It is Only Natural to be in Awe of Me

What in the fuck? A swarm of bees? Where did they come from all of a sudden? Nothing like this had happened since last year. Was this some kind of joke or another bizarre occurrence?

“Ahhh, shoo! Shoo! Go away!“ She did her best to wave them away, but that only seemed to agitate them more.

     Wait a moment. This girl… she recognized this girl. Her memory was spot on, after all– how could she forget? The girl that tried to command squirrels without at all having the ability to do so. And here she was… in her bathtub.

“Just hold on a minute!”

“Yes, it’s rude. But it’s even ruder to break in to someone’s home while they’re away to use their washroom in the first place! Don’t you have a home of your own? I know for a fact that the apartments have places to wash yourself as well, so there’s no excuse for you to break in to my home here to use my bathtub for your own needs when you should have your own, wherever you live! If there’s anyone that should be receiving an apology, it’s the person whom owns this place– me. But what matters most to me more so than that is that you explain yourself to me! Why are you here using my bathtub!?”

     She spoke that all at a rapid fire pace– drilling her words in to the other’s skull with a hand on her hip and another hand extended slightly– index finger pointed and waving around slightly. She didn’t allow the other to get even a single word in before she had finished speaking.

     Meanwhile, Nero finds this to be the perfect amount of time to lather shampoo into her hair and rinse it, eyes half-lidded on an expressionless face. It wasn’t that she wasn’t listening, she heard every word, but Nero does what Nero wants in Nero’s own time, and if that time happens to be when someone is complaining to her then so be it.

     “Are you finished? I’m ready to respond, but I wish not to interrupt you.” Despite this, she goes on ahead anyway.

     “You ask why I am here? Well. I will grace you with my answer: I was looking for you but the house was vacant when I arrived. Waiting around in this heat was treacherous, thus I treated my patience to a bath in your absence.” She finally looks Kasen in her eyes, focus away from fingers that lightly skimmed the water.

     Kasen had been coming home infrequently, the past few days.

     It wasn’t out of personal dislike towards her home– though she didn’t much care for it in the first place– but rather, it was out of inconvenience.

     The room was small. Even for one person, it felt small. Perhaps it was because of Kasen herself being too used to the confines of her dojo, but regardless, it bothered her. As did the locale, really. The abandoned library proved fruitless upon research, and otherwise clogged the air with mildew.

     It wasn’t terrible, no. But it wasn’t great either.

     But still, as Kasen returned to her home, she couldn’t help but find the door unlocked. And what’s more… she noticed the bathroom was being used.

     She was quick to take action as a result.

“Who’s there?!”

    Lids peel away and reveal curious green eyes that stare at the intruder now posing as if she were about to attack. Nero, however, remains relaxed as she were, sitting pretty in the warm bath with rose petals strewn about the water’s surface.

    She stares but a few moments before moving her elbow to perch on the tub’s edge, fingers barely breaking into the warm pool that surrounded her. Head canting to the side, she takes her time in addressing Kasen.

   Hakuno didn’t want to put her through that.

   “Saber…!” Upon encountering her Servant, the Master was quick to wrap her in a tight embrace. She’d known Saber would be fine with all her powers back, yet she’d still been worried that something might have happened to her, since they hadn’t been in contact. 

     Once released from the embrace Nero immediately goes into Servant mode, having found that which she needed to protect. From here on out the Emperor would be ready and willing to lay sword and neck on the line.

     "What am I doing here?" She repeats, quirking a brow with honest confusion. "I was searching for you!" Worries slip through composure and turn her words to bullets of scolding, but not only at Hakuno.

     "How could I let you stray from my side, in this savage Hell that has come upon us now of all times!?" She takes it back a step, realizing her emotions are now tainting her speech and cadence.

     "Nevermind it, at the very least my heart can rest easy seeing you unharmed." Her Master was tough, after all. Glancing over Hakuno to scan for any signs of injury, Nero then readies the very sword that grants her usage of the title ‘Saber’.

     Damn it, the other had a small point in her idiocy. That being said, someone like this just bothered the girl more than anything.

“Hmph. A show, huh? Right, right… but, I can think of something more entertaining than listening to your attempts at making me deaf. Hold still.”

     Whether or not the other was listening– Tenshi firmly doubted she was– she took a glance the other’s feet, before she stomped on the ground. In response, a keystone popped up from one of Saber’s feet, and instantly jutted upwards to knock her off balance, or on the ground.

“Hah, like that! That’s much more entertaining.”

     when suddenly her voice jolts and wavers, her balance thrown by the sudden presence under her foot.

     The Servant teeters and totters several steps before firmly digging her heels to the floor, knees bent into a stance akin to preparing for battle.

     “...”

     She looks to the ground, to the girl, and stares. 

     “...Hah, that was on purpose of course!”

   While Hakuno also hoped that there would be no actual float of flowers to ride upon, since she had no intentions of being so blatantly in the spotlight as her Servant so enjoyed, she couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. 

   She followed along, saying little at first while they were hand in hand. They of course garnered unwanted looks, mostly because of Saber’s garb, but she didn’t really mind too much. “You want… a flower crown? I could make one, I learned the other day…” When one had as much free time as she did, such things came natural. “Also…”

     "Roses are a must, of course, an--” And suddenly, the color drains, leaving the Emperor with a cold expression of sinking realization. While it was true she became rather lonely returning to an unrecognizable room with unrecognizable people, saying it so blatantly in publiclike Hakuno knew exactly what she was talking about was a little humiliating!... Of course, it was true. And of course, Nero rather liked that Hakuno knew so much about her... But humiliating. 

     However that was not the main issue here, no. A name that rolls off the other’s tongue with such friendly casualty, it sets the Servant’s sensors off  immediately.

     “Ah...?”

     “Kanbaru... ... ...” She’s quiet for a while, one might have assumed such a heavy silence would be accompanied wth a deep emotion -- But soon this matre atmosphere is broken with a pout. "Obviously, I-I would need to be by your side! And -- Not only for protection, but to think you’re already getting so friendly with the inhabitants here! I...! You must be careful! For what if they’re to poison your food and steal your liver!? Or, or worse, your heart!...” 

     She couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the other.

“Who are you talking about, anyways? Didn’t you notice you were scaring people away from you by shouting all this nonsense? You’re messed up.”

     Sharp eyes turn to the stranger, narrowed as she ponders over the other’s words.

     And then, unexpectedly, a smile shows up.

     “...I see.”

     “Though annoying, I am not a stranger to this type of passive-aggressive affection through a thorny, insecure tongue. Perhaps the area has cleared, for reasons unaccredited to my song, but here you still stay vying for my attention. An audience of one is still an audience who deserves a show, indeed! Come, feel free to bask in my glory!”

     Without thinking, bonks the other’s head with the back of her hand.

     Whipping around with fierce confusion in her eyes she stares at the blue-haired girl who had been so bold as to attack her like that.

     “Pray tell this is just ignorance that clogs your throat, girl!”

     “Did you not listen to my song? Saber is the best and most prominant, I will say it again --” Huffing and inhaling, she begins to clap again.