"So, Shin..."

The sounds of people laughing was heard everywhere in the bustling street, yet all Shinra could focus on was his friend's smiling face.

"Hm? What is it, Shinra?"

Shin smiled awkwardly, his lips shaking from being lifted for too long as his eyes squinted in an attempt of what people called the 'close-eyed smile'.

Needless to say, it was embarrassing. Right after Shin was discharged, he was dragged along by Shinra, Maki, Tamaki, and Sister Iris into a day out. Which by the way, was not what Shin wanted at all.

"S-Shin! What's with you lately, huh?! You've just been discharged from the hospital, yet you're planning on killing us with that...that...!"

Maki fumbled with her words, her face a bright red as she tried to hide behind her fellow meat shield Tamaki, who was just trying to eat her ice cream.

Sister Iris only continued on with enjoying her sweet treat, while admiring the scene infront of her with a wide smile on her face.

"What, is there something wrong with my face??"

Shin scratched his forehead, now feeling extremely embarrassed from his hopeless attempt at smiling. If only mother hadn't said that as her last words!

If it wasn't already known, Shin was not used to smiling since he had always found it troublesome and strangely stiff.

However, he had made it a point for him to carry out his mother's last wishes for him, which was to 'smile more'. That's what he remembered, anyway.

"A-Ahem! Lets carry on with our shopping, or whatever..."

Shin coughed, a light blush of embarrassment on his face as he tried to run away from his problems for the millionth time.

"...Perhaps he hurt his head in the hospital."

Yup, that's definitely what happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow, Shin! You look great!"

Maki started snapping pictures of Shin dressed up in a girl's dress, his hair down and everything.

"P-Pfft! BAHAHAHA!"

Shinra couldn't hold back his laughter as soon as his eyes landed on the flustered Shin, who was trying to hide from Maki's phone behind the curtains of the changing room.

"I didn't sign up for this, and stop laughing Shinra!"

Shin frowned, throwing random punches towards his friend which almost decapitated him, but whatever.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. People were heard running around the street, fleeing to any place they deemed suitably safe from the scene.

Everyone soon ran outside the store to assess the situation, while poor Shin was trying his best to get out of the dress he was forced in.

"I'll be in charge of this emergency protocol. Shinra, get over to the site fast to assess the situation. Bring Shin along for extra manpower!"

"Yes!"

Shinra hurriedly ran towards Shin, who had barely managed to get his shirt back on. Carrying him in his arms, Shinra shot off into the air, heading towards the explosion site.

"Damn, that's a pretty big explosion."

Shin casually said, yawning a bit after his sentence. Looks like his old lazy habits may never disappear. Shinra sweat dropped, but focused on the objective at hand.

As soon as the two landed, Shin immediately started to sense a huge heat signature headed towards them.

"Um, Shinra...I think that it's-"

BOOM!

Suddenly, the air pressure generated from the infernal's landing sent the two males flying in the air.

"...here."

Shin stared up at the infernal hovering above him, realizing how gigantic this guy was. But, something else stood out.

"Damn, this guy is kinda ugly."

"Now's not the time, Shin!"

"Oh, right."

Shin immediately grabbed Shinra's arm, pulling him into his own body as he held out his hand.

Before he could do anything though, Shin was caught off guard when a hand slammed against his side, sending both him and Shinra crashing into a building.

Damn, that bastard had four arms?

"Oopsies, my bad. Are you alright, Shinra?"

Both Shinra and Shin got up, both totally unscathed from the previous attack.

"Y-Yeah, thanks for covering me with that barrier of yours."

Shinra replied, a grateful smile on his face, before turning back to the infernal with a shocked expression.

A huge fireball was accumulating firepower in the infernal's mouth, which would definitely be bad news for the surroundings if it were fired out.

Shin held out his right hand yet again, his left arm clinging onto Shinra's waist.

"Alright, let's end thi-"

"Excalibur!"

SHING!

(I literally don't know what sound effect this was but oh well.)

Well, there goes the credit. Just before Shin could end it once and for all, Arthur had barged in and sliced the fireball in two, which caused much more damage to the building behind the three.

"My princess, are you alright?"

Arthur bowed down, Shin's right hand in his own as he looked up at the former with sparkling eyes.

Shin sighed, an irk mark on his forehead. Though, his annoyance soon disappeared as he observed Arthur's excited face, and his eyes softened.

Shin put a hand on Arthur's head, which to the knight was a gesture of praise from his beloved.

The infernal was about to attack the three, but was instead shot in the head by a bullet.

Ah yes, just in time. The whole of Company 8 pulled up in their vehicle, all dressed up in their formal attire.

"Are you guys alright, Shinra, Shin!"

"Yes!"

"Yeah, I guess."

Obi, along with the other members, looked so damn cool walking through the smoke with only their blue stripes glowing that Shin swore he got a heart attack. The three finally regrouped with the rest, all looking up at the giant infernal Infront of them.

"Is that an infernal?! It's enormous!"

Maki exclaimed, a sweat drop running down her face as she observed just how massive it really was.

"What do we do, Captain?"

Hinawa asked, though he already had an idea of what they were about to do.

"The evacuation is complete, right? Let's get this settled out. Shinra, get into your turnout gear. Shin, as well."

Obi instructed the two, which made Shin flinch in shock. He didn't mention it before, so why now?!

"But..."

"No buts, you already absorbed those golden rings, right?"

Oh, right.

After getting discharged, and before being dragged out to the nightmare of his life, Shin had explained everything that happened while he was unconscious to Obi and the others.

All about the existence of the Ashen flame, and how the Evangelist was out to get Shin's ass.

The members were shocked at first, but soon reassured Shin that they'd protect him no matter what happened. Which was comforting, to say the least.

The information was not disclosed to the Holy Sol Temple, since they were already under a lot of suspicion with being under the Evangelist's influence. Though, information spreads like a virus often times.

" *Sigh*...Fine, but only the hat. I can't fight with such bulky attire."

Shin grumbled, heading to the truck with crossed arms like a little child throwing a tantrum.

So, the plan was this. Viktor and Vulcan would be analysing where the core of the infernal was, while the rest of the members were to distract the infernal while that was being done. And of course, Sister Iris was to lead the prayers.

The infernal was a pain in the ass to deal with, concerning the sheer size of that fella.

While the team was set on distracting the infernal, Shin was busy making sure the damn hat wouldn't fall off his head with all the wind that was going around.

He intended to take shelter behind the vehicle, but his plan soon backfired as the infernal aimed it's attack towards the vehicle itself.

Of course, since Vulcan, Viktor, and Sister Iris were unpowered, there was nothing they could do but drive the hell out of there.

Shin stayed back, preparing to stop whatever was coming. He was aware that Arthur and Shinra were about to stop it, but even he has to have fun somehow, right?

Clinging onto Shinra, as he always had, Shin was able to reach the head of the infernal.

"Sorry, Shinra, Arthur."

"Huh-"

"Ash."

Shin leapt into the air, his fist covered in flames of his own. Both Shinra and Arthur froze up at the sheer speed of their senior, causing them to lose momentum and fall back to the ground.



(Imagine something like this, but on a smaller scale lol. Scene borrowed from One Punch Man, go check it out!)

One punch. One punch was all it took for the fireball to be sent right back at the infernal's ugly ass, knocking it into the ground.

Once Shin had landed, he was met face to face with two of his juniors, who had sparkles around their faces.

"Wow Shin, that was amazing! Please fight more often!"

"My princess, such a display of combat prowess has me shaken to the core! I am truly blessed!"

Shin scratched his head, a sigh of relief leaving his mouth as he was bombarded with praises from the two.

'Thank god they're not mad I stole their moment to shine, heh.'

~~~~~~~

"So...they have FIVE cores?"

Shinra asked the mad scientist, who only nodded in reply.

"That's right, one in each arm and leg, and the most powerful of them all in its chest. You'd all have to destroy the arms and legs to immobilize it. For the final core..."

Viktor looked towards Shin, whose eyes sparkled in anticipation of being chosen for the most exciting part.

"...Shinra will have to hit it with max firepower."

"...What?"

Shin frowned, a small pout on his face as he glared daggers towards the mad scientist Infront of him, who only sweat dropped at the response he got.

'I'm the main character, not him.'

"It would truly be ideal for someone as strong as Shin to deal with the toughest core, but no one but Shinra can reach such great heights to destroy the said core."

An invisible arrow stabbed Shin's heart, Viktor's ruthless remarks making him freeze in utter shock.

"...Can't I just use Shinra as my transport- ow!"

"Not gonna happen, Shin."

~~~~~~~~~

To be honest, Shin didn't even need to step in for the infernal to be subdued. Despite its intimidating size, that seemed to be its only strong trait.

Hinawa was able to easily destroy one of the cores, destroying one of the infernal's arms. Tamaki and Maki were also able to subdue the other arm, with the former holding it down while the latter did the rest.

Arthur, as foolish as he was, wasn't no fool when it came to the art of battle, destroying the core in its legs in one slash. Obi, despite being unpowered, was able to do his part thanks to his relentlessly harsh training and determined attitude.

After all four limbs were taken care of, Shinra had no problem destroying the last core with his ever so powerful kick.

Shin watched on, a small smile on his face. There was an oddly proud sense of feeling dwelling in his heart, which somehow made him feel warm inside.

To say that his team was strong was an understatement, seeing that he wasn't even needed in the battle.

Of course, Shin wanted to contribute more than he used to, judging by how he'd always laze around like a sack of potatoes and doing the most minimal amount of work.

With Company 8 working so hard, that'd be just wrong, no?

'Hm...maybe I'll still enjoy my laziness a little longer. Just a little though...'