apprentice Miko of your age!"
Just then an old man followed by a young girl came out by the temple's main door.
They both had more or less the same features, yellow slitted pupils and sharp teeth like some sort of reptile. Although the man had grey hair, the little girl next to him had chin long blond hair swept on the side.
They were both wearing traditional kimonos over them, both kimonos looked luxurious with their red and golden designs .
The old man then beckoned his daughter to introduce herself first.
The girl nodded and stepped forward too, taking the speaker from the teacher's hands, she first inhaled a deep breath.
"Hello everybody! I'll be your guide for this week, so please bear with me!" And then bowed her head elegantly.
Before going back next to the old man, she spoke again, "Oh and I forgot to introduce myself, my name is...."