Diodora's story gave the Gremory group much to think about, or at least that's what he was told. So he excused himself to go back to his room and rest up, and the next day the group seemed to have something school related to do. Diodora spent time getting updated by Stain, and training with his demonic power. Then, the next day, Diodora's group launched themselves into a trip with Genshirou's siblings in tow.
It'd simply not do to aimlessly try to find an edge in his fighting capabilities, and Star Seeker's attack proved that he wouldn't always have the advantage of having Stain or Miyuzuin there to cover up for him… Olivia's too, but Diodora didn't want to think about it. So, starting now, he'd get some help with training too.
"We've been tutoring Gen all this time already, we know what we're doing." Miyuzuin told him, wearing a big light blouse and shorts while Genshirou and his siblings played at the beach, with Kuroka agreeing in her cat form.
On the way, he'd wondered what kind of swimsuit the catgirl would be the most likely to use. But it'd seem like his imagination was wasted on this. Kuroka wandered around while Miyuzuin and Diodora went to set their chairs and parasols without a care in the world, and it'd seem like she had no intention of going back to her humanoid form.
Had Diodora known, he'd probably chosen to go hiking or something. It'd be more or less the same difficulty, seeing how his crutch dug into the sand and it was more comfortable to accept Miyuzuin's help to sit down and up. And Diodora would've probably had an excuse to push the limits with more reinforcement training. But alas, it was not meant to be.
"I'm actually looking more for actual combat experience; sharpen my reflexes and stuff." He explained while he laid on the reclining chair, watching some girls try to approach Genshirou before noticing the two kids hanging out with him "At this point, I'll get steamrolled by virtually anyone if I'm caught unaware. I think that's my top priority."
"I don't think having better reflexes will help you if Fate Weaver gets serious." Miyuzuin had changed her hair to a deep black color and used star sunglasses to hide her eye color, getting less attention than necessary. And yet, she looked just as serious as ever. Like she wasn't literally chatting at the beach, and instead had stayed indoors as usual "Plus, there's not much you can do in your current state. We should focus on your health first."
"That fuckboy's insanely powerful, I know." Diodora frowned, placing his hands below his head and scratching the skin-colored long gloves he used to disguise his crystalised skin "That's not a fair comparison."
"What's up with that downgrade in your vocabulary, meow?" Kuroka jumped on Diodora's chair and folded herself a small ball between his legs "Feels like you've been talking worse and worse since the party."
"There's a time and place for every word, Kuroka." Diodora closed his eyes, enjoying the breeze on his face "And sometimes, the right word is 'fuck'. I don't make the rules."
"Feels like you're a lot more relaxed, Dio." Miyuzuin stretched her arms while talking. Diodora didn't notice when she started calling him that "Don't lower your guard too much, though. We still have a lot on our plate."
"Are we having lunch here, or should we go back to the restaurants further in town?" Diodora murmured absentmindedly.
"The kids might have problems with the fish spines. Let's go back." Miyuzuin replied immediately.
"Noted."
"Anyway… Raw power might not be a problem due to your Infinity fragment or whatever, but your vessel is in no state to take full advantage of that." Miyuzuin continued "I doubt you'll survive a rehearsal, so let's go back to the basics."
"You love the basics, huh."
"When it comes to life or death situations, practical and simple beats powerful and complicated every single time. Fights are just too fast to start a summoning ritual over your 10 foot-tall whatever lizard." Miyuzuin stared straight into Diodora's eyes, moving her sunglasses down a bit to make sure that he understood how serious she was.
He pondered over it, at least for a moment. Miyuzuin seemed to find this satisfying enough.
The girls turned to look at Genshirou, and Diodora followed their sight. He started carrying his siblings on his shoulders, and once he put them down a girl took her chance and separated from her group of friends before asking if he could do the same to her. The dudes that had been in that group looked aggravated.
Diodora chuckled.
"I kind of wanted to specialize in one thing, do it really well without adding unnecessary things." He commented while they all saw Genshirou awkwardly agree, only to sort of struggle to hold the girl anywhere that would be even remotely appropriate.
Damn, it didn't beat going to swim but Diodora could totally spend all day seeing regular beach goers react to Genshirou's shonen hero muscles.
"I remember you wanted me to teach Gen senjutsu in spite of how many abilities he'd have going on, meow." Kuroka commented once she lost interest in seeing her pupil struggle against feminine attention "This applies here too, except that we can stick to your original idea and try to cut straight to Touki. Your near-death experience should help you grasp senjutsu faster, meow."
"Sairaorg Bael trained his body so hard he literally unlocked touki without knowing a lick of senjutsu." Diodora spoke half-heartedly while seeing Genshirou get invited to play volleyball now "I understand the logic, but that sounds very painful."
Miyuzuin raised an eyebrow.
"You already did the suffering."
"And Gen-kun still has Absorption Line…" A small white cat added, throwing a half-eaten crab beside Kuroka before jumping on the chair and starting eating "Meow."
Diodora gave the black cat a confused look.
"Did you kidnap her again?"
"What do you mean 'again', meow?" Kuroka slashed at Diodora's leg with her claws. He hissed, but she hadn't extended them all the way through, so it mostly startled him and made his carving react to the sudden clenching of his muscles "I just brought her along so she gets more in contact with her youkai side, feels more comfortable adopting her cat form… Insert another excuse here, meow."
"You could've asked." Diodora pointed out.
"Would you have said no?" The black cat tilted her head.
"I, at least, would've figured out a way to tell Rias I'd be borrowing her Rook so soon after she found out I've been hiding said Rook's older, wanted criminal sister all along."
"Mmmm, you've got a point."
"I always do." Diodora scoffed "You guys should listen to me more."
"It's fine, Rias-senpai won't get mad." Koneko murmured between chews "You were talking about senjutsu."
"Right. So you want me to practice? I won't get good before everything blows up, it might be better to stick with pure demonic power." Diodora turned to look at Miyuzuin. She had taken her sunglasses off and closed her eyes in time for a couple of dudes to walk beside them.
Genshirou went back to playing with his siblings.
"It'll help you with your health." Miyuzuin spoke up once the guys were out of earshot "As I said, you can't forget that you still have one foot on the grave."
Diodora frowned but didn't have anything to counter that argument.
"You said it yourself before, we're preventing a way. Not fighting one. Your health is more important than growing in power." Miyuzuin added.
"It's been too long, I might need to get strong now or I'll die anyway." Diodora covered his face, feeling tense again "Hell, I doubt the Old Satan Faction forgot about me. And if they figure out that I'm awake…"
"Stain." Miyuzuin stated.
"Yes, but you never know." Diodora insisted.
"You're awfully tense." Koneko commented "Senjutsu can also help with that."
"What can't it do?" Diodora rolled his eyes.
"It can't bring back the dead." Koneko replied without hesitation "You just came back from a close call, take a hint."
Diodora sighed.
"I actually have a very great way to deal with my health issues, it's just not come to be yet." Diodora shrugged, smiling while he tried to sound as casual as he could "Stain says that it's going fine, so it can probably wait a little bit."
"Health should never wait. Let alone that you're trusting Stain to get back to full strength." Miyuzuin scoffed.
"Perhaps he also came back dumber, meow. Alas, the sacrifices that must be made to avoid death."
Diodora activated Autosuggestion before he could scream.
"Okay, fine. I'm getting restless, okay?" He spat, venom in his voice as two girls tried to appeal to Genshirou by asking if he could apply sunscreen to them. He didn't want to take it on them, so he slammed an invisible barrier against the incoming tide, breaking it and sending a child in a duck floaty into the air "The Khaos Brigade is bound to make a very big push, and they're taking longer than I anticipated. It'll be bad, I just know it, and I can't be found lacking in strength when they come."
Genshirou took his siblings under his arms and ran away from the beach, alongside some very startled tourists. Diodora and Miyuzuin gave him hand signals that everything was okay.
"Excuse me, my lord." A tanned woman with a flower collar and stylish tattoos around her shoulders and neck quickly came along. Her accessories concealed a set of gills to the sides of her neck "Please refrain from using your demonic power while you're on our beach. Normal humans are a very big part of our visitors so…"
"Yes, that's on me. My mistake. It won't happen again." Diodora quickly lifted a hand, Autosuggestion still running.
"Please, my lord. Otherwise I'll find myself in the sorry need to ask you and your women to leave." The woman bowed respectfully.
"I'm literally a cat, meow." Kuroka pointed out.
"Excuse me, my lady. I simply thought it'd be disrespectful to call you a pet." The woman replied without flinching, still bowing.
"I'm also a cat." Koneko murmured but kept eating.
"It won't happen again." Miyuzuin repeated, a bit annoyed.
"Of course." The woman straightened her back "Then, shall I offer you any refreshments before I go?"
"A piña colada for me." Diodora smiled apologetically "Ladies?"
"Lemonade." Miyuzuin looked away, intent on ignoring the woman from that point on.
"I'm fine, meow. Shirone?"
"I'll go catch a crab now, I'm fine too."
"Well then, if you excuse me…" The woman nodded and left.
Diodora sighed.
"Sorry about that."
"You won't get any girls with that attitude, meow." Kuroka stretched while Koneko jumped off the chair and walked away "Hey! Don't leave your trash around!"
"Sowwy…"
"It's normal to be tense, everyone is." Miyuzuin remembered to put on her sunglasses again "It's just that your problem is a convenient outlet right now."
Diodora looked back at Genshirou, whose sister was trying to convince him to go fool with the girls. That she could go build a castle with their brother in the meantime. Her older brother refused to leave them alone, not even if they played closer to Diodora and Miyuzuin.
"Man, it'd be easier if I could do that." Diodora groaned.
"Focus on getting your health back." Miyuzuin didn't let him vent in peace.
Diodora allowed Autosuggestion to recede, metaphorically holding the demonic power in place for a moment while he weighed the girls' words against his own.
"Says the girl that tells me to trust Stain one moment, and tells me not the next." He felt tension come back to him as the magic stopped working and sighed once more "But… You're right. Damn. I hate this."
"If we just did the things we wanted to do, nothing of importance would ever get done." Miyuzuin stated.
"Do you ever just have fun? Take some time off and enjoy a hobby?" Diodora asked, only somewhat interested in the answer.
"I collect miniatures." She replied.
"So no." He gave her a sideways grin.
"I saw my parents die in front of me." Miyuzuin glanced back at him, only with her eyes. Not turning her head fully "Whatever I did before, I completely forgot about it at that very moment."
Oh, right…
"I'll shut up now."
"It's okay." Miyuzuin sighed "You are tense, I am tense… We're all scared."
"Yeah, meow."
Diodora looked back at Genshirou spending as much time as he could with his siblings. He pressed his lips tightly and closed his eyes.
"Teach me."