Chapter 5- Wavering Resolve
September 28, 2056
This didn't make any sense. What did Kisara do to warrant the Black King, the greatest traitor in the accelerated world, to recruit him into Brain Burst. Sure, the female demon was protective of Marth (though not quite as severe as he is to her), but as far as he knew, this afternoon was the first time Kisara and Kuroyukihime interacted. An unpleasant feeling began building in the pit of his stomach as he tossed a glare at his guardian.
"Explain…now!" he practically shouted. "What does my sister have to do with you?!"
Kuroyukihime flinched from the loud statement. She looked hesitant to answer, but after a few moments, she chose to reply, "To answer that, I first need to explain how I managed to survive for the last two years. It wasn't from winning challenges from the vengeful kings or any assassins they've sent. Instead, for the past two years, I have not once connected my Neurolinker to the global net. After all, if your name isn't on the matching list, then you won't get challenges."
"Makes sense. That explains why you told me not to connect to the global net until we met back up at school today."
"Correct. I managed to get by with the fixed-panel terminal so I could still view sites and read any mail. However, even if I cut myself off from the global net, there is one net I must connect to every day, because of my position in society."
"You a princess or something?" Marth said sarcastically. His tone then shifted to be more solemn. "You're referring to the Umesato High local net, right? So not even that network's safe?"
"Apparently not." The Black King finished off the last of her coffee and promptly crushed the cup in her hand. "Two months ago, the very day summer vacation had ended, I was challenged to a Duel through the school's local net, from someone at Umesato. To make matters even worse, back then I had changed my original duel avatar to a dummy spectator avatar."
Marth raised an eyebrow at that. "A dummy avatar? You can do that in Brain Burst?"
"Yes. There are times when it is best to hide who you really are and watch from the Gallery. Naturally, these dummy avatars have no battle capacity. But that isn't the problem. I was careless The dummy avatar I used is the same avatar I use for the school's local net."
"Well that's just great," demon replied slowly. "That means this attacker knows who you are."
Kuroyukihime nodded as she released her cup from her deadly grasp. "Indeed. The greatest taboo for a Burst Linker is getting outed in the real world. I was afraid of real attacks by assassins sent by the Six Kings."
Attacks…in the real world? That's not quite what Marth could expect from a game, but Brain Burst was more than just a game. If an enemy found out your real identity, they could very well track you down and extort you for all the points you have.
"Interestingly enough, this person has yet to attack me in the real world, much less come in contact with me. I believe they may be trying to monopolize me, drain me for all my points without notifying their Legion. They always challenge me when I am emotionally defenseless, like the shower or when I'm changing. If someone took note of those times, I wouldn't be able to fight at my best. They've done this to me more than a dozen times but I've managed to get away with draws."
Honestly, it was a little creepy to hear that this assailant was willing to wait when Kuroyukihime was even showering in the school locker rooms. It raised the question of how they managed to learn those times. It also spoke of their character and tactics. Only a coward would attack someone when they are emotionally vulnerable.
"Okay, so the guy's really greedy and a total stalker," Marth said dismissively. "Can't you just switch to your real avatar and defeat them?"
"I can't. If I beat them, then they may tell the other kings about my identity in exchange for a bounty. The only way I can stop them is by learning their real identity."
"I see. If you do that, then your attacker will be forced to stop. That should be easy for you to do. During a morning assembly, after all the students are gathered in the auditorium, just accelerate and challenge the person to a Duel. You can use the positional data to find out who it is."
Kuroyukihime let out a slight chuckle. "Wow. It took me a full day to come up with that idea. I already tried that, but no luck. The only names that appeared on the list were my name and Graphite Edge."
"Wait, it isn't Graphite Edge who's attacking you? But they're the only other Burst Linker at our school."
"I know. Weird, isn't it? Graphite Edge is a level 3 Burst Linker who showed up a few weeks after the first attack. He's never challenged me to a Duel so far, but there is the possibility that he's in league with my attacker. As for the attacker, their name never showed up on the list. I even checked to make sure no one was sick that day but still nothing. It's hard to believe but this person seems to have found a way to block challenges from other players but still able to start their own. It goes against the very rules of the accelerated world. To do that, they would have to be an expert hacker to be able to change the impregnable Brain Burst program. Or they may have a connection with Brain Burst's creators…"
Ah yes, the mysterious creators of the Brain Burst program. They were people that Kuroyukihime sacrificed everything to meet so she could learn the true purpose behind the game.
"If what you're saying is true, then I doubt Graphite Edge is involved in this," Marth spoke up.
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. You said this attacker is able to keep themselves off the matching list. If Graphite Edge was in league with them, then they would be doing the same thing so you couldn't challenge them and extort information about their 'partner'."
The Black King was silent for a moment before finally nodding in acknowledgement. "That makes sense. It's quite possible that Graphite Edge is just a random Burst Linker who just coincidently goes to our school. Still, it's puzzling that they haven't sold me out to the Six Kings yet."
Marth simply shrugged. "Maybe they don't know what you did, or just don't care. Either way, if they're not bothering you, then it might be best to leave them alone for now. Anyway, what exactly do you want me to do and why do you have a file about Kisara?"
Kuroyukihime didn't speak for a few moments before finally taking a deep breath. "Well I want you to help me find out the true identity of my attacker," she said slowly. "Here's all that I know about them. Their duel avatar's name is Cyan Pile, level 4. They're a close-range blue fighter capable of punching through the thin walls of the stage several times. However, they don't seem to have any flying equipment, which is how I've been able to escape until now. However, I'm reaching my limit. My powers of concentration is nearing its end."
Yeah that would definitely take a toll on your mental strength. Having to constantly be on guard for a potential attack during the entire school day for two months. Talk about stressful. Marth goes through a similar situation every day. It's only a matter of time before the Darkfallen and maybe even the demons of Eternus learn of his return. There was a high likelihood that Tokyo could be subject to attack just so the two groups can eliminate the prince (for different reasons of course).
Although what made Marth able to somewhat relax was the presence of his mother and Scathach, two of the strongest women in the three realms. Then there was Medusa, a literal goddess, who would be more than willing to come to his defense. Basically, attacking Marth while in Tokyo came with great risks. Dun Scaith was safe too thanks to how isolated it was from the rest of Eternus and the wards Scathach had placed on it to keep out intruders.
"And while this is simply a guess, I think my attacker is also backed into a corner. Given their behavior, they seem like they may be running out of burst points. Usually when Burst Linkers use their points normally, they tend to have more fun in their Duels. But Cyan Pile isn't. They act like they're half insane. They're afraid of losing everything, so afraid that the meager bounty the kings have on my head pales before my accumulated points. But this knowledge doesn't help me at all."
"Sadly you're right. You can't exactly ask for psychological checkups for all the students or something."
"Indeed. But I do have something that helps me. You've seen it. That blue arrow, the guide cursor. It points in the direction of your enemy the moment the Duel begins. Even if I can't see the exact moment Cyan Pile appears, if I can just remember the direction the cursor originally was when the fight began, then the real world body of my attacker should be somewhere along that trajectory."
Marth let out a simple hum while he finished off the last of his tea. "Not a bad theory. Since all the stages are adapted from location data from the real world, you should be able to see the direction in the school Cyan Pile is hiding in."
"Exactly! I managed to memorize the guide cursor's initial direction for every one of those attacks. I then made a list of all the students in those parts of the real-world Umesato and pulled out any duplicate names. Thanks to this, I have a theory on which student could be Cyan Pile. But I don't have any proof. A single straight line isn't enough in a place so densely packed with people. There will always be dozens of students in every possible trajectory. Marth, I want you to watch the next attack on me and memorize the direction of the cursor for Cyan Pile while in the Gallery."
"I see. If you have two points, two cursors, you'll be able to make an intersection and locate the exact location of the student." Marth's eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. "But you still haven't answered my question. What does my sister have to do with this?"
Kuroyukihime seemed to hesitate, struggling to come up with a reply. Finally she said, "Listen, that file I sent you earlier. I made it one week before I found you to be compatible, at least somewhat, with acceleration. I have reason to believe that Kisara Umbris, your younger sister, is Cyan Pile."
Marth didn't say anything for a good while. He was honestly debating whether he should rip the cable from his Neurolinker and just leave. The very suggestion he heard pissed him off. "You're wrong," he said in an icy cold voice, glaring at his guardian all the while. "Kisara's not a Burst Linker. She would have told me about it long ago."
"I know that you're both really close and how protective you are of her, but think about it," she reasoned. "She was incredibly hostile to me at the gate. Perhaps she wanted to recruit you into Brain Burst and was angry that I snatched you up."
"That's not why Kisara was angry. Just as I'm protective of her, she's protective of me. I'm just more extreme at it. Kisara knows all the attention you've drawn to me and is very much aware of how many people betrayed my trust, especially girls. She was just trying to make sure you weren't one of them, and I'm starting to think she might be right."
Kuroyukihime's eyes widened in pure astonishment. It looked as though she was stabbed through the heart. "What? But…"
It was taking all of Marth's willpower to keep his fury in check. The last thing he needed right now was to cause a panic in the city by attacking a student and potentially destroying a coffee shop. Instead he crushed his teacup with his right hand, the white shards falling to the table. However, static was starting to build up in the air.
"You don't know anything about my sister," he said venomously. "I've known her all my life. I would have noticed if something changed about her. What's next? Are you gonna say Asuna's after you too? Shino? Kazuto? Are you trying to isolate me from my friends and make me dependent on you?!"
"No, of course not!" Kuroyukihime said hastily, her voice sounding erratic. "I wouldn't do that to you. I promise."
"I don't believe you." The demon prince grunted in disgust. "Fine. I'll prove that you're wrong by cable linking with her. That should be easy to do since we're siblings. But know this, after Cyan Pile is dealt with, we're through. Never talk to me again."
Marth forcefully removed the silver cable from his Neurolinker. He then sent a tip to the coffee shop to pay for the cup he broke before storming off, leaving a floored Kuroyukihime behind.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," she muttered to herself. Her heart felt like it was breaking into pieces. She lowered her head, bangs covering her eyes. The tears soon followed.
The demon prince was beyond angry as he headed for the apartment through an alleyway. Wanting to vent out some of that frustration, he kicked a nearby dumpster at full-force, leaving a nasty dent behind. He didn't care about the damage he did, he was long past that point.
It happened again. He felt himself finding common ground with a girl who seemed to genuinely care for him, only to find out that she's just like the rest of them. A manipulative, self-absorbed prick. Fuko was the only girl that he befriended as a teenager that actually saw him as a person. She was one of the few humans who earned his trust.
Kuroyukihime, or whatever her real name was, who does she think she is, trying to turn him against his friends? Maybe she only sees him as a pawn for her own objective, to meet with the creators of Brain Burst. Honestly, if that was her true personality, then she didn't deserve to meet them. She didn't deserve to learn the truth behind the accelerated world, whatever it may be.
Marth pulled up his system console and scrolled over to the Brain Burst program. It was this stupid program that was bringing more chaos to his life. While it may be the first real lead he had to recovering his lost memories, if that path would be riddled with betrayal like now then it wasn't worth it. He'll find another way to recover his memories with his real friends.
Slowly, he selected the program and prepared to move it to the trash icon, to purge it from his Neurolinker. He didn't want any reminder of her in his hardware.
"Are you sure you want to do that?"
The demon let out a gasp as his finger slipped off the console, preventing the deletion. He looked around the alley and saw that no one was here. He was all alone.
No, he wasn't. He could sense a strange presence around the corner. It was one of intense magic power and mystery, almost like an ethereal dream. It was so strange that he nearly missed it. Whoever it was, they most definitely weren't human.
Thinking the worst, Marth unleashed a burst of magic power, changing out of his school uniform, with a new outfit taking its place. He now wore a long ash-gray overcoat with black lining and a white fur collar as well as a black hood covering his head, a long-sleeved gray tunic with a V-shaped collar underneath, black pants, and ash-colored gloves. His regular shoes were changed into ash-gray leather boots. Also, concealed under his coat sleeves were a pair of chains that could be launched as a projectile to bind an enemy (a gift from his sister Medusa, who created them from her own hair).
Once the change finished, the demon focused his mind and magic into his hands, remembering just what his mentor taught him. He skillfully moved them into a fighting stance as Lunara and Solaris suddenly materialized in his grip. Marth held them in a defensive position as a new figure emerged from the corner.
It was a man. Their attire consisted of a white robe that had a hood and sleeves that draped down their arms, a black tunic underneath and pants, as well as black boots. In their right hand was a black curved staff that had a sword strapped inside, the handle pointing to the ground. The figure removed his hood, revealing his long, messy white hair that that fell to his waist, the tips multicolored, and purple eyes. By his ears seemed to be multicolored flowers.
His ethereal presence didn't change. It was almost like he came directly out of a dream. He also possessed a great amount of magic power, meaning he was likely a mage like Rias.
"Who are you?!" Marth demanded, eyes locked on the strange man.
As if to taunt him, the man smiled, almost mischievously at that. "My, my. You really don't remember me, Zane," he said slowly. "Oh wait, my mistake. You go by Marth now, right? My apologies. Anyway, you look quite well. Those swords of yours almost look like the real deal."
"What?" The surprise caused the mental image in Marth's mind to falter, causing his swords to briefly shimmer before re-solidifying.
"As I thought. You don't have the Lunaris yet. I'm guessing Scathach taught you projection magic so that you could replicate it in its split form, Lunara and Solaris. I must admit, it takes a lot of skill to project a copy of a divine weapon. No doubt this is only possible because of your connections to the Lunaris."
"How do you know so much about me?" the swordsman asked coldly. "I'm not exactly in a good mood right now so you better answer fast."
Surprisingly, the man simply chuckled. He clearly wasn't intimidated by the demon at all. That sure was a red flag. If he knew who Marth was and acknowledged that Scathach was likely here, then the man must be powerful, maybe even too strong for the prince to handle on his own.
"You'll find out in due time, my prince," the man answered calmly. "There are things happening behind the scenes that you must prepare for. People that you must befriend and partner with. That program you have is the first step to reclaiming everything that you lost. But to continue down this path further, you must open yourself up to that girl. She is one of the keys that you need."
Girl? Did he mean Kuroyukihime, the girl he didn't want to talk to right now after the stunt she just pulled? He must be crazy if he thinks Marth would open himself to her.
The man's face gained a solemn expression. "I know you haven't lived an easy life and have gone through more betrayals than one should in their entire life. This world is far from perfect, but it's all we've got. You can't keep yourself trapped in this cycle of mistrust and hatred. Eternus needs you. Your people need you. Only you can find the hope they had lost so long ago."
"Hope? What?" Marth said in confusion, trying and failing to process what was happening. "Just who are you?! Why me?"
"Because, Marth Umbris, you are one of the most important pieces on the board that will decide the fate of Earth, Arun, and Eternus. Without you and your power, all three realms will meet their end." Suddenly a gale of white cherry blossoms blew through the alley, hindering Marth's vision. "As for who I am, well, just think of me as an old friend. I look forward to seeing you again, Prince Marth. Farewell."
"Wait! Don't go!" Dismissing his right projection, he fired the silver chain of his right hand at the mage. The projectile tried to wrap around its target in a quick motion, but instead it just grabbed empty air and fell harmlessly to the ground. The mysterious mage had somehow disappeared in the flowery gale. Not even a single petal was left behind.
Did that…actually happen? For probably the first time in his life, Marth felt more confused than ever as he recoiled the chain back under his sleeve. He looked back at his hud, staring right at the Brain Burst program. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to delete it anymore. He still couldn't forgive Kuroyukihime for what she did, but maybe he overreacted a little.
Shino was right. He did become a different person whenever Kisara's involved. Kuroyukihime is probably long gone now, so there was no point in turning back. Instead he should just head back home and see for himself if his sister is indeed Cyan Pile.
Satisfied with that, he morphed back into his civilian clothes and continued on his way. After minutes of walking, he finally reached the bridge that led to his apartment building. Interestingly enough, there was someone unexpected standing there. A seventeen-year-old boy with longish brown hair that was parted cleanly down the middle and cobalt blue eyes. He wore a blue-gray uniform with a raised collar, carried an old-fashioned black schoolbag in his right hand, and had a kendo bamboo sword case slung over his shoulder.
"Takumu?" Marth said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Takumu Mayuzumi turned towards the demon and smiled. "Hey, Marth," he greeted casually. "Did you forget we live in the same building?"
Oh right, they did, albeit on different floors. Takumu wasn't someone Marth would call a friend, more of an acquaintance. He didn't even attend Umesato High School. Instead Taku's grades were good enough that he got into a famous K-12 school over in Shinjuku. He was actually rather close with Kisara, though Marth always made sure to keep an eye out for anything fishy about the guy.
As far as he knew, Takumu didn't know about the Umbris siblings being demons, although Kisara had discussed with her family in private about telling the boy. He was actually pretty good at kendo, which reminded the prince of something, but he could never remember what, and managed to win quite a bit of his matches. Marth and his friends even went to a few of them, and even the exiled prince had to admit that Taku had potential. He would probably make a good warrior under Scathach's tutelage.
The two teens went over to the railing of the bridge, gazing at the city as the evening sun began to set.
"I heard from Kisara that you've been hanging around a popular girl at your school," Takumu spoke up. "I think her name was Kurohime…"
"Kuroyukihime," Marth corrected automatically as he leaned onto the railing. He let out a heavy breath. "I honestly don't know what my relationship with her is. I don't even know if I can trust her."
Takumu looked at the demon with sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry you have to go through this. I know you deliberately make yourself more of a target to protect your sister, but you still deserve a normal life like everyone else."
Yeah, "normal". He is a freaking demon living in the human realm. A normal life is practically impossible. Although, if he didn't live on Earth, that meant he wouldn't have met Fuko, Kazuto and the others.
"Maybe." A thought suddenly popped in Marth's head. "Hey, Takumu. You don't think Kisara would lie or hurt someone if she wanted something badly, do you?"
"I don't know. She's your sister. What do you think?"
"Of course she wouldn't," Marth said firmly. "She would never wish harm on someone. Well, unless it involves me anyway. She can be pretty protective of me sometimes."
Takumu let out an amused chuckle. "Yeah. I'm honestly kind of jealous of you two. I wish I had a younger sibling so I could have your bond. But regardless, looks like you got your answer."
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry for bringing it up."
"Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for. Oh, wait…"
Marth let out a deep breath and waved a hand dismissively at the male teen. "Don't worry about it. It's a little soon for me to call you my friend, but I trust you more than I do with most people." He then stood up straight. "Anyway, I'm gonna head home. See you later, Takumu."
"Alright. Take care, Marth."
Marth then continued heading towards the apartment building, but he did passingly wave goodbye to the human teen as he did so.
As expected, it didn't take much convincing for Kisara to cable link with him. The cable they used was one of Marth's and it was about half a meter long. The two siblings decided to do it in Kisara's room while Rias was preparing dinner. Thankfully neither of them felt too restricted from the cable, but it could've been longer.
"So," Kisara said finally. "Are you going to tell me what's been going on between you and Kuroyukihime?"
"Yeah. Kuroyukihime unintentionally gave me a lead on a possible way for us to restore our memories. We entered an alliance of sorts and I was investigating on my own before I told you and the others."
"I see. Does Fuko know? Don't think I haven't noticed you always turning to her for advice."
The normally reserved Marth suddenly found his face growing hot. "Uh, yeah, she does. I felt that since she goes to another school, she could give me an unbiased opinion."
"Uh huh," Kisara said with a raised eyebrow. "I've seen the way you two interact. You two act way too close to just be friends."
"We're not dating!" the male demon cried out in protest. He then looked sheepishly away. "Although…I, uh, won't deny that I…find her attractive."
The princess of Eternus let out an amused giggle before patting her brother on the shoulder. "See, was that so hard?" she said teasingly. "Honestly, Brother, you can be so dense sometimes. You should ask her out sometime. I'm sure she'll say yes."
"G…ah…ah. For crying out loud, I didn't come here to discuss my love life. I just wanted to fill you in on what I've been doing."
"I know, but you're way too fun to tease. You always act so seriously and rarely show your emotions. Anyway, how long will this alliance between you and Kuroyukihime will be?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Deep down, I feel like I can trust her, but I can't bring myself to do it. It feels like my very soul says to believe her, but my mind says not to."
"That is a problem," Kisara agreed. "I think you should at least stick it out for a little longer. Who knows, maybe you make a harem with her and Fuko?"
"Kisara!"
The young demoness burst out laughing from seeing her brother's face turn bright red. "What? She's beautiful, just like Fuko. Plus you're a demon, and a prince at that. You're allowed to have multiple wives. Mom said so after all."
Marth simply groaned at that as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I cannot believe you went there."
His sister continued her fit of laughter at his expense, but he couldn't bring himself to stay mad. He took the opportunity to scroll through the memory folder of Kisara's Neurolinker. As expected, there was no trace of the Brain Burst program. Kuroyukihime was wrong after all.
He was about to close the menu when suddenly something felt off. The program was working just fine. It was the reaction time he had clicked and moved around the screen that was slower than before, albeit slightly. If this were a wireless signal from a cheap network, such a delay would be understandable, but this was a direct link with a high-quality cable. There shouldn't be a response lag. The only reason that would happen if a large part of Kisara's Neurolinker transmission bandwidth was being monopolized by some other circuit.
With a newfound suspicion, Marth quickly opened the network status window. His sister's Neurolinker should be connected to three routes, the global net, their home net, and the direct link with him. Only the direct link should be having this kind of package exchange.
But when he checked the routes, his eyes widened in disbelief. A large quantity of packets was being sent on the global net. It was a backdoor program installed deeply into the folder, with the receiver unknown. Someone had hacked his sister's Neurolinker and was stealing information from her vision and hearing.
"You bastard!" Marth thought in outrage, making sure to keep that statement private.
This had to be the work of Cyan Pile. They didn't change Brain Burst. They were using Kisara's Neurolinker as an entry point into Umesato's local net to challenge Kuroyukihime while making sure they themselves couldn't be challenged in retaliation.
Oh, this just got personal. No one takes advantage of his little sister. No one! Cyan Pile will pay dearly for this, whoever they are. At the moment, he couldn't remove the backdoor program. That would just tip the enemy off that something was wrong, and they might go after Kisara again. He had to tell Kuroyukihime about this.
September 29, 2056
It was Friday. Marth was heading to school alone this time as Kisara wanted to have breakfast with Shino to help study for a quiz. His normally quiet walk then took a sharp turn as he bumped into a familiar girl in black.
"Kuroyukihime?" he said in surprise.
The Black King turned towards the demon, but refused to match his gaze, her head staying low. "Oh, hi, Marth," she said unenthusiastically, a tone that didn't suit her at all. "Good morning."
"Uh, morning," he replied hesitantly. It was clear that his last words to her yesterday were still bothering her. As much as he hated to admit it, he had to make things right. Swallowing his pride and gritting his teeth, he said the words he never expected to say to someone he didn't consider a friend. "About yesterday…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It was wrong of me to do." He looked away guiltily. "It's just…whenever I feel that my little sister is under threat, something in me snaps and I do whatever it takes to protect her. I know it couldn't have been easy for you to tell me she was your prime suspect."
Kuroyukihime's eyes widened in disbelief. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke up. "No, I should be the one apologizing. You're Kisara's older brother. You know her far better than I do. I've seen the way you two interact and you were right. She wouldn't have kept the secret of Brain Burst from you. I was wrong to accuse her of anything."
The demon prince scratched the back of his head before the two began heading to school together. "Don't worry about it. You yourself admitted that your mental strength has been drained from the constant attacks. You did the best you could under the circumstances. But anyway, I managed to do it."
"Do what?"
"I cable linked with my sister."
Suddenly the Black Lotus player stiffened. "What? Where?"
"Uh, in her room."
"And how long was the cable you used?" she asked rather forcefully.
"About half a meter. Why?"
"No reason. Anyway, we'll continue later." Without even giving Marth a chance to respond, Kuroyukihime walked off in a rather quick manner, leaving him at the school gate.
"Uh, what just happened. I've never seen her act like that before."
The morning classes glazed over Marth, who normally paid attention and took relatively good notes. Instead his mind was too focused on his guardian's strange behavior earlier. She didn't even give him a chance to tell her what he found in Kisara's Neurolinker. He was going to tell her at the lounge when lunch came, but she wasn't there either.
Since it was clear Kuroyukihime didn't want to meet with him right now, Marth decided to go to the courtyard to have lunch with his friends. However, as he made his way there, he was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.
"Hi. You're Marth Umbris from Class 1-C, right?"
He turned around and saw two third year girls that he had never seen before. Given their holo tags displayed by their shoulders, they were from the newspaper club, his least favorite club to deal with (for obvious reasons of course). There was an icon flashing in his view called "SREC", meaning that the girls were recording this conversation. Obviously such a feature wasn't allowed to be used for regular conversation at school, but exceptions were made when it came to reporting for the student newspaper.
He was not in the mood for any surprise interviews. Most of the school hated him already. He didn't need to make it any worse. Unfortunately these girls seemed to have experience with that kind of situation was one of the girls got behind him to cut off his escape route. Naturally he could just use his demon physique to easily escape them, but that would be a little overkill.
"Can I help you with something?" Marth asked in slight annoyance, making it clear he didn't appreciate this.
"We're working on the column 'Heart of the Rumor: Head Shot' for the Umesato Real Times! Let's get straight to the point. Are you really dating Kuroyukihime?"
Marth reeled back in surprise. It shouldn't have been too shocking given how the student vice-president acted in the lounge yesterday, but being asked up-front about it took him off-guard.
"No, we're not dating," he said a little too hastily before finally calming down. "That's just a stupid rumor."
The girl in front of him typed away on an invisible keyboard, likely archiving his words. "But according to our information, you and Kuroyukihime have directed on two occasions in the school lounge. Not to mention you two had a direct date at a café within the school district before you strangely stormed off. Was there a fight between you two or something?"
Should've figured some of the students would notice him storming off the way he did. That café was relatively close to Umesato High School after all. He had to nip this in the bud right now before it came back to bite him even more, but with a little demonic deception. "First off, what goes on in my life is none of your business," he replied firmly. "Secondly, she and I only directed because I was helping her with her Neurolinker. The café thing was just her way of thanking me. I 'stormed off' because of a family matter, which you don't need to know."
He prayed to Sinestra that these girls won't question Kisara about this, otherwise this whole lie will fall apart. He could try to manipulate their minds into not doing so, but there were other students around, watching them. There's no way anyone wouldn't notice.
"Besides," Marth continued. "I was talking to her on my way to school, but she stormed off the moment I started talking about Kisara?"
"Kisara?" the other girl questioned. "She's your sister, right? A second year? I think I remember her having a fight with Kuroyukihime in front of the school gates."
"Are we done here?"
"Not quite. The truth is, we weren't really sure if that rumor was true so that's why we came to interview you. We thought it was a mistake, but now I'm not so sure."
"Everyone knows how close you and Kisara are," the first girl added. "I bet Kuroyukihime got jealous. I think she actually likes you."
"What?!" Marth cried out in disbelief.
That can't be true. He's been pretty up-front with how much he distrusted the Black King and after what he did to her yesterday, there's no way she would have any feelings for him. This had to be a joke. There's just no way…
"Just one more question," the first girl spoke up again. "If you're not dating Kuroyukihime, then what's your relationship with this girl?"
A file was sent to his Neurolinker via the school's local net. Curious, he opened it, only to immediately regret it. It was filled pictures of him and Fuko. There were dozens of them. The two of them strolling around the mall, being in the park, walking around the city, to even them eating at Dicey's.
"Fuko," he instinctively muttered as his eyes widened. It can't be. Has the newspaper club been spying on him?
The girl smiled in victory. "So her name's Fuko. From what we gather, she's not from Umesato. Her uniform's all wrong. Given how you're smiling in these photos when you're usually cold and stoic, is she your girlfriend or something?"
"No!" Marth bit back, but with a little more force than he had intended. "She's just a friend. There's nothing going on between me and her. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some friends to meet up with. Goodbye!"
He pushed past the girl behind him and walked off, not giving either reporter a chance to answer. The moment he was outside in the courtyard, he released the breath he had been holding.
He felt emotionally drained from that ordeal, more than most of the training exercises Scathach puts him through. Still that interview brought some disturbing information to light. Was it really possible that Kuroyukihime has feelings for him? Was that why she stormed off like that? And Fuko. The school finally knows about her. Those pictures must have been taken over the course of weeks. That was probably the best time for the girls to ask him about her.
"Still. Why does my heart ache whenever I think of Fuko and Hime? I've only known Fuko for two years, and yeah we're pretty close and she's beautiful, but I don't know if I like her in that way. As for Hime, I don't know anything about her. But why does my soul feel like I know her, know both of them for a long time? It doesn't make any sense."
There was also the matter of Kuroyukihime not knowing that he was actually a demon. If she really did have feelings for him, would she still stand by him upon learning the truth, or will she reject him and be forced to go through a memory wipe by Rias? For some reason, he felt that a rejection from her would be the most painful one of all. But why?
He opened his right palm to materialize the silver crystal stored within, making sure to keep it obscured from the social cameras. "What should I do?" he thought to himself while staring at the damaged core, as if hoping to receive an answer from it but only got an empty silence instead.
Just what was going on with him?
To be continued
Poor Marth. His life is getting more complicated by the minute. Anyway, not much for me to say this time. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.