Okay, chapter 4. I can't believe I got this far honestly, I thought I would give up halfway. So let's keep this story going!
Chapter 4: A Date Contract!? Shinji's Surprising Client!
It was night time in Kuoh, the city lights decorated the surroundings while the presence of the crowds of people roaming were absent. Although it was a change of pace, it gave the feeling of danger, for such a place to be deadly silent was not calming.
There, in a dark alley situated away from the city center, stood a creature. Said creature was badly wounded because of an encounter that went horribly bad for her. Still damaged with scars lethal to most humans, she cursed herself for letting her prey get the best of her; where once stood a figure of a woman emanating elegance, was now a creature torn apart by rage and pain.
"Those damn devils!" Perse cursed as she started to treat her wounds with magic. "To think such a lowly breed of reincarnated scum can even have the dignity of hurting me. I won't let this go unpunished!"
It was all going according to her plan, the way she manipulated the magic in the area to show two obvious spots where she could be was perfect, she made the devil's in the area split to search for her, making her able to hunt them down one by one. The ones sent to the plaza would be the first to satiate her bloodlust, all was swiftly moving towards her objective.
But he appeared again, he showed up and messed up her strategy once again. The human that should have never been reborn, the one she struck before and came back from the death.
Yes, her prey was none other than the black haired teenager. To think a devil not even reincarnated one week after she killed him had the audacity to face her was an insult to her persona. She is Perse, the daughter of the most feared monster of Greece! How can such a lowly being even move a finger under her presence!?
"I won't let you walk away from this." She repeated herself as her body was slowly healing itself, the tail she possessed started to shed the damaged skin. "Mark my words scum, you'll be my prey soon enough."
"So we meet again."
"Huh?" As he heard a voice, Shinji opened his eyes. He was not in the alley where he faced Perse anymore, nor in any place he knew of. The teenager was now in an unknown place, his body floating there as he looked around him, only to see the nothingness surrounding him.
"You impress me young one, it's not every day I meet someone fond of making the same mistake of being stabbed twice."
As a voice resonated throughout the void, a ray of light emitted in the distance, growing brighter to the point where the black hair teen had to cover his eyes for a moment.
"You…" Mumbled Shinji as he recalled the being in front of him. "You are the one from last time, aren't you?"
"Yes, it appears you do remember me." The voice spoke once again. "Although it looks like we have a bond, it is not strong enough for us to communicate without you being asleep."
"Wait, you said I'm asleep? But how? I remember being stabbed by that woman so Himejima-san could strike her down." The teenager was confused, the last thing he recalled was his friend raining down lighting to the monster he was holding, then blackout from the blood loss.
"It looks like one of your teammates has found a way to save you before you die out of your own recklessness." The entity responded. "Although it is a good thing. I wouldn't want my new partner to die before we could even talk properly."
"Partner? What do you mean with-" At that moment the world shook, loud noises echoing throughout the void.
"It looks like our meetings are of brief moments child, we must make this quick."
Another quake has made itself known throughout the space the teen was in. 'Damn! I have a lot to ask this thing, but it looks like I don't have much time.' He gave great thought to what his question should be. "What's going on? How come all the devils, angels, monsters and everything else that was just a story tale not a week ago is real now?"
"Hmm, so that's your question." The entity thought out loud. "But was it always a tale? Tell me, young one, have you never even thought of how all the creatures that gave life to the heroes you read in books appeared so real to you? The ones that teach words of forgiveness and understanding or the ones that with their might subdued even the biggest empires?"
As if accompanying what the being was speaking of, another boom echoed throughout the void.
"Because there are things you can't see with your naked eyes at first doesn't mean they don't exist, young one."
"Then what are you? If you're as real as you claim, what exactly are you that I can't see you?" Shinji asked.
"There are questions that must be answered when the time comes, child." The voice responded as the light where it came from started to dissipate. "But I will tell you to not fear me, as I am just your companion throughout the journey you have ahead of you."
"The hell does that mean?-" The void started to crack, light penetrating the darkness that was surrounding the teenager as it got brighter.
As a sun ray penetrated through the curtains of a room, a boy snapped open his eyes after the dream he just had.
"Companion...the hell he meant by that." He tried to give thought to the last words only for it to be in vain. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up only to find the ceiling of his bedroom. "Looks like he was right when he said I was sleeping." He commented.
"Anyway, it's weird my alarm didn't ring. I programmed it to ring every morni-" As Shinji extended his left hand to check out what was the problem with his alarm, he felt his hand touch something, something soft.
As any normal person, he checked to see what it was. Thinking it was just a pillow he squished it again, only for it to emit a sound as a response.
Scared, he slowly turned his head to the source of it, only to find a figure covered under the sheets of his bed, his hand groping a ball of some sorts.
"Hmm." The sheets seemed to have responded to his touch, several movements surged from it. As if a matter of instinct two pairs of hands came out of said sheets to remove it, there was a girl with raven hair. She yawned and scratched her sleepy eyes a couple of times as she raised herself to a sitting position in the bed.
As if noticing a certain shocked boy looking at her, she turned her head to his direction and offered him a smile. "Good morning, Kouki-kun." She finally said.
"A-A-A-A-" Shinji's mind was blocked as his brain stopped working. His eyes were wide open to the point they looked like they would pop out of their eye pockets, his mouth would perfectly fit a ball because of how wide it was open. His eyes trailing the soft skin of his company in bed, her raven hair and how it went down to her naked waist, making her look like a painting even the best artists would kill to create.
His eyes were also darting to a certain place where two melon-like objects were situated, accompanied by a certain someone that was rather happy this kind of encounter kept happening.
"Hmm?" The intruder tilted her head as she watched her partner. "I think I broke the clock last night dragging you here, but it's getting kinda late. Say Kouki-kun, why don't we make ourselves some breakfast." A smile adorning her face while speaking her proposal.
"A-A-A-A-" He wasn't able to respond as his mind was constantly rebooting itself from the sudden turn of events, if he was a computer he would be trailing smoke by now.
"Is something the matter?" The raven haired girl asked while leaning closer to check the face of the boy, completely unaware of her current position and the lack of clothes she had.
"W-WH-WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEEELLL!" His words finally came out, waking up more than half of the apartments near his.
And thus, Shinji Kouki's new day as a devil has started.
"C'mon Kouki-kun, don't be so mean." Akeno said as she walked next to the teenager, they were now walking to school together after eating breakfast and changing to their respective uniforms.
"Hmph!" Shinji turned his head to the other side, the raven haired girl made a hurt face after this. 'Don't be mean she says-' He thought, '-How am I supposed to react to someone sleeping naked next to me, again!'
After all the commotion caused by the intruder, the boy asked what happened last night. The girl told him that, after Rias appeared, Perse escaped and left a mess to be cleaned; he was extremely wounded because of receiving the impact from the tail so he needed to be treated quickly. That meant for Akeno to drag him back to his apartment and start the healing process devils use.
"You weren't complaining last night." She said while tugging an arm with the teenager, this shocked him and made half the people looking at her want to now kill the kid.
"H-Himejima-san, please don't joke like that." The black haired teen said while removing the hand of the girl out of his.
"Ufufu, if you keep reacting like that I might do, Kouki-kun." She said as she coped with his plea and stopped teasing the teenager, the latter just tugged his arms on his pockets and looked to the sky.
Shinji then turned his head to his company, as the dim light from the morning caressed the face of Akeno, he was now knowing why she was one of the Onee-Samas; her raven hair flowing like silk along her feminine figure, accompanied by a orange ribbon that match with her school uniform, her smooth skin not even having one imperfection present to show the world her insecurities, how her figure looked like molded by the gods, showing no imperfections and curved in every right place. Most of all what caught the teenager's attention were her eyes, they were violet, a color he had never seen anyone before to possess such orbs, they gave the feeling of dread, but, at the same time, of the warmth of the person.
Shinji must have stood staring for too long because Akeno turned to face him and smiled, the black hair teen just coughing in his hand and looked to the opposite side, his face adorned by a slight blush.
He was beginning to feel lucky to spend this time with such beautiful girls, and to know why Issei hated him for it.
"Quite a nice view you have here." Suddenly the girl commented, deviating him from his thoughts. "It's nice to walk to school like this." "Yeah-" The boy finally responded and said, "-It is."
They were now walking through the park near his apartment. There were several kids playing around before going to school, as well as some students and adults sitting around talking to each other. "Say Himejima-san, you live around here?" He asked to start a conversation.
"Not really." She responded. "I share a house with Rias, it's part of the Gremory group in this area. It was one of his father's demands to group her with me and stay in one of their residences."
"Heh." He thought out loud. "I can imagine his father doing that, and I can see where she got that strict attitude too."
"She's not really like that, Kouki-kun, she cares a lot about her friends and family." Akeno commented. "Although you seem to bring the worst out of her lately, she almost killed you after finding you got pierced by Perse's tail again."
"Yeah, I tend to have that effect on people." He said while scratching his head.
As they continued walking towards school the pair again got silent, Akeno looking around and Shinji just looking to the sky.
"It must be nice." He thought out loud. "Living with a friend I mean, must be pretty cool."
"It's quite entertaining, yes." She commented. "We always end up talking about school and life every night, we also share a lot of secrets because of it."
"What about you, Kouki-kun?" The raven haired girl suddenly asked. "I don't remember seeing another door on your apartment other than yours and the bathroom, you come from another city and rent that place?"
"Not really." The black haired teen responded. "Since I was a small kid I lived in that apartment, sometimes people just came in and cleaned the place, cooked something for me and then disappeared."
He tugged his hands on his pockets. "I don't really remember having a family to be honest. Not a mother or a father, hell, not even a pet. I was always by myself." As the teenager looked to the floor, a small smile was drawn on his face. "The first friend I made was Issei. He, me and another friend we had always got out and played together, they sometimes came to sleep at my place to keep me company. At Middle School I met Momo and also became friends with her; then I got a job at Hagiwara's dojo, the place I work."
"Oh." Akeno was surprised by her team mate's honesty.
They once again resumed their silent walk
"Sorry." She suddenly said. "I mean, if this question disturbed you."
"O-Oh." He scratched his head while looking at her. "Don't worry about it." He said while offering a smile. "It's not something out of the ordinary to me for people asking why I live alone, so don't think too much about it. And, to be honest, I think of all of them as my family."
"Ok, I'll take you on that." The raven haired girl responded.
As they returned to their peaceful walk to school, Shinji gazed at the sky again. Even if he wasn't fond of being silent with company, he walks with Issei who normally is chased by girls or shouts he likes breasts like a maniac, or Momo who always ends up discussing with him, this was a nice change of pace.
"Kouki-kun." A voice snapped him out of his thoughts again. "I've been thinking about this lately. But when the Stray launched herself to finish me, why did you jump and receive the attack instead?"
Shinji was taken back by her sudden question. Sure he did a reckless move to save his friend, but why didn't he just push her instead of getting impaled again? His recklessness got the best of him at that critical time.
"To be honest, I don't know." He said while he sighed. "The moment I saw that thing trying to kill you I just ran to stop it."
"But you almost got killed because of it, Kouki-kun." The girl said back, her gaze lowering as she spoke. "Because of my recklessness one of our teammates almost died, we also lost the Stray. Even after all we did to stop her, she fled before we could capture her."
"Hey." The teenager stopped her, as she looked up she saw him putting a hand on her shoulder, a smile present on his face. "Look, don't think too much about it, okay?"
The raven haired girl just stared at him, unable to understand what he meant. "I-I mean-" He coughed on his hand and resumed his speech, "-You are my friend Himejima-san, the moment I saw that thing trying to impale you I didn't think. I just did what I'm the best at, jumping like an idiot to face the problem."
The girl giggled a little at his sudden comment.
"But don't let that bother you. Look, if she escaped then all we need to do is face her as soon as Rias has her location again, we can't let her keep murdering innocents like this." He smiled as he looked at her eyes again, violet orbs meeting black ones. "Don't blame yourself for this, ok? You saved my life last night with that healing of yours, so I should be thanking you instead of you thanking me."
As Shinji finished, two hands threw themselves to the young man, a girl leaning in and hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Kouki-kun. I needed that." She simply said.
"Y-Yeah." He tried not to blush at the girl's sudden action, but it was hard for him. "Hey, Himejima-san."
"Hmm?" She simply said as her hold on the boy got weaker, standing straight again and looking at the teenager.
"Just call me Shinji, okay? No need for formalities." He smiled as he scratched the back of his neck. "We are a team after all."
Akeno blinked a couple of times, taken back by the sudden request of the boy in front of her, she closed her eyes and a smile appeared on her face as she opened them again. "Okay, Shinji-" She simply said, "-But only on one condition."
He was curious by her comment. "Sure, ask away."
"You call me Akeno from now on."
The teen smiled as he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I can do that". He resumed his walk to school. "Alright Hime-Akeno, should we go to school now? Momo will kill me if she finds out I'm late again."
The raven haired girl giggled as she tagged along with him, her elegant stance returning to her persona. "Yeah, let's."
As the pair made their way to Kuoh Academy, two certain teenagers caught a glimpse of them.
"Check."
"Damn, let's see...try this."
"Nice move Shinji, but not good enough. Check."
"Ah, where did that come from!? Take this."
"Close, you almost got me. Sadly Kouki-kun, this is the end. Checkmate."
As a bishop blocked a black King piece from moving, Shinji reclined on his chair, sighing heavily and closing his eyes. "What's the score now?"
"Ten-nil." Rias simply said as she sipped from the cup her Queen served for her.
"Senpai's a loser." A voice from a certain white haired loli made herself present. The same girl was currently sitting in one of the couches in the room while munching her favorite snacks, her eyes not leaving them as she spoke.
"Thanks for your support, Toujou-san." His eye twitched comically as he heard the compliment his colleague said.
"Don't be so down, Shinji. Rias-Bouchou can be a tough opponent when it comes to chess." Akeno spoke as she walked next to the black haired teen, offering a cup of tea she was preparing while the teenager had his butt kicked several times by her King.
"Thanks, Akeno-san." As he sipped from his cup, Shinji's mind calmed while flavoring the sweet taste and relaxed while smelling the strong, yet refreshing essence the cup of tea emitted. "Wow, Akeno-san, this is really good".
"Ara ara, thank you for the compliment Shinji-kun." Exclaimed the raven haired girl as she giggled at his partner's compliment.
"It's good to see you're bonding already with your teammates, Shinji. Although you complained about every single thing first, you are now a little bit different." The red haired girl commented as she saw the small talk his queen had with the teenager.
"Hey, getting stabbed for a second time can make someone change their mind." He retorted. "That aside, you seem to be in a good mood today, Rias-san, something good happened to you?"
"Yeah, you can say that." She drew a small smile while he looked at his servant. "It's kind of helpful to have two boys here now, sometimes there are contracts we girls can't do."
The teenager raised an eyebrow, he was beginning to feel curious to what she was referring to now. "Such as?"
"Such as this moment." She stood up and gave Shinji a flier with the Gremory crest on it. "You might know by now that Kiba-kun is quite famous around the female population here in school."
As the blonde teen coughed on his hand by the mention of his name, Shinji just sweatdropped, every male in school, especially Issei and his gang, know and envy the attention Kiba gathers when it comes to the opposite gender.
"Well, he is also getting attention from a majority of our female clients." Rias continued before the teenager could interrupt her. "You see Shinji, Kiba here has now a contract with one of our bigger clients, but he also has one pending that needs to be taken care of."
The black haired teen sighed, he already knew where this was going. "You want me to take care of the other one, right?"
"I'm glad you caught on fast." The red haired girl simply responded as she returned to her desk, sitting on it. "You see Shinji, this client wants to have a date. Since Kiba-kun was the only male around he was the one attending to this kind of thing, now however we also have you to join in."
"Wha-wait, hold on a minute." Shinji coughed in his hand a light blush present in his face. "You can't just tell me to go on a date out of the blue like that!"
"Hmm?" Rias tilted her head confused. "I don't understand what's the problem with it, it's just a date." As an awkward silence was her response, a devilish smile made an appearance on her face. "Ohh~ don't tell me you've never been on a date, Shinji-kun."
He crossed his arms, a loud 'humph! was heard as his face got redder. "So what about it?"
The teenage girl giggled at his reaction, which made him blush harder in response "Not at all, I never had a date either to be honest."
"The guy from Kyoto thinks otherwise, Buchou." A smiling Akeno commented while she drank from her cup, a smile clear on her face.
"Th-That was because of a contract and the guy crying on his knees asking for it, he even wrote a letter!" She closed her arms and turned her face, her eyes clearly neglecting that moment, "It was a contract, doesn't count as a date."
"Is it now?" The raven haired girl giggled to herself, which made her red haired companion blush and turn away. "Ara ara, I must have touched a sensitive spot in our Bouchou."
"Anyway! You have to pick her up and go where she wants." Rias changed the subject to continue explaining Shinji his mission, Akeno kept the fun to herself and decided to call it quits on the teasing of her friend.
As his mind prepared itself for probably the most bizarre contract he ever had, he kept looking at Koneko. Ever since day one he was intrigued at the behavior of the petite girl, she was always to herself, having a poker face and only speaking when asking something.
He was going to investigate further, that meant asking Kiba of course.
"-Now Shinji, I need you to step in the circle now." Rias told him as he got out of his trance. As he looked to where the girl was pointing he saw Akeno in the middle of a red circle covering half the room floor.
How the hell did he miss that? It was shining like the Sun! He really needs to pay more attention instead of thinking nonsense.
"Uhh, sure." He shrugged as he stood up, walking where the red haired girl was pointing to. "Do I need to say something?".
"None at all, Akeno is inserting your carved seal into the circle. Just stand still and let her do the job." She simply responded.
"Ok, I can do that."
And so he waited.
And waited.
..and waited.
...and waited.
This was taking longer than expected, was this supposed to happen? He turned to face Akeno and he saw her chanting some words with her hands spread onto the circle on the floor, it was responding to it by glowing brighter with each sentence.
As the time passed by he just got bored of it. 'I rather stick with the bike, at least it is more productive than this.' He thought as he sighed from boredom. 'After this I need to go to Hagiwara's, even though I don't have work today I want to train. There's this combo I've seen in an anime that I want to check out, maybe if I show it to him he can teach me. Ohhh that would be so cool to happen!'
"Shinji-kun." Rias interrupted his thoughts as she extended her hand. "I need your hand now."
Doubtful at first, he did as told and extended his own arm to hers. As she grabbed him she started to write symbols in his palm, a red light emitting from her drawing.
"Uhh, is this supposed to happen?" He curiously asked.
"Yes, it means the seal is responding to you." The red haired girl simply said.
'I don't know how a seal can respond to me, but sure, if she says so..' He shrugged it off. After all the nonsense he witnessed this week nothing seems to shock him.
As Rias stopped writing his hand the light of the seal became brighter, a small burning sensation forming where the girl wrote a diagram equal to the one that appears on the crest on the floor. It was only for a brief moment although as the light of the seal slowly faded an his hand's crest changed to a reddish color. The pattern was clearly visible, every detail of the seal was plastered in his right hand. "Woah, you can draw for sure Rias-san." He commented.
The girl simply giggled at his comment. "It's a simple thing to do, Shinji-kun, Not that hard to be honest. You'll learn it when the time comes."
"Okay. Now I can use this seal thing to transport myself, right?" He asked as he watched the crest in his hand fading, leaving nothing but the sensation that nothing actually happened there.
"Yes, Akeno will prepare it to transport you where your client is now." Commented Rias as she sat down on top of her desk.
Shinji sighed, looking down and watching how the seal reappeared and covered him in a red light. He mentally prepared himself for the task at hand as the world around him blurred, he was listening to voices in the background.
"Oh, Shinji." A familiar voice was heard. "I almost forgot to tell you. That client is a little unique, so don't do anything stupid, ok? I'll get mad at you if you do."
"Unique? What do you mean by that?" He thought out loud, but there was no response as a bright red light blinded him.
As the teleportation circle made its wonders, Shinji Kouki knew a hell of a day was approaching.
Out of nowhere, a red light covered even the most hidden corners of a room, from said light a crest was formed on the ground. From said light a human form was appearing out of thin air.
"Gah! At least she could warn me about this damn light! The thing's blinding me." A voice was heard as the light swiftly faded, leaving nothing but the form of a boy in his teenage years. "Oh wow, it was fast."
As he looked to his new surroundings he accommodated his vision to the dim light of the room he was inside. This room had a wooden floor decorated with white paint on the walls that gave the same feeling he got from the ORC room, there was a couch in the middle of the room situated in front of a TV.
"I guess this must be the living room, it looks even bigger than my apartment though." He thought out loud with a deadpan expression, he was beginning to feel sad of all the rooms he got into lately that got the feeling of being bigger than his whole house.
"You came already? That was honestly fast." A female voice said from a room opposite to where the teenager was now. "Well I can't complain. More time to spend together I guess."
Shinji blushed a little at that statement, yes he forgot this was a date contract. That meant pleasing the girl in whatever way she wanted.
Although if this climbed to levels not allowed to describe in this rated type of format, he would just bail out and go to sleep.
"Almost finished, wait a second please." A voice was heard again, this time a little more girlish. 'Weird.' He thought.
"Tah-dah!-Eh?" As a figure jumped out of a door and stood in front of him, Shinji's mouth opened like a tunnel.
Chestnut-like hair that was caught with a white ribbon, hazel coloured eyes locked onto his own two orbs, a pink skirt decorated with white knee high socks, giving the look of someone recently out of Middle School, a black short sleeve jacket matching with a pink colored shirt and one black bracer on his right hand.
Overall the girl looked like someone that just finished homework and asked his parents permission to go out.
"You...you are not Kiba-kun, are you?" The girl blatantly asked.
"Nono, I'm his partner, Shinji. He asked me to cover up for this contract." The teenager introduced himself while pointing a finger at his chest.
"...Partner? As if a lover?" Her cheeks turned redder as the realization got into her. "Ooh! Don't tell me Kiba-kun has a boyfriend! I approve of this boy love!".
"W-what!? No! I'm his friend! I replaced him today!" He shouted while making a cross with his arms. 'Why the hell does everyone say the same thing!? What is wrong with these girls!' He thought.
The little girl frowned. "Hmm not the reaction I was expecting". "Still-" She sighed and gazed at the teenager again. "-You're not half bad yourself. This might work."
"So, what's the plan for this contract?" Shinji asked as he crossed his arms while looking at his client.
"Quite obvious isn't it?" The girl chirped. "We are having a date~"
"Uh, sure. What's your plan for it?" He asked out of curiosity.
"That's easy." She raised a finger to prepare and explain herself
.
.
.
...only that the explanation never came.
"We'll go to uhh…." She stepped back, grabbing her chin and having a pondering expression.
As she made a lost expression while thinking, the teenager sighed and scratched his head. "You don't know what to do, do you?"
The girl sheepishly laughed to herself while she wrinkled her cheek. "You got me there."
Another sigh escaped from the boy's mouth, this was going to be a long day. "Why don't we just go to the park for a while, we might do this quickly because it's getting dark and I don't think a little girl should go outside too late."
The girl just puffed her cheeks and looked angrily at the devil. "For your information I'm not a kid, I'm fourteen, you know? And my parents don't care if I stay outside too late."
"Lily, if you're going out come before midnight if you don't want to repeat last week's mistake, ok?" As by divine luck a mature voice was heard from another room.
The little girl just squeaked to her name's calling and turned around to where the voice came from. "O-ok, mom."
"All right, I've heard enough." Shinji said as he stretched his arms. "If we don't make this quick your mom will kill you and my boss won't let me hear the end of it." He pictured an image of Rias scolding him all day for messing up this contract.
The girl was taken back by the sudden proposition of the boy in front of her, but complied in the end and walked to the exit door. "Sure, let's go!"
"But first." The boy's path was blocked once again by the petite girl. "What's your name Devil-san?"
"Oh, Shinji, Shinji Kouki." He simply said as he made a little bow to the young one. "I'll be the devil in your care for today."
"All right, Shinji-kun. I'm Yamada Lily." The girl returned the bow to her partner. "What's the plan for today?"
The kid just made a laid back smile and walked to what he supposed was the exit door. "Let's just see what we find, I don't have much dating experience anyway."
"Park?"
"Too cliche."
"Cinema?"
"Too corny."
"Restaurant?"
"I don't have enough money."
"...I ran out of ideas already." Shinji sighed as he looked to the floor. This was getting harder than what he thought.
"Hmm." Lily was also thinking where they should go, it was her contract after all.
"Oi! Little ones!" As they were passing through what seemed to be a stand. "You look lost, is something the problem?"
As a figure jumped in front of them, they were surprised by it. A tall clown, fully clothed with blue hair and red nose appeared out of the stand, he squished his nose so it emits a sound and offered a hand to the little girl. "Why don't you come with us, little one. We have a lot of fun here."
"O...kay…." The black haired teen said as he grabbed his phone and quickly pressed numbers. "Yeah, police? I have a freak trying to assault kids here."
"Nononono!" The clown suddenly screamed, jumping back as if having enough distance from the pair. "I've already got a detention order from Hokkaido, I can't have another one! Please let me explain!"
The teenager sighed as he shut down his phone, "One minute. That's all." He simply said.
"Alright, more than enough!" The clown dressed man said as he ran in front of the pair again. "You see folks, we are setting up a circus in Kuoh and I would like to invite you before our grand opening!"
"Yeeeaah, not my type of thing. Thanks anyway." Shinji said as he started to walk next to the guy and heading away from him.
"No! Wait! I can't mess this up again!" The clown shouted as he started to cry. "If I fail to bring people to our circus again they'll fire me!"
As he cried in a comically way, Lily just sweatdropped at the sight both of them were experiencing. "C'mon Shinji-kun, we can't leave him like this, besides-" She turned around and faced the devil next to her, "-I've never been to a circus. It'll be fun."
The boy sighed as he massaged his temples. "Alright, you're the boss anyway. Let's see what we can do there". He turned to where the clown was soaking in its own tears and shouted. "Oi! Clown freak!"
At the mention of his name, the circus employee raised his head. "Y-yes?" He simply said while sobbing, his white makeup all but gone and the rest of it tainted by the red lipstick he wears. If anything, he looked like someone out of a comedy show, a sad comedy show.
"What were you saying about your circus?" Shinji simply asked.
It took a moment as the ear of the clown worked with his brain the meaning of that question but, when it did, his face turned completely. Long gone was the sad face no clown should wear, only turning into a smile of happiness as if he found meaning to his life again, adorned with what seemed like light coming out of his eyes.
"Yes!" He shouted while running to where the pair was. "It's a super duper funny circus! We just open and need thoughts of the people around".
"Here." He said while grabbing two tickets from his pocket. "You have a free pass to it, have fun to your heart's content!"
As Shinji grabbed both tickets from the clown's hand, he put them in his pocket. "That'll do. See? People will hear you if you don't jump head first and ask a little kid to follow you."
"Hehe, sorry. I got carried away." He scratched his head while apologizing. As the clown recomposed himself he returned to the stand where he jumped from, Shinji now saw the word 'circus' and a couple of pamphlets laying around. "Here" He said as he gave a pamphlet to the teenager. "It has a map that shows where the circus is."
"Alright, this turns out to be something" Shinji said as he accepted the pamphlet the clown gave him. "We'll be on our way now, see you around."
"Bye Clown-san!" Lily said playfully behind the teenager.
"Alright I did it!", screamed the clown as he fist pumped the air. "One down-" He turned to where the pamphlets were stacked on the stand….only to see a big pile of them as he sweatdropped, "-A good bunch left to go."
As the black haired teen thought he saw enough sad faces from a random guy dressed in a clown costume, he turned around and looked at the map the paper had. "Ok, it says it's better to take a bus. Are you sure about this?" He turned around and asked his company.
"Yeah." She simply commented. "I've never been to a circus and that guy hyped me enough."
"Alright, let's go." He finally said as he searched for the closest bus stop.
"That was rather quick." Shinji said as he got off the bus. "This map was right after all."
As the pair started to walk, they saw what seemed to be the entrance to the circus, although the lights of the sign were off probably because they were not even ready to open yet, the gates were open and there seemed to be people already roaming around as early visitors.
"Well, not the plan I was hoping to be honest." Lily commented as she caught up with the teenager. "But, I'll guess it'll work out. What do you say Shinji-kun, should we go in?"
"Yeah, it looks like it'll be fun." He simply responded as he closed his eyes, going to his pockets he took out the entrances the clown gave him. "Let's go".
As they approached the gates there was a small cabin that stood out from everything else, Shinji guessed that would be the ticket booth. "Welcome!" A girlish voice was heard from within the booth. There stood a blond girl wearing what appeared to be two ribbons and a visor that had 'circus' written on it. "Do you want to purchase tickets?"
"Uh, not really." Shinji was the one speaking. "We met a guy that works here that handled me this-" He took the tickets out and showed them to the girl, "-He said they were free tickets to the circus".
"Oh! You met Goro, I'm surprised he was able to give you the tickets. He has a knack for scaring everyone he talks to." The woman said as scratched the bridge of her nose, clearly unaware of the sweatdrop present on the pair in front of her.
"But, can't say I'm not glad he succeeded in giving those tickets out." She said as she changed the topic. "Anyway, those are free tickets for the day. You can enter for free and enjoy the circus to your heart's content!" Chirped the cashier.
As the teenager gave the tickets to the girl, she accepted them and let the pair inside the circus.
Lights from various colors emanated from the various stands across the circus, although the vast majority of them were with their curtains down or 'coming soon' signs.
"Looks like they are still preparing everything." Commented Shinji as they walked through the stands. "Half the attractions are closed too." He looked at a roller coaster that was missing half of its tracks, it was still under construction.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the rest of it." Said Lily as she was looking at the various stands that were open.
"Oi little ones!" A voice spoke from one of the stands next to them, "Care to try and shoot the targets? I bet you can't even hit one!"
"Sure." The teenager spoke before her companion could even have a word to say. Although Shinji was not someone to show it, he was extremely competitive and that would increase if someone threw him a challenge.
As they approached the stand, they saw it was some kind of shooting range, a field paint decorating background and two rifles in front, probably to shoot with them.
"Tell ya what kiddo, you take out three of my little targets here and I'll give you a prize." He demonstrated what the targets were by clicking a button and various ducks with different colors appeared in front of them throughout the wall of the shooting range.
"With so many of them this should be easy. All right old man, we got a deal." The teenager accepted the challenge with a cocky grin present on his face.
"Bahahaha, that's the spirit kid! It'll be forty yen for five rounds." The owner of the stand gave him a rifle as he accepted the money.
'All right, five shots, only three need to hit.' Shinji sighed as he readied his stance in front of the target range. 'Devils have enhanced reflexes right? This should be easy.'
As the man switched a lever the game came to life, music resounding as lights kept turning on and off. The black haired teen was not paying attention to those details, all his mind was recognizing were the ducks that kept appearing from random spots throughout the shooting range. Some of those going up or down and others just crossing from one spot to the other at rather high speed.
'All right.' Shinji inhales air, slowly exhaling with a slow breath. 'Enhanced reflexes, I need to concentrate.' As he said that his mind was only focusing on the targets in front of him, his vision got a little redder probably because of the devil instincts responding to him. In a matter of seconds he was starting to look at his surroundings moving slower than they should be, the duck's pattern becoming quite visible to him instead of just a blur of movement.
A small grin appeared on his face. 'You didn't expect to face a devil old man, you're mine.' He aimed at a duck that popped in front of him as he prepared his finger on the trigger, no words left to speak he shot. The rubber bullet speeding away from him to the target.
.
.
.
Only to see the duck move to the right and he missed the shot.
"Huh, what?" He blinked a couple of times, he wasn't prepared for the duck to evade the shot.
"Bahahaha, yes I forgot to tell you they can move left to right now, did I?" The old man started to laugh at how the teenager missed.
"Oi, that's cheating!" He shouted back to the old man.
"It's not cheating, you can't expect someone or even a duck to just sit still and be shot, do you?" He countered while sitting next to the pair. "C'mon kiddo, you have four rounds left, only three need to hit."
He loaded the rifle again, this time aiming at one of the ducks moving from one point of the shooting range to another, slowing down as he concentrated on it. 'Alright, straight line, you're mine.' He shot the rubber ball to it.
.
.
.
Only for the duck to jump and evade it.
"What the hell was that!?" He shouted as he was about to have a rage attack.
"Bahahaha! You weren't expecting that, were you?" The old man resumed laughing at the black haired teen.
"Wha-no! How the hell was I expecting that thing to jump!?"
"C'mon young one. Three rounds left, you still can pull it off-" He was interrupted by a sound of shooting coming across his face, missing a duck that rolled and evaded the shot, "-Or not".
"Grrr!" A grumble escaping his breath was heard, he wasn't paying even attention to Lily next to him. Shooting like a maniac at every target he saw was not a good option either, he found out pretty quickly he ran out of rounds.
"Bahahaha! That's five rounds for you. What a shame you couldn't hit a target." The old man said as he proceeded to stop the shooting range, the lights of the attraction going out and every object in motion coming to a halt.
"Screw that, man. This game's a scam!" The teenager screamed as he pointed a finger to the man in charge of the stand.
"It's not a scam." A mischievous grin appeared on the face of the old man. "Maybe you are just bad at shooting?"
"We'll see about that." Shinji grabbed his wallet and pulled out more bills, "Another round".
The stand owner simply laughed as he accepted the cash. "That's the spirit kid! Let's go again."
As he activated the attraction again all the lights returned to live and the ducks began their job of moving around. The teenager grabbed the rifle handed to him with five new rubber balls to shoot with. "I won't let a game get the best of me." He aimed again at one duck popping in front of him, trigger finger ready." Even if this is fixed, I'll take you do-" As he shot the duck just made a barrel roll and evaded the shot. "Oh come on!"
"Bahahaha! Can't say I'm not enjoying this.' The old man cracked up after seeing the expression the young devil made. "C'mon fella, it's easy!"
"Shut up." The teenager said under his breath. "I'll win this no matter what, I'll finish this contract!"
He shot and missed quite easily Damn!" Was all that was heard. As he gave up and started shooting whatever it moved in front of him it was rather clear he lost it.
As he realized he ran out of rounds the stand owner extended a hand to get the rifle from the teenager. "Too bad kiddo, but oh well, sometimes you win and others you lose right? Lets-" His mouth was shut when another pair of bills were placed in front of him, "-Another." Was all it was heard.
The man just sighed and did as told. "As you wish." He reactivated the game and Shinji started to shoot with all his might.
"Crap!"
"Dammit!"
"Oh come on! That's physically impossible!"
"How did that happen!?"
"Just go down already!"
"You stupid ducks!"
As the pile of bills became bigger with each passing insult, both the girl next to the teen and the old man had a sweatdrop at the sight in front of them. "Uhh, Shinji-san. I think you had enou-" All that was returned to her was a glare that spelled 'death' if she kept talking. So she just shrugged on her coat and tried to hide from it.
Roll, jump, move out of it or just simply miss. Shinji saw every possible and impossible movement a duck could make to evade his rounds, minutes or hours might have passed by, it didn't matter to him. His pride got the best of him and he lost his mind, only the sound of a rubber ball being shot was heard.
"Haa...haaa...not enough." He didn't drop the rifle, his hand instinctively going to where his wallet was and opening it….only to find it was empty. "What!? But I charged it today!".
"You might want to look in front of you, Shinji-san." Lily spoke next to him.
As he gazed to where his companion pointed to, there was an old man smiling while counting the pile of bills given to him, "Well kiddo, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."
As the teenager recovered from the shock of it, a cloud was forming above his head. "Dammit." was all he mustered.
"Umm, can I try shooting?" As the little girl commented, both the teenager and the old man's eyes were set on her, resulting in her hiding behind her arms. "I-it just, I have curiosity now if it's rigged or not."
Shinji just crossed his arms and looked the other way, "It definitely is."
"Bahahaha! Sure, why not?" The stand owner cracked up as he accepted the money the blonde girl gave him, he gave her a rifle to shoot with and started the attraction.
"Okay Lily, listen up." The black haired teen commented behind her, closing his eyes and raising a finger. "The ducks have crazy maneuvers, coming from my three attempts-"
"-Fifteen." Lily corrected him.
"-Right, fifteen attempts. They sometimes move from left to right, jump or just simply do a barrel roll. You have to let them do the trick before you-" As he opened his eyes five bullets were shot, "-Shoot".
By some crazy miracle they all hit their target. "Five shots. You win, little one!" The old man shouted.
The teenager's mouth dropped to the point where he was close to having a dislocated jaw. "What!?"
"I thought it was the same as video games where you shoot fast and think later." She turned around and made an 'L' gesture. "Get rekt, scrub."
As the black haired teen tried to process what just transpired in front of him, the old man just laughed and grabbed the rifle the young girl was using. "See?" He said while looking at the teenager. "I told you it wasn't rigged."
"Anyway, here's your price little girl." He said before Shinji could say something to him. The blonde girl just looked at her price, a small pink ticket with the theme park's logo on it. "What's this?" She asked.
"It's a free ticket to the attractions of the circus today." The stand owner said as he closed his arms. "You see, we are just opening up and to motivate the people around here to come more often we are giving these free tickets for the day. So use it for whatever attraction you want, not that there are many of them to pick yet." He showed his point as he extended his arms, signaling the various stands the place has that are still close or are under construction for the grand opening.
"Free ticket, huh." Pondered the boy as he looked to his right. "So we can-O-Oi!" He shouted as the girl instantly dragged him from his arm around to the other side.
"We won Shinji-san, might as well use this." Chirped the blonde girl as she fastened her pace.
"At least tell me before dragging me!" Complained the black haired teen. He was beginning to notice how strong the petite girl was to actually drag someone as him around. From the corner of his eyes he could see the old man laughing out loud while watching the scene unfold, he was beginning to hate that guy.
"What a day." Said a tired girl as she looked to the sky. The pair spent the rest of the time playing free games while starting a little competitions with themselves, the teenager would start scoring big at games consisting of brute force while the girl would just annihilate him on shooting one and overall anything else.
The score will settle with an extremely tight result of twenty to five, Lily claiming the top.
"At least I can now say I defeated a devil." Commented the blonde girl as she smiled to herself while sitting on a bench, her body relaxing from the stressful night.
"Shut it, you got lucky this time." Responded the teenager with a smile on his face. "Here." He said as he handed a bottle of water to his companion, the girl greeted it with a 'thanks'.
As the boy sat next to the girl, he opened the bottle and drank the liquid inside of it, relaxing as the taste came to his mouth. "This was the most bizarre night I had to be honest." He commented as he finished drinking, his eyes lost in the lights of the theme park in front of them.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting to meet a freak clown and then come to an unfinished circus to play games." Lily laughed at herself. "What an odd date."
At that comment the pair shared a laugh, if anything both of them looked crazy to the others walking around them. After that they remained silent while watching the night sky from the bench they were sitting on.
"Hey, Lily." Shinji said as he tried to break out the silence. "Why did you want to have a date contract? I mean, if you can tell me."
The girl just smiled, her eyes saddening as she started to play with her feet. "Hey, it's okay if you don't feel comfortable responding." The teenager said as he felt the awkward atmosphere.
"It's okay." The blonde girl said. "I've pulled you all the way here, it's okay if you're curious."
"You see, all my friends have started to go on dates with the boys from school. Be it to the cinema, park, eating something or just to play games at one's house". She looked to the sky. "I felt left out, you know. I mean, everyone is doing this kind of stuff and I just couldn't do it because I was too scared to ask a guy out."
She laughed to herself, looking down as her hair covered her eyes. "You probably think I'm an idiot, doing this kind of stuff and even going as far as to make a contract with a devil."
The black haired teen just closed his eyes, reopening them with a smile and putting his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, who said I think that? You probably think you're left out but it's alright to never have a date for your age, you are fifteen, you have a lot of things yet to come for you. Besides-" He scratched his cheek as a small blush appeared on his face. "-I never had a date either."
The girl just stared at the devil, her eyes wide open as she heard his words, a smile was drawn to her cheeks as she accepted the comfort his words gave her. "Thanks, Shinji-san." She said. As they returned to the silence they were in before the girl started to laugh to herself which drew the teenagers attention. "What's wrong?" He simply asked.
"It's just, it's weird to have a devil lecture me, that's all." She commented. As Shinji heard his smile turned to a grin looking to the sky and then to Lily again. "Well, I guess you can say you will be the envy of all the girls in your school now, huh? You had a date with a devil. Nothing can beat that."
The blonde girl laughed more. "Yeah, and I even defeated that devil in almost every game a circus has to offer, now that's a thing to be proud of."
As the both of them laughed at their jokes, the Moon shone down upon them, decorating the surroundings with the lights of the circus still on.
"And we're here, that was a nice trip to be honest." Shinji said as he accompanied the girl back to her home.
"Thanks Shinji-san, but it wasn't necessary to accompany me all the way here. I know how to walk, you know." The girl said as she turned around to talk to the teen.
"Hey it was part of my job to see you home safe, can't let something happen to you, now can I?" He commented in a cocky way. If something happened to her after all the trouble of this contract Rias would have his head served on a plate in a quite literal way.
As he had a deadpan expression because of his thoughts, the girl proceeded to open her front door. "So I guess this is the end." She commented.
"Yeah, it was a rather amusing night I may say." He scratched the back of his head after his comment.
The blonde girl laughed a little at his comment. "It sure was."
As she looked down, she played with her feet. "...Hey, Shinji-san. Do you mind if we do this again?"
"Hmm? Come again?" He bluntly said as he looked at the girl who was looking like she was freezing because of the shaking.
"I-I meant." She trailed off. "W-Well, you see." She breathed as she calmed down to phrase the words on her head. " I-If I make another contract, would you go out with me?"
"Well, it is my job to accomplish any contract given to me." He said as he scratched his head, "So sure, I don't mind." At his declaration the girl looked at him, her face turned to that of a surprise. "O-Oi, you okay? Are you ill or something?" He asked.
After hearing this the girl calmed down, a smile appearing on her face as she saw the devil in front of her. "Yeah, it's alright." She said while nodding. "I can count on you then."
"Yeah, I can't refuse now that you have my word." He commented.
As the night was clear, her head snapped when she remembered. "Oh crap! My mom told me to be before midnight, she'll kill me if I'm late!"
"You better go then, if you get grounded because of me my boss will have my head." He commented in rather a panicked way, Rias's dark side was something he doesn't want to see.
"Okay Shinji-san, thank you for today." She said her goodbyes as closed the door of her apartment. The teenager could hear from the other side of the door how a certain someone was receiving what appeared to be a scolding.
"Well, that's that." He said as he turned around and headed back home, he could feel how his body was beginning to give up after a long day.
As he walked down the street he grabbed his phone and started to search on his contact list, picking one and calling it. "Yeah, Rias? I finished the contract just now. I'll head back home. Yeah it wasn't what I expected to be honest. All right, see you tomorrow." He hung up and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Damn it's getting cold, I should've brought a sweater I guess".
As the night shone down on the teenager, another tiring day as a devil came to an end.
Author's Note
All right!
As always, read and review to your heart's content!
See you next chapter!