Chapter 19 : Tempus Fugit - Not so idle.
Rias was quite happy with herself for her little idea of a 'home away from home, away from home' she had gotten with the Occult Research Club.
There was, after all, a whole abandoned building on Kuoh High-School's grounds that nobody really used for anything before she claimed it for herself and her peerage with a little help from her brother and his position at the School Board Committee.
After that, well, it was only a matter of a few suggestions to the school's principal and some of the professors, and her little ORC plan was a go.
Not like it was of real utility as of now, with only Akeno and her regularly spending time on school grounds, but it wasn't like Koneko and Yuuto-kun couldn't teleport directly to the place to take part in some meetings before leaving the same way once they were done either, if they truly needed it.
Just: it was a school club!
Her own school club.
Sona could have the StuCo presidency at the next elections all she wanted, the Gremory heiress was plenty happy with her own little kingdom, just for her and her little family, and without having to put up with mean, entitled bi-
"My King?" Akeno's voice wrenches the crimson headed devil out of her fugue, prompting her to look at her Queen, receiving the extended cup of tea with a grateful nod and a smile.
"Thank you, Akeno." Rias says even as she sits herself a little deeper inside the tasteful sofa she had bought for her sort-of second lodging in Kuoh, "Apologies, I was distracted.
"You were saying?"
"Actually, I was the one talking, my King." Yuuto-kun interjects, his tone apologetic.
The Gremory heiress blinks, her cheeks dusting up a little at her lapse.
"I'm sorry, Yuuto-kun," She apologizes sheepishly, "Would you mind terribly starting anew?"
"Not at all." The blue eyed boy answers easily, making Rias internally sigh in relief, "As I was saying, I spent the last few days observing Hanako-san during practice at the Kendo club, following the few inconsistencies she let slip this Sunday."
Instantly, Rias' curious expression turns into a frown.
"Yuuto-kun," She starts off warningly, "I thought we already talked about this."
"My apologies, Gremory-san," The Knight instantly demures, "But I only wanted to ascertain if my doubts were warranted or not."
The crimson headed devil keeps staring for a beat longer at her Knight, his apologetic expression not wavering in the slightest, before sighing deeply.
"So? What did you find?" She finally asks, acknowledging a lost battle when she meets one.
"That Hanako-san certainly wasn't blowing up hot air when she told the three of us that she had some experience with a blade," The Knight preambles, "I watched her spar with a third year, and she wasn't merely holding her own. No, I think she would've won if they had used real blades."
His statement makes Rias pause, thinking deeply.
"What do you mean exactly by that?" The Gremory heiress asks, in a bid to truly grasp the problem.
"Simple: Kendo's rules and regulations are impeding her." The blond haired boy elaborates, gesturing with one of his hands for emphasis, "It's almost imperceptible for a human being, but she has the telltales muscle twitches of someone who's just about to commit to a move, only to then remember that they're not fighting with their lives on the line at the last second."
"Like Souji-san?" The crimson headed devil hazards, earning herself a nod of acknowledgement.
"The same as Sensei, yes." Yuuto-kun confirms.
"So maybe she does have some combat experience." Akeno hums, her own tea cup held daintily in her hands.
"And I wouldn't reject the church outright, considering the iconography of her tattoos." The Knight carries on, startling Rias a little, because she was quite sure she hadn't described them in details to the blue eyed boy-
-a fact that gets quickly confirmed by the catty expression suddenly blossoming on her Queen's lips, her eyes crinkled in amusement.
"Ufufufu~, my, Kiba-kun, did you just happen to take a little peek, hmm?" the half-fallen ribs him, making Rias almost roll her eyes, because there was absolutely no way Yuuto-kun would-
-only for her expression to turn quite flabbergasted as her Knight's complexion turns even redder than her hair.
"Yuuto-kun!" she shrilly exclaims, even as Akeno's mirth reaches a new height at the awkward shuffle of the blond haired boy, "Did you peep on my friend?"
"T-That wasn't my intention!" The Knight instantly stutters out, pointedly not denying her accusation, to her greatest shame, "I was just listening to what Hanako-san's senpais were telling her about her performance of the day, which proved that they were just as stunned as I was by her swordmanship, but it ended quickly and they all started leaving.
"I was about to recall my familiar, but…" The blond haired boy not-quite winces, before flapping his mouth open a few times, somehow turning even redder-
-until his chin gets caught in a deathgrip by the Queen seated next to him, her eyes locked in a deadly serious stare.
"Kiba-kun, spill." The half-fallen orders, making the boy wince, before he mumbles something that Rias doesn't quite hear-
-but Akeno apparently does, if her poleaxed expression is anything to go by, and she dramatically throws herself backward in the sofa while letting a slow, drawn out, whine escape her lips, her reaction making Rias blink in askance.
"Argh! No way!" The Queen cries out, the awkward looking Knight next to her not knowing how to react and doing his best impression of a wallflower, "And all I saw of her was her doing boring shit!"
The Gremory heiress, quite puzzled by her Queen's whining, ends up talking once more.
"Erh, what exactly happened?" She inquires-
-idly noticing that her Knight's complexion once again turns redder than a tomato even as her right hand's smile sharpens, purple eyes glinting with unfettered glee.
"Well~," The half-fallen not-quite purrs, "Let's just say that Kiba-kun found out that Prima-chan's little inquiries about yuri dramas weren't so idle, after all~."
The crimson headed blinks, taking a few seconds to understand what exactly what her Queen is implying-
-only for her jaw to drop, her own cheeks turning as red as her own glossy mane as realization hits her.
Long minutes of not-quite screamed, but entirely ashamed, accusations, stuttered denials and titters of her Queen later, Rias finally manages to get herself back together, even if she knew for certain that she'd have some troubles looking at her human friend without starting to imagine things from now on.
The crimson headed devil could only hope it'll come to pass quickly enough.
"And what about our mysterious magus?" She ends up asking after everyone calms down.
It wasn't like it was uncommon to stumble upon some awkward situation when spying on people, after all.
Though it certainly was a new one for the heiress that one of those situations concerned her friend!
"Still nothing, I'm afraid, my King." Akeno answers instantly, tone all business-like despite the little smirk etched on her lips, "Even with little Koneko roaming around during the day, it is still a bust.
"At this point, I really think we should tell your fellow King about it."
Her Queen's proclamation makes Rias wince a little.
Technically, since Sona was the co-owner of the town with her, she was supposed to do that the very first minute when she and her peerage both had started to suspect the presence of a rogue element in Kuoh.
…She was in it for a reaming, wasn't she?
"Ah, maybe we could wait a little longer?" The King hazards, awkwardly scratching her cheek, "Maybe they're gone and it was a one time thing?
"Then we would only raise the alarm for nothing, no?"
The Gremory heiress struggles valiantly not to squirm under the judgemental stare of her Queen and the neutral gaze of her Knight, placidly smiling now that he wasn't wadling through metaphorical landmines.
"...As you will, my King." Akeno ends up answering a little coldly, conveying her displeasure, "But we will not defer that particular issue any longer if the problem ends up repeating itself."
"Yes, of course." Rias beams back a reassuring smile.
After all, what were the odds, really?
Something ended up wrenching my attention as I was dozing-not-dozing in the Lower Stratum, prompting me to look upward, in the sea of souls and thoughts' direction-
-only to become acutely aware of tHe VoIcEs' pitch getting somehow louder, urging me to look that-away-
-my heart instantly falling as I'm taken by the most powerful impression of déjà vu.
Two nodes of soul-mind stuff, one chasing, preying, on the other as it tries to get away, the cornucopia of colors surrounding the two imprints in the Immaterium indicating very pointedly that one is what can only be called a monster and the other is fearing for their life.
My grip on my anchor tightens as my own mind-soul somehow manages to shake a little, despite my clear lack of bodily functions in my current state.
My eyes-not-eyes remain eerily locked on the scene above me, watching the Red, Green and Yellow dot come ever closer to the Grayish-Black one, my blood running a little cold in both the Materium and the Immaterium.
I can feel the Rage, Illness and Hunger from here, so pungent it cloys the metaphysical space in my close proximity-
-just as much as I can feel the Fear, Despair and Panic of the pursued.
…It was the exact same shit as last time.
Why was it the exact same shit as last time?
Did something in the Warp expect me to deal with Kuoh's every problem, or was it something that I was missing?
Even as my thoughts run a mile a minute, the 'chase' continues, with myself on the front row seat through Warp-TV.
As the ball of madness closes in, I grit my teeth, before pulling on my anchor-
-finding myself back into my body a beat later, letting out a wizened gasp due to the backlash, feeling the beginning of a headache rising its ugly head-
-but I pay it no mind, as I swiftly seat myself against my bedhead, eyes still closed, and my mind scrambling to reestablish the lock-
-finding the offender and the attacked barely a second later, the former now very close from the second one-
-and my hand grasp upwards, in a gesture I'm now familiar with, even as I let the feeling of worthlessness, of pure, undiluted, Emptiness wash through me-
-it acting like a lure for the whole of the Warp, a swirling whirlpool forming above the red-green-yellow mind-soul-
-and the psychic-soul stuff of the universe doesn't merely rush in, but bullrushes through-
-they buckle-
-before exploding, in a mesmerizing multi-hued show of colors which exist-yet-don't.
I sigh deeply even as my hand falls back, limply, next to me.
But this time, I do not break my concentration and soldier through my headache, keeping watch, as my breath settles and I let go of my grip on the Warp.
I keep watching as the ebbs and flows of the sea of souls and thoughts turn back to their normal, placid self, most of my attention still turned toward the spot where the Stray -at least I hope they were, please tell me they were- breathed its last.
For a long, agonizing, minute, nothing happens.
Then, suddenly, four new nodes appears in close vicinity to what I assume is now a cooling cadaver-
-and I sigh, deeply, in relief-
-only taking a second to note to myself that the Devils' souls -Rias' peerage, of that I have no doubts- shines somehow brighter than the human ones in the Immaterium, before dropping the connection.
My head lands with a heavy thump against the top part of my bedhead.
Once more, I took a life…
…but the rescue team would have probably been too late if I hadn't.
And I think I can live with that.
[AN: I wasn't intending to write the first part of this chapter, but then someone had to point out that maybe one of the devils saw something, and it amused me greatly.
But at least we got an insider's look into what the Devils are up to, so làh.
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]