AN: Uh, faster uploads in SpaceBattles, since this chapter's been uploaded there for almost a month already. Also on QQ now if you hate SB for whatever reason.
Formatting errors are blamed entirely on FFNet.
My face was twisted with mild disgust, cigarette lit and perched on my mouth. The silver M1911 was held loosely as I took in the appearance of my objective.
It was a grisly fucking sight. Dressed in a bloodstained hoodie (with most of the stains coming from the neck side) the body was with its back resting against the wall, the head cut perfectly down the middle, revealing all the nasty bits inside. More grotesque was the fact that I could still tell what the face used to look like when it wasn't split, an expression of clear horror and fear stuck forever in its face.
The pool of blood around the body was just the cherry on top, really. I had done my fair share of killing since arriving at DxD, but I always felt more disgusted when stumbling upon a murder scene rather than when I was the killer.
You're insane, Daniel.
Shut the fuck up.
Taking a deep drag from the cigarette, I looked around the place. A very dirty and abandoned lab thingy, located inside a spacious warehouse. There were multiple desks littered with those weird lab bottles, many of them filled to the brim with strange liquids of various colors.
Weirdly enough, the most faraway section of this lab was completely destroyed with broken glass, metal and wood strewn about without a care.
This place was spacious enough that my steps echoed, and there was a humid and rancid sort of odor. It distinctly didn't smell too much like someone died here. This guy must've been killed recently, meaning…
Turning around fully, giving my back to the corpse, I pocketed my Colt back into its holster by my waist. With a sigh, I tightened the fastenings on the black arm-shield on my left arm, making sure it was ready for a potential [Parry]. After that, I reached for my other holster and took out my silver exorcist gun, feeling its weight.
After rolling my shoulders and neck, it was time to start working.
Spitting my cigarette to the ground, I raised the gun to the tall metallic ceiling…
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"COME HERE, CONCHETUMARE!" I yelled extremely loudly, making my throat ache with the intensity. My voice echoed. "I'm a DUMB little human FULL OF BLOOD AND GUTS to spill! COME FACE ME OR YOU'RE A BITCH!"
Some may have called this approach stupid or unintelligent or absolutely fucking idiotic. However, I had come to learn something after killing Strays became just one more task in my to-do list.
"Ooohhh~ Another pray for me? My, aren't you all so SO helpful in Kyoto~! WHAT A WARM WELCOME!"
Stray Devils were fucking morons.
From outside E.E's range, loud and heavy noises began to clash against the ceiling, the many noises resembling something like a centipede… until they stopped.
Without warning, the metal ceiling suddenly caved in, a small portion of it falling to the dirty lab floor, and on top of it was a monstrosity. From below the waist, it was a mess of flesh and fur messily strewn together, forming a sort of spider-like body, using many large arms and hands to support it. From the waist up, was what seemed to be a naked woman, her face twisted into a sickeningly large smile with sharp teeth. Her hair was long enough to mix with the weird fur from the spider-body thing, and her face had a large slit right down the middle, just like the guy I found dead here.
"My, what is this~?" she asked, voice probably trying to go for something sultry. "A new little-?"
Whatever words came out her mouth were completely irrelevant to me. Not missing a beat, I activated [Coin Maker] and generated six coins, which I instantly threw in front of me.
BA- BA- BA- BANG!
The rapid-firing Exorcist Gun mercilessly spat holy lead with pinpoint accuracy, sending the bullets right into the coins to form a ridiculous web of ricochets.
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI-
Unexpectedly, the Stray Devil hopped into the air with surprising strength and agility, clinging to the ceiling using its many arms, the grip strong enough to bend the metal ceiling as she hung from it.
"OH! HOW FUN YOU ARE~!"
"Tsk."
That hop made all four of my shots miss, so my [Perfect Stacks] were still stuck at 0. No matter, everything was within expectations, even as the Stray began to tense up, preparing herself to jump.
Knowing already what made these Strays tick, I yelled out something before the Stray decided to drop right on top of my body, killing me instantly.
"Hey, what's your name!?"
The question gave pause to the Stray, a pleased (and still weirdly large) smile blossoming from her face.
"A-HA! I knew I'd be memorable to you, little human! I am the GREAT RELETTA, DEVOURER OF-!"
As she began spouting her manifesto, I swiftly reloaded my gun, leaving the old magazine (with still some bullets left on it) discarded on the ground. As the new clip clicked into place, I looked up at the Stray… and pointed a finger at her.
"You are ugly," I said, snapping my fingers and striking an MJ pose.
STYLED
Cool!
+50 Stacks
Not the most creative of insults, really, but it worked well enough. It offended the Stray enough to make her face twist into sheer anger.
"OH!? IS THAT SO, LITTLE HUMAN!? I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE BEAUTY! YOUR FACE WILL MAKE A MOST BEAUTIFUL CANVAS!"
She tensed up and, with the same enormous strength, she hopped from the ceiling to the ground, aiming to the spot right in front of me. However, as she fell I threw another six coins to the air and repeated the process.
BA- BA- BA- BANG!
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI-
As she fell, she had no way of changing directions, meaning she couldn't dodge my bullets.
The first two holy bullets headed towards her abdomen at lightning speed… However, before they could land, in a bloody and disgusting display, both of her arms suddenly tore apart, deadly sharp blades emerging from her shoulders. With ease, she deflected those two bullets from hitting her.
"SO PATHETIC, LITTLE HU-!"
I knew she had those ugly fucking blade-thingies. Nothing escapes Eyes Everywhere. So, planning that she'd use her arms to block my first two shots…
A guttural scream rang from her throat, the voice distorted and unnatural. The warehouse echoed with her anguished wails.
With her blades aimed low to protect her abdomen, the other two bullets went straight into both of her eyes and, thanks to the fact I intended for those two first shots to be blocked, the [Perfect Stacks] had accumulated without trouble. With an astounding 170 [Stacks], the two bullets entered her eyes, destroying all the devilish flesh in its path with zealous fury. From the eyes, to the brain, the bullets tore everything asunder.
By the time the bullets escaped her skull, blood spraying out like a geyser, there was no trace of life in her. In the span of less than a second, the Stray was completely dead.
4000 Souls.
Lifelessly, the Stray fell to the ground with a loud and graceless THUNK in front of me, the many limbs in her now uselessly limp, unable to hold the large fur-fleshy body. Blood poured out of her now empty eyes, her body hanging stiffly in place.
What a disgusting fucking sight.
My face showing my complete revulsion, I pulled out my work phone from my pocket. Snapping it open, I quickly navigated to the contact labeled 'Mierda QLA'.
Pressing the call button, I held the phone up to my ear. It took a single beep before they answered.
"Updates, Husk?" asked the voice of a man, tone very serious.
It had taken some getting used to having absolutely everyone around me call me 'Husk' (except for Kaede, but she was an exception to many things), but after two weeks of properly hustling for the Yokai I now answered to it as naturally as I used to with 'Dani' back in Chile.
"The mage's fucking dead," I reported to the Extermination handler. "A Stray got to him first."
"A Stray?" asked the man.
"Yes, a Stray," I repeated. "I have no clue how the fuck this Stray even encountered the mage in the first place. If I had to guess, maybe it thought the mage's lab was a good place to nest?"
"Perhaps," replied the man, unhelpfully. "Can I assume the Stray was dealt with, then?"
I gave the dead pile of flesh another look. One of her many arm-leg things twitched. Deadady-dead-dead.
"Yeah, it's dead. It's really disgusting."
"Are you sure?" asked the man, talking to me like I was some sort of idiot. "Some Strays can appear dead when they're still-"
"You- Do you want a fucking picture, asshole? I can send you a picture if you want to share this disgusting little sight with me. She's extremely dead. Brain torn to useless little bits kind of dead"
"...Hm."
He seemed to yell out something unintelligible to someone else in the room. As that happened, E.E noticed something with the body.
"Ah, mierda."
I took several steps back, my disgusted face somehow growing more pained as the revolting sight became worse.
"There's the post-mortem shitting and pissing," I reported to the phone helpfully. "So, if you wanted more reassurances that the Stray's dead, there we go."
The guy I was reporting to returned to the line. "Are the mage's drugs still in his lab?"
I quickly checked with E.E, frowning. "There is still a lot of his laboratory bullshit untouched, but a good chunk of it was destroyed, probably thanks to the Stray."
Pausing for a second, I then added. "There's about three boxes stacked by a corner, however. They're filled with ten bottles each and have this weird blue liquid in it. Is this what we're looking for?"
A sigh of relief came from the other end of the line. "Yes. Please take those boxes out of the scene. The cover-up team will arrive soon at your location."
It was comical how visibly I perked up at that, most embarrassingly because E.E caught my visible happiness from every possible angle.
Goddammit.
"Oh, cool," I replied, trying to smooth my tone down to something casual and uncaring. "So, do I have to wait for them or can I-?"
"Unless you suddenly acquired a car or any other means of securely transporting three boxes of illegal potions, yes, you'll have to wait for them."
I had to resist the urge to call this asshole the vilest names imaginable. Gripping the phone a bit tighter, I spoke with my voice noticeably strained.
"Great. Then I'm done here."
Not letting him finish, I snapped the phone shut. Not wanting to waste any time (or share space with two corpses, one of which was starting to fucking smell), I began moving the boxes.
Two minutes later, I was standing outside of the abandoned warehouse, leaning against the wall with a lit cigarette between my fingers. The sun was still high, 17:49 as stated by the phone's clock. The air was fresh and certainly a major upgrade compared to the hellscape inside the warehouse.
I didn't have more than a few moments of peacefully enjoying the evening air before a black car approached, and driving it…
My face broke into an easy smile as I raised my hand in greeting, the car parking in front of me.
"Looking good, Kaede."
From the car, three Yokai dressed in black suits got out, Kaede exiting from the driver's seat. She sighed as she closed the car door, giving me a very neutral expression, as she usually did.
"Daniel," she started, already sounding exasperated. "I look exactly the same as I did at lunch."
I shrugged. "I know."
She did look good, obviously. The black suit hugged her lean figure perfectly and made a very pleasing contrast with her silver hair, which shone brilliantly against the sun. Since we were also in pretty deserted territory, her adorable fox-ears and tail were out in the open. The all-consuming urge to pet her went through me again, but as always, I managed to resist.
Kaede rolled her eyes at my compliment, but didn't comment further on it. She had stopped trying to deny my flatteries by this point.
"Are those the drugs?" she asked instead, glancing at the wooden boxes.
"Yup," I confirmed, giving the top box a smack. "I don't know if there's something else in the warehouse, but this is what I managed to spot."
"I see," she then glanced at my cigarette and frowned. "Do you ever run out of those?"
"Constantly. Why, feel like sharing with me?"
It shouldn't have been surprising. In one day, I got Kaede to smoke two cigarettes thanks to stupid bets, and after two weeks…
Kaede sighed. "Just give me one and shut up."
I felt like a fucking champion.
As I offered her the cigarette pack, I spotted with E.E one of the Yokai who had come with Kaede glare in my direction as he walked towards the warehouse, doing so discreetly enough that I couldn't spot him if I only had my eyes. He had a pair of animal ears on his short black hair, almost like a dog's. This guy was going shotgun in the car, right…?
Not one to let something like that go (I blame being homeless since I was eight), I turned my head towards him with unnatural precision, giving him a glare. Of course, I made sure my tone was as unfriendly as possible. The same tone I'd use whenever a stranger tapped me in the shoulder and I wasn't begging for money.
The tone of a "Flaite". A Chilean lowlife.
"¿Qué weá, conchetumare? Got a problem?"
"Huh?"
His eyes widened in surprise, not expecting me to turn my head like a creepy owl and talk like I was about to mug him. Kaede glanced where I was looking and noticed the guy, making her frown.
"Is something wrong, Nakajima?"
Her own acknowledgment clearly affected him more as he stumbled over his words. "N- No, nothing, it's just-"
"Then get inside and search for the drugs or any other valuables. I can't perform the clean-up spell until you're done with that, so hurry up."
Chastised, this Nacallima guy gave her a brief bow and hurried inside the warehouse. I clicked my tongue with disdain.
"What an asshole," I said (asshol-y). "You'd think they'd already stop wishing me death every time we're talking."
Kaede took a cigarette from my pack, perching it on her lips and lighting it with a snap of her fingers. Smoking looked natural on her, as if she'd been doing it for years. Taking a drag, Kaede exhaled the smoke with one of her usual soft sighs and replied.
"It's exhausting. I was aware that most agents didn't like you, but I wasn't expecting that talking to me would worsen the situation. It baffles me."
I shrugged, taking a drag of my own cig.
"Can't blame 'em too much. I'd be mighty pissed if I saw some random dude show up out of nowhere and start chatting up the cutest girl in the office, who's also the manager. Guy must have a crush on you."
The notion made her face twist in confusion and some disgust.
"Crush? I don't know where you're getting these ideas."
"...Kaede, come on, I've been here for two weeks or so and I already know that most single guys in the Support Department either have a crush or, at the very least, respect you a lot."
It slipped past my mind a lot of times due to how casually I treated her, but Kaede was a First-Rank Agent within this Yokai Kyoto thingie. She was a big deal, and had actual subordinates under her jurisdiction. She was a figure of respect and had an actual reputation behind her. The fact I got to work with her one-on-one in an operation was a rarity only granted due to my circumstances.
It made all the glares and displeasure from her subordinates so much sweeter.
"I think even some of the girls have a thing for you," I continued. "Your appeal is universal."
Kaede frowned at my explanation (although her fox-ears twitched very cutely at the last part).
"Even if what you said is true—it isn't—I have no interest in a relationship."
"Hmm…" I let out, smoking my cig. "How so?"
"They're a waste of time," she promptly began, as if the words had been previously repeated multiple times in her head. She was getting oddly heated about it. "A waste of resources, a waste of commitment. They serve zero purpose beyond giving psychological aid that I don't need."
I mulled over her words, noticing her emphasis on commitment for whatever reason… then shrugged.
"Sounds about right, I guess."
She wasn't wrong, per se.
Kaede seemed very pleased with my answer, as even as she kept her face in her (pretty) neutrality, she nodded with a bit more energy than usual.
"I do not need such unnecessary idiocy in my life."
She said so very certainly. I hummed.
"That so? Well, anyway, changing the subject here: Are you up to going for a drink after work?"
She didn't answer right away, as her gaze slowly drifted to the side, one of her fox-ears twitching. Her carefully maintained neutral expression gained a touch of strain.
"...I think I could make time."
Cute.
There was a hint of irony here somewhere. Maybe she realized that.
"Great," I said simply, saving the possible teasing material for another time. "So, did you ever find out what the-?"
I stopped talking as one of the agents that came with Kaede approached, this one a cute girl (For the record: less cute than Kaede, which is an impossibly high bar to clear) with dusty pink hair in a short ponytail. Her animal ears and tail reminded me of a floppy-eared dog.
"Fujiwara-senpai," she started, facing Kaede, as if I wasn't even there. "We finished the search. We found some loose bottles of the potion plus some other unidentified ones."
As soon as Kaede got talked to by another agent, she became all-business.
"Any discrepancies with the bodies?"
"None, the mage was killed by the Stray. All seems as expected."
"Good. I'll proceed with the clean-up."
As soon as Kaede finished talking, I raised a hand to the girl.
"'Sup, Rika."
Rika turned and, as if she just realized I was there, her face lit up and smiled cheerfully, giving me a little wave with her hand.
"Oh! Hey, Husk!"
Her voice turned from cold professionalism to that of a happy go-lucky gal.
After these two weeks, I somehow managed to get only most of my fellow Agents to wish death on me, while the remaining ones tolerated me and, in rarer cases, treated me like Rika did: like a cool coworker. It was admittedly nice to be in an environment where people treated me like just a regular Joe instead of someone to be pitied, for once in my life.
Then again, she was friendly to everyone; it wasn't much of an achievement.
"Ooh, wait! So you killed the Stray?"
"Yup," I said, dragging out the syllable. "Just shot it to death."
Rika laughed (which I didn't take pride in since it was, again, pretty easy to do so).
"Right, you only use guns! Hey hey, can I see them?"
Shrugging, I left the cigarette on my lips and, using both hands, took out both the Colt M1911 and the Exorcist Gun from their holsters, holding them out to her.
"Here they are: my babies."
Rika let out an impressed 'Oooh' as she leaned forward to inspect them. Idly, I noticed that Kaede hadn't entered the warehouse, like she said she'd do, and was instead still standing next to me and giving the oblivious Rika a very, very, infinitesimally small glare. So small that I could only tell since I spent most of my free time with her and was getting used to her neutral mask.
"Agent Nanami," started Kaede, her voice taking that tone where she's forcing it to be professional. "You should not bother Agent Husk, since he just finished a mission. Shouldn't you be recording the findings from the warehouse?"
Rika turned her head to Kaede and tilted it, like a questioning puppy.
"Huh? But I already did that. And he doesn't mind! Come on, I'm just waiting for you to finish the cover-up spell! Besides, I never get to talk to a human in the supernatural or a foreigner, much less both at the same time! He's so cool!"
"Am I?" I asked, with genuine confusion
"Is he?" asked Kaede, with genuine confusion.
"Yes!" insisted Rika, her tail starting to wag as she talked. "I'd talk to him more, but you're always hogging him, Fujiwara-senpai!"
The playful complaint—which felt more like an accusation, really—made Kaede's mask crumble and her glare became more noticeable.
"I am not-"
Kaede interrupted herself, pausing, closing her eyes, and lifting her cigarette to her lips. One drag and exhale later, and she opened them, her mask perfectly on again.
"I don't know what you're trying to say with that, but-"
"I'm saying you're always dragging him along! For breakfast, lunch, after work. I never get to talk to him one-on-one!"
Kaede's right eye twitched at her interruption, the small glare returning.
"...But such statements should not be made within the workplace," continued Kaede, ignoring Rika's (true) comments. "It is highly untoward to both of the parties."
Probably sensing that arguing with an underling wasn't worth it, Kaede sighed and walked past Rika.
"Just don't bother him too much."
"Okay!"
With those instructions, as if I was some kind of pet, Kaede entered the warehouse. E.E saw how, once her back was towards me, her face turned very sour.
Now alone with Rika, I realized I was still holding out my guns like a moron while the cig in my mouth was down to the filter.
"Wanna hold one?"
"Sure!"
She picked the Exorcist Gun from my hand and began feeling its weight. Considering her entertained enough, I holstered the Colt and reached for my cigarette pack for another fix, discarding the filter in my mouth to the ground.
The small 20-pack box of Marlboro Red stared back at me, some Japanese words ominously written below the branding probably telling me I'd die early if I kept smoking, which considering how I'd died at 20, was true enough. Opening it (with about 13 cigarettes left, one of them turned upside-down), I tapped the bottom of the box to make a few of them stick out. Taking one of them (not the upside-down one), I put it to my lips and took out my silver Zippo lighter, a luxury I gave to myself after getting a roof over my head.
With a satisfying click, I opened the Zippo by striking it against my thigh and, with practiced ease, lit the flame with one flick of the thumb, bringing it to the end of the cig. Once lit, I took a deep inhale and pocketed the Zippo, another satisfying click when closing the lighter and returning it to my front pockets.
…Haaaahh, sweet, horrid nicotine.
It was as I smoked with my eyes closed in bliss that I noticed with E.E that Rika wasn't looking at the gun anymore and was, instead, giving me an awed look, her tail wagging a bit faster than before.
"Husk," she began. "You're so… cool!"
To say those words didn't hit me at least a little would be a lie. NEVER had someone so adamantly called me cool, here or back in Chile, much less so multiple times. A part of me instinctively became skeptical and assumed she was just being nice.
"I'm alright, I guess," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
I really didn't want a cute girl pityingly calling me cool. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that Zippo.
"No, no, I'm serious!" she insisted, and took a step back, giving me a considering look. "You're like, a cool suave and mysterious older foreigner. It's cool!"
Elaborating on her point only furthered my embarrassment. I made sure to cover it up by taking another drag and avoiding eye-contact.
…Wait, why did she say OLDER? Is twenty old…?
"I… I guess?"
"Yeah!" She stepped closer, leaning forward a bit. "Hey hey, can you teach me how to use a gun?"
My brow furrowed.
"You don't know? Don't you use 'em?"
"Nope! They don't do much for us, since the shots are usually pretty weak… but they look cool! Come on, please?"
She put her hands together, gun held firmly between them, and made her best puppy-face. It helped that her tail wagged pretty fast from side to side.
"Please~?"
It was hard to say anything other than a resigned, "Okay."
So I started giving her pointers on how to hold the gun. Then again seeing that she somehow still didn't get it. Then more instructions on proper posture (so obvious that even I got it without any kind of formal training), and somehow she still didn't get it right.
By the time Kaede finally exited the warehouse, eyes closed in exhaustion as she sighed…
"Finally done. Let's please get out of-"
…l was positioned right behind Rika, both of my hands on top of hers helping her hold the gun properly. In turn, her back was pressed against my front as I was leaning forward.
"Oh~! Like this, Husk?"
"Yeah, like that. Now you pull the safety back and-"
A clearing of the throat. I tilted my head towards the one who made the noise… and looked at her with a bit of concern.
"...Sup'?"
I expected Kaede to sigh deeply and make a comment regarding how improper I was being with her underling, which I'd then counter by saying I'm just teaching her to use a gun, accompanied with a reminder of something embarrassing she'd done—happenings I've been diligently collecting like treasures—and finally, by the end, Kaede would say a quick 'Shut up' and move to the car. Rika would laugh, I would keep teasing Kaede, she would call me exhausting, the other guy would be there, and all would be fine. Har, hardy har. Close curtains.
Kaede's intense, sharp glare aimed squarely at me wasn't part of the play. There was no trace of her neutral mask, she was just giving me an unsettling stare, focused really, really hard on me and the body-contact between Rika and I. Her fox-ears stood at attention, and her tail was similarly up, the tip of it reaching the height of her neck.
Sensing me tense, Rika stopped focusing on the gun and glanced back to me, then at whatever I was nervously staring at.
Rika saw no problem whatsoever at seeing the deathly silent Kaede, her tail wagging quickly (and loudly patting against my abdomen).
"Oh, hey hey, Fujiwara-senpai! Are we done?"
Rika didn't move from the precarious position we were in. Finally snapping out of the trance Kaede had me stuck in, I dropped Rika's hands and took a step back, raising my own hands like I was caught doing a crime.
This is stupid. Why am I nervous!? I'm not going out with her!
Rika pouted as I stepped back.
"I was just about to shoot the gun! Fujiwara-senpai, you meanie~!"
As if nothing was happening at all, she turned to me, left my gun back in the holster while I kept my hands raised, and walked past Kaede, calling out that Nacajooma guy's name.
I was thus left alone with Kaede, who's glare was still intensely set on me.
Sensing any words would be unwelcome (WHY AM I LETTING THIS HAPPEN!?) I simply stood there, hands up, waiting for her judgement. If I had a little white flag I'd be waving it around.
After what felt like an eternity, Kaede stepped forward, her intense look dulling just a little. Now it only felt immensely judgmental.
"Daniel."
"Me."
"What was that?"
For some reason, my throat felt dry. I swallowed, nothing but spit going down the drain.
"She wanted to learn how to use a gun."
"That so?"
I nodded. Again, it escaped me why I was letting this happen. Her glare made me keep talking despite myself.
"It's just- I told her how to do it, but God bless her heart, she's a bit slow on the uptake and didn't understand anything I told her—you know, entra por una oreja, sale por la otra—and by the fifth time I just thought: well, shit, guess I just gotta make her do the motions somehow, and uh, it started with only the hands, but she just didn't get it, and- and- You know how much body contact you need to put the PROPER posture on someone? I-"
I swallowed nothing again.
"She was about to get it before you showed up, so it worked, all things considered."
"..."
Seeing her silence, I asked her something a bit stupid.
"Are you mad?"
The question made Kaede's face glower even more.
"No."
You look mad, was my knee-jerk response that I thankfully suppressed. Kaede continued.
"Do you like Nanami?"
It took me a couple seconds to reconcile that surname with Rika. Then a couple more to process her words, my face growing confused.
"What? No."
"You talk differently with her."
"Do I? I'm just talking like usual."
"You were much more nervous when talking to her. Embarrassed."
Was I? I was a bit embarrassed when she openly praised me…
"She just caught me off-guard with a compliment. I'm just not used to those."
"Is that it? She complimented you and you just-"
She didn't finish the sentence.
A couple beats passed, then the confusion on my face grew.
"Wait, were you like, listening in on our conversation while you did the clean-up?"
The question made Kaede's gaze drift to her right.
"No."
She definitely was.
"Why?"
Kaede didn't answer, glaring at nothing. Frustration was clear on her face.
Seeing a chance at somehow turning this argument (?) around, I ventured a guess.
"Kaede," I started tentatively… then asked. "Are you by any chance jealous?"
Her glare snapped back to me, and words began flowing out her mouth at a rapid pace.
"That is a preposterous accusation. To simply imply such a thing would be bad enough, but to outright state it makes this a transgression on-"
"Okay, you're not jealous," I interrupted, lowering my hands from their surrendering position. "Then why exactly are you upset, here?"
Her glare subsided, being replaced by a more gloomy look, her eyes not capable of meeting my own now. Her tail stopped standing upright, lowering slowly, and her fox-ears were now half-up.
"...I don't know."
"..."
Breaking the silence were a couple of footsteps approaching. The reminder that we were still on the site of a mission with other agents nearby made Kaede's eyes widen briefly before her neutral mask came back on. She gave me one last look before walking past me and entering the driver's side of the car.
…Well, this was gonna be an awkward ride.
As we returned to the hotel (despite everything, with me claiming the shotgun seat to the visible dismay of that Nucalluma guy), Rika babbled on innocently, not aware of anything wrong. Everytime I answered something she said or asked me (Hey hey, do you have a girlfriend, Husk~? / Nope), E.E spotted Kaede's hands gripping the steering wheel tighter.
There were no drinks after work.
As soon as we got back to the hotel and turned in the necessary post-mission reports, Kaede excused herself and walked out, her mask of aloofness tighter than ever. I had half-a-thought to call out to her, but I didn't want to push my luck. I'd come to learn that Kaede was very guarded with anything involving emotional depth or intimacy, so giving her a bit of alone time was my best bet for now.
There was one unexpected consequence of that, however.
Throughout the past two weeks of my regular employment within The Blessed Spring hotel, every single time that it was possible to do so, I spent my time talking to Kaede. Rika wasn't exaggerating when she complained that she was, in a way, hogging me.
Either I went to the Support Department to seek her out, or she went to either the General Security Department or the Extermination Department to seek me out.
Although it might sound a bit sad or mean, Kaede didn't seem to have any other friends within the Kyoto HQ. Whenever I spotted her in Support, she was either laser-focused in her work (filling out paperwork like the most efficient machine in existence) or reviewing other agents. There was a distinct sense of distance that she was creating with everyone she interacted with. She did have positive dynamics within the department, more often than not her diligence playing off nicely with personalities like Rika's… yet she still only seeked me out specifically in her free time.
It still was a mystery why exactly I managed to get her to open up to me. Maybe no one else had truly tried talking to her? Perhaps it was a preconceived notion that lower-ranked agents can't be chummy with their superiors? It was really weird, because it was damn obvious most of her underlings admired her or straight-up had a crush on her.
It bothered me, too, since Kaede was the coolest, smartest and cutest girl I had ever met. She deserved a bit more, right?
Whatever the case, the point was: since Kaede didn't hang out with anyone else besides me, I also didn't get much of a chance to try and get to know other co-workers, my focus solely on her. Meaning that, since Kaede left without me…
"Hey hey! Wanna walk home together?"
I didn't have much of an excuse to avoid interacting with someone else.
"So, Husk! How have you been holding up here in Kyoto?"
Within the bustling streets of Kyoto, where hundreds if not thousands were making their way back home after a tiring day of work, I walked down the sidewalk with some company that, for once, wasn't Kaede.
We were a group of three, and almost as if cutting off any and all escape routes, I was the one in the middle. Dressed still in my agent suit—jacket unbuttoned, top buttons of my shirt undone, tie loosened—I tried looking unbothered with this unusual social arrangement. Between my fingers was a lit cigarette.
To my right was Rika, her black suit jacket slung over her shoulder now that we were off-work. Her white shirt was a bit crumpled and her tie was stored in the pockets of her black pants. She was shorter than me.
To my left was the other co-worker, this one much less enthusiastic about my presence; a more feline sort of Yokai (her animalistic features hidden) with long, straight green hair. She still wore her suit properly, but kept her jacket open. In contrast to Rika, she was a bit taller than me, and, in a trend that seemed to follow every single supernatural woman I had met thus far, was also rather cute and had a nice figure.
None as cute as Kaede. That's for damn fucking sure.
Just thinking about this made me feel strangely guilty.
"Well," I finally ended up saying after the silence began dragging a bit. "I've been doing just fine, I think. I got myself a place right besides some little ramen joint."
I shrugged. "Work's been good, too."
The green-haired one—Saiki Saori, as Rika introduced her—gave me a side-eye glance.
"Aren't you in Extermination?"
We stopped as the crosswalk signal was lit red.
"Yup," I confirmed, shrugging and taking a drag from the cig. My blasé reaction made Saori's brow furrow.
The fabled Extermination Department was one of the most important ones when it came time to ensure shit was running as intended in Kyoto. Extermination was in charge of, surprisingly, leading extermination work. This meant that whenever some Stray Devil, illegal mages, or sometimes other Yokai started shit up, agents were deployed to their position to get rid of it.
Meaning: This was the one with killing, and if any agent were to die in action, they were most definitely in Extermination. Even with the high-risk of death, most agents applied for this Department when enrolling.
Rika pouted at Saori's reaction.
"Aw, come on Saori-chan. Don't look at Husk like that! You remember what rank he is, right~? He gets the right to act all cool like that!"
Rika's attempt at livening up my image had the opposite effect, Saori's face souring.
"...Special-Rank, was it? How cool to get such a rank just as you get employed."
"Right!?" gushed Rika, almost bouncing as she completely missed the venom in Saori's words. "Yasaka-"
"Lady Yasaka," corrected Saori, probably not for the first time..
"Lady Yasaka must have been really impressed!"
The barrage of innocent compliments from Rika never ceased to be embarrassing. Again, I smoked to try and cover my discomfort, not trusting any of my words to have any positive effect at the moment.
Saori frowned. The crosswalk signal finally turned green, and we resumed our path.
"I don't know," she began, giving me a wary look. "Weren't you only hired due to that mess with the Fallen? Every time someone tries asking any of the 2nd and 1st Rankers involved how a human got hired, they shut up instantly."
I glanced at her, and saw a chance to, at the very least, stop talking like a robot.
"I'm pretty sure telling you why exactly I'm employed is very firmly written in the big 'No Noes' of my contract. I quite enjoy having an income, thank you very much."
Saori rolled her eyes.
"You must have one hell of a Sacred Gear to jump the ranks like that," she said. After a second of thought, she muttered bluntly, her face devoid of any amusement. "It kind of pisses me off."
"Hey! Don't be mean, Saori-chan!"
I raised both my hands in mock surrender. "No, no, it's fine. I'd be pissed as shit too if some ugly asshole went and skipped ranks like that. I'm surprised I haven't been beaten up yet."
It seemed as if acknowledging I was indeed skipping ranks like an asshole was the right move, as Saori's expression softened just a bit. Now she was just looking mildly annoyed, but that was enough to get her talking.
"I heard some folks from Support talk shit about you the other day," she commented idly as we crossed a street, dozens of people coming and going alongside us. "Something about being a leech or whatever."
Before I could say something, Rika let out a loud 'Oh!' and turned to Saori as we kept walking amidst the crowd.
"They must be fans of Fujiwara-senpai!"
The thought of saying 'I AM A FAN, TOO!' crossed my mind as we turned a right.
"Fujiwara?" asked Saori, confused. "Sounds familiar, I think. Isn't that a Support 1st-Ranker?"
"Yup!" said Rika, nodding happily. "The Support 1st-Ranker!"
Saori turned to me and gave me a once-over, the judgement in her gaze not hidden in the slightest. Then, rudely, she thrust a thumb in my direction while looking only at Rika.
"The hell's this guy have to do with a 1st-Ranker?"
My mask of civility cracked slightly as I glared at her.
"Haaaaaaaaah!? The fuck does that mean?"
I lied. It didn't crack slightly.
"Oh, so that gets you defensive," said Saori, not seeming to care about my tone.
"Whoa, hold up! Play nice, you two!" said Rika, moving between us and patting our backs. She turned to Saori. "And the reason those idiots from Support were talking smack is because Fujiwara-senpai really likes him! They're like, besties!"
Saori frowned. "Wait, is the silver-haired girl that always has lunch with this guy…?"
"Yup! One Fujiwara Kaede-san! It's super cute, actually. Every lunch break she finishes her work super quickly, and walks straight to wherever Husk's assigned to that day!"
As if seeing me properly for the first time, Saori looked at me impressed. She whistled.
"Damn, that true?"
I felt a bit bad doing what amounted to sharing gossip about Kaede. Still, it was public knowledge at this point that she and I were always together, so I gave her a non-committal shrug.
"We're really good pals," I told her, taking a drag.
Unexpectedly, Saori chuckled and gave me a smack on the back, the strength almost a bit too much as I stumbled forward, almost dropping the cigarette out my mouth. I gave her an utterly confused glance at the sudden attitude shift.
"Nah, 'good pals' my ass!" she guffawed. "You actually got a 1st-Ranker to look at you more than twice! Good going, Romeo!"
!
E.E detected… huh?
Trying to ignore what E.E just spotted (it was almost impossible), I struggled to decide if this attitude was better than the disinterest from before. After rubbing my back in pain, I decided that it was worse.
"Fuck's with the attitude change?" I asked, still looking at her in confusion. "Does being friends with Kaede suddenly make me a worthy human being?"
"Oh, first-name basis too, huh?"
Saori paused and gave me another once over. She then answered. "No, it's not that, specifically. It's just that 1st-Rankers are very picky with who they hang out with, especially since they already know how it feel to climb the ranks, meaning…"
She smirked.
"You're not a shitty charity case or a pathetic whelp. Congratulations."
I still wasn't entirely convinced with the sudden personality shift. Saori didn't seem to care much, as she extended a hand to me, stopping in her tracks. Both Rika and I stopped as well, Rika looking absolutely ecstatic.
"Now that I know you're not a shitty charity case, I'll introduce myself properly. Saiki Saori, 3rd-Ranker in Extermination."
With only a couple second's hesitation, I shook her hand.
"Daniel García," I told her back. "Special-Rank in whatever department Yasaka throws me at. I do coin tricks, also."
And to the side was Rika, who looked as if she just witnessed the birth of baby Jesus himself.
"I knew you guys would get along! I'm so happy!"
After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Conversation flowed easy enough (even as I tried ignoring that) and a few blocks down, I parted ways with them.
"This was great, Husk! See you tomorrow!"
"Mmhm. Good meeting you, Husk."
And like so, they walked away, chatting merrily as they crossed a street. The place I managed to get—having to rely on Yasaka's network of supernatural-friendly landlords—was right smack in the middle of downtown, right beside ramen spots, hole-in-the-wall bars and other food places. It was pretty great, if I said so myself.
But before I went there… I needed to address something. To say that ignoring it was a herculean task was an understatement yet ignore it I did for a remarkably long time.
…. Yup, still there.
Right as Saori had given me a smack on the back, I spotted, for some unfathomable reason, something impossible.
A flash of silver hair, in the middle of the air., almost floating. Once I saw it, it was painfully obvious to spot the oddly empty space that was always just a few meters behind me. Always the same distance, even as I walked.
This was going to be a very unpleasant talk.
Finishing up my cigarette with one last drag, I carelessly dropped the filter to the concrete sidewalk, turned one-hundred and eighty degrees, and, as if I had some kind of omniscience, I took two steps forward… and reached out to the thin air.
And held something.
"W- Wha- !?"
I felt the invisible being trying to get out of my grasp. Quickly, I reached out with my other arm and held it firmer, my cool Strength stat enough to keep her in place.
Even as she was invisible, I could see her perfectly.
"So, funny seeing you here, huh? I thought you left early."
After a couple beats, unaware people kept walking by not minding the man grabbing nothing but the air, and as the figure stopped resisting my grip…
From thin air, slowly, appeared Kaede, dressed still in her black suit, avoiding my gaze as she let me hold her by her shoulders. Although her fox-features were hidden, I could perfectly imagine her ears flattened against her hair, even as her face betrayed no expression, her neutral mask painfully worn.
She held her shoulder-bag tightly.
"... I… I don't know why…"
Kaede tried mumbling something else but fell short. Seeing as she didn't look like she'd flee, I stopped holding her.
The silence between us was almost deafening, with the only noise around being the indistinct chatter of passersby, the rumbling of car engines, the electrical beeps and boops from adverts around us. Even still, it felt horribly silent. Wrong.
Tasting nothing but the remnants of tobacco in my mouth, I forced some words out.
"Kaede," I said, voice gentle as if she would turn and run any second. "Do you want to talk?"
It took her a few seconds to respond, people walking past us uncaringly. Still avoiding my gaze, she slowly nodded.
We took a detour, stopping by a bench facing a small plaza, with a pretty water fountain in front, with thin trees surrounding the area. Silently, we sat down, side by side, Kaede leaving her shoulder-bag to her left. My backpack was by my feet.
As I watched a couple kids run around the fountain, playing what seemed to be tag, I reached for my cigarette pack, the motions being made without much thought… but didn't take it out. It felt wrong to smoke now.
Instead, I stopped looking at the scenery and turned to Kaede, who's neutral mask was completely discarded. A sober, melancholic expression took its place, staring at the giggling kids in the distance.
"Kaede… Why were you following me?"
Without turning to me, she talked, her pretty and soft voice lacking the composure it usually had.
"I… I forgot something on my desk," she confessed, her face looking pained. "So I went back to get it. I- I also wanted to try and talk to you, because I left so abruptly, but…"
Her gaze didn't seem all that focused, as she took in the scenery.
"..."
I needed to get this convo moving. The sight of Kaede looking so defeated wasn't pleasant at all.
"So, you saw me walking with Saori and Rika?"
She nodded.
"I- Well, I'm sorry, I guess?" I half-heartedly apologized, confused at what the problem was. "It's just- They invited me. It would've been rude if I went and rejected them without any real reason."
"I know."
"And the only reason I even accepted was because you weren't there."
That seemed to bring a little light back to her eyes, as E.E saw them gain some focus,
"I… I know."
Silence again. The children in the distance were arguing about some rules when playing tag. The sun was starting to set low.
I didn't want to keep asking her things, as if she was in an interrogation, but I needed to know.
"So… what was that invisibility thing about? You still haven't said why you were following me."
Her fists, resting on her knees, clenched.
"...It's nothing."
"It's not nothing," I told her. "Imagine how creepy it'd be if I started stalking you like that."
Those seemed to be the worst possible combination of words, as Kaede tensed and balled up her fists harder. Her lips thinned and her body, even if just slightly, leaned away from mine as if recoiling.
"I- I know that wasn't appropriate. I…"
She paused, looking for the right words. Probably for her own comfort, the mask of aloofness went back on her face, the complicated expressions being hidden behind an expressionless face. Mask on, she turned and looked me straight in the eye.
"I wanted to see if you were happier talking to other Agents aside from me. You- You behave much differently with them."
I frowned. "How, exactly?"
This clearly had been on her mind for a while, as she replied without delay, words pouring out like a waterfall.
"You get embarrassed much easier with them. This means that you must, on some level, trust them more than you do me, since you can show them such insecurities without fear. You get defensive, try to hide your embarrassment if any one of them compliments you, and in general choose your words carefully around them, to try and not upset them. This means a higher investment in their emotional well-being than you do me. A higher level of care."
She stopped and, before I could think she was done, she continued rambling, her eyes narrowing in annoyance with every passing moment.
"There's also much more physical contact between you, Nanami and that- that other one," that last point seemed to really get to her, as she didn't bother hiding her glare before she continued. "They can press against you briefly, touch your back, sometimes your shoulder, your hand. Especially the other one. You acted especially submissive to her. I assume because she complimented you. She also has more desirable physical attributes to a male subject than me, such as those uselessly big-"
This was entirely too much. I raised a hand to try and get her to stop talking. She didn't.
"-and you really just let them touch you, Daniel. Why, because they complimented you? Is that all it took? You shouldn't let them touch you. No, not in the slightest. Yet you did. You just did. Why? Why? Perhaps the fault lies entirely with me and my failure to-"
I motioned with my hand again, trying to get her to stop. She just kept going, her glare intensifying more and more.
"-and every dumb, inane, boring quip that any of those two harpies made you chuckled at. Oftentimes when someone has an attraction to someone else, they will laugh at jokes made by the target of their affections to try and make them feel good. Is that why you did it, Daniel? Is that why you chuckled when that Saiki snake made that horrible quip about your ethnicity? Did you want them to feel good with their horrible, ignorant, idiotic, stupid-"
Her rant got interrupted as my index finger, pressing against her lips (soft) silenced her. I looked at her with not a small amount of concern.
"Is that it, or did you leave anything out?"
Kaede glared at me for a few seconds more, not moving from my silencing finger, before she added, muttering against my index.
"...They are ugly."
After a couple of beats where I silently stared at her with my frown unmoving, she mumbled an "I think" to the end of her massive rant, her gaze drifting right.
"Kaede," I started. "The only reason those two dumbasses got me embarrassed is because I'm not used to compliments and that's it. Every other aspect of our conversation was surface level at best."
"You laughed at their jokes."
"Politely chuckled, and even then it was more of a nose exhale and a serviceable half-smirk."
"But you let them touch you."
"Most of Saori's touches involved her smacking me in my back, and I'll tell you: that wasn't pleasant. Besides, do you seriously think Rika has a single bone in her body that allows her to give a shit about the body-contact? I'm sure she acts chummy with everyone."
Kaede didn't seem to agree, as her gaze narrowed even as she glared at the ground.
"Agent Nanami seems to have a particularly soft spot for you. I've overheard her talk about foreign charm while working. Her cheerful persona is an act. She cannot be trusted."
"Well, tough luck that I'm not into her."
Those last few words brought some fire back to Kaede, as her glare returned to my face.
"I answered your question, now answer mine."
"My question as to why you were stalking me? Now I have to pay up for that?"
"Yes," shamelessly said Kaede.
I looked at her as if she was acting crazy (she was) before sighing.
"Fine, shoot."
Kaede's tone became incredibly steely, the glare trained on me searching for any signs of weakness.
"Do you like Nanami or Saik- that other one?"
"We both know you heard the entire conversation. Why are you acting like you don't know her name?"
"Answer the question. Do you like them or not?"
Although having Kaede all jealous over me was as cute as it was highly concerning, I needed to get rid of any stupid suspicions she may have had.
"Do you want my true opinion?" I told her, leaning forward. "Are you ready to hear my full thoughts, Kaede? Are you truly ready for them? Because once I give them to you, there's no taking it back. You cannot unhear them."
The sudden warnings made Kade's attempt at taking back some control in the conversation falter, her eyes widening just a bit. She swallowed, as if she suddenly didn't want me to answer.
But nodded.
"Y- Yes," she said, bracing herself. "I- I need to hear it."
"I don't know why you're so hung up on this. We're not going out, Kaede."
"Just say it."
I closed my eyes, took a deep, deep breath… and gave her a piercing look.
"Rika is a cute girl and I like her in the same way I'd do a slightly annoying puppy that I occasionally want to kick or abandon in the middle of a deserted road. Nothing more, possibly less. As for Saori, she made me sort of uncomfortable because she constantly smacked me on the back after she took a liking to me. Also she's taller than me, and I hate looking up at her."
My gaze narrowed.
"To be entirely honest with you, the first thought I had when I met either of them was 'Kaede is cuter'."
Her pretty yellow eyes widened in surprise at the last bit, her gaze quickly drifting to the side to avoid looking at me directly.
"...Hm," she sounded out, attempting to sound indifferent.
"Don't hm me. You just went on an unhinged rant in the middle of a public plaza. Did you notice that the kids there went to play farther away?"
She turned to the plaza. Indeed, the kids were playing distinctly away, giving the bench we were sitting on odd looks every now and then. Her lips thinned.
Seeing as no more words were coming out of her, I sighed.
"Is it really that bad that I walked with those two? I really only did that because you weren't there."
The knowledge those kids moved away from there seemed to sober Kaede up from whatever jealousy-fueled crusade she was on. Her face fell from aloofness and a deep melancholy took over.
Finally, she answered, staring out to the plaza.
"...No, it's not. I was… I was being unfair. I'm sorry."
I didn't like her voice sounding that strained. Bracing myself, I held her shoulder, forcing her to stop staring at nothing and face me properly again. Although she made eye-contact, her eyes quickly drifted to staring somewhere to her lower-right.
Thinking for a second, I talked.
"Okay, let's work this out," I began, trying to inject some lightness into my words. To not make this too serious for her. "Let's be transparent, and go through this point for point: Are you upset because they touched me? And don't get shy with the answers; you already know I like you a whole lot."
The reminder of something that'd been abundantly clear to both of us, yet still somehow easily ignored even as we spent 80% of our free time together, made Kaede's cheeks flush a pretty pink.
Kaede kept staring somewhere to her right.
After a few beats… she nodded.
"Okay, good," I said, resisting FIERCELY the urge to pet her because she was truly the cutest. "Is it just that, or does it also bother you that they got me to act embarrassed?"
I paused, and as a thought crossed me, a frown did so, too.
"Or does it just straight up bother you that I simply talked to them at all? No more reasons needed."
She thinned her lips at my question… then winced profusely.
"...Can I refuse answering?"
Oh, Lord.
"Kaede…" I began, looking at her with deep concern. "I can't just not talk to anyone else. That's-"
"I know that," she said quickly.
"We're not even going out, Kaede, yet you're…" I cut myself off, not wanting to vocalize it. "You know it'd be as easy as just telling me 'Oh, Daniel, I like you oh so much' and that'd be that, right? You'd have some right to feeling that way. I thought you just wanted to be friends, which is perfectly fine by me. I appreciate your friendship."
Leaning just a bit forward, my voice gained a tone I didn't know I was capable of making.
"I appreciate you."
Kaede's cheeks flushed even harder, her eyes still not meeting mine. She looked thoroughly adorable.
"...I- I can't," was her brief reply.
It hurt to hear that.
"And that's fine," I lied. "But then you need to, you know, stick by that choice? You can't be jealous if I talk to another woman when we're just friends. I don't even like Rika, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know I used to be homeless! Why would you react so strongly?"
She seemed to stiffen under my 'reprimand', and she let out a shaky breath. Kaede's gaze was low, avoiding mine at all costs.
"... I'm sorry. I- I don't know why I felt so… possessive when we're just… when we're not…"
A beat.
"I just- If you were to enter my life and you- you left, you moved on to someon- something else I'd- I…"
A breath, shaky.
"I'm sorry…"
I truly couldn't help myself. The fact I made her apologize made me feel instantly terrible, even as I was still in the right. Her pitiful look was out of place with the perfectionist Kaede was, and the fact that this happened because she got jealous over me, possessive was… almost unbelievable.
Even with all my constant flirting, the prospect of anyone caring enough about me to warrant such reactions was unthinkable. I was ready to accept a friendship, because I found myself unworthy of anything else.
…Yet she cared. Even as she maintained the friendship as it was, she had some terribly strong feelings, nonetheless.
I really couldn't help myself.
It took me two seconds of deliberation before I reached out and, with a sense of belonging, put my hand between where her fox-ears were, hidden out view, right on top of her head.
And began petting.
Her pretty, silver hair was so soft.
"D- Daniel-! You-"
Her words were cut off by a small whimper, Kaede closing her eyes as I continued petting her. My fingertips brushed a few bumps—her fox-ears, hidden—and I began gently scratching the base of them. Her body stiffened, and her hands balled up into fists by her knees.
Yet, Kaede didn't pull away from me.
Softly, gently scratching her scalp, Kaede let out very quiet noises as I pet her, sound that I caught as if they were impossibly loud. Every pretty wince, every twitch of her face, I registered to memory. Subtly, oh so subtly as I pet her, I could feel her leaning into my touch.
Almost as if coaxing them out of hiding, slowly, her fox-ears began emerging from her beautifully soft hair, her fox-tail following soon after. I didn't care at the moment if a normal human saw her, too transfixed in her everything to do anything else.
One hand was not enough now. Not nearly enough. I reached out and, whatever part of her pretty hair I couldn't pet, I made sure to cover with my gentle touch.
Kaede's form trembled slightly, and she let out another little whimper, her fox-ears twitching at the slightest touch, and her tail wagging happily. Her reactions were starting to have a… dangerous effect on me.
"Kaede," I said, my voice unexpectedly so gentle that it caught me off-guard. I proceeded, trying to distract myself from her. "You… You don't want to date. That's fine, perfectly fine. Please, never feel pressured by me, or anything I might say. I'd hate that. If you don't want to, then we simply won't."
As I scratched her scalp, Kaede blearily opened her yellow eyes with a shaky breath, and they were looking at me so differently than before, as if I was the only thing that existed at that exact moment. Her yellow eyes were focused, yet not.
Almost adoring.
"But," I continued, trying to avoid losing myself in her. "We… we're not just friends, right? Friends don't get mad when one talks to someone else, and they don't get possessive when they touch someone else in the most platonic ways possible."
They also don't pet and make you whimper.
Kaede, unexpectedly, nodded slowly as I pet her, brushing against my hand, her eyes trained on mine. She didn't pull away. Never.
That simple nod brought a surge of hope I thought long dead back into my spirit. I pet her more adamantly in response, scratching the base of her fox-ears with more focus. She closed her eyes and an odd expression went through her. Her tail wagged faster.
"A-Ah! Ngh.."
FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!
I swallowed spit.
"So… can we be on the same page, then? I like you, Kaede. And, well, you don't have to say it back, or enter a relationship but…"
I sighed, hands never resting on the petting.
"Well, I don't know what exactly we'd be, but at least this way there's some certainty, right? Friendship with easily ignored mutual attraction? On-Hold Relationship? Friends with— no, not that one."
Caressing her head, a thought crossed my mind, and I slowed down my petting, enough to make her open her eyes and stare back at me.
"What about this: I'll enter a Kaede-Exclusiveness agreement. That way you don't have to be afraid I'll be caught by the charming wiles of some random chick, even if I talk to her, yeah? You'll be on the top of my social pyramid of priorities. No matter who I talk to, I'll be exclusive to one Kaede Fujiwara. That's good enough, right?"
My petting slowed to a crawl to let her answer, the scratches on her scalp slow yet steady. As Kaede seemed to process my words, her eyes widened considerably, an expression of true genuine surprise with the most intense blush I had ever seen took over her face. Her white face was beet red, and she visibly swallowed.
She opened her mouth.
"I- I-"
She stopped herself. Her mouth opened again, this time a little noise made it out before she closed it again. Her gaze drifted from my face, to the side, then to my eyes, to my lips, then back to the side.
My heart was beating faster than I ever remembered it beating. I could tell Kaede was going through the same, my fingers on her scalp feeling how the blood pumped faster than they ever had.
Taking a deep breath, Kaede made a half-assed attempt at putting her neutrality mask on, her intense blush still on as her mouth tried (and kept failing) to stay unmoving, her eyes too focused to appear relaxed and aloof. It also didn't help that her tail was happily wagging behind her.
It still seemed to give her a bit of control back, as she opened her mouth and words began pouring out in stutters, her pretty and soft voice trembling.
"I- I-... Uh, I- If you- If you enter that- that Kaede-Exclu—th- that agreement—I will- I will…"
She took another shaky breath, swallowing even more spit. Then, she forced her yellow eyes to focus on mine.
"I- I will…. enter a- a- enter a… enter a D- Daniel-Exclusiveness agreement my- myself…"
Her words came out mumbled by the end, but I heard them perfectly.
The widest, most free toothy grin came to my face at her words, even as I could feel the blood rushing to my own face. I didn't care how embarrassing I looked, all I could think about was that she, on some level, reciprocated my feelings. Daniel-Exclusiveness agreement, what beautiful words.
Seeing my grin, Kaede swallowed again and talked nervously.
"This- This isn't a relationship!" She insisted, her blush still intense. "They're still… I- I cannot do a relationship. N-Not ye- I just can't. We're- We're just… f-friends…"
This was the first time Kaede herself said we were friends. Feelings of tenderness bloomed within me.
"N-Nothing more," finished Kaede a bit lamely, looking to the side.
"Friends with exclusiveness agreements."
Her blush returned fiercely.
"...Y- Yes," she said, for once not denying something embarrassing.
Now that Pandora's Box was opened, there was no closing it back. The hands on her scalp began petting her fiercely again, making her yelp cutely, closing her eyes.
"Ah! N- No... Too much…"
As soon as she said no, my hands left her head. Her eyes opened, looking at me slightly confused as to why I stopped. She didn't ask that, taking a deep breath and trying to gain some semblance of control back.
"P… Please don't do that again…"
"Petting you?"
"...Yes."
"But you liked it."
Her gaze remained firmly stuck to the side. Must've been an interesting floor.
"...Just… You could do it just a little, then… N- Not now, some other day…"
I smiled tenderly at her.
"Of course, Kaede."
We remained in silence, the idle sound of city life filling it. The laughs of children, the wind caressing us, the rustle of the leaves…
Kaede, throughout it, had her eyes closed… and once she opened them, it was like nothing had happened. Her aloof mask was back on tight and, after one of her trademark exasperated sighs, she stood up. Her fox-ears and tail were hidden once more.
"You are truly exasperating," she said, her voice back into a perfect, professional and even tone. "Do you not have a single concern for trying to keep the existence of Yokai a secret to humans? You forced my Yokai features out, Daniel."
Her comment made my eyes widen. I just made Kaede expose her fox-features in public through heavy petting. The tail even wagged.
Sensing my panic, Kaede smirked arrogantly.
"Good thing I put on a cognition barrier around us the second I felt something off. A triviality to a 1st-Ranker like myself."
"Oh," I let out, relief coursing through. It took only a few seconds before I smirked right back at her. "So, you had enough control within yourself to pull off a concealing spell… and you didn't pull away? You consciously remained there?"
The teasing made Kaede, still keeping her aloof expression, blush intensely. She fake-coughed into her fist.
"I don't know what you are talking about," she lied badly. She looked at me and motioned with her head. "What are you waiting for, Daniel? Didn't you invite me for some drinks after work? How rude of you to make a lady wait."
Those words were beautiful, too.
Standing up and stretching, I grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder.
"Yeah, let's do that."
As we walked side-by-side, although we weren't holding hands, our shoulders brushed constantly, our arms every so often touching, the contact lasting just a bit longer than you'd think…
And Kaede didn't pull away once.
Rias Gremory, sitting by her desk inside the clubroom of the Occult Research Club stared at the photograph coldly. Her eyes, once so vibrant, so kind, now felt terribly dull and hollow.
Her grip on the photo tightened, crumpling it slightly.
Finally, she lifted her gaze from the picture to her Queen, who was giving her a worried look.
She hated those looks. Of pity. Of worry. As if she was below them. WEAK.
"...What exactly am I supposed to parse from this, Akeno?"
Even after that fateful duel, Rias still called her Queen by name. To treat her as a stranger would be a spit on the face of her longest lasting friend.
"You asked for all we could gather for the upcoming meeting, President. This… development is part of what we gathered."
The photograph portrayed Danie- No, Husk, petting the Yokai agent Fujiwara Kaede, sitting on a park bench. She had her eyes closed in bliss as Husk petted her, his focus intently on her.
…
"In what way does this help me, Akeno? Does knowing that Husk is fucking his partner serve any purpose or did you do this to mock me?"
Akeno stared at Rias with concern. She had shown her the photo to see how she'd react. To compare what would've been her reaction just two weeks before to the one she witnessed now. To see if any traces of her would resurface.
Clearly, the attempt was a failure.
"I showed it so you knew what you might face in the meeting, President," she said instead, the reasoning she gave also true. "We both know you're not emotionally stable right now."
Her words made Rias glare intensely.
"Akeno-"
"Are we going to argue about this, Rias?" said Akeno, glaring right back at her, abandoning the formalities. "Is the state you're in one you'd call 'stable'?"
Rias, unable to answer, clicked her tongue, her gaze drifting down. She had stopped coming to school for the last two weeks—there was no way to explain away her missing leg, not that Rias would be there regardless—and so she was dressed in the school tracksuit.
She could wear the uniform, sure… but she couldn't possibly stand the sight of her stump peeking out of her skirt. It filled her with a visceral disgust so horrid she couldn't put into words.
The pathetic, barely serviceable privacy of the tracksuit pants helped, but very little. The hatred and anger came in lesser waves, at the very least.
"...I'm really going to show up to that meeting in a fucking wheelchair," she muttered grimly.
"..."
Akeno kept her silence. It was a choice from Rias to not heal her leg. Riser had very generously offered Phoenix Tears to heal her, yet to accept the gift would mean an instant road into that unwanted marriage; even if the Tears were portrayed as a no strings attached gift.
No, she couldn't possibly accept them. She'd rather die limping than stand with Riser at the altar.
"Even if you think I'm being condescending," said Akeno, looking at Rias with concern. "You should prepare yourself to see him. Your brother already confirmed both Husk's and Fujiwara's presence in that meeting."
Rias breathed, glaring at nothing in the distance.
"They will probably attempt to further discredit you, President," continued Akeno. "Even with how it all ended up, the fact they took care of almost forty Stray Exorcists inside Kuoh plus three Fallen is…"
She shook her head. "You should prepare yourself for that. At the very least, so you don't instantly try to kill him."
The Gremory heiress kept her hateful stare aimed at nothing, but nodded.
"...If my brother tries to hurt Husk, I'll kill him," she said.
This wasn't stated out of concern, or interest, as Rias would've said before the duel. This was simple revenge. Rias wanted to be the one to bring Husk down to his knees, to make him beg and cry. She'd do that chair-bound if needed.
Even if she couldn't move as she wanted, her Power of Destruction didn't need it. Throughout her absence from school, and her duties as overseer of Kuoh (Unfit. Deemed by us, of course!) all she had done was strengthen her power. Staring out the window, leading to the green fields of Kuoh Academy, as students sometimes passed by, some trying to catch a glimpse of the now absent beauty… All Rias did in those moments was summon her familial magic, and control it.
Call it. Dispel it. Shoot it. Retract it. Grow it. Dwarf it. Control it. Loosen it. While staring at the walking students of Kuoh, at her walking pieces, at Hyoudou Issei, who now looked at her with pity and fear, who now didn't even display that youthful interest in breasts he so often bragged about, and only displayed a deep discomfort whenever she was in the room.
Husk. Husk. Husk.
"Rias…"
Rias glanced down at her right hand, tightly clutching the armrest of her wheelchair, black wisps of power trailing from it. Raising the hand, it revealed the now empty space where her palm had been clutching.
The eight armrest she had destroyed. Hatred washed over her again.
"...I'll be fine," lied Rias. "I'll get rid of Riser, then after that…"
I'll become the champion of Rating Games!
How was she supposed to do that with one less leg? Even if her prosthetic was completed on time when it came time to fight Riser, at the high-level such an object would be laughable. A part of her body that remained weak.
Hatred.
"...After that we'll see," Rias said, finally. "Let's just worry about the upcoming meeting for now."
Though her words were akin to those she'd say before, the tone lacked any of the easy affection, poise, or warmth it once had. It was like a headless bug that still tried walking despite missing all limbs, unaware that it missed something vital.
Akeno had such thoughts as she stared at the back of Rias' head.
"...Of course, President. Would you like me to tell your pieces to prepare themselves for a possible confrontation there? We don't know how the negotiations will end up unfolding."
Her pieces. Rias wasn't stupid, she knew that the pitiful sight of her in a wheelchair, her face devoid of light, sucked out any and all morale from her pieces. She couldn't stand seeing them, not like this. All she got from them was pity. Pity. Pity. Concern and pity. Concern and pity for the Gremory heiress. Concern, pity and sadness. Concern, pity, sadness and discomfort.
Hatred.
Rias didn't know who was the receiver of her hatred anymore.
"Tell… Tell them, Akeno. I'll trust you with that."
Akeno nodded.
"I'll take my leave then, President. If you need anything, please call me."
With that, she turned around and left the desolate clubroom, the locks of the door echoing inside the old school building.
Rias was alone.
Hatred.
"..."
Wordlessly, wheel-chair bound, as the sun set outside, the orange hue of the light peeking through the window… Rias called forth her power to her hands and resumed the mindless task.
Call it. Dispel it. Shoot it. Retract it. Grow it. Dwarf it. Control it. Loosen it. Call it. Shoot it. Retract it. Grow it. Dwarf it. Control it. Loosen it. Call it. Dispel it. Shoot it. Retract it. Grow it. Dwarf it. Control it. Loosen it. Call it. Dispel it. Shoot it. Retract it. Grow it. Dwarf it. Control it. Loosen it. Call it. Disp-
Her power grew.
Rias was alone.
Hatred.
AN: Final cooldown chapter before more consequential stuff happens next chapter.
I'm not going to lie, though. FFNet is quickly starting to lose me. The damn site had my last chapter flagged as non-existent for a pretty long time, and it's starting to frustrate me.
Also first off, before you grab your tomatoes and toss them at this terrible writer for writing terrible attempts at romance, know that I'M DOING MY BEST, OKAY!? I'M WORKING WITH WHAT I'VE GOT, GODDAMMIT! FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING TOMATOES! I DON'T FEAR THEM! TOSS THEM! SEE HOW MUCH GOOD IT DOES YOU PIECES OF SHIT! ¡MARACOS CONCHETUMARE TIREN LAS WEAS DE UNAAAAAAAA!
Secondly, yes, this is pretty much confirming where the main relationship subplot is heading. I had very different plans set out when starting this fic (you could reread some chapters and see some obvious flags being planted), but Kaede broke my kneecaps, stole my wallet, and pretty much changed a lot of things I had thought were the obvious routes our MC would take in DxD. To say the least, I didn't have in my plans to feature a throwaway OC so prominently. She kind of took over.
I know that for the MC whose entire premise is that he is HOMELESS to suddenly be living under a roof and there being little to no fanfare to it is less than ideal. Don't fret, I'm working on a mini-chapter that will appear on the Sidestory threadmarks (uh, I guess just another chapter here in FFNet) showing when he first moved in. Again, I wanted to include this in the main chapter, but if I did then we would've been going at a somehow SLOWER pace, and the event wouldn't have gotten the focus it deserved. So, mini-chapter dedicated entirely to that is in the works. Not immediately, however. Probably after next main chapter.
I thank everyone who bothers replying on the thread and giving me their thoughts. I am quite literally writing this story only for your amusement, so if you got amused by my story or have any sort of feedback, let me know. JUST GODDAMN TELL ME, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES. YOU'RE SHY, HUH!? SHITTING YOUR PANTS, MAYBE!? JUST COME AND TELL ME IF IT'S FUCKING SHIT OR NOT. TOSS ME THE FUCKING TOMATOES, IF YOU WANT!
And that's it.Thanks for reading.