It's True Love 39 (Patreon)

"Y-yo..." As soon as the door opens, I see Ryougi. And then the door closes again, right on my face. "Hey, what's with this treatment!? Do you know how hard it was to get here!?" Stupid hotel people, being responsible!

They didn't want to let me go in, but I... ahem... charmed them into giving me permission. Which is why I am currently at Shiki Ryougi's doorstep having the door closed at my face.

Urgh, I don't even want to know how bad this is going to go with Touko... According to Toji she's staying at a different place, a much bigger and expensive place. Makes you wonder why these two are separated... apparently Ryougi does have a track record of working for the eldest Aozaki sister.

And yes, she's the oldest sister, and she also has quite the reputation... Though Ryougi is no slack either, not as well known, but she's skilled at doing the things Touko needs her to do. By the way, if you're wondering how I know all of this... Toji does surprisingly good work.

I can hear Ryougi's annoyed voice coming through the door. "How did you even figure out where I'm staying...?" For some reason, I think telling her that my best friend's sister hired a private investigator to stalk her and her boss would not be a good idea.

Which is why... "No comment. That said, I need to talk about something important with you." I have a reason why I'm going after this small fish before I go after the big one. You know, besides the fact that security is tighter around Touko Aozaki, and so I wouldn't be able to get in.

I can hear her snorting. "Oh no, that no comment is not enough for me. You better explain how you found me, and how in the hell you got up here, and you better do it now." She's scary.

I scratch my cheek. "Well, if you're wondering how I got here... I just told the receptionist I was your high school lover, who you dropped after having your fun with. She then got mad enough to let me get here." I definitely rolled a critical success on that one.

Before she gets confused, I elaborate further. "I don't know your age, but you look like a college student, and at this point, the world has evolved far enough that people can get angry at such a situation, but not angry enough to call the cops." I nod to myself. "Also, I'm handsome, which means they didn't think I was some random creep." Everyone knows stalkers are supposed to be ugly!

I can hear her hum through the door. "I see, you must have said that story with a lot of confidence in your voice, considering she actually bought it." Confidence is like... my only good quality. "I'm calling security." Please don't!

I immediately raise my voice. "Cat, w-wait!" Why am I stuttering!? Where did my so called good quality go when I most need it!? I guedd I will need to go with Plan B, and failing that Plan C.

Plan B is having Arcueid sneak in through a window and then having her open the door for me. By the way, she's watching me from... somewhere, as always. It's actually kind of reassuring this time, because I don't know what to expect from Ryougi.

Plan C is breaking down the door with Rika's help, though I might not need her help anyways. As you can probably tell, Plan C sucks a bunch, and if I reach it, I should probably just discard the idea of talking with Ryougi first.

I hear her sighing through the door. "You're still calling me that?" Of course I am! It's cute! "Fine... Before I call security, I wanna hear how you found out where I was staying." But the answer to that is definitely gonna make you call security!

I awkwardly scratch my cheek. "Well... um... so you know the heiress of the Tohno's? Akiha?" She does of course, but she stays silent. "She helped me find you, by contracting a private investigator. Sorry!" Also, I think Toji might be much more than that.

To my surprise, she actually opens the door at that. "Well, I had a feeling I was being watched, but I couldn't figure it out. Must be some crazy skilled private investigator." She clicks her tongue. "So what do the Tohno's want with me?" Nothing...?

I get it, since I mentioned Akiha, she now thinks this is much more official than it actually is. It seems my future hot head wife is helping me even by accident! Though I should probably correct Ryougi.

I clear my throat. "Actually this is sort of a personal matter..." The door closes again. Right on my face.

Rika leaves my shadow. "'Kay, I'mma kill her." Her reaction is pretty natural though... Even if I would not recommend it, I'm a man who regularly deals with yanderes, so I now that closing the door on a yandere's face may lead to death.

Not that I'm a yandere of course. "Rika... please don't." And more thing... "Also, I'm pretty sure there are cameras in the hallways, so please return to my shadow." I don't think they can record audio, but they can certainly record video!

Rika pouts and does as I ask. To be honest, I would rather have her out while we are here, but she can't, and it's for the same reason why Arcueid is watching from afar. I want to come off as friendly, so coming here with two nuclear bombs isn't exactly the brightest idea.

Shiki's voice comes through the door again. "Rika huh? Is that the Queen of Curses I heard so much about?" Wait, she knows my girlfriend? She certainly didn't show any sign of that when we first met.

I instinctively nod, even though she can't see my face. "Yeah... How do you know about her anyways?" Also, please let me enter already! Having this conversation without even being able to look at your face is super weird!

Well, at least she hasn't called security yet. "My boss told me about it. You're some... hotshot who killed a Dead Apostle Ancestor right? And now you're going on dates with Arcueid Brunestud and dating the Queen of Curses... You seem to have a type." When you say it like that, I really am pretty cool.

I blush. "Well, about the Dead Apostle Ancestor thing... It was a team effort, I can't fully claim the credit for it." Rika, Senpai... even Noel helped, so even though I did land the final blow, I can't just accept her praise.

And about her second observation. "Also, it's not that I have a type, it's that people like that are apparently attracted to me." And at this point I know how to handle them decently well too, which probably just helps them like me even more. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

She opens the door again. "Is that so...?" Huh? What did I just say to convince her? "So, what exactly do you want? If this is some attempt to stalk me, I really will care security." Thankfully even I haven't fallen that low.

I wave her off, a embarrassed blush on my face. "That's not it, seriously! I actually... want to talk about your boss, Touko Aozaki." To be more precise... I want to talk with her boss with Shiki by my side.

The truth is, if I just show up in Touko's doorstep, she's probably gonna consider me an enemy. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to get Cat on my side first, besides, I probably can't get into Touko's high class apartment by myself anyways.

A grimace appears on her face. "Ah... I don't know what she did, but you have my apologies anyways." I feel like we both understand how troublesome an Aozaki can be. "And I also can't stop whatever she's doing by the way." Maybe not when you are by yourself, but as I said before... I'm a charming guy.

She walks back inside. "Sit wherever you want, make you and your ghost girlfriend comfortable." Oh, how surprisingly nice of you. Well, you didn't have much of a reaction to Arcueid, so I guess I should have expected her to be okay with Rika.

We follow her, and I end up sitting on a little sofa. This place is pretty cramped, as one would expect from a hotel that isn't super expensive, but it also isn't too bad. I have definitely stayed on worse ones in the past.

It even has enough space for Rika to leave my shadow, which she does immediately. "Hello! I'm Rika." She's being super calm for someone that just threatened to kill Ryougi a second ago, but whatever.

Cat waves back. "Hey, you already know my name I'm assuming...?" My ghost girlfriend nods. "Anyways, it's nice to meet you. I never talked with royalty before... Besides that vampire." Rika isn't really royalty to be honest, but the nickname is cool.

A sigh then escapes Cat's mouth. "So, if we are going to be talking about that specific pain the ass..." And without further elaboration she leaves the room. Rika and I just awkwardly wait for her to come back.

After a few moments she comes back, a container full of ice cream on one hand, and a spoon on another. "I'm going to be needing this." She casually sits down right in front of me. Maybe I should adapt this tactic for when I need to talk about Sensei...

Rika is eyeing the ice cream, something which Cat immediately notices. "Sorry, but this is a me exclusive. These things aren't cheap, ya know?" They are though! Or at least normally they should be, but I don't recognize the brand you're eating.

I pat Rika's head. "I'll buy you some later..." I'm willing to buy a house for my little sisters, so obviously I'm willing to buy ice cream for my girlfriend. And speaking of girlfriends, or people who will one day be my girlfriend... "By the way Cat, why did you let me in?" I thought for sure she was gonna kick us out.

Ryougi lightly shrugs. "Dunno, I guess you said something at the end that made me feel some level of kinship with you." Really...? Wait, don't tell me you related to the fact I attract nutjobs!?

I look away. "I see." If I'm right about my guess, you have my deepest and sincerest condolences. "So about Touko... Has she told you exactly why she's in this city?" That would make this go faster.

Ryougi shakes her head. "Nope. She wants me to stand by though... I think she definitely wants to fight something, she wouldn't have brought me otherwise." Yeah, she probably wants your help in defeating Sensei.

A pout appears on her face. "Honestly, this whole thing has been a disappointment. I should have figured things sounded way too good to be true... I mean, Touko going out of her way to get me a separate apartment? That's her being nice to trick me." Yeah, we both definitely have our Aozaki brand troubles.

Her eye twitches. "This city is so boring... I thought it would be a nice vacation, but I raised my hopes way too damn high... I guess if someone wants a fun vacation they really do need to travel to another country. This city is exactly like the one I came from, boring and grey." I...

Her pout is gaining more and more strength. "Ugh, at least I got some time away from the people back home. It's sort of nice being in a place where everyone is a stranger for once." Why are you telling me all of this?

I awkwardly smile. "W-well... from what you're describing, maybe you should visit the countryside? You wouldn't leave the country for that." I have no clue why we are leaving the Touko conversation, but I should probably go with the flow.

This is familiar though. It reminds of how sometimes Noel-Sensei will suddenly dump on me all about how she's super stressed with work or whatever. The reason why Noel-Sensei does that though, is because she feels comfortable around me...

That certainly isn't the case for Cat, since we just met. M-maybe it's due to the kinship she mentioned before? About how we attract crazy people...? And we also have our bond over surviving an Aozaki.

Cat takes a moment to respond. "Huh, that does sound nice... sort of. Communities in areas like that can be pretty tightly knit, so they're rude to strangers, specially strangers like me... But at least it wouldn't be just endless gray. Any recommendations of where to go?" N-no...?

Rika fakes a cough. "So, about Touko Aozaki... She's currently picking a fight with our mentor, who is also her sister. We are trying to stop her from doing that." Thank you for saving me.

Shiki looks at her ice cream. "Weird..." And then she looks at Rika. "You guys wanna kill her? And you want my help for it, is that it?" I feel like you jumped to some crazy conclusions just now!

I raise my hands. "No! We wouldn't kill someone just like that!" I guess the mage did attack me, but she did it knowing I would win. "We just want to talk with her, and make her... reconcile with her sister." In fact, I won't consider this a success unless we do.

Rika continues for me. "Touko is after our mentor because she got her workshop wrecked by her and Bimbocueid." It's technically my fault, sorry. "But their rivalry apparently goes way back, so we are trying to get to the root of the issue." We are very nosy pupils.

Ryougi nods. "Ummm... From my experience, Touko can be pretty stubborn, both about liking things, and about hating things. Don't be surprised if things end up devolving to a fight." I'm pretty strong, so I'm not exactly scared of that.

She continues. "And well... I get why you guys are here now, you two want me to smooth things over, right?" Rika and I nod. "I'm okay with doing that, but if a fight breaks out, I'm out too. I'm not throwing my life away for a couple of strangers." That's completely understandable.

I smile. "That's totally fine! I wouldn't want to risk your life anyways, and... I will leave before it comes down to a fight. She's Sensei's sister, I don't want to hurt her." They may be rivals, but considering both are still alive...

It's like I thought before, they're magical Dante and Virgil. They may fight a lot, but I bet they care about each other deep inside, and are now just waiting for a cool ass Nero to save their relationship. Except this Nero plans to date Dante. Also, I'm not Touka's son.

Shiki... blushes for some reason. "Huh, didn't expect that from the guy who offed a Dead Apostle Ancestor..." She leans forward. "So, did you two ever kill someone?" She seems to be super curious.

Rika makes a thinking pose. "Um... I guess Vlov sort of counts for me... But I didn't land the killing blow. Oh, I probably killed some undead, I don't bother to keep count of them." To be fair, you can't really kill them.

But now it's my turn. "Well, I did land the killing blow on Vlov, so I can't escape that one." A sudden realization hits me. "Oh yeah, I know who you killed, Rika... you technically killed Arcueid, remember?" It's just that she came back.

Rika looks away. "That doesn't count, Bimbocueid comes back anyways, and she did." I sort of agree with you...? It's definitely not a nice thing to do though. Well, I won't blame you for it of course, we were just defending ourselves.

Cat chuckles. "Oh, look at these two cold blooded killers... Except for not really, a vampire doesn't count." She looks me in the eyes. "Not that it's a bad thing, but I was expecting a member of the church to have a body count." Ciel probably does, and maybe so does Noel, it's just that I'm new.

I scratch my neck. "I probably will, eventually. It's just that I joined very recently, so I hadn't had the time yet." The same applies to Rika of course.

She nods. "Makes sense, so..." There's a bit of hesitation in her voice, it must be a rare thing for her. "What would it take for you to kill someone? How would it feel?" Ah, that's a pretty weird question, and also a tough one.

Rika answers pretty much instantly. "Um... the same thing it took for me to kill Vlov, I do consider killing him as counting, he has feeling and thoughts after all. That is to say, if something threatens my life or the life of those I care about... I'll kill them." That's not exactly uncommon.

But my ghost girlfriend isn't done talking yet. "But even if they're not threatening right now, I might kill them if they have done so in the past. Oh, and if Yuta asked me, if he seriously asked me, I would kill someone, even if they hadn't done anything to me." I have no plans of doing something so irredeemable.

Cat smirks. "You're so in love it's sickening... But you still didn't answer the most important part. How do you think it would feel? Mind shattering? Or do you think you would be apathetic to it?" You are seriously too into this.

Rika shrugs. "I would be apathetic to it, I guess. It's just self-defense." Unless it was an order of mine. That said, it will never happen anyways, so you don't even need to think about it as far as I'm concerned.

Shiki shifts her look to me, but that's fine, I had enough time to think. "First, I'll would rather not kill if possible, but I will do so if needed. There's thtee factors to consider, how threatening is someone, how hard is it to stop them with non-lethal methods and if there is some method of containing them in the first place." I ended up putting some serious thought into it.

I raise one finger "About the first part, it's pretty simple, I won't bother to go out of my way to track and kill some random robber, but if there's a maniac threatening the city or my friends... I'll put an end to him, one way or another." Vlov was a danger to everything for example.

I raise two fingers. "The second part is also pretty simple. If it's just some random robber... there would be no reason for me to kill them, I can subdue them easily. If it's some super monster though... I won't bother to hold back." Vlov also fell into this.

But there's an easy analogy for this. "The truth is... I wouldn't mind being a hero of justice for example, but only if I was Superman fighting Spider-Man villains." If I was Spider-Man I would kill the Green Goblin, if I was Superman I wouldn't. They're different levels of threats.

I raise a third finger. "The last one... Well, we have jails for criminals, we don't have those for supernatural creatures, so I will probably be more willing to kill them. That said, I would also avoid that if possible." And those are my rules.

I look down. "And as for how I would feel about it... It's a complex question to think, because it's a complex topic, so it can vary. If I kill a human who is just like Vlov, I wouldn't care. If I killed a random robber, I would definitely feel decently bad... And if I killed a innocent I would feel miserable." Those morals are courtesy of a certain Senpai!

I smile. "Well, if I did the last one, then it was probably a very extreme situation. Oh, and I would be willing to kill someone if Rika seriously asks me to do it." I can't reject my cute girlfriend!

She raises an eyebrow. "You certainly put a lot of thought into this." Not really, please give me a few hours before asking such a heavy thing. "But in the end it doesn't matter how you feel right? A murderer is a murderer, and red is red." This girl...

My smile doesn't die out, which is what I think she hoped to do. "Yeah, a murderer is a murderer, but a knight is a knight, and a politician is a politician. There are bad ones, good ones, and neutral ones." Even if it's weird to talk like this over killing.

She frowns. "A murderer is not the same as a knight, or a politician. Specially a politician." That's very, very debatable.

But I nod nonetheless. "I guess to a certain extent... But not all people who have killed have become murderers anyways. I... consider Vlov to be a person, and I killed him, and yet I don't think of myself as a murderer." I put a hand on my chest. "I'm Yuta Okkotsu, an executor of the Holy Church, and there are many shades of red." That's my final answer.

Her frown hasn't changed. "And if that Holy Church asked you to kill an innocent? What then?" The answer is obvious, and yet so many people reject that.

I feel like she needs to hear this, so I won't hold back at all. "I would say no of course. Seriously, this is the only easy part of all these questions so far." I could have gone a good path, or a bad one.

Currently I walk the right one, but just as Ciel saved me, someone could easily doom me. I understand that, and I won't deny it... but it will take it more than some stupid order to pull it off!

Cat blushes again, this time she looks away. "I see... Anyways, I'm gonna get dressed, then we can go to Touko." Oh, already? I was hoping we could visit her today, but I wasn't sure you would agree.

She gets up. "While I do that, you two lovebirds can... eat ice cream or whatever, I don't care." You're letting us eat ice cream!? I thought that it was a no go because it was expensive!?

And why... why do I have a feeling those words that let me enter here are suddenly more important than ever?



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"Hah, I knew for sure you would come. Feel free to have a sit." W-wow, I never thought I would meet a redhead that could match Sensei, and yet I'm seeing one right now. Yeah, they're sisters alright.

By the way, before anyone says anything, yes, I do know other beautiful redheads, but they're on a different type of category. Not all fruits are the same...! Well, Noel-Sensei is sort of there, but she also slots in on the girlfailure category.

I sit down, and Cat follows suit. After that, Touko smiles, it's a pretty one, specially since... since...! "Oh, there's enough space for Rika Orimoto here, right? She can appear too." Since she wears glasses!

A glasses wearing Sensei exists! Marry me! But I also want to marry Sensei herself... Can I have both!? Please!? I promise to be a good boy and all, so please let me marry the entire Aozaki lineage!

Rika leaves my shadow, and waves. "H-hey...?" She seems just as surprised as me. It's natural... I was expecting Touko to be super silent and scary, but she seems to be pretty friendly right now, like a more subdued Sensei.

In essence, this does not seem like the type of woman who would send murder puppets after someone, nor does she seem like the type who wishes to beat her sister up. From what I'm seeing, her and Aoko should be friends...

There's an excited gleam on Touko's eyes as she analyzes Rika. "Man... to think something like this is possible in this day and age... No, even Solomon would be amazed by your existence. You're something amazing Rika Orimoto." This...

She feels like a magus that's for sure. There's an innocent joy in her expression as she looks at something supposedly amazing... Good! It's good that she can appreciate Rika with just one look and one look alone!

Her looks shifts to me. "And Yuta Okkotsu... It's such a god damn waste that I didn't find you until now. We would have gotten places, that's for damn sure!" She's staring so intensively at me, that I'm blushing.

I can't help, but imagine how life would have gone if Shiki, Rika and I had met her instead of Sensei... I probably would have a fetish for glasses, that's for sure. Welp, Sensei made me like tall women with big asses, so she also gifted me something amazing.

Cat snorts. "I imagine he would end up dead in a table, being dissected." That's scary! But also very likely, I must not forget that this sweet looking woman is a crazy ass magic scientist in the end.

Touko waves her off. "Nah. I mean, do I look like one of those Clock Tower fools to you? I wouldn't waste someone like Yuta by killing him. I much rather polish this hidden diamond until I can claim I raised the next Solomon." Oh, she mentioned that legendary figure again.

Sensei's sister continues. "So, what do you guys want anyways? I don't mind helping with something as long as it isn't too much work." She sits in front of me and sends me a comforting smile... It feels like I'm staring at Sensei's responsible older sister. Wait, that's exactly what I'm doing!

But now I feel bad about what I'm about to ask. "I... we want you to end the conflict that's going on between you and Sen-, Aoko. That's all pretty much." I was expecting someone super evil, and now that's she's nice, I don't know what to do.

She raises an eyebrow. "Is that all? Sure, I don't mind." And the she takes off her glasses, and suddenly it's like I'm looking at a completely different person. "As long as you become my apprentice that is... and my boyfriend. If you do that, I'll skip town." What's with this sudden Aizen shift in personality!?

While Rika and I are driven to silence, Cat thankfully interjects. "Oi, Touko, he's a high schooler. Have some damn common sense." Yeah, where did such a powerful ask come from!? No, I get it...

It's obvious. She's interested in my existence, and she wants to spit on Sensei's face. So taking me as an apprentice and as a lover fulfills a ton of her goals, there's no way she wouldn't offer something like this. Also, I'm very handsome, which is undoubtedly a bonus.

She's definitely a regretful Christmas cake, just like Sensei. I can tell.

She smirks. "Eh, I don't care. Besides, he's almost eighteen, right?" That's some awful logic! That's the type of logic that I would use! "So what will it be? I promise to take good care of you and Rika, if that's a worry of you." I...!

Which route should I pick!? Do I block the Aoko route and enter the Touko one!? Or do I reject her!?

A tough road lies ahead.