Tilling Soil

By: Aviantei

Chapter Twelve

"I wanna see what you're like when you're not holding back."

It took Ayane but a moment to fully process what Amaimon had said—and then she made herself smile, though she could hear the nervousness in her own voice. "I don't know what you're talking about, Amaimon-san." The lie didn't have any confidence behind it, and the only reason that Ayane managed not to let out a fake laugh was through sheer willpower and practice dealing with awkward situations from all of the double dates Michiko had dragged her on.

I never thought I'd actually be grateful for all that nonsense, but there's a first time for anything!

Her thoughts may have been panicked, but Ayane didn't miss the faintest crease that formed in Amaimon's brow, the closest he'd ever gotten to showing displeasure at her. "Don't lie," he said, voice still in its near monotone. He didn't have to sound angry to make Ayane flinch. "You know what I'm talking about. Why do you even bother?"

Would it kill you to even bother thinking about what you're doing to other people when you go all out like that?!

The memory sent a wave of nausea through her stomach, and Ayane clenched her fists, wanting for something to hold onto. All she got was the not loose enough denim of her jeans. Her mouth was dry. She swallowed anyways. "I can't just go around fighting people who upset me, even when they're creeps like that. If people went around doing that, it'd be chaos. That's why we have laws against that sort of thing."

"That's because humans are stupid." He said it so plainly that Ayane couldn't even think of a response, let alone voice it. Amaimon bit on his thumbnail, then, as if realizing what he was doing, pulled his finger away and fished in his pocket for one of the suckers he'd bought at an earlier stop in a candy shop. "There's nothing wrong with fighting people to make a point."

"There's so much wrong with that, I don't know where to start!" Ayane threw up her hands, not knowing how else to show her exasperation. What frustrated her more than his casual attitude and the way he licked at his candy like they were still having a normal conversation, though, was that she somewhat agreed, in the dark little part of her heart she tried to keep tucked away. "Forget other people. If I—if I just went around, fighting whoever the hell I wanted to people would get hurt for no good reason at all. Or even if it was for a good reason, like those idiots from earlier, it's not like there aren't other ways to solve the problem without fighting."

Amaimon gave her a look as if he hadn't heard of the concept before. No, he'd heard of the concept, but he still didn't think it was right. "If you keep thinking like that, you're going to be the one who ends up hurt without doing anything about it."

Was he questioning her judgement? Sure, Ayane tried to steer herself towards pacifism whenever she could, but even she knew that there were some situations that called for a bit more force. It was why she'd punched the punk from earlier; she'd thought about it, and one solid punch at the right time was going to be way more effective than trying to talk her way out of their circle of interest. Feeling miffed at Amaimon's implication, Ayane narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying I don't have enough sense of self preservation that I don't know when to stick up for myself?"

"I'm saying that you take too long to decide to fight. You'd rather play nice and polite first." Knowing that he was right, Ayane looked away. What else am I supposed to do? "You hesitated earlier. If you didn't, things would have been over a lot faster. That's going to backfire one of these days, and you'll be the one who ends up hurt."

Ayane tried to remind herself that Amaimon clearly had a different perspective on the matter; he'd made that clear when she'd gotten upset at him for fighting with his brother. Whatever life experience he'd had, it was one where fighting was the right first option, a different environment from Ayane's overall quiet and safe life in Japan. And while the feelings of self doubt were still lingering inside her, concern for Amaimon swelled up to push the negative feelings somewhat away.

Amaimon-san, what happened to you?

Amaimon bit down on his sucker with a loud crunch, and Ayane's thoughts flitted away without her feeling like she had the right to ask something so personal. Amaimon, whatever was on his mind, had no such concerns. "Fine," he said, his expression back to full neutral as he almost drawled out the word. "If you won't fight people for yourself, I'll do it for you."

"What?!" Realizing how loud she'd been, Ayane sucked in a breath and glanced around the restaurant, giving an apologetic look to patrons and waitstaff who looked her way. "You don't need to do that," she said, hissing to emphasize her point without another outburst. Though she hadn't seen him in action, Ayane knew from the state of his clothes and his blasé attitude about subject that, in a fight, Amaimon wasn't someone who even thought about holding back.

Not looking fazed by her concerns, Amaimon shrugged. "I want to do it." Ayane couldn't even begin to feel flustered that he was willing to fight for her; there was too much worry mingling in her brain to think about what it might mean.

Whatever he would do would be so much worse than I would do on accident, she realized.

"And I don't want you to do that," she said, her tone coming out severe. Maybe, if she put enough authority behind the words, Amaimon would back down. "I don't need you to protect me, Amaimon-san. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."

"You are," he said, admitting it without any trouble, and that was near enough to mollify the annoyance inside her, "but you're not doing it, so I'll take care of it."

"I said no!" Her fist hit the restaurant's table with enough force to make the napkin holder shake. "I'm not about to let you go around, using me as an excuse to pick a fight with people."

"Oh yeah?" If she didn't know better, Ayane would have thought Amaimon was happy to see her so worked up, but it was so hard to tell with his unshifting expression. "If you don't want me to do it, then make me."

"M-make you?" she repeated, half spluttering at the childish argument.

"Yeah, make me." Amaimon stood, hands tucked in his pockets and the sucker stick hanging from the corner of his mouth. "Fight me, Ayane. If you win, I'll do whatever you want."

It wasn't often that Yori had moments where she wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten there, but she was in the middle of having one. She'd wanted to take some time off campus—the town below them was so interestingly designed that it made for great writing inspiration—but then she'd gotten sidetracked trying to avoid some clusters of the monsters that were growing in number every day. And that detour had led her straight to Margeret Faust, the Headmaster's daughter and the one helping Ayane with her dates, which wouldn't have been anything other of a coincidence if it weren't for one little—or, rather, large problem.

The yellow and green monster, half Faust-san's height and with long and thick forearms ending in claws, large teeth with rounded edges that still seemed as if they could tear through anything.

One of the creatures she'd seen before, the ones starting to overtake the school and town and that no one else saw, hooked on a leash as if it were a dog on a walk.

Yori had no idea how she hadn't screamed. It was one of those moments where panic had hit overload, her brain going into survival mode and talking rationally. She was glad that Faust-san seemed open enough to explaining things, but she seemed torn over something, and had left the moment that someone else had arrived on the scene, offering assistance.

And that's where I'm confused?

The boy with pink hair had introduced himself as Shima Renzo. He was also a first year True Cross Academy student, but he was from a few classes over. Yori hadn't even had to introduce herself, because he'd already known, and he plopped her onto a nearby bench, offered to get her a snack, and slipped into the crowd, leaving her behind with the cat, who'd given a few meows before landing in Yori's lap.

"At least you're cute," she said, scritching underneath the cat's chin. Though the small nubs on their head and the two tails indicated that they weren't normal, the cat seemed tame enough, if the purrs rumbling against her fingertips were any indication.

"Yeah, Kuro's pretty cute, isn't he?" Yori looked up at the sound of Shima's voice, finding him standing nearby with two crepes in hand. "I didn't know what kind you'd like, so I got a few. Take your pick, Yori-chan."

Blinking at the overly familiar referral (she was used to it from Michiko and the others, but not practical strangers), Yori assessed the sweets before her. "I'll take the chocolate, thanks." Shima complied, passing over the crepe before plopping down on the bench beside her. "How much was it, Shima-san? I can pay you back."

Shima held up a hand and shook his head. "Not necessary, Yori-chan! I have no problems buying a treat for a cute girl if it means I get to bask in her company!" Oh, Yori thought, taking an unapologetic bite from her crepe, he's one of those types. "Not to mention you're having a tough time right now, by the looks of it. Though, I guess if you really wanted to pay me back, we could call this a date."

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in boys." Shima's mouth opened, shut, and opened again, and Yori sighed. It was so obvious he was trying to interpret her words in a way that suited him. "Shima-san, I'm a lesbian."

There was another beat of awkward silence, and Yori wondered if it would be way more worth it to just get up and leave. But Shima surprised her with a sage-like nod. "I don't blame you. Girls are great." Kuro meowed something from Yori's lap, and she figured out how to hold her crepe with one hand so she could free up the other to resume her petting. "But anyways," Shima said, trying to steer the conversation back into manageable territory, "I still stand by the fact that you probably have a crap load worth of questions, and I can still buy you a snack to get through this."

Look at that; someone who can handle it with some human decency. Too bad strangers' reactions to her sexual orientation weren't the highest priority on her list. "You make it sound like this—" she gestured to Kuro as much as she could "—is a really bad thing." Aside from the potential dangers of the monsters she'd always seen, part of Yori had considered it cool that she had something like the sight or whatever term you wanted to use for it. A Temptaint, Faust-san had called it.

"Well, I mean, it's not the worst thing ever. Plenty of people can see demons, and there's even people like me and Whis—Margeret-chan who are in training to take care of the problematic ones." Since Shima was about to start explaining, Yori busied herself with her crepe, enjoying the drizzle of chocolate mixed with whipped cream. "Essentially, we're going to become exorcists, help when there are demon issues and stuff. I guess you could say that's what she was doing earlier—taking care of some exorcist business."

"Because there are demons." Shima gave her an almost pitying look, and Yori shook her head. "Sorry, I've seen them before, but I'm just wrapping my head around things. B-but I read a lot of light novels, and I write fantasy, so I'm sure if you give me the basics, I'll be okay. Demons, exorcist organization—what else?" Oddly enough, she felt way more in her element that she did in everyday life.

Shima bit into his own crepe, a cube of mango spilling out over the side. He half-cursed, half chewed while coming up with a response. "Okay, so basics of basics. There are demons, and the Knights of the True Cross are the ones who patrol stuff—that's what Wh—Margeret-chan and I are training to be. Basically, demons show up in Assiah, which is our world, but they come from Gehenna, which is, well—Yori-chan, you okay?"

"Gehenna is basically the demon world." Her hand stopped midway through running over Kuro's back, and the cat gave her a curious look. Yori was too busy trying to understand what in the world all the pieces meant to keep petting him. "Not just a place in the Bible, but the literal place where demons come from."

Still giving her a sideways look, Shima nodded, which didn't help. "A lot of different religions have spirits and places that are a part of…this." He waved his hand in an all-encompassing gesture. "I'm kinda surprised you knew that, though, Yori-chan. Pretty sure that's one of the more obscure things in the Bible."

"I didn't know. Not until Ayane-san mentioned it." And Ayane had only brought Gehenna up because— Yori half considered giving the whole thing up for broke and going back to the dorm so she could curl up in bed and pretend it all was a dream. "M-my friend. She's seeing someone that she really likes. And he said he was from Gehenna." And while she wanted to believe that it was still just a joke, some chuunibyou nonsense, all the evidence was pointing in the worst possible direction—including the fact that Shima had stopped looking her in the eye with a nervous sort of smile twitching on his lips. "Shima-san. You know something about this, don't you?"

His laugh sounded just as strained as his expression looked. "Do you want me to be honest, or would you rather I sugarcoat it?"

If the crepe didn't taste so good, Yori might have considered emulating Ayane and tossing it at Shima. Instead, she settled for locking him in the best glare she could muster. "I want you to tell me." She couldn't back down, not when Ayane could be in danger. "What do you know about what's happening with Ayane-san?"

"Yeah, funny story… You know how I said Margeret-chan was doing some exorcist business?" Yori nodded, a sense of anxiety stirring up in her. "Well that's 'cause she's keeping an eye on Fukui-senpai's date."

"Because Amaimon-san is a demon," Yori finished for him, feeling winded. She almost dropped her crepe, though Kuro's head nudged into her hands. She offered the cat a weak smile. "What does a demon want with her, anyways? And I've never seen one that looks like a human before—I mean, Ayane-san doesn't have a Temptaint as far as I know, and she knows about him just fine!" She was sure there was an explanation to everything, but she didn't have the concrete answers, and that was just making everything worse. Ayane-san should be with him now; what if something happens to her…?

Hasn't she gone through enough already?

"Easy there, Yori-chan." How did he make smiling look so easy? Shima had even managed to eat half of his crepe while Yori was having an internal crisis. "As far as I can tell, Fukui-senpai doesn't have a Temptaint. And I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you that this all started because Fukui-senpai went ahead and pestered Margeret-chan to help her out." Yori bit her lip, remembering all of Ayane's rants about the subject; Ayane was there because she wanted to be, even if she didn't know the whole picture. "As for why Amaimon's there, I'm pretty sure it's because there's someone I can't talk about who finds it funny."

Yori frowned, wanting more answers but knowing that Shima wouldn't give them. "Is Ayane-san in danger, then?" As said, she'd read her fair share of fiction; demons weren't always evil, there were ones who were still good. Maybe, if the world they lived in was kind, Amaimon would be one of the good ones, someone who wouldn't bring more trouble into Ayane's life.

If anyone has to go through something for us to make it through this, I'd rather it be me.

But if Amaimon wasn't an issue, the part of her brain responsible for pessimism wondered, then why was Faust-san watching out for Ayane as an exorcist?

Shima's smile had faded down to a more serious expression, all but confirming Yori's worries. "I'll be honest with you, Yori-chan. Amaimon's a really powerful demon. Like, super powerful." Yori nodded, her mouth too dry to even begin to form words. "He hasn't been causing trouble lately, and I'm pretty sure that he's under restrictions so he can't go too far, but that doesn't mean he's not capable of it. He's caused some real problems in the past."

"What… What kind of problems?" Yori asked, voice shaking.

"Ah, I mean…" Shima flashed an apologetic look. "Y'see, I normally wouldn't mind telling you, since Fukui-senpai's your friend, but I'm sure Margeret-chan's already gonna be pissed at me for telling you too much, and it's not really my story to tell, you get me, Yori-chan?"

Yori had read and written enough stories to understand what was between the lines: something had happened to Faust-san, and it involved Amaimon. Tucking that information away to ask about when she had the chance, Yori moved on. "Okay then. Then Amaimon…" She hesitated, not knowing if the honorific was appropriate anymore or not. "You said he was powerful. How powerful is he?"

"Man, you sure do like asking the hard questions. But I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually, so no point in hiding it." Shima polished off the last of his crepe, crumpling up the wrapper and shooting it into the nearest trashcan before he turned to face Yori head on. She took a tentative bite of her own sweet, hoping that the chocolate would make her feel better, and got only subpar results. "So meanwhile in Gehenna, there's Satan, who's the big bad, and then his kids all reign over these different areas of their own. We call them the Kings of Hell, and there's eight of them."

Yori already had an idea of what Shima was going to say next, and she choked on her bite of crepe before he could even fully get the words out:

"Amaimon's the seventh prince, the King of Earth."

Mephisto had traded out his armchair for a couch, and he was lounging across it for all it was worth from what was becoming his usual perch above the skies of True Cross Academy Town. He kept casting glances to the various parties involved, but most of his attention was on his phone for the time being. Shima was skilled enough to handle the situation with Miyamoto Yori, Amaimon and Ayane were in one piece, despite their unconventional conversation, and Whiskey was trying her best to follow through on the mission she'd stuck herself with to keep her misguided senpai safe.

And Okumura Rin was running about at the direction of what he thought were Shima's instructions but were in fact coming from Mephisto's own phone.

Humming to himself, Mephisto put in another message, steering Rin not towards where Shima and Miyamoto Yori, but in a wholly other direction. "Sorry, my darling Whiskey-chan, but I can't have you interfering at this point just yet. Some important things need to happen today." Luckily for Mephisto, the last date had put Rin in for prime candidacy to run interference, even if he didn't expect that was the case.

The last of his falsified directions given, Mephisto tossed his phone aside (it vanished in a puff of pink smoke) and sat up, stretching out his shoulders before taking a cup from the floating tea set beside him. His umbrella demon preened from the armrest, and Mephisto let out a satisfied sigh as he took a long sip from his teacup.

"Oh no, we're not quite done here, yet." As far as Mephisto was concerned, they were still in the opening game. But if he'd played all his cards right for this time… A grin stretched over his face at the thought of it.

His expression never once fading, Mephisto watched as the pieces fell right into place where they belonged.

For once, Whiskey let Behemoth do as he pleased—within reason, of course. She wasn't about to let the hobgoblin run wild, but he had a much better awareness of where Amaimon was, even when Whiskey heightened her senses, and so Behemoth was her best shot at catching up with Fukui's stupid date before anything cataclysmic could happen.

The good news, if nothing else, was that Whiskey couldn't feel Amaimon flexing his demonic abilities anymore, but it was also a mixed blessing. Without any output, he wouldn't be able to cause harm, but it also made it the slightest bit trickier for Whiskey to find him. Unwilling to shut out her father's presence over True Cross Academy Town, she hunted for the pulsing sensations of Amaimon's presence, like looking for one specific tone of gray amongst a smattering of black and white static.

Behemoth yanked on his leash, pulling Whiskey around a street corner she hadn't been planning on taking. Picking up the stirring of the earth beneath all the artificial material of the buildings, Whiskey agreed that the hobgoblin was on the right track and let him lead the way. They'd moved far away enough from the shopping district that the streets weren't anywhere near as crowded, so it was easy to run without worrying about barreling other people over. Assessing the buildings around her, Whiskey tried to figure out where she was on her mental map of the town.

It had to be somewhere closer to the lower levels of True Cross Academy Town, judging by the number of residential buildings she and Behemoth were running past—many of the shopping centers wanted to get business from the students or the traffic to Mepphyland and were closer to the topside. That realization made Whiskey feel even more concerned, however; Amaimon going wild in the middle of crowded street would be a disaster, but having him level a bunch of unsuspecting people trying to enjoy a day off in their homes wasn't much better, either.

In time, though, the neatly lined homes with their gates and front yard gardens were behind them, and a surprisingly lush park came into view. Amaimon's presence had sharpened in her perception, and the active numbers of baby greenmen and dekalp stirring amongst the plant life were a sure sign that Amaimon had been by recently. Whiskey had the vindictive hope that he was beyond sick for the stunt he tried to pull off earlier. It would make it that much easier to kick his ass—

"Whiskey! Hey, you alright?"

Whiskey came to such an abrupt halt that she and Behemoth almost knocked each other by trying to head in different directions. She hoped that she'd misheard the voice, that it wasn't who she thought it was. But her enhanced senses had the habit of being pretty damn accurate, and, when she turned around, she saw just about the last person she wanted to get involved with her mess: one boy, out of breath, in his school uniform despite it being a day off, and running at her at full speed—

"Rin?!"

[Author's Notes]

Man, these past few weeks have been chaotic! Of course, I'm not making anything easier on my characters, either. Is this karma?

Thanks go out to Dragon Lord Draco and Dreams of the Damn for your reviews on the previous chapter. I hope you enjoy this update as well!

Again, we're dealing with all sorts of culture shock here, plus more complications on the horizon for everyone else coming in. I'm really excited to see how the upcoming actions play out, especially since I'm planning on finishing this fic this year! More on that as I eventually get to drafting out the remaining chapters and plan an update schedule.

But that's getting ahead of myself! Hopefully there will be more news to come in chapter thirteen. Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[02.04.2020]