Faust returned home, but not before completely examining his whole body. Being tracked and found out was the last thing he wanted, especially by someone so dangerous. He sighed and trashed the uniform to the washing machine. He was calm, just extremely puzzled and curious at how such thing happened.

" Sirius, run examinations and analyze the records. A hundred times. And look for behavioral science literature, especially about—"

" Please breathe, sir."

He inhaled deeply, and calmed down his nerves.

" ...Unrewarded virtue. Anyway, find out how that happened. Use the records of previous searches regarding similar matters."

" May I summarize that for you?"

" Yeah. And, be sure to rank top 5 papers, with reasons. I want to read them later."

He rubbed his head, trying to make sense what just happened. In theory, what he did was a good thing. But, what he wanted to know wasn't that. He wanted to know how to avoid such situation in the future as much as possible. He wanted to identify the symptoms and create a way, a system to somehow avoid such unpleasant situation from happening again.

" Sir, in my opinion, you were simply unlucky."

Faust looked at a figure of cute white robot that looked like it came from Cookie Run on his computer screen. Something he'd created about 2 or 3 years ago, it was a somewhat advanced AI that helped him research and do calculations and predictions his mind lagged behind.

" You're right, Sirius. It's just, I want to know how that happened."

The robot blinked on his screen, running countless calculations inside the system.

" Apologies. I simply deducted that this was an appropriate answer based on your current behavior and state of mind."

" Ahh, I guess my body language shows then. You're right, I was just a little frustrated. Nothing to worry about."

" Examination of physical appearance finished. Facial expression, normal. Muscle tension, normal. Attitude, normal. Voice, acceptable. Understood, sir. My worries were unwarranted."

" Mm-hmm. Turn off camera and microphone. Focus on processing the data."

He picked up yet another book, and started reading again. His mind relaxed and wandered around the information freely, something he always liked from reading almost any literatures. Of course, he didn't only fill his days with books. A clear mind must be provided by a healthy body, that's what he believed. If he were weak and sickly, it would be more difficult to get his brains working.

Certainly, this statement could be taken as only physically fit people could be smart, but that's just what worked for him. He knew that every people had their own way, and he had no plan of interfering with that.

" Sir, you have a mail."

" Read it."

" Dude, help! I've got no idea what to do tomorrow!"

...

" Sirius, be serious."

" But, sir. Reading it with Hyoudou Issei's voice will bring out the inner turmoil he had when writing this mail. I used the data on psychology and on him, and I'm sure my impersonation has less than 1% degree of error."

" You're right, but... Eh whatever."

He opened his phone and saw that Issei had send another 5 while he was talking with Sirius.

" So, yeah. Do you know what kinda girl she is? Likes, dislikes, etc?"

He knew Issei was on his phone. Still, it took him 15 minutes to respond.

" Nothing. I just knew her today."

...

Alright, he thought. Let's stop asking this guy. He was sure the next message he was going to receive was, her breasts are huge, or she's smoking hot or stuff like that. Still, he had to respect him for trying to give a girl he barely knew a memorable and fun date. Most probably with motives women might not really like, but eh, he tried.

" Sirius. How long will it take for you to create a general dating strategy?"

" To create an amiable generalized date plans, I would need 1 hour."

" Does that include actual date routes, contingencies, recommended actions, and detailed guides for tomorrow from 8 AM to 6 PM?"

" No sir. That would take me 5 hours."

" Alright. Mail Issei the extremely simplified version after you're done."

" Yes sir. Starting calculations."

He finally closed his eyes for the first time in 5 days.

" Dang, it's too bright..."

Faust, as his name suggested, was not a morning person. He could get functional quickly, as he always did with school, but if possible, he'd rather sleep until noon, and work until very late. But, due to habits, it was hard for him to actually wake up at noon. If he had to be perfectly honest, not sleeping at all would be preferrable.

But he loved sleeping as well, almost as much as he liked reading. In the end, it was just a matter whichever one won at the time.

" Oh good. It got sent."

Issei was sent a file in pdf, filled with super date plan that was fool-proof, and designed to suit his characteristics and needs. Unfortunately, there was no data on the woman, but they could make some general assumptions with teenage women as the basis.

He took a bath, taking his time to regain the soul lost during sleep.

" I kinda wanna take a good walk... Ah, right. Let's just do that."

He quickly returned to his dekstop and there, Sirius had already opened the file for him. With the complexity he was used to, he skimmed through the document very quickly. It took him about 15 minutes to be done, and another 10 minutes to re-read and completely understand.

" Sirius, next time, I'll find a way to reconfigure difficulty level."

" Yes, sir. An upgrade will always be welcome."

It was partly his fault for not being specific. He sent around ninety page of guide complete with graphs and charts, to Issei. This might sound too cocky, but Issei simply couldn't understand this much with the time he has. And really, he would be better off sleeping, because showing up on a date looking like a corpse was big no-no.

" Well now I'm inter- ehm, worried. Let's see how that guy's doing."

But, as he was about to walk out of the room, he tripped over nothing and fell flat on his face. Disoriented, he stood up and brushed himself off before going out.

" Dad, I'm going out."

" Where are you going?"

" Just to library."

He simply wore a grey hoodie and pants. He took the keys, and his wallet. Shaking his head briefly to shake off any remaining drowsiness, he raced to where Issei was going to meet up.

Of course, this sounded stalker-ish, but this was just too rare of a phenomenon to pass up. This was Issei, one of the trio perverts from Kuoh. And objectively speaking, his date had the beauty that would make actresses feel ashamed. Just what factors helped Issei land such a female? He had to know.

" Issei-kun! Sorry for being late... Did you wait long?"

...

Faust was buying sandwiches for breakfast, as he skipped breakfast. He also considered popcorn, but it was a pity that the store rarely had them. Perhaps after moving around, he could find some proper snacks.

" Ahaha, no, no, I also got here myself. No worries there, Yuuma-chan."

The girl arrived and did a cutesy sorry pose, and then linked arms with Issei.

"Why was this guy pumping in front of his date? Dude, that's embarassing. Well, at least she's not disturbed. The operation's still a go."

Then, Issei took Yuuma according to his original date route. For a moment, he really thought he'd underestimated Issei.

But as they went along, he noticed that Issei read nothing except that one route. For example, he got to a crepe store that was pretty famous around there, cheap but pretty good. Thus, he got into a somewhat long line. Sirius got a list of over ten possible places for opening, to avoid getting in line, with almost specific time when the place would get crowded, and he chose to wait in line under the sun.

And then, he talked about several trivias he read from the guide, and he didn't read them properly too, since he tripped a lot over those.

" Well, who am I to judge. Sirius is more thorough than I thought."

He then noticed a little girl that looked disturbingly close to the mascot of Kuoh. And he'd been seeing her from almost same angle everytime. He opted to keep close eyes on both of them, because he somehow had a bad premonition.

After almost half a day following them, his phone rang.

" Where are you?"

Well, shit, he thought. He'd forgotten to inform the lioness of the house.

" So you don't need home anymore? You're always like this! Either glued to your computer, or leaving from morning to God knows where!"

" Yeah, mom. I'll be coming home now."

Next thing he wanted was having his mother preaching, and the preaching suddenly turning to things that were absolutely unrelated, like school, the way her parents raised her, or something else.

" Well... Let's just end the observation here then."

Every minute he spent outside would make things worse. If her mood were good, she wouldn't get angry much. But, the thing about mood was, it could change at the drop of a hat. Well, today he wasn't too lucky.

" So be it then. I'll just ask Issei for the rest. I've got quite a few things to work with already anyway."

Little did he know, one of the few people that considered him a friend met his demise that very day.

Humans always tried to differentiate themselves from animals, yet technically, they were animals. For example, a beast was driven by instincts. They knew when to attack, and retreat on instincts. Due to continous domestication, humans' instincts were far less developed compared to their intelligence. But, it's still there. And if honed, that could prove to be very useful.

Faust had always loved books and almost all literature. However, his parents were very strict, and quick to resort to disciplinary actions. He hated stopping midway reading. Thus, when his parents slept, he woke up and continued reading or playing computer, whichever one he wanted to.

Still, there were often times he would get found out and scolded, quite possibly, disciplined with various methods right away, or the next day. Thus, unconsciously, little Faust learned to sneak away silently without alerting them, and feel their looming presence even before they wake up and possibly find him.

This was the same. His instincts had known, something bad will, or perhaps already fall upon him.

After a session of scolding, he'd been stuck inside his room, cooling his brain with a popsicle he bought on the way back. Hiding things to sneak them under their parents' nose might sound like a child's game, but Faust had enough trouble already. He didn't want to add another variable that would possibly further worsen the situation.

Not feeling himself, he went to bed early after getting his assignments for next week done. The next day was Sunday, and with his mother's fickleness, he was positive that her mood would be better after a long night sleep.

" Dude! You won't believe what happened!"

" What?"

" You remember Yuuma?"

Faust shrugged and nodded. This was break time. Once he'd done eating, he would go to the library and read some more. But, Issei's reaction baffled him. It was like he saw him in a mixer or a club at night, the shock was more than obvious.

" Wait, you do?"

" I do. Your girlfriend, or ex, whichever one is true after that date."

His pestering went down a bit, and he somehow looked sullen.

" So that's true? Geez, after sending you such a detailed date guide too. Where's the harem king in you?"

Usually, he wouldn't even consider entertaining his idea that pretty much violated Japan's law, but the rare sad look made him a little guilty. Perhaps he did step on a landmine and botched the date. Still, the one that suddenly called Issei before break, who led the way in front was also looking at him in shock.

" What? You two look like goldfish."

" Nothing. Kuroki-kun, would you like to tag along and go to Occult Research Club with us?"

His brain worked quickly, and he was trying to piece together new information he'd just received. Then, as he was lost inside his own mind, Kiba's prodding woke him up. Issei was mumbling about how he always daydreamed, and dreaming should be done only when sleeping.

" Sorry about that. Unconsciously let my mind wander."

Kiba flashed the smile that swooned at least 85% of Kuoh population, because the rest consisted males. This was one reason why Issei was so excited here, as the ratio looked quite promising.

" About going to the ORC, though. Why? I heard that club is pretty much exclusive. Won't the president get mad if you invite someone so suddenly?"

Kiba's smile faltered a little. Since their clubroom was basically filled with superstars of Kuoh Academy, he didn't think a lot of people would refuse.

" Our president isn't that petty, you know."

" I know, but in case you forgot, I was tagging along because I'm going to the Student Council here."

Kiba sighed, and excused himself for a second. Then, he pulled his phone and talked on it for a while. Then, his phone was the one that rang.

" Wasn't that too fast?"

" Hello?"

" Kuroki-kun. I have some assignments to work on for today. Let's postpone our rematch for tomorrow. Sorry for the sudden notice."

" Alright, Sona-kaichou. I'll be looking forward to it."

Kiba looked at him and raised his shoulder a little. This guy, or rather, the ORC, Faust thought, was just too suspicious.

" Since I'm free, then okay."

He sighed and entertained the thoughts that got cut off just now. He was about to enter a new, unexplored territory after all.

" Ara, ara. Come sit. President's been expecting you."

The Victorian-styled room was dimly lit, but Faust could see how regal the room and its furnitures were. Once again, he wondered if this club had free budget or something. Even principal's office wasn't so grandly decorated.

And the ones inside didn't lose out.

A petite white-haired girl that could be mistaken as a grade-schooler, Koneko Toujou. She'd been dubbed the mascot of Kuoh. He was wondering how rare it was for a Japanese person to have white hair at such young age. Akeno Himejima, boasting the biggest bust size in the academy (information scouted by a literal glassed scouter), and the yamato nadeshiko of Two Great Ladies of Kuoh.

" What's with the shower inside a clubroom? Don't you feel shame? Especially with a guy basically drowning in his own nosebleed here."

Issei was barely staying conscious as he held on. Science said it should be extremely hard, even impossible to get nosebleed by sexual arousement, but Issei had long since defied laws of nature. Faust could somewhat understand though. With just a glance across the room, he could see that the one behind the curtains had outrageous proportions that was too perfect for normal human.

Then, the curtains opened, and a beauty came out fully dressed, with wet red hair reaching her waist.

And Faust Kuroki already had his eyes on the book shelf in the room. Near the big mahogany table, there was a book shelf containing some books. He actually knew, and liked the books neatly arranged there. It always pissed him off when people just put back the book disorderly. It was better to simply put them on the basket or table, than messing up the arrangement. It made the librarians work harder than they had to.

" Do you like those?"

" Yes. I've read a few of them, and I particularly like Sun Tzu. It's a shame I rarely see these, and most viable source was history books."

Rias smiled, and put her index finger under her chin while looking upwards.

" True, but at the beginning, it resembled terrible simulation experiments. He casually beheaded them as a roleplay general."

" Well, that kind of applies to everyone though. Milgram and Stanford experiments really brought out the true dark side of human psychology. Although in some cases, Sun Tzu's, or rather war tactics in general, could be said as 'effective' instead."

Issei, again, was looking like a goldfish out of water. His mouth was open, and his eyes fixed on the scene in front of him. What shocked Faust most was how he didn't ogle the woman despite his intense libido.

" That Faust, is actually talking that long with someone?!"

The person in question seemed to realize, and coughed. He'd gotten a little too excited with people who could arouse his curiosity. It'd been quite long since he found someone with same interests.

But the red-haired girl simply moved closer, and sat on the big chair right behind the desk.

" Welcome to the Occult Research Club, Hyoudou Issei and Kuroki Faust. I'm Rias Gremory, and I'm curently the president of this club."

" Akeno Himejima. Nice to meet you, ufufu~"

She came in with a new tray of tea, and served them to Issei and Faust.

" Kuroki-kun."

He redirected his attention and faced the president, only to find her eyes glowing crimson. He was intrigued, but the curiosity was killed by his reflex. He felt a gentle prod to his mind that disappeared as soon as it came.

" Was I thinking too much? Wait, why am I—"

The moment he felt something foreign had invaded, he cleared that out by strengthening his mind. Honestly, his instincts told him to break eye contact right away, but he was too curious. In the end, his reflex sent a jolt that gave him clarity.

Her eyes didn't lose that faint glow, and he could swear he saw some sort of weird symbols there. The weird pressure was still there, but with his mind clear, it couldn't penetrate.

Rias giggled, and then the glow faded away.

" Kuroki-kun, no may I call you Faust-kun?"

He raised one eyebrow in interest, mostly about the glowing eyes. He was 90% sure that was just some sort of hallucination or his usual daydreams, or maybe visual tricks. But, deep inside him, he knew that wasn't possible. Faust always saw facts backed by data first, but he also understood that weird things he couldn't understand happen all the time.

" President, we barely know each other for 15 minutes."

Her smile fell, and replaced by slight dejection, then bounced again in about half a second.

" Then, Kuroki—"

" President, I was just kidding. As long as you allow me to do the same, do call me with my first name."

Rias stopped midway, and both stared in amusement at each other. Honestly Kuroki wasn't kidding, but in that split second, he'd mulled over the thought and let it pass. He quickly saw the change in expression and tone, quickly deciphered the information, and then decided. She wasn't to be trusted, at least for now. Although it was hard, that split second reaction could've been intentional.

" Alright, Faust-kun. Hmm, I don't mean to make fun of your name, but well, that really reminds me of a certain character."

He sighed and looked outside.

" Well, people often say the same thing."

He remembered a particularly fussy family that brooded over his name. 'Why, why Faust of all names?' he sometimes heard such comments. As for the kids calling him devil-breed or the likes, he took great enjoyment in scaring them and at times, making fun of them as well.

Rias tilted her head while still above her palms.

" Still, Faust-kun. Hearing your name does make me wonder what that means. I might seem prodding, but please treat it as curiosity."

" She's lying."

" It just seems too much of a coincidence."

" Again, lies. Weird, though. Her proddings seem to point at a confession that I was somehow involved in some sort of devil cult or something. That's too weird. But then again, this club is Occult Research Club."

He started to think that the perfect persona of this club was just a cover for several delusional high schoolers that all happened to be extremely good-looking, model students, and extremely popular. The whole club was just a really huge coincidence, or maybe they all just happened to know each other before and create this club for their hobby.

There's just no way this was just a coincidence, no matter how much he wanted to chalk it up.

Not to mention that strange glow... If he gave in and accepted the hypothesis, it would basically destroy his whole world-view.

Then, he lightly chuckled.

" You're not implying I'm really some sort of devil breed of something, right? I know this club is supposed to find superstitions, but that's too much."

If Rias Gremory knew her efforts to stay calm was seen through, she'd definitely feel stifled. Her face wasn't showing much, but the restless tone and uncomfortable movements didn't escape him.

" Sona talks a lot about you. She mentioned that fighting you was like being against both a person and a machine."

" Well, unfortunately, I can't always find every best moves on every scenario."

" With that said, Faust-kun..."

He was surprised by the sudden change in topic. Rias Gremory understood that he wouldn't budge otherwise, and tried to instead take another approach.

" Let's see if that's true?"

She took out a chess board.

" I don't mind."

He was originally going to the student council to play, anyway. Thus, Rias brought the board to the glass table between the two sofas. Both of them sat down and had a game.

" Chess is a really interesting game, don't you think? Each pieces have their very own unique abilities, it's almost like waging a real war."

" Except the real world is like having 7 billion pieces, behaving like players."

" Fufu. That's an interesting train of thought."

The game was filled with friendly banter, and Rias hadn't brought the previous topic at all. She was completely absorbed in the game.

" Huh?! How did I end up in this position?"

She was eyeing the pieces like they were some sort of contract with really small letters. In fact, she might as well poke her eyes with the king's cross-shaped crown. The mascot of Kuoh got her attention piqued, and sat beside him, also contemplating.

" Well, we traded lots of pieces."

" Then?"

" I moved a piece."

" Then?"

" Well, I know how you play a little. So I based my moves off that."

Machines could definitely find the best moves, and lay plans 10 moves ahead. But, humans were able to trace and trick their opponents based on other factors. She nodded, and leaned back at the sofa.

" I resign."

" Alright. Another game?"

She didn't answer. Instead, her eyes seemed like they wanted to drill holes on Faust's face. He felt a little itchy with the stares from all the members of the club, including Issei.

" Dude... That's amazing."

" Thanks, man. Oh, thank you, Himejima-senpai."

She'd refilled the cup he drained before. The tea tasted like the same brand the student council used, but hers was a little more refined. This onee-san would definitely become teatime club's ace if she were a member.

" Ara, ara~ It seems this kouhai is very cute. You can call me Akeno if you want~"

Faust felt an unexplainable chill on his neck. It was even more terrifying than Rias' unyielding observation of him. It felt like he was a butterfly trapped in a spider net. It had been a while since he felt it so vividly. Behind that pretty smile and barely opened eyes, he could see a demonic visage looming closer.

Still, being assaulted by Rias' gaze made him very uncomfortable. Thus, he stood up, wanting to go home. Before he could get to his bag, she called him.

" Wait a minute, Faust-kun."

" Yes?"

He turned back, facing the older redhead.

" Would you like to join my family?"