Chapter 48 : Tempus Fugit - Pride is their weakness.
Up, down.
Don't pay attention to how your muscles scream.
Up, down.
It doesn't matter anyway, it'll be over soon.
Up, down.
What's the saying, again?
Up, down.
Pain is weakness leaving the body or some shit?
Up, down.
"-jo-chan?"
Probably something along those lines.
Up, down.
Considering it used to be spouted by 'gigachads' in my old reality, I'm not really sure if I should really consider it a life hack, though.
Up, down.
After all, too much enthusiasm is a way to-
My thoughts screeches to a halt as I suddenly find myself unable to raise the weightlifting bar, prompting me to lock eyes with the culprit-
-who's actually busying himself with giving me a slightly constipated and very complicated look both.
I frown.
"Yes?" I ask aloud, a hint of annoyance in my voice.
"I asked if ya were alright, Shoujo-chan." Toroko-san gently asks, his grip on the bar shifting to shoulder a no small part of its weight, "Five times in a row. Without ya answering."
It takes me a superhuman effort to hide my wince, but I'm apparently not as successful as I can as my teacher instantly frowns, before slowly shaking his head, holstering the bar one handed on its supports.
"I'm fine?" I defend myself once I realize what's happening, but even to me it sounds kinda weak and is worded more like a question than a true affirmation.
"Sit." He answers mildly, gesturing to the bench.
I throw him the stink-eye, which apparently washes over him like water over a duck's back, and I grumble a little as I shimmy out of my laying down position to sit myself properly.
Wordlessly, he sits himself next to me, and we lock eyes for a bit, his twin dark orbs looking, searching-
-until I can't hold it anymore and look away.
A heavy kind of silence falls between the two of us for a beat, the distant sounds of gym machines being used in the distance being the only thing stopping it from becoming suffocating.
"I don't know." I admit with a sigh, breaking the uneasy quiet between us, "Something happened yesterday, and I'm still wrapping my head around it."
"Something, hmm?" The giant of a man probes.
"Nothing personal, not really." I elaborate, wringing my hands anxiously, "It's just…"
I trail off for a beat, not really finding my words.
"Was it… Supernatural?" He quietly hazards, and I barely catch him throwing a look over his shoulder as he asks his question.
"...Yeah, after a fashion." I exhale, the palms of my hands coming to rub at my eyelids vigorously, "Did you catch the news this morning?"
"I sure did, Shoujo-chan."
"So, you heard about the panic at the Nighthaunt?" I ask leadingly, deciding to go for broke.
I doubt, after all, that the guy who got shot by some Yakuzas while doing his job would really shed a tear for them.
"Kinda hard not to," He snorts derisively, "That's all the news could yammer about."
"Well, that's not the whole story." I start, turning myself back to him fully, "It was a front for the mob."
I watch as Toroko-san pauses, before letting out a quiet hiss between his teeth, his feature distorting into an angry snarl for the span of a heartbeat.
…Not gonna lie, on a guy with his frame, seeing him angry is pretty terrifying.
"Yakusa." He spits, before smoothing out his facial expression, "So, what's the story?"
"There was a sexual trafficking ring in the basement, of the very involuntary kind." I answer quietly, "Bumped into three 'recruiters' on my way home yesterday afternoon, and I may have taken matters in hand?"
"...What did you do?" He asks back, his expression extremely flat.
"What I had to do." I shot back flatly, "The assholes had a supernatural backer, and if I had just, I don't know, called the cops? No way it wasn't still there tomorrow."
"And how did you learn that, exactly?" He questions instead, still having this eerily flat tone of his.
"I, just, argh!" I throw my hands in the air in frustration, before jumping out of my seated position, "I didn't know for sure, alright? It's just, things weren't adding up, the town's two Kings are supposed to pay attention to this kind of thing! This, happening in their backyard? Either they were in on it or someone was playing some kind of messed up power games! And some girls, barely older than I am, were going through hell while I was here and I could do something about it, so of fucking course I saw red and went at it!"
By the time I stop ranting, I realize that my volume had stopped being polite and measured a while ago, and I'm panting like an asthmatic who just ran up the stairs of a three story house.
I wince, one of my hands coming to clutch at my forearm as I look back to my teacher-
-only to see him looking at me placidly, a hint of steel in his eyes, but not the rebuke and accusations I keep expecting.
"And ya were right?" He asks, faux-mildly.
I sigh, before slipping back into my meditative pattern and sitting myself back.
"...Yeah, I was." I explain while punctuating my sentence with an aimless gesture of my hand, "The guy in charge high-tailed it as soon as he saw me dealing with his men to get ahold of a summoning contract before I stopped him cold. Don't know who his personal panic button was, and I can only hope Kuoh's overseers aren't involved somehow, but it would definitely have been swept under the rug if I had called in the cops." I pause, before snorting humorlessly, "If they even acknowledged my whistle blowing in the first place, I'm not sure 'I've read it in someone's mind' would've cut it as a proof, to be perfectly honest."
Silence falls once more as I end my -very shortened- tale, but, to my greatest relief, it isn't as uncomfortable as before.
Still awkward, for sure, but miles better than a few minutes ago.
A hand, almost as big as my head, falls on my shoulder, jostling me a little and prompting me to look back at my teacher-
-whose expression is, once again, rather complicated, as he worries at his lower lips for a moment, before sighing heavily.
"I can't say that I approve, because I'm fairly certain that ya didn't put the kiddie gloves," He starts, giving me a pointed look, which makes me squirm a little, "But I can't blame ya either, because I'm not sure if I wouldn't have done the same thing in your circumstances.
"But that's not really what's important. Ya said ya saw red, yeah?"
I blink, before slowly nodding.
"Does it happen a lot?" He carries on.
I squint a little as I jog back through memory lane.
"...Not really?" I hazard, frowning a little, "It's just, I feel everything raw, rawer, than before all of this," I gesture vaguely around, "Happened. When I'm happy, I'm really happy, but when I'm angry…"
"...Ya're really angry, I get it." He minutely tilts his head, before nodding to himself, "Ya need more self-control."
"I know!" I not-quite whine, "That's what I've been busting my ass off to acquire, just so all of this background noise leaves me be for a minute!"
"Well, ya still need to work on it, way I'm seeing things." He snarks back, making me wince a little, "Ya acted impulsively, ya said it worked," He raises his hand as I open my mouth, "This time, but who's to say it'll do the next?"
I shut my mouth with a click, silently acknowledging the truth of his statement.
"So, keep working on that, will ya?" He insists, punctuating his words with a friendly pat on my shoulder.
"And, Shoujo-chan," He adds after a beat, the two of us locking eyes, "For what's worth, and if what ya said is true, ya did good."
Wordlessly, I give him a little smile back.
"Now," He says while rising himself fluidly, "Ya still got fifty-reps to do, so get back to it."
I can only grumble as I lay down once more.
"I'm sorry." I mumble aloud, eyes half-closed, as I nuzzle into my girlfriend's thighs and tummy both, sprawled as I am on my couch.
I feel her fingers halt her combing motion, her Curiosity peaking and I can almost picture her stopping to look at the TV screen as she redirects her attention fully to me.
"For what?" She asks, in her husky voice, the one which usually gets my engine going at the drop of a hat-
-but does absolutely shit all today, for multiple reasons.
"...I'm not being a really good host?" I hazard a little, my voice a little muffled by her t-shirt's fabric, "I mean, I'm kind of feeling down today, and I probably should have told you that it wasn't going to be like the other times, but…"
I trail off, the jingle of an ad ringing in my ears in the silence.
"But…" Sakura asks leadingly after a beat.
"But I kinda needed this?" I admit, turning my head a little so I can lock eyes with her while simultaneously squeezing her sides, "So, I'm sorry if you're feeling neglected or something, but I needed some company-" and a lot of cuddles "-and I'm sort-of forcing you to put up with my selfishness tonight?"
I watch as the gorgeous brunette slowly blinks, before letting out a quiet, throaty chuckle.
"That's alright," She ends up saying after a bit, her fingers resuming their combing motion, "This is nice, too." She assures me while gesturing to the two of us and the TV, "I mean, it's not like the only thing I have in mind is sex-" which is a big fat lie, because she showed to my door while incredibly horny for some reason, "-and a lazy evening from time to time is nice."
I softly smile back at her, before going back to my therapeutic nuzzling.
"You're still staying for the night?" I ask.
"You want something to hug while you sleep?"
"...Kinda." I admit, a tad more shyly than usual.
"Then I'll stay." She answers easily, making me smile a little.
We, of course, didn't fuck this night-
-but, after a rejuvenating sleep, surprisingly nightmare-free, I made sure to show her my appreciation in full in the morning.
"Hello, everybody." I lazily wave as I enter Rias' living room, feeling decidedly less like shit and a bit more like the Serenity I'm channeling, having decided to accept her weekly invitation in case I was able to suss out if Sona or her were responsible for the most recent clusterfuck-
-only to let out a surprised grunt as I'm nearly tackled-hugged by a five-foot nothing white-haired missile before anyone got the time to answer me.
My arms come to hug the smoll catgirl more by automatism than anything else as I throw a confused look at Rias' way.
"Hi, Prima-chan." The crimson headed devil greets me, her tone decidedly more subdued than usual, "I'm sorry about that," She starts, her eyes darting between Koneko and I, "But she kind of-"
"Sit. Couch. Now." The disguised catgirl not-quite demands, but more pleads.
"Alright?" I answer puzzledly, letting myself get low-key frogmarched -or as much as a girl I have roughly three heads over can frogmarch me- to the couch while mouthing out 'what happened?' to a certain heiress.
She gives me a little wooden smile, before trading a searching look with her Queen, whose only answer is an unhelpful shrug.
In other circumstances, I probably would've found that funny.
It doesn't take long before I'm properly seated, Kiba having closed the room's doors behind us, and find myself with a lapful of a clingy catgirl, who is out like a light after not even ten seconds had elapsed.
I let the silence stretch for a bit longer, accepting the tea cup the fallen angel gives me with a polite nod, before asking once again my question out loud.
"What happened?" I ask, my tone soft as one of my hands starts to comb through the white-haired girl's locks, the regular sound of her breathing prompting me not to speak too loudly.
"Something happened that made her remember an incident from her past, and she had trouble calming herself enough to sleep." Rias answers after a beat, her tone apologetic and as soft as mine, "She told me once that she found you peaceful to be around, so I guess she's trying to keep the nightmares away?"
I slowly nod outwardly, while my mind runs a mile a minute.
I think my little tantrum may have messed up with the veil enough to unsettle the catgirl once she got exposed to the aftermath, which, oopsie?
Not gonna lie, I kind of feel bad about it. It wasn't really my intention to expose the emotion-sensitive Yokai to the collective Hate of the universe.
Not giving the game outwardly, I instead narrow my eyes at my friend.
"What did you do?" I ask, my tone curt.
She pouts, before sighing softly.
"...A situation outside of our purview cropped up and the aftermath rattled Koneko-chan, that's it, really." The Gremory heiress explains evasively, "She doesn't do well with aggressive displays."
I slowly nod, my traits softening, even as I interiorize that I may have traumatized even further the already traumatized kitten, while simultaneously sighing in relief inwardly.
Because, if I got this right from her double-speech, the situation blindsided them, which means -optimistically- that they weren't the ones responsible.
Saying that it lifts a weight from my shoulder would be putting it pretty fucking mildly.
"Well," I start with a little smile, "Guess I'll be a good pillow this afternoon, then."
"Sir?" One his maid enters his sanctum, prompting him to halt the motion of his quill to better pay attention, "Your four o'clock is here."
"Send him in." He answers curtly, but not ungraciously, distantly aware of the polite 'yes, sir' his personnel answers with before returning to the minutiae of governance.
Oh, if he wanted, he could have enchanted something to write in his stead ages ago, but he was also of the mind that some things needed to be done with the due reverence and time needed both to be as effective as possible.
His quill keeps dancing on the sheet of paper as he corrects a few more lines on his ally's proposal, until the door opens once more.
"Sit." He instantly says, not acknowledging the presence of his 'guest' any further, his mind -at least in appearance- still fully on his latest read.
The sounds of the chair being pulled, then someone sitting on it, are the only ones breaking the monotony of the regular scratching of his quill for a long while.
Added bonus of still writing everything by hand? Making your subordinates squirm while you go at your task.
Conveying disapproval is an art in itself, after all, and Lucifer knows how good he got at it after a while.
Once he estimates that he made his subordinate stew for long enough ten minutes later, he carefully put away the quill, before lacing his fingers together in front of him to better spear his vis-à-vis with a steely glare.
Predictably, his subordinate is feeling uncomfortable, a very thin shin of sweet covering his prominent forehead, the man barely refraining himself from getting hold of a handkerchief to do away with this lowly display, an act that he cannot take as long as he doesn't allow him to.
For a subject does not act without their King's approval.
"Speak." He commands, his eyes already tracking each of his guest's micro-expression.
"Someone, an independent, caught the trail of the operation." He instantly blurts out, minute amounts of relief flashing over his heavyset traits, "The town's owners only reacted in the aftermath. I got told off, rather strongly, but they have no idea what the true goal was."
He remains silent, watching, as his subordinate's enthusiasm dim.
"The true goal, you say?" He echoes after an uncomfortable -not for him- bit of silence.
"W-Why, yes?" His subordinate answers, a hint of confusion showing in his tone while his whole countenance simply blares it, "I was to spy on them, right?"
"Indeed." He answers curtly back, "But not only."
"My Lord?" The man almost babbles, fear flashing through his eyes.
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to obtain the intelligence on where those two were going to set shop up?" He -rather rhetorically- asks slowly, "All of that to set up an operation of no matters in an ownerless territory before it gets new overseers, so as to be able to claim a case of contract in continuum when, not if, you got caught?"
A beat passes.
"N-No, I do not." His subordinate answers, hiding a gulping motion of discomfort.
"Very." He deadpans, his tone as icy as the arctic, "So, no, the goal wasn't simply to spy on them."
"...I don't understand?" The man admits, his features twisted with confusion.
And this was the future of Devilkind, not even able to understand a measly three-fold scheme?
Pathetic.
"Their reaction." He answers simply, his hands dropping flat against his desk's surface, "The most important piece of intelligence we could eventually gather out of this little game was the reaction of both sets of siblings.
"In this, this venture has been satisfactory." He delivers his judgment, his vis-à-vis' shoulders dropping a few centimeters downward in relief, "The two heiresses didn't make use of their political cudgel, instead choosing to deal with the issue themselves. This, is the real prize of this exercise, because it means that we can now plan around them accordingly."
"I-I understand, my Lord." His guest nods energetically, making him want to scoff, because he most certainly does not.
He hadn't been chosen because he was the brightest flame in the hellpit after all, but because he was expandable if one or two Satans got cranky.
"You may go now, you'll receive your future orders in a few days time." He puts an end to the meeting, his hand already reaching for the quill.
"I hear and obey, Lord Bael." His subordinates declames while raising himself, before offering him a deep bow.
Zekram Bael doesn't acknowledge the syncopathic display, his mind already back on his schemes and his ally's proposal both.
Pride, he quietly muses to himself, the screeching of the quill against the paper accompanying his thoughts, Pride is their weakness.
[AN: Finally done with the aftermaths, fuck sake!
I know, I'm being real original with the 'It's all a Zekram Bael plot' twist, but it's kinda in character for the dude, so làh.
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]