Chapter 16 : Tempus Fugit : Tea time.
The woman sits with her hands in her lap, her body slightly angled, as if she's talking to someone seated right next to her.
Of her features, only the color of her hair is distinct: the bright red color of fresh spilled blood, shining under the room's artificial lighting.
Her lips move, but no sound is heard, idle gestures empty of meanings punctuating indecipherable sentences.
Then, she locks eyes with her interlocutor, and she smiles, before saying one last thing.
A sentence, four words, lost in a myriad of maybes and possibilities.
Atop a still lake of coruscant lights, as if it was waiting for this moment all along, a floating candle shining whitish light seems to burn a minute amount brighter.
I blearily open my eyes, the sun barely rising above the horizon, its rays shily peeking through the windows, tHe SuSuRrUs of the Warp a notch tamer than usual, for some reasons.
I settle in my meditative breathing pattern with barely a thought, most of my mind on the dream, no, the vision I just had.
"Was it Rias?…" I trail off after voicing aloud the only conclusion that comes directly to my mind, not knowing anyone else with that particular hair color.
"It could've been her brother, I guess, but the body shape looked feminine." I muse, one hand idly rubbing my chin as I slouch a bit against my bedhead.
I spend a long minute pondering, before grumbling in annoyance.
"Would be easier to get this right if I got the last sentence, I guess.
"His rotten bones save me from cryptic-ass dream bullshit."
Rias is loaded.
Intellectually, I knew that it was the case, of course, what with her being the heiress of the Gremory clan.
But nothing hammers it home more than the big ass Victorian mansion I have been invited to for a cup of tea this afternoon, I guess.
I have several questions, most important and chief among them being: why the aesthetic?
No, seriously, just, why?
We're smack dab in the middle of Japan and someone just happened to tell themselves 'aight', time for a good ol' anachronism!' and just did it or something?
I shake off my astonishment by reminding myself that 'devils gonna devils', before stepping closer to the doorbell next to the, by the eyeball Mk.1, three meters tall portal of ornate steel.
I ring, half expecting a foghorn to be heard like in the Adams Family's movie, and am quite relieved when it ends up being a normal affair.
A few moments later, a calm 'Yes?' is heard through the interphone, the voice not-quite distinctly male, prompting me to raise an eyebrow.
I guess even the bishounen-type devils don't do away with the voice cracks of teenagehood, if it is truly who I think it is.
"Ah!" I pull myself back from my idle -and a bit rude- musings, "Ehm, this is Hanako Prima? Gremory-san invited me for tea this afternoon?" I introduce myself, pausing, before adding, a smile curling up my lips, "If I actually have the right house, that is."
A light chuckle echoes through the interphone.
"Yes, you did," who I think may just be Kiba answers, before adding, "We've been warned of your arrival, Hanako-san. Just follow the main path."
The call ends, right as the portal starts to swing open.
"Right, follow the main path." I repeat aloud, sedately making my way on the aforementioned road, the sound of the gravel beneath my feet echoing in cadence with each of my steps.
"Did he say that to be polite, or because there's something weird in the park, I wonder?" I ask myself, panning a curious look around, my hands in my jeans' pockets.
Sadly, I do not see, nor feel through the Immaterium, anything immediately odd until I reach the main entrance, to my slight dismay.
I mean, that's a missed opportunity to play the clueless girl, mentioning having seen from afar the roaming flaming hellhound and getting confused by its breed or something along those lines.
The looks of sheer panic I could've wrenched out of the devils residing here would've made my day.
My earlier guess about the identity of the speaker instead gets confirmed when the door opens just as I start climbing the stairs leading to it.
Mid-teenage years, blond, blue eyes, European features: looks like Kiba alright.
Uh.
I guess the anime wasn't lying about that, because he is indeed a pretty boy.
You know, for a boy, in any case.
The Knight greets me with an easy smile.
"Hanako-san, well met." he says, his voice slightly cracking, confirming that he is indeed in that period, the poor guy, "Gremory-san is in the living room, if you will?"
"I guess?" I hazard, a tad weirded out by his polite distance, before I actually remember that the guy just spent the last few years in devil's society, and is probably still defaulting to his role of sort-of indentured servant when dealing with strangers.
The blond haired boy about-face, and I step behind him as he starts walking deeper into the manor.
"So, I'm afraid I didn't quite catch your name?" I throw in the air, making him slightly pause, before chuckling to himself.
"Ah, sorry," he ends up answering as he starts moving again, throwing my way a 'Picture Perfect Smile' over his shoulder, "Force of habit. Yuuto Kiba, well met."
I hum consideringly, his smile not wavering in the slightest.
…I could poke and probe, ask about why he'd be used to playing bootleg majordomo, but I'm not that much of an ass and resolve to let it slide.
I still can mess a little with him, though, but in a humorous way.
"Let me guess," I start, afflicting a deeply thoughtful air, "You live here, obviously come from the same region of the world as Gremory-san, are good mannered…" I trail-
-before doing my best impression of having a light bulb lighting above my head, complete with finger snap and 'ah-ah!' expression of sudden realization.
"You're her fiance, correct?" I 'guess'-
-instantly getting an absolutely flabbergasted look in answer, and it's admittedly a hard battle not to burst out laughing.
See, Issei? Not that hard to make the future Prince of Kuoh lose his composure.
Didn't even need to mention a certain sword to pull that off, eh.
The Knight's mouth flaps open for a few seconds, his complexion reddening progressively.
"N-Nothing like that, no!" he stutters, before sighing deeply, shaking his head, "You could say that I'm… a ward of the Gremory family, after a fashion.
"The manner I chose to repay the grace they did me when they took me in is by acting like an aid to Gremory-san, when she needs it." he evasively elaborates.
…Alright, you're a dumbass, Prima, and your attempt at a joke backfired quite masterfully considering how heavy the mood just became.
My semi-playful air softens a notch.
"A fellow orphan, then." I muse, making him slowly blink, "I can see myself feeling like I owe them if someone had taken me in years ago. A commendable, and respectful, attitude."
The blue-eyed boy's composure comes back easily enough and he gives me a little nod of assent.
"Yes, I'm deeply grateful to the Gremory family for their generosity." he admits simply.
"But more so to Gremory-san in particular, then." I add.
"Indeed," he answers, right as we finally reach a closed door, "I don't think I'd be where I am today without her."
It is, admittedly, quite the struggle to hold back the undignified snort that threatens to escape me.
Considering he'd be dead in the middle of winter somewhere in the ass end of Europe if it wasn't for her, talk about an euphemism.
Though, to his credit, the guy, as steeped in Resentment as he is, shines brightly with Gratitude when talking about Rias.
The perfect Knight indeed.
"Gremory-san," he starts, right as he opens the door, while adopting a valet-like posture and gesturing in my direction, amusingly enough, "Your guest is here."
I step inside the living room, panning my eyes around, idly noticing the majestic oaken bookshelves loaded with leather bound books, the comfortable plush sofas around a steel and glass low table, a tea set waiting for us, the whole room beautifully enlightened by the mid-afternoon sunlight shining through the wall spanning windows-
-until I stumble backward with a little 'oof' as roughly one hundred sixty-five centimeters of very busty redhead not-quite bowl me over, before glomping me into a nearly crushing hug.
I'm pretty sure I would've winced, had I not been already sore like a bitch due to two weeks of constant physical exertion, because the heiress of destruction certainly got a grip.
"Prima-chan! You came!" Rias happily chirps, while my brain attempts a few unsuccessful reboots, the realization only hitting properly now that the girl is very stunning from up-close, especially with her assets not-quite pressed right into your face.
I shake it off eventually after a beat, giving the chirpy devil a smile.
"Well, yeah, I did say I'd come this weekend, after all." I answer amusingly, quite thankful that my hormones don't try to get the better of me.
I mean, yeah, Rias is beautiful, and has an agreeable personality, but she's also a clusterfuck of problems waiting to happen to whoever seduces her, the lesser of it being her whole race as a whole, and that's saying something.
That, plus the fact that there's absolutely zero Lust around her imprint in the Immaterium when we talk to each other, zilch, nada.
I mean, it's possible it'd change in the future at some point, but why would I bother fighting a losing battle when my v hot human senpai is still throwing me bedroom eyes when nobody's looking at the Kendo club?
"I know!" she answers, adding an 'umu' for emphasis, before stepping back, taking a hold of my hand -which, lewd- and guiding me toward the center of the room, "Still, I wasn't sure you'd come, with how exhausted you looked this week."
I manage to hold a wince, not giving the game up yet.
But, yeah, I didn't spend the best nights those last few days, even if yesterday ended up being immensely better, weird dream excepted.
I think the realization that there weren't any Daemons faffing around in this universe did marvelous things to my blood pressure, all things considered.
"I'll be leaving you to it, then." Kiba politely says as he starts to make his way out of the room-
-only to get waved down by a smiling Rias.
"Don't be silly, Yuuto-kun, you can share a cup with us. Prima-chan, here," she starts, patting my shoulder as if showing a prized puppy or something, to my amusement, "Is a member of Kuoh's Kendo Club-"
"As of this year." I interject.
"-and mentioned she was proficient in HEMA, if I recall correctly?"
I watch as the demeanor of Rias' knight morphs from bored yet polite interest to laser-like focus.
Yup, a sword nut indeed.
Bah, it's not like I would say no to a few spars with the guy from time to time anyway.
"Really?" he 'idly muses', but mommy raised no fool and the blond is more transparent than a window at the moment, even discounting his rising Excitation around his imprint, "Which weapon, may I ask?"
I wait until we are all seated, Rias next to me, her Knight directly facing me on the other couch, to finally answer his query.
"Arming swords, principally." -never quite liked those stabby-stabby duelist weapons in the game, and it somehow ended up showing in my inherited muscle memory-, "Which actually makes learning Kendo a bit of a challenge: I tend to forget about the pointy tip."
He chuckles in good humor, the Gremory heiress next to me pleased as punch that I'm making friends with another member of her little family, if her Happiness is anything to go by.
Gosh, how did I even manage to navigate society before without the life-hack that is my bootleg form of empathy?
On the other hand, I'm glad it's just that, and not mind-reading.
As a Psyker, I should be able to do it, but I really don't want to deal with that kind of semi-permanent breach of privacy in people's life on a daily basis.
I mean, if I have absolute control over it and can shut it at will, fine, I'll take it, but having it always on, like it's kinda the case right now with what I'm picking from the impressions people leave on the Immaterium?
Shivers inducing, I'll say.
"Don't the cutting techniques have some things in common, though?" the Knight asks.
Well, considering who trained you, you'd know better than me, I do not say.
"Erh," I wobble my hands in a so-so gesture, "I'd say probably, but considering the basis comes from martial disciplines dealing with either unarmored or armored opponents, the emphasis on the joints strikes and weak points of said armor is very conspicuously absent from Kendo, if you know what I mean."
He nods, and I'm quite relieved.
Because I just pulled that out of my ass quite masterfully, I'd say.
Not like where you hit really matters when you can channel psychic-soul stuff right into your blade to cut good, after all, and I've noticed that I tend to target rather 'broadly' on my sparring partners at the club, for the whole lot of two spars I had this week.
A better bladework will decisively do me good, if nothing else.
The Knight goes to answer-
-only for the door to open once again, Akeno lightly strolling in, a lightly steaming tea kettle on a tray held in her hands.
She gives me a polite nod as she makes her way in the room.
"Hanako-san." the half-fallen greets politely.
"Himejima-san." I answer back with an easy smile.
"Not as sore this time around, I take it?" she not-quite jibes, all polite-like, but the slight glint in her eyes and her Amusement betray her.
"It's manageable," I answer easily, "I didn't work myself to the bone like the previous week."
I almost don't catch the jade-black haired beauty twitching at my sentence, and my eyes imperceptibly narrow.
…Alright, what did I either miss or do?
"Then I hope the blend I brewed will do you some good, then." she -unknowingly- sidesteps my further musing, but I'll review that whole sequence of events later.
And if I find something I don't like, this will mean war.
"Akeno is very good at brewing tea," Rias chimes, prompting me to give her my attention, "I'm sure you'll like it."
As I lock eyes with the smiling devil, all peppy and just happy to have a friend, my lips curl up softly.
Alright, girl, you win, I'll play nice with your little family.
It's only for a year, after all.
[AN: And cut!
No real progress on the training side of things today, since we go play tea house at Rias', but we get to meet Kiba.
Sadly no catgirl to headpat though: too bad, so sad.
Maybe next time we swing by!
Though you'll note with the wording and tone of the chapter that we now have put the angst period behind us, the kind of thing I generally side-step in my other fics by having my MCs more experienced/used to their new lot in life when the story 'start'.
I did say I was doing the whole shebang this time around, and that includes those little hit-or-miss moments.
Hope you enjoy, xoxo]