-3 nights ago-
Before Toru departed to Fuyuki, a story that even he didn't remember until the last moment must be told. The night he got drunk and went out to get more alcohol. Let's focus on that this time.
If you could see everything from Toru's eyes, you would see that the ground, the sky and, in short, everything, is spinning non-stop. Despite his drunkenness, Toru moved between the roofs of the buildings with agility. The night is the protagonist of this scene, as it makes Toru look like a real night ghost.
"London always had good views from the heights."
Alek Gusev has visited London in the past and always liked the old architecture there. But he, Asahi Toru, wasn't coming to see the scenery, of course not. He was looking for that precious drink that makes suffering a joke.
"I have money, I think, but it's too late..."
In London you can buy alcohol at different times depending on the establishment. There was no problem at all. However, Toru didn't know where to go. He felt so disoriented that he couldn't quite remember the structure of the city.
If there was a way to get the liquid gold, it was to go to some bar or liquor store. Starting there, Toru flashed a confident smile.
"I guess the time doesn't matter, really. It's time to explore."
With all the confidence in the world, Toru launched himself from the top of the roof in free fall. The wind blew his hood off and left his exotic silver eyes for all to see. The expression on his face was completely different from his usual one. He looked happy and relaxed, his face a little red due to the influence of alcohol in his blood.
Whenever Toru got drunk to this extent, his personality is completely reversed. He is always quite quiet and calm. Someone quite boring, really, but this time he even laughed at things that made no sense.
In the end, he found himself in a liquor store that was still open. This store was allowed to sell until three in the morning. It was a good deal considering that there are many drunks in the world. Toru just walked up to the counter, ordered six bottles of the purest vodka with a nice friendly smile and paid in cash.
The woman who served Toru blushed at the sight of such a handsome young man. This distracted her so much that she forgot to ask the customer for identification.
As he left the establishment, Toru looked at the loot in the till and felt proud.
"My liver is going to suffer a lot... But I'm already dead. Something like this won't kill me again."
Rejoicing, he was about to jump out to go home, but a black limousine pulled up in front of him. Two burly men in black tuxedos stepped out of the limo and grabbed Toru by the arms.
"Huh? What are they doing, do I know them? I think I know them."
Toru was so confused, but he felt that he knew these guys. That was confirmed when he entered the car with them and saw a cute blonde girl smiling.
"I never thought I'd find you in such a sorry state, Assassin."
That arrogant little female voice entered Toru's brain. A spark ignited and, in the midst of drunkenness, he said, "You... The nasty girl."
A vein swelled in the forehead of this girl, Reines. It was poetic how, regardless of his state, Toru is still a bastard when it comes to talking. That was his natural talent.
"I'm going to let that go. For now, what I'm more interested in is why you're carrying so much alcohol in your hands."
Looking at the box in his hands, Toru smiled sarcastically.
"The truth is, I bought this because I'd like to pour it down the drain."
"..."
"Obviously I bought it to drink it all by myself. I don't think it's that hard to understand."
Toru's sarcasm was something Reines didn't expect. Besides, such a relaxed attitude makes Toru look like a totally different person.
"Hm... And what are you doing around here at this hour? This doesn't seem like just a coincidence," Toru asked in a rather relaxed and friendly tone.
Dismayed, Reines sighed. She tried to get used to this strange timing. "I had business to arrange for the Clock Tower. I was released from my duties very late and was now on my way home."
"That makes sense. Taking advantage of this, can you drop me off near my Master's house? Although it would be faster if I went running myself."
"So how are you doing, I'm surprised you didn't run into some wall. It would be pretty boring and depressing to drink alone in the dark though. Hahaha. It's so sad it makes me want to cry."
Toru frowned. "And so, what do you propose, ojou-sama?"
Reines smiled mischievously. Of course she's underage and can't drink, though that doesn't apply to the magus world. Even children of magus families can drink without restriction.
"I don't know, what do you come up with? You're so smart, think of something."
"... You're just asking me the question back. What's the point of asking a question if the answer is another question? Sure, in science and other fields it's pretty useful, but not here."
"Huh. It's no fun when you're so rational. I'm on my way home right now, how about joining me? I can call some people you know to lighten the mood."
Toru raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Well this is too sudden. When you propose something like this it means you've got something on your hands. Speak up already, ojou-sama. I'm not foolish enough to fall for your manipulations."
"Fufu... it seems I left too strong an impression on you. Come on, kid, I'm not always planning things to harm others," she shook her hands and head in denial. Even if she said that, it would hardly be believable.
Toru already knows Reines as a liar and manipulator who benefits from the misfortune of others. Changing that is extremely difficult. Toru doesn't really take much notice of that, though. Nothing this girl did to Toru could affect anything.
"And what's in it for me? There must be something."
This time he smiled. If he was going to get sucked into this woman's tentacles, he should be prepared to be swallowed by the ocean. Reines is dangerous, but Toru is even more so.
"Let me think. The El-Melloi family has many riches that have not yet been lost, among them a great deal of aged liquor that I'm sure is eagerly awaiting you."
"You're saying that...," Toru gulped. If there was anything that could catch his attention right now, it was that treasure Reines was keeping. Then, a specific type of liquor crossed his mind. "Do you have rice sake in there?"
Reines looked out the window and smiled. She won...
"I don't know. It's likely. Are you interested?"
Toru's gaze darkened. Suddenly, he looked at Reines seriously and replied, "I accept."
***
The next moment they both found themselves in the large mansion of the El-Melloi family. While walking around looking at the paintings on the walls, Toru had a bottle of vodka in his hand. He continued to drink even at this point never to sober up again.
"They should be here in a moment. Should we wait or do we start without them?" said Reines, turning her back to Toru as they walked down the long hallway.
"Them? Who did you call? I was with you the whole time. I didn't see you call anyone."
"You kept your eyes on me all this time? What a surprise. Were you captivated by my beauty? If I take my little sister and Gray into account, I must say you're the type to look for diamonds in the darkest caves."
"Don't evade the question - had you already planned this?"
Reines sighed. "No. It was all just a convenient coincidence. Besides, it wasn't me who called those people. Remember, there were also my two bodyguards."
"Aah... That's right. It seems my concentration is all over the floor," Toru said, touching his forehead painfully, but he smiled without giving it a thought and said, "Forget what I said. Let's go to the place."
"How impatient of you. You didn't even notice that we're already in front of the door."
"What?"
Throughout this tour, Toru did not notice that at some point they both stopped. They were now in one of the innermost recesses of the mansion. An old, but very well-kept door, shiny and clean, stood between Toru and his target.
"Go ahead. You'll find what you're looking for in there."
Reines insisted and Toru took a step. He opened the door and his silver eyes lit up at the scenery. There were barrels with different wines, display cases with different bottles many years old. This is an alcoholic's paradise....
Like a child in a candy store, Toru smiled and disappeared. In a second he stood in front of the display case, looking at the bottles. There was no trace of the rice sake, but surely, among so many bottles, the treasure was hidden.
"There's a lot of stuff. Usually only wine from barrels and the occasional bottle is used during high society magus events. I was never really interested in the drink, but I've taken the trouble to try it."
No. That's really a lie. Reines has been drinking many times and her resistance to alcohol is monstrously high. She usually usually drinks wine in front of Waver just to annoy him. She once competed with her older brother and won very easily.
"Go ahead. Just for today, you can drink whatever you want. It's a gift from me."
"That sounds extremely suspicious," Toru said, looking at Reines with narrowed eyes. "I'll accept it, but I won't take my eyes off you."
"You make me nervous with that predatory look."
She hugged herself, feigning displeasure at Toru's gaze, but the expression on her face said something else entirely.
"Hah. Well, you're cute and I could see you that way, but I'm busy doing other things." He replied as he reached for the right bottle. He raised his eyebrows and smiled as he saw that there was something there. To him there were more important things right now than a pretty girl.
"And if you weren't busy you could see me like that?"
She felt curious. This version of Toru was more approachable than normal Toru. She couldn't help but try to tease him. If Toru was willing to let his weaknesses be exposed, she wanted to use that to make him miserable.
Toru opened the sake bottle and sniffed it. A smile accompanied by a nostalgic sigh showed.
"It's likely, yes."
"How blunt you are. My little sister and Gray would be very angry if they heard you say that."
Toru lifted his shoulders as if he didn't care. "It wouldn't make sense for my Master to be angry about that. As for Gray, I'm afraid my head would be in danger if she knew about this," he raised the sake bottle in a toast and took a large sip. "Fuaah! This is what I'm talking about! Vodka and rice sake are the best!"
One could clearly see the duality between the soul of the Russian scientist and the Konoha ninja.
Reines smiled at the sight of Toru. He is like a very friendly child.
"So, shall we begin?" asked Reines.
***
The next moment, both of them were in a large room with many tables. At one of those tables were Toru and Reines. Nearby was Trimm, who was in charge of serving drinks.
Reines drank wine as usual, but she couldn't help tasting a bit of Toru's liquor from time to time. This guy sure likes hard liquor.
Drinking the first shot of vodka, Reines felt her throat burn. Her refined palate of a high society lady suffered a little, but soon she started to get used to it.
"Hahaha! Ojou-sama, I'm afraid I can't feel my face anymore."
Unlike Reines, who drank in moderation, Toru was already completely drunk. Not to mention that he had been drinking before, with rice sake and more vodka, the effect of this was atrocious.
Reines could only look at Toru with a smile. Even if Toru wasn't suffering at the moment, she found it curious and amusing to see this new side of the Assassin. Besides, she knew she could use this to tease Toru later.
This was the funniest coincidence in a long time.
"You don't know how much fun I'm going to have with this tomorrow," she said.
Toru, drinking straight from the bottle, replied to this arrogant girl. "Why don't you have fun with me right now?"
"Huuh... Are you challenging me?"
"If this wasn't a challenge, there would be nothing else you and I could do here alone."
Toru's voice had a strangely flirtatious tone to it. It sent a little shiver down Reines' spine.
It seemed like the mood was going the wrong way, but two new characters entered the scene and interrupted the moment.
"Reines, why did you call us so late? I'm sleepy," that was Flat, who was yawning sleepily. He was as carefree as ever.
"You were never this irresponsible, Reines. I'm surprised that-", Svin. He stopped himself from speaking further when he saw Toru. "What's going on?"
"Oh. It's you guys.", he disappeared in everyone's eyes, but reappeared putting his arms around both boys' shoulders. "Good thing you guys came. This was getting boring," he led them over near Reines and picked up two crystal glasses, filling those vodka glasses halfway. "Here you go."
Both Svin and Flat accepted the liquor, but Svin frowned and looked at Reines.
"Is this what you called me here for? Reines, you know I can't drink. I thought you were in trouble or something. And Flat. flat?!"
Svin had only taken his eyes off Flat for a second and Flat had already drank the vodka Toru gave him.
"Relax, Le Chien," Flat said, wiping the liquor from his lips with his shirt sleeve. "Reines called us to have this meeting between friends. Accept her kindness. It's not every day a pretty girl buys you a drink."
"Yes, Svin. Drink a little and let yourself go," Toru added. "We're all friends here."
"No, no, no, no and no. You I hardly even know. And Flat, I hate it when you accept things without even hesitation. We have responsibilities, we must-"
Before he could say anything, Toru took the glass from Svin's hand and gave it to him to drink himself. "Don't be a coward and drink some. You're a magus, this won't kill you."
Svin fought for his life, but Toru was too strong. Reines watched all this silently with her eyes sparkling with amusement. Toru was absolutely hilarious in this kind of situation. Not only did this boy not hesitate when it came to forcing others to do his will, but he had the ability to dominate everyone. Something inside Reines flared up at that moment.
The only girl in the group, sipping her glass of wine as if it were nothing, smiled in amusement. This was going to be a long and intense night.
***
After practically kidnapping Svin and forcing him to drink against his will, the four teenagers looked at each other with faces flushed with blood alcohol. The drunkest one here was obviously Toru. The guy kept drinking straight from the bottle while the others were a bit more refined using their crystal glasses.
"The wall came down and everyone, absolutely everyone, fled from the men's hot springs. The only one who stayed there was Naruto. The girls thought he was a peeping tom and beat him half to death."
Toru's story was a part of his childhood in Konoha.
"And you saw all that?" asked Flat.
The Assassin, arrogant and proud, rose from his seat spreading his arms like a god.
"Of course. No one spotted me. I'm a real ninja."
"What a pervert you are, Assassin." Reines covered her face. She felt a little dizzy, but she was still in all her faculties.
"Can you blame me? I was a very curious kid back then. It was a great experience."
"How envious- I say. You can't stoop that low," Svin whispered.
Toru shook his head. "I was young just like all of you. Seriously. If you knew all the crazy things I did you'd even be afraid of me."
"Young? Then at what age did you die, Assassin?"
"At 16. Why do you ask, Flat?"
"You're the same age as us, you pervert!" yelled Svin pounding the table. The alcohol was already starting to go to his head. "Poor Gray, what would she think of this?"
"First of all, I'm not a pervert. And secondly, I don't understand what Gray has to do with any of this."
"It seems our dear friend Svin is very jealous of you," Reines said. Her voice had the perfect tone to irritate Svin. "Poor thing... He must be heartbroken."
"No! I'm not jealous! I thought we had already settled that!"
Reines' provocation was effective. Svin clenched his fists as he swung like a pendulum. However, it was too effective. The reason Svin can't drink has finally come to light.
While refuting Reines' arguments, Svin's voice changed and a stream of mana fluctuated around him. It could be seen how his anger was taking over and how the characteristics of a strange animal began to surface in him. At the same time, his eyes became stained with the savagery of his magecraft.
"Oh, I remembered something," Flat said as he raised his glass to his lips. "Svin must never drink alcohol."
Toru looked at Reines after hearing that and she just lifted her shoulders inconsequentially. As she returned his gaze to Svin, the wild boy lunged at him, pushing him to the ground. Toru, who had the bottle in his hand, despite Svin biting his arm, tried his best not to spill the drink.
"Hey, wait a bit. You're going to break the bottle."
Svin didn't listen and, like a dog, nibbled Toru's arm. From his arm, blood started to spill in small drops, which scared Flat a little and finally made Reines take more notice of the situation.
"Le Chien, stop, you're hurting Assassin! I know you look like a Le Chien, but you shouldn't act like one!"
"This time I really overdid it..."
As for Toru, while Flat was shouting and making very strange body expressions, he just drank a bit from the bottle and sighed. "I'm afraid someone invited a rabid dog to the party."
Without any effort, Toru got up from the ground, drank everything in the bottle and threw it on the ground, breaking it into pieces. Svin was stunned by the remorseful beastly strength Toru displayed. From his beast-like eyes, the Glascheit family boy saw everything in red, voices were blurred and he felt very angry. His irrationality was due to the primitive nature of his magecraft.
"Tell me, mad dog, don't you know how to respect a person who is relaxing with a nice drink of sake on the metal roof of a dreary, rainy city after realizing that all the people he cared about are dead?"
...
...
"That was too specific, Assassin," Reines said.
After seeing that Toru could control the situation without much effort, she relaxed a bit more and continued drinking. This time, while Toru asked that specific question to Svin, she asked Trimm to continue pouring the liquors.
"Didn't he? I think it sounded too redundant."
"Assassin! You're bleeding to death! You're going to die! I don't want my friends to die!" this was Svin screaming and rolling on the floor. No one cares what he thinks.
Anyway. Toru looked into the beast's eyes and growled at him. "Let's get something straight, doggy. There can't be two monsters in the same room. I'll forgive you if you kowtow to me."
Svin didn't listen and bit Toru's arm harder. A crunching sound was heard and Toru finally understood the stance of this drunken beast.
"Looks like you chose the hard way."
Toru raised his arm and consequently lifted Svin up. With a nimble and swift movement, he slammed Svin to the ground. Despite being drunk, Toru controlled his strength quite well, so he didn't break the ground or hurt Svin, but it was enough to leave the boy with no air in his lungs.
Like an unleashed beast, Svin stopped biting Toru, stepped back and caught his breath. Getting up from the ground, he looked at Toru.
"What are you waiting for? Come here, doggy!"
The fight began. Toru looked at his injured arm as he easily dodged Svin.
"I think I can fix it," he said to himself accommodating the bone and sealing the wound with ninjutsu. All this while walking relaxed around the facility, dodging tackles and Svin's paws.
Flat held his hands to his head in slow motion with his mouth open as Reines enjoyed the show from the comfort of her seat. A chair flew toward Reines' face, but Trimmau caught it rather nimbly and settled it back on the floor. A variety of the many objects in the place went flying as Svin swung at them and Trimm was catching them.
The beast boy looked quite desperate trying to land a blow, but it was impossible. Toru was drinking and dancing like an idiot as he dodged.
"I once made the continent tremble with my power, doggie. You're going to need more than that to beat me!"
Svin shouted and increased his speed. Even with that, he was no match for Toru. When Svin threw a punch, Toru jumped and stood on his head. This caused Svin to kiss the ground due to the fact that he could not keep his balance. At that, Toru finished the bottle in his hand. He staggered and almost fell down, but that moment was quite convenient. Toru almost fell forward, which helped him dodge a swipe from Svin.
"Trimm. Give me another one" Toru said, throwing the bottle at Trimmau. She reacted immediately and threw another full bottle while catching the one Toru threw. Meanwhile, Toru caught the bottle and raised it high. "Got it!", but just in that split second, Svin launched a swipe, hitting the bottle.
The liquid fell to the floor, spilling onto the carpet and Toru stared at the drink in silence. Svin launched two more attacks, but Toru, not taking his eyes off the tragedy, kicked out with a half-turn and sent Svin flying.
"No way... Not again...", he knelt down and touched the puddle with his fingers. "I couldn't save you. I can never save anyone. Much less the one I love the most," he covered his face with both hands as he wailed like a widow.
At that, Svin got up from the ground. Flat tried to warn Toru, but it was too late. Svin charged at Toru, but he got up in one swift movement and grabbed Svin by the neck. He lifted him off the ground and looked him in the eyes.
"You made a mistake, you bastard dog," he raised his fist and punched Svin in the face. "Apologize with the sake."
Svin refused and kept his savagery in force. He shook himself trying to break free, but couldn't. Because of that, Toru punched him in the face again.
"Apologize!"
Svin flatly refused, which unleashed a repetition of punches to the face. On the fifth punch, Svin stopped moving and fell to his knees on the ground. He's still alive, obviously, but his will was broken by a stronger beast.
Timidly, Svin crawled behind Reines and looked at Toru in fear. In that respect, he really did look like a dog.
"Watch what you do. You left him traumatized, Assassin," sighed Reines with a smile. To break a person in this way was too pleasurable, but she was too refined to employ such aggressive methods as Toru's.
Someone had finally done what she had been wanting for a long time. And it didn't end there.
"Le Chien... Are you all right? Your nose is bleeding. Let me help you," without saying anything else to him, Flat put his hand on his face and healed the bleeding with magecraft. "That's better."
Toru walked over to Reines, but looked at Svin. "You learned your lesson, didn't you?"
Svin shrank in place and ducked his gaze. Toru smiled calmly because he had successfully tamed the beast. "Don't cry anymore, little dog. I'm not going to beat you anymore.", he picked up a crystal glass with vodka and offered it to Svin. "Relax and drink with us."
Although he lost a bottle earlier, he made peace on the spot. Svin accepted and drank. With that, an unprecedented wave of events was unleashed...