Songs used in the chapters (the links can be found in my profile):
1/ Chikyuu no akichi (Vacant Land of Earth) _ KK
Chapter 3:
"Goodbye... just means I'll never see you again..."
*The next day, lunch break, music room*
The only easy day was yesterday. Whoever said that sentence, he would like to meet that person, give him or her a pat on the back and agree wholeheartly.
After all, who would have known the nun named Asia possessed a Sacred Gear that could heal wounds, and the abandonned church he had led her to had a heavy tainted-light aura that he usually sensed in Fallen Angels. Why were the Fallen here? What were their plans? Was the nun in league with the Fallen? Was the nun trustworthy or was she just using a trustworthy and clumsy guise? Were the devils awared of the presence of the Fallen? If they had been awared, why hadn't they done something? Too many questions. Too few answers.
Man, this was troublesome. And now all he could hope that whatever troubles might happen, it wouldn't get in between his part-time jobs. Money wasn't everything but without it, life was cruel would be an understatement
Taking a sip from his water bottle, he couldn't help but let out a sigh. After having a taste of instant curry yesterday, his meal had returned to the usual with mugimeshi and takuan. He couldn't help but wonder whenever his wallet would allow him to have a taste of instant curry again.
Now that he noticed, since when he had started sighing a lot? Urghh, now he felt like an old man already. Perhaps Naoto was right, he should take a break now and then.
Yeah, and risk losing his part-time jobs. No way in hell.
With a small almost sardonic laugh, he took out a music sheet from his guitar case and approached the piano in the music room. It had been some time since the last time he played piano and while both his guitar skill and piano skill were mostly self-taught and couldn't be as good as the members of Music Club, he was still proud of it nonetheless.
Heh, if he had had a wonderful voice and a good look, perhaps he would have tried to become an idol to earn more money.
Yeah right, he thought sarcastically. With a small amount of amusement, he decided to put on his fox mask before sitting in front of the piano. Playing piano as Agent of Mercy would be a new experience as the thought entertained him a little bit.
And after all, it wasn't like there would be anyone or some nosy reporters suddenly appeared and saw a student with fox mask playing piano and singing with average voice at this hour.
( Play music: Chikyuu no akichi [Vacant Land of Earth] _ KK )
"hikkoshi sagyou no tochuu mitsuketa oshiire no danbooru/ When I was moving I found it, inside a cardboard box in my closet
hikkuri kaesu to omocha ni butsukete kubonda boku no chikyuugi/ Turning it over, it looked like it'd been dented by a toy, my old globe
oosutoraria to nyuu jii rando no aida ga hekondete/ The space between Australia and New Zealand has been bent in,
sekidou o hashitteru akai sen ga kogecha ni natteta/ The red line running across the equator has turned black..."
Every song he wrote, each of them contained a memory, a story about his "clients". Some had happiness, some had sadness. Regret. Anxiousness.
"boku no shiru sekai wa hekondete sabite iru/ The world I know has been beat up and rusting
mado no soto dekiru dake tooku o mite mitai/ I want to look as far as I can outside the window"
And some contained questions and wishes.
"Somaria no kaizokusen kizukanu mama ni umi e shizumu/ A Somalian pirate ship is sinking into the sea unnoticed
inochi ga aru darou/ There are lives on board, aren't there?
Bosunia no juugekisenotakebi o agete kieteyuku/ A Bosnian firefight, a roar rises up and then gently disappears,
inochi ga aru darou/ There are lives being lost, aren't there?"
It had been a while since the last time Kuoh Times, the newspaper puplished by the Newspaper Club, had gathered any attention. And now, it was up to her, Aoba (1) the buchou of Newspaper Club, to change it!
But there was one BIG problem.
Scoop!
Aoba needed a hot new steaming scoop!
The news about the two Kuoh onee-sama was too hard to get and there weren't anything hot enough to gain the attention of Kuoh students. And for god's sake, she didn't want to put the perverted trio on the newspaper even though it would be about them being beaten by the girls
But if she couldn't find any new scoop, she would have to resort to find out how the hell Hyoudou Issei became a new member of Occult Research Club...
"amerika gun no kanseitou mieru aite wa itsumo soba de/ The American military control tower is always a visible companion nearby
tadaima to iiau hito ga iru/ And many arguing, saying 'This is my home!'
muishiki demomuboubi narakimi no kokoro wa furueru darou/ Being unconscious, even defenseless, your heart is trembling, isn' it?
Nemutterukokoro otataki okose/ Suddenly your sleeping heart is sharply awoken"
As she was walking in an empty hall, the sound of piano and a singing voice reached her ears. Curious, Aoba quickly approached the source of the music, which was the music room now that she noticed. As she tooko a peak from outside, she saw a male student, probably second year or third year, with dark brown hair and a fox mask covering his upper face as said student's fingers were moving on the keyboard while he sang with a hint of solemnity.
She has found her scoop!
"kikoeteru kakanseitoumieru dareka gakoe o hatte/ Can you hear that? Someone in sight of the control tower is letting loose their voice
utau uta nimisairu o tobasu no ka/ Firing a missile with the song they sing, aren't they?
Akirameruna kanseitou juusei ni magireta ubugoe/ Don't give up, as for the control tower, the baby's first cry blends into the sounds of gunfire
kikoeteru kakikoeteru ka/ Can you hear it? Can you hear it?"
As her camera and voice recorder walked with everything they got, Aoba couldn't help but wonder. Who was this student? Was he a member of a music club? Why would he practice alone? And more important, why would he even have to wear a mask?!
Mystery was waiting to be solved! And it would be her job, the greatest journalist of Kuoh Academy
"chokkei sanjut' senchi no chikyuu wo motte tabi wo shitai/ Carrying this 30-centimeter globe I want to take a trip,
taisetsu na koto waboku no me to kokoro detashikametain da/ I want to ascertain what's precious with these eyes and this heart of mine
chikyuu ni akichi ga arebasoko wa donna basho darou/ If those vacant lands exist somewhere on earth, what kind of places are they?
hikouki mo fune mo iranaidokoka niarun darou na/ I won't need a plane or a ship, because such things, they exists everywhere, don't they?"
(End music)
As the student slowly stood up, Aoba quickly slipped away before the mysterious student could notice her presence. Now it was the time for investigate and information gathering! With this, she could have a blockbuster-sized scoop!
But when she reached the first floor, a thought hit her.
Why should she have to slip away? Why shouldn't she try to stay and find out who that student was? If the newspaper came out, that student might decided to lay low for god-knows-how-long and she would never have a chance to find out who he was...
In mere seconds, Aoba ran back to the music room as if she was chased by an angry mob, hoping the student haven't left yet...
"Damn!" cursed Aoba
... only to find that the male student had already left.
*Timeskip, after school*
For some unknown reasons, he had an odd feeling that he had jinxed himself. He didn't know why, he just felt it.
Would it make him become a paranoid jerk? Nah, perhaps not. Though the feeling was still nagging in his mind and it was rather annoying. Perhaps he should prepare himself for whatever was going to happen...
But when he walked past the next corner, the house on the left caught his atention or more precisely, the very poor barrier was put on the house. Whoever erected this barrier must be a novice in magic or the one who created this was trying to scream "There is something suspicious here! Check this out!".
If it was the second case, then he would say the one erected the barrier had succeeded.
Snapping his fingers, his fox mask appeared on his face with a USP .45 tactical surpressed in his hand. When the sun goddess had given him weapons in order to protect himself, he had expected to be given something like a katana, a tachi (2) or perhaps a tantou (3) or any Japanese traditional weapons, not firearms, albeit foreign ones. And while he agreed with her choice of firearms over tradtional weapons, the reason she chose foreign-made firearms was what amazed him: she didn't believe the firearms produced by Japan.
Amaterasu, Japanese Sun Goddess, didn't trust firearms produced by Japan. That was rich on so many levels. If any gunsmiths in the past had known about this, he wondered what kind of reaction they would have.
Shaking his head slightly, he cautiously approached the barrier as he closed his eyes
"Time Vision"
When he opened his eyes, the world around him became dark grey as seven red humanoid figures could be seen inside the house. The barrier had done absolutely nothing to prevent his vision. He wondered...
He decided to take a step forward and easily past the barrier.
... yep. This barrier was way too poor to prevent anyone coming from outside, though it did prevent one thing from escaping.
The smell of blood.
This was very serious.
Without causing any sound, he turned off Time Vision as he approached a window and what were inside nearly made him choke
On one side of the living room, all the devils of Occult Research Club led by the sister of Sirzechs Gremory were standing on guard, ready to engage as their newest member, Hyoudou Issei seemed like he was injured. On the other side were a white hair male dressed in priest outfit holding a light sword with Asia Argento sat on the ground, bruise marks could be seen on her face. And for some odd reasons, his gut was telling him the devils wasn't the ones who caused it. But those weren't what nearly made him choke
In the middle, the coprse of a girl was nailed onto a wall with blood spashed nearly everywhere. Her face was disfigured beyond recognition as her abdomen had been sliced open, intestines were slowly falling out of the cut. In short, a gruesome and grotesque sight.
"Punishment for those who sinned." Came his quiet sardonic grunt as he read the English words on the wall. Now he knew who was the murderer.
"Buchou! There seems to be a group of Fallen Angels heading to this house." Said Himejima Akeno, the other one of The Two Great Onee-sama of Kuoh "Fighting them will draw too much attention!"
Alarmed, he switched to his Time Vision and looked around. It took him a few seconds to spot a group of four red humanoid figure with wings on the sky about 100 meters from his position. This Akeno had quite a sharp sense if she could detect that far. As for him, he didn't have to worry about being detected as long as he kept blending his presence within the flow of time and no one saw him.
Nonetheless, he still had to get out the here. As the black hair beauty had said, fighting here would draw too much attention, not too mention unwanted casualty on unlucky people if they were caught in the crossfire. The devils could handle themselves but for Asia...
Guess he would have to accept the invite to have tea with the blond nun sooner than he had expected.
With that in mind, he stealthily left the scene in the other direction, made sure that he couldn't be seen by the incoming Fallen.
On the side note, at least he still had enough time to reach his workplace and the feeling he had jinxed himself finally disappeared.
(Chapter end)
(1) A reference to Aoba from Kantai Collection. In the fandom, Aoba is depicted as being a curious and nosy reporter, always snooping around for the next scoop.
(2) A type of traditionally made Japanese sword (nihonto) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tachi style of swords preceded the development of the katana—the first use of the word katana to indicate a blade different from tachi appears toward the end of the twelfth century
(3) Tantou is commonly referred to as a knife or dagger. The blade is single or double edged with a length between 15 and 30 cm, designed primarily as a stabbing weapon but the edge can be used for slashing as well
Authour's note: Even though I enjoy writng about a character with poor finance, I can't deny the fact that writng this kind of character is fucking hard, especially for someone who is still somewhat new to writing like me. So, I thank all the people/readers who accepted, favorite and follow my fic despite its flaws. Even with the lack of reviews, you guys help me to continue writing (though I admit seeing new reviews would help me more with improving my fic). Again, thank you very much.