13

The rest of the week passed rather quickly. I ended up placed in Sona and Rias' class. Akeno was there as well, so I had no shortage of friends if I needed them. I mostly passed the time practicing with the Warp and getting to know my new peerage.

Akeno was about what I expected from her, but she had hidden depths below the mask of sadism. Kiba was a genuinely nice guy with some issues that he hid well. Koneko was adorable, an absolute cuddle bug, and easy to please if you knew what sweets she liked.

And Rias was surprisingly perverted and fun to play with. When I wasn't teasing her, she was slightly spoiled but in a good way, if that made any sense. Like she was raised to only see the best side of the world.

Finally though, the day I'd been waiting for arrived. Asia was in Kuoh. The sweet and innocent ex-nun that I already loved more than anyone else in the series had arrived. I just had to free her from the fallen angel's clutches, Bind her, ???, and profit.

I may have stalked her a little bit, but only to make my life easier. After getting off the plane, she went straight to the fallen's church. Somehow, her spirits were not deterred when faced with the rundown, broken place of worship. Asia left to explore the new town, and I followed. I felt creepy following a young girl like I was, but I persisted because I was the better alternative to her dying at the hands of the fallen angels.

I watched Asia metaphorically stumble her way through town. Her lack of knowledge of Japanese and Japan didn't help her struggles in the slightest. I finally intervened after Asia was turned away for asking for directions in broken Japanese. It might have been manipulative to swoop in when the girl was at her lowest point, lost and confused in a foreign place, but I never said I was a morally solid person. I was just doing bad things for good reasons, so everyone would get a good ending.

I approached Asia while she was looking around frantically, "Are you lost, young miss? Would my assistance be welcome?"

"Oh! Oh my, yes. That would be splendid. Thank you, sir, and bless your soul."

I tried my best to hide my flinch at her blessing. I disguised it as best I could with a smile.

"Here then, take my hand. I'll be sure to get you where you need to go." I said, offering a hand to my favorite waifu. Her smile at my gesture was blinding. She took my hand firmly and walked beside me without fear of deceit. I almost felt bad for applying my Binding in the face of her innocence.

'No,' I told myself. 'This is as much for her good as it is for mine. She'll be safer this way. Even death is reversible through the Bond.'

I had never felt lewder than I did at that moment. Walking next to Asia while holding her soft hand was just so pure and innocent. The devilish urge to corrupt her was raging strongly through my being. Pushing down my desire with pure willpower, I focused on making conversation.

"So, you're obviously not from around here. Are you visiting?" I asked.

"Ah, no. This is my new home. I had to leave my old one, but I haven't lost faith." Asia said, with a sad smile. I was subtly feeding her the right words in Japanese telepathically, in an effort to help her learn the language.

"That's terrible, I'm sorry. Kuoh is a great place, though. I'm still new to it myself, but I'm sure you'll come to love it here."

"You're new as well? Where are you from?"

"America. Due to a series of unfortunate events, I can't go back home either. It sounds like we're kind of in the same boat, really."

Asia smiled and squeezed my hand, "Yes, it does. Finding someone I have that in common with is wonderful. New places can be so scary. I was worried I wouldn't meet anyone I got along with here."

"Well, now you've met me. My name's Taylor Sune, by the way. But all my friends call me Taylor."

"Friends? You would consider me a friend already?" Asia asked with barely hidden hope in her voice.

"Yeah, of course. I like you," Asia 'meeped' when I said 'like'. "And we have something in common. To be honest, you never told me where you were trying to go, so I've just been directing us in circles to spend more time talking with you."

Asia's laugh was light, airy, and so obviously full of joy, "Oh Taylor, that's wonderful. I don't mind spending more time with you. There's no reason to be sneaky like that."

It was my turn to laugh, "Guilty as charged. In that case, let me show you Kuoh, or at least all the places I've discovered in my first week here."

"I'd be delighted. I'm already having so much fun talking with you. It's made the rest of this bad day seem like a distant memory."