Next Up(Sunday) - Highschool DxD: Crawling x Chaos
~Yuji Liberio - Next Morning~
"Alright, here are all of the herbs you asked for Mr. Yuji. I made sure to get some extra just in case. Don't worry about paying for it, Mistress Kaya wouldn't let me charge you a Berry!"
I grinned and took the three bags of bergs from Merry's hands. Free ingredients? Count me in, but I guess, it's not free, I was saving Kaya from getting chopped up by Mr. Kitty Fingers.
"Wow, thanks Merry, I was totally planning to pay for them but this is certainly a generous surprise. Well, then I should get to cooking my potion then. Wouldn't want to keep a lady waiting."
Merry smiled and clasped his hands together.
"That is wonderful to hear. You can borrow the kitchen, Alice may pout but she shouldn't mind too much."
Nodding I took his word for it as I moved into the kitchen, seeing Alice hum and shake her hips as she organized ingredients. I was hypnotized for a moment more than Jango could ever hope to achieve by that bubbly ass before I was snapped back to reality by Alice turning to me.
"Oh! Yuji, what are you doing here? Want to cook something exotic together? I really want to try that Smash Burger you talked about!"
I shook my head at Alice's enthusiasm, gesturing to the bags of herbs in my hands.
"Nah, I just need to borrow your kitchen to cook the medicines for Kaya is all."
As Merry had just told me, Alice instantly folded her arms and puffed her cheeks up like an angry squirrel. Hell, I think I could spot the comical steam clouds around her as she pouted.
"But I just washed my pans! They will smell all like medicine afterwards! Mmph!"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, Kaya needs her medicine. Not much I can do about it, if you want to complain to someone, complain Khaladore."
I smoothly and flawlessly threw Kuro under the bus as Alice relented and let me into the kitchen to cook. I laid the herbs out on the table. I did not need to look at the Alchemilla to cook the potions since I had already read it enough times to memorize it when I was bored.
Equal parts Ruber and Viridis herbs, I ground both of them in a mortar and whatever before mixing it with some garlic and ginger. After the paste was done I threw it into boiling water and grabbed some powder from my bag, acting like it was special medicinal powder given to me by the doctor in front of Alice.
In truth, it was just sugar from placebo sugar pills. I had to do this so they don't notice that nothing happens for them when they try to mix Ruber and Viridis herbs. It only worked for me because of the Gacha Bullshit™ affecting the Alchemilia letting me mix them into special juice that should otherwise not exist.
After the water inside reduced just enough, I put it into three 100ml vials I retreived from Portable Pharmacy. They looked to be green in colour despite one of the herbs I added in being red but that was just life.
These vials were antidotes. General antidotes that worked on most less potent poisons like snake bites and infections. Granted, it wouldn't do shit to robust One Piece poisons that might exist like the bullshit Magellan creates but these vials were to test if Kuro was slowly poisoning her or not.
The next batch of potions was Cealum Herbs mixed with Ruber Herbs. After I went through the same process with it I ended up with three 100ml vials of... blue liquid.
Unfortunately, a flaw with the Alchemilia was that its healing potions were fucking blue. What fucker makes blue health potions? When I made my own I was going to add food coloring.
The healing potions wouldn't cure sickness but they would make her feel better. It would help her recover after I cured her sickness. Unfortunately, the Alchemilia did not contain cure sickness potions, it did contain ones like flammable and poison but not sickness.
"Heeeh? So these are the medicines that will cure Kaya huh? How do they taste?"
She picked up the blue vial and looked it over while I snatched it from her hands, making her pout.
"They taste like leaves and dirt. What do you expect? It's medicine. It's not supposed to taste good. Anyways, let's bring it to Kaya."
Alice assented and we walked over to Kaya's room, all of us minus Nami who I had tasked to stock up in the village. I noticed Kuro's wary stance as he followed behind us, unlike Merry and Alice who talked happily he looked... well, I wasn't a savant who could decipher emotions from expression but he did not look like what I would call happy.
We entered the room as Kaya brightened, I shook the vials in my hands dramatically.
"Are they ready Mr. Yuji?"
I nodded and sat next to her, Merry looked optimistic but cautious. While Kuro just looked cautious.
"Yup! Here is what the doctor ordered. You have to drink all of this vial without spilling a drop. Don't worry if it doesn't work. I have other things in mind if it doesn't."
I really did, I was going to try things ranging from Antibiotics to Antidepressants if my poison theory was wrong.
"Alright, Mr. Yuji. ...Bleh."
Kaya downed the potion and winced at the flavour, sticking her tongue out as Merry laughed lightly before facing Kaya.
"So Mistress, how do you feel? Any better? Anything different?"
I was also curious too, the potions in Alchemillia were fast-acting. So whether or not it worked or not would be rather obvious. I saw Kaya's eyes widen as she moved her arms.
"Now that I think about it. I think I feel better!"
Merry's eyes lit up like flashlights as a smile so wide that it threatened to pry open his face emerged. I couldn't help but smirk too, because my medicine worked. And because even my stone-cold heart could be affected by such a heartfelt scene. Sue me, I was not a man made of tin.
"That is wonderful news mistress! Thank you very much, Mr. Yuji. I didn't think the young lady could be cured at this rate!"
I waved my hands, trying to seem humble.
"Don't worry sir. Just doing my job is all."
But then Kaya's brows furrowed as she looked past me.
"Khaladore? Are you okay?"
I turned my head back and surely, there was Kuro, looking rather distressed while his hand held onto a chair, he quickly regained his composure however and smiled at Kaya.
"Oh! Don't mind me, young lady, I was just so overcome with joy that my knees gave out. This is truly joyous news!"
Man, that dude was a fine actor, if I did not know any better I might have believed his act. He only seemed slightly weird from the unknowing bystanders' view, not suspicious.
I didn't know if it was because I got used to the feeling of killing intent from Despair Aura but I could feel an intent from him. Although the untrained couldn't sense it, he looked sharp. he was definitely pissed as all hell. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't afford to drop his butler act to kill me.
Suck it Kuro, it's your own ambition that protects me. While acting as a butler you cannot touch me. Oh man, for a planner like him, it must sting so much. I can bet that tomorrow morning he will probably talk with Jango about his plan. I can strike then.
Afterwards, Kuro talked about how happy he was about Kaya being healthier etc etc and we talked about my treatment for her. I just needed to make some more potions for her, not even that many, Kuro was probably using a poison on her that he was gradually increasing the dosage of to make sure the death looked completely natural.
Walking out of the room with Alice to give her and Merry some space Alice faced me with a smile.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually be able to cure her. But I'm thankful, Kaya is like a sister to me. So seeing her happy like that makes me happy."
Seeing Alice smile at me I smiled back mischievously.
"If you are that thankful maybe I deserve a reward?"
"Hmm, I guess! I'll cook a whole feast to celebrate."
My smile fell lopsided.
"I was talking about a kiss for my efforts but I can't reject your food."
Alice seemed to have a revelation at that, realizing I was trying to flirt with her instead of asking for food. She gave me a mischievous smirk before standing on her tiptoes and placing a peck on the side of my cheek.
"Chu~! There's your reward handsome. I'm not such an easy girl so you'll have to settle for the cheek ok?"
I rubbed my cheek with a smile.
"Don't worry, I like a good challenge."
Alice giggled.
"Nihihi. Good luck then!"
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏𓊝﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
~Yuji Liberio - Night~
The rest of my night passed without much fanfare. I spent the day chatting up Alice and cooking some more potions for Kaya to down. And then spending some time talking with Nami about what to do with our ship once she returned from her shopping spree. She seemed to be taking the opportunity in this village to de-stress which was good for her.
I, on the other hand, had to prepare to face Kuro tomorrow. Should I wait for him to make the first move? No, I can't guarantee he won't kill someone for real. I had to ambush him when he was meeting Jango and make him confess.
But, that was for tomorrow. Today, I am exhausted, so I need this sleep to have all of the energy I will need tomorrow.
Kuro could wait.
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏𓊝﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
~Black Cat - Captain Kuro~
Kuro opened the door and stepped into the room with footsteps that made no noise, moving like a shadow, letting no signs that he was in the room slip. He was undetected.
He was... angry. Very angry. The man who had come into the mansion was messing up his years-long plans and being obnoxious all the while. Years, years of effort would be wasted. And he had no one to blame but him. He was so close to the finish line yet now he had to deal with this annoying obstacle.
Kuro carefully slipped on his cat claws, each finger blade gleaming as he pulled off the scabbards. Sharper than razors.
He eyed the sleeping Yuji, sleeping like he had no worries. He knew Yuji could sense something off about himself. It was the honed sense of danger and his ability to read people that had tipped him off that Yuji knew about his danger. Yet, he was an amateur, he was sleeping under the same roof as a potential enemy without a care in the world.
Taking care of it would be swift, he would chop off his head, throw the corpse into the sea, clean the room and steal some valuables and hide them to make it seem like Yuji had escaped with them.
Kuro moved, and using his pussycat manoeuvre he made sure to seal the deal. Despite how he acted, he saw through the boy. He was dangerous, from his physique to how he eyed him. He couldn't afford a drawn-out confrontation that would blow his cover.
That's why assassination was the best course of action, swift, without fuss and quiet. Kuro moved, his body faster than sound yet without making a single sound as the world around him blurred and his fingers swiped at Yuji's neck.
Swish! Spurrt!
Kuro frowned, his neck was unusually tough, he had failed to slice the head clean off but he had definitely severed the carotid artery. He turned around to swiftly finish off of the mortally wounded man before he could let out a peep but the first thing he saw when he turned around was...
A large green shimmering zone. His eyes widened.
'Devil Fruit-!?'
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!
A/N: Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. Yuji got too overconfident and some claws to the throat for it. He was too complacent. This is a great lesson to learn early on. He can't cruise by by half-assing it after all.
The Kuro plotline has completely derailed as expected, Yuji was too brash and full of Chutzpah that he didn't consider that Kuro could go the fuck it route. But now that Yuji has woken up, both metaphorically and physically, Kuro won't have such an easy time. What did you guys think about the lesson Yuji took and the start of the action? I'd love to know.
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