After a huff of annoyance, she quickly explained what Junichiro had said to her within the workshop. Azazel was dying to get more details about how Junichiro worked ever since his eyes and ears within the workshop had been neutralized. He didn't make a big deal about losing the influx of information. If the kid had never found and disabled the surveillance then that was the kid's fault. It was the kid's job to protect his workshop from spies, not Azazel's. He was actually a little proud, if annoyed, that he could no longer spy on the kid's work.
Once the explanation was done, Azazel stroked his goatee as he hummed to himself a bit, "Interesting. If I were you, I wouldn't doubt his word. Father always said that the soul was one of the most enduring things within all of creation. It's why he used so many in the creation of his Sacred Gears as actually destroying them would have taken far more effort." He looked directly into her eyes, "Strong as you are, you're nowhere near the strength of Father so, thinking along that line, it seems likely that you aren't capable of digesting the souls you ingest."
Azazel gave her a broad grin, "Wiping a soul of memories though? That would be significantly easier to accomplish. After all, we have simple magic capable of erasing memories, even on a massive scale. Erasing memories to feed off of the emotions they contain would be significantly easier and you would not be the first emotivore I've ever met. Just the one with the most unique feeding method."
The soul eater, carefully lowered herself into a free seat and ruminated on Azazel's words. Hearing it from a pubescent teenager was one thing and could be easily dismissed. Hearing it from the leader of the Grigori, an Angel nearly as old as she was, was an entirely different matter. Feeling a spark of hope in her chest, she refocused on Azazel, "Then you really believe that child can help me out?"
Azazel nodded and produced a bottle of sake and two small cups to drink it from, "I do. I even believe his solution is an exceedingly simple and effective one. Gaining even just a bit of empathic ability should allow you to walk down the street and harmlessly feed off of human emotions at your leisure. It seems unlikely that you will ever go hungry again."
After taking the offer sake cup from Azazel, the yokai smiled for the first time since she had arrived. It seemed like things in her life just might change for the better in a few short hours. She'd lived millenia but the next four hours were going to drag out like decades to her.
A little over four hours later, Junichiro re-entered his home to find Azazel, Mittelt, and the Yokai woman all sitting in his living room and sipping on sake.
A dozen empty bottles littered the low central table with a few more fallen to the floor. He had no idea where the alcohol had come from. As much as he enjoyed his herbal smokes, so different from the tobacco cigarettes he'd liked in his last life, he wasn't a big drinker.
Though he did enjoy the process of making his own alcohol and drinking it on occasion in his last life. Perhaps he should look into making magical booze, that could be a bit of fun.
As he approached, he caught the attention of the three individuals chatting and drinking. When he was closer the yokai looked at him expectantly, "Is it done?"
Junichiro nodded and held up a rather large loop of silvery metal inlaid with golden filigree that hid a plethora of runes, "Yup."
She narrowed her eyes at the large loop. A bracelet would normally only be a half a dozen centimeters in diameter.
The one Junichiro was holding up was at least two dozen centimeters wide, almost looking like a miniature hula hoop than a bracelet. Seeing what she was probably thinking, Junichiro explained, "It will shrink to fit perfectly once you place your hand through it. In order to fit the runes that anchor and power the enchantment required more surface area than a standard bracelet has."
In all honesty, Junichiro was mentally berating himself for forgetting he could just shrink items that were too large for their intended purpose.
Sometimes having too much knowledge and too many ideas could be just as hampering to a person as having no ideas. If he'd run into a situation like this sooner, he could have modeled his current prosthetic arm to be the size of an adult's and then simply shrunk it down to match his current size.
After that it could slowly unshrink until it matched him as an adult. Instead, he now had the far more expensive and difficult to use Blood Iron. Oh well, something to remember when he thought of a better arm to make in the future.
The soul eater took the large hoop from him and stuck her right hand through it. The enchanted item slowly shrank down, as everyone watched, until it was an appropriate size that snugly settled onto her wrist. She continued to eye the item, which was actually quite beautiful, with a small amount of suspicion, "I don't feel anything."
Junichiro just shrugged his shoulders, "It's a very minor effect. It's not meant to turn you into a full on empath and let you consciously feel people's emotions. It's meant to emulate how you feed. I doubt you feel a person's emotions while digesting them right?"
After she shook her head, he continued, "In the same vein, there was no need for you to feel people's emotions while wearing the bracelet. I suggest that both you and Azazel head into the city for a bit.
The more people you are around the faster you will feed yourself. If it helps, think of it as if the bracelet is taking an extremely tiny piece of someone's soul and giving it directly to you. Though it does no such thing. In a decent crowd I expect you would feel full in minutes, if not faster. Maybe think about going to crowded emotionally charged events like music concerts."