Chapter 3: Winter's Mistress
After the attack of the ghostly creature, Golden Dawn Academy’s Medical and Logistic Support Division, specifically its first platoon, appeared to assess the damage of the scene, lead by the vice captain Abeille. Abeille was a tall and attractive, voluptuous woman sporting long and wavy blonde hair. She wore revealing clothing which consisted a denim mini skirt, black leggings, and a gray dress with an attached black safety vest with yellow chest reflective band. Tents were set up on the locale to house the injured and a construction site was set up, blocking the roads for civilians. Tsuya, Kenichi, and Abeille were currently inside one of the medical tents along with a few shaman, dressed in white medical garb, attending to the wounded on medical tables. A couple pulled small masses of water from small tubs to surround the wounds, which glowed in the process, while others ignited small yellow balls of fire from their palms or fingertips and applied them to the damages. A small swarm of bees were hovering above Abeille’s right palm carrying an aloe vera leaf. Another member of the platoon, wearing a black, high-collared shirt and black pants, entered the tent to report to the vice captain.
“Vice captain! So far there’s been a few injured, but nothing too significant. And it won’t be long before these windows are replaced and the sidewalk is resurfaced.”
“Well that’s good to hear. Continue with the restoration.” Abeille said.
“Ma’am!” The reporter yelled as he left the tent to resume his duties.
“Come on Abeille! Let me go I’m not injured!” Kenichi exclaimed with his cheeks puffed out and arms crossed sitting on a medical table beside Tsuya, who wore a bandage on his cheek and was shaking in fear because of the mass of bees in close range.
“They don’t realize the BEES IN HERE?! With all their STINGING and...guhh!” The frightened dark-haired screamed in thought.
“Oh relax!” Abeille elbowed Kenichi in the chest, forcing his arms to flail about.
A clear, jelly like substance slowly escaped from below the bee swarm onto Abeille’s palm. Tsuya squeezed his face in disgust while Kenichi was violently coughing from Abeille’s physical assault.
“Uhh...what the hell is that thing?!” Tsuya spoke in an exaggerated high-pitched voice.
“Aloe Vera! Good for the burns!” Abeille asserted as she roughly grabbed an arm of Kenichi’s which was covered in minor burns, slathering the gel all over.
“You gotta be more careful playing with fire Kenichi. Remember how last time you got so reckless, your arms were completely dark as night?”
“Yeah, but this time it’s one arm!” Kenichi proudly claimed.
“Just be careful next time.” The vice captain sighed. “Well lucky for you, Keiyo’s kid’s here to look out for you!”
“Well...if you’re assuming I have powers, I...I don’t.” A blushing Tsuya embarrassingly clarified.
“Oh.” Abeille added, followed by sucking her teeth. “Well...you can….hmm”
“I can’t really do anything...”
“That’s the sentence I’m looking for!” The beautiful specialist said, followed by Tsuya slumping over in sadness, gazing below at his backpack, halfway unzipped and with a set of lavender colored prayer beads poking out a little.
“So you don’t know where Kazuma is Abeille?” Kenichi asked.
“Know where he is? I don’t even wanna know where he!” She said angrily.
“Hmph! That pervert thinks he can coppafeel on this beautifully crafted body?! Well guess what?!”
She stuck her bottom in the air and grabbed it.“THIS ASS IS ALREADY TAKEN KAZU-D*CK!”
Kenichi blushed a little, gripping tightly on to a clear blue snowflake designed necklace around his neck while Tsuya skyrocketed into the air with a nosebleed. Abeille turned to see Tsuya on the floor, with blood dripping from his nose, shaking her head.
“Hmph! Like father like son.” She said as she crossed her arms.
Having left the camp and construction site, the reunited friends further their search for Kazuma by traveling New Eden City’s downtown area.
“Still can’t do anything huh? That sucks.” Kenichi relaxedly said, with his arms behind his head.
“No matter how much I try, I can’t seem to produce any results,” said Tsuya.
“Even with the help of those beads.” He added in thought.
“Then work harder.” Kenichi simply said.
“You’ll never get anything done just moping around and giving up.”
In the back of his mind, Tsuya knew Kenichi was right. He’s aware that no matter countless failures he’s made in the past, in the end he had to keep trying because anyone who doesn’t make mistakes isn’t putting enough effort.
“Hey, before I forget, just what the heck was that thing you fought back there?” Tsuya asked
“I wasn’t able to see it clearly; it was a little blurry, but I was able to make it out as some demon creature thing. Is that what the shaman call... a yokai?”
“Tsuya, I’m gonna explain it to you in the most simplest of terms so listen up!” Tsuya nodded waiting for the breakdown.
“They’re black things that go roar and break stuff!” Kenichi confidently answered, with arms extended in the air covered in sparkles.
Tsuya fell over onto his face in confusion, with his limbs in a twisted mass above him and a sweat drop appearing on his temple. He quickly lifts himself from the ground with a nervous smile across his face.
“Oh yeah I forgot. Kenichi’s kind of an idiot when it comes to explaining things because they usually come out as offensive.” Tsuya thought in disappointment.
“Where are we going actually Kenichi?”
“Well we’re going to a bar of course” Kenichi replied.
“A bar? When we’re only underage?” Tsuya pondered, but maybe it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea.
“Well, if you account the history bar trips my dad’s made in the past, I guessing an actual bar is the best place to look for him.” Tsuya smiled as he nodded until he heard a small rumble sound and found Kenichi rubbing his belly.
“Oh...yeah...that and get some FOOD!” Kenichi bellowed as he drooled for he needed to satisfy his hunger.
In the downtown district of New Eden City, there were various places to eat such as cafés, a few restaurants, an ice cream parlor, a few coffee shops and other establishments, including a dive bar called the “Minuto Soggiorno”. Inside was illuminated by fluorescent ceiling lights, shaded with fogged glass. In the distance tables, there were a couple of bar patrons. To the left was a young girl sitting at the bar, decorated with stored drinks. The maiden sported long, brown hair, amber eyes, and had light skin. She wore a revealing lavender t-shirt under a cropped purple denim jacket, and tight khaki shorts and lavender boots.
“Heh! Don’t you know that’s just a myth little bambina?” The thick mustached bartender asked the girl as he filled a tall glass with ice cubes.
“Hmm?” She smirked. “I’ll believe in everything until it's disproved.” She smiled with her sharp golden eyes snapped at the bartender who was shaking a cocktail shaker. The barman laughed a little.
“I like your grit little bambina, but trust me, you’ll only be flogging a dead horse.”
The bartender slid a tall glass of Long Island Iced Tea to the girl’s hand.
“Even if it was possible, what would you be trying to accomplish then?” He asked.
She took a swig of iced tea from her glass.
“Well-”
“HUHH? THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!”
The bartender and a few patrons, including the tenacious brunette, turned their attention towards the center of the bar to a booth of colorful members of the Green Scale Guild. Gathered at the table was Vermelho, a messy brown-haired, large man with burly arms who wore a red flannel shirt under his dark red overalls with one strap down. Azuis, a blonde-haired, long necked skinny man who wears a loose fitting blue shirt under a black suit with a cigarette in his mouth. Petra, a long and wavy black-haired woman with a curvaceous figure, who wore a short, black, strapless one-piece dress along with a long, thick dark pelted fur coat. And finally, their guild leader and whose cry echoed throughout the bar, Verde, a tall and muscular man with a spiky green mohawk, green eyes, wearing a black sleeveless bodysuit tucked inside studded black boots, a pair of black studded gloves and large headphones around his neck. The party was in the middle of harassing a portly server of the establishment, who accidentally spilled a tray of drinks on their table, with glass shattered upon impact and the contents quickly spreading into a small pool.
“ M-my apologies s-sir!.” The employee stammered, scrambling to the ground attempting to pick up glass from the wooden floorboards with his bare hands.
“I honestly m-meant no disrespect-”
All of a sudden, the guild leader brutishly pushed his foot against the back of the server’s head, forcing his dome to the floor, impaling his face with the glass shards. The server’s blood and tears were forming a little puddle on the ground.
“THAT’S ENOUGH VERDE!” Shouted one of the customers besides the brunette bambina, who was shaking his fist in anger.
“HE SAID HE WAS SO-”
Without warning, Verde shot a small ball of green fire from his finger through the bold drinker’s chest, leaving a hole in his upper trunk. The customer’s body dropped to the floor, lifeless and soaking in a pool of his own blood. The guild leader cracked a sharp smile as the flame from his fingertip immediately extinguished with a wisp of smoke rising. Every guzzler in the bar shakily returned to washing down their brew, trying to ignore the sudden death they witnessed.
“HEY BARTENDER! ANOTHER ROUND OF LIQUOR!” Verde demanded. He then noticed the female brunette gulping her iced tea, meeting her cold eyes with his. He licked his lips and laughed wickedly.
“Ahhh, and that girl's that been sitting there! You look a little lonely, COME OVER HERE!”
The cold-blooded lass chugged the last drop of her beverage, with foam clinging to her bottom lip.
“I don’t wanna be rude or anything but..” She muttered wiping away the foam from her bottom lip with a hand.
“It’d be embarrassing to waste my precious time associating myself with a barbarian ignoramus such as yourself. Besides, mio amore will arrive soon enough.” She claimed as she placed her empty glass on the table.
Many of the patrons were either dead silent or whispering of the brunette’s defiant act against the Green Scale guild leader.
“A barbarian ignor-what!” He angrily asked.
“Ignoramus” Azuis added.
“An extremely ignorant or stupid person boss.”
“I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!” Verde snapped.
“Huhuhuhuhuhuhu!” Vermelho broke out into a booming laughter, clutching to his stomach.
“He got you good boss! HAHA!”
“You don’t even know what it means dumbass!” Verde growled at his heavy comrade.
“THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT FUNNY! HWAHAHAHA!”
“You gotta watch what you say around them little bambina.” The bartender whispered, waving a hand of warning.
“Hey b*tch!”
Petra approached the snappy brunette sensuously, yet dangerously.
“You should be honored! The Tiger of the West’s cub has cordially inviting you to drink with him so…”
She roughly grabbed her chin, holding it so her eyes met her gaze.
“Either accept or…” Petra’s fingernails grew and strengthened to be claw-like.
The hardened brown-haired roughly grabbed Petra by the wrist, forcing her to wince.
“Hey Petra! What’s the hold up?!” Verde said, with a fierce grin.
Petra’s wrist began to feel cool, and she felt ice crystals starting to form around the area. The air seemed to be getting cool as well. The sudden change in climate left Petra’s eyes wide in shock and fear. Her lips also began to quiver, following her entire body.
“Wha...what the hell is this?”
“Huh?” Both Vermelho and Azuis pondered on what this predicament meant.
“PETRA GET OUTTA THERE! SHE’S A-” The anxious Verde was suddenly distracted by the sight of Petra’s feet already encased in a thick layer of translucid ice. Petra scowled feet, demanding them to move.
“DAMMIT! COME ON MOVE!” She yelled frustratedly, writhing around as she struggled to break free from the glaze.
“Oh dear” The callous brunette said coldly.
Petra lifted her head, looking directly at her torturer with desperate eyes.
“Seems you’ve got a bad case of cold feet”
Practically the whole bar was awestruck; consumed with what was about to transpire.
The chilling damsel sharpened her cold eyes, further intimidating Petra.
“Let’s take care of that..”
The last words instantly made Petra’s eyes tear up and her pupils contract.
“She’s in my dad’s class too?” Tsuya asked, finally drawing near the entrance of the bar the blonde-haired spoke of.
“Great! Then talking to her is gonna huge help in finding him!”
“Uhh...yeah about that…” Kenichi cautiously said.
As Tsuya’s hand slowly advanced to the knob of door handle of the drinkery french doors entrance, Kenichi paused for a split second, sensing a dangerous presence nearby. He then widened his eyes in shock.
“TSUYA GET DOWN!”
As Kenichi quickly pushed Tsuya and himself to the ground, with him twisting all around him creating a shield for the impending peril, A loud crack sounded. A column of gleaming ice crashed through the doors. The doors’ glass, along with the ice, shattered over the ground into shards.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!” Tsuya flusteredly yelled.
“Maybe I should be the one to talk to Diana.” Kenichi replied as he helped Tsuya and himself off the ground.
“You’ve arrive late mio amore” A voice was heard inside the now dark lit bar, followed by the sound of footsteps and glass being fragmented approaching the destroyed entrance.
Kenichi reached a hand behind his head and rubbed his hair nervously.
“Yeah sorry. Taking care of yokai plus meeting childhood friend equals being late to lunch” Kenichi laughed nervously.
“Huh? Who’re talking to Kenichi?” Tsuya was confused about the conversation occurring until he saw a shadowy figure moving closer.
The outside light shined on the person, revealing to be the same, cold-blooded girl that defended herself from the Green Scale members. She boldly stood with a hand on her hip, with the other pointing towards her supposed lover, but what struck odd about her hand were the fumes of icy vapor shooting out of her finger tips. Tsuya, with widened eyes and cheeks painted scarlet, wondered who this icy, yet beautiful creature was. Her name was Diana di Cielo.
