NMHA Ch. 24 - History not Mystery


Time, Lunarunn had long since realized, was a very contextual concept.

There were many different ways one could look at it; the perception of such, the inexorable movement toward the heat death of the universe, or how long it takes to get your Hot Pocket ready in the microwave regardless of whether or not it feels like forever.

She'd had moments where time has flown before, of course, yet the following two and a half weeks had been... something of a blur.

Normally Luna wasn't quite so keen on every day blending into the next like those near-three weeks did, but it had been punctuated by something she'd realized she'd been lacking for a long while.

Quiet.

The Assembly was in one of its many recesses, she'd gotten so used to teleporting into her house that the paparazzi was of no issue to her any longer, and Diodora came offering to help take some of the burden off her hands once she ascended, so she could properly take the time to celebrate her achievement and unwind.


"You handled yourself well," he'd also added, one of the few highlights before the actual ceremony. "That you didn't just acquiesce outright goes to show the strength of your will."

"It still didn't help me from being left with two choices; accept Zekram's 'aid' or get my public face absolutely dragged through the mud." To say nothing of her own personal preferences...

"Zekram Bael is a master manipulator; I don't blame you in the slightest for the position you're in." The sympathy and understanding in Diodora's voice was so earnest and raw that Luna couldn't help but believe he was speaking from experience. "The fact that he's let you act without intervening as long as he had is already surprising; it only makes sense he'd try to put a lead on you now, since you're about to join the aristocracy in earnest."


Beyond the Astaroth's offering of support and chat, there was only one other person which stood out in those weeks; the street rat that had stolen her wallet.

Over the two-years-and-some-days that Luna had known the Nekoshou, she could see just how well her visits and weekly grocery drops had been helping her. Already, Kuroka was starting to develop, and Luna could see even now that this was indeed the girl who would become the token busty cat-girl of canon, at least in figure.

She hadn't yet met Shirone, but Luna knew that was just to keep Kuroka's sister safe, in case the Worldweaver was playing the long game and had it in for them for whatever reason.

Sort of like how Luna was still a little leery of Diodora, on the off chance that he was still fooling everyone. It didn't stop her from having a - dare she say it - good, strong relationship with the teal-haired mentalist prodigy.

And much like how Diodora didn't begrudge Luna for her lingering doubts, Luna wouldn't begrudge Kuroka for her's.

Then the day of the ceremony finally rolled around, and to Luna's delight it was a remarkably uneventful affair. It was extravagant to the extreme, as per Devil norm, and it was neat to ride in a limousine again, but being at the party also meant meeting a certain green Satan once more.

That had been... a tense affair. Ajuka seemed happy to run the ceremony, read off the Worldweaver's accomplishments which lead to her promotion, and to declare her a High-Class Devil.

Then he summoned the Evil Piece Monument, the pillar that held the magical signatures of all those bearing a set of Evil Pieces, and Luna set her hand on it to add hers.

Part of her had wanted to smash the monument, but knew that to call it a suicidal urge would be a gross understatement.

Then the Worldweaver received her pieces, was recited her title as a baronetess and the boons which came alongside, and the deed was done.

Lunarunn Bael was now a High-Class Devil, and one with an open Peerage at that.

She left as soon as she could. Luna still couldn't bear to deal with Ajuka any longer than strictly necessary.

Especially since he watched her kneel with something akin to pride in how far she had come since her debut.

He had no right to that after what he and Sirzechs did.


"You've been promoted, nya?" Kuroka echoed, eyes wide with shocked glee as she held herself up on the counter by her arms. "It's about damn time! You've been working your butt off for years, you deserve it way more than the rest of those jerks!"

"Congratulations, Miss Bael," the ramen stand owner praised, having been elucidated to the brunette's true identity alongside Kuroka some time ago. "It is not often a commoner gets promoted so early in their lives. And to do so without even being in a Peerage? It's... extraordinary, to say the least."

"Thanks, you two." She blushed lightly, rubbing the back of her head. "It's... been a lot of work. So I want to actually celebrate becoming High Class with something nice and quiet. I'm thinking maybe a trip to the surface, maybe the Americas somewhere? Or maybe Japan? I've always wanted to visit..."

"It's a little late to watch the sakura trees bloom," the older man warned with a smile. "But there are several other places you could visit; it's a whole other world there. I think you would enjoy it."

"You've been there?" That was the Nekoshou, leaning over the table with widened eyes.

"I've spent several years in the land of the rising sun, in my heyday. Where else would I have gotten my recipes, from cup noodles?"

The brunette chimed in with a light laugh. "If cup noodles were this good then they'd be a delicacy!"

The older chef gave a heartier one. Once they both settled down, the gray-haired Devil frowned thoughtfully. "...So you did it. You made High Class. Even minor nobility too, from the sounds of it. What are your plans now?"

"My plans?" She glanced over at Kuroka, who was listening intently, before breathing out lightly and tilting her head to the side, eyes sliding shut. "...Admittedly? I don't have any huge goals going forward. I mean... I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, trying to argue on behalf of the non-nobles and the ones who fell through the cracks. I plan on making my Peerage. I'll keep trying to improve on myself. But beyond that? I can't really say."

Well. There was getting back at Sirzechs. She and Ruval had been planning for years now, but the opportunity to deliver a just response to his lies and abandonment had yet to appear.

Sheesh. She really needed a better motivation than revenge, huh? Luna had no intention to become a blood knight.

"Yet, you're going to be inundated with aristocracy. You'll be in an entirely different world," the stand owner insisted. "How do you plan to argue on our behalf if you're going to be completely closed off?"

Lunarunn looked down at the lightly steaming bowl of ramen on the counter. He raised a good point. From everything she could see, the high class lived lives completely different from those of their constituents. Entire estates, small armies of servants, wealth beyond standard comprehension...

The brunette had the luck to be born as a far branch of the biggest family. She had an in, but was far enough away from the big houses to not lose sight of the masses.

That was going to change, wasn't it? Especially with her elevation to baronetess.

"I... hadn't really put much thought into that." The confession came out unbidden, though she had no issues with it doing so. "I... suppose that would be what my Peerage would be for. To help me keep abreast of the commoners and the rest. That's what Peerages in general are supposed to do, right? Help their King make the best decisions they can?"

The other Devil let out a huff and crossed his arms. "Perhaps. But what is to say that they will know the same struggles we do?"

"Well, diversity tends to bring out the most significant results, doesn't it?" Luna peered over at Kuroka. "...And whoever said that I wouldn't be interested in inviting someone who knows the struggles of the street into a position where she could do something about it for others?"

"..." The shop owner fell silent, scrutinizing Luna as he caught onto the implications. Said Worldweaver blinked, looking back at him before returning her gaze to Kuroka, who suddenly seemed particularly unsure. Her ears and tail were hidden as per usual, but the brunette could easily imagine the former being pressed to her head as the Nekoshou looked away with conflict written plain on her face.

Seeing that she'd stepped into something of a minefield, Luna's words became softer, more earnest. "...I know it feels like you owe me for helping you and your sister, Kuroka. And I said it before; joining a Peerage is a big, big decision. It's not something to be taken back so easily. So I completely get it; now that the moment of truth's right around the corner the weight of that decision's pretty daunting."

"I..." Kuroka swallowed, hard. "It's... I... I don't know. I always figured it would be... sort of like this. You helping me and Shirone-chan with weekly groceries is... it's one thing, and a big thing, and I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough. But... but asking me to sign my life away to your service?"

"That's... I get your reluctance." Luna didn't move to lay a hand on the Nekoshou's shoulder. She wouldn't do so when the adolescent Youkai was already feeling as though she were suddenly in a corner. But she wanted to, to try and reassure her. "I know I'd be the same. Freedom... it's important to me. The freedom to act how we want, the freedom to be who we want to be, and the freedom to do what we believe is right."

The black-haired girl's head snapped back up at the brunette, eyes burning with accusation. "Then why are you so insistent on adding me to your Peerage? That's pretty two-faced to me."

The brunette held Kuroka's gaze for a few seconds, before turning back to the table to take another sip of her ramen, glancing back up at the shopkeep before letting her eyes slide shut. "To me, my Peerage is going to be a team. Equals as much as Peerages can be equal. People that I can rely on when things get rough, or to set me straight when I'm in the wrong. My problems will be theirs, and theirs, mine."

Luna shook her head, fibbing just a little to push her point. "I don't know why two young girls are trapped on the streets, why you have been so insistent on me not meeting Shirone, and I don't care whether or not it's something big; I can tell you deserve better. If you join, I will do everything in my power, to make sure that you and yours are safe, and happy, and well-cared for. After everything you've been through, you deserve that much."

"...You talk as though you have not already been doing much of that to begin with."

Her eyes reopened, meeting the gray-haired Devil's evenly. "Kuroka lost her parents. She's struggled to survive for her sister, escaping to the streets for a reason she hasn't yet shared with me."

The new baronetess was sure it had something to do with the Naberius family. Her blue-green orbs shifted downward. "...I just want to give her the opportunity to, to rebuild something she lost. A place to call home, and people she can wholeheartedly trust. I'll give Kuroka free access to my little estate, and enough money to rent a home so Shirone gets to remain hidden away. So... I was trying to explain everything she stands to gain, and what she stands to face, if she accepts. I haven't really talked about it in... well, years. So. I wanted to bring it all back up."

She turned back to Kuroka with scrutiny, whose head was facing the counter, unable to see the look in the Nekoshou's eyes. Clearly she was deep in thought.

"If, you accept," the brunette stressed. "If you say no, then like I said before, that's okay. We'll still do these visits, you'll still get groceries by the week, nothing will have to change. I just think it would be a... a real shame, you know? We both have so much to gain from standing together."

Luna let those words hang while Kuroka thought them over, returning to her ramen.

"...Will you swear it?"

The Worldweaver didn't even hesitate. "To protect your sister? To make sure you two are able to grow up safe and happy? On my life."

She grinned. "And hey, if you want me to write and sign an agreement that if I fail to uphold my end of the bargain you get to tear my throat out, then I'll do just that. Not sure how well it'd float with the aristocrats, but they'd have me to answer to if they label you a criminal despite a contractual agreement."

"I'm not sure that's quite how it works, Miss Bael," the shopkeeper interjected, holding his hands up palm outward when the Devil in question shot him a pouty glare.

Still, it didn't stop Kuroka from giggling a little. Luna was glad she'd managed to get a good reaction, but also a little sad that her humor had already turned so black so young.

Then the Nekoshou turned to look at Luna, before a worried countenance crossed her face.

"Ah... no. Wait. If... if we're going to be a team, then I should be... honest with you too."

Seeing how worried Kuroka had suddenly become, the brunette had a feeling that it would be something important.


Kuroka stared back up at Lunarunn, reaffirming to herself the choice she was making before glancing over at the shopkeep. "Hey, old man. Do you think Miss Luna and I could have a minute in the back?"

The question was not one she asked often, but she trusted the old guy. She didn't know his name, but they'd seen enough of each other to at least realize the other was trustworthy.

"...You owe me one," he decided after a moment's thought, wiping his hands on the towel behind the counter before stepping out, gesturing for Luna and Kuroka to enter.

"I'll get you a bushel of Bael apples," the brunette offered, giving a thankful smile to the ramen stand owner as she stood and walked by, entering the kitchen without so much as a glance back.

That left Kuroka and said gray-haired Devil alone for a moment, of which the latter's brows drew together in a line.

"Are you sure you want to do this? She's been aiming to join the group of people that's ousted us both."

The Nekoshou swallowed, then nodded.

"I... I'm still nervous, but if I keep waiting then what's going to happen to my sister? I ran away with her from that complex because I wanted to protect her, give her a better life than what it was going to be. This... this is just the next step up, right?"

"At the cost of your freedom?" The Devil insisted.

Kuroka bowed her head, inhaling, then exhaling, finally giving him a nod.

"Even then. If it means that Shirone gets to be free, and happy, and get all those things I didn't, then I'll gladly accept an Evil Piece. Besides..." She looked over at the kitchen, tilting her head as she remembered back when she'd first met Luna.

That is, stolen her wallet.

The vast majority of Devils would have taken it back and walked away. Some after beating her to 'teach her a lesson'. But Luna? She healed Kuroka instead after accidentally hitting a little too hard getting her cash back, and treated her to dinner... and then after that, groceries.

To say nothing of how she seemed so utterly respectful of her boundaries, never pushing to meet her sister, never prying as to where they are sleeping at any given day.

Luna defied everything she expected of a Devil, and in the furthest way from bad than she could imagine.

And the way the world itself seemed brighter in her presence, more animated, more alive...?

"...I don't think I'll get a better chance than this to do right by my sister."

The shopkeep tilted his head, scrutinizing Kuroka closely, before giving a singular nod, one side of his mouth quirking upward.

"Then you'd best have that talk with your soon-to-be King. Sounds like it's important."

The Nekoshou nodded once, then hurried behind the counter into the kitchen.


After Kuroka found her way into the kitchen, taking a minute longer than Luna expected her to, the brunette turned and leaned against the countertop, inclining her head towards the Nekoshou.

"Alright. You wanted to have a chat in private, right? I think this is about as good as we're gonna get right away, so what has you so concerned?"

Kuroka nodded, pausing before speaking. "You... never really learned about why Shirone and I are on the streets?"

The Devil smiled. "I figured it was something pretty rough. I didn't want to pry though; you were really uncomfortable about the topic when I brought it up during our first dinner. Still, I really appreciate your being willing to talk to me about it now."

The younger girl swallowed, hard.

"Mmh. Yeah... yeah, it's... it's not good."

"Bad enough to make you feel as though you need to share it... sounds like you're worried." Luna's brow drew together in a worried furrow, eyes soft. "...What is it?"

"It's just... you've been straight with me, tolerant, generous, even kind." How her mother had embodied all those traits, even with their shitbag of a sperm donor, only served to further solidify her belief that Luna was a good person. "How can I hide this and feel good about accepting all these things you've done to make Shirone's and my life bearable?"

That question hung for several seconds, before it got a response.

"...I understand." Lunarunn leaned off the counter, back into a standing position with arms behind her back. "I'm all ears. What is it, about you two having been on the streets, has you so worried?"

Kuroka took a deep breath, exhaled, then explained. "Well. You've probably figured out I'm not actually a Devil by now, right?"

"Not entirely, at least. Whatever the case, if I had to take a guess based on what I know of you, you're probably Japanese. Probably a youkai of some sort, right?"

The black-haired girl nodded. "Mmh."

"...Nekomata, then?" The Worldweaver tilted her head.

"Not... quite."

Kuroka swallowed again, then let her ears and tails manifest, ears flat and tails curled around her protectively.

Luna watched with wonder; seeing cat ears and tails on a girl in anime was one thing, but seeing it right before her? That... was another thing entirely.

She had to fight off the urge to rub Kuroka's ears. There was a time and place for everything, and regardless of how adorable the teenaged Youkai was, this was not the time to indulge in weebish fantasy.

"I'm a... nekoshou. A... subspecies of nekomata, from what I was able to learn. We're especially good at Senjutsu in general, for me it's like a second sense, and we're rare." She paused for emphasis. "Like, really, really rare."

"You have poachers after you?" Lunarunn threw out the obvious question, though she already knew that wasn't the case.

"Well... not quite. Shirone and I, we grew up in a lab. We were lucky to have our mother able to care after us. Our father..." Her eyes sharpened, and she turned to the side to spit on the ground, a clear indicator what she thought of him.

"Real dirtbag, huh?"

That got Kuroka snarling. "He used my mother like a sex toy, repeatedly, and had the gall to not return her affections. Didn't even see his own daughters as people!"

Again, Lunarunn already knew, but still couldn't help but wince sympathetically. "Yeah. Real piece of shit then."

"That's not the thing that's important though. What's important is that from what I can tell, Nekoshous are, or at least were, important in some big research project. I think it has to do with our natural skill in Senjutsu. I don't know the details, but... it does have to do with why we're on the streets."


After the explosion that had killed their parents, Kuroka and Shirone had been trapped in a state of fugue, unable to act on their own, barely even able to wander out to find help.

So when the Devils came to whisk them away to another compound, this one in the Underworld, neither Nekoshou argued.

Neither could so much as work up the will to even ask where they were going, or how Devils had gotten there. The younger, because she was wavering between consciousness and unconsciousness, the shock of the horrific event making her young self easily fall ill. The former, because she had been traumatized by the aftermath.

So as the two youkai sisters found themselves in a new place, filled with much more leisurely delights than the laboratory before, both eagerly took the opportunity to sink their teeth into trying to forget what

It helped that there was a Devil, a Naberius from what Kuroka could remember, whatever that meant, that visited them from time to time, talked to Kuroka specifically, and had dropped hints that by helping them continue their tests where her mother had left off, they'd be honoring her legacy.

To call it a step up from the stony indifference of their 'father' was an understatement, Kuroka very nearly was swept up by the supposed kindness of the Devil whom had decided to shelter them under the wings of his family name.

Perhaps in one world, she would have eagerly accepted, at least at first, both the tests, and the eventual offering of Peerage, so that Shirone could continue to live in relative luxury.

But the night her parents died, something inside the black-haired Nekoshou had... clicked. Or cracked. It was hard to tell. Her eyes, or rather her inner eye, opened wide, and she could realize she could see far more than she had realized. She could see the flow of the world, the life energy that permeated her surroundings.

Where a regular Nekoshou may have had it as an extra sense tacked onto their normal ones, for Kuroka it had become even more than that. One could even argue that in that moment of utter, deathly horror, she'd attained a minor form of enlightenment. Insofar as she could see far beyond what many could.

And that same Naberius... there was a darkness to him. Not like the usual darkness that the Devils she'd seen all possessed, the raw element of unholiness, but something beyond simply 'unholy'. Something black nestled comfortably within that Devil.

When it was paired with the kind face that Naberius Devil put on in their company, there was something dead about it. Dead like the shitstain that impregnated their mother. Dead like her hopes that one day they might have been a whole, happy family. Dead like the mangled face of their mother as Kuroka dug frantically through the rubble of the building-

Something changed inside Kuroka that day, and she still wasn't sure if it was for the better. She was barely able to keep her sister from suffering the same. Even so, Shirone had to be treated for various illnesses for months before she finally started to stabilize.

The black-haired Nekoshou could still remember that day as though it had happened not an hour prior.

And if that face of the Naberius reminded her of her mother, in such a state... then she had a deep, dark feeling that something was very, very wrong with it all.

She played the part of the wide-eyed, scared little girl. Kuroka was exactly that, after all. But what she also played at was naive, trusting, and desperate to make sense of it all.

The Naberius seemed kind enough, taking her apparent desperation well in stride, slowly working his way into her good graces, getting her gifts and helping her try to make sense of the explosion that killed her parents.

She wasn't sure about Shirone, but it sat wrong with Kuroka. It sat so wrong that eventually, the young pre-adolescent decided she needed to find the truth for herself. She couldn't trust the Devil to tell her what happened, he felt so dirty.

So she decided to break into his office and look through his papers.

Incidentally, the Nekoshou's prior acting had proven effective enough to convince the Naberius to lessen the number of other Devils keeping an eye on them. Something that she had been increasingly worried was about keeping them from escaping, rather than to help them if she or Shirone had a panic attack or fell ill.

Even then, there were several close calls. Multiple times Kuroka had to press her back against a corner as Devils walked by, barely able to hear whatever they were talking about over the pulse of her heartbeat.

It all felt twisted. The further she snuck into this new compound, the more the very air seemed rotten. Whether that was her rapidly growing suspicions or the same thing that reminded Kuroka of her mother's remains when she looked at the smiling face of that Naberius Devil, she wasn't sure, but it impressed on her just how important it was she remain hidden.

Part of her wanted to turn back right away. The rest of her shut that part down hard. This was for Shirone. To keep her safe. To figure out the truth behind the explosion that killed their parents. To be the one to protect them, now that their mother couldn't do so any more.

Any professional psychiatrist would have been alarmed with just how quickly Kuroka was able to put aside the death of her mother in that scenario at her age.

That didn't mean she wasn't utterly terrified though.

If Kuroka turned back, she'd never be able to work up the courage to try again. She'd likely give in to the Devil that reminded her of the dead.

She had to find out what happened.

For her parents. For herself.

For her sister.

The office itself, once Kuroka managed to find it, she could almost gag on the air around it. It was simply that cloying and viscous to her. It took everything she had to even realize the office was magically sealed, and trapped to sound an alarm if triggered.

But she did. And realized, after close inspection, how to undo the seal without alerting the Devils that there was a break-in.

How, she wasn't sure. Maybe it had to do with her senses.

The same ones that made her feel terribly, terribly wrong that very moment she opened the door.

But she shoved it aside, pushed away the darkness that threatened to encroach on her, engulf her, seduce her, devour her, infect her-

She could leave this damned place once she learned the truth.

The desk itself was also sealed, another point against the Naberius in Kuroka's eyes, but much like before she managed to undo it without much fanfare, in a display of prodigious magical talent.

Then she went looking through the missives, through his messages, through his projects. The more the Nekoshou saw, the less she liked. She could barely make sense of the papers, but there were multiple terms that appeared, and stuck out to her.

Super Devils.

Ascension.

Senjutsu.

Nekoshou.

Had... these been the people who had been studying their mother, before?

She hadn't felt anything like this sort of darkness from their biological father.

Finally, Kuroka managed to get to more recent studies, particularly those in the past year. She knew she didn't have much time left before the next checkup, so the Nekoshou had to make a choice. Bring the papers back with her and hide them, or leave her questions unasked.

...After everything she'd done?

Unacceptable.

So Kuroka hurried back to the room, realizing that it was easier to get back than it was to get out, and hid them in her pillowcase.

Once the guards arrived, she pretended to be asleep as she should have been.

Thankfully, nobody discovered the break-in yet, so after the check-in, Kuroka and her sister were left alone.

Finally, she was able to start reading, and much like before, many of the words she didn't understand. There was far too much grown-up words for her to understand the details.

But the things she could understand, made the young girl's blood turn cold.


"You mean to say...?"

"Yes. The Naberius family killed my parents, and wanted to use Shirone and I as test subjects instead." Kuroka spat out those words, bitter and angry. "We were young. We were impressionable. We were vulnerable, and malleable, where okaasan was catching on and asking too many questions. If I hadn't realized something was wrong, they'd have gotten what they wanted, too!"

That... that changed things. If they were technically runaways, then that meant that the murder of the Naberius heir wouldn't happen. At least, not in the same way it did for canon.

"You have... no idea, just how close I was to letting the bastard take me into his Peerage," the Nekoshou continued, ears flat and eyes narrowed into feline slits, teeth grit and practically radiating furious heat. "So I could grow stronger, so that when the time came, I'd be able to eviscerate the fucker that ordered my mom dead."

Luna could guess. "What changed your mind?"

"...Shirone." The fire left Kuroka, leaving her sagging briefly before perking back up, face now set in a determined frown. "What would happen to her if I wanted to get vengeance? I couldn't do that to my sister. I'd rather take on the world than let her lose her only remaining family."

"So you ran away."

"So I took her and ran away," she confirmed, giving a slow nod. "I still have no idea how I managed to get away with any of it. Managing to get into that heir's office and steal his notes, or escape the compound, or even evade the Devils he sent out to hunt us down. We made it to the city, I found the old man, and... here we are now."

The number of things that would have to go right for Kuroka to steal away with an infant from a highly concealed secret research compound, especially after breaking into the office of the compound's head, would be ludicrous...

'Did you have something to do with this, Ulan?'

"I have not directly affected this world until I brought you into it, Luna. Her luck simply was that miraculous."

Right, so Deus ex Machina was out. Supposedly.

"Whatever the case, I think we're both glad that you're out of that hellhole. So you're concerned that by signing on as part of my Peerage, I'll end up taking a lot of flack from the Naberius family?"

"Whatever they were researching, it was big. I didn't understand most of what those notes said, but it had something to do with... 'Super' De-?"

Kuroka's eyes widened when Luna shut her up with a quick hand covering the Nekoshou's mouth, looking from side to side quickly before leaning in.

"Yeah, it's big," she whispered. "Big enough that there's Devils that would massacre to keep it a secret. Real high up, too. Just by mentioning it, you're putting everyone in earshot in danger."

They widened a little further as her ears flattened back and she started trembling. Once Luna slowly removed her hand, Kuroka felt the need to speak. "H-how do you k-know that?"

Luna glanced around again before speaking. "I'll return your honesty with honesty of my own: I know a lot of things I shouldn't. The name of the Crimson Satan's sister before she was even born, the future host of the Sacred Gear held by the Red Dragon Emperor, that project that shall not be named, the eventual treaty that will happen between the three biblical factions... the list goes on."

She gave Kuroka a wink and a grin, leaning back into a more comfortable standing position. "So we both got something else to pin the other to the wall. Give and take, yeah?"

"Haha... y-yeah." The Nekoshou looked away, visibly calming herself down. "So... now you know why I'm so leery of letting you - or anyone, really - meet my sister. I can defend myself to a degree, but her...? She's still so young."

"I get it. Just means I'll have to chip in a little more so you two can get a security system installed wherever you end up moving."

That got Kuroka looking back at her. "You meant it?"

Luna chuckled. "I have too much cash, especially after being promoted. If I can help someone I want in my Peerage feel comfortable accepting that position, then I'll do so. I look out for my own, y'know?"

"But... what about all that stuff that the Naberius clan will throw at you?"

"I'll take it in stride." The brunette gave an easy shrug and smile. "The Naberius clan's an OSF name anyway, so more flack from those fogies really won't faze me. They already hate my guts for being super-progressive by Devil standards, what's taking in one of 'their' runaways? They don't own you, or Shirone."

Though even now, Luna could see multiple ways they might try and 'legally' get the two Nekoshous back, whether that be by 'charging' the two out the nose for 'services rendered', or by offering a Piece Trade, or challenging Lunarunn to a Rating Game outright for the sisters. As though they were property.

Ugh, even thinking about it pissed Luna off.

She was very glad to be taking a break, in that regard. It'd give her time to get everything she'd need prepared before political shit hit the fan.

Still. One question remained in Luna's mind.

"...What's different about me than the Naberius heir? Minus the boobs and the lack of package between my legs, that is."

Kuroka leaned from side to side, pursing her lips as she figured out how to put it.

"You... feel, different," she finally decided. "When I was talking to him, everything felt so still, and dead. But around you... it's like the world is alive. Especially when you do stuff like make things float, or whatever it is you do to fight. I mean, the world's normally so alive in the first place, but it's like it's injected with... I dunno, adrenaline or something, when you do your thing. Or that it's waking up after a long sleep. I dunno how to put it."

When Kuroka first met Luna, that sense had been muted, perhaps because she'd spent too long on the streets to try and focus on it. Or to want to.

But even then, she could feel the way the world awoke when Lunarunn used her power. It was both terrifying, and reassuring. Terrifying because she wasn't sure just how powerful Lunarunn would be if she could fully awaken that power that stirred the world, and reassuring because Kuroka could hardly comprehend the world itself seeming so... happy with being stirred by a vile person.

The more they met, the more that same sense that alerted the Nekoshou to the wrongness of the Naberius facility returned. To the Nekoshou, it was something of a fascinating sensation, to slowly reawaken to those senses as her strength returned.

And if Luna was offering to help her grow stronger, too? Then that'd be all the better to protect Shirone with.

"...Are you sure you still want to take me under your wing?" the black-haired adolescent asked, feeling unsure once again, glancing away with a worried complexion before looking back.

"I said it before, didn't I?" Luna lowered herself to meet Kuroka's gaze on the same level and smiled. "I can tell you deserve better than the hand you were dealt. Even if making you into my first Peerage member would invite a lot of trouble to my doorstep, I think it would be worth it."

She rose back up, holding a hand out for the Nekoshou to take. "So I think the better question to ask is; are you willing to let me take you under my wing?"

As Kuroka looked at the outstretched hand, she knew that this was the pivotal moment. Would she accept Luna's offer and become her Bishop? To tie their destinies together in such a nearly irrevocable way?

Part of her wanted to still say no.

But...

This wasn't the same Devil that had 'saved' her and Shirone from the explosion that claimed their parents. This wasn't the same Devil that had plotted their deaths for double the test subjects, with all the more malleability. This wasn't the same place, a research facility in which they were treated as little more than pets for the most part.

The offer was the same, but the context was far and away separate.

And that made all the difference.

So Kuroka took Lunarunn's hand. From a Youkai that would soon become a Devil, to her soon to be King.

In the kitchen of a small ramen stand off the beaten path of the Underworld city of Lilith, a new partnership was born.

The world would never be the same.


A/N -

So, uh. Sunday turned to Monday, huh? Sorry this one took a good deal longer than usual to come out. These past couple weeks haven't been kind to my muse. The chapter itself took a lot of crunch time to actually get done, and even then it's rather late for today. If y'all got suggestions on how to challenge writer's block beyond the obvious (that is, just to write), I'd be definitely down to hear it, because I think I'm currently in something of a slump. I still intend to write this story, but I will admit to chapters not coming out as easily as they had before.

As a result? My word count this chapter is a fair bit smaller compared to the chapters before. This was as good a time as any to end the chapter though, so it is what it is.

The truth behind Kuroka and Shirone being trapped on the streets finally comes out. Yes, I am aware that a 10-12 year-old probably isn't going to be able to infiltrate an office, figure out who ordered the explosion that took her parents, and the plans for the two of them going forward. Much less actually getting out. Even with an enhanced perception and magical talent unlocked by trauma. But there is a chance, and it did in fact happen. Yes, there is a reason for this.

In any case, I'll be closing my current poll in roughly a week and working from what the results are then, so let me know what you think if you haven't already!

Also, hot damn, 50k views. That's gotta stand for something, right?

Tempura Wizard out.