Kasumi’s visit

The weekend was fast approaching and Ayame was freaking out about what she would do. Having called Anna for help, she had come over while the shrine was quiet.

"So what you're saying is you met this random woman and they are now coming over tomorrow?" Anna was sitting at the table in Ayame's room trying to make sense of the situation.

"Y-yes and I don't know how I should act or dress." Ayame was pushing her finger together, a bit embarrassed to admit her ineptness.

"Hmm well since she is coming over here, then just dress casually and it is your first proper meeting so just go with the flow." Anna didn't know what else to say as it was just as simple as that.

"W-well I guess I could do that, but this is the first I am having basically a stranger randomly come over. Also, she is quite scary and I didn't have much of a choice, well I did, but it felt like I would have been murdered if I said no." Ayame didn't want to tell Anna about her assassin job as well as how powerful Kasumi was since Ayame was unsure if she was allowed to talk about it with Anna.

"If you want I can stay with you." Anna was going to be at the shrine anyway and figured she could spend the afternoon helping Ayame.

"N-no it's fine plus I don't think she will be here for that long." Ayame, fearing she would drag Anna into a rather complex situation, wanted to make sure she didn't come over.

"If you say so, don't be afraid to call me over." Anna was a little suspicious of Ayame's attitude, but she wanted to trust that things would be okay.

"Of course, not that I want to gatekeep this person, I'm just unsure if she will stick around or not." Giving a plausible reason Anna nodded her head and stood up.

"Good, anyway we should head back out to the shrine, people would have started stacking up." Looking at the time and having lunchtime just pass, she could imagine people coming by very soon.

"Mhm." Ayame quickly packed away the small table and followed Anna back out to the front of the shrine.

*

<Saturday afternoon>

Ayame was pacing around her room panicking that this may be some ploy to kill her or steal something.

'Why did I agree to thissssss.' falling onto her bed she rolled around in her own anguish until her phone went off.

[Kasumi: I'm almost there~!]

Seeing the message caused Ayame to get up right away and tried to set up the room in a way that wasn't embarrassing.

'Got to hide the assassin stuff, my clothes and weapons.' Frantically tidying up her room, she also realised she wasn't even dressed yet.

'Shit I'm still in my shrine maiden clothes.' Opening up her closet which wasn't filled with many clothes, she only had a spare shrine outfit and her assassin clothes. The only thing left was some t-shirts and skirts that Tomoe had gotten her.

'This will have to do.' Grabbing a white shirt and a black skirt, it was the only casual clothes she had.

'I need to go shopping soon.' Thinking about how she will be going out more, she needed to populate her wardrobe with some clothes.

Changing into the skirt and t-shirt, Ayame did a little twirl in front of the mirror that was in her room.

"It's kind of short." Feeling like her panties would be exposed with the slightest bit of wind, she hoped it wasn't seen as sleazy.

'Now that I think about it, this is the first time I am wearing this skirt.' Ayame had rarely gone out and when she did, used her assassin clothes since they were comfortable.

'Didn't Tomoe also give me some stockings? Maybe that will help not make this outfit feel so risky.' Going through a drawer, she found a pair of stockings and quickly put them on.

Looking in the mirror again, she felt a lot more comfortable and was a little disappointed in herself for not trying on the clothes earlier.

"Okay now I wa-."

*Bzzt*

Ayame's phone went off again and the nervousness that she had forgotten came flowing back.

Picking up her phone slowly, her heart was pumping like crazy as it very well could be Kasumi.

[Kasumi: I'm here~ I'll come to the front door ;)]

Seeing the message Ayame dashed for the door, but as she entered the hallway already saw Tomoe answering it.

The front door opened, revealing a dark purple-haired woman. The woman's eyes locked directly onto Ayame and the same feeling she got back at the stadium washed over her.

"Hey, Ayame~!" Kasumi waved while smiling which had put Ayame's heart at ease as it seemed like she was genuinely just here to be friends.

Kasumi wore a shoulderless black sweater alongside a pair of black jeans. Ayame was mesmerised for a moment before shaking her head and waving back.

Tomoe was also a little taken aback by how good-looking Kasumi was and quickly turned to Ayame.

"You better not screw this up." Whispering into Ayame's ear Tomoe did not want her to ruin this friendship purely out of how good-looking she was.

"Y-yep." Ayame was glad that Tomoe was supportive of this happening and wasn't suspicious of where she met Kasumi.

"Fufu~ I assume you're Ayame's mother?" Kasumi saw the same amber eyes and thought it was her mother.

"Oh sh-"

"Yes, she is." Ayame cut off Tomoe and said she was her mother as a way to show her gratitude. However, this shocked Tomoe since it was the first time Ayame admitted such a thing.

"Ohhh good, nice to meet you, I hope you don't mind if I steal your daughter's time for a bit." Kasumi shook Tomoe's hand who was still in a rather shocked state.

"Hehe~ that's fine, just don't steal her for too long." Waking up from her shock, Tomoe had taken a 180 and was now in a very good mood.

'I didn't expect this kind of reaction.' Ayame blushed a little since it was a spur of a moment to admit, but was happy it worked out.

"F-follow me." Ayame gestured for Kasumi to come inside and so she followed her.

Tomoe held her face while muttering to herself as being called mother had been something she wanted to hear for so long.

"Your mother is definitely an interesting person." Kasumi was fully aware that Tomoe was also a Kitsune, but hadn't heard her name before.

"It has only been us 2 running the place for as long as I remember so we get by in our own way." Ayame wasn't sure what to say but tried to come up with something that sounded reasonable.

"I guess you weren't lying that you are a freelancer." Kasumi was rather impressed as most assassinating contacts are usually an organisation or some big group.

"Haha I have been at it for about 4 years and we refuse to become bigger. Anyway, this is my room." Opening up the door, Ayame already had the table out and preemptively prepared some tea.

"Oh my, this is the first time I have been in another girl's room and I have to say it's very different from mine." Kasumi looked around attentively since it truly was her first time.

"Aha well make yourself at home, I hope you like tea." Ayame's heart was racing while trying to process the situation as Kasumi could erase her existence in a second.

"Mhm, that's fine." Sitting down on the ground, Kasumi watched as Ayame poured the tea and noticed she was shaking a little.

'Hmm she must be still afraid of me.'

"Now I have to ask, why did you want to hang out?" Ayame needed to know as the main source of her worry, was why Kasumi decided to come over.

"I initially didn't want to, but after I found out you planned to go to the same university I wanted to make a friend so I wasn't alone." Kasumi grabbed her cup and swirled the tea in it slowly.

"B-but what about the course though?" Ayame was still creeped out that a lot of her information was found out, but it reinforced the idea Kasumi was someone with a lot of power in the world.

"I will do whatever you are doing, my father is forcing me anyway." Taking a sip, the reason why Kasumi was doing all this was much simpler.

"So this isn't some ploy to kill me or steal anything?" Ayame, still being on edge, needed to triple-check that it wasn't the case.

"Pffthahaha of course not, I was just intrigued by the little assassin who came to crash the deal." Kasumi smirked at Ayame, sending shivers down her spine as she really could have died if she was seen as a threat.

"Still, why me out of all people?"

"Because I can."

"Really?"

"Yep and to tell you the truth I only recently was given freedom so can you blame me for wanting to be a little adventurous." Kasumi smiled, hoping she expelled all of Ayame's worries.

"I-I see, I can assume your father is rather strict and sheltered you for all your life?" Ayame began to calm down as Kasumi wasn't much different from herself and their situations were rather similar.

"Mhm, but he would trap me in one room for months, if it wasn't for my mother I would have left him long ago." An annoyed look appeared on Kasumi's face as it seemed like her relationship with her father was the root of her being so rebellious.

"Can I know what you do exactly?" As Ayame got more comfortable more questions kept popping up.

'She is powerful but what could her father possibly be?'

"That…. I don't think I could tell you, I wish I could as it would go against his orders, but I'm afraid there are some spells put in place to make sure I don't spill secrets." Kasumi wishes she could say but it would put her and Ayame in danger.

"I see, well that was to be expected." This left Ayame with even more questions, but she knew when not to dig.

"Enough about me, I want to know more about you." Kasumi leaned on her hand while staring directly at Ayame. This caused her to blush and look away, but before she could turn her head Kasumi reached her hand over cupping Ayame's cheek.

"I-I…." Ayame's head was going through a million thoughts an hour as the situation reminded her of many manga she had read.

"Oops sorry, not used to personal boundaries." Kasumi realised what she was doing and although it was something her mother did, it was weird to do it to someone you just met.

"It's fine, but I don't have much to say, everything in this room explains who I am." Ayame took a deep breath recomposing herself and when she thought about Kasumi's question it was hard to think of things.

"I really don't do much other than being a shrine maiden, reading manga and surfing the internet." Despite having a pretty simple life Kasumi looked rather interested.

"I see, I see." Nodding her head she looked over to the bookshelf which was filled with manga.

"I wasn't given many things while growing up, all I had was training so this is quite foreign to me." Kasumi, now the awkward one, scratched the back of her head.

"That's okay, seems like you and I both need to take some lessons in being a human being." Ayame couldn't believe it, the ruthless killer in front of her ended up being an awkward girl who is just seeking some friends.

"Wait there is such a thing?" Kasumi's eyes brightened as it sounded like something she really could use.

"Haha, sadly not, but it's nice to know we are in the same boat when it comes to interacting with the real world."

"Tsk, I guess it's expected, but hang on, your mother seemed really nice, why do you struggle?" Kasumi found it odd that Ayame struggled as the meeting with Tomoe was pleasant.

"Oh well that's because she was very overprotective, definitely not as strict as your father, but I have had minimal interaction outside of this shrine."

"Makes sense, I only had my freedom for about 2 years, but I have been so consumed in running the damn business I only was able to get some free time because I will be attending uni soon." Kasumi got bitter once again as it seemed like her father pushed a lot of responsibilities onto her.

"That reminds me you said you would do what I was going to do. How does psychology sound?" Ayame, knowing she wouldn't be able to pry, moved on to something else. She was also no longer afraid of Kasumi as seeing they were similar made it easier for them to get along.

"Oh yes, that sounds great." Kasumi was intrigued by the course Ayame mentioned and didn't think it would be something she would do.

Ayame, hearing Kasumi was keen, quickly got up from the ground, but accidentally flashed her and although she wore stockings she had white underwear making it quite visible. This caused Kasumi to quickly turn her head out of respect and blush a little.

Ayame quickly sat back down and opened up her laptop but noticed Ayame was looking away.

"Kasumi?" Confused why she would be acting this way wondered if she did anything wrong.

"O-oh nothing, just think you should get a tiny bit longer skirt." Kasumi was glad this happened now rather than later as she couldn't imagine how awkward it would be.

"Huh!?" Ayame's face turned bright red and quickly pushed down on her skirt while looking down.