Emotions welled up in the eyes of the youth. They were filled with indescribable emotions of despair.
Not sorrow… Not regret…
"Hey…" Anya called out to him.
"What? Are you going to blame me?" His gaze sharpened to look up at her like an injured wolf.
His words seemed fiery, but his attitude was silent.
He seemed ready to take any accusations onto his shoulders. Unresisting, but screaming of rebellion.
"Can you… tell me why you tried borrowing the strength of a Demon King?" She pulled out a chair.
She sat in front Fritz, who was sitting on his bed.
An opportunity was being outstretched…
This was the only chance she'd give for him to be completely honest with her. With no other chances.
If he told her nothing, there was no way she could ignore her duties and allow him to do wicked acts.
One like… contracting with a literal demon.
"I can't…"
"I want to understand you."
"It's useless." He looked really annoyed. The powerless figure seemed like a puppet to fate.
Decisions that couldn't be helped in his situation.
He could've rejected this as part of destiny, but there was no strength in him to do such a thing.
She could tell he had a belly full of spite and heart burning with embarrassment and melancholy.
A strange twister of emotion..
There was only one thing she could do. After getting off her seat, she poured in some water.
Fritz took her offer gratefully.
"…Thanks." The thirst was quenched… and a part of the big mess within his heart was washed away.
When he looked at her, his new perspective saw the kind of person she was from her actions.
And he wasn't sure how to take it in.
Every word, every action… all of it reminded him of the familiar person he wished he could forget.
Unconsciously, he was stirred into talking. His voice sounded hoarse when speaking to them:
"You remind me of my little sister."
"Really? Then-"
"I… HATE my little sister." That unexpected bombshell just had drop out of nowhere.
"O-kayyy… Wanna talk about it?"
"…Just leave me be."
"I would if I could. My job is tutoring."
"Is that why you called yourself my mom?" She raised her finger, but put it down after thinking.
He had started looking at her strangely…
"It's not a fetish. My own teacher acted like a father to me sometimes. Ahem… so get familiar with me."
"I don't want to."
"Can't you humour me?"
"I don't want to."
"…" She gave him a silent look of puzzlement.
"I don't want to."
"Alright alright… I understand. You want to be treated better before you can accept my offer."
"Wait- What?! No, that's not what I said."
"You don't want to?"
"Yeah."
"Then we have a deal." She acted like she didn't hear his refusals. He couldn't stand her attitude.
"Now… tell mama bear your secrets~!"
"I take it back. You're nothing like my sister."
"I'm one of a kind, after all."
"Not that…" He rolled his eyes: "My little sister was the overly sensitive type. She cared too much."
"Aw~ You're making me blush."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now: So… How did you learn that?"
"Learn what?" He scratched his head at the sudden shift in topic, but she was oddly serious.
"Bullet Kata." Her eyes sharpened when she squinted to see how he'd react to those words.
Unexpectedly, he genuinely seemed clueless.
"You mean 'Heart Bullet'?" The way he changed the name of the technique spoke wonders about it.
A smile unconsciously curved onto her face. It felt like she was unravelling something her teacher hid.
No, not that… Not 'hid', per say.
It was more like finding secrets about her favourite person. Her gleaming eyes seemed too attractive.
Anyone other than Fritz might have been charmed by those mysterious eyes, but he wasn't moved.
Especially when she retorted:
"I know what I said." Like some kind of boss.
He wanted to punch that beautiful face.
"Hah… I don't know what Bullet Kata is, but Heart Bullet is an incomplete technique passed down to me by my ancestor. It's separated into two sub-skills. One for prepping; the other for attacking."
"You're related by blood?"
"Obviously." Why else would it be his ancestor?
"Then that's probably not my teacher." To her disappointed look, he held in the retort he had.
There was no point arguing over nothing.
"Was that all you wanted to ask?"
"Not quite."
"Then?"
"Who taught you those 'Charms'?"
"You're not going to say they're some other technique you know, right?" He squinted at her.
"No, they just looked similar to something."
"It's related to your teacher." Fritz pointed out with certainty, and her giggles in response proved it.
Since she was telling him everything without one lie, he decided to ask: "How old is your 'teacher'?"
"Really old."
"How much…?"
"I'm not too sure myself." She shrugged. It wasn't like that guy ever spoke about his past anyway.
Their light conversation made them feel relaxed.
The only problem was that when Fritz looked down at his cup, he remembered why they were here.
Anya also remembered her objective, asking:
"Would you do anything for more power? Is it because of that 'little sister' you said you hate?"
"…No."
"You hesitated."
"There are a lot of reasons."
"Like?"
"You would never understand. Maybe when someone kills your parents, you'll get it as well."
"…" She silently stared at that rebellious look on his face. The irony started to kick in a moment later.
"W-what?"
"Nothing. Just thinking about my mother. She got stabbed to death when I was young, you know."
"That…" Suddenly, his face became black.
He lowered his head instead of clashing with her.
He couldn't describe how stupid he felt…
"…Sorry." Fritz lowered his head.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm sure you felt worse. I'd heard about what happened to you."
"M-my pain is deeper…!" He blurted out in a fit of rebellious rage, but regretted it immediately.
The way she looked at him hadn't changed. The sudden outburst was like an act she'd expected.
"Is this a competition now? Well, I understood something when I read about your big family."
"What could you have possibly-"
"You felt stressed about it, didn't you? Being the symbol of conflicting faiths must've been hard."
"…" Fritz drank more water to calm himself down.
"People say that humans are a mixture both good and evil, but you were never given the chance."
"…That's none of your business." He understood even without anyone talking about how she knew.
There was no way his team's tutor hadn't screened them before. All his secrets were all there to see.
What he didn't expect was her intelligence.
She saw through his facade and responded;
"You didn't deny it."
"That's not-"
"So was I wrong?" Seeing the sincerity in her curious eyes, he found his mouth flapping again.
Unintentionally, he started spilling his heart.
"My mother was an exorcist like you."
"I'm not an exorcist though."
"Can't you let me speak? Also, what do you mean by not being an exorcist? You could do that job."
"The possibility is enough?"
"You have no idea how rare it is to have a power that could affect spirits. Anyway, my mother was an exorcist who could hunt spirits, and my father was a shaman. They were a match made in heaven."
"I'm guessing that's your opinion on them as well."
"Right… In fact, that never mattered. Because…"
"Because?"
"I… hated the two of them all the same. Then, they just so happened to die with everyone I ever knew."
"That's…" She couldn't imagine the sort of feelings he'd gone through. The emptiness he must've felt.
She'd loved her mother like no one else. That's why overcoming her absence was more straightforward.
Anya wasn't able to imagine what hating your parents would've done to mess up his mindset.
Maybe that's why he accepted a Div so easily…
To him, living in a world where he could be free enough to do things he couldn't, but not meet the people he cared about, was likely worse than being put in a jail. There was no comparison to be made.
Fritz continued while trying to act 'normal':
"Funny, isn't it? I never wanted to talk much when they were there. It was enough to be the bridge between the two families. You might not know, but it was only thanks to this that shamans like the Lazrik Clan finally had their time in the limelight."
"You're trailing off again."
"Y-yeah… Oh, did you know my little sister was the one who killed my family? That's why I hate her."
"Hold up. You're skipping a few steps." She could feel the agitation underneath the fake tranquil sea.
There was a lot to take in out of nowhere.
"Heh… Haha~ Right, sorry. This was about the Div Raja from earlier. I wasn't going to kill anyone."
"Wait wait! Calm down." She held his shoulder and poured more water into his glass, but it was hard.
The heaviness of the cup almost made it spill.
He was shivering with his fake smile, wanting nothing more than to empty the flame out.
Apathy was better than burning in his own hatred.
Still, he couldn't help feeling comfortable when there was someone by his side to listen to him.
"Being an exorcist is a job, and being a shaman is a classification. They're those who deal with curses."
"I know what you're trying to say, but I need you to stay calm." She took away his cup and put it aside.
"I am…"
"You're taking too many detours in what you're trying to say. I'm thinking none of this is what you're REALLY trying to tell me. You might've said some sincere things, but that isn't the point… is it?"
"I won't make sense if I don't take them. Didn't you just now tell me not to skip straight to the end?"
"This and that are different. I know it wouldn't make sense if you didn't use those detours."
"So why are you complaining?"
"My main question was: If you were given a chance to make a contract with a Demon King again, would you?" This was the important question. She could ignore the 'Redwind Qi' he cultivated, but not that.
Power cultivated by oneself was stable enough, but dipping toes into the power of a devil wasn't good.
This was more signify than moral inclinations.
Though western Demons took people over a lot more aggressively, they were easier to exorcise.
On the other hand, 'Jinns' had longer lasting impacts on the psyche due to only being whispers.
Because they weren't forced to do bad, that only made it harder to bring someone back from evil.
On top of that, Fritz was merely a teenager.
"…I wouldn't."
"Was that a lie?"
"No." Even though he said that so seriously, there was clear doubt forming on her cold expression.
"Then you're on probation- No, the entire team is grounded until you fix your attitude and thinking."
"I SAID I WOULDN'T! Why are you punishing them?!" Fritz couldn't help feeling outraged.
He was telling the truth. Even if he wanted another opportunity for this, there's no way it'd happen.
The stars aligned weren't on his side.
"It's called joint responsibility. They are your team now. If you do wrong, they'll also have to suffer."
"That's not…! Where's the fairness in that?!"
"If you're to tell about 'fairness', then let's think about it. You know I can control Bio Energy, right?"
"…So?"
"I've been told I'm 'hypersensitive' to emotions thanks to it. Your bio energy can't lie. Your mouth can do it, but your insides won't." He shivered. It looked like he'd underestimated her way too much.
Fritz might have expected mercy by accident.
Only because she act and looked so messy.
"Still… That's…"
"Also, hand over your Limiter Inverter."
"…I can't do that- Argh!!" He felt a pain all over his body, her crimson glowing had electrocuted him.
The 'Breath Circulation' that combined aspects of holiness and wickedness was active no more.
In a mere moment, he became fully powerless.
This wasn't the first time he knew of his lack of strength, but feeling it so outright was a first.
Not only was his 'life' taken away from him, but the energy he'd so painstakingly accumulated had…
…'dispersed'.
Without his MagiPen or the internal energies he'd had within him, he could do nothing to resist.
But somehow, he now felt a sense of liberation.
No longer was he the child his parents had raised him up to be. Now… he was just 'Fritz Lazrik'.
A powerless nobody who tried making a deal with the devil. He who wasn't worth consideration.
Her expression remained cold when she spoke:
"You shouldn't think I'm unable to split my personal and professional life. You're a danger right now."
"To who?"
"To everyone around you. Unless you're able to work out your issues, all activities will be suspended. I'm keeping this restriction on indefinitely until you let those eye-bags fade."
"P-please listen. I won't do it again." He said that from the depths of his heart, but she didn't listen.
It seemed like his actions wasn't the issue.
"That's not the problem. You yourself know that's not it. Humans ARE a mix of good and evil, but you're too unstable to have those energies mixing around inside of you. For now, learn a new hobby."
"Like what?"
"Maybe try painting or something. My hobbies are baking cookies, if you're feeling even a bit curious."
"You can't…"
"I will. I'll be saying goodbye for now. I understand why you did it, but life isn't a story. Even if you have good reasons for borrowing the power of evil, that very power itself will push you into a dark path."
"I could've handled it."
"Because you're a shaman?"
"The Lazrik Clan excelled at controlling demons."
"Doesn't matter."
Then continued: "You're forbidden from attempting to summon demons OR angels. Reflect for a while."
She left while leaving behind those words.
The curiosity she hard towards the Lazrik Clan now turned into animosity. It was far too coincidental.
Why did Demons suddenly attack him anyway?
She looked at the ring she'd confiscated from Fritz and remembered some things about 'Betty Black'.
He wasn't the only one getting punished today…