Within the confines of a small forge, sparks flew as a hammer struck against hot-tempered steel, that belonging to a well-fashioned breastplate. The towering eight-foot-tall man worked diligently as he continued to hammer the hot metal into shape, with sweat glistening as it rolled down from his exposed forearms onto the thick leather gloves that he wore for protection. He stared down at his work with his large singular green eye, trying to work the imperfections out of the metal he was working on, even as the sweat dripped from his brow just below his short brown hair, slowly trickling down his stubbled face. He didn't let the heat bother him though as he was more concerned about finishing the task at hand.

At the other end of the forge, a short 3'10" man with short blonde hair, brown eyes and a long thick blonde beard almost reaching down to his ankles was busying himself polishing a short sword that was nearly as tall as he was. He had already finished polishing up a full set of centaur plate armour and the short sword was the last item to be checked over and maintained. With a sigh of relief, the dwarf wiped his brow and placed the now polished sword onto the cart with the rest of the armour and started carting it towards the front counter.

"There you go, Lady Shianus. One fully polished set of armour for you, all in good condition." He spoke out loud in an indeterminate Scandinavian accent. "That new breastplate you've ordered should be ready by tomorrow."

At the front counter stood Maredrianna Shianus, along with her daughter, Centorea. They had come to the forge to have their armaments checked over and to have a new breastplate forged for the younger centaur, who apparently was still growing in that area.

"Many thanks, Master Dwarf. Thou hast done us a great service this day." The older mare replied in a respectful tone. "Now, as for thy payment."

"Worry about that tomorrow when you pick up the breastplate. We won't be going anywhere anytime soon." The dwarf said as he waved his hand dismissively at her.

Maredrianna gave him a nod in affirmation. "As thou wish." She said before turning her attention towards her daughter. "Cerea, I would like to request thy assistance in returning my armaments to my current place of residence."

"As thou wish, Mother. Though I do not wish to take too long on the matter, I do not wish to worry Milord with my extended absence." Centorea answered as she allowed her mother to start strapping her belongings to her back, ready to take it back to her mother's current living quarters while staying in Japan, which just so happened to be the same apartment building the MON agents lived in, though her quarters were far more spacious in comparison.

While the two centaurs organised the armour, the front door of the forge opened with a chime, followed by the bright and cheery aura of a certain ogress. "Puddin! I'm here~!" Tio shouted in a sing-song tone dragging her hybrid co-worker in with her, who looked like he had a close brush with death.

Yuuto freed himself from her grasp and bent himself over while he caught his breath, resting his hands on his thighs. "…Thank God… I thought… I was going… to die there…" He muttered to himself in between ragged breaths.

The larger blacksmith looked up from his work as he quenched it, now letting a bright smile crossed his lips as his eye locked with those of his adorable girlfriend. "Ah, my Pumpkin. It is good to be seeing you here." The cyclops said in a thick Russian accent as he placed the breastplate down before making his way towards the front counter.

Tio had a bright smile on her face as she raced towards the counter. "There you are~!"

The pair met up at the counter and leaned towards each other before locking their lips together. They held the kiss for a moment before reluctantly pulling back from each other. Tio pressed the base of her horn against her boyfriend's forehead before the pair nuzzled their noses together.

"I missed you~" The ogress mewled in a sweet tone.

"I feel very much the same." The cyclops replied as he continued to nuzzle his girlfriend.

While the couple were enjoying their moment, Maredrianna and Centorea moved next to the blonde after he recuperated himself. "Greetings, Kazama. It is good to see thee in good health." The older mare said to him with a smirk on her lips.

Yuuto finally stood up straight as he locked eyes with her. "Lady Shianus, it's good to see you again," He said politely before noticing Centorea next to her. "and you too, Cerea. What brings the two of you here?"

Maredrianna had a bemused look on her face at the hybrid calling her daughter by her shortened name. "Art thou familiar with my daughter, Kazama?"

At this point, the young knight stepped in to explain the situation. *Ahem* "Yuuto here helped look after myself and my fellow homestays during Milord's admission into the hospital. We ended up finding a shared interest in honing our skills of the blade. He has been most helpful to me in that regard."

"Ah, I see." The older mare replied before returning her attention to him. "Thou hast my thanks for helping Cerea hone her skills. It is difficult for her to practice by herself in her current environment."

"Mayhap, Mother. But thou must realise that I now have other priorities besides training." The younger mare added as her cheeks went red. "With all the trouble Milord seems to attract, I always find myself trying to safeguard him from some sort of danger."

"Then at least thou art putting thy skills to good use, Daughter." Her mother said before returning her attention to Yuuto once more. "Prithee tell, Kazama. What brings thee to the forge this day?"

"It was Tio's idea, actually." The hybrid replied as he pointed in the general direction of his ogress co-worker. "She told her boyfriend about me and my katana, and he insisted on seeing it in person, or so that's what Tio told me."

"Hey, Sweetie! Come over here for a second~!" Tio shouted to get his attention while waving at him. "Come and say hi to my boyfriend already~!"

Yuuto sighed to himself at her overly enthusiastic demeanour. "Speaking of which, I should probably go introduce myself. Please excuse me for a second." He said to the centaur pair with a respectful bow before heading towards the front counter.

As the hybrid went towards the counter, the blonde ogress moved up behind him and hurried him along, excited about introducing him to her boyfriend. "Puddin, this is Yuuto Kazama. He's Squad Bravo's captain, as well as MON's hacking and sword specialist." She said as she guided the hybrid to the front counter.

"Ah, greetings, Kazama. It is the greatest of the pleasures to be meeting you." The cyclops replied, though his Japanese seemed to be rather broken. "I am Nikolay Alexandrovich Kuznetsov, and I am Tionishia's boyfriend. Though I am to be imagining that you have been told that already." He added as he took a glove off one of his hands and extended it towards the hybrid.

Yuuto smirked back at the goliath of a man and took his hand, though the blacksmith's hand easily eclipsed his and the cyclops gripped his hand around the hybrid's own before they shook. "The pleasure's mine, Nikolay. I've heard good things about you."

"Oh, I am certain that my Pumpkin has told you of my many accomplishments in this fine forge." Nikolay said with a smug look on his face.

"Well, to some degree she has, but I guess she's told you a fair bit about me."

"Indeed, she has, and she was saying that you are not a typical human, though I do not quite understand how this is the case. You are to be looking normal for a human from what I can see." The cyclops replied with a bemused look on his face.

Tio, who was still standing right behind the blonde hybrid placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him lightly. "Hey, Sweetie. Show him the devil thingy you can do~" She requested of him in a sweet tone.

"Devil thing?" Maredrianna spoke up in confusion. "Kazama, art thou hiding something?"

"I believe my Master briefly mentioned to us that Yuuto is what the ICEP refer to as a hybrid, though I have yet to see this supposed transformation of his in person." Centorea explained to her mother.

The hybrid smirked to himself as he stepped away from his ogress co-worker. "You guys might want to step back for a moment. This transformation can be a little shocking for someone seeing it for the first time." He said in warning, at which point Tio immediately stepped back from him to give him space.

The dwarf, who had stayed quiet up to this point opened up the swing door of the front counter and made his way into the customer waiting area to get a better view of what the hybrid was about to do. "Well, this should be interesting." He muttered to himself.

Once he was ready, Yuuto moved into the centre of the waiting area and shut his eyes as his body began to tense up. Within moments small arcs of crimson lightning began to coalesce across his body. Soon the chaotic energy intensified and began to spark from him, which ended up spooking Centorea for a moment. Everyone else looked on with shock and awe, apart from Tio who had already grown accustomed to his transformation. After a moment, the hybrid opened his eyes to reveal their demonic form, his irises now a crimson red with his now slit pupils, and the sclera of his eyes now pitch black.

He glanced over at Nikolay and gave him a confident smirk. "So, what do you think." He asked, his voice now reverberating thanks to the chaotic energy that swelled inside of him.

The cyclops had a massive grin on his face, impressed by the transformation. "This is quite the surprise, but not of the unpleasant kind. Now I am understanding what my Pumpkin was talking about in regard to you."

Tio had a bright smile on her as she walked up next to her co-worker. "See, I told you he was pretty cool~" She said as she subconsciously placed her hand on top of the hybrid's head, forgetting about his transformation. This resulted in her getting a nasty shock from him and she immediately pulled her hand away, which was now numb. "Owwie…" she whined to herself.

"Tio, how many times have I told you not to touch me when I'm like this? I'm still struggling to control it." He lectured her as he checked to see if she was alright. "Is your hand okay?"

"Yeah, Sweetie. It's just a little numb right now…"

Yuuto looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it should wear off soon. Well, it wears off quickly for Blare at least." He added while trying to suppress a chuckle.

Maredrianna and Centorea trotted over to the MON agents with looks of awe still on their faces. "Kazama, how long hast thou been able to do this?" The older centaur asked.

"Only recently, I'd say it's been just over a fortnight since I first activated it."

Maredrianna couldn't help but smirk at him. "Well, it certainly explains a great deal about thee."

"To think thou art able to accomplish such a feat, it is truly remarkable…" Centorea commented, still staring at the hybrid in awe.

"Well, I'll be damned. Never thought I'd see an elder devil hybrid in person." The dwarf spoke up, catching the MON agent's attention.

Yuuto was somewhat surprised that the blacksmith was able to tell that he was part elder devil. "How could you tell?" He asked with a confused look on his face.

The dwarf smirked at the hybrid as he walked over to him. "Not just any devil can emit such quantities of chaotic energy, you know." He said as he gave him a confident look. "But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself." He added as he stopped in front of the young man and extended a hand towards him while giving him a massive grin. "The name's Olaf Lindberg, and welcome to my forge. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

The MON agent smirked back at him before he deactivated his devil mode on took his hand. "The pleasure's mine, Olaf."

After a moment Olaf let go of his hand and made his way towards the front counter. "So, what brings a hybrid like yourself to my humble forge?" He asked as he made his way through the swing door and stood himself on top of a wooden crate to look over the counter. "I did hear Nikolay mention that he was expecting to see someone today, though I thought it might've been Tio again."

"That is to be the case, Master Olaf. But my Pumpkin has to be saying a great deal about Kazama and of his katana that I had to be, how does the saying go, to be 'seeing it in the flesh'?" The cyclops said, still having trouble with his Japanese.

"Hehe, that's right, Puddin~" Tio answered before she gave him a loving peck on the cheek.

The hybrid chuckled to himself as he moved towards the counter himself. "Well, I'm here now, though I believe you're more interested in seeing this." As he stopped in front of the counter, he unsheathed Black Lotus from its sheath and placed it on top of the counter for the dwarf and cyclops to see in all its glory. "There it is, Black Lotus. I've been told that it's been handed down my family for many generations."

Nikolay stared at the blade in awe. He could tell straight away that it was a finely crafted weapon, and despite how well-kept it was, he could tell that it was an old weapon indeed, certainly two or three centuries old at the very least, yet there was no sign of rust to be seen anywhere. The cyclops picked up the weapon in his large hands and brought it closer to his face to inspect it further. At first glance, it looked like a steel weapon, like most katanas were, but upon closer inspection, he could see a slight crimson shimmer to the metal in question, something that wasn't common in steel.

"No, it couldn't be…" He muttered to himself in disbelief.

"What's the problem up there?" The dwarf questioned.

"…I am to be requiring a second opinion, Master Olaf." The cyclops replied as he handed over the weapon to him.

Olaf took the weapon into his own hands and gave it a closer inspection himself. He looked down the metal himself, but sure enough, he could see the crimson shimmer himself. His eyes widened in the realisation that they found something extremely rare.

"Nikolay, you don't think it might be-?"

"I am to be almost certain of it being the case."

The dwarf soon smirked to himself once more. "Well, I'll be damned. Never thought I'd see one of these outside the depths of Hell."

Yuuto stood there with a puzzled look on his face, unsure of what the blacksmiths were even talking about. "Wait, isn't it just a steel katana?"

Olaf looked up from the blade towards the hybrid before he placed Black Lotus back onto the countertop. "Lad, what you have here is a master-crafted Chaosium blade."

This only confused the MON agent further. "Chaosium?"

"Indeed, it is a metal ore that can only be found in the depths of the Demonic Realms. It is said that only the devils know how to refine and forge the stuff, meant to be stronger than steel too. Apparently, the stuff is supposedly indestructible." The master blacksmith explained. "Rumour has it that it can even hold the charge of demonic energy that the elder devils produce."

"Is that so?" The hybrid asked as he picked up Black Lotus. "Well, let's find out."

With that, the hybrid stood back from the counter and activated his devil mode once more. As he did so he managed to focus a great amount of chaotic energy towards the hand holding his katana, and sure enough, the charge of energy started to coalesce around the weapon. He then deactivated his devil mode once more, though despite not producing any more chaotic energy himself the blade was still charged with the stuff, much to the surprise of everyone in the forge.

"…Incredible…" Nikolay muttered to himself in disbelief.

"Heh, guess those devils weren't boasting over nothing after all." Olaf added with a smirk on his face.

Yuuto looked down at the katana in amazement, surprised that the charge was actually contained to the weapon itself. "Okay, that's pretty cool, but we have a problem here." He said as he held Black Lotus up. "I have no way of discharging it safely."

"Indeed, thou wouldst most certainly cause irreparable damage carrying such a weapon around as it is." Centorea said with worry in her voice.

"I've got something you could give it a good whack at." The dwarf interjected as he hooked a thumb behind him towards an armour stand with an old breastplate resting on it. "I use that old thing to test the sharpness of a blade on, so you're more than welcome to have a swing at it."

"You sure about that?"

"Of course, the energy should just disperse once the blade connects with the armour. Now, get your keister in here and get it over with, the anticipation is killing me here."

The hybrid nodded and soon made his way into the other side of the forge with the master blacksmith's permission. He made his way to the armour stand and stood in front of it with Black Lotus held in his right hand, still charged with chaotic energy. He then took a deep breath before he held up the blade with both hands and prepared himself to strike at the breastplate that sat atop the armour stand. Without hesitation, he raised the katana and swung it down with a double-handed strike, and the tip of it struck at the armour. The moment it made contact the chaotic energy instantly sparked into the breastplate, and without warning the armour, as well as the stand it was resting on exploded into pieces, all of which scattered across the back area of the forge. Yuuto was pushed back by the small blast as he wasn't expecting it, though Nikolay was close behind and managed to catch the MON agent before he could hit the floor. Everyone in the forge had shocked looks on their faces, all surprised by the sudden blast of energy.

"Well, I wasn't quite expecting that to happen. That demonic energy of yours certainly has some kick to it, Lad." Olaf commented as he tried to make sense of what just happened.

"You okay there, Sweetie?" Tio asked with worry from the other side of the counter.

Yuuto managed to stand up straight with the help of the cyclops and took a moment to calm himself down, still holding Black Lotus in his right hand. "Yeah, I'm alright. Nothing to worry about." He replied in an attempt to reassure everyone.

"But that was most unexpected," Nikolay interjected. "for such a weapon to be containing such destructive power and not to be shattered by it is unimaginable."

"Such power. To think that Yuuto was capable of such a thing…" Centorea muttered to herself in disbelief.

Maredrianna merely smirked to herself at her daughter's comment. "Thou must admit that it is rather impressive, is it not?"

"…Yes, thou doth speak the truth, Mother."

The hybrid looked down at the weapon in his hand with a mix of amazement and confusion. Why would his father just hand over such a thing to him? He had half thought that his father would've demanded it back after rejecting his offer to re-join their Yakuza group, but he let him keep Black Lotus despite that. He couldn't help but wonder what else his father had come upon that would allow him to freely hand over his once precious weapon. He sighed to himself before he re-sheathed the katana and started making his way back to the other side of the counter.

"Seems there's more to Black Lotus than I originally thought. Guess I'll have to take extra care while using it now." He said as he went through the swing door of the counter.

"Indeed, it would be the greatest of the shame to lose such a fine blade, Kazama." The cyclops said as he pondered about the unique qualities of the weapon.

"Lad," Olaf called out to the MON agent as he stood on top of the crate on his side of the counter. "just so you know, you're welcome back here anytime if you need any repairs done for it, though trying to get my hands on Chaosium might be a little tricky if I have to be honest."

Yuuto glanced back at the dwarf and smirked at him. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Olaf." He then turned to face his ogress co-worker. "You ready to go, Tio?"

"Yeah, just one second, Sweetie~" She replied before she made her way to the counter to get her boyfriend's attention. "Puddin, I'm heading off now~"

Nikolay made his way to the counter with a smile on his face. "Alright, just be making sure that you are careful when you are making your way back home." He replied before the pair pressed their lips together briefly. "I am to be lucky to have fallen in love with you, Pumpkin." He added with reddened cheeks.

"I love you too~" Tionishia replied before giving him another peck on the lips.

As the pair were sharing in their affections, the hybrid made his way to the centaur pair to say his goodbyes. "Lady Shianus, Cerea, it was good to see you again." He said as he bowed to them.

"Verily, it was a pleasant surprise." Maredrianna answered as she did the same. "Take care of thyself, Kazama."

"Indeed, it was good to see thee in good health as well, Yuuto," Centorea added as she bowed towards the MON agent. "perhaps I shall see thee at Milord's home in the near future?"

Yuuto couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "More than likely. I still need to sort things out with Lala anyway. I'll see you soon." He answered as he began to make his leave and waved at the two mares.

"Bye, everyone! See you soon~!" The ogress shouted joyously as she waved at everyone.

The others said their goodbyes as the pair of MON agents made their leave.

As they started making their way back, Tio couldn't help but start up a conversation with her co-worker. "Well, that was fun to watch~" She said in a sweet tone.

"Yeah, and very enlightening too." The hybrid answered as he glanced back at the black carrier bag that held his katana once more, but he couldn't help but let a feeling of melancholy overcome him as the memories related to the weapon came back to him.

"Sweetie, you okay there~?"

Yuuto shook himself from his thoughts as he looked back at the towering blonde and gave her a forced smile. "Yeah, totally fine, Tio. No need to worry about-" Before he could finish his sentence, the ogress pulled him into a crushing hug in an attempt to make him feel better.

"It's okay, Sweetie. I and everyone in MON are here for you~" She said as he struggled to free himself from her cleavage, though she soon let him go, allowing him to breathe again.

"…Thanks, Tio. I appreciate the sentiment…" He replied with reddened cheeks. After an uncomfortable silence, he recomposed himself and activated his devil mode. "Anyway, I'm going over to Kimihito's place to check up on Lala. Pretty sure she's sorting out her Exchange Program paperwork with Ms Smith right now. Plus, I think she will want me to sign some paperwork as well, so might as well get it out of the way as soon as." He then started sprinting off towards his friend's house as he waved back as the ogress. "I'll see you back at the complex later!"

"Bye Sweetie, take care~!" Tionishia shouted back as she did the same.

As Yuuto sprinted down the street, careful not to crash into anyone, he couldn't help but let his thought wonder about what waited for him and Lala in the future. They'd soon be moving in together, and he just couldn't wait for the day to come. He let a warm smile cross his lips at the thought. It couldn't come soon enough.

Back at the Kurusu residence, Kimihito and Lala were busy signing paperwork in the living room as Ms Smith watched over them with a smirk on her face. The government agent was elated at the fact that she managed to recruit a reaper of death into MON. All it took was for the dullahan to fall for her favourite and only male subordinate and a little bit of coxing with the promise of their eventual 'eternal union' as the chuunibyou liked to call it. With a sigh of relief, both the host and the young reaper placed their pens down and relaxed into their seats, happy to get this torment out of the way.

"Wow, who would've thought a homestay transferal would need so many signatures?" Kimihito said out loud, looking as though he was about to lose the will to live.

"Aye, though this torment will be worth it once meself and me Love are tae reside in our own sanctum together…" She added as she felt a sense of relief from finishing the required paperwork.

Ms Smith compiled all the paperwork on the coffee table and quickly checked through it to make sure all the required signatures were where they needed to be. "Well, that should be it on your end, Darling-kun. I bet you must be ecstatic about having one less mouth to feed." She teased with a smirk still plastered on her face.

The male human sat himself up straight with a look of melancholy on his face. "Honestly it'll be sad to see you go, Lala." He answered as he looked over towards the dullahan. "It feels weird though, seeing as you haven't been here for nearly as long as the other girls."

Lala also sat herself up straight as she looked back at her soon-to-be former host with a confident look on her face. "Do nay fret, Kurusu. The fates have destined a path fer me that I dare nay wish tae stray from, though do nay think that me departure from this plane will prevent me from returning someday. Yer talent fer avoiding death is still an enigma tae me after all." She replied dramatically as she placed a hand over her face.

*Sigh* "I was afraid you'd say that…" The host said in a defeated tone.

Ms Smith finished off the rest of her coffee and let out a sigh of satisfaction. "Well regardless, this is a big step for you, Lala. You'll have more freedoms as an official agent of MON but seeing that you haven't completed your term in the exchange program yet, it'll be easier to make Bishie-kun your host for the time being, even if it's in name only. Speaking of which, I probably should've asked him to come over with us to sort out the necessary documentation."

"Shall I go and retrieve me Love from his current task, Ma'am?" Lala asked as she stood up to her feet.

Just then there was a knocking on the door, much to the surprise of the trio.

"Who could that be?" Kimihito mused as he got up from his seat and started making his way to the front door. "Can't be Cerea, she has her own key."

"I bet it's a certain devil boy we were just talking about." Kuroko answered in full confidence.

"Didn't you say you last saw him at the gym? There's no way he'd get here so quickly from there."

"You owe me a free meal if I'm right, Darling-kun."

The young man looked back at her as he began to open the door. "And you can stop asking for coffee if you're wrong."

"Guess she gets to try out that crab tempura you've been working on then." A demonic sounding voice interjected.

Kimihito let out a short yelp as he stumbled backwards and landed on his ass, while the blonde MON agent couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's reaction. "Yuuto?! How did you get here so fast?!" The host exclaimed in shock.

"Hmm, devil mode." He replied plainly as he stepped into the house and took his shoes off. "Oh, pardon the intrusion by the way."

The host sighed to himself as he stood himself back up. "Trust me, you're not the one who's intruding."

"What was that, Darling-kun? I didn't quite catch that." Ms Smith interjected with a polite smile, though the dark aura surrounding her suggested that she heard the small quip quite clearly.

"N-N-N-Nothing, Ma'am!" Kimihito hastily replied in a panicked state.

"Oh, good. Must've been hearing things then." She added as the aura started to die down. She then turned her attention to the hybrid. "And speak of the devil, we were just talking about you, Bishie-kun."

Yuuto let out a barely audible groan as he gave the government agent a look of annoyance. "Please tell me that was unintentional, Ma'am."

"Oh, trust me, it wasn't." Ms Smith replied as she took off her sunglasses. "And besides, you'll be hearing a lot more of it from now on." She added with a smirk and a wink.

"Oh, joy…" He responded sarcastically.

"Me Love," Lala spoke up as she started making her way towards him. "It is good tae see ye."

The hybrid couldn't help but let a warm smile cross his lips as he deactivated his devil mode. The young reaper then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, which he happily reciprocated. "Hey Babe, it's good to see you too, even though we haven't long since seen each other."

The dullahan pulled her head back and locked eyes with her boyfriend. "I could never tire o' yer presence." She replied lovingly before she pressed her lips to his.

"Alright lovebirds," Kuroko interjected with a clap of her hands to get their attention. "enough with the lovey-dovey stuff for now. We have paperwork for you two to sort out."

The pair reluctantly separated, but she did have a point. They weren't going to get anywhere without having to go through a mountain of paperwork, so they had to suck it up and get it out of the way. They eventually took a seat on the couch and picked up a pen each as they began to read through the documents they needed to sign.

"Darling-kun, this might take a while. Could you start on dinner for us, please?" Ms Smith requested in a seemingly innocent tone.

*Sigh* "Sure thing." He replied dejectedly before turning his attention towards the blonde agent. "Yuuto, you're free to stay for dinner if you want."

Yuuto looked up from the pile of paperwork and gave his friend an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Kimihito. You have no idea how hungry I am right now."

The host nodded in response with a smile before he made his way into the kitchen to start preparing his crab tempura recipe.

Lala let out a frustrated sigh and she read through the documents. "It staggers belief that mortals would willingly put themselves through such torment…"

The hybrid chuckled at her reaction. "Think of it this way, it's all a means to an end." He told his girlfriend in a positive tone.

The young reaper couldn't help but smile at his comment. "Aye, and it is truly an end which I desire greatly." She replied as her cheeks went red.

As the pair went about their gruelling task, Kuroko couldn't help but let a warm smile cross her lips as she watched the couple interact with each other. At first sight, they might not seem the ideal match, but their personalities actually meshed pretty well together. Yuuto's charm and confidence did a world of wonders in bringing out a more outgoing side in the young reaper, while Lala's caring nature and her flair for dramatics always seemed to put a smile on the blonde's face. Right now, the pair were the best thing going now for human/liminal relations, though the coordinator was more than happy enough to see the two of them happy being with each other. For better or for worse, the couple were bound to see things through together.

A/N: Finally back with another chapter!

Sorry about the delay, but for those of you who don't know I started another story on here under the title of Handling my Homestay's Libido (Shameless plug, I know.) So, if you haven't checked it out yet, feel free to. It follows the more familiar Host/Homestay scenario we've all come to love and I wanted to try my hand at it. Anyway, I'll be alternating chapters between the two stories, so expect updates to be sparatic at best.

As for what happened in this chapter, it's more character development with hints of exposition and foreshadowing as well. I want to thank ChillingComrade for helping me with Nikolay's character design to help him feel like an authentic Russian character. Feel free to check out his story, Russian Life With Slavic Liminals, it's a highly recommended read. And yes, I added an 'alloy which is stronger than steel' into the story, but there is a reason for it which will make itself apparent later down the line, hopefully.

That's all for now, feel free to follow/favourite if you liked the story, and you're more than welcome to drop a review or any suggestions you may have.

As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!