A Chance To Live In Your Own Way (Sirin X OC)

Interlude 1: Stress relief

Minato laid awake in his bed at night, staring at the window that showcased the star filled sky as he listened. Upon hearing there was no noise emanating from Sirin's room, he made his move.

The time was 8:30.

Minato got out of his bed. He wore his freshly ironed clothes back on. Theresa told him to meet her somewhere at a bar, it was supposed to be an "important meeting" she said.

Minato didn't believe that for a second.

He avoided the busiest streets, gracefully maneuvering around the city folk that were still up at this hour. He came to a stop in front of a bar, breathing hard after all that walking.

Minato stifled a groan as he walked into the bar. Minato eyed a drunken faced Theresa sitting alone in one of the tables.

'We were supposed to meet at around 9:30! How in the world is she already this drunk!?' Minato looked incredulously at his boss. He sat down before the countertop that separated him from the bartender.

"What will it be this time, Minato?" Natasha has an intimidating aura that makes you not want to mess with her, but she is quite nice and friendly just as long as you don't mess with her bar, she also frequently donates to the orphanage which makes her a very good person in Minato's eyes.

"Ginju-shu please." Minato said.

Natasha nodded, pouring the cup.

Minato took the offered drink, "Thank you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow as Minato sipped his alcohol with absolute delight, his stoic expression broke as a smile took its place.

Natasha shrugged it off, she thought that he had too much work lately and just needed to unwind a bit.

-----

"Theresa, are you there?" Minato lightly tapped her head with an empty bottle.

Theresa groaned, slowly waking up as the light registered in her eyes, "Huh? Minato, is that you?"

Minato wasn't amused, "Who else if not me?"

Now fully awake, Theresa grumbled, "Not funny."

Minato shrugged, "I wasn't trying to be."

"Anyways," Theresa started. Her blue eyes looked to Minato, who was staring at his own cup, looking slightly dazed. "How's the Herrscher coming along?"

The captain met her blue eyes with his own, "Human." Minato said after a moment of silence between them.

Theresa casted a bewildered look to Minato, "What?"

"I learned a lot of things today, Theresa." Minato admitted, as he tried to recall as much as his alcohol filled mind could, "One of them is that she is a human. She isn't just a mindless Herrscher that everyone fears and hate."

"I see..." Theresa still held a bit of bitterness in her heart after what transpired during the second eruption, but she shook it off in favor of a civil conversation, "So, how is she?"

Minato noticed the changes in her initial question, as he replied, "She's doing fine right now. We had a bit of a rough start but everything went well afterwards."

Theresa breathes a sigh of relief, "I see, well that's good." Theresa smiled.

"What about you Theresa?" Minato inquired, "How are you?"

"Bad." Seeing Minato's confused expression, she elaborated further, "The onslaught of paperwork is killing me! I swear they're breeding! There's no other possible answer!"

Minato laughed at Theresa's plight, "Karma for assigning me to a world ending mission."

Theresa light-heartedly glared at him. "Oh, shut it."

Minato smirked at that.

"So, how's Siegfried and the others doing?" Minato changed topics.

Theresa smiled sadly, "Last time I checked, Siegfried was doing okay, he is still mourning for the loss of his wife but with Kiana there, he will be fine." Minato nodded at that, "Speaking of Kiana, she's doing pretty well herself."

How interesting, "How so?"

"She managed to get good scores on her midterm exams!" Theresa said happily, lifting her bottle and to Minato's surprise, chugged the whole bottle of beer at once, the smile in her face not faltering even for a second, "I expected that she would get bad grades due to Siegfried's influence, but I guess she takes more after her mother than her father."

Minato smiled at that, "That's great! I'm looking forward to her joining a Valkyrie Squad on the Hyperion."

Theresa snorted, "If she keeps up with this, then maybe she's going to be the one to do the leading."

"I guess so." Minato agreed, "Maybe I should visit them sometime soon, it's been a long time since I last talked to Siegfried since then."

"Really, you would do that? What about the Herr- Sirin?" Theresa was quick to correct herself.

Minato paused at that, "Good question." He replied, "I haven't really thought about that."

This time, Theresa was the one who deadpanned at him, "Don't tell me that you just left her alone at your apartment... unsupervised?"

"Don't worry." Minato said, "Right now, she's currently asleep."

"You didn't answer my question." Theresa said blankly at him.

Minato raised his hands and conceded.

Theresa felt like a migraine was about to hit her, "You are really irresponsible, aren't you?"

Minato quickly defended himself from the accusation, "It just completely slipped over my mind! Besides, no one can touch her anyways, she's the Herrscher of the Void, remember?"

"You disabled her powers." Was Theresa's flat reply.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did. The microchip you placed to her forehead has a built-in system that notifies me when it's been used."

"I took it out afterwards."

"It would've been impossible to do so, invisibility aside, it would take a force of a B-rank Valkyrie to pluck it out."

"I had Welt to do it for me." He tried again.

"I spoke to Welt this afternoon. He did no such thing."

Urk! "Alright fine, you win."

Theresa nodded to herself, satisfied, "Alright, this meeting is now over." Theresa said, "Now buzz off and go do your job!"

Theresa smiled sweetly at him, Minato took that as a cue to get the hell out of there and go check up on Sirin lest Theresa cuts his paycheck in half.

When all's said and done, Theresa realized that she has to foot the bill alone for the drinks, she cursed Minato in her head for leaving her alone before paying his own part of the bill.

A shadow loomed over her as Theresa cowered under the sweet smile of Natasha Cioara.