Roughly a month after becoming Alastor's escort
The 'hitman' line of work was not what one could consider to be a clean job, both in a figurative and literal sense, and Mika knew about that little fact even before he went to Hell.
To have one's attire stained beyond recognition due to blood or any other bodily fluids was to be expected in this line of work, and Mikazuki was used to that by now. Having taken quite a few lives without the help of a Mobile Suit did that to a person, he supposed, as he didn't seem to feel disgusted whenever he returned from an assignment issued to him whilst covered head to toe in blood.
On the polar opposite end of the spectrum, however… Alastor didn't seem to like how messy Mika usually was after returning from a mission that either Barbatos or, however rarely, he had assigned to him.
For the most part, Alastor did attempt to ignore Mikazuki's lack of cleanliness. However, he would be lying if he said that he wasn't utterly disgusted by Mika's lack of hygiene, namely how he refused to take a shower unless absolutely necessary! By Lucifer, this may have been Hell, but even devils need to have class! Especially someone who was working for him (however unwittingly)! As things were now, Mika, who would only take a shower every two weeks or so, was no better than a classless demon that didn't deserve to be in his presence!
And sure, he did give some good entertainment, but in Alastor's eyes, if you didn't look, or in this case smell, presentable, then you shouldn't be providing any entertainment at all!
To counteract this, Alastor opted to bring in perhaps the cleanest little critter he knew to attempt to alleviate Mikazuki's bad hygiene. Sure, Mika would probably blow her brains out the moment she got too close to him… but the Radio Demon was confident that wouldn't happen. After all, the pilot did seem to have a thing for small, petite and flat chested girls, and as such, he was confident that his nifty little pal would have him in the palm of his hand!
That and his little friend was a hard target to hit, so the Radio Demon was sure that his plan would go off without a hitch!
… probably.
"Mikazuki, I wish to introduce you to someone!"
Blinking a little as he was called, Mikazuki raised a brow as he turned to face Alastor, who stood rather confidently with his hands behind his back. Currently, the two were standing in the middle of a hotel room in Damnation Peek that Alastor was kind enough to book for them to stay as he carried out a task Barbatos had sent to him a few days prior. Said hotel room was rather spacious, with a broken king sized bed that had some exposed springs, a mini-fridge that seemed to be unable to do its job at keeping its contents chilled and a table alongside some chairs that appeared to have been broken and taped back together multiple times over. The bathroom was still unexplored as of now.
According to Alastor, hotels of this quality were considered 'great' by Hell's standards. Mika himself supposed that at least the beds were soft in spite of the exposed springs, though if anything, he'd much prefer the beds back on the Isaribi over whatever trite constituted as Five Stars down her in Hell..
Regardless, the pilot had just returned from the murder task that had been given to him over the phone, and in an instant, Alastor, being the surprisingly observant fellow that he was, took note of his fatigued self, prompting his sharp grin to widen a little as he used this to his advantage. If he was tired, that meant that he'd be slower on the draw, which, hopefully, meant that he wouldn't be able to shoot Niffty in the head before she could introduce herself!
Hopefully.
"Hm?" groaned Mika as he craned his head up real high to look Al' in the eye, appearing somewhat confused. Meanwhile, Alastor's smile began quivering just a little as his nose began to cry out in a metaphorically pained way. While not completely unbearable, the stench of death that emanated from Mikazuki was impossible to ignore, and, despite him admitting to love the smell of rotting flesh and decay, the stench had been clinging onto Augus' little frame for weeks, and now, it was almost enough to make his ever-present smile falter as he stared down at his escort.
Still, in spite of his weakening nostrils, the Radio Demonheld strong as he snapped his fingers rather dramatically, with him rapidly praying to a nonspecific deity in hopes that his contact would somehow be able to clean Mikazuki up before he shot her to high heavens and back.
Within a second of Alastor snapping his fingers, a black puffball dropped in from the ceiling, creating a hole in it in the process. The demon who occupied the room above them yelled out various curses the moment the black puffball dropped in, though they were quickly silenced when Alastor snapped his fingers once more, in turn causing several tentacles to smack the demon around. It was best to not wonder what happened to them thereafter, and frankly speaking Mika didn't even give them a second thought as his attention was fixed squarely on the black puffball that was on the ground before him.
Whilst Augus remained apprehensive about that black puffball, with him reaching into his jacket, just in case, Alastor, without any shred of reluctance, picked the puffball up off the ground with his free hand and held it up to Mika's eye level. The pilot began flexing the claws of his Lupus Rex arm as he stared at the thing, fully expecting it to turn into some rabid demonic beast and attack him out of the blue.
Sure, it was probably an over exaggeration of what would happen, seeing as how the puffball appeared harmless and incapable of movement, but you'll never know when it comes to Alastor.
And suddenly, what appeared to be a single cycloptic, orange coloured eye popped open on the black puffball. Said eye's yellow and black iris was locked directly onto Mikazuki, who, admittedly, winced a little at that unexpected act. Before long, however, the pilot relaxed just a little after Alastor shook the puffball, causing the black soot to disappear off it and revealing that it was a… cycloptic little girl this whole time. Dressed in a white shirt with pink dots, a pink skirt with yellow dots and a poodle doodle and a very dark pink scarf, this little cycloptic loli appeared rather harmless… for the most part.
"Mikazuki Augus, allow me to introduce you to this Little Darling; Niffty! Niffty, this is Mikazuki Augus!" introduced Alastor as he smiled. Mika simply raised a confused brow as Al' dropped the small cyclops, Niffty, onto the ground, where she landed with a squee. The pilot watched as Niffty leapt up to her feet and offered a friendly wave to him, though he paid more attention to the sharp, yellowish teeth she was showing as she offered him a toothy smile rather than the wave itself.
"Hi, I'm Niffty!" greeted the little cyclops as her singular eye locked onto Mikazuki, who raised a confused brow as soon as her iris shrank down until it was nearly unnoticeable. Strangely enough, Niffty seemed beyond ecstatic to meet him, and Mika couldn't seem to figure out why, at least until she continued on speaking, anyways. "It's been quite a while since I made a new friend, especially a new guy-friend!"
Well, that explained some things… though before Mika could even raise a brow at that strange reason behind her excitement, Niffty had rushed up in front of him, prompting him to instinctively step back and reach for his pistol. Before he could unholster it and take aim, however, Niffty had disappeared from his line of sight, moving so quickly that Augus wondered if she could teleport, much to Alastor's amusement. Looking around briefly, the pilot tried to locate the cycloptic loli, though rather abruptly, Mika felt something climb onto his back, prompting him to turn and see that Niffty somehow managed to climb onto his back without him noticing!
"Oh my gosh, you have a weapon! Well, granted, a lot of people have weapons in Hell, but still, your weapon looks strange! It's so small but still looks very powerful!" proclaimed Niffty from over Mika's shoulder as the pilot attempted to get her off his back, though right as his Lupus Rex arm got even an inch away from her face, Niffty disappeared from his back… only to reappear on his regular arm, clinging onto his sleeved arm as she continued babbling on. "And you're so muscular too! What exactly did you do to get this ripped when you were alive?! You were probably a lady's man when you were still alive! Or a guy's man! Oh! I'm sorry if that offends you or anything, but if it does then no offence!"
"..." Mika was at a loss for words, and the look of confusion that was on his face was more than enough to make Alastor chuckle..
"Oh my, what's up with your other arm?! And your legs too! They look like something out of a sci-fi movie!" inquired Niffty as she zipped over to grab onto Mika's Lupus Rex arm, clinging onto its cold white upper armour. In response, Mika grimaced just a little as he attempted to shake her off to no avail. If anything, the only thing it managed to do was slur up her words. "It feeeeeeeels sooooooo coooooooooooold!"
"Tsk…" groaned Mika, his irritation becoming more apparent as Niffty refused to get off him. Alastor, on the other hand, found himself chuckling much more as he watched the whole ordeal unfold before him. Ah… Mika truly was the most entertaining sonova bitch he could've come across in Hell, even if the most entertaining things he usually did were all done unintentionally. Of course, as entertaining as watching Mika try and pry Niffty off his person was, Alastor reckoned that he should get to the main reason as to why he summoned her in the first place before Mika could put a bullet through her skull.
"Niffty, if you may, please do try and act more mature around our dandy little friend here," suggested Alastor, prompting the aforementioned cyclops to frown as she reluctantly released Mikazuki's Lupus Rex arm and fell to the ground with yet another squee. Mika withheld a sigh of relief as the short demon stood back up and dusted herself off. "Though of course, I do understand your excitement to a certain degree. To meet a new friend is always a splendid time to be had!"
No reply from Mika whilst Niffty rapidly nodded in agreement.
"However, I did not bring you here just to make a new friend!" continued Al' as Niffty tilted her head off to the side just a little in confusion. Similarly, Mika raised an eyebrow in confusion as well, prompting Alastor to laugh as he continued. "I shall keep this brief! I wish for you to… assist Mikazuki Augus in maintaining proper hygiene."
"Wait you mean he doesn't maintain proper hygiene himself or something?" inquired Niffty, and she widened her eyes immensely when Alastor shook his head rapidly. At that, Niffty raised a brow as she turned towards Augus and sniffed him seriously… and she promptly leapt backwards, crashing into Alastor's suit in the process as she clung onto him like a baby koala, amusing Mika quite a bit in the process. "OMIGOSH! MISTER MIKAZUKI, YOU FUCKING STINK!"
Well… that was certainly one way to put it, Alastor thought, and upon hearing this, Mikazuki raised one of his arms and sniffed at his underarm. The pilot didn't seem to notice anything wrong with how he smelled at the moment, so he just shrugged at the cycloptic girl's accusation, though vice versa however, Niffty attempted to look upset, which didn't really work as she was too adorable to look really threatening, as she pointed at him accusingly.
"I don't smell anything wrong," assured Mika as Niffty's frown deepened itself.
"Your nose must be broken, Mister Mikazuki!" proclaimed a horrified Niffty, with her being somewhat true with that statement as his nose has indeed been broken several times in the past, as she turned to face Alastor with an extremely serious expression. "Alastor, if you'll allow me-"
"Go right on ahead and do whatever you think is best for our little Hatchet Man, Niffty!" urged Alastor, and at that, Niffty broke out into a toothy smile as she turned back to Augus with a rather… off putting grin and single eyed glare that set him on edge. "Just make sure he smells more… presentable thereafter, will you?"
"Right away!" was all Mika heard her yell out before she practically dragged him into the bathroom. Meanwhile, Alastor sighed in relief before he twirled his microphone cane in his hand, happy that Mikazuki's hygiene issues will hopefully be resolved within the day. Niffty could do it, he was certain that she could, and with that assurance in mind, he chuckled lightly to himself as he twirled his microphone cane in his hand.
'Well, now that that's settled, I wonder how Mimzy is doing…'
Meanwhile
"OH MY GOSH YOUR CLOTHING STINKS! AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TEARS?! MR MIKAZUKI, I'LL BRING YOUR CLOTHES TO THE CLOSEST CLEANER RIGHT AWAY AND HAVE THEM FIXED! IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE TAKE A SHOWER!"
And at that, Niffty promptly left the bathroom, leaving Mikazuki alone in there, completely butt naked as he sighed to himself in exasperation.
He didn't know how, but Niffty, despite being half his size and with probably a quarter of his muscle mass, maybe less, was somehow able to strip him completely butt naked within a moment's notice. Hell, Niffty even somehow managed to pry the armour plating off his Lupus Rex limbs, which left him with their inner frames and nothing more! He didn't know that they could come off until Niffty did that!
The only thing she didn't manage to get off him was the bracelet that he had on his regular wrist, and even then it was probably because he kept a close eye on it, having refused to even let it come off his wrist ever since the day he received it from I.M.P. Aside from that, however, he was completely naked… and it was enough to make him sigh.
"Good grief," groaned Mika as he stared at the bathroom, a simple looking room that held not much more than a (leaking and slightly cracked) sink and a (cracked) bathtub. If he were honest, it was probably worse than the bathrooms of the Isaribi. At least it had sinks that didn't look shattered beyond repair.
Staring down at his naked self, Mika sighed as he rubbed the inner frame of his Lupus Rex arm. The sensation of his fingers gliding over the inner frame was more apparent now that its upper armour was gone, Augus realized, though he didn't dwell too much on that as he sighed and decided that perhaps having a shower would be a nice way to pass the time. Not like he had anything else to do, after all, and leaving the room butt naked to find Niffty and get his attire back was probably a dumb move. This may have been Hell, but even he had standards.
Rather shockingly, the bathtub was capable of running warm water, and Mika was quick to fill it up halfway before taking a seat inside it. As soon as his exposed rear made contact with the tub, the water was quick to turn a somewhat light shade of red and brown, prompting Augus to snort in amusement as he finally acknowledged the truth behind both Niffty and Alastor's words.
'...guess I did need to take a shower,' thought the pilot rather offhandedly as he rubbed the back of his neck with his regular hand, sighing as he leaned against the edge of the tub.
And then… he was quick to notice some shampoo close by and decided to use it… and he didn't know how, but he somehow managed to fill the entire bathroom in bubbles by complete accident.
If he were honest… it was fun. Perhaps he should take showers more often if they were this entertaining.
Several hours later
"Mister Mikazuki, your clothes are in acceptable condition now!"
As soon as he heard that, Mika raised a brow and turned his attention towards the door to the hotel room. The pilot had exited the bathroom after about three hours of sitting in the tub and messing around with bubbles, something that was admittedly rather childish of him, though it wasn't as though anyone would tell him that.
Unless they were Alastor, anyway. The guy lived his (after)life without any regrets, and though Mikazuki very well respected that, it did mean that he was an annoying punk on many occasions.
Regardless, after leaving the bathroom, Mika spent the next hour or so sitting on the bed with a towel around his waist. There wasn't exactly much to do, so he just sat there and waited patiently for Niffty to return… with the only thing on his mind being the fate of Tekkadan. He did hope that Atra survived the aftermath of all that nonsense that happened on Mars… her and whatever remained of Tekkadan. Azee did promise them that they would pick the survivors up, but you could never be too sure…
The pilot's thoughts were rather obviously cut short when Niffty yelled out from behind the door to the hotel room, and before even a second passed, said door was kicked open by the Niffty, surprising Mikazuki as she was less than a quarter the size of the door, though he said nothing about it as she marched up to him and handed him his clothes, now cleaned and stitched back together.
Atop the clothes were the armour plates of Mika's Lupus Rex limbs, and similarly, they were all scraped clean of any grime that used to be on them, though the absence of the dirt made the many dents, dings and scratches on the armour pieces much more noticeable. Mikazuki didn't really care about that, though, as he was just… grateful towards the cycloptic demon for helping him in the first place.
"Oh jeez your clothes were so hard to clean! Shockingly, though, your armour thingies were very easy to work with! Let me tell you, though, I needed to shove aside so many people just to get a proper scrubber to wash your clothes!" fired off Niffty as she rushed in front of Mika and handed him his attire and armour plates. She didn't seem phased by how Mika was completely naked, save for the towel he had, as she began complaining about washing machines being inferior to hand washing techniques. Mika himself didn't seem to care about it all as he stood up and began putting his clothes on, with Niffty not even batting an eye as he dropped the towel, though that was probably because she was already looking away and complaining about new tech being inferior to her old fashion methods of cleaning fabric.
Admittedly, Mikazuki's clothes did feel much better to wear, now that they were squeaky clean, and they even smelled better too, which was something. Without the blood stains or patches of dirt on them and with the various rips and tears sewed back up with surprisingly good craftsmanship, his attire almost seemed presentable, though he wouldn't go that far in complementing Niffty. His fashion sense was so bad that even she wouldn't be able to save it!
"Seriously, the machine just goes vrrrrrrrr and spins the clothing around! How does that clean it?!" demanded Niffty as Mika put his pants on, raising a brow when he noticed how soft they now felt. Not bad, he supposed. "It's like saying that Lucifer is completely out of Alastor's league just because he defeated him that one time! It's absolutely preposterous!"
No response from Augus, who managed to put his blue undershirt on in spite of his Lupus Rex arm being a pain to slip through the sleeve, though the pilot did at least acknowledge that Lucifer and Alastor fought on one occasion. It wasn't much of a surprise to learn that Al' lost, however, as Mika could quite easily presume that in Hell, no one could be on par with Lucifer.
Well, except for maybe Lilith… or the Von Eldritch family, though the latter was up for debate.
"Hey Mikazuki, I know this is a weird sidetrack but what exactly do you think about Alastor? I mean, he can be a jerk sometimes but still he's pretty nice, isn't he?" inquired Niffty, not even pausing for a moment as she spoke. "I mean he doesn't really pay me since I kinda sold my soul or something to become one of his 'business partners', but he does bring me to interesting places! Of course we usually stay in Pentagram City,but from time to time we go to other regions. Oh, have you been to Styx Row?! Husk got kicked out of there three times but was eventually let back in because he was the only reason why most of the patrons returned and-"
"He's irritating."
At that, Niffty stopped her speaking and looked at Mika in bewilderment. Vice versa, Mika simply sat back on the bed, ignoring Niffty's surprised expression as he attempted to reattach the armour plating of his Lupus Rex arm.
"Mind if I ask why? I mean, he's such a gentleman, especially by Demon standards!" requested Niffty, with her indirectly defending the Radio Demon as she spoke. Her questions irritated Mikazuki quite a bit as he managed to reattach one of the three armour plates onto his Lupus Rex arm, though he said nothing about it for now as he simply listened. "Like, I know he likes to poke fun at Husk a lot, and no doubt pokes fun at you too, and he sometimes talks a lot and can be annoying but-"
"That's why," cut off Mika as he smacked his regular hand against the second armour plate for his Lupus Rex arm, forcing it back into place and causing Augus to grunt mildly as he felt the piece locking into place. "He talks too much and is annoying."
"But you have to agree that it's part of his charm, right?" reasoned Niffty as she splayed her hands out beside her face in a rather adorable manner, not that Mikazuki would ever tell her that.
"The only charm that's worth remembering with him is whatever he uses to get me those raisins," countered Mika as he picked up the third armor plate for his Lupus Rex arm and jammed it into its place.
"But still you can't deny that he has a lot of charisma!" shot Niffty as she climbed up and sat next to Mika, who managed to slam the final armour plate of his Lupus Rex arm back into place. Turning to stare at the armour for his Lupus Rex legs, Mika opted to just leave them off for the day before he huffed and turned towards the cycloptic little demoness. Admittedly, yes, Alastor did have quite a lot of charisma… though it was the type of charisma that Mika loathed.
It was the type of charisma that only those with malicious intent would make use of, and for as… impressive as Alastor was at slithering his spindly fingers around others to get them to do as he pleased, Mikazuki still couldn't bring himself to like it as he shuddered to himself. Even so, he didn't wish to admit that to Niffty for reasons that were still not known to him, so he just stayed silent on that front.
After not getting a response from him, Niffty decided to remain silent as Augus flexed the fingers of his Lupus Rex arm. The soap didn't seem to be messing with the internal mechanics or joint systems of his arm, which was always a good thing. If anything, the soap seemed to make his arm easier to move, so much so that the pilot reckoned that he'd have to shower more often for maximum efficiency.
Right as he turned away from his hand, however, Mika felt a strange sensation on his upper spine, prompting him to raise an eyebrow and turn his head back towards the source. He was quick to raise his brows a little higher up onto his face when he spotted Niffty standing behind him on the bed. Her attention was firmly locked onto his upper back, with one of her hands resting against her chin thoughtfully while the other was resting against his back, or much rather, the three Alaya-Vijnana spines that stuck out from his upper back. Mika would've thought her to look cute if he wasn't irritated at her sudden interest in his spines.
"...what are you doing?" inquired Mika, who didn't seem to have the heart to just tell her to piss off. Normally, he didn't exactly mind people touching his Alaya-Vijnana spines. However, the sensation of having them touched now was rather… foreign to him now. Ever since he came down to the bowels of Hell, Mikazuki never had any real use for the Alaya-Vijnana system. Nothing in Hell made use of the it, after all, and he wasn't exactly able to use them as weapons… so he gradually forgot about them until Niffty inadvertently reminded him of their existence.
"What are these thingies? They look like spinal growths! Did some sorta fungi grow on your back? Or did an alien attach itself to you so intensely that it came to Hell with you?!" inquired Niffty rather curiously, much to Mika's amusement as he reached back with his regular hand and ran his fingers over his Alaya Vijnana spines, shivering a little as his fingers made contact with them. "Does it hurt when I touch them? Or is it your erogenous zone? If it's the latter then does that mean I'm giving you a triple han-"
"It's something I had when I was alive. Not a… fungi growth, an alien, or my… erogenous zone…" replied Mika, inadvertently cutting Niffty off as she turned to stare at him curiously, with her finger drumming itself against her chin all the while.
"So… a spinal defect growth thing?" asked Niffty, her tone showing some form of worry as Mika raised a brow. That tone was vaguely familiar to him… though he didn't have time to put his finger on why he felt that way as he replied.
"Alaya-Vijnana system," corrected Mika, prompting Niffty to tilt her head, clearly interested in what this Ara Yuski, as she mispronounced it as, was. In response, Mika sighed and decided to try and explain it to her to pass the time… though he quickly remembered that he wasn't exactly familiar with the specifics behind the AV system either, prompting him to just babble on about what little he could actually remember. "It… it's… something that other people put into my spine when I was younger."
"Well what does it do, exactly?" asked Niffty as she climbed onto Mika's back and stared at him from over his shoulder. In response, Mika used his Lupus Rex arm to pluck her off his back and lifted her up to eye level, only to raise a confused brow when Niffty waved at him in a friendly manner that almost made him forget that she was a demon, not at all worried that Mikazuki's Lupus Rex hand could very easily crush her skull by just clenching itself up.
"It let me control machines with Alaya-Vijnana ports better," answered Mika as he dropped Niffty onto the ground, causing her to give another squee on impact. The squee thing seemed to be normal for the cycloptic loli, Mikazuki reckoned, as he watched Niffty stand up and brush what little dust she gathered off her skirt and stared up at Augus curiously.
"Why do you need it, anyways?" asked Niffty, her tone sounding just a little more worried than usual… and it reminded Mika of a certain someone, prompting his frown to deepen just a little as Niffty continued speaking. "I mean, machines can be controlled normally, right? Why do you need to control them more effectively? And for that matter why are you even controlling machines in the first place? Are you driving, young man? I'll have you know, Mikazuki Augus, that you seem a little too young to drive!"
"Barbatos needs the Alaya Vijnana system to move as fast as he does," replied Mika simply as he ignored the adorable nature of the cycloptic demon before him. She was clearly trying to scold him, though her tiny appearance made it impossible to take her seriously. Meanwhile, Niffty simply tilted her head to the side, seeming more confused thanks to Barbatos' name being thrown into the mix all the while.
"Barbatos? Did the Duke find his way to the mortal world somehow? Wasn't Barbatos a normal Hellborn devil? If so, how-" began Niffty, only to be silenced when Mika grabbed the lower half of her face with his normalarm, in turn covering her mouth and muffling the rest of her words. "MmMMmmmmmMM!"
"He's not that Barbatos. Barbatos is my Mobile Suit, my Gundam," corrected Mikazuki, some small hints of amusement being rather apparent in his tone as he released Niffty's, revealing the rest of her confused expression as more questions began to be asked of him. Without even wasting a second, the cycloptic loli scrambled up to sit next to Mika before she began asking more and more questions, and though Augus did find them to be annoying to a certain degree, he still humored her and answered most of what she threw at him.
"Mobile Suit? Gundam? Why would anyone call a suit mobile? A suit isn't mobile until someone wears it, like Alastor's suit! And why would a dam have a gun? A dam doesn't even have hands to hold it! Or vice versa, why would-" began Niffty once more, only for Mika to slap his regular hand over her mouth once more to shut her up.
"You're thinking too hard into it," muttered Mika as he sighed. Niffty's worry did remind him of her, but her talkative nature was a far cry from either of the two girls whom he loved whilst alive. "...a Mobile Suit is a giant robot."
"Ooooh… OH! I think I get it now! And a Gundam is a Mobile Suit… of armour!" concluded Niffty, smacking the bottom of her fist into her opened palm as she spoke. Mikazuki felt his eyelid twitching a little as she had that revelation, though he didn't care enough to correct her as he exhaled sharply and nodded.
"...yeah, you can just go with that, I guess," sighed Mika with a nod as Niffty fistpumped victoriously.
"So… why did you have to use these Mobile Suits?" inquired Niffty after her mild celebration of being correct. Rather abruptly, her tone went from somewhat carefree to a rather worried tone once more, and her smile was quick to fade, a change so abrupt that Mika thought that he was seeing things for a moment. He was quick to realize he wasn't, however, and by then, Niffty had already continued speaking. "You don't seem very old! How old are you?! Do you have a robot licence?! I'm not sure if that exists but if it does you look too young to have one!"
"... I think I'm about Eighteen," answered Mikazuki after a few moments of pondering. Admittedly, he himself was also unsure about his own age. Come to think of it… when was he even born? Augus found himself thinking about that little detail for quite some time, and he probably got lost in thought as, within a handful of seconds, Niffty shook his regular arm, snapping him out of his thoughts and prompting him to turn towards her. "Hm?"
"You think you're eighteen?" echoed Niffty, her worried tone now sounding rather… strange as she wrapped her hand around Mika's regular wrist, prompting him to raise a brow at the act. For a Sinner, a person who presumably came to Hell after doing terrible things… Niffty really didn't act like one. If anything… the way she acted was more reminiscent of…
"Mikazuki… do you not know how old you really are?"
"... no. I don't," admitted Mika as he was ripped out of his thoughts. Niffty seemed to slouch her shoulders just a little at that, though she noticeably perked up when Augus continued, just not in a good way. "Not that it matters, anyways."
"Why would you say that? What happened to your parents?!" inquired/demanded Niffty, with her seeming to become more and more erratic with each word she uttered. Her grip around Mikazuki's wrist tightened as she spoke and though it wasn't enough to hurt him, it was still tight enough for Mika to notice. "Did they… leave you?"
"Maybe they did, maybe they didn't," quipt Mika nonchalantly as he stared at his own reflection on the polished outer armour of his Lupus Rex arm, frowning as his reflection stared back at him. This notion seemed to demoralize Niffty quite a bit as her expression fell rather hard, though before it could become unsalvageable, Augus continued speaking. "It doesn't really matter to me anymore. They're long gone, and they're no longer my family. Tekkadan is."
"Tekkadan?" muttered Niffty as she tilted her head a little to the side, loosening her grip on his wrist in the process. "Is… that Japanese?"
"You speak Japanese?" inquired Mika, actually genuinely surprised for once as Niffty nodded proudly.
"Indeed! Tekkadan… Tekkadan, Tekkadan… is that Japanese for Unwilting Flower?" muttered Niffty. Mika simply nodded. She wasn't completely correct, though she wasn't too off the mark either, so he decided to let her have this victory. "Ah! But… may I know why you consider an Unwilting Flower to be your family, Mister Mikazuki? I mean, you don't exactly share blood with a plant, now do you? Oh, are you a plant man?!"
"It's the name of the group I worked for," muttered Mika wistfully as he allowed himself to smile just a little, only to close his eyes as he corrected himself. "Work with…"
"A group composed of other people?" inquired Niffty thoughtfully. After Mikazuki nodded in confirmation, the little cyclops bit her lip in affirmation and continued speaking. "But… there's no real blood relation in there, Mister Mikazuki…"
"... there's more to family than blood, Niffty," replied Mika as he held his Lupus Rex arm up in the air. The pilot flexed the golden claws of his mechanical hand rather absentmindedly before clenching it tightly, causing several scraping noises to be heard. Niffty didn't pay attention to that, however, as she listened to what Augus had to say. "Family is defined by those who truly care for you, the people who have your best interests in heart. We Tekkadan members aren't bound to one another by blood, but by the respect we hold towards one another… and how we were willing to give our lives just to make sure our comrades lived to see another day."
"... I see," muttered Niffty as she cupped her hands together, a rather wistful smile on her face as she nodded rather solemnly. At that, Mikazuki raised a confused brow, unsure of how to make of her sudden change in mood as the cycloptic loli sighed gently. "It must have been… nice, yes? To have people who love you even though you have no blood relation to them?"
"...yes. It was… is nice," admitted Mikazuki, with him offering a shadow of a smile as he remembered some of the better days of his career that were outside Barbatos' cockpit. After some time, Augus turned towards Niffty, and he was quick to raise a brow when he saw her smile twitched just a little as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her skirt, seemingly lost in thought, prompting him to nudge her just a little with the side of his regular arm. "Oi, is something on your mind?"
"Oh! Uh, no! Not really! Just… y'know, it'd be nice to have a family like yours! Actually, wait… uh… no, wait, no erm… uh! N-NEVERMIND!" proclaimed Niffty rather awkwardly as she waved her arms around in a panic, unsure of how to properly answer Mikazuki's question as she began tripping over her own words. In response, however, Mika simply snorted as he gestured for her to calm the fuck down with his regular hand and, in a strange twist of events, Augus even offered her a smile, clearly amused at the cycloptic demoness' antics. In turn, Niffty herself gaped just a little at that smile. It appeared so innocent… and so unfitting of an apparent hitman like him.
"You don't need to continue," assured Mika as Niffty tilted her head at his tone of voice. It was a lot different than how it was mere moments prior. Simply put, it sounded… softer… gentle even, and the sudden change confused her just a little, though she didn't bring it up as she simply nodded in apparent appreciation.
"Ah… well, I… erm… uh… thanks, I guess?" muttered Niffty, prompting Mika to snort in response.
"Hm," muttered Mika rather absentmindedly as he offered a more noticeable smile of his own. "I should thank you for washing my stuff too, Niffty."
"Oh, you're welcome!"
And at that, Niffty seemed to return to her usual self as she clenched her fists close to her chest in some form of pride. Her cheeks were puffed out happily as she did so, and seeing this elicited a snort of amusement from the pilot as he absentmindedly raised his hand up and patted her over the head, much to her surprise and confusion.
"Erm… Mister Mikazuki…?" muttered Niffty, sounding somewhere between confused and flustered as her cheeks took on a mild red shade. In response to this, Mikazuki closed one of his eyes and glanced at the cycloptic loli, removing his hand all the while.
"... sorry. You just remind me of someone I know when I was still alive. I liked to do that to her," apologised Mikazuki as he pulled his hand back towards himself, though before he could do so completely, Niffy seized his hand and forced it back onto her head. "Hm?"
"I didn't say stop dammit!" proclaimed Niffty as she gave a mild pout. "Headpats are the highest form of thanks, so in order to thank me, keep patting me!"
In response to that, Mika simply snorted in amusement as he nodded.
Hell may have been a terrible shitshow… but Niffty showed that it wasn't all bad, and for perhaps the first time since he was casted down to this hellish landscape, Mikazuki allowed himself to show a genuine smile as he kept patting the little cyclops over the head.
'... cute.'
Niffty is cute.
10/10 would headpat.
"Hm…"
"What is it, Alastor?"
In response to his inquiry, Alastor raised an eyebrow as he sipped what Mikazuki hoped to be coffee and read a book from across the hotel room, his gaze locked on him as he sat on the bed. Niffty had fell asleep not long ago… with her tiny body laying on his lap all the while, and Mika didn't have the heart to tell her to get the fuck off, so he allowed her to remain there with very little issue.
By the time Alastor had returned, Mikazuki had draped his Tekkadan jacket over Niffty's smaller by comparison body as a pseudo-blanket, and the Radio Demon appeared intrigued by the sight, though he didn't say anything back then, and likewise, he didn't say anything about it now as he chuckled.
"Oh, worry not about it, Mikazuki Augus," assured Alastor as he waved his hand and turned back to his book, prompting Mika to roll his eyes just a little. It was better to not ask about their current relationship after all.
Besides, Alastor was more interested in why the bathroom was so damn soapy, and he didn't even ask about that.
