"Hina, it's time to wake up. We have to get up earlier if you want to walk to school today," Eri spoke to me as she tried to shake me awake.

"Eri... hugs..." In my half-asleep daze, I called out to Eri and hugged her into my chest.

Eri giggled and said, "As much as I would love for this to continue, we really do need to wake up, Hina." After which, she kissed me on the cheek before getting up.

"Okies~" I chimed before groggily getting up. Eri then helped me get changed and put my hair into pigtails. Afterward, she got herself dressed rapidly as well.

"Come on, let’s go eat breakfast quickly." Eri said, grabbing my hand and giving me a loving smile. She had become even more beautiful, and the morning sun’s rays accentuated her beauty even more, so much so that I couldn’t help but admire her.

"Eri..." I said as I jumped into her arms and gave her a kiss. When I pulled back, I looked up at her with a slightly red face, my ears twitching, and I continued, "From now on, I want a morning ki... kiss."

"What?" Eri questioned, her face blushing just as much as mine.

I looked up at her, my tails and ears drooping slightly, and asked, "Is that not good?"

Eri shook her head erratically and said, "No, no, it is perfectly okay. I will kiss you every morning for all eternity if you want."

"Hehe, I can’t wait. Now, let’s go eat. Maybe we will run into Yami-nee or Sakura and Sayori on the way to school." I giggled before making my way to the dining hall hand in hand with Eri, who was still fidgeting slightly.

After we arrived at the dining room, I saw my mother and Sebas waiting for us.

When I saw them, I ran to my mother, giving her a hug and cheered, "Good morning, Mommy!"

"Good morning, sweetheart. You seem energetic." My mother giggled and gave me a smile as her tails swayed happily.

"Mmm, I can’t wait to walk to school today." I answered as I released my hug and turned to Grandpa Sebas, giving him a hug as well, and said, "Good Morning to you as well, Grandpa Sebas."

"Good morning, Ojou-sama." Grandpa Sebas hugged me back and responded with a very pleasant smile.

After we gave our morning greetings, we ate our breakfast and got up to leave for school when Grandpa Sebas asked, "Your friends and Yami-sama are coming to visit after school today, right? Would you like for me to pick you up in the car?"

I looked at Eri with a smile as I thought for a moment and answered, "No, I want to walk home today, and I want to check out some of the clubs before leaving." After I answered, we said our goodbyes and made our way to school hand in hand.

As we were walking, I saw a crepe stand on the way and said, "Eri, look, crepes." My tails were swaying excitedly as I saw the pictures of the different crepes on the poster.

Eri giggled and asked, "I heard they are really good. Do you want to get one when we walk back home?"

My tails started swaying even more excitedly as my ears twitched, and I answered happily, "Yes, please."

We both laughed at my excitement, and as we continued walking, we saw Yami-nee making her way ahead of us, heading to school as well. "Yami-nee, good morning." I yelled out as I ran to her, giving her a hug.

She was surprised but caught me in a hug anyways. As she laughed, she started rubbing my ears, causing me to purr, and replied, "Good morning to you too, Hina. You are as energetic as ever."

Eri caught up to us after we let go of our hug and said, "Good morning Yami-nee. Hina was hoping we would run into you. Though I didn’t think she meant that literally."

Yami-nee giggled and said, "Good morning to you too, Eri. You know Hina always means what she says."

We all laughed at Yami-nee's response and started walking to school again. I was holding Eri’s hand, but my ears twitched when I noticed Yami-nee was looking at our hands with a sense of longing, so I gave a bright smile and grabbed Yami-nee's hand as well.

She looked at me with slight surprise but then smiled, "You are so sweet, Hina. Please come live with me."

‘Please don’t ever change, Yami-nee.’ I thought to myself as I saw Eri getting on to Yami-nee, as she had a teasing smile on her face.

I laughed at the two, and we started making walking again. As we got closer to the school, I could hear someone calling us from behind...

"Hina-chan~!" When we turned around, I saw Sayori who was with Sakura running to me with an energetic smile beaming on her face. I held out my arms, and we hugged each other when she reached me.

"Hehe, Good morning, Sayori." I giggled as my tails swayed side to side happily.

After we released our hug, Sakura caught up with us and gave her morning greetings as well. Sayori then started rubbing my ears, causing me to purr, while saying, "Fluffiness is the best in the morning."

After that, Yami-nee started rubbing my other ear, and Sakura, who seemed hesitant at first, started patting my head, causing me to purr even more and start to get into a trance. I noticed a slight jealous look in Eri’s eyes, but then she smiled. She started doing a light scratching motion under my chin; it felt amazing.

"Nyaah..." I purred as the sensation from all the pets felt amazing, especially Eri's. I nearly started drooling. After they all stopped, I, Sakura, and Sayori had slightly embarrassed blushes on our faces, and Yami-nee blushed a lot, as did Eri. Before we held onto Eri, I secretly took a picture of everyone because it was too cute of a sight not to.

We started walking to school again, and when we arrived, I noticed there were even more students looking at us this time, and I could hear some of them whispering...

"Look, it looks like the Princess walked to school today. Is that the new girl that is with her?" A female student asked one of her friends.

"Yeah, I heard she is Eri and the Princess’s childhood friend." Her friend replied.

‘She is more than a friend; she is our big sister,’ I retorted internally, my ears twitching from all the attention and whispers I am hearing. That was when I saw a boy, I guess you could call him handsome, though I had no such thoughts, start walking to me. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, looking like a generic prince in those fairy tale stories. One of the female students whispered, "Hey isn’t that Shogo? Why is he casually walking up to the princess?"

Another one of the female classmates replied, "He is the most popular guy in school with both girls and guys. Maybe he thinks he has a shot."

Hearing all these reactions, I retorted to myself, ‘He doesn't have a chance at all. I am worried for him; I can sense the killing intent from Yami-nee who heard the whispers too. Runaway, pretty boy...”

He reached us and started speaking, “Oh, Hina-sama, won’t you let me make you mine? You're so much more beautiful and cuter than anyone else in this school. With both your and my popularity, we could rule this school.”

“Huh~” I squealed out, and I thought to myself, ‘Is he blind? Eri and Yami-nee are much more beautiful than me, and Sayori and Sakura are cuter.’

He started to get even closer to me, causing me to become frightened, and I hid behind Eri and Yami-nee, who stood in front of me.

“Why don’t you back off some, can’t you see you are scaring Hina?” Eri yelled at him.

“She is just shy; there is no way she could be scared of me.” He said arrogantly, and just as I felt like I heard something snap inside both Eri and Yami-nee. Two tall girls with a black armband that read P.F.C grabbed his arms, and one of them said, “Eri-sama, Yami-sama, please don’t concern yourself with this idiot; we will reeducate him.” It seemed as though Yami-nee recognized those girls as she gave a satisfied smile.

“Princess, please have a good day.” The other girl said as they started dragging the screaming idiot away. After everything started calming down, Eri and Yami-nee both hugged me and asked, “Are you okay, Hina?”

I looked at them both and Sakura and Sayori, who were looking at me a little worried as well, and answered, “Mmm, I’m okay; that was a little scary. To be honest, I don’t want to experience that again after I have no interest in that species.” I pouted, feeling a little irritated at what happened.

They all laughed, and Sakura said, “Calling them a separate species might be a little strong, but I do understand your point, Hina.”

“Maybe... I just glad you two didn’t kill him.” I said looking at Eri and Yami-nee.

“Ki... kill?” Sayori and Sakura said in unison as they both gulped.

Eri and Yami-nee both showed a knowing but happy smile, and Yami-nee replied, “It wouldn’t have been permanent; we have good healers at the temple, you know.”

“Exactly, it would just be a good form of punishment for scaring our princess. I am glad Kyoko wasn’t here this time; it could have actually ended a lot worse.” Eri replied while laughing slightly. Behind us, I could hear Sayori whisper to Sakura, “I am so glad I am their friend.” To which Sakura agreed.

I giggled at their reactions, and I gave Yami-nee a hug, wrapping my tails around her and said, “Thank you for protecting me, Yami-nee.”

“Of course I will.” She replied with a smile, and then I hugged Eri, giving her a kiss on the cheek, wrapping my tails around her as well, and said, “Thank you for always being there for me. I love you, Eri.”

Eri kissed me on the cheek as well, giving me a loving smile, and said, “I will always be by your side. I love you too, Hina.”

As we were about to escape reality, I could hear a cough bringing us back down, and Sakura sighed and said with a smirk, “This scene is a feast for the eyes, but we should really head inside, or we will be late for class.”

We all laughed and started walking into the school. ‘Today may have started chaotic, but I can't wait to have more fun with my friends and the person I love.’ I thought to myself before I cheered, “Let’s goo!”

Everyone else cheered along with me as we made our way into the school.