Chapter 160 - Compa makes a move
For the next couple days, Nico spent a lot of time with Neptune, either just lazing about with her or sparring with her in her new Blood Heart Form. Whenever they were just chilling, Nico and Neptune would either watc TV together whilst talking about what animes and Mangas they liked (Nico found himself more on the Shounen badass side of things whilst Neptune was more of an all-rounder), which gave way for lots of topics to go on about.
It even went into games, and how even though they were so popular in Gamindustri, there were still other mediums which still clung to life and did quite well for themselves. One of which was music, and by the GODDESS, did Neptune have a few things to say about that. ESPECIALLY when she found out that Nico Had been the one to release that Youtube Video of 'Real Gone' with his two guy comrades.
Lets just say Nico had been glad his Kagune had been revealed, cause without its ability he'd have likely lost his V card already...
Other than that, whenever Nico sparred with Neptune as Blood Heart, he would mostly do it as Crimson Soul, with few times in his human form. This was mostly due to him wanting to learn how to harness it better, possibly learning how to channel the Demonic Power in that form better (which would then transfer to his human form, improving his control overall), and thus possibly prolong the time he could remain in it. increasing the fusion rate for his Golden Crow Bloodline to 69% was a good plus too.
As a result, Nico managed to prolong his time in DDD by a good 2 hours, making it 15 hours in total. Not a bad thing considering how he'd only started Sparring with Blood Heart for a few days, but there could be more improvement. They say that life or death battles make one stronger, plus provide adequate training results, and Nico found himself believing in that statement wholeheartedly.
Aside from that, Nico had been doing his own research in his spare time, not just investigating the Lexicanum. He'd been pondering how to activate the Demon King Seed, but not much progress had been made there. According to Zelretch, it had 2 conditions to be activated, and even then it actually CHOOSES the user. Those conditions were to be recognized as a 'leader' by non-humans like Abnormals or Demons, as well as to gather over 100,000 Souls to feed to it to allow it to hatch. The soul condition Nico didn't feel like he'd have a problem with. However, it was the leadership Cndition which he would likely have more trouble with.
But that had been on NICO's side of the sparring…
Neptune's side on the other hand…
Well, where the hell could he begin? Hmmm, perhaps it was best to start with time limits. Like her HDD Form, it seemed like her Devil Trigger Form couldn't be held for long, at best it could last up to 8 hours whilst her HDD Form can last up to 4. However, one advantage her Devil Trigger Form had over HDD was that with training, it was possible for her to extend the time she could use it for, whilst Share Energy was born from faith. Even with the help of her Demon powers to generate more of it, the Demonic Power could only simulate so much.
On the matters of energy, true to his thoughts Neptune's Share Energy had limited access while in Devil Trigger, whilst Demonic Power would be limited in HDD. It would create this balance between her different forms, use one energy source in exchange for another. Whether or not she could fuse these two energies together would remain to be seen, but for the time being Nico didn't see something like that happening.
As for overall combat ability? Through their Spars (and the occasional hunting of Demons), Nico and Neptune had learned that her Devil Trigger form surpassed her HDD one by far in terms of combat ability, which was to be expected. It had the power to rival Sky Class Demons, maybe even those between Sky and World Class Demons, but that would be pushing it.
In the form of an equalizer however, Soul Calibur had been locked into this Tachi form without any ability to change into the others, like it could in human and CPU. Though, since Neptune had seen how good Nico had gotten with just the way of the blade, sparring with him ending up granting her some insights into how to polish her own swordplay, maybe that won't be so bad.
In current times, Nico sat in the living room of the Party's Hotel room, his right Bracer displaying research notes he'd made, whilst in his left hand, a book was there, floating in the grasp of a hand made from solidified Hellfire. Fortunately, Nico had found out that thanks to this new transformation, it had impacted his Hellfire in a way that made its dark, devouring qualities all the more dangerous if applied correcty. Now, he could CHOOSE what these flames devour, burn or whatever, something he felt would be QUITE useful in the future.
But that wasn't too important to him right now, what HE had been focusing on, was examining and reviewing information he had collected for the last couple hours about the recent politics taking place. It brought a snort out of him that people honestly believed every Noble had good intentions in mind when it had been stated that they were starting to work together with the Military families to protect themselves from the Abnormals, THAT alliance just screamed trouble waiting to happen.
'Say, what do you think this Spec Ops Exam is going to be like, Nico? As an Agent yourself, you may have some leeway into learning what its like.'
'Even if that was indeed the case, I'd be unable to tell anyone about it, either due to secrecy, something that a lot of Spec Ops and higher ups have been shown to do these days, or someone else might overhear and tell the wrong kind of people. We can't have weaklings in our ranks after all, since we fight the beasts that nobody else can.' Nico replied, frowning as memories of the Nature Elves came back to his mind, making a pang of sadness erupt in his chest. Even if he had already avenged them, this pain inside still lingered.
Shaking his head, Nico forced himself not to travel down THAT route, lest bad things start to happen. He felt like whilst he had accepted his Ghoul and Demon sides, he also felt like his mind wasn't completely 100% yet. A few times over the last couple days, he'd been having hallucinations still, but they weren't of his Ghoul self but rather some of his… well, past memories, memories he could recall and memories he couldn't. Thus, Nico found that his mind had still been as fucked up as ever. Fortunately, the rate they had been happening had decreased compared to the past, meaning his mental fortitude had DEFINITELY increased.
Still, regarding Biko's query, Nico did have SOME clue as to what the Spec Ops Exam would be like this time around, but he refused to say more on th subject. He figured that the reason why Biko had been asking revolved around IF, whom he had heard had immersed herself in research abou the Spec Ops Program. Unfortunately, he had so much going on that he didn't exactly have time to visit her, and even if he could it seemed like she had been getting around, since he found it difficult to track her down. Girl was getting a hang of not wanting to be found pretty quickly, huh?
In any case, Nico didn't have time to think about that right now. Since Neptune had gone off to hunt some Demons (something which could potentially be a new hobby for her), Nico had been left by his lonesome, so he had decided to try his hand at figuring out the scope for the alternative suggestion given to him regarding Yvoire.
Nico may no longer care like he had once did about that naïve idiot (he knew the hypocrisy behind that statement, don't worry readers), but Nico STILL cared a lot about Vert. Taking out those Nobles even if Count Mott might be excluded due to his power, and replacing them would definitely help her out. He'd been working out the kinks ever since, and had become quite immersed in his work…
But he didn't miss the presence of someone approaching him.
Immediately identifying it through its signature, Nico deactivated his Bracers after storing the book away and dismissing his Hellfire, before turning to the source of the presence. His eyes widened a little before a smile formed on his face. "Hey there, Compa. Good morning." He greeted with a warm smile. Seriously, the moment that he saw the said Nurse-In-Training emerge into the living room from the entrance, the redhead felt all these building headaches become irrelevant, melting away in the breeze. It looked like she had just gotten back from the groceries, since she had a few bags in her hands. "Need a hand?" he queried, standing from the sofa.
Looking over to him, Compa perked up as she saw her childhood friend and crush coming over. It had been so long since she'd last seen him that just seeing his smile right now made her pretty much drop her bags to the floor, rush towards him and glomp him in one big hug. She squealed happily, especially when he returned the embrace with gusto, feeling so much like when they first reunited before they found Neptune, the feelings now and then being ALL TOO similar.
Before, she had just been going about her day, getting some groceries for the group. Today, Lucy had decided to give her the day off so she could rest from all the training and hunting Demons she'd been doing. Having to gain a better mastery over her various Angels, eventually beginning to learn how to summon and use multiple Angels at once (something she hadn't accomplished yet), took a lot out of her. She didn't feel too worried about the various forces gaining ground from this though. Her teacher and Team RAIL would be able to keep things in check whilst she was gone.
"Good to see you again, Compa. I know its been a while since we last saw each other, so I'm very sorry about that…" Nico whispered to her whilst they hugged, savouring the warm comfort that Compa exuded whenever she did that. 'DAMN, have I missed this. Compa, you give good hugs…' he added in his mind.
From his position, Nico felt her sake her head, as well as saw how her hair waved about from those motions. "Hm, its okay Ni-Ni. I don't mind, especially now that I have you right now…" she muttered in a reply, clutching his form a little tighter as if she didn't want to let go lest he vanish from her sight. Just like with Nico, Compa too savoured the best thing that could have ever come into their lives aside from each other: the warmth they provided when hugging.
Nico may think that she gave good hugs, but she thought the same towards her crush. The temptation to just stay in this embrace for all of eternity filled her mind, and by the Goddess did she really wish to, and judging by the comfort she'd been put under, Nico felt the same.
Unfortunately, time moved on as the two eventually and reluctantly pulled away from one another as things surfaced on their minds. The first one to speak their minds, had been Nico as he held her by the shoulders whilst looking into her creamy eyes. "Would you like some coffee? Feels like we haven't had time to catch up..." he queried whilst walking over to the kitchen segment of the living room and preparing a couple cups of coffee. The BEST kind of drink for pulling all-nighters in his eyes.
"Yupy, I've been working hard a lot these days Ni-Ni." Compa replied as she skipped over to the opposite side of the counter, beaming at him whilst putting her hands together behind her back. Leaning forwards slightly, she tilted her head to the side whilst giving a cute smile up to him. "Lucy Sensei taught me all sorts of things to help me control my new powers better, so don't be afraid to get injured, cause Nurse-In-Training Compa'll just fix you right up."
At this, Nico just sweat dropped at her whilst setting the cups onto their little plates, all the while blending the coffee Beans together. 'Pretty sure that sentence needs to be worded better, but then again that is one of Compa's traits. Been a while since I last saw it…' the male remarked to himself while putting the unneeded items back where he had found them. Thinking about it, this sadistic side of her sometimes came out of nowhere, and while he himself (along with the other girls in the Party) were used to it, to any random stranger danger alarms would blare in their brains. "Heh, you do that, Compa, you do that…" the male stated nonchalantly.
Though, why did he get the feeling that he'd be seeing it more often from now on?
Soon, the Coffee had been prepped and poured into the cups, so Nico and Compa moved over to the Sofa and sat down together, the former handing her one cup and plate whilst keeping the other for himself. After a polite 'thank you', Compa held the plate in one hand whilst holding the cup in the other, raising it to her lips and taking a slow sip. She shuddered when the liquid slithered over her tongue. "Hm! Its quite hot!" she squeaked, lowering the cup away from her lips and blowing on it, making a face where her eyes became X's while she held her lightly red tongue out as if sticking it out at someone.
"Ufufufufu, ya have to blow on it first, Compa, its just been brewed ya know." Nico gently chastisied her, all the while following his own advice as he sipped some from the cup. 'Honestly never noticed till now, but these hotels have quite posh tea sets even for commoners…' the male thought to himself whilst enjoying his drink. It wasn't often that he got to drink coffee, but whenever he did Nico would always love the occasion since Coffee had been the thing he'd used to help stave his hunger for a time if he needed to.
As it touched his lips, Nico relished in the warm liquid as it travelled down his throat, before pulling the cup away from his mouth and lowering it onto the plate over his lap. "So, I see you've been getting groceries? Also, since when did you come to like Coffee? I mean, you used to hate it when we were younger, but you didn't even stop me this time."
Compa, after following Nico's advice and sipping her coffee, replied soon afterwards. "Well, I kinda… go a taste for it when you left…" she spoke, pausing as she stared at her reflection within the cup. Her eyes softened as she remembered nights when she would have a cup of coffee and think about her childhood crush for nights on end. "I only brew it when I thought about you back then, since it made me feel closer to you. Otherwise, I would just make tea." In the end, the fondness she had in her eyes shined like two brilliant pure stars, almost forcing Nico to look away from the sheer purity radiating from her.
'G-Geez, how the hell has she not found someone yet? With stuff like that, I… Well, they'd have to get my seal of approval though, Compa deserves only the best in my opinion.' The redhead thought, honestly completely blown back by how beautiful his childhood friend look right now. It was like he was staring at an angel, and soon the irony of that opinion became known to him. "Y-You did, huh…?" he tried to say with a straight face, but the embarrassed blush on his features betrayed his true feelings, and Compa noticed this which elected a giggle out of her, much to his dismay.
Experiencing feelings like these, they reminded him of what had happened between him and the girls, when they accepted his Ghoul side and him completely. What Neptune had done back there couldn't have been more concrete proof of this if it tried, too. Now that he had sought advice for his problem understanding it… the thought that these wonderful girls accepted him made him feel a surge of warmth spread through his chest… and not the Hellfire, Golden Crow Flames, or his Essence Flame (which he had been neglecting to query to Biko about now that he thought about it).
"Yup, and we were running low on supplies again, so I went out to buy some more. Nep-Nep's been stuffing her face with Pudding as usuall, so I usually make weekly big shops to keep our supplies up." Compa, unaware of the thoughts and feelings surging through her childhood friend, continued when she realized she hadn't answered the other question he had asked. She held her index finger over her chin, looking up at the ceiling above whilst holding her cup in the other hand. She then looked towards him (Nico having schooled himself before she could notice how she affected him) and queried back. "What about you, Ni-Ni?" she asked, motherly concern in her voice. "You've been eating alright, haven't you?"
Eating.
Now THERE was a word with a whole different meaning to someone like him compared to everyone else.
When she had asked him that, Nico had no doubts she had been referring to his Ghoul side, and how he had to eat the flesh of others be it Abnormal or human, not human food. The way she looked at him right now supported this theory, and inside Nico felt his heart sink. He remembered whenever Compa would ask if he wanted something at meals, only for him to go with just some sandwiches and water, or even flat out deny her along their adventure.
He remembered the worried and concerned looks she would give him back then, as well as the looks of disappointment that he wouldn't let her cook any of the meals he used to like as a kid for him anymore. Even though she had no clue why back then, Nico couldn't help but feel like scum every time he thought about it. Heck, she may now have researched about Ghouls and Coffee if their resident Iffy hadn't told her already, so this worry could have been sprouted from his own actions.
'Speaking of my Ghoul side, hey Byakko any news on this metamorphosis my RC Cells are going through? Haven't felt them changing as much recently…'
'ALMOST DONE, KING, HOLD YA FUCKING HORSES, GEEZ!'
Mentally rolling his eyes at the rude and crass response, Nico looked back of his companion and gave her his comforting smile. "I'm fine, Compa. The Ghoul in me is sated for the time being, I'm not having much trouble with it right now. It may have a bit more of an appetite than normal Ghouls, but I've dealt with it for years, I know what I'm doing." For a moment, Nico deliberated on saying more about his condition. Part of him, the remnant of his past self, said no but the rest of him curbstomped that idea. Nico NEVER liked the idea of keeping things secret from the girls, either. Therefore, he continued. "To be honest, it might get a bit easier, since thanks to some… things which happened, my Ghoul side's been undergoing a sort of evolution. Into what I don't know, but I feel that when its complete, my Ghoul self will be unlike what its been before."
"Huh… alrightie, Ni-Ni…" Compa eventually replied, putting her worries for him to rest. After all, Nico did have a point, he DID have experience with his Ghoul side, having dealt with it since before she had even met him. So, it would be best to presume that he knew what he was doing. Part of her worried about this 'evolution' he had mentioned, but since he didn't look too distressed about it, Compa let it slide.
In any case, however, there was something that she wanted to do, and right now it felt like the right time to ask. This revelation to her didn't come easy however, as a profound nervous feeling of discomfort began erupting from the depths of her stomach to the rest of her body. Thanks to this, Compa rubbed her thighs together in anxiety, her eyes shifting to and fro from Nico to her Coffee. She didn't even notice how her hands shook even as she gripped the cup and plate, considering how she kept her gaze solely focused on the cup. If she looked up to Nico right now, Compa wasn't sure WHAT kind of face she'd end up making.
'Uuuuu… I tried to practice in my roomie when I was alone, late at night… but doing it for real is so hard…!'
What was it that Compa wanted to ask Nico, but found herself getting nervous at the thought of doing so?
Whelp take a look at this flashback, readers.
(Flashback)
"Oh? Now THIS is intriguing, Compa. You want advice for asking a guy out?"
It was mid afternoon in day time, and Compa stood with her Teacher Lucy. The two had returned to some random village to inform one random Client that they had taken out the hoard of Northmen who had been massing for an assault upon them. According to the client, this Northmen force had been accompanied by a hoard of Khornate Bloodletters and had been lead by a Bloodthirster, something wich they had confirmed for themselves. Compa had seen a few of them already thanks to this training, but never had she fought one directly due to not being strong enough, according to her teacher's observations. Well, that wasn't quite right, her power HAD been quite large, but she didn't have much skill to take them on before.
As such, Lucy would have taken it out herself, as taking out a Bloodthirster was well within her power, she wanted to test how far Compa had come with training her powers. It had been a while since they last found a Bloodthirster in Leanbox, plus Lucy had been making Compa fight against Chaos Champions whilst she disposed of the 'canon fodder' to have her student improve her combat skills. From her own experiences, the Spring Goddess had observed how brutal yet grand the fighting prowess each Bloodthirster possessed, despite their massive size. As such, she had been reluctant to have Compa face one, taking any they did encounter herself.
In the end however, Lucy had found herself to be quite satisfied with his battle. Not only had Compa managed to hold her own against the Bloodthirster, but she'd also been able to reduce the Bloodthirster to nothing but a smouldering pile of ash, through the use of Metatron's light incinerating it with as much light as she could have generated through that said Angel. She still even had power left to spare, thus she'd retained her ability to stay in Spirit Form to continue the conflict. Good thing too, cause when this happened, it had caused her to become the target for the other Bloodleetters in an attempt to avenge their master. Unfortunately for them, Compa's ability to switch between Angels had become pretty much instantaneous, thus allowing her to switch to Camael and incinerate them completely in holy flames.
Once they had returned however, Compa (who returned to human form after she'd determined that her Spirit Form could be held for up to 9 hours) had popped a question to her teacher, a question which had caught Lucy by surprise.
Thus, it lead to this moment.
Not even daring to look at Lucy's eyes, Compa nodded as she shuffled nervously on the spot. This had taken a LOT out of her courage to ask, and several attempts had already been made to ask Lucy, the one person she knew could best answer her question… aside from Helen. Though, she chose Lucy instead since Helen likely would figure it out WAY sooner than Lucy did, she WAS the mother of the guy she crushed on after all. A Mother tended to worry about these things. Though, that didn't mean that asking Lucy carried its own risks, since she got the feeing that Lucy had 'been around' for a while. Plus, she'd been training er for a while, so she knew what to observe with her.
On Lucy's end, the redhead woman couldn't help but smirk behind a closed fist, knowing EXACTLY what had been running through Compa's mind. 'Honestly, it's about damn time, woman.' She thought to herself. 'You thought you were being discreet? Puh-lease, I've been around the block more times than you doing the mandatory breathing thing, so I picked up the signs piece of cake. Pretty sure I know who it is your crushing on, too… and he has the gall to think he's not a ladies man…' Lucy mentally snickered at that last part, already imagining what THAT guy's reaction would have been if he found out about this.
"U-Um… yes…" Compa muttered under her breath, but Lucy pretended not to hear.
Leaning forwards slightly, Lucy cupped her ear whilst pointing that ear towards her student. "What? I didn't catch that, mind repeating?" she questioned, hiding her amusement.
"U-Um, Yes!" Compa shouted, face red as an apple, so flustered that she unintentionally shouted it out, which attracted more than a few onlookers. She nearly shuddered when she felt some… less than pure gazes fall onto her, but she did her best to ignore them. If it hadn't been for Lucy hmmering it into her head that she needed to be more sure of herself, then this conversation would never have happened, so she had to use those lessons in that case too.
Nodding in satisfaction (though Compa hadn't seen it due to having her eyes closed), Lucy crossed her arms and aimed a bit of Killing Intent at the onlookers, causing them to pale and scatter whilst doing their best not to attract unwanted attention. 'There, now that those annoyances are out of the way…' she thought, before addressing Compa. "Well, if you want advice for asking someone out, it depends on the personality of the guy in question." She began, getting Compa's attention as she opened her eyes with a look of confusion about them.
"Take it from me dear, every guy has his own 'personality' when being asked out by girls. Some will look for it and be bold about it, not hidjng their intent while others can be more… deceptive, in their actions as well as forcefull. Then there are those like a certain someone we know who are too dense for any kind of beating round the bush, and requie it to be said straight to their faces. Those kinds of guys can be annoying to deal with, especially with how they're portrayed in Anime and Monga, but when you finally get them to see you for wo you are, then they can be the best kind of relationship partners around."
Taking this information in, Compa hummed in thought, as Lucy continued whilst the Nurse-In-Training absorbed the advice she was being given. "Depending on the guy, you will have to approach them differently, so its up to you. Gauge how he is first, then just pop the question. If all goes well, you'll be able to go on your first ever date, and maybe even get some action at the end… though I doubt you would be THAT bold yet. You're still young after all."
(Flashback END)
Blinking as she returned to reality, Compa clenched her fists whilst biting the inside of her cheek. Her eyes shimmered as all manor of thoughts raced through her mind, triggered by the recent flashback she had. Asing Lucy for advice had been pretty much the best thing she could have done in her situation. Since A: she'd been too shy to ask Neptune, the other CPU or IF for advice (the fact that, even if they were friends, they were still rivals in a sense for Nico's heart withstanding), and B: Lucy held WAY more experience in this field than any of them did. Even more than Helen potentially, so she'd been the perfect choice. Thankfully she hadn't teased Compa TOO bad about it, she could only imagine the embarrassment if that would have happened.
In any case though, back to the problem at hand.
'Ni-Ni's quite dense, several hints have already ben dropped before buthe never got them. Also, I remember a few times when we go to get groceries together he attracts a fair amount of female attention but never notices. He has this 'bad boy' apparel which makes him even more appealing, but his personality is like the very opposite. He's like an innocent child in that respect… which makes him fall into THAT category Lucy Sensei told me about…' she thought, remembering everything she knew about her crush.
However, Compa wouldn't let this deter her, not when she had finally started facing herself. Thoughts of what had happened back at the Gala filled her, causing a mounting determination to blossom in her chest. Her hands clutched into fists and her body began to calm itself. Acknowledging the darkness within her, 'taking off the mask' she'd been wearing as it were, had been her pledge to be more confident in herself. She didn't want to lose out to the other girls who had their eyes on her childhood friend, but more than that she wanted to finally be able to showcase who she truly was. She didn't want to hide anymore, not when the stakes were so immense, and even if they weren't she doubted these feelings would be any different.
Thus, she took a deep breath, and mentally prepared herself. "Um… Ni-Ni?" she spoke, her volume low at first and only increasing by a small percentage at the end. Alright, here it went, she thought as Nico looked at her with a questioning look on his features. Clearly, he hadn't thoughts he would be asking questions at this point.
"Yeah? What is it, Compa?" he replied with a question of his own. Though, when he noticed how her body slightly trembled, worry surged in his chest for her wellbeing. "You look like your having a stroke, is something bothering you?" he questioned while mentally adding the following. 'If anybody's doing something to her, NOBODY will find their bodies!' he raged mentally.
Nobody harmed his childhood friend and got away with it, not on his watch!
Sensing the thought process his mind had begun to wander down, Compa hurriedly waved her hands in front of her in a placating manner, carrying an awkward smile on her features. "D-Don't worry Ni-Ni, nothing bad has happened, really!" she stated in a reassuring manner, before she began poking her fingers together whilst trying to regather her courage. "There's just… something I wanna ask you, is all…" she said, trailing off at the end.
"Oh?"
"Um… would you mind if we… would you mind…"
"Would you mind…?"
"WOULD YOU MIND IF WE GO OUT TOGETHER?!" Finally, unable to contain herself any longer, Compa shouted that last sentence out, eyes closed, and face flushed a light pink color. There, she had done it! She'd finally popped the question she had wanted to ask for a long time, now. Compa hoped beyond all hope that Nico would understand her intent, though give his track record with women it wasn't going to be very likely. He WAS a dense kind of guy after all. Only a second after this though, did her mind spiral into overdrive, thoughts racing through it like cars on a race track. 'Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! I Did it! I actually asked him! How's he gonna respond?! Wait, is he busy? Should I have asked that first?! What if something has happened and he can't?! What if he doesn't, what if he…?!' Panic began to fill her mind as thoughts and doubts began to assault her mind like thousands of bullets ripping through her very being.
Whilst Compa had her little panic attack though, Nico just sat there, confused and surprised. The former emotion came from how loud she had shouted that seemingly harmless question out like she had. It didn't SEEM like such a taboo question to him, so why did she shout it? Confusion came from her state when she asked it, her flushed face and subsequent panic attack she began to have but kept suppressing in a thinly veiled show of confidence. As if something like that would fool someone with eyes like his. 'Still, its clear that for some reason, this question is very important to her. She seems like she had built up a lot of courage to ask it, though the why eludes me…' Nico thought to himself.
As such, the knowledge that she had prepped so much to ask that question caused Nico to enter a period of deep thought. He wouldn't put any less than what she had into that question, into his own deciphering of its meaning.
'Alright, lets start from the beginning. I know that these odd symptoms of hers began a moment before she popped this question, she began shaking and trembling, fidgeting in a sign of discomfort. Her features implied she had been in deep conflict with herself, before she seemed to come to a resolution. At that point, she got my attention, but then she faltered a bit which caused her to repeat the previous steps. Like an explosion however, it all came out in one loud sentence.' Nico thought, analysing the background information to a T and forming a summary in his mind.
Now that he had THAT sorted, Nico went to try and see if he could find any kind of reference somewhere, somewhere in his memories. Unfortunately for him, that would be easier said than done, since he mostly had memories involving fighting and killing, not much on the whole 'social' aspect of life. Not like he would have wanted any either due to trust issues. Even so, Nico still kept searching his mind, pretty much ravaging it for even the tiniest detail which could help him conclude Compa's intentions.
Just then, fortune smiled upon him when he distinctly remembered coming back one day from a Quest, and saw Neptune and Compa sitting together on the sofa in her house, watching this romance movie. At the time, Nico had returned from taking out a couple Abnormals and further relishing in the return of his Armour, so he hadn't paid this much attention. Thus, he hadn't seen much of it, but he DID recall how the girl acted like a nervous reck in front of this guy, and it was in a highschool setting too, so there were lockers and small numbers of students around. Recalling that girl then applying it to Compa's demeanor, Nico quickly realized she was exhibiting MANY of those SAME symptoms.
There, that sounded like a possible lead in his eyes. Nico had heard rumours once that sometimes movies tend to sometimes influence people's actions, some being more easily influenced than others. Not to mention, he knew Compa liked those kinds of cliché romance movies (especially when the couple gets married at the end), she'd said so during one of their many text convos. That was how he knew of her wish to be a cute bride one day (though anyone who tried anything funny with her would get a Hellfire blast to the balls) But it all began with one thing, something apparent in LOTS of those movies.
What was that again? Wasn't it a…?
Hold on...
Oh...
OH!
Nico's eyes shot open wide as something dawned on him. 'No… Don't tell me, she…!'
Nah, he must be imagining it, it couldn't be THAT, could it? But... the evidence before him checks out, especially with how right at this moment, Compa had begun giving him this intense look, as if deeply anticipating his response. There were a whole RANGE of different emotions in her eyes, emotions which Nico couldn't really identify due to both how many there were AS WELL AS his own thought processes. Over and over, did he recheck the evidence, weigh one theory against the other, try to see if he had made any mistakes anywhere, but nope. He felt pretty confident in his deduction skills (they'd saved his ass more than he'd care to mention), so he couldn't be wrong this time.
Was this... really what he thought it was?
Was Compa… ASKING HIM OUT ON A DATE?!
Deep inside Nico's inner world...
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHOOOOO BOOOOIIII, LOOKS LIKE THE LAD'S FINALLY GONE AND DONE IT! HE'S FIGURED OUT THAT A GIRL WANTS THE D! AHAHAHAHA!"
Byakko yelled those words out as if screaming through a microphone, whilst laughing boisterously, amusement burning within at the startled reaction their 'king' had at this revelation. About damn time, he'd say, if he wasn't laughing so hard that his gut might have split open. Just hearing the raw panic that Nico's mind went into caused him to burst into hysteria, all the frustration he had felt towards the king for not noticing those 'concubines' feelings vanishing into the winds.
Ever since they had been accepted by Nico, forging their strongest ever connections to him, both of them had found each other much more bearable. Likely due to them now being connected to each other much deeper than they normally were. They had been sparring with one another, Biko in his true form (Crimson Soul-like one), and Byakko in his incomplete Kakuja form but without the madness, when the convo Nico had with Compa reached them.
Hence, what was happening now.
Biko frowned as he floated beside him, rolling his eyes at the Ghoulish Persona's mockery of Nico. "I will admit that it... took some time for him to notice. Then again, I feel like you, along with the readers, misunderstand. Its not like he was DELIBERATELY being dense, its more like he has no such experience with women and as such does not know how to read the signs." he stated, looking up at the skies. "Somewhat like a lot of guys his age. Think about it, males are raised in a way that makes them pay attention to certain things more than others, which creates HUGE blindspots later on. Think about his situation, then ask yourself: how can someone like that even COMPREHEND the fact that a girl likes him? I get the impression that humans generally focus more on cliché tropes, forgetting or worse IGNORING that these tropes originate from REAL human behaviour."
"BAH, NOBODY SWEATS THE SMALL STUFF YA KNOW, SMARTASS. JUST BE GLAD THAT THE KING FINALLY SEEMS TO BE STARTING TO GET OUT OF HIS 'DENIAL' PHASE. PROBABLY BECAUSE HIS MIND HAS FINALLY RECOVERED ENOUGH FOR THIS TO HAPPEN, BUT MEH."
Hearing Biko's words, Byakko's response made it look like he didn't care about what the Demon Persona was saying... though, that didn't mean he wasn't wrong. It just meant that the Ghoul Persona didn't really care, the difference between them was their behaviours. One was more logical and tended to go off on tangents, overloading people with information till their eyes resembled swirls. The other merely had a more simplistic approach, preferring actions over talking, and that pretty much summed it up for any who hadn't figured it out yet.
Still, now that Nico had been confronted with THIS problem when he had so many other maters on his mind, how would he respond to this? At least he didn't outright reject her for no reason other than panic, THAT would have only made things worse.
That was what Biko focused on for now.
By the time the afternoon came... things had begun to be set in motion.
We switch over to the main marketplace in Planeptune, in which something monumental will be happening to one redhead youth. Said youth, Nico for those who haven't guessed yet, stood by a bus stop whilst observing the civilians as they went about their daily lives. His eyes scanned each of them clearly, almost like a hawk's, and if anyone were to look at him, they would look away quickly so as to avoid that gaze. It was almost like looking into one's very soul, not something one wanted to experience.
But, if one were to look past that, they'd see that Nico right now had been utelizing his experiences with Masks to hide behind one of nonchalance... when in reality his mind kept chaotically rioting in the form of a mental breakdown. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit! The time's should be right, I arrived early just in case she did! I managed to make myself presentable in every way I could think of, but what the hell is this? Is it going to be enough? Why did this happen now? How long has she been waiting for this?'
… Yeah, Nico wasn't of perfectly calm mind right now, but could one blame him?
This may not be the first time he had went out with his friends, but this WAS the first time that he'd seen it as something called a 'Date'. Back with Neptune and Compa before, he had seen it as mostly them hanging out together and bonding over difficulties as well as life choices. It was something he could understand, something he could accept. But a DATE? A date with ANY of those wonderful Angels? How the FUCK did that happen?! If it weren't for Biko's intervention that beautiful bastard, then Nico would have been WAY worse than he felt right now.
'Okay Nico, calm the fuck down, take deep breaths and focus on calm blue oceans. Calm blue oceans... Calm blue oceans...' the male chanted mentally whilst practicing some breathing exercises. Gradually, he felt his mind begin to calm itself, the chaotic storm inside it dissipating until nothing but tranquil silence remained. Thankfully, accepting the Demon and the Ghoul boosted his control over them, making it so that his powers didn't get negatively influenced by his mental state anymore.
Once he finished this, Nico began to ponder the situation he had found himself in. The whole 'never been on a date' thing wasn't something new, Nico knew that for a fact. No. he would rather focus on Compa's response to him accepting her request, on how her expression practically lit up the room and how he would have died from the hug she gave him. She seemed to literally BECOME an angel, ignoring his questions as she raced off to prepare some suitable clothes to wear. Though, she did tell him that she wanted it to be in Planeptune, specifying a place for them to meet up.
Thus, it resulted in him being under this bus stop.
Nico brought himself out of his musings and looked down at his right arm, where his Bracer lay under the cover of his new outfit. After the apparent 'date' acceptance thing, the cream haired girl practically steamrolled him into changing his outfit for one more fitting for a date. His base attire, his civilian outfit, none of them fit the idea of a proper date according to her. It was almost like she was his mom, nagging him to fix himself before the Goddess herself. As such, Nico had been FORCED to change his gear (an incentive came in the form of her 'evil eye' which terrified him more than any Demon or Abnormal, even Mundus).
Right now, his current outfit consisted of the following: A white formal dress shirt tucked into some equally formal black dress pants, a black belt with a silver buckle wrapped around his waist. His feet were covered in some matching dress shoes, highly polished and refined like master craftsmen and their katanas. His shirt got concealed by his black tailcoat, one which fortunately had pockets thank god, plus the sleeves covered his Bracers so he could still use them. His hands remained bare though, something which Nico was NOT used to seeing since he usually saw the leather gloves which concealed them. As for his hair, the redhead had styled it so that it didn't look AS messy as it usually did, but it still retained the sharpness that he got identified for.
One could hardly call him a bad boy with this apparel, instead he looked more like a talented child of a businessman or woman.
'Glad I forged these from my RC Cells. They may be growing stronger, but their abilities still work fine for me...'
'It was a good decision, especially given our limited time. I believe we were able to jot down some possible ideas for how to go about this 'date' business, too...'
On that, they could agree. Frantic could best describe his actions following his acceptance of that date. With such little time, his own predictions on how long it'd take for him to get here earlier than scheduled, it meant that Nico would have to cut it pretty close. Though, in the end the redhead felt it would be worth it since he'd be able to at LEAST make this a 'decent' date. Hopefully this didn't go TOO badly, otherwise he'd never forgive himself.
Still, the fact that he was actually prepping himself to go on a DATE, an actual one for the first time, rattled his nerves like a rattlesnake's tail. Before coming here, he had to spend a large portion of time just doing breathing exercises to try and keep his cool. Though, even now he still repeated things in his mind like a mantra to distract him from the nervousness and anxiety warring within him, causing his palms to lightly sweat.
THEN, there had been that phone call he'd had with his two guy companions Aiden and Ivan...
(Flashback)
'This is bad-This is bad-This is bad-This is bad-This is bad! Shit, fuck I'm totally freaking out here!'
Geez, only a few moments after Compa had left to prepare for the... um, #GULP# date between them, and already Nico felt like he was having a nervous breakdown. With the panic flooding his system, the redhead could hardly think straight and sweat poured out of him like rivers. One could honestly describe him as a jittery mess, and they'd not be wrong cause at that moment, if someone prodded him even the tiniest bit, Nico felt like he would have lashed out with his Kagune on REFLEX.
It was THAT bad.
'Nico, calm yourself! Take deep breaths and think this calmly, like you normally do! Go DPU if that's what it would take!'
'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, SORRY, YA BOOKWORM FUCKWAD, THAT'S NOT GONNA FLY THIS TIME! IDIOT KING'S SO CHAOTIC RIGHT NOW THAT HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO INITIATE THAT ANIME TRANSFORMATION POWER RIGHT NOW, EVEN IF HE WANTED TO!'
Both Personas (well, one more than the other) tried to calm him down, but to no avail. No, it felt more like that their words failed to reach his brain no matter how hard they tried. Nico's mind had reached a HUGE level of panic and dread at the thought of a date, something so ALIEN to him, that any efforts they make would turn out futile.
He was a goddamn KILLER, not a lover after all.
Eventually, Nico came to the conclusion that he was WOEFULLY underprepared for such a fierce task, and as such he needed to seek help from SOMEONE. He couldn't ask his mother, or risk getting teased to no end for it. He could honestly see her doing something like that instead of actually HELPING matters, preferring that and making things worse for him. Nico also got the feeling that none of the girls would help him either, he didn't know why but he just did, so they were out too. That left only two people, and fortunately for him as he made to call them on his right Bracer Nico found that they were able to answer swiftly.
"Yo Nico, what's crackin'?"
"Greetings. What seems to be a problem?"
Never had Nico felt more relieved at hearing two voices belonging to fellow guys, as his companions Aiden and Ivan answered his call. In situations like these, he CLEARLY believed that they'd be more reliable than his mother, since they wouldn't tease him over something like this knowing his own experiences. As such, Nico quickly told them his situation, explaining from start to finish without leaving anything out. By the time that he was finished, Nico honestly felt like he had ran an Olympic marathon a hundred times over since he hadn't stopped to take a break through it al.
But still, his companions got the message...
Enough for Ivan to reply first.
"Dude, I know its scary, but I'm saying this: Calm down and be yourself. You're overthinking this situation entirely, which I guess is reasonable considering who I'm talking about. Girls like guys who can keep it cool in tough situations, heck that's probably why so many girls want your D for crying out loud."
Nico made to counter that statement by saying nobody wanted him that way, but then Aiden cut into the call.
"What this fool says is correct, Nico. This is one of those many situations where you must retain a calm mind, as well as the ability to focus. You must keep yourself clear of these useless worries you have, for they will cloud your judgement and untimately ruin everything. Treat this like you do with your missions, calmly and professionally."
Aiden's words cut through the haze of anxiety clouding his mind like a knife, making a light gasp of realization escape his throat. Evaluating everything like he normally would? It was true that Nico did indeed think things through very carefully, maybe even too carefully at times which was something he was aware of. People whom knew of his methods would often comment this, but he didn't pay them much mind since it helped him survive longer... whilsta lot of them wound up dead. Still, not all his worries got doused by just those words, something which became apparent in the next line he said. "But, you guys KNOW I have got practically ZERO experience in this, so the liklihood f me screwing up by saying the wrong thing is almost guranteed! What the hell should I do then?"
At THAT point, Ivan was the one to respond, almost like he had predicted it.
"Dude, CALM DOWN. Its like we said before, your overthinking it. From what you told us, it was Compa who asked you out first, not the typical way to start a date but it can happen. That MUST mean she sees something in you, and she's one of the more OBVIOUS ones. As such, its clear she must have the patience of a SAINT to be able to slowly grind her way into that thick skull of yours, so just go for it. Be yourself, cause that's the best thing you can do right now. Not something like being a wimp which you are VERY capable of doing if you stick to this thought process."
(Flashback END)
Returning to the present, Nico repeated their words in his mind to try and calm his nerves, and though it remained a slow start, it DEFINITELY helped. Be himself, huh? If someone actually cared about him enough that his daily quirks didn't immediately repulse them, then they' be a saint in his eyes. Nico knew VERY well that not everybody would be able to take his shit, he sometimes acted more like a robot than a person, not to mention wasn't the most sociable or talkative person around. He could count a HUGE number of guys in the Spec Ops force who were WAY more experienced in dating than him... which was a lot to begin with, since he had none at all.
Still, Compa had gone out of her way to do this. She had taken the big leap of faith in order to get him into this position, so he'd be damned if he didn't at least try his best to be a good date. Being himself, if THAT was what Compa had wanted from him when she'd asked him out, then he could try that. Nico felt like he should think of this as a battle, one which was fought not with swords, magic or mythical abilities. A date was merely a battlefield he never set foot in before, so he should probably proceed with extreme caution... just not in the way that would creep Compa out...
Shit, this was going to be a nightmare for years to come. Any tightrope analogies he had made in the story so far could be better compared to this...
"Ah, you're here, Ni-Ni!"
"Ah, you're here, Ni-Ni!"
Soon, Nico turned towards Compa's voice when he heard it, making to address her... only, he stopped right as he did so. His form resembled an iceberg with how stiff it became as he lost the ability to even breathe. 'Holy...'
If he were told to recount some of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen in this world, the sight before him would be one of them. Compa waked towards him looking mildly embarrassed and nervous, clad in a white thigh length dress. The dress covered her breasts whilst showing of her shoulders and neck, a creamy cardigan over it. Her hands and arms had this cloth-like material over them, similar to what Vert wore on her legs, whilst her legs were concealed by matching creamy coloured stockings, her feet encased in black gladiator-style high heels. Her hair had been held back by a pure white headband that had a silver coloured rose on it, whilst her face had pink lipstick and a decent amount of makeup. He could smell the scent of peaches from her, a perfume she had used no doubt.
But, most importantly for him... was the necklace around her neck: the very same one which he had completed for her after waiting so patiently.
'She... she's kept it...'
'I do believe that this is something called a 'good sign' though I'm uncertain.'
He almost didn't hear Biko's words just now, but he barely managed.
As a result, she, to him, looked absolutely stunning.
Unfortunately for him, though, it seemed that he'd been staring at her for too long, as Compa soon shuffled on the spot once she was in a hand's range from him. "U-Um..." she tried to say, but couldn't get any words left. 'N-Ni-Ni's looking at me... does he think i'm hideous? Did I put too much makeup on?! Oh no, please tell me that's not the case! Please tell me all those hours I spent fretting about what to wear weren't meaningless! I don't want him to say I looked ugly or anything! Papa, Mama, what would you do?! What should I do?!'
One could say that, once her crush had accepted her offer, Compa had spent the next few hours frantically preparing herself for this Date. She struggled on deciding what to put on, what kind of clothes went well with what. Eventually, a little something happened: She got contacted by Sandalphon's human personification. The thing was, that her weapons each had their own wills, they were fully sentient and were capable of helping her learn how to properly utelize their power. Usually, they manifested as transparent forms only she could see, thus Sandalphon assisted with the preparations.
Apparently, each of the weapons within her each shared her care for Nico due to being part of her... not like it had calmed her nerves about this any.
What she DID manage to get out served its purpose though, as Nico quickly shook his head to get rid of his stupor. "O-Oh, sorry bout that, I was staring, wasn't I...?" Nico stammered, his face reddening as he looked to the side as if that would ease things up for her... when, in reality, part of her whined in disappointment. 'Fuck! Fucking-fuckity-fuck! Goddamnit, what the hell do I do?! I hope Compa's not offended with me, I wouldn't be able to bear it if she hated me! Fuck-fuck-fuck!' Nico screamed within his mind as he desperately searched for something to remedy this situation, plus to not look like a total idiot like he was right now. First time he had ever gone one a real 'date' and already he began making a fool of himself.
For a moment, an awkward bout of tension filled the air, rendering any attempt to get near them useless for the civilians. They just passed on by without paying them much heed, or rather just ignoring them for their own sakes. The silence between had been thick, suffocating so, to the point where if either of them tried to say something and looked into the other's gaze, they'd shift away in discomfort.
This went on for an unknown length of time, and even in the future when these two looked back on it, they wouldn't have figured this out.
'Ugh, this can't continue. I have to think of something, anything to get through this with our dignity intact! Okay brain, do something useful for once and think of something to get us outta this mess!' Nico scolded himself mentally, rummaging through his noggin. Soon, an idea formed as he glanced over towards his childhood friend, one which he hoped wouldn't backfire on him. "Y...You look really n-n-n-nice, Compa… b-b-b-b-b-beautiful, even..." he tried to say, stuttering like a shy schoolboy around his older idol. 'DAMNIT, NICO! GET A FUCKING DAMNED GRIP!'
Fortunately, his words served to snap Compa out of her own stupor, her form lightly jumping as she hurriedly gave a reply... whilst looking like a ripe cherry. "A-Ah, than-thank you, Ni-Ni..." she said, mentally thanking him for taking charge of the situation as she hadn't found herself able to do the same. Just then, a surge of warmth filled her, one which emitted from the very depths of her Soul, something which she had INTIMITE experiences with.
A small smile formed on her lips at this, before she aimed a wider one with closed eyes at Nico. "You look quite dashing yourself. Did you..." she then paused, glancing at his clothes with her expression becoming one of curiosity. "Um, d-did you use your um... thing, to make them? Sorry about springing this onto you, Ni-Ni..." It as true that he only had over 4 hours to prepare, but most of that had been panicking.
"I-Its ok, and um, yeah that's right. I m-m-make all my clothes from em, they're better at res-res-resilience, and serve as good means for t-t-t-training. They self repair too, a plus in my books." Nico hurriedly explained, not wanting that silence to return. So far so good though, since he'd finally began talking about something they could talk with each other on. 'I don't do this much, but... Goddess bless you, Compa, for EVERYTHING you've helped me with...'
Hearing this, Compa gave a shy yet jealous-looking pout, puffing out her lower lip. "Muuu, Ni-Ni's so lucky... Ni-Ni gets to make his own clothes so easily..." she could do the same, however hers came from her Spirit Powers, so as such she had to be careful. Sure it didn't use much energy, but constantly switching clothes she'd see in fashion Magazines would definitely waste it. Shaking her head, Compa decided to get the ball rolling, since she didn't want to stand around here acting like an awkward moron in public. "Um, i'm not that hungry, so if you want, could we take a stroll together...?" she offered.
Something which Nico quickly and readily accepted, having picked up her true intent. A big grin formed on his face despite the pink hues on his cheeks. "Y-Yeah, sure. that sounds nice..." he spoke, trailing off when he heard a suggestion from Biko. One which caused him to redden to Compa's cofnfusion and concern, soon becoming embarrassment when he, albeit red-faced, offered his hand to her. "Um... would you like it... if we h-h-hold hands...? I... I heard that people on d-d-dates... do this kind of thing, right?" he questioned while looking away from her, face so red that steam rose from out the top.
It took a moment for Compa to register what he had suggested, and as she looked at his offered hand, before her brain rebooted and a shy smile along with a blush appeared. "I'd love to, Ni-Ni..." she gently replied, grasping her hand in his. Looking down at their connected hands, Compa couldn't help but marvel at the size difference between them: her slender and dainty hand and his large, masculine one. The difference between genders and experience, people!
With that done, Nico and Compa left the area, hand in hand.
Honestly, never had walking around seemed so peaceful as well as nerve-wracking at the same time.
That was what both teens thought as they wandered the Planeptune streets, taking in everything that they hadn't seen for so long now. It had been at least over a month since they had left for Leanbox, and so much had happened to them back there. If one were to ask them if they would end up in the position they were in now back then, then they'd call them mad, whilst Compa would have tried to pull out a Syringe to 'give some shots' which would supposedly cure that person.
These events however HAD happened, and because of this they had been changed by them, changed them so thoroughly that it was hard to call them the same people as before. Looking at everything felt like a new experience to the two as they wandered about, hand in hand as they gradually lost themselves to the feeling of each other's company. Bit by bit, their nervousness got swept away by each other's presence.
Both of them felt that way, and it had been Compa to bring it up first as they walked along a street which lead to the entrance to a park. "Everything... feels so new, yet not so much at the same, Ni-Ni... it feels like I'm seeing everything for the first time." Compa remarked, admiring the scenery. Though, she had to admit that she liked both Nations, Leanbox and Planeptune if only for their nature. She always DID consider herself a country girl, after all.
Nico nodded his head in agreement, smiling merrily as he too admired the buildings, though for different reasons to his companion. He rather liked the more technologically advanced nations than the lesser ones, simply due to growing up around them. Though, that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the more country life styles which Leanbox offered... "Yeah, I feel you there, Compa. Its been a while since we last seen this stuff, it honestly baffles me that I didn't pay it as much attention as I should have." he remarked.
This caught Compa's attention though, especially the wistful tone he had used, as she tilted her head curiously at him. "Do you mean when you were doing all your Spec Ops work...?" she questioned.
As a response, Nico nodded, furrowing his brows as he recalled life back then. "Yeah... I guess the hellish life of a Spec Ops Agent didn't let me enjoy these things previously..." he murmured under his breath, though Compa heard him and a question popped into her mind.
"Um, Ni-Ni? Why did you, um stay if its so bad? I mean, you and Mrs Hel-Hel could have done so any time you wanted, right?" she questioned, turning her head to look at him.
This resulted in Nico looking back at her as memories flashed through his mind, his mouth opening on its own accord. "Because it doesn't work that way, Compa. Me and my mom, they used each of us against each other, we were literally their own weakness. By forcing my mom into the position she has today, they were able to keep an eye on her whilst keeping me on a leash, threatening to dispose of her. On the other hand, Helen couldn't refuse ever since I was spared since my life had been put in her hands. She didn't want me to die after she lost her friends, so mom had no choice but to allow them to do what they wanted." Nico explained, sighing.
'Nice going Compa, you totally ruined Ni-Ni's mood with that question!' Compa scolded herself, feeling like she had just stepped on a landmine, one in a minefield filled with political hypocrisy and the depravity mankind was capable of. 'Pretty sure that's not even a question you should be asking on a date, you idiot, and of course they were manipulated! Its pretty much confirmed before I even asked him if I think hard enough...! Even if I let steam come outta my ears!' externally though, she didn't let these things show on her features, though she remained downcast.
Maybe Lucy had been right when she'd once told her to have gotten some dating experience first before asking Nico out, maybe the she'd- 'Nope, don't think that, Compa!' once again she scolded herself for going down such a thought process. 'Ni-Ni's the only guy you trust like that, remember how other guys treat you when you were small?! They don't deserve your attention, not one bit! But what shall I do? How can I change this? I don't know! I've never done this before, but I gotta think something! C'mon Compa brain, pull out something useful!'
Whilst this war raged on inside Compa's mind, Nico himself remembered all the things that he had seen the higher ups do when it came to keeping his secret under wraps, reflecting on how even if he had wanted to tell them about the stuff he did before, there had been no guarantee that the result would have been what it was. Still, it wasn't really Compa's fault for being so curious, after all how often was it that someone came out to his or her friends with such a secret? It would only be natural for them to want more.
If it had been his previous self, Nico knew for a FACT that he would never have told her anything about it, rather he would have tried to find a way to stay clear of the topic. Though, that would only happen if she or the others even ASKED him, since none of them had any suspicions save for IF before, and even SHE didn't question him at first.
So, if Compa was getting worried about that, he'll have to correct her on it... soon, anyways.
Eventually, the two came to the Park itself, finding there to be few people inside of it. A brief exchange between one another pretty much confirmed their thoughts to be the same, so the two went to one of the vacant benches to take a break. Looking over the nearby space, Compa and Nico watched how a couple of children played together in what looked to be a sandbox, heir eyes shining with nostalgia.
"Reminds me of the times when we used to play together like that with your grandfather..." Nico mused to himself, recalling those times with utter clarity. They were some of the few good memories he had, quite literally the best year of his life. A little slice of heaven before the hell that he fell into soon after he 'woke up' to the nightmare that was his true nature.
Compa nodded, thinking about the same memories herself. She then giggled behind her hand, causing him to look at her in a confused manner. "Remember that time when grandpa challenged us to build objects out of that sand? We had been boasting to be like construction workers at the time, well you more than me." she questioned with a smile, Nico chuckling in response as the woman continued. "I ended up making a... really bad attempt at a wheel, whilst you ended up making a literal human body the same size as you were back then."
"Heh, what can I say? I guess I had my calling since before I even realized it." Nico replied, chuckling nervously. Especially when he recalled the look on her grandfather's face at the time. He may have looked pleased with them on the surface, but thinking back on it now he DEFINITELY had a bit of concern for Nico's future there. Concern which turned out to be well-founded.
Glanding over to his childhood friend for a moment, Nico deliberated on revealing something to her, and decided to do so. They'd be even after this, anyways. "Mom told him, you know. About me." he began, catching her attention if the look on her face was anything to go by. "She told him how I suppressed my memories and was 'living in a dream', and that she wanted him to help me keep that dream alive for as long as possible. He didn't even deny her once..."
At this, Compa smiled sadly, looking down as she realized she hadn't been able to visit her grandfather for a while now. "I see... so he knew, huh...? How many do you think knew before you knew they knew?" Compa questioned.
This caused him to smirk in amusement, "what, doing some knew-ception stuff there, girl?" he teased, causing her to blush a bit in embarrassment. "Heh, well, I dunno, but I guess anyone with the brains and experience might have an indication. Chian definitely, my gut tells me so. It'd be good for them if they didn't reveal this knowledge though, just so they don't get onto the higher ups radar." he added, frowning at the end as he remembered those that got literally killed by his own secret.
"A-Ah, yeah..." Compa stated, frowning as she looked to the ground with a depressed cloud hanging over her head. She just seemed to ask all the depressing questions, didn't she? But, how couldn't she? After all, there was so much she wanted to know about her crush that she hadn't been able to ask before now due to not knowing his true nature. Now that she DID however... "Sorry for being so thoughtless Ni-Ni..." she began, getting his attention. "Its just that... I tried to ask you out, and... I ended up going into depressing territory over and over... I'm a terrible date..."
'Okay, now THAT'S enough of that!' Nico thought the very SECOND that he heard those words come from Compa's mouth. "No need to be so sorry, young missy." the redhead stated, grasping one of her shoulders. "Its only natural that you be curious about it. If you want to know something, then just ask." he told her, already knowing what she had been thinking in her mind, and it couldn't have been any more WRONG. "I don't mind that you're curious Compa, I would be too if I were in your shoes." he spoke sternly, before arching a brow, leaning back while crossing his arms over his stomach with a smirk on his lips. "After all, how often is it that one of your companions turns out to have, well... A secret like mine?"
For a moment, Compa just stared in absolute bewilderment at Nico's attitude towards her prying into his other side. That... was not what she had expected. Seriously, before he had been like a nervous wreck when she and the others had learned of his true nature. They had seen how guarded he had been, they knew how he acted all secretive and kept things to himself, so she had expected to see a, well... different reaction to this.
Heck, when things finally went down and his secret had been exposed, Nico had behaved in a way which resembled a cornered animal about to get eaten alive by predators, ready to fight if necessary to escape with its life. He had well and truly disillusioned himself of any hope for them afterwards, which had likely been why she and the others accepting his Ghoul side had pretty much turned his life upside down. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but THIS definitely hadn't.
That didn't mean she didn't enjoy this unexpected change however.
"Um... well, okay. If you say so..." Compa eventually muttered in uncertainty, before slapping her cheeks together as if to say 'get a grip, girl!' as she looked back to him. "Then... do you think that-"
Just before she could continue though, Nico held up a hand. "Hold up, its probably best if we talk about it in somewhere isolated, just for secrecy's sake." he stated, frowning as he visually scanned his surroundings, even activated his Bracer's Motion Tracker for any onlookers. Despite his own newfound stance on his condition, Nico wasn't unaware that it was only him who had this stance, and that others wouldn't take too kindly to them talking about it in the open. Heck, maybe there was someone watching his every move in this city right now, which would be bad if his recent actions have anything to say. As such, moving to somewhere else felt like a good idea.
Compa's eyes remained confused, but then she realized what he had been thinking and nodded, getting up after he did. Just as they made to leave however...
"Waaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaaah…!"
Both of them heard the sounds of a child's crying, no it sounded more like wailing to them. Glancing to the source, both Nico and Compa found the source to be a child slightly far off from the sand pit, looking to have tripped and scraped his knee. There weren't many parents around, according to their previous observations, so the child just remained there.
Nico frowned when he saw this. 'Now THAT'S some quality freaking parenting right there...' the redhead though sarcastically, a spark of anger igniting within.
However, he didn't get a chance to look for the child's 'parent' as Compa had already begun making her way towards the child, kneeling beside him with a look of motherly concern over her features. "Are you okay, little one...?" she questioned. "Where's your mom...?" She then shook her head, deciding those answers would best be saved for later as she examined the wound on the child's leg. "Here, I'll take care of this for you."
With that said, Compa quickly begun disinfecting it by the time Nico had caught up to her via a casual job, But by the time that he had, the redhead's eyes widened when he noticed something, something which had appeared in her hand as if summoned by her own will. It looked like a small, pebble-sized pearl, one which constantly oozed this sense of life and serenity the more that he looked at it. 'Holy Hell... I think I recognize this thing. Biko, isn't this...'
'Indeed. It appears to be a profound treasure, similar to the ones we found in the Trials, however in this dimension it exists as a Satanic Treasure: the Sky Poison Pearl. An item said to be able to clear any kind of poison, no matter its origins, as well as detect medical items, refine items to better quality pills, and so forth. Though, like a rose, it has its own deadly thorns in that its capable of releasing so much poison that an entire city can be turned into a desecrated wasteland easily.'
'Odds are that this was something to do with the DPU of Life. It did say in the Lexicanum that this guy was a mad scientist who often created anything which tickled his fancy. That's how the Satanic Treasures came to be. Although how she came to possess such an item should be investigated later.'
'Agreed.'
Their short conversation over, Nico turned to look at the Nurse-In-Training as she used the item to disinfect the wound by purging it of any and all potential bacteria. Afterwards, she used her FIRST AID skill to heal the cut up, since it wasn't too deep that required some of her other talents. By the time that the cut had fully healed, the child had stopped crying and looked towards Compa as the Sky Poison Pearl vanished. His eyes lowered themselves in a display of timid shyness as he got up and bowed his head. "Um, thank you very much miss..." he stated.
As such, Compa gave a beaming smile as she stood up. Seeing how happy she had made this child by healing him made her feel a surge of pride inside... whilst a small tinge of pain slipped in too. Not something that went unnoticed by a certain someone though. "You're very welcome. Say, do you know where your parents are? If you want, we can bring you to them." she offered, whilst Nico remained silent. He didn't say anything to refute that statement, since he intended to do the same anyways.
The child gave them both a hopeful look, pouting with big eyes with no small amount of pleading, thus with that the trio set off to search for the parents.
After locating the parents and returning their child to them, Nico and Compa left the park, though if one were to say that their mood was completely positive... then they would be completely wrong.
"Muuuu… why didn't that mommy look any kind of worried for her child's safety…?" Compa whined, remembering the experience. The moment that they had returned the small boy to them, the mother just looked her child in the eyes and simply nodded in nonchalance, not even a shed of care for her child in her eyes. That couldn't be said for the child wo hugged his mother like she had been his lifeline, heck the father on the other hand looked like he was about ready to commit a massacre, something which concerned the redhead since he had noticed the negative emotions first.
Something which his companion didn't it seemed, thus Nico felt it prudent to point it out as they left the park. "Well, there are those kinds of people out there, Compa. Not everyone is a saint or a law-abiding citizen." he stated, his eyes sour with his fists clenched in his waist coat's pockets. He'd hoped that she wouldn't have had to experience that type of person for a while yet, but thinking about it made him realize that it would have been pointless to delay it.
Looking over towards him, Compa frowned in worry. "Do you think... that poor child will be okay?" she questioned.
Nico thought about answering it as blunt as he usually did, but he closed his mouth when he was about to say that response. Thinking about it for a moment, Nico wondered if that would really be the right way to go about it, since Compa indeed had been sheltered highly thus didn't understand the true depths of cruelty, especially fate. Despite her childhood being what it was, she had actually gone through some of the... lesser forms cruelty took, and he would know.
That was something which made him wonder what the DPU of Fate was like, but didn't put too much thought into it as he eventually answered in a softer, more reserved tone. "Not sure, Compa. The kid didn't look like an abuse victim so far, plus we can't assume everything is bad at first glance."
"I guess..."
The rest of the walk remained silent, as the two navigated through the streets. They DID take a quick stop at a nearby coffee shop for a small break, but there wasn't really anything noteworthy about that place. If anything, Nico detested the low-quality of the coffee that they served, but didn't say anything that would cause a scene. This was his and Compa's 'Date' after all, so he didn't want to ruin it for her.
Though... did what they do today really count as a date? There wasn't that much awkwardness between them, so there likely wasn't anything BAD, but it wasn't like either of them knew what to SPECIFIICALLY do for a date. If anything, all they've been doing was just walking around, taking in nostalgic sights and that's pretty much it. It didn't seem like Compa had been very hungry, and even if she was then why hadn't she had anything to eat? The answer however, simply lay with her curiosity about his Ghoul side, since she must have been aware of how... violent his body became when ingesting human food.
Plus, didn't the word 'date' mean 'a social or romantic appointment or engagement.'?
So... was this considered a date? Or just simply two friendly people walking together?
Those questions filled their minds, causing worry and confusion to blossom within them.
"Ooohhhhhhhhh, now what do we have here? These are some faces I never expected to see..."
"Oh? Are those two who I think they are?"
"Yup, no doubt about it. Looks like its that redhead freak and that stupid cream haired weakling."
Though, when they heard several male and female voices from nearby, their previous emotions disappeared. In their place, new ones were formed when they glanced over to the sources, revealing it to be a group of a mix between men and women. Each of them looked to be their ages ranges, wearing various forms of adventuring gear, but all of them looked upon Nico and Compa with their own expressions.
The former's eyes shined with the intense rage that burned within them, like the hellish flames that he commanded. If his powers had ben as uncontrollable as they had been before, then this entire city would have been overtaken just from the effects of his rage influencing his Demonic Powers. Rage and searing hatred felt like an UNDERTATEMENT for how he disliked these lot, especially for how they harmed his childhood friend when they'd been younger. These bullies looked to be adventurers now, but back then one could call them thugs and they wouldn't be that inaccurate.
One could imagine his reaction when he found all this out as a KID...
As for the latter, all sorts of different emotions flashed through her eyes as memories, bad ones, replayed themselves in her head. Many of these people had been bullies to her growing up, the boys attempting to beat her into submission had it not been for Nico's intervention each time (awarding them a taste of their own medicine), and the girls always insulting and mocking her. They always demeaned her whilst saying how she would always be alone and nobody would want her from a young age. That she was nothing but an airheaded idiot who didn't deserve anything good in life.
Uncaring for their facial expressions, each of the group looked the couple over. The girls looked over Nico's form with lust and wanton desire, eyeing his well-developed form up and down like they were lions looking at a delicious sack of meat. Some of them even made flirtatious winks and other gestures, and seductive intent radiated from them like a thick miasma. One could only guess what kind of fantasies these women had in their minds regarding this physique before them... Not something Nico liked to think about, shudders travelling up and down his spine as he remembered the Chaos God of Pleasure and excess: Slaanesh.
Meanwhile, similar looks were directed towards Compa by the guys, whose expressions reminded her of starving wolves wanting to devour a certain part of her... a very SPECIAL part of her she had retained for a very long time. Each of them leered at her with dark grins, grins containing a sense of perverse lust and eagerness to enjoy her body in more ways than one. Combined with how they bullied her in the past... well, little else needed to be said on that front.
Though, these people had bullied and tormented Compa relentlessly when she had been younger... they forgot one crucial fact: That had been that Compa had changed... something that they would soon find out in the following moments, especially when one of the guys noticed the necklace hanging around her neck. The same one Nico had completed for her during their last outing together.
"Hm?"
One of the guys looked upwards after leering at Compa's chest, noticing the necklace which hung around her neck. His eyes, after momentarily widening in surprise, then became glued to it like a thief eyeing his or her next target, as he stepped towards the teenage girl. "Now, what do we have here? That's a nice piece of jewelry you got there." The guy remarked, slowly reaching out towards it. "Give it here, I'm sure that I can make better use of it than someone whose likely gonna wind up dying alone and unloved by the world."
As he reached for her necklace, Compa's eyes shrunk into dots, time almost slowing down for her. Her mind, whilst usually kinda dim-witted, suddenly kicked it into high gear. In that moment, several facts became clear to her: One, this guy who had bullied her in the past was trying to take something from her. Two, that something had been an unimaginably precious gift she had received from her crush, a gift which pretty much symbolised the immense devotion that her crush had for her (although he wasn't aware of its significance). Three, and perhaps the most important one of all...
She didn't want him to get even one INCH of his grubby little mits on her precious treasure.
Looks like something Nico had once said on one of their quests needed to be implanted into her mind: Time to nut up or shut up.
In a flash, just as the guy tried to grasp the necklace from the perceived 'Weakling' Compa's arm shot up, grabbing onto his wrist which resulted in startling the guy. "Huh?!" He shouted, eyes widening in alarm and shock, something which got mirrored by the rest of the guys ion the group. Each of them stepped backwards save for the one being grabbed thanks to the sudden action.
The guy in front though, he tried to pull his hand back, shove it forwards, anything, but the grip that Compa had... it possessed the strength of a viper, coiling around its prey. "Ugh, you bitch-let go! Let go of me now! Don't make me hurt you!" The boy yelled, struggling even harder to break free to no avail. "You bitch! Don't you know?! My father's part of the Planeptune Government, do you think someone like you can touch me?!"
His frantic, fear and anger-filled yells reached Compa, going in one ear...and straight out the other. All Compa focused on, was on the things she had wanted to do for a VERY long time. Everything this guy and his companions had put her through in her childhood, all the bullying, beating and verbal abuse, all of it reared its ugly head inside of her, resulting in Compa's eyes losing ANY of their previous bright light as she stared blankly at him.
His own kept gradually filling with more and more panic as the strength in her grip increased bit by bit, the sounds of cracking bones soon being audible between them casing the boy to start crying out... Though that didn't stop her from what she did next.
POW!
Twisting on her left heel, Compa launched a vicious, speedy side kick at her former tormentor, one which looked more like the thrusting of a spear than a leg shooting out towards an opponent. The guy had been so focused on her eyes, and her grip, that he hadn't even considered her legs as a means of attack... which resulted in the absolute WORST thing any man could ever experience: a heel to the manhood, the force beind it rivalling a speeding double decker bus ramming into a building.
"Ohhhhh!"
Startled and horrified gasps escaped the male members of the group, each of them clutching their manhoods as phantom pains caused them to shudder like they were stripped naked and [pushed into the icy cold depths of Lowee. Each of them trembled violently as the target of such an attack fell to their feet, unconscious from the pain with full white irises and a frothing mouth.
As for the females, they each yelped in surprise, fear and bewilderment, gazing at the normally meek girl like they were seeing a whole new person... someone who now scared the living daylights out of them instead of made them want to bully and demean. When Compa idly glanced towards them with that blank gaze of hers, the image of a vicious creature about to unleash its wrath upon them entered their minds, causing an extra dose of fear to enter their systems as quick as a drug would when injected into the bloodstream via artery.
Apparently however, one of them managed to regain some bit of his backbone as his face reddened with anger, something which provided him with the strength to take a single step forwards like their apparent 'leader' had. "You freaking SLUT! How dare you rebel against your betters! Believe me, you will NOT get away with this, you or any of your slutty friends! One way or another, my blade or my dick will be penetrating that virgin soil, mark my words!" he bellowed, his words giving some strength and morale back to the bullies behind him.
However, Compa just tilted her head at them, not at all afraid of this threat to her or her friends. After all, in comparison to them, her power alongside the rest of them had become as vast as lakes piled on top of one another. It would be laughable to even CONSIDER these guys a threat to them. However, something had to be done, as she didn't want these... these fucking BASTARDS near any of her friends.
That was when she heard a faint whisper in the back of her mind, one which belonged to the manifestation of Camael, as her mouth opened to release EXACTLY what she had convinced her to say. "Um, I would rather you do the blade thing, cause at least then I might be able to feel something, and even then it might barely register."
At that, the expression 'bitch slapped silly' could be applied to the speaker, his eyes wider than dinner plates whilst his jaw dropped open, Shock and disbelief, as well as utter humiliation, filled his being at what this girl had the gall to say to him. Worse still, was that some of the girls behind them seemed to share the sentiments judging by the light snickers that were heard.
'#WHISTLE# Naaawwwiiice…! Compa, you go girl! If we were alone, I'd laugh my ass off while hugging you, right now.' Nico thought to himself, a small vindicative smirk etched onto his lips when he saw what had happened. Don't get him wrong, for a moment he had been just as stunned as them at Compa's sudden personality shift, but that had only lasted a few seconds before a sadistic sense of enjoyment replaced it as he watched them squirm. Oh, how great it felt, seeing the bullies become the bullied, the bullied getting their own back.
Part of him did indeed worry for Compa's mental health right now, but he instead revelled in the 'darker' emotions coursing through him.
What, nobody ever said Nico was a saint...
Speaking of saints, glancing over to him, some of the girls decided to instead try their luck with him, forgetting about their male companions OH SO CONVINIENTLY. "Hey there, handsome..." One of them called out whilst crossing her arms under her bust to enlarge her boobs, attempting to entice the redhead male. "Would you mind coming with us? We can make it worth your while..."
Now, to the ordinary male, this would sound like a good time...
Nico however, had other ideas.
"What, you mean with all the STDs you guys might have contracted by being those guys stress relievers all these years? Apologies, but I'd rather pass." Nico responded bluntly, rolling his eyes. He did NOT speak falsely either, as he could smell the remains of intercourse from these girls, something which he had to resist cringing in disgust at. Either it had been recent, or they didn't even bother cleaning up after themselves, in the end though it stank his nostrils, something he didn't exactly appreciate very much. Mentally,. Nico revelled in the maniacal laughter Byakko was emitting, heck he swore he could hear light snickers from Biko as well.
Of course, the look that second male speaker had soon spread over each of their faces like a plague, at the blatant insult that he'd made to them. Each of them almost became numb in sheer bewilderment at what Nico had just said. For women like them, being called something like that so bluntly... well, one could guess how offended they would become.
"Oh yeah, I would suggest that you leave before you piss me or my comrade here off any further." Nico suggested when he sensed that Compa was about to summon an Angel. Looked like these assholes had seriously pissed her off (he got the feeling he was the reason since he sensed a HUGE spike in rage within her when those flirty comments got sent his way), and whist he would LOVE to have seen the carnage that would have followed, it wouldn't be very good in the long run. As unfortunate as it was, they needed every able-bodied fighter they could get in the war against the Demons.
It looked like they were going to respond with some kind of comment though, so Nico decided to go a little further. "Plus, if you don't, if my comrade doesn't get to you..."
BANG!
A loud gunshot rang out, causing the girls to each jump with their skins going pale with fright. The reason? There was a small crater on the ground in front of them, caused by a bullet which had been fired from a newly summoned Ebony, its barrel steaming from the recent unloading whilst Nico aimed the handgun at their faces. "Then don't mind me if I take a crack at it myself, and BELIEVE me, whatever she would do to you PALES in comparison to what I'll do. This Gun here can reduce your heads to fucking PAINT, after all." he snarled, and no the redhead did NOT joke just then.
At this point, each of the girls lost their will to continue with all this, as well as the guys when Compa summoned a HUGE sword (Sandalphon) and cut a crater next to one of them. Fear filling their beings (and causing some wet stains on their pants), all of the bullies soon ran away with their tails between their legs, vanishing out of sight before anything else could befall them.
'Whelp, that takes care of that...' Nico thought to himself, twirling his trusty handgun by its trigger over his index finger before making a holstering motion, storing it back into his Void Storage. Though if he were frank, he felt grateful that those bullies showed up, as he got to vent a LOT of his internal anxieties right then. Nothing like a good old death threat alongside a demonstration to calm the nerves, he'd say. 'Though, part of me wishes I could have put some holes through those guys manhoods for even DARING to look at Compa that way...'
Turning to his companion, Nico noticed how she shook on the spot, hair hanging over her eyes as her Angel shimmered with burning anger. Looked like she had REALLY wanted to unleash more blasts with Sandalphon there, not like he'd blame her. That is, until she then took a deep breath, the glow vanishing as her power receded into her. "You okay, Compa?" Nico questioned, striding up to her side with his lips curled into a frown.
"I'm... fine, Ni-Ni..." she replied evenly, taking a few more deep breaths before looking back to him. Nico swore he saw the last bits of white leaving her pupils there, but dismissed it. "Just.. taking care of a few things, is all." she elaborated, before she tilted her head with a look of curiosity on her features. "But um, Ni-Ni? Did you really intend to follow through with what you said earlier?"
Nico, remembering what he had said to those females (though he wondered if they should even be called that, as REAL women in his eyes were people like Neptune and the rest of the ones he knew), nodded his head firmly. "Sure would, not gonna lie. You know me Compa, when I make promises I damn well keep them, nor do I ever go back on my word." For a moment, he wondered if he had offended her with this, and mentally prepped himself for the worst...
"Goodie, cause I was about ready to carve them up, myself."
However, the moment that Compa said those words, with a shadow cast over her eyes and a sickeningly sweet smile on her lips, his previous thoughts vanished as shudders went down his spine. 'Wow, looks like her scary side's cropping up there...' Nico thought, before grinning as he crossed his arms under his chest. "Well, if they come around again, mind if I watch? Sounds like an interesting festivity."
"Yup-Yup, now lets get going Ni-Ni. There's somewhere I wanna go."
"Sure."
A while later, it was close to the end of the day, with the sun beginning to set in the distance, allowing the cycle of night and day to repeat itself like it as done since time immemorial. Already, if one could look to the skies above, the sights of twinkling stars would be visible as time went on. To those with greater eyesight though, this would become even more apparent.
However, this wasn't that relevant compared to the things taking place right this moment.
After everything had been settled with the bullies, Nico had messaged the other Party members to inform them that he and Compa might be back late, whilst also inquiring as to how they were doing. As usual, each of them seemed to be doing their own thing:
Neptune being busy learning the ins and outs of Devil Trigger,
Noire apparently had begun training with Balmung,
Vert had seemingly begun searching across the lands for something. What that was, she didn't say, but Nico didn't press too hard for such information.
As for his comrades in Team RAIL, Aiden and Ivan remained as hardworking as ever, ranking up hundreds of Demonic kills and keeping the front lines from being overrun.
A shame, cause Nico had found himself developing a few new songs that he wanted to practice with them some time. The same could be said for Lucy and Raven too. He didn't know what Guts and Isaac were up to though, but he felt like they were doing their own things, so no worries were there.
Still though, none of this remained relevant to him the moment Compa and him arrived at the place she had wanted to visit. The place she had taken him to, Nico could NEVER have forgotten it no matter how many years had passed. He and her, they found themselves standing within a huge ass plain, one of many that Planeptune possessed. In the middle, just like before, there was that huge ass tree, which also seemed to have grown up to 20 meters in height, much bigger than what he remembered. "This... Compa, this place is..." he whispered under his breath.
"Hm mm!" Compa hummed affirmatively, twirling around to face him with her hands behind her back when she had gotten under the tree's expansive shade. "Yup! It makes me happy that you remember, Ni-Ni! This place is the same one where we slept together when we were 11. Do you remember how Grandpa covered us up in that blanket?"
At that, Nico let out a boisterous laugh as he walked up to her, embracing the cool sensations of the shade in place of the setting sun. "Hah, yeah I could never forget. Not to mention how we made a pact, didn't we?" Nico replied, grinning as the two sat down at the base of the tree, looking towards the descending sun. "It was that even if we were far away, we'd always think of one another. Heh..." Nico then held his hand up, his smirk resembling that of a child as he held the hand upwards, one index finger straight and his thumb stretched sideways like an upside down 'r'. "Wasn't this the symbol we used?"
Seeing the hand gesture like that, Compa nodded her head as her heart hammered wildly within her chest. "Y-Yes, that's it..." she replied, beaming so happily that she felt like she might burst into tears at any moment. She even made the same hand gesture he was making right now, holding it up to the tree above them. She didn't need to say it, cause she could tell Nico was aware of this.
But a small part of her always fretted that Nico would have forgotten about her, or worse the memories they shared together. It was an irrational fear though, given the exact nature and personality of her childhood crush. But then again, when had the heart ever been so logical?
Spending this time with him, away from all the chaos in this world, felt so much like a slice of heaven within a hellish world to her.
'Man, seeing Compa smile like this...' Nico thought to himself, doing all he could to suppress the face-splitting grin trying to form. Even if he couldn't sense positive emotions, Nico could still FEEL the amount of happiness and joy radiating from Compa in colossal sized waves. 'It makes everything that's bee happening so... irrelevant. Unimportant...'
This, THIS right here, would be one of the best feelings he ever had, besides fighting of course. Just chillaxing with someone he could trust, something which Nico had been searching for, for a goddamn longass time, felt freaking amazing. This wasn't something he felt like they would be doing often though, due to how things were progressing, so for the time being he'd simply take what he could get.
To that end, both Nico and Compa sat together, side by side watching the sunset before them. A calm, tranquil air washed over them, gently brushing through their hair and ruffling their clothes. Some of her hair nearly went into Compa's face thanks to the wind direction, but before she could take care of it, Nico's right hand moved seemingly on its own, brushing those loose hair strands behind her ear.
"E-Eh?"
"Huh?"
For a moment, both of them blinked, before looking away from one another, their faces tinted pink (Compa) and red (Nico) respectively. That action, the moment both looked at each other, they had instantly realized the instinctual nature it had, which only made their base embarrassment increase tenfold. The Nurse-In-Training had put one hand over the side of her head where Nico's fingers had gently caressed, face pink but a small smile was on her lips. Meanwhile, Nico resembled a tomato right now as he looked pretty much anywhere but where his companion was.
This would be the first time for him, but... Nico quickly began to feel... something. Something within him was beginning to change. It wasn't anything to do with his abilities, Nico would have identified it immediately if that were the case. No, for the first time, at the thought of Compa's smile his body began to heat up, his heart rate beginning to reach gattling gun speeds whilst his palms and forehead began sweating slightly. Holy shit, what the hell was this? What the hell was going on hee, why was his body acting this way?
'Instead of wondering about this, how about you strike a conversation with her?'
'Yeah, good idea Biko. I'll look into this later, but... what can I talk to her about?'
'Your condition could be a decent starter.'
That was true, Nico DID say that it would be best if they were in an isolated place before talking about that. Plus, since this place had been only known between him, Compa and her grandfather, it would be as good as any. "S-Say, Compa?"
"Hm? Yes, Ni-Ni?"
"Remember what I said before? About my condition?"
"Ah!" Compa's eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, before memories dawned on her as an excited gleam shone in her eyes. "You mean...?" she asked whilst displaying this excitement for all to see.
Something which made all this much easier for the male, her honesty would forever be something he'd treasure about her. How he had thought of her as someone dangerous regarding his secret, Nico no longer had a clue about. "Yeah, if you want... you can ask now." he admitted, whilst wondering what she would ask. Hopefully he'd be able to at least answer a few.
Seeing this chance, Compa took a moment to think about what she wanted to say. She'd been waiting for a while to ask these things, but she had never gotten the chance to actually do so. Now that she had however, she soon found herself unable to think of what to ask first. After a moment of thinking though, one question came to her. "Then, um... remember when Nep-Nep took that Tentacle of yours into her chest? Why did it look like it was attacking her?" she questioned.
'I should have figured that to be the case...' Nico thought to himself. Of course she would ask that, but he did say he would answer, so here he went. "Well, that answer's a bit complex, so i'll summarize it as best I can. I think in the past, my traumatized mind impacted my Kagune, for you see psychology effects its evolution. It resulted in my trauma having my Kagune developing the ability to strike as if it had its own will, attacking anyone who it perceives as a threat to me. Usually, I'm able to restrain it from attacking people out of the blue, but that's a lot harder when they are emitting killing intent. Its automatic, so it happens independent of my will, which resulted in many an assassin losing their lives without me even realizing."
Though it didn't need to be said, this ability may SOUND useful, but for someone who had been trying to keep it under wraps, it could be considered a double edged sword. Nico had lost count of how many times his Ghoulish Kagune had tried to come out to impale his enemies when it didn't need to, prying eyes or not. Nico had done many different things in order to sate its bloodlust, like using it on solo missions, killing monsters without being on quests, or letting it feast on the flesh of his human victims.
However, one would still say that he had trouble controlling that specific ability, memories of it nearly breaking free from his will multiple times across his journey with the party filling his mind. His Rinkaku would have been the more manageable one due to it being invisible via its vibrations by default, but the Bikaku and Koukaku?
No dice.
"Huh... that sounds tough, Ni-Ni... any idea on how you got it?" Compa questioned, her mind reeling as she tried to imagine what it would have been like, to have to always restrain oneself so they don't go on a bloodthirsty rampage, slaughtering everything they saw. To always have to be aware of such a thing, to always monitor it even when one was alone... no, Compa couldn't even BEGIN to imagine it. 'And... Ni-Ni's had to deal with it on his own... nobody would have been able to help him with it, either...' Compa thought, frowning to herself in sadness.
Nico then sook his head, dejection filling his being from that question. "Honestly, I've only got bits and pieces, and even then its only come back to me recently." He replied, looking up at the branches above. "I... well, you already have experience with this, but I usually have these... hallucinations, these visions and nightmares. They used to occur much mire frequently in the past before you and me found Neptune, but lately they've slowly gotten better. In any case, these hallucinating have always been about my past... and they've shown me snippets, like a large room, a chair, a... man, I think anyways. Other than that, I believe something like an organization was involved, its the only thing I could think of which could have taken so many children from the four nations."
"I see... then, you had one when I tried finding you when Iffy was taken by those meanies?"
"... Yeah..."
"..."
"..."
For a while, the two continued talking about Nico's Ghoul side, him explaining its mechanics, going into details (as much as he could without treading into classified territory) about the missions where he had to use it, about how his comrades Aiden and Ivan found out when he had to use it to save them from a couple powerful Abnormals, the likes of that. He tried his best to make it so that Compa got the whole picture with what he could say, and judging by her features Nico felt like he'd done a pretty decent job of it. Though, she did giggle at the more... comedic moments his ghoulish Persona Byakko (having told her about his mental state) had with his Demon one Biko. Since she had known about him, he didn't feel the need to hide those parts.
Though, he did feel MUCH better when he got to talk about it, it felt much more liberating than he could have ever imagined. Like this massive weight he had been carrying for a long time, finally got removed from his shoulders. Would this have bee what it would have been like if he had opened up to his childhood friend sooner? Had he really been THAT much of an idiot? Nico certainly FELT like he had, and it wasn't a good feeling, for sure.
(Play Date a Live OST: Secrets)
Right now however, something much more important was flowing through his mind as he looked towards his childhood friend: the various scars that littered Compa's body, scars Nico had done his best not to pay attention to until he couldn't hide his irritation and guilt over them any further. Also, to be frank he had been so focused on the date itself that he had forgotten they were there, but right now he could see them a bit, the most prominent one being the one where her Vocals had been ripped out before, along with the snippets he could see past her dress and cardigan. Those Scars, they reminded him so vividly of what he had seen to make them come into being, of what he had failed to do because of his own weakness, his own hesitation to do what had to be done. If he had been quicker to realize it all, then he would have been able to at least spare her from that torment...
Who know what kind of trauma she had gained because of such injuries.
Thinking back on it, Nico realized that she must have been even more nervous than he ever could have been, since wearing the clothes she did revealed more of those Scars than her regular attire did, the brutal savagery which had befallen her without mercy. And he had been staring at her for that long time, even though she tried to put up a front to hide it... This realization only made him feel like an even greater dick, how could he have done something so insensitive towards her feelings? Normally, he was good at perceiving those, that had been a fact up until now!
"Compa, I..." he began to say, only for the cream haired girl to shake her head, shushing him with an index finger to his mouth.
After these actions, Compa softly began to speak, her tone like a sweet melody which enriched his ears and made his very soul start to sing. "Its alright, Ni-Ni... you don't have to feel so guilty about these..." she stated, gesturing to some of the scars on her body. Thankfully her dress hid a lot of them, but... yeah, what happened back then would DEFINITELY leave a scar on her mind which would never be completely healed. "To be honest... I never did get over that time, not even up till now..." she began, taking her hand away and curling her knees up into her chest. She then gazed down at the ground before her heels, her eyes darkening as depression started settling in. "In the beginning, I always wanted to become strong, like the rest of us, and for a time, I had thought I'd finally reached my goal. That i'd be able to fight alongside you all like an equal instead of just some supporting character... like i'd be able to become an actual main character... but that guy changed it all for me."
Just thinking about what Mundus did to her back then sent no small amounts of chills down her spines, making her grip her legs tighter as phantom pains assaulted her body. "When we first fought that meanie Mundy guy, I... I was the first one to go... and also the one who did the least amount of damage to him. Not like we all did any to him, even you Ni-Ni, but the fact remained that... I was still the weakest out of all of us. I was still the runt of the latter, the link which our baddies will try to conk out..."
Nico wanted to, oh he SO wanted to tell her that wasn't the case, that Compa wasn't the weakling she thought she was, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Mostly because in all practicality, she was right. He wasn't one to sugarcoat things, and out of all of them Compa had done the least amount of damage to Mundus in their fight. Hell, if one wanted to ask who the one who did the most damage to him was, then it'd be a tie between Nico himself and IF, but they'd strongly argue against that since they both failed in the end.
They ALL did... and it got made all the worse when the enemy just spared them when he COULD have just axed them off right then and there.
"It was so humiliating, so agonizingly frustrating that I screamed into my pillow when we got to our hotel room into the night... I even had nightmares of the event, almost hallucinating it through the entire day had Mentor not begun training me even harder than she'd done before. I guess she had sensed what was happening to me, and wanted to help out the best she could... I'm grateful to her for that." Compa explained, her tone gradually losing the light and chirpy manner it usually had and becoming replaced with a melancholic, depressed one. "But, I still had them, and they kept making me question if my choice to gain this power was the right one, would it have even mattered? Power or not, I would have lost to that guy anyways no matter how much you slice it, Ni-Ni..."
At this, the redhead couldn't take it anymore as he began to say something. "You may be right there Compa… power or not you likely would have bit the dust. I'm not going to lie there, cause that would be stupid..." he stated, bluntly, making Compa do a mirthless chuckle.
"It would have been... nice if you did though, Ni-Ni..."
"Sorry, Compa. But, I just can't do that. You know me, I'm not one to sugarcoat things, I deliver facts as they are, not what we wish them to be."
Another chuckle escaped her, with a bit of light returning to it. "Yeah, I know Ni-Ni. You're not that type of guy, your someone who isn't afraid to say what he believes in, what needs to be truly said... your not trying to be someone your not... and that makes me happy. That honesty is what I expected from Ni-Ni... which is what I thought when in my darkest moments..." she told him, looking up at the stars. "This revelation was what drove me onwards ever since... I've been wanting to train my power, to master it at a level which I can safely say 'I am strong'. I want to be able to fight alongside everyone, Ni-Ni..." She spoke, shifting her gaze to him with a soft, fond smile breaking out onto her lips. "You especially. I want to be a main character, not a side character like I've been before."
"Compa…"
At that point, Nico honestly found himself floored by the young woman beside him, to the point he could only look at her in awe and amazement. If anyone thought this would be a typical 'friendship is power' moment that populated anime these days, they'd be sorely mistaken since Compa simply stated she wanted to get stronger so she could establish a better identity for herself. Not just because she wanted to fight alongside them, which was true, but to 'be her own main character' which basically meant to be her own person. That to him, felt WAY more powerful in comparison...
Still, this didn't detract him from what he wanted to do. "Even so though... if you would like... I could get rid of these Scars if you want..." Nico suggested, catching Compa's attention IMMEDIATELY, her eyes shifting into true shock and befuddlement. "I'm not lying before you ask, you know I don't lie. I... recently came into the... possession of something which has powerful healing powers. Therefore... if you want to have them gone, I think I can do that for you-"
"That would be lovely, Ni-Ni! Please do that so Nurse Compa doesn't have to see them in the morning every day!"
Apparently, she wanted them gone just as much as he did, since she interrupted him like that. Though, Compa soon realized just how ahead of herself she'd gotten and leaned away from him, flushing in embarrassment.
Well, far be it for him to not oblige her.
With that said, Nico released a single Rinkaku in its decloaked form, the Black Tentacle molding its tip into a Syringe like form. When she saw the Tentacle, Compa flinched, though Nico quickly assured her that this would be a painless procedure. This would be something that Nico would remember the Nature Elves for, whenever he used the power that the Royal Nature Spirit Core gave him, Nico would always think of those innocent creatures...and right now, he wanted to use their power to heal the old wounds of his childhood friend.
'Please, work...!'
That thought in mind, Nico allowed the Tentacle to plunge into Compa's neck, piercing an artery there to allow the Tentacle to inject blood pellets into her body faster. One could tell this was happening due to there being bulbs which flowed towards the Tentacle's tip into her form, and the moment this procedure began, Compa felt like she was being bathed in the warmth of nature... more so than she already was given her surroundings. It was a calm, gentle and wonderful feeling, something she treasured deeply... that, and it came from her crush, so her treasuring it felt like a default reaction to her by this point.
A few seconds later, did the Tentacle pull back, which allowed her to open her previously closed eyes to look down at herself, wondering if the procedure had worked or not. Just by looking at herself though, did Compa's eyes suddenly widen in shock, then joy, when she noticed unblemished skin where her Scars had once been. There had been practically nothing remaining of them, even as she looked down her dress in a way that Nico, who sat beside her retracting his Tentacle into him, wouldn't be able to see down her dress. This allowed her to see her body having been fully healed of its scars, not a single trace of them remaining.
"...NI-NIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Cue one MASSIVE hug from a jovial Compa, one in which he returned with just as much joy and affection.
(OST end)
By the time that Nico and Compa finished, night had fallen as evident with the moon taking the place of the sun in the night skies. Stars twinkled endlessly, filling it so completely it would resemble looking at this huge ocean's worth. The winds which had been only slightly chilly before, now raced through the plains with greater intensity.
'Looks like we should head back. The others will likely wonder where we are if we don't leave now...' Nico thought to himself when looking upwards, noticing the changes. "We should head back now, its not only getting late, but I doubt either of us would want to ruin this... date..." Nico paused to try and say that word without blushing crimson... he didn't succeed. "By having to get out clothes dirty. Not counting what Neptune might insinuate."
"Y-Yeah..." Compa replied, blushing at what Neptune might say if that had indeed been the scenario. Not only that, but she had to smile at how meek and timid Nico had been when regarding this as a date, having seen it as such for the entire time they spent together. She would admit to not having the slightest idea of how a standard date should go, but even so she still felt like this date had been WELL worth going out on. She could feel the joy of her various Angels too, which meant they agreed with her on that.
With that in mind, both Nico and Compa stood from the tree, blushing when the redhead took her hand in his (he didn't know why, but Nico liked the feeling of her hand in his) before beginning their trek back. A trek which took place under one of the beautiful night skies which Gamindustri got to see as a common occurrence… well, save for Lastation.
'I may not be an expert on human traditions, but I do believe that this has been a resounding success, has it not?'
'Not sure I can confidently agree with you there, but I do get that feeling too, Biko.' Nico mentally replied to his Demon Persona, glancing over to the Spirit Girl beside him who looked as cheerful as she ever did. Still, even with this feeling of success, Nico couldn't help but frown to himself. He wasn't the only one of the two who didn't have any humanity left in them anymore, Compa wasn't human anymore either. She was a Spirit now, and that fact would forever be irreversible... just, how could she live with something like that?
It disgusted him, but part of him wanted to use the Shingan to invade her thoughts and get her feelings on that matter. Most of it due to remnants of his previous insecurities, before he mercilessly crushed them. As a result, Nico mentally gathered up what courage he could find, and opened his mouth. "Say... um, Compa?" Whelp, no turning back now.
(Play Unravel Piano Cover by F.B. Piano Anime - Disclaimer)
"Yes?"
When Compa responded while looking towards him as they walked down the plains, Nico took mental notes of what he wanted to say, before he finally popped the question which had been plaguing his mind for a while now. "Are you... alright, with this? Being what you are right now?" he asked her. "I mean, you know it yourself the best, but you aren't human anymore. There's no humanity left in you now, and... I was wondering how you're coping with that fact. True, this means you'll have the power to fight back against these creatures threatening to kill us, but... it will get quite lonely." Nico explained, sighing sadly as he glanced to the side. "Believe me, I know. Not being human can be the worst thing imaginable to people, it can get cold, it can get dark, depressing and isolated. One who isn't human, will get pushed away and outcasted…"
What Nico tried to say, was that he'd been worried that Compa hadn't thought of the consequences of ascending into a Sprit, a non-human being. If the world found out, they would definitely try to kill her off for some fanatical reasoning, not something Nico would allow, but the fact remained still. He knew the situation she'd be in meant she had little option, and in some ways that made it all the worse. She had forcefully lost her humanity, and had become one of the MANY monsters in this world... a fate Nico had hoped wouldn't ever have befallen her. She shouldn't have to go through the same hardships as the rest of them, she deserved to live an ordinary civilian life, away from all this madness and chaos.
"I don't mind..."
"?!"
Eyes wide, Nico heard Compa's reply, swerving his head around to face her. He did this so fast that time almost had to speed up just to keep pace with his sudden movements. His eyes shrunk to the size of dots whilst his mouth hung open, pure disbelief shining behind his current expression. "Wha… what...?" he whispered, almost thrown completely for a loop.
"Well... I'll admit, I was a bit scared at first..." Compa admitted, looking away from him whilst scratching her jaw sheepishly, though her eyes told a different story. "I was a bit nervous since I had nobody to guide me, to help me learn about what I could do and what I could become in the future. After all, apparently my kind aren't supposed to be around anymore, but here I am: a Spirit and one who has multiple Angels, too. I will say that I felt scared and alone... but then... well, a few things happened, and I ended up being okay with it."
She then looked up to him, her eyes shining without any kind of doubt or anxiety on her part as she spoke. "First, I learned how to accept not thinking like a human. Despite being a Spirit, I'm still me, and that's the most important part of all this. Second... well, Ni-Ni, you're not the only one who wears Masks all the time." At this, Compa's lips curled downwards into a sad frown. "For most of my life, people have been bullying and tormenting me, making my life miserable... it was only when I began 'pretending' to be a good girl that they let up, and that just allowed them to walk all over me... but as long as I wasn't being hurt, I was fine with it. Though, I just deluded myself... this power? It showed me why that thought process wasn't a good idea, it helped me understand that, at the end of the day, i'm NOT that kind of girl. I'm me, and I shouldn't try to please everyone. Then... today, I came to another realization."
At this, Compa turned away from him, looking towards the direction of the Capital. "There are a lot of mean humans out there, real jerks who want to hurt others... and there are very few good ones... good ones I was fortunate enough to find. I'm not alone anymore, so... why should I care about people like them?" Turning back to him, Compa beamed a happy grin, leaning forth whilst hands were behind her back. "Why, when I have such wonderful friends instead? I still wanna be a Nurse in the future, but... I dunno, it feels different from before. I wanna be one... for myself. I wanna do what I wanna do, and that's to become a Nurse, I guess that would explain the gist of it." Compa explained, humming thoughtfully, before she returned to her previous demeanour. "So don't worry about me, Ni-Ni, I'm real fine with what I am, I don't regret it one bit. Neither should you."
Her piece said, Compa continued on their trek by skipping along the countryside, unknowingly leaving behind an absolutely bewildered Nico. Whatever he had wanted to say to her had pretty much been doused by her words, not to mention the sheer happiness behind them. She... she pretty much said she would rather be like this, than be a human with everyone else! Then again, she WAS surrounded by super powered people, thus if given the choice, and she had, Compa chose them instead of the fickle-minded masses. She chose them because, like she said, there were many assholes in the world, and few good folk out there, so if one's lucky enough to find them, then they should stick together like glue. That was the essence of her speech just now, and it absolutely ASTOUNDED him on the level of maturity he had seen from her.
Someone like her...
'She... really has grown, hasn't she? Compa… if it weren't for you, you who had remained from the beginning, I doubt I'd have made it this far. If this is the path that you wish to travel, then I'll be damned if I didn't help you as best I can along the way. The road ahead will likely be fraught with twists and turns around every corner, but if this is your resolve, then I believe you'll come out on top...' Nico thought, eyeing Compa from behind with a small smile on his lips.
This revelation also served to help him come to terms with something as well. 'If... if Compa was able to accept me like this... and the others would do the same... then I HAVE to figure out some way to repay them.' he thought further, his mind steeling itself with this resolution.
Thanks to everything he'd learned today, Nico FINALLY understood. He understood that there WERE people in this world who could accept him for who he was, even if he was a monster. It didn't matter to them, after all this world was full of Monsters so what's one more to worry about? As such, Nico NEEDED to find a way to show them his gratitude, no he WANTED to. He wanted to show them how thankful he felt inside, the immense sense of joy, gratefulness, relief, everything inside him he wanted to showcase to his comrades... no...
His FRIENDS.
They weren't just comrades on the battlefield, they weren't just brothers and sisters in arms anymore. Hell, if he would get technical, they weren't even just his friends... if he were to try and put a lid on it, he'd say that they were a strange mix of the three, combined with these... new feelings he felt inside. No matter what hey were however, Nico still felt ONE resolution hadn't changed in all this. In fact, it had been strengthened: His resolution to make sure they survive this mess. He'll lay down it all for them, since in his eyes THEY would be worth it.
Oh, how they indeed were...
(OST End)
