Ah! The lost contract

by zeroIQ

For those worthy of Heaven's grace, a single wish could dramatically change their lives. And for a young college student by the name Morisato Keiichi who was plagued by bad luck for most of his life, that was almost the case. Until two demonesses changed that by removing him from Heaven's lists. So, will he ever get his to chance to happiness? Only time will tell.

1. Chapter 1

This is a new and partially related project to the one that I'm currently working on. To begin with, I'm nowhere close to finish my other story (Ah! The following day) and for that reason, I felt that instead of waiting for that to happen before I moved on with this idea, I could attempt to work on them in parallel. Of course, I'm fully aware of the dangers of starting too many projects and finishing none, so, for the foreseeable future, I'll avoid to do anything that will strain me too much.

Unlike my other work, this will be a complete reboot of the AMG series, starting from the very beginning and moving from that point on. This will allow me to introduce most of the characters in a bit of a different manner and avoid some of the abrupt personality changes we've seen in the early manga. Still, I will maintain some of the original spirit of AMG manga and as such, Keiichi will be a bit closer to his earlier self, instead of his later depictions.

The biggest change, however, will be the contract between Keiichi and Belldandy, which simply won't happen. I've read the series several times and that contract had always seemed a bit forced at the beginning. Obviously, it was originally meant as a plot device for him and Belldandy to stay together, but... if Peorth and the other goddesses could stay on the mortal realm for a while, then why not Belldandy? In a way, I'd rather have them develop a relationship in a more natural manner, instead of a contract of any kind.

Another significant difference between this and the canon series is that Urd had never left her mother, Hild. While she and her two half sisters had stayed in contact over the years, she's actually a demoness (she's still a half goddess, though; it's just her demonic nature that's dominant) and that will have its impact on the story as well.

Additionally, the rating is set for Mature, in order to let me explore some possibilities and themes without worrying too much about it. However, I won't go too far and there won't be any explicit content or anything that could be described as absolutely inappropriate. So, if you're looking for any lemon chapters, you'll be disappointed.

Finally, the world this story is set on is the same as the one in my other story, and this means that a lot of familiar faces will show up, although a lot sooner than they had there. Still, it won't be necessary to have any prior knowledge of them, as I'll reintroduce both the characters and the rest of the back-story.

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

---

Night had already arrived for Nekomi, and the local residents, including the numerous students of this college city as they prepared for dinner after a long, busy day. For most of them, it was a long awaited moment when they could forget about their daily problems and try to relax a bit.

That wasn't the case for one dark haired young man, who desperately tried to figure out a solution for his own hardships. Reaching for his jacket's inner pocket he retrieved the last cigarette he had, before throwing the now empty packet into a nearby trash bin. His recent search for an affordable place to stay had proven utterly unfruitful and the frustrated youth wouldn't help but curse his rotten luck under his breath.

Only a couple of days ago everything was going just fine for him, until his dorm received a notification about a planned renovation, which naturally meant that all the students who lived there had two weeks to vacate the place.

The vast majority of the students living in that all-male dorm were attending the Engineering department of NIT and just like himself they weren't the most affluent of the lot. This probably explained why they'd decided to stay there in the first place, instead of opting for a small apartment where they could've gotten some more personal space for themselves.

It wasn't a bad place by any means, of course. The only problem was the fact that the two senior students in charge of the dorm were a bit... eccentric to say the least, causing enough trouble to the young man with their harebrained plots and stunts. Aside from attending the same department, most of the dorm residents were also members of the NIT's Motor Club, famous for its member's crazy antics.

The dark haired student couldn't deny that he had a great time being part of that club, despite its undeniably bad reputation, since he was really passionate about everything that had to do with bikes and other vehicles in general. As a matter of fact, he was the proud owner of a modified BMW RS with a sidecar, a gift he received from his father when he became of age. That particular bike was by far his most prized possession and something that he loved to spend most of his free time on tweaking and maintaining it.

Taking a few last drags from his cigarette, he decided that he wouldn't solve anything by walking around aimlessly in one of Nekomi's several parks. Heading towards his bike that was parked on a nearby street, the young man had to wonder if he really would finally get a break from all the insanity that was happening lately.

His club had once again achieved a Pyrrhic victory, winning a race and its prize money, only to realize that they've wasted more in the process of doing so. And as always, his wallet had to suffer for the greater cause, something that was apparently common practice by now. While his sempais were good people, they were notoriously bad at keeping the club funded and in the end, he had to bail them out of their predicament.

This naturally left him with very little cash, and the recent news for the dorm's renovation were absolutely disastrous. Having to move out of there meant that he probably had to pay more money for the rent; something that he simply couldn't afford. He searched through a lot of real estate businesses to get an affordable place based on his allowance, but without any luck. Most of the apartments that he found were too far away from NIT and the added cost of the gas would've made it impossible for him to stay within budget.

Because of that, he had managed to get a temporary part time job at a local sushi restaurant as a delivery boy. Far from the highest paying of jobs, but, beggars couldn't be choosers. Checking his watch, he turned the key on his bike and headed towards his new workplace. Night shifts were the only thing that a college student could ever afford and even then, having to work on weekends was a major pain, as it denied him any time for relaxation.

Still, even with all that effort, his monthly income had only increased by a tiny amount, making his life very hard. He had initially expected that this job would've allowed him to afford a new place to live, but as the days went by, the grim reality settled in; it just wasn't enough. And trying to find another one on top of that was impossible, given that the day had only twenty four hours.

'Speaking of time... Everyone should've been home by now.. So, what's with this freaking traffic?' wondered the young student, as he navigated his way though the long lines of stopped vehicles. Reaching a crossroad, he finally saw the problem, two trucks had apparently collided with each other. Nothing too major thankfully, as both drivers seemed to be fine and currently engaged in a heated argument over whose fault it was.

'Great... Now Mr. Yamada will kill me for being late... Just me and my damn luck...'

XXX

Outside of the mortal realm and part of the nine worlds that made the majority of the known existence was Asgard, the primary home-world of the celestials, a group of ten dimensional beings who were in charge of maintaining one of the two biggest supercomputers that were ever created, the other belonging to their primary competitors and rivals; the demons.

Both groups were an essential part of how the universe worked, although the source of that influence came from an entity that was so old nobody knew much about it. Even more, it possessed a virtually infinite amount of power and could literally alter reality as it pleased, resulting both gods and demons to desperately try to tap to its abilities. The World Tree, or Yggdrasil as it identified itself, was sleeping in the middle of Asgard's vast plains and yet its roots transcended both time and space, reaching all of the other eight realms allowing it to not only influence them, but give the demons a means to contact with it from their own realms.

However, the tree's roots played a far more important reason, as it they kept Nidhogg imprisoned. Trapped in a subterranean cavern in the demons' primary home world, Niflheim, the colossal infernal dragon had no other option but spend its time gnawing the roots whenever it wasn't asleep. And with Yggdrasil regenerating the damage on a constant basis, it kept nemesis away from the rest of the world.

The effort was too much for the World Tree and for that purpose, it let the two groups of immortals to oversee the daily needs of all the worlds that were affected by it. For that very reason, they had constructed supercomputers who managed to communicate with the tree, using its root system as a way to access it and run a variety of programs that were enabling them to borrow some of its reality altering abilities. Their influence was extremely important for the lower, three dimensional world of Midgard, home of all mortal species and for their own efforts, Yggdrasil rewarded each group with some of its energy, based on how hard they seemed to work.

This ancient agreement created a situation where they had to monitor Midgard and make sure that life continued to exist in one way or another. Over time, gods had started to use that influence to spread happiness among mortals, while demons resorted to cause misfortune. Eventually they both came up with the concept of forming contracts and granting wishes as a means to obtain greater profits. But, with the number of viable clients being limited, this created a vicious competition that often escalated to long and bitter wars.

Thankfully for the current day immortals, the violent past seemed like a bad memory. After the establishment of the Doublet system which bound two random individuals from either species together, killing one would've resulted in the death of the other. And without knowing who was paired and with whom, lethal violence was strictly prohibiting. Anything else was still allowed, though, making everyone aware of the dangers from an encounter with their rivals and enemies.

Central in the wish granting effort were the agencies that belonged to each side, with numerous immortals reviewing the profiles of the mortal candidates that were automatically collected by both of the supercomputers. Celestials had the Yggdrasil mainframe, which was actually named after the World Tree itself, in the same manner that its demonic counterpart was named after Nidhogg, the infernal dragon. This collection of several thousands of profiles needed a verification from an immortal who worked for one the above agencies and made sure that there were no errors in the process. Once an individual was certified as worthy of a wish, one of the various wish granters was tasked to come into contact with the mortal and offer them the opportunity of receiving a singular wish.

There were actually two such agencies that employed goddesses, the Goddess Relief Office and the Earth Help Center, as Asgard's administration believed that the healthy competition between them would eventually give them an edge over their demonic counterparts.

Many considered it to be an easy job that required little skill and even less effort. But, the truth was actually very different, as it often put the wish granters in situations where their decisions could've meant the world for the reviewed candidate, potentially depriving the mortals from a life changing wish. Money, fame, a successful career, and ultimately the mortal's happiness all depended on a few keystrokes.

For the most renown wish granter of the Goddess Relief Office, it was merely another day like any other, except for the fact that she had just returned from the worst client that she had in decades. Sometimes the audacity of the mortals baffled the brunette goddess to the point where she wondered if granting them wishes was really doing them any good. Sure, it made them happier, but whether or not it made them a better person was a question that she had no simple answer for.

Lately mortals were getting increasingly hard to work with, as their advances in technology had given them the delusion that they knew everything. Which often made them refuse to believe whatever was outside of that limited perception, and that included goddesses that came out of a mirror. Despite of her preferred choice of a traveling medium, the mere existence of a being like her was a very hard thing for most to accept, and as such, she had to try her best to provide them with the necessary explanations every single time. Typically it took an hour or so to convince them that she was real and not some sort of mirage or worse, a vengeful spirit.

However, that wasn't something that she considered to be a problem, as she enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them even for a such short period of time. However, It was when some humans became too comfortable with her, that she had to reminded them that she wasn't just a goddess, but a person as well, with all the social implications of that fact. As such, it was simply unacceptable for a mortal to place his hand on her posterior without her explicit consent, although, she had regretted the way she reacted.

Summoning lightning from the sky and striking him down might've sounded a bit too much, despite the man's insolence. She hadn't harmed him, of course, just gave him enough of a jolt to make him reconsider his ways. In the end, it was another wish for becoming a celebrity, even if she briefly toyed with the idea of rejecting him as a potential client due to his misconduct.

Despite all the meticulous background check on their past, humans were as unpredictable at times as any other species, making even the most reserved of them to act in a very different manner if they suddenly believed that they could do whatever they pleased. Still, a part of her believed that Asgard had secretly lowered the standards of the potential clients, allowing some disagreeable individuals to get a wish, just for the sake of staying competitive with Niflheim.

But it weren't only the bad ones who saddened her, It was how most of the wishes were getting a lot more selfish as time went by. While they didn't grant things on a global scale, fearing the repercussions of a runaway contract no matter how benign it sounded, there was enough room for their clients to help others with the chance that was given to them. And yet, most preferred to ask for things that improved their lives and nobody else's. In a way she didn't want to blame them, as a goddess' way of thinking and theirs was very different, just as much as their perspectives. Humans only had a few decades of life and in that short period of time they had to try and realize their dreams.

Summoning her favorite tea set, the brunette goddess decided that a nice hot cup of tea would've been the best option to calm herself down and dispel those thoughts. After all, it wasn't like herself to worry over such things for too long. 'Perhaps reviewing some more profiles will hemp me forget this whole matter, and who knows?... Maybe I'll get the chance to visit a much better person, later.'

"Oneesama!"

Blinking as she took a sip from her flavored tea, she spotted her younger sister running towards her station with an excited look on her face, while holding a letter on her hand. The dark haired goddess was already working as a debugger for the celestial mainframe and while that was located relatively close to her agency, they hadn't gotten enough time to talk during their breaks. Despite the young age of her sister, she was really dedicated to her task and due to that, often busy working on one project or another in hopes of increasing her bug catching efficiency. Even at home she preferred to spend her free time creating various inventions that served all sorts of purposes.

"Look what I've got! She sent us a letter!" beamed the young goddess as she bounced up and down, before she climbed on her sister's lap.

"Now now... Be careful not to spill my tea, okay?" She didn't need to ask about the sender's identity, knowing very well that only one person would've written them a letter; their half sister.

While the three of them had the same father, their eldest sibling was from a different mother. That never really mattered to either of them, except for the fact that their father's ex was a demoness, meaning that their elder sibling was an extremely rare hybrid. Thankfully their mothers were on friendly terms and that allowed them to spend time with her while they were younger, taking several trips to Niflheim where she lived.

As fun as their childhood had been, their current positions consumed most of their time making it very hard to find opportunities to do things together. Not that this was much different for everyone else, since she rarely had the time to interact with her other relatives, too. As carefree as the lives of immortals were, that didn't meant that they had all day for themselves.

However, she could spare a couple of minutes for herself and her sister. Opening the old fashioned envelope, she unfolded the embossed stationery and held it in front of her younger sibling for both of them to read.

"So, let's see how she's doing."

XXX

'That's it, I'm dead...' Parking his trusty BMW outside of the restaurant, he knew that we was already hopelessly late, no thanks to that accident.

"MORISATO!"

Wincing at the sound of the owner's angry voice, the dark haired student rushed inside, hoping that he wasn't going to be fired for someone else's fault. That was the last thing he needed right now, as his financial situation wasn't the greatest at the moment. While the extra money he made here wasn't really that much, without that extra help he'd be probably in a far worse state.

"I'm sorry, Yamada-san! There was..." he started, before the angry cook interrupted him.

"You're forty whole minutes late! And you know all to well that it's dinner time! We've got hungry customers waiting, so, less talk and more work, boy!" said the aging owner of the restaurant, handing him a package and the address he was supposed to deliver it. "Now go!"

Not wanting to further agitate his boss, he was about to grab one of the restaurant's scooters, before he stared at the note that was given ho him. 'Hold on... That's not right...'

"Yamada-san! There has to be a mistake on the address. Are you sure that this isn't some sort of prank?" asked the nervous student, looking at the older man.

"Hm... Now that you mention it... It's really odd. I really hope that this isn't one of your fellow students' silly jokes. As much as they bring me a decent income, they sure can be quite annoying at times." The restaurant's owner scratched his chin for a while, considering his options. Going to such a distant part of Nekomi would've kept his employee busy for so long that it wasn't really worth the trouble. Still, his work ethic prevented him from telling his employee to forget about it either; providing that this was a legitimate customer, of course. "Okay... I guess it's my fault for not telling them that it was too far. So, let's give it a try and wish it wasn't a prank call."

"Sure thing, Yamada-san! I'll try to return as soon as possible." Placing the package in the scooter's trunk, he started the engine and headed for the longest trip he had ever since he started working here. After all, most of the customers weren't living in the middle of nowhere, up in the hills that surrounded the city.

'Man... I really hope that it's not some wise guy wanting to send me on a fool's errant...' Despite that, he felt less annoyed than he would've originally expected. It was a rare opportunity to go and get some fresh air on the Nekomi Ridge circuit, as the mountain road was better known among his fellow bike enthusiasts. He preferred driving there on his BMW, instead of one of the restaurant's scooters, but, he wasn't going there just for his own entertainment; he had also a job to do.

There were a couple of houses near the edge of the city, very close to that area he was supposed to go, however, his destination wasn't exactly a house. Instead, it was a temple, one that he vaguely remembered from one of his previous excursions. The funny thing was that if his memory served him right, the place seemed abandoned when he decided to go and check it on one occasion.

'Besides... Why would anyone order sushi in such a place? Maybe they have guests?' wondered the dark haired student, as he drove his way to his destination. 'Come to think about it... How likely is it that someone reopened that temple? It was only a couple of months since I've stopped there to take a break and enjoy the view. Hm... Oh well, I guess I'll find out in a bit, since I'm almost there.'

XXX

Five minutes later, he was climbing the stairs that led to the Tariki Hongan temple, at least according to the old sign that had nearly fallen apart. It was just like the last time he saw this place, and by the looks of it the temple grounds weren't in a much better state than the sign.

The perimeter walls had cracks on several spots, the stone paths covered in leaves and dirt and wild grass covered most of the yard. Those were clear signs of abandonment, and he was about to turn around and leave when he noticed something very strange that just got into his peripheral vision. A light was coming from the residence that was at the left of the main temple, a house that was obviously meant for the priests that were supposed to take care of the place.

Given that it was a traditional Japanese building, just like the main temple it was very easy to notice the light coming through the rice-paper wooden panels that made up the majority of the walls, unlike the other western style buildings that were extremely popular these days. That fact was both reassuring and baffling at the same time, as it probably meant that he hadn't driven all the way to this remote area for nothing. Still, he didn't know why this place was in such poor state if it was inhabited.

Approaching the house, a terrible thought formed in his mind; they could be criminals hiding from the law. After all, nobody would've ever searched for them here, although, it was unlikely for any fugitive to carelessly order for food like that. Plus, if the place was really abandoned it shouldn't had any electric power and apparently that wasn't the case. Hoping that he was indeed right, he took a breath to calm himself and stood before the entrance, wondering if the doorbell even worked.

Much to his surprise it was functional and after a few seconds of waiting, footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door. Expecting some old priest to answer, he was utterly shocked when he finally caught sight of the mysterious customer. A foreign looking woman with bronze colored skin, platinum blonde hair and proportions that would've made even the most famous of models to turn green from jealousy. Completing her exotic looks were a couple of red facial markings, two triangles under her purple eyes and an upright five pointed star on her forehead.

And if that wasn't enough of a spectacle for him to stare at, the fact that she was wearing a rather skimpy nightie made him wonder if he was hallucinating. There was no way that such things happened in real life, even if some of his coworkers were trying to trick him into thinking that they had scantily clad women answer the door on several occasions. It was just a lie to make this type of work a bit more exciting for him, but... either this was an exception or he had finally snapped from all the stress of the last couple of days.

"Yahoo!... Anyone's home?" Waiving her hand in front of the mesmerized man, the woman tried to get his attention, but to no avail. She was speaking fluent Japanese, too, something rarely seen among foreigners. Following his glazed eyes she smirked as she confirmed that her ample bosom was the center of his attention at the moment. "They're real, you know."

"Eh?..." Blinking hard to snap out of his stupor, the dark haired student forced his eyes to meet hers. He had expected her to get angry at his indiscretion, demanding an apology, but... there she stood with a strangely content smile that reminded him of a feline that stared down a mouse. And for the briefest of moments he could've sworn that her irises turned cat-like, too, a physical impossibility for any human being.

"I... You...Order..." Stopping his senseless stream of words, he mentally kicked himself for making a fool of himself in front of this beauty. It had always been like this when it came to women, his few attempts to court with a few of them ending in rather poor results.

"Oh? So, you can talk after all..." said the bronze skinned woman, reaching forward to take the bag from his shaking hands. As this simple action made her to bend slightly, it caused her nightie to reveal a bit more skin than before, a detail that hadn't gone unnoticed by the young man who was desperately trying to maintain his composure. "Well... I must admit that I wasn't really expecting anyone to drive all the way up here just for this; and so fast, too. Now, that's what I'd call good service."

"I-I... T-Thank you, miss." Stammering a little, he finally managed to form a coherent phrase while he waited for her to pay him. The compliment had taken him slightly off guard, since he never really got any of those, and especially from women. Still, a tiny voice in his mind screamed that it might've been a trap and the next thing she's ask him is to 'buy' her the dinner, meaning that he'd have to pay it from his own pocket.

Thankfully, she turned around and once she set the bag on a nearby table, she grabbed a tiny purse that was also conveniently placed there. However, her hand apparently slipped dropping it on the wooden floor and without much of a delay, she bent down to retrieve it. "Oops... Silly me..."

"Oh, that's okay, miss... I don't mind waiting for..." He suddenly stopped in mid sentence when he saw her nightie lift upwards exposing her lacy panties, which didn't seem to cover that much by the looks of it. And while he thought that warning her was the right thing to do, he had no idea how exactly to say it. Also, he knew that the honorable thing in such situations was to avert his eyes, but, he had failed to do that, as well.

Facing him once again, she handed him nearly twice the amount of money that she actually had to pay. That made him wonder if she was actually a generous person and he was going to get a decent tip for coming all the way to this place, or she was just unfamiliar with Japanese currency. After all, that wasn't something unlikely to expect from a foreigner, although her almost perfect accent didn't seem to match with that general stereotype.

Even worse, without any confirmation from her, he wasn't supposed to assume that she intended for him to keep the change. Searching through his own pockets, he needed to find his wallet, but the elusive item was nowhere to be seen. "Uh... One moment, please."

Sweat started to form on his forehead, as he was absolutely certain that he hadn't forgotten it back in the dorm, leaving him with a very alarming possibility; that he had actually lost it, and along with it the rest of this month's budget. Not that it had been a really impressive amount of money, but without that, he wouldn't be even capable of affording his own meals, let alone cover the expenses of moving to a new apartment.

Waiting patiently for him, the bronze skinned woman seemed rather amused by his panicked expression as he searched for the elusive item. After a couple of seconds, she decided that she'd spare him of the trouble and pointed behind him. "If you're looking for your wallet, then it's over there."

"Huh?" Tuning around, the young man was greatly relieved that was spared of such cruel fate. Retrieving it, he quickly opened it and for a moment he happened to notice a bizarre looking black card that seemed almost out of place. He had several business cards that mostly belonged to bike and hardware shops where he got the parts and tools he needed to maintain his beloved BMW. Still, he couldn't remember having that black one before, and as much as he'd love to check it, this wasn't the best moment for it. Instead, he immediately calculated how much money he needed to give her and extended his arm, waiting for her to accept the change.

However, she simply shook her head, offering him a tiny smile. "You may keep that, as you've gone into all that trouble of coming here and in such a timely manner, too. So, let's call it a tip for your dedication."

"Really? I... Thank you miss!" he said, finally relieved that there was at least one good thing that happened today. This hadn't been the first time that he'd gotten a tip, but, it was certainly the biggest one yet.

"Oh, it's not that much actually... Although, you may call me Urd if you want. All this 'miss' stuff is getting pretty old." Watching him reluctantly put the money back, she quickly glanced upwards, before she returned her attention back at him. Content that he didn't seem aware of her momentarily distraction, she went on a bit. "So? What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Morisato Keiichi. Uh... Pleased to meet you, I suppose." Offering her a hand, he wondered if that was a bit too much for such an occasion. She was most likely trying to be polite, not attempting to make a friend or something like that. Thankfully for him, she shook his hand and spared the dark haired man from an embarrassing and rather awkward moment.

"Actually, the pleasure is all mine... Keiichi. You know... I was wondering if you'd like to come inside for a moment and let me treat you something for your trouble." She had such a pleasant and inviting tone on her voice, that for a moment he nearly said yes, as it seemed the proper thing to do when someone wanted to reward another.

That's when it occurred to him that she was technically halfway undressed and following her inside like that could've been rather inappropriate. Unless... that wasn't just an oversight on her part, but, her actual intentions when she first made the suggestion. The only reason why he hadn't thought that from the very beginning was his own appearance. Keiichi wasn't actually an ugly guy, just average by all means, making him a rather forgettable individual who never got enough attention by the others. With a rather short stature, thick eyebrows and a very casual and unimpressive choice of clothes, he never attracted a girl's attention; at least not for anything related to dating.

So, in his mind she must've meant something else and besides... he had already wasted a decent amount of time here and had to leave soon, before Mr Yamada got angry with him; again. "I'd be happy to take your offer, but, I can't do that. My boss will be furious if was too late, unless you can just offer this treat here, so, I can be on my way as soon as possible."

Urd tried no to laugh at how naive he appeared to be. She had fully expected him to catch the hidden meaning behind her words like most others in his place would. Still, if it had been a genuine case of a guy who didn't got tempted that easily, then her decision to use him for her plans had been a correct one indeed. And while she could've just let him go like that, another part of her wanted to make sure that she hadn't reached the wrong conclusion. "I'm a fairly open minded person when it comes to such matters, Keiichi. However, I'm also pretty sure that the front door of a house isn't the best place to do... that. So, let's go inside and use a more proper room for such an activity. And it doesn't have to take too long either, if you're that worried about your boss. Give me a few minutes and I'll make sure that we're both going to be very satisfied once we're done."

Staring at her in shock, Keiichi tried to reply a couple of times, but utterly failed to. He had absolutely no idea what was going on here, since he hardly considered what she was proposing as a simple treat, especially for something as insignificant as delivering food. And he also doubted that she'd been so impressed by his looks that simply couldn't resist him. Maybe he should've been less pessimistic, but, it appeared too good to be true and honestly wondered if this was some sort of a prank where she'd laugh at him if he said yes.

Not getting a reply from him, Urd wondered if he hadn't taken her seriously and to convince him otherwise, she began to tug her nightie's straps making the undergarment to slowly slide lower. It didn't take too long for him to notice the action and just before he got any real view of herself, he suddenly turned around and bolted.

"I need to go back to work!" shouted the deeply embarrassed Keiichi over his shoulder, as he run down the dusty path and towards the weathered staircase that led to the road in front of the temple, leaving the bronze skinned beauty alone; but not for much. Readjusting her skimpy nightwear, she turned towards a surprisingly tiny figure who descended from the roof. "So, Mara... I trust that you did it?"

"Of course! You think I'm a novice or something? Once he touches that trapped card, his fate is sealed by the curse!" In a puff of purple smoke, the miniature individual turned to her full size, standing next to her companion. While she had a fair complexity and blonde hair, this woman had a similarly colored set of markings on her face; two triangles on each of her cheeks and two elongated ones on her forehead. And with red eyes, pointed fangs and a rather exotic looking black outfit, she hardly appeared any more human than Urd.

Nodding contently, the bronze skinned woman raised a hand skywards causing her attire to glow brightly as it began to dematerialize. Soon it was replaced by a long purple dress with a neckline that reached as low as her navel and a cape that was split into two. "Are you absolutely certain that the curse won't actually harm him? I need to tag him, not send the boy to an early grave... And stop staring me with such hungry eyes, Ma-chan. We had more than enough... fun, yesterday. Today we've got work to do."

"Actually, I was wondering about the food, Urd." Pointing at the plastic bag that was still on the table next to the entrance, the blonde hoped that her excuse would've been accepted. As her companion retrieved it and motioned for her to follow her, Mara breathed a sigh of relief. Urd was playful and fun most of the time, but she could be downright terrifying when agitated and right now both of them were playing a rather dangerous game that could easily get them into serious trouble.

Taking a seat in front of a low table in the living room, Urd placed the food in two plates that she had to summon, since pretty much everything else in the house was in a terrible condition after several years abandonment. Most of the place was almost left in ruins and if they had to use it as their temporary base of operations in Midgard they needed to make some much needed repairs. In its current state the house was rather unsuitable for two first class demonesses such as themselves. "You still haven't actually answered my original question. Is that method really safe? I've got no wish to get the celestial's attention for such a reason..."

Watching as Urd got a bottle of sake for them, Mara took a bite from her share of the sushi, while she waited to get her glass of booze. "Don't worry, he should be perfectly fine, even with the little joke that I've added there to rattle him a bit. At most he'll be slightly saturated with demonic energy, just a tiny amount to get him rejected by the automated routines of the Yggdrasil mainframe. He's gonna be out of their client list the very moment he touches the card; that much I'm sure of it. Still, I don't see the point of all this, to be honest with you."

"Good. We're supposed to be here on vacations, and the last thing I need are the Fighting Wings, because we accidentally killed a mortal. As for the point of this... You'll have to wait and see," said Urd with a smirk, taking a sip from her drink. Pouring some for her companion, the half demoness wondered how she'd eventually explain the situation to a particular goddess who also happened to be her half sister. While she technically had two of them, it was the older one that would've affected mostly by her schemes or rather... her uncle's, since he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. Which wasn't something unusual for Loki, given his love for pulling stunts like these.

Urd had actually four uncles, although one of them was supposed to be a secret due to certain... circumstances, leaving three of them officially listed as her relatives and sons of the former Daitenkaicho, Odin. Thor, the god of thunder and eldest of the brothers, Loki, the god of mischief and the only one who wasn't related by blood as he was adopted into the family, and finally, Baldr, the god of light and mentor of her half sisters. Of course, there was also her own father to be added into that list, Tyr, the current Daitenkaicho. Still, she hardly interacted with him and even then it was mostly reserved for formal business that involved their respective realms.

Ironic as it sounded, she was a lot more familiar with her father's second wife and mother of her half sisters, Ansuz. She often brought them to Niflheim when they were younger in order to play with her and on certain occasions that task was reserved for Baldr. As time went by, she also became familiar with Loki, the black sheep of her family and Asgard's resident troublemaker who became her unofficial mentor, teaching her a lot of necessary skills at creating chaos and confusion. And that knowledge had served her well, given the attention she was getting from everyone around her due to the fact that she was the was the daughter of Hild, the current Daimakaicho.

The position wasn't hereditary, and as such it wasn't certain that she'd eventually succeed her mother at any point. However, given her relationship with the ruler of all demonkind, many were eager to discredit her accomplishments as a case of favoritism and special treatment, which irked her to no end. Even worse, they were always keeping an eye for any possible mishaps of hers to use it against her, whenever such information was most useful. Such were the ruthless ways of the demonic society and nothing could be really done about it except for surviving and defending her status.

"Whatever... can we fix this dump, at the very least? The roof is leaking and the bed is terrible..." said Mara, as she drank from her glass of sake. She knew that complaining to Urd was a risky proposition, but, she really wished that the half demoness would've picked a better place for them. And the fact that it was actually a temple was just adding more to her list of problems about this place, unless her companion wanted to make it seem a bit ironic that two demonesses had taken residence there.

"I'll have to agree about that damn roof. But, there's nothing wrong with the bed... I thought that a double futon would've been a great choice if we were to temporarily live here." Crossing her arms, she had every intention to hold her ground against Mara's criticism. It wasn't the first time that she got comments about her choice of beds, despite her best efforts to pick something that was generally considered as comfortable. "It's not my fault that your want to sleep in a bloody coffin! So, give me a break!"

"Okay... okay! It just felt as if we're sleeping on the floor, that's all! No need to get angry about it!" Waiving her hands in front of her dismissively, the blonde demoness tried to come up with something that would make her forget about that particular topic. And in order to avoid making it too obvious, she chose the mortal that they were currently messing around with. "Hey... I wondered what would've happened if that guy accepted your offer. I know that you intended that as a test, but... What if he failed it?"

As a matter of fact, that was actually a good question and left Urd stumped for a moment, wondering how she would've reacted in that situation. While she did tempt the boy with promises of carnal pleasures, it was merely a way of verifying her evaluation of his personality based on the mortal's profile she retrieved from the Nidhogg mainframe. While accurate on most occasions, those files were based on constantly changing information that was collected in real time for as long as the mortals were alive. So, there were a couple of occasions where one could've been fooled by reading outdated records and an old fashioned test was a better method. "Hm... In that case, I would've to erase his memory and try find another candidate. I need someone who thinks with his head, not his crotch, and jumps at every opportunity to get some."

"Then it's a good think that he passed, I guess. Having to locate another one in such a short period of time would've been a real pain... Still... he seems a bit dorky if you ask me," said Mara as she thought about the boy. She may had kept a low profile on top of the roof, but, she did manage to get a perfect view of the whole incident. Besides, it was thanks to her skills that she caused his wallet to fall on the path, giving her the opportunity to slip that crucial card into it.

"He'll have to do. We can spend all eternity if we're too darn picky. And I don't think that your opinions of him are really that important, since he's not intended for you, to begin with." Pouring another glass of sake, Urd laughed at her companion's disgusted expression as she mentioned that last part.

"I don't date happy-go-lucky idiots... thank you very much! Not my style and never will be. Meh!..." It took her a couple of seconds to notice the leer she was getting from the bronze skinned half goddess. Normally, most would've been nervous to meet her gaze, but, the blonde knew that this particular look was associated with her libido and for a moment she felt rather excited. "Uh... you want to go to bed?"

"Sure, why not? After all, I've got a feeling that we're going to have visitors soon enough, so, we'd better use our time in a better manner." Getting a vigorous nod as a reply, she smirked as the blonde's gaze shifted to her ample bust, missing entirely the small piece of paper that she summoned in her right hand. Setting it on the table, she then slid it towards Mara who shook her head in an effort to snap out of her stupor.

"Huh? What's that?" Unfolding the note, the blonde demoness gave it a quick glance, before she realized much to her horror that it was actually a list of all the things that needed to be fixed in the temple, inducing the stuff that was actually outside of the residence. "Uh... Urd?..."

"Oh, that? I think that once everything's in place, I can finally call this place a viable base, instead of a dump... After all, you wanted this place fixed right? So, do me a favor and get them all fixed by tomorrow, will you? I'll give you a nice reward if you do..." Offering her a wink, Urd didn't wait for the actual reply and headed for the room that they currently used in order to get her beauty sleep, leaving the partially excited but mostly horrified blonde behind.

'Damn it! I hadn't meant to do it on my own! Ugh... She got me for good... And what's with that list?... What the bloody Asgard we need a stove for? Neither of us cooks...'

XXX

'Stupid!... Stupid!... Stupid!...'

Repeating the mantra over and over as he drove back at Yamada's restaurant, Keiichi couldn't believe how he let that opportunity go wasted just like that. It was certainly a bit too sudden and he hardly knew her, but... given his abysmal luck with women, that might had been the break he needed and in the end, he totally blew it.

In fact, he was fairly certain most of his fellow students would've gladly taken the offer, instead of running away as if their lives depended on it. Sure, it skipped a lot of important things that Keiichi considered as crucial for dating, although, she wasn't exactly asking him to become her boyfriend. At the very least, he would've gotten a nice experience and something to brag about whenever others made fun of his ineptitude with women.

Of course, there was no way to reverse time and make a different decision and going back there would've been too embarrassing. This was a one in a million chance and trying to get lucky again was extremely unlikely to work either. The best that he could do at the moment was to focus on getting the necessary budget he needed to move out of the dorm.

With the deadline approaching, he only had about four days to find a place to stay and with the number of real estate agencies he hadn't checked diminishing, his initial optimism started to disappear. The last resort option was to call home and beg for more money, just barely enough to live in one of the cheapest apartments that he's already found. However, this was far from an ideal solution and Keiichi wanted to to avoid it as much as possible, which meant that he'd probably spend his next day searching; again.

Pulling a hard left to get into the alley behind the restaurant that they used as a makeshift parking lot for the scooters, he dismounted the bike and before he got back inside for the next order, he remembered the weird card that he had noticed before. Back then at the temple, he didn't had the time to give it a proper look and being curious, he opened his wallet and searched through the various business cards he had.

'Here it is. Strange... Where did it come from? And what a sinister looking font... I can hardly even read it...'

Squinting his eyes to figure what the horribly written kanji meant, he couldn't avoid but realize that the red characters almost had the same hue as blood, which made it even more creepy, especially when he managed to read the actual message on it.

'A horrible fate awaits the fool who bears this curse...'

Without any warning, as soon as he finished reading it the card suddenly caught fire, making him toss it away with a started cry. And before his very eyes it simply vanished without leaving ashes or any other trace behind.

"W-What the hell?!"

Taking a few steps away from the spot it disappeared, Keiichi wondered what had just happened. It seemed almost as one of those horror movies, where someone gets cursed and then dies in a horrible manner. Like having a creepy ghost after them or even a sudden zombie apocalypse out of nowhere.

Keiichi was so caught up in his ill thoughts, that he didn't notice the owner of the restaurant approaching him, using the kitchen's back door that led to the alley. Mr Yamada wondered why he was staring at the ground for no reason and placed a hand on his shoulder, only to get a bloodcurdling scream from him.

"Ah! Don't eat me!"

"What in the world are you yammering about, Morisato?" asked the elderly cook, raising a graying eyebrow at him. "Watching too much TV, again? Well... Snap out of it and get some work done, boy! You had enough of a break with that long trip."

"Yes, Yamada-san..." Taking the next set of packages and the corresponding addresses, he really hoped that all this weirdness was probably just his tired mind playing tricks on him.

'I mean... A curse?... It must've been a mistake... There's got to be a scientific explanation, right? Like... Like... Spontaneous combustion... Yeah, that's it!'

XXX

Asgard, Goddess Relief Office

Sitting on her chair, the head of one of Asgard's wish granting agencies looked up from the report she was currently reviewing when a warning appeared in front of her terminal, demanding her attention. The brunette goddess skimmed through the message and she wasn't happy with what she saw at all. Apparently a young man that was on their evaluation queue got rejected, but, that by itself wasn't the problem as it happened all the time. Since the algorithms processed their profiles on multiple passes with increased restrictions on each iteration, most of the possible clients were proven to be unsuitable and only the best ones were sent to their wish granters for a personalized review, in order to eliminate the chance that an error or some external interference messed with the whole process.

This wasn't the case, though, as the reason was a very different and alarming one; presence of demonic traces on the boy. Technically that would've meant that he crossed paths with their enemies, but, Frigg was a seasoned goddess with a lot more experience than most of her subordinates, despite her youthful appearance which was the norm amongst the immortals. So, instead of simply assuming that he had fallen in the hands of the demons, she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

Access to information wasn't a problem for Asgard's former Representative Director of the Goddess Council during Odin's administration, who also happened to be her husband. While she stepped down from that position when he was declared missing in action during an operation that took place millennia ago, she still had a lot of connections and that allowed her to access information that most others couldn't. Sending a request through Valhalla's Intelligence Bureau would've taken days for the average goddess, but not for her.

Before she made any decisions about the mortal, she needed a very crucial bit of information, the identity of the one who pulled that stunt. And her nagging feeling was confirmed when the profiles of two demonesses came to her screen, the only ones who were currently located on Nekomi; her very own granddaughter, Urd and her companion, Mara. That demanded a very different approach, as sending the Valkyries after her stepson's eldest child wasn't something that she wanted to do at any point.

Instead of that, she hoped that her other two granddaughters could've proven to be invaluable at a situation like this, since the three sisters were going along very well. At the very least, they could get an explanation from Urd and perhaps reach a peaceful solution to this problem, instead of stating a big fight and turn Nekomi into a barren wasteland as a result.

Pressing a couple of keys on her console, she messaged the middle of the sisters to come to her office at once, and for a couple of minutes she went through the profile of the mortal man who got into the middle of this fiasco; Morisato Keiichi.

After knocking twice, a brunette goddess entered the office, her blue eyes cast downwards and fixed on the floor. "You asked for me, Frigg-sama?"

"My my... there's no need to be so formal, Belldandy," said the elder goddess as she approached her somewhat similarly looking relative, even though they shared no blood. Both of them were dressed in blue and white gowns, had almost the same hair color and spoke in a soft, polite manner.

Despite that, there were some noticeable differences as well, like the fact that Frigg had green eyes, and most importantly, she possessed a series of ornate looking jewelry that adorned her form, including one that held her elaborate braid together. Those weren't simple vanity items, though, but limiters that every celestial and even demon used in order to make sure that they kept their powers under control. And judging by their number, Frigg wasn't one to be crossed.

"Forgive me, grandmother. I just felt that this was an official meeting and..." trailed the younger goddess, before she was was interrupted by her relative.

"Don't worry, Belldandy. We're on our own here and I needed to talk to you about something that happened very recently." Going back to her desk to retrieve a datapad with Keiichi's profile in order to explain the situation better, she missed her granddaughter bowing down in apology.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't want to do it, but... I felt that it was necessary!" Belldandy's words greatly confused Frigg, who suddenly felt lost, not following what was going on here.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked the baffled goddess, blinking a few times in confusion. Belldandy was a very well mannered girl, so, it was extremely rare to see her do that. Unlike her younger sister, who constantly improved the destructive power of her explosives and resulted into a lot of those apologetic moments for more than obvious reasons.

"My last client. He was a bit disrespectful and... I... well... zapped him," admitted Belldandy, lowering her gaze in the process. "Isn't that the reason I'm here?"

"No, not really. You have every right to remind others that they should watch their manners around you, and the same goes for all your colleagues as well." Pausing, Frigg wondered what could've happened to prompt her granddaughter to actually attack a client, although, she wasn't a child anymore and trying to act protectively wouldn't help her at all. After all, she claimed to had dealt with the issue and for the moment that should be sufficient. "The reason I've called you here was a very different one. A mortal called Morisato Keiichi was removed from the system's client queue under... suspicious circumstances that require some investigation. More specifically, he got contaminated with residual demonic energy, and that was the primary reason for being rejected."

Taking the datapad with the mortal's profile from Frigg, she quickly read as much as she could, before she turned back to her grandmother. "That's strange. He doesn't seem to be the kind of person that would've attracted the demons' attention, although, I haven't thoroughly checked his entire profile. Still... Why would they do this? He wasn't fully approved for a wish yet, so, why did they get into all that trouble this early on?"

"I have no idea, Belldandy. However, the trickiest part is that the only demonesses stationed on Nekomi are two that you're very familiar with; Urd and Mara. That's the main reason I called you, instead of anyone else," explained Frigg, noticing her granddaughter flinch a bit as soon as she heard the news. "Do not worry, dear. I'm not asking you to get into a fight with her over this boy. As a matter of fact, I want to keep this entire matter off the record and as a simple request of mine. If push comes to shove, just leave and I'll send someone else to deal with it instead. For that reason, you'll be there on vacation, not on a mission. Understood?"

"Yes. Although... It would be strange for me to go on vacations alone all of a sudden. Most of the time, I try to take Skuld with me and Urd's fully aware of this." Belldandy waited as Frigg scratched her chin for a moment and then went back to her console, typing for a while.

"All settled! I've managed to arrange for her to get a vacation as well, so you can both go to Midgard and take a look on the matter. After all, I think that this will actually be a much better option as you work really nice together. Plus, it's been a while since all the three managed to have time for yourselves; assuming that this won't go wrong, that is," said Frigg with a smile, handing Belldandy her vacation papers. "Skuld's will have to wait for a while to get signed. But, once she gets them, it's fine for you to go to the mortal realm."

Nodding, the younger goddess started for the door, before her grandmother called for her. "Oh... and Belldandy..."

"Yes?"

"Please tell Urd that I said hi," added the elder goddess with a warm smile.

"Yes!"