“So, Momo-chan, what is it that made you so angry this time?” Tsubasa asked her friend while they both were managing some documents of the student council. The day started as normal but after a call in the middle of classes, Momo turned from cheerful to angry quite quickly, if Tsubasa didn’t know any better she would think Momo is an Asura instead of a devil.

Even the perverted trio was spooked by her… for a few seconds before they tried to take a panty shot at her and speak about what they would like to do to her in bed. Of course, right where Momo could hear. ​​

For these sorts of things that people wondered why exactly those idiots were not kicked out.

Momo, turning to her friend, looked at her intensely before speaking.

“Take a guess at what could make me this annoyed.”

This time it was not just Tsubasa but all members of the student council that answered at once.

“Your cousin.”

Momo looked around and sighed, this really was getting predictable.

“So? What did your cousin wonder did this time.”

“He missed class and even when I tried to call him he did not answer at all. He is always like that, doing whatever he wants!” After that Momo started a rant that only someone that had this sisterly bond could execute.

The others just listened without any comments while Sona put a finger on her own chin. This cousin was looking more and more like a problem child, and Sona’s desire to make a school means she would find plenty of them. However, in Highschool, everyone is far too cowed or good-natured to act this rebellious and it was like that since she entered highschool. Perhaps it was due to the school being mostly for women or something but this chance of making some boy see the error of his ways would be a good experience for Sona.

Thinking thus she spoke.

“Momo, tomorrow tell your cousin to come here. I would like to talk to him about his actions.” Sona said and Momo nodded.

“Yes, Kaichou. But, a fair warning, he is a bit… unconventional.” Momo said and Sona just raised an eyebrow towards it.

“I doubt this would be an issue.”

Momo could only nod while knowing that this would likely not end up well.

///—///

“So? Care to explain why exactly I have to be all dressed up inside the house today?” The stray exorcist said and Soma glared at him.

“Two reasons, first because I have a guest that I actually care for in the house today and I don’t want you to flash her.”

“Hey, I don’t just flash people like that. Also, it hurts my heart to know you don’t actually care for me despite letting me stay here.”

“As for the second reason, you are already making me contemplate using your body as a host for a demonic ritual that would call a cosmic god’s blessings that would cost your entire essence and soul as the price for the blessing to me. Don’t give me extra reasons.” Soma said and the stray just raised his hands.

“Fine, fine, this little Rintaro Akuta can hold on for a while. I will try my best to hold on and not do anything bad.” Rintaro said and Soma was pretty sure that his ‘best’ would not amount to much.

This man was one driven by instinct more than anything, holding back was not something someone like that was good at.

As for Mittlelt, she was still asleep in a truly embarrassing position. Apparently, she was a sloth when it came to how she slept.

Soma just sighed and went about his day. He made sure to let Aya sleep as much as she wanted in the bed in one of the rooms in the house (he kicked Rintaro out of the room he was before and told him to find a ditch to sleep on the couch). Soma also made sure to prepare some breakfast and leave it on the table of the room without waking her up, he would give Aya the space she needed so clearly.

He did not go to school today, he decided instead to stay at home until Aya woke up so they could talk or at least he be there for her. Well, considering the little gift he left in her room she might end up staying there for a while more. But he figures that it would help, it would be easier for her to speak with it than him in the end since they barely know each other.

///—///

In a dark room, Aya slowly opened her eyes.

‘Weird, there is no shouting for me to hurry up to breakfast.’

At such thoughts, Aya looked around the room absentmindedly and noted things around her.

“Strange, I had a desk beside my bed where I could do homework.” She said as she didn’t see the aforementioned desk. Instead, there was a table that was much simpler and was nothing like the one back in her room.

She only looked as if in a daze until she realized what has happened. What was going on exactly. Where she was.

… That her life was so fucked up that she felt that a person she has only known for a day would be the only one she could turn to, and that he actually took her in.

Standing up from the bed she saw what was on the table. It was a simple breakfast with some bread, juice, and fruits. It was simple but she noted a small card on the side.

‘Hope you like the breakfast. When you want to talk I am right here, Soma ;)’

Aya looked at it as if not understanding what it meant and just slowly started eating the food.

Meow~~

Looking down she saw the kitten Soma took home with him was right by her side now.

“I am glad you found such a good home. Everyone needs a home. E… Everyone needs it, but, but where is my home?”

Loud sobs could be heard through the door as Aya’s pent-up emotions bubbled over. Years of frustration and sadness exploding outwards in large drops that she could not stop at all.

Soma heard it despite the distance between himself and the room, and he clenched his fists. He didn’t know Aya all that much, having only met her the day before, but despite that, he could tell very easily that she was decidedly one of the kindest people he has ever met. There was just something about her that made him feel like he should protect her, that if he didn’t she would not last much longer, and such a thought was displeasing.

Sighing Soma relaxed his palms, he would leave Aya alone for now and instead focus on his survival. He had obtained a lot on his previous raid of the church, he now just had to make sure that he could use it all.

Moving through the house Soma arrived at the basement of the house. It was nothing big, truth be told, but Soma didn’t mind. With circuits flashing Soma put his hand on the walls of the basement and destroyed the walls before expanding the basement to be larger and deeper.

It made him slightly tired to do that, but he simply used the mana he had stored in one of his rings to recover his personal reserves. Feeling reinvigorated he continued his work. After expanding considerably the size of the basement he carved several primal runes in the walls, only when he felt that these walls could take at least a few strikes of Herakles without shattering did Soma feel satisfied.

After this, Soma used magecraft to create a basic forge, putting several runes in it to be able to handle the heat and everything else. After half an hour of working on this, he felt satisfied and sat down in front of the forge.

Taking out the several guns, swords, and crosses he obtained in his visit to the church Soma looked at them. Their material was relatively normal but there were traces of some more unique metal that was blessed considerably in each of them.

“Perhaps this metal was made with the express purpose of being anti-demonic energy in nature? It does feel like a watered-down version of the material used in some of the holy swords I know, much diluted but it is still something.” Soma thought to himself as he observed the said metal.

It was not quite enough for what he wanted, but he decided to give it a shot. He had 27 sets of each of the weapons, after thinking for a moment he disassembled 10 such sets using alchemy to separate the parts and metal to ensure he could obtain the metal he needed. It was not much, even with 10 sets it was only about 180 grams of this metal, not nearly enough to produce a full weapon but with this metal concentrated in his hand after eliminating all impurities, Soma was quite surprised by how this metal worked.

It was extremely malleable and it had clear holy energy inside it. It was quite surprising, to say the least, and made Soma quite excited about what it could potentially be used for.

Thinking for a bit Soma decided to go out for a short while. Going to Mittlelt’s room first he saw that the fallen had woken up and was playing some game on her phone. Where she got the phone was anyone’s guess but Soma honestly didn’t care either way.

“Hey, blond midget.”

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET?!” She shouted as she heard him, turning to glare at him in anger as soon as she heard Soma’s words.

“You, of course.” ignoring Mittlelt’s growling in anger Soma continued speaking. “Anyway, I have a guest in the house, her name is Aya. She is in one of the rooms of the house and if she gets out of the room for any reason make sure she is comfortable and do NOT let that leach Rintaro insult or trouble her. Tell her I had to go out for a bit and if possible try to be nice to her, she is going through a lot and I don’t want either you or that stray to make things any worst. If I get home and see anything I shouldn’t I will make sure you both will feel 10 times worst than you did when I got you both here without any actual injury.”

Mittlelt nodded her head, a shiver running down her spine at his words. She didn’t understand all this human could do but she has lived for over two hundred years now and she has seen a lot, Soma gave her the same vibes as Azazel sometimes and she did not want to make anyone who gave off such vibes pissed at her.

“Fine, leave it to me.” Mittlelt said giving a salute that was actually slightly cute in a sense.

Soma nodded his head, returning to his room. Putting on his hoodie and a pair of black pants he got out of the house.

Moving through town it took him a while until he reached the center of Kuoh, there were many stores all around and many people walking by. With swift movements Soma passed by the place, his fingers moving as if they had a mind of their own and Soma used his pickpocket skills to steal the cash of the people he was passing by.

He did that for a simple enough reason, he wanted to buy as many materials to test as he could in the production of the best weapon he could manage within his current abilities, and as such he needed cash. He could use the credit card his parents left for him, but they could verify what he was using his money on and he would rather not have to answer these sorts of questions if possible.

After getting a good amount of cash Soma went to look for the place Rintaro had indicated for him. It was on the outskirts of town on the west sector of Kuoh, strangely enough, the place was what Soma could only call a typical Japanese house.

“Well, in for a penny I guess.” Soma said with a shrug. Knocking on the door he had to wait for a minute before someone opened the door, it was a burly tall man that was completely bald with a dragon tattoo on his face and sunglasses. He was wearing a suit that made him somehow look even more intimidating and Soma could only think of one thing.

‘Well, it seems that the black market for the supernatural is related to the Yakuza. That checks out, I guess, but it would sure be nice if Rintaro had bothered to tell me that.’

“What you want, punk?”

“I came here to see if there is some business opportunity for me. I have some stuff I want to buy and heard you guys could help me get what I want.” Soma said simply and directly.

The yakuza glared down at him and stayed fixated for a moment or two before nodding.

“Fine, I will take you to meet the boss. He will decide if you are worthy of doing business with us.” The Yakuza said and pointed for Soma to enter.

As soon as Soma took one step inside the place he felt himself pass through a bounded field and raised an eyebrow at this. He hadn’t felt it at all before passing through it, which was quite surprising. Clearly, this place had extremely good security if they could set up a thing like this, even though Soma could say that he didn’t feel anything because this bounded field was not able to cause any harm and was quite weak and only set to detect people entering and if they had negative intentions towards those inside.

Closing his eyes he nodded his head, this bounded field was connected to a separate bounded field that would only activate if the opposition had negative or hostile intentions towards those keyed to it and this second bounded field was extremely offensive in nature, set up to attack anyone that enters it and weaken or destroy those who tried to get in.

It was honestly impressive, even Soma would have some slight issues to invade this place,e if he wanted to do so while undetected, and being able to reach a point like this was no easy feat.

As Soma walked through the house he saw many Yakuza moving from one side to another, they were all quite dangerous looking and Soma was impressed slightly by them. They all seemed to have some training in martial arts from the way they move and he could sense they all had some energy in their bodies, they weren’t overly powerful but just the fact that there were so many people able to use some magic here was enough to make this Yakuza group all the more impressive.

The more he saw the more Soma realized that this Yakuza was not simple at all and that he should be careful of his actions while here. But, he also felt like this could be an opportunity for him moving forward since a place like this should be able to do business with him, and having an in with the black market sounded simply far too good.

“Wait here for a bit, the boss will come to see you in a bit.” The Yakuza that was leading Soma arrived at a simple Japanese room and indicated for him to wait inside. It was a simple enough place that gave off a calm atmosphere and made Soma relax.

After a few minutes, a maid came and offered him some green tea that Soma accepted and while drinking the tea he relaxed thoroughly. It was another half an hour until a man entered the room.

It was a pale-skinned middle-aged man with black hair, dark-colored eyes, and a scar along the right side of his face. Wearing a black formal kimono he looked at Soma intensely before sitting down on a pillow of sorts, the maid that gave Soma the tea before quickly came over with a bottle of sake and a single cup, presenting it to the man who was clearly the boss around here.

The man drank a cup of sake and said nothing as he looked at Soma. They continued like this for some time, neither talking anything and just standing there until one of them broke the impasse.

“My name is Genyo Ringa, the boss of the Ringa family. Now, before we talk business, I want to ask you some things. First, what are your associations exactly? My boys did a check on you as soon as you got into the house and found your identity, Soma Hanakai, but we don’t know who you work with.”

Soma was slightly surprised, this Yakuza must have connections with the government or something for them to be able to do a background check so quickly. He did have his identity and documents with the government so it was the fastest way to explain it.

“I am working by myself, for myself.” Soma answered simply enough.

“I see. Another question then. Are you related to the church incident that happened recently?” The man questioned and Soma just nodded.

After examining the man Soma could tell he was not stupid and lying to him could damage any chance of making good or at least neutral relations with the black market, something unacceptable for the current Soma.

“… I see, what exactly you want from us?” Genyo asked, taking out a pipe from his back and started smoking it as he looked at Soma standing before him.

“I don’t have much right now, just fifty thousand yen and 5 sets of exorcist weapons I can sell, but I would like to buy some simple items. Do you have a pen and paper for me to write down my request?”

Genyo waved to the maid on the side who produced said pen and paper, giving them to Soma who proceeded to write down what he would want in order of how much he needed them. He wrote well more than what he could feasibly buy with his current funds but it was only to test and see how much this group could provide him.

Passing the paper to Genyo the Yakuza boss looked at it and after reading the list he stopped talking, thinking for a while as he looked at Soma intently. After a minute or so he opened his mouth again.

“The first few items we can provide easily enough without any issue, but for the money you have, most of them are simply impossible. We can provide them all, but I know a thing or two about weapon making and I can tell that these things could be used to produce good anti-demonic weaponry. If I give it to someone who will start trouble in the territory we could be implicated and I would rather not have this problem.”

Soma clenched his fists slightly. The first few items are those essential for some potions that would finish his recovery and even help speed up his physical training considerably by many times over. Having them alone would be enough for Soma if nothing else, but he wanted more than that if possible.

The items Genyo said he wouldn’t sell are those he needed if he wanted to produce weapons and mystic codes that Soma would definitely need in a world like this with so many dangerous creatures lurking about. Not getting them would be quite troublesome, to say the least, since there was only so much Soma could do with ordinary items and scraps.

“Is there anything I can do to make you more willing to talk in these discussions? I would really like to be at least allowed to buy those items you said you won’t sell me.”

Genyo looked at him for a bit before speaking.

“There is one, we have a spar right here and now. We both use energy suppressing items to ensure we have at most a baseline amount of energy and we clash blades against one another.” The boss said and

Soma was quite surprised.

“That is an unexpected request.”

Genyo just gave a light chuckle before answering.

“Personally, I don’t mind if you kicked the snot out of one of those prancing bafoon devils, but I can’t risk someone going about creating chaos or someone powerful aiming to cause problems within the lands entrusted to me and my family. As such, testing your character would be the best way to see what sort of person you are and, in my family, we believe that it is only when crossing swords do we know what the other person truly is like. If you are not a threat then forget selling those items, we can even talk about cooperation and more diverse business. But if you are up to no good then don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Soma was slightly confused by what Genyo said but he saw no reason to say no.

Soma knew that some old-fashioned people were like that, the chief example being Sasaki-sensei. Besides, Soma could really use being able to swing a true sword after over a month without even touching an actual sword (light swords don’t count since they feel different) after spending thousands of years with a sword in his hands. And, in the end, he wouldn’t mind making closer connections with the Yakuza if they could provide him with funds and the materials he needed. He would simply see this as a more aggressive than a normal job interview and roll with it.

As for the boss, Genyo Ringo wanted to see just who this person that caused so much chaos was. He had never seen him before or heard anything about him before the church incident where he defeated a devil and this one action caused a domino effect of chaos in the region. Personally, Genyo was glad to see the devils taken down a peg considering how full of themselves they were, acting as if they truly owned this land that should belong to humans and the Shinto Faction, but he had to be cautious.

He would not do business with someone that would cause harm to Kuoh’s citizens and city. That was his bottom line which he followed, and this spar would let him see just what sort of person Soma was. For him it was only during combat that one could truly sense what the other person was like, only then would one be able to truly sense what each other was like.