With the two old men regressing into a shouting match after Karasuza’s hasty retreat, Eva quickly raced down the stairs and out the front door. Sniffing the air she could easily tell her runaway friend had left the same way, but the Kitsune could not tell if she had continued on foot or taken to the skies.

With neither birds nor visitors around either, Eva was left without a clue as to how Karasuza ran away. Picking up a rock, she focused on how giving this to her friend might convince her to come back, and slowly the route towards her quarry became clear.

Running out of the front gates, Eva followed the path to her left, away from the nearest train or bus station. As she wove her way between the legs of children and teenagers on their way to school, Eva wove an illusion around herself to appear more doglike.

A few moments later Eva was suddenly redirected up the side of a building she had just passed. As she reached the roof, the Kitsune spotted a tiny, presumably private, shrine with a torii just big enough for her to fit through. One short stroll along the foxroad later, and she found herself in an unfamiliar part of Tokyo, with surprisingly few people around. The only reason Eva was sure she was still in the same town were the Tokyo Tower and Fuji barely visible between the buildings around her.

But before she had managed to get a couple of blocks away, her direction sense directed her back to the torii she had come through. Muttering under her breath how she needed to take some time to figure out ways to get better directions out of it, the Kitsune once again crossed the fox road and emerged next to a small subway station. Instead of following the suggested path straight across the tracks, Eva decided to wait for a bit first. And, just as she had expected, a minute later she was headed back through the torii and onto the fox road.

Once she stepped through another gate, Eva found herself in a more familiar area of Tokyo again. Though she did start to wonder how Karasuza had ended up in the same neighbourhood that Kurt lived in. As she got closer to Kurt’s apartment building, she began to wonder if this was truly just a coincidence, or if the two had actually gotten to know each other well enough for Karasuza to run towards the Werewolf.

Slipping into the other exchange student’s apartment through a small open window, she found her two friends sitting across a table, with a cup of tea each. Though as the two sat in a heavy silence, Eva assumed she wouldn’t interrupt anything. She walked up to the table and sat down on one of the empty chairs as she transformed back into a human.

“I didn’t know you two knew each other.” She greeted the others, causing Kurt to look up, while the younger woman began to frantically look through all the windows she could see.

“Did my father follow you?” she inquired hastily, her heart racing enough for the two others to note with their better than human hearing.

“Not a chance.” Eva said confidently. “Even I would have had problems following myself.”

As Karasuza relaxed again, the werewolf spoke up. “To answer your question, no, we don’t really know each other. But I’ve seen her with you from time to time. And when a bird turns into a panicked woman you recognize as a friend of a friend, in public, it’s simply the right thing to do to not let her stick around in public.” After a short pause to take a sip from his tea he continued. “But now that you are here, I am sure we can convince Karasuza to go and talk it over with her Dad like adults.”

“NO DON’T” She shouted in response, barely managing not to knock over her cup with her frantic gesticulation. “He’ll not talk at all, just drag me back home. And I just can’t, I won’t spend all my time listening to him rant about the ‘good old days’ filled with war and famine. I also like not having to play Go every evening.”

“Kurt, you, Karasuza and I might be able to go there and talk about it like adults.” Eva began before giving a deep sigh. “But her father probably won’t. He assumed trying to run people through with a weapon would be an appropriate first impression.”

“Really?” Kurt exclaimed surprised before turning to Karasuza. “Guess you weren’t exaggerating when you tried to explain how out of touch he was. But what else could we do?”

“I could go and fetch Komaki -”

“NO. That’s just another chance for my dad to find me again.” Karasuza interrupted Eva’s suggestion harshly.

After this, the trio sank into a contemplative silence.

“Didn’t you mention something about prof. Yamanaka doing something to help out supernatural students?” Kurt inquired just as a notification rang on his phone. “I have his class tonight, maybe we could ask for his help.”

“Do you think you can trust him?” Karasuza asked unsurely.

“I don’t really know him, but his dad and sister seemed nice enough.” The Kitsune responded as Kurt stood up and got ready to leave.

“Okay, I need to get to class now. I’ll ask prof Yamanake if he can help after class.” Kurt said as he made his way to the door. “Karasuza feel free to stay here today, but if you break anything I’ll tell your dad.” With that he stepped outside, leaving the two young women behind. Until a similar notification reminded Eva of the fact she had classes as well that day.

“Are you going to be alright on your own?” Eva asked as she turned back into a fox to fit through the tiny window she came through more easily.

“Yes, just don’t let my Father know where I ran off to for now, please.”

“I won’t.” Eva replied before jumping out the window and heading off to her own classes, hoping there wouldn’t be anything too important covered, because she had nothing to take notes on with her and not enough time to go back and grab her bag.