Testing My Luck in the New World

A couple hours into our second stake-out of the day and I could say I had way more respect for the law enforcement officers that had to sit outside a criminal's house and wait for hours in hopes that they'd show up. And considering how we were essentially doing just that; I could truly sympathize with how mind-numbing the waiting can be.

"..."

Sharing in the boredom, Mana let out a long breath that I was sure would have been a sigh if her Big Sis wasn't still diligently watching for the thieves. Knowing how her own ears worked, she knew she needed to be quiet, so she kept her energetic self sat in a very un-lady-like position in front of me to wait the day away.

She'd taken a good while to calm down after her frightful outburst and was mostly calm now, though she did still shiver whenever boredom led her gaze towards the wall. From what I could tell, as long as she wasn't looking over the edge, she could pretend she was on the ground.

"..."

Though the occasional suppressed sigh made it apparent she was no longer enjoying herself. While she was taught the patience needed to hunt, it was easy to see that waiting around like this was not the part of it she enjoyed.

The piece of fruit I'd given to settle her stomach was long gone and with nothing else to do, she carefully let herself fall back to lay down. I took her closing her eyes as an okay and joined Yua by the wall.

"Nothing yet?"

"Nope. The last cart passed by over an hour ago."

It was getting late. The sun was still lingering in the sky, but I didn't need to check the time to know dusk was threatening to take over.

"What's taking them so long?"

We had a head start getting here, sure, but they've had more than enough time to catch up. It was starting to feel like we were wasting our time.

I leaned over for a look, only to be reminded of my limitations as a human. From this distance, I couldn't distinguish men from women, let alone tell their faces apart. My info box couldn't even reach them.

Heaving a sigh, I slumped and slid against the wall to sit again. Yua's tail had kept up its casual sway this whole time, so at least she wasn't struggling against her constant vigilance.

Mana, however...

"Ahhhh..."

The moment I pried my eyes off Yua's tail and faced forward, the sight I was met with made my cheeks heat up.

Having had enough of staring at the endless blue sky, Mana had gotten up, only to squat right back down. With her knees spread wide and her skirt hiked all the way up to her chest, she pulled her panties so far to the side that they looked like they would have torn if the material was any cheaper.

She let out a long, pleased sigh before closing her eyes.

"W-Wait, Mana. You can't do that here."

"Eh? Do what? This panties-thing was rubbing against my special place too much. I hate it. Big Sis, how do you stand wearing this thing?"

"It stopped being an issue for me soon after I left the village. When you're out in the wild where animals and plants can kill you at any second, things like that just don't matter."

"Really...? Hmm."

Thanking Yua for her calm logic, and while I reeled from my mini-heart attack, I pinched my eyes shut. I couldn't bring myself to stop Mana from airing it out. Not like anyone but us can see her up here anyways.