Downtown Lot City…

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Hiros.h.i.+ neared Rodger's house, the s.h.i.+p girls on his trail . He just wanted to get away from them . They were annoying and reminded the man that he didn't get in much action . Probably because of his job . Ayu attempted to sleep in his room with the claim of "guarding the section leader" but he bashed that idea down . First, that wasn't in the protocol, so more than likely, Maho tricked her . Fraternization . Second, the man brought his laptop and purchased the hotel's expensive wi-fi pa.s.s just so he could finally beat—watch off-brand shows . Maybe play a few web games to pa.s.s time .

He stopped in front of a ramen shop to look at the girls . Despite walking for miles—the military way—they didn't sweat, pant, or complain . Ayu continued to be cheerful, initiating conversation, oohing and ahing at the things around, and got on Hiros.h.i.+'s nerves . He invited the no-f.u.c.ks-given vibe back into him, but it ignored his request .

What really creeped him out was that Ayu's cheerfulness was genuine and not faked, not hiding anything . She was even humming some anime Y-Pop song .

Maho, stoic, simply stared back at Hiros.h.i.+, face blank, unintimidated by the towering man . The short young women were either eighteen or nineteen years old, the required minimums to serve the nation . Somehow they gave off an inner vibe of seeing maybe half as much of what Hiros.h.i.+ had seen . Maybe they'd seen more, being a hidden division until recently, when the supposed barrier between human and supernatural shattered .

"Don't embarra.s.s me," he said .

"No worries, section leader, sir!" Ayu and Maho said, saluting . The man looked at them skeptically then continued toward the house .

"Rodger's a no-nonsense type of guy," Hiros.h.i.+ said . "Like me, but ten-times harder . Don't f.u.c.k this up . "

When he knocked on the apartment door, the s.h.i.+p girls gathered behind him . He turned to them . "Stand in attent—"

The sound of the door opening caught his attention .

"Can I help you?" a beefy man said . He was dressed in pants and a s.h.i.+rt that matched the colors of his old unit: black and red . The marine ball cap on his head topped off the look . Somehow, the word jarhead came to mind for Hiros.h.i.+ .

"We're from Unit Eighty-six," Hiros.h.i.+ began . "Do you mind giving us a moment to talk with you? It's very important . "

Rodger glanced over the crew .

"Come on in . Seeing those two out in broad daylight could only mean one thing . "

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Ayu smiled, saluting .

"Danger . "

Clyde's house…

With Dreaming of You, one of her favorite romance novels in hand, Melody recited some lines from it, while making exaggerated poses . The moment grasped her heart, made her imagination run wild . She replaced the prince with Clyde, the damsel with herself . And the pa.s.sionate kiss approached like the antic.i.p.ation of delicious food . Romantic music blossomed in her head, adding joy to the young woman's heart, only to be cut short when she noticed Airi and Alice standing in her doorway . The blush started and grew redder and redder as the two women continued to stare at the redhead blankly . Alice even reminded her of Yuki in kuudere mode .

The duo simultaneously took two steps backward and closed the door .

"It's not what it looks like," Melody tried to explain, but it was too late . The girls ran off . "Why does this always happen to me?"

Later that morning…

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[Your relations.h.i.+p with Ming has increased to Friend level 2 . ]

As Clyde and Ming left the new restaurant on thirtieth street, the young man found himself looking at her with more respect . Getting to know her and vice versa turned out better than he expected . The young man wasn't sure why he expected Melody's bad luck for some reason . She surprisingly didn't bring up any about her powers, the supernatural, or romance, though she blushed a lot . He pretended not to notice Kiko and Ruri trailing them . The disguises were poor and obvious, and Ruri's drooling toward the meat-selling vendors gave the ploy away instantly . To give credit to them, he didn't expect the trope .

After parting ways with Ming, the young man decided to either craft or train before the meeting that afternoon . Halfway down the hall, he heard voices coming from Harumi's room, the door closed .

"Harder," Harumi said .

"I'm trying," Sazuki said .

"Try harder—come on, but your back into it," Harumi said . "Whoa—I'm going to break—"

Clyde's eyes widened as he tiptoed to the door—the door that he thought was closed . Leaning on it too hard, it swung wide open to reveal Sazuki attempting to b.u.t.ton up Harumi's recently bought dress—he could tell by the obvious sales tag on it . The pink-haired girl's huge b.r.e.a.s.t.s just wasn't having it . They all awkwardly stared at each other . Sazuki's face reddened—she was in a bra and panties, her dress sitting on the bed .

"Ah," Clyde said, smiling sadly . He took two steps backward and closed the door . A second later it burst open, but he already took off before Sazuki could retaliate .

"Next time, knock you perv!" Sazuki shouted after him .

That afternoon, Team Stone once again met in the boardroom . Ashard, Airi, and Undine were there too, non-team members willing to contribute to the situation .

"Let's make the vote simple," Alice said . "If you're a hard-charging, blood thirsty moron, raise your hand . If you actually want to take some time to come up with a working strategy to beating an entire legion of Blood Hand, then keep your hand down . "

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Clyde and the others hid behind blank stares . He was standing this time, arms folded, waiting . No one raised their hand .

"Well, there you have it," Clyde said . "Let's start planning . "

Natalia whacked the young man on the head with a paper fan .

"Don't try to act as if you knew this was going to happen all along, pervy-nii . "

Ironically, he did . He sure as h.e.l.l planned to vote against patrolling that night, although for other reasons .

Undine pinched Yusuke's cheek and whispered something that caused the ninja to blush . She smirked .

"I smell s.e.x," Matsume said offhandedly . Clyde decided to just let that one go without a reaction . Because the h.e.l.lhound waited for it .

And so they planned until the early evening . They also goofed off, talked about professors, which eventually led to everyone finis.h.i.+ng up homework . Chika helped a few who needed it—super impossible questions appeared every now and then to challenge the top-scoring students .

That reminded the young man that a three-way tie generated no reward . He remembered the extrcredit question that he couldn't answer . Then he looked at both Chika and Alice . They didn't know it either… Intriguing . Especially for Chika, who studied more than anyone . Maybe she did answer the short-essay question and got it wrong . He wouldn't dare ask .

After the non-housemates left, Clyde found himself on the third floor's balcony, staring down . Melody was sitting at the table, reading . The young man at first considered talking with her, but decided in the end just to enjoy the peacefulness of the night . The prompt still surprised him .

[Quest completed: wait for Melody to come to you . ]

Despite his hopes of her opening up, they didn't speak, just took in the mild autumn night air .

That's why it surprised him when he turned around to see the redhead standing there . And her eyes were filled with determination .

"I…I— love . "

The door burst open, Natalia and Ashard rus.h.i.+ng in .

"We've got a problem," Ashard said, oblivious to the blus.h.i.+ng state of Melody in a nightgown . Melody who steeled herself . She seemed to snapped to herself when the fairy continued . "The Blood Hand sp.a.w.ned some monsters—you can see them attacking some civilians right now on the news . "

"Son-of-f.u.c.king-b.i.t.c.h," Clyde said . "And here I thought that maybe there was some hope to reason with the fallen angel . Natalia, call Team Stone . "

"Already did," she said . "Maybe I should take Tear's place . "

A paper fan came out of nowhere, whacking the loli on the head .

"Ow!" Natalia said, holding her head .

The succubus joined them, dressed in a black nightdress . If it weren't for the situation at hand, she probably would've oozed s.e.x and longing at Clyde .

"I suppose it's time for that planning we did earlier to come in handy, without the extra time to increase power levels," Tear said .

"Not necessarily," Clyde said . "We'll need to clean up the monsters . "

"What a pain in the a.s.s," Alice said, joining them at the balcony .

"Let's go . Complaining about it won't do us any good . Be prepared to fight a fallen angel," Clyde said .

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