Guilt crashed into Issei the second he passed through the doors of 24/7 out into the warm spring dusk. He had two cans of cold soda in hand but the sting of sub-zero aluminum did nothing to faze him. His mind was preoccupied by the non-conversation he'd been having with Minako no more than a few minutes ago. He had not meant to snap at her like that, but something about her telling Yuuma about his being a pervert flipped a switch inside of him. Issei didn't want Yuuma to know what kind of person he was. She had admitted that she'd only ever seen him and liked him because he always passed by the same bridge she did to get home. It wasn't like she liked his personality. He really wanted to make this work, and any method to do so would be a viable route he'd try.
Issei paused in his walk. Was he really trying to protect his possible relationship with Yuuma? Was he trying to... commit? He bit his bottom in frustrated thought. He wanted to be a harem king, he wanted to have women crawling all over him wanting a piece of the Hyoudou gene pool. Yet here he was, trying for a serious relationship with only one girl. Was he falling in love with her? Then why did he think of Minako instead of Yuuma back at the diner?
"Graaaaagh!", Issei gave himself a self-inflicted noogie as that frustration of his continued to fester. He was confused and so were his feelings. On one hand, he really liked Yuuma. Well she liked him, but because she's the first girl to like him, he wanted to be courteous and like her too, or was that just his naivete? On the other hand... maybe Kiryuu was right? Maybe he-
Issei shook his head, that train of thought was just getting too weird. There was no way he was- Ack, he couldn't even finish the thought with how repulsing it was. Anyway, he had to go apologize to Minako tomorrow. He really didn't like her, what with the foiling of every perverted plan he and his friends had; but she didn't deserve to have someone act like a jerk to her.
Ending that issue, Issei continued on his way to the park. That particular park he had asked to meet Yuuma in was precisely in his date plan. It was the perfect place to end a lovey dovey date. The sunset was at its most beautiful there and they could be provided with privacy amidst greens stained in beautiful reds and yellows. They could do anything they wanted: hold hands, embrace, kiss, maybe even more?
Perverted giggles bubbled up the brunette's throat and through his mouth. The scenarios playing out in his head were nothing short of immoral, but fantasies continued to play like roughly edited montages. It involved himself, Yuuma and various objects from the park: trees, bushes, grass, benches, even lamp posts. The reel playing in his mind's eye only stopped when his physical eyes spotted the real Yuuma standing in front of the frame of the park gates.
Her stance was sad, forlorn; completely different from the Yuuma he had been with the rest of the earlier day. Gone was the smile, gone were the cute giggles, gone was the bouncy nature of her step and countenance. It pained Issei to see her like that so he approached thoughtfuly and touched one of the ice cold cans against her cheek.
"The heat finally getting to you?", he tried joking her out of her stupor.
It worked, for all of three seconds. She gave him a small smile and hummed in agreement, "Mhmm." Yuuma took the offered can of lime soda; popped open the tab with a sad pensive look on her face, and took a sip.
Issei did not doubt that the scene back at the convenience store was the cause of her current melancholy mood. He wondered which part of it all bothered her most and a small voice that sounded suspiciously too much like Arisato whispered back, "It's because you're keeping secrets from her." Issei quelled that voice with a swift mental stomp. There was no way that Yuuma thought he was being secretive.
"Issei-san.", the young man's girlfriend called his attention. He gave it to her effortlessly, almost desperately, in hopes of learning what was bothering her. In a moment, he regretted it when she said, "Are you hiding anything from me?"
That certainly threw him for a loop. Issei wondered for a moment if she was reading his mind or something but realized he was pausing too long, making things more awkward by the second. "Well...", Issei opened up his statement without any idea of what he wanted to say. He really didn't know what to say. She was asking him question he didn't want to give the answers to. If anything, because the answers would not be the ones she would want to hear.
He made an effort to speak, but a lump seemed to form at his throat. His tongue felt swollen and uncooperative to form any words. At the back of his mind, the place where he kept his conscience which sounded suspiciously like a familiar copper-haired girl kept repeating something along the lines of "the truth will set you free." Like that ever worked. Issei read the novels, he saw the movies and he saw in person how badly Matsuda and Motohama crashed and burned whenever they were honest about what they liked about girls they confessed to; during their confession may he add.
So he did what any red-blooded self-respecting man his age would, he lied. "there's nothing that comes to mind."
Yuuma looked up at him, eyes doe-wide with trepidation and held-back feelings. Issei knew that look from soap-operas. If he did not handle this right, things would not end well. "Is there really nothing that you're hiding from me?", she asked.
"Nope, nothing at all.", Issei continued to lie through his teeth.
Her wide-eyed look switched to a smile of caution and that sent alarm bells ringing in Issei's head. She was going to say something he didn't like. "Then you'll answer me truthfully if I ask you about some things?", she said with a tip of her head.
And that had Issei wanting to smack his head against the wall. She said it, the one thing he didn't want to hear from her. He gave her a crafted carefree smile, "That's going to depend. I don't think where I wash first during a bath would be appropriate to tell a lady."
Yuuma laughed a bit at that. She shook her head at the stupidity of the statement before correcting her boyfriend. "No, that's not what I want to ask.", she looked at him hopefully, "I want to know your relationship with that girl."
"That girl...", Issei repeated her last words and only one person came to mind. "You mean Minako? She's a classmate.", he informed his girlfriend innocently.
Yuuma's eyes became more hardened, suspicious, as she pressed on, "Only a classmate?" the short girl took an imposing step forward, pushing back her boyfriend through sheer presence alone.
"Only a classmate.", Issei reassured her. He wondered why Yuuma was asking about the copper-haired girl until- The brunette's pupils dilated in realizing what his girlfriend was thinking. He quickly shook his head, denials running over each other in a bid to escape his mouth. "No- No way- Nuh uh- Impossible- Never! Never ever never never! Never in a million years!", he quickly told Yuuma with arms doing all sorts of crazy gestures from crossing his arms into an X to waving wildly he were trying to take flight.
"But-", Yuuma's gaze dropped uneasily, "You two seemed so close earlier. She knew things about you that I don't."
"Ahahaha! That's because we're classmates.", Issei tried to play it off with the classmate card. "Besides", he continued to attempt reason, "this is only our first date. You'll know more about me as we keep dating right?"
Yuuma kept her downcast gaze on her feet. "I'll learn more as we date right?", she asked in a small voice.
"Ofcourse.", Issei nodded confidently. "Believe me. I'd like you to know more about me while I learn more about you."
"Then", she looked up at him with all the courage she could draw up. "Tell me what it was you were trying to keep that girl from saying." Issei drew back from those demanding eyes. "Tell me what it was she was going to say.", she took a step forward again. "There's nothing to hide right? We're dating right? You want me to know more about you right?", she took a step forward with every guilt inducing question. "Then tell me.", she finished with firmly.
"I-", Issei hesitated. The look in her eyes brooked no room for excuses. He needed to give her an answer. He returned her stare, a reply at the tip of his tongue hen he noticed the way her eyes were piercing him fiercely yet a shiny film quivered over them in some sort of hushed apprehension. It was a breaking point and it was either Issei or his date. He broke. "I'm a massive pervert and Arisato is always the one that catches me red-handed when I go peeping on girls with my best friends.", he said in one breath.
Yuuma stared at him, like really stared. It was nothing like the one she was doing before. Issei was nervous she was in some sort of shocked state in which she could never recover from. She did just learn that he wonderful boyfriend was actually a pervert who looked up other girls' skirts; and looked in on them changing down to their underwear or less. Yuuma was probably crushed now.
Then she did something Issei did not expect. She laughed. Not laugh in a large explosive guffaw, neither the small bubbly giggles. Yuuma's laugh was high-pitched, almost hysterical. She really found this humorous, up to the point that she almost sounded like a hyena with a hiss in every chuckle. Off-putting did not begin to describe Issei's feelings on the matter.
"Umm...", he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Pervert.", he heard her say in between he laughs. He was confused and wanted her to elaborate but she kept going. "You were- haha- wor- worried that- hahaha- worried that I wouldn't like you- hihihi- because you were a pervert?"
"Well...", Issei shrugged uneasily, "Yeah?"
Yuuma stifled her remnant giggles and wiped a tear from her eye. She laid amused eyes on him with an equally amused smile. "Oh Issei-san. You're so sweet.", she placed a hand on his cheek, "It doesn't matter if you are a huge pervert", her smile broke open to show pearly white teeth, "because I already know." She broke into laughter again.
Issei's confusion was now at a maximum. "What? When? How?"
Yuuma attempted to reign in her guffaws as she explained, "Since the beginning. Before lunch today, you've never met me with eye contact. It was always took awhile before your eyes raised high enough to do so; and even then, it always dropped back down after a few seconds."
Mortified did not begin to describe Issei's feelings on the matter. He was blushing like mad, and it was his turn this time to find his shoes interesting. She knew from day one. Granted day one was like the day before yesterday. Still, she figured it out. Issei didn't know if he could still date her or she'd just break it off with him right here and now. It never dawned on him that she still went out with him even though she knew how much of a colossal perv he was.
Not even when she pulled back her hand from his face and took his dangling hands in her smaller palms. She rubbed the pads of her thumb against his hands in soothing, almost endearing circles. She genuinely smiled and told him, "I don't mind."
"Uh- wha?" That broke Issei out of mutilating his own self-esteem.
"I don't mind.", Yuuma repeated. She squeezed his hands tenderly and said, "It doesn't matter to me if you're a bit of a pervert. Deep down, I know you're a really nice guy. I could tell from the way you treated me on the date. You always made sure I was comfortable, you always made sure I wasn't bored. You were a gentleman to me and you never tried to rush me into anything." She looked down at their linked hands, "I'm really grateful. I was afraid that our date would just be awkward."
"Then...", Issei recovered, his brain trying to piece the situation together into something he could find believable. Apparently, the hot girl wanting to stick with him for all his faults wasn't quite believable enough. "What was all that about?"
Yuuma looked up at him. "I was afraid that I'd lose you before I even had you."
"So...", Issei began, "Was that romantic speak for we can still date?"
His girlfriend laughed at his boneheadedness at such a tense moment. "Yes.", she told him.
Happiness overcame the young man and he just threw his arms around her. Pulling the surprised girl into a tight loving embrace, Issei was so happy at this chance that he didn't even notice the way her body was smushing up against his. Had he been in his right mind, he would consider his current placement with her to be his ideal chance in terms of copping a feel or getting in her pants. Right now though, all Issei could think of was this girl in front of him was the most wonderful girl in the world; and it was his honor to make her tolerance worth it.
"Thank you. Thank you so much for giving me this chance. I promise you, you won't regret it.", he blubbered.
Yuuma awkwardly returned the hug with pats on the back with her free hand. The cold can in her hands held in such a way so as not to touch Issei and at the same time not spill. It was quite the challenge for her wrist which was straining painfully. Yet the girl managed to be sweet enough to give a reassuring reply, "It's alright. I know you won't." She attempted to pull away but found her boyfriend unwilling to release her. "Hey.", she laughed, "we still have the rest of our date to finish."
Issei's joy glazed eyes snapped into focus as he realized she was right. He still had that final thing planned. He wanted to smack himself in the head with how stupid he was being but fought the urge as Yuuma was in his arms. He finally let her go and nodded, "Yeah. You're right, our date's not done yet." Issei held out his arm to her and gave a cheeky if not goofy grin, then bowed slightly. "If you'd indulge me milady?", Issei asked her in old polite feudal speech.
The girl's smile was sweet; amused and sweet. "I think I will.", she acquiesced with a hand reaching out to him.
Her suitor happily took her hand and let her wrap her arms around one of his own. Like one of those scenes in romantic movies, the two entered the park with a certain spring in their step.
The park was much like Issei had expected it to be. No, it was a hundred times better! The colors he expected: the greens, the reds, the yellows and everything in between was joined by more to form a vivid and varied palette. The grays of the pavement and stray blues in the sky gave everything a sharp contrast, making each shade stand out. It was nothing like the haze of colors Issei had expected from watching all those soap operas. Picturesque did not even begin to describe the view availed to them as they crossed the gates to the heart of the park.
"Hey, Issei-san. Do you remember how we first met?", Yuuma made conversation as they entered the shrub lined walkways.
Issei nodded, "Yeah I do. I felt really crummy back then and I wanted to cry with how bad my luck was turning out. But lo and behold, I look up to find the most beautiful pair of breasts I've ever seen." the young man chuckled at his own less than sensitive joke.
Yuuma just smiled at his laughing figure, not a bit of discomfort could be sensed from it. More like a mix between relief and exasperation. "You flatter me.", she told him before instinctively wrapping her breasts in what arm length she could spare while holding his arm. "Though I think that was rather uncalled for."
Issei leaned in to her, "You're the one that told me to not hold back right?"
"I told you not to keep secrets from me." His girlfriend pouted, "Anyway, you totally missed the point."
"What point?", Issei knit his brows in question.
Yuuma smiled at him, "The sunset." She looked up to the sky.
Issei followed her gaze and realized she was right. The certain way the sun turned the blue sky red, as if it were set on fire. Clouds colored a burning gold reflecting back harsh glares up until a certain point. But continuing on to the parts where there were less clouds, those colors took on a different hue. With each step the young man took, he felt like he was being drawn to that differently colored sky more and more. It reminded him of something that weighed heavily in his stomach. It was something he could not entirely identify other than the memory of meeting Yuuma. It was a beautiful crimson.
"That time we met. The sky was just like this wasn't it?", he could hear Yuuma's sweet voice ask.
"Yeah.", Issei nodded, not taking his eyes off the sky. There was something that stirred in him like a coiling in his gut that spread outwards to his limbs, leaving them sweaty and twitching. His heartbeat accelerated and he felt this unerring need to move. He took those feelings as nothing more than dating jitters. He was well on the last leg of his first date so it wouldn't be weird to have some sort of nervousness, right? Lots of guys end up worrying about not screwing up at the last minute. "The sky was exactly the same when we met."
"There's a certain sense of romance to it don't you think Issei-san?"
"There is.", Issei nodded in agreement. He sighed dreamily. As much of a pervert as the young lad was, he was also a romantic at heart. It had a lot to do with the reason why shoujo manga was so highly interspersed between his towering stacks of porno magazines. "I didn't plan on it being the case though. I just thought the park would be a great place to visit before going home."
"Yes, it's only fitting that things end here." Yuuma hummed with detached ice in her voice.
The young man smiled unsure, "Um... yeah. The last stop of our first date and all."
"No, Issei.", Yuuma's voice sounded crisply over the rustling leaves and odd chirping bird. "You misunderstand. This is where everything ends."
Issei stopped, he heard something like static at the back of his head growing ever louder. He felt the accelerated heartbeat double its pace and brown irises widened, not understanding. "Wh-what do you mean?", he asked nervously, convincing himself that he must have misheard.
Yuuma let go of his arm and walked on ahead, "Exactly as I said. Everything ends here." She turned to him with the sweetest of smiles. She approached Issei again, a tender hand reaching out to caress his cheek. "I only wished we were granted more privacy for this."
The hand on Issei's cheek snaked past the back of his head until it hooked around his neck. Somewhere during its ministrations, her other hand mirrored the action to catch the young man in an embrace. Her head rest in the crook of his neck, her breathing seductively tickling at his earlobes with every breath. And yet despite all the joy and happiness he should be feeling now with this kind of proximity, Issei was just figuring out what those earlier feelings were. Those were feelings of dread. Feelings that came to a head upon Yuuma's next words.
"You said you wanted to learn something about me as we dated right?"
A sudden force exploded against Issei's chest in a violent impact that sent him flying to the cobble stone path. The young man looked up from his prone position, eyes blurred with tears of pain as his so-called girlfriend stood none too far from him. Completely unharmed by that odd explosion which had occurred in that infinitesimally small space between their pressed bodies. However that wasn't what made his mind stop functioning, it was the two large jet black wings spread enough to touch the tree tops extending from her back.
"Y-Yuuma?", he barely managed to get out.
The girl smiled at him. Though it was no longer the smile she offered him earlier in the day. No, this smile was cruel, akin to a sneer. "This is my secret Issei. The truth is my name is not Amano Yuuma." The wings flapped once and folded behind her back, "I am the fallen angel Raynare, and I am here to kill you unworthy maggot."
Issei's uncomprehending stare shook along with his voice, "Wh-What?"
A lance made of light appeared in the dark-winged one's hands and the last thing Issei saw was his supposed girlfriend's smirk as she hurled the lance of light at him like a javelin. It crossed the several meters of distance between the two in the blink of an eye and detonated like a small hand grenade upon impact.
"Impossible..." the fallen angel whispered with wide-eyed glare.
Only the lance of light did not collide with Issei Hyoudou, it smashed right into the cobblestone path some few meters further where he had been standing instead. The young man had been knocked aside by another body that had come flying from the hedge of the cobblestone path. It had come bursting forth from the verdant foliage like some kind of wild beast. This wild beast now had Issei by the collar, trying to shake some sense into his lightly concussed mind.
"Issei-kun? Issei-kun! Wake up! What's wrong? Did I run into you too hard? I'm sorry! Are you hurt? Answer me!"
If Issei could speak at that moment, the first words he would say would most certainly be "You're hurting me." as the shaking was dealing more damage to his brain than the initial impact. However, after his eyes spied two familiar orbs of bright pinkish red eyes and warmly shaded brandy hair, such thoughts left his mind blank. What came out of his mouth upon regaining function once more was one name.
"Arisato?"
The brunette girl stopped her worried violent rocking of the young man in favor of squealing in joy. "Issei-kun, you're alive!" She then wrapped him in a crushing hug which prompted unheard wheezes pleaing her to release him.
Once released, the young man sucked in a large breath of air to replace the amount forced out his lungs by his savior-slash-almost-executioner, he hadn't really decided which she was. All the same, he looked up at her questioningly from her position hovering over him, "What are you doing here?"
Minako pulled back to rest on her knees before thrusting a closed fist in front of him with pride. Issei merely shifted his curious glance from her to it then back to her, prompting further explanation. The convenience store clerk uncurled her digits to show two five-hundred yen coins and two one-hundred yen coins in her hand. "You dropped three five-hundred yen coins in the money basket awhile ago. I only noticed that you paid one-thousand five-hundred yen for three-hundred yen worth of soda after I ran the transaction through the register a few minutes later. So in the spirit of service I ran after you to give back your change." she explained all that proudly, nose stuck up in the air as if expecting the young man to praise her or something.
Instead, he just nodded lamely before reaching out with unsure hands. "Umm...", he mumbled out, "Thank you?"
Minako dropped the few coins into his waiting palms and grinned, "You're welcome. Please come back again!"
"But we're not in the shop."
Minako rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully on the arm, "It's the spirit that counts, the spirit! Geez, you really ruined the moment. Speaking of ruined moments," Minako pressed up to Issei's side to whisper conspiratorially in his ear with a finger not so subtly pointing at something to her side, "What's with your girlfriend glaring daggers into my back like that?"
Issei followed the direction of her finger and saw the way Yuuma- No, Raynare was glaring them down with murderous rage quivering in her eyes. He could feel her blood lust so palpable in the air that he could probably breathe it in and choke on it. Turning his gaze back to Minako who was now poking him for not responding, he felt incredelous at her obliviousness to this virtual miasma of hatred filling the air.
A look of horror suddenly struck the red-head brunette hybrid leading Issei to think she finally got a grasp on the situation. "Is she jealous of me for glomping you?"
Or not.
"You did tell her there's nothing between us right? Right!?" she started shaking the stupefied Issei again. He had not known Minako Arisato was this dense. Read the atmosphere here at least.
"Shut up!", Raynare's voice snarled from where she stood. Hands now ending in sharp talons instead of finely manicured nails were balled into tight shaking fists. Instead of blood dribbling between her digits, tendrils of dark light began to seep and coalesce. "Just how", she murmured, "just how did you come here? What are you?"
Stopping her accosting of Issei, she turned sharply in reply, "I'm Arisato Minako, second year at Kuoh Academy and part-timer at 24/7 store where we have all your daily needs at your convenience. I ran over here from the store, saw you and Issei being sweet by the gate and ran after you. Then when I though I was catching up by the path, it suddenly felt like the ap between us was getting bigger so I sped up then I kept running and running and running until I went full sprint till I caught sight of you and jumped when I figured I couldn't slow down in time."
"That can't be!", the fallen angel lashed out in disbelief. Energy discharged from her hands in a destructive wave that fizzled out into a gale as it reached Issei and Minako. "I placed barrier after barrier, illusion after illusion when we came here. Even if the illusion of us not being here didn't fool you then the spacial bypass should have sent you ever to the other side of the park! Even then, there were physical barrier that should have kept interlopers like you from entering as a last resort."
Minako raised a questioning brow at that declaration. "Were you...", she questioned, looking between the raven-haired girl and the boy behind herself. She pointed a finger in either of their direction and asked, "Were you guys planning to do something naughty?"
"Ugh no!", Raynare snapped, "Why would I ever degrade myself to the level of a monkey like him? That no good pervert that doesn't even half a brain cell to wonder why any girl would approach a boy like him. A boy with no skills, no intelligence and certainly not even wealth. A completely worthless meat bag that doesn't deserve the right of God's gift of life."
Minako's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Hey", she gave a warning shout, "That's being pretty mean."
Hurt was an understatement, those words cut deep.
The person in question, Issei, sat on the ground. Shock driving out every emotion from his chest and from his being. Was that really how she saw him?
"Mean? It's kindness. Calling a creature as depraved as him a pervert would be an insult to those like myself who deal in perversion. Even we have more decency than him. Why I could feel the way he just wanted to ravish me in broad daylight as we toured the city. It was utterly disgusting, I felt like I was being violated just by standing so close to him. And to think he was actually trying to play at being the innocent one. Not wanting me to know how perverted he is because I would be repulsed? Perish the though, his very existence repulses me!"
He lips cracked to a self-deprecating crescent. That was only natural.
"Breathing the same air as him makes me want to vomit. Pressing my body against his in a bid to falsify love was violating, especially when tried to touch me inappropriately. I detest him to the highest degree from the core of my very being to the rotten center of his soul. I will cleanse his filthy existence and remove him from the cycle of reincarnation even if it's the last thing I do. Such a sinful child submerged in the mud of his own grievous lust deserves no less. Someone so vile that the only way he'd know a woman's touch is without her consent."
Yes, Issei was a pervert that had no salvation left to him. He knew that, he knew was all everyone ever saw him as, the only thing they could see him as; a pervert. But was it wrong for him to wish that maybe he could change? For a moment, for a second, when he met Raynare- No, when he met Yuuma, he believed that maybe he could change, become a man honorable enough to commit to one woman. Was that impossible to begin with? Was he so far gone that the only way for him to feel the soft touch of a woman was to buy their consent? If not then maybe against? He shook his head, he didn't want to think on it anymore or else he might actually believe it. If he believed such a thing then maybe...
Issei lifted his hands before his eyes.
Maybe he would do just that and resort to forci-
"No.", Minako declared, simple and loud. She had her hands akimbo and a scowl was on her face.
Issei's head snapped up in surprise at the sudden proclamation. His brown eyes unconsciously resting what little hope he had left on that small frame.
"What do you mean no?", Raynare continued to seethe from where she stood. Wings spread out threateningly attempting to scare the other girl.
"I meant what I said. No, Issei isn't hopeless. No, Issei isn't the scum of the Earth. No, Issei doesn't lack any good points."
For every rejection Minako made of Raynare's words, hope seeped into Issei and sent strength to his limbs. He could feel the strength to stand proudly once more.
"Even though all those good points are buried by that one humungous horrible point that is his lust."
And then promptly plant his face to the cobblestone path with a loud crack. "Are you defending my dignity or not!?", the young man demanded from his place on the ground, never mind the embossed outline of cobblestones lining his face in angry red.
Minako ignored him and kept on speaking, "Issei is the kind of guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve. You said you could tell that he was trying to grope you but acting the perfect gentleman? That wasn't an act. He really was trying to be the perfect gentleman. Issei is the kind of guy who's honest to a fault. Him trying to hide his perverseness is because he cares, not because he wants to take advantage of you. On that note, hadn't Issei done everything in his power to make your date enjoyable? Didn't he make sure the whole day never left you bored and your were properly engaged the whole time? Issei may be a pervert but he's earnest and sincere in a way few guys can be. Even now, being devastated as he is by your words, that just means how much you still mean to him, how much your view on him dictates how he looks at himself. He loves you Yuuma, there's no question to it and here you are trampling all over his heart!"
"Love? Yuuma? That's all an illusion.", the fallen angel waved off such notions. She gripped her fingers into a fist and smirked sinisterly, "My name is Raynare and from the start my only intent had been to take his life, not his heart. My affections would only be wasted on a dog like him!"
A sharp sigh cut through the air as Minako looked away in disappointment. "Issei is wasted on someone like you."
"What was that?"
Raynare's glare sharpened like lances, piercing into Minako's very being. Anger and hatred in that gaze threatened to immolate their receiver if they could. And yet he human Minako stood there unapologetically, even when the ire of a fallen angel was wholly being placed on her. Rather she glared back and said it simply, "Issei is way out of your league."
Raynare's eyes widened into angry saucers and her nose wrinkled in her rage.
"YOU BITCH!"
BANG!
An explosion occurred in the blink of an eye, right where Minako had been standing. Raynare's right arm already poised as if she had thrown something. The rage in her body barely subsiding as the pleasure of the kill had not sunk in.
Clank
A light tap of metal resonated through the ringing explosion turned the fallen angel's attention towards a lamp post decorating the side of the cobblestone path. Shocked, she could scarcely believe that the clerk was still alive, leaning heavily against the pole with a pant of someone who had been sprinting for half a mile.
Minako's hair cast a shadow over her bowed face. "Honestly, I don't really know what's going on.", the clerk grasped the lamp post beside her tightly with one hand. "And honestly, I have no idea what you really are." the metal shaft of the post began squeal under the deforming pressure of her grip. "But I can understand one thing really clearly.", Minako grasped the bottom part of the post with her other hand. "I really hate people like you!", Minako screamed as she unceremoniously pulled up the lamp post from the concrete ground. Metal base and wiring no match against the raw strength she was putting in uprooting the object.
The girl swung it over her head and twirled it as if it were a light bamboo bow staff, not a full cast iron victorian style lamp post weighing into the tens of kilograms. She manipulated it with a control only a master should have and held it diagonally with the head down making one think she were preparing for a sweeping strike with a polearm. No signs of her losing balance or grip on the make-shift weapon; despite it weighing over half her body weight or having a shaft circumference twice as wide as her grip.
Off to the side, Issei watched jaw hanging freely as the superhuman spectacle from Minako left him speechless. Was this really the same Arisato that foiled every perverted plan he and his best friends came up with? Was this the same girl who somehow beat them up soundly without them being able to do anything about it in any case?
Perhaps it was. It would explain a lot now that Issei thought about it. All the times she carried all three of them to the infirmary after beating them, all the times she could not be physically removed from a place she had elected to stay, all the times she ran with such a speed kicking up dust on the track fields. At first Issei assumed it was just something played for laughs, an exaggeration by his eyes that this girl was inhuman. But maybe, just maybe... what if Minako Arisato really was superhumanly strong? Superhumanly fast? Superhumanly tough? Did it mean he and his friends had been fighting a hopeless battle all those times?
Whatever it may have meant then, right now it means that Arisato was pitting her uncanny strength to protect him against his ex-girlfriend who declared herself a fallen angel, and proved it not only with her black wings but feats that no human should be capable of; like throwing light lances that blow things up and putting craters in concrete just by throwing tantrums.
"That's just fine.", Raynare's face looked like it had split from the size of her grin. "I hate uppity humans like you who act tough just because you're a little strong." She lifted up her right hand above her head and gleefully hissed, "so go ahead and die without understanding anything!" She brought the one hand down and suddenly the empty air above her shimmered into action with lights raining down towards Minako.
The clerk did not hesitate to rush forward despite the ungainly weight of her makeshift weapon. One foot slammed down violently on the ground into an air rending pirouette before half the distance could even be covered. Minako spun like a tornado before slamming down the pointy lamp head at the fallen angel.
Raynare jumped back, dodging the blow and creating distance between them. The look on her face had lost its glee, replaced with a hateful sneer. "So you're a little faster than I thought."
Minako did not comment, instead retaking her stance.
RIIIIIIP
The sound of tearing cloth could be heard by everyone over the remnant scraping of the post against rock.
Raynare felt a distinct draft and looked down at herself, belatedly realizing the front of her top had been shredded, exposing her lacey black bra for all the world to see. It was likely from the sheer force of the mortal's swing, something that made her glare all the more hateful.
Though off to the side, Issei had the gal to give an appreciative wolf whistle. Minako on the other hand remained silent and reset her stance with loud twirls of the lamp post. The steel in her eyes glimmering in the fading sunlight.
"And a little stronger too.", Raynare begrudgingly added. Her nefarious grin returned as she raised both hands glowing with energy. "But can you keep up with- this?", she threw two lances of light down range with a hiss.
Minako stepped forward and wove through the two speeding projectiles as if they were stuck in the air with a wide gap in between. She brought the post up and thrust forward with a harsh battle cry.
The pole was much longer than Raynare had given it credit for so her dodge backward came up short. Instead, she slapped the pole away and countered with another light spear. Her opponent merely tipped their head to the side, letting the lance whiz past empty space less than centimeters away from the target. The lance flew over Issei and landed on the ground behind him in a loud explosion.
Minako paid the destructive result a glance, and Raynare delighted in the sudden trepidation that seeped in to the brunette girl's form. "Feeling a little bit outmatched?", Raynare grinned.
Minako turned her sights back on to her opponent before letting her own small grin appear on her face, "I don't know. I'm not the one who hasn't landed a hit yet."
That turned Raynare livid. "Neither have you; you smart-mouthed bi-"
The fallen angel could finish neither her retort nor the next light spear forming in her hand as Minako rushed in like a dance of blades. Her speed and sharpness of movement so great that the lamp post looked more like multiple swinging blades instead of a single twirling post.
Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, stomach, head, shoulder, groin, it didn't matter. The manner of attack varied as much as the targets with nary a pattern in sight. Raynare was forced to dodge the whirling mass of steel swinging around along with the occasional pokes and thrusts. By no means was the fallen angel slower than the convenience store clerk. In fact, it's only because of her superior speed that Raynare hasn't taken a single blow yet. Rather, the clerk was reading her moves and dictating the pace. It was frustrating to someone like Raynare who knew she was superior in raw spec. To be outclassed in an exchange, it was humiliating.
The fallen anel stepped back, but her frustration had made her movements stiff. She lost her footing for a moment and that was all Minako needed. She swung in with a thrust to the exposed flank, but Raynare used her superhuman reflexes to react in time to set up a block. Right when the lamp head was already half-way into its trajectory, the direction suddenly changed like a snake.
A loud bang like crack echoed in the area. A hollow thunk that echoed of metal and bone sounded out over the walkway. Minako's stance had changed, she somehow turned an outter hooking thrust to the flank into a diving overhead thrust that slammed right into Raynare's forehead.
Under the circumstances of a normal fight, this would mean the end. Heck, without any protective gear it would be possible that the one hit would suffer a fractured skull, brain injury and maybe even death, and that's with a wooden training stick. But this fight was not normal in the least, the fact the attacker was using a lamp post instead of a proper naginata and the black wings of the one hit. The circumstances were not normal at all; which is why it wasn't surprising when the fallen angel's head that had snapped back from the attack turned its attention back to the lamp wielding clerk. An angry red mark was showing on the middle of the forehead of the fallen angel, as if she just suffered one too many forehead flicks. On the other hand, the brunette wielding the lamp post twirled her unconventional weapon of choice into a relaxed stance and a serene smile.
"Hit, men. One point.", she declared cheekily while holding a up a single finger.
Raynare frowned, the fringe of her hair falling over her reddened forehead while casting a shadow over her face. "Bitch.", she whispered.
The fallen angel's hands flickered to life with dark divine energy and the next second Minako knew, she was dodging light javelins left and right. Her footwork already at the limits of what bipedal beings should be capable of before she started using her lamp as a sort of balancing weight and vaulting pole in one, maximizing her abnormal agility.
Raynare saw the agile display reminiscent of a monkey and her rage boiled over. "Stop mocking me!", she screamed before her bolts rained harder and faster. Stronger as well if the way the lances began to explode now as they slammed into the surrounding area instead of vaporizing patches of grass.
Minako was beginning to sweat. The lone witness of this match saw that Minako was beginning to grow hesitant of her steps. Her movements getting stiffer and stiffer as the bombardment went on. Issei wondered if even with that inhuman physical capacity, even someone like Arisato could not hold out against a higher existence. Wait... that wasn't right. Just earlier, Minako was completely pressing her advantage, it almost looked like there was no way for Raynare to win. Even when the fallen angel started throwing these lances, it looked like Minako had only begun to put in effort. Rather than struggle, Issei would say she looked more like she was playing around, not an ounce of desperation in the air around her. Perhaps what was so amazing about it was that even someone who knew nothing about fighting like him could tell. But now, the way Minako was moving less and less made Issei uneasy. Why?
A lance of light exploded nearby and Issei had to cover his face with his arms. Debris flew furiously in the whipping wind. Rocks sent flying fast enough to be called shrapnel went flying every which way, scratching at his clothes. This was really getting dangerous not just for Minako but him as well. He looked to see how she was doing after that last attack and he caught her eyes as she paused in front of him. The world seemed to stop, he could hear his heart beating as the sound of angry winds and explosions continued in slow motion and a few tones too low. Her brandy colored gaze scrutinized him, as if gauging something then she quickly looked away before leaping towards the far side away from him.
Time moved on normally for Issei and he wondered what that was all about. Another explosion happened nearby, almost throwing him off his vertical base. "Geez, what's with all these explosions? I'm trying to think here! They've been getting closer and clos-" Issei stopped mid-sentence when it finally clicked. The reason why Minako was getting more and more stifled in her movements. The reason is-
"Hahaha! Are you honestly trying to protect that trash?", Raynare suddenly screamed in laughter. She saw it. The way that monkey girl moved more and more sloppily, more and more closed in as if options were becoming lost. The fallen angel had realized it when she caught the girl sneaking a not subtle enough peek to her questionably former boyfriend. The monkey girl was afraid Issei would get caught in the cross fire.
Raynare continued to pelt the abnormal human with her light javelins as a victorious sneer emerged on her face. "Aaah, my hand slipped!", she sang playfully as a lance fired far-off the trajectory of its brethren.
Minako quickly recognized the direction it was headed and dove through the mass of lights. In one quick motion she landed with her pole arm out stretched.
BANG!
A large explosion sounded out as the lamp post smashed into the light javelin.
A malevolent smile split the fallen angel's face. She knew that the girl would reach in time, she had thrown the light spear just slowly enough for her to do so. The fool would have probably tried to block but it would have all ended the same. The lances she'd been firing were so charged with energy that they would explode on impact. And my what impressive impact did that girl's pole-arm have. Raynare touched at her throbbing forehead. Even with her stance as the winner, she could still feel her head ache and the repeated generation of spears was beginning to take its toll. Her chest was already heaving from the exertion.
In the dust and smoke that rose from the explosion, the sound of howling wind sang out. Raynare's eyes widened and so did the eyes of a terrified Issei. Wind continued to howl as the sound became clearer and crisper, enough to recognize the hollow tone accompanying the song. It was the sound of a twirling staff; and with one final swing, a lamp post dispelled the floating dust to show a worse for wear Minako Arisato. One of her uniform's sleeves was gone up to her shoulders exposing a partly singed bra-strap. Multiple cuts and soot covered burns littered her sides and even tearing up her leggings to the point the right one may as well not be there at all. She was bloody, she was burnt but she was still alive.
Something Raynare noticed but loathed to admit was how the injured mortal didn't even seem winded while she was barely able to stabilize her breathing. It pissed her off and just wanted that human gone. So she threw another lance towards Issei, expecting the girl to do something to intercept the energy attack once again to an ill effect.
Minako parried it with the lamp post, but this time it didn't explode. It merely veered off course and smashed into the ground a clean ninety degree angle from the original flight path.
That didn't go quite as planned. Raynare hesitated, catching her breath, before she tossed another lance towards Issei with a flick of her wrist. She watched the young man cower the instant he saw the etheral blade, then a blur came in between. A metallic thunk and ear splitting screech echoed and once more the lance of light was parried. Raynare followed the deflected light weapon fly upwards before blowing up into an impressive display of force. Her eyes rested on the girl once again. What the human was doing was... impossible. To be able to tap the shaft of the lance exactly so as not to set-off the warhead- There was no other word for this. She grit her teeth. It was impossible for a human to match an angel, impossible impossible impossible. Even if they gained the favor of those damnable devils there should be no way any human could be a match for an angel much less a fallen angel!
Minako stepped back as lights began to rain once more. She brought up her makeshift weapon up to parry the first one, then down to swat the second one, the third was swept to the side and the fourth, and then the fifth, sixth, seventh- The number of lances she blocked grew and this time Minako did not have the option to dodge. If only because the second she did, the person behind her would suffer the consequences. So she stood her ground and braved the onslaught, acting as a shield.
Raynare was beginning to see the disadvantages of her strategy now. The velocity of her lances, the explosive energy in each one, they were all visibly lessening. This was fast becoming a battle of attrition and the clerk was showing little sign of slowing down. What's more, because she was aiming for Issei more than Minako, Raynare's target areas were limited. Allowing for a pattern to form which was easier to defend. Even sneaking in lances directly targeting the girl were being properly deflected. If there was any solace in this situation, it would be the small nicks and scratches Raynare was scoring all over the girl. But this had to end, and she had to push for that finale.
With one final heave, Raynare pushed the last lance of her salvo in Issei's direction. Minako predictably intercepted, but paused in confusion when she brought her weapon up for the next parry. There was nothing there to block, and that was because Raynare took that passing beat to charge up a massive lance of light in her hand.
"Let's see you stop this." the fallen angel gloated for a second before chucking the thing down range, dead and center.
Minako blanched at the sheer size and energy of the oncoming projectile. She dared not whack it away like she did the others. Her only recourse was to steer it away. So she jumped backwards, leaning back as if trying to lie on the ground. The lance quickly gained on her position. She only had one chance to get this right or else the person behind her was dead.
As the energy lance sailed above her, Minako raised her lamp post like a handle bar. Just below where the blade head of the lance was, she made contact with the physical limits of speed and finesse she could drag out of her body. Once contact was made, she nudged it upwards and the most horrifying screech of steel and welding torches met her ears. Heat began to creep up the body of the lamp due to prolonged seconds of contact but Minako held on as she watched the beam curve its flight upwards. Her makeshift weapon gave in to the heat and melted where the light weapon made contact.
Minako fell down on the soft grass as her hands burned from the scalding heat of the metal in her hands. If one looked close enough, one would realize that the steel was already deformed and warped in practically all places. Assumedly because of repeated contact with energy attacks without any mystic empowerment of its own. The girl barely had a moment to consider abandoning the broken weapon when a shadow draped over her prone form.
Raynare was upon Minako in a moment, energy lance in hand much smaller than the ones she threw but none the less deadly. She stabbed it downward with a scream expressing the amount of hatred she had for her target. The fallen brunette responded in kind, bringing up the lower half of the lamp post to bat Raynare away.
Minako's scream was strained and clearly too shrill to be a battle cry. She was in pain, but the girl did not falter. The girl forced herself on her feet, one hand now free as she lost her grip on the half she used to hit the fallen angel. It had flew away quite a distance, but that was fine. The half of the post with the lamp head was more than enough with a length slightly less than three-quarters of her height. She used the remains of her weapon as a support for her shaking legs, the exertion and piling injuries finally making themselves known to her adrenaline fueled body. Likely her endorphins finally finished running their course.
The superhuman clerk grunted in exertion as she barely got her guard up in time for another clash with a speeding fallen angel. Her makeshift weapon locking with the double-headed lance of light in Raynare's hands.
"Quite the look you're sporting monkey." Raynare sneered gleefully at all the cuts, gashes and leaking blood over Minako's face and body.
"You're not looking too well yourself." Minako grinned back at the pale ashen hue of the fallen angel's face. "Want a moment your catch your breath?" she mocked.
The fallen angel only grinned back, "Speak for yourself."
Their clash broke and the weapons met again in a blur of lights and public utility infrastructure. Once more those haunting screeches came in a staccato symphony. Energy meeting steel in intermittent showers of could hear the steel warping on contact, telling of the fact the lamp post was not holding well against the aura formed lance. The energy acting like a mix between a soldering rod and buzz saw's illegitimate child.
Minako's grip on her weapon was growing lax. Her hands were burnt from holding the metal piece heated to the point of melting steel. By normal human standards, she should be screaming in pain right now but Minako held back such impulses and kept fighting as the skin of her palms sizzled. The burns had long gone past the stage of stinging and had now reached numbness. She could not feel anything in her palms, not the solid touch of metal nor the burn of hot iron. Her hold was fierce with excessive effort. Her twirls and strikes losing grandiose and masterful grace; replaced by stiff and powerful strokes.
It wasn't long till Minako made an unforced error. With the metal already softened from heat and her numb superhuman grip, the pole arm user struck out with a one handed strike that made use of her momentum and the staff's weight. Raynare simply parried the strike and Minako attempted to recover into a two-handed grip. However when she reached out with her free-hand, she grabbed too tightly and the shaft slipped out from between her fingers.
A few seconds were wasted in trying to recover and that was seen by the fallen angel as a perfect moment to strike. Raynare lunged forward with her lance intent on stabbing Minako through the head. The brunette shifted to the side in an evasive maneuver, and used her leg to kick up the fallen lamp post head right into the chin of an unsuspecting Raynare. The fallen angel snapped back with a retaliatory throw of her lance. The range was too close for Minako to effectively parry and the trajectory had not changed from before aiming towards Issei. The mortal only had one choice as she jumped in the way of the lance. Fortunately, it wasn't explosively charged as it buried itself in her naked shoulder, searing flesh and instantly cauterizing the resulting wound.
The wound burned enough to make Minako cry out from the pain as she recoiled with tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. She saw Raynare charging up another lance with sights still set on the male brunette. So Minako grit her teeth and screamed "Issei-kun run!", before using her one good arm to violently lash out at the mid-air fel angel.
Raynare's lance had already formed and the impact that sent her flying away only served to skew her aim mid-throw. Instead of going towards Issei, the lance spiked a few degrees downwards right through the gut of Minako Arisato.