Akeno
At Kuoh Academy, two girls were revered as the school idols. Akeno herself was the perfect idealized Japanese woman; Rias was the princess whose beauty was so supreme that no one dared even approach her. As Akeno looked at Rias, however, she saw nothing of the pristine beauty and elegance that everyone admired so much. She looked tired. Tired and worried. Her red hair was a beautiful as ever, long and flowing and glistening in the sunlight, but her eyes and the dark bags below them told a different story. Her usual smile was missing, but none of that was needed for Akeno to understand her best friend.
That's why she said nothing. Kiba had lost his only lead and no one had seen the boy for days, and while that alone was enough to put all of them at the Occult Research Club in a sour mood, that was far from the end of it. All of them could tell that something was going on. Something big, something bad. Kokabiel had stolen the Excaliburs, brought them to Rias's territory along with Kiba's old tormentor, and then promptly disappeared along with Freed, leaving the Excaliburs behind. Kiba to track down Freed and the Excaliburs after that, but since then, nothing had happened. They were in the eye of the storm, and they knew that its calm was a fleeting respite.
There was something peculiar about the way the Excaliburs had reappeared. The church enforcer, Xenovia, had managed to find them somehow, but she refused to divulge any details whatsoever, only that it was unrelated to Kiba.
Rias let out a sigh, not the first one since they got there. They were sitting outside the ORC building, lounging around in the grass. The day was beautiful – the sun was out, and it was still spring, so the temperature and humidity were pleasant enough. The gloom was centered only on their group. All the other students had spent the day chatting away happily, talking of trips to the beach and karaoke and barbecuing, all of them heedless of the looming threat, if even there was one.
Akeno slumped where she sat. Their depressed state was because there was an enemy, all of them knew it, they even knew who it was, but there was nothing that they could do but wait. Patience wasn't a forte of devils. Virtues were the trade of angels; sin and vice were more up the devils' alley. Akeno didn't think they looked particularly sinful as she glanced over them. They just looked miserable.
Despite the depressed state of her friends, going home was still bleak in comparison. She had taken up living in an abandoned Shinto shrine in a quieter part of the city, and its bleary interior provided no comfort, nor did the quiet. Rias had suggested that she take up residence with her and Issei at the Hyoudou house, but Akeno would rather not get in between them. She was also reluctant to leave the shrine – though it wasn't a cheerful place, it still reminded her of her mother.
Her thoughts wandered as she was on her way home, and she stopped by her favorite ramen place as she often did, especially these days. Ramen was soothing. It was the epitome of comfort food, something to warm your belly and heart on a rainy day. The smell that assaulted her nostrils as she entered already eased a little bit of the tension in her shoulders.
The restaurant was separated in two eating sections and one counter next to a vending machine where you ordered and picked up your order. There were individual eating stalls with space for one where people could eat in privacy, and then there were tables up front where people could eat in groups or pairs. She got her order coupon from a vending machine, extra spicy with pork, beansprouts, burnt garlic, and coriander. After getting her bowl, she went toward one of the stalls but paused, noticing a man sitting alone by one of the tables, staring out the window as if lost in thought. The lack of steam coming from his bowl suggested that he had sat there for a while. She sat down opposite him, and he turned to face her with a smile.
"Ah, Akeno, wonderful to see you again," his bright smile was a pleasant contrast to the way her friends had looked all week. "You look a little down though, something on your mind?"
"There is something on my mind, yes, but I hope a good bowl of ramen will take care of it. It's good to see you too, Cato. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"It sure has. I've been too busy to go here and get a good meal in good company," he said before taking a big slurp of his ramen. "So good! I've been surviving mostly on take-away for this past week and a half. It's a weird time in Kuoh at the moment, I have to say. I'm used to being on top of things, you see, but lately, it's been difficult to tell what's going on. I've even decided to close down shop for a little bit while I get my things in order. But goodness! I shouldn't take out my worries on a young high schooler like you, you should be free and smiling."
Akeno did smile at that. It was nice to have someone out there who cared.
"You should come over for tea soon," he said. "I've gotten ahold of some shincha."
After Akeno enlisted Cato's help in looking for her father, she had visited him regularly. At first, they bonded over the green tea ceremony, and later over ramen. Akeno knew all about the old Japanese traditions and the mysticism behind many of them thanks to her mother being a shrine maiden, and it was nostalgic to share those memories with someone who cared as much about them as Cato did. They ended up making it a regular thing for a while, with Cato always happy to supply the teas and treats. It had been a while since they did it last. It would be nice with some normalcy.
"I can come over tomorrow if you're not too busy," she said. There was much going on, but the only thing they could do was wait, as much as it grated them all to do so. "That is, if you're not too busy. Sounds like you had a lot on your mind yourself."
Cato smiled brightly at her, giving the image of a bear handed a pot of honey. "Wonderful, just come after school. I'll make sure to buy a few snacks as well."
Yeah, maybe that was what she needed. Perhaps she could even bring Rias to cheer her up, though she'd have to separate the girl from Issei first. There was no way that the fatherly Cato would get along with the notorious pervert. The rest of the meal was spent in pleasant conversation about the right ratio of buckwheat to wheat in soba noodles and whether sweet went well with spicy or not. Too soon it ended, and she had to head out again.
"Do you need me to walk you home? The streets have been dangerous these past few weeks, the back-alleys in particular, though I suppose it's always best to steer clear of those."
The back-alleys? "I'll be fine on my own, don't worry about me," it would be better if he didn't see her home. She gave him a smile and a wave as she left.
There was a chill in the air as she walked through the early night. There always was in this city. The days were normal enough, normal and safe, but at night, the nature of Kuoh changed. She wondered if it was like that before Rias and Sona made the city their base. Predators stalked the night, and Akeno began to see shadows move where they shouldn't, the thought of back-alley murders remained clear in her mind. She had to remind herself that she was one of the predators in Kuoh, but the image of the mad-eyed Fallen sent a chill down her spine. Were the streets always this cold?
A tapping noise caught her attention and she decided to check it out, fighting her baser instinct to run. Back-alley. The night was dark, but devils were creatures of darkness. Akeno's vision was clearer than ever, and what was obscured to the passersby – if there were any – was clear as day, or night, to her. Slumped behind a garbage container was a man that Akeno recognized well. In between his torn and bloodied holy garb, his manic expression, and the cuts that covered his body, Freed Sellzen was cackling a lot less than when last Akeno saw him. She knelt next to him, careful not to stain herself in the pool of blood. Cuts all over. Some were deep, some shallow, and all of them were filled with anger. Anger and demonic energy. Kiba.
A small note poked out from beneath the priestly gown that was Freed Sellzen's burial clothes. It poked out through a cut, remarkably unharmed by any blade, but bloodstained nonetheless. Akeno took it, unfurling it with the care of someone who did not wish to know what was inside.
Kokabiel plans to kill Buchou
"Are you fighting for us, Kiba," she said into the night. Her eyes turned from the note to the maimed priest. The sadistic glee of the cuts was nauseating even to her. "Or is it just your anger…"
Azazel
Azazel was pacing around his office, stopping regularly at his window and wracking his brain for anything proactive that he could do. Try as he might, there was nothing.
Kokabiel had simply disappeared. Azazel ground his teeth as he looked into the night. Cato assured him that the attack would be coming, and although the crafty man had no way of knowing it for sure, Azazel was inclined to agree. At any rate, there was no way he was letting his guard down. He kept Vali close despite the young man's whining at the fact. When Kokabiel hit, they needed to act fast. It was his responsibility as the leader of the Grigori.
At least Cato had taken care of the priest and the so-called genocide Archbishop, Valper Galilei. What Kokabiel had been planning with the two was uncertain. How Cato had done it was even more uncertain. Azazel passed the time by imagining the bear of a man just wrestling the old archbishop to the ground and using his oh-so-great martial arts skills to take down the sword-wielder. He shook his head at the thought. This was how his mind idled when he didn't drink alcohol, and he wouldn't drink until Kokabiel was incapacitated and locked up safely, he couldn't afford to be sloppy.
He paced back over to his window and looked out again – maybe Kokabiel would just fly by his window? It was absurd. There was nothing to see. It was cloudy and dark, and Kokabiel surely knew where he lived. He obviously wouldn't be spotted until he wanted to be. Nonetheless, Azazel kept looking, and when that wasn't enough, he went into the city, just walking about, hoping for something, anything to happen. The wait was unbearable.
The city was different tonight. The young devils were rushing about with what seemed like purpose – something that had been missing recently. They know something that I don't. Still, nothing happened. In the end, he grabbed his rod and went fishing down by the piers, joined by Vali who complained about his boring hobby to no end.
Cato
An odd-looking man walked around in Kuoh city, keeping to the smaller streets, the alleys, out of the light.
Warning the high-school faction about Kokabiel's intention had been unnecessary in terms of his own interests, but it did give them a better chance at survival. The rest of it was up to them. In reality, he probably did it just to pass time. Waiting was boring, but for some reason, Kokabiel was making him do just that. There was no need to wait, nothing else that needed to be done in preparation for Kokabiel's initial plan, and before Cato intervened, Kokabiel was about to stage his attack. Nothing should've changed.
Every day, Cato had to stalk the night so as not to miss it when it finally happened. It was aggravating. He supposed it was Kokabiel getting a bit of petty revenge after his imprisonment, nothing harmless, and if the Fallen needed to let him sweat a bit, then he would take it. There were worse ways to wait than with a bellyful of soup.
He had gone over his equipment a thousand times and more. If anyone saw him like this, any image they might've conjured in their minds of him as a gentle giant would shatter. He wore tight-fitting dragonhide armor, there was a round shield strapped to his arm, a sword in its sheath at his left hip, and a multitude of weapons on his back – a lance, a bow, and a familiar sickle-like sword. His body was practically stacked with enchanted jewelry reminiscent of how some gangster rapper flaunting his wealth. The best preparation when fighting dragons was bringing a bit of everything.
That wasn't to say he would be fighting a dragon, but a man could dream. In his mind's eye, he conjured up the image of the battle. He would spring out of the darkness with a loud battle-cry, take out its wing before it knew what hit it, and-
He spotted movement at the edge of his vision. Looking up, it wasn't a dragon he saw descending through the clouds, but it was what he had hoped for. The night exploded into light.
Ramen really is good, though I'm not a fan of pork.
Kokabiel sure is popular.
If a battle-cry is only in the mind's eye, does it make a sound?
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter might be tomorrow, and if not, probably on Monday.
