9 Chapter 9: New Cards and reunion with Sakuya
// Office of the Student Council //
"Well, Akatsuki-san, can you explain to me what is this?
She said pointing to Tsukihime who is sitting on my lap washing herself as if the situation is none of her business
"It's a fox, Kaicho" I say to him with a calm look
"Oh, and can you tell me what this fox is doing here at school? "
"She was born not even a few days ago and she was all alone so I decided to keep an eye on her because she got very attached to me I think about letting her sleep in my bag, after finishing lunch later, she plays with Takumi and going back to class but I forgot to hide her what brings me here"
"And you think I'm going to believe your story? "
"I have nothing to blame myself for."
" She is your responsibility "
" Can you oversee this case only this time, please Kaicho "
" No, it's not because you're new you will escape your sanction "
Then Hime gets up off my knees and approaches Sona and looks her in the eyes with her little star blue eyes, then snuggles up against her, but Sona can't win against Tsukihime's charm and starts stroking Hime and playing with her.
'I wonder if she's using her illusion to look more attractive to Sona.' I think to myself, seeing this cunning fox
"Ahem, You're lucky today I'm in a good mood I'll let this case passe, you can go to class," she says with joy in her voice.
"Oh, he really did it fast," I tell to myself but not in a low voice
"What do you mean by that?" asks Tsubaki
"I had to kick Takumi's ass to come and make his declaration of love when Koneko told me about the situation, seriously, I agree that you wait a few months but one year even I will wonder if you really love each other"
"Shut up, why did you do that? I think you met only today, normally no one would do what you did."
"Normally I would have let things take a normal flow, but the way Takumi acted with regard to his entourage and don't involve himself to no hurt them reminded me of a childhood friend, and we have a lot in common, and he's a nice guy so I decided to give him a little push that's all"
"Thank you very much, me and the other girls are really getting tired of their cat and mouse game," Tsubaki tells me by lowering his head
"Tsubaki you don't need to do this" Sona starts to blush
"Raise your head Tsubaki-sempai, I did what I thought was right" I answer her with a smile
"Akatsuki-kun doesn't try to flirt with Tsubaki" Sona looks at me with a menacing look and Tsubaki blushed
' *Snif Snif* what is that smell? ' I close my eyes to guess where the smell comes from it looks familiar to me I turn my head towards Tsubaki then open my eyes shocked because I recognize this smell
Tsubaki who notices my action and my shock expression starts to blush more and starts to get aroused and the smell gets stronger, she is lucky that the air conditioning is on otherwise Sona would have smelled the smell but not as distinctly as me, I look Tsubaki in the eyes and I discover a treasure and a little smile appears on my face like a kid in front of a candy store.
'No, no, no, calm down, Zerono, you have to wait to see how things go.'
You should know that during the time I have lived with the girls until now I have developed a sadistic side to be able to control Brynhildr when I came back with it and I have also developed a quirk to find when a woman has masochistic tendencies all this because of Chisato, normally I keep this fact to myself but when I find a potential prey I try not to cross the line and to calm myself down, when I can't I'm going to see Zest or Chisato but this story is for another time
"What's the matter with you Akatsuki-kun you're silent all of a sudden"
"No, nothing at all I hope your date goes well Kaicho, and I leave Hime here it's better for her than being in a bag in a class" I get up to leave giving Hime a pat on the head and then head to class.
Then the rest of the afternoon continue until the classes end, I sent an email to Himari to give her an appointment on the roof to get her answer then I went to pick up Hime at the Student Concile office then I go to the roof of the school from where I have a view of the whole campus I stay there for 40 minutes watching then I hear the door open and Himari looks around her to notice me leaning on the roof railing
"Zerono, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
"Yo, Himari," I turn around and smile at her, which makes her blush
"Too gullible, but also cute, *sniff* ' I notice a bird spinning above us and use my spirit eyes ' Tch, what's that familiar doing here? '
"I thought about what you said yesterday and I think I know who the person you told me to be suspicious of is... "
Without warning, I approach Himari and take her in my arms and hug her, which surprises her.
"Huh? what are doing ?"
"Shh, don't move, you're being watched," I telepathically tell her, showing her the bird above us
"Where? Where? "
"I told you not to move, you idiot, keep on, what you were saying.
'Hime launches an illusion around us of me and Himari and Ruby hide Hime magic signature the sound around us' I ask the fox and grimoire by our link
'Kyun' Hime in my bag cast her illusion
'Ok, master' respond Ruby on my neck
From the outside notices that I and Himari are both flirting and talking
"Hum, at the end of the class when you left, a member of the Occult Club Kiba Yuuto came into the class and told me that Rias Gremory wanted to talk to me." She tells me by putting her head against my chest we were like a couple flirting.
"What did you do? "
"I wanted to refuse but Kiba-san insisted at the same time I felt a kind of pressure on my shoulder so I went to the club with him and I talked to Gremory-sempai, she asked me questions about yesterday and as you said I denied knowing Yumma and that I spent the day with you to show you around the city'' she told me
"To do, to kick Kiba's ass," I say to myself
"And how they reacted"
"I think they didn't believe me, it's at that moment I knew something was not right, how she knew about Yumma and why she asked me this question that doesn't involve her or the other members and she asked me if I wanted to join her club but I told her I wasn't interested but I would think about it and I immediately come here"
"I see you did the right thing" I pat her head
" I don't know why but when I see Gremory-sempai I see despair in her eyes "
"It's, not your problem she must face her predicament herself, So have you made your decision? "
"Yes, I thought about it yesterday, then after I learned about Takumi-Nii I decided that I want to know more about the world of the supernatural, and become more powerful and also I want to stay by your side too" She looks up and looks at me with determined eyes
"Why do you want to stay with me, we've only known each other a few days? "
"I don't know why, but when I'm with you I feel good, safe, and also something inside me tells me that staying with you will make me stronger."
"Haaaaaaa, okay, but let me tell you, it won't be a pleasure."
"Yeaaaa"
"Himari"
"What's the matter? "
*Chu* I kissed her on the lips and caught her by surprise
"What... " I put my finger in front of her lips
"Shh, you wonder why I did that, to tell you the truth, it's incentive gift"
"It means ?"
"If you want a chance to become my girlfriend you're going to work hard"
"You know you're a bad person, having so many girlfriends."
"I know I'm not the most perfect man and I'm also stingy, but at least I know I can make people around me happy and treat them as they deserve."
"But are your other girlfriends going to agree, though?"
"Don't worry, not many girls can get my favors, I especially look at the personality of the girls I want in my harem although normally I deny having one"
"Why did you say that in front of the whole class? "
"For that it's a measure against Rias Gremory in case she discovers my abilities, who would like to recruit someone who brags about having a harem when 80% of your team are girls but I don't know if it will work or not and also to prevent the girls in school from taking too much interest in me"
"You make a point."
"Well, you're going to come with me, I'll introduce you to the others and tell your parents and Takumi that you're staying at my place."
"Okay"
// 30 minutes later //
On the way back me and Himari talk about many things then I notice that we are followed by the smell it's a man, I will say that it is Kiba then the next corner we head into an alley
"Include Archer" I include my Archer card which is in my jacket pocket and then I take out the Hades cape from Gate of Babylon
"Whoa, what the hell is that?"
"Shh"
I put part of the cape around Himari's neck and another part around mine which makes me and Himari invisible, then I take Himari in a princess carry and jump on the roof above then observe Kiba who has lost our trace
Kiba arrives in front of the alley to see no one, he starts looking everywhere but finds no trace of us
"Where the hell did they go? "then a magic circle appears near his ear
"Bucho, I lost the target, what are the orders... Okay I'm going home" and then Kiba leaves again
As for me and Himari, we are on our way home wrapped in the Hades cape because we never know if anyone else is around like these fallen angels.
// My Home //
When I get home I take off the cape and deactivate my card and then open the door
"I'm home"
"Excuse me for coming."
"Welcome back, Master Zerono" Zest-Nee come and welcome us
"Master Zerono!!!!!!!! "exclaims Himari
"I came home, Zest-Nee, how was your day?" I answer Zest while not paying attention to Himari's remark.
" Nothing special about when I went shopping I noticed a concentration of demonic energy near an abandoned site and Maria seems to be up to something."
"I see we'll see what's going on there later and for Maria, I'll take care of it when I have time"
"A guest? "
"Zest-Nee, meet Himari, a classmate and maybe a new member"
"Nice to meet you, my name is Zest Akatsuki, I work as a maid"
"Himari Hyoudou delighted to meet you Zest-san"
"Zest-Nee can you accompany Himari to the living room I'm going to my workshop"
"Understood"
"I'll see you later Himari"
"See you later, Zerono."
I go to my workshop, closing the door I notice two boxes on the workbench. Normally no one by me can come in here with all the security that is there, even a death apostle would be shaved off the face of the earth. The only person who comes to mind is Grandpa.
I open the first box what's inside is a new class card deck but there are extra cards Shielder, Ruler and Avenger, a machine with a little word
Dear Zerono
Many trials await you, to be able to help you I send you a new and improved deck you can use them as usual but you can now invoke the spirits that are inside. Use the machine to put the functionality on your current deck and it will also be used to get new cards if you find hero artifacts in this world. The card deck I sent you contains spirits that will train you and the girls
Good luck Grandpa
"Hey, so I can summon heroic spirits without having Graal or go through the throne of heroes, Grandpa, you're a genius" then I put my current deck in the machine and then a timer displays 24 hours, which means it will take a whole day to be up to date
"Well let's see what's in the other box" what's inside is a silver sword adorned with sparkling white silver and decorated with splendid red decorations,
"Clarent, the sword of Mordred where did you find it you old fox" trying to take the sword of red lightning blocks my way but I do not stop when I take the sword in my hands the latter starts to shine and I feel that my stats are boosted
"I expect no less for a weapon that is equal to Caliburn" Then I sit on the floor
"Trace on" I use my magecraft to see the history of the sword as if I were there from its creation to its passage through the hands of different members of the royalty until it was stolen by Mordred during his rebellion until the moment she killed Arturia with
As for me, I find myself attending the whole scene of the end of the Pendragon, it's hard but it's part of my heritage, after spending more than an hour visualizing the battle I took the opportunity to try to copy the structure of Rhongomyniad the divine spear which is similar to Longinus but with my abilities I can't recreate it completely.
"While I'm here, I might as well use my lottery tickets."
I open my interface then select the lottery is used my 3 tickets
[ Lottery Activate ]
[ 1st draw ]
[ Dring ]
[You had won the Franxinus Ex Celsior Ship]
[ 2nd draw ]
[ Dring ]
[ You had received an Astral outfit ]
[ Last draw ]
[ Dring ]
[ You can invoke Companion Sakuya Izayoi ]
I look at the information from the items I received
[ Franxinus Ex Celsior ] - A+++ -
Fraxinus EX is an airship of the Ratatoskr organization. Ratatatoskr's command center is located on the airship, making it a very important base for its members. It has been shown that he has several defensive and offensive abilities and an AI called MARIA
[ Astral Clothing ] - EX -
Astral Clothing is the clothing or armor of spirits created by their power. Spirits can change their own, into the shape, color, style or appearance they want. They seem to be very strong.
[ Izayoi Sakuya ] - (A) -
Card allowing you to summon Sakuya Izayoi. Sakuya Izayoi is the chief servant who serves Remilia Scarlet, the head of the Scarlet Devil's Mansion. She has the ability to manipulate time and is also skilled in handling silver daggers.
"Wow, I have a warship that can serve as an operations center and that has its own Artificial Intelligence, an Astral outfit that will allow me to be always ready for a fight, but I don't expect to have Sakuya as an invocation"
I change my uniform by my house clothes takes the astral outfit puts it on top of my clothes and tries to imagine an armor using my mana then notices that a silver armor with a jacket and protection on the arms and legs appear and my stamina increased by 1 rank (D++ -> C++)
After having deactivated my astral outfit I take the cards of Sakuya and a white light dazzled my whole workshop to let appear a young woman dressed in a French style maid outfit with skirt and short sleeve and a watch in front of the apron, she has short silver hair with two braids on each side of the head with one knee on the ground and one hand on the chest
"Sakuya Izayoi I have replied to your invocation, from today I will be at your service Zero-sama" said the maid with a smile
"Ahahah, how many times have I told you not to add the "-sama" Sakuya, just Zero will go"
"Fufu, sorry I'm so glad to see you that my old habits are back," then she gets up and gives me a hug
"Sakuya?? "
"I wanted to see you Zero"
" Me too Sakuya-Nee " I hug her back
Me and Sakuya met when I was 12-13 years old I traveled from world to world with the Kaleidoscope because Grandpa wanted me to place markers in some world where he couldn't go and found myself in a world called Gensokyo and I met a lot of humans like the witch Marika or the Akuren Miko Reimu and Yokai like the Gap Yokai or the ghost Yuyuko and made a lot of friends although every time I found myself fighting in Danmaku battles. During my stay I was welcomed at the Manor of the Scarlet Devil led by Remilia Scarlet who is a vampire and that's where I met Sakuya at first she was cold to me and then over time we became close like brother and sister, even too close because of Remilia who to relieve her boredom or spend time ask about stories of the outside or giving orders that sometimes put me and Sakuya in embarrassing situations but our relationship has only strengthened.
Then on the day of my departure, the inhabitants of Gensokyo made a big celebration for me and I had promised Sakuya to come and visit her when I could, but I never thought we'd meet again under these circumstances.
After talking about what happened after I left, my belly started to rumble and I was about to put Clarent in my marble reality with Excalibur, Arondight, and Galatine, my command seal began to shine.
