Jihyo led Claire into her father’s office, where the device was at. She was happy that she could spend some alone time with Claire.

“It’s nice to see you again, Claire-sshi,” Jihyo said happily. It might have been only a few days, but to her, it felt like months of not seeing Claire. And she was pretty sure that Momo felt like this too about Mina.

“Jihyo-sshi, it’s only been a few days.” Claire chuckled.

“But it felt like months to me. It may have been days, but I still miss you.” Jihyo said honestly.

“Oh….” Was Jihyo hallucinating or did she see Claire blush? “Uh, well, I miss you too.” This time, Jihyo is the one who’s blushing. They were now entering the office. The room was dim, only lit by candles and a fireplace at the back. Books were lying everywhere, and piles and piles of paper are scattered around by the desk that sat in the middle. Behind the desk, beside the fireplace, was a safe box. Everything was a mess in that room, but it felt as if everything was in the right place weirdly enough. Maybe that’s because the owner of that room meant it to be that way. Speaking of the owner….

“Where’s your father?”

“Ah, he is currently out of town, the Vampire Queen too. Both of them have been called by the Institute’s Council.”

“The Council? Why? Had something gone wrong? Why hadn’t they called me?”

“The letter my father received didn’t say much other than to go to the headquarters immediately. So I’m afraid I don’t know the answers to that. However, I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the demon I encountered the other night with Nayeon.”

“You had an encounter with a demon? How bad was it to be reported to the council?”

“Very. It was a rank A demon, and we encountered outside the dark hour.”

“What? That was… rare to say the least.” Claire then walked towards Jihyo till there were only a few centimeters between them. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?” Claire asked in a whisper, lightly touching Jihyo’s cheek with her right hand.

“I-I’m alright…. It hurt badly, oh so badly. But I’m okay now. It was probably nothing compared to what you experience every night.” Jihyo held Claire’s hand that was touching her. “C-Claire-sshi, I-”

“Claire.” She had interrupted Jihyo. “Just call me Claire, Jihyo.”

“O-Okay.” Jihyo then snapped back into reality, pulling herself away from Claire. She had more pressing things to talk about. But Jihyo swore she saw a glimpse of a disappointment on Claire’s face before it went back to being normal. “Ahem, about the demon. While we did defeat it, it is still trapped within the device.”

“Ah, right. It still needs to be devoured, yeah?” Jihyo then walked to the safe and opened it. There inside lies the device; the crystal red, indicating the presence of a demon sealed inside it. Jihyo took the device and gave it to Claire. The latter took the device on her left hand and then summoned her demon arc onto her right hand.

“Devorandum.” Claire whispered. The black smoke from the crystal came out of it and into the Demon arc. The red in the crystal have turned back into glowing blue again.

“It’s re-useable?”

“Yup, handy, yeah?” Claire grinned.

“Very.” Jihyo chuckled.

[Meanwhile with MiMo]

Momo was currently dragging a seemingly reluctant Mina to her room. The former looked like an excited child on Christmas morning, while the latter looked like she’s exhausted being dragged around. Just when they were in front of the door that led to Momo’s room, they stopped.

“Uhhh, Mina, can you wait here for a moment? Thanks!” Then she rushed into her room. Momo suddenly remembered the messy state of her room and was now tidying it up as fast as she can. Her room may always smell nice, but visuals are important too. Especially in a room. Mina could hear the various ruckus happening inside that room from Momo’s vigorous cleaning. Then she realized that she was going to go inside the older girl’s room for the first time.

‘This is happening too quickly! I just wanted to see her! Not go inside her room!’ Mina was now a blushing mess and having a mini panic attack inside her brain though anyone looking at her wouldn’t be able to tell at all since she has a poker face. Mina was trying to figure out her way out of this situation. However, before she could act on anything, Momo came back from her vigorous cleaning and ushered Mina inside her room.

“Ta-da! All clean now!” Momo had cleaned up her room pretty nicely in the short amount of time she had. All of the furniture and the little books she has looked tidy, not a jokbal bone to be seen.

“So it was messy before.” Mina opted to tease the older girl to hide her own embarrassment of being in Momo's room.

“U-Uh, N-no, it wasn’t!” Momo realized what she said earlier.

“Sure, it wasn’t.” Mina chuckled.

“It wasn’t! Why don’t you believe me ~?” Momo pouted cutely, trying to convince the younger girl she wasn’t lying. If Mina didn’t have self-control, then she would be already kissing the wolf.

They spend their time talking about the things that Mina have missed while away or the things that she had done in Japan. Although Mina was mostly quiet and Momo did most of the talking, Mina actually did talk whenever Momo said something stupid. Both of them were sitting down on Momo’s bed as they talked.

While talking about her trip to Japan, Mina considered talking about Sana to Momo. In the end, she opted not to tell.  It was a big part of her, and she didn’t know if she could tell Momo that yet. Maybe she will tell her about Sana one day, maybe even soon, but not now. For today she just wanted to hang out and not talk about depressing stuff.

Surprisingly enough for Mina, Momo didn't make a move towards her yet. But she knew the wolf was thinking of something. Knowing it’s Momo, Mina suspected she will definitely do something very ual or very stupid and she was mentally bracing herself for it. God knows what that girl is going to do to her.

The day passed quickly and before any of them noticed, it was already nightfall. Both of them decided to stop their fun time and let Mina go home. Besides, they have to prepare for tonight’s patrol. Just before leaving her room, Momo finally made a move on Mina. When Mina’s hand reached out for the door, Momo grabbed her hand and pinned her between herself and the door. They only had a few centimeters between their bodies. Momo wanted no space between, but she doubted Mina would like that. Which was not true, Mina would like that very much; although she would never admit it.

“M-Momo? What a-are you d-doing?” Mina stuttered, startled by what Momo have done. Apparently, she decided to go the ual route instead of stupidity. Mina tried to push her off herself using her free hand, but Momo grabbed it instead. She then proceeded to pin both of Mina’s hands above her head. Momo then leaned her head towards Mina’s face. It seemed like she was about to kiss the younger one, but then Momo changed her directions and went to Mina’s ear instead.

“Mina.” She whispered in a husky voice. “You know something…?”

“W-What i-is it?”

“I don’t think I’ve said this enough, but I really missed you…. Did you miss me?” Momo whispered using the same tone. This was driving Mina crazy, not to mention also making her heart run a marathon. She wanted to say something, but it got stuck somewhere within . Mina could only produce a nod. Momo then smiled and released Mina from her grasps; she then opened the door behind her and went out of her own room. Leaving Mina in a blushing and confused state.

“Mina? Are you coming?” Momo asked from the hallway. This snapped Mina back from her confusion and ran after Momo.

“W-What was that about?” Mina asked while glaring at her, face still flushing from the previous scene.

“Well, that’s the only thing I could’ve done,” Momo said as they made their way to the private living room.

“I d-don’t understand.”

“I wanted to know if you missed me, and the only way to get you admit it was by doing that.”

“W-what?”

“If I hadn’t done that you wouldn’t have admit it!” Momo pouted.

“…Touché.” Mina reluctantly agreed. “But still… you’re an idiot.”

“But you love this idiot.” The older winked.

“N-no, I don’t! S-shut up!” She lied, and Momo only grinned at her. Both of them knew it was a lie. Mina always denied her feelings for Momo whenever she is asked or hinted by someone about it. But she always admitted it in her mind. She always knew her affection towards the brown haired girl. Mina also knew of Momo’s affection towards herself, and she was truly delighted when she first knew. However, Mina never liked showing emotions such as that, it was too embarrassing according to her. So she envied Momo who can freely show her affections without being shy.

Momo actually knew of the girl’s feelings for herself even if she never admitted it out loud, and she was pretty sure that Mina knew that she knows. However, they have never made a verbal confirmation on the matter, and to be honest it worried Momo sometimes. She worried that what if the younger girl actually hated her, or what if she is really creeped out by her, or what if she is disgusted but is too nice to say it to her or some other ‘what if’s her mind decided to come up with that day. Momo would especially feel like this when it was other people