Hey everyone! I'm very happy I got 3 views (I did not expect to get so many views this soon!). Either way, I'm super motivated to write more and I hope you guys will continue to like my fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell! or any of its characters (except the OCs) since they belong to Makoto Raiku.
"Can we remove our hoods now? I'm tired of all this secrecy. Besides covering our faces is gradually suffocating me", Shin grumbled to Marie as they sat on one of the benches in Mochinoki Park. "I don't like it as well, but I don't think that's such a good idea, Shin. Our enemies know what we look like", Marie sighed. "I think we're catching a lot of attention parading around like this. Tell me, how many demon and human pairs dress up like this?", Shin argued. "I suppose you are right. But I still think it's a good idea to hide our faces. Maybe we can remove the masks in front of our allies. I've got enough cash to rent us a place near the Takamine residence, so we'll be staying there for the time being. We won't have to cover up when we're inside", Marie replied. Shin nodded as Marie began discussing what they would have to do next.
Meanwhile, in the Takamine residence, Kiyomaro was already beginning to regret his decision to allow Gash to stay with them. The boy had been shy and quiet for five minutes before slowly becoming more boisterous and louder by the minute. And the worst part was that he couldn't do anything about it since his mother had gladly accepted Gash into the household. He still couldn't understand why his father would ever think that a six-year-old demon could change him. Maybe the students were extra belligerent and foolish this year.
"All right Kiyomaro! Let's start discussing how you can form new friends. Do you have anybody to talk to at school? Let's start from those guys", Gash asked him cheerfully. "Look kid, just because you're grateful to my father doesn't mean you can interfere with my life as you wish. I don't want to be friends with those idiots, and you can't force me!", he yelled in frustration. "I think having friends is very important! Right now, you're saying all these things you don't actually mean because you're hurt but I know how lonely it is when everyone else is having fun around you and you're the only one who's always sitting all alone. There's no point in denying the existence of others. I'm sure you'll find a true friend if you try your best!", Gash shook his head and argued timidly. Kiyomaro had noticed what a huge coward Gash was and yet… he would always fight for the right thing, even if he was terribly scared. It was a trait Kiyomaro had come to admire even if he knew the demon for less than 24 hours. And it also greatly annoyed him.
He hissed, "I'm done talking about this nonsense! I'm going to borrow your book for a while. You can do whatever you want to in the meantime, as long as you don't disturb me. Now get lost!" Gash had a crestfallen look on his face before he sadly trailed away. Kiyomaro felt a pang of guilt as he took in the other boy's crestfallen expression, he wasn't a heartless person! But Gash didn't understand. Didn't understand that there was no point in making friends when everyone in school despised him. Everyone except Mizuno… who was also getting the same treatment from everyone else simply because she associated herself with him. What could he do about it? As if talking to those guys would ever work out! The whole idea was simply too ridiculous! He spent the rest of the day investigating the language in the red book.
The next morning, he was rudely woken up by his Gash who was busy jumping on his stomach. "What the hell do you think you're doing kid?!", he yelled in the blonde's face who gave him a sheepish look before scratching his head and apologising, "I'm sorry Kiyomaro. But I quickly wanted to tell you about the plan I've made before you leave for school. I've christened it as 'The Hero Strategy' and it's-" "Stop right there! Haven't I told you that I'm not going to school? If you're too stupid to understand it the first few times, I don't mind repeating it again. I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL! Got it?!", Kiyomaro yelled at the child who flinched and trembled as he covered his head before slowly shaking his head. "I-I'm not going to back down. I will make sure that you gain friends in school", Gash spoke back determinedly. Kiyomaro groaned, he didn't want to spend the entire day arguing with Gash. All he wanted was some peace and quiet. Looks like it would be better if (he couldn't believe he was making this decision) he left for school after all.
The whispers began as soon as he entered his classroom. 'This is why I didn't want to even come here in the first place. Why can't people simply mind their own business and leave me alone?', he thought distressedly as he examined Gash's spell book. "Takamine-kun, care to solve the question on the board?", his teacher asked irritably since he had long realised that his student wasn't paying any attention to his lecture on algebra. "The answer is a squared", Kiyomaro answered monotonously as he quickly solved the question inside his head, "That's correct", his teacher glared at him before dismissing him. Whispers of 'Why does he even come here?' 'This place is too dumb for the likes of you' and other mean things pervaded the classroom. Kiyomaro ignored them as he focused all his attention on the red spellbook.
Unbeknownst to him, Gash had followed him the entire way and had successfully infiltrated his classroom by stuffing himself inside one of his bags. 'Unu, it is as Father-dono said. Kiyomaro's an outcast, just like I was in the demon world. I can't let Kiyomaro continue like this however because unlike me, he's so cool! He's smart enough to not need the teacher's help. If only I can show how amazing he is to his classmates… I'm sure they will think upon their words and try to become friends with Kiyomaro', Gash thought determinedly and decided to talk to Kiyomaro during lunch break.
However, Gash realised that Kiyomaro had no intention of staying at school after the lunch break. What he did learn was that Kiyomaro had at least one friend who believed in him, a sweet girl named Mizuno who still treated the boy as her friend even after he scolded her so badly. 'Why is he doing this? Doesn't he realise that he'll be losing the one and only friend he has?! I must stop Kiyomaro before it's too late!', Gash thought frantically and yelled his thoughts at his partner, completely forgetting the fact that he was in a disguise. Kiyomaro hissed at him before quickly dragging him away to a secluded area before anybody noticed him. "Wh-What the heck are you doing here?", the teen yelled at him. "I told you, I'm going to help you make friends. But Kiyomaro, it's a good thing that you still have people who don't hate you! I have a strategy and I bet you'll make tons of friends if you follow it", Gash grinned. Kiyomaro groaned before acquiescing to the kid's demands. There was no harm in listening to the annoying blonde.
"Do you think this is going to work out?", Shin asked Marie who sighed, "I'm not God all right? It's better to give them the push than leave everything to fate. Let's go to Gash's partner's school now." Shin stared at her for a while before muttering, "You'll have to call him by his name sooner or later you know." If Marie heard her partner, she didn't give any indication that she did and simply got up and covered herself from head to toe. Shin frowned and did the same as he secretly looked forward to the day he wouldn't have to cover himself anymore.
Kiyomaro couldn't understand why the universe hated him so much. One minute he was listening to Gash's stupid strategy and the next, a rabid dog-like creature suddenly began attacking them. He knew the dog was a demon because a man was reading out some spells from a spell book similar to Gash's red spell book. "Run away, Kiyomaro", Gash yelled at him as he was crying (no kidding, the kid had begun bleeding from the various cuts the stupid dog-demon had oh so cruelly inflicted upon him) and trying his best to run away from the terrifying creature. Kiyomaro knew that there was no point in running away since the demon would simply come after him or would rather come after Gash's spell book. Gash wouldn't be able to protect him for long. Though he could simply end all of this by giving up Gash's book and letting the enemy burn it. It would benefit him in the long run, no more annoying blonde to deal with and no going to school to escape from the said blonde. Or he could just read out the spell in Gash's book. Kiyomaro knew that he had to read out the spell but he didn't want to do it while he was still present in school. "You still need to make friends Kiyomaro. You can't stay back because of me. Leave the book and go away. You don't have to be a part of this", Gash pleaded. Kiyomaro froze. 'Why? Why is he still thinking about my well-being instead of focusing on his book? Isn't he afraid of returning to the demon world? Why does he even care about me', Kiyomaro thought numbly.
Suddenly he recalled the Gash's words from yesterday, 'I know how lonely it is when everyone else is having fun around you and you're the only one who's always sitting all alone.' Every one of the 100 demon children had been paired up with a human… had he been paired up with Gash because the other demon could somewhat understand his pain? Gash wasn't smart like him but people isolated others for a lot of reasons, even if the majority of them were stupid. He knew that first-hand. It seemed that Gash had been ostracised by the other demons in his world, just like him. Was that why he was trying so hard to ensure that his human partner gained friends? 'Why does he care so much?', Kiyo thought as a mixture of emotions swelled inside his chest. Technically, Gash could run away with his book and ensure that he wouldn't get kicked out of the race to become the king of the demon world. Kiyomaro had even suggested Gash to do the same at some point but the boy had vehemently refused. "Because you are my friend", he had said bravely like the idiot he was.
Kiyomaro bitterly smiled as he crouched behind Gash's back. It was ironic… he who currently had no friends except Mizuno had somebody who was risking his entire future to save him and create an opportunity to help him gain friends. What was the point in making friends with the other guys who were jealous of him when he already had a friend worth more than anyone he could ever find in his entire life? He protectively clutched the spell book close to his chest as he felt a warm feeling grow inside his heart. 'Thank you for wanting to be my friend Gash. Now it's my turn to help you', Kiyomaro thought determinedly before turning to his partner.
"Gash, I want you to focus on the demon's legs, okay?", he softly spoke to the blonde who nodded, "Unu, I trust you Kiyomaro." "Oh, so you've finally decided to fight, eh? But it's too late! Your demon's too injured to be able to seriously hurt Gofure!" "Zakeru!", Kiyomaru hissed. Gofure shrieked in pain as he was struck by a powerful lightning bolt. "Don't tell me you've given up already Gofure!", the human yelled before chanting, "Doruku" and further strengthening his armour. "Let's do it again, Gash", Kiyomaro ordered to Gash who ran toward Gofure and cast the spell again. However, Gofure dodged the spell and jumped to attack Kiyomaro, ignoring the sudden jolt of pain in his legs. 'Not now! Not so soon… I only just accepted Gash', Kiyomaro thought as he hid the book so that Gofure wouldn't be able to touch it, leaving him wide open.
Gofure cruelly smirked and closed in to hurt Kiyomaro. "No!", Gash cried out as he thought, 'I have to protect Kiyomaro. I can't let my friend get hurt in front of me!' and took the brunt of Gofure's attack as he barely made it on time. "Arghh, seriously, what's up with this piece of trash? He can barely even stand! Just get lost already", Gofure's partner groaned. Kiyomaro clenched his teeth, how could anybody be so callous about this entire ordeal? But his feeling of wanting to save Gash was even greater than his anger towards the demon-human pair. Suddenly, the red book glowed brightly as a result of their strong feelings. Kiyomaro stared at the book and quickly flipped through the pages and noticed that another part of the book had changed colours, making it legible for him. 'It's the second spell', he realised and looked at Gash who was nearly about to pass out.
"Are you sure we shouldn't interfere?", Shin asked Marie as they were watching the fight from a distance. "No, not yet. You saw their book glow right now, didn't you? Trust me, Gash's partner isn't dumb enough to let a weakling like Gofure burn their book. It's just that he is slowly accepting Gash in this battle and that slowness has resulted in Gash taking quite a lot of damage. But both of them need this. The human partner needs to see the extent Gash is willing to go for his friends and Gash needs to man up. He needs to realise that he can be strong when he needs to be. Our appearance will ruin that", Marie spoke softly and the two of them continued observing from afar.
"Gash! Don't take your eyes off Gofure", Kiyomaro ordered the now completely worn-out demon who tiredly nodded. "Just give up already!", Gofure hissed before charging toward the completely exhausted Gash. "Rashirudo!", Kiyomaro yelled and before Gofure could hit Gash, he ran into a shield made up of electricity. "Ahhhh", he cried out as he was thrown back by the shield and landed directly on top of his partner, Renji. Unfortunately for the dog-like demon, Renji couldn't cover the book adequately and exposed it to the sparks all over Gofure's body, resulting in the latter's spell book getting burnt. "Shit Gofure! Not you… you useless pup", Renji hissed frustrated before making a dash for it.
"W-we did it Kiyomaro! I-I actually managed to beat somebody", Gash whimpered as his lips wobbled and his fists clenched without him even realising it. "Yeah, Gash. We did it. On our first try. You really are stronger than you look, you know", Kiyomaro gently rubbed the boy's head and hugged him as the blonde sobbed into his arms. 'Dear Dad. Thank you for the present. I think it's the best present I've ever received and my bleak life is going to finally change for the better with the arrival of one Gash Bell', he thought as a small and fond smile formed on his face. He was really looking forward to his life, all thanks to Gash!
Author's notes: I had to tweak the scenes a bit but ultimately try to send the same message home (I don't want to exactly have a rewrite though I can't promise the same with the later chapters). Tweak the scenes because everything's taking place earlier than the original timeline since Gash didn't stay in England for too long (he's one of the first demons to find their partner in the battle and I'm sure you can guess why, it's also why Gofure doesn't have two spells here). And send the same message home because I love the bond Kiyomaro and Gash share in canon (though I sometimes wish Kiyomaro was a bit nicer towards Gash, he's so cute!). Please do leave your views and I hope to see y'all soon!