Chapter 245 - A Cat on the Roof

"You did it, bro. Congrats!"

Suzuki Ara's expression softened as she stared at her phone, looking at the smiling faces of her brother and Chiaki.

Wow. Just wow.

She couldn't believe it. It was just last night when she and her brother had a talk, and that things between this couple seemed so complicated. Yet, here they were, finally together.

Hmmmnnn …

Ara wondered if her mischief gave the secretary a push in the right direction. Then again, who was she kidding? If Maki Yuuka didn't make an appearance, she would still be sticking to her original plan of integrating Taka and Chiaki into the house. The credit should go mostly to the thwarted fiancée, right?

Because without the sudden appearance of Maki Yuuka, Aki and Chiaki wouldn't have to play the engaged couple in front of her. Ara believed that when those two pretended to be together for real even if it was just for more than an hour, their hidden wish for their circumstance to be real amplified without them realizing – at least on Chiaki's part. She knew her brother wanted to be with Chiaki for real for a very long time. He didn't need any conditioning.

It was Chiaki who had to change her mindset.  It was why Ara schemed to place her somewhere close to her brother, ergo asking her help with her studies.

Speaking of which…

She also wondered what would happen to her tutorial, and she giggled. At least if Aki and Chiaki told her that the latter couldn't tutor her anymore because they wanted to spend time together, it wouldn't be so bad. After all, she didn't really need to be tutored in the first place.

With amusement dancing in her eyes, she typed a message to Chiaki.

"Congratulations! We're finally going to be sisters! Don't mind my studies, okay? I was just jesting. My head's totally fine, and the lessons are still fresh in my mind as I had recently taken exams before returning to school. I didn't need to study actually."

She followed it up with a winking emoticon, and so the other would know her mischievous schemes, which the latter did. She received a new message a couple of minutes later, but surprisingly it was from her brother.

"She knows. We're busy. Be a good girl," Aki said, returning her winking emoticon, and so Ara let out a peal of laughter.

It might be because she's a married woman now, but she totally understood what was going on. Her brother and Chiaki were having their long-awaited steamy night, and so she chose to behave. Then again, as soon as she placed the phone on the table, she wondered how it was possible to guess that.

"I…"

Ara's thoughts trailed off, confused. She was supposed to be a semi-innocent woman. How did she know these things?

Just then, an image of her writhing in Ryuu's embrace flashed in her mind. Her arms, wrapped around her husband's neck, crying out his name in the peak of passion as they consumed their love and she stopped, shocked.

Huh ?

Heat crept up her face, as she shook the image away, her hands fanning her face. How come she was able to envision that scene when it hadn't happened yet?

"Ara, you've totally become perverted. Your husband's totally in danger," she scolded herself, before marching back towards the walk-in closet.

"Yashiro and the girls really corrupted my innocence," she cried, but then laughed at how funny that was.

She snatched a leather jacket hanging there, and hastily put it on. Then, she grabbed her phone and placed it in her jacket pocket and zipped it close so it wouldn't fall out during her stunt. Soon, she was ready.

Hmmnnn …

Ara now knew that Aki did not increase the surveillance cameras, and so she only had those people in security to deal with for her to sneak out unnoticed. For sure, eyes were trained on her window and door. She was, after all the one they needed to guard.

Ara sighed. She wondered what she could do to distract them. There were lights everywhere normally. If she used her powers to mess with the electricity, for sure people would go in panic and check up on her. These people were not like the stupid blokes on TV who would run just because of noise. These guys knew their priority which was her.

Ara removed her kitsune mask. To check her theory, she walked towards the window and opened it wide. In an instant, two people came out of the shadows from the garden below.

"Miss Ara, is everything okay?"

Ara smiled at the two new guards. "Yes. I'm just feeling a bit stuffy in here so I opened the window to let the wind in."

She knew her reason was very strange as it's still winter. How could a room be stuffy when it's very cold? So it was only natural for the two men to exchange looks as if trying to figure out how to deal with her words.

But, of course, she was not someone who was officially grounded and so they had no reason to think she's trying to escape. They just shrugged her words off.

"Well, please take care not to catch a cold," they said.

"Thank you," Ara answered with a sheepish smile and watched them retreat into their original posts, before letting out a heavy sigh.

At times like this one, Ara couldn't help but wish that Aurel was here so it's easy to fly away. Her lightning familiar might not be totally fond of her as he was a proud and loyal friend of Perun, but he still gave her a hand during the Immortal War.

She was able to defeat Czernobog's forces because of him.

Oh well…

Her little shy birdie vanished after the war anyway, even if he still lent her his seal. She guessed her ancestor Perun only asked Aurel to give her a hand that one time to defeat his greatest nemesis, and she shouldn't expect more.

Anyway …

Ara was decided. She would just use her newly recovered awareness to feel where everyone was and sneak out the normal human way – or at least somewhat human way. After all, she would still need her powers to leave fast.

Without closing the window, Ara walked towards the wall to switch off the light. The people outside wouldn't be able to see anything from her room now. Then, using her God eyes, she watched where the people who were guarding her window were. As soon as she saw where they were, and saw that they weren't really looking at her direction now, she surreptitiously stepped out of the window and catapulted towards the roof in a flash using her strength.

Landing on the tiled roof soundlessly like a cat, she peeked to see if the people noticed something unusual. When she saw that they remained where they were, she reached out a hand and slightly closed her window below.

Satisfied, Ara retreated into the shadows and vanished into the night via electric wires.