As Hiroshi lead Nata and Olivia through familiar streets, before finally arriving at the mall. As they took some time to relax from the walk at the central hall, Nata couldn't help but feel partly sad on having lost a chance to show him her passion.

  Meanwhile Hiroshi didn't happen to take too much notice it at current time, as he tried to scout out Sophia, while Olivia was first to notice Nata's blight, and calmly whispered "There will be time later on." which eased Nata's mood, but still didn't change the fact that her plans got changed

  Before they knew it, They could spot a trio coming towards their way, chatting away while wearing casuals, and to no surprise of Hiroshi's, he could tell Kat going from enjoying her time to staring daggers as she spotted him. 'How nice of her...'

  "Thanks again for accepting." Sophia said with a bright smile as they stopped in front of them.

  "More than happy to for your help." Hiroshi said with a light smile. "So, what is the plan?"

  "preparation for summer, of course." Edith said, keeping her professional appearance even outside of the uniform, with button up shirt and jeans.

  "Didn't you check weather news? heat-wave should be coming around in coming weeks." Kat said while judging him, which he tried to ignore.

  "Oh, Summer will be fun!" Nata got excited upon hearing the news, and getting into mood of the season.

  "Then why not try getting something for yourself?" Sophia recommended, but Hiroshi couched gently, to which Sophia could guess what he was worrying over.

  "Money issues?" She asked as he awkwardly scratched back of his neck. "I didn't exactly have time to plan for tripling my expenses."

  "Don't worry, I pushed you into this anyways, It's on the house." She said, to which he happily thanked her, as Olivia felt lightly happy to see such friendly goings, while Nata hid behind her to sulk over her presumptions yesterday.

  'How could have I thought so ill of Hiroshi! Of course it is my fault.' she thought to herself, before focusing back on the group, as things started to move towards shopping.

  To not a big surprise, their first and main attraction came up was good ol' clothing.

  While Nata and Olivia had theirs clothes in order, they decided to get some accessories, Nata happily getting into hair clips to ease her bushy hair with some counterweight at the end, giving her an appearance like she had second tail.

  And Olivia took interest in trying some hats, as sun hit her eyes harder than others thanks to her being part of nocturnal species, so after searching for something fitting and good looking, she went with baker caps, convenience of hiding some of the annoyances of the sun, and enough room to contain her antennae.

  Meanwhile Edith was happily trying some different casual stuff, but even after finding some for summer, her style still seemed professional to simplest details.

  "Wow, Miss Hamilton, you always look so well kept!" Nata complemented, clearly taking notes. "Well, that's kind of occupational necessity." Edith answered awkwardly, herself not so used to people taking note of her professional styling, all done with professional tone still.

  Sophia went with her usually outfitting of cargo pants and sleeveless shirt, but her main focus were on the sunhats... but more she got into them, more gothic she seemed to get, and before she knew it, she had picked out casual summer wear, and full gothic summer wear. "Every single time." She cried out in despair, as if it was her own form of curse.

  "Fashionable." Olivia muttered, clearly admiring her tastest in the different fashions, as Sophia just sighed in disappointment. "yeah, maybe back in 1800's" Sophia muttered with light fluster.

  And lastly Kat went on to get her clothes, but there was certain spiteful stare at Hiroshi that he seemed only to notice out of the group.

  After some fitting, appearing for the group to check out, running with summertop with a small overshirt, to get attention away from the wings.

  While rest were happy with it, Hiroshi couldn't help but notice that she went with a skirt. first dress and now this. 'For a flying girl, she sure chooses outfits that are easy to pe-'

  Kat had noticed him leering at her outfitting choice, returning him to her signature headlock, surprising everyone out of nowhere, while Nata and Olivia were trying hard to calm her down and release him from the troubling spot.

  "If you dare ogle me, you should say something at least." Kat said in fury, which quickly got attention from Edith and Sophia, but they rather happily kept quiet about it for now as they didn't interfere.

  "Y-you look good! Skirt just feels weird on you." He said in plea for mercy, which thankfully he got as she released him, but Kat was very much still angry and looking to hear what he was meaning.

  "Well, we have worked for a week, and it is common for you to fly, even when keeping watch on me... so, you know." As he finished explaining it, He could feel dagger thrown at him with her stare, before she gave it up with a huff.

  "For harpies, flight usually needs a runway. In that time, people on the ground don't have enough space to see it, and when I am already in the sky, no one on the ground can see." she explained, Hiroshi nodded in understanding, while Nata and Olivia nodded alongside, acting like they were curious as well just to ease him some pain if this went somewhere bad.

  "And if anyone dares to peep during flight, that's why I got my talons for." She said, as Hiroshi could feel the bloodthirst in her words and with regret already coming onto him, in his curiousity to check, his gaze was met with 8 knifes of claws on her, Which made him nod faster to make sure she saw he absolutely understood.

  With clothes shopping being finished, and girls paying for the stuff, Hiroshi took a moment to relax on the sideline.

  After a while, and hearing some chitchat between the girls, Sophia approached him and asked, "Mind carrying my bag?" which he didn't mind, but then Kat asked, which he felt didn't have much choice on, Edith asked next and he was more than happy for her, and with Nata asking lastly with their stuff, which he felt obligated to do.

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  "As you see, my hypothesis is proven right." Sophia said in smug tone, as with it Hiroshi realized what was going on, with all four bags in his hands.

  "My, this is truly an amusing revelation." Edith giggled under her breath, while Kat was silently judging him, while Nata and Olivia turned away when he tried to look them in the eyes.

  "S-sorry, they asked us to follow along." Nata admitted, as both girls were getting flustered for being trouble to him.

  This was just the first store they went to, and Hiroshi knew he couldn't back down his current load. 'I should be careful, I will say no next time.' he thought to himself.

  After multiple store runs, the girls were happily heading to an restaurant, with huffing and exhausted Hiroshi following, carrying 14 bags with all of the power he could muster.

  With great exhaustion, he collapsed onto a seat by a round table, Nata and Olivia taking his flanks, while others took the opposite side.

  "It doesn't feel nice to push everything on Hiro." Nata admitted, feeling extremely guilty on having him carry everything he was, Olivia agreeing alongside her.

  "He knows he can decline, don't blame yourself over it." Sophia made clear, to which Hiroshi would have happily shouted her out for, if it wasn't true and him still catching his breath.

  "But I am surprised you found a weakness to him." Kat noted, having taken more interest in Hiroshi with the new-found discovery.

  Their conversation got paused, as waiter came to their table, as they put their orders in, Sophia quickly remembered something she had to settle.

  "But as I told you, he is wild as anyone, and to think he is so old for such troubles." She brought up, as Edith and Kat nodded in agreement, leaving Hiroshi questioning what they were talking about, alongside the fosters.

  Sophia noticed the confusion, and as she quickly whispered some stuff between the girls, she decided to speak up. "I did not ask you to come with us just to carry bags, but to see how you in day-to-day basis."

  As all three simultaniously went "What?" as the prospect she was putting onto the table, before Kat proceeded to explain further.

  "Did you never question why there is no monsters mentioned in any document?" to which Hiroshi got lightly flustered, as he wasn't much of a guy for reading, which made Kat sigh in disappointment.

  "To put it simply, Monsters aren't only one who can be considered wild, humans count in this prospect." She said, before Edith was quick to come fix. "Well, it is less that humans are born wild, but when they grow up in a unfitting environment, there can be characterical aspects that are classified under wilderness personality test."

  "And... this was to test me?" Hiroshi tried to guess, to which Edith nodded and smiled, as she answered with "Yes. Now, you have dealt with Nata and should already know that being classified does not mean it is inherently bad."

  "But there are problems to be solved." Sophia hopped on explaining lastly. "Of course, it isn't something that can be done fast, nor something we can just force you into, it has to be something that comes naturally as you grow as a person. And thankfully, your wilderness score I would say is... like two out of five. An high functioning kind."

  "Don't say we have to leave him!" Nata spoke up in worry, taking Hiroshi by surprise, and Olivia was on the fence, unsure how to take all of this information.

  "Oh, no no no." Edith quickly made clear. "This is just something for us to account, when managing his task assignments." she clarified, but as she thought for a moment, also thought up an idea. "But if I had to say how you should consider it... think of it as, he needs assistance time to time, a voice of reason."

  As Nata was more than happy to hear a helpful role open, Hiroshi was quick to shut it down. "Thanks for the idea, but I don't think Nata is exactly the... best for that role, i'd rather put Olivia on it."

  "y-you sure?" Olivia asked, to which Hiroshi calmly nodded. "If I had to guess, you are as reasonable as I am, even if we have known each other for a day. Do you think you can do it?"

  As she was slowly melting from trying to think on what kind of spotlight she has been put on, eventually their meals started to come, to which Hiroshi proceeded to ease her mind. "No need to answer right now, just want to know just in case."

  And as the food was enjoyed by all, in it's luxurious quality, a new discussion started up.

  "So, any plans for summer vacation?" Edith spoke up.

  "When is that?" Hiroshi asked to be sure. He wasn't thinking about too much on the time window when he entered work, however it would make sense there to be vacation soon.

  "It will be for the whole of July, so little over month and half."

  "I see. so still plenty of time to plan... honestly, i haven't thought that far." Hiroshi admitted, taking Edith by surprise.

  "Oh, really? Well, if you don't come up with something, you can always tell me if you don't have any plans couple weeks before, and I can arrange something."

  "Really? That's nice to hear." Hiroshi said with a gentle smile, which Edith was more than happy to share, as afterwards, peaceful dinner was had, with small talk on goings in their lives, and Kat teasing Hiroshi by retelling stories from the week to the fosters.

  Finishing the plates clean, and splitting up the bill, Hiroshi was starting to get nightmares already on carrying their stuff again, as they had plans for couple more spots.

  Sophia noticing Hiroshi's displeasure, and as she didn't want to trouble him even more, she got an idea that she felt would be risky, but dared to go for it. "Say, Hiroshi... mind doing a little deal?"

  With a curiosity from the group, as Kat gave worried look towards Sophia. "I will carry the bags, but if you could..." she started to feel flustered to ask about it, but knowing he most likely is only hope she has left. "let me drink your blood."

  Leaving the group slightly awkward, Kat pulled her ear for asking such offer. "You know it's wrong. He will only be more exhausted than if he was carrying the bags, no way would he accept it."

  As Sophia was getting teary for spoiling the downsides of the offer, Edith just gave a sigh of the usual problems.

  "I don't mind." Hiroshi spoke up, making Kat worried for first time on what he was thinking. "Surely not. I even heard you could get nightmares after such stuff. And it isn't like you owe anything to her."

  "Actually, I do owe her. Thanks for caring, but this is business between two of us." Hiroshi quickly noted, as the comment got a mild fluster for the smallest of seconds from her before she huffed it away. "Fine, write your own funeral."

  Taking slight lap around the restaurant, they found nearest spot they could some secure seating, away from any prying eyes. There was tension in the air, but Hiroshi felt weirdly calm.

  "Why exactly did you accept? I hoped to get you agree while you were ignorant, and you don't need to owe me for yesterday talk." Sophia noted, as with some of the makeup cleaning alcohol, she cleaned up a spot on his neck.

  "I know, and it isn't about what you spoke of." he reassured her, while others girls were trying to keep the process as private as possible.

  As Sophia tried to think what other reason there could be, Hiroshi continued. "There was this feeling of hopelessness... as if I was alone in the world, to deal with the consequences of my decisions, that was until you showed up, started talking and without even asking if I wanted, you helped me." Hiroshi silently told her.

  Edith and Kat kept an eye out on anyone daring to lurk, while Nata and Olivia gave worried looks on how this would go.

  "You made me realize I am not alone at the time I most needed it, and I want to do so to you. After all, I am one of those humans that you have grudge on." he finished explaining with a cheesy smile, as she was surprised he took so much note of her talk yesterday.

  Sophia couldn't help but give a cheeky smile as he explained his reasoning. "You truly are an odd one out of them." as she gently inserted her fangs into him.

  He felt a sharp pain as she drank his blood, Nata and Olivia couldn't help but look out of horror, while Edith and Kat were way too busy trying to keep this matter as safe as possible.

  After a full minute, she finished, gently putting more alcohol on the wounds, and putting a patch on the holes.

  She felt much more refreshed, while Hiroshi could feel the world was spinning around him.

  Nata and Olivia were able to convince that they should take Hiroshi home to recover, as the trio were free to return to their own stuff, and with a wave they separated.

  Seeing him waddle along with the supporting girls, and how he handled himself with the other two, Edith couldn't help but wonder. 'Has my ship sailed already?' as she returned to her business with the group.

  And in the meantime, Nata got her evening of pampering Hiroshi, even if he wasn't pleased with so many cuddles, while Olivia kept her focus on studies, and getting mildly flustered time to time by the duo's interactions on the side.