Chapter 4 : Trouble (1)

After going a round or two with Rodin, Cereza and Jeanne walked out of the portal, with smiles on their faces. while Rodin.... yeah let's say that he has had better days.

"So, mothers, how's the performance?"

"Simply Amazing! I didn't know it came with a rose attached!"

It seems that Jeanne is happy with her gift, as she kept it in her shoulder, even after combat.

"And this bad boy! whoa.... one shot and Rodin's out for the count!"

While Cereza simply spins hers around.... oi oi oi what did I tell ya about friendly fire?

"Yeah... try not to... point that thing towards me ever again! *huff huff*"

===

After a demo of the tech, it seems that the ladies are impressed with the power but not the design... so I had to... 'beautify' them... But even they themselves don't want to part with the weapon! So how am I supposed to modify them huh?

I push those to the back of my mind...

"Oh speaking of which Liam, which girl had you set your eyes on? But stealing her bag is a big no-no!"

OH THIS IS THE THING THAT I FORGOT!

"Rodin..."

"Yeah?"

"Can I go into the infernal realm again? I need to copy a whole year's worth of materials..."

I pleaded to Rodin. with the sweetest smile I can muster.

"Absolutely... NOT! Young man, you stink, you haven't slept, and so we're going home, and you're sleeping right after dinner!"

"BUT MOM!"

"No buts now come along...."

and So I was dragged along by Jeanne. When we opened the door, I expected myself to end up back in school, but instead of the school hall that I expected, I ended up opening the door to a parking lot... EH?

"This is where mom works!"

"... and where is this?"

It seems that this is some high end office building called the millenium tower... WAIT MILLENIUM TOWER? Isn't that YAKUZA??

"OH! so you've also known about Millenium tower?"

"... If memory serves, they're run by the Yakuza... depending on the timeline either Tojo-clan or the Omi-Alliance..."

"Oh! so they're how these 'game' worlds should've been... right?"

I didn't mention I knew them from the game.... it seems that Jeanne herself is sharp or... she just happens to connect two to two.

"Yeah, and they explode like multiple times throughout the series."

"Thanks for the tip Liam! But you don't need to worry about that anymore... You see, 4 years ago... the Tojo-Clan and Omi-Alliance had united under one banner, a banner that was created by a demon king... In the most literal sense."

"DEMON KING? WAITTT WHICH ONE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT!? Mundus? V? or--"

"A reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga."

"...*Panik*"

"..."

"Is it she?"

"No."

"*Kalm* oh that's good then..."

"Speaking of which, that's his wife right there! Maria, Over here!"

Maria...? I looked at the professional looking secretary, with a white top, a skirt, and her most striking feature, platinum white hair, tied up into a professional looking hairstyle.

"Pleasure to meet you again Jeanne, Oh is this your lovely boy that you always talked about?"

I looked intently at her face... no her mouth... as I saw a set of teeth that looked like the ones vampire movies use... nah it's probably just how her teeth are!

"Yeah! Come introduce yourself!"

I was urged by Jeanne to introduce myself, and so I did.

"Good evening m-m-mam, My name is-s Liam..."

I freakin stutter didn't I?

"Pleasure's mine Liam. But you seem... different from how Jeanne described you. She said that you're a mute. and find other people's presence displeasing."

"Ha ha ha! about that, somehow he found his soul back! amazing isn't it?"

Oi oi oi I thought she's from the mundane world... why are we even--- Suddenly she vanished and appeared behind me, seemingly checking something out... What's with powerful people's disappearing before you and appearing behind you... this has got to stop.

"Oh?"

"He smells normal... bloodwise... although I won't judge why he smells of blood sweat and iron so strongly. No signs of mutation... a bit lacking in the weight department, but everything else seems fine... unless you want me to introduce you to someone more... well versed to the matter of the soul, I cannot tell if there's anything wrong with him. Sorry Jeanne."

"You have someone that knows about souls?"

"Yeah, two in fact, my sister, Izanami... as for the other one... you may want to ask that bartender friend of yours. or I could ask my husband for you."

"That's too much trouble! I can't have you do that! But then again, Rodin knew this guy and didn't introduce me to him? What a friend he is!"

"... The identity of this individual is rather... problematic... Rodin is under him after all... figuratively speaking of course."

a man above an infernal with a god like power? A DEMON LORD perhaps? Sweet!

"Do you have any plans tonight?"

"No... Why?"

"I was thinking of going to dinner..."

"Maybe another time Jeanne, tomorrow mayhaps... I need to pick up Alice from her tutelage."

Alice? As in the blonde little girl with a blue dress?

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that... she seems to be about Liam's age right? Maybe you should bring her along!"

"She's... special as you know... I'll see if there's a reservation that can be made for a more private experience, if not I'm afraid we can only postpone the dinner."

"That will do!"

and so we said our goodbyes, me and Jeanne headed home in her favorite red car. cruising around the city feels nice. especially with an open roof car. The only problem is if it's raining.

maybe I can upgrade her car... or even better, get one myself.

I helped Jeanne with dinner, and after we ate, I took a bath. during the bath Jeanne was hesitating about something... it's probably nothing... right!?

"EH! MOM? WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"

"Now now, no need to be shy... let mommy wash your hair and back for you like always.."

"BUT MOM!"

"No buts young man!"

and so that's how I, an adult, get absolutely trashed in the bathroom. the plus side? I got to be squeaky clean, I got to see Jeanne in a swimsuit, and I smelled good.

The bad news? My pride, I got every inch of my body inspected, even my little brother gets violated, and the worst part? I can't enjoy the damn thing because I'm too embarrassed...

After the bath, I quickly ran into my room, locking the door. Guess tonight it's just me and my hand huh...

===

The morning came, I spent the night restless... I ended up copying Haru's note using pandora... I made one of its forms as a multi-purpose laser printer. and copied the whole bag's worth of books. brain over brawn I suppose...

and so a new day has come, and ... why the hell is the printer still printing something?

hmmm let's see..

[Good morning]

[Please give me a name]

... it's not ambitious at all.... yeah! and so I turned Pandora back into a carrying case. As I went out of the bathroom, breakfast was prepared, but Jeanne was nowhere in sight...

I looked at my phone, and surely, she had another 'which' business to attend to...

maaa... it's not that I mind but... WHO THE HELL SHOULD I ASK ABOUT MY SENTIENT WEAPON? Rodin? As I was thinking about Rodin, suddenly one of the doors turned ominous... as the sign GATES OF HELL appeared again...

You know what... sure... so I changed my clothes, shoved my breakfast into my mouth, and then I went to the bar.

"Welcome... ah Liam, what can I do for you today?"

Rodin looks surprisingly neat today, with a suit and whatnot. I wonder what's the special occasion?

"Ah this? don't mind it... we're having a little dinner tonight."

"Here?"

"Nope. hence the suit. My boss invited us to get together... haven't been invited since... well that bloody wedding, so I thought why the hell not?"

... Boss? Bloody wedding?

"Oh yeah you don't know huh? My boss's the big G himself. during the wedding? let's say it's a certain demon lord's wedding, and somehow all denizens are invited, whether it's from paradiso, infernal, gods, deities, reapers... *cough cough* you get the gist of it... "

... isn't that a recipe for disaster?

"No, it's not... at first... until someone spiked the drinks with Little J's wine... and then it got real bloody real quick..."

... did anyone die?

"the weak ones perished in an instant. The rest of us had a good brawl, I'm surprised that a few humans even got a solid hit in, especially that Kaz guy... That motherf****'s tough."

"I would imagine they're not so happy with the outcome?"

"Ya fool! those who are not happy can talk to me and my fist! you see after it's all over, time rewinded and we had the jokester that spiked our drink tied up in tartarus. even the big G himself went ham during the brawl!"

... Why did I suddenly don't want to come? meeting bigshot's one thing, but meeting deities... I'll pass...

"Kid, let me tell you, with a mindset like that you're not going far. So chill out, most of the guys are approachable... but please mind what you say, I couldn't help you if ya offend the BIG G himself, capish?"

... wouldn't cross my mind to cross someone who's a God with a capital G.

"Anyway, what brought you here? I aint help you skip school if that's what you're after."

"OH! yeah I almost forgot. Here, look at this!"

I showed Rodin the paper and pandora.

"Huh? What about it?"

"It's SENTIENT!"

"... and that's surprising how?"

"OF COURSE IT IS! ISN'T IT JUST METAL THAT I FORGED?"

"A metal that came from the darkest depth of mankind's misery, and the forge created with the heart of a dying star, by a smith whose skill is almost comparable to mine... Tell me which part you find strange?"

... if so are you saying all this time every one of the weapons are sentient?

"Nope, not all at least... I knew that the gun that you gave Enzo is sentient... not sure about Cereza's nor Jeanne's though..."

... cool.

"And it's a she."

"huh?"

"Every weapon's a she."

... sure....

"So what's her name?"

"!?"

"I mean you can't just call it pandora... that's taken..."

"... fine... Erika perhaps?"

as I muttered to Erika, Pandora's box glowed golden. and soon a girl, a head shorter than me, with blonde hair in a ponytail, emerges...

NOPE NOPE NOPE, THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR ME! I said as I rushed out of the bar and... areh? isn't this the school's hall?

"Ah Liam, you've just arrived, I was about to call you to ask about my books!"

"Ah here you go Har-- Okumura-san. Thank you"

"It's fine. I've never thought that you can make those kinds of expressions, I guess people do change... Anyway, study hard, wouldn't want to re-do a grade now would you?"

... HELL RIGHT I WOULDN'T!

===

and so school goes on without a hitch...