Chapter 13

A creature birthed from my bond with Benitsubasa. The idea was both wild and unbelievable. But, what other explanation did I have for it being in my soul? At least, this place was sort of like my soul, right?

…

I sighed, scratching the back of my head in bewilderment. This little fairy did have the same kind of feeling as my Sekirei's aura. Compared to the absolute terror and uncertainty I felt when I first met it, now I almost felt at home in the fairy's presence.

"So there's really nothing else here? I guess you were probably that strange aura or whatever the monk was talking about."

"Strange?" the little fairy huffed. "I am not strange!"

I blinked, caught slightly off guard by her sudden jump from sweet and nice to spicy and loud.

"If that's the case, then I think it's about time I head out then."

I guess I'd just tell the monk that I'd beaten away the bad vibes or whatever.

…

"Erm, how exactly do I leave?"

The fairly giggled, bringing a hand to its lips.

"Just focus on moving your mind somewhere else. Close your eyes and then open them again where you want to be!"

So not helpful at all. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying my hardest to picture my new living room.

Focus. Focus. Fo-

I snapped my eyes open. Benitsubasa was looking at me with a small amount of worry in her gaze, but the second I stepped forward, that changed. She smiled and waved.

The monk said something curiously and Benitsubasa did her best to translate.

"He's asking how it went," she said.  "Also says he can still somewhat sense the presence on you, but it's far more stifled."

I nodded and turned to Benitsubasa, asking that she tell him what I said next.

"I kinda pushed it away and I think it should just go away in a bit."

After a moment, he nodded wisely, bringing a hand up to his chin.

"Hey!" Banitsubasa suddenly called out. "Remember, we ain't paying you jack for this!"

An amused laugh rolled of his lip at her words. What did she tell him?

At that moment, his stomach roared like a starving beast.

"Guy's hungry," Benitsubasa said with a frown. "He wants to know if we could give him some food to go."

I laughed. Considering he was the one that lead me to this discovery, a bit of food seemed like a fine trade.

"Sure. I think that's fine," I said with a small smile. "We have this fancy new toaster, so I'm sure he'll love my sandwiches."

Benitsubasa growled and crossed her arms in defiance.

"I don't want him touching my toaster!" she hissed and sent the monk a scalding glare. "If he's eating here, he'll stay at least a good five feet away at all times!"

Man, she was treating it as if it were her baby! Could someone really get so attached to a piece of technology?

…

No, yeah, I could definitely see that. She was obviously playing it a bit too much, but people could get way over-attached to things like that.

"Don't worry, I'll be the one doing all the work."

She hesitated for a moment but eventually relented. She sighed and nodded.

"Alright, I'll tell him to take a seat."

A smile slowly grew across my face. She really was a sortie deep inside.

———————

"Can you tell him thanks again for the help?"

Benitsubasa nodded, far less annoyed by my constant requests to translate.

The monk smiled and spoke words that I could only somewhat understand.

"He's saying thanks for the food and whatever," Benitsubasa said with a yawn. "We don't need to follow him all the way to the gates, right?"

I sighed and shook my head, waving at the monk as he slowly made his way out.

"Nah. Let's just watch and make sure he leaves."

And so we did. When he finally vanished from view and turned the corner, I thought about what to do next. Our stomachs were full and Hans was probably still asleep.

I stretching myself out, making sure all of my muscles got a little bit of it. The sun was high in the sky, the birds were singing, and I wanted to go for a walk.

"What's up with that face?" Benitsubasa asked, her brow quirked questioningly.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk?" I said with a smile. "Just the two of us."

That seemed to put a frog in her throat.

"Fine," she said, cheeks stained a tad crimson. "Though, I bet you have no idea where we'll be going, right?"

I chuckled.

"You got me," I said with a grin. "I was thinking you could be the one to lead our little trip."

She rolled her eyes.

"I mean, you're not that blind. Sure, you can't read, but retracing your steps shouldn't be that hard, right?"

I nodded.

"True, but I was more talking about finding good places to visit. Again, I know nothing about the city."

Her cheeks burned at my words.

"I guess that's right," she said with a nod. "So, want to go now?"

"Yeah, just let me write up a note for Hans. Would be rude to just leave the guy without saying anything, right?"

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

Hopefully, he wouldn't miss it. You know what, I'll just make a few and put them in places I know he'll have to visit.

——————

"Shinto Teito, right?"

"Yeah, you got it that time," Benitsubasa said with a small thumbs up. "Now, remember what we practiced a while ago? Can you say fish?"

I quirked my brow, trying to remember how it went.

"Sakne? No- Sakana!"

"That's it!" she said with a smile. "Just keep practicing and you'll get it in no time."

I sure hope that worked. Admittedly, this was coming to me a lot faster. Having a psychic alien bonded to me probably helped with that, maybe.

"So, any idea where we're heading?" I asked. "Or are we just going to walk the streets and take in the sights?"

A small grin cut across her face.

"Actually, I wanted to go try out this new desert I saw a while ago," she said with a pause. "Before I met you, that is."

"Desert? What kind?"

Her smile grew even larger as she moved closer.

"So it's this big bowl of ice cream full of strawberries, banana slices, chocolate sauce, some lime tarts, and whipped cream!"

I could almost feel my teeth rotting as she finished. Just thinking about that had me feeling like I'd just gotten diabetics.

"What?" Benitsubasa asked with a cute frown. "Did you step on shit or something?"

"Heh, Nah. Just thinking about how much sugar's probably in all that."

She rolled her eyes.

"Life is short, you know? Besides, I probably get more exercise than either you or the other guy do."

"Oh, you don't need to remind me of that," I said with a laugh. Even though she was about a head shorter than me, Benitsubasa's build was lean, but muscular. Her legs made mine look like flabby noodles and that wasn't mentioning her stomach. She had abs, for god's sake!

There really wasn't anything more emasculating than knowing a girl shorter than me could easily kick my ass and beat me in an arm-wrestling contest. Granted, I could probably pick up a car and throw it with my mind.

You win some, you lose some, as the saying went.

"I say we get our ice cream and I got teach you a bit about fighting," she said with a tiny smile. "Nothing better than working up a good sweat after a nice meal, you know?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, seems good."

"Great! The place is right around the corner!" she reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with all the force of two men. "Hurry! The place is usually packed and I don't want to beat a bitch to get a spot!"

"Pfft." I shut my mouth. Man, she really knew how to say some funny things at times.

Though, to her, the desert was anything but a laughing matter.

———————

As it turned out, the desert was even crazier than I expected. Seeing Benitsubasa happily take one spoon full at a time was almost torture. Compared to my simple sundae, her dish was about the size of a roast pig. Yet, by the end of it all, she finished it all on her own!

Where the heck did she put all of that?

"I hope you brush your teeth a lot…"

She laughed.

"Every day! Also, we're built differently!" she said and gently pounded her chest. "Now, let's get out of here and find a nice place to practice your punches."

Ah, right. That was going to be fun, wasn't it?

"Any ideas where to go?"

Banitsubasa hummed and brought a hand to her lip.

"I think I know just the place," she said with a small smile.

"Is it the park?" The place was remote enough that I managed to fight a robot without being disturbed.

"No. People are keeping a close eye on it after what happened."

Yeah, that sounded about right.

"So where's this secret spot of yours?"

She lifted a finger and pointed west.

"So, there's this old hiking trail across town that leads into a mountain. Not many people visit it anymore cause a bunch of people died in a fire there or something."

It followed her finger and found the mountain she was talking about. It wasn't too big, but still nice to look at. It was also pretty far away.

"Wait, what?" That sounded crazy.

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "Happened a few years ago, or so I hear. Sounds like this crazy guy said aliens were coming to steal your women or something."

An amused laugh burst from her mouth.

"Kinda funny, isn't it?"

I nodded with a laugh of my own.

"Turns out they were after the men," I said.

Her fist gently crashed into my shoulder and a grin split her face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes. "So the guy went crazy and torched the place. Couple of people ended up being trapped in the fire and didn't make it out."

…

"Anyways, it's haunted."

I blinked.

"People say there are ghosts there?"

"No, like, it's actually haunted," Benitsubasa said with a serious look on her face.

"Ghosts aren't real…"

"Oh? You mean like how psychics and aliens aren't? What about people from other worlds?"

"…"

Ok, maybe ghosts weren't such a stretch after that. Sure, I didn't believe they were a thing, but better to be safe than sorry.

"So, when you say it's haunted, do you actually know that?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Then why did you bring it up?"

She started to laugh.

"Cause it's a cool little bit of information, you know?

Sometimes, I couldn't tell what the hell was going on in her head.

——————

Surprisingly, the city's public transportation was fast. It only took us a bit over half an hour to get all the way to our destination. It was another sort of park, but a lot bigger and looked more like a forest than anything else.

Yeah, there definitely wasn't anyone else here. Even after getting off the bus, it was another twenty minutes of walking up a dirt path until we reached the entrance.

"I liked to come here sometimes to practice," Benitsubasa suddenly said. "MBI had some good training rooms back in their building, but nothing beats the outdoors, you know?"

I nodded. The air was fresh and the cool, moist atmosphere had a peaceful and natural feeling to it. Turning around, I saw the rest of the city. It was a glorious monolith of steel and glass, showing how far humanity had come. Yet, standing here on top of a mountain, I couldn't help but think that all of that was still so small.

The world was big, and humans were still just ants crawling across its face.

"We'll have to go off the path for a bit, but so long as you follow me, we should be fine."

"I actually had something I wanted to tell you," I said as she started walking.

"Oh? What is it?"

How could I best do this? Hmm.

"Remember how we sealed our contract?"

"Cont- o-oh, you mean our partnership?" she asked with a small blush.

"Yep. Turns out that my powers somehow forged that bond into an actual being."

"Huh? What does that mean?" she asked, brow furrowing in confusion. "Like, you can summon some kinda thing from our bond?"

"Probably not," I said truthfully. "I meant that there's a metaphorical baby in my head that was born from our contract."

No, wait, that's not the word. If not metaphorical, then what would I call it?

…

My vocabulary sucked.

"A b-baby?!"

Her eyes went wide and a crimson blush streaked across her cheeks.

"That's the best way I can describe it, yeah."

"There's no way Haihane was telling the truth!" she stuttered out. "Kissing doesn't give people babies!"

What?

Panic started to set in as she looked around, confused and unsure of what to do. It was incredibly hard not to laugh, so I didn't resist and burst out into a fit of snickering. Really?

"What's so funny?!" she said with a  growl, reaching and garbing my shirt. "I'm not ready to be a mother!"

I couldn't. I laughed in her face.

"Y-You can't get babies by kissing people, silly."

"But you just said-"

I cleared my throat, still trying to hold back a laugh.

"I said it was like a baby. The fairy thing was honestly pretty smart."

Benitsubasa narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

"So it's not an actual baby?"

God, she was so adorable! Could people really be this cute?

"Nah," I said with a smile. "Think of it more like a very small person with wings and stuff."

"You should have said that then!" she hissed. "You got me all worried over nothing!"

"Now, don't say that. There really is a living, thinking being in my mind."

"I guess that still counts as a baby, I guess…" she said with a grumble.

"Yep. I actually wanted to ask if you had any idea how we should treat it?"

"Treat it?" Benitsubasa let go of my shirt and blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Like, do you want to talk to it? Should we just ignore it?"

"That sounds like a dick move," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Even if it's not really a baby, it was still born cause of our contract, right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Good," she said with a nod. "If you'd said anything else, I'd have decked you," Benitsubasa said with a huff.

"What kind of parent leaves their kid alone, right?" she grumbled.

I found my lips rising into a smile. Despite how childish she looked and how quickly she exploded, Benitsubasa was a really caring person.

A thought suddenly came to mind.

"I wonder if kissing again would make another fairy?"

Benitsubasa raised a brow at my question.

"Only one way to find out," she said and leaned in, locking her lips with mine.

Wait, what? I was not expecting that!

My eyes went wide, but I leaned into the kiss, tasting as much of her as I could. What felt like a minute was little more than a few seconds. When she finally pulled away, I spoke my mind.

"You're really unpredictable, you know?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Sure, whatever. I was only doing that to test your fairy thing."

Yeah. Suuure.

"Right! Time to practice your form!"

She said before I could even say anything. Grabbing my hand, Benitsubasa pulled me away to a nice clearing and raised her fists.

"We'll start with basic things. First, don't use your powers or whatever or I'll start punching harder and faster!"

"That doesn't sound very nice…"

She laughed.

"Hey, it'll be fine as long as you pay by the rules!"

Her fist lashed out quick as lightning. It was only instinct and the fact she wasn't actually trying to kill me that I managed to just barely move my head out of the way.

My eyes shot open.

"You didn't even give me a warning!"

She grinned and laughed.

"Yeah, and neither will anyone trying to punch you in the face. Now, dodge!"

A flurry of blows came my way, each slightly faster than the last. Though I managed to dodge the starting barrage, one eventually caught me right in the stomach.

"…"

"You're so damn sloppy, but your body's pretty fast," she said with a sigh.

"I mean, that's why you want to train me, right?"

She grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess we should first work on your footwork."

"Not punching?" That was usually what people focused on first, right? Or maybe I'd seen too many movies.

"Yeah, but you don't really need to punch people, right?" she said with a shrug. "You're better of learning how to dodge and then using your powers to counter."

That made sense.

"So, how are you going to help with that? Am I going to have to keep dodging your punches?"

"Kinda, but I'll also throw rocks at you. You'll have to move out of the way with as little movement as possible."

That did not sound fun.

"Ugh… you know, I'd probably do a lot better if you gave me some form of motivation."

She blinked, furrowing her brow in thought.

"That's a good idea. If you can impress me, I'll make a special dish for you!"

…

This was a mistake.

"H-How about something else?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

I coughed.

"I mean, you already made me food. So, I was thinking something else would be a nice change of pace."

"Hmm. Alright, sure. But I can't really think of anything now. Do you have any idea then?"