Childhood Friend

Irina is already healed with the help of Asia and her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing. Although she's has a bit of apprehension being healed by a Devil, she is, nevertheless, thankful. It's also a lot better for her to be healed by a former member of the church instead of a pure Devil.

But not everything turned out fine for her as when she woke up, she received the news that Xenovia was excommunicated because she accepted Rias Gremory's offer to become her servant, effectively making her a reincarnated Devil.

At first, she laughed it off and told others not to make such a bad joke, but the atmosphere seems to tell otherwise. She tried to question her good comrade in arms if they are joking only to be met with silence. Confirming it from that, she ran away with the Excalibur fragments in tow and this morning, she received an order to return to the Vatican the next morning.

With her thoughts jumbled up, she wandered around the whole town until it was finally late in the afternoon and she unknowingly arrives at the place she stayed for a few days which is her childhood friend's house.

She looked around and noticed that the lights were on, 'Huh? Did he come back? Or maybe Sakura-kaasan?'

Irina hesitated whether she should call out or not, 'I'm leaving tomorrow morning... So maybe I should say hi before I go?' Deciding the next action, she rang the doorbell.

A few seconds later, a voice came from inside and the door opened, "Yes~? If it's the newspaper, I don't need it. The Internet is much more convenient so spare me of your sales talk." Kisuke came out with his usual green-themed shihakushou with a kitty printed apron over it.

"I'm not a saleswoman! Do I look like one!?" Irina was about to greet him 'Long time no see', but Kisuke's intro is too much for her not to retort.

"Hmm? Wait... If I'm not wrong, that's a priest outfit. Are you here to teach me about your lord the savior? Spare me with that too. The only thing I believe in this world is 'cuteness' and that won't ever change!." Kisuke replied proudly.

"Talking about my Lord is tempting, but that's not also the reason I'm here! And what's up with that weird faith!? You'll worship someone as long as they are cute!?"

"And what of it!? Of course, my criteria for cute is very strict! Throughout my entire life, I only worship two Goddesses!" Kisuke declared, 'Namely Yoruichi and Ophis-chan.' He thought. Yoruichi is his lover so it's a given. Ophis, on the other hand, is the Dragon God of pure cuteness so she automatically passed. There are other candidates, but it's still not yet enough for Kisuke to elevate them into Goddess.

"You're weird!" Irina shouted.

"I don't wanna hear it from a weird lady who kept pacing around my home!"

"I'm not weird! I'm here to meet you!"

"Wait... Meet me? You've been loitering around for some time now... !?" Kisuke stopped to think for a moment and then as if he discovered something shocking, "Could it that you're my stalker!?"

"...Huh?" Irina's mind blanked out.

"Haahh..." With an exasperated sigh, Kisuke continued, "I'm such a sinful man attracting a woman I don't know anything about..." He then faced Irina with full sincerity and said, "I'm flattered by how you feel, but I don't know anything about you so I wouldn't be able to respond to your feelings. I'm sorry."

Irina was mindblown. Before she knew it, she was rejected, and for any good reason. Irina looked down and her hair shadowed her eyes. Without a word, she took a step forward and started to walk towards Kisuke's direction slowly. She stopped when there are only two feet of distance between them.

"Miss? You haven't given up? I'm sorry, but I already have a number of lovers so I can't just accept you." Kisuke felt a bit proud when he said 'a number of lovers'.

After being rejected for the second time today, something snapped inside her mind and suddenly threw a punch towards Kisuke, "Go to hell!!!"

Kisuke is already ready for it and flipped her over. Irina landed on her back and groaned in pain. Oddly enough, Kisuke felt something nostalgic from that and a certain figure suddenly flashed inside his head. Looking at the girl on the ground closely, he finally figured out who it was, "Oh, isn't this Irina~. Long-time no see~! And you've grown big!"

Irina in response glared at him, "Likewise! And you've also grown 100 times more infuriating!"

Kisuke rubbed the bridge of his nose in embarrassment, "You don't have to praise me. It's only obvious that I would mature!"

"You've matured in the wrong way!"

Kisuke helped Irina to stand up, "Don't act like I'm the weird one here. You've also matured to become so girly. You've broken my expectation of you becoming a hulking woman."

"You have such a strange expectation!?"

Kisuke chuckled and looked at her again, "Well... Although you've become a fine lady, you still act like a tomboy. Don't go breaking innocent boys' expectation, ya hear me?"

Irina's eyes widened, "I..." She finally noticed how she has been acting around Kisuke. When Irina left for England when she's still small, she remembered Kisuke's mockery of her being 'girl', so she tried her best to act like a real girl. As time goes, acting all cute became her second nature and no one would ever doubt her feminity again.

But just after a short banter with Kisuke, she returned to her old ways. Her years of hard work were broken just like that. However, strangely enough, she doesn't feel bad about it. In fact, it's like she returned to those peaceful times of just playing around, away from all the battle that she grew accustomed off. Thanks to him, she's feeling extremely comfortable... A comfort she needed after all the things that happened.

Within that silence, Irina's stomach suddenly growled and she immediately covered her stomach out of embarrassment. But when she saw the cheeky grin on Kisuke's face, her awkwardness disappeared.

Irina slapped Kisuke's shoulder and ordered him in a bossy way, "I'm hungry! I haven't eaten since this morning. Go make some food!"

Kisuke chuckled and answered, "Yes, boss." And turned around to enter the house.

Seeing that, Irina let out a bright smile. She temporarily forgot about the issue with Xenovia and happily followed Kisuke. For now, she wanted to relish this feeling of nostalgia, 'He hasn't changed... Thinking about it, I didn't need to change either, right? But then again, he wouldn't call me a fine lady if not for that.' After calming down and recalling his words earlier, Irina's face became beet red, 'At least my hard work paid off! Now he won't be able to see me like a man!'