Edit: 12/20/13

Chapter 2-9: Chivalry and Dedication

'I suppose Chris would be at that Shimazu Dorm,' Mark thinks as he walks down the street. 'Even if she's not there, somebody will probably know where she would have gone.'

He could scan the city by sending out a pulse, but it wouldn't be accurate if she was far away. Plus there could be interference and delays. It would simply be easier to just go to where is most likely to be.

He walks past a person selling a wide variety flowers from a cart. Mark stops and thinks for a few moments before turning back to the vendor.

"Now, the question is no longer who should {Scratched out} Survivor ask, but who would be the first to accept {Scratched out} Survivor's offer. There are six possible students, but at this point in time, {Scratched out} Survivor can only teach one, so who would be willing to make a sacrifice for power? I have my guesses and my doubts, but none are so great that I would be willing to place my bets.

-Devil's Journal, Third Entry

"Uhh…" I moan as someone shakes me into consciousness. I slowly open my eyes, and see a guy looming over me. "You're not the one…who wakes me up…" I close my eyes drearily and try to go back to sleep.

"That was a surprisingly calm reaction for this scenario, Chris," I hear the man say. "I expected you to hit me, or at least yell."

"Too tired…get the person who wakes me up to do it…" I yawn and pull the blankets closer to me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the man asks. "Oh yeah, your dad gets someone to wake you up every day."

"Yeah…so if you want to get hit or yelled at…bother her."

"Seeing as she's not around, that's not likely to happen." I ignore him and try to go back to sleep. "Come on, wake up!"

"No…"

"Why not?!"

"Don't want to…"

"Do you give this crap to your 'wake-upper' as well?"

"No…"

"Then why are you giving this crap to me?!"

"You're not her…"

I hear him sigh and walk to the door. "Whatever, I'm going to have some of Gen-san's tea. When you wake up, I'll be downstairs. Probably should make a call or two anyway."

I stretch my arms and legs and look outside drowsily… "Huh…looks like it's after noon…" I close my eyes and fall back into the futon before those words sink in.

"…WAIT! Why is it so late in the day?! I need to get dressed! Where's my phone?!" I practically scream. "I'll call Margit about this so it doesn't happen again!"

I quickly call her as I change, after a few rings the phone speaks, "The number you are trying to dial does not exist. Please try again." I call her number again, but I get the same response.

Fully dressed, I quickly groom myself while dialing Father this time. My phone gives the same answer. "W-What's going on?!" I shout in frustration. I open the door to the hallway and think as I walk down the stairs.

'Okay, maybe there's something wrong with my phone, I'll ask someone if I can borrow theirs…Mmm, what's that smell…' a delicious smell assaults her nose and gives her a feeling of nostalgia. She tip-toes to the kitchen, 'This smells like…'

Mark is the one that's cooking; behind him are various German breakfast dishes. I can't help but voice my amazement. "Mark, what is all of this?!"

He responds in German, "Well, since it was just the two of us here, I figured I would make you a classic meal. Surprised?"

I continue in German, "Very! I didn't know you could cook!"

He lets out a laugh, "I lived by myself for these last four years; of course I know how to cook."

I shake my head, "No, I meant I didn't know you knew German cuisine."

"I picked up a few things in my travels," he says with a smile. "Go ahead and dig in, I'm almost done with my final dish."

I go ahead and sit down at the table, where a vase full of chrysanthemums has been placed in the middle. 'Just like the ones in my garden back home,' I think before taking a plate of Bauernfruhstuck, "I haven't had this dish since I was a kid…" I take a bite. "Mmm! It's good!"

He smiles, "I try my best." He turns and places the food he was cooking on another plate. "Since you weren't waking up, I figured I might as well do something while I was here."

I take another bite happily and swallow before speaking again. "I'm glad that you were thinking about me as you made this… but I don't think I can eat all of this…"

"I didn't expect you to, I figured you can save whatever's left and eat it later." He sits down opposite of me. He takes the other plate of Bauernfruhstuck and takes a bite.

I watch his every move and come to a surprising conclusion, "You eating and moving like a noble."

"I thought you might appreciate a bit of… royal charisma," he says with a smile.

"Where did you learn all of this?" I ask in awe.

"I took missions all over the world and I've met many types of people," he answers. "Some of these things were taught to me by some of my nicer hosts, while others I read and copied through their aura."

"That must be useful…" I finish off the last of my food. "Thanks for the food Mark!"

"No problem, but to be honest, I didn't just come here to cook for you," he says honestly. I tilt my head in curiosity and wait as he eats the last of his meal. "I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition?" I ask as he picks up our plates and puts them in the sink.

"Yep, an offer to be more precise," he quickly rinses off the plates before signaling me to follow him as walks towards the living room. I do as he asks and follow him before sitting on the couch next to him. "You see, I'm in need of a student to pass on the techniques of the Aura Arts."

"And you're offering me that chance? Wow Mark, I'm honored! But before I accept I should call Father."

He remains silent as I pull out my phone, but he talks as I start to call Father, "That's…not going to work…"

"What do you mean?"

His face shows a pang of guilt, and he takes a few moments to speak, "Your father is under review by the military, all of his assets have been seized and his operatives have been called from the field. It's close to impossible to get in contact with him or Margit."

I'm stunned by what he said. I can't even comprehend it, "H-he's…under review? I can't contact him?" Mark waits patiently for me to ask him a real question. "W-what happened?"

"I'm guessing Maru-san didn't tell you what happened between us," he says softly.

"Maru-chan didn't tell me what?"

He sighs deeply, "It's not pretty. Are you sure you want to know?" I nod silently. "Your Father…double-crossed me. I helped him and Margit capture a terrorist in exchange for a diamond that was looted from my family's burnt down house. I needed that diamond to live. But instead of giving me what I wanted, he tried to trick me with a fake diamond."

"You said you were cured!"

"Yeah, because I flew to where it was being kept and took it back myself," he finishes.

I can't look him in the eye, so I look down, "So then what happened?"

"I struck back. Using my connections and the situation, I contacted the terrorist I captured and-"

"You contacted the terrorist?!"

"Yep, I offered him a deal. I would let him out if he and his men stuck to peaceful ways. No killing, no cruel punishments, and no involving civilians. And he if he breaks those terms, he would wish he was in a high security prison."

"…and Father was blamed?"

"Fingers are pointed at him, but there's no way that any evidence would be linked to him. They'll let him without any incriminating stains on his record."

There's only one question left that I want answered, "Where was Maru-chan when my Father did this?"

"Right next to him, she was on his side."

"I…see," an uncomfortable silence grows between me and him.

He gets up slowly. "I know that this must be hard on you, so I'll leave you to take in the information," he starts to walk towards the door, but he stops while looking down. After a few moments, he turns around and kneels in front of me. "I…I didn't mean to get you involved in this fight. So I'll take care of you. Here," he pulls out his wallet from his back pocket and then takes out a card from inside of it. He takes my hand and places the card in my palm. "You can use this until things get back to normal."

"W-wait, I can't just take your money!"

"Your cards probably don't work anymore and I have plenty of money. It works best this way."

"…Well, if you really don't mind…"

He smiles and pulls himself up. "I'm sure that my offer just got a lot more difficult to accept, but I'm also asking five other people and I can only train one person at a time," I nod in acknowledgement. "When you're ready, be sure to think it over quickly."

He once again goes toward the door to leave. As he opens it, he turns his head towards me one last time before leaving.

Even though no one is here anymore, I ask "Why did you do this, Father?"

'Push on, Push on, Push on,' I say in my head as I run. I keep saying that until I pass by Moro, who's keeping my time. I stop since I'm done with my lap. A few heavy breaths come out of my mouth. "Did I beat my record this time?"

"Um…you're still getting slower…" Moro says reluctantly.

"How is that possible?!" I shout.

"Maybe you're tired, we've been doing this for a couple of hours, Wanko."

"Only for a couple of hours! I shouldn't be tired yet! Awawawa! Why is this happening?!"

"Wanko, I think you're over-reacting…" he smiles.

"Why are you smiling?! This is terrible! Like…like if you were suddenly bad at video games!"

"If that's the case I would just think I was just having a bad day and try again tomorrow," Moro hands me the stopwatch. "Anyway, I have to go meet with Gakuto."

"Ack! You're leaving me?!"

"H-hey! Don't give me the puppy dog eyes! I told you when you asked for my help that I would only be able to stay for a couple of hours."

"Errr!"

"No growling either!" he starts to back up. "I have to go, Wanko. I would tell you to call it a day, but I know you won't stop, so don't let it get to your head. Later!" He quickly leaves before I can come up with a reason to keep him here.

I make a small whining voice as I start to think of what to do now. "A sound like that isn't very lady-like, Kazuko." Says someone behind me, I know that voice!

"Mark!" I turn around excitedly and see him standing there casually. "Yay! My problem is solved!"

"…I'm fine Kazuko, thanks for asking without dragging me into something I don't know about."

"No problem!"

"Um…that's not what…never mind," he shakes his head and shrugs. "What do you need help with?"

"Can you do that thing where you make all my tiredness go away?" I ask.

"You don't even look that tired, but whatever," He grabs my shoulder and all my energy comes back to me, but…

"I don't feel that different?"

"That's because you haven't used a lot of energy."

"Errrrmm…Then why am I so slow?" I ask him.

"…What's with that look?"

"What look?"

"That 'I need help' look that puppies give out," he explains.

"Hm?" I tilt my head. "I don't know what you mean."

He makes a face, "I'm not sure which is scarier, that fact that you can do it so well without knowing or the potential of what you can do with it."

"What are you talking about?"

"N-nothing…Alright turn around, I can find out what's going on if I can put my hand on your back…" I turn around and I feel his hand between my shoulder blades. I can feel his energy carefully going through me. I laugh quietly, "It tickles!"

He doesn't say anything, he's completely focused on what he's doing. He makes a few 'hmms' and 'huhs' but doesn't say anything until he takes his hand off, about half a minute after he started, "Okay, I'm done"

"So what's wrong with me?"

He chuckles slightly, "Nothing's wrong with you, Kazuko. You're as healthy as can be, and your body's 'wiring' isn't faulty."

"Then why am I getting slower?! I was becoming much stronger after you helped me last time, and now I'm starting to slow down!"

"Did you train spiritually?"

"Uhhhh…"

He sighs. "'Physical Augmentation via Spiritual Training. It's the premise that all the powerful martial artists use and is the backbone to how Aura Artists gain strength," he pauses and makes sure I'm listening and trying to process everything. "For example, I am physically weaker than you, but because of my focused spiritual energy I can stand toe to toe with your sister. If fully mastered, the Physical Augmentation can be utilized to cut through objects, imbue elemental power to attacks, and increase physical toughness. Furthermore, several physical properties can be changed to react to the wishes of the wielder. This is shown as…Kazuko?"

I can feel steam coming out of my head. "So…many…big…words," I shake my head and try to concentrate, but Mark is just shaking his head slowly.

"You really are younger than you look, aren't you?"

"Hey!" I say angrily with my finger pointed at him. "I'm sure when you were my age you acted the same way!"

"Actually, I'm younger than you!"

"Uh…What?"

"I'm only 14!"

I jump back in surprise, "WHAT?! You are not 14! You look like you're in your mid-twenties!"

"Devil had my body for eight years when I was comatose, so my body is 22, but I've been active for only 14 years."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second!" I try to process everything and count using my fingers. "You were asleep for 8 years, your body is 22, and that makes you 14." He nods as I go through everything. "I'm 18, so you're 4 fours younger than me…That means…!"

"Yes?" Mark urges me on.

"Devil is only 8 years old!" Mark shows a surprised face and smacks his forehead. "Onee-sama wants to fight an 8 year old!"

"I'm not sure how you jumped from our age difference to Devil and Momoyo's, but that's actually a bit of a tricky area, since Devil was a part of me before we split when I was 10, so he considers himself 18."

"…My head hurts," I say as I grab my head.

"Anyway," he quickly changes the subject, "the reason I came here was to talk to you about a proposal."

"Then you should talk to Yamato, he's better with plans than I am."

"This one's about you."

"Me?"

"Yes, I've decided to get a student and teach them how to use the Aura Arts, and I would like to offer you the chance."

"Why me? Aren't there others better than me?" I ask.

"The offer is going to five others, but right now I'm only interested in teaching one student," he answers.

"So if I want to be your student I would have to accept offer before the other five," I review.

"Yep."

"I'm not sure about this," I tell him truthfully. "I want to be able to be assistant manager for Onee-sama, and I'm not sure if I can be one if I'm your student."

He looks slightly disappointed but he quickly smiles, "I understand. Still the offers open, so if you start to feel that being my student will help, you can ask Tesshim what he thinks."

"Okay!" I nod as he turns to leave, but I remember something and quickly grab his arm. "What about Onee-sama?"

"I'm not offering her to be my student. It's for her own safety…"

"No, not that," I try to explain. "I'm…I'm worried about her…"

He turns around and looks me in the eyes. "Why? Is she in trouble? Is she acting differently?" he asks with serious concern.

I instinctively look down as I tell him, "She's…obsessed about Devil. Ever since that day, she almost always thinks about him, she has a hard time getting to sleep, when she does she calls his name in her sleep, and she's skipping school to train for when she finally fights him. She acts like a completely different person. She rarely enjoys getting opponents to fight, she doesn't chase after girls anymore, and she never eats thirds."

"Those last three things seem normal enough."

"But not for her!" I shout, I feel my eyes watering. He puts his hand to his mouth as he thinks. "Can't you do something for her?"

He doesn't speak for several moments. "I can try to give her direction. That might help," he suddenly looks like he came up with an idea. "I think I have something, I'll need to prepare though." He looks at me with a grin on his face and puts his hands on my shoulders. "Don't worry Kazuko; I'll go see her tonight. Don't tell her anything, it would be better as a surprise."

"Really?! Okay, if it'll help her I won't tell her anything!" I say happily.

"Good. See you later, Kazuko."

"Yeah, thanks Mark!" he disappears, leaving me with a smile on my face.