Chapter 15

"So, this is Itomori? Lovely town." I say as I finish my meditation, I was aware that Takae was waiting for me to finish before we went to look for her brother.

"The town is made around that big crater, apparently 1200 years ago a meteorite fell and create that hole, the people of the time filled it with water to make a lake, and it connected itself with the sea. It's a weird place." Takae told me rubbing her wrist.

"Come on, don't be anxious. Let's go to the biggest building, it's probably the town hall or something." I tell her as the Vimana lands.

Suddenly, I feel some weird energy coming towards me and Takae, in an instant, I am grabbing Takae's hand and force my energy to protect us from whatever that is.

"Hm? Are you okay, Nat?" She asks clueless. Damn it, I have to teach her to sense energies and control her own.

"Something weird is going on. From the center of the lake, a wave of energy tried to grab us, it looked like chronokinesis or something like that, but natural. I am not sure yet. For now, never drop my hand. This is a good way to train my energy control as well." I grin as we intertwine our fingers.

"Alright. You know this is getting annoying. I wonder now if any city is normal. Is Kawakami normal?" she asks me with an annoyed tone.

"Hahaha! No! Kawakami is weird as hell! There are no curses or anything like that though, so in that sense it's normal. But well, the people there are extremely eccentric, there are quite a lot of strong people there too." I answer as I scratch my chin, only to feel Takae's hand on my mouth.

Looking at her amused face I blush, habits die hard. I was trying to scratch my chin with the hand that connected us.

"You know, if you want to eat me, we can do that later". Ah! Teasing, this woman!

"Fine, fine, let's go."

"So, Nat... How old are you? You have been implying being quite old for a time now."

"Huh, you're being blunt today huh. Well, I lost the count, but I know I am a bit over eight thousand years old." I smirk seeing her gobsmacked expression.

"Hahaha! It was never a secret my dear! Lucky you, I never had children or something, so I am not an old grandma! Hahahaha!" I laugh at seeing her face.

"Are you immortal or something?" She looks at me with wonder, poking me in the face with her other hand. "You're not a ghost though."

"I am, yeah. I mean, you can kill me though. All it does is force me to rise from a random grave transforming the body of the dead as a new body. The con is that it hurts and that new body is weak, with no equipment, no magical tattoos... The good thing though, is that the body is automatically at its peak and everything just transforms into the body you see before you. I do have this lipstick, the one I've been telling you to use every morning, that gives us regeneration. Even if your heart is pierced, even if you're torn to half, you will regenerate. As long as your lips are still painted with the lipstick." I grin at her.

"Eh? Does the lipstick do that? I thought you just wanted me to use it because you had a fetish or something. So, your tattoos are magical? How so? What do they do?" She smiles, ah, so accepting of me. Have I truly fallen for this ash-haired flash?

"Hmm, well, do you know about the old Egyptians and the Picts? My tattoos are a fusion between what both cultures did, and while they look Norse, that's because I like Norse runes and images. But in truth, these tattoos are Egyptian and Pict. As for what they do, they boost my body." Pointing to my stomach, "The one the stomach transforms all that is ingested into energy. That's why I don't go to the toilet! Hahaha! The others are quite useful too, I'll give you a list later, if you want to have one tell me and I'll do it for you." I say as a grip her hand tighter.

"Mhm!" She smiles, gripping my hand back. "I think that's the town hall." She says looking at the biggest building with a few flags on it.

"Eh, probably." I shrug. The energy of this town is still trying to wash us, but it's not like its sapient. It's more of an after-effect. It's weird. I can feel it on the people we have walked by, nothing that actually harms them, but it feels like they're two of themselves. Weird. I need to investigate more.

The town is a peaceful little village. Because to me, that's what it is, I haven't seen a single modern thing here, it's like they're living in the past, even if they're modern. An old town fixated in the past.

The people here are welcoming, even if they look at us weird for holding hands like this. Every single one of them always says hello with a smile and a wistful look, sometimes is a confused look directed at our hands.

The cars are old, the roads are firm, but with cracks of low maintenance, the people are happy though. That's what's important.

The Town Hall was a big building in comparison with most of the buildings here, and yet it was still small. A flustered woman with papers on her hands walking downstairs welcomes us.

"Ah! Weldoinme hereeeee!" She exclaims as she falls down the stairs. Before she could get hurt, Takae and I arrive in front of her, Takae grabs her shoulder, and I grab the papers in the air.

It seems she got way too nervous at having visitors, and she was trying to say Welcome and What are you doing here. Smirking, Takae and I walk downstairs.

"Weldoinme to you too!" I smirk. Takae pinches my side.

"Hello there" Takae, always polite.

"Ah, sorry about that. Ehem! Welcome to the office of the mayor in Itomori! I am the assistant of Toshiki Miyamizu the current mayor. What can I help you with?" She composes herself with a polite bow.

"We're looking for Itami Tachibana, do you know anything about him or his family? We're from his old town in Kochi." I say with a smile.

"Eh? I don't know anyone of that name. Are you sure they came here? Let me check the civil registry." She says as she leads us towards a back room with a big book. On the way, there's a little girl, of probably fourteen or something.

Ignoring her, Takae then asks "What about Taki Tachibana? He's a teenager. When she said the name, the girl that was walking by, did a double-take and swallowed her spit. Hoh... Interesting.

Focusing on her I was able to note something, her soul was new, either that body is hijacked or a new one. Waving my hand a little straw flew from my hand and buried itself in her hair. The only one who saw that was Takae, who rose an eyebrow.

Smiling slightly I shake my head. And continue to follow the woman.

"Hmm... Nope, no one surnamed Tachibana. Sorry girls. Now if that is all I have to go back to work! See ya!" And there she goes, off like the wind. In heels. The wind in heels.

"What was that about, Nat?" She asks referring to the girl before.

"When you said the name of your brother, her emotions overshot, like 'Oh no, I know something!' and she started sweating and left fast. Not only that though, but her body and the soul also do not match, or one of them is new." I grin as I touch Takae's stomach.

"You hungry? Let's go and eat something, I saw a nice restaurant on the way." I say as I lightly kiss her.

"Hungry... Hungry. Yes. Let's eat something, after that we'll look for that girl." She smiles.

"Hehe, no need. That straw was something of a beacon for me. But it seems to be useless since she's following us." I smirk as we walk through the town.

"Oh! Curry!" She smiles and had I not grabbed her tighter she would have run straight to the restaurant. "Ehehehe, sorry."

"Don't worry. I like curry too." I smile as we eat in bliss. It seems that Takae is not good at eating with her non-dominant hand. So I start feeding her much to her embarrassment.

The restaurant starts getting rowdy with more and more people entering to eat. "Girls, this is for you." Says the owner, chef, and server as he hands us a pudding as dessert.

"What for? And thanks!" I smile as I take the puddings.

"Hahaha, thanks to you, people are coming to eat, you two are so cute they can't help but come and watch you." He laughs at the expression of others as he betrays them.

"Hahaha! Is that so? Alright, thanks!" I laugh as I keep feeding the volcano named Takae because her face is burning and smoke is coming out of her ears.

When we finish our meal, much to the disappointment of others, we start going through small alleys. "Don't they have anything else to do than watch foreign people eat!?" Takae is still grumbling.

"Hahaha, don't take it to heart, love. They're town people, they probably see the same things every day. We are new. And also holding hands." I smirk at her further embarrassment.

"In the next corner, to the right," I whisper.

We keep talking nonsense as our legs tensed, I would follow her lead. She's faster after all.

The moment we started turning to the left, ignoring the right side. Takae suddenly swung me in the other direction, using the force of the swing, I rotate harder, grabbing her other hand and throwing her towards the stalker.

I didn't stop holding her though, so I went flying with her. Jumping on her back I allowed Takae to take control as the world suddenly shifted and everything stopped. No, not stopped, it's just going extremely slow. So this is how Takae sees the world when she uses her speed force? Amazing.

... I shouldn't laugh. But I suddenly start laughing like a maniac.

I mean, this is overkill, we probably could just have cornered the stalker with a little bit of brainwork, and yet, we're overkilling it. I notice it as I see the girl from earlier with a surprised expression on her face, hell, she doesn't even feel strong at all.

That girl, without being even able to understand what was going on, was suddenly grabbed and pushed against a wall. The face of a serious Takae Tachibana in her face. With mine on her side, of course, I am still climbing her back like a Koala.

"Yo!" I grin and salute with two fingers from Takae's behind.

"Ah!? What's going on? What happened? I was there now I am here? Ah!? You're the lesbians! What are you going to do with me!? I am not gonna give you children!" She starts ranting on and on.

-Slap- Huh. This kinda Takae turns me on.

"You will only answer what I want you to answer, or you will suffer. Understand?" She explains with a serious face. I know she's bluffing, that slap was the most easy-going slap ever, hell, it only sounded and didn't leave a mark. But that seems to scare the child.

"I-I-I...Okay." And then she starts looking at the ground, almost trembling. "Just don't hurt me, okay?" Worried? Not about herself. The body?

"What do you know about Taki Tachibana?" Woh, the bluntness hits again. And the girl freezes. So she does know something.

"I... Alright, but promise you won't tell anyone." She mutters looking distressed.

"Girl, you better answer, I don't know how much I can hold her back," I say from behind Takae. As if I was holding her back. But appearances matter after all.

Gulping in fear, she starts telling her story. Or rather, his story.

"I, I am Taki Tachibana. I was sleeping at my house, in Tokyo. And a week ago I suddenly woke up as this girl, Mitsuki Miyamizu." Miyamizu? Like the mayor?

So the body belongs to Takae's brother. Haha! What a twist, Takae is slightly out of it, but the brat doesn't notice it. Luckily. I pinch Takae's ass to wake her up as Taki continues his story.

"I wake up as her, and she wakes up like me. We don't know what's going on. We've been dropping messages to each other on the phone. In a diary app." Huh? Diary app? Are they stupid? Why not add each other?

Uh. Climbing down of Takae, without removing my hand from her body, I grab her hand again.

"Are you stupid?" I grin. "No, don't answer that. Hahaha! Ouch!" There she goes again, pinching me! Damn her and her pinches!"

Ignoring my hateful look with a smile, she looks at her... Sister? Hahahaha.

"I am Takae Tachibana, your sister." Miss Blunt drops her bombs without warning.

"Hah? I don't have a sister, lady! I would know." Taki answers quite sure of himself.

"Brat, you're hijacking the body of an adolescent girl, do you really know you would know things?" I smirk. "She's your sister, your family abandoned her when you were born. Not because of you though, that was a coincidence I guess." I say promptly.

"Huh? That's a lie! Father wouldn't do that. He raised me knowing how to take care of others, to be nice and helpful to others." He says proudly of his father.

"I'll tell you what, we're gonna stay here for two days more, when you sleep you go to your main body right? Then ask him. You say he values honesty, doesn't he? Then you have nothing to worry about" I say as I smile.

"Hm, alright. How do I find you again though?" He asks.

"Ah, don't worry about it, whenever you're alone we'll be there," Takae smirks, oooh mischievous Takae, I love this Takae as well!

Smiling, we leave a sputtering Taki Tachibana.

"What a pervert," I say once we're out of earshot.

"What?" A bewildered Takae asks.

"Well, he probably clothes himself! If he wakes up as her. Hahahaha!" I smirk as Takae starts laughing with me.

"Did you hear the people of the restaurant, though? In two days there's a festival here. Might as well enjoy it!" I say as we start swinging our joined arms while we skip along the road.

/-/

Waking up, it's a new day, in the room of our motel. The TV says something about the Tiamat Comet, that's going to be visible during the festival. Nice.

We have been able to separate for a few minutes, I manage to awake Takae's energy and force it to follow the path of protection, but she barely feels it and thus is unable to control it.

"What do you wanna do today?" I ask as we have breakfast.

"Hm. I want a yukata for the festival, and I want to learn how to use my energy to block the energy from the town." She says, this time eating with her dominant hand, her left hand, as we grab each other with the other hand.

"Hm. Alright, I think I do have a few Yukata in my storage, wanna see them? I think we do not have time to order a Yukata for tomorrow in a sewing shop." I mutter as I mentally look at the clothes I have in my storage.

"Yeah, that's true, I did not think of that. By the way Nat... I couldn't help but notice. You are old, but you act like my age. How does that work?" She asks between bites.

"Ah. Well, I may be old, that's only for my spirit. My body is forever locked in time at my prime, which also means the makeup of my brain. Also, being old doesn't equate to being smart. I am an idiot, I just had enough years to memorize things." I grin as her eyes twinkle in amusement.

After we finish, I take her to the bedroom and start taking out clothes. Yukatas of all types and eras, even sexy bunny suits.

"Really Nat? What's this?" She asks with a raised eyebrow as she holds in her hand an elven battle dress.

"That's an elven battle dress," I answer completely even.

"Really? Elven battle dress? This is an open thong. with steel-shaped star-flakes on the sides. There's even an almost invisible fabric to surround just the buttcheeks. What the hell?" She's oblivious to the fact that she stopped holding me, luckily I am touching her back.

"The top is there," I say as I point to the side.

Takae bends over to take the top of the armor, which is just a strap, with two rings on it.

"How are you supposed to wear this?" She mutters in disbelief.

"Well... You put your nipples through the rings, and the strap automatically tightens so it doesn't fall." My voice is still completely even. "It's a good armor," I say with finality.

"Pfft! Hahaha, it's way too lewd! Hahaha!" Takae can't stop laughing. Wich makes me laugh too.

"Hahahaha, I know! The elven prince gave it to me, he said he wanted to 'fight me', the fool. Believe it or not, the elves are all perverts. And while the real female armor is similar to it, it doesn't show the nips or the vagina, it just, accents it. It does come with heavy charms to protect from damage, so it does work. It's just... Hahahaha!"

"Oh god, and what happened with that prince? Did you... Fought him?" She asks, slightly jealous looking at the battle dress.

"Oh, is my beautiful Takae jealous? Don't be, I'll wear it for you later." I wink. And promptly snort as she fist pumps the air.

"Ignoring that one, just take one of the Yukatas, it'll fit you automatically." I smile at her reaction. "After that, well, let's just meditate on the house of that girl," I smirk.