Chapter 46 — A Pair of Madmen

Asia

Issei-san had a serious face again.

That was how I noticed it first.

Not because he was quiet. Issei-san was rarely quiet for long.

Not because he stopped talking to Matsuda-san and Motohama-san either. If anything, he was trying a little too hard to sound normal, and that only made the strain show more clearly.

I sat two rows over from him, close enough to hear when I wanted to and close enough to worry even when I tried not to.

He was supposed to be listening to class.

Instead he kept looking down at his desk between notes, like he was apologizing to somebody in his head.

Probably Rias-san.

That made my chest feel complicated in ways I did not want to examine too closely.

I always felt that with Issei-san anything involving Rias-San was a competition I was always going to lose. 

The classroom buzzed around us with the usual morning noise.

Chairs scraped. Books shut and reopened.

Murayama-san and Katase-san were laughing about something near the windows. Kiryuu-san adjusted her glasses and looked far too awake for this early in the day. Kusari-san sat quietly, as she usually did, but she seemed more settled than she had previously, or maybe only more contained.

I looked back at Issei-san.

Still serious.

Still thinking.

Then Motohama-san said, loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, “Are you thinking about Rias-senpai’s oppai again?”

I closed my eyes.

My serious-faced Issei-san had returned to being himself.

Issei-san answered immediately, which was somehow even worse.

“If you’re comparing them, then Buchou wins in shape, but Akeno-senpai has—”

I stood up and pinched his cheek before he could finish.

He made a muffled sound and looked at me in startled betrayal.

“Ahia-khan, whi arr yoo pinni mu?”

I did not answer at first.

I hadn’t meant to move that quickly. I just… had.

Before I knew it, I was beside his desk, fingers in his cheek, staring down at him while he looked back with wide brown eyes and no shame worth speaking of.

Well. A little shame.

Not enough.

I knew that I shouldn’t get upset that just hearing about Rias-san brought him out of his funk, but I couldn’t help it.

I was upset that it wasn’t my name that could bring him back to his normal mood.

A few classmates laughed.

Motohama-san looked delighted that I had joined the scene instead of ending it.

Matsuda-san groaned and put his head on his desk like the world had wronged him personally.

Kiryuu-san, of course, noticed everything.

“Well,” she said, pushing her glasses up with one finger, “Asia-san seems jealous.”

“I’m not!” I said, letting go of his cheek at once.

Too fast. Much too fast.

Because that only made Murayama-san grin. Katase-san too.

Issei-san rubbed his face and gave me the saddest expression he could manage, which would have been more effective if he had not been discussing breasts in class ten seconds earlier.

“A-Asia…”

“I-I just didn’t think Issei-san should be discussing breasts in class!”

“That was Motohama’s fault!”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Motohama-san said.

“You started it!”

Kiryuu-san gave me a thoughtful look.

Then, because she had no mercy and no respect for peace, she said, “Asia, if you pinch him like that when you’re jealous, you’re going to spoil him.”

I froze.

“I-I’m not jealous!”

The room’s attention sharpened immediately.

That was my second mistake.

Kiryuu-san smiled the way she did when she had already won and now only wanted to enjoy the process of proving it. “Then you don’t mind him talking about Rias-senpai’s body?”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

“That is not the point!”

“Then what is the point?” she asked.

I looked at Issei-san for help.

He looked at me with the exact expression of a man whose house was already on fire and who had decided another spark could not possibly matter.

Help me Issei-san!

Kiryuu-san leaned her elbow on the desk and lowered her voice only enough to make it feel more dangerous.

“You need to be careful, Asia. Boys who talk like that need managing.”

“I don’t need managing!” Issei-san protested.

Kiryuu-san ignored him completely.

I knew that tone. I knew that look. It meant she was about to say something terribly educational and terribly inappropriate.

“Kiryuu-san,” I said weakly.

“Yes?”

“Please don’t tell me anything strange right now.”

“That depends on what you define as strange.”

“It depends on whether I turn red and want to hide under my desk,” I said.

She considered that.

“Then probably yes.”

Issei-san pointed at her. “See!? You admit it!”

Kiryuu-san’s glasses flashed. “I admit to helping my friend survive the company she keeps.”

Murayama-san laughed. Katase-san nodded once in approval.

I looked helplessly at Kusari-san.

She had one hand against her cheek and the flattest expression I had ever seen. It took me a second to realize what it meant.

She was trying not to get involved.

Kiryuu-san saw me look.

And turned on her next.

“Kusari-san,” she said, “you agree, right? He needs supervision.”

Kusari-san blinked once. “That is true, but I doubt any one is insane inough to figure out how to manage it.”

A few of the people around us chuckled at her comment. 

Even I laughed before I could stop myself.

Issei-san put a hand to his chest like he had been stabbed. “Why are all of you ganging up on me?”

“Because you deserve it,” Kiryuu-san said.

That was when I realized the tightness in his face from earlier had eased.

Only a little.

He was still carrying something heavy. I could see that. But for a few moments the ordinary nonsense of class had dragged him back into the room with the rest of us.

That mattered more than I wanted to admit.

“By the way, Ise. What are you going to do about the plan for karaoke and bowling?”

Motohama-san asked after everyone relaxed.

Issei-san was planning a day during the weekend for our friends in class to hang out!

Koneko-chan and Yuuto-san were invited as well.

Koneko-chan seemed eager to be invited. Issei-san looked like he thought that she would decline for sure.

The problem was Yuuto-san…

“Asia, Kirsuari-san and Kiryuu are going. So is Koneko-chan. We invited Yuuto-san but she isn’t sure yet.”

Issei-san said

“Uooooooooo! Asia-chan, Kusari-san, Yuuto-san, and even Toujou Koneko-chan! I’m pumped up with this!”

Matsuda-san shouted. 

He looks like he’s even shedding tears…

Kiryuu-san smacked him on the head quickly. 

“I’m sorry for going as well.”

She looked upset.

“Fu. You’re just Asia-chan and Kusari-san’s tag along. We already have a glassing wearing person in our group so you’re not needed.”

“I’d appreciate it if I wasn’t put in the game category as the guy called perverted glasses. If we can only have one glasses wearing person than he should be left out.”

“You don’t understand! Motohama’s glasses are special because with them he can tell the exact measurements of a woman’s body!!”

Kiryuu-san smirked after hearing Matsuda-san.

“Oh? And you think he’s the only one who can do something like that?”

The three boys looked shocked.

Kusari-san looked slightly interested and ready to be disappointed. 

Kiryuu-san stared at their crotches for a moment.

T-This seems l-lewd.

“Hmm yes…., I see.”

Issei-san seemed to realize something was wrong. 

He quickly covered his crotch and Motohama-san and Matsuda-san did the same.

Kiryuu-san’s glasses shone.

“Fufufu. With my glasses I can tell a guy's size. From length to circumference.”

Kusari-san sighed and looked sad that she had bothered to listen to the conversation. 

Kiryuu-san put her hand on Issei-san’s shoulder and smirked.

“Good for you. It seems that your size is quite big, but not too much. Too large can scare some women but you still need size. You shouldn’t have any issues making Rias-senpai and Asia happy.”

Issei-san looks distressed.

Is that something bad? She said Issei-san would make us happy, so why does he seem upset?

“You’re lucky, Asia.”

“Wha-“

“Geez, it can’t be helped. I’m saying that…

Kiryuu-san leaned to whisper into my ear.

“It means that Issei has a big co-“

Issei-san pulled me to his side quickly.

“Hey! Don’t say weird things to Asia!”

“Anyway. Then everyone except Yuuto-san is going, right?”

Kiryuu-san ignored him and changed the subject.

“No, I will try to make Yuuto-san come as well, somehow.”

Issei-san seemed determined.

By lunch, he had that serious face again.

By the last class of the day, so did I.

Because no matter how normal school felt for a few minutes at a time, I couldn’t ignore Issei-san’s mood.

And when the final bell rang, Issei-san was out of his seat too fast.

Kiryuu-san saw that too.

“Going somewhere secret?” she asked.

He flinched just enough to betray himself.

That was answer enough.

Before he could recover, she looked at me and said, “Asia, you’ll need to keep an eye on him more if he’s sneaking around like this. He’s probably doing something that you’ll scold him for later. 

“I don’t always—”

“You do,” Kusari-san said.

I turned.

She had already picked up her bag and stood from her desk.

For a second, her eyes met mine, and there was something unexpectedly determined in them.

Then it was gone.

And class ended.

Kusari

The fake cross felt wrong against my skin.

Not painful. Not enough to hurt. Just wrong in the way borrowed clothes usually are when you have to wear them too long and pretend they belong.

We had changed after normal club activity ended.

Priest robes for Issei and Saji-san.

A sister’s habit for Koneko and I.

It was altered enough to fit and plain enough not to draw more attention than the clothes already did by existing.

The fabric hid more than a school uniform. It also made movement irritating in ways I was increasingly prepared to resent.

We walked through side streets and quieter roads where fewer people would notice us.

Evening had started its slow descent by then.

The sunlight was thinning. Shadows were lengthening. Shops were closing their shutters. A bicycle rolled past once and left the street empty behind it.

No sign of Freed.

No sign of Excalibur.

No sign of anything except the same frustration we had been circling for days.

Saji-san exhaled through his nose. “Nothing again.”

He sounded bored.

That was partly performance. The tension in his shoulders gave him away.

Issei, walking a little ahead and slightly to the side, muttered, “We can’t keep coming up empty.”

Koneko didn’t answer.

Her attention had been farther ahead for the last half minute.

That was enough to make me sharpen too.

The town’s ordinary sounds receded.

Footsteps. Wind. A distant car. A dog barking somewhere it couldn’t matter.

Under that, something else.

A wrongness.

Then Yuuto stopped.

That was what confirmed it.

She had been walking point for most of the last stretch without making a show of it. Now she halted so abruptly that Issei nearly walked into her back.

“Yuuto-senpai,” Koneko said.

The word had barely left her mouth when the killing intent hit.

Cold.

Direct and off putting. Like something inhuman or wrong was directing it at us.

Saji-san shouted first.

“Above!”

We all looked up.

A white-haired priest fell from the roofline with a sword in hand and a grin too wide for a human face to carry without looking diseased.

Freed Sellzen.

The mad priest looked even more disgusting that he has been described.

“I’ve been enjoying hunting down real preists, but you fakes will do!”

His blade came down in a white-blue arc.

Yuuto met it.

Steel cracked against steel with a shriek.

Her demonic sword caught the holy blade before it reached any of us, sparks scattering hard enough that Issei hissed just from being near it.

“Freed!” He snapped.

Freed’s grin widened at once. “Is that voice you, Ise-kun? Hah! We really do keep meeting! Does this mean I can kill you now?”

I had one useful second while he talked.

I used it.

A Stillmark formed low and to his left, not on him but where his next retreat step wanted to go if Yuuto pushed him off center.

Freed didn’t notice.

“Boosted Gear”

[Boost!]

Issei activated Boosted Gear at once.

Yuuto drove forward.

Koneko threw her false sister’s outer layer aside and moved to angle right.

Saji-san snapped his arm up, the lizard-face Sacred Gear on his hand opening wide as its black tongue shot forward as he shouted.

“Stretch, my line!”

Freed saw the tongue and clicked his teeth.

“You little extra—”

The tongue veered around his first cut and wrapped his ankle.

His body jerked as Saji’s line tightened and restricted movement.

“Such a pain!”

I moved left, not toward Freed but toward the blind spot of the engagement.

Yuuto wanted his throat.

Issei wanted to help Yuuto.

Saji-san braced to hold him in place.

Koneko wanted a line to break his balance if he tried to rush Issei.

So I gave them a cleaner court.

One whispered pulse of glamour wrongness went into the edge of Freed’s peripheral vision.

I planted a second Stillmark as I prepared to fire a Baleful Bolt

Yuuto rushed in.

Her first pair of demonic swords shattered against Excalibur Rapidly in a single blow, just as I expected.

Freed laughed.

“Normal demonic swords can’t stand against my Excalibur-chan!”

He was fast.

Faster than anyone in the group except Yuuto.

That was why the little wrongness mattered.

As he lunged towards Yuuto, now that she was unarmed I fired my spell at him.

He kicked back away from my attack to create space, his foot hit the weakness I had seeded with Stillmark.

He didn’t notice it due to the glamour I had used on him.

The curse caused his ankle to give slightly and made him stumble for a moment. 

Yuuto recovered and reached him because of it.

One shallow cut opened along the side of his robe.

Not enough.

But enough to wipe the grin off him for a heartbeat.

His eyes flicked to the ground. Then to the air just off his shoulder. Then—too briefly—to me.

He laughed again, lower now.

“Oh? The new one’s annoying too?”

I didn’t answer.

“Uoooo! Koneko-chaaaaaaaan!!”

Issei was flying through the air toward Yuuto.

It seems that Koneko threw him.

“Yuuutttooooo! I will transfer my power to youuuu!”

“Ah! Ise-kun!”

[Transfer!!]

She made more swords.

Dozens.

Their points rose from ground, wall, signpost, fence—every available surface around him bending into her will. Issei shouted and threw Transfer into her.

Power surged. The demonic blades sharpened and grew.

Freed’s grin twisted.

“Tsk!”

He cut through the first wave anyway.

Of course he did.

Excalibur Rapidly lived up to its name.

The blade vanished into vibration and speed until the eye only caught fragments of the white-blue line before another demonic sword broke.

“Nice trick! But with my Excalibur Rapidly I won’t lose in speed to some stupid Devils!”

Koneko cursed under her breath.

Saji-san dug in harder, trying to keep his line on Freed while muttering things that were probably complaints and definitely not prayers.

I shifted again.

Another bolt fired towards his side.

Freed was forced to avoid the attack and moved into an awkward position. 

Yuuto capitalized on it immediately.

Her next rush hit harder.

This time Freed’s sleeve tore. Then his cheek.

Thin cuts.

Enough to make him angry.

Freed destroyed the rest of the demonic swords and went to attack Yuuto. 

He spun and came down hard.

Excalibur crashed into the ground as Saji-san pulled Freed back with his line. 

“I won’t let you!”

“Wait… Shit! Are you absorbing my power?!”

Saji-san’s sacred gear seemed to be drawing power from Freed to himself.

“How’s that! My Sacred Gear is “Absorption Line”! As long as this line is connected to you, your power will be absorbed by my Sacred Gear! Until you’re so weak you lose consciousness!”

That seems like a troublesome ability to deal with.

It would be worse for someone like Issei, Koneko, or Yuuto who fight up close.

“A Dragon-type Sacred Gear is it!? Tsk! Those are the most troublesome type. Their destructive power is in its own class if they manage to grow enough. Man, what a nuisance!”

While he was distracted Koneko dashed in and  hit him in the ribs.

Not full force. Only a glancing blow. It still sent him stumbling back.

He bared his teeth at her. “You little bitch!”

Koneko’s face didn’t move. “…Idiot priest...”

That almost made me smile.

Freed recovered too fast for satisfaction.

And then he noticed the pattern.

Not exactly what I was doing.

That there was a pattern.

The little wrong steps.

The places where his route kept narrowing.

The half-beat delays that let Yuuto catch him deeper than she should have.

His attention snapped to me fully that time.

“Hey. You’re cheating.”

“Obviously,” I said.

That seemed to delight him.

Which was unfortunate.

“Good! I hate boring women!”

Saji-san called out to Yuuto.

“Yuuto-san! The problem with the Excalibur can come after we defeat him! This guy seems like serious trouble, to the point that just being around him makes me shiver with fear! I’ll keep draining his power, so take him down!”

Yuuto created a demonic-sword as she approached Freed again. 

“……I feel reluctant for my fight with Excalibur to go this way, but I also agree to finish you off here. There’s still two more Excaliburs out there to hunt down. I will have to hope that the other two give me a more satisfying fight than this.”

“Ha! I’m the only swordsman in my group, you know? So! The moment you beat me, there wont be anyone who will be wielding those swords! If you kill me, you won’t have any holy-sword battles!”

Freed made a disgusting smile towards Yuuto who narrowed her eyes hearing what he said. 

That was when the old man’s voice reached us from the side street.

“Hmm. Sword Birth, is it? A sacred gear of unlimited number of powers, depending on the welder.”

An old man stepped into view wearing priest clothes that were far too ornate to be a simple priest.

“Is that you old man Valper?” Said Freed. 

Yuuto’s whole body changed.

Every part of her sharpened at once into a single, lethal point.

“Valper,” she said.

The name was spoken with quiet rage.

Valper’s eyes went over all of us in one glance and lingered on Yuuto.

Then, briefly, on me.

Assessment. Mild interest. No recognition.

Let it stay that way.

“Freed,” he said, “what are you doing?”

“I can’t run away because of that weird lizard thing and this whole cursed floor situation!”

I said nothing.

Valper watched the ground around Freed one heartbeat longer than I liked.

Then he dismissed it.

“Hmph. It seems you can’t utilize holy-swords efficiently yet. You need to use the “element” I gave you more wisely. To cut the line you’ll need to gather the holy energy in your body and move it to the blade.”

“Oh”

Freed's holy-sword had started to condense his holy energy. 

“Like this!”

Saji-san’s line was cut and Freed was no longer contained.

“It’s time to escape! Next time we meet, it will be for our ultimate battle!”

“You won't escape!"

Xenovia-san flew over our heads and into Freed. 

There was a loud crash as their blades met and Xenovia-san tried to force Freed back.

“Hello Ise-kun!”

“Irina!”

Irina-san arrived as well. It seemed our allies would be joining the fight.

“Hi again, Fox-chan!”

Irina-san said to me as she moved into position.

I raised a brow at her greeting as she passed.

“Freed Sellzen. Valper Galilei. Both of you are heretics. I will cut you both down in the name of God!”

“Ha! Don’t say the name of the God that I hate! You bitch!”

Freed reached into a pocket and produced a small glowing orb.

“Old-man Valper! We are leaving! We need to regroup with the boss, Kokabiel!”

“Then we should go.”

“See ya Church bitches and Devils!”

Freed threw down the ball of light before we could act. 

White light detonated across the alley and street.

I shut my eyes too late.

When my vision returned, Freed and Valper were already gone.

“After them, Irina!”

“Okay!”

Xenovia-san and Irina-san sprinted after them.

“I’m coming with you! I won’t let Valper Galilei escape my revenge!”

Yuuto instantly followed.

No one asked permission.

No one waited.

That was how we lost them.

And that was how the voice behind us found us with all the force of an execution bell.

“I thought the flow of power was irregular, so I came to see what it was…”

“Well, this is troublesome.”

I turned.

Rias-Buchou stood there.

Beside her, Sona Sitri.

Both wearing the same expression.

Serious enough to stop my heartbeat for half a second.

Issei went pale.

Saji-san went white enough that I wondered if he might actually faint.

Koneko sighed.

I looked at Buchou, then at Kaichou, and understood in one instant that tonight was about to become much worse.