Crossover Together ~クロスオーバ 一緒に~

"Well, day three if Bradley training. Damn, this old man's sure hard to beat up, it's like he'd been practicing since he could walk. Sure'll be amazing when I beat his sorry ass in the future," Karma thought, as he reflected another hit from Bradley.

A cloudy day over the base of Tokyo, and as Bradley had promised him, he was still giving Karma Akabane a few more pointers when it came to swordsmanship. They had their times training before in their little group, but this extra training with King Bradley was just the thing Karma needed to peek his skills. He still had his thoughts about king Bradley, and with the future vision involving him and Karma's supposed death, he tried to take the initiative and amp up his practice. He wasn't going to die before any demon, now not, not ever.

"Well, my boy, you've been giving me your all lately."

"You expect what else from me, grandpa?" Karma playfully mocked, trying another slice at him. Of course, Bradley dodged it easily, and with one more quick motion, Karma's miracle sword was whacked out of his hand, the weapon flying through the air and landing over nearby Edward, Alphonse, and Blair in her cat form. Guess it was another fight lost for Karma's side.

"I'll get you one of these days," Karma promised.

"Don't get too cocky, my boy, I'll be leaving for home tomorrow," Bradley said. Disappointment, but if Nagisa's future vision was anything to go by, then Karma had nothing to worry about (meeting Bradley again, that is). Once he was done, he grabbed his sword again and strolled back over to the others.

"Lost again."

"Don't worry about it, no one in Amestris could beat the king in swords before. Besides, you've been doing pretty good," Alphonse said, trying to cheer him up.

"I know, I know, I'm just trying to sharpen up for that demon fight, whenever that'll be. If I'm gonna be fighting that bitch, I'm not gonna give him a chance to end me. If I could get rid of that homunculus, even better," Karma made clear. He could care less if he couldn't beat Bradley for now, so long as he is strong enough to survive that encounter then he's all set. talking about this Homunculus business though still didn't fit well with Edward and Alphonse. But then again, after seeing Gakuho come out, they weren't so sure anymore.

"So. you really think King Bradley is a ..."

"Well, Nagisa was right about the gun rampage at school. Doesn't sound too crazy to me," Blair replied, cleaning her face with her paws. As they were thinking that over, Seitenshi stepped out to see Bradley again. Victoria had been and gone back home so it was just Seitenshi calling charge here. And with training over, Seitenshi chose now to go out and see him.

"Afternoon, Bradley. You just finished training, I see. You have a minute?" Seitenshi asked.

"What for?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you, Bradley, so if you can," Seitenshi asked again. Bradley took little time to consider, so he decided to take it. With a nod of the head, he began to follow Seitenshi inside, passing by the crowd as they went. Karma found this pretty interesting, and Edward soon saw the look on his face.

"Okay, what'd you do?" Edward asked, suspicious.

"Oh, I took the time to drop off a message at Seitenshi's office. Looks like it worked. So, Blair, ready to go?"

"Way ahead of ya," Blair said, hopping down, removing her hat, and starting to slip inside after them. Ed and al weren't sure what Karma was up to, but Karma felt confident that Blair would at least figure things out for them here. If Bradley was indeed what they think, then this conversation outta confirm things.

.......

As Karma, Ed, and Al were waiting it out, Blair took the initiative and quietly followed Bradley and Seitenshi through the Tokyo government halls towards the main office. Any normal person wouldn't be caught dead here without clearance, but silent little kitty Blair proved to be a good follower. That, and these two weren't aware of Blair's true form compared to her human form, so she was pretty much good so long as no one had any suspicions over cats. Seitenshi and Bradley didn't feel too suspicious over Blair either, or even noticed her for that matter which makes things all the easier for this little spy.
Eventually, Seitenshi and Bradley reached the main office, Blair slipping in behind them without making a sound. It didn't look too different from a typical office, resembling Ciel's office back home pretty good with some more modern décor. It was wide open with plenty of room, and Blair took a seat over hidden just by the door, moving just fast and quiet enough to avoid detection. Seitenshi stopped over by her desk, and picked up a notification from it. It was the message that got her thinking in the first place.

Might want to check "Human" Bradley.

Korosensei.

Yeah, Karma wasn't gonna take credit for this one, and much rather place blame on not only a smarter demon, but a wanted man as well. Anyway, with trouble from Homunculus in the past, Seitenshi wasn't gonna let this question slip her by, especially with Bradley in her country too.

"Now, you've been involved in our protection agreement for a while. The leader of Amestris for years. ..." Seitenshi was not gonna waste time in this little problem of hers, and Bradley was sensing the motive in her.

"... This whole protection agreement began with an attack by the Underworld. In tern, an attack by a creature called Homunculus. Now I want to ask you one question. Fuhrer King Bradley."

It was then Seitenshi presented the paper to him, with the simple message for Bradley to see. Despite how blunt and short it was, it was all Bradley needed to see to understand the question. And apparently, he wasn't too surprised to see Korosensei figuring him out of all demons. Without a word, the Fuhrer then gave the message back to Seitenshi, and walked over towards the window.

"... I suppose someone was going to find out sooner or later. But did it have to be someone like you, Seitenshi?" Bradley questioned, not sounding very impressed with the result. It was more a question of who, not if, and Seitenshi was not someone he wanted to at least figure him out first. Seitenshi looked rather angry at him with this confirmation, Blair being a bit intrigued herself.

"Quite a show you've put on. ... What do you know about the Underworld, Bradley?" Seitenshi questioned.

"Nothing at all."

"Don't lie now, Bradley -" Seitenshi went quiet when Bradley suddenly drew out his sword and aimed it right at her head. Guess discrimination didn't suit too well for this man, but after a bit he moved his sword back.

"Homunculus: an artificial human being created through a Philosopher's stone. ... There's nothing said about them being from the Underworld. ..."

"But then how'd you ... how did this happen? And without anyone even knowing?" Seitenshi questioned. Bradley stayed quiet.

"... It's not worth my breath over how I came to be this way. Besides, what good would it even do? You already have your opinions on Homunculus ever since they attacked you at the Royal Ball, and like every other human, you keep that in your mind and nothing else. But even if I try to plea mercy, as ridiculous as that sounds, your stubborn nature would simply block it out of your mind in order to keep your name fair for the world around you." Seitenshi and Blair both didn't exactly hear remorse in Bradley's voice as he was talking, but more rather saying it as hard facts that aren't worth anyone's tears over. Blair felt like she had everything she needed here, and she bolted for it as fast as she could. If Bradley saw her or not she wasn't going to figure out.

.......

"N-No way!"

"I heard everything, he flat out admitted he was a Homunculus, just like that. Sounded like he expected it to be found out too," Blair informed. She wasted little time in getting back to Ed, Al, and Karma, and telling them what was what about the king and president.

"Well, well, looks who's right after all," Karma said smugly.

"But what do we do?" Alphonse asked.

"We tell the others, that's what," Edward said.
A straightforward answer, and something they needed to do to get them on the level. Nagisa said Bradley and Selim were involved, but nothing about Bradley being a Homunculus exactly, so this confirmation could prove pretty good. Karma got up, but as they were starting to go off, he began to check around himself. The base, a lone fight with a demon, at that moment it all seemed to fall into place now. Not too many soldiers were outside at this point, and as Karma looked around ...

"Hang on, gang, not yet," Karma called.

"What, why?" Alphonse asked.

"Give him a minute," Karma said. Karma counted it down in his head, and then he snapped his fingers. ...

...

*CAAWWW*

"Nailed it."

Talk about timing. Ed, Al, and Blair all looked to the noise and over to the boundary wall, just in time to see something standing up there. Upon sight, it made a huge jump off the wall, and almost seemed to glide right down to them, landing down ten feet away. The appearance of this demon was exactly as Nagisa had predicted: It had a white shirt with tattered long sleeves, a black hakama, dried rice in the small cloth bags which it wore around its neck, and a katana holder under its arm. A rather traditional (if not typical) outfit for a Japanese samurai, with the soul exception of two large fans on its back, which appeared to work like its wings. It would be a normal samurai overall, but this creature's arms were large crow wings, a long neck ending in a raven head with many eyes staring right at them. If this wasn't a demon, then what was?

"Is that the ..." Alphonse said.

"Yeah he is," Blair said.

"Team Harmony. Which one of you is the one wielding the Miracle Sword?" the demon asked boldly, his own sword drawn and at the ready.

"Who's asking?" Ed asked.

"Karasu: Follower of the Great Tengu. I've come on his order, against the one who's sword slain the mighty Pluton of the Underworld. Now who amongst you is responsible?" Karasu demanded, aiming his sword towards them. Karasu didn't see Karma's sword yet, so he still wasn't too sure who was the one who attacked Pluton. They all knew damn well what'll happen if they let him fight Karma, so both brothers came to the same conclusion.

"He's not here," Alphonse said.

"But if you're looking for a fight, we're right here," Ed warned, cracking his knuckle. However, Karasu didn't look too interested.

"Pluton's assassin is my only opponent. Him, and him alone. You're just small distractions in my way."

"Small?! Why you!" Angry by the comment, Edward rushed forward towards Karasu. However, this demon wasn't carrying the katana just for looks. Rather than charge forward though, he then reached into his sleeves and tossed something out in the light: a human skull! focusing on the skull, the Crow Tengu aimed his sword, and only then did he rush forward and made his move. One slash through the air, and Ed and the demon were passed eachother, but not without injury. In the line of sight of the skull, which was now sliced in two, a deep cut sliced through Ed's chest in a single clean cut, ending at his shoulder.

"ED!" shouted Al, just before the Tengu demon started aiming at Alphonse next. Al tried to reach his wounded brother, but Karasu got his sword under Al's head, and threw it high in the sky with a single motion. A good enough distraction for the brothers to deal with as the Tengu then faced Karma and Blair. When he looked, Karasu caught sight of the miracle sword right at Karma's side.

"Looking for me?" Karma asked. Seeing the kid who slain Pluton standing there was all Karasu needed, and he drew out the sword again, and aimed it towards Karma Akabane.

"So you're the one who killed Pluton?"

"I'll let you think that for a while," Karma said. He knew what was coming, and he actually grabbed his sword at the ready.

"Karma, hold it, don't!" called Alphonse, who just got his head back on, as Edward was getting himself back up to his feet. However, Karasu didn't need much more convincing.

"The Great Tengu will be most pleased. Come forward, slayer!" Karasu yelled.

"Eh, Karma, you do know Nagisa said you'll die by this thing, right?" Blair reminded, as Karma started to get ready.

"You bring those bands, Blair?" Karma asked.

"Uh ... yeah, but dunno how it'll help, here," Blair said, getting the bands out of her witch hat and giving it to Karma. The redhead got Blair to get this stuff together for him for this exact moment, and after a minute of preparation, Karma was prepared, raising his sword with both hands. Even if this was his supposed last match, Karma was going to take this and butcher it however he could. and Karasu was more than willing to take him on in the name of revenge. While Alphonse and Edward were freaked out that he was going to do it anyway, Blair got a closer look at the way he put the bands on his hands, and actually saw what he was truly doing.

"Blair, how about you go check on the Elric brothers over there. I got this."

"If you say so," Blair said, running off towards the brothers. The Crow Tengu and Karma moved out to the middle of the base arena, and both swordsman were ready to face eachother. Karasu gave a loud crow caw, spinning the samurai sword before aiming it right at Karma. Karma would normally do the same, but he wasn't gonna show off this time, as it would wreck his little idea. Karma looked down to the bands in his one hand, and saw that while some did wrap around his hand, it also wrapped tightly around the handle of the sword as well, basically keeping the sword handle on his hand. He even released his hand, and the sword remained where it was rather than falling off.

Karma, in my vision, you and this demon were fighting out at the military base of Tokyo as it removed your sword from your hands before the finishing blow.

"He'll remove my sword and then kill me. With this my sword should be in my hands the entire fight, no way it's gonna get loose. As long as I keep my sword on me, it'll end like every other demon fight I've had," Karma thought. Not entirely a fair fight, but at least his own life would remain in tact if this would indeed work.

both swordsman just stood there at first in their little arena they've made up, until it was Karma who moved forward first, sword aimed directly ahead like a spear. Karasu charged forward too, and both swords slammed together at the center, the sound echoing around them. A good signal for their swordsman duel to begin. Karasu started his assault with a number of side swipe, but each one just missed Karma, the fifth one dangerously close to his eyes before Karma took another vertical swing. The swing was met with a powerful block by Karasu, his katana not even getting scratched by Karma's Miracle Sword. As they were fighting, Blair reached Edward and Alphonse, who ended up having a front row seat to the duel.

"You okay, Ed?" Blair asked.

"That thing's strong with that sword. But what the hell's Karma doing out there?! He's going to die by that thing," Ed said, shocked that he'd go through with it anyway, despite Nagisa's warning.

"Karma found a loop hole in Nagisa's future sight."

"What do you mean a loop hole?" asked Al.

"Nagisa said he'll die after that Crow Tengu removes his sword, right? If he can't remove the sword, what's going to happen to him?" both brothers saw what she meant, and both brothers could just see the bands that wrapped around the sword handle to his own hand as they were trying to slice eachother.

"Well, shouldn't we help him anyway?"

"This is Karma Akabane we're talking about here, let's see where this goes," Blair said. She'd fight too sure if it meant much, but she knew Karma too well to think he didn't believe this would work.
during the fight though, Karasu eventually got an upper hand on Karma in a low swing of his sword. Karma had to jump to avoid it and do a roll afterward, but Karasu was already on top of him by the time he spun around. not having much time to strike, Karma could only just barely dodge the blows, about five stabs were made on him, and on the fifth one he bolted past Karasu, but getting a cut on his cheek from the attacks.

"Close call," Karma thought.

"for such a young child, you've been doing pretty well. Then what else do I expect from Pluton's slayer?" Karasu admitted, turning to him.

"I keep in practice," replied Karma. Karasu had more than one trick up his sleeve, and he actually got another skull. Karasu readied to slice it off, but Karma got to it first and just managed to cut it in half! The attack gave Karma the upper hand again, and soon he started swinging his sword like mad at Karasu, strong enough for the Crow Tengu to actually back up. Karasu just needed to bend and angle his sword to block the attacks, but Karma did not relent on the demon samurai As Karma was laying it down on him, Karasu took a good look at the hand holding the sword ...

"Coward!" Karasu called, before swinging his sword around at Karma from the side. Karma blocked the swing again, but the samurai sword slid dangerously close to his hand which made Karma back up again. He was alright, but when he looked to his hand, just to find the bands had been cut off. So much for prolonging the inevitable.

"Damnit! Ok, just keep your sword on you and you'll be fine," Karma thought, as Karasu charged right at him.

"Crud, he lost the bands!" Ed realized, flinching at his pain again. The seemingly minor wound was a much harsher hit than he thought.

"Blair, keep him here okay?" Alphonse asked, ready to run in and help Karma.

"Al, no!" Ed called, only for Blair to turn to her human form and grab hold of him to keep him still (head in between her boobs night added)

"Got hold of him, now kill that bird!" Blair said, keeping Ed's head and body still. Not the best place to hold him, but it was best they could get on short notice.

And not a moment too soon either: as Alphonse was rushing towards the fight, the Crow Tengu made the deciding move, and the katana was forceful enough to finally dislodge the sword from Karma's hand! The sword flew up high in the air, and the Crow Tengu finally found the moment to finish Karma off. He was doing so well against the Tengu, and now Nagisa's prediction was playing out right in front of him! He even felt the sword stab him during the moment, and he was sure that would be it. ...

"STOP!" Just in time, Alphonse grabbed the Crow Tengu by the head, swung him around, and threw him right off back to the main building! The sword fell out without going in any further, and Karma found himself alive. Stabbed, but alive, and the wound wasn't in as deep as he thought it would. Alphonse quickly went over to Karma, Blair and Edward heading over themselves.

"Karma, you okay?! Karma!"

"Quit screaming, It's a light stab," Karma groaned, hand over the wound. Though if he had to say, that was the closest he ever got to death since this whole thing even started, and since fate said he would die at that point he should really thank his lucky stars he got a warning first. Just a stab wound and a cut on his face. After the throw though, the Crow Tengu shook it off and looked back to the fight.

"You cowards!! How dare you interfere?!" Karasu roared.

"We're not going to watch him die, Karasu!" Alphonse said.

"This is not your fight to be had, this matter is between me and him! The Great Tengu won't allow that!" Karasu warned. Then Edward got an idea.

"Then where is he?"

"What?"

"This "Great Tengu". If he's so incredible, then why'd he drag you out of your home instead of bringing out himself to the fight? If anyone's gonna be fighting anyone from Team Harmony, then it'll be him!" A decent alibi to get Karasu off their back, but the Crow Tengu felt deeply insulted.

"How dare you insult my lord like that! The Great Tengu is deserving of all my respect, and he's capable of bringing the entire area to its knees! You should thank your stars he's deciding to hold back for now and just have me arrive instead, otherwise this whole base will be flames and poison by now," Karasu warned.

"Is he now?"

Guess king Bradley Homunculus had finally decided to come out, him and Seitenshi. They've been into their meeting for a while, but the fight from outside became too rough to ignore, especially since their window opened up right outside. Now Karma was guaranteed a safe time now, a smirk on his face. If training with King Bradley told him anything it's that if there was anything who could beat this sorry bird it would be him. The Crow Tengu glared at the newcomers with his many eyes.

"If you and your daughter are willing for a fight, then stay back. My sword only yearns for the slayer's blood. Any other taste will not satisfy," the Crow Tengu stated firmly.

"This girl isn't my daughter, demon. And also, who said you were allowed to come here?"

"My lord, the Great Tengu, that's who. All you are is skeletons in the way, so unless you yearn for a death wish, then keep you and your niece back."

"... Does it really look like she and I are related in any way, you idiot?"

That time the Tengu ignored him, and turned to face the others again. Alphonse stepped in the way and acted like a wall in between Karasu and his brother and friends.

"Stand aside! This is your only warning."

"No I won't! If you want to get at them, you're gonna have to go through me first," Alphonse made clear. This samurai demon would not be denied the privilege to take down the slayer, so the bird threw out another skull from his sleeve, and tossed it towards Alphonse. Focusing again, the bird rushed forward with the blade, and skewered right through Alphonse, but the armor refused to stay down. In fact, the stab would didn't seem to do anything, and in fact it even got stuck in him! Karasu tried to pull the sword out, but some reason he couldn't pull it out so easily. Alphonse took this moment to force the sword out of his hand, and clock him square in the beak! Now without a sword, and with a hurt beak, Karasu was ready to fight anyone that got in his way -

Tengu. Fallback now.

"... I'm needed elsewhere."
Grabbing the sword out of Alphonse, and as suddenly as he appeared, Karasu started to fly and soon enough he was gone. The event was over, and the Future Vision had a different outcome again, but this one was far too close to ending like it originally had, the stab on Karma's torso more than enough proof.

"That makes two. Only one left now."

~~

"So did you see Emi Isuzu anywhere? I haven't seen her in two days."

In another part of the world, Hinano and Nabiku took some time to hang out again, hanging out at Hinano's house for the day, both putting in their studies for the upcoming assignments back at school. As calm as it would be, ironically the two ended up wondering how Emi was doing after a while. Even if she had done them rather badly, seeing her go off like that was something completely foreign for her.

"Nah. Honestly I dunno how to feel about it. I mean, as Envy said, she's been rather harsh on many kids at school," Hinano admitted.

"But that doesn't mean being bad to her makes it any better. ... I do hope she's okay," Nabiku said. At this point, Envy came back into the room, and brought in some more of the books they've asked for. Compared to the three, Envy was feeling pretty much fine with everything, as if nothing even was going on at all. Envy still wasn't exactly seeing the problem going on, and he felt indifferent more than anything.

"Okay, are these the books you want?" Envy asked, showing the books to them.

"Yeah, that's right, thanks," Hinano replied. Envy gave the books to Hinano and took a seat next to Nabiku. Nabiku simply grew quiet, still thinking about the situation with Emi Isuzu, as Hinano tried to keep things a bit more comfortable for everybody.

"Alright, so, here Envy, why don't you try to have a look at this one," Hinano suggested, giving envy a history book amongst the stack they got. Envy just nodded and went on to check it out, but as he was trying to focus on it, he still couldn't get a feeling off of him, whenever he took a look to the Nabiku. The girl was studying sure, but she still looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to say to him. It wasn't really anything new for Nabiku though, so Envy didn't really try to question it. ... At least, not at first. The more times he thought about it, the more something started to bag at his mind, and the more annoyed he got. Oddly, it was a similar situation to Nabiku as well.

"Okay, that's another question, how're you two holding -" Hinano immediately stopped when she looked to Envy and Nabiku, seeing them both struggling to just focus on what they're doing, a sort of gloomy aura around them both. Hinano could see that the problem was not going to go away anytime soon.

"... Uh, guys? ... OK, maybe we should talk this out," Hinano suggested.

"Talk what out, I'm fine," Envy suggested, though looking on his face, Hinano knew he wasn't, and same thing could be said about Nabiku.

"Not again, Envy, we all know what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong, seriously. You two are getting paranoid," Envy admitted roughly.

"Paranoid? Envy, we haven't seen Emi Isuzu in days!" Hinano got out. Now envy was getting annoyed.

"This again? Look, if she wants to cry a river about it, that's her choice. Serves her right," Envy stated coldly.

"How can you say that?"

"I just did."

"Not literally, Envy. Look, we get the idea of getting even with her but you pushed it a bit far."

"I did not! I'd be pushing it far if I got her tied up and whipping her or something," Envy said, almost jokingly, but shortly he actually started to think about it.

"Don't get any ideas!" Hinano quickly stated, shivering a little. Imagining Envy there with a whip and Emi tied up was a pretty big step between revenge and flat out torture (not to mention masochistic for some).

"Hey, believe me when I say there's far worse things to punish someone with, making her my maid's hardly anything compared to the Underworld's punishments."

"Wait ... oh yeah, you are from the Underworld."

"You gotta be kidding me," How could she forget that obvious detail? Guess it had been barely mentioned in a while. Nabiku kept hearing the bickering between Hinano and Envy, and she felt more and more inclined to get her words in. Eventually ...

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO DENSE, ENVY?!"

The shout caught Envy completely off guard, as Nabiku turned to face him. Nabiku was suddenly on her feet and up above Envy.

"Envy, this isn't the Underworld anymore, this is the human world, we have new rules here! You humiliated Emi just because she took one hit on you, now I can probably understand if she broke your arm or leg, but she didn't even do that and you're completely fine, and she didn't even want to bother with you! It may feel good, but it doesn't last very long, and now Emi's probably depressed and hiding away somewhere because not only did you make her be a maid and force her around, but also you humiliated her with that drawn out picture! Even that main character in that book series you love reading learns to forgive in the end so why can't you?!"

Envy didn't know what to say at first, this usually quiet and shy girl snapping at him in such a way as if something snapped. It kinda freaked him out to be honest, and Nabiku realized how scary she just acted.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry," Nabiku quickly said, worried over it herself. Envy still didn't know how to react exactly, and her saying she was sorry just made it even more confusing. In the end though, a much bigger nagging was now hitting him.

"Oooohhhh ..."

.......

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Next thing he knew, Envy was walking down the street, and away from Hinano's house, soon taking in sight of Emi's place. He knew what Nabiku and Hinano wanted from him, and he honestly wasn't enjoying it very much, but whatever nagging feeling was hitting him here, if he could handle it by doing this then he might as well. Besides, punishment was done, so what else could he do? Anyway, Envy got himself walking right up to the door, and started to give it a knock. Of course, no one answered.

"Emi! Emi! You in there, or what?!"

No answer. Course why would she answer to him? Envy waited a bit longer, but still nothing seemed to happen to the door or any word inside. Envy dealt with this scenario before, and he knew what to do here as he walked over to the fence again, and again seeing an open window. Here we go again. Envy did the same thing as he did before: climbing up on the fence, and then with a jump got a grip on the window sill. Rather than just hang there though and peek in, he pulled himself up enough to keep himself there on the sill and look inside. As he expected, there was Emi Isuzu again, back in her fat self and laying on the bed though she wasn't really eating anything this time if not just laying there. Envy found this depression a bit ridiculous personally, but he might as well get this over with.

"Hey Emi, it's me again. K look, I'm sorry for pushing you around like that okay? I got upset and got a little carried away with the whole blackmail maid thing, so you can go back to being top dog now or whatever you want," Envy said. He didn't even look at her and made the message quick, tone not exactly sounding sincere either, and when he was done he waited for some sort of reaction. Emi eventually looked over to him, and she didn't look too pleased at all.

"Sorry doesn't get that picture gone. They still saw me like ... this ..." Emi said. Envy rolled his eyes.

"OK, what's the big deal here? So what if they saw you fat, it's not the end of the world," Envy said, not even bothering anymore. He said what he said and it apparently didn't work with her. Emi though seemed a lot more different about it than he was.

"You don't get it, do you? I'm class 3-B student representative, and those 3-E students saw me in that ugly maid's outfit AND saw me in that picture! What will the others think of me when they find out?" Emi wondered, sounding angry still. Envy took a step into the room as she said that, arms crossed. He still found this much sadness a little bit silly.

"Yeah, so?"

"SO?! I'm known as the hottest girl in school, and the entire school either envies or respects me, when they see me like this it's all over. You probably told the entire school by now, did you?" Emi accused. Guess reputation was important for Emi, and Envy was still feeling a bit one-sided on this scenario. He could care less about what someone like her would feel about it, but this talk about keeping appearances for other people's sake did sound slightly familiar to him. The Homunculus who had to constantly hide his true face for the sake of his spying job.

"You really need to get your act together, it's not as bad as you think."

"What's worse than having your complete reputation ruined?!" Emi yelled. now Envy was getting upset.

"Oh, let's me think: getting burned alive, torn to pieces, stuck with a overlord who could give less of a shit about you, constantly hiding your face at every waking moment. ... Yeah, someone seeing you gain some weight suddenly doesn't sound too bad does it?"

"Just shut up! You still have that damn picture of me -"

"It's gone."

Emi then paused.

"Gone?"

"Yeah, a bitch took it from me and shredded it to pieces. If you're freaking out over that then you're fine now," Envy stated. Course it wasn't true exactly, but being a good liar meant it did its job. Emi could feel a wave of relief go over her on the news, and she started to relax a bit, much to Envy's annoyance as he sat down next to her.

"Look, Emi, I know damn well how it feels to try and keep a face for someone else, but there's no reason to cry your eyes out if someone finds you out. If they find out, they find out, it's really not as bad as it sounds. Besides, those three girls thought it was drawn anyway, so in a way it's like no one even saw you like ... well, this," Envy made clear.

"I guess not. ... But they still saw me as your maid though."

"You're really freaked out about what others think of you, huh?" Envy concluded.

"How could I not be? It's hard keeping this popular sexy appearance when looking like this, it's bad enough someone actually saw me, then they take a picture and have a field day with it, yeah it's kind of a problem."

"By the way, how're you doing that? hiding all of this, I mean?" Envy asked, pointing to her belly. Emi just sighed and got up, standing up in front of Envy as she started to concentrate a little bit. Right in front of him, Emi's body started to alter and thin out until she was her outside self again.

"Uh, showing me isn't exactly telling, I already saw you do that."

"It took a lot of practice for me as I grew up, but I found this uh ... thing, that has me alter my body at will. It's kinda complicated, but everyone prefers this over that real me," Emi said, trying to put it as understandable as she could. Far as she was concerned she was talking to just some other human, so giving him details would probably make it less believable. Envy didn't feel very weirded out by Emi's answer, he saw way weirder things in his existence, and when he heard this, he just scoffed at it.

"I know that's a lie."

"Do you now?" Emi asked, bemused.

"Yeah. I personally find this form overrated. At least your actual form's something different for my eyes to see," Envy said, rather bluntly too and not looking at her. A rather interesting thing to hear for Emi, considering so many others like her for the outside form she had, not her original. After saying that, Envy got back up and heads over to the window again.

"Well, that's all I came to say," Envy sighed, before hopping out the window, and leaving Emi with that. Emi just felt less sad and more unsure than anything, seeing the points Envy had made before he left.
As for Envy, he simply took a walk back towards home, and leaving Emi behind him. He still felt a little bit silly to apologize to her, but at least that nagging feeling stopped. If it worked or not didn't bug him too much.

...

"Hey Envy. So you talked to her?"

Niji. Envy saw Niji up nearby on a fence, xsitting down rather casually, though this time her wings and multi-colored hair were on her person as she had back in Yoshida motors. With no one else around, this form was something Niji was more comfortable showing to Envy, and apparently she had seen everything happen.

"Yeah, I talked to her. She's getting over her little slump," Envy groaned.

"It can be a bit hard, but hey, it's good to forgive. You feel any better about it?" Niji asked. Envy paused for a moment before walking again.

"I'm alright. ..."