Deus Ex Sermo
Chapter 4: The Church
-Talking-
-Thoughts-
-Trapped Entity/ System-
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-Late the next day- Paris, France-
"Ah! My friend-!" -SMACK- The sound of fist on cheek echoed throughout the cluttered cellar where Jo translated in. Phillius Durand rubbed his now bruising face. The Frenchman had short blond hair died mostly black. His black button-up shirt and green slacks hugged his slim frame. He looked simply affronted at his friend's actions towards him.
"You are lucky I got Bell to watch over Kuoh or I would have done much worse. I have a target already."
Phil couldn't help but chuckle. "Do not worry. Zis will not be a waste of your time." Jo leaned back against a railing with his arms crossed. "This better be good."
"I needed somezing from ze local church. Nozing frivolous I assure you." Jo rolled his eyes. "You said that the last five times." "This item is of ze utmost importance, you see. I needed to prepare before attempting to procure it. I have used the past three weeks to fully understand the layout of the church. Sadly, the last time I went zere was a rather large obstacle. I'm surprised you 'aven't noticed 'er yet."
RUN FUNCTION: SCAN
Instantly several errors popped up, but there was one significantly larger coming from just North of Jo's location. "I noticed." The moderator pushed away from his leaning position, now invested in the job.
"Yes, well, she is stopping me from procuring ze thing zat I want. I figured this is somezing you would prefer to deal with."
"You're not wrong."
"Zen shall we prepare?"
-Same Time- Kuoh-
Koneko glanced warily at the fat child that stood idle with the school's male population. While the meaningless perverts whooped and hollered at the tennis match between Rias, Akeno, and the class president and vice president, the boy just stood there, occasionally pitching in with some polite clapping. The pint sized [Rook] normally would have payed this no mind, but this was Kuoh. The only boys at this school, aside from Kiba, were massive perverts. The four most desired girls in the school were jumping around in tiny, color coordinated sports bras and matching skirts yet the boy payed them almost no mind. He couldn't have been too young to be interested because he was wearing the Kuoh uniform. Obviously he was enrolled. Though it was funny how Koneko had never seen him before. The boy had wild brown, almost pink, hair and silver eyes. With traits like those one would think they would remember the boy.
The match was 30/30 and it looked like neither side was going to give an inch. The male students didn't seem to mind, especially the perverted trio who were soaking up every second with camera flashes. The mysterious boy just rubbed his eyes and yawned before heading back to the school. Koneko followed.
It was strange walking an empty campus during school hours. The environment was almost alien compared to what normally occurred. The school was so quiet that Koneko was having difficulty following the kid unheard. He didn't seem to notice though, apparently too focused on his location. A smooth clicking of his tongue could be heard as he pointed his ways through the halls. His destination: the vending machines?
The kid calmly slid the required coins into the slot. Koneko was dumbfounded.
"What?"
The kid's response was appropriate; gasping at the sudden noise, flailing at the loss of his balance, and just barely catching himself on the edge of the vending machine. He took a second to right himself and and his heartrate. He took a quick, embarrassed look around before reaching into the machine.
"Kitkat?" he asked, handing over the candy in an attempt to save face. The [Rook] quickly swiped it.
"Who are you?" The boy chuckled sheepishly.
"Sorry, my name is Zusa Bell. Please call me Bell, Koneko-chan."
"How do you know my name?" the loli snapped.
"You are the unofficial mascot of this school. Everybody knows your name." Bell replied, putting more coins into the machine.
"I have not seen you around the school before."
"I'm really not surprised. I usually just fade into the background. I'm usually not seen as much more than a bug to most people." Koneko found that hard to believe. He was a living plush toy who willingly walked away from a perverse situation. Between his chubby cheeks, large eyes, and dorky demeanor, the female students would smother him to death if given the chance.
"Um, do you know when the tennis match is supposed to be over? School still has another two hours and it even attracted the faculty." Koneko gave him a blank stare as he reached for his new Kitkat.
"No, alright then. I better stock up on more Kitkats then." The last thing Koneko saw as she left was Bell throwing a wad of candy wrappers from his pocket.
Bell waited until he was sure Koneko was out of earshot. "Hm, so that was one of the ones that Jo was so worried about. Okay then." He silently entered more coins into the machine as a smile crossed his face. "She seemed nice."
-The Next Day -Back in Paris-
Jo's eye twitched as he stared at the "Church" that Phil had scouted. Of course… It was several stories tall, with stained glass for each window and hand carved gargoyles at every corner of the roof. Going up from the roof were two towers on opposite ends of the building.
"You are an idiot, Phil." The thief smiled like a loon at the "Church" before him.
"Maybe." His eyes glinted in the light of the sunset. Nearly everyone had left already and it was a Friday. Hopefully this would go as planned. Jo walked through the overly large front doors with Phil close behind him. At the alter stood a beautiful blonde woman in a white gown, obviously praying. Phil immediately went to the side, between a supporting column and a confessional. He made it to his hiding spot quick enough that the woman only noticed Jo, who walked to her at a leisurely pace. He wore a smile that could pass for genuine, but was anything but. The woman was so focused on Jo that she didn't notice Phil slip up a spiral staircase.
Jo sighed to himself. 'Ever the impatient, that one.'
"'ello, and welcome to Notre Dam." She was such a sweet woman. It was such a pity she was bugged. "You are certainly late today. What brings you 'ere?"
"I would hope there isn't a curfew for prayer." He replied, still smiling. "I have found so many who had forsaken their souls and I was hoping to cleanse my own of their essence. Hopefully anyone can recieve a second chance."
"Of course!" The woman exclaimed with joy in her throat and tears in her eyes. "May I ask your name?"
"My name is Joshiro Masa. I am from Japan but I am on vacation with a friend of mine. Imagine my surprise when he shows me Notre Dam in all her majesty."
"And where is your friend now?"
"He went to grab supplies for dinner, Ms?"
"Oh, I am sorry. My name is Maria." Jo had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he would find Saint Maria in Notre Dam.
"Thank you Maria. Now I assume you wouldn't hold it against him for not joining us tonight. God gave humanity free will for a reason, after all." Maria nodded fervently.
"Of course, of course. Please, the alter is just-"
GONG-GONG-GONG
'Impatient idiot.'
At the sound of the bell going off Maria immediately let loose a set of wings. Four feathered appendages each as white as snow and as long a she was tall. "Please, stay here. I must-"
"Deus Ex Sermo." Maria's eyes went wide as the familiar green grid lined the floor. A red, rotating elipse of code floated in front of Jo's hand which was flat against her back. "Break Function."
Instantly, the soft glow emitted from Maria's wings died. The added weight from the now dead wings pulled Maria to the ground with a thud. More thudding and several crashes could be heard coming from upstairs.
RUN DEBUG
Maria choked as the netting encased her. "Sorry Maria, but you should know that humans make the best liars. Run Function: Extract." Jo refused to feel bad for the woman. Even as he sunk his hand through her chest to reach her Brave Saint card. And again the screams began once it was removed. Her white wings molted rapidly and dirtied to a more natural brown color. Then the blood began to pool as the wings broke away from the poor nun's spine.
It was at that moment that Phil came rushing down the staircase which promptly exploded. The thief had a red and black backpack which he hadn't worn on the way in.
"I see you used B.B. for this mission." Phil jumped over two sets of benches as two girls jumped down from the destroyed staircase.
"No time, my friend. Exorcists!" True to his word the women were wearing regulation church battle attire and had holy swords drawn. Both were blessed with voluptuous bodies. One had blonde hair in long pig tails while the other had neck length blue hair with a green bang. The hard gaze of the blue haired one sent a very clear message to any who faced her. Sadly, Jo didn't receive the message. That same cold gaze was returned just as frigid.
"Phil, you are an idiot. Meta, start the function. Variable: Bunker."
Affirmative
Phil hurried over to his friend as the blonde started making exaggerated hand gestures and body motions. Apparently she saw the body of Maria.
"Oh these fiends! These heathens! How dare they strike down one of the chosen angels of god! Oh, if only I had been here sooner! I could have prevented this tragedy! Oh how the righteous has fallen!" That almost got a chuckle out of Jo. Of course that entire display gave Meta enough time to build up the function. The moderator gave a two finger send off before disappearing into his function circle without a trace.
Jo calmly walked out of Meta's function while Phil went immediately for the nearest sink, toilet, or bucket. He wasn't picky at the moment.
"How are you not used to that yet?" Jo asked, holding in a chuckle.
"You are a cruel friend, -urp."
"Did you get what you wanted?" The thief nodded into his bucket. "Good, now I'm going home."
-Same Time – Kuoh-
Once again, Koneko found herself tailing the strange boy from school, Bell. After the tennis match ended in a tie the ORC and the Student Council decided to settle things with dodge ball. Of course the planning and setup for that took a whole day, but it was worth it because the ORC won! Issei even made matching headbands for everyone. Koneko still felt uneasy about the event as there always seemed to be an extra set of eyes watching the court. Nothing perverse, but that still meant something was spying on them. Imagine her surprise when she saw Bell leaving the school grounds far too late into the evening to be casual. The victory prize for the dodge ball game was a chance at finding familiars for Issei and/or Asia. Koneko already had a familiar, so she opted to stay.
Bell didn't seem to show any signs of being supernatural, but he was still odd. It was almost eleven at night now and he just walked into a dango stand. He seemed to be a freshman like herself, yet he was walking around Kuoh like he had no responsibilities, no curfew, and no care in the world.
"Ah, Bell-san. Usual order?"
"Of course, Jiji."
Koneko couldn't see anything inside of the stand, but the smells enticed her sweet tooth and she couldn't resist. Once inside, Bell treated her with a wide smile. "Koneko-chan! It's good to see you again. Dango?" he asked while handing her a skewer. The mascot couldn't resist the offer and started nibbling on her treats.
"Go ahead. Eat as much as you want. I know I will." And so they ate in silence as the chef continued bringing out more skewers. They sat on their stools for what must have been an hour. Any glances that he passed towards her were always genuine. Eventually Bell put down 3000 yen on the dango. Maybe it was all the Dango, but something slowed Koneko down. Slow enough that Bell was able to land a kiss on her lips for two seconds before her mind caught up to her and she attempted to smash Bell through the stand.
The fist hit air as the seat was empty. Bell was standing at the curtain to leave. "A small amount of advice. Your ears are nothing to be ashamed of." Koneko ran out of the stall to catch up to him, but there was no sign of the chubby freshman. She scanned the vicinity for any trace of Bell, but there was nothing. That is until a green light erupted from the side of the Dango cart. Koneko rounded the corner as the light died. Nobody was there except Joshiro, readying another Translate function. Koneko's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What did you do with that kid?" Jo smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Kid?" And with a flash he was gone.
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Hey everyone. Sorry if the page format looks a bit different. I had to reset my computer. My fanfic chapters were saved but I lost Microsoft Office. Had to switch to Libre Office. Anyway, nobody voiced in on which chapter they wanted next so I did both. Another new character has been introduced, something has been stolen, Jo has met some familiar exorcists, and Koneko is pissed. Favorite, follow, review, and I will see you all next chapter.