Issei didn't know what was scarier, the American school system or the Japanese. You see, in America when one gets into a fight it was usually broken up by the teachers and then those involved where sent to deal with the vice principal, usually a big glowering middle aged man with a few fitness degree's hanging on his walls where the two had to sit through a lecture from the angry man who usually just had his lunch break interrupted by a bunch of pissy kids, before they were sent home to again deal with their angry, or proud, parents. But, and Issei didn't know if it was just this school or not, in Kuoh academy he wasn't sitting in some office, he was sitting in the school infirmary getting stitches sewn into his face while, and this was the scary part, the school president watched him like a hawk.
She stood towards the side of the room with a couple of frustrated, but patient, looking cops by the door just in case he bolted. She was a tiny thing, short and rather cute if it weren't for that ice cold death glare that she had welded to her face all the time. That, and her chilly composure made for a good president, but shitty bedside manner. She was waiting on the male nurse to finish Issei's stitches and give her the all clear before she began giving Issei the third degree. Until then Issei did his best to just sit there and keep his mouth shut while the adrenaline ran rampant through his system, it was hell trying to keep still when all you wanted to do was sprint out the door. In an effort to keep calm, Issei's foot bounced up and down on the bottom rung of the stool he was stationed on, up and down up and down over and over again like a rabid rabbit humping the air. It helped a bit, at least he wasn't completely still. That would've driven him mad. Finally, the job was done and Issei was given a dose a pain killers for when the anesthetic wore off.
"Look Souna, I swear I didn't-" He began while the nurse was placing a square stick on bandage over the wound but was interrupted.
"I thought we were over this Hyoudou-san." Souna began after a deep, burdened sigh. "You had come so far this year that I had hoped it was all over, but it seems you are incapable of saying out of trouble."
"He had a knife Souna, he cut open my face and threatened my life. You can't honestly say that you expected me to just sit there and take it. I had a right to defend myself." Issei argued, he didn't like that tone of hers. She spoke like he was some pet that just shit on the carpet. "There's a camera around there somewhere, just look at the tape and you'll see that I tried to walk away, I've had to deal with those idiots for months and not once did I swing at 'em. Not when they stole my lunch, not when they slapped me upside the head, not when they tripped me in the halls, I even let them slide when they dumped that bucket of water on my head." Issei said, counting on his fingers. "But there was no way in hell I was gonna let that motherfucker use a knife on me and get away with it!"
Issei was pissed, the adrenaline in his veins heightened his emotional response to his anger and he jumped up from the stool and towered over Souna's petite frame as he shouted, causing the police officers to push off from the wall, but Souna waved them down with a lazy motion of one of the hands of her crossed arms, not even bothering to look at them. She knew they would comply, just as she knew Issei wouldn't hurt her. This was just his process, He would huff and puff, but eventually he would calm down and they cold return to civil conversation.
It didn't take long for Issei to do just that. With a huff, he plopped back down on his stool and slouched heavily forward.
"Thanks Souna, I didn't really need to be tazed today." He said, bringing his hands to his face and running his fingers through his hair. "So how long is it this time?" He asked with a heavy sigh.
"A week and one day, I'll have someone collect your school work for the time being and have it sent to you. I know it isn't fair to you, but if it is any consolation Mako has been expelled." Souna said, but it didn't seem as if that brought any comfort to Issei as he just sat staring at the wall with a hand loosely covering his mouth. The bruised knuckles of his hand rested along his chin while his fingers fanned out from under his nose to loosely curl under his chin, he looked thoughtful as he sat there with his thumb supporting the weight of his head while his elbow rested on his knee. Something was on his mind, she could tell but as long as it didn't effect the school it was really none of her business. "I expect you to be gone within the hour."
And with that she was gone, taking the officers with her to probably deliver the news to Mako about his expulsion. It was to bad really, the kids dad just got outta jail and they really couldn't find any better schools for him to go to in the city. Though his mother could pull some strings, she didn't have enough juice to reverse the expulsion. When it all boiled down, Mako had brought a weapon onto school grounds and used it on another student. But somehow, Issei knew he was going to be the one to pay for it.
With a sigh Issei stood up from the stool and bid the sandy haired nurse goodbye with a thank you for the pain killers he handed Issei as he walked out. Stepping out into the hallway Issei was just about to put on his jacket when a flash of red turned his eye towards the nearby stairwell.
There, on the second floor of the building stood a girl, about a year older than him, with unnaturally long red hair just staring at him with a mild expression on her pretty face. She was a foreigner, some European country if he had to guess but she stood with the simple confidence that she owned the place, which wasn't much of a stretch considering her father did. As curvaceous as her body was, it was her hair that drew him in. the thick crimson cords shifted gently in the slight breeze from the open window behind her, the bright strands practically glowing against the otherwise sparseness of the world around it. She could be described as beautiful, beautiful and bright. Like a snake.
Pushing his sore bandaged knuckles through the soft leather sleeve, Issei paid her no mind and bent to retrieve his bag which was resting against the wall beside the door. Most would stop and gape and wounder why the most popular girl in the school was just staring at him but Issei didn't have the time nor the energy to deal with it. Perhaps she and Mako had a thing going after all, or maybe she just didn't like him. Either way he gave her a lazy wave of his hand as he passed by beneath the stairwell and left her there, lording over the balustrade with the sun piercing through the window at her back as she watched him leave.
"Quite something isn't it." Akeno said to Rias as she suddenly appeared at her side, having bounced her way down the stairs just as Issei pushed open the doors to the outside. "The most desired girl in school staring him down and he doesn't even flinch, if you don't take him I will~." She trilled teasingly as she came to a stop next to her friend.
"Oh hush." Rias said, looking towards her friend. "Still, I'm beginning to understand Kiba's reservations. That aura is...unpleasant to say the least." It was a dense concentration of negativity, it promised violence, violence and hunger. A hunger for what, she did not know but it piqued the interest of her less civilized nature.
"Not entirely, it does have it's subtle notes. You have to admit it makes him intriguing." Akeno remarked with a twinkle in her eye, she was of course referencing the promised violence the air around seemed to pulse with as he passed by. "Anyway, fifth period is about to start so come on or we'll be late."
Issei pushed through the glass door to the bakery with a bit of urgency, his good mood had plummeted since earlier and he could smell the fresh baked goodies from down the street so he was now hungry. Stepping into the main room that was lined with chairs and speckled with round tables Issei was pleased to see that it was relatively empty with the exception of Ms. Amano who stood behind the counter kneading dough.
"Hey Ms. Amano, how's it going?" Issei called halfheartedly as he made his way to a chair. His body was still a bit sore from the fight and his jaw ached something fierce so he decided to sit down instead of standing next to the counter like he usually did.
"Ah Issei, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ms. Amano said, not bothering to look up and confirm who it was, the sudden rush of endorphins in her system as the wave of anger and lust washed over her was all to familiar, though now it was just a touch stronger than usual. She was usually able to keep her self cool under it's effects through a ridged training regime and an iron bar will, she would not devolve into a braying slathering whore at the presence of a mere boy.
"Hungry." Issei said, leaning back tiredly against the window behind him. The adrenaline had run through him by now so he was bone tired and it reflected in his voice. His voice had morphed into that deep and husky tone that men get after a long and hard day of intense physical labor, and it pricked the woman's ears to hear it and caused her to apply more force to her dough.
"Well then, Yuuma isn't home so you'll have to make do with my cooking young Issei." She flattened the dough one last time before moving over to a separate table to lay it out among several others before her hand grasped the handle of a common circular cookie cutter.
"All the better, I was actually hoping I could talk you outta one or two of those pot pies. You do make the best after all." Issei said with a groan as he tried to get comfortable in the hard plastic chair. The woman, hidden by a stone partisan that cut off the kitchen from the storefront, found herself smiling at the complement for a few seconds as she cut the cookies into neat little rows, before she metaphorically slapped it off of her face. It appears that she would be running an extra twelve miles this evening.
"Don't let Yuuma hear that, otherwise that'll be all you eat for the next week or so till you retract that statement. She's quite the competitor that one, gets it from her father." She said, ignoring the slight grunting going on over her head from the upstairs apartment as Issei chuckled from the next room.
"Now that is a sacrifice I am willing to make, but I get how she feels. She's got a lot to live up to with you as a role model." That damn smile was threatening to curl her lips again, sometimes even her iron will couldn't hold out against that aura laced charm he had. It was simple, about the best that could be expected from a teenager but with her nerves already on fire from the burning spring coiling tighter and tighter within her belly with each exchange it was as effective as any silver tongued devil in all corners of hell. Still, Kalawarner was stubborn and she was sure she could handle it as she had done on many occasions but a particularly load squeal from upstairs made a bolt of fear strike her cold. The coiling spring snapped and a jittering nervousness shook her body as she froze mid step, her hand shook while holding the baking pan full of cookie dough just before the opened oven with her back bent and her eyes wide. Her head began spinning with the force of her prayers that Issei didn't hear that and her silent curses sent towards the fools that could so easily tear apart the whole operation!
"Hey, what was that?" She heard Issei say from the front, and her heart began beating erratically as she struggled to calm it while she finished placing the tray in the oven and setting the timer.
"I don't know, Julius must have left the TV on when he left this morning." She rushed out, making a stupid excuse in her rush to control the situation and just as quickly away she said. "Anyway, shouldn't you be at school?" Kalawarner asked, trying to figure out a way to get Issei out of the shop before those idiots ruined everything! Months and months of work was about to be thrown away because someone couldn't control her urges! Goddamn it!
"Ah, don't worry about it something came up..." Issei droned off as a rapid thumping caught his attention. "Okay what the hell-?" He said as he stood from his seat.
"Issei!" Kalawarner snapped, and inwardly winced at how sharp and biting it was. "I don't have time for this, if you are hungry then go home! This isn't a charity and I do not have time to waste making you a snack do you understand?!" At her sudden shout all noise ceased, even she didn't dare move a muscle in the ensuing silence and those above had halted their actions as the backdrop of the early afternoon poured in to fill the gap of sound made in the little shop. The aura, which she and all members of her 'family' had become acutely keyed to grew dark and heavy, and turned from a gentle mist that lightly coated the skin into a thick and choking fog, she thought she was going to die. That something had switched on or off in Issei's brain and that whatever it was inside of him had awakened and it was going to kill them all…and then it was gone.
It was as if it had been forced to the floor, beaten and pressed down till it was not but a swirling blue haze across the floor. Noise returned in the form of a soft, sad little chuckle followed by three steps before something tapped against the glass atop of the counter.
"Yes, Ms. Ameno...I understand." Issei said with a quiet sigh before he left the store, the jingling of the bell signaling his departure. It had only taken but a minute, but to Kalawarner it felt like an eternity huddled beneath the table as she was.
It took her awhile to convince herself that she was indeed alive, her pulse hammered in her veins because her heart was beating a mile a minute as it tried to make up for the eight or so beats she felt it missed when that choking pressure surfaced. She didn't know how it could've existed inside such a young boy, her hands shivered in fear. A fear that gradually drained away as she sat pressed against the wall, trying to calm herself in the face of recent events, and slowly fell from her limbs and into her gut where it began to churn. The fear swirled around and around until it turned into a dark hunger. A dark hunger she, and many of her kind felt as the driving force of their fall from grace. For decades she had fought to control it, going to extreme physical and psychological lengths to control her baser instincts to the point where she did not fear falling to them as many had done. But that…wrath sent tingles down her spine that she didn't know how to explain and it threatened to undo many many years of hard work.
No! Kalawarner screamed in her mind. I. Will. Not. Devolve. Into. Raynare!
With each word and claw like fingers she dragged her self up, sliding her body against the wall with gritted teeth and an iron will. She forced down the fire in her loins and sent it upwards and turning it into rage.
Set into the wall was a simple overhang made of tile plastered onto concrete, from the storefront looking inward a single hand slapped on top of the short wall with such force it cracked and several tiles dropped to the floor in a haze of dust while the figure of a tall, busty woman with long dark hair and fury written all over her face. A fury that fueled Kalawarner's charge across the shop, up the spiral staircase, and through, read through, the wooden door of a certain room where she found a nude Dohnaseek frozen above an equally nude Raynare with the lower half of both still and hidden beneath a set of blankets.
It took a moment for both to register the fact that their door had blown off its hinges as shock was apparent on their faces but as soon as it did it acted as the starting pistol for Raynare to throw Dohnaseek across the room mid transformation from her true form into that of the seventeen year old Yuma and leap from the bed.
"Issei!" She called as she ran in a blind panic towards the door as if she didn't notice the wroth filled form of Kalawarner or perhaps she ignored her as she tried to dash past her and out the open door. From the way that she acted it seemed as if she was more worried about said boy than the current situation, but the claw like grip of the larger woman's hand grabbing her by the throat quickly reset her priorities.
"No!" Kalawarner roared as she pivoted and slammed the girl against the wall. "You have done enough for today!" Her grip tightened but the seemingly younger girl struggled desperately against her hold by kicking and pulling at her hands as she squirmed. It was a downside of Raynare's transformation abilities, she only possessed the abilities of that form so right now she was completely human. Of course she could always morph back but it seems she wasn't thinking clearly, neither was Kalawarner for that matter. She was busy trying to burn out her lust by turning it to anger so she was blinded to this.
"Let me go you old hag!" Yuma demanded as she struggled.
"No." Kalawarner said as she activated her magic and crafted a swirling purple barrier around the whole of the building. "You couldn't have chosen a worse time to act like a slathering whore, the boy was just downstairs and could've heard everything. As a matter of fact he did hear you two, and I had to damn near burn the entire operation to keep him out of here you idiots." Kalawarner's head snapped back towards Dohnaseek for a second before she tossed Yuma to the floor next to him as a four black wings sprung up from her back each crackling with power as the pair cowered. "We have no clue as to what we are dealing with here, but from what I just witnessed this unceasing rutting of yours could've doomed us all! He could be any number of things, each to valuable for me to let the two of you ruin this chance for the Grigori." Kalawarner's yellow eyes settled down on Yuma, who had now morphed back into Raynare.
"Raynare." She said to the younger woman. "I agreed to accompany you on this expedition as both a favor to you and at the request of lord Azazel as an extra precaution. So far I have let you determine the pace of things despite your age and lack of restraint due to your level of competence when it comes to seduction, I understood the need for Dohnaseek seeing as how Issei's aura affects us fallen, but it seem as if you have lost sight of the objective so I am now taking over."
"What!? You can't do that!" She protested, but a quick glare from Kalawarner shut her down.
"I can and I will. Unfortunatly in order to protect the operation I had to adversely affect the relationship between Issei and the Mrs. Ameno persona, so in order to correct this you and I are going to make him a meal. Then you will deliver it to him at his home where you will then proceed to the second stage of the operation." Raynare's face paled.
"The...second stage?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes, after dinner and whatever else that needs done you will sleep with Issei." Kalawarner's face was as cold as stone, she no longer wished to have anything to do with that boy nor his aura. She had already wasted over a year on this operation and while she was already over a century old the awakening of her long dormant lust had sapped any patience she had.
"B-but i-."
"No. I will not here it. You have already wasted enough of my time on this, you will proceed to phase two and you will garner every ounce of skill in your repertoire to make this a success. It does not matter if our assumption turns out to be wrong because if it is we will dispose of him accordingly." With that Kalawarner left the room, fully expectant of Raynare to follow the unspoken command.
Raynare herself sat slumped against the wall, a bevy of complicated emotions crossing her face as Dohnaseek stood and uncaringly gathered his clothes and then left as the barrier fell, leaving the conflicted angel alone with her thoughts.
*][*
Dumping his bag against the wall Issei kicked off his shoes and headed further into the house, all was quiet. Stepping into the main hall of his house Issei looked both left and right into the kitchen and the living room respectivly only to find them empty. In the kitchen the mess from that morning was gone, replaced by the sparkling white of the tiles and the gleam of the steel sink as a single ray of light reflected off of its polished surface. It was beautiful, the theme of blue on white with a splash of thick grained wooden counter tops and preparation tables. The whole kitchen had a homey feel to it, much better than the spartan form and function of what it once was. But still, something was missing. Though now, unlike before, it looked warm and comforting, it was now like a candle flickering in the wind. It lacked the tinder that made it into the bonfire it could be.
On the opposite side, to the right, the living room was just as cold. The stillness of the air drained the life out of the dark leather sofa, the silence on the breeze deadened the warmth from the fireplace and caused the light to empty wholly from the room because it to lacked something. The sight of the dark colored furniture against the white of the walls looked appropriately winterized as Issei realized that the sun had gone, Yuma was no longer here.
Of course he knew that was an entirely reasonable possibility, she should be at school by now not waiting around his house all day. She had a future to prepare for after all, and no matter how much he wanted it, he wasn't a part of that future.
It had taken him four minutes, four minutes of looking over the various little touches Yuma had left in his life, the blues and purples. When she first arrived at his home it was a standard black, and white with simple furnishings and appliances, now it was more her home than his anyway. She belonged here, while he...didn't belong anywhere. Those four minutes that it took him to make his way from the door to his bathroom were all it took for a familiar chill to settle in the house
As he opened the door he thought back to his earlier interaction with Yuma's mother. He felt guilty for assuming that she and him had that sort of relationship where he could expect her to stop everything just to cater to his whims. He was such and idiot, and he felt equally guilty for thinking he had the right to feel angry about it. She ran a business and knew him not from Adam so after a brief moment of letting his temper run wild he reeled it in with that sudden realization that no matter how long they had known each other, no matter how civil she was on account of his and Yuma's friendship they, him and Mrs. Ameno, were not in fact friends and he had carried the weight of that realization all the way home with him where he had unreasonably hoped that Yuma would still be there, the summer to his ever blowing winter, it didn't help that the house practically sang with her scent. Her perfume permeated throughout the house even with her gone.
With that on his mind, Issei sighed and stood before the sink to reach up and once again open the mirrored cabinet that was sunk into the wall and once again began to slowly remove the various bottles and prescriptions from the shelves. This was a ritual of sorts, every mourning and night he took these pills to ease his passing of days. Each one momentarily halting the breaking down of his body for just another day, a day that he hoped would lead him further to happiness. But as he laid eyes on the many different plastic jars of medicine he saw that each and every one of them where nearly empty, from his cyclophosphamide to his Azathioprine and the more obscure and herbal remedies, each and every bottle was on its last legs. He needed money, he could barely afford the prescriptions as it was but with what little savings he had going towards the house he would last if he got the call he had been dreading all day.
All Issei could do was hope and pray he didn't get that phone call…
But as all things go, life never went his way and he got the call.
"...yes sir I understand. Can I at least get my things from the warehouse?" Issei sat with his hand cradling his head while the other held his phone against his ear as he lent over his dining room table. It was dark now, and he had been dozing on the couch with a book when he got that thrice be-damned phone call. He knew it was coming, he could feel it in the ache of his bones and the moment he heard about Mako being in the hospital he knew it was coming. In all honesty, he was surprised it had taken this long.
"No Issei, Ameyuri doesn't want you within a mile of anything to do with the company. Look, I like you and I know how Mako is. He's a spoiled little brat that needed his ass kicked, but...Issei they had to wire his jaw shut...I...I didn't even think that you could even do that but..." Mr. Tekao paused and Issei could feel the mans astonishment and all Issei felt was shame. He had taken it to far, he had let his temper take hold and now he was paying the price. "There's nothing I can do Issei, just be thankful we're not pressing charges and leave it at that. I'll send Baki around with with your things but he's gonna need your key." And with that he hung up, leaving Issei to drop his head onto the bed of his crossed arms and stare at the far wall from the table. With his chin resting against the crevice between his crossed arms Issei's mind grew cold. He did not cry, he had no desire to as crying never solved anything over than ventilation. Instead he fell back into that cold emotionless mindset that he had once had, his years in the church had given him such a mindset. Packed like sardines into small rooms with dozens of other children while a hundred more littered the complex, each fighting to survive under the cruel noses of the priesthood.
All emotion faded away and instead, he focused on the problem. He sat on a deadline, he had one week to gather enough funds to continue living here with Yuma. He could, but wouldn't, sell the house, it was no more his than the tree was the birds. Any job that he could find in town would either take to long to get or not pay enough for him to afford another round of his medication which cost him nearly two grand a month and that was just the medication he got through normal channels, no what he needed was a lot of money real fast and he only had one way to get it.
With his mind made up, Issei straightened himself in his seat and reached for his phone before he left the table and headed for the basement. Opening the door to his immediate right was a wall that held a light switch which he flicked on as he made his way down the stairs that now burst into view due to the light. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room filled with exercise equipment at one end with a variety of mats covering the floor with a large area bare with the exception of extra padding on the floor.
When his bare feet touched the mats at the bottom of the stairs Issei turned to his immediate right and walked purposefully pass the treadmill and bench press, stepped over the dumbbells and went to the furthest wall where a large ventilation grate was sunk into the concrete.
Crouching next to the grate Issei placed his phone gently onto the floor and grabbed the bars of the vents with both hands and pulled. If one where to be standing behind him, they would notice the many different groups of muscles along his back and arms flare to life as his lifted the steel grate out from the wall and gently laid it atop a conveniently placed pile of extra mats, careful not to leave any scratches on the floor. Then he fell to the floor, his legs running the length of the wall as his left arm darted inside the vent all the way to the shoulder as he supported himself with his right hand against the wall. After a moment of feeling around the sound of dragging filled the room as his arm pushed against the wall. Inch after inch of his arm left the hole covered in dirt and dust before he finally pulled free a long and wide metal box that looked like a school locker in length and shape but without the air vents and it had a steel ring bolted to the top which Issei used to pull it free and dropped it onto a long cushioned mat that he had placed before the hole.
The box appeared only a few years old and had a few scratches in its surface with a large combination lock with twelve tumblers securing it closed. With practiced ease Issei rotated the tumblers quickly and pulled the lock free from the box and opened the heavy metal lid only halfway as he reached inside and, ignoring all the other things crammed inside, pulled out a yellowed slip of paper before closing the box, reattaching the lock, and shoving the box back into the wall then reattaching the grate.
Sitting on the stacked up mats, Issei punched the number written on the paper into his phone and pressed the call button before purposefully hanging up after three seconds then immediately calling again. He repeated this process again and again with specific gaps in between before he hung up for the last time and then waited.
He didn't have to wait long because the phone rang about ten seconds after and he immediately answered.
"Does your offer still stand?"
*][*
Yuma stood before the door hesitantly, her hair was curled and she wore clothes that fell somewhere in the hazy region between purity and seduction with a large amount cleavage showing from the taunt fabric of her shirt that hugged snugly against her body and the jeans she wore showed off nothing she wasn't prepared to, which was everything, and she was certain she looked as irresistible as she could be but still...she was nervous. Standing there with an assortment of large and small sealed tuberware she couldn't help but fidget.
It wasn't because she was cold, in fact the night air was uncharacteristically warm for the season and several beads of sweat would've already ruined her get up if Yuma were human. No it wasn't outside stimuli that had her nerves on end, it was in fact rather trivial in the face of her occupation.
She was nervous over a boy. A boy, not some dashing supernatural being like Azazel-sama, but a quiet little seventeen year old bookworm.
'If things go according to plan' She began in her mind as she stood before the door, a light blush beginning to shine on her pretty face. 'Then Issei and me will become one…' Yuma closed her eyes for a moment before she realized how she had just phased her thoughts. It was as if this would be her first time, she had even used her 'Yuma' voice to think it.
'Ehh! Why did I just phrase it like that? I'm not a damn virgin, and if it weren't for the kids age I would show him a thing or two.' She growled at herself, having surprised herself with that train of thought. It wasn't like her to show such attachment to one of her marks, but then again it wasn't like her to spend so much time with one either. It was just...so comfortable. Once you got past that cloud around him there was this bubble of calm. Like the eye of the storm it just drew you in and made you want to stay there, Issei had this maturity to him that made it easy to drop the teenager act and let the thirty-one year old woman that she truly was come out during conversation. He just spoke with aged wisdom at times that made her forget that he was seventeen. He understood such complicated features about life that even she had trouble comprehending, she felt safe around him and in a way she admired him.
Which made her duty all the much harder. She didn't dare tell Kalawarner, but orders had come down that Issei needed to be taken out. She didn't know why Lord Azazel changed his mind but…Issei didn't deserve to die. Her hands tightened around her cargo and frustration boiled inside as she fervently tried to wish it all away but of course it wouldn't go away. She couldn't even plead his case because she had no political worth or backing in the grigori, she was just a silly little whore with a crush. What could she do but cry and beg like an idiot when it wouldn't do any good, she'd only get herself killed and what good would that do Issei? No, what she needed was time. She had to get Issei to awaken his Sacred Gear and just hope it was good enough to save his life, but if it wasn't then she'd find a way to save the man she-
"Oh Ms. Ameno! What are you doing around here this time of the night?" Called an elderly voice from across the street. Spinning around Yuma spotted the wrinkled old man that was Issei's neighbor Ryukyu peeking out from behind his door.
"Hello Mr. Ryukyu! I was just bringing Issei something to eat, it didn't seem like he had such a good day today and mom and I thought that a nice home cooked meal would cheer him up." She said with a smile towards the old man as she held up the stack of plastic containers in her arms.
"Well that was very nice of you child, but I'm afraid it's a wasted effort you see Issei left on a trip hours ago. Looked like he was in quite the rush." The old man said as he walked across the street with a note in his hands.