Scarlet 20

Scarlet 20

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Commissioned by Sivantic

Wordcount: 2500

…

Rias lounged on the sofa, while Irina stared at her.

My childhood friend was back after several years, and thankfully no longer wearing a skintight outfit and out to disrupt Kuoh’s peace, so we could catch up.

You say that, but you’re still staring at her boobs.

Quiet, Ddraig, tight sweaters are just a single rank below leotards. The fact that I’m managing to stop myself fifty percent of the time is a win.

“So, the two of you really are together, huh?” Irina muttered beneath her breath. I wouldn’t have caught the words without my enhanced hearing. As such my own strength was used against me, as my childhood’ friend’s affections was made more obvious. You have a girlfriend already Taylor! Calm your libido down! Missed opportunities aren’t something to lament! “Ah, sorry! I mean, uhm, this place hasn’t changed, huh?”

“Mhmm.” I took a seat on the sofa and Rias moved to place her bare calves on my thighs, while she kept her gaze on her magazine. Mustn’t touch. Mustn’t ogle. Girl who liked you is right here. It would be terrible and maybe even malicious to by affectionate now. “Mom and dad didn’t change much, even though they started getting more and more money.”

I lied with ease about the financial circumstances of our home. I didn’t exactly want to advertise that I was the one calling the shots on investments, since I knew the general trends going on thanks to my past life. We weren’t wealthy enough to live lavishly, but both mom and dad pursued hobbies since everything was paid for.

No one needed to know that.

“Oh, how are they? I missed them loads!” Irina’s smile took me off-guard for a second, as I clearly saw the younger tomboy I played with as a kid. The same exuberance and joy at being treated like family was there. Her parents were rarely around. I thought that it was because they were office workers before, but now I knew that they were exorcists who fought for Kuoh before being recalled. Well, either way, they didn’t spend much time with Irina. “Has Oto-san gotten his promotion?”

I was about to set up a simple lie when Rias’s legs suddenly exerted a smooth, soft pressure… further up my body than I expected.

It took me a second to realize why.

Aha-ha. Gremories and their greed are as strong as I remember.

Irina called my father “Oto-san” and that elicited a reaction from Rias in an instant.

I needed to decisively take care of the situation.

“Both my parents found different jobs. They’ve decided to work to live instead of live to work.” I clarified the situation with a nod, but not anything more affectionate than that. I was no very aware of the how Rias was peeking at me from the corner of her magazine. “But I’m sure you didn’t come to talk to me about them, did you?”

That wasn’t smooth at all. You just jerked the entire train over to another set of tracks. You’re lucky this girl isn’t that bright.

Oi, don’t say mean things about my friend.

You’re not denying it, huh?

If my memory was correct, Irina wasn’t exactly brightest of students, and needed some help for the tests we had in elementary. She wasn’t dumb, but she needed time to think things through logically, especially since she was naturally talented when it came to reacting instinctively. In short, Irina was born and bred warrior, meant to be a soldier of the Church, and if not for my efforts when we were children… we would’ve definitely come to blows.

I was glad to have avoided that outcome.

“Yes. Ise-kun… why didn’t you tell me about your power? About Kuoh? About all of this? We kept in touch… but you didn’t mention a thing!” Irina frowned and her grip on her skirt tightened. “I could’ve helped you so much. The Church would’ve helped against all the troubles you faced… even if they made a mistake with Asia.”

It felt wrong to use Asia’s circumstances as leverage against the Church, but I had no choice.

The Church was a massive organization that spanned across the world. It had hundreds of millions of followers, and they drew from the massive pool of manpower with gusto. They had Exorcists, Holy Sword Wielders, contact with Heaven, and Sacred Gears at their disposal. Not only that, but the message that the organization carried was that they spoke in God’s name and offered true, eternal salvation to their followers.

Irina and her partner had every reason to go against whatever I said, since they literally fought for the sake of their eternal souls.

Asia’s excommunication was all the credibility I had in their eyes, given my affiliation with Gremory and Sitri.

“I didn’t want to involve you, Irina. It was dangerous and I never knew that you were an Exorcist.” I debated explaining further, but decided against it. While appealing to Irina’s affection spread a bitter taste across my mouth, my circumstances didn’t allow me to do otherwise. “If I knew, I would’ve asked for your help first, especially since I think that Asia’s excommunication is involved with the Holy Swords being stolen.”

Rias pouted at me due to my words, while Irina blushed. Rias in nothing besides shorts and a thin shirt was a sight to behold, especially with he arms crossed, but I preserved. It was more difficult than expected, as she decided to start shifting her legs to and fro over my tracksuit pants, but I somehow managed even with Irina crossing her arms and clarifying the tightness of her sweater even further.

You’re not managing, Taylor. You’re rising right in front of your childhood friend.

Shut up, Ddraig!

Thankfully, both Rias and Irina both stopped whatever they were doing as soon as they parsed my last set of words.

“Eh? What do you mean, Ise-kun?”

“Yes. How is Asia-chan involved with this?”

The two exchanged looks at my question, but before whatever battle they were fighting popped up again, I decided to speak up.

“Everything is ending up here in Kuoh. The stolen Holy Swords, the mad researcher, the Fallen, and the exorcist. It’s like someone’s building up the perfect bomb to set off a war.” This was known territory of two Pillar Families, both of whom had Satans, and who had siblings of Satans present. The number of variables being pushed in this direction screamed of someone setting it all up. “In the span of three months, this town has had half-a-dozen incidents occur at once that involves every Faction that was in the Great War… so… I think they’re all connected because someone is shepherding all the problems they can find right here.”

My gut was telling me that this was enemy action.

After decades of peace and nothing happening, Kuoh is beset by event after event without pause. In a single semester, I went from having a somewhat ordinary school life, to having to fight Fallen, fight in Rating Games, get a Familiar, fight an Exorcist twice, and now there were Holy Swords missing and the one who has them is most likely in Kuoh as well.

I outlined all this to both Rias and Irina and soon enough they were both sitting properly and thinking properly.

Nice save with that pillow, Taylor.

Thanks, Ddraig.

“Now that you’ve outlined it as such, I can’t help but think it is obvious now. There have been far too many coincidences occurring.” Rias snapped her fingers and her Familiar came to be. A bat-creature that transformed into a plain, scarlet-haired woman in maid’s dress. She instructed the woman to prepare tea and fetch her phone before speaking to both of us again. “It comes to reason that this current situation is also some way of sparking a war.”

“It almost already did.” Irina spoke with a frustrated grimace upon her face. She leaned forward on her knees and sighed. She shook her head while her eyes narrowed. It was the look she always had when she did her best to think instead of react. It was refreshing to see.  “If Ise-kun hadn’t managed to make everyone calm down and wait, I’m sure that we’d have fought… and that could’ve led to war.”

“Exactly. We’re being played against one another, while independent variables keep getting piled onto the town.” Stolen national relics. Strategic assets. Deployment of specialist teams armed to the death. Wandering problems just being ushered in Kuoh’s general direction. “We need to find out who benefits from it… and I think it’s fair to say the Fallen are the ones up to something, since they benefit the most from the Church coming to blows with Hell.”

Asia was set to die in Kuoh, and those after her were Fallen. I was sure that her mistake, if it was even a mistake, would’ve been researched eventually and she’d have been recovered. When the Church look for Twilight Healing, they’ll find her trail cold in Gremory and Sitri territory.

The same went for Freed. He was a former Exorcist, but he still used the weapons provided by the Church. His weapons and their effects were that of the soldiers and warriors of the Church. So, even if he died and didn’t kill a single Devil, he’d leave behind an attacker in the Church’s uniform and its equipment.

Now there was a mad scientist without ethics who was waiting and studying stolen relics in Kuoh. The Holy Swords resurfacing in Devil territory would’ve been strange and increased tensions, but now they were in the hands of someone who the Church excommunicated, but who had been studying how to let anyone wield Holy Swords. That would be a technique that many Devils with Peerage would be interested in.

The outcome was the same whatever we did to deal with each issue: the tension between the Church and Hell kept rising.

The only ones who benefit from this are the ones who’ve been absent the moment they stumbled across me: The Fallen.

I leaned forward and met Irina’s gaze as well as Rias’s.

“No one here wants another Great War. Neither Hell nor the Church.” Both instantly nodded at my words without a moment’s hesitation. Irina and Rias were thankfully both inclined towards keeping the peace. I didn’t know how Sitri would react, but I was sure that Irina’s partner wouldn’t have listened to my words. “So… we need to work together until we can find irrefutable evidence meaning that we need to take Valper Galilei alive and interrogated by BOTH Hell and the Church.”

That’s a tall order, Taylor.

I knew that it was, and so did Irina and Rias, because both of them frowned and locked gazed at one another.

However, I was counting on the lack of sudden declarations of enmity, and for both sides to be reasonable.

This wasn't Brockton Bay.

There were grudges aplenty between both sides, but both sides weren’t being spurned to fight and keep fighting by a dying alien race. In this world, there’s been peace for centuries since the last war, and humanity has practically developed without interference from the supernatural side even during two World Wars. When their interests coincided, when they only fought through influencing mortals, they had a fragile peace.

A peace that I intended to keep at any cost.

No matter what, I wasn’t going to see humanity get nearly wiped out again.

…

Irina left after promising to contact her superiors, and discuss my points.

It was unlikely that they’d believe me, due to my affiliation with Devils, but I preferred to hedge my bets.

We gained breathing room if it worked, and we didn’t lose anything if it didn’t.

As I waved Irina goodbye, I felt a tug on my sleeve.

Asia stared up at me in a tracksuit.

“Is everything okay, Ise-kun?” Despite being excommunicated, Asia still believed in the Church. Originally, I thought it was just some subtle zealotry, but after taking everything into account, and considering the fact that she was ousted from her family by an outside force… she was victim who yearned for her family. “There won’t be any problems?”

I gave her a nod and a small smile.

“There shouldn’t be. Irina’s very reliable and persistent, and we’re going to keep staying out of each other’s way.”

“Oh, thank the Lord.” Asia sighed and relief and held her hands together in prayer. A smile formed on her face as she gave her thanks. While I was still hesitant to throw my lot in with the Church, since I’d already lived one life with a supposedly-beneficent superbeing, it was easier to see the appeal now. The skintight outfits? Quiet, Ddraig “I’m so happy to know that we can all work together for the sake of peace.”

“It’s in everyone best interest to keep the peace, so everyone’s willing to bend the rules a little.” I lied about how much rules were being bent. It was likely that this was only possible because of how young everyone involved was. If there were more zealots involved, or maybe a Devil who fought in the Great War, then things would be far more dire. I was able to take advantage of the younger generation of both sides, and I barely succeeded because I knew Irina. This could’ve been much worse. “I think if we prepare correctly, we’ll find out the true culprits, and even get your excommunication revoked.”

Asia’s eyes widened at that, and without even asking me to explain, she surged forward and wrapped me in an embrace.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Asia’s eyes quickly filled with happy tears. The amount of trust the girl had in me was absolutely staggering. She truly believed that I was going to accomplish what I just said. There wasn’t a single shred of doubt in her mind that I was going to go against the Church’s decision, win, and return her to her family, despite the fact she didn’t even know all of the possible details about her situation herself. “Thank you so much, Ise-kun! I’ll pray for your success every day!”

“Thanks. I’ll be counting on you.” I didn’t know what to do for a second, so I simply placed a hand on her head and tussled her hair. I had difficulties dealing with her when we first met, but the wonders of having a girlfriend allowed me to treat the innocent, convent-raised girl as innocently as she needed to be treated. “Until you go back… I hope you don’t mind healing Rias and Sitri’s Peerages. It’s not wrong since you’re not part of the Church, right?”

Asia froze for a second, before sighing against my side.

I waited for the response, but I was unprepared for it.

“I’ll do it… for you, Ise-kun.”

Guh.

I can treat this innocent girl innocently because I have a girlfriend, my ass! Stop kidding yourself, Taylor, and man the fuck up!