It has been mentioned to me that Takumi is a masculine name. And while that may be true, there is a feminine way to write it in kanji. And so, since I like that name, I'm going ahead with that in mind.
卓美, "eminent, beauty
Also, Asia is finally here. Yay~
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When we finished with the recordings, I had a feeling that I would have a rough road ahead of myself. Not because Riser Phenex was that powerful, no, it was Rias and her peerager that were just weak, and not only that, she lacked the numbers.
Issei ate eight pawn pieces, and while that would be more than fine otherwise, now it meant that she got screwed over. Oh, he had massive potential, sure, but the time frame was simply too tight for it to matter.
I would need to get them to the power level greatly exceeding that of Risers' peerage, because as long as the chance of them being swarmed existed, nothing else would be enough.
I asked Rias just how she was preparing for this before, and the answer she gave me was less than satisfactory.
"You all will fight me every day until you want to die and then some. That's the only way to get as strong as you need that quickly." I said to them once I gathered my thoughts.
"I–Isn't that a bit much?" Rias asked.
"No, it might actually be too little. You've known about this for a long time, Rias, and you did nothing."
"I told you that we've been training!" She sounded upset, and of course she did. I was basically tearing down what little she accomplished on her own, which frankly wasn't that much from what she told me.
"Really? Because I can pretty much guess what you've been doing, you were just hoping that somebody else would take care of it. Am I right?" And I must have hit it on the head because her cheeks became red and she averted her eyes.
"I thought— I thought that my brother would do something…" She whispered with a sad shake of her head.
"And your parents? Why don't they help you? Or do they both agree with this?"
"*sigh* No, mom hates it, but since this whole thing is my father's doing, she can't do anything about it, not with her ancestor fully supporting him. I thought that she would murder father when he announced it, and if I lose, I think she might actually do it." She said with a mirthless chuckle.
"Ancestor?"
"Yeah, Zekram Bael, he has more political power than all of the Satans, and he is the de facto leader of the devils."
"Ah, yeah, that would make it quite hard, but don't worry, I will make sure that you win." I ruffled her hair, making her giggle lightly.
"I really hope you do, sensei."
After that, the little details were hashed out, and I outlined just what kind of training they would be doing for the foreseeable future. I won't be coddling them. No, I'm going to push them so much, they have no choice but to improve. I will break them and reforge them into something greater, and they will resent the ground I walk on during the whole thing, but they will thank me later.
Just like Red did with me.
And since tomorrow was finally Friday, we would start two hours after school had ended. I let them have some free time to unwind, because they would need it.
—
Thankfully, I only had a single class on Friday, and that one was early in the morning, so I obviously tormented the children with exercise ball throwing. You know, a little something to start their day.
And oh, how they complained. Too bad for them, it was in the curriculum.
I can't wait until we get to ring exercises. That flopping around is going to be hilarious, since most of these kids are so scrawny and have no upper body strength.
When I was leaving the school, I ran into Sona, and as soon as we locked eyes, her whole face became redder than a tomato. And after an intense one-second staredown, she hastily turned on her heel and fast walked the other way.
It might have something to do with yesterday. You see, when Serafall was calling Sona to invite her to our little impromptu fashion show, she did so via a video call.
I did not know that. So while I was busy sitting on a table changing outfits and trying to put on those goddamn thigh-high shoes, I was in such a position that as soon as Serafall walked by and accidentally turned the phone in my direction, poor Sona got a brief but full and unobstructed view of me wearing nothing but a single boot on my leg. There was nothing left to the imagination.
So yeah… kinda hard to look your teacher in the eyes after that.
Though if anything, Serafall and I just thought the situation was more funny than embarrassing. It would make for a great story down the line, once Sona gets over it.
As for what I did after I left the school building?
Well, it might sound bad and creepy, but I swear I had no bad intentions!
I was following a nun. Utterly lost and confused nun, to be precise. I came across her on my way to the store, and there was just something about her presence that called out to something deep within my soul.
It was calming, gentle, and comforting, reminding me of my late mother's hugs. I have to ask Red about this later. He should know, since he's, you know, super old and all.
And with Kuoh being a devil's territory, there were no working churches, so I had no idea what she was doing here.
"Excuse me, miss? Do you need help? You look lost." I called out to her. I had to get to the bottom of why she felt like that.
She heard me and turned around with a happy expression. I guess nobody else bothered to offer help.
"Ah… Yes, miss. There should be a church somewhere in this town, and I can't seem to find it." She said, in Italian, and I was glad that being a dragon god gave me, among other things, the ability to understand all languages.
"Are you sure? The only church here has been abandoned for a long time, and some bad people were occupying it till recently." Was she with the fallen? She must be, right.
"Y–Yes, I was told to come here. Umm— What do you mean by bad people, miss?" She asked and started nervously fidgeting with her hands.
"Fallen Angels. They planned on killing a student of mine and stealing his Sacred Gear. You have one too, little nun, who's to say they weren't planning on doing that to you as well?"
"Y–You know about it? And the supernatural? Do you know what happened to them?"
"The Devils in charge of this town went to investigate them, and killed them when the Fallen attacked." The poor girl looked so utterly lost and on the verge of crying. But come on, how are you just going to believe what I said?! And not ask any clarifying questions or anything for that matter.
She just squatted down on the sidewalk and buried her head in her knees.
"W–W–What am I supposed to then? I have nowhere else to go… the church excommunicated me, I can't return." She said in between sobs.
"Shh~ Shh~ It's gonna be okay." I gently lifted her and led her to a nearby bench. She sat down wordlessly and stared at her hands.
"Why would they do that to such a pure girl?" I asked and she told me.
She told me a story of a little orphaned girl, taken in by the church. Of a little girl being treated like a saint because of the power she possessed, and how one day, she found an injured devil in the Vatican. How healing him caused her to be labeled as a witch and tossed to the side.
Well fuck me sideways, dude.
"Michael… you fucking mongrel…" I couldn't help but mutter under my breath.
What the hell was heaven doing, letting go of such a pure little thing, and more importantly, why were they letting go of a Sacred Gear capable of healing?
Whatever it was that made Asia Argento feel like that to me made me want to help her, even if my reason was selfish. I just wanted to be in that gentle comfort for a while longer.
"You are not a witch. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. You did nothing wrong." I consoled her, but my mind was stuck on how a devil even managed to get inside the Vatican. That's like their main base, meaning it was heavily guarded. Emphasis on the word heavily.
"B–But they all sa—" "They are wrong. Devil, Yokai, Fallen Angel. It doesn't matter who they were; you just saw somebody who needed help, and you helped them." I cut her off.
"Come with me." Yep, I'm just taking her.
"W–W-What? Where?" She dazedly asked, but she did not let go of my hand.
"To my house. With the Fallen gone, and you have nowhere else to stay, right?"
"No, I can't. I don't want to impose. P–Please, I will figure something out." She protested.
"Ah— No. You will be helped whether you like it or not. I have two empty rooms, kiddo. You won't be imposing on anybody. And you kinda don't wanna say no to a dragon." I flashed her my draconic eyes, and when she stiffened, because of course she did, I gave her an amused smile.
"Y–You won't eat me, r–right?" She stuttered out.
"No, I won't. I'm the other kind of dragon, the one that kidnaps princesses, and you, Asia, you look just like a princess who needs to be kidnapped." I said with a cheeky wink and grin.
"Wawawawa~~~ I-I'm not a p-princess!" Her cheeks became red as she shyly and weakly protested.
"Hahaha~ Sure, sure. Now come on." I then led Asia, who was stuck between mumbling about not being a princess and thanking me for helping her, to my home.
"Omo… This is your house, Akabane-san? It's very pretty!" Points for you, Asia! This is the correct reaction to my house! And yes, I am still hung up on that.
"Right? Come on in, I'll show you your new room, and then we'll order something to eat. Because I don't know about you, but I'm starving." The food was for her sake, since I don't really need to eat. I heard her stomach grumbling, quite a lot actually, when we were walking.
"It's a bit sparse, but you can decorate it however you wish." There was a single bed, a medium-sized dresser, a nice L-shaped table with a computer, a couple of empty bookshelves, and a TV.
"T–This is my room? There are so many things, a–and the bed has a mattress! … B–But I don't have anything to put in the dresser, only the clothes on my back…" She said while looking at the room with an awed expression.
She is marveling at a fucking mattress? A mattress?! Like yeah, I understood from her story that her life was not that great, but come on! What kind of conditions were they keeping her in before?!
"*Breathe in, breathe out.* Yes, it does, a very comfortable one at that. Don't worry about clothes, you can borrow some of mine. They might be a bit too large for you, but for now, they should do. We can go to a clothing store on Sunday."
"Y–You have already done so much… I can just wash my robes more often, Akabane-san." She frantically waved her hands.
"Asia-chan, remember what I said you should not say to a dragon?"
"...That you should not say no. B–But!"
"No talking back~ Kay?"
"Mou… okay." She said in a small and shy voice. Adorable.
"Now then, do you want pizza, or do you want to try some Japanese cuisine?" I asked her and pulled out my phone to show her some of the options in the area. For a small town like Kuoh, there was a surprising number of restaurants.
"I've never had Japanese food. I-I'd like to try some. What do you recommend?"
"Hmm~ Katsudon or Yaki udon. The first one is breaded and fried pork with rice, and the second is fried noodles with meat and vegetables." Of course, if we were in an actual restaurant and not ordering food home, I'd recommend she try ramen; it's a staple after all. But having soup delivered has always been a coin toss in my past life.
"T–Then I'd like to try the Katsudon. It sounds kind of like pork schnitzel, just with rice, not fries."
So I ordered it, and while we were waiting for the food to arrive, Asia took a shower, and I gave her a change of clothes, since her nun robes were torn up in some places and overall just kinda dusty. I could have just repaired them and let her wear them again, but wearing clothes with so many recent unpleasant memories attached to them was not a good idea. I still repaired them, of course, but I ended up putting them in her dresser.
She loved the food and ended up trying some of mine, even if it was just a simple beef bowl.
"Man, that hit the spot~. Asia-chan, I kinda have something planned for this afternoon. You know those devils I mentioned, right? I agreed to help them train. So I'm going to have to leave in about forty-five minutes. You can either stay home and watch TV or you can come with me. I won't mind either way. Though just a warning, the training might be a bit brutal." I told her once we were done eating, and I put away the trash.
"I-I don't want to stay here alone. A-Are they nice people?"
"They are alright. Not evil or anything like that. They are just a bunch of teenagers, and they behave like that from time to time." I said with a shrug.
"B-But what do you mean by brutal, Akabane-san?"
"Ah, that. Well, they need to get strong quickly, and for me to do that, we are going to fight a lot, and it's not going to be a pleasant experience for them."
"Ummm… D-Do you think that they would like to become my f-friends? I've always wanted friends…" She asked hopefully and fidgeted slightly. I've noticed that she did that a lot when she was nervous.
"Of course they will." I said, ruffling her fluffy blonde hair. She leaned into my touch like a kitty. Aww~
During the little time we had before we had to leave, I showed Asia how to operate the TV, because she, for some fucking reason, did not know how to do that. Should I just go to Vatican and desecrate the basilica? Then I showed her around the house and the backyard.
And after that was done, we left the house and made our way back to the school, since that was the meeting spot we agreed on yesterday.
"Oh, right, Asia-chan, would you like to go to school? I teach here and I know the owner, it should be no problem getting you enrolled, should you wish to do so."
"Umm~ I-I would like that." She nodded happily.
"Great! I'll take care of it." I said as the ORC building came into full view.
"So, you ready to meet the devils?"