Chapter 80: Familiar Visitors

[Kaede POV]

"So now you substitute this variable with this and have the answer!" I explained to Shoto and pointed at the writings in his book.

Currently, Shoto, Eri, and I were in Shoto's room, and I was personally tutoring him. Because of his special training to gain the Provisional Hero License, his studies have been dropping lately, and I take it upon myself to bump his grades back up again!

Eri was sitting next to me, watching a show on my phone while cutely eating apple slices and stuffing her cheeks like a chipmunk. I patted her head, and she smiled joyfully at my touch. With my onii-chan's training, Eri's quirk won't randomly go out of control, and we believed that with more effort, Eri would manage to heal onii-chan's arm. This gives her the determination to master her quirk as soon as possible.

Since with Eri's quirk under wrap, she will soon attend kindergarten, she was pretty nervous but also curious about meeting other people her age. I glanced at Shoto, who nodded to my explanation as he wrote down the calculation in his book. He then smiled as he leaned closer and kissed me on the cheek. I blushed and told him to focus on studying.

"Kaede, Shoto, Eri, the visitors are here!" Mina called from the door to Shoto's room.

"Okay, coming!" I replied. The three of us stood up, left the room, and reached the house's front door where all my friends were already there.

I already knew who the visitors were, the Wild Wild Pussycats, so I casually walked to the front of the group with Eri following close behind. The door opened, and my friend's eyes lit up when they saw that their mysterious visitors were the Pussy Cats. They did their signature team pose and happily greeted us.

"Hey guys, long time no see!" I greeted back.

When they saw me, their face turned serious and they bowed: "We want to apologize for our incompetence back at the training camp. I hope you will forgive us." Mandalay said.

I smiled and waved off their apology: "It's okay. I have never blamed you guys in the first place!" I casually responded.

The PussyCats raised their head with surprise and smiled. I could tell how relieved they were by my response. Suddenly, I saw a little black figure behind Mandalay, shyly glancing at me. I noticed who it was and my face brightened: "Hi Kota!"

Kota wore his usual outfit, but this time, there's a little plastic sword was strapped to his waist. He shyly glanced up at me.

Before Kota could react, I picked him up and hugged him: "Do you miss me?" I teased.

Kota became flustered with embarrassment, and to my surprise, instead of struggling to break free, he nodded. My eyes widened with shock: 'What happened to him...'

I felt a tug on my sleeve; I glanced down and saw Eri looking at Kota with jealousy. I giggled as I set Kota back down and hugged Eri as well. I placed her back onto the floor and introduced Kota to her: "Eri, this boy here is Kota-kun. Do you want to play with him?"

Eri tried to act mature and nodded, but I knew that deep down, she was excited. she grabbed Kota's hand and dragged him away. We all smiled warmly at the scene.

Mandalay informed me that after what happened at the training camp, Kota has become more friendly and confident. He also now carries a plastic sword because apparently, he sees me as his idol. I chuckled and promised myself not to tease him with this new information.

The Pussy Cats were then guided to the living room, but I grasped the wrist of one of the Pussy Cats, who I wanted to talk to privately.

"Hey, Shiretoko-chan, let's have a chat!"

She flinched slightly before slowly turning her head to face me: "Uh... Sure, what is it?"

"When can I call you sister-in-law?" I whispered.

"WHAT!" Shiretoko yelped as her face turned red and quickly covered my mouth. Under the questionable gaze of everyone, she pulled me away to a secluded spot in the house.

"Come on... You like my onii-chan, don't you?" I said and poked her on the shoulder.

"Don't joke around, Uchiha-chan!" Shiretoko said with panic.

"Hmm, my mom told me that a girl has been pretty intimate with onii-chan."

"WHO!?!?" Shiretoko screeched as she grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me violently. My mind was getting dizzy, and her voice was so loud that I thought the glass windows would shatter.

Shiretoko froze when she saw the smirk on my face: "Caught ya!" I cheered.

She whimpered: "Is it that obvious..." Shiretoko muttered and leaned against the wall.

"Yeah...." I answered while chuckling.

"Do the rest of the Pussy Cats know?"

"Of course not! If Shino (Mandalay) and Ryuko (Pixie-Bob) find out, they will kill me! Do you know how hard they've been trying to find a man?" Shiretoko replied with a terrified tone.

There was silence before both of us giggled at the thought. But her cheery expression disappeared as Shiretoko sighed and sat on the floor while fiddling with her shirt buttons. "Do you think I will succeed?" Shiretoko looked at me with uneasiness.

I grinned: "Why wouldn't you, other than my mom and I, you're the only woman I know of that got this close to him."

Shiretoko's eyes widened: "Really?" She said with disbelief.

"Uh-huh, I used to thought he was afraid of girls." I joked.

Shiretoko's eyes widened before laughing uncontrollably, "thanks, Uchiha-chan, that sound's too much like Itachi-san."

"No problem Shiretoko-onee-chan!"

"Why are you calling me onee-chan already!" She exclaimed and the red tint returned to her face.

A wide grin appeared on my face: "Call it intuition!"

Shiretoko sighed. We both got up and walked to the dining table where my classmates and the Pussy cats were. They asked what we were talking about, but I replied it was nothing.

[3rd POV]

"Come on this way!" Eri excitedly said and pulled Kota up the stairs.

"Where are we going, and who are you!" Kota yelled as he was forcibly dragged along.

"I'm Eri, and Kaede's my onee-chan!" Eri slapped her chest and proudly declared. Kota was shocked, and he became silent as Eri brought Kota into Kaede's room.

"Wow...." Kota said as he glanced at rows of sharp weapons. He subconsciously reached out to touch it, but Eri quickly stopped him.

"Wait, it's dangerous!" She said with worry.

Kota snapped out of his daze and hurriedly retracted his hand: "Where are we?" Kota asked as his eyes wandered around the room; his eyes twitched when he saw the pile of plush toys littered around the room.

"This is my one-chan's room!" Eri answered with innocence. Hearing this, Kota's face heated up at the thought of being in a girl's room.

"By the way, why do you have a toy sword Kota-kun?" Eri asked curiously as she stared at the plastic sword strapped to Kota's waist.

Kota unsheathed the plastic katana: "Because Kaede-onee-san is super cool, and I want to be strong just like her!

Eri's eyes sparkled. She quickly ran to her little backpack in the corner of the room and took out a similar-looking toy sword. In fact, Eri admires Kaede just as much as Kota does, and she asks her mom to buy a sword as well: "Kota-kun, let's battle!" Eri said excitedly.

Kota was also pretty ecstatic; just the thought of fighting with swords filled his mind with enthusiasm. He quickly unsheathed the plastic katana and waved it around dramatically. Eri smiled as they charged at each other.

What transpired next couldn't even be described as a fight. The two children had no idea how to correctly swing a katana as they kept stumbling and tried their best to whack each other. After ten minutes, Eri and Kota gave up and collapsed onto the floor. Both of them were exhausted, but their faces had non-diminishing grins.

"I win." Eri declared at the end that she had just managed to scrap Kota's knee with the tip of the plastic sword.

Kota huffed, but the loss didn't ruin his mood. As the children looked up at the ceiling in silence, Eri told him about her past and how Kaede saved her life. Kota listened quietly; deep inside, he was stunned. He gritted his teeth in anger. When he realized there was someone who had been through way worse, he was disgusted at himself for acting like such a brat.

Kota respected Eri, and the two have quickly become good friends. The door opened, and Kaede chuckled, seeing the children lying on the floor while happily chatting. Kaede went to get the two children when it was time to go. As the pussy cats were at the front door, Eri happily waved Kota goodbye, and Kota waved back.

"Did you have fun?" Kaede asked Eri, who was staring at the leaving Pussy Cats.

"Nn!" Eri nodded as Kaede hugged her in response. Eri can't wait to play with Kota once more.

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I hope you enjoy it!