(Author: Huh, chapter 30 might be the farthest I've gotten on an original story like this. So, thank you all for motivating me to continue this story.) 

"Come in." 

Ayame's polite voice came through the door and Alaska waited just a few seconds more then opened the door to find well, a classic room with not much going on. 

She's really not sure what the Oni had to hide but it was whatever in her mind as the matter at hand was far more pressing. Well, it would be once Alaska got to explaining. Ayame's reaction would hopefully be a positive one as the whole reason Alaska/Lena would even want to expose themselves is to have Ayame trust them. 

Sure, those girls got along great and you could even say they were close friends but still, even after all this time, there seemed to be a small rift between them. Not even one that could be contributed entirely to Ayame alone at all, she was raised in an environment where she's always told the truth and she always says the truth, even from such a long time ago, Ayame still remembers how Alaska hid away her identity. 

But in a way, it was fair on her part. You wouldn't want to travel with someone who seemingly was hiding something obvious from you, would you? 

"It looks like a nice place. Hm, I've always had a love for architecture that looked like this..." Alaska spoke in a calm tone but Ayame tilted her head slightly at Alaska saying this. 

"I understand you've been living at a shrine but have you really seen buildings like this before? The composition of these two things are very different and the only land I can think of that has architecture like this is the land far to the East?" Ayame at least knew the basics of where Alaska came from. 

From Vale straight to here, so, there was no possible way for her to be speaking in such past tense as she is. "Always loved" when you've barely seen any would be a stretch unless Alaska was leaving something out about herself. Well, which she was. 

"Ah, it's probably about time I got to explaining this whole... thing to do...!" Alaska took her seat with Lena's warning to not overwhelm the Oni with information about them, a warning that Alaska would take care to not accidentally do. 

"So, you wanted to come here to tell me about you and Lena? And how you came to be... combined?" 

Alaska gave a sturdy nod of her head and Ayame couldn't help but lean in with interest.

"Well, I think I should get the very most basic idea out first. This might seem hard to believe but, I actually died and was put into this body by the Grim Reaper or some sort of God." 

The Oni put a hand to her chin and took to her thoughts for a moment before snapping and saying, "So, you were reincarnated?" 

You know, any time something like this is portrayed in a manga or something, the character opposite of the reincarnated always never seemed to grasp the concept. Was that just authors desperately trying to make the situation more dire than it needs to be? Alaska was trying hard to keep this a secret but wow. 

Anytime she's dropped this on a person, they either seemingly don't care or get the concept of reincarnation in a few moments. No deep moments where they even question if they've known the person at all. She found it strange, to say the least. 

"But... usually when someone is reincarnated, they're given their own body and grow since birth, right? It's not something I'm overly familiar with but there was once a great warrior by the name of Ninomae Fina who was apparently reincarnated and gained her memories later in life. I never believed it to be true but... you're definitely proof that it's possible." 

Gods and things like that were literal fact in this world. So maybe things like this only shock places and people where there aren't tiny pieces of gods living in people along with vampires and Onis living in Hell. 

Hm, Alaska found herself feeling less special by the second. 

"Exactly! But, apparently, my soul wasn't pure enough so instead of being given a whole new life, I was attached to the life of this body. A girl named Lena." 

A flash of eye color and the original wielder of this body was back in control once again. 

"And for some time now, me and Alaska have been living in this body together." Lena confidently nodded her head to affirm her thoughts to Ayame who looked to be less puzzled but more questions still were to be asked. 

"So, how did you come to so easily accept, Alaska? I would imagine having someone being thrust into your head out of nowhere would mess most people up internally..." 

She thought about it and if that happened to her, she felt as if there would be a neverending conflict between her and her brand new unwanted roommate. Well, if things got too messy, there was always the idea of, well... 

"Oh! When Alaska showed up, I was nothing but a slave! A weak, dying slave at that!!" 

Ayame's curious look was sent straight to shock at such bold sayings and the idea of Alaska being a slave was almost unimaginable. That's because it was Lena and not Alaska, it took a few seconds to process that but it got through her head in the end. 

"Really, if not for Alaska showing up and taking control, I probably would've never met you. If anything, I'd probably be dead right now." Lena had no idea when she had become so desensitized to memories that would keep her up at night and the what-ifs that still lingered in her mind felt like nothing more than an afterthought. 

Weird but she carried on. She simply thought of this as getting stronger in some sort of way. The tone of the cat vampire confused Ayame's feelings as there was sympathy for her but the nonchalant nature of how she spoke about her terrible past before Alaska felt like it didn't even happen. 

"I'm... sorry to hear that you had to go through that? But still, were you not suspicious of her at all?" She simply moved on to her next question fearing her emotions would get too confused if she kept thinking about that. 

"There were really two sides of that story there... there was one: I couldn't do anything to stop her and two, I had seen through her memories when she arrived. I knew she was a good person, so I entrusted our body to her most of the time. I honestly prefer staying in our head!" Lena let out a chuckle and Ayame nodded once more. 

Really, she doesn't know what else to ask but when her eyes came to meet the patiently waiting Lena, her mind sparked with something to ask. 

"Is Alaska listening or watching?" 

"Huh? ...Well, not anymore? Why?" 

"I wanted to ask you something personally." 

"Well, go ahead. She said she wouldn't listen." 

Ayame cleared her throat and felt somewhat awkward while asking this, "...What do you think of Alaska?" She sounds like a worried father more than a person asking a question. 

Lena was almost dumbfounded by the strange question but still, she gathered up her thoughts and prepared an answer she thought would satisfy the demon in front of her. 

"Well, I can surely say I trust her with my life." They both were in there so it was a no-brainer that she probably did so, "She's an amazing person who doesn't play by any rules besides her own, she helps people if needed and she's super free-spirited. I feel as if things around her will always stay interesting, no matter what. Honestly... I'm sure me and her would have made perfect friends if we met each other in different circumstances." Lena felt ultra-confident in her wording and steeled that confidence with a mighty stare into Ayame's eyes which she met. 

A smile slowly crept its way into her face and she could really wrap her head around the person she's been following so closely as of recently. With her own experiences, Lena's words, and how Alaska came to be, Ayame could feel like she could fully put her trust in the catgirl before her. 

"Should I go now? I feel like you might wanna talk to Alaska now?" Lena asked her politely and the girl in front of her nodded her head. 

A flip of the switch and Alaska was now back in control. 

"Sooo... what did you guys talk about?" Alaska really did tune out when asked so she was curious about the question Lena was asked. 

"Alaska, that's rude to ask!" 

She ignored the voice in her head while Ayame said, "Oh nothing special. I just asked her what she thought about you. Hm, I think I'll come with you, Alaska." She reached out her hand for a shake but she should've expected the extremely affectionate girl to fling herself across the table and crash into her with a hug out of nowhere. 

She just stared up at the ceiling really unsure if she should hug the girl back. Of course, she wanted to but wasn't sure if she should. The awkwardness it would breed afterward would be immense and then how could Ayame give Alaska a tour of her home then? So, she just let Alaska hug her until she was satisfied which took much longer than she would've expected. 

Though, that was Alaska was simply having a very heated debate in her mind along with fighting her natural vampiric instincts to bite Ayame right then and there. You'd expect a different smell from the Onis but they in fact smelled very sweet with a hint of a flower and something like the smell of honey? 

Maybe that was just how Ayame smelled but it was certainly a task and a half to not sink her teeth into her and drink her blood. Man, being a vampire is hard when in close proximity to the person you've been secretly crushing on for weeks now. 

Once they were up and over that whole ordeal, they talked for a few minutes more before moving on to the tour of Ayame's home. Of course, it was just as cool as expected with sights Alaska couldn't see without going back in time in her original world. 

It was a clean walk around with places like the castle top, sights over the walls, the stables, arenas, and things of that sort. Since the Onis are mostly militarized, it was purpose-built for luxury and defense all at once, Alaska had no idea if that's how Japanese castles were built back in her world as she really never had time to check but, she would guess they were. 

Their final stop was the archery range to which Ayame got the idea to flex her skills somewhat to try and impress Alaska who was, ideally, a worse shot than her. 

"...I'm the best archer there is down here, Alaska." The prideful boast toward the vampire who sat down a few feet away as Ayame summoned out her longbow instead of her short one. 

She stepped into position as her smiling face collapsed into one of focus. She drew her bow back with one big stretch and fired with a resounding boom of her bow, her demonic flames flared off of her bow and hands as the arrow shot forward and cut through the air. 

Ah, the targets downrange were completely metal of some sort. Big, thick, and super tough looking. With a swift analysis, they were made to be super strong as demon arrows had been all too powerful for normal targets to be used. Completely constructed out of demon steel, those things were meant to take a beating, really. 

Ayame had even brought out a new one for Alaska to bear witness to its destruction. The arrow blasted into the target lifting the metal target upwards as it was basically torn into by the single arrow. Though it completely exploded in a parade of flames once the arrow blew up while embedded in the metal thing. 

It was quite the pretty show though probably shouldn't have been considering how violently that piece of metal was ripped apart by the single attack. Though that might be the beauty of it in some way or another, the pure destruction of something can fill humans will something that was built into them and Alaska was no exception. Hell, her vampire side might even be amplifying it. 

That just might be the case as Alaska just stared on with her mouth agape and the stars in her eyes had basically said it all as Ayame looked over to Alaksa seeking her approval at her show. But, Alaska was so impressed, that she had practically forgotten to say anything, which really did confirm to Ayame that she liked it. 

She thanked Alaska for being so easy to read at times but Ayame was scolded by the training coordinator for blowing up a target like that to impress a girl. But, with that, the day was coming to a close so Alaska and Ayame went up to the overworld and went back to the shrine for the day. 

Both of them smiled for different reasons but one thing was for certain, they both had something to do with each other's smiles...