I Took A Succubus's First Time

Yuuna still couldn’t quite believe what Kazuhiro had told them. His explanation had been so unexpected that it took her a while to properly process it, and judging from Kouhei’s reaction, he hadn’t exactly expected to hear something like that either.

"But there’s still a chance that he’s just leading us on," Yuuna said after giving the matter some more thought. "For now, we can’t exactly take everything he says as gospel. I’d like to know more about what he actually feels and what was really going through his mind when he made those decisions. I just don’t think it’s as simple as saying that he did everything he did for that reason and leaving it at that."

His explanation was believable enough, and Yuuna couldn’t deny that much. Still, accepting the entire explanation without further thought would have been far too easy.

For the moment, though, they were at least somewhat satisfied with the answer they had received. They had managed to get something useful out of the conversation, and continuing to question him over and over would probably accomplish nothing except irritate him further. There was a limit to how much patience anyone could have, and Yuuna wasn’t interested in discovering exactly where Kazuhiro’s limit happened to be.

With that in mind, they decided to leave the matter alone for now.

As they continued walking through the halls, they eventually noticed Aria waiting for them. She was already standing on her own, looking considerably better than she had earlier, although there was still a trace of fatigue visible in her expression. Considering what had happened to her during the fight, the fact that she was already walking around was impressive enough.

"Aria-san, are you feeling better now?" Kouhei asked.

"The blade that Via used against me wasn’t coated with holy power, so I wasn’t injured as badly as you might think," Aria replied.

Her explanation made sense. She had certainly been injured, and a blade had literally passed through her body during the fight, but because she was a demon, the wound hadn’t been nearly as life-threatening as it would have been for an ordinary human. Her regenerative abilities had also allowed her to recover far more quickly than most people could have managed under similar circumstances.

"You probably should have rested a little longer, though," Kouhei said, giving her a concerned look.

"It’s fine. I’ve already rested enough, and I’ve healed enough to move around without any problems," Aria answered. "More importantly, what happened to the fallen angel?"

Aria had been present when the battle happened, but she had been defeated by Via before the fight could reach its conclusion. She had lost consciousness afterward, meaning that she had absolutely no idea what had happened once she was out of the fight. From her perspective, Via had simply disappeared after defeating her.

"Unfortunately, he managed to escape," Yuuna said.

She paused briefly before correcting herself.

"Actually, it’s more accurate to say that he was allowed to escape."

Aria’s expression immediately changed after hearing that.

She lowered her gaze and quietly held the side of her arm with one hand, her fingers tightening slightly as she thought about what had happened. The frustration she was feeling was obvious enough that she didn’t need to say much about it.

"I see..."

Aria couldn’t help feeling frustrated about her own performance against Via. She knew that he was powerful, and she had never been foolish enough to assume that defeating him would be easy. Even so, she had believed that she was strong enough to at least put up a respectable fight against him.

Instead, she had been defeated almost effortlessly.

That fact bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Losing against someone stronger was one thing, especially when there was a significant difference in power between them. Getting overwhelmed so quickly that her contribution barely seemed to matter was something else entirely. She had gone into the fight believing that she could at least buy the others some time or force Via to take her seriously, yet she had ended up unconscious before she could accomplish anything meaningful.

It was humiliating.

More importantly, though, Aria wasn’t angry solely because Via had defeated her. Her feelings toward him went much deeper than wounded pride.

Aria knew Kozue’s past.

Because of that, she understood exactly how much pain Via’s actions had caused her. She knew what had happened to Kozue and her mother, and she knew how much suffering had been connected to Via’s actions. Aria wanted that bastard to pay for those sins, and watching him escape after everything he had done only made her frustration burn even hotter.

Yuuna and Kouhei could understand where Aria was coming from. Neither of them blamed her for being angry, especially when they knew that her feelings weren’t simply about losing a fight. She had personal reasons for wanting Via to face the consequences of his actions.

Unfortunately, understanding her feelings didn’t mean they actually had a solution.

They were just as uncertain about what they should do next.

"Do you think we should head back to the mansion now, Yuuna-san?" Kouhei eventually asked.

Yuuna thought about it for a moment before answering.

"I’ve actually been wondering whether I should ask my father if everyone from our faction can stay here until the situation with Via has been dealt with."

She knew that it was a reasonable request, but she also wasn’t sure how long this entire situation was going to last. Considering the person they were dealing with, expecting everything to be resolved immediately would have been overly optimistic. Via wasn’t some ordinary enemy that they could simply track down and defeat within the next few hours.

They were talking about one of the most dangerous fallen angels in recorded history.

That alone made things considerably more complicated.

"I’m also fairly certain that my father won’t let all of us stay at the Sarushima mansion for very long," Yuuna continued. "Father generally doesn’t like people from outside the Sarushima Faction coming and going through the mansion. He only made an exception this time because, well, it’s you."

Kouhei raised an eyebrow slightly.

Yuuna couldn’t blame him for that reaction.

Her father’s attitude toward Kouhei had become so noticeably favorable that even she was beginning to find it somewhat suspicious. Kazuhiro was normally strict about who was allowed to stay within the mansion, especially when it involved people who weren’t members of the Sarushima Faction. Yet somehow, Kouhei had managed to become the obvious exception to that rule.

"I think he’s willing to let you stay here," Yuuna said. "The rest of us, though, are a completely different matter. I don’t think he’d be nearly as lenient about everyone else staying there for an extended period."

She folded her arms while continuing to think about the problem.

"In any case, I think we should find another place where we can stay for a while. We need somewhere that makes it harder for Via to find us."

Yuuna fell silent after saying that, continuing to think through their options.

The problem was that there weren’t many good choices available.

At the moment, she couldn’t think of another location where they could safely hide from Via. The Sarushima mansion offered protection, but their ability to remain there was limited. Returning to their usual residence was risky because Via could potentially discover their location. Staying somewhere completely unprotected was obviously even worse.

Hiding from Via wasn’t going to solve everything, and Yuuna understood that perfectly well. Sooner or later, they would have to deal with him directly. They couldn’t spend the rest of their lives running from a single fallen angel, no matter how powerful he happened to be.

Still, there was a difference between avoiding a fight forever and avoiding an unnecessary fight right now.

Considering the overwhelming strength Via had demonstrated, along with the fact that he was still free and hadn’t been dealt with yet, Yuuna believed that keeping a low profile was the most sensible thing they could do for the moment. They needed time to recover, gather information, and figure out what their next move should be.

Unfortunately, the longer she thought about it, the more she realized that they didn’t have many realistic alternatives.

Eventually, Yuuna sighed quietly.

Even though she still felt that there should have been another option somewhere, she decided that accepting the proposal from the other faction was probably their safest choice.

"I think it would be better if we accepted Yuka’s proposal," Yuuna finally said.

Kouhei looked toward her.

He didn’t answer immediately, but a small smile eventually appeared on his face. Judging from how long Yuuna had taken to reach that conclusion, he could tell that she had clearly spent quite a bit of time debating the matter in her head.

"I think that’s better as well," Kouhei replied.

Yuuna nodded slightly.

She still didn’t know exactly what Sano Yuka was thinking, and that uncertainty bothered her. Yuka wasn’t someone Yuuna could completely read, and accepting an offer from another faction always came with some degree of risk. Still, refusing the offer simply because she didn’t know Yuka’s exact intentions would have been foolish.

The proposal itself was far too useful.

It involved a joint training session between the Sano Faction and the Kouhei Faction, which meant that there would be plenty of powerful demons gathered in one place. More importantly, the location would be under the protection of the Sano Faction.

Given the current circumstances, that was a huge advantage.

They would have powerful allies around them, a secure location to stay in, and enough people capable of responding if Via somehow decided to show up. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but perfection wasn’t exactly something they had the luxury of demanding at the moment.

Via was someone who treated almost everything as entertainment. That made him dangerous in a way that was difficult to predict because his actions weren’t always based on practical reasons. He could do something simply because he found it amusing, which made trying to predict his behavior an absolute headache.

Still, there was one thing Yuuna could reasonably assume.

As long as visiting the Sano Faction didn’t offer Via some kind of personal benefit, he probably wouldn’t recklessly go there without a reason.

That was exactly why she believed accepting Yuka’s proposal was the better choice.

The Sano Faction’s territory was protected, there would be powerful demons around them, and they would have a much better chance of reacting to any unexpected attack. More importantly, they could finally have some peace of mind while deciding what to do about Via.

It wasn’t a permanent solution.

Yuuna knew that much.

Eventually, they would have to stop running and confront the problem directly. Until then, however, there was nothing wrong with choosing the option that gave them the best chance of staying alive and preparing themselves properly.