"I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, their death will not be kind." -Misaki Elledan

I went back to church. Apparently, Kasai and the twins were getting along. Misaki looked at me and said,

“Yo! Welcome back.” Then Yumi turned towards me and said,

“I would have never guessed that you two are a couple… I could have sworn you were also twins.” I chuckled and said,

“Yeah, we get that a lot, I guess that is because we are both half devils.”

“Taking the ‘couples start to look alike’ to another level.”

“We also get that a lot.” Kasai hugged me and said,

“So, how did it go?”

“Pretty good actually.”

“Thankfully. I actually expected her to go crazy.”

“Nah, it was fine.” Yumi smiled while looking at us and said,

“You both sure make a cute couple though.”

“Heh, Thanks!” We said our goodbyes to the priest and walked away. We walked all the way to the edge of the cloud, we had the vision to the land below, it was huge but not as big as Greenterra, I had eyes on a desert in the center, and snow in the north. I was actually fascinated by how those two climates could be so close to each other, maybe this is also a work of the elders? But why would they do so?

“I talked to Yumi and Misaki, they said it’s because the elders want as much diverse wildlife as possible.” Dammit, Kasai! Stop breaking in my inner monologue! She then giggled. “So, how do we get to the land below from here?” I asked.

“We jump!” Said Misaki.

“J-J-JUMP?!” I exclaimed. Misaki snickered and said,

“Nah, I’m just playing.”

“Oh ok, but you sure didn’t sound sarcastic when you said it.” Then Yumi looked at us and said,

“Because she wasn’t…”

“Huh?........” Then, Misaki pushed us off. “Wait! WAIT! WHAAAAATTT?!!!” While I was dying, Kasai was beside me holding onto me while laughing.

“Hahaha, It’s just like the roller coaster!”

“WOMAN WE ABOUT TO DIE!” Then we hit something, but as soon as we touched it, we teleported back up where Yumi and Misaki were.

“W-wait… what happened?!” Yumi sighed and said,

“Misaki could you stop showing people the blue barrier THAT way?”

“Hah, but it’s fun, Yumi!”

“The blue barrier?” I asked puzzled.

“Yes. With a kingdom in the clouds, you would expect it to be dangerous. If kids accidentally fall off or any object does, then they will automatically teleport back up.” Said Yumi.

“These elders have thought of everything!” I said.

“They have indeed.” Said Misaki.

“So then…”

“Don’t worry, we’ll jump with you this time. This is Misaki’s job.” Said Yumi.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Misaki giggled, grabbed our arms, and jumped with us while saying,

“Water Diffuse!”

“Say what?!” Then, she also said,

“Ocean Arsenal, a Rocket launcher!” Water started forming on her hand creating a rocket launcher shape, she aimed down towards the barrier and fired what It seemed to be a water rocket. This was undoubtedly an exciting singularity. The rocket exploded in the barrier and opened a hole that we could go through.

“There! We go through that hole, and we should be a-ok!” Said Misaki.

“THIS IS CRAZY! HOW ARE WE GOING TO LAND?!”

“This is where Water Diffuse takes place!” Said Misaki.

“WHAT?!” Suddenly, all of our bodies turned into pure water. No more skin, no more anything, we were all just bodies of water shaped into our body form. It was the weirdest feeling I’ve ever felt, I still somehow could look around and use my body as if it was a normal one, but I was indeed no longer 55% water, I was 100% now.

“Honey look! I’m as shallow as Shizuka!”

“Ok, ok, good pun Kasai, but that was a bit mean!” Then, we were about seven seconds from slamming against the ground. We were about to land in the middle of a green open field.

“WHAT NOW?!” I yelled.

“We slam against the ground!” Yelled Misaki with a concerning happy tone.

“Ah… makes sense…” Then we all splashed against the ground and dispersed. My vision went black, I was sure I died until the water particles started rebuilding themselves until our bodies were back to shape. I got my vision back, and the water particles disappeared. I had my solid body back again. “Oh my god! That was the scariest thing ever.” I looked up, and Kasai was there with a super happy face.

“Yeah! That was so much fun!” She said with sparkling eyes.

“See? It was cool right?” Asked Misaki. I turned back to Kasai, laid my hands on her shoulder while sighing and said,

“Baby… I could fight a lion for you, I could fight a death wanderer for you, I would sacrifice myself for you, I could even sleep in a haunted house with a hundred ghosts… but jump from that height? I’m sorry, but you’re on your own next time.” The girls giggled. Misaki walked up to me patted me in the back and said,

“You did good man; how did you like my singularity though?”

“Uhm… could you explain please?” She took out a water bottle out of her bag and said,

“Ocean Arsenal allows me to use my own body H2O to make weapons. Of course, it’s limited by the amount of water I consume a day. Humans are usually supposed to drink at least half a gallon a day. I drink around…. Three gallons depending on how often I use that ability.”

“Oh, what happens if you use it too much?”

“I get exhausted, my skin gets dry, and… I’ve never pushed myself that far so I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s a damn cool singularity, to say the least.”

“Thanks, bro!”

“What about that Water Diffuse thingy?”

“Oh, that’s my spiritual singularity, it allows me to transform a person into the water for a couple seconds. They stay in the water form for a while. They only get out of that form if they hit a thing at a fast speed.”

“Cool, cool.”

“Right?!”

“Misaki, you really telling them how your singularity works?!” Said Yumi.

“Come on Yumi, you still don’t trust them?” Yumi took a deep breath and said,

“Hmm… you’re right, they seem like good people. At least Kasai does, I don’t know about Rukito.”

“Hey! What did I do?”

“I’m just joking Rukito, you seem like a nice guy, while you were away Kasai wouldn’t be quiet about how nice of a guy you have been to her.” I blushed and said,

“Wait, really?”

“As much as I heard.”

“Wait… you can hear her?” Yumi smiled and said,

“The elders made special earrings for the advent children so they could communicate with mystical beasts like the griffons. How they work is that they basically let us use telepathy with them as a way of communication, I’m guessing I got your signals with it and could hear you.”

“You could hear us all this time?!”

“Pretty much. You have a keeper, she really loves you, you better not treat her bad.”

“Yumi, would you squash a puppy?”

“No, how could I?”

“Exactly!” Kasai looked back at me and said,

“Wait… are you comparing me to a puppy?!” I looked back at her and chuckled.

“I mean, am I wrong?”

“I’ll let you know I’m stronger than you!” Said Kasai.

“That’s a lie. I easily beat you at arm wrestling back at the hotel.”

“I mean that I could beat you in a fight!” I chuckled again and said,

“I can agree that your singularity is a lot stronger than mine, and you’re a lot more skillful than I am. But I’m a bit smarter and more strategic. And nothing wins fights more than strategy.”

“S-Shut up!” She said while blushing. Yumi started giggling and said,

“Kasai, you going to let him call you dumb like that, Sista’?” Said Misaki.

“Hey, I didn’t call her dumb!” Kasai smiled and said,

“It’s fine, I know I’m not one of the smartest people. He’s not wrong on that topic.” I felt bad now. I got close to her and gave her a quick kiss.

“I love you either way, ok? You don’t need to be on Shizuka’s level to be with me.”

“You two are just too cute.” Said Yumi. Misaki walked up to Yumi and said,

“Hey, Yumi, why don’t you show them your singularity?”

“Hmmm, maybe another time, when it’s needed.”

“Alright.”

“By the way, I forgot to ask…” I said.

“Hmm?”

“Who is the strongest Advent Children?”

“Strongest? As in strength or intelligence?”

“Both!”

“The smartest one is definitely the oldest one. Her name is Methuselah, we usually just call her Selah for short.”

“How about the strongest?” I asked. Misaki giggled and said,

“It’s me of course!” Yumi looked back at us and said,

“We should hurry up before night falls. Scary and dangerous creatures actually roam around these places when it’s dark, there are no guards to keep them at bay.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Yumi.” Said Kasai. Damn, it’s weird seeing her interact with other people. We started making our way towards the desert I saw before landing. I didn’t really know where we were going, I was just following Yumi.

“We will soon arrive onto a desert filled with crabs and scorpions.” Said Yumi.

“Uhm, that doesn’t sound that bad,” I said.

“They are giants…”

“Ah… well, then take out your singularity Kasai.”

“No, it’s not needed.”

“Huh?”

“Misaki can take care of all of them.”

“Wait, are you sure?” Misaki turned around and said,

“Hell yeah, I can!”

“Alright, if you say so.” Minutes later, we arrived in the desert. Tall rock formations and hills were ahead. It was very dusty, I bet this place usually has sandstorms.

“Luckily I have other sand scarves around in my bag… Misaki’s bag is only filled with water bottles after all.”

“So there are sandstorms here huh?” Asked Kasai.

“Mhm.” She gave Kasai, and I sand scarves. “If a sandstorm is about to hit us just cover your eyes.”

“Roger that,” I said. We kept walking deep inside the desert. Out of nowhere, a bunch of scorpions started to quickly crawl towards us, there were… more than I could count. They were the same size as dogs, I’ve never seen such huge scorpions before.

“Misaki, it’s showtime.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice! Ocean Arsenal!” She made two Uzis out of the water and dual-wielded them. “Just stay behind me.” She put her green bandana on and started shooting the scorpions that were approaching us.

“Woah! She is so cool!” Said Kasai. I noticed that her eye movement was quick, she was reacting to every single scorpion approaching us from every angle… now I see why Yumi trusts her so much. Right, left, front, back. She was simultaneously covering each of our sides. I was starting to understand why she is the strongest advent children. But she completely lost that innocent look of hers… her eyes were full of seriousness and focus, they were full of concentration and cunningness.

“I’ll go up ahead clearing a path, the herd should stop coming. They usually attack the first thing they feel touching their zone, but they learn to back off when they realize they can’t win.” That was the last things she said before walking up ahead of us.

“Have you noticed?” Asked Yumi.

“Yes… I have.” Said Kasai.

“What exactly?” I asked.

“When Misaki puts that bandana on, she becomes someone else. She is no longer innocent and full of energy.”

“I noticed that, but how come?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you this but… I trust you so don’t tell anyone.”

“We won’t, I promise.”

“Well… Misaki is the boss of the gang ‘The Rebels.’”

“THE REBELS?”

“Yes, they are actually a very influential gang across the world. You could even call them a mafia at a point.”

“But she doesn’t seem to hate humans. She seems like such a nice girl to be around.” Said Kasai.

“Yeah, not anymore. She is so good at managing her two lives that no one could ever guess that she is the boss.”

“Yeah, no shit. I would have never in my life imagined it. But again, she doesn’t hate humans, right?”

“Before she used to despite humans since they also had gangs that were racist against cloud elves. The only reasons the rebels exist right now is to control the reputation of the cloud elves outside the kingdom.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Asked Kasai.

“Our father, the king, is too nice to show any intimidation, so the humans never really respected us that much since we are known to care a lot about nature and entertainment, so they think we are soft people who only think for ‘plants and laughs.’”

“Ah, I see…”

“Misaki created the rebels because she was sick of humans looking down on our race and giving NO respect whatsoever. Our father had to beg, so humans had a peace treaty with us, the war was too much of a big toll for the whole kingdom.”

“So that guy that attacked us in the ship was… a rebel?”

“Oh, that guy?” Said Yumi. “No, he’s just a wanna’ be rebel. There’s a lot of people claiming that they are in the mafia since they think it’s cool, especially kids; they don’t understand that it’s not cool, it’s actually very harsh.”

“Oh ok, that makes sense.”

“Apparently, it’s also tough to join.”

“What do you have to do?”

“Not sure, Misaki doesn’t even want to talk about that life of hers with me.”

“Oh wow.”

“All I know is that they call her, ‘Emerald Death’ or E.D for short.”

“Thanks for trusting me with this, Yumi,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s just… sometimes I really worry for her… one day she might not come back you know?”

“Oh… I understand.”

“Rukito… could you possibly talk to her about it one of these days?”

“But of course! I’ll try my best.”

“What’s up with the bandana though?” Asked Kasai.

“I heard that her best friend died in a fight against a human gang, and now she carries her bandana as the respect of her death.”

“Damn… that must suck.” I said.

“Also, she hates guys touching her.”

“Oh, so basically a Kasai 2.0.”

“And by that I mean… she gets aggressive if you touch her. Since she is in an environment with a lot of criminals… too many guys have been trying to sexually assault her… they have all died so far so, be careful when you get close to her, she might pull out a gun out of reflex.”

“Ah, great.”

“She is cool but… she is quite scary now.” Said Kasai. I don’t know Kasai… I think you’re even scarier… seeing Kasai killing people without a single look of care is actually pretty frightening.

How come are the little innocent girls always the scariest ones inside huh? Misaki walked back towards us, took her bandana off and smiled at us.

“Path cleared!” Kasai and I were looking at her with a concerned look. “Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“You’re really good with those guns,” I said. She giggled and said,

“Thanks, bro, I practiced a lot.” Now, I was really curious to ‘accidentally’ bump into her. I need to gain her trust if I want to talk to her about her other life. I’ve never dealt with someone like her, so breaking through her shell won’t be easy… but then, I did it with Kasai so it should be easier to make her feel comfortable around me.

“Mind if you teach me sometime? I only know how to use swords.”

“YO?! I’ve wanted to also learn how to use a sword man! I think they are so cool!”

“Alright, then I guess we can set up a day to teach another.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just need to find the time.”

“Oh alright!” Yumi looked at us and said,

“It’s starting to get dark, we should set up a camp somewhere around here.”

“Good idea.” Said Kasai. We found a large spot on top of a rock and decided to camp there.

“I’ll be setting the tent up, luckily, it can fit four people.” The thought of sleeping in a tent with three other girls made me quite nervous, but I have to remember, I am a taken man now. Kasai looked at me with an evil grin and said,

“Don’t we need someone to be outside for guard?” This girl…

“Oh yeah! You’re right.” Yumi looked at me. “Rukito, you’re the man here.”

“What do you mean?!”

“By following human culture, isn’t it your job to defend girls?”

“… I guess…”

“Then Rukito will be the night watch.” Said Yumi. I just wanted to sleep with three girls…

“Yumi, I’m hungry!”

“Hmm… the sun is just about to disappear. if you want to go look for some food, you better hurry up but remember you won’t find much in this desert.”

“Don’t worry, I got it!” This was an excellent chance to be with Misaki.

“Misaki, mind if I come with you?”

“Not at all!” She said.

“Thanks.” Kasai walked towards Yumi and said,

“Hey Yumi, I…”

“Yes?”

“I want to learn how to cook, could you teach me?”

“Oh, how come?”

“Well… all I much know how to do is fight, and I want to learn all the things that a good wife should know.”

“Aww, you’re so cute. Well, cooking takes some time to learn, but I don’t mind teaching you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll try my best!” I really am a lucky man, huh? Misaki and I went out to find something.

“So, what is edible around this place?”

“There’s actually desert boars somewhere around here.”

“Desert boars?”

“Yeah, they usually like to rest under some tall rocks, so they shouldn’t be that far.”

“Oh, alright; I really thought we were going to eat some scorpions.” Misaki giggled and said,

“You’re funny, Rukito.” I smiled and looked at her. She is going to be a good friend of mine, I can tell.

“Hey, Misaki, where did you learn how to use all those different weapons? You seem really good at using all of them, I’m just curious.”

“Oh, thank you. I actually practiced by myself.”

“Really? That’s admirable.”

“How about you? How did you learn to use swords?” I took out my spirit daisho and showed her.

“These? My master taught me, Maria’s fiancé.”

“Wow! They look so cool!”

“Nah, I think your singularity is so much better.”

“I don’t know about that. Can I see them?”

“The blades? Don’t you know that if you touch another person’s singul-” She used water diffuse on her hand and touched the swords.

“I won’t touch them, the water will, and since it doesn’t count as part of me, then I am able to touch other people’s singularity.”

“Oh, wow. Alright, go ahead.” She took my tanto and carefully inspected it.

“Wooow… the wolf on it looks so badass!” I sheathed my wakizashi out and showed her the other two wolves.

“This one looks even better.”

“WOOOOOW!” If I wanted to get comfortable with her, she had to get comfortable with me. We needed to start off from small body contacts like a hand on the shoulder or hands slightly touching. If we would become good friends to the point that she tells me all about her other life, then we have to get comfortable with each other.

She played around with the swords for a couple seconds and then gave them back to me.

“What about that one?” She pointed at my Katana.

“That’s a bit special, I still need to train to use it.”

“Oh, alright.”

“Misaki, can I see your hand?”

“My hand? What for?”

“It’s quick, trust me.”

“Uhm… alright…” She lends her hand out to me and softly grabbed it to check for the Advent Children birthmark.

“A comet on top of the hand… wow, looks nice.”

“Oh, the birthmark? Yeah! Every Advent children have one.”

“So I’ve heard, I just needed to make sure.” I kept holding her hand for a while until I decided to grab her arm and softly pull her away with me. “Let’s go find the boars! Yumi and Kasai are going to starve to death if we take too long.” I looked at her to make sure she didn’t show signs of uncomfortableness, surprisingly enough she was smiling.

“Haha, you’re right bro! I completely forgot.” We kept walking until we found a boar, it was walking beside a rock in the distance.

“Hey, Misaki.”

“Hm?”

“I bet you that I can catch that boar with two hands without using my weapons on him.”

“Hmm, you really think you can do that? Not even I can catch them without my guns.”

“Yup.”

“What are we betting?”

“Well if I catch it, then I get to ask you one question you need to answer truthfully.”

“Hmm…” She looked like she was going to say no, so then I said.

“If I don’t catch it in less than a minute, then I owe you 5,000 Crystalis.”

“5,000?! Ok, I’m down!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s do it then.”

“I’ll start counting as soon as you start running.”

“Ok.” I got ready, started planning what exactly I was going to do, and then sprinted towards the boar.

“One, two, three, four…” The boar looked at my way and started running.

“Come here you hairy pig! I’ll get you good!” The boar was actually quite fast as I expected. I started to make it turn left where some rock mountains were at.

“You got 30 seconds!” I thought I was close enough to catch it, so I jumped for it, but the boar managed to dodge me.

“Plan B it is!” I looked up where the small rocky mountain was, then took out my spirit daisho. “Alright, hairy piggy get ready.

“15 seconds! I’m about to be rich!” I sheathed my tanto out and threw it in the middle of two rocks making the rocky mountain fall in front of the boar making him stop.

“I got you now!”

“10, 9, 8, 7…” I jumped towards the boar and grabbed him with both of my hands.

“GOT IT!” I tied the boar up and dragged it towards Misaki.

“Oh damn, there were only a couple seconds left.”

“Welp, now you have to answer one question of mine.”

“Ok, ok. What’s the question?”

“Where did you get that cool bandana? It looks like it’s very important to you.” I know it was a bit mean to ask, but I had to ask something that seemed not suspicious, and that could get her to talk about her other lifestyle.

“Oh… uhm…” She looked away with the nervous look and said, “I…”

“You have to tell the truth, remember?”

“Sorry, Rukito… I can’t say.”

“Oh, it’s fine then! You don’t have to if you don’t feel like it, Misaki.”

“But, the bet was-” I chuckled, laid my hand on her shoulder and said,

“It’s ok, it was all just for the fun of it anyways.” I expected her to pull out a gun on me, but she looked back at me and smiled.

“Ah, alright! Thanks, Rukito.”

“Nah, let’s go! They probably starved to death, plus the moon is already out.”

“OH! I keep forgetting!” We got back to the camp and gave the boar to Kasai and Yumi. They both started cooking while Misaki and I were settling in. A couple of minutes later we all ate together and had a great time laughing and telling stories. The girls went to sleep while I stood outside for watch. Three hours later, Misaki was going to replace me.

I sat there at the edge of the tall rock where we were camping, thinking about many things, is Shizuka alright? Is Sachi alright? What are our parents thinking right now? And what is black tombstone up to? As I was thinking stuff like these, Misaki walked out of the tent.

“Hey Misaki, there is still 1 hour left before you’re up.”

“I couldn’t sleep…” I noticed that she wasn’t wearing her hat, the earring for telepathy, bandana or jacket, so she looked a lot different to me. I also saw her eyes were soft and calmed, she was herself at this time.

“Wow, you look like another person without your accessories.”

“Haha, you think so?” She sat beside me looking at the stars with me.

“Is something on your mind?”

“Yeah…” Her tone was soft and calm, I could tell that she wasn't her energetic self right now.

“Mind telling me?”

“I…”

“Hmm?”

“Rukito, I know Yumi told you about me being the leader; I’m not stupid.”

“Oh… Sorry, I just didn’t think you would like me knowing something like that.” I look at her again, and tears were running down her cheeks. I wanted to hug her and comfort her really bad, but she doesn’t like getting touched. Out of nowhere, she jumped at me and hugged me while crying.

“I’m so tired of living like that… I see friends that I treat as family dying before my very own eyes over, and over, and over again! But… I can’t stop, for the sake of our race.”

“Misaki…” I hugged her back and started caressing her shoulders. I really hope Kasai understands. “I could Imagine that it must suck a lot…”

“I’ve been holding my tears in for so long… if I show weakness, they won’t see me as a good leader anymore. So sometimes I have to act coldhearted in front of them.” I was trying really hard to find words to say, I wasn’t prepared for something like this.

“Ah… but why didn’t you talk about it with Yumi then?” Her voice was shaky since she was crying, she looked up to me with teary eyes and said,

“I don’t want her to think I’m weak either… but you… are different.”

“Different?”

“I don’t really get along well with boys, but with you it was different. We get along pretty well, right?” I smiled at her and said,

“Of course we do. But I want you to understand something Misaki.”

“Hmm?” She looked at me. I held her shoulder and look back at her.

“Showing emotions doesn’t mean showing weakness. You don’t have to be cold-blooded when wearing that bandana, you don’t have to… emotions are what makes us humans- or… cloud elf and half devil in this context.” She giggled and said,

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“Plus, I’ll always be available if you need a shoulder to cry on, ok? I’ll just have to check on my shoulder to cry on schedule.”

“Ok!” She giggled and wiped her tears off, then, I got up.

“Well, since you’re starting your watch early then I’ll take advantage and slide into the sheets.”

“But, I was hoping we could talk more!”

“I really like talking to you Misaki, I really do, but I’ve been sleepy for a while. Being a succubus’s boyfriend sure is not easy.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, good night!”

“Good night… and… thanks.” I smiled and said,

“Augh, anytime.” I went into the tent where Kasai and Yumi were looking at us the whole time.

“It’s kind of scary of how fast you can get comfortable with girls…” Said Kasai.

“I… I noticed.” Said Yumi.

“I have no idea of what you’re talking about,” I said with a sarcastic tone.

“Well, it sure won’t work on me.” Said Yumi.

“Is that an invitation? Because all I hear is, ‘Oh Rukito! Please also be my friend!’”

“S-Shut up!”

“I have to keep you on a leash…” Said Kasai.

“Ah, don’t worry sweetheart, I will always love you more than anything physical and intangible. Just that sometimes, some girls need some comfort and venting in their lives.”

“Oh no, please, no dirty talk about leashes in this tent.” Said Yumi.

“Y-Yumi! You’re making it worse!” Said Kasai while blushing. Yumi giggled and laid down, Kasai was at the center, and I was at the right beside Kasai.

“I’m tired, good night.” Said Yumi.

“Welp, good night then.”

“Good night.” Obviously, throughout the night, Kasai was teasing me by putting her butt close to my dick. It was getting very annoying to the point that I grabbed her by her face and kissed her.

“Stop…” I whispered. She giggled and said,

“What do you mean?”

“I’m about to go outside with Misaki again.”

“Go ahead then, damn…” I slowly started getting up, but then she pulled me down again. “Really? You were actually going to do so?”

“Could I sleep, please?” She puffed her cheeks and said,

“Alright, alright.” She turned towards me, I put my arms around her, and we instantly fell asleep… it’s as if as soon as I hug her laying down, I get super sleepy.

Next day we all woke up, went outside, and noticed Misaki sleeping.

“MISAKI!” Yelled Yumi. She got up and looked at us.

“Mmmm… why is the bed so hard?” Asked Misaki. I looked far away into the distance and noticed a sandstorm coming towards us.

“Oh…”