Scarlet 4

Scarlet 4

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Commissioned by Citino

Word Count: 2560

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Twilight Healing is an asset that anyone with an ounce of power would fight for without a shred of hesitation, dignity, nor morality. It was a Sacred Gear, bound to a human, that allowed that aforementioned to heal any injury barring death. The Sacred Gear’s healing potential was beyond Panacea’s, though limited as well. While Argento couldn’t manipulate life with complete, utter ease, she could Heal in conceptual sense. Not only that, she had the correct mentality meant for the Sacred Gear. While her reserves of energy were taxed, and strained by the obscene cost of conceptual healing, not reversal of time or acceleration of natural processes, and her mindset allowed her to passively train and strain herself, until she could heal multiple wounds, across multiple individuals with relative ease. 

I was certainly appreciative of how a Sacred Gear went to the human individual most suited for it. While Ddraig’s explanation that mighty, powerful, and talented individuals were gifted with the Sacred Gear, from ancient kings to presidents, made the notion a tad sour, as authorities with both personal and political power rankled me, in cases like my own and Argento’s the benefit was clear. Whether the Sacred Gear is found through means of arcane investigation, or activated during a time of distress, the results are the same. The power that it grants is easily used, trained, and utilized by the individual who has it. While that certainly met that some terrible individuals will be gifted with malicious powers, it also meant that the Boosted Gear, which required extensive familiarity and training, went to people like me. Healing artifacts, such as Twilight Healing, went to Argento who is inclined to help others.

Still, those were the positives.

The Sacred Gears are a known factor. For example, I have a Longinus. A Sacred Gear that can kill a god. However, in the fine print, killing a god requires Juggernaut Drive to be activated. Whereupon I’d die in minutes as years of my life is traded for power. Not only that, but Ddraig was a known factor as well, and so are his wielders. The moment I’m identified as the Wielder of the Boosted Gear, I everyone will have a basic, psychological profile on me that might be more correct that I’m inclined to believe. I am similar to Ddraig. I can utilize the Boosted Gear because it is suited to my nature. My most extreme abilities are known. Any enemy I have, the moment they see my weapon, has information on me I’d rather they not have.

At the very least, I had the same advantage against individuals with Sacred Gears of their own. 

Argento, for example, is easily manipulated. Not only has she been raised in an sheltered environment, but that same environment instilled in her a strict value in rules, culture, and willingness to give. Given her mentality, when faced with anyone who is injured, her instinct is to aid them. Thus, that lever was used against her, and she healed someone she shouldn’t have, and became exiled. Ignoring the absurd stupidity of letting someone go for mistaking an enemy shapeshifter as an injured ally, Argento’s story granted me confirmation to my suspicions regarding her character. In short, Argento was a consummate, dedicated, and generous individual inclined towards giving aid for the sake of helping others, much like a nurse or a caregiver, and that was a deep, integral part of her nature, to the point where it overrode her sensibilities and the lifelong teachings instilled into her. 

Therefore, presenting myself as someone who needs her help, yet could help her in turn, especially after she’s been ostracized and exiled, allowed me to align her to me with relative ease. Because of that, not only was I able to defeat the Fallen who’d chased after the both of us, but I ingratiated myself to her. After I confirmed her story was true, mostly due to the fact that no one from the Church came to help her against the Fallen, I’d endeavored to present myself in a positive light.

And, killing the Fallen without dying.

Ah, yes, that to.

However, while that was certainly a massive benefit, presenting myself to her as an ally that needed her, would protect her, and let myself get hurt while doing so, understandably presented the perfect image. Being without a reputation is both a boon and a curse, but in this situation it was the former. Argento, in her moment of need, found me by circumstance, I’d fed her, and when the monsters she’d feared all her life appeared, I’d saved her at great cost to myself. 

I knew exactly how a young, sheltered girl would see me, after a did all of that. 

Thus, once Sona Sitri and her Peerage appeared, and she was offered to be with them, she refused.

Just as planned.

Just as—Dammit, Ddraig!

That was mine!

…

My mother and father in my new world are airheads. While comparing Dad and Mom to them were unfair, given how both my parents in this timeline didn’t have to suffer through capes, worldwide collapse of trade, and a bevy of other things, I can say with certainty that my original parents were more serious, cautious, and pragmatic than my new ones. My father was an office worker, like most Japanese males, and my mother a housewife. However, thankfully, my father wasn’t the type to commit everything to his corporation. That made him less than the model Japanese man, but I certainly didn’t complain about all the time he spent with me and my mother. My mother, meanwhile, was an omnipresent in the house. She cooked, cleaned, and cared for herself, me, and my father with energy and a smile. 

I loved them to the point where I’d kill for them without hesitation. 

As I did with the first of the Fallen, just a few days ago.

We lived better than most families with one child and one working parent did. That was mostly due my light prodding of my parents to invest in rising technologies, as well as curtailing any attempts to splurge, and helping my father with the books. I am, after all, around the same age as them mentally and gifted with some memories of a few trends here and there. Japan might not have existed in Bet, but I was more than capable of urging my parents to start investing in the communications sector. Not much, but not too little. 

But, we were certainly well off enough to take on an exchange student for Kuoh Academy, in a spare room.

However, while Argento’s housing was settled, my parents remained airheads of the largest order.

“Please, marry our son! He’s so nice and kind, but he never gets along with other people! You’re the first person he’s ever brought to our home!” My mother held Argento’s hands in her own, while my father was studiously dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. While I could withstand Ddraig’s chortling, I was less than capable of enduring the smirk on Sitri’s face. My Devil Kaichou’s presence rankled me. She didn’t need to continue to be present, yet here she remained, while sipping tea. Which she’d added milk too. I had quite a few people I hated, given my past life, but she was certainly moving up on that list. “He’s a genius! He’s absolutely great! You’ll be taken care of all your life, if you marry him! We promise! He started helping us with everything when he was just four!”

“He’s tough, too! A real good runner! He likes to hike and jog in the mountains a lot! Loads of stamina!” My fathers, thankfully, kept his distance from. However, much to my horror, he was definitely portraying me in a very specific light that father really shouldn’t cast upon their sons. Father, I appreciate your respect, admiration, and praise of my physical abilities, but I request that you stop showing me off like some sort of race horse! The phrase you’re looking for is ‘breeding stud,’ Taylor. Quiet, you! I don’t see the problems, it’s exactly like those Doujins—QUIET, YOU! “I’m sure that he can go on and on for hours! Nonstop! Always! Whenever you want!”

“Ummm, uh, I’m sorry… but, that’s deeply inappropriate! Issei-kun and I have just met! T-that’ sort of thing isn’t for children, such as us!” Argento, while your words are dissuading to the outsider’s ears, you have commited a grievous mistake. Truly, I appreciate being called Issei-kun by a foreign, blonde bishoujo, but you have not merely shot yourself in the foot with those words. You have stepped upon a mine, in a kill box, and the exit has been sealed off. “B-but, I’m very appreciative of your kindness! Please, let me do my best to help in your wonderful home! I’ll be sure to be as little of a bother of possible!”

You see, Argento, the only way you could’ve escaped was through grievous disdain towards my whole existence. I can see it both their eyes now. They’re scheming. The only thought in their heads now is to arrange for far too many moments where we’re alone together in the house. Briefly, I considered curtailing both their allowanced for the month, but I decided against it. Because they were my parents—because you want to be alone with a cute, blonde girl overnight, many times over. 

Because they were my parents and I loved them very, very much.

As my parents began to earnestly great Argento into our household, with all the traditional greetings and welcomes expected of a Japanese host admitting a guest, Sitri lightly elbowed my side. With a flick of her wrist, beneath the table, she cast a magic that muffled sound. She leant upon the table, keeping her eyes on my parents and Argento, but she spoke through her lips with ease.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t summon a hundred thousand bugs to speak to her with moving my own lips. Really, though? What sort of person just casts magic in someone else’s household? With their mundane, normal parents mere meters away, and EXEMPT from any form of mental manipulation of any kind, on pain of death. If there was any way to remove any chance for relations between me and another party, it have to be erasing and/or molding the personality of individuals I’d cared for. I wasn’t backwards enough to think it a tool that shouldn’t be used, but I didn’t want it anywhere near my parents, or anyone else I had good relations with.

So, just your parents. 

Read your Jump, Ddraig, before I spoil it for you.

Yes, boss.

“Everything is in order. Argento has been given a new name, placed on the school roster, and she is considered a foreign-born Japanese Citizen.” In the face of Devils, Angels, and Fallen, humanity was severely lacking. A process that ought to have taken both time and capital to ensure success was simply finished in less than a handful of hours. Everything has been signed, approved, and finalized, while the ink on the first form has yet to fully cool. However, while mundane bureaucracy was easy for a Devil to navigate, it still came at cost. “And, now, Hyoudou-san you owe me three favors, especially since I had to call in a friend, and promise to not go after your Twilight Healing.”

“Three non-life-threatening favors.” I corrected Sitri, but the Devil wasn’t at all displeased. Three favors are three favors. Between individuals with exceptional abilities, and I’d proven myself exceptional by gaining Argento’s loyalty and killing four Fallen in the span of a few days, favors were the de facto currency. Naturally, given my stance of isolation and secrecy, I was deeply in the red. I certainly couldn’t ask for any favors. However, I could certainly give them away to facilitate better relations. I could have haggled her down, made a multitude of reasons, and owed her only a single favor, but that would’ve have made her as excited and happy with the prospect of me being at her beck and call thrice over. Fulfilling three requests increases her opinion of me in the future. It was the same as building a good credit score. “But, yes. I owe you, Sona Sitri.”

“Then, for my very first favor, I will have to ask you to become stronger. Much stronger. Through utilizing what resources I have at my disposal.” Sitri’s proposal surprised me. However, thanks to my previous, eventful life, I was more than capable of constraining my surprise. Demanding explanations would put me in a bad light, something I could ill afford with an individual who holds three favors over me. It was in my interest to simply accept, show my willingness to pay, and perhaps even go beyond what asked of me. Besides, being asked to train and getting supported in doing so wasn’t much. “My two remaining favors will be utilized at once, if you meet my requirements from your training. If that is not the case, rest assured that you will find yourself very discomforted by how long I shall refrain from utilizing your favors, Hyoudou.”

Well, in the face of that unfortunate possibility, I could afford to put up some resistance. There’s a difference between adhering to one’s word, and being a doormat. 

I am not inclined towards being the latter.

At all.

“Then, I want to know what I’ll be training for, Sitri.” If Sitri was willing to play hardball, leveraging me owing her favors for years on end, and saying that two favors will be fulfilled by her second requests, that must mean my caveat of “non-life-threatening’ was at risk. Actually, pondering the situation more carefully, is her first favor meant to meant to change that? After all, depending on how I’m trained, and, if the resources involved grants me some more abilities, wouldn’t the results make me stronger, ergo making it less possible for me to die due to a specific situation? Tch, the more I considered the situation, the more I felt that I was underestimating the Devil by my side. I was wrong to think of her as merely intelligent. Without a doubt, I’ll be treating her as a Thinker from this point onward. At least a 4. “If you’re going to be training me, and making sure I won’t die from those two favors, I want to know what’s ahead of me.”

Sitri considered lying by omission, but she wasn’t the only one who had a few tricks up her sleeve. I tapped lightly on the table. The sound was not that of flesh against wood, but of metal against giving tabletop. Her eyes widened slightly, as she was surprised. Without a doubt, she wasn’t as prepared for surprises as I was. Well, I suppose being threatened with the notion of being in close combat with someone who has killed Fallen Angels with his bare hands would make me wary too. 

Just because I owed her favors didn’t mean I could make plays of power myself. 

If she needed to be reminded that I wasn’t some pawn who she could move about at will, without concern, I would happily provide. 

Still, that didn’t mean I’d like the answer.

“I need you to save Rias Gremory.”