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Given that Renko had given permission for Merry to visit her apartment whenever, handed her the spare keys, and keyed Merry's biometric information to her apartment's security system as "welcomed visitor", she shouldn't have been surprised when her girlfriend tapped her on the shoulder.
But.
“In my defense,” Renko whines, rubbing her head where she’d hit it on the floor, “I was in the zone, Merry. It’s the middle of the night and I have an essay due the day after tomorrow. And you rarely come over without me inviting you. If anything, you coming here without invitation is proof you’re not a vampire!”
Merry raises an eyebrow. “And me going out in the daylight multiple times over the years we’ve known each other isn’t proof of that already?”
Renko shoots her a sheepish grin. “Well, when you put it that way…”
Her girlfriend sighs and covers her face with a hand. “Renko, I sent you a message. That, according to the app, you read almost instantly.”
Silence.
“I, um. Had my laptop opened to the messaging app in the kitchen?”
Merry keeps staring at her, which is really unfair because somehow she’s perfected the same look Renko’s mom gives her or her dad whenever they’re trying to bluff or argue their way out of trouble. (Which is to say, she’s learned the same thing all people who married into the Usami family did: how to intimidate an Usami into shutting up for a little while, which didn’t seem like a lot but according to both Merry and her mom was a goddamn miracle.)
“Um. Anyways!” Renko tries to change the subject. “What's up with you, babygirl?”
Her girlfriend's face instantly changes to one of horror and revulsion. “Please never call me that ever again.”
Bingo. A grin starts to form on Renko's face. “Whatever you say, baby-”
Merry smacks her head with a pillow.
—
After the impromptu pillow fight, the two members of the Hifuu Club settle down in Renko’s kitchen with hands curled around mugs of hot chocolate.
“So you dreamed about me. Or, someone who looked like me, at least.”
Merry nods, taking a sip. “Yes. Her hair was long and she had glasses, but she was definitely an Usami. She even had that hat of yours, Renko.”
Renko brightens up at that. “Oh! You must've met another member of the Hifuu Club!”
“What makes you think that? Is the hat ceremonial or something?”
“Well, I wouldn't say it's ceremonial per se, but….. hold on, actually, now that I think of it, it technically counts as one…”
“The hat?”
“Yep! Wait, hold on, lemme get the old pictures.” Renko hurried off to her room, where she kept the few records the Hifuu Club had.
By nature, Hifuu Club members were generally really, really bad at documenting their findings. Her dad, who had been part of the club for a few years, had told her that it was mostly because they spent too much time thinking and chasing down leads and forgot to write it down most of the time. This often led to a lack of club documents other than official paperwork to prove that the club existed.
The biggest non-paperwork documents that a previous member had left behind was a large photo album with dozens upon dozens of pictures, credited to one Sumireko Usami. Most of them were of blurry, glowing things, but occasionally one of them would show blurry figures among the lights.
According to notes scribbled on the edges of the album, Sumireko had no idea what these pictures were of, but they seemed important and definitely supernatural. More than a few members of the Hifuu Club who came after her had dedicated themselves to finding out what exactly these pictures were of.
Renko honestly didn’t care. There were other, more interesting mysteries to investigate. But some of those pictures had something she needed to show to Merry: pictures of Sumireko Usami herself.
“Here,” Renko dropped the album on the counter with a large thud. Merry set her empty mug aside and started flipping through the pages while Renko looks over her shoulder.
She arrives at the right page soon enough- Sumireko Usami grins wildly back up at them in all her teenaged glory, strange lights still in the background.
Merry squints at one of the pictures. “That scarlet light behind her seems familiar, but I can’t really figure out where I’ve seen it before…”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, Merry, focus on the hat!” Renko points to it. In the apparent chaos, it almost slid off her head entirely, but Sumireko seems to be pressing it to her head in an effort to keep it in place.
“Oh, yes, the ceremonial Hifuu Hat. Is yours the same?”
Renko shakes her head. “No, sadly. This one here’s a copy, but according to legend, it’s out there in the world somewhere, waiting for the rightful heir to the Hifuu Club to awaken it and send its new user to a magical fantasy world…”
“Now I know you’re joking. There’s no way that actually exists.”
“No, no, it doesn’t. I’m just kidding. Besides,” Renko slides her arms around her girlfriend and pecks her on the cheek. “I have you to take me to a magical world of fantasies, don’t I, Merry?”
Merry snorts and pushes her away. “Mmmm, not until you’ve told me the lore behind the Hifuu Hat.”
“But of course!” Renko cried, playing up the dramatics. “You see, Merry, when the time inevitably came for the mantle of the Hifuu Club to be passed to the next generation, Sumireko’s successor found that she didn’t quite have the talent for finding the supernatural. In an attempt to copy her predecessor’s success, she bought a copy of the hat Sumireko had worn.”
“Did it help?”
“No, actually. But it looked cool, and at this point it’s like a defining feature of the Hifuu Club, so…”
Merry laughs and stands up to grab Renko’s hat off the hook on the hallway wall, placing it on her head. “Well, maybe if I wear it, then we can say it actually works, since I have a talent for finding the supernatural now.”
Renko grins. “Maybe.” She stands up and plucks her hat back from Merry’s head. “But that’s still my hat, Merry! Get your own Hifuu Hat!”
“And wear matching hats with you? I didn’t know you were that sappy, Renko.” Merry shoots back.
As usual, the two girls stayed up bickering through the night.