Chapter 14

I didn't move when she said that, so she sat next to me. 'Aren't you supposed to be uncomfortable around others or something?' I questioned to myself. At the very least, she didn't seem to recogn—

"Why did you run away from me when we first met?" Plums, she remembers. Of course she does.

"I was in a rush."

"Oh, okay." With that, we fell into a comfortable silence while she started to eat.

"Do you not have food?" Why can't we just have silence?

"No, I arrived late today." I thought she didn't like talking?

I started to drift off again. Oh well, I can think about that later. With that, I embraced sleep's call.

…

I had learned to become a light sleeper while traveling, so when I felt a hand about to touch me, I grabbed it. Opening my eyes, I was greeted by familiar dull eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Class is about to start."

Ah, that makes sense.

"Thank you." With that, we both got up and headed to class. Honestly? The nicest introduction to the cast so far today.

As I stepped into the classroom, I could feel eyes on me and hear whispers as if they were right next to me. Another change was that my hearing had improved significantly.

Walking to my desk, I sat down and rested my head again. I could feel Redhead's and Akeno's eyes on me, more so Akeno's. Plums, why did I do that earlier?

"Ryou-kun, where were you? The teacher asked me to show you around the school," Redhead said. 'Can't you tell I want to sleep?'

"I was outside," I mumbled into my arms, which were being used as a pillow.

"Fufu~ that's not nice, Ryou-kun. You should've told us." Ah, seems like the sadist is back.

I didn't bother to respond since the next teacher walked in, and I drifted off to dreamland.

The rest of the day went off without any problems. I could feel Akeno's eyes on me and sometimes Redhead's, but hers felt more evaluative, as if she was deciding whether I was worth her time. Joy.

At break, I would go back to the tree where Koneko was, and she would arrive not much later than me. I hadn't run into the perverted trio yet. Odd.

As I walked out of the school grounds toward my apartment, I stumbled onto a scene that confirmed exactly where I was in the story: Issei was being asked out at that moment. What to do? Looking at Raynare in disguise, I knew for certain I was stronger, so I felt confident I could handle the rest of her group.

"E-excuse me, Ryou-san?" Plums. Turning to my right, I'm greeted by blue hair and light brown eyes, Fallen Angel Kalawarner. She's dressed in a standard office worker's uniform.

"Do I know you?" I shouldn't have anything that would give me away to warrant their interest. Were they watching me because Koneko was with me?

"Kala. My name is Kala, I'm a foreigner." Yeah, and I'm from Mars. Hurry up and ask the real question.

"Would you be able to spare some time tomorrow to go on a double date with a friend and me?" Hmm. What to do? Oh, I know exactly what to do.

"Sure, sounds wonderful, Kala-chan." Offering a smile that could warm the coldest stone, I exchange numbers with her. With a time set, I head to the apartment.

Nothing's changed. As I had promised, I gave more money to the apartment manager and walked off without waiting to hear his thanks.

Entering the apartment had me reminiscing. I had started off so weak physically, but more so mentally. That had stopped me from truly growing. Having a warm shower after a while was blissful.

Not bothering to get dressed, I pull Muramasa out of my duffel bag. He has changed over the past nine months of killing strays and the rare magicians. His once simple appearance had degraded. The silver blade now ran red, and his once-black handle had been worn down, with grooves showing from my swordsmanship. We had both changed, it seems.

{Muramasa}

Getting into bed with him on another pillow, sleep started calling to me again.

'Tonight marks the last true peaceful time I'll have for a while.'

'Goodnight, Mura.'

I was running late for the date.

I had decided to wear a kimono, but I had no clue how to tie up the strings. So I just left it open. I couldn't care less if people saw my upper body. Why should I? The others around me didn't know what to make of me. "A young man with so many scars, what happened to him?" were words I could hear whispered.

{Mc's body}

Arriving at the group consisting of "Yuuma Amano" who was really Raynare, and "Kala" who was Kalawarner, I noticed the last person was the big man himself Issei Hyoudou, the Red Dragon Emperor. Joy

"Sorry I'm late, couldn't figure this thing out." I was really only apologizing to Issei.

Kalawarner came over and helped me tie the kimono properly. "It's okay, we didn't wait long, Ryou-kun."

"Y-yeah, um, Ryou-san, it's a-all good!" Oh, Issei, you make me feel bad for what's about to happen.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, and with that, Issei and Raynare took the lead.

We went to two places: an arcade, which was mind-numbingly boring, and a café, which was just boring. If they wanted to bore me to death, they were getting close.

And Kalawarner? I barely interacted with her. Judging by the pissed-off expression she had, she realized I wasn't like Issei. Flash a little boob, and he comes running. Let him touch your boob, and he'll die for you. Me? I hate that.

Finally, we arrived at the water fountain. Both girls stepped in front of us.

"Can we ask you a question?" They must've rehearsed saying that in sync.

"No." With that, I knocked Issei out and did something I hadn't done in a while: I shaped my hand like a lance. Before they could comprehend what was happening, I plunged my hand into their chests. Jiggly

Ugh, gross. Did they have to throw up blood on my new clothes? Blood's a pain to clean.

"H-how? Y-you're s-supposed to be a w-weak human..." Raynare gasped.

"Turns out I'm not" I replied, ripping their hearts out and only after confirming they died I walked back to Issei.

Why did I knock him out first? I didn't want him summoning the Redhead or anyone else before I could decide what to do with him.

Throwing their hearts aside, I knelt down, found his phone, guessed his password, texted his parents, telling them he'd be staying at a friend's house tonight. Picking him up like a sack of potatoes, I headed back to my apartment.

I'm not looking forward to seeing a distressed or pissed Redhead later.

When I arrived, the apartment manager just glanced at me and then ignored me, as if I wasn't covered in blood or carrying someone over my shoulder.

Once inside, I threw Issei onto the ground. No way was I having another man in my bed. After getting out of my kimono and taking a shower, I thought about how I was going to handle this.

Issei came across heavily illogical. I know that what Raynare did to him in the anime left a mental scar and created distrust of women. That might be part of why I'm doing this. Not sure.

After the shower, I threw on some black sweatpants. My place, my rules.

I was greeted by a confused Issei. 'This'll be fun' Note the sarcasm.

"Sup," I said casually.

"W-what? Where are we? Why don't you have a shirt on?! No, don't touch me!" Gods, he has a pair of lungs on him.

Redirecting the bloodlust that I usually keep directed towards the Earth now back to where it's to meant to radiate, I watched him freeze and clamp up.

"Thank you. Now, Issei, I'm sure you have questions, no?" He timidly nodded.

I gestured to a chair near an unused desk while I sat on the bed.

"First off, Yuuma and Kala—they weren't human. They were Fallen Angels, and I killed them."

And so began the explanation he needed at the start of the anime.

I hope I'm not wasting my time on you, Issei.