Beachside Vacation

Some weeks have gone past since my first meeting with Serafall and Azazel. There's just about a month before summer break starts, and the days are starting to warm up as the dry winds of summer begin showing themselves once more.

And right now I'm slouched across a beach lounger, placed upon the sands of the coast of Okinawa, swirling a glass of perpetually cold orange juice as I watch the chaotic display just meters away from me.

Sand and dirt and rocks fly all about as all sorts of attacks are being launched. One moment a ball of pure destruction will wiz by, and then a beam of water will fly out of nowhere, and then suddenly a volley of swords will rain down from the sky, only to suddenly be countered back by a translucent wall.

All coming from the clash between Rias, Sona, and their peerages. It's another one of the 'Team Battles' they've been doing for quite some time now. 

After that little tirade Sona went on about, she finally decided to brave up and drag Rias to actually train. The Gremory was far from pleased, but Sona allowed no returns, and she had to practically drag the other girl by the ear every couple days for their routine training.

Thankfully, Rias is a lot more willing now, if only slightly more. She'd complained about not relaxing on this beach we came to, but Sona just responded by soaking Rias with a water dragon.

Of course, summer break hasn't arrived yet, but it's not as if they have the time to wait. Serafall owned Kuoh High, and it didn't take much to convince the faculty to let us off for a couple months or so. Most of the teachers are Devils after all, and they know better than to refuse the demands on Serafall's little sister.

Now here I am, doing basically nothing as I enjoy this nice day. 

I mean-, I could've helped, but Sona's pretty adamant on helping Rias on her own. "You can't play favorites." Was what she said, and though I don't really care about that, I decided to let her do her own thing. It doesn't stop me from chiming in from time to time however.

"This is nice." Someone says, and I turn to my left to see Akeno lounging on a beach chair much like my own, drinking through her third can of cold beer. She turns to meet my eyes, and she smiles. "It's a great day today."

"It is." I agree, before I glare at the can she's holding. "And stop drinking so much beer."

She shrugs. "I can't get drunk."

"You still need nutrients, woman." I bite back. I snap my fingers, and the icebox between us snaps open as a bottle of water magically flings itself towards Akeno. "Drink some goddamn water for once."

"Aah, but I already have enough." She smirks, batting the bottle back. It lands perfectly into the icebox. "And beer is made of water." She gently closes the icebox and pats it down. The opened clasp cackles with lighting before it shuts close. 

I roll my eyes. "There's no winning with you." I whisper tiredly.

She giggles. "At least I'm not drinking wine everyday."

I shiver. "That'd be terrible." I say.

An explosion rings, and we turn just in time to see Toujou Koneko—Rias' Rook—get punted into the air like a baseball. She spins in the air to right herself, before she perfectly lands on the sand with nary a sound. She glares then, her pupils narrowing into a much more feline form as she leaps forward.

She doesn't get far though. The sand suddenly splits as a water dragon rises from the ground. Koneko's eyes go wide, and she barely tilts back to let the dragon fly past her chin. This leaves her open though, and the girl gasps as a pole of a naginata slams into her gut, sending her crashing into the sands.

"They're a lot better now." I say, frowning slightly. "I'm not sure if it'll be enough."

"They started out late. There's nothing they can do." Akeno replies unapologetically. She then winks. "I mean, it's not like it'll matter in a month. They'll have more pressing things to worry about than some marriage."

I shrug. "Maybe they'll be stubborn enough to continue. We can never know."

…

"So we're really doing it, huh." Akeno suddenly says, staring at the glittering oceans just a distance away. "It…still feels a little unreal." She laughs. "I mean, I never imagined I'd be someone to pull the trigger like this."

"That's just how it is." I say.

Of course, I won't be able to transmit my memories to every single electronic device on my own. My mind might be able to handle the strain, but I just don't have enough Mana to do that. Nor is my affinity with electricity all that great.

That's why Akeno will be there as well. She'll be there to cast the spell together with me. With her lightning as our battery and my mind as the source, we'll cast a Broadcast spell large enough to encompass the entire planet. Even then, it'll no doubt leave both of us completely exhausted, and so we've also prepared a few Mana Crystals for us to consume.

"Are you afraid?" Akeno asks.

"A little." I admit, smiling slightly as I see Rias faceplant into the sand. "The future's a foreign country. We can never know everything that'll happen." I grin darkly. "I'm pretty excited too. I can't wait to finally have a reason to drop a nuke on the Vatican."

She blinks. "Do…you actually have a nuke?"

I blink back. "Of course not." I say, before smiling. "Doesn't stop me from stealing one. America has thousands of nukes," I shrug. "I don't think they'll mind if one disappears."

"I think they'll mind." She smiles wryly. "They'll mind quite a lot."

Another explosion sounds, and this time it's Sona getting blasted back. Kiba Yuuto—Rias' Knight—is quick to chase after her, forming a pair of blades into his arms as he swings. Sona quickly blocks by creating a wall of water, and she quickly shouts out a number of commands. Her peerage is quick to respond, and the Knight yelps as he suddenly finds himself pinned to the sand.

"The president's pretty good." Akeno idly comments, before she grins. "But she's nothing compared to Genbu-chan."

I huff. "Of course. I trained the girl myself, after all." I smile wryly. "Actually, Genbu will probably sweep the floor with all of them. That girl's just too good."

Well, it's not just Genbu, really. Most of the people I know can wipe the two opposing peerages without breaking a sweat, really. 

"How is she doing these days?" Akeno asks, frowning slightly. "I haven't been to Hibana in a while."

"She's doing fine." I say dully, remembering the…incident that happened just a few days before. It's the first time I'd seen some poor lad explode from having the water inside their body boil rapidly. I quickly shake my head to push the image away. "She's probably enjoying the Tea Festival happening over there."

Akeno blinks. "There's a Tea Festival happening? And you didn't tell me?"

"Yes." I say, raising an eyebrow. "And would you have gone even if you did know? You don't even like drinking tea all that much."

She huffs. "Beer is better."

"That's not a comparison anyone should ever make."

She giggles, and then the entire beach shakes as a massive explosion rocks the coast. Sand and dust goes flying into the air, and our beach chairs clatter against the sudden impact. None of the particulates make contact with us—Akeno has thankfully placed an electromagnetic field around us to keep any sand from falling on us. 

Once the dust fades, it's to see both opposing parties knackered and battered in all sorts of places. There's no clear winner in this scenario—both peerages are just as injured. Still, I'd say Sona's peerage just barely eked out a victory there, considering Sona is still conscious while Rias isn't.

I smile. "Alright, time to take a break, folks!" I call out, and with a snap of my fingers the icebox cracks open once more, and bottles filled with mystical herbal tea fly out towards the Devils. They land perfectly into their hands, and they return a chorus of thanks as they begin drinking.

The training for the day is over by that point, and it's time for some relaxation for them. After all, we didn't head out to the beaches of Okinawa just for Rias and Sona to have a quick match. The coast and oceans are too beautiful to waste on something as mundane as that.

And so the fun finally begins for the Devils. They dress in swimsuits they've brought all the way from Kuoh, and a different kind of chaos quickly descends. The two peerages mingle as they take their time enjoying the incredibly scenic waters of Okinawa.

All the while Sona berates a sheepish Rias over the number of mistakes she noticed during their fight, while not-so-subtly inching closer and closer towards the other girl. Their peerage seems to have noticed this as well, and they carefully pull themselves away from their Kings as they proceed to have fun on their own.

Neither Akeno nor I really join in on the fun. We've both been rather busy working on the planet-sized spell we're about to perform in a month or so. We're both exhausted, and we essentially just melt further into our beach loungers.

It doesn't take long before night falls on the coastline, and the blue oceans fade into the glittering black of night, with the moon reflected upon the moving waves.

And once that happens, we switch to some late night barbeque, cooked over a grill Rias had bought a year or so before. 

It's an overall nice experience.

But I can't feel completely happy. In just a month, pandemonium will fall upon the planet. The natural order that's run on this world for so long will be uprooted, and I'll be the one pulling the trigger.

I can't back away, though. If this stagnation remains, we won't have enough time. The banner of Khaos will soon show.

…

I still have a month though. One more month of normalcy before the veil is torn apart.

So I lean back, and I finally crack open a can of beer for the night.