Awkward Meeting (for Raiye-san)

Zera's answer puzzled Haruka. "Red..." Again Zera's answer/action didn't fit her appearance. And she looks so much like Cerbera-san, too...

Lute likewise gave her an interesting answer. "I don't know what that's called, but I know what it looks. It does look pretty..."

She knew. Oh, she knew what that was. It was the night sky back home. Suddenly she felt heartsick for her grandfather and younger brother. Whom she could no longer face again after... after this.

"Pink," she slowly answered. "I like pink. I think it's very cute. Why do you like those colors? Zera-san?"


Masato would catch Sindel by the wrist when she made to pay for her ice cream. "It's on me," he told her, and then the woman servitor. "Please add it to my bill. And make mine vanilla."

He smiled at Sindel, hoping his warmth could somehow melt the sudden glaciation that had seized the girl.

Zera looked at Haruka for a moment before she started to think of something, then nodded at Haruka all of a sudden.

" I like it.. Because it just feels like I like it.. It's hard to explain.. But I feel attracted to it. "

Lute gazed at Zera for a moment before she smiled.

" Whereas your sister likes Blue and black. I could just tell story about how Cerbera used to be... She looked so adorable in a schoolgirl outfit. "

Lute went back into her fond memories while she took anoher bite.

Sindel suddenly glared with pure hatred at Msato when er wrist was taken but soon sighed out loudly when she got herself back in control and knowing that it wasn't a hostile grab, bringing her wrist back to rub it.

" Don't... Do that again.. It's finally healed from being broken. "

Haruka found herself drawn closer and closer to Zera. The girl was such a conundrum of contradictions... fascinating.

And Lute was a great contrast. "Reh?" Haruka exclaimed. "Really? Cerbera-san? In a schoolgirl outfit?" She was almost begging for the whole story, waiting while Lute nibbled on her ice cream.


Sindel's glare made Masato gulp. He hastily released her wrist. When he saw her massage it, he suddenly understood, even before the explanation arrived.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." In his zeal to protect Haruka, he'd ignored almost everyone else. "Who broke it?" he softly asked, staring at that pale wrist as if hypnotized.

Zera would start to enjoy her ice cream and letting Lute and Haruka do all the talking while she listened, she didn't want her ice cream to melt off course.

" Indeed. I went to school with her.. I didn't know her that well back then. She was always quiet and seemed lonely so I always tried to get to know her but it seemed always that hard. Course she was quite the looker in the entire school that even girls wanted to get to know her so I didn't stand that much chance to talk to her. Course that all changed.. But Anyway, she always had this cute black kitty with her! They seemed so much alike that it was scary! "

This off course drew attention to Zera and looked up at them for a moment before she went back to her ice cream.

Sindel looked off to the side as she mumbled out lowly.

" Era of Hell. "

Lute's tale regaled Haruka. She hand't known Cerbera was so nice, so shy, so... normal. Deep in her heart she knew Cerbera had such a side. But what her heart felt and what her head thought quarreled often.

"Awww..." That soft exclamation was something she picked up from her senpai. "Cerbera-san had a pet kitten?" Haruka had a soft spot for cuddly animals. She giggled upon imagining the kitten as Lute had described it. Nekomimi-Cerbera-chan?

She didn't mean to ignore Zera, but ice cream paled to Lute's story.


" Era of Hell. "

Of course, Masato told himself grimly. Who else? "Did they ambush you?" he asked. Insight on how the new Era of Hell operated was useful to know. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Lute and Haruka chat. Lute is with them, too...

"Was Lute part of the group who attacked you?"

Lute nodded with a smile but soon became confused.

" Uhm.. I don't much Japanese I'm afraid. What does that actually mean? It does sound cute. And she still has that kitten. It doesn't seem to age or grow at all. Quite a special one. "

Zera would slowly taken another scoop from her ice cream before she'd look to the side at Sindel and Masato, wondering what they were talking about.

Sindel shook her head and gently squeezed her wrist for a moment.

" Lute took me to the hospital to rest. Honestly I can't believe that she is an actually leader of it.. But I've seen how she fights.. "

Haruka giggled. "It means 'Cat-Ears Little Cerbera'." She thought there was a better way to translate it. "So she still has that kitten? I've never seen it... I wonder where did she keep it?"

She put on a thoughtful look. She was slower than usual; maybe she needed peach sugar to spike her system.

"Hey... Lute-san... you said the kitten doesn't age? Do you think it's magical?"


Masato filed this new datum for further consideration. Sindel wasn't one to scare. But she struck him as unnerved by the thought of fighting Lute again.

One day, Haruka and Lute might fight. Watching those two girls, Masato felt cold as the ice cream placed before him.

"I... see... what are the chances that Lute-san may want to fight Haruka?"

Before Lute could answer Zera already spoke, as if knowing the answer already.

" It is. "

Sindel gazed over at Lute and Haruka for a few moments before she'd smile and shake her head a few times.

" Unless it's an innocent, playfull match.. I don't see Lute fighting Haruka. Off course, you could always ask her. "

"Reh?" Haruka's face fell. "That's unfair... I want a kitty, too..."

Yes, she actually whined. Her soft spot for cuddly animals? Kittens account for a huge percentage of it.


" Unless it's an innocent, playfull match.. I don't see Lute fighting Haruka. Off course, you could always ask her. "

That puzzled Masato. "Maybe I will," he answered. Later, when Haruka isn't around... "But why do you think Lute would only agree to a..." He grimaced; he remembered Haruka's match with Luci Lollipop and rematch with Yuko. "A playful match?"

He was half sure of the answer. But it always paid to have a second opinion. He didn't play dice with Haruka's safety.

Lute would giggle at Haruka's whining, leaning back against the chair as she finished her ice cream and her arms up to stretch them and yawned softly, as if content with just one dosis.

" Mmmm.. I had a raven.. They seem ruthless and scary but they really aren't.. Its just that people judge it by it's cruel outside rather then it's soft inside. Much like a caramel bar! "

She'd chuckle while Zera blinked and wondered what a caramel bar was.

Sindel would shrug and muttered softly to Masato.

" A match that doesn't involve someone getting hurt.. She can't stand seeing blood, especially her own. If she tastes or see her own blood she would go completely insane.. "