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FICTION

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Omake 7: Red Strings of Fate (3-3)

"Good morning, Hoitsu-kun!"

Normally, this would have been either Akeno or Ingvild that would greet me this chirpily and with such affectionate honorifics. It was part of the normalcy, the beginning of the status quo that preserved the sanity of the school as a whole.

But when the one that uttered those 'angelic' worlds had red hair, blue eyes and a stunned look as soon as she realized what she had just blurted out from a sense of 'familiarity' that I could only assume had been born from what happened the night before… well, I had all the rights to freeze up, eyes wide open and with my skin paling several shades into the whitest white possible.

The rest of the students around stopped on their tracks, wide eyes locking onto the scene with abject horror and surprise. Kunou was right beside me when this unfolded, the little blonde's jaw dropping at the sheer absurdity of the matter. The reaction was similar to Koneko's in some ways, with the silver-haired Nekoshou distancing herself from this matter by developing a strange twitching by her left eye. It was clearly for irritation, but I wasn't exactly sure of why.

The only saving grace right now that prevented the worst from happening was that Akeno and Ingvild had yet to come to school. The former was possibly because she had been studying a lot and pulling some all-nighters to get some exams done, while the latter probably overslept with how much effort she was putting behind the Theater Club, so I didn't find her awake when I went to check if she was up to go to school yet.

A temporary saving grace at that, as I could tell this could easily turn in the worst words ever brought up to start a massive conflict within a school.

"I-I mean," The redhead muttered nervously, trying to catch herself from that troublesome mistake and I sighed.

"It was an honest mistake," I interjected calmly. "Considering how pleasant yesterday was, you're still stuck in that mood since it's early in the morning."

The girl nodded quickly at this. "Yes, sorry."

I nodded back. "It's alright."

There were no further exchanges beyond that, yet some damage still remained in the form of rumors as people talked about what had just happened. Clashing rumors escalated things to a worse circumstance. The thing that really made this kind of rumors fairly upsetting was that the existence of so many different theories led to even crazier ones to take hold within students' conversations. In layman terms, the more theories there were, the craziest among those would stand out the most and gain importance and acceptance from others.

I was a believer of 'perhaps there is something wrong in news that hasn't been confirmed by the particular people tied to those or that there isn't a solid proof to sustain those', while others, in the truest fashion of sheeple, believed those to a jarring determination. And with determination, came confidence and absolute support for those utter lies… which then translated in misunderstandings of massive proportions.

For a few hours, I was spared from any sort of trouble tied to this problem. But as I was finally able to blitz through the paperwork I had to face for this part of the day, I ended up having to stop and look at the irked look on one Sona Sitri.

"Y-You… You!" She exclaimed with an angry voice, her furious look matched by pretty much the female component of the School Council. Except Ruko-chan. The brunette had been sticking by my side since I started delving into the white and black beast and she was as clueless as I was about the sudden assault mounting against me. "What did you do?!"

The sudden exclamation suddenly caught me off-guard. "W-What?"

"How about you tell us when you were planning to tell us, Hoitsu-kun!" Reya remarked, followed up by the others.

"Obviously he was trying to hide it away as much as he could," Tomoe continued without hesitation.

"To think he would steep so low. Such a shame, Hoitsu-kun," Momo added with a hint of sadness before being overtaken by the remaining girl in that list of fierce women set against me… for some mysterious reason I should have been aware by now.

"How come you picked the one that preferred to hug without shirts? What's the purpose of friendship without limited skinship?!" Tsubasa concluded, drawing some odd frowns from the rest of the room.

"I-I don't want to… sound too intruding, but I don't understand what is going on," Ruruko inquired nervously and Sona sighed.

"Sakakibara Hoitsu, without telling any of his closest confidants and friends and even closer and intimate people like his president, decided that setting an arranged marriage with Rias Gremory was acceptable."

Sona decided to proclaim, leaving me speechless, confused and mostly baffled.

"I did what with who and then what?!"

"It's futile to hide the truth, we know that it is-" Sona prepared to bash at me about my version before even giving it a chance by listening to it.

"False," Tsubaki muttered as she finally entered the room with a nervous look plastered on her face. The response got the full attention of the girls. "I just verified the source. It's just a rumor. As it is pretty much the rest of what we heard."

There was silence, and I understood that the table had turned. And it had flipped so hard that the girl knew I was well aware of my current advantage over her. I would have normally let this go with a little poke and tease, but considering how they were ready to pounce and tear me apart with that argument, I decided to go a little step further.

"Reya-chan," I started to say with a small grin that just exuded cockiness. "I can't exactly plan to tell you anything if there isn't anything to say to you about an arranged marriage."

Her lips twitched as she looked away in a case of pure embarrassment.

"Tomoe-chan," I went on my second prey. "As mentioned just now, I have no secret to try and scramble to hold back as 'much as possible'."

The girl looked at the table, a blush flaring by her cheeks at the awkward turn of events now setting her in disadvantage.

"Momo-chan," I muttered with a more lenient tone. "I would like to remind you that I'm not the guy that would ever consider going through that kind of hassle. Arranged marriages just are the opposite of what I would hope to end up with."

The silver-haired woman had the decency to look ashamed of what just happened and soon it was just me and… Sona.

"A miscalculation. One driven mostly by worry from your kind and most intimate president, Hoitsu-kun," Sona swiftly tried to protect herself from retaliation, but I wasn't planning to keep by verbal counterattacking, not when I had the best idea to turn her words against her even with those she was using right now.

"I suppose you are, Sona-buchou," I happily replied. "In fact, you would keep in mind a lot that one of your loyal and faithful subordinates might require a break from work now that this crisis is unfolding. So… how about you take on the paperwork for today?"

"I-" The heiress froze up at that cheeky counter, her eyes widening in shock as she realized that she had been easily tricked into taking on the rest of my work for today. Her mouth closed, then opened again and closed. Defeat crossed her glance as she surrendered at the fact that she had messed up her chances of leaving this encounter unscathed.

A few minutes later, I was out of the School Council's club room and making my way towards the school's exit together with Ruruko. While the girl didn't feel happy about taking part in that kind of action against the president, she knew better than me that there were good chances she would have to do the most out of that work if she lingered for too long. So, instead of staying behind, she decided to spend this time with me as we made our way back to our respective homes.

Just as we turned the corner to find a most curious scene unfolding before our own eyes. Here we were, a few steps away from leaving school when we saw Rias and Ise… and a confused Asia talking between one another.

"Is it true that you are planning to marry Hoitsu-senpai, buchou?"

"Uhhh," Rias muttered, while trying to not answer wrongly at Issei's sudden question.

"I thought you weren't interested in Senpai?" The brunet pushed up. "I mean, there is nothing wrong if you want to- but then you would have to explain that to Akeno-san and Ingvild-san."

"Uhhhhhh..." The redhead didn't have any smart response to it, clearly overwhelmed by the sheer interest displayed by the young man. Either that or because she was enjoying the attention she was getting by him.

"It was just a rumor," I called out, easily gaining the trio's attention.

"H-Hoitsu-niisan?" Asia replied in surprise. "Do you mean it? It was just a lie?"

"The school's rumor mill was at it after what happened early this morning. They just mixed what happened yesterday to a mistaken way Rias addressed me," I elaborated as we walked up closer to the three. "We just had dinner and then we went back to our respective homes."

Issei deflated a little, his interest vanishing. "Oh. So… you are not after Buchou?"

"Nope," I curtly replied, paying some surprise over the little pout that briefly appeared on the redhead's face. I didn't question it as I knew that would have just triggered more issues for the two of us. With that done, I just bid them a good afternoon as I was ready to leave since I was more than certain we were done with this mess now more than ever. Ruruko took the lead as we both moved to leave the situation before something happened to make us regret existence once again… but I proved to be too late as Rias seemed to remember something she wanted to tell me something important.

I don't know how physics really works in this crazy world. Maybe I severely misunderstood Rias' inability to control her strength in some instances and thus that would explain why another issue sparked out of her incapacity to stop just in time as I carefully paused, turned around and… I was tackled down by the redhead. She didn't mean it, not when the first thing to slam onto me was her head right onto my chest. She hadn't seen that in her panicked mood, and she definitely could practice some bits about landing… as I was suddenly brought to a familiar situation.

The moment I landed down, I felt something sweet and soft plant onto my lips. And… then I felt a tongue. I blinked, eyes widening in shock as I realized that Rias had once more got us stuck in a kiss. And this time, either due to gravity or surprise, she forced a french kiss to ensue. The worst part? I unconsciously returned the effort.

There was silence, there was shock. Ruruko had stopped the moment she heard me crashing, with her jaw hanging low as she was the closest of the group to see what was going on. Issei and Asia would approach slowly to see what happened, with both completely surprised by what was going on.

After just a few minutes, Rias pulled out and, with her face burning fully red she sighed.

"Maybe… another apology?"

…

"I-I suppose."

This would soon prove, despite our own delusions of it being the second and then third and last time we did this that then we would have been freed. It would take two years and me waking up as it became usual for us in the same bed with Rias with the notion that I had to worry about her brother's stalking all day long that I realized the world just wanted to screw me up in a surprisingly positive way…

AN

And we bring an end to this mini-saga… next is the serious chance of pace! Battles, the return of characters- the introduction of new ones and… a plot unfolding in a secret society in Tokyo!

Current Milestone: 1961 Followers.

Next Milestone: 1916 Followers.

REVIEW Q&A!

Fan XXI:
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