"Um, I'll just come over to your place to sleep tonight. After all, there's the convention first thing in the morning." Honestly, Tohka was scared off by Miku. How did that girl even have outfits from that grotesque anime Kill la Kill? Tohka absolutely didn't want to stay in her own house anymore. Since she'd be going out with this person anyway, she decided she might as well stay here.
"What's in that box? Why are you lugging a huge crate into my house?" When Tohka first jumped in through her window, she really gave Nia Honjo a fright. Then she saw Tohka carrying a big box and asked curiously.
"Mm? This?" Hearing Nia's question, Tohka opened her mouth to answer. But her eyes shifted slightly as she realized saying it outright would spoil the fun. So, she smiled sweetly and said, "Secret, secret."
"Tch, do you really think you can hide things like that from me?" Nia sneered dismissively and pulled out her angel—a massive book.
"Damn it, I forgot about that thing. Well, this should work." Seeing Nia's action, Tohka muttered irritably. Then she wrapped her spirit power around the box. Theoretically, since this was a matter of mystery levels, her own mystery should be higher than Nia's. So, she could only hope this would block Nia's probing.
"Hmm?" Sure enough, as soon as Tohka did that, Nia frowned. She could clearly sense her detection was being blocked by the layer of energy around the box. She couldn't get any information about what was inside. So, she simply stopped trying and put her angel away. She knew Tohka wasn't the scheming type and probably wouldn't do anything to harm her. Besides, it looked like some sort of surprise anyway. Honestly, if she used her full strength, she probably could scan it—but then if they ended up crossing wills, that wouldn't be any fun. She didn't believe her non-combat angel could outlast Tohka's power.
"Whew." Seeing Nia's expression, Tohka quietly let out a breath. She knew Nia had given up on probing. This way, even if she turned her back on the box, Nia wouldn't keep asking.
"Oh my, the bed's over there—go sleep there. Anyway, I don't plan to rest tonight. Don't bother me." As expected, Nia completely withdrew her curiosity, gave a lazy yawn, pointed to the nearby room, and sat back down in front of her computer, who knew to do what.
"..." Speechless, Tohka glanced at the utterly focused Nia. She couldn't be bothered to say anything more. Since she wanted to watch anime, all the better—she wouldn't disturb Tohka in the night. So Tohka simply carried her box and headed into the room. And then...
"Cough, cough, cough!" As soon as she opened the door, a massive cloud of dust hit her in the face, and she stumbled back out coughing.
"Wahahaha." Clearly, Nia had been expecting that—she burst out laughing, totally gloating.
"What is with this room? Why is it so filthy and full of dust?!" Brushing off the dust, Tohka yelled at Nia, totally exasperated.
"Aiya, little Tohka." Nia casually picked up the bottle of mineral water Tohka had bought earlier, took a ladylike sip, and then said with disdain, "Since I'm not planning to sleep anytime soon, obviously I don't need to clean that room. Besides, we're spirits—spirits! Not sleeping doesn't matter."
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Are you kidding me?" Tohka protested. "Sure, technically you don't have to sleep, but doesn't it feel awful? I think you just don't want to clean, that's all."
"..." Hearing that, Nia rolled her eyes and didn't reply. She just turned her attention back to her screen—clearly, Tohka had hit the mark.
"Fine, fine, it's my bad luck. You extreme shut-in—I'll clean it myself, alright?" Tohka knew nothing she said would do any good except irritate Nia. So, she resigned herself, went to get the cleaning tools from the bathroom, tied a cloth around her hair, put on an apron, and charged back in. That's right—charged in. Sure, she was an otaku herself and disliked cleaning, but unlike this woman, she wasn't that far gone. Once it hit a certain level of filth, she'd definitely clean it up.
...
After half a day of effort, Tohka finally got the room in order. She couldn't be bothered to think anymore—she lay down and went straight to sleep. As for the bed—she'd already washed all the dirty sheets, covers, and blankets. Now she was just lying on a foam mat, using her clothes as a pillow.
That night, Nia indeed didn't do anything out of line. Unlike the somewhat naive, naturally friendly Tohka, Nia was very guarded with strangers—and since she couldn't probe any of Tohka's past, she just occasionally cast curious glances her way but never tried anything like a midnight attack.
Early the next morning, Tohka woke up. No helping it—she had to go to the convention, and if she got up too late, she probably wouldn't even make it inside. So, she opened her crate and took out the outfit: the black sailor uniform, the crimson wrist guards, and the red colored contact lenses. She also tidied up her hair. Even though she had straight black hair, hers was a bit messy—not quite like Akame's. But then she realized the skirt was a little short. So, she matter-of-factly pulled out a pair of shorts from who knew where and put them on underneath. Satisfied, she checked herself in the mirror before heading out of the room.