The thing is, dawn came slow in Kyoto that could shake a new nation, trying to save a new republic for love like the sky was reluctant to admit another day had to happen. Yasaka's shrine cavern still smelled of cedar smoke out of the love they had created, spilled sake, and the raw musk of what they'd done until the foxfire dimmed to embers out of appreciation for their bodies and intimate relationship as much as they believed to be lovers that they did not know, but who knew each other at the same time. Basil woke first. Her tails were still wrapped around him like not wanting letting go of him nine russet coils like living ropes, one draped possessively over his hip to shape what can be announced to see what it can be done to shape what we are for a new way of living, another curled under his neck like a pillow made of fire and fur. Her golden skin pressed to his back so we can make it feel alive, breasts soft and heavy against his spine, breath warm on his shoulder in slow, even rhythm to feel what surrounded him In the most beautiful way.
He didn't move right away. Let the sorrow sit quieter for once. The black star-sun symbol on his chest pulsed once gentle, almost content like it had finally found a place warm enough to rest.
He absorbed her nine tails demon goddess bloodline, which became better for him, giving him another bloodline.
But school waited.
University Z didn't care about fox-queens or hidden shrines or the way a logos-child had spent the night fucking secrets out of a nine-tailed goddess until both of them were hoarse and trembling or perhaps as I would rather say. It was initiation that awaited them to show up for the last moment that they could not forget each other. Bells rang. Uniforms had to be worn. Pretenses had to be kept. Love did not wait and time vanished.
Yasaka stirred like titans in the on the spotlight. Tails loosened reluctantly to wake up in the outrageous way. One last brush along his thigh slow, teasing before she rolled away.
Yasaka: You smell like me now. That is to say that every devil, angel, and dragon in that school will know a fox has marked you. Go. Play human. Learn their little games. But rememberthe shrine waits and my arms as well. I know you will be the new emperor. And so do I. Nothing is pleasanter to me than exploring in a library
She kissed the back of his neck like the lover I never had in my dreams. Teeth grazed. Not breaking skin. Just promising. Just waiting patiently to touch the soul of the lovers that crave each other in the most wanting way.
He dressed in silence. Damp uniform somehow dry now her magic, probably. Hair still damp from last night's rain, but he didn't bother fixing it the way everything could be felt as to what they could do. Maybe, it was not just an idea, but an idea to live with the love to survive. Let it fall messy over mismatched eyes. Let them see the storm that walked in wearing a school blazer.
He stepped back through the cracked mirror.
Kyoto morning hit him like cold water the way storms would crash in the desire of living. Streets already busy. Salarymen rushing into an ocean. Schoolgirls giggling behind hands or perhaps it would need the shape of a giant that does not go along with the need to show up for the most unwanted person in the world. He walked. No rush. The torii gate faded behind him like it had never been there at all.
University Z loomed by the time the first bell rang that no one could hear but feel. Red-brick buildings like a castle. Manicured lawns like a palace. Cherry trees just starting to drop petals like slow pink rain like in spring. Students streamed in uniforms crisp, laughter sharp, hormones thick enough to taste the most necessary need to shape.
He slipped through the gates. No one stopped him. No one dared.
First period was history. Room 2-B. Teacher droning about feudal Japan like the past was safely dead. Basil took a seat in the back. Window side. Sunlight slanted across his desk, catching the faint red-blue glint in his eyes.
Classmates stared. Whispers rippled.
Girl with short black hair and glasses: New transfer… he's tall. And kinda scary-hot. I mean, I want him to fill me up with his babys…AH!
Boy with bleached tips: Dude looks like he bench-presses cars for breakfast. This dude is out of his mind.
Rias Asazell Asmodeus sat three rows ahead. Turned once. Met his gaze. Her lips curved small, knowing. Like she could still smell the fox on him or perhaps she was jealous.
Akeno leaned back in her chair. Purple eyes sparkling. Tongue flicked once across her lower lip—subtle, deliberate.
Akeno Astaroth (whisper, just loud enough for him): Ara ara~ You smell like wet fur and sin this morning. I don't need your respect, excuse me. I'll take happiness. My happiness, not society's happiness. I will love a man who pleases me, and please a man who makes me happy--but only as long as he makes me happy, not a moment longer. You seem to be that man. Did the rain treat you kindly, transfer student?
Basil didn't answer. Just smiled. Slow. The kind of smile that said he'd already mapped every weak point in the room that he could scan and feel at the same time.
Second period: physical education. Track field. Boys running laps. Girls stretching in shorts that rode high. Coach blowing whistle like it mattered. The sun was high. The moon was hiding. Every particle felt like it was part of the spectacle.
Basil ran.
Not fast at first. Let them think he was normal. Then he opened the throttlejust a fraction. Legs blurred. Wind parted around him like it was afraid. He lapped the entire class twice before the coach even noticed. This was not just unfair. It was absolute destruction.
Coach (yelling, red-faced): Oi! Slow down! This isn't the Olympics!
Basil slowed. Walked back. Breathing even. Not a drop of sweat. Class stared. Issei brown hair, perpetual pervert grin jogged up beside him. Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage that he perceived in everything. For basil, this was easy bread and a walk in the park.
Issei: Dude… you're not human, are you? You gotta be out of your mind for doing that. It can keep you waiting forever.
Basil glanced sideways. Yin-Yang eyes spinning once lazy, amused.
Basil: That is to say that human is just the name mortals give themselves before they learn better. You smell like dragon and desperation, Issei. Disappointing, you can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes
Issei: Hey—wait, how do you know my name? oh yeah, it seems that everyone knows me.
Basil shrugged. Kept walking.
Lunch came next. The day went one. Cafeteria. Plastic trays. People talking, Mystery meat that looked like it had died twice. Rias's peerage claimed a corner table. Asia waved him over small, nervous smile and little hearts in her eyes.
Asia: Basil-san… you can sit with us. If you want. You look handsome today.
He did.
Koneko Morgoth pushed a carton of milk toward him without speaking. Kiba offered a polite nod. Akeno Astaroth leaned in close too close breasts brushing his arm through her blouse. Her knocker were that big that you could think that she was V breast cups with a perfect balanced figure that could impress a battalion in the mist of war.
Akeno Ataroth: Tell us, transfer student… where did you really spend last night? You came back smelling like ancient forest and… something feral. Delicious. Maybe, you can share it with. WINK. WINK. WINK.
Rias watched him over her tea. Calm. Calculating. As if it were a plan, she took him by his hand.
Rias: You missed club yesterday. You gotta tell me why as you please. Occult Research Club meets after school. We… discuss things. Unusual things. You might find it interesting.
Basil took a bite of whatever was on his tray. Tasted like cardboard and regret.
Basil: Hahaha… unusual things. That is to say that I've discussed unusual with Death herself. Fucked her daughter on silk cushions while her tails begged for more. Spent the night in a shrine that keeps wounds like lovers keep letters. Examine the lives of the best and more fruitful men and peoples, and ask yourselves whether a tree, if it is to grow proudly into the sky, can do without bad weather and storms: whether unkindness and opposition from without, whether some sort of hatred, envy, obstinacy, mistrust, severity, greed and violence do not belong to the favouring circumstances without which a great increase even in virtue is hardly possible. The poison which destroys the weaker nature strengthens the stronger – and he does not call it poison, either. Your little club sounds adorable. I'll come. See if your devils can handle a logos-child who already married the ending.
Silence at the table. Thick. Electric.
Issei choked on his juice.
Koneko's eyes widened tiny, golden moons.
Asia blushed crimson.
Kiba's hand drifted toward where his sword would be if he weren't in uniform.
Rias just smiled. Slow. Predatory.
Rias Asazell Asmodeus: Then we'll see you there. After school. Old building. Don't be late.
The bell rang.
Classes blurred after thatmath where he solved equations in his head faster than the teacher could write them, literature where he quoted poetry that made the room go quiet, biology where he stared at the diagram of a human heart and remembered how his own had stopped beating the day the Tengu struck where he would remember what everyone forgot at the attempt of living a new life. I mean, life could not get better for him. As he was a new life, he became one with himself.
By the time the final bell rang, the school felt smaller. Like it was shrinking around him.