Rebellion's Song

by ShardclawKusanagi

Months after the events of DMC 4: SE: Dante goes to Japan for a new mission at the request of an old friend, Sawako-to investigate a possible rise of demons in their town. He also ends up befriending Yui Hirasawa and her friends, now he and his crew of devil hunters must prepare them for the fight ahead. A Devil May Cry 4 x K-ON! crossover, with later crossovers to come.

3. Bad Moon Rising

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from the game/anime franchise of Devil May Cry, or from the anime/manga adaptation, K-ON. All characters that appear in this fiction rightfully belong to their respective owners and copyrights.

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ShardclawK: Well, during the space of the last chapter up to present time, it seems this story has gained quite the fan base so far and I've yet to kick things off story-wise. Thanks to those who are lending the growing support, and a special shoutout going out to my newly favorite DmC crossover writer, Alitolexlto, for liking and commenting on this story. If you didn't know, that's the author of one of my favorite crossover stories, Guns and Chainsaw, a really good DmC and Lollipop Chainsaw crossover fic, check it out.

Not only am I getting back some writing inspiration vibes from doing this story and knowing there are people out there enjoying what little I can conjure up for it before getting into the main event, but most of the creativity I had for my other works. Maybe after a couple more updates for this story, I'll probably wrap things in up in my other ongoing DMC crossover story that's in long due for a conclusion, then go back to working on updating revisions for my MGS crossover fics. But first we'll see how things pan out considering the amount of crazy new and big, anticipated gaming titles coming out for the remainder of 2013. Not that I'm really worried about how they will cost since now I can afford to have almost all of the good games out there, it's the time I have to invest to enjoying some of these especially when there's trophies involved to hunt for and considering how long it would take to complete them trophy wise, it may or may not get in the way of updating my stories, but we'll see how things pan out…

Anyway, time to get the chapter going. It may not be a major happening update, but I promised before some decent surprises in store, so I hope you're set to enjoy this chapter.

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Rebellion's Song

Chapter 3: Bad Moon Rising

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A loud, bellowing yawn can be heard from a still half asleep Dante Sparda as he made his way to the all girl Sakuragoka High school, dressed in his all red dress shirt and pants. He almost slept in because of searching the streets for demons the previous night with no result before and as a result, got a rude wake up call from Patty, who had to remind him that he had to play his teacher role correctly and be at the school early. Dante, never being an early morning person, will now have to will himself to get used to the routine from now on while he was in Japan.

"Jeez, I guess Patty was still mad at me for saying those things to her yesterday." Dante said, covering his mouth as he yawned. During the rush from his apartment, he forgot to take his shave and now the near growing stubble around his chin was starting to grow back. Not that he minded, he preferred this rugged look more than usual, at least he wants people to know his true age by just looking at him. "I did say sorry to her, but she still acts like she wants to bite my head off. I wonder if I'm doing this surrogate father thing right?"

As he neared the school, he heard some giggles from a distance, then his other, human alias name and known identity being called out by a familiar voice.

"Tony-senseiiiii!" Yui Hirasawa's voice called out as she came running towards him, as if she was very happy to see him again. In fact, she was running in a way that she looked like she was going to tackle him! However, she stopped just before him, making skid marks with her shoes almost falling over. "Ohaiyo!"

"Well, if it isn't my ever so hyperactive apprentice." Dante said as Yui smiled, as she was being accompanied by her younger sister, Ui Hirasawa, and her friend, Asuza Nakano. Ui and Asuza both are juniors who attend the same class together. "Good morning, ladies. You're usually early for school like today?"

"Good morning, sensei. Onee-chan usually sleeps in, but this morning, she surprised me by waking up before me and was already waiting to come to school." Ui said sheepishly. "I guess she was excited to coming back here to see you again, Tony-sensei."

"So, you're Yui's younger sister, huh?" Dante asked, looking at Ui who bowed at him in reply.

"Hai, that's right." Ui said. "I must say, Yui was very active last evening practicing those notes you gave her. And she said you even performed for the music club yesterday, I wished I could have seen it."

"You must be the type who enjoys looking out for your sister, I got to hand it to you." Dante said. "She's quite the handful, alright. But the relationship with a sibling like that is pretty much what ties you too together, trust me, I had something like that once. Take my advice, kid: Don't ever try to get into fights with your relatives that you cannot resolve, or else it will just bite you in a way you won't recover from. That is, speaking from experience, of course."

"Well, I'll take it into consideration, Tony-sensei, thanks for the advice." Ui said as Yui recalled what Tony mentioned about his family the day before. She felt what he just told Ui was something meant not just for the Hirasawa sisters, but for him as well. Even though she was beginning to know him, she didn't want him to be sad most of the time, so she wanted to at least let him feel comfortable around her and the Hokago Tea Time while he was teaching at their school. She then remembered that she wanted the new English teacher to be their new sub advisor, and all she had to do was ask him.

"Ano, Tony-san…." Yui called out as Dante looked in her direction. "I was wondering…"

Just before she was going to finish the question, the school bell rang, prompting for the students to meet for assembly.

"Ah, Yui-senpai! We're going to be late!" Asuza called out. "Tony-sensei, you better get going too!"

"Okay, kid, you guys will be seeing me later." Dante said as he patted Yui on her head. "Yui, whatever you're going to ask me can wait till club room activities start. Don't want you to be missing your classes because of me, okay?"

"Oh, okay…" Yui said as feeling a bit disappointed that she didn't finish her question. "I'll see you later, Tony-sensei."

Yui ran off, leaving Dante in the courtyard to think to himself. He can sense Yui wanted to ask him something, but he didn't care much about it. The fact that no demons other than the ones he encountered on the night he came to Japan haven't shown up was what was bothering him the most. Was he being sent on a wild goose chase? Was the town he was sent to just a misleading tip, another lax of intel by Lady? Did the demons give up knowing Dante, the one and only demon slayer powerful enough to easily destroy their hordes, was currently in Japan?

(This is driving me crazy, two days here and none of the demons have shown up.) Dante thought to himself. (I didn't come to this country to look over a bunch of schoolgirls who are now coming into age, but it was the best way I can make contact with the Hokago Tea Time. Maybe I was wrong about the whole thing about the demons being here…)

Shaking his head briefly, Dante was one not to underestimate his targets, the demons he encountered when he came to Japan looked like no pushovers. And they sounded serious in their claims in going after the Hokago Tea Time, this was something he wouldn't let rest so easily. Besides, despite Yui and Ritsu's odd mannerisms, Mio's easy to frighten personality, Mugi's gentleness and Azusa's seriousness, Dante was growing rather fond of the bunch of girls, which was all the more reason he wanted to observe them a little longer.

(What the hell, I guess I'll stick around for a while longer and keep playing my little teacher role, see what else those girls are capable of.) Dante thought to himself. (In the case anything in the form of trouble comes their way, I'll just deal with them accordingly without raising too much questions around myself.)

---

It was his second day of teaching the girls only filled classroom and while Dante had no trouble teaching his students the prospects of learning English, he had a little technique of making it a fun experience for himself and his pupils. Even with his way of teaching, he seemed to be drawing crowds of students from other classes who stopped by just to see him teach.

"Alright, girls, listen up." Dante said with a firm tone as he rested his hands on his hips. "Today, we're going to try something a little different, and by that, I mean doing something even I haven't been used to doing. We're going to be doing some classic English literature as part of today's lesson."

"Tony-sensei, we'd never figured that you're into that type of literature, but how is that supposed to help our learning of English?" a girl asked with a raised hand as Dante smirked.

"I know what you're thinking, classic lit is probably out of your league since you're Japanese, but it's always a good thing to go back to your roots." Dante said. "Hell, even I had to pick up a few things from good old William while I growing up and look where it landed me."

"So, Tony-sensei, you studied theatre?" Another one of the girls asked.

"That's right, although I never really took part of it until a time somebody tried to upstage me in a duel that was something close to Hamlet. I owned him so good that I told him if he needed to do his homework first before he could think of challenging me ever again." Dante said, giving the students a barebones detail of his run in with the now deceased Agnus. "In any case, get your pens and your fingers ready, I'll make up some notes on the board for you to study up on."

The class settled down as Dante turned to his board to start writing on his board when he sensed a very familiar aura approach the door of his classroom. When it opened, it was Nodoka Manabe who was wearing her student council badge. Apparently, his short time in Sakuragoka school so far had already made him familiar with the strict class rep due to her visiting Sawako and other teachers on a constant basis. He also found out from her she was a childhood friend of Yui's, so it wasn't that hard for the two to get to know each other since it bothered Nodoka a bit why would Yui find her new English teacher so interesting, but after meeting him personally, she learnt aside from the eccentric attitude, he was a good talker who liked looking out for the girls, so she can rest her laurels a little.

"Hey, class-rep. What's up?" Dante asked seeing her as Nodoka nodded at him.

"Tony-sensei, I'm sorry to interrupt the class, but it appears you got a special visitor who wants to speak to you." Nodoka said, causing Dante to raise an eyebrow. "Can you come over to the visitor's lounge?"

"Okay, I'll be right over, just hold on." Dante said as he looked at his class. "If you ladies could excuse me, I got some personal business to take care of. I'll be back shortly, so don't miss me too much, okay?"

The girls in the class responded by nodding at their teacher as Dante accompanied Nodoka to the visitor's lounge, striking up a conversation about Yui along the way.

"So, how's Yui in class today? Chipper as usual, I take it?" Dante asked as Nodoka chuckled.

"Well, she's usually that way all around, but she seems really into it since she came to school this morning." Nodoka said. "It's probably because you're going back to the club again to check up on her and her friends during practice."

"I know she and that Ritsu girl are the overly impatient type, but would it hurt for those two to focus on their work a little more?" Dante asked. "Anyway, I got ways of handling wild girls like them, they just need some guidance in learning some discretion in their band activities."

"Ehhh,I hope when you mean by that, they are standard teaching procedures, Tony-sensei." Nodoka said, holding up a folder of papers and pointing it at him.

"Relax, class-rep. What made you think otherwise?" Dante asked as a thought hit him. "Oh, I see…Sawako said something about me, huh?"

"Well, there's that, as well to mention how popular you are here. These girls are pretty innocent, so you really can't go around…" Nodoka spoke, as before the two turned the corner to go into the next area, Nodoka bumped into a passerby who seemed very angry, an almost overweight elderly man with a receding hairline, wearing a red sweatshirt and track pants. Luckily for her, Dante was right next to her and caught her before she fell on her back when she lost her balance, the papers in the folder spilling out on the floor.

"Che! Why don't you watch where you're going, megane girl!" The man shouted, as he stopped to see Nodoka looking at him with a nearly scared look on her face. However, it was Dante who glared at the man at him for almost hurting Nodoka and spoke.

"Hey, old man….in case you didn't realized, YOU were the one who practically ran into the pretty young lady." Dante said simply. "If I wasn't around to help her up, you may as well have run her over with just your beer gut, try to be more careful, why don't ya."

"You…if only you hadn't come to this school…hmph!" The man gritted his teeth as he simply walked off from Dante and Nodoka, who was watching with quizzed looks.

"What died and crawled up his…" Dante said as Nodoka had composed herself as she looked at the school floor below her.

"Oh, I took half the first period just getting these papers organized." Nodoka groaned at first. Dante sighed a bit knowing that she seemed more calm than usual considering what just happened. Still, it would be against his personality not to help out a young lady in trouble, so he offered to help her out by picking up some of the stray notes.

"You okay there?" Dante asked as the glasses wearing girl fixed her spectacles.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thanks for being concerned." Nodoka replied, as she looked in the direction the man departed to before sticking her tongue out in his direction. "I swear…that janitor is like the worst person ever whose working in this school's personnel this school."

"Heh, just by looking at him, I can see why." Dante said, stooping to pick up the papers as well. "So, that's the janitor of the school, huh? Has he always been such a pain?"

"No, he's never caused any kind of major trouble, almost everyone in the school knows him." Nodoka replied. "Well, unless you can call that incident we had some time ago something worthy of trouble…"

"Tell me all about it." Dante said simply. Nodoka sighed as she continued to pick up the papers.

"I don't know much about it, but it happened shortly before you came to this school. From what the teachers who found out about it told me, there was a rumor that someone at school who was harassing the girls in some ways. It started out with missing clothes for girls who had swimming and P.E classes, then stuff from their lockers would also be the next to go." Nodoka said.

"Ho, boy. I can guess where this is going." Dante simply said.

"I see you're getting the general idea, at least." Nodoka said. "Anyway, since the janitor was the only person who can access such areas during the school's dismissal periods, the board had his room investigated based on information by a student who claimed her diary was one of the missing items. The said diary along with several pieces of the missing clothing and items were found in the room, although the janitor said he never knew of them."

"Someone else pinned the blame on him, huh?" Dante asked. "Well, considering that he looked the 'type', they would easily just slap the whole thing on him."

"So it seems. Since that time, there had been new rumors about him harassing some the girls, particularly the juniors." Nodoka said. "And just now, it seems those said rumors have drawn the last straw."

"I can see that, he's certainly looks pissed off." Dante said as a new thought hit him. "By the way, has he always smelt that bad?"

"Huh? What about his smell?" Nodoka asked, seeing her new English teacher was looking very thoughtful for a moment before he turned to face her, curious by what he just meant. "Is something the matter, Tony-sensei?"

"Nah, don't worry about it." Dante simply replied as he continued to help her pick up the papers she dropped. "Something that bugged my mind for a moment there, but I guess I was just imagining things."

"Hmmm. Well, if you say so then." Nodoka said, finally gathering all the pages together. "I guess that's everything then, thanks for the help."

"Don't mention it, glad to be of service." Dante said before he began to think to himself.

(Just now, he smelt just like…) Dante stopped to think once more. (It may be a hunch, but it looks like the school is in of a danger all of its own. Well, that figures, some humans are pretty much worse than the demons I hunt. I'll keep an eye on him in case before he causes any trouble.)

The two had finally reached the visitor's lounge, where Dante got a bit of surprise when he saw an American man in his forties, with a brown mouthstache, wearing a brown fedora hat and coat. Dante recognized the man's face and went over to him.

"Geez, I knew you're popular with the girls, but I never knew you liked them young." The man said in a joking tone.

"Can it, Morrison. Certainly you didn't come here to spy on me." Dante sat down next to the man named Morrison, one of his human contacts who arranged him the small paying demon hunts back in America. He was also the one who introduced Patty to his life when she was in trouble some years ago.

"Do you know this man, Tony-sensei?" Nodoka asked as Dante nodded.

"Yeah, you can say that. This is Morrison, he more or less arranged my teaching trip here in Japan." Dante said. "As well the lame paying small fry ones back home, in which all of them pay no-so-healthy charges."

"You took them still anyway because you were bored out of it and just wanted pizza money." Morrison said as he looked at Nodoka. "Thanks for the help, young lady. If you don't mind, I need to discuss some things with him privately."

"Well, I won't keep your conversation waiting; I got to drop these off to the teacher's lounge anyway. Oh, and thanks again for earlier, Tony-sensei." Nodoka said as Dante waved back to her while she left.

"Sure thing, I'll see you around." Dante said as the glasses wearing girl left the two to talk with Dante speaking first.

"So, Morrison, what dragged you all the way over here?" Dante asked. "Certainly not just to check up on Patty, I bet."

"Oh, I visited her before coming here, alright. The kid's doing fine, though she seemed rather mad just from the mention of your name. Did you two have a fight again?" Morrison asked.

"What's it to you? It's not like it's the first time that sort of thing happened." Dante leaned back. "Give the brat some time, she'll cool down by this evening and be back to her usual self. In any case, did you get what I asked you and Lady for?"

"Lady's still busy on her end trying to find the info for this, 'Master' demon you've told us about. From what she said, we may be dealing with ancient genma types here, which make it a bit harder to locate our targets at the moment." Morrison said as Dante snapped his finger.

"Oh, yeah, haven't heard about that demon type in a while, old school warrior breed of demons from the samurai days." Dante said. "I think my old man dealt with some of them before while he was still alive."

"That he has, so they didn't have an idea who they're up against when they ran into you the first time." Morrison said with a stern tone. "They may have gone back into preparing themselves for the next time they run into you."

"No wonder it's been so quiet since that then. And here I thought though they'd given up on the whole thing, making my life a bit easier." Dante said as Morrison shook his head.

"I'm being serious, Dante. They could strike at any time now, so try to be a little more vigilant from now on, especially since that you're at a place like this where they can attack when you're the most open." Morrison said.

"I got it, don't worry too much." Dante said as a thought hit him. "Oh, one thing I need to know about these genma I have to face…they are able to mask themselves as humans if they wanted to, am I right?"

"Now that you bring that up, it's a likely possibility." Morrison said as Dante nodded. "Wait, do you know something?"

"Nope, I'm just asking in case, you may never know what kind surprises these guys may throw." Dante said.

"Now that you know what could be dealing with, how's teaching life here in Japan so far?" Morrison asked as Dante rested his hands over his head.

"The girls are cute enough." Dante said simply. "That's all I need to keep me going at this little charade for the time being."

"Sounds like you got that covered then, I may have worried that you're being a teacher would have landed you into some sort of trouble." Morrison said simply.

"I bet you were waiting for something like that to happen, so sorry to disappoint you." Dante said as he stood up. "So, are you done telling me what I have to know? I got a class waiting for me, you know."

"Oh, that's just about it for now, but be expecting someone to be dropping by to give you something you may find useful when the time comes for looking for those demons." Morrison said. "He knows you'll be here for awhile, so he'll stop by here."

"Great, more surprises." Dante said as before he spoke further, he saw Ritsu Tainaka and Mio Akiyama coming towards them. "Look, here comes two of the light music members, we'll finish our 'demon hunting talk' some other time."

Morrison nodded as he saw the two young girls approach the two men with the ever so loud and energetic Ritsu in the lead of bumping into Dante just for the hell of it.

"Yoooo!" Ritsu raised an arm as Dante grinned at her carefree, tomboyish and loud antics. "What are you doing all the way here, Tony-sensei, you got a class to teach at this time, right?"

"Yeah, just chatting it up with an old buddy of mine who's visiting." Dante said, allowing Morrison to introduce himself to the two girls. "Morrison, the loud and wild girl is Ritsu Tainaka, and the shy one with her is Mio Akiyama, they're part of that light music band I told you about."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet such charming, young ladies as yourselves." Morrison tipped his hat at the girls. "I hope this guy here is taking care of you?"

"Well, we wouldn't put it quite that way, but he's sure fun to hang around with, that much I can tell." Ritsu said after she looked like she had to go into deep thought before saying anything first. "What about you, Mio?"

"Well…I think he's a…exceptional teacher." Mio said, still averting her gaze back and forth at Dante. She couldn't forget how nicely Dante treated her the day before when she fainted and was trying not to do so again for the sake of keeping her composure up next to a guy like him. "But I do agree that he's made club activities slightly more interesting."

"Well, I'll be." Morrison smiled as he looked at Dante. "Looks like you're quite the lady killer here on this side, huh?"

"Don't you have somewhere to be now, old man?" Dante asked folding his arms. "You're pretty much using up my working time here at the school, you know?"

"I get you, I won't be delaying your time any more then. I think I'm going to drop by Patty again before the day is over." Morrison said as he started to walk off to the exit of the school's hallway. "Well, you'll be hearing from me in case something comes up, but until then, don't do anything wild now, okay?"

"As if that could be helped…but I'll work on it. You just be careful out there, Morrison." Dante said as Ritsu and Mio bowed to Morrison as he left.

"Hmm, he seemed liked a classy old guy. Are all the friends you have like that, Tony-sensei?" Ritsu asked as Dante sighed.

"Sadly, that's not the case. Most of the friends I got tend to be either brash punks or just jerks, but at least I can still trust them." Dante said as he focused on the two childhood friends now. "But enough about my troubles, what are the two of you doing here, heading off to another class?"

"Yeah, we're heading off to Sawa-chan's class now." Ritsu answered. "Want us to say hello to Yui while we're there for you?"

"Nah, best to wait till later, I want that girl to focus on her studies more than she would on me, she looked like she needed it." Dante said. "Besides, I got a couple more surprises that I'd like to show you girls today, so I want everyone in the club room to be able to see me in action."

"That what was I was afraid of." Mio said with a nervous grin. "Though I wouldn't mind you see you play Nevan again, I'm trying to figure out how a guitar like that works. I've never seen anything quite like it."

"Maybe one day, I'll tell you what you need to know, but I wonder if your young minds can handle the content of my stories." Dante said with a grin as Ritsu pouted and Mio blushed.

"Mou, Tony-sensei! Always saying stuff like that!" Ritsu said before grabbing Mio's arm. "You enjoy doing that a lot, do you?"

"Just get used to it, kid, you'll be hearing more of it eventually. I'm just giving you a heads up of what to expect later." Dante said. "Well, you guys run along and get to your class before Sawako gets upset for your being late because of me."

"He's right, Ritsu, we better get going now." Mio said to her friend. "Well, we'll be seeing you later, Tony-sensei."

"Yeah, later, Tony-sensei. And try not to get the class you're teaching too caught up with your crazy antics." Ritsu said as Dante watch them head off in the opposite direction.

""Heh, that should be my line, considering the person who just said that to me." Dante said. "I'll see you two later."

"Oh, yeah!" Ritsu stopped as if she remembered something and turned back to face Dante. "Yui's got something very important to ask you later, so you got to show up to our room no matter what!"

"I'll be there, alright. Just go to your class already." Dante said as he watched the girls walked off. "Geez, what the hell was that all about? No matter, I'll find out eventually…ah, all that talking got me thirsty. Since there are no beers or strawberry sundae around here, I'll just help myself to something from one of the machines."

Before Dante returned to his class, he stopped by the vending machine to get a drink first near the lounge, but as he stopped by the then, he felt a presence. As if someone was watching him, or rather, the school girls leaving the compound. And judging by it, it's not the type he would want at a school like Sakuragoka High. He stepped outside and looked around at the school yard.

"If you're going to go around stalking innocent, short skirt wearing, high school girls, I'd suggest you take your fetishes somewhere else, buddy." Dante said, causing a rustle from a set of nearby bushes from near outside the compound to move. "You might as well show yourself, you pretty much gave your location away."

"Oh, man, I thought I would have fooled you by now, your sharp as ever, Dante." An American accent spoke, as a middle aged man, wearing a black open jacket and dress pants stepped out of the set of bushes. He had short, black medium hair and a camera strapped around his chest. Dante smirked to seeing the so called stalker and approached him.

"Frank West, I didn't know you were in Japan." Dante said as he gave Frank a firm hand shake. "You're on assignment again?"

"You could say that, just doing some covering on those recent incidents for the papers back home." Frank said as he eyed the school. "I didn't think you were the teaching type, Dante, what happened?"

"Hey, don't look at me, it was all Lady's doing. She put me up to this just to see how the Hokago Tea Time could be involved." Dante said as Frank nodded.

"You're still putting up with that broad? After all the jobs she set you up with?" Frank asked. "What happened to the other chick you hung out with, Trish?"

"She's still in Fortuna City, acting her Gloria role to maintain things there until the Order is restored. She's taking her pretty sweet time doing it, though." Dante said. "Besides, this operation's pretty much solo, I don't think I'll need any help on this one for the time being."

"What a shame. And here I thought I can give you something juicy on the demons that you can use." Frank said, taking out a dossier.

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Dante asked as Frank nodded.

"Sure thing, dug up some photo archives that the news papers around here won't tell the public. I got my sources, you know." Frank said with a smile.

"Ha, I'd expect nothing less from a photographer who covers wars." Dante said as he reached for the dossier as he stopped. "Wait, you're not charging me for this, aren't you?"

"Nah, I owed you anyway for that time you helped me out with the zombies and also when we ended up at the alternate Earth, so we're cool." Frank said, giving Dante the dossier. "Just let me know if there's anything else you want filling up on."

"Thanks a lot, Frank, you're a lifesaver." Dante said, taking the dossier.

"Oh, yeah, I also got a message from…you-know-who." Frank gave him a simple sheet of paper. "Knowing him, I bet he didn't write much, but it seems things will get moving again. You'd better be ready for anything."

"I will, Frank, I'll be ready." Dante said as Frank started to leave.

"Anyway, time waits for no man, I got to get me some scoops for the papers." Frank said. "See you around, Dante."

Dante nodded simply as he watched an old friend walk off. Ever since running into Frank West some time ago during his escapades in the alternate Earth where the superhumans lived, Dante had rely on Frank's coverage of the hidden truths in the media to get him some of the more elusive demons that slipped under his watch. He wasn't expecting to see Frank in Japan, but he was grateful that he did now that he can get a lead on in his demon hunt, at least he was a better source of information than that rude Italian named Enzo.

"It will be nice to run into the other guys too and have a couple of beers with them, but maybe after this job is done." Dante said to himself as he looked at the paper sheet he was given earlier. Although the message was short, Dante knew the writer was being clear in his words.

"Dante, by the time you're reading this, the demons may have begun to resurface. There are things we need to discuss regarding those girls you're watching over, so I shall come to you personally. I shall be looking for the area you're staying while I wrap things up on my end in a day's time." The note word's read as Dante sighed.

"Heh, so he's coming over to visit, how wonderful." Dante said to himself. "I just hope he doesn't do anything to attract attention before he gets here, but if that's the case, then that means the whole demon situation is more serious than I thought. Better keep my eyes peeled for anything then."

---

The remainder of the day passed quickly without much incident and it was time once again for Dante to visit the Hokago Tea Time in their club activities once more. Wondering what kind of music he should play for them and what things he could say just for the fun of it, he made his way to the room where he heard the girls already practicing some music. He opened the door to see the light music club absorbed in their playing of their various instruments.

"Already starting the party without me?" Dante asked as Yui and the others saw him enter. "Don't mind me, girls, you're doing just fine where I'm coming from."

"Ah, Tony-sensei!" Yui said, seeing him at long last again. "We were just trying to mimic the stuff you played yesterday, what do you think of it?"

"Still needs some work at some places, but you'll get it eventually." Dante said sitting down. "Now then, I heard there was something you wanted to ask me when I got here, Yui, so let's hear it."

"This is it, Yui-sempai. I do hope you're right about this." Aszua said as Mugi nodded from the side.

"I'm sure he'll listen, just go for it." The blond haired pianist said as Yui stepped forward to Dante and with Gitah still in her arms, she looked at him to ask him her question.

"Um…Tony-sensei…I, actually, the light music club itself was wondering if you'd like…" Yui hesitated at first but quickly went on to finish her question. "…if you'd like to be our sub club advisor with Sawa-chan?"

"Well, that's quite the surprise question I wasn't expecting today." Dante said simply. "Do you guys enjoy hanging around me that much?"

"Kind of hard to say, you're a bit strange, but you know more things about music than most of us at the moment and you tend to say some funny things some times." Asuza said. "We can use someone like you to guide us until graduation, Tony-sensei."

"Yeah, pretty much what she said." Ritsu chimed in. "And this was Yui's idea from the start, but I figure it wouldn't be so bad having two advisors for our club to make it better."

"So, Tony-sensei, what do you say?" Mugi asked. "Of course, you don't have to agree right away if you think it's going to get in the way of your teacher duties."

"I'd be really glad if you did, though." Yui said, hiding her face behind Gitah. "So, will you do it, onegai?"

"There you go with that puppy look again, I'm not going to fall for it this time, despite how cute you are." Dante muttered. (Dammit, now these girls are making it hard for me to stay here now, I can't disappoint them by saying no and rejecting their offer, but they are offering a chance for me to stick closer to them in case the demons start to cause trouble. I guess I should make things a little bit interesting from here on…)

"Okay, I'll consider your little offer for now, but how about on a condition?" Dante asked. "I just so happen to like a challenge once in a while."

"Ohhh, and what that condition could that be, I'm curious." Mugi said as if she was enjoying the little game Dante instigated.

"First off, I'll be honest with you guys since you're getting to be this tight with me: Tony Redgrave isn't my real name, I'm using it as an alias while I'm staying in Japan." Dante said simply, causing Yui to stare at him wide eyed, as did Mio and Ritsu as well. "If any of you can find out what my real name is, you've gotten yourself a new sub advisor for your club, free of charge."

"Hotonee?" Yui asked, almost jumping up. "Hee-hee…I love games like this! I bet I'll get to know it before the rest of you!"

"But…and I'm emphasizing on the BUT here…I'm giving no clues to help you out, and don't bother going to Sawako either. She agreed not to spill out my name so carelessly without my saying so." Dante said in a warning tone. "You're pretty much on your own here, kids."

"Ehhh? No fair, that's quite the disadvantage we got." Ritsu said, pouting. Dante smirked as he placed a hand on her head.

"I wouldn't say that, considering that I'm surrounded by five, uberly cute and smart musically talented girls, you'll find a way around it." Dante said, standing up. "Okay, since I'm such a nice guy, I can at least give you a hint to my first name. It starts with a D."

"D…D…doesn't really give us much of a choice since it can be pretty much any English male sounding name." Ritsu said, folding her arms. "Hmmm….you know, it's things like this that give me serious thought."

"About what?" Mio asked her friend as Ritsu stopped pondering to answer.

"About how seriously I can think about things." Ritsu answered before Mio sighed to herself.

"Oh, brother." Mio simply said, face palming herself. Dante smirked at the girl's antics and looked at Yui.

"So, how's that? You think you can manage that little challenge, Yui?" Dante asked as Yui nodded at him.

"Well, if it isn't too hard, I'll do my best to get to know your name, one way of another." Yui said. "But until then, can we keep calling you Tony-sensei?"

"No complaints from my end, you just keep doing what you do best, both with your guitar and studies." Dante said. "Eventually, things will smooth out before you know it."

Yui nodded as she went back to her friends to talk about what Dante just told them as the man looked on at them. He can see he's going to be more active than before, at least the girls are starting to trust him now as almost the remainder of the school. Making up his mind, he decided that after he was done at school, he'd make a pursuit for the demons now that he got some photographic evidence to get a lead on.

(Alright, with that said, I guess I'd better make my presence here known for all and leave one hell of an impression while doing it.) Dante thought to himself. But before that, he was feeling for another taste of one of Mugi's teas and desserts today since he hasn't quite gotten his fill of his favorite foods for the day as yet. He just has to be patient and wait till tea time when the girls are taking a break to share with them.

---

The day had ended at school and everyone had gone to their respective homes, however, with Yui's excitement from being with her friends for the day and her wanting to find out about her soon to be sub club advisor's real name, she made a last minute stop at the library section of the school to get some English dictionaries later in the evening.

(Even if my English isn't that good, at least I can get some pointers in learning about Tony-sensei's real name.) Yui thought as she stepped out of the school and began to walk home, her hand carrying a set of books. "I hope Ui doesn't mind me coming home a little late today…"

As she walked on the pavement looking into the books she was borrowing, she wasn't focused on what was in front of her as she ended up bumping into somebody in front of her.

"Hey, watch where you're…aw, man." An unruly, male voice of an older teen said, as Yui looked up with an open mouth in shock. Apparently, the person she bumped into had piercings in his nose and lip, was wearing expensive clothes of a trademark gangster and had a bit of a menacing look in his eyes. Along with him were two other youngsters wearing school uniforms and looked just as unruly as well. He was holding a malted beer from a can when he noticed the large stain on his shirt. "Now, look what you done!"

"Aniki, she just ruined your favorite shirt!" One of the younger boys said out loud.

"I can see that clear as day, idiot!" The eldest teenage male said as he looked at Yui. "I hope you can afford to fix this, girl, this cost me quite a bit of dough."

"Uhhh…gomen…I really wish I could…" Yui was speechless to what she had to do, this was the first time she ran into anything like this. If only she left for home earlier before with her friends…

"Hey, aniki…she looks pretty cute, heh." The third of the trio of teenage boys said, eyeing Yui hard with a weird look in his eyes. "I'm thinking of someway she can actually repay you…."

"You know what, I was thinking the same thing." The eldest teen said, licking his lips. "I am into schoolgirls big time, especially the dumb and naïve ones, she looks like she'll have to 'service' us as repayment."

"I…I got to go now, please excuse me." Yui muttered as the boys blocked her front, preventing her from going forward.

"Hotou….you're not going anywhere without us, girl." The third of the boys said. "Now, be nice and come on, we'll show you a good time if you behave nice…"

Yui was hearing for the longest while about these types of people who wander in the neighborhood, even the school has issued warnings to the female students to be careful when commuting to their homes or destinations about them. She'd never imagined that she'd run into them today of all days. She had to do something to guarantee an escape.

"Hey, what's that over there? Is that the police?!" Yui pointed over the boys heads as they suddenly glanced to their shoulders.

"What?" One of the boys said as they turned to see nothing but common cars on the road, but it was a good distraction for Yui to bolt out of the area in time. The eldest delinquent growled as he knew he fell for a ploy.

"She tricked us, no one makes a fool out of me and gets away with it!" He shouted. "Come on, we're giving chase after her!"

---

"Honey, I'm home." Dante simply said as he entered the apartment he and Patty were staying at. Tired from his teaching day at Sakura High, he took off his shirt and after hanging it up, he then searched the fridge for a cold beverage. The only available things in it were some beer cans, a liter of homemade lemonade Patty made, and some leftover strawberry sundae. Much to his disapproval, he can see a notable portion was taken from the container.

"Oi, Patty, you there? I thought I told you to lay off my sundae before I left this morning…" The demon hunter said as he just now realized his younger, travelling female companion wasn't in the room and saw a hand written note on the table. He went over to pick it up and grumbled to himself.

"Jeez, so she went shopping with Morrison, eh?" Dante said, placing the note back. "What the hell am I going to do till she gets back, I'm starving."

Dante thought about cooking up something, but then again, despite his incredible demonic abilities, his skills never were included in the culinary tastes. Almost ALL attempts in making the simplest of meals ended up in total disaster, he even came close to causing some major fires in the past at his establishment, while the people around him didn't held back in harshly rejecting his cooking. Even when he was younger, his older brother would be the one who was most direct in that regard. Dante chuckled to the memory he had of him and sighed afterwards as he headed back for the door.

"I can go out and look for a pizza restaurant, or wait for Patty to get back…you know what, I'll just go myself and take a early patrol while I'm at it. "Dante shrugged his shoulders as he put decided to put on his signature red coat that he wore during the Sanctus incident along with his red pants and brown boots before he closed the door, locked it back and began his evening trek.

Just after a while since he started walking, Dante was at a good distance in the neighborhood when he spotted a familiar figure standing on a near a crossing sign at the end of the street. Taking a closer look, he can see it was Ui Hirasawa, Yui's younger sister, still dressed in her uniform. However, he noted that she didn't look her usual, cheerful self but rather worried.

"Well, if it isn't the younger Hirasawa cutie." Dante said as Ui turned to his direction. "Why are you here by yourself?"

"Ah, Tony-sensei!" Ui said as she ran to him, with almost teary eyes. "It's onee-chan! I can't find her anywhere!"

"Hey, take it easy, kid. " Dante said, seeing something was wrong here, he noted the distress Ui had in her voice and knew right away that something must have happened. "Take a deep breath and try to relax."

Ui sniffed first before she nodded at Dante. "Hai, I'll try."

"Okay, let's start off with what you know: Didn't you two leave school together earlier with the other ?" Dante asked, knowing the two were always together most of the time. Ui put her hands up together as she started to talk.

"Not today, she left before me, saying something about wanting to find ideas for the club…" Ui said. "She said we would have met here to go back home together after fifteen minutes, but…"

"So, fifteen minutes passed and no sign of her yet, huh?" Dante asked. "She probably took a detour home, I guess…."

"If she did, she could have called and said something, but when I tried doing that…" Ui said as she showed a 'No Signal' on her cellphone when she dialed her sister's contact number. "…this was all I was getting on my end."

(Okay, that can't be good.) Dante thought as he patted the youngest Hirasawa's shoulders. "Alright, listen up. I'm going to go out and look for your onee-chan, so why don't you just hurry on home and wait on us?"

"But…" Ui started to plead as Dante shook his head.

"No can do, kid, I know you want to look for her too, but I can't risk something happening to you as well. Listen to your teacher on this one, alright?" Dante asked with a grin. "I'll be sure to bring her back to you, safe and sound. Just make sure to have something warm and tasty for her to eat when we get back. Knowing her, food would be the first thing on her mind when she comes back to you."

Ui nodded reluctantly to Dante's advice as she stepped back. "Okay, sensei, I'll do that. Just make sure onee-chan is safe, please?"

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to that angel, that's a promise." Dante said as he saw Ui ran off in the opposite direction he came. Sighing to himself, Dante started to hope that Yui is still okay and that he isn't too late in finding her and another thing to add was that he hoped it wasn't the demons that weren't the cause of her sudden disappearance.

"Well, there's but one way to find out…" Dante said as he retraced his way using his Quick ability to run even faster than usual, back to the now closed school's entrance. There, he switched to his demonic senses to detect any signs of demons that may be lurking in the area. Thankfully for him, not a trace of any essence could be picked up, but he can't relax just as yet as the possibility of Yui being danger was still there.

"Okay, so it's not the demons, huh?" Dante asked himself as instead of a demonic aura, he was picking up something else instead. "But judging from the looks of things, I can tell that the sense of danger she could be in is similar. Now, if I can pick up her trail just by using my intuition from the time she left here to the time of her supposed disappearance…"

Dante looked across the street to see a stretch of buildings across from the position he was standing, and saw a shiny object on the ground near an alley's entrance. He went over and picked it up, and after inspecting it, can see it was a key chain for Yui's guitar case.

"Through here, huh?" Dante asked as he made his way through the littered passageway. As he made his way further, he began to hear voices, but mostly one of them being a young girl's he knew by the hyper tone in her voice. (Yeah, looks like I made it in time.)

"Why are you boys doing this?" Yui's voice rang out as she held onto her guitar while her back was pressed against the wall when the three senior boys who leered at her. "If you just let me call my parents, I'm sure they'll…"

"No can do, girlie. We want to be repaid NOW and what better way than to use you to do it." One of the boys said. "So stop hiding behind that damn guitar and try to make this easier for us!"

"Nooo, please, I don't want to do this…" Yui said as one of the delinquents got closer to her as he simply leaned closer to Yui as she cowered in front of his threatening appearance.

"Hey, you just stay quiet while we'll make this quick." The delinquent said, as Yui shut her eyes.

(No, I don't want this!) Yui thought to herself as the delinquent started to reach for her blouse. (Somebody…anyone…help…)

"Hey, didn't you hear the young lady, she clearly said no." A familiar voice spoke as Yui opened her eyes and saw her shining knight in white armor from a distance. Or in this case, a white haired, middle aged man dressed in a long and red, leather coat clad in a black overall shirt and buckles in assorted places.

"Tony-sensei!" Yui called out to her English teacher by his name, with a half surprised look on her face. The demon hunter simply nodded and approached the group who was harassing Yui as the leader put up a brave front.

"Who the hell are you?" He shouted as Dante coolly approached the group.

"I've been hearing about trouble makers that hang around near premises of the girl's school, didn't expect to actually run into the poor, unfortunate souls, especially when they're about to gang up on my most favorite student." Dante said as he looked at his apprentice. "Yui, you okay? They didn't try anything funny to you before I got here, did they?"

"I'm fine! As you can see for yourself, I'm A-okay." Yui nodded quickly to her teacher with a near smile as Dante smiled a bit.

"That's good. But, man, you're quite the penchant for trouble, aren't you?" Dante asked, shrugging his shoulders. "You had your sister very worried, you know?"

"Gomen, I just wanted to find out how I can make the club better, and when I was going home, I bumped into these guys and they said I should pay them back for ruining their clothes …" Yui explained as one of the delinquents gritted his teeth.

"Why, you, stupid little…" The eldest delinquent said as Yui hid behind her quitar case as Dante a loud sigh.

"You guys already forgot I was here, but to just go and insult my favorite student like that in front of my face, has just earned you a free ticket to the discipline of Sparda." Dante said. "And to think I was going to let you off the hook too."

"Huh? You're a teacher?" The second delinquent said before starting to laugh. "What you're going to do to us, huh?"

"Yeah, we don't answer to chump teachers like you!" The leader said, forgetting Yui and focusing on Dante now. "We practically own the homerooms at our school, no one is going to tell us what to do!"

"That's it, boys. Come to Papa." Dante taunted, waving hands to come towards him. (They may not be demons, but at least I can still teach them a little lesson in humility and still have some fun.)

"Tony-sensei, look out!" Yui shouted as the first of the delinquents charged at Dante with a boken, a small wooden sword. Dante simply smirked and waited for the blow as the boy wildly swung it at Dante, who already entered his RoyalGuard Style stance and used his Royal Block to block the strike with little effort at the last second. Yui gasped at the sight, never before she has seen anyone actually blocked a sword with his bare hands. And Dante seemed to time it right as he palmed the sword with just one hand.

The delinquent simply stood in shock as he saw Dante shook his head, disapproving of the young man's use of a practice sword.

"My, you got a poor form, all brute and no grace." Dante said simply. "You simply rushed in thinking I was defenseless, that's pretty amateurish of you. Then again, the last couple of sword users I fought had far better training than you'll ever hope to get if you carry on your ways, not to mention, I'm just too damn good when it comes to handling swords."

"Why you…!" The delinquent's leader shouted as he rushed at Dante next. The white haired demon hunter knew he has to restrain his true strength since he was fighting mere regular humans, teenage boys for that matter. Still, that doesn't mean he can't toy with his enemies.

Still in his RoyalGuard stance, Dante then executed a medium strength Release, using his free right hand to force the boken wielding boy student back with a push of powerful air. The push created a knockback effect on the boy's body, causing him to lose balance and release the boken, while crashing into the advancing leader of the trio of boys. Dante suddenly grabbed the falling boken and swung the wooden sword to enter an Iado stance, putting the sword in a sheath like stance with his legs spread apart.

"Heh, been awhile since I used a Japanese sword, even if it's a training one." Dante said to himself. "Now this takes me back to my childhood."

The third of the boys, who still hasn't realized the older man's strength and skill gap between them, gritted his teeth as Dante noted his shaking appearance.

"You look like a smart one, why don't try to behave like a good boy and leave here before you seriously get hurt." Dante said as the boy simply ran towards him in an angry roar. "Okay, that seemed like a rather stupid choice on your end…"

Being an expert in a wide range of weapon usages, Dante was also very skilled in hand to hand combat. Even without the equipped Ifrit, Beowulf and Gilgamesh gauntlets, Dante can still unleash the skills he gained from them and use them for average combat.

"It's time to teach you to respect your elders, young man." Dante said, still holding unto the boken in a sheathed stance. While the charging boy wildly swung his fist at Dante, the older man simply used his Draw ability, a quick backstep move that completely evades forward attacks. Once after he executed Draw, Dante then suddenly used the boken in his own DarkSlayer style, in a simple two hit attack consisting of a horizontal swing across his front while the sword is in its sheath position, before returning the motion using the other end of the wooden sword, all the while closing distance to himself and the delinquent during his attack.

While the boy was still dazed by the first initial hits of the boken, he then shifted to his right hand to execute a Volcano move, slamming his bare fist into the ground. The impact created a shockwave powerful enough to stun his opponent, before Dante cancelled his movement and spun his body to go into his Beowulf Combo 1 attack, consisting of a slow forward turning punch, then switching to a left turning punch, before ending it by standing on his right leg and with a raised left leg, used it to hit the boy with a barrage of multiple kicks all over his chest.

The boy was knocked back, and ended up bumping into his colleagues after he received his share of Dante's 'teachings'. The three boys huddled together in fear of receiving any more pain from their newfound enemy. Dante simply swung the boken at them as he pointed them at their faces and gave them a strict warning.

"Now, listen up, you three." Dante said, glancing over to Yui's direction, who was still stunned to see her teacher like this, before turning to face them. "I was going easy on you just because you didn't do much to hurt my student, and that you're just too weak to handle me. For that, you're free to go, but let this be a warning: If any of you or your puberty breaking asshole friends try anything to piss me off by trying what you did with her, her friends or any of the students attending Sakuragoka High School ever again, I can assure you…you'll be hearing from me, alot more than you can imagine. Got that?"

The three boys nodded in response before Dante threw the boken at the defeated leader. They were too stunned to answer, but after the bruises they got from Dante, they understood when they were beat.

"Good. Now that's settled, say you're sorry to Yui." Dante said, with his arms folded. "First, you're to say how sorry you are that you tried to take advantage of her kindness and her ever so cute and pure innocence. Tell her how you're miserable, pathetic teenage lives aren't worth being near such a grand spectacle such as hers and will never consider it again in as long as they exist."

"Tony-sensei, you didn't have to make them do that…" Yui nervously said, but Dante protested.

"Don't try to stop me, Yui, this is for their own good." Dante said. "I don't want you to feel sorry for them either, they had it coming the moment they chose to tried to harass you and tried to attack me."

"If you say so…" Yui said as the three boys started to bow repeatedly in front of Yui.

"Please, Yui-san! We were wrong to do what we did, we're sorry!" The leader said with his face to the ground. "Please, forgive us!"

"Just don't make your teacher hit us again!" The second senior boy cried out as Yui shook her head.

"Um…apology accepted, I guess." Yui said as she looked at Dante. "They sound sincere enough, Tony-sensei, I think its best you let them go now."

"Meh, and I could have had some more fun with them." Dante shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, then, get out of here, you guys, before I haul you three to your school by myself after some more practice sessions."

The three boys simply gathered themselves as they started to run frantically from Dante who approached Yui with open arms. "Okay, they're gone now, Yui. You can come on out now."

Yui reluctantly stepped forward to Dante's position as she was still in awe over what he just did. She thought the things she witnessed happened in movies, but she just saw her new English did something just as cool as playing the guitar perfectly. Dante can see she seemed hesitant to approach him after seeing what he was capable of.

"Hey, come on, kid, I'm not going to hurt you." Dante said as Yui shook her head.

"It's not that, Tony-sensei. It's just…it's just that…" Yui hid her face before breaking out a wide smile, which surprised Dante a bit. "Ka…Kakui! Sugoi! That was super awesome, Tony-sensei!"

"Huh?" Dante put his arms on his hips. "You're not…bothered that I know how to fight?"

"No way! I mean, I don't like it when people get hurt, but…that was too cool!" Yui said as she ran to Dante and grabbed his hands while jumping. "You were like, 'Hya!' and "Whooo!' and…and…!"

Dante let out a hearty laugh as he felt relieved to see Yui happy like this, which seemed unusual, but more the better as it was a sign that she wasn't worried any more.

"Well, I was just pulling my punches then, but yeah, I pretty much know how to handle myself around types like those guys." Dante said as he gently knocked on Yui's head. "You on the other hand, wouldn't have put me through all that if you knew to listen to people and their warnings. Didn't your parents ever teach you stuff like that?"

"Heh-heh." Yui stuck her tongue out as she looked at Dante. "They did, but I was really desperate for outside help. So I went to the library for some English dictionaries.'"

"So, that's why you stayed back, and making people worried on top of that too." Dante shook his head. "At least I was able to get to you in time, but what would have happened if I never found you? Didn't I warn you before about weird looking characters with not so nice intentions for girls like you?"

"Gomen, Tony-sensei." Yui looked aside with a worried face. "It's just…it's just that…"

"If there's something you've been trying to ask me, don't be afraid to spill it." Dante said. "We're good friends now, after all. And I did just rescue you from a bunch of teenage male perverts, so I owe you that much."

"If you say so…" Yui said as before she spoke further, she felt a stinging pain near her left ankle. "Ittai!"

"What's the matter?" Dante asked quickly as Yui bent down to feel her left leg.

"I…I think I may have sprained my ankle a bit while I was running from those boys earlier." Yui said.

"Does it hurt bad?" Dante asked as Yui shook her head.

"A little, but I'll be fine. I should be able to walk home if I take my time." Yui said as Dante sighedand turned his back, squatting in front of her. "Tony-sensei, what are you doing?"

"No sense you put yourself through that, Yui. Come on, I'll take you home myself." Dante said. "Just make sure to hold on real tight."

"But…are you okay with that?" Yui asked as Dante shook his head.

"If you're worrying that if you're too heavy, don't let that bother you. I've had much heavier things to lift in the past, so compared to them, you're probably light as a feather." Dante said as Yui smiled to his comment, as she was concerned if her growing weight was going to cause problems for her English teacher.

"Okay, if you say so. Brace yourself, Tony-sensei." Yui said as strapped her school bag and guitar case tighter before she suddenly hopped on his back. "Usho!"

"Whoa! You could have at least taken your time getting on, kid." Dante said as Yui giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Whaaa…your back is very broad, Tony-sensei, and rather hard too." Yui said. "Did that come from all the training?"

"Yeah, that and some other things." Dante simply said. "Anyway, I'll hold on to your legs, so just relax while I walk."

"Un." Yui simply said as Dante started making his trek back to the neighborhood as Yui felt relaxed enough to settle on Dante's back while she looked on behind his medium length, silver-white hair, before her gaze met the chain that hung around his neck that held the amulet he was always seen wearing.

"Ano, Tony-sensei…" Yui looked curiously as Dante glanced back to his side.

"What's up? I recall there was something you wanted to ask before, in any case." Dante said as Yui was thinking where she should start, there was so much she wanted to know from him since he seemed to have such a heavy air of mystery surrounding him.

"Well, I was just thinking about…that amulet you're wearing." Yui said as Dante stopped and showed her it. "Yeah, I usually see you wear it all the time."

"Oh, you mean this?" Dante asked as he was kind enough to let her touch it as she palmed it with both her hands. "It's a memento…of my late mother."

Yui swallowed at hearing this from Dante. She did hear from him when he introduced himself that he didn't have any living relatives at the moment, but she wondered if she was ready to hear any sad stories from her new favorite teacher. Whatever the case, she was willing to stick through it for her new friend's sake.

"You must have been really close to her, huh, Tony-sensei?" Yui asked as Dante nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much, our whole family was." Dante said with a sigh. "Before my old man passed on, we were all pretty tight. They both looked after me and my brother while we grew up, taught us a lot of things. Aside from how to fight, we also learnt how to use our…skills for the better good from them. Mother especially was a wise person, maybe wiser than I am right now if she were still around. Her name was Eva."

"Eva, that's a beautiful name." Yui said dreamily.

"Yeah, she was beautiful alright. My old man made the right choice in choosing her for his wife." Dante said. "If I had it, I'd showed you what she looked like, but I left the portrait back home in my office, maybe some other time."

"What about the amulet?" Yui asked as Dante continued on.

"Gifts that were handed to my father, passed on to me and my twin brother." Dante said. "Valid proof that we're were the only two sons born from his bloodline, he was pretty much a big shot where he came from before he met my mother."

"You must have had really cool parents, Tony-sensei." Yui said.

"No doubt about that, they were quite something. We were all one big happy family…until he passed on due to failing health. He was the first to go." Dante said solemnly as Yui looked on, wanting to ask more.

"Ano…can I ask…just how did you lose your mother?" Yui asked solemnly as Dante sighed as he stopped to look at the evening sky.

"There was…something more cruel and wicked than those guys we ran into earlier, let's just say there are things that are worst than humans at times out there." Dante said. "My brother and I were only eight when she was attacked by them…that's when we got separated for awhile, each of us thinking we were dead."

"You were only…eight?!" Yui was surprised to hear this and was also saddened as well. "That's…how cruel! Who would do such a thing to you and your brother? To not lonely lose your mother, but be separated from him…"

"Yeah, pretty much that did happened." Dante said. "But as I said before, it's nothing for you to be bothered about, it's part of my history and I learnt how to deal with it."

"I feel sorry for you, Tony-sensei. You're such a nice guy, but I didn't know you were lonely for so many years." Yui said, as Dante smile a bit to her. At least he felt some bitterness telling a stranger about his harsh past, he felt relieved knowing at least the stranger cared for him.

"Aw, don't feel that way, Yui. It comes with the territory." Dante said. "At least you should be glad you got a great younger sister and parents to look out for you at your age, as well a lot of dependable friends, not much other people like I had that fortune."

"Datte…." Yui said in a mellow tone as she saw her close getting closer in view.

"No more Q and A, kid, we're finally at your home." Dante said as he then saw Ui Hirasawa ran to them as if she was waiting for their return.

"Onee-chan!" Ui ran up to hug her sister as Dante set her down on the couch inside the Hirasawa household. "I was so worried about you! Where you could have been?"

"Sorry, Ui, I was getting some stuff at the library. Then on my way home, I ran into some strange guys, so I ran from them." Yui spoke as Ui gasped. "I ended up hurting my leg on the way too, but Tony-sensei rescued me in time."

"What were you thinking doing that, going off by yourself this late?!" Ui said as she started to cry a bit. "Geez, what am I going to do with you, onee-chan?"

"Don't be so hard on her, Ui, cut her some slack." Dante said, resting his hands on her shoulders. "It's not like Yui intentionally caused this to happen, right? Not to mention she's back here safe and sound, that's what matters the most."

"Ohhh, onee-chan, I'm sorry for blowing like that, you had me so worried." Ui smiled a bit. "Don't ever do that again for whatever reason, okay?"

"I understand, Ui. I promise it won't happen again." Yui said as the two embraced each other as Dante smiled watching the sight. After a few seconds, Ui broke the embrace and looked at Dante.

"Um, Tony-sensei, thank you for taking care of onee-chan." Ui bowed to him. "I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't…"

"I'm just doing my duty as a teacher, besides; I'd hate to see siblings torn about by bad experiences." Dante patted her head. "Her leg shouldn't be in too much pain, but I'd advise that she gets it checked out just in case. I'll talk things over with Sawako and if it's serious, she can stay home tomorrow to rest up."

"Tony-sensei…" Yui said as Dante smiled at the sisters.

"Well, I'd better get going, it was fun." He said as he began to make his leave…until the loud rumbling in his stomach stopped him in his tracks, causing the two girls to giggle.

"Aw, man…now I remember why I went out in the first place." Dante said as Ui ran over to him.

"That's no good, Tony-sensei, you can't just go around like that on an empty stomach." Ui said. "Come on and stay with us, I'll give you an extra helping of the dinner I cooked for today, as thanks for everything."

"You sure that's okay?" Dante asked. "A handsome, middle aged stud like myself who is single, all alone with two innocent and cute teenage Japanese girls at their home…doesn't that bother you the slightest? What about your parents?"

"Oh, they're on vacation again this month." Yui said simply as Dante sweatdropped when he heard this.

"This…month, you say?" Dante asked. "Do they do this often?"

The two Hirasawa girls nodded innocently at him as he rubbed his head. He then took off his jacket and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, why not?" Dante said. "Sure beats the hell of the pizza they serve around here, I guess I can keep you two company for a while."

"Yaaay!" Yui cheered as Ui smiled.

"You just have a seat by the kotatsu and I'll bring everything over." Ui said, getting her apron on. "Onee-chan, you can relax on the couch if you like."

"Okay, Ui." Yui said, relaxing herself so her slightly injured leg can get some rest.

"She's like a mother, that sister of yours." Dante said to Yui as he took a seat at the warming table.

"Yeah, she's like that around me all the time, but I love her for that, you know?" Yui said. "I'm glad to have somebody like that."

"Sure you do, and I got nothing but respect for that." Dante said leaning back. "In any case, you're doing just fine so far. Such a shame I can't be part of the family."

"Ehh, but I feel like you are already, Tony-sensei…" Yui said as Dante put up a hand.

"It's all cool if you think of me that way, but do try not to get too attached." Dante said. "I don't want to end up breaking your little heart in the long run."

"What do you mean by that, Tony-sensei?" Yui asked as before he can answer her, Ui returned to the room with a tray of assorted bowls, steaming with delicious cooked Japanese styled food. Dante was impressed to see how all this was prepared by someone as young as Ui.

"Well, dig on in, sensei." Ui said as Dante took up a pair of chopsticks.

"Don't mind if I do." Dante smiled as he started to chow down on the selective dishes in front of him, as if he had no other choice since his favorite food was inaccessible to at the moment. He was delighted that the food was exceptional for him even though he'd scarf down nothing but pizza and strawberry sundaes.

"Wow, you Japanese sure know your ways around food, this is epic stuff." Dante said between bites and already was down to the third bowl of remaining food on the table. "Seconds, please."

"Waaah! You already ate everything up before I could ask you that!" Ui exclaimed. "You must have been really hungry, sensei."

"This is nothing, but it will get me by until later." Dante said. "As for my opinion, you got good culinary skills at a young age, I give you that. You're going to fine being a good wife to that lucky guy later."

"You really think so?" Ui asked, blushing slightly as Dante gave her a thumbs up as he stood up.

"I may not look it, but I'm a pretty good judge of character." Dante said, taking his coat and putting it back on. "Well, I enjoyed my stay, but I must be going now. I got some errands to run before the evening is over, but thanks for the food and hospitality."

"Don't mention it, Tony-sensei." Ui said as the two sisters watched him go to the door. "You're welcome to our house any time if you feel like dropping by again."

"Sure, I'd like to meet your parents, I'm sure they're a cool pair to hang out with." Dante said as he looked at Yui. "And you, miss, better take it easy. Don't go pushing yourself now."

"I just wanted a head start in trying to find out what your real name was…." Yui sulked as she said this as Dante came over to hold her face.

"No one's blaming you for anything, but if you want to know that badly, I guess I can tell you since you already quite a bit about me so far." He said. "You can call me…Dante. Dante Sparda is my birth and real name."

"K…Kakui…." Ui muttered as she heard this.

"Dante-san…wait, does this mean you've accepted our offer for the club?" Yui asked excitedly as Dante walked to the door.

"More or less, we'll see in the future." Dante replied. "Just know that I'll be sticking to you kids like glue from now on, so don't do anything to disappoint me, got it?"

"Okay, you can count on the Hokago Tea Time club for sure, Dante-sensei!" Yui said as he nodded at her.

"That's the spirit, but uhhh…this will be our little secret for now, so don't tell the others about it just yet." Dante said placing his finger at his lips while Yui and Ui did the same. "I want to keep them in suspense."

"Don't worry, it's safe with us." Ui said as Dante sighed.

"Good, that's settled." Dante said. "Well, I better get going, see you two cuties later."

The two Hirasawa girls waved at his departure and closed the door once they saw he felt satisfied upon leaving. Looking back, Dante can see a moon beginning to rise. Was it a sign of a blessing that he has found new friends or a sign of impending disaster?

"Meh, I'll deal with them, demon or human. If they think they can just go and disrupt this quiet little town and the girls who live here, they both got another thing coming to them." Dante said. "Now that I've gotten an adequate meal in my stomach, on to my patrol for the evening before I call it a day."

---

Night had fully fallen in the Sakuragoka province, most of its peaceful residents have already given into slumber and rest for the day, save for a few diligent people burning the midnight oil working or studying. One of those people was a classmate of Yui Hirasawa's, a long brown haired girl named Himeko Tachibana, who just stepped out of her home to get some late night study provisions at the neighborhood's convenience store, namely some snacks and other things she needed since she was busy studying for a upcoming test for the night.

"Looks like I got everything I need. Time to head on back home to finish studying for the night, and then catch some sleep." Himeko smiled to herself as she saw that she got everything she needed. It was a light load, but enough to get her through her study period. "Shopkeeper, can you take of these, please?"

"Sure thing, Hime-chan." The elder shopkeeper male replied as he took the items for scanning while Himeko got her wallet out. He had known the girl for a long time, so she was used to being called that name by those she knew well. However, the peace in the store would soon be rudely interrupted…

While the shopkeeper was almost done getting Himeko's grocery bill ready, the main shop door opened and in entered three older male teens step in, one of them dressed in stylish attire. From the bruises that were showing on their bodies, they were the same ones who ran into Dante earlier that evening. The shopkeeper stopped what he was doing and eyed the new people that stepped into his establishment.

"You three delinquents again, how many times I told you not to come back here?" The shopkeeper said as the tallest stepped towards the counter while his two friends started to hoard some of the shelves for snacks and alcohol. Himeko can sense the atmosphere already turning sour just by seeing these guys.

"Oh, I don't know…maybe the sixth time?" The eldest said, picking his pierced nose. "We don't really care, since you can't do a damn thing to us."

"Yeah, remember the last time you called the cops on us?" The second teen said, holding up some six packs. "We paid a little visit to your place and gave you a reminder not to mess with us."

"You're not going to get away with this, mark my words!" The shopkeeper said.

"You're just all talk, what are you going to do us, old man?" The second delinquent said, then eyeing a frozen Himeko. "Hey, aniki, that girl's pretty cute."

"Now that you say it…she's quite the looker." The eldest teen, the one just referred to as aniki by his colleague, walked towards Himeko to be closer to her.

"Hey, girlie...you smell good. Want to have some fun with the three of us?" The eldest asked with a lecherous grin.

"I'm sorry, I got to finish study for a test…I really can't…" Himeko nervously said as the eldest teen grabbed her sweater wearing arm and held it.

"Well, that's too bad, you're coming with us, like it or not." The eldest teen said with a grin as before he heard a voice behind him at the door.

"Unhand the girl now…human scum." A cold, chilling, yet raspy voice bellowed out from their backs as Himeko looked up to see her possible savior. He was a tall, American male with pure silver white hair, the top and sides pulled back to the back of his head in a slick and spiked fashion. He was wearing a long, blue coat with embedded decorations of yellow at various places, a black vest and black jeans with leather boots. In his left hand, he was holding a white helmed katana with a yellow string hanging at the scabbard. Around his neck, a bright red amulet shone brightly on a short chain.

"Huh, go to hell, you emo punk! Let us have our fun!" The senior shouted as the taller and older male simply shook his head.

"You…speak of hell?" The man spoke harshly, scoffing in between. "Hmph. Lowly human, you've never seen its true atmosphere as I have. It's not a worthy place for one such as yourselves who have no honor, picking on your weaker kind."

"What the hell did you say?" The delinquent said as the younger accomplice shook in fear as he watched the newcomer.

"I think he just called you a coward, aniki!" He said, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, forget about them, we got to mess this pretty guy up good for calling you that!" The third of the delinquents said. "No one does that and gets away with it!"

"If you think you're strong enough to take me on, prove yourselves to me." The man said, lifting up an arm to signal a 'come to me' wave of his hand. "That is, if you can even touch me."

The man stepped back outside as the three boys followed the newcomer outside, away from Himeko and the shopkeeper's safety. Once they met on the empty cark park, the eldest of the delinquents wasted no time to attack.

"I'll make you regret calling us what you did, you foreign emo!" The teen said with a brash grin, taking out a chain and wrapping it around his fist.

But, before the older boy could even move, the man in front of them simply moved his hand and the sound of a sword being unsheathed could only be heard. Just a few seconds after, the man simply stood in front of them with his katana drawn out as he waved it once to clean any contents on its blade, before returning it to its sheath, as the three punk's clothing suddenly fell apart as they were cut into smaller pieces, revealing their underwear.

"You're all fortunate I'm in a generous mood tonight, your lives have been spared." The man said. "If you do well not to take advantage of the weak like you did in the future, your pathetic lives just may have some worth. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with you more severely should we ever cross paths again. Begone."

"Shit! This guy's serious!" The youngest of the three shouted, falling on his knees. "Aniki, we better get out of here!"

"I don't like the look of his eyes, man." The second of the three said, holding his legs in embarrassment. "I can tell he's not even bluffing."

"You…we'll not forget you, you hear me?" The eldest of the delinquents said as he picked his friends up and started to run away. As they disappeared from sight, the man simply shook his head.

"Foolish humans…they may be children, but to attempt use brute force on their younger and defenseless kin for their own gains..it's a sad sight indeed." The man said as he simply walked back inside to see the shopkeeper and Himeko looking at him with a relaxed looked while simply staring at him bewildered at what they just saw. "Are you two well?"

"Uh…yes, we're okay, thanks to you, sir." The shopkeeper said as the stranger nodded to them with a stoic look. "Those three had been coming to my store for months and just doing as they please, the police aren't doing much to stop them every time."

"I just happened to be passing by during my daily evening walk when I saw the disturbance, I didn't mean to intervene personally, but I won't tolerate it they did harm the young lady in our presence." The man said as Himeko swallowed and tried to compose herself in front of her savior. "I do hope you haven't been harmed, miss…"

"It's….Himeko Tachibana, pleasure to meet you." Himeko said as she shook her head. "And no, I'm okay now, a little shaken still, but fine nonetheless."

"The night streets have been nothing but safe for some time now, I suggest you return to your abode and rest, Himeko-san." The stranger said seriously.

"I'd take his advice if I were you, Hime-chan." The shopkeeper said as Himeko nodded. "You'll accompany the girl, young man?"

"As if I got no other choice…" The stranger said before stopping. "But before I depart from here…"

He went over to the snack area and to the surprise of the two people in the store watching him, he took up some plastic bags of both plain and candy flavored marshmallows and carried them to the counter.

"I shall be taking these with me." He said with a stoic expression. "How much do they cost?"

"No, no. You just helped us out of a pinch. Those are on the house, good sir. It's the most I can do to repay for your actions." The shopkeeper said as the stranger grinned slightly, pocketing them.

"Very well then…" The stranger said as he walked to the door. "Well, young lady, shall we leave now?"

"Hai, let's go." Himeko said as she said her goodbye and thanks to the shopkeeper as she started to walk with her newfound, temporary bodyguard back to her home.

"Well, so much for studying for the remainder of the night, I guess. I'll do just call it a night then." Himeko said as the stranger looked at her first before he spoke.

"You said 'study', as if you're a student." He said as Himeko nodded.

"That's right, student of Sakuragoka Girls High, classroom 3-2." Himeko replied with a smile.

"Then, by chance you know of a teacher who just recently joined your learning institution, a man who calls himself Antonio Redgrave?" The stranger asked as Himeko nodded, before her eyes widened on the realization of what she remembered when he introduced himself to the class before. The white hair, though slicked back, the deep clear, blue eyes and the facial features, clean of any facial hair, was almost a dead giveaway. "Ah! You can't be…!"

"Hmph, that foolish brother of mine had to mention about himself having a twin, didn't he?" The stranger said, as he face-palmed himself. "Whatever, at least I know now he's in the area. I'll deal with him myself when I see him."

"Wait! Does this mean you're going to patch things up with him?" Himeko asked as the stranger eyed her curiously.

"And why may I ask is that your concern, Himeko?" He asked seriously, although Himeko didn't seem afraid by his ice cold stare by much.

"Well…he seemed lonely when he told the class that he was the only one still alive in his family, although he put on a brave act." Himeko said. "You know it will do you good if you two just talked and reconcile things together."

"It's more complicated than you can imagine, but I'll consider your words." The stranger said as he saw Himeko stopping before her house.

"Well, this is where I live, so I'll be fine from here on." Himeko said as she bowed to the man who was accompanying her back home. "Thank you again for before."

"Think nothing of it, those three delinquents were merely disturbing the peace, I only decided to teach them a lesson without having to resort to more…extreme means. They were lucky I'm in one of my better moods tonight." He said seriously. "Go and get your deserved rest, girl."

"You know, you haven't told me your name." Himeko said as the foreigner passed his hand over his pulled back hair once.

"Only on the condition that you don't tell anyone we've met, I want my appearance to my brother at his new establishment to be kept a secret." The man said as Himeko nodded.

"Your secret is safe with me, you can trust me." Himeko said. "Now come on, tell me already."

"Well, if you insist." The man said as he turned his back as he glanced at her before he walked off. "You can call me…Vergil."

"Vergil…arigatou." Himeko bowed to his disappearing figure as she walked inside to her home. Vergil Sparda, the once possessed Corrupt Knight of the demon lord, Mundus, the second son of the Sparda twins, simply looked up to the moonlit sky and thought to himself.

(So, Dante, your contact with the humans in this country have already made you this popular enough by now? Why am I not surprised?) He thought. (Then again, you've always sided with them for their best interests, as I'm still…no, I shall not dwell on my past ignorance any more. Thanks to you, I've been given a chance to make amends for myself and our family, my training here will not be complete until I've known I'm worthy to be a Sparda. Until then, the demons here will have to be dealt with as well…)

"Soon, Dante, it will be like the old times…" Vergil said as he used his DarkSlayer trick teleport to disappear from the area, leaving a blue blur in his space.

---

ShardclawK: First off, I must humbly apologize to the readers who thought I may have forgotten about this story and took a little longer than usual to update it, I had grand opportunities to work on it as much as possible, but aside from certain things in my life to deal with, I have been dedicating much of my free time to eventually complete DmC trophy wise, so I could move on and work on other PS3 games, one of them being one of my current favorite PS3 rpgs, Tales of Graces f. I want to make it my first PS3 rpg platinum just because I'm a big Tales of fan and to be ready for Tales of Xillia coming this year in June. Trophy wise, I'm halfway done, but I need a second playthrough the entire game again just to get the trickier and remaining trophies, which I'm in the middle of at the moment. At least now, using the Grade bonuses I got to pick are making the game a breeze, and it should make things done far much, more faster than the first time around…

One thing I wanted to point out for this fic is how I want Dante to be portrayed amongst the HTT girls and their friends. As mentioned by Alitolexlto in his review, his older DMC 4 counterpart seems to fit the bill more nicely here than his DmC version, (though I wouldn't mind seeing a story based on that one day) especially considering that he's got Patty tagging along with him, which makes him seem like a doting father with an attitude, at least that's the impression I got based on the relationship they had in the course of the anime. Whilst in DMC 4, he became more like a sage in what he does best rather than an average devil hunter, another impression of him about him that seemed to have matured from his DMC 1 days. I'm kinda shooting for him to be bit of a big brother role in general for the girls as depicted earlier in this chapter when he rescued Yui and later spent time with her and Ui.

As for Vergil and why he is still alive and is pretty much a bit of a good guy in this story, I'm planning a flashback chapter a little later which should explain this since I mostly wanted him to be part of this story as an accompanying hero with Dante. I hoped I haven't portrayed him too much as a soft or out of character in this, he pretty much is still the classic, badass, deadpan DMC 3 Vergil we all know, with a new likeness for marshmallows (could make for a future K-ON! joke later) as hinted from his Ghost Rider win quote from UMVC3 and still has his honor towards the women he meets. If Dante's favorite foods are pizza and strawberry sundaes, why can't UMVC3's top tiered character's favorite snack be marshmallows?

I also hoped you like the Frank West cameo, he's probably one of UMVC3's best characters with his unique mix of attacks. Although I don't main him, he's pretty entertaining to watch if you know how to use him effectively. Check out Japanese UMVC3's Kurosu's YouTube tournament matches for some of the craziest things made possible with his Frank/Rocket Raccoon/Joe team, especially a particular Final Round match against Filipino Champ's Phoenix.

I may or may not have other cameos planned, but I'm definitely making sure Nero will be one of the appearing ones eventually when the story starts to move.

Also, to those but the Tales of Graces f fans who didn't notice, the little quote between Mio and Ritsu during their time in the club room with Dante in this chapter was a nod to the Cheria and Pascal victory pose you'll get in the game. That game was chock full of funny victory quotes and skits and I really invested a lot of time enjoying every minute of it. Here's hoping Tales of Xillia can meet up the expectations of a decent PS3 Japanese rpg when it comes out later this year.

Anyway, I'm done with this chapter. The story is going to get more intense from the next chapter as the HTT club gets to meet Vergil personally, see for themselves how good the Sparda twins are in combat (and music), all before the demons who appeared from the first chapter of the story start to reveal their plans as they move into action. See you in the next one.

ShardclawKusanagi.