The Mandate of Khaos: Peers (ch. 10)

Chonkier chapter to compensate the wait (I posted the receipts of the rolls that appear on this chapter and some of the next. At least now I have proof I'm not fudging anything, Shinji's luck really just sucks dick).

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Classes were… soul-crushingly dull. No surprise there, but for some reason, I hadn’t expected it to be this bad. My brain was slowly turning to mush.

If there was one saving grace, it was Fujimura Taiga’s enthusiastic homeroom lectures, particularly the mesmerizing bounce of her impressive chest with every emphatic gesture. Gods, that was a sight to behold.

Speaking of nice pairs of tits—

“I—I think I’m having some effect.” Tsubaki’s voice, strained but determined, cut through the ambient noise of crackling energy and spirit wails. She insisted on being called by her first name now, which had prompted everyone else to switch to first names too (which, for most of us it actually made more sense that way, not that they knew I was included in that 'most' after all).

"The number of spirits incoming from the Mirrors does seem to be reducing in number," Sona mused, her expression thoughtful as she observed the shimmering mirrors Tsubaki was manipulating. "Very nice, the influx of spirits is demonstrably reducing. Do not try to push yourself further for now, merely maintain this output.”

Tsubaki nodded, a sheen of sweat glistening on her forehead.

Sakura would always be best girl, but I had to admit—

Feat: Slay one Ubume

Rewards: One Bronze Ability Ticket

Feat: Slay ten Nuppeppō

Rewards: One Silver Ability Ticket

Feat: Slay ten Ubume

Rewards: One Bronze Ability Ticket

Feat: Successfully snipe ten Evil Spirits

Rewards: One Silver Skill Ticket

Tsubaki Shinra was good. This girl was letting me fucking print tickets. Gods damn it, I know those Shinra bastards are supposed to be powerful, but I swear I’ll make them bleed one day for making my best ticket farmer look so utterly drained!

[Bear Manipulation]

|Trash Ability|

Allows you to take control of all bears within a 50-meter radius around yourself. Good luck finding so many bears.

[Weather]

|Trash Ability|

You are able to accurately tell the weather of a given area for the span of a week.

[Piercing Eyes]

|Uncommon Ability|

Your eyes can see far and see through objects, and you can adjust the level perfectly according to your needs.

*You have reached ten total Abilities. A new Ability Slot has been unlocked.*

[Intermediate Chemistry]

|Uncommon Skill|

You are learned enough in the field of Chemistry to be a professor, you understand how most common compounds are formed and remember the interactions of chemicals and reactions well.

I mean, I’d have to wait for my luck to actually give me some good combat stuff, but I’d get there eventually. Surely. It couldn't continue to be like this for much longer… right?

As the last wispy figure drifted from the weakening portals, Tsubaki collapsed onto the ground, utterly spent.

Feat: Deal with a (weak) evil spirit incursion

Rewards: One Silver Ability Ticket

Right? Please?!

On a Silver Ticket, Uncommon is supposed to be the Average right?!!

[Despair Aura I]

|Common Ability|

Allows you to emit an aura of despair that makes people feel uneasy and weaker targets to feel fear.

RIGHT!!? My internal scream was pure, distilled frustration. Sakura, sensing my plummeting mood, gave my back a sympathetic pat. At least someone was enjoying themselves, I guess—

“Charlie! Breath Attack!” Rias’s voice rang out, brimming with glee.

The miniature Charizard let out a disgruntled huff but obeyed, unleashing a surprisingly potent stream of flame that utterly incinerated a rogue, floating umbrella spirit.

"YES! YES YES YES YES! Shinji," Rias turned towards me, stars practically bursting from her crimson eyes. It had taken more effort than I ever remembered putting into anything to manage to dodge Rias' questions on where exactly I had managed to procure a bastardized version of one of the most famous Pokemons and—as I’d come to learn—the one Rias always picked as her starter. "How much do you want for her?" she demanded, bouncing on her heels.

I leaned back, thrown off balance as always by her sheer, unrestrained exuberance. Such happy-go-lucky, free-spirited girls had always been my kryptonite. I never really knew how to react. Fortunately, I had Sakura now.

“Rias,” Sakura said smoothly, twisting the crimson-haired devil’s ear with deceptive gentleness. “Little Charlie is not for sale.”

“But Sakuraaaaaaa~,” Rias moaned, the sound doing unsettlingly pleasant things to my nervous system. Rias Gremory truly was a devil.

Sakura, however, was the devil’s devil.

“No means no, Rias,” Sakura stated firmly. Then, a sly glint entered her eyes. “However… I might consider lending her to you…”

I’d never seen a mood shift so fast. Despair vanished, replaced by explosive joy. Sakura leaned in, whispering something into Rias’s ear. Rias blinked, confusion flickering across her face, then shrugged with a devil-may-care grin…

Huh?

Wait, what the—?

Sakura took the small, silky object Rias discreetly pressed into her hand and, with unnerving accuracy, whipped it directly at my face.

“Pfff—what the absolute fuck, Sakura?!” I spluttered, peeling a pair of unmistakably lacy, crimson panties off my cheek.

Feat: Acquire a pair of Rias Gremory's used panties

Rewards: One Silver Item Ticket

Sakura shot me a triumphant thumbs up – and if there ever was any doubt left that she knew about Ms. Goldeggs’ earlier panty-thieving escapade, there was no more. She then began walking back, leaving me to choke in the dust as Rias smothered Charlie in between her breasts.

"Hehehehehe, you know, Shinji-kun, if you wanted something like that, you could've just asked and I wouldn't have minded giving them to my cute delinquent clubmate, yeah? I wouldn't have minded~"

Rias' grin, while teasing, told me she knew there was something more to this than merely acquiring her panties for perverted reasons. The barely disguised disgust emanating from Sona and Tsubaki’s direction on the other hand…

"Gods damn it, woman! Stop making it sound like I wanted this!"

[Reiterpallasch]

|Uncommon Item|

Bloodborne - A refined weapon wielded by the knight of Cainhurst Castle. This weapon combines a rapier and a gun without compromising either. This weapon can be transformed into a bayonet to amplify the aspects of the gun part. You can let your own blood and turn it into quicksilver bullets to feed into the gun.

“Ehhhhh~, you looking pretty happy though?”

I could hear the smugness dripping from her voice, but I did not care.

A sword. That was also a gun.

Holy shit. This was awesome.

I really could do without the twin stare of pure, unadulterated contempt from Tsubaki and Sona, though.

"I'm telling you, this is not what it looks like!"

- - -

"Come on, you have to believe me, I—"

"I do believe you, though?" Tsubaki's voice cut sharply through my groveling, and I snapped my downcast head up to look at her. "Shinji-sa—" I narrowed my eyes pointedly, and she coughed embarrassedly to the side. "Shinji-…kun," she ended up settling on, "I may not have known you for very long, but I believe I know you well enough to know that you're not the type of pervert who asks for a woman's underwear for no reason."

I could feel unshed tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. "Tsubaki-chaaaa—!"

"You are a pervert," she clarified calmly. "Just not that specific brand of pervert."

I immediately deflated like a pricked balloon. It’s not like I could deny the accusation, what with me activating Piercing Eyes to stare at her tits and all.

Only at her tits, though! I was limiting myself to strictly above the belt! It may not be much of a line, but it was a line, damn it!

"I've come to you because I have… a more personal question to ask." I raised an eyebrow. Was I really the best person to ask that?

I mean, Sona was way smarter than me—which means this is likely related to her, I figured out.

And for it to be something related to her that she would come to me about…

"You're pondering becoming part of her peerage?" Tsubaki appeared momentarily shocked that I’d figured it out, before nodding softly.

I scratched the back of my head. This was a bit complicated. "Do you have any desire to go to Heaven?"

"The Christian one?" She asked, and I just shrugged. "A Heaven, you mean, then? Well, if I had to choose, then sure, but it's not like being blocked from it is something that bothers me much, I suppose. It seems that, when Devils die, usually their existence just… ceases. It is not an ending I would dislike, I think."

I tilted my head to the side. "What's holding you back, then?"

"It's just…" She sounded ashamed of what she was about to say. "To become part of a Peerage… it is to give a lot of power for its King to hold over you, isn't it? It's not that I distrust Sona, of course!" She added quickly, perhaps reassuring herself as much as me.. "And the Sitri Clan has been nothing but kind to my family, but…"

I frowned, caught off guard by that last detail. "Your family was helped by the Sitri Clan?"

Tsubaki nodded. "Yes, they were of great help with my… outbreaks. But my parents' dealings with them was likely a big reason for why we were excommunicated." It was clear that she felt terrible about it.

Still, I sighed. "As you said, you haven't known Sona for long, and the same applies to me, of course. However," I extended my hand to her, "would you trust me for a bit?"

Tsubaki looked down at my outstretched hand. She looked up, searching my face, before looking down once again, a small, hesitant smile forming on her lips. "Of course."

She took my hand in hers, and I led her to the room Sona was currently renovating. We arrived to the sight of our Vice-Prez dripping wet, clad in a conservative, one-piece swimsuit, wrestling with plumbing fixtures beside a newly installed bathtub.

"We can come back lat—"

Sona raised a dripping hand to silence Tsubaki. "No, no. I needed a break anyway or else I'll blow this entire thing up."

A smirk tugged at my lips. "You lost the bet."

I didn't know the precise contents, but I knew Rias and Sona had a wager riding on whether Sona would allow Rias to install a complete bathroom inside the clubroom or not. Seeing as not only was the bathtub being installed, but Sona herself was overseeing it, she must have lost badly.

"Not another word out of you, Shinji." I could hear the slight hitch in her voice as she used my first name without honorifics, but I supposed she would soon get used to it.

"Oh~, scary, scary," I teased. "Will you punish me, Vice-Prez?"

Sona raised a hand, mimed pulling someone over her knee for a spanking, and adjusted her glasses, the lenses glinting ominously. "Do you believe that I won't?"

"We'll save that delightful threat for another time, I smiled, pressing my advantage. She was disorientated now, with her guard lowered. It pained me to manipulate her like this, but it was the best way to confirm my suspicions. "By the way, were you aware Tsubaki's family is deeply indebted to the Sitri Clan?"

Shock. There was no way to fake that shock. Well, I suppose that’s that then.

Sona's entire mood changed, though. Far more dramatically than I could ever have predicted. Her face grew serious, she swiftly cleared the water from herself with a flick of her power, crossed the space to Tsubaki in three swift strides—and bowed her head deeply.

"I apologize." Tsubaki gaped at the sight. "I swear I was not aware that your family, and you by extension, were indebted to the Sitri Clan, not that my request for you to join my peerage carried that kind of baggage along with it. This…" Sona straightened, her eyes blazing with sudden, furious understanding. "...This reeks of my sister's meddling."

Sona closed her eyes and sighed. "I won't offer you a chance to withdraw, as it is clear that you enjoy your current environment. It is also obvious that, even should you wish to, you would be unable to do so, as doing so would be the same as declaring that you disliked being placed here with me, which could cause you problems."

She took a shuddering breath. "I will… arrange my withdrawal from the Academy, I suppose."

I choked on my own spit. Tsubaki, though, appeared to be moving before her brain even caught up with what she was doing. Grabbing Sona's hands in her own, Tsubaki began shaking her head wildly. "No! You—you can't do that!"

This has gotten a bit more complicated than it had any right to be. Was this that whole ‘teenage drama’ stuff I had heard so much about?

Sona was shaking her head, and I could notice, behind her stoic facade, that her eyes were holding back pools of unshed tears. "She swore, you know? She swore to me that she would not interfere anymore, and yet—!"

"She probably didn't," I interjected gently. "Hadn't you already told her of your intentions to move to Kuoh before?"

Sona's eyes widened, as if realizing what I was implying. It was unlikely Serafall Leviathan would lie to her sister so blatantly, but if what she swore was to not interfere from now on, then if Tsubaki Shinra's enrolling into Kuoh Academy had already been planned, Serafall would not have technically broken her promise.

Sona’s words came out behind a choked sob. "That just further drives the point home, though, doesn’t it? No matter how hard I try… I’ll truly never be able to get out of her shadow, will I?"

My lips thinned. Not because I was annoyed at Serafall… but because I actually found myself agreeing with her course of action in this case, and I knew that would irritate Sona to no end.

Still… I could probably use that to fix this. It would end up with her annoyed at me, but this mess partly stemmed from my meddling anyway so—

"Look, Sona—" I started, but Tsubaki stopped me.

She turned fully to Sona and offered a radiant, genuine smile. "It's true. When I first saw you, I saw only the Heiress of the Clan that saved my family. That feeling… I don't think it will ever fully vanish. But that's natural, isn't it?"

Tsubaki gently guided a stunned Sona to the nearest couch, sitting beside her, still holding her hands. "Sitri helped me. But you know? Sona has helped me too. I love the way you laugh – that rare, beautiful sound. I love how fiercely you worry about the future, how you include us in that vision, determined we'll be part of it. I even love the way you get senselessly mad at things such as these," Sona tried to protest, blushing fiercely, but Tsubaki squeezed her hands. "I respect Sitri. But I like Sona. Deeply. Joining your peerage isn't an obligation for me. It's a choice. My choice."

Tsubaki then narrowed her eyes. "There is, of course, even less reason for you to, for some gods forsaken reason, abandon this school. I like Prez, but I can't imagine this club working out without your presence counteracting hers."

Sona snorted despite herself. "She would likely just end up using this place as her base and idle away the rest of her high school years watching anime and reading manga." Sona sighed. "Are you sure, Tsubaki? It's not a decision that should be made lightly—"

"Sona," Tsubaki said firmly, squishing the shorter girl’s cheeks with her hands. "Do you swear? Swear to always respect me and my counsel? To never force me into a challenge you don't believe, with your whole heart, I can overcome?"

Sona nodded, her eyes shining. "I swear."

"Then there's no further thought I need to give it."

If Sona cried a bit, none of us commented on it. Of course, if Tsubaki also cried a bit, neither me nor Sona commented on it, either.

And me?

I’m a bad boy. Bad boys don’t cry. The slight dampness at the corners of my eyes was just… sweat. Definitely sweat. From watching Sona’s genuine happiness bloom and the fierce, relieved hug that followed. I slipped out quietly, leaving them to their hard-won moment.