CHAPTER 20

Issei had heard Sona loud and clear, even through all the noise the other students made.

He so wanted to not return to his classes, but knew he couldn't do that. Not because he would have lost something valuable from the teachers. But because he would get a detention and Sona, or somebody else from the Student Council, would be the supervisor.

And, honestly, the brunet didn't want to be anywhere near the Student Council and, most importantly, Sona.

So, in the same way he always moved, Issei went back to his classroom and payed noone any mind.

On a side note, his classmates seemed to notice his mood and didn't even look at him. Even the Perverted Duo didn't send their usual curses at his direction.

At the end of school, Issei didn't wait for Kiba to come and fetch him, as it was the norm.

Instead, without making any noise, the brunet packed up his things and left the school premises.

On his way out, everyone saw his expression being hidden by his front hair.

The ORC, mostly Kiba and Rias, were left confused as to why the brunet didn't join them that day.

However, they decided to leave him on his own devices and didn't try to contact him.

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Issei had walked aimlessly for some time and, when he decided to open his eyes and see where he was, he noticed that he had entered the park he ended his date with Raynare.

More specifically, he had sat on the same bench he and the Fallen Angel had used a few days ago.

The park didn't have many people at this time, which was something he liked as he prefered to be alone when he was emotionally distraught.

Absently, he noticed that the Fallen Angel under the name 'Dohnaseek' was nowhere near him. In fact, the guy seemed to be at the abandoned church, according to his nose.

Again, this was a good thing. He didn't want to deal with anything else this day.

"Hawa~!"

Issei opened his eyes at the sound of a young girl squealing in surprise, followed by a couple of thuds, and snapped his head at the direction he heard it.

Immediately, he held himself back from cursing at fate, who didn't even leave him alone to brood.

Twenty meters away from him, was a girl that had managed to trip in an impressively dumb manner. Her face was kissing the ground and her dark blue skirt had gone overhead to cover her upper half, while she was on her knees and showed the world her plain white panties.

On a side note, her figure seemed to be on the soft side, not the athletic one. Which meant that she kept her body in good shape through her diet alone.

However, none of all the above was what irked Issei.

It was because of her scent. Apart from a sweet fragrance that was her own, there was a hefty amount of rosemary coming off of her.

It was a scent that Issei had connected it to the people of a church. After all, Rin's father was a priest, as far as he remembered, and Rin carried some of his scent whenever they played.

All these thoughts took not even two seconds to process in his mind.

In conclusion, Issei knew that he was getting an eyeful of Asia Argento's butt.

With a defeated sigh, he stood up and, without making a sound, he went to help her up, since noone else payed her any mind.

The brunet boy pulled the skirt downwards to cover Asia's dignity, before presenting his left hand to help her up.

"Ah! Thank you, mister!" the girl's grateful voice was sweeter than sugar as she was hoisted upwards with the ease of breathing. Once she was on her feet, she took a moment to dust off her clothes and, then, she sent her helper a beautifully cute and grateful smile.

In the time the girl spent on dusting off her clothes, Issei used it as a chance to examine her appearance. Asia had big, innocent, light green eyes and straight blonde hair that reached to her mid-back. Also, she had an ahoge that complimented her cuteness. Her figure was rather slim and her skin was a healthy white. Lastly, even under her shirt, Issei could tell that the blonde seemed to have a decent, healthily developing bust.

"It's nothing." Issei noticed that his own voice was far calmer than he thought it would come out, considering his previous mood. He could even feel himself smiling as he introduced himself. In fact, the longer he stared at and talked to her, the calmer he felt. It was as though his frustrations disappeared due to her mere presence, which, in hindsight, made sence, since she was a Holy Maiden. "I'm Hyoudou Issei. You can call me Issei or Ise."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise, for a moment, before she flashed him with a smile, that rivaled his mother's in terms of how beaming it was, as she introduced herself. "I'm Asia! Asia Argento! Nice to meet you, Ise-san! I'm so glad that someone speaks the same language as me!"

Even her childish excitement calmed him down. This, Issei knew, wasn't normal, but it wasn't unwelcome either. The fact that he could hear her speak his language, even though he knew she was speaking italian, made his day even more because he could understand what she said and vice-versa.

For the record, Asia's 'Ise-san' equals to 'mister Ise'.

"Nice to meet you too, Asia-chan." Issei held himself back from sounding affectionate at the last moment, coming out as conversational. Although, he couldn't stop the familiarity.

Judging from the light dust of pink on her cheeks and the shy smile she wore, Issei felt that he wasn't entirely successful. Alas, he tried to find a way to change the subject as to not embarrass the girl any more, even though he liked her state.

First impressions and all that.

Fortunately, his eyes landed on her luggage and, thankfully, it was closed and hadn't spilled her belongings. "Travelling?" he simply asked.

Asia's eyes widened a little at the reminder of her journey so far away from her home. "Ah! Yes! I was sent here from Italy because they asigned me to help the head-priest of this town's church!" she explained excitedly, before she became embarrassed, again. "B-But, u-um... Since I can't talk japanese, the people I asked directions couldn't help me and I don't know how to go there..."

Issei's smile widened a fraction at her unintended cuteness. "Don't you worry, Asia-chan. I know where the church is and I'll escort you there." he said casually.

The blonde's eyes lit up in hope! "R-Really?!" seeing him nod at her hopeful question, Asia's entire being oozed from gratefulness and excitement. "T-Then, thank you, Ise-san! God must have sent you to my way to help me!" she exclaimed as she made a praying motion with her hands.

The brunet was amused by the nun's antics and almost laughed. However, he decided not to make her any more embarrassed and, instead, he went and picked up her luggage as if they weighted nothing.

The amazement and awe he saw in Asia's eyes just helped his mood to become even better.

On their way to the abandoned church, the smiling duo did a stop, because a four year old boy fell and scrapped his knee, crying his eyes out in waterfalls.

Before Issei could react, Asia rashed at the boy, gently calming it down, even if the latter didn't understand at all.

Then, to the brunet's amazement, Asia used her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, on the boy's knee and, a couple of seconds later, the injury was wiped clean.

'Not even a scar...!' the brunet thought to himself in a mixture of surprise and amazement, but showed only the former through his facial expression.

"There. Big boys like you shouldn't cry." Asia smiled sweetly at the boy as she patted him comfortingly on his head in a sisterly fashion.

The now amazed boy sprang up to his feet, seemingly more energised than before, and ran towards his mother. Though, at a small distance away, he turned around and, with a wide grin and a wave of his right hand, shouted gratefully. "Thank you, Onee-chan!"

Asia waved at the boy and kept her sweet smile in place.

"He said thank you." Issei explained to her as he approached from behind with his own smile as his looked at the boy's direction, having recovered from his earlier sentiments.

Asia stopped waving, but her smile widened at that. Then, she turned her whole body to face the brunet and in a clildishly playful way she stack her tongue out of her mouth and lightly bonked her slightly tilted to the left head with her right hand as she spoke. "Sorry, but I had to!"

The brunet's smile widened at her antics. Though, he refrained from talking about her Sacred Gear, even if he was extremelly interested in it. He had a feeling he would ruin the good mood. "It's alright, Asia-chan. Let's go." he said casually.

Asia, for her part, was internally grateful that Issei didn't say anything about her gift. Because, even though she loved that she could help people with her gift, it was that same gift that excommunicated her from the church in Italy. Mentally shaking her head at those thoughts and focusing on her smiling guide, Asia nodded her head and followed him towards what she thought it would be her new home.

Their walk towards the church was a comfortably silent one.

They were around a hundred meters away when Asia was able to have a clear view of the church. Her serene smile widened at the sight and turned to thank her guide. And, if she was lucky, he would accept her invitation for tea. After all, japanese people were known to love tea.

"Here we are, Asia-chan." Issei announced calmly as he stopped walking, having noticed her expression.

"Yes! Thank you, Ise-san!" she exclaimed in childish gratefulness, beaming a matching smile.

Her smile was infectious to him. And, even though he wanted to spend more time with Asia, he had to go back. After all, it would be counter-prodactive to go inside the church. So, he would meet her outside. "Asia-chan, I have to go home, but I will gladly meet you in a couple of days, or three, at the same park we met a few minutes ago, because I'll be busy with school." he said kindly.

Asia almost got a whisplash from her emotions. Even if it was just a moment, she felt extremelly sad that the brunet wouldn't come with her inside. Then, she felt disappointed that she couldn't even make her invitation in the first place. However, all the negative feelings gave way to joy and hope when he suggested to meet each other again. In the end, she clang onto that hope and joy like a life line. "Yes, Ise-san! I'll meet you then!" she exclaimed in excitement, before she walked the rest of the way on her own with a little pep on her steps.

Issei stayed there, waiting for Asia to enter the church, before he turned around and left the hill with a smile on his face.

A smile that disappeared when he remembered that he had to inform Rias about his encounter with Asia.

Damn. And he was in such a good mood. God bless Asia's gentle soul.

With a dreadful sigh, Issei made a call to Kiba.

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Rias took an elegant sip from Akeno's delicious tea as she sat, cross-legged, across from Issei at the ORC.

On her left was Akeno, who tasted her own tea with matching elegance.

On Rias' right was Koneko, who, surprise surprise, was munching on some sweets.

Across from Akeno was Kiba. The blond boy took an elegant sip from the brunette's tea with one hand, while the other held one of his books he was immersed in. Though, his ears were on the others as well.

Issei tasted Akeno's tea as well. Damn. He wasn't joking about his mother making him marry Kuoh Academy's Yamato Nadeshiko. Also, it was what he needed to hydrate his throat after he gave them a summary for his encounter with Asia.

"I see." Rias said simply as she watched the brunet place his cup of tea on the coffee-table. "So, the Fallen Angels, even Raynare, have no idea that it was you who delivered Asia to them."

"Yeah." Issei nodded in acknowledgement. "Unless Asia tells them, they won't know it was me."

"Why, though, Ise-kun?" Kiba asked curiously, not taking his eyes from his book.

"That's a vague question with various answers. So, pick your 'why'." the brunet deadpanned at his friend, who chuckled in amusement, but wasn't the one to speak next.

"I believe that Yuuto-kun refers to why you didn't go inside the church with Argento-san, Hyoudou-kun." Akeno was clearly amused, if the way she spoke was any indication. That said, she was somewhat serious as well.

The brunet ignored the blond's amused chuckles and faced Rias and Akeno as he explained thoroughly, his face and tone serious. "I didn't want anyone from the church to see me, in order to make Raynare's lie believable to her group. And, since Raynare is their leader, I believe she's clever enough to order Asia not to tell anyone else about me. Dohnaseek hasn't found me, so I have the element of surprise. Even if Dohnaseek suspects Raynare's lie, he won't do anything drastic until the original culprit of the grand scheme gives the ok. Until then, hopefully, we, or rather I, have some time to plan Raynare's and Asia's escape from that church, with them, preferably, being unharmed."

Rias and Akeno nodded in understanding at his explanation. Kiba gave a matching hum to show he listened as well.

"I have a question."

All heads turned to Koneko, who was the one to speak softly, albeit monotonously, staring at her in surprise that she spoke in the first place.

The whitenette stared intensely at Issei as she spoke again. "Why are you trying so hard to help a Fallen Angel?"

There was a pause, with the rest of the Devils contemplating Koneko's inquiry as well, even if it came out as a demand due to her monotone.

Issei's expression remained serious as his gaze was locked with the half-Youkai. "Because Raynare is as much of a victim in this grand scheme as me and Asia, not to mention, at the very least, some of her group." he explained as if it was obvious.

Koneko's eyes narrowed, although nobody could read the emotion within them, but said nothing. Instead, she just gave a nod and returned to her sweets, albeit with obvious agitation.

Everyone noticed that she was ready to ask something else, but, for some reason, she refrained from doing so.

An awkward silence ensued after that small bit, but broke when, suddenly, a magic circle appeared on Akeno's left ear and everyone's attention was on her.

Issei was internally glad that the subject was about to change. And, judging from Akeno's serious expression, things were about to get interesting.

On a side note, he guessed that these communication circles allowed the users to speak via telepathy.

He was proven correct when Akeno turned to face Rias and announced what she was told.

"Rias, we have a Stray Devil in our territory and the Archduke wants it eliminated tonight."

Issei frowned slightly at the 'eliminated' part, but didn't comment on it and returned to being serious.

"Perfect timing." Rias sighed in relief that the heavy conversation was put on hold. It seemed that his brief expression was missed by the smiling redhead as she stood up and faced him.

Issei held himself back from groaning in dejection. The mysterious smile Rias wore when she looked at him meant only one thing. She would invite him to join them and make him watch as they killed, mercilessly he believed, another Devil.

"Ise, you should join us! After all, apart from our contract, it is a chance to show you a portion as to how we fight!"

Let it be known that Issei hated the fact that his gut was always right.

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