"I am back!"
Atsuku announced his presence loudly as he entered his apartment with Yamada and Rio. All of them were holding big paper bags in each hand filled with food that they had ransacked from some restaurant on their way back.
It was their loot and rewards after successfully assimilating with the Devil.
Similar to a game, Atsuku had the rule to reward himself every time he survived the countdown so he wouldn't get crazy. He was a broken man, but he wasn't crazy in the literal sense. He tried to maintain the little bit of sanity he had left.
When he stepped into the living room with two couches and a long table between them, Gaia exited his room with a stoic expression.
"Welcome back, John. Ah, no, Atsuku." She quickly corrected and smiled.
"Yo. I brought some food." Atsuku put the two paper bags in his hand on the table.
At that moment, Yamada and Rio froze, totally not expecting someone to be in Atsuku's house. The bag in Rio's hands fell to the floor as she jumped to Atsuku, shaking him.
"W-W-Who is that, Atsuku?!" She pointed at Gaia, who had already approached the table and looked inside the paper bag.
"She's Gaia. Didn't I tell you that Gaia was the one who told me about the countdown an hour prior to it appearing?"
"You did, but you never told me that Gaia was a sexy woman with a pretty face and voluptuous body!" Rio raised her voice loudly. "She also wears a latex bodysuit! How lewd!"
"Indeed. I initially thought Gaia that you meant was the voice of the world inside your head, not someone like her. I was surprised too." Yamada recovered from the shock and put his paper bag on the table. "Ah, nice to meet you." He then greeted Gaia with a smile.
Gaia nodded her head slightly at Yamada's greeting. "It's nice to meet you too. I know both of you."
"It doesn't matter, right? We can get the Devil that we wanted, thanks to her warning." Atsuku pushed Rio away gently as he said that, ignoring Gaia's words. "Also, she only stayed here temporarily. I plan to move out of the apartment tomorrow."
"Huh? Why?" Rio asked as she sat on the couch.
She looked at Atsuku curiously while Yamada and Gaia took the food, such as fried chicken, burgers, and nuggets, out and spread it on the table. The drinks were cola and orange juices, two staple drinks for fast food.
Of course, the blonde boy also took the one that Rio had dropped earlier.
"Is there any serious reason?" Rio continued.
"There is one obvious reason." Atsuku sat beside Rio.
Across from him, Yamada was also sitting down with Gaia beside her. As expected from Yamada, he knew that his sister was still in a dangerous phase, so he purposely sat with Gaia to avoid her sister from getting jealous.
"This place is too high. I don't want to live in a place where I can't go out at any time. It is dangerous now. We don't know what kind of trial is going on outside, so I want to live in a place with a strategic location and good defense. So I am thinking of returning to my home."
Although Atsuku said that casually, Yamada and Rio opened their eyes wide in surprise, looking at him. Gaia didn't really care about his situation, so she slowly ate the food like a hamster.
"Hey, are you serious, Atsuku?" Yamada asked seriously as he took a piece of nugget from the table and munched it in one bite. "Didn't you run from that house to write a novel? I mean, we even moved to this place to accompany you. Now you want to return back?"
"Yes! You will not be able to move freely if you return to that house, you know? You will be forced to inherit your family business! Do you want to leave us after everything we've done together?" Rio added as she put her hand on Atsuku's lap.
"That's exactly what I want. I need them and their power, so I will return to my home. Also, I am not saying that we can't stay together. We can all stay in that house."
'I need both of them after all. Not everyone in my house can be trusted too. It's better if I surround myself with trustworthy allies such as Yamada and Rio.' he added inside his mind.
"I see…" Rio backed away with a smile. "Hehehe, living in Atsuku's house. I like that." She murmured quietly.
"If that's what you decide, then I will contact my father too. It will make things easier, no? I also want to make sure my family is okay back home. Is it okay to talk to him about the Devil? I will ask him to tell your family too."
Atsuku nodded, "Thanks. That helps a lot, but I think that girl has also read my novel, so my family won't face a big problem."
"Ah, right. You have that girl in your family. But I think my father will inform your family anyway. My father and your mother are drinking buddies, after all." Yamada smirked, operating his phone.
"Hahaha, yeah. I can imagine that." Atsuku laughed, remembering his family relationship with Yamada and Rio.
His family was a bit special, just like Fujiwara's family.
Yamada's full name was Gualtiero Yamada, while Rio was Gualtiero Rio. But in Japan, they were called Fueguchi Yamada and Fueguchi Rio, respectively, taking their mother's family name.
Their family was a mafia based in America. Their father sent Yamada and Rio to Japan with their mothers to form a friendly relationship with Atsuku's family. In fact, the siblings weren't too close to Atsuku at first, but they eventually got close enough like this.
Rio gobbled down the food on the side, and Atsuku also ate some while waiting for Yamada to finish texting his father. By far, Gaia was the one who ate the most, surprising Rio.
They began to talk about Atsuku and reached some kind of understanding. Rio had determined that Gaia wasn't dangerous as the platinum-haired girl never looked at the black-haired boy with affection.
Atsuku smiled, seeing them being close. Their existences were necessary for the future, so he would like it if they didn't have any bad blood. Thankfully, Gaia was a passive, stoic type of girl, so Rio didn't feel her position by Atsuku's side being threatened.
"Alright, done! We just need to wait for the reply." Yamada exclaimed, then raised his head, seeing that the food on the table had decreased considerably. "Hey! You guys ate too much! The food has actually decreased by half already!" He protested.
"Hahaha, you took too long, brother. Of course, we will eat without you, right, Gaia?" Rio smiled at Gaia, to which the platinum-haired girl responded with a nod.
"Yes. My body needs some nutrition, so I partake in the food without waiting for Yamada."
"You girls… Sigh…" Yamada let out a sigh as he ruffled his hair. Then, he suddenly grinned, took two burgers from the table, and shouted. "I just need to eat more in that case!"
The group then continued to eat, celebrating their success. The food on the table was gone in just 30 minutes. It was because they needed some energy to replace what they spent by assimilating with the Devil.
It was like a muscle cramp. They didn't realize that they were exhausted just by the assimilation process. Only when they relaxed did the exhaustion attack them.
The only one fine among the group was Gaia. Even Atsuku wasn't the exception; he was exhausted but not as bad as Yamada and Rio.
The sibling fell asleep as soon as they lowered their guard. Yamada slept on the couch while Atsuku carried Rio to his room and put her on his bed. Gently, he grabbed the blanket and covered Rio's body with it.
"Unn… Atsuku…" Rio talked in her sleep, which made Atsuku smile.
"Just rest for today. You've done enough." He muttered as he slowly exited his room.
Outside, Gaia was waiting for him as she leaned her back against the wall.
"You're going?" She asked. Her stoic expression fell from her face, replaced with a worried gaze. "Have you recovered enough?"
"Yeah. The countdown almost hit 0, so I need to take care of that first."
"Indeed. While you didn't write it in that novel of yours, you realized its existence later in life. Be careful, Atsuku. Take this before you go." Gaia extended her hand, dropping a simple black earring on his open palm.
He looked at it before looking at Gaia, confused. "What is this?"
"Your space storage. I managed to recover it from Fantasia and remake it into an earring. You will need it."
Atsuku grinned widely as he clenched his hand, "Thanks. Are all my items in this storage?"
"No, only some basic ones. I can't recover anything besides Grade 1 or Grade 2 Arcane items and a single Grade 4 Sealing Item. I did my best to salvage that one to take care of that matter. Also, your favorite one is still inside. I believe there are still around 100 packs left."
That matter Gaia mentioned was something that Atsuku wanted to take care of. His smile widened as he heard that she managed to salvage most of his items and one Grade 4 Sealing Item. It would make his plan go easier than expected.
"Haha, that's enough. Thank you. I can create them again in the future." He laughed merrily, smiling widely. "Anyway, thanks for this. Take care of them while I am gone."
Atsuku walked away to the exit without turning around anymore.
Gaia looked at his back with a soft smile as she muttered, "Yes. May Arcane bless you, John."