That night Issei had energy to read the whole book about Welsh Folklore, and he got halfway through the one talking about stealth before sweet sleep took him away.
Welsh Folklore was quite diverse and at times bloody, but it made for, surprisingly to the brunette, quite a good read.
When Issei woke up, he felt his body not hurting anymore. In fact he had energy to spare that morning.
His alarm sounded not to long after he had awaken so he silenced it and got up. This time in the screen it was a girl with long purple hair, dark bags under her eyes and a bloody knife in her hands; a Yandere.
Doing some screeches and hearing sounds of popping and cracking come from his stiffened muscles and joints felt really good. Even his neck gave a few sounds away. After that he picked up a towel and went to the bathroom.
A few minutes later he was at the kitchen. His mother gave a little frown but soon a smile came to her face as the brunette started helping her in making breakfast. Nothing too complex, some fried, scrambled eggs, toasts, freshly brewed coffee and salad*. When everything was done, the young Hyoudou started setting the table ready as his mother was observing him and murmuring to herself.
Issei just shrugged and finished setting the table. After that he went upstairs to change into his new uniform.
Tiamat had send him a text message (when the fuck had she got his number?) telling him to come early. It wasn't everyday you got a beauty calling you, even if it was to work hard. Maybe she would be kind to him and even let him...
"Issei...what's taking you so long? Otou-san* is already at the table!" His mother's voice pulled him out of his fantasies.
Sigh...
He finished putting his uniform and gave a quick glance at the calendar at the top of his desk. In 28 days he would start his first year at the Garden of Eden that was Kuoh private academy. He had worked his ass off to enter the institution and pay half-prices. He had abstained from his magazines and videos for weeks. Even watching porn with Matsuda and Motohama had been cut as he desperately crammed book after book to make sure he would be able to enter.
Now it was time to indulge in the flesh of the young maidens of school.
He finished putting his work uniform and grabbed his bag. He even put his tape player and earphones. Even if it was old school, it played wonderfully and clear, was quite tough, and gave him that "feels good" vibe. Going downstairs, the brunette saw his parents at the table, but surprisingly enough, both were waiting for him to sit down.
As he sat down, everybody started to eat and small chat was exchanged. When everybody was done, the older Hyoudou coughed lightly to gather attention to himself.
"Issei, we did not had much time to talk about it yesterday, but I just want to say that I am proud of you! Even if you are a lustful beast and have delusions with a harem, you got into a well-known highschool and even get yourself a job, your first job. I...I a-am proud of you son!" Fucking hell old man, what are you saying this early in the morning huh? Want to make me cry huh?
"Ise...not just your father, but me too...we both are proud of our baby boy. Just yesterday you were so small and cute and now look at you...sniff...growing up...getting a job and even helping at home!" You too mom?! You guys want to make me cry right here huh? Damn it, why can't I stop smiling?
I could do nothing but stand there, happy as all hell for this! I put my arm in front of my eyes and dried the tears before they could spill out. Damn out man and mom making me cry all of a sudden. I could not stop a warm feeling from spreading across my chest. Yeah damn right I am going to make you feel proud of me.
"Let us get going or I might just cry here. Do you want me to drop you at your work Ise?" Dad asked standing up and putting on his suit. He grabbed his car keys and went to get his suitcase.
"Yeah old man, lets go! I will be back later Kaa-chan*" Issei said and gave his mother a quick hug.
Mrs. Hyoudou accompanied both men to the door, where she gave a hug to the younger Hyoudou and a kiss to the older. "Have a good day Ise, anata*."
—(-o-)—-
15 minutes later.
"Want me to pick you up after work?"
"Nah, I will come home a bit late today, going to work extra time for a bit. Just leave some dinner for me in the fridge."
"Don't play the big man already pipsqueak, you will need much time to take my place in the house. Maybe you are planning on taking your mother from me huh?"
"Damn it old man, way to ruin the mood!"
"Hahahaha, just don't overdo it hot stuff!"
"Go away already shitty old man!" Old man thinks he knows everything.
The brunette was in front of the black and gold building. Going in quickly and dropping his stuff in the break room, the brunette looked around the area and found Tiamat in her usual spot, the counter. The smell of brewed coffee and tea was in the air, together with the bands adjustments of their instruments. As the female brunette paced rapidly between machines and hand brewing methods.
Yukihime was sweeping around the tables and Alfred-san was cleaning some mirrors.
"Ise come on chop-chop!" Tiamat's voice was filled with energy and mischievousness.
"Right here Tiamat-san." Issei answered and went towards the counter. "Good morning."
"Good morning Ise. Soo..I'm going to be staying here a lot today as Wednesday is a busy day and my work has to be perfect so Ise..." Tiamat was talking while perfectly handling her work. "You will be most at the back today, carrying and replacing some stuff all around for the morning. When you finish that I want you here helping Yuki-chan with the tables. Alfred will show you the kitchen and the storage and how to not get in the way of the cooks okay?"
Issei just nodded.
Tiamat smiled and used her hands to shoo him away.
"This way Hyoudou-san please." The old voice of the butler dressed old man came from behind the young one, giving him a small scare.
As the brunette followed the older figure he noted that the man made little to no noise while walking. If he wasn't focusing in the man, Issei was sure he would not notice him.
Both made way into the kitchen, a shiny area where a lot of different people were already working on something. They all dressed in a standard white uniform and aprons. No one spared the duo a glance as they seemed too focused in their work. Passing the kitchen was a small corridor that branched to three ways: one to what seemed as the back exit, another to a office? And a last one to what Issei assumed was the storage room.
They continued in the way that led to the back exit. There was a small alley and big trash containers placed in the wall. In front of the double door was quite the amount of boxes.
The quantity made Issei widen his eyes. When the brunette looked at Alfred, the old butler friendly nodded and made his way back to the hall area. Issei resigned himself to fate and pulled back the sleeves of his shirt. It was going to be work! A lot of it!
—-(-o-)—
When lunchtime came, Issei just plopped down at a chair in the break room and let his body have its so much needed rest stretched atop the table in the middle of the room.
Not five minutes later and the door was opened suddenly by a very happy Tiamat. The female brunette grabbed Issei by the scruff of his shirt and picked him from his resting place.
"Oi! Let me rest for a bit, those damn boxes were heavy!"
"Stop being such a wuss Ise. I let you have your sweet time carrying those. Yukihime and Alfred would be done hours ago." Tiamat gave Issei no slack and carried him to the hall. She then dropped the brunette at the counter.
"Here, easy job for now. I'm pretty sure you can make some decent coffee, if not learn now. Just breath in and out, and follow the instructions." The woman pointed to a piece of paper stuck at the wall and went her merry way towards the kitchen, were seconds later, loud noises followed.
"Not my business!" Issei murmured while doing stretches in a attempt to fight off his pain.
While the cafe/bar had the most movement during the morning and late evening, there was still a flux of people coming during noon. The brunette sighed in annoyance and tiredness, while wiping the countertop. While cleaning the counter, issei spotted some rice balls in a plate, covered with plastic film and a small name tag on the side that read "For Issei".
"She remembered about me!" Tears were running down his face.
After a quick meal, the brunette went back to work at full throttle.
—-(-o-)—-
Although the work by the part of mid-day wasn't hard, it was repetitive and it gave Issei the chance to read a bit on his book. The book had a militaristic feeling, and sometimes felt more like a diary with complementary notes.
Technics like silent step and camouflage were described in detail and some even looked silly and seemed impossible to work. Who in bloody hell would hide inside a cardboard box in the middle of a enemy base? And who would be stupid enough to not notice it?
Outside of a few oddities, the book had things that Issei could call obvious if you just thought about it. Between serving and preparing coffee, tea, juice and snacks to customers, Issei had time to make quite a few notes for himself. Maybe he could use some of those stealth techniques and peek at girls without getting catch. If this so called Boss could get away with prisoners from inside heavily guarded bases without getting catch, maybe Issei could avoid being seen or flee a few high school girls. Maybe he could peek at Tiamat or even Yukihime in their changing room.
.
.
.
Yeah, how about no!
If Tiamat was as strong as she seemed, if he got catch it would be death.
As the day went, Issei got accustomed with the rhythm of the cafe. He was a bit sore from carrying boxes in the morning for sure, but nothing he couldn't handle. Besides, he was working with some of the most beautiful young women he could ever hope to see. Not even the best AV actresses were as beautiful as Tiamat or as cute and charming as Yukihime.
Issei hoped that he would not fuck this chance up. Working here was fun! And being with beauties didn't hurt either.
As the afternoon passed and night came Tiamat exited the kitchen and came back to the counter. As the female brunette flipped a switch under the counter, the back wall emitted a few noises and went suddenly flipped inside out. Now all sorts of alcoholic drinks were exposed. Fancy glass cups and mugs. It was pretty, and if Issei wasn't a minor he would definitely be having a sip.
"Nice, right? I have a bit of everything here. It's a bit hard to get some of the booze but hey, what is life without some hicks in the journey right?" The woman puffed her chest, looking really proud of herself.
Issei only nodded, not trusting his mouth to say the right words for the moment. And to think all of that was just behind him!
"I am going to teach you to make any drink a customer wants! Yuki-chan and Alfred are the only ones besides me allowed to stay here at the bar. You are going to be able to stay here when I am here so that you don't mess up okay?" Maybe he should feel special that Tiamat allowed him to stay at her precious place? Others certainly didn't had the freedom he had with her.
"Now let's get ready! Ah...just so you know, you are going to work the night shift too okay?"
"Yeah sure...wait, WHAT?!"
.
.
.
The week passed with Issei under tutorage of:
Tiamat as the cafe attender for the day and bartender for the night.
Yukihime-chan with manners and attending clients.
Even Alfred-san was a teacher for the brunette with some "chivalry" and butler behavior. Even some self-defense was thrown into the mix for reasons Issei had yet to understand.
When he asked Tiamat why had she asked Alfred to beat him black and blue she only said : "You are going to need it in the weekend!"
And then Saturday came. The day went by at the same pace the others, but then came the night!
Oh boy came the night and Issei swore to god Tiamat loved trouble. The rowdiest people came to the bar Saturday night and it was the most loud night Issei had ever had. Gangs of bikers, Yakuza looking men in white suites, hell even politician were seen there. From the most refined men to the most brutish looking one.
The women then...boy howdy! Accompanying models galore. Issei even recognized one actress from one of his favorite AVs. Momo Yazuki had those killer thick thighs.
Of course if Issei so much as looked then funny, the bodyguards around the big shots would tore holes in his back with their stares.
.
.
.
2:57 A.m
On the way home I was legit walking on autopilot. Work had been so much exhausting no doubt due to the fact that the clients from table 07 kept on ordering mojitos and piña coladas, the ones in table 13 were being rude to table 12 and 14, there was one fat dude in table 03 that kept on trying to grab Yuki-chan's ass. That dude was asking to die. Scratch that, I was going to kick his shit in myself but Alfred-san beat me to the punch. I was surprised by how polite he was when he asked the fat fuck to go away. The pig had the guts to wet Alfred-san by splashing him with champagne.
When he did that I couldn't handle it. If Tiamat-san was angry at me, she didn't demonstrated. I hopped the counter and went straight to the table. As Alfred-san was ready to do something, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backward. I grabbed the pig by this stupid yellow tie and drove a fist straight into his face. My hand hurt a bit, but nothing that mattered.
When he stared at me with a stupefied face I grabbed him back and started to drag him outside. When he tried to fight back I drove another fist into his fat nose. I heard a low 'crack' and a whimper from the man. When we reached the front, I kicked him out in the street.
He tried complaining, but I just had to raise my foot again and he went away grumbling to himself.
When I entered again it seemed as if no one noticed or cared for the events that happened. Tiamat was at the counter looking at me with a suspicious grin. I just dropped the fat wallet in front of her and entered the counter. Her smile grew tenfold and she laughed at me.
I was just five streets away from home when I entered a alley to take a shortcut. Blocking the exit was the same fat drunkard. I could see from here his smashed nose that still had blood all over it. Bastard had a bottle of cheap whiskey halfway done and the face of someone who had one too many drinks.
My earphones blocked whatever sound he was making and I was too tired to deal with any stuff so I just went straight and ignored him.
His face became red with anger and it seemed as if he had started shouting. "Take on me" was doing me wonders by blocking his stupid voice. The tape I had gotten from old man Miller had some of the weirdest 90's musics, but they were too relaxing to pass up.
As I walked and ignored fatso, I closed my eyes and let the music dull out my tiredness as my feet guided my on auto.
.
.
.
!
*Swing*
*Swoosh*
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.
.
I felt danger. True danger. I tried jumping aside but felt something blunt bash me aside. I felt my breath be taken away from me when I impacted hard with the wall of the alley.
I slid down the hard wall and opened my eyes to see a creature?
The supposed man that was supposed to be in front of me was gone. In his place a red skinned monster dressed in a suit. One of his hands held a blackened club with blunt spikes and the other held the same whiskey bottle. His face was greased up and a pair of horns had grown. His maw had sharp teeth coming out and a greenish goo was stuck to his lower mouth.
My bag was thrown away and scattered its contents. My tape player had been knocked away and the earphones unplugged. As the volume was maxed out a random music started to play but was dulled out by the sound of my own heartbeat. I hurried to stand up and tried to run away but the hulking beast stood in my way.
"You fucking piece of shit, you made me look bad in front of all those people. How should you bay me back huh? E-even my fucking...wallet was taken away. The Oobakes and the Busu...*Burp*...jima now think I'm a weak maggot because I got pushed around by a disgusting human like y-you!" His voice was rough and deep. The sighs of drunkenness clear by his stuttering.
I could say nothing. The monster was three times my size and my legs were shaking like jelly.
DEATH
"Die you shit, die and become gold for me!" The monster swung its club, its aim to smash me
I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Going to die!going to die! Going to die! Die!die!die!die!die!die!die!die!die!die!#'nhskbdijwbdunwvdh...
.
.
.
I don't want to die!
[Boost!]
Power flooded my insides! Not enough!
I swung my left hand, forming a fist.
The world started to flow slowly. I could see the blackened club coming to be my doom. There was some sort of small, red gauntlet with a green round jewel atop my hand. What is that thing? Don't care, I can feel it, it's giving me power. Not enough, I need more!
[Boost!]
More power flooded my system, but I need much more. Don't want to die! Need more, need more, need more...more, more, more...
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.
.
[Dragon Booster!]
.
.
.
MORE POWER!
[TriBoost!]
I felt power. I was power. Coursing through my veins, through my very being. A green light shined greatly through my whole left arm. The world sped up again. My shining arm collided with the club. A loud crack sounded through the alley as wood splintered and broke atop my glowing fist.
My fist broke the club and went through it.
As the red-skinned monster stared at its broken weapon, Issei slid under the monster's grotesque legs. Kicking the back wall for momentum, Issei climbed the monster's back and delivered the strongest punch he could. Another loud crack echoed. The towering monster fell down raising a small cloud of dust.
The brunette raised his fist and rained down another blow at the back of the head of the monster who groaned. Fist raised, pound.
.
.
.
Thud!
Arm cocked back, fist raised, pound...
Thud!
Cocked back, fist, pound...
Thud!
Pound...
Thud!
Pound...
Thud!
Pound...
Thud!
.
.
.
When the mechanical movement of the brunette stopped he just stayed there. Sat down and arms lying dead at his side and head held back, looking at the starry night.
A soft green glow clung to his left arm that felt heavier and more clunky than necessary. And the wetness and goo that clung to his body was annoying...
Issei looked down at his clothes and arms and any words died at the bottom of his throat. His eyes watered and he felt disgusting. Chunks of meat clung to his arms as a gooey matter stained his clothes. He felt something cold on his cheek, blood and brain light reflected from his eyes and he didn't even felt his body move.
In fact Issei didn't even remember how he moved or reached home. Or when he entered the bathroom.
When did he ripped his clothing of his body?
When had he entered the bathtub?
When did he start scrubbing his body? Harder and harder.
The gunk and blood was long gone yet he still felt dirty.
...drip...drip...
Eh? Water? But it came from his...eyes? Tears? Why?
Was he crying? Why was he crying?
Small laughter was heard. It sounded broken and distorted. His lips were trembling, twitching. Was he the onelaughibg? Wasn't...he crying?...
#*!"$:!-$-":!
A brown circle with a strange pattern shone in the bathroom. A horned dragon surrounded by five elements. And bounded by a chain.
From the circle came a woman, a brunette. Light brown hair, well rounded face, bountiful chest, perfect curves, round behind, and perfectly thick legs.
All of that was clad in black pants and white slacks. Hair tied in a ponytail. Her amber eyes focused on the crying and madly laughing boy who was scrubbing his body so hard some parts were of a violent red color.
The woman approached the brunette, and without hesitation she entered the bathtub. She extended her arms and grabbed the youth's head who only now noticed the visitant.
The woman laid on her back and brought the dead-spirited youth with her, putting his head in the middle of her chest. The young man stood still surrounded by the softness and motherly charm of the woman.
"There there hatchling, it is okay now! Mother is here, mother is here." Her velvet voice calmed his wild heart.
Her low groaning was a calm melody as no other.
Wings covered both in a warm embrace as the water of the tub rose lightly, just enough to create a fine and shallow mist in the bathroom.
"Rest easy now hatching. Mother is here!"
Cometh forth all the spawn of monstrosity,
For your mother lies here.
Be it good or evil, my womb conceded all that is considered anomaly and as by my decree you are all my children.
Conceded from chaos, killed by order, and reborn by both; I, Tiamat, give you hatchling, as I gave and will give to all my children, the children of anomaly, a place of rest in my womb.