"Are you finished?" he asked, observing her silence after her passionate speech about peace.
"..."
"..."
He maintained an unblinking stare, his gaze fixed on her as one might expect in such a situation. [1]
"..." Sara met his unblinking gaze with one of her own.
"..."
"..."
This continued for about a minute, the intense mutual gaze between the two individuals showing no signs of breaking. Two individuals of opposite genders engaged in a mutual stare-down they might kiss-no, their gazes locked.
However...
"..."
"..." She blinked.
With a slight grin, he broke the silence, "Heh, loser," Is what came out of his mouth.
Sara couldn't help but notice the smug satisfaction on his face, an expression that seemed to say, "You think you can challenge me, mongrel?" But for now, she'd let it slide, as there is a more important matter.
"Now that it's confirmed that I'm not kidnapped--" However, while she was talking, she got interrupted.
"Nope, opinion ignored" He stated with a grin so condescending that it practically screamed, "You're a loser."
"what? because I blinked?" She retorted
"So? You still lost" He shrugged.
Sara's eyebrow twitched, her irritation palpable 'Just because I blinked first?! What are you, a kid?!' She had been thrust into a strange situation, and this individual was not making it any easier for her to maintain her composure. Still, she knew she needed to focus on the matter at hand.
"Fine, whatever," She huffed, pushing aside her annoyance. "Let's get back to the issue at hand. So.. How do I get out?"
He stared at her for a few seconds, his demeanor changing to that of utmost seriousness as if he was about to preach, reveal the secrets of this world, about Phanes, the shades, the Descenders, Dragon Sovereigns, Celestia, the abyss, Visions, and Gnosis.
However, as one would expect from a dumbass
He sighed and replied "I don't know"
"Hah?"
"... I don't know-"
"T#(FU(%KYOUMEANYOUDONTKNO-"
Noticing she was about to start her speech about how peace and quiet is the best place to relax and how the beauty of nature should be preserved, He shut her up by forcefully shoving a whole slice of cake into her mouth making her cheeks puffed.
Sara's indignant protest was abruptly muffled as the slice of cake was unceremoniously shoved into her mouth. 'THIS GUY!!?' She sent a resentful gaze towards Lucas
He met her gaze with an innocent shrug as if to say, "What? Cake is delicious." 'besides, it's out of character for you to act like that, you're a general for fuck's sake' He stated in his mind.
She fell silent while eating the cake that had been forcefully shoved into her mouth. realizing that her irritability had been evident ever since she arrived in this place.
"It's that time of the month huh" He said while staring at her
"No...please just tell me how to get out" She sighed, mentally exhausted.
"I told you, I have no idea," He replied, adding mentally, 'I even tried doing the intent thing where you will yourself to get out while you were having an outburst earlier.'
"I've tried it even before you find yourself in here," he continued. "I'm not certain how you got here but I can make some speculations based on what you said you did-"
Hearing what he said, Sara's mind drifted to what she was doing before she found herself here. Ignoring the rest of what he was saying.
She tried to reenact what she did.
She stood up, raising her left hand as if holding a bow, her right hand mimicking the position of a bowstring. With a practiced grace, she assumed a shooting stance, her body aligning in perfect form.
Focusing her mind, she cleared it of any distractions, her concentration solely on the act of releasing an arrow. The desert landscape around her seemed to fade away as her mental focus sharpened, her senses honed in on the target that only she could see.
The air grew warmer, and a subtle sense of change filled the space. Suddenly, she found herself back in the familiar surroundings of the Kujou State Courtyard, the very place where she had been training before the inexplicable teleportation. Everything appeared exactly as it had been before she had been transported. A sense of relief washed over her, and she let out a sigh, grateful to be back where she belonged.
Meanwhile...
"..." He stared at the place where Sara had just disappeared.
"..."
"THE FUCK?! I DID THE SAME SHIT BEFORE!! YETTT!! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWW-"
He exhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down.
He failed.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK," He grumbled in a hushed tone, his voice laced with fatigue and frustration.
"What kind of Sukuna bullshit is this?" He muttered to himself as he sank back into the couch that Kujou Sara had just occupied.
He also attempted the method the crow woman had used, but to his dismay, it didn't yield any results for him.
After a few minutes.
'Can I at least talk just like how Sukuna did by manifesting a mouth on his vessel?' He wondered, pondering such a possibility. So, he tried doing just that, He focused his will on manifesting something outside while also visualizing the woman's appearance.
He focused on visualizing a mouth appearing just below her eye, on her Zygomatic bone. He had a feeling that this approach might work.
'Manifesting something to the outside is just plain torture, uaagh,' He grunted inwardly. His eyes were closed, his concentration solely on attempting to manifest something outside of this space.
..
..
..
A few days passed
At night, somewhere in the Kujou Residence.
Kujou Sara did not tell anyone what happened, unless, of course, she wanted the people of Inazuma to look at her like a madman.
'While he seems suspicious and potentially a danger to the shogun... Yea no, I must immediately inform the shogun, or at the very least, someone strong enough to stop him if he ever causes some chaos' She's aware that stopping him if he ever causes trouble isn't within her capabilities, but she might able to hold him back for some time but that's it. That's based on how she felt the first time she encountered him.
However, her simping mind couldn't conceive of anyone else capable of thwarting such a threat aside from the God of Eternity! The Immortal Shogun! The Narukami Ogosho!
Immersed in her thoughts, Sara suddenly felt an itch on her left cheek.
"IT WOR-" However, before Lucas could even celebrate his success of manifesting something to the outside world...
Sara feeling a familiar presence instinctively slapped her cheeks.
"-wruihk" A muffled sound is heard
Stunned, she felt a peculiar bump on her left cheek with her fingertips. Her heart racing, she hurriedly rose to her feet and dashed towards the closest object with a reflective surface.
"No, no, no," She panicked.
As a woman, the mere thought of an unfamiliar deformity on her face filled her with dread. She tentatively removed her hand from her cheek, gazing at her reflection with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. With a sigh of relief, she observed that everything appeared normal.
However, the memory of the earlier bump persisted. "But what was that bump I felt?" She wondered aloud.
"..." Lucas hesitated for a few seconds before finally speaking. "... Just so you're aware, I'm not a masochist. So please, Kujou Sara, I KINDLY request that you refrain from such welcome."
Kujou Sara suddenly heard an eerily familiar voice. She looked around, half-expecting to find herself teleported back to that space again. However, this time, she remained where she was.
Subconsciously, her gaze shifted to the object she had used as a mirror before, and there she saw the image of a mouth on her left cheek—exactly where she had felt the bump earlier.
Observing Sara's silence, he grew impatient. "Hey, say something," He said with a hint of frustration.
"...that's disgusting, could you please leave?" She said, her voice tinged with weariness.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA No." He refused. "Still, you're quick to accept this huh."
"It's not like I can do anything about it anyway," She sighed, her voice carrying a sense of resignation. She realized this after thinking right after she got out of that space a few days prior. It might be prudent to observe and keep him in check, reporting anything to the shogun if this man were to make any concerning moves.
"I'm guessing this is one of your abilities?" She asked, her tone already anticipating a confirmation.
"Perhaps," he replied. "Wait, you use a sword?" He inquired with a hint of surprise, Seeing a sword on her hips 'Huh? Did Sara ever have a sword in the game? I skipped most of the voice lines, so... eeh.'
"And why wouldn't I be?" She retorted. 'How come he doesn't know?' She wondered inwardly.
"How come you don't know? Aren't you practically inside me, Didn't you already watch all of my memories?" She snorted as she said the last part.
"Hey, are you aware that I can simply place a dick on your forehead as revenge for these blatant accusations?" Said in a light-hearted tone.
"...How petty can you be?" She sighed, her voice tinged with a mixture of frustration and resignation.
"Can you at least tell me why you placed such a disgusting mouth at the side of my face? It's my body after all," She asked while surveying the surroundings to see if anyone could see her right now.
"Nothing much, You seem lonely as fuck, so I thought I might as well," He said, making sure to mock her.
"Said the guy who can't get out of that isolated space," She retorted.
"...I can get out, I just don't want to.." He replied, denying her accusation. 'I wonder what changed.. why is this woman acting like this?' He mentally muttered
"Heh, sure sure"
"Forget it, Can you reach out for that tea, I want to drink it," He asked, wanting something to drink. 'I want to test it out if this mouth can act as a portal' he thought to himself.
"What are you up to?" She asked, suspicious of his sudden interest.
"Nothing? why are you so suspicious of me?" He said, sounding offended
"I just want to drink that tea! First, you slap me as a welcome, and now you can't even let me drink something? Is this how much you hate me, Woman?! I haven't even done anything to harm you yet, and you detest me this much!" He said, guilt-tripping her.
"Don't guilt-trip me. Every action you take is suspicious!" She retorted.
After a few bickering back and forth...
He sighed "Fine, I want to see if the mouth I just created is connected to your stomach to avoid any accident, you don't want rocks and random stuff in your throat and stomach, right?" He said, still not admitting what he actually intended to do.
"..and why the fuck would you eat rocks and.. random stuff?" She replied, unsure of what to say
"Just go on with the test, will you?" He said in a tired voice. "It's for your own good anyway."
"But how do I make sure you're not ly-" But her words were cut short by his forceful interruption.
"JUST DO IT AAAAAA, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!" His anger erupted like a volcano, his pent-up emotions spilling over the edges of restraint. "I JUST GAVE YOU A VERY GOOD REASON!! REGARDLESS OF MY INTENTION, IT'S STILL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. NOW JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DO IT."
"You just yelled at me, so no," She replied, finding his eagerness suspicious.
"So annoying," He grumbled. "Fine, I'll just inhale all the air in this room and see if your lungs would explode as a test."
She flinched at his words. She was shaken, hesitating. Should she just comply? Slowly reaching for the tea, she carefully lifted it to the mouth at the side of her face.
"Should've done that from the start" He snorted
'Now, I wonder if the mouth is connected to both of us' 'It's good that the mouth outside isn't actually directly connected to my mouth but to this space, now that I think about it, it's pretty much similar to a phone huh?' He mused 'Still, I could connect it to my actual mouth to remove the delay of transmitting [2], but I'll refrain, I just got slapped after doing that, so no.'
Now he's waiting for the tea to fall over somewhere in his space, He keenly observes the place to see any liquid suddenly flowing, but no, he didn't find any. means that the mouth can't act as a portal. The mouth is connected to Kujou Sara's body
It's a failure.
He sighed, feeling helpless. 'I can't think of anything else to get out of here anymore,' He thought.
So with that failure, he just continued to converse with Sara with random things to get to know her better,
"As I said, we're neighbors from now on, you don't have to be so on guard against me," He said, "We have to help each other, General Kujou"
"Still, I have to report such an anomaly to the Shogun" She reasoned
"But wouldn't that make her eliminate you? Based on her flawed understanding of eternity, an anomaly like YOU should be removed, you're aware of that right?" He responded 'Besides I don't know what would happen to me if you were to die... literally.' He added mentally to himself.
"..." She stayed silent
"...Wait, how about Lady Guji? She's an old friend of the Raiden Shogun and one of her most trusted allies" Sara thinking about the Head Shrine Maiden in charge of Grand Narukami Shrine.
Feeling that the crow wanted to consult Yae Miko about this, Lucas flinched. "How about no?" He chuckled uneasily. 'No. Wait, Yae Miko is familiar with these types of things, I can pick things up from her and figure out a way to get in and out of here' He came to a realization
"I support this decision, Sara. And Yae Miko is strong enough if something unforeseen ever happens, so that's a plus" He supported her decision.
While finding his change of heart a little suspicious, she started thinking about how to tell this to the pink fox. 'I can't just go and say; there's someone inside me; it sounded so wrong and obscene' She grumbled in her mind.
They continued to talk about random stuff for a few more minutes, but it was mostly Lucas asking about things and Sara answering, their talk ranging from the state of the world to Would you have the most majestic and beautiful face but you have all the possible deformities in your body.
"By the way, you never introduced yourself, 'neighbor'" She added with a snort, finally remembering the guy never actually introduced himself.
"..." Lucas activated his thought acceleration, pondering, 'Name, huh? Considering I'm probably that of a monster race, I have to choose a fitting name. Hmmm, what should I call myself?' 'I'd prefer someone powerful to name me, so I can gain more strength, but would being named by someone not from Tensura even work?' 'There's a chance of Sara dying if she doesn't have enough energy to name me, as lifeforce would be a substitute for energy if it ran out.' '.....let's just hope it doesn't work, I'll just find a way to name myself later, pray that I won't regret this later' He deactivated his thought acceleration after making a decision.
"Dantalion." He uttered 'Seems edgy but who cares KEKEKE, It's a fitting name along with my pretender skill'
-Chapter End-
[1]: No, don't be like this guy
[2]: it's barely even noticeable