Chapter 11: Ivory Implementation

Issei was shocked by what was happening.

His best friend, aside from Akeno, had come back.

The last time he had heard from her was a few years ago. The last time he saw her was when they were still kids.

After taking a good look at her, he couldn't help but feel on edge with her beauty. If he were to be honest, Vali and Akeno were both equally beautiful to him. Yet, he couldn't resist being entranced by Vali.

Ddraig merely sighed in exasperation. Issei was already indecisive about his feelings about Akeno. Now, Vali was here to make it worse.

"For 6 years, I wanted to see you again. I missed you so much!" Vali held Issei tighter to her as she buried her face into his shoulder.

Issei couldn't help but smell the perfume that she used. It reminded him of sweet vanilla.

Breaking into a smile, Issei looked at Vali.

"I thought you weren't coming for a while longer?!" Issei asked.

"I got done with my business early so I headed straight here. I missed Kuoh so much." Vali took in the air of the atmosphere as she let go of Issei.

"Come on inside, let's talk." Issei opened the door for her as she calmly walked in.

Looking around, the White Dragon Emperor or rather White Dragon Empress, had a look of nostalgia as she looked around.

"Everything is just as nice as it was back then. I guess Dad wanted the place to be tidy. Sucks his own lab isn't this clean."

Heading to the kitchen, Issei began to cook something to eat since he was hungry and he wasn't going to eat in front of a guest without serving them.

"Issei?" Vali walked in and found him stirring at ingredients in a pot.

"Food's almost ready. I'll get this done so that we can catch up over a meal." Issei smiled at her as she nodded at seated herself at the dining table.

Since Vali was behind him, Issei couldn't see but she was looking at him longingly with a deep blush on her cheeks.

'As I recall, Azazel had wanted to say something to you before you left Grigori's Headquarters. I think you should call him back since I feel that Issei is connected with it.' Albion reminded her as she took it casually.

After ladling the beef stew into bowls and putting toasted bread onto a platter, he brought the food to the table and sat down.

"I hope you enjoy it." Issei smiled as Vali took a bite.

She shot a questioning smile at Issei after swallowing her food. It was fair, though it wasn't the most mind-blowing food in reality.

"I thought you were a bad cook?"

"I learned after I decided to move back here." Issei sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he confessed.

That explained why Vali found his room to be vacant. When she had seen that his room was empty as soon as she returned home, she couldn't help but feel crestfallen. It felt as if a piece of her had been dropped somewhere and she hadn't been able to find it. The whole time since she had left her last training spot, she had been thinking of Issei and had wanted to see him with the utmost priority along with seeing her Grigori family. Sure, they'd talked here and there, but like all teens that grew up, they drifted apart.

"I was pretty sad when I found your room empty." Vali looked at him sadly.

Issei responded with an apologetic smile.

"I forgot to call and tell you that I moved. Sorry."

Vali shook her head as she stared into his eyes.

"It's fine. I'm happy to see that you're doing well."

Suddenly, Vali's expression became a more nervous one.

"By the way, I heard that you saved the Gremory Heiress a few hours ago? So did you get with her or something?"

Issei shook his head before replying.

"No. We don't have that kind of relationship."

Vali smiled as she rejoiced at this news.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from the stairs.

Issei paled as he realized that he had forgotten to tell Raynare and Vali about each other.

"Issei?!" Raynare rushed from the stairs in a red sweater and black pants.

She had been worried sick for the past few hours after Issei left. She had only relaxed after Issei told her that he was fine and would arrive home shortly and had accidentally fallen asleep while waiting.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Raynare and Vali looked at each other with shocked expressions as they sized each other up and tried to analyze each other's connection to Issei. They both looked at Issei and spoke at the same time.

"Explain, Issei."

He sighed as he gestured for Raynare to sit down. After telling both of them about each other's backstories, they immediately dissolved their hostility towards each other, having felt some sympathy between themselves.

Both had felt some form of connection when they realized that their childhoods were full of suffering.

"Well, trouble always did have a way of finding you." Vali giggled as Raynare and Issei regaled the adventure till now.

"Everybody says that." Issei sighed morbidly as he sipped his cup of tea.

"So, Vali, what did you come here to do?" Raynare proceeded after making a small laugh at Issei.

As if she hadn't exactly intended to say anything yet about this topic, Vali froze for a minute with an awkward look before clearing her throat and resuming a calm persona.

"Well, my Dad told me to move in here since he was worried about Issei."

Almost instantly, Vali's calm demeanor disappeared and her voice shrunk to being barely above a whisper and her face reddened greatly.

"Eh?" Issei responded with a low tone and a surprised look.

Vali looked away with a bashful look while Raynare's expression froze with a deadpan.

"Dad said that after the whole engagement incident, that people might not be very happy with you so he told me to come and make sure you stayed out of trouble." She murmured.

Sighing and face-palming, Issei couldn't exactly do much in this situation. He was more than happy to take Vali in but he felt that Azazel was also messing with him.

"If it's too much trouble, then I'll leave." Vali was about to give up when she noticed Issei's reaction but he stopped her before she could do more.

"No, it's no trouble at all. I'm just worried that you might not be comfortable with staying here instead of living at home." The Red Dragon Emperor smiled.

Shaking her nod, Vali returned his expression.

"I'm fine with living anywhere, actually. As long as I'm with the people that I trust."

Nodding at her remark, Issei went upstairs to go prepare a guest bed for her.

"I'll go ahead and prepare a guest room. You two go on ahead and just sit here and relax."

When Issei left to go to the second floor, it was clear that with him gone, the two women had nothing to talk about.

"W-Well, um, I'll go and see if I can help Issei with anything." Raynare sheepishly chuckled as she went upstairs.

Vali looked down at her mug of tea and smiled lightly.

"Issei's still kinda willy-nilly. Still, I love how much you try to respect how everyone feels." She whispered to herself.

She had fantasized to herself over what kind of person that Issei would become when she saw him again. So far, he hadn't disappointed. He was stronger than anticipated and his character was pure and strong.

"If only Akeno could see him now." She gloomily spoke. It was apparent that news of her being alive had not yet reached her.

Upstairs, Issei was dashing around to clean up the other guest room. He felt as if his bones would break considering how insanely he was moving. Spraying cleaning formula's everywhere and sweeping, mopping, and wiping down all surfaces before drying them, it was no wonder he was in such a state. He refused to let Vali see how much of a slob he'd been.

"Fighting Riser was easy compared to this." He grumbled as he refused to stop moving.

He had felt so embarrassed when he remembered that he had forgotten to clean the other rooms. Apparently, Azazel had forgotten too.

Hearing a knock on the door, Issei froze as he realized that he was out of time.

"One moment!" He hollered as his mind and body hit overdrive.

Slowly opening the door, Issei found Raynare outside with a surprised look.

"Is everything alright, Issei?"

"N-nothing." Issei panted.

"By the way, is Vali going to remain here during the day or attending school?" The beautiful Fallen Angel pointed out.

To be honest, he didn't know that answer to that either.

"I don't know." He confessed.

"Well, if she is, we'll have to tell the President about this or she won't take too kindly to having someone from Grigori coming here without authorization." She gently reminded him.

"Understood." Issei replied. As of late, he's noticed that Raynare had been keeping him on his toes. He had noticed that he was occasionally forgetful so it was a saving grace for her to be there to remind him of what he needed to do.

"And also…" She trailed off.

"I'm so glad that you weren't hurt." She whispered with a relieved breath.

Issei smiled. He wasn't sure if it was him, but he felt that there was more to her voice than anything else.

"Don't worry. I'm not beaten that easily."

"Well then, good night." She smiled before going to her room and closing the door.

With that matter done, Issei went back downstairs.

"Vali, your room's ready for you. If you're tired, you can go ahead and go to bed." He called out.

Turning around to look at him, she chuckled and replied.

"Got it. I'll be right on up."

Getting up to go to the room given to her, she noticed that the whole time she walked, she felt Issei looking at her.

Giving him a look of curiosity, she questioned him.

"Is something wrong?"

Quickly shaking his head, Issei responded.

"No. Nothing at all."

"I see. Well then, good night." She smiled before closing the door to her room and locking it.

Heading to his own bedroom, Issei closed the door and let out a long exhale.

"Wow, she's gotten so beautiful. She's just as beautiful as Akeno and Raynare."

Issei had to admit that his heart went pitter-patter the whole time that he was with Vali.

It was obvious that his childhood feelings had escalated as well for Vali and he was starting to see Raynare in a new light.

"Craaaaaaaaaaap." He grumbled as he realized just how much more troublesome things had gotten for him. It was as if things were constantly escalating for him.

'For every dollar that my Partner panicked. How wondrous your spring is, eh?' Ddraig joked.

Knowing that thinking on such matters would only make things worse, Issei changed into his sleepwear and leapt onto his bed. Unfortunately, he couldn't sleep. Swirling around in his mind, were thoughts of the women in his life. He was sorting out possible romantic candidates and women who were only friends to him.

In the romantic interest category, Akeno and Vali were there. As for the friends section, Asia and Koneko were there, along with several others. Rias was somewhere where he didn't understand where to place. Issei grumbled. Azazel's perverted influence had rubbed off on him.

Grumbling to himself, he tried to close his eyes and sleep before hearing a knock come from his door.

"Issei?" Vali's voice rang from the other side.

"Come in."

The door opened slowly.

What Issei saw next made his face heat up as red as his armor.

Vali was wearing a silky silver nightgown that reached a little bit above her knees. There were no sleeves and only thin straps kept the attire on her. From his position, Issei could see a significant deal of her cleavage, though it was only because of how gifted her bust was.

'No! Control yourself!' Issei scolded himself when he noticed how much he was fixating on her daring outfit. He focused on the moral principles his mother and father taught him.

'If Uncle Azazel saw her wearing this, he'd have a heart attack and possibly ground her.' The Red Dragon Emperor commented within the deeper parts of his mind.

"Is something wrong?" He looked at her with a warm smile.

Vali, however, did not look comfortable at all. She had a sullen expression, complete with furrowed brows and red eyes.

"Tonight…I…can I?" She trailed off, reconsidering her request.

Issei scooted over on his king sized bed and patted the spot next to him.

"Another nightmare?" His tone was understanding and somewhat nostalgic.

Vali's lip trembled as she nodded slowly. Quietly moving towards him and climbing onto his bed, she slowly sat down before becoming relaxed on his mattress.

Laying down, Vali looked at Issei before murmuring.

"We used to do this so much as kids."

Issei nodded as he looked at her with a radiant smile while sitting up.

When they were children, Vali would have random nightmares at certain points, mostly concerning her troubled past and her horrific time with her paternal family. It was only when she was in the company of those that she considered close, that she could finally sleep after having such nightmares. Even as she grew up, the nightmares never left her alone.

During her time training, it was only thanks to Penemue, who she looked up to as an older sister, that she was able to endure her journey to become stronger. However, it was still a struggle when her nightmares reminded her of the moments where she was forced and coerced to fight and kill those that went against her or dared to approach her.

Closing her eyes and shaking her head to try and get rid of her negative thoughts, Vali had a difficult time with it until she felt a certain warmth on her head.

Opening her eyes, she found Issei kindly stroking her hair.

"Divide those nightmares away." He laughed.

At first she was confused as to what he was talking about until she finally remembered and caught on.

"I used to say that to you whenever we were in one of these situations. Hehe." Issei chuckled.

It was something of a playful charm that he would say to make Vali feel better, telling her to use Divine Dividing to halve her worries.

Smiling, she couldn't help but break out into a small laugh.

"Hahahaha! Geez, Issei. That was so long ago."

"Well, it still works." He responded with a heartfelt tone.

She couldn't deny that there was truth to his words.

"Yeah."

Feeling herself get sleepy, Vali closed her eyes and slowly drifted off until she felt something leave Issei's bed. A certain weight was no longer resting on the other side of the mattress.

She opened her eyes and found Issei getting up with his pillow and a blanket.

"You're not sleeping?" She asked.

Issei blushed as he turned away to hide his red face.

"W-We're not children anymore, Vali. We can't just sleep together like this anymore. It's not right because we're all grown up!" He bashfully tried to escape.

The silver-haired young lady's face had also turned a similar color when she understood what he was implying but that didn't discourage her.

"It's not like we're doing anything! As long as we don't cross that line, we should be able to sleep on the same bed!" She reasoned.

Grumbling to himself, Issei admitted his defeat and slowly got back on his bed to lie down.

"O-okay." He nervously spoke up.

Staying on their own sides along with avoiding facing each other, the two tried to go to sleep but failed miserably.

The tension in the air just wouldn't allow for such a thing to happen.

"So…what are you going to do now that you're here?" Issei asked her.

"Well, my dad told me that I would be coming to attend your school starting the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be setting up a place to stay."

Knowing that this was a bad idea, Issei threw all caution out of the window and offered a new suggestion.

"If you want, you can stay here where you'll be comfortable and you probably won't be lonely here." The boy's face grew hotter as he realized what he was saying.

Awkward silence grew as Vali mulled over what to do.

"I…if you don't mind, then I'll gladly accept." She softly spoke, a small smiled spreading on her lips.

Making a happy expression of his own, Issei felt much more at ease as he could feel his childhood memories with her resurface. Without much further ado, the two fell into a blissful rest, awaiting for morning to come.


As the next day arrived, Issei was awake to find that the spot next to him was empty.

He looked around and found that Vali was gone. Hoping that she hadn't left yet, Issei quickly dressed himself before walking downstairs.

To his delight, a pleasant smell filled his nostrils as he heard the stove cooking away at something, with the sound of sizzling oil cluing him in.

He looked to see that Vali was cooking breakfast.

Humming quietly to herself while wearing a blue apron over black pants and a white shirt, Issei noticed that her extremely alluring figure was drawing his eyes away to various parts of her body. From head to toe, he was able to get a full view of how much more mature she looked. If he could guess right, courtesy of Azazel's influence, her three sizes were B:101-W:58-H:92.

Suddenly, he snapped at himself, forcing his own hand to slap at his left cheek. Issei was horrified by what he'd just done. Motohama boasted of his power to deduce a woman's three sizes. Issei sunk to his knees as he realized his suppressed perversion was leaking out.

'No! No creepy ogling!' He strictly yelled at himself.

"Issei?" Vali darted around and found him standing at the stairs, a bit alarmed to find him there after hearing a loud slap.

"M-Morning, Vali. Morning, Raynare." He nervously greeted her.

"Good morning." Raynare called out from her spot at the Dining Table.

"Morning, Issei." The White Dragon Empress smiled as she put the finishing touches on breakfast.

Sitting down to a western breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon, and a glass of orange juice, the three dug in.

Issei was truly delighted by the taste of something new and fresh. He loved Raynare's cooking as well, but she mainly chose to cook Japanese food since she knew that he preferred it most of the time.

"It's great! I'm pretty lucky to have the both of you cooking for me. I wish I could do more for you two." He laughed.

"I-it's nothing much at all." The two women bashfully waved their arms in modesty as they turned to their food to avoid showing their red expressions.

Before he noticed, the time on his watch told him that it was time to leave for school before it was too late.

"Well, it's time to head out. We'll be back this afternoon, Vali. Feel free to do whatever you want here." He smiled at her before leaving.

"I almost forgot. Here." Vali held up two wrapped boxes to Issei and Raynare.

"Bento?" The young man looked at her in curiosity.

"Yep. I hope it suits your tastes." The young lady smiled with a peppy attitude.

"Thank you." Raynare replied graciously before heading out with the owner of the house.

Partway on their path, Issei had a lightning-struck realization, stopping mid-motion.

'I FORGOT TO TELL VALI ABOUT AKENO!' He screamed to himself.

'YOU FORGOT!?' Ddraig cried out in response.

Sighing in exasperation at his blunder, he decided that he had to tell her about their raven-haired childhood friend after he got home. He also had to let Akeno know that Vali was in town and living with him.

After the pair entered their classroom and went through the motions of the boring day, Lunch period came, giving Issei the chance to go to Akeno.

Heading to the ORC room to go see said girl, he found the beauty sitting alone, eating her bento by herself.

"Akeno?" He called out.

His voice instantly attracted her attention as she immediately looked at his direction and made a reflexive smile.

"Ah, Issei! Come and sit!" She giggled as she scooted over.

He couldn't help but smile as he took her offer and sat down next to her.

"I made some dishes that I wanted you to try." She excitedly pulled out a small box and opened it. The contents were nikujaga, tonkatsu, shrimp tempura, gyoza, and tsukemono.

"Here. Aaah." She held up a piece of stewed potato and waited for Issei to open his mouth.

Issei was wide-eyed. Akeno seemed to be even happier than before. Her smile was literally glowing. She'd never offered such an affectionate gesture before, either. Akeno held up the food, refusing to put it down till he ate it.

"A-Ah." He hesitantly ate the food but was amazed by the great taste it had.

"Mmmm. It's awesome!" He commented without hesitation.

Akeno was utterly pleased with his thoughts, smiling and giggling as she felt some pride in herself.

"Ufufufu. I'm glad." She spoke in her normal tone instead of her seductive pitch.

'C-cute…' Issei looked on as he was mesmerized by her happy expression.

Remembering what he was here for, he put himself back on track.

"Akeno, are you busy later afterschool?"

"Nope." She shook her head.

"Well, there's someone that I want you to meet. Do you mind coming along?" He nervously hoped there wouldn't be any backlash.

"Sure." Akeno wasn't exactly sure what he was entailing. He seemed more excited than nervous.

Later that day, Issei waited outside of the school gates for his potential or rather, definite love interest.

Raynare had left to go to Grigori to make a visit to her three friends, who were still recuperating, so she would probably be gone for the rest of the day or even the night, since it was the start of the weekend tomorrow.


When Akeno came, they wasted no time to go to Issei's home so that she could see the person that he wanted her to meet.

Opening the door, Issei called out to whoever was home, hoping to bring Vali over.

"I'm home!" He took off his shoes as he stood in front of Issei.

"Welcome back!" Like a housewife, Vali happily sprinted over with an apron on her.

Suddenly, Issei heard a grumbling from behind him. He turned around and found a very displeased Akeno glaring at him with a pouty expression.

"I brought a guest over. I hope there's enough for her though. I think you know her." Issei smiled mischievously before stepping aside, though he had a sheepish chuckle following this statement.

When Vali and Akeno laid eyes upon on each other, they had no doubt about who they were seeing. The two froze in place and didn't say a word until they cleared their doubts about who the other was.

"Vali?"

"Akeno?" They both croaked out with shaky voices.

"I-I thought you were…" Vali slowly stepped forward.

"I know. I heard about what you all thought but I'm not dead. I'm alive." Akeno started to tear up as she and her best friend walked towards each other before quickly sharing a hug.

"I-I…I-I'm so sorry!" Vali sobbed as she apologized profusely.

She had connected the dots herself and realized that Akeno must have been so alone for almost a decade. Knowing about her family situation from the past, she knew the poor girl must have been striving to survive in solitude.

"No, I don't blame any of you. It's not your fault. I know the full story now. I understand why you all thought I was dead." Akeno sniffled as she comforted her best friend.

Her long-stemmed hatred towards those that she had reasonably assumed had forgotten about her had disappeared after Issei's explanations. Her only desire now was to console Vali and make up for lost time.

Issei stepped forward and guided the two to the Dining Table so that they could have their long chat. He knew that they had so much to catch up on so he would not intrude. He felt happy for the two of them, actually. After so long, they had finally been able to see each other again and throw away their doubts about what happened at the Himejima Shrine.

He set some tea down in front of the two and walked upstairs after making sure that they two weren't crying messes anymore. They were now only talking about their pasts and learning about what each had been through since they had all gone their separate ways.

Entering his room and plopping himself on his bed, Issei couldn't help but feel happy at the fact the three of them were reunited again.

"This really feels like home now." He laughed to himself.

Downstairs, the two women were laughing as they couldn't help but do so after learning of each other's experiences.

Vali had trained with Odin, Brynhildr, Penemue, Azazel, Baraqiel, and several other deities of different religions. Akeno was a bit nervous, since Vali was definitely a walking nuke.

"I spent almost a decade training with that geezer and his Valkyries. The old man was a pervert but at least he never tried to make a pass at me or ogle me. It was kind of nice, actually. He treated me like I was his granddaughter. His Valkyries were also like big sisters to me." Vali chuckled when she recalled her memories of them.

"Oh? What were they like?" Akeno excitedly asked.

"They're kind of sisterly but they all have their own quirks. I got along rather well with one of them, in particular. She's called Rossweisse. When I was in the Norse Realm, she helped tutor me in magic when I first started out. We were also roommates. Maybe you'll meet her one day."

Akeno was glad that her best friend was able to learn so much and to grow up so splendidly.

Then came her turn, to which Vali listened intently.

"I spent several years training and studying in the Gremory House of Devils as one of the servants of the current Heir, Rias Gremory. I think you might like her too. The whole family is very generous and they never mistreat anyone that serves or is a part of the Household." She quickly spoke out so that Vali wouldn't misunderstand the concept of being a Gremory 'servant'.

"I learned etiquette from Lady Venelana Gremory herself and I learned magic from many of their magic specialists." Akeno made a small giggle. She was about to mention her Holy Lightning ability, but she stopped herself. Perhaps embarrassment was stopping her from talking about it.

For what seemed like a few minutes, hours passed as the two eagerly chatted about their experiences until the night grew late, with Akeno sleeping over.

The next morning, Issei felt something strange upon his face. It was soft, warm, and somewhat jiggly, or rather, bouncy.

"Hm, what is this? I can't breathe properly." He slowly moved his hand to where the pressure on his face was and grabbed the object.

Suddenly, he felt something wrong. There was a negative feeling or rather and wicked feeling close by. It wasn't malicious but it certainly sounded mischievous.

Without pause or hesitation, the Red Dragon Emperor jumped out of bed and pushed down a mysterious figure under him, pinning them down. When his vision focused and his mind processed what his eyes were seeing, he was surprised but also unsurprised by who he saw.

"Oh my, oh my. Ufufufu. If Issei wants to engage in such activities this early in the morning, then I don't mind. We just can't be late for school since Vali is going to be attending too." She smiled warmly, as if inviting him to do as he wished.

Issei's face turned bright red when he realized what she was suggesting.

Quickly getting out of bed and allowing Akeno to sit up, he looked away and cleared his throat to try and clear away the suggestive atmosphere.

"Sooo, did you and Vali catch up well?" He changed the topic without missing a beat.

Nodding, Akeno still remembered all of the laughs that they shared the previous night.

"It was fun." She giggled.

"I see. That's good." Issei smiled before quickly heading into the bathroom with a clean uniform.

He later came back out and quickly got his schoolbag before heading downstairs.


When he came down, he found Raynare cooking their lunch, with breakfast already being served.

"Morning!" He called out to the three women in his house as he sat down at the table.

"Good Morning!" They all returned the phrase as they began to eat.

Picking up his chopsticks, he took a bite of the boneless pan-fried fish fillet and marveled at the taste.

Trying the pickled daikon radish salad, he was pleased by the sweet and pickled taste.

He then sipped some miso soup and felt himself grow more aware and awake as his body made use of its nutrients.

"Man…this breakfast is awesome. If I keep having good cooking like this every day, I'm going to get fat." He blindly commented.

The three women in front of him smiled as they some pride in their cooking.

As they left the house and walked to school, Issei and the others showed Vali the path to the school and gave her information that would prove to be crucial if she was to live in Kuoh.

When they entered the school building, the four parted ways. Akeno went to her class, Vali went to the Staff Room, and Issei and Raynare went to homeroom.

As soon as class was to start, the teacher made an announcement.

"Alright, class, today we've got another transfer student. Come in." The instructor called out to the door.

As the transfer student walked in, Issei wasn't exactly surprised as to who it was.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Valina Lucifeld. I will be a second-year here from now on. Please take care of me." She bowed as she flashed a friendly smile.

The boys instantly went crazy when they saw her. The girls found that they wanted to talk to her, in a friendly way, at least, though some were bothered by the fact that she was getting so much attention already.

"You can have the seat at the front." The teacher gestured around.

Soon break time came for class, a time where the situation escalated.

Vali noticed the displeased look that Issei was sporting and wondered about the reasons for why he was in such a mood.

"What's wrong Issei? Are you alright?" She looked at him with a concerned expression, putting a soft hand to his forehead to feel the temperature. Though this was done innocently, people had already questioned the nature of their relationship.

Were the two friends? Childhood friends? Possible relatives? Even…lovers?

"If you're not feeling well, then I'll help you." She positively smiled at him.

"Y-Yeah, thanks. I'm fine though, Vali."

"Issei, make sure you always tell me if there's something bothering you, kay?" She looked at him warmly as the boy merely nodded.

"They're on a first-name basis?!" The Perverted Duo shouted in shock. Even some of the other students were a bit surprised by the nature of their interactions. It was like that of a lovey-dovey couple.

'Why didn't I learn clairvoyance?' Issei grumbled to himself as he walked through the hallways.

At the moment, Vali was being shown around the school by Raynare, so he didn't have to go with them to be precise.

Unfortunately, Issei had been too bothered by the various students that suspected him with having illicit relationships with Akeno, Raynare, and Vali. This all started with how close he seemed to be with the three women. They made him lunches, were open with him, and always seemed to worry for him.

When the day ended, however, Issei remembered that there were Club activities to attend to. This meant that Vali would be left alone, which Issei knew was not a good idea. Vali hated being left alone for long periods of time. It was a childhood fear of hers.

He remembered how it was not a good idea to have her heritage be made known, but he worried for her emotional state too. After a long debate with himself, he decided that he would skip out on the Club's activities and spend some time with Vali, having already told Rias that he would be absent for personal reasons.


Walking to the School gates, he found Vali waiting patiently.

"Issei? Where's Raynare and Akeno?"

"They have Club activities. I'm not going though, so we can do whatever you like for tonight. Tomorrow's Saturday, after all."

Vali gave the idea some thought before smiling to herself.

"Then, how about you show me around town?" She joyfully suggested.

Smiling and nodding, Issei looked forward to the plan.

"Alright. A tour of Kuoh's Shopping District and neighborhood, it is!" He declared as he led her onto a small adventure.

Taking the subway around, Issei pointed out various locations of interest to Vali and helped give her instructions in case she ever got lost.

As the two moved around, Vali made careful observations as she tried to memorize whatever she saw out of interest.

When they arrived at the Shopping District, Vali was a bit cheerful to see the place.

"It looks nice. I'm kind of excited to see what it's like in full detail." Vali smiled as she moved forward behind Issei.

"Then by all means, follow me." He smiled.

Taking her around the clothing stores, she tried out various outfits, which caught off-guard several times. She would try different outfits that had white colors on them, which matched her perfectly. Black was also a nice contrast to her too. When she put on an elegant black dress, Issei's jaw was ready to drop.

Vali found much of the food pleasant in Kuoh. During her years of training, she mostly spent her time cooking and eating her own food and Penemue's. Now, she had the luxury of having not to help cook at all and could just enjoy what she had ordered.

After getting some ice cream from a vendor, the two ate their cones before Vali started to laugh out of the blue.

"Ahahaha!"

"What's wrong?" Issei was a bit surprised by her strange outburst.

"You've got ice cream almost going up your nose." She pointed above his lip, much to his embarrassment.

"Oops." He sheepishly commented.

Taking a napkin from her pocket, Vali softly wiped the ice cream from under his nose and kindly wiped his mouth.

"There. All clean." Vali taunted him playfully as if she were talking to a child.

"Haha. Very funny." Issei made a sarcastic remark but broke into a laugh directly after.

When the pair entered the game center, she was delighted to have so much fun. However, what made this meaningful was the fact that Issei was with her. She had spent so much time wishing to be in this situation with him while she was in the European Continent.

"Are you okay? Your face is pretty red and your breathing sounds a bit fast." Issei looked at her and inspected her.

When she felt his hand on her face, she forced herself to resist breaking into a gigantic grin.

'I missed Issei's touch.' She thought to herself as she happily took in the moment.

When the two returned home, they were surprised to see that it was already 7:00 pm. Thankfully, he had sent Raynare a text about them being home late.

Walking in, Issei and Vali took off their shoes and set their takeout food on the Dining Table.

Hearing the TV, Issei walked to the Living Room and found Raynare and Akeno looking rather bored.

"We're home!" He called out.

"Welcome back." Raynare smiled at them as she and Akeno got up.

"We brought dinner home." Issei gestured to the table.

As everyone set up the table and eventually dug into the food, Issei couldn't help but notice how comfortable and nice it was here. His once cold and somewhat desolate home had become rather bright and vibrant with the company of those that he cared about.

'Now this is home.' He smiled to himself.

When the dishes were to be cleaned, Vali was the first to jump to the task.

"It's fine, Vali. I can take care of it." Issei interjected but she had already started.

"I'm merely mooching off of you, so this is the least that I can do. Don't worry." She smiled back at him before resuming her task.

For the next few weeks, Vali had proven to be of great help with house maintenance and she just naturally helped brighten Issei's mood. She was also prone to mischievous acts, like pranking Issei by moving around his stuff to hidden parts of the house without his knowledge. He couldn't help but find this change of pace, refreshing.

During one specific evening, Issei was sitting alone in the house while the girls went out to have a relaxing evening. With this chance, Issei chose to openly talk to Ddraig without appearing insane.

'Now that I think about it, all of the women in this house would make great wives.' Ddraig playfully made his input.

"Don't even go there." Issei retorted.

'I'm just saying. They can all cook and clean and they are very intelligent, beautiful, and they all kick ass. Not to mention, they have likeable personalities. Thumbs up by my standards. Marry them all, son.' The Red Dragon laughed.

For the past while, Ddraig was pushing Issei to make a choice on what to do with his romantic feelings. It wasn't good to lead on women and it wasn't good to let feelings sit and rot.


Not much happened this chapter.

Changes made to Chapter 11:

Fixed grammar and made the wording more concise.