Arriving At A Human City!  

Throughout our journey to the human city, everyone has been quiet. Being around Rin, even the chatty twins had nothing to say. It didn't help that traveling in the back of a truck was as uncomfortable as it could've been.

"I've been around so many humans before…" Finally breaking the quiet, Maiko squeezed her knees towards herself and began skulking with her head pressed against them. "Ahhhhhhh, what do I do?!"

"Calm down," slipping closer to her, Claire raised Maiko's head off of her knees. "We'll hide your ears so you can fit in without a problem."

Reaching for Maiko's tied hair, Claire quickly undid them. Spreading out over her ears Maiko's hair completely hid their pointed tips. Apart from the ears, she had little distinction from a human. If anything, Senya, Cinder, and Rin had more to worry about than her.

"Thanks," Maiko muttered, looking at Claire.

"Come out!" The sudden voice and the banging on the shutter shocked us all equally. The truck had come to a stop for a while, but none of us realized it as we were focused on Maiko. "Enough sitting around!"

Lifting the truck's shutter, one of the male workers motioned us to get off. Before doing anything, I took one glance across everyone's faces and assured them that they could trust me with a nod.

"I'll get off first, you guys follow me," with that said, I quickly got off.

The girls soon followed and in a matter of minutes, our luggage was unloaded by the workers. Taking our bags in hand, we made our way into a complex specifically for the employees working at the nearby embassy building.

"I've heard Ophilia lives here too," as soon as I said it, I knew I shouldn't have. The news only served to fuel everyone's worries. "Let's just keep our distance from her for now."

Ignoring the surprised looks, I kept leading them up the stairs to the floor temporarily reserved for us alone. On our way there, we crossed paths with numerous people dressed in the embassy's navy-colored uniform. Thankfully, most of them were in such a rush that they didn't even notice the monster girls while passing. A few others, however, jerked back in horror right before forcing themselves to smile.

'What kind of employee from the Embassy of Humans and Monsters relations gets afraid of monsters? They're the whole second part of your damned name!' The fear I had of monsters was due to the lies sold to me since my birth, but these morons spreading those lies, have they begun to believe in them themselves? Whatever the case may be, I had to push those thoughts for another time as we reached our floor.

"We each get a separate room, but…" Standing in the middle of the cramped hallway, the monster girls felt a bit out of place. "Claire and Mercy, you two are sharing a room. Also, two of the girls stay with me, the others will stay grouped in another room."

Even though we had more than enough rooms to go around, I didn't want them to stay alone since this was hostile territory to them. 

"Rin and Senya will stay with me for now," knowing nobody else would feel comfortable around them for now, I decided to take them with me.

"No way!" Leaving her bag on the ground, Maiko rushed forward and grabbed my arm.

Cinder followed right after and grabbed my other hand as well. The two seemed understandably worried, making me question my own judgment.

"I want to stay with you!" Cinder pleaded, and Maiko bobbed her head in agreement.

"Fine," looking back at Rin and Senya, I took a deep breath and sighed. "You two, please don't cause any more trouble."

Still a bit delirious from the spell, Rin stared at me blankly while Senya nodded lightly. Moving towards their room, the twins shot one last glance at the group and spoke before getting in.

"Be quick people, we're going to explore the city soon," Claire exclaimed, beaming from being back in her element.

"Yupppp! Been a while since we've been shopping too," Mercy added, right before the duo headed on in. 

Taking our bags as well, we got inside our room as well. The first few hours were spent simply settling in and letting our bodies destress from the bumpy journey. As time went on inside the dainty room, we took turns taking a bath before getting ready to head out soon. Ideally, I would've preferred if we didn't leave at all, at least not today, but the twins were dead set on showing the girls around in the city.

'Still, it's probably better to explore than stay locked inside this place.' Ironically, staying in the apartment could be more dangerous depending on what the embassy was planning by having us over.' After just two hours since we'd arrived, the twins were ready to take the girls with them to show them around.

"So where are we going exactly?" I asked Claire as we all stood in the hallway.

Shooting me a curious gaze, she moved closer and leaned in to plant a peck on my cheek.

"Not we, us–the girls, you're staying back for now," her response surprised me. I didn't expect to be left behind especially when everyone else was so scared of the city. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. Just want to buy some stuff that would make tonight interesting, and–well potentially ease the racing hearts of these girls."

"Wait-wait, I thought Ken was coming too!" Maiko complained, the fear in her voice evident.

However, those complaints didn't last long. Moving away from me, Claire whispered something in Maiko's ears. Her face flushed red with whatever she'd been told, she hung her head low and nodded.

Taking turns to whisper into everyone else's ears, Claire somehow managed to convince them all without much problem.

"Alright, it's settled!" Mercy exclaimed and began to make her way downstairs.

Since the whole group was somehow convinced, I only advised the twins to get a firearm for protection before going anywhere else. The two apparently had a license so it shouldn't be a problem.

'Now, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?' Wondering to myself I watched them heading out. 'Maybe…'

Remembering that the orphanage I used to live in was nearby, I decided to take a trip outside as well.