The already heavy silence became even heavier.
Kisuke caught his hat that was blown off by the wind and dusted it for a bit before putting it back on, "Well then... I think we're done here so I'd like to bid my farewell. Loki-sama, thank you for having me."
"Sorry about this. I'll return this favor someday." Loki was genuinely grateful to Kisuke. Although her children had become stronger, something else degraded, "The undeveloped area remained abandoned thanks to Freya's pressure so it should have remained relatively the same."
Unbeknownst to anyone except for Kisuke, Loki's 'favor' was accompanied by enough resolution that she'd go against just about everything to return it, 'I was pissed that I had to do something like this, but she's paying so much more. I can't keep getting mad, can I?'
"Is that so? I have to thank Freya-sama later." Kisuke turned around and began to exit the Twilight Tower. Although he was in a bad mood moments ago, he left in a good mood since he essentially got Loki's 'promise'.
"W-wait!"
Kisuke stopped walking and turned his head back. His happy expression had already disappeared.
Ais clenched her teeth and said, "You haven't lost! Don't act like you can't fight!"
Kisuke sighed, "I surrendered so I already lost? What are you talking about?"
Ais swung her sword and prepared her Magic again, "Weren't you just about to cut me down? If I wasn't able to defend myself in time, I would have been injured."
"But you defended yourself. And if you keep doing that, I have no way of defeating you.", Kisuke immediately replied, 'Well, within my current limits at least.'
"But I can't-" Ais wanted to explain but Kisuke glared at her, "Think about your words before you say them. What are you trying to achieve here? It's just a simple spar. We are not trying to take each other's life. I have my secrets and you have your own. Keeping them may save your life so why are you so gung-ho to show off your abilities in a simple exchange? Is it because of pride? Is it because you felt like you lost? Please don't drag me into your childish games."
"W-wh... No... I didn't mean it like that!"
"Then you're much worse than I thought. If we're basing it on my opinion, the girls who came before you are a lot better since even if they lay defeated on the floor, they kept their most important cards hidden."
Losing his interest in lecturing her, Kisuke resumed his steps, "If you keep that up, you'll lose your life without knowing how nor why."
Riveria wanted to follow him but she knew she couldn't because of this mess she'd started, 'Looks like a lot of things indeed have changed... But not all of them were for the best.'
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Kisuke returned to Hestia Familia's base, the abandoned church that Hephaestus had gifted Hestia when she was just starting out, "Such a nostalgic scene. This place really hasn't changed much." Kisuke muttered to himself as he entered the first shop he built when he came to this world by accident.
He inspected the shop and was able to glean some clues that multiple people went through this place multiple times. Though that doesn't really concern him since there's nothing here and the entrance to the underground hideout wasn't touched.
'Yoruichi and the others won't be here for a few more hours. For the time being, I will need to plan out my moves on Luxato Abtor and get that blueprint in one go.'
The things he did in the Loki Familia were already shoved to the back of his head, only to be remembered when he sees them again.
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It was nighttime again and Kisuke was already done with his preparation to steal. There was a commotion two hours ago in his shop above ground but Kisuke ignored it, mainly because he could feel Freya's presence and he didn't want to deal with her right now, 'Loki knows how to enter this place so if it's an emergency, they'll just come in.'
Kisuke was about to kick back and relax when a blurred presence suddenly manifested not far from him. Since there was no malicious intent, he already guessed who it was but he decided to play along.
Using Flash Step, he reappeared behind the blurred presence, however, he saw nothing. Instead, the presence was already behind him again, 'What!?'
Kisuke 'stepped out' again, but the same thing happened. This time, he couldn't dodge as a pair of familiar arms wrapped around him from behind, "Surprise~!"
A gentle smile emerged from Kisuke's face as the familiar scent softly assaulted his nose, "I was really surprised. How are you doing that?"
The arms released him and once again, the presence behind him instantly disappeared with the space not far in front of him suddenly warping slightly before Yoruichi, with a big grin, appeared from it, "Like this~!"
Kisuke's eyes widened and exclaimed at the traceless teleportation, "Instant Transmission!?"
"There are some limitations..." Yoruichi nodded, "But yeah, an Instant Transmission."
Kisuke jumped and happily hugged her, "Congratulations! You've just achieved something unbelievable!"
Yoruichi hugged him back and was absolutely content with his praise, "With you working your butt off, I can't just slack off now, can I? And welcome back."
"Yeah... I'm back... And I actually missed you."
Although very happy with hearing those words, Yoruichi shuddered, "When did you start saying those things?"
Kisuke chuckled, "Just recently. I've got to change too, you know."
The feelings of endearment, intimacy, and fondness they have for each other were as real as it could get. However, they were not exactly adults that could say their serious feelings because they saw it as a weakness. So when Yoruichi heard Kisuke verbally expressing his feelings and not a hint of a joke in it, she was absolutely surprised.
Yoruichi too wanted to express her adoration, but found her words stuck in her throat. She wanted to force it, but before she could do so, Kisuke covered her lips, "If it doesn't come out naturally, don't do it. Besides, both of us are people of action so we'd rather see something like that."
Yes, they are the type of adults that couldn't say it but show it. So a steamy night began with only the two, separated from everything in the world.