He sighed, spinning his chair around on the pivot joint in idle boredom. As always, he was staring at the many screens in front of him, as if he had nothing better to do than watch the object of his obsessions running around talking to an ever-increasing number of girls.
He chuckled, the pointed teeth that gave rise to Tsubaki's nickname for him showing below his lips. This kid, this formerly unassuming human with a dark past thanks to the eternal pest that was that Ragnarian, was slowly becoming someone the man could respect.
Even while Hiro was fighting to destroy Tsubaki, he was getting closer to most everyone around him, seemingly without even realizing it. He had conquered the three Trans within the first month of him finally getting involved, and was even seemingly worming his way into the heart of the third Devilukean princess as well.
He laughed out loud, his voice echoing through the room at the thought of a potential relationship between Hiro and Momo. "Well, better than that idiotic Yuuki Rito and Lala." he said to himself. He had many doubts about the former candidate for the project's merits, but after witnessing so much change in such a short time from Nakamura, he'd realized his mistake in getting Yuuki involved at all.
"I wonder, how would things have changed if I had interfered with Lala's Pyon Pyon whatever-it's-called to go to Hiro's home instead of that idiot's…" he mused to himself.
He shook his head. "No sense worrying about the past, what's done is done and even I do not have the power to change that. I doubt there's enough resources in the whole of the Devilukean Empire to do something like that."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen that followed the little child now revealed as Tsubaki. He had little qualms with spying on someone who was physically so young, because he knew that it was a front. Camellia Vermillion, the girl whose body Tsubaki had stolen, was long since dead. The body remaining was just a husk, a vessel containing the serial killer inside.
So what should he do about her now? She had killed one of the Trans, and was no doubt planning on killing more of Hiro's allies in an effort to get to him. She was simply too dangerous to his project for him to ignore her presence, and not only that, he also had authority to kill her anyway because she had killed many more people within the Devilukean Empire's reign.
He knew his reputation wouldn't diminish if he just got rid of one little pest on a primitive backwater planet like Earth, so why didn't he just have Abbadon give the word for his other on-location spies to just go in and wipe her out?
He could do it. It would only take a single order. But he always found himself hesitating.
The project had no room for interference. There was zero tolerance for pests like Tsubaki killing off important players in the project. He had already killed a few annoyances that had been trying to get on the planet since Nemesis had first gotten involved, and yet he'd let Tsubaki slip through his fingers for almost 8 years now.
Perhaps he simply wanted to see Hiro solve this problem on his own, without the Devilukean game master's interference. He had already amassed quite a few powerful allies, from the newly-fused Eve to the Demon of Deviluke. He even had a few potentially important friends among the humans, like the girl he knew from childhood, Yukihime Murano, and the kid who'd recently decided to investigate on his own, Okamoto Rin. Both had potential, though neither really interested him as much as Hiro himself did.
So he pondered. Should he let things go and hope for the best? Or should he intervene and end it quickly? Either way, he had a feeling deep inside him that once Tsubaki made her next move, things would escalate quickly. Battle was just around the corner no matter what option he took. All that would be determined is the death toll.
Tsubaki would die no matter what choice he made. He knew that Hiro's pure, unadulterated hatred for the Ragnarian would mean that once he was through, she would be nothing but dust, but at what cost to the project? How many of this so-called 'Tsubaki's Game' would die?
On one hand, he trusted that Hiro could make the right decisions. On the other, his precious project meant everything to him, and Tsubaki would no doubt take a few enemies down with her. Once a killer, always one, as he knew very well.
Which was another source of worry. Hiro was stable for now, but who knew how his mind would be affected once he completed his lifelong goal? What would be his next move after Tsubaki was dead and gone? It worried the man nicknamed Mr. Pointy-Teeth. Surely he wouldn't turn against the allies he'd made?
But even now, Hiro was showing signs of distrust in his comrades. He could hardly stand Yukihime's presence, and he tended to ignore Momo's admittedly good advice on many of the plans he'd come up with. He had no idea what would happen if Hiro turned against them. Eve and Nemesis were cemented to his side, but what of the others? Would Rito be forced to fight him, would Lala and Momo be forced to fight each other? He hated not knowing how things would play out, but he had now made his decision.
BREAKBREAKBREAK
At home, Hiro was staring at Eve, who had at some point bought taiyaki and was calmly eating it on the couch.
"Hiro-san, why are you staring at me?" she asked, glancing at him.
He shook his head and blinked. "Just...You haven't had taiyaki in months, I forgot you liked it."
She took a bite out of the head of the fish treat and stared at him. "It hasn't been relevant to the story until now, I suppose." she said calmly.
Hiro's eye twitched. "You aren't supposed to mention that…" he said, and Eve rolled her eyes.
"Says the guy who reads To LOVE-ru manga in his free time. Don't talk to me about the fourth wall." she said, and Hiro raised his hands in resignation.
"Whatever...just try to be more subtle next time." he said, and Eve nodded.
"Anyway...why is Yukihime-san here?" she asked, pointing to the girl who'd followed them home and was currently standing nearby.
Hiro sighed, shaking his head. "Yukihime, no means no. I'm not letting you get involved. You have no place in my plan."
Yukihime shook her head. "I don't care if I'm useless to you, I just want a part to play in this. I hate Tsubaki as much as you do, I want to see her burn too, so give me something to do. Anything! I want to be of use to you!"
"I don't want-"
"Hiro, you need to learn when to listen to people." Nemesis said, walking out of the kitchen. Yet again, she had shed her clothing somewhere. God only knows how she does it so quickly. "When a girl says she wants something, you listen, no questions asked. And besides, she loves you, at least try to understand her feelings!"
Yukihime's face immediately flushed at Nemesis's choice of words, apparently left speechless by the blatant statement of her obvious views on the boy.
Hiro's response was much more blunt. "I don't care how she feels about me. To me, she doesn't exist anymore." he said, and Yukihime visibly cringed at his response.
Eve frowned. "You shouldn't be so quick to write her off, Hiro-san." she said rationally. "She knows just as much about Tsubaki as you do, and her drive is quite strong. Just because she has no special powers doesn't mean you should ignore her."
"She told Tsubaki where my family was. That's enough reason for me to kill her too, she's lucky I decided to just ignore her."
"Hiro, that's just plain cruel!" Nemesis said in shock, glancing at Yukihime, who was still managing somehow to maintain a straight face. "She regrets that, isn't that obvious? She's just trying to help!"
Hiro glared at her, before sighing, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples with his hands. "Look, I just want to kill Tsubaki as soon as possible. I don't need extraneous people getting in the way and confusing me. She has no place in the plan, so-"
"That's why you got Momo to be your planner, numbskull." Eve said, tapping his forehead with her index and middle fingers. "Because your plans are too rigid and you need someone who can manipulate them."
Hiro couldn't help but smile at her. The newly-fused Eve, especially now that she was obviously more open than before, always seemed to be able to bring a smile to his face, even when he was pissed off like he was now. It was odd, she looked no different than before, but was still obviously a completely different person.
"...Alright." he said, sighing and looking at Yukihime. "You have one chance, Yukihime. One chance. If you screw it up, I'm not letting you get a second one."
Yukihime's face lit up in a grin. She knew she wouldn't get much better out of the coarse leader of Tsubaki's Game, but that was all she wanted to hear. That he would let her prove her worth.
Eve smiled. "Good, let her have a chance. She might surprise you."
Nemesis nodded. "And with more people, we have more chances to take her down before she can do any more damage! I'd prefer not to lose any more of us Trans, is that a reasonable request?"
Hiro nodded. "I won't let any more of you die. Mea was Tsubaki's last victim." he confirmed. "And I won't stop until she's dead."
