Chapter 104

"Sensei." Kiba greeted as he rounded the corner of the workshop. He was dressed as informally as I'd ever seen him, in a plain grey tracksuit instead of his usual school uniform, "I was just on my morning run when you called."

"Well ain'tcha a pretty boy." Brok said before I could reply, "So this is the cheatin' sword maker."

"Brother... It's just a sacred gear, no need to be so crass with him." Sindri fretted.

"As you can see, I have a pair of special guests." I said finally, "The grumpy one is Brok, the neatly trimmed one is Sindri."

Kiba turned his best smile on Brok, "I prefer 'cheatyface' if you're going to use that term. Otherwise, it's Yuuto, or Kiba, which ever you prefer."

"Oh! It's a pleasure, Mr. Yuuto." Sindri repeated the same sleeve wipe handshake thing, then blinked in surprise, "Brother look!"

Apparently Kiba's hand was interesting, because he turned the recently shaken hand palm up for Brok to look at, "Well, you might be a cheatyface, but you certainly get yer practise in." Brok took that hand and shook it.

"Usually after my morning run." Kiba shook his hand, "But Sensei never calls unless it's important."

"I know I know, I never call, I never write, and it's always the end of the world when I do." I sighed dramatically, "For returning the spear to the heavens, Lord Michael sent these two to teach me about the more sacred side of metal work."

"Colour me surprised-"

"Blue is the colour of surprise?"

"AW shut your..." Brok fumed.

"Lord Michael didn't really have experts of what he considered the right... skill level." Sindri picked up, "See, up in the Heavens, most divine weaponsmiths just... make the weapon. Compress some light, add a blessing, a little sacrament... But, not only are we experts at the craft..."

"We actually do the damned work!" Brok finished, "Ye know, all the middle steps a REAL smith does."

"And here I thought Sensei was unique in her view of my abilities." Kiba chuckled, "So, what did you need from me?"

"Well, Mrs Kodori certainly makes good steel." Sindri held up a nicely polished bit of Ko-steel that he had been examining with a jeweller's loop before Kiba arrived.

"But against what this Siegfried fellow swings around, it won't hold up. Sure, her enchantments would help, but even then it'll get scrapped, and her along with it."

"True holy swords were a match for them, Durandal and Excalibur Mimic, but yes, I was going through blades at an alarming rate." Kiba nodded.

"Well." I stood up, turning off the furnace, "I just happen to have some unique steel in the basement that we might be able to use."

"Basement?" The two dwarves blinked at me.


"I'm gonna be sick... I can just feel it..." Once again Sindri had to look away, but this time it was at the neatly piled/stored/jarred bits of Cerberus and Fenrir parts, including the laid out skeleton. Some of it, the more liquid or organic bits were stored in big glass tubes. Supplied by Ajuka, they would preserve their contents until the end of time, or they were broken (so Ajuka said.)

"Ho-leee sheeeet... You really did kill it." Brok on the other hand, was in awe, "Not just dead, but all dead. No reincarnation, no rebirth, no cosmic wheel bullshit. Dead."

"I hope never to need to do something like that again." I said honestly.

Delly chose that moment to 'POOF-sparkle' out of me making the two of them jump a little, "Me too!" She held her tail, "Though, I think the colour change has grown on me. Fluffy tail!" She hugged her tail, "What?"

"I think my brother is speechless..." Sindri said with a little awe of his own, "Oh, I have to mark the calendar!"

"Ye know." Brok shook his head, "I'm just going to stop bein' surprised for the day. Yup." He shook his head, "So what did ye drag us down here into this cold room for? I mean, aside from braggin'."

"Sensei doesn't brag." Kiba said, "Though, I am curious as well."

I worked one of the big 'super warded' safes. Worked on by Ajuka, as well as the entire student council, this was (I really hoped) secure against anyone trying to open it without the proper steps, but also from things like what Loki did to my last 'super warded' safe... You know, the one that blew up in my face.

"Well Kiba. It's time."


In the time I'd known him, Kiba was a level headed, hard working, confident, polite and intelligent young man. Sure, he had his rough spots, but everyone did. But until now, he'd never done something truly 'rude'.

However, as I pulled out the crucible pot, with all the shards of all the broken Excalibur swords we collected from the Kokabiel incident bubbling inside it, he leaned over the molten metal and quite deliberately spit into it.

The two brothers seemed to understand -something- was up with that, but only shrugged.

"Will this do?" I asked, carefully pouring the bubbling metal into ingot moulds. "Even I can feel they still have divine energy in them."

"Eh, it's not bad." Brok sniffed the air over one of the moulds.

"It will do for a base certainly." Sindri nodded, holding up a hand as I got to the last ingot mould, "Wait wait, put that back into the furnace. Brother?"

"Okay, ya, I see what you're thinkin'." Brok scratched his chin, "Hey sparkly!"

"It's Delly, thank you very much." Delly's wings sparked with visible static.

Sindri smiled while Brok backed up a half step, "Yeah yeah... Can you work with us here?"

I nodded to Delly, who shrugged and nodded to the dwarves. "Okay, um, yeah... This is under your next topic. Density." Sindri started, "You're a Kitsune right? How hot can you make your fire?"


Density means only one thing really. How much of something you have, in a defined amount of space. Except, when you worked 'outside' the limits of the 'physical', there were more 'layers' to work with. My enchanting was a great example. I had a block of metal (physical), added my own fur to it (magical), powered it with my will (spiritual). That was my usual method to start. Since then I'd added other enchantment methods, but those came later.

But now, we had something else. The metal itself (physical), treated with various methods to make it holy (elemental), my fur (magic), my fox fire (spiritual). And this would be before putting other things onto the base product, like runes or other focuses to amplify what was already there.

The thing, the 'trick' was to keep those layers in balance. Welf, with his bloodline ability to make magic sword, is the next great example. His magic was insanely powerful (magical), but totally overwhelmed the blades he made (physical). So after a few uses, sometimes even only one use, the blade would shatter. He was getting much better with it before I ended up here, balancing the (physical) blade to the (magical) effect, but had yet to make something truly 'eternal'. My guess is because unlike me, he couldn't put part of himself (spiritual), that third layer into his work. And more than once, I'd broken my own work by overpowering it with my will. (Much to my hair's detriment...)

Now that we had things in place, the four of us needed to bring all of those things into balance. Increasing the Density of those layers to match, without having one overwhelm any of the others.

The 'point'. My adversary had five extremely powerful 'dark' blades. Unholy blades from different cultures. To counter this, we were going to make something to help me defend against it. Being able to simply block an attack would greatly increase my chances of surviving. Human or not, Siegfried kept up with three skilled devils/angel, and that was in a three on one. We needed to create something with equal, or at least comparable, power to those blades.


"Ya know," Brok mused as we put one of the new ingots of... I didn't even know what to call this metal... into an insulated oven, heated by nothing more than my still somewhat feeble foxfire, "It's been a while since we did something like this."

"Not much call for armour like this anymore." Sindri agreed, "I think... I think the last time we made anything really significant was that axe."

"Riiiiight. Our best work, but honestly? Hope I never see it again. Brr..."

The two of them nodded, and while I really wanted to ask, I was trying to focus on keeping my foxfire at a consistent power.

"What is the next step, Sensei?" Kiba asked.

I looked to Sindri, who took the hint, "Oh! Well, today I think we'll just make the metal. We, well, do have other things to do."

"Wish I could skip them honestly." Brok grumbled, "But, you know how it is, gotta keep your word."

"I could probably, maybe, do the rest myself..." I said, "I think I have the idea of it at least."

"Oh suuuuuuure. One lesson and you think you know it all." Brok laughed, "It'll either work, or you'll get your fool arm cut off."

"Unfortunately, you'll probably only get one chance to make what ever it is you're making. The fragments you used were good work, I mean, for human craft, but the divine nature you need to ward against those blades will get weaker the more you work with it." Sindri explained.

"Tha's why we had yer Fairy helping."

"I was kinda just... adding power to what the humans did so it would stay long enough for you to melt it. But now that you've added more iron, and all the other stuff, it's too muddled for me to do it again." Delly said from my shoulder.

I gave her a tail to hug, or hugged her with a tail, I wasn't sure, "Huh, well, won't say no to another lesson or two." I nodded, then to Kiba, "After, since you're able to make swords, with elemental properties, you get to help me test them."

"Just don't hit me with them too hard." He smiled, "My skin feels a bit dry just from being around the melted metal."

"Na, Xenovia, Irina and yourself, will all just be trying to hit me. I won't do anything other than block. At least, until I think they'll hold up. But that's later."

"So um, when should we come by next? I understand you're a busy person and all, being the local Deity..." Sindri asked.

"I plan on working on the shrine tomorrow morning. Mostly adding a little flair, but otherwise it should be almost ready to ask for Lady Inari's formal visit..."

"Ohhh so that's what Lord Odin meant..."

"Shh, no talkin' about that." Brok slapped a hand over Sindri's armoured shoulder.

"I already know something is 'up' with me finishing the shrine." I said, "I've listened to enough prophetic mumbling to at least have a good idea about it. I'd have been there today, but a couple of people broke into my shop this morning."

All eyes turned to Brok.

"Ahem, well, I was curious what all the fuss was about."

"No harm, but don't do it again." I sighed, "Loki, may his toes never thaw, did that once and it's made me a little paranoid."

"We'll be sure to contact you next time." Sindri said, "We'll be going now." They both headed to the garage door, "Oh! Thank you for the cookies." He gave Brok's shoulder a swat.

"Yeah yeah, would rather beer, but thanks."

And they were gone. As soon as I lost sight of them, their presence, that underlying tingle of mana, their 'Ki' simply vanished from my awareness, like they'd never been here at all.

"Should have let me bite him."

"If you wanted me to add a little blue to you, you'd just have to ask." I sighed, "Oh yeah, Kiba?"

"Hm?"

"I just thought of another person who might be willing to help me train."

He looked confused for a moment, then his eyes lit up, "I see. We still have to give him the sword as well."

"If you'd do me the favour of giving him a call, I'd be thankful."

"As soon as I get back." He nodded, "I still have to do my usual practise as well."

He finished off the bottle of water he'd been drinking, tossed it into the recycle box by the door, gave a last wave and ran off.

"An interesting morning." I said, "HIDA?"

"I am HI-ID-DAAAA!" the holographic fairy avatar popped up in the projection tube.

I gave Delly a raised eyebrow, but she just looked innocent at me. "Were you watching?"

"I was not told to stop, so yes."

I wondered if she was smart enough to understand my next command, "Compile the last three hours of video, infrared and echo sensors. Overlay the sensor data onto the video data."

There was a pause, and HIDA started to fly lazy little circles inside the projection tube while holding her chin and tapping her cheek with a finger.

"Done." She said with a sudden switch to an excited pose.

"Start playback from when you first alerted me this morning."

"What are you trying to accomplish?" Shinkage asked.

HIDA held up a blank whiteboard, and suddenly there was the video feed from Camera 1 playing on it, "She's trying to crack the vaunted fairy invisibility." Delly said, "Right?"

The garage door opened, and there were the two dwarves. Except they were really just... fuzzy red and black outlines of people, looking like an overlay on the actual video. Sindri was a bit of a hand talker, and it was obvious he was trying to convince Brok this was a bad idea.

"Sound?" I asked.

"Sorry, to save on drive space, I don't record unless asked." HIDA pouted.

I nodded, remembering that I had some crystals for Gasper to try.

"That's okay." I assured her, "Stop playback, and save the first ten minutes of this to a new folder, labelled 'new vision'."

"Aye Boss!" There was a little 'bing' as the video on the white screen compressed into an icon, and floated into a new folder icon, "And the rest?"

"Delete the rest of the video."

HIDA took another icon, and zapped it with lightning, "All gone!"

"Thank you. Go back to sleep for now." HIDA didn't reply, but the hologram vanished with a wave.

"Little Gasper certainly has the loud personality right."

"One day cat, I'm gonna get a silver boot and kick you."

"Let's clean up a bit so we don't have to do it later. I have people to talk to..."

"And cookies to finish!" Delly reminded me.


"Why yes, Lady Kodori, I do keep this card with me at all times." Ganesha said, his lack of flamboyancy telling me He was alone, or at least among those 'who knew'. "I hope there is no problem with anything on your end?"

"Sort of. But its more of a personal one, not a mechanical one." I replied, "I won't be able to be there in person, but Delly will. Other than that, I was just checking in."

"We have everything ready, as per little Delly's instructions. With all the trouble we are having with the dungeon, there hasn't been many visitors to the zoo, so we have all the space we need."

"How is the dungeon?"

"We are holding. Rakia has been steadily increasing their caravans of stone, and Port Melen has accepted those who can't stand on the front lines to man more fishing boats. We lack only the magic stone for potions and the like. The healers who need no such items are... taxed."

I sighed, "If this works, I might have a bandage solution for the magic stone shortage. But for now, please, keep the city safe."

"As best I and the other Familia can." He smiled, "If you haven't yet, you should call home."

"Business before pleasure, Friend Ganesha." I smiled.

He smiled as well, his usual elephant mask not hiding the grim amusement under it, before we both put our hands over our cards to end the call.

"Well." I said to Sir Skitters, "It could be worse."

He tap-tapped the floor with a somehow affirmative meaning.

"Let's go see Gasper... Well, I'm not sure how he'd like you..." I put my hand, palm down on the floor, "But so long as you don't jump on him, it should be fine."

Sir Skitters climbed up my arm and perched on my shoulder, moving his body so only his eyes were visible if you looked at me from the front. Once done I went to pick up my new collection of crystals, and headed to Gasper's room.


"..." Gasper, wearing a new pair of sunglasses (much higher quality than the cute pink 100 yen store ones he had) gave Sir Skitters a good long look, then looked at me, "Sensei, why do you have a giant spider on your shoulder?"

"So you're not scared of him?" Delly asked from her place on Gasper's work table.

"Well... He's on Sensei's shoulder. And Sensei hasn't done anything about it." Gasper deduced, "Sensei is also between me and the spider."

Gasper, I could tell now, was really holding down his usual fear responses. I could see him sweating slightly, as well as little muscle twitches as he held himself in place. He was scared, but holding it back.

"Well, his name is Sir Skitters." I said, looking over my shoulder and seeing the giant spider wave a leg at Gasper, "And while I haven't done it yet, he's going to be my familiar as well."

"He's very smart, and really friendly." Delly said.

Gasper waved timidly, "Well.. um... Pleased to meet you Sir Skitters."

I put my hand on the table, and the spider made his way down to stand on the corner, as far as he could from Gasper. He then put his to front pairs of legs into the air and bobbed left and right for a celebratory crab dance.

This had the desired effect of making Gasper laugh, "Just... please don't sneak up on me ever?" The spider stopped dancing, then mimicked a bow. "What brings you today Sensei? Oh... sorry for the sunglasses... My eyes are still sensitive from yesterday..."

I nodded, figuring that was the case already, "Well, I'd like to offer these for the HIDA project." I put the newly grown crystals on the table, "And... Just how smart is she? Should I be worried about starting the Skynet project or something?"

His hand froze over one of the crystals, "Well... um... I may have used my own programming code for her..."

"So not C plus and Assembler?" Something I'd noted when I saw him poking at the code before HIDA came online.

"Well... It's kind of... You know how you have Binary, with 'on' and 'off'... Well, my code adds 'Maybe'."

"Trinary?"

He blinked in surprise, "Well... yes? Sort of? It's kind of like that, except when there is no clear 'yes or no' or 'on or off', it starts asking 'maybe'. Then it starts asking 'what if'... Kind of like playing chess. If I move my pawn here... If I move my knight here... She tries to read ahead with your commands..." He looked at Delly.

"And poof!" Delly waved a hand, making an illusion of a white board, then offered Gasper an illusionary red marker, "Here you go Professor."

"If you ask a question, or give her a command she doesn't know or understand right away." He drew a '?' on the board, "She'll look up words on the fly." Then a book, "And if need be, find the tools to execute or answer your command or question. Then she tries to predict if her answer will be the one you want."

"So, she'll 'learn' on the fly?"

"Yes." He nodded, "And she'll keep that information handy, and use it for future interactions."

"That's really clever." I administered a headpat, "I'll be sure to keep treating her like a person then. She's too complex to be just a simple machine." I grinned, "Gonna watch the game later?"

"Sona-san's match? I may listen in... Now that I have these I'm eager to see if I can make a real... immortal storage for HIDA."

"You do that. Make sure to rest your eyes though. You did really well kiddo."

"Thank you Sensei."


I was not looking forward to this talk. No matter what life I was leading, this was the hardest talk to work myself up to.

Talking up to the 'boss'.

Be it to my father, from what felt like forever ago. To my teachers. To my employers. Bringing up a problem or concern never felt easy. Part of it was because they had the authority to make your life miserable. Be it getting disciplined, to cutting off your ability to keep a roof over your head. Most of my absolute hate for politics came from this, where someone of 'power' could tell their 'friends' to make your life miserable, and yet keep their hands clean. Or 'ignore' the problem, and let their underlings continue to make trouble, while you yourself looked like a fool, or a weakling, for putting up with it.

But as their teacher, one trusted to make them ready for what they might face in the future, in what might easily, and already had been on occasion, deadly situations... I couldn't put this off any longer.


"Oh! Haruhime-san!" Mrs Hyoudou greeted me at the door, "Come to visit the kids today?" She looked like she'd been cleaning, with a handkerchief over her hair and a duster in her hand. She was also wearing the Number 1 Mom shirt I'd gotten her.

"Hyoudou-san." I bowed to her, "I have. Just making sure they've all done their homework, and they've gotten proper rest after the festival. And please, just Kodori will do."

She returned my bow, "Well, they're around here someplace." She smiled, "Speaking of the festival, did you come up with all those recipes? I'd love to trade with you sometime." She leaned in a little, stage whispering, "I may have had a little more of that Shallow Grave Sashimi than I should have, but it was so delicious!"

Somewhere, deep down, I felt the little score card between Issei's mom and I balance out ever so slightly.

"I'll gladly write it down for you. Even the little trick you have to do with the salt." I smiled.

She stepped aside to let me in, and I took off my boots, "Thank you!" She smiled, "Oh dear, I'll have to bring the laundry in too..." She looked behind me to the clouds gathering, "But I have to get back to cleaning... There always seems to be more of this house every time I turn around..."


I took a deep breath, feeling a little tug in the direction of Akeno. Figuring she would either be near Rias, or know where she was, I walked through the insanely large house, down some hallways, up a couple floors, and found them in the big 'entertainment' room. T.V. Couches aplenty, game tables, and all the things one might need to entertain a bunch of people. Rossweisse and Koneko were playing ping pong. Akeno and Asia were playing on a game console. Kiba and Xenovia were nowhere to be found, though I could guess they were training.

Issei and Rias however, were playing chess. Well, from how Issei was scrubbing his hands through his hair in frustration, it was more Issei losing to Rias at chess.

"Sensei." Koneko spotted me first, the ping pong ball bouncing off her cheek with a little 'tap' noise.

All eyes on me, I tried not to look serious, "Afternoon."

"Going to watch Sona's match with us a little later, Sensei?" Asia asked, "Ohhh how do you pause this..."

Akeno waved but my attempt to not look serious was not fooling her at all.

"I've got too much in the shop to do, so I'll likely just listen in on the radio." I walked across the room, "Rias, Issei." I greeted, "Now I know you're good at chess." I looked over the board, trying really hard to frown playfully, "But you're just being a bully."

"Rias-san is really kicking..." He glanced behind me, "Beating me badly..." One of my golden tails went to give his shoulder a pat, "Getting pity from a tail... sigh..." It didn't stop him from giving my tail a pat though.

"You just need to be more observant." Rias chided, "You can't play chess like Sairaorg fights."

"I know... but..."

"Rias?" I put a hand on her back, my little finger touching the chair she was sitting on, while my other hand rested on the table, "Can I get a word with you? Bit of a personal matter."

"Very-"


We appeared, table, chair, chessboard, Rias, and myself, in front of the main building of my shrine.

"well?" Rias blinked, "Sensei?"

I took a moment to look around, noting that yes, this place was all but done. All that was left really was some embellishment, and maybe a little paint. There were also a few youkai hanging about. Under the eves, in the trees, napping by the well...

"Sorry, but you all need to leave for a little while." I said, all of them, even the sleeping ones, stopping what they were doing, looking at me, then heading towards the edge of the grounds, "Only until sundown." They all paused, looked at me, nodded, then resumed their trip to the edge of the grounds.

Turning back to Rias, I stood across from her and started to reset the chessboard. "Rias. I have a serious issue to discuss with you."

She still seemed a little puzzled, but I could tell she was catching on, and starting to feel defensive. "I can tell. Though we could have just moved to another room."

Board reset, I moved one of my pawns forward, "Your team did really well in the last game." I started, moving again after she caught on and moved her knight, "Each of them put forth their best effort."

"Your training, and their effort has really helped them grow." She frowned as my next move protected a vulnerable piece and she had to switch plans.

"There were two exceptions though." Smart cookie that she was, she caught on then about the real topic. "Xenovia was a bit of bad luck. With our lack of information, she was caught off guard, and defeated without being able to show more of her ability."

She moved in haste, replying a little angrily, "We also didn't know about his pawn. I was caught off guard as well."

Her sudden spike of temper gave me a chance to take the first piece of the game, her knight. "Very true. But tell me Rias. What's the difference between losing a knight, and the king?" I took her knight off the board, "Your move."

She didn't reply, not needing to since I'd just answered the question.

"I'm not normally a gambler. But I'm willing to bet Sona will win the game today without any trouble at all. I'm willing to bet, since it will probably be another dice game, that as soon as she can take the field, she will. She will convince her fellow King to a duel, and crush her." She remained silent, seething, biting her thumbnail while moving another of her pieces, "I know you were tired, but did you feel the air warming up before we left? Its going to be a humid day in the arena."

"Any weather report in the underworld could have told you that." She moved again, and I moved a piece on the other side of the board, pretending to ignore her aggressive bishop.

"And Sona will use that. Giving up her 'home advantage' knowing that it wouldn't be an advantage at all to her opponent, even if they were confident it would be."

"The point, Sensei?" She moved again, taking my undefended queen, smirking at the prize as she took it off the board.

"My point Rias, is you are overconfident. Unobservant. Trusting too much in your peerage." I ignored her bishop, and moved a knight, "Check."

"Unobservant?" She growled, moving her king since nothing else could take the knight.

"It's raining Rias." I said simply.

Above us, just barely distorting the air was a giant ghostly fox. I'd only made it solid enough to keep the rain off, and tall enough to let the air move freely. She looked up, then back at me, realizing her inattention.

"Of all of them. Your peerage, and Sona's. You have grown the least. You rely on your 'power of destruction' your exceptionally talented peerage, and to be blunt, blind luck, to carry you through the day."

"My bloodline ability will be greater than-"

"Your bloodline ability skipped Sairaorg." I said coldly, "Let me play a little history back for you, Rias. Sona beat you. You know why? When I asked you if you wanted me to make you a fighter, you declined, she didn't." I started pacing back and forth on my side of the board, my eyes glaring at her to keep her silent, only pausing long enough to move a piece after she did, "When you lost, you didn't ask for more instruction. Then, just recently, you nearly get your leg ripped off by an opponent. Why? Because you haven't learned how to do anything BUT rely on your 'power of destruction' your peerage, and blind luck. Even Asia, even Gasper, did more damage in that fight than you."

She made to say something, I could see it on her face it would not be a nice thing either, but I stopped my pacing and leaned forward, "I just teach." I said, "My students put in the effort. Where's your effort Rias? What's your goal? Take over the Gremory name? Become Issei's wife and let him run things while you stand there, powerful but without direction? You know what we call that? Back home?"

She stood up, trying to match my glare, "What do they call them?"

"A tool."

I saw the spark of rage in her eyes, but I didn't back down, didn't move, even as I felt her building power.

"What would you be, Rias, without your peerage, without your family, without your friends?" I continued, "With only your current power, your current knowledge, your current skills and your current attitude?"

She looked like I'd just slapped her, her anger fizzling out as she slumped back into her chair. There was little she could say to someone, who only a few months ago, had exactly that happen to them. I moved my rook, taking her bishop and putting her king in check from across the board, then got my phone out.

Fox2: She's at the shrine, come get her. Bring an umbrella.

Mikochu: Yes, Kami-sama.

I switched recipients.

Fox2: She's going to need a hug.

Magichand: um... okay?


The other thing about 'talking up' to authority? The pseudo-adrenaline crash after. When I got back to my shop I set my phone to reply automatically with 'Grumpy chat later'. Then I said hello to Shinkage, sat down on the edge of his big fluffy dog bed and leaned on him while I tried to calm down. His only response, thankfully, was to grunt (an amusing noise when you have no real vocal cords) and put his head back down while one of my hands gave his smooth skull a pat.

A few minutes later, I started thinking clearly again.

"Hey HIDA?" I called out quietly.

Click, buzz, blink, "Yeah boss?" Just as quiet as I was.

"How much time before the Rating game?" I asked, deciding to test a theory.

"Between the Sona and Seekvaira peerages?"

"There are others?"

A pause, then, "It seems the ones between Sona and Sairaorg, and Rias and Seekvaira haven't been scheduled yet. So... no?"

"Then the one that is." She really did have a noticeable deductive ability...

"About two hours, depending on how long the pregame show takes, and barring any complications due to the weather."

"Weather?"

Another pause, "A slowly growing storm front is pushing humid air through the area. There is a ten percent chance of a rare torrential storm."

"You're connected to the devil's internet, aren't you?"

This time, instead of HIDA's 'quiet conversational voice' I heard Gasper, "Okay, if she asks, play this back for her. Ahem. Miss Kodori, I know you didn't want HIDA connected to the internet because of potential security risks. So, I instead connected her to the devil's information network, and secured access to her even better than our actual phones. Um... Yeah, end recording."

"HIDA? Make a note. Remind me to give Gasper a pat on the head the next time he comes to my workshop."

"Done."

"Thank you." I gave Shinkage one last pat on the head and got off the floor, "What sort of thing is usually put into a Honden?"

A pause, then, "Usually something representative of the spirit that is enshrined there. Common examples are things like a mirror, a statue, or a weapon of some kind."

I nodded, remembering the mirror I'd seen Inari through when I visited, "Thank you." I turned to Shinkage, "Sorry partner, gonna have to make a little noise."

"At least you aren't sulking." A pause, "And where are your boots?"

I fired up the furnace, and got my mid sized crucible pot ready, "At Issei's place. I'm sure Akeno will spot them."


Thanks to modern methods, I didn't have to make too much noise to get a new batch of Ko-steel made up. This time however, I used a little bit of my golden fur, though mostly for effect, not any real purpose. While that started to melt, I got some wood together and made a custom ingot trough. Hardly a difficult task, I had plenty of time left over to line the bottom and sides with clay before my metals had melted. However, since this was going to be a special bit of crafting, much like the two fox statues I'd made, I used my bare hand to stir the metal, hissing a little at the 1600C temperature. The dull pain helped focus me, and by the time I poured the molten metal into the thin box I'd made, I was completely focused.

As soon as the crucible was empty and set aside to cool off naturally, I started to smooth the surface of what would be a large portrait sized plate of Ko-steel. A little too rough for what I needed, I used what was basically a heat treated paint scraper for the job, quickly going over the surface of the new plate before the metal could cool enough to make it too hard to do without heating it up again.

Once it had cooled too much for a simple tool to smooth it, I got a custom made bit of ko-steel dust sandpaper.

After that? Ha-steel sandpaper. (Yes, just like my wife, the steel from her fur was softer than the steel from mine.)

Now that the entire surface was mirror smooth, I would-

"Hey boss?" HIDA derailed my thoughts, "You wanted me to let you know when the game was starting right?"

I didn't actually instruct her to remind me, yet, here she was doing it anyhow. She had 'guessed' I would want the reminder.

"Thank you HIDA." I said, taking a deep breath and picking up the thin wooden box, plate and all, and putting it inside an iron grounding ring.

I turned towards the door, just in time to see Akeno, umbrella in one hand, my boots in the other, step around the corner. She had what most would call a 'conflicted' look on her face as a little lightning flickered behind her. Actual lightning, not 'Akeno is angry' lightning.

Considering I'd just told off her best friend, I felt it was important to make sure of that.

"Come in out of the rain." I said, waving her in, "I was just about to turn on the game, maybe do some etchwork on Shinkage's new armour plate."

"Yay."

She took a moment to close her umbrella and shake it off, leaning it against the wall by the door, "I..."

"I'm not sorry. If that's what you're wondering. But I have my reasons." I looked at HIDA, who was just floating in lazy circles in the projection tube, "Still pregame warmup?"

"Sounds like it." HIDA nodded.

"Come sit? Furnace is still warm." I offered.

She nodded, remembering to set my boots down near the umbrella and sat next to furnace. "Rias-san is... quite upset."

"She isn't breaking things or screaming while throwing around magic, is she?"

"No. She's never been one for random outbursts. She's much more a 'pace and glare' person."

"Good." I sighed, "Look... After the game, I realized... no, I admitted to myself, that I couldn't just sit by anymore. Not in good conscience."

"You said yourself, anyone can be taken by surprise. Even you."

"Very true." I nodded, "Since I got here, since Issei became a Devil, how many life threatening situations have we been in? In the... almost six months..." I sighed, frowning as I said it out loud, six months away from my children, "Rias and her peerage have had to face Fallen Angels, stray exorcists, terrorist mages, warmongering devils, more terrorist humans... And that was all outside the games." I added before she could reply, "Yes, at first, there wasn't much danger. But when Cao Cao attacked Kyoto, we were very much in danger of getting killed. Yes, myself included."

"Sensei did mention that..." She said, "But we still won!"

"Yes. We did. But tell me, what might have happened if Sairaorg hadn't waited for Issei and Rias to recover?"

"That's why we have the games though!"

"It won't always be a game." I sighed, "One advantage I had, living in Orario..."

"The dungeon." She growled, "Always the dungeon!"

"Yes Akeno. The dungeon. A place where the danger sits, and waits, and only really bothers you when you go into it. The danger is still real. The risks are still high."

I took her hand, holding it when she tried to draw away, "But unlike all the danger recently, it never comes to you. It's a danger you walk into willingly." She stopped trying, "It won't always be a game, and the danger won't always be in plain sight. And from where I'm standing, the contracted outsider in charge of trying to prepare you for that danger, Rias is starting to become a liability."

I let her hand go, and she turned away from me, not replying.

"She is talented with her magic. But you and Rossweisse are better. Her power of destruction is insanely strong. But it's not even an Trump card, since everyone knows about it. As a leader, she has very few faults. She has the respect of all her peers, and yes, even me. But because of that, if she lost on the battlefield, you would all collapse." I sighed, "She can lead, but she isn't strong enough to protect herself so the others can do their jobs without worrying."

I looked away from Akeno's back, turning to HIDA's projection tube, "And honestly, I'm not really an outsider anymore, am I? I tried to convince her once, to motivate her to improve herself. But who knows what might happen next time some upstart devil, or fallen angel, or the chaos brigade, or a giant falling rock, smashes into things here? I don't know how to motivate her. And I don't want anyone to have to get seriously hurt, or die, because she didn't listen."

"So you threw her failure into her face, and hoped it would wake her up like some cold water?"

"I know she hates cold water too."

I heard her turn around on the bench, then lean over and give my shoulder a squeeze, "I'll go talk to her again."

"Stop by my room and pick up Ha-chan's card. She's better at this sort of thing."

"Oh? Trusting Rias-san not to complain to your boss?"

"pfft, yeah right. I'm hoping she does. She'll set her straight if she does. Bring it back after though... I want to call home tonight."

"Yes Ko-san."

About thirty seconds after she left, HIDA perked up on the screen, "Um, did you want me to start the show now?"

"Please." I replied, before getting up and going back to sitting on Shinkage's bed and leaning back on him.

"400 yen Maki shoots someone in mid-sentence."

"Even if I expect her to, sure, I'll take that bet."


NOTES!

Yeah... So a little more of a 'stern talking to' episode. See you all in five (5!) days.

Daeore, Ko-fi, if you want to toss a coin to your writer. (I swear, I'll come up with alternate lyrics to this song...)