Misono crossed his arms in a commanding gesture. They had been making a plan while Mahiru had gone to the antique store. Misono had Lily go out and buy some costumes for him and Kranz.
Misono got into his disguise and was showing it off. He seemed to be enjoying his new height due to his shoes.
Tora had no idea of what to say. The disguises weren't perfect and kind of embarrassing. " Wow. Well you're trying your best. " She said when she saw Misono show off. She felt compelled to say something but decided to stay silent.
Even Lily had a hard time believing that Misono was going thoroughly through his plan.
" Me and Kranz will be infiltrating the hotel from the front. Tora and the servamp of Gluttony— " Misono began before Jerry interrupted him.
" I have a name you know. " Jerry said in an exasperated tone. Tora shushed him harshly.
"— will be infiltrating from the back. Gil and his friends will be distracting Tsubaki. Easy. "
" Probably won't be that easy. " Tora mumbled to Jerry. He nodded in agreement.
" I trust you Misono but are you sure that you should be wearing those disguises? " Lily asked nervously. He looked over Misono's disguise and didn't even bother to look at Kranz's disguise. He knew he would just be even more worried.
" Of course. My disguise is perfect! "
" You should give up Lily. " Tora said rather helpfully. She was suddenly behind the servamp and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Misono turned sharply at Tora. " What's that suppose to mean? " He demanded.
" Uh, nothing. " Tora said raising her hands in the air to pacify Misono.
(Time Skip)
" Mahiru is taking longer than I thought. " Tora said as she sat on a bench with Jerry. " I mean, disappearing into an unbreakable black ball is strange. Might be some sort of self defense mechanism that's never been activated until now. "
They were waiting outside of the hotel were Lawless and Licht should be. Misono, Lily and Kranz had already went into the hotel. Tora and Jerry were waiting for their turn to go into the hotel. They expected some sort of resistance especially if the Misono and the others cover was blown.
" Yeah I guess. But who knows what'll take to get my big bro out of that ball. Never seen something like that. " Jerry said as he chewed on some chocolate.
Jerry closed his eyes intending on taking a nap. He was getting sleepy after eating so much chocolate. He suddenly felt a familiar presence enter his proximity. His eyes flew open in surprise.
" Something wrong? " Tora asked as she saw Jerry sniff the air. Jerry had the best nose of all the servamps.
" Someone I know is here. " Jerry absent-mindedly replied. He knew that presence he just had a hard time putting a name to the face.
Then he remembered. His older brother Doubt Doubt was here. Which also meant that Mikuni was here as well. Did that mean that Mahiru was here too? Jerry sniffed the air and caught another familiar scent. Johannes was here too.
" What a surprise to see you in this city Tora! You missed me I'm sure." An unbearably cheery voice with a condescending tone said. Tora rolled her eyes in annoyance.
She looked to her left and saw Mikuni walking up to the bench. Doubt Doubt or Jeje was wrapped around his neck in his snake form. She didn't spot Johannes yet.
" Trust me I wouldn't come all the way to this city to see you. " Tora said with contempt dripping off her words. " What're you doing here? "
Mikuni tilted his hat with his hand. " Oh I think you know. I heard that my little brother was going into some sort of suicide mission. I'm surprised you let him go by himself. The servamp of Lust is not going to be able to protect him against powerful opponents. That just ain't Lily's style. "
" Oh I knew there would be danger. But I thought I would let you protect Misono since he is your little brother. I mean, who wouldn't want to protect their sibling even if said sibling hated your guts. You should probably hurry though because I'm sure Misono has already run into trouble. " Tora said as she leaned into the bench.
It's not that she didn't care for Misono she just thought it be better to let Mikuni handle protecting Misono. She still had to take care of all the other remaining subclasses that were hiding in the hotel somewhere.
Mikuni's smile stayed plastered on his face. Tora could tell that the older man was calculating and making his plan already.
" Well I suppose I should be going. You wouldn't mind telling me where Misono went? " Mikuni asked. He already knew the answer before the younger girl said anything.
" I'm sure you can figure that out. A former C3 agent like yourself should be good at hunting down people right? " Tora said in a deadpan voice.
" Well, see ya later. I hope you don't die. " Mikuni said as he walked away. He was heading for the hotel, ready to help his brother whether he liked it or not.
" Me too. " Tora called after him. " Still really dislike him. " She said as an afterthought.
A few minutes later it was the Gluttony pair's turn to attack. Tora and Jerry found a way to sneak in from the back. The parking lock wasn't full with cars. It was actually very empty. It was also too clean. Tora could tell they were in a trap.
Jerry sniffed the air and a scent hit his nose. " There are a lot of subclasses here. They're hiding close by. " He informed Tora.
" Oh great. For a minute there I was thinking this was going to be easy. " Tora said sarcastically. She slipped her gloves onto her hands and summoned her katana.
" I smell fire. " Jerry said. He recognized the smell.
" So he's here? Alright. Come out you fire bastard! " Tora challenged loudly.
There was a sound of footsteps from the shadows. " I'm surprised. Excuse this old man's bad memory. Do I know you? " Higan said in a mocking tone. He was already lighting a cigarette as if he had not a care in the world. That just made Tora hate him more.
" Shut up. You know me you stupid fire bastard! " Tora said as she pointed her katana at Higan.
" Such language from such a fine lady. But yes I think I remember you now. Were you that little girl whose house I burned down ten years ago? I thought everyone died during that night. " Higan said in a cheery tone.
Tora stayed silent while seething inwardly. She hated this man so much. She remembered the night clearly.
She was only eight years old. She was kind of bored since her parents were in a business meeting like always. At least she had Jerry as her friend. But right now he was raiding their refrigerator since he was always hungry.
He never drank her blood because she was just a little girl. He didn't need to drink her blood even though he did crave it sometimes. He would only drink it when he had to.
She was playing with her toys when she heard screaming. She suddenly smelled smoke in the house. What was happening? The screaming began to die down. The people screaming was her parents with their friends. Something bad was happening to them.
" Mom! Dad! " Tora called out as she stumbled toward her door. She could feel heat seeping through the door. The sound of crackling fire was behind the door.
" Tora! " Jerry called out as he realized the house was burning. His first priority of course was his young master. He could the fire wasn't natural. They had the scent of magic on them. He grabbed the scarf off his neck and hid it into his pocket. It would be bad if the scarf caught fire.
He could tell she wasn't dead yet or in pain. But he did smell the scent of death in the air. Tora's parents were already dead to the strange flames.
Jerry ran to Tora's room and ripped the door open. He grabbed the girl and fled the building.
" My condolences to your family. Even if I'm a bit late. " Higan said. His hand suddenly burst into flames.
He launched a fireball towards the Gluttony pair. Jerry jumped to the left while Tora jumped to the right. Fire erupted all around them. Tora observed the flames with a calculating look.
" This is not going to end well if we can't find out where the fire bastard is. One hit is all we need. " Tora looked to her left. Jerry brought out his chain and whirled it around.
The flames burned brighter until Higan himself appeared behind Jerry. Before anyone could react Higan snatched the scarf off of Jerry's neck. Higan smirked as he held the scarf. Jerry started to advance towards Higan.
The servamp was pushed back by a wall of fire.
" No! " Tora shouted in realization.
" I'm going to assume this scarf is your contract item? It's so flammable. " Higan said as his hand started to heat up.
Jerry's heart started to race in fear. Tora was thinking furiously, trying to think of something to do. She needed to get that scarf back.
Then Higan set the scarf on fire without hesitation.
(Thirteen Years Ago)
World End felt very weak. His master had just died of old age. World End was devastated when he discovered that she had died. At least she died rather peacefully. She had died in her sleep.
But he was hungry for blood. He hadn't had a decent meal for a while. He was even getting nauseous just watching others eat. And at the time it daytime so he was stuck in his animal form.
He snuck behind a food store and looked for leftovers. He could barely get into the trash cans. That's when he found some perfectly good bags of candy on the ground. Without a second thought he ripped the bag open and began to munch down on the candy.
It was so good. The best food he had for awhile. The flavor was just right and the candy wasn't sticky. But it wasn't blood.
There were footsteps but Jerry ignored them. He was just that hungry. He bet that the footsteps belonged to stop garbage man anyways.
" So I got all this candy and - hey! Stop eating my candy you stupid pig! " A young voice screamed angrily.
World End looked up, startled. He saw a small group of extremely young kids. They were about the ages of five and six. And they also looked very angry at him. Oh boy.
They were faster then they looked. They were suddenly surrounding him and were kicking him harshly. He squealed in surprise and pain.
" You stupid pig! " They were all saying. World End just wanted to hurt them so badly but he didn't really have the strength.
" Hey! " A new voice said. It was a female voice and sounded just as young as the boys.
The boy stopped kicking him. They looked to the source of the voice. They actually looked a little scared. World End closed his eyes and felt his body slowly healing.
" Oh it's her! Let's go! " One of the boys said as they ran.
World End suddenly felt a small hand touch his snout. He reacted on instinct and bit down on the hand. There was a gasp in the hand yanked itself out of his mouth.
" Ow! Ow! Ow! Dang it! That hurt! Meanie. " The female voice said with a sob.
World End opened his eyes to see a young girl. She was clutching the hand that he had bitten. It was bleeding pretty heavily. The girl didn't seem to be panicking so that's good.
World End trotted over to the girl and started to lick her bleeding hand. He hoped he could stop the bleeding before it got too serious. Once the bleeding stopped the girl tentatively reached over and began to pet him.
" Thank you. My name's Tora. I think that bite is going to scar. It looks like the crescent moon. It's cool. " Tora said as she examined the scar.
World End tilted his head in confusion. She wasn't as scared as he thought. But he guessed she was five years old so she probably still believed in fairy tales.
Tora had taken him home after that. She was worried he would get hurt again so she decided to keep him.
World End enjoyed the attention she gave him. They didn't even make a contract. Tora didn't give him a name or a gift so she was completely oblivious to the fact that he was a servamp.
Then one day Tora presented him with a gift. She had taken off the red scarf she was always wearing and stitched a name into it.
" Hey I got you a present. It's kind of like a collar but it's better because it's cooler. " Tora said as she wrapped the scarf around World End's neck.
World End could feel a contract beginning to form. But she still hadn't given him a name yet.
" I'll call you Jerry. " Tora said while fondly petting World End.
Jerry found himself smiling.
A Special Christmas Story :
It was Christmas Eve and at a certain apartment there were some certain Servamps sleeping together.
Hyde was sleeping on top of his brother, Kuro. And next to Kuro was Hugh and on top of Hugh was Lily. They were all very peaceful. They were all in their animal forms as well.
Mahiru had invited all of the other Eves to stay at his house. Mikuni had declined and stated that he would come at Chirtmas morning.
So there they all were, sleeping peacefully like a good family. The peace was suddenly interrupted though. There was a sound of an unfamiliar walking inside of the apartment.
Hugh was the first to wake up. He opened his little tiny bat eyes and suddenly gasped in surprise. He spotted an intruder. The intruder was very fat and was wearing red for some reason.
" Guys there's an intruder. " Hugh said quietly but loud enough for the others to hear.
The other Servamps woke up. Except for Kuro who snored on.
Hyde snarled and immediately jumped into action. He quickly turned into his human form and tackled the intruder. The intruder let out a yelp of surprise. Then he suddenly went still. The intruder looked like he just had a heart attack.
" I think I got him. " Hyde said rather proudly.
Lily walked up to the motionless form of the intruder. He turned on the light and gasped.
" Guys, I don't think taking this man down was good idea. " Lily said nervously.
" Why not? " Hyde asked as he dusted himself off.
" Because I think this man was Santa Clause. " Lily pointed towards the body.
Hugh rubbed his monocle. " Is he dead? "
" I think so. Hyde gave him a heart attack. " Lily said taking Santa's pulse. There was none.
Kuro woke up to all the commotion. " What's happening? Wait, is that Santa? Is he dead? " Kuro asked incredulously.
" Yes, Hyde killed Santa. " Hugh said with all seriousness.
" Hey! "
Kuro looked at Hyde, " You're telling me that you just killed the man that gives happiness and joy to children all around the world? You're heartless. "
" I didn't mean to kill him. It was an accident! " Hyde protested.
Kuro ignored the others as they continued to argue about who killed Santa. Kuro looked in the kitchen and found a large red bag. He pulled it over and opened it. He began to pull out several presents.
" What're you doing Kuro? " Lily asked curiously.
" Gettng our presents. This is getting too tiresome. " Kuro muttered as he pulled out the presents. " Santa had come to give us presents and that's what I'm getting. "
" And you call me heartless. "
" Please shut up. "
When Kuro was done getting the presents he looked at Santa's body. He knew they couldn't just leave it there. He didn't want to explain to Mahiru why they had a dead man in the living room. That would get annoying.
" Hyde, grab the body and come with me. " Kuro ordered as he picked up the red bag.
" Why do I have to pick up the body? " Hyde grumbled out as he picked up the body.
" Becuase you killed him. "
" It was an accident! "
Kuro and Hyde walked up to the roof. And as expected there was Santa's sleigh, along with the reindeer. Kuro threw the bag into the back of the sleigh. Hyde deposited Santa's body into the sleigh.
" Now to get rid of the body. " Kuro said to himself. He went into the sleigh and found the reins. He picked them up and gave the reindeer the signal to move. Kuro jumped out of the sleigh as it began to lift off the ground.
" Do you think Santa will come back to life? " Hyde asked his older brother.
" Probably. I myself have killed him before. " Kuro replied with a tired voice.
" Seriously!? "
Author's Note
Merry Christmas