NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Scatter, Senbonzakura!
===11 a.m.===
Underworld, Gremory Territory, Alaverus Estate.
In the living room, a magic circle appeared silently on the floor. After a moment it began to rise, revealing the figures of James, Sona, Leona, and Cassiel.
"Whoo, that trip sure was refreshing." James said with a smile, while stretching his arms over his head.
In response to James' laid-back comment, Sona glared in displeasure.
"Because of all your sleeping, we missed any chance to go sightseeing or do anymore shopping." Sona growled.
With an expression screaming "I am innocent," James apologized.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't think that ten hours of shopping would take so much out of me." As he finished, James bowed his head in apology, then asked. "But why didn't you ask Mom or Pop to go out with you? I don't think they would have minded."
'For such an intelligent guy, why does he have to be so dumb when it comes to things like this?' Sona thought to herself as she adjusted her glasses in frustration, causing them to gleam for a moment.
Seeing Sona's expression, while leaving his own unchanged, James sighed inwardly.
'I really don't know what to do about this.' James began monologuing to himself. 'I know how Rias and Sona feel, hell, anyone with half a brain could tell. But I have no thoughts of romance, right now. Especially with the two of them. I don't even have the social standing to pursue them, even if I did.'
Shaking his head, James pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. Turning his head to Leona, he asked. "Mom, The Trip with Riri is three days and two nights, too, right?"
'Oh, my little heart breaker.' Leona thought to herself as she could tell James knew what Sona meant.
"That's right, you'll have to show up at the Gremory Estate by 11:30 a.m. tomorrow morning." Replied Leona to James' question. "I packed a bag for you in advance. You should go play with Sona until Rhea shows up to get her."
"Okay, Mom, got it." James said as he turned to Sona and asked. "So, what do you wanna do? A game of chess, maybe?"
Sona nodded in agreement, as she and James made their way out of the living room. Though it was clear to see that she was till frustrated with James' "denseness."
"Hey, before you go..." Cassiel said, rifling through his luggage.
Finding what he was looking for, a long, slender box, Cassiel beckoned James over.
In curiosity, both James and Sona made their way over.
"This is a gift from your mother and I." Cassiel said while handing James the box. "Congratulations for becoming a Middle-Class devil."
"Congratulations, Sweetie." Leona chimed in with a smile, while giving James a hug.
Holding the box, James asked excitedly. "Can I open it?"
Instead of answering, Cassiel simply gestured for James to go ahead.
Gently, James lowered the box to the floor. Raising the lid, James saw a sheathed katana.
James was unable to look away. The sheath was a shiny black with the image of fluttering cherry blossoms around the mouth, the handguard was in the shape of a cross with a crescent moon cut out of each side, and the hilt was wrapped with a white cloth with a cherry blossom shaped tassel hanging from its end. Even sheathed, James thought it was beautiful. Lifting the sheathed sword from the box with his left hand, James wrapped his right hand around the hilt and drew it slowly.
*Shing*
Drawing the blade revealed a gorgeously crafted katana blade. Polished to the point that James could see his own reflection in the blade.
"So pretty." Murmured Sona absentmindedly.
Before anyone could react any further, James sheathed the sword in one fluid motion, created a sword belt, and placed the sheathed sword in the belt, then ran out of the room.
Snapping out of her stupor, Leona roared. "James, where are you going!?"
James shouted back in reply. "I need to remove the spiritual mark from my practice sword! It's 11:15, now! And I wanna mark my Ochiru Sakura before I leave tomorrow."
"Ochiru Sakura... Falling Cherry Blossoms." Cassiel rolled the name in his mind for a moment. "Not bad."
===Ten hours later===
Human World, Japan, Unnamed Town.
On the outskirts of a rural town near Tokyo, A man was saved from an evil spirit by a young girl dressed as a shrine maiden and carrying a large bag. Out of gratitude, the man offered to let the girl use his home to clean up and rest for a few days, if she wished to do so. Exhausted from her journey, the girl accepted his kind offer. On their way to the man's home, he came to a sudden realization and began speaking.
"I must have really been scared," said the man in embarrassment, "So scared that I forgot my manners."
Stopping in place and bowing his head to the girl beside him, he said, "Once again, allow me to thank you for saving my life. My name is, Senjou Kinji. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Surprised by the sudden show of politeness, the girl was flustered. However, due to her upbringing, she also introduced herself.
"P-Please think nothing of it. My name is Himejima Akeno. and I assure you, the pleasure is mine."
Himejima Akeno, a beautiful, young girl, appearing to be ten or eleven years old, with her long black hair tied up with a yellow ribbon, into a ponytail that reaches her thighs. There are 2 strands of hair that stick up and curve toward the back, bangs that cover her forehead, eyebrows, and the bridge of her nose, and side bangs framing her face. Adding her large violet eyes, she is the perfect image of a Yamato Nadeshiko.
"Would you mind if I called you, 'Akeno-Chan'?" Asked Kinji.
Finding Kinji's friendliness a bit unsettling, Akeno agreed to his form of address, for the time being.
Following Kinji back to his home, Akeno could not help but think back on how she got to this point. Looking back at her time travelling around Japan. The last eight or nine months have been anything but easy for her. Shortly after her tenth birthday, she witnessed her mother being murdered. At the hands of her own clansmen, no less. And the reason her own clansmen killed her mother? Because they found out about her and her father's true identities.
Akeno's father, Baraqiel, is a fallen angel and one of the leaders of the fallen angel organization, Grigori. This of course makes Akeno a half-fallen angel. When the Himejima clan, who are famed for their blessings from the Shinto gods and their exorcisms of evil beings, found out about Baraqiel and Akeno, they sent a force to eliminate them. The day they arrived at Akeno's home, Baraqiel was away on business and Akeno's mother, Shuri, was unable to fend off the clan's attack. To let Akeno escape, Shuri sacrificed herself. From that day, for the next nine months, Akeno travelled the country, purifying evil spirits and trying to stay off the Himejima clan's radar.
Since that day, Akeno's trust in people has not been very forthcoming. Never knowing who was an informant for the Himejima Clan, it made trusting and accepting the good will of others very difficult.
"Akeno-Chan, we've arrived." Said Kinji, bringing Akeno out of her recollections.
Looking up, Akeno saw an average two-story house with a small front yard. Entering the house, Kinji led Akeno to a bedroom on the second floor.
"This room used to belong to my younger brother, before he left for university." Said Kinji, introducing Akeno to her temporary living space. "Please, make yourself at home. You're welcome to stay for as long as you like and if you need anything, just let me know."
Akeno nodded at Kinji's generosity then entered the room and thanked Kinji before he left to go about his business. Placing her bag on the bed, she inspected the room for anything supernatural. After a couple of minutes, Akeno relaxed slightly. She was unable to find any spying spells in the room. Having deemed the room safe enough, she closed the door and sat down on the bed.
"I still don't know if he is working for the Himejima Clan," Thought Akeno aloud, "but at least I know he is not watching me in this room."
With some time to relax, Akeno opened her bag, taking out a bottle of water and a washcloth. Placing them on the bed, Akeno began to undress. Now, wearing only a simple set of white bra and panties, Akeno stopped and looked over her body.
"They're getting bigger again." Murmured Akeno with a frown. "Mother said hers didn't start growing like this until she was older. It must be this damned fallen angel blood."
Shaking her head to drive away the negative thoughts, Akeno uncapped the bottle of water and used it to dampen the cloth. Using the now damp cloth, Akeno wiped her body clean of sweat.
'Senjou-San may be showing me kindness, but there's no way I would take a bath in a stranger's house.' Akeno thought to herself.
Five or six minutes later, Akeno finished cleaning herself. Hanging the cloth to dry on the closet's doorknob, she drank the remaining water in the bottle. She then took a white yukata used for sleeping out of her bag and wore it. After dressing for bed, she climbed into bed and fell into a light sleep.
===Two hours later===
Akeno awoke abruptly. Feeling an evil aura, Akeno quietly climbed out of bed and readied herself to leave at a moment's notice. She then silently moved from the bedroom, down the hallway and stairs, to the living room entrance. Peeking into the living room, she saw Kinji summoning an evil creature. A devil to be exact.
'I knew I couldn't trust him.' Akeno thought, 'He's probably trying to offer me to that evil creature.'
"Kinji, I've only answered your summons to let you know that Ojou-Sama will arrive tomorrow afternoon." The devil said in a deep voice. "Make sure all the arrangements are made before she arrives."
"Of course," said Kinji, "That's part of our deal."
Listening up to this point, Akeno snuck back to her room. Making the decision to escape when the sky is darkest, just before dawn. Akeno readied her belongings.
===Five hours later===
Akeno jumped from the second story window. As soon as she hit the ground, she disappeared into the night, slowly making her way out of the town. Unfortunately, she walked past an unseen shikigami, one controlled by a Himejima clansman, not even five streets away from Kinji's home.
===Six hours later===
Human World, Japan, Unnamed Town, Outskirts.
A magic circle appeared on the ground just outside the town. After a flash of light, the magic circle disappeared, in its place, stood three people.
The first, A handsome boy, about eleven years old, with caramel colored skin, long black hair in individual braids tied into a ponytail, and deep brown eyes with dusk pink outlining each iris. His outfit consists of a white button-down t-shirt, blue denim jeans, and white sneakers.
The second is a beautiful girl, also about eleven years old, with fair skin, a voluptuous figure for her age, crimson red hair flowing down to her thighs, bangs that cover her forehead, side bangs that frame her face, a strand of hair that sticks up from the top of her head, and bright blue eyes. Wearing a white blouse, a blue denim skirt, and white sneakers; her outfit is conspicuously similar to the boy standing next to her.
The last of the three is a non-descript middle-aged man, who has been tasked with guarding the two children.
These three are James Alaverus, Rias Gremory, and Heinrich Cornelius Agripa, the [Bishop] of Zeoticus Gremory's peerage.
"Finally, we are here," said Rias with her arms spread, as if she wanted to hug the scenery, "I have arrived in the land of anime."
Hearing Rias' declaration, James deadpanned. "Are you serious, Riri? So, when you said you love Japanese culture... You really meant Japan's otaku culture, right?"
Raising an eyebrow, Rias looked at James as though she did not understand the issue and asked, "Is there a problem?"
"Nope." Replied James, the deadpan still present on his face. "As long as the lady is happy, what problem could there be."
Rias smiled brightly at James' insincere reply and said, "As long as you understand. Make sure to keep that in the forefront of your mind."
James could only shake his head at Rias' enthusiasm.
"Alright, we've stood around long enough." Said Rias with excitement. Then in a tone filled with grandeur she exclaimed. "Let us begin our exploration of the town."
"Ojou-Sama, I believe we should check-in at our hotel before we do anything else." Heinrich advised.
"Ugh... Fine." replied Rias, clearly having the winds taken out of her sales. "Hurry on to the hotel."
Hearing Rias' reply, Heinrich nodded at how sensible his [King's] daughter has grown to be.
'Why does he look so satisfied that she took his advice?' James thought to himself. 'What kind of hell raiser is she when I'm not around?'
Noticing that Rias and Heinrich had already started walking, James shrugged and followed. However, after walking for only a few minutes, James came to a stop and his head snapped toward a certain direction. As he concentrated, a battle hungry smile began to surface.
Noticing that James was no longer beside her, Rias also stopped. Looking back, she noticed James' smile. Although she was unsure of what he detected, she knew that it would at least be something interesting.
"James, what is it?" Rias asked full of curiosity.
Over the last three years, James and Sona succeeded in getting Rias to drop the honorific suffixes. Stating that it brought a sense of distance. And with Rias letting up, she stopped nagging everyone else about it as well.
"There are some fairly powerful humans surrounding a... half-human?" James replied, curious about the other half of that aura.
"Oh, let's go and take a look." Rias ordered with obvious excitement.
James was also excited to witness this fight. Although he has spent a lot of time fighting with stray-devils, he has never seen how other races fight. His horizons were quite narrow.
As they approached the battle, the clash of magic became more audible. Moving into visual range, they noticed that a group of adult Shinto priests and shrine maidens were surrounding a girl, who couldn't be any older than James and Rias. Seeing the state of the battlefield, it is clear the young girl is quite skilled and strong. Many of the priests and shrine maidens were lying around the battlefield, either unconscious or groaning in pain. However, it is also obvious she was standing on her last leg.
Seeing the girl in this situation, Rias eyes lit up with possessiveness.
Grabbing James by the shoulder, she shouted, "James, don't let her die. I want her. I want her in my peerage."
"Hmm." James looked over the girl and spoke. "I wouldn't mind having her as a [Queen] or [Bishop] myself."
At that moment, Rias remembered. James plans to start his own peerage.
Grabbing James' arm and with a coquettish tone, Rias begged. "Come on, James. Let me have her, please. I promise I'll make it up to you."
James never intended to fight with Rias over the girl, but he was definitely going to get some benefits for his arduous work.
"Fine, but it better be worth it." James said with a snort.
Getting the answer she wanted, Rias pointed her finger in the direction of the ongoing battle and exclaimed. "Go! Save the damsel in distress."
Hearing Rias enthusiastic outcry, a battle-hungry smile blossomed on James' face once again.
Nodding at Rias in acknowledgement, James took a step forward, materializing his Ochiru Sakura on his left hip. Taking another step, he vanished, reappearing in the distance, speaking his trigger phrase.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura!"