Huh?

At night, he woke up and opened his eyes. It's not really nighttime, but if we're basing it on his vision, it definitely is.

Lu looked around and discovered that he was currently on his bed... 'their bed'. On his left was a chair, occupied by a sleeping Shinobu.

Not wasting any time, he grinned as he came up with a brilliant plan to wake her up. You know, the usual stuff...

"Hyaan~!"

.....

"What the hell, Lu?!" Kuki erupted, as she was awakened by someone tickling her at the waist.

"You were having such a nice sleep so I got jealous~." Lu smirked. But his vision still remaining hazy, made him look at the wrong side.

"Right! I forgot why I was here..." She smiled wryly.

"What happened? Unfortunately, my memory is still unclear." He went straight to the point.

"Nothing much. You just got poisoned by your beloved wife." Kuki bluntly stated.

"I see... Anything else?" The slit-eyed deity didn't see shit.

"What do you mean, 'I see...' ?!!! You WERE unconscious, for half a day!" She exclaimed in frustration.

"Woah... Calm down. Mind elaborating for me?" Lu questioned.

"After 'The Poisoning Incident', the Twin Shoguns panicked and tried to alert anyone for help. Luckily, Lady Orihime heard about the ruckus and immediately took charge of the situation..." Shinobu sighed in relief.

"I see-"

"Shut up and don't interrupt me!" The now sitting patient held his arms high to surrender, and comfortably adjusted himself.

"Anyway... The Kitsune Saiguu hurriedly summoned Kokomi, who was fortunately still in Inazuma City to diagnose you. And of course, me, who was now apparently your secretary due to some rumors among us." She clearly finds it annoying.

"Where's the twins right now?" Lu inquired.

"Still getting lectured at the Grand Shrine. 𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦.." The shinobi murmured the last part weakly.

"Who else knows about this?" He snacked on some sweets as they talked. Offering some to the mildly irritated secretary.

"Mostly anyone, except the public, naturally. Lumine even visited together with that male blonde friend of yours." She continued while munching as well.

"How?" He was totally confused..

"She said something along the lines of dragging him with her to see if he can do something. Lumine immediately set off after just arriving here the moment she heard about it. In the end, Dains guy only said that we should wait for you to heal and left." Kuki explained, now in a better mood.

"What about... Shuten?" Lu was still wondering about what had happened before.

"Did the same thing. Except she stayed longer." She shrugged.

"Anything unusual about her?"

"...Lady boss was a bit more tame, I guess. And she only stared at you directly the entire time." Shinobu played along.

"After all of that and more visits, I was stationed here to wait for you to regain consciousness."

"Color me surprised, Kuki. I didn't know you're that worried about me~." Some things never change...

"I'm not. You being gone will just pile more work for me." She shot him down with disdain.

"How cold~. Can't you take a joke, my lovely secretary?

"A joke? If it is then your humor disgusts me..." The shinobi was on a roll today.

"I didn't know you were that hungry, what now?" He took the chance and wiped her mouth while smirking.

"... Don't do that again..." A flustered Kuki warned.

"Sure, sure. So? What now?" Lu queried once again.

"Um... Hold out your hand. I need to check your condition." She mumbled shyly. The deity accepted and let the shinobi do her thing.

"Dendro? You gals continue to surprise me..." He gasped in amazement.

"I can't afford to fall behind the others, after all." The smug secretary smirked.

"I won't let that happen..." Lu gave his usual smile as he interlocked their hands.

"...?!!! Unhand me, Lu!" Shinobu panicked, flashing back to what had occurred before.

"Why~? You started it." He teased.

"Stop playing around. I'll get mad..." She threatened with an icy tone.

"Not that convincing with that blush in your face. And, you are cuter when you're mad anyway~." The deity smirked as he pulled her towards him.

"Plus... You could've just used my back or any other part yet you chose my hand.~..." He stated, after removing that stuffy mask from her face once more.

"I-I only did that because I don't want to get closer to you. Else... E-Else this will happen!" Kuki exclaimed in embarrassment while staring straight at the ground.

Lu only stared in silence as he let her fantasize for herself. Not knowing, he was in for a rude awakening.

"Oh my~, I wonder what is happening here?" He unknowingly loosened his grip after hearing someone's voice.

"Why stop now? Do continue..." Kokomi calmly stood there and said. And Shinobu took this chance to get away from the deity.

"Yo, Kokomi! Make yourself at home." Lu waved at her with a smile, as if nothing had happened.

"I shall take you on your offer then." She replied and walked towards them before stopping in front of the shinobi.

"But still... How cruel of you, Kuki. I believe I informed you to immediately tell me once Lu woke up." Lu couldn't see her expression as it was blocked by Shinobu's figure, but he could imagine the divine priestess pouting right now.

"I'm leaving." Kuki stated, but not after sending him one final message.

(Be careful around her. I can't comprehend what's wrong with her, but the instincts you helped us grow are warning me about danger strongly...) She said. Using their telepathic connection that Lu made, so it's easier for her to send him information.

(Worried about me~?) Was his response.

(This trick of yours sure is handy.) Which was ignored by her.

(Shuten and I have this for convenience, so I thought, why not do the same for us.) He smirked internally.

(... That so.)

"The door is towards the far left, Kuki..." Kokomi interrupted what she perceived, was a staring contest between them. She deduced that there's something else going on, though...

"You don't have to tell me." With that, the shinobu walked towards the exit.

"My bad~." The divine priestess cutely giggled as she saw her off.

...

"Now then... Shall we start, Lu?" Kokomi said with an innocent look.

***

Yo!

The drunk chapter didn't go well, and please don't remind me of that again... It's so bad...

And apparently 4 hours of sleep can affect my mind, so no chapter yesterday too.

Bear with the shitty schedule for now. It should be back to normal by next week, just a lot of RL stuff.

And one more week after that, I would finally have more time to dedicate myself to writing this.

Goodbye 8 hours free time!

It's even lower than that...

I'm out to make one more chapter for today.

I should have enough time, even if I can't finish it..

Don't worry, I kept track of the missing chapters. So do keep the powerstones coming!

***

Support me on P atreon and read chapters ahead!

P atreon.com/justabastard

Adios!