CHOMP!
CHOMP!
GULP!
"UMM-!"
Gasper's chest locked up. He slammed a fist against it, but it didn't help.
Was this going to be his end?
No.
Who decided that?
He snatched up his glass like a lifeline and downed it.
GULP!
"AH!"
He sucked in a sharp breath, coughing as his eyes watered.
"Hey, maybe you should slow down," Saji said—though he couldn't lie, he was curious how a guy like him could almost lose a fight to plain meat.
"No way-*Nom!* I gotta get my money's worth." He began stuffing his face even faster than before, meat disappearing from his plate faster than Naruto when eating at Ichiraku.
Saji glared, exhausted. "It's not even your money. It's mine."
Saji shook off his exhausted expression and leaned forward slightly. "Ok, so what was that stuff you used to take down that bull guy?"
Gasper put down his plate and swallowed the food in his mouth.
"For me to tell you anything, you need to promise me something first."
Saji nodded his head eagerly. "Anything, just say it."
Gasper's eyes turned serious as he pointed at Saji. "No matter what I said today, you won't tell a soul. You also won't go out chasing something you have no business chasing. I saved you so you could live, not so you could go and throw your life away by playing monster hunter."
He leaned in slightly. "And if you do… you're not gonna like what happens next."
Saji hesitated, then put his hands up. "Okay, I get it—I won't tell a soul. So… the spinning ball and the glowing energy. What were they?"
Gasper shrugged. "Well, you see, I'm just reallygood at spinning balls. And the energy… well, you know, that's magic."
As the words flowed out of his mouth, a shit-eating grin slowly crept up his face. After all, there's no way he would have actually revealed what his abilities are, and what they could do.
He wasn't an idiot…
Okay, fine. He wasn't that much of an idiot.
'He just half-assed his answer, didn't he?...Ok, then. If he won't tell me what I want to know, let me try something more simple.'
"So… What's your name?"
"My name?? Well, if you have to know, it's Gasper. No relation to Casper the Friendly Ghost, of course."
"So you're a foreigner?"
Gasper simply nodded, confirming Saji's suspicion.
"So what was the bull-man?"
Gasper leaned back. "Now that is a long explanation. Do you want the long version or the short one?"
Saji leaned in, ready. "Tell me everything you know."
*****
"So… everything we were told was myth is actually real, and the original Satan died, the same with most of the 72 pillars… whatever that even means, and now other devils are taking their place like we do with our world leaders?" Saji said, putting his hands on his head as he tried to process the info.
"Yep, and that leads me to what the bull-man you saw was, and that, my friend, is a stray devil."
"A stray devil?…what's the difference between them and normal ones?"
After those words left Saji's mouth, Gasper smile died.
"Devils have this chess-piece system. It lets them turn people into devils," he said. "But here's the catch: you become their devil servant."
Saji blinked. "You mean… a slave?"
"Yep," Gasper said like it was the most normal thing in the world. "Some people volunteer. Most don't get a choice."
Saji's face was growing more disgusted by the second
"Being slaves, servants often try to gain freedom, so they go against their masters—sometimes even killing them. That makes devil society brand them as strays. Some mutate as well, turning into something else… like the bull-man."
Saji grabbed his glass of water and downed it all, then slammed the glass back on the table. "So devils are just all-around bad people, got it."
"Not all," Gasper said. "Some are actually decent. From what I know, the four Satans are solid people, especially magical gir— I mean, Serafall Leviathan."
Gasper nearly let his love for his goddess of luck, Magical Girl Levi-tan, slip. That could have been VERY bad.
"Well, that's good, I guess… but it's not like it really matters much anyway, being in Japan. That would mean we're probably under the protection of the gods of Japan." Saji said, like he'd just solved a tough math equation.
Gasper's sweat dropped.
"Well… normally that would be true." He said, "But Kuoh's kinda devil territory at the moment, and it's under the protection of the sisters of the current Lucifer and Leviathan."
Saji nearly burst out laughing. "HA… you almost had me there. Good joke."
Gasper looked him straight in the eyes.
Saji went white. "You're not joking…"
Gasper, seeing he had scared the deadlights out of him, tried to make it better: "You've got nothing to worry about unless you've got Sacred Gear—and like I said before, those are rare, so don't stress about it."
Gasper then shoved some more meat into his mouth.
"*Oh yeah*… *Gulp*...did I mention most supernatural races look human for the most part? Usually they've just got extra parts like wings, tails, stuff like that—but they hide it well. The easiest way to spot them is usually… unnatural beauty."
Saji hearing that perked up. Then he went dead serious. "So you're telling me having a cat-girl wife is still on the table?"
Gasper just stared at him with a look that said are you serious right now.
then without missing a beat, Gasper pulled out a plastic bag and started stuffing meat inside.
Saji's eyes widened.
Saji's panic grew by the second. He then whispered, "What are you doing? You're going to get us in trouble!" He peeked around nervously, half-expecting someone to catch them in the act.
"Don't worry about it, and stop panicking. I kinda have this passive that makes normal people not really notice me at night, no matter where I am."
"Wait, you're invisible? Then how can I see you? Oh god—do I have powers?"
"No." Gasper deadpanned. "I'm not invisible. It just kinda messes with people's perception a bit."
"If I do something crazy, they notice. If I don't, I'm like background noise."
Gasper pointed at a couple sitting two tables down. "Why do you think nobody's looking at us, even after everything I've said?"
After gathering his meat, he put the bag in one of his pockets, he pulled his mask back on, and got up from his seat.
"Well… that's about all the time I've got. Don't want to keep my cat waiting outside, soooo~… Have a nice life."
Saji watched him walk out of the restaurant and decided to just let him leave; after all, he got the answers he was searching for, now it was up to him to figure out how he would use that info.
Gasper stepped outside and saw Shirou waiting for him right at the restaurant entrance.
Shirou jumped and settled on Gasper's shoulder as Gasper pulled out an umbrella and opened it.
As he walked through the rain, he let himself drift into thought. 'Hmm… maybe I disclosed too much information. Well… it's not like it really matters. He's probably just a background character anyway. And it's not like I'll ever see him again.'
He walked down the street.
'Maybe I should delve into magic a bit more… find a spell so this kind of stuff doesn't happen again.'
*****
(November 20th, 2006)
As Gasper finished his daily workouts in his room and claimed his rewards. He saw that it was finally time.
He walked up to his closet and looked around to see if Shirou was around.
Seeing nothing, he opened the closet to reveal a shrine he made for magical girl Levi-tan. He shot a quick prayer, opened his gacha tab,
And pressed roll.
As the results poured in, he closed his eyes, letting the power of the magical girl guide him.
[Speedwagon's Oil Lantern (Part 1; Speedwagon) [Mortal]
A reliable light source used to navigate the dark, dangerous alleys of Ogre Street.]
[Lisa Lisa's Hamon Scarf (Part 2; Lisa Lisa) [Arcane]
Woven from the dried intestinal fibers of the rare Satiporoja beetle, this scarf conducts Hamon at 100% efficiency. Very NICE!]
[Rohan Kishibe's G-Pen (Part 4; Rohan) [Mortal]
The high-quality drawing tool of a famous mangaka. It feels perfectly balanced and ready for a manuscript.]
[Jolyne's Stone Pendant (Part 6; Jolyne Cujoh) [Transcendent]
A pendant for a caring father.]
[Money, $500 (Universally Applied) [Mortal]
Basic currency. Universally accepted.]
[Okuyasu Nijimura, Full Outfit (Part 4) [Mortal]
A distinctive high school ensemble decorated with "¥" and "$" symbols.]
[Aja-Slot Stone Mask (Part 2; Kars) [Transcendent]
The finalized version of the Stone Mask, designed to house the Red Stone of Aja and grant ultimate power.]
[Joseph's Polaroid Camera (Part 3; Joseph) [Mortal]
A standard instant camera.]
[Jotaro Kujo, Full Outfit (Part 3) [Mortal]
The iconic dark modified school suit, including the hat that blends seamlessly with the wearer's hair.]
[Trussardi's Chef Knife (Part 4; Tonio) [Arcane]
An exceptionally sharp and well-balanced culinary tool used by a master chef to prepare life-changing saving meals.]
Gasper slowly opened his eyes to what awaited him on the other side, and he wasn't very impressed, to say the least.
"Am I…getting trolled? Why the hell is a pendant in Transcendent?"
Gasper understood the mask, and he would have in fact been ecstatic if it weren't for one thing…
HE DID NOT HAVE A PURE RED STONE OF AJA!!!
It was starting to look like Levi-Tan was putting her strongest soldier through the hardest of hardships once again with these trash pulls.
"Well, hey, at least the pendant might look nice as an accessory," Gasper muttered dryly, trying to cope with failure as he pulled the stone pendant out of his inventory.
Holding it in his hand, he had to admit it looked pretty cool, it kind of reminded him of the beetle arrow from part five.
He popped it open—
And the first thing he saw was Jolyne in a photo with her father.
"Hmm, not bad. Maybe I can hang it somewa-"
SLICE!
"HUH!" Something slid down his palm. Gasper instinctively let go of the pendant and jerked his hand away.
He looked down at his hand.
A BLADE WAS PIERCING HIS PALM!
"WHO THE ACTUAL HELL PUTS A BLADE IN A PENDANT?!"
He then yanked the blade out and shoved both the pendant and the attempted murder weapon back into his inventory.
He let his Hamon run through him to try to seal the wound fast.
"What the hell…?" He looked at the seemingly small cut that should have been sealed but there was a small problom.
IT WAS STILL OPEN!!!
"Maybe I just didn't do it right," he said, trying to convince himself.
So he tried again.
He kept staring at his hand, his panic climbing higher by the second.
"It's—IT'S NOT WORKING!"
Now fully panicking, he sprinted to the bathroom.
And that day, he swore to himself Shirou would never hear about this, because knowing him, he'd never let him live it down.
←–TO BE CONTINUED—