I sat on one bunk, the two girls sat on the other. Kira was kicking her legs and looking at the floor. She was embarrassed, and perhaps even felt bad and guilty… though there was no need for that. What there was a need for at least, was a conversation, a clearing of the air.

Damn, who would have thought my dream would come true? And that it would be awkward as hell as a result.

I still couldn’t believe it honestly, what I’d seen… the two of them… like that. And Kira, god did she look good. I swallowed.

Forget that for a moment.. For the good of the group just put those images out of your mind.

Easier to think than to do. It was all I could imagine at the moment. The two of them. Their lips locked. Their bodies intertwined…

“Ok, then, I’ll take first…” Hana said calmly and levelly, providing me a reprieve from my invasive sexy thoughts. She took a deep breath and continued: “Kira wanted…”

“I saw the pictures! In the book!” the cat spirit blurted out, staring at me, the ghosts of tears in her eyes.

“I wanted to try! Mistress Hana said it was a bad idea but I asked, many times! And thenI… I…we, “ Kira stood, her fists balled, “We did it! And I liked it! I’m sorry master but I liked it!”

Hana shrugged and nodded along.

“Not much more to it than that. She wanted to try what she saw in the comics. She was… persistent. I..” Hana tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “I obliged.”

I stood up and put my hands on Kira’s shoulders. She was clearly distraught, feeling like she’d done something wrong.

“Listen, hey, listen?” I said. She tilted her chin upwards to me.

“This is fine, what you did. If you enjoyed it, it's not a betrayal of me as your master, okay? And on top of that… Hana is quite a lovely girl. If you were going to try that… trying it with her is probably best, okay?”

Kira hugged me tightly in response. She spoke, her words muffled as her face was buried in my shoulder.

“You…but you are my master, my guardian! And I am your spirit. I should only be with you!” Kira cried.

My spirit.

A title Fenra once held, no, still held. I will not think of her as gone. And I cannot claim Kira as anything in her stead. As lovely as she is, she is not my spirit. Just a lost spirit.

And even if she was, It wasn’t like Fenra and I hadn’t enjoyed sharing our time with another. Hana. Miku. God those had been some amazing times.

I looked down at Kira, but did not have the heart to say all that was in my head to her. Whether or not she was my true spirit, she believed herself to be, and I sensed no ill will in her heart.

“Yes Kira, but I say it's okay. I promise, alright? Although maybe… put a sock on the door next time. So I don’t spill our food everywhere.”

Or invite me to the party first? Maybe I’ll keep that thought to myself.

“Thank you, my master is the best master!” Kira exclaimed, hugging me tightly. I tried to ignore the swell of her two breasts against my chest, her soft hair against my cheek.

“Well… I don’t know about all of that,” I mumbled trying to hide from the praise.

“He’s not too bad,” Hana gave me a smile and a wink.

If only the two of you knew the half of it.

***

We spent the rest of the train ride enjoying the snacks and talking about nonsense. It did take a while for the awkwardness to fade. As much as I’d voiced my acceptance of what had happened it wasn’t that easy to overcome what I’d just seen. I also felt that Hana, for all her open mindedness, seemed a little embarrassed she’d gotten so carried away. For my own part I just… didn’t feel I was ready to have Kira be a part of my life yet in that way.

It felt, even peripherally, like a betrayal of Fenra. This despite the fact that Fenra had been pretty open in her time as my spirit about allowing other women into our bed. Though another spirit was an open question.

In any case I supposed Hana had no such compunction.

Hana has been wild since the day I met her.

“Ooh I like this one!” Kira said, pulling out several sticks of pocky and holding them between her fingers. “ Look master! They are like my claws, but chocolate!”

She swiped the air a few times before biting the ends of “her claws” and letting out a sigh of pleasure at the taste. Hana and I were struck with a fit of giggles at her cute display. From that moment I let the thoughts go and just enjoyed the ride. The scenery out the window was getting more and more beautiful, the landscape was changing, more mountains in the distance and the chill in the air was evident.

By the time we arrived in Kibukuro snow was falling and Kira was excitedly pawing at the window. Hana was reading a pamphlet on the town she’d picked up on the way in. I began to read the manga again but the characters kept morphing into Hana and Kira, kissing and moaning and rolling. I coughed and blushed, checking if the two girls were paying attention to me.

They weren’t

The two girls had moved onto a game of spinning tops, which they had found as a prize in one of the snacks. I smiled as I watched them. How quickly normalcy can return to us, even after such an intense moment. These girls truly are amazing.

I decided to take a short meditation session before we arrived, it had been a while. I sat down on the bunk and closed my eyes, crossing my legs and began to focus on my breath. Before I knew it I felt my spirit leave my body and I was transported suddenly and wholly into the between.

***

When my eyes opened I was not on a train or anywhere recognizable. All around me were fields of rolling green and gray mountains. Not a single building dotted the landscape. In the short grass, flowers danced in the wind. In the sky white fluffy clouds lazily floated. It was not hot or cold.

It smelled of spring. I sighed and let the breeze waft over me. I noticed I was in my black robes, but there was no sword at my side. I ran my fingers through my hair and found it had been shaved bald.

That’s new.

“Brother! What are you doing? The bell rang long ago, you need to come back to the monastery!”

Two figures came around from the back and made themselves visible for me. Both were also shaved bald and wore similar black robes. I noticed the absence of swords.

So… are these guardians? What kind of guardian doesn't have blades?

As we walked the two men talked excitedly about the day’s activities. Most of their talk seemed simple enough to me, rather mundane. They were talking about boiling water, collecting root vegetables, this or that sermon by this or that master. But then something more exciting came up. It seemed a famous master from China was coming by rail, a new train line had just been erected to the monastery.

“Kimura! Keep up!” one of them called out to me.

I realized I must be walking too slowly and without direction, focused as I was on eavesdropping.

Kimura?! That’s… our family name! Could it be that I was now in the body of….”

***

“We are here, wake up master! WAKE UP!”

I felt shaking and bolted awake, nearly toppling Kira over. Hana was already up and packed, and steadied the cat girl and me, taking each of our shoulders.

“Whoa there you two!” she said.

I took a ragged breath, it was disoriented enough traveling between worlds and this was made doubly worse by being awakened without warning.

“Don’t… do that!” I yelled loudly and Kira’s ears flattened in response.

Hana covered the cat spirit in a hug protectively and shot me a dirty look

“I mean.. I'm sorry, but you have to be careful when I, when master, Is meditating okay?”

I felt a little weird using the word with her, but I figured she’d respect the authority of it a bit more.

She did. Kira broke apart from Hana and gave me a short bow.

“I understand, master,” she said softly.

Hana merely raised an eyebrow. She didn’t question it, but I could tell she was keeping her eyes on me, protective as she was of our new spirit companion

Once we had gathered our things we made our way out into the corridor of the train and headed to the exit.We didn’t have much to carry so we were pretty quick..Once we stepped off the train the first thing each of us noticed was the cold.

I was shivering in jeans and a t-shirt and Hana and Kkira didn’t fare much better in their skin tight leopard print, although at least they had long sleeves. Huddled and hurried we made our way quickly into the city center in search of warmer clothes.

Yet another expense.

I hope Miku doesn’t need me to pay her back for those fancy tickets right away. This is getting hard on my wallet.