Game of Monsters - 181

Cross Your Heart and Hope

“You think I’m looking at this from the wrong perspective?” Aika asked, scowling down at her notes.

“I’m saying that if you’re this confused about things, maybe you should see if there’s some other way to interpret the information you got,” Joshua explained, leaning back and bringing his cup of tea to his lips. “You told me that the visions aren’t accurate or straightforward, so I imagine it’s likely to be because you’re looking at it wrong. If what you think it is doesn’t make any sense, then maybe try with something that makes at least a little sense.”

“I guess,” she grumbled, taking a deep breath in before sipping at her own drink. Then she sighed and looked down at her own notes. Apparently coming to a decision, she passed a few pages and started scribbling away. Joshua was fairly sure that she’d taken his advice on the matter and was starting from scratch on her interpretation of her latest Divination attempt.

He didn’t ask though, leaving her to it. He knew how it was when the gears clicked into place and you got going. Better not to interrupt her until she came back to the world the rest of them were in. So, with that in mind, he looked to the side, where Jeanne was sitting by herself. She was there with Kiba though, but apparently the guy had gone to the bathroom. They were probably going to leave soon though. They didn’t go on dates at the cafe often and definitely not when he was around, he knew that much.

Glancing around some more, Joshua saw Issei, who was there to work. It’d been a few days since the guy dropped by his place to train, so maybe he should ask if something was going on there. It was likely that he was just taking a break though. He wasn’t that motivated to get stronger, after all. As far as Issei Hyoudou was concerned, life was great, after all. Joshua was happy for him, but he was also concerned, because even if he didn’t bother with the world, the world would find a way to bother with the Red Dragon Emperor.

Well, Joshua could take care of that, if push came to shove, but still.

“He’s going to ask to drop by tomorrow, if you were wondering,” Aika commented, apparently having finished at least part of what she was doing and noticing his gaze on her boyfriend. “He didn’t become too lazy to train yet. We know it’s… important. Sometimes he trains with the devils though. We’re still not closer to a decision on that front than we were before, but they are happy to work with us anyway.”

“That’s good. I wish you didn’t need to worry, but…” Joshua replied with a slightly bitter smile that the girl returned. “Anyway, your classes going well? Ravel asks Agnes every so often, but she doesn’t micromanage everything going on at her association.”

“I imagine that might actually be the case, honestly,” Aika told him, making him blink at her. “At least when it concerns you. The way everyone talks, you’re the most important person in the whole association, Agnes included,” the girl explained to him, giggling a little. “And I didn’t hear that from your Stars. I heard that from practically everyone that mentions you, which is more people than I imagine you’d guess. I’ve also cast a spell or two to get some readings on House of Water. I’m an amateur, so my visions are shitty at best, but you come up a lot anyway.”

Was that like the supernatural version of saying one’s name popped up a lot in a Google search?

Because that’s how it sounded to Joshua’s ears.

“That’s… good to know,” he mumbled, considering this new information and if he should be concerned. Ultimately though, he decided it wasn’t worth thinking about and pushed the matter aside. No, it wasn’t because of how awkward it made him feel and whoever suggested such a thing was a liar.

“Back to your question though, I’m doing alright,” Aika finally answered, beaming at him. She seemed honest enough, so he smiled back at her before she continued. “My teachers are great and the Stars keep talking to me and teaching me whenever we cross paths and they are free. Even if they seem busy, they stop by for a quick chat, check on me and such. Even if Agnes isn’t looking at me through a spyglass at all times, your Stars are. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“That’s good to know,” he replied, very pleased to hear that. “Maybe I should do something nice for them as a thank you,” he added absently considering that idea. He wasn’t sure why Aika’s expression turned wry, but before he could ask, something else crossed his mind. “Also, if you keep the pace you’re going at, you’ll probably be able to join the Star class soon,” he added and the girl visibly perked up at that, looking both excited and surprised. “Granted, you won’t be on their level, but it should be enough that it wouldn't be awkward to have you there.”

“You think so?” Even with the clarification tacked in at the end, Aika looked like he’d told her she was the best Divination magician in the world. It was… endearing, if a little confusing. “Can’t wait to tell Meredith that I’m catching up.”

“That’s not what I-”

“I know, but still,” the girl said with a wicked smile. “It’ll drive her up the wall. She loves her big sister act and I… I don’t hate it, but it gets annoying.”

“That’s fair. I’ll tell them that too. You do know this could backfire spectacularly if and likely when they find out though, right?” he pointed out to which the girl shrugged.

“Sure? But their faces will be worth it. Especially Meredith’s, the rest can know the truth, honestly,” Aika answered and he nodded absently. There was something very… nice about planning a simple prank like that. It felt like his head had been filled with serious thoughts for a while there, even though he had plenty of lighter things going on in between all the… other things.

“I guess we know what to do now,” he replied with a grin that his student matched.

[}-o-{]

“And Domino Mask saves the day again!” he announced exaggeratedly.

“You mean steals something again,” Serafall pointed out dryly.

“Same thing.”

“It’s most definitely not-”

“Thank you, Domino Mask, Levia-tan,” Ravel told them, doing a great grateful damsel-no-longer-in-distress impression as she sputtered more grateful words. Eventually though, an amused Joshua moved beside her and poked her ribs. “Ah!”

“Even I can take only so much praise and ego boosting, Miss,” he said with a grin as wide as they came. “You’re very welcome, but you’d be even more welcome if you let me keep-”

“Nothing,” Serafall interrupted, pushing him away from Ravel. “You’re not keeping that thing. It’s going back to a safe place where it belongs,” she added, chiding him like one might a child. “Don’t let him talk you into giving it to him,” she added towards Ravel who nodded quickly.

“You really are determined to ruin my fun to the best of your ability, aren’t you?” Joshua commented, his expression dropping into unimpressed annoyance. “Why are you like this, Levi? I love you. Why do you have to hurt me so?”

“And I love you,” Serafall replied, beaming back so wholeheartedly that he had to wonder if she’d broken character a little there. She recovered immediately though, her expression shifting into something more mischievous. “But it’s for your own good. It’s also my life mission now to keep you in check, so deal with it.”

“So mean,” he said in mock dismay. “So, Little Miss-”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Ravel protested with a very cute pout. People would love her character, he was sure. Still, he resolutely ignored her and continued speaking. As if Domino would change his mind that easily about something. Especially about something amusing.

“Little Miss,” he repeated, grinning widely. “A pleasure, uh… doing business with you? What do you call this helping people thing again?” he asked, turning towards Serafall.

“What he means is that we’re glad you’re fine and everything is alright again. Don’t be a stranger though, alright? We’d love to keep in contact,” she said, smiling warmly at Ravel as she set up her character as a possible recurring one. Well, he said possible, but it was almost definitely going to happen. They were both sure that Ravel’s character would work great and even if it didn’t, they could still have her do an appearance here and there on occasion. It’d suck if she wasn’t popular though.

Ravel would be sad and sad girls were Joshua’s weakness.

So much ice cream would have to be sacrificed, he could see visions of that without Aika’s Divination magic being necessary.

“And that’s it!” the director called and they relaxed… Or he did, at least. Serafall kept going like nothing had happened and the scene was still running. Ravel, for her part, seemed to straighten up, as if the acting thing hadn’t been a great deal. She was beaming though, which belied quite a bit.

Joshua, for his part, deflated and sighed, feeling exhausted. He liked acting, he really did, but it was also exhausting. It drained his social battery something fierce. He’d need to do nothing but be a hermit for a good few hours before… Actually.

“Do I have anything after this?”

“Ward Class.”

“Fuck me,” he groaned, dropping his head back and wishing to throttle his past self for setting up his day like that. To be fair though, it’d been a particularly draining filming day for no reason at all. It was annoying, but sometimes his social battery decided that he should be more awkward than usual. “Why?”

“Because that’s the deal you struck with House of Water, Mr. Davis?” Ravel asked him and he gave her an unimpressed look. She was already working to return to her secretary persona though, so he was resolutely ignored. “You should have enough time for a cup of tea and some rest, however, if you feel you need it.”

“I do. I really do,” he said with a sigh, moving towards one of the chairs close by that he could take. Once he dropped there, he turned to see an amused Serafall and a Ravel that already had her trusty notepad in hand. “Do we need to do anything else here?” he asked, dreading the answer like it was a fifty-fifty death sentence.

“That was it for today,” Serafall answered and he felt relief flooding his system. Evidently, his exaggerated response was highly amusing, seeing as the Satan started giggling immediately. “And people say I’m a Drama Queen.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, taking the offered cup of tea that one of the assistants brought him. He hadn’t asked, but then again, they already knew him by then, much like the servants at Yasaka’s place. It was kind of odd, that the filming sets felt more like Serafall’s home than the Sitri’s manor or anywhere else. Idly, that realization made him wonder what felt like home with Gabriel.

Exploring, he decided. Things were much more warm and comfortable, cozy when they were out there sightseeing some city or landscape. Odd, that that felt like home, but maybe it wasn’t, depending on how one looked at it.

“Doesn’t help that we had to go to that gathering the other day,” he added, taking a sip from his cup of tea and focusing on the present. “Did you catch the idiot, by the way?” he asked Serafall and Ravel looked between them very curious all of a sudden.

“Yeah, they won’t be a problem anymore,” the Satan answered before letting out a huff and moving to sit next to him. “One would think they’d learn, considering how hard Sirzechs and I kick their asses. Can’t be that hard to behave, can it?”

Personally, Joshua thought it was a bit rich that she was saying that, but all the same…

“Idiots.”

“Idiots,” Serafall agreed with a sage nod.

Sometimes a man had to pick his battles.

[}-o-{]

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Gabriel,” Joshua said, fondly exasperated. He’d heard the same words entirely too much that day and it had barely been… half an hour or thereabouts. If she kept it up, he’d need to take drastic measures and nobody would like for that to happen. “So, how about we focus on enjoying ourselves while we’re here and we still have daylight?”

“We can see in the dark, Joshua,” the angel pointed out to him, looking very amused. At least she didn’t look sad or guilty, he guessed, so that was an improvement. Now if she could have done that without making him sound dumb, that’d have been greatly appreciated.

“Just because we have magic for things doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it more when they are natural. I know it’s not natural if I spell my eyes to see everything as if it were day,” he pointed out with a shrug, taking a sip from his cup of coffee. He’d have taken tea, like always, but he liked to do as the locals did when he traveled somewhere. That was the point of traveling, right? To experience new places and new cultures, wasn’t it? So, that’s what he tried to do. “If not, I might as well just cast an illusion at home and call it a day.”

“Fair enough,” Gabriel replied, gazing at him so fondly that he couldn’t help but turn away.

“Also, seriously, stop apologizing,” he added, because he could almost see the words at the tip of her tongue by then. “My favorite part of these dates is that they are to spend with family. I’m not going to begrudge you if you want to spend them with your family and not me.”

“You might not be family, Joshua,” Gabriel started, and he smiled. He could almost hear a “yet” going unsaid somewhere in there. It was honestly as much as he could expect, considering he wouldn’t put his own thoughts on the matter into words just yet either. He didn’t want to rush things and ruin everything. “But I do wish I could spend these days with you. Alas-”

“Gabriel,” he interrupted, not exasperated but serious. He didn’t want his date beating herself like that, after all. That day was one to enjoy themselves and that’d be that. There was no way he’d let her feel bad all throughout it. “It’s fine. I’m happy for you and we’ll be here waiting to spend time with you whenever you’re free, alright? Whenever,” he told her, taking her hand and looking straight into her eyes. He put all the emphasis and reassurance as he could in that last word too, because he meant it.

“Thank you.”

“I do have to wonder though, if the date is-”

“Josh,” Gabriel said, her expression returning to a much more usual smile. “Do you think I’ll answer that?”

“Now, now, why the mystery?” he asked, not really all that bothered. Gabriel often refused to answer certain questions about Heaven and the pantheon in general. Some of those made sense as to why she wouldn’t speak about the topic, but others… others were just odd. Ultimately though, it was literally her family they were talking about, so Joshua tried not to be too pushy.

He’d never been that curious about religion anyway.

“Mhm, so, what did you have in mind for after this?” the angel asked, ignoring his question altogether. She seemed amused and not like she’d apologize any second anymore, so Joshua counted that as a win and moved on. Idly, he followed her gaze towards the statue that they’d walked towards.

Unsurprisingly, Gabriel seemed particularly fond of sculptures, paintings and such forms of art. Maybe that’s why the Church had always been obsessed with such things? Was one of her brothers or sisters really into architecture too, or maybe music? That was an amusing thought to entertain.

“Well, I thought we could look for a park to sit around for a bit. Then more exploring and then look for a place to eat,” he suggested, drawing a nod from the angel. Not that he expected differently. She never did quite say no to any idea. It drove him mad at times, making him wonder if she just didn’t want to disagree or if she really was just fine with whatever.

“You worry too much, Joshua,” Gabriel told him, not for the first time, like she could read his mind. She looked entirely too amused for his liking, but it was better than her feeling guilty, he supposed. “I haven’t had this much fun in… I can’t even remember,” she said and there was the slightest sad tinge to her smile for a second before she beamed at him. “I really am having a great time regardless of what we do. Maybe if this… If I ever do get used to this, then I might have preferences.”

“You make that sound unlikely.”

“I believe it is,” she replied and it was his turn to beam at her, because there was little more flattering than compliments coming from a woman such as Gabriel. One would think he’d get used to such a thing happening, given how long he’d known Yasaka and Serafall, but it was something that just didn’t happen.

Maybe she was onto something about not growing accustomed to things.

“Flatterer,” he told her, pushing against her shoulder with his own and grinning when the angel giggled. Then, in a moment of feeling comfortable and bold, he leaned forward to kiss her. It wasn’t chaste, but it also wasn’t a particularly deep kiss either. It just… was. When he pulled back, both of them had smiles on their faces.

“You are a very unfair man, Joshua,” Gabriel complained, although her expression hardly changed. “It’s a wonder my wings haven’t so much as flickered so far.”

“Let’s not jinx it then,” he replied, taking her hand and walking forward. “Now, there’s plenty of places to see, right?”

“Right,” she said fondly.

And while they walked, Joshua’s mind drifted the smallest bit, because there was a Project he could tweak a little in order to…

Either way, something for another time.

[}-o-{]

“We didn’t have to leave, you know?” Yasaka commented, walking beside him. Despite what she was saying though – and what she had been saying for a while, really –, she looked fairly happy. He guessed it was one of those moments when she said something because she felt like she should and not because she meant it.

Silly Yasaka.

“I know and yeah, Christmas is all about family for me, of course. That doesn’t mean I can’t spend an hour or so just with you,” he pointed out, walking alongside her on the path they had taken. It was one that led outside of Kyoto. They hadn’t hit the limit of her range yet, but they were kind of close.

Which was the point, actually.

“I guess that’s true,” she replied, trying to appear calm, but the widening of her smile gave her away. “This is nice.” Joshua didn’t know if she meant spending time by themselves, the area around them or maybe even something else, to be quite honest.

“It is,” he readily agreed all the same, because the things he thought she could mean were all fairly nice indeed.

“We’re going to hit my limit soon though,” she confirmed for him and he nodded.

“We can turn back when that happens, or just walk alongside it,” he replied, keeping his best poker face on. Maybe she was distracted, because Yasaka would definitely have noticed something was up even through his best efforts to hide that. That worked in his favor. “I’ll do something about that, just to remind you.”

“So you’ve said,” Yasaka commented, smiling fondly at him. “Kind as it is for you to want to do that, Joshua, I do believe your time would be better spent in more worthwhile endeavors for the moment.”

“And who decides what’s worthwhile? Can’t I think that you being happy counts?” he asked, but he knew what her thoughts on the matter were. In a way, he agreed, but he also didn’t. Sure, he’d pushed a lot of projects for later because they weren’t as important as other things he needed to work on, but still.

“I love that you actually think that, but Joshua-”

“I get it,” he interrupted, giving her a sad smile. “Even then, I need a break from the more pressing projects from time to time, you know?” he pointed out. “And you can’t stop me from working on it in my free time.”

“Little as it might be,” she added, which was really mean of her. He did, however, have entirely too little free time, admittedly. There were just a lot of things to do and the more he put them off, the more he worried he might be making a mistake. Having an ongoing war against a terrorist organization did that, after all.

“It’ll have to be enough, I guess,” Joshua commented idly with a shrug, before moving on. “Kunou wants to visit places, but she doesn’t like going where you can’t go. It already makes her guilty when she comes with me to Kuoh and that’s almost the only place we go to.”

“I know, Joshua,” Yasaka replied with a sad sigh. “I’m just saying that there’s no need to unnecessarily rush it. I’ll happily wait until you manage it, because I know you will. I think you’ve proven that you can do anything, Joshua, and it’s… cute how much you don’t realize the weight of what you’ve done and could likely do.”

“I think we agreed ages ago that my skull is just really thick,” he commented idly, drawing a giggle from her. “I’m sure there are about ten things I’m missing at all times, but it’s fine. I’m sure you’ll tell me about it if it’s important.”

“Or Ravel will,” Yasaka replied fondly and he nodded with a chuckle. “I think the most impressive thing you’ve managed is to draw me into this… state of mind you seem to have where what you do doesn’t look as insane as it actually is,” she commented idly and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Because I can tell you, I don’t know how I managed to shrug off you threatening Nurarihyon in his own home, let alone everything else.”

“People focus too much on what they deem as too hard or impossible, I’ve found,” he commented, turning to look ahead. “Even geniuses do that. They just believe they can go further, but never try to reach all the way to the top, to break through the top.”

“Or maybe you’re just built different,” Yasaka pointed out and he wondered if that was true. Was his System really that broken? It had never given him that impression, but maybe that was the case. It felt… insulting though, to think that that was it. He’d worked and studied and put so much effort into getting better. To give all the credit to his System felt…

He didn’t like how it felt.

“I guess,” Joshua replied and he hoped that he could keep the bitterness from his tone. That wasn’t a time to let his hang ups ruin everything. It was Christmas, a time to enjoy with the family. “Back to what we’re here for though, I have a question.”

“Yes?” Yasaka asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Did you like your gift?” he said with a smile.

“You… haven’t given me a gift yet, Joshua,” she pointed out, confused. She was probably wondering if she’d missed a clue somewhere or not noticed a gift at some point. He just waited, his smile widening. After a moment though, he looked around. “Am I missing… something…?” she went to ask, but the question almost turned into a gasp as she looked around, really looked around.

She’d finally noticed, apparently, and then she had the gall to call him oblivious.

After all, they’d gone past her limit already and she hadn’t even noticed any strain.

It wasn’t as impressive as he’d have wished, of course. It was more of a test than anything. His current idea seemed to work though, allowing for him to extend her range a little bit on the outside of Kyoto. It probably wasn’t ever going to be a good enough trick though, because doing that to reach other countries, even neighboring ones? That’d be too much.

It was something though, he supposed.

“Joshua.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Well, we’ve reached a time for loved ones in the story… And I decided to throw a little bit about characters that haven’t had much screen time as of late, like Aika and Issei too, of course. It’s always hard to balance when to show those. I know most of them aren’t plot relevant at the moment and might not even be in the future, but I feel bad leaving them out entirely.

On a different note, I enjoyed writing this chapter quite a bit, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What’s your go to option when you’re out and have to buy food? Anything with fries works for me. I have a weakness for them.

See you.