A/N: Hey Guys! Welcome to Chapter 4, now, let's start with responses!

drake202: Yup. Victor is a 20s kid, he just didn't have cable. Or read books. And yeah, Kuroka deserves happiness.

Marcus De Gabriel: Already fixed, thanks for telling me.

Glitner: Sadly, Victor will stay as he is so no real yakuza action. But he will dress up like one in the future.

Now, onto the story! Also, please review. I get an ego boost reading them and write quicker after reading them.


Ducking, Victor grits his teeth as the quick second kick snaps like a whip, audibly making Victor flinch as he misses the spinning hook kick that caused him to stumble when it landed as he straightens up, his footwork saving him as he leans back from the side kick and had to spin away from the following axe kick but felt his side impact the wall as a consequence of the front kick he took.

"And that's how supply-and-demand works." Akiyama says, bringing his legs back in as he lets Victor regains his breathing from the battering he just took along with the lecture. "Now, onto-."

"Wait, give me a second!" Victor asks, interrupting Akiyama as he rubs his head, "You just kicked my head around like a ball, give me a second."

Thinking on it for a second, Akiyama relents, chuckling as he spoke, "Alright, besides, it's not like I'm training you in something important."

Victor falls down, relaxing while sitting down as he asks, "So, why am I getting a crash course on economics?"

"Because," Akiyama starts, lighting up a cigarette before putting it in his mouth, taking a long drag, letting it rest in his lungs for a bit, before releasing it while saying, "it's one of the few things I can teach you. Along with another thing."

"And what's that?" Victor asks, tilting his head before he falls, his instincts better honed as he feels the wind whip beside him as he looks at the leg that nearly crushed his leg.

"Speed." Akiyama punctuates the word with the removal of his leg from the wall, Victor staring at the wall, at the imprint his shoe left and the cracks that spread around it as he slowly turned to him, eyes wide.

Except he wasn't there, which he definitely was only to meet the floor as Akiyama kicks down from above him with a smug grin, "First, we'll start with a technique known as quickstep."

Quickstepping away, Victor gapes at the speed as he sees parallels to Bleach's Flash Step, "It's basically Bleach's Flash Step with a different name." Admits Akiyama as he sheepishly scratches the back of his head before jumping up and getting into his stance, "Like the Flash Step, quickstep is getting to a certain place as quick as possible but without having a specific point to get to, using footwork to change trajectory mid step. You'll learn more from Majima, so, ready?"

Standing up, Victor grins and nods, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good." Was all Akiyama said as he lashed out with a kick.


Victor opens his eyes, his expression deader than a corpse's but not quite as pale as he is reminded of Akiyama's lessons in business and economics. Trying to remember math while getting your shit rocked does that to a person. And something that he is sure was literally pounded into him.

It's no wonder his magical skills have been improving. Compared to crunching numbers while getting your shit rocked or the numbers of a company that, in the span of three weeks, became the top ranked company in Kuoh, the equations of magic are far simpler, especially the beginner ones, though trap magic is a bit more complicated, it's going fine. Still, active magical combat is pretty exhausting.

Le Fay knows her stuff, and so do the others, that's for sure, it's no wonder his days usually end or start with him losing a fight with anyone in Vali's team who was around. Sometimes both.

Though, Azazel's look of shock and worry is kinda weird in Victor's eyes, especially that look of worry was shared among the others before it became confidence as he made his own training regimes.

What he doesn't know, is that it's not normal to do any of the things that will be mentioned:

-Have your mana halved and battle a sword-fighter with only magic.

-Have your stamina halved and challenge a brawler.

-Have your everything halved and fight Vali.

-Fight Vali in his Balance Breaker form when you still lose to him when he's not in it.

-Use runes against an expert magic user.

-Use Vali's Divine Dividing to up the difficulty of training.

-Use Vali's Divine Dividing for training.

-Fight Vali.

Though the results are hard to argue against. The aforementioned training along with his usual training of punching and kicking has made his style a bit more streamlined, his punches having technique and his flexibility improving his kicks. Though, because of his constant use of mana in spells, his control over mana is refined to the point that the basic and some intermediate spells barely use any more mana than needed.

That said, he doesn't believe he's that strong compared to Vali's team. But then that's understandable as that's Vali team. A whole team of beings that are at least bordering on Ultimate-class in some way or another.

As much as they argue and fight, they trust each other, are loyal to each other and sympathetic to each other's plight. All of them had their own problems that they all respected each other for getting through them. Yet, as one, there is one thing that they can all agree with.

None of them like fighting Victor. At all.

At first, they all knew he had potential, he constantly showed it and when they fought him at his power halved they felt like they were fighting a child, somewhat. But then, it went on and Victor could give them great trouble with having his mana, ki, and stamina halved as it showed how much potential he actually had.

Or how insane he truly is.

Especially with the aforementioned training regimes. And what's more is that he's laid back and stubborn so he doesn't really let losing get to him, he just continues on and tries something different next time, and that's what annoys them.

He's unorthodox. None of them know how to deal with someone as unorthodox as Victor. Sure, they had a few enemies who had weird powers used in creative ways that turned out to be strong, but Victor took all of that and bordered between cranking it up to twenty or not doing it at all.

Where enemies would be floored that their technique or spell failed, Victor simply continued on and tried something else. And with his penchant for dirty techniques it's all just raised to eleven.

To this day, Victor still feels some shame that, after three weeks of training with Vali's team he hasn't been able to beat any of them. Then he just forgets it, shrugs it off and continues on with his life.

A paw smacks his cheek as his train of thought is derailed, as he stares down at the black cat on his chest with two tails who is also simply staring at him, the room filling with an idle pressure to it as neither breaks away.

Now, this started three days into both of them sleeping together, Victor put his foot down and made a deal with Kuroka, he would allow Kuroka to sleep with him as long as she was in her cat form(read: he pleaded so he could sleep normally and not have to hide the awkward boner he'll definitely pop sleeping next to an attractive woman) and in return, he'll take her out once he manages to get a form of transportation to go out of Kuoh and if she's in disguise along with adding an extra hour of meditation with her to my permanent schedule.

Simple enough. Both agreed, and nothing was wrong with it. Neither saw anything wrong with it.

Well, Victor isn't light, with his body being fairly sturdy with muscle and such, and he tends to move a bit in his sleep. Not much, but just a bit of twisting around and whatnot. Like moving from his side to his front or back. He also does not like being attacked in the morning.

So, forgive him if the annoyance and the intrusive thought of grabbing Kuroka and throwing her out into the snow was weirdly appealing the moment she woke him up by scratching his eyes.

Turns out, Victor was originally on his front while she was in her cat form resting on his back until he turned and threw her off. She was a bit annoyed but in the end, snuggled back near Victor before returning to sleep. What really ticked her off was when Victor turned once more onto his stomach, nearly squishing Kuroka in her cat form where she decided to retaliate by nearly blinding him.

Afterwards, they argued as Victor tried to defend himself, for some reason he would, to this day, never understand and would always chalk it up as annoyance, and Kuroka continually managed to rebuke well until it became an impromptu wrestling match.

Now, this is after three days of what could be considered self-torture in the form of training, so it was no wonder to anyone but Victor as to why he lost. He still struggled in some vain understanding that it wasn't his fault. To an extent, it wasn't, but still…

So, we return to present time where neither occupant of the bed has moved and the pressure hasn't seized as a new question was brought up.

Move, Victor's eyes spoke.

Kuroka simply did the cat thing of staring right back and placing a paw on his cheek as she did not, in fact, move and challenged him back, Make me.

And so, he did, gently picking up Kuroka in her cat form, becoming a long cat as he picked her up and gently deposited her away from him as he groaned. Turning to his side, he patted at the nightstand by his bed and found his phone.

Opening it, he groaned at the time before noticing the notification telling him that it's the morning before Christmas Eve. Time for last minute gift-gathering/making.

And the birth of Christ or whatnot. It's been a while since that part of Christmas really mattered, not since his previous life.

Taking a deep breath to calm down the feeling of despair and yearning that bubbled up fiercely from within, he tried to get up but rested a hand on the edge of his bed and his hand slipped when he put his weight on it as he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Kuroka, who has already returned to human form and wearing a pair of shorts and a shirt that is definitely Victor's if the way the shirt hangs loosely off her frame, emphasizing her breast and the tips are any evidence, is looking down at the fallen Victor, only attempted to hide her laughter by keeping her mouth closed. Her shoulders visibly shook as her eyes reflected the amusement she felt at that moment and he could hear the stifled laughter from behind her mouth.

Ignoring her, and the way her breasts shook with her laughter, Victor wallowed in the feeling of exhaustion and self-disappointment for putting off searching for gifts for so long. There was also this curious empty feeling he finds within himself when he enters his mindscape, but he usually ignores it. An easy thing to do since he has been busy. If it isn't training, it's dropping by the office to check up on the rankings and such. If not that, it's hanging out with someone from Vali's team. If he's not doing that, he's the universe's handyman, for some reason.

So much has happened from helping an old lady, who turned out to be the Master of a dojo, to moonlighting as a woman to help Ruval, and even helping a smith with a Stray Devil problem and getting his number and favor. For three weeks, he interacted with people and learnt quite a bit.

Currently, he's staring at his phone while he lays on his stomach, ringing up the aforementioned smith before sighing when he didn't pick up, causing a twinge of annoyance to bubble up despite the understanding that it's nearing Christmas and the smith always returns any missed calls. But bringing up the weird void in himself does tend to ruin his good mood. It's kinda weird since it's not really a void that's obvious, it's more like the passage into his mindscape is a void. Almost like it's missing something.

"Morning Kuroka." Victor groans, deciding to ignore the problem for later as he begins to miggle himself out of the roll of blankets he placed himself in.

"Morning, nya~." Kuroka sensually groaned while stretching, moaning in a way that is definitely on purpose before slumping back down on the bed, "You're up so early, why don't you come here and join me~?"

Victor's response was to throw a blanket on top of her as she yelped in surprise while Victor huffed in amusement, grabbing a pair of baggy jeans and a white shirt before heading to the bathroom to take a bath, or shower.

He yawns, still in the process of waking up as each step brings him closer to full consciousness, the last step being a nice warm shower or bath.

It all went crashing down the moment he opened the door to the bathing area as he looked inside. His mind was, once again, thrown into disarray when he spotted Le Fay holding onto a towel, about to put it on, but to Victor's mind it looked like she was taking it off, her body in full view of Victor as the water droplets traveled down her developed body, her breasts plump and obvious and her expression one that seemed to click with Victor, eyes wide and mouth gaping as her unblemished skin seemed to call to Victor. Enticing him to bite it, suck on it, hold it, massage it, and so much more that Victor nearly went into a trance.

Thankfully, he slammed it close before he could act on any of his impulses and yelled, "S-sorry!"

He quickly left the bathroom, his mind constantly replaying the scene he saw as he leaned on the wall, covering his face while sliding down. The way the droplets emphasized her physical features brought to mind one thing, "Massage? What the hell?" The stray thought confused him to no end as the question was ignored in favor of preparing himself for the punishment to come.

He also had to calm down a certain bodily function lest it stand out.

Finally, Le Fay came out wearing clothes, to Victor's monkey brain's disappointment, and red tinting her cheeks and ears to the point where her face looked like a tomato. Said part of his brain continued to superimpose the image of a naked Le Fay on her while his civilized brain tried to reboot and wake up from the dose of horniness it was hit with.

Neither said anything, the awkwardness obvious as Victor spoke up first with a sigh, "Ah, sorry, sh-should have knocked." Inwardly, Victor curses at himself for stuttering.

She tilted her head down, her witch hat hiding her expression while she shakily responded, "N-no, it's fine. Next time, j-just ask."

She whispered the last part but to Victor, it was obvious. But before he could ask anything, Le Fay already left in his stupor as he stared at the ceiling, fear and arousal causing a certain anatomic reaction to happen as he mutters, "She didn't mean anything by it, right?"

Victor is an idiot, mostly by choice, but a genuine idiot and he could be oblivious. But only a corpse could miss the meaning of what she said.

Well, he would be if Arthur found out. Despite that, his shaky smile was large even if the conflict was obvious in his eyes. In the three weeks that have passed, he could confidently say that Kuroka and Le Fay are wonderful women. Any man would be lucky to have them. But if the man they choose is him, then could he even turn down one of them, something in him told him that even if it was just his imagination or the promise he kept with Kuroka, he wants them to be happy. Whether it was directly with him or someone else, he wants them to be happy. That goes the same for Vali, Bikou, and even Arthur.

But could he, if he chose to accept either one, make either of them happy?

Could he even be able to go through with his promise to Kuroka? How could he be able to wipe away what's, at least, half a decade worth of grudges her little sister might have for Kuroka?

No. He doesn't want to. But he does. A contradiction.

Sighing, Victor ran a hand through his face then his hair before releasing a sigh.

Holding the pose, he relaxed as his expression cleared back into his usual expression, his lips looking like they're smirking as he decides to leave it. He said he was going to make Kuroka happy, and he will. What happens, happens and if he wants to do something, he will. Simple as that.

As he stepped into the bath area, he couldn't help but notice how… empty the words felt, but he left it for another time.

Once his shower was done, he changed into his clothes and brushed his teeth, coming out with a far more relaxed face, even if it's still as punchable as before with the edges of his lips tilted upwards and his eyes still as mischievous as usual.

Walking down the steps, he calls out his usual greetings, "Morning fuckers, Kuroka and Le Fay." They nod and return my greetings, with the exception of Arthur, who glares at me. Though it was hard to keep it up since the room is covered in Christmas decorations and a tree in the corner giving off a very festive mood that only increased when Victor noticed that all of Vali's team was there at the moment.

Which is weird since usually, they're off doing their own thing or doing jobs for Azazel, for all of them to be around at the same time is kind of suspicious. Something Victor told Azazel through eye contact, his response was simply to quirk a btow, smirk knowingly, and shake his head. Victor's was to raise a fist and ask again. Azazel begins to sweat and looks away.

Victor is not a clean fighter, let that be known to everyone, but he has limits himself he's not that willing to go to. Spitting, or absolutely humiliating an opponent are on that list. Crotch kicking is not. Something that Azazel has experienced in their usual impromptu spars.

Sadly, Victor has not achieved a direct hit to the balls. Yet.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, Victor jumps over the long couch and rests on it, pointedly refusing to meet Le Fay's eyes as he watches the TV. Nothing interesting really on.

In the end, he simply watched whatever was on before waiting for Le Fay to finish cooking, idly asking Arthur what happened in their last mission since Kuroka wasn't there, Bikou would dramatize details about himself, Le Fay is cooking and no one wants to bother her, and Vali would nitpick about the strength of the foot soldiers.

When he said they were on break, he couldn't help the warm feeling that popped up from his chest when he said that. It meant they could trust him enough to be able to relax in his presence. He can do the same for them.

In the end, he had breakfast and left with a wave after telling them he won't be working as much and will return early. Though, he could've sworn that the atmosphere lightened up when he said that. He simply ignored it as he left, putting on his North Face and putting on his headphones and some music. He begins his tread to the new office of Mizuki Holdings.

Meanwhile, back at home, Azazel waits, "...Is he gone?"

"Yup, he's already far enough that my wards can't sense him." Le Fay answers after opening her eyes. "It's impressive how far he's gotten despite training for only three weeks."

"My own opinion aside," Arthur interjects, "he has been training physically for three years beforehand and it shows too."

"Vic also picks up things real quick." Kuroka adds in her own two cents while walking down to the lounge area while the others were in the kitchen.

Le Fay nods in agreement, "His affinities aren't anything special, but his skills with equations makes up for it. Though," Le Fay scratched her head sheepishly, lacking the witch hat she usually wore since they were just eating, "he is pretty sporadic."

Bikou smirks, "But don't you think that's what makes it interesting?" He leans on the table and continues, "I mean would someone normal be able to worm their way into our hearts despite barely knowing him?" He gave Kuroka and Le Fay a knowing look as Kuroka smirked while Le Fay blushed, to Arthur's annoyance.

"His combat skills are unorthodox. He's a very interesting opponent to fight." Vali admitted to the surprise of the others as he looked away from their gazes.

Azazel smiles in agreement, "His honesty is hard to find, though he could tone down his sarcasm on occasion."

"So," Le Fay started, placing a shoebox on the table as she looked around, "are we ready?"

The others followed suit, placing items on the table. Some of them wrapped others in a box, but the one thing that's similar is who they're for. The man who managed to warm himself into their heart and find his spot in each of them.

Rarely a dull moment with him.

They couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.


Meanwhile, in a tall building, there's a room. The hallway that leads to the room has paintings and doors to different rooms with a set of double doors leading to this room. If you enter, right in front is a coffee table and on either side are long couches with two singular couches on the head and the opposing side. Further on is a desk and behind that a window that looks out to Kuoh. On the left wall from the entrance is a bookshelf with books while the right wall has a TV mounted on it. The color is a light brown with the wall that has the TV mounted a rocky material with a few odds and ends scattered about.

Seated on that desk is the President of Mizuki Holdings, otherwise known as Victor Ryunou, as his elbows rested on the desk, his hair shadowing his eyes as he started, "Gentlemen," he spoke, one to a blond with blue eyes and devilish good looks wearing slacks and a button up shirt while the other man, or Ruval, meanwhile the other man was tanned with rough hands, wearing jeans and a white shirt with black eyes and a serious face with a beard as he listened, "we all know why we're here."

"Yes, so, let's not waste any time." Ruval answered as he leaned forward as the man in front of him nodded.

The other man nodded in agreement, eyes as serious as the rest of the occupants of the room.

Their eyes turn towards the large piles around them, obvious as some odds and ends jutted out before Victor interjected, "It's time to wrap the gifts we got for our loved ones." He explained, staring at the roll of Christmas wrapping on his desk and the ones on the table in front of Ruval and his smith.

Though after he said that, the intense atmosphere died down as all three of them began working, sipping on coffee, or hot chocolate with marshmallows in Victor's case, provided by Nana as the gifts they brought began to be wrapped up. Sans each other's gift.

"Thanks for the bat, Will." Victor thanked the smith who he helped with a small Stray Devil problem and, in exchange, the smith became Victor's personal smith. Will and his wife are good people, very hard working.

"Truly," Ruval started, inspecting a golden necklace with an emerald in the middle, eyes glinting in respect, "your metalwork is of high quality,"

Scratching the back of his head, Will chuckles, "Aw, thanks, it means a lot."

"Still," Victor starts, turning to Ruval, "how's Ravel and," his expression becomes one of distaste as he mutters, "Riser been?"

To this day, Victor still has trouble seeing how someone like Riser could be the younger brother to someone as polite as Ruval or the older brother to someone as cute as Ravel. It's such a conundrum. Though by the next morning it was just a bother that is occasionally brought up.

Still, Riser isn't a bad person, per say, he's just the type of guy Victor wouldn't mind punching every time he catches wind of him. He's flamboyant, prideful, dresses like a playboy, and treats his girls like playthings.

The only thing that stopped Victor from going through with punching him was Ravel's worried expression. Since she believed that Riser was stronger than him and could beat him. Or demolish him.

So, he settled with insulting him.

It went as well as one could imagine considering no one was badly injured.

To this day, Victor does not believe 'regeneration' is a good answer when someone asks someone else why they were held back. If they regenerate, make them feel the pain or something else.

"They've been fine." Ruval answers, smiling in resignation at Victor's tone, "Ravel has been showing interest in Japan, so I was wondering if you could show her around one day?"

Victor shrugs, continuing his quest of wrapping the gifts he got while saying, "It's cool, though she should check up to make sure I'm not busy. Just as long as Riser or his entourage aren't around."

Ruval huffs in amusement, "I'm not too sure about Riser, but his peerage is far more likely."

Clicking his tongue, Victor continues working and drinking hot chocolate. It continued into the afternoon, where his drink gradually changed from hot chocolate to Sprite. For the first time in a while, he went home and found it empty, completely, which is weird since Kuroka barely leaves the house.

In the end, he decided that he wasn't their mother, so they could do what they wanted. With his mind somewhat at ease, he returned to the training area to improve and train for a bit. It's been a while since he has gone to basics, so that's what he did.

He did nothing special until the sun was setting, until his arms ached and his mind was numb to how boring everything was. Punch. Kick. Little variation and that's it. By the end of it, his arms ached and so did his legs as he went to take a shower and fall asleep.


His dreams are the usual.

Empty.

Many say that dreams are connected to the soul or the mind. Others say that the mind and soul are one. Victor would disagree with the previous statement. Especially in the state he is. He feels… empty. Yet, this isn't his mindscape. Nor is it his soulscape. But what's the difference?

Simple, nothing. They're just different levels of the same thing. The mindscape is the image while the soulscape is the core. With enough training, one can enter their mindscape and then see the area categorized as the soulscape and see its core.

It's supposed to be a calming experience. Yet Victor was not feeling calm.

But, for the life of him, he didn't know why.

Then, he woke up, taking a moment to remove the grogginess he felt by blinking and stretching, groaning as he noticed that he was alone in his bed once more. "That's weird…" He muttered before sitting up. Getting off his bed and to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Yawning as he walked down the stairs to the lounge, he was not prepared for Bikou to appear beside him and yell, "Morning!"

No one would have really blamed Victor for leaving a Bikou-sized indent on the wall, but he was too busy getting his heart under control after that scare, "What the fuck man? Scared the fuck outta me."

Bikou laughed as Victor noticed the Santa hat on his head along with the rest of the decorations inside the house turned on. He looked around and noticed the others with the same accessory in their own head, his eyes widened as he noticed the pile of gifts under the tree. "Took you long enough! Almost thought you were going to sleep through Christmas eve!"

Victor simply shook his head and gave a smirk, "No way. Ain't no way I'm missing opening gifts!"

Bikou smiled, patting Victor on the back with a laugh, "That's the spirit, c'mon, we're just waiting for Le Fay and Kuroka to bring the hot chocolate." His grin becomes a lot more perverted as he leans in and whispers, "And they're dressed up too~."

Victor couldn't help but imagine that picture but came up blank, not because he couldn't imagine it, but because there were so many possibilities that his mind just gave up trying to imagine them. So, he followed after Bikou, sitting in one of the couches as he gave the other guys a greeting, "Merry Christmas."

Vali simply grunted while Arthur responded, "Good Morning Victor. I hope you slept well."

"I did." Victor responded, a bit freaked out since Arthur, while never outright hostile, does tend to be a bit snarky or rude, before turning to Azazel, "What were you guys doing yesterday?"

"Oh, you know~," Azazel drawled with the same easy-going expression, "just this and that."

"Right~." Victor drawled out, not believing him as they continued idly chatting about things here and there. Though it ended once Kuroka and Le Fay left the kitchen.

And was it a sight Victor engraved into his mind. Kuroka didn't have a dress, simply a set of skirt and a tube top a red color with white frills that seemed tight around her breast and the skirt a bit too short to be considered appropriate. He could only hope that she is at least wearing underwear.

She brightened up considerably when she saw him and smiled, bouncing up with a simple wave as she upped her pace, it was in one of those steps that the skirt raised up a bit too much around the waistline. News Flash: Kuroka isn't wearing a bra or panties.

Le Fay was the direct opposite, flushing hard as she shook at each step when she got a good look at Victor. Her clothes as well, being a one piece dress that was lower than Kuroka's without frills that showed off her shoulders and a bit of her cleavage with white fluff around the base and the top.

The only similarity was the santa hat on each of them. "Merry Christmas, nya~!" Kuroka greeted while leaping at him as the platter she had went flying to the air as he quickly used his magic to summon a magic circle under it before it could make a mess while also catching Kuroka, who began to affectionately nuzzle into his stomach. He proceeded to place the tray on the coffee table in the middle of the lounge.

"Woah! Kuroka," he said with his own smile, proceeding to pat at her head as she purred, "it's good to see you again. Still," he proceeded to pinch Kuroka's cheek as she groaned in surprise, "be careful, you could've made a mess."

"Right~." She drawled, completely ignoring Victor as he sighed but still smiled. Even if his eyes constantly moved from her face to her breast to her legs as they had trouble staying in one spot and trying to hide it from Kuroka. Unsuccessfully if the way she smirked coyly is any evidence. He also thought of giving her his sweater but the last time he did that he didn't get it back until three days later. Freshly washed.

Regardless, Victor gave Le Fay a smile as he got up, causing Kuroka to drop as she tried to reach out for her source of warmth but he simply helped Le Fay with the tray of hot chocolate she had, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks." She says, fidgeting in place for a bit and giving Victor a few sidelong glances as if trying to say something only for Victor to cough into a fist and look away, Le Fay catching traces of a blush on his face as she took it as a win for her.

"C'mon. The others are waiting." He said, pointedly ignoring the amused expression of Bikou, Azazel and Kuroka as he sat down on a couch next to Kuroka, who immediately engulfed one of his arms in between her breast while giving him a coy and teasing look.

"Hmmm~, I saw you looking at Le Fay~, nya~." Victor stiffened up when he heard Kuroka whisper that before biting at his ear. "Don't worry. I don't mind~, nya~."

Le Fay followed in with the rest of the sweets and other drinks, from normal tea, to japanese tea, to coffee, and hot chocolate with marshmallows. She quickly got a good look at Kuroka biting at Victor's ear as she smirked while Le Fay gaped. Kuroka mouthed, 'Your turn' before releasing his ear and snuggling into his side as her face flushed slightly.

With her own tomato red face, Le Fay sat next to Victor and leaned on his shoulder. Victor turned to Le Fay before simply sighing and relaxing, enveloping Le Fay in a one armed hug and patting Kuroka's head as she snuggled into his lap. Pointedly ignoring Arthur's, Bikou's, and Azazel's faces, "So, what are we doing here now?"

"Obviously," Azazel starts while clapping his hands together before rubbing them like an excited kid, "it's time to pass out the gifts!" He was excited, that's for sure.

"Isn't this done on Christmas morning?" Victor asks while grabbing the gifts being sent his, Kuroka's and Le Fay's way.

"None of us are that patient, nya~. So we started opening them on the morning of Christmas Eve." She said, previously lazy countenance gone as she squirmed in her own seat while Victor simply tilted his head and nodded. Though, that's when it hit him. Looking around, Victor noticed the other's reaction.

Did Azazel ever meet Jesus? Did Kuroka ever experience Christmas normally? Or what about the Pendragons siblings?

The only one who seemed at least somewhat comfortable is Bikou. And the worst of them was Vali who was catching the gifts without much thought, his gaze far away as he looked around at the others excitedly chatting about.

It hurt, seeing his friends like this. But at least now, he could do something about it.

The gift opening was chaos. Yet, it was also good for Victor's heart as the others opened their respective gifts. Still, to name who got who would take too long, so it will have to be shortened.

Vali got a leather jacket from me with a white dragon on it, some more clothing, and a pink shirt from Azazel.

Arthur got a new tea set from Victor and some tea leaves from the rest. A few books from Le Fay too.

Victor got Kuroka a pendant that can hide her presence far more solidly when she wasn't fighting so they could go out at a later date. She stared at it for a bit before giving Victor a solid, long and loving kiss that had him all sorts of messed up afterwards as well as Le Fay who had her face as red as a tomato unlike Victor whose face was empty. Aside from that, she also got clothing and coupons for fish and seafood restaurants.

Le Fay got a dagger from Victor to protect herself should the time come, something that gained Victor a shy peck on the cheek as soon as he was about to return to awareness only to return back to attempting to reboot while Arthur looked away to try and keep calm. She also got a new cloak, staff and some mundane clothes.

Bikou got some bananas, clothing, and Victor gave him a bit of cash. Or a lot.

Azazel got Sekiro from Victor, he later became despondent when he saw FromSoftware on it, but quickly perked up when he saw pornographic material and some more books.

Victor got a book on Senjutsu from Bikou, the Pendragon siblings got him a three-piece suit with dress shoes, Kuroka gave him a book on intermediate magic and some headphones from Vali, which is good since his last pair was starting to decrease in sound quality.

Azazel simply reached into the sleeve of his blue yukata with a smirk while saying, "Here, this is from me." He brought out a small box and threw it at Victor as he caught it. His face filled with suspicion as he turned from the small box back to Azazel.

"You're not proposing, are you?" He finally asks, causing a round of chuckles from the others and Kuroka jokingly hugging him while Azazel gives him an exasperated stare.

He rolls his eyes before continuing, "Joke's old now. Just open it before I decide to take it back."

Doing so, Victor opens the box and reveals its contents. A keychain with a key and a control with it. He pauses, looks very deeply at the key as he blinks. Turning to Azazel as his face asked the question and showed anticipation.

Azazel smirked and pushed him forward, "Go on. Press it."

Victor took a deep breath and pushed the button that had the symbol of an unlocked lock. There was a horn coming from the garage as he stared for a second.

Almost an instant later, he has leapt over the couch and is heading towards the garage as the others chuckle at his excitement before following after him.

When Victor entered, he stopped in shock as he looked at the Chevrolet sports car that wasn't there before. It was pure white with a black line running through the middle of it, idly, he stared at his reflection on the paint job and the tinted window before opening the door to look at the inside. The interior was clean with a touchscreen and enough space for two people, both in the front and the back, and the seats were gray and black and seemed very comfortable.

Azazel chuckles from behind him as Victor continues inspecting the simple interior, "It's a Camaro SS. Can't have you walk around as the CEO of the highest ranked company in Kuoh and look like some thug in baggy clothing. Gotta look the part, And what better way to do that than an expensive suit and car?" He grins as Victor tries to formulate a response with varying success.

"You're the last person who has the right to tell me what I should wear as an important person." Victor manges with a grin while Azazel ignores the dig, "But, thanks. It's awesome, Azazel. You too guys," he continues while turning to the others with a big smile, "thanks. It means a lot."

"Yeah, yeah, now go put on your suit, I wanna see how it looks." Azazel says with his own smile as the others were similar in varying levels.

Victor smiles as he grabs the suit and dress shoes and heads upstairs to change.

He tries to decide what he will wear before deciding the vest would be a little too much and opting for the jacket alone.

Putting it on, he stared at himself and wondered why it didn't look right. He was wearing it right and everything, with a tie too!

Staring at the tie, Victor removes it before unbuttoning the jacket and resting it on his shoulders and unbuttoning the top three buttons of the dress shirt. The dress shoes were also lined with metal along the toes. If anything, he looked like Goro Majima with a slightly broader stature and two eyes. Hell, he even had the hidden bat and everything, now all he needs is a dagger and he'll be a pretty accurate connection.

So, he walks down the stairs, preparing himself to face the music.

Once there, he showed it off and asked, "So, how is it?"

"You look like a Yakuza." Was Azazel's almost instant response, an opinion that the others also seemed to share.

Victor simply gave them a flat look while Kuroka gave him a coy look and said, "I think it suits you, nya~." Le Fay's blush was enough evidence that she agreed with Kuroka's opinion.

Turning to Arthur and Le Fay, he gave them a smile, "Thank you, both, the suit's really comfy." The suit itself wasn't anything special. A white dress shirt with a black overcoat and black slacks with steel-lined dress shoes and his new headphones around his neck.

"Please, it's no problem." He glances at Le Fay, who's smiling at Victor and nodding in agreement to Arthur. Soon, the others were trying out their own gifts while Arthur pulled Victor to the side.

An awkward silence came from both of them since Arthur genuinely likes Victor, but her sister's attracted to him and he's not sure if he's good enough for her. No, Arthur knows that he is. But…

He is not her sister's keeper. If she chooses to be with him, he can only do her best to protect her. At least she chose someone like Victor. So, with a deep breath, Arthur started, "You already know, don't you?"

Victor stops, biting his lips and looking away in shame as he mutters, "Yeah… Hard not to, Le Fay can be pretty straight forward when she wants to."

At the memory of Le Fay's flustered but pleased expression, Arthur had to push down his brotherly instincts to punch Victor in the face for seeing his sister naked, "And Kuroka too."

"Errr," Victor starts, scratching the back of his head as he admits, "I'd feel like I'd die if I asked someone as beautiful as her out. Same with Le Fay." Yet, to Arthur, it seemed like he wanted to say more.

"Is that going to stop you? I didn't take you for someone who gave up like this." Arthur joked as Victor smirked and chuckled.

"Nah, just… old worries." Victor admits before taking a deep breath, "Just… don't know whether I should or shouldn't." He leans back and looks up, taking a deep breath before nodding to himself, "Whatever happens, happens."

"Then," Arthur starts walking away, stopping to rest a hand on his shoulder and warning, "I'm sure I don't need to say what would happen if you were to purposefully hurt either of them."

"Yup." Victor admits before taking a breath to get rid of the leftover tension from the talk. He rejoins the others as they show off their own gifts as Victor sits on the arm of the couch and Le Fay sits next to her brother while Kuroka sits next to Victor.

They start to talk once more as they try to find a series to binge for a bit. Due to all their tastes mostly leaning away from Christmas movies, except for Le Fay who was pretty curious but kept quiet, they decided to watch the 'Raid' series and spend the day of Christmas watching said Christmas movies in pajamas. It seems like even the supernatural enjoy well-done movies.


Three hours. Somehow, Victor was able to stay seated for three hours while watching some of the most intense and gruesome fight scenes of his life. He would be proud of himself if his adrenaline and imagination weren't running at eleven. He needed to get out of the house and do something.

Something to forget this feeling of muted elation and the constant void in himself.

The more time he spent feeling things, the more it became obvious. He's missing something. And not the fact that he's still wearing the suit he was gifted, that was on purpose. It was so comfortable he almost wouldn't mind wearing it on most days. But baggy jeans and t-shirts are superior.

Back on topic, he's missing something but he doesn't know what it is. It bothers him to no end since he feels like a normal person but his emotions feel muted, is this what being a psychopath feels like? Most likely not.

Anyway, he decided to take the car out for a drive to make him forget that feeling for a bit and actually speed around for a bit.

"Woooohooo~! Nyahahaha~."

"Kuroka! Don't stick your head out!" Called Le Fay as she tried to pull back Kuroka from her position on my lap while she's sticking her head out, enjoying the wind whipping her face.

"Kuroka, move or else I'll crash!" Victor groans as he manages to move Kuroka to his side, sitting on his lap as he drives like a man possessed. Or a taxi driver.

"Awww," she groans, pouting as she sits beside Victor in the driver's seat, originally in cat form at the beginning of the drive, now she's wearing the sweater Victor got her over a tight white shirt and a pair of tasteful jeans that emphasize her hips and butt. Something she took advantage of to occasionally grind against his crotch with a coy look while Le Fay was looking out the window at the passing scenery. It took a lot of discipline to not react.

Le Fay herself was wearing the oversized hoodie and shirt Victor got her while looking at the insides while Victor raced by cars at unimaginable speeds, "Still, I didn't know you could drive, Victor."

"My mentor taught me." Victor explained, "Hold on." He warned before swerving onto two wheels as he passed by two trailers and sped up, continuing as he glanced at Le Fay to see her holding onto her seat for dear life. Kuroka was laughing like a maniac and Victor gave Le Fay a wry grin, "Admittedly, you're taking this a lot better than I did. The first time my mentor did that while he was teaching me, I passed out."

"I-I wouldn't say," she starts, gulping as she begins to relax, "I'm taking this too well. But, you've never talked much about your mentors." Le Fay asked interested along with Kuroka, who nodded.

"Did they teach you how to drift and everything, nya~?" Asked Kuroka as she paid attention.

Victor smirked at the memory of the races he'd had with Kazuma, "Yup, he used to be a taxi driver before he was challenged to a street race by a gang and then beat them all." The mirth in his voice was obvious as he turned to Le Fay, "Could you imagine having an entire gang challenge a taxi driver to a race only to lose every time. That's got to have been embarrassing."

Kuroka snorted at that while Le Fay tittered into her hand as he continued, "Another fought this huge bear, twice, in the middle of the forest after escaping prison. He was also suffering from malnutrition and abuse."

"And they were human?" Le Fay asked for clarification and Victor nodded, grinning as Le Fay held a hand to her chin, "He must've been good with his weapon."

"He did it with his bare fists." Victor clarified to the impressed hum of Kuroka and Le Fay's surprised expression.

"Impressive for a human." Kuroka noted as Victor gave her and La Fay a sidelong glance before raising the volume of the radio, the song Eternal Youth by RUDE playing while they talked.

Victor simply chuckles, eyes forward as the engine thrummed, "Sorry if this isn't interesting. To you girls, this isn't much, but to me at the time, it was… awesome I guess. You girls probably have a lot more interesting stories to tell."

"Not really," Kuroka admits, resting her head on his shoulder, "I was self-taught, nya~. So hearing your stories is always interesting, you always get so excited when you tell them that you'd think they're fighting gods or something, nya~." Kuroka teased as Victor tried to fight down the blush that appeared on her face.

"They're always so fun to hear too." Le Fay added in her own two cents as well, "My own tutors were always so boring, but yours seem like good people. Your attitude makes a lot of sense when you think about it."

Taking a moment, Victor tries to imagine an amalgamation of all of the Yakuza protagonists and shivered at the image, "I don't think the world's ready for that kind of monster."

Taking a moment, Victor gives a glance to the other two and asks, "What about you two?" They blink wondering what he meant as he continued, "I've told you about my mentors, why don't you two tell me about your own mishaps?"

At this, Le Fay seemed reluctant and so did Kuroka too, to Victor's surprise. Grinning, he poked Kuroka's side and teased, "Hmm? How interesting. Now you've got me all curious."

"It wasn't anything too bad…" Kuroka trailed off.

"Y-yeah. Nothing too interesting." Le Fay tried to help but failed as VIctor's curiosity only increased.

"Awww~. You can't have me be the only one who opens up, you know that right?" He gave them a slight push before continuing, "C'mon~, I won't tell anyone. Probably."

Reaching up, Kuroka pulled his cheek, "That doesn't inspire much confidence."

He simply laughed as Le Fay and Kuroka sighed in exasperation, "Fine, but you have to tell us one more story about you and your mentor first."

Shrugging, Victor nodded, "Sure, then how about the time one of my mentors, who's a moneylender, gave ten billion yen to pay for a 'ransom'."

The other two listened intently as the afternoon passed along with the surroundings while Victor sped along the roads.


At a spot that overlooks the snowy town and shows the sunset, Victor gets out of the car with a mark on his face and a teasing grin while Kuroka steps out while pouting. She was tense, something that Victor noticed ever since they stepped out to get some food and he decided to capitalize on that by running a finger down her spine, causing her to jump and yell out.

Le Fay was able to hide her amusement quickly, but Victor wasn't as quick enough, nor did he seem to care much to hide it. He was rolling on the floor in laughter, so Kuroka stomped on him for a bit while Le Fay got their food.

Now, he leans on the railing, the car playing I Must Be High by South Park Mexican. The calming music gave the situation a bit of a slow mood as they bit into their burgers while Victor internally missed the burgers his mom made for him.

Soon, their food was consumed as Victor jumped over the railing and sat on it, taking in everything it had to offer. Meanwhile, Victor took in a question he's been asking himself, "Hey, why did you two come along? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything," he quickly corrects, "but, I'm just wondering."

"There are two beautiful women willing to hang out with you, and you're questioning it?" Kuroka teased, leaning forward and pushing her breast together with a coy and amused look.

"Well, a lot of men find their liver gone the morning after when they're in the same situation." Victor retorts with a grin.

"W-we wouldn't do that!" Le Fay interjects, fidgeting a bit in her position as she tries to keep her balance while seated on the railing. Victor notices and wraps an arm around her shoulder to prevent her from falling.

"I know." Victor says, "I'm just wondering why now? You could ask me at any time, I'm just wondering why right now?"

At this, their already anxious ki begins to go all over the place, especially Le Fay who glanced at Kuroka as she nodded. As if that was the signal, they hopped off the railing and walked away a few steps, Kuroka fidgeting slightly in contrast to Le Fay who had to do breathing exercises to calm herself down.

"Victor, um," Kuroka started, uncharacteristically, seeming unsure before huffing in frustration, "argh! Damn it all, you already know what we're going to say you bastard, so listen up!" Pointing at him, Kuroka proclaims, "I like-no. I love you you dumb bastard! You're kind, funny, self-assured, strong and more things that I can't think of at the moment but I love every part of you!"

"K-Kuroka!" Le Fay stutters out while panicking, glancing at Victor who was visibly blue-screening while staring in their general direction, "It wasn't supposed to go like that!"

"It's fine. He already knew, he was just waiting, that bastard. SO, go ahead Le Fay, tell him." Kuroka pushed her forward as Le Fay's blush only increased and her eyes became swirls.

"B-but-." She stuttered, only to yelp when a slap was heard and she yelped.

"C'mon! Guys like girls who know what they want and aren't afraid to say it." Kuroka said after slapping her in the rear as Le Fay closed her eyes.

"Alright! Victor Ryunou, I-I wuv you." She said, freezing at the bite of her lip before simply continuing, "Y-You're smart, patient, nice, and fun to be around. So I don't mind if you choose both of us!"

At that, Victor stared to the sky, his rebooting mind incapable of helping him keep his balance as he leaned back too far and flailed around, catching the railing before he could fall completely. He covered his face to hide his blush as he straightened up, "W-wait, this is a bit too much! G-Gimme a second."

"What's there to think about? Two beautiful women want to be in a relationship with you and don't mind sharing. And all you have to do is give us your answer." Kuroka said, hiding the anxiety boiling over in her face along with Le Fay who looked like she was a bit too close to having a panic attack.

At that, Victor took a deep breath and calmed himself as he searched for his answer but couldn't find any. Since he already knew what he wanted, he wanted them to be happy. And he'll be happy if they're with him, so all he has to do is answer.

Sighing, he manages to lower his face, his smile shaky and lopsided, yet the happiness in it was obvious, "Yeah. I-I love you two girls too. I'm not the most experienced, so I hope you two will take care of me."

At that, their auras were filled with elation as the first to act was Kuroka, who leapt at Victor as he quickly found his balance and caught her before he could be taken off guard. But she quickly straightened up, holding him by both sides of his cheek and smiling at him, tears of happiness edging at her eyes before overlapping their lips while Victor froze. His only thought was about how soft her lips were and how nice Kuroka smelled like. Closing his eyes, he leaned into the kiss, deepening it while resting his hand on her hips as Kuroka smiled into the kiss. Lightning ran through their spines in pleasure at the action as they continued until their lungs couldn't take it anymore.

Leaning back, Kuroka's expression was needy, as if she found something she doesn't want to let go of. It caused Victor's heart to skip a beat.

Before she could lean forward to steal another kiss, another, softer, pair of hands grabbed his cheeks and jerked his head to the side, "No fair!"

This time, he got a good look of Le Fay's pouting expression, her face flushed before she leaned forward and rested her lips on his in a chaste kiss causing lightning to, once again, run through their spines in pleasure. Victor released a hand from Kuroka's waist and circled it around Le Fay's waist and pulled her deeper into the kiss as he noted how Le Fay smells like a library and her lips are firm in contrast to Kuroka's softer and spongy lips. He liked both.

Pulling back once they were lacking air, Le Fay's expression was similar to Kuroka's but far more embarrassed as she hid her face with her witch hat.

"Hmm~." Kuroka hummed while licking her lips, "That was nice, nya~. We should do this again."

Le Fay's only answer was to nod shyly while Victor simply chuckled, "I wouldn't mind."

Soon, they were enveloped into a comfortable silence before they decided to return. They are pretty tired and want to sleep in preparation for the next day's Christmas movie marathon.


The next day, Victor leans on Kuroka's thighs while Le Fay snuggles up to him as he hugs her, the screen showing a Christmas movie of Le Fay's choice. "So, it finally happened?" Bikou noted and asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, nya~." Kuroka said while smiling at Victor while Le Fay snuggled closer into Victor to hide from the looks.

"Nice," he starts, looking at Victor, "well aren't you a lucky bastard? Not trying to steal them from us?"

"Nah," Victor starts, hugging Le Fay, "they can do what they want. I won't force them to break previous promises." Victor says, knowing that Le Fay and Kuroka hate breaking promises.

Kuroka scratches at his head as he begins to melt into her thighs before Victor closes his eyes for a bit.

Yet, despite that, why is it all still so muted? He can feel happy that he's with them, but it just feels like it's being forced down. But he's not forcing it. So, why does he feel this empty?

His worries would be ignored in favor of paying attention to his girlfriends. The world is a weird thing, but all he can do is take the punches and roll with them.


A/N: This is bullshit. I decide to write the chapter, start out with no dialogue and it increases as it continues. And I feel like I'm writing Victor wrong. But, here it is, half of a chapter into a 9k chapter. After this is probably Scion of Jedidiah. So, wait for that next in hopes that it'll be good enough quicker than this was.

Now, onto Fun Facts:

Arthur hates and respects Victor, the reason is obvious.

This story is being posted on AO3. At the moment of publishing, the story has one chapter out.

We're getting into my favorite arc. Previously it was known as the Kyoto Tournament Arc, but now, I'll call it the Core Arc, where we'll be exploring Victor's emptiness for a bit.

And that's it for now.


To Give Meaning: Her Void and His Soul


She was curious at the soul she's staring at. It was empty, all it had was something that spent its time sleeping.

Yet, it seemed comforting to her. But he wasn't like her. He felt, he moved and he showed so many emotions that she was confused.

But there was nothing in his soul. Simply a sleeping dragon that's waiting to be woken.

He was empty like her, but his soul still had something in it.

All she can do is watch for now.