Heading home again

The conversation turns to unimportant things from there, and soon the three of you say your goodbyes. You’re led out of the house by the same businesslike blonde woman who led you in. She is clearly in charge of the staff here, and remains professional and distant, simply bringing you to your car with conversation.

As you leave the compound, Lili bounces happily in the back seat. “That was fun-fun! Harold seems nice, yes-yes?”

You nod. “Nice enough, but I can’t help but wonder how much of that is because he wants something from us. I doubt it stops with just finding information.”

Emi looks at you. “I had the same thought. For all his talk about being **** out and ostracized, he’s still rich. Very rich. And you don’t stay rich like that without some kind of connections.”

You sigh. “**** out, yes, but after creating the process, and apparently after people already started getting hurt. We only have his story to go on. I’ll believe him more once we look into it further, but I don’t entirely trust him yet.”

Emi shrugs. “Maybe we could talk to Sam about it.”

You nod. “And there’s no harm in doing a bit of digging. I’ll be honest, the money couldn’t hurt, things are a bit tight right now. Besides, we wanted to look into CompanionCorp, so we may as well do it with a backer.”

Lili claps her hands excitedly. “Ooh, this’ll be great, yes-yes! Like those super cool spy stories you read to me, Emi, right-right?”

You look at Emi questioningly, and the cat girl blushes. “I’ve been…reading with Lili lately. I want to help her get smarter. She’s not dumb, you know, she’s just been kept ignorant. No offense, Lili.”

Lili giggles. “Nope-nope! I know I’m not super-super smart like you two. But I like story time, yes-yes! Especially since we get cozy-cozy cuddles!”

You laugh. “You two are the cutest. It’s really sweet of you to do that, Emi.”

Emi shrugs, still blushing. “I like Lili, almost as much as I like you, love. And she’s nice to cuddle. And a good listener.”

Lili nods. “I love Emi’s voice, yes-yes! And naked cuddles are the best-best!”

You raise an eyebrow at Emi, who is now covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. “Naked, hmm? Sounds very comfortable, indeed. Maybe next time I should join you.”

Lili claps her hands. “Yes-yes! Get naked-naked with us!”

Emi laughs. “I don’t think we’ll get much reading done that way…”

You wink at her. “Maybe that’s the idea!”