Chapter 12 : Joyeuse
Two days later, when I had officially given up on the Devils getting off their asses anytime soon, it happened.
I met them.
Or, rather, circumstances forced them to meet me.
All according to keikaku, as they say.
I lightly touch down on my building's rooftop after another late afternoon/early evening spent sparing with the world's most dangerous plushie, a happy pep in my steps, shrugging with practiced ease the feeling of blue that reappears as one of the Devils' familiar gets a bead on myself back. Or so I think it is, I don't really care much at this point.
I have reasons to, after all! I managed to consistently reach eight successful stomps during my Shave training today! I still got my ass handed to me afterward, but that did very little to diminish my good mood.
"Don't go getting a big head, girl." As if he can read my mind, the Red Plushie Emperor sniffs imperiously while unhooking himself off my back, "You still have a long way to go."
"Oh, I know!" I answer enthusiastically, "But that's what makes it all the more-"
"Foooouuuunnnndddd yoooouuuu~." A voice hisses oddly from nearby, making me pause.
Almost as if its owner had waited for this exact moment, they amble-crawls from behind a nearby air vent, giving me a view of their previously hidden body-
-and I almost feel like snickering.
"Such a delicious smell, such a strong soul~." The naked centaur-look-alike woman coos as we lock eyes, her tongue darting out of her lips in relish, "I'm going to feel so full once I've eaten you~."
Contrary to her expectations, my lips curl up.
"Oh, you are just what I needed for my next experiment!" I tell her with obvious cheer.
By the time she registers my words, I'm already in her face, my fist solidly planted in her stomach.
From his seat in the Occult Research Club, Kiba Yuuto halts his previous motion, and slowly sits back down to watch what is going to happen next through the eyes of his familiar, the Knight now firmly assured that the person of interest isn't in urgent need of help.
The blonde teenager remains silent for the very short duration of the battle, making notes of everything he can. When the extremely one-sided skirmish ends, he pauses for a short moment as he takes a couple seconds to recapitulate everything to himself before curtly nodding and rising once again.
Decisively, he makes his way out of his little office before walking in the direction of the club's main room, only pausing to do his habitual three beats knock, before opening the door.
His eyes quickly roam around the club room, taking its current occupants in.
As luck would have it, tonight is the day of his King and Sitri-sama weekly meeting, like every wednesday since they started residing in the human world and overseeing Kuoh Town. So Yuuto isn't surprised in the least when he sees Sona and her Queen facing his own King and Queen around the low table, Koneko discreetly nibbling on a platter of cookie on a nearby lazy boy.
He makes a mental note that his peer and kouhai both, the new Pawn of his King, isn't present, which probably means that he is away on a contract at the moment.
Yuuto wishes him luck, the first ones are always the hardest. It took him a while to understand that he was allowed to ask for his King's help when something was beyond his own means.
"-heard that the Astaroth scion will be prosecuted, is it true?" His King, Rias Gremory, asks her childhood friend and rival, a cup of tea elegantly held in her hand and her legs crossed while her eyes look intently on her own peer.
"It is true, I'm afraid." Sona Sitri answers while mechanically hiking her glasses up her nose, her own cup of tea held just as elegantly and nobly as his King, "Though the judgment will not be held in public. The matter is too sensitive. My sister let slip that he was found in violation of the peerage laws, multiple times over. He faces execution at best, and getting exiled in the pits while being stripped of his magic at worst."
"A death sentence all the same." Akeno hums consideringly, a little sadistic glint in her eyes that the Knight ignores with practiced ease as he steps closer to the low-table.
"The Satans cannot allow themselves to be found too lenient in this particular case." Tsubaki chimes in, her pose just as impeccable as the others, "After all, he is family of the Beelzebub."
"Poor Ajuka…" Yuuto's King sighs emphatically, taking a sip of her tea to settle her nerves, "I hope that he won't be too torn on this."
Sensing his opening, the Knight steps next to the low-table while making a little, short cough to signal that he has something to say.
"Yes, Kiba-kun?" His King, bless her heart, instantly turns on him with two big, curious bright blue eyes.
"My apologies for interrupting your meeting, my ladies." The blonde smiles disarmingly at the crowd, before adopting a more serious mien, "There's been a development."
"A development?" The Princess of Destruction blinks in askance after echoing his words, before realizing what he means, "Ah, is this about the French girl?"
"It is about Marie-Charlotte Linlin, yes." The Knight nods, before adding to the benefits of his King's guests, "It was my turn to observe her tonight."
"For all of her talk, the girl is unusually boring to spy on." His Queen huffs petulantly, making the crimson headed Devil at her side titter in good humor, "Her routine is always the same. She wakes up, goes to school, leaves early since she doesn't have a club, flies away to supposedly train in the wilderness with the help of her golem, then spends the evening at her home, no variations."
"Until now." The Sitri heiress points out while minutely tilting her head toward Yuuto.
"Until now." The Knight echoes with another nod, every pair of eyes now solidly planted on him, "Someone was waiting for her when she returned from her daily flight. A Stray Devil, from what I can tell."
That brings everyone to a pause.
"Is she alright?"/"Is she in contact with them?" In his own opinion, the distressed question out of his King lips contrasts rather nicely with the cool inquiry of her counterpart.
It also shows why he'll never trade Rias Gremory for anyone else, no matter the benefits offered.
"She was unscathed by the end of the… Battle." Yuuto is still rather hesitant to call what he witnessed just that, admittedly, "The Stray Devil chooses, foolishly, to reveal herself to the person of interest, which didn't exactly end up well for her. After a few sentences were traded, the person of interest engaged the Stray Devil." A pause, "Calling it a fight would be a misnomer, this was more akin to an execution."
"The plushie. Strong." Koneko mumbles through a mouthful of cookies, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"And she managed to make it stronger ten or so days ago." Akeno points out, "Guess that her golem has some punch in it."
"As a matter of fact, the golem didn't engage the battle, the person of interest did." Yuuto corrects the misunderstanding, earning more than a couple bewildered looks his way, "She chose to close the distance between the Stray Devil and her, moving almost as fast as a High Class Knight, before beating her opponent in close combat with her fists. Her strength is apparently high enough to shatter bones in one hit."
The silence that falls in the middle of the Occult Research Club's main room following the Knight's explanation is a rather poignant one.
"Do you mean to say…" His Queen is the first to get her bearings back, even if she appears to be just as bewildered as the rest of the lot.
"That she appears to be a close-combat specialist? Yes." The blonde nods curtly, "Her technique is aggressive, a little haphazard even, more instinctive than trained if I have to give a guess, but she certainly doesn't fight like a mage." A pause, shortened by his King making a little gesture in his direction for him to continue, "Once she had the Stray Devil at her mercy, she then did something that I can't quite understand, and pulled some kind of pink, gaseous substance out of her body, which quickly withered into a dry husk. Then, she promptly left the scene in the direction of her apartment while talking with her golem. That's all I have to report."
Yuuto nods once more, before making his way to stand behind his King while the rest of the room digests his report.
"... I am officially a bit lost." The Sitri Heiress admits after a beat, her lips pursed in distaste, "I was expecting for us to deal with a mage, once we finally managed to get a preliminary report from Grabauzer."
"Either them or the Golden Dawn." Her own Queen adds, annoyance visibly shared with her King.
"Maybe they weren't brushing us off." The other Queen in the room posits, "Maybe they simply didn't understand our request because who we thought was a trained magician never was one in the first place?"
"That doesn't explain her magic level, though." The Princess of Destruction voices aloud, her head tilted to the side, before her eyes widen enthusiastically, "Oh! Maybe she has some kind of Sacred Gear?"
"After the luck the both of us had in that regard this month? Perish the thought." The Sitri heiress answers flatly.
… It is true that both peerages ended up having the oddest kind of luck with Hyoudou Issei and Genshirou Saji.
Two previously undocumented Sacred Gears, that nobody seemed to be able to make heads or tails off?
Something was very wrong with the Heaven System, in Yuuto's own humble opinion.
"No, no, think about it! That would explain so much!" His King starts to gesture enthusiastically, "Marie-Charlotte unlocks her Sacred Gear early, and starts to train to make use of it. Her magic level grows in response, which explains why we can feel it so much, and her emphasis on close combat is probably due to the fact nobody approached to offer to train her!"
Actually, it does make a lot of sense, Yuuto privately muses.
"... How would she have managed to slip through the cracks, though? Her place of residence is in Paris, the chance she never crossed paths with someone belonging to the supernatural is close to zero." The Sitri heiress counters.
"We should just ask her!" His King answers back excitedly.
"Rias, please. This girl is still a total unknown with a background way too clean to be anything but a spy, I don't want to risk it." Her counterpart argues back.
"But Sona-chaaaannnn-" The Princess of Destruction whines, deploying her devil-ish puppy-dog eyes, and the Knight instantly starts to tune out while plastering a smile on his face.
By now, he already knows how that particular discussion will conclude.
Rias Gremory always has her way with her oldest friend, after all.
"See? It worked masterfully!" I brag to the Red Plushie Emperor, who keeps looking at me dubiously.
"... Are you sure that you can't scrap her before putting her back together? She's been alive for less than five minutes and has already succeeded in giving me a headache." Ddraig squeak-drawls a little flatly.
I go to answer in the negative, only to be cut by my favorite - and only - sentient uniform.
"I concur with my elder's assessment, Mistress." Senketsu interjects in his posh tone.
"How can you both be so mean to your little sister?" I ask, faux-tearfully.
"She's annoying."/"She's… loud." The both of them answer in concert.
"But I like her!" I shoot back, a bit offended.
"... That explains so much." The Welsh Dragon ends up saying after staying silent for five solid seconds while Senketsu just looks at me.
I harrumph, not electing to grant their attitude any kind of response, my eyes landing on my latest Homie on the low-table.
She… Admittedly doesn't look like much when in a dormant state. Almost like a toy, truth to be told.
Granted it is mostly due to the fact that the Church didn't try that hard to make her kind look like a proper lightsaber, but I take what I can! And the little Devil wings that she gained on her guard as well as the arcane sigil on her guard once I infused her with the (Stray)Devil's soul and five other's worth of life-force makes her look extra-cute!
I just knew that taking her as a trophy from Sellzen's body back in Kuoh's Church was a good idea!
I take her pommel back in hands, flicking the button with barely hidden glee.
She lights up with a characteristic 'snap-hiss' and I almost don't succeed in containing my inner nerd, so big the urge to squeal aloud in delight and anticipation is!
My new Devilish Homie-sword's blade snaps out, shaped like a big-ass scimitar for some reason but I'm certainly not complaining, her white light core streaked with thick black lightning, two big round eyes coming into being an instant later just above her guard while a mouth forms itself at her tip.
"I awake once more to serve my Mistress!" Comes the over-the-top declaration in a definitely bombastic tone.
I giggle aloud, stubbornly ignoring the pained groan from the Red Plushie Emperor.
"I just know what your name is going to be!" I tell the blade enthusiastically.
"I would be most overjoyed to be granted a name by my Mistress!" The blade answers, equally cheerfully.
"From now on, your name will be JoyeuseHappy." I tell her with a beaming smile.
"Thank you so much for granting me this boon, my glorious Mistress! Why, I am so happy I would shed tears if I could!" The newly dubbed sword answers, very real and anime-like tears in her eyes, falling in big drops on the carpet below.
I giggle once more, ignoring the long-suffering groan of the world's deadliest plushie.
Alas, my doorbell ringing cuts the moment short, making our little quartet pause.
Shutting down Joyeuse after giving her an apologetic look I cautiously make my way toward my door to look through the peephole-
-only for my eyes to land on Kuoh Town's two Kings flanked by their respectives Queens.
I pause for a beat, before a smile blossoms unprompted on my lips.
I snap my fingers, catching Ddraig's attention and gesturing for him to fly closer.
He bemusedly complies at the start, only to seemingly realize why I'm doing this at some point, hasting himself to quickly coil around the back of my neck like a lazy cat.
My grin widens.
Showtime.
[AN: Commenters: Mentioning Napoleon at regular intervals.
ClaCla: Hold that thought. :3
Hope you enjoy, xoxo!]
