Chapter 8:
Blessings for your birthday
Blessings for your everyday
Face forward until the very last second.
A new day came. Same craps, different day, with new problems incoming his way. You brought down an enemy only to potentially have another one much worse replaced sooner or later. As long as rule of two sides coin still remained in the universe, peace was pretty much a temporary thing to him.
"Yodaka-san, what does the Kuoh Academy look like?"
Despite the lack of sleep due to her excitement of knowing she was going to attend school, Asia still seemed pretty energetic. Even though she was walking next to him, the enthusiasm was basically radiating from her feet and her posture. He wished he could have the same positive attitude just like hers.
"It's quite big with even a small forest near there. Originally an all-girls private school but became co-ed school before I came. You will see for yourself when you arrive."
"Will I make a lot of new friend there?"
For a very brief moment, he could swear that the former nun's eyes were literally sparkling. And for a second he felt a little bad that he might disappoint her but he just shrugged it off. She needed to know.
"Perhaps. Just remember it can be considered as the devils's headquarter. Be careful."
Asia's enthusiasm seemed went down a little bit
"You seem don't trust them, Yodaka-san." The blond girl said with a mixed expression on her face as he discreetly peered at her
"So you trust them then?"
The mixed expression now became clearer on Asia's face, a sign clearly showing that the blond girl was having an inner conflict between her thoughts
"No... It just... I was taught the devils were evil but... Father Freed..."
Father Freed... Oh right, the vulgar mouth exiled exorcist. His name nearly slipped his mind. And speaking of that psychopath, it seemed he had somehow survived and escaped if the lack of his remain indicated anything. Troublesome. He should have given that psychopath a bonus of shotgun shells before turning him into a black living bonfire. Next time then.
And speaking of troublesome, there was this 'devil' Freed had mentioned. From the way he spoke, he could only assume this 'devil' was somewhat in a deal with the fallen angels or with only Freed concerning Asia's dead body. The most plausible scenario he could think was the devil wanted Asia in his/her peerage, but it raised another question: why would a devil want to have a piece without her Twilight Healing? Devils might not be evil, but ther sure didn't act if they couldn't get something out. Which led to a bloodier scenario: the devil would break the deal, annihilate the den and return the Sacred Gear to Asia. Not only tying up loose ends but also having a valuable asset in the peerage along with her loyalty, killing two birds with one stone.
But why did he keep having the feeling that he was missing something very important in this story? In whatever scenario he could think about, everything was in their right place and there was no more room for more pieces.
Just what exactly did he miss?
With a short sigh, he made a mental note to remind himself to extract as many intels as he could from Raynare when he got back. With her information, he could at least have a better view of the whole scenario and have some preparation.
"... what he had done is bad while the brown hair devils he seemed not a bad person so... I... I..." Asia seemed shaken as she tried to express what she thought, efectively kicked his mind back to reality. Guess he should cut her some slack?
"We're all colored by our perceptions, our experiences and our perspectives, Asia-san. Even I can not claim a complete lack of bias myself. The best things I can recommend you are to be on your guard but keep an open mind and don't do anything stupid."
"I understand, Yodaka-san." Asia's enthusiasm had made it way back to her eyes after hearing what he had said.
"Also, don't spurt out the supernatural things freely in the public and not a word about being an Agent of Mercy within the devils's earshot. It will only bring unnecessary troubles."
Asia seemed embarassed as she giggled bashfully. Despite having told her before hand, he still decided to remind her in hope her honesty wouldn't bite his ass later.
A wind flew past him as it naughtily picked up his fedora hat from the top of his head and gently kept it afloat in the air under the clear blue sky. Quite a nice peaceful scene, no matter how temporary it was as he raised his hand to catch the falling fedora hat.
Not really far behind them, a girl with long orange brown hair was standing, her left hand clenched tightly as her eyes adopted a sad and hurted look when she looked at the pair in front of her
"... Why, Yodaka-kun?... Why?"
This was quite uncomfortable.
Just like his prediction, the attention of many students has been quickly gathered by the appearance of the new face, Asia Argento. But he had forgotten one thing: that attention was also directed at him by extension. Usually, he would just ignore it, but in this case...
"Hey, who is that guy?"
"Is he another transfer student like her?"
"He looks so mysterious yet charming!"
... the fact that many other students treated him as if he was a new student prevented him from doing that. And here he had thought the day he had snapped when Naoto had kept pestering him about finding a girlfriend had gathered enough unwanted attention.
Also, whoever just said that last comment, he recommended that person to go to an eye hospital and check their 'windows to the soul'.
"Hmm, why do I feel like I had seen him somewhere... Nah, probably just a deja vu"
Whoever just said it, congratulation! Despite the fact that person could only have the feeling of seeing him somewhere beforehand, that was still something.
"Wow! Just look at her, Issei! She looks so cute!"
Ah, here come the reactions he had been looking forward to seeing as he carefully taking a subtle glance at the infamous perverted trio or more specifically, Issei. Hmm, shock, surprise, panic, curiosity and a forced smile.
Honestly, he felt a little disappointed since he had expected a somewhat more comical reaction from the pervert. Perhaps he had put too much hope on that.
"Yodaka-san, is that..."
"Yes. Let's just go." Before Asia could point at Issei and potentially gathered more unnecessary attention, he ushered the blond girl to the main building.
Home Economics class, a course that, simply put, prepared a person for 'family life'. It included the basics of food preparation, home management liked chores and effective money budgeting and the importance of 'Family' as a unit both in itself, and its function in the society. A class he considered tedious given that he had been earning money and living by himself since he had been twelve. But for the first time, all of his mind focused in the lesson. The reason? The sheer amount of pointy looks or even a few baleful stares coming from the male population of the academy kept flying toward him, no thanked to Naoto. However tedious the class was to him, it was still a great distraction for his mind and way better than had his head on the table and dropped off, no matter how tempting it was.
As for the pair of Kuoh's Onee-sama, it was as clear as crystal that they were cautiously gauging him and trying to determine whether he was a threat or not under their normal facade. Couldn't blame them given the enrollment of Asia , not to mention the former blond nun had been coincidentally placed in the same class as Issei.
And speaking of the devils, a grim yet not impossible scenario just appeared in his mind: the devil Freed had mentioned was none than his crimson hair classmate. Despite what he had seen in the dead girl's house, there was nothing to prove that it hadn't been just an act. But of course, he had nothing to prove otherwise.
Oh dear. He had truly become too paranoid.
"... I have to choose the ones that I feel the most comfortable with?" Asia asked with uncertainty before receiving a light nod for his answer.
The moment the bell rang, he had promptly taken off and dragged Asia to the rooftop despite various looks sent to his back before he sealed off the area with some barrier talismans and a soundproof talisman. And now, said blond girl was sitting in front of all of the handguns his arsenal possessed after she had finished her lunch. Since she was basically had next to nothing to defend herself, give her a firearm was the best option for now.
"... But... I don't know how to use these... And isn't it dangerous and illegal to hold these weapons?" Asia's tone returned to her usual timid tone.
Well, Japan did have very strict laws concerning weapons. But if you had to choose between the law and your skin, the law could go to hell.
"It will give you a mean to defend yourself. Just don't wave it around or shooting random people"
Asia looked scandalous, probably due to how casually he said that.
"It's awful! Why would anyone do that?"
Worldwide, tons of people would do that, though he decided to keep his mouth shut. At least now he knew he could entrust a gun to the blond girl.
"Just pick the guns you feel the most comfortable. I will decide which one should you have."
Meanwhile, he should check his late birthday gifts. With a snap of his fingers, three black cases appeared as he started checking the contents of the first two cases that came from the Shinto Sun Goddess. The first case had a Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun with a full set of attachments and what was this...
"Thermal Scope... Nice." He muttered when he looked at the beautifully written manual in the case. This scope would be very handy. Meanwhile, the second case had many odd-looking flashbangs and different types of breaching charges with a guarantee from the god of the sea and storms, Susanoo, that they could 'break through any kinds of barrier or door'. He probably had come up with this after the time when his prank had made Amaterasu mad and gone into Ama-no-Iwato the second time.
*whistle*
Turning to the last case, he let out a whistle the moment he noticed the sigil on it. Whatever in the case, it certainly could wreak enough ha...
"I'm done, Yodaka-san!"
Ah, perhaps he would check it later. Let see, the blond girl had chosen for herself his favorite USP. 45 and...
"You will use this one." With a snap of his fingers, the second gun along with the handguns Asia didn't choose vanished.
"Au, I really like the silver color of that gun." Asia looked like a lost kicked puppy as he gave her a blank look. A clumsy girl could be tripped by nothing had a Desert Eagle to defend herself? That was one hell of a recipe for unwelcome troubles.
"Okay, now I will teach you how to use it..."
"Still nothing for now." Rias let out a sigh as her gaze was glued to the screen on front of her while her hands held a controller.
"The direction they're taking is to the northeast of the town." Said Koneko in her usual monotone as she checked the map while munching some chocolate
"It's not that I am complaining, Buchou..." Kiba Yuuto, the knight piece of Rias, raised his hand "... but can you please tell me why you decided to secretly watch him instead of invite him here and explain?"
"Information is power, Yuuto." The crimson hair devil said sagely, her eyes never left the screen "Have some info on our new face before invite them here will help us. And you do remember that this male student is the same person Issei had told us about the other day, right?"
The blond prince of Kuoh let out a sigh
"I understand that, Buchou. But why don't we have a familiar follow him?"
"It is most likely that our familiars will be noticed. We know next to nothing about his ability so we can't risk it."
A comical sweatdrop formed behind Kiba's head
"And you think he will not notice a crimson remote control flycam that keeps folowing him?" asked the knight incredulously
"Shindaichi-kun in 'The Great Detective's Apprentice' used it many time and had never been noticed."
Another sweatdrop.
"It's just a manga, Buchou." Now Kiba had an urge to pinch his nose but he decided to hold it back
"Shush, Yuuto. He haven't noticed it since they left the school ground so it's fine." Replied Rias casually as Kiba could detect a hint of unrestrained enthusiasm in her voice "Beside, controlling this flycam like Shindaichi-kun in the manga is really fun!"
"Fine, I give up." Said Yuuto as he raised his hands up in surrender. Sometimes he just couldn't understand what his King was thinking. "And why did you join her, Koneko-chan?"
"Buchou gave me a new special chocolate." Came the simple reply from the petite girl, making him let out another sigh. He should have guessed.
"Oh he took a turn to an alley!" said Rias excitedly as if she had just found an evidence that could solve a big case. All the eyes now focused at the screen as the flycam took the turn...
*CRASH!*
... only to see a rock colided with the flying drone and took the flycam down by surprise
"Nooooo! My baby! It's the same one that Shindaichi-kun had used in the live-action version!" wailed Rias as her knight couldn't help but let out one more sigh. He had warned her.
"Ahem. One, two, three, four. Testing, testing."
The voice coming from the screen quickly gathered the attention back to the screen,
"To whoever controlled this flycam..."
The more he looked at that pair of eyes on the screen, the more uncomfortable the three devils felt. Despite the tiredness, the eyes of the male student made them feel like they were being seen through their very own souls.
"... I am going to sue you for this." And with that, the screen went black.
Cue facefaults.
(Chapter end)