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.

14. Chapter 14

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

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"Hey, check it out! Morisato got dumped…"

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised to be honest."

"Aw man… You think those babes are still around? I really wanted to talk to them... Especially that Urd! What a body!"

"Really? I kind of liked Belldandy more. Plus, she was around the campus more often. Too bad she never hanged around anyone other than Morisato and the rest of the Motor Club…"

Ignoring the other students' gossip, Keiichi walked out of the amphitheater after his morning classes were over and hoped that he would finally get some peace. Due to Hild's sudden visit, her daughters wanted to spend some time with her, which naturally included Mara too, and even Ansuz. While the latter denied that she actually wished to be around her old friend, only wanting to keep an eye out for her notorious pranks; something Keiichi really doubted.

And with Belldandy and Skuld joining them as well, feeling a bit nostalgic about their childhood when they all hanged around together while visiting Urd, Keiichi was inevitably left alone. In reality, it was just until midday when the rest of his classes would be truly over and he could meet them in downtown Nekomi. However, it was apparently more than enough for rumors to spread around.

It was no big secret that in the last couple of days, Keiichi became something more than just another member of the infamous Motor Club. He was now the single, most hated individual amongst the students of NIT who could only stare at him and his entourage of foreigners with jealousy evident in their eyes. A seemingly boring and average everyday dude had turned into a chick magnet all of a sudden and while they were used to Aoshima and his harem, this situation was vastly different when it came to the short boy.

Money couldn't be a motive, given how poor, Keiichi really was and considering that there was nothing else that justified his appeal in their eyes, the rest of the students couldn't help but curse his name under their breaths. The exotic beauties this bloke had attracted were out of a fantasy, easily outclassing any of the local girls, and yet, they somehow found a dude who was totally hopeless to be absolutely irresistible.

The fact that there was no official explanation for their presence made everything worse and during the first few days, some of the bolder students had actually attempted to ask a few of them out whenever they got an opportunity. Unsurprisingly they were all turned down and according to a rumor, even the irresistible playboy of NIT had found his match, failing miserably to seduce them with his fat wallet and fake charms.

Getting a cola from a vending machine to forget about the dirty glances he was receiving, Keiichi wondered if he looked like that whenever someone popular walked by with his girlfriend next to him. Actually, none of the aforementioned immortals were in a relationship with him and while he was certainly trying to make a good impression to Belldandy, right now they were just good friends. It was encouraging that there were signs that the goddess also wanted to get closer to him and enough hints that she was even jealous whenever he was around a pretty girl, but, they weren't yet to the point where one might consider them as a couple.

'We're not even holding hands and everyone is making such a big deal about it!... And who cares about their stupid opinion anyway? All they think is how to score! No wonder they're not getting their attention. Besides… they're here on vacations, not to find a boyfriend.'

Checking his watch, Keiichi had to suppress a groan. It would still take an hour for his lab courses to start and then he'd be finally free for today. Without anything else to do or even someone to talk to, he had to simply sit there and just wait; something he was used to in the past, yet it felt really strange now. His life had now gotten a lot busier and most importantly, way more bizarre; making this peaceful moment feel rather strange. As a matter of fact, the time he spent around the campus was acting more like a break from his otherwise crazy lifestyle and less of a boring chore as it used to in the past.

"Hello there, Keiichi. Am I bothering you?"

Almost choking on his cola, the dark haired boy couldn't believe who decided to show up; Sayoko Mishima, the most popular student was apparently interested to have conversation with him. It was true that quite some time ago he attempted to ask her out, but, that was ancient history already, and she didn't even to bother looking back after she flat out refused. Sure, she did show up during that Campus Queen contest, although, he assumed that it had more to do with the others, instead of him.

"Uh… No, I was just waiting until my lab courses of…"

"That's perfect, then!" said Sayoko, trying to stop him before he found an excuse to leave. It was rare for him to be totally alone these days and this was the perfect opportunity to have a nice chat with him. "We can go and have a nice cup of tea in a nearby cafe. I'm sure that's way better than drinking some cola, right?"

"Actually…" started Keiichi as he got up to leave, but, apparently it must've appeared as if he was about to accept and much to his surprise, Sayoko wrapped her arm around his.

"Excellent! We can return back, right on time for your classes." Offering a smile, the Mishima heiress held his arm close to her chest in a manner she had seen from romance manga and movies. And apparently it worked, although she was certain that he was mostly baffled instead of embarrassed at the sudden interest. Still, she had managed to make him follow her towards her parked BMW convertible and that was more than enough for now. 'Once I take him to the cafe, he's going to slowly loose up and begin to reveal what's the big deal about those girls.'

It took him a few moments to realize, but there was more to this setup than he had initially thought. Sayoko was wearing a nice red coat with a white top and a black skirt, all of them looking rather formal; not just something she'd normally wear as a casual outfit. Even though she was always dressed in fancy clothes, this time it seemed almost as if she was going on a date and he wasn't the only one who noticed.

The horrified students of NIT could hardly believe their eyes as the odd couple walked across the campus. If they disliked Keiichi before, now they were downright furious, their rage boiling deep in their tormented souls as this scene unfolded before their eyes. Whispering amongst themselves, the angry mob was utterly scandalized by the audacity of this happy-go-lucky, average and utterly bland guy who not only had a harem of pretty foreigners, but, he apparently added the campus' most popular girl as well.

"Morisato Keiichi… may you burn in Hell…"

"What's so great about that shorty, anyway?"

"Why?!... Just why?!..."

Unlike before, it was rather difficult for Keiichi to ignore the dirty looks he was getting, although, his suffering didn't last for far too long. Once they've reached her convertible, the Mishima heiress wasted no time and promptly got them out of there, much to the dark haired student's relief. 'I really hope they're going to forget about this… The last thing I need is her fans to come after me…'

"You seem troubled." It was a statement, instead of question, and Sayoko had to admit that she had a very good idea as to why. Still, finding something to talk about would make the rest of the trip to the cafe a bit more pleasant and ease off some of the awkwardness of the entire situation; a key element if she wanted her plan to work.

"Anyone in my position would," admitted Keiichi as he swallowed hard. "I really didn't like the looks I got back there. It seems that a lot of them may have gotten the wrong idea…"

"What they think is of no consequence to me, actually. I'm not obligated to ask anyone's permission to socialize with those I personally choose," said Sayoko with a rather cold and detached manner, if not a downright disgusted one. "Just because I'm popular doesn't mean that those silly fans can dictate my life."

"I see… I never thought that it was that bad," said Keiichi, wisely avoiding to mention that the rich woman did very little to avoid this kind of exposure to others. She thrived for being popular, even though she apparently didn't enjoy certain aspects of the whole situation.

"There are times when it's easier to cope with it, and yet there are instances where it gets… Well you saw what happened…" said the brunette as she kept her eyes on the road, driving towards their destination. "In a way, it's far better when I decide to talk to more affluent men, given that everyone assumes it's their money that makes them worthy of my attention. Whenever I pick someone else, they always make a big deal of it, mostly out of jealousy. Not that they really care for me; it's merely that my fortune is too good to pass and want to get a share as well."

"I guess that's the price of being popular," said Keiichi, only to wince when he realized how it must've sounded to her. 'Way to go, Morisato… Let's piss her off, shall we?'

"Everything has a price in this world; fame included. Sure, if you want to be cynical about it, I'm paying that price for wanting to get other's attention, but then again who doesn't? Success and recognition are two of the most common motivational forces for people," said Sayoko with a shrug.

"Not everything has to do with money, though," countered Keiichi despite the tiny voice in his head that advised against getting into a debate about morals with her.

"I never implied that it was all about money, actually. Still, if you lack the necessary funds, your dreams will remain just that; a part of your imagination. Realizing anything requires money, although that also depends on what you're going after; some things are more expensive than others, while there are a few that may require a lot more elements like talent, skills and even sheer luck. I'm perfectly aware that people greatly value idealism as something unquestionably good, yet, too much of it can lead one to become delusional," explained Sayoko. "Take your hobby for example… Without the necessary funds, is it possible to put any kind of vehicle together?"

"Well, I cannot argue with that… We need the necessary resources to build anything, but… that doesn't mean that it's all about the money," insisted the dark haired student, refusing to accept her viewpoint.

"Yet without it, you cannot achieve what you want. And like I've originally stated, it's also about recognition and success. You're not racing against others only for the fun part, are you?" said Sayoko with a small grin. "You do want to win, and you shouldn't be ashamed to admit that. This is another example of success, although what probably annoys you is that some can achieve similar things by burning a lot more money. Or get insanely popular with the ladies, as well..."

"You're talking about Aoshima, aren't you?"

"Indeed I am, Keiichi. And to clear something up… Just because he's my cousin, doesn't mean that I'm particularly fond of him at all," said Sayoko as they reached the cafe and parked her car outside.

Following her into the small, yet expensive looking cafe, it was immediately evident that this was a place for the more affluent citizens of Nekomi. Businessmen, white collar workers and other people with a better than average salary could enjoy a nice, hot beverage without having to deal with the buzz of the much cheaper and typically packed cafes. This made the experience way more enjoyable, as it gave the patrons a moment to take a breath from their busy schedules and relax for a few minutes in silence.

"Over there. That's my favorite spot here," said Sayoko, leading Keiichi to a secluded corner in the shop, while she motioned for the waiter to approach. "The usual for me. What about you Keiichi?"

"Um… I'd like some green tea."

Writing down the order, the waiter offered them a smile and thanked them for visiting their cafe, making Keiichi feel rather special for a moment; unlike the otherwise indifferent treatment he was normally getting from the places he typically visited.

'Maybe this isn't so bad… Although, what is she up to?'

XXX

Muspelheim, Central Command Center

'I'll be right back in a few hours! In the meantime, try not to start a war or something.

Yours truly, Hild-chan :3 '

"Hrym? What the Hell am I reading?" Holding the note up, the ruler of the fiery realm wasn't sure if this was yet another of Hild's pranks or if she was actually serious. Even for someone who knew her as well as he did, it was sometimes nearly impossible to decide if she was joking just by reading one of her so called messages.

"Uh… Well, Hild-sama went to the mortal realm for a short visit, and…" started the half demon, feeling that this was going to make his boss even angrier than he currently was. Dealing with paperwork was never a task Surt relished and having to wait for their leader to return in order to sign the documents about the realm's tithes, as it was required by the demonic law. While semi independent, all realms were expected to pay a tenth of their annual income in resources to the Daimakaicho and right now, the demoness in question was nowhere to be seen.

"She's missing, her second in command is on vacations… Who's running this bloody place anyway? Her former hubby? A monkey in a barrel? Answer me!" shouted the irate Eldjotunn.

"I'm certain that this is merely a minor setback, sir. Hild-sama will certainly return in time and…" tried the half demon, knowing all too well how futile was to attempt to convince his boss once he became like that.

"A setback my foot! Everyone is on vacations all of a sudden and I'm the one who never gets to get some fun? I'll show them! We're going for vacations on Earth, too! Me, you, and the entire first tactical regiment of Muspelheim!" boldly declared the leader of the fire realm, much to his subordinate's utter horror.

"The entire!... B-But, sir! That's an invasion!" There was a limit on how far they could go with their antics and while they weren't exactly known for pulling pranks, they had a reputation of overdoing things. If his boss ever had a motto, it would've been something like 'There's no kill like an overkill' or something along those lines. Still, this was on a whole different scale than he was used to and the sheer absurdity of it all baffled him.

"Why? We have both our two highest ranking demonesses, the second highest ranking goddess and several others in the same place. So, what's the problem?" countered Surt, despite how illogical it sounded to begin with. Not only it was unheard of, but, getting that many demons in one place could be seen as an attempt at forceful takeover of a supposedly neutral planet.

'There are so many problems, that I'm not sure where to even start…' Letting a tired sigh, the half demon was certain that whenever his boss got into this kind of mood, changing his mind was all but impossible. On the other hand, this was a new record of how far they were about to go with something that could've only be described as a prank. While demons enjoyed to mess around and cause problems, a stunt of that scale was almost unheard of and Hrym was positive that this was a feat worth of being recorded in history. Although, he wasn't sure whether he wanted his name to be immortalized for such a reason; nobody in his place would've anyway.

Seeing that his subordinate either accepted it or decided to stop wasting their time by fighting the inevitable, Surt couldn't help but smirk. Being predictable was not only boring, it was an easy way for others to read every single move you made and for him, a stunt like this was more than a mere prank. No matter how hilarious it was going to be, once Asgard decided to dismiss such actions as practical jokes, it would give him an edge over them. While he personally preferred to follow the well established military tradition, there was a monumental problem with it; millennia of studying and analyzing the same rules made every single one of them very predictable. "Great! Now go get Naudiz and gather the rest of the troops for our… let's say… field trip."

"Field trips are typically organized for young infernals… not grown, fully trained warriors…" muttered Hrym under his breath, struggling to come into terms with the absurdity of this whole situation.

"I never had one of them while I was a kid, and all the rest that goes along with a sob story like that. Now go and get them, or I'll do it!" said the commander of the Eldjotnar, enjoying the panicked look on his subordinate's face, as he rushed outside of his office.

'Well… Sometimes it takes a bit of an investment to get what you want in the long run, so let them laugh as much as they want now. I doubt that it's going to take long before it's my turn to laugh. Oh, yes…'

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

"Mm… this is some really good tea, indeed. Still, I have a feeling that this is a bit more than that, though."

Keeping a neutral expression on her face, Sayoko knew that sooner or later she was going to have to answer that question. After all, she wasn't the kind of woman to simply ask random students to have a cup of tea with her and the fact that she had turned this particular down a while ago made everything even stranger. "Oh? You do?"

"Look, I don't want to sound like an ungrateful and conceited person, but, I was wondering what's the sudden interested and all," admitted Keiichi with a shrug. "You never really tried to talk to me before, so…"

"What changed all of a sudden?" finished Sayoko for him. "To begin with, I'm fully aware that the vast majority of those around me wish to gain only one thing; money. Sure, there might be some who genuinely find me attractive, but, I have no intention for becoming like Toshiyuki. It's flattering and I must admit that I enjoy it, still, I have no wish to sleep around like him."

"That's nice and all, but… I still don't understand what…"

"In a moment, Keiichi, don't be so impatient. Like I was saying, money is the biggest motive behind those who flock around me and that cousin of mine and yet, there's another person in the campus who gets a lot of attention recently even if he possesses very little," said Sayoko with a grin. "Anyone would become rather curious as to what's going on, don't you think?"

'I should've known that it was about the girls…' Letting a sigh, Keiichi took another sip from his cup, trying to avoid any comment that could've been taken as offensive. Telling one of the richest and most influential students to 'mind her own business' was more than rude, it was downright stupid. "Is it really this exciting to find out about them? I mean, they're just foreigners on vacations."

"Excuse me for being too skeptical, but, I find that to be too unlikely. Of course, I don't want you to feel that this is an interrogation and you're not obligated to answer, still… I thought it's nice to be rather honest, instead of going around the subject with silly excuses," said Sayoko with a smile, pausing only to observe his reactions for a short while. People like Keiichi preferred honesty instead of overly polite mannerisms and sometimes a straight answer would work way better with them, than anything else she could try. "You must've noticed by now that your friends are monopolizing all the interest of the other students, even if their assumptions are kind of silly and unrealistic, if I have to be honest."

"Okay, I'll have to admit that after that silly contest, everyone seems to think that I'm living some stupid fantasy out of a harem manga. But, I'm honestly just staying with them! There's nothing spicy going on and I'm tired sick of all those glares I'm getting for no reason! They're not some easy, exotic girls who are here to get laid by the first dude they ran into!" It was something that the young student didn't want to admit, but at some point, denying it was futile either. As they say, it was the elephant in the room and Keiichi was tired sick of it, and for more than one reason. He was unaccustomed to be the center of attention and then all of a sudden everyone knew about him, although, he was far from a popular guy; quite the opposite. Jealousy made others to dislike him, and while those were merely a minority of the students, they were a pretty vocal one.

"To be fair, I never said that you were doing anything like that with them, Keiichi. Just that the overall situation was kind of… Well, out of the ordinary. That's all there is to it," said Sayoko, feeling that putting more pressure to him would simply make him leave. It was far from the answer she wanted to know, but, it was unlikely for him to spill the beans and say everything he knew about them just because she bought him some tea. Perhaps she had simply overestimated her ability to make him talk and was merely wasting her time here.

Sure, if she kept doing this for a long while, eventually the boy would consider her trustworthy enough, but… that was too time consuming and the others would most definitely take notice; especially Belldandy. She was the one who was most often seen around him and Sayoko had a feeling that the pretty foreigner wouldn't like the idea of her being this friendly towards Keiichi. Despite his claims, the Mishima heiress couldn't shake the feeling that there was something going on between them, although, she didn't think that he was lying either. It was merely the fact that they were nowhere close to sleeping together and as such, his previous statement was technically correct.

It was while she took another sip of her tea that the rich woman had finally remembered a rather obscure, yet extremely important detail about them; their address. According from what she heard from others who knew Keiichi better than her, the whole group, Morisato included, lived in a temple up in the mountains surrounding Nekomi. That by itself was more that bizarre enough, as temples were meant for priests and monks, not a bunch of foreign girls and a college student. While she could vaguely remember about an abandoned temple in that area, it still made no sense for them to be allowed to live there; not legally at least.

'Oh! How haven't I thought that earlier?... I bet if I ask the local authorities, they'll still think that the place is deserted. Hm… that could make him talk for sure… Although, blackmail is more likely something that Aoshima would pull. Still, checking wouldn't hurt anyone and if they somehow happen to own it legally, that would be interesting too.'

Checking his watch, Keiichi decided to cut this conversation short before he ended up saying too much. Unsure of Sayoko's honesty or motives, he had not intention of getting himself or the others in trouble by revealing things which weren't her business to begin with. "Um… Could we go back to the university, now? My class starts in twenty minutes or so."

"Oh, I haven't even noticed! Of course, Keiichi!" said Sayoko with a smile as she finished her own cup of tea. "I'll get you back there in no time at all."

"Thank you."

It's my pleasure, really." Leading him towards her parked car, the brunette woman could barely notice the few weird looks she from across the street, where a famous restaurant was located.

'And then I'll go to the town hall and meet some of my father's friends. I bet they'll provide me some more answers than he did…'

XXX

"Did you just see that, or I imagined a certain boy stepping out of that cafe with a girl?"

Whispering to Urd, Mara had just caught Keiichi leave the cafe across the street with Sayoko, which was more than enough to catch her girlfriend's attention. "Wait a moment!... Isn't she that rich bitch everyone tries to date? Well, well… Just look at that… Keiichi's got some balls after all!"

"But not for too long," was the nasty reply of the half demoness who let a low growl as she watched the two of them walk away from the cafe. "Nobody cheats on my sister and gets away with it!"

"Sh!... not so loud, Urd!" said Mara, trying to keep her girlfriend's voice down. Sitting across of them were the two other Norns, who thankfully had their backs turned to the road and missed the whole spectacle. "If she got to see that, who knows what was going to happen…"

"Someone would've been bitch-slapped for sure. Although, I would've been more than happy to give his family jewels a nice, hard kick… that we wouldn't be able to laugh for years," said Urd with a snarl.

"That almost makes me happy I'm a girl…" muttered Mara under her breath. "I don't even want to know what would've happened if that was me with her."

"To give you a hint, all I'll have to say is that you wouldn't be able to sit for a few days…" was the dry, almost cruel reply, as the Norn of the past seethed in silent rage. She had actually no problems to tease Keiichi a bit and up until recently she decided to take things up a notch, making sure that both he and her sister were dedicated and faithful. This… was unexpected, though, and in all honesty they mere idea of someone trying to pull something like that behind Belldandy's back made her wish to cause some real damage.

'I need to remind myself not to piss her off anytime soon…' Scratching her chin, Mara tried to find a way to defuse the situation behind it somehow escalated. She wasn't all that concerned about Keiichi, especially if it turned out that he wanted to check other girls, but, should things deteriorate, their vacations would most certainly come to an end. "Hey, why don't we follow them and find out what he's up to?"

"Easy for you to say, we can't just disappear; not while we're having lunch like this," whispered Urd, glancing around the table. "The only way is to excuse ourselves for a bit and hope it won't take too much time."

"Hm… I guess there's no other way. Should we go for it?"

"Yeah. The sooner, the better."

XXX

Valhalla, Asgard

"I'm listening, Lind. You still haven't told me what you wanted to say…"

Observing her captain's bizarre behavior, Freya had to admit that she was stumped by the Valkyrie's almost embarrassed look. Lind was a level headed goddess with enough experience to know how to deal with almost anything. As such, the commander of the Valkyries wasn't expecting such hesitation from such a seasoned member of the Fighting Wings like her. Instead, this kind of behavior was more typical of a lesser experienced Valkyrie, especially after they failed some assignment or generally made a big mess.

For her part, Lind was having a hard time to focus on her task at hand. The idea was fairly simple; tell her superior of the attempt of an unknown party to use a love potion on her and Peorth. Yet, explaining that without going into any of the problematic details was very difficult and the last think the Valkyrie wanted was for her commander to think that she was a loose goddess.

That was something her blonde superior had to deal with on a constant basis, having the reputation of a love goddess. Indeed, Freya was often the target of several celestials who apparently enjoyed implicating her in all sorts of outlandish stories of unspeakable debauchery. Most were so silly, that even Lind herself couldn't but shake her head at how some immortals let their envy take over and try to sully another's reputation.

When Ansuz took over the position as Asgard's second in command, Freya was chosen to become her successor as the commander of the Valkyries, generating a lot of outrage. The blonde was considered as nothing similar to a warrior and more of a well meant troublesome goddess who enjoyed playing the matchmaker. As a result, many tried to get her out of that position, coming up with all kinds of rumors about her promiscuousness, the tendency to wear excessive jewelry, and especially the fact that she preferred to leave the top part of her battle uniform mostly open, displaying a generous amount of skin. A cleavage that, Lind suddenly found right in front of her face when she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Are you feeling alright, Lind? You're awfully distracted today… Do you want me to call a healer?"

"No! I'm perfectly fine, Freya-sama! It's just that…" started the blue haired Valkyrie, before she was interrupted by her superior's phone.

"One moment please." Turning back to her desk and bending over to grab the headset, Freya was blissfully unaware of the blush on the junior goddess' face, who had to turn to the side to avoid the rather impressive view she was currently getting from her commander.

'I'm not a pervert, but… she shouldn't be teasing me like that… Wait… why should I consider this as teasing? Or even care anyway?'

"What?! That's!... are you positive?... I know!... Oh, dear Heavens!..."

Judging by the tone of the blonde's voice, whatever that was, it had to be something big. Despite the rumors, Freya was actually a competent commander, one who constantly tried to improve and avoid disappointing her subordinates, so, listening to her somewhat distressed voice was a bad omen.

"Is there something wrong, ma'am?"

"I'm afraid so, Lind," said Freya as she set the headset down, and turned to face her. "An Eldjotnar regiment suddenly appeared on the mortal realm."

"What? Are they starting an invasion?"

"That's the… strange part," said Freya, struggling to even accept what she heard. "They're on… vacations. Or so they claim, at least."

"Vacations?... A whole regiment?"

"Yes, that seems to be the case."

"Is this some kind of joke, ma'am?"

"Wish it was, but… you know their leader. Who knows what he's up to, this time."

"Then what are going to do?"

Taking a deep breath, Freya had to admit that this was a very good question. There was no precedence or even anything remotely similar to such a bizarre event, and as a result the Valkyrie captain had little idea how to respond to the demons' unorthodox tactics. 'I'll show them…'

"We're going to fight fire with fire!" said Freya after a long pause. "Gather a regiment of Valkyries and tell them to get some nice bikinis."

"Uh… Did I hear correct, ma'am?" asked the dumbfounded Lind. "Bikinis?"

"Of course! We're going to a beach in Okinawa and our battle uniforms would look to inconspicuous. And before you even ask, I don't want to make the demons think that we're completely tasteless," explained the blonde commander. "So, tell the others to pick something fashionable, okay?"

Lind had never thought that the day when she'd hate to follow a direct command would come, and yet it did. Her face had lost all color, but the Valkyrie willed herself to nod and rushed out of the office, before she said anything she'd come to regret later.

'Those… those perverted demons!... Why do I have to wear a bikini in their presence?! Staring at me with their greedy eyes… I'll show them!'

XXX

Materials lab, NIT

'Um… I thought it was going to work. I guess I need to change the composition and try again. I must've gotten it wrong and the result was too brittle.'

Heading to his locker, Keiichi was still wondering what caused his experiment to fail and how to fix the problem until next week's lesson. He was in fact so focused that he didn't notice the two tiny demonesses when he first opened the locker, and ended up closed it leaving them behind; but not for long.

With a mighty crash the metal door swung open, revealing the tiny and yet menacing form of Urd; eyes glowing like simmering embers boring holes in the hapless mortal's soul. "Where do you think you're going, Don Juan DeMarco?"

"Huh?!"

"Don't act all innocent, you wannabe lady killer! Maybe I was a bit too generous with you and after seeing some skin, you now think all the ladies are out there for you to pick?" snarled the tiny demoness, hovering towards him and assuming her full size, with Mara following suit. "Stop staring at me like an idiot! Or did the sight of Hagall's boobies turn your brain into mush?"

"W-What are you t-talking about, Urd?!" If this was a prank, it sure wasn't a funny one, although the grim look on the half demoness' face, as well as her pointed canines left very little room for that possibility. She was serious, enraged and above else, thirsty for blood; which was going to be his by the looks of it. "What have I done?"

"Oh?" Grabbing him by the front of his T-shirt, the half demoness lifted him effortlessly to her eye level, before she growled. "What about a certain brunette? And no, I don't mean my sister! I'm talking about that rich lady… Got the hint already?"

"Wait! You mean, Sayoko?"

"Bingo! At least there's something still working in that head of yours! Now fess up, before I dip your wiener in liquid nitrogen! What were you doing with her in that cafe? Going for the rich girl, while stringing my sister along?"

"No! She was trying to learn more about you and the rest of the immortals! It wasn't a date or something like that! I swear!" said Keiichi, waiving his arms around in panic.

"Hm… You better do." Setting him down, the half demoness let out a frustrated sigh, trying to calm herself.

"Yeah, we saw you two exiting from that fancy cafe and thought… Well, I guess that's kind of obvious, right?" Assuming the role of the good cop, the opposite of what was the norm for her and Urd, the blonde demoness tried to reassure the frightened mortal that all was good. After all, it wouldn't do them any good if he was too afraid to even think straight. "Big softie over there thought that you were after some prissy panties, and her sister was going to be so hurt or something..."

"Who's the big softie?" asked the annoyed Urd, turning her head away with an annoyed huff, although she did try to hide a tiny blush too.

"I'm sorry. I never thought that you would be following me," said Keiichi, scratching his head nervously.

"Not really… we just happened to be across the street, having lunch with the others," explained Mara, much to the student's horror.

"What?! You mean… everyone saw that?!" He was dead. Actually, even death couldn't probably save him right now, as the mortal's mind contemplated just how worse this could get if everyone, Belldandy included happened to see him and Sayoko walk out of that cafe together.

"No, just us, I think," said Urd, making him feel a great wave of relief. "Still, what did she want from you? You said something about information, but… anything more specific?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. I guess she wants to know why you're here and where you came from. Still, the biggest question is why you're all around me," said Keiichi with a sigh. "Which of course is something that a lot of the other students seem to wonder about too."

"No kidding… The aura of their collective envy is kind of visible from miles," said Urd with a chuckle. "I bet a lot of them think that you're getting lucky with us…"

"Yeah… And even if tried that, I'd end up getting liquid nitrogen somewhere I'd rather not want," muttered Keiichi, giving the half demoness a pointed look.

"Oh, come on! I'm not mad with you anymore!" said Urd, giving the mortal a big hug, whether he liked it or not. "Here!... We're all friends again, right?"

While Keiichi struggled to remove his face from the half demoness' ample chest, Mara was all to happy to help by tugging him away from her girlfriend.

"How long are you going to hold on, you perv?"

"She's the one holding me!" was Keiichi's muffled reply, while he also tried to pull away from the giggling hybrid.

"You both look so cute!" laughed Urd, as she finally relaxed; content that there was nothing wrong with her sister's aspiring boyfriend and the entire thing was merely a misunderstanding; which was nothing too out of the ordinary at this point.

"I'm not cute! And stop doing that, Urd! He's getting blue!" said Mara with a grin, as her girlfriend immediately released the college student.

"What?!"

'Heh! Got you…' As both she and the hapless boy ended up on the floor, Mara was more that happy with the fact that her little lie has proven to be efficient and got that happy-go-lucky guy away from Urd's ample bosom; or the rest of her sinfully divine body for that matter.

It was at that moment when the Norn's communicator announced that she had a message and thinking that it was the others, Urd decided to take a look, only to stare at the screen. "Huh?"

"What is it?" asked Mara with a frown, worrying that Hild was unhappy that they simply disappeared for far too long.

"Oh, it's the girls from our Company!" said Urd with a smile, although it was rather evident in her expression that she was rather confused about something. "They've posted an image of them… and melons?"

"What? They sent you topless images?" growled Mara, gritting her teeth at the audacity of her fellow warriors. "When I get my hands on them…"

"No, you silly! Real melons… as in you know… big, green and apparently what people love to break in pieces," laughed Urd, turning the communicator around to let her take a look for herself. "See?"

"That's… strange… This doesn't look like an oasis. Actually, it seems more like a beach, although…" started Mara, only for Urd to finish her sentence.

"Although there's no such thing in Muspelheim. Plus, the message was sent from Midgard, and more specifically, a place called Okinawa."

"That's an island, here in Japan!" said Keiichi, who wasn't all too excited to hear that there might've been more demonesses here on vacations.

"Hm… interesting…" said Urd, scratching her chin. "Okay, I've decided! We're going to take a look!"

"We?" asked Keiichi, trying to get away, only to feel the half demoness' hand grab the back of his clothes.

"Yes… We."

'Why me?...'

XXX

Okinawa, Japan

"I must admit that this excursion is proving to be a rather popular one amongst the troops, Hrym!"

Staring at his superior, the half demon rolled his eyes behind his shades. This was the most ridiculous thing he had the misfortune in partaking and he wasn't particularly happy about it. "Uh… sir? Permission to speak free?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

"We're going to end up being the laughing stock of everyone… Gods, demons, humans…" grumbled Hrym, as he witnessed the surreal vista around him; an entire demonic regiment dressed in bathing suits and having fun along the beach. 'It's one of those days when I wish I had stayed in bed…'

"You think too much about it. Just relax and enjoy this unique opportunity to… catch a wave, if you want," said Surt with a grin. "Or you can grab one of these delicacies. Hm… it looks like shaved ice with some syrup on top of it."

"That's exactly what it is, actually," said the half demon, struggling to suppress a groan.

"So? It still is kind of fun. Now, do me a favor and try to be a bit more cheerful. Look, those guys over there are even making a sand castle," said the uncharacteristically amused ruled of Muspelheim.

"I think that's a trench… I bet all those drills had finally paid off. They're doing it on their own," said Hrym with a sigh. "Can we go back, now?"

"No, and we won't for several more hours! Now stop being such a spoilsports and…"

Turning sharply around, the two demons could only watch as several dozen portals opened all at once, letting hundreds of Valkyries swarm the beach.

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

With Urd and Mara's departure, the group decided to head back to the temple after their lunch. The initial plan was to wait for Keiichi's morning classes to end and meet him in downtown Nekomi; although that was no longer the case. After a mysterious message from Urd stating that she and Mara had met him on their way back and would be late, the rest of them thought that the temple was a better place to regroup, instead of waiting them for who knows how long in front of a fountain or other landmark.

On the other hand, this was a great opportunity for Skuld to present her upgraded and much more power efficient version of Banpei. It was far from unusual for the little goddess to make improvements to her devices and in most cases it didn't take long for her to have several versions of them built in a short period of time. However, she had avoided to add a version number to her new robot and while its full name was 'Banpei-kun RX,' Skuld thought that he was going to be a work in progress with small improvements constantly added which would've made such naming scheme to be pointless.

"Tada! Here's the new and improved Banpei! As you can see, he's using his external power supply and yet none of the circuit breakers was tripped! Isn't he great?"

"What exactly is this robot supposed to do?" With an amused smile, Hild studied the goddess' contraption, knowing all too well that despite their funny names and occasionally dorky appearance, some of them could actually be really impressive feats of engineering.

"Oh, he's an all purpose robot, although one his specializations is to be an anti-Welsper tactical android," said Skuld with a grin. "Not only he's carrying water bombs, but, he can be outfitted with a high power water cannot too!"

Demons were in a way far more rapidly evolving, allowing themselves to develop unique powers and abilities in a fraction of the time their celestial counterparts needed to obtain similar skills. In addition to that, their adaptability to their environment was greater too, making them creatures of change, while their adversaries could be better described as unchanging; requiring much more time and effort to acclimate to their surroundings.

It was not something without its downsides, though, and while many new powers emerged, so was true with the weaknesses. Nobody was totally immune to the randomness involved in this process and even the mightiest demons could be born with their personal defect, although how they treated such a problem varied from one individual to the other.

Some preferred to keep the knowledge of said weakness a well guarded secret to avoid others exploiting it against them. However, this was often considered a short sighted practice as it was merely a matter of time before someone discovered that weak point and from that moment, they would be practically helpless. Contrary to that, the proper method was to face their weaknesses and through discipline, mental conditioning and physical training they would gradually overcome them.

Welsper for instance couldn't handle contact with any significant amount of water, which was the primary reason Skuld had incorporated such systems in her robot. While seemingly harmless, Banpei could become a serious source of discomfort to the first class demon should he manage to douse him with enough water to force the considerably more powerful being into a hasty retreat.

Even Hild's own daughter was cursed with a rather silly weakness where she would fall asleep whenever she listened to a certain kind of music called Enka, while Mara on the other hand couldn't stand auspicious items. Unlike Welsper though, those two had undergone the necessary training to overcome those otherwise crippling issues and after a considerable amount of time, their effort had paid off. Neither of them was affected to any serious degree by their personal weaknesses, with Urd simply yawning whenever she listened to Enka and Mara experiencing some allergic reaction to lucky items, which was a far cry to her previously much more severe response.

Still, not everyone invested the necessary amount of time into something like that, and even then, without the proper supervision the results could be really disappointing. Few demons outside their armed forces were put through such intense training to overcome such problems, although, a lot of them were lucky enough to have no serious issues or it happened to be something so insignificant that it could be easily ignored. For those who were affected by said weaknesses they either had to go through the pain of dealing with them, which was more than often a long, tiresome and mentally taxing process, or simply try to avoid the source of that weakness as a much easier solution.

"I see… So, the idea is to... sprinkle him with water?" said Hild after a long pause. "He could be using magic to shield himself, you know. Just because he has a weakness doesn't mean that he's going to sit there and take this punishment without putting up a fight."

"Well… I do have a few more weapons, but, they're classified!" was Skuld's quick reply. As a matter of fact it was so instant, that it made the others snigger a bit, knowing that this was her patented way of admitting that she hadn't thought about it; yet. Given enough time, Skuld could develop all kinds of terrifying devices, although in many cases her attention span was a bit too short and didn't devote the required amount of time on a certain project, jumping straight to another one.

"Beep!"

Blinking, Skuld turned to her android that was apparently looking towards something in the far distance as his sensors picked a rather noticeable presence. As a matter of fact, it became increasingly evident to every immortal present that something was wrong and staring at each other, they all concluded that there was only one who could've been behind this.

"What? Stop staring at me like that!" said Hild, crossing her arms, and returning the gaze to Ansuz who was the most skeptical amongst the assorted immortals.

"Okay, what did you do this time?" asked the teal haired goddess with a frown.

"A huge number of celestials materializes in the mortal realm, and it's my fault?" countered the Daimakaicho, trying to deny any involvement.

"Funny that... I can sense an almost equal number of demons all of a sudden too," insisted Ansuz, tapping her foot on the ground. "Meaning that they were probably trying to hide, so fess up… What's going on here?"

Sensing that this was likely going to end up in an argument, Belldandy decided to step in and diffuse the situation before that happened. "Please don't argue! Instead of doing that, why don't we go and check what's going on there?"

Staring at each other, both Hild and Ansuz slowly nodded, coming to the same conclusion; that regardless who was responsible for that, it still was something that required their immediate attention.

"Very well…"

"Did you hear that, Banpei? This is your first opportunity to prove that you're really useful," said Skuld with a smile, receiving an electronic beep from her android.

Little did she know the sheer scale of the situation they were about to face.

XXX

Okinawa, Japan

"Hello, Surt. It's been a while…"

Staring at the commander of the Valkyries in all her almost naked glory was more than enough for the dark haired demon to raise an eyebrow as he kept eating his shaved ice. "Greetings, Freya. I see that your division is saving resources from your… uniforms. This has to be the most minimalistic design I've ever seen."

"Oh, you mean my bikini?" asked the blonde Valkyrie, much to the embarrassment of those around her, given how little amount of skin it covered. "I thought it was a fashionable enough choice of swimwear. After all, I didn't want for you demons think that I'm a prude!"

"Nobody would ever assume that..." muttered Surt under his breath. "Besides, that's not a bikini at all. I think the proper term is microkini… given how flimsy that thing is."

Checking her tiny, white two piece swimming gear, Freya wondered whether she had indeed gone too far. Her initial assumption was that demons were far more relaxed when it came to such matters and as a result, using something more traditional would've made her look like a boring old goddess. Apparently, her counterpart wasn't all that impressed, and her poor subordinate had turned into a pink shade that matched her own, far more conservative bikini.

Lind was gritting her teeth as she could hardly believe how ridiculous everything here was. The beach was already crowded enough with demons and now there were even her fellow warriors to witness the spectacle; herself wearing something Freya dubbed as cute and absolutely adorable. Truth to be told, the blue haired Valkyrie actually liked her superior's recommendation, given that her own was far too bland and generic being the Fighting Wing's standard issue one, while the pink bikini she was now wearing had more character to it. However, she would've preferred to be in a much more private setting, or at least without several dozen demons and goddesses staring at her with all kinds of amused looks. 'This is so embarrassing… Besides... Don't they have anything better to do? What's so interesting about me?'

"Oh, my! I almost didn't recognize you, Captain!"

Taking a sharp breath, while cursing silently under her breath, Lind didn't need to turn around to see who was addressing her. She already knew that voice and she hoped to avoid meeting this particular demoness, especially now. "Lieutenant. What an honor…"

"Aw… you don't have to sound so disappointed," said Urd as she, Mara and a nearly overwhelmed Keiichi approached the Valkyrie. While both of the demonesses were wearing a similar pair of bikinis with the color being the only real difference, Urd favoring a golden one, while Mara a crimson; the mortal boy was still in his regular clothes, although that was far from what made him a bit uncomfortable.

Keiichi had never expected to see not just a few, but, hundreds of immortals surrounding him. It made his bizarre experience of living with just a couple of them to pale in comparison and the tension between the two groups was more than noticeable, despite the silliness of the setting. It was as if they could start throwing spells at each others at the drop of a hat, something that even he knew that could end in a very serious incident. And Urd teasing that poor goddess could very well be the spark to start that wildfire, making him feel obligated to stop her. "Uh.. Urd?"

"Not now Keiichi. It's been a long while since we both met and…" started the half demoness before she paused for a moment, tapping her chin. "Now that that I think of it… we never actually met while off duty before!"

"What a shame…" was Lind's almost sarcastic reply, a rare instance when the otherwise stoic and collected warrior decided to openly display such strong emotions. Her history with the hybrid was a long and strange one, as they met during a mission that initially seemed to be a walk in the park for her. Not only did Urd manage to effectively stop her, but, the way she did was more than enough to make Lind blush even now. 'What kind of a demoness kisses someone just for… no reason at all?! And that was my first kiss, too…'

"Aw… don't be so negative! We can all be friends here!" said Urd with a wink that made the Valkyrie take a few steps closer to her commander, much to the demoness' amusement.

"That's enough!" Deciding to step in before this escalated into an incident of epic proportions, Surt glared at his wayward student and subordinate. While a competent and respectful warrior, Urd had a personality that was even more fickle than her mother. Granted, her occasionally weird methods were more than bewildering to her opponents who struggled to figure out what she's up to, but, in this case that could end up in a huge catastrophe. "I think we got the point, there's no need to keep this up, Urd."

"Oh… all right. And I'm happy to see you too," said the half demoness with a pout. "I even wore my top this time and still no comments?"

"What kind of comments do you want? It's just common sense to wear a bra in my presence!" was the demon's hasty reply, before he saw the expressions on Lind's and even Freya's faces. The fact that the blonde Valkyrie commander and love goddess felt inclined to cross her arms in a manner that obscured her bosom was more than enough to make her point. "Uh… wait I didn't mean it like… I never asked her to… I just... All I wanted was some breakfast!"

"Sir… I think you're making it worse," said Hrym from his hiding place in the nearby trench.

Indeed, the goddesses took a step away from the confused ruler of Muspelheim, with Freya covering herself even more. "Pervert! Shame on you!"

"What?..."

"I cannot believe I'm dressed like this while in the presence of such a deprived individual," spat Lind in disgust.

"Excuse me?! What's so wrong about asking for a freaking breakfast during an exercise out in the desert?" asked Surt, not fully understanding what their problem was. "And instead of that, she goes sunbathing as if she was off duty!"

"Wait a moment! I did make that breakfast!" protested Urd, getting everyone's attention, while Mara's eyes opened wide.

"Wait! Don't!..."

"Considering how hot the deserts can be during summer, all I need to do is put some oil on my back and cooking is just as simple as sunbathing," said Urd with a grin, much to Mara's horror.

"We're so dead…" lamented the blonde demoness, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You're telling me that you… cooked eggs on your back?!" snarled Surt at his student, who was a bit too proud of herself.

"Well, you've always told me to be a practical mind!" said Urd with a big grin.

"Yes! And using common sense, too! But, someone wasn't paying attention to that lesson!" insisted Surt, narrowing his eyes at his lieutenant. "Also... fooling around while on duty, too? Why, I ought to…"

"You don't like my girl's home cooking?"

All activity stopped as soon as the voice of the Daimakaicho could be heard; that rich, deep and obviously annoyed harbinger of pain and sorrow. Standing behind her regional commander, Hild's intense gaze could've bore holes to anyone else in his place, sending shivers even to those standing nearby.

As a matter of fact, Surt couldn't see his troops anywhere all of a sudden; several companies disappeared without trace. Turning slowly towards Hild, he not only found his boss, but also the missing Eldjotnar regiment; hiding in the trench that was already spanning the length of the entire beach. 'Cowards… I guess I'm too nice with them… Just wait until we get back!'

"And while we're at it… Care to explain what's going on here?" continued the ruler of demonkind, making the vast majority of her subordinates dig themselves deeper to avoid her ire. No demon, no matter how stupid would ever challenge the Daimakaicho herself and walk away unscathed.

"Well… considering that I'm left here alone?" said Surt, giving his troops a pointed look.

"I'm holding the line."

---

AN: I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

I would also like to thank IdiAmeanDada for proofreading this and prodided some much needed fixes.

There are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.

The talk about the demons and their weaknesses is merely a way to explain a few things about my interpretation of how I see them in my story. Technically, I think that those were introduced as a means of allowing some of the less powerful (ie mortals) characters in AMG to deal with threats like Mara. Also, AMG in general wasn't intended as an action series and while there's a fair deal of that element, it was never the main focus of the plot. As such, the author wanted to use what I personally saw as an easy way of quickly resolving certain situations, without going into lengthy battles. Since I'm not following that approach, I wanted to both acknowledge and accept it as an element in my stories too, yet, it's not something far too restrictive.

For example, it would've made Urd and Mara extremely easy targets, making their role as warriors to be almost laughable. Still, I prefer the approach of using some effort to overcome those hurdles instead of either ignoring the topic altogether, or simply make everyone else unaware of what those weaknesses were.

Urd's reaction to Keiichi's supposed 'date' may initially seem a bit out of character for her, however there were moments in the story where she was indeed upset about him and other girls trying to get too close to him. She was rather annoyed when he was too indecisive with Peorth, and despite all the teasing about Shiho's letter, she got angry when he didn't turn her down immediately. Of course, as a demoness her reaction was more severe, although, we need to take into account that she's not necessarily going to do something just because she said it. She did intend to scare him, though and that's what the whole scene with her and Mara was meant to be.

Technically, I could've avoided the whole topic, but, that little detail was something worth of notice in the manga. Urd may be a tease and get into all kinds of compromising situations with Keiichi, however… she doesn't seem to be willing to cause her sister any pain. Arguably, the biggest counter argument is her introduction chapter which clearly points to the opposite, although the first chapters of the manga were still a phase where the author was fine tuning the character's personalities.

With all the teasing Urd is doing to poor Keiichi, I thought it would've been a nice idea to show her reaction on the event where she thinks that he likes to be around other girls.

The whole interaction between Lind and Urd is kind of a reference to Hild's prank during the later chapters where she more or less kissed Lind without any prior warning. In this case, it was Urd instead of her mother who pulled that prank at some point in the past. Also, there's a bit of a rivalry between them, although Urd isn't paying too much attention to that.