Cultivator in a World of Angels, Demons, and Super Heroes

Hello Readers. 'Sup? Just want to apologize. The chapter's a bit shorter than usual, and again, unpolished. I'm writing this while having a fever, and my focus is yet again, off. I'll make it up in the future chapters.

On to the story.

=====

The couple, despite already receiving free money, hesitate stepping out of the car in front of a warehouse, in the middle of nowhere.

."What do we do?"

"Let me call them."

While the two are discussing what to do, *knock**knock* they are startled by a young gorgeous woman, dressed in an orange, leaf patterned kimono, knocking on the passenger window.

"…" While the two are stunned, the young woman gestures to them to roll their window down, which the woman in the couple hesitatingly does.

"Mr. Tajima Yori and I assume… Mrs. Tajima?" The woman greets them and, "I'm Riz.", she introduces herself.

"You're Riz?"

The couple is surprised that the one who sent them the mysterious text a few days ago, who has given them directions to the place, who has wired them the free money, is the woman in front of them. They do not know why, but both of them have assumed that 'Riz' was a man.

"Yes." Rizretheen simply nods, understanding their surprise.

She after all, did not introduce herself properly in her texts to them and has only given them her nickname as their way of addressing her.

She actually did not expect the couple to accept her invitation so to receive a text from them the night before is a pleasant surprise to her.

"Let's head up the hill." She says as she turns to the direction of the clay road heading up the hill.

She then activates her powers. Her head hair suddenly grows very long, flowing outwards like a flood, before divide into six sections. The six sections of hair then quickly morph to the form of what looks like six huge ant legs, not only appearance wise, but also how they move.

The couple immediately get spooked by Rizretheen looking like a hybrid of a giant ant and a human.

"…" The couple exchange looks, before nodding at each other.

They decide to follow Rizretheen for now and they start driving.

…

"Okay… are we really in the right place?" Akane, Mrs. Tajima, cannot help but ask herself as she and Yori arrive at the middle of the hill under Rizretheen's lead.

"I know… I feel I'm… not dressed appropriately." Yori feels the same as he turns off the car engine.

While they appreciate the beautiful traditional houses, they feel very out of place. Especially when the kimono-wearing inhabitants of the hill, the children and adults alike, are looking their way curiously.

They somehow feel comfort looking at the expensive looking yellow SUV parked in front of the giant bamboo gate, and the huge tablet PC held by one of the demon servants, as those things are the only ones that give them a sense of familiarity in this beautiful and fancy but archaic looking place.

"At least this place look… peaceful…" Akane says as she gets out of the car, urged by Rizretheen's beckoning to her and her husband.

"Yeah. But as to why we're invited here …" Yori sighs and he gets out of the car too.

"This way." Rizretheen then leads the two to the shaded training yard slash outdoor classroom of the children.

"S-sorry for the disturbance…" Akane quietly apologizes seeing that the children and Yoshiko who she assumes to be their teacher, are looking at them instead of the notebooks and books on their desks.

"Are they?..." Yoshiko asks Rizretheen, looking at the newcomers with a curious eye.

"Yes." Rizretheen nods.

"Okay. The kids are done anyways." Yoshiko nods.

"Kids. The is over early today." She then informs the children.

The children excitedly close their books and notebooks, and then carry their own desks inside their house.

Suddenly, Red appears in the training yard.

"Sensei." "Sir." "Good morning, sir." Yoshiko, Rizretheen, and the demon servants are already used to Red's habit of appearing suddenly.

The Tajima couple meanwhile are startled enough that they recoil from Red.

"Hello, everyone." Red nods at Yoshiko and the servants before, "Hello there.", greeting the couple in a casual manner.

"Y-yes." "Hello, sir." Akane and Yori bow in greeting immediately, feeling the authority oozing off of Red.

"Well. I guess one should not really judge a book by its cover. You two are rather polite unlike your appearances suggest." Red jokes.

"Heheh…" "Hah." Yoshiko and Rizretheen chuckle at Red's comment.

"…" Akane and Yori do not know how to respond, but they relax a bit seeing the accommodating mood from Red and the others.

The next moment, the children, having all finished putting away their desks, come back in the training yard. Seeing Red, they immediately assume their line-up and "Good morning Kichirou-san!" greet Red in unison.

"Never mind that, children. Please, take a seat." Red orders them.

With the children seated, "We have here Akane-san and Yori-san." Red introduces the newcomers to the children.

"Good morning." The children greet the couple.

"Good morning." "Hello." Akane and Yori, despite the strangeness of the situation, manage to greet back smoothly.

"Akane-san! Your piercings are cool!" Ran points at Akane's face.

"T-thank you?" Akane is taken aback by Ran's open-mindedness for her age.

"Are you a yakuza?" Chihiro asks Yori, obviously referring to the man's tattoos.

"No. I just like how it looks." Yori explains immediately, not wanting to cause a misunderstanding.

"Ask questions later, kids." Red stops the two energetic children.

"Now. I heard from Hachiyo-san and Roku-san that you kids are spending your internet time watching dance videos?" Red asks the children, especially Ran, Chihiro, and Osamu who the demon babysitters reported as having the deepest interests in the subject.

"Yes! I'm learning how to dance like Arina-san (Musume46)!" Ran reports.

"I want to breakdance!" Chihiro raises his interest in the matter too.

"I see…" Red smiles in acknowledgement.

"Osamu, you?" He asks the child who is hesitant in expressing himself.

"…Just… any hip hop dance." Osamu shyly says.

"Good. That's good." Red nods.

"Do you all want to see those dances in real life?" He asks the children.

"Yes!" The children, except the daydreaming Kanon answer.

"…" Akane and Yori exchange glances, now realizing why they are in the place.

"…hip-hop dancers…!" Osamu points at the couple out of excitement, suddenly realizing something.

"They are?" Chihiro and Ran get interested at the couple.

"That's right!" Red confirms with a smile.

"But they are more like freestyle dancers." He corrects them.

"Freestyle?" "What's that?" Chihiro and Ran ask.

The dancer couple meanwhile, look at Red in surprise at his knowledge of them.

"That means they can dance many types of dances, not just hip hop. They can also dance to any song." Red explains.

"Dance to any song?" Taishiro gets more interested at what is happening.

"That's right." Red nods.

Akane and Yori suddenly get uncomfortable and uncertain, feeling that Red is one of those cool dad types who does not know much about a subject but gets overly enthusiastic about it.

Red notices this and he smirks at them. 

"Don't worry. The songs I'm gonna play are the cliché pop songs and hip-hop songs you've probably both heard before." He assures the two.

The couple sigh in relief.

"Akane-san! Can you dance like Arina?" Ran asks.

"Arina?" Akane fails to recognize the name.

"Musume46 member. One of those bubblegum type idols." Red explains.

"Oh…" Akane processes before nodding.

"I can dance like Arina. Just show me and I can copy her." She tells Ran in confidnence.

"Really?!" Ran asks in excitement.

"Yes."  Idol dances are too easy for Akane to replicate.

"Okay. Why don't we start?" Red says, and with that, music suddenly starts playing in the background.

Akane and Yori then look around, trying to find the speakers, but they see none. They look at Red in wonder, but they get no answer.

"The music seems to be for you, Yori-san. Why don't you start off?" Red starts the two's task immediately.

Soon, *ooohh* *ahhhh* *Whoah!* all sorts of exclamations of wonder and appreciation come out of the children as they watch Akane and Yori take turns in dancing to random songs.

Yoshiko and Kotone, who are watching this from a distance, feel their hearts warm up.

"So, sensei cared about them all along." Yoshiko sighs.

"Of course, he does." Kotone looks at Yoshiko strangely.

"That's not what I meant." Yoshiko gets defensive.

"What I meant was, I thought he was the tough father type."

"I know. I was just messing with you." Kotone chuckles.

"Anyways. It's good to see them like this." She says as she takes her attention back to the children.

"I know. What a relief." Yoshiko agrees.

This is the first time that they are seeing the children in high spirits since the demon soldier Alvannath, or Nana-san to the children, died. It has been four days since then and the two young ladies had growing concerns when the children, instead of showing signs of moving on, were growing somber and serious instead.

They can only thank Red for inviting the two dancers to entertain the children.

An hour later, the music stops playing and Akane also concludes her freestyle to the song with a nice ending flare.

*clap* *clap* *clap*

The children, for the nth time, give her applause.

"I think that's it for Akane and Yori-san, children." Red addresses the children.

"Aww…" The children groan unanimously in disappointment.

"Well. They're tired. Let them rest." Red says, making the children realize that Akane and Yori are sweating hard despite the cold weather.

"We can go on, sir." Yori says to Red softly.

"This is nothing for us. We just have to take a break, and we're good to go." Akane adds.

Usually, they will dance to compete with others or to make themselves feel alive. But after bringing smiles to the kids' faces and making them cheer in enthusiasm, it made them feel a new flavor of happiness for the first time in a long time, making them want to dance for the children more even for free.

"Okay. Let's do that later. Instead, is there something basic that you can teach the kids in a few minutes? Something that can make them dance together?" Red asks the two.

"We can do that, sir." Akane nods.

"I have something in mind." Yori adds.

"Good. If I'm satisfied by what I'm seeing, maybe I can offer you, as what Riz told you over text, 'a life changing opportunity.'." Red promises the two.

"…" Akane and Yori are determined to achieve results.