Ch 90: Curb stomping.

"Nervous?" asked Noah as he snaked an arm around Himari's thin waist. They were sitting in the dormitory's living room.

"A little, M-Noah." she confessed. "I… have an inferiority complex, I think, toward the rest of my family. I know I am likely to win, thanks to you, but…"

"I understand. You need some time for your self-image to adjust to the new you. But no matter what, I'll always have your back."

"Noah." smiled Himari, lifting her head for a kiss. Noah happily obliged.

"Ahem. We have kids looking." interrupted Kyouka, grinning. Her training was still underway, as she had a rather dominant personality and didn't submit easily, but there was no way she was going to be absent for Himari's duel with her older sister.

Besides Himari, Shushu was looking enviously, and Nei was covering her face with her hands and looking through her fingers.

Himari stepped away from Noah with a red face.

Noah's phone pinged, signaling a received message. Noah turned on the phone and looked, expecting something from Yachiho or her mother. But the sender was someone else.

"Can you be a good boy and come today? I have chosen a lot of outfits!"

Accompanying the message was a selfie Akeno took, showing her dressed in her shrine maiden outfit as she displayed a seductive smile. But the front of the uniform was partially undone, revealing just a hint of the latex bra she wore under it.

Noah typed a quick answer.

"Hi, my cute Akeno. Thanks for the pic. In the middle of something, but I'll come as soon as possible."

Noah put the phone back on his pocket before any of the girls present could scold him for not paying attention to them.

"A rotation?" asked Noah as he listened to something Kyouka was saying to Shushu.

"Yes." nodded Shushu. "Surely you didn't think she girls spent the whole year guarding this outpost in Hueco Mundo, right?"

"I kinda imagined it, yes. I was wondering how much sacrifices you made regarding school and your prospects in a civilian career…"

"We rotate with other squads. Four months in the dormitory, then six months outside. As long as we work hard, we can manage to keep up with our school studies. Although in my case, I can still attend the academy while my squad is stationed here, thanks to the portal installed inside the school." said Kyouka.

"I see." nodded Noah. "Then Shushu and Himari and Nei could attend Ginsei academy, too?"

Kyouka winced a little.

"In theory, they could, but there needs to be at least two combat personnel in the dormitory at all times. We decided by picking straws, and I was the one who got the short one."

"It's fine." smiled Shushu as she saw Noah's dubious expression. "We just make up for the lost time at school with extra lessons. But this rotation still allows us to spend some time with our families."

"And the next rotation is in?"

"Four weeks." said Kyouka.

"Then I'll count on you girls to often come to my home to play." smiled Noah. "I have a big mansion, and a nice pool in the back."

"Yeah! We'll come for sure!" exclaimed Shushu.

Noah looked at Kyouka, silently asking her to live in his mansion more permanently, and she nodded quietly. She was about to say something when they heard footsteps coming from the basement, where the portal was located.

Several members of the Anti-Demon Corps entered the living room. Himari's sister Yachiho was expected, of course, as well as Fubuki Azuma, their mother. The presence of the Commander, however, was a surprise, and she was accompanied by someone from her squad, a girl with short wavy blond hairs, held away from her face with a few hair pins.

Noah and the girls stood and greeted each other, in hindsight, the presence of Ginna Bizen made sense. She possessed a sacred gear suited to duels and serious spars. Yachiho arrogantly walked in front of Himari.

"Did you take the time to say goodbye to your comrades? You're coming back to the Azuma's main house today."

"I won't!" retorted Himari, slightly unnerved by her mother silently staring at her.

"Let's get this over with! In front of the dormitory?" asked Yachiho, looking at the Commander and Gina.

"The location doesn't really matter." nodded Ren, and she walked out of the living room.

As they walked out, Noah took Himari's hand.

"It's fine, you've got this. Just start the fight as you told me." he told her softly with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, thanks."

Fubuki heard and turned her head back to Himari, but didn't say anything.

They stopped fifty meters away from the dormitory, and Ginna used her power, creating a two hundred meters wide area where any wound inflicted would quickly heal.

"I am surprised to see you present for this, Commander." said Noah.

"I had some free time, and Fubuki is a close friend." shrugged Ren.

Yachiho and Himari were facing each other, separated by twenty meters of distance.

"Ready to lose to me yet again?" taunted Yachiho, drawing one of her two guns.

Himari didn't answer.

"Are both combatants ready?" asked Ginna, acting as the referee.

Himari and Yachiho both nodded.

"Then, without further ado, three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Fight!"

Yachiho pointed her gun toward Himari as she lifted her free hand, ready to make the hand gesture that triggered her Golden Hour in an instant. She expected Himari to change her right arm into a machine gun, as was her usual fighting method, but her eyes widened when Himari simply disappeared, and a rush of displaced air came from her right and behind.

Turning hurriedly, she saw that Himari was some distance behind her, and had surrounded herself from all sides with overlapping shields of yellow light. A silver magical array also appeared under her feet.

Not knowing who Himari had copied those abilities from and surprised that she suddenly seemed to be able to use several of them simultaneously, Yachiho activated her Golden Hour, freezing time for five seconds. She fired three bullets at Himari's chest, but they were stopped by the golden shield in front of her. The shield didn't crack or ripple, but seemed to have gotten just a little dimmer compared to the others protecting her sides and top. Understanding that her bullets were still having an effect, she emptied her clip as she drew her second gun and started firing when the effect of Golden Hour expired, and time resumed its normal flow.

Yachiho saw Himari grin as she replaced the weakened shield, and the silver formation at her feet disappeared.

"Haven't you turned yourself into a fine turtle? But you won't defeat me with just that!" yelled Yachiho, reloading her right gun in a hurry.

Himari disappeared again, and Yachiho felt a great impact on her left shoulder. Whatever had hit her sent her flying, and she dropped one of her guns. Yachiho watched in shock as Himari stood where she previously had been, slowly lowering her right leg. She hurriedly fired a few shots at her, and Himari's arms became a blur.

She opened her hands, and the rubber-tipped bullets dropped from them.

"You can't defeat me anymore, Yachiho."

Yachiho gritted her teeth and adopted her special pose to activate Prime Time. She normally avoided using it, as her power had a severe energy drain at the best of times, and Prime Time doubled it. She caused time to rewind ten seconds backward, returning to the moment where the duel was starting.

Drop of sweats started to appear on her forehead as the duel resumed. Yachiho now knew what strange abilities Himari was going to use, and tried to stop her.

And she failed.

Three more times, Yachiho rewinded time. And three more times, she failed to turn the tide.

On her last attempt, she managed to hit Himari twice before she surrounded herself by shields, but the rubber bullets that should have interrupted her and caused her great pain were essentially ignored.

Yachiho was in complete disbelief as she tried to use Prime Time once more, and the attempt made her woozy. As she tried to shake herself out of it, Himari appeared right in front of her.

"It's over." she said, as she struck Yachiho in her stomach.

Yachiho folded in half, and lost consciousness.

Ren looked with furrowed brows at Noah.

"It is your doing, right?"

Noah shrugged. "Yes. Himari offered her everything to me, and I gave her power, and my affection. But if you're wondering if I used something like Eternal Chains or some other temporary boost on her before the duel so she could cheat, the answer is no. That power is hers now."

"…I see…"

Himari had used Healing on her sister and was carrying her as she walked closer. She met her mother's gaze.

Fubuki nodded, and slowly displayed a small smile.

"You did well, Himari. I acknowledge your strength."

She turned without another word and headed to the dormitory.

Himari froze for a few seconds, until Kyouka, Ren, Noah and Shushu surrounded her.

"That was great, Himari!" grinned Kyouka, squeezing her shoulder.

"Ginna, we're going back." said Ren.

"Yes, Commander!" said the girl. As she walked closer to Noah, she grinned.

"Hey, Noah-kun. Could you give me your autograph next time we meet, please?"

"Sure." smiled Noah.

"Super! See you later!" she replied as she trotted after Ren.

"I'll bring Yachiho to my room, until she recovers." said Himari.

"Yes. You did great, Himari. I'm proud of you." smiled Noah.

"Thank you. Do you mind if I come by this evening?"

"Not at all. My house is also your house."

"Great." Himari walked away, and Kyouka looked at Shushu and Nei.

"I'm going to resume my training with Noah. See you later."

"Yeah, sure. Have fun!" grinned Shushu. Unlike Nei, she wasn't clueless about the nature of Noah's training, even if Himari and Kyouka had refused to answer her questions about it. It wasn't for lack of asking!

"Goodbye, Kyouka-nee, Noah Onii-chan." replied Nei sweetly.

Noah couldn't help but feel warm inside each time Nei called him Onii-chan. He wondered if there was some kind of power behind the words.

"See you later, Nei. I'll bring you some snacks next time."

…

Yachiho opened her eyes, and stared motionless at the ceiling as the memories came back to her.

She had lost.

No, not just lost. She had been utterly crushed, by her little sister.

With a sigh, she stood and left the room.

Seeing Nei in the living room, she asked where her sister was, and was told that Himari was in the bathroom.

Yachiho decided to take a bath as well, as she felt sweaty from the duel. Surely, they wouldn't mind if she borrowed their facilities.

Yachiho entered the bathroom, took a shower to clean her body, covered her body with a towel, and with a short hesitation, opened the door to the bath.

Himari was there, relaxing in the water, and gestured for her to join.

Yachiho removed her towel and sat in the water, feeling awkward. She couldn't look at Himari in the eyes.

After two minutes, she sighed.

"…Himari…I'm sorry." she said softly.

Himari slowly moved closer to her, but Yachiho was afraid to look at her. She tensed when she felt Himari hug her from behind.

"I'm not an idiot, you know? Even when you were insulting me, I could still see right through you." said Himari.

"You didn't want me to come back to the main house because you thought I was bringing shame to the name of the Azuma. You did it because you were worried about my safety. You're still the same older sister that would try to sneak into my bed at night to sleep with me… I forgive you, Yachiho."

"…You make me sound like a pervert, when you say it like that…" muttered Yachiho, blushing.

"You wouldn't have done anything to hurt me when I was younger. It was all innocent. But you better not try that again now. Or I might punish the perverted girl." said Himari with a smile.

Yachiho trembled.

"And how would you punish me?" asked Yachiho.

"With a good spanking." said Himari, paying very close attention to her older sister's expression and body language. There was something in Yachiho's voice that aroused her suspicion.

"Would you like me to spank you?"

"O-Of course not, what are you saying?" protested Yachiho vehemently. A little too vehemently.

"…We really are alike." sighed Himari, a small smile in her face. With both sisters having their hairs down, they almost looked like twins, but she wasn't referring to their bodies.

"…How did you become so strong?" asked Yachiho quietly.

"Did mother not tell you anything about Noah?"

"Not really. I know he's strong, that he can teleport, and he somehow solved the Eight Thunder Gods issue. She didn't tell me anything more."

"Noah can share most of his powers with his subordinates, with a soul contract. I bound my soul to him, and he gave me power. An infinite lifespan, too. Noah is a demi-god. He will never die of old age, and that is something he can share."

"A demi-god… That soul contract, does it have any demerit?"

"Only that I must remain loyal to Noah and serve him… As for what this service involves, well… I will leave it to your imagination." smiled Himari.

She already guessed that her sister would end up becoming Noah's slave one day. She didn't mind, as Yachiho's tendencies would require her to find a safe and reliable Master to take care of her, and Noah would be the ideal choice.