I do try to avoid making Naoya a Draco in Leather Pants, because what's the point of writing a character who's a Magnificent Bastard in the first place if he's not a bastard? The trouble is that all of the Eighth Day Routes reveal more about his character, and confirm some of the more positive interpretations – Even in Amane's, for example, he will make sure his brother survives no matter what if he's alive to do so.

A lot of people have noticed that despite Atsuro saying he's pushing them into Abel becoming the King of Bel, Naoya really does let the MC chose what he wants and honors that choice: the game on Atsuro's route is because Atsuro wants something from Naoya, and the fight on Amane's is a personal matter, not part of a plot – he's genuinely hurt and angry. Amane's Eighth is practically all about his woobie status and how he got screwed over by God, and as I mentioned in another fic's notes, he really does act a little too reserved/mature over what happened in Yuzu's (at least until he's offscreen).

The Overlord routes, both of them, confirm that he really is absolutely loyal to his brother, and not just in an 'you're my family so I will look after you no matter how you annoy me,' way as in Amane's Eighth, but in the way someone would be absolutely loyal to a king, or an overlord. To me, it confirms that back in the day, Bel/Abel really was the 'Master' the word Bel means, and Naoya sees himself as the strategist, not his brother's keeper or controller. He's an advisor: he makes plans and does stuff, but the decisions are not his to make, they're Abel's.

This gets caught up to and passes the first chapter.

"Don't slam the door. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Gin wondered.

"We didn't have doors when my first mother was alive," Naoya said angrily as he sat down at the seat in front of his computer. Not angry at Gin, just angry.

"So, I take it you didn't see Aya today either?" Either that or he'd had to resist the urge to be anything but professional with her.

"No, but I did see Remiel's new vessel, and she confirmed that Aya and the other one incarnating now were one of his plans. Of course, I already knew that." The longer Aya was gone, the more that superior smirk and that angry snarl became the dominant expressions on his face. "It starts tomorrow, so I'll be leaving early to make sure my brother and his friends get their comps. I don't like calling him to Tokyo now when I haven't found the other one, but it's almost time for it to begin." So he couldn't wait any longer. "I'll pick Aya up before I come home."

Gin looked up again from the dishes. "You're rescuing Aya tomorrow night?" Finally!

"Of course. She has to be gotten out of there before Belberith gives up on trying to use the server to call Babel to him now that he has it in the demon world. At that point, they'll try to use her power to merge the demon world with this one enough for Belberith to be the first to cross over, and that has the risk of pulling her into the demon realm. I'll strike once that begins."

"Got it all planned out, huh?"

"Someone has to." Naoya was already typing. Awhile later, he asked, "Why are you still looking at me?"

"You've got eyes in the back of your head? Or are you going to say that this is because you've studied people for so long?"

"Hmm," Naoya said, turning in the chair, and the twist to his lips was a little pleased, in a, 'Good insect, I see why the other me keeps you around' way. "Why not both?"

Gin walked over to him, and Naoya pulling him down by his collar for a kiss wasn't a surprise at all, because it was just what Aya would have done. Gin smiled: So much for Naoya being all superior because he could anticipate people's actions. Weird that it was already seeming kind of cute, but it didn't bother Gin all that much and it put Naoya in a good mood, which made him less nervous about his free will and everything and more likely to be sensible and go along with whatever Gin and Aya were trying to get him to do.

"You're obliging today," Naoya murmured. "More 'positive reinforcement?'"

"You don't want to celebrate Aya coming home soon?"

"Only if you're on top."

"Again?" It was still something of a surprise that Naoya hadn't demanded to be the one in the dominant position yet, but Gin knew just how many damns Naoya gave for most people's ideas about anything, let alone sex (zero), and, "You're just lazy." He liked getting to lie there and be sexy and make Gin rub his back and get to boss him around about how he was doing it wrong until Gin managed to shut him up. Gin was well aware that Naoya annoying him until he did it the way Naoya wanted was negative reinforcement or training, but afterwards was the only time he got to see Naoya undone and at his mercy, and he was pretty sure that was what Naoya wanted, too, to not have to be the one in control, to be able to trust someone else at his back, after all this time. To be looked after for once, so Gin supposed he'd put up with it.

"Who's the one working twenty-hour days?" Naoya was, his time split between the Shomonkai, his work on his brother's friends' and Gin's comps, his planning and other programming and the electronics work that was supposedly the reason he was at Gin's bar in the first place. Naoya's smile was both mocking and affectionate. "Be glad I'm not making you make me dinner."

"Good point," Gin conceded, or seemed to, making a note to make Naoya dinner at some point. After the lockdown, when Naoya would spare the time to appreciate it instead of shoveling it down so he could get to work or sleep. Aya would make him, and then they'd see, wouldn't they. If Naoya decided he had to one-up Gin by cooking next, all the better. He'd better be fantastic at it, after all those millennia he kept bragging about. Then Aya would make him cook more often.

"I'll be done here and in bed in fifteen minutes." And Gin had better be there before Naoya fell asleep, or Naoya would wake him up in the middle of the night when Naoya got up in order to head out early.

It was hard not to think of Naoya as somewhat feminine, when despite his crankyness and bitterness Gin kept reading him as 'like Aya' and Aya was definitely a woman. Naoya knew it too, and looking up at Gin through pale eyelashes made it obvious that he was preying on Gin's protective side, the one that made Yuzu call him everyone's big brother. But behind the obviously false submission were hints of real loneliness, real vulnerability, and Aya had been the one who changed Gin's life, who made him appreciate the world around him. It wasn't that he minded that she was an independent woman, much less resented how she'd turned his life around, but it was nice to get to pay that back a little.

"Well," Gin said after Naoya finished drawing the ward so the kids in the other room couldn't hear them. "Looks like your brother can keep his hands off Haru." Which was a good thing, because Haru was his little girl, and anyone who hurt her… Well.

Instead of dismissing it as because Abel didn't remember, didn't have ages of suffering alone with a little brother to look after and no one to look after him in his head, Naoya frowned angrily at himself. "Remiel's vessel looked surprised when I said I couldn't resist my other half. If its plot worked better than expected because of my weakness…" If he should be able to resist Aya?

Naoya's reflexes let him grab the pillow Aya threw at his head even as he brooded. "Stop letting yourself play along with someone else's mind games and come to bed."

Naoya smiled in that 'you're right because you're me' way that was both fiendish and cute.

Damn, had Gin really managed to forget just how good they looked together?

"You realize," Aya said afterwards, when the afterglow was putting both Gin and Naoya to sleep, "That this means we need to set them up with someone."

"Hmm?" Naoya sounded exceedingly doubtful.

"Well, you're the one who wanted me, us, to keep having someone besides each other. Having someone normal in the mix should help keep your brother and Haru from getting all wrapped up in each other."

Naoya's silence meant he conceded her point, but Gin looked a little alarmed. "Hey, wait a minute, this is Haru. Can't that wait?" He was already worried about his little girl having one serious commitment. One night stands were one thing, but letting someone in meant they could hurt her, and Haru was still pretty fragile.

"Yes, it can wait, but we should start keeping an eye out for candidates."

Naoya made another noise of agreement.

"And it's not like there won't be two overprotective big brothers keeping an eye on things." Gin for Haru's sake and Naoya for Kazuya's.

"You know your apprentice has a crush on you, right?" Gin said as he checked out and mostly just folded up the winter clothes the kids had slept on – they'd put sheets between them and their bodies, and bathed before they went to bed, so he could mostly put them away for now and wash them when they didn't have to worry about running out of running water.

Naoya was still in bed, since Aya had twisted his arm and forced him to give her a list of the things he'd planned to investigate or keep an eye on today that didn't require much of a trained eye, just an intelligent one with demons to call on in order to get into various places, so he could get caught up on his sleep. He still was only half-asleep, keeping an ear open for the beep of the comp. Aya and Gin were the only ones besides him that could send e-mail during the day.

"Yes," Naoya said, and yawned. "Always happens. Like when Hephaestus met Athena."

Gin decided not to ask about the mythological reference: how many gods were there? "Hard to blame them. You're hot for a teacher." And Haru had the same kind of thing for Aya, so maybe it was a them-thing. Gin was perfectly happy to admit that Aya was just that sexy.

"It's the knowledge. I only teach geniuses, and they've never met anyone as smart as they are before. Someone capable of understanding them." Although Atsuro was brilliant even by the standards Naoya had for his apprentices: the greater number of people within a reasonable travel time these days meant Naoya had a far greater pool to pick from.

Understanding, huh, Gin mused. Way to let slip what Naoya considered important. Unlike Aya, he didn't take any pride in his looks: he was sexy and he knew it, but he considered it just part and parcel of being related to God, who was a vain and jealous god who demanded adoration.

Naoya's comp finally beeped and Gin looked up in alarm. "Don't worry," Naoya told him, finally getting out of bed. "It's just time for me to get ready to set up that warded area. I can't move equipment there now, since there's still a good chance of human trespassers, but I want it ready to go."

"I'll come with you."

"Don't be stupid," Naoya said, shrugging off his sleeping robe and getting dressed with economical movements. "You own a bar. Once law and order begin to break down, this place will be one of the masses' targets, especially the Yakuza. You've got food here, and especially drink. The SDF isn't going to be airlifting any of that in, and I'm sure you know better than I do how many of those straight-laced office workers are actually alcoholics who party desperately to escape the grind of their meaningless lives. If you don't want to come back to find that your door was broken down and there are still drunk and angry demon tamers camped out in your bar, throwing bottles onto your clean floors, you'll stay here and discourage them from trying anything."

Gin winced, forced to admit Naoya was right. "Once tamers start attacking, I might not be able to hide that I'm a tamer myself forever."

"That's why I need to prepare a backup location." Obviously. "Well, one reason." Naoya flipped his comp open and closed out of the normal menu to access some of the custom features he was working on. "I'll be back… When I'm back." There were a few things he had to check up on himself, like the ongoing decay of the situation in the lockdown, and who knew what might come up?

"So you were right about me needing to guard the fort." Damn. He'd already admitted Naoya was right, but he still really didn't like it.

"I could leave an altered comp with some attack demons, but that might also cause questions if anyone who breaks in gets out alive, now wouldn't it? If your bar is taken over by demons and then you're back, still living here safe and sound."

"Yeah, that would prove I'm a demon tamer."

"Or that you've been replaced. According to the SDF chatter, demons have already tried killing and impersonating some of the special force officers inside the lockdown. They know demons can look like humans – you remember Loki."

Gin nodded.

Naoya sighed, annoyed. "I'll need to start wearing contacts when I'm incognito unless I want to be mistaken for a demon or they realize I'm a sorcerer and attack." It wasn't as though he couldn't handle a mob, but it would attract attention.

"That's happened before?"

Naoya kept navigating a homebrew menu as he answered, "Oh yes. I've been taken for a witch, demon child, aberration or bad omen and killed or exposed on a hilltop before I've even gotten out of the cradle quite a few times. My birth family and anyone who encouraged them to do it are always struck down by God afterwards, but that doesn't make it any less annoying."

Gin winced with sympathy.

"That's what humans do when they've been reduced to barbarianism. Just like what has already begun to happen inside this lockdown. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go make us a safe place to hole up," Naoya said, and vanished with the press of another button.

"Oh, hey Izuna," Atsuro said when they ran across the SDF officer and new tamer again.

She ignored him, looking directly at the group's leader. "I have some questions for you. According to our database, after photos of you were sent out of the lockdown for identification, you're Kazuya Minegeshi, correct?"

Abel nodded.

Izuna frowned sternly. "So Abel is a pseudonym?"

"No, it's what everyone calls me." Although he had introduced himself to her by that name because Naoya and Aya said they needed to hide their connection to them.

"But you are the stepbrother of Naoya Minegeshi?"

"Well, he's my cousin, and we took him in after his parents died, so he's basically my big brother," Abel said, because lying definitely wouldn't help at this point.

"And is he the one who gave you those comps?"

Abel nodded, and it didn't slip past Izuna's notice that Yuzu and Atsuro were looking worried and letting Abel answer all the questions, which wasn't very normal for these teenagers.

Next question. "Were you aware that he is the Shomonkai's chief programmer, responsible for the creation of the demon summoning program?" Had they only been pretending to be innocent victims this whole time?

"Not until after the Lockdown started." Abel sighed. "He called us to Tokyo to come meet him, then he ditched us after giving the comps to Yuzu and saying we'd need them. I've seen him a couple times since then, but I haven't been able to make him give us any answers. So we've been trying to piece together what's going on and track him down, but he's avoiding us."

"So none of you had any idea what he was working on?"

Yuzu shook her head: she didn't know anything about computers.

"Nope," Atsuro said. "I hadn't heard from him for awhile. I actually wanted him to check over some of my coding, but he stood us up and then this happened."

"So you are his student?" Izuna knew he was: he'd bragged about it on his blog, although it seemed to be a big deal judging from how other programmers had reacted, and how the consultants they'd called in had reacted to finding out this was Naoya Minegeshi's program.

Summoning demons, with a computer or no computer? Ridiculous. Naoya was involved? Well, then it might be possible, but they weren't going to be much use figuring out how.

"Yeah!" Atsuro said excitedly, stars in his eyes, then realized that um, that might not be the best thing to brag about right now. "I don't know anything about demons, though."

"We were thinking that if we could find the server, it might be possible to send back all the ones that were summoned with comps, but that still leaves the demons that showed up on their own, and the ones Belial's worshippers summoned," Abel told her. "Although they've got comps now."

"Belial's worshippers? I thought the god of the Shomonkai was Belberith." Another cult?

"No," Atsuro said, shaking his head. "There's something going on called the war of Bel. We ran into a lot of demons that served Beldr, but we already beat him. Belial hasn't shown up yet."

"Then there's Remiel: he isn't a Bel, but he says there's another Bel that he's keeping imprisoned inside Amane," Abel mentioned, counting them on his fingers. "She's supposed to be a servant of Belberith. And the gigolo said something about another Bel called 'the right hand of darkness,' but we don't have any idea who that is."

Izuna's eyes widened. "The priestess of the Shomonkai has a demon inside her?"

"And an angel," Abel told her, because he didn't want Izuna going after Amane. "She said the second time I met her that that she was a vessel for holy and unholy voices."

"An angel? If she can summon a demon without a comp, but she's under an angel's protection…" Izuna would need to ask for instructions.

"There are a couple more angels inside the lockdown, but they're both totally selfish," Atsuro said, outraged again by the memory of talking to Sariel, hearing that bullshit.

Abel, Midori and Haru nodded in agreement, while Yuzu looked uncomfortable. Or was it regretful? It was Yuzu that reminded them that, "Remiel's nice, though. He said he was Naoya's guardian angel."

"Naoya's… Guardian?" Izuna had gotten the impression that there was no such thing, or at least they weren't important enough in the hierarchy to be worth mentioning.

"Well, we're not sure he was talking about Naoya," Abel reminded Yuzu.

"Come on, who else could it be? You said so yourself, right? Everyone can tell as soon as they meet him that Naoya's not normal!" Yuzu said, annoyed. "And you're the one that said that we should work with her to get out of the lockdown, so why shouldn't I tell her this? It shouldn't get him in more trouble than he's already in, and it might help!"

"Yuzu…" Atsuro said, looking worried for her as the strain she was under began to show, her arms not so much folded as wrapped around herself.

"Everyone inside the lockdown is fraying around the edges," Haru said, to comfort her.

"Naoya's not normal?" Izuna had figured out that much. White hair, red eyes, not an albino… "Is he a demon?" For how long had he been a demon? Had the original Naoya Minegeshi died years ago, and then the demon arranged an accident for his parents?

They all stared at her, shocked out of their worry. "Remiel said he was given to watch over the one who resurrects," Abel said finally. "Since he was talking about someone connected to me, we think that's Naoya. Remiel said that he was a human," well, those weren't the exact words, but Naoya wasn't a demon, "and that he'd witnessed the last ordeal and the sundering of the human language, the primal common tongue. It would make sense. I mean, a lot of people said that Naoya had a very old soul when he was a kid."

"And it would explain how he knows so much about everything, especially what people are going to do," Atsuro added, because he really was in awe of his teacher. "So if we're right, then Naoya worked with the Shomonkai to save humanity from the ordeal, but then he left them because he didn't think putting a demon god in charge was the only option."

"So he's not a supporter of Belberith?" And he really had left the Shomonkai? Good to know.

"No way!" Atsuro said, outraged. "He wouldn't want demons doing whatever they wanted to people, and Abel's his cousin! He wouldn't let demons kill him!"

Oh? "You specifically?" Izuna asked Abel, because everyone had reacted more to what Atsuro had just let slip than to Yuzu's words. Well, except Midori: it seemed to be news to her.

Kazuya looked down at his shoes. "I'm… Kind of in the War of Bel. I think that's why he summoned me and my friends inside the Lockdown and gave us comps: at first we thought it was because Naoya had to stay inside the Lockdown and he just wanted me in here to keep an eye on me, but Beldr said he sensed the power in me, and Remiel said I'm the human heart of the soul of Bel." As mystic as that sounded, Remiel was like that. "So all the Bel demons are coming after me as well as each other, because whoever gets all the rest of the pieces of Bel's soul can try to summon Babel and get its power. Well, that's what the gigolo said, but when Haru asked Gin about him, because he used to be a customer, Gin said that he was the kind of person who would put drugs in people's drinks to see what happened, and that we shouldn't believe a word he says, even if he was right about the mistletoe cell phone strap."

"You've really been gathering a lot of information, haven't you?" Izuna was impressed by their efforts.

"We want to end the lockdown too!" Atsuro reminded her. He was not used to being treated like he was just a kid, not when he was something of an authority online.

"Remiel wants me to win the War of Bel so that a demon can't get that power," Abel wasn't going to talk about the Messiah stuff, that was too much and would make him sound like a megalomaniac or something, "and he thinks that Naoya wants the same thing, since otherwise I'll have to worry about demons coming after me my whole life, but Naoya doesn't trust angels because he saw all those people die during the last Ordeal." If so, Abel definitely wasn't going to blame him.

"But we've got to beat Belial first, since he's the reason our death clock has a day less than yours. Then there's the UEM, the angels…" Atsuro looked downcast: there was so much they needed to do, and so little time left.

"Relax, Otakuro," Haru told him, patting the bag at her back that held her synthesizer. "We've got it covered so far, right?" When he opened his mouth to reply, she added, "And you're forgetting Jezebel, Belberith and that other guy."

"Man, Haru, you're as cruel as Yoohoo."

"Don't call me Yoohoo."

"Okay, Harutaku!"

…And sometimes, Izuna found it all too easy to believe these were ordinary teenagers.