_It's been 2 whole days since I met my dear genie. She's obedient alright. Whenever I tell her to stay put, shut up and leave me alone, she would stay put..but she won't shut up and won't leave me alone. Or she would stay put, shut up but she won't leave me alone. And if I'm really unlucky, she won't stay put, won't shut up and won't leave me alone.

Man, you gotta hand it to her. She has mastered the art of annoying people effortlessly at her tender age of a couple of centuries, or roughly, my age, in earth terms.

Proof?

Ok, I'll give you one.

Basically, I know myself as a type of guy who never lets a teensy thing bother me. I'm the personification of the Pacific ocean and the glaciers of Antartica. Calm. Cool.

Collected.

But this certain Monday is different. I was starting to get really, really irritated by her high-pitched voice calling me one ridiculous name over and over.

"Selfish! Selfish! Selfish!" she screamed.

"Shut up, will you-"

"Selfish!" Her shrill voice totally drowned my thin one. "All I want is to go with you to your school and you're being so unjust by not_letting_me!"

"Tomoyo, keep quiet!!" I inhaled and counted to ten to calm myself. "Look, how do you think would my classmates react if they see me with a floating genie dressed in such an outrageous outfit?" I looked pointedly at her black and hot pink cat suit she was wearing. OK, so the outfit was a bit cute, but it definitely wasn't normal by human standards.

"But..but..this is how we dress in our world!" she protested. "Personally, I think this is one of the clothes that I look really good in."

My mouth had to twitch on that one. Yeah, Kami-sama, she's adorable. "Yes, you look good in that but Tomoyo, you now live in my world with me, your master. You should obey what he says, and he's telling you right now to be a good genie and wait for her master to come back this afternoon."

Her face crumpled. "But Master.." She started to sniff.

Uh-oh. I felt something prick my heart. "Now Tomoyo, please don't start crying.."

"B-But you're so unfair..I just want to spend more time with you.." She paused to wipe a tear from her eye.

"T-Tomoyo.." Damn it, guilt was starting to eat my entire cardiovascular muscle. I had to do something. I touched her shoulder gently. "You must understand. You must be like one of us so we can be together."

Her eyes lit up. "I have an idea!" In a flash, she was wearing a casual cotton-white blouse and blue ankle-length skirt that flattered her feminine curves. I was stunned for a few milliseconds. Tomoyo will surely be one campus eye-catcher if she was a real person studying in our school. She looks so refreshing and innocent in pure white and light shade of blue.

She winked at me. "So what do you think?"

"Uh..you look...good."I admitted grudgingly. Hey, I'm an honest guy. If I see something worth my opinion, I appreciate it properly.

She made a model's pose. "How about this?"

"G-Good."

She twirled again and flipped her hair over her shoulders. "And this?"

"A-Alright already! You're gorgeous!" I yelled.

"Master what's going up there?" Nkauru called out from downstairs.

"N-Nothing..I was just noticing myself in front of the mirror!" I yelled back uneasilya s I frantically gestured my genie to evaporate to who-knows-where.

Tomoyo snickered. "Narcissm at its best, Master."

"Shut up!"

"Well then, introduce me as your cousin. To your classmates, I mean," suggested my genie.

"Whatever!" I hurried in packing my things. I can't be late now. I'm courting one of my classmates, and I asked her if I could walk her to school. I made a mental note to review my stock knowledge on one-liners as I go to her house.

She smiled. "This will surely be a fun day!"

I rolled my eyes in reply.

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