He who was just an ordinary man

IV


"Which ended up taking nearly…oooh….three years?" Penemue finished with a thoughtful look before she aimed a wry smile at Romani "That was just to ask her out mind you." the woman released a chortle at the embarrassed expression that Romani gave as he stared at the table and forked at his pasta "What did she say when you eventually mustered up the courage, Roman?"

Leona was giving Romani a coy smile as she placed her fork down and leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the table and propping her arms up like a pyramid and resting her chin atop them "Go on Roman…I know you remember.~"

Romani winced, sending a pleading look towards Lev and finding himself left utterly betrayed by the look of amusement the man gave him, eventually he released a sigh and looked up "I thought we were already going out." he muttered in a quiet voice.

"Oh Roman." Lev chuckled, shaking his head before he looked over to Leona "Three years you say?"

"Oh yes." Leo smiled "Another two to actually propose to me as well. Although I'm glad he actually did." she winked at Roman "Else I probably would have instead. I was very happy with that little spot of bravery from you."

"W-well you never made it specific." Romani argued back in a half-hearted tone "We just hung out most afternoons when you were free and occasionally went out…"

"And I kept inviting you out to movies." Leo listed off, raising a finger each time "Going out for meals, invited you round my apartment while you were studying as a medical student."

Penemue pointed at Leo and chuckled, "We actually had a betting pool around the office about who would make the first move." she beamed "Roman is my favourite because he won me that particular bet." she nodded at Leo "You never did make it specific that you were going out with him, although I'm quite grateful you didn't."

"Because you ended up winning money on it." Leo rolled her eyes as she went back to her meal "Honestly, you're all terrible when it comes to that sort of thing."

"I wasn't that bad, not when compared to others."

"So what is it you do anyway?" Lev asked as he looked towards Leo "Roman said you were in design, I believe?" he nodded towards Penemue "I assume she is one of your colleagues."

"Ex-colleague." Penemue corrected, then paused "Sort of." she added on "We used to work together but Leona does distance work for us now when she can. Hasn't been around the office in months."

"Don't act too broken up about it." Leona rolled her eyes at the woman, leaning back and pointing at her "We still talk every now and again."

"Yes but you moved so far away." Penemue pouted "There aren't all that many sensible girls in the office and while you weren't actually one of the sensible girls-"

"Hey!" Leona gave a playful pout at the woman "I was unique."

"Still wasn't that sensible." Penemue continued on with a smirk "But most everyone misses you, you know?" she then smiled at Romani "Az misses you too by the way."

"He kept inviting me around his apartment to play eroge games." Romani replied with a whine "He said my reactions were funny!"

"They are funny." Penemue gave an unabashed answer, pointing her fork at the man and giving a wry smile before it drifted over to Lev "But enough about us. Roman didn't have that many friends so I'm a little curious."

"We met at work." Lev replied "First day, I was the staff member who showed him around the school and we've spoken ever since." he chuckled, leaning back and nodding towards the nurse "Although I dare say that Roman missed his calling in life."

"Oh?" Penemue raised an intrigued eyebrow "Did he now?"

"He would have made a rather grand teacher."

"No I wouldn't." Romani shook his head "Waaaay too much responsibility for that, I can barely handle the small amount of paperwork I get for being a nurse." the man grumbled "Could you imagine how bad it would be if I had even more to do as well as all those children to teach?" his expression turned horrified "I'd probably mess it all up."

Leona paused, giving a thoughtful frown before she sighed "...You'd probably have some problems, yes. You stress over every little thing."

"I like to make sure it's at least done." Romani remarked as he forked at his dinner, placing another piece of pasta in his mouth and swallowing "Besides, the student council is already hounding me down often enough as it is, could you imagine how much more time they'd spend cleaning up after me if I was a teacher?" Romani shivered at the thought "I'd hate to do that to them."

"Honestly Roman." Lev sighed, shaking his head "You really are much too worried."

"I'm comfortable being a nurse." Romani raised his hands in surrender "I can help people as best I can doing that."

"Very well." Lev conceded "As long as it makes you comfortable, Romani." his eyes drifted over to Leona and Penemue "So I gather you have met with Miss Penemue before?"

"Hm?" Romani looked up then nodded his head "Yeah." He looked towards the purple haired woman in question "When was the first time we met? It was…erm…" he snapped his fingers as he tried to remember before it clicked "You were coming around for some design on a prop or something, right?"

Penemue blinked before giving a pleased smile "I'm glad you remember our first time."

Romani sputtered and looked at her with red cheeks "Don't phrase it like that!"

The woman chuckled to herself "But yes, although Leona taking early nights had raised a few eyebrows around the office so some of the more gossip driven ones started to spread a few rumours that she had a boyfriend."

"What do you mean 'some'?" Leona gave her an incredulous look, jabbing an accusing fork in her direction with a small piece of food skewered on the end of it "You were one of the leading gossipers behind it! That's the reason you came round my apartment that night instead of asking me to email the work to you."

Penemue smirked "Maybe~" she looked at Lev "It was completely worth it though. Me turning up towards the end of the night and there's Roman and Leo wrapped up in a blanket together watching a movie."

Lev blinked repeatedly before he sent a baffled look towards Romani "I'm sorry, you weren't dating at this point?"

"It wasn't all that clear at the time!" Romani whined "She was a really friendly person so I just thought she had different values when it came to personal space!"

"The words 'invasion of' spring to mind when I am regaled with that story, Roman." Lev replied with a shake of the head "Honestly, I might comment on you being unable to pick up the obvious but really?"

"Oh you should have seen how red his face went when I came in." Penemue continued on, grinning at the memory "I thought he was going to pass out."

Romani's head fell into his hands, his fingers hiding away his red face from the eyes of everyone at the table, the man let out a pathetic whimper amidst the chuckling coming from everyone present. "It can't just be me who has had these sorts of things happen, right?"

"Oh, I don't doubt it." Lev admitted with a reassuring smile aimed at the man before it took on a more amused edge to it "However, they are currently not sitting at this table are they?"

Romani could only groan louder, looking back towards Penemue before he shifted his tone in a rather blatant attempt to change the topic of conversation "So how is Az?"

Penemue blinked at the sudden change in topic, then raised an intrigued eyebrow at Romani and noted the pleading look in his eyes. A silent message passed between the two of them, she became aware of Romani's less than subtle hint that he wanted to avoid further embarrassment. Penemue leaned back into her chair, smiling coyly at Romani and mentally debating whether or not to throw him a bone. She did very much like watching him squirm.

"He's getting on fine." She relented, briefly enjoying the relieved light passing through the man's eyes and the way his face almost broke into a smile "A bit obsessed as of late in his research though." nodding to Leona, she shrugged "She knows what Az is like when it comes to his own little projects."

"What has he gotten into his head this time?" Leona asked with a roll of her eyes and a hint of resignation "Because the last one was nothing shy of a fantastic mess."

"That was the last one you helped design." Penemue shook her head before she gave an exaggerated sigh "This one is much, much worse."

"How bad?"

"I believe there was a small fire." She paused "I say small but we ended up evacuating the entire floor."

"Typical." Leona muttered with a good natured smile and a shake of her head "This is why he should leave the genius work to actual inventors."

"He is an actual inventor, Leo." Penemue gave the woman a dry look "You two just never worked out which one was better."

"I know I'm better." Leona boasted with a wide smile, then pointed at Romani "He knows, don't you Roman?"

"Huh?" Romani blinked, having used the opportunity to try and eat some more food, pausing mid-bite and staring at Leona and Penemue with a wide eyed expression before he took a hasty mouthful and swallowed "Erm, yes…what she said." he pointed at Leona and nodded at Penemue.

Both women offered him a flat look before they exchanged glances with each other.

"I said something wrong, didn't I?" Romani winced, looking at Lev out of the corner of his eye. Lev slowly nodded his head in response. Looking back at the pair, Romani bit his lip and gave a gentle sigh "...What was it?"

"I'm clearly a better inventor than Az, aren't I?" Leona pressured him with a confident look on her face. "On an unrelated note, the new blanket we bought is just big enough to fit the sofa."

"That's cheating Leo!" Penemue laughed, shaking her head at the woman although not sounding particularly insulted about the remark in the least "But it's more a mark on him rather than me so go for it. I'll be sure to pass it along to Az if you say no, Roman."

Romani cringed "Please don't do that? Erm…y-you're as good as each other?"

Lev chortled, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head "Oh Roman…" the man sighed. The move was mirrored by Penemue who looked close to bursting into laughter as she stared at Romani with disbelief before her eyes fell onto Leona. The woman in question was staring at Roman with a closed eyed smile.

Roman shivered as Leona stared at him "Oh Roman…" she gave a quiet chuckle which made Roman feel as though someone had poured ice into his veins "You say the silliest things. I'm sure what you meant was 'of course Leo, you're the best genius to exist. In fact you are a universal genius that exceeds all others' or something along those lines. Isn't that right?"

Roman stared back at her with wide emerald eyes "...Yes. That is exactly it."

"Good." She smiled "You have the sweetest things to say, don't you?"

"Only because you enjoy hearing them." Romani shot back without any heat in his voice, his posture relaxing and giving the woman a knowing smile "We both already know how smart you are, you don't need me lumping more praise on top of you."

"Maybe." Leona shrugged, giving a faint smile as she pointed at him with a fork "But there's never anything wrong with praising a genius."

"Hmmm." Romani merely hummed in response before he turned towards Penemue "So how have things been going for you?" he asked, tilting his head and placing another piece of pasta in his mouth.

The purple haired woman blinked before smiling coyly at him "My, my Roman! Showing such interest in a beautiful woman while in front of your wife?" she sucked in air through her teeth before shaking her head "How scandalous."

"Beautiful woman?" Leona parroted and looked around the room "Did one arrive when I wasn't looking?" she grinned when Penemue rolled her eyes and leaned across the table, gently slapping her on the shoulder before leaning back "But how have you been anyway?"

"I've been doing well enough." Penemue replied with a smile "Thank you for asking though. A lot of the work around the office has quietened down these last few months and Az is working on something that he's pretty confident in." she paused before leaning back and her features softening "...Haven't seen him quite this pleased about something in a long time now that I think about it."

"...Well, pass along my congratulations to him then." Romani remarked with a nod of the head "I wish him luck."

"I'll be sure to pass along the message. He might even pop round to visit." Penemue grinned, enjoying the manner in which Romani's face fell "He always did like trying to get you out on those outings of yours."

"He wanted me blind drunk is what he wanted." The man muttered in response, shaking his head and turning towards Lev before nodding at the two women at the opposite end of the table "See what I have to deal with at times?"

"Yes, your home life seems rather more chaotic than I imagined Roman." Lev dryly remarked with a raised eyebrow as he looked between the two women "Although I suppose it is hardly a surprise that Leona was able to draw in someone who could be equally-"

"Exotic? Beautiful? Charming? Gorgeous?" Penemue listed off with a growing smirk.

"...Eccentric." Lev flatly responded, mirthfully huffing to himself and tenting his fingers together "Still, I suppose Roman can be boring enough that he could do with some excitement in his life. Although nothing too exciting, I should hope."

"I get enough excitement at school." Romani countered with a shake of the head "I want to come home and have a bit of peace."

"I would hardly call your school life exciting, Roman." Lev rolled his eyes at the man, leaning back into his chair and watching him "...But perhaps that is just like you, I suppose."

"You deal with the children in lessons, I deal with them when they make a big mess." Romani fired back with a grumble, his voice not sounding as affronted by the statement as he made it out to be. His faint smile also ruined any notion of the idea that he found his task bothersome. "That can be pretty hectic at times."

"Of that, I have hardly any doubt." Lev conceded with a nod "Especially when Issei-kun is involved."

"I'm sure that's going to die down a little from now on though."

"...Only time will tell."

"Oh?~" Romani shivered slightly at Penemue's intrigued tone of voice, the woman leaned forwards and used her fork like a pointer, cycling it between the two men "Gossiping about a student? Are you sure you should be doing that? Isn't it a little unprofessional?"

"Hardly gossiping. Merely expressing an opinion." Lev defended with a diplomatic tone "Besides, for all his faults Issei-kun is hardly any different from any other highschool boy."

"He just has no filter for his hormones is all." Romani shrugged, then paused when he heard Lev give a tired sigh and Penemue's eyes gleamed with amusement.

"Hohoho?" Penemue's grin widened as she leaned back "A bit of an honest one then, is he?" she then paused "I thought you taught at the local highschool here." she looked to Leona and got a nod of affirmation from her "Wasn't it an all girls school or am I misremembering?"

"Only recently." Romani supplied "About two years ago. Just before I taught there, right?"

"Hmmm." Lev nodded his head "There was a rather long winded discussion amongst the staff and administrators about whether to make the school co-ed or not but seeing as how they were converting it into a public school, it could hardly remain private for long." the man gave a quiet sigh "Although with how some of the students behave, it's a wonder the school remains co-ed."

"A bunch of hormonal boys in a school where the girls are probably unreasonably beautiful?" Penemue rolled her eyes "I can't see that ever being a disaster." she looked to Romani, her lip twitching in amusement "No filter you said?"

Romani could only nervously chuckle in response and look down at his plate.

"How bad?"

"Nothing too serious."

Lev furrowed his brows and looked up "Is this before or after he announced his plans on building…what was it again Romani? A harem?"

Penemue snorted, covering her mouth and coughing lightly "N-no way…" she got out between giggles "Really?"

"Despite his rather…juvenile sense, he is still a smart child underneath." Lev defended him "...I assume anyway. He's my student and regardless of his personality, I will treat him all the same. Then again, Roman knows him better."

Romani thinned his lips and turned to the curious expressions "...He's sort of in with some people worse than himself so I try to be a mediating force as best I can." he offered with a shrug "Doesn't always work but I think its better than it was before."

"Undoubtedly." Lev praised the man, pointing at him "Like I said, you could have been a good teacher Roman." he paused "Failing that, maybe a counselor?"

"Me?" Romani choked in disbelief, Lev paused then scrunched up his face.

"...Actually yes, good point." The man grimaced slightly, "You probably wouldn't make for a good counselor, seeing as how you can become just as anxiety ridden as the students. That would make for a bad situation."

"I'm honest about it at the very least." Romani shrugged, "I give advice but I'm not really an authority on stuff like school life."

"I'd argue that having advice from someone who can be as flawed as yourself can be just as useful." Lev replied with a raised eyebrow "But then again, you would probably take it all on yourself to try and address the students' problems or you would worry about offending them and never take the first steps to begin with."

Romani didn't reply to the statement, however he didn't need to. He knew Lev was right and he was fine with that.

"But enough about that." Lev remarked, shaking his head and dismissing the topic, nodding down to Romani's wrist "When are you going to tell her about that?"

"Oh?" Leona raised an eyebrow "Tell who about what?"

Romani paused "...So…funny story."

Leona raised an eyebrow "How funny?"

"...Not that funny." Romani quietly admitted as he pulled back his sleeve and showed the cracked face of the watch "So when I feel over…looks like I broke the watch." he cringed as he saw the blank expression on Leona's face "Sorry."

"...As long as the watch is all that's broken, then that's fine." The woman replied in an odd tone after a few moments, looking up at Romani with a soft smile "I'd rather you being a little clumsy break something that I can fix easily enough than something I can't." she paused for a few moments before her smile grew "That and I have quite a few neat little ideas for the watch as well!"

Romani gave a resigned sigh as he rolled the sleeve back "Never change, Leo."

"Why would I want to do that? Could you imagine depriving the world of my genius?" The woman looked affronted at the suggestion "Never!"

Penemue smirked, "Probably not what he meant but alright." she quietly stated before looking across the table towards Lev. The man offered his own hapless shrug at her before returning to the meal.


"I suppose I should thank you again for the invitation to dinner, Leona." Lev bowed his head to the woman as he spoke before he rose back up, grabbing his tophat off the hook near the front of the door and placing it back on his head "It was very well cooked, as expected."

"See, Roman?" Leona grinned "Lev knows how good I am."

"And yet you never seem to tire of reminding us." Lev shot back with a smile on his face, prompting the woman to give him a friendly slap on the arm. The man merely chuckled at her antics before leaning down and picking up his bag of groceries and leaning back up "It was good to speak with you again." he looked away from her and towards Romani "And I shall see you next week, Roman."

He looked past the pair towards Penemue "...And it was educational to meet you as well, Ms Penemue."

"Please, call me Penny." The man waved at him with a smile, "All my friends do."

Lev raised an eyebrow "If you say so." he gave no further comment before he turned around and opened up the front door, stepping through it and outside into the night air "I wish you all a good evening and hopefully without further excitement. Goodness knows this town has enough of that as of late."

"See you next week, Lev." Romani waved to the man as he closed the door, lowering the hand and smiling "Forgot how easy it can be for you to convince someone to stay."

"What can I say? I'm very convincing!" Leona boasted, placing a hand on her chest and puffing it out while giving a smug smile.

"Hmmm." Romani shook his head at her before turning away and back towards Penemue "What about you? Will you be staying long?"

"Awwww~" Penemue grinned "Are you sad to see me go Roman?" she chuckled before throwing herself off her chair and standing up and dusting herself off. "I knew you cared!"

Romani gave her a flat look before he shook his head in exasperation at her antics "You're always welcome to visit." he paused "...Although a phone call next time wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Asking me to call you when in front of your wife? Oh Romani, you do live dangerously don't you?"

The man groaned, shaking his head and raising his hands up in surrender. "I'm going to bed." he grumbled, then stopped when Leona stood in front of him with her hand out expectantly, Romani blinked at her in a dumbfounded manner. "Leo?"

"The watch, Roman." The woman rolled her eyes at him in amusement and beckoned with her hand "I'll fix it up and you head off to bed." giving the man a soft smile, she reached out with her other hand and gently patted him on the arm. "You've had a stressful day Roman, get some rest." she paused before smiling a little wider "Tomorrow, you can even have an extra long lie in!"

Romani opened his mouth to reply before he paused for a moment, his eyes staring down at her with surprise before they glittered slightly "...Really?"

Leona chuckled to herself "Of course."

"...Alright then." Romani exhaled, moving to the watch on his wrist and unclasping it before handing it over to her, placing it gently in her hand and moving past her and out of the room, pausing to send one last glance over his shoulder "Good night by the way, Penny. It was nice to see you again."

"Night, Roman." Penemue waved to him, dropping the teasing tone and allowing a genuine smile to stretch across her face "Good to see you again as well." the man gave one last smile before he departed from the room, his footsteps receding up the stairs.

When the pair were confident he was no longer anywhere near them, Leona looked down at the watch in her hands with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I recognise that look." Penemue pointed at Leona's face, causing the woman's lip to twitch upwards in amusement before it straightened out again "You're going to do something a bit more than fix up his watch."

"...Maybe." Leona admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, not giving anything away as she lowered her arms back to her side and strode across the living room towards the nearest recliner chair, sitting herself down in it and leaning back "At least something to calm my nerves."

"...Alright then." Penemue nodded her head, crossing her arms and closing her eyes "But at least be careful." her eyes opened up and stared down at her with concern "The Devils don't know you're here and if they find out they'll probably think of you as a Stray magician…if they find out the truth-"

"Probably worse." Leona affirmed without emotion in her voice before she looked down at the watch in her hands "...I know." she rubbed her thumb gingerly over the cracked face, smiling down at her reflection before looking up at Penemue and shrugging "...Oh well. I am quite lucky."

Penemue stared down at her before a smile flickered across her features "I suppose that you always were lucky. Still…moving here of all places?" she gestured around the room with an expression of disbelief "You really are testing it. Why did you move anyway?"

"Roman's idea." Leona admitted with a shrug "He just…wanted to move somewhere and said he had a good feeling about Kuoh." she chuckled "I didn't care all that much, Roman never made a request before so I wasn't about to shoot it down just like that."

"...Well, I can understand that at least." Penemue gave a wry smile and crossed her arms "Roman is many things…demanding isn't one of them."

"I think I'm demanding enough for the pair of us."

Penemue remained silent, causing Leona to shoot her a playful frown "This is where you say 'No Leo, you're perfectly reasonable in your requests, not at all demanding'."

"Was I?" Penemue grinned "How strange. The words just didn't come to me."

Leona rolled her eyes and waved her hand slightly "...Fine, fine. Thanks for coming though, even if it turned out not to be necessary."

"Always happy to hang out." Penemue waved off her concerns, rolling her shoulders "Besides, it got me out of the office for a little while. You'd think that with all the tinkering he loves to do, Az could manage to work out his own paperwork every now and again, wouldn't you?" a melodious chuckle came from out of her mouth "So I do owe you a small one for that…Also Az wanted to know what was wrong with the same."

Leona rolled her eyes at her "Star Blazing Thunder Crash is a terrible name is what's wrong with it. It's tacky and cheesy like it came from an early morning cartoon." she waved her hands "It's a hammer with a bit of lightning in it. He needs to come up with better names or people are never going to stop making fun of him for that."

"He thinks they're cool."

"Azazel thinks many things, few of them are cool." Leona smirked at Penemue, the two sharing a chuckle as she eventually stood up from her chair and walked over to the woman "Thanks for coming all the same. Hopefully we'll see each other again."

"Just not around here." Penemue replied with a wry smile as she extended her hand towards Leona "Still a bit risky all the same and not all of us have this strange sense of luck that you have."

"Well then I wouldn't be special, would I?"

Penemue rolled her eyes at the woman as they shook hands before she stepped back further into the room and placed her hands together "See you around, Leo."

"See you, Penny."

Ten jet black wings erupted from behind the woman, a red circle formed over her head before sweeping downwards and flowing over her, the circle engulfing her body and teleporting it away without a sound.

Leona gave a subtle smile before she looked back down at the broken watch in her hands "Well alright then." she smirked to herself before moving through the house to her special tinkering workshop "Lets see what little gizmos you can do!"


He clutches his eyes tightly closed but he can't help but see. There's no blotting out the vision in his mind's eye. He can't turn away from it, nor can he cover his ears.

He watched it play on repeat again, and again, and again, and again.

The dark haired girl smiles at the boy and leans forwards "I was wondering if you could do just one favour for me, Issei-kun." her smile contains nothing but kindness yet he can see it.

He can see what the boy can't. Because he's already seen it. The dream hasn't stopped since he rested his head upon his pillow. It doesn't matter how loud he screams out warnings or how much he begs, the outcome remains the same.

Her eyes turn glassy and her smile freezes in place "Could you die for me?"

He can't do anything but watch, he watches as the boy seems to be flabbergasted at first. Then he watches him die and he can't do anything about it.

Then he watches as time pulls itself back to the moment they enter the park at dusk and make for the fountain. He can't do anything but watch.

Then there's nothing. A deep blackness rolls across his vision as images blur through his mind. He hugs himself and crouches down, slapping his hands over his ears and scrunching his eyes shut but the screams and images assault him anyway.

He's back in the park again.


Romani woke up with a start, giving a shaky breath as his right hand climbed up and grabbed his face. The man released a stuttering groan as he rolled in bed, staring across and seeing that the left side of his bed was empty. Which naturally meant that Leo was already up.

The man rolled across the other side and stared at the drawers on the right side, the alarm clock stared back at him. Raising an eyebrow at the time,

"Huh…" He murmured to himself as he read the numbers, allowing a ghost of a smile to flicker across his face at the image of '10:04' being burned into his eyes. "She really did let me lie in…" green orbs slowly worked themselves closed and fell back into the pillow. The next sigh lasted longer than the first and went deeper, as if all of his stress was trying to escape his body. Not that it ever truly left him.

His eyes slowly cracked themselves open again before he let out a grunt and threw his legs over the side of the bed, jerking slightly as they touched the floor and the sensation of early morning chill washed over them. He leaned forwards, resting his arms on his knees and stared down at the wooden flooring with a critical eye.

"...We need some carpets in here." He muttered quietly to himself as he stood up, scrunching his face up when his legs protested, still half asleep from the length of time he had been lying in bed. Wavering on his feet ever so slightly for a few moments, he rolled his shoulders before sliding his feet into the slippers he kept next to the bed and waddled across the room to the dressing down hanging off the back of the door. Slipping it on, he tied it up and briefly caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror they had on the front of the wardrobe.

His hair was suffering from an extreme case of bed head while his eyes had faint bags underneath them. Then again, a man in his thirties also wearing a bright blue dressing gown with the magical wand of 'Miracle Levi-tan' embroidered on the front of it was hardly something that could be seen to be dignified to begin with. Romani liked it and that was enough for him. Giving his eyes another rub, he turned away from the mirror and opened up the door to the hallway and slipped out, closing the door behind him and descending down the stairs.


Leo was already in the kitchen when he got down the stairs, Romani almost choked when he saw her wearing a sleeveless jumper, jeans and a white apron while standing over the stove and frying up something in a pan. She clearly heard him come down the stairs and turned her head towards him, flashing him a wide smile which faltered when she saw the state he was in.

"Roman…" Leo sighed "I let you lie in to try and give you some rest, how do you look worse than when you apparently fell on your head?"

Romani could do nothing but respond with a slightly strained smile and a half-hearted shrug of the shoulders "Sorry."

"Don't apologise over it." Leo gently scolded him before turning back around "French toast, by the way." she elaborated before he had a chance to ask what she was cooking. "And you have a cup of coffee sitting on the table."

Romani blinked at her, then looked over to see that - sure enough - there was a steaming mug sitting on the kitchen table already waiting for him "...I've given up questioning how you even know anymore."

"Even if you lie in, you're never asleep past ten." Leo merely explained with a shrug of her shoulders and an amused tone in her voice "I just work around that."

"...Am I really that predictable?" Romani asked himself as he sat down in his chair, frowning to himself and pulling the cup of coffee towards him and raising it to his lips "Really?"

"You're not very adventurous and that's fine." Leo assured him with a wave of her hand "...Nightmares again?"

"...They weren't that bad." Romani murmured back in a half-hearted tone of voice as he drank from the mug "Just me stressing out over nothing is all." He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled "Overactive imagination and all that."

"You've barely any imagination at all." Leo sniped back at him with a frown "And you're an even worse liar." Romani flinched at the tone before her expression softened again into one of concern "Roman…you've had these for a while now."

"Fall probably made them worse." Romani explained with a sigh, lowering his head "You know that's a thing, right."

Leona continued to stare at the back of his head with a pensive expression for a few moments before she nodded once "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Alright." She shrugged, "If you're saying that there is nothing more to worry about, then I'll believe you." moving the pan off the head, then held it over the two plates and moved the bread onto them "Anyway, here's your breakfast!" her tone switched to a more jubilant one as she approached the table with two plates, setting one down in front of him while she moved to the opposite end and parked herself down in the chair.

"Thanks." Romani muttered to her as he slid the breakfast plate closer to him and sat the coffee back on the table "So have you got work again this weekend?"

"Not today." Leona replied with a smile aimed at him "Today I'm free…" she paused before a wide smile soon came across her features "Are you asking me out on a date, Roman?" her voice contained a hint of excitement to it.

Romani paused and raised his hands "Nothing like that." He felt bad when the look of excitement across her face disappeared into a pout "Just…you know…a little outing…maybe…"

Leona raised an eyebrow at him "...An outing?"

"...Yes." Romani nodded his head "Lunch somewhere in town or maybe a trip to the cinema or something like that."

"This is unusually exciting for you, Roman." Leona pointed out with an intrigued look upon her face "I dare say a rather bold move on your part…are you planning on asking me something by any chance?"

"Just that maybe we should be going out…today." He shrugged at her, eyes flickering downwards "If you're alright with that-" he paused when Leona reached across the table and flicked his nose, the man pulled back in surprise as she grinned at him.

"Oh yes, I'm fine with it." Her grin almost seemed to glow "Romani Archaman asking out someone on a date just for the heck of it? I wouldn't miss this for the world!" placing a hand on her chest, she leaned back and grinned "Especially since I have front row seats to this bold new personality!"

Romani gave a wry chuckle "You're making it sound like I'm a hermit coming out of his cave for the first time, Leo."

Leona's smirk was all but screaming at him that this the example he came up with was exactly the sort of thing that best suited it. The man grumbled to himself, but allowed the smile to stretch across his features ever so slightly before it faded as he grabbed his coffee and took another sip of it, his eyes flickering towards the clock behind Leona's head.

It was just past ten o'clock now, which meant that Issei was probably having his date with the Yuuma girl in the centre of town at this point. If his wacky dream held any bearing on reality and he really hoped it didn't. If anything, this was more to calm his own nerves than anyone else's.

That girl in the nightmare was nothing shy of a monster, which was why it was disconnected from the polite girl he had been introduced to. His dreams were always freaky but he just wanted to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary. His mind darted back to the last freaky dream he had but it never came true.

Getting chased by a monster? What non-


"Silly little human. Our game takes place there. If you last five minutes, you win."


"Roman!" The man jolted at the shout aimed at him, he blinked and saw Leona staring at him with a shocked expression "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Romani blinked at her "Why wouldn't I-" he paused when he felt the burning sensation, then looked down at his lap where he noticed he had managed to spill coffee all over himself. "Yaouch!" he squealed and jolted out of his chair, it fell backwards and clattered loudly against the ground as Romani winced at the pain. He then noticed the coffee already beginning to stain "NO!" he cried out in horror "Levi-tan!"

Leona was caught between laughing at him and being genuinely concerned over his health as she jumped to her feet and moved into the kitchen, quickly coming back in with a roll of kitchen paper and handing it to him "You should probably get that cleaned…I can get some of that new formula for you-"

"If this is like your last Formula, I'll be fine with ownbrand."

"Mine is perfect for removing stains!"

"You melted the shirt!"

"The stain was gone, wasn't it?"

"So was the shirt!"

"Maybe the shirt was a stain as well."

"What?"


"So where were you hoping to go first?"

"H-hm?" Romani jolted out of his daze, turning down to Leona at his side, the woman staring up at him with a patient expression with her hands on her hips. Wearing a sapphire coloured overcoat with a maroon red button up shirt underneath and dark blue jeans, Romani in comparison was wearing a black button up shirt with a dark green blazer over the top of it with graphite grey trousers and - for once - had his hair flowing freely rather than done into a ponytail.

"You're the one who called me out here, don't you have a plan of some sort?" Leona asked as she leaned forwards and stared up at him "Or is this another case of 'going with the flow' showcasing itself again?" she paused for a few moments before shrugging and straightening herself out "Actually, I'm fine with either one."

"You're rather carefree about this, aren't you?" Romani asked with a lopsided smile as his shoulders dropped, tension leaving his body.

"I'm in a carefree mood." Leona replied with an unworried shrug as she put her hands in her pockets "I'll let you do all the worrying for today, it's your date after all."

And like that, then tension returned "No pressure then, huh?"

"Roman." She gave him a small - but very genuine - smile which caused the tension that had resurfaced to melt away back into nothing. "No matter what we do, I'm going to enjoy spending time with you." The smile grew a little wider as her eyes squinted at him slightly, pulling her right hand out of her pocket and stabbing a finger towards his face. "Someone's feeling a little embarrassed~" she giggled at him as he slapped his hands over his face and turned away from her.

Feeling the heat rising up his face and his skin turned red "T-t-that's your fault." his muffled whine only caused her to giggle again "Saying stuff like that all of a sudden, how am I supposed to react to it?"

"Hmmmm~"

"F-fine, fine!" Romani lowered his hands and waved them around "L-lets just go!" he whimpered as he sped walked away from her, the redness around his cheeks started to fade but the smile remained on his face. Leona watched him escape with a roll of her eyes before she took off after him, still chuckling to herself at the rather dumbfounded expression he had shown her.

The pair walked through the highstreet, moving through the crowd with relative ease as they did so. Romani looked from place to place as he tried to consider where he could take Leona before he slid to a halt. Staring at one particular area and almost freezing on the spot.


The pair walk into the cafe, the boy is naturally giddy and allows her to take their orders. The whole time he's still nervous about what to say but she clearly doesn't mind. Seemingly content to spend their time together.


"Oh?~" Leona's amused purr had his body shiver when her warmth breath rolled over his ear and he felt her lean into his back - standing on her tiptoes - to look over his shoulder and in the same direction he was "A cafe? A little boring but that's just like you, isn't it?" she leaned back, moving to his side and then hooking her arm into his "Well? Is this the place or do you want to look for another one?"

Romani's eyes darted to her for a split second before his mouth curved itself into an easy going smile "No." he shook his head, then took a single step forwards "This one will do. Besides…can't go wrong with a classic, right?"

"Well, we did have our first date in a cafe." Leona pointed out in an amused tone "Trying to make me remember our younger years? How thoughtful, Roman!"

"I didn't know it was a date." Romani muttered to himself "You said it was a hang out."

"Just the two of us? Alone? Surrounded by nothing but couples-"

"Yes, yes…" Romani gave a playful roll of the eyes at her as she continued to list off the ways he had somehow managed to overlook every single pass she had made at him "But you never specified."

"Hey Roman, there's a new cafe in town that's just opened up and I want to check it out. Want to come with me?" Leona parroted off word for word her initial invitation and tilted her head "Hmmmm…I'll let that one slide." she decided with a nod "Maybe I should have been clearer."

"I-is that a victory for me?"

"Don't worry, Roman." Leona smiled up at him, reaching up with her left hand and gently tussling his hair as if he was a child, the motherly smile she gave him only made the entire situation more embarrassing for him "I'm still winning. By a lot too."

"...Of course you are." Romani sighed as he pulled the door open for the pair, allowing Leona to go first "Although you're the genius, aren't you?"

"I wonder if this is a sign of the end times." Leona asked, placing a single finger on her chin and tilting her head "You inviting me on a date and then following it up with lavish compliments aimed towards me?" she paused before wagging a finger at him "Or is this because you didn't back me up last night against Penny?" she accused with a playful smile and narrowed eyes.

Romani raised his hands in surrender and shook his head "Nothing like that." he hastily assured her "We just haven't been out in a while and I wanted to go."

She kept the finger pointed at him for a few moments before she relaxed herself "Alright then!" The pair walked further into the cafe, Romani's eyes instantly scanned the interior with a sense of dread to them. Almost wishing that there was no sign of Issei.

And there wasn't. He didn't know what he had been expecting from a crazy dream but he was somehow relieved it wasn't real. A rather baffling turn of events.

The waiter led the pair over to the nearest table, seating them down in a booth at the far end of the room and next to the window before leaving them with a menu and promising to return for their orders in a few moments. The pair slipped their coats off and then placed them in the spaces next to them.

Leona scanned the menu with a critical eye before she lowered it and looked up "What do you think we should get?" she asked, eyes darting between Romani and the menu "Because they also have a special section here for couples."

"They do?" Romani blinked in surprise, looking down at the menu and then noticing that there was indeed a section specifically for couples. Mainly in the form of desert foods or milkshake drinks with shared straws worked into the shape of a heart. He raised an eyebrow at the image provided "Strawberry heart milkshake surprise?" he muttered to himself.

"Wonder what the surprise is?" Leona muttered in support of the question, staring at it with slightly narrowed eyes before looking up "...Want to find out?"

Romani remained silent for a few moments before giving single nod "Sure, I'll probably have a cheesecake to go with it-"

"Hmmm." Leona hummed in response, looking remarkably unsurprised by the answer "As you say, Roman."

Romani paused, "...What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"We both know you have a sweet tooth, Roman." The man opened his mouth to deny the claim before he paused, then slowly closed it as he realised that he did indeed have a sweet tooth. "See?"

"True enough." Romani admitted to her after a moment before he looked back at her "What about you then?"

"...Parfait."

Romani snorted at her. "Who has a sweet tooth now?" she playfully swatted him across the table with the menu before lowering it to her hands and looking across. Romani raised his hand to signal the waiter, the young man walking back over to them with a notebook in hand.

"Are you ready to order?" He asked, already preparing himself to make some quick notes.

"A strawberry milkshake surprise, a vanilla cheesecake and a Fruit Parfait." The boy noted them all down before giving the pair a smile.

"We'll have that right out for you." Turning away, he quickly disappeared back into the cafe and towards the counter.

Romani looked back to Leona to speak, then paused slightly when he saw the entrance to the cafe chime open and a new couple step in. His eyes widened as he watched Yuuma and Issei step into the cafe, both with wide smiles on their faces and the door chime shut. Romani quickly ducked down and raised his hand to hide his face, prompting Leona to give him a bemused look.

"...Roman?"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"N-nothing." He quickly moved his hand down and coughed into his fist "J-just…erm…scratching my forehead is all."

Leona raised an incredulous eyebrow "Uh-huh." she slowly turned to look over her shoulder, noticing the young couple that came in before her eyes narrowed and she turned back to Romani "...You know them, don't you?"

Romani nodded his head "...Didn't think they'd be here though."

Leona's eyes narrowed further.

"...I didn't think they would be at this specific cafe anyway." He conceded "I knew he had a date today-"

She raised an eyebrow at him before she leaned forwards, dropping her voice into a low whisper "Did you ask me out just so you could spy on a student's date?" there was a hint of irritation and perhaps some small trace of hurt in her voice.

"No." Romani leaned forwards, dropping his own voice into a whisper with an expression of genuine shock at the suggestion "I really did ask you out here today. I knew he was on a date but I didn't think he'd come to this specific cafe at this specific time, there are spots all over."

Leona searched his expression before nodding to herself and leaning back "...So him going out on a date inspired you, did it?"

"...Maybe a little." Romani shrugged "It got me thinking that you were always the one who asked me out to go places and do things and I was sort of along for the ride. I…sort of wanted to be on the other side of things for a change."

"Awww, Roman…" She cooed, reaching across and taking his hand into her own, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "You don't have to force yourself out of your comfort zone for me…Although I do like this little bold side of you, I'm fine with you being as passive as you are." she paused. "...For the most part."

Romani blinked "...Most part?"

"I mean…I can only top so many times-" Romani coughed loudly, virtually choking on the air and blushing bright red at the rather crude comment, Leona merely grinned at him in response as he looked as though he was dying in front of her.

As his coughing died down he stared at her with wide eyes "L-Leo-!" he managed to gasp out "W-why would-why would you even-"

"I'm joking." Leona rolled her eyes, smirking at him "...I'm never tired of topping."

If it were possible for him to brighten up further, Romani managed to do just that. His face flashed crimson before he ducked his head against the desk and raised his hands to cover himself. The man let out a whimpering groan as Leona continued to merely stare down at him with a sense of satisfaction.

"And here are your-" The waiter paused when he saw Romani with his face pressed against the table and his arms tented over the back of his head, then looked at Leona's smirk "...Is this a bad time?"

"Nope~!" Leona sang "Thank you very much."

"R-right." The waiter looked between the pair of them before he lowered the tray, sliding the cheesecake in front of Romani and the Parfait in front of Leona and then placing the milkshake in between the two of them. "Please enjoy yourselves." giving a single bow of the head, he stood back up and waddled away from them, shooting one more bewildered glance over his shoulder before shaking his head.

"Come on Roman." Leona prodded his head "There's no sense in getting so worked up over a little lewd humour."

"...You're terrible."

"Wrong." Leona grinned, "I'm amazing." she leaned back down "Anyway…since they're here…do you want to spy on their date?"

Romani's head slowly raised itself up, green eyes flashed with surprise at her "Heh?"

"What?" Leona raised an eyebrow at him "You're worried about his date, aren't you?" she threw a thumb over her shoulder, then turned around and watched as the teenagers walked towards one of the booth's behind them and sat down, Romani ducking his head again to avoid catching Issei's attention. "And it gives us something to talk about."

"You want to gossip about a student's love life?"

"Gossiping about ours seems to break you out in a sudden cough." Leona replied with a smirk, resting her elbow on the table and using her arm to prop her chin up, tilting her head slightly so she was staring down at Romani "So why not? Besides…you're worried about him, aren't you? I can tell."

"...I was the one he came to for advice-"

"Snrk."

His eyes narrowed slightly "H-hey, I can give good advice about romance!"

His only response was a very amused smile and a glittering set of eyes.

"I-I can…sometimes…"

The expression remained.

"...I probably can't."

"We are here, aren't we?" Leona's smile softened and the twinkle in her eyes dulled ever so slightly "Also we're married as well. I'd say you did spectacularly. In fact, you could literally do no better than me."

"Aren't you a bit boastful today." Romani joked with a quick smile, raising himself back up again "I know you like to boast but its a bit much, isn't it?"

"I'm feeling particularly boastful." Leona shrugged "...By the way…" she moved her hand towards the pocket of her blue overcoat and then retrieved a small box from it, then slid it across the table towards him "For you."

Romani blinked in surprise before blanched "...It's not our anniversary is it?"

Leona gave him a blank look for a few tense seconds before she smirked and shook her head "You've still got another month for that, Roman." the man let out a relieved breath "But this is just a little something I worked on before going to bed."

Raising an eyebrow, Romani grabbed the box and pulled it towards him before opening it up, staring at the silver sheen of the watch. The cracks were removed and another face built into it with a gyro aesthetic. Able to see the inner mechanisms beneath the hands. Romani gaped in shock as his eyes snapped back up to her "That fast!?" he couldn't help but blurt out.

Leona raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"E-erm, I mean…wow!"

"The first one works as well, you know." Leona chuckled to herself "It also exemplifies how surprising my speed and skill can be at times." she paused before leaning forwards and tapping the watch "It'll be a bit tougher now so falling onto it won't be enough to break it." she paused "...Also you can change the time depending on the timezone."

"...Wait, really?"

"If we ever go abroad." She shrugged, "...Not that I'm making any messages about that."

"I'm sure…" He muttered as he stared at the watch with a sense of awe before he smiled affectionately at it "...Thanks Leo…really."

"...You can thank me by helping me drink this milkshake." The woman pointed at the drink "Also gossip!"

"Sure, sure." Romani rolled his eyes at her before flicking past Leo to stare at Issei, the boy clearly hadn't noticed him yet and was wearing that same dopey grin on his face but this one was far more full of life than any he had seen before. It was almost unrecognisable on Issei's face. Whatever turmoil had been occupying his mind vanished in a heartbeat, Issei was clearly having the time of his life and his dreams were just his overactive imagination.

Despite that he couldn't shake that sense of dread in his heart.

That absolute certainty that smile wasn't going to last.

He frowned for a split second before staring down at the table once again, then leaning forwards towards the milkshake.

"...Huh, peach." Romani muttered as he sipped the milkshake and blinked in surprise "...A bit odd, I suppose."

"Yeah." Leona nodded her head as well "...I was expecting almonds."

"Wouldn't that kill you if you were allergic to nuts?"

"It would still be a surprise."

"Leo!"


AN: Like I said. Updates when it updates which was like 2 weeks ago now.

Anyway, another update. More clairvoyant shenanigans and Romani and Leona domestic life because we all (not so secretly) enjoy it!

Love writing their casual scenes together.

*Sniff*