Hello lovelies!

This chapter is a continuation of Ch 27.

I was originally going to have the fight and this chapter mixed in with each other buuuuuut…meh, I felt that would be kind of annoying, having the talk and the fight mixed in with each other, cutting from one to the other.

So, I decided to make them separate chapters. As such, both of them are shorter than usual.

This is out a bit later than I wanted. I got so focused on trying to get SQotU and NTM out that I forgot a month had passed since my last update…(I still haven't updated NTM yet…yikes)

Aaaaaanyway, time for review responses:

Alina97

Ah yes, long reviews. My lifeblood. Anyway, I try to keep them in canon character most of the time, but the headcanon comes in and punches my brain until I put it down, haha. At least they're more in character than they were three years ago (YEEESH…). Ah yes, there's a reason I'm slow-rolling that confession, but I'll get to that (as I continue slow-rolling you all MWAHAHAHAHAHA!). Yeeeeaaaaah, I wish I was better at writing faster, buuuuuut eeeeeeeehhhh…maybe in time I'll get better at it. Thanks for the review!

Shadow Spears

Yes, sparring is fun! Get that adrenaline pumping! And yeah, I wish I were faster with this kind of stuff, haha. Maybe I'll be blessed one day. Thanks for the review!

Here's the Q for this time!

If Allen were wearing a dress, what color would you think would look good on her?

Don't forget, if you have any questions you'd like to ask, feel free to send it as a review!

Here's some other responses:

LunaSetsuna

Oh, right. I should mention that. SO HEY GUYS. I made major changes to Chapter 9 a while ago, go check it out if you'd like. Some future stuff won't make sense if you don't tbh. Thanks for the review!

Guest

Yes. Thanks for the review!

god of all

It's been a month, but here it is! I hope to update faster nowadays though. Thanks for the review!

SoteiraStar

Sometimes, I really just want to make them kiss, but it wouldn't fiiiiiiiiiit…also, thanks for the compliment! I like writing fight scenes, I just don't do it as much as I'd like. Thank you for the review!

NightHunterDeath

(I sent them a PM a while ago, so they have slight spoilers) Thanks for the review!

Thanks for your continued support: favs, follows, and reviews! I'll try to talk to you guys again before or on Halloween!

-JD

Disclaimer: I just really want college to…stop. Cease function. Just inject me with knowledge instead. Or at least make it less expensive.


Lavi actually choked on his toast this time. Lenalee had to pat his back to make sure it didn't stay in his airways for too long. It took him a moment, but he was eventually able to swallow it down without coughing.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lavi asked, though he rose his hands, "If I'm not prying too much, of course."

"Why would he…how is he…" Lenalee mumbled, looking over at Lady Annabelle.

Strangely enough, she didn't seem too bothered by it. She seemed put off, but for them to be talking about the man who killed her future husband, put off wasn't the kind of emotion they'd been expecting from her. Lavi's eyes narrowed lightly.

"Hmmm, well…it is a bit intruding, but I don't mind so much," Annabelle replied.

"I mean, we could always wait to talk about this…like…never?" Lavi asked, joking lightly, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, after all."

The girl smiled kindly, "I don't mind, really. It's probably best that you know in case it comes up suddenly."

Gabriel gave her a look, but she shook her head, feeling fine.

"You see, that man who was helping move my sister's vases in had shot my fiancé a while ago."

"Oh…that's terrible," Lenalee replied, placing a hand over her mouth.

"Ah, not so much, really," Gabriel waved a hand absently, looking less jovial than before, "He was kind of a wretch, it turns out."

"You see, he and I had met at a ball meant for Marianne. She'd found a nice suitor, but they grew apart, by the way. Anyway, he was fairly charming, so I decided to humor him," Annabelle said, looking off to the side.

"He was a gentleman on the outside at least. He seemed to be pretty smart, too. I mean, he grew his own wealth rather than being born into high society. Sure, he wasn't a son of a lord or anything, but he'd made himself fit. That alone was pretty good on his part."

"Usually it would've been considered courting someone below me, but he was just so…"

"Charismatic," Gabriel finished for her.

"Yes…almost anyone who'd meet him would like him. I had started to like him, too, after some time, so…eventually we decided to begin arranging things," she sighed, drinking a bit of water.

"He told our family at dinner one night that he'd like to take her hand in marriage, and Mother was pretty pleased, though Father was a little skeptical. He wanted to see more from the guy before he agreed to hand her off, after all. Father's that kind of cautious guy."

"…I suppose that was the best thing to do."

"Suppose?" Gabriel gave her a look, "It was the best thing to do! Had he just handed you off willy-nilly, you'd probably be on your way down the isle with that…that gammy!"

"What did the guy do?" Lavi asked, feeling almost too curious for his own good.

Annabelle sighed, "Surely you've heard of him? What he did the night of his death?"

"No, we haven't. We don't really come around this part of England often, to be honest," Lenalee replied, listening carefully.

Annabelle seemed to mull over the thought for a moment before she nodded her head. Her aura had a rather tired air to it at that point.

"…If you don't want to talk about it, seriously…" Lavi said, placing his hands up.

"No, no, it's fine. As I said, I'd rather you hear it from me than from someone else suddenly," her shoulders sagged a little, "...his name was Augustene Pierce."

"Does that name ring a bell?" Gabriel asked a tad sardonically.

Lenalee shook her head with a frown, but noticed that Lavi was strangely stiff beside her. She turned to him, wondering what was wrong.

He had a cold look on his face, "Oh."

"Right, 'Oh'," he huffed, "Where did you hear of him?"

"I found out about him in passing," he replied, giving a very sympathetic look to Annabelle.

"I haven't heard about him at all. What did he…" Lenalee trailed off.

Gabriel leaned back in his seat, "Frankly, dear, he was a judy killer."

Lavi frowned deeply, thinking.

"Judy…is that…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. That's lingo," Gabriel placed his elbows on the table, "He killed whores."

"Brother…" Annabelle looked a little sick to her stomach.

Lenalee's expression clenched, looking disgusted.

"Yeah, imagine that, huh? Had Father not been so cautious, he would've married my sis off to a murderer."

"From what I remember…they said he gave his confession before he was shot," Lavi said.

"Mmmhmm, spilled all the information about his crimes before Whelan, the good man, shot him down for coming too close to his house. He had a groupie with him who told the police the rest, and they were able to link Mr. Pierce to a load of other crimes," he shook his head, "blackmailing, thievery, murder…I'm surprised no one found out about it earlier."

"It is how he became powerful…that, and he was good at hiding," Annabelle said airily, looking a bit lightheaded.

"Anna, if you don't want to talk about it…" Gabriel began, scooting out of his chair.

"…Yes…I do believe I'm quite done…" She took his hand when he offered it to her.

"I'll help her back to her room," Lenalee offered, standing from her seat.

"Oh, one of the maids can do that."

"I insist," she replied.

Gabriel stared at her for a moment before he nodded, walking Annabelle to the door, "You can direct her to your room, can't you?"

"I can at least do that, brother," she smiled up at him, though it wavered.

He nodded as Lenalee took her hand, "If you'll excuse us…"

A maid near the door opened it for them, nodding lightly. They closed it once the two were gone. Gabriel shook his head where he stood.

"We shouldn't have started talking about this…" he didn't turn around, but he looked Lavi's way, "but you're still listening, aren't you?"

Lavi didn't turn around either, "Unfortunately, yes. I have my suspicion about something, and I might need you to confirm it, if you don't mind."

"What needs confirming? The guy's dead, and everything sort of worked out."

The darkness in Lavi's visible eye surprised him.

"It's very rarely that clear cut. Ever."


The girls had gotten upstairs once Annabelle finally let go of Lenalee, prompting her to let the other walk on her own. Lenalee was sort of surprised by how impassive the other now looked, the distress that had been clear on her face before now nowhere to be seen.

"You…seem to be taking this better than I thought," Lenalee said, her eyes narrowing lightly as she followed the girl.

"Hmmm…I suppose."

"…Why?"

The girl's head tilted her way, "Why? Oh, well, I never really loved the man, so I don't mind his death so much."

"Eh?" Lenalee's eyes widened, "But you were about to marry him."

She sighed, "You'd be surprised. Marriage doesn't mean so much."

Lenalee remained silent, listening.

"…We're always told from the time we're little girls that we should look into finding a nice man who would love and cherish us like we deserve to be loved and cherished. That seems fine for a while, but then you realize how little marriage actually benefits a woman."

She turned back lightly to glance at her, still speaking airily, "I mean, once a woman is married, all of the property she owns goes to her husband, and there's no way to get any of it back. Suddenly, the only thing she should focus on is children and making sure to support her husband. She becomes a pillow, whether you hug it or punch it to near death. Personally, I'd prefer to keep my belongings to myself."

"Then why go through the trouble of finding a fiancé?"

"Oh, I didn't go through that trouble," she looked bothered, "Mother did. That's another thing…once you get married and have children, you have to go through all of the trouble to make sure any girls you have get married off to a good man who will own them for the rest of eternity. And the cycle continues with each girl born into the world…"

"…Why does your family hate Mr. Whelan? It doesn't really make sense to me," Lenalee said, watching the girl carefully, inspecting her.

She laughed airily, "It's mostly the others that hate him. If I were in charge, I would be more than happy to give Mr. Whelan even more money than we had given him as a reward for essentially protecting me."

"Then why don't the others like him?"

"It's a pride thing, really," she sighed, "The Walthamstow family is of high esteem, as you can probably guess. What we do is seen in the public eye and scrutinized quite severely at times," she rose her eyebrows as she looked at her again, "Imagine what others would think once they got the information that a high standing family almost married their daughter off to a murderer, and it took a commoner to get rid of him."

Lenalee hummed, understanding.

"Yes, we just about committed social suicide. Not only were we blind enough to not see Mr. Pierce's outstanding flaws, but we couldn't even exact justice against him. It was in the press for a while, and people just about ate it up. And if you'd think the news would affect the men more, you'd be wrong," she laughed lightly, "My mother has just about lost all credibility as a high standing lady."

"Oh…it doesn't seem that way."

"Not now it doesn't, but when the news came out, nearly none of her friends would talk to her for days on end. It took the others hens recognizing that they probably would've been fooled as well for them to finally stop fluffing their feathers up and forgive Mother. Goodness, I never experienced so much coddling up until then by those other women. Even now, if I go out, I'm absolutely sure that I'll see them throw looks of sympathy upon me."

For some reason, even in her airy tone, she didn't sound so pleased.

"Why do you wear grey for him then, since he was a murderer?"

"Well, murderer or not, he was my fiancé. I'm simply following the part of a fiancée, it's only proper. After all, in public eye, he was a perfect gentleman. Very charismatic, as I said. In fact, even I hadn't thought anything off about him. He was a kind person up front. So, out of common respect, I wear grey. It was Mother's idea, really, and it had the others practically throwing gifts at me for a while."

The group arrived at what Lenalee presumed was her bedroom door. Lady Annabelle sighed, turning to her.

"Thank you for following me all this way, Miss Lee. That was very kind of you."

"No problem," she muttered, turning around, beginning to walk away.

She was a little further down the hall when the lady called for her.

"Oh, Miss Lee?"

"Yes?" she asked, turning around.

The girl smiled at her lightly, "Please do understand. My dismissal of my sister isn't meant to be hostile. I simply don't feel invested in getting to know someone I doubt I'll see again."

Her eyes widened at that.

"I could tell," she began looking down at her fingers as she shifted a tad anxiously, "Whatever work your group really does, it doesn't call for any change of employment, and it probably doesn't offer up so much freedom, correct?" her head tilted, "I could tell by your stiffness the night of the first dinner. None of you, including Miss Walker, will be around for a long time. Forgive me for being crass, but I don't want to waste my time building a relationship with someone who will be gone soon."

Though Lenalee had been startled, she frowned, standing firm, "Why did you act the way you did in the dining room with Gabriel then? Why did you act like you were sort of close to her because of blood?"

Annabelle's airy smile turned a tad sad, walking into her bedroom, "That's what one always expects of an airhead, is it not? No one likes smart girls."

She closed her door behind her, leaving Lenalee to contemplate everything elsewhere.


"…What do you mean that it's not…'clear cut'?"

Lavi studied him for a moment, wondering if it would really be good to start talking about what he truly thought. Then, he sighed, deciding that it was best to peel the band-aid off before it sunk too deeply into whatever festering curiosity was growing in the blond. Besides, if he chose his words carefully, he might even get some more information.

"Death isn't always the end in my line of work, Gabe."

"Right, right, exorcism…" he trailed off as he walked back to his seat, though he paused half-way there, "…Wait what? That doesn't sound right."

Lavi looked back to the maid by the door, the girl beginning to look a little sick. Thankfully, Gabriel caught on.

"Excuse me, would you mind fetching us some tea?" he asked, smiling lightly.

The maid looked a little startled, but bowed lightly anyway, heading to the kitchen quickly with a thankful look on her face.

"Feel free to take as much time as you need," the young Matthews added as she slipped away before he looked back to the redhead, "…You were saying? Because, to be honest, I haven't heard much about exorcisms, but I'd always assumed they were possessions of live people or actors…or something of the sort."

"What makes you think they aren't acting?" Lavi asked, an eyebrow raised.

Gabriel shrugged, "There's something honest about the way you talk about your profession. Besides, your exorcisms sound worlds different from the ones I've heard of. Even if you're lying, at least you're morbidly creative about it."

The redhead laughed, placing his head on his fist.

"So…what did you mean that death isn't the end?" the blond asked, taking his seat.

"…The demons we kill are created when the spirit of a deceased person is brought back from the dead by the person that loved them most using the Conduit. The person that is called back is forced to possess the body of the one that called them back, killing their loved ones. They're then forced to kill to continue growing."

Gabriel stared at him for a moment before he laughed, his face a tad pale, "See? Now how could someone say something like that with a straight face and not be telling the truth?"

"Eh," Lavi shrugged.

"What's your worry about Pierce?"

"If he had someone who loved him regardless of who he was, or someone who loved him while not knowing who he was, he could be brought back. While I'm not sure what kind of effect the type of soul has on the demon they are forced to become, if there is an effect, his will definitely be negative."

Gabriel looked more worried, "So…he's being forced to kill right now? If he's a demon, I mean."

"Well, if he's close to here, not right now."

"…You just said—"

"This is a special case. There's a protective barrier around this area that allows the personality of the soul to shine through instead of the personality the demon has."

"How's there a soul personality? Aren't they a demon?"

"Hmmm…well, I didn't really think too much about it until I met Allen, but there's a difference between the soul and the demon. The soul is what powers the demon, and the person is forced to kill their loved one for their body, but the demon is what really does the killing. The soul's little more than a puppet, forced to watch as they contribute to murder."

"…What a sad existence that must be," Gabriel muttered, frowning. Lavi was surprised by how much he looked and sounded like Allen at that moment, but he didn't show it.

"Well," Lavi shrugged, "not if you enjoy it."

"Which is what you think Mr. Pierce would do."

"Yeah, especially in this barrier. From what I can tell, as I said, the barrier allows the soul to be in control rather than the demon. But if the soul doesn't mind killing, there's not much of a difference."

Gabriel seemed to flinch before he looked Lavi in the eye, "Well…how do you kill it? These…demons."

Lavi smirked at him, "You haven't finished the dare yet. Why'd I tell you?"

Gabriel clicked his tongue, snapping his fingers, "I was sure I'd gotten you talking enough to keep gabbing on."

"Don't be fooled by this eyepatch. I'm a watchful person," the redhead joked in reply.

The blond hummed, leaning back in his seat. The maid, who without a doubt was listening, peeked into the room. Gabriel nodded, and she entered carefully, pushing a small serving trolley with a tea set on top, the teapot steaming from its spout. She silently took their cups and began pouring their tea.

"You seem to be taking this pretty well."

"Hmmm, if you think so," he shrugged, "Honestly, I find it hard to believe, and I must admit that I'm rather intrigued by this story's creativity—if that's what it is. But the way you talk about it…you make it seem so real, enough so that I can actually believe it's real. And believe me, I rarely fail when reading people."

"Oh, I believe you," Lavi hummed, silently thanking the maid. She bowed lightly before she left.

"…So, you mentioned a conduit. What is the conduit that allows something like that?"

"Not what, who."

"A person is doing this?"

Lavi shrugged, "I'm not so sure he's a person, but he's something."

"…Huh. This world's a crazy place."

Lavi sighed in agreement, the two falling into a comfortable silence.


Timcanpy fluttered back up to Allen's temporary bedroom, opening the window enough for him to enter. The little golem searched the room for a second before he noticed the tied-up bedsheet, one end still attached to a bedpost. He went over, picking the other end of it up before he flew back to the window.

"That's it, Tim! Drop it down," Allen whispered as loudly as she could, anxiously looking around for any peering eyes to see her disheveled appearance, her hair sticking up this way and that, her skin dirty and bruised if you looked close enough.

"What are you getting so antsy about?" Kanda huffed, watching the girl panic lightly, covered in some healing bruises and grass stains of his own.

"I'm not supposed to be out here! I don't want to be found out!" she glared back at him, testing her makeshift rope once it was dropped.

"Why do you care?" he frowned further.

She paused, "Well…I…uhm…it's…you just…don't get it!"

The Japanese man rolled his eyes, walking away from her to find one of the doors to enter the building.

"Where are you going?!" she whispered hurriedly, grasping his arm tightly, "You'll get caught, idiot!"

His eyebrow rose, "Why should I care?"

She didn't bother answering that question, forcefully tugging him over to the rope, "You're just too much! Just get up the rope already!"

He could feel a vein pulse on his temple, "The fuck am I going to your room for?"

"If you were to be stopped in the hallway and asked, 'Oh hello good sir, why do you look like shit?' what would you say?"

"That I was sparring with you. What else."

"Exactly! You're too dull to think of a good excuse! So get up the rope!" she hissed, worry growing with her irritation.

He clicked his tongue, realizing that she wasn't going to stop being pissy, "You didn't mind it while we were doing it, Moyashi."

"…Don't say it like that. Then they'll really get the wrong idea."

Eventually, once she started getting hissy as she heard someone approaching, Kanda complied begrudgingly, growling the entire way up the rope of bedsheets. She shoved at his legs whenever he slowed down—which he was doing just to spite her—and she immediately regretted it when she caused him to stumble heavily into her room.


Lenalee paused in front of Allen's bedroom door when she heard a loud thump come from the inside. The maid outside of her door jumped lightly, startled by the noise. When Lenalee gave her a questioning look, she sweated a little, turning quickly to knock on the door.

"Lady Allen? Are you okay?"

"..sh…shut…I'm fine!"

Lenalee knew she didn't mistake the sound of someone thumping around and a whispered argument. Miss Howe seemed sort off skeptical as well.

"Are you sure? That sounded pretty loud."

"I'm fine, I'm fine…g-t…b-d you dum…I just fell out of the bed is all!"

"Oh my! Here, I'll help—" the maid began, pushing the door open.

It shut very quickly before she could look in.

"NO!" she coughed "I mean, it's fine! Really! I just need…to wake up a bit more!"

Lenalee's eyebrows raised when she smelled the slightest tint of grass. Miss Howe tried to open the door again, but it wouldn't budge.

"Lady Allen, I insist!" she grunted with the force of her push, "You must take care of yourself!"

"And I insist, Miss Howe, everything is fine! I just need to freshen up a bit, if you don't mind!"

The Chinese girl sighed, patting the maid on her shoulder, the worried woman looking up at her.

"I'll try, please wait here."

"O-oh…alright ma'am," she complied, backing away from the door.

Lenalee knocked on the door next, "Allen? I'm coming in."

There were a few beats of silence, though if you listened closely, you could hear something like water splashing. Then, without too much more of a wait, while the water splashed lightly, the door opened just a tad.

"Miss Howe, will you give us a second?" she smiled.

"Oh, of course ma'am!" the woman replied, moving out of her way.

Lenalee nodded as she slipped into the little bit of the door that had opened before it was shut behind her.

She sighed, turning to the person holding the door, "Allen? Are you ok—"

She stared up at a disheveled Kanda with wide eyes.

Kanda glared down at her, bruises healing on his visible skin, parts of his hair sticking out of his tie, the tie not even as straight as it usually was. There were little green stains here and there on what little she could see of his clothes under his uniform, and he smelled like the outdoors. Even so, she'd definitely heard Allen's voice.

She heard another light splash, and turned to face the door to the small bathing room she had attached to her room. The door was open and the light was on. It took a few seconds, but Allen finally peeked around the corner of the doorway, her hair slightly brown in places and even more messed up than Kanda's. She had a washcloth up to her face, washing off the grime on her face. The smile she gave her was sheepish to say in the least.

"…Hello, Lenalee."

Said woman gazed at her for a moment before she looked over to the window, noticing that it was only partway closed. Her eyes trailed over to Allen's bed, where the curtain was drawn. Silently, she walked over to it and pulled it open.

Timcanpy was there, upside down as he wrestled with the bedsheets, haphazardly trying to untangle them from their makeshift rope form. The golem paused when he noticed Lenalee, then grinned up at her, wiggling his feet.

Lenalee couldn't hide how her mouth pursed as she huffed out air from an aborted laugh.

"Lenalee!" Allen whispered, her face reddening.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered hurriedly, covering her mouth as she tried not to giggle, "Oooooh my gosh!"

"Lenalee, don't!"

"What did you do?!"

"I just! I…I just went and…"

"Kanda, what are you doing in here?!"

Kanda opened his mouth to reply, but was smacked on the arm, Allen glaring up at him as she gestured to the door, "Don't say anything, idiot!"

He growled lowly in retaliation, smacking her on the shoulder, but didn't say anything.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Lenalee huffed out, her cheeks turning red with exertion, gathering her wits together before she spoke louder, "Miss Howe, will you give us a minute alone?"

"Huh?" the maid called through the door.

"It's just for a little while, if you will! Please?" she had to choke back a laugh at the please, skewing how it came out.

The maid was silent for a moment, "…Yes ma'am. I'll be back in five minutes."

The group listened silently as she walked down the hallway, away from the door.

Then, Lenalee let it loose, her giggling filling the room.

"This isn't funny!" Allen squeaked, watching as the girl wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Oh my gosh, what is even going on? Did…did you sneak out of the window?"

"…Yes."

"Wow, that's so cute!"

"No it's not!" she huffed, walking back into the bathroom.

Kanda just stood there at the door, staring with slightly elevated levels of displeasure between the two women.

"Kanda…w-what was Allen trying to tell you before I got in here?"

He glared deeper, "She was trying to shove me under the fuckin' bed."

Lenalee covered her eyes, though her mouth was still visible and in a smile, "Oh God!"

"It's his fault for being so visible! Where else was he supposed to go?!" Allen fussed from the room.

She was able to calm herself down, "Oh…sorry, sorry. It's just…oh wow, that's so cute!"

"Nothing's cute about shoving his stupid ass into my window or under my bed."

She blinked in surprise at her language, "Why is he here anyway?"

Kanda answered this time, "Moyashi came to find me because she was pissy. So, we started fighting."

Lenalee sighed exasperatedly, "Seriously, is that the only thing you guys can do when you're alone with each other?"

He shrugged, "She doesn't mind it."

Lenalee blushed a little at a tiny dirty nudge from the back of her mind, but frowned, "Still, you shouldn't fight each other so much."

"I'll stop when Komui gets rid of his complex over you," Allen called over.

Kanda actually huffed in what could've been a laugh in another life.

Lenalee pouted a little, "…Anyway, Miss Howe should be down the hallway by now. You can probably go, Kanda."

He didn't say anything, though his expression seemed to lighten a bit, opening the door just as he would any other door—Allen nearly screeched at him for that. He looked both ways but found that no one was around. With a subtle shrug, he closed Allen's door behind himself, heading off to his own room to clean up.

Once he was gone, Lenalee rushed over to the bathroom door, looking in. Allen was sitting on a stool, turned away from the door, though it was easy to see the red tips of her ears. She wasn't really undressed yet, but she'd began to take off her clothes once Kanda exited.

"Allen, oh my gosh."

"Don't."

Lenalee really tried to hold it back, but it slipped out, "That's so cute."

She scrunched in on herself, "No it's not."

Lenalee felt a more Lavi-like part of herself really wanting to wax poetic about just how "teen romance novel" Allen's actions were. Seriously, she hadn't heard of something as cute as climbing out of a window and sneaking back in since…well, her first few stealthy stints with Lavi. Of course, now they had better ways of meeting up, but both she and Lavi had snuck out of windows and doors alike to meet up with each other.

But, as the more reasonable one in their relationship, she decided to let Lavi do that. Instead, she briefly went back into the bedroom to grab the bedsheets—which were still tied despite Timcanpy's best and most valiant efforts—and returned, untying them absentmindedly.

"Are you feeling better now, after that fight with Kanda?"

"Eh?" Allen seemed startled, maybe expecting her to keep picking on her, "Oh…yeah."

She could tell it wasn't a lie. Allen's irritated aura had mellowed out considerably. And, if she really thought about it, so had Kanda's—though not considerably, it only calmed as much as the ever-irritated young man would get. Even so, even that was saying something.

"Well, that's good. Whatever helps, I guess," she hummed, absently taking out another knot, "…What do you feel about Kanda anyway?"

Allen had taken off her jacket, vest, and was getting to the shirt, revealing light splotches of fading red and purple bruises, "Uhm…he's okay when he's not being a di—…a…uhh…a nut."

She pouted at how Allen had gotten back into polite speech, "Right, a nut. Anything else?"

"…I mean…he's okay. Just…okay."

"Why did you…why did you need to fight him?"

"Well…it's…a little complicated," she sighed, warming the wash cloth as she began working at her pants, "I'll need to wear different ones…"

"I'm willing to listen, you know?"

"…Yeah."

Lenalee wanted to push more, but she decided to stay silent, still untying the knots until she got to one that was a bit too tight for her to get out easily. She frowned down at it, beginning to dig her fingers into it. She kept searching around the knot until she was able to find a slightly loose part of it, her pointer finger slipping into the opening. She then started pulling at it, slowly opening it up so it wouldn't get stuck again. Eventually, after pulling at it a little longer, she got the knot loose enough for her to pull the rest of the unknotted bedsheet through the opening in it.

"…I just…"

"Hmm?"

"I…" she swallowed, "…I like to."

Lenalee blinked, still listening as she pulled more of the bedsheet through.

"I like fighting him…I mean, sure, we start fighting from disagreements or little things, but…I feel like…I can relate with that."

"With what?"

"With…violence."

More of the bedsheet came through as she pulled on it absentmindedly.

"I've always just kind of…fought things. It just happens that way. So…I can relate to that. I-I don't want to fight all of the time, but…I enjoy it when it's…" the tips of her ears reddened again, "I…can relate to things…to him when it's like that."

"…And you want to."

Allen wiped off the dirt around her side, nodding, embarrassed.

Lenalee pulled more at the bedsheet, "Do you feel like you can't relate to him any other way?"

"…Well, I mean…it's not like that. I can…I just don't know if…he wants to relate to anyone else any other way," she could hear the frown in Allen's voice, "It's like he doesn't want to try. But, I guess I can understand that, too."

"Why?"

"It's easier to not get hurt if you hold everyone at a distance. If you don't have any friends."

"…Is that how you feel, too?"

"…Not really."

"Then…how do you feel about friends?"

"I feel like…all of you…" she turned to Lenalee, smiling lightly, "…I like all of you."

Allen fell silent after that.

Lenalee hit the next knot.


Kanda pulled his new shirt on, having cleaned himself off a little bit ago. He admitted to himself that he could appreciate the ache in his muscles and how lax he'd actually felt after the fight. Even now, the curl of satisfaction hadn't faded away, though he was pretty sure, with the track record this family had, it'd be fading off pretty soon.

Really, the Matthews family was better at taking his irritation levels from 70 to 195 faster than Allen ever could, and at least she was good company…sometimes. She was still a moyashi, through and through, but a somewhat reasonable one. She also wasn't weak, which the members of this family were, without a single doubt, whether physically or mentally.

He sighed lowly as he left his room, fully clothed again. It wasn't like there was much else for him to do but meditate unless he decided to leave the house like he did before. He figured that if he really wanted to, he could go see if there were any AKUMA looking to be taken out like the one Lavi found. He could probably make the walk out to town and back in good time.

But before he could continue that train of thought, he felt his irritation grow from the mere presence of a person he was sure was going to annoy him.

"Mr. Kanda!"

He groaned. Why did he have to be right?

He turned around from where he was walking, looking straight at Marcus Matthews. He was a bit surprised by the expression on the usually smiling boy's face, but it didn't faze him. Said boy frowned at him from down the hallway, approaching him briskly.

"Mr. Kanda, I'll have a word with you."

'You "will", huh?' he rose an eyebrow.

Kanda stood there in wait for his fate, deciding to humor the boy. He seemed to be pretty huffy about something, so he figured that whatever Marcus it could be irritated about could be of some amusement to him. When the boy arrived right in front of him, he attempted to stand taller, despite the fact that Kanda was a good few inches taller than him. His hands were to his sides, and he practically oozed displeasure.

"I believe we've come to a misunderstanding of some sort," the boy said stiffly, "But I'd like to clarify before I jump to any conclusions."

"Assuming you haven't already."

That only made Marcus glare even more. It was like watching a petulant child complain that their toy was broken. It wasn't particularly humorous yet, but seeing the expression on the boy's face was good enough for him to not walk off.

"Like I said, I simply want you to confirm or deny my suspicions."

When Kanda didn't reply, he breathed heavily, closing his eyes. When he opened them, they were even more set than before.

"Do tell me, Mr. Kanda…what were you doing with my sister?"


"…This cannot be right."