Kurai Yoru (Darker Night)

31: Evil-Nice Girl

Ani opened her eyes with a gasp, sweating. "Oh no!" Sitting up, she began to trample over the discarded mangas over her room. "I forgot to set my alarm clock! What time is it now?"

Looking to a nearby wall, she spotted a quadrilateral clock, embedded there with a silver nail. "Two a.m.? Aww. I lost two hours. Grrr..."

The blonde girl stomped away to the door to her right, all the while grabbing something under her dress. Brandishing a simple looking knife, she kicked the obstacle preventing her from going outside.

Or at least, she tried to. The door didn't even budge an inch. "Owowow!" She fell down to her butt, clutching her swollen foot. A small pool of tears welled up at the sides of her eyes. "I forgot I didn't have super strength like the others... So unfair." She picked up the knife that came away from her grasp, standing up.

She just opened it the normal way instead.

Shaking her head, the little blonde girl tiptoed along the halls, acting ‘vigilant’ for the sake of her 'cover'. Darting her head left and right, she checked each turns that intersects with her current corridor, as if she’s some kind of spy infiltrating her enemy’s base.

“Kitchen corridor, negative! Tip toe, tip toe… Dining room, negative! Tip toe, tip--, Aha! Target sighted!” She eyed an unknowing Celleya walking towards a nearby teleporter. “Commencing mission.”

Celleya looked behind her, having heard someone mumbling around the corner to her south. Unsurprisingly, she caught the sight of a golden blonde hair, hiding behind a table and a vase. She couldn’t help but to sport a smile.

“Ani, what are you doing over there?” An ‘eep!’ could be heard from the girl. Surprised, the child stood up, knocking the porcelain vase above the table to the floor.

“Yikes… C-Celleya-chan, hello!” Waved the blonde girl.

Walking up to the clumsy girl, the she-devil shook her head. “Ani, I’m glad you’re okay now, but be careful, okay?” A single flash of thunder was enough to clean the broken shards of the vase. “Thalia liked this vase, too…”

“I just wanted to surprise you…” Sniffing, Ani rubbed the tears off her eyes.

Celleya cracked a smile, unable to hold a grudge to the cute girl for more than a minute. “You’re really cute, Ani. Maybe next time, you’ll be able to surprise me.”

The blonde leaned her head closer to the white-haired girl’s palm like a tamed cat. She smiled, nodding. “Mhmm! I’ll try catching Thalia-chan off-guard this time. Ba-bye!” Rhythmic steps echoed where the girl ran off to, a soft giggling laugh hidden behind it.

“It really is no wonder brother took such a liking to her.” Celleya whispered to herself.

=≠(6:00 minutes later)≠=

"Mission complete." Ani twirled a finger with her hair around it, pouting. "I underestimated Celleya-chan a bit..." She wiped a slight stain of blood off her hidden knife, giggling. "but mission was still accomplished! Teehee."

"You!" A familiar voice shouted behind her.

Predictably, Ani turned around, wearing an annoyed expression over her face. Well, at least as 'annoyed' as she can look. The girl's face really can't look like it without otherwise looking like a cute, angry puppy face. "My name is Ani!"