( Arata's POV )
When I saw Sun's mother's car outside our house, I ran inside, they were all gathered in the living room, and I wanted to know what information Ren had for us, but when the girls saw me, they questioned me instead of the other way around.
Chisaki: Hey, how were things with Linuma? Did you get into another fight?
Arata: No, we just ate and talked, things went well.
Sun: So, you two are friends now?
Arata: I think so.
Ren: That boy Linuma could be a good addition to your family, especially now that you have awakened his spiritual power.
Arata: So, the reason you came is actually related to what happened last night.
Ren: This is bigger than just what happened the other night; it was your blood spilled during your fight that awakened Linuma's spiritual power, nd your blood is also the grip component in the Oni blood sample that you obtained.
Sagiri: What? How can Arata's blood be in that drug?
Ren: I can only think that during the attempted kidnapping of the three of you, someone got hold of a large sample of his blood. I don't know if that was a coincidence or if that was also part of their objectives.
Urara: Did you ever find out who was responsible for that kidnapping?
Ren: No, they went completely into hiding; none of our enemys seemed to be responsible, the only option left was to point the finger at our unaffected allies, but we were not in a position to do that; we had to maintain the peace.
Urara: Wait, then why did they never make any more attempts to get more of Arata's blood?
Ren: Perhaps they have a way to create a synthetic imitation of Arata's blood good enough to use in the production of their drug, from now on, if you need medical treatment, come to the school infirmary and don't even think about going to another hospital.
Arata: So now I have to worry about people coming for my blood.
Ren: The creator of Oni blood will surely keep the secret that your blood is the secret ingredient, You won't have to worry about more enemy factions coming after you, but our allies, that's another story.
Arata: What do you mean by that?
Ren: Your high affinity for wielding the demonic sword within you makes you of interest to some groups, the ability of your blood to awaken and increase anyone's spiritual energy makes you of great interest to all factions, you can expect a lot of people trying to deepen their bonds with you by any means necessary; you're going to create your own family, so learn to deal with these things quickly.
Arata: Can't you keep that information to yourself?
Ren: There are already other factions watching you and they will surely make the connection sooner or later, and they are allies, If they find out I've been keeping this kind of information from them, it will cause problems; in a month there will be a big meeting between allied factions, you have until then to build a competent enough family so that others don't try to take advantage of you.
Arata: Well, thanks for the heads-up at least.
Ren: You have been doing well on your own and I know you will continue to do well, but you will have to pick up the pace a little.
After leaving us with those words, Sun's mother left our house. I wish she had given us something more specific than just "try harder" but that's probably the best advice; we have to do and learn.
////////////////////////
Another "normal" school day passed, but this time Linuma and his girlfriend Tsubaki spent the day talking with us, Chisaki was confused that Linuma and I made up so quickly, but they didn't take long to accept Tsubaki as a friend, well, except for Ranna, but she's a special case.
Ren said that Linuma would be a good addition to our family, so I spent some time thinking about how I could best invite him; he seemed opposed to large groups, because he believed that it was weak people meeting together; he knew we weren't like that, but now it seemed like a gamble whether he would accept the invitation or not.
I didn't want to push my luck and I didn't say anything to Linuma for the time being.
As we left school, we ran into a member of the Seto family, he gave us a ride in a car and took us to a place we had visited more than expected, the abandoned building where my powers awakened.
Sun's mother soon appeared in a second car.
Sun: Mother, why did you bring us here?
Ren: You need a place to grow, and it's not good to bring all the serious work home; this place will serve you well.
Arata: wow you bought the entire building for us.
Ren: You should thank Sun's father; he's the one who arranged this.
Sun's father? He probably did it for Sun's sake instead of for all of us.
Yuuki: yeahh I'll do that... Someday.
Urara: This place needs a polish here and there, but this will make for a good base.
Ren: It's good that you say that, since this place is yours now, you will be the ones to clean it.
Arata: That sounds fair, should we start now or come back later with cleaning supplies?
Sun: We should at least clean up a little; we're already here.
Urara: Yes, and tomorrow we could even bring an extra pair of hands.
With that, we decided to enter the building and begin to organize the place, mostly what we did was move boxes and pile up trash like broken boards in a corner to make our cleanup tomorrow easier.
Sun: Kyyyaahhhh!
We split into two groups: Sagiri, Ranna, and I on the first floor, Chisaki, Urara, and Sun on the second. I was carrying a heavy box when I suddenly heard Sun scream.
Without thinking, I stopped what I was doing and ran to the second floor, what I saw there was Chisaki holding a cute cat in her hands and Sun pulling away from her a little, her body was tense and she looked somewhat uncomfortable.
I'd never seen Sun like this before, but it was clear there was no real danger, so I relaxed.
Arata: What happened? Why the scream?
Chisaki: I don't know, I found this little guy hiding here and I wanted to show him to Sun.
Urara: Cats eat fish; many merfolk are afraid of cats.
Yuuki: Seriously, that's kinda mean of you, Chisaki.
Chisaki: I swear I didn't know!
Sun: I'm not afraid of them, I was just a little surprised.
Today I learned another interesting fact about mermaids.