Luminescent

Dinner

The dinner on Friday was actually a picnic in one of Amaimon's gardens in Assiah. The place was filled with both Assiah plants and Gehhenan plants.

Amaimon had actually convinced Shiemi to have dinner with them and now they all sat on a large blanket with an array of foods and drink spread out in front of them. They talked casually about classes for a while and then about Exorcist studies. Then, Mephisto started with the real talk.

"Miss. Moriyama?" He called her attention. She looked at him questioningly. "Your path ahead is much more complicated, depending on what you wish to do." He started.

"How?" She wondered. "Ah, you see, your grandmother used to be the host for a very powerful entity–the Empress of Creation, Shemihaza. Every cycle, a new heir is produced and named Shiemi. Shiemi is raised to take over the throne of Shemihaza as her representative." He explained.

"However, because of the Blue Night, things regarding that got very complicated. Your grandmother stayed the host for Shemihaza for a longer term than what had been done before to help clean up the damage done by Satan. After that, no one replaced her, even though your mother had training and was even pregnant with you to produce a new heiress at the time. The Order was fine functioning without a Shemihaza once your grandmother passed because nothing complicated was happening in the world then." Shiemi began to look suspicious of where this conversation was going.

"But, with the Order finding out that the son of Satan is still alive, they think they will need Shemihaza's power and guidance. They plan to bring in her followers and train you as the new Shemihaza. You will retain your personality, but you will be limited on what actions you can take and they will force you to have a daughter while you're young so you can raise and train her to take your place." Mephisto looked like he didn't approve of the method.

"It's not a very nice life, but it's best to go along with it." He said. Shiemi opened her mouth to oppose, but Rin reached forward and grabbed her hand. She looked at him in question. "Please, just listen. We have a plan, if you'll agree to it. But your choices are really limited, Shiemi." He told her, deep-blue eyes pleading. She sighed and nodded, turning her attention back to Mephisto nervously.

"You'll go along with it, let them teach you how to use your powers, and host Shemihaza. You have a choice to make once you get to that point: Take the side of the Order or take Rin's side. Rin has decided to be the Neutral Party in this war and he's fighting to simply end it so no more innocents have to die. He's not fighting to win. Currently, we have Rin, myself, Amaimon, and Bon here, along with the demons loyal to us. Rin trusts you to make the decision you see best for yourself. But if you side with the Order, we won't spare you. We'll take you down with the rest of the Organization." Mephisto proposed.

"The second choice you'll have to make, depending on the first one, is where you say you stand. You can either completely withdrawal from the Order and say nothing about why, or you can pretend to go along with the Order until the time comes to destroy it. We'll be destroying the Illuminati and Satan first, using the Order's firepower. Then we'll be turning on the Order to destroy it as well and reform a new way to protect Assiah." Mephisto finished.

"We won't make you choose right now, but you'll have to by the time Shemihaza's followers come to get you." Amaimon told her.

"That's....a big choice to make." Shiemi sighed, taking a drink of tea thoughtfully. "But it's easy. I choose Rin."

"Are you sure? This is bigger than just preserving friendships, Shiemi." Rin asked her. "I know. But you opened my eyes to the world outside of my garden. You helped me see that there was more to the world than just the Shop. And even though you barely knew me, you helped me however you could whenever I had trouble with things in the outside world." Shiemi smiled at the daffodils that bloomed next to the blanket on her side in the grass.