Issei dug intensely, sweating over every scoop, with each scrape of the little shovel against the earth, a flicker of hope sparked in his heart, making his mind glow with expectation.
His eyes began to sparkle faintly, and his mind drifted back to what had happened.
He and Yuma on a date. She smiling, the first girl ever to smile at him in his life, the first girl who had been kind and gentle to him, and the first girl to break his heart.
"I need to forget you," he muttered. Only moments later, his shovel struck something both slightly soft and yet firm, he pushed harder and felt clear resistance.
He swallowed, flung the shovel out of the hole, and began to push the dirt aside with his hands.
He found hair, strands that had lain in the soil for a long time. Each strand was damp, smelled strange, and felt odd beneath his fingertips. Then he felt something with a weird texture brushing his fingertips.
The odor was disgusting, yet he carried on. He gently shifted the soil, and there it was, part of Yuma's corpse. He dug more vigorously and finally saw it: Yuma's face.
"Je-je-je," he murmured softly, squinted his eyes, gritted his teeth, and began to sob.
Even though time had ravaged Raynare's face, Issei could still see the former charm hidden beneath that grotesque guise.
Yuma's once-living smile overlaid the distorted face that his hands now gently caressed. He clenched his teeth, his eyes like molten iron glowing with tears.
"I love you, Issei..." the poor boy remembered Yuma's final words before that day's farewell, he bit his lower lip and began to sob softly.
"Why?" he asked, he already knew the answer, knew the reason, but he wanted to hear it, couldn't rest until he tried to get a response from the girl who had been the source of his sleepless nights.
Of course, he got no answer. He continued gazing intently at Yuma's face, "Je-je, we're not so different, Huh?, Goddess" he said, he looked up at the sky, at the moon, and finally let out a small sigh.
"You said you love me.,I know that was a lie... But I really believed you, I believed you so intensely that..." Issei paused, staring at the moon, tears rolled down his cheeks and splashed into the freshly disturbed earth.
"Even if you had asked me to die for you, I would've done it, You know? You were the first, my first girl at so many things that I..." He squinted his eyes, gripped his teeth so hard he could've broken them, "I just can't get you out of my head despite everything that's happened lately..."
A quiet silence followed, Issei simply stared at the moon for a while.
After a while, he let himself drop onto the newly disturbed earth, he sat there, not caring that the damp soil chilled his backside.
"Fallen angel..." he muttered after some time. He looked back at Yuma's head, "I love you, Yuma, I love you, Raynare," he said with such fervor that, even a devout believer would be astonished by such devotion.
"But I won't love you anymore, you're going to leave my mind, my memories, and I'm going to have a good life... You know?" Issei smiled and crawled closer to Yuma's head with a strange expression, "I'm gonna forget you... You fucking bitch!!!" Issei shouted with anger, with hatred, with resignation and with love as he gripped Yuma's head tightly.
"Ha-ha-ha!!!" he finally let out an audible laugh that lasted a minute before shaking his head, "It's over, Yuma... No more... No more, I don't need you..." he said, he took a big leap to climb out of the pit, cast one last look at the head of the first girl in his life, and finally let out a deep sigh.
"It's done..." he murmured, grabbed the shovel nearby, and began to fill the pit with earth again.
Just after he filled the pit with soil and began pulling grass nearby to place over the freshly disturbed ground, Issei's phone rang with a familiar ringtone.
"Hello?" the poor boy answered the phone without looking at who was calling.
"Issei, Are you okay?" Kiryuu's worried and gentle voice came through the speaker, Issei smiled, looked at the sky, and let out a soft laugh, "Yes, my love, I'm okay..." he said, breathing in a bit of air and then sighing.
"What a relief, you know, I was wondering, Why did you leave without saying anything? I am worried, so I made you some food. Please come... otherwise it'll get cold..." Kiryuu said.
Issei felt a powerful wave of pleasant emotions wash over him, he felt free, felt the wind against his skin, refreshing his soul and smiled widely. "I'll come back soon... Thank you, Kiryuu. I... I love you," he said, meaning it truly in his heart.
A few weeks later...
"Fire Style: Flare," Issei formed several hand seals, a moment later he spewed a jet of fire like a flamethrower toward Akeno.
But the fierce, sexy, masochistic girl smiled back, "Water Style: Water Wall," she said as she formed several seals, touched the ground, and a water wall the size of a house rose before her.
The two techniques collided, creating a burst of steam that enveloped the area like a thick mist.
Akeno glared to either side, but it seemed she didn't notice as Issei was already in front of her, "Boost!!" The sound of the glove resonated mechanically as a massive fist shot toward Akeno's stomach.
However...
Explosion
Akeno's body vanished in a puff of white smoke. "A shadow clone?" Issei murmured under his breath, then something caught his attention almost immediately.
Issei didn't know when, but bolts of lightning formed in front of him. He widened his eyes in surprise, let out an uncomfortable laugh, and the next moment...
"Aagghh!!" Issei screamed in pain as violent electricity coursed through his body.
"Sufficient!!" Rias Gremory's voice came from not far away, "Akeno wins!!" Rias declared the end of the duel, Issei bowed his head in embarrassment, while Akeno smiled radiantly.
"No need to be sad, Issei, at the end of the day, you've made quite some improvement with fire style..." Akeno said, moving her body seductively as she narrowed her eyes at the poor boy.
"That was an interesting demonstration," Itachi said from not far off, nodding. "You still need a lot more practice, but you've improved considerably," Itachi approached, tossed three scrolls toward Rias, and finally smiled.
Asia, walking just behind Itachi, quickly drew the attention of everyone present. Akeno couldn't help but look at her with surprise, then shifted her gaze to Itachi and smiled even more widely, "Looks like you don't like wasting time, huh, Itachi?" she teased, which made little Asia blush.
Advance chapters on Patreon: [email protected]/phantasm_