Old Crow

"Why won't you die!?" The boy screams, swinging his light sword wildly as he tries to hit me. I've yet to move even an inch since we began fighting, and yet none of his attacks have done anything. Not even my suit has been damaged.

"You're just weak." I say dully, more focused on digging as much information I can from this stray exorcist using my eyes. "Honestly, what were you expecting, Freed Sellzen?"

"Shut up-!"

His words are abruptly stopped when he sees me catch his light sword in between my fingers. He tries wrenching the sword away, but the blade remains fixed. He tries backing away, and then screams when he finds that his two legs are entrapped by thick roots. 

"Honestly, what were you expecting?" I ask, finally taking a step forward. "Foolish."

"Ha!" He spits at me. The spit evaporates inches from my cheek. "You think this is it? Once-"

"Kokabiel finds out, he'll come here?" I finish. He flinches, and I let a vicious grin lift my lips. "Is that it? Are you so confident because of something so inane?" I harshly grab his hair, and I pull his head close. "If anything, that'd be great. It means I won't have to waste my time waiting."

Freed tries to free himself, but he can't even move an inch. The roots have grown up to his chest, constricting painfully around his torso. I can faintly hear his bones creaking. 

He screams. I continue smiling.

It went something like this,

After even more arduous work, I'd teleported back home for a quick rest. But before even a minute passes, I felt someone activate the 'alerts' I placed all around Kuoh. I used my eyes to see who it was, and saw that a stray exorcist had just waltzed into the city's edge.

Freed Sellzen is the intruder's name. A stray exorcist with a few screws loose. Which doesn't really say much—a lot of stray exorcists are psychopaths in some way. He'd come here under the orders of Kokabiel, a warmongering cadre who'd broken away from the Grigori.

And now here we are, with said intruder squirming as the roots continue climbing up his body. He's screaming about something, but I've tuned him out, focusing more on the information I just gleaned.

Unsurprisingly, Kokabiel wants to trigger a war between the three Abrahamic Factions by killing the two Devil heirs I'm hosting. Which isn't all that worrying really—Kokabiel isn't any stronger than Satanael. I can probably just sic Akeno on the guy and come back to see the cadre's decapitated head lying on a plate.

Freed has stopped screaming now. Not by choice; the roots have grown over his mouth and sealed it shut. He can barely move now, and that building fear I first saw is now clearly seen in his eyes. It's ironic, really. For how much the boy talks about killing, he's awfully afraid of dying himself.

So I decide to take pity on the guy, and I say, "Feed."

And the massive growth beneath the entire city complies. Freed lets out one last muffled scream as the roots drag him under, and I pretend not to hear the crunching bone and flesh coming from the ground as I turn away.

I sigh.

It's been a tiring year, but this week specifically has been rough. Work after work after work, all an unrelenting wave of tasks and projects I need to oversee. All while having to put this regal facade I've carefully cultivated, and all done without Akeno by my side.

But hey, at least I know Akeno's suffering as much as I am. We can bond over our shared exhaustion when this is all over.

Well, it'll end soon. There's just about a day left before the first day of school starts, and I can finally have some time to relax. 

I take a glance at the watch on my arm, and I grimace. There's only a few minutes before my next meeting. I take a deep breath, and I give my cheeks a quick slap. I force my building mental exhaustion to take a backseat for a little longer, and I don a polite smile as I disappear in a flash of light.

…

Fifteen hours later, I reappear past my room's door, and I manage one last sigh before I lose all strength in my legs.

I don't plant my face into the floor though. Akeno is there to catch me before I hit the ground, though she herself is in no state to help me. And so the two of us are sent tumbling across the floor, eventually bumping into one of our bed's legs. The wooden leg cracks upon impact with my skull.

Akeno stares at me, her exhaustion clear to see in those abnormally dim violet eyes. I stare back, my usual vibrant gold looking more like worn out bronze.

And together we sigh.

"Welcome back." She says softly, kissing me on the lips. "I was waiting for you."

I smile. "Glad to be back." I take a breath as I nuzzle into her neck. "Ugh, I haven't felt this tired in a while." 

She gently pats my head. "Everything went well?"

I nod. "Mostly. Some hiccups here and there, but nothing too major." She hums. I smile. "How about you? Anything went wrong?"

She giggles. "I wish something did. But," She sighs. "It was quite boring. Some of the older Youkais were worried about having their children start learning when they're so young, but I managed to convince them in the end."

"There was an intruder earlier," I say. She perks up, probably hoping it was something genuinely interesting. I can only smile helplessly. "It's another one of Kokabiel's scouts. Turned him into food for the plants."

She groans. "Him again." She scoffs. "That old crow is stubborn. I'll give him that."

It's somewhat odd, really. At some point, Akeno's hatred for the Fallen just…waned. It's still there, but these days, she looks upon the Fallen not with blind anger, but with pity. She'd stare down at the Fallen she brought down with palpable disappointment, and there's even the occasional scoff of disgust.

"Should we just kill him?" She offers.

"We could." I say. "But then the world won't know." I smile slightly. "Let him have his fun. The guy's been bored for centuries. Let him toil in his playpen for a little while longer."

She smiles back. It's just as wicked as mine. "And then I'll pluck off his wings."

"If that's what you want."

She giggles, and I grin as I wave my hand through the air. The world glows white, and suddenly we're teleported right onto our bed. The leg I cracked earlier creaks under the new weight, and I quickly use my Senjutsu to regrow the wood I damaged.

It's a little uncomfortable, to be honest. We've grown a lot over the years. Both of us are essentially young adults physically. But we've been using this bed for years now, and the only thing that's changed is the color of my pillow case. It's too small to fit the both of us, and is more of a hazard more than anything else.

Our clothes don't help either. I'm dressed in this tight business suit I've been wearing for the past week, and Akeno's still wearing the billowing black dress she likes to use when she's going on an official outing of some kind. 

We really should get a new bed. We really should.

But-, I mean, this thing's been with us for years now. I'm sort of reluctant to pass it away, and so is Akeno. And it's not like we sleep all that much in the first place. Neither of us really mind keeping this old-fashioned bed for ourselves. It'll be a memento of sorts—something we can look back to even decades from now.

"Are you going to join any clubs?" She asks suddenly.

I blink. "I…don't think so." I say eventually. "It's not like I have the time to spare." I shrug. "And there's nothing too interesting there anyway."

She hums. "That's true." She sighs. "It's just a bit of a shame, I guess. We've missed out on the High School Experience and all."

"We never had one in the first place." I say in return.

She pouts. "Would've been nice to have one, though."

I disagree. School was not a pleasant experience back in my first life, and I don't think it'll change so easily. People are cruel, but children are even crueler. School has never meant anything positive to me. 

Maybe I'm just being bitter, but I don't really care.

…

"Let's go to sleep." I then say, taking a quick glance at my watch. "There's five hours before school starts."

The moment I say that, a flip inside us switches. I yawn, my eyes drooping as the exhaustion of three months slam into me at once. Akeno giggles tiredly as she watches me beginning to doze off, while she herself slowly sinks into the pillow.

In barely five seconds, we're both asleep.