Preparations and Her Bet
JBukharin
Signer of the Totalist Charter
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Chapter 30: Preparations and Her Bet
After spending a full day at the headquarters to recover from the little trip for the Yokai Gakuen, I decided to spend some time to do some proper training.
Huffing with a calm breathing, I pushed away Kunou's leg as she failed to land a kick through the openings on my guard, forcing her to take some steps back to avoid further retaliation. The blonde had a serious look of focus on her face, her tails and fox ears hidden as to not hinder her movements while moving swiftly to try and finally get through my basic defense.
Just as I had thought on an early analysis, her fighting style was terribly bland, the biggest issue lying over the fact Kitsune Yokais focused mostly on Youjutsu and Magical Arts rather than close-quarter fighting, so her capacity to deal with close encounters was quite non-existing as we started to spar.
The training room that was set a floor above the dorms was ample and offered quite the opportunities to go for numerous spars at the same time. And that was the current as we were all training in that exact circumstance.
While I focused on Kunou's development in physical strength, endurance and speed, Kuroka had decided to use the opportunity to 'bond' a little more with her sister.
A peculiar kind of reason to spend the day that left the usually-calm girl rather annoyed as Koneko would have preferred to spend the least time possible with the young woman and her infuriating tricks, but I ended up pointing out to the girl that her sister did genuinely want to train her without playing any kind of unpleasantness to her.
She was still skeptical for a while about my reasoning, whining in her own collected but decisive mannerism, but she ended up accepting the offer after Kunou promised to train with her after that, leaving me to focus solely on the kitsune.
As much as I would have wanted to have Koneko to give the 'basics' to the little blonde right now, I knew how the silver-haired girl needed to be trained too by someone that could really help her, especially with her Senjutsu form still raw and difficult to control on a normal occasion.
Akua refused to have Kahlua train with the others, since her sister had already enough problems in reining in her own emotions and could easily go for one of her usual frenzies.
Something that many forgets of the 'carefree' vampire was that she was quite the bipolar fighter and when her 'switch' was turned on, things would become blurry. Allies, enemies, none would matter to her 'childish murdery' phase.
The tanned girl was strong enough and didn't need to improve that, the oldest Shuzen had also motivated, it wasn't worth to have the emotionally-unstable vampire confuse her sparring partner for an enemy that needed to be killed quickly and brutally for no apparent reasons.
Good points that still needed to be considered properly as we all needed to train before Kokabiel was defeated by those in Kuoh Town.
Kahlua was strong, yes, but she was also naive and unfocused during fights just as Akua had mentioned.
Having someone that could easily go berserk during an important fight and attack her own comrades wasn't someone I wished to have around and thus further research on the matter was written down on my mental 'to-do' list.
Speaking about my 'to-do' list, I found myself mostly interested in the results my research yielded: While Japan was still filled with surprises, finding familiar names like Ranma Saotome, Kenichi Shirahama and… Harry Potter.
The supernatural side of the Internet had extra info about the 'Boy-Who-Lived', confirming that he was already married and with kids. It was interesting to know that here the ICW worked more as the European counterpart to the Mage Council rather than a completely independent organization.
Some rules were the same, but there were also some bits that differed from both groups. The pages I found hardly confirmed the major difference between European and Asian magicks, but I guess the need of making use of Wands to practice magic were one of the different topics between the two differently-based councils.
I blinked as I heard the girl yell her next attack and I dodged another quick punch. She had yet to put up enough strength to truly making me give my full attention to her attempt to hit me, something that was little by little making Kunou even more annoyed at me.
The blonde was hiding it well, but after living with her for some time now, I could recognize the little signs that hinted at a possible near outburst. Calm and cheerful she might be, the Kitsune was still young and very prone to get angry at being mocked this much.
"Stay still?" She asked/whined, her tone similar to the one a child would have while asking their parent to let them win a game against them.
And me, being the 'parent', giving her a happy smile and-
"Sorry, Ku-chan." I replied quietly, my smile matching up to her growing little pout. "But we both know that you wouldn't get stronger if I let you win without some hard-working." I added with a little teasing tone.
The girl huffed at my words and went to launch a flurry of kicks without any precise aim, all of these were deflected before I decided to take hold over her leg and pushed her away from close distance. A little 'eep' left her lips at the sudden action, but then kitsune landed moments later and she barred her teeth in challenge as she charged back at me once again, this time her bubbling anger adding further power behind her attacks.
My smile widened as her speed picked up too and soon I found myself forced to push my thoughts away to give more attention over the blonde. She was finally bringing out some of her hidden potential, I could see her testing it unconsciously as her attacks grew more complex but also more… imprecise.
The girl scowled with minor fury as one of her kicks slammed on my guard, her face contorted in a mix of silent fury and… pain?
Kunou backed away and I noticed that she was putting more weight on one of her legs rather than evenly-splitting the burden. My frown deepened as I finally noticed the issue.
I blinked calmly as I saw her legs looking redder than a few moments ago, a little swelling developing too, and I quickly dropped my stance the moment I saw her wobble a little while trying to find some balance.
She looked confused at my sudden approach, eyes going wide in surprise at being scooped up in my arms. "W-Wha-" The girl tried to ask, her mind still recovering from the intensive training session, failing spectacularly.
"You are barely standing." I interrupted with a worried tone, adjusting her a little more in my arms and proceeding to take her right in the small spot outside the area where we had left a medium-sized box containing numerous vials of Phoenix's Tears.
Right as I softly placed her on the floor to take one of the tiny bottles, I saw her staring down at her bruised legs with a dejected and disappointed look.
I didn't reply at first, my attention devolved to get the medical liquid prepared for the girl. Crouching down to offer her the bottle, she sighed and shook her head.
"I'm weak." She commented quietly much to my confusion and surprised
I blinked again. "What?" I found myself asking loudly enough to have her ears flinch at the pitch.
"I couldn't even come close to make some damage a-and you were also distracted." Kunou muttered with a sigh. "I- It felt like I was hardly making something with my efforts." She explained, her arms crossing as I sighed and took a seat near her.
"I think you did quite well for your first day of training-" I tried to remark but she let out a frustrated huff.
"But this wasn't the first day I trained in physical fighting." The girl retorted. "This isn't even the first time I noticed h-how weak I'm with close-quarters."
I tilted my head on the side, confusion plastered on my face. "You aren't that weak-" I tried to say but she interrupted me once more.
"But I can hardly put my strength on my hits." The kitsune pointed out with some annoyance. "I literally had to hurt my own legs to actually get your attention and-"
"Then you should try something different, Kunou-san." A new voice pointed out, causing our heads to turn and see… Baki entering the training room with a gym bag. He was now wearing some gym clothes as he approached us.
"Oh, Baki-san, good morning." He nodded grateful at my greeting but his attention was still turned on Kunou.
"Your fighting form is too stiff, too 'proper' and that renders you unable to use your full weight and strength to the maximum." The young Hanma continued to explain, dropping the bag and stopping right to take a seat in front of us. "You should work to find a comfortable stance before wrongfully call yourself truly weak." He pressed on the confused-looking girl.
"What kind of difference will another stance do?" She asked skeptically. "It will not change anything about my strength and-"
The young man sighed, causing the blonde to stop for a moment in confusion.
"Hoitsu-san, I suppose you know a little more about my 'particular' fighting style, correct?" The Hanma questioned and I nodded at his query.
"You are known to use stances that generally benefits a large difference of strength and weight between you and your opponent, Baki-san." I replied quickly enough, making him smile a little.
"Precisely, I make sure my opponent sees me as fairly-cocky and then capitalize on his relaxed form." He lifted a finger to gesture at me. "Hoitsu-san was distracted and you could have tried to gauge where he was going to be unable to defend himself in that situation." He hummed quietly and stared at the ceiling. "While it might seem like he had everything under control, he had some openings that he couldn't really defend if you had noticed them."
She frowned. "So… I should try and find them? But how?"
"Why, by probing his stance with some normal hits and carefully avoiding to waste your energy so quickly." He glanced my way with an interested glint in his eyes. "Hoitsu-san wasn't responding to your hits, so you can easily test out his defense while he is either distracted or giving you little attention."
Kunou nodded at the advice and stood up slowly, drinking the Phoenix's Tears and preparing and giving me another serious look. "Round two?" She asked with renewed giddiness.
I merely smiled and followed her right back to the spot we had previously used and the fight resumed with renewed energy, this time the girl hitting way harder than before and… I admit some of her punches started to sting on my arms.
All in all, a good sparring session for that morning.
One that would give Kunou some ideas about developing her style after the very individual that looked the strongest and bravest.
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This… this is annoying.
Could be getting worse. At least we know who are we dealing with.
But still-
"Aogiri Tree is allying with Kokabiel?" I asked back, phone pressed on my ear as Azazel sighed on the other side.
The call began just after we finished lunch, my attention swiftly caught by the facts it was the Governor-General himself and the tone he was even now having while dropping those news.
"Some of my contacts in Tokyo have taken notice of a sudden spike of Aogiri's presence in the Wards they live in and most of them have already evacuated before anything bad could happen to them." There was another loud sigh, bringing some pauses along the explanation. "This all started just four days ago when one of them spotted Valper Galilei being escorted by some grunts of Aogiri Tree towards an abandoned warehouse by the Edogawa Ward."
"That area is considered by many Ghouls as hell on Earth, why would they escort him there?"
The Ward was the home of the infamous Ghoul detention center, Cochlea. The place where monsters like Jason were born and harbored in atrocious conditions. There were tortures happening inside the structure, but nobody cared about the instability of some of the wardens capable of those horrible crimes to a living being.
Ghouls might still be considered some 'non-human' race, but they were still close enough that one should be worried about those jailers and the insanity they displayed in their work.
"And that is the main issue of this discovery." Azazel admitted with an annoyed tone. "With his indirect involvement in trying to capture the Shinso Vampires and his presence in Tokyo, I think he is trying to accomplish something… with what was left of the monster attacking the city a week ago."
He paused a little more, I could hear someone talking to the Governor-General on the other side of the call. I used this time to think properly about this and… I was incredibly confused by what was going on.
Alucard? This makes zero sense! I can understand trying to kidnap alive Shinso Vampires, but trying to get the remaining pieces of-
'Maybe the reason is different, Hoitsu. Maybe you are forgetting that this Valper is also allied to Kokabiel and… I think bringing back this abomination would give a serious edge to what the threat to this peace could cause.'
Resurrecting Alucard? That wouldn't be doable. His soul should have already passed through-
To a place where it could be quietly taken out and returned back.
W-What?
Think about it. While Alucard might have been dangerous to the world, he would hardly receive extra guarding from Hell and… we both know that there are disgruntled elements in the Underworld that are already cheering for some 'Khaos'.
This- No, Fuck!
"They are planning to resurrect Alucard, sir." I blurted quickly to Azazel as I heard him shifting his attention back to the call. "That would explain why the need of capturing more than a Shinso Vampire." I concluded with a frown, waiting for the man to reply with his own thoughts.
"A strong possibility that sadly fails before a single but important element." I deflated a little to these words. "Alucard couldn't be controlled-" There was some silence for a while then he continued. "Unless… Kokabiel wants to turn Alucard in his own Familiar. There is an old Blood Ritual but- That could actually happen and- This could be the reason-"
"Sir?" I tried to bring back the discussion but the man merely sighed.
"Until I'm sure that Alucard's soul is guarded by men trustworthy to the Satans, your current task is to train and be ready for any strange activity, you are to not take any initiatives before I give you the green-light." The Fallen Angel ordered with a stern tone, much to my surprise.
"S-Sir, maybe if we could intercept Valper-" I tried to propose but I was stopped by the man himself with a mere sigh.
"It would get Kokabiel suspicious if you actively hunted down that man and you were discovered as a new group working for me." The Governor-General pointed out with a slightly more serious voice. "For now, the best thing to do is quietly render any attempts of resurrecting that monster impossible and- seriously brat, you will not hunt down Valper. He is not part of the Khaos Brigade and it will be regular Grigori's matter." I blinked and then, he concluded with a heavy sigh. "It's an order, brat."
I sighed and nodded. "Fine- but I hope you will pass any news on the matter. If we can move-"
"I will call you if the opportunity is there, but for now just get stronger… things are getting quite weird and everyone needs to be prepared for whatever storm is approaching."
The call ended and I placed the phone on the table, staring at the tall roof and blinking.
'You are not planning to disobey his orders, are you?'
Actually not. I'm just-
Going around it and pursuit 'indirectly' the man with someone else's help.
I nodded to myself, standing up from the table and making my way back to my room to get some fresh clothes and my wallet for my little plan.
'Oh? And you know someone who isn't affiliated to Grigori but could still help?'
'Know' is a strong word. I would say that… I've 'heard' of him in the 'past' and… I don't even know if he will help us with what I need him to do. He is rather the pacifist, but maybe with the right words-
Hopefully we will not be attacked in approaching his group.
I sighed while opening the door to my room and… I paused at the sight I was bestowed with.
A certain dark-haired Nekoshou twitched and froze right when the door creaked, the noise telling her that someone was looking at her right now as she was nuzzling my pillow close to her face.
Head slowly turning as my eyes narrowed angrily at her, a nervous expression was plastered on her face as she finally got sight of my frame.
"H-Hoi-kun! I didn't expect you to…" Kuroka stopped herself on that sentence, her mind finally taking notice of the annoyed glint exuding from my eyes. "I-It's a beautiful day outsi-"
"Out of my room, you pervert!" I stated with a full-blush, a little angry at her stalker-like demeanor.
She jumped off the bed and pouted. "I-I'm not a pervert! I'm just a woman of culture and with peculiar tastes-"
"So a closet pervert." I stated without hesitation, making her deflate even more.
"T-That isn't true a-and-" She stopped and seemed to think about it. "I-I can prove it to you." The woman said with a confident voice and giving a challenging stare at me.
…What?
"What?" I repeated both in my thoughts and out-loud, causing the girl to smirk.
"Well, if you take me out today, I will show you that I'm not just a pervert." The young woman proclaimed proudly and-
"But you are still a pervert-" I pointed out once before being intercepted by her as she straddled on me.
"I-I meant, woman of culture!" Kuroka quickly had me to correct my 'wording'.
A funny and cultured pervert at that, you have to admit that she knows what buttons to press.
Please, I don't need 'part of me' supporting her in that endeavor. I've already enough problems dealing with her attitude...
"And what would be the penalty if you fail to keep a good attitude?" I asked out of curiosity and she… twitched a little.
"I would be willing to accept some spanking, my only request being that this specific case happens at night, on your bed and with the two of us without clo-"
I turned around and started to walk away, causing her to stop on herself. "O-Okay, I was just joking!" She tried to correct herself but-
I stopped and looked back with a skeptical frown.
"I will do any mean punishment you want me to suffer." The young woman crossed her arms close to her chest. "At least, I know that you will not abuse it in any way, shape or form."
I blinked and thought about this situation. I could get her to stop being this much… aggressive with her advances. I don't find her completely bad, but I found her pushy attitude rather… annoying and irking more than enough times.
"I..." My mouth closed, then I sighed and tried once more. "Get yourself ready then, we will be leaving soon."
A loud squeal of happiness left her mouth and she instantly tackled me on the ground. "Gah!"
Her face nuzzled on my chest and her cat ears tickled right on my nose, the fierce hug and the insane amount of affection at that minor victory was a testament of what would happen if I just ended up accepting her flirting and surrendered to her wishes.
Soon, she would let go of the hold to rush out of my room and leave me alone with some more than needed peace.
'She sure is quite a hassle to deal, Hoitsu.'
She is.
But you don't mind being glomped sometime. It's not like you are a pervert if you admit you like 'that kind' of affection.
S-Shut up!
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This wasn't a romantic date.
This was meant to be a friendly hang-out to get Kuroka to tone down her flirting and stop being perverted around me.
This very mantra repeated endlessly in my brain as I tried to hold up to the fact the Nekoshou had yet to show anything remotely perverted towards me. No groping, no 'coping a feel', no lecherous stares from her as we quietly walked through the busy streets of the Japanese Capital.
She was seriously upholding her promise, doing it 'happily so' as she hardly seemed to be minding being close around me and without going for any lecherous action. Not even a lewd comment
Still, picking a proper place where to go for a walk proved to be particularly difficult for some reason and I ended up picking the… least bad place we could have gone to.
Tokyo had some beautiful Wards, the Ueno Park being one of the most beautiful ones with its cherry blossoms.
It was a pity that it was Summer and that the trees bloomed mostly in Spring, but the current sight was still something quite unique for someone that had hardly gone to see rare places in Japan after getting Inserted in this dimension.
The young woman had her arms wrapped around mine, but she was minding the pressure of her hold to not push too much her bust onto it, rather preferring to keep the touch to an acceptable level.
Her golden eyes were darting around from trees to the fluttering leaves falling from them, child-like wonder exuding from these and… I guess she was surprised of seeing something like that.
With her childhood and her subsequent period as part of an abusive peerage, I could only assume that the Nekoshou had never got the chance of seeing a park like this one and this was the first time she saw the beauty of this kind of natural parks.
Our attention was collectively captured as we both spotted some mobile ice cream parlors by the entrance, but decided against approaching it to buy some delightful cups at the moment as we were still digesting from the recent lunch.
This is why we decided to spend some time by venturing deeper in the park while waiting for the ice cream.
After few minutes of walking, we ended up taking a seat in one of the various empty benches on the path, the trees all around obscuring most of the sun-light and offering some shade for us to enjoy in peace.
Kuroka stretched a little and right as I took a seat beside her, she let her head tilt and rest on my shoulder. I tensed a little, waiting for her to jump at the opportunity but… nothing.
The young woman merely sighing happily as she relaxed on that brief moment of calm, her eyelids were half-closed while she enjoyed the relative silence and the cool breeze keeping the summer's heat from becoming unbearable around us.
"It's truly a good day today to spend outside." The Nekoshou commented quietly, her tone calm and not as loud as usual.
I blinked and stared up at the few clouds in the light-blue sky. "It is."
Silence resumed for a little while, then she sighed.
"Do you think that I will ever be able to get close to Shirone?" She asked with a curious tone, eyes partly directed at my face. "I feel like I'm really not doing any progress with her." The dark-haired woman admitted with a perplexed tone, my eyes slowly turned to glance back at her with a tired look.
"She did accept your training offer-" I pointed out, only to be met with an annoyed glance from her.
"She accepted only because you said 'it was fine'." The dark-haired beauty remarked. "And then she proceeded to be a true pest even when I was genuinely trying to help her with meditation by ignoring the way I went with this stage of Senjutsu." She admitted with a huff, snuggling closer to my shoulder much to my… minor annoyance.
"Did you use your usual attitude or did you explain that to her with the tone you are using now?" I inquired quietly and for a moment her lips twitched, confusion painted in her face.
"Excuse me, but what?" There was confusion plastered on her face and… I sighed patiently.
"You know that when you speak overly-cheerful, especially regarding… Shirone, you seem like you are mocking her, right?" I asked with a serious tone, making her look… incredibly confused but thoughtful of that perception.
She blinked and then- "What?"
"Think about the situation from her perspective." I started to explain. "Until you decide to reveal the truth about your family and why you killed 'them', she will still think you went insane because of Senjutsu, you joined some shady groups and then, even though you bailed before doing anything terrible, you still were there in their ranks for a while."
"She thinks… I am making fun of her?" Her tone sported genuine surprise and then she sighed. "That I'm not helping her and-" She stopped mid-answer and groaned. "She thinks I am playing around with her, pranking her, rather than healing our relationship."
Her hands went to her face, eyes closing as she groaned in them. "I'm a moron..."
I let out a brief amused snort and she moved her palms just a little to show me the glare she was now directing at me.
"Laughing at an innocent maiden's plight? Are you perhaps a sadist, Hoi-kun?" The Nekoshou accused lightly and I hummed quietly about it.
"Maybe I enjoy seeing you without that childish mask of yours." I thought out-loud, causing her to blink in surprise. "You know, I do dislike a lot when people lie this blatantly in front of me. I can forgive white lies but..."
The young woman blinked at this and sighed with a small smile now appearing on her face. "You know, that is… somewhat admirable coming from someone, right."
"Uh?"
"While I do find the fact you are this much adamant to not do anything lewd, I find it an interesting trait to see after dealing with… quite the unpleasant bunch in the past." Her eyes stared at the muddy path, sadness painted over them and I felt a little… sad myself.
"Did they hurt you?" I asked with some concern. "Did they-" I paused as her index pressed my lips closed while the girl sighed.
"That is also another thing I do find… refreshing. To be coddled by someone that genuinely care." Kuroka smiled and then sighed. "But I do find myself sharing your idea of… hating liars."
I blinked as she moved away from my shoulder and her hands softly turned my head to stare right at her. Her golden eyes were showing a new level of compassion as she pronounced the following words.
"If you wish to bring happiness to everyone… then why do you look so sad when you are alone?" The Nekoshou inquired with small curiosity and some… worry?
My eyes widened at that question. "W-What?" I found my entire body tensing up at this sudden and unexpected development. "I-I don't know what you are talking abou-"
"One day either Shirone-chan or Kunou-chan will find out about this sadness of yours… and they will fault themselves for its existence." The young woman pointed out. "I know that you don't want people to be burdened by your own past, but bottling it up… will never work for you."
She was cutting very deep with her words and… I think she was doing all of this unconsciously. Maybe she expected a real answer for it, or maybe she was seeking some common ground for us to share in that singular moment.
But no matter the reasons behind this questioning, nothing mattered as I found myself unable to hold back the tears.
It's been just… so long since I last saw their faces. Their smiles. And then I wonder if she managed to finish High School by now, I wonder if she will find a good job and get her own family without being burdened by my disappearance.
In that brief moment of weakness, I didn't notice how Kuroka slowly put my head on her lap.
A lap pillow, I mused inwardly and then she was humming while she started to softly caress my hair and… I closed my eyes slowly, the nightmares that had haunted me until now surprisingly not there to hurt me during my rest.
But as I found my way to my happy place, I felt the young woman's voice whisper quite softly.
"You know, I think… I like this idea." She said, I could even 'hear' her smile. "Will you go out with me again, if I don't hide myself anymore?"
A strong promise, a beautiful gamble but my mind and heart shared a single answer and in my sleep, it unconsciously left my lips.
"Yes."
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AN
Today is truly a good Sunday, folks!
I've got some lasagna for lunch, maybe something even better for dinner and I actually felt like a weight had been lifted while writing this chapter.
Also, after having this requested for a long time now… here is the general character stat of Hoitsu:
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Basic Info
Name: Hoitsu Sakakibara
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Race: Human (+?)
Birthday: April 2nd 1992
Birthplace: Kuoh Town
Family: Shigeru Sakakibara (Father), Hisako Sakakibara (Mother), Kunou Sakakibara (Surrogate Younger Sister), Grayfia Gremory (Surrogate Older Sister)
Affiliation: Grigori (Member), Omega Initiative (Leader)
Physical Characteristics:
Height: 174cm
Weight: 62Kg
Skin Tone: Pale White (Hardly tans if he doesn't go to the beach)
Hair Style: Shoulder-length, Curly;
Hair Color: Light-Brown (Dark-Brown while using Senjustu)
Eye Color: Charcoal/Dark-Brown (Red while using Senjutsu)
Muscle Built: Athletic, Above Average Human
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Future milestone 1: 696 Followers and Favorites.
After spending a full day at the headquarters to recover from the little trip for the Yokai Gakuen, I decided to spend some time to do some proper training.
Huffing with a calm breathing, I pushed away Kunou's leg as she failed to land a kick through the openings on my guard, forcing her to take some steps back to avoid further retaliation. The blonde had a serious look of focus on her face, her tails and fox ears hidden as to not hinder her movements while moving swiftly to try and finally get through my basic defense.
Just as I had thought on an early analysis, her fighting style was terribly bland, the biggest issue lying over the fact Kitsune Yokais focused mostly on Youjutsu and Magical Arts rather than close-quarter fighting, so her capacity to deal with close encounters was quite non-existing as we started to spar.
The training room that was set a floor above the dorms was ample and offered quite the opportunities to go for numerous spars at the same time. And that was the current as we were all training in that exact circumstance.
While I focused on Kunou's development in physical strength, endurance and speed, Kuroka had decided to use the opportunity to 'bond' a little more with her sister.
A peculiar kind of reason to spend the day that left the usually-calm girl rather annoyed as Koneko would have preferred to spend the least time possible with the young woman and her infuriating tricks, but I ended up pointing out to the girl that her sister did genuinely want to train her without playing any kind of unpleasantness to her.
She was still skeptical for a while about my reasoning, whining in her own collected but decisive mannerism, but she ended up accepting the offer after Kunou promised to train with her after that, leaving me to focus solely on the kitsune.
As much as I would have wanted to have Koneko to give the 'basics' to the little blonde right now, I knew how the silver-haired girl needed to be trained too by someone that could really help her, especially with her Senjutsu form still raw and difficult to control on a normal occasion.
Akua refused to have Kahlua train with the others, since her sister had already enough problems in reining in her own emotions and could easily go for one of her usual frenzies.
Something that many forgets of the 'carefree' vampire was that she was quite the bipolar fighter and when her 'switch' was turned on, things would become blurry. Allies, enemies, none would matter to her 'childish murdery' phase.
The tanned girl was strong enough and didn't need to improve that, the oldest Shuzen had also motivated, it wasn't worth to have the emotionally-unstable vampire confuse her sparring partner for an enemy that needed to be killed quickly and brutally for no apparent reasons.
Good points that still needed to be considered properly as we all needed to train before Kokabiel was defeated by those in Kuoh Town.
Kahlua was strong, yes, but she was also naive and unfocused during fights just as Akua had mentioned.
Having someone that could easily go berserk during an important fight and attack her own comrades wasn't someone I wished to have around and thus further research on the matter was written down on my mental 'to-do' list.
Speaking about my 'to-do' list, I found myself mostly interested in the results my research yielded: While Japan was still filled with surprises, finding familiar names like Ranma Saotome, Kenichi Shirahama and… Harry Potter.
The supernatural side of the Internet had extra info about the 'Boy-Who-Lived', confirming that he was already married and with kids. It was interesting to know that here the ICW worked more as the European counterpart to the Mage Council rather than a completely independent organization.
Some rules were the same, but there were also some bits that differed from both groups. The pages I found hardly confirmed the major difference between European and Asian magicks, but I guess the need of making use of Wands to practice magic were one of the different topics between the two differently-based councils.
I blinked as I heard the girl yell her next attack and I dodged another quick punch. She had yet to put up enough strength to truly making me give my full attention to her attempt to hit me, something that was little by little making Kunou even more annoyed at me.
The blonde was hiding it well, but after living with her for some time now, I could recognize the little signs that hinted at a possible near outburst. Calm and cheerful she might be, the Kitsune was still young and very prone to get angry at being mocked this much.
"Stay still?" She asked/whined, her tone similar to the one a child would have while asking their parent to let them win a game against them.
And me, being the 'parent', giving her a happy smile and-
"Sorry, Ku-chan." I replied quietly, my smile matching up to her growing little pout. "But we both know that you wouldn't get stronger if I let you win without some hard-working." I added with a little teasing tone.
The girl huffed at my words and went to launch a flurry of kicks without any precise aim, all of these were deflected before I decided to take hold over her leg and pushed her away from close distance. A little 'eep' left her lips at the sudden action, but then kitsune landed moments later and she barred her teeth in challenge as she charged back at me once again, this time her bubbling anger adding further power behind her attacks.
My smile widened as her speed picked up too and soon I found myself forced to push my thoughts away to give more attention over the blonde. She was finally bringing out some of her hidden potential, I could see her testing it unconsciously as her attacks grew more complex but also more… imprecise.
The girl scowled with minor fury as one of her kicks slammed on my guard, her face contorted in a mix of silent fury and… pain?
Kunou backed away and I noticed that she was putting more weight on one of her legs rather than evenly-splitting the burden. My frown deepened as I finally noticed the issue.
I blinked calmly as I saw her legs looking redder than a few moments ago, a little swelling developing too, and I quickly dropped my stance the moment I saw her wobble a little while trying to find some balance.
She looked confused at my sudden approach, eyes going wide in surprise at being scooped up in my arms. "W-Wha-" The girl tried to ask, her mind still recovering from the intensive training session, failing spectacularly.
"You are barely standing." I interrupted with a worried tone, adjusting her a little more in my arms and proceeding to take her right in the small spot outside the area where we had left a medium-sized box containing numerous vials of Phoenix's Tears.
Right as I softly placed her on the floor to take one of the tiny bottles, I saw her staring down at her bruised legs with a dejected and disappointed look.
I didn't reply at first, my attention devolved to get the medical liquid prepared for the girl. Crouching down to offer her the bottle, she sighed and shook her head.
"I'm weak." She commented quietly much to my confusion and surprised
I blinked again. "What?" I found myself asking loudly enough to have her ears flinch at the pitch.
"I couldn't even come close to make some damage a-and you were also distracted." Kunou muttered with a sigh. "I- It felt like I was hardly making something with my efforts." She explained, her arms crossing as I sighed and took a seat near her.
"I think you did quite well for your first day of training-" I tried to remark but she let out a frustrated huff.
"But this wasn't the first day I trained in physical fighting." The girl retorted. "This isn't even the first time I noticed h-how weak I'm with close-quarters."
I tilted my head on the side, confusion plastered on my face. "You aren't that weak-" I tried to say but she interrupted me once more.
"But I can hardly put my strength on my hits." The kitsune pointed out with some annoyance. "I literally had to hurt my own legs to actually get your attention and-"
"Then you should try something different, Kunou-san." A new voice pointed out, causing our heads to turn and see… Baki entering the training room with a gym bag. He was now wearing some gym clothes as he approached us.
"Oh, Baki-san, good morning." He nodded grateful at my greeting but his attention was still turned on Kunou.
"Your fighting form is too stiff, too 'proper' and that renders you unable to use your full weight and strength to the maximum." The young Hanma continued to explain, dropping the bag and stopping right to take a seat in front of us. "You should work to find a comfortable stance before wrongfully call yourself truly weak." He pressed on the confused-looking girl.
"What kind of difference will another stance do?" She asked skeptically. "It will not change anything about my strength and-"
The young man sighed, causing the blonde to stop for a moment in confusion.
"Hoitsu-san, I suppose you know a little more about my 'particular' fighting style, correct?" The Hanma questioned and I nodded at his query.
"You are known to use stances that generally benefits a large difference of strength and weight between you and your opponent, Baki-san." I replied quickly enough, making him smile a little.
"Precisely, I make sure my opponent sees me as fairly-cocky and then capitalize on his relaxed form." He lifted a finger to gesture at me. "Hoitsu-san was distracted and you could have tried to gauge where he was going to be unable to defend himself in that situation." He hummed quietly and stared at the ceiling. "While it might seem like he had everything under control, he had some openings that he couldn't really defend if you had noticed them."
She frowned. "So… I should try and find them? But how?"
"Why, by probing his stance with some normal hits and carefully avoiding to waste your energy so quickly." He glanced my way with an interested glint in his eyes. "Hoitsu-san wasn't responding to your hits, so you can easily test out his defense while he is either distracted or giving you little attention."
Kunou nodded at the advice and stood up slowly, drinking the Phoenix's Tears and preparing and giving me another serious look. "Round two?" She asked with renewed giddiness.
I merely smiled and followed her right back to the spot we had previously used and the fight resumed with renewed energy, this time the girl hitting way harder than before and… I admit some of her punches started to sting on my arms.
All in all, a good sparring session for that morning.
One that would give Kunou some ideas about developing her style after the very individual that looked the strongest and bravest.
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This… this is annoying.
Could be getting worse. At least we know who are we dealing with.
But still-
"Aogiri Tree is allying with Kokabiel?" I asked back, phone pressed on my ear as Azazel sighed on the other side.
The call began just after we finished lunch, my attention swiftly caught by the facts it was the Governor-General himself and the tone he was even now having while dropping those news.
"Some of my contacts in Tokyo have taken notice of a sudden spike of Aogiri's presence in the Wards they live in and most of them have already evacuated before anything bad could happen to them." There was another loud sigh, bringing some pauses along the explanation. "This all started just four days ago when one of them spotted Valper Galilei being escorted by some grunts of Aogiri Tree towards an abandoned warehouse by the Edogawa Ward."
"That area is considered by many Ghouls as hell on Earth, why would they escort him there?"
The Ward was the home of the infamous Ghoul detention center, Cochlea. The place where monsters like Jason were born and harbored in atrocious conditions. There were tortures happening inside the structure, but nobody cared about the instability of some of the wardens capable of those horrible crimes to a living being.
Ghouls might still be considered some 'non-human' race, but they were still close enough that one should be worried about those jailers and the insanity they displayed in their work.
"And that is the main issue of this discovery." Azazel admitted with an annoyed tone. "With his indirect involvement in trying to capture the Shinso Vampires and his presence in Tokyo, I think he is trying to accomplish something… with what was left of the monster attacking the city a week ago."
He paused a little more, I could hear someone talking to the Governor-General on the other side of the call. I used this time to think properly about this and… I was incredibly confused by what was going on.
Alucard? This makes zero sense! I can understand trying to kidnap alive Shinso Vampires, but trying to get the remaining pieces of-
'Maybe the reason is different, Hoitsu. Maybe you are forgetting that this Valper is also allied to Kokabiel and… I think bringing back this abomination would give a serious edge to what the threat to this peace could cause.'
Resurrecting Alucard? That wouldn't be doable. His soul should have already passed through-
To a place where it could be quietly taken out and returned back.
W-What?
Think about it. While Alucard might have been dangerous to the world, he would hardly receive extra guarding from Hell and… we both know that there are disgruntled elements in the Underworld that are already cheering for some 'Khaos'.
This- No, Fuck!
"They are planning to resurrect Alucard, sir." I blurted quickly to Azazel as I heard him shifting his attention back to the call. "That would explain why the need of capturing more than a Shinso Vampire." I concluded with a frown, waiting for the man to reply with his own thoughts.
"A strong possibility that sadly fails before a single but important element." I deflated a little to these words. "Alucard couldn't be controlled-" There was some silence for a while then he continued. "Unless… Kokabiel wants to turn Alucard in his own Familiar. There is an old Blood Ritual but- That could actually happen and- This could be the reason-"
"Sir?" I tried to bring back the discussion but the man merely sighed.
"Until I'm sure that Alucard's soul is guarded by men trustworthy to the Satans, your current task is to train and be ready for any strange activity, you are to not take any initiatives before I give you the green-light." The Fallen Angel ordered with a stern tone, much to my surprise.
"S-Sir, maybe if we could intercept Valper-" I tried to propose but I was stopped by the man himself with a mere sigh.
"It would get Kokabiel suspicious if you actively hunted down that man and you were discovered as a new group working for me." The Governor-General pointed out with a slightly more serious voice. "For now, the best thing to do is quietly render any attempts of resurrecting that monster impossible and- seriously brat, you will not hunt down Valper. He is not part of the Khaos Brigade and it will be regular Grigori's matter." I blinked and then, he concluded with a heavy sigh. "It's an order, brat."
I sighed and nodded. "Fine- but I hope you will pass any news on the matter. If we can move-"
"I will call you if the opportunity is there, but for now just get stronger… things are getting quite weird and everyone needs to be prepared for whatever storm is approaching."
The call ended and I placed the phone on the table, staring at the tall roof and blinking.
'You are not planning to disobey his orders, are you?'
Actually not. I'm just-
Going around it and pursuit 'indirectly' the man with someone else's help.
I nodded to myself, standing up from the table and making my way back to my room to get some fresh clothes and my wallet for my little plan.
'Oh? And you know someone who isn't affiliated to Grigori but could still help?'
'Know' is a strong word. I would say that… I've 'heard' of him in the 'past' and… I don't even know if he will help us with what I need him to do. He is rather the pacifist, but maybe with the right words-
Hopefully we will not be attacked in approaching his group.
I sighed while opening the door to my room and… I paused at the sight I was bestowed with.
A certain dark-haired Nekoshou twitched and froze right when the door creaked, the noise telling her that someone was looking at her right now as she was nuzzling my pillow close to her face.
Head slowly turning as my eyes narrowed angrily at her, a nervous expression was plastered on her face as she finally got sight of my frame.
"H-Hoi-kun! I didn't expect you to…" Kuroka stopped herself on that sentence, her mind finally taking notice of the annoyed glint exuding from my eyes. "I-It's a beautiful day outsi-"
"Out of my room, you pervert!" I stated with a full-blush, a little angry at her stalker-like demeanor.
She jumped off the bed and pouted. "I-I'm not a pervert! I'm just a woman of culture and with peculiar tastes-"
"So a closet pervert." I stated without hesitation, making her deflate even more.
"T-That isn't true a-and-" She stopped and seemed to think about it. "I-I can prove it to you." The woman said with a confident voice and giving a challenging stare at me.
…What?
"What?" I repeated both in my thoughts and out-loud, causing the girl to smirk.
"Well, if you take me out today, I will show you that I'm not just a pervert." The young woman proclaimed proudly and-
"But you are still a pervert-" I pointed out once before being intercepted by her as she straddled on me.
"I-I meant, woman of culture!" Kuroka quickly had me to correct my 'wording'.
A funny and cultured pervert at that, you have to admit that she knows what buttons to press.
Please, I don't need 'part of me' supporting her in that endeavor. I've already enough problems dealing with her attitude...
"And what would be the penalty if you fail to keep a good attitude?" I asked out of curiosity and she… twitched a little.
"I would be willing to accept some spanking, my only request being that this specific case happens at night, on your bed and with the two of us without clo-"
I turned around and started to walk away, causing her to stop on herself. "O-Okay, I was just joking!" She tried to correct herself but-
I stopped and looked back with a skeptical frown.
"I will do any mean punishment you want me to suffer." The young woman crossed her arms close to her chest. "At least, I know that you will not abuse it in any way, shape or form."
I blinked and thought about this situation. I could get her to stop being this much… aggressive with her advances. I don't find her completely bad, but I found her pushy attitude rather… annoying and irking more than enough times.
"I..." My mouth closed, then I sighed and tried once more. "Get yourself ready then, we will be leaving soon."
A loud squeal of happiness left her mouth and she instantly tackled me on the ground. "Gah!"
Her face nuzzled on my chest and her cat ears tickled right on my nose, the fierce hug and the insane amount of affection at that minor victory was a testament of what would happen if I just ended up accepting her flirting and surrendered to her wishes.
Soon, she would let go of the hold to rush out of my room and leave me alone with some more than needed peace.
'She sure is quite a hassle to deal, Hoitsu.'
She is.
But you don't mind being glomped sometime. It's not like you are a pervert if you admit you like 'that kind' of affection.
S-Shut up!
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This wasn't a romantic date.
This was meant to be a friendly hang-out to get Kuroka to tone down her flirting and stop being perverted around me.
This very mantra repeated endlessly in my brain as I tried to hold up to the fact the Nekoshou had yet to show anything remotely perverted towards me. No groping, no 'coping a feel', no lecherous stares from her as we quietly walked through the busy streets of the Japanese Capital.
She was seriously upholding her promise, doing it 'happily so' as she hardly seemed to be minding being close around me and without going for any lecherous action. Not even a lewd comment
Still, picking a proper place where to go for a walk proved to be particularly difficult for some reason and I ended up picking the… least bad place we could have gone to.
Tokyo had some beautiful Wards, the Ueno Park being one of the most beautiful ones with its cherry blossoms.
It was a pity that it was Summer and that the trees bloomed mostly in Spring, but the current sight was still something quite unique for someone that had hardly gone to see rare places in Japan after getting Inserted in this dimension.
The young woman had her arms wrapped around mine, but she was minding the pressure of her hold to not push too much her bust onto it, rather preferring to keep the touch to an acceptable level.
Her golden eyes were darting around from trees to the fluttering leaves falling from them, child-like wonder exuding from these and… I guess she was surprised of seeing something like that.
With her childhood and her subsequent period as part of an abusive peerage, I could only assume that the Nekoshou had never got the chance of seeing a park like this one and this was the first time she saw the beauty of this kind of natural parks.
Our attention was collectively captured as we both spotted some mobile ice cream parlors by the entrance, but decided against approaching it to buy some delightful cups at the moment as we were still digesting from the recent lunch.
This is why we decided to spend some time by venturing deeper in the park while waiting for the ice cream.
After few minutes of walking, we ended up taking a seat in one of the various empty benches on the path, the trees all around obscuring most of the sun-light and offering some shade for us to enjoy in peace.
Kuroka stretched a little and right as I took a seat beside her, she let her head tilt and rest on my shoulder. I tensed a little, waiting for her to jump at the opportunity but… nothing.
The young woman merely sighing happily as she relaxed on that brief moment of calm, her eyelids were half-closed while she enjoyed the relative silence and the cool breeze keeping the summer's heat from becoming unbearable around us.
"It's truly a good day today to spend outside." The Nekoshou commented quietly, her tone calm and not as loud as usual.
I blinked and stared up at the few clouds in the light-blue sky. "It is."
Silence resumed for a little while, then she sighed.
"Do you think that I will ever be able to get close to Shirone?" She asked with a curious tone, eyes partly directed at my face. "I feel like I'm really not doing any progress with her." The dark-haired woman admitted with a perplexed tone, my eyes slowly turned to glance back at her with a tired look.
"She did accept your training offer-" I pointed out, only to be met with an annoyed glance from her.
"She accepted only because you said 'it was fine'." The dark-haired beauty remarked. "And then she proceeded to be a true pest even when I was genuinely trying to help her with meditation by ignoring the way I went with this stage of Senjutsu." She admitted with a huff, snuggling closer to my shoulder much to my… minor annoyance.
"Did you use your usual attitude or did you explain that to her with the tone you are using now?" I inquired quietly and for a moment her lips twitched, confusion painted in her face.
"Excuse me, but what?" There was confusion plastered on her face and… I sighed patiently.
"You know that when you speak overly-cheerful, especially regarding… Shirone, you seem like you are mocking her, right?" I asked with a serious tone, making her look… incredibly confused but thoughtful of that perception.
She blinked and then- "What?"
"Think about the situation from her perspective." I started to explain. "Until you decide to reveal the truth about your family and why you killed 'them', she will still think you went insane because of Senjutsu, you joined some shady groups and then, even though you bailed before doing anything terrible, you still were there in their ranks for a while."
"She thinks… I am making fun of her?" Her tone sported genuine surprise and then she sighed. "That I'm not helping her and-" She stopped mid-answer and groaned. "She thinks I am playing around with her, pranking her, rather than healing our relationship."
Her hands went to her face, eyes closing as she groaned in them. "I'm a moron..."
I let out a brief amused snort and she moved her palms just a little to show me the glare she was now directing at me.
"Laughing at an innocent maiden's plight? Are you perhaps a sadist, Hoi-kun?" The Nekoshou accused lightly and I hummed quietly about it.
"Maybe I enjoy seeing you without that childish mask of yours." I thought out-loud, causing her to blink in surprise. "You know, I do dislike a lot when people lie this blatantly in front of me. I can forgive white lies but..."
The young woman blinked at this and sighed with a small smile now appearing on her face. "You know, that is… somewhat admirable coming from someone, right."
"Uh?"
"While I do find the fact you are this much adamant to not do anything lewd, I find it an interesting trait to see after dealing with… quite the unpleasant bunch in the past." Her eyes stared at the muddy path, sadness painted over them and I felt a little… sad myself.
"Did they hurt you?" I asked with some concern. "Did they-" I paused as her index pressed my lips closed while the girl sighed.
"That is also another thing I do find… refreshing. To be coddled by someone that genuinely care." Kuroka smiled and then sighed. "But I do find myself sharing your idea of… hating liars."
I blinked as she moved away from my shoulder and her hands softly turned my head to stare right at her. Her golden eyes were showing a new level of compassion as she pronounced the following words.
"If you wish to bring happiness to everyone… then why do you look so sad when you are alone?" The Nekoshou inquired with small curiosity and some… worry?
My eyes widened at that question. "W-What?" I found my entire body tensing up at this sudden and unexpected development. "I-I don't know what you are talking abou-"
"One day either Shirone-chan or Kunou-chan will find out about this sadness of yours… and they will fault themselves for its existence." The young woman pointed out. "I know that you don't want people to be burdened by your own past, but bottling it up… will never work for you."
She was cutting very deep with her words and… I think she was doing all of this unconsciously. Maybe she expected a real answer for it, or maybe she was seeking some common ground for us to share in that singular moment.
But no matter the reasons behind this questioning, nothing mattered as I found myself unable to hold back the tears.
It's been just… so long since I last saw their faces. Their smiles. And then I wonder if she managed to finish High School by now, I wonder if she will find a good job and get her own family without being burdened by my disappearance.
In that brief moment of weakness, I didn't notice how Kuroka slowly put my head on her lap.
A lap pillow, I mused inwardly and then she was humming while she started to softly caress my hair and… I closed my eyes slowly, the nightmares that had haunted me until now surprisingly not there to hurt me during my rest.
But as I found my way to my happy place, I felt the young woman's voice whisper quite softly.
"You know, I think… I like this idea." She said, I could even 'hear' her smile. "Will you go out with me again, if I don't hide myself anymore?"
A strong promise, a beautiful gamble but my mind and heart shared a single answer and in my sleep, it unconsciously left my lips.
"Yes."
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AN
Today is truly a good Sunday, folks!
I've got some lasagna for lunch, maybe something even better for dinner and I actually felt like a weight had been lifted while writing this chapter.
Also, after having this requested for a long time now… here is the general character stat of Hoitsu:
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Basic Info
Name: Hoitsu Sakakibara
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Race: Human (+?)
Birthday: April 2nd 1992
Birthplace: Kuoh Town
Family: Shigeru Sakakibara (Father), Hisako Sakakibara (Mother), Kunou Sakakibara (Surrogate Younger Sister), Grayfia Gremory (Surrogate Older Sister)
Affiliation: Grigori (Member), Omega Initiative (Leader)
Physical Characteristics:
Height: 174cm
Weight: 62Kg
Skin Tone: Pale White (Hardly tans if he doesn't go to the beach)
Hair Style: Shoulder-length, Curly;
Hair Color: Light-Brown (Dark-Brown while using Senjustu)
Eye Color: Charcoal/Dark-Brown (Red while using Senjutsu)
Muscle Built: Athletic, Above Average Human
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Future milestone 1: 696 Followers and Favorites.
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