"Suicide is a sin Kojika." Cebrail says, surprising the blue haired girl standing on the ledge.
The surprise was so great that when Kojika turned rapidly to look at Cebrail she tripped over her own foot causing her to begin falling backward. Her face twisted in fear as her body felt weightless with neither of her feet touching the ground.
Kojika could feel herself falling but just as she might have gone over the edge Cebrail caught her by the arm with her free hand. She holds up Kojika who flails her other hand wildly in an attempt to regain her balance.
"Should I let go...?" Cebrail asked somewhat confused. She had caught Kojika on instinct but if the girl truly wanted to die she thought perhaps that she may have made a mistake.
"NO! NO! PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP!!!" Kojika shouts looking at Cebrail with a panicked expression.
"Alright then..." Cebrail pulls Kojika back into a stable position on the cloud casually
Seeing Kojika on her hands and knees breathing heavily, Cebrail nods to herself, sits calmly and tosses her fishing line into the sky.
"You! I could've died!" Kojika shouts upon regaining her breath and standing up to face Cebrail.
"Huh? Didn't you want to die?"
"NO!" Kojika shouts.
"Oh that's good." Cebrail simply thinks it's a good thing that Kojika wouldn't commit self deletion since it was probably a pretty bad experience.
"I can't die until I defeat the Stray Devils and restore my clan!" Kojika announced but Cebrail didn't give her much of a reaction. "*Ahem* Though I'm grateful for your help, I need to go. I can't get my revenge by just sitting here."
"Revenge..." The word struck a chord in Cebrail. A memory which had been dangling at the very edge of her mind.
In her earlier years as an enforcer in her past life, she had made revenge her sole purpose, that is what led her to commit her very first kill. Though unfortunately she still couldn't remember either the beginning of it all nor could she recall the end, only that before she died she had found the corpse of the pope hidden in the basement of a church.
"Revenge is a slippery road. The Stray Devil Faction isn't a small organization, you may have to step over quite a bit of bodies to get to their leader." Cebrail warned her wisely while flicking her Rance Rod.
"I'm prepared to go through as many people as I have to." Kojika said a bit darkly, causing Cebrail to look at her from the corner of her eye.
The shadow of Kojika's hair darkened her face in a fashion that would be menacing if perhaps she wasn't so weak.
"Mmm... people can say things all they want. Actions are a different matter entirely. If you think you're prepared then do you think that you could beat me? Do you think that you could kill me? Do you truly think someone with Solomon's Ring would be killed by a grunt? What is impossible is impossible and it is impossible for you to win that fight and impossible for you to bear that weight." Cebrail reached into her dimensional storage pulling out a bucket full of water.
"..." Kojika didn't really have a response. She knew she was weak. She knew her mission would probably end in failure, curse or no curse. She's mediocre, just barely above a normal human.
"Sit down." Cebrail orders and inexplicably Kojika followed it without so much as a second thought much to her confusion. "Hold this."
Cebrail handed Kojika the bucket of water and she took it stupidly with a confused expression.
"Fishing is one of the few things I enjoy in life."
"Err..."
"You don't like fishing right?"
"Not particularly, no... sorry." Kojika felt a bit bad for some reason like a child.
"Understandable. Young kids in this world seem to be out of touch with nature, I guess fishing is a bit boring for this age of 15 second entertainment..." A small tug came from Cebrail's rod causing it to twitch.
Cebrail looked at it with visible intrigue and watched as it tugged, again a bit stronger.
"You said you wanted to restore your clan? What happened to it?" Cebrail asked as she pulled in her Rod.
"We were attacked by a Devil wielding hellfire. Since the Kushihashi clan and the Azure Dragon mostly govern over the wood attribute you can guess how bad the match-up was..." Kojika looked down as she recalled the memory, the black flames which couldn't be put out and seemed to consume everything it came into contact with. She hadn't gotten a good look at the people with him but they had killed just as many or even more of her fellow clan members.
"Perhaps that too was the doing of the Stray Devil faction? Exorcists are quite dangerous to them after all..." Cebrail grabbed up a winged fish and looked satisfied as she dumped it into the water bucket Kojika was holding. The fish's wings retracted into its body upon hitting the water and Kojika couldn't help but look at them with a bit of wonder. "Since just below Heaven is 'the end of the world' you can find most extinct species down there."
Kojika nodded at her explanation though she didn't really understand properly. "It probably wasn't the Strays, they don't normally operate in Japan."
"But we just saw them in Japan..."
"I said 'normally' didn't I?"
"Indeed it normally doesn't happen, but it isn't impossible." Cebrail, having cast her line back out into the open air, frowned when the wind seemed to pick up pushing it away from her intended target.
"Do you know something that I don't?" Kojika narrows her eyes at Cebrail in suspicion.
"Well I don't know much about the other King's Candidates so... no..." Cebrail admitted, pursing her lips. She only just realized exactly how little she knew about how Solomon's game was going. She couldn't ask Solomon either since he only spoke when he wanted to.
(What an annoying guy...)
"Oh..." Kojika scratched at the bucket with her fingers a bit nervously. "Alright then..."
The two fell into a momentary awkward silence until a large tug on Cebrail's fishing rod nearly pulled her over the edge.
"Eh? Eh?" Kojika was surprised by this and then even more surprised by Cebrail's own calm attitude as she simply used some light power to cut the line. "What was that?"
"..."
"Cebrail?"
"Probably some kind of monster... or a dinosaur. I told you extinct things are down there." Cebrail said casually making a new fishing line with her silver light power. "Well, all in all what I'm saying is, you should probably think about your revenge more before you do anything too hasty."
"I'm sorry, but I already have my mind set on it." Kojika shakes her head and Cebrail looks at her straight on with a serious expression.
"Are you certain? If you need a place to stay or any help-"
"No... I'll do this on my own." Indeed that was for the best. With her misfortune working with others was the same as dooming them, she didn't want another incident like her clan or the kind restaurant owners murder to happen again. She'd fight on her own even if it was impossible.
"..." Cebrail stared at Kojika and a mysterious pressure came upon the girl. It wasn't intimidation but instead judgment. Cebrail was judging Kojika, staring into her eyes and looking for something.
It seemed like she found it as well as with a sigh she recalled her line and stood up. "Dump the fish out since we're done now."
"O-Oh, a-alright." Kojika does as she's told quickly and as soon as the fish leaves the bucket its wings unfurl sending bits of sparkling water into the air.
(Is she mad because I won't be joining her group?)
"Listen to me." Cebrail raises her hand and puts the tip of her finger lightly on the blue haired girl's forehead. "Accept this contract and you'll be under my protection."
"But I already told you-" Kojika flinched slightly as her forehead glowed with the seal of Solomon.
"The contract will be simple."
(Is she going to try and force me!?!?)
"In exchange for allowing you to use my name, you must come to me when you're ready."
"H-Huh? That isn't a contract! That's more like an order!" Kojika yelled outraged.
Cebrail removed her finger and Solomon's seal slowly faded.
"Wait, why couldn't I resist it?!?!"
"The contracts formed by Solomon's ring are based around power, the 'stronger' one side is the more they can ask for."
"So you're strong enough to just force a contract onto me? That's a bit scary..."
"Only one contract per person though, so that's yours." Cebrail takes her bucket from Kojika and resting Rance on her shoulder she begins walking back towards her house.
"But why? What does it mean?" Kojika asks in confusion, watching as Cabrail's beautiful white hair flowed in the wind.
"It's simple. I have given you permission to use my name in all of your endeavors. If you ever find yourself in need of the power that comes with one's status, simply flash your seal of Solomon and use my name."
"Are you stupid!" Kojika waved her arm to the side while yelling. "I'm going after the Stray Devil Faction! A Faction run by another King's Candidate! Don't you understand what it'll mean if I use your name in that kind of situation?!?!"
"Of course I understand, I'm prepared for the consequences if you use my name recklessly... however..." Cebrail looks back at Kojika slightly, her yellow eyes glowing with certainty. "I suspect you aren't the kind of person who would drag me into trouble unnecessarily."
With that Cebrail began to leave.
Kojika didn't look away until the girl was finally far enough away to appear as nothing but a blob of color.
"..." In silence she tightened her fists and stared at the ground where she found a small golden key, it was a key allowing her access to Heaven. Inexplicably small tears began forming in her eyes as she picked it up.
She thought back to Cebrail's words... "Come back to me when you're ready." and shook her head. She couldn't understand the Seraphim Princess, not even a little.
That conversation had been their first one and yet she seemed to have decided all on her own that she and Kojika were now friends.
"What a strange kid..." Kojika mumbled aloud but with a small smile she gripped the key tightly. It was time for her to head out.
She was done here.
At least for now.