Chapter 4: Jane Fell Asleep in the Church
It had been a week since Denji had first visited Reze at the café, and since then he had dropped in everyday for his lunch, usually sitting in their usual booth, waiting for Reze to finish up her morning shift.
He had made a habit of observing the few customers coming in and out the small café and, in between his frequent glances at Reze, realised something.
The only people Denji had seen come into the café since he started going was the same old couple he'd seen every day for the past week, a couple of burnt-out office workers and a couple of groups of students studying.
'Damn, that place has been deserted all week', Denji thought as he made his way to the café, having finished his patrol later than usual because of Beam.
'That damn shark sure loves not listening to me when it suits him, it's all 'Lord Chainsaw' this and 'Lord Chainsaw' that until he sees a pond', needless to say, Denji wasn't exactly happy with the shark fiend after having to chase after him for the best part of an hour, especially when it ate into his time at the café.
'I hope Reze is still about, heh maybe Mr Kayo has her doing more overtime again, wouldn't be too suprisin' since I haven't seen any other staff about…'
At that thought Denji stopped at the door of the café with a slight grimace on his face, ever since he met Reze he had constantly felt conflicted about his feelings for the spunky barista, how could he fall for another girl so soon after his date with Makima, and after everything Makima did for him?
'My heart belongs to Makima, Makima found my heart for me', Denji thought guiltily before reaching for the handle of the door.
'But my body has other ideas…'
With that thought Denji pushed open the door, his face brightening near instantly as he is greeted by a familiar chipper voice.
"Ah!", Reze quickly turned to face the door, "Got a customer!"
Denji immediately went to sit down at the table next to the girl who herself was hunched over stationery and textbooks at their usual booth near the window. "Came by to grab lunch", Denji said casually, settling into the seat and picking up a menu.
Reze looked up from her work and fixed Denji with a teasing smile, "Every day for a full week?", she asked with a teasing lilt, "The food here isn't that good!".
"Nah, it's good", came Denji's deadpan reply, the boy never even looking up from the menu.
Reze's smile dropped momentarily in disappointment 'No reaction, really?', quickly recovering she resolved to double down on her teasing of the distracted boy, whilst pointedly ignoring Mr Kayo muttering his approval of Denji's taste in food.
"You have no taste", Reze stuck her tongue out at Denji, trying to attract his attention again, but to no avail.
"Lemme see here… Curry and… Ice cream", Denji read out slowly, trying to decipher the menu.
"Ah! Also fried rice!"
Reze was staring at Denji, resting her head on her hands, a contented smile on her face as she watched Denji's childlike excitement.
'Well, I do remember reading that best way to a man's heart is through his stomach…', she thought, bemused.
"Would you like to eat at my table, Sirrr?"
Denji finally looks up from the menu to to see Reze looking at him with something between amusement and her usual teasing look.
"Nah I'm cool… You're studying right?", Denji replied casually before giving Reze a knowing look, "Even though you're s'posed to be working".
"You aren't in school, riiight?", a pouting Reze fired back playfully to his jibe, "Even though you're 16?".
Denji blinked, thinking about what she just said, 'I… never really thought about that… huh'.
Reze looked at the young devil hunter, picking up on the momentary surprise on his face, 'I wonder why Public Safety even recruited someone so young? Why all the interest in Chainsaw? I know hybrids like me and him are always valued as tools of the state, I'm an example of that myself, but the Japanese government never seemed as interested as other nations…', with this in mind, Reze resolved to probe Denji for any information she could to find out why this change could have happened.
"I think you're worse than me", the teasing demeanour had left Reze's face as she spoke.
Denji looked back at her, looking unsure, "I dunno… am I?". As far as he was concerned, he was living the high life since he started working for Miss Makima at public safety, hell he even had paid days off!
"A kid who should be in school, hunting devils?", any mirth, fake or not, had left Reze at this point as she continued with a frown "You're a rare breed, super rare".
'Damn it, looks like that bitch is taking notes from the politburo, he's of no use to her beyond a tool, its just-', Reze paused, her internal fuming being replaced by an all too familiar melancholy, 'No, there's no point getting worked up about this, there's nothing I can do anyways I just need to stick to the mission, even if I…'.
Denji looked up at Reze as she suddenly got up from her seat, carrying a couple of textbooks with her, "Well I'm gonna study at your table, scooch over and make me some room!".
Denji moved over for her with a grunt, still pondering what Reze was saying about school, 'I wonder what school would be like, I did promise Pochita that I would live a normal life, and Reze's sayin' that what Miss Makima has me doin' isn't that at all…'.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the scratching of pen against paper as Reze worked her way through her textbook, she actually found she enjoyed working her way through the book, the times when she was given lessons in Moscow being some of her only fond memories of childhood.
"I guess I do wanna learn to read better…", Denji was the first one to break the silence after thinking over what he'd heard about school from some other devil hunters in public safety. Not being able to read fluently was something that had been getting on his nerves ever since he had to start writing up reports on whatever incidents Power caused on patrol, and even though Aki helped him with them he'd rather do it without the man berating him every time…
"You can't read?!", Reze looked up from her book, a look of surprise painted on her face, "Okay, I'll teach you!", Denji watched in surprise as she started writing something in her notepad, before pushing it in front of him.
"Duh-duh-duh-duuuh!", Reze proudly announced the arrival of her impromptu reading exercise in front of the boy, a smug smirk on her face, "What does this say?".
Denji looked down at the notepad, expecting to have to focus to figure out what it said, only to roll his eyes at what was written.
"That just says "balls" you perv!"
"So, you can read!", Reze ignored the accusation, smiling as if she was a proud teacher.
"Balls is the one word I can always read", came Denji's deadpan reply.
Reze stared at Denji.
Denji stared back.
And just like that Reze's poker face crumbled.
"Ahhahahaha!", the girl was officially in hysterics, tears of laughter in her eyes, "What's up with that?!", Reze just about managing to get out the question through her laughing fit.
'I wonder if this is what school is like', as Reze was still doubled over in laughter, Denji was thinking about what school would be like, 'If I would be able to have fun with a girl this cute at school, I think that'd be pretty cool…'
Denji rested his head on his hand, looking at Reze, who by now recovered.
"Kinda wish I coulda gone to school with you, Reze. Seems like it'd be fun…", Denji's eyes widened in surprise at what he'd just said, a blush appearing on his face, 'Shit, what am I saying! My heart belongs to Makima, I can't just be comin' out and sayin' stuff like that!'.
Reze looks up at Denji, who had averted his eyes from hers with an obvious blush on his face, she knew her mission was to simply retrieve his heart, but…
'I've never met someone like him before, I've never had a target make me feel like… this, feel alive…'
'If I- If we ever want to escape this life, teaming up would be our best chance. We could run away together, surely-', Reze quickly cut the thought short, wishful thinking would get her nowhere, for now she needed to push on with her plan.
Reze sidled up closer to Denji, draping her arm around his neck and leaving their faces only inches apart.
"Wanna check it out?", Reze was almost whispering in his ear, "After dark?".
Denji's blush only deepened, "After dark?".
By now, Reze had turned to look Denji directly in the eyes, her previously teasing attitude gone, replaced with a simple earnest expression.
"Explore the school with me".
Denji was captivated, simply staring in silence for a few moments, before managing to voice a response.
"Okay…"
'All I could say was "okay"!', Denji would have facepalmed if he hadn't still been staring at the smiling girl in front of him, 'but at least I get to see what a school is like… and with Reze too!'.
And sitting beside Denji, still looking up at him with a contented smile on her face, was an equally excited Reze.
After all, she'd never seen the inside of the school either.
Some time had passed since Reze had invited Denji to 'her' school, with the girl having went back to work the rest of her shift after some of the regular customers started trickling in. This left Denji more or less to his own devices for the better part of an hour, during which he entertained himself with his usual pastime of watching the customers, and of course his favourite waitress.
Denji perks up as he sees a tired-looking Reze walking over to the table with a cup of coffee in each hand, setting both down on the table before plopping down next to him, leaning into him and letting out an exasperated sigh.
"H-hey, what's up?", Denji half-stuttered out in embarrassment as Reze turned her head to look at him, a tired grin on her face.
"Oh nothing much, the old man was just asking me to work some overtime and I had to tell him I already had plans", Reze stretched, wincing at the crack that came from her back and leaning back into the booth seat, "After all, it'd be quite hard to go to the school later if I was sitting here till close, I think if we meet there at around seven there should be no one about".
"Yeah, that sounds alright, I ain't doing the night shift, so I should be done my last patrol by five", said Denji nonchalantly before turning his attention to the cup of coffee in front of him with an apprehensive look on his face.
"What's wrong, have your tastebuds not matured yet?", Reze intoned back to her favourite hobby of teasing the young devil hunter, "especially since you've been here every day for a week…"
"Hey! I've been train'n my tastebuds, I can drink this stuff no problem!", Denji took a swig of the coffee, still cringing slightly at the bitter taste, but otherwise showing no other adverse reaction.
'Huh, that's not half-bad, if I put in some sugar like I did at home it might actually taste good!'.
"Oh wow, you managed to keep it down!", Reze gave him a cheeky grin as she leaned back onto his shoulder, having shifted in case Denji repeated his reaction to his first coffee, "must have been some intense practice if you didn't spit it over the table again".
"I've been making coffee at home, the guy I'm stayin' with showed me how to make a decent cup, so I've been practicin' after my shift", Denji said with a proud smirk, reminiscent of those of a certain blood fiend.
"Why all the practicing though?", she looked up at him with a mischievous look in her eyes, "trying to impress someone maybe?"
"Ahh… not really", he scratched his cheek awkwardly, cheeks reddened slightly, "It's just that ya said it was childish not to like it, so I figured I should try to learn to like it, considering I'm a workin' man and all…"
Instead of the expected teasing there came no response from Reze.
'Huh… thought she'd be in another fit over that one…', Denji turned to look at the girl again only for them to lock eyes.
"You're allowed to be a kid sometimes you know", Reze had an uncharacteristically serious look on her face as she stared at the young devil hunter before continuing, "What… what did you do before becoming a devil hunter, Denji?"
Reze wasn't really sure why she asked the question, she already read his background report, knew he used to live on the streets, but she felt compelled to hear it from his own mouth, in his own words.
Denji blinked in shock before looking away, remaining silent. For a moment Reze thought she might have pushed too far, opening her mouth to apologise.
"It's okay, you don't need to-"
"Nah, it's fine", Reze's apology was cut short by Denji's melancholy response, "it's not like its anything too interestin' or anything, was just me and Pochita livin' in a crappy shack, hunted devils for an old Yakuza asshole to pay back my old man's debts…"
Reze's frowned, she had of course known that Denji was homeless before joining Public Safety, but hearing the details from his own mouth was different. Somehow, she thought that maybe he had at least had freedom before he was found by Public Safety, but what he said about the Yakuza seemed to rule out that possibility. One part of what he said stood out to her even more than that though.
"Who is Pochita?"
Denji, still looking anywhere except at Reze sat in silence for a while before letting out a sigh and slumping in his seat, "Pochita was my dog… he was my only friend since I was a kid", Denji was looking at the tabletop as he spoke, a small but pained smile visible as he continued, "He saved my life, so I have to live for both of us…"
Denji turned to Reze with a puzzled look, "Why'd you want to know all that for anyways?"
"Sorry… I was just curious about how you could've ended up working as a devil hunter so young, sorry if I came across as nosey…"
"Nah, its cool", Denji waved off her concerns nonchalantly, "Just caught me be surprise is all, nobody really asked me about it since I became a devil hunter"
The two teens continued chatting idly for sometime afterwards, with Reze talking a bit about 'her' school, yet as they talked Reze couldn't get the image of the expression he had when talking about his past.
After all, it's one she seen in the mirror every day.
Ohta Kayo was having a pretty good day all things considered as he counted the cash in the register, his small café was unseasonably busy throughout the day so far, his back pain was conspicuously absent and that troublesome waitress of his was too busy with that devil hunter kid to back-sass him.
'If business keeps up like this, I might be able to take Tae somewhere nice for our anniversary', Kayo thought with a small smile on his face, he'd been promising his wife a trip to Okinawa for years now, after 30 years of marriage it would be nice to take her back to that beach house they spent their honeymoon at…
Kayo's trip down memory lane was abruptly cut short as the staff room clicked open behind him.
"Hey boss!", the sudden greeting from Reze led the man to let out a sigh, he should have known his peace of mind wouldn't last long after blondie had left…
"Geez kid, keep your voice down", Kayo complained wincing.
"Nope", she responded, sticking her tongue out cheekily as Kayo let out a long sigh, his thoughts of Okinawa being replaced by a familiar headache as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Anyway… Reze would you be able to work until close tonigh-"
"Sorry, no can do Boss, I already have plans for later with Denji, so you'll have to hope one of the other girls can", with that the girl promptly shot down Kayo's plans for a relaxing evening, dooming him to have to call in one of the other brats for the evening shift.
"Well, I suppose I can't complain too much, you luring in that Denji boy is keeping this place afloat", Kayo says, resigned to the premature death of his relaxing afternoon.
"Hey, don't make me out to be some sort of seductress, rude!", protested the affronted seductress in a well-practiced teasing lilt.
Kayo chuckled at the girl's antics, the young girl reminded him a bit of his own wife, mostly as a result of their shared sharp tongues.
"Enjoy your date kid, I'll get someone to cover for you this time, but I expect that you'll work till close on your next shift".
"Yeah, yeah", Reze rolled her eyes at the demand, "I'll work late next weeks shift, no problem, can I go now?".
As she moved towards the door Kayo delayed her one more time.
"One last thing girl", Reze turned at the mans voice responding impatiently, eager to go home and prepare to head to the school.
"Yes?", she huffed reluctantly turning around.
"That boy, Denji, he seems like a good kid, and you've seemed to enjoy spending time with him as much as he obviously has with you", he paused briefly before continuing, "all I'm saying is to remember what I said before and don't wait too long, after-all I wouldn't be happily married for three decades if sat around waiting", he said with a wry smile on his face.
Reze fixed her boss with a deadpan look, "first you call me a seductress, then you tell me to be more forward, jeez it's a wonder you got married at all…", a smirk then graced her lips, "thanks boss, I'll keep that in mind".
"Ha!", he barked out a laugh at the girls sardonic response, "Just make sure you don't forget about your job while you're chasing after that boy!". When he turned back to the girl he blinked in shock, because for a moment he didn't see the same lively, sarcastic young school girl, but instead was greeted by a girl with no emotion visible on her face.
"Goodbye, boss" she said, expression unchanging as she turned and left through the door, motions seeming almost robotic.
Kayo was left confused in his small café as Reze briskly walked home, plagued by her own conflicted thoughts.
"Hey, hold up a minute!", Denji watched as Reze deftly scaled the school gate, in a couple of practiced movements.
"Shhh, quiet!", Reze hissed at him through the gate, "the first rule of breaking and entering is making as little noise as possible", she said, holding up a single finger as if she was a teacher educating an unruly student.
"Of course I know that, I've broken into plenty of places before!", Denji whispered back at her defensively as he clambered over after her, "besides, you said earlier that there'd be no one about anyways, so why all the sneak'n about?"
"Oh, we don't need to be really, but doesn't it make it feel more exciting!", she winked at him as he dropped down beside her. Denji rolled his eyes, a smile on his face as they started walking over towards the school building.
"So… what sorta things do you do in school anyways?", Denji asked nonchalantly, "do ya just learn stuff or what?".
"Well, we do spend most of the school day learning, but we get some free time through the day, like lunch for example", she responded, a fond smile on her face, "so during breaks I usually just spend time with some of the other girls in class like Hikari and Riena".
Reze then looked to Denji with a playful grin, "You know Denji, I don't have any guy friends at school, maybe we could have lunch together here someday, hmmm?"
"Y-yeah, that'd be pretty cool!", Denji eagerly agreed before bringing his hand to his chin, as if deep in thought, "I wonder if there's some way I could go to school and stay at Public Safety?" He pondered aloud.
'I'll have to ask Miss Makima when she's back from Kyoto", Denji wondered if Miss Makima would agree, after all if he did the night patrols instead of Aki surely he'd have time for school, however his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Makima after she had found him, she had treated him kindly up until she needed him to go deal with that devil, the words she said came back to him.
'I have no need of a dog that says no'
Denji shook his head, that was when Miss Makima had just met him, sure he had been angry about it at the time, but that was just her way of testing him!
'Yeah, Miss Makima even went on a date with me, she obviously doesn't think of me like that now!', Denji thought, momentarily confident before something else crossed his mind.
'What would Miss Makima think of me going on a date with another girl…', a frustrated frown creased his face, Miss Makima saved him and gave him a home, so why did he feel so drawn towards the girl in front of him?
As they arrived at the side door to the school, the one that Reze had noticed was left unlocked at night, she turned round to look at the boy trailing behind her.
She seen the conflicted look on his face after she'd joked about going to school together, sure it wasn't like it was a serious proposition, but it still stung to see that he conflicted between her and that witch, 'just how deep are her claws in you Denji?'.
'No, all that is relevant is the mission, not my juvenile jealousy'.
"So Denji, shall we go inside?", she plastered a forced grin on her face, "I have a lot to teach you after all".
The two teenagers walked through the hallways of the abandoned school, with one walking confidently through the halls as if she knew the place like the back of her hand, and the other walking slightly behind her, eyes moving side to side uncertainly.
"You aren't scared Denji?", Reze looked over her shoulder at the boy, who promptly stopped looking around and shrugged.
"Ehhh… it's not so much scary…", he said as he tried looking through the small window on the classroom door as they passed by.
"It's more like it feels weird, I guess…?"
Reze tilted her head at that, amused, "What the heck?"
She shrugged before a sly smile came to her face, this seemed like the perfect excuse to play the damsel.
"Well, I'm a little scared", she slowed to match Denji's pace, leaning into him, "can I hold your hand?"
To his surprise, Reze grabbed Denji's hand before he even got a chance to reply, leading him onwards. He turned to look at her, a somewhat dazed look on his face, in contrast she looked straight on, leading them to their destination with a rosey blush on her cheeks.
Denji returned to looking forward, his thoughts conflicted again.
'Makima… I don't really want to hold her hand, but…'
'My body moves all on its own…'
"So, who can solve this problem?"
Reze had eventually stopped at a classroom on the second floor of the school and told Denji to take a seat at one of the front row desks as she started writing some basic maths problems on the blackboard.
"Ohh! Pick me! I know", Denji waved hands in the air as shouted out the answer, "Two! Two!"
"Correct!", Reze beamed at him, "You're a genius!"
She turned back to the board as Denji celebrated, with the scratching of chalk on the board being the only sound in the room as Denji tried to make out what Reze was writing with little success, as Reze moved to block his view.
She then suddenly moved away from the board, dramatically presenting her handiwork to her student, "Now what does this say!?"
"Oh, pick me, pick me!", he exclaimed as his hand shot up again, "I dunno!"
"The answer is 'Big Ass'!"
"Perv!", Denji exclaimed, an amused look on his face, leaving the perv in question with a proud smirk plastered on her face.
"Ah man…", Denji slumped down, resting his chin on his hands, a contented smile on his face, "so this is what school's like, I think I pretty much get the picture now."
"So you've really never went to school, Denji?", Reze piped up as she finished wiping the board clean, "Not even grade school?"
"Nope!", Denji chirped back, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
'Oh… he really hasn't had… I thought he might have had some education before he lived on the streets, not to mention Public Safety, even the Politburo ensured I had a decent education!', at this final revelation Reze's mask was gone, left in its place was something between concern and empathy. 'Just what does public safety want with you Denji, surely if they wanted an effective weapon they would at least teach you the basics…?'.
"Isn't that, like… kinda… you know… bad?"
"Bad?", Denji looked up at the girl in confusion, 'What does she mean 'bad', since Miss Makima found me I've been living the good life, right…?!'
"More like… messed up", by now Reze had slipped fully into her natural neutral expression, a look reflected on Denji's own stunned face as he focused on the girl in front of him intently.
"At 16, you're still just a kid, you know?"
"It's when most kids are studying to get into college, throwing themselves into a club or sport, hanging out with friends…", Reze's stare bored into Denji as she continued her rant, "But you're killing devils, almost getting yourself killed…"
"Is this Public Safety place you're with right now really a good place?", she knew what the answer would be, but she wanted to make him think about the situation he was in.
'Maybe, just maybe, if I can get him to realise, maybe we can escape our masters together…', this idea had been floating around in her head for a while now, but it only had a chance to work if they were together.
"Yeah, they're super-great!", Denji responded to her as if stating the obvious, "I get three meals a day and I get to sleep in a bed."
"That's, like, the bare minimum standard of living in Japan…", Reze's expression remained impassive as she continued her verbal assault, "It's not something amazing".
Denji maintained eye contact with her for a while, before looking down at the tabletop, his expression a mix of confusion, frustration and maybe even… sadness, as if he knew everything that she said already, but just didn't want to admit it to himself…
"Uhhhh…", Denji groaned as he looked back up at her, looking significantly more drained compared to the boy who had been waving his arms about a few minutes ago.
"All this thinkin' is making my brain overheat…"
A ghost of a smile appeared on Reze's face as an idea came to her, 'Denji… if they won't teach you anything, maybe I can make a start…'.
"Want to go cool off then?"
"DWUGH!?"
Denji stood, his mouth agape at the the girl in front of him, a girl how had just stripped off her top and was currently in the process of stepping out of her shorts. This wasn't at all what he was expecting when Reze said that she'd teach him how to swim!
But he wasn't complaining either.
He was quickly snapped out of his stupor by a shout from Reze, "Take your clothes off!", she was looking up at him with cheeky grin, "You'll sink if you leave them on!"
Denji blushed, forcing himself not to agree instantly, "Isn't that too naughty?"
Reze cocked her head, "Don't you want to learn to swim?", she said, keeping her tone as matter-of-fact as possible.
His eyes trailed up and down her body, settling on her chest in response.
"I'm startin' to see the appeal…"
He snapped out of his trance, his eyes snapping back up her face. Only to be greeted by her emerald orbs staring right back into his, with a coy smile playing on her face as her arms looped behind her back.
Her bra dropped to the ground.
And Denji's face lit up like a beacon.
"WHOA?!"
She turned to her side as she began stripping off her underwear, leaving her choker as the sole surviving part of her outfit.
"Get naked with me Denji.", she said as she kicked her underwear off towards the rest of her clothes, "It's not like we can see anything in the dark anyway."
With that barefaced lie, she swan-dived into the pool, her head illuminated by the moonlight as she swam out to the middle of the large pool.
Denji's head was spinning, it was his first time seeing a girl naked, he seen everything from her chest, her curves, even below the waist!
He shook his head, attempting to banish those thoughts from his head, 'calm down dude… you can't… if you strip down here, you'll be unfaithful to Makima!'
Moments later he was standing naked in front of the pool, his clothes thrown haphazardly beside Reze's.
'Dammit'
Denji stared at the dark water, he may have already forgiven himself for cheating on Makima, but that didn't solve the small issue of him not knowing how to swim!
"Ah ha ha! That's freezing!", Denji looked up to see Reze waving at him from the centre of the pool, "Come in the water Denji!"
'Don't do it Denji!', an internal battle still raged within the boy, 'If I go, my heart will go with my body!'
"Oh nooo, I'm drowning! Heeeelp", Reze was now splashing around in the water, having resorted to her usual antics in her attempts to convince the boy to join her.
She sunk herself down into the water up to her eyes, watching Denji's conflict as if she was a shark hunting her prey.
All it would take is one more push.
"Ah-haaa!", she surfaced again and swam a little closer to the edge of the pool, "You're too chicken cuz you can't swim, riighht?!". Reze grinned. She got him.
"BOOOYAA!", Denji cannonballed into the pool, making sure to aim as close to Reze as possible.
"Ah ha ha ha ha!"
"Ha ha ha!"
The laughter of the two teens echoed across the empty grounds as Denji resurfaced and the two started splashing each other.
"That is cold!", Denji said, still chuckling as he stopped splashing and settled still in the water next to the girl. They floated there quietly for a moment before she turned to him, her arms outstretched towards him.
"I'll teach you!", Reze exclaimed, a bit louder than she meant to.
Denji looked towards her, a blush painting his shocked face.
"The things you don't know… or can't do."
"I'll teach you everything."
The rain had come on suddenly.
Denji and Reze stood back in the classroom, looking out at the pelting rain, both with rather glum looks plastered on their faces.
Denji was lost in thought, on one hand mourning the rain cutting short his skinny-dipping with the raven-haired beauty beside him, and on the other hand content that he had learnt how to swim, it certainly helped that Reze was a great teacher!
Reze, though, was thinking about something different altogether…
"Hey, Denji… which one would you choose?", Reze never took her eyes from the rain trickling down the window pane.
"The town mouse, or the country mouse?"
Denji took his eyes away from the storm, fixing Reze with a questioning stare, "What's that?"
"It's one of the stories from Aesop's fables, a collection of stories that were written by a slave in Ancient Greece", she turned away from the window and looked Denji in the eyes.
"The town mouse enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city, while the country mouse enjoyed the peace and quiet of the country. The town mouse would eat all the fancy foods, while the country mouse would eat only simple foods".
"So Denji, which would you choose?"
"I'd rather be the town mouse", Denji answered surprisingly quickly. Reze blinked in surprise, she had expected at least a little hesitation.
"Really?!", Reze blurted out, "The country mouse has it way better! Nothing beats peace!".
Denji Shrugged at that, "But the city has better grub, and it seems like more fun!"
"Are food and fun all you care about?", Reze had turned back to the window, her bangs shielding most of her face from view.
"Yup!", another instantaneous response from Denji came forth.
A small smile came to Reze's face.
She really did like Denji, Reze knew that. His honesty, his humour and his purity, she truly did love all of those parts of him. But if she wanted to have any chance at following through on what she felt, she needed to convince him to leave Public Safety…
'One shot, I'll give it one shot to get him to run away with me, if I fail then… back to my mission…'
"Then tomorrow… wanna check out this local festival with me?", Reze turned around to look at him, her face wearing a beaming smile, "There'll definitely be fun and good food there!"
"Yaayy! Awesome! It's a date!", Reze started skipping to the door as she spoke, "I'm gonna run to the little girls room!".
Reze walked out of the classroom with a small wave, the smile dropping from her face as soon as she turned the corner.
She knew that this rain wasn't natural, she was on the hunt…
Back in the classroom Denji was looking out of the window again, a neutral look on his face, he let out a loud sigh.
"She's so freakin' cute…"
"Hey Pochita… I like two girls now, guess who…"
Reze walked down the dark hallways of the school with an innocent smile on her face, trying to get as much distance away from Denji as possible.
'If Typhoon's contractee has created this storm, then they should be somewhere in this building', as if on-cue she heard the scuff of someones shoe on the ground behind her.
'Gotcha'.
Reze whipped round to face the stranger, "Denji?!"
"Yeah, that's right. Denji, that's me", the figure shuffled out of the shadows leisurely, "I was just needin' to take a leak myself."
He was fully visible now, a dirty looking man with a greasy mohawk and a heavily scared face, burnishing a knife in his right hand.
"Let's go to the bathroom together, you get me?"
Reze had to mask the contempt in her eyes, she had to act the scared damsel for a creature like this?!
'I think the roof sounds better, no chance anyone will hear you up there…'
*WHAAM*
Reze crashed through the door to the school roof and out into the rain. She knew that that thug was right behind her, she had made sure that she ran slowly enough that he wouldn't lose her, she even hammed it up and fell over.
'Ohhh I'm going to enjoy this…'
As she jogged to the roof railing she came to a stop and swung around, seeing the knife wielding punk standing at the roof door.
"Uhhh, hellooo…?", the contractee mockingly sung out, "What, you gonna take a leak on the roof?"
"Who… who are you?!"
'Dead meat', Reze just needed him to get bit closer…
"Funny question. Do you even know who you are?"
"I know who you are, you're the cheese."
"The cheese to lure the mouse out into the open".
"What are you talking about, please, leave me alone!", Reze cried out, she had always done well in the acting training sessions.
"I'm gonna cut some skin off your face…"
A step closer.
"Gouge out an eye…"
Another.
"Show them all to Chainsaw and tell him this."
And another.
"Your woman is still alive."
He brandished his knife lazily as he closed into striking distance, "I couldn't tell you why, but when I do that… most guys will do anything I say."
"After that I'll just kill him nice an' easy, all I need from you is some skin and an eye".
"I don't want your life", with that he lunged.
'Finally'.
"Aaaaaahhhh!", Reze screamed like a murder victim even as she launched herself onto her attacker's torso, using one hand to brace herself on his left shoulder and the other to grab the wrist of his knife hand.
She used her momentum to twist around to his back, breaking his right arm in the process, then putting him in a chokehold, using her body mass to make him fall backwards.
She lay lay there as her assailant, now victim struggle, kicking, flailing and gasping for air, as she patiently kept up the pressure on the man's neck, as the rain and the wind drowned out all other noise.
"Pa… paa.."
Reze remembered only one thing from before she was put in that damned room, the sound of a woman, singing in her native tongue…
"The day of my date with Jane, everything is ready"
"We are going to church in the morning"
"We will have coffee and omelettes in the café"
"After we've taken a stroll in the park"
"We'll go to the aquarium to see the dolphins and penguins Jane loves so much"
"We'll rest in the afternoon"
"So what did we do in the morning?"
"We'll reminisce and remember"
"We will not remember"
"We spent the night in the church"
And all was still on the roof.
Thanks to anyone who has read so far and apologies again for the sporadic updates, Uni work has had me bogged down most of the time (and my dissertation will have me busy from now until September). Though, to make up for that I figured that I'd just write this chapter to be nearly as long as the rest combined, anyways I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out, and any feedback to improve it is always welcome, cheers!
P.S: Knowing the translation of Reze's song made the aquarium chapter in Part 2 hit different...
P.P.S: I have cross-posted this story on AO3 if anyone prefers that site (I think I definitely do lol) and this chapter will uploaded there ASAP.