( Date : September 19th 2023 )
( Location : Quadra Island )
It was now the next day, as Yuki sat on her bed with the feeling of accomplishment in her heart, she still couldn't believe she was finally with her friends again. It was great to have her friends again, but was everything she'd done over the four years to achieve this moment worth it?
As she looked at her scared hands and recalled the times they were stained with blood, she couldn't see herself feeling regretful. Did her selfishness truly outweigh all reason?
Yuki shook the thought from her head when she heard a knock on her door. "Yuki, come eat breakfast!" Isao called out from the other side of the door. Yuki was gravely confused, they had discussed that they needed to figure out how to get food the night prior. Did they figure it out already?
Yuki swiftly walked to the door and opened it to see Isao gesturing to her to hurry up as he waited at the top of the stairs.
"How did you guys get food?" Yuki looked at Isao curiously as they began to descend.
"Nyoko and Toku know how to grow plants within a few hours, so they prepared some veggies and fruit for us. I guess Abaddon saw how hard they were working to grow enough, so he decided to stop by hell and get some other ingredients for them," Isao explained with a grin. It was an oddly nice gesture of Abaddon to help prepare food for all of them since the day prior he seemed to want absolutely zero communication with any of them.
When the duo entered the kitchen they saw everyone else talking at the large kitchen table as they indulged in their assortments of fruit and sandwiches.
"Is that more suited to your taste princess?" Abaddon asked mockingly in an annoyed tone of voice as he watched Kurai eat. Kurai just hummed happily with a soft nod as she swallowed her spoonful.
"Mhm! This is what good cottage cheese tastes like, not the shit you tried to offer me," Kurai mocked in return as she continued to eat her cup full of plain cottage cheese and apple sauce with crushed-up pecans.
"Your taste is shit," Abaddon retorted with a roll of his eyes, but his tone sounded as if he was hiding that he was offended by her words.
"Ok old man," Kurai responded, they both glared at each other in annoyance with their back-and-forth attitude. Kurai enjoyed her food simple yet sweet, whereas Abaddon on the other hand who was eating his cottage cheese with both onions and chives with a side of toasted whole wheat bread seemed to be the opposite.
It was evident that Kurai's insult wasn't towards Abaddon's age, but rather to his taste being more on the mature side of things.
"I respect her courage, but isn't it stupid to challenge a demon general?" Toku whispered to everyone else, though he struggled to express his emotions his choice of words showed that he was probably as baffled as everyone else at the table who bore witness to Kurai bravely stepping on thin ice.
"The Lady of the house has to assert her authority," Ryuji responded with a shrug as he sipped his cup of coffee. Yuki was studying the kitchen when she realized Abaddon brought them a lot more than just the simple ingredients Isao spoke of. There was silverware, napkins, cups, a coffee maker, and a tea kettle.
Do they really have normal things like this in hell?
Keiko watched Abaddon and Kurai bickering with each other over their taste in food before speaking up, "You think they like each other? They're like an old married couple,"
"You're foolish to even think of such a preposterous assumption, I would never fancy nor enjoy even a second with such a ridiculously immature and vulgar little brat," Abaddon spoke quickly, his words like venom as he attempted to shut down any idea of him possibly liking Kurai in the slightest. To him, he was simply being polite making sure everyone was satisfied with their meal, to assume his emotions in such a way was nothing short of an insult, and he couldn't help but retort back if Kurai wished to challenge him.
An angry and offended laugh poured from Kurai's lips, she attempted to stay silent as she finished her food. Although she was okay with bickering with him, she knew she could take the conversation to a new height if she responded to his words with the things going through her mind.
She'll definitely make him regret it though. After saying such words instead of a simple "No", she'll never let him even try to speak to her. She was okay with rejection, she didn't have feelings for him either after all.
But to respond like that?
Kurai is petty, and she was aware of that. Yuki is the only one to know how petty Kurai can get, but soon so will everyone else in the home once they witness her attitude and neglect towards Abaddon.
Isao glanced at everyone awkwardly as tension rose and he began to think of the things he should say to relieve it. "So uh... My Goddess, Astria, said we have the day off to adjust and catch up with each other right? How about we spar each other?" Isao forced a smile as he hoped his idea was enough to distract everyone from the previous conversation.
"Spar?" Nyoko repeated as curiosity rose in her.
"Yeah, we don't have to go super hard on each other, but enough to show what we learned," Isao added as he quickly gulped down the rest of his freshly squeezed orange juice.
Keiko's eyes lit up in amusement as she pondered the idea. "So like a friendly tournament? Do we have to use our main weapons?" She asked, carefully standing from her seat and bringing her plate to the sink.
"You have other weapons?" Yuki questioned.
Keiko nodded before responding properly, "Yup, it got a little annoying wielding a big axe all the time without speeding myself up too much. So I asked Clemens to let me have two throwing knives."
Yuki's eyes lit up at her words, she always found throwing knives to be cool, so just maybe Keiko could teach her how to use them if possible. "Can we see them?"
Just as Yuki finished speaking, a circular linked chain appeared in her hand. On each side of the gold chain were two throwing knives in a similar shape to the clock hands on her axe. The sudden appearance surprised Yuki, Keiko had summon the chained blades with ease. Though Yuki would be embarrassed to admit, she still often struggled with summoning objects other than her katana.
If she wanted to summon anything else she bound to herself, it would take her a few seconds to a minute to do so. Every object needed concentration, not that she had much to summon anyway.
"Why are they on a chain?" Seina asked curiously as she studied the dangling blades.
Keiko then performed a demonstration by carefully attaching the chain to her thick red belt, as the large clock-shaped buckle clung to the chains like a sturdy magnet. "So it can attach to my belt like this, the knives come off easily with a tug and cling back onto it just as easily." She explained, pulling one of the knives from the chain before reattaching it.
Both Yuki and Isao watched her demonstration in pure awe.
"Is it some high-tech thing?" Den asked curiously, receiving a shrug in return from Keiko.
"Honestly, I never asked. Clemens gave them to me, so I just rolled with it," Keiko explained. Ryuji then stood up from his seat and pushed in his chair.
"Should we go outside so you can all spar? I'm willing to make a bet," Ryuji wore a playful smirk on his lips as he spoke, glancing at the other guardians and Abaddon to see who'd be willing to take up his bet.
They all followed after Ryuji and stood up from their seats, Abaddon being the first to speak up. "Very well, I'll entertain your offer."
Comments (0)
See all