Chapter 37: Sufficient Payment

"You're so simple minded that it makes me laugh. What I mean is we should just wait here for them to come back down. Whichever of the two paths they take to go down, they'll surely pass by here. There's no chance we miss them that way."

Akuma smirked while still viewing the Kyoto skyline.

"Oh. That makes a lot of sense. Finally, a plan that most likely won't fail."

Angelie put her closed fist on top of the open palm of her other hand.

"Well, now that your puny brain has processed my grand plan, I'll just sit down here and enjoy the view some more."

Akuma sat down on the empty bench beside him.

"Oh, what's that?"

Angelie saw people were crowding over something on the other side of the resting area. She left Akuma behind and went over to see what it was.

"Hey, you better watch carefully if they're here already. It's your responsibility since we got here too late because of you."

Akuma still was staring at the view. He did not notice Angelie left already.

A few minutes passed and there was silence. Akuma soaked it all in and closed his eyes briefly. Then he realized it was too quiet.

"The heck? Where's that damn Saint?!"

He turned his head, while still being seated on the bench, to where Angelie was supposed to be standing.

"So, did they pass by already?"

Angelie came from the other side of the bench and sat down beside Akuma.

"Where the hell did you go? And what's that?"

"It's ice cream. Can't you see?"

Angelie was licking a soft served ice cream on a wafer cone.

"Damn. Now I want one… Wait, did you just ask if they came by already?"

Akuma wiped his drool and then stared at the ice cream.

"Yeah. Weren't you the one looking out for them?"

Angelie continued to lick her ice cream.

"What do you mean me? You were supposed to be looking out for them! It's your fault we didn't get to catch up to them in the first place!"

Akuma pointed at Angelie.

"But it was your idea to wait for them here! Of course, you should be the one to look out for them!"

Angelie motioned downward the hand carrying the ice cream cone. The ice cream fell from the cone to the ground.

"No! The ice cream!"

Akuma watched the ice cream start to melt on the ground.

"No! My ice cream!"

Angelie had tears well up in her eyes as she stared at the ice cream on the ground.

"Damn, what a waste."

"It's your fault! Buy me a replacement!"

Angelie turned her anger toward Akuma and pointed at him.

The two continued to argue while being seated on the bench. Little did they know that Sanaka, Mizumi and Sumire passed by behind them during their heated disagreement. The three girls were already heading down the mountain.

---

After a few more minutes of arguing, Akuma finally succumbed to buying Angelie a replacement ice cream. He did it because he also wanted one for himself, but more importantly to get Angelie to shut up. They noticed that it was about noon and that they needed to get back down already. The bus would be leaving in around half an hour. At first, they were walking slowly as they licked their ice cream. Then when time started to run out before the buses left, they started to rush and run down the path. They were able to reach the base of the path and outside Romon gate with a few minutes to spare. They caught their breaths near some food stalls and souvenir shops.

"This is all your fault… We had to run down… because you ate that ice cream too slowly…"

Akuma had his hands on his waist as he looked up to get as much air as possible.

"You seemed to enjoy… that ice cream, as well… You didn't notice what time it was already…"

Angelie also had her hands on her waist. She looked at Akuma as she caught her breath.

"Whatever… I'm going to buy… something to drink…"

Akuma looked around and saw there was a stall selling bottled drinks naturally cooled in cold, mountain water. He left Angelie and approached the stall.

Meanwhile, Angelie looked around her. She noticed that there were some people going inside the souvenir shop behind her. Even though she thought she had no one to buy a souvenir for, she decided to check inside. She browsed through several items, such as magnets, charms and even cellphone straps. When she was about to leave, something caught her eye. It was a cellphone strap. She giggled and decided to buy the strap.

When she got out of the souvenir shop, Akuma greeted her with a scowl.

"Where have you been? I've been carrying this around. Damn it."

Akuma handed Angelie a cold bottled juice.

"Oh."

Angelie couldn't say anything else as she was caught by surprise.

"Let's go. The bus will leave already. Just join the three of them once we get to the next location."

Akuma turned around to head to their bus.

"Wait."

"What now?"

Akuma turned around to look at Angelie.

"Here. Take this."

Angelie handed Akuma something in his hands.

"Huh?"

Akuma stared at Angelie as she walked past him and headed to the bus. He didn't see yet what Angelie handed to him.

"It's for taking good pictures of me earlier. I just don't want to be indebted to you. It means NOTHING else, got it?"

Angelie talked while walking away from Akuma. She also drank the juice after talking.

Akuma then looked at the thing Angelie handed to him. It was a cellphone strap of a miniature person wearing a demon mask with two large horns and big fangs.

"The hell is this?"

He slightly smirked.

---

The bus left toward their next destination, Ninnaji Temple. Most of the students already ate their lunch before leaving Fushimi Inari Shrine. Travel time took a while due to the distance between the two tourist destinations. They would stay in Ninnaji Temple for about an hour and half. Their next destination after Ninnaji Temple, Kinkakuji, was near so there was no need to rush their stay at the temple.

Ninnaji Temple was known as the head temple of the Omuro School of the Shingon Sect of Buddism. Almost all of its original buildings had perished due to many fires and wars in Kyoto. Most of the oldest existing buildings included the main hall (Kondo), the Kannon Hall, the Niomon front gate, the Chumon inner gate and the five storied pagoda.

The highlight of a visit to Ninnaji was the Goten. It's the former residence of the head priest built in the style of the imperial palace. Its buildings were connected together by covered corridors and surrounded by beautiful rock and pond gardens.

There was also a grove of locally cultivated cherry blossom trees called the Omuro Cherries. There's an entrance fee to enter the Goten grounds, but it's free to roam the rest of the grounds.

Angelie prepared herself mentally before arriving at Ninnaji Temple. She planned to be the first one to get out of the bus once they arrive. Then, she would be able to see Sanaka and the other girls as they go down from the bus. She could now surely join them in touring Ninnaji Temple.

The bus arrived at Ninnaji Temple. Students were now allowed to disembark the bus. Angelie rushed toward to bus doors even before anyone else could stand up. She was the first one to get out. She raised her fist in celebration. She stood outside of the doors as she waited for the three girls to get out of the bus. She was waving at each of her other classmates that exited the bus. Some even stopped and chatted for a bit. People got out of the bus slowly due to this. Even as her other classmates talked to her, her eyes were firmly fixed at the door of the bus.

Finally, Sanaka was going down the bus. Angelie saw her and went closer to meet Sanaka.

"Hey, Sanaka-san. I hope you guys don't mind, but I want to join you—"

"I'm sorry, Angelie-san. I promise to explain this—"

Sanaka then got dragged by Mizumi and Sumire who were just behind Sanaka.

"See you later, Angelie-san!"

Mizumi shouted as they got away from Angelie. She just reached out to the three girls as they ran away.

Then lastly, it was Akuma who got out of the bus.

"Damn. Does this mean I'm still stuck with you?"

Akuma fiercely scratched the back of his head.

"What happened to our planned girls' bonding time? Why am I left all alone?"

Tears started to form in Angelie's eyes as she kept on reaching out to the other girls.

"Probably because you always act like a guy—"

Angelie punched the side of Akuma. Ribs cracking could be clearly heard.

"Shut it, damn Demon Lord."

Angelie's fist was still clenched.

"I rest… my case…"

Akuma dropped to the ground.