A Step Away from Exposure

Kimika happily spent time in her sleep until the most perfect moment was interrupted by the alarm clock. Upon waking, she felt pain in every muscle — a result of her morning workouts. However, gathering her strength, she changed clothes and began waiting for a message from Toga, which surprisingly didn't take long to arrive, as if she had been watching her from the window, waiting for the moment she would wake up. As before, the message instructed her to get dressed and quietly go outside. 

"Well, today is day two and the second task!" Toga cheerfully announced, finally awaiting her friend's awakening. "So, after your light morning workouts, a little surprise awaits you! Today, we'll choose something just as easy!" 

"Choose? I thought you already had the task like yesterday," Kimika murmured, yawning and trying to focus.

Seeing her sleepy friend trying to look focused, Toga couldn't help but smile. "You look so cute when you're sleepy!" she said, grinning as she moved forward, leading Kimika along. "Don't worry, we're just going to the broker, we'll take a light task, and everything will be wonderful, just like yesterday." 

Fully awake now, Kimika couldn't hold back her curiosity. "Broker?" 

Toga looked at her friend with a smile, unable to contain her excitement. "Oh, how innocent you are! In short, he just assigns tasks. But don't worry, he's a pretty reliable guy!"

As Kimika followed Toga, she couldn't help but wonder what the place they were meeting would look like: a dark alley, a seedy bar, a sewer, or something similar, while Toga happily chatted about various topics. 

But to her surprise, Toga led her into a simple restaurant where ordinary patrons were seated — families were dining, pleasant music played, and calm conversations filled the air. This was nothing like she had expected, but Toga simply walked to the back of the restaurant, where a lone man sat, jotting something down in a notebook. 

"Toga? I see you're still alive... and your..." Giran paused, carefully looking Kimika over, then continued with evident displeasure, "Your partner is with you too..."

Hearing these words, it seemed they received a permission to sit. At least, that's what Kimika thought, since Toga only sat down after his words. 

"We're happy to see you too! But you know, don't call me Toga anymore. From now on, I'm Tsukima! And my partner is Tokima!" she replied cheerfully with her usual playful smile. 

Giran raised an eyebrow in surprise at this and looked at her closely, as if verifying that he had heard correctly. 

"A new name?" he asked, still curiously examining her. "And judging by how that sounds, you two are permanent partners now, right? Well then, Tsukima and Tokima, I hope our collaboration will be profitable and long-lasting." He smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, but his tone remained lighthearted. "So, what task are you interested in?"

"Something simple, like yesterday... and without any killings," Toga said, still holding a playful smile and occasionally glancing at Kimika. 

A grimace of dissatisfaction appeared on Giran's face. His gaze turned to Kimika — and it was clear that he saw her only as a burden for Toga. 

"Hmm..." he muttered, opening his notebook and flipping through the pages. "So, there's smuggling with the same people and at the same place as yesterday, or a shop robbery. The other tasks... a bit 'bloody.'" 

"We'll take the smuggling," Toga replied without a second thought, knowing that the second option would be too complicated for Kimika for now. 

"Well, fine," Giran sighed, pulling out a sheet with the cargo coordinates, which he immediately handed to Toga. "Here, and try not to die or make a scene because of your 'partner.' It would be a shame to lose someone like you." 

"We'll be polite," Toga winked, after which she said goodbye, took Kimika by the hand, and led her out of the restaurant.

Together, they set off to the location where the goods were. But this time there was one important difference — now it was Kimika, not Toga, who was navigating with the map on her phone and directing them. 

Despite her nervousness, she managed to lead them to the right spot. This time, the cargo was not in a trash container; the box was simply lying in the bushes near the apartment buildings. After taking it and putting it in her backpack, they began to move along the familiar route to the delivery point. 

However, Toga suddenly interrupted her thoughts: 

"Little Kimi, without any unnecessary questions and without any suspicious movements, we're going to slow down. Let's pretend we're just strolling," she said, not changing her stride or her smile even a bit. 

At those words, Kimika felt her heart start to race, and a chill ran down her spine. "What? What happened?" 

"There have been a few heroes tailing us for a while now, and one of them is Eraser Head," Toga replied just as calmly, still wearing the same playful smile, as if what she had said was nothing out of the ordinary.

Kimika felt the tension in her body rise sharply. She nervously tried to glance back, but Toga immediately reached out her hand, quickly intertwining her fingers with Kimika's. Before Kimika could even understand what was happening, she found herself in a firm grip from which there was no escape. 

"Hey, don't panic," Toga said cheerfully, delighted that she had taken Kimika's hand, as if they were in love, fully aware that Kimika probably wouldn't understand this, and started to jump and lightly pull her along. "Want to give us away?" 

Kimika let out a small squeak and instantly hid her face with one hand while the other was firmly held by Toga, trying to conceal her flushed skin. Her heart raced even faster, not so much from the fear of being caught, but from Toga's unexpected actions.

"Relax, we're just strolling," Toga purred, holding onto Kimika's hand. She walked with a bounce, as if nothing serious threatened them. Kimika, though trying to calm herself, couldn't shake off the thoughts of the heroes watching them. 

After a few minutes of walking like this, Toga finally stopped and let go of Kimika's hand. "That's it, no one has been tailing us for about two minutes," 

Kimika, still hiding her flushed face, awkwardly mumbled, "Why didn't you let go of my hand earlier?" 

Toga smiled even wider and playfully replied, "What, do you want me to lose such a wonderful chance to hold your hand?" 

Kimika immediately covered her face with both hands and walked ahead, too shy to look at Toga. Toga just smiled, watching her with a glimmer in her eyes, thinking about how sweet it would be to taste her friend's blood after successfully completing their task. 

However, the involuntary thoughts of the heroes wouldn't leave her: if they had been tailing them for so long, perhaps these tasks wouldn't be as safe as before.

~~~ A little earlier ~~~

Eraser Head and Fluffyk continued to patrol the city, especially in the areas where couriers frequently transported trigger. And as the operation to expose one of the places actively trading this dangerous substance approached, they began to watch all the suspicious individuals in the area.

"Hey, Eraser, look over there," Fluffyk quietly said, as if she didn't want to scare anyone away, pointing at two girls passing nearby.

Eraser Head slowly turned his head in their direction and made a vague grunt.

"Hmm... them again?" he said, maintaining his usual composure.

"What do you mean 'again'? Have you seen them before?" Fluffyk asked, slightly frowning in surprise.

"Yeah, I've seen them. They walked the same route yesterday."

Fluffyk squinted at them a little closer, and suddenly it was as if a light bulb went off in her head. "And they could be couriers? Look, they're heading right toward the place where they trade trigger..."

The heroes began to observe the two girls more closely. Suddenly, one of them grabbed the other's hand, as if in love, and the unexpected gesture elicited a squeak and a blush on the latter's face, which was noticeable even from their vantage point. She tried to cover her face with her only free hand. In response, 

Fluffy giggled quietly, unable to contain her emotions, as if she were watching a good romantic series. "Hmm, maybe they're just a couple," she said with a smile. "It looks like they're embarrassed to show their relationship during the day, especially the one with the horns."

Eraser Head merely let out a quiet sigh but said nothing, continuing to observe for a few more minutes. Eventually, both decided that they were probably not the ones they were looking for and moved on, paying no further attention to the girls.

~~~

Toga and Kimika were almost at the street where the house they were supposed to deliver the trigger to was located. But from a distance, they spotted smoke rising from it, along with several police cars and heroes standing nearby, among whom it was easy to recognize Eraser Head and Fluffy. Without hesitation, Toga took Kimika's hand again, and as if nothing had happened, they continued walking forward without changing their route to avoid raising suspicion. Kimika seemed ready to bolt in the opposite direction out of fear, but Toga's strong grip kept her from breaking free.

"Keep it together," Toga said quietly but confidently, with the same light smile that added even more assurance. 

They passed by the police cars, trying to remain calm. Kimika nearly stumbled from the tension, but Toga held her tightly enough to prevent her from falling.

As they walked past the heroes, Eraser Head merely glanced at them but didn't react. Instead, Fluffy, seeing the girls, burst into loud laughter, pointing at them and animatedly discussing something with Eraser Head. 

"Let's speed up," Toga whispered, nudging her friend forward. 

Fortunately, no one followed them. Just as they distanced themselves enough to feel relatively safe, Toga loosened her grip a bit and led them toward Kimika's house. 

"Phew, we were incredibly lucky we didn't arrive earlier. We could have been caught," Toga said, sighing with relief. "And don't worry, this happens all the time. You just have to be prepared. We won't take any more jobs involving triggers. I'll hide the one you have in your bag or give it to Giran." 

Kimika, on the edge of panic, was shaking and kept looking around as if expecting someone to suddenly appear and arrest them. 

"Calm down. This isn't the first time, and it definitely won't be the last time someone almost caught us," Toga added, hugging her friend to comfort her.

After a while, they arrived at Kimika's house, and Toga smiled as she said, "Rest up; you need your strength. We'll continue training tomorrow morning." 

Kimika nodded, although the anxiety was still evident on her face. "And remember," Toga continued, looking at her with a mischievous smile, "I didn't drink a drop of your blood today. So, get ready for tomorrow." 

Kimika nodded uncertainly, and despite the lingering fear, she stepped inside the house. 

Toga watched as the door closed, and only then did her smile fade slightly. She too felt an incredible anxiety from the day's events. 'What if we had arrived earlier… what if we had been caught… Kimika definitely wouldn't have been ready,' she thought. This made her realize it was time to ramp up their training, as Kimika was currently just dead weight.

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Well... It's likely that the chapters will mostly be around 2,000 words now, not because the cat has gotten lazy (though that's also one of the reasons), but because that's just how it is. The cat doesn't want to fill the chapters with unnecessary content, and he's sure that no one wants to read unnecessary details. But don't worry: sometimes the chapters may be longer, up to 3,000 words, but never shorter. This can be considered the cat's vow, and if he breaks it, he will lose 1 of his 9 lives.

I also want to inform you that two chapters come out every day on my Patreon! Here, only one is released, but on my Patreon — there are two a day, hee-hee-hee. Come by so you don't miss new chapters and can read them faster than anyone else! patreon.com/Zoi4erom

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