The egg batter sizzled and popped as I poured it onto the heated frying pan. While the omelets were being cooked, I turned my attention to other pan and with a wooden spoon steady stirred the chopped up bell pepper, onion and mushrooms it contained.
It surprised me how much I missed cooking breakfast. I used to do it all the time back home but I didn't have the time since arriving in the city and even in the Underworld I wasn't able to cook as much as I wanted to. I lay the blame on Serafall's household staff.
I swear her Head Chef looked like he was about to have a heart attack when he caught me cooking one morning. Whatever respect or deference he had for as a higher class Devil went out the window the moment I set foot in his kitchen.
Naturally I ignored his repeated pleading and attempts to stop me until one day the poor guy just broke down crying. I think hearing Serafall absently mention that she loved my cooking better than anyone else's was the final straw for him.
Turns out he had been cooking for Serafall ever since she was a little girl. There was nothing more awkward than watching a seven foot tall, five hundred year old Devil sobbing like a toddler.
Ever since, I had mostly avoided the kitchen. But now that I have moved into my own place that was no longer a problem. And seeing as today was a weekend I decided to make an extra-large breakfast as a welcoming present for Gasper moving in.
"Asia," I called out to her over my shoulder, "can you please set up the table? The food is almost ready."
"Sure thing Shirou. Table for four coming right up." She cheerfully replied.
I absently nodded as I checked the eggs again. I wasn't sure what kind of food Gasper liked so I decided to play it safe and make a western breakfast, he'd most likely prefer it to a Japanese one seeing he was raised in Europe.
It wasn't my specialty but it was a relatively simple dish so I was confident it would turn out fine. I also made sure cook extra-large portions just in case Gasper was a big eater so there was more than enough to feed him, Asia and me…wait a minute, table for four? There was only three of us.
My spatula froze just half-way through flipping the omelet as I turned and looked over my shoulder into a pair of amber colored eyes that were glittering with suppressed excitement as they stared back at me.
"Koneko, what are you doing here?"
"Hungry." She answered as if that explained everything. Really, what more did I expect?
She was seated on the table next to Gasper, while she held a fork in her right hand and knife in her left. She was wearing a black and violet shirt with a white skirt spotted with violet colored paw prints. A thin chocker was wrapped around her neck with a small plastic flower hanging off it.
Now that I think about it this is the first time I had seen her outside of her school uniform. I had gotten so used to it that I had trouble recognizing her out of it.
"Gasper," if I didn't have my hands full at the moment I would have pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the building headache, "what are you wearing?"
"A paper bag!" He chirped excitedly. A pair of eerie pink glowing sphere shone out of two eyeholes cut into a brown paper bad that he had placed over his head.
It gave the normally childlike Gasper such a malevolent appearance that I had to restrain myself from reflexively smashing him with one of my frying pans. "Koneko gave it for me! Isn't it neat?"
I just deadpanned towards Koneko who gazed back at me with her usually blank face –
Huh?
-Just for sec, I could have sworn that Koneko flashed me an evil looking smirk before it instantly disappeared. No, no I must have imagined it. There is no way Koneko could have made such a face.
After all, Cats aren't evil…right?
"And how do you expect to eat anything with that thing over your head?" I asked.
In reply, Gasper held out a fist before slowly extending his index finger upwards. He rotated his hand to that finger was pointed towards his face, in the direction of where his mouth was. With a quick thrust, he stabbed his finger through the paper bag and poked out a hole over his mouth.
"There," he said after setting down his hand, sounding rather pleased with himself, "now I can eat without taking it off." The newly made hole was being dragged in and out every time he spoke.
Why was every Devil I met insane? Cosplaying Maous, locker teleporting kittens and now cross-dressing paper bag wearing vampires. They just keep getting worse.
After flipping the eggs, I set everything down for the moment and approached Gasper. As I did so my imagination conjured a mini-Serafall, almost like one of the Angel/Devil conscious that you see in cartoons, over my left shoulder and she began to whisper something into my ear.
As I approached Gasper, I held out my hands and projected a particular set of clothing with a matching mask onto them. Crouching down once I reached him so I was eye level I held out the newly made bundle, "Here," I nodded towards my arms.
"wear these instead. I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable in it than a paper bag."
Even through the paper bag I could see the way his eyes widened as he recognized what I was holding out. Quickly, he snatched the cloths out of my hands and rushed into one of the side rooms to change while throwing a quick 'Thanks Shirou' over his shoulder.
As the sound of the door slamming shut reached me I turned back to my cooking. Once I was sure Gasper wasn't to return for some reason I asked, "So Koneko, is food the only reason you're here?"
From the corner of my eyes I caught her shrugging as I prepared a new batch of eggs and bacon for Koneko. "Buchou wanted someone to checkup on Gasper," She answered, "I volunteered."
I grinned at that, "And I'm sure that it was Gasper's wellbeing that made you volunteer, not your hunger."
She simply pointed to herself in reply, "Devil. Not Angel."
A chuckle escaped me at that while I thought back to the events of last night. Truthfully what I did was reckless and stupid to say the least and I could have gotten into a lot of trouble for it. But I simply couldn't bring myself to care, consequences be damned.
I'm still surprised that I didn't get into any real trouble as it is. Rias Gremory was surpassingly tolerant once she got over her shock at the situation. Having caught me red-handed, all she needed to do was report me and I'd have been in a shit-storm of trouble.
Yet the worse she did was to give me a stern talking to about what she'll do to me if I mistreated Gasper even the slightest. She didn't outright say it but I had a feeling she felt more than a little bit guiltily for Gasper's situation and blamed herself for her lack of power to look after him.
Well, either that or the way she kept muttering how she was used to the Leviathan's brand of madness after all her sleepovers at Sona's and should have expected it from her Queen. What did Serafall do to those poor girls?
In hindsight I can clearly see her point. While interfering with someone else's Peerage is a serious offence, doubly so when said Peerage member was sealed away because he was too dangerous, can you image everyone's reaction when she reports this?
Considering how much her reputation had taken a hit after the Boosted Gear fiasco, how will the council respond when she complains 'He broke his way into my Bishop's room to play video games with him.
I caught him red-handed in the act as my bishop was in the process of teabagging him, repeatedly'.
Still I ended up a dodging a bullet there as even in the best case scenario I would have been pulled out from the city and both Serafall's and my reputation would have taken a hit, something we cannot afford right now, if she reported me.
"The table's ready Shirou." Asia called out from where she had been silently setting up the table.
"Perfect timing as I'm just about done." I turned and hollered over my shoulder, "Gasper, foods ready. You better get out here or else Koneko's likely to steal you share." The girl in question didn't even have the decency to look ashamed as she gave a nod of agreement.
A black blur streaked thought the kitchen's entrance and leapt onto the back of Gasper's chair where it perched there like a bird. A black cape that was being held in place by his hands covered Gasper's form from view for the moment before he yelled out and threw his cape wide open.
"I AM THE NIGHT!" And revealed his Batman costume
Yes, I gave the Bat-boy a Bat suit.
The imaginary little Serafall that I still had sitting on my shoulder was cackling so hard she ended up falling over backwards causing her to slip off of my shoulder. Even as I heard the imaginary little thump as she hit the ground I could still hear her manic laughter all the way down.
...
"Ah~, that's better," she sighed out as she settled down on the sofa, "I apologies for being the first to sit down young Sitri, but these old bones of mine aren't what they used to be."
"It's quite alright," Sona sat across from her as she replied, "I don't believe that now is the time to worry about such things as protocol."
"Ha!" The old nun barked out, "If I was dealing with the old Sitri Heir, protocol would have been thrown out the window no matter what the circumstances may be." She turned towards one of her two companions that were standing on either side of her.
"It's a shame you didn't get a chance to meet her Irina, I have a feeling you two would have gotten along."
"Whatever you say boss." The light brown hair girl replied with a cheery smile, though her hard violet eyes never relaxed as she watched the rest of the Council room's occupants.
She stood next to the right of the nun and though there was more than enough room on the sofa for her and the other girl, neither opted to sit down. Instead both remained watchful and alert, a contrast to the nun's relaxed and amiable demeanor.
Despite being female, both of the girls that bracketed the nun like book ends were dressing up in black suits with dark blue dress shirt and neckties giving them a mature and professional look in spite of their young age.
The girl on the nun's left side was carrying a golf bag over her left shoulder, although going by how she made sure to keep her gloved hand near its open flap I'd wager that she was had a weapon of some kind hidden inside.
This second girl had chin-length blue hair with a streak of green on the right side of her bangs similar to my white one. Her yellow eyes calmly scanned the room while her entire demeanor projected self-confidence even though she was outnumbered three to one.
However it was the nun that stood out the most of three. Locks of hair, turned snow white with age, escaped her habit and fell down her face. Wrinkles edged her deep blue eyes and the corner of her lips, yet the rest of her face was remarkably smooth. Her hands that gripped the wooden cane before her was strong and hardened with callouses.
Despite her earlier words, it was clear that her age did little to slow her down. One just had to watch how she moved to see the obvious strength she still held within her small frame. And while her grandmotherly smile was genuine, it did little to mask how dangerous she was.
"You know my sister?" Sona politely asked.
"You could say that lass. I and my old friends ran into her a few times when I was just a little bit older than you are now. Of course more often than not we soon ended up running away from her as she started to rain down hails of spikes on our heads.
We had an idiot in our group that couldn't resist comparing her to Gabriel and finding her lacking, of course he had to make sure to mention it to her each time we met." Though she was chuckling it was clear that she was being serious.
"Anyway, enough about ancient history. I'm sure you're wondering what we're doing here." Her smile faded a bit as the conversation began to take a more serious turn but it didn't disappear completely.
Sona ignore the tea that Tsubasa placed on the table as adjusted her glasses, "Yes, I admit I'm quite curious," She leaded forward and steepled her hands as she spoke.
"for the church to send an exorcist into my territory is not a common event by any means, let alone one of your repute. Even in my generation the name Griselda Quarta holds more than a little weight."
While not as active as she used to be, Griselda Quarta was once of the most feared humans of her generation. Born with neither a Sacred Gear nor high magical potential, she was able to fight her way to the top with her sword skills alone, making her among most powerful exorcist in the Church's history.
Though that alone would have made her dangerous, the real source of her fame occurred about forty years ago when she and three of her comrades, fellow exorcists from the church, were able to take down a powerful Ultimate-Class Devil without a single loss on her side.
That all four of them were only human beings without a Sacred Gear between the lot of them only made the accomplishment even more remarkable.
When the guards informed me of her arrival into the city, I drop everything I was doing and made sure to track her every movement from the sky.
While I'm far from a skilled flyer and would be hopeless in an aerial battle of any kind, I was good enough to stay afloat from high-up and watch them, though I made sure to maintain my distance in case anyone one of them could sense me.
It quickly became apparent that they were heading towards the school so I decided to get here ahead of them and inform Sona that I happened to spot a couple of exorcists on their way here. And that's how we ended up here in the Student Council room, filled with Sona's entire Peerage, myself and three exorcists.
"Thank you dear." Griselda told Tsubasa as she took her offered tea and took a quick sip before setting it down. "Well, let's get straight to the point shall we? We came here as representatives of the Church to make a request. Well, two requests actually. The first and foremost we require any information you may have pertaining to the missing Excaliburs."
What? From the ripple of surprise that ran through the rest of the Devils in the room, it was clear that I wasn't the only one who was caught off guard.
"The Excaliburs?" Sona, recovering quickly questioned. "What makes you believe we know anything about them? Other than four of them being stolen a few days earlier we have no further knowledge about them."
Though Griselda's little smile was still in place she observed Sona with an almost frightening intensity when she was speaking, before she shut them and physically appeared to relax as some previous hidden tension seemed to leave her body.
"So it's true then, looks like you Devils didn't have anything to with it after all." Though she muttered it under her breath is was loud enough for most of the Devils in the room to hear her, if barely.
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