Chapter II

Well, here's chapter two of Chaos Pawn of the Gremory. Hopefully you guys are excited to see it. I was certainly excited to write it, if my real life was getting in the way, what with Godzilla, new Gundam models, and a little marathon of movies I had going, all getting in the way. But those are done and so now is this. Anyway, I'd like to thank my coauthor Bakuto Masaki as usual for helping me with this story. Also, so that people don't get confused, since many so often do, there will be a multitude of anime appearing in this story. Bleach, Fairy Tail, Naruto, High School DxD, and Sekirei already being among those mentioned. However, others that will be also include Tales of Xillia and Attack on Titan, as well as others, though not in any major, story-based fashion. It will become clear later on. As need be I'll explain which series are involved whenever characters from those series pop up. In any event, I don't think there's too much more of an announcement to go on this chapter, so I'll just get into the reviewer responses before the story proper actually starts.

Bakuto Masaki: I hope they do too, and of course you do, you helped create it. It'd be weird if you didn't.

Drednaught: I actually don't blame you for having a prejudice against OC stories since, by and large, most of them are shit. But then again Sturgeon's Law dictates ninety percent of everything is crap, I just hope most consider my story in the ten percent. But you read what you like, I'll just sit here doing my own thing.

Jose19: Yes, Kazuma is the main character of the story. Yes, he will have many different skills, though he will also have other skills familiar to most. Actually, in this version of the universe Karakura school doesn't exist. Instead the story takes place in Shinto Teito, and the story is based in Kuoh Academy within the city, the characters from Bleach, Sado, Ichigo, Uryuu, all are also attending Kuoh as well. And Ichigo is in the story, is a main character, he'll simply have slightly different powers from canon.

TheLastNanaya: Glad you're already positively inclined to it, that always helps. Yeah, the Agent of the Soul Reapers Arc as well as the following arc, which I won't name yet for various reasons, happen before the Asia Arc of DxD. Well the babes are all here, and if you didn't notice Kazuma is already good friends with Orihime and Tatsuki. Not sure if that really means anything to you but there you go.

Right, that should do it for reviewer responses, on to the actual chapter now I suppose.

Kazuma, Orihime, and an unconscious Tatsuki were in Orihime's room in her house, where they were being attacked by a Hollow.

Orihime sat in a corner, her soul having been pulled from her body, as she looked up at Kazuma, standing in the garb of the Soul Reaper, holding his Zanpakuto.

"K-Kazuma…?" Orihime asked perplexed.

Kazuma flinched and turned around. "Or-Orihime…you can see me?"

Orihime nodded slowly. "Yeah, of course I can…why wouldn't I…?"

Kazuma frowned in thought. "But how…?"

The Hollow came out of its daze and then answered Kazuma's question, "Because she is dead." The Hollow then grabbed the long chain which lead from the center of Orihime's chest to her unconscious body. "See…?"

"You…!" Kazuma growled as he charged for the beast.

Erza approached the apartment building Orihime lived in with some annoyance. "Damn, where did that burst of speed come from?" she asked about Kazuma suddenly rushing ahead.

However, at that moment, Kazuma was thrown out the window in Orihime's apartment.

"Ah! Kazuma!"

The Hollow grabbed Orihime and brought with both hands and brought her close to its face.

Frightened she slowly turned to look into the face of the beast and her blood ran cold. She could see past the dead, monstrous eyes of the Hollow to the face behind the mask, she could see that it was her dead brother, Sora. "N-no…it can't be…S-Sora…?"

The Hollow gave a slight monstrous sigh before replying to her words, "Yes, Orihime…"

Orihime frowned and then shook her head fervently. "No! You can't be! Sora would never do things like this, he would never attack my friends!"

"You're wrong, Orihime. I was so lonely."

"What…?" she asked in disbelief.

"You forgot about me. Right after I died you set up that shrine for me. Every morning and every night you would pray for me. You did that for so long. But then, you started to make friends, started to find people you liked, started to forget about me. You prayed to that shrine less and less. And then you simply stopped completely. It's because of those people that you forgot about. It's because of those people you IGNORED me! It's your fault this happened! It's your fault I ended up like this!" The Hollow then began squeezing his hands tightly, trying to crush Orihime in his claws.

"AAAGGGHHH!" Orihime shouted in pain as she felt, even as a spirit, her body being crushed by her Hollowed brother.

Kazuma then appeared in the room again after jumping back up and saw the Hollow crushing Orihime. "Hey!" Kazuma rushed forward and sliced down, cutting off the Hollow's arm.

The Hollow howled in pain as his arm flopped to the ground and disintegrated. "Why you…!"

Kazuma sighed and then stood up and stared the beast down angrily. "You weak bastard."

"What…?!"

"You heard me. You call yourself a brother? An older brother? That's just pathetic."

"What do you know!?"

Kazuma bit his lip angrily and then frowned at the Hollow. "Quite a lot, actually. I used to have a brother, and he taught me something, something you obviously never learned." Images of a young man slightly older than Kazuma with a content smile came into his mind. "There's a reason the older siblings are born first. You know what it is?"

The Hollow narrowed his eyes in thought.

"That older brothers are born first to protect the younger siblings, to the point of giving their lives. And the fact that you're supposed to be Orihime's big brother and you're talking about killing her pisses me off!"

The Hollow narrowed its eyes angrily before preparing to roar when something caught its attention, the hair clips Orihime wore in her bangs. Images then began flowing into the beast's mind as Sora's memories of the day he gave those clips to Orihime, and the day he died, returned.

He remembered how angry she was with him, claiming that the hairpins were something she didn't want before he went off to work, leaving her to go to school.

He remembered getting into the accident, Orihime showing up at the hospital, crying.

He then remembered seeing her wearing the hairpins despite what she had said about them, and how happy that made him.

The Hollow bellowed loudly enough to force Kazuma to his knees from the pure air pressure before turning and smashing its head against the outside wall of Orihime's apartment, before turning and lunging at Orihime with a growl.

"That's enough!" Kazuma shouted as he raised a hand towards the beast. "Amaterasu!"

The Hollow's head was suddenly smothered in black flames, howling in pain before turning and slamming its head repeatedly into the same spot before bursting through the wall and to the outside, onto the ground below, somehow managing to put out the flames with the impact.

"Get back here you bastard!" Kazuma demanded as he jumped to the ground in pursuit of the monster. He jumped up to it and swung his Zanpakuto, the monster was too fast however and circled around behind him. To Kazuma's misfortune, that was a ruse as he felt the blunt pain of the Hollow's tail slamming into him and sending flying away.

The Hollow briefly roared proudly as Kazuma stood back up.

"You son of a bitch," Kazuma snarled before raising his sword to the side to send an attack at the Hollow.

However it anticipated his move and spat acid from its mouth, coating Kazuma's hands with it.

Kazuma shouted as the acid momentarily burned his hands, forcing him to drop his Zanpakuto.

This momentary diversion gave the Hollow ample time to go for one last strike.

Kazuma saw it coming and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan to allow the Hollow to pass through him; however, what happened shocked him.

Blood splashed to the ground as the Hollow bit down on its prey with a bone-crushing bite. However, what it had bitten, was not Kazuma, but Orihime whom had jumped in between the two to take the blow for Kazuma.

Kazuma's eyes widened as he watched Orihime take the blow. "You idiot! I wouldn't have been hurt!"

Orihime trembled as the Hollow held her in its maw, but not from the pain, but from her tears. "I'm sorry…" she whispered as she cried. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry I asked you not to leave when you died…Sora. It caused you to stay behind…to stay here and become…this monster…"

The red and black of the Hollow's eyes faded somewhat to reveal Sora's own underneath. "Ori…hime…"

"I always knew…knew that you were watching over me after you died. I even knew, though I wasn't sure, that you were the one that saved me from that car accident the other day." She pulled away some to look her brother in the eyes. "I didn't forget you."

"Wh-what…?"

"I didn't forget about you. I started doing the things I did, praying to your shrine less and less, so you could be happy."

Kazuma stood silently by as the two spoke, signaling Erza to wait as well.

"I wanted you to be happy, so you could see that I was able to move on, that I was able to be happy while you were gone, that your death didn't hold me back. I…didn't want you to feel guilty about it." Orihime then collapsed unconscious on the ground.

The Hollow began to roar and howl in pain and begin to thrash about.

Kazuma narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"I can explain why."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow.

"Why he's having that struggle. He was forced into becoming a Hollow, so that they would have someone you would have trouble fighting against, and it seems to have worked."

Kazuma nodded in understanding as the Hollow continued thrashing, before the skull-like helmet of the Hollow seemed to retract, revealing Sora's face underneath.

Erza nodded to herself and ran over to the unconscious Orihime, beginning to heal her. Erza then told Kazuma, "She's not dead."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "How? Her soul's been removed from her body."

Erza nodded as she continued. "That is true. However, the Chain of Fate is still connected, and as long as that remains true, her soul can be returned to her body."

Kazuma nodded in understanding as he turned to Sora, who was still in control of the Hollow. "Sora, I need to tell you something."

"Hm…?" he grunted curiously.

"Those hairpins you gave her, she told me that they were a present from you, and you know something, I don't think I've ever seen her without them."

Sora's eyes widened before he gave a contented smile. "That's good to hear, thank you, Kazuma."

Kazuma shrugged in response. "Hey, what're friends for?"

Sora reached out and grabbed Kazuma's Zanpakuto, pointing it towards himself.

Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "Uh, wait…"

Erza put a hand on his shoulder. "Hold on. Slaying a Hollow is different than killing it."

Kazuma looked at her confused. "How…?"

"Because, killing a Hollow merely destroys it. And while neutralizing a Hollow is our job, it isn't always necessary to kill them. On rare occasions, it is possible to slay the Hollow, purging and curing the sings it has committed as a Hollow, allowing it to enter the Soul Society as a result. This way, Sora can do that."

Kazuma looked up at the beast with a far-off expression and then asked. "Do…all people go there when they die?"

Erza raised an eyebrow and answered puzzled, "Well…unless they committed sins as a human or are killed as Hollow. Why…?"

Kazuma shook his head. "Nothing."

Sora raised the sword and brought it towards the hole in his chest, however, he was stopped by the sound of Orihime's voice.

"Sora…please…wait…"

"Orihime…" Sora muttered confused as he turned to her.

"I need to…tell you something. Something I didn't tell you before…have a nice day…"

Sora smiled with a nod and replied, "I'm going now." Sora then plunged the sword through the hole in his chest as his Hollow form dissipated and vanished in a flurry of lights before Kazuma's Zanpakuto bounced onto the ground with a metallic clang.

After Sora completely disappeared Orihime couldn't help but begin to break down in tears.

Kazuma looked at her sadly and knelt down, lightly rubbing a hand on the top of her head. "It'll be okay, alright?"

Orihime nodded with tears still in her eyes, latching on to Kazuma's shirt and crying into his shoulder.

He sighed with a warm smile before pulling away from her gently. "Sorry, but I need to do this." His eyes switched to his Mangekyo Sharingan and he widened his right eye, "Genjutsu!"

Orihime's eyes widened and then flattened before going blank.

Erza raised an eyebrow curiously. "What did you do?"

"I used a genjutsu to plant false memories in her head and replace these ones."

Erza hummed thoughtfully. "There's actually a device we Soul Reapers have that does the same thing. Do you have control over what the memories are?"

Kazuma leaned back on his hands with a sigh. "Well…not really, no. I was never particularly good at controlling the genjutsu cast with my Mangekyo. I could cause them though it was a crapshoot at what they'd actually do. As far as I know she could talk about something normal like a gas pipe explosion to a sumo wrestler breaking in her house and shooting the place up."

"You do realize that's absurd, right?"

"Like I said, crapshoot. Speaking of, I'd better cast the genjutsu on Tatsuki too just to be safe."

The next day at school, Orihime seemed to recite the exact same story that Kazuma came up with for absurdity, though Tatsuki's was not much better, if a little more grounded.

Although that wasn't the strangest part of the day, to the outside observer.

Kazuma had arrived at the same time as usual each day and found his two friends, Matsuda and Motohama looking over different things on a phone. "Hey, what's up you two?"

Matsuda pumped a fist in the air excitedly. "Yo, Kazuma! How's it hangin'?"

Kazuma shrugged as he walked up to the duo. "Not bad. Whatcha looking at?"

Matsuda grinned perversely and showed off the image on the screen to Kazuma.

Kazuma raised an eyebrow as he looked at it.

"Isn't it great?" Matsuda asked. "I managed to snap it the other day when the wind was just right. An up skirt shot of the whole school."

Kazuma smirked as he held the phone. "Not bad. Hmm…I think I recognize a few people."

Matsuda and Motohama shared a confused look. "Well…of course you do…they're our schoolmates…"

Kazuma flinched and then handed him the phone back. "Ah…yeah…of course…" 'Shit…having that redhead around all the time is putting my guard down. Speaking of, where is-?' Kazuma's train of thought was interrupted as something flat and hard hit him in the back of the head with force. "Gagh!" Kazuma flinched for a moment before reaching back and putting the object in his hands. "A…lunchbox…?"

Matsuda and Motohama looked at it curiously.

Matsuda snorted lewdly. "Dude, look, it's tied up so neatly. That has to be a chick's box. Maybe she lost it?"

Kazuma turned and watched as Erza walked up to the group.

Matsuda and Motohama, naturally, leered perversely as she walked up.

"Whoa, dudes, hotty alert," Matsuda remarked.

Motohama adjusted his glasses as Erza approached. "I-I think she's coming this way."

His assumption was proven correct as Erza walked up to them, Kazuma specifically, and folded her arms in annoyance.

Kazuma cleaned out one ear with a finger and asked gruffly, "Can I help you?"

Erza pointed to the lunchbox. "You forgot that. Again."

Kazuma looked at with a raised eyebrow and then gave her a deadpan answer. "Is that supposed to be my problem?"

"It means you don't eat."

"I think I can handle it."

"Not when I go through all that trouble."

"Then don't."

"I don't think you understand the situation."

"And I don't think I care."

Erza twitched an eyebrow in annoyance. "Honestly. Do what you want, I'm heading to class."

Kazuma stuffed the packed lunch into his bag and turned around dismissively. "Yeah, whatever." However, he noticed an odd pressure in the air and turned to see his two friends glaring angrily at him. 'Uh-oh…'

Mavis, who was floating nearby invisibly, giggled amusedly. "Oh boy, you screwed up."

'Shit…'

"Explanation now!" Matsuda and Motohama demanded.

Kazuma leaned over, appearing to look at something. "Whoa, is that a pair of disembodied tits?"

"What, where?!" Matsuda and Motohama shouted excitedly. "Huh…HEY!"

Later the same day, after managing to duck out past his cohorts, Kazuma decided to join a few of his other friends for lunch. Ichigo, Orihime, and Tatsuki were among the group, but there was also a fourth person.

A young man of obvious Mexican descent, rather than Japanese as with most, with dark skin, pronounced cheek bones, and wavy brown hair with bangs that covered his brown eyes. Though his most noticeable feature was his height, which exceeded those around him, as well as his overly muscular build. He also had a tattoo on his exposed left shoulder which read, "Amore e Morte," written over a heart with angel wings and a snake around it.

"Yo, Orihime, Ichigo, Tatsuki, Chad," Kazuma greeted as he walked in with Erza beside him.

"What's up? Huh, who's that?" Tatsuki asked.

Kazuma blinked and looked to the side. "I haven't introduced you to her yet?"

"Nuh-uh. Is she your girlfriend?"

"As if," Kazuma and Erza responded in unison.

"I…see…" Tatsuki trailed off.

"Anyway," Kazuma began as he sat down with his food, "she's a new transfer to my classroom. Naturally all the guys went gaga."

Erza looked at him slightly puzzled, not certain whether that was a compliment or not.

Of course Kazuma dug his own grave when he added, "They'll pretty fawn over anything with a pulse."

Thwack!

Kazuma twitched after being knocked in the head.

"You kinda walked into that one buddy," Tatsuki remarked.

Kazuma rubbed the growing welt on his head and sighed. "Yeah…probably." Kazuma then turned to Chad and noticed his odd expression, that is, underneath his mop of hair. "Something wrong?"

"Could you not call me 'Chad'?" he requested.

Kazuma shrugged as he began eating his meal. "Why? Chad's a perfectly acceptable name."

"But my name's not Chad, it's Sado."

"Bah, Sado's too hard to remember. Besides, Chad is a more agreeable name, easier on the voice box."

"There's no difference."

"Exactly. So Chad's fine then."

"Chad" merely sweat-dropped in resignation before getting back to his meal.

Kazuma turned with a curious eyebrow hearing a strange amount of grunting next to him.

He turned to see Erza struggling with something in her hands. A juice box.

Kazuma blinked in disbelief. "Uhm…you okay over there?"

Erza looked at him annoyed. Through her grunts of frustration she answered, "…Yes…actually…this object is…much tougher than…I expected…"

Kazuma sighed and took the box from her, easily popping the straw into the marked hole and handing it back to her.

Erza eyed the object curiously before deciding to drink it. "Oh! It's good."

"That's the whole idea dummy."

Thwack!

"Damn that hurt."

After classes ended for the day, Matsuda and Motohama finally cornered their target at his seat in the class.

Seeing them looming overhead, Kazuma rested his chin on a hand in annoyance. "Need something?"

Matsuda and Motohama slammed their hands down on Kazuma's desk, prompting the latter to sit up before their heads bumped into his, and Matsuda demanded, "How did you get a lunch made by the new, very, very hot transfer student?"

Kazuma twitched an eye in annoyance. "You guys are still hung up on that?"

"Of course we are. It's a rare wonder, to have the new, hot transfer student make a lunch for you," Motohama asserted as he adjusted his glasses. "In addition, your conversation sounded rather familiar. Care to explain that?"

Kazuma sighed in resignation. "Fine. I knew you guys would throw a fit so I didn't say anything. She lives in the same apartment complex as me with her boyfriend and has a hard time measuring servings so usually makes extras and just throws together lunches of leftover food for me since I, myself, can't cook worth squat." He lied.

Matsuda and Motohama turned to each other perplexed.

"S-so…that's it…?" Motohama asked.

"Yup," Kazuma answered plainly.

"Then…who's her boyfriend?"

"Some weirdo who works in a factory."

"You know anything about him?"

"Not a damn thing except he's annoying. Almost as annoying as you two are right now."

The duo flinched and then stood up straight, collecting themselves. Matsuda then smirked and knelt down. "You know, I got a brand new DVD, the newest Kamen Rider Pinky. You wanna see the awesomeness?"

Kazuma looked at them curiously and narrowed his eyes. "What's the date?"

"The date?" Motohama asked. "Not sure. I know it's a Tuesday though. Why?"

"Then I'm sorry but I can't join you two. I've got plans tonight."

The duo gaped. "Y-you have something more important than Kamen Rider Pinky?!" the asked in unified shock.

Kazuma looked up in thought and scratched his chin. Then answered plainly, "Yeah, that about sums it up."

His friends froze in stone-cold shock.

"Well, why don't you two go have fun, I've got other stuff to handle."

After that, Kazuma made his way to the front gate of the school and stood there waiting, his hands above his head. As someone began to approach he turned to look at them and frowned in irritation. "Great, it's you again."

Kazuma turned as a young woman around his age with short black hair in a bob cut, violet eyes, a slim figure, and wearing the female Kuoh uniform along with rounded, violet-colored spectacles. The teen walked up to Kazuma with a sophisticated gait before stopping beside him.

Kazuma sighed in frustration and cracked an eye at her dismissively, though she completely ignored the act. "Sona Shitori, president of the student council. So to what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

"I'd like to ask you again-"

"No," Kazuma responded bluntly.

Sona flinched at the sudden and sharp response, though she hid it well. "May I ask why?"

"Same reason as always. While I appreciate your position and role in the school as its governing body for the students, I have absolutely no interest in joining your little parade of people fancying about. I've told you four times already, I am not joining the student council, so stop asking."

"I will cease as soon as you join a club."

Kazuma put his hands behind his head and sighed. "Yeah…because every club is just itching for a lethargic pervert."

Sona smirked craftily. "Still playing that card are we. Well, I at the very least have interest. So why not try joining a club of your own volition? You could be surprised."

"Or I could shirk the whole thing and not worry about the responsibility. That sounds like a much better idea. So, we done here?"

Just then, a young, slightly curvier, woman with long black hair down to her waist, with two long bangs hanging over her bust, a violet left eye and light brown right eye, the female Kuoh uniform without the cape, narrow, and light blue spectacles walked up to Sona and whispered into her ear.

Sona twitched and clenched a hand before sighing. She then turned to Kazuma. "It seems some family issues have come up, so I will be taking my leave. I will approach you again however."

"And I'll keep shooting you down."

Sona sighed in frustration and walked away. However, as she left, she frowned at the figure that shot her a victorious smirk before heading towards the gate.

A few moments after they left, a female voice said next to Kazuma, "You haven't been waiting long, have you?"

Kazuma twitched an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Actually, I have. I just got done having another run-in with that damned student council president. Though I could've avoided it if you arrived a few minutes earlier, Akeno."

Akeno was a young woman around Kazuma's age with long black hair tied in a ponytail that still managed to reach her ankles that had two long antennae sticking out and sloping backwards along with violet eyes and a very large, very generous bust as well as the female Kuoh uniform complete with shoulder-cape. Akeno giggled amusedly to herself. "Ufufufu. Sorry to make you wait, Kazu."

Kazuma grumbled lightly as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "I could've sworn I told you not to call me that."

"But it's such a fun name to say." She then asked in a pouty voice, "You wouldn't honestly deprive me of that, would you, Ka-zu?"

Kazuma twitched an eyebrow and grumbled to himself. 'Damn…just like Arturia…she knows exactly how to push my buttons.' Sighing he responded, "Whatever. Let's just get going, we don't have time to put on casual clothes, I'm hoping you don't mind."

"Not at all."

As they walked off, neither of them seemed to notice the rather annoyed observer.

Above the duo, however, Rias watched them leave with a mild frown.

That after all turned out to be the important matter Kazuma had to take care of, a date with Akeno Himejima.

How that unique situation came to be was rather mundane.

After observing Akeno, as well as Rias, from afar with his two closest friends Matsuda and Motohama, Kazuma had gotten into a situation where he was standing close to Akeno for a few moments silently. To break the uncomfortable silence he mentioned her place as one of the school's idols and remarked how he would ask her out if it was a feasible possibility.

What tripped him up, however, was that she responded "Yes" to his joke of a request, resulting in him having to ask again, to which she again said yes.

That resulted in them going on their first date, and their second, and now their third.

Of course any normal human being would announce the situation to the world at large, but Kazuma was not quite that kind of person and did his best to keep a slight distance from her, also electing not to inform his cohorts of his arrangement, for knowing the shit storm it would brew up were he to do so.

So with that knowledge in hand, Kazuma chose to take their date to another area of the city entirely, where getting spotted would be highly unlikely.

The first event of the night was rather simplistic, Kazuma taking Akeno to see one area of town she'd never seen before, the more high-priced district where most of the high-rise restaurants and expensive businesses resided.

It was an extra plus for Kazuma that nobody he knew had the necessary income to even visit the district. Though that would leave one to wonder how he did.

Kazuma decided the best place to start for the day was somewhere he figured Akeno would at least somewhat enjoy.

An upscale mall. Simplistic but effective.

As is usual in such an arrangement, Kazuma merely followed along to wherever Akeno decided she wanted to go at that moment, though he did find it mildly annoying how she had a habit of suddenly changing direction to somewhere else.

Although she eventually stopped when she seemed to find a place that caught her interest.

Kazuma could only blink curiously. 'A…weapon shop…why do I get the sincere feeling this will end poorly…?'

That was a feeling which persisted as they wandered through the small shop, Akeno attaining the same dreamy-eyed expression at the variety of bladed and blunt weapons shown throughout that most women would have at fancy jewelry and clothing.

That should have sounded a few of Kazuma's alarm bells, but he ignored it as he followed her around the shop.

Eventually they stopped when something seemed to truly grab Akeno's interest.

He turned to look at it and frowned in concern.

That something was a long, flexible whip tipped with a blunt, metal object at the end.

Kazuma could only sweat-drop and ask, "Erm…I guess…you like that…?"

Akeno didn't answer verbally, merely a sly giggle, "Ufufufu…"

Kazuma raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her. He noticed her expression looked rather…strange.

Her face had flushed as she brought a hand up to one cheek with a contented smile.

Kazuma twitched an eyebrow and then asked with a sigh, "You want that…whip…?"

Akeno suddenly made a heel-turn on her personality and gave Kazuma a sweet smile. "How kind," she remarked with a smile and her normal composure regained.

'Great…out of all of them I picked the mental one.'

It took a few moments to convince the shopkeeper to get the weapon down, something like that normally isn't sold to those younger than eighteen, but the two walked out of the shop, Akeno holding the bag with her new whip as she walked beside Kazuma happily.

After purchasing Akeno's "new toy" as she so strangely put it, she and Kazuma made their way to a restaurant nearby, one Akeno showed great interest in trying.

To Kazuma's surprise and relief, the restaurant wasn't anything outrageously bizarre, but rather featured mostly western foods and dishes, something Akeno had been interested in trying since, as she told him, "Where I live we often eat typical and traditional Japanese food, so I thought, western food would be a nice change of pace. Hm?"

Kazuma nodded in agreement as he sat down to order.

Although, he would've been a little happier if the place she had chosen was not part of a worldwide fast food chain.

'First…I take her to a mall and the first shop she chooses sells weapons…and then I let her choose the restaurant and she chooses this. Perhaps…it was not such a good idea to give her the reins on this date. The more I see…the more I realize that this Great Lady of Kuoh is truly insane.'

Akeno looked at him curiously and asked with a smile that seemed just a little too sweet, "Hm? Is something wrong?"

Kazuma smiled weakly and shook his head. "Ah…no…it's nothing."

Simple as it was, the food itself was good, plain burgers. Though Kazuma was personally hoping she'd pick something a little higher scale, since it would allow him to show off a little.

However it was cheap, and that wasn't something Kazuma would complain about.

A little while after leaving the restaurant, Kazuma turned and asked, "Hope today wasn't too boring."

Akeno shook her head. "No, it was rather amusing."

Kazuma blinked in curiosity. "Amusing? How so?"

"Hmm…let's just say I did have fun."

"…Right…anyway…you still don't want me walking you home?"

Akeno shook her head. "No, I will be fine. Besides, don't boys get more of a thrill for waiting?" Ending that sentence with a wink she walked off waving to him.

Kazuma sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "Geez…she's just as weird as Arturia. And at least her I could attempt to understand through a spar. But her…she's one big pile of confusing and breasts."

'I can't believe you just said that…'

'Can it fire-breather.'

With a few hours left in the day and no interest in heading back home at that time, he knew he'd probably have to go on another monster hunt with Erza, Kazuma made his way to Ayame's restaurant to pick up what was left of his shift.

"Ah, Kazuma," happily remarked a slightly older woman with waist-length brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a suit with a long skirt.

Kazuma waved to her as he walked in. "Yo. Still need me for the night, Ayame?"

Ayame nodded with a smile. "Always. Those two don't really cook as well as you do. Plus, we've got an interesting customer tonight."

Kazuma blinked in confusion as he walked in. "Oh…and why's that?"

"It's someone who wants to try and conquer Mount Everest."

Kazuma looked at her incredulously. "Really? I didn't think anyone else was willing to tackle that mountain of ice cream and sweets."

Ayame smiled and motioned to her side. "Well we actually have someone willing to give it a shot, so get busy."

"Right, right," Kazuma answered dismissively as he walked into the restaurant's kitchen.

Walking in the back, he flinched when he saw Hibiki and Hikari covered soot. "Uhm…what the hell happened to you two?"

"Shut up!" Hibiki snarled. "We had to take over cooking while you were busy doing who knows what! I still don't get how you do it!"

Hikari sighed as she stroked some of the black gunk from her hair. With a little more control than her sister, she remarked, "Yeah, with both of us working back here and Ayame taking the orders out to the customers, we can't keep up. And yet with just yourself you seem to be able to do it all perfectly."

Kazuma just chuckled to himself as he helped pat some of the soot off their clothes. Though at one point his hands wandered a little too much, earning him a thwack in the face from both girls before they stormed out.

Kazuma waited a few moments and then looked to see that no one else was present so he decided to get busy with his secret weapon for cooking. He raised a hand in front of his face and concentrated. After a few moments his body began to glow before multiple copies of himself appeared beside him. Grinning he thought, 'I just love Thought Projections.'

After that he had his Thought Projections, mana-based copies of a person, get to work on the rest of the orders while he himself focused on the Mount Everest, a special challenge meal he and Ayame came up with. Which was a layer of soft serve ice cream of three different flavors, then a layer of banana pudding, a layer of brownies, a layer of fudge and then multiple red cherries topping it all off.

The meal prepared, Kazuma walked out to the main dining hall with the dessert and listened for which table to take it to. He paled when he saw it.

Not because of the first person he noticed, which was a young attractive girl with long black hair tied in twin ponytails with pink bows and energetic violet eyes who wore an outfit that strongly resembled a magical girl uniform consisting of a bright pink beret, a pink belly shirt with vertical yellow lines on each side, a short white vest with dark pink borders, a large pink bow with a large amulet holding it in place, long, black, fingerless gloves with white cuffs at the top, a pink miniskirt with white side-flaps as well as a low belt, and long stockings with black and pink stripes, and she even had a large pink wand with a yellow star at the top sitting next to her in the booth Kazuma noticed that while she had an overall childlike body, she had rather large breasts.

That person wasn't the one that bothered Kazuma, it was the one sitting opposite her in the booth, Sona Shitori.

'Oh wonderful…what a pain,' Kazuma remarked in his head.

Mavis, who was floating invisibly next to him, giggled and teased, "You just can't escape her, can you?"

Kazuma just sighed and walked up to the duo, hoping Sona wouldn't cause a scene.

As he walked up to their booth, Sona turned to him and widened her eyes some as she saw him, before narrowing her eyes in a smirk.

Kazuma snarled silently as he presented the large dish.

He heard the well-endowed girl gasp with delight before moaning happily and drooling at the sight.

"Wow…it looks so good! Don't you think So-tan!?"

Kazuma twitched his lip. "So-tan?" he whispered.

Sona narrowed her eyes. "Not a word," she whispered silently.

Kazuma nodded and retorted, "So long as you keep quiet about this."

Sona frowned in thought. "That's a very one-sided offer."

Kazuma was about to answer when the pink-dressed girl immediately started digging in to the food at a superhuman pace.

Sona sighed as she watched the young woman eat and then turned to speak to Kazuma but raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes at the object next to him.

Kazuma began to sweat slightly. 'Shit…she can't see Mavis can she?'

Sona opened her mouth to ask Kazuma a question but her companion interrupted.

"So-tan! So-tan! You should try this!" she asserted as she shoved her spoon towards Sona.

Sona frowned in annoyance. "Sister, you should try keeping your composure, you're making a scene."

"Aww! Just try it!"

Sona gained a tic mark as Kazuma added, "Sister, huh? She seems pretty different than you though, Miss Class President."

The girl blinked with a spoon in her mouth and turned to Kazuma, asking, spoon still shoved in her gob, "You know So-tan?"

Kazuma, nodded plainly. "Yes, she and I go to the same school." 'Man…I really hope this all adds up to enough evidence to keep Sona's mouth shut. I really don't need the pain in the ass that would come with this being disclosed to the school.'

The girl pulled the spoon out of her mouth swiftly and asked seriously, "Did you make this?"

Concerned by the previously jubilant girl's swift attitude shift, Kazuma answered weakly, "Er…yeah…why…?"

Smiling widely, the girl pointed at Kazuma with her spoon and announced, "That settles it! I, Serafall Leviathan, denote you as my queen!"

Sona gaped as Kazuma face-faulted and shouted, "That's not how it works!" He then paused in thought. 'Wait…did she say…Leviathan…? Like…Garnet Leviathan…? But…this girl has…black hair…and fair skin. She…can't be a Leviathan…'

Sona immediately glared at her sister. "I think we're done here. How much for the food?"

Kazuma looked at Sona dumbly, still stuck in his own thoughts. "Oh, ah, sixteen hundred yen."

Sona nodded and sighed as she paid for the item. "I hope you enjoyed it Sister."

Serafall nodded happily. "Yup!"

Ayame walked over to the teen happily. "I'm sure glad you did. And, as a special reward for completing the challenge, any and all meals you order for the next two weeks will be free."

Serafall cupped her fists under her chin gleefully. "Really!? Yay!"

Sona sighed and then stood up after paying and then turned to Kazuma, "Oh, and may I speak to you outside?"

Kazuma narrowed his eyes and turned to Ayame, who nodded with a smile. Removing his apron he nodded to Sona and followed her out to the walkway beside the restaurant.

"Explanation, now," Sona demanded harshly.

"Aww, you're being to mean So-tan, be nicer to Kazu-tan."

Kazuma sweat-dropped. 'K-Kazu…tan…?'

Sona just grumbled at Serafall, who shrunk back at her sister's violent glare, and then turned back to Kazuma. "Tell me why you're working here and why it seems you try so hard to hide it. I've even asked you if you have a job and you've said no. So there must be a reason."

Kazuma sighed in frustration and folded his arms. "You got me there, there is a reason. I don't like being broke, so that's why I took the job here."

Sona narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "I suppose it is simple enough. How about why you are so sketchy about it?"

"That's…a little harder to explain. And not something I like talking about since it makes me out as a braggart. I suppose the simplest reason is image."

"Image?" Sona asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you should know a thing or two about that. I chose such a faraway location because it means I can just let loose while at the school, without my persona and reputation here changing how people see and look at me. I'm able to just sort of disappear and not be noticed. It makes my life a whole lot easier."

"I see. I can help you keep this reputation and side of yourself hidden, if you help me."

Kazuma sneered off to the side. "Forget it. I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I'm not joining your little group."

"Then I can't be held responsible for the fallout."

Kazuma narrowed his eyes angrily. "Was that a threat?"

"No, a mere warning."

Kazuma sighed before frowning at her. "If that's so then if word gets around about this, you'll be the first person I go to. And I won't be as nice as usual. I don't enjoy people trying to screw with me, I don't care who you are."

Sona adjusted her glasses snidely. "You should watch your tone, you have no sense of you're talking to."

Kazuma glanced at Serafall dismissively. "I have a pretty good idea who. And that doesn't affect what I said. Don't screw with the way I've tried to get things like this set up, the discomfort and annoyance I'll experience as a result to this information getting out would be a drop in the bucket."

"Hey!" Serafall intervened, stepping between Kazuma and Sona. "Don't threaten So-tan!"

"I'm not, only warning."

Sona put a hand on Serafall's shoulder. "It is alright, Big Sister. Now, I have one last question for you." She then pointed to Mavis.

Kazuma rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "So you can see her. Wonderful. Again, don't tell anyone about her, just like I'd prefer you don't tell anyone about my job here, I'd like to keep my life at school separate from this."

"Who is she?" Sona asked.

Kazuma looked at Mavis for a moment in thought. "I dunno. She's just a spirit that kinda hung around me for a while. All I know is her name, Mavis. Aside from that I've got nothin'. Now if you don't mind there's still a couple hours left in the day."

Kazuma and Mavis then walked past Sona, who turned around the corner to watch him go and observed something odd as two girls walked up to the front door and seemed to smile brightly at Kazuma, Kazuma's own demeanor changing as a result of their attention. Sona narrowed her eyes curiously. 'I see…so that's it.'

Kazuma finished up the day like any other before heading home. However, he happened upon a slightly familiar sight on his way home.

The same well-endowed woman in the same purple dress sleeping on the sidewalk.

Kazuma looked up and noticed clouds overhead and rubbed his temple in frustration. "Dammit…why can't I just leave well enough alone?"

Doing the same as he had the previous time, Kazuma hoisted the well-endowed beauty, still mostly unconscious from the sake that mixed with her breath, and carried her to the nearby hospital.

Greeting the nurse and explaining the same situation as before, Kazuma left the woman in a hospital bed with the same kind of bowl of ramen as before, whilst also making himself scarce before she came to.

Kazuma sighed as he walked away but narrowed his eyes as he noticed a strange presence nearby.

Kazuma stopped and turned around, though didn't see anyone. Shrugging he continued walking, though still felt the presence.

After a few more minutes he stopped and turned around.

"I'm done with you following me, come out."

A petite girl who appeared to be around fifteen, with short white hair with two slightly longer bangs going past her shoulders and several loose bangs around her forehead, while the back was in a short bob cut, hazel eyes, black, cat-shaped clips on both sides of her hair, and who wore the Kuoh Academy uniform, the variant without the shoulder-cape, appeared in front of Kazuma.

Kazuma looked at her and recognized her as a fellow student. "You're…Koneko Toujo…right?"

The stone-faced girl nodded slowly. "Yes."

After a momentary silence Kazuma asked, "Is there a reason you're following me?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"…Okay…and what is it…?"

"…Mount Everest…"

Kazuma twitched an eyebrow. 'Y-…you gotta be kidding me…' "I…I see. Y-you want to…climb it…?"

Koneko groaned. "No."

Kazuma sighed in annoyance. "I see…"

"I want some."

Kazuma grunted in frustration. "Well there's nothing I can do about that right now."

"Okay. I want some."

Kazuma rubbed the back of his neck in response and replied, "Alright, how about a deal?"

"What?"

"You say nothing about anything you saw or heard and I'll get one ready if you come to the restaurant the day after tomorrow."

"Okay."

"So is that acceptable?"

"Yes."

Kazuma sighed and then walked away from the petite girl waving, not noticing her minute smile at the thought of the massive dessert.

At the same time in another area of town, Sado sat with two of his friends, one with shoulder-length grey hair and the other with short black hair, near a construction site merely speaking.

The grey-haired friend held out something for Sado to see, a metal bird-cage with a small white parakeet inside. "Hey Chad, look at this."

Sado blinked at it puzzled. "A bird…?"

"Yeah. It's supposedly cursed, since every previous owner of it has died. So do you want it?"

The black-haired friend waved his hands wildly. "No way! Just leave it somewhere!"

"What? No way man, I can't do that, it's just mean." He then turned to Sado and asked, "You want it?"

The other friend looked at him incredulously? "And you said I'm mean? You know Chad can't resist cute things."

However, as they sat there, Sado looked up as he heard a strange sound before a large metal beam fell from above them and plummeted towards the trio.

"Wh-what the!?"

Sado grunted as he stood up and braced himself under the beam, preventing it from hitting his friends.

The bird began to go crazy, squawking and chirping incessantly, frightened.

In the same dark, shadowed area as where Sora was turned, multiple dark figures stood conversing.

"Mmm…I need more souls…" one remarked.

"Naturally…but Soul Reapers…theirs are the tastiest," another added.

The first one then mentioned, "But I've got a perfect system, I get as many souls as I want…and entertainment…"

Sado's friends looked at him puzzled and dazed before his grey-haired friend shouted, "Chad! Are you alright?!"

"Yes," he answered.

"Thank you mister."

Everyone looked around and then Sado looked down at the bird. "Did you…just talk?" Sado asked.

"Yes, my name's Yuichi Shibata. What's yours mister?"

"Th-that bird…it just talked…like a person!" his grey-haired friend remarked.

"Tell me mister, what's your name?" the bird insisted.

Blood dripping from his head and the beam still on his back, Sado answered, "Sado. Yasutora Sado."

His grey-haired friend poked the other in the shoulder. "Chad wants that bird, doesn't he?"

His black-haired friend just nodded silently.

Kazuma walked up to the school building with Erza beside him. Yawning, Kazuma remarked, "I certainly hope those two don't make a problem of this."

Erza looked at him puzzled. "Oh? What do you mean?"

"I just ran into a few classmates last night at work, I hope they don't make a mess of it."

"Have you thought of using this?" Erza asked with a lighter in her hand.

Kazuma sweat-dropped. "Err…I don't…want to kill them…"

Erza tilted her head puzzled. "What does this have to do with death?"

"It's a lighter. You use to ignite things."

"Oh…that's why people were afraid when I pulled this out. No, it rewrites people's memories and replaces it with random outcomes."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's rather…strange."

"It's effective though."

"I see. Well for now let's just hope things don't get too annoying. I can only hope Milla keeps my life steady…though with Presa by her side I'm probably in trouble with that Kitsune's pranks."

"Milla? Presa? Who are they?" Erza asked puzzled.

"Ah…well…old friends."

Erza looked at him still confused.

"Nevermind…"

"What…?" Erza then just shook her head and the grabbed Kazuma's hands.

"Uh, hey!"

Erza looked at him plainly. "Don't worry, I'm only checking your injuries from the battle with Acidwire."

"Acidwire?"

"Yes, the Soul Society gives codenames to all the Hollows we fight." She then pulled back his sleeve and raised an eyebrow puzzled. "Your injuries are completely healed."

Tugging his hand back roughly he replied, "Yeah, I heal quickly."

Erza looked at him curiously before just accepting it and resuming their walk to the school.

The first few classes passed simply enough. It was during the lunch period that Kazuma found his first point of annoyance.

Standing outside his classroom was Sona.

He twitched an eyebrow and then immediately walked in the other direction.

Sona looked at him puzzled and then pursued behind him, however his path was suddenly altered when an arm reached out around the corner and pulled him into a hallway.

Sona frowned in frustration and followed to the corner and saw Kazuma had been pulled over by the others of the Perverted Trio. Not wanting to get involved with those two she sighed and wandered off.

Kazuma growled as he wrenched his arm free from Matsuda's grip. "Geez, what the hell?! Pulling me aside like that!"

"Sorry man, but we had to speak to you secretly," Matsuda insisted.

"About what, exactly?"

Motohama adjusted his glasses as he answered, "We saw her. A Magical Girl. We saw one yesterday."

Kazuma looked at them in disbelief.

Matsuda nodded in agreement. "Yeah man! And she was hot with huge titties and everything!"

Kazuma thought for a moment and then asked, "Was it a girl with long black hair and a glaringly pink outfit?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" both answered forcefully, Motohama insisting, "You saw her?!"

Kazuma groaned as he swiftly thought up an excuse. "Well…when you see a Magical Girl walking down the sidewalk it's kind of hard not to notice. You know?"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Could you two stop replying in tandem like that? It's really creepy."

Coughing into his hand, Matsuda added, "It was totally awesome though. I didn't think there really were girls that dressed like that in real life."

Kazuma laughed weakly as he thought, 'They should meet Tohka. Talk about magical girl.' Sighing Kazuma responded, "Yeah, that's true. Anyway, I really do need to go get some lunch, so I'll talk to you guys later."

Before letting him go, Matsuda grabbed Kazuma by the arm and said quietly, or rather what he thought was quietly which was really just quiet enough for those outside not to hear, "Come on over to my house later, I've got some brand new 'material' to watch."

Kazuma blinked and then sighed. "Maybe. I'll probably be busy again but if I can stop by I will."

"'Kay!"

After finally making his way from his friends, Kazuma plopped down on the roof to begin his meal, shortly thereafter several others arrived.

First was Erza who seemed to have been looking for him.

"There you are," she remarked as she walked up to him and sat down.

"Need something?" he asked as he munched through his sandwich.

"Yes, I was wondering why you seemed late again returning home."

Kazuma sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well…that's because I seem to keep getting myself involved in something weird. Don't ask me to explain because even I'm not certain I could do that."

"I see. Couldn't you just use a Kido to solve the situation?"

"A whatnow?"

"A Kido. They're similar to spells or ninjutsu, except they involve a different set of movements to activate and often have effects the others do not."

"That so? Never heard of it, though you seem to know what you're talking about."

Smirking proudly, Erza remarked, "Well, I did receive the highest marks for Kido in my class. Though admittedly that was so long ago I'm not certain the curriculum is the same."

"Class?" Kazuma asked puzzled. "So is there something like…a school for Soul Reapers?"

Erza looked up into the sky with a finger on her chin in thought. "Well…I suppose you could call it that. In any event-"

Erza's sentence was interrupted as a voice cut her off, "Yo," Ichigo announced as he and another student, one most would not expect to be in Kazuma's circle of friends walked over. Yuuto Kiba.

Erza turned and glared angrily at the two. "Don't interrupt me," she ordered harshly.

"Y-yes ma'am," Ichigo answered weakly.

"Yikes Ichigo, who is she?" Kiba asked.

"Oh? That's Erza Scarlet, a transfer student Kazuma's friends with," Ichigo answered.

The blonde sat down and raised an eyebrow. "You're friends with her Kazuma? Somehow I pegged you as the type who wouldn't be able to get any normal girls to like you considering your shared company."

"Hey!" Orihime objected as she walked over, "I'm friends with him."

Kazuma seized the moment and remarked, "Note that he said normal girls."

"Whaa!? That's mean!"

"You're not saying I'm abnormal, are you Kazuma?" Tatsuki asked confidently.

Kazuma answered, "Considering the amount of testosterone in your blood probably exceeds mine, yes, I am." He was rewarded with a foot to the face.

"You idiot!"

Kazuma sat up, seemingly unphased by the strike, and continued, "Besides, Erza is most certainly not what I'd call normal."

Erza glared as she reared up her fist.

However, Kazuma unwittingly remarked, "Cute, but not a normal girl."

Erza blinked curiously and then just set her fist down as she tried to think how to react to his remark. Eventually settling on an exasperated sigh.

Tatsuki then made a passing remark, "You know, this is about the third or fourth time I've seen you guys together. If you're not careful, the other students might start thinking you're a couple."

Kazuma sighed and then replied, "Number one, I don't give a damn. Number two, why do you think I hang out with Matsuda and Motohama so much? They're amusing people in and of themselves, but with friends like them, a girlfriend like her is the last thing people would expect me to have."

Erza widened her eyes as she heard his comment, though Tatsuki gave her a nonverbal cue to just let the subject drop. To which Erza nodded slightly confused.

Trying to take the focus off Erza, Tatsuki added, "Yeah, I guess that's true."

Kazuma looked at her incredulously. "I'm not sure how or why but I feel like you just insulted me."

"Just your imagination," she answered dismissively.

Kazuma then turned to Erza and warned, "Be careful of Kiba's other friend though. While Kiba may be Prince Charming the other one's a hopeless playboy."

"Now, now, that's not very nice," a new voice added, "besides, I prefer mature women."

Everyone turned as a young man with short, dirty blonde hair and grey eyes wearing the Kuoh male uniform, though without the blazer and with rolled-up sleeves, walked over and sat down proudly.

Kazuma motioned to him and recited to Erza, "Meet Genshirou Saji, the biggest Kiba wannabe in the school."

Saji growled and shouted, "I am not a Kiba wannabe dammit! I aim for higher than the school body." He then turned to Erza and asked, "Regardless, how is the hot transfer student with you guys?"

Tatsuki jabbed, "Because Kazuma scooped her up."

Saji blinked in disbelief.

"Grr…" Kazuma snarled, "I told you it's not like that!"

Saji then bowed and added, "Despite what they have said, my name is Genshirou Saji. The rest of their comments notwithstanding." Sado arrived moments later as Saji suddenly announced, "Alright! Since we're all finally here, and of course I being the most important one, we shall have a lunch party right here, right now, to celebrate Erza's entrance to our circle of friends!"

Kazuma just blinked dumbly at Saji's antics and then sighed as Sado sat down next to him.

Saji ignored the two and looked at Erza. "Right, so I'd like to say here and now that if you ever need anything I'm here for you."

Erza nodded with a smile and replied, "No thank you, I'm fine."

Saji sat down dejected. "Oh…okay."

Tatsuki lightly patted him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll get to be the hero next time."

"Oh shut up!"

Kazuma just smirked as the others conversed before turning to Sado. Blinking curiously he asked, "Uh, Chad, why are you covered in bandages?"

"A steel beam fell on my head and a motorcyclist ran into me."

The others merely stopped in shock, Saji remarking, "How can you say that so plainly?"

Kazuma just blinked and then asked in disbelief, "Geez, what're you made of? Mythril?"

Saji then leaned over and noticed the small bird next to Sado. He pointed at it and asked, "Uh, Chad, where'd you get the bird?"

"Hello, my name's Yuichi Shibata. Nice to meet you," the bird announced.

Kazuma and Erza both narrowed their eyes as they noticed something odd about the bird. That is, besides the fact that it could talk.

Saji looked at the bird astonished. "Whoa! You can talk?!"

"Yes," the bird answered plainly.

As Saji carried on a conversation with the bird, Kazuma turned to Sado. "So, Chad, where'd you get the bird?"

"Someone gave it to me."

Saji groaned as he looked away from the bird. "Aww, come on man. Don't cut your story short like that." Saji just moaned and returned to his conversation with the bird.

Erza narrowed her eyes and turned to Kazuma. "Do you notice something odd with that bird?"

Kazuma nodded. "Yeah, even I can see it. I don't know what that is yet but…something is definitely not right."

Nodding in agreement Erza replied, "Well, I don't think it's evil. Either way we'll need to perform Konso on it tonight."

Kazuma grumbled in annoyance. "Man, and I was hoping to not have any of that stuff to annoy me."

"Whining won't solve anything," Erza rebutted flatly. She then looked over to Sado and asked, "How did you meet Sado, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kazuma looked up in thought as he remembered and then answered, "Actually, I met him through Ichigo. In the school he and I used to go to Ichigo always got himself in trouble because of that bright orange hair of his. One day though, we got separated and Ichigo got himself cornered by a bunch of guys who were intent on smacking him down."

"You didn't try to help?" Erza wondered.

"Oh it would've been easy, but I would have killed those guys. Police are way too much of a hassle. And besides, if I had done that I'd have to kill them again as Hollows."

"You're multiple layers of lazy aren't you?" Erza deadpanned.

"Whatever you say." Kazuma then sighed as he continued recollecting the event. "And besides that, I also had a few grunts to handle myself and figured Ichigo could handle himself. Turns out I was wrong, seems the guys he got into a fight with were tougher than most. I tried to get over to him but before I could this huge guy came out of nowhere and took a powerful blow meant for Ichigo. The guy just stood there taking blow after blow after blow before eventually the mooks got tired and wandered off."

Erza listened intently.

"If you couldn't tell already, that guy was Sado."

Erza's eyes widened in surprise.

"To tell you the truth, I actually don't think I've ever seen Chad get into a fight where he actually fought back. He just stands there taking their beatings until somebody else stops them or the opponent gets tired."

"He sounds…rather odd."

"You have no idea how true that is."

After finishing lunch Kazuma managed to make it through the rest of the day without getting cornered by Sona, and proceeded to Ayame's restaurant to do his few hours of work for the night.

Yet again using his Thought Projections, Kazuma spent the early portion of the night making multiple meals at once, essentially using his copies to handle the work of an entire cooking staff, Kazuma prepared all of the meals being served to the guests.

However his progress was stopped when a specific person walked in the door of the restaurant.

Kazuma blinked curiously as Koneko walked in and looked at him with her usual emotionless gaze. "Uhm…yes…?"

"Mount Everest," she responded plainly.

Kazuma looked at her for a moment and then sighed. "Right, right. Just sit down, I'll have it right out."

Koneko flashed a momentary, miniscule smile before sitting down at a booth.

As Kazuma walked over to the kitchen, Hibiki walked up to him and tugged on his sleeve. Turning to her curiously he asked, "What is it?"

"That's the second girl in two days to come in wearing that same uniform. Isn't it also the same one from your school?" she asked.

Kazuma turned back to Koneko and then nodded. "Yeah, it's…kinda hard to explain. Anyway, she's here for the Mount Everest Challenge, so I'm going to get it ready."

"Really? Do all of your classmates just have massive sweet teeth?"

Kazuma shrugged as he walked through the door. "Dunno, but Serafall isn't in my school."

It was only a few moments later before Kazuma walked out to Koneko with the massive dessert in hand.

Koneko locked her eyes onto it in a very disturbing way as Kazuma brought it over to her. Setting it down and handing her a spoon, he warned, "Now just so you know, a girl a few years older than you required her sister to help finish it off, so I'll understand if…" Kazuma merely trailed off as he watched the rather petite girl seem to eat the dessert at a rate that would be difficult for those of adult size.

It took less than five minutes for the tiny girl to devour the entire towering dessert, leaving Kazuma, Hibiki, Hikari, and Ayame, along with many customers, flabbergasted. Kazuma looked over the young-looking girl and wondered, 'Where…where does it all go…?'

Clearing her head, Ayame then informed Koneko of her winnings.

Koneko's face didn't change, but Kazuma could easily see the twinkle in her eyes that pretty much meant the next few days of his life would be rather annoying.

And how true that fear was.

While Kazuma expected the next few days would be annoying, he didn't expect to encounter something he had already.

Yet again he found that same woman lying on the sidewalk. 'Geez…you'd almost think she does this on purpose. Well…all the same I still can't leave her here.' Sighing to himself he picked the woman up and began to ferry her to the hospital.

A voice in Kazuma's head then remarked, 'You know, she reminds me a lot of Cana, and that blonde woman from the Leaf…Tsunade I think it was.'

'Why don't you just hush, Ddraig?' Kazuma then continued his walk, however, after a few minutes of walking Kazuma noticed a soft pressure against his chest. Stopping to look down he saw that the woman had become somewhat conscious again, although her bleary-eyed expression and noticeable inability to focus on him proved she was less than sober.

"Wait a…minute…don't take me…back to that…stinky hospital…" she droned out to him.

Kazuma blinked in bewilderment and then asked, "You…remember that?"

Smiling slyly, or as sly as someone as hammered as she was could muster, the woman remarked, "Of course. How could I forget such a helpful, handsome man? That ramen really does the trick in the morning but…" trailing off momentarily before snapping back awake, mostly, she continued, "could you take me…somewhere less stuffy than that hospital…?"

Kazuma sighed in frustration. "Not really. Only other place I could take you is an inn."

Giggling amusedly, she poked his chest lightly. "I was thinking more along the lines of…your…house…"

Kazuma raised an eyebrow and then groaned. "That's definitely out of the question. I don't need any…problems arising. It's safer for both of us if I take you to the hospital."

The woman looked at him puzzled and then frowned disappointed. "Come on…just the couch…it'll be better than those stuffy hospital rooms and beds…"

Kazuma grumbled in irritation.

Mavis tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "I think you've lost this one, Kazuma."

Kazuma sighed in agreement. He then turned to the woman and requested, "Well at least tell me your name first."

Smiling, she answered, "Kazehana."

Kazuma found himself back at his apartment shortly thereafter, the now identified Kazehana slumbering away in his arms.

He then proceeded to set Kazehana down in one of the extra rooms Erza's renovation provided, and then had to fight his way through rampant questioning about the situation from Erza herself.

After finishing off explaining the situation to Erza, the redhead seemed to accept it, begrudgingly.

"I don't need someone like her getting in the way. And more importantly you don't need someone like her distracting you," Erza cautioned.

Looking at her deadpan, Kazuma asked, "Do you really think I'm that bad?"

"Yes," she answered plainly.

Kazuma shrugged in response. 'Guess Alvin rubbed off on me more than I expected.' Motioning back to the room he remarked, "Though first thing I need to do is take that sake bottle from her."

Erza folded her arms incredulously and then just walked away with a sigh.

"She's really got you pegged, doesn't she?" Mavis asked playfully.

"Oh shut up," Kazuma shot back as he walked in to the sleeping Kazehana and took the bottle of sake from her. However, when he held it up he noticed something strange about it. He couldn't find the problem by looking at it so he sniffed it. "Hold on a sec…this…this isn't alcohol…it's…" Taking one sip to be safe he discovered what it truly was. "It's soda…so…she's not…actually drunk…?"

Mavis gasped and then giggled. "Wow, she really played you."

Kazuma blinked curiously and then looked at the bottle. "Yeah…but why?"

"Who knows? Maybe you can ask her in the morning."

Kazuma nodded puzzled and left the room, taking the bottle with him.

Kazehana suddenly ran out of her room the following morning looking for something frantically.

After a few minutes of loud rummaging Kazuma walked to the side area of the apartment complex where the room Kazehana was in was located.

"Looking for this?"

Kazehana turned to see Kazuma holding her bottle of "sake." Smiling in resignation she asked, "When did you figure it out?"

"When I took your 'sake' bottle from you at night so you wouldn't drink anymore and get yourself deeper into trouble. I noticed something odd about it."

Kazehana sighed and smirked at him, shrugging. "Well you got me, it seems."

Kazuma nodded and placed the bottle down. "So, why did you trick me?"

Kazehana giggled to herself and walked over to Kazuma, poking a finger at his chest. "I wanted to meet my White Knight."

Kazuma blinked curiously. "White Knight?"

Kazehana nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. The one who so kindly took me from that spot, passed out on the street, and into a hospital for safety, huhu, and even provided me a hangover cure so I wouldn't feel bad in the morning. I'd call that a white knight, wouldn't you?"

Kazuma looked at her curiously, gulping as her rather luscious orbs were pressing ever so lightly against his admittedly thin t-shirt. "Ah…well…I see. So that's why you did that?"

She nodded to him.

Kazuma then sighed and lightly bopped the well-endowed woman on the head. "Do you even realize how dangerous that was? What if I hadn't come when I did?"

Kazehana looked at Kazuma surprised and then smiled. "It doesn't matter. You did." Kazehana then began leaning towards Kazuma, pressing her bosom against his chest more firmly.

However, whatever was about to occur was interrupted by a loud crash from the kitchen.

Kazehana sighed in disappointment, and mild relief, before following Kazuma's bolt into the kitchen area.

Kazuma and Kazehana rounded the corner to see Kazuma's cat, Muffins, on the counter, eating some of the food he had laid out for breakfast.

Kazuma growled and stomped over to the cat. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

The cat suddenly meowed loudly as Kazuma rushed over, slipping its back paw into the sink, lunging forward, smacking against the counter and then falling forward as its body was suddenly engulfed in thick smoke.

Kazuma gasped as the smoke surrounded him, the grunted as something much larger than a cat fell on top of him and landed him on the ground on his back.

As the smoke cleared Kazehana gasped in surprise.

Kazuma groaned as he shook off his disorientation when he noticed something soft, warm, and firm in his hand. As is natural he gave it a squeeze, eliciting a moan from the object's owner. It was then he saw her, a young woman with a voluptuous figure, and noticeably large breasts that had a hard time fitting into Kazuma's hands, long black hair with split bangs, and amber eyes with slit pupils, however what Kazuma noticed most was the fact that she had two cat tails at the base of her spine just above her shapely ass and a pair of fluffy cat ears atop her head. That, and the fact that she was completely naked on top of him. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

The young woman moaned awake as she seemed to come to. "Moouu…what happened, nya?"

Kazuma looked at her astonished as she sat up, before promptly falling over with a nosebleed.

The woman then blinked curiously and looked down and her eyes widened in concern and embarrassment. "Uh-oh…nya…"

Well, that about does it for this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it and make sure to tell me what you think of it in a review.