A day had passed since Yuuji and the rest of his team arrived back at Château Dupond following their success. There was still no more sign of Claire’s mother as she seemed to be actively avoiding them and simply tolerating their presence in her home, and Théo had disappeared once more to continue his work for the company.
The four of them enjoyed each other’s company, with the occasional appearance of the steward Guillaume when meals had been prepared. It felt a little awkward having such an ample space all to themselves, so once they’d finished dining on the overly exquisite food, they returned to Yuuji’s room once more to spend their free time comfortably.
“...I still can’t believe the guest rooms have such high-quality clothes available.”
“Hnn~g! One day we’ll wear something nice like that!”
Their battle-ready outfits had been taken for maintenance once they arrived back to make sure there was no damage, and they had changed back into their uniforms while they waited. Through sheer curiosity, Hibiki had peeked inside the wardrobes that were provided in the rooms, and after laying eyes on the various suits and fine dresses neatly arranged inside her jaw nearly hit the floor.
After much convincing, Yuuji had managed to persuade her not to try any of the outfits on - or worse, force him into them instead. There was a variety of fits available for guests of all shapes and sizes, but even so, the girl would likely struggle to find one that matched her measurements, and he could see that path quickly turning into an event his heart truly wasn’t prepared for.
His girlfriend still hadn’t quite given up the fight, so he desperately searched for a way to change the topic before she gave in and started rummaging through the outfits once again.
“Err, right. I was meaning to ask - Claire, where do the creatures you summon come from?”
“Kuku. Do they intrigue you my kin? You should know, they are drawn from the depths of Hell.”
Claire’s ears perked up at the chance to flaunt her flamboyant stories regarding her spirit. Leona’s eyes sharpened somewhat at the mention, but she looked away as if uninterested while Yuuji continued his conversation.
“Uh-huh. What I mean is, I figured they came out from underground, since that’s generally where ‘Hell’ or the Underworld is said to be. But yesterday when you called out Orth-... Cerberus, he came out from the ceiling?”
“...My kin, I believe you did that on purpose? No matter. The realm of Hades is intangible - it is all around us, and I can call upon it freely.”
“So it’s more like opening some kind of portal?”
“Indeed! As expected of you, you are quite astute.”
After flaring her nostrils with a smug grin, the petite girl puffed out her chest. By his side, Hibiki giggled quietly at her behaviour, but there was something sadistic within Yuuji that awoke when he saw Claire’s overly conceited attitude, as even when she was providing a compliment, it felt somewhat condescending.
“So what are the constrictions, then? Do you need there to be some kind of flat surface to make the portal?”
“Kukuku. You truly understand my greatness. It is as you say, I can forge mine unholy gate on any plane, regardless of the material! So long as it can support the size of the soul brought forth, reality bends to my whim.”
…A sinister grin crept across his lips.
“How thick does the material need to be? If you, for example, brought a giant sheet of paper that you folded up with you wherever you went, would that purposed paper provide a portable portal point?”
“P-P-Porta?”
“Or, new question - if you went to the beach, would the sand work as a single unified plane, or is it functionally millions of tiny planes that are too small to use?”
“I-I could not know…”
“Actually, that brings up a new thought. Does the water’s surface work as a portal base? If not, how about ice? At what molecular state does the transition to a usable plane occur?”
“E-Err, th-that is…”
“...Yuuji, don’t bully her!”
“Alright, alright.”
As Claire’s head began to release steam, Yuuji was chastised by the girl sitting beside him. Her cheeks puffed up cutely as she pouted at him, and even though he thought she looked adorable when she got mad, he knew better than to keep going.
*Knock* *Knock*
Thankfully, an unexpected lifeline came in the form of a knock at the door, and after a brief moment, Guillaume stood in the doorway with a bundle of papers in hand, and a portable clothes rack behind him.
“Excuse me. We’ve received another report from the church regarding a vampire hideout, and the four of you are requested to depart immediately to Annecy, to the east. Your combat attire has been prepared, and if you wish I can prepare compact meals to sustain you on your journey.”
His words were refreshingly direct, and not only did he get straight to the point, but he had also been considerate of their situations as well. Yuuji found himself respecting the man considerably, despite his difficult employer causing tension between them.
“Umu! An empty stomach is unfitting for a fight - Guillaume, see to it that my retainers are properly fed!”
“...Certainly, mademoiselle.”
Equally happy to be out of her interrogation, Claire leapt at the chance to speak with the man who interrupted them, proudly making her proclamation as if the conversation moments ago had never happened.
As he placed the reports on the nearby table, Guillaume bowed his head deeply before leaving, though Yuuji felt sure he saw the glimpse of a smile across the old man's face. Regardless, it was time for action, and the four of them quickly grabbed their clothes and separated in order to get changed. In the short time they were apart, they each took a look through the report provided in order to get up to date on the situation.
This time, the church’s own reconnaissance team had made the discovery, and they had irrefutable evidence of a vampire at the location provided. It wasn’t too surprising, as they surely had hundreds of similar teams operating in France alone trying to locate any demon threats to be exterminated, but what stuck out as strange in this case was that the job of elimination had been passed to outsiders.
Phoenix had been tasked with assisting the vampire elimination and that was exactly what they planned to do, but being so openly trusted with a job that the church had already made a start on was unusual. If they were being sent to investigate a suspected area, that would be one thing, but the church had plenty of trained hunters themselves - locating a definite threat and then sitting on their hands while waiting for Phoenix to arrive didn’t make much sense.
“Yuuji! Are you ready to go?”
As he furrowed his eyebrows considering what this might mean, his door flung open unceremoniously. The girls had all finished changing as well, and Hibiki had barged in unannounced as he must have taken too long while absorbed in his thoughts.
“...Yeah.”
The sudden appearance of the girl in her miko outfit still caught him off guard, as even though he saw her wearing it more frequently these days, it served as a constant reminder of their first meeting. It was difficult to wrap his head around how things had progressed so quickly, and knowing that the seemingly aloof heavenly beauty he first laid eyes on was now his sweet and caring girlfriend almost felt unreal.
So much had changed. Even now, she grew closer and closer to being able to reliably use her powers, and she didn’t look anything like the frail girl he felt he needed to protect anymore. She was growing stronger and more confident, and while he would do anything to keep her safe, the fight from the day before proved that she was more than capable of doing the same for him.
“Time to head off.”
******
“Night security for a museum?"
"It’s a good cover story, on paper.”
Yuuji answered Hibiki's rhetorical question as she read over the report once more before. Despite seeing the human disguises vampires could hold first-hand, it still surprised him how deeply they could root themselves into a community without being detected. One would assume it was quite hard to slip under the radar when physically unable to be exposed to direct sunlight and having a crippling addiction to blood, but if that were the case, they wouldn’t be in such a state trying to find the damn creatures.
The information they’d been given didn’t provide much insight as to how exactly the recon team discovered the vampire, but they had all sorts of other intel such as the home it stayed in during the day and an in-depth physical description that even went so far as to list the creature’s most frequently worn clothes.
Yuuji had the pleasure of working with similar teams in the past while performing jobs with the church, but he once again appreciated the wealth of information on display. Ji-Hye was more than exceptional at what she did, but Phoenix was more often than not tossed difficult tasks with little to go off of, and with their teams split over three different countries she mainly had to serve as a communications relay rather than his eye in the sky.
If he was to specifically ask her to oversee his mission like in the old days instead of continuing her current role… she would likely come through for him, despite the repercussions. He hoped it would never come to that, as her help was vitally important even just as a way to reliably connect through to Conrad and Aoi as well as the other teams, but the thought that she’d risk her position for his wellbeing warmed his heart.
Even if it was just a little, he wanted to hear her voice again, but he resisted the urge to contact her unnecessarily while they were both fulfilling important jobs.
“...Hmm? Where is this?”
“Eh? Isn’t it the place we’re supposed to be?”
As the car slowed to a halt, Yuuji looked up in surprise. Of course, he hadn’t expected to be dropped off directly in front of the demon’s residence, but even so, he had memorised the nearby locations on the map, and the church in front of them was not in the area. In his daydreaming, he hadn’t been paying close attention to where they were, and as he looked at his other companions, Hibiki and Claire seemed equally confused.
Leona however, stared forward with a grim expression, as the four of them stepped out of the car to be greeted by a woman wearing a modified nun habit. Like Leona, the habit had been adapted to fit her preference, but in the woman’s case, it was to such a degree that it hardly seemed fit for its original purpose.
The black gown was tight fitting around her chest, and though it was still loosely connected to her sleeves, the shoulders of her outfit were bare. The white collar around her neck that should extend across her chest was cut short as if only to accentuate the glimpses of skin between the gaps in her attire, and her robe hardly reached past her waist as if she were wearing a miniskirt.
Her long, slender legs were wrapped in enticing white thigh-high socks, and she wore black high heel boots. The hood on her head seemed more of a fashion piece than anything, as her dark burgundy hair cascaded down around her neck, where a gaudy golden cross necklace hung between her cleavage.
Her cherry-red lips pursed as she saw them, before changing to a self-satisfied smile. Her eyes had only momentarily graced the others, as she remained fixated on Leona specifically - a fact that the girl clearly found very unpleasant.
“...What are you doing here?”
“Is that how you speak to your superior~? I’ll be sure to make a note of that.”
“...I apologise for my tone. In my surprise, I misspoke.”
Without a word of argument, Leona bowed her head towards the arrogant woman.
“Do you misspeak often? It’s quite a shameful trait.”
“...”
“And now, ignoring a direct question from a supervisor?”
“-No, ma’am. I do not misspeak often.”
“Hmph. We’ll see about that.”
Delighting in her display of power, the woman wore a haughty grin as she looked down her nose at the four before her. Whatever beautiful allure she held was overshone by her foul attitude, and Yuuji held back the choice words that came to his mind until he understood the situation better.
“...Leona Bianchi, your crass attitude is unbecoming of the righteous church you represent. As you well know, I, Fiorella Pirlo, have been granted the honourable duty of thoroughly investigating your dedication to our virtues… to see if you are worthy of still being counted within our number.”
Though they remained silent, Yuuji, Claire and Hibiki shared concerned looks, as Leona kept still with her head lowered.
“I hope you know pulling your little stunt to be transferred to France last minute will only make this sweeter for me… I look forward to this very much.”
With a disgustingly enraptured smirk, Fiorella sneered towards her most hated adversary, as their unpleasant meeting signalled the beginning of Leona’s dreaded examination.
