The Prince of Denial

Chapter 17 (Summer Year-1)

Raven pondered to himself as he hummed inwardly. He was currently sitting out back under a tree.

It had been three days since he started staying at Izumo Inn. He had met all the tenants. Not needing sleep all that often let him meet them easily enough, and surprise Miya when she wandered down at 4 a.m. to start her day.

First, there was Homura, who he learned worked in the... entertainment district by working at a host club. However, he felt, different, besides the fact he didn't feel, or smell, human. It confused him, so he tried to not think about it. Gave even him a headache.

Next was the eccentric Uzume who had a habit of forgetting to put on clothes and receiving Miya's spatula to the head. She also lacked a human smell. However, it didn't cause him a headache, thankfully.

Afterwards was the pervy Matsu. She had a whole little secret room filled with technology. She had so many porn mags he was pretty sure that even degenerates wouldn't have that many. She also lacked a human smell, and nor was it headache-inducing.

And finally, the mighty head honcho of this ragtag group, Miya Asama, her sheer presence was incredible. She was also his favorite of the entire group of rag-tag people. Wasn't because she was his first crush or anything. Not.

However, she also was the one who had him the most interested. Her smell was also not human, but it was different, yet the same. It confused him, but not in the way Homura did. It was like... how to say it.

'She's like a higher being. Yes that fits perfectly.' Raven thought.

He had observed the guests in the inn. They all had special powers in their way. Uzume had control over a weird and strong veil. Homura could use fire. Matsu seemed to be able to interact and use technology with her mind.

They all possessed something similar though, their base strength and stats were stronger than the average human. Only the average human though. Uzume and Homura had more physical strength, however, Uzume led the charge there.

However, it didn't go beyond what humans were capable of.

Then there was Miya, her raw strength was astounding. Beyond anything a normal human could hope to accomplish. She was physically stronger than him, for now.

He had followed her once to a pond, he was bored at the moment, and she had been swinging a wooden sword and it split the entire lake and split the ground like a tremor would. It was incredible. Once she had left, he had repaired the ground and left.

The main question is as such though, 'Just what are they?' He thought. However, his thoughts were broken by Miya standing over him with a tray filled with snacks and water.

"Oh, food!" Raven said excitedly. Miya's cooking was to kill for. Literally. Everyone raced when it was mealtime. Uzume had tried to push past him, he showed her by shoving her in return. Miya had her fix the wall she was pushed into.

He was after all a child who didn't know better than a full-grown adult who needed to stop acting like a child.

"You're the best Miya!" Raven said as he snacked on the food she brought out. It was something new to his stomach, and he quite liked it.

Miya merely smiled at him.

"What are you doing out here? I would have thought you'd be reading, or studying for your school." Miya said hinting at his magic training.

"I'm quite ahead for school, I could skip several years at this point, but there's a couple of subjects that just need the supervision of a trained adult to work properly with. However, I have two requests Miya." Raven said and Miya stared at him.