Chapter 112-Don't Live Too Fast

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Don't Live Too Fast

"You've done a great job with this, you know?" Joshua commented, looking around the garden that Asia had made for herself at the back of his house. It was a good thing that the place had rather good and spacious training facilities underground, because the nun had slowly but surely filled his backyard with plant life.

It was all covered in different plants, supernatural and mundane. Nice, normal and dangerous, everything that was alive seemed to be fine in Asia's books, from what Joshua could see. More importantly though, it made for a sight full of life that was rather beautiful. Not to mention useful too, because Joshua was very aware that he now had access to a very good garden of resources. Just what he would be able to get from this for Hexes and Boons was enough to make it worth letting Asia go wild, truly.

At that moment though, he was simply enjoying the beauty of the sight.

Some of the plants shone, some swayed, some even let out sounds that almost sounded like a melody together with the one of the wind through the many leaves. Beyond the colorful sight, the soothing sound and the pleasant smells… There was something very peaceful about it all. 'How did I not notice this before?' he thought, sitting idly with Margalo on his shoulder and Cheshire by his side.

Joshua could only guess that he'd been too focused on other things before. Now, with a freer mind, he took in the sight his… friend had created at his house. It was truly something to behold.

Everything was also amplified by the presence of his powers as "Great Column" too, because there were slight feelings of familiarity with everything. Sort of like the presence of his spells around his place, but making him aware of things that he could reach to with his new powers given by the Egyptian Pantheon.

If he were honest, Joshua was a little scared to tap into that.

It felt so… much…

"Thank you," the girl replied shyly, tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear as she looked down and smoothed her already smooth clothes. She seemed about as good at dealing with that kind of praise as he was, Joshua supposed. That was rather sad… on both accounts. "I really like this. Seeing them grow and knowing that I helped them… feels amazing."

"I can see that," he told her. He didn't even need to use extra senses and spells to know that Asia loved what she did. Almost as much as she loved healing others and her faith, really. It was something so… pure, to see the girl genuinely enjoy just helping life in general. It made Joshua feel bad at times too, when he compared himself to her. "Do you need me to get anything else?" he asked then, turning his attention from the magnificent garden to Asia.

He'd helped her set up everything, but it was more about getting the plants, equipment and other such things than actually personally working with her on the garden. He'd lent a hand here and there, sure, but nowhere near as much work as Asia herself had put into things. That was why he preferred calling it her garden rather than his.

"No, no," the girl answered quickly, slightly agitated. She always struggled accepting help, but she was even worse accepting gifts or anything she perceived as such. "I'm fine. I can work with all these. No need for more, Joshua. I promise."

"I know you have what you need, Asia," he told her with a slightly amused, slightly exasperated expression. "I'm asking if there's anything more you want, any other plants or just something else that would make things easier."

He took the moment of pause and consideration as a win, personally. Asia hadn't even thought about it before denying any such offers before. Now, it seemed like she could at least think it over, even if it was almost sure that she'd-

"No, I'm fine, Joshua," she replied, expectedly.

"You do know that I'll use these plants for spells and other things like that, right?" he asked her, holding back a sigh even as he continued smiling. "Any plant you can think of to get here, I'm sure I could use its flowers or fruits or anything else," he told her for what felt like the hundredth time. "There's no need to hold back, Asia. Besides, I want to help you with this however I can and I enjoy helping you as much as you enjoy helping others."

Ok, maybe that might have been an exaggeration. Mainly because Joshua rather doubted that many people could enjoy helping like Asia did, but he wasn't exactly lying either. He was hoping saying that would help get the point across.

Sure enough, Asia hesitated once more.

"Come on, think it over and give me a list later, yeah?" he told her with a grin, seeing as he had won that "argument". "And I expect there to be a sufficient number of requests in that, or I'll just start buying things left and right to make up for it."

To that, Asia pouted at him, glaring.

It only had the effect of making her look very adorable though, which he was sure wasn't quite what she was looking for.

"Good to know you understand," he told her, making the girl deflate. "Now, could you help me pick some stuff for my spells? I need some materials for my hexes and boons. You know, the usual."

"Experiments and new casts," she cited, down to even his tone, the cheeky little thing. He chuckled to himself before placing a hand on top of the girl's head and ruffling her blond locks.

"Exactly," he replied, watching as the girl blushed slightly, smiling shyly at the ground. "Now, let's get going, yeah?"

To that, Asia simply replied with a hum as she started walking beside him. She seemed much happier than before, from what he was picking up, so that was good. Even better was getting to see the girl that he'd met and couldn't stand for herself if her life depended on it being stubborn and making choices.

If nothing else, Joshua was happy to help her with that.

[}-o-{]

"Thanks for coming, Joshua" Sairaorg told him as they moved towards where the devil's mother was. "I know you are still… recovering from what you were doing before. I wouldn't have held it against you if you took some time off, man."

"I really can't though," he replied with a wry smile. "I'd feel like a shitty friend, even with you telling me that. Besides… This is not a chore. It's not an easy thing to work on, but at least you aren't pressuring. I appreciate that."

"Not as much as I appreciate you trying here, I can tell you that, Joshua," the Bael told him with a heartfelt smile. "It's… I don't know how to tell you how important this is to me. I'd… almost given up on her waking up, so you coming here like you are and trying is… It's enough for me."

"But it's not enough for me," he shot back with a more confident smile. "You are a friend, so I'll do what I can to help you. No promises on how long this will take me but-"

"I know," the devil interrupted, waving off anything else he might have said. "Take all the time you need to. I know you have a lot on your plate. I trust that you'll do what you can and that's enough for me."

"No pressure," Joshua commented with a chuckle. Before the devil could say anything else, he continued. "I'll definitely try my best here."

He wanted to say more, like how he was sorry he couldn't dedicate all the time he wanted to it. He wanted to say a number of such things, but he knew Sairaorg wouldn't have any of that. So, instead of getting into a pointless argument, Joshua simply resolved to do as he said and put all the effort he could into helping his friend.

Maybe his priorities were a bit screwed up, considering there was a very dangerous terrorist organization on the loose still and that there was a faction he was working with tearing itself apart but… The former was being dealt with by more capable people and the second he couldn't do much about for the moment. He could only go when they called and set up defenses.

Other than that, what else was there, personal projects? Those could wait or be worked on the side. His friend needed him, and Joshua wasn't about to turn his back on him like that. Sairaorg had helped him out a number of times and if he could count on someone to help him, then he trusted the devil.

It was just a shame that his friend couldn't help with most of the things he was dealing with. They were a little too… involved with elements dangerously involved in politics. As it was, Joshua could barely do some things because he was disconnected from politics. And so were the Egyptians, since they were more or less out of the picture for a long while.

Eventually, they made it to the room where Misla Bael rested. Once there, Joshua took a deep breath in as he moved to the corner of the room that had been cleared of furniture and anything else so that he could cast his wards, hexes and boons. Every spell had been tailored to the current issue at hand from the information he'd gathered in previous visits, but none of them really had any guarantee of finding new stuff.

Still, not finding something with them was information too.

With every spell that went up though, Joshua became even more and more sure of a theory he had. The disease seemed to have something to do with the magical energy of the patient. For one, the weakness that they felt and what was described from it already led to reduced magical reserves as time passed.

That could happen because of a number of things though, so finding the reason and precisely why it happened like that was what Joshua had to work on. So far… he hadn't found much, but he did find that the Misla seemed to have a very low amount of energy at all times. Nowhere near her original reserves, for one, and it was neither recovering nor depleting, which was a little confusing.

His best guess was that the disease was draining her of her magic just as quickly as she regenerated it. Now, if that was the case, how did it get the levels lower in the first place? Was the disease basically stopping magic regeneration and letting the host use up their own energy until they ran out and fell into the coma? It was a possibility, but surely someone would have noticed that they weren't regenerating magic and it would be noted somewhere.

'Maybe the drain grew with time until it reached his point?' he wondered, but that didn't quite make sense. If so, someone would still have reported that magic regeneration stopped at some point before they fell asleep. 'Does it drain until it reaches this point and then keep it there?' Joshua considered then.

Ultimately, it would be a process like that. Looking for ideas on what to test, how to approach testing, how to try and get more information, look for answers. With some luck, he'd start making progress in at least one direction and get somewhere.

Thus, Joshua started taking in the information his skills gave, together with his continuously improving Magic and Life Sense. There was a lot to take in, but not all of it was useful. Chances were most of it was more or less useless, but it was a matter of thinning the filters until something popped up. Either that, or until he found something that made him have a breakthrough like it had happened with the Phoenix Spell.

He could only hope for something like that though.

He wouldn't be depending on that though, no way. That was like trusting his luck to pull through and while things weren't precisely looking badly for him, Joshua knew that luck was a fickle thing. It could leave you at the drop of a hat, so it was better to be prepared for when it happened.

[}-o-{]

"And that's the last one," Joshua said, standing up and cracking his neck as he surveyed the spell array he'd laid down. There were wards, hexes and boons involved, but the end result was a very nice Phoenix Array. Not to be confused with the Phoenix Spell. Although they did the same thing, the array was Joshua's preferred alternative. It was more complex, sure, but it allowed him to monitor the functioning more closely and maybe do some minor modifications later on instead of having to re-work the entire spell once more, which would be a nightmare.

As it was, the Phoenix Spell was staying as it was with only the rather minor change of making it use flames instead of dust and sand. Once that was done, Joshua was likely to leave the thing well enough alone for a long while, because that was one complex piece of magic. He imagined it'd take a lot of effort to do anything else with that and he'd rather not and just make a slight change in an array instead.

"Thank you, Joshua," Yasaka told him, smiling in that way that made him want to look away and stare forever at the same time. Why did everyone have to be fucking beautiful? Stupid ecchi story. "I know you aren't done with the negotiations for the spell though."

"Meh, having this here is non-negotiable anyway. Might as well set it up. Besides, this one's just for you and Kunou, which means that it won't get out that it's even there unless it activates… In which case I don't care if it gets out, I just want it there," Joshua told her with a shrug as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"And I appreciate that," Yasaka told him as they started moving out of the room. As far as everyone knew, he was just updating some of the defenses he'd set up some time ago… Which he was, so that was a fairly good cover. "We were there for a while. Kunou will be angry at us for leaving her alone."

"She'd be angry if we left five minutes, pretty sure," Joshua replied with a snort. "She'll get over it."

"You have a story ready, don't you?" the woman asked him, to which he grinned.

"Who do you take me for? I have several stories ready," he answered with a chuckle. "They are my weapon here, if you must know. And I'm never not prepared for something… Or so I'd like to think, at least," he commented, still feeling in fairly good spirits. He wondered how long the high of the Phoenix Project going well would last.

He was certainly not complaining, that was for sure.

"It's good to see you in high spirits," Yasaka told him.

"That obvious?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away for a moment. "I am though. I'm just… having a good time after a success, I guess. I'm enjoying myself."

"I wasn't complaining," she pointed out, sounding amused. "As I said, it's nice to see. Certainly better than witnessing as you burn yourself out."

"I went a bit overboard, I admit," he mumbled awkwardly. "I'm sorry if I worried you or Kunou. I just… really had to get that done and things weren't adding up," he explained, although he wasn't very sure how good a justification that was. "I guess I have to make up for that."

"You don't have to do anything, Joshua," Yasaka said, sounding slightly exasperated. "We'd appreciate not having to see you like that, but it's over now."

"Hm… Nah, I think I have to make up for that," he repeated, a grin forming on his face that only widened when he saw Yasaka's eyes narrow. "We are going out, you, me and Kunou. A nice meal, some shopping, maybe a movie or three depending on the lil' brat," he decided, opening the door to the room where they usually spent most of their time.

"I'm not a brat!" the aforementioned kid protested.

"How'd you know I was talking about you?" Joshua asked, smiling down at Kunou. "We hadn't opened the door yet," he pointed out, making the girl pout.

"You are always calling me a brat now," she whined.

"That's because you are a brat," Joshua replied with a sage nod, even as the smile slipped through his control of his expression. Ultimately, he just chuckled as he moved to sit besides the girl. "I still love you though," he commented, planting his hand on top of the girl's head and ruffling her hair. She continued pouting, but he could feel how little she meant it then. "She's angry at me, Yasaka."

"That she is, Joshua," the woman replied with that smile that she usually got when he interacted with Kunou. It always made him feel like he was doing something right, which was great. Being a father figure was terrifying enough by itself, after all. "Are you gonna do something about it?"

"Well, I was gonna show her this cool idea I got about a princess, locked in a tower, that let her hair grow so long she could dangle it on the side from the top til it touched the ground… But I guess we can do something else," he answered, faking a disappointed sigh. "Did you have any business to talk about or-"

"I wanna know what happens there!" Kunou exclaimed, clearly not wanting to miss out on a new story. Joshua smiled triumphantly, which was entirely too evident, as the girl started pouting again. "You are mean, dad."

"You love me anyway," he replied, picking her up and setting her on his lap.

"I guess I do," she grumbled, crossing her arms but otherwise perfectly fine in her new spot.

"Are you gonna join us, Yasaka?" Joshua asked then, making the woman's smile widen ever so slightly before she moved to sit beside them. Happily, he let his magic flow and cast the illusion show he'd prepared for that day.

[}-o-{]

"Is there a point to this?" Raynare asked, some bite in her voice and emotions, but that was just how she was, Joshua had learned. If one ignored that, she almost was nice to have around. Almost, but not quite.

"There is," he confirmed, not looking up from his notebook as he drew on it, occasionally looking up to check on the woman in question, who was posing for him. Strangely, she'd been the first to answer when he jokingly asked if someone wanted to pose for a drawing. He'd targeted the question to his familiars, of course, but the fallen trio had been there too, so…

That's how he found himself drawing Raynare of all people.

He was even more surprised that she'd stayed still for as long as she had, really, even if she did throw some complaining comments here and there. All in all, she almost seemed fine doing what she was. He'd half expected to get a light spear thrown at him or at the very least feel some very strong emotions.

Instead he got… some complaints and mild to regular annoyance.

It was weird.

"R&R is important, you know?" he commented as he continued with what he was doing. "If you work all the time, it takes its toll on your mind. Things become dull, you lose motivation, energy. Even if your body is fine, your mind needs its own care," he explained calmly as he continued. "I'm taking my own time to recover from a pretty rough time."

"But why am I here?" she asked then, eye twitching.

"Because you offered? I was just asking my familiars," he replied, and the woman's eye twitched again. Her annoyance doubled instantly and he felt… embarrassment coming from her. That was interesting. "You look like you could use some rest though."

"What do you mean?" she snapped at him, making him smile and chuckle. She knew that was all she could do, at least. If she were really pushing her luck, he'd have to make sure she learned that there were limits, even if he was taking things easier lately.

He might not feel like torturing them like he had before, but that didn't mean they were less guilty or more deserving of mercy than before. He wasn't being nice for them, he was being nice for himself, which was very different. At least the three seemed to realize that, so they weren't entirely stupid.

"You are always training, and working, and studying me – for whatever reason – and that means that you are wearing yourself out," he told her, rolling his eyes. He was pretty sure he'd explained it well enough. "You have to take some time off from that kind of thing and do something that you can enjoy and lets you relax."

"I like getting stronger," Raynare shot back, making him sigh.

"And I like spell tinkering. Doesn't mean it's less stressful if I have to do it all the time," Joshua replied with a slight shrug. "Doing something with no pressure makes all the difference. You want to get stronger. You need to get stronger, that means you pressure yourself into doing it. If you took a break to do anything else, read a book for fun, play a game or whatever, then that pressure disappears for a bit and you can relax, rest."

"Sounds like a waste of time," she muttered under her breath.

"Sleeping is a waste of time for you too, then, I suppose, but you have to do it or you'll start falling apart," he countered with a roll of his eyes. "Taking care of yourself is important. You can't be strong if you push too hard and your body gives in. Same for your mind."

"I… guess that makes… sense," Raynare said through her teeth, sounding like she had to force herself to say the words and it was a grueling experience. She was dramatic like that, Joshua supposed. "What do you think I should do?"

"If you don't know yourself, then I don't know how much I can help you then. I like drawing, as you can see. I like spending time with my friends. I like cooking and working at my cafe-"

"You have a cafe?" she asked, sounding and looking genuinely surprised as she blinked owlishly at him, completely breaking the pose she'd maintained so far. That is, before she recovered a moment later. Raynare was turning out to be a decent model. Who'd have thought? "Wait, the cafe you are always mentioning is yours."

"Yes?" he replied, unsure of why she was so shocked. Besides… "Didn't I mention that?"

"I don't… think so?" she answered, not sounding very sure at all. "Why would you even own something like that? You are rolling in money and power!"

"Because before I was a magician and all that, I was a normal human, you know?" he asked, focusing his attention back to drawing. He was almost done, actually. "I was in a bad place and a kind man gave me a job in a cafe. Turns out that I liked it, and it offered me a chance to feel normal once more when I… Well, when I stopped being normal. I like it. It's effort, sure, but I don't have to think too hard while I work there. I can just let go of most things and just be a waiter or a barista or a cook for a bit."

"I see…"

"I'm not hiring you for the cafe, by the way."

"I wasn't gonna ask that! Who do you take me for?!" Raynare exclaimed, scandalized. "You might not be full of shit, but that doesn't mean I'll do… that," she added, as if that mere idea was genuinely insulting for her.

Joshua just rolled his eyes.

[} Chapter End {]

(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)