Chapter 5
Issei woke up in high spirits. Honestly, it was not surprising given that he recovered from his girlfriend, funny for him to say, and having a chance to see her second pic more clearly. It was nice to have a girl that was as interested in him as he was in her and more so, that she was not put off about the idea of being perverted.
But the minute he left his room, he noticed the tension around Elm and saw that Muzan was in a slightly angrier mood than before. Seliah and Zest both looked irritated and this worried him, normally they are neutral or just plain bored. Seeing them so pissed kinda scared him.
So, he didn't really say anything and just sat down to eat his breakfast with everyone and then got ready with his work for the day. Elm and Yoshino and Yoshinon walked out of the door with him while Muzan and the others got ready for the day.
Seeing Elm moody Issei decided to at least be an ear for her or at least to attempt to ask,
"Elm," she looked at him, "Are you okay?"
"No Issei I'm not but you don't have to worry about it."
Issei frowned, "Are you sure? I mean I'm here for you if you need anything." He rubbed the back of his head, "I mean I'm not going to say I can help in any way that requires me to fight or something, but I can at least be an ear for you to talk to or even twist off if you really need it."
Elm smiled at him.
"Thank you Issei, but I'm fine just something came up last night and it has me bothered. Naruto-sama can take care of it when he gets home."
"If you're sure."
"I am."
Elm smiled at the teen and while she wouldn't say that he was attractive to her she could at least appreciate his honesty and willingness to help her out. So, out of that respect she kissed him on the cheek, making the teen blush. Hey, while he might have a girlfriend, he can't deny that Elm was extremely pretty more in the high society kind of way but he knew this was just a thank you kiss. So, nothing to get invested into unless something comes of it down the line.
The rest of the walk into the school was quiet with Yoshino mostly focusing on talking to Yoshinon or just Yoshinon talking about their upcoming test for the day. Issei told her she would do fine, and she thanked him while getting a little embarrassed that she got a head pat.
After getting on campus Issei walked Yoshino into class before proceeding to his own where he knew Elm would be waiting. But he noticed something was off, the air around the school seemed extremely tense and that everyone was staring at him with either a neutral expression or disgust.
While most students have come to accept that he was trying to at least redeem himself a bit, most students just settled for being neutral to him. But now, things seem to go back to the way things were before he met Naruto and became his friend.
Entering his classroom, he noticed the tension was there too but Elm relaxed him with her gaze. That is until the teacher walked in,
"Class today we have a new student joining us today." The room started whispering,
"Who do think it is?"
"I hope it is a hot girl!"
"Screw that I want a handsome man, we need more of them on campus!"
"Yeah right, pretty boys are not all that!"
"Take that back!"
The teacher gained a vein on their forehead,
"QUIET!"
The room went silent and the teacher coughed,
"Now then young lady you can come in."
Opening the door, the room broke into whispers about the girl walking in.
Issei dropped his book in shock, there was no way she was here.
Standing there was Mariah and she seemed to be in her lolicon form rather than her more mature form from what he saw.
"Class welcome our new student."
Mariah bowed her head and smiled,
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, my name is Mariah and I hope we can all get along."
"Now class you may feel free to ask questions, let's not get too personal though."
On boy raised his hand,
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Mariah smiled brightly,
"Well now that you mention it yes, I do, he is the sweetest guy to me. He took me on a spectacular date and treated me like a princess."
The class broke into murmurs wondering who her boyfriend is, the girls as they wanted to meet this boy while the guys were jealous that someone snatched up the new girl.
Mariah winked at Issei and without warning she walked up to his desk planted a kiss on his lips leaving the room gob smacked.
"Hey baby, how are you?"
"….." Issei could only hold his mouth open and just try to make words but nothing would come out of his mouth. Just his jaw flapping around.
"Wait your Issei's girlfriend!"
"Yep." Mariah smiled and looked at the empty desk next to Issei and sat down there. "Now then can we get started?"
The teacher nodded his head and coughed to get the class attention back on him. But if one would look, the teacher had glared at Issei before pulling himself back into his lesson plan.
Issei, coming out of his shock, noticed the class was staring or glaring at him constantly and that some of the boys were slicing their throats with their thumb.
What the fuck was going on?
Muzan
Muzan wouldn't say he is the most patient person in the world.
Okay fuck it, he has the patience that is so bad that he blows up more than he is supposed to. But to be fair he was worse before he started serving under Naruto and quite honestly, back then he beheaded too many people for bothering him on his day's off.
But right now? His patience had finally worn out and he was going to get his hands on a little red hair tramp and tear her head off her shoulders.
"Can you believe this Muzan-senpai? I mean I knew that little pervert was only acting in front of all of us."
Muzan could only subtly glare at the teacher before turning away from them while in the teacher's lounge.
"We have no proof that Issei did what is being said about him." Heph, who didn't have any classes until lunch and the afternoon, glared at the male teacher.
The teacher snorted.
"Please, that brat has been a problem student ever since he got here. At least his two friends act in a way we can monitor, but now Issei is acting out more depraved and disgusting behavior.'
Muzan could only sigh while drinking lightly of his coffee, wishing it was either blood or high-quality Sake.
"Oh, so you believe a claim made by a bunch of teenagers that are just probably vindictive against Issei and now his rise into popularity?"
"No, I know that brat has to be committing these acts. Which is why I'm telling the headmaster that he needs to do something about this!"
"Please there is no actual proof."
"Oh, what would you know? You're just a damn foreigner, probably come from an immoral household. I don't know how things are done in your old country but here we frown on such behavior."
Now Heph was glaring at the man and walked up to him glaring straight at him,
"Want to run that by me one more time? Because I'm not sure I heard what I think heard."
The teacher snorted and without thinking spits in her face,
"Hm does that eyepatch make you deaf as well as blind, filthy foreigner." Their coworker scoffed. "I said what I said and I stand by it."
Heph wiped her face and smiled.
"Good to know."
The man turned away and looked at Muzan.
As he started to open his mouth, he found himself falling face first into the cabinet top breaking his nose and then falling backwards onto the floor knocking him out.
Heph released a big breath of fresh air,
"You shouldn't have done that." She mumbled as she glanced at Muzan, who glared at Heph but now she was glaring back,
"Oh, please you know the man was asking for it and if anyone asks, he fell into the cabinet top and then onto the floor." She smiled at him,
Muzan just glared,
"Don't' let your anger control you."
Heph snorted,
"Like you? I can see the wheels turning in your head and how much you want to just kill that Gremory girl no matter how much Naruto-sama told you not to." Heph replied with a nasty smirk.
Muzan glared and now his cup shattered from his aura, leaving him with just the handle.
"You best watch your next step."
"Muzan, look I know your pissed, but killing the girl and her peerage is more trouble waiting to happen. Plus, I can handle this mess easily trust me." Heph confirmed confidently.
Muzan shook his head,
"No, I gave those stupid girls warnings about crossing me and the Leviathan told them not to test me but she continues to push me so it is time to push back and show them what happens when they awaken a being of pure bloodlust and power." Muzan threw the handle to the floor and walked out of the room and Heph could only sigh and text two people and then hang up her phone.
"Muzan, please don't do something that will only turn Naruto against you." She rubbed her eyepatch, "Don't' turn into me please."
Issei
The day had gotten worse.
Issei was literally hiding out in the Kendo Club, as this is the only place that he could find safety. The club had told him to stay there while they sort out his mess, but honestly, he was more disturbed about what was being said and the claims.
Apparently, someone had spread a rumor about him being some kind of perverted freak. Claiming he sexually assaulted a woman off campus and that she was traumatized by the incident. Issei knew that it was most likely from his date with the fallen angel, but he was shocked at how insane the story got. He was bothered for a bit but when he was called a rapist and a monster, it started to become too much for him.
His work was sabotaged to the point that the teachers turned a blind eye minus Muzan who was not taking this lying down.
He was bullied by several of the kids on campus.
Girls had been throwing slanders against him and even throwing food and stuff at him.
He went to the bathroom and found himself covered in some kind of unknown liquid and prayed it was not pee. It covered him head to toe and he smelled, bad.
Then came the other students either pushing past him or hitting him when they walked by him, the teachers turning a blind eye to this and protecting them claiming Issei instigated the incident.
For the first time in a long while, he felt very alone. More alone than he had in a long time and this time he only had the club and his girlfriend to be there. None of them believed the rumors and those that did, were excommunicated from the clubs.
Surprisingly it was the girl's kendo club that protected him most vehemently. Claiming that he had changed as a person and know for a fact that his date didn't go that way and that the girl did it as some kind of mean-spirited prank to begin with it. They wouldn't be shocked that this is something that was done to just hurt the boy further from this incident in particular. Especially when Mariah told her own accounts of her date and how nothing of the type happened and even admitted to the girls in the club that she even gave Issei the choice of having sex on their first date, but instead he wanted to be sure before they went that far. That was more than enough for them to consider his side of the story and to protect him.
Even more shocking it was the captain that was fighting off people that were trying to harass him.
Issei giggled thinking about one guy who actually tripped him and stole his bag while throwing all of his homework across the hall leaving him late for class and with a detention.
After that period that same teen was nursing a broken nose and black eye. He saw him, turned and walked the other way as quickly as possible but saw the kendo club president walking out of the bathroom wiping some blood off her knuckles, making him smile.
But sadly, that was not the end of his troubles.
Word had gotten to the Headmaster of the school and he was being pressured by the teachers and students to have him expelled and from what he gathered he was considering it. But the reason he hasn't is that this is all based on rumors and no one had actual evidence of the incident in particular. So, he was reserving his judgement of the incident and waiting to hear more from those fighting to protect him and any evidence to support Issei's innocence.
Issei just sighed and went into the shower room and after turning on the water and trying to scrub the scent out of his body, he fell to his knees. He was having a hard time holding it in but he finally broke,
Issei for the first time in a long time, cried.
He cried as he was alone and heartbroken.
Who thought this was funny? Who was wanting to hurt him this bad that they went to these lengths? Issei didn't know but he felt his world was coming down and he couldn't stop it.
In another room, Mugen and Jin could only frown at hearing their friend cry. They looked at one another and walked away leaving their friend to himself, they had a culprit to catch and they had a good idea where to start looking.
ORC
Rias felt quite smug at this point. Muzan thought he could mess with her and Serafall claimed he was scary but where was he then?
Nowhere that's where as he knew better.
Rias had come up with a genius plan to get Issei away from Muzan and at the same time getting him to join her peerage. With his new found skills and talent she was sure that it would be very useful in her peerage and would help her with her problem.
As much as she didn't want to do something like this, it was the only option she could find at this time, even though Sona herself said she wanted nothing to do with this and anything she does from now on is her own fault. She would not have her name and family name dragged down due to her coming up with insane plans.
Rias could only scoff.
As if this plan was going to fail. It was simple given she had two humans doing all the leg work for her.
First, she found Issei's two former friends peeping on the Tennis Club, there she confronted them while they were alone and fed them the sad story of his last dates misfortune. How Issei was turning over a new leaf more to hide what he was wanting to do to the girl and what he did.
What was so bad?
Well, she told them that he raped the girl and that she was so ashamed of this action thinking he was a nice person.
His two friends started spreading this rumor among the guys and girls on campus and this got to the teachers and now causing Issei to be ostracized by the very people he was winning over.
Rias knew it was only a matter of time before he was kicked out of the kendo clubs and that people were going to leave him all alone.
There she would swoop in and tell him that she 'believes him' and wants to help prove his innocence. From this point he would follow her and she would reveal what his friends did while having their memories erased of her telling them this.
From there, his friends are expelled, for the good of the school, and Issei is now loyal to her and willing to join her cause without a doubt. Then she would help him unlock his sacred gear and then he would help deal with her personal problem and finally being free to live her own life.
After that? Who knows? Maybe she'll find a new boyfriend of her own or settle down with a more interesting being or devil than Riser.
As for Issei? Well, whatever happens, happens. He can go back to his old life but he would always be at her side when she needs him and nothing would change that no matter how much Muzan threw a fit about it.
Rias could only move her pieces into check-mate and almost smile at her plan coming to fruition.
Outside of the club what she didn't sense was that Muzan was standing there with his eyes vibrating from the pure rage flowing through him. This bitch really was trying the last of his patience and he was going to show her why that was ill advised to even the likes of Heaven and the highest order of devils.
But no more.
He was finally done dealing with an annoying brat who thought too highly of herself and didn't know her reality.
The reality she was going to be slaughtered and eaten by him and then he was going to do the same to her peerage.
"Muzan."
Turning his head, he saw Seliah and Zest standing there with frowns on their faces.
"What? You want a piece of the little girl? Too bad, I'm going to kill her myself you can have her peerage to torture for all I care."
"Muzan you know Naruto wouldn't approve of this."
The vampire glared at them and his aura blasted at them making them both flinched.
"Don't you dare! Naruto-sama wouldn't put up with this girl's game! Especially now! You know how dangerous of a time this is for master and what happened the last time he was disrupted!"
Both women flinched, how could they not that was the time the devils were slaughtering the Neko race in the underworld. He had come across a young neko child that was running and happen upon the grave he was visiting for the week. There he killed the devils for daring to even stand on that ground. He learned about what happened to the Neko's in the underworld and after taking her to them, he went there personally and well, let's just say the Underworld lost two more families in his rage and Zekram himself learned quickly how to appease his rage.
"Regardless you can't do this. After all," Zest smiled slightly, "You promised her."
Muzan's eyes went wide.
A dazzling beauty, blond hair, glowing wings, and a beautiful figure. She smiles at him and whispers something making him feel his chest constrict.
Muzan shook his head and growled,
"Don't ever bring her up again." He glared at the ORC building and after a few seconds he growled and walked away. Leaving small cracks in the grass that are barely visible unless you look close enough.
Zest nodded her head and Seliah just sighed, what? She was still scared of a man that disemboweled people just for looking at Naruto wrong.
Muzan, however was more irritated now he couldn't kill the little brat. That damn promise, he made it in a moment of weakness and now his pride won't let him forget it with her.
Naruto could forgive him for his mistakes and punish him accordingly, but she wouldn't forgive him.
He sighed and remembered a time when things were simpler with both of them holding hands and watching the setting sun.
He had a smile on his face for the rest of the day.
Kendo Club
Issei had finally gotten out of the shower, surprisingly he had cleaned the smell out of his hair and off his body.
Walking into the changing room he saw a pile of clothes sitting on a bench and a note with his name written on it. Picking it up he read,
'We thought you could use a change of clothes. Once you get your uniform cleaned, please return the clothes.'
Issei smiled and got changed, seeing that it is the same uniform but only it didn't reek of whatever that smell was. Thinking of his clothes he saw them sitting where he left them and quickly put them in a trash bag so that he could take them home and clean them. Or at least, for Muzan to clean since he like cleaning and used it as a reason to distract himself while Naruto was gone.
Upon walking into the main training area, he saw one of the girls from the kendo club, Muruyasa, run up to him.
"Issei good new you're in the clear!"
"Huh?"
She smiled,
"It turns out that the rumors were started by your two former friends."
This hit Issei like a ton of bricks, more so that it was two of his former buds. Were they that upset with him over the fact he was trying to better himself?
"Yeah, it turns out that they set the whole thing up by making up the fake rumor about the girl you went on the first date with." She shook her head, "Mugen and Jin caught them on video confessing they did it and the Headmaster is furious." She shook her head, "From what I gathered he is going to be looking into everything that happened today along with expelling your two friends, sorry ex-friends, given that this caused a huge debacle in the school."
"Yeah."
Issei took a seat on a nearby bench with the girl frowning, she couldn't blame him.
After all, his two friends or at least former friends did this to him. They created that horrible rumor and almost got him expelled and possibly brought up on false charges of rape. That is a crime that no one can forgive and while she would say the two were harmless this was far from it.
Taking a seat next to him she hugged him slightly,
"You know the club never doubted your innocence."
Issei smiled but then look at the ceiling,
"I thank all of you for that. I know how easily it could have been for you girls to believe I turned back to that way of life. But I'm really trying to better myself and one day prove myself that I'm worthy of the girlfriend I have now."
Murayasa smiled even brighter,
"She is lucky to have you as well." She kissed his cheek, "Keep up the good work Issei I've got to get to practice."
Issei waved at her before picking up his bag again and walking out of the room until he saw Heph standing there with a smile on her face.
"Good to see you in a better mood kid."
"Um thank Heph-sensei?"
"Ah right we've never talked in length before huh?" She rubbed the back of her head and laughed a bit, "Sorry about that, you can call me Heph in private, but you should know that I'm friends with Naruto."
This shocked Issei and asked,
"Does that mean your-,"
"Yep. But I'm more complicated than the others." She motioned him to follow him, "Come on I want to tell you some important stuff along with testing out how good you are with working on machine and making furniture. After all you skipped my class today," Issei paled, "So consider this your make up class."
Issei could only hope this wouldn't be too difficult as for all of his strength and ability now, he still sucked at making stuff.
ORC building
Koneko had just finished her classes and was heading up to see her king and what is going on with this plan of hers.
Honestly, she feels that they are better suited for finding quantity right now over quality but she wouldn't question her king on her orders. She just didn't want that stupid pervert in their ranks on matter how much he has changed.
'I'm not a fan of the strategy we're using and worse, we have the obstacle of his 'girlfriend' to deal with. But I'm sure that Rias or at least Akeno could seduce him away from them if they play it just right. After all, he's a pervert.' Koneko thought as she walked absentmindedly.
She stopped near the wall that acted as the border between the school and the street and sighed.
"Nyo, what's got you so bothered?"
Turning her head, she saw someone falling out of a tree and landing on her hands and feet, much like a predatorial animal. She was crouched but she was focused on three appendages in particular:
Her cat ears and cat tail that was lazily swinging behind her.
"You look trouble nyo, what's going on Shirone?"
The woman stood up and she was shivering in fear of the slim neko girl. She had her red eyes staring straight at her as if she is looking into the depths of her soul.
"W-w-who-," Koneko shakily asked as the woman smiled.
"My name is Neferpitou, Pitou for short." Pitou introduced as she stood up, standing proud on her feet. "As you can guess we are one in the same no Shirone, Nyo?"
Koneko could only shiver, words not escaping her mouth.
"Oh my," She put her finger to her chin. "You looked terrified Nyo. Why is that?"
She leaned her head down while walking closer to Koneko in a mockingly slow manner.
"G-g-g-get back!" Koneko swung her fist, the minute Pitou was in range.
Pitou just side-stepped the strike and appeared at her right side with a playful smile on her face.
"Impressive strength for someone so young, Nyo. But your pretty slow." Pitou pointed out calmly.
Koneko lashed out again and this time tried to throw it at her legs but missed with Pitou finding herself behind her and flicking the back of her head. Koneko's eyes widened and she was shivering.
'I-I can't win. I need help.' Koneko thought desperately.
Without waiting Koneko hit the ground and tried to cause the dust that kicked up to cover her while she made a dash to get out of there. But the minute she appeared outside the dust, Pitou was standing there with a smile on her face, making Koneko stumbled backwards.
"Naughty little kitten. You should know better, Nyo." Pitou's eyes turned more feral and her grin more sinister as she pulled her arm back.
Koneko was sent flying into a tree with a punch, her jaw was sore but she quickly got to her feet and summoned her wings and took off into the sky.
Pitou frowned but then smiled,
"Not so fast Nyo."
Koneko felt something latching onto her leg and when she looked down, she saw some kind of mishappened doll arm grabbing a hold of her leg and preventing her from moving. The doll was connected to Pitou's tail and she just smiled and waved a single fingered claw at her.
"Now that is rude Shirone, Nyo. You can't just get up and run."
With a single twitch, her doll sent Koneko crashing into the ground making her cough up blood.
'She's too strong! I need to find a way to escape!' Koneko acting quick jumped to her feet again and tried to run but Pitou appeared beside her and hit her in the back of her head. Sending the girl face first into the ground.
'Damn I can't esc-,' Koneko thought before Pitou grabbed her ankle and lifted her into the air before slamming her face first into the ground.
Still holding her ankle, Pitou swung her in the air in a 360 spin before flinging her into a tree. She went crashing through the tree and a sickening crunch could be heard and the tree fell on top of her.
Pitou smiled sadistically and proceeded to walk up to the pinned child. But like clockwork the girl lifted the tree up and threw it at her, which Pitou simply sidestepped. The tree caused a loud thud and Pitou could only shake her head,
"Shirone, you don't think I don't know what you're trying to do with that, Nyo? Come on give me a little more credit than that, Nyo." She dashed to her and slammed her fist into the girl's stomach lifting her in the air by the punch. "You're so weak it makes me sick." She removed her fist and slammed her opposite hand into her cheek sending her into another tree and to slump over. Pitou walked up to the girl and put her knee into her back, "Do you know why you can't win, Nyo?"
"F-Fuck you!" Koneko stated weakly, wincing as Pitou pressed her knee into Koneko's back.
Pitou smiled before she gripping Koneko's hair and pulling her head back as she leaned in and whispered into Koneko's hidden ear.
"Because you're hiding from who you are, Nyo. Your one of us but refuse to accept it and hide behind the power of a devil, Nyo. You're pathetic."
Sensing danger, Pitou released the girl and dashed away when a black and red blast came straight at her but missed Koneko as Pitou landed a few feet away from Koneko, but before she could get comfortable, Pitou became a blur as Kiba swung his sword at her as Rias checked Koneko over.
"Rias…" Koneko whispered before she hugged her King.
Rias hugged Koneko as she glared at Pitou with anger in her eyes.
"You dare harm one of my peerage members!? You'll pay for this cat!" Rias stated as Kiba was prepared to attack again.
Pitou snorted.
Her.
Pay?
'Oh, please. Her power might be impressive to some, but I can see that a few blasts is all she can manage with her weak ass power, Nyo.' Pitou thought as she analyzed her opponents. 'Her brother on the other hand, now that is someone that could kill me and not someone that I want to cross paths with, yet.'
Pitou relaxed, since she was in no danger, exiting her tense form and adopting a calm posture, which put Rias's on edge as Koneko gripped her tightly, shaking in her King's arms.
"Relax, Nyo, this is a matter between us Neko's. Nothing you filthy devils need to get involved with." She moved slightly to her right and a bolt of lightning missed her and she looked behind her seeing Akeno smiling at her with lighting dancing around her fingers. "How rude, I was talking, Nyo."
"Oh my, I seemed to have missed. I might have to fix that, so please take your punishment like a good kitty cat." Akeno chirped as she smiled, wanting to see Pitou in pain to get off to it.
Pitou just shook her head and was gone in a blur, appearing behind Akeno and flicking the back of her head, making Akeno's face imprint into the ground.
"Your outclassed little bitch, Nyo." She was gone again before Akeno could react defensively and sitting in a tree with a smile on her face as Akeno got up, dirt smearing her face and clothing.
Rias charged up an attack, Kiba prepped one of his swords into his hand, and Akeno was gathering more lighting in her hand.
"Oh, ho." Pitou purred as she stood on the branch, hands open and her arms bent to point her fingers upward. "You are approaching me, Nyo?"
"Of course." Rias replied. "I promised I would deal with you, didn't I?"
Pitou playfully smirked before her expression faded and her face became neutral.
"Let's go!" Rias stated as she started to summon her magic, but this came to a halt when Pitou's slits narrowed to the point of being very thin and she released her full aura at them.
This made all of them panic and sweat from the pressure, they couldn't move or say anything. It was like they were choking and they couldn't breathe.
"Your all too weak. Come after me and I'll kill all of you, Nyo." Pitou stated calmly as she passed by Rias, not doing anything. "My Dear, Sweet Shirone, if you ever want to match me, you are going to need to see the truth of the past and the damage these devils did to us before the Dark Savior came for us, Nyo."
"Who…" Akeno started to ask nervously.
Pitou seeing she had her fun waved at them and vanished in a blur leaving the group to fall to the ground and cough as the tension flooded from their bodies.
Each one had fear running in them now, realizing how dangerous of an opponent that was. They were so terrified that they didn't dare think about following her or trying to track her. All they could do is regroup and try to heal up from the experience first.
While all of them were perfectly fine, minus the headache Akeno had, Koneko was unwilling to let go of Rias, nearly digging her fingers into Rias's flesh.
"No…" Koneko mumbled as she shook, eyes watering. "I'm not… like that…"
Chapter End