LP CH 51 (Patreon)

After a few minutes of idle walking, full of silence and the settling of a grim atmosphere, Basara found himself standing in the same park where he killed Raynare and her companion in cold blood.

Thinking clearly, it was quite the spooky place for meeting a young girl but when he recalled the memories of said young girl pummeling a stray devil just two days ago in front of him, he decided that the death of a few Fallen angels wasn’t such a big deal after all.

Fast forwarding a few minutes in time, the two of them were now sitting on a patio. Basara was holding a bottle of chilled water while Koneko was licking an ice cream seemingly of vanilla flavor.

There was silence for a time, both of them minding their own business, but Koneko, seemingly having enough of the grim atmosphere, opted to break the ice between them.

“Kuroka-onee sama was my idol.”

She began to speak quietly, starting with a small talk about her sister and the feelings she once held about her. Her life hadn’t really been the best that there could be, she could tell even though she didn’t have much memory of her time when she was younger.

However, she did remember the memories of her indifferent father and her somewhat submissive mother who did nothing other than loving their said father.

Still, in all those foggy and loveless memories filled with the monotone of loneliness, the only true light that brought color to her shadeless life had always been her sister.

Kuroka.

Her sister was the very epitome of perfection in Koneko’s eyes. She was better than her and anyone she could think of in every way possible. Smarter, more talented, more beautiful, and more glamorous. More than anything, while Koneko was naught but a crybaby, her sister had an inner strength, and a strong will Koneko respected more than anything else.

So was the cause of why Koneko had never been jealous of her sister and admired her greatly throughout her childhood.

The overwhelming admiration she felt grew exponentially after the death of their parents. By then, Koneko and Kuroka had been left alone with no one else to support them except for themselves, however, thanks to Kuroka’s talents, she had been recruited into the peerage of a powerful noble family and officially became a devil.

Koneko was also supposed to enter the peerage but Kuroka refused under the pretext that Koneko was too young, something their master accepted and relented her admission for the time being.

Even then, her life significantly improved if compared to her life till then. She never lacked anything and was taken care of like a princess. The master was a kind and attentive man and Koneko couldn’t wait for the day she could enter the peerage to show how grateful she was and fight alongside her beloved sister.

Sadly, this dream of hers would never happen.

The talent Kuroka had as a Nekoshou bloomed even more beautifully once she became a devil. Easily, she reached the Ultimate class, besting even the most talented devils and surpassing their masters. Furthermore, her sister began to specialize in Senjutsu and Yojutsu, while also learning space-type magic. Fusing her talent as a yokai and a devil to the epitome of power.

Koneko did not understand why all of it happened. All she could remember was the blood flowing seemingly without end. Kuroka did the unthinkable. She killed the King of her peerage and left the devil world, thereby becoming a stray constantly on the hunt.

It seemed that the mastery of Senjutsu and Yojutsu tampered with her mentality and completely corrupted her with the temptations of power and authority.

As for Koneko, because she was also a Nekoshou, the devils were debating whether or not they should simply kill her as an example to avoid such a crime from becoming common — to even root out the thoughts of their species ever attempting to do such blasphemy. If Sirzechs hadn’t taken her in then, Koneko would have died because of her sister.

All those events had been too much for Koneko’s fragile and young heart. The death of her parents had been a shock enough but the death of her master and what she perceived as the betrayal of her sister made Koneko completely shut her mind down to prevent those painful memories from ravaging her mind day in and day out. Ultimately, she became nothing more than a silent and brooding girl with constant suicidal thoughts.

After all, why continue to live in this world when she had nothing and no one she could call as a dear one? For her, every day she lived was nothing more than torture and at that time, she was sure that death was a mercy she wished for more than anything else.

Thankfully, she was never left alone in the Gremory manor. Be it Rias, Akeno, or the adults of the house, they always made sure that someone was close to her, by her side, even when it was time to sleep.

Thanks to that, she never succumbed to her suicidal impulses and while she was forever changed, she still managed to somewhat walk out of her depression to at least a level where she was not suicidal anymore.

Those events had forever changed her, and the core of her existence and the cause of all of this had been her once beloved sister.

The object of love and awe that she once was became the representation of her greatest fear and hatred. Since then, Koneko had never touched anything related to her heritage as a Yokai and focused on developing her skills as Rias’ rook

Nothing more nothing less.

…
…
…

When Koneko finished her story, the ice cream in her hand had already completely melted for some time already, staining her hand and feet where it splashed after spilling down.

“How clumsy.”

Koneko was surprised that Basara did not comment about any part of her story but simply took a napkin and kneeled before taking her feet gently in his warm hands.

“You should pay attention to what you are doing.”

Koneko blushed a bright crimson, wondering why he was acting like this with her — acting so gentle and caring. She even wondered if he was looking at her underwear, or maybe having any other malicious intentions at heart, but saw that he did not bother looking up from her feet.

“You…Have nothing to say?”

Basara stilled for a second before shaking his head with a wry smile.

“What do you expect me to say?

“That… I understand you?

“That… I know your pain?

“That… everything will be better one day?”

Standing up, done with wiping her feet, he used another napkin to wipe away the stain on her hand.

“While it’s true that I went through my own moments of pain and suffering, this isn’t a contest nor a cause to understand your own pain. Our pain is not equal and should in no way be compared. Even should we have gone through the same kinds of pain, thinking that I can understand you just because of that similarity would be the height of arrogance, don’t you think so?”

Basara had a clear understanding of himself. He wasn’t even able to deal with his own mental problems and hang up. How could he try to deal with the problems of other people?

Still, he had somehow gotten pulled into this situation and it wasn’t his style to simply walk away without doing something. Some might call him a busybody but it was what it was.

Koneko was completely astonished by his irregular remarks. This was the first time someone outside of her peerage wasn’t simply giving her lips service while acting as if they understood everything.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she did her best to fight them but Basara gently placed her face against his chest.

“You can cry, you know?”

And cry she did.

For the first time in a long while, she truly cried, washing away all her sorrow with her tears and through all that, Basara never spoke a word, only gently caressing her head and soothing her heart.

———

When Basara went back home a few hours later after making sure Koneko reached her home safely, he was surprised to only feel the presence of Asia in the house.

“Welcome home, Basara-san.”

“Asia.”

Basara caught Asia as she jumped in his arms quite excitedly. This time she wasn’t in a naked apron but the clothes she was wearing consisted of only his shirt with a pair of panties below. With how his clothes were a little too big for her, the sight of her collarbone made Basara gulp down a little in nervousness and lust.

Asia had a purity that made any erotic action from her seem ten times more potent.

Once the hug ended, Basara looked left and right and asked, “Where is Lucia?”

“Ah… She left not long ago. It seems like she needed to meet someone. She told me not to worry and she already made the food.”

“Huh…Well, let’s wait for her then.”

In the Toujou household, food should always be eaten with everyone present when it is possible… was one of the ironclad rule of the establishment…

———

Meanwhile, Lucia was standing in the suite of a hotel while looking at the other maid with gray hair and a girl wearing a sparkling magical girl costume.

“Hello, Grayfia, Serafall-sama. I have the fallen angels with me.”

Serafall whooped, “Beautiful, now we need to discuss with Azazel.”

Lucia nodded, “I am surprised you are in this suit. I thought you would be already bothering Sona-sama.”

Serafall pouted, “You think I wanted to? But I can’t show myself yet. Sirzechs is playing the long game and they would all flee if they learned that I was here.”

Serafall might be inferior to Sirzechs and Ajuka but she was still officially the strongest woman in the underworld. Even if Kokabiel had his entire army from back when he was an angel with him, Serafall would still be able to kill him with a snap of her fingers.

Sadly, in the current tense situation, such an action couldn’t be allowed. Furthermore,

“He also wants to contact the angels to avoid any misunderstanding of us colluding with the Fallen.”

The current three-way situation was quite worrisome.

“I see, is it finally time?”

“Indeed.” Serafall showed a serious expression, “Sirzechs is planning to finally end this cold war and reach true peace. Sadly we are still lacking a catalyst to bring those talks.”

There was simply too much bad blood between the three races. Without a drastic reason, it would be hard to bring absolute peace. Even then, all the main leaders of the three factions were tired of the current situation.

They just wanted peace and for that, they were willing to exterminate anyone trying to bring in the notion of war again.

No matter who they may be…