The Death We Seek

It's Time to Wake Up Now [Chapter 13]

"You're Issei Hyoudou, from Kuoh Academy right?"

A slender girl with silken black hair, eyes of brilliant violet and a clearly accentuated bust hidden beneath a red jacket, white undershirt and with a deep green skirt to finish her facade. The jacket had a signature 'P' adorning its left breast, to fool with the idea of being from another school.

She was here.

He had to hide his malice. Issei wanted to torment her after all, and that would start with her emotions. The first step was to play along, and that started with quelling the internal flames screaming at him to maul her.

"I am. Did you need something?"

His voice must have had too much emotion in it, she had faltered.

"Uh, yes! I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Are you seeing anyone right now?"

Her voice sounded sickeningly sweet, hiding every true intention behind the deception. It made his hand twitch every time he heard it, eager to peel her face from muscle and bone.

"No. Is this some kind of dare?"

"Uhhhm, no? Since you're single though, would you... like to go out with me?"

That phrase, those words. They had haunted Issei for all of his life, lying in wait to convince him that every relationship he had was false, that everyone he cherished had another agenda. His blood ignited and burned his existence black with hatred.

He had to hide himself. He had to follow the past to lead to the future. He would get his chance.

"...Sure."

"Great! I'm Yuuma Amano by the way. Are you free on Sunday?"

The Lord's Day. Her name, meaning 'Setting Sun', the time she had asked him out and when she had killed him. Everything was clear, if he had only known the signs.

"I am."

"I'll meet you by the fountain in the city then. Does two work for you?"

"It does. See you then."

Issei turned around and left the bridge he had been waiting on. He could feel the scalding anger at being brushed off so quickly and easily, but he had agreed to her plan. Showing her his back wasn't something he ever wanted to do, but the urge to leave and break something was getting out of hand. It seemed she knew that the devils might have been watching, because she did not act on the embarrassment.

He walked home in silence. Ddraig was trying to talk to him and calm him down, but he needed to shatter something. There was a construction site he was passing by; they were destroying the foundation of a cinema and remaking it into a tall office building.

A steel I beam was left on the ground, hidden underneath a typical blue tarpaulin and lying on sand. A precursor to letting his anger free, then.

He picked it up like a stick before bending it not-so-carefully into a perfect circle. Summoning Ascalon, Issei sliced the two edges into razorblades following the circumference before teleporting to the forest just outside of Kuoh.

A trail was left in its wake when he had thrown it. He knew where he was aiming.

Satisfied enough for the next minute, he went back home before ignoring everyone and going straight to train. His malevolence must have been evident because none of his friends followed him.

Now, he was teleporting magic with Infinity. A major step-up considering minor progress but he needed to cool off. It didn't help.

Azazel was sat on the seat of a small rowboat atop a lake. He was close enough to his subordinates to tell where they were, and it seemed like they had made contact with the Sacred Gear user. They were just supposed to monitor him.