"Issei, I'm done with my shift, I've gotta get home so I'll leave you to lock up ok?" A girl's voice called out to Issei. He was working the evening shift at his local convenience store, a job he had taken up for two reasons. One, after his parents death in a horrific train wreck at the start of the summer he had to find some way to pay the bills and while his parents had already paid off the house and insurance payouts would keep him going until he graduated, without work he would have no money to do the things he enjoyed.

The second reason had just left, the daughter of the owner of the convenience store who was also a part timer, Caroline. A short buxom foreigner with long, wavy ginger hair had caught his eye one day when he was in the store shopping, and when she noticed that his gaze was on her for a little too long she asked him what was wrong. He responded with the first thing that popped into his head, "Do you have any openings for part timers?". She simply smiled at him and handed him an application form, one week later he was the one behind the counter and has been there for most of his last summer vacation before high school.

Before his parents died they had encouraged him to try and get into Kuoh Academy, a prestigious institution that until this coming year had been a girls only school. He had been studying hard and the entrance exam was held last month. He was due to get his results any day now, he and his two friends, Matsuda and Motohama had agreed to try and get in together. The three, known to most as the 'Perverted Trio' had agreed to try and get in in order to form harems from the girls at the school, however after the train wreck Issei had another reason on his mind to get in, making his parents proud. Ever since they had passed away Issei had spent more and more of his time studying, and less time hanging out with his friends. They still came to see him every so often; they once came into the store while he was working and when his friends asked him why he was working there he just pointed over to the checkout where Caroline was standing. They'd gotten the idea quickly.

*Ring*
Issei was brought out of his thoughts when someone entered the store. 'At this hour really?' Issei thought looking at the darkness outside the storefront windows. The girl who entered was small with white hair that had cat pins threaded through it. If he had to guess Issei would say that she looked to be a year younger than he was. He thought she looked pretty cute but wondered why she was out at this late hour.

"Welcome." Issei said with a rehearsed smile, the girl didn't acknowledge him and simply went to the sweets aisle, emerging with more sweets than she could realistically carry. She brought them over to Issei and placed them on the counter along with a 2000 yen bill. Issei rung up the purchase and asked if she needed a bag. The girl nodded and walked out with sack of sweets.

When the girl left Issei began closing up the shop. He turned the sign around, locked the front door, and took the trash out to the back alley, locking the back door behind him. There was another thing about him that few people knew, ever since he was young he could use magic, even he wasn't sure how. When he'd told his parents about it they were just as confused as he was, that was the day when they'd told him that he was actually adopted. It was a shock to him at the time, but since then Issei had come to terms with the fact, although he did find himself wondering on slow days who his birth parents were and whether they knew about his other secret. Shaking his head to clear his mind Issei took the bags of trash and set them in the bins, pressing them down so any passerby would be unable to see what he did next. Focusing his magic into his hand he created a small ball of black and red magic in his palm, he called it ruination, or destruction since this particular magic destroyed anything it touched. He quickly used it to destroy the bags of trash, saving space in the bins.

He always did his best to make sure that no one ever saw him use his magic, but today, it seemed that he was negligent as a man with long silver hair ran into the alley looking fearfully over his shoulder. Issei overheard the man speaking to himself, "Damn it Heinz, just had to come to her territory didn't you, Crimson Ruin Princess really is an appropriate name, that bitch is terrifying." That's when the man noticed Issei. "Lucky me, it seems I won't go hungry tonight at least. Sorry boy but this is the end for you." The man walked up to Issei and began licking his lips. Issei backed up a bit and held his arms up to block whatever attack was coming.

"Stop right there." The voice of a young woman came from the entrance of the alleyway. "In the name of house Gremory, I have been sent here to end you Heinz Collenheim, oh, we have a civilian, Koneko, grab him."

"On it." a figure launched herself towards the madman but the alley's shadows seemed to move to cover her face keeping Issei from getting a look at anyone other than Heinz. The figure knocked him to the ground with a clothesline. But then screamed out in pain when he bit her arm as she hit him. In the second that it bought him the man managed to throw the girl back towards her master.

Issei at this point had turned to run away. "Not so fast little snack." The man yelled giving chase. Issei turned around for a moment and used his magic to create a wall of ice between him and the madman. Using the time it bought him Issei ran home as fast as possible already ruling out getting the authorities due to his magic use and the sheer weirdness of the event. It's not like they would have believed his story anyway.

When all was said and done there wasn't even a shred of the stray devil's clothing left. Koneko the girl who'd bought sweets from Issei earlier held her arm where Heinz had bitten her. Despite the Rook's defensive prowess the creature's jaw had the strength of a vice and it certainly left some damage. Meanwhile her king was inspecting the wall of ice. "This was, magic? Did he even use a casting circle?" Rias Gremory wondered aloud. Like the other members of her peerage they'd been able to get a clear look at the boy although they'd used magic to conceal their appearance. She was wondering who the boy was and if he was a threat, if so she may need to take action.

Her knight broke her train of thought, jumping down from the roof where she'd stationed him to cut off the stray devil's escape. However he'd been beaten to the punch by the one who created the ice wall they'd used to corner the stray against. "Rias, If I may, he used a magic circle and at that speed the spell had to be second nature from practice or instinctive for him. But that's not the most interesting part." The blonde haired boy said with a troubled look on his face. "The magic circle, was identical to that of the Lucifuge family."

"How is that possible?" Rias wondered eyes widening in surprise. 'The last of their line is Grayfia, there isn't even a second or third cousin left after the War.' She thought to herself before giving her orders out to her servants "Akeno take and preserve a piece of this ice, we'll get it examined later. Koneko, Kiba, I want you two to look into who this boy is, we need a name, date of birth, family, anything you two can find."

"His name is Issei." Koneko said matter of factly.

"How do you know that?" Rias asked surprised.

"It's what his name badge said. I bought sweets from him earlier." Koneko said plainly.

"Well that's a start." Rias said a slight smile coming to her face at their fortune before dismissing her peerage for the night.