Namikaze Haru walked the street home once more, sighing to herself all the while. It's been a few days already since seeing Sona's brand of corporal punishment, but she'd really rather not see anything that terrifying ever again. She honestly had enough pain that month as is.
That said… she felt a buzz in her pocket, making her pick up the phone inside. Opening it up, she reads it. It was from her mother, apparently.
"Haru, could you go to the supermarket to buy some groceries? I was going to get them, but right now I'm too busy at work and might have to come home late. Bye!"
Below that was the whole list, listing anywhere from a tray of eggs, chilis, green onions, and some TV dinners as well. There also included some Natto, probably for dad, and some new mittens since apparently mother dropped the pair she owned at first in the open fire. Fair enough, but she needed some money first, but thankfully there was a little note underneath that described in great detail that she could get as much money as she needed from underneath her father's drawer.
She closed her phone with a deep sigh, and increased her pace. A little after, she began to run, trying her best to avoid any oncoming traffic. Despite this, however, nothing could stop her from slamming face first with another person from a blind spot.
"Kyaa—" the woman shouted as she got hit, falling to the ground on a heap, her head bouncing twice. She nursed her head and hand while mewling quietly in pain. She wiped her head with her sleeve with a small sigh, her eyes widening after seeing the blood staining it.
Shaking her head, her eyes open slightly as she realized that someone else got hurt. Who she just bumped into, she didn't know but she was going to do her best to fix whatever injury they incurred after the collision. "Are you alright!? … Eh?" She looked them up and down, but it seemed like the stranger wasn't hurt at all, but she certainly was, if the blood dripping from one of the pointy parts in their hat was any indication.
Haru felt alright, definitely. There were much worse things for her to get hurt by at some point in her life, but she never got to them yet. The way she was made allowed her to be a whole lot tougher than the usual. The question was, what the hell was she going to do now that everyone else saw her crash into her? She was in a pretty bad situation now, that was for sure, seeing the pretty big goose egg she gave to the poor girl. And the scratch she gave her on her forehead, ouch…
She looked really pitiful. She was just about keeling over, very dizzy and so on. She felt bad, really bad. If anything, she should be asking that to her instead. It was her fault after all.
She patted herself over a bit, and nodded. She stood up and lent her a hand, which she quickly took. "I should be asking the same to you, really. I gave you pretty big fall. I'm so sorry about that." She gives her a big, big smile.
She could finally take her appearance in, she realized. Judging from the conservative black robe, the veil that fell to the side and the cross necklace she was wearing, she was probably a nun by occupation. Add all of that with her blonde hair, and she was pretty beautiful, if of the untouchable types thanks to her chosen work. Why she decided to become one at her age, she wasn't so sure, but whatever reason it was wasn't her business.
Her thoughts go back to the old friend that left the country almost a decade ago, and she shakes her head. It'd be nice if it was so simple to just go back to remember old memories, but it wasn't. She'd rather not do anything about that at the moment.
The girl shook her head and still gave her a pained, if bigger smile than before. "No, no, don't worry. It's as much my fault as it is yours, you know." She bowed down, flinching slightly at her side, and returned to eye level with her. "D-Don't worry about it, I can walk the rest of the way."
"Is that so…" she breathes in, looking to the sides to make sure everyone else had already walked away from the scene. "Um, pardon me but are you a sister of the church? I can kind of tell from your attire and the veil you wore, so…"
Her eyes widen, and she nods happily, if stiffly. "Ah, yes, yes I am! I'm kind of new to the country, actually, so I'm new to Japan and Japanese culture as a whole. You know, staff restructuring, that kind of stuff. Hehe." She chuckles.
Oh, so even the Church is going through its own problems then. She thinks to herself, remembering back to all of the heretical sects that had popped up here and there and caused problems to the local population. Those were the only times she had to cross blades with any more Fallen Angels, though for the most part even they seemed to be separated from the Grigori organization as a whole. At the very least, they were loose cannons of some sort, but she wouldn't know until one of the big honchos spoke up about it.
"I'm actually more surprised to find a person so good at speaking English, you know. I may be from Italy, but I had to learn English pretty quickly so that I could get around talking to tourists and so on. I'm not very good at Japanese as a result, ahahaha…" The laughing turned bitter fairly quickly, though she returned to her positive outlook.
"Although," she tilted her head to the side with her face appearing a little confused. "How did you know that was the only other language I'd be good at?"
She rubbed the back of her head for a bit and looked to the side. "Well, I just had a hunch. Not many people look like you here, you know," Besides people like my senpai Rias, but even she had the excuse of looking, acting and even having the name of a pretty exotic European culture. " And knowing you're a foreigner and travelling here, I figured that'd be the best language you'd be good at speaking."
Smiling brightly, she offered her her hand. "Namikaze Haru, student at Kuoh Academy. A pleasure to meet you." Nodding once, she takes it and shakes it.
"Asia Argento, soon-to-be sister of the Kuoh Cathedral. The same, and a pleasure to meet you." She cringes, and turns around.
"I beg your pardon, but I have to go now—" She gasped, clutching at her side, and feeling a little blood go down her face once again. "Oooh, that's going to hurt a lot… Don't worry, Haru-kun I can handle myse…"
She breathed in, looking at the hand holding hers with her eyelids wide open. Even she looked a bit surprised at the bold action, but she held onto her desire to do some good that day. Swallowing in some spit, she told her what she had in mind.
"Just go with me for a little bit. My house is only a few blocks away from here. I have some basic first aid training, and I have medicine to treat that there. You don't have to force yourself to go there." Still a little shocked, she nodded dumbly as she was taken from there to the kind stranger's home. They made sure to let her lean on her a little longer as she was physically
Haru made sure to pick up both her veil and the things she was holding onto before she fell onto her. Using her keys to open up the door, she welcomed her inside, leading her to sit on the dinner table. "Just wait for me a bit, I'll go get the medicine." She bowed, and went to find the emergency kit.
Asia Argento could only awkwardly wait for Haru to come back with the treatments she promised, going straight to the kitchen counters to get it. She leaned on one side, holding onto her head with a sigh. She honestly didn't want to stay at her home for any longer than she needed to, but leaving now would be rudely denying her hospitality. She would deal with it when it came, however. It was honestly a good thing that she stepped in to help either way…
Haru scrounged through their medical equipment, and took what she needed. Along with all of that, she took a long piece of cloth and a small tub of water, picking up some ice from the freezer during that. She sighed, and went back to the waiting girl.
She wiped away the blood still pouring out slightly, and pushed it in with a clean cloth to make sure it stopped bleeding. Satisfied, she picked up a Q-Tip and went to work with cleaning it up for the bandage.
Taking the cotton bud, she dipped it in the bottle of Povidone-iodine and told her to stay still for a moment. Afterwards, she rubbed the open wound on the left side of her forehead where the open wound was with the medicine. She reeled a little bit when she saw her flinch at the sting, but continued on with it regardless. After that was done, she ripped a ball of cotton and pressed against her forehead, cutting a small piece of surgical tape to put on top. She repeated the action to the one on her chin.
She took a small plastic bag with ice and a piece of cloth together, and told her to hold it against the right side of her head. She also told her to raise the foot she was sprained in, and she went to work massaging it to lessen the strain. The rest of the injuries were treated fairly quickly. A few wraps around her left hand to keep from infection, and that was it, really.
Asia watched as the "boy" she bumped into by accident treated her so calmly and carefully despite only meeting her a few minutes ago. Having faced nothing but contempt for a while now, it was a pretty strange situation to be in, having someone wholeheartedly help her. Even knowing that he hurt her so badly was another thing that he wanted to make amends with, so she was stumped.
Simply put, she didn't know what to think or what to do from here. All she could do was but wait and see how it would go. It was all she could do for the moment.
"It's the best I could I do without any professional equipment, so I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you all the way. I'm still very sorry about that, I usually try my best to avoid slamming into someone else, but... A-Ah." She blinked as the blonde-haired girl shook her head from left to right, humming a cute little tune.
She stood up and clasped both hands together below her stomach, though she was still breathing a little quickly. "No, no, Haru-kun. You did all you were able to do. Thank you. Really." Though she leaned on the side still, she felt much better now that Haru did all of this for her.
The sides of Haru's mouth raised a little until she realized she might be too vulnerable to just leave outside and fend for herself at the moment. Putting a hand to her chin, Haru thought it best that she accompanied her to the church on her own. But she had to ask the question of how considering she still had to buy the groceries within the next 3 hours before the shops closed.
She blinked, and chuckled lowly. Snapping a finger, she looked to the cabinet where she left her phone. She pointed at it to let Asia know what she was about to do, who nodded.
Haru walked over to take her phone and dialed Rias's number, hoping she would at least listen to her for even a little bit. She put her phone next to her ear, looking to the side as Asia slowly ate the dinner she offered to her. She waited for the call to be received, and smiled.
Her feet tapped on the floor as she asked her question. "Rias, can I ask for a small favor? It's something pretty important."
"Of course, I can, Haru-kun. You're a close friend, after all." She smiled from the other side after hearing her breath of relief. "Why did you ask?"
"Can you send in a car to pick me up in my house? I have to drop someone off at the church before I go to the supermarket to pick up some stuff. I kind of hurt her real bad earlier and I'd feel bad if I just left her out alone this late in the day so… Hehe." She swallowed in something hard. "So, basically that's what's happening."
Rias opened her mouth to try and respond but closed it just afterwards, unable to vocalize a concise response. Not quite sure what could possibly be going on but trusting Haru's judgement, she relented. "I think that should be fine, Haru… but you know I'll have to accompany you, right? We're talking about a church associate, after all."
"Great! I'll be waiting for you just outside my house. Asia," she turned to look back at Asia, who perked at her mention. "I can get you back to the church within the next hour. Is that alright with you?"
She nodded, smiling very brightly. "Yes it is. Thank you so much for this, Haru-san, I'm not really sure how else I would have gone home…" Her tone drifted lowly and she looked down morose. Haru noticed, but did not know how to interpret it.
"Thanks a lot, Rias-senpai. I can't thank you enough for this." She ended the connection just after, putting the phone on the tabletop. She gave a thumbs up to the girl next to her, who nodded.
"Wait, Haru I…! Hmph." Rias turned off her phone and set it down. She sighed deeply. She looked to her companion, giving her a concerned look. "I trust her judgements most of the time, but this… Isn't this just strange, Akeno?"
The girl in question chuckled, and responded. "Chief, you only need to give her a chance. She's only doing the right thing, isn't she?" She tilted her head to the side after hearing her sigh.
"Akeno." Her tone was rigid, hard. Himejima Akeno considered that the point where she would start being more serious.
"Yes, Rias-sama?"
"That church had been abandoned for years… And no one has ever entered the Church for clerical purposes in years…" She looked to her closest subordinate with more concern.
Realization struck. Akeno realized that didn't bode well, did it? "Ah, I see the problem now. Well, we could only wait and see
Rias sighed, and stood up. "Akeno, I want you to watch over the apartment while I'm away. Is that alright with you?" She put on her jacket and set out. While she called in a driver, she waited outside patiently.
"You sure you can walk yourself to the hospital tomorrow after this? You know how much that's going to hurt soon, right?" She nods. "Are you sure? You know I could always take you there if you want."
"Don't worry, Haru-san. I think I can handle myself from here." She bows, "You've done enough for me today as is. I can't repay you enough." And so, she walked up the steps, doing her best to avoid tripping over.
"Alright." She looks to her side. "Take care of yourself, promise me!" She waves her goodbye and turns back to face the car. She puts her hand on the door handle, pausing when she hears Rias cough into her fist.
"You know Haru…" Rias began. She turned around to face her, raising an eyebrow. "The Cathedral hasn't been inhabited in years. The former priest died due to an assassination, and it hasn't been used ever since. Last I checked," she looked at her straight in the eyes.
"It's been inhabited by only Fallen Angels and fake priests. I don't think she's a real nun, Haru, not anymore at least." She could only open her mouth agape, not sure how to process that at all.
"If you're still so certain to make sure she stays alive… If you still want to protect her throughout all of this, I don't think we can get involved with it for any longer than we have to. We can't, and shouldn't." She looked down. "I understand how much you care for her despite meeting her for such a short time. I kind of get it, you feel indebted to her, and you want to make up for hurting her."
"Just please." She looked back at her. "Take care of yourself, alright? You know how much Sona-san depends on you."
Still shocked, Haru looked down at her left hand, feeling the pressure building inside. Closing her eyes, she clenched her fist and nodded. "Of course I can. You know how strong I am already, right?" She gave her a wide grin. "I can do whatever it takes to protect the people I love. You can count on that."
"Good. That's all I needed to know." Rias sighed, figuring that her chronic inability to not be a hero goes above and beyond, apparently. That's part of what made her such an intriguing person, however.
And even if she didn't, she wouldn't care any less. That was made them such close friends, after all. They went inside the car, ordering the driver to drive to the supermarket before they left. Haru huddled at the back while Rias sat in the front.
"Rias-san," Haru began, waiting for Rias to turn back to look at her. "Can you ask the driver to swap radio stations? My favorite usually airs Man with a Mission at this hour."
Blinking, she sighs, telling the driver to do so. Knowing that she wasn't influenced in anyway was pretty basic now that she knows that she'd still be listening to her favorites now. The rest of the night went normally, and Haru managed to get the groceries on time.