Day 6: A Day Off

Ryan heaved a sigh as his phone went off. "Is that Kiara?" Suisei asked. Suisei comes around to stop by every other night for tea. It's not that Ryan minded, but he preferred to spend time experimenting with his magic, trying to learn all of the things that Edhas had left him. Ryan leaned over and picked up his phone.

"Yeah, that's Tenchou," Ryan said. "Mind if I get this?"

"Actually, I think it's time I go," Suisei said. "Anemachi might start wondering where I'm going every night."

"Alright. I'll see you around," Ryan waved as Suisei walked off, jumping off the balcony. Ryan shook his head as he answered the phone. "Hell-,"

"Hey Ryan!" Kiara said. "I have a date with Calli today! You can have the day off!"

"Really?" Ryan asked, tilting his head. "Shouldn't you tell me ahead of time?"

"Oh, my silly Little Egg," Kiara giggled. "This is ahead of time."

"Whatever you say," Ryan sighed. That's Tenchou for you. "I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and Tenchou?"

"What is it?" Ryan could swear that Kiara was tilting her head right now.

"Stay safe, okay?" Ryan said, a soft smile on his face. Before Kiara could reply, Ryan hung up. "Now, what can I do today?"

-

"Huh, wonder what that was about," Kiara pocketed her phone.

"What happened?" Calli asked, twirling her scythe.

"Nothing," Kiara said. "Just Ryan being Ryan."

"So, being evil?" Calli's expression darkened.

"No… he's more… mysterious," Kiara put a finger on her chin as she found the word. "It's almost like he knows everything and nothing at the same time."

"How does that make any sense?" Calli shook her head as they turned to see the MILF base. Instead of guards waiting there as usual, there was a pale man with black shorts and a red sweater.

"Yo!" The man waved the two over as soon as he made eye contact with them.

"Who are you?" Kiara asked as she and Calli walked over.

"Name's Lord Nuxanor," The man introduced himself. "You can call me Nux."

"So, you were the one who advertised my KFP everywhere!" Kiara shouted as she jumped up, pointing at the man. "What do you want?!"

"Relax, I'm just here as your backup," Nux said, smirking. "I'm just here to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"If you're backup, did YAGOO send you?" Calli asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Nah, I barely talk to him anymore," Nux shrugged. "It's just that Ryan would be really mad if things went south."

"Whatever," Calli said as she twirled her scythe, grabbing it with both hands. "Just don't fall behind."

-

Ryan looked up at the large mountain that led to the shrine. He might as well meet the Elite shrine maiden. "It's been a while," Ryan muttered to himself as he walked up the stairs. He looked at the massive shrine gate and heaved a sigh.

"This must be where the barrier is, huh?" Ryan thought aloud. He shook his head and walked through the gate, the nausea of the barrier barely even hitting him anymore. A small smile crept on his face as he saw the shine maiden sweeping, just like last time.

"Hello," Ryan's smile only grew when Miko jumped with a squeal.

"FAQ!" Miko shouted as she turned around. "Who are you?"

"Name's Ryan Shade," Ryan said with a waved of his hand. "What's up?"

"You seem to be human," Miko narrowed her eyes as she clutched her broom. "How did you get in here?"

"I don't know," Ryan shrugged. "It might have to do with the nausea I felt when I crossed the gates. I feel the same thing every time I go to work."

"Where do you go to work?" Miko asked.

"Oh, I work at a new KFP that opened up earlier this week," Ryan said. "You should drop by sometime."

"Oh, so you work for Kiara?" Miko tilted her head, her mouth making the shape of Mt. Fuji.

"You know her?" Ryan widened his eyes slightly, feigning shock.

"Yep!" Miko nodded. "Most of our friends hang around this city, so it wouldn't be too odd if a lot of people know her."

"I see," Ryan nodded.

"So, why did you come to a shrine in the mountains?" Miko asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to send a prayer that Calli won't kill Tenchou on their date today," Ryan said. He technically wasn't lying, since the chances of that happening were pretty high.

"Ah, I see," Miko smiled. "Let me get the resident goddess. I'll be right back."

"Wha-," Ryan held his hand out, but Miko was already walking off, humming to herself while moving side to side. "Nevermind."

After a couple minutes, Miko came back, a smile on her face. "Alright, she should be coming shortly."

"I still haven't gotten over the resident goddess thi-,"

"I AM GOD!" A bead of sweat formed in Ryan's brow as Matsuri jumped up from the undergrowth. "What is your prayer?"

"On second thought, I just realized I have somewhere to go," Ryan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before turning around.

"Wait!" Matsuri called. "I AM HOLOLIVE!"

At this point, Ryan was sprinting as fast as he could. He could hear a faint "STAY HOME!" in the distance as he burst through the gate.

"Safe," Ryan panted, his hands on his knees. After a few seconds, he stood up, his breath steadying. "Maybe it's time for me to go home."

-

Midway down the steps, Ryan saw a girl with white hair, wolf ears, a blue outfit and skirt, and a snow white tail that was switching back and forth. "Awoo~!" The girl cheered (howled?) as Ryan approached her, as she was in the middle of the stairs. It wasn't like Ryan could just ignore her.

"Hello," Ryan rubbed the back of his head, looking from side to side. "May I help you?"

"I'm Lumi!" The girl said with an excited tone. "What's your name?"

"My name is Ryan Shade," Ryan said, a smile creeping up on his face. How could he not smile? Lumi was just too cute for Ryan's heart to take. "It's nice to meet you, Lumi!"

"Nice to meet you too! Awoo~!" Lumi's howls were more like a verbal tick than an actual howl.

'-999 hp! Super Effective!' Ryan grabbed his chest as the cuteness overload started to take over his weak body.

"Are you okay?" Lumi tilted her head, putting a finger on her chin as the cutsie expression that everyone seemed to do.

"I'm fine," Ryan said, steadying himself. "It's an… illness… let's go with that."

"Oh, that's horrible!" Lumi gasped. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," Ryan smiled. "So, what do you need?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make some friends!" Lumi cheered. "Fubuki is so good at doing it and I want to learn!"

"I see," Ryan saw an opportunity and took it. He put his hand behind his back and turned on his magic for a split seconds, summoning a KFP pamphlet. Nux had given Ryan a stack of pamphlets just in case he ran into any supernatural creatures. He walked up to Lumi and handed her the paper. "Maybe you should come to KFP. It's where I work."

"Really?" Lumi looked at Ryan with stars in her eyes. "I'll be sure to stop by!"

"Alright! If you put some of your blood on the pentagram, it'll teleport you to the KFP and the address is right here," Ryan pointed at the address and the pentagram. "I hope I'll see you soon."

"Thanks! I got to go tell Merry about this!" Lumi cheered before running off.

"Well that was something," Ryan sighed. "I'm not sure if my heart could have taken anymore."

-

Ryan sighed as he walked down the street, the moon overhead. If he remembered correctly, then Suisei would be in the alley with those thugs. To be honest, I don't even care anymore, Ryan thought to himself with a scoff. I could let Suisei kill them for all I care.

"Angel wings have been going pretty high in the markets, huh?" A voice could be heard from the alley.

'Angel wings?' Ryan wondered. 'That doesn't sound like Suisei.'

Ryan turned the corner to see the same three thugs cornering a small girl with a horn and wings. Her hair was purple with pink and blue streaks on the bangs. She wore a dress, with the upper part of the dress having a color. Her eyes were purple, but it blended into a sort of yellow color. She was hugging a small horse with its own pair of wings. Ryan paled. He remembered having a brief encounter with her (Read: KFP: Double Back Chapter 7). According to Edhas, the small little alicorn can take out the entire planet of Jupiter without breaking a sweat. Ryan didn't really care about the thieves, but if the planet was blown up, Ryan couldn't really work anymore, so he needed to put a stop to that.

Last time, Ryan dashed at them and took them down with his martial arts skills, but Ryan decided that his current plan would be a bit quicker. He turned on his magic, summoning his guns. He was aware that this wasn't the smartest idea, but he really wanted to test out his new and upgraded guns. He pointed his guns at the thieves and a magic circle appeared at either end of the scopes and a similar magic circle appearing in front of either of Ryan's eyes. The magic circles let Ryan see from the scope without actually putting his eyes by it. He channeled his magic into his guns, conjuring silencers that he specially made for his guns to appear. When he pulled the trigger, he felt a small bit of magic flow from his chest and through his arms before leaving his hands and transferring to the guns. Three gusts of pressurized wind flew from the barrels of the gun, each finding their mark on the temple of a thief. Ryan dispelled his guns, letting his sight return to his eyes. He stumbled a little bit, dizzy at the abrupt change of vision.

Ryan looked up as his world started to still, focusing his attention to the girl who was turning her head to look at him. He instantly switched off his magic as he forced a smile in an attempt to reassure her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," The girl stepped over the bodies, walking over to Ryan. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem," Ryan said. "Though me having magic is kind of a secret, so if you can keep it that way, that would be great."

"Your secret's safe with me," The girl smiled. "I'm Fuwako Yuni and this is Jam."

"My name is Ryan Shade," Ryan said. "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Yuni smiled. "It's been hard finding people that are nice to people like me. I was hoping to make friends when I left my old dimension, but things aren't going too well over here as well."

"Actually, I might know a place where you can find some friends," Ryan summoned his second KFP pamphlet of the day, handing it to Yuni. "This KFP is only for magical creatures. I'm technically supposed to be the only human since I work there, but no one needs to know I'm a mage."

"Thanks," Yuni smiled at Ryan. "I'm sure that I'll be there sometime too."

"No problem," Ryan smiled. "If you put some blood on the pentagram, it'll teleport you right there, but the address is also there too."

"Thank you," Yuni nodded.

"I'm going to go home now," Ryan said. "Honestly, I should be in bed right now."

"I'll see you around," Yuni said, tilting her head.

'-100 hp! Critical Hit!' Ryan forced his smile. "I'll see you around."

-

Ryan heaved a sigh as he opened the door to his apartment. "Man, I could really use a bagel right now," he said to himself. He had a pretty productive day, but it was also pretty tiring. He hadn't used his magic in a combative style since his fight with Storm all that time ago, so it was kind of draining, even if he didn't use it that much. Ryan walked over to his cabinet, opening his drawer.

"Wait," Ryan looked at the empty drawer. It wasn't just his bagels that were gone, but all of his bread. "Goddamnit."

-

Meanwhile, Yuni was snickering as she held several bags of bread in her hands. "The bread thief rises again."