Chapter XXXVIII
"A curse?!"
A hand lashed out, clamping itself over Issei's mouth as he yelped. Across from him, the tired, haggard looking form of the Student Council President loomever over the slightly confused young man as amethyst eyes flitted around.
Trying to make sure they were the only ones in the room before stepping back with a sigh of relief.
"I would appreciate it if you could keep that quiet for now. We don't want the culprit… whoever they are… to know we are onto them. The walls could have ears if we aren't careful."
Right, right.
He nodded in acceptance, somewhat appreciating the sheer oddity of the student council room.
"But still, are you sure about that?"
Sona nodded grimly, a little at odds with the large glowing crystals placed in each of the four corners. Though more in line with the large sigils placed on the walls.
"I had a few samples sent to a contact of mine and he confirmed that the 'illness' that has been spreading around Kuoh is some sort of self propagating curse. It works like a virus, or perhaps like poison, and spreads from host to host once it has drained enough strength to split itself."
Issei grimaced at the thought. And the sudden image that popped into his head of demonic ritual sacrifices on the blue and silver altar she'd set out under the largest of the sigils.
"Nasty piece of work then? Can it be cured?"
Kept to himself was the thought that he didn't think that sort of virgin sacrifice was going to help them here.
"It's possible, if you have a sample of the victim's life force or mana from before they were infected, it can be used to slow down the rate of spread, but a proper 'vaccine' in this case would require that we find the culprit and convince them to release the curse."
Which wasn't exactly easy.
Irina and Xenovia had called earlier to let him know they'd hadn't found anyone or any place suspicious and he'd have to call them and let them know they should avoid people who were 'sick' so the curse wouldn't catch them.
'Wait a second!'
He looked at Sona with a sudden realization twisting his gut into knots.
"Are you…?"
"Cursed? No, but the Vice President was. Fortunately it doesn't seem to go all the way to the soul so we managed to put together a system to slow down the spread and insulate it to her."
But without the culprit, they couldn't heal her. Perhaps the tapestry depicting several ocean gods had to do with invoking healing? If her friends had been hurt, then it made sense she'd try to help them. Though all of this looked like she'd been… preparing for a while.
And then a second shock followed through from the first.
Matsuda and Aika. They were both complaining about being sick and unable to come to class. So that meant they were both already cursed too!
"Wait. Can this thing affect humans, too? Can it spread from normal people to supernatural people? What about the other way around? My mom's not exactly a neat freak but whenever we get to Tokyo we always take face masks… and, well, how… how do we keep it from spreading?"
Issei wasn't panicking, but he was speaking quickly. Thoughts were pounding through his head. Some of them were simply daydreams about certain anime and manga and how they depicted disease based apocalypses. That seemed silly, but he knew, or at least suspected, that the one thing they got right was establishing how something could spread and who it could spread to.
'Though I doubt this is gonna be like Kiss-Kiss-Kill. That would be, well, awkward. This is just scary. Also, I don't have step sisters.'
"Well, I have ideas but no proof-"
"Then we make up a dossier. First things first, is there a chance of this curse getting out of control? Mr. Amakasu mentioned that curses that can spread tend to either be self limiting by design, so they don't draw too much attention, or the sort of thing with a defined kill trigger. So that they can't get out of control. What's this one?"
Sona looked a little taken aback, even a smidge impressed, but simply shook her head.
"We don't know yet. Devil magic and 'Earth' magic - magic from this world - are fundamentally different. Ah, how to put this… did your teacher explain to you magical formulas?"
He nodded.
"Humans either use specific formulas to define the effects and specifications of a spell or ritual or whatever, or rely on faith and invoking the power of a spirit or deity. Sometimes just really powerful artifacts can do the same."
"That's more or less the basics. Devils, and I suspect some of your divines, use what we call the Power of Imagination. As beings of pure magic, we can shape ourselves and our power to do whatever it is we wish. To a degree, at least."
"And because this curse uses a magical formula, we know it's a being from this world?"
A pained grimace flickered across Kaichou's face and Issei wanted to tell her that everything would be ok. But before he could speak, she tried to answer.
"It suggests that it is. I… do not wish to give in to paranoia, but…."
"It could be someone trying to convince us it was someone from this world. And, hmm, was it because the Fallen were attacked first… that it could have been a Devil?"
"Yes." Sona looked decidedly pained. To the point simply saying this almost seemed to be physically unpleasant. "I personally suspect that a Devil had a hand in making this curse. And the reason I know this is because… I recognize some of the Gremory's handiwork in this."
"Wait, what!? Rias's family is doing this?"
"No, no, no! Not at all!" Frantically waving her hands, Sona tried to destroy the misunderstanding before it could spread. "I think that someone who has worked with the Gremory family before is doing this. So someone who is probably very, very old, who has dealt with Devils, and is probably from this world - that's who I think is doing this."
"I see."
He really did.
"So."
Sitting down in the middle of the floor in the full lotus position, he looked up at his classmate and tried to ignore how he could almost see up her skirt at this angle.
And how soft her thighs-
Issei bit his own cheek and placed his hands in the position of the mudra.
"Do you think it's gonna be a problem for me?"
"I don't believe so. Unless you've ingested anything cursed, that is. But the curse doesn't spread to inanimate objects so food should be fine, even if handled by someone cursed."
Sona stepped to the side and Issei let his eyes relax, focusing on some point a vague distance in front of him, trying to see without seeing.
Because right now he was struggling not to send Yinghua to just go grab his parents and run.
Panicking was bad.
Panicking would get people hurt.
Panicking… would be a problem if others did.
"Has the government identified a possible plague?"
"I do not believe so, no."
"Believe so?"
"It's impossible to know for certain." The Devil admitted. "But it is unlikely."
"Then we should tell them and Irina and Xenovia. Please inform Ms. Peneume and Kiba and Koneko. I will call the HCC after I speak to the others. Preventing a plague is paramount."
Sona adjusted her glasses, having sat back down and pulled out her phone.
"It's more than likely that this isn't an attack on the country itself but some kind of method to draw you out. So we shouldn't be looking at this as a national disaster and more of a… hostage situation."
That brought him up short.
Hostages?
It was true that he was supposed to be this big scary godslayer person, but so far everyone who came around to try and fight him just walked right up to him and took a shot. He wasn't familiar or had any experience with someone trying to take the fight to people other than him or force him to do something without using force.
And if Issei were to be honest, he didn't know how to handle that.
They could slow down the spread of the curse to just some people, and there was some work being done by Sona's friends to help heal them, but he didn't exactly know what he could do.
Unless….
"President? I think I have something that can work."
That earned him all of her attention, dark pink orbs immediately zooming in on him as his classmate leaned closer ever so slightly.
"You think you do?"
Well, how could he explain it without making it sound creepy?
"Well, um, one of my powers can. The one from Dusa-chan's sisters… I mean, the two gorgons."
"The ones who attacked the city a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah, well, one of them had healing powers. She could spit out medicine, and when I beat them I got a power that turns my body into something like that. Either poison or medicine, depends on what I pick."
The revelation seemed to confuse her. But Issei realized that he hadn't exactly explained to people what his powers did, maybe because the council president probably wasn't there to see it when he handed the flasks after those Fallen Angels attacked. Even if he wasn't really trying to hide everything, he did actually need to tell people things if he wanted them to know about it.
Fortunately he didn't need to explain much more because the bespectacled devil immediately caught onto what he was saying, eyes blown wide as she started mumbling under her breath.
"Dusa. Medusa. Gorgons. Stheno and Euryale. Gorgon blood. Venomous or healing properties. Most powerful healing reagent. No, second most powerful outside phoenix tears. More plentiful perhaps. If the body itself is the medicine then it would be limited in amount but exist in higher quantities than what can be produced in a single time…"
Waving his hand in front of her face, Issei tried not to be too rude.
"Uhh, President, you're kinda spiralling there."
At once, she snapped back to reality.
"How much can you make?"
"Uhh, well… I've only tried blood. I don't think spit works as well, and Yinghua refused to check on my hair. I can draw some blood with a weapon but needles kinda break and I need to drink some to heal if I use too much?" It took him aback, but he tried to answer as best as he could.
He did want to help, after all.
"Of course. The myths attribute the healing properties to the blood itself, so the effect would be stronger there. And without medical equipment the spillage would make drawing it wasteful, even if we could, at the best, take a litter."
Woah there.
A liter?!
"That's gonna leave me pretty low energy though. Should I risk it with whoever is behind this still around." Ultimately, he wanted to help and save these people… but he wasn't even sure Doctor Venom could cure them of a curse. And if he started drawing blood nonstop now, it would take time for him to recover.
Because healing magic couldn't pass through his skin.
"Ah, yes." She grimaced. "My apologies, I seem to be a tad more frazzled today. It's been a very stressful few days."
"Yeah, don't worry. Still, I have a couple vials left if you need them."
"How many?"
"Uhh, three or so? I think Irina used a couple… but I can leave some with you and you can tell me later if they work." Fiddling with his pack, Issei looked over the little glass bottles he had left.
Set in a lunch box, in a wooden vial holder, only four of the ten slots were filled. There were fewer of the ones he painted as medicine, three, with a bright blue stripe around the body, and only one flask of green and yellow painted venom.
He wasn't comfortable making more than one.
Not when he knew how bad it was.
Handing over two of the healing vials to her, Issei took stock of the lone flasks left behind in his pack. One venom and one medicine. Not a whole lot, but it was good to keep around in case someone needed it.
"Will you be able to draw more? These might not be enough to run conclusive tests with."
Issei sighed, already feeling tired despite classes not even having started.
"I'll look into it later, but don't expect a lot. It actually takes a long time for me to bleed that much." And wasn't it a weird thing to complain about to someone else when most would be glad they didn't have to worry about bleeding out in less than a weekend.
"Now, we should get to the matter of… compensation."
Issei blinked.
What was she talking about?
"I understand that asking you to do this is… stepping over my boundaries. So we, the House of Sitri, that is, can not compensate you. But I, Sona, am willing to repay you in whatever manner you deem necessary for your help."
Oh, that! He did suppose that a bunch of Devils were hurt and they took contracts seriously, after all!
They were actually gonna pay him for this? Not that he minded it, but Issei wasn't exactly expecting to get anything out of a few glasses of blood. If this were a video game it would be like wanting to repay someone for giving them a random potion you had left over.
"I do not doubt that my parents will also be willing to assist you. As such, we are willing to part with a bevy of articles to correct this debt. Be it money, power or… or other things. I'm sure we can come to an agreement that is beneficial to both parties."
Well, if she was insisting?
But Issei couldn't think of anything he really wanted right now, and he was kinda worried about the curse thing, too.
"We'll put a pin on it for now? Let's just say you owe me one and work something out later."
She gave him a reproachful look.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah!" He nodded. A little worried she looked so upset. "To be honest, I'm not even sure what I'd ask for. So right now let's say it's a favor between friends."
"Uh huh."
"Yup. Let's shake on it!"
Slowly extending her hand, almost acting like she expect Issei to bite her, Sona closed her eyes and winced when he touched her.
"Very well then. It is done."
"Please help everyone you can. As silly as it sounds, I think the sisters would be happy helping people, instead of hurting or scaring them. And don't worry about payment for a while. Maybe we can talk about it over another chess game, gotta beat yah one day!"
That brought a slight smile out of her, enough that Issei was satisfied with the deal.
Still, that was just one problem down.
He'd need to call Smith and see if her folks could do anything to help. He just hoped he wasn't about to drop too much on her plate again. The way she sounded these days it felt like her bosses were definitely overworking her.
But hey, maybe he was wrong and they were actually having a slow day for once.
"This is a catastrophe!"
"Should we pull back?"
"And then what? Let this disaster unfold and count the bodies in the aftermath?!""
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Stop the target from remaining in Kuoh? At the point it's a miracle another fight hasn't broken out and the boy's reputation speaks for itself. Heretic Gods are one thing, but according to our sources, Issei Hyoudou couldn't defeat Luo Hao."
Smith wanted to sigh.
She wanted some coffee. Maybe with something a little bit stronger mixed in.
Anything to help her get through this meeting.
Agents like her usually weren't given the 'privilege' of taking part in discussions related to their assignments, though they were expected to stand by in case their testimony regarding matters was called upon by the four clan heads who bickered endlessly.
Unlike the grand meetings which defined the fate of the nation. The History Compilation Committee preferred a more upfront approach to how they handled in-house affairs.
The four heads of the four clans who founded the organization were required to appear and then engage one another in enlightened discussion. But when three out of four clan heads were teenagers… the discussions were less enlightened and more akin to bickering.
Renjou.
Seishuuin.
Kuhoutsuka.
Sayanomiya.
Three brats and an old hag watching them bicker. Smith was sure that if her ancestors could see this they would probably be twisting the kids ears or perhaps arguing just as vehemently as the Renjou and Kuhoutsuka heirs were, all the while the resident crossdresser and her own old hag watched them get it out of their systems.
"And if we go to the other factions we'll look like incompetent fools who can't manage the Campione."
Mikihiko, the sole boy of this gathering, was perhaps the most conservative minded of the group. He wished to take the slow and steady approach and build a relationship spanning generations with the Campione, but without risking his own Clan's status to fast track it just in case the blame would be pinned on him.
Heavens knew other clans would be all too eager to drag him down.
Like the Asakura family, or the Tohsaka clan for example.
Heck, with how bad his standing was, an argument could even be made for the Mariya family to replace hi, who had in the current generation borne generous fruit in the form of a Hime Miko, Yuri Mariya. In fact, the girl's placement alongside Smith's own daughter was a test of sorts for her family and whether they had what it took to ascend to leadership within the Committee in the future, despite their current less than respectable status.
"Maybe you will look incompetent, but it will be our heads if the Campione dies, or if the entire city is wiped out from the map.!"
Across from him, just as vehemently in denial as the boy, was Fuyuhime Renjou.
Though to call her heir or clan head would be an overstatement. She was merely the only one in her generation willing to leave her studies and reclusion to mingle with politics and 'mundane matters'. The high minded Renjou clan had always been detached, and she wasn't sure if they would even notice if they lost their status as founders.
That was just their nature as shut-ins.
Fuyuhime wasn't like her family, owing it to the fact she had little to no magic prowess and thus wasn't afforded the opportunity of proper hermitage, making her the sole member of her generation willing to take up the mantle of representative at the Committee.
She was far leerier of the Campione than the others, and her proposed courses of action were to avoid taking responsibility for Issei Hyoudou while pushing him towards other groups.
She cared too much for the present and not about the future.
"Besides, wasn't it your job to patrol and make sure no more outside elements would sneak into Japan? That was a mandate from the Emperor, an order from the gods. If they learn we have failed, yet again, who's to say whether we won't be punished too."
"Our job! Just because you can't convince anyone from your family to work doesn't mean you're not responsible!"
Sigh.
On and on and on they went.
Really, hadn't the old hag been here, Smith might have said something to try and smooth over the very ruffled feathers and get the meeting going, but the Seishuuin representative had taken one look at her and completely disabused her of that notion.
A failed heiress had no room to speak.
Not even to her own mother.
"Alright, alright. I think we've spent enough time panicking over it. Now, if the two of you can drop the comedy routine and actually get settled, we can go about fixing this before we are forced to stand in line to meet King Yemma."
Kaoru, the most senior amongst the new generation, easily took charge, separating the squabbling heirs with almost flawless grace.
"Well, what do you propose we do?" Mikihiko demanded.
"It is simple. Nothing."
"Nothing!?" Mikihiko cried out. "We do nothing and we die!"
"Hardly. We do nothing and we learn. Unless you wish to suggest that there is a card we have yet to play?" Kaoru, lounging in her seat, brushed her hair out of her eye and finally sat up. "We can gather up our troops and make an open declaration, but that means we'll either need to send in a suicide squad, and I don't think we have the rising sun headbands for that, or choose a team that can successfully escape. Which are already in Kuoh."
"Amakasu?" The Renjou heiress mumbled. "The old shinobi? I thought he had gotten slow since fighting the Soviets?"
"Perhaps. But slow does not mean incompetent. And the nineties weren't truly so long ago."
"You were born in ninety-two, weren't you, Lady Kaoru?" Renjou, speaking carefully, chose her words with far more caution than Smith thought she ought to. "It was a lifetime ago for all of us, except Lady Seishuuin."
"My operatives are not incompetent. Nor would I send someone incapable into a situation."
"But we are talking about Campione. No one is truly prepared for them."
"So you want to piss off one for sure, by holding back everything, on the small chance it all works out? I may keep my cards close to my chest, but in this case that's too much!"
"I agree with Lady Kaoru."
And like that, the air was sucked out of the room.
Rather, it was like all present collectively recoiled at the sound, every fiber of their beings shuddering at a sound that, while pleasant to the ear and well mannered, belayed a danger that caused them all to instinctively prepare to stay and fight or flee for the hills.
None of them moved to run away. But it was a close thing.
Instead they all turned to the elder in the room.
"Lady Seishuuin I-"
The woman raised a hand and Fuyuhime looked about ready to pass out, only to be waved off.
"You are worrying about our standing and that is perfectly fine. Forward thinkers need those more grounded to keep them from slipping. But please, make sure to not root yourself too deeply that you find yourself unable to move."
Fuyuhime nodded, frantically, Mikihiko following suit and clamming up before he could say anything that might doom himself.
Inviting the attention of the serpent never worked out for the mice.
"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Lady Seishuuin." The tomboy acquiesced, maintaining the same degree of decorum as before, even if she had a minute flinch when the older woman's gaze loomed over her for a moment. Credit where it was due, where trained soldiers might have fainted, the current Leader of the Committee stood firm.
Even if they all knew the more… experienced woman could call the shots if she wanted.
"Think nothing of it. Rather, just consider it a whim from a capricious elder if the others make a fuss about it. I'm sure they'll understand." The old hag wearing a younger woman's face smiled beatifically, a proper lady with poise and grace. Only there was no way any present could by the act.
Not when their bodies, passed down generations of warriors and exorcists, screamed that this was no human woman, but a Hannya.
Her, though?
She didn't feel a thing.
Not because she wasn't aware of how dangerous her mother was, orders of magnitude more mystically inclined than she had been, but because she knew her dam's sword had grown dull from disuse. Not broken, not rusty, but not… sharp.
And that meant things were actually rather precarious. Because the hag was about the only one in their group that could measure up to a Campione without directly invoking the Kami.
Smith dearly wanted that drink now.
"Besides… don't you think it's interesting?"
"I-Interesting, Lady Seishuuin?"
"After decades of ennui, a Demon King is born in our lands. And in the little time he's spent on his throne, so many challenges have appeared. As steel sharpens steel, so too does he stand to grow stronger as those who seek him appear. And as the ones who claim vassalage under him, so too will our prestige grow with his."
'Bullshit.'
She wanted to scoff.
Prestige? Mother never cared for anything but the thrill of combat, and even now as she sat before the other clan heads, all wearing matching hakama and robes, only she still carried her blade.
'A pity I never could measure up. At least then she wouldn't be so miserably bored.'
Popping her shoulders, Smith decided she'd had enough of this. The rude gesture earning her a glare. But she just ignored it.
It wouldn't get her head cut off, no matter how rude she was, and she had exactly zero interest in placing her partner, a young man she thought of as a friend, and her fucking daughter in the path of a rampaging lunatic who thought he was in a manga. Never mind all the possible civilians that could very, very easily get caught up if a whole city got sent back to the Sengoku era.
So she had a call to make.
'At least Boss Kaoru doesn't look too pissed.'
The meeting concluded from there, with all parties agreeing with Sayanomiya's decision and beating a hasty retreat to avoid being in the Hannya's presence any longer than they had to.
Unfortunately, that left only her behind.
"Sumiko. Could you stay behind for a moment?"
The agent sighed, feelings of annoyance warring with her own survival instincts.
Even if she knew there would be no escaping this. Even more so because all this while, her telephone had been silenting vibrating on her back pocket and she hoped it was important.
"Sure mom. What do you need?"
She really could use a distraction right now.
"Come now, it's been some time since we've last talked so why not take the chance to catch up. Tell me, how is Ena doing?"
She really, really wanted that drink.
"You two eat up. I'm sorry there's been so much trouble, but I have to say thank you. And please accept this as an apology."
"Ah, Issei…."
"Mmmm. If you weren't Irina's… friend… ah!"
The two girls looked almost feral.
"A double cheeseburger and a large nuggets with sweet and sour sauce!"
"Double quarter pounder with cheese and an apple pie!"
"Thank you!" they chorused as one.
"Ah, it's not too big of a deal." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm glad to help, but you know it's just a meal, heh."
With the two girls digging in, Irina managed to pause long enough to look him in the eye.
"The Church doesn't reimburse us for fast food and we can only eat at cantines or approved locations!"
"Yeah!" Xenovia agreed, slurping on her burning hot coffee and munching on the almost overly sweet pie. "They say it's not a good look for clergy or agents to go places like this!"
"But we're tired of bread and boiled vegetables! The station in England was awful." Irina almost wept. "They were always trying to feed us cold fish with herbs. Saint's diet or not, I understand why the Devils tempt with butter!"
"Well, I just wanted… to make sure everything was above board. I do have something to ask."
"Hmm?"
Irina dabbed at her lips with a napkin and looked up at him.
"Well, you see, there's been a… curse. Some sort of plague curse. That acts like a flu. I tried to contact Agent Smith about it, but she wasn't answering my calls. Figured I should warn you guys about it too, just in case you need it."
"That's rather serious. If you want, we can definitely call in someone on high."
He nodded.
"That would be much appreciated. It seems that even Devils aren't safe, but there are several humans affected by it too."
"I'm not sure we can sanctify a soul sucker." Xenovia's usual bluntness pushed to the fore. "But for anyone else, so long as they aren't kept alive by dark magic, we could… perhaps invoke one of the Archangels?"
"Of course. The Lord will provide! And we can probably get a rather quick request through. Perhaps using the abandoned Church we've been renovating? A blessing and a healing in one." Issei remembered them mentioning it, actually, the Church had been near the area where he fought Luo Hao a few weeks ago.
It was a miracle it wasn't crushed when she palmed him with her last attack.
Heh, miracle.
"Hmm. Thank you. Both of you. Please do that. It might not solve every problem, but it could save lives. So that would be appreciated. Will you be safe, though? I mean, you're humans too so…"
Irina shot him a thumbs up.
"Not to worry! So long as it is a heretic's spell and not a holy sacrament, the protection of the holy swords will protect us. Probably!"
He felt rather stunned by that.
'Probably, she said.'
"No." Issei put both hands on the table while both girls gave him rather confused looks. "No 'probably safe'. I want the two of you to do what you need to make sure you don't get caught up in this, too." Waving his hands around, Issei was sure he looked like a crazy person and was infinitely glad Irina had put up a privacy spell on the plastic booth.
"The two of you could save lives, but if you're sick, then we don't have that shot. So make sure you're safe, first. Ok?"
Blushing a little, he looked down at the table.
"Besides. I don't wanna see you hurt, either."
"Heh. You're such a goober Issei!" Irina winked at him. "The Lord won't let me get hurt, but thanks for worrying about me!"
He really, really wanted to be as confident as she was, but he just… couldn't be.
For someone reason this whole thing had his skin itching and Issei hated having to run around and cut a bunch of deals. Even Sona had talked about paying him for his help! And he was sure blessing a Christian holy site in Japan would be this massive political thing.
And that was stupid.
Because protecting people was more important than following a bunch of formalities, right?
Plus he trusted Irina and Xenovia not to use the church to do something dumb with it. She might have squabbled with Yinghua, but that was just him being friendly. After all, that's how he and Koneko got along and they were the best of friends!
"Ah! I gotta apologize, but I think I need to head out. I couldn't finish a call with Smith earlier and it's past time to call back. Please, excuse me."
Stepping out from inside the burger joint, Issei walked into the alleyway beside it, took a deep breath, and then let out a sigh that was entirely too loud for a human.
'Man this really got complicated.'
And as it so turned out, Issei apparently sucked at complicated things. He was good at a few things, like punching gods, or making large pieces of stone to crush gods with, or getting his ass kicked well enough that another Campione decided not to kill anyone.
He couldn't do those things to a sickness, or curse, or whatever this was.
It just made him feel useless. And even now he was still trying to do what he could to solve the problem.
'Man, when I find out whoever is doing this I'm gonna punch them.'
Maybe then he'd be able to finish that new Eroge.
'Yes. That sounds peaceful!'
"Rrrrrooooowwww."
A pitiful whine made him jump a little, especially because it came from the back of the alley.
"Yoru?"
Her voice was scratchier and lower than usual and he only recognized his cat because she limped over from where she'd been resting and bumped her head against his shin.
"Gods! Are you ok?"
Her fur was oily and patchy in a few places and she seemed to be shivering and almost feverish.
"Where have you been?"
He bent down and picked his cat up, something she normally didn't love, and cradled her to his chest. Never mind that she was probably filthy.
"Have you been in a fight? Do you have an infection? Can… cats get curses?"
"Rrow."
Purring, vibrating her chest, she did her best to press against his chest. And Issei… well, he was a little panicked. A little worried you could say. So, with his cat slowly getting quieter and quieter, breathing a little more shallowly with each breath, his eyes went wide.
His heart was pounding.
His palms were sweaty.
"No. No, no, no, no, no!"
Manifesting a spike of marble, he forced his palm across with enough violence to tear a strip of skin off.
"With gentleness and the love of a sister, to tend with solemnity and grace, an idol for all mankind, to praise the twinned serpents and to placate the grave, Dr. Venom!"
Flaring white-gold for a moment, his blood dripped onto her snout, Issei sitting down on the ground to hold Yoru with his knees. Using his good hand, he held her lips open and let a few drops of his healing blood leak into her mouth. And he only relaxed when her rough tongue darted out and started slowly, slowly lapping it up.
"Oh thank God."
Shuddering breaths caused him to practically shake, even as he realized he'd just used magic twice in public.
'Damnit. Even if anyone saw, I don't care.'
He just hugged his cat to his chest, very, very glad he could at least look after her. Happy he'd managed to help someone in the middle of this entire mess, even if just a little.
Still, he had to get her home.
Maybe get her checked by Irina and the others to see if she was cursed.
"Issei? Is that you?"
Nearly jumping out of his skin, the Campione looked over his shoulder and towards the other end of the alleyway, and a very familiar figure stood with her back against the wall.
"Aika? What are you doing here?"
She gave him an exasperated look.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that, you're the one hiding in an alley next to WcDonald's."
Right, there was that.
It kinda sounded suspicious no matter how you cut it.
"My cat." He held up Yoru. "I think she's sick."
Actually now that he thought about it….
"Shouldn't you be sick?"
"Well, I was sick, not dying. All it took was some good food and some rest and I was doing much better." The bespectacled girl shot him a peace sign after twirling in place, as if to show off she was back in full health. "Why? Shouldn't I be?"
Right, she didn't know about what was going on.
"Ah, it's kinda complicated."
She nodded, giving him a smile as she walked over to him, against the light of the setting sun hanging overhead, her shadow seemed to stretch and writhe across the floor, completely looming over the campione as she offered him a helping hand.
"Well, why don't I get you and the little kitty out of this creepy alley and you can take your time telling me what's up? Seems like there's a lot going on."
Issei nodded, accepting the oddly cold hand helping him stand up.
It seemed like Aika might have gotten lucky and just been sick. But even then, he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.
Poor Yoru wouldn't stop shivering in his arms.
