Kuoh Town

[Bloodedge]

"Sou. I guess that makes sense." true enough, a deal with the devil seemed to be exactly that which humans spoke of. Perhaps this simple saying did indeed come from fact, from those who actually made deals with devils. Eira informed the lad that these were indeed not optional things for Takumi, though his remaining her servant was. If he wished to do so, though, these were requirements. Takumi's brows furrowed, and he spoke again while retaining eye contact. "No matter what, I'm staying with you. Give it to me," he said with great conviction in his tone and visage. Over the next few moments, the eye contact already shared between them became a spell which pseudo-sealed Takumi's Juggernaut Drive. Following this, Eira retracted her wings, but continued embracing the young male to apply the other sort of mark she mentioned by sharing her powers between them. Takumi felt strangely during this application, and this went well beyond how his own body felt. His heartbeat thumped, then slowed drastically.

His eyes widened, never breaking contact with Eira's, and a light tint spread across his face. This apparent warm feeling was far from the forefront of his mind, and the same could be said of whatever power he was gaining or giving. Everything was replaced with something else entirely, much like the case of his empty mind earlier in their meeting. 'She's...' he thought. Wherever this thought went, Eira was soon questioning how he felt. The next words escaping Takumi may have also answered her question, but perhaps... perhaps it was just as much the completion of his own thoughts, if not more. "... Incredible," he finally spoke through a mouth that didn't want to close at this point.

[Apollymi]

The boy's maintained eye contact let Eira see his conviction and just like the others she'd given marks to this day, he accepted them without hesitation. His words rang through her mind with adamant fervor but still she gave pause while she looked at him. Whatever the lad was thinking she kept her hands on him and didn't let him go. In fact, of all the people she'd laid hands on today this parting was one of the hardest to force to happen. When he finally answered her stating that he felt incredible she was almost willing to let him go, except...

She looked down at his still open mouth and in a moment of selfishness couldn't resist. Every fiber of her being told her to add a third mark to this lad and she heard his words in her ear once more. 'No matter what, I'm staying with you.' If she had any more resistance left, she lost it as she stared at the lad, "Takumi... I..." she lost her words as she pressed her mouth against his, a burst of power would aim to leave her person as their lips connected but, she'd not known him long enough to be sure this power would settle with him as well. She felt strangely emotionally invested in the lad to start with, this moment of selfishness was likely spawned from that. But if it worked both of them would feel exceedingly powerful beyond the first two instances and would have more power to share between them. When Eira pulled away her eyes would still be open but the power she'd used to mark the lad would be receding just the same. Still she hadn't let him go yet, and instead she was content to hold him just a bit longer.

[Bloodedge]

Presumably, their business was concluded with the application of a mark which Takumi felt appearing over his left shoulder. Still, Eira held onto the male and met his stare, which itself was one potentially linked to Eira's Succubus aura. He didn't seem to have become any less affected by this, despite obtaining the second level of Eira's mark... but there was more. Following his claim of dedication, Eira stammered over her retort. Had she even intended to bring this clause to a close, she apparently chose to abandon it in the same moment she decided their mouths required immediate contact with one another. The first two levels of her mark had given Takumi the tattoo of a dragon's head, then its neck. Now, the wings were being added to the seal, but Takumi wasn't bothered by or concerned with that at all. He reflexively took a tight hold of the crimson-haired Succubus, and his eyes widened, then closed. He simply couldn't resist in spite of the freak-out he would have experienced at an earlier point of this exact day.

Eventually, Eira pulled her head away. Takumi's eyes opened then, and he saw that hers were open as well. No words were spoken by the woman. Takumi had every intention to ask why this happened. He'd felt the growth of his mark during this kiss, but it hardly registered in his mind. So, he would ask why she stared in such a way, and what this gesture was really for. He'd ask what she intended to say when her sentence fell short. He'd... do none of that. His mouth opened again to spew a full list of questions, but given what had just happened, and given the fixation he'd regained on Eira's eyes, he only ended up pushing forward to kiss her lips again.

[Apollymi]

Strangely when Eira kissed him, Takumi didn't pull away at all. And instead he grabbed hold of her as well, she was quite sure the mark settled by the time she pulled away. Though she had no idea why she'd forced it onto him in the first place. With her powers receding she figured the lad would want to be alone or maybe not to be connected to her anymore. But strangely nothing came from the teen after she pulled away. No, instead even with her Succubus powers no longer active he pushed his lips against hers again. Her eyes widened immensely because of all the reactions she expected, she didn't expect such a reaction from the boy. She kissed him back for a few moments unable to resist something so freely given to her. After this though when the kiss broke she'd speak to him. "Ano... I should explain, that I was staring because I didn't know if I could give you another mark or not. But I felt compelled to try," she said. "You said you'd stay with me no matter what. That made me really happy," she said. Eira felt so possessive of Takumi and oddly as if she wanted him to keep his word. She shifted her person to hold his face with both of her hands. "I want you to stay with me," she said this with a certainty she hadn't known she'd possessed. Eira realized she was most content when she was like this but she also didn't intend to potentially take advantage of the lad while he was strongly affected by her abilities. 'He should be immune to me right? Was that kiss his own decision?' she questioned herself.

[Bloodedge]

An already-fleeting moment vanished in a relative instant as Eira pulled away, despite returning his gesture initially. She felt compelled to explain her earlier staring, but Takumi had hardly noticed past his own unbroken gaze. His eyes widened. Only now did the expanding mark even register to him. His interpretation of Eira's movements shifted without much additional thought. What had he even been thinking before now? "Sou ka. I thought..." He paused there, closing his eyes and reaching out for one of the hands which held his face. What he thought was initially confusion became something entirely different... something he supposed he should put away. Surely he'd let himself misinterpret something at some point. 'Bakamono. You're just a Pawn,' he thought. 'Partner...' Ddraig spoke in his mind, though the young devil didn't listen at all. Takumi used his grasp to pull Eira's hand away from his face, freeing him to sit upright. "... Suman." With that said, he made every effort to extricate himself from Eira's hold entirely, intending to then do the same in removing himself from her bed.

[Apollymi]

Eira had only explained what she thought he needed to know, even so Takumi's reaction to her explanation was strange. He pulled away from her seeming to be confused, and Eira understood enough of her abilities to know about this. Beyond this he reacted as if it was somehow his fault that he felt that way, that he'd been wrong about something. He apologized to her and she had no idea why. "Taku...mi," she mumbled in response to his apology. "You don't have to apologize," she said as she released him. It was an odd thing to do, given that she didn't like letting him go, but since he wanted to flee her presence she couldn't make him stay. 'Why?' this question hung in Eira's mind as the lad aimed to move out of her bed as well. "Be careful, Takumi."

[Bloodedge]

Takumi had nothing to say to the notion that his apology was unnecessary. He still felt it was. In previous moments, he'd obviously misread some sort of sign that may not have even existed as anything, and acted on what he thought in the moment. Sure, she had returned his gesture for a moment, but... she was a Succubus. This wouldn't deter Takumi from his goals at all, though. He simply now had to seal something away. For the moment, he looked around Eira's room until he found his clothes, seeming to have few enough issues moving while he collected and donned them. As he put them on, he didn't appear to be very satisfied, finding various moments in which he tugged at this and that. Everything seemed virtually fine nonetheless, until he was fully dressed and attempting to move further. A single moment saw every muscle in his body temporarily give out, though his control over himself returned before he managed to fall over. 'Shimatta!' he thought. Pushing forward, he gathered his bearings and reached for the door to Eira's room. If nothing else, he had to leave this room now, lest he misunderstand something else. "Ja," he said in a voice that had become deeper than its previous state, yet also more strained. Without further ado, he moved the door into its open position and stepped out.

[Apollymi]

Eira watched as Takumi dressed himself. The struggle of this moment was one which hurt her quite a bit, but she told the lad she'd let him keep his emotions. She couldn't go back on that now, still she wondered why if their connection should have been better the lad didn't seem to understand at all. More over, while he was dressing himself he had a moment where all his muscles froze and she fought not to immediately move to catch him. 'Why? Why don't you understand?' she thought as she lay in bed propped up on her elbow. Watching the lad reach for her door and with a passing word he left. "Ja ne," she murmured. With that she rolled over on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She didn't want to be in this room alone right now, but she also didn't want to cause Takumi any more stress. As such she was stuck in this room by herself for now at least.

Meanwhile the rest of the house was as busy as it always was when Takumi stepped out into the hallway, he'd find himself bumping into Maiko who in the meantime had changed into pajamas and had several bags of snack food and bottled drinks in her hands. Her eyes widened at the sight of him there as she fell to the ground with all the things in her hands falling around her.

[Bloodedge]

Takumi moved onward after closing Eira's door behind him. He didn't appear to have any specific destination in mind, but his chosen path resulted in him bumping into Maiko. He stumbled back, but once again caught himself. Maiko, however, fell back while dropping a slew of snacks and beverages she'd been carrying. In that moment, he snapped back to reality in an eye-widening moment before dropping to one knee in front of the girl. "Gomen. I wasn't paying attention. Here," he said while reaching out with his left hand to grab as many of her things as possible, and reaching out with his left to offer her a lift. Little did Takumi realize, he'd hardly be able to get up himself. Now that he'd lowered himself to one knee, his body was in the process of giving out again, and it was taking more out of him that he realized just to move as much as he was now doing.

[Apollymi]

"Iie, it isn't that big a deal, Yasukawa. I've taken harder hits on purpose... You sure you should be up so soon though," asked Maiko seeming a bit concerned about the lad's well being as he went about trying to help her up she shook her head no and pushed herself up off the ground. "No offense but you look like shit," she said honestly before she aimed to take her snacks from him. She was quite curious as to why he was leaving Eira's room if he wasn't all fixed up, as their leader tended to look after this lad extensively, even so she felt it wasn't her place to question it so she didn't. She'd go on to tuck them all under one arm before extending her other to him. "Where are you off to?" she asked specifically avoiding all conversation concerning anything negative that had happened this day. She'd grieved a serious loss like his and knew better than to bring it up before the lad was ready lest he become upset.