Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3), Niall Teasdale [crime books to read .TXT] 📗

bedroom. I’ll have them cancel your current agreement and you can move in with us.’

‘I’m not taking handouts, Suki,’ Courtney said. She looked quite determined about that. Rather fierce actually.

‘You’ll be on the same arrangement as Mel. We’ll reshuffle the proportions and with four of us paying, we’ll all have a little extra cash available. This isn’t a handout, it’s a reasonable method of reducing your costs while maintaining some of your lifestyle.’

‘It’s a really nice house,’ Melissa said. ‘We have a sento and Suki’s going to get the garden done up. Oh! And with you and Nava living there, we’ll be safe from zombie plagues and alien invasions. They’d never risk attacking.’

‘Uh, right,’ Courtney said.

Melissa, however, was turning her attention to Mitsuko. ‘We’ll need another maid outfit. Mine won’t fit her.’

Mitsuko nodded, slowly and with complete seriousness. ‘You make a good point. I don’t think the added expenditure will be a problem, however.’

‘M-maid outfit?’ Courtney asked.

‘Yes, well, you will be on the same arrangement as Mel.’

‘Just what kind of arrangement are we talking about?’

Melissa could not manage to keep a straight face at that point and had to turn away to giggle into her hand.

Nava regarded the SSF captain for a second. ‘I can’t believe you took the bait. Are you sure you’re the captain of the SSF?’

Courtney winced. ‘Maybe this is bothering me more than I thought…’

~~~

Naomi Himura Sonkei looked like an officer. In fact, he looked like the kind of officer you saw at the head of his troops, holding a flag in one hand and a battle rifle in the other, spurring his men on to victory. Or on recruitment posters. Well, maybe his hair was a little wrong. He had shoulder-length, black hair which did not quite fit the image, but everything else was right. His strong, powerful body filled out an ASF uniform to perfection.

‘He scares the crap out of the instructors,’ Kyle said, smirking at his fellow officer candidate.

‘I don’t believe that’s entirely correct,’ Naomi replied.

‘That’s effectively admitting that it’s at least partially true,’ Mitsuko pointed out.

‘I’ll concede that point.’ Naomi was not quite as taciturn as Nava, but he did tend to give the impression that he was a mountain: immovable, imperturbable, and invulnerable. ‘They should not be intimidated. My scores in the finals were good, but not excellent.’

‘You being intimidating has never been about sorcery, Naomi,’ Melissa said. ‘You look like you could break someone in half with your bare hands. I bet you could fold me up like a pretzel if you wanted. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to stop you.’

Blink and you missed it, but there was a very slight pause before Naomi replied. ‘I assure you that I don’t make a habit of folding young women into pretzels without prior consent, Mel.’

‘Well, no, because you’re a gentleman. But your instructors don’t know that.’

Mitsuko bent down to put her head beside Nava’s and whispered. ‘Did Naomi just blush, or am I imagining it?’

‘He blushed.’

‘Fascinating.’

~~~

‘This is doing wonders for my feet,’ Mitsuko said. She was chest deep in the house’s bath and loving it.

‘We spent almost the whole day standing up,’ Melissa said.

‘The flat boots the ASF wear are that way for a reason,’ Nava said. ‘Another indication that the school’s uniform code was written by a man.’

‘The men should have to wear heels too,’ Melissa said. ‘I heard that they did, once upon a time, because some king was self-conscious about his height.’

‘Originally,’ Mitsuko said, ‘they were worn when riding. A heel stopped your foot slipping through the stirrup.’

‘Practical,’ Nava said. ‘Not that there’s much need of that these days. People still ride, I suppose.’

‘Sport and leisure riding is the only reason we still have horses. We’ll get Courtney moved in here tomorrow.’

‘Sudden change of topic, but okay. She did appear to be missing Kyle even before he left. I don’t suppose she’ll see him again for a month or so.’

‘Yes. I did consider inviting her to sleep here tonight, but it felt like I was forcing the matter.’

‘It’s your birthday tomorrow,’ Melissa said. ‘Are you sure you want to be working like that on your birthday?’

‘It’s only my sixteenth,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘We’ll go out for a meal in the evening. All four of us. Courtney won’t let herself be a killjoy at a birthday party. She might even enjoy herself.’

‘That may be asking too much,’ Nava said. She looked around at her two closest friends. ‘So, which bed are we christening tonight?’

Mitsuko’s lips twitched. ‘I thought we’d start here, once my feet feel like they’re attached again.’

‘That sounds like a good plan.’

‘Then we can work our way around the beds one at a time. And we should probably do the sofa in the lounge tonight if Courtney will be here from tomorrow.’

‘Hm. So, we’ll be moving Courtney over tomorrow afternoon then.’

‘Probably. Yes.’

236/1/11.

‘Happy birthday, Suki,’ Courtney said, lifting her glass of wine. She was the only one old enough to drink alcohol and, despite the fact that the others were restricted to grape juice, she had decided that tonight was one night she needed a little inebriation. No one had said anything.

‘Thank you,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘And welcome to the household, Courtney.’

Courtney smiled. ‘Thank you. To be honest… Well, I’m happy to have the company. I didn’t sleep that well last night.’

‘I can understand that.’

‘Suki failed to manage a night without me after I stopped guarding her last year,’ Nava said. ‘She knows your pain well.’

‘I don’t think there was any need to bring that up,’ Mitsuko said, blushing.

Melissa giggled. ‘I remember that night too.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ Nava said. She turned to address Courtney in a manner which might have been conspiratorial if it were not for Nava’s flat expression. ‘The walls in those capsule apartments are thin and Mel was entertained for several hours by Suki’s… singing voice.’ Melissa went scarlet and Mitsuko made strangling noises. Nava appeared not to notice.

‘Well, I hope the soundproofing in the house is good then,’ Courtney said.

‘You’re far enough away from our