Newfound Love [Asta x Noelle]

Arc 3: Chapter 3- Solved.

Only about an hour or two had passed, and Asta seemed to have woken up. He really tried to clear his head but stubborn as he was he couldn't stop thinking about it all. He knew something was up, and the thought of it made him sick. He decided he'd go for a walk.

———

As Asta was about to leave Vanessa quickly walked to his side.

"I thought you were sleeping, where are you off to?" She said.

"Just a walk. This whole situation is frustrating me. I need some fresh air." Asta said.

"Mind if I tag along then?" Vanessa said.

"If you want to, how much have you had to drink anyways." Asta asked.

"Only a little, as you can see I'm still in my right state of mind" She chuckled.

The two began to walk.

"So, did you two do anything" Vanessa said. Nudging his shoulder. Asta's face turned a crimson red.

"No!" He said. The teasing was frequent. He wondered if it would ever come to an end. He usually had discussions like this with Finral but as close as he was to Vanessa it was a little odd her being a girl and all. Still, he trusted her.

"Really? I thought you'd take the opportunity" She laughed.

Asta chuckled. Everyone had built this image that they did things like that frequently or something.

"You do realise we've only slept together once." He said blushing.

"Once? Don't you want to do things like that more often." Vanessa said.

Asta scratched his head nervously. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't" He said.

"So why once?" She asked.

"I guess last time it sort of just happened on its own. We never brought it up, we talked about it before we did of course but I just don't know how to initiate it deliberately." Vanessa said.

"You've got to communicate Asta, without communication it's hopeless. You've got to let each other know when you want to, what your comfortable with and all that. Leaving it to pure coincidence won't help" She said.

Asta thought about it, and it make sense. When it came to that subject he didn't really know when Noelle wanted to, or anything like but he was sure they were thinking the same thing. And if no one would initiate it, it wouldn't happen again.

"Thanks Vanessa, that really helps surprisingly." He said.

"No worries. Your lucky we decided to call it a day early because you've still got plenty of time to get rest. We should head back." She said.

"Yeah, don't get too drunk" He chuckled.

"I'll try, but I'm not making any promises" Vanessa said.

The two then decided to walk back.

As Asta opened the door to his room he saw Noelle wide awake.

"Did I wake you?" He asked.

"I woke up when I heard you leave. I've been up for a while." Noelle said.

"My bad, sorry about that." He chuckled. Taking off his shoes.

"It's alright" She smiled. "Where'd you go?" She asked.

"I wanted some fresh air so I went on a walk. Vanessa decided to tag along. I really got my mind off of things. However as I got my mind off one problem she got me thinking about another one" He chuckled. He walked over and got back into bed.

"What might that be?" She asked curiously.

Asta scratched his head nervously. He needed to tell her, but it wasn't easy.

"It's a long story, but it's best I just tell you rather than keeping it to myself." Asta said. "Like you said I want to be able to talk to you about anything, you're my girlfriend."

Noelle was happy they were becoming more open, she was still curios as to what he had to say but she had an idea knowing Vanessa was the one with him.

"Do you mind doing more intimate things more often?" Asta said blushing a little. "It's a stupid question considering you've already asked me that, but I guess I don't know how to initiate anything like that. And if I'm ever going to try that i want to know you want the same." He said looking at her.

"Of course I do, and you shouldn't have to feel like it's completely down to you because I'm in the same situation. You don't have to worry about upsetting me." Noelle said smiling.

"Then- then what about right now" He said, blushing. He awaited her response.

The sudden request surprised her but she agreed almost instantly.

———

The next day the four of them decided to go searching for clues as a group. They were trying to piece together what they already had.

They talked about the possible outcomes but nothing really made sense. Things were already difficult enough, but what shocked them was when 20 of the missing people suddenly re-appeared at the same time.

There was a crowd surrounding them and the group separated them from the townspeople.

"I want all of you to stay in place, no one leaving my sight okay" Asta said.

"This is way suspicious. They just re-appeared out of no where." Finral said.

"I think I finally understand what's going on here" Asta said.

"What is it?" Noelle asked.

"I couldn't sense this before because I hadn't been exposed to one of the missing people. But the ki they give off is way off. It's like the ki I felt when you were impersonated Noelle." Asta said.

"That makes sense! So the reason all those people became murderers after coming back from going missing. Is because they aren't even themselves. Impostors." Finral said.

"I don't think they can use magic in this form either. I don't know whether they are people using magic to impersonate the townspeople, or just some sort of clone but either way the spell mimics appearance only. It makes sense as the Noelle that I met in the dungeon didn't use any of her own magic." Asta said.

"Yeah, none of the murderers used magic. All of the murder weapons were blades." Noelle said.

"But that leaves one question now. What has happened to all the people being impersonated?" Vanessa said.

"Maybe we'll have to ask Marx to use memory magic. There's no guarantee it'll work on these guys but for now we need to take in every single one and report what we've found to Yuno" Asta said.

"Right" The others said. Asta was glad he decided to chose Vanessa because her magic was extremely useful in this situation.

"Finral, can you inform Yuno and Enji of our current situation? And Vanessa. Can you restrain all of these fakes?" Asta asked.

The two agreed.

Using her thread magic she restrained them all simultaneously. There wasn't much they could do, so they stood still.

Asta was glad he finally figured out the situation, but a lot of mystery still remained.