Arriving in Kyoto

By the time everyone arrived in Kyoto, it was still early so for the morning time till lunch each individual was given time to do their own things and then from the afternoon, they would meet up moving towards their first destination!

Masaru and Akeno were holding hands walking down the road where the students were not around enjoying their peaceful time together, at times like this just being close without needing to flirt or talk, just walking together like this was absolutely great.

When Masaru came towards a souvenirs shop he entered together with Akeno to have a look at what they sold here, "This shop is actually quite more versatile than I imagined"

Masaru commented but Akeno was silently enjoying the feeling of holding Masaru's hand, Masaru felt something was wrong since Akeno was not responding so he turned to look at her. It was difficult to explain what he felt at that moment looking at a natural smile that can't easily be seen, it was beautiful in simple terms but just that word alone could not contain the attraction magic they held.

Masaru moved to the front of Akeno touching her cheek gently, He was not sure what to say the mood was great, the atmosphere is alright since there is almost no one in the shop right now, but he needed the right words to share his feelings with her, feelings he held but always kept them back.

"Akeno..." Masaru could not continue to speak the moment Akeno looked up, her face is slightly flushed but her eyes were like the abyss trying to drag him into them. It was at that moment Masaru gave up trying to figure out what to say so he leaned closer.

Akeno was in a dreamy state ever since they left together so she was not entirely registering the fact her most loved man is actually leaning closer to her and she leaned closer as well although it was an unconscious action.

It was sweet, the moment their lips touched for the first time it felt like they entered an open plain with flowers, the warm rush from their abdomen rushing to their heart was the thing that made them realized that they actually kissed one another.

Akeno who regained some of her senses realized she finally had her first kiss with Masaru and the feeling was something she could not describe with words, but she felt happy although she was happier to the point she would have jumped on him if they were not in the shop. Although the jump is only a jump.

Masaru faked his cough feeling a bit embarrassed that he took this long to give a girl a kiss but he still composed himself, "Akeno, I... I have a lot of things I want to say at this moment... How I feel about you... What I wish for you and us... I don't even know where to start with it all... But... Akeno... I want you to know that I really love you"

Akeno who heard Masaru's confession which might get graded low for others, but for her, these words contained more important things for her than the Cosmic knowledge Odin desires...

Akeno too never had experience in responding to such confession especially from the one you love, she choked while crying a bit happily but she still managed to say "I love you too Masaru... I will always be by your side no matter what"

Masaru who heard this pulled Akeno into a gentle embrace, they stayed in this state for a long time that even the Shop Keeper took several photos of them when Masaru and Akeno came to pay for the items the Shop Keeper sent the photos to them after he showed them the looks and Masaru, as well as Akeno, was happy with the photos.

Luckily for the two of them, the Shop Owner was a father, and the scene that played in the shop reminded him of the time he was young and he confessed to his wife. He knew the importance of such a scene holds in each person's life.

>\/<

Just when Masaru and Akeno came back together the girls noticed the smile on Akeno's face was different from normal, their woman instincts were telling them something with a big impact happened to turn this Akeno into a love fool.

So the moment they arrived the girls pulled Akeno while Masaru told them he will be gone for a while so they should not wait for him, he turned around and left while holding his phone with Google Maps opened showing him the path to take towards the Hotel where he can find the information seller.

"Akeno, you owe us an explanation?" Ichika, Yui, Everest, Angelica, Stephani and even Jeanne were sitting together with her on the bed, Akeno giggled still remembering the sensation.

She began to tell what happened in the souvenirs shop causing the girls to flush wondering how it feels like, all kinds of ideas flew in their mind including naughty ones.

"How did it feel like!?" Everest was quite interested in this subject since this is something she could not just try with Masaru because of her shy nature to him.

"It's magical, it's very difficult to explain it but it feels like nothing else matters anymore at that moment... At that moment I simply wished to live in it, that's how it felt for me" Akeno responded to Everest Question.

"Did you go further than that?" Yui who got hooked in this asked as well, Akeno had a very faint tint of red on her face as she faced Yui.

"No... It's... No" Akeno wanted to say something else but held back, she never knew that an event like this could make her embarrassed after all.

Stephani was the one who was more interested in how Akeno kissed! "Oneesama, did you give him lots of tongue?"

Ichika who was just taking a sip of water almost blew it out like a hosepipe, her face was flushed because of the latest naughty manga she read. "What are you saying, Stephani!"

Stephani giggled at the blushing Ichika while answering nonchalantly "Isn't it natural, I heard a kiss with tongue could feel so good you faint from it"

"Not yet... But I intend to" Akeno answered but she could not allow this girl to one-up her and make her feel embarrassed, she rather have Masaru tease her instead of anyone else regardless who they are.

"I wonder how your first kiss is going to be?" When Stephani muttered when she heard Akeno's statement all the girls turned to look at her, this sudden change of gazes was quite impactful causing Stephani to feel embarrassed thinking about it, about Masaru kissing her.

Soon the girls became lively teasing one another while talking about well random things that they want to try or do with Masaru if he were to hear this he would also feel interested since I mean, there are quite interesting things a girl could come up with that a guy does not.

>\/<

"So it is here?" Masaru who was standing in the middle of the alleyway was looking at a side entrance door with a large handwritten whiteboard saying "Seo's second-hand shop".

The outside looks extremely shabby to the point if the board never stood out then no one would have known about this place. When Masaru pushed the door open he came into the reception area or it was what he presumed to be as there are only two single couches facing one another with a coffee table in between, the bell attached to the door already rang when Masaru entered so he did not call out.

"Just take a seat I will be there now!" Masaru heard a man's voice from the room behind the door so he took his seat while patiently waiting for the man to arrive.

The first to arrive was a woman with black hair and her facial features were in such a way that if she chose to get dressed as the rock n roll fans in the 1900's it would definitely look good on her, "Coffee? Tea? Water?"

She asked Masaru he could see this woman was a bit irritated for some reason but did not take any note of this since he was after all the one who came unannounced.

"Tea please" Hearing Masaru's choice the girl nodded and went back through the door probably heading for the kitchen, shortly a fairly tall and lean built man with brown hair and a gruff, wild look on him appeared while wearing a white undershirt and jeans.

"Welcome to Seo's Second-Hand shop, so what can I do for you?" The man came overextending his hand, Masaru naturally gripped it and gave it a light shake before taking his seat with the man.

"My name is Masaru, Ajuka is the one who referred you to me... And what I want is information, about the witches in this area. You should know just which kind I am speaking of right?" Masaru said as he got straight to the point.

Seo became quite serious hearing Ajuka's name as this meant his work will be related to the supernaturals again, "Witches? You mean those nutcases going around blood donation centres stealing blood?"

Masaru who heard this tilt his head thinking this was quite odd, if they stole blood then how come there is not much news heard by Ajuka. "Stealing blood? Doesn't witchery requires the blood of a living being?"

Seo rubbed his chin as he understood the reason Masaru asked that question, even he asked that himself once so he answered according to what he knew, "Well the donator is probably alive is it not? Using blood now or later does it matter? The fact is that it's the blood of a living person, it's only no longer in their body. If I was a witch I would naturally seek a way to use blood drawn a time ago in this time and era which I believe is the case"

"What I need is information about their locations and specific areas they have visited especially the most frequent one If it's possible to see if you can find out if they are linked with Greater Malling witches.." Masaru stated his requirements, some of them were not easy to find unless they interrogate the witches themselves but he still had to try.

Seo did not immediately agree as he began to calculate the risks so he will be charging an appropriate amount of money to make it worth the risk. "Very well, I will take the job. This is the amount of money the job will cost, you can, however, give an item of this worth as well if you don't have the cash"

Masaru looked at the figure, it was quite astronomical but it was worth it. He was not familiar with Kyoto and finding and eliminating the witches in three days without external help will be close to impossible.

"You think you can have the information prepared by tonight, at least as much as you can and the rest tomorrow?"

Seo thought about Masaru's request then answered, "I can find their hideout and frequently visited places but their link with Greater Malling is something that I may or may not have by tonight"

Masaru nodded thinking it was reasonable, to find the link between these witches and greater malling was truly a massive task "Thanks, here is the front payment"

Masaru pulled the cash he already prepared which was 40% of the total fees, "The rest will be given once the job was complete"

Seo laughed, he found Masaru interesting since this boy had guts to pay him upfront without hesitations. But he liked honest clients like this "A boy who knows how to do business, pleasure doing business with you. For being so thorough in this transaction I will give you a tip, don't poke those witches in broad daylight.

"Unlike you devils and other supernatural beings that try to prevent the humans from having solid evidence about your existence, these witches don't care at all like they lost their reasoning and would cast magic even in a densely populated area"

"This happened before?" Seo nodded at Masaru's question, Masaru felt alarmed at this tip because that meant depending on how he deals with this he may pull in the humans into this matter and that was not good news for him.

"The Yokai tried to capture one silently but sure got their butts handed to them since they did not dare reveal their existence so they could only give up"

Masaru thanked for the extra information before leaving, Seo waited till Masaru was gone far far away before he spoke, "I charged him three times the price and he still paid? It appears these witches are either his greatest enemy or they're more dangerous than I thought. Guess I got my work cut out for me... Hey Himari! Call that Hanya! It's time to repay my debt"

The twin sister who had a modest chest Hibiki and the bigger chested Himari arrived in front of Seo, "So you went and scammed another person... a child at that"

Lightning began to spark from their hands, "Hold.... Hold on! I did it for our food expenses you know!?"

Seo spoke feeling today he might get a shock of his life, what happened in the alleyway was never realized by anyone, a dreadful scream and purple flashes in the alleyway.

>\/<

"I was wondering where you went but I never expected you to go this fast to 'that' investigator" Serafall spoke as she waited for Masaru to come out of the Alleyway.

Masaru was surprised to find Serafall here waiting for him, he did not sense her presence nearby "Well I felt since it was still early it will be better to get him working earlier as well..."

Serafall nodded, approving of Masaru's swift judgement as she too felt the earlier they start the better while walking next to Masaru. today she wore a business attire looking quite Mature compared to her girlish cute side.

"You better be ready by six o'clock tonight we need to meet the western faction of the Yokai's leader, Yasaka, she is a nine-tailed fox yokai" Serafall began to give some basic information to Masaru to refresh his understanding of the Yokai.

By the time their discussion was over Masaru began to move towards the first location the girls will probably be visiting, the Yokai street. This was quite a popular street which is actually called Ichijo-dori street, most local shops have Yokai statues placed in front of them.

But the strangest thing was the fact that some of these statues were actual Yokai's standing guard monitoring people like Masaru who was heading towards a nearby shop the girls were at, inside was a cosplay shop with quite a few items to dress up as a yokai and it naturally included an 18+ section for naughty animal clothes where Akeno and even Everest was at.

"Yo!" Masaru greeted from the back of Ichika who was contemplating if she should also go to the other section.

"Iya! Masaru-sama! Welcome back, where have you been?"Ichika jumped before turning to see Masaru, feeling relieved she smiled at him.

Masaru scratched the back of his head, "I went to check out a shop on the border of Kyoto that has some books especially about magic in them"

Yui was interested in this books about magic since she never had much experience in the human world she did not realize Masaru was teasing them, "Humans sell magic books?"

Masaru felt a bit embarrassed at the honest question of Yui "No not THAT magic book, but storybooks about magic and swords. Using them as reference for ideas, we could create a new magic theory from gleaning off ideas from it"

Masaru looked over the items but when he spotted the section Akeno was in he nodded in understanding of the girl's nature but seeing Everest was a surprise, naturally when Masaru is not around this Dragon Girl sure was bold.

He did not go over to the two girls over there since they have yet to realize he was here. He was really interested in how Everest was acting which was different from what he knew, it reminded him of her valiant self during the survival week in the mountains when he faced her.

'To think she has this side to her huh? Seems our little maiden dragon is actually quite bold' Masaru thought while recording Everest's moment as teasing materials later.

"Welcome back Masaru-kun" Sakura who was together with the girls greeted Masaru when she saw him.

"Thanks, so how is it?" Hearing Masaru's question Sakura looked at the girls.

"It's fun in a way... But I can also understand why you had me be with them huh?"

Masaru chuckled nervously as he knew this girl would soon catch up to his intention, "Well that's good then... Sakura... Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Masaru looked into her eyes seriously, this caught Sakura off guard making her feel incredibly surprised

"If I were to ask you to join me, become a part of my family. A Place where you can unleash the true power within your blade without needing to hold back and even take it further instead of allowing it to rust... Would you be willing to? Even at the cost of your humanity?"

Sakura was bewildered and confused behind the question, to fight to her heart's content and even be able to challenge people stronger than she is definitely a yes.

'Why did he ask such a question? It's as if he is saying that he is not a human... Is such a thing possible? if he is not a human can I still face him the way I always do?' she thought looking at Masaru with a complicated expression

Masaru nodded feeling he could trust Sakura even more now because she did not answer immediately but started to seriously consider his offer. The reason Masaru worded his invitation this way was to make the impact of him being a Devil easier to handle.

Since after all when the Angels and their father first appeared together with Fallen Angels and Devils hey propaganda their religion while making the Fallen Angels and Devils as the evil beings making it hard to openly invite humans to join their side.

"Think about it, I hope I can hear your answer someday" Masaru said with a smile, he turns toward Yui who was pulling up a black bear bikini outfit which looked quite adorable if she were to wear, Sakura looked at Masaru's back.

She was shocked but the time she spends with him she knew he was not evil nor have any ill intent. Him inviting her while disclosing important details, whether it was true or not she could not consider the fact he might not be a human but this also proved that he trusted her by mentioning this, and strangely it felt quite nice and warm.

She wanted to say yes, but discarding one's humanity... She wanted to know exactly what this entailed since she did not want to become a monster that looks disgusting after all. She glanced at Masaru while deciding that she will think about it when she is alone where she can sort out her thoughts and feelings.

"Masaru-sama, it will appear we have to go back to the hotel" Angelica spoke with Masaru who was taking pictures of the girls doing their shopping and such.

Everest, however, is still flushed when she spotted Masaru taking photo's of her in the 18+ Section! "I see, that's a shame... I wanted to take more photos"

Hearing Masaru's request the girls looked around but Ichika was the first one to ask a stranger to help them take a group photo, with the photo taken they went happily towards the Hotel.

"It appears you had quite the fun, huh Masaru" Sona greeted Masaru who came back together with the Girls, although they did not have any intimate actions she felt a bit jealous of the girls who had a great time with Masaru.

"Yo Kaichou! I really missed seeing you although it was only a few hours ago" Masaru greeted back to Sona, perhaps the good mood he held from all the photos and his kiss made him a bit more livelier which stunned Sona for a moment.

"Well the teachers are in the Dining room prepared for us, so be sure to head over there" Masaru nodded with a smile, he checked his watch noticing that the time for him to go was soon so he had to make a good excuse.

Thinking for a moment the light bulb in his mind goes on, he turned to the girls "I have to quickly get something I forgot to get back at home so I will be back in a few hours"

The girls were suspicious but since they trusted Masaru they did not question anything.

'Hope the talks go well... The idea of witches going off in the middle of broad daylight is really a problem that needs to be dealt with even if they are not linked to Greater Malling' Masaru thought as he prepares to meet Serafall