Just one last chapter of mostly fluff n stuff. The action will be picking back up soon!
The Astral Student sighed contentedly as he lowered himself into a mid-sized pool of water.
He'd paid a good sum of Champ's rent payment to have Matilda install a hot tub room in his house, and by golly, devils worked hellishly fast, pun intended.
One might have concerns about using such a piece of hardware when it was built by a weapons smuggler, but given the kind of skills Matilda had, he could probably trust her on this.
To be fair, she did a pretty damn good job on the aesthetics. Adjustable lights, some windows to let some fresh air in, even a small fridge by the side of the tub.
This place had it all.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door as Helenski slowly pushed it open.
"H-Hey….Ku-san...c-can I join?"
There she was, in some frilly blue one-piece swimsuit. Now, Helenski was by no means a supermodel, which was the default appearance of most supernatural entities— she was a bit average, not really sexy but just really cute and huggable.
Whereas most anime protagonists would suffer a nosebleed, Kuraima was no mere anime protagonist. He did not have weak nose vessels, only proud, half-American flesh!
While he did have the Teenage Hormones(™), he at least knew how to keep it in his pants.
"Oh. Y-Yeah. Sure. Take a seat."
Helenski nodded and strode into the water, not even hesitating to dip right in even after feeling the water's warmth.
'Must be a side effect of having fire powers.'
"Hey, so…uh…you want a pop?"
"...Sure."
Reaching over into the mini-fridge, he leaned out of the water to grab a soft drink, the water clinging to his swimwear.
Helsinki's face began to turn red as she stared at her boyfriend's rear-end for a bit longer than she would like to admit to.
'The way his leg muscles move…they're like pistons…' She thought to herself.
As Kuraima sat back down, the platinum-haired girl nearly jumped when she realized Kuraima was looking at her.
'Oh that's adorable, she's blushing. Maybe the heat is getting to her after all- OH RIGHT, SODA.'
Handing her a can of coca-cola, the two opened their drinks and raised them.
"Cheers."
"C-Cheers…!"
Clink.
"Ah…" Kuraima sighed contentedly after taking a swig, setting the can aside.
He put an arm around Helenski's shoulders, causing the short girl to tense up for a moment before she relaxed, scooting closer to lean against him.
All seemed peaceful, until…
Splash!
Champ suddenly popped out from under the water's surface, gasping for air.
"Gah! Oh god! Fucking—!"
Kuraima, panicking at the sight of the bikini-clad former mob boss, grabbed his half-empty can of root beer and chucked that thing right at her.
Having granted the soda can a [Blessing] at that very moment, the can was covered in a familiar glow as it left his hand and shot across the tub, before nailing Champ right in the forehead.
She slumped over, dazed and unconscious.
Kuraima looked at his hands, realizing that he could now bestow his blessings at a moment's notice, thanks to his training.
…
'WAIT SHIT SHE'S GONNA FUCKING DROWN.'
Champ later found herself waking up in Helenski's lap as the nephilim's green flames of healing encompassed her midsection.
"Wha…what happened?"
"W-Well…you spooked K-Ku-san really badly and he…"
"Ah...I see."
A few moments passed, then she mentally registered the positions they were in. Champ tried to jump up but collapsed when she felt a pain in her chest.
"W-Wait! I-I'm not done…! W-We had to give you C-CPR..."
Champ's eyes widened for a moment. "...You what?"
"Y-Yeah. Sorry about the can." Kuraima finally spoke up, having been sitting a short distance away.
"No, forget about the can." Champ was blushing now. "W-Who gave me CPR?"
Kuraima and Helenski didn't answer, sharing worried glances at one another.
"Does it really matter who gave you the mouth-to-mouth part? You could've drowned."
Champ glared at the astral champion for a bit, then finally conceded to his point, slumping back down where she sat.
…The shortstack's embrace didn't feel…half bad, come to think of it…
Wait. What the hell was she thinking?
The former mob boss was pulled out of her thoughts by Kuraima. "Why'd you hide, anyway? Why didn't you just…say something?"
Champ seemed to clam up a bit. "Well, I just didn't want you to see me in this…bikini…"
Yeah, Kuraima could kind of understand.
It was a cute bikini like someone took a tube top and pair of bikini bottoms and went overboard with adding frills.
Wearing something as frilly as what she currently wore? He'd be embarrassed too, even though he was a dude.
…She had some hella nice tomboy abs, though.
'Wait, no. Bad Kuraima!'
"…So you chose to hide instead of just saying something…?"
"You didn't knock on the door."
The Astral Student sighed in defeat. "Okay, fair enough. I'll give you that one."
"Heh. You three done yet? Ya really spooked me with that screech, kiddo." Matilda suddenly commented, leaning against the wall. "I want my turn in the tub, y'know."
For a brief moment, Kuraima imagined Matilda in a swimsuit.
Then he remembered that fateful night when they fought, which made him feel a little queasy.
[The next day…]
"Did you hear? They say that there's been a few delinquents hanging out around town."
"For real?!"
"Yeah! They say that they've been around since that one warehouse exploded a few weeks ago!"
Kuraima couldn't help but wince when he overheard the other students talking about the rumors of his gangsters being seen around town.
'I mean…I never told them to stay hidden. Just to not use their powers in public. Unless it was an emergency."
…
'God, I hope Perfa knows what properly defines an "emergency."'
Deciding to focus on something else, the astral champion looked over at Helenski and Juniper, who were busy having a staredown over…
...Kuraima wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"Jeez. Can you two like…not come this close to starting a catfight?" He asked, well aware of the stereotype that one shouldn't interfere with a fight between women and disregarding it anyways. "If the two of you are gonna duke it out, at least do it at…"
Part of him was about to say something about that abandoned factory but then he stopped, remembering those rumors.
"…at home. Besides, if you two hate each other so much then why do you even sit with us, Juniper-san?"
The French Dryad rolled her eyes. "It's because all those other girls talk about boys. In an unhealthy way. I'm pretty sure they're making—"
"Yaoi doujinshi? Yeah. I know. I'm a third-year student. I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. Have you ever questioned your own heterosexuality?"
Helenski nearly choked on her drink.
"In fact, if there's any about me, I've yet to receive any royalty checks for them using my likeness."
"W-Who would even…?!"
"Manga club, most likely, if not the artist club. But hey, the rumors of me and Helenski dating are pretty much confirmed. If they know what's good for them, then they'll keep me out of their books, y'know?"
"Sacre bleu! That's a bit of a harsh way to put it, don't you think?"
"Not really, no."
Juniper kind of just…worriedly stared at Kuraima as he took a swig out of his can of soda.
The Astral Student pulled the can away and stared out the window.
Yaoi, huh? It wasn't something he was particularly anywhere close to willingly read. But honestly?
He'd rather read a thousand yaoi doujinshi over reading a single Naruto crossover fanfic.
"Anyways if those girls are really giving you trouble then like, I dunno. Just find a new group to hang out with. Avoid them the same way the Germans avoided the Maginot Line."
Neither of the girls at his table immediately got the joke, however, Juniper made a funny face, which was enough for him and Helenski.
"By the way, you never told us how you knew about Astrum De—"
The bell rang for their next classes.
Walking out of the school gates, Kuraima was mildly surprised to see Champ waiting for him.
"Oh, uh, hey. Something happened?"
"Not really."
…
"You know that the other students are gonna spread rumors if they see the two of us walking home after school without Helenski, right? I'm already hearing rumors about the gangsters being seen around town."
"What, can't your fourth in command get some time to talk?"
"You don't have to walk me home to do that."
"Mmhm."
…
…
"I didn't think you'd be getting this chummy with me so soon after the hot tub incident of…yesterday."
Champ visibly flinched and faltered in her step but she quickly shrugged it off and sped up to keep pace with him.
"Aren't you supposed to be…babysitting Mochi?"
"Matilda can handle it at this point. Finally stopped her from getting bitey."
"….Fair enough, doesn't explain why you're here. Are you looking for pretty girls at Kuoh?"
This got a pointed glare out of her, but as she turned to look away, her gaze came upon one of the other female attendees of Kuoh Academy.
Her gaze lingered a few seconds too long, her face turning a shade of pink.
"Oh come on, it was a joke! I didn't mean to awaken something within you!"
"Wh-?! No! Nothing has awoken."
"I mean, I'd say we have cute boys too but you'd have to fight the other girls for them."
Face still red, Champ rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. W-Whatever."
The Astral Champion chuckled. "Aaaand I was wondering where the moody gal we all know and love was."
Teasing the former mob boss was pretty fun.
"Kuraima-senpai!" The voice of Juniper suddenly called out. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"
The two turned around to see the Dryad approaching them.
"I don't know. The last time you asked me that, some funny things happened."
"W-What?! No! I-I'm not planning to do anything like that again!"
"Sureee. But hey, this time I'm outside of school grounds so I have a bit more in the way of self-defense. You lookin' for the von Karma special?"
"T-Th….u-Uhm…!" The Dryad began to sweat a little. "I-It's nothing like that! I s-swear! This one's actually serious…!"
"Actually…serious? You should know that I lost one or two nights of sleep over the whole planet-killer thing. What could possibly be more serious than that?"
"W-Well, I've sensed an Astral presence around town, s-so…!"
"...Are you sure it wasn't just...me? Being in places?"
"Y-Yes!"
'Wait, don't tell me. That Astral Infection got out.'
…
…
…
'Hold on. Would the Astral Infection just…move around town? I've yet to see anything be actually consumed by it. A planet-killer wouldn't snoop around, it'd go absolutely ham.'
"Um…are you positively sure?"
"…Yes! Absolutely very positively sure!"
"Well, I mean...thanks for the warning, but…what exactly am I supposed to look for? I'm just a human, I don't have a sixth sense as you do for magic essences or whatever."
…
…
…
Juniper scratched the back of her head nervously. "Uuuuh….right."
Kuraima then turned to Champ.
"So, uh…I just had a new idea for a side hustle. So there's this series called Warhammer 40K, and the people who make them? A dumbass corporation that overprices their stuff. I mean, seriously! A set of a few dozen Grey Knights-themed dice for $55! That's almost 6300¥! So I was thinking that we get a 3D printer…"
Juniper watched in disbelief as Kuraima openly talked about "pirating" 3D models of miniature spacemen and orks before Champ made the fatal mistake of asking about the lore.
"So there's this guy called the Emperor of Mankind, yeah? So lemme tell you…"
[Some time later…]
That evening, the top four in the gang's chain of command sat in the living room, just as they had started that week, in the middle of a heated co-op session of Just Shapes and Beats.
"Come on guys! It's the final stretch!"
"I'm tryn'!" Matilda responded, focused on dodging the giant pink lasers the boss was shooting. "These claws just don't work well with these controllers!"
Champ was a little more heated, as her shape veered into the corrupted monsters on the side of the screen. "Come on! Why do I have to have the controller with the…'joycon drift'? Also….revive. Please."
"No promises but I can try!"
Helenski, in the meantime, was silent, totally in the zone as she weaved between the giant boss monster's attacks.
As the monster began to falter, it spun around and fell short, creating a pink shockwave as it dropped off the screen.
"LET'S GOOOOOO!"
The collective shouts of celebration rang throughout Kuraima's house as high-fives were shared all around by the group of four.
Basking in their victory, the four leaned back and watched as the game's "world map" showed them at the top of the monster's giant tower, with it's crown just sitting there and waiting to be taken.
"Hey, so, unrelated to the game, I had an idea for our group of mobsters."
"Hm? What is it?" The former mob boss turned to him.
"Here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking we get the gangsters together and have a grilling party or a cookout or whatever in the backyard."
"Oh, now that sounds like a good time." Matilda commented. "And good eatin'!"
Champ crossed her arms. "But it's only been a week. Why so soon?"
"Well...I figured that it'd be the thought that counts. Show that I'm not afraid to let them know I appreciate their effort."
The woman in red rolled her eyes. "Now you're just taking potshots at me, aren't you?"
"Maybe— well, no, I definitely am."
"…points for honesty. I'll give you that."
"W-Well, a party would sound nice…" Helenski got the subject back on track.
"….I'm guessing it's a unanimous decision?"
"You know what?" Champ began, before a small smile appeared on her face. "Sure. Let's do it."
"Glad to have you on board! Now let us claim victory!" Kuraima smiled, finally pushing the button up to move the cyan-colored square on the screen towards the crown.
As the cutscene played out, the crown turned the same shade of cyan as a large glowy triangle moved on screen, as the song Rainbow Road by Nanobii began to play.
"Well guys, we did it. We beat the game."
Right at that moment, the pink antagonist showed up, blowing the cyan cube away, before…allowing the giant triangle to impale its round head, causing its eyes to burst out of its cracked skull as pink "blood" dripped down its face."
"What!? No! Worm kiddo! Explain!"
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Wh-what?! T-That's so v-violent…!"
Oh, to see their reactions to the true final boss of the game.
It brought a smile to his face.