Liberation

Though it was nearly midnight when he fell asleep, Will still awoke around 4:30 AM, fully refreshed. A faint, flowery aroma tickled his nose, but since it would probably come back to bite him if he remarked on it, he stretched his arms over his head and issued a long, satisfied groan.

"You awake...?" asked Will, following his initial stretch by loudly popping his neck.

'Does it matter?' asked Ohta. 'Don't tell me you need help brushing your teeth or getting ready.'

"I think I can manage," responded Will, removing the blankets covering his body, turning sideways, and placing his feet on the hard wooden floor. The boards were beyond aged, but when he got up and made his way to the nearby bathroom, it didn't so much as creak.

"I was actually going to ask if you wanted to arrange a chance encounter or something similar," explained Will, leaving Ohta a little confused until he added, "If the situation escalates and you're forced to come out, it will be difficult to explain to the others why you were lurking in my shadow."

'...'

Emerging from Will's shadow in a pair of black short-shorts and a bright orange t-shirt, Ohta conceded, "I suppose you have a point. But how will you explain how we know each other?"

Resisting the urge to comment on Ohta's peculiar choice of sleepwear, Will focused on preparing his toothbrush as he proposed, "Well, you are a Demon. It wouldn't be completely false if we tell them we're contracted to one another."

"That makes me sound like your servant..." droned Ohta, adopting a half-lidded expression. It wasn't far from the truth, but now that they weren't at the Academy, Ohta saw no reason to pretend he was Will's lesser.

"Then what do you suggest...?" asked Will, once again shifting the ball to Ohta's court as he started brushing his teeth.

"..."

Though he was briefly tempted to kick Will in the pits of his knees, Ohta crossed his arms, lowered his gaze, and frowned pensively. What Will had proposed was likely the simplest solution, but he was sure he could come up with something that didn't require him to demean himself...

Spitting into the sink, Will broke the silence by suggesting, "We could go with the story of you being my senior disciple, assigned to watch over me so I don't end up getting myself killed."

Despite Will saying nothing about his height, Ohta's right eye twitched as he asked, "And you think they'd believe that...?"

"Why not?" asked Will, raising his right brow. "They may have their doubts at first, but the moment they witness your power, they'll have little choice but to accept it as the truth."

"But I don't use weapons," argued Ohta. "I've tried using them in the past, but it feels...better to use my hands and feet."

'Yeah, because you enjoy beating people half to death, not killing them...' thought Will, increasingly certain that Ohta was Sarah. The latter was an Olympic-level Taekwondo practitioner in her first incarnation, so when she learned they were trapped in an ostensibly endless cycle, she figured she might as well use the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of martial arts.

"But you're also skilled at manipulating your Mana and Aura," contended Will. "If anyone asks why you don't use weapons, you can just argue that using them made things too easy. And since you were sent here to watch over me, you'll only have to intervene if things get out of hand."

"Your propensity for pulling things out of your ass is peerless..." remarked Ohta, sporting a half-lidded expression but genuinely impressed by Will's ability to generate a plausible story out of thin air.

Shrugging, Will argued, "So long as I don't do it with malicious intentions, does it matter? Ninety-five percent of what I said to Allyson last night was completely fabricated, but if it helps push her toward the truth she's been looking for, it's a good thing."

"And what if it doesn't...?" asked Ohta, motioning to slip his hands into the front pockets of his hoodie before realizing he wasn't wearing one. Lucky for him, Will didn't seem to notice or care as he questioned, "What do you mean?"

"Well, if nothing else, that ancient labyrinth you discussed is bound to be dangerous," argued Ohta. "She would have entered it long ago if she were strong enough. Your words might have been the thing that compels her to risk it all, and for what? Her brother has been missing for seven years. She isn't going to magically stumble across his remains or find a journal he left specifically for her. Not because he didn't make one, but because it would have been absorbed by the Dungeon a few hours after he died."

Shaking his head, Will asserted, "No one is forcing her to walk her current path, Ohta. She seeks closure and will either find it or perish in its pursuit. Whether that happens in two, ten, or a hundred years from now is for her to decide..."

"So you don't have any interest in those ruins...?" asked Ohta, raising his right brow with crossed arms. "Because the way you talked about it was like you've been researching it secretly for years."

"I can't say for sure what will happen today, much less a few months from now," contended Will. "But if the Desert Rose is who I believe them to be, and you're okay with it, I wouldn't mind heading over to see what secrets it holds. It all depends on what happens between then and now."

"This Desert Rose person...assuming she is who you believe she is, what does that make her to you...?" asked Ohta, his brows creasing further than they already were. "No matter how much I think about it, I can't imagine you going through all this effort to track down someone you probably only knew for a few years as a kid..."

"What is there to imagine?" asked Will, resisting the urge to chuckle as he remarked, "That's precisely what we're doing. As for why, it's because the two of us were best friends. We promised we would help each other if the other were ever in trouble, and I always keep my promises..."

"There has to be more to it than that..." contended Ohta, exhaling a huffy sigh from his nose. "But if you don't want to tell me, whatever. I'll see for myself how things play out. For now, you go get ready."

Punctuating his statement, Ohta pushed Will aside before grabbing the latter's used toothbrush, rinsing it off, and using it to aggressively brush his fangs and teeth. Will was somewhat taken aback by this, but since he knew how forceful Sarah could be when she took an interest in someone, he decided to retreat without comment...

...

..

.

"Oh? You're up early," remarked Aelius, surprised to see Will arrive at the Inn's dining room more than an hour before they had agreed to meet up. Instead of keeping his focus on Will, however, his gaze promptly shifted to the diminutive, brown-skinned Demon accompanying him.

"And this is...?" asked Aelius, feeling a little confused. He still remembered how intensely Will stared at the dancers in the bazaar, so he didn't expect him to come down from his room with a young boy in tow. Determining the true age of Demons was difficult, but as they matured similarly to humans before reaching their physical prime, he felt the one at Will's side couldn't be more than ten to twelve cycles old.

"I'm this idiot's senior disciple," answered Ohta, sending a jolt of pain up Will's left leg by kicking him in the ankle as he added, "Our Master sent me to make sure he didn't get himself killed. As for my name, you can call me Ohta."

"Senior disciple...?" repeated Aelius, feeling even more confused as he looked to Will with undisguised incredulity.

"It would be wise not to judge my senior by his appearance..." said Will, flexing the muscles in his jaw as he explained, "He's both older and much stronger than I am..."

"Seriously...?" asked Aelius, this time directing his gaze to Ohta.

"You got a problem...?" asked Ohta, releasing some of his Aura as pure bloodlust. Aelius had doubts before, but when he felt Ohta's power, his instincts compelled him to jump back, the fur covering his ears and tail standing on end as his pores opened to release cold sweat.

"None at all..." replied Aelius, forcing a cramped smile. He didn't know Ohta's Grade, but while he was reasonably confident he could at least escape a Grade-Four Adept, his instincts told him he had absolutely no hope against the diminutive Demon before him. Just holding Ohta's half-lidded gaze made him feel as though a blade was pressed to his throat...

"I didn't think so," said Ohta, shifting his gaze to Will as he added, "You better not cause too much trouble and force me to clean up after you. If you do...expect to be punished..."

'I may have made a grievous mistake...' thought Will, outwardly forcing a smile as he replied, "I understand..." in a muted tone.

"You better..." appended Ohta, his tone threatening as he held up his right hand and formed it into a fist. Simply flexing it caused the space around it to distort, causing Will and Aelius to tense. Fortunately, it was only for a brief moment as Ohta adopted a mischievous grin and said, "This is going to be an enjoyable vacation..." before disappearing into his shadow with a muted fwip.

"..."

"..."

...

..

.

"What happened to the two of you...?" asked Allyson, emerging from the stairwell leading to the higher floors and spotting Will and Aelius sitting at the bar with a strangely heavy atmosphere enveloping them.

"Good morning, Ally..." said Aelius, forcing a smile as he raised his right hand in greeting.

"Morning," responded Ally, raising her own hand before shifting her gaze to Will and asking, "Did you not get enough sleep?" in a slightly apologetic tone.

"Let's just say we received some...insurance to ensure our journey goes smoothly..." answered Will, closing his eyes and sipping from the coffee he had ordered. It tasted much fresher than the coffee his club imported, so a faint smile adorned his face as he inhaled its rich aroma and savored its robust, slightly acidic flavor. 

"I feel like I'm missing something..." muttered Allyson, looking to Aelius for answers. In response, the white-haired cat boy maintained his smile and shook his head meaningfully, silently indicating it wasn't a good time to discuss what had transpired.

Though she felt even more lost and confused, Allyson decided not to press the issue as she sat on the stool to Will's left, rapping the bar top with her knuckles to indicate she wanted to place an order before looking to her right and saying, "I wanted to thank you for last night. I realized I might have gotten a little carried away with my questions, so I appreciate you sticking around as long as you did..."

Defying his almost instinctual urge to remark that he didn't mind spending the evening with a beautiful woman, Will simply nodded and replied, "Not a problem. Glad I was able to help..."

'Something definitely happened...' determined Allyson, adopting a slight frown as she wondered if it had anything to do with her. She didn't think she had done anything wrong, but since she couldn't deny the possibility entirely, the heavy atmosphere at the bar gradually affected her as well.

Meanwhile, feeling liberated for the first time in a while, Ohta observed the trio's suffering from the shadows, a shark-toothed grin adorning his face as he thought, 'And here I was thinking this excursion was going to be boring. If I can get this idiot under my heel, I may be able to stop him from behaving like a complete ignoramus in the future...'

Imagining how serene his life would be if Will ceased swaggering about and flirting with everything that had a pulse, the devilish smile on Ohta's face broadened. A tiny horn also started to grow from the right side of his broad forehead, but before it could emerge fully, he pressed it down with his right index finger and forced himself to calm down...

...

..

.