Life 8-4

[If I could thank something… maybe I'd be a praying man, but who knows.] Noé had the thought to himself as his mood managed to take a good upturn. After returning home and fetching Asia to run those errands that were needed, before doing so, he'd taken the time to bring her along to getting something to eat. So now, here he was in a local fast-food joint, getting to amuse himself with the sight of a former nun pondering the hamburger sitting before her like it was some alien object.

Which in some respects it kind of was.

He still found it cute.

"Uh, Asia?" Noé spoke up, Asia flinching.

"Y-Yes?!"

"Kehehe… alright then princess, here's how you eat one of these," To demonstrate, Noé picked up his own burger, pulling the wrapping open and taking a suitably sized bit out of it. "You use your hands, see?"

"I-I never would've guessed they could be eaten like that! Amazing!"

"Thus is the world of the common folk. Hehe."

Asia giggled at the joke, and following the example, took a small bite, and her face instantly lit up before she swallowed.

"It's delicious!"

"Lemme guess, the stuff you ate at the church was way simpler?"

"Yes. It was mostly just things like soup, bread, and whatever vegetables the garden had. We had meat every now and again, but not often."

"That is… kinda sad, being completely honest. Food is the joy of mankind! Everyone deserves to have good meals whenever they can."

"You really like food, don't you?"

"Well, it's also because I enjoy cooking," Noé mused, "I feel those two things go hand in hand."

"I think so too," Asia mused, taking another bite, her smile spreading as she kept eating away.

-----

After getting their proper errands done, mostly being toiletries and a set or two of simple clothing Asia could change between as needed since the odds of her staying for some few days was likely, the next place Noé took the girl too was the local arcade that had been a frequent hangout of his since childhood. On arrival, Asia looked amazed at the activity going on. When he caught Asia spotting something that made her stop in place, he let out a chuckle.

"See something?" Asia flinched at his remark, Noé humming as he saw her staring at a plush doll within one of the many crane machines, seemingly the rat-looking animal. "Ah that Rache-kun one huh? You like it?"

"N-No, well…" The nun hung her head a bit, obviously trying to hide a blush. "Yes."

"Hehe, lucky you I'm pretty damn good at these crane games," Noé slid a couple of coins into the machine, Asia watching as he set his hands to the buttons as the tone of the machine chimed. "I came to this place a lot when I was younger. As frustrating as cranes can be, I've had plenty of practice…" Noé hummed as he watched the machine, smirking as the arms caught the doll and lifted it up, "And there!"

"Ah! Amazing!" Asia clapped her hands as the doll fell into the prize container, catching it as Noé tossed it to her. "Thank you very much. This Rache-kun is a treasure I could only get because I met you."

"Aw come on, it's just a dang plush doll," Noé's answer was curt, but he was also hiding a slight flush of his own. [This is… absolutely a date, isn't it?] He thought, letting out a slight sigh. [Well, if it is… there is a place that'd be cool to show her.] "Well, I got an idea of where to go next. Come on!"

"Okay!"

-----

"Wow! You can see the entire town from up here!"

"Hehe, yeah. I found this spot with an old friend back in elementary, and we'd always come up here to act out whatever new scene we saw in the latest sentai episode. I was a dork… and in some ways still might be."

The area was a small sort of park just at the upper edge of the business distract, the plaza opened to a walkaround of a man-made pond. Sure, it was out of the way, and potentially dangerous since Asia and I were the only ones around at the time, but… still, I like coming up here.

"I also tend to come up here when I need to think. The atmosphere is good for when you just need to relax," Noé said, Asia looking at him.

"Noé, I don't mean to pry but, have you always lived in this town?"

"As long as I can remember," Noé confirmed, Asia letting out a hum. "Mom has told me plenty of stories about how she and Dad traveled a bunch before I was born. But, after that… apparently things just changed, and they took up residence here while Mom kept on traveling. For most of my life I didn't really know why, I just assumed they figured a quiet place like this was a good place to raise a kid."

"But… did that change once you learned your mother was a Devil?" Expectedly, Asia got a nod from Noé, and his eyes flashed to their normal gold as a breeze blew past them.

"Parts of it started to click. Kuoh is a bit weird by nature, hell, Japan in general. It's something of a supernatural backwater, a place where people can lay under the radar since the Shinto gods and the Kami are hands-off in how the place is run. Its why Devils have jobs overseeing areas in here, since sometimes you get those who'd mess with how things should be. I learned about the same time my dad's job was doing the same thing, since the Devil he's contracted with manages the oversight of this region."

"I see… either way, despite that, it sounds as if you have a very loving family," Asia commented, her arms bunching around her new plush. "My life in the convent wasn't bad per say… sometimes it was simple, boring even… but I knew I was loved, at least… I thought I was. But… it was also lonely. Everyone was older than me, and after my Sacred Gear developed, the distance between me and them only grew…"

"Hmm… say…" Noé said, "You mentioned you had a wish you wanted to come true. What kind of wish was it?"

"I want to have friends," Asia said, beaming with a small but glowing smile. "Friends that I can do all kinds of things with, like every other girl. Together we'll buy flowers and books, and chat… that's my dream. I don't have any friends, you see?"

"Well… I think you can say you at least have one, don't you?" Noé turned to Asia, chuckling as she blinked at him. "Come on, don't look all surprised. At this point we might as well consider each other friends. Sure, we didn't buy flowers, or books… but, we've eaten together, shared our stories with one another, and had fun. I think that qualifies anyone to be friends. Even if I'm half-Devil, and you're a former nun. Or is that not quite what you had in mind?"

"No. No, not at all!" A smile came to Asia's face as she shook her head. "It's just… I know you decided to do this, but I'm causing you so much trouble."

"You're not causing trouble at all. I brought this on myself, so I need to take responsibility for it. I'm the kinda guy who keeps his word when he gives it. I don't take those kinds of things lightly," Noé then glanced back to the pond, letting out a huff. No time like the present… "But what's actually troublesome, is the person who's been following us this entire damn time."