RSE B2 CH 13

The rest of the week fell into a simple rhythm.

Between classes, Leo generally spent time alone with Kira. After Lucy told him what kind of snacks the girl liked, Leo made it a point to always bring some of her favorites to her. Moreover, he had insisted that his succubus maid let him do this himself.

Lucy had been outraged at the idea of her Master doing such mundane chores as running to the store for Kira’s favorite flavors of chips. Even worse had been when he’d kicked her out of the kitchen when he made chocolate chip cookies for the girl. She had only relented when he’d promised to let her pamper him as much as she wished.

Her pampering was always… something. The day he’d bathed together in a fountain of chocolate with her and Asa was something she would never forget. That one would be hard to top, but Lucy had a few ideas. They would require cashing in a few favors to old friends, though. And that would take some time to set up.

Kira, being the glutton she was, fell hook, line, and sinker for the snacks Leo brought her. While he was far from Lucy’s level of expertise in the kitchen, he was a pretty good baker. And Kira knew he was baking for her—which made every delicious morsel that much more scrumptious.

When they sat together, she’d started inching closer and closer. By the middle of the week, she had been bold enough to sit on his lap while he fed her snickerdoodle cookies as he patted her head. Clearly, she was coming to trust him. 

Leo was thrilled that his efforts weren’t for naught.

Slowly, he came to know and understand more about the girl called Kira. She even told him about her true name.

Akina.

He found Akina to be a far more beautiful name than Kira. He couldn’t believe Rayne had given her such a simple name. After all, Kira simply meant ‘shining’. Giving her such a name was little better than calling her a pretty bauble… like one might do when giving a simple name to a pet.

Rayne’s naming sense was obviously not the best. 

Akina was a much better fit for the girl… especially given her past. Akina was a name that symbolized aspects of nature, specifically vitality and renewal that happened in the Spring. As Kira opened up to him, Leo couldn’t help but compare her to a Spring flower that opened in a renewal of strength and vitality.

The only reason he didn’t call her by her true name was that he knew of the deep wounds in her heart. Wounds that might reopen upon hearing that name. The last thing Leo wanted was to have his personal wishes hurt her in any way.

But the name Karteros on the other hand…

Knowing that his family name and the story behind it had helped Kira fight back the despair that made her want to take her own life left him with a much better impression of Rayne. His opinion of her, which had dropped a little upon learning that Rayne had changed Akina’s first name to Kira, rose.

Rayne may have lacked common sense, but she was a girl who had her heart in the right place. And though she wore her heart on her sleeve, she did her best to take care of her family—be that family by blood, or the family she had built with her Circle.

Aside from spending much of his free time with Kira, Leo also spent some time getting to know Maria better—and Mimi, as well, as the two always seemed to be together. 

Mimi had decided to come back to school, and was making up work much like Asa. They had more than a few classes together, as all three of them were freshmen.

Maria was always a mischievous little imp, a succubus down to the core. She never missed an opportunity to tease him, somehow infusing every question or reply with innuendo. 

Had Leo not received the same treatment from Lucy, he would have forever felt awkward around the bold young woman. Thanks to his experience with Lucy, he only blushed every third or fourth attempt to tease him—mostly because Mimi was there and heard it all.

As for Mimi, the two of them had become good friends. He tried to ignore the strange looks Mimi sometimes sent him when she thought he wasn’t looking. He chalked it up to her being unused to having a guy for a friend. 

Of course, finding out that you suddenly had a cousin you didn’t know about must have been quite a shock. Leo often inquired about the Mephisto family, trying to learn about this connection they shared. And the more he heard, the happier he was.

The Mephisto family, for devils, was quite tight and loving. It was something they were renowned for. Which, in a way, was a sad statement on the nature of the devils’ society. It showed how depraved the devils’ were, since simply being kind there made you something special.

Of course, outside of being known for their kindness, the Mephisto clan was very rich and influential—not only because Salvatore was the acknowledged leader of the devils, having assumed the mantle once worn by Lucifer, but because they were related to Baal.

The old General had once been the devil’s premier strategic mastermind. Still a sly old man, he was very powerful bastard, indeed.

Outside of bonding with Kira, Mimi, and Maria, Leo visited the Occult Club. It was his primary connection to the powerful devils at the school. Oddly enough, he rarely saw anyone there lately except for Sharon Sitrin and Miyu. From them, he learned much about the political machinations of devils and about devils’ society, as a whole.

During those conversations, Leo would came to respect Sharon more and more—though his initial impression of her had already been quite high. While somewhat naïve when it came to the ways of mortals, she made up for it with a keen wit. Book smart and inexperienced though she was, this did not stop her from sharing her own pithy bits of wisdom.

And she was a woman with a goal.

What that goal was, she did not share with him. Clearly, though he considered her a friend, the two of them were not close enough to share such things. But the distance between them that, at first, had seemed like a wide gulf was shortening. The same went with Miyu.

Leo could see that Miyu’s interest in him was much more than being friends. Though not nearly as bold and brassy as Maria, the Japanese beauty wasn’t shy about her developing feelings for him. And he wasn’t blind. He recognized the growing emotion in her eyes.

Still, Leo hesitated to take the plunge. 

His current relationships were complicated enough. Leo wanted to hear what Lucy and Asa had to say about these other girls who had started making inroads in his heart. He decided that he would ask them for their thoughts once he was sure of where he stood on the matter of becoming more than friends.

Either way, Miyu was a beautiful woman. Her delicate looks and gentle manner gave her a certain aura—one that he was attracted to. He tried not to react to the occasional shy touch on his arm or hand, but wasn’t always successful.

Aside from learning about devils’ society and their politics, Leo was regularly destroyed by Sharon on the chessboard. Thankfully, his skills were improving. Her margin of error shrank every time they played. 

From the way she’d stared hungrily at him when he’d nearly won a game, he felt like she was about to jump him. In a way, it seemed that Sharon saw their games of chess as a form of courtship. He idly wondered what would happen if he ever won a game. 

Clearly, Sharon wouldn’t simply let him win. 

After classes were over and club time started, Leo found himself at the Kendo club’s dojo. He had accepted Mary’s and Kate’s kind offer and joined their club as a full-time member.

He had been a little uncomfortable there at first, being the only guy in a sea of angry-eyed wooden sword wielding women. But that feeling disappeared when the girls realized he wasn’t just another pervert. When they learned he knew even more about swordsmanship than them, everyone in the club became much friendlier—almost too friendly. 

Leo was forced to acknowledge that women found him attractive. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his athletic form, his looks, or if it was a supernatural occurrence—what Nuvaros called his ‘manly dragon aura’. 

Unlike with Sharon and Miyu, though, the attraction wasn’t mutual. The women of the Kendo Club weren’t ugly, but Leo knew he would never fall in love with a normal woman. He shuddered at the thought of introducing a normie to the supernatural world. 

The real reason Leo had joined the club was for what always happened once the girls left. Then, he and James would sparr against one another, tossing the rules of Kendo out the window and fighting as swordsmen—without, of course, using their power.

Leo realized that James was a true genius when it came to the blade. And the more they fought, the more impressed with the man who kept calling Leo his nemesis he was. He had already realized how talented Kira was, but in picking such talents for her Circle, Rayne was one extremely lucky woman.

While James was weaker and less experienced than Leo, sparring against him was a joy. It helped Leo slowly reawaken instincts that had been dormant for far too long. 

The two became something akin to friends—though to hear James talk, they were closer to frenemies. They still kept their distance from one another outside of sparring, but the previously open hostility James had displayed was no more.

***

Bang!

James fell to one knee, breathing hard. He looked up at Leo only to see that he was barely sweating, 

“You are truly strong.”

Jame had long recognized Leo was his superior and simply took these fights for what they were—a way to improve himself. 

Which they did.

Leo gave him a thin smile in reply. “Thanks. I have a long way to go, though… and the same goes for you.” He took a deep breath and then blew it all out at once. “Let’s stop here for today.”

“Huh… Why?”

They generally fought four or five times before stopping. Leo had even once asked James if he liked getting abused—to which the other young man could only laugh awkwardly. 

They usually fought until James could hardly lift his training blade. This time seemed different. He was tired, but not completely exhausted.

Leo shrugged. “I don’t want to wear you out because…” He rubbed the back of his neck, giving James a smirk. “I want to fight Rayne and your Circle on Sunday. The venue can be at a place of your choosing. I’ll leave it to you to set it up.”

It was currently Friday afternoon.

James’s eyes narrowed. “You trained with me despite knowing that I would take this opportunity to analyze your fighting style. You have to know that I’ll share what I’ve learned with my Mistress and her Circle. Are you that confident?”

“This isn’t about confidence. After this, regardless of who wins, there will be no excuses from either side. Right?”

Leo laughed before putting his training blade on the rack and walking away.

‘Very well, cousin,’ he thought, ‘I let you have some intelligence about me. I only hope you and your Circle don’t disappoint.’ 

He wondered what kind of plan they would come up with. 

He couldn’t wait for Sunday to come.