Apparently, the Gremory family often dined together when Rias returned home, especially if they were free. However, the whole notion of family eating was supposed to be cozy, right? Spending some quality time with family was really important, after all. Also, it also served as a way for the peerages of the family members to have a meet-up and get to know each other better.

So, why were everyone wearing tuxedos and dresses? Well, except for some of Rias' peerage members, though, like Akeno with her expensive kimono, or Gasper with his(?) dress, perhaps Issei with his school uniform. Not to mention several other unfamiliar faces which shouldn't have belonged to Gremory household.

" Ahh... The level is just too far apart."

{Understand that you will be involved with a lot more of this sort of occasion. And you, shouldn't you be used already? We've gone to this sort of activities quite amount of times.}

I twirled the goblet containing devil's equivalent of grape soda, while groaning in response to Zecrow's scolding.

" Got caught off guard, I guess."

I just couldn't get how rich people think. Not that it was something to mourn, though. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banquet too, so all was well. Luckily, I was capable of basic task thanks to nee-san's delicate treatment, despite the feeling of wanting to mutilate my own hands tempting me.

" Hey, not eating?"

Almost blurting a sarcastic line to her, I swallowed my words back once I saw who was talking. Two plates full of various dishes like steaks, sauteed mushrooms, and other fancy stuffs in her hands, looking really delicious. Alas, if my hands weren't busted, I would've devoured them, but the pain curbed my appetite almost immediately.

" Yea, I'm fine. Not in eating mood right now."

" What a spoiled lil' bro."

It wasn't like I could lash out to who healed my hands. However, she put the plates down on nearby table and cut the beef steak to bite-sized portions and offered it right to my face. Of course, not wanting to cause a commotion, the only way was to oblige.

" Good?"

I nodded. She also ate some vegetables and the mashed potato, but barely touched the meat. Hm, come to think of it, that had something to do with her physiology, about the meat being "hot". Still, for nee-san to actually bring meat for me, I felt great gratitude. Being very shaky even though it's just a plate, I was resigned not to eat during this occasion.

" Thanks, Hana-nee. You're a life-saver."

" Ara, how rare of you to act cute."

Refusing to be swept into her pace, I looked away.

" Even I'm capable of basic manners."

" Good boy. Aahh..."

I chomped down on another portion. Yeah, as expected of royal chefs. The dishes were stellar, far outclassing my own. I wasn't vexed at all.

Not at all, for sure!

Perhaps I should step up my Gordon Ramsay videos frequency, and spend more time in the kitchen. Honestly, it felt amazing being able to whip up a nice home meal while home alone, and just enjoy.

Lost in thought, I never realized two plates were gone already.

" Still hungry?"

She picked up the plates, intending to grab more, but was stopped when Rias and Raynare came by, both with veins popping.

Really, girls shouldn't frown that much. It'd cause lots of early wrinkles. Oi, stop. Forks weren't supposed to be held like that. Wait, wait, they stabbed on the food. Look at the plate while doing that, please.

""Aaaahh...""

" Oh, thanks for the food."

Their murderous eyes must've been an illusion. Somewhat rough, but as expected their physical strength was inadequate to injure me, so all good. After 6 plates, I finally had my fill, and sighed in satisfaction. As expected of beings driven by desires to the extreme. The food was worthy to be called one of life's greatest pleasures.

Pasta, teriyaki, ramen, and lots of meat. Pretty sure they were A5 grade, too.

I was afraid I would die tomorrow after experiencing something so blissful. Still, dying was somewhat troublesome so I'd refrain if possible.

Then again, being fed by 3 gorgeous women... Would Armageddon happen tomorrow?

I sneaked several bits and pieces of meat to Kuroka hidden inside my clothes. Her aura was skillfully hidden by Senjutsu, to the point even ultimate-class devils would have to consciously scan him to even catch a whiff. Since Sirzechs seemed to be busy, there was no one in the room capable of scanning her.

Or perhaps there were? I felt several rather powerful auras, one somewhat familiar. I directed my attention towards that area, finding a dandy man with red hair, a samurai, and a woman with bust only possible for a certain club president's relatives.

" Why are you looking at my mom like that, huh?"

Rias clapped my cheeks and brought my face to her direction. I wasn't so perverted as to eye an older acquaintace's mother... even though I painfully admitted that she looked like one of the miracle grandmas on skincare product ads.

" Huh, thought she was your sister or something."

The usual comment for such ads appeared. Then, that meant the dandy man was most likely her father... he thought. I'd seen a lot of mythical beings, with varied takes on physical age. But this was the first time I thought of a banquet as an outing of super rich prime-aged individuals, even though they were supposed to be... maybe 1000+ years older?

At least in my experience, some of them actually looked old.

" Kaito? Wanna go look around and have a drink?"

I looked at my white-haired sword sister seriously in the eyes.

" Imagine a normal person coming here, and accidentally talked smack to one of those 10.000+ years old devil, about age and life experience."

" Excuse me?"

" Somehow, I'm feeling this weird sense of dread."

She deadpanned and looked at me with pitying look on her face. Then, she put her hands on my shoulders with serious expression.

" That's when I'm gonna die... From stomach pains."

I nodded, also with a serious face.

Rias was with her peerage, and since Raynare, being a fallen, and Hana, knowing no one there, we were chilling at the balcony.

It was less "chilling on the balcony", and more like "sauna-ing on the balcony".

Underworld was this barren land, with no sea, and just chilling winter and blistering summer. There was no in between. Of course, this mansion had enough vegetation to make it somewhat less hot, but extreme summer was still extreme summer.

" That red dragon's pretty much like a normal employee meeting the CEO, huh?"

Raynare commented, with Kuroka wriggling around on her arms.

" Well, it's his boss' family."

" I never expected you'd be here too, Kurayama-kun."

Sona Sitri closed in, along with a taller bespectacled woman and a super buff dude with yakuza face. Come to think of it, she was regarded as Rias' best friend, wasn't she?

" Sitri-kaichou. Well, I got invited, so why not?"

She nodded and made way for the new people.

" Seekvaira Agares. Pleasure to meet you, Kurayama Kaito."

The blonde glasses woman with several green streaks on her hair bowed curtly, just like a noblewoman. After her, the buff male smiled strictly and thrust a fist to me.

" Sairaorg Bael. A friend of Rias is a friend of mine."

Despite his demeanor, he was the hot-blooded protagonist type like Issei, huh. These kind of people often had unique gimmicks, so I wondered what his was.

Muscle fetish, maybe?

Still, to reciprocate, I bumped his fist with my own and nodded without a word. Whoa, that's a whole truckload of life force right there. As someone well-versed in spiritual matters, I could vouch that his life-force was furnace fire, compared to a normal devil which was like a hearth.

Ouch, my hand fell limply after fist-bumping. Still no good, huh? I really hoped it would get healed soon, along with two gashes on my chest and torso.

" This Sona here talked about your feats in chess. Most impressive. I'd like to have a game with you sometime, Kurayama-san."

" I don't mind. Although I don't think I'm that good, though... She did beat me after some rounds."

Seekvaira was, much like Sona, an intelligent type. I really liked these types, but you could never be too careful with them. Sairaorg, on the other hand, was more of a martial arts maniac and normal than I thought. Despite that, he only learned from practice as he'd never gone to human world yet and devils preferred magic to physical combat.

We chatted for about half an hour, before being called back inside to finish up and had a toast with people there. Again, normal person would be very confused here. Which ones were the kids? Which ones were the parents? Were the parents actually present?

Also, apparently, they served some liquor, although not too strong.

This was the type that could pass off as normal drink, but still not too bad, I had to say. It really coupled well with the served cuisines. I sneakily eyed the ex-legendary samurai that became Sirzechs' knight, as his master was on my watching list.

" He's one of the legendary samurais from Bakumatsu, according to my brother. He was going to die from battle, but got revived and now serves as his only knight."

" Hoo... He must be quite strong, considering he did consume both pieces."

Rias had this frustrated look, yet proud at the same time. She crossed her arms under her bust, making my male physiology's attention distracted.

" This 'strong' man, got one-punched by a certain lord, though?"

I felt like my words became a boomerang. I played dumb at her obvious sarcasm, and the damage was reflected back. Perhaps it was better to flex instead? Being praised would be really good, too.

Still, I didn't think it was wise to gloat about that here, especially when I felt he was knocked down before he could show all his arsenal.

...

Stupid me, if I made it a really epic fight, maybe he could've possibly showed me more of his cards? No, if anything, it'd only make my faction look weaker. It was, despite its casualness, a test of strength. Being unable to defeat a servant from one of the top leaders would spell more aggression from Sirzechs.

" And you got tbe Power of Destruction, too... I don't know how I should feel about that."

Rias sighed, although in less audible voice, since the news of the spar was not to be blabbered around. But, I patted her shoulder.

" Let me show you something interesting later."

Also, in less audible voice. It really helped she was beside me, and the others were away. Then, Rias took me, along with her peerage to meet her parents. Ray and Hana-nee was looking from afar, not feeling too motivated to meet 2 high-ranked purebloods.

" I can finally meet my daughter's 'knight in shining armor' after so long. Kurayama-kun, glad to be your acquaintance."

The red-haired man extended his hand, and I shook it with a casual smile on my face. As Rias was about to be wed for their family's influence, I doubted I looked pleasing in their eyes.

" Likewise, Mr. Gremory."

The older man's face was a little strained, as we both felt the awkwardness in the air. Luckily, the wife swooped in to the rescue. Truly, a man is nothing without his woman.

" Now, now. No need to be so tense, both of you. Zeoticus, your face is adorkable, but try to keep it nice for the children, yes?"

Facing her husband with 'ara-ara' face, she reprimanded him lightly. Then, she turned to me with the same expression.

" Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but it seems Kaito-san is worried if we're troubled by the previous events?"

A woman's intuition is absolutely astounding. I was scared, although I was pretty sure my poker face wasn't broken.

" Ara, such thing is trivial compared to how happy Rias looks now. This may come as cheap from people you thought were trading their only daughter for political reasons, though."

Sensing the unpleasant atmosphere around her words, I immediately put my hands up and tried to refute. However, before I could utter anything, she cut me off.

" It's reasonable that you think like that, and I admit, we had those intentions as well."

" Mama..."

Rias surely understood that already, but hearing it directly seemed to hurt her still. If she were a normal teenage female, surely she would run away and weep in her room. She stood there, the only sign of her frustration was the wrinkles on her dress near her hands.

" Still, as a parent, don't you want your daughter to be with the best?"

" Definitely."

I answered without hesitation.

" Of course I'd rather marry her off to a respectable, friendly family than some strangers in the human world. She's my only daughter, after all."

She directed a motherly gaze towards Rias.

" Here she is, doing well, and finally having someone to accompany her. Imagine, this clueless girl bringing a man aside from her peerage home... If anything, we can only be thankful to you, Kaito-kun."

One of Two Great Ladies of Kuoh... a clueless girl?! How interesting. Well, at least I could breathe in peace now. Their heart rate and expression showed their honesty, and I'd seen really brutal human parents, but deep inside, maybe parents really were unable to not love their child.

It would be awful, really awful.

" You can call me Zeoticus, Kurayama-kun."

The dandy old man coughed to attract some attention. Smiling slightly, I nodded at his offer.

" Of course, Zeoticus-san. But only if you address me by my given name as well."

" Very well."

We shook hands, finally rid of the suffocating awkward atmosphere from before. However, I couldn't help but think that this was a man completely tamed by his wife. Come to think of it, wasn't the power of destruction Bael's bloodline power? Didn't that mean this Venelana Gremory was previously Venelana Bael?

How terrifying.

So this was the mother of current devil-king.

The banquet ended up with a nice note, especially after the newcomers' introduction to the parents. Issei being usual, glaring at Venelana's breasts with so much intensity that we all were stunned by how shameless he was. Akeno carried him off on Rias' behest, and spanked him 1000 times. I was sure Akeno was giggling during the whole process.

Asia and Xenovia were trying their hardest not to tremble, as their formal nun disposition made them somewhat fearful. They were literally in hell, after all.

Still, they managed to end the meeting on a good note. Well, everyone except Issei really. His butt was never going to be the same.

As expected as one of the tycoons in the devil world, the rooms assigned to us were fantastic. At the very least, this could put 5 stars hotel to shame. Crystal chandelier, huge king-sized bed, and other things I couldn't find in surface world. Also, the room had weirdly pleasing aura that could rejuvenate the body... How amazing.

I looked at my bandaged hands in contempt. Honestly, if the wound hadn't seeped into my soul and life-force, I would've severed both arms and just restored them with spirit medicines or something. Restoring lost limbs wasn't too hard, but even if I cut off the infected part, the regrown limbs would still retain the foul injuries, as the wound was in the soul.

The same went for my torso and chest.

Wincing in pain crawling like hundreds of ant bites across the wound, I started to meditate to try and speed up the healing process. After countless times of examination of those wounds, I gained some understanding on the concept of curses inside them.

But still, I couldn't manage to crack and dispel them.

" Sigh, it seems I'll have to endure for a little more time."

I changed my attire to a T-shirt and shorts for optimal resting. My hands were still crippled, though, so...

" Master, I can really understand the pain of royal retainers now..."

" Hush! It's our job to help when he's wounded!"

" I'm just a blacksmith. You guys handle that, yeah?"

" Oi, your turn's tomorrow!"

I sighed at the display of the not-so-subtle rejection from my underlings, well, technically. As they were worried about me going off to unknown territory with pretty much crippled body, they tagged along by half-possessing me.

A huge warrior clad in blood red armor and armed with a menacing cleaver and a tower shield.

A pale-skinned monk with jet-black hair and straw hat.

Two ninjas carrying chained sickles.

And finally, a samurai with thin plant branch on his mouth.

" It's a total sausage party here..."

As a male, he welcomed the presence of a female, but having them possess him just felt too... unusual that this was the end results.

" Oy, Kaito! Damn, the room's totally awesome, huh!"

Issei, Kiba, and Gasper entered my room by blasting the door open.

" Kaito-kun, we're gonna have a meeting soon. Care to join us?"

Kiba smiled with his usual ikemen smile. Dude, please direct that to women. And here you wondered why people often shipped you with Issei...

" Alright. I'm in. You got cards?"

Issei smirked as he showed me a deck.

" All set."

Then, we all descended to where the others were already waiting. The maids already served tea and sweets for us to nibble on. Rias and Akeno were alraedy sipping tea, while Koneko had crumbs decorating her mouth.

" Now that everyone's here, I'll be assigning you training regiments."

Issei had an excited look on his face. He finally had the chance to obtain the strength vital for a devil's standing, and more. Rias smiled at her subordinates' excitement, and started assigning mentors for them.

Those were the names I had no idea, but I could catch that Kiba and Xenovia would be training with Sirzechs' knight, Okita Souji. As far as devil knights went, there was no better instructor. He was the knight in the most powerful devil's peerage after all.

Yep, THE knight. As in, the only one.

What kind of innate ability did he have to possess such potential?

And Issei got the standard protagonist trainer, which was a dragon. Not just any dragon, a devil-turned dragon king with breath powerful enough to rival a meteor strike. Let's see if he survived with all his limbs intact.

Instead of fussing about how he would survive, he was giddy to see a real life dragon. Wasn't he stuck with a dragon of higher grade than Tannin? I couldn't blame him, though. Dragons were revered as the king of beasts for reasons, and majesty was one of them.

Raynare opted to observe others' training, since the regiments mostly consisted of devil's magic, which was incompatible with her. Still, she could definitely gain something by the insight from there. Nee-san was okay with tagging along with me to Tannin's regiment.

" With that done, a round?"

Issei waved his cards, and got some attention.

Hm, what a dilemma.

Rias already mentioned that training would begin at daybreak, which meant every second of sleep was very valuable. But, they'd be too engrossed in training to play around and relax after today. Truly, I could feel their hesitation.

" Well... I am tempted. What about you guys?"

Therefore, I decided to interject. Issei had always been someone who liked his friends a little too much, and took everything a little too deeply. I hoped at least 1 or 2 adhered to his goodwill. I wouldn't blame them for refusing though.

Rias shot me a slight glare. She surely wanted everyone to sleep quickly, to ensure their peak condition tomorrow. As a leader, her actions were appropriate. I honestly had no excuse for my action of provoking them.

" Of course. That's what we planned, right? Issei-kun."

" Nn. You're going down."

" Hahahah... Sounds interesting kiddos. Count this old man in."

Even the honor student Kiba and the taciturn Koneko consented. Suddenly, like a model yokai who always sneaked on people, a hopeless governor appeared.

" Old man?"

" Yo. What's a trip without some gambling?"

I looked at this hopeless adult like he was some sort of idiot, but as dense as he was, the governor paid no mind.

" Ara, then I'll also join..."

Akeno's usual queen face entered the fray. Rias sighed as she also followed along. Raynare and Hana looked at each other before deciding to watch the battle ahead. Due to the number, we decided on doubting game.

Needless to say, Koneko's advantage was overwhelming. On the contrary, Issei and Raynare were the easiet to spot. Hm, an expressive beatiful woman was indeed soothing. As a healthy male, I felt really blessed. As fallen angels' beauty level surpassed humans by huge margin, my eyes were healed.

" Now Hyoudou... You're gonna put King, and take the whole pile."

Alright, nee-san. That's bullying. Issei was in tears.

In terms of game sense, Hana was at the very peak. Even though reading expressions of Koneko or Akeno was extremely hard, she made it up by speculating and finding the rhythm of their playstyle. Issei stood no chance as he got totally pulverized.

As for me, I mixed up my rhythm and got out of this hellhole already. Hana stayed because she wanted to bully people longer, although she could've made it out sooner.

" Prez, come on."

I nudged at Rias, while nodding to my surrogate sister. She nodded and continued to rob everyone's focus.

" Is there any training ground here? Preferably, some illusory space?"

" Well, yeah. In the backyard."

She led the way with me looking around the beautiful garden and thick forest she called backyard. There, on an empty wide grassland, a huge crimson magic circle was there. Apparently, the place was supposed to be used for Rating Games training.

" We're here."

The transport circle sent us to a separate dimension, inside a castle several times bigger than Gremory mansion. It was creepy, yet right at the same time. The castle from medieval age had this sort of atmosphere for sure.

I turned to the crimson-haired lady.

" Rias, I hate to say this..."

" Hmm?"

" But, what's this?"

I pulled on a single thick strand of hair proudly standing on her head. She jerked around, trying to push me away.

" Did you know the time I needed to make it?!"

" It's... ahoge, right?"

" Exactly! How can you tear out the pride of Japan like that?!"

I tilted my head in confusion. Pride of Japan? What's this woman talking about?

" Oy Rias, Aho-ge, surely means something, right?"

It seemed she saw lots of MC with that. I couldn't deny that many characters that have that turn out to be badass and cool at times, but almost all of them shared one trait.

They were "Aho".

" Well, anyway, now that we're here. I'm gonna have to say that you're weak."

As the atmosphere turned really tense, she stopped clutching her ahoge and looked down. I was quite sure she'd never been called weak until Riser.

" I don't mean weak as in you're lacking in power or anything. I'm sure your mana reserve and spells are quite good, even counting devil nobles."

To be honest, even Riser was a high-tier in terms of Rating Games. It wasn't a fair battle, which it would be perfectly normal if she didn't win.

" Growth... Isn't it?"

It seemed she understood. Well, if she didn't feel it with her peerage members' growth, I'd say she's no different from normal devil nobles.

" Devils have long lives. As such, they naturally grow stronger with time, like booze. Still, it seems that trouble really loves your peerage."

I had a feeling. After Riser, there's Kokabiel, and then, the attack on 3 Factions Summit. Kokabiel was a Cadre of Fallen Angel, and Kuoh was attacked by witches and devils with previous Maou's blood.

Next, they'd have a God after their heads. And then, after they managed to somehow survive the battle the deity is detained, he or she would somehow give premonition about another boss-class monster that would come. And then, the ORC would have a period of training, like the usual MC trope.

Unfortunately, Rias had hit a stump.

To advance in magic, she would need either some sort of enlightenment during griveous battle, or lots of time. Normally, devils could just spend hundreds of years to make their powers strong, but with all the threats coming with no break, the only other choice was enlightenment. But, the risk of her dying during combat would get higher and higher.

There was no such thing as fair battle in this world. And this world was not shounen anime where you could survive with plot armor and lots of screaming. If the world decided she wasn't vital for the main character or whatever, she'd just disappear or die tragically like some fodder characters.

" Of course, there's this thing called cheat sheet."

The only thing that enabled MCs to become MCs aside from plot armor. Some sort of crazy hacks received from a powerful being, or the likes, made the MC able to go toe to toe with the super boss for a while, and then they'd keep the power forever.

" Umm... You okay? You've been talking to yourself for 5 minutes..."

" Oh, yeah. Sorry, past habit."

{Yeah, since you didn't have anyone to talk to for about 11 years of your life aside from Red Dragon boy.}

" Anyone, that's not spirit."

{C'mon. You thought we were delusions.}

She crossed her arms and looked to the distance with a solemn face.

" I'm really hopeless, huh?"

Her voice was cracking.

" During Riser... I couldn't do anything... And then, you helped me out of the Kokabiel situation... "

Her voice slowly turned to slight sobs.

" Hic... Kiba's got his Balance Breaker... Koneko's opened up a little... Hic, I'm still the same old me. How frustrating..."

It must be so. She was definitely stressed about this more than I previously thought. Well, the trend's pretty horrific now, I wasn't against her being aware of the need to grow.

" Well, that's what a cheat sheet is for, right?"

She wiped her swollen eyes and laughed a little.

" Honestly..."

" Honest here. Well, cheat sheets all depend on users, though. I can't guarantee you'll be stronger just with this. Life sucks that way."

By conrolling respiration, martial artists enhanced their focus and calmed their mind. The same principle applied to magic as well. Then, I summoned Bael's signature magic from my sacred gear.

" Now, show me your own."

She conjured an orb of dark red magic. I got my orb close to hers, and hers got swallowed by my orb.

" Again."

Not satisfied, she once again conjured her magic, but, I stopped her from touching her orb to mine. Then, I offered my orb to her.

" Feel my magic, and compare it to yours."

The moment my orb was handed to her, I could say from her expression. It was the face of someone that got a jumpscare in horror movies.

" To put it simply... Your magic lacks substance."

I crossed my arm and lifted my chin, almost like a protagonist's mentor.

" It's like a pack of doritos, but when you open it, it's empty. Honestly, I was sure I could incinerate hell with that rage."

She giggled while covering her mouth with one palm. That was devilishly cute, I had to say. She then tried making another orb, extingusihed it, and repeated.

" You've gotta really imagine what you want it to do. Put in the will to destroy inside your magic."

" The will... You make it sound like I'm a horror character."

" Hey, I'm not the best teacher. But what I teach works."

Shrugging, I walked and sat on one of the exquite chairs designed for royalties. It felt really amazing. Looking at her meditating while controlling the magic flow all over made me feel a little ironic. It was how I first learned how to control my own. Also, I was giving hints to someone whose brother had tried and might try to eliminate me. Part of me was thinking what in the world I was doing, helping a possible enemy's sister.

" If it crossed that point..."

" Intent...Intent..."

" Try imagining how you want the magic to be. Then insert your feeling to that image. How badly do you want that magic to destroy your opponent?"

Her mana orb was starting to become more refined after an hour of conjuring and extinguishing again and again. Hmm, perhaps what she really needed was the opportunity to spam the skill button and level it up. Now that's what talent truly looked like.

" Something like that. You're getting it."

Rias sighed and dispelled her magic. Then, she went to a nearby shelf and took out a tea set, complete with sweets. Truly, even training area had this kind of regal service, devil royals were quite something.

" Won't eating sweets at night spell danger for girls?"

She offered me a cup, which I gratefully accepted. Luckily, she didn't make me grab it, since it would hurt like hell. Carefully, I covered my fingers with magic, and pretended to lift the cup normally. She sighed in bliss after sipping the herbal tea.

" Things like that don't really apply to devils. We're nocturnal."

" Hm, that makes a lot of sense."

" Also, like fallen angels, we're naturally beautiful, see? Fat and sugar went to right places instead of lumping together."

Emphasizing her point, she winked while making her assets' presence known. Indeed, almost all devils I met until now were very seductive. This might be subjective since I hadn't met too many devils until now, but well, I'd like to think all of them were pleasing to the eyes.

" Are we gonna be okay with not sleeping before training tomorrow?"

The tea was making me calm, thus a little sleepy. Keeping awake with her would be fine, but I would hate to botch her improvement program.

" Are you that sleepy already?"

" No. But you'll need to work hard tomorrow, right?"

Anyone would need a good sleep before braving harsh training. Also, the bed was too tempting not to be used. Had the guys not come, I might've fallen asleep then and there.

" Fine. I'll relent for today."

" That's for the best."

She put away the tea set. We walked to the portal, and returned to our respective rooms.

...

" Why are you here?"

" Ara, aren't you happy to be visited?"

I was met with a naked redhead staring at me. I slept very quickly, not even bothering to change clothes. However, the moment she entered the room and plopped to the bed, I was forced awake.

" What happened to resting for tomorrow?"

She was silent for a moment, and moved on top. Her breasts were swaying above my head, clouding my sense of judgement.

" Worth it."

" No it's not. C'mon Rias. You can sleep here, I'll sleep on the couch."

She'd gotten too used to sneaking into my house and slept along. Well, she got into a lot of bickering with Ray, but it seemed Ray herself just couldn't bar this devil princess from getting in. I, too, had gotten used to it already.

Still, this was her house. With her parents around, shouldn't she exercise more caution?

"I'm too used to sleeping with you already. Can't do."

Her eyes were moist. This devil... Did she purposely do this? If we stayed up late any longer, tomorrow might not be optimal. This sense of urgency while pointing to a certain direction... As expected of someone who's really good at strategizing.

But! You forgot one thing!

" Fine. You can sleep here."

" With me?"

" Yeah."

She snuggled to me, and hugged one arm.

" Kaito?"

" Hm?"

" It's about Gasper..."

The hikikomori vampire with time-stopping powers. I remembered him being very close to Issei, since he did help him quite a bit during the terrorist event before.

" Come to think of it, you didn't assign him anything yet."

" I still don't have a grasp on his powers, and he can't train by himself. Azazel said he's gonna come later and personally assign each of us our own regiments, but I'm still worried."

Turning to her, I met the sleepy blue-green eyes.

" Thus, I want you to train him."

" What about Issei? He mentioned about training with him once before."

" Issei's got his own training to worry about, unfortunately."

Sighing, I turned to face the ceilings, or rather, the canopy of this huge bed.

" Alright. I'll look after him until Azazel comes."