Ordinary Life

By: Aviantei

Chapter Nineteen

Great, Whiskey managed to keep himself from saying out loud. Just fuckin' peachy. Maybe it was unfair of him to judge Kamiki without getting to know her first, but Whiskey felt he had more than enough context already. She had spent plenty of time bossing Moriyama around—who was so lacking in social experience that she didn't realize what was going on or that it was messed up. At least having Mocha and the others as friends was enough to give Moriyama a reference point, but still.

Past experience meant that Whiskey didn't take well to bullying of any kind, even when it was minor. So that meant Kamiki was the last person in their cram school class that Whiskey wanted to be paired up with—so of course she was his partner for the day, of course.

No, don't let that get in the way. No matter what, you're on a mission, and that's more important that your personal feelings. Even if this is just some simple job and nothing dangerous, you gotta keep yourself under control. Whiskey was Mephisto Pheles's child—he had plenty of practice in regulating himself. So keeping it cool while doing exorcist chores it was.

Whiskey gave Kamiki a nod of acknowledgement and didn't say anything else. Kamiki didn't give a verbal greeting, either, leaving the two of them standing outside the building in an awkward silence. This was the downside of being early, but at least the time didn't crawl too badly until a figure in a dark True Cross jacket approached the scene.

"Ah, good, you're both already here," they said, brushing their dark bangs out of their face. "I'm Taniguchi, First Class, and I'll be your chaperone for today's work. Let's see, ah." They checked something on a clipboard. "You're Lord Pheles's kid, then, so that must make you Kamiki." Whiskey couldn't tell if Taniguchi's reaction was a good one or not, but Izumo's glance in his direction didn't help his general mood. "Well, since you're still just Exwires, today's mission is pretty simple." They gestured to the run-down looking building. "Someone's interested in renovating this place, so we need to clear out the coal tar for the most part. There might be a few hobgoblins, too, but nothing you two can't handle." Given his own assessment of things, Whiskey wasn't all that surprised by the chore, but he and Izumo still ended up pulling faces. "Haha, yeah, I know how you feel. But if we get started now, it shouldn't take all that long. Oh, but I did bring some general cleaning clear, so…"

The next few minutes were filled with Taniguchi unloading the backpack they'd brought along. Since coal tars were—for the simplest of explanations—sentient dirt, getting rid of an infestation of the things usually involved lots of cleaning. Thus their "equipment" consisted of bandanas and aprons to keep the mess from ruining too much of their uniforms. Whiskey had known that an Exwire mission would be grunt work, but it was still kind of lame.

Well, if I look at it the right way, you could think of this like ordinary community service, then? Sighing, Whiskey went to head inside. "I'll do my best to clear out as many of the coal tars as I can," he said, planning on using his Submission to take care of it. I'll round back later on." Considering that places like this tended to attract King Tars, it would be rather inconvenient to start tidying up and have one make a mess over their efforts.

"Good plan, Pheles-kun," Taniguchi said, seeming to be aware of Whiskey's general abilities. He tried not to think about the reason why Taniguchi knew about his powers, but at least he could get on with things without having to explain himself. "You want backup?"

"I should be fine. I'll come back if I run into anything I can't handle." Aside from the mass of coal tars, Whiskey couldn't sense anything too powerful, so it would be okay. He tossed a wave over his shoulder, opening the door to a cloud of dust (that he almost choked on, but hush), while Taniguchi behind him was saying, "Let's get started out here with some cleansing charms, then, Kamiki-kun."

Waving the dust and dirt away from his face, Whiskey forged inside. Since the windows were messy, there wasn't all that much light coming in from the outside, but Whiskey's eyes adjusted with no problem. Even so, it still looked like a mass of blackness, thanks to the swarms of coal tar in the air. Even if Whiskey went at his top possible speed, having some Aria charms and wards set up outside would help make the job go faster.

"Alright, you punks," he said, already letting his aura seep out, "do me a favor and submit."

It was time to get to work.

Three rooms of the damn things later, Whiskey was getting bored—and even worse was they weren't halfway through the house yet. Coal tars were so small that it wasn't like they'd fill up his Submission anytime soon, and he could take them in without causing too much overall strain, plus they took an hour max to slip into his power reserves. Still, this place had been sitting around for long enough that it was infested with the little demons, and Whiskey would be happy if he never saw another one in his probably long, long life.

At least with hundreds of the things cleared out, the house was starting to look brighter, though that just made it all the more apparent that it was filled with dirt. Whiskey was pretty damn sure he'd sneezed at least once every ten minutes since he'd started.

"Hey, Pheles-kun," Taniguchi called from the entrance. "We're about to set up the final sets of charms. You wanna head out here and see how it's done?"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Snatching a few more coal tar from the air on the way, Whiskey stepped back outside. While he'd seen plenty of barriers set up in his day (after you saw something on the scale of Vati's magic, not a lot seemed all that impressive), Whiskey was more relieved for the opportunity to take in some fresh air.

At least there was a noticeable difference on the outside of the house, though that was because there were now a variety of tags and spell circles set up on the building itself and the ground surrounding it. Whiskey stepped out of their immediate range (they wouldn't affect him in the slightest, but best not to interfere with the spell) and started dusting the dirt off his apron, trying to restore some semblance of its original white color.

"I take it you recognize these spell patterns?" Taniguchi asked, and Whiskey nodded. "Good, I figured you would have covered this stuff in class already, but it's still important to know what you're dealing with, even if you aren't an Aria. Like I was telling Kamiki-kun, this will weaken a lot of the ability of any new coal tars from forming, so that'll make clearing things out a lot easier on us. Plus the residual effects will mean they'll have way less issues whenever they start taking things apart here."

"Why don't they just tear it down?" Kamiki asked, still checking over a few of the spell circle lines. Given her performance in lessons, she seemed much more likely to pursue some Aria skills as a support class, so she was probably interested in seeing something like that up close. "That'd be a lot easier than all this, right?"

Taniguchi hummed. "Well, I know the answer to that, but learning opportunity and all that. Pheles-kun, any ideas?"

Surprised by the sudden shift to him, Whiskey took a moment to answer. "Mostly because if they just tore it down without checking, there's a chance that they'd upset something a lot more dangerous than just some coal tars." The fact that they had sent Exwires to take care of things meant that they'd already cleared that out of any suspicion, but something in that ballpark could turn into a real mess real fast. "But even after confirming it, coal tars tend to gunk of equipment and mess with people's lungs—and they get all over the place if you destroy everything, which means they'll just get everywhere else. So it's just better to exorcise them all beforehand."

"And correct you are," Taniguchi said. Kamiki looked at Whiskey, her expression betraying the hint of her surprise that it seemed she was trying to hold back. "Plus, well, things like this make for good Exwire missions, too, so that's also why we're here. I know it's not glamourous, but that's how we do. Alright, Kamiki-kun, let's try out that Aria I showed you."

"Right." Kamiki stepped forward, taking up a position at one end of the circle, while Taniguchi took up another. At the elder exorcist's go, the two of them started up a chant—some sutra that Whiskey sort of recognized but didn't know how to identify—though it was clear that Taniguchi was taking the spell at a slower pace than they otherwise would have so Kamiki could keep up with the unfamiliar words.

Though he wasn't in the middle of it, it was difficult to describe what it felt like to be so close to a ritual aimed at clearing out demons. Sure, it was simple enough that it couldn't affect more than low level demons, but it still sent an unpleasant wave of goosebumps over Whiskey's skin. Within a few minutes, the Aria was complete, and the air picked up an almost sterile scent were it not for the faint metallic edge to it.

"Excellent work, Kamiki-kun," Taniguchi said with a smile. Even with her short stature, it was more than obvious that Kamiki puffed up with pride. Whatever Whiskey's bias was towards her, he had to admit that she was skilled at these sorts of things—well, maybe it was to be suspected considering her whole miko background going on? "Pheles-kun, if you don't mind."

"Yup, on it." That spell had enough power behind it that most of the coal tar had to have been exorcised, but Whiskey was more than aware that some were still left behind. And with the residual remains of the circle, any that hadn't been exorcised were going to be looking for a quick exit from its influence so they didn't get exorcised as well.

There was the faintest sense of rumbling, and then a whole stream of the things came out in one very dusty wave of black. Whiskey had moved into the prime position, blocking most of the coal tars' path and sucking them away into Submission without many issues. Sure, there were a few extra floating about, but that was a pretty harmless number all things considered. True Cross Academy Town could handle that much.

Whiskey would have managed a pretty dramatic end on things if he hadn't broken down into a fit of sneezes the next second. But at least Kamiki and Taniguchi were in a similar condition, so it wasn't that embarrassing. Whiskey would just have to take advantage of another opportunity to show off should one arise.

…Not that showing off against coal tars was all that impressive, but details.

"Alright, good work!" Taniguchi said once they'd all recovered from the dust cloud. "If you want, we can take a breather before we go ahead and clear out more."

"I'll keep going," Whiskey said, feeling like they were in the end stretch. With two massive cleanings done, there couldn't be much work left to do. "The sooner we finish up, the better." You knew you were having a Day™ if it wasn't even noon and you already you needed a bath.

"If they're still going, then I'm going, too," Kamiki said. Whiskey raised an eyebrow. Was she…competing with him? Well, either way, more hands were better than less. "I don't feel like dealing with this mess any longer than necessary."

That, if nothing else, was something they could agree on.

Competition seemed like a silly word to use given they were down to the part of the mission that made them all but housekeepers, but at least they were both motivated to wrap things up. With a general exorcism done and the windows open, the place was looking a lot better already. Since it turned out the person who had bought out the lot was intending to keep the building in one piece aside from renovations, there was plenty of cleaning to do.

At least Taniguchi made the job easier by turning out to be a Tamer with a contract with some naiads. Kamiki completed her own summoning, her kitsune familiars griping all the way but using their blessings to stir up the wind enough to clear out a lot of the dust. Whiskey was then on general scrubbing down duty, though he at least contributed more by sucking up whatever coal tars happened to remain on the ground floors. If nothing else, he found cleaning to be overall relaxing, so it could have been a much worse mission—though maybe that was in part to his demonic abilities making it so he didn't get worn out by the physical labor.

Well, whatever got the job done, he supposed.

Within a couple of hours, the house was looking about as good as it could. Oh, sure, the wallpaper was outdated to the point of being horrendous, and there were plenty of places in the walls and the ceiling that would need replaced, but it was a far cry from any coal tar nest Whiskey had ever seen. May whoever wanted this place feel they'd gotten their money's worth for the supernatural cleaning job.

"Alright, break," Taniguchi said, clapping their hands together. "You kids have been working hard, so I'll go pick up some lunch for us, and then we can walk through the paperwork to wrap things up. I know first missions aren't all that exciting, but you did well, so congrats." After a little bit more on the logistics side involving their orders, Taniguchi stepped out, leaving Whiskey and Kamiki behind.

Alone.

Aaand it's more awkward silence.

Whiskey spent a few moments on his phone, but with Mocha and Ruma both also busy on their missions, there weren't many messages to respond to, and killing time playing a mobile game while on a mission seemed like a bad look, so he tucked it back in his pocket and decided to wonder. It was better than sitting in the same room as Kamiki and soaking in the sheer awkwardness.

Maybe I should ask Yukio-kun to make sure we don't get assigned like this again. No, wait, that's just petty. Maybe I should try talking to her…? Ugh, but just talking and not calling out her bullshit with Moriyama isn't happening, either, and I know I'll snap. Whiskey ran a hand down his face, more than exasperated, but then paused, blinking. "Was that door there earlier?"

He was pretty sure that it hadn't been, but it also could have just been buried under all the muck they'd cleaned off the walls. Then again, maybe Taniguchi had been planning to save it for post-lunch, but there was no harm in getting a head start if so. Whiskey pulled open the door, and, sure enough, there was the scent of more dust and mold and coal tars. He sighed, resigning himself to more work.

"What're you doing?" Kamiki's voice asked behind him, and Whiskey didn't have much more to do than to gesture at the door. Kamiki's expression scrunched up as she observed it. "Ugh, of course there's more. Well, go on. If you're taking care of it, I'm coming with you."

Whiskey did not have any energy to argue that, so he nodded and got on with it. He could see the light switch without any issues even in the dark room—but flicking it on did nothing whatsoever. Kamiki grumbled a curse behind him and pulled out her phone to serve as a flashlight. "Careful," Whiskey said, "there's stairs," and then started to head on down.

The steps creaked with every little bit of weight put onto them, and Whiskey put his hand against the (also dirty and dusty; ew) wall to steady himself. Kamiki seemed to be taking it slow behind him, and Whiskey couldn't blame her, either. Except that didn't help since about halfway down there was a crack.

Kamiki screeched, tumbling forward and Whiskey did his best to grab onto the wall, but he didn't get his claws grown fast enough to catch on, so tumbling it was! Between Whiskey's cursing and Kamiki's shouts, they'd made quite a racket by the time they hit the ground, and several other stairs had broken behind them in the process. If nothing else, Whiskey had landed on the ground first, cushioning Kamiki's fall. Not ideal, but Whiskey was a lot less fragile, so Kamiki shouldn't have gotten too hurt.

"Ugh, what the hell?" Kamiki said, half groaning out the words. "The rest of the house wasn't that worn down. Why'd it have to go and break?"

"Yeah, maybe a little less complaining and a little more getting up please," Whiskey said, and Kamiki yelped as she seemed to realize the position she was in. Soon she'd gotten up, though she stumbled, and Whiskey just managed to catch her halfway through sitting up. "Shit. You okay?"

"I think I'm bleeding." Yup, Whiskey could smell that much. Kamiki's phone had fallen somewhere into the dark, so she couldn't see, but Whiskey could. "I can still stand; hold on a second."

Whiskey had opened his mouth to report that it just looked like a scrape—but then something moved in the dark and he went through a complete and total reassessment of his priorities, one of which involved getting to his feet as quickly as possible. Kamiki started to protest, but Whiskey hushed her, trying to figure out if whatever they had just stumbled on was dangerous or not.

And then there was a snarl that he knew as well as the sound of his own voice, and Whiskey knew the answer to that question was yes.

[Author's Notes]

My posting schedule in these non-walk steady slots is just gonna be chaos this year, and I've accepted it.

Thanks much to Yurasen, BethxAngel, rex727, and Anutanuta for the faves, follow, and review! Y'all make me happy.

I've been rereading the manga on a whim, and there are some arcs where I have very clear plans and other arcs where a lot is up in the air. The good news is that I at least know what I'm doing for the current part of the timeline we're on! Welcome to me digging into the mundane detail of what baby Exwire missions look like! Prepare for this mission to soon not be very baby Exwire-friendly at all.

The next update will be whenever I stop getting dragged down into this new idea I'm building up (ha). Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[04.30.2022]