Wednesday, the day of the tea party with [Princess] Mirina.

I came early to the Academy to help Marisol get her attire ready to don after class. The girl, however, was having second thoughts.

"I'm not going, Haru," Still in her nightgown, Marisol stared at me with fear in her eyes. "I can't play your games anymore."

After coming back from Fat Felix, we rehearsed the tea party etiquette every day after class. Her change of heart was strange. "Would you at least tell me what's wrong? What games are you talking about?"

She opened the second drawer and took an open box. Inside was the comfort toy I gave her. "This thing is worth ten kingmetal coins. Who are you to give it away willy-nilly?"

That was the system-calculated value visible through advanced {Appraisal}. The actual article, if factored in its uniqueness, mint condition, and manufacturer, would be worth ten times that in an auction. Speechless, I pressed my lips together and shook my head. Marisol wasn't done yet.

"I asked around about this Fat Felix you took me to shop at. His gowns are expensive as fuck! And you bought four of them! Who are you, Haru? An orphan from nowhere, I think impossible," she prattled. "One day you are a nobody dressed in rags and sleeping on a fucking straw mattress, the next day you have a [Saintess] laying praise at your feet, gifts ancient artifacts worth a king's ransom like breadcrumbs, humiliates the whole class with your magical prowess, gets invitations from princes and princesses all over the place, shops for dresses as if buying potatoes for supper, is super gracious, gets two magic tails, and worse of all...

She threw her arms up, "Stops being an utter bitch to me!"

I still couldn't think of what to say. Marisol kept monologuing.

Trembling, she pumped her hands and walked around, mumbling. Then she sat on the bed. "Who are you? I'm afraid."

We weren't being watched directly but it didn't mean we were free from scrutiny. With a heavy heart, I finally broke my silence, "I feel you're like a sister to me, Marisol. Would you trust me one last time? There's something I want to show you. If you do, I'll tell you who I am."

She bit her lower lip and gave me a look-over. "Do you have a cock hidden in there?"

Goodness. She was impossible to deal with. I pressed my knuckles against my lips but my cheeks puffed from the suppressed laughter. My stomach pulsed furiously as the silent chuckles erupted. Marisol sat on the bed, embarrassed.

"Seriously, Marisol?" I asked between huffs. "With a voice this sharp you think I'm a boy?"

"It would explain a lot," she looked away from me and blushed. "And some boys have sharp voices."

"Do you really want me to... just show you?"

"Yes!" Even with the cheeks still on fire, she demanded right away. "Flip that skirt!"

I couldn't help but tease her. "And what if you do find a throbbing cock underneath these robes? What will you do, Marisol?"

She blinked and smirked, "Is it? Right now?"

"What?"

"Throbbing!" Marisol bit her lower lip.

"No! Goodness, I don't have one."

On the offensive, she stood and approached me. "Prove it!"

"No!"

Stopping inches from my face, the sultry half-Eleon woman said, "I'll do it with you if you have one. You can have me on that bed, now. Let's worship the Goddess together."

"Gross!" I pushed her away. "Not the Goddess," I corrected myself in a hurry. "What do you want, Marisol? I'm female."

I said "nightly worship" before in jest, but Zacheia did have rituals for their believers that involve intercourse. As I said before, the older teens did pay rent to the temple with Faith. At least she didn't condone sacred prostitution like the Mesopotamians of old did. I couldn't even imagine what I'd do if I were sent to another world where people expected me to whore myself for some money and Faith for their gods [1]. Eww.

While I was lost in thought, she groped my chest over my robes with both hands. "Liar. I feel nothing in there."

Meanwhile, I could get a good view of her pearly perky peaks under her nightgown. That did it.

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I hissed, "I'm flat, satisfied? Weren't you avoiding me a few minutes later? What's your game, you fucking bitch?" I almost shoved her away but held back. With my unarmed combat proficiency, she would get hurt. "Know what? Have it your way. Crawl under my skirt and check for yourself. You just learned a candlelight spell yesterday. Use it." I sent my panties to storage without taking them off. I couldn't show living threads to anyone.

She summoned the candlelight and knelt in front of me. "I'm doing it…" She threatened to see if I would change my mind.

"Just get it over with before I give up!"

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After a harrowing and upsetting invasion of privacy, however brief and touch-less, Marisol was back on her bed pressing her face against the pillow she was hugging. The girl was making weird muffled squirrel noises. I think the experience might've been a bit too bold even for her.

A saying one of the older boomers used to spout back at work came to mind, "They look all buddies but are just pretending to understand each other and giggling along to hide it," he prattled about female friendship. Valid remarks about his lack of empathy or blatant misogyny [2] aside, I felt lost just like one of the coworkers he liked to so harshly criticize. I just couldn't figure Marisol out.

I was mad at her. Not for the invasion of privacy, I walked into that one on my own, but at her reaction after confirming my gender. I was perplexed, maybe more than angry.

I crossed the room and shook the girl. "Are you over it already? I was the one who exposed myself, why the fuck are you squealing at the pillow, woman?"

She stole a glance at me, "It's so cute! What a waste!" Then hid her face again.

I grunted and groaned, the non-gormandizing angry kind. "Get over it, you freaking miscreant!" I raged and flipped her over. The pillow, I tossed it against the door. "Why do you look disappointed? Were you really looking forward to doing it with me?"

"No way," she replied after catching her breath. "I mean, I thought about it, but no. You're not my type."

"Then why were you so eager then and disappointed now? You seemed to want me to be a boy."

"Yes, doh. If you were a boy here, in my room…" She trailed off and blushed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, a sense of vertigo taking over me. That's why she was so excited. I completed her sentence, "I would obviously know how to slip past the dorm wards and you wanted to learn how."

She nodded vigorously and avoided my eyes. Typical Marisol. You can take the horse to the creek and force it to drink until it drowns, but you can't turn it into a dragon. All you'll have in the end is a dead horse but still a horse. No dragons, unless the creek was magical, but I digress.

As a matter-of-fact, I knew how and could walk past these wards anytime without raising any alarms. It took a lot of skill, far beyond what any student or even faculty here had. I kept my mouth shut, however. Who knew how this airhead would react if I told her that. She'd probably demand me to take her there now for a before-class quickie, perhaps. At least she wasn't freaking out about my identity anymore.

The silence was awkward. After a few minutes, a panting Marisol recomposed herself, cleared her throat, and stared back at me. "Okay! Get your shit together, Marisol." She whispered and slapped her own cheeks and gave me a wry smile. "You're a girl, Haru. Congratulations. But seriously, who are you?"

I had to jinx it.

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There was no way I could reveal myself to Marisol and keep the young and overeager woman from spilling the beans eventually. It was just too much for her to hold in. I mean, I could enforce secrecy but that would steal too much of her freedom and inevitably cause her to resent me. I decided to let her see just the tip of the iceberg.

"I have fairy powers," I told her. "I couldn't use them before I awakened."

"Liar. Show me!"

Not afraid of being the giant to her puss-in-boots, I transformed into Silverstreak, shrinking my clothes with {Molding Armor} as I did.

After gawking and squealing, she pounced and grabbed me. "Caught!"

I deadpanned and stared at her. "What was that for, woman!"

"Now you have to give me a pot of gold," she giggled.

"Nope. It only works on real fairies and only if you are playing along with the rules. If you want to get rich, sell that toy over there," I pointed at the ancient artifact for sophisticated ladies. "You can get more than ten coins for it."

She shook her head. "There's no way I'm giving it away," she stated adamantly.

I wiggled my eyebrows. "That good?"

Marisol didn't answer but her cheeks and eyes were honest. I phased out of her hands and returned to my normal form, leaving the confused girl staring and grasping at her own hands.

"Are you satisfied?" I asked, still a bit annoyed. "Marisol, you can't reveal my secret to anyone. I can defend myself, but you'd be in danger."

She nodded. I wondered what was going on inside that flaxen head of hers. "I won't. I promise."

"Good!" I went to her wardrobe and picked her uniform for her. "Get dressed or we'll be tardy."

"I know why you aren't interested in boys now. Most fairies aren't into that," She commented while shamelessly disrobing in front of me. Damn.

"I'm not a fairy. I'm a half-dwarf-kitsune. I have fairy powers only."

"That's what a liar of a fairy would say," she cheekily quipped without putting on her clothes. "Are you enjoying what you're seeing?"

This crazy sex-addled bitch knew how to get under my skin. Why did I think it was a good idea to befriend her? I grunted and helped her get decent and brushed her hair. After she was ready and with her pack prepared for the day, I pulled her by the wrist to go to class. Marisol didn't budge.

"But tell me," she asked, "Can you use those fairy powers to enter the boy's dorm? Maybe sneak me in?"

I gasped and grasped at straws. She could push me to my wits' end. "Not happening, Marisol. We're going to Class and then we'll have a classy tea with the [Princess]. Move!"

I dragged her to the classroom. At least she changed gears and behaved once we stepped out of her room.

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[1]: That sounds awfully familiar... Ah. Right.

[2]: The author would like to reinforce for the umpteenth time that the characters' opinions are their own, may be (and in this particular case are) intentionally wrong, do not reflect my (MDW's) personal viewpoints neither are included in this work to further any political agenda (I don't even live in the same hemisphere or country as you, whichever those are. I'm writing from the Earth-Sun L3 point for all I care). My works serve no purpose other than to tell stories with conflicting viewpoints. Use of the reader's critical sense is highly advised.