Needless to say, despite the very much awkward mood that Soma’s words brought forward, he indeed went to the director’s office. Getting there Soma had to hear a lengthy explanation from the professor of how he was wrong about what he was speaking about and that he lacked the basic decency of respecting his elders and his teachers.

Soma almost laughed when he heard this. His mind has over 6000 years of age, even if his body was young he himself most certainly isn’t. And about respecting his teachers, Soma did not and would not learn anything from this ‘teacher’ of his, after so long being spoiled with the absolute greatest teachers of the Multiverse a normal middle school teacher with questionable morals did not even pass in his radar. ​​

“I have to say, Mr. Hanakai, you truly are becoming a bit of a trouble maker. What can you say in your defense?” The director spoke and Soma shrugged.

“I did those things the instructor said, but he seems to have forgotten to mention how the other students in his class seem to be either compliant to, or actively join in group bullying towards both Miss Asagiri and Miss Suirenji.”

“It is Mr. Suirenji, he is a male and should be spoken as such.” The teacher said and Some sighed. People like this existed everywhere and were one of the reasons why Soma had to agree that some humans are trash.

“I won’t enter into discussion with you regarding that. Miss Sairenji is already most likely going through a tough enough situation and if you as a teacher can’t or refuses to help in any meaningful way, then that is up to you. I just refuse to stay quiet when half the class speaks shit about her in such a demeaning way and you pretend to be deaf to those comments, but at the moment I speak up against someone who just called a classmate a ‘freak’ your ears seems to work again and make me come here to be admonished.” Soma said and the teacher seems to be sweating a bit as he heard this.

Not because he actually minded the words, but because his boss seems to have minded them.

“I will look into your accusations, Mr. Hanakai, but disciplinary measures against you will still have to happen. I will inform your parents about this and, by the end of the day, a decision will be made in regards to your punishment, until then return to class and if possible avoid causing any more troubles until we can talk again.” The principal said and Soma shrugged.

“I can try, but no promises.” as he said this Soma left the room, leaving the director behind. The said director sighed and looked at the teacher to have a discussion about this situation that was happening.

///—///

Back in class, the students were making a fuss since the teacher was not around and many were commenting about what happened and the girl who was called ‘two bucks bitch’ was making a fuss with her friends trying to help her out.

It was at this moment that Soma came back from the principal’s office and, as he entered, everyone quietened down.

The first to walk forward in this situation being Sarina who spoke up.

“Look, I don’t know who you think you are but you better stop trying to act self-righteous like that.” Sarina spoke.

Soma looked down at the girl who didn’t even reach his shoulder. She was trying to act intimidating but it just came off as cute in his eyes, like a chihuahua barking at a lion.

“Go sit down girl, you are already on my shitty list so don’t push it. Otherwise, who knows what I might do to you.” Soma said in a dark tone and she actually shivered a bit at that one.

What the reason for that? Who knows.

Ignoring her he went to his seat, looked around for a moment, and decided what the best use of his time would be.

Reclining his head on the table he closed his eyes and started to literally snore rather loudly instantly, already sleeping then and there.

The rest of the class looked at this in shock. Ravel, on her part, observed this and had a single thought.

‘This human, he is acting more willful than most devils I know off. What the hell is wrong with him?’

///—///

The day passed mostly like normal. During lunchtime, like the other times Soma came to school, he ate with Aya, only this time Kiyoharu was also eating with them. Soma noted how Kiyoharu and Aya awkwardly started talking at first both not being overly good at socializing.

Around half time into lunch, Ravel Phenex came to them, a friendly smile on her face as she approached directly and spoke.

“Hey, would you mind if I ate here with you guys?”

Soma was not paying much in the way of attention to this, being mostly quiet during this time as he was internally examining the bow Sacred Gear he stole from Kaname. It was up to Kiyoharu and Aya, the first was slightly dubious but Aya easily and shily accepted the request.

Soon after Ravel struck a conversation with the two and the three girls soon were talking between themselves as if normal. Aya was very socially troubled due to a lack of positive experience with it and Kiyoharu was very dubious and secretive, liking to keep her thoughts to herself normally. Having Ravel, who one could only call a ‘social butterfly’, with them helped in them all talking with each other.

Soma noted that Ravel was good at making friends and her approaching them after what just happened earlier in the day was quite strange. Soma already knew that Aya had a Sacred Gear so he thought that Ravel might have noticed it, but as long as she didn’t try anything then Soma wouldn’t do anything as well.

He wouldn’t act as if Aya belonged to him or control who she could and could not talk with, he would only stop anyone trying to force Aya into anything or trying to harm her. She was a young girl, but she was her own person as well, being over-controlling and dictating everything to her would make him no better than her father in his eyes.

He didn’t talk much with Ravel, only paying attention and answering when talked to but otherwise he was a mostly quiet companion that put more focus on his own stuff.

During the classes after lunch, Soma continued studying the bow using Structural Grasp, being more and more impressed by it and understanding more and more how it worked. It was about as complex to understand as a C+ Rank Noble Phantasm, so there was a lot to comprehend but Soma was used to doing this sort of thing.

When he was put inside Gilgamesh’s treasury to clean all his items and spent so long doing so he gained a knack for understanding the composition and works of weapons and items of all levels, regardless of powers of ways their enchanting worked together. That didn’t mean he was the same as EMIYA in being able to trace Noble Phantasms just like that or understand them with a mere glance, since he could not copy their histories and was not as over specialized as the infuriating asshole, but just being capable in terms of understanding weapons’ functions and how they are made is simple enough for him.

Not only that, unlike EMIYA who could only make weapons he has seen or extrapolate them a bit further while making them directly with his magic, Soma could use his understandings of Mystic Codes, Enchantings, and runecraft to let him forge his own works and understand intrinsically the workings of most any enchanted items if given enough time.

‘This bow, while it is only a part of a bigger whole it is like even it by itself is rather incomplete and is full of gaps in its structure. Did the guy that made this let such an incomplete weapon out on purpose or he was just too lazy to finish the job properly? Is this what is used for ‘Balance Break’ that Mittlelt told me about, a means for a weapon to be enchanted naturally while adapting to the user’s wishes? If so, then I may as well fill these gaps my own way instead of depending on hoping for the best of someone who made that sort of shabby work when in regards to souls.’ Soma thought to himself as he decided to go about doing so after class.

He would leave the ‘junction’ parts needed for the fusion with the other pieces of the original weapon, but obtaining those wouldn’t be instantaneous and Soma would much rather his own weapons be as strong as possible. Humans are weaker beings by nature, even in the wild humans are weaker than most animals, but they survived because they were the more prepared. Making weapons, groups, learning from previous mistakes of themselves and it’s ancestors, all are what made humans survive. And Soma would not ignore that at all.

Any means to increase his power, anything to become even just a bit stronger, all were things he would do.

///—///

In the evening, upon returning home, Aya and Kaname noted the absence of both their parents.

“Weird, that shitty father should be home by now and mom should have been here as well.” Kaname commented as he scratched his chin. Aya just moved to start her work, even if her parents weren’t around she had her own work to do in the house anyway.

Kaname just went to the sofa and spoke up.

“Aya, get me a soda or something.”

Aya quickly went to the kitchen to do just that and then went to give Kaname the said soda.

“Slow, can’t you even bring a drink faster? Even in such a simple thing you are a loser.” Kaname spoke with disdain, enjoying the way Aya’s expression became downtrodden as if a kicked puppy.

Feeling this satisfaction after the whole day feeling strange was enough to make Kaname think that this world was still going the way it should.

As he was sitting down on the sofa he took out his phone and checked to see if there were any new messages.

‘Kaname, your father had some health issues and has had to come to the hospital. I am here with him as we wait for the results to know what is going on, he told me to inform you that ‘you better not be wasting your time, go to study and do not worry about me.’ I will come back home as soon as possible, but you can ask for food through the phone to you and your sister.’

Kaname, after finishing reading, smirked.

“As if I would be worried about you, you piece of shit. Go die in a pit for all I care, it would certainly be more helpful than you being alive.” Kaname spoke up as he almost laughed at the mere idea of him worrying for the health of his father.

Kaname hated the man with every fiber of his being, for Kaname, if Jirou was in flames he wouldn’t even spit at him.

That is how much Kaname ‘cared’ for the man who has made his life hell.

Looking at the apps on his phone Kaname asked for a delivery of some nice food, enough for one person to feast or two if they ate more sparingly.

… Kaname felt like feasting. And anyway, there was enough food to be made if Aya wanted to eat something, she would just have to make it from scratch.

Besides, Kaname had to hold himself back the day before since Aya was grilled by their parents about what happened to her since she just vanished for a full day just like that. Well, it was more their mother worried at the start until Aya admitted to having spent the day in Hanakai’s house.

Needless to say, Jirou asked if she had already fucked Soma or not during that day and, when she said no (as Kaname expected since she is just an ugly pig in his eyes and even looking at her as anything more should be a sign of the person being mentally retarded) then her father spent about two hours yelling at her about how useless she was to not even manage to do what even a street whore can manage.

Thanks to how late it was and the bad mood his parent was the day before Kaname hasn’t had a ‘stress relief’ session with Aya. Now that his parents were not around and would be gone for who knows how long. he could truly do whatever the fuck he wanted for the night and have a long relaxing evening eating like a king and then enjoying all the expressions he could pull out of little Aya.

Kaname despised Aya, she was weak, a loser, unable to do even one thing right, but because of that, no one had any expectations of her. She could do what she wanted and was much freer than he ever was about her own decisions, or at least that was how things were in Kaname’s own eyes. Kaname had to spend countless nights without sleep, always studying, always trying to stay the best, always pressured to BE the nest.

So… she could at least help him somewhat, right?

///—///

It was at night time when Soma had finished the first few modifications he was intending to prepare on the bow Sacred Gear. If Mittletl’s information was correct this one should be the Starling Orange, a normal grade Sacred Gear.

There were a total of 9 ‘gaps’ Soma found in this gear. Being curious he checked Twilight Healing as well and it also had several gaps, but instead of 9, there were 17 gaps. According to Mittlelt, Twilight Healing was a high-grade gear so Soma theorized that the number of gaps is higher the stronger and more inherent potential a gear has.

It was fascinating stuff to be sure, but for now, Soma did what he intended. He has managed to fill in three of the nine gaps in the Starling Orange. He used Primal runes for each of those gaps, the runes were for Distance, Speed, and Impact, all selected with specific desires.

The first was to ensure his arrows would have a range that could be determined by himself and should at top-level be around 12 or so kilometers. The second would ensure that the speed of the arrow’s creation and its flying speed would be increased from its original level (an arrow taking two seconds to form and flying at around forty meters per hour) to a much better level (an arrow taking half a second to form and flying at five times the speed of sound). And the final enchanting would ensure that the arrow’s ‘punch’ would be enhanced from barely D-Rank spell power to around C+ rank power for each arrow.

After last night when he faced those Stray Devils Soma realized that there could be many such strays in town and they eluded to have killed many people before. Considering this, and that he now had a bow, Soma decided that he should make this weapon be one able to send its attacks from as far away and as fast a speed as possible. Soma was also considering if he should remove the enchantments for honing since they were quite unnecessary for Soma, he could better use the freed space for his own enchanting to increase the lethality of the bow and how stealthy the arrows were.

Soma was probably producing quite an outrageous weapon right now, one weapon that would be extremely inconvenient on other people considering it’s aspects and how it demanded the user to adapt to it instead of the other way around, a fact that was especially significant since Sacred Gears were made to be pathetically easy to use since God wanted even untrained and normal humans to be able to use them easily, but for Soma himself, such a weapon would be just right.

However, he had to stop at three gaps now because of how, with each new ‘gap’ he fills, the harder the process becomes and the more it demands in terms of energy and time to engrave. To think that God made the gears able to fill those gaps by themselves while being dictated by a person’s desires, he was definitely brilliant even if he failed quite heavily in many ways.

But, even if it was decidedly a brilliant item and extremely interesting in it’s usage, Soma prefers to depend on his own knowledge instead of hoping that the gear will just become stronger by itself. He knows Primaveral Runes and how to use them in enchanting, he rather doubts that auto enchantings could match the sheer complexity and power of these runes.

Feeling satisfied Soma got out of his workshop, went to the kitchen, made a bucket of popcorn, took a soda can from the fridge, and went to the rooftop.

Using the hiding technique from the Hassans he moved from one rooftop to the next being almost invisible for anyone that was not looking straight for him. After around a minute he arrived at his destination, sitting on a rooftop he opened the can, took a swing at it, and took out his phone. Modifying his voice using a trick he learned from Hassan of Serenity Soma thought about his next words before making a call.

After a few rings, the call was answered.

“One-One-Zero, what is your emergency?”

“I, I believe I heard a strange sound. It, it was like a girl yelling in pain. Please, I think there is a young girl about to be killed! It can be a home invasion or something, please send help!” Soma spoke in a modified female elderly voice. Soma has learned how to do such a thing in the Throne, it wouldn’t pass if there was a serious forensic investigation for his voice but on a phone call like that, it was simple enough.

“Miss, I understand. Please tell us the address and your name and we will be sending someone to the house.” The police attendant spoke soothingly, believing to be talking with an elderly woman.

“I, It is house, hum, 714, street Shinjitsu. And my name is not important. I am leaving, I don’t want to be killed. Just send someone to help, please.” Soma said and ended the call.

No way was he going the extra step just to fabricate a whole other persona for that, an anonymous call would be more than enough.

It took around twenty minutes for the police to arrive. In a few minutes, Soma could see them entering the house of the Asagiri family even as Kaname tried to stop the police. Soma closed his eyes and reinforced his ears, he wanted to listen to the sweet melody of a self-centered asshole’s life being completely ruined just like that.

Few things could be called a ‘greatest’ melody, if Salieri was to be believed. And as Soma heard what was happening he ate his popcorn he admitted, it was a damn good song.

///—///

KNOCK KNOCK

Kaname growled in irritation, he had just started showing Aya her proper place after having run away for a full day before and make HIM go and bring her back. Stopping now kinda killed the mood, but he might as well see what was going on.

Going to the door there was more knocking and Kaname scowled. Looking through the peephole he saw that it was the police.

“Fuck, what they want?” Kaname cursed in a low tone and the cops outside spoke.

“Sir, please open the door. There was a call saying they heard strange noises from the house, we are here to investigate these claims. If there is nothing it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.” The cops said and Kaname began to sweet, he knew exactly what was upstairs and how it would look.

Having a 14 years old girl tied up in her bed with clear signs of physical abuse and his belt around her neck that he was using to strangle her would NOT be ideal.

Without opening the door Kaname turned back and hurriedly started running upstairs towards Aya’s room. Hearing the hurried footsteps back into the house the two cops outside looked at one another and realized something must be going on.

“We are coming in.” One of the cops said before he kicked the front door open. Normally such a thing wouldn’t be allowed, but after the anonymous call and such suspicious actions inside the cops judged such an action necessary.

Going in they had their weapons in hand and moved slowly until they heard the sounds of a scuffle in one of the rooms. Moving quickly they arrived at the door and nodding to one another opened the door just in time to hear and see what was going on.

“Do you hear me, you say nothing! NOTHING! I will not be ruined by-”

That was as far as Kaname got when the cops entered the room, his hands still pulling Aya up by her shirt and the girl with a frightened expression, Kaname’s belt still around her neck.

“Get out! You have no right to just barge into my house like this!” Kaname said, in his adrenaline actually advancing while yelling at the cops.

Not two seconds later he was restrained on the ground as one of the cops easily took him down. Kaname might be stronger than Aya, but he was ultimately a boy who never once put more than the bare minimum training on his body, spending all his time studying instead. Despite all his bravado of being strong and a winner, he was just a weakling in the end when the situation mattered.

“You are coming with us, boy. Shin, while I take him to the car you do a search around the house. I will call support to us, we need an ambulance for the girl and to see if there is anything else going on here.”

The cop restraining Kaname said as he stood up, Kaname trying to fight back and move but he only got as a reply his arm being pulled even more.

“You better stop, I am only restraining you here but if you struggle more you may end up breaking an arm.”

At the thought of being the one to suffer pain, Kaname stopped struggling and instead proceeded to focus on yelling how this was all wrong, to take their hands off him, that they would pay for this.

As the cop has finished taking Kaname to the car and non too gently threw him inside Shin arrived, a package in hand.

“You won’t believe it, but take a look.” Shin said and showed his partner what he had in his hands.

It was pure cocaine.

“There are several kilos of this inside one of the rooms I assume is of this fucker. I have never seen so much, it was well enough hidden but there is just too much.” Shin said and Kaname, who heard this, yelled.

“That is not mine! I don’t know anything about that!”

“Yeah, yeah, tell that to the judge. This just became an even bigger investigation, not only minor abuse now this also is a case of drug traffic. I hope you didn’t have any plans for the rest of your life, boy, because you are going to jail for sure.”

Kaname froze hearing this and only stared emptily as those words rang. In the window of the house, Aya watched this happening and could only stare not knowing what to do. A few minutes later one of the cops came for her and she was soon taken to the hospital for medical treatment, ironically the exact same hospital where her parents were.

When Kaname started moving again more and more police cars started showing up and the neighbors got out of their houses to see what was going on. Kaname started to yell as if a locked animal, his mind not catching up to the sudden change and his reaction as bad as it could go. The neighbors started to point and some old ladies started talking about how they knew there should be something wrong with Kaname.

By the time the car with him inside left the front of the house Kaname’s voice was hoarse and he couldn’t even try to speak up loudly. His throat dried up as he cried in frustration and anger, his life crumbling in front of his eyes and him wishing ardently for it all to have been just a nightmare. That he would open his eyes and be back in his house a few hours earlier, that this was all just a dream brought forward due to having eaten too much and too much television.

(Un)fortunately, it was reality, a reality that would continue in a downright spiral and be worst than any nightmare he has ever had.

///—///

AN:

Hope you guys liked this chapter. I had this prepared for a few days now and already have the prepared.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and a decision was reached in regards to who Trois will be based upon. I will reveal it in the so stay tuned.

A final question before leaving, what should be Soma’s familiar? I have a few options but am not yet sure. I could even have it be something that Merlin sends him (the guy is in a state of being in the Throne and not at the same time and he could send something for Soma if needed). Any suggestions?