Lavender and oil, unlikely combination, yet it happened. My bathroom filled with these two scent, lavender from my soap and oil from Aragami girl. She played with Licca and run around in our workshop. Didn't take long before she crashed into oil barrel. That what she got for sped in cramped space filled with gallons of oil, grease, and other liquid.
"Uuuh, this stain is soo stubborn." My sister sat on bathroom floor, strenuously brushed Aragami girl tattered cloak.
"Yeah, that's oil for you." I wiped Aragami girl pale skin with piece of cloth repeatedly.
"Isn't she a handful little girl? Although... that doesn't explain why you're in tub with her, sis."
"Ask her. She tugs me while I rinsed her hair. Look, I still have my cloth on." I grabbed the edge of my wet shirt.
"Bath!" The Aragami girl chirped.
Wave of water washed away bubbles and stain from her body. She hummed with each stroke of my hand on her head. It was unexpected, I never thought she had energetic side beneath her calm and innocent behavior.
"Sis? I brought this girl to my workshop this morning." I poured warm water over Aragami girl head.
"You what? What about Licca?"
"Charmed. This little girl sure know how to steal people's affection. Licca told me to name this kid, and I think she's right. We can't keep calling her little girl."
"Cha... med?" The Aragami girl wobbled her head.
"Ah! I'll call everyone. We'll name her together." My sister rushed for bathroom door, then sprinted to elevator, completely forgotten about half washed tattered cloak.
"Now she dumped her job to me..." I sighed at bubbly half clean cloak.
"Du...mb?"
Just like the other day, we gathered in Dr. Sakaki's office, forming a circle around Aragami girl.
"Now all of you have gathered, let's get started. Wait... where's Soma?" I noticed he wasn't among the crowd.
"I don't know. His bedroom was empty." My sister answered.
"Never mind. Who want to go first?" I spoke to the crowd.
"Go about what?" Kota shot puzzled look at me.
"Eh? Do you know why you're here?"
"Not a clue." Kota replied.
"I don't know." Alisa said.
"Your sister told us to meet you and doc Sakaki." Sakuya spoke.
I stared blankly at Rina. She fidgeted under my gaze. "First you ditched your job, now you forgot to explain why you invited them?"
"Hehe, sowwy" She rubbed the back of her head.
"Airhead." I grumbled. "Anyway, we need to name her." I pointed my finger at Aragami girl.
"You want to... name her?" Alisa fiddled her hair and looked at Aragami girl.
"We can't keep calling her 'the child', and 'the specimen', while accurate seems... cruel." Dr. Sakaki said.
"She's not your specimen doc." I glared at him. "Name is important thing, that's why I asked you all to come. We'll name her together."
"Hahaha! Well, I hate to brag, but I'm a pretty darn good name... er... of th-things and stuff." Kota said.
"Well that seems ominous..." Alisa sighed.
"I think you've made a mistake by bringing him here." I stared at my sister.
"Hmm... Let us see here." Kota closed his eyes for a while. "Bam, got it! Norami!"
Dr. Sakaki's office went quiet right after he spoke. Everyone looked at Kota with different expression. My sister and I stared blankly at him, Sakuya and Alisa wore half annoyed half surprised expression, Dr. Sakaki maintained his everyday impassive face, while the Aragami girl... She just bobbled her head as usual.
"Yep, definitely a mistake." I mumbled.
"Uh... No!" Alisa denied.
"What do you mean, no?! You got a better idea?"
"I didn't say that... Why should I have to..."
"Ha! I found you out, sister! You're afraid, aren'tcha? You got no style!"
"I most certainly am not afraid, you brute! Um... Well... she could be... uh..."
"Shaddap, both of you. You gi-"
"Shio!" The Aragami girl interrupted me.
"What did you say?" I snapped my head at Aragami girl beside me.
"Shio..." She slowly stared back at me.
"Yes! Yes, that's perfect! And precisely what I was going to say. Thank you, Shio."
"You're such a liar! Shame! If we can't think of anything, let's go with Norami." Kota stopped for a while and turned to Aragami girl.
"Shio."
"Is Shio... already your name?" Sakuya asked.
"Yep! Shio!" She firmly spoke.
What? I thought she didn't have one. Why she never said it before? Lack of knowledge?
"Well, it appears this was a vain exercise. The child has already been christened. Very well then, Shio it is!" Dr. Sakaki declared.
"Whaaaat?! Come on! Are you suuuure you don't wanna be Norami? It's pretty cool."
"Nope!"
"Gaaah! Work with me here!" Kota shouted.
"Ah! I have an idea." My sister clasped her hands. "Let's us celebrate for her new name."
"Huh? Not bad, but we haven't prepared anything yet. It'll take at least an hour to cook a dish for five persons, even more if we make different kind of it."
"Five? Aren't you forgetting someone?" My sister looked at me.
"Nope, count me out. I'm not in the mood for another meal and Shio eat special kind of food. That leaves you, Kota, Alisa, Sakuya, and doc Sakaki."
"Hell yeah! Homemade food!" Kota jumped in excitement.
Homemade food, he jumped. How simple. I couldn't blame him, I'd taste it first-hand how horrible Den canteen foods actually were. Alisa and Sakuya lent us a hand in kitchen while Kota... well, he wasn't much help, but he kept Shio curiosity at bay.
Our party ended abruptly. Soma barged into my room and dragged the First Unit. It was about urgent mission or something. They left their half eaten food on table and scuttled away, leaving me alone with Shio.
"Hm? What's up Shio?" I watched her crawled to table, sniffing First Unit leftover.
"Tasty..." She took a piece of vegetables and ate it. "Yuck..." She spat out.
I pressed my hands on my mouth, trying to suppressed a laugh that was about to leaked. She childishly wiped her mouth and frowned. "That's not your food. Come here..." I pulled Fallen Gboro-Gboro fin from my bag.
She came back to me, grabbed the food I offered and bowed. "Thank you..."
'Rei? She has a name now.' I brushed Shio's hair.
'Yes, Shio. It's decent. Although I wonder, who named her?'
'Pretty name, I think. Me too, we need to improve her knowledge if we want the answer. Tell me, why can't we taste normal food?'
'Aragami born with instinct to devour everything. Maybe it's adaptation to our... diet. We eat many kinds of things after all.'
'That isn't the case with other Aragami. I can still taste it.'
'Indeed it isn't. Perhaps it is sort of incentive for us? We become stronger much faster if we keep eating other Aragami.'
'Hmm... I understand most of it. That means Shio, too, will grow stronger with each Aragami she eats.' I looked at Shio. She happily sat on the ground and chewed piece of Gboro-Gboro fin. 'I might need to teach her how to fight properly.'
'Agreed. She might not be able to generate Oracle field or assume another form, but she can create a weapon from her hands.'
'Eh? She can't? Why?'
'It's ability unique to me. Never once in my life I saw other Aragami with ability like mine. You're able to use it because you're my host.'
'Okay, I got it, no need to be so smug like that.' I grinned at him.
'I'm merely stating the fact. I'll borrow your body for a while.'
Familiar sense of paralysis swept over me, and my control gradually weakened. 'Sure, why do you need it?'
'Nothing, I just want to chat with Shio.'
"Hello Shio." The word that came from my mouth wasn't mine anymore.
"Who...?" Shio looked at me.
'Wow, she noticed you immediately Rei.'
'Of course. There's subtle shift in Oracle field when I took over you. It's impossible to miss for her.' Rei ruffled her hair "I'm Rei. Nice to meet you Shio."
"Rei..." Shio stated.
They chatted with each other for a while. Well, actually it was Rei and Shio, I merely watched them. He talked about many mundane things, Aragami, places, humans, food, or even serious topic like combat and hunting tactic. Poor Shio, she didn't have enough vocabulary and forced to listen his rambles silently. But it was a good thing, she learned bit by bit from Rei's tale. By the end of his rants Shio's knowledge had improved a lot.
I tightened my still sluggish muscles and bent my joints, flushing any paralysis left in my body. That was a rare occurrence, Rei almost cared for nothing. He never used my body unless in serious circumstances. What made him suddenly appeared?
"Rena!" Shio yelled.
"Yes, Shio, I'm back." I rubbed her hair.
"Hungry!" She raised her fist.
"What? You just finished your Gboro-Gboro fin." I dug my knapsack immediately.
"Still... hungry." She shook her head.
"What an appetite... Shit, there's nothing left." I dropped my empty knapsack and took a Core from my drawer. "Here, go ahead."
"Shit!" Shio mimicked my word with her innocent tone.
"Whaaat?! Don't say that!" I dropped the Core out of surprise.
"Why?" Shio took the Core and looked at me.
"Um... Bad word?"
'Pffff. You dug your own grave.'
'Shut it you moron.'
"Bad word... Rena say bad word... Bad Rena!" Shio concluded.
A wave of heat climbed my cheek. "Whaaaaa... No, I'm-."
"Bad Rena!" Shio repeated her word.
"Aaaah... I'm sorry." I slumped in defeat. Child logic could be really cruel sometimes.
'Right on the spot, good job Shio. That's what you get from becoming her bad influence, Rena.' Rei laughed.
I stormed into my bathroom and filled my tub with warm water and soap. Bubbly warm water and lavender scent around me eased my cracked pride. Lost to a mere child did a number on my ego. I played with bubbles in my tub while planned my next move. I could either teach Shio in my training room or brought her with me in my hunt. She survived for who-knows-how-long out there alone, surely she could take on single medium or large Aragami by herself.
Soft fuzzy towel brushed my body, absorbing warm water on my skin along the way. I hauled my body out from my comfy bathroom into Dr. Sakaki's cold office. He sat on his couch, drinking a cup of coffee while read a research note or something like that.
"Doc? I need medium or large sized Aragami for Shio, can you scan it?"
"What kind of Aragami?"
"Anything will do." I followed Dr. Sakaki to his computer.
"Any medium or large Aragami, yes? Let's see..." Dr. Sakaki watched his monitors until some of it beeped. "There're many different medium or large Aragami scattered in Far East region, but most of it have been registered in Fenrir mission database."
"Nope, that won't do. Any unregistered Aragami around?"
"Yes, Sariel in Valley of the Blue Ice and Fallen Borg Camlann in Infernal Subway." Dr. Sakaki pointed two dots on his monitor.
"Got it, thanks doc."
I returned to my room to picked Shio and headed to helipad. As usual, nobody paid attention to us, only occasional glanced or murmured. Worked for me, I didn't enjoy unnecessary attention. Helicopter door opened, I sat on middle seat along with Shio.
"Heli... Helichopper!"
"No silly, it's helicopter or chopper." She had larger vocabulary than few days ago, but still tend to mixed up one thing and another.
"Heli... copter!" Shio raised her fist.
"Good job." I patted her head.
'We should teach her making weapon.'
What the hell did Rei think? Shio barely able to comprehend a conversation, yet he asked me to teach her complicated stuff. I was kinda expecting her to failed, so it definitely surprised me when a blade suddenly sprouted from her hands. An organic long white blade with bonny growth around its handle, somehow had a bit of resemblance to my dark blue blade. She stared at me, proudly lifted her new blade.
"You did it Shio, good job." I brushed her hair.
"What is... good job?" Shio swayed her head.
"It's something you say after doing the right thing."
"Ehehe, good job."
We jumped from the chopper and landed near small hole which led to Infernal Subway. The air around us grew warmer and saturated with sulfur. Up, down, left, right, I pushed through narrow tunnels that transformed into a maze, single-mindedly followed sulfur scent with Shio at my back. The sulfur thickened, soon, we reached small platform on the south side of Infernal Subway.
This place never changed, still as hellish as ever. Shio turned her head around, examining her surrounding as we kept moving. We walked in these wide ruined subway, searching for our target, an overgrown scorpion. Didn't take long before my ears registered clicking noises, like something hard clashed on concrete. My eyes followed the source and found our target. It was a large red scorpion Aragami with skull like pincer and humanoid torso, suspiciously resembled Susano'o I met month ago in this tunnel. It ate a Cocoon Maiden remains, completely unaware of our presence behind it.
"Shio? Look." I pointed at giant scorpion in front of us.
"Food!" She chirped and swayed her blade, eagerly jumped into the fight. "Go...?"
"Watch and learn." I crept to the giant scorpion's legs.
"Watch... learn...?"
One step, followed by another, then another. I stalked the giant scorpion with gaunlets on my hands, quietly closing the distance between us. A loud crack echoed in the tunnel, followed by angry roar. My gauntlets slammed into its left leg, shattering its armor to pieces, exposing the raw crystal like flesh beneath.
"NOW!" I shouted at Shio.
She rushed at Borg Camlann damaged leg and hacked it, adding more damage to already broken leg. I rolled, turned, and dashed away, then heard another crack. Shio broke another part of its leg armor, and now aimed at front legs. I stopped moving after placed a good distance between me and that scorpion. Far enough so I didn't catch their collateral damage, yet close enough so I could rush in any time.
'What are you doing? You should help her, not leave her alone.'
'No, I need to know her style, her strength and weakness, and most importantly, her limit.' I flexed my gauntlet cladded fingers. 'Don't worry, I'll jump in at the moment it turns sour.'
'Fair enough.'
I began to see how she managed to survive alone out there. Nimble sword wielding cat with serious raw power and instant regeneration, that how Shio fought in battle. She jumped around, dodging its tail and spikes while slowly chipped away its armor.
"Yaaah!" Shio leaped, raising her sword, and brought it down to its head.
There, an opening. Shio jumped too short, she would crash its skull shield instead. Single spike rammed its front leg, broke its stance, and tumbling the scorpion forward.
A crack, a wail, and sweet metallic scent. The scorpion fell upside down, twitched few more time, before finally stopped. Shio's blade cleaved its head in two. I moved closer to Shio, watching her examined her kill. Her eyes glittered with hunger, she turned her head and looked at me silently, asking for my permission before she dug in.
"Go on, it's your prey after all." I drove my gauntlet down to Borg Camlann chest, and snatched its Core. "Here, eat this first."
"Thank you." Shio took its Core and ate it greedily.
'Hey Rei, why Shio always asked for my permission first?'
'Simple, she subconsciously acknowledges you as the alpha. Aragami give priority to the leader of their group, like Ogretail to Vajratail, Kongou to Fierce Kongou, and so on.'
'Why?'
'How should I know? We were born like this'
"Eat...?" Shio spoke to me. She offered a piece of Borg Camlann leg.
My mouth water at her invitation. I bit my lips and curbed my hunger. Shio might be okay with that, but not me. Ate something so raw like that felt... wrong to me. I reached for the piece of hard leg she offered and stashed it in my knapsack.
"Thank you, but I'm not hungry." It was a lie. It still there, and always would.
Shio kept eating Borg Camlann while I cut it to pieces and stuffed it in my knapsack. The giant scorpion now reduced to pile of Aragami flesh, then to scrap of Aragami flesh, before disappeared into her stomach. She smiled brightly at me, showing her bloodstained face and hands along the way.
"Look at how messy you're..." Sleeves of my shirt brushed her face, cleaning some of her blood-covered lips.
"Messy?" Shio tilted her head, like confused puppy.
"Yeah, this..." My finger traced blood on her face and showed it to her. "is messy. You mustn't allow it to splashed on your face."
"I did bad..." Shio looked down.
Okay that seriously dangerous. Her downed face crashed my mood down to the floor. "Don't worry about it." My hand bounced on her hair. "You need a bath though."
Shio immediately perked up and stared at me. "Bath!"
"Yeah I know, I know, you'll have it after we returned to my room."
"No..." She shook her head and grabbed my hand. "Go..."
"Wait, where are we going?"
Shio dragged me through various tunnel and corner, ignoring small fry that scrambled away from my Oracle field. We stopped at the end of Infernal Subway, directly before a massive lava lake. She stripped her cloak off.
"Go!" Shio dived into lava lake head first, swim around, and cheerfully splashed lava at me.
'Well, what're you waiting for?'
'What the hell is wrong with you both? You choose lava over warm bath...' I sighed in exasperation.
'No, it's the same thing for us. Will you turn her down?'
"Go...?" Once again, Shio called me, asking me to joined her bath.
I relented a bit after she asked me for the third time. Warm lava reached my knees as I sat on the edge of half melted railroad. Shio swam closer to me, floating in place while held a piece of metal rail as support.
"Go?" Shio asked me, again.
"No, I'll stay here, go ahead."
"Okay..." Shio swam back and played. She dived, jumped, swirled around, as if she was in a pool of water instead.
I sat on the edge, she swam in the middle. My lips curved, forming a smile at my memories. This exactly what happened few years ago. It was... saturday? Another scorched noon, with sun right above our head, baking us to crisp. Our little group, my sister, Romeo, Julius, Ciel, Nana, was panting, hard. We looked around for any refreshments around Magnolia cafeteria, and to our bad luck, they run out of ice cubes. With defeated look, we headed back to our dormitory, hoping to cool ourselves off with shower.
On our way back we came across a fish pond in Magnolia garden. I didn't know what caused it but Romeo suddenly sprouted another absurd idea. He told us to swim in fish pond. My sister, Ciel, and Julius instantly opposed his idea while Nana agreed to him, whereas I chose to stay neutral. After slightly heated debate, we agreed to at least accompanied Romeo and Nana. My sister, Ciel, and Julius sat under tree shade, reading various book, while I sat on the edge of fish pond, occasionally kicked cold water beneath my feet and enjoyed relaxing smell of nearby flower garden.
Romeo and Nana dived into fish pond without second thought. They swam among startled fishes, played, and splashed water at each other face. Sometimes Nana swam closer, asking me to join them, like what Shio did moment ago. I refused, telling them that I wasn't in the mood. Stupid childish pride, I didn't admit that I couldn't swim. Yeah, I sunk like a brick. Needless to say, Magnolia staff was livid. They found few fishes floated on their pond, permanently. In the next day, we cleaned other dormitories' bathroom as our punishment. Not that we complained, our little mischief was really worth it. We never knew that was our last mischief together. In the next couple of days Dr. Rachel, Magnolia Compass leader, took Julius away from us. Well, that was few years ago, about four or five perhaps.
I felt a nudge from my back, and found out Shio had back on her cloak, ready to leave this hell hole.
"Done already?"
"Yep, go!"
We were back to the surface after series of twisted tunnels and slopes. There was still some time left before our transport arrived, so we sat on nearby rooftop, watching the star above us. Shio's curiosity kicked in again, she gazed at the moon, watching it with her wide clueless eyes.
I held her from behind, pressed our body together, and rested my chin on her shoulder. "That is moon."
"Moon...? Tasty...?"
"No, it's not. It's barren in fact." I whispered.
"What barren?"
"Barren is empty. Nothing lives on there, nothing but wasteland and dirt."
"Sounds... sad. What is that thing...?" Shio pointed at the sky.
I squinted, trying to see the faint outline of... helicopter rotor?
"That's our transport let's go Shio." I grabbed her hand and helped her to stand up.
Only sound of helicopter rotor followed me home. Shio uncharacteristically quiet on our way back. Usually, she hummed or talked about anything, now she closed her mouth shut. It almost like she was pondering over our conversation, or perhaps she did.
A pair of boots and two bare feet traveled down the empty hall in Fenrir Den. Nobody awoke at this late, not even Hibari. I took an elevator down below, to my warm fluffy bed in my chamber. Lately, I spent my night on my bed, whether it was out of boredom or habit, and waited patiently until the sun rose.
Surprised, no, baffled. That what I felt the moment my door opened. Entire First Unit stayed in my room, although Soma sat in the corner of my room, unwilling to chat with others. Scent of mixed dishes hanged in the air, they resumed the party, obviously, even without Shio.
"Yo, mister grumpy, what're you doing here?" I teased Soma.
"Ask your damn sister." He snapped at me.
"Oh, you're back. How your mission going?" My sister noticed me talking.
"Filled to the brim" I showed my bloated knapsack and sat beside her. "Why you bring them here? I thought we've finished our celebration."
"We got interrupted, remember? And it doesn't feel right to throw away these foods, besides..." She looked at Kota. "He whined this entire time, saying things like bad luck or something like that."
I should've guess that. It Kota we were talking about. "And how did you convince him to come?" I spoke louder on purpose and pointed at Soma.
He intensely glared at me. Oh, if a glare could kill I would be six feet under. I replied his glare with playful grin.
"Yes, he rejected my offer right off the bat. He finally agreed after I bugged and told him it was an order."
"Good job, he need to open up a bit more." I gave my sister a thumb up.
"Shut up." Soma snapped.
I watched him during our party. He stayed at the corner, ignoring the others. He even pulled his blue hood further down and completely hid his face. My brain worked, trying to find solution to his attitude.
The said solution came in form of certain white-haired Aragami girl who passed in front of me. If Shio couldn't melt his frozen heart, nothing could. I snatched her hand, guide her to my mini kitchen. There I found few plates of sweets and drinks lay untouched on table.
"Here, you see that grumpy man?" I pointed at Soma and gave Shio a plate of cookies and cup of coffee. "Give this to him."
"Food." Shio chirped. She walked slowly across my room and crouched in front of Soma.
"Food..." She pulled edge of his jacket.
Soma lifted his head and peeked at Shio and plate of food she offered. "Get lost you monster." He pulled his hood again, returning to his gloomy position.
I sighed in relief, instead of hurt she appeared to be confused. For once, her cluelessness saved her. Shio placed the food near his feet and returned to me.
"What monster?" Shio asked.
"Sorry, I don't know. Good job by the way." I rubbed her head.
If someone asked that question few years ago, I would answer it 'Aragami' instantly. I always thought they were monster, mindless beast existed for the sake of destruction. Certain incident happened, now I lived as one of them. My belief cracked. Then, Shio, an innocent purebred Aragami came. My belief shattered to dust.
We disbanded after my clock hit 02.00. It was unwise to stayed up late for God Eaters, however, there wasn't any mission for First Unit tomorrow, so it was okay. My sister and I cleaned their mess. We washed plates and cups while Shio gathered it. I almost jumped in joy when I saw Shio brought Soma's plate.
He drank half of his coffee.
True, he didn't touch the rest, but still an improvement. Hopefully one day he softened enough to accept First Unit, or Shio at very least.
My sister slept on my bed right after we finished our job. I sat on the sofa, holding newly issued maintenance guidebook with my left hand while Shio leaned on my right arm. My mind wandered off, remembering Rei's word about Aragami and human, also Soma's outburst. Monster, huh?
"Sis? Have you gone to dreamland?"
"Not yet, what?"
"What makes us human?" I looked at my sister.
"Eh? Why are you asking something like that?"
"I'm confused, especially after I become... like this. And Shio Arrival only worsen my confusion. What am I? What is a human?"
"I've been pondering over it too, and found the answer. It's our heart."
I shot the best puzzled look I had at her.
"You see, without heart we just another beast. Look at Soma, he has P73 Bias, his body now closer to Aragami than human, what do you see?"
"A damaged God Eater..." I answered.
"Look at Shio, she's a true Aragami, what do you see?"
"A clueless child..."
"See? You answered it yourself. And stop being sentimental like that, it doesn't suit you." My sister smiled softly.
I chuckled, slowly went louder until it became a full laughter. "You're right, that doesn't suit me. Thanks sis." I replied her smile.
"Anytime. Alright, I'm going to sleep now." My sister thrown blanket over her body and began her journey to the dreamland.