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Kirika and Hibiki were walking side-by-side through the halls of SONG’s submarine. After a long day of fighting Noise, nothing could stop the amount of energy overflowing from either of them.
“Where are we going?” Kirika inquired.
“To Elfnein-chan’s lab!” Hibiki’s joyous declaration could be heard echoing through that hallway.
As they continued their walk, the duo paid close attention to the doors. 201 was full of office supplies, 204 was the staff break room, and 207 had a bunny logo on it, which stopped Kirika dead in her tracks.
“This is Shirabe’s bunny room!” Kirika jumped up and down. “I wanna see the bunnies, dess!”
“I’ll tell Elfnein-chan you said hi.” Hibiki waved her off as she continued down the hallway.
As she rounded the corner to another room, she found herself at a door with a shrimp emblem on its front. This was it: room 209! Hibiki knocked on the emblem in the middle of the door, to which it slid open. As she put her feet in, it felt like something was off. Papers littered the floor and the shrimps in Elfnein’s aquarium were intact, but that submersible robot she built during the fishing trip wasn’t!
It laid on the floor, its now chrome colored arms were crooked. The camera and the rest of the body looked fine, but it was resting on its side. Hibiki picked it up, brushed it off and placed it next to the aquarium. The shrimp in the tank swam over to the opposing side seeing their kidnapper so close. But that clearly wasn’t the problem here.
“Elfnein-chan!” Hibiki called out. She turned a chair around next to Elfnein’s desk full of papers and a few computer terminals, all with various calculating and word processing programs open. She then noticed someone laying their head on the desk.
“Oh no!” Hibiki screamed, pulling Elfnein up and back into the chair. “I hope that you’re ok!”
As she woke up, Elfnein looked around. Coming quickly to her senses, she looked over at Hibiki.
“Oh hi, Hibiki-san,” Elfnein bowed her head. “What brings you here?”
“I was just wanting to say hi,” Hibiki rubbed her head. “Kirika-chan says hi, too. I also want to know why you were asleep.”
“I’ve been working on too many projects recently.” Elfnein had a lot of bags under her eyes.
“I see,” Hibiki darted her eyes around the room. “Do you ever leave this place?”
“Only for coffee,” Elfnein said with a worried laugh. “Or when Genjuro-san and the others need to see me.”
“I’m putting my foot down,” Hibiki stomped. “You need a day to relax, and I’m taking you back to mine and Miku’s apartment!”
Stepping outside Elfnein’s lab, Hibiki signaled for the tired Elfnein to follow her. Hibiki pulled out her phone, swiftly dialed a text message using it, then turned her attention back. Elfnein slowly got off her chair, a stumble in her step. Kirika rounded the corner, a dark-furred bunny rested in her hands.
“Hibiki-chan, Elfnein!” She shouted, cradling the bunny closely. “I’d like you to meet Eclipse!”
Eclipse opened its eyes and looked at Hibiki and Elfnein. Kirika kneeled down so Elfnein could reach it.
“Go on,” Kirika squealed with excitement, “Give it a pet, dess!”
Elfnein’s tired mind mustered up the energy to give it a small pat. Then she backed away, Hibiki giving it a pet afterward. Kirika then turned around, her loud steps matching her excitement to play with cute bunnies!
“You two should come follow me,” Kirika grinned. “They’re so fun to play with, dess!”
“Wait just a second,” Hibiki stopped Kirika in her tracks, Elfnein followed. “I was wondering if you wanted to help me out with Elfnein over here.”
“Oh uh,” Kirika looked at the bunny in her hands, then looked back at Hibiki. “We’re gonna be at Miku’s place right, dess?”
“Yep,” Hibiki smiled, bringing Elfnein to her side. “I’ll be waiting with her up front!”
“Sounds good,” Kirika started walking to the bunny room again while Hibiki and Elfnein began walking away. “See you two in a few!”
Hibiki and Elfnein walked their way around to the exit hatch of SONG’s HQ, hopping onto the small ladder and beginning a walk from the dock it’s situated on over to the road where Miku’s car sat in wait. Kirika came rushing out soon after, her hoodie covered in bunny fur.
“We’re here!” Hibiki opened the door to her and Miku’s apartment, Kirika peeped in from the side. Elfnein waddled in, her eyes set on immediately getting on the couch. Hibiki helped the little shrimp up, hopping right next to her. Kirika comically stumbled in after her peek, everyone else getting in a good laugh.
“I try to entertain,” Kirika picks herself up. “Dess.”
Miku closed the door behind them, took a deep breath and walked over to the kitchen.
“I suppose you three want some snacks,” Miku nodded. “We’ve got chips, leftover pizza from the day before, candy-”
“CANDY! CANDY!” Kirika and Hibiki yelled in unison. Elfnein covered her ears, laying to her side to suppress Kirika and Hibiki’s loudness.
“You two are scaring our guest,” Miku warned. “I think we should ask her too.”
“C-candy is fine,” Elfnein pulled back from her ears. “Just try to keep Hibiki-san and Kirika-san in check.”
“Sorry,” Hibiki bowed her head.
“Sorry,” Kirika followed. “Dess.”
Miku opened a cupboard to reveal chocolate bars, shell candies, gum, and more all sitting neatly in its confines. She then brought them over to the table, Hibiki and Kirika eagerly sat on the floor, their eyes set on chocolate and their mouths watering. Elfnein calmly laid back, still tired. This tiredness lasted all of a few seconds when she saw a particular logo with a red shrimp on the front.
“ORLEANS SHRIMP?!” Elfnein’s face lit up brighter than Hibiki seeing Miku.
“Oh, you like those?” Miku handed her the bag. “All yours, Elfnein-chan!”
Elfnein ripped open the bag, shoved her hands down it and gnawing down every last chewy, shrimp-shaped morsel lying in wait in the bag. Hibiki and Kirika watched on in awe as her eyes visibly became wider with each passing bite. Miku looked on concerningly.
“I’ll have to buy another bag,” Miku giggled. Elfnein then looked up from the bag, her body jittery and more packed with energy than Hibiki and Kirika combined.
“Genjuro-san never lets me buy these,” Elfnein’s voice went a mile a minute. “He says I spend most of my budget on them, which is quite untrue!”
Elfnein began jumping on the couch rapidly, Hibiki and Kirika backing away at the comedic sight of the usually quiet and calm professor looking very much unprofessional. Elfnein then hopped off the couch, running around in circles while Hibiki, Kirika, and Miku watched on in awe.
“Should we do something?” Hibiki turned to Miku.
“Let me think,” Mikui scratched her head. “Well, you two could get equally sugared up. I can care for three sugared up goofballs.”
“We’re not goofballs!” Kirika shouted. “We’re just born silly, dess!”
As she said this, Kirika filled her mouth full with chocolate, and Hibiki promptly joined her. The two then ran around in circles with Elfnein, much to the joy of Miku. She sat down on her couch and relaxed, watching Hibiki, Elfnein, and Kirika run from the living room into the hallway leading into a bedroom. Miku leaned over with a clear view of them charging in and opening the door. She then saw them tossing around blankets and pillows from the bed at one another, giggling at the three goofballs all having fun.
“I’ll have to clean this later,” Miku whispers to herself. “But I’ll let them have their fun.”
Miku laid back, trying to relax in the midst of this chaos. Slowly closing her eyes, the last thing she could see was Elfnein knocking down Kirika with a pillow, then she finally closed her eyes for a nap.
Miku woke up to a disastrous sight. The girls were passed out on the floor. Pots, pans, and food littered it. Even Tsubasa would blush at the horrific state of the living room. Miku picked herself up, darting her eyes at the floor and at the still messy hallway full of blankets and pillows like the three of them were setting up a fort. As she got up, she felt a hand grab her leg. Miku jumped back, looking down to see Hibiki’s hand wrapped around her leg. Elfnein and Kirika then poked their heads up, the three of them laughing.
“What did you three do to my apartment?!” Miku pushed her leg back to stow off Hibiki’s hand.
“We uh…” Hibiki scratched her head.
“We were playing pirates, dess!” Kirika injected. “Our ship crashed and we need someone to help get our treasure back onto the boat before it all gets lost in the ocean!”
“Arr…” Elfnein raised her fist in the air. “We’re the crew of the S.S. Shrimp!”
“You guys,” Miku let out a sigh, but smiled. “We’ll have to clean all this up, but I suppose we can have a bit of fun.”
“So you’ll be the new captain, Miku-chan?” Kirika’s eyes sparkled.
“I suppose so,” Miku giggled, walking over to her pots and pans the crew of the “S.S. Shrimp” were trying to “steal”, helping the trio out by putting them in the center of the pool of pillows and blankets they called a boat. Sitting cross-legged at the front, she pointed outward, the girls grabbing small pillows at their sides to pretend they were rowing.
“We love Captain Miku!” They shouted.