So… alot of things have happened since the last update.
The most important of which is that I found out some of the work I had written for the last two or so months had not been saved.
It was the longer chapters… which meant that it was all the chapters I had completed and was still working on.
Over ten thousand words down the drain, just like that.
This chapter is a rewrite from the first one. I had written upto the end of Issei's day and Saji coming into the scene, three chapters. So I have two more to write.
Internet's still fucked, for us without broadband or Wi-Fi that is. I can upload chapters when I go to my cousin's house but that's only once a week, even less during exams.
So, please forgive my slow and steady uploads and I hope that this chapter was satisfactory.
Green eyes that reminded me of emeralds shining with the innocence of a child. A face unblemished and seemingly radiating an otherworldly glow of warmth. Her hair was the colour of the purest gold, strands that —he thought— would feel like actual silk by the way they moved as she strolled along with him. Her face was apologetic while he carried her suitcase.
Yeah no, they hadn't hit it off like in a love comedy where the protagonist would just bump into the woman of his dreams and they would instantaneously know what the hell each other's tastes were— Nope. He'd just lent her a hand in picking herself and her suitcase up and offered to carry her.
At first she —Asia, her name was Asia Argento from what he understood from his broken interpretation of Italian— gently denied his help but relented when she had to ask directions to a church.
And he —Being an ever wandering resident of this town— just so happened to know a church, because there was only one church in Kuoh after all. And it wasn't even going to be that after a couple of months if things went fine with Shinohara-san's work.
Built during the nineteenth century, the church remained nameless for the next fifty or so years, being abandoned after its… thirtieth year of existence, was it? I don't fully remember but it was abandoned until Shinohara-san took some time out of his not-so-busy-life managing his bakery to try and restore it into an orphanage, giving it the name… well, his mentor was still working on that, the man was torn between 'Der Wendlestein' and 'An Marie Da'tole' and had yet to come to a decision.
The once broken down, greyed over church was rebuilt by a single man over the years… well, three people. Him, Shinohara-san and the glutton who often frequented Shinohara-san's shop. Actually make that four since Saji did kind of help out that one time when he trained with them for a… month? Two months? Honestly he didn't remember.
He stopped for a moment, thinking.
Wasn't that gourmet guy also Italian or something? He was the one that gave him pseudo-lessons on Italian language. Huh, didn't think of that in the five years I've known that guy.
Anyways, getting off topic there.
"T-Thank you for your help, Monsieur Issei."
Heh, getting called Monsieur by a blonde beauty. I'm blushing… no, seriously I am. No matter how sarcastic I sound in my head I'm—
"Bari— Aw fuck it, Lad's good enough. Lad, slow your tongue."
Ah, that's where world serpent-sama was hiding. That's right! Inside my mind.
"It's nothing." Ah, slipped with the 'o' there. Seems like she understood though by how giddily she was nodding her head up and down.
It was cute.
Serpent-san! Save this!
So damn cute that I wanted to pay her on the head, but I held my arm back through the sheer will to not encroach on someone's personal space.
"No."
But serpent-sama! Look at this cute creature infront of you! Doesn't she—
"No. And you're walking into a wall."
No, I'm—
*Crack!*
My forehead crashed into a wall. How did I not notice it before? Oouu…
I winced, slightly reeling back and rubbing my forehead before opening my eyes. Oh, there was a dent there. Lemme just…
I rotated on the ball of my foot… and came face to face with a mildly concerned Asia.
"I-Issei! Are you ok!? Does it hurt! O-Oh it's sw-swelli—"
Ok, she was really concerned. Her tender and soft hands were reaching out and trying to reach for my face, but she was failing terribly by frantically moving in a random direction.
It was… it… it was…
SO CUTE!
I thumped at my heart two times, then realised that I couldn't stop my cuteness induced heart attack by heating myself up so I turned away from her and slammed—
"Lad!?"
Something solid blocked my head from impacting the concrete wall and I didn't feel any pain. There was still a slight visible bent and cracks where I was about to hit my forehead on but… there was no actual damage.
I blinked, almost owlishly.
Then went back to coughing and turned away from a frantically waving Asia because I was not sure I could survive her cuteness.
Her eyes were even slightly glittering for god's sake! How did she do that!?
Oh, and what was that great serpent-sama?
"Reshaped your mana— magical energy? It's not much different from the stuff in my world so it activated an instinctual response. Don't worry about it that much, focus on the girl for now."
Hey! Her name's Asia ya'kn—
"I-Issei! Are you—"
Oh wait, I hadn't actually replied to her.
"Nothing to worry about Signora Asia! I'm a-okay!" I said, turning to her with a salute that also acted to cover my receding bruise.
Wait, was it Signora or Singnora?
I leane—
Then I remembered THAT TWO OF MY RIBS WERE BROKEN.
I jumped. I tried really, really hard not to but I jumped. Why did I do that!? Am I an idiot? Probably.
Because I'm pretty sure those two bones are now digging into my liver.
"...hah…"
Oi, oi what's with that disappointed noise Serpent-sama.
Jourmangandr went to sleep for a while after that.
"I-Issei!?"
Oh, right. Asia.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! I- uh- I stubbed my toe on the wall, yeah! Ow! Ow!" I did not know how much of that sentence was alphabetically correct but by the look of confusion on her face I could guess that half of it didn't make sense but I was also hopping on one leg while holding the other with my hands, that might have given her an idea of what I was trying to imply.
"D-Does it hurt that bad?" She asked, slightly tilting her head with a finger raised and somewhat shaking.
"I-It's a momentary pain! It'll go away in a couple of … seconds!" I witheld a wince mid sentence, she didn't seem to notice though. "Let's just go now, Shinohara-san keeps some medical supplies in the church. I can get myself checked up there." Probably would have to wrap some bandages around my torso.
Speaking of the church being slowly turned into an orphanage, we were more than halfway there.
I could make out the white paint shining under the sun from here, the pink lilies and sunflowers leading up to it were a vibrant addition to the steps running through its middle like a snake, twisting and coiling until it reached the church's doors. The place was located on an elevated area. Not quite a hill but still tall enough that we would take about… three minutes to reach the top, if we ran.
The building wasn't fully completed yet, the windows were missing the designed glass panels that Shinohara-san was handmaking… Yes, the designs were of flowers. The cross ontop of the church was still not coloured, cleaned, but still missing the white colouring with the slightest shade of violet.
"It… it's beautiful." I heard Asia murmur as we kept slowly walking towards the church.
"Wait until you see the flower field behind it." I replied with a slight laugh, she'd be impressed with the amount of colours in that small field.
"I would love to see it, Issei! Oh, if I could thank the one taking such good care of one of the father's homes…"
"Well, he's on vacation for the next two days but you can thank him when he comes back."
She let out what seemed to be a slight 'Huh' after a moment of silence. I was too focused on staring at the piece of absolute ART infront of me, several miles away to properly take notice. The church was just that beautiful with its assortment of differing plants and flowers. Oh, the number of bone species that were stored inside just waiting to be—
"Ahem."
"You know the one who is taking care of this church, Issei?"
"Oh? Yeah. My mentor. Shinohara-san. He's a dude. No matter how much he looks like a hot chick with his hair do—"
"AHEM!"
Oops! Forbidden knowledge. Didn't mean to share that.
Then I turned to Asia.
She was positively beaming at me with a radiant, genuine smile. One that was brought out from the depths of her heart… huh, it's weird. Her first smile and this one seem too different.
Was I being overanalytical? Probably.
Did reading Shinohara-san's almost emotionless face for over ten years give me the power to see through emotions? …Probably.
"I would love to meet him when he comes back, Issei! He's done so much for this church… I… I want to thank him for all his hard work!"
Ah, another lost lamb to be converted into the cov—
I-I mean,
"Sure! He'd…" Just stare at you for a moment, then give a small smile and thank you for the compliment before continuing on with what he was doin. "... appreciate it!"
Then Jourmangandr's voice said something that I wholly expected:
"Are you a cult leader or something?"
No—
"Because I had a cult back then and those buffons tried sacrificing a fat, oily man to me because they thought he was Thor… I don't want Ddrag to suffer the same humiliation."
I… what?!
"And the rituals… the damn rituals… the breeding rituals… what did they think I was… Sif?"
The WHAT?!
"Ugh, bad memories. Point is—" I suddenly felt like I was being watched. "—Don't start a religion, lad. I'll personally come down there and send you to my sister if you do."
O…Ok? I won't.
"Good. Also, wall."
Wa—
I crashed into another wall. I broke my nose. I didn't cry. Asia looked cute when worried though.
"Hm…?"
…
"Gen-kun, are you sure Issei-san's even going to attend school today?"
"Yes."
"It's been more than an hour since school started already, Gen-kun."
"... he's never missed school, and he made a promise to his mentor to get proper education?"
"...what? And where'd you learn that?"
"Remember when I disappeared from school for a month and came back crying that my legs were broken?"
Tsubasa stared at me like I had gone mad.
"Right, first year. No one remembers that. Anyways, in the shortest sentence possible, I tried to fight a guy and got a job instead."
"... that's how you got the job at that cafe infront of the school!? Wait, why were you fighting Kageyama-san anyways."
"Pfft- right, like I could even touch that guy. Nope, I got into a fight with Issei because of… something about 'first year honours'— hey, it's… yeah, it's funny."
"And after that?"
"Shinohara-san just happened to pass by us and he… stopped us both from punching each other and told me to get a job instead."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. I got a job just like that. It's actually really good pay for two hours of work."
"Huh, how much does he—"
"3600¥ per hour."
"Huh?" Tsubasa blinked at me. I turned to her in complete seriousness. "Repeat that for me again?"
"3600¥ per hour. 7200¥ per day."
Then she stared. Like really, really hard at me. It creeped me out for two minutes before she lifted her shaking right arm and put it on my shoulder.
"Uh…"
"Is he hiring?"
…
We reached the church after a few minutes of walking and… Asia was still taking in the sight.
It really did look more beautiful when you saw it up close.
The gate out front at the end of the stairs was coloured gold —not real gold, it was paint. Shinohara-san wasn't that rich… I think— that reflected the sunlight perfectly. It blended in with the small fence spanning the entirety of the church, though its yellowish hue contrasted with the shining silver it still felt like it belonged there.
The entire church in itself felt homey. Full of hearth and burning with a flame of the passion of… well, not Shinohara-san because the only passion he had was towards, uh- something- I don't really know myself and it wasn't collecting plantes because he had all of them somewhere around his house.
We opened the gate and went into the front yard, because yes. There was a front yard.
"These flowers…" Hm? Which?
I craned my head towards Asia. Oh, Lilyette Infarose. New one. First discovered by… Shinohara-san twelve years ago. Found on an isolated island near Luxemburg, Germany. Time required for full growth; seventy four months, twelve days, nine hours and forty six seconds, approximately. Blooming period; April to June. Termed as a Summer Flower. Part of the Lily flower line. Can be used as a vibrant purple dye, mostly used as seasoning for sweet—
"-sei! Issei! I…Issei?" Huh? What's going on? Where am I? Who's this blonde haired beauty before me? Did I die and go to heaven? Are you an Angel? Where's Eden? I want to eat an apple.
"O-Oh." No, wait, that's Asia. "I- sorry, what were you saying again, Asia?"
"Are you sure you are ok, Issei?" Eh? She can speak Japanese? Since when?
"Yup!" I punctuated the 'P' for effect, "Just went into an Info-coma for a bit, why were you saying again?"
She titled her cutely again! Ah, such cuteness.
"Info… coma? Ah, and I was asking what these flowers were, I've never seen them before."
"Those," I pointed at the Infarose, "Are a new species of Lilies called Infarose. They were discovered near Germany twelve years ago and you definitely wouldn't have seen them while growing up… well not if you grew up in a botany lab or near Shinohara-san."
She blinked, and giggled after a moment
"You know a lot about flowers, don't you, Issei?"
Oh how little those words were scratching the surface.
"Thank you! Now, let's go inside." We had reached the door while we were talking. It was a light coloured oak wood door with a golden doorknob at the front embedded with the words 'Welcome'.
Nothing grand, but it was something he actually had a part in building alongside Shinohara-san so it was precious to them both.
I searched around my pockets. Hm, not there. Not there either. No, that's my fertiliser bomb. Ah- There it was.
Pulling the key with an ornate vineyard design on its back end, I put it inside the keyhole and turned.
The door clicked open and I pushed it inside.
"Oh?"
A sudden, small and weirdly childlike voice made me blink.
The door opened.
I was met face to face with a girl whose blonde hair was styled into two, mid-length spiralling ponytails and dressed in what could only be called a gothic lolita dress.
She was near one of the windows, her head craning back to me while her arms held a watering can that continued to rain the flowers and plants with their desired liquid for growth.
At the sight of this mystery woman, two shouts rang out inside the church. One mine, the other her's.
"Who the hell are you!?/ Who the fuck are you!?"
I wonder why Jourmangandr-sama the great serpent is being so silent for because I might need his help with dealing with this girl's cursing.
…
Far, far away from our slightly… less perverted protagonist, an unforeseen event was occuring.
Far above a forest fully submerged in the deep shades of nature, a dark oak wood door flaked into existence.
The door stood, for seconds. Then minutes. Then hours.
Five hours in, when the sun had set and the colours below had been shrouded in the shadow of the moon, it opened. A man with hair like the deepest trench of the oceans fell out from it.
Many features could be associated with this man— no, boy. He could be thought of as a sailor, based on his deep blue sailors uniform. He could be thought of as a pirate, from his long weaving hair tied into wild braids and his hat that was larger than his head. He could be thought of as a mechanic, for there were many mechanical metal parts coloured blue hanging off his clothes, freely moving with the wind despite the sheer weight they seemed to embody… They were more than a couple metres larger than a fully grown adult male.
Yet… yet those would not be the things that you would use to define this boy, though.
No, the one thing you would describe and know this boy by would be…
"Oh Cath~!"
…his unhinged and manic, fanged smile that seemed too large on his small face as he plunged down into the green depths of absolute chaos.
I'm currently caught up to volume 21 of the light novel. Never read the side-stories, never got the chance. Will try to read some and write out new chapters soon.
Also, a mysterious new appearance is an OC. More will be on the way and I plan to introduce two more at least before Kokabiel's nasty ass gets destroyed by Vali… or will it?
Have a good, nice day without any communal wars my bros and bronettes… broneetas? Bronates? Whatever, ZoraDNA out!
P.S. I updated the cover art, made it myself. It's the same OC from the art before, and yes he's going to be appearing… soon.