Goodbye Savings...

After a long walk, disturbed by lazying off moments, Shibani made it to the Bunnery. He needed to ask Mercy to bless the spring water, but he knew she wouldn't be easy to deal with... He would probably have to give her the last of his savings so that she would accept his request... She is always so greedy... But that was for a good cause... Even though, Shibani looked depressed as he opened the door to find her right there in front of him, taking care of some baby buns.

She greeted him, wondering what he was doing here. He explained the situation, that he and Dan went to Faunt Peak to gather spring water for Dan to make special mochis to offer to the demon on the Year of the Bun celebration night. He explained that because Dan master, Kashi, used to put holy water into his mochis that were meant as offerings to the demons, Shibani suggested Dan to do the same. So, here he was with his bottle to be blessed. Once he finished telling his story, Mercy put a hand to her mouth, smirked behind it and started to silently laugh. That was kind of creepy. She looked at him with eyes full of stars. He knew what she was gonna ask him and that he would have no way to refuse if he wanted to keep his promise to Dan. Haa... Maybe he should have been to see Oleander instead... But that was too late now. Mercy took Shibani's hand, not putting her sneaky gaze away from his eyes, and told him that she would be grateful to help in exchange of a small... Compensation. Small in her point of view, of course, which was actually a whole lot.

Having nothing but a couple carats on himself at the moment, Shibani had to go back to his place and look for his savings. He had them hidden under a wooden plank in his bedroom. You can never be too cautious with your savings. You may need it anytime to buy the new super comfy bed, sofa, pillows or any new thing they might invent to offer you the most perfect comfiness, so you could not risk anyone being tempted to steal even just a single one of them, especially with all these greedy succubuns around. As he was about to get the sack full of carats out of its hiding place, he heard a footstep in the other room. He quickly closed the floor, stood up and rushed to see who was there. No one could discover about his savings!!
What a surprise. Dan was here! He had come to check on Shibani, if he was feeling alright after this long trip, knowing how a sleepy bun he usually is. Shibani did not lie, he told Dan that he was exhausted but had a lot of fun going on this adventure with him, and he would be doing again without a second thought! He saw that Dan's cheeks blushed a bit and that made him flutter. Dan said he was happy to hear this and that he had fun himself too, and that Shibani had been less of a burden than he had first thought he would be. If he ever planned another adventure he would let Shibani know for sure. Then, Dan saw the spring bottle on the table and asked Shibani if he had had time to get it blessed already. Shibani answered that he was just about to, and Dan offered to join, despite his uneasy feeling around members of the Church of sulfur. But Shibani insisted on going alone. It was his idea to get the spring water blessed, and Dan had stated from the beginning that Shibani alone should go get the blessing, so it had to be that way. Dan did not argue, he was actually kind of relieved as he had only made the proposition out of politeness to return Shibani's service, but, still, he offered to walk him out a bit. Shibani would have loved that in other times but... He really needed to get his savings and, even if he really appreciates Dan, he could not risk having even him see where he was hiding it. You could never be too safe. So, Shibani regretfully declined, saying that he had a thing or two to finish at his place first, and suggested to Dan that he starts working on his recipe for when he would bring the blessed bottle of spring water. Thankfully, Dan agreed and left. Now, finally, Shibani could get his savings and leave to go meet Mercy again. He grabbed the bag, left a tiny amount left under the floor - Mercy would never know - and left for the Bunnery once again.

When he got there, Mercy was excitedly waiting for him. She looked up and down at him and a big smile showed up on her face when she saw the carat bag. Not to lie, she was not expecting THAT much, but, if Shibani had brought it all here it meant that he was ready to let it go, so... How could she say no to any single one of these carats. She accepted the donation greatly and said it would be put to good use – which means used to her own benefit and comfort. Before giving her the bag though, Shibani had one last, deep look at his carats, a tear wanting to come up his eye, holding them in his hands one last time before they all disappear... That demon better accept Dan's offerings and show up to him in his dreams!