'Uuu..it feels really awkward to even look at Shoki...no, i am a man, i must overcome any difficulty with guts!'

Niko Clenched her fist infront of her, silently walking at the front of the group.

"So, you gonna tell us what happened at the temple, or what?"

Gary asked, walking up next to Niko.

"Look i don't know, some magic crap, either way i got what we needed, i'l explain it later, for now let's just...go and have some fun, have some sake!"

Niko proposed, trying to find something else to focus on.

"I suppose we finished off that errand faster than we thought, so a few drinks wouldn't hurt...although i'm going to be the one paying aren't i...?"

"Naturally, who else?"

Niko looked at him with a smug smile, causing him to sigh in resignation.

"Fine, fine, anything for the spoiled princess i guess.."

He lazily patted Niko's head as he laughed.

"H-hey, I'm not a princess, and don't touch me so freely!"

Niko moved away from his hand, her face slightly red.

'Damn it, now i even feel weird with Gary....am i sick..did that damn witch do something..?'

Niko thought to herself as she faked a cough in order to change the subject.

"Uhm, a-anyway, let's go to a sushi place, one with the moving sushi!"

Niko suggested, remembering something she heard concerning special sushi restaurants.

"Niko...i know sushi is eaten raw..but sushi that still moves...i don't think that's really safe to eat?"

Gary said with a slightly disturbed expression.

"...I have eaten living fish before..the trick is to not eat the internal organs..."

Shoki commented from the side, causing both Gary and Niko to stare at him with wide eyes, their conversation halted for a moment.

"No, no i didn't mean it like that, i meant the restaurants where they have rolling bands that they place the sushi on, eating living fish is gross!"

Niko burst out, slightly disturbed at the mental image of Shoki grabbing a fish out of an aquarium and biting it's head off.

"...I only ate living fish in desperate situations...i was also used to it so i didn't get sick...eating is neccesary to survive..."

Shoki sighed, the edges of his mouth contorting into a an almost invisible frown.

'Ah, oh no..i shouldn't have said..he looks sad.."

Niko thought, noticing the slight change in Shoki's facial expression due to closely observing him when he wasn't looking.

"Ah, no, i mean..it's not gross or anything..i was just surprised you know, ahaha.."

She laughed awkwardly while scratching her head.

"Niko, you sure nothing is wrong, you're acting stranger than usual, more...humble?"

Gary raised his eyebrow, slightly wary of what Niko might do next.

"What do you mean, so you're saying im usually strange, is that it?!"

Niko snapped at him, a vein popping on her head.

"Yeah that's exactly what i'm saying"

Gary shrugged as if to challenge Niko.

"Fine, then i'm going to order only the most expensive dishes and sake today, just for that!"

She smiled and folded her arms.

"You were going to do that anyway, so you're going to have to try better than that, Niko"

Gary shook his head with a small grin, having already expected the worst possible scenario.

"Is that so..then i will help myself to a bottle of 500 dollar sake, i've always wanted to try one of those, or maybe even two..?"

Niko smirked as she walked off, pretending to ponder on how many bottles she should get.

Gary slowly walked after her, a single tear running down his face, as he mentally prepared himself for the ordeal ahead of him, or rather, ahead of his wallet.

"...Although i dislike sake, i have always wondered what that specific sake tasted like..."

Shoki mumbled as he passed by Gary.

"Fine, i'l get you one too, i might as well get myself one too, although i will puke before i finish it, who cares right!?!"

Gary laughed eerily, his pupils slightly dilated, and arms outstretched to each side.

"...Very kind of you to offer, then i shall accept.."

Shoki nodded towards Gary before heading off after Niko.

Garys face drained of all colour as he sank down to his knees, looking up at the light blue sky.

"God! this is a test isn't it, damn you god, i'l fucking sue when i get up there!"

He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Shut up Gary, we all know lawyers don't go to heaven!"

She yelled at Gary from the distance.

"...Well that's true i guess"

Gary stayed still for a few moments, his arms still outstretched, before shrugging with a sigh, standing up and brushing the dust off his knees.

--

"Auuu...why are there so many Shokis...there's like..nine..ten..eleven...eleventyone Shokis!"

Niko babbled drunkenly as she was being carried on Shokis back, Gary walking behind them, stopping every so often to apologise for the disturbance to the people that were coming up to complain.

They continued to walk through the quiet neighborhood, only the sound of cats audible in the distance, and Nikos babbling of course, which melted in with the noise of the cats.

"Damnit, Niko, shut up already, you're way too damn loud!"

Gary ran up to Shoki and Niko after apologising several times to an annoyed old woman.

"Nyahaha, Gary is maaaad, too bad you had to pay for like...this many bottles!"

She laughed loudly and showed Gary both her outstretched hands, causing her to almost fall backwards from Gary's back.

"Careful, Niko, make sure to hold on, or you will fall..."

Shoki had somehow caught Niko before she completely fell backwards, pushing her back up with one arm.

"...Kay~"

Niko grabbed onto his neck, letting out sounds of snoring only a few seconds later, drool running down Shokis neck, causing his left eye to twitch slightly while he sighed.

"Hey atleast it's a fairly cute girl that is drunkenly drooling on you and not one of your old fat business partners!"

Gary felt goosebumps travel up his back as he remembered something he did not want to recall.

"Sounds...unpleasant.."

They arrived to their house soon enough, where Niko was plopped down on the sofa, where she continued to sleep after having drenched Shokis entire shoulder with drool.

"Honestly, Niko should already know by now that her alcohol tolerance is completely different now, well whatever, atleast i get some peace and quiet now"

Gary stretched and sat down infront of his laptop, attempting to get some work done. Just as he sat down however, the front door suddenly burst open, causing Gary to jump in surprise.

Several tattooed men came in carrying bags and boxes filled with various things.

The loud noise of the door bursting open and people walking about, causing Niko to groggily wake up, slowly rubbing the drool off her face.

"What's going on...?"

Niko observed the pile of bags and boxes with lazy eyes, her head throbbing and floaty still.

The pile soon stopped growing as Zatoichi and Hannah came through the door, closing it behind them.

"We have acquired items, that maybe help against akuma!"

Zatoichi declared as he strode in, as Hannah started to sort all of the boxes and bags.

"Wa...akuma..what are you on about, samurai twins..?"

Niko muttered, her slightly out of focus eyes causing her to see double.

"You no remember? We went searching for items to fight more akuma like we fight before, while you go find woman to help or something, i do not know"

"Niko dear, don't you remember, we went out shopping for useful items, which is why i couldn't go with you"

Hannah explained as she started to take out random items from the boxes, which ranged from ornate dishes to small trinkets and knives.

"We try to buy old items related to akuma, who knows, maybe is magic?"

"Well, i atleast managed to haggle the prices down to manageable levels, but i have no clue if any of these are going to be helpful or not.. i kind of lose track of stuff when i shop"

Hannah smiled embarrassedly, drawing out a large sword from the pile of boxes and holding it above her head, before slowly putting it back down.

"Riht right...i just have to check if any of these are useful and then i can go back to sleep?"

Niko asked while lazily rubbing her eyes, fumbling about before taking out the small white wooden box and opening it with a flick of her wrist.

"Magic box...go do your thing!"

Niko commanded the box, which remained unresponsive.

"What the hell, did that witch trick me!?"

Niko brought up the small box to her face, and looked inside with one eye.

Just as she looked inside the box, something shone from inside the box and flew out, colliding with Nikos eye.

"OW, what the hell was that!?"

Nikos eye teared up as she rubbed it in pain, when she noticed that something was flying around the room and giving off a silvery light.

"[Detected]"

The flying glowing thing spoke, a small ray of light penetrating the pile of random items in the middle of room, before stopping as quickly as it had started, the flying thing suddenly getting sucked back into the box, which closed by itself with a small 'klunk'.

"Great, that was that so i'm going back to sleep..."

Niko fell back into the sofa and she closed her eyes.

Hannah quickly rummaged through the pile and found something that was giving off a faint silvery light.

"Ah, it's a ring, it looks cute too!"

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Hannah held up a small white ring, which gradually started to lose the silvery light coming from it.

"Well, now that's done, please remove all this garbage from my house!"

Gary looked at Zatoichi, piercing him with his angriest gaze.

"Ah yes, come boys!"

Zatoichi clapped his hands as several men came in through the door and carried all of the items away in one go, alot less careful this time as they knew that the items were now useless.

"Hm..i suppose Niko should have this, it fits her!"

Hannah put the white ring onto one of Nikos fingers before gently patting the still sleeping Niko on the head.

"Seems she had a long day..she's sleeping so peacefully...."

Hannah smiled as she rubbed Nikos head, giving her a soft kiss on the head.

"Hm..what's that smell...?"

Hannah inched closer to Nikos face, trying to find the source of the smell, which happened to be Nikos mouth.

"This smells familiar...is it...alcohol!?"

Hannahs eyes widened in realisation as they slowly turned into an ominous red mass..

"Niko......"

She loudly said through her teeth, standing up above Niko.

"Hmn...what...give me five more minutes..."

Niko mumbled in her sleep.

"NIKO!"

Hannah yelled into Nikos ear, causing her to jump with a surprised cry.

"W-what's going on, are we getting raided!?"

She frantically looked around, noticing Hannahs glowing eyes.

"W-what's wrong...?"

Niko asked with an awkward smile, confusion apparent on her face.

"You drank alcohol didn't you, even though you are too young to be doing that!"

"W-what, no i didn't, i mean i did, but i've been old enough to drink for years, and even if i weren't, who cares it's not that big of a deal"

Niko shrugged and smelled her breath.

"You were a bad girl, Niko...punishment is in order..."

Hannah slowly inched closer to Niko, her eyes red, steam rising from her mouth.

"W-what are you doing...don't get any closer...no..no...NO!"

Niko's terrified screams filled the living room, followed by echoing sounds that caused Gary, who was standing in the kitched, flinch each time he heard the sound.

"I would normally laugh at Niko, but this is just too terrifying..."

Gary shivered, his back against the well, as he looked over to Shoki who standing next to him.

"There is nothing more terrifying than woman anger"

Zatoichi added, sitting at small chair in the kitchen.

"....Indeed...."

Shoki nodded, making a mental note to not anger any female opponents he may have in the future.

--

"So humiliating...i don't deserve this..."

Niko rubbed the tears out of her eyes as she rubbed her backside in pain.

"You deserved it, next time think about what you do, now apologise!"

Hannah stood before Niko, her arms folded and her eyes slightly glowing with the embers of the previous fire.

"But i didn't do anything wrong...."

"Now."

"Fine..i'm sorry for drinking alcohol..."

Niko sniffed as she tried to wipe her face.

"Good, now let's go get you cleaned up before bed"

The embers in Hannahs eyes were now fully gone. back to her usual cheery self as she dragged Niko towards the bathroom.

A while later they were all sitting in the livingroom. Niko now wearing her pink pajamas while standing, as sitting down was currently impossible for her.

"So, shall we go through what we have accomplished today?"

Gary asked, as he recieved a cup of tea from Hannah who was handing everyone their own cup.

"Yea..well, about using actual magic items, that was a fail...Evileye didn't know any specific method"

Niko looked at the ring she was now wearing, spinning it it around on her finger, curious as to what it could do.

"But from that strange glowing box you had, it looks like you didn't leave empty handed, right?"

Gary asked as he typed away at his laptop, attempting to get some work done on the sly.

"Oh yea, she gave me this box that tells you which items have power in them, but it's pointless if you don't know how to actually use whatever it is you find..."

Niko shrugged and kept playing with her ring.

"Oh and also, i got a clue from her about someone famous who might know the art of revival!"

"That's great, who is it?"

"Uh...it was...shit...i forgot the name...it was something like...hermy...magistus...or something like that?"

"Niko, that doesn't sound right, there's no one i can find with that name, so they aren't that famous"

Gary looked over at Niko from behind his laptop screen after doing a quick search.

"Look, i don't know, it's hard to think when it hurts so bad.."

Niko rubbed her behind with a pained expression.

"Ah, Niko come here, i have this salve that should help against the pain if i spread it on"

Hannah offered to help and she started to get up.

"N-no, i'm fine, i'm fine, don't come!"

Niko nervously said whilst holding her behind.

"Well alright, but if it hurts too bad, let me know"

She smiled at Niko, who gave her a nervous smile.

"But, why we looking for revival stuff..?"

Zatoichi asked, not understanding how reviving works in with their goal of defeating demons.

"Oh, uh, we need it...incase one of us dies, of course, we have to..uh..prepare for the coming fights of course..of course!"

Niko gave him a stiff smile, unsure of how long she could keep up her lie.

"Oh..make sense, i will help as much as able!"

Zatoichi nodded, with an enlightened expression. Niko sighing in relief, thanking whatever gods there were for the fact that he was so easily fooled.

"Oh...i remember now, it was 'Hermes Trismegistus'!”

Niko suddenly remembered.

"THE Hermes Trismegistus?"

Garys eyes widened with shock.

"What, you know him or something?"

"Well, no, he was one of the worlds most famous philosophers and alchemists, well i only know this because of my brother, the one who studied philosophy, but yea this Hermes fellow was a big deal, too bad he's been dead for who knows how long"

Gary closed his laptop with a sigh.

"Really...wait, if he's been dead for a long time, then how old is that damn witch if she actually knew him..."

Nikos eyes widened in realisation before she quickly dismissed it as the woman being delusional from old age.

"If the philosopher is dead, then what of his texts...?"

Shoki asked as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yes, of course! all alchemists and philosophers write down their thoughts and discoveries, then that means, somewhere among this guys texts, is our recipe for revival, soon my body will be revived and i will be free of this curse!"

Niko laughed and struck a victorious pose on the table, tearing up and biting her lip due to the pain of moving her behind too much.

"Original body and curse..what you mean?"

Zatoichi asked with a confused expression.

"Oh, nothing nothing, it's just codewords for stuff, you know, clan stuff!"

Niko laughed it off as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Well, there are no original texts left it seems, but alot of other famous philosophers seem to have made copies of his texts, ah this one seems good... it's being kept in a museum in...Japan, looks like it was sent to japan for further translations, how convenient...i'l try to look up some info on it"

Gary looked at his laptop screen as his fingers moved so fast they were hard to follow.

"Great, then this shall be the first quest for the Parade of shadows, we will get the texts and i will be...a man yet again!"

Niko stomped her foot on the table she stood on dramtically, causing the table to tilt slightly, and as Niko was already standing at the edge of the table, that small tilt was all the table need to begin falling to one side, causing Niko to flail around helplessly as she was pulled down along the table.

"...Niko, you're clumsy..."

Shoki muttered as he caught Niko in one arm, somehow appearing right next to Niko although he was on the other side of the room just a moment ago.

"S-shut up, i'm n-not!"

Niko stuttered at him, her face flushing a light shade of red.

"Niko, you look red, perhaps you have a fever?"

Shoki asked as he pulled his face closer to Nikos and he observed her brightening skin.

"J-just put me down already!"

Niko complained and looked away as she was put down.

"Jeez..what are you doing infront of other people!"

Niko huffed, her cheeks still red.

"....So it's okay if it's not infront of other people, huh?"

Gary smirked as he typed away at his laptop, Niko giving him a sharp glare.

"Uhm, Niko, i know that at your age you might start getting interested in such things, but try to restrain yourself, a girl should be modest after all!"

Hannah coughed awkwardly and lectured Niko.

"N-no, you all got it wrong, i'm a MAN, DAMNIT!"