After that mortified scream, Gabriel pounced like a cat with its tail stepped on, and in a blur snatched "that" back from Shirogane Kei's frozen hand.
"Y-you—you! Don't look!!"
Flustered, she balled the little undergarnt up and shoved it into her pajama pocket, then pointed at Rei Ao with a face burning from sha, golden eyes blazing.
"Rei Ao, you big jerk! This is all your fault!!"
Sha and anger shorted out her brain; she even forgot how she'd gotten here.
"How is that my fault," Rei Ao said with a helpless smile.
Gabriel only wanted to flee this scene of social death right now, this second.
"Teleport! Ho!"
With a near-scream she triggered her ability. Another blinding white flare burst around her.
Whoosh—
Light flashed on, then off.
When the living room ca back into view, the atmosphere turned even stranger.
Gabriel… was still standing there.
Or rather, Gabriel the person was still there—but her oversized pink bunny onesie, along with the one fuzzy slipper she'd had on, had vanished without a trace.
Beneath that sun-bright blonde hair was skin so fair it almost dazzled. A slim, graceful neck, rounded shoulders, a fine, lovely collarbone—everything lay bare in the warm, bright glow of the living-room lights.
The air froze solid. Ti hit pause.
Kei stayed in a pose like she was still holding sothing (now just air), mouth a perfect O, eyes about to pop from their sockets, mind wiped blank—except for the flawless, ivory-lit figure before her.
Tohru dropped a plate into the sink with a clatter, water splashing up.
Emilia clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.
Mai Sakurajima's magazine slid from her fingers; disbelief flashed across her wine-red eyes for the first ti.
Futaba covered her own eyes—and peeked through her fingers.
Gabriel herself turned to stone. Moving like a rusty robot, she slowly lowered her head.
In her view: the polished floor… and her own body.
…
Silence.
One second.
Two seconds.
…
"Eeeeeeeek—!"
A scream loud enough to peel the roof, pierce the soul, and packed with sha, panic, collapse, and volcanic fury—howled through the entire apartnt like a banshee's wail. Even the walls seed to shake.
Gabriel's cheeks burned like a crimson sunset. Tears of humiliated rage sprang into her golden eyes. Like a lit shell, she hugged her bare self tight, then—throwing dignity to the wind in favor of speed—shot off barefoot in a blur, slamd into Rei Ao's half-open bedroom door, and burst inside.
Bang!!
From within, the door was yanked shut with all her might, the boom thunderous enough to rattle dust from the fra. A dull thud hit the panel next, followed by a tear-thick, hysterical, sha-fueled roar:
"Rei Ao! You cosmic, super-ultra GA JERK! You perv! You bastard! Go to my place and get my clothes! Right now! Uuugh—this is embarrassing!!!"
The living room sat in wrecked silence. Water still ran from the faucet. Tohru stayed frozen mid-reach for the plate. Emilia's hand remained over her mouth. Mai's bend to grab her magazine was stuck halfway. Futaba's hands were still over her eyes.
Kei kept that petrified pose, as if she'd forgotten to breathe—forgotten to blink. Her athyst eyes were nothing but vacant and dazed.
Who am I? Where am I? What did I just see?
An undergarnt out of nowhere. A woman out of nowhere. Clothes that vanished in an instant.
She pinched her arm—hard.
"—Ow!"
It hurt. Not a dream. All of this… was real…
Rei Ao set down his teacup and rubbed his brow hard, utterly helpless.
"...Sigh."
The long exhale was thick with complicated feelings. He stood, walked to the still-souls-out-of-body Kei, and, seeing the way her worldview had completely collapsed, spoke with deep apology and a powerless, "what can you do" tone:
"Sorry, Kei."
He pointed at his tightly shut bedroom door.
"My friend Gabriel clearly needs help. Please wait here for . I'll be right back."
With that, he headed to the entryway, opened the door, and went next door to fetch clothes from Gabriel's place.
…
Kei's neck creaked as she slowly turned, vacant gaze following Rei Ao's disappearing back. Then her eyes drifted to the closed bedroom door, as if she could see the furious, mortified blonde inside pounding the bed.
She eased herself down onto the sofa, hugging her schoolbag like a final lifeline. Her posture was straight as a rod; her eyes stared into the middle distance like a delicate doll that had been played to pieces.
"Uneasy" didn't begin to cover it. She felt like she was floating in the vacuum of space, all sense of direction and gravity gone. Her mind kept replaying that world-shattering tableau: white light, the undergarnt, the blonde woman, the disappearing outfit, the bare form, the eardrum-splitting scream…
Every replay made her frayed nerves twitch hard.
She needed an explanation.
No—she needed to forget.
But… how could she possibly forget?
Ti crawled past in dead silence while Kei's inner barrage of thoughts scrolled by at a frantic pace.
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