Later that day at noon, after the boy shamelessly unloaded another generous serving to a fortunate recipient, Leo and his company gathered at the school courtyard like they always had. The benefit of feeding the succubus before lunch as he found out, was that she would be too full to eat and end up feeding him her own food instead.
"Say ahh~~"
"ahh~~"
"Hey... don't you two feel embarrassed?"
Watching his friend being spoon fed by the gentle sister-like succubus, Timmy couldn't help but to sound sour. They were acting like a newlywed couple, and were already psychologically immune to the privy eyes of others.
For example, the righteous boy was capable of acting perfectly normal in front of Timmy after he banged his mother all night long. The guilt of intoxicating his friend's little sister with his cheese was child's play compared to that.
"What is there to be embarrassed about? Here, do you want to try one too?" Leo picked up the last takoyaki with another pair of chopsticks.
"Leo...! You are truly my best friend!" Offered with the golden crispy ball made by Lilith, the boy was deeply touched with tears almost in his eyes.
However, just as Timmy leaned forward and incited the bromance fantasies of some female bystanders around, the takoyaki was stolen in front of him by the crunchy bite of another mouth.
"Mwaaah...! Lilith-sis, did you make this?! It tastes so good!"
The culprit of cruelty was a young lady in middle school uniform. Chewing down the food, she ignored the frozen Timmy and sat between the group like there was nothing wrong.
"Of course! I am proud of my cooking!" The succubus proudly puffed out her chest, gruesomely straining the few remaining buttons on her uniform.
"Rena, where did you come from?" Leo asked.
"Today is the school's open house visit! I will be coming here next year. Shame that you guys are graduating."
Middle school officially starts a day later for this specific purpose, which also reminded the boy of his new little sister, who should be doing school registration with Jean.
"I see, I am surprised you managed to find us then."
"Lilith-sis's cooking smells too good!" And so was Leo's dense pheromone, especially sensitive for those who had savored his taste.
And thus, with Timmy left heartbrokenly at the side, the group proceed to converse about several trivial topics... until, a certain conspicuous presence drew everyone's attention.
Followed by her maid, a young lady with an aura of confidence walked across the courtyard under many eyes of admiration. Ignoring the offer of several fan girls to sit with them, she proceeded straight to Leo's table and gracefully greeted.
"May I join you all for lunch?"
The divine words of the princess instantly revitalized a certain boy from his coma.
"Yes! Yes! Of course you may, my lady." Timmy accepted the request on the group's behalf and excitedly offered the spot next to him.
"What? I can't really afford to miss more classes with my current attendance... fine."
There was a large statue of an unnamed deity at the center of the courtyard. It had a benign expression normally found in idols that people worship. Disgruntled but obedient, he listened to the old gramps at last.
Time seemed to pass faster while standing near the statue. Yuuto waited idly, watching the sun quickly set below the horizon. When the sky turned dark, an ominous light quickly flashed before his face. And before he realized, in a blink of an eye, the young man found himself in a strange dark grayish world.
The expression of the statue turned into that of wickedness and contempt; its eyes were looking down at him as if they were looking to punish him. And around the plaza, there were torches and lanterns burning with cold blue flames. But more importantly, three stone monoliths stood behind the main buildings, shackled in chains.
These were not present in the temple during the day.
"Gramps... where are we?" Yuuto was shivering in fear, frightened by the creeping atmosphere.
"A reflection, or a shadow of the physical realm. A place birthed from the darkest and most primitive emotions of mankind. Not many knew of its origin." The old gramps materialized, this time with more vivid details instead of the usual surreal form. "If it weren't for the resonating outburst that happened a while back, I wouldn't have noticed this place either.
"Then isn't this place dangerous?!" The young man exclaimed.
"Hmph! These runic circles had been here for eons. Whatever was sealed inside is probably dead."
"Regardless, we weren't the first one here." The spirit glanced at one of the buildings where the seal by its entrance was forcibly removed.
"Come, don't be a girl and follow me inside, let's see what dwells in this place."
------------------------
Hidden behind a stone pillar, was a voluptuous lady in dark dress. Before making her move, she patiently watched the young man and the spirit entered into the building. Creeping closer towards the entrance, the faint torch lights finally revealed her seductive figure. Yet, no expression could be seen on her emotionless face.
If Yurin was alive, then she would have immediately recognized that the woman was the boss's secretary from the cult.
"That spirit... if he could break the seal as well..."
Following the two inside, she quickly faded into the creeping darkness.
At the front, the young man was already standing before an opened treasure box. With an eyeball reeking the sinister omen in his hand, he was fearfully examining the item while arguing with the spirit.
Recognizing the seal to the sacred relic had already been broken, the woman took out her dagger and rushed forward, attempting to silence his mouth to protect the secrets of the cult. That seal had been a problem to the cult after their runemaster's death; she appreciated the two for their hard work.
However, just before she reached in front of Yuuto, which almost gave him a heart attack, the woman found herself trapped inside a runic circle, unable to move an inch of her muscles.
"What!?! Who is she?" He successfully held back his bladder.
"Don't worry about her, I knew she was watching us the moment we were here. Now, stop being a pussy and take it in like a man." The old gramps finally ran out of patience and forcibly inserted the unknown eyeball down into his throat.
Soon, after a minute of painful echoes, a sinister red light burst out from the young man's left eye as he coincidently looked onto his first test subject. The trapped lady, while frozen on the ground and unable to even speak or blink, saw the pupil of mysterious pattern staring ominously into her soul.