[I sure seem to suck at keeping a low profile.]
While berating myself internally, I move my attention back to the group of washed-up adventurers. Mikey and Terry are doing their best, but they can't get under the scales to deal proper damage. I pull out my spear to demonstrate. With a few more tries, they get the hang of it, and their prey lies dead on the ground.
"Great job!" I praise them for their hard work while they catch their breath. Terry is so tired he's just lying on the bare ground.
"Nick, hurry up." Sakura's annoyed voice pierces the warm mood.
"What's up?" I ask as I jog over to where they're standing.
"It's your turn she says as she points to the Punctastar to her left. I lift one side of the incapacitated monster and stab its vulnerable stomach with the end of my spear. Blue blood pours out from the wound as it goes limp. My heart drops.
[I don't think I'll ever get used to the feeling of a creature dying in my hands.]
Now that we each have one Punctastar to carry, I help Shinobu put hers in the magic bag, and we get ready to leave. Blackfoot is holding up their kill with elated expressions. It's apparent that they wanted more than one, but this is probably the biggest haul they've had in months. We make our way back to town without much difficulty. A couple of Equuinoids cross our path on the way back, but Shinobu easily dispatches them. We ignore the corpses, but Black foot stops to retrieve them, slowing us down a bit. It's mid-afternoon when we arrive at the town gate. A couple of guards I've never seen before wave us through. The usual process occurs when we enter the guild; Shelly guides us to a table while people steal glances at us and mutter, Jezabel stops by to insult me, and we count out the spoils to make sure we weren't shorted.
"Not a bad day if I say so myself." The sound of coins clattering together emanates from the pouch in my hand. Everyone is feeling good as we head back to the woods. "I was thinking we could get a workout in and then call it a day, yeah?"
Everyone nods, and Sakura soon starts up a conversation with Josh. Shinobu has gotten over my joke earlier as she can finally look me in the eyes. I rummage around my mind for something to talk about when we receive an unexpected guest.
"Shinobu?" Tyrion pops up out of nowhere. He has mostly healed from the beating Sakura gave him, but I swear his nose is still a little crooked. A look of surprise and relief is painted across his face. I turn to Shinobu, who has an equally complex expression. He approaches her with a hesitant smile. "I'm so glad you're alright."
It looks like she wants to say something but can't find the words. I don't get the feeling she wants to leave, so I wait for her to compose herself. Shinobu fiddles with her fingers and bites her lip before finally speaking.
"I'm fine. It's good to see you too."
"Are you coming back to class?"
"Yes, I think so."
"That's great. I'll see you then." Shinobu nods and walks past him to end the conversation. I shoot him a thumbs up and follow after her. I know they've had a bit of a rocky relationship, so it's nice to see things working out. I don't want to open old wounds, so I just walk beside her silently. She's been doing better as of late, which makes me hate myself less, so that's nice. I let various thoughts mull about my mind. The calm before the storm leaves me with a lot to think about.
"Hey." Shinobu tugs my sleeve to get my attention. "Are you going to stay in the forest?"
"Are you asking where I'm going to stay now that you're allowed back in town?" She nods. "Well, that kinda depends on what you want to do. I'd like to move back into my house. My parents don't like that I'm staying in the forest. They'll be really mad when they find out that's where I've been sleeping for the last month."
Shinobu giggles lightly at my joke. I force a smile back at her.
[This is a rough spot to be in. I don't want her to feel abandoned, but I'm really getting sick of sleeping on the cold ground. I'll have to figure something out to get us both back into town.]
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" I bring up the topic as lightly as possible. She shakes her head. "Hmm, we'll have to figure something out."
"You can stay with me!" Sakura jumps in, apparently eavesdropping.
"Are you sure your parents would be okay with that?" I ask.
"Yup. All I have to do is make this face." Sakura looks up at me with puppy dog eyes. I can even see tears forming at the corners of her eyes, and her lower lip is quivering.
[Hold!]
Every fiber of my being is urging me to get her to stop crying. I take a quick breath to control myself and maintain my neutral expression. She smiles away the lie and laughs.
"It works every time. I learned how to fake cry last year and tried it on my dad. He ran out in the middle of the night and got me a big bouquet of flowers."
[She's a demon. She must be stopped.]
"Huh, well, what do you think? Shinobu?"
"I don't want to intrude…."
[Well, shit. That doesn't leave very many options. I really don't want her living at my house. I'd like to go back to having my own room, and we don't have a spare.]
"We could always buy our own place," I suggest. That got everyone's attention. The kids all look at me with curious expressions. "Yeah, we could buy a house and use it as our base of operations. Shinobu could live there, and we could all meet there every morning. It would be a good place to store valuables too; we could get a safe to store everything."
"Oh, we could have different weapons and armor for different occasions and different belts and potions too. Think of all the different possibilities!" Shinobu is clearly for the plan based on her enthusiasm. "But I'm scared of sleeping alone."
"Hmm. I don't think it would be fair to have anyone live there with you. We all have our families to go back to. Why don't we rotate and have a different person stay with you every night."
"Okay." Josh readily agrees.
"If that's okay with everyone else. It could be like a sleepover," Shinobu says cautiously.
"Well then, I'm going to stay over when Josh is staying over." Sakura grabs Josh's arm and eyes her perceived rival.
"Just so we're clear, you're going to stay there on your days and Josh's days, right?" I ask as I want to clarify the situation.
"Yes." It appears Sakura has made up her mind. Josh already agreed, and I don't have a problem with it, considering it was my idea.
"Well then, it's settled. Why don't we go to the town hall and buy a house real quick? We can each throw in a quarter of the cost to lessen the burden; sound good?"
"Yup."
"I'm so excited."
"Okay."