chapter twenty-four;

━━━━━━ "WHAT DO YOU THINK KISA?", CHISAKI ASKED, to which kisa had looked up from her brand new iphone and sighed.

"I think we should wrap this up because I'm hella hungry", kisa honestly answered, to which it had earned a snort from rappa.

"kisa, we're in the middle of a meeting right now", chisaki stated.

"indeed, and it's been about almost an hour. I must say, you've got quite the durability", kisa complimented, to which chisaki just gave the girl a warning glare.

"plus, I'm leaving tomorrow, so you might as well spend some time with me today", kisa smiled.

"where are you going madam?", mimic asked, genuinely curious for once.

     "hm? oh, I'm going to see my other husbands", kisa casually answered, scrolling through her notes.

     "o-other husbands?!"

     "this is better than I thought!!", rappa laughed, clearly enjoying chisaki's ticked off face.

     "mhm. tomorrow I'm leaving to inasa's, curator, if you will. then dabi and tomura, the league of villains", kisa briefly explained.

     "so where's overhoe ranked in your little harem?", rappa grinned, to which mimic had slammed his small fists down on the table.

     "IT'S OVERHAUL! SHOW SOME RESPECT, RAPPA!!"

     "mm...like quirk wise, usefulness, or what?", kisa asked, totally ignoring chisaki's threatening stare.

     "um...like...hic...like love?", sakaki slurred, to which kisa just hummed in amusement.

"love isn't real", setsuno depressingly mumbled.

"I don't know. kai doesn't seem to love me at all", kisa chuckled, to which the male huffed as he rubbed his head from the incoming headache.

"of course overhaul does! he hasn't even killed you for burning that man into a crisp", rappa stated, to which kisa had glanced over at the brown-haired man, who would've potentially overhauled everyone in the room of the nonsense continued any longer.

"our relationship is no more than a partnership. perhaps one day, your boss over here will actually bring home a woman he loves", kisa seriously said as she stood up, stretching her arms.

"anyways, hari, go get the car and eri. it's time for lunch", kisa commanded as the grey-haired male immediately stood up, glancing sideways at chisaki to deem whether the man was okay with it or not.

"kai, are you coming with or not?", kisa asked, already nearly out the door.

     the brown-haired man looked around the table as everyone expected chisaki to reject the girl's invitation.

     "I suppose...we can continue this meeting tomorrow", chisaki grunted as he stood up from the table, leaving the members stunned.

     "what is it that you want to eat today?", chisaki asked, wrapping his arm around the girl's waist.

     "I'm thinking of trying sushi", kisa smiled, extending her hand out for eri to take, who had promptly given kisa a small smile as she felt much more safer again.

"then sushi it is".

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

"you're such a messy eater eri", kisa chuckled as she swiftly took a napkin and wiped the bit of ice cream from the little girl's face.

     after sushi, kisa had offered eri some ice cream, hence why chisaki currently had his arms crossed as he fumed in disgust at everything around him.

"by the way miss kisa...I-I was wondering if I'll be able to see kaoru-kun again...", eri mumbled, to which kisa immediately replied.

     "of course!! in fact, I was about to ask if you'd like to join kai and return with me to the yōkai world in about a month", kisa asked, to which eri's bright red eyes seemed to light up like rudolph's nose.

     "y-yes please!!"

     kisa chuckled as she patted the little girl's head.

     "no need to be so polite with me. after all, we're close like family", kisa smiled, to which eri had nearly gasped as she felt a bit teary.

     "anyways, let's get ourselves some more outfits before I leave tomorrow", kisa sighed as she picked eri up, who still had her cup of strawberry ice cream.

"w-wait, you're leaving? why?", eri asked, now worried, as she was going to be alone once more.

"mm...I have to visit my other friends while I'm here", kisa lied.

the girl wasn't exactly sure how to explain that she has multiple husbands, but they have no love in between them at all. in the end, they are bound to separate anyways, so kisa thought that she might as well just refer to them as friends.

"s-so you can't take me with you?", eri whimpered, even more anxious about being left alone under chisaki's care again.

"no, but you don't have to worry. remember what I told you?", kisa whispered, to which eri had hesitantly nodded.

meanwhile chisaki had wondered what the two had talked about, though it wasn't like it was particularly important for him to know.

"kai~ my arms are a bit tired. can you carry eri for me please?", kisa sweetly asked, to which eri had immediately froze at the girl's question.

"can't she walk on her own? she's already six", chisaki replied, though kisa didn't speak and stood right where she was, making chisaki give up.

"fine", the man muttered, opening his arms as kisa smiled even wider, handing little eri ,who was shaking in fear, to chisaki.

chisaki held the stiff eri, who had refused to move in even the slightest way, as she was careful to not anger the brown-haired male.

"you can relax eri. if you're tired, just lay on kai's shoulder", kisa encouraged, to which the pale little girl did as suggested, laying the side of her face against chisaki's purple and green fur coat.

meanwhile eri's face was turned towards kisa, the woman simply walked beside chisaki as she kissed the side of eri's cheek.

eri flinched due to such affection, forcing her hand to accidentally slip and tilt her ice cream cup to the side, which allowed the pink dessert to taint chisaki's purple fur coat.

the male suddenly stopped walking as eri felt her entire world spin, scared for her life that chisaki might just overhaul her right here, right now.

"ah, well I never liked the purple and green combination anyways. good riddance I say", kisa laughed, to which eri became even more terrified.

"take her", chisaki demanded, to which kisa did as told as she watched chisaki immediately trash his jacket.

chisaki then returned in his black button up and white tie, extending his arms out as kisa handed eri back to the male.

"I-I-I'm sorry...o-overhaul...", eri whimpered out, unconsciously gripping tightly onto the male's black shirt.

     "it's fine", chisaki bluntly replied, though now he needed a new jacket, and kisa was more than happy to get one that had better color coordinations.

     eri just guiltily nodded as she laid her head down on chisaki's shoulder once more, to which she was very thankful that she didn't get overhauled.

     kisa then leaned in and gently pinched eri's pouting cheek.

"thanks for giving him a chance eri. you're doing great", kisa mumbled, to which eri hid her embarrassed face deeper into chisaki's shoulder.

     "oh look!! how about that dark green coat? it's like your previous one, but without the mismatching purple fur", kisa exclaimed, to which chisaki had squinted his eyes.

     "was it really that displeasing for you?"

     kisa simply shrugged.

     "there's just better choices", kisa answered, making eri have a nervous little smile. "what do you think eri? did you like it or not?"

eri flinched as the attention was now on her. she certainly didn't want chisaki to torture her, but she also didn't want kisa to hate her for being biased.

kisa just laughed as she patted eri's head. "no need to wrack your brain on it. kai looks better with the new jacket anyways", kisa smiled as she gave chisaki a quick kiss to the cheek.

chisaki just clicked his tongue as he adverted his gaze off the little girl, who had found it quite intriguing that kisa was still standing there alive after teasing and mocking chisaki.

"now now eri, when I'm gone and you want to go shopping, make sure you make kai's pockets hurt", kisa advised, to which the girl just hesitantly nodded.

"o-okay!"