— — — — — — —
For the next period, Lynn's followers settled into a routine of three simple activities:
Eating, sleeping (sort of), and beating up the Zombies.
It's worth noting that Miko initially stayed in the Apocalypse world for a few days but ultimately decided to return home before evening.
After all, she still had a mother at home.
If she spent too many nights away, her mom would start worrying. Especially since she had once seen Lynn walking Miko home, she had somehow gotten the impression that Miko was living with her boyfriend.
If Miko stayed out too much longer, her mom might start preparing to be a grandmother!
— — —
Supernatural Investigation Club
As usual, Utaha and Miko were preparing to head into the Apocalypse world.
Since both of them had become quite familiar with it by now, Lynn decided not to accompany them this time.
His exact words to them were: "As mature followers, you should learn to grind for experience on your own."
As their leader, he couldn't always babysit them through battles.
He had his own things to take care of.
Very important things....
— — —
Lynn's Home.
In the living room, Koneko Tojo was curled up against Lynn, watching the 'Defeat' screen on the TV with a slightly disappointed expression.
No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't surpass her senior Lynn.
Lynn patted her head in reassurance. "Don't worry, you were really close this time. Just a little more and you would've beaten me."
Koneko leaned back, gazing at his chin before murmuring, "You've said that so many times before, Senpai."
"Ha, have I?"
Seeing that Lynn honestly couldn't remember, Koneko sighed.
"Oh well. Just being able to play games with you makes me happy."
She stood up and prepared to teleport back home using a magic circle.
But just before leaving, she suddenly paused as if remembering something.
"Oh, right."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out two objects. "Rais-buchou asked me to give these to you when she heard I was coming over."
"They're from Sona Sitri?"
After Koneko left, Lynn inspected the items.
A key and a water magic scroll.
He raised an eyebrow, not sure what Sona was up to.
To be honest, their first meeting hadn't been all that pleasant.
And after that day, they hadn't really interacted much.
Sona had never brought up the idea of participating in a Rating Game again either.
Lynn had assumed that was the end of it.
But now she'd sent something through Rias, using Koneko as the messenger.
"Hmm…"
"Oh well. Might as well accept it. No point wasting a free gift."
"The water magic scroll can be copied into the Devil's Grimoire for Utaha."
"As for the other item…"
He picked up the key, noticing an address attached to it.
He glanced out the window.
The sky was getting gloomy, with rain likely on the way.
With nothing better to do, he decided to check it out.
On the way, a light rain had started to fall. But for a Devil like Lynn, it was easy enough to coat himself in magic so that the raindrops never even touched him.
...
"This should be the place, right?"
He wasn't entirely sure.
Looking around, he considered asking someone for directions. That's when he noticed a blonde girl sitting alone in a nearby park.
Something about her seemed… familiar. Like he'd seen her in an anime before.
Lynn opened his system panel to check.
Sure enough, his Devil's Piece ability was flashing wildly.
Well, that confirmed it. With a small shift in direction, he changed his course toward the park.
Might as well recruit a new follower while he was here.
— — —
At Park
Sitting on a swing, drenched in the rain, Shiina Mahiru blinked in mild surprise as a pair of shoes stopped in front of her.
Looking up, she saw a young man with messy black hair and striking red eyes.
She felt no particular stir of emotion—only a reflexive response.
"I appreciate your concern, but this is by choice. I won't catch a cold."
Lynn: "..."
Damn. That was way too smooth.
Her rejection was so natural, so perfectly executed, that he had no idea how to respond for a second.
Clearly, she had done this many times before.
Noticing his expression, Mahiru hesitated slightly.
Had she been too harsh?
Other people had approached her earlier, and she had instinctively turned them away.
But was that rude?
As she wrestled with her thoughts, Lynn spoke up again.
"You look like you could use some help."
"No, I—"
Mahiru began to decline out of habit, but Lynn interrupted her.
"Maybe I should put it more clearly."
His deep red eyes locked onto her warm caramel-colored ones. "Would you like the assistance of a Devil?"
"...Huh?"
Mahiru was stunned.
People often called her an angel, but today, she had met a man claiming to be… a Devil?
.
.
.