The Chaos that consumes the world
VIII
She'd let him go on his own, or might as well have done for all the help that was accompanying him out there into the city with literal monsters running around out there just ready to do whatever it was they wanted.
And she had let him wander off all by himself in a moment of weakness.
Not even a minute after he was out of sight and she was already debating the merits of darting after him and dragging him back just so she could sit him down and keep him in her line of sight, safe and secure coupled with the knowledge that nothing was going to happen to him. Logically, it was what she should have done. There were unknowns out there that she couldn't account for or even know and she was just letting him go off on his own.
She had been building up to it, the moment he came up to her and revealed that he had another vision she should have just kept him where he was. Every other time he had these flashes he would go charging off right into danger and then he'd come back bloody and beaten, and each time it broke a little something inside of her.
Romani, the man who might have been spooked by his own shadow on a bad day and was suddenly being thrust into situations where he could die. It was exactly the sort of thing she had wanted for him to avoid. Had tried so desperately for him to avoid it and there she was, just letting him do it right now.
At least with those other times, he did it when her back was metaphorically turned, she saw the aftermath and little else. She wasn't there for the…it.
This time was different though.
He'd looked her dead in the eye and told her exactly what he was going to do.
She'd seen in his eyes how scared he was, a man who probably knew himself what he was doing was incredibly risky and might end up with him getting hurt. Romani Archaman who avoided pain at very nearly all costs was now throwing himself into danger for the sake of the students at the school. Students who could rip doors off their hinges and throw cars with their minds - if they understood the right spells - were now having a man like Romani shield them from danger…
Because that was what he saw his job as.
They were teenagers, he was the adult.
That was all that he saw, time and time again, just a student in danger and he was doing the responsible thing of getting them out of it. She knew better, she knew that the Devils knew better…and yet it kept happening.
She could have stopped it.
It would have been terrifyingly easy to stop.
But she didn't.
Because it would have broken him if she made him stay behind.
So she let him go.
She let him walk right into danger, but at least this time she would know for a fact it was her own fault if he got hurt. That was fine, that was alright with her. She would be the one at fault if he went and got hurt now because she let him go off. All with the knowledge that she trusted him to be safe despite it, maybe that was all the difference that needed.
It didn't make her feel any less hollow inside though, that gnawing terror that something would happen.
A wry smirk came to her face, it was almost ironic, she had tried so hard to stop Romani feeling this way that she lied to him for so long and now she was the one petrified by the thought of the very worst happening to him.
Just as quickly as it had arrived, the smirk was banished from her face, a stray glance over her shoulder towards the Devils as they finished up their work, it had been slower progress for them than for her but still admirable for their age, she just had much more talent and experience on her side than they did. Nothing they could really do about it. Though that didn't matter as much as the fact they were out of earshot of her.
Her hand delved into her pocket once again, pulling out her phone and scrolling through the contacts until she found the one she was looking for. After a short pause, she closed her eyes and hit the call button, bringing the phone up towards her ear as it started to ring. Those faint hums felt as though they would go on forever, a risk to even make the call like this but it was the only thing she could think of at the time.
"Leo?" A somewhat tired voice on the other end, accompanied by a short yawn. "What are you doing calling me? It's gotta be pretty late in Japan at the moment-"
"I'm going to ask you something serious." She started speaking, opening her eyes and keeping her voice low. "And I want you to answer me honestly, alright? Nothing held back and nothing hidden from me. Because this is important, I need you to understand that…the risk I'm taking is enormous by even phoning you right now but I need…I need to know."
She was met with silence, the speaker on the other line could only be heard to breath in faint intervals before a shuffle was heard, she kept her breath steady as the speaker did an intake and then exhaled. "...Yes, I understand. Nothing held back. Ask away."
"...Do you or Azazel know what Kokabiel is doing right now?"
"Kokabiel? What does…" A short pause, the speaker groaned. "No one has spoken with him in at least a hundred years, well not anyone I know at least. He went off by himself and has been really quiet ever since…" another pause, Leona could tell that something changed on the other line, the tone of the woman turned more serious. "Why? What's happened?"
Leona paused, then glanced over her shoulder to the Devils once more, they weren't that close but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Hang on a second." She whispered over the line, stepping across the remains of the bounded field and giving herself some more protection, if they walked over to her it would at least alert her before they eavesdropped but it wouldn't do much in its current state. "I've got stolen Excaliburs here and agents of the Church, they're claiming that Kokabiel had stolen some Holy Swords and that he was working with Valper here of all places…Penny, I have a Burial Agent over here."
"A what!?" She pulled the phone away just in time, but still didn't fight back the flinch from the sudden scream of shock from over the line, looking left and right before returning the phone to her ear. "Yo-wha-Leo, you can't just drop this on me all of a sudden! You're telling me that Kokabiel is in Kuoh right now with Excaliburs?"
"Did you-"
"I didn't-" Another pause, Penemue took in another breath. "I promise you that I didn't know about that, everyone in the top brass knew about the Excaliburs being stolen but we didn't know who to pin the blame on and…look, Kokabiel was always a bit of a warmonger but we just…this is far beyond…Right, I can't speak for Azazel but I swear to you, I had no idea what was going on…And a Burial Agent? Are you hurt? Do they-"
"No." A sigh of relief was heard. "They don't know anything about me, at least I don't think they do. They're more focused on getting the Excaliburs back but then there's this…" a pause, she brought her hand up and rubbed at her temples. "There this other person with this bronze arm who is also hunting the Excaliburs I don't know about and then…did Kokabiel ever have a big collection of animal familiars?"
A pause.
"A collection of what?" Leona blinked at the confusion in their voice, then narrowed her eyes as she considered it. She sounded rather baffled by it, more than baffled she sounded downright floundered by the sentence. "No, Kokabiel only ever used other Grigori in his army…We're talking about a supremacist who believed in the power of Grigori first and foremost, the guy practically spat on people who used familiars…wait…what did this collection of animals look like?"
Leona blinked twice, then raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Just answer me Leo, please."
"...They were all dark with red eyes, why?"
Another pause, then a single sentence came from the other end. "I'm coming right over. Stay there."
She gaped, which lost her a few precious seconds. "You're what?" she almost hissed through the phone, stepping further away and lowering her voice further. "You can't come here! We've already got a Burial Agent and one of the Satan's knights here, combined with an apparently outcast Cadre, this goes wrong you could start up another war as well-"
"We lost the Vritra Sacred Gear to an animal attack. Well, it looked like an animal attack but we had what was apparently a swarm of shadow monsters or whatever rushed right through…whoever did it was good. I don't mean just good, I mean very good. We had to call in some favours that I can't talk about but they said that it was a single being spread across dozens of bodies…and it wasn't a Sacred Gear, there wasn't an ounce of divinity."
In any other situation, she might have found the time to be more worried about that sort of thing but that was news coupled with the announcement that she was about to come rushing over to perhaps the one spot in all the world right now where being a Fallen Angel was the very worst thing you could possibly be. "Right, that's worrying and all but-"
"Leo, this thing - whatever it is - attacked the Grigori outpost with a very specific style of magecraft." A pause, Leona froze as the words resounded through her mind. "Not the magic of Merlin, the Magecraft employed by those who followed the Teachings of Solomon and it's not a style that has been changed in those thousand years…Armaros looked at it and said it was a very specific brand which means that whomever did this…they're part of a long lineage of teacher and student."
Leona kept silent until she had finished, lowering her voice. "What lineage?"
Mages who kept their craft unchanged for so long did so for one of two reasons, the first being they just didn't have the resources to actually make improvements or the capability of it. Effectively, it would remain stagnant if the mage in question was rather useless or not the best when it came to research, otherwise it would make slow and steady progress. The alternative reason was far more concerning.
That being they had already achieved their purpose with their craft.
"...Armaros said he recognised it as the craft of Fabro Rowan."
"...There's no way."
"He'd never make a mistake like that-"
Leona hissed into the phone. "He vanished over a thousand years ago after another crackpot theory about Bounded Fields and absorbing lifeforms, not even the mages of the wandering sea were said to have theories so utterly insane as his own." she pointed to herself, not that the woman on the other end could see. "I'm inspired by certain things, I relish in the idea of innovation but even looking on the research notes that they were able to pull out of his ruined workshop a couple hundred years ago…what he was describing was impossible and he most likely died in the effort."
"And yet someone with his brand of magecraft and commanding a swarm of beasts rushed an outpost to get a Vritra based Sacred Gear and is now in Kuoh…what do these two things have in common?"
She knew.
She pieced it together.
"Dragons." It was a simple answer. "But the difference between a fragment of Vritra and Ddraig is absurd! It would be like a snake eating a baby mouse and then deciding to try and swallow an elephant whole for their next meal!" swinging her arm around, "Even if you got your hands on enough of Rowan's research notes to make the attempt, it would take decades and the best you could hope for is…well…just a large collection of bounded familiars-"
"Like the ones you encountered?" She paused at that, the connections and diversity were troubling. "Look, I'm not saying it's a descendant. Rowan had no family…I'm merely suggesting that someone was inspired and has now decided to try and complete the work. It happens more often than you'd like to think…But between trying to get our missing comrade back and dealing with Kokabiel's madness, it is more than enough reason for me to head out there…even without worrying about a friend caught up with Burial Agents."
She froze at that, then slowly loosened her posture and closed her eyes. "It's not the same as before…the Devils…well, you probably know that the Devil's know where I am now. But that's neither here nor there at the moment, this town is literally full of people who want nothing more than to kill Fallen Angels, nevermind that Excaliburs have been thrown into the mix." waving her arm, she paced around in a circle. "The Devils and Burial Agent won't care that you're not with Kokabiel, you're a Fallen Angel and even if I somehow convince the Devils not to kill you, the Burial Agent will."
"I said I was coming over. I didn't say I was asking for your permission."
The line went dead on the other end, Leona pulled the device from her ear and stared at it with wide eyes. There was absolutely no way she was truly going to come here, was there? It would be utter suicide for her to do so.
"What is it with people and being stupidly reckless around you?" Romani wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that question, all he could really offer was a small shrug of the shoulders and a puzzled grunt. "I don't mean any offence by it, Archaman-sensei, but lately I've noticed that a lot of people associated with the Occult Research Club have been doing some seriously risky stuff…"
Well, he couldn't fault Saji for that outlook, especially when he himself was one of those risky people now.
"Still…" The blonde moved his hand and scratched the side of his cheek, a small frown visible on his lips. "As long as it doesn't end up causing trouble for Kaichou, then I guess it's not really my problem?" they sounded rather confused about their own words for a second, then exhaled and shook their head from side to side. "No, it's still pretty stupid to me…still…to hear that you would suggest it in the first place is a really big surprise."
Romani winced at the reminder once again, the blonde might or might not have noticed it but he wasn't paying attention to them all that much. "Please don't remind me at the time, it just looked as though Rias-san and Sitri-san were worried about not being able to do a lot so I just came up with a suggestion on the spot…If I'd known this was where it might have ended up, I probably would have just kept my mouth shut or something."
A quiet scoff from the blonde, their arms folded over their chest. "I'm sure that the ORC would have probably ended up stumbling into it anyway, somehow…They might have ended up crossing the street and walking right into them, given the luck you all have with Fallen Angels." a pause, then they turned their head to the other person walking with them, their expression doing a near one eighty. "That wasn't anything against you, by the way, Asia-san. Just that your club is something a…I believe Kaichou would call them loose cannons?"
Romani blinked, not quite expecting the comparison and feeling the need to at least defend them. "They're not that bad, just that it looks like they're very passionate…besides, it looked as though that something might have happened either way…" he mumbled quietly, turning his head from the blonde and cupping his chin. Seeing the way Kiba acted there, it was apparent he would have just run off with or without the suggestion.
Maybe it was better that Issei and Koneko were with him but that didn't make it any less appealing to him.
Saji levelled him with a raised brow, then offered a single shrug of his shoulders. "If you say so, though to think that I would have to run away to save the Handsome Prince of Kuoh and a member of the pervert trio…" the teen sounded utterly baffled by his own sentence, he looked at it as well. "Definitely some weird things you do for the Student Council, good things, but still weird."
That addendum sounded hasty, like he was trying to cover his tracks.
"Sorry that you're getting caught up in all of this." He addressed the teen, grimacing ever so slightly. In truth, he was here to try and get students out of danger and now he was leading them right into danger. All things considered, he would say he was acting against his initial wishes, despite how often Saji had tried to say otherwise.
As expected, the young blonde sent him a carefree smile and waved their hand "Think nothing of it, Archaman-Sensei. This is just the sort of responsibility that comes with being a member of the student council." jerking a thumb into their chest, they continued on with a proud smile. "Kaichou always says that our diligence should extend to the whole school, not just that of the student body."
A beat.
"...She normally says that before someone chases you down though, normally for something…" Trailing off, the boy leaned towards him and dropped his voice into an almost conspiratorial whisper. "I genuinely have to ask, did you seriously use the ventilation to hide sweets? Kaichou wouldn't say and I didn't want to keep bothering her about it."
He could feel the rather pointed gaze of Asia being levelled upon him now, chancing a glance he saw that she was giving him a look that wasn't quite disapproving as much as it was concerned. Furrowed brows and a slightly lowered lip, she was just waiting for his answer.
"...Toujou-san kept stealing them from my drawers." He defended, though it sounded rather weak to him.
The effect was immediate, Saji was staring at him as though he'd grown a second head and now Asia was just looked even more confused. He wasn't prepared for either of them, especially not when the teenage girl opened her mouth and started to question him. "Were you handing out sweets to the student body, Roman? I thought…" a moment passed, the confusion only deepened as she turned her eyes down. "...I've never heard of a Devil being tempted before, I thought it was the other way around."
He needed to nip this in the bud.
"I wasn't tempting her." He quickly interrupted before the two could come up with any conclusions. "She was literally stealing from me and kept finding them wherever I hid them, so I just came up with more imaginative solutions which I thought would work…" he trailed off, his shoulders slumped as he remembered his first failure. "...Then she found them anyway, which made the whole thing pointless…so I started storing sweets which I knew were her favourite and hoped she'd be satisfied with just eating those."
Saji blinked twice, then raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose. "The more I hear about you guys, the more concerned I get…" a low groan escaped him as he pulled his hand away. "No wonder Kaichou worries so much about what you guys are doing…"
All he could offer was a wry smile and a shrug of the shoulders, he was starting to feel a little bad about all of it now.
With a shake of the head, Saji rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the street, deftly avoiding walking into another pedestrian. "Anyway, whereabouts was this hotel you said they were heading for? I don't really come into this part of Kuoh all that often."
"Neither do I." He admitted, shrugging his shoulders and he knew that Asia went without saying. "But I got some directions to get there so we should be there before they arrive, hopefully to ward them away in case it is something…"
Because of course it was going to be something.
He never got nice visions.
Raising his hand, he pointed up ahead of them. "It shouldn't be too far now, just a couple more turns and then-oh, sorry about that."
Just as he rounded a corner, he stopped walking to avoid bumping into the person coming from the other way.
"No, the fault was mi-"
They stopped speaking.
Romani felt himself lock up.
The speaker turned and looked him dead in the eyes.
"...Ah."
They remained silent.
Swallowing the lump that was building up in his throat, he shakily raised a hand and waved it from side to side in greeting, feeling a rather nervous smile spread across his face, one which only grew as their stone faced expression bore into his own. "H-hey…going for a late night stroll? That's nice…"
Still nothing.
He cleared his throat, silently pointing around them as he did so, taking a single step to follow. "W-well, we'll just be-"
A hand clasped around his arm before he could so much as manage a single step, he froze once again at the grip which - while it wasn't tight - was firm enough to indicate that they could stop him from leaving at any given time. From behind him he heard the muttered whimper of Asia followed by a near silent curse from Saji but nothing else, meanwhile his own eyes dropped down to where he was being grabbed and then slowly raised them to his captor.
Soon joined by two others, both of whom were looking at him with far more emotion than the lead figure, expressions of distrust and thinly veiled disgust. He winced once again and broke line of sight with them, feeling a little uneasy about all of it. The hairs on the back of his neck soon standing up.
"Where would you be heading to at this time of night, on this specific street?"
He rose his eyes once again, their voice was firm but not wholly unkind just yet, though he noticed they'd kept their eyes solely upon himself as they spoke. It didn't even look as though they had so much as glanced in the direction of the other two.
"...We're looking for someone who might be heading into trouble." He didn't have much of a reason to lie and he wasn't much of a liar in the first place. Thus he answered rather plainly to the navy haired woman, whose eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the answer. A demand for an elaboration went unspoken. Slowly, he nodded his head up and down. "They are a Devil, yes."
"And do you know why they are in this section of the town?"
"...Probably for the same reason as you." He muttered with a shake of the head, this was turning into a rather dire situation all by itself. Though they had at least made it clear they weren't about to do anything rather sinister or murderous to them for the time being, so that removed some of the danger he felt. He sighed, feeling his heart start to speed up all the same. "Look, we're just here to get them and then get them back, nothing else…not getting in your way or anything."
The ones behind her let out a small scoff, whereas the woman - Bow - remained silent for what felt like years before she eventually replied to him. "Even if it was your intention to speak truly, I have no reason to trust the word of Devils or those who sympathise with them." her grip on her arm tightened enough that it became uncomfortable. "Go. Now."
"No."
…
What?
What!?
Why did he say something that stupid!?
"Not yet." He hastily added on when he swore he saw a flash of something pass through the eyes of the woman. "Not without the people I'm looking for first, look…Devil or not, they're students and I'm the school nurse. So I need to make sure they're safe. Now…that's all we're here for, just to grab them and get them out of here before they do something reckless, alright?"
He raised his free hand in a shaky motion, they didn't so much as spare it a glance.
"That's all we're here for, nothing else! So you can fight to your heart's content but just…" He cringed, then slumped his shoulders. "Just…at least let me get them out of the way first."
The silence spanned years, or might as well have done, he felt the full weight of his actions come crashing down on top of his head, not at all helped by the intense stare being levied towards him. Bow looked as though she was seconds away from trying to see through his skin or something, like she had x-ray vision.
Seconds ticked past, sweat started to form on his brow the longer the woman held his gaze.
The grip on his arm vanished.
"Retrieve your allies and begone from our sight as swiftly as you can."
He blinked at them, feeling the weight abruptly vanish, he was definitely expecting her to say no.
And it quickly became clear he wasn't the only one, the surprised expressions from the teens behind her spoke volumes as to what they were expecting as well.
"Stop standing and start moving. I will not wait forever."
"Ah, yes!" With that, he started to move and heard the others following along behind him, keeping his pace a bit quicker before Saji joined him, a distant look in the eyes of the blonde and a rather hazy expression on his face, as though he was sleep walking or something like that. He frowned lightly and moved a hand in front of them, waving it up and down and getting nothing in the way of a response.
Saji remained totally unresponsive.
Asia by the side of the teen looked similarly-
…Wait. If Asia was there, then who was walking by his other side?
Slowly turning his head around to face his left, he found himself staring at the blank face of the navy haired woman once again. Another glance revealed the rather sour face pair walking behind them, his brows pinched as he whipped around to face the woman once again, opening his mouth to speak to them-
"I am ensuring you live up to your pledge."
His jaw clamped shut, the question died in his throat as he brought his head around. He got the sneaking suspicion that there was something else that would have gone on at the end of that sentence and it wasn't all that friendly.
It was probably for the best that Leona never find out about this from any of them, he spared a glance down the line once more and cringed rather heavily at the results now that he knew the cause of them, though his gaze lingered on Asia for the longest of them, she was staring right down with pale sunken features, he caught her tripping over her feet twice and then flinching like she was struck each time she did so.
Utterly mortified.
Issei figured things would have been challenging, but when they finally arrived it was all he could do to stop himself from tackling the blonde to the ground and wrestling them back. It went above and beyond reckless right into something that he would have done, that was how bad it was approaching.
Fortunately, Kiba seemed as though he was starting to see reason.
"...Fine." The words sounded forced to him, the strain on the blonde's face did nothing to detract from that.
"Fine…call Buchou and tell her it might be a lead…if that will make you feel better, but I'm going on ahead."
Issei nodded his head, at least they were finally-
The rest of the sentence registered in his mind a second later, he froze on the spot and then stepped forwards, bringing a hand out towards his fellow Devil, already the argument on the tip of his tongue by the time the blonde turned around. "Hang on, shouldn't we call Buchou and then-"
Kiba didn't seem as though he'd even heard him, or if he did then he clearly wasn't interested in hearing anymore.
Gritting his teeth, Issei fought down the urge to stamp his foot and loudly curse out the blonde for being stubborn, sparing a glance at Koneko by his side, he watched her own features tighten in clear disapproval of the situation as well, at least he had some support when it came to how Kiba was acting, that would make it all the easier for when they dragged him back.
Then she froze.
Issei blinked as she visibly locked up, her pupils dilated and her posture tightened immediately, a quiet sniff reached his ears as her nose twitched ever so slightly, almost invisible to him. His brows furrowed at the clearly spooked Koneko, stepping around and leaning towards her with his concern painted on his features, the fact she didn't so much as blink when he was in her face sent alarm bells through his head.
"Hey, Kiba?" Issei called out behind him towards where the blonde was marching away to. "I think Koneko-chan smells something bad! We should probably turn around and-"
He brought himself about and similarly locked up on the spot, it was at the turn in not too far from them, really it was the little join where the main road peeled away into some side turn, that was all it was. There was nothing at all special about it and there was no real warning that was given.
Which was why he found himself more than a little baffled when Romani stepped out from around the corner and then snapped his gaze onto him, the visible relief that shot through the face of the man was apparent, they rose a hand and waved to him with a nervous smile, Issei would have returned the gesture if he hadn't seen who exactly was accompanying the school nurse.
His eyes peeled away from the man and right to the forefront of the blue haired woman by his side, she didn't so much as spare him even a single glance, merely gazed in his general direction without saying anything and then looking towards where Kiba was mid-step, the blonde similarly froze up and stared with clear disbelief written across his features.
"Hey…" Romani started speaking, a rather strained tone of voice as he moved forwards once again. "So…how is-"
"This banter is pointless." The woman turned on them with a sharp glare, one that had Romani flinch and look down towards his shoes to avoid it, though that brought them no respite as the woman maintained her glare upon the nurse. "Your devil allies are here, take them and leave before my patience runs dry."
And like that, she moved past the man and to the two stooges who accompanied her, muttering in a voice so low that not even he could hear them.
Issei felt his eyes linger on the woman for a moment, then slowly but surely drew them towards the nurse.
There was nothing that could really compute what happened, it barely even occurred to him that the man had any other company beyond the death nun and her squad when he caught a look of Saji rapidly approaching him with an expression a mixture of terror and fury, the nervous glances they shot over their back and the hastening steps told him it was probably the both of them.
"Wh-"
He wasn't even able to get a word out before Saji was upon him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and dragging him forwards until they were nearly nose to nose, the blonde already hissing at him with barely concealed terror. "If I ever have to walk down the same street as a Burial Agent for you, I'm going to kill myself first and leave you to it. Understand?"
All he could do was blink dumbly at the student, clearly not what they were looking for as they started to shake him back and forth. "You think I'm joking? You know how hard it was to not shit myself when she just strolled around the corner? I had to walk with her less than three feet away from me!?"
It was an insane ramble.
"You ever see those old movies where some guy gets tied to train tracks?" They dragged him forwards and slammed their forehead into his own, not hard enough to really hurt but enough that he was staring into the eyes of the blonde. "I was the guy on the tracks!"
"What the hell are you even talking about?" Issei blurted out the first thing that came to mind as he took in the ramble, it was unhinged, sure it seemed scary but he was more baffled as to how exactly something like this had happened in the first place. "And get the heck off me anyway." a growled, pulling the hands off him and stepping out of reach in case they tried the same thing again, they didn't but it looked for a moment as though they were going to.
"Why are you eve-" He cut himself short, eyes widening as he turned onto Romani once more.
The nervous flickering of the looks, the fact he was pointedly glancing over his shoulder at the hotel and the tension as though he was waiting for something to blow up. For anyone else, they might have assumed that it was a result of all these different people who didn't like each other. But Issei felt himself a little more knowledgeable and suddenly he found himself more willing to put up with the assholes who were rude to Asia.
Speaking of which…
His eyes moved onto the blonde girl as she ducked around behind him, he heard a light shuddering breath before she fell forwards, catching her hands on her knees and then panting, acting as though she held her breath the entire way here, from how red in the face she was, he actually thought she might have done that.
"We're here because Mrs Archaman had some familiars out telling us you were doing stupid shit." Saji hissed, then winced and glanced towards the direction of the exorcist trio once more, visibly shaking as though waiting for them to do something.
Issei gave the guy a flat look and then rolled his eyes.
"So Buchou and Shitori-Kaichou want us back?" It was a fairly obvious guess and Saji could not have nodded his head fast enough, almost as though it was a blur and the teen was trying to launch it off the top of his body. Issei leaned back a little and then grunted, giving a single nod of his own and then turning to Koneko with a smile he didn't feel was all there. "Well, I'm convinced. Lets just grab Kiba and then-"
He had been fully intending to say leave.
Because there was no way that even Kiba would have done something so stupid as to try and stay.
"You might as well draw that cursed piece of slag now, because I'm not leaving."
Reality loved to punch him in the face.
Issei felt the smile slide off his face in real time, his head snapped in the direction of Kiba and his eyes widened like saucers, he wasn't sure what expression Koneko was making but he was sure it was a similar one to his own, because he was staring at Kiba glaring down the super exorcist with his arms folded.
Compared to his staunch declaration, the woman didn't even so much as blink at him, giving him all the attention one would give to a slightly loud child who had walked up to them in the middle of the street.
"I do not believe you appreciate the chance you have been granted." The woman spoke slowly, blinking in an equally lethargic manner, still with her arms folded behind her back. "And I am not going to argue this point with you."
It was almost casual, Issei felt his heart rate spike.
"Kiba!" He called out to his fellow Devil, already moving forwards with his hand raised "I think that this would be a good time to-"
"You can leave if you want." Kiba turned on him with a blank expression, no almost carefree. Offering a shrug as though he wasn't doing anything wrong in the least. His attention returned to the navy haired woman, his gaze hardening in what was clearly one of resolute determination. "But I came here for the head of Valper and I'm not leaving without it. The only way you're going to stop me is if you kill me."
Silence fell between the two of them for a few seconds, the pair behind the woman looked ready to react but kept themselves at bay.
As for the woman herself, she just cocked her head to the side, saying nothing.
Issei blinked.
Was she in two places at once-?
Kiba's legs bent the wrong way, the eyes of the blonde bulged out and his mouth opened up ready to scream.
A noise like a gunshot rang through the streets, a visible ball of air snapped around the head of the teen and his nose was suddenly bending in a very ugly direction.
Then his eyes rolled back and he dropped down, in the same instant his head snapped backwards as though it had been struck, Issei stepped back and let out a faint noise, he didn't even see the woman do anything, for a second she looked to be in two places at once and then-
The version of her that was around Kiba faded away into nothing as though it was an illusion.
Kiba fell like a rock then stopped, held upright by the woman clutching her hand around his hair, her expression unchanging. With an almost lazy toss, she flung the unconscious Kiba towards them like he weighed nothing.
No one said a word.
No one even made a single sound.
Issei just stared at the crippled and unconscious blonde lying face down in front of him, blinking repeatedly as he tried to comprehend what had happened in the millisecond it had taken for the teen to end up like that. He kept drawing up blanks, the woman had been in two places at once for only a second - like watching a blur of a photo - and then Kiba was out cold and being held up by his hair.
What happened?
What the hell happened!?
"What was that?" He stilled, slowly turning his head to the side at the quiet demand, then took a step to the right as though trying to get some distance.
He'd never actually seen Romani angry before, or even a little frustrated.
Looking at him now…it was just strange, seeing the glare in his eyes.
"I said I would allow you to retrieve your allies." The woman responded back with a mild frown of her own, not even looking in the direction of the nurse and instead keeping her gaze down onto her hands, looking them over as though trying to find something, he wasn't sure what. "And that I would not tolerate an intervention into my mission. He insisted on pushing the matter and I responded."
"By doing that!?"
"Remind him that I was merciful." It was nothing more than casual indifference. She didn't even care who Kiba was or what she had just done to him, he doubted she even actually got a good look at his face, she flicked something out from beneath her fingernails and frowned after a moment, already turning away to walk towards the hotel, joined by her allies.
It made his blood boil with how she acted, as though Kiba was less than trash in her eyes, he took a half step forwards before he managed to rain himself back, even without that he found an arm lowered to block his path, pausing and staring at it for a moment before shooting a look at the owner of the limb. "But she just-"
"I'm not going to let you suffer worse." Romani responded back through gritted teeth, closing his eyes after a moment and then lowering his head, the pain on his expression made him pause and glance to the side. "Not any of you…just…lets just tend to Kiba-san right now and then we can worry about all of this later. Please."
The urgency in his voice was enough, Issei nodded and then turned around, dropping down and flipping Kiba over onto his back, pausing for a moment as he took in the damage to the face and then cringing at it.
"Shit."
The curse under his breath, their eyes were still open, looking up at the sky as though he was awake and conscious, yet there was just something about the empty gaze that was off putting.
Combined with the nose already split and bleeding rather heavily now, to say nothing of what had been done to the legs, he was purposely avoiding looking below the belt for that reason, he'd heard the sound, like snapping dry pasta.
"Oh no…" The cracked whisper of Romani was soon followed by the nurse himself appearing, spinning around to look over Kiba with a thoroughly mortified expression on his face; it lasted for only a few seconds before they brought their head up and looked past them to someone else.
Issei figured it would have been Asia, without prompt from any of them the glow started to encompass the unconscious Devil, the nose gently returned to its proper place with the blood flowing back to where it was supposed to be, though he kept his eyes away from the legs he could hear the shuffling of clothes from where they were obviously being healed.
Though he didn't think they would be waking up for a while, that was probably for the best.
"At the risk of sounding repetitive." Issei found his words spilling forth without a filter, staring down at the unconscious Kiba and then to the others. "I really think we should leave now and let them duke it out against one another…okay?"
As expected, no one offered anything against his suggestion.
Being right never felt so scary.
"Who is going to pick up-" Koneko had Kiba in her arms before he could even finish his point, the words sputtered out in his throat, bringing a fist up to his mouth and clearing it for a moment. "Well…I'll just phone Buchou now and let her know what happened…tell her everyone is alright and all that."
He spared a glance at Romani and paused for a moment, a frown made it's way onto his face.
They had a distant look in their eyes, almost as though they weren't seeing anything happening in front of them.
Then a hiss escaped their lips, their hand flew up and clasped the front of their face and they staggered backwards. It took Issei all of a second to realise what the problem was, his eyes widened and he shot a look at the others, thankfully they were all to busy trying to make an escape to realise what the nurse was doing, so he quickly ducked forwards and took the arm of the man, leading him a good distance away before coming to a halt.
"Roman-sensei! This is a really bad time for-"
His warning died in his throat, Romani fell forwards with his hands landing on Issei's shoulders with a loud smack, their breathing erratic as they stared deep into the eyes of the school nurse.
"T-they're going to die."
Issei blinked twice, then cocked his head to the side, trying and failing to understand what he was talking about. Then his brows shot up as he realised what the man meant, and who exactly 'they' were supposed to be. His head whipped around and stared towards the retreating figures of the exorcists, his brows furrowed as he watched the leader just walk through the glass door like it wasn't there, yet he didn't hear a single sound of shattering glass.
Discarding that for now, he turned back to the nurse and moved his hands up, supporting them to stop the man from falling over. Grimacing as he did so. "...You saw?"
A shaky nod of the head, the petrified man didn't say a single word.
Issei felt his face tighten up like a lemon in that one moment, "You're absolutely-"
The grip on his shoulders tightened further, it was answer enough for his question and one that he knew without a shadow of a doubt would likely end up dictating his next set of actions.
He could see where Romani was going with this, it was impossible for him to not see where the man was going to go with this. His hesitance must have shown on his face as the nurse's brows furrowed ever so slightly, a look of confusion washed over his face, tilting his head to the side before shaking it and moving to let go of him.
"After what they did to Kiba?" He growled out, it was freshly burned in his mind, the sounds and the injuries. The casual indifference of it all, it really pissed him off. "After the way they treated him? Really?"
Romani stared back at him, offering nothing by way of response, merely a conflicted grimace and twitch of the brow. "...They don't deserve to die, Issei-kun."
Issei tightened his grip on the arms of the man, stopping him from moving. He closed his eyes before he could make contact with Romani's own, that was for the best because he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to look them in the eye. Maybe it was his lingering bias against them or maybe he was just pissed at the way they treated everyone, but he found himself not all that inclined to do much of anything right now.
"...We'd die too, no offence." He argued quietly, because that was what he was hearing.
The burial agent or whatever that everyone was absolutely petrified of, that he had just watched knock Kiba out in less than a second, was going to die according to Romani and that was the future that was going to happen. He didn't know how it was - he hadn't asked - but all he knew was that if they went in after them, they would all end up dead as well. It wasn't even in doubt for him.
If they went in, they would all die.
His eyes opened, he grimaced at the look on the face of the nurse, but he went on. "And even if we warned them, why would they even believe either of us in the first place? They've made it clear what they think about us…no offence." he remarked with a wince, though it was equally aimed towards them as well, given that Romani had looked just as uncomfortable around them.
"They're assholes."
Romani continued to stare.
"Really nasty assholes…"
He argued again, a little weaker under the look of the nurse.
"...And I'd feel like a sack of shit if I left them alone…" His shoulders slumped, really from the moment Romani even brought it up in the first place, there was no way he was going to be able to ignore it. Chances were that after that Kokabiel guy killed them, he was probably going to kill everyone else as well or something.
That was how he imagined these things would go at least.
Beyond that…he wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, at least.
All he really knew was that if he left them alone to die, then he would feel like trash for ages, probably forever. He'd be trash as well.
All he said about them being assholes and he was seriously considering just leaving them high and dry?
His arms fell to his side, releasing Romani in the process, and clenching his hands into fists. Air escaped from between his teeth in a quiet hiss, palms rubbing against the front of his face as he turned away from the nurse and groaned loudly, whipping his arms away sharply and feeling the urge to kick something. Delving his hand into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and brought it up to his ear, having already hit the speed dial for the contact.
"Issei?"
"Buchou, listen…" He paused for a moment, wondering how he was supposed to phrase this next bit, but then clicked his tongue. "We think we found where Kokabiel is currently hiding, the exorcists are there as well but it…it's in the middle of the town, near the hotel district. The big tower one that's really expensive-"
"S-slow down a moment Issei, give me a moment here." He obeyed, shutting his lips and waiting patiently for a reply. The seconds ticked past as he heard shuffling from the other end, the sound of scratching before a light exhale. "Alright, I will inform Vlov and he will be there shortly to keep an eye on things-"
"Just…" Issei paused for a moment, figuring out how to phrase the next part, he glanced to his left and found Romani staring down at him with a tense expression, almost pleading. "...What do we do if it looks like the exorcists are going to lose?"
There was a beat of silence from the other end.
Then a slow reply.
"...I doubt it would come to that but…any threat that could defeat a Burial Agent is one we are not equipped to deal with and…nevermind that, you've done…you've done good work in letting me know, Issei." He heard the relief in her voice, he winced ever so slightly as he recalled that he would have to explain what happened to Kiba in the first place, he moved his hand up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, fighting back a throbbing headache.
"...Kiba is out cold." He blurted out, a faint gasp on the other end. "He mouthed off to the scary exorcist and she beat him up. He's alive though! Asia healed him up!"
More silence.
"I see."
He shuddered at the phantom chill that shot up his spine, she was definitely angry, he could feel it radiating through the phone. He really hoped that it wasn't aimed at him, however, because he wasn't sure he wanted to be on the receiving end of that. Actually, he knew he really didn't want to. It wasn't like Mrs Archaman but it was still enough to give him the shivers.
"Thank you for telling me. Vlov will be along shortly. Get home quick Issei."
"Quick as I can." He replied, then hung up and pocketed the phone once more. "...She said anyone who could kill a Burial Agent is someone who is too strong for us…and we would be in serious trouble so…" he brought his hand up, rubbing the underside of his chin before he closed his eyes and slumped his head forwards. "...Yeah…exorcist getting saved by a devil, huh? Sounds like the start of a bad joke…how do we save them anyway?"
He looked at Romani, cracking open a single eye.
A nervous look and a shrug of the shoulders was his response.
"...Figures." He grumbled lightly to himself.
Another wince was upon him, he turned around and saw the expectant faces of those behind him; Koneko, Asia and Saji who were doubtless all waiting for him to come up with the news that he had gotten from Buchou, he took in a deep breath before offering an easy going smile and waving a hand. "So I just got off the phone with Buchou, I gave her a quick rundown of what was going on and then told her where we currently are."
The words settled for a moment, then he continued onwards. "She said she was going to tell the Vlov guy and that he would be overly shortly. I don't know how short but…yeah…" bringing up his hand, he rubbed the back of his head and let out a faint breath as he did so. "You guys can go on ahead and take Kiba back to recover, I'm going to hang around until he shows up in case something happens or whatever…"
Another pause, this time with furrowed brows, a shaky smile came onto his face. "I'm not going to try and fight them, if you're worried about that, I learned my lesson from last time about being an idiot but…uh…yeah, that's pretty much it." a beat, then he raised a finger and pointed to his right side. "Ah, Roman-sensei offered to wait around with me as well, just so I wasn't lonely or something like that. I think he was just a little worried after what happened to Kiba."
The nurse didn't say anything but he could feel the gaze of the man fall onto him.
Saji visibly deflated, his hands moved up to cradle his head. "So I can leave now? Thank hell for that…this was the worst night of my entire life…" the grumble was barely audible, their hands came down and revealed their dishevelled look to the world. "I'm going for a long nap when I get back home, this is something stupid…hope Kiba recovers though."
"Eh, he's got Asia looking out for him, way I see it, there's no way he wouldn't end up getting better by tomorrow." Issei felt a smile blossom on his face, one that lacked any hint of nervousness to it, shooting a look to the blonde girl as she flushed bright red and looked down, clearly a little on the spot with the compliment. Tough, she was going to get those compliments forever, she damn well deserved them.
Then his eyes moved to Koneko, her gaze was narrowed, amber orbs flickering between himself and Romani several times, she didn't say anything but he felt the sweat start to build up on the back of his neck, a feeling as though she had seen right through him started to settle in his gut, then just as quickly she exhaled and shook her head from side to side.
"Don't stay too long, Issei-senpai." She remarked simply, Issei would have said it sounded like concern if she didn't add on the next part. "Buchou would be troubled if you got hurt."
Yeah, he figured that would have been it.
"Not planning on being around here any longer than I need to be." Bringing up a hand, he jerked a thumb into his chest and offered a lopsided smirk, one that actually felt horrible to wear, especially as he knew what he was going to be doing after this. Because if Buchou knew what it was, then she was definitely going to be furious with him for reasons that would be entirely justified.
"You can count on that."
"Hmm." With only a single hum, Koneko turned around and started to walk away.
"When you see Leo, can you tell her that I'll be back as soon as possible?" Romani called out towards Asia, offering his own two cents. Asia looked as though she was going to say something, perhaps offering the chance to stay, but Romani shook his head from side to side. "I'd feel a lot better if you were back with her, to be honest…not that I'm feeling worried around here but…I'm just a little on edge still. Some distance between you and the…exorcists would be good."
Asia's expression twitched, a frown fell upon her features before she looked down and nodded her head, then brought it back up with a smile. "Don't stay out too long, Roman. Leona would be very upset if something happened, it would be very rude to worry her like that."
"...Yep."
Yikes.
Romani looked like he was going to vomit.
Good thing Asia had already turned around and broke into a light jog to catch up with the others, leaving the two of them stood alone in the street with nothing else for it but the path ahead of them.
The one that was amazingly stupid.
"...We're colossal idiots, aren't we?"
"...Probably." Romani didn't even argue the point, sounding rather tired. "...Yo-"
He knew what the man was going to say before he even said it, turning to him and folding his arms. "I am not leaving you alone out here, Roman-sensei. I've dealt with one stubborn idiot tonight and I'm definitely not going to deal with another…the one who occupies that spot is supposed to be me anyway, when you guys do it, everyone gets worried."
Romani offered a weak smile. "Want to hear the rest of the vision?"
Issei slowly nodded his head up and down. "Might as well, right? How much time do you think we have anyway?"
With that, the face of Romani shifted into clear discomfort. "...Not long."
"No time to waste then, eh?"