Chapter 13

Marco can be seen getting up from his bed while rubbing his sleepy eyes. It has two weeks since his deal with Jack and everything have been peacefully ever since. As least, for now.

"Jeez, what a drag." He was feeling extremely lazy but he had plans today so he couldn't sleep longer. He needed to meet up with someone.

He was going down the stairs in his white t-shirt and black short.

The end of summer with no sight of fall coming. The temperature was still high, so he didn't feel cold.

To awaken his half-asleep head, Marco headed to the washroom. While scratching the back of his head, he opened the wood patterned door and went inside.

"Uh"

Inadvertently he stood still. Because there stood a girl in his line of vision. He came to the washroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, but the place had another function.

It was the changing room for those that entered the bath in the back.

Marco was captivated by the girl's appearance.

She was beautiful. He didn't know if she took a morning bath or shower. Nevertheless, her flushed face, but also her body still covered with water drops and her shoulder-length red hair which was currently wet.

Moreover, her proportions were already closer to an irregularity than unsurpassable. Her overly tempting big breasts and curves that ran from her slender waist over her bottom down to her thighs. Her body was clad in a white bath towel, which boosted her sex-appeal and perfectly emphasized that she was a girl. This is Rebecca, of course.

How could Marco forget, him, Rebecca and Yuki were living together now. The reason was obvious, it made it easier for them to protect Rebecca. Although it was currently peacefully but they have to remain on full alert in case the enemy attacks.

He saw Rebecca's face turning red, he hastily tried to close the door and turn on his heels—but suddenly he heard a 'certain sound'. It was the sound of Rebecca taking a deep breath. An action taken before a scream.

Marco reflexively moved. He opened the door of the washroom/changing room behind him, rushed out at once and considered how to apologize.

To avoid such incidents, they supposedly made various arrangements as a countermeasure when they started to live together. Marco was still half asleep so he didn't see the sign "Girl's time" hung on the door.

That said, he knew what to do. He didn't know if Rebecca would believe whatever excuse he came up with, but he could only properly explain the circumstances to her and beg for her forgiveness. So Marco nodded with "Okay" and suddenly realized.

Before he had noticed, Rebecca stood right before him. He had thought for sure that she would be filled with rage, but Rebecca didn't say anything.

"? Huh…?"

There Marco realized another thing. His left hand was around Rebecca's waist while his right covered her mouth. And--- for some reason, Marco was inside the bathroom instead of outside.

"…Ehm, just what's going on…?"

While saying so, his intonation at the end of his sentence was trembling. He broke out in a cold sweat. Mh, how weird. By chance, could it actually be?

In other words, his mind, faced with an extreme situation, escaped reality and made him imagine leaving the bathroom. Something like an alternative future kaleidoscope? In reality, he had forcefully pulled Rebecca, who was going to raise a scream, closer and covered her mouth against her will!?

If she could talk, she will surely shout "HARASSMENT!"

Oh my god. He wanted to prevent her from screaming due to a misunderstanding that bad? Apparently his body had outdone his mind. Now the situation had worsened so much that even excuses were useless now.

She must have been perplexed by the all too sudden situation. As she didn't know how to react, Rebecca was dumbfounded and just stayed in Marco's arm without moving. Then,

Marco spoke out.

"Sorry for scaring you, but please listen. This wasn't on purpose. It's an unfortunate accident, a misunderstanding…"

"Upon that—as Marco's explanation worked, Rebecca relaxed her body soon enough.

When He timidly removed his hand, the Rebecca corrected her posture. Good. Apparently his sincerity was conveyed and she comprehended the situation calmly.

But he suddenly received an attack to the cheek and was blown off to the side. It was a slap. There, he fell on his backside.

"Wh-Why…?"

"Come again?"

While pressing on his cheek, Marco looked up dumbfounded. The edges of the Rebecca's mouth twitched.

" First you peek on a girl in the bathroom, then you get inside, cover her mouth and try to make excuses." She said with an annoyed tone.

Marco was at a loss for words. He couldn't come up with an excuse. The only thing he could do now was to accept any punishment she comes up with. He just prayed that it won't be unreasonable.

"But don't worry though, I'll forgive you with fifty thousand volts." She grinned while emitting a pale glint from her body.

That's too much, It was too unreasonable. Marco lost all his strength in his legs.

The next moment, the small lightning she released turned into a high-voltage stream and ran through Marco's whole body.

"Aw, damn… What a disaster."

For the past few weeks, Rebecca started learning how to use magic and there was obvious progress in her training. Yuki taught Rebecca herself. Even though magic she wasn't specialized in the use of magic, she managed to teach Rebecca basic elemental magic.

After Rebecca gave him that lightning attack and left the bathroom, Marco got into the bath and took a shower. He wanted to wash his body that had dropped on the floor, and while it was the end of summer, the heat was still enough to make him sweat during sleep.

Marco's reliable father- Jin was currently out of house due to certain reasons. So he had to take care of the house while he was gone.

Fuh…"

While washing away the sweat, the shower gradually warmed up Marco's body. It was a human instinct to wash one's head too when getting it wet.

"Argh…"

His body was still a bit numb from Rebecca's lightning attack, so he couldn't properly wash his head.

"Damn, she really went all out." Marco said with a wry smile. He still needed to go to the restaurant to see Jack. It was a Saturday, so he had free time.

Finishing he quickly left the bathroom and walked towards his room. He brought a black t-shirt and a sky blue jean and changed into it before leaving the house.

----

A sight that was worth being called a masterpiece.

A contrast of white and red, stimulating the appetite of the watcher. A brilliant colourfulness that covered the whole of the big table. It was beef that was cut so that it looked extremely delicious from any angle.

It was a restaurant.

Inside, which was like an everlasting absolute justice for him, Marco sat at the table across his best friend and classmate, Jack.

"Wh- What's with these beef tongues? They look like they're laying sideways… They're at least 1cm thick, Mark."

"Quickly eat it before it gets cold. There's still a lot of other meat too."

"O- okay then, I'm going all out." Summoning his resolve, Jack nervously carried the beef tongue towards his mouth

In the next moment,

"S- So, gooood. What's this!? This is no longer just beef!" He widened his eyes and shouted. Marco inadvertently made a wry smile.

""No, it's beef alright."

"Watcha doing, Mark eat up! Sweet… This meat is so damn good."

Welcoming the peak of joy and excitement, hands and mouth eating the meat didn't stand still.

Marco and Jack's meal started for real.

"But is it okay, Mark? Treating me at such an expensive restaurant." Jack asked without stopping his eating hand, whereas Marci nodded with "Yeah".

Apparently Marco had taken Jack to a restaurant called Alinea

""I told you, this restaurant has an all-you-can-eat only for students… and even at a student charge."

"But together with my share, it's 5000 rads. that's quite the sum."

Considering it was a high schooler repaying a small favour, radsr person was certainly expensive. However Marco had a different reason for bringing Jack here.

Currently, several dark fractions have joined together to form a single group known as the chaos bridge. Their goal is currently to Marco but he does know that they need Rebecca's power to further their goals. Leading to her being chased by the dark fraction because she holds the fraction of the demon god chao's power. Furthermore Jack's real identity was an observer for Rebecca sent by the dark fraction.

Marco had fought with him due to some development and they have formed a secret alliance under the mutual benefits. Jack then implicitly admitted to be a secret spy from the hunters.

It was an alliance on equal grounds. Even so, Jack gave Marco an important piece of information. The true identity of the culprit who caused the death of Rebecca's parents. But Marco hadn't told Rebecca about that yet.

It would be bad if she were to emotionally go out of control when he carelessly told her, and the situation wasn't all too clear anyway. Thus it was better for only Marco to know about it for now.

Because of that, he owed Jack big time. Of course he didn't think that treating him to Alinea would make them even, but.

"Don't worry, I still have my savings from each month."

"Okay then. But your dad is away these days, right? Didn't you get some money for living expenses? And this here practically falls under necessary expenses."

"Yeah but I can't use my dad's money to treat you."

Currently he had gotten Jin's credit card. But Marco formed the alliance with Jack on his own judgement. So he couldn't use the card for it.

"Mhm, I see…" Jack had finished eating all the meat in his mouth and said so like he was seeing through Marco's intention.

"Oh, right, that reminds me, I have some information I better tell you, Mark."

"Information? …You sure?"

"Well, it seems like I can trust you. Besides, now that we have teamed up it would be bad for me too, in various ways, if you were to get into a disadvantageous situation."

With that, Jack wearily made a wry smile and suddenly, his eyes turned serious.

"During the incident at the park before, Rebecca let her power go out of control, right? It was quite devastating. I had to secretly patch it up with magic. The news of it still reached the dark fraction ears. So they had decided to appoint a new observer since they have judged that Rebecca has awakened the Demon god powers." Marco froze up on these words.

"A new observer… Don't tell me, you're being replaced?" He had no plans to fully rely on Jack, but right now Marco and the girls seriously lacked battle strength. Thus he wanted to borrow Jack strength until he could read the situation a bit better.

"No. My surveillance mission continues. The point is, it feels like they're sending in reinforcement just in case, since there's been development."

"I see… I got cold feet, thinking you would leave."

"Still, don't let your guard down. With another observer, it surely will be harder for me to cooperate. And while I said reinforcement, it isn't necessarily someone weaker than me.

Marco swallowed down his breath with a gulp. Marco once again recognized the grave situation they were in and fell silent.

"We have fine meat here, so let's stop the gloomy talk now… To begin with, you can't do anything about worst case scenarios, no matter how hard you think."

"...Yeah."

"I mean, this is an all-you-can-eat, right? Then we gotta order more for to make the most of our money."

He felt Jack kindness from the topic change.

"You're right… Okay, let's stuff ourselves!"

Marco temporarily got his spirit back and called the waiter with an "Excuse me~". While looking at the menu with Jack, they discussed if they should either get beef ribs, pork loins or guts. After deciding, they ordered.

As they watched the waiter leaving, they moistened their throats with refreshments. At that time.

"Oh. I was guessing those voices were familiar for a while now."

The boys looked up to the female voice coming from the side and we're shocked to see who it was.