Chapter 3 - Fang

Reina was slowly making her way down the road, lost in the crowd as she was jostled this way and that as others pushed past her. Her eyes were wondering around in a daze, as she continued to take small steps towards the restaurant as she waited. Finally she felt the subtle buzz in her body as she looked down and saw her shadow attached to her body again.

"Finished cleaning up?" Reina muttered softly

[Yes]

"Good, I'm still hungry"

[Your temperament does not match your words]

Shadow was not ignorant to the ways humans worked, and it knew Reina. It had spent the past 9 years watching her, she was a rather timid child, seeing a man's skull being crushed between it's teeth should have eliminated her appetite.

Reina smiled bitterly, "I've seen you eat before, and I will continue to see you eat for a long, long time. If I lost my wits every time it happened I would have died long ago".

[Impossible, I can keep you alive through something as trivial as frayed nerves or starvation]

"I would prefer to avoid such a miserable existence" Reina responded as she entered a restaurant that had caught her attention, a jade boar had been carved and placed over the entrance. Walking up to the hostess counter, she saw a young woman with tanned skin, energetic green eyes, and smooth brown hair that fell down her back.

"Excuse me~ may I have a se- fweh?!?!"

"AHHH you're such a cutie!!" the hostess, had jumped over the counter and began pinching Reina's cheeks.

"W-what is this softness?!" the hostess marveled as she began kneading Reina's cheeks, ignoring her dumbfounded face that was rapidly beginning to redden.

"Excwuuuuse mweeeeeee" Reina squeaked out, trying to calm down her heart. But the hostess was only encouraged by the adorable sound that had leaked out of her, squeezing her into her chest.

"Gods, you're too cute! Hey, do you want to go home with this big sister? I can spoil you all want~" Reina had long went into a daze after being pressed into the woman's bosom, 'Ah, it's so soft... I wanna stay a little longer...' she thought. Yet the last words spoken sent a chill down her spine, looking up at the hostess with disheveled hair and teary eyes, the hostess had immediately thought to herself,

'Ah, a sheep'.

"f-food" the sheep below her said in a soft voice, nearly a whisper.

"Ah, of course! come with me cutie, I'll take you to your table"

Reina followed the hostess to her table, which was located in the corner of the restaurant, secluded from the rest of the patrons. Curious, Reina turned towards the hostess to ask why she was seated so far away

"E-excuse me ma'a-waaah!" Reina's question went unasked as she was dragged onto the hostess's lap and felt her arms wrap around her waist tightly.

"Don't call me ma'am, my name is Fang cutie, what's yours?" Fang asked cheerfully, ignoring how the girl in her arms seemed to turn into stone in her embrace.

"e-eh? m-my name is Rei-NAH?!?" Reina's answer was cut short when she felt Fang nibbling on her ear. Looking at Reina's tomato colored ears, Fang let out a chuckle.

[.....] Shadow was speechless, it understood the concept of humans teasing each other, but wasn't this rather extreme?

"You can't do that Reina, I won't be able to stop myself if you keep being so cute!" Fang said as she squeezed Reina underneath her arms.

Reina had barely heard Fang's words over her furiously thumping heart, only being brought back to reality from what she said next.

"So what are you gonna order cutie?"

"eh? uh? ummm.... m-meat?" Reina's mind had long since been cooked from Fang's teasing, thinking of something as complicated as an order was too much for her.

"meat huh, I see. OY, JACK, GIVE ME YOUR BEST RABBIT DISH, IF IT'S NOT PERFECT I'M TEARING IT OFF"

"eh? what's being torn off?"

"...his apron"