She who found bonds of friendship
VI
Romani's head was in his hands, the words had slipped from his mouth before he could even register what he was saying. He hadn't meant to spew them out like that but fumbling his way through something so important was a given for him in these sorts of situations. He was more surprised he hadn't thought of it until just this moment.
He didn't want to see the face that Leona was making, if only because he was certain it would be one of complete and utter bafflement at the words and probably one of disbelief as well. He knew what he was talking about was nonsense and apparently that even extended into the magicy world as well. Which was just great but…what was done, was done.
Not like he could play it off like a joke now.
"...Can you just repeat that for me?" Leona's rather puzzled voice reached his ears. Slowly, he peeled his hands away from his face and flickered his eyes over to his wife. The brunette was staring at him with a perplexed expression, as though she wasn't sure he had said what he actually said and needed the confirmation. Romani wasn't surprised in the least.
Swallowing his nerves, he dropped his hands onto his lap and darted his eyes away from her as he repeated what he had said moments ago, slower this time and with a bit more confidence in his voice "I…I think I can see the future." his emerald green eyes locked onto her once again, the expression hadn't changed as much as it had grown more confused.
"You…think you can see the future?" Leona repeated slowly, making sure that she got every word correct, clearly not believing herself. Reaching up, she rubbed her forehead with her right hand while the left showed its palm to the nurse to stop him from trying to speak. "Wait a second…so you're telling me that you can see the future?" she paused "No, wait. You think you can see the future?"
She lowered her hand and squinted at him "You're…are you telling me you've never had deja vu before?"
Romani stared at her for a moment before he let out a slightly hysterical wheeze "I-I wish I was having deja vu!" he reached up and rubbed his eyes "It's…um…it probably sounds crazy but I can see the future!"
"Okay…" Leona nodded her head slowly, wetting her lips "You…no, hang on…but you don't have a…" she frowned for a moment, then reached her hands towards his face for a moment and grabbed ahold of his cheeks, turning his head towards her.
"What are-"
"Just, relax for a moment." Leona whispered to him as she moved her hands to his eyelids and pried them open more than usual, his eyes locked onto her and widened as she moved her face close enough to his that he could feel her breath upon him. Her cerulean blue orbs fixed themselves upon him with such intensity that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do for a few moments.
"...Yes." She nodded once, then released him "Not mystic eyes."
"Mystic wha-" Romani asked before shaking his head "No, Leo…I'm telling you I can see the future."
"Right…okay, you can see the future…or think you can." She slowly nodded her head, leaning back into the chair and staring at him. "Alright…I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, also making jokes like this wouldn't be like you at all." she closed her eyes and gave a shaky breath "So, what makes you think you can see the future?"
Romani rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hands as he deflated "I get these um…visions…" he gestured at his eyes "They um…I got them as flashes at first when I was asleep…" he gave her a meaningful look "They…sort of started a couple of weeks ago…"
Leona gave him a befuddled look for a split second before her lips parted and her eyes widened slightly "Your spate of nightmares?" she muttered out with sudden understanding before they narrowed "But how…how do you know it was the future-"
"Because I kept…" He closed his eyes and looked down "I kept seeing him die…again and again in exactly the same way and I just…I just couldn't do anything about it and…" his voice dropped into a whimper as he cradled his head "I tried to cover my eyes but I just kept seeing him lying there in a puddle of blood and I just…I kept hearing him cry and whimper as he stopped breathing and it just kept repeating…" he sniffled as he could see the visions still, playing back on loop.
"I just…I couldn't block it out…I tried to block it out but I couldn't do that and-"
"Hey, hey, hey…" Leona whispered to him, getting out of her chair and swiftly moving to the man before crouching down in front of him, pulling him into a tight hug and having him bury his head in the crook of her neck, quietly shushing him as she stroked the back of his head. "Hey…come on…"
"I couldn't do anything…it kept making me watch…why did it keep doing that?" His whimpers were muffled but didn't detract from the raw emotion in his voice, weeks of containing his experiences came flooding out in such a way that he couldn't stop it. The dam had broken and everything was pouring out. "I didn't want to watch it anymore but it just kept playing…I had to keep watching him die…"
Leona continued to cradle Romani in her arms, the man snaked his own hands around her waist and clung to her like a lifeline. "You're here, Roman." She whispered to him "You're here…come on…I'm here."
They remained like that for some time, Romani quietly crying into Leona's embrace as the woman held him, not doing much else beyond whispering some comforting words to the man. Neither making an effort to rush him nor to get him to elaborate, she was confident he would do that in his own time but that took a backseat to making sure he was alright first and foremost.
"You've dealt with a lot…haven't you?" Leona quietly remarked as she tightened her hold around the man and pulled him closer to her, pressing her body into his. "It's alright…I'll listen to you. Whatever it is…I'll listen."
Romani nodded his head as best he could, though the movement itself was faint and nothing much as he slowly pulled himself out of the embrace. Though Leona kept her hands on his shoulders just in case, not quite releasing him but allowing him room enough to move again.
His eyes were red and puffy, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked away from her and towards the floor. "Heh…" Letting out a hollow laugh, he reached up and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "This didn't go how I wanted it to…I even tried to think of how to break it to you as well…" Another empty chuckle rippled from his throat "Guess it didn't work out that well…huh?"
Leona didn't say anything for a few seconds, removing her left hand from his shoulder and moving down to cup his chin between her fingers, slowly moving his head so that he was staring into her eyes. "Take as much time as you need, Roman." Her smile was reassuring "I'm not going anywhere."
"Right…th-thank you." He choked out before he leaned back "I'm…ahem…I'm a little…yeah." he wet his lips "I…it was um…Issei-kun…I kept seeing him dying in the park." he revealed quietly, his tone of voice almost emotionless but Leona could tell that the news had struck him worst of all. "Just kept seeing him in the park after being stabbed by his date."
Leona furrowed her brows for a moment before thinning her lips "...The girl he was with."
"You remember?"
"It was a date you took me on." She pointed out with a wry smile, trying to lighten his mood somehow "I never forget those." her expression turned more serious "...You said you kept seeing this?"
"A few days before…I think…maybe the same day, I don't…it sort of all blurred together." Romani muttered with his eyes closed "After that I just…Issei-kun came in and started talking about her and I…I remembered…"
Leona nodded along, she knew that much as well. Reaching down to his knee with her right hand and gently rubbing it back and forth in a petting motion.
"So…I ended up with another vision about Issei in the park after that and well…" He coughed, then covered his mouth with his hand. "Well…Issei-kun ended up going and I saw what was going to happen and it…" he looked away guiltily. "I just kept seeing it in my mind so I…bolted out of the house. Ran right for the park and it…erm…"
The woman stopped moving her hand, staring at Romani in silence as the words registered in her mind. The split seconds where Romani had been looking at her but not really looking at her. Played on loop with her mind, the way his face warped from confusion to terror in a split second before he turned on his heel and sprinted out of the house and into the night, all but ignoring her cries for him to return.
She stared at him in silence, blinking several times before she opened her mouth and closed it again. "S-sorry." Leona exhaled and tilted her head "H-how long did you say this was…how long were you…"
Romani shrugged "Not…not long and well…" he gave a weak smile "Issei-kun being alive made me feel a little better but he was…um…"
He was a reincarnated Devil, whether he breathed now or not changed nothing. In fact, Leona knew well enough the circumstances that usually emerged around such situations. If Romani was speaking the truth, if Romani had seen the future before it occurred.
What he had seen was the genuine death of a student he had a very good repertoire with and cared deeply for. He had seen him die and been unable to do anything but watch as his mind forced him to relive the experience over and over again.
Whether he was alive now didn't change the fact he had died, and that Romani had been forced to watch it happen without any real clue what was going on.
Romani who fretted over the smallest of things, forced to watch children die and unable to lift a finger. Powerless and trapped.
That was cruel, that was much too cruel for him.
"Have you…" Leona closed her eyes and gave a shaky breath as she resumed stroking his leg "Have you had…anymore?"
She opened her eyes, Romani didn't say a word but he avoided looking at her directly.
That was all the answer she needed.
"Oh, Roman…" Leona whispered as she reached out and caressed his cheek "This is…"
"I'm…" He swallowed thickly, closing his eyes shut and scrunching up his face as he moved up and grabbed the palm resting on his face, clinging to it like a lifeline. "I saw…it was a room full of blood and there's a…um…there's a body in the corner and it doesn't…it doesn't look…" he gave a shaky breath "It's…it's not very…it's bad…" he wheezed "It's bad? Is that all I can say about it?" his voice cracked "Wh-what the heck does that say about me that I see this and all I can say is that 'It's bad'."
"It doesn't say anything." Leona firmly responded, tightening her grasp on his leg and prompting him to turn to her. "Not a single thing. Don't think like that. You don't have any control over it…" she let out another breath before she continued on "Roman…this is very important. How do you see the future?"
Romani bit his lip before he pointed to his eyes. "They…my eyes hurt and then I just get them…it's like pins and needles."
Leona frowned, Romani with sore eyes had always been something she was aware of but he'd never once complained of visions of the future or had nightmares. She knew he didn't have a Sacred Gear either. From her point of view he was - until this moment - just an ordinary human being.
So why now?
"Alright…" Leona nodded her head "Alright…so you can see the future. Okay."
"Y-you believe me-?"
"Romani." Leona gave a gentle smile "...I would believe anything you said to me. You're much too honest." she looked down "...Thank you for telling me though."
Romani remained silent, pursing his lips as he held Leona's hand in his own "I…didn't want to at first." he quietly whispered "I didn't want to worry you is all and…you went through all that trouble to keep me out of it and I…I didn't want it to feel like you'd failed from the start so…"
Leona chuckled weakly "Ha…I suppose we were both trying to protect each other." she fell silent, gently rubbing her hand along his knee before she spoke again "...Sorry for keeping you in the dark all this time."
"...Sorry I got hurt." Romani muttered in response "It…ever since I found out it's been really…I just can't wrap my head around it and…" he gave a half laugh "I panicked about offending shinto Gods? Because that's now something I need to worry about." he wheezed "What if I go on holiday to Greece? Do I need to offer something to Zeus?"
Leona giggled "I'm sure they don't expect anything from you…but yes." she nodded once "The world is a very big place and it seems…a little daunting if you aren't used to it."
"Daunting?" Romani repeated incredulously "...I feel agoraphobic." slumping into the sofa, he leaned back as far as he could and closed his eyes "...It's scary."
Leona nodded her head slowly. "All the same…I shouldn't have let it get to this point but…well…worrying about that now is useless, isn't it?" she mumbled as she picked herself up and moved to the space on the sofa next to Romani and sat herself down upon it. "Sorry for everything you've been through."
"Not like it's your fault." Romani excused with a shake of his head "I wanted to move here." he replied, closing his eyes and breathing out.
"Roman…" Leona spoke in a slow tone "Does anyone else know?"
"...Issei-kun does."
He heard Leona give a quiet groan next to him, then felt the woman shift her position as she leaned forwards and cupped her head in her hands. Romani moved his attention onto her and opened his eyes, watching as she inhaled and then exhaled several times. Despite not saying a single word, he could feel her discomfort at the situation, and that was enough to bring him into another state of mild panic.
"L-Leo?" Romani raised an eyebrow at her before tilting his head "Something wrong?"
"...So…this Issei knows, does he?" Leona replied slowly as she lowered the hands from her face and dropped them onto her knees "Does…" she sighed "Of course she probably knows by now, doesn't she?"
"Who?"
"...Rias Gremory." Leona turned towards him and thinned her lips "Alright…alright…we already signed an agreement with her so she's not going to try and do anything to you just yet." she muttered as she stood up, cupping her chin and pacing around in front of the man "She hasn't said anything yet so…" she paused and turned to Romani with a serious look in her eyes "How long as Issei known about…"
"Umm…nearly as long as me."
That gave Leona pause for a few moments, her pacing stopped and she just stared at Romani with a raised eyebrow for several seconds. "...Really?"
"W-well…a little less but yeah." Romani nodded his head once "Nearly as long as me."
Leona blinked several times before her arms fell to her side "Wait, but if he's known that long and he's part of Rias Gremory's peerage then wouldn't she know by now?" she spoke, seemingly to herself, as she put on a thoughtful expression. "But she hasn't said anything yet which means she doesn't know…why doesn't she know?"
"Because Issei-kun hasn't told anyone else?" Romani spoke in a slightly unsure tone of voice, raising an eyebrow and giving a shrug because he wasn't sure how else he could respond to that. He didn't see what the issue was right now.
"Because…" Leona closed her eyes and shook her head "No…no, we'll speak about this later." she stated before she looked back at Romani "Okay, so they don't know which is…good." she nodded several times, whispering to herself "That's good. It means that…" she trailed off, looking towards the man for several seconds in silence as she thought to herself.
Romani watched her for some moments, he could feel his own concern growing the longer the silence went on.
"...Nevermind." Leona flashed him a brilliant smile "Probably nothing to be worried about." she remarked with a wave of her hand, chuckling lightly "I might be picking up your habits of overthinking things." she gestured to herself "Look what you're doing to me, Roman!" she gave an exaggerated gasp.
Romani continued to stare at her in silence.
"...Sorry." Leona slumped her shoulders slightly, shaking her head "Right, right…do you…" she looked at him and smiled "Why don't you go and take an early night, Roman?" she asked with a tired tone of voice "I…um…You've earned it." she paused for a moment longer before adding on "How about your favourite tonight? How about that?" she smiled "Calzone?"
Romani laughed quietly "Yeah…yeah…I'll…I'll let you know if there's any more visions in future, right?" he looked at her "And I'd…I'd like to know more about what you do."
"...You do?"
"Well…more about what it's like…I…" He reached up, rubbing his forehead "I want…I think it would be a good idea if I actually knew, so that I…I just want to know a bit more about you, I guess…" he winced "Which sounds a little strange considering we're married but um…I…would like to know a little more at least." the man scratched his cheek "Which is weird because Wodime said that you were-"
"Wodime?" Leona stared at him with wide eyes, cutting off whatever he was going to say "Di-did you just say Wodime!?" Romani winced at the volume of her voice and then noticed she was gaping at him, gesturing to her head "Blonde hair, looks like he was pulled from a typical aristocrat family?"
"Yes." Romani nodded his head before chuckling and nodding to Leona "He actually mentioned that when I offered him tea instead of coffee-"
"You offered him tea-He was here?!" Leona exclaimed "Why? When? How?"
"Ummm…a little over two hours ago?" Romani replied, raising an eyebrow "And…he was here to see you? As for how he got here…um…he sort of disappeared when he left so…magic?"
"He was here for me?" Leona whispered to herself before she looked at him "How did he even-" she trailed off and thinned her lips "Actually, nevermind." her lip curled upwards "Knowing them, they probably found me pretty easily. I could have found me so there's reason enough for them to find me." shaking her head, she focused on Romani again "Did he say what he was here for?"
"Umm…A business deal or something?" Romani remarked, scratching his cheek "We actually just talked for the most part. Mostly about your school days." he whispered the last part under his breath in the hope that Leona wouldn't hear her.
If her eyes suddenly narrowing and her lips curling into a sharp and predatory smile was any indication, she very clearly did hear what he had to say. "So…Wodime say anything else?"
"Just that he would pop around again." He replied before he smiled "I like him." he stated easily, looking up "He's a little awkward, like me!"
Leona creased her brows "Are we talking about the same person here?"
"...Are we not?" Romani raised a brow at her before he pulled himself off the sofa and rolled his shoulders, looking to the window or a few seconds before back at Leona. "Anyway…I…" he exhaled "This feels a little…liberating."
"Yeah…don't tell anyone else about your future vision, please." Leona stressed as she walked towards him, grabbing his shoulders and losing the teasing edge she had moments prior "Please. Just…just do that for me. Don't tell anyone else and please tell this Issei not to tell anyone else."
"Well…I wasn't going to announce it." Romani replied back somewhat nervously "I subtly brought it up as like a fortune cookie analogy and I got told only the Gods can do that sort of stuff." Romani stressed with a panicked expression "What if they want to steal my eyes or something." he joked, then paled when he noticed Leona wince and not counteract the statement at all.
"They want to steal my eyes!?"
"No! No!" Leona widened her own eyes and rapidly shook her head from side to side to dissuade Romani of the notion "They don't! Well…um…I won't let them, alright! Just don't tell anyone! You don't have mystic eyes anyway so they probably wouldn't believe you, so it's fine! Just…um…don't say…ah, wait…um…just…keep it quiet, alright?"
Romani was still staring at her with a rapidly paling expression, the complete and total lack of reassurance that his eyes weren't going to be stolen was something that he wasn't comfortable with in the least. Something Leona recognised almost immediately as her own expression scrunched up.
"Don't panic." She assured him, stepping closer once again and crouching down in front of him "It's fine, alright? It's just…keep doing what you're doing!" she exclaimed with a wide smile "No one has found out yet! Just think of it like your Magi Mari hobby, okay? You don't really go announcing that to the school you work at or your colleagues, right?"
Romani blinked once before he nodded his head shakily "N-no…No, I don't…" he admitted "But this doesn't feel like it's one of those things, what if I…" he cut himself off, looking away and pursing his lips. "What if I see something happen and I…" he bit his lower lip, scrunching his eyes shut.
Leona exhaled, closing her eyes and reaching up to rub the bridge of her nose "Okay…okay. You tell me and you let me worry about it, alright." she lowered her hand and flashed him a smile "That's what we're supposed to do right? That's what you wanted to talk about, isn't it? The two of us learning more about each other?" she smiled more openly at him "You tell me about your visions when they happen and you let me worry about them after?" she reached out, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and rubbing it back and forth "It's just that the last time you tried to help…"
The man gave an empty snort, prompting Leona to wince.
"It's not that you helping is the problem!" Leona hastily added on "It's just that…like you said, the world is a big place and Romani…" she reached up and patted him on the cheek "You're…more or less just a normal person and that's fine with me, that's absolutely perfect. But there are a lot of problems with that sort of thing, you tend to fall into the wrong crowd and it…" she thinned her lips "Well, you already know what happens it's just that I want to keep you safe and you want to keep you safe, right?"
Romani nodded his head.
"Running into a burning building isn't something you'd do, right?" Leona went on, Romani slowly nodding his head in understanding "So think of this like that. You don't want to run into a burning building so you alert the firefighters." her lips spread into a wide smile "In this case, I am a firefighter!"
The woman looked at her for a half second before he chuckled "A magic firefighter."
"Yes." Leona gave a light giggle in response "A magic firefighter, that is exactly what I am."
"...Heh…" Romani's chuckle was weak but with more mirth than it used to have, the man reached up and rubbed his face with the back of his arm before it fell back down. "Just…I'm gonna go to bed early, I think." He said after a few moments, groaning as he rose up from the sofa and stretched his shoulders, Leona stood up from her crouched position alongside him and watched as the man continued to stretch.
"Yeah…an early night." He mumbled to himself as he turned away and stalked towards the staircase through the doorway "That's what I need…"
"Really?" Leona sounded put off at the comment, placing her hand on her hip and frowning lightly "Without even dinner after I just agreed to make it?"
"It's not that…it's just…" Romani exhaled, turning around and looking towards her "You know when you put all your energy into this one activity and then once it's done you just can't do anything else anymore?" He saw the woman give a look of understanding, nodding her head a few times.
"I suppose this took a little bit of time for you to build up the courage for?" She surmised before giving him an affectionate smile and a wave of the hand "Alright, Romani. You can head back to bed, I'll be right here…I'll be up early to make you breakfast though!" she called out as he vanished through the doorway "I'll make sure the breakfast is extra sugary just for you!"
"Are you trying to be the witch from Hansel and Gretel!?"
Leona laughed, "I can eat you at my leisure!"
Romani squawked, Leona heard the man stumble up the stairs. Clearly having not expected the comment at all and missing a step. Apparently he wasn't so out of it that he didn't recognise when he blundered into one of her traps.
She felt her relaxed smile vanish from her face as she turned around, lowering herself onto the sofa and holding her head in her hands.
It was one thing for Romani to tell her that he might be clairvoyant, it was another thing for Devils to be aware of it. Though Romani seemed to hold a great deal of trust in this Issei and if he had spilled the information to Rias Gremory, the girl would have made no effort to conceal that little nugget of information. Her personality was rather straightforward in that she made what she liked painfully obvious to anyone.
Romani didn't have a Sacred Gear, nor did he have mystic eyes. She needed to double check but she had noticed nothing out of the ordinary about him. If what he had told her was true - which more and more seemed to be the case, providing a rather comfortable explanation for his unusual behaviour the last few days - then that meant he had natural clairvoyance.
Natural Clairvoyance, the range of which she had no idea.
From what he told her, it didn't seem to be all that far in the future. Perhaps a day or two by his own reckoning at the maximum and a little over ten minutes at the minimum. At least judging by the way in which he had bolted from the house and gotten injured in so short an amount of time.
Natural Clairvoyance.
She would need to keep this a secret and she would need to ensure that others kept the secret as well. The Issei boy clearly cared for Romani but the command of a peerage was virtually an absolute, disobeying an order from the King was something that was indeed possible, but also something that just didn't happen all that regularly. And if it did, it would have to happen for a very good reason.
Leona lowered her hands onto her legs, pursing her lips.
She'd need to find the Issei boy, she knew what he looked like, and make it painfully clear the danger that Romani would be in if he spilled that. She didn't know enough about Rias to make further claims to what she might do and Devils liked to show off their toys. She'd been able to keep Romani from the political side of things for the most part purely because of her agreement with Rias, but if they found out that Romani might have the ability to predict the future with no innate training at all?
She shuddered to think of how quickly that could be blown out of proportion.
Ironically, Wodime dropping in on her house unannounced was the least surprising bit of news she had received all day. Still, she hadn't actually seen the man in a few years, not since she left the clocktower, and despite what she had said earlier, the idea that Wodime had been able to track her down was a little surprising.
Not her specifically, anyone with the right connections could at least get a hold of her for business proposals, but actually coming to Kuoh where she lived? That was certainly a rather risky move from someone who always liked to think things through first and foremost.
If he had come for her through traditional means, then he would have first gone to either Gremory or Sitri to ask for an audience and then would have come and met with her. Showing up at her house gave the impression that he was doing this under the radar. Something that seemed rather out of sorts for what she expected of him.
She was a little interested and apparently he would be coming back soon enough to speak with her again. Also Romani had apparently hit it off with the man, which confused her even further.
From what she had seen, their personalities were like night and day.
Maybe it was like her and opposites attract?
…
Now that she thought about it, Wodime never seemed to notice how much Ophelia used to pine over him…did he just not have an interest in women?
That peculiar thought aside, she shook her head and rose up from the sofa. She'd been out buying supplies for improving the bounded field around their house to ward away potential intruders. It had previously just served as a fancy alarm system and something that would make you just dismiss the house as ordinary. Now though?
With crazed murderous zealots running around the town, she would need to step up her game in order to keep the house safe.
Which meant that she would also need to inform Gremory of these changes as well.
She sighed to herself, her shoulders deflating "I think I liked being able to do things before and not having to fill out forms…Is this why Roman always procrastinates?" she pondered aloud for a few moments before she shrugged her shoulders and dismissed the notion. The answer was most certainly a yes to that particular question.
Romani slipped his coat on, throwing his bag strap over his shoulder and adjusting his sleeves. Pulling back his right sleeve, he looked down at the watch and nodded to himself before he exhaled once and reached for the door.
"Hang on a second, Roman." He paused as he heard Leona's voice, the sound of the woman's footsteps reached his ears not long after the voice echoed through the house. He turned around, seeing her slip on her own sky blue long coat and flashing him a smile. Dressed in a smart burgundy shirt beneath, black trousers and smart shoes. "Alright, now we can go."
Romani blinked at her once, raising his brows slightly "Umm…we?"
"Yes." Leona nodded once, then frowned and made a thoughtful expression "Did I not mention it over breakfast? I could have sworn that I did…" she muttered quietly, reaching up and cupping her chin for a few moments before shrugging "Oh well, I suppose I must have missed it." turning back to him, she placed her hands in her pockets "Yes, I am coming with you."
"...To work?" Romani replied slowly, curious if Leona had forgotten what day it was and where he was actually going.
"Yes."
"...Ummm…Huh?" He raised his hand in her direction in a stop motion "Wait…um…you-" he pointed at her "-are coming with me-" he pointed at himself "-to go to a school where I work?"
Leona raised an eyebrow at him slowly, her head nodding up and down several times "Yes…" she said in a long voice "Is something the matter?"
"...Why?"
"I need to talk with Rias." Leona explained easily, giving a shrug of her shoulders "I did say that I was going there for work, she is technically a contractor now so it makes sense that I would go to speak with her."
"Yes but…um…at the school?" Romani raised an eyebrow at her in a puzzled fashion "Isn't there a…better time?"
"I'm not seeing an issue here." Leona replied with a shake of the head before she paused and a teasing smile came upon her face "Unless…awwww~" she reached out with her left hand and delicately pinched his cheek between her fingers "Are you worried that I'm going to tell everyone some embarrassing stories about you, Romani?
Romani gently slapped the hand away, granting Leona a flat look in response without words to accompany it. Leona merely laughed in response, shaking her head and giving a careless wave of the hand.
"Relax." She lowered the limb "I'm not going to go around spreading rumours about you to all the children. I might fancy a bit of gossip every now and again but I'm not that bad." she had the decency to pause after she said that, swiftly adding on "For the most part." after clearly recognising the brief flash of incredulity from her husband.
"Hmmmm." Romani remained silent for a few moments before he pursed his lips "Is this about our talk last night-"
"No." Leona assured him gently "I really do need to visit Gremory, a couple of details I need to run past her is all. I had meant to call her last night but it got away from me. Might as well do so now."
"You do know she has lessons, right?"
"Pffft. What good has school ever done anyone?" Leona asked rhetorically as she walked past the man, smirking as she threw open the door and stepped outside.
"Wha-you went to a school!" Romani called out after her as he rushed out of the door "You went to school! You were apparently at the top of your classes and everything!" he pointed at her, using his other hand to close the door behind him as he went for the house key in his pocket "I work in a school, I wouldn't have gotten my job if I didn't work in aaaaaaannnd you're joking." Romani realised, closing his eyes and sighing to himself as he locked the door.
Sure enough, when he turned around he found himself staring at the perfectly innocent smile of Leona, the woman had her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side.
With a shake of his head, he walked towards her and pointed "You…nevermind." he grumbled quietly.
"I know how important school is Romani." Leona assured him with a roll of her eyes, turning on her feel and falling into step with the man as she started their journey "But it's not really something to…you know…develop creativity." she paused for a moment "Also I went to a completely different type of school than the one where you sit in a classroom for six hours and learn about boring things."
"They do have D.I.Y classes, you know?" Romani remarked with a raised eyebrow "Where they make things. There's also a pottery class and everything. Although that's for the students who are part of the arts club."
"...Okay, the pottery sounds interesting but that should be like an actual lesson." Leona lamented "We should have these kids making their own little stylised plates."
"Did you make stylised plates?"
"I made non-stick plates."
"...You made what?" Romani did a double take at her "Wait a second…is that why they;re so easy to clean?" he whispered, lowering his head towards her and widening his eyes "Leo…do we have magic plates?" he asked with an almost excited tone of voice, his eyes searching hers with a trace amount of hope in them.
Leona opened her mouth to reply, before she slowly closed it and winked at him before she turned away from him, soon whistling to herself. She gradually started to pick up the pace, pulling away from Romani and leaving him to stare at her back.
"Hey!" Romani called out to her, speeding up as well "You can't just mention something like that and run away! Leo! Leo, what's up with our plates? Why are they so easy to clean? Leo!"
His only response was a light laughter.
Issei rocked back and forth on his heels near the school gate, he'd been there for nearly ten minutes. He'd woken up much earlier than everyone else, or at least he figured he had done so, and rushed to school without so much as preparing breakfast for himself. His back lay by his feet, leaned up against his trouser leg with his arms crossed over his chest.
His teeth pinched his lower lip, eyes darting back and forth between both sides of the street as she scanned over the approaching faces of his fellow students. His fingers tightened their hold on his sleeves as he pulled his arms in closer. His moments became more jerk-like, twisting from side to side and then tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.
"Come on, come on, come on…" Whispering to himself, Issei all but ignored every other outside noise that passed him by. The weird looks he was receiving didn't so much as factor into his field of vision as he maintained lazer focus on trying to find the one person he actually wanted to talk to today.
Last night had been…
It had been stressful.
The thought of Asia being left alone with that freaky crazy and the Fallen Angels was mortifying to him. Even if Rias said that Asia was an enemy, he couldn't imagine the young girl being so much as in the same room as that psycho, let alone actively working with him.
She'd seen the look of horror on her face when she stumbled in, the pale features upon her cheeks and the way in which she looked close to being sick. That had been his reaction, the girl looked like the most genuine person in the world and even after everything else…
He just refused to believe she was anything like that guy.
He couldn't accept it.
He just couldn't.
Not least of all because of the way the sick bastard had treated her when she objected to what he was doing, striking her and the like. That was absolutely sickening to him as a normal person.
Well…He couldn't say normal anymore but there had to be some lines, and wailing on girls had to be one of those you didn't cross with a freakish smile on your face that made it look like you were getting off on it.
Worse still was that Roman-sensei's prediction had once again related to him, there hadn't been anything more to it but it was still about him. But if he could just…
Issei wasn't sure what he was hoping for but at the very least he just needed to know that Asia was going to be safe. He didn't know how Roman-sensei's magic eyes worked, he knew that Roman-sensei didn't even know how they worked but if there was just a chance…
Any chance at all…
His eyes instantly locked onto the distant colour of strawberry, the tied back hair of Roman-sensei's appeared around the corner at the end of the street. The man looked a lot better than he had done yesterday, Issei almost didn't notice the fact that his wife was walking next to him.
Almost.
In truth, he failed to register her for about half a second before he actually saw her, then again it was very difficult not to take notice of her. The fact that Roman-sensei had married someone who was that beautiful was oddly comforting to Issei. Actually, there was nothing odd about that comfort. Roman-sensei wasn't a pretty boy like that Kiba asshole, he didn't ooze charisma just by walking and his smiles weren't the kind that a fashion model would give.
Roman-sensei was just a plain guy, much like himself.
Speaking of, he noted that both Roman-sensei and his wife instantly took notice of him, it helped that he was raising his hand and waving to them rather frantically with a strained look on his face that appeared to be a few seconds away from just actively screaming out the name of the nurse at the top of his lungs.
The fact of the matter was that Issei had to hold himself back from doing just that, there was such a thing as being too obvious and despite his friendship with the nurse - he liked to think they were friends anyway - that didn't stop him from being worried how that might be perceived.
Those points aside, while Issei did hold back from calling out to Romani, he did not cease his efforts to wave the man over. A move that attracted a great deal more attention than his previous efforts to stand around and look rather tense and very much ready to flee as though he was going to jump out of his own skin.
He then paused as he noticed that Roman-sensei's wife, he believed her name was Leona?, was looking at him with sudden intensity that seemed to penetrate right through him. He honestly didn't know how he was supposed to respond to something like that, instead opting to lower his arm now that it had become perfectly apparent he had attracted their attention.
"Morning, Issei-kun." Romani greeted with a nod as he approached the boy, a casual smile on his face soon followed by a quirk of the eyebrow "You're here a bit early, aren't you…" he trailed off, pulling back the right sleeve on his pale grey coat and looking down at his wrist. "Yes…Thought I was late for a moment there." He cheered.
Leona slowly turned her head to Romani, crossing her arms over her chest - Issei desperately tried not to stare at her, instead sending his eyes to Romani's face and keeping them there - and leaned towards the nurse slightly with an amused look upon her face "Are you normally late for work, Roman?"
The man fell silent, his eyes flickered to Issei and he leaned back when he noticed the wide eyed intense gaze he was getting from the young man. "Umm…no?" Romani replied slowly, not taking his eyes off Issei and getting into an impromptu staring contest with the teenager.
The pair of them stared at one another in silence for a good ten seconds, it was only Leona coughing loudly that had the both of them jump slightly and turn to her, Leona's fist held in front of her mouth and her eyes darting between the two of them in a questioning manner.
"What was that about?"
"I have no idea." Romani replied with a shrug of his shoulders, turning back to Issei and tilting his head "So, how was your morning?" he paused before he cringed "I mean night…it's still early in the morning so it's not like you're gonna have much of an answer, is it?"
"Actually…um…" Issei coughed into his hand, sending a fleeting look towards Leona before his eyes returned to Romani "That's something I need to talk with you about, Roman-sensei." he paused for a moment "Quickly. Really quickly. As in right now."
"W-well, um, sure!" Romani shrugged his shoulders, then gave Leona another curious look before he turned his attention back to Issei "What's it about?"
"It's um…About the uhhh…the thing." Issei replied in a vague tone, sending another look at Leona before he turned back to Romani "You know…that thing."
Romani stared at him in puzzlement, his brows furrowed "The thing…?"
"Yeah."
"...Oh." Romani simply replied, his expression scrunching up thoughtfully before his eyes widened "Oh! Oooooh!" he exhaled and nodded to Leona "I told her last night."
"Oh, thank goodness for that." Issei let out a long breath, turning to Leona and rubbing his forehead "So were you able to help Roman-sensei with his ey-" Issei's own eyes flew wide and colour instantly dusted his cheeks as Leona pressed her hand against his mouth, grabbing his face and muffling his words before he could say anything else.
"Hahahaha…" Leona released a strained laughter, dropping her voice into a whisper "We should probably not bring up that sort of thing around here, shouldn't we?" her eyes flickered around them meaningfully "Considering the less involved company."
"Leona…" Romani simply said with a tired tone of voice as he leaned around to look at her directly "Please stop trying to crush Issei-kun's face."
"I wasn't grabbing him that hard." Leona simply replied as she released him and lowered her hand down "That being said, please be more mindful of your environment, alright?"
"Y-yeah." Issei coughed, blinking profusely as he rapidly nodded his head "Absolutely Ma'am-um…Mrs."
Leona raised an eyebrow at the young man before she turned to Romani, her expression turning teasing "How come you never call me ma'am?"
"Wha-why would I call you that?" Romani replied with a baffled face "That doesn't even make sense."
Releasing a sigh, Leona rolled her eyes and leaned in to whisper something into the man's ear. Romani remained stationary for several seconds before his eyes gradually widened and his face flushed bright red.
As she leaned back, she stepped around Romani and looked back at the pair of them "Now then, I won't be here long so you don't need to worry about me trying to embarrass you, Roman!" Leona called back to him as she walked backwards "Don't worry, I already know the way there so I'll be fine! See you tonight." she spun back on her heels and walked facing the correct direction this time.
Romani managed a half wave, his eyes still distant and his face still bright red.
Issei watched Leona depart before he slowly turned to look up at Romani with a blank expression. "Roman-sensei. Don't take this the wrong way…but I sort of hate you right now."
The nurse coughed several times, the words practically knocking him out of his state and into a shocked stance "What? Why?! What did I do?"
Issei just continued to stare at him, his lip curled down in the heaviest frown imaginable and his expression one of pure envy. "I'm sure I'll feel a little better in a moment…but right now, I just really hate you. It's nothing personal."
"You're telling me that you hate me, that sounds really personal!"
"It isn't Roman-sensei, it's just the principle of you flirting with your hot wife in front of a single person is all. That's a little bit like waving a wallet full of cash in front of a homeless man."
Romani gaped at him "Wha-that is not-I wasn't trying to do that on purpose!" he pointed at the direction where Leona was retreating towards the school "She was the one flirting with me!"
Issei scrunched his face up even more, the expression he was giving Romani was nothing short of green with how clearly he wished to trade places. "...That makes it worse, Roman-sensei. It makes it much…much worse."
"Just…" With an exhausted sigh, Romani could already feel himself getting tired within the first few minutes of being in the school. "What did you want to talk about?"
Opening his mouth to respond, Issei then paused and snapped his jaw shut with a click. His eyes flew to either side as he took notice of the students still walking past them before he looked back at Romani "...We should probably talk about this in your office." he continued on in an unusually serious tone of voice.
Romani thinned his lips, then nodded his head slowly. "Alright then…"
The door shut behind the pair, it would still be at least ten to fifteen minutes until the homeroom bell so there was enough time for a decent conversation. Or, at least, Romani imagined that was to be the case. He personally wasn't sure how long it was going to go on for.
Issei's serious expression and the urgency with which he wanted to speak with him already had Romani's nerves running at an all time high. Scenario after scenario played back in his mind as he tried to think of what Issei had to say. Of course, there was only one outcome that he personally imagined this was going to relate to.
Considering the mention of his eyes.
Romani released a shaky breath, turning around and walking towards his desk as he unslung the bag from his shoulder and sat it down just underneath the furniture. "I…" He swallowed "I take it that it has to do with the…vision, right?"
He chanced a look towards Issei from the corner of his eye, wincing when he saw the young man nod his head and a pale countenance coming upon him. "Y-yeah…" The boy nodded several times before he looked away from the nurse, placing a hand on his chest and making a sickly face "It was um…sorry, I just…"
"Yeah, no…it's fine." Romani nodded his head, his left hand came up to cradle his face as he leaned back against the desk. Neither one of them said anything to the other, perfectly content to try and rein in their own nerves. Eventually, Romani pulled his hand away from his face and rested the pair of them on the desk behind him.
"...I…I'm glad you're alright, Issei-kun." Romani said quietly, offering the boy a smile.
"Thanks…" Issei released a breath and nodded his head "It was pretty…it was kinda scary actually…there was this crazy guy with a lightsaber…"
Romani furrowed his brow "A what?"
"But…listen, Roman-sensei." Issei turned to him with a conflicted expression "Do…do all your visions…have they all been about me?"
Romani remained silent for a moment before he looked down, nodding his head several times "Yeah."
"Is there…do you know if you can see someone else or something?" Issei awkwardly asked as he reached up and scratched the back of his head, giving the nurse a slightly pleading look "Because there was this guy there and then Asia showed up and I don't…I know what Buchou said about her being an enemy or something but I just can't see it and I don't want to leave her alone with those guys because it was-"
"Whoah, whoah." Romani blinked several times, cutting off Issei and raising his hands towards him "Hang on a second you're…wait, start from the beginning here? You went from talking about a guy with a lightsaber to Asia?"
"Right, right…" Issei took in a deep breath, turning to the nurse and steeling his expression "Okay so I went to this house last night, I was going there for this contract thing, I said it earlier right?"
"You go there and do some work for someone, right?"
"Yeah, that's it…only I haven't actually got a contract yet." Issei admitted with a slightly ashamed expression, averting his eyes from the nurse.
Romani stared at him for a few moments, blinking several times before he raised his eyebrows "You mean like a repeat customer thing, right?"
"Yeah." Issei nodded at that, his eyes returning to the nurse "Basically that. A contract is like them asking me specifically to come back…and um…no ones actually…" he coughed into his hand before shaking his head "Anyway, I went to this house and all the lights were off and the front door was open…"
Romani could already see where this was going, his expression tightened.
"Yeah…I went inside and it was…" Issei pursed his lips, releasing a hollow laugh "It's one of those things where you just don't think it's real, you know? You see all that blood and then th-the body and you're there like 'This can't actually be happening.' and you just sort of freeze…"
"Issei-kun…are you alright?"
Issei's expression turned blank, his hands went into his pockets as he looked past the nurse and towards the desk. His head slowly shook from side to side "...I don't think so but um…anyway." he scrunched his eyes shut and wiped the image from his mind "There was already some crazy guy there…called himself a priest or something and he'd…well, he'd killed the guy because he was going to meet with a Devil…"
Romani paled "T-there's someone like that here?" he bolted upright, pointing down to the ground and dropping his voice into a shouting whisper "In Kuoh, right now?"
"W-well yeah."
"...T-this is bad!"
"I know that!" Issei hissed back with wide eyes "It's actually horrible! Then Asia was there-"
"Asia was there? The little Italian nun?" Romani gaped "What was she doing there?"
"The guy, the freaky priest, brought her and was having her help out but then she saw the body and screamed…I…I don't think she knew why he was there." Issei rubbed his forehead "She was scared, Roman-sensei and that was…anyway, the guy attacked me then the others saved me and we got out of there but Asia…we left Asia behind and then Buchou's telling me stuff about how we're not allowed to have any contact with nuns and stuff and about how they're all the enemy or whatever…"
Romani was still reeling from the idea there was an actual murderer in the town "R-right um…can we just go back to the murderer in town a second?" he asked with a quiet voice "Are…is someone doing something about that?"
Issei opened his mouth for a second before he slowly closed it "I…I don't know…I think we probably should, shouldn't we?"
"...Yeah."
"Right umm…Asia?"
"Yeah…I don't…" Romani shrugged "I don't know enough about it but it seems a little…I don't know, narrow minded to say that everyone is an enemy if they're from the Church or something. I mean…Asia didn't seem that bad to me but I suppose she didn't know you were a…you know."
Issei nodded his head grimly "I get that but it…that doesn't seem right to me just leaving her alone with a guy like that!"
"Okay, okay…" Romani waved his hands, looking towards the door as Issei raised his voice to quiet the boy down "Just…what do you really want me to do?" he turned back to Issei with a frown "Because I'm not sure I can do all that much, Issei-kun…"
"I just…can you use your eyes to try and see if she's safe?"
Romani thinned his lips "Issei-kun…I don't even know how my eyes work to begin with." he explained in a low whisper "I just…I don't know how they work and I don't even know why they're with me at all. Leo wants me to keep quiet about them because of…you know…magic reasons and…"
"Please, Roman-sensei." Issei all but begged him with a desperate look in his eyes "I just…I don't know…"
Romani closed his eyes and exhaled "I don't know how to help you Issei-kun. Honestly, I don't know…If I could I would, believe me I would but I just…" he slumped his shoulders, giving the boy a helpless wave of the arms "I just…I can't."
Issei couldn't keep the disappointment off his face but it didn't seem to be directed towards the nurse, that made it hurt a little less but it still hurt. "I get it, Roman-sensei…I was sort of expecting that answer anyway to be honest but I just…I figured I had to at least ask because I don't know who else to…"
The older man thinned his lips as he watched the boy drag himself towards the door.
Closing his eyes once again, Romani turned his head away in shame, the feeling of powerlessness coursed through his body. He couldn't even find the energy to watch Issei leave, the boy had come to him when he really needed help and he couldn't do anything to help him.
And he wanted to, he really wanted to.
As it stood he just…he didn't know how anything worked in regards to his freaky eyes and even if he did…
How did they even work?
They kept working when he didn't really need them too and suddenly when they need to they just…what? They turn off?
His brows creased as he tightened his expression.
Was he supposed to think about Asia really hard or something?
…
He doubted it was that eas-
"Can you pass the ketchup please?" Issei asks, gesturing across the table to the bottle of red sauce. Romani hands it to him and is rewarded with a thankful nod. "Thanks." Issei turns to the blonde girl next to him "Alright, Asia-san. You put this on your chips and they taste even better, okay?"
Asia, the innocent girl that she is, stares with transfixed awe as Issei tips the bottle upside down and squirts a small dollop of sauce onto the plate before turning it right side up and placing it back across the table near the man sat opposite them.
"Really?" Asia asks, tilting her head much like a puppy "They really taste better?"
Romani finds himself withholding a wince at the staggering lack of information the girl has, she was either really sheltered or just never had the chance to visit a burger joint before. He would like to think it was the latter rather than the former.
"Yeah." Issei clearly thinks much the same before he gives her a bright smile "Trust me. I'm telling the truth, right Roman-sensei?"
"Yeah." Romani nods once, confidence coating his every word to encourage the girl "They taste better…unless you're allergic to toma-" he trails off as he notices the look Issei is giving him that is practically screaming bafflement at words he decided to start speaking. "I mean they'll taste great!" He hastily changes his sentence.
"Okay!" Asia gives a determined nod of the head, her expression shifts into one of complete focus that appears amazingly comical as she procures a single chip from her pot and slowly lowers it towards the ketchup with the accuracy of a surgeon and the expression to match.
Romani withholds a chuckle at her antics-
"Oh my word, it's that easy!" Romani can't help but exclaim, ignoring the sudden flash of pain through his eyes for a few moments up until he can feel tears budding in the corner of them. "Ouch!" he winces, reaching up and rubbing his eyes as the pain registers.
"Huh?" Issei pauses as he reaches the door, turning around and staring at Romani having been clearly caught off-guard by the sudden declaration. His eyes widen as he takes in the state of the nurse "Roman-sensei, are you-"
"It worked…" Romani can't help but cheer, his voice coming out strained as he continues to rub tears from his eyes, pulling away his sleeves and revealing the somewhat reddened orbs. Issei grimaces as he looks at him "I mean…it hurts but I think it worked!"
"What wor-" Issei cut himself off, an expression of pure euphoria coming upon his face "You mean that-"
"Yes." Romani excitedly nodded his head "You and me are apparently going to get burgers with Asia in the future!"
That brought the wind out of Issei's sails, his expression scrunching up in complete mystification "...We're going to do what now?"