Unfortunate Date

I had decided against abusing the situation to try and get something lewd out of it. The sheer pressure of the situation did not really let me get anywhere far even in fantasizing, let alone leaving me confident enough to go any length of the way. As such, I had just decided to turn around and bolt to the nearest exit. It took Osaka a few moments to realize before she tried running after us, a goal in which she did not seem to succeed in.

Or she simply knew what was waiting on the other side. As soon as I had left the Arena, feeling Melusine and Tamamo… Somehow update to be at my side in some strange way, I was put face to chest with an absolutely towering figure of natural intimidation, one that I did not want to encounter normally, let alone in this situation. Perhaps worse yet, the hand had somehow followed me and was now very much outside and being held by me.

"Something interesting has happened, I assume." There were probably scarier things in the world, but being faced with his knowing smile was more or less the current scariest thing i was capable of thinking of.

"…My opponent fell over the edge."

"He fell?"

"…yes."

"And that is his hand?"

"...yes."

"He fell over the edge in a way where you ended up with his clearly severed hand?" Of course he would somehow recognize something as clearly severed. He probably knew exactly what had happened due to his role as an NPC whose role I already forgot but naturally attributed him to being the Overseer for the War. He was doubtlessly enjoying watching me squirm.

"...…yes. It's strange how some things just happen to turn out like that…"

"Quite strange, yes." I was unable to look at his eyes which were clearly looking at me, probably squirming in place more than I should in this situation all things considered. He just had that sort of piercing gaze even as an NPC. "Well. The system has not reported any oddities, so there is nothing to be done about it. Congratulations on winning the first round, even if it was done by accident and with your complete innocence." He had the sort of voice and presence that made me want to go crawl into a hole and die.

"Then… I can leave?"

"I was never keeping you in place." That's bullshit. He wasn't even moving, so I carefully stepped around him, careful to keep my front facing him as not to let him have an accident and accidentally end up shoving his hand through my chest just because my back was turned.

Like an NPC, which he was, his head followed me, never breaking range of vision, always locked on until I got far enough to break out into a sprint toward a certain location… Only to turn suddenly and open a different door. "Sakura!"

"Y-Yes?!"

She was a medical AI, supposed to be in charge of everyone's health, physical and hopefully mental. "I need to calm my nerves, do you want to have some tea together?"

"…o-okay?"

o.O.o.O.o

After a carefully and slowly consumed oddly relaxing cup of tea, I bowed in farewell and walked into hell. I mean, I entered the Chapel and sat down in one of the front row pews, at which point I informed Touko and Aoko of the situation.

"…he fell over the edge?" I feel like I've been here before… "And you just so happened to get his arm?"

"…Yes. So… Can you help me? I… Don't really care about him but… Maybe… Something can be done about his Heroic Spirit?"

I found myself rather hard pressed to actually feel any sorrow toward his apparent death… Or the fate worse than death. I was trying in general not to think about the endless falling considering that just yesterday I was worried about somehow sinking through the floor and or walls and ending up in the same situation, more or less. Except I would probably still have both hands personally.

Sakura, sweetheart that she is, only gave some occasional glances to the severed hand I had ended up putting on the table next to us. It took me a considerable amount of time to realize that that was weird enough without me worrying about it getting dirty by putting it on the floor. She didn't actually ask anything about it and just calmly drank tea herself as well. All things considered, she probably didn't ever really get asked for such a thing…

More presently, the guy struck me as an asshole who probably wouldn't have batted an eye about me getting killed. The Moon Cell was probably going to erase him eventually anyway and he would be freed from his endless falling like that. Hopefully far away from where I would have to watch him perish. Certainly, on paper, it would give me closure, but I would rather just believe he was erased normally than actually see it.

Osaka however… Didn't really do anything wrong. Plus, she was cute and thicker than a bowl of oatmeal as they say, even if her speech patterns are a bit… Well, considerably unique. At least it would be a mercy kill for her nameless master, but it would just be a cruel death where she wouldn't have a chance to even do anything for her. I was pretty sure the erasure process itself was not all that painful, but watching oneself just disappear was… Probably not comfortable.

There was also the fact that there was a certain type of person I wanted to be. Someone who tries to help others without direct benefit to myself, someone who would save someone just because it's the right thing to do. My hands were more or less tied when it came to the actual events going forward, needing to win the battles I need to win, but… Not everyone had to die because of it. If the Heroic Spirit wants to go on instead of going down with their summoner, who am I to deny them?

Though I probably should have asked Osaka if she actually does want to go on instead of choosing for her like this… But who without warrior spirit actually wanted to die? For now, I was going by the assumption that she was sane enough to choose to go on living if she had a choice between life and death. Someone more warrior-like might have chosen death and faced defeat with grace, but I was not so sure Osaka had a single graceful and honorable bone in her body.

"Well… I suppose it could be useful for an experiment?" Touko… Hm. I was not quite sure if I should call it understanding.

"Not like there is much for us to lose."

"You might lose your arm though if she does it wrong." Huh?

"Don't worry, the worst that can happen is a few fingers going black, but you should be able to heal that up quickly with the nurse." Suddenly I was less sure in my decision for some reason…

o.O.o.O.o

Thankfully, Soul Surgery was not painful, just a precise thing that required a considerable amount of skill to accomplish. Time was also an important factor. It took some time for them to actually prepare the base code to start with, during which Melusine more or less distracted me from the arguing that did not fill me with confidence by giving me some tips on how to swing a sword better.

Of course, she was in the camp of those who were simply so strong from birth that they never actually needed to train a day in the life, who survived by following nature rather than learning skillful movement. Well, the movements felt just a little more natural all things considered and it wasn't like it was unskilled either, just more… Born out of necessity as it is for survival rather than a normal set of skills that could be showed off for sparing.

We had tried to get back into the Arena for live testing, but I was correct in my assumption that it could only be entered once day which, as a result, meant it was just a lot of sword swinging just outside the Chapel. We even practiced manifesting different parts of the Sacred Gear, simply referred to as the Ray Horizon to distinguish it from the Divine Dividing as it normally is.

Tamamo had not taken it with that much stride though, but she failed to really manage to find a way to wedge herself between us in a reasonable amount of time. I was pretty sure she was about to suggest teaching me some curses or something, but the preparations for Soul Surgery were done so there was no time unfortunately.

It moved on past midnight during the surgery itself, though I had only seen a hell of a lot of screens and numbers being utilized by Aoko, as casual as she looked while doing it. It was really awe inspiring as well as inspiring toward heading in that same direction, being able to utilize something that seemed so complicated with a casual expression and a tongue being stuck out cutely in concentration.

Occasionally I would feel Tamamo's mirror lightly smack me on the head from a safe distance and at a sufficiently safe time between instances, most likely when she would feel that I was focusing too much on Aoko or just having weird thoughts. Both sisters seemed to snicker at that development though so they let her do it unbothered.

My left hand was considerably numb by the time it was finished, but the three 'additional' Command Seals were grafted onto my arm, though instead of the original shape they had, they took the shape of a stem with a two part rose growing from the bottom of the heart shaped command seals I already had, reaching from my knuckles to the wrist, the very top slash bottom of the original three practically being on my knuckles while the rose itself was on my wrist.

The new seals themselves were fully Osaka oriented. I still had three for Tamamo and now I had three for Osaka but I was supposedly unable to cross the two possibilities to use four to six commands on either one. Well, in actuality, I had two for Osaka due to needing to use one to order her out of the Arena, getting her into Kuoh by some strange sort of teleportation that probably shouldn't have worked.

Well, before that I had ended up running through the sword swings with Melusine and Tamamo. While Tamamo herself never used a sword as far as I was aware, she was more or less related to the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, which I was pretty sure I once heard being described as the Japanese Excalibur for some reason. It would be rude to deny her input anyway, though swinging a sword with a numb hand was rather strange in general.

From there, I ended up going all out and running through the whole Daily Workout just in case. I would have to go on the date with Raynare after all, so any additional items and stats would be useful in theory. And the reward was… Unusual.

[Infinity Stone (Empty)

Type: Gem

Quality: E

Durability: Infinite/Infinite

The name is closer to an indication of potential than a current state. Items, as well as Perks and Maxed Out Skills can be inserted into the Stone, at which point it will become one of six possibilities, being Reality, Space, Time, Mind, Soul or Power depending on what has been inserted. Anyone who wields the Stone is granted access to the powers held within, though as the Stone grows in power, some requirement of a personal power level to utilize the powers may be required.

Currently Acceptable Perks/Items/Skills: None]

The Stone itself was currently rather clear, almost like it was made of glass yet without even any attempted to be made out to look more precious. Otherwise, it was also small enough to fit comfortably in my palm, or on my forehead. It certainly had potential for later. Depending on what items I end up collecting, it could become very useful to reduce my overall inventory, though it would be a while before I actually manage to max out any skills…

With all of that done and my physical fatigue cleared, Osakabehime was summoned into my room… At which point she started panicking and had to be held down from flailing too hard, at which point the general situation was explained to her. "I… I thought I was gonna shindie… But you're telling me to stay in here?! Just… Just like that? No arguments?!"

Technically she was under house arrest as not to risk her causing problems in the outside world or risk the Moon Cell changing its mind and punishing me for having what are pretty much three Heroic Spirits. Potentially, two were pushing the rules and I certainly had two with me now beyond the chance or argument. "…the house is barely big enough, but I will probably try to get you your own room instead."

"Arigathanks gozaimuch." How long was I going to last with her talking like that, I wonder… Well, whatever. She was a shut-in, so being inside was her natural state of being. She might even hit it off well with Gasper when and if they end up meeting.

My primary goal changed with her going into spirit form, turning to simply taking a power nap just in case before the date. If nothing else, I could rely on Tamamo telling Osaka about anything else I might have forgotten… And maybe some other things that I hadn't even implied. Like a possible pecking order or something silly like that.

o.O.o.O.o

I checked to make sure I had everything I thought I would need. Osakabehime would obviously be left at home, Melusine was with me through the Ray Horizon… Tamamo… "Hey… Do you want to just follow us in Spirit Form or were you planning on stalking us from a distance?"

"Wh-What are you…" She looked so much like an embodiment of the expression 'caught with her hand in the cookie jar'. At least she quickly realized she couldn't actually lie her way out of it. "I'll go in Spirit Form…" My hand practically moved on its own as I gave her a few pats at seeing how suddenly… Down? She was.

[+55 LP]

It was quite nice, yes. I had to move my hand away however and get moving, quickly trying to distract myself before I could further end up embarrassing myself somehow. She liked it quite a lot, but still… One thing at a time to worry about. I could embolden myself later and touch the fluffy…

[Name: Issei Hyoudou

Level: 10

Job: None

Title: Enemy of All Women

HP: 1.000/1.000

MP: 110.000/110.000

Fatigue: 12

Strength: 57

Vitality: 43

Dexterity: 56

Quickness: 49

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 26

Magic: 41

Luck: 21

Remaining Points: 9]

There's the distraction… Hm… I had to face Raynare like this. Well, I did have the possibility to Divide in an emergency, though this entire thing was an emergency either way so there was no need to hold it back. I shouldn't lose the fight as long as I do this smart and don't get caught too off guard.

[Due to the original quality of the Arondight which increased Parameters by one rank, [Innocence Arondight] provides a bonus of 50 Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Quickness, Magic and Luck for every 100 Base of the stat in question]

And that was an entirely unprompted thing that further spawned some relief in me. Wait, I could pretty much triple my Luck?! That was certainly a useful thing to consider, but in what sort of normal situation exactly would I be able to have a sword at the ready and that also required Luck… Maybe I could hit up Vegas? If a score of ten was base human luck, I should be able to win something or another…

…though if my opponents in the game of luck and chance are also supernatural… And I had no skills to to actually play the ones that took actual skills… Plus, having a sword in Vegas did not seem quite fitting either. More like an easy way to get thrown out of everywhere and maybe arrested…

Even just walking and being around in Kuoh sometimes felt like they were just waiting for a chance to arrest me for being a pervert or talk down to me. I had to change my reputation as soon as possible. Maybe there is an appropriate skill for it somewhere in the shop… "Here, take a flyer." Holy crap this girl stylized her hair like a cartoon bat's wings. Wait, that, she, was Rias's familiar, wasn't it? Who was a bat… A not very creative bat when it came to disguises… Well, at least I had the flier now if things go even more south than I can simply handle on my own…

"Ise-kun!" And here is Raynare… Come to think of it, we hadn't really been in touch since then, yet it's only been a few days even if it felt like a lot longer. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting?"

[>["Ah… So you really were real. I was getting worried…"]

["You showed up, that's all that matters."]

["No, I just got here myself."]

["The mystical powers now sealed within this hand of mine foretold of your arrival."]

["You're late. Are you going to make it up to me?"]

["I was just about to leave… What took you so long?"]

["Y-Yuuma-chan! I thought you stood me up!" (ಥ﹏ಥ)]

["You owe me hugs for this!" (づ￣ ³￣)づ]

["Did Fallen Angel business keep you that busy?"]

["Can you just stab me and get this over with so I can go home?"]

["Don't worry, you'll still be able to harvest my organs tonight... Or whatever you have planned."]

[Pull out your sword and stab her]

[Pull out your "sword" and test out the quality increase here and now]]

Okay seriously what the fuck are some of these options? "You showed up, that's all that matters." I gave her the best smile I could spawn from laughing at the ridiculousness of some of these suggestions as they had made me momentarily grin at just imagining the sorts of reactions they could spawn. She did not seem to react all that much to it though. Oh well… It was unlikely she'd come around to me either way.

o.O.o.O.o

Technically… I hadn't forbidden Tamamo from doing these sorts of things, even if I had no actual proof that she was the one doing them. It was hard to deny that there was some sort of interference being done on the date and an attempt to have a normal good time though, even if this was… Annoyingly fun.

In the span of about the first two hours, Raynare nearly tripped over herself twice, nearly fell over multiple obstacles in her way ranging from cracks in the floor, a wet floor, the sidewalk after crossing the street, a dog and even a small child. The only thing hurt in any of it was hurt but her pride, which was not made better by my attempts to stay close to her in case I would need to catch her fall or something just in case.

She had also gotten a flying newspaper in the face, someone's ice cream fell down on her shoe and I could have sworn she wanted to punch the child in the face for doing so. Well, in her defense, in her position I probably would have wanted to do the same. It was a surprising display of restraint and acting when she just comforted the kid and we ended up buying him a new one.

All of those things were, to an extent, able to be chocked up to sheer bad luck though. Even when her bra apparently suddenly snapped for no good reason when she had tried to save face or something by being more flirtatious. On the other hand, there was a very sudden and highly focused downpour entirely on her apparently. It wasn't that a raincloud followed her, but somehow she managed to be in the worst area of the downpour, ending up absolutely drenched and when we found shelter from it, it proceeded to stop. I was not as affected and most of the rest of the people around us got considerably less wet than her.

If I hadn't been watching her for the entire duration, I would have sooner assumed she jumped into a pool somewhere with her clothes on. As a result, we ended up just buying her some new clothes since the ones she had were more or less ruined for the time being… Or well, we should have, but apparently she was so drenched they didn't want to actually let her in, meaning I had to be the one to buy them for her.

It lacked the same weight as I had placed on picking out Tamamo's clothes, even beyond the sheer fact that I might have suddenly become a little more used to it. Several theories went through my head on why that could be, but mostly it was just that I was not really letting myself get too close to Raynare, knowing how this was going to end.

Yet… I caught a glimpse of something. An expression I considered too genuine to be faked. An expression of frustration as she stood there, drenched. While on the way here, a cat had somehow managed to knock over a bucket of water which spilled all over her and fell on her head rather safely and as if a precise shot instead. She wasn't hurt, likely due to being a Fallen Angel and thus more durable.

It was all the sort of slapstick comedy repeated with sufficient frequency that eventually, one cannot help but crack up and laugh even if it wasn't supposed to be as funny as it somehow seemed. Perhaps worst of all, I had to keep a straight face through all of it. I wanted to laugh, I really, really, did and I was holding back a lot of laughter due to the simple fact that she was already planning to murder me. She would have massacred me on the spot if I started laughing, crowds, daylight and public be damned.

Yet, I caught a glimpse of her standing there, drenched. It was when the store clerk had given a weird look about the sort of clothes I was buying, normal as they were. Well, I was an unaccompanied boy, an infamous pervert, buying a girl's clothes. Maybe the rumors about Tamamo and I had already spread enough that it was easy to recognize that Raynare was not her, which might add 'cheater' to my list of crimes against decency.

She wasn't upset about her clothes as far as I could tell, yet she was frustrated as if she really did want all of this to go well. Maybe I was reading too far into it. Maybe she had seen me, felt me, looking toward her and continued the act which I could not recognize as actually being an act. But in that moment, I could have sworn I just saw a frustrated teenage girl who had been put through the wringer and prevented from enjoying herself in what was supposed to be a fun time, letting her true expression show when she thought I was not looking.

I did my best to close my heart to it. She ended up changing in some alley with me on lookout. A prompt, a choice, had appeared to peek on her… But I couldn't bring myself to do it, that expression still fresh in my mind.

As the date came to a close gradually, I began to realize I couldn't remember anything about it other than the many incidents and that short vision of a girl on the verge of crying. Ultimately however, we had still ended up in the park that was out of the way. "…I am sorry about today." I spoke with as much genuine nature as I could. "I know… I wasn't really in control of any of that, but…"

Here, in this park at sunset, Raynare looked like she was seconds away from snapping, even if I couldn't quite tell which direction it would be. I just knew that her whole presence seemed to scream that she was close to a breakdown. There was pretty much no actual way in which she would actually agree to a second date, not after what had happened, even if she wasn't who she actually was.

"You… Did your best… I am sorry for ruining things." She actually sounded genuine as well. "But… Maybe we can make things a little better? There is… A way to make at least the ending better…"

"Really? What is it?" Even with that moment, even with the temporary doubt that was now spawning some hurt in my chest that I did not want to be there, there was just no way this could end but this, was there?

She stepped out and away from me, turning around, framed by the setting sun and the floating droplets of water bouncing off of the fountain with perfect imperfection, a picturesque scene that was unlikely to appear any other time or be properly captured by any device. Her head lowered, hair covering the top of her face, obscuring it in almost unnatural darkness that didn't let her eyes actually be seen. "…Would you die for me?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"…Hm? Did you say something?" I could at least pretend, doing my best to hold my finger over a metaphorical trigger to call on the Ray Horizon, on Melusine and maybe Tamamo if and as necessary.

I could have sworn I heard her teeth grind in the moment as she looked up a me, her hair moving away as if specific magic and giving her a sort of feral expression that had no business being as hot as it was. "Die!" A spear of light appeared in her hand.

At the same time as she started with the 'D', wings unfurled from my back and I snapped to action. "[Divide]" She on the other hand nearly fell over, tripped, in spite of mostly standing still. The spear was thrown, but with her power suddenly halved, it was closer to an accidental, failed, throw, not even landing close to me. A jerk of my hand manifested an Arondight on my right hand. Immediately, I felt the increase in power, both the half stolen from her and the addition of the Arondight.

"Wh-What?!"

"[Divide]" I still had a certain 'cooldown' between divisions, but enough time had passed between the two, bringing her power down even further, to a third of what she should have.

"Y-You… That's your Sacred Gear!?" She stepped back in fear and realization. I was also surprised that Tamamo hadn't shown up yet. "How!? You weren't supposed to have unlocked your Sacred Gear yet!"

"Yeah, I guess things just didn't work out for you this time… Sorry… No, I really am…" A small laugh escaped me. I couldn't think of her as Yuuma anymore and well… I could laugh at Raynare, couldn't I? "Ah… I can't even laugh properly right now, but you really were unlucky today, weren't you? How do you even manage to trip so much?" Maybe I was trying too hard to make myself laugh by remembering the events of the day again.

It hurt though. Come to think of it, had I actually even thought of her as Yuuma since we met? It was always just… Raynare. Aside for that one, short, moment that was tearing away at my heart even now. "Y-You…" She was getting… Flustered? Enraged? She probably didn't want to think about her many failures.

"You don't have to keep acting anymore, you know?" I gave up on trying to truly mock her. I did not have it in me it seems. "I am honestly impressed you managed to hold out this long. I thought you would have broken your act a lot sooner than you actually did, but you really did last all the way until the end of the date to kill me… " I really did not want to kill her, be she Raynare or Yuuma. "So what now?"

"Wh-What now?"

"Yeah… What now? Your plan failed and you've lost most of your power. You can't kill me, but I can kill you."

"Wh-You want me to beg for my life?!"

"…why is that the first thing that came to your mind?" I was a bit surprised that I was capable of talking this much and this honestly, but I almost felt like I could take on anyone right now, so a power high was probably the answer.

"I am not just going to admit defeat like this!" …I couldn't help but note that her face… Didn't actually change? Or it changed back. Raynare and Yuuma had a considerably different sort of face, one being soft and the other being sharp.

"Seriously, stop the act."

"It's not an act!"

"Caster sneak attack!" Those don't work if you announce it! …or well, it shouldn't have worked. But she still managed to slap Raynare with enough force to apparently knock her out while putting one of her paper talismans on the back of her head. "One fallen bitch obtained!" She posed adorably.

"…damn it, I can't stay mad at you…" The power high was going away with the enemy being considered defeated though. Huh… I should probably try to find out more about how the Ray Horizon works exactly in terms of Divisions, shouldn't I… For now, all I could do was sigh. "…You're carrying her home." It was time to continue dealing with this situation…