Suwako waited until she was back in the safety of her house before transforming out of her magical girl state. She had easy access to her room thanks to it being located on the second floor and having a balcony. Perhaps the Beacon agents who had given her this family designed it to be so, just so she could do her job easily without sneaking around like some other magical girls.

Her civilian clothing was a stark contrast to her miko-like outfit from before. It was just one big oversized white t-shirt with sleeves that were longer than her hands. It reached halfway down her thighs. And she didn't wear any pants or skirts down below.

It was the clothing she wore while she was in the orphanage.

Indeed, she was forced to dress up in oversized secondhand clothes given by the various donors from all around the city. The orphanage didn't have a lot of money after all, so every kid there had to wear such clothes.

Of course, now that she was the daughter of a rich couple, she didn't have to wear this kind of clothes anymore. But she simply couldn't get used to dressing up fancily like a proper wealthy little girl. Her parents had given her all sorts of fancy pajamas and nightgowns to wear, but she was more comfortable sleeping in this old T-shirt of hers more than anything else.

She threw herself into her bed immediately, hugging the fluffy and soft pillow placed there.

"What do you think, Agape?"

An owl suddenly manifested beside her atop the bed. It was Agape, her loyal familiar. It looked just like any ordinary owl except that it had a pair of deer-like horns on his head, mimicking her when she was in her transformed state.

"What do you think? I think you should sleep, young lady. Do you have any idea what time this is?" he responded with his usual know-it-all old man tone.

Suwako couldn't help but to snicker a little hearing that. His attitude always amused her.

"Oh, please don't fool around, Agape. I can feel myself getting sleepy here, and I want to hear your thoughts before I fall asleep."

"Very well then, my dear child," he responded. "Then, I shall share with you my wisdom. Ahem, so, I believe there is a third party watching you and your Beacon friends fighting against the anti-Beacon magical girls."

"Do you think they have something to do with the conflict we're having?"

"Hmm, it's certainly a possibility. I don't see the reason why they would do such a thing though."

"Perhaps they wish to weaken us all before coming in to finish us all in one fell swoop?"

"Divide and conquer... you've learned well, my child. Indeed, we should be more careful in the future. I am glad you decided to retreat back there instead of continuing the fight."

The two then stayed silent for a while, with Suwako slowly drifting away to dreamland. But before she fell asleep entirely, Agape nuzzled himself to her, giving her the warmth his fur provided.

"I believe this should make your sleep more comfortable," he said to her.

"...Thank you, Agape," she replied.

Thus, the two fell asleep with the owl slumbering inside her arms. Suwako had a nice dream about a fluffy bird paradise that night.

[hr]
The next morning, Suwako was awakened by the housemaid opening the curtains in her room, allowing sunlight to come in and disturb her sleep. Agape was nowhere to be seen. No doubt he had returned to wherever he was most of the time. And she was grateful for that since it would be quite bothersome explaining why she had a living owl in her bed all of a sudden.

"Miss, if you don't hurry, then you're going to be late for school~" the housemaid said with a bright, smiling face. Sometimes, Suwako thought she was too cheerful to the point of being annoying to a reserved person like her.

Without waiting for her to fully wake up, the housemaid grabbed her t-shirt and pulled it off her body in one fell stroke. And then, she picked her up and placed her inside a portable bathtub placed on the balcony of her room. The balcony was surrounded by her house's garden grounds so she wouldn't have to worry about someone peeking on her for taking a bath there. The water was indeed warm but it was still enough to shock her out of her grogginess.

The housemaid then began to scrub her body while singing the theme song of her favorite soap opera that she watched faithfully every single day.

[i]Really, this girl is too carefree...[/i] she thought. [i]At least her scrubbing is good... even if her singing is not.[/i]

Indeed, she made sure that her scrubbing was gentle, as she didn't want to harm such a delicate and cute little girl like her. She also made sure to wash Suwako's long hair properly, giving it shampoo and conditioner properly. She still remembered how when young miss (her nickname for Suwako) came here the first time, her hair was like a wild bush with spikes everywhere. Only after she cleaned it up properly, it looked like a proper [i]ojousama[/i] hairstyle.

After they finished their bath, the housemaid began dressing up Suwako for her school. It was a private elementary school for rich kids, with specialized curriculum that was more advanced than your usual public school. It also had a [url=https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=63140941]unique school uniform[/url] that Suwako had to wear.

After the housemaid finished dressing Suwako up to her satisfaction ("Ah, [i]ojousama[/i]! You're looking so cute as usual!"), she took her downstairs to have breakfast with her parents. Suwako's father was a serious-looking mustachied black haired businessman. If she were actually his daughter, she would have definitely taken her serious attitude from him. Suwako's mother on the other hand was a blonde-haired fashionista. She had the hobby of wearing terribly fancy and gaudy (at least according to Suwako) dresses no matter what the occasion was. And it was no different today, as she was wearing a poofy-looking white dress with a pearl necklace on her pretty neck.

And when she saw Suwako going down the stairs, she immediately rose up and ran towards her.

"Ooh, Suwako-chan, my dear daughter! You're as adorable as usual!" Without Suwako's consent, she grabbed her little daughter and lifted her up in the air before showering her with kisses. Suwako blushed in annoyance at this excessive but expected show of affection. Her mother was just like that, not hiding her emotions at all.

"Come on, dear, put her down. She needs to have her breakfast after all," the father said with a smile on his face.

"A-ah, that's right, dear!" The mother did as he said, releasing the grumpy-looking-yet-still-blushing Suwako back to the ground. "Come now, my dear! Let's eat! Today we have some bacons and omelettes!"

Suwako merely sighed as she walked over to her chair, lifting her body carefully up to it since her legs weren't long enough to reach the floor while she was seated on it.

At breakfast, Suwako mostly stayed silent as she ate her food, with her mother and father doing the talking to each other. Their conversation however slowly turned into about Suwako, mainly about how she was doing at school. But then, suddenly, her mother asked her a question she was not prepared at all to answer.

"So, I heard you've been getting along quite well with a certain boy at school. Why don't you tell us all about him? I think his name was... Luke, isn't it?"

Hearing that, Suwako choked at her drink. How in the world did she know about that?

"Luke is some boy I've been tutoring. Nothing more, nothing less," she replied.

"But I heard him calling you [i]Onee-chan[/i] all the time while following you around like a cute little duck."

"I certainly did not tell him to do that. He just does it on his own. I've told him to stop but he wouldn't listen."

Suwako was frankly, quite embarrassed with Luke. She wasn't ready to be called [i]Onee-chan[/i] by a bright-looking younger boy who followed her around like a lost puppy. The boy was actually somewhat a prodigy, being in the same grade as her while being eight-years old. And his rank academically was second only to her. But being second was enough for him to ask her to become his mentor. At first, she refused since it was a bothersome thing to do, but eventually, with him asking over and over again, she relented. And this was the result of that, with him calling her [i]Onee-chan[/i] like she was his big sister.

"Well, nonetheless, I am glad to hear that you're having friends in school, Suwako," her father interjected.

After breakfast, Suwako departed for school using her family's car, complete with a driver. It wasn't that impressive though, as the other students attended mostly the same way. It wouldn't attract attention unlike if she were to attend a public school.

At school, nothing unusual happened, other than Luke following her around like usual. She was glad that most magical girl related stuff seemed to happen at night time so she wouldn't have to find excuses to him when she had to go fight.

After school, she had an appointment related to Beacon, as she had promised to help some of the younger Beacon magical girls in their studies. She rode her car there, the driver being told that she had a study session together with a couple of girls outside school.

Just her luck however, right when she was about to enter the center, a familiar voice called out to her.

"Suwako-[i]neechan[/i]! Suwako-[i]neechan[/i]!"

The brown-haired, green-eyed boy panted with exhaustion after running from quite the distance towards her. He was still wearing his school uniform, quite similar to her except he was wearing light blue shorts instead of a skirt.

[i]Oh boy... what do I do now... I can't possibly take him with me... magical girl secrecy and all that...[/i]

Suwako looked around, trying to think her way out of this predicament.