Agonising

After finishing their food, Ayame went for a shower and got into some loose clothes. She then headed back to her room to unpack the clothes she got from the mall.

"I should probably wash them." Not wanting any germs that may have been left there by other customers, Ayame took the clothes to a small laundry room. However, there was something different about the laundry compared to the normal one.

Instead of a washing machine, there was a painted circle of a kitsune with sigils of water around it. Placing the clothes on the top of the circle, Ayame took a step back.

"Ceto the kitsune god of water, lend me your power." Chanting another god's name, the circle lit up and the clothes were engulfed in a bubble of water. Ayame also chanted the wind and fire gods' names and more circles lit up around the room.

While the clothes were in the bubble, Ayame added a dishwashing solution and the water became soapy. She then activated the wind circle making the clothes inside spin around until Ayame felt they were clean.

Once the clothes were done, she released the water bubble making the clothes fall to the ground. Switching to another wind circle the clothes were once again suspended in the air. This started drying the clothes and to speed up the process used a bit of fire to blow hot air into them.

It also evaporated any water that was being flung around by the clothes. After a couple of minutes, the clothes were all dry and Ayame disabled all the elemental circles in the room.

"Good thing Tomoe knows how to do advanced engravings, otherwise I wouldn't have the energy to do this at all." Ayame picked up her clothes while looking at the engravings that were much more complicated than the ones she knew.

The elemental circles that are drawn come in different levels and dictate how much energy is needed to bring forth the element. Usually, it takes more energy to use a higher level, but in certain cases, it can reduce the cost especially if used in combination with a similar element naturally created.

In this case, Tomoe has set up circles that draw from the very nature-rich environment around them to create the elements. This allows someone like Ayame who isn't as high level as Tomoe to use the circles without being exhausted after using them.

Walking back to her room, she hung up her clothes in her wardrobe which was a pleasant sight to see.

"Never knew filling up my closet would be satisfying…. Now it doesn't look depressing." Remembering the state it was in before, she couldn't believe she only survived with such little clothes.

'Now that is over, I wonder if I should call Anna and sort out these feelings.' Ayame kept having Tomoe's words echo in her mind and needed someone to talk her through it.

[Hey Anna, are you free to talk?] Picking up her phone she quickly sent a text before she could overthink and agonise over it.

[Yeah? Something the matter Ayame?"] Anna responded almost instantly, spooking Ayame as she thought she had more time before Anna responded.

[Just need some advice, can I call now?] Committing to having this chat, Ayame fell on her bed while waiting for a response.

[Sure!] Getting Anna's confirmation, Ayame clicked on the phone icon and started the call.

"Hello?" Anna's voice came through the phone and Ayame quickly put it on speaker.

"Hey Anna." Ayame felt her heart accelerate as the nerves were kicking in and second-guessed if she should talk about it.

"What did you need advice for?" Anna got straight to the point not giving any time for Ayame to think.

"I-I umm…" Struggling to find the words, she went silent for a moment prompting Anna to speak again.

"Stop overthinking and just say it. I won't judge you no matter what it is alright?" Anna knew exactly what Ayame was doing and got a direct hit.

"Argghhh! Fine… I need some advice on some feelings." Ayame muttered the last part of her sentence hoping Anna didn't hear.

"That quick? What happened on that shopping trip? Or did Tomoe fill your heads with something silly?" Anna was shocked to hear that Ayame could have fallen for the mysterious woman making her even more curious about who she was.

"N-no, no it isn't like that, I need advice on if it's okay for me to be with someone like her and if I do what it is like." Ayame wasn't even sure if she conveyed what she wanted right and hoped Anna understood what she meant.

"You can be so adorable at times." Anna chuckled imagining what Ayame is like on the other side of the phone.

"Heyyy!!! I really don't know if it's a good idea nor do I even know what it's like. The only thing I have are the mangas I have read which I am slowly discovering isn't… 100% accurate." Ayame was ashamed to admit it, but the line between manga and reality was becoming thicker and things were not exactly like they are in the manga.

"It's fine I get it, but aren't you jumping to conclusions? You don't even know if this woman is interested in you and it's just Tomoe filling your head." Anna having an outsider's view could tell that Tomoe was most likely the culprit for making Ayame think like this.

"It's Kasumi and yes you are right Tomoe has been rather pushy." This realisation made Ayame a little annoyed but also embarrassed for jumping to such rash conclusions.

"That is not to say Kasumi doesn't like you, but I think you need to wait a few more months before thinking about this. Be her friend first and well if it feels right then you should consider it." Anna wasn't too much of a love expert but knew a thing or two from overhearing some of the girls in her class.

"What do you mean by it will feel right?" Ayame referred back to her manga where it would be an intense heartbeat whenever you looked at them, but she doubted that was true.

"Hmm, I guess when all you can think about is them and from what I hear there is a spark that happens in us where we just want to be with them all the time. Sometimes it can be hard to identify but if you can catch that moment, then you can confidently say you have feelings." Anna once again drawing on second-hand knowledge hoped it was enough to answer Ayame's question.

"That makes sense, I guess I should wait and see how it goes in university before I make a decision." Ayame knew university would be where she would spend most of her time with Kasumi.

"Oh? Is she going to the same university as you?" Anna raised an eyebrow as this was news to her, but it was very welcomed as it would be a great opportunity for Ayame.

"Yes we are doing the same course and we were meant to get school supplies today, but she had to leave early so I only ended up getting clothes." Explaining the situation a bit more, Anna no longer worried about who this Kasumi person was.

"I see, well make sure you spend the time well and if you need someone to talk to, don't be afraid to call back." Anna was happy for Ayame but felt envious as she wished she was able to also attend the same class.

"Haha Thank you, I probably will be calling you again like this once we start uni." Ayame sorting out the confusion she felt now had a plan.

"I will be waiting then, goodnight Ayame~." Anna, glad she was able to help said goodnight as it was getting late.

"Goodnight Anna." Ayame then ended the call and looked up at the ceiling processing the whole conversation.

'Okay, first I need to get closer to Kasumi then I need to figure out if she has feelings…. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.' Ayame found it daunting and didn't know if she would be able to do it.

'Wait… I don't even know if I like Kasumi… Dammit, MUM! It's her fault for making me think about these things.' Realising that she was getting ahead of herself, she cursed Tomoe for causing her to think like she has already fallen in love.

*Sigh* 'One thing at a time, just try to be a friend and see how things go from there. We have a few years together if we take the full course which gives me plenty of time to think.' Breaking it down Ayame felt a lot calmer about the situation and didn't seem like an unclimbable wall.

'I should sleep, if I'm not mistaken I will probably get a mission tomorrow.' Looking over at her phone it was about to hit midnight meaning it will be Sunday. Usually, this is the day when they get government hires as they like to send the requests at the start of the week.

'Hopefully it's an easy one.' Putting her phone on charge, Ayame laid on her back in an attempt to get some sleep.