[Warning]

Four days.

Four days of going to school, nothing happening, and coming home only to be forced to fight Cain for eight hours straight.

At first, it was exhausting. It was beyond annoying, and it got on my nerves how easily he could just pull me in there without my consent. Apparently, the Sacred Gear was designed so he could only interact with me when I slept.

But since I didn't actually need sleep? He could just make me sleep the perfect amount every day just to fight me.

To be honest though, after a while I started to like it. There's something about punching a burly man in the face that's just fucking cathartic. It was beyond stress relieving.

Going from floating in that black void after I died to suddenly having a life of secrets, fighting, and magic was more jarring than I expected. It was destroying my mental state, even if I didn't know it at the time.

I felt fine, sure, but I was just ignoring anything that made me uncomfortable and focusing on the sole goal I was given upon my reincarnation.

To get stronger.

But now I realize that isn't healthy in the slightest. I would still be focusing on becoming stronger, but it shouldn't be the thing I'm thinking about 99% of the time. It shouldn't be something I'm willing to meditate for hours upon hours just for a lick of power.

I was treating the world like a game, and the people who didn't matter like background characters. That mindset wasn't exactly wrong in my situation, but it definitely wasn't right either.

And I only realized that after he killed me too many times to count.

Really. He started putting a sword in the 'ground' for every time I died and removing one each time I won. Safe to say, he didn't remove a single sword. That place probably looks like Unlimited Blade Works by now.

The only reason we stopped fighting was that he said, and I quote, "You're improving too fast, and I don't like it. Fuck you," before suddenly kicking me out.

I don't know what he was on about, seeing as I never even hit the guy, but I got three new skills either way.

[Skill Unlocked: Wakizashi Proficiency]

[Skill Unlocked: Shield Proficiency]

[Skill Unlocked: Unarmed Proficiency]

Though I guess getting the basics down of fighting in a mere four days of training would freak him out, seeing as he's probably trained hundreds of users.

As it turns out, after trying out a bunch of weapons, knives really suck. Like, really suck. Same with daggers. They offered no reach and if the opponent knew you were there, they didn't really do much unless you're really skilled.

So I settled for a slightly larger slashing weapon, the Wakizashi. I didn't want a full Katana or long sword since they're too big to use in small spaces. The size of the knife was both a plus and a minus. With this, I get the benefits of both a longer reach and a shorter weapon.

The only downside to all of this was that I hadn't really worked on anything else besides my morning workouts and studying chemistry. Cain said that the body was the most important thing to work on as I currently was, as it was apparently my weakest point.

That was hard to accept, considering I only trained my Ki and Magic for a few days at most. My body shouldn't have been lagging behind that much, but to his standards it was.

Speaking of body, someone was watching me in the locker room while I changed. I managed to sneak behind them after a swift maneuver and bop them on the head. Obviously, it was Kiryuu being her pervy self.

But that was a few days ago, old news. This...

This is new.

At the school gates, Kiryuu was leaning on the side while distracted by her phone. Clearly, she was waiting for someone, and it was clear who it was with her next action. When I'm about to walk past, her face lights up and she almost bounces straight for me.

Now that I think about it, does she even have many friends besides me? Meh, who am I to talk.

"So what's up?" I ask with a grin.

She looks up at me with a glint in her eye, "Nothing much, I just wanted to walk home with you."

I'm pretty sure we don't live in the same area, but I'll walk her home if that's what she means. I think she's up to something, but I doubt it's anything malicious.

"You didn't need to wait for me here, I would've gone had you just asked earlier," I comment as she slightly pouts, "I appreciate the thought, though," I assure her.

"I didn't really have anything better to do," She mutters the next part as she avoids my eyes, "Plus, I forgot to ask."

We idly chat as we walk, talking about what we've been doing for the week. I haven't really been talking to her much this week because of how much training I was doing, so there was quite a bit to talk about.

"So... you've been looking better lately. What caused that? Got a girlfriend or something?" She blurts out all of a sudden.

Looking better, though? Oh, she means my mental state, not my actual looks. That explains things.

"Nah, nothing like that. A friend helped me out with something," I say, closing my eyes and putting my hands behind my head.

She stopped on the sidewalk at that comment, and it took me a few seconds to notice that she did. When I looked back at her, she was gaping at me like a fish.

"What?" Why does she look so gobsmacked? Did I say something weird?

"You have friends?" she blurts out.

'Yeah, you have friends? I wasn't aware.' Cain's voice echoed in my head right after hers.

Okay, fuck both of you guys.

"Oh shut up, Kiryuu, of course I have friends-" I begin, joking around.

"Aika." She says suddenly, "Call me Aika."

That was weirdly intense.

"Sure thing, then call me Katsuo," I reply with a toothy grin. I think first names mean something in Japan, but I wouldn't mind if she called me by my nonexistent middle name.

She giggles then, looking suddenly curious, "And uh, sorry about that comment, it's just... well, what happened? You usually have this look on your face, like you're just waiting for something bad to happen, but I haven't seen you do it all day. What's got you so relaxed?"

'DODGE!' flashes in my head. I slightly shudder at the memory.

Cain chuckles darkly.

"Ah, don't worry about that. It wasn't something you really could've helped. I've just been super stressed since I moved here and someone's been helping me with some... stress relief," I wave off the issue, ignoring the odd look she's giving me.

A light blush appears on her face as she tries and fails to look away from my crotch, "Stress relief, huh?" She then puts a piece of hair behind her ears, "Well, if you're still feeling stressed, how about we-"

Whatever she was going to say is interrupted as a familiar blonde girl is suddenly standing next to us. She's looking straight at me as Aika stares at her in confusion.

It's Mittelt.

"Hey, ah, can I talk to you for a minute?" She blinks and realizes that I'm not by myself, "...alone?"

Aika looks between me and Mittelt for a minute before a look of realization appears on her face. I don't know what she's realized, but it makes a sad smile appear on her face.

"Go ahead, I'm almost home anyway. I'll talk to you later, Katsuo." She suddenly says, waving while walking away.

"See ya, Aika," I mutter. She's probably too far away to hear me.

For a moment, I just glare at Mittelt as she stares back impassively. Rolling her eyes, she begins to walk to the edge of an alleyway.

The moment we get to a certain spot, the world goes silent. It feels like that day I had to fight Freed. It must be some sort of barrier or ward or something.

Useful, and definitely something I want to learn.

For now, though...

"What?" I almost state. Whatever this is, I'm not in the mood.

She doesn't waste my time with monologues like a lot of other people tend to do in this world, getting straight to the point.

"Listen, I'm only gonna say this once. You have to leave this town." She declared, crossing her arms.

The only issue is that if there's no monologue, I just get confused.

"What? Why the hell would I do that?" I ask calmly.

"The Grigori has ordered my group to get rid of any leftover Sacred Gear users. Well, the human one at least,"

The Grig- what?

'The Fallen,' Cain supplies. Ah. I figured it was something like that. I haven't done any research on angels before, so I wouldn't know about that one.

"And? Am I supposed to just leave because you tell me to?"

"No, you're supposed to leave because I'll have to kill you otherwise." She denies.

At that, my eyes narrow and my Ki sharpens. I don't have a weapon on me so I'm gonna have to rely on my fists. And I don't know if a weapon will help me anyway. Sure, legendary enchanted weapons and swords made of light are cool, but how much damage could I do with a random kitchen knife?

Probably not much.

I need to calm down though. If she wanted to kill me, she'd have probably used Aika as a shield or hostage. Talking wouldn't have even been an option.

"...Why are you even doing this? You could've killed me that day in my home, and I couldn't have done anything about it. I was way too exhausted dealing with that stupid priest." I ask.

I'm genuinely curious, there was no reason for her to do that.

"It was BECAUSE of that stupid priest that I even bothered. He was such an asshole that I don't want his killer dead. Always touching people, and screaming, being a hypocrite. Fuck that guy and his-" She starts going on a rant, non-stop insulting the already dead man.

'She simply despises him and doesn't want to avenge his killer.' Cain comments amid her angry ranting.

Uh, yeah Cain I can see that. You don't have to be so dramatic about it.

'...'

"So that's how it is, huh? I get it, but... question. In terms of your group, are you the strongest?" I ask, trying to think of a different option.

"No," She says sourly, "But I'm not far off." is added in a mutter.

That makes things easier.

"In that case, I suggest you just surrender now. The devils who govern the town will eventually find out you guys are here, and you won't stand a chance if you're this weak." I say matter-of-factly.

Last I checked, she only had a Battle Power of 118. Now that my Appraise has upgraded, that's only a C Rating. If she's one of the stronger ones in her group, Rias alone should be able to stomp them like nothing.

It seems she disagrees or doesn't know how weak she is in comparison because her tone instantly becomes hostile.

"Haah? Don't act like you know anything you're talking about, you're just some random lucky human. Either leave town or the next time we meet I won't regret killing you," She scoffs, before suddenly growing giant black wings and flying off.

Instinctively, my eyes begin shining a scarlet light.

Something about those words, 'just some random lucky human', really pisses me off. Like, to a degree I almost think I'm having hot flashes.

Yet at the same time, I feel like I'm not obligated to prove I'm not just some human. I need to talk to Sona and Rias about this.

I wanna deal with this problem myself.

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A/N: Next Chap will be in about 4-5 hours. Same with Pkmn Fic.

For those wondering and don't care about spoilers, and know what the plot mountain is, the rising action won't happen until the end of the phoenix arc.