Gonna put author's notes at the beginning of the chapter and in bold from now on, as I don't think putting them at the end guarantees that many people will read them.

First of all, I'm really sorry that I've been so inconsistent with chapters lately. To be honest, I simply just feel less passionate about writing fanfiction. I'm going to finish this story eventually, but I can't guarantee that it won't take a while.

I've also been busy with life. Recently I started taking a cybersecurity course, so I have to focus on that more than anything else right now.

I suppose I could also say that I have been distracting myself with video games, since I got an Xbox Series S recently, but I haven't been playing much lately aside from Yakuza and Ninja Gaiden. Although I have been playing some stuff on emulators via Retroarch.

And also, I have to shill the Discord server yet again. It's pretty dead right now, but it should get more active if more people join. As always, the link is: discord. gg/qJjvAnE Ignore the space.

Anyways, enough rambling from me, on to the chapter!

"Are you sure this is the house?"

"You know what? I'm not so sure, I don't remember the house being this... fancy."

Two girls stood at the front door of Issei's house, which got the same treatment as Izuku's home following the Rating Game. One of the girls, Xenovia Quarta had short blue hair with a green streak and carried a large sword wrapped in gauze on her back. The other girl, Irina Shidou, had longer light brown hair tied into twintails, and was seemingly unarmed. Both of them wore white cloaks with a cross on them, signifying their loyalty to the church.

"I seriously hope we have the right house this time. I'd rather not see that demonic boar again." Xenovia said, sounding quite exasperated.

Irina laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, that was scary. I wonder why that house looked the same as this one, though."

Xenovia knocked on the door. "No matter. You said that this Hyoudou guy is a servant of Gremory, right?"

Irina nodded. "Yep. Well, that's what I heard, at least."

Xenovia tapped her foot impatiently. "Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. You get to see your friend and we might be able to negotiate here."

"Getting to see Issei again..." Irina quietly said with a smile on her face. Xenovia let out a sigh, as Irina tended to not always take things seriously.

"Just don't get too distracted. Remember, we're going to see if we can get permission to hunt our target who may or may not be in this town."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

The door soon opened, revealing Issei's mother Miki, who was surprised but happy to see Irina. She motioned for her and Xenovia to come in and take a seat.

Izuku let out a quiet yawn as the history teacher droned on about ancient empires. Normally he didn't have much trouble staying focused in class, but him and Akeno had stayed up late the previous night. Kuroka offered to get him excused from school, but he didn't want to ruin his perfect attendance streak.

"What, were you whackin' it or something last night?" asked Issei, making Izuku blush at his crudeness.

"Um, n-no." Izuku stammered.

Issei put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "It's okay, dude. I've been there before. Many times. You don't have to hide it."

Izuku then leaned in and whispered to Issei what really happened, causing Issei's eyes to widen in shock. "No freakin' way, for real? You're a legend, man!"

Izuku asked him to not tell Matsuda or Motohama, because he was sure they'd draw unwanted attention, and being a target again was the last thing he wanted. Issei agreed and patted him on the head.

'You know, partner, you should be proud of your feat.'

'I know, Ddraig, but when said "feat" involves sleeping with one of the two most popular girls in school, I think it's better people don't know.'

'Suit yourself.'

The school day continued and eventually ended as expected. What was unexpected, though, was that Koneko had asked to go home with Izuku and Akeno. Izuku was fine with it, though Akeno was suspicious of the smaller girl's motives. She also accepted, however.

Issei and Asia had arrived at their house, only to feel an unusually holy presence as they stood at the door. Issei stepped in front of Asia protectively as he slowly opened the door, only to find out that nothing was wrong. On the couch, though, were two girls from the church who were having a casual chat with his mother.

"Oh, Issei, good timing! You remember Irina, right?" called out his mother enthusiastically.

Issei thought hard, but the twintailed girl was not familiar to him. His mother chastised him for not recalling his childhood best friend, though Irina held up a photo of her and Issei from long ago, in which she looked more like a boy.

Issei was suddenly less forgetful. "Wait, that was you? I thought you were a guy..."

Irina giggled. "Yeah, so did everyone else."

Everyone relaxed for a bit longer, until Miki announced that she had some errands to run. Issei's father Gorou would not be home from work for a few hours, so the teens were all alone. Xenovia, despite telling Irina not to get sidetracked, was now focused on Asia.

"You there." she called out.

Asia nervously turned to face her. "M-Me?"

Xenovia nodded. "You're Asia Argento, aren't you? The former nun who was cast out for healing a Devil."

Asia nodded, although this was not something she wanted to discuss. Issei noticed her change in expression.

"You know, the punishment for betraying the church is death." said Xenovia camly, looking Asia in the eye.

Irina was quick to reprimand Xenovia. "That's not what we-"

Xenovia was quick to cut her off. "I know it's not our mission, but I can't pass up this opportunity. We're dealing with someone who turned her back on God and is now a Devil. Are we supposed to just forgive such a betrayal?"

Issei was about to speak up in defense of Asia, but she did that herself.

"Betrayal...? They're the ones who betrayed me! Casting me out and labelling me a heretic, all because I helped someone in need!"

Everyone else in the room was silent, not at all expecting Asia to respond this way, but they let her continue.

"But oh, I guess it's my fault because the guy I healed just so happened to be a Devil!" she shouted, raising her voice as tears began forming in her eyes.

She then turned to Xenovia. "And you! How can you talk about killing me and not even think twice? All because I died and got reincarnated as a Devil! Do you hear yourself?!"

Xenovia couldn't come up with a good answer, but she knew it was a rhetorical question.

Asia took a deep breath before covering her mouth in shame. "Um... s-sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

Issei hugged her tightly. "Nope. Don't apologize for telling off an uptight bitch like her."

Xenovia stood up and was about to reprimand Issei, but Irina stopped her and apologetically waved goodbye to Issei, hoping that their next meeting would go more smoothly.

Issei waved back as he consoled an embarrassed Asia.

Izuku had texted Kuroka, telling her that a classmate would be coming home with him and Akeno. He then put his phone away and continued the conversation he was having with Koneko about heroes. It turned out that she was almost as big a fan of heroes as he was. Akeno's knowledge on the subject was more surface-level, but Izuku made sure to include her in the discussion as well.

The trio talked quite a bit on the way home, though Koneko stopped for a moment to marvel at Izuku's house.

Once they stepped inside and made their way to the living room, Kuroka walked in to greet them.

"Welcome home, kids. Who's the gue-

Both Koneko and Kuroka froze up, staring at each other.

"..."

"Sh... Shirone?!"