Hestia came in soon after, "Hephaestus! I heard you're done! Let's have a drink. Yoruichi-kun was able to get some good ones!"
She then noticed Hephaestus's uncovered eye and shell shocked expression, "Hephaestus!? What happened!? Is something wrong!?" Hestia immediately ran over to her side and asked in concern.
Seeing Hestia's worried expression, Hephaestus smiled and patted her head, "I'm fine. I just showed my eye to Kisuke."
Hestia's eyes widened and asked, "You did...? T-then, what was his response?" She was sensitive to Hephaestus regarding her eye and was surprised that she even showed it to him. It was probably due to them working closely together.
Nevertheless, she knew what kind of reactions other people would show when they saw her eye, either fear or disgust. Kisuke is from her Familia and she didn't want him to hurt the feelings of her best friend and she trusts Kisuke's not so usual views on things.
However, there was still a possibility that Kisuke also had the same reaction as others, so she asked.
Hephaestus stayed silent for a moment which worried Hestia more. But after her silence, Hephaestus suddenly started chuckling, "You don't have to worry. His reaction was a lot different from others."
"A lot different?" Hestia then recalled Kisuke's usual antics, "Why does that worry me more?"
"Oh? It seems that you know how he acts?"
"Of course, he's my child and he has already shown me more ridiculous things than you know! Anyway, what was his reaction to your eye? He didn't get scared, did he?"
Hephaestus's smile grew larger as she answered, "Nope. On the contrary, he told me that this eye would appear cool to some people. I can't see how that is possible, but he isn't lying one bit."
Hestia sighed in relief but was still confused at one thing, "Then why are you all smiles? That can't be the only reason, is it?"
Hephaestus ruffled her head, "When did you learn to think?"
Hestia hurriedly grabbed her hand and protested, "Stop that! And what do you mean when did I learn how to think! I always knew how to think! And!? What else did he say?"
"Well, he dissed my eye and said it's nothing impressive and lost his interest soon after."
"...He what?"
"He said it's nothing impressive," Hephaestus said it again.
"...Does he know what your eye can do?"
Hephaestus thought for a moment, "I think so. After all, he also told me why our fellow Gods were afraid of this eye and it was correct."
"Then isn't your reaction strange? Why are you actually happy about it?"
"Oh come on, Hestia. It isn't every day that someone could actually say that about my eye. Besides, thanks to his words, I realized that I'm putting off my own worth because of this eye, so maybe, it's time to change that."
"Change..." A very rare word for an eternally unchanging God to speak about.
The two of them continued talking as they went out to get a drink.
.
.
.
Kisuke arrived where the others were practicing and immediately saw Yoruichi teaching Sona how to use her halberd. As the former heir to the Shihouin House which keeps various treasures and tools, Yoruichi was trained to use all sorts of weapons. It was actually Yoruichi, who taught Kisuke swordsmanship when they were just children.
The only other people practicing were Ais and Riveria, as Kuroka went out to do her usual scouting work, Medusa was cleaning the whole place and Aika followed after Koneko when she heard that she got a new 'toy'.
When Ais saw Kisuke coming, her eyes shone and she immediately stopped what she was doing and approached him before asking, "Please spar with me!"
Kisuke first looked towards Yoruichi's direction but the latter only shrugged her shoulders and continued teaching Sona.
Kisuke faced Ais again and said, "Fine, but I have conditions~!"
Ais was about to agree when Riveria, who was quietly studying, suddenly looked up and shouted, "Wait! Ais! Don't just agree to his demands!" Since she already experienced how dangerous it is to make a deal with Kisuke, she has to warn the poor airheaded girl before she agrees to something ridiculous.
"Come on now, Riveria-san. I won't ask for something ridiculous~." Kisuke took out his fan out of nowhere and covered half of his face while chuckling.
Riveria, in response, furrowed her brows, "I can't be sure with the metric you use. Who knows what's ridiculous or not in your eyes?"
"Hey hey, I'm also giving you a chance to ask me anything, you know~."
Both Ais and Riveria's eyes glinted in a strange light as they muttered, "Anything?"
With a grin, Kisuke affirmed it, "Yep~. Anything~!"
"Ehem," Riveria feigned a cough to regain her composure. Although Kisuke is just a Level 2 and the Hestia Familia is very small, with an underground space like this and strange techniques, she could ask a lot of things, she wouldn't let a chance like this go. Riveria was also thinking that it was time to milk him back for all the 'suffering' she went through in his hands, "Before we decide what to bet, I want to know the condition of winning."
"Simple~. We spar and whoever wins three times wins the bet."
"Are you sure? Although you're indeed very strong for a Level 2, Ais is still a Level 5 and could match against Level 6. Or will you be asking for a handicap?"
"No, no, no." Kisuke immediately shook his head, "But for this level difference, it's only right that I get a much better price if I win, right? Though, this is just sparring and giving you a chance to milk me dry..." Kisuke stopped for a moment and thought about his words for a moment, 'Wait... Did I say that wrong?'
However, thanks to their innocence, they didn't notice the strangeness in his words and continued their topic, "What do you want if you win?" Riveria asked.
"You decide what you want from me first. After that, I'll decide." Kisuke abandoned his previous thought and continued their topic.
Riveria then faced Ais, "What do you want, Ais? Ask anything and don't hold back. There's no point in pitying him."
Ais nodded and said, "First, I want to learn that instantaneous acceleration."
"Flash Step, is it? I guess that's fine. What else? Don't hold back~."
"Also, the swordsmanship that Aika Kiryuu used."
"That, huh, okay~! Anything else?"
Ais shook her head.
"One more thing." Riveria suddenly spoke.
"Please go on~."
"I want you to tell us what else you found inside Ais's body when you inspected her," Riveria demanded.
Kisuke stayed silent for a moment and feigned a hesitating expression, "Can you ask something else?"
"No." Riveria answered, 'Hmm... So he's not that confident in winning. And it looks like Ais's secret is greater than I thought for him to suddenly hesitate despite not hesitating about teaching Ais his techniques.'
Kisuke continued to feign hesitation and after a few more seconds, he sighed and agreed, "Fine... It's my turn now, right?"
"Please go ahead."
"Then first, I want your information regarding the so-called Violas and anything related to it."
"..." Riveria thought for a moment before nodding.
"Second, I want you to bring Sona, Aika, and Koneko to the 59th Floor."
"Wait a minute. That's too dangerous. We already agreed to bring them until the 50th floor but any further, we need to go in small elite teams. We don't have enough hands to protect them. And with that, even if I agree, Finn and Gareth never would."
"That's fine. You don't have to take care of them. They'll just go with you. If your group is in peril, you can remove them from the equation. Besides, I think they have a good chance in the deeper floors and their abilities would be useful for your group."
"Still..." Riveria still didn't want to agree.
"What are you thinking so hard about? Aren't I just babbling random things here? Don't I have to win to get what I want? I can ask anything I want yet my chances of winning aren't that great~!"
Although Riveria didn't want to agree, what he was saying was also true. She had absolute confidence, that Ais would win but she had to confirm one thing first before she could decide, "In this sparring, is magic allowed?"
"Everything is allowed~!"
Riveria sighed. Although she heard that Yoruichi was able to play around against the approximately Level 5 tamer, after reviewing Bete and Lefiya's account of what exactly went on, they figured that Yoruichi, at that time, had no way of winning even if she can toss her opponent around. There's just that much difference between the physical abilities of a Level 2 and a Level 5. As long as Ais could keep her distance, took advantage of her enormous physical parameters and would be careful of his movements, she should be able to win quite easily, "Okay, we agree. What else?"
"I want to further inspect your ears!"
Riveria took a step back and recalled what happened the other day. Her face heated up and shouted, "No!"
"I'm a bit interested in how your ears fully work and the other day's inspection wasn't enough to uncover everything. Besides, my chances of winning are pretty low, right? Ais just has to win. Or else, I can't think of anything else to ask and we have to remove one of your demands to balance things out."
Gritting her teeth, Riveria faced the dumbfounded Ais, "You have to win! No matter what! It's fine to break a few of his bones, I got an Elixir on me."
Ais became scared of Riveria and remembered her own training days, 'The demon is back!', she thought.
"And lastly~!"
"There's more!?" Riveria couldn't keep herself calm anymore.
Ignoring her outburst, Kisuke continued, "You two will participate in my cosplay photoshoot~!"
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Editor Corner:
28th00: You know, compared to Hollows in Bleach, Hephaestus' eye is weak sauce as all hell. All hollows (Minus 'most' arrancar) are eldritch abominations at BEST. They have already lost, they just don't know it yet…
Alexander: ...and after she heard about the bet, Yoruichi said, "The cosplay photoshoot was your actual aim, wasn't it?" Kisuke just took out his fan, covered his mouth and chuckled (like a gentleman of culture).
Garan: the corruption begins .. Yoruichi probably heard milk him dry and thought those two will not be enough to achieve that.
Goyya: You guys are dirty ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)