~Lavinia POV, Several Weeks Later, Takashina Residence~
The first one had appeared near the eastern side of Kuoh almost a month ago…
A faint demonic presence…
Carefully restrained…
High Class at most.
Then another appeared several days later.
Then three more.
And by the end of the month, Lavinia could barely extend her senses beyond the Takashina residence without brushing against something supernatural.
Devils mostly…
A handful of magicians…
Several familiars that vanished the moment she attempted to focus upon them…
And enough weak, scattered signatures moving through Kuoh that even someone considerably less experienced than Lavinia would’ve noticed that something had changed…
None of them particularly frightened her…
Even at seventeen, she was already strong enough that the majority of the Devils entering the town would be little more than annoyances should they try to fight her…
Not to mention the strongest presence she had detected was merely High Class.
Dangerous to an ordinary person perhaps…
Dangerous to Soutarou and Mamako if either were caught unaware…
But definitely not dangerous to her.
At the same time…
That was exactly the damn problem.
Lavinia stood beside the living-room window with one hand pressed lightly against the curtain…
Her sapphire-blue eyes followed a presence moving several streets away until it disappeared beyond the edge of her senses.
<Another one…>
Her lips tightened.
<There were barely any when I first came here.
Why are so many gathering in Kuoh now…?>
She could protect the house while she was home…
She could place wards around the property…
She could freeze almost anyone foolish enough to approach the people inside with hostile intent…
But she couldn’t remain by their side every hour of every day.
After all…
Grauzauberer still assigned her work…
The stray magicians she had been searching for hadn’t suddenly agreed to become considerate of her new family…
Worse, Mamako occasionally left the house for college while Soutarou attended school or wandered through Kuoh randomly…
Lavinia’s gaze shifted toward the couch.
Soutarou sat with a book spread across his lap…
His messy light-brown hair hung over hazel-golden eyes as he silently turned another page.
His posture appeared relaxed…
Yet Lavinia noticed the way those strange eyes occasionally flickered toward the window.
As usual he’d noticed her unease…
Sou-chan noticed far too much for someone his age…
From the kitchen came the rhythmic sound of a knife chopping vegetables, followed by Mamako softly humming to herself as she prepared dinner…
Warm light filled the house…
The scent of simmering broth drifted through the hallway…
And for a brief moment, Lavinia wanted to pretend that nothing beyond these walls mattered, but then another demonic presence brushed against the edge of her senses…
and Lavinia slowly released the curtain.
<No…
If something happens while I’m gone…>
Her fingers curled against her skirt.
<If Sou-chan’s power reacts and he can’t control it…
Or if someone realizes what he carries inside him before we do…>
Lavinia turned away from the window…
She had already delayed too long.
~Soutarou POV~
Soutarou continued staring at the same page for several seconds after Lavinia turned around.
‘So she’s finally going to say something about whatever’s bothering her…’
He’d noticed Lavinia’s behavior weeks ago…
The way she paused near windows…
The thin formations she discreetly placed around the property whenever Mamako wasn’t looking…
The way her eyes occasionally became focused and frighteningly sharp before returning to their usual airheaded softness…
Something had changed inside Kuoh…
Soutarou could feel it too now that his senses had improved…
There were more presences moving throughout the town than before…
Most carried an energy that felt darker and heavier than Lavinia’s magic, though not necessarily malicious. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
‘Devils, probably.’
The conclusion wasn’t difficult…
What they were doing here was considerably less obvious.
‘Maybe something with Cleria Belial…?’
Soutarou vaguely remembered her name from scattered wiki pages and forum discussions…
A Devil connected to Kuoh before Rias and Sona arrived…
Something about a human lover…
The Bael House…
Political nonsense…
And an ending that probably hadn’t been pleasant considering she was nowhere to be found by the beginning of canon.
‘Pretty sure she got stuck in some nonsense around this time…
Then again, that description applies to more than half the women in this universe.’
Soutarou closed the book as Lavinia approached.
Lavinia stopped before him and nervously intertwined her fingers…
Her expression carried the strained seriousness of someone preparing to confess to a murder rather than explain something Soutarou had already mostly figured out.
Lavinia hesitated before quietly saying, “Sou-chan…
There’s something important I need to tell you and Mako-nee.”
Soutarou calmly nodded and answered, “Okay.”
Lavinia blinked at his lack of concern before turning toward the kitchen and raising her voice, “Mako-nee…
Could you come here for a moment too?”
The chopping immediately stopped.
Mamako hurried from the kitchen with her apron still tied around her waist and a kitchen towel held between her hands…
Her violet eyes rapidly moved over Lavinia from head to toe.
Mamako worriedly asked, “What happened, Nia-chan?
Are you hurt?”
Lavinia quickly shook her head and reassured, “No, I’m fine.”
Mamako’s concern only deepened as she hurried closer and questioned, “Did someone threaten you?
Is it your work again?
Are you planning to leave?”
Lavinia’s eyes widened before she immediately denied, “No!
I’m not leaving!”
Mamako pressed one hand against her chest and released a relieved breath.
Lavinia awkwardly added, “At least…
I don’t intend to.”
Mamako’s relief vanished.
Lavinia panicked and rapidly clarified, “That came out wrong!
I’m staying!
I only meant that something could happen someday because nobody can predict everything, but I’m not planning to leave now or later and-”
Soutarou raised one hand and calmly interrupted, “Nia-onee-chan.”
Lavinia stopped as Soutarou pointed toward Mamako and dryly explained, “You’re making it worse.”
Lavinia followed his finger, Mamako looked two seconds away from wrapping herself around Lavinia’s waist to physically prevent her departure.
Lavinia’s shoulders slumped before she helplessly murmured, “I’m sorry…”
Soutarou sighed.
‘Amazing start.
Then again what could you expect with these idiots…
Airheads the pair of them.
They say two peas in a pod, but these two?
Two re’s in a tard.’
‘Idiots that I love of course, but sometimes…
Seriously…’
Mamako sat beside Soutarou and immediately pulled him against her side before patting the empty space on the other side of her…
Lavinia obeyed the silent command and sat down.
Mamako took one of Lavinia’s hands and gently encouraged, “It’s alright, Nia-chan…
Just tell us slowly.”
Lavinia drew in a deep breath…
Then she lifted her free hand…
A pale-blue magical circle silently formed above her palm…
Frost spread through the air around it as several tiny flakes of snow began circling her fingers.
The snow gathered…
Compressed…
And became a small crystal flower floating above her hand…
Mamako stared at it… Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Then she stared at Lavinia…
Then she returned her attention to the icy flower.
Mamako blinked repeatedly before uncertainly asking, “Is this…
One of those magic tricks?”
Lavinia slowly shook her head and seriously answered, “No, Mako-nee…
It’s real magic.”
Mamako continued staring…
The icy flower rotated above Lavinia’s palm before dissolving into sparkling mist…
Several seconds passed…
Mamako’s grip around Soutarou tightened.
Mamako’s expression became frighteningly focused before she immediately questioned, “Is So-kun in danger?”
Lavinia paused…
Of every possible reaction she’d imagined…
Disbelief…
Fear…
Anger that Lavinia had hidden such a large secret…
Mamako had skipped all of them.
Lavinia gently squeezed her hand and carefully answered, “Not at this moment…
But there are more supernatural beings entering Kuoh than before.
Most of them appear to be Devils, and while none of them are strong enough to worry me…
But I’m not always here.”
Mamako’s eyes lowered toward Soutarou.
Lavinia glanced at him as well before continuing, “Sou-chan also has an extremely large amount of power inside him…
I noticed it the day we met…
I didn’t say anything because it didn’t feel dangerous and I thought there would be time to understand it slowly.”
Lavinia’s expression tightened as she admitted, “But if something happens while I’m away…
Leaving him unable to control that power would be more dangerous than teaching him.”
Mamako silently absorbed the explanation…
Soutarou remained relaxed against her side before casually saying, “Makes sense.”
Lavinia slowly turned toward him…
Her sapphire-blue eyes turned confused…
Lavinia similarly asked, “Sou-chan…
Why aren’t you surprised?”
Soutarou shrugged and truthfully answered, “I already knew you were magical.”
Silence filled the room…
Lavinia stared at him…
Mamako stared at him…
Soutarou stared back.
Lavinia finally leaned closer and incredulously questioned, “You knew?”
Soutarou nodded and calmly clarified, “I suspected it the day we met.
I became certain after I learned how to sense the power inside me.”
Lavinia’s mouth opened…
Then closed…
Then opened again…
Lavinia pointed toward herself and weakly asked, “How?”
Soutarou counted upon his fingers as he explained, “Seriously?
You disappear at strange hours…
You come home with injuries you claim came from walking into things…
Not to mention your energy feels completely different from ordinary people…”
He paused before glancing at the dark hat resting upon a nearby chair…
Soutarou added, “Oh…
And you regularly wear a witch hat.”
Lavinia looked toward her hat…
Then back toward him…
Lavinia huffed, “The hat could’ve just been fashion.”
Mamako warmly nodded and agreed, “It is very cute.”
Lavinia’s expression softened before she happily murmured, “Thank you, Mako-nee…”
Soutarou stared at the pair.
‘And just like that, we’ve abandoned the topic…’
Lavinia shook herself out of the compliment before quickly looking back toward him…
Lavinia’s cheeks became faintly red as she embarrassedly questioned, “Then all those excuses I made…?”
Soutarou mercifully answered, “I pretended to believe them.”
Lavinia covered her face with one hand…
Mamako gently patted her head.