Hanako was still hard at work despite the late hour. Hunched over a tad due to the exhaustion of working overtime most of this week. The young, freshly promoted woman was determined to finish all of November’s paperwork before the start of December next week. After all, how would it reflect on her former superiors when she could not finish the work she had to do by the time it should be done.

With a yawn sneaking its way out of her mouth she was reminded of how tired she already was. While she had not learned how to magically make her tiredness disappear, Hanako still put a hand into her bag to brush over the foxmask she kept in there for good luck. Bringing her attention back to the small stack of paper on her desk, and the massive list of unfinished files on her PC, she let out a sigh and got back to work.

A while later, the noise of steps echoing across the corridor just outside her slightly open office door distracted her. The distinct clack clack of high heels made her think it might be one of her coworkers working late just like herself. But when the door opened, she immediately recognized the middle aged woman revealed as her boss.

“Greetings Mrs. Odinson, what brings you here so late at night?”

“Good evening Miss Unagi, I simply saw that there was still a light on in your office when I headed home.” She said, brushing a strand of her long black hair behind her ear as she leaned forward. “I thought you might have just forgotten to turn it off, so I came to take care of it, but now I find you here instead of at home with your fiance.”

“I’d love to be home, but this needs to be done before the end of the month so I..”

“Decided to ignore our no voluntary overtime policy and stay late?”

Hanako just meekly nodded in response as she fought to suppress a yawn.

“Well we have that policy for a reason, go home and get some rest. A tired employee makes more mistakes after all.” She stated before straightening back up and taking a step back before waiting for Hanako at the open door.

Getting the hint, Hanako quickly saves her work and while her computer shuts down, begins to pack her things.

Locking her office door, she silently followed her boss to the elevator and then out of the building.

~~~

Kurt was just about to start cleaning his dishes after dinner, when his phone rang. Turning off the water in case this call took longer, he picked up the call.

“Hello, Wagner here.”

“Ah Kurt, is, is that you?” He heard the nervous voice of Touya coming from the other end of the connection.

“Ah yes, what’s up Touya?” The werewolf responded, mildly puzzled why the Tanuki would call him over talking to any of the other Youkai he lived with.

“Do you have some time to talk?”

“Yes of course.” Kurt said, quickly sitting down on the nearest chair. “Any reason you called me instead of asking Eva or Yukiko for help though?”

“Ah well that, that is kinda part of the issue.” The voice of the tanuki rung with a hint of embarrassment.

“Well what is the issue then.”

“Have you noticed that group of Tanuki that’s been hanging around our neighborhood?”

“I ran into em before yes. Why are they giving you guys trouble?”

“Just just me.” Touya said before he took a deep breath audible over the phone. “See whenever they spot me out and about, they harass me. They tripp me, stomp on my groceries, spill whatever bag I carry out on the streets. Just about anything you can think of short of actual violence.”

“Oh. But why didn’t you ask Eva for help? Or Komaki?”

“Well I tried to ask that old Kodama, but he said I should just toughen up and deal with it.”

“And Eva?”

“I don’t wanna talk about this with her. Or Yukiko for that matter.” Touya snapped.

“Okay, okay, so do you know why they seem to have it out for you?” Kurt asked calmly to change the subject slightly.

“They usually mockmefotransformintoagirlegularly.” Touya’s reply came, probably faster than his mouth or his phone could handle.

“Calm down, just take a breath, and try that again a tad slower so I can actually understand a word.” Kurt advised calmly.

“They always make fun of me posing as a miko at the shrine during the day.” Touya repeated slightly calmer and much more intelligible.

“Okay. I guess that explains why you didn’t wanna talk to the girls about it.” Kurt said before thinking for a moment.

“Mhm. That would just start an argument of what is wrong with being a girl or something I am sure.”

While Kurt wasn’t as sure about that as the young Tanuki, he didn’t say anything as he finally got an Idea. “Well if you could convince Komaki to let you be a trainee priest or something like that maybe they would lay off?”

“That was what I talked to him about.” Touya said, disappointment ringing clear as day in his voice. “But he said if I couldn’t deal with some bullies on my own, he’d not even consider it.”

“I see. He’s kinda stuck in his times and ways huh.”

“Mhm.”

“Well, I am sad to say, but in this case, Komaki is right to some degree.” Kurt said with a sigh before elaborating. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’ll gladly help you figure something out. But it would probably be best if you managed to in the end stand up to them yourself. You see, if I or Eva or someone else deals with them for you, unless they’d use far more drastic measures than I, and probably Eva as well, am comfortable with, they’d just find ways to harass you while evading your protector.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well for now, how about you come over tomorrow morning and we can make some plans then?”

“Ah, okay.”

“Great, see you tomorrow then.” Kurt said before hanging up, and going back to doing his dishes.