A Week

"Are you sure you don't want me to make the door taller?" I ask again, carefully wiping away the dust and splinters caught on her horns. "It won't take much, and I can always give some excuse about me getting taller."

Akeno grimaces. "It's fine. I'll-, um, I'll get used to it." She says, a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks as she turned the door frame she just broke with her horns. "Just gotta remember to duck every time."

I give her an encouraging pat on the head. "Good luck."

She just huffs.

It's been two months since our impromptu break. We're back in Kuoh now, and Akeno's having a little trouble adjusting to her horns. They'd grown substantially during our time away, and she's become quite the risk to all the door frames in the house. I mean, I can just regrow the wood and all, but still.

Not much happened during our time away. Or, at least, nothing too important.

More Devils came trying to recruit me or learn from me, but since I was away, they couldn't really do much. Rias and Sona are also helping keep everything in check. The former especially; the poor girl looked like she was about to keel over when I greeted her once I came back into the town.

My big sister's just about finished her third year of University, and she's decided to take a gap year. "She got tired," My mom had told me, before she grinned. "And she joined Dulio-kun when he went back to Italy."

That surprised me, though not as much as it probably should. The two had gotten quite close in the short time they were together. Dulio may be taking her back to his homeland, but I know he's careful enough to not let her come into contact with the supernatural.

Then again, even if she does, I know she'll be fine. Even if she's unaware, I've given her some…'presents'. Just in case something happens.

Nothing happened in school either. People thought it was strange that we just disappeared for two months, but some hypnosis courtesy of the two Devil heirs helped stave off any suspicion from the public. And it isn't as if we need to go to school in the first place; we can easily skip years if we want to.

Team Slash/Dog's doing quite well too. They kept up their training even when I was gone. Their team also grew by a member; with Kanada happily integrating into their ranks. He's still a little unused to fighting, but his mastery over curses does him well.

Misla and Saraiorg are doing great. Now that she has the little trinket I made to help separate her mind from her Demonic Energy, she's practically cured as long as she's wearing it. But she's also doing her own training to eventually cease her reliance on the trinket. She's even getting therapy last I heard.

Honestly, Kuoh's doing just fine. And so are Kyoto and Hibana Village. There were minor issues here and there, but that's natural for any sort of human establishment.

My town didn't implode. My people didn't disappear. All the work I've done isn't gone, and have remained despite my lack of contribution.

The systems I've set up in this place, they've remained strong.

It's honestly kind of amazing. And humbling. I might be Kuoh's mayor, but that doesn't mean Kuoh will immediately collapse without me. It can stand on its own, and the people will keep this place alive.

That aside,

"Does it feel okay?" I ask. She blinks at me in confusion. "The trinket I gave you." I explain further.

"Ah." She gives the pendant around her neck a quick press. "It's fine. It…feels weird to not see my horns in the mirror, but I think I'll get used to it."

I nod. "Tell me if it has any problems." She nods back, and I smile.

Her horns have gotten big by now. They're about the size of her hand, stretching from her head and beginning to twist around her forehead. They're thick, and extremely sturdy. She'd literally broken my fingers once by ramming her horns onto my fist.

And to think that it still hasn't finished growing. Of course, it'll take decades of growth if we let her horns develop naturally. But Primal Energy can solve that; the more she absorbs into her body, the more she physically changes, and the more those horns grow.

That isn't the only change she's gone through though. She's broken through many 'thresholds' during our break, and her body's changed in various minor ways.

But perhaps most of all is her nervous system. They've grown in size, turning into thick cable-like channels that run all throughout her body. It raises her impressive agility even higher, and it allows her to easily channel all the static electricity running through her body.

She isn't the only one who's changed, of course. I've broken through my own share of 'thresholds'. I've experienced my own set of changes.

Most are minor, but the largest change involves my skin. After an excruciating night of forced evolution, my skin had grown thicker. Like, unnaturally thick. The different layers that make up my skin have all bulked up, essentially turning into a layer of natural kevlar that's overlaid on my flesh.

My skin is extremely durable now, capable of shrugging off blades of iron and steel without getting cut. It's also a great insulator, allowing me to resist all sorts of environmental effects.

Which means, yes, I'm naturally resistant to lightning. The expression Akeno had when she first saw me shrug off her lightning is priceless. Of course, she then made me eat my own words when she instead focused all her efforts into a single spot, melting through my skin and flesh with a single powerful bolt.

Fun times.

A good minute later, I've fully polished her horns. The pearly white almost seems to glitter in the dim light of our room. "Thanks." She mutters, grimacing again as she looks at the door. The frame's fixed now—I regrew the wood as I was cleaning her horns—but she can still see the residues left behind by my Senjutsu.

"No problem." I say, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Wanna go grab a bite? Mom and dad said they'll be out for a little while, and I don't think we have anything in the fridge."

She hums. "Maybe some pizza? I haven't had any in a while."

"Got it." I walk over to my desk to grab my wallet, and then stop. "Want me to just order some?" I ask. Because we've just got home, and neither of us are really in any mood to do anything but laze around at home.

She thinks about it for a good moment, before she nods. I smile. "Alright. I'll give them a call real quick." I grab my phone instead, and I quickly dial in a familiar set of numbers. The call picks up, and as I've always done with Japanese pizza, I just ask for every single type of meat to put on the pizza.

As I do, Akeno ungracefully plops herself onto the bed. Then, once I'm finished with the order, I join her, dropping my face straight onto the pillow.

And together, we sigh in relief, finally remembering the joy of having actual bedding. Because as nice as it is to sleep under the stars, the comfort of the mattress is just an experience we can't let go of.

We lay there for a good while, staring at nothing in particular. She's once again hugging my arm, and her horns are slightly digging into my shoulder, but I give them no mind. I don't really have anything to think about at the moment, and neither does Akeno it seems.

Eventually though, she asks, "What're we going to do with the intruders?"

I stare, not quite understanding what she means. But then the dots in my mind connect, and I realize she's talking about the group of Fallen just hiding out of town. They're subordinates of Satanael; the cadre realizing that he can't send another member of his Team Abyss, lest they end up dead.

"I don't have any plans." I say truthfully. "You?"

"I want to kill them all." She says simply, her tone carefully even as she glares at the ceiling. "They smell disgusting, and their souls even more so."

I shrug. "If you want to do that, go ahead." I say. "Satanael's already an enemy. Might as well make it official and kill all his underlings."

She nods. "How about the humans working with him?"

For a moment, a vicious smile lifts my lips. "We'll deal with that later."

She hums. "Alright." She looks at me. "I'll try to be as clean as I can."

"It's fine." I grin at her. "Go wild."

She smiles beautifully.

We spend the next several minutes just talking. She recites an old folktale her mother used to tell her when she was young, of a thing that rests in the gap between the stars, eternally dreaming and giving dreams. I, in turn, tell her a story from my old life. A story of a man with a star as his heart and a mind capable of giving life to mere metal.

Then, the doorbell rings, and we both descend to find our pizza delivered to our doorstep. I thank the delivery man, and with a bottle of soda and some complimentary sauce, we begin eating.

And maybe it's a little inappropriate. There's an invasion on our doorstep, and here we are eating pizza and laughing about my big sister.

Then again, we don't really care. We're already prepared.

Last time, we let Satanael waltz into Kuoh. Because of our complacency, we let Kuoh get damaged. The damage was minor, perhaps, but it was damage still.

But that also means Satanael, and by extension his allies, have slighted us. We can attack back as much as we want, and we can always explain it away. Maybe the Grigori will look at us with suspicion. Maybe the magicians will refuse any further dealings with us because of this,

That won't matter. We don't need them anyway.

This time, we'll be the ones on the assault. We already have a plan, and it's as simple as it gets.

Kill them all. Leave no stone unturned. Attack with unrelenting force, and bulldoze through all before they can even think.

For now though, they won't know anything. Those Fallen just outside Kuoh will stay alive for just a little longer. Satanael will continue experimenting on Sacred Gears for just a while more. Augusta will plot for just a little more.

We'll give them a week. And then, we'll make sure the only thing they fear is us.