Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue: A Reaper's Remnants

'Another meal, another friggin' milkshake through a straw,' Ragna the Bloodedge thought to himself in annoyance as he laid on his recovery bed in the same white hospital gown he’d worn since he got there.

It had been two weeks since that final battle within the Master Unit, two weeks since he'd finally killed Izanami and the revived Terumi. Ragna's last battle was by far the hardest he'd ever faced, but even he was surprised it was taking this long to heal up. Part of the reason lay in Ragna's own lack of power; during his last battle he'd poured every bit of energy that the BlazBlue had into his final surge of strength. The result was a power boost beyond his wildest dreams, but the backlash once that was done had nearly torn his entire body to shreds. He'd be in tiny pieces right now if the BlazBlue hadn't taken the brunt of the damage, causing it to shatter completely, seemingly out of reality itself.

Maybe that was part of the reason, Ragna had thought. Whenever he'd gotten hurt in his crusade against the Librarium he'd just waited a few hours and the BlazBlue could heal practically everything short of Hakumen himself. Now that it was gone, Ragna was left with a shattered body and a far inferior healing factor. This meant he'd needed to rely on certain people for help... and by people he meant Sector Seven.

It ticked him off to no end to be put in Kokonoe's care, especially after what had happened when Celica had expired, but at this point he really didn't have a choice. If he decided to throw away the consideration Kokonoe had given him when she'd brought him here, however little it might have been, he knew that he'd feel the full fury of Sector Seven's new board of directors. Long story short, don't piss off Kokonoe or be subjected to vivisection and other experiments, those were his only options right now.

'Man I wish I could actually walk,' Ragna moaned to himself as he finished the last of his 'full nutrients' shake. The only times Ragna was ever allowed to get out of bed was when he needed to use the bathroom and even that was hellish. Kokonoe had set up a sort of handrail for him to use to get himself to the bathroom when need be (not saying who needed to changed his pads before that), but with weak legs and only a single arm to use, Ragna was having to endure a lengthy venture to the porcelain throne every time he wanted to take a dump. At the very least he still could use his right eye (which was still red) without his BlazBlue, but that was more of a minor convince.

'Aw, screw the bed arrest!' Ragna thought to himself as he forced himself to rise. He slowly got on the guard rail and started to walk out of his room. 'Damn, there's an high level Ars Magus seal on the door, but even without the BlazBlue I think I can do this much.' Even his weakened state Ragna managed to dispel the Ars Magus that would've held him prisoner, but the effort drained him even further. By the time he was walking down the halls he was already sweating and needed to use the wall for support just to stay standing. 'Damn it, how could I have gotten this weak?!' He then noticed a shadow looming over him. 'Shit...'

Meanwhile

Makoto was walking down the halls of Sector Seven, getting ready to enjoy her mid day break. Now that the revolution had ended, the Librarium was still undergoing several changes with its policy and a new Imperator leading it so Makoto had wanted to be a part of those changes. Since she was known to have worked with Kokonoe in the past, she was currently acting as an NOL representative for Sector Seven. The work wasn't bad and the pay that went back to her family was much more than she'd been making originally, but her co-workers now consisted of scientist farts that thought she was just a stupid beast and old people who were even more racist… not that they were anything new.

The few friends she did have here consisted of a ten foot tall cyborg nice-guy, a doctor with oversized breasts who occasionally lamented for a dead pile of sludge, and a pink haired half cat with sass that could teach teen stars a thing or two and an addiction to lollipops... well, they were still her friends.

As Makoto walked along one of the less busy halls and turned a corner she bumped into Eric, one of head scientists in the Sector who answered only to main board members. He was a tall middle aged man with a usually bored expression on his face, whiskers, and grey hair. Out of all the people who pissed her off in her new job, this guy was definitely in the top five. True, she'd tried to be friendly when they'd first met, but this guy just refused to accept her as a person instead of a freak of nature.

"Out of the way, mutant," he ordered Makoto gruffly before shoving past her, dragging a wheeled stretcher with a cover over it. Makoto glared daggers at the man though he couldn't see it. As Eric began walking towards the main labs, she noticed the vague outline of white hair protruding from underneath the covers… spiky white hair.

'Wait a minute...' Before Eric could take notice or even react, she jabbed her fist out and immediately grabbed the covers off of the stretcher. What lay beneath was none other than the body of the Grim Reaper. "W-What is this!?"

"Give that back!" Eric shouted as he forcefully grabbed the cloth from her. "You're interfering with official Sector Seven business. If you don't want me to report you to the superiors I suggest you leave."

"Like hell!" Makoto shouted. "Tell me what's going on! I saw Ragna's body with my own eyes and he was dead! Worse than this even!"

"Why should I tell you?" Eric said as he laid the cover over Ragna's limp body. "I'm sick of you Beastkin thinking that you can even talk to us just because some bestiality bred bitch is-!"

"Choose your next words carefully Eric, I'm right here." Eric's expression turned from cold and demanding to fearful and cowardly in heartbeat as he slowly turned to face Kokonoe. While almost everyone in Sector Seven hated her, everyone also feared her with her prowess in science as she stood leagues beyond anyone else. Kokonoe made her way over to the stretcher and looked down on Ragna's covered body. "What the hell were you planning on doing to my patient? He's still on recovery for god's sake!"

"Then keep a closer eye on him," Eric said, gathering up his courage for a steeled gaze at Kokonoe. "He was walking down the hallway when I saw him." As he turned to leave, he glared back at the two Beastkin for a moment. "I'll be sure to let our superiors know the situation Kokonoe, how long do you think you can afford to stall?"

Kokonoe rolled her eyes as Clark left. "Makoto, I need you to guide Ragna's stretcher and help me bring him back to his room before more of the jackasses show up." Seeing the outburst that was about to come from Makoto, Kokonoe decided she'd have to give more than that. "Look, I'll explain everything afterwards, but we need to get Ragna back to his room. The fewer people that see him, the better."

"A-All right," Makoto sighed as she pushed the stretcher and followed closely behind Kokonoe. After going a short ways down the hallway, they came to what was apparently Ragna's room and shut the door behind them.

"Idiot," Kokonoe hissed to herself as she glared at Ragna's limp body. "I knew I should've put up a better spell to keep him inside." She closed the door and set up another seal using magic she’d inherited from her mother before taking a closer look at Ragna's head. "Not seeing any signs of a concussion, so he was probably put under a 'knockout' Ars. Alright Makoto, help me move him back into his bed."

Makoto nodded as the two lifted Ragna and placed him back on his recovery bed, their patient not moving in the slightest. Once that was done, Makoto looked expectantly to the professor.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting to the explanation!" Kokonoe said, hating to feel rushed. "What do you remember about the final battle? I vaguely remember you were saying you were on sight."

"I was only there for the cleanup," Makoto told Kokonoe. "Before that I was with Noel and Tsubaki trying to capture Relius Clover, but we both know that he managed to get away... we think. But last time I saw Ragna he..."

It wasn't a pretty memory for any of them. When Makoto had seen Ragna after the final battle, she'd been certain she was looking at his corpse. His right arm had been completely destroyed, his limbs were all bent at awkward angles, and almost all of his flesh had been viciously torn off so he'd looked more like a skeleton with a few shreds of meat on it.

"That was pretty ugly sure, but the fact that I didn't know at the time was that the asshole was still breathing… well he was alive, his lungs were completely destroyed," Kokonoe sighed as she took her lollipop stick out of her mouth and threw it in a nearby trash can. "Somehow with almost all of his vital organs destroyed, his heart reduced to a powder, AND his brain in pieces, Ragna was still alive."

"So you've been healing his body in secret this whole time?" Makoto asked. The Beastkin had seen Noel react to Ragna's supposedly dead body and she’d been completely hysterical. Even after the hours it took to calm her down, Noel wouldn't stop sobbing with how unfair it's been that he'd had to die like that after all he’d been put through. Makoto didn't really know Ragna that well, but at the very least she shared Noel's sentiment and even Tsubaki who deeply resented the Reaper at least showed signs of pity. Currently Noel was with Kagura in the NOL, trying to pick up the pieces after it's change in leaders and staying busy to keep their minds off of what'd happened.

"Secrecy's been hard to stretch these past few days," Kokonoe told Makoto. "I couldn't afford to bring Ragna back in my lab back in Ikaruga since it didn't have the tech needed, so I needed to use the lab here."

"Does the Board know that he's here?"

"Oh they know alright, in fact they want to keep him here," Kokonoe said with obvious irk. "They want to know how strong his abilities are, mainly his impressive regeneration rate. I told them that he'd lost it when the BlazBlue had shattered and the only reason he's alive now is the leftover biomaterial I had from Lambda and the medical nanomachines I'm putting into his milkshakes."

"Well, he seems to be doing pretty well," Makoto said, looking at Ragna who was still passed out on the bed. "It looks like he'd be back to full in no time."

"That’s the problem!" Kokonoe yelled. "He's regenerating way too fast! I ran out of biomaterial when I made Ragna's left arm and the nanomachines are actually there to cancel out Ragna's healing factor! I didn’t even revive him, he just started regenerating his flesh out of "

"You're keeping him here on purpose? Why not just let him regenerate back to full and let him break out? Even with one arm I'm sure he could still kick ass!"

"Then he'd just be a wanted man again," Kokonoe told Makoto with a sad look in her eyes. "The NOL’s Duodecim hasn’t specifically said that Ragna's going to be charged with war crimes yet, and we can still attempt to absolve him from his days as a rebel, but if he breaks out now he's going to have the world on his heels all over again. Besides, I'm still in the middle of making another replacement arm. We can hold off until then."

"Alright..." It wasn't what Makoto wanted to hear. She still knew that Noel blamed herself for what happened to Ragna, and that she'd continue to blame herself until word got out that he was now alive, but if she needed to wait a little for both their sakes, she'd do what she had to. "Hey, do you mind if I stay here for a little bit? I want to make sure he's okay after just losing consciousness."

Kokonoe was about to tell Makoto off and explain that Ragna couldn't possibly die from just that, but she decided if she just listened to her this once the Demi would at least have less of an outburst later.

"Alright, the seal's going to lock the door shut after you leave, so don't try to get back inside." Kokonoe opened the door to leave. "And Makoto? What I just said stays between us. I don't want Ragna to find out, he'll just get pissed."

"You got it," Makoto assured as the Grimalkin left. Makoto sat in a small chair next to Ragna's bed for about a minute before he slowly opened his eyes. "Hey."

"Hey," Ragna said in return with little emotion in his voice. "Makoto, right? Noel's friend?"

"Yeah, that's me," Makoto told him. "So how are you feeling?"

Ragna took deep breath in through his nostrils before answering.

"Pissed."

Author Note: Just bringing yet another story over. It's sort of funny; the original version of this story was my first FanFiction, how far things have come since then. Anyways, catch you guys next time! Ciao!

Chapter Text

Tail I: Simple Gifts

'Pissed.'

After that one word let her know that Ragna had at least heard part of her conversation with Kokonoe, Makoto had left Ragna's room in a pretty awkward manner, not sure what to say to the bedridden man formerly known as the Grim Reaper. Ragna hadn't really said anything either when she'd left, just let her walk out of the room while staring pointlessly at the ceiling. That had been three days ago.

Makoto had tried to check on Ragna again, even if just to make sure that Eric and the rest of his cronies hadn't tried to turn him in a fifth grade dissection project, but she'd found that the door was well guarded by one of Kokonoe's sealing Ars on top of a technology based locked. Makoto had never really been good with creating or dispelling Ars and she didn’t know the first thing about hacking, so trying to break inside the room was out of the question.

Currently it was approaching the middle of the day and Makoto was finishing up some of her paperwork to report Sector Seven's latest actions back to the Librarium. These documents were more of a procedural assignment and less of an info search. All Makoto had to do was write back and say that she was sure that Kokonoe wasn't doing anything that would threaten the reformation of the NOL. It was stupid really; Kokonoe had been one of the key figures in the fight for the reform, why would she throw it away now?

"Hey Makoto, got a sec?" Speak of the devil and she shall appear... having a lollipop as usual. Kokonoe was holding a tray carrying a milkshake with a straw sticking out of the top; Ragna's healing-factor-killing nanomachine lunch. "I've got a business meeting with the asshats that run this place in name only, so I'm going to need you to take this to Ragna. Think you can do that for me?"

"Sure I guess," Makoto said with slight dismay. To her it didn't feel right to give this to Ragna. It almost felt that she was partly responsible for confining him to his small bed when he could be out on his own after only a few day's worth of good rest.

"Here then," Kokonoe said thrusting the tray into Makoto's arms. "There's a special spell on the glass that'll let you enter the room and I’ve disabled the digital lock. Oh, and if you don't want to die be sure not to drink any of this. Even a single sip could wreck your body in more ways than you'd think were possible."

"I got it, I got it," Makoto said. 'Jeeze, if this would kill me from just a taste what do they do to Ragna after he downs the whole thing?' "Hey Professor? What do I say about Ragna in my report, the NOL knows about him right?"

"Yeah, they know, and feel free to let them know that you're in the loop with this whole mess. Might save everyone else some trouble. Just take that thing to Ragna now and file that report later. He didn't give me any trouble with drinking it the past few days, so I don't see why he should give you any."

Makoto nodded as she left her office and headed towards Ragna's room, glancing over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed. From what she could tell no one was tailing her bushy tail, but she didn't want to take any chances of someone entering Ragna's room. Though if Eric tried anything again, she wouldn't hesitate to kick his ass now that she knew the professor had her back.

Turns out she made it to Ragna's room without encountering any of the scientists or other Sector Seven employees. Makoto tried opening the door and sure enough the spell temporarily dispersed long enough to let her enter the patient room. Inside she found Ragna laying like she'd left him two days ago, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh it's you," Ragna said as he saw Makoto enter the room. "That my Death Drink for today?"

'Death Drink.' He didn't even seem to angry when he questioned her, just... annoyed. Makoto wasn't sure what to say, so she just nodded and set the tray on Ragna's lap. The Reaper simply nodded before picking up the glass with his arm and taking a long sip through the straw.

"Didn't think it was possible, but now that I know about the nanomachines in here that are killing me, these things taste even worse." He said the statement to himself, and didn't realize that Makoto was still in the room until a minute after he'd said it. "Why are you still here, I'm drinking the damn thing aren't I?"

"Yeah, but Kokonoe wanted me to be sure that you drank everything, so I'm staying here until then," Makoto told him as she took a seat. Ragna gave as best a shrug as he could with one arm before drinking the rest of his milkshake, a process that took him all of two minutes.

"Hey, how do you feel after you drink those things?" Makoto asked after Ragna had finished. She figured if a normal person would be dead by those things, Ragna would at least feel something.

"Spent, like I'm going to need a nap or something," Ragna said with a yawn.

"Doesn't napping now keep you up at night though?" Makoto asked.

"It's not the middle of the night right now?" Ragna asked, seeming pretty surprised. "I always thought these things were supposed to be my dinner or something."

'He can't even tell the time of day, I know that he doesn't have a clock in here, but...' Makoto looked at the giant plasma screen television position on the wall in front of Ragna. "Don't any of the shows you watch tell the time on it at least?"

"Haven't turned that thing on in days. The channels we get here on that thing all suck, and that's coming from a guy who's never watched TV before."

"Come on, this is Sector Seven, don't we get like a thousand shows or something?" Makoto didn't see what Ragna's deal was, surely he didn't give up after surfing for five minutes.

"It only has seven channels. One of them's a news station, but it just keeps talking about the war and I don't want to think about it. Two more are science channels, but I'm bored out of my mind by those and they're pointless anyways. And the other four are all..." Ragna shuddered. "Reality shows."

"Bad?" Makoto asked.

"I wouldn't wish being forced to watch those things on Terumi," Ragna said in a very low voice.

"Damn... But if you can't watch TV, you can't walk around, what the hell do you do all day?"

"Just what you see here," he said as he continued to lay on the bed. "I lay here, only get up if I need to take a crap, drink these damn milkshakes and call it a day."

"But that's so boring, why haven't you gone crazy by now?" Makoto asked.

"It's given my a lot of time to think. Think about what I've done, where I am now, what the hell could've happened when I decided to try and overpower my BlazBlue, and most of all where do I go from here?"

"Oh. So what've you thought of, for the future I mean."

"Nothing," Ragna said. "Either I die in this bed or I run from society and live the rest of my life alone. I still gotta figure out how I’d do the breakout in the place, but those are my only choices right now."

"But that's no way to live, you'd be dying no matter what option you took!" Makoto shouted. "Let's say you live, but there's nowhere you can run to, what then?"

"You mean if I had to live in society?" Ragna asked for clarification. "I dunno, try out my skills at being a Vigilante if I could fight, maybe open a restaurant if I couldn't... Why do you care anyways?"

"I'm just trying to make small talk. And it can't be healthy for to go on for as long as you have without at least talking to someone. Admit it, you were bored before I came here."

"...I guess," Ragna told her with reluctance. "And I guess you're at least a little nicer than the bitch that's keeping me in this damn bed because of the poison she puts in my damn drinks." Ragna smirked. "But only a little."

"Nice," Makoto said, giving Ragna a scowl. "Not sure when we next see each other, but maybe I can convince Kokonoe to let me visit you more often. Try to have something nice to say by then."

"No promises, but good luck," Ragna told her. "Convincing her is like trying to tell a brick wall to move out of your way. Of course it's probably because of that stubbornness that I'm still alive right now."

Meanwhile

"How many times do I need to tell you that I won't let you just take my patient and dissect him!?" Kokonoe yelled at the rest of the board. "That son of a bitch is the one who saved your sorry asses and you want to dissect him!?"

"Kokonoe be reasonable," Janis, an elderly chairwoman, commanded. "If we're going to enter an age of peace as it's been proposed by Jin Kisaragi, do you really think we'll be able to have a place for the a genocidal monster in our shining new world? The mistakes of the past should be wiped away, giving us a clean slate to work with."

"Not only that," Eric added, because he worked directly under the board, it was his right to sit in on this meeting. "We'd need an army of peace keepers if we're going to enter an age of peace. Surely you're not blind enough to where you don't realize what regeneration rate of Ragna the Bloodedge could mean for us?"

"You'd have any army alright, but you'd just use them to keep the people in line," Kokonoe said with irk. "And I keep telling you fools that Ragna's healing factor is gone! I'm the only thing that's keeping him alive is the nanomachines I've been giving him!"

"That's not what I saw," Eric said with a bored look in his eyes. "I remember seeing Ragna the Bloodedge walking down the hall unassisted. Yes, he was struggling, but can you explain how he could move if your means were the only means of his survival?"

"Because I'd overdosed his supply?" Kokonoe answered as she rolled her eyes. "If you'll look at my charts you'll see that I've been giving him increasing amount of nanomachines so that his condition doesn't go from shitty to critical." It wasn't a bluff, Kokonoe had been adding more and more nanomachines as the days went on, but of course that was to keep Ragna's healing factor from regenerating too fast.

"If that truly is the case then why are you bothering with creating him a second arm?" Mokoral, another board member, asked. "You seem to be investing a lot of your time and resources into creating an arm for a supposed cripple, which begs the question of why you're bothering with it."

"Like you've given me anything else to do in the meantime," Kokonoe said with a scowl. "I'm the top mind on engineering on the planet and you won't let me have a single project on turning our old Ars Magus tech into something more current. I'm sick of getting jerked around! You realize I don't necessarily have to keep Ragna here, I'm sure the NOL would be more than happy to take him off your hands."

While Kokonoe had kept her aggressive front up on the outside, inside she felt a slight twinge of cockiness. Now that she had turned the tables on this pathetic board the meeting would soon be over and she'd get out of here. She wasn't denied the satisfaction, as Janis told the board that they should reevaluate their options and leave it there for now. Not a complete win for Kokonoe, but she'd at least bought herself some more time.

The Next Day

Kokonoe was busy sitting at her desk, looking over the blueprints for a new power generator, one that didn't require a Seither in order to generate power, but could still convert it to energy all the same. Even though the board hadn't given her any projects, she'd be damned if she was going to let something as simple as that stop her. She'd finally finished the designs for a prototype when she heard light footsteps behind her.

"Professor?" It was Makoto of course, who else? "I just got a message from Kagura, he says that he'll call close to noon about the Duodecim's meeting with the new Imperator."

"Close to noon huh?" Kokonoe said with slight irk. "Guess I can't miss this call. Hey Makoto, do you mind-?"

"I can take care of our patient, don't worry about it," Makoto assured the Professor. "Just get me set up with the milkshake and I'll make sure Ragna gets it."

"All right, come back at 11:30 and I'll get you the damn drink." Makoto nodded and left. After looking over her prototype for a few moments, Kokonoe decided to look at Ragna's medical charts. 'Damn, his healing rate's still increasing, he's able to regenerate more and more every day. I guess I'm going to need to double the amount of nanomachines today... and probably keep doing that these next few days. Soon I'll be giving him three of these things for a single meal.'

Ragna's Room

Ragna climbed awkwardly back into his hospital bed after just consulting the great white seat. He was about to pull the covers over him before there was a knock at the door.

'What the hell? Kokonoe never knocks, she just barges in here and tells me to drink the damn milkshake. Wonder if that squirrel girl actual managed to come back.'

"Hey, you decent?" Makoto's voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"As much as I can be in just a hospital gown," Ragna responded. 'Wonder how she managed to convince the cat?'

The door opened revealing the Beastkin holding Ragna's milkshake, but behind her she was pulling in a wheelchair and with a white cloth on it. She set the drink down on Ragna's night stand before wheeling the chair close to him.

"I've got something different planned for today," she told Ragna. "I think you lunch spot could use a change of venue, so I decided to borrow these from Litchi."

"Uh, okay?" Ragna answered with a bit of reservation, not having any idea what Makoto was planning. "So what do I need to do?"

"I'll help you out with this," Makoto said as she helped Ragna stand by grabbing his good arm. I took a few minutes, but she managed to get the white coat over Ragna. She'd intentional asked Litchi to get one that would be too big for him so that no one could see who laid beneath. It worked perfectly, Ragna's entire body was completely covered and the hood was long enough to cover him down to his mouth. After helping Ragna get seated, Makoto took the wheelchair, grabbed the milkshake glass in order to get back inside, and started escorting Ragna down the hall.

Makoto's plan was working well so far, she'd been getting glares from the Sector Seven officials, but that was just because she was a Beastkin, from what she could tell they still had no idea she was escorting the Grim Reaper. Ragna for the most part just sat there and said nothing. He was glad the both sleeves were long enough to go past his hand. A few small adjustments with the coat and no one could tell he only had one arm.

"We're here," Makoto said after walking around for about a good ten minutes. A few more steps and Ragna felt a sensations he'd doubted he'd enjoy any time soon, and that was if he'd survived. Fresh air... A slight breeze... But most of all...

"Sunlight," Ragna said. They were in the small garden that Sector Seven had created as a recreation area. Through his coat, he could feel the sun's rays on him, giving him a slight tinge of warmth. "...Funny, never thought I'd actually miss it."

"Well you've been coped up in that room for weeks, I think anyone would miss being outside after that long," Makoto told him as she wheeled him over to a spot that was away from the scientists, but still in the sunlight. "Kind of unfair that you have to be treated like this, right? You just saved the world, a heroes treatment wouldn't be too much to ask."

"...Maybe, but I'm no hero," Ragna told her. "I just managed to kill off the people that were going to cause the world to go to hell, something like that doesn't make me any sort of savior. And don't forget, I can't exactly take back those branches that I burned to the ground and the people that I hurt."

"Yeah, but... you were convinced that the NOL was evil at the time right? And they were." Makoto wasn't really sure what Ragna's deal was, but at the very least she felt he should get some form of thanks for all he'd been through. “You did what you had to.”

"I didn't really even think they were evil. I just knew they were my enemy and that was enough." Makoto didn't ask him anything else after that, so Ragna took that as the conversation having ended. "This feels nice... mind if we stay here a little longer?"

"I don't really mind," Makoto said with a sad smile. "I don't really have anything else to do."

"...Thanks." It was the first time in a long time Ragna had ever thanked anyone.

Later

Makoto wheeled Ragna back into his room before helping him stand, taking of the white coat and helping him back into his bed.

"Hey, whatever happened to the milkshake?" Ragna asked. "I know they taste bad, but I still gotta have something."

"About that," Makoto said, scratching the back of her head with a smile. "I uh, sorta spilled all of it. So... no milkshake today."

"Spilled it?" Ragna asked, before realizing that he hadn't seen Makoto spill the drink. She’d had the glass on her the entire time, so when could she have…? Unless it was before she even came into the room. "Wait a minute... You totally dumped it didn't you?!"

"Yep!" Makoto said with a happy smile.

"Then what the hell am I supposed to eat!?" Ragna shouted in annoyance. "It's bad enough that I only get one milkshake a day that’s killing me, but if I can’t even eat that-!"

"Aw, you seem angry," Makoto said playfully, proving to irk Ragna. She reached underneath the wheelchair and brought out a brown bag. "And here I'd gone through all of the trouble of getting you a sacked lunch. But if you don't want it..."

"You're testing me, you really are," Ragna said with venom. "Fine I'll take it."

"Not with that attitude," Makoto said, her smile widening. "How about an apology?"

"Apologize!?" Ragna shouted, before realizing he didn't have a choice. "Fine, I'm sorry Mako-"

"Miss Makoto."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry Miss Makoto."

"Miss Makoto who also happens to be the most beautiful women you've ever seen." Ragna hesitated. "Go on, say it."

"You're evil. All right, I apologize Miss Makoto who also happens to be the most beautiful goddess this pitiful soul known as Ragna has ever had the esteemed pleasure of gazing on." He was laying it on kind of thick, but damn it he needed to EAT.

"And here I thought Kagura was supposed to be a charmer," Makoto said with a wink as she handed him the lunch.

"You made me say that!" The former Reaper yelled as he took the lunch. "You know that you're going to get grief from Kokonoe for losing the milkshake right?"

"Eh, it was for one day I think you'll be fine without it... well better off anyways. Enjoy the lunch, I'll see you around!"

'That woman,' Ragna thought to himself as he opened the lunch. Inside was an apple, a water bottle, and a PB&J. 'I guess she got me all of this so it can't be all that bad... and she took me outside for the first time in weeks... But still, why is she helping me?' Deciding he'd just ask Makoto the next time he saw her, Ragna shook the thought out of his head and began eating the real food he'd been given. ‘Oh god, compared to Kokonoe’s milkshakes this stuff’s practically gourmet.’

Author's Note: Don't own BlazBlue.

Another tie in chapter for a story, but I guess it helps the setting. I rushed a few things that time, but I was still satisfied with the end result. I hope you are as well.

Review Responses:

TheGreyKing27: Strangely enough, if I include the college version I get some breathing room to work with and I already have a few ideas for chapter when I can't update the main story. Every little bit helps.

Marconator360: Thanks, I guess there's a lot that can happen here.

Hudson Yang: I certainly hope I don't kill myself either.

Until next time. Ciao!

Chapter Text

Tail III: Recovery

Makoto had a bit of a spring to her step as she walked into her office. It was next day, this following the one she'd brought Ragna outside for just a little under an hour. After doing her good samaritan deed she felt like she was ready to tackle work and not even her racist co-workers' glares could bring her down. But opening the door to her small office, she saw her boss Kokonoe waiting for her. The Grimalkin looked pissed… well more so than usual.

"Something wrong Professor?" Makoto asked, trying not to look directly into the yellow eyes of the glaring scientist as she held her lollipop as menacingly as one would hold a knife.

"Makoto… From what I can remember overhearing, some of the staff members say they saw you escort a white robed man to the outside corridors and staying outside with him for some time, not chatting about anything in particular just staying outside in plain sight of the whole facility. That sound right to you?"

"Yeah, that does," Makoto said trying not to shirk back. "Come on, I was careful and those clothes that Litchi lent me were more than enough to make sure he wasn't discovered."

"Not backing down, huh? That stunt of yours was idiotic, but that's not really the real reason I'm mad at you," Kokonoe said with ire as she chomped down on the sugary sucker. "Bringing Ragna outside was stupid enough, but what the hell convinced you to dump out his milkshake!? Do you have any idea what you've done!?"

"He's already had plenty of those things lately Professor, so I think there's more than enough bots keeping his healing factor down. 'Sides, it's not like missing out on one milkshake is going to make that big of a difference."

Makoto didn't know why, but the pink haired half-cat seemed to get more even further pissed at that statement (she’d assumed Kokonoe had already plateaued in her anger). Glowering at Makoto, she grabbed the squirrel girl's arm and proceeded to lead her out of her office and drag her down the corridor to Ragna's room. After dispelling the seal she'd placed on the door, Kokonoe opened the door revealing the broken Reaper inside… make that formerly broken Reaper.

From just yesterday alone Ragna looked like he was doing leagues better. His skin was now fully filled out, his body didn't exactly look strained as now he was performing one-handed vertical push-ups with a new right arm (he put on some hospital pants under his gown).

"Oh, hey," he said casually, looking up at the two newcomers before going back to push-ups. "Just give me a sec, almost done with this set."

"It looks like his skins filled out, he can actually get some training in, and you finished upgrading his new bio arm, big deal," Makoto shrugged.

"That's not the arm I made for him," Kokonoe told the Beastkin. "He managed to fully regenerate that limb overnight! His healing factor's out of control and there's nothing the robots in his system can do to slow it down even with their Ars Magus infused attacks!"

"...Seriously, what kind of damage were those things doing to him?" Makoto asked, looking at Ragna as he continued his workout routine, looking like he was nearly up to full after missing out on a single milkshake. "So does the Board know?"

"As far as I can tell they don't, but all the same they're starting to get impatient. They want to see Ragna themselves and determine with their own eyes if his healing factor is still there. I'm still standing strong, but with stunts like this there’s not a whole light I’d be able to do."

"What about the Duodecim?" Ragna asked from where he effortlessly continued his push-ups. "You'd think that they'd have made up their mind on whether or not to kill me by now."

"Things aren't exactly going as straightforward as everyone else thought they would," Kokonoe explained. "I spoke with Kagura Mutsuki yesterday and there are already a few changes being made in the system, one of them was you Brother's rise to power as the new Kisaragi head."

"Jin's on the Duodecim then," Ragna summarized, wondering if he was trying to protect his bother… or if they were vying to be his headsman during the execution. "Any idea how the vote's going?"

"You're not going to be receiving any medals if that's what you're asking. Plenty of the council wants you dead, but it's possible that the new Imperator could make his first decision regarding your sentence, you did manage to save the world… unofficially speaking."

"It sounds I'm going to be getting out soon either way," Ragna summarized before using his arm to push himself in the air before he flipped over and easily landed on his feet. "The only thing left is to find out whether I'm walking out the door or busting through the walls."

"Yeah, but unless we reach a decision quickly, we'll have to convince the Board that your little healing factor is gone and with Makoto here that just a got a lot harder," Kokonoe sighed. "I guess we could try detonating the bots in your system, a few tweaks to the blast so that it's similar to Ars Magus that could cause enough damage to give us an alibi. Maybe we could also cut off your arm for good measure."

"...Let's not," Ragna refused with a glare; he wasn’t in the mood to lose a limb a fourth time.

"Got any better ideas?" Kokonoe responded with a glare of her own.

"Can't we just say it was an overdose of machines?" Makoto suggested. "Say that you got to many any they overloaded his healing abilities? You even told the Seats that they're there to heal him, not hurt him and there’s no way they’d be able to tell."

"That's one option, but what about the arm I’ve been making? I still don't have it completed and even then I'd have to get the designs patented by the higher ups per our regular procedure."

"And you're telling me that you play by that rule?" Makoto questioned. "Why not just get rid of it and say that this is Ragna's new arm? Maybe even tinker with any machines that they'll use to check his vitals ahead of time?"

Kokonoe was about to argue back, when she realized that what Makoto was saying made perfect sense. Not bothering to excuse herself, she left the room and shut the door behind her.

"How in the hell did you just figure that out?" Ragna questioned, a little unnerved as he remembered Makoto's usually hyper and guns blazing attitude.

"You guys keep forgetting that I was part of the Intelligence department in the NOL," Makoto said, looking quite pleased with herself.

"Sometimes you can make it easy for us to forget," Ragna retorted.

"HEY!"

Kokonoe's Office

"You want me to do what exactly?" Tager questioned as he stared at the half completed pseudo-biologic arm that was supposed to become Ragna's once finished.

"Eat it," Kokonoe explained again to Tager, rolling her eyes while she continued designing a medical jammer so she could have the machine report the results she wanted. "Look, I need that thing disposed of soon and if I try to obliterate it with a machine the Board might find out and I can't just stuff something like that in the trash and hope for the best."

"Off the top of my head I can still think of about fifteen better options to be rid of this thing that doesn't include me consuming it," Tager suggested as he continued to look at the appendage in front of him.

"Will you quit your bitching already Tager? I don't have a lot of time to get ready for the investigation and the less trails we leave the better! You can use the materials for resources in your systems anyways."

"...This feels wrong on several levels," Tager said as he tied a napkin around his neck (imagine that with those huge gauntlets and Tager's massive size). He then picked up a fork and knife a gave one last long look at the arm… adding salt for good measure "Well, bon appetite I suppose."

"Professor, I brought those documents like you requested," Litchi said as she entered the office and handed the papers to the Professor. "Hello Tag-" She couldn't finish speaking as she saw the arm in front of Tager with a small portion cut out of it, the Red Devil's fork near his mouth with a small piece of the arm on it. He was about to bite down on the first fork load when he noticed Litchi staring at him, completely mortified.

"Uh… I can explain?"

The Next Morning

With all of the preparations set, the Sector Seven board was permitted to enter Ragna's room to investigate the condition of the former Reaper. Ragna lay down in bed and waited, though he knew from Kokonoe that he still had a good two hours left before the officials showed up, he wanted to be ready in case they pulled anything and showed up early.

"Either way this is it," Ragna said to himself as he stared at the ceiling. "What happens next is going to help determine if I manage to get out of this place in one piece or if I'm going to have to go on the run for the rest of my life… Hope my acting is up to snuff."

Ragna wasn't exactly nervous with what was about to happen, but if this was about to change his life, he figured that he could stand to at least take it seriously. But as Ragna took a deep breath, a sudden watery gurgle emitted from his body.

"What the-?" Instantly Ragna felt a sharp burning sensation and the sudden but absolute need to take a dump. "Oh shit!" he shouted as he ran in the bathroom.

Back to the Office

Back in the scientist's office, a sudden call came in on her monitor revealing her main contact in the NOL. "Hey Kokonoe, meeting just ended and I got some news on our favorite Reaper," Kagura said from the other end of the line.

"It's about time, it shouldn’t have taken those asshats so long to come to a decision... but what's the word?"

"Well politics and other decisions aside for later, it looks like Ragna's going to be getting off pretty easily, especially with the old Imperator making a declaration for a future of death. They're planning on moving him to Kagutsuchi and he’ll be under minor surveillance there. Not sure how the public's going to react, but with the old NOL destroyed I'm not expecting anything severe. He's even got protection from the Imperator himself from Sector Seven, but I'm not sure how well your top brass is going to honor that."

"But for the most part he's already out," Kokonoe said looking at her lollipop, almost with a twinge of guilt. "Guess I didn't have to…"

"Have to what?" Kagura asked from the other line.

"It's nothing, just a little precaution I took," Kokonoe said passively. "So what's happening within the Duodecim?"

"Besides Jin and now Tsubaki taking the head position of their families? Nothing much really, everyone's more or less in agreement with our policies moving forward and we're looking to make changes given the rarity of Seither now. We're probably going to need some help with you and your science-y charm."

"I was expecting as much, but we already knew that we’d have to move past a Seither based society eventually, correct?"

"We did," Kagura agreed. "Not going to make things much easier now that we know that only a select few of us can still use Ars Magus like we used to, but enough about that. I guess I'll see you after you take Ragna to Kagutsuchi."

"I'm not taking him! I've already got too much shit to take care of here! I'm behind enough in my work as it is thanks to him and that idiot!"

"Who's the idiot?" Kagura asked with speculation… mostly because Kokonoe wasn’t referring to him or Ragna for once.

"Makoto Nanaya, the squirrel girl. She found out about Ragna a couple of days ago and has been helping him out since then. She also gave me a huge headache after she tried to help him out and refused to listen to basic instructions."

"Yeah, that sounds like her. Do they get along though? I could request for her to get a transfer to Kagutsuchi. We need someone to keep an eye on Ragna and make sure he's safe and I think he's done enough to have earned some to help him settle in from someone who isn't going to be a complete nuisance."

"I don't think Ragna's safety is going to be much of an issue after the crazy recovery he just had, but I guess Makoto's going to be best fit for him to move out of here. We've got a ship heading out to Kagutsuchi pretty soon and I'm going to need to be sure that he's on it before the Board catches wind of this."

"You're moving him out pretty fast, are you sure that's necessary?" Kagura questioned from the other line.

"The Duodecim's already pardoned him, all I'm doing is getting his out of here before the higher ups grow enough balls to pull some stupid ass stunt." Kokonoe took another silver vine lollipop off the holder. "All I need from you is to make the arrangements in Kagutsuchi."

"I think I can manage that much," Kagura told her. "I'll work with Hibiki and we'll get Ragna set up with a condo and some funds from my personal account. That should help him get started, after that though he's on his own… Well, until I visit later with Noel at least."

"Noel Vermillion? ...What's she got to do with you?"

"I've hired her as another aid to work with Hibiki," Kagura said with a rather large smile. "She does good work and the busier she is the less time she can think about all the hell that went down."

"Does she know about Ragna?" Kokonoe decided to question.

"You remember what we agreed on, we're keeping this on a tight need to know basis so that word doesn't get out too soon."

"Why do I feel that you're using that as an excuse so that you can get closer to her without worry about competition?" the scientist groaned.

"Hey, I might be a flirt but I at least have standards," Kagura said with a serious glare. "I've done nothing but act as her supervisor since she's been working for me and that's the end of it. I might like having her around, but that doesn't mean I'll take advantage of her while she's in a fragile state. Hell, I plan on telling her about Ragna myself after this message… and what competition? Ragna’s got nothing on my overflowing natural charm."

"Pretty defensive, but it didn't make any difference to me one way or another. Just make sure you're not screwing around and we'll get through these adjustments."

"All right then, contact me if anything comes up getting Ragna out of there and I'll see what favors I can call in from here. Kagura out."

Once the transmission ended, Kokonoe pulled out her radio. "Makoto, back your bags and get over here ASAP, we need to start moving." A few minutes later when the Squirrel Beastkin came through the entrance to her lab wearing her black intelligence department cloak and hat, Kokonoe had already managed to set up for both Ragna's ride to the 13th city and a set of hakama clothing and metal plated shoes she'd made to resemble the set that Ragna lost. "I'll be quick, you're getting transferred to Kagutsuchi and you'll be bringing Ragna with you. Get these clothes to him and and bring him to docking bay six. The clothes have a one-time dispelling effect on them, so that'll break my seal. Understand?"

"Uh, I understand, but-"

"If you understand then get going! You've only got fifteen minutes before the ship takes off!"

Makoto gave a quick nod before running down hallway with her travelling bag in tow.

"...Should I have given her some nose plugs?" Kokonoe questioned herself aloud.

Ragna's Room

The former Reaper gave a sick groan as he caught his breath in the shower his medical room offered, trying to wash the grimy smell off of his body. His previous shit fest (for the lack of a more amusing term) had emptied all of the remaining food that he had in a fairly violent manner, so it left him drained and his skin was loose again. He had the feeling that Kokonoe was behind this because, aside from that one time he'd accidentally had a bite of Noel's cooking, he'd never had stomach troubles to this extent.

"Ragna! We've got to get- OH GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL!?" Ragna had debated whether or not it was necessary to use the shower curtain, but now that Makoto had entered, he was glad he had; he didn't think the Beastkin deserved to have to look at him nude after smelling his most recent attack.

"Had some stomach issues!" he called over the shower water. "What the hell's going on?"

"We've got to go now!" Makoto yelled. "I'm leaving some clothes on the bed! Come find me outside when you've gotten clean! And hurry!"

As the door shut, Ragna quickly finished bathing himself and managed to get rid of the sick feeling for the most part. He quickly dried himself off with a towel and quickly threw on his clothing and shoes, realizing that there was something missing.

"Hey," he started as he exited his old hospital room. "Where the hell are my coat and sword? I can't leave without 'em."

"Your coat was probably destroyed when your body got shredded, the only reason you have those clothes and shoes is because Kokonoe made you an extra set to resemble your old ones. As for the sword… I don't know, you didn't have it on you back when we found you. Enough about that though, we need to get moving. There's a ship that's going to be leaving soon and we need to be on it."

"Fine, just lead the way and don’t wory," Ragna said as the two began to hurry down the hall, passing by several Sector Seven scientist who gaped as the Grim Reaper who'd been thought to be dead ran by. To Ragna, wherever he was going would be better than this hell hole of people that only wanted to dissect him.

The two managed to make it to the ship without incident and while Ragna had been worried that the officer in charge of boarding wouldn't let him on, the most he got was a glare and a warning not to try anything (guy had some pretty big balls to say that to the Grim Reaper, Ragna could respect that). The two quickly took their seats in the common seating area.

"Okay, now that I actually have a chance to talk what the hell's going on?" Ragna demanded.

"It looks like you're off the hook, but you're going to be moved to Kagutsuchi. Kokonoe didn't tell me all of the details either, but it sounds like I'm going to be transferred to the branch there after I escort you."

"Back to Kagutsuchi huh? It's been a while since I've been there... or anywhere that wasn’t that room really. So what? I'm going to be on house arrest for the rest of my life?"

"I really don't know; again, Kokonoe didn't give me too many details since we had to run to catch the ship."

"So you're in the dark too…" Ragna summarized.

"Uh, excuse me sir?" Ragna glanced to the aisle where one of the vessel's stewardesses was looking nervously at him while holding out a package with her shaky arm. "This came in for you from Professor Kokonoe."

"Oh, thanks," Ragna said as he took the package, the stewardess quickly pulling her arm back from the Reaper as soon as he had it.

"A-Also, we've prepared a private cabin for you. I-If you'd follow me please."

"Eh, I'm fine here," Ragna assured her, though not curt as he usually was. "I don't really want any special treatment."

"Please sir, I insist," the stewardess said as she glanced around warily. Looking around himself, Ragna could see how uncomfortable everyone was and how they were either staring at him or trying their damndest not to.

"Alright then," Ragna reluctantly agreed with a sigh. "C'mon Makoto."

The private cabin wasn't anything much. It was large enough for two cushioned benches on opposing sides of the wall and there was a mini fridge against the back wall chock full of soda, water, and a few pre-made sandwiches.

"Kind of nice to get the special treatment while we travel," Makoto noted.

"I was half expecting them to throw us in the cargo hold and lock the doors," Ragna said before taking a seat and opening the package, revealing a small tablet with a screen on it. "What the hell's Kokonoe giving us now?"

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, we'll be departing for Kagutsuchi now. We ask that you please make you way to your seats for just a moment as we take off. Emergency exits are located to the front and back of the ship and should anything go wrong we're already prepared by back up systems. Please enjoy your flight."

Take off itself went pretty smoothly, there was no jostling of the ship and it exited the hanger with ease, heading to its destination of the thirteenth Hierarchical City. Ragna took a deep breath and settled back into his seat, glad that he was finally out of Sector Seven. From there though, the tablet that Ragna was holding beeped thrice before the screen activated, revealing Kokonoe.

"Looks like the two of you managed to make it on board," she noted. "So how was take off?"

"Smooth enough I guess," Ragna told her. "New project?"

"It's been outfitted with a new engine that I worked on in my spare time. It's not quite as effective as Ars Magus, but at the very least it's a couple hundred times better than that fossil fuel crap they used to use. You look like you've recovered better than I expected."

"What're you talkin' about? You saw me yesterday didn't… Wait, what the hell did you do to me!?"

"I altered the nanomachines in your body to try a bit of a different Ars effect. There wasn't much point of keeping them there since the board was going to investigate, so I gave them a sickness mode. Make you look a little worse for wear and… to evacuate them from your system."

"You made them give me explosive diarrhea!?" Ragna shouted. Anyone who could here that outside quickly became concerned. "That was your plan!?"

"Hey it worked didn't it? Maybe we didn't need to convince the council, but at least we got all of the bots out of you."

"So you say," Ragna growled. "How do I know that you don't have another surprise waiting for me? You've always kept your secrets before."

"Even if I had bombs left in you I don't know what they could do to you, your healing factor's going to keep you alive through quite a bit. Plus, at least you got out of that room immediately afterwards, you don't want to be the guy who has to clean it.”

"Why am the one who has to clean bathrooms? I'm one of the top scientists of the Sector Seven!" Eric yelled as cleaning supplies were roughly thrust into his arms.

"It was Kokonoe's decision, and something tells me that she wasn't too fond of you calling her a *ahem* bestiality bred bitch," Tager told the scientist in front of him. "Now, I suggest you get to cleaning. Kokonoe's instructions are to start with the public restroom before finishing with the hospital wing ones."

"...Is Ragna the Bloodedge's room included in that?" the scientist questioned.

"From my understanding yes," Tager told him before getting a call on his mobile. "Yes Litchi? No, it's no problem, I can head right over."

After the Red Devil left Eric smirked to himself. This was his chance to gather some DNA of the Grim Reaper or even the man himself if he was lucky. Even if Kokonoe moved Ragna before he got there, a careful comb through the place would be well worth his time.

"I can't wait," he said to himself, giving of an evil laugh of your generic mad scientist as he headed straight for the Reaper's room.

"Well I pity that guy, whoever it is," Makoto said, remembering the terrible smell she'd barely gotten a whiff of.

"I don't," Kokonoe told her passively before taking out a handful of licorice. "Just to fill you in on what I can so far, Ragna you're going to be moved to Kagutsuchi with your status completely changed. Your bounty was already removed when your autopsy report showed you as dead right after the fighting, so no worries on that. Kagura's already taken care of most of the paperwork and other preparations. We're gonna be keeping you in a prepaid condo and give you some funds to start on, but it's up to you to find a good job."

"Time to enter the workforce, huh?" Ragna groaned. "Well I guess it's about time. Goodbye revolutionary Ragna the Bloodedge, hello nine to five Ragna the security guard."

"Security guard?" Makoto questioned. "Who the hell in their right mind would give YOU an effing security badge and gun?"

"Why would I need a gun? All I'd really need to do is stand there and I'd scare everyone off," Ragna said with a cocky grin.

"Unbelievable…"the Squirrel girl groaned.

"Speaking of which Makoto, you're going to be put into an apartment outside the barracks that's going to be paid for by the NOL. You'll be going back to being an office worker, but you'd probably be making as much as you were with me."

"I guess that works, but what about the communication between Sector Seven and the NOL?"

"Not a big deal, a little work here and there with Kagura and we won't have to worry. I might be getting a little flack these next few weeks from the board after all of the shit that went down, but that's to be expected."

"I guess I've got to thank you for helping me out then," Ragna groaned.

"Keep your thanks, I don't need it. I'm kinda hoping I never have to hear from you again… Well at the very least not in the news. Take care you two." And with that Kokonoe ended the transmission.

"So I guess we're stuck on this ship for a while," Ragna yawned as he settled into his seat.

"At least you've got a chance to walk around the cabin," Makoto told him trying to look on the positive side. "So what's your plan when you get to Kagutsuchi? Besides look for a job I mean?"

"I dunno," Ragna shrugged. "I guess get a layout of where I'll be staying look for what kind of jobs are open. Maybe I can try getting some cooking utensils."

"You cook?" Makoto asked him, before remembering another friend of hers that claimed to have ability in cooking. "I mean cook cook, not cook and hope that thing go okay?"

"Well I try not to burn myself if that's what you're asking," Ragna told her, figuring he'd just be bored out of his mind without someone to talk to. "But yeah, I can make a decent enough meal and I'm pretty creative with the spices. Maybe I can get a job as a cook, but they'd kinda have to pardon my previous record in restaurants."

"Previous record? What the hell did you screw up?"

"You remember Taokaka right? Catgirl, always wears a hood, really, REALLY hyper. Ringing any bells?"

"Yeah, I remember her; she was the one who kept stealing your food when we were in Ikaruga" Makoto assured him. She remembered that Ragna couldn't use his right arm or eye back then and Tao was swiping the food Hibiki had made for them. "What about her?"

"It wasn't the first time she's given me trouble with food, and I'd be happily surprised if it was the last. The first time we met she wanted to fight me for a meal and I won, but I was feeling kinda sorry for her so I figured 'what the hell?' and decided to treat her. BIG mistake."

"Let me guess, she ate enough to run you out of money," Makoto figured.

"Oh, good guess, but then I would've gotten off easy. She ordered, quite literally, EVERYTHING in the restaurant. And of course the waitress had to believe that I could pay for it. AND THEN when I try to protest she figures out that I'm a wanted man! But does she call the authorities? No! She doesn't need to! Every godforsaken person in that place was a Vigilante after my head! I had to take off running 'cause I didn't want to wreck the place and ended up having to carry Tao all the way to her village!"

Ragna wasn't expecting to get any pity, but it still hurt when Makoto decided to start laughing at the story. He crossed his arms and glared at the Beastkin, waiting for her to finish.

"Oh man, you really can't catch a break can you?" Makoto said with a smile, wiping a tear away. "So what? They added dine and dash to your bounty?"

"Yep," Ragna told her with annoyance. "And they even brought it up when I had to treat Platinum to a meal."

"Platinum? Do you mean that kid that dresses up like a magical girl?"

"That's her, er them. All that really happened was I got dragging in to pay for a meal, got called a lot of insults (one of them being a pedophile), got recognized again by the waitress after I paid, and then before I could do anything else I got attack by a friggin' Murakumo unit! Kokonoe’s Murakumo unit no less!" The Reaper slumped over and held his head in his hands. "Needless to say, I got very few decent memories of that city."

"Well that was before when you were a wanted criminal, now you're just a regular guy trying to adapt to regular life. What could go wrong?" Makoto asked cheerfully, but Ragna's expression only darkened.

"I try not to ask that question, because when I do all that happens is I get completely screwed over," Ragna told her with a sigh. "In fact you saying that probably means that something's going to go horribly wrong."

"I'm just trying to help, you can at least try to stop being such a pessimist all the time," the squirrel girl said with a roll of her eyes.

"Why are you helping me anyways?" Ragna asked Makoto. "From what I remember we didn't really know each other that well when we were trying to get rid of the Imperator."

"Maybe not, but it's not like I can just turn a blind eye when there's someone in need right?" Ragna shrugged; it was reason enough. "Plus, I was also kind of hoping you'd turn out alright for Noel's sake."

"Noel? I know she's your friend, but what's she got to do with this?"

"C'mon, you know that Noellers thinks a lot of you, you've had to have seen that much. When she found your body after that final fight she couldn't stop crying over you. I wanted to make sure you were okay so she doesn't need to go through that again."

"That so? Well I'm fine now, so you can stop worrying over me," Ragna said gruffly before grabbing one of the sandwiches from the fridge.

"Mind getting one for me?" Makoto asked. The Reaper gave a simple shrug before taking out a sandwich and tossing it to her.

"Here, and because I'm a nicer guy than you are I won't blackmail you into calling me handsome or whatever."

"Aw Ragna, you don't need to blackmail me to call you handsome," Makoto said slyly, trying to embarrass the Reaper. It worked because as soon as she said it the Ragna refused to look at her. "Heh, your face is already beat red!"

"Shut up…" Ragna groaned as he unwrapped the wrapping and began eating his sandwich. 'Seriously, what is it with this chick?'

Chapter Text

Tail IV: The Return to Kagutsuchi

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. We'll be making our landing approach to Kagutsuchi soon so please put your seats in an upright position. I'm going to have to ask that all regular personnel take the starboard exit to depart while our… special guests wait a moment before departing on the port side of the vessel. Welcome to the 13th Hierarchical City folks."

"We finally made it," Makoto said from the private cabin she'd been in for the flight. She glanced to the other side of the cabin and saw Ragna let out a loud yawn and groggily rise from his seat as the Ars Magus vessel docked.

"'Bout time we got here," he groaned before he stretched his limbs. "Almost fell asleep on the damn flight… shame I couldn’t."

"Mmmm," Makoto groaned before standing up to stretch before grabbing her luggage. "At least we're here now, meaning the hard part's over."

"...I wish you wouldn't say that," Ragna said as he glanced outside before seeing that the rest of the vessel’s passengers leaving the ship. Nodding to Makoto, the two exited their cabin before leaving the vessel though the port side as instructed. Outside the ship they found ten NOL officers, one standing at the back with his hands behind his back while the other nine had their weapons drawn.

"Welcome to Kagutsuchi… Reaper," the Librarium officer said with a clear tone of disgust in his words. Ragna could read the name tag 'Warquest' on the officer's chest. The man himself had blonde cleanly cut hair and a thin blond beard. He had a few medals on his blue NOL uniform that identified him as a Major, but unlike his other members he didn't bother wear a hat and he smelled of smoke.

"Hell of a welcome," Ragna said as he glanced around at the armed guards.

"Given your reputation I thought that it would be proper to remind you of your position here," the office said. "Let me assure you, the first the Librarium hears of you breaking any laws, you'll be feeling the full force of our branch." He then gave a cocky smile. "And you without your Azure Grimoire."

"Don't put much stock in that," Ragna threatened. He noticed the NOL guards around him tensing as the tightened their grips on their weapons. Not wanting to start a confrontation but too proud to simply back down, he settled for ending their meeting quickly. "So where am I supposed to stay?"

"Catch," the man said before throwing a package towards the former Grim Reaper, which he indeed caught out of the air without difficulty. "Inside are keys to your new home at Shangri La Condominiums and the funds Kagura Mutsuki saw fit to gift you. Makoto Nanaya?"

"Yes sir?" Makoto responded readily with a salute.

"You'll be escorting the Reaper to his new home before heading towards your own apartment that we've set for you. Report to the Librarium branch at six hundred hours tomorrow for your new assignments."

"Sir!" Makoto said while still saluting. Warquest gave one last long glare to the Reaper before filling off of the docks, the rest of his soldiers following closely behind. "I guess that's my new boss… better than Hazama I guess."

"You still have my sympathy," Ragna said simply before opening the package and grabbing the contents within. There were two sets of Ars Magus keys, a plastic card which had Ars Magus on it for monetary transactions, a cell phone, a wad of physical platinum dollars, and a map that would show him to his new living quarters. He pocketed the card and the money before looking at the sets of keys and the cards on the rings. "Here's your key and your identification, looks like you'll be staying at Kagutsuchi Heights."

"Hopefully the area's close enough to my work," Makoto told him as she took the key before looking at the map. "Looks like you're located in the merchant district."

"Hopefully that just means I won't have to walk far when I finally get a job," Ragna said before grabbing Makoto's bag for her. "You'll probably have to lug this thing along without me later, so I'll carry it for ya now at least."

"Thanks, I guess I'll lead the way then," Makoto said as she looked at the map. "Looks like we'll be hitting the main streets for a while. Try to keep up."

As Ragna and his Beastkin guide walked through the street of the Hierarchical city, he noticed that the two of them were being glared at by nearly every person that noticed them, though there seemed to be fewer people than Ragna remembered. He had a pretty good idea what they seemed so upset about; his pardoning… that and maybe they hated Makoto because of their own racism.

"Looks like fitting into society might take some time," Makoto commented from beside him. "They don't seem to like you much."

"Like they're going to treat you any better," Ragna muttered as they passed by a man who was about to exit a coffee shop, but immediately re-entered upon seeing the two.

"I'm used to it," Makoto said nonchalantly as she looked through the map.

"And you think I'm not?" our silver haired protagonist grumbled before looking up and seeing a sign that read Shangri La Condominiums. "Is this us here?"

"Looks like it," Makoto said as she glanced up. "Doesn't look like too bad of a place though, right?"

"I guess," Ragna said. The building was placed right in between a coffee shop and an Asian cuisine restaurant. The base of the building was made out of concrete while further up it was made of thick steel. It reached about thirty stories tall and had several windows along it which looked like they were clean for the most part and had decoration in them from the tenants that lived inside.

"Ready to check out your new home?" Makoto asked, trying to keep Ragna positive with a smile.

"Sure, why not?" the former Reaper said nonchalantly before entering. The lobby was decently clean and had a few vases filled with flowers along with some paintings of Kagutsuchi's skyline. At the front desk was a girl in her late teens who was busy reading the latest issue of the Ikaruga Worker. "Hey, I heard that I had a room set up for me by Kagura Mutsuki."

The woman set down her magazine for a moment before looking at the new tenant. She stared at him for a moment which unnerved Ragna a little. "You don't really look at like your wanted poster," she said to him.

"I've heard that before," Ragna said as he shook his head. "Anyways is my room already paid for?"

"Yeah, I got the invoice message a while ago saying that you'd already have your keys when you showed up… I thought it was some sort of joke, but when we verified the money, we found that Ikaruga's famous Black Gale really sent it… Your room's on the thirteenth floor, room 1313."

Raising his eyebrow at the room and floor numbers, Ragna turned to Makoto with a perplexed look on his face, but she merely shook her head before heading to the elevator and pressing the up button.

"Well thanks for the set up," Ragna said to her as the desk girl went back to reading her magazine. She simply waved him off, but not being able to tell if she detested him or not was the best greeting he’d gotten in a while.

He headed for the elevator which opened for him and Makoto and quickly closed once the two were on. The journey up was a little bumpy and the elevator music was filled with static, but they didn't have to suffer through any stops on the way to his floor, so that was a plus. Traveling down the hallways, Ragna didn't see any of the other tenants, but it looked like the hallway was at least in good shape. Eventually he came to his room, 1313.

"Well… home sweet home," he said before using his key to unlock the door. "Let's see how well Kagura managed to set me up."

The condo was actually pretty decent in size; not absurdly large, but certainly not too small for Ragna's liking. There was a decent sized kitchen to his left right when he walked inside and a decent living room space complete with an easy chair and a couch, no TV though. There was single bathroom which was complete with a bathtub with a shower head on it and a cleaned sink. The only two other rooms were an office which had a simple desk and folding chair, and the bedroom which had a king-sized bed, a window looking out to Kagutsuchi, a nightstand with a digital clock on it, and an empty closet with a decent amount of space.

"Looks like you made out pretty good with the place," Makoto said with a bright smile which Ragna couldn't really help but agree with. "Hope my place is still decent enough."

"You'll probably be all right, I hear that the NOL workers get a lot of perks from their jobs," he noted. "So, you want me to come with you to check out your place? I mean you don't even know where it is right?"

"Aw, afraid to stay by yourself?" Makoto asked with a giggle while Ragna rolled his eyes. "Nah, I'd better get ready for my first day at my new post tomorrow and it shouldn't take me long to find. I'll see you around Ragna."

"See you," Ragna said as Makoto made her way out of the apartment. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was around 4 in the afternoon, leaving him enough time to get some shopping done… but first there was something he needed to settle.

Orient Town

'This is the place,' Ragna thought to himself as he stood outside one of Kagutsuchi's restaurants which had become famous for a certain event. Sighing to himself Ragna entered through the doorway.

"Welcome! Table for one?" the waitress asked Ragna as he walked in. He was sure she'd recognize him and start screaming, but she didn't seem to realize who he was or what he'd done before here.

"Actually no, I'm well… I'm sort of here to pay for some food I'd gotten here a while ago…" Ragna explained. "I came here with a… friend of mine and we sort of had to bail before I could pay it all off. I'm just here to settle the debt."

"Settle your debt?" the woman said before realizing. "Oh! Then that makes you-!"

"Whoa! We don't need to bring any attention to that!" Ragna said, quickly stopping her. He noticed that his outburst had gotten a bit of attention, so he tried to remain calm and hope he wasn't as easily recognized without his trademark coat. Grabbing one of the menu's he started took a moment to do the math in his head before counting out a wad of platinum dollars and handing it to the waitress. "This should settle my tab… and for the record I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused here."

The waitress looked in surprise at the large amount of cash in her hand as the former criminal left the restaurant. Her business had taken his dine and dash as a large loss but had managed to move on since bounty hunters had talked about seeing the SS-rank criminal there and started bringing a steady ring of business for people hoping that the Grim Reaper might swing back for seconds. Over time the popularity stayed and more than made up for the money, but now he'd come back to settle his debt… at least he was good for something.

"Hey, that man was actually joking," one of the customers said from a nearby table. "He actually wanted to use some of that money to pay for all of my-"

"No free food for you! You’ll pay double if you try that again!" the waitress shouted and the man grimaced in defeat.

"Well, that actually felt kind of nice, even if it was Kagura's money I was using," Ragna said to himself as he exited the restaurant. Looking at the sun's position, he still had some time left before he felt it would be time to head back. "Might as well grab some new clothes, I'm going to need a suit if I'm going to get a job…"

The Next Morning

It might be a bit TOO relevant to apply this to Makoto Nanaya of all people, but walking to her first day of working in Kagutsuchi's branch while wearing her black Intelligence department coat she was certainly looking bright eyed and bushy tailed… anime squirrel girl, whatcha gonna do? Anyways, Makoto made her way into the office determined that she'd stand out and maybe get a promotion if she showed her stuff.

Making her way up to the entrance to the NOL branch, she was surprised to see that the doorway she'd seen the last time she'd been here had been changed out with set of massive doors made of solid metal with Ars Magus symbols floating around them at an alarming rate. The damn things must have been a good fifty feet tall.

"Well… that's not at all concerning," Makoto said as she stared up at the tall building before knocking on it and making a loud clanking sound. "Hello? Anyone inside? Hello?"

Slowly the doors made a low moan and creaking sound as they parted away revealing a short lanky man on the other side.

"Imbecile! Do you understand what you're doing!?" the man shouted as he marched up to Makoto, revealing his details. He stood a little shorter than her, had a balding head of white hair, and appeared to be wearing a lab coat and focusing his adjustable scientist's glasses; a Librarian Researcher.

"I-Isn't this the front entrance?" Makoto asked, seeing the lobby through the separated metal doors. "What the hell is this thing?"

"T-T-Thing!? Stupid girl, you can't possibly understand what this is can you?" the scientist shouted in his rage. "This thing happens to be my greatest set of work yet! These doors have been augmented with the greatest Ars Magus known to mankind! You could send ten Ars Magus vessels in for kamikaze runs and these doors wouldn't even show a scratch mark!"

"Oh… Cool…" Makoto said, feeling pretty unnerved about the crazy antics of the researcher in front of her. "So… If they're so tough why can't I simply knock on them? I mean you said they wouldn't get a mark on them if an Ars Magus vessel crashed into 'em."

"I… B-Because I'm still adjusting them stupid beast! I don't have the seals properly aligned to them yet and the last thing I need is some squirrel brained imbecile destroying the result of billions in research money!"

'They're spending billions of Platinum Dollars on a stupid door?' Makoto thought internally with a deadpan. 'And we're at peace… couldn't any attacking terrorists, I don't know? Blow up a different wall to get in if there's a large imposing door in the way?' Shaking her head, Makoto headed inside the office and went to see the officer at the front desk… but there wasn't anyone there.

"Weird…" Makoto said as she checked the clock in the corner. It was only 5:50, but that was just ten minutes before Warquest had wanted her here.

Shaking her head, she took a seat and began to wait. Most of the lights were turned off and there wasn't anyone around besides that strange researcher and the Beastkin had already decided she wouldn't want to get within fifty feet of him. After waiting about half an hour, weary looking NOL officers started exiting from further inside the branch while better rested officers came in through the large metal doors. During that time the front desk finally became occupied as young female receptionist took a seat that shouldn't have been unoccupied even if it was three in the morning.

"Whatever," Makoto muttered as she stood and headed over to the front desk. "Hey there, I'm here to see Major Warquest. I just joined in yesterday and he just told me to come in here."

The receptionist didn't say anything at first, she just gave a lazy and uncaring look at Makoto that said 'are you really bothering me?' "So… we really have a half-beast working here. Just when this job was unbearable enough…"

'Charming,' Makoto thought, not that she was unused to hearing things like this. "So, did Warquest leave any instructions for me?"

"If he did, I don't got 'em," the secretary said unhelpfully. "Just take a seat, maybe he'll bother telling you the shitty job he's got in store for ya when he comes in."

Letting out an irritated groan, Makoto headed back and took a seat in the lobby. She took another glance at the clock: 6:35… The Beastkin was just on the verge of falling asleep when she caught a familiar smoky scent coming from the entrance.

"Damn it, it's still not enough to finish them…" he vented as he fished a Wadatsumi cigar out from his coat and lit it with a tiny gas lighter. He inhaled the fumes before blowing a perfect ring of smoke out and setting the stick back in his mouth. "Tell the men in the hospital wings I'm sending them out at the end of today."

"But sir! Most of them are missing AT LEAST one of their limbs! And even if we managed to rush to process of applying Professor Kokonoe's prosthetic limbs they wouldn't be able to use them in combat for at least a month!"

"Screw her regulations! That stupid cat can't understand what my men are really made out of! And last I checked they could still hold a gun in one hand! By the end of today I want those men geared up and sent out! Am I understood!?"

"Sir!" both men said in a salute.

"And get my ceremonial suit ready! I'm going to need that thing in pristine condition if I'm going to be presentable for the conference!"

"Yes sir!" the other aids shouted as they hurried off further into the branch.

Warquest took another long breath of the cigars fumes before blowing them out once more in a cloud of smoke as he walked. Eventually he passed by where Makoto was sitting and glared as she simply looked up at her commanding officer. "What the hell are you staring at?"

"Reporting for duty sir," Makoto said as she stood. "I was here at six hundred hours per your instruction."

"And? You want a medal from me?" the Major demanded as he let out a long breath of smoke at her, causing Makoto to cough. "Coffee is in the break room, make sure everyone has a cup. After that, I don't know… clean the lady’s restrooms or some shit like that."

The general then left Makoto there and headed to his office. Once he was out of sight, Makoto let her head slump forward in defeat. 'Annnnnnnnnd I've been demoted to a maid of the Library, fricken' great.' The Beastkin slowly got up and started making her way to where she assumed the break room was. 'This sucks… I wonder if Ragna's doing any better than I am.'

Meanwhile -Orient Town-

'Hmm… I guess this is the place,' Ragna the ex-Bloodedge thought to himself as he looked at the newspaper he was holding and then the restaurant in front of him in the higher districts. It was called The Heavenly Taste and had a reputation for serving food so good it'd send you straight to the afterlife. It was a five-star restaurant and was currently in the process of hiring a new chef for a full-time position. 'Well first job interview since… ever. Better make it count.'

He'd done his part to give a good first impression for the job. He was wearing a grey cotton coat, a white business shirt, black slacks, black dress shoes, and a black tie, all of which he'd bought last night when he'd gone clothes shopping (that last one was a pain in the ass to figure out how to put on). He'd even bought himself some hair gel and had slicked his hair down so he'd be harder to recognize.

A bell gave a high jingle when he entered the establishment, causing a portly man in a waiter's uniform to hurry towards him. He was about to say something to Ragna, but immediately froze as he realized just who he was talking to. Sweat formed and slowly began to descend his face as his breath was caught in his throat.

"...I'm here for the job opening, heard you were looking for a cook," Ragna said curtly, making the man to take a step back as his levels of fear increased by the second.

"I-I see…" the waiter stuttered nervously. "I-I don't mean to o-offend y-you, but o-our c-customers might feel a tad… intimidated if they dined and were served by someone of your… reputation."

"They won't have to see me, I'll be working in the back not serving 'em food," Ragna argued back.

The waiter continued to stutter as his mind raced. He was trying to think of something (anything really) that he could use to push away the Reaper, preferably without having him blow up the restaurant.

"Waiter boy!" a husky voice called from the kitchen. "What is your issue!? Our customers will be arriving soon and we must have out restaurant ready!"

"I-In a moment chef!" the waiter stuttered again. "I-I'm just dealing with a new a-a-applicant!"

"A new applicant? For the cooking position? Well, what's he still doing out there! Bring him into the kitchen before the customers start arriving!" the chef inside the kitchen demanded.

"B-But he-!"

"I SAID HURRY IT UP!" the chef shouted and the waiter in front of Ragna cringed.

Deciding he'd save the poor fool in front of him some misery, he headed towards the kitchen in the back. Arriving there he saw that it was complete with only the best kitchenware, cutlery, workspaces, and an entire room that was made into a refrigerator. Cooks were rushing around all over the place to get ready for the day, but many of them stopped and gasped when the recognized him.

"So… the Grim Reaper thinks he can cook," the head chef said as he stared at Ragna with narrowed eyes. He was a rather large man, standing a few inches taller than Ragna with a beard that was kept in a hair net. "What brings you to our restaurant?"

"Looking for a job, you were hiring, and I KNOW I'm a pretty damn good cook," Ragna answered him readily. "You need proof?"

"...Aye," the head chef said before gesturing to the kitchen. "We still have some time before our customers start arriving. Anything you see here is yours to use; make your best dish and show us that you're as good as you think!"

"You got it," Ragna said as he unbuttoned his grey suit jacket and put it on a nearby coat hanger before tying an apron on himself and washing his hands. Knowing what he had in mind he grabbed carrots, potatoes, celery, beef, and plenty of spices before getting to work.

"Chef, you're not really considering hiring him here… are you?" one of the cooks asked after they had finished preparing for the customers.

"It depends on his ability; so long as he fits what I'm looking for in a cook there won't be any issues with his reputation… besides, we can just keep his back here the entire time without worry of anyone find out about the man cooking for them if he passes."

"But chef, are you sure that-?”

“Are you questioning me?”

“N-No chef!”

It didn’t take Ragna long at all to finish his dish.

"Done," Ragna said as he came forward, looking quite pleased with himself as he placed a bowl filled with food in front of the head chef. "Get it while it's hot."

"...What the hell is this crap?" the chef demanded as he twisted his face at the dish in front of him.

Ragna scowled; he hadn't been expecting that answer… in fact he thought that this was probably the best of all of the times he'd made this dish. "It's beef stew… I made it with carrots, potatoes, celery and-"

"Truffles?" the chef interrupted as he got right in Ragna's face. "Caviar? Saffron?"

"...No," Ragna said defiantly as the other cooks around the two slowly backed away. "Are you going to taste it or what?"

"You want me… to EAT THIS!?" the chef shouted as he grabbed Ragna's bowl and threw it to the ground where it shattered and spilled over the floor. "I would have been less offended if you tried to poison me! Kill me and the rest if you wish, it would serve us better than the stain of letting a maniac like you into my kitchen!"

"He does NOT speak for all of us!" one of the cooks called out in fear.

"What's the big deal? You never even tasted it and you're throwing it on the floor," Ragna said as his eyebrows twitched.

"Food made from only simple and bland ingredients such as yours isn't even fit to be used to wash this kitchen's floors!" the chef shouted. "When our valued customers dine here they are to presented meals fit for gods themselves! Not simple pig slop that you could find at a dining hall for those filthy vigilantes! Our food is made from the finest of ingredients! I said you had permission to use anything, so why did you only use the basic ingredients!?"

"I didn't need them," Ragna said darkly as he untied his apron and retrieved his coat from where he'd hung it. "Just like I don't need to work for a stuck-up ass like you."

"Get out of here! I don't want to see your face inside this restaurant while I can still serve a fine cuisine!"

'That guy was a real pain in the ass to deal with,' Ragna thought to himself as he stepped back out onto the streets of Kagutsuchi. Reaching inside his coat he brought out the newspaper he'd heard about the job from. 'Let's see here… Lake Full a' Noodles in Orient Town is hiring… let's see what they have to say.'

"I-I'm sorry! P-Profits are already low th-this month! I-I can't hire you!" the owner of Lake Full a' Noodles told him.

'Scratch that one. There's this place called Tofu Paradise a couple of streets down.'

"You can't work here! We've already got too many people on the payroll!" that manager had shouted.

'I could try Curry Cruise. They even just opened…' Ragna thought as he moved on to the next place.

"O-Our reputation can't take that sort of a blow right off the bat! C-Could you possibly work for our competitors?" the interviewer had asked.

'What about Pho Yeah?'

"The Grim Reaper in a noodle shop? I doubt anyone could pass that with the world's strongest laxatives."

'The Samurai Special Diner?'

"How can we hire someone who has stood against the ideals of our business?" some obnoxious cosplayer in a poorly designed Hakumen suit shouted at him.

'Kagutsuchi Cuisine?'

"P-P-P-Please leave…"

And the cycle continued to repeat itself for literally the entire day. Ragna went from one end of Kagutsuchi to the next, trying to get a job at whatever place was hiring and even tried his luck with some of the places that weren't. In the end the only one that had even bothered letting him try his skill at cooking had been the first place and that had gone poorly.

"I give up," Ragna grumbled as he exited his final restaurant. Seeing a nearby garbage bin he grabbed the newspaper out of his pocket and was about to shove it in while enrage when he paused for a moment. He took a few steps to his left, stopping right in front of the recycling bin. THEN he stuffed the paper inside in a moment of rage.

The man who formerly had the highest bounty in history on his head was about to storm off to his condo and call it an early day, but as he glanced around he realized he was about three levels down the mountain; a long way from his new home. He hadn't gotten a lunch break yet and as he glanced a nearby clock he saw it was already 5:45 so forget about lunch, he needed to start thinking about dinner.

"Funny, I spend all day going from one restaurant to the next and I don't even get a meal," Ragna sighed to himself as he began his long walk back to his condo. He'd made it just a street down when he began hearing something from the building next to him; some sort of archaic music from long ago. The building itself looked like more of hole in the wall type of place and only had a small neon side above the doorway that simply said 'Bar.' "Well after the day that I just had, why not grab a drink or two to help forget about it? …Not that it’ll do much now."

Ragna took a few steps inside the bar, only to see that most of the patrons inside tensed as he entered. He raised his hands in front of him, not in a surrendering way but more of a 'hold on' signal. "I'm here to grab a drink, not stir up trouble," he told then. The patrons eventually shrugged and went back to their drinks, but he still got a few side eye glares.

As Ragna made his way to the bar counter, he took a look around to get a feel for the establishment. The place wasn't too big, but there was enough room for the ten tables to sit at and a pool table to shoot billiards. The music was coming from a system of surround sound speakers set up in all of the corners. Next to the bar's counter was a large TV, showing off an ad for some kind of miracle weight loss product. Seeing as there were plenty of open seats at the bar, Ragna headed over and sat down.

"It’s far from the first time, but it’s been a while since I've served a wanted man," the burly bartender said from behind the counter. "Never thought I'd be serving someone with a bounty as high as yours though… And I never expected to see you in a suit."

"...Give me a Wadatsumi Dragon Tail," Ragna told him as he placed two Twenty Platinum Dollar bills on the counter, a total of P$40. "And I have a feeling I might need a few."

"Pretty strong drink choice, coming up!" the bartender said as he grabbed the money on the table and turned to mix Ragna's drink. While he did so, the infomercial ended and it went to a local news station.

"Welcome back," the news hostess said from behind her polished desk. "While we may have enjoyed talking about the still rising success of The Heavenly Taste restaurant and the head chef's rising celebrity status, I'm afraid it's time to address the darker news of today. It has become increasingly apparent that there’s been a harsh rise of crime throughout the hierarchical city. Since the Librarium initiated their self-named Only the Law act cast last week to ban any vigilantes and mercenaries from entering the city, violent crime has hit an all time high and is constantly rising. Just today in fact, there were a total of sixteen crimes; seven alone were carried out by newly wanted man Sezero Phluarian."

As the bartender finished preparing Ragna's drink and handed it to him, the employment seeker nodded thanks to the tender before glancing to the screen. The man shown on the screen had messy black hair and somewhat glazed that gave him giving an expression of, 'why the hell am I here?' Not really caring, Ragna took a sip of the hard alcoholic beverage.

"The Librarium Headquarters has put a bounty of P$2,500 on Sezero, dead or alive, as well as bounties of 500 each for the five men reported to be working for the criminal… though that still brings the question of who would catch these men with the absence of mercenaries and vigilantes. Given these and other wanted criminals, the head of the Kagutsuchi Librarium branch has called a press conference which we're now going to live."

The screen changed view to the man Ragna had seen yesterday, the one who was going to be Makoto's commanding officer. His blue coat now looked more decorated, completely covered in medals and other forms of recognition. He was also surrounded by several of his aids, but Makoto was nowhere to be seen.

"Mr. Warquest," one of the reports began to question. "It's no longer a secret that these criminals are causing chaos around all levels of our city. While we currently have no reports of fatalities, do you believe the situation will be dealt with the speed and efficiency that's required?"

"I do," Warquest said confidently. "We're already putting together a select fighting force in order to combat these criminals and bring them to justice. Some of my best men on the force will be leading-"

"Major," another reporter interrupted. "Many people have claimed that these crimes have come from the passing of your, Only the Law which eliminated the chance that they would be captured by Vigilantes. Was this act necessary?"

"It was…" Warquest told her as he gathered his thoughts. "When the SS-class criminal appeared in Kagutsuchi, the bounty hunters that he brought here were on the threat of wiping out our branch with their numbers… It was a sad day when the Reaper slaughtered those officer previously stationed here."

"But sir, the new Imperator himself has claimed that he believes that Ragna the Bloodedge wasn't responsible for the disappearance of those men. He believes what several of us believe, that this was due to the workings of the old Imperator, Major Relius Clover, and the enigma of the Intelligence department known only as Hazama. Do you believe differently?"

"I won't easily accept the chance that the Reaper covered his tracks, especially when he's been shown to have destroyed our branches in the past!" Warquest spat before composing himself. "Besides, I have reason to believe that those criminals that we have in our city were actually Vigilantes here to capture the bounty on the Grim Reaper's head. My act was entirely necessary and without it we'd be overrun by crime. It's thanks to the act that we don't have even more criminals."

"If the criminals are as few as you're claiming them to be, then why are you having so much trouble catching them?" another reporter questioned, causing a few of the others to become part of the uproar.

"He's getting cornered," Ragna observed as he took another sip of his drink.

"He's getting exposed, that's what," one of the bar patrons said before reluctantly looking at the Reaper. "Why could you have killed him before getting your pardon?"

"I never met him, but now I'm starting to wish I had," he told them, causing a few of the men in the bar to only nod.

"Please, please, calm down," Warquest said on the station, trying to resume order. "I've talked with several of my chief scientists and it seems the presence of Seither is actually returning, giving the vigilantes a return to their powers of Ars Magus. This surge of power is unexpected, but we'll be able to handle it readily."

"But Major! If Seither truly is returning, then why haven't your own men also become stronger as a result? If anything the NOL should be able to catch them easily given their proficiency."

"That's simple, we-

"Major! Is it true that many of your men have received crippling injuries and you're still planning on sending them to the front lines?" another questioned, not giving Warquest a chance to answer his previous question.

"The fact of the matter is-"

"Warquest! Did you or did you not have to BEG Professor Kokonoe of Sector Seven to donate prosthetic limbs for those soldiers!? "

"I-! We-! Who told you that!?" Warquest shouted as chaos started to erupt on the television. "You vultures think you can come here and push me around!? I could have you all barred for high treason! You there! Cut that signal!" The TV flickered for a moment before going back to the news woman that had been sitting at the desk.

"Asshole," Ragna muttered before finishing off his drink. Once the alcohol was down his throat he took a long look at the glass before looking to the TV. "Looks like I'm going to need another one after all. Set me up?"

"One the way," the barkeep said as he turned his back and resumed preparing the drink. He'd only started pouring when the doorway was slammed open. Turning his head to the sound of the disturbance the barkeep groaned. "Great… Another of THESE crowds."

The man walking through the doorway was the wanted criminal that had been on the telly just a moment ago. He had his regular 'I'm so done with this' look on his face as his laughing cronies headed over and took a seat at a nearby table. He had an Ars Magus katana strapped to his side that looked like it was a pitch black imitation of Jin's Yukianesa.

"Bartender, bring us some drinks," Sezero ordered as he spat on the floor. "And don't expect any cash payment, we don't… Hmm?" He noticed Ragna sitting at the table with back turned to him, well actually he didn't notice Ragna, he just noticed a businessman wearing decent clothing with a seat at the bar.

"...Look what we have here," the wanted man shouted as he made his way over. "An entitled nine-to-fiver managed to get lost and wandered down to the lower levels. What's wrong, that high paying job of yours get too cushy for ya?"

"...I'm looking for a job," Ragna said simply as the bartender finished making his second drink. He casually reached his arm forward to grab it from him, but Sezero grabbed the drink before he did.

"Like I give a shit, you've obviously got something good if you can get clothes like those," Sezero said as his flunkies started gathering behind him. Ragna remained unmoving from where he was sitting, and he refrained from moving when his own drink was poured on him. "I thought you could use a shower."

Sezero noticed the bar's patrons around him shuffle back. Thinking it was because they were afraid of him, he showed the first signs of sadistic pleasure in his eyes. He was about to continue his taunting onslaught, right as the story changed on the television.

"And in… other news today, it seems like we've had a recent arrival; pardoned SS-class criminal Ragna the Bloodedge has been sighted around our city of Kagutsuchi." Sezero froze at the words before looking to the screen. "He's been spotted and caught on camera by a few of our residents and while he hasn't done anything remotely dangerous on anarchic, our station advises you to mind your distance. For your reference, here's a picture of him."

Sezero turned his fear filled gaze from the television to Ragna. Sweat formed all over him as he studied the face of the man in front of him. Eventually he let out a breath of relief right before striking Ragna straight in the jaw. Ragna didn't move under the attack and simply continued to glare at the current criminal in front of him.

"You almost had me, you ALMOST had me," Sezero said as he pulled arm back and his men gathered around him and snickered. "I gotta say, that's a pretty convincing get up you had there… Is that plastic surgery, 'cause you're gonna need some more when I'm done with you!"

"Oh, hold on a moment," the woman on the television said as she tapped her earpiece. "I'm getting a call from our director saying that we're playing the wrong visual. That picture was from his bounty poster which has long since proven to be… highly inaccurate. Here's what infamous former SS Rank criminal and still likely most dangerous man on the planet Ragna the Bloodedge really looks like."

Sezero Phluarian slowly creaked his head to look at the screen and was awestruck to see that the visual was now the face of the very man who was sitting in front of him… the same man that he'd just poured alcohol over and hit in the face though he clearly hadn't left even a slight mark. Ragna didn't move or say anything; he only kept glaring at the man in front him until Sezero stumbled back and ran hurriedly out of the bar with his men following closely behind.

"Good riddance," the bartender said before handing the former Reaper a rag which he used to wipe his face of the alcohol. "Why didn't you take 'em on? I always thought you were the hotheaded type."

"...I'm on parole," Ragna said as he set the rag on the counter and stood to leave. "Go ahead and keep the change, someone should have a better day than I'm having."

Meanwhile

Sezero and were gasping for air as they ran through the alleyways of the lower levels of the city. They didn't think that they had time to look back, they thought that the Grim Reaper was dead on their heels, when one of the men eventually did glance back, they were already miles away.

"Boss! Boss! It's okay! He's not following us!"

Sezero dug his shoes into the ground and skidded for a moment before looking back. After a full minute of looking behind him and glancing around the area, he let out a breath of relief he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"Thank god… who would've thought they'd have sent a monster like that to here of all places?" he said as he leaned against the alleyway before sliding to the ground. "Seeing the Grim Reaper in a suit… it ain't right."

"I didn't think it was 'im," one of his men said. "I mean I got a look at both of his hands and I didn't see anythin' that looked like that Blue blaze or whatever it was…"

"That's the BlazBlue idiot," Sezero grunted as he stood and appeared deep in though. "And you're telling me that he didn't have the damn thing?"

"I-It looked like he didn’t," the crony said to him. "Did you wanna take it for yourself?"

"Something with enough power to take on the whole damn Library does sound tempting, but like you said; he probably doesn't have it, if he did I doubt we'd be breathing right now." Sezero was about to instruct his men to walk off, but then he got a nasty idea in his mind. "Let's go I think we should have another 'talk' with that Reaper."

"But boss, why bother with the likes of 'im? They took his bounty down so he ain't worth any Platinum Dollars."

"Maybe he's not worth anything in the bounty hunting world, but we don't need to play by their rules, Even with a new government being put in place, there are plenty of shadow research groups, all of them would be willing to pay a mother lode of cash for the chance to study a body that was hopped up to the Azure Grimoire for so long. And even if they don't want him? I'm sure someone in the underworld would LOVE to have his head as a desk prop! We can auction him off to the highest bidder and the NOL is too weak to do anything to stop us!"

"So we're going for him? But what if he's tough?"

"He won't be tough, if he was he'd have beaten the shit out of us back in the bar," Sezero said as he unsheathed the blade of his fake Yukianesa. "He's just an old dog that's too weak to do any tricks, and it's time someone put him down."

Back to Ragna

Our ex-criminal was starting to get annoyed as he walked down the street of the lower half of the city. He figured that he'd speed walk to his place so he wouldn't have to wait long before getting his alcohol stained clothes off, showering, and finally calling it an end to this shitty, shitty day. The problem was that now that the workday was over, more and more people were crowding the streets making it hard for him to get anywhere fast. The people that did give him room, however, gave him a wide berth to walk through or turned away entirely.

'Well I feel welcome,' Ragna thought to himself before noticing the tram system that would take him up to the higher levels leave from its stop. 'Aw hell, timed it bad… Well the next one won't take long to get here, but I should get off the streets if I don't want my face to start a riot.'

He noticed an empty lot a short distance away from the stop and decided he'd wait there before his ride got here. When he got a closer look at the place he noticed that there were a couple of patches of dried out grass and some rusted pieces of metal pipes that were bent in way that they might make a bench and a playground it they were assembled with the rest of the parts.

'An old park project that never got off the ground, either that or they decided to scrap it and save the funding.' Ragna thought to himself as he crossed his arms.

"REAPER!" he heard a familiar voice shout out. Turning he saw the thugs from earlier approaching him with their weapons drawn. Many members of the crowd looked around anxiously and were about to run off. "Don't any of you dare run off! I want everyone to see this!"

"...Look, I was already in a bad mood before I ran into you," Ragna told him through a dark glare. "Get out of my face and we won't need to make a scene of this."

"Make a scene? What the hell don't you think I'm trying to do? I want to show the world just how pathetic the Grim Reaper really is! NOW I’M THE WORLD’S GREATEST CRIMINAL!" Sezero shouted. He and his men started to approach the Reaper while he tried to find a way to getting himself out of being labeled as a threat by beating the crap out of these guys, even if they were criminals.

"Freeze! NOL guards!" a shout called out as four members of the Librarium made their way through the crowds with weapons drawn. Ragna could tell that these guys were in trouble, not only were they outnumbered by the thugs, but they already looked they had already been beaten by a different group of thugs and their weapons looked chipped and cracked in several places.

"Oh look, the mighty Praetorian guard," Sezero mocked. "Make sure our prize doesn't take off running, this'll only take a second." Ars Magus symbols started to appear around his sword, emitting a frosty black cloud around his hand. "Has beens like you should be rotting in hell!"

A large Ars Magus circle appeared in front of the wanted criminal creating a strong collection of black ice shards. The guards tried to raise their barriers, but with their lack of energy they wouldn't be able to form it in time and even then it wouldn't be nearly enough to protect them. Someone from the group screamed as the attack was blasted out in a steady stream.

CRACK!

The sudden sound of ice shattering shocked everyone out of their terrified, but that quickly turned to surprise when they realized it was Ragna the Bloodedge that had just saved the lives of Praetorian guard members. He'd somehow managed to pass through the through at speeds that were too fast to see and somehow managed to break the ice and circles that created with a swipe of his arm, sending Sezero reeling back in pain from the backlash of his attack being cancelled.

"...I've had to deal with a lot of crap lately, but I think that I've had enough for one day," Ragna said darkly to the thugs who were trying to understand how he'd managed to pass them when they were clearly watching them.

"Y-you saved us…" one of the surprised Praetorian guards stuttered from behind Ragna. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"...Simple," Ragna said as he got a nasty smirk on his and he cracked his knuckles. "I'm just aiding in the arrest of some dangerous criminals. Isn't it my civic duty as a model citizen?"

"Son of a bitch," Sezero muttered as he started channeling his power into his Ars Magus sword. A small whirlwind of ice wind appeared around his feet which slowly started to grow as he continued to charge his power dangerous level and his body started to become torn. He positioned his blade so that he was holding a giant sword of black ice crystals above his head. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"

His muscles tensed as he prepared to bring the blade down and destroy the Reaper while killing the rest of the crowd when the Ars Magus dispersed. Before he could even begin to swing the giant weapon, Ragna was suddenly right in his face again, causing him to freeze in fear with the glare he was giving him.

"TOO SLOW!" he shouted as his fist slammed into Sezero's face. This punch was undeniably stronger than the one he'd received merely a moment ago, carrying enough force to send his target to the ground and cracked the ground worse than it always was. The wanted criminal lay on the floor and it was apparent he wouldn't be moving any time soon.

"Now the rest of you," Ragna as he turned to Sezero's flunkies. "You all want a shot at me? Come bring it!" Understandably no one answered the challenge and in the thug's timidness the Praetorian guards managed to rush forward and place binding Ars on the criminals, all before the next tram made its way to the stop. "And there's my ride…"

"Wait!" a member of the guard shouted to Ragna as he made his way forward carrying a small slip of paper that was covered in an Ars Magus seal. "You'll want to take this, bring it into any Librarium office in the city that's still occupied and they'll be able to give you the reward for bringing in these men."

"I thought you guys couldn't approve of Vigilante work, something about that Only the Law act that Warfield passed right?" Ragna reminded.

"Actually we're still set up to take care of people who bring the bounties inside and the law neither straight out condoned bounty hunting. It only makes it illegal for mercenaries and Vigilante from entering the city. Even if you're not registered, nothing is stopping you from hunting them as an independent and collecting the cash," the guard informed.

"...Really?" Ragna said as a smile slowly started to form on his lips. "Where did you get those injuries?"

"Uh… we got them from another group of thugs," the guard said unsurely. "They were led by Margaret Sanguinem who has a bounty of P$2,700 on her head."

"That so…" Ragna said as he crossed his arms. "And they got away?" The soldier nodded sadly. "Any idea where they were headed?"

"We lost them in some incomplete buildings two floors down on the south side, they might have a sort of hideout down there, but we don't have anything to go off of," the guardsman explained. "Are you really going to go after them?"

"You bet I am," Ragna said as he slammed his right fist into his covered left hand. "This town's gone to hell; I think it could use an ex-Reaper to clean it up." He then got a whiff of his alcohol covered clothes. "Right after I change clothes."

Later

Makoto sighed to herself as she walked along the hallways of the office. Her first day at the branch was about to come to an end and truth to be told she couldn't wait to get out of there. She really had been treated like a maid in Kagutsuchi. First she'd gotten coffee for every other NOL member, then she'd cleaned the ladies bathrooms, then she'd had to scrub the hallways, then wash and iron the officers' suits, and then she'd moved on to whatever Warquest assigned to her. Her Intelligence unit coat had gotten a few stains and tears in it. She'd just finished taking out and replacing all of the trash bins in the branch and was heading to get her new orders from Warquest… or head home if she was lucky. When she got to the Major's office door however, she saw a few of his aids quietly arguing to each other as they all tried to push documents into the other's hands.

"You give him the news!" one shouted.

"No way! Last time I did that I was stuck working triple shifts for a month! Without overtime!"

"Well I'm not giving it to him! I had to deliver the bad news last time!"

"Wait," one of the aids said as he looked at Makoto. "Hey beast blood, get over here!" Makoto groaned as she made her way forward, knowing full well that she was most likely going to get in trouble for something she would have no control over. "Deliver these to Major Warquest; we have some other matters to attend to."

"You mean you want me to take the fall for all of you," Makoto groaned as she got the papers.

"Hey, you said it, not me," the aide said as he ran off, closely followed by the others. The Beastkin looked at the papers before rolling her eyes and knocking on the door.

"Come in," Warquest said on the other side of the door. Makoto opened it and was strongly hit with a scent she was familiar with smell when she had to go to Kagura's office, the strong sting of alcohol. She also smelled the smoke coming from several burnt out cigars resting on Warquest's desk. Warquest also seemed rather peeved when he saw her. "What the hell are you doing back here?"

"I've completed my last task and I was handed these documents by a few of your aids," Makoto said as she walked forward and gave Warquest the documents.

"Idiot, they were probably testing you on our policy," Warquest said with a slightly drunken slur. "We both know that your kind doesn't have access to important government documents."

'Damn, he's even more racist when he's drunk,' Makoto thought to herself as Warquest set the papers on the desk. "I'll just leave these here then, permission to leave sir?"

"Yeah, go on and get out, show up at the same time tomorrow… or not. Do whatever the hell you want, I don't care," Warquest said before grabbing a partially empty bottle of liquor and downing it.

"Sir!" Makoto saluted before quickly hurrying out of the room and closing the door behind her. She then let out a deep sigh of relief. "I can finally get out of here… why couldn't I have been sent back to Sector Seven, at least there I had Kokonoe backing me up."

"WHAT!?" Makoto heard Warquest scream from inside his office. At first she was afraid that he'd heard her complaining, but then he continued his rant. "Those men still aren't ready yet! They should be on the streets catching those criminals with those prosthetic, but now I've got to worry about some sort of doctor morality?! How am I supposed to preserve my image now!"

'Preserve his image? He's already lost that,' Makoto thought to herself. She had permission to leave, she was tired, and she could get into trouble by staying here, but in the end her curiosity won.

"Wait a minute… This says we've had men being captured shortly after I made my announcement. Sezero, Margaret, the new drug cartels, the Yakuza, and countless other criminals. All of which are reported in by… HIM! HE'S BRINGING THESE FREAKS IN!? HOW THE HELL IS HE DOING THIS!? THEY TOLD ME HE WOULDN’T HAVE HIS BLAZBLUE!"

'Looks like Ragna's found his new job after all,' Makoto giggled quietly.

"Gah, and they're even giving him the money for the bounties, it's a disgrace!" There was a shuffling as papers as Warfield came to the next item in the list. "Evaluation… I'm to be evaluated for my duty as Major… Damn it, that press conference is going to be the death of me."

'I guess some people just get what they've got coming to 'em,' Makoto thought as she exited her office, not feeling good or pleased, but just a BIT better.

Five Days Later -Friday-

Ragna was busy in his condo chopping up onions to put in his stew. During the week he had turned over several criminals and had earned quite a bit of money in the process. He knew that there was no telling when he'd need to use his earning for immediate expenses, but since he was feeling pretty good with himself he'd decided to buy a radio and a TV to keep up with the news (and to watch football (the kind my fellow Americans call Soccer)).

He'd just finished cutting the last of the stew’s vegetables when he heard a soft buzzing sound coming from his office room. Unsure what it was, he entered the room and saw that his cell phone was ringing for the first time. He didn't even take the thing with him when he went out, who would want to call him now? Figuring it was a miscall, Ragna opened up the phone.

"Hey, I think you've got the wrong number," Ragna said onto the phone as he headed back to the kitchen.

"I know who the hell I'm calling!" Kokonoe shouted over the other end of the phone, causing Ragna to wince as she did so right in his ear. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Making stew for my dinner," Ragna said as he walked back to the kitchen. "So can this wait for another time? I'm kind of busy right now."

"No! I want to know why you thought it'd be a good idea to start bounty hunting the moment you got out of recovery!"

"I needed the money and this town was giving me plenty of stress to work off," Ragna defended himself as he went back to preparing dinner. "Besides, they weren't anything more than low level criminals. Easy pickings."

“But you got so many of them! The NOL is going to notice that!”

“That’s I’m doing their job for them? Please, they don’t want to give me the credit.”

"Did you use Ars Magus?" the grimalkin demanded on the other end of the line.

"No… at least I don't think I did. I can do this thing where I can break an Ars circle without any effort, but I don't know much about it. Just kinda… happens. I know I’m not using a dispelling Ars, I already know that feeling."

"That so…" Kokonoe said as Ragna heard her typing obviously taking notes.

"Speaking of which, I'm not sure if it was BS or not, but I heard the NOL major here say that Seither starting to come back around Kagutsuchi. Know anything about that?"

"Can't say I've heard anything about that or that I've gotten any readings that would tell me about it, but I don't have any machines set up there," Kokonoe said. "Still it could be a blessing in disguise, moving to world on to electrical power is gonna take time, lots of it… But we'll just have to see."

"Riveting, can I go back to making dinner? I don't want to burn anything."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just don't ignite the building and give me more shit do," Kokonoe said before rudely hanging up the phone.

"Great talking to you too," Ragna muttered before going back to his cooking. About a half hour later he had a bowl of stew in front of him and more stew in the pot which he could save for lunch tomorrow. He was about to take a bite of his food when a knock came from his front door. "...Clearly whoever’s on the other side doesn’t know who lives here. "

He hadn't been sure what to expect, but opening his front door he certainly hadn't been expecting this. Makoto was waiting in the hallway of the apartment, instead of wearing her Intelligence Coat she was in a bright orange warm-up suit and on the floor beside her was a small collection of suitcases. He noticed that she was smiling unsurely, trying to look pleasant, but there was something obviously wrong.

"Heeeeey Ragna," she said to him while trying to keep her smile smile. "How've you been?"

"Alright I guess," Ragna said coolly in response. "So what brings you here?"

"I… kinda need a place to stay," Makoto said, scratching the back of her head. "I'm really, really sorry to put this on you but I don't have anywhere else to go. Just for a little bit? Please?"

"But what about-?" Ragna was about to ask before he heard a low grumble. Makoto's blush seemed to confirm that it came from her stomach. "...Come inside, you can explain everything over dinner."

"Thank you," Makoto said as she and Ragna brought her bags into his apartment. Ragna then served her some of the stew from the pot and put it in front of her. Makoto took a bite of the food, but was immediately shocked as she stared down into the bowl. "How the heck did you make this? This tastes awesome!"

"Told you I could cook," Ragna said with a smirk before his expression turned serious. "But seriously what happened to your apartment? I thought that was one of your NOL benefits or some shit like that."

"Right, I got it through my job, but see… the thing is… I kinda got fired…" Makoto said as she shook the back of her head in embarrassment."

"You… you got fired?" Ragna questioned with an eyebrow raised. "Given how much those pricks seem to hate Beastkin I'm surprised it took them this long… So what was the final nail in your NOL career coffin?"

"Well it all started this morning," Makoto said as the screen turned blurry and chimes sounded off as our story changed scenes.

That Morning

Makoto wiped her brow as she continued to work in the hot sun. She was in the courtyard just outside the giant metal doors that the insane scientist had created to be impenetrable. She was acting as a gardener today and there were plenty of plants to tended to. Makoto had started work hours ago and even now she was barely a quarter of the way done as she tended to the plants. It wasn't the worst job in the world, the fresh air and sunlight were a certain plus, but it was pretty demeaning like the rest of the rest of the work she was doing.

She didn't even wear her uniform to the branch anymore. If she wasn't going to do an official job, why get the official uniform dirty? She was wearing her jogging suit and had brought along a mobile music player so she'd have something to listen to, and a backpack filled with drinks and other supplies. During her work she saw Warquest walking through to courtyard with the crazed scientist that made the door, one of his assistants, and an NOL official whose entire body was covered in his coat and had enough medals to wear it was obvious that he outranked Warquest.

Makoto kept her eyes on her work, but she managed to get the occasional glance back to the two. The scientist and Warquest looked like they were trying to convince the visitor of something, most likely related to the door. From inside the building a large collection different weapons were brought out, all of which were blasted at the doors. Makoto had trouble focusing on her work for the next ten minutes, but eventually the weapons tests had ceased.

Warquest and the mystery official entered the branch and the giant doors closed behind them leaving the Major's aid and the scientist and the scientist that had created the large metal doors outside the branch. The aid let out a breath of relief as he let himself go at ease. He glanced around the garden before his eyes landed on Makoto's tail and her… posterior.

The squirrel Beastkin yelped as she felt the aid cop a feel. She quickly turned and struck him in the gut like how she handled Kagura sending him sprawling back in pain.

"You pervert! Hands to yourself!" Makoto screamed at him as the aid grunted in pain from where he landed on the ground.

"Sorry…" he said before giving a smile so perverse Makoto was actually starting to miss Kagura's antics. "It was just so inviting."

Makoto grit her teeth and clenched her fist, but the insults weren't done yet. "Funny I would've thought it'd be a bit early for Beastkin mating season," the scientist said as he adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps it's just a result of her own needy nature."

Makoto didn't say anything, in fact her face actually changed to a bright smile as she went over to her backpack and slowly opened it.

Inside the Branch (Makoto doesn't tell Ragna about what she can't see, this is more for the reader)

"So… what do you think?" Warquest asked the Colonel in front of him. He had a confident smirk on his face, seeing how well the test had gone.

"...You've managed to make a decent obstacle," the mysterious Colonel told him. His voice was plain and it was almost like it was going through some form of a sound filter. "Tell me, how much of this year's' budget did you spend on this project?"

"I… uh… I don't have a clear answer off the top of my head," Warquest said as he pointed towards his office. "Why don't we just head into the office and I can-"

"Six and a half BILLION," the Colonel said, his voice still seemed filtered though even the idiot in front of him could hear the rage in his words. Warquest felt himself grow smaller as he was towered over by the much taller man. "You spent well over any allowable budget, your town was in chaos after placing a ban on vigilantes, and you needed the Grim Reaper to save you, and all you have to show for it… is a DOOR."

"B-But you don't understand! This is a revolutionary piece of equipment! The Ars can't be hacked, the door can withstand any attack, there's no way that anyone could get through!" Warquest shouted.

"...They could use the back door," the Colonel said, causing Warquest to take a step back in shock. "Or, I don't know, blow a hole in a different wall?"

"W-We're going to continue to develop this. Now that we know how to make this metal we can mass produce it and apply it to every outer wall of the branch, an impenetrable fortress!"

"That would only cost countless more to install, and even then it would only be a temporary solution. How long will we have until they manage to develop something that can pierce this barricade?"

"Centuries!" Warquest defended desperately. "You saw the magnitude of tech we were using! In our lifetimes no one will be to pierce this door! IT'S IMPENETRABLE!"

WHACK!

An attack that sounded like it came right out of Dragon Ball Z was heard from outside followed by a short Wilhelm scream as a giant crash was heard on the doorway and Warquest ducked his head at the noise. When he'd finally gotten the nerve to look up, in the doorway was a perfect indent of his aid that had been outside, a very deep indent into the door at that.

"S-s-s-see?" Warquest said with a bitter smile. "H-he was held back by-"

WHACK!

Yet another powerful attack was heard and the scream of an old man immediately followed. This time the door was completely breached, leaving a giant hole in it after the scientist who developed said door was blast though his own creation and crashed into the branch’s front desk. The walls surrounding the hulking slab of then cracked under the pressure and the large barrier gave a low groan as it toppled over into the branch, landing to the ground with a massive crash.

Outside the doorway was Makoto Nanaya, wearing her tonfas that she'd gotten from her backpack and appeared to have punched both men into the doorway. She had a clear look of annoyance on her face and all Warquest could do was stare at the Beastkin.

"Impenetrable, huh?" the Colonel muttered as he walked out of the branch not waiting for Warquest or hoping to address anyone else in that place. With the outranking officer out of the vicinity, the Major's wits finally returned to him and he glared a Makoto in sheer hatred.

End of Flashback

"And that's when they fired you," Ragna summarized as he rested his head on his fist.

"That's when they fired me," Makoto told him as she scratched the back of her head with a mild blush. "They gave me until this evening to unpack my stuff from my apartment and discharged me from the NOL."

"...I'm still surprised you managed to put up with their shit this long," Ragna muttered as he crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "Finally hit your breaking point, I guess."

"Well at least for me it was figurative," Makoto said him with a shrug. "The two I attacked survived, but I literally broke every bone in their body. Ars Magus should heal 'em up to full health, but that's gonna take major time. It's a relief that other officer was there, otherwise I might be getting a lot more than just a pink slip."

"Can't you try to get back at them though? I mean your workplace has a sexual harassment policy right?"

"Yeah, but…" Makoto sighed. "It doesn't really apply to Beastkin. I even tried calling in Kagura and Tsubaki to see if I can get some help, but I wasn't able to get in touch with 'em… So I'm just asking to stay here for a little bit while this whole thing plays out."

"And then you're going back to work for them?" the ex-Reaper questioned as he took a final bite and finished his stew.

"Like hell, I've already had enough of that place, I just want to get the racism made public so everyone knows the asshole that Warquest is," Makoto told him as she at the stew in front of her.

"If you want, but he's already on his way out from what I've seen," Ragna told Makoto. "Did you see that address he did earlier this week? He's already falling apart."

"And then you did the dirty work for him," the Beastkin said to him with a smirk which Ragna returned. "So… how's your job hunt going?"

"Besides bounty hunting I'm kind of at a loss for options," Ragna told her. 'Good news is that they managed to drop the Only the Law act a few days ago so I'm now a registered vigilante. From bounty hunted to bounty hunter… funny how life works sometimes."

"Funny's one word for it, I've got others," Makoto told him as she took the final bite of her stew. "Though if you can make stew like this it's a wonder that you haven't found work as a cook yet."

"Most people don't want the former Grim Reaper cooking for them," Ragna said leaning back in his chair. "Glad to hear you like it though."

"Hey, at least I know that won't poison me," Makoto said. "I'll just have to make sure I don't give you too much of a headache to keep it that way."

"Heh, you might have your work cut out for you then," he told her snarkily and Makoto stuck her tongue at him. "Charming. Anyways there was this football game that I was going to tune into after I ate, care to join in?"

"Sounds great! Who's playing?" Makoto asked happily.

"I think it's the Kagutsuchi Greys against the Ikaruga Storms," Ragna told her. "I'm not a hardcore stats guy or anything, but let's clean up and see if it can take your mind off of that lousy work week you had."

The two cleaned their dishes before heading over to the living room to get their football (soccer) fix taken care of. Makoto took her seat on the couch while Ragna seated himself on his easy chair and flipped on the television. The game on wasn't the most exciting one, but Ragna paid attention to it as he allowed himself to relax. While Makoto was telling the truth earlier when she'd said that a game had sounded great, after the week she'd had her seemingly endless energy had run out.

About 20 minutes through the second half, Ragna was about to see if Makoto had wanted something to drink, but instead he saw that she'd closed her eyes and was now laying down and taking up the length of the couch.

'Well she's down for the count,' Ragna thought. He was about to turn his attention back to back to the TV, but figuring he'd have to be a better host than that he decided he'd make sure she was comfortable. Heading into his closet he took a fresh blanket and a pillow with a case over it. He covered the squirrel Beastkin in the blanket easily enough… but the pillow might have proved to be a problem.

'If I let her fall asleep like this she'd probably just wake up with a sore neck, but…' Ragna thought to himself before sighed. He slowly inched his hand forward and was about to move Makoto's head up, but that was when she did it for him, and Ragna saw that she'd very clearly opened her eyes and was looking at him. Blushing deeply, he placed the pillow where he head had been and refused to look Makoto in the eye.

"Thanks," Makoto said to him as she rested her head once more. Ragna nodded, but still refused to meet the Beastkin's gaze. "You're actually a real softie underneath it all, aren't you?" she told him with a giggle.

"Go back to sleep already," he muttered as he switched the TV off to head to bed himself.

"It's actually a nicer side of you; why not bring it out a bit more?" Makoto questioned with a bit of a sad smile.

"...Good night Makoto," Ragna said, hoping that she'd simply drop the discussion there.

"...G'night grumpy," she said eventually. It clearly looked like she had more she wanted to say, but she was tired and decided she'd deal with it another time. She closed her eyes and slowly began to fall asleep.

Back in his own room, Ragna lay on his own bed with his hands behind his head, not having bothered to change into his night clothes or get under the covers. 'So I've got a flat mate with me now… Good Grief…'

Chapter Text

Tail V: Making a Move

“…We need to figure something else out,” Ragna groaned, sitting at the dinner table and looking over all of the resumes he’d made that morning. It was nearly noon, he was already on his third cup of coffee, and was thoroughly miserable.

“I’ve been looking for jobs all week, same as you,” Makoto groaned back from his couch, having yet to get out of ‘bed’. “It’s not my fault that hardly anyone around here is looking to hire a Demi-Human. And since I was already a part of the NOL, people tend to like that even less. Either you’re a part of the Librarium until retirement or you’re left out to dry.”

“You at least got severance pay, right?” Ragna asked.

“Yeah, but that’s going to run out eventually, just like the money you got from your brief pseudo-vigilante work. I still can’t believe you managed to bag every criminal with a bounty in that short of a time.”

“Didn’t have to waste time tracking them down since the NOL branch here was doing such a horrible job keeping the city safe and they’d gotten ballsy. Now that they know I’m here, they basically know that if they come this way then they’re getting caught immediately. I’m too big of a threat to mess with and… most of the people living here feel the same way.”

“Is this about that news report we saw the other day?” his roommate asked. The segment in question had brought attention to the fact that in spite of the relative safety Ragna had brought to Kagutsuchi, his presence was here was still causing a mass move to other hierarchical cities. Some of the moving families had been in this city for generations; likely feeding into future movers. “They really shouldn’t have done that.”

“It probably going to get them a damn Pulitzer; there’s no way that they would’ve turned down a story with that angle,” Ragna sighed. “I thought once people saw me out there kicking ass to keep the peace they’d be grateful enough to tolerate me, but anyone that recognizes me on the street keeps their head down and moves to the other side.”

“Funny, I didn’t think you were the type to let that kind of stuff get to you,” Makoto noted.

“…I didn’t think I was either.” Ragna thought before shaking his head, gathering all of his resumes into a single sack, and tearing them in half nullifying all the work he’d put in that morning. “Screw it.”

“Screw it… how?” Makoto asked for specifics.

“Screw it that we’re not going to keep begging for our damn place at the table anymore; we’re making a new move that’s all ours,” the ex-Reaper declared. “I don’t know what that new move is to start… so help me try to figure something out.”

“Together?” the squirrel asked before she got a mischievous smirk. “So you want me to stay around after all?”

“…I mean I’m not gonna force you to follow me.” If Makoto didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought Ragna was being just the slightest bit timid.

“Eh, you couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to… you don’t want to, do ya?”

“Not yet at least.” Again, very reserved even now.

“Okay, well let’s keep it that way and come up with a plan,” Makoto declared as she finally got off of the couch. Now that they were getting out of their month-long rut, she had new hopes and renewed energy for the possibilities that lay ahead. “First off let’s look at our money. Between my severance pay and what’s left of your bounties, how are our savings looking?”

“Honestly, not too bad even without all of this work. And if we decide to get out of here, we can probably both get some cash back since Kagura already paid my place off in full. It’s looking like money’s not going to be that big of problem weirdly enough, we just need to figure out a better place to go; somewhere that would tolerate us from the get-go and has chance of actually accepting us both.”

“While we get a plan together, we could move back with my family for a bit,” Makoto offered. “I’ve talked to them about you and while they were terrified I was staying with you at first, they’re slowly starting to come around.”

“But they’re not all the way yet, are they?” Ragna asked, Makoto only shrugged. “I… I don’t want to put that on them out of nowhere. I’d want them to meet me on their own terms if it ever came to that, so let’s not… dammit, sounds like a whole ‘meet the parents’ thing.”

“Heh, kinda does,” she admitted, but oddly didn’t tease him past that. “Barring that idea though, what about any of our friends? I’ve managed to call a couple of people up these past few days, so maybe we can stay with them while we figure things out?”

“We’re figuring things out now, and we’d just be mooching off of them until something better came around or they got bored of us… and most of ‘em are your friends anyways. Very few of would want to put up with me as well.”

“Right, it’s not like I can bring you with me to stay with Tsubaki,” Makoto admitted. “Kind of lame that no one else we know is around here to start with. Litchi is in Sector 7 with Kokonoe and I heard she’s even bringing that aide of hers over as well.”

“Tao’s entire village isn’t even here either; her clan decided to up and move shortly after the war was over. Maybe they thought it was best to get outta Kagutsuchi too, but I don’t have any idea where they’re going or even why. The last person here was Bang and he’s…” Ragna didn’t finish as he thought it over. “Wadatsumi.”

“Sounds like a plan’s starting to bounce around in that head of yours,” the Demi-Human noted. “Don’t leave a girl hanging, what’s on your mind?”

“Wadatsumi was completely destroyed in the Civil War, meaning Bang’s still trying to pick the pieces up with anyone willing to follow his lead. I met him only a few times, and aside from his outrageously loud yelling he’s actually okay, especially compared to any of our other options. If we headed that way and offered to help him rebuild, he’d likely vouch for both of us.”

“Huh, that’s actually not a bad idea. And if it turns out to be a bust for any reason all we would lose out on is a place to stay and a bit of our savings,” Makoto summarized. “And like you said, we mentally need to make some kind of move now. So we’ve figured out our who, what, where, and why; now for the when and how? Probably not too many flights going that way, if any.”

“I’m almost certain to be on at least a couple of No Fly lists anyways, so getting anywhere that way without calling in several favors is probably outright impossible,” Ragna guessed. “But it’s not like we need to fly in the first place; I can handle traveling on foot outside the cities like it’s nothing and I’m more than willing to take this journey on foot. The only thing is that walking to Wadatsumi means we’d have to travel light.”

“Aside from those suitcases I brought with me; I don’t have anything I need to bring. You?”

“Couple of changes of clothes, some spare rations in case I can’t live off the land due to leftover Seither, and a couple of other traveling supplies. If we get two of those really big backpacks, we might not even need your suitcases.”

“…I know it’s moving pretty fast, but… I kind of just want to leave tomorrow.” There were no complaints offered by the ex-Reaper. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s probably just all of this inactivity talking, but right now I just think we both should make the move. I’d worry about the owners of the condos giving us some absurd charge for leaving so suddenly, but considering I’m the guy that’s leaving they might be willing to pay extra for our room if we leave tomorrow.”

“Along with all of the furnishing that Kagura left us when he set us up with this place, so we could make some serious bank to help us get set up,” Makoto agreed. “You own the flat, so you should be the one to talk with the owners about moving out. Meanwhile, I’ll start making a list for what we need to grab in our shopping.”

“Gotcha, this won’t take long,” Ragna said, about to exit his condominium… before realizing he was still in his morning bath robe. “…Should probably shower before I talk to them.”

“I dunno, if you show up like a total slob it could just help our case to get rid of us sooner,” Makoto joked.

“I got more respect for myself than to try that. Besides, I already come off as intimidating enough. Just get started on that list… and maybe just spend the whole day in the bath if you want. This might be your last chance to enjoy it for a while.”

‘…I know I should help him shop, but that actually sounds really good,’ Makoto contemplated.

Later that day

“You never told me exactly what happened,” Makoto reminded as her curiosity was getting the better of her. The two were still on their first stop for backpacks so they’d know how much carrying room they’d have to work with on their long trip (after Makoto eventually thought she was getting too wrinkly in the tub). “All you said was ‘The negotiations were short’ and insisted that we get started on the shopping. You hiding something?”

“No honestly, just that the owners were happy that I was getting out of their building so they could get people moving back in,” Ragna answered as he grabbed one of the larger bags. “Huh… looks like has decent carrying room, but it’s not very durable.”

“Right, if things don’t work out this might be more than a one way trip and even if it isn’t there’s still no telling how long we’d need them for,” Makoto agreed as she looked further down the line. “What about me? They have anything to ask about the Demi that was staying with you?”

“Nope, nothing about you. Either they didn’t care, they assumed you were coming with me anyways, they didn’t want to make me mad asking, or they didn’t even know you were there to begin with.” That last one wouldn’t have been too unlikely; Makoto had never met the owners the short time they’d been there, just the person running the front desk and even then it was just to get Ragna set up in the first place. “Eh, this one’s durable and priced okay but we’re not gonna be able to fit a tent in there. You trust to me to make the shelters instead?”

“You’re the wild boy here; how good are they?”

“I’ve camped in snow using them without much of a problem, that good enough?” At his partner’s nod, Ragna gave one last look over the bag before nodding and tossing one to Makoto before grabbing one himself. “I say we split food, clothing for both of us, and other supplies between the two bags and each of them gets a First Aid Kit. That way if we lose one on the way or somehow get separated, we won’t be totally screwed out of our things.”

“You just want to make sure I’m carrying my fair share,” Makoto flirted again with a smile, only for Ragna to roll his eyes. “Kidding, jeeze. But that’s some pretty good planning on your end. Then again, if anything can go wrong for you it usually tends to.”

“Change usually to just about always and you’re a little more on the mark,” he grumbled. “…Guess I’m at least a little lucky if you’re sticking around.”

“Oh?” Makoto asked, getting right up in Ragna’s face with a smile. “Sounds like a certain someone’s starting to value my company more than he’s letting on.”

“More than I’m- I just flat out admitted it!” Ragna’s exclamation was then overshadowed by the Squirrel’s laughter. “Seriously?”

“Come on, with how much brooding you’ve done lately I had to do something to set off that animated side of yours,” she answered through her laughing. Ragna’s usual scowl was accompanied by the faintest bits of red.

The Next Day

“We… totally forgot to check the weather,” Makoto realized as the two stood at the base of the Hierarchical City. Just outside of the cover provided by the upper level, there was already a decent downpour and there seemed to be a harsher storm brewing on the horizon. “Too late to get those tickets?”

“We’ll have to travel on foot either way and Wadatsumi likely won’t have a working weather management system. Might as well get used to it now,” Ragna said before reaching into his and Makoto’s backpacks and grabbing out a purchase from yesterday that was good in hindsight, rain ponchos. “Consider yourself lucky, I didn’t use to have these when I was walking around.”

“Sounds good, but what’s that third thing you’ve got there? I don’t remember you picking that up,” she asked. The item in question looked like a… bag of some kind.

“…If I told you what it was for, you wouldn’t have let me pick it up,” Ragna admitted before slipping the bag on over Makoto’s tail. His partner stiffened as he tightened it closer to the base. “It’s a rain cover for your tail, figured it would help keep that part from getting thoroughly soaked.”

“It feels like I’ve got a garbage bag on my butt,” she complained. “Do I have to wear it?”

“You’ll be thanking me by the end of this,” the ex-Reaper insisted as he threw his own rain poncho on. “Ready?”

“I guess so. Let’s hope things start to brighten a bit by the end of today.”

“Heh, you talking about the weather or me?”

“Heh heh.”

The start of the two’s travel out of Kagutsuchi wasn’t too eventful as a start. Ragna had a bit of a trip down memory lane as he passed through the woodlands where he’d reunited with Jubei before things really began to get crazy. Funny, it had been less than a year since then and it already felt so long ago. One thing that he did quickly notice was the lack of Seither patches to avoid and the few they did find were dwindling away. All of this was a fair reminder that the world wouldn’t be able to run on their current version of Ars Magus for much longer… and another factor for Makoto.

“Did you tell Kokonoe that you were leaving?” she asked as the two bounded over a rather deep puddle left by the rainfall. “I know that you two aren’t on good terms; even her helping you out was kind of sketchy with that who nanomachine thing, but shouldn’t she at least know that you’re leaving Kagutsuchi?”

“I’ve still got a cell phone; chances are she already knows because she’s tracking me through it,” Ragna answered, though he didn’t sound too upset about it. “Besides, as long I don’t cause her problems I don’t think she’d be bothered by anything I did.”

“Probably true,” Makoto agreed as the two finally got out of the tree line. Now that they were out in the open though, the rain only seemed to be falling even harder. Sucking it up for now, the two only continued their journey.

Later

“There’s a building all the way out here?” Makoto asked as the two spotted a mid-sized cottage out in the fields. They’d first taken notice of it when they saw smoke on the horizon and wanted to find its source. “Chimney’s going so there’s obviously someone inside… think we’d be able to spend the night here?”

“If it’s an inn we’d be able to, but again why would there be one all the way out here?” Ragna had to question as the two approached. At the very least he saw that there was a sign labeling this place as the ‘First Outer Hierarchical Inn’. Considering that there wouldn’t have been one back when the world was covered in Seither, the ‘first’ was probably a safe claim. “Huh, I’ll be damned.”

“You mean you weren’t already?” Makoto teased with a snicker. “Do you mind if we stop here for the day then?”

“We’d probably be losing a good couple of hours of travel time, but I guess this would finally give the damn rain a chance to let up,” he reluctantly agreed. “Alright, let’s try to get some rooms then.”

Relieved that she’d get a chance to rest (and more importantly get out of the damn tail bag), Makoto eagerly led the two up to the front door before getting inside and out of the rain. The front lobby was homely enough, looking like an old hunting cabin. She noticed that there a few mercenaries there, likely hired as muscle to keep the place safe. Much to her relief, she spotted a few other Demi-Human and quickly took the top off of her poncho and the bag off of her tail before heading to the front desk. Ragna didn’t remove his hood just yet, simply drying the best he could in the moment while hoping no one recognized him.

“Welcome to our humble little inn,” the man running the front desk greeted, hopeful for more business. “Must’ve been eager to get out of Kagutsuchi if you’re willing to travel in all of this rain. Can’t say I blame you most people would rather weather a little storm than stay in any town that houses the Grim Reaper.”

“Right, we’re trying to get away from Kagutsuchi alright,” Makoto agreed passively. “But did you have your inn set up just for that? Sure the place looks new, but I doubt you could’ve gotten it ready that quickly.”

“Wasn’t that I was setting up for, even if I got a good bit of business with all of the people Bloodedge was sending my way. Nah, I set up here because I know the direction the world’s going in. There’s still going to be travel and trading between the cities even when we run out of Seither completely. This place is a rest stop for anyone that has to make the journey on foot, especially with that hike in prices for air travel.”

‘He’s right. ground travel might be more common moving forward,’ the Squirrel thought. “…Anyone from the city heading towards Wadatsumi?”

“You kidding? That’s the one place that’s worse than Kagutsuchi right now; I’ve actually had people coming from there heading to the city, claiming it was worth taking their chances with the Reaper instead of staying there.”

‘Never saw that in the news report,’ Ragna considered glumly.

“Okay, but why is Wadatsumi that bad right now?” Makoto asked, trying to gauge what they were in for when they arrived. “I thought they had someone putting in efforts to rebuilding.”

“Yeah, they got an idiot of a ninja leading the charge. Damn fool thinks he can lead the effort on boisterous speeches alone… from what I’ve heard people say passing through this way,” the owner answered. “That place was completely totaled in the war so it’s gonna take a miracle to put back together. Even heard rumors that criminals are starting to try raids on the place because it’s so ill defended.”

“Those criminals would probably have bounties on their heads, so shouldn’t vigilantes at least be heading that way?”

“Who could we turn them into in that place?” one of the mercs answered. “When we were hunting them in the city we’d at least be able to give them a binding Ars for pickup, but these days you gotta bring the bounty back in person. No one’s going to go through all of that trouble for sub-par bounties that would likely get you killed with your usual Ars weakened.”

‘The bandits are still fighting though,’ Makoto thought. “Thanks for answering my questions, you got vacancy?”

“Yep, but I notice your man isn’t talking much.” The owner was referring to Ragna.

“I like to do the talking for both of us,” the Beastkin answered, hoping to put the issue to bed so she could follow suit.

“Apparently. Either way, I gotta log you both in so I need some names.”

‘Shit. Now  I gotta come up with something,’ Ragna considered in a panic. “I-”

“Just put us down for Mister and Misses Nanaya.” That stopped Ragna cold before he could give himself away.

“Ah, didn’t know you were married. Then again the wedding bands are probably in your language since you’ve both been traveling,” the inn keep figured. “Price for the couple’s suite is up there on the sign. I get half up front as insurance and the other half before you leave.”

‘Couple’s suite!? I just...! …Well, I guess it’d look weird if I asked for separate rooms now.’

Makoto paid off the room and signed them both in quickly enough, meanwhile Ragna was trying his best not to be noticed while also trying to look like he wasn’t trying not to be noticed… so acting casually. Once they made their way into their shared room, Makoto let out a long sigh of relief as she finally set her heavy pack down and locked the door behind them before they got a good look at where they’d be spending the night. Despite the name Couple’s Suit, the room in question didn’t have anything erotic or even all that romantic for that matter. Just a large two-person bed instead of something smaller. There wasn’t any further furnishing (not even a dresser or couch to sleep on) and the bathroom on the side was clean but basic.

“…I think I overpaid for this,” Makoto realized. Not the largest problem that could’ve happened at least.

“It’s out of the rain and we have a place to spend the night; we can deal with it,” Ragna affirmed as he finally took the poncho off before shaking any rain that had gotten through out of his hair (like a dog). Makoto admittedly smirked a little at the sight.

“So… sorry about the whole name thing,” she apologized. “That was probably pretty awkward for you.”

“Eh, not as awkward as I would’ve been coming up with a name on the spot,” he answered with a shrug. He then glanced to the bed and realized that the decision still had consequences. “…Even if I’m on the floor tonight.”

“There’s no reason you should have to suffer then. Promise you’ll stay on your side of the bed and we’ll be good,” she offered. Even if they’d been roommates for a bit now and Ragna was obviously closer to Makoto than anyone else right now, it still felt like a lot of trust to give. He still nodded though, in spite of his own reservations. “Cool, then mind if I take the first shower?”

“You gonna leave me any hot water?”

“If anything, I’ll find out if there’s hot water to leave you.”

“Fair. Proceed.”

After the two had washed off and changed into their night clothes, they (albeit a little reservedly at the moment for Ragna) got into opposite sides of the bed. The awkwardness didn’t pass even after Ragna turned out the lights… so he decided to try talking for once. “All that news we heard earlier… I think Bang’s gonna need our help after all.”

“I guess it’s good that we’re going to be headed somewhere that needs us, but the same thing happened with you in Kagutsuchi; once you’d taken out all of the criminals, they all saw you as the biggest threat and left you out to dry. What if the same thing happens after we save Wadatsumi?”

“Then… I dunno, I guess we’ll need to just stay and help rebuild. No way they can just kick us out after that,” Ragna figured, though he knew that it wouldn’t be that simple. “And we’ll at least have Bang in our corner… as long as everyone around him is still willing to follow him.”

“Yeah, but I guess there’s no point in worrying about what could happen just yet. And again, worse comes to worse we’ll just have to move again,” Makoto figured. “Hey… if by some chance there was a place for you there, but they had a problem with a Beastkin sticking around… would you take it?”

“Would I… What?”

“I mean, maybe you should. It’s a lot harder to find somewhere that’d be willing to put up with you. I still have friends and family to count on for a while, so I could probably make do.”

“…No, I wouldn’t take it; any place that holds onto Beastkin racism isn’t anywhere I’d want to live,” Ragna gruffly shot down. “Besides, who was the one looking out for me back at Sector Seven? You think I’m gonna abandon you after all that you did for me? Until we both get our feet planted we’re sticking together, alright?”

“…Are you proposing, ‘cause unless the guy at the front desk was right I don’t think you have a ring on you.” Once again, Makoto blindsided Ragna’s serious nature completely. He was glad they were in the dark so she couldn’t see him blushing… not that she didn’t already know he was.

“Good night, Makoto,” he grumbled as he turned on his side facing away and tried to will himself to sleep.

“Good night, hubby,” she teased as a final slight against him. Ragna growled but otherwise didn’t let it show as the two lay there in silence.

…Until.

“Ragna?”

“Mmm…?”

“Since we’re already this far… do you… want to try going steady? See if this actually works out?”

“…Yeah, I think I’d like that. Once we got to Wadatsumi, let’s try to make it a home for both of us.”

“That’s what I want too.”

More silence in the dark… only this time Ragna broke it.

“Is it just me is or is it kinda cold in here?”

“A little, I guess the heating or insulation in this place isn’t too great. I have my tail as an extra blanket at least, but it’s not doing much.”

“…About staying on the same side.”

“What about it?”

“I was wondering… Is…?”

“Just ask already.”

“…Is mutual cuddling out?” Deafening silence. “You know… for… sharing body heat?” No response. “I’ll… sleep on the floor.”

“Go ahead and stay. All you did was ask permission.” Ragna listened and remained where he was, he was almost deathly still as he called himself an idiot in his mind countless times. Right up until Makoto pushed on his shoulder. Turning his head, though the darkness he saw his now girlfriend with her arms outstretched waiting for him. “Come on. We’re not getting any warmer like this.”

After a moment’s hesitation at his own idea, Ragna answered the invitation and closed the gap between them. Holding her close while she did the same, Ragna started to gently stroke Makoto’s Beastkin ears as she smirked with her face resting on his chest. Eventually their comfort gave way to the weariness their day of travel had caused and both drifted off.

The room was admittedly still cold.

Chapter Text

Tail VI: Potential Homes

“You can’t seriously be leaving!” Bang Shishigami shouted, his face filled with both a sense of betrayal and regret. “We’re finally making solid progress and you’re leaving right while we’re at the cusp of our return to greatness!? And to think that you were sneaking off under the dark cover of night! Have you no shame!?”

“We’ve had this talk before Bang; we’ve had it twice!” Mao, one of Bang’s more loyal supporters from Kagutsuchi, told the community leader. “You’ve told us each time that we were just on the edge of a sustainable city, but what’s happened!? Each and every time we’ve been raided by bandits and our supplies have been stolen! We barely have enough to get by and we’ve had nights that all of us have gone to sleep starving!”

“But that will be behind us soon enough! We’re finally starting to get the proper fortifications built so we’ll be able to stop them completely!” Bang argued back harshly. “We have yet to suffer even a single casualty and any minor wounds have been healed easily! As a Hero of Love and Justice I vow to keep you safe until I breathe my last!”

“It’s only going to take one slip up for you to lose someone!” Mao argued back. “And if we lose you or you’re unable to fight then what!? We’ll be at the mercy at whatever brigands are attacking! Do you have any idea what they’d do to us when we’re at their mercy!?” Mao took a deep breath before looking at the ninja with pity. “I’m sorry Bang, I really am. But I have a family to worry about.”

“You understand that I won’t be able to guard you once you leave the city?” Bang reminded, obviously more of a warning than a threat. “Just because you’ve left the city, it won’t keep the brigands from targeting you.”

“It’s… it’s worth the risk,” Mao argued back stubbornly. “I can keep my family safe and-”

“Boss! The bandits are back!” one of Bang’s loyal followers sounded off, immediately leaving Mao’s face to pale. “It looks like Arabaki’s force! They’re attacking our left wall that’s still being built!”

“Curses! They managed to carry off almost all of our supplies last time!” Bang shouted before turning to Mao who had just refused his protection. “Get your family back inside the city, we’ll finish this later.”

“R-Right,” the much smaller less confident man answered as Bang sprinted off.

As strong as a front Bang was putting on for his followers and those under his protection, the ninja was truly exhausted. Not only was he in charge of the rebuilding efforts in general, he also leant his aid for several hours of physical work when he was able to and was the only real defenses his people had under the town’s constant attacks. His close aids had tried to assist when able to, but it had become clear early on that they would only be a detriment since now he had to to worry about them on the frontlines, so he’d made it clear that the town’s protection would lie solely on his shoulders.

…Worry that only grew when he heard sounds of fighting as he neared the city’s borders.

‘Curses! They wouldn’t disobey my orders without good reason! Have the fiends finally resorted to taking hostages!?’ In spite of his steadily rising fatigue, Bang only forced himself to sprint faster using stamina he knew damn well he didn’t still have after these weeks. Rounding the corner he gave his best battle shout.

“YOU NOW FACE BANG SHISHIGA-!”

Only to watch Arabaki hit the floor unconscious, their Ars Magus halberd shattered at both the pole and the weapon’s top. He wasn’t the only one down and out as Bang saw the entire force from last time sprawled out on the ground around him. The only two still standing in the area were…

“Little late to the party,” Ragna scolded as Makoto’s gave her metal tonfas a victory whirl.

“Y-YOU’RE ALIVE!?” Leave it to Bang to immediately remind Ragna the levels of volume he was dealing with.

“Guess they don’t get the news out here,” Makoto said from beside the Reaper.

“Miss Nanaya too!? What have the fates brought me!?” Bang shouted.

“Dude, chill. Let’s get these bandit’s taken care of and then we can talk… and maybe you can get some sleep; you look like you’re about to fall over from exhaustion.”

“I… very well…” Bang said as the ninja let out a sigh of relief. “And of course, thank you for saving my city so quickly; you’ve made my job plenty easier.”

“Eh, Ragna and I just got a chance to sneak up on them. Not much they could do after that,” the Beastkin explained.

Getting the bandit’s rounded up and bound was fairly quick affair. They’d gotten some help from the resident’s they just saved and while they didn’t look pleased to see the Reaper, both he and Makoto could easily tell by their expressions and mannerisms that their situation would be far and away better than what they’d dealt with in Kagutsuchi. Most of their anxiety might’ve been from the recently announced bandit attack and Bang was already loudly announcing that the two had just saved the city… so there was that.

Currently they were in Bang’s personal residence. As the head of this restoration effort the ninja had the largest home in the village, but it’s state of repair was any better than the other building. In fact it might’ve been worse, likely a result of Bang looking out for those under his protection that worrying about himself. In addition to Ragna, Makoto, and Bang, there were also three of his personal aides back from Kagutsuchi.

“I must thank you again for your help; had you not arrived in a timely matter there’s no telling how this fight might’ve gone,” Bang explained solemnly.

“Boss! You could’ve taken those guys!” the green ninja shouted.

“And even if you couldn’t we’d be ready!” came red’s encouragement.

“We’d give our lives for you and this town if we needed to!” that was from yellow.

When Ragna had first seen these guys, he just figured they were a loud and annoying hype-man group for the equally loud and annoying Bang, but now that he’d grown a bit he could tell that their undying loyalty was genuine and they clearly wanted what was best for their boss.

“Just what’s going on? Last I heard from Kokonoe you were trying to repair Wadatsumi, but now you're having problems with bandits?” Ragna asked, trying to keep their conversation serious. “How long has this been going on?”

“For quite some time now; ever since the first group attacked us and found that we were carrying supplies to rebuild. And since they discovered that we’re being resupplied on a monthly rate by his highness lord Homura, we’ve had no shortage of brigand group looking to rob us. It’s taken all of my efforts just to ensure the safety of my people, meaning many of their raids on our supplies have proven successful.”

“You can’t blame yourself; with the world going the way it has been it’s a miracle that you’ve managed to do even that well,” Makoto assured him. “But what about going to the new Imperator for more help? Like a guard force?”

“Though I know that my Lord would do all that he possibly could to aide his people in this trying time, I am afraid that it is not that simple,” the boisterous ninja explained. “There are plenty of areas that are in just as desperate need of assistance as we are and man power in particular seems to be in short supply. Materials were one thing, but I worry that resources may be a bridge too far the state things are now.” He grimaced. “There… may also be some pride on my part; a man will still try to hold true to his honor.”

“Fine, but can you swallow your pride enough if you’re giving something in exchange?” Ragna asked, seeing this as the time to strike a deal. “Kagutsuchi doesn’t want me around; well Makoto was looking to get out of there just as much as I was, but still I was the main cause. You know how well I can fight and you know that you need our help, so how about it?”

“In truth that would be nothing short of a godsend,” the ninja agreed. “But what is it that you want in exchange?”

“A place to call home once all is said and done,” Makoto answered. “Give us a guarantee that they won’t kick us out when they no longer need us defending them and we’ll be set.”

“Is that truly all you are asking for?” Bang asked before a smile spread from ear to ear. “Then I will most certainly accept these terms! Come the morrow I shall bring forward a town meeting discuss this with rest of the city! No doubt they’ll see things the same way I do!”

“Let’s hope so,” Ragna muttered less than convinced. “…You guys don’t have an issue with Beastkin, do you?”

“Not at all! I only care for the individual… save for the old NOL, but that’s far behind us now,” Bang said, apparently having left his old hatred quickly enough with something new to focus on making. “Now, as far as temporary living quarters I know of one house with the necessary accommodations for the moment, but having two ready might take some time.”

“One’s fine for us.”

…The fact that Ragna had said that so quickly had Bang and his subordinates pause a brief moment.

“…May I ask when this happened?” he questioned.

“Recently; super recently,” Makoto answered. “But yeah, mind showing us to our place so we can call it? Been traveling all day before this.”

“I will do all I can to ensure that this journey was worth and vouch for you both to the fullest in tomorrow’s meeting! With both of you focusing on guard duty and myself focused on rebuilding efforts, we’ll have Wadatsumi back to it former glory posthaste!”

“Can’t believe I’d ever say this, but thanks Grim Reaper!” Bang’s red subordinate shouted.

“Used to think you were a villain of utter evil, but if you’re willing to help us with this then you and your girl are alright by me!” the green one responded in kind.

“We’ll be counting on both of you!” yellow affirmed.

Even if it was only these four at the moment, the fact that these two had found a small sense of belonging already had Makoto smiling. Ragna at least stopped scowling long enough to scratch the back of his head in mild embarrassment.

“Very well then, I’ll show you to your new residency myself,” Bang promised as he rose from his knelling position and had Ragna and Makoto follow suit. Soon the two were on the late night streets of Wadatsumi, barely occupied after a long day of what reconstruction efforts they could manage. “While I’d like your help immediately, I’ll finish the last night of patrolling and safeguarding this city myself. If we are in danger, I’ll have one of my subordinates notify you immediately.”

“Eh, works for me. Not the first time I’ve had to deal with sudden awakenings,” Ragna assured. “So what’s going to happen with the people that you aren’t able to convince?”

“My plan is to have the people at least willing to give you chance at protecting them, but I can’t guarantee that many of them won’t leave once they’ve heard the news. Lately the city of Kagutsuchi has become extra popular of late because the criminal elements have all but disappeared."

“Do they know that the only reason the city got to be that way was because Ragna decided to give bounty hunting a try for a few days?” Bang’s response to Makoto’s question was a blank stare. “Might wanna include that in tomorrow’s address.”

“I’ll make a point to, but for now I’d like to welcome you to your lovely home!” Thankfully, Bang wasn’t shouting his absolute loudest in the middle of the night.

The house he’d brought them to was three storied and fairly decent in size overall. Despite all of the materials left outside, the residency was in the same state of disrepair as the others. Heading inside, the two discovered that the place was still fairly drafty on the inside aside from the bedroom which had been prepped for keeping warm in night in mind. The bathroom consisted of basic plumbing which had thankfully already been prepared, but in terms of a bath they only had a single large tub with needed to be filled with nearby river water and heated. There were no supplies to be found in their small abode, but with everything they’d been carrying from their journey they’d be able to make due. The very definition of a fixer-upper… so long as they were accepted, Makoto thought it would be perfect.

“Let me know if either of you need anything; I sincerely hope that this works,” Bang said. “Off topic, have either have you contacted my beloved Miss Litchi before coming here?”

“She went back to working at Sector Seven with Professor Kokonoe,” Makoto informed. “I think she’s made up her mind and has decided to stay there for the time being.”

“I suppose she’s found her place in the world… for the moment at least.” Bang still had an obvious edge of hope to his words. “No doubt the fair maiden thinks of me often!”

“Oh? So you were close with her?” Makoto asked. Bang was about to respond, but she stopped him dead. “I don’t think she’s once mentioned you.”

“I-I-I see…” Bang chocked out. “She’s probably too busy to think of anyone at all. Probably hasn’t even said a word of Linhau’s name.”

“No, she’s actually mentioned Linhau every time the two of us spoke, though that wasn’t very often.” Again, Makoto’s bluntness was proving this poor man wrong.

“…Has she mentioned Taokaka?”

“Yeah, several funny stories to tell there.”

“…I’ll see you both in the morning.” And without waiting for another word, the ninja sulked off.

“Ya didn’t have to do him that dirty,” Ragna felt the need to say only once he was certain Bang had left. “Especially not after all he’s going to be fighting for us tomorrow.”

“If anything I was doing a favor by making sure he didn’t get his hopes too high,” Makoto argued back. “Plus, I didn’t see you stepping in to stop me.”

“…Fair enough,” he grunted in response. “So given the state of the bedroom, I think that we’re better off still tenting up and using our sleeping bags inside. Gives us some needed heat until the weather turns warmer.”

“Damn sleeping bags barely leave room for my tail,” Makoto swore. She didn’t have too dainty of a vocabulary to begin with, but now with Ragna she was starting to notice her more vulgar language coming out much more naturally.

“Count yourself lucky you still have it to keep yourself warm,” her boyfriend reminded as he set out to set their tent up once more. “Most of us don’t have that kind of luxury.”

“You’re just grumpy that we haven’t been able to cuddle at night since the inn.”

“…I’m not gonna try to deny that; you’ve got me there,” the ex-Reaper answered with a soft smirk. “Come on, help me get this set up. We’re gonna need to put the work in tomorrow if we’re going to convince the rest of the city that we’re worth keeping around.”

“How much good do you think Bang’s going to do us?”

“Plenty, but I’d rather have every advantage to our favor we can get.” Makoto couldn’t argue with him there and the two began setting up their temporary sleeping accommodations. “You know, the backyard looks like it’ll be pretty nicely sized once we get it cleared out. Might even have enough room to start a garden.”

“Might be nice, but I never knew you gardened.”

“Never have, just thought it might be a nice thing to do now that I’ve got the chance,” he answered as the two started setting their tent’s foundation. “Honestly, given… everything that happened, there’s a lot I’ve probably missed out on.”

“Let’s get a nice stable house situated first, then we can start worrying about your bucket list,” Makoto reasoned.

“That’s the idea,” Ragna agreed. ‘Still feels weird, that I have a future that I’m actually looking forward to… maybe this can work itself out after all.’

The Next Morning

Bang had been expecting a total uproar; he’d been expecting some form of vocal outrage, heated and spiteful words, carried by a volume that would rival his own legendary shouting. What he got was stunned silence at the news that their small restoration effort of a community was now housing the Grim Reaper, and that he was being offered a place to stay as protection. Ragna and Makoto themselves weren’t at the meeting, instead focusing on their first day of official town protection. This left Bang to deal with… spreading the news.

“…Well don’t speak all at once,” Bang finally said in an attempt to break the silence.

“I was about to leave last night and now you do this!” Mao shouted from the back, a voice Bang already knew he’d have to fight to convince. “This dump is already dangerous enough and now you want to bring an SS-Class criminal into our community!?”

“Former criminal; evidently Lord Homura pardoned him,” Bang felt the need to announce. “The same Lord Homura responsible for sending us whatever aide he can. I trust my young lord’s judgement here and while Ragna the Bloodedge and I may have been enemies for a time, I can say that I trust his character now.”

“How do we even know he’s up for guarding an entire town!?” a woman from the back shouted. “Why don’t we all head back to Kagutsuchi? We even had our own section of the city back there and I hear it’s far safer now!”

“It only became safe because the Grim Reaper dealt with the former criminal element,” Bang said, not shouting but still with all of the usual confidence he was known for. “Not only does it tell us that he’s capable of fighting as strongly as ever, but it tells us that he can get us results. The Grim Reaper only felt the need to leave because Kagutsuchi refused to accept him or the good he brought to the city. All he's asking for is a chance; I say we give him one.”

“And the Beastkin that’s with him?”

“His other half, and she was a capable fighter during the war against the Hades NOL,” Bang affirmed. “She’ll be just a valuable as the man himself; just last night they managed to capture one of the biggest bandit groups harassing us. Now not only will we no longer have to endure their attacks, but our city can also claim the sizable bounties.” The crowd still looked far from certain, far from convinced at Bang’s claims, far from… anything really. “For now I ask that give them one week. As always, you are free to choose your own path forward, but at least give them a chance to prove themselves. The improvement to your daily life might be apparent immediately.”

What followed after Bang had given his announcement was about what he’d imagined; the majority of restoration effort was staying but still had their reservations, a significant portion said that one more misstep would lead to them leaving, and a smaller group (which included Mao) were going to try to leave the supplies shuttle on its next delivery. Ragna would have less than a week to change their mind, but Bang was still fully resigned to leave this choice to the individual… even if he didn’t agree with the decision.

Later -The Streets of Wadatsumi-

“Looks like everyone’s working hard at least,” Ragna commented as he and Makoto walked through the city’s repair efforts. Much like last night they weren’t exactly being waved to and most were still looking at them with a bit of disdain. It didn’t last for long and they were quick to return to the lengthy jobs before them. “I know this is only day one, but I think we’re going to need to come up with a game plan.”

“Might help if we weren’t just walking around like we owned the place,” Makoto suggested before seeing one of Bang’s main aides from last night, still fully garbed in their green ninja clothing as they sawed through a stack of wooden planks to make them their needed length for repairs. “Huh, guess they’re helping out here too. Guess that’s their job now they’ve got us on patrol. You don’t think-?”

“My idea exactly,” Ragna finished before Makoto said anything, leading both of them to the working man. “I think we need to trade jobs.”

“Wasn’t the whole point of the boss bringing you here to make sure our town was safe while we repaired it?” the green figure asked, not pausing for even a step in their work.

“Showing that we can kick ass is good for keeping them safe from brigands, but we also gotta show that they don’t have us to worry about. We help with repairs and they’ll be a little more willing to let us stick around,” Ragna explained. Glancing to the section they were sawing through; Ragna made a single chop with his hand a cleanly cleaved through the specified cutting line before heading down the line and cutting through the other planks with his hand just as easily. Gathering them up, he turned to the ninja. “Who do these go to?”

“…Bring them to Shin-Wo; he’s in charge of this neighborhood,” they conceded. “I’ll let Lord Bang know what’s going on and call on you when there’s an attack, just don’t get so exhausted that you can’t protect us.”

“We’ll be fine; if anything it’s Bang that needs his nap,” Makoto retorted as she grabbed the set of tools they’d no longer be needing to give them to who really needed them. Once they’d found and began approaching the man in charge, he seemed to stiffen at just the sight of them. “Try not to be too scary.”

“If I smiled like an idiot that probably make ‘em even more concerned.”

“Fair.”

“…So… you’re helping here now?” Shin-Wo asked nervously.

“Cutting, hammering, carrying shit; where do you need us?” Ragna asked. “If we need to step away for town defense we gotta drop everything, but until then we’re all yours.”

Shin was silent before looking up to the rooftops that were still the man cause of concern for much of the repair efforts. Normally it was Bang or one of his aides that handle those repairs with their heightened agility, but if Ragna was as useful as Bang was making him out to be…

“How well do you deal with heights?”

Sector 7 -Kokonoe’s Office-

“Wadatsumi?” came Kagura’s voice from the end of Kokonoe’s call.

“That what the tracker I put in his phone told me. Guess he couldn’t stand the idea of staying put like he was told to.” The scientist was hardly that annoyed; she’d already expected for Ragna to do this sort of thing. “He wasn’t under any sort of official house arrest, so you can’t exactly press charges on him.”

“Any idea what he’s doing there?”

“Could figure it out in 5 minutes if I actually cared enough to do the research,” she snapped back at him. “Long as that asshole isn’t causing trouble, the only people that he has to worry about are the people he’s closest to.”

“Right, meaning that he’s Bang’s problem now… or Bang’s his; either one seems pretty fair,” Kagura noted with a hint of whimsy in his words. “Also, I heard that Makoto was dismissed from duty by Warquest before she filed a Sexual Harassment and Racial Discrimination case. Both which almost got thrown out before I got ahold of them. Any idea what happened with her?”

“No, because I have more important things to do than babysit a grown woman that’s clearly shown that she can take care of herself,” Kokonoe bit back. “If I had to guess though, she’s probably with Ragna. He owes after what she pulled here anyways.”

“Right, those two forces of chaos mixing together would be a headache,” Kagura acknowledged. “And knowing that Ragna’s part of that mix and knowing the absolute sucker he is; doubt that he’s going to final say in anything with her.”

That Night

“Looks like I win,” Makoto taunted as she held up her fist to signify rock while Ragna glared at his own hand that was signaling for scissors (because of course). Their prize steamed beside them, a nice large bathtub filled with recently heated water. “First bath is all mine.”

“Bully for you then,” the Reaper sighed before heading to the bathroom door. “Go ahead and take your time then; I’ll use this chance to get what repairs done I can work on and heat up a second one afterwards.”

While the two had spent the entirety of their day helping the city out with repairs, there hand’t been any official work done on their own home as of yet. Instead of feeling slighted, they’d figured it was probably because when all was said and done they were still better off than a majority of the families with the extra supplies they’d brought in after traveling.

“You going to be preparing the floors on the other side of the wall?” Makoto asked. Ragna shrugged as it was as good a place to start as any. “Mind leaving the door open a crack then? Was kinda hoping we could still talk about today.”

“If you want,” Ragna answered, before giving a smirk. “You seem pretty confident I won’t try to sneak a peek while you’re in there.”

“Confidence nothing; I already know you’re aware of the trouble you’d be in for if you tried..” Ragna decided not to engage in that conversation. “And you know, maybe I wouldn’t completely mind.”

“Damn tease,” he muttered as Makoto only giggled on the other side of the wall. It was then he heard the splashing of water to signify the Beastkin had gotten in. “How’s the water?”

“After the day I had, heavenly,” Makoto sighed as she let her body relax. “So we got split up with different duties pretty early on today, there wasn’t an incoming attack I didn’t hear about, right?”

“Nope, pretty quiet so far. But now that night’s fallen we’ll need to be ready to go at the drop of a hat. Sounds like that’s when most of these attacks have taken place,” Ragna answered as he went about repairing the still sizable holes of the third story floor. “My group kept me busy today and I guess towards the end they weren’t hesitating to come to me for favors. I’d consider that progress.”

“I’d consider that alone more than we’d be able to do in Kagutsuchi in a month,” Makoto answered. “Still, I don’t think that necessarily means we have to settle on living here. If we have big problems down the road we could try somewhere else.”

“Why, is anyone giving you shit already?” Ragna had an obvious edge to his tone. Clearly he was tired of Beastkin being treated different just for their race and that went especially for his girlfriend.

“No, just reminding you that this place isn’t necessarily set in stone for us,” she clarified. “I actually got taken off of repair duty pretty early in; some of the kids were especially energetic today and the moms needed help tiring them out while they got their cooking and fabric making done.”

“Playing with kids? Can’t anyone do that? They’d have probably gotten more out of you if you kept helping with construction,” Ragna argued as he literally punched a nail into secured his next board before tear a broken and rotten one from the foundation.

“That’s what I thought too, but remember that this is a village which has a reputation for raising ninjas. Even if the little tykes don’t have the same spreed or agility as the fully trained adults, their energy is almost enough to rival Bang’s.”

“…Never mind, in that case you clearly worked the hardest of the two of us,” Ragna admitted.

“Says my hubby while he’s still working and I’m relaxing,” she teased back.

“Boyfriend.”

“Gotta have a little lover’s name for you somewhere.”

“And you decided on hubby of all things?”

“Yep! Watcha think?”

“…Needs work.” Ragna’s sheer bluntness was enough to get a fit of laughter out of Makoto, the sound of which was infectious as he also gave a brief smile. “And the parents; they didn’t have any issues with you watching their kids?”

“If they did, I didn’t hear ‘em. Guess it usually takes four or five moms to compete with what I’m able to do,” she bragged. “You should give it a shot yourself, I’m sure they’d have a good time with your energy.”

“Maybe, but it would take some time for the parents to trust me to watch their children; it’d take at least a week without problems.”

“Then try focusing on getting to that point, if the adults trust us enough to leave their kids in our care, then they’ll slowly have to trust my taste in men and that I’m telling the truth when I say you’re a big softy.”

“Tell me you didn’t gossip with them,” Ragna groaned.

“Nothing too big; they were just wondering how and why I netted myself most wanted bachelor in the world.”

“Intentionally wrong context, but what did you tell ‘em?”

“Won’t get into too many specifics, but let’s just say I was singing your praises all through dinner,” Makoto promised. Somehow, Ragna could believe it. “Playing with those kids though… think it’s starting to bring out my maternal side almost. I mean I got along fine with those kids and… it was nice.”

“This is…”

“A conversation for a ways down the road, I get it. Still, maybe don’t refuse the idea outright.” A brief moment of hesitation. “…You ever think of it before? Not with me even, just… at all?”

“…No.” Ragna felt he should be honest with her. “Give me some time to get used to all of this and I’ll get back to you. Can you wait a bit?”

“Well duh, we haven’t even been an official thing for a week yet. Better we take this sort of thing slow anyways,” she answered before stretching and the water splashed around her. “So, good first day overall?”

“Can’t complain,” Ragna agreed. “Any word on Bang?”

“Apparently he tried to get a quick nap in after his big meeting and he hasn’t gotten up since,” Makoto answered. “Think we’re doing him a big favor here, all the more reason to keep us around.”

“Yeah… maybe even another reason for us to stay too.”

Chapter Text

“Alright… I’m giving you one chance. ONE. Chance. What happened?”

The man addressing the bandit on his knees before him wasn’t your average thug (at least he didn’t see himself that way). He’d been in the raiding game for some 20 years at this point and had never been captured. In fact, when a large force of Vigilantes had been hired by the NOL to personally hunt for him, he’d had enough contacts in the criminal underworld to fight them all off and deliver an embarrassing blow to the Librarium.

…Or it would’ve been if the old regime hadn’t executed the defeated bounty hunters to ensure their silence. Never sat well with him, getting robbed of flaunting his victory like that.

Anyways, back to present circumstances. The sole survivor of his side force was kneeling before him. He was on his knees, out of breath, and apparently terrified out of his wits. His commanding officer was the second strongest behind the leader, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Losing that man meant losing someone truly loyal, something no raid’s reward could ever fill. If he didn’t get proper answers and soon, he’d take a page out of the NOL’s book and provide a public beheading for the rest of his followers.

“When… when we got there…” the terrified man began.

“When you got where? I don’t even know where the force was going; only that this was supposed to be a quick errand.”

“W-Wadatsumi,” was the shaky response.

“Tch, a whole force just for that place? Half of one would’ve been enough to keep that one idiot busy and he’s the only one with a decent chance of fighting back,” the leader muttered. “And what happened?”

“The… The Grim Reaper was there!” the survivor insisted, a new level of fear while he erratically glanced around, as if the nightmare he spoke of could jump out at any moment.

“Ragna the Bloodedge?” The leader was at least informed enough to hear the news of the former SS-Class criminal’s survival and subsequent pardon, but it was still a shock to hear of his involvement. “…You’re sure it was him?”

“Red coat just like they said, and I recognized his face from the wanted posters! …Well the second draft of ‘em anyways, but I knew it was him! I didn’t see that sword-scythe on him, but he was taking us all out with his bare hands! Not even killing the force, just knocking them all out like it was nothing! I was the furthest away so I could see the lost cause we were fighting for and ran back here as fast as my legs could carry me!”

“…Normally I’d kill you for this kind of cowardice, but if you hadn’t run I wouldn’t know what happened,” the leader said, somehow in both a forgiving and threatening way that did little to help his subordinate’s mood. “Anything else?”

“Uh… yeah actually, there was someone out there fighting with him. Not the usual guy either. A woman; Squirrel Beastkin by the looks of her. She was more focused on playing defense for the town, but she was knocking guys out just as easily as he was.”

“Tch, so now we got two ridiculously powered annoyances protecting our easiest mark out here and…” The thug leader then gave an evil smile. “We haven’t heard about any of the other raid forces in area. Meaning they all tried to hit Wadatsumi and the Grim Reaper put a stop to them.”

“Uh… probably?” the minion answered, not sure where their leader was going with this.

“Pay attention; if he’s in Wadatsumi, then that means he’s not in Kagutsuchi doing his bounty hunting like we though he was. Meaning that town’s ripe for the pickings. And if the only reason we even know he’s there is because you managed to make it back here, we’ll get first takes on robbing the Hierarchical city blind. We could make off with the raid load of a lifetime.”

“I…I get what you’re saying boss!” the subordinate insisted as the realization hit them. “But there’s still one possible problem…” A dark air covered the two as the thug leader scowled menacingly. “What if Kagutsuchi’s well defended again because the NOL went and got their shit together?”

…Both men then erupted into laughter that echoed across the night sky.

“Sorry, boss. Saw my chance and I couldn’t resist.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it. Good joke and I’ve needed a laugh like that for a while. Let’s go inform the rest of the men.”

Meanwhile in Wadatsumi

“Biggest raid night yet and we handled it like champs! Go team!” the ever-spunky Makoto declared as she pumped her fist into the air. “Kicking ass and taking names! That’s the town defenders for you!”

“I’m a little worried that so many showed up,” her far less upbeat boyfriend commented as the two came into the town from their late-night patrols. “Not that we couldn’t take ‘em, but we were already running out of room to hold them all and we just captured a small army. We’re trying to rebuild; we’re not a prison.”

“Whoa, you’re not thinking of…?” Makoto was trying to hold out hope.

“Just because we’re running into one small snag, it doesn’t mean that I’m thinking that we go the absolute darkest place we can,” Ragna assured. “We’re not offing ‘em, but we still need to get them out of here.”

“AGREED!” No one in Wadatsumi was in need of an alarm clock with the constant presence of Bang Shishigami. “I too was worried that we could contain so many criminals, but one proper call has solved that problem! Lord Homura himself will be sending a small fleet of his own personal ships to carry off the prisoners! Such timing is a great blessing from his young lordship!”

“…While I’m not half as enthusiastic about the head of state as Bang here is, I’m at least just as relieved that the problem’s already solved,” Makoto noted.

“Not only that, but after processing we’ll even be awarded the bounties that were on all of the criminals’ heads! This would already be what we need for such steady progress, but my lord is even bringing an extra-large order of supplies!”

“Huh. All that?” Ragna skeptically asked.

“Come on, this a good thing,” his girlfriend tried again in convincing him.

“She’s right! The Imperator himself is greatly impressed by your endeavors and sends his regards!”

“Wait, he knows I’m here?” the former criminal demanded.

“Of course! I couldn’t sing enough of your praises! Helping the town! Your amazing strength and ability defeating every bandit in a mile radius!” Bang expected to be verbally rewarded for his efforts, but the Grim Reaper hardly appeared pleased. “Should… I not have?”

“I would’ve preferred it if the world government didn’t know where I was; especially if they heard about how much ass I was kicking… but I guess with what I was doing in Kagutsuchi it doesn’t matter much at this point. People are going to be judging me either way.”

“Speaking of, isn’t that deadline today?” Makoto chimed in. “The one where the people have to decide if they’re staying in Wadatsumi or getting out?”

“Indeed it is; in fact one of the transports is going to be arriving for just that purpose,” Bang admitted. He seemed a little disappointed, but if he had crushing news to tell, Ragna knew he wouldn’t have been able to hide it. “Three families will be leaving. They all made certain I knew last night.”

“That’s it? I was expecting around half the town,” an impressed Ragna admitted.

“Yes, I was also expecting far more. Even with my efforts,” Bang agreed. “Still, it wounds my pride that I couldn’t win them over as well. Your efforts certainly gave them all the proof that staying was the better option. …Then again, one of the groups leaving contains the most stubborn man I’ve ever met. And judging our shared experiences, that’s saying something.”

“No kidding,” Ragna and Makoto said in unison, leaving all three briefly wondering who specifically they all had in mind.

“Regardless, is it possible I could trouble you both for a while longer? I know you were both awake all of yesterday, but from Lord Homura’s words, the convoy will be arriving within the hour. We probably don’t need to worry, but I still like you both there to make sure the criminals get escorted out of the city without incident.”

“Better to be safe than sorry there; we’ll stick around and make sure they don’t start any trouble,” Ragna promised. Bang nodded and quickly dashed out of sight, busying himself by preparing to both move the prisoners and mobilize the town to take supplies.

“Think you can handle this yourself?” Makoto asked her partner, though she followed him to the town square. “Kinda hoping to head back to the place and freshen up a bit.”

“Do you have to? It’s not going to be much longer,” Ragna tried to reason.

“He said within the hour. Ergo, I might have enough time to run home and get cleaned up before coming back to help you out. Come on, I probably look like a mess after all that fighting last night and I’m all sweaty.”

“You look fine,” Ragna dismissed. “Besides, who are you trying to look good for? All the bandits we just captured?”

“Our neighbors?” Makoto retorted.

“Same neighbors who always see us hard at work and if they ever did try to judge us, you know Bang would talk their ear off standing up for us?” Solid point there, though thankfully the loud ninja hadn’t been required to do that.

“Don’t you want me looking good?” Give it to Makoto, she knew how to give a loaded question.

“You’re always looking good.” Ragna passed. His girlfriend gave a shrug and playful smirk, deciding she might as well stick around a little longer. Ragna then got close to her and made his next words silent for both privacy and sensuality. “Also, you’re pretty damn sexy when you’re sweaty.”

“Wow. Forward!” Makoto retorted, slapping his shoulder but unable to keep from laughing. “Alright, I’ll play along. You want to keep me out of the house for some reason. Maybe something to do with that break you took last night and had to hurry back out from?”

“…Maybe?” ‘Damn, hard to keep secrets when she’s this perceptive. I keep forgetting she was part of the Intelligence unit.’

In addition to informing the rest of the town of the pending supply drop and NOL transportation, Bang had informed them that they were first going to be moving the prisoners out of the city and got any non-essential guards to stay in their homes for the sake of safety. By the time the first of the prison transports touched down, all of the caught brigands had been assembled and were under the constant watch of the two, along with all of Bang’s followers. From the front prison craft, a well decorated female officer stepped out with two advisors standing guard. Her glare at Ragna was scathing, but he didn’t bother addressing it as he kept an eye on the bandits.

“Bring them in!” she commanded her two guards as the bandits we moved into the open transports. While the Grim Reaper had been pardoned, it was clear that she thought he deserved to be on the ship with the rest of the criminals. Scratch that, her hand resting on her saber as she stared Ragna down was a signal that she wanted to execute him here and now. His attention was on the criminals now anyways, if she wanted to-

“Don’t even think about it.” She balked as Bang had snuck behind her. Hiding in her shadow to avoid detection from anyone else. Where was that loud idiot she was used to dealing with every trip? This man wasn’t a cold killer, so how did he have the skills of one? “Even if you could get the drop on my trusted ally, and you can’t, nothing you could ever do to him would be enough.”

“You… you’re still all talk.” A sentiment that she’d said to him before; ever since she’d had to deliver the Imperator’s supplies the first time.

“Not when my nakama or city are threatened. You’ve been warned.” In an instant Bang was gone. Checking around the still loading ships, she found him posing boisterously as the criminals loaded themselves onto the transports. He looked like an idiot… so how was she this afraid of him?

She didn’t offer any words of thanks once the criminals had been loaded into their ships, only too eager to leave both the most wanted man in history, a Beastkin (she was racist too, big surprise) and the idiot Ninja that had somehow managed to terrify her. With the prisoner ships loaded and departing for an NOL prison, one much nicer ship landed and opened its hatch.

‘One last chance,’ Bang thought as he approached the ship, making sure he’d have the opportunity to see the final families off. Families plural became singular as he only found Mao’s family approaching the craft. The leadman was absolutely fuming as his wife and their young son looked far less certain about these events as they carried what few possessions they had. “Where are the other families?”

“They’re cowards that can’t bring themselves to leave.” So they had changed their minds after all. “Don’t think for a moment I’ll be as stupid.”

“I just think you’re acting rashly… and coming from me, apparently that’s saying something. I’ve been told,” Bang admitted, swallowing his pride to play the diplomat. “Even if you have your reservations, you could still wait to make a decision until later.”

“That’s what I tried telling him,” Mao’s wife cut in. Seems she wasn’t nearly as eager to leave and even their son seemed like he wanted to stay.

“If it’s safety you’re worried about, then you must know that’s not an issue. Did you not see the near armies that were escorted out of the city? The same ones that Ragna the Bloodedge and his partner had bested?”

“I saw. And that’s what tricked the others into staying. Can you beat him if he tries anything Bang? I don’t think you can.” Ragna overhead his character being brought into question, but said nothing as he stayed on the sidelines. “He’s a ticking timebomb, and I won’t have my family in the blast when he goes off.”

“…Very well,” Bang conceded. “If I might ask; where will you go?”

“Kagutsuchi; I heard that town’s safe enough these days,” Mao retorted. “And it’s close. Maybe when the others here wake up they’ll join me back in Roningai.”

“Kagutsuchi and Roningai were made safe because of Ragna the Bloodedge defeating the criminal element,” Bang reminded. “Just like he’s done here.”

“Right, meaning I don’t have to stick around.” Not what Bang was getting at, but Mao wasn’t hearing it as he roughly shoved his way past the ninja and boarded the transport. His wife gave an apologetic bow but followed her husband while their son said goodbye to his Uncle Bang. It killed the leader of the town to leave things here, but it was out of his hands now.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said he was stubborn,” Makoto commented as the ship finally took off and began heading for the 13^th Hierarchical city. “Still, sounds like we managed to change some minds in the last minute.”

“Yes, but I would’ve preferred if I could’ve convinced everyone,” Bang admitted mournfully.

“There’s still a chance you can convince him to come back,” she tried. “You know where he’ll be, so once things calm down just pay him a visit. Worst comes to worst and you still can’t change his mind, at least you’ll put your own at ease and know that he’s doing okay.”

“…Misses Nanaya! You’re absolutely right!” Bang exclaimed as he refound himself.

“It’s still Miss Nanaya…”

“All I have to do is make Wadatsumi so amazing of a city that not even Mao will be able to deny that it’s the superior choice to live here! I’ll have quite the work cut-out for me with his stubbornness! But I have nothing but faith that we’ll turn this city into a shining Beacon!”

“Good pep talk, but it’s too early in the morning for this and we’re both lacking on sleep,” Ragna groaned as she shook his head.

“With your constant patrols and fighting, it’s of little surprise!” Bang agreed. “For the rest of today, my men and I will take the entire watch! Strong as you both are, I can’t have you being run ragged!”

“Just don’t get in too far over your head that you end up getting killed,” Ragna reminded as the citizens of Wadatsumi started emerging from their homes and the supply ships started to land. “Let’s help them move the raw supplies before we grab what’s ours and go. Least we can do if we’re taking a whole day off.”

“I can get behind that; here’s hoping that they’ll finally be able to start using the supplies for more luxury stuff like furniture instead of all the constant repairs we’ve been doing.”

“According to Bang, there might be a chance of that since the town isn’t constantly getting damaged by raid parties now. Guess we’re too good for that and deal with ‘em too quick.” Without even needing to turn, Ragna tapped his fist against Makoto’s in a fist bump between the two partners.

Thankfully moving the supplies wasn’t too difficult and everyone was appreciative that the two were helping out. A couple of the city’s kids were trying to get details of the attack from last night, looking up to the town’s protectors a great deal. Both Ragna and Makoto would be worried that they tried mimicking their actions… but then again, Bang already did plenty to encourage that.

“Guess that’s everything moved over,” Ragna eventually declared as he set the last shipment of wooden planks down. “Anything else?”

“Couldn’t dream of asking you for more,” Shin-Wo said before wiping his brow with sweat after carrying his own load of supplies. “In fact, I feel guilty just for keeping you here after all that hell you got put through last night.”

“To be clear, I was the one dishing out hell. Those bandits didn’t even come close to causing me trouble,” Ragna cockily boasted, but the villagers around him gave a cheer for their new guardian.

“I could tell; I haven’t had to repair anything recently broken since you and Makoto got here,” Shin-Wo affirmed before turning to some of the taller and still incomplete buildings off in the distance. “Before you showed up I was thinking about leaving right alongside Mao and his family. No matter how much work we put into fixing this place, we kept having to waste time and resources constantly repairing the protective walls. And that was only when we still had some actual supplies to use before they got stolen. I mean I can’t fault Bang because he at least kept us all safe, but… wasn’t easy.”

“Didn’t sound like it was, but you guys got your town fixed and I got a place to stay that I won’t need worry about kicking me out.” Ragna would be lying if he said he wasn’t still just a little bitter for getting essentially kicked out of Kagutsuchi, but it was at least starting to matter less and less.

“Speaking of places; was what I gave you last night enough?”

“Perfect amount, just like you said,” Ragna commended. “Barely had enough time to finish, was just patching up the last of it before that alert went out and I had to haul ass to the walls.”

“Oh, so…”

“Keep it quiet for just a minute longer. Figure it would be a good surprise,” Ragna interrupted before the man could say anything more. Just in time too, as Makoto headed over with two oversized bags in her hands. “That’s our supply?”

“Our immediate supply anyways; Bang told us if we needed anything else we can still go to him,” she informed.

“Same here,” Shin offered. “Actually, hold on a second. Got something for the two of you anyways.” He didn’t have to go far, in fact what he was grabbing was hidden right behind the foreman’s desk. “Bottle of Sake and some cups for the both of you. My wife’s the big craftsman of the stuff and she’s wanted you to have a bottle as a sort of welcome. This is only the first bottle for her new setup, but you can expect us to personally deliver a bottle of the good stuff after she gets her work area perfected.”

“Thanks,” Ragna said as he accepted the gift. ‘Sake, eh? I know my master used to drink this stuff all the time, but I don’t think I ever had any for myself. To busy getting yelled at for not training right.’ “See ya around.”

“Enjoy the time off!” came the call from one of the workers as the group set into the daily building tasks. Unlike Shin, this wasn’t someone either of them were especially acquainted with, but still wishing them well regardless was good indicator of their progress in the city.

“When we get back, first thing I’m going to do is take an hour-long bath,” Makoto informed as Ragna helped by carrying on of the two bags himself. “And I’m claiming the first soak today.”

“Fine by me,” he easily agreed.

“And let’s not worry about repairing the rest of the house today; we should enjoy this day off while we have the chance.” A silent nod from her partner.

They weren’t directly approached the rest of their way back, but a few kids had still called out their greetings to the pair. It seemed if anyone was quick to trust in this situation it was the far less judgmental children. Both of them were fine with that; still noticeable progress for only their first week.

“Wait here a second,” Ragna insisted before he took Makoto’s bag when the two were right outside their shared house. “It’ll just be a second, I promise.”

Makoto just shrugged and let him enter, noticing that Ragna was careful not to let her see through the front door. It wasn’t a long wait at least as he returned to open the door for her and held it for her entry.

Inside Makoto was expecting to find a house still in need of several key repairs, but all of the holes in the walls and floor had finally been fixed. That wasn’t the only change as the back now had a proper screen door, there was chabudai (one of those low tables in Japan) with a set of cushions, and even a small indoor fire pit for cooking. The table was decorated with plates and the wine set they’d just gotten while a pot of stew was slowly cooking over the fire pit.

“You did all this?” Makoto asked with shock as she turned back to Ragna, who was trying not to look too proud with himself. “When?”

“That break I took during our patrols. You’d said you were ready to stop sleeping in a tent every damn night, so…” He shrugged. “I went and got the rest of the repairs finally done. And since I had a little extra time, I even managed to get a table and firepit set up. It’s basic, but-”

“It’s perfect!” Makoto told him before throwing her arms around Ragna’s neck and delivering a kiss straight to his lips. He returned the gesture and embrace… but seemed oddly startled afterwards. “What?”

“That… might’ve been our first kiss,” he realized. “I mean we’ve cuddled plenty before now, but still…”

“Haven’t had much time to each other when we haven’t been working, and afterwards we’re usually ready to eat rations and go to bed,” she reminded. “A whole day off today… guess we’ll need to make the most of it.”

“Right. Stew won’t be ready for a while, so why don’t you take that bath you were so interested in and I’ll get cooking?”

“Careful, you start spoiling me like this and I might not want to ever let you go,” Makoto teased.

“…I’ve had worse threats.” Ragna’s absurdity got a laugh out of Makoto, though she did pause as she glanced at the Sake bottle on the table. “Go ahead and have some in the bath if you really want to, just save enough so we’ll both get some with dinner.”

“Deal, I’ll just pour myself a cup to relax with,” Makoto promised as she did just that.

Ten minutes later Ragna was adding some final touches to his stew. It would still be a while before their slow cooked meal was ready, but good things took time and this particular recipe was a favorite of his. Now, if he could only get his hands on some udon to go with it. Just as he was finishing his cooking, he heard a sound he hadn’t for more than a week; his cell phone ringing.

‘Wonder if Kokonoe figured out we bailed from Kagutsuchi… no she’d have figured that out first thing. Someone else then?’ Getting to the bottom of this the practical way, he opened his phone to answer it. “Hello?” Silence on the other side. “Hello?”

“It’s really you…” Crap.

“Hey, Noel…” An awkward tension between them as the last time they’d seen each other in person, she’d been certain he was dying or dead. He didn’t know what took her so long to call, maybe figuring things out for herself? “How… have things been?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if you’ve been doing okay,” Ragna repeated as he took the phone back to the stew pot so he could keep monitoring it. “So?”

“Things have been… weird I guess, and that’s before I even found out about you.” Dammit, this entire time he figured she’d have been told he’d survived, at least after he’d escape Sector Seven. “I just checked the news and… I had some harsh things to say to Kagura.”

“What’s he got to do with this?” the Reaper demanded, hardly enjoying the idea of the womanizer being so close to Noel. Especially when someone wasn’t there to keep his advances in check.

“I’ve been working with him ever since you…” She didn’t finish that. “I’m basically his second Hibiki, working as a close aide of his. You don’t need to worry; he hasn’t tried anything yet. And if he does, I’m quick to shut it down.”

“…Alright.” Ragna knew he had to trust her and let Noel spread her wings, so that’s what he’d do for now. “And he just got around to tell you?”

“No, I figured it out myself after I logged some old NOL reports. I swear, it felt like everyone in the organization knew except for you. At least you’re pardoned.”

‘Didn’t do all that much; they treated me like a criminal.’

“I heard that you’re in Wadatsumi. With Makoto?” No jealously, but they’d never had that kind of relationship in the first place.

“She’s been a godsend, really,” Ragna insisted. “If it wasn’t for her, I might still be on a Sector Seven operating table, even if Kokonoe was still on my side.”

“Are you two-?”

“Dating, barely more than a week now,” he explained before smirking as he decided to add some levity to their call. “What about you? Find someone to call your own?”

“Yes, actually.”

Wind taken out of his sail just like that. And given who she was in close contact with…

“Tell me it’s not-”

“Not Kagura,” she assured him. Okay, that made things a lot easier. “Hibiki.”

“Hibiki!?” Ragna couldn’t help but blurt out. “I didn’t think he ever dated, or would for that matter!”

“I didn’t think so at first either. But we spent so much time together as she showed me the ropes to being Kagura’s secretary and… covering for my early mistakes.” Same old Noel. “I can’t even say we’re official, but we’ve been meeting up for lunches and dinners and it even sounds like he has a sort of date in mind. Very casual, but… it’s what I need right now… and it’s nice.”

“Then I’m happy for you.” He meant it.

“Is Makoto there? I don’t think she has her own phone and I’ve been dying to talk to her.”

“Sorry, she’s in the bath right now and she made it clear she won’t be getting out for a while,” the Reaper explained. “Especially not while she’s enjoying her Sake.”

“S-SAKE!? Noel seemed to blurt out suddenly. “Don’t tell me you gave her alcohol!”

“Uh… we got it as a gift?” Now that Ragna thought back to it, he’d never seen Makoto drink before. He assumed that she did, but he never seemed to see it. “Why? What’s going to happen if she-?”

“Oh Raaaagnaaaaaaaaaaa…” came the very slurred voice of Makoto as the bathroom door opened.

“…I’ll call you some other time,” Ragna promised, but didn’t give her a chance to respond as he immediately closed his cell phone.

He’d seen her orange robe before; big and fluffy. Normally she had it tied on reasonably tightly, but this wasn’t any normal time as the loose-fitting clothing was falling off and showing her black underwear beneath. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to be sensual as she approached him or if she was just drunkenly staggering, but either way her body had a certain rhythm to it. Her eyes were focused fully on him and her face had a noticeable blush.

“Uh… D-Dinner still won’t be ready for a while,” Ragna informed, trying to keep calm… and his eyes on her face as somehow her breasts were even more noticeable than usual. “I thought you were gonna take a longer bath.”

“But you’ve been slaving away for me aaaaaaaall day…” she said to him with a pout. “That’s not very fair…”

“I… don’t mind,” Ragna tried diplomatically as she got closer, practically on top of him as he sat next to the cook stew. “We’ll uh… I mean…”

“Ya know… you’re kinda cute when you’re so embarrassed…” she teased, leaning down and flicking the front of Ragna’s nose. “Cute… loyal… hardworking too… I gotta do something to show my appreciation.”

‘I can’t take advantage of her, especially not when she’s like this.’ “You… REALLY don’t have to do that.”

“You don’t want to?” Now her pout made it look like she was hurt. But Ragna had to stay steadfast… mostly.

“Well, maybe some other time we can-”

He didn’t get a chance as Makoto literally fell forward on him. Ragna couldn’t even brace himself as she-

…Rested her head on his lap and curled up, sighing softly as she lay there. Only getting over the initial shock by hearing his phone vibrate, Ragna opened the message that Noel had sent him.

It sounded like you were about to get caught by Makoto there. Like I was trying to warn you, alcohol makes her extremely clingy. Especially if you’re someone she’s close to. She won’t let you go until the alcohol wears off completely. You’re kind of trapped there, but…

It’s really nice, especially if she doesn’t fall asleep right away.

‘The hell does that mean…?’ Ragna thought, but at least he wasn’t nearly as worried as he was before. “Makoto?”

“Just lemme get a little rest over here…” she tiredly requested. “You can still watch the stew, right?”

“I guess I can,” he admitted.

“And… you can totally pet my ears and tail like you love to.”

THAT was a particularly tempting offer for Ragna. Even if he absolutely loved the more Squirrelly parts of his partner (and was horrible at hiding it) they were still parts of her body and he didn’t want to intrude on something she probably felt so personal about. Plus, he cared far more about Makoto than just for that.

“Please?” When she asked so cutely like that, he couldn’t possibly deny her. Normally he was all about the ears, but at this angle he decided to change it up and instead started by gently stroking her large tail. “Looks you’re pampering me even more now.”

“Well… I’d say I’m getting treated pretty good now myself,” he admitted with a soft smirk.

“You’re really special to me… You know that?” Makoto asked, though her voice was losing more energy by the moment. “I meant all that stuff I just said about you and…” With her gentle breathing, Ragna knew she’d fallen asleep.

‘Might as well let her stay comfortable,’ he decided, continuing to stir the stew with one hand while petting Makoto’s tail from the other. Glancing to the table, he eyed the partially filled bottle of Sake and remembered that his neighbor had said that there was another one on the way. ‘I don’t think letting her have a drink every now and again would be a bad idea.’