For the first time in my entire life, I was experiencing true luxury.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck, that's nice."
As I lowered myself into the hot springs, the high-temperature waters enveloped me lovingly, welcoming me like a long-lost brother as all my days' woes and troubles washed away without resistance.
This was the greatest fucking shit, I decided in that moment. Naked, leaning my back against the pool's edge with my arms open, I closed my eyes in absolute bliss and simply delighted in the Japanese comforts.
If I knew back at Kuoh that pledging myself to the service of a very attractive, politically powerful supernatural woman with big breasts would've given me access to such luxury, then I probably would've caved at Rias' request in a single second. If at that meeting at her school she simply took me to a custom-made hot-spring all for me then I was ashamed to admit that I might've just accepted her slavery offer.
Which sure, perhaps might've been considered weak, not very alpha as one guy I mugged outside an university campus told me once before getting shanked. To be under service of someone else was, in general terms, considered a bitch move.
To those (hypothetical) people, my only answer was to first take a big fucking wrecking ball and demolish their ivory fucking tower in which they sat on, then probably piss on their corpse. You had NOT fucking been in a hot spring after a lifetime of not being in one. It was life-changing.
As I relaxed, I could hear some voices outside the hot spring's entrance.
"Oh, what? It's closed? But the itinerary said-"
"What a bummer, just an hour before the hot spring was fine! Why are they doing maintenance now?"
I smirked, pleased with myself and relaxing further into the spring. Yes, I might've taken a paper stating the elevator was on maintenance. Yes, I also might've put said paper right outside the hot springs door, and yes, I also might've barricaded the entrance to the spring with some of the furniture around.
Perhaps this might've been a dick move, they had just as much right to use the 'onsen' as me, if not more, since they paid for the privilege and I was just freeloading for tonight.
Counterpoint: I didn't want to deal with naked men entering MY space and then be forced by Eyes Everywhere to ogle them. Sure, E.E always could see every inch of body from everyone within its radius, but if they were clothed it was rather easy to ignore their private bits.
If someone entered naked here, however, I'd be unable to NOT ogle them, like when Rias decided to take a 'persuasive' shower back at Kuoh. I didn't want to experience the same but with dozens of naked men. I wanted to fucking relax dammit, not gaze at cocks other than my own.
I shook my head, trying to get thoughts about cocks away. This was RELAXATION and I was going to enjoy it. Especially since tomorrow I'd begin working for Yasaka proper.
Back in my hotel room were my belongings, safely stored within my backpack, and by my bedside were also my new work-related items, given to me after I signed the contract that I couldn't read, since it was in Japanese. I had to ask the handler who gave the paper to me to translate for me, so I was at risk of having been fucked over, but hey, risks were risks.
First, they gave me a work-phone. A flip-phone to be specific, and although normally I'd just assume they gave me a flip-phone because they were cheap burners, I was starting to realize that in my entire stay in DxD I hadn't seen a single smartphone.
Which was concerning, to say the least. I thought Japan was pretty avant-garde in terms of technology, and so far I had been pretty disappointed. Fucking Chile had better phones, and we were a third-world country goddamit.
Second, I got a small card. It had Japanese lettering and junk in the front so I couldn't read shit, but it looked like it belonged to some sort of unrelated store. It was explained to me that the card was a disguised hotel-access card that could open employee-only doors and other places that were required for my work. That card was also the one I'd use to get my payments from, since it was tied to an account to my name.
Well, to me, rather, since they couldn't find a single trace of my existence in this universe with that name. After giving some vague and unhelpful half-truths to Yasaka, she ended up creating an account under the hold-name 'Husk'. It was technically, officially under her name, but I had full access to it and could borrow and deposit money as I wished.
Of course, it gave me absolutely zero confidence for when the time came to run away, but I'd deal with that later.
Lastly, they gave me a black suit. Black jacket, black pants, white shirt, black long tie, and lastly some black shoes. All of them my size, perfectly tailored, even when I didn't get measured at all. Must've been magic.
I got told that I'd be expected to show up at work in the hotel with that suit. For missions, I could dress as I wished, depending on the type of mission.
I'd definitely take that suit with me once I ran away. It looked cool as hell, and although I hadn't tried it on yet, I was sure my generally unappealing looks would skyrocket.
Once I had been given all these items, the guy who brought me all this stuff gave me a bit of a sour look, then told me Yasaka herself would give me my assignments. It was easy to tell that having the attention of the Boss was kind of uncommon, and considering that these people kind of put her on a pedestal, I was half-tempted to rub it in their faces that she had put such an interest in me.
But I refrained from doing so, there'd be no good in antagonizing what were supposed to be my co-workers.
…For now, at least. If these assholes pissed me off I'd use the little pedestal they put her in and I'd make sure they saw me pissing on it.
Speaking of Yasaka…
"...She's really hot," I commented idly to the air, remembering her womanly figure. It kinda put Rias' body to shame, which was to be expected since she was still just 18, but still, she was the most attractive woman I had laid my eyes upon. Those breasts were absolutely fucking absurd and those hips…
For half-a-second, I considered relieving myself in the hot spring, then decided not to, if nothing else because I was trying to not be a homeless guy who masturbated in public spaces now.
Stretching, I continued enjoying the hot spring, the complaints of those outside bringing me comfort.
I awoke inside a dark void.
Fucking hell, I hated having to do this while dreaming. It always felt like having to do chores before going to sleep… It was essentially that, actually. Fuck this.
Annoyed and pissed, because I got taken from the most comfortable bed I had ever been on to this fucking void hellhole, I stormed to the PC set and read the screen.
GREETINGS INCURSOR.
TODAY'S INCURSION HAS ENDED.
INCURSION SUMMARY:
MONEY= $48 → $58 USD
BULLETS = 26x 0.45 Bullets + 40x Light Bullets → 25x 0.45 Bullets + 40x Light Bullets
EXP COUNT:
10000 [XP] required for LVL.5
Ricochet Shots! [1 Times Hit]: 100xp
Avid Hustler! [10+ USD]: 100xp
Faction Leader Met! [Yasaka]: 250xp
Employment! [Yokai Faction]: 250xp
Death (2nd Time) [Suicide]: -1000xp
EXP COUNT:
7900 [XP] ⇒ 7600 [XP]
…Wait, that was it?
I scrolled down the page, expecting anything else to appear, but nope, that was it. One button saying 'CONFIRM' by the corner and nothing else.
Really, I shouldn't have been surprised. I didn't kill anything, instead, I got killed. If I were to judge today's progress simply by XP standards, then today was an absolutely shit day, I lost XP. Net negative.
But I knew that basing my progress just by the XP metric was a bit dumb. I just got a job! A very lucrative one at that! One that would put me right in the path of things to kill, AKA more XP!
…It still hurt seeing the XP count not reach the level-up threshold.
Not willing to stay any more time witnessing my failure to progress, I clicked confirm.
Name: Daniel García, [the Perfectionist.]
Level : Level 4 [Perfectionist] Undead Gunman.
XP: 7600
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Skill List:
[Perfect Shots]
[Perfect Stacks]
[Stylish Twirl]
[Coin Flipper]
[Coin Stacker]
Perk List:
Eyes Everywhere
Sharpest Shooter
Trait List:
Darksign
Conditions:
Undead (Darksign)
Now, my picture looked a bit more refreshed than last time. It also looked a bit paler, since I died again.
…Considering that I got this job under the pretense of 'I can die without consequences!', I feared for my level-ups and sanity. The killing I did in this bitch better compensate for the inevitable deaths.
DAY-END SUMMARY DREAM CLOSING…
…
…
…
DREAM CLOSED.
SWEET DREAMS, INCURSOR!
And I returned to sleep.
RRRRRIIIIIIINNNGGG!
…
RRRRRIIIIIIINNNGGG!
…
RRRRRIIII-!
Accompanied by the sounds of my pained grumbling, I hastily turned off the flip phone's disgustingly loud, low-quality alarm. 5 AM sharp, I got told to wake up, and thus at 5 AM I awoke.
It had been a long time since I last had to wake up at such disgustingly early hours, but I wasn't about to complain. This was the cream of the crop in terms of money-making opportunities and I wasn't about to waste it. With more pained grumbling on my end, I begrudgingly began to get up from the comfiest bed money could buy and started to prepare myself.
I took a shower despite having just yesterday taken a bath in the hot springs, brushed my teeth, and made some token attempts to fix my hair. Normally it'd be very scraggly and haggard, but after the numerous showers and baths I had been taking recently, it had started to look a bit healthier. A bit, but it was a start.
…I still looked a bit homeless, I realized, looking in the mirror. The neck-long hair and unshaven face weren't helping my case much, either. If I didn't just cut my hair entirely, then I'd need to tie it up, but whatever the case I doubted I'd be able to run around without a care now that I was employed. Same for the beard, either it got cut or I groomed it better.
I glared at my reflection.
"She knew what she was fucking hiring," is what I ended up mumbling after much deliberation. Hygiene done, it was just a matter of dressing myself in the cool black suit that was to be my uniform.
Ten minutes later, and voila, I was dressed to kill. It was quite the sharp contrast to see my usually unsightly self wearing such nice, sleek clothes. I looked so devastatingly cool that I felt that I could actually go and seduce an unsuspecting and unknowing gal… if she ignored the odd paleness on my face.
…The collar felt a bit tight, though. Thinking it was probably fine, I loosened my tie a bit and undid one of the top buttons. I instantly looked less formal and more messy, but hey, comfort was important, right?
Deciding that these were enough concerns with my personal appearance for a lifetime, I simply went to my backpack and took out two guns. First, my lovely Colt M1911 which, at the rate things were going, was on the road to becoming my first wife, and then I took out one of the exorcist guns I pillaged.
Frankly, those guns were weird. It wasn't like I was an expert on guns in the first place, but the design of them, with a stupidly long barrel, and a rather blocky frame that didn't look quite right, made me think that these were custom-made without using an existing model as a base.
Which was a lot of words to say: I had no fucking clue what caliber this gun was. I'd have to rely on stealing light bullets from dead exorcists to keep this thing going.
After giving them some looks and feeling their weight on my hands (which felt heavenly) I proceeded to secure them on my person, hiding them inside my jacket and making sure with E.E that it didn't look weird from an outsider's point of view.
Guns secured and ready to be carried inside an hotel filled with civilians, I quickly opened the flip phone to check the time. 5:44 AM. The second the clock turned to 5:45, a couple sharp knocks rang on my door.
Right on schedule, just like the Yokai who gave me the contract said. I promptly went to the door and opened it, a Yokai dressed in the same suit as mine greeting me, all of his animal features hidden inside his body, just like the Fallen hid her wings.
Just like everyone else I'd met in this hotel wearing these kinds of suits, he had a stony face and a no-nonsense sort of vibe.
"Follow," he said, very stoically, and simply began walking away. I complied and trailed behind, not wanting to disappoint on my first day.
"From today on, you're an agent of the Yokai faction," he stated, not slowing down and keeping his steps at a constant speed. "The circumstances behind your employment are different from the rest of the other agents—you're a human and a walking corpse, for one—and thus what shall be expected from you will differ."
Quite the nasty tone when emphasizing my qualities, but I didn't comment on it. Co-workers were supposed to get along after all.
We walked some more and finally found an elevator and what seemed to be—because I couldn't read japanese—an 'Under Maintenance' sign plastered on the metal doors. My tour guide took out a small card from his pocket—black lined with gold, much sleeker than mine—and he passed it in front of the elevator controls. A 'ding' rang softly and the doors opened, the elevator's pristine and light interior welcoming us.
"These," began my guide, stepping inside the elevator with me following, "are the elevators designed for our use. Make sure to not have any witnesses when scanning your card."
Once inside, the doors closed smoothly. My guide pressed the top-most button, simply labeled with a small crown, and the elevator began to move, a very low hum resonating through the luxurious metal box.
This was the first part of the whole tour in which the guide actually looked a bit mad at something.
"Because of your… exceptional circumstances, you'll ignore the normal chain of command and get your orders directly from Lady Yasaka. If she isn't in the hotel, then a message from her shall be relayed to you via a letter delivered by another agent."
I had the knee-jerk impulse to whistle, but had to almost physically restrain myself from doing so, sensing that the less-than-friendly tour would get a whole lot more resentful.
"Do I have to do anything if there aren't any orders from Yasaka?" I asked instead, trying to drive the conversation somewhere that didn't end with a co-worker hating my guts. It seemed that I instantly failed considering the instant scowl that invaded his face.
"You are not to call her just by her name," he corrected me, very pressed. "Either use the respective honorifics or simply do not refer to her at all."
The stupid complaint made me instantly sour to this asshole. Who the fuck gave a shit if I called the boss by her name? My distaste grew exponentially as he looked at me like I was some sort of little runt and asked. "Are we clear?"
I was about to answer him with a non-committal positive before he interrupted me as soon as I opened my mouth and asked again. "Are. We. Clear?"
Now, I would've simply apologized and moved on if he just clarified that I needed to use honorifics and that'd be that. But after his small petty attempt at a power-play, I decided that establishing good relations with this asshole in particular was a lost cause.
My attempts to remain neutral with my coworkers lasted less than ten minutes. I instantly turned the dial of unfriendliness to a ten.
"Oh, crystal," I told him, instantly following it with. "So, anyway, what do I do if Mommy Yasaka doesn't give me direct orders?"
His fists clenched and now he was glaring at me, mouth twisted in absolute distaste as his whole body faced me. "I have no fucking clue why the hell Lady Yasaka's bothering to waste her precious time with a walking corpse, but-"
"A walking corpse AND a human. Don't forget."
The interruption made him even more pissed, but before he could go off on a probably stupid rant I'd interrupt anyway, the elevator doors opened, revealing the same luxurious hallway from yesterday, ornate double doors resting at the end of it. Probably knowing he couldn't just shout at me, running the risk of letting Yasaka hear it on the other side, he quickly grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and closed in on me.
"You worthless little human, you will fucking behave in front of her and if I get wind of-"
"Either you let go or I fucking shoot you."
His face twisted in yet more disgust as I interrupted him again.
"Disrespectful little-"
He quickly shut up once he felt the cold barrel of a gun against his stomach.
"This is an exorcist gun," I began. "It shoots light bullets, and as I was informed yesterday, you furry fucks don't quite like being damaged by light. Now you either let fucking go or you'll have to go explain to dear Mommy Yasaka why the fuck her personally hired agent simply decided not to show up while you're holding your bleeding stomach."
He kept his scalding glare undeterred, but roughly let go and pushed me back, throwing me against the wall with supernatural strength. I thankfully managed to not fall to the floor as I clashed against the wall. I kept glaring back at him as I picked myself up, hiding the exorcist gun back in my jacket.
"Who fucking knew Yasaka's personal agents would be so unprofessional," I said, actually voicing my true thoughts. "I expected more."
I could feel the beginnings of another rant bubble up inside his throat, so I simply fixed my collar's wrinkles, given to me by his little outburst, then just walked away towards the doors. Seeing that I wasn't about to listen to him, he begrudgingly followed, quickly going past me and returning to 'leading' me.
Since the hallway was a bit long, I had time to ask. "Are you ever going to tell me what the fuck I do if I don't get orders?"
He was obviously pressed at me continuing to talk, but he answered regardless. "You'll be on standby until you get orders. While on standby, you must remain in uniform, have your phone turned on, and be within distance of the hotel for whenever new orders arrive."
I nodded. Those were really good conditions, right? Already having burned the bridge with this asshole, I let out the ugliest possible smirk I could.
"Whoa, those are really good! Let me guess, you guys have to work like hotel staff while on standby?"
Ding! Right on the money, as another bitter scowl crossed his face, but this time he didn't grab me again, knowing that I was purposefully goading him. Finally, we reached the end of the hallway. My guide knocked twice on the door, a bit more sharper than what was normal.
"The Husk is here."
I frowned as I got referred to as Husk again, first because he said it like talking about a particularly ugly piece of shit, second because I had a fucking name.
"Let him in," said a woman, voice very soft, soothing yet commanding.
My tour guide (AKA jealous little shit) opened the double doors, the luxurious office (or lounge?) welcoming me again with a very curvy and attractive blonde fox woman sitting in the middle, holding a steaming cup of, judging by what E.E could see, seemed to be tea and wearing a very sharp-looking black suit, with golden patterns running through it and with most of the top buttons open and displaying generous amounts of her massive cleavage. Nine golden tails were splayed out behind her, all of them sprouting a little above her backside, with her suit pants having a small hole especially designed to let them out.
Fucking hell, she was hot.
Yasaka looked up at us and smiled bewitchingly.
"Did you tell him what was expected of him?"
I silently thought 'nothing' but remained silent, instead glancing at my begrudging guide using E.E and noticing how stiff and at attention he was in her presence, a far call from how he had been treating me.
"Yes, Lady Yasaka."
"And did anything happen outside these doors, right outside the elevator, involving our new agent?"
He froze, and although his body stood still, his eyes couldn't help but widen. He glanced at me in panic, as did Yasaka, giving me a questioning look and a raised eyebrow. I was free to send him to hell, it seemed.
"Nope," I said instead. "Nothing happened, Boss."
I wasn't a rat in my world, we killed rats. And I wasn't about to start being a bitch now.
My guide looked surprised I didn't rat him out while Yasaka gave me one of her trademark 'silent questioning stares' for a bit longer before taking a sip from her teacup.
"Well, if nothing happened, then nothing happened," she said, disinterested. "You're dismissed, Furukawa-kun."
With visible relief, Furukawa nodded, looked momentarily mad that I was being left alone with his dear boss, then simply left, closing the doors on his way out.
Turning to her, Yasaka was looking at me, expecting something. I just shrugged in response, prompting a sigh.
"Would it kill you to not antagonize your fellow agents? There'll come a time when I'll need you to cooperate."
Sensing that trying to hide the truth wouldn't really matter, I just talked casually.
"He antagonized me first, to be fair, on very racist grounds too. Called me human in a very derogatory tone and all."
"I apologize for that," she said, rubbing her temple. "For necessity we've needed to adopt a rather 'us vs. them' mentality when it comes to dealing with most races. It's a byproduct of our current political climate, really."
Nice excuses, I thought internally, but didn't tell her out of politeness.
"Anyway," she continued, trying to put the matter of my shithead guide behind. "Today's your first day, and as such, I've already decided on a task for you."
She produced from thin-air (literally, there was nowhere to get that from) a small dossier and put it on top of the table in front of her. I walked up to it and sat down on one of the cushions next to it, sitting cross-legged.
I grabbed the dossier and opened it.
…
"So, I don't know how to read Japanese."
Yasaka sighed.
"I should've guessed, but your perfect Japanese fooled me for a second." She raised an eyebrow. "Is knowing perfect japanese part of your 'Darksign' curse?"
Hm, nosy.
"I dunno, a lot of things happened in very little time. I just know japanese and that's that."
"But not how to write or read it."
"Yup," I said, dragging the word out. She looked unhappy for a second before simply shaking her head.
"Fine then. Am I to assume that if I were to text you orders you'd also be unable to read it?"
"Yuuuup."
"And if I were to do it in Spanish?"
I looked surprised at her.
"Oh, that'd help a lot, actually."
"Good then. Now let's move onto the assignment."
She took the dossier for herself and opened it, quickly moving to a particular page. She displayed it on the table, where a picture of a normal-looking couple rested. They looked like they were on a date, each of them holding an ice-cream cone and holding hands. The man had red eyes and black hair with a handsome grinning face, and the girl had blonde hair with green eyes, the hair a lighter color than Yasaka's. She had a very pretty and soft smile.
Aside from the fact they looked like a couple of european foreigners, they truly didn't stand out in the slightest. It was just a perfect picture of a happy couple, both of them sporting radiant smiles.
"I need you to kill both of them," stated Yasaka matter-of-factly.
…
"Uh, what are they, exactly?" I couldn't help but ask. "I didn't think my assassination targets would be so..."
"Petty?"
"Petty, yes. Did they both piss on your hotel or something?"
"I wish it was just that. What you're witnessing are two traveling Devils, known as Liara and Sander. Normally I wouldn't take issue with that, but it turned out that both of them had been… preying on some of Kyoto's citizens."
I looked at the picture of the smiling couple with a new light. They were both happy cannibals now.
"After doing some investigation, it turned out that they're a pair of Stray Devils who escaped their peerage and slaughtered a few of their fellow pieces before coming here. Inevitably, the insanity common to Strays set in and they began sating their hunger for blood with my citizens."
I nodded at her explanation. Since this was a job, I actually began taking this with some level of seriousness, if nothing else because I wanted those six thousand bucks per Stray, which at the rate things were going, were going to make me the richest man in the whole wide world.
"Why haven't they been killed yet? They seem like a real pain in the ass."
"I have sent some agents to exterminate them before. Considering the Strays are still living and the agents haven't returned, the efforts haven't been going well."
With a hum, I examined the picture again. If I hadn't been told they were Strays then I would've never guessed they weren't humans.
"Should I assume these are half-devils?" I guessed.
"Correct, and as such the chances they have Sacred Gears is quite high, which makes the task of exterminating them all the more tedious."
Sacred Gears. So far I hadn't encountered one in the wild yet, but it seemed that might change today. Rias described them as some kind of very specific superpower, kind of like my own Eyes Everywhere or Coin Flipper.
"Is there anything else I should know about them? Like, where to find them?"
"Last time we tried exterminating them, we tracked them down to an abandoned house. Of course, they've most likely moved by now."
I frowned at the comment. The fact I'd need to start looking for the two assholes went unsaid, but it was clear nonetheless.
"Aside from that," continued Yasaka. "There's not much more I can tell you. If you cannot kill them, then I at least expect you to return with more information regarding their tactics or location. Of course, failure to accomplish this task will result in a… bad evaluation of your abilities. That, and a very reduced paycheck."
I nodded. It didn't go past me that I got hired on the grounds of me being immortal and fuck all else. I needed to prove that I was worth keeping, and killing a couple of Strays would be a good demonstration.
"Of course," I said, professionally. "Out of curiosity, what would happen to the Strays if I failed to kill them?"
"Well, I'd be forced to increase the manpower dedicated to exterminating them, and that runs the risk of gathering more attention, being more expensive, and generally being a bother."
She smiled at me.
"Which I hope you can prevent, Mr. Husk."
I frowned at her usage of that 'Husk' moniker.
"Okay, what's the deal with being called a Husk? I thought that was a one-time thing before you got my name."
Yasaka let out a small 'oh', as if forgetting something.
"Right, you've not been told yet. Remember how your employment itself is to be kept under wraps? It'd be counter-productive to have me and anyone in-the-know refer to you by your proper name, now more than ever considering that you apparently spoke to one of the heiresses in Kuoh. So, we'll be using the name given to you by our agents yesterday when we still didn't know you."
She gave me a bit of a smirk.
"Besides, 'Husk' is a cool codename, is it not?"
It was, said the most traitorously honest part of me, pleased that I had my own secret agent codename.
"Eh," said my lying mouth instead, not willing to admit it. "Anything else I should know, or do I just go?"
"Well, Husk," she began, probably knowing I liked the name. "First, as I said yesterday, you'll have to act as if you were an independent entity from the Yokai, meaning you'll have no direct support from us. If there are any updates on your case, such as sightings of the targets, then you'll be informed, but aside from that you'll be on your own."
I shrugged, since I got warned about this beforehand.
"Also, should go unsaid, but considering yesterday's incident I'd prefer to make this clear, especially since it's stated in your contract."
She leaned forward and actually narrowed her eyes at me, almost glaring in warning.
"You perform a little pandemonium like yesterday's while on the job and you're done. I do not care for an immortal little soldier if he can't do a job without blowing his cover. If you're going to exterminate them, you do it somewhere that isn't in full-view of the public."
I felt mildly threatened by that, but again, it was to be expected. Instead of simply saying 'yeah', I asked.
"If they went inside a home in a populated area, is it okay to go ahead and shoot?"
She nodded.
"Inside a home is fine, it's a more easily controllable environment. Even if the fight got dragged outside of the home's walls, or even to adjacent houses, it'd be much easier to cover-up the mess. We're prepared for that, just don't shoot them in the middle of a tourist spot."
With how lax the requirements for a 'proper' kill were, it made Raynare's little shitshow a whole lot more embarrassing in retrospect.
Now that I had my task, I stood up and took the dossier. I still couldn't read it, but I wanted that picture to identify them. A question popped in my mind.
"Is the suit a requirement for this mission?"
Yasaka waved her hand around, not seeming to care much.
"It doesn't matter, really. In fact, I'd prefer if you didn't wear the suit according to protocol when you're inside the hotel on standby. It's preferable for me that, to the normal onlooker, you're unrelated to the perfectly suited agents. Feel free to unbutton your shirt a bit, take off the jacket or tie, as long as you wear enough that it can be recognized as a suit, then you're fine."
"Oh, okay."
At her lack of caring for proper dressing, at least for me, I simply loosened my tie further and unbuttoned the top-most buttons of my shirt. I also felt like taking off my jacket, but I actually liked the suited look, so I left it on for now.
All of my questions answered, I simply told Yasaka. "I'll be going then."
"Sure, Mr. Husk. Show me that you're as good as you claim to be."
With one last nod from me, I opened the double doors and exited to the hallway, which was now absolutely empty. It seemed as if I was now actually on my own. No more hand-holding. I was expected to traverse this building, then carry out a Stray extermination on my own.
Idly, I cracked my neck and stretched. If I killed both of them, I'd get $1200, if not more into my account.
$1200 was a LOT of money, and so, I would get it.
With thoughts of money and shooting, I went to the elevator, taking out my own card (much more silly-looking and mundane than my guide's), scanning it and then stepping inside.
Daniel García would fucking HUSTLE.
Daniel García was feeling stupid.
I couldn't help but feel that way as I gave the cafeteria a nasty look, having done a stake-out for half-an-hour already.
With a grumble, I dropped my already finished cigarette stub onto the ground, soon after pulling out another. One flick of the lighter later and I had my fifth cigarette of the day perched on my lips.
Included within the dossier of infinite wisdom and inscrutable language was a map of Kyoto, with the spots of activity of the couple helpfully circled in red. Sadly, since all the streets there were written in Japanese, I had to ask for the assistance of random pedestrians to locate the spots, but even so, I had managed to actually scour the area a bit.
One problem: It was barely 7 AM, and there were a lot of people out and about, but almost all of them were either students or working people rushing to get to their jobs or whatever business they had. It was a Monday morning and the hustle of activity was in full motion.
And all I could really do was wait until the dust settled a bit. I was still alert with E.E for any signs of the Strays, but more than that, I couldn't really do much. I was currently sitting outside a cafeteria, located right in the middle of one of the biggest red circles of activity on the dossier map. I came here half-hoping they'd do some stupidity and actually show up.
Which, I mean, there was some strength to my method. They seemed to really like acting like normal humans, if those pictures taken in Kyoto were taken into account, and considering the fact they already killed some of Yasaka's agents, they probably felt quite cocky. It wouldn't be too out of reach to expect one of them to just walk alongside a populated streetway trying to fit in like a human.
…Fucking hell, stakeouts were boring.
Reaching that conclusion, I felt like having some coffee. Cigarette held within my fingers, I reached with my thumb to light it o-
!
Black hair, red eyes, the face of a very handsome foreigner man. He was wearing a blue button-up shirt, gray slacks, brown leather shoes, a black patterned tie and a loose jacket on top of all. A backpack filled with extensive documents and a sleek black laptop hung from his shoulders.
Inside his body were a couple of bat wings, twisted and wound-up by the small of his back.
My eyes widened and my body froze. I made my absolute best to not snap my head to the Stray and pretend that everything was business as usual. Eyes Everywhere detected one of my targets, and he was… dressed like a businessman. It didn't even seem like it was a disguise, judging by the very detailed and extensive handwritten reports he had inside his backpack, he genuinely was an office worker.
And then he left my 12-meter radius.
With some cursing, I began to follow his path, joining the sea of walking people, trying to not stand out much as I trailed his every footstep, a bit in a hurry to try and get him within 12 meters. After pushing my way past a few unsuspecting students and old men, I got him within range again.
And I drew a blank. What now?
Shooting him now would be a one-way ticket to unemployment, and although I could follow him to wherever he worked, I doubted I could go as incognito as I was now amongst all the bustling people. If I had real shit luck, then the building would ask verification to enter. Even if I managed to enter, I needed to tread carefully and kill this asshole in one shot, or at least not enough for him to retaliate. Yasaka didn't say anything about bystander casualties, but I didn't want to risk it. If he went berserk in the middle of an office, then I'd break any kind of subterfuge and I'd lose my job.
And of course, that didn't explain where the fuck was his partner.
I felt a lightbulb go off in my head. EUREKA, I would've yelled like an asshole, if I had somehow any less self-respect. Quickly using E.E, I read his documents once again, trying to spot anything that might help me. Like a home address!
…I then remembered I was completely japanese illiterate. FUCK! This illiteracy bit was starting to get absolutely annoying, now that I had actual responsibilities. It made 100% of the documents inside his backpack useless to me. Fuck, FUCK!
Wait, no, he had a job, right? At least he acted like he had one. That means he probably had an I.D somewhere. I did another quick scan with E.E and there, inside his wallet, was indeed an I.D.
Now, I still didn't know what the I.D said, since it was still in another language, but I could…
…what the fuck could I do with this information, exactly?
Oh fuck me, the language barrier was going to kill me at this rate. The idea of writing down all the Japanese letters crossed my mind briefly, but was discarded quickly due to how complex and weird the letters were, plus the fact I was following this guy in a highly transited area. He wouldn't stay still for me to just write this shit down.
I frowned, quickly walking and traversing through numerous coming and going people, keeping pace with my target as I thought of something to do.
If I had the I.D on my hands, I could send a pic to Yasaka and she'd translate for me. The issue was getting the card, and since it was inside his wallet, located in his back pocket…
…
Everything came back to old habits, it seemed. No amount of luxury would make me forget my true callings in life.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly began getting closer and closer to him, speeding and bumping through numerous people on the way. Closer, closer I got, walking until I was behind him, a few students and workers between us. I needed to do this quickly, the Stray could probably sense if I stared at them for too long.
I didn't hesitate, pushing my way through the remaining students blocking me, I got behind him and, with practiced movements, my hand went straight for his back pocket, smoothly going for his wallet.
And he gripped my wrist with abnormal strength.
My eyes widened, as he stopped in his tracks entirely, snapping his head back at me, a confused yet angered expression taking over. It was like his body reacted before he even noticed, and once he did notice what was going on, my wrist in his hand, right beside his back pocket, my caught off-guard expression…
He quickly began getting pissed.
"What are you-!?"
Cover blown, I hastily decided to do the only thing I could really do. Frankly, all things considered, this would be less severe than what Raynare did.
Hopefully.
Without even letting him finish, in the span of one second, an oddly-sharp $1 coin shot from my hand right into his eye.
As proved by my first night in this world, Devil eyes were just as fragile as human ones.
A loud scream, everyone else in the vicinity turned to stop and stare at the little violent scene I just created, a man screaming in pain holding his eye with both hands.
In the second of advantage I got with his horrible pain, I quickly reached for his back pocket, taking his wallet from him, and then I also reached for his front pocket with my other hand, taking his phone, intending to stop any communication he might've had with his girlfriend.
This all happened in less than three seconds, and before anything major could happen, like a fight breaking out or outsiders interfering, I ran away the direction I came from.
To an outsider, what they all just witnessed wasn't a supernatural fight breaking out, but just a robber violently stealing from an office worker.
Sure, it wasn't a common sight, but it wasn't impossible either.
It should've been fine, I thought. Or not, who knew? Either way, I needed to get that I.D translated pronto.
Running and heading towards the oh-so-familiar alleyways, I made my escape.
It took some disappointed sighs and comments from Yasaka, plus a new set of warnings, but eventually she gave me all the details from his I.D, most importantly his home address.
"Although you've given me this information, I hope you know this is still a solo mission, Husk."
"I know, I know. They'll be dead by night."
With that exchange over, I had made my way to the address by using the everlasting method of asking old ladies for directions. It took me about half-an-hour, but I made it, now having a very normal-looking two-story house in front of me.
I frowned, and made sure that I didn't arrive at the wrong place (again, via asking old ladies). After confirming this was indeed the home address, I wondered just how good were these Strays at disguising themselves that they acquired such a seemingly normal house.
Fixing my tie and collar, I stepped towards it, silently rehearsing the words I'd need to say.
As I approached, Eyes Everywhere provided me with a view from the inside of the house, and just like the outside, the interior was just as normal. Just a house, nothing to look for here. In the living room was the girl from the dossier, a pretty blonde with green eyes. Just like her boyfriend, she had bat wings hidden by the small of her back.
That was my target.
She also noticed I was approaching, watching me by the living room window, which had a view of the front yard. I didn't acknowledge her and still went to the front door. Politely, I knocked on it thrice.
I saw her deliberate for a second, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, before getting up and moving to open the door. It seemed she was completely unaware of what happened to the man.
The door opened, and Ms. Stray and I saw each other eye-to-eye. I proceeded with the script I pain-stakingly made using (yet again) the information from old ladies on the street.
"Hello, I'm Raúl Jímenez, staff of Takeda Hospital," I began, using my most formal tone. "Are you the partner of Mr. Hachibana Saito?"
That name was the one used in Sander's (the male Stray) I.D. I didn't know what her fake name was, so I was making do with what I had.
She frowned at my question, but still answered. "Yes, that'd be me. Did something happen to him?"
Obviously, she was suspicious. They were after all murderous demons trying to go undercover. I didn't need her trust, though, I just needed her to give me a single window of opportunity.
"Well, I regret to inform you that your partner was attacked on his way to work and is now receiving treatment at the hospital."
Her eyes widened in shock and confusion.
"H-Huh? What? What do you mean?"
"He got attacked, ma'am. Someone mugged him on his way to work and badly damaged his eye. He's currently receiving intense care in E.R."
"...What? H-How!?"
She looked really shocked at the news… but not in the normal way one would be when your partner got badly injured. It was like she was shocked that it COULD happen in the first place.
Or well, that was my suspicion, at least. I never had a long-lasting relationship so it wasn't like I really knew what it would feel like.
"Ma'am, if you wish, I could take you to the hospital right now via car. Your stay there might be prolonged, so I advise taking any important items with you and to turn off anything potentially dangerous—like a kitchen stove—off."
I said all this without leaving any room for objections. She still looked pretty shocked with my earlier news, but after my series of advice, she ended up nodding.
"R- Right. O- One second."
She turned around and headed inside in a rush, and as soon… as SOON as she gave me her back and made her way inside. As soon as she made the mistake of not watching me intently…
With a very relaxed motion, taking care to not make any noise, I took out my exorcist gun from my jacket. Holding it tightly, the heavy weight of the weapon grounding me, I pointed at the back of her head and, without any pause, I generated six coins on my other hand.
I threw the six coins, and followed it up.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Oh, she realized that something was wrong, she used her nifty devil reflexes to try and turn to me. I knew that. I could see in full detail how her eyes widened in panic as she realized that I wasn't actually hospital staff and instead a mean man with a gun.
Sadly for her, despite her attempt to live, she committed one crucial mistake. Although she had those super reflexes and speed from being a devil, she used them to turn around and block. Fair enough, perhaps, but she decided to block by crossing her arms and putting them over her head.
I shot three bullets, and the very neat thing about [Coin Stacker] and the increase in coins was that, once those coins were in the air, the bullets that ricocheted off of them could go in any direction I wanted by using Sharpest Shooter.
Translation:
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
It was all instantaneous, taking place in less than a second.
The FIRST light bullet shot went through the maze of coins I made and, through a very stupid and complex ricochet, the bullet leaving a trail of light in its every bounce, it ended up shooting straight at the Strays head, which was being blocked by both of her arms. It pierced one arm (burning the skin completely thanks to its light properties), but barely managed to stop once it met the second one's flesh, almost being able to pierce through to her forehead.
[Coin Stacker] triggered after every coin ricochet, giving me 30 [Perfect Stacks], meaning the shot that hit her was 300% stronger. After impact, it generated an additional one, leaving the total to 31 [Perfect Stacks].
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
The SECOND one, already beefed the fuck up thanks to the 31 [Perfect Stacks], was 310% stronger. Again, the shot made a ridiculous ricochet inside the coin maze, making six total coin ricochets before being shot directly at her head again. The ricochets triggered [Coin Stacker] once again and increased the total of [Perfect Stacks] to 61.
She really had no chance, so much so that I almost felt bad. The bullet simply tore its way through both of her arms, destroying any sort of demonic flesh in its path and it neatly and cleanly pierced through to her brain. She managed to widen her eyes in panic as she felt what was undoubtedly unimaginable pain at the holy lead.
62 [Perfect Stacks].
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
The THIRD bullet, now that was just overkill, since I really wasn't expecting the first two to be so effective. The third one went through the maze of coins, ensuring coin ricochets, and shot directly against the unguarded Stray's heart. [Coin Stacker] proved its ridiculousness once again and increased the [Perfect Stacks] to 92. Ninety-fucking-two. 920% DMG increase.
With a show of power so great and mighty it was hard to believe it came from me, the bullet destroyed it all. It pierced through the middle of her chest without a single care that a Devil was in the way and it just tore apart all that it could. Lungs, heart, ribs, spine, all of it just obliterated in a show of explosive gore as the bullet exited out of her back, splattering blood and gory bits all over the wall, and finally stopped its destructive path by landing on the wall, managing to go halfway through it.
93 [Perfect Stacks].
In the span of one second, the Stray Devil got absolutely blown to kingdom come.
"...H-Huh?"
That was all she managed to utter as she fell forward completely dead and limp, a disgusting squelching sound accompanying it. Blood soon began to pool around her, emanating from the hole in her arms, forehead and the massive gaping hole in her back. While the corpse bled, I felt 2200 Souls being harvested from her.
On my end, I stood looking at the scene I created with widened, gobsmacked eyes.
This was fucking ridiculous.
Another beat passed, and then I remembered that the front door was still open, and I was standing outside holding a gun like a moron. Cursing, I hastily entered the home, stepping over the limbs of the slaughtered Stray as I did, and closed the door behind me.
"Jesus fucking Christ."
I looked down at my feet, where the corpse was laying still, and where a perfect hole could be seen at her back. It was honestly really gross, but considering my first night here consisted of killing a many-tittied Stray that shat and pissed everywhere upon death, I thought this was rather mild in comparison.
After the mild feeling of disgust came and went, I was just left with one feeling. The one of absolute SUCCESS.
Gingerly, I took out my work phone and crouched next to the Stray corpse. Grabbing her head by the hair, I carelessly lifted it so her lifeless face could be shown. Then I held the phone away with my other arm, turned it around, and took a picture.
"Is that so, little terrorist? And you're sure you haven't lied to me once in this entire explanation?"
"I haven't! We just planned to steal the Sacred Gear and that's that! Our group poses no threat to you!"
Yasaka pretended to hum thoughtfully as her prisoner pathetically pleaded to her, kneeling and with her hands cuffed behind her back. Her clothes still hadn't been changed, being just as messy and bloodied as yesterday, and considering the rather dank and grim room she had been confined in, with no sunlight ever present, she was looking more miserable by the second.
Her words had caught her interest. A device that could extract Sacred Gears? Very interesting, and very dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands… but very useful if it fell into hers.
Not to use it, of course. If the sole suggestion of the Yokai having such a device in their hands and using it were to be caught by the other factions, they'd be turned into enemy #1. Such devices were too potentially dangerous to leave around.
But on the other hand, if her faction was responsible for destroying the damned thing…
A thousand political maneuvers went through Yasaka's head, already planning her next move after such useful info was fed to her. Raynare, for her part, was left looking down at the floor with frustrated eyes, having just been forced under threat of death to rat out her entire team and plans at Kuoh.
To betray her team like that would be the height of shame for anyone… but Raynare was a coward, and thus, she confessed everything. It didn't mean she couldn't feel powerless about it.
The moment of silence was interrupted by a small 'ping!' sound. Yasaka looked curiously into her pocket, and produced her phone. It wasn't ever used much, being able to communicate with anyone she needed to by using magic circles, but recently it had gotten used due to the addition of a human undead to her ranks. Intrigued, Yasaka turned on the screen and opened the message she had just gotten from the contact 'Husk'.
from: husk
la diabla está muerta. falta el otro.
agradecería que no vinieran polis a joder.
XOXO.
Attached was an image of her recent hire holding the female Stray's head with one hand by her hair, showing her lifeless, listless and bloodied expression to the camera while her agent's face had a radiant, sparkling full-toothed grin on. He looked absolutely unharmed.
It was also to be noted that the corpse was profusely bleeding, and that the corpse's back had a sizable hole right where the heart should be, with the wall behind completely splattered in blood.
Yasaka would admit that she was suitably impressed. It hadn't even been more than five hours and he had already met both targets, with one of them being already eliminated.
So far, his hiring had been quite a success for her. Even if he didn't show results, then at least she had the first ever truly immortal human on her hands. It was a good bonus that he was good at what he claimed to do.
She quickly sent a text message back, then returned to business.
from: Boss.
No habrá policías. Trabaja a tu discreción.
I nodded to myself as I read the message, then pocketed my phone, returning my gaze to the corpse and the general bloody mess I created.
…Now what? There was still the guy I blinded left, and I had no clue where he might have been.
Hm…
…
…Alright, no clue, then. It was time to wait inside his own home then. Sure, this might have been a rather crass strategy, a very unrefined one depending solely on chance.
But what else was there to do? Exiting the house meant that at any given moment, he could return and see the bloody corpse of his girlfriend, and the surprise factor would go fuck itself in an instant.
No, it was better to wait here for now.
…I could move the corpse a bit, though. Wouldn't help me to have this stupid body blocking the way once the man of the house returned.
With a groan, I went for the body, grabbed it by the armpits, and began dragging it somewhere else. Preferably their shared bedroom.
Reasons? Just felt petty, that's all.
Somewhere in Kuoh, a young, very recently reincarnated Devil was sweating his heart out for the first time in his life.
"P- President! I- I have to go to school now! C- Can I please-!?"
"No, Issei, there are still thirty minutes left! Keep running laps!"
"A- AGH! Okay, President!"
Rias stared at her new—and only—Pawn run himself ragged, exhausted beyond belief. She felt bad for a second, but quickly crushed the feeling. She needed a strong piece, and he took 8 pawns all for himself. She'd make sure that potential bloomed whether he liked it or not.
Still, it wasn't like she blamed the young boy for being so utterly exhausted. She had recruited him into her peerage just yesterday after all. Rias had expected the recruitment to carry some more fanfare, but it was disappointingly easy, rather.
Just a word here, some vaguely lewd promise there with the appropriate flash of her underwear, the reassurance that once he was a high-class devil he could have his own harem, and that was that. One new piece in her peerage.
The hasty recruitment of Issei Hyodou was, of course, questioned by her Queen, her input being (as expected) some bothersome remarks implying this was a rebound of some kind. She promptly increased the workload of Akeno's training in response.
Still, pointedly false as her Queen's remark was, it was still related in some way. Once Daniel rejected her offer thoroughly, she had made a lot of adjustments that she felt were necessary, using Akeno's advice when needed.
First, she needed her bishop to not be a shut-in. She knew Gasper's circumstances and what brought him to the state he's in today, and she would always feel empathetic to the young vampire boy, but it was undeniable that she had one piece doing nothing of value inside his room, with zero training and simply being a sort of… charity-case.
The second she had thought of that she felt horrible. She loved her pieces to death, she'd do anything for them, always.
…But her liberty was at stake, for potentially hundreds of years. She wasn't going to take chances any longer, and Gasper wasn't going to be excluded from her new mindset.
So, she called her brother, and, despite her pride, she asked him for any sort of underworld therapist that could talk to Gasper. Rias wasn't expecting him to get better instantly, but if she wanted anything to change, she needed to at least try.
In Koneko's case it was similar. Rias knew the circumstances behind Koneko, but she needed all she could get. It took a long conversation, discussion about boundaries, what would be expected, but eventually she managed it. She convinced Koneko to begin training senjutsu.
Rias felt quite elated that she could convince her, a surge of confidence going through her and that it was possible. It was possible to actually fix her fate and avoid Riser's engagement.
There was one other member who was holding back, and that one was going to be a mess and a half to actually manage.
That being: her Queen. She refused vehemently to use her Fallen side. And Rias tried, oh she tried. Long discussions, devolving into arguments. Nasty remarks thrown here, others thrown there, then it became a shouting match.
So far, there was no convincing Akeno.
Rias wasn't going to have that. She was going to get her piece to use her full potential, and she'd do it whether Akeno fucking liked it or not.
…Rias took a deep breath. It was tiring to think of her lovely pieces like pieces, but it was necessary. They were at the end of the day what she'd use in Rating Games, and shoddy pieces made for shoddy results.
There would be no more of those.
Speaking of which.
"Issei, you're slowing down! Slow down any further and your time will increase by ten minutes! Chop-chop!"
He groaned in pain, but picked up the speed. Good, she'd make those eight pieces he consumed be worth the price.
No more shoddy pieces. No more shoddy results.
The TV spouted a constant stream of silly cartoon noises, the camera zooming in and out of people's faces. The host did a sort of 'funny scream' and the zany music and sound effects upped the ante. It was an incessant river of noise.
Man, it was really odd watching TV from another country. Sometimes cultural differences didn't ever set in unless you watched what people considered their entertainment, because if you simply talked and walked around cities, people didn't ever really seem that different! When it came time to experience what the people consumed when resting, when all they wanted was to amuse themselves, you could learn a lot, if not even more about a country than walking around the place.
Those were my thoughts as I lazily watched the CRT-TV in the living room, haphazardly sitting on a very comfy plush couch with my legs propped up on the small coffee table in front of me. On my lap was a small plate of pasta and tomato sauce I made, a fork in my hand being used rather lazily to feed myself, eyes stuck to the screen.
If it wasn't for my neat suit (which was getting rather crumpled by now) I'd look exactly like a jobless asshole lazing around on a Monday.
Which sure, might have been seen as fucking around on the job, especially since I just cooked myself some pasta in my recent murder victim's kitchen and was now laying down like I owned the place, but I was just waiting for Sir Stray to come back home so I could kill him, and I wasn't going to be waiting all stoically and serious on the living room with the lights off. Man needed to eat, and these assholes had a fully stocked kitchen.
It was 2 PM now, a lot of hours had gone by since I killed Ms. Stray. I had dragged her corpse to the bedroom and dropped it right on the two-person bed. I did leave a bit of a trail of blood while dragging the corpse. A bit of a trail in the sense that the entire floor from where the Stray died and where I dropped the corpse was now absolutely messy and painted blood-red. Little bits of brain matter were also liberally spread throughout the way.
It was a mess through and through.
…Eh, whatever.
Thus, I continued watching Japanese TV.
One hour passed, and the TV was starting to become actually mind-numbing. For recreational purposes, I decided to simply snoop around the house, if nothing else to see if there was any info of value here.
Eyes Everywhere at the ready, I began examining every single crevice of this house.
Ended up finding a photo album buried behind some drawer in the main bedroom where the Stray corpse was rotting, the smell starting to become a bit nauseating. It was way in the back of the drawer and covered in dust. It depicted a normal-looking Japanese family, smiling and laughing in what seemed to be the backyard of this house. Two parents, two children, a boy and a girl.
Those were the only photos of another family I could find in this house.
Staring down at the ground of the backyard, I felt quite repulsed. Eyes Everywhere was clearly seeing a mess of bones and four skulls buried five meters into the ground right below me, all stuffed inside a trash bag. They weren't full bodies, the only bones inside the bags aside from the skulls being spinal cords and hipbones, with the rest of it suspiciously absent.
Seeing the sight, it grimly reminded me of leftover chicken bones.
To my absolute disgust, beside the bag full of bones was another one, full of children's clothing and family photos. Standing out were four sets of clothes crumpled inside, all of them torn apart and viscerally stained with blood.
And then I found another bag full of skull and bones. And another. And another.
...
Well, at least now I knew where the original occupants of this house were. It still didn't explain how they convinced the neighbors that they were the original owners. Stupid Devil Magic was the leading hypothesis at the moment.
After giving the terrible bags of horridness buried in the ground another look or two, I decided to get back inside the house, clutching my exorcist gun a bit tighter than usual.
Having a coin stuck inside his eye was going to be the least of that Stray asshole's worries.
Scouring the house, I entered what seemed to be an office, with a nice-looking desk sporting a very old-school looking computer, like the one from my 'Incursor Summary' dreams. Curiously, I went up to it, sat down and turned it on.
If the Internet failed to keep me entertained while waiting for my target, then nothing else would work. Sure, I couldn't read Japanese and all, but thanks to Google I could just read things in my mother tongue.
Frankly, it wasn't like I ever got much of a chance to use computers, so it'd be refreshing to have full access to one.
As the screen turned on, it proudly displayed a 'Microsoft Windows XP' logo. Man, even I knew this shit was old. It was really curious how every single Japanese resident had outdated technology.
"...Huh? Wait, why the fuck does the computer date say 2008?"
…
"Why the fuck does this news article also say 2008?"
…
"Why the- "
I stared in abject horror at the computer screen, the Spanish news article talking about an earthquake that happened in China recently. In the year 2008.
2008. 2008. 2008.
Although the concept of getting transported to another world wasn't a big deal for me, the fact that I also seemed to have time traveled took a little longer to digest.
Fuck, was there a 6 year old version of me back at Chile? How much did this world's events differ from the original one, aside from the man-eating demons and angels?
…Would Michael Jackson die in this one, too?
With such conundrums, hours passed.
As the sun fell down, I turned off the computer (that had been feeding me entertainment through and through, Youtube be blessed) and instead had to twiddle my thumbs in the living room, lights on and curtains drawn. I had to keep the illusion that things were A-OK for any outsider, and that also went for Mr. Stray the second he came home.
…Hopefully he'd hurry the fuck up, I was getting real fucking tired. As I waited endlessly for him, I had gotten closely acquaintanced with this fun little 'snake' game my work phone had installed.
It was really fun! The snake grew every time it ate a fruit, but that made it more difficult to not eat your own tail! So simple yet fun! Frankly, I didn't even know such amazing fun could be contained within such a small devi-
!
My smile fell and my expression turned serious, closing the phone with a snap. I got up from my seat and began heading upstairs.
It was impossible to clean the bloody hallway after killing Ms. Stray, so my plan took into account the fact Mr. Stray would find it like so.
Daddy's getting paid tonight.
Sander had just experienced one of his worst days yet.
First off, Liara had made a terrible breakfast, and you know, Sander loved her, there was a reason why he aided her with his Sacred Gear so she could be kept fed, but boy was that girl absolutely trashy when cooking. Absolute zero taste.
He guessed that eating live humans straight from the bone ruined your sense of taste. That was a theory, though, and it hardly excused the feat of fucking up fried eggs.
Secondly, in the deluge of horrible events, a fucking asshole just stole his phone and wallet, and sure, such a thing would have NEVER happened to him in any other circumstances, since he wasn't a squishy weak human anymore, but this particular asshole just decided to throw a coin directly into his left eye before stealing from him.
It hurt, for the record. It really, really hurt.
Which directly led to third: he had missed the entire work day, being forced to be confined within a hospital. Worse yet, since he had no phone and didn't know his workplace's number (that was what contact lists were for!) he just missed the workday without any prior notice to his superiors.
AND THERE WAS NOTHING WORSE THAN MISSING A DAY'S WORK! He was supposed to be a normal human man! He used to be one, so of course he can PRETEND to be one when needed! Super easy!
Sander's fists clenched in anger, trembling. The aching in his left, broken eye felt even more painful, the white patch covering it failing to alleviate his pain.
THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE WHO MUGGED HIM WOULD PAY. He had made his effortless job of blending in impossible for a single day, perhaps even MORE if his boss decided he needed a sick leave. Now that he was one-eyed for who knew how long it'd be impossible to be a normal human! He had forced him to fail!
He could feel his Sacred Gear raring to go. That fucking dipshit was SO lucky that he mugged Sander in public, because if they had been alone… Oh, if they had been alone…
His dear Liara would have a new lunch, and Sander would make sure he felt every single bite and chew from her. In fact, Sander would ENSURE that the asshole actually felt his love's powerful and unforgiving maw. It was high-time HE decided on a new target for her to eat.
With such thoughts, he approached the home they stole from an unsuspecting family a few weeks ago. So far, they had blended in rather seamlessly into everyone's routine thanks to the aid of Sander's Sacred Gear, no one being the wiser that the family of four had suspiciously been replaced overnight.
The lights of the house on, his dear Liara must be preparing dinner… which was something he'd have to add to the list of horrible things for the day. But no matter, he loved her dearly, and the fact she even cooked in the first place was enough to soar his heart.
Sander took out his keys and moved to the door. As he gripped the door-handle to unlock it, he surprisingly found that it was already unlocked.
My, Liara was getting rather careless. He'd scold her later.
He opened the door.
"Honey, I'm ho-!"
He froze as the normally pristine hallway was covered in blood. Sander's eyes widened in panic and in an instant, Saccharine Suggestion was covering his right hand, the tip of his fingers now covered in sharp crimson nail-like blades. Using demonic energy, a blade of ice formed in his other hand.
With panic, he looked around, as if the blood would suddenly disappear.
"L- Liara!?"
He called for her, but there was no response. Sander looked over to the living room but it looked just like always, no blood-
…No, the couch looked like someone had been sitting on it, the cushions distinctly crumpled. There was a dirty plate on top of the coffee table.
Had… had someone been here? Eating!? Where's Liara!?
Hands shaking, he looked back at the bloody hallway, noticing that the blood… trailed. There was a trail of blood and it went right to the stairs.
Sander took a shuddering breath. Even though he and Liara had escaped from their peerage together, the brunt of power between the two was clearly Liara. He just happened to be the perfect support for her own Sacred Gear, Unquenchable Maws, and he supported her well enough that they managed to fight their way out and blend in with humans.
Saccharine Suggestion on its own was rather… underwhelming. It had the potentially powerful effect of overriding someone's thoughts and actions with one of the user's choosing, but on any target that wasn't a run-of-the-mill human, it was required for Sander to stab the target with at least one of his crimson nails, requiring all five if the target was powerful enough, and even then, if it was too powerful the override would have to be rather minor.
Unquenchable Maws was more powerful. It let the user turn any part of their body into giant, sharp and deadly jaws. The problem was that once the surprise factor of Unquenchable Maws was out, most tended to keep out of range for any attack to be effective, which was why Sander was a good support for her.
He just needed to shoot his crimson nails at the target, override any of their actions with 'don't move' and Liara would take care of them with delight.
The giant jaws also left little to no leftovers of the targets, which meant that when combined, Sander's and Liara's Sacred Gears could make them go through cities eating and controlling humans when needed while facing zero consequences, practically making them untraceable.
Which meant that Sander, on his lonesome, felt absolute fear as the blood trail led up the stairs, where it was dark.
"F- Fuck…"
Swallowing spit, Sander finally moved up the stairs. As he moved, the worst-case scenarios began running through his head.
Liara's dead. Is she? Oh fuck, is Liara dead? Fuck, she can't be dead, I need her as defense. I'll get caught otherwise. It was hard enough to convince her I was useful, I had to use all five of my nails to override her thoughts so that she could use me. I need her to keep the hunters away from me. I'll die otherwise. I'll get hunted. Put down like a dog. Fuck. FUCK!
Starting to hyperventilate, Sander got to the second floor. The blood trail continued, leading right into their shared bedroom.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
It was dark, but the blood was easily seen. Cursing, Sander followed the trail of gore to the bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar. Taking a shaky breath, he stepped inside.
"Liara?"
Sander saw Liara, bloody, lifeless, with holes in her head, arms and chest. The bed, where he consummated his love with his lovely Liara, now stained deep red. Her face was twisted in an expression of shock, her last moments filled with confusion.
He couldn't help himself, he wasn't strong, even when he was a human. He was weak, always reliant on someone stronger. He used his one talent, Saccharine Suggestion, to force Liara to notice him, and he managed to get a life going. So what if humans died to feed his lovely partner, whose hunger wouldn't ever cease, they were necessary sacrifices to keep his partner, his consequence-free killer happy.
Not able to stop his shaky hands, he dropped the ice blade, the sword clattering against the floor.
"Liara!"
His voice full of panic, he reached tentatively towards his loved one's corpse, as if somehow the undeniable truth that Liara had died could be overridden.
BANG!
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
Only, and only because of his reflexes granted to him as a devil, his face twisted towards the sound, but unlike his partner, he didn't even move to protect himself. Frozen in fear, Sander saw the light bullet, emerging at an impossible angle from a dark room across of him, heading directly into his forehead.
At the last second, Sander raised Saccharine Suggestion and tried blocki-
from: husk
hecho.
(Attached was a picture of a bedroom with a double bed, two bloody corpses lying on top, the male one with a single bullet wound in his forehead, the woman much bloodier. In front of them, from the camera's viewpoint, was a hand doing a thumbs up.)
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
from: Boss.
Excelente. Regresa. Se discutirá tu pago.
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
from: husk
$$$.
Feeling highly cool after successfully dispatching the two Strays by my lonesome, I returned to the hotel. Since it was night, there were a lot more people walking around inside the hotel lobby, meaning that since I was wearing the 'agent' suit, people inevitably gave me some looks, especially since I kind of stood out compared to the other Yokai who wore the outfit.
I didn't give a shit, I just walked with my head high, whistling 'Quién es la Que Viene Allí' while heading to the elevator. Quickly scanning my card, the elevator doors opened and soon enough, I was already in front of Yasaka's door.
Knock Knock.
"Come in."
I entered the room, and in my absence, somehow the whole room had transformed from a sort of high-end tearoom to a luxurious looking office, a big desk filled with papers, documents and a computer by the center, Yasaka sitting behind it. She was wearing the same suit from this morning, still displaying a very generous amount of cleavage with her golden tails gloriously splayed out.
Once more, I thanked Eyes Everywhere for existing, because otherwise I feared my boss would catch my gaze wandering places.
Yasaka looked up from her papers to me and talked matter-of-factly.
"So, you accomplished your mission."
"Yup," I agreed. "Aside from the waiting and stuff, it was very easy. Almost disappointingly so, actually. I was ready to die a couple times against them, but they both died in a couple seconds."
Yasaka hummed.
"I will have to agree with you. I fully expected your value to mostly reside in your immortality. Consider me pleasantly surprised with your performance, García."
"Thanks," I said simply, nodding. "So, payment?"
She smiled.
"Of course," she said, as if pleased with my question. "You successfully completed your task within the timeframe given, thus you will be paid accordingly."
Yasaka's gaze moved to the computer screen.
"Let's see, considering the level of the two Strays you killed…"
She narrowed her gaze at the screen, tapped her keyboard, then pressed 'Enter'.
"You will be paid 1700000 yen," she stated, as if what she said was a completely normal sum of money.
At the overwhelming presence of zeroes, I froze, quickly doing some mental math.
…Wait, $12000?
"Huh? Seriously?"
This was absolutely fucking ridiculous. My mind almost began to overheat at the possibilities of such stupid money.
"M-hm. They had already killed all other exterminators we had sent against them while leaving no trace. Until the arrival of an immortal agent, it had been considered 'not worth it' to pursue them further. Those Strays were quite advanced with their tactics."
She looked at me with something resembling pride. "You did quite good today, García."
I almost had to physically muzzle myself from objecting to that, because what I faced today were absolute pushovers who died in less than one second. The man fucking dropped his own ice-blade, for fuck's sake! They fucking sucked!
Still, I knew better than to correct her notions. If thinking they were the cream of the crop led to a massive overpay, then who was I to correct her?
"Thank you," I said instead. "Is that money going to my account?"
"Yes, the money has already been deposited. You're free to withdraw it whenever you wish."
Before the triumphant grin could get too big, Yasaka continued.
"I'd recommend you don't make any sudden plans with that money, however, because your next mission's already been decided."
"Oh, another Stray?" I was so looking forward to free money.
She chuckled at my eager tone.
"No, no. You're going back to Kuoh, actually."
Oh. That sucked.
"Why, exactly?" I asked, hesitant. I really didn't want to talk to Rias or her troupe again. "I thought you just ruled over Kyoto."
"I do, and normally I'd have nothing to do with Kuoh."
Yasaka smirked.
"But thanks to our little feathered friend, who killed you so publicly, now I have all the reasons in the world to send people there. After all, the Fallen came from Kuoh, it's only natural that I, as the concerned leader of Kyoto, would want to know what was happening there."
I still wasn't happy that I had to return to what was essentially the 'start' of my travels, but I wasn't about to discuss it with my overpaying boss.
"You know that one of the heiresses there already knows me, right? If you want me to carry out a hush-hush type of mission I think I'll be unfit."
"Which one of the heiresses was the one who made you the peerage offer?"
She completely ignored me. I frowned, but still answered.
"Rias did."
"Oh, Rias, huh? I didn't know you were on a first-name basis with the Gremory heiress."
I looked at her confused, especially since she looked pleased at that fact, her tone actually teasing.
"What do you mean? It'd be weird as hell to call someone only by their surname, right?"
Her pleased expression fell.
"Oh, right. Forgive me, I forget that you're not Japanese. I take it there's not much meaning in just calling someone by their first name where you're from, correct?"
"Why would there be?"
She sighed, disappointed. I still didn't get who gave a shit about the first-name basis.
"It doesn't matter," she proceeded, moving along. "I still need you to go to Kuoh. Normally I'd reserve such an… important mission to a more experienced agent, but considering your surprising performance today, I think it's safe to say that you're quite above the power level of Stray Devils. Powerful ones, at that, so I think that makes you qualified for this particular mission."
"...Am I?"
Yasaka remained uncaring to my reservations.
"If you're not, you can just come back to life." She smirked. "See how convenient you are, Husk?"
I felt like I needed to object to that, but just shrugged instead. She wasn't wrong, and immortality was my whole selling point.
"Fine, sure. What exactly am I supposed to do there?"
"Oh, a lot of things," she answered. "But if we wanted to put it shortly."
For the first time since I had met her, a very greedy kind of smile invaded her face, seeming almost out of place.
"You'll make an act of presence."
…That explained nothing, how completely unhelpful.
"That's completely unhelpful," I told her plainly.
"You'll slaughter all the Fallen Angels and Stray Exorcists residing in Kuoh, you'll wear the insignia of the Yokai as you do so, and you'll make the Gremory and Sitri heiresses look absolutely incompetent and unfit inside their own territory. You'll make the Devils look like a joke and the Yokai, a relatively small faction, will gain much needed notoriety and political favor."
She smiled innocently. "Is that clearer?"
...
"Yeah, that's much better."
It was concerning how my hustle had been evolving rather quickly from juggling to mass slaughter, but if there was one thing that would always remain true, especially now that I was living my afterlife...
Was that Daniel García was a hustler.
And if the hustle was slaughter, then Daniel García would just have to HUSTLE.
...
"Uh, how much did it cost to spend the night here again?"
"$200"
"Oh."
Even with my newfound wealth, $200 was too much for a room. The mere thought of spending that much money on a whim felt painful to my heart.
The HUSTLER slept on the streets that night.
AN: A much shorter chapter, especially compared to the others, but I still wanted to portray the life of working under Yasaka before anything else more important happened. Originally, I had planned to make Daniel's encounters with the Strays a whole lot more eventful, but once I took in the facts, I realized that there wasn't a real chance of even a small fight happening properly. Coins were too powerful.
Once again, thanks to everyone who leaves a review and tells me what they thought of my story. I will remind you that I am quite literally writing only for your amusement, so if you felt amused by my story, I'd appreciate it if you let me know.
That's all, thanks for reading.