"Igor…"

The bizarre-looking old gentleman with an imp-like appearance chuckled, seemingly pleased. "Ah, it seems that you still haven't forgotten about me, my lady." He touched his chin as he looked at the guest of the Velvet Room. "It's been so quite a long time since the last time we met, at least in your world. Would you like to enlighten me by answering my question?" He studied the battle maiden seated in front of him. "How are you? Have all these years been so kind to you?"

Aigis blinked. "I won't exactly call all those years to be 'kind' to me, but I suppose they were quite enlightening." She brought her hand to her chest, right on the place where the Papillon Heart was located. "All these years had taught me many valuable lessons and had given me priceless experiences."

The proprietor of the Velvet Room quirked his eyebrow, evidently amused. "Ah, valuable lessons and priceless experiences…" He clasped his hands, hiding his grin. "It is such a miracle to see a machine grow a heart and see the wonders of the world through the eyes of a human being. The world is truly a fascinating place indeed. Now then, let's continue to our business." His bloodshot eyes focused on Aigis. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future."

Aigis was a little confused. "A contract?" She parroted Igor's word. "Shouldn't my journey have ended that one time?" She was referring to that one particular incident, that time when she and the rest of SEES were grieving over their leader's death. Conflicts arose, and they were forced to battle one another due to their clashing opinions and goals. Some wanted to honor his sacrifice, some wanted to bring him back, and some wanted to learn the truth behind his death.

This time, the woman with platinum blond hair attired in elegant blue dress spoke, "Life is but a continuous journey an individual has to undertake." Her golden eyes were focused on the mechanical maiden as she smiled kindly. "When a journey seemingly ends, another one awaits, offering new lessons an individual can learn in order to grow." Then, she glanced at the tall man who was standing beside the master of the Velvet Room, seemingly giving him a signal to continue.

"Oh, umm…" The man clumsily stumbled over his words before he cleared his throat and spoke, "There are many things an individual can learn throughout the journey of his or her life, discovering new potentials and unlimited possibilities that life can offer." The man smiled. "And, my lady, this is your chance to discover all those potentials and possibilities."

Aigis blinked again. These people reminded her of Elizabeth. Speaking of which, she currently didn't see her in the Velvet Room.

Igor chuckled. "Indeed. Remember that time when you were granted the power of your predecessor?" He asked. "A power that symbolizes the unlimited potentials within the souls of man, the power that can call forth infinite possibilities, and also a power used by your predecessor to perform a miracle that was deemed impossible to achieve, bringing salvation to mankind." He looked at Aigis expectantly, knowing that she knew what he was talking about.

"Wild Card…" Aigis said. It was the power wielded by her predecessor and also her successor. "The power that allows a Persona-user to use multiple Personas, not limited by only one." She knew that ever since that incident, she retained this power, allowing her to use more than one Persona. Though after a while, they seemed to lay dormant, only with Pallas Athena and Palladion still stirring within the sea of her soul. And recently, during the fight against Gremda and her army of Shadows, she managed to reawaken Orpheus, the first Persona ever used by him. She still could feel the others, all the legendary figures from myths and legends, from warrior gods to the morning star himself, yet they seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall that prevented her from reaching out to them.

Igor chuckled again. "That is correct. And now, it is your time to discover the true potentials of your power that were left untapped during your last journey." He swayed his hand, and three cards appeared, all floating in front of him. "The Master of Strings, the Goddess of Wisdom, and the Protector of Troy…" With another swipe of his hand, the cards were crushed, and the sound of glass breaking resonated within the Velvet Room. Three figures started to materialize on the unoccupied seats around Aigis, taking the forms of the Personas within her. "These are the manifestations of your other self that reside within the sea of your soul. There are more, but they are still locked within your psyche, waiting in anticipation for your call so they can show themselves for the world to see."

The first to materialize was Pallas Athena, her posture radiated confidence and authority. This time, the large, round shield that bore the frowning visage of Gorgon, the namesake of Aigis' name, the Aegis, was nowhere to be seen. Her barbed spear was also absent as she was seated on the previously empty seat. Attired in white robe trimmed with golden, her body was adorned with golden armor-like accessories. Her plumed war helmet was placed on her lap, and her head and face were fully revealed for all to see. The beautiful visage of the virgin goddess of Athens was a sight to behold, and as her grey eyes shifted to focus on the mechanical maiden, her lips curled up into a warm smile. From the look that was given to the one who had given birth to her from the sea of her soul, it was clear that she was very proud of her.

The second one was a woman clad in turquoise dress, and like Pallas Athena, she was also wearing a plumed war helmet, but unlike the goddess of wisdom, the protector of Troy seemed more like a statue, with a pure white mask-like face and a rigid posture. Then the woman, Palladion, turned her head to look at the battle maiden before she gave her a nod of acknowledgement. She somehow reminded Aigis of her old self; an unfeeling machine that only thought of itself as a weapon. Seeing this Persona gave her some kind of bittersweet feeling which reminded her of her past.

And the last one to fully manifest was a white-haired man with a mechanical body, seated on the seat with a posture that seemed awfully familiar, which reminded Aigis of the one who first summoned him. Strapped on his back was a magical lyre crafted by the god of travelers, Hermes, indicating his identity as the father of songs and the ultimate musician and poet. The master of strings, Orpheus, then looked at Aigis with his glowing ruby eyes before he tipped his head, acknowledging her as the one who gave birth to him from the sea of her soul. Seeing him brought a pang of sadness into the battle android's heart as his appearance reminded her of one who had been long gone, the one who had saved the world and mankind with the price of his life, the one who had performed an ultimate sacrifice that only a few knew of.

"Ah!" Then, Igor seemed to remember something. "I have neglected to introduce my assistants to you." Aigis looked at both the golden-eyed woman and man, who were standing by Igor's sides. "Do you remember Elizabeth? At the moment, she is on her own journey, and thus unavailable to provide her service to guests of this room. Allow me to introduce Margaret." He gestured at the woman, who smiled and nodded to Aigis. "And Theodore." The man bowed courteously to Aigis.

"My name is Margaret. Elizabeth is my younger sister," Margaret spoke. "I am here to accompany you through your journey."

"I am Theodore and Elizabeth's younger brother," Theodore said. "I shall be at your service, my lady."

"Both Margaret and Theodore are the residents of the Velvet Room, like Elizabeth and myself," Igor spoke. "Or in Elizabeth's case, she used to be a resident of the Velvet Room before setting out on her own journey." Igor clasped his hands together again. "Now, let us talk about the nature of your power, the nature of the Wild Card, shall we?" He hid his grin behind his clasped hands. "It is a power that grows over time through nurturing your understanding of the world and those around you. Only by nurturing your bonds with others will the power of the Wild Card be brought to its fullest potential. Those who bore the power of the Wild Card have achieved such a thing through nurturing their bonds with those around them. Your predecessor managed to achieve an impossible feat while your successor managed to take down deities, twice even. What will the power of Wild Card bring you, my esteemed lady?" The master of the Velvet Room chuckled. "Such thoughts has filled me with quite a vast amount of anticipation. This will surely be something to look forward to in the near future."

"The power of the Wild Card does not stem from one's skills alone. The strength comes from acknowledging the fact that one cannot avoid a battle or conflict to gain his or her desire, and that strength happens to manifest itself as power in battle," Margaret explained.

Then, Theodore added, "Besides nurturing the bonds with others through understanding them and acknowledging the inevitability of facing an obstacle in order to achieve a goal, one important element of the Wild Card is understanding oneself and one's place in the world. Only by understanding what you truly are you can you realize your heart's true desire, thus allowing you to grasp one particular possibility that you try to achieve."

Margaret looked at Theodore, seemingly amused. "Theo, your explanation is longer than mine," she said teasingly.

"I-I apologize, sister," Theodore stuttered, his cheeks flushed slightly.

"My heart's… true desire?" Aigis mused. "My true desire is…"

...Almost impossible to achieve. Yet, Minato managed to achieve something that was thought to be impossible.

Aigis closed her eyes and shook her head. No, it was still too early to decide what her true desire was. Then, she reopened her eyes to look at the residents of the Velvet Room before her.

"Now then, time marches on in your world," Igor stated. "The next time we meet, your visit shall be of your own accord. Please hold on to this."

Aigis could feel something forming in her closed fist. She opened her fist and found a metallic object with a serrated edge, colored in soft blue. 'The Velvet Key,' the battle android recognized the object. She clenched her fist again, allowing the object to dissolve into her mind. With this key, she would gain access into the Velvet Room once more, allowing her to enter this room wherever she saw the entrances that somehow were invisible to others.

"Till we meet again..."

Her Personas dissolved into motes of blue particles before everything started to fade to black.

Heart of a Butterfly

Persona 3 and High School DxD Crossover

Chapter 04: Wild Card

Dressed in Kuoh Academy's school uniform, sans the shoulder cape, Aigis was walking alone to school. It took twenty minutes for her to walk from her apartment to the school, and considering that she still had much time left, she decided to walk to school without running. If anything, she would like to avoid running because she would end up getting back into her old habit of running inhumanly fast (she's a robot, after all), and she didn't want her secret to be found out by her schoolmates anytime soon.

As she walked, she recalled Igor's words when he brought her into the Velvet Room. The proprietor of the Velvet Room, along with his assistants, had explained to her the true nature of her power, the Wild Card. During the time when she awakened to this power, she hadn't utilized the true potential of this ability due to the situation that occurred at that time. Now, she had been called back to the Velvet Room once again and was given the opportunity to explore more about this mysterious power that was granted to her.

As for her Personas, she could feel all of them, but only three of them were currently active within her psyche. Currently, the one that was most active was Pallas Athena, who sometimes whispered words of wisdom and advice (like what the right thing to say to others was, or how to be more subtle while snarking at Mitsuru), which was already expected from the goddess of wisdom herself. The other two, Orpheus and Palladion, remained on the backseats, with Orpheus occasionally slipping into her mind to provide a little static noise that could be distracting sometimes while Palladion was just there, being a statue that she actually was.

"Hey, Ai-chan!"

Aigis stopped and glanced over her shoulder before she saw that she was approached by two busty forms of females, whom she recognized as her classmates.

"Ah." Aigis turned to face the girls who approached her. "Good morning, Murayama-san, Katase-san." She greeted the girls politely as she smiled at them. If she were her old self, she would never be able to smile like that. These two girls, Murayama and Katase, were members of the Kendo Club at Kuoh.

"Good morning!" One of the girls, Murayama, whose strawberry brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, returned the greeting energetically. As she happily approached the battle maiden, her bountiful assets were bouncing up and down in tandem with her movements.

"Good morning to you too, Ai-chan." The other girl, who was named Katase, who seemed to be much calmer than Murayama but still displayed a cheerful smile on her face, followed after the ponytailed girl. Her shoulder-length hair was light pink in color, and she also wore a hairband which exposed her forehead. While the color of her hair was unusual, Aigis had seen weirder when it came hair colors. And like Murayama, as she jogged towards the battle maiden, the healthy assets of hers were bouncing rhythmically in tandem with her movements.

Aigis blinked. Now that she thought about it, she realized that most girls in this school seemed to have, as an old movie that she recently watched would put perfectly, 'huge tracts of land'. Mitsuru said the movie was ridiculous (rabbits killing knights? Seriously?), but Aigis thought it was quite enjoyable. Back to the issue about breasts, those who had less than enormous bust sizes could be counted with one hand. Then, she recalled that the Devils, Rias and Akeno, the Two Great Ladies of Kuoh Academy, also seemed to have enormous size of breasts.

Seriously, what were all the parents feeding their daughters? That was a question that started to form inside her head. Aigis looked down to look at her own chest. While she wouldn't exactly call herself small in terms of bust size, they weren't that big either. And she was already designed this way because she was an android. Was there some kind of factor such as a force field around the area that could trigger the hormones inside adolescent girls, which resulted in the growth of breasts? Or was it a plot by some malevolent entities to destroy the world by drowning its population in the sea of breasts? Or was it a result from an experiment made by either the Devils or the Fallen Angels which involved breasts expansion among the female population of the school? Now her head was flooded by many questions regarding this matter.

…

Was it just her imagination, or did she just hear Athena laughing inside her head?

"What's the matter, Ai-chan?" Murayama asked her suddenly, tapping her shoulder. She seemed to be concerned. "Is something bothering you?"

"Huh?" Aigis blinked. "What do you mean, Murayama-san?"

"You looked like you were deep in thought, so we thought that there's something bothering you," Katase said, looking a little worried.

"Ah." Aigis realized what they meant. She probably showed it on her face that she was thinking about something. At first, she wanted to tell them that she was thinking about breasts, but before she could even start saying it, Pallas Athena coughed and told her to keep quiet, telling her that her reputation would be in grave danger if she said it. "It's nothing. There is nothing bothering me. I am not thinking about any force field that can trigger the hormones in adolescent girls. Nothing at all," she spoke in a monotone voice as she told the girls who were with her.

Both Katase and Murayama were looking at each other in confusion before one of them, Katase, looked back at Aigis, and in an uncertain tone, spoke, "I… see…"

"Now, let us hurry to school. We still can make it if we start walking now," Aigis said.

"Ah, you're right." Murayama nodded. "Let's go."

And so, the three of them walked to school together. Aigis decided to think about breasts some other time.

…

Was it just her imagination, or did Palladion start laughing too? How can a statue manage to do that, she absolutely had no idea.

The class sessions went smoothly and without problems, and Aigis enjoyed them as she listened to the teachers, who were teaching their students things that she had already learned back at Gekkoukan. While she might have already gone through this sort of thing back then, she wasn't fully developed as a human and was lacking in certain areas at that time. Now that she had matured considerably, she found all these things that she had undergone to be quite enjoyable.

As she was seated at her desk, the battle maiden was mulling over Igor's words regarding her power as a Wild Card. He said that the power could be nurtured through creating bonds with others. While the thought about strengthening oneself by making bonds with other people was quite appealing, she figured that it sounded like she was taking advantage of others for the sake of power. Such a thought slightly horrified her because that would mean the bonds forged with others were not genuine because they were made for personal, selfish reasons.

Aigis realized how terrifying this power, this Wild Card, because it was so easily misused or abused by those who wielded it.

Then, another horrifying thought came into her mind.

'Was my bond… the bond between me and Minato-san… genuine?'

If that was really the case, if the bond between them was just a way for him to strengthen his Wild Card ability, then he might have just used her for his personal, selfish gain. Everything that she had stood for would crumble down into nothingness if that was really the case.

[Foolish girl. Do you truly believe the bond between you two was that shallow? Do you truly believe all the words he spoke to you were nothing but honeyed lies? Are those the seeds of doubt I see, after everything he had done for you and the rest of mankind?]

Aigis winced when she heard the harsh voice ringing inside her head.

'Athena…'

Somehow, Pallas Athena's chastisement brought her back to her senses. Athena was right. If he really did just use her for personal gain, then he would never look at her with his steely grey eyes that were filled with concern. If he really did make a bond with her out of selfishness, he would have never reached out to touch her Papillon Heart with such care and gentleness. If he really did just see her as an asset instead of a genuine subject of affection, he would have never wiped away her tears, telling her not to worry, telling her that everything would be alright, even as his soul started to slip away, spending his last day on the world that he had saved before becoming a guardian of all mankind to protect itself from its folly.

If he really was that selfish of a person, he would have never performed the miracle, the ultimate sacrifice to become the Great Seal in the first place, selflessly protecting all mankind with his life as a price, smiling as he did so.

Aigis knew that even though this power could be abused so easily, there had to be a reason why there were people granted with this power. She remembered the contract she was bound to: 'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.' When granted this power, one would be held responsible for his or her actions as he or she held this power over unlimited possibilities. If there were people given this power but not held responsible for their actions, then this power was meaningless, if what Igor and both his assistants had said was right.

Only by realizing and understanding the true nature of bonds with others, the Wild Cards could utilize the true potentials of their powers. True potentials could not be achieved if it was for personal gain alone. Aigis realized that, so there's no way her predecessor could use his power for a selfish goal. She really felt bad for thinking about such a thing.

"Kirijo-san, will you please read the next paragraph?"

Aigis blinked. Somehow, she kind of spaced out while the teacher was giving his lecture. When the teacher asked her to read the textbook out loud, she stood up, opened her textbook to see which paragraph she was asked to read.

[Page 39, paragraph 5.]

'Thanks, Athena.'

[Pay attention next time. Just because you're a robot doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention.]

Due to some reasons, Athena had been giving her stern lectures about the necessity of paying attention to her surroundings. Failure to do so would result in a messy, gory death, the goddess of wisdom strictly told her.

After school, Aigis decided to linger around the school area for a while. She hadn't joined any clubs yet (she was still an undercover agent, so joining clubs would hinder her mission), but it's not like she had anything better to do. And Mitsuru said that the technician would come this weekend.

As she walked down the school yard, she noticed some kind of commotion going on. Blinking, she walked over to the location where the commotion was happening and saw a group of girls from the Kendo Club, judging from the clothes they wore and the shinai they held in their hands, chasing after a boy who seemed familiar to her, while screaming and shouting bloody murder to him.

"Get over here, you pervert!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"Catch him!"

And as for the boy…

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh CRAP!"

Both the boy and the seemingly slighted group of girls were running towards her direction. Then she recognized him. "Ah." She hit her palm with her fist upon recognizing the boy.

That boy was of the members of the infamous Perverted Trio of Kuoh Academy. The boy, whose hair was brown in color and spiky in style, attired in Kuoh Academy's male school uniform, wearing his jacket open, revealing a red shirt underneath, was running towards her direction without any hint of slowing down. The distance between him and the girls chasing after his sorry butt was getting shorter and shorter with each passing second.

As the boy ran, he didn't realize that Aigis was standing in his way, and when he finally realized it, it was already too late. He was about to bump into her, and a rather cliché scene where a boy bumps into a girl was going to happen, which would end up with both of them being in rather compromising positions, either with the boy on the top and the girl on the bottom, or vice versa. Bonus points if the boy's hand ended up grabbing the girl's mammary area, like what would always happen in most romantic comedy anime you nerds always watch.

Alas, fate seemed to decide otherwise as Aigis unceremoniously shoved the incoming boy aside, pushing him into a nearby bush, effectively hiding him from view. Thanks to her impressive reflexes, being a robot and all, she was able to push him aside into a nearby bush a few milliseconds right before the boy could crash into her. When the girls finally arrived to Aigis' location, they realized that the boy they were chasing after and planning to lynch later had completely disappeared from their view.

Aigis looked at the group of girls, and she saw both her classmates, Katase and Murayama, among the group. Panting, one of the girls spoke to Aigis, "Kirijo-san… hah…" Trying to catch her breath, she paused before she continued, "…did you… hah… see where… hah… that pervert… hah… ran to?"

"Pervert? Who?" Aigis asked innocently.

"W-who else? Hah… It's that… hah… Issei Hyoudou… hah…" another girl said, panting heavily.

Ah, so that was his name: Issei Hyoudou. Aigis finally remembered that name. A member of the infamous Perverted Trio, Issei Hyoudou was quite memorable among them in her opinion due to his bold proclamation to pursue the path of a Harem King as well as his obsession over breasts. It's not like the other two members of the group were less significant (a few even agreed that Issei was the tamest among the three but was still extremely perverted), it's just that this boy seemed to leave a lasting impression because her desk was located right behind his, and it happened that Aigis could hear whenever that boy made his bold exclamation known for the world to hear. The reason why she didn't recognize him right away earlier was beyond her.

…

Now she could hear Pallas Athena's voice again, nagging her to be aware of her surroundings.

"S-so… hah… did you… hah… see him?" One of the girls repeated the question of where Issei had gone to.

Aigis held out one hand, pointing at one direction.

"He went that way."

The delivery was deadpanned as she pointed at a random direction, which was not the direction that Issei had taken because he was pushed into the bush, probably scraped and bruised, but completely protected from being lynched by the slighted maidens. And so, the girls of the Kendo Club dashed toward the direction where Aigis had pointed to. After they had disappeared from her view, she looked at the bush where she had pushed Issei into.

"They're gone. You're safe now."

She could hear Issei groaning from inside the bush. Then the boy got out from the bush, slightly scraped but had no visible lasting injuries to speak of, with twigs and dried leaves tangled in his brown hair. He rubbed the back of his head as he stepped away from the bush before he looked at his unexpected savior.

"Urgh, it hurts…" Still rubbing at the sore spot on the back of his head, he then spoke to Aigis, "Hey, thanks for the save. I thought I was gonna get lynched back then." He laughed before he winced. "Ow!"

The boy clutched the left side of his torso, and from the looks of it, he might have broken something when she pushed him into the bush. Thinking that it was somehow her fault, Aigis sighed before she closed her eyes. Then she brought up her left hand, poking at Issei's side with her index.

'Diarama…'

The result was almost instantaneous, and Issei's eyes widened in surprise as the pain immediately vanished and was replaced by a pleasant sensation. For him, it was like being surrounded and smothered by a bunch of scantily clad ladies with big breasts. Aigis decided to ignore the expression he made when he felt the sensation as she focused her healing spell on the boy.

"It is done…" Aigis said, lowering her hand. "Does it hurt anymore?" She asked, scanning the boy to see if she missed a spot or two.

"I-it's…" Issei found out that not only his ribs were healed, the small injuries he got earlier had also vanished. "It's gone!" He immediately looked at Aigis in amazement. "That was awesome! Was it magic?" He asked excitedly.

"No, but it is close enough…" Aigis replied vaguely, smiling at the boy. It was her first time seeing the boy doing something that was remotely not perverted. His excitement over her small display of 'magic' somehow reminded her of that one time during Golden Week after she saved Teddie from the fake Labrys with her power. The look of admiration he had given her was similar to the one that Issei was giving her now after healing his injuries. "Though I have to ask you something." She looked at Issei. "Why did they chase after you?"

The excited look on the boy's face turned into a nervous one before it shifted into a sheepish one. "W-well…" he hesitated. He didn't act like his usual perverted self, probably due to the fact that Aigis had apparently saved him from being caught by the girls. "Y-you see… actually, when me, Matsuda, and Motohama were searching for a hole to take a look into the changing room, they found us and started chasing after us." He looked away sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"You were trying to take a peek?" Aigis frowned.

"W-wait, no! D-don't get it all wrong! I-" Issei stopped, words stuck in his throat before he dropped his head into his hands and sighed in defeat. "Yes..." That answer came out as a pathetic squeak. Then, he raised his head and tried to look determined, with minimal result. "But it is something that I must do! Or else I will lose my pride as a pervert!"

Aigis blinked. How could someone be proud of his perverseness? Aigis wanted to say that out loud, but she thought it might end up offending him, so she decided against it. "You do realize what you did to them was wrong, don't you?"

"Uh…" The sheepish look returned on Issei's face as he looked aside. He wanted to say something, but somehow couldn't.

Noticing his uneasiness, Aigis decided to change the topic. "So… they ended up chasing after you three…" Aigis said, looking at Issei's face. "Where are the other two? You told me that you three were trying to find a hole to take a peek into the changing room, but how come they only chased after you? Unless if they were already caught."

"They found us, and we started panicking," Issei began. "I dunno what I was thinking at that time, but when we ran away from them, I told them to run separately for me to be a decoy so they didn't chase after Matsuda and Motohama." He looked towards a direction with a worried expression. "I hope they didn't get caught, or else my sacrifice here will be in vain." He let out a sigh.

Aigis raised her eyebrow. "You acted as a decoy so that your two friends could escape?" It was a viable tactic to escape the pursuing enemies when you were a in group. By acting as a decoy, the rest would be able to escape the enemies with the decoy as an acceptable sacrifice. The fate of the decoy depended on whether he could outrun the enemies or not. Issei had just sacrificed himself for the sake of his fellow perverts, it seemed. "That was… surprisingly noble of you." Aigis knew that there was nothing noble in perversity, hence the pause, but Issei had willingly put himself in harm's way so that his friends could get away safely. Praising his bravery would be in order.

Issei sheepishly scratched the back of his head again. "Hehe, if they were caught, then who else are going to walk down the path of perverts with me?" Aigis blinked. It seemed that it was too early for her to give him something like a praise. "So, uh… you're sitting at the desk behind mine in class, right?" After a pause, he said, "Ai Kirijo, right?"

"Yes." Aigis nodded. "It is nice to meet you, Hyoudou-san."

"Umm… w-well, nice to meet you too," Issei responded. He looked like he's not used to being treated like that by a female. Most of the time, most females would react to his perverted antics with disdain at best, with utter contempt at worst. "So, uh… I gotta go now! Gotta see if both Matsuda and Motohama escaped or not! Thanks for the help!" He spun on his heel and was about to walk away before he stopped himself. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "And don't worry about your magic stuff! I'm not gonna tell anyone about it!"

And so, he left, running away so that he could check on his fellow perverts.

"I see…" Aigis mused. "Behind his apparent perverseness, there are some noble qualities to be found." She nodded to herself. "Is this what they mean when they say 'more than meets the eye'?"

[An individual can have many sides of his self that are shown according to the situations he is in. From the meeting with the boy, we have seen that he is more than just a boisterous, hormonal teenager. Consider this as a reminder of what your power truly entails, little girl. In order to understand people better, always remember: there are more than just one side.]

Aigis smiled. Pallas Athena's strict voice echoed within her mind, but she could sense warmth in her tone as she reminded her of her power as a Wild Card. "Thank you, Athena." She could feel that Pallas Athena was turning around, crossing her arms across her chest while hiding her embarrassment and slightly reddened cheeks.

Who could have thought that the goddess of wisdom was a tsundere?

"Ah." Aigis noticed that the sun was almost down. Apparently, the conversation with one of the members of the Perverted Trio had caused her to lose track of time. So, she decided to return home.

Issei Hyoudou was on his way to home, a grin plastered on his face. In the end, he couldn't find his fellow perverts, Matsuda and Motohama, but then, he received some text messages from them that they were already at home. So, they managed to escape the wrath of the girls they were trying to peek at, much to his relief. He was worried that he would have to pursue the dream of a real-life harem alone, a thought that somehow depressed him. He shrugged off the thought because he was in a good mood, so why would he ruin it?

He was in a good mood because of the conversation he had with the transfer student with blond hair, Ai Kirijo, whose desk was behind his in their class. So far, she was one of few females who didn't give him a disgusted look at his perverted antics, and the way she spoke to him made him feel like he was treated like an equal. Well, it was something that he truly wanted despite his perversity, but from that conversation alone, he could feel some kind of elation and fulfillment.

Speaking of Kirijo, she was awesome! Not only did she treat him as an equal, but she also knew magic! But he would remember that he needed to keep it a secret. After all, it was common for a wizard or a witch to be hidden from normal people, right?

"I still have a long way to go to realize my dream…" Issei said to himself. Being treated as an equal would be the first step in achieving such a dream, the dream of being the Harem King. It was a path filled with thorns and perils, but he knew there would be a reward waiting for him at the end of the line, and the reward, of course, would be the countless pairs of boobs to fondle. He tried to imagine the feeling of softness and squishiness with his hands, and the sweet voice that came out when he fondled the girl.

"Kyah!"

Yeah, just like that. Just thinking about that made him feel arou- wait, what?

Issei snapped out of his reverie to realize that both his hands were on a pair of breasts, which belonged to a girl who was right in front of him, her cheeks reddened. The cute girl shyly looked away, but she didn't show any sign of protest, like, at all. The pervert froze, his hands still remained on the girl's impressive rack. Then he squeezed again, and the feeling of squishiness returned.

Squish.

"Ah!"

The girl yelped, and Issei immediately backed away, eyes widened. The girl looked at Issei with cute-looking eyes with a little trace of tears in them. Issei's mouth was wide open upon seeing such cuteness. The girl brought her hand to her chin, with her arm pressed against her chest, emphasizing how large those boingy bits behind the school uniform she wore were. How Issei's hands ended up clamping on those hidden, forbidden fruits, nobody had any idea. He was probably trying to imagine groping breasts by grabbing the empty air in front of him when he accidentally grabbed the girl's breasts, who somehow were walking towards his direction. How it could be accidental, your guess is as good as mine.

"Umm… Umm…" The girl seemed to be struggling for words before she suddenly dipped into a deep bow. "I-Issei-san, would you please go out with me?!"

"...Eh?"

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: Hello, guys! It's me, Prince Arjuna. Thank you for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate the reviews. Here, I would like to clarify something. Due to the event with Gremda and the Shadows, Aigis would no longer lock her Persona, thus removing the limiter. In the last chapter, where Mitsuru said 'no, you may not' to Aigis, she said that because she didn't want to hear her complaints about the limiter, not preventing her from removing her limiter. I hope that will clear things up.

I'll try my best to keep the edginess of Persona series, while at the same time, retaining the silly moments. Darker and edgier is kind of a popular trope nowadays, but I'd like to make this story different compared to other Persona x High School DxD fanfictions.

And of course, special thanks to Sorata Shioya, the beta-reader of this chapter. Nice to work alongside you.

So, I hope you guys like this chapter. Hope you guys can give this starving author a review, or else he'll lose his motivation and strength to write this story. See you in the next chapter, Chapter 05: Sacred Gear.

What I have planned: Relationship between Aigis and Issei will be purely platonic, just like Minako/Hamuko with Junpei.

Prince Arjuna (2014)