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(MoD) Chapter 16: Takauji's Day Out
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 06:55:33 +0000 UTCChapter 16: Takauji's Day Out
Takauji stood in anticipation at the center of Kuoh's Plaza, with the Clock Tower, one of, if not the town's largest attractions right behind him. His foot rhythmically tapping against the floor as his gaze shifted back and forth from his watch.
Good grief, if you are going to hypothetically plot against me. Could you at least do so in a timely fashion?
He glanced from side to side, surveying the crowd in an attempt to locate Yuuma.
"Ah! Sorry I took so long!" He heard the voice he was searching for call out to him, greeting him with the sight of Yuuma running towards him, wearing pretty much the exact same outfit she had worn at the park, and displaying an exceptional amount of movement around the chest area.
No signs of fatigue, labored breath, or even a mild buildup of sweat. You definitely don't have a Track & Field build, or one for any sort of endurance sport, that's for sure. He hummed to himself, how suspicious.
"The layout of this town is still a little confusing for me, so I got a little lost on the way here." She said apologetically.
He shook his head, "It's fine. I wasn't waiting that long to begin with." He narrowed his eyes a little, doing his best to observe her facial expression while not being too obvious about it. "It's a little hot today, so maybe we should start by checking out one of the shopping malls, I could really go for some air conditioning right now."
"That sounds like a plan," she agreed with a warm smile.
Yet you're the only one here without an ounce of sunblock on them, and somehow you're completely unbothered by it.
And then for some reason, Yuuma proceeded to extend her hand towards him with an expectant look on her face.
What?
"Don't give me that spacey look," she giggled. "There's a lot of people around, it'd be an issue if we got separated amongst the crowd wouldn't it?"
He stood there in stunned silence for a second, but ultimately reciprocated the unimaginably lewd gesture by holding her hand. "Fair enough."
And lurking in the distance, were two womanly figures, wearing awfully noticeable outfits consisting of a baseball cap, sunglasses, and face mask. Like they were trying to hide their identity in a superhero movie or something.
Which naturally, only caused them to garner more attention from confused, and understandably concerned onlookers.
"Hey Tsubaki, you saw that didn't you?" They were none other than Sona and Tsubaki, who had been following Takauji with their familiars the second he entered the Plaza.
"I did," Tsubaki nodded, with a grim expression. "I'll be honest, I didn't think Ashikaga-san was the type to be out and about."
The translation being she didn't think he was the dating type, pegging him for the more reserved type when it came to romance, like Sona. Yet here he was, skipping his allotted training session in favour of seeing a woman that looked awfully similar to Akeno.
Does he do stuff like this on the regular? Maybe I've been mischaracterizing him this whole time.
"Come on, we're following them." At this point, Tsubaki was hardly surprised by her King's blatantly stalker-like behaviour.
"Do we really have to do it while we're wearing these ridiculous get-ups?" She sighed, fully aware of the strange glances they were getting from everyone around them, their outfits doing the exact opposite of what Sona had intended.
Which for someone of her intelligence, was a very odd blunder.
"There's nothing ridiculous about them, it's important that we're not discovered while we're uncovering the scandalous activities Ashikaga-san has decided to partake in while skipping out on our training session."
She started to take off, leaving Tsubaki with no other choice but to start following suit, beginning what was probably going to be a long day of following their Contracted Magician around, like a bunch of complete weirdos.
This is not the type of work I thought I'd be doing when I became a Devil, the Vice-President lamented inwardly. Hang in there Tsubaki, just hang in there…
"What's that?" Yuuma pointed at one of the shops upon entering the mall.
"It's an ice cream place, are you interested?"
"Mhm!" Without giving him a chance to react, she hurriedly started to pull him along towards the store, as if he weighed no less than a feather.
There's no way she's able to drag me like this even after I've increased my Strength! You're definitely not human! I don't need Mana Sense to confirm that!
It was either that, or something in Kuoh's water was turning every woman superhuman.
Once they entered the shop, Yuuma decided to get herself a scoop of strawberry, whereas Takauji went for the signature middle-aged man's choice, coffee.
"Uh, this is a little embarrassing but, I think I forgot my wallet back at home." She chuckled nervously.
I can literally see you holding your purse, what else could you possibly have in there?
"It's fine," he reached for his wallet.
"What a gentleman," she beamed, the two of them finding somewhere slightly less crowded to settle down and enjoying their sweet treats.
But as time went on, he noticed that her posture had started to shift, as if something were making her uncomfortable.
"Hey," she began. "I wasn't sure about whether I should bring this up or not, but I think we're being watched."
"Watched?" He started to look from side to side. "By who?"
"Try not to be too obvious about it, but look over my left shoulder."
He did as she requested, not moving his head at all, but redirecting his gaze over her, and finding himself met with the sight of two figures who hardly even seemed interested in making an attempt to be discreet.
Both of them were sitting in the distance, and using their sunglasses to try to hide the fact that they were side-eyeing them. Which might've worked, if they weren't wearing comic book-level disguises that made them stick out like a sore thumb.
Seriously? Was pretty much the only word that came to mind.
Even though he wasn't at the level where he could sense them, their figures and hairstyles more than gave them away as his contractor and her right-hand woman; Sona Sitri, and Tsubaki Shinra.
I didn't tell Murayama where I was going, so there's no way she could've snitched on me. He grimaced, feeling both justifiably annoyed, and confused as to how they had figured out where he was.
Clearly, they had some kind of method to spy on him, the only question being what on earth that method could be, and what he needed to do in order to dismantle it.
I guess I have another project to work on on top of getting rid of that teleportation circle in my bedroom. He hummed to himself, now then, how should I deal with this?
"Ashikaga-san?" She noticed him falling into thought, a wry grin slowly creeping up his face.
Thud!
Yuuma turned back with a startled look on her face, alongside most of the people around her as the chairs Sona and Tsubaki had been sitting on decided to flip backwards out of nowhere, causing both of them to hit the ground as their sunglasses and hats fell off.
He had used one of his spells, Grease, in order to reduce the friction between the legs of their chairs and the marble flooring of the mall, which meant that even the slightest movement from either of them would be more than enough to cause them to topple over.
And to top it all off, the ice cream they had also bought after Takauji and Yuuma had done so in order to blend in with the crowd, had spilled all over their cartoonish clothing.
I love that spell, thank you mysterious screen thingy, whatever you are.
"If they really were watching us, then I suppose this is what we'd call karmic justice." He slowly stood up while making a poor effort to hide the deep satisfaction he was feeling. "How about we find somewhere a little less stalker-friendly?"
"That sounds like a great idea," she agreed, the two of them beginning to stroll through the mall side by side, preferably in a direction that wasn't within Sona and Tsubaki's line of sight.
"President… I think we were spotted…" Tsubaki said with a dejected expression, even though the fall hadn't hurt either of them in the slightest, the spectacle it had created still wounded their pride.
"You didn't tell me… That he had that kind of a spell…" Sona groaned.
"I didn't know he could do that either," naturally, when Akeno, Tsubaki, and Takauji were having their little show and tell session in his room, he neglected to show them the spell he had more nefarious plans for. "What should we do now?"
"We'll just continue using our familiars to follow them…" Her nose twitched, the odour of spilled ice cream polluting her nostrils. "After getting cleaned up—that is."
Their "date" continued with them visiting a wide array of popular attractions around the Plaza, the local arcade, a karaoke place, the aquarium, and even a bakery so she could have a chance to taste Kuoh's local delicacies.
During that time, Takauji wasn't met with a single sighting of Tsubaki and Sona, granted—the Plaza was relatively crowded since it was a weekend, so it was highly probable they were just exceptionally hard to spot amongst the crowd, on the condition that they weren't still in the outlandish outfits they had been wearing earlier.
"Kuoh's a lot more vibrant than I assumed," Yuuma remarked with a cheery look on her face.
"It's a town with a lot of history," he started to pan around, watching as the nearby restaurants started to change their outdoor signs from their breakfast menus to their lunch ones. "Speaking of which, I'm starting to think we might have some sort of history together."
Yuuma raised her brow, "What makes you say that?"
"You've been giving me the impression that you know who I am for quite some time now," he chuckled, his demeanor growing more somber. "Or more accurately, what I am."
She tilted her head, "I'm afraid I'm not sure what you're talking about, Ashikaga-san."
"Then maybe this will jolt your memory."
They both came to an abrupt halt, Yuuma feeling some sort of cool sensation seep through her pores as he observed her with anticipation.
At long last, he had gone ahead and used Mana Sense on her.
But Yuuma didn't appear nervous in the slightest, instead, the corners of her mouth started to curl upwards into an ominous grin as she breathed a bout of stifled laughter.
"Hah… I was wondering when you were going to do that," she looked at him with narrowed eyes, a dark glint shimmering in her pupils. "I'm not sure whether you'll believe this or not, but I don't mean you any harm, Contracted Magician-san."
He scoffed, "Really now? So I should just believe that this outing you invited me on isn't part of some elaborate trap you, whatever you are, have set up?"
Even though his Mana Sense had confirmed that Yuuma wasn't a human, she didn't have the presence of a Devil either, rather something that he was completely unfamiliar with.
"That should be my line, aren't you the one who had the Devils you're contracted to follow us?"
He sighed, "No. Honestly speaking I'm not sure why, or how they're following me to begin with."
"I'm fairly inclined to call that out as a blatant lie," she tapped her finger against her lower lip. "However, I doubt a species as prideful as they are would allow themselves to be subjected to that little incident you caused back there, let alone wear those ludicrous clothes in public. So I'll consider giving you the benefit of doubt."
"Then I'll do the same in return," he nodded his agreement. "Now then, since you're aware of what I am, I think it's only fair that I'm afforded the same luxury don't you think?"
"I'm actually surprised they haven't told you about me already, not only does your contractor not trust you enough to let you walk on your own, but she won't even tell you about the other species in Kuoh." She put her hand on his cheek, "I pity you."
"Just get to the point already," his composure didn't waver in the slightest, much to Yuuma's disappointment.
"I'm a Fallen Angel," she proclaimed. "I'd show you my form, but I don't think this is the best place for such a thing." She gestured to the bustling crowd walking around them.
A Fallen Angel?
"That's fine, just show me your Mana, Demonic Power, or whatever form of energy that it is your species use, assuming you have one." He opened his palm, allowing a current of light-blue Mana to swirl above it. "Regular people can't see it, so there's nothing to worry about."
"I don't need you to tell me that," she mimicked him, a bright-pink radiance starting to shimmer from the surface of her skin. "This is called Light Magic, it won't do much to you, but it burns like hell if a Devil happens to be unfortunate enough to come into contact with it."
A power that can counter Sitri-san! His eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself.
"Then would it be safe to assume the two of you aren't exactly on the best of terms with one another?"
"Oh sweetie, you don't even know the half of it." She pursed her lips, "However, we are currently at a ceasefire, so as long as I don't try to gut you or anything—everything should be fine."
"Then what exactly is it you want from me? If not to gut me?" He said half-sarcastically.
"I just wanted to get to know you better, that's all." She replied with an innocent smile, "You're the first Magician I've ever met, is it so wrong that I'm interested in getting to know you better?"
"Not necessarily," he met her with a smile of his own. "Are you the only one in Kuoh?"
"No, I have some subordinates lying around." Her expression changed, as if an idea had popped into her head. "Would you happen to be interested in meeting them?"
"Possibly, as long as you're aware that I can summon my contractors anytime I wish if you do try something."
"I already said I wasn't going to do anything to you didn't I? I don't really have any reason to do so either in the first place," their gazes were now deadlocked with one another, as if they had abruptly decided to have a staring contest.
I'll admit, I am definitely interested in finding out more about this so-called "Light Magic."
"Lead the way, Amano-san."
"You don't need to call me that, it's just an alias I thought of on the go, Raynare is fine."
"Raynare it is then."
━━━━
I decided to invent an entirely new route to go with Raynare and Takauji's relationship, the last one felt rushed and very un-fleshed out, so I'm looking to remedy that this time, alongside the rest of the blunders I made during MoD's last run.
Comments
Adam Daw
...is the MC damaged or something?
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