Student Council Room.

Sone Sitri was enjoying her daily cup of bean juice, as Faust often pointed out. With her tight schedule, a cup would help her stay focused on her tasks ahead, including dealing with the headache said person might bring at times.

For example, the aftermath of a fallen angel raid.

Admittedly, it was an impressive feat. But, he was taking more risks than she thought he would. She'd honestly thought he'd have let Rias power her way through, and prevent her from being too confident with her own ability and allow unnecessary losses.

She was curious, and that was why she agreed to have a meeting on her few precious day off.

" Hello, Sona."

Rias and Akeno entered, with the queen offering a slight curtsy at the other King. They sat side by side on a rather long and luxurious sofa. If one looked closely, it somewhat resembled the one from the ORC room. Soon after, a tall, curvy, bespectacled woman with long, black hair reaching her knees came and pushed a trolley with a tray of pastries, 4 cups, and a teapot.

" You look happy, Rias."

" Well... I might have a chance to deal with 'that' matter now~"

Ever since last night when she called her, Rias had had a bounce in her voice. Now, Sona saw the physical view of her elation. She was literally grinning from ear-to-ear.

" I see. Well, let's get to the matter at hand, shall we?"

Her smile slowly fell. It was so obvious even for a woman as straightforward and blunt as Rias Gremory.

" So about Faust... How much do you know about him already, Rias?"

Comfortable and satisfied, Rias let out a satisfied sigh and put down her cup with elegance of a royalty. She let her back rest on the soft leather. However, her face indicated great seriousness.

" Nothing more than he's freakishly smart to the point of being called android by students. And that he's a surprisingly an adept fighter. Not to mention he was not having a good home life. He's pretty much had a broken home. Last night, despite devising and executing a rather... devilish plot, he had... abnormal reaction afterwards."

" It was shocking."

Sona's eyes narrowed at the revelation.

" He often has daydreams, where he suddenly doesn't care about his surroundings. Even in the middle of a talk, he'd suddenly doze off, and come up with most outrageous, but somehow logical, explanation of things."

" Right. He does do that often."

Rias nodded, as she giggled a little remembering how the boy quickly apologized when he was caught. Sona's eyes seemed like they looked beyond the room as she started talking.

" Rias, Faust is a little like me. We all overthink, but his is dialed to freaking twenty. Daily. Every waking moment everyday. This is why I don't want you to coerce him to your peerage, and why I haven't inducted him yet despite knowing him since the beginning of his first year."

The redhead visibly relaxed. It seemed the problem was far less severe than she'd thought. Here she expected a tragic backstory or something.

" What? Just that? He overthinks?"

She disguised her giggle by sipping her tea.

" Sounds normal. But, haven't you ever wondered? How he seemed to arrive at the conclusion most of us neglect to see? How he pulled conclusion out of something as silly as chess playstyle?"

Sona pulled out clipped files, and presented them.

" Middle school, he caused two teachers and five students to be expelled. If not for deep investigation I did, I would never have noticed he was the perpetrator. As for why I did that? First day in Kuoh, he got into a deep argument with one of the teachers, and got sent to me. He's continued to do so, albeit less and less frequently nowadays."

" To be fair, that teacher has been plaguing the students by using materials too far out of the book, and mock them for it."

Rias put the file back to the table, and frowned. Her friend snorted, but her smug look was obvious.

" Good riddance. Teachers that teach to curb his own inferiority complex by demeaning students have no place here. But that's not the point. If not for that teacher's instant punishment, and other teachers' biased view of him, he'd never get sent here. All these cases, he's nothing but very thorough with his actions. You starting to see what I mean?"

Akeno commented.

" A mastermind, so to speak."

" What if a mastermind, always stays in that state, despite not being naturally so?"

Sona Sitri looked almost forlorn when she stared at the window after saying that sentence. Her face indicated that she understood. Rias Gremory's eyes widened in realization.

" That would be hell."

" I can't imagine how he's lasted this long without blowing up."

" Because he calculated, and most probably still does, what will happen if he does. Probably the face of his classmates, the estrangement, all the insults, and the harassment. All that, and more are simulated inside his head endlessly, and well, that's just one thought."

Rias massaged the bridge of her nose, while Akeno shook her head as they remembered what he said.

Like 7 billion pieces acting and thinking as if they were players.

" That's a crazy joke right there..."

He'd looked at Freed as if he was a radioactive cockroach that could explode when stepped on, but could still kill them all regardless if let alive. Well, Freed definitely used his head about the same way a roach did, but that's beside the point.

Come to think of it, that was a pretty accurate description to the disturbed priest, from Faust's point of view at least.

" Oh no."

" Well Rias, your queen looks like she's put the pieces together. I assume you do too?"

" I'm afraid so. Although Sona, you seem to view him in bad light, despite him being very close to you. Coming here to play chess and tea when he should be in detention must be saying something, right?"

Rias smiled at her petite friend, who coolly sipped her tea without a word.

" We have our own understanding."

" He's thoroughly melted kaichou's heart, Miss Rias. She's never scolded him beyond the first few times they met."

Her Queen's remark sounded like news on TV, said with cold certainty. After all, Tsubaki Shinra was no stranger to their interactions.

Akeno's eyes widened, her mouth opening in panic.

" Oh no."

" What? Akeno, are you vying for our kouhai's affection too?"

Sona raised her eyebrow at the change of direction, with great amusement in her mind.

" By the way, here's one more crazy fact. You know how we alter students' and people's memories to smooth things over?"

She smirked with both proudness and a bit of smugness.

" He noticed all of them."

Akeno, still looking wide-eyed, muttered.

" Oh no."

" Well, that's obvious."

" That includes that time nee-chan 'sparkled', and the time when we forgot to take out the Blood-Fanged Tuna from the canteen's stock. He swore the fish was staring at him, even from the cooler when he saw it."

" No way."

" Yes, no way, Akeno... Why have you been saying that?"

Akeno pointed at the window positioned behind Sona and Tsubaki. There was a beam of light coming out from far away. Rias shrugged, but then gasped in realization, along with the rest of the room.

" That's the direction of the church!"

The other three devils nearly nearly choked their tea, and stood up. Sona quickly used the room's magic circle and inserted the coordinates to transfer them near the abandoned church.

" Err, hey?"

Their POI was standing there, wiping his hands with a wet rag. There was a bucket near his left foot, still damp. Sona face-palmed, while Rias and Akeno still wary. Light was the archenemy and most glaring weakness of all devils, after all.

" Aren't you going to ask what happened?"

" I'll bite. Go on."

Rias' glare was answered with a sheepish look from the human.

" A light sword, well its core actually, kind of exploded and torched a cupboard. I was just done putting out the fire."

" And just how did that happen?"

" Come on, who doesn't want to take apart such amusing stuff? I found the energy core. Suddenly, it pulsated, and I threw it away. Never expected it to be some sort of SOS signal."

All four of them exhaled all of their worries away. After that, Rias glanced at the hole in the stone ceiling, and a pile of cinders below that. A bit far away from that spot, light swords and guns were stacked high from the previous raid. She was a bit lost on how to dispose of them, and it seemed she was right.

Had she tried to disintegrate them with Bael magic...

" There goes a perfectly good sword... Oh well, I've got 50 more."

His murmur would've been unheard if there'd been only humans nearby. But devils were far superior in terms of all physical aspects, including senses. He chuckled nervously when he knew they were able to listen.

" Faust-kun, we'll have to confiscate them."

Tsubaki Shinra closed in on him, but was stopped by Sona Sitri. Her slim hand was extended to prevent her queen from closing further.

" From now on, try to experiment where we can see you, Faust-kun. There's a lot of room in the academy where you can play undisturbed."

" You know me, kaichou."

She couldn't help but smirk a little at his remark.

" In exchange, we'll get what knowledge about how those things work."

" Fair enough. Can I store them there too?"

" Wait, wait, wait!"

Rias found herself in a rare situation, where a conversation just flowed without her. In fact, she'd never been treated like so for all her highschool years. Sona turned her head distastefully, not really appreciating the disruption.

" Faust-kun, no offense, but can you, safely, tinker with them? I mean, you're a complete newbie to the supernatural world, and that's a bomb!"

He raised his shoulder casually.

" Can't be more complicated than a computer. Besides, I'm not gonna do the same thing again."

Rias was still perturbed by the chain of events, and tried to find an argument. After a few more tries, she resigned. At least he had some way to protect himself now, she thought. Faust Kuroki might be freakishly cunning, but better safe than sorry.

" You can put those blades in the ORC room, Faust-kun. Sona, I'll make a transport circle in my room too."

Faust gratefully nodded at her with a rare, wide smile.

" Much thanks, Rias-senpai."

" On one condition. Join the ORC, and I'll get the information too. Don't worry, you don't have to join my peerage."

She'd understood why Sona had prevented her from recruiting him to her peerage. In a peerage, the [King] was the sole commander and strategist. Faust Kuroki should and can only become a [King], and nothing else.

Although that might've been also intended to curb her rash and hot-headed personality from antagonizing him. Sona always told her not to run straight without looking ahead, but what could she do? Running straightforward had always been her style.

" By the way, Faust-kun."

Sona stepped forward, and slapped him square on the cheek.

" I deserve that."

" Yes. Then?"

" I promise to try to not do something stupid again."

" Good. Now, we'll pack these up, and go back to the academy."

On that cue, Tsubaki Shinra nodded and started constructing a magic circle. The others also got to work.

She started using magic to lift those tools to the air, but one stood out to her. It was a cane, with of ironwood. There was an intrinsic cross engraved at the top, almost like a rune. Noticing her curiosity, Rias answered.

" Oh, that? It was one of those strays' stuff. We found two daggers, too. Those are quite different compared to your usual light swords."

" I planned to save it for last."

She threw it to Faust, who caught it nimbly. He knew what they expected, and to be honest, better now than never. He grabbed the cross part, and pulled.

It was no cane.

It was a sword concealed in a cane.

He drew it at half, eliciting slight shiver down the devils' spine. Tsubaki Shinra even drew her spear, ready to fight at any moment.

" It's a holy sword."

" Not exactly. I feel something different..."

Rias braved on, and examined the weapon closer despite her natural instincts roaring like a pack of ambulance sirens. The blade was sleek, almost like a rapier. However, even she could tell it was wicked sharp. However, the intriguing part was the rune resting on the top of the blade.

" Weird... The church doesn't use rune magic. It's supposed to be Nordic faction's specialty."

" Does every mythological faction in legends exist? What, maybe even Ctulhu? Should I be worried of this world being a dream of lovecraftian terrors?"

They all looked at him, causing him to raise his hands in defeat.

" Right, at least aliens x predators isn't real."

" Xenomorphs are inspired from a type of demon beasts outbreak long ago. Apparently, there were some people who resisted mind alteration, and ended up creating the idea that resembles them. The funny thing is, they're called xenos metamorphos in the Underworld. Other than that coincidence, well, not that different."

Sona's revelation made him nervous.

" Urgh, what have I gotten myself into?"

" Faust-kun, you're smiling."

The idea of the destruction of the world made him smile. Sometimes, Akeno just questioned if this person was okay in the head.

" Sorry, the idea of they exist is just... outrageous, I guess."

Sona, who'd known such literatures understood his concerns. Hell, she would be concerned if those damned horrors were actual. Then again, even as a denizen of supposedly fantasy world, who was she to decide that the supernatural world was like those humans. Thus, who'd be the devil in such scenario?

" No, no. Stop thinking of that."

She shook off that imagination as soon as it came, causing her glasses to fly off her nose.

" Whoops!"

Faust moved and caught its handle between his index and middle finger. She murmured her gratitude, and put it back on. Rias and her queen were still a bit weirded out by this side of their long time friend. Sona's queen was already much too used to this scene, despite still holding some curiosity.

" By the way, Faust-kun. You should bring that sword with you."

Rias nudged at the cane sword in his grasp. Then, after pondering for a while, she tossed him one of the magic glocks as well.

" Self-protection. Maou knows what's gonna happen, but like you said..."

" It's better to be prepared."

" Better to be prepared, ufufu~"

Sona and Akeno finished, both with teasing expression on their faces. The guy smirked a bit, and kept both as the rest of the items were dumped to a magic circle. The scene was almost like the devils dumping trash at some sort of dimensional bin, as the items thrown inside immediately disappeared.

" I can't carry them like this, though."

" We'll take care of that later."

Her queen had finished, and the circle with unique shape of S in the center glowed bright sapphire. Three ORC members and two STC members stepped in, and vanished from that location as if they were never there.

" Aaauuu... I'm sorry... I was drying them out..."

Asia peeked out from behind the curtain with rosy cheeks. Issei's face entered its default settings, which resembled the monkey face he made whenever he hung out with his two infamous buddies.

A little dented, though, since Koneko's rock-hard fist struck his cheek when the loli found his face covered with Asia's plain white bra. She was still balling her fist, anticipating if Issei hadn't been deterred enough yet.

" Whoa, you can consider being an artist, Koneko. I'd pay to see "Da Fist" anytime."

Faust's hidden snark didn't go unnoticed. The mascot's trademark glare changed its course swiftly. The target gulped, and stopped smirking. However, she stopped and looked at him with her cat-like, stoic eyes.

" Faust-senpai, you're sick."

" No, I'm not sick. I'm Faust. Seriously, I'm not gonna be here if I'm sick."

Her nose twitched cutely. After sniffing for a while, her eyes opened.

" Your chi is greatly disturbed, although you try contain it. Senpai, no matter how much of a master you are, it won't work when you're sick."

Faust pointed at Koneko while turning to Rias. His index finger got yanked to a very painful angle when Koneko took it as a direct insult to her height.

" Yeowch! Mercy, mercy!"

Now, he was pretty much as tall as her. He was granted sweet release after some pleading.

The whole room's attention was completely focused on him now, though.

" What? I have some ideas about chi and life energy and all that wuxia stuff, but that's just below you guys in terms of dubiousness."

" Of course. If he'd known something before, he'd probably have become a sage or something. It's Faust-kun, after all~"

" Akeno's right. It seems you accidentally learned it somewhere and have been unconsciously using it."

The others nodded in agreement with both president and her right hand. All of them had seen how obsessed he was with peculiar books in this room the moment he entered instead of looking at Rias' bathing silhouette.

Her pride as a woman had never taken worse beating.

Their conversation got interrupted when Koneko looked that Asia had finished bathing, and ushered the boys out. Issei's ass knew first-hand that a small rook was a mean rook. Smaller fists meant less surface area, and thus, concentrated damage. The same went for drop-kicks when he refused to exit.

" Those that don't seek death won't die, why won't anyone understand that?"

" Says Faust 'I'll-infiltrate-the-church-and-murder-everyone' Kuroki."

" I'll have you know the risks are well calculated already. Unlike your left lower cheek that can't bear to sit properly for a while."

" Watch me."

He tried to sit, but as always, Faust was right. His left ass felt like it was pincushion. Kiba let out her usual ikemen chuckle while watching Issei stand up dejectedly. He put his hand on his shoulder with a comforting smile. Of course he couldn't. Not with imprints of little soles there.

" Don't worry. Our sofas are soft enough to not harm it... Pfft... Any further."

Issei rubbed his butt while nonverbally cussing the blonde knight. 'Blonde knight' was originally one of the trio's favorite sarcastic insults, but now that he knew Kiba was literally a knight, that lost its edge for him.

" Still, Kuroki-kun. If you don't use chi or magic, what do you use? Perhaps you're a sacred gear user as well?"

" No, I don't. As far as I know, I've got no sacred gears."

Kiba's laugh was polite, but Faust could tell. The blonde knight approved his abilities, but he seemed to believe that Faust was hiding some sort of trump card or super power.

" I mean, there's no way you can trash Freed as a normal human, right?"

Faust sighed at the knight.

" Anyone would fall if you hit the back of their head with a hammer and break the door on his neck, or face, on that matter. You don't need fancy stuff to do that."

" If you say so."

Hearing that conversation set off his first time seeing his friend in action. It was a bit surreal, seeing how he usually acted. Issei always knew several things that should've been weird. The client's house, and then this incident. In the end, he got them right, somehow. Over the years, Issei grew to instinctively trust him, and he never thought much about it.

" Rather than defeated, it was more like he was dispatched, or better yet, neutralized."

Before he could consider voicing his thought, the door creaked open, revealing the small rook.

" The boys can come in now."

Kiba nudged his fellow devil with a smirk, challenging him to sit now. However, before Issei could test Kiba's statement, Rias called him to report. Asia, on the other hand, approached Faust with shy steps.

" E-excuse me..."

There was a faint magic circle by her left ear, almost like an earphone.

" That's translation magic, huh?"

" Eh?! Ye-Yes! Rias-san gave me this after last night, to make sure I can understand what other people say! Shamefully, my own magic isn't high enough to maintain this at all times..."

She stammered, before finally sitting on the opposite chair. Asia was a bit confused on how to continue the conversation after that.

"Asia-chan, that's Faust Kuroki. You may not see him before, but he's the one that paved the way for us to save you."

" I'm sorry! Thank you for your help, Kuroki-san, please treat me well!"

Akeno's face was perched next to Faust, as she rested her crossed arms on the sofa's backrest.

" Akeno-senpai, is she?"

" No, she's not reincarnated. Despite not trusting anybody, you're a very kind boy, aren't you? Ufufu~ Are you a tsundere, Faust-kun?"

She smiled refreshingly while pinching the boy's cheek. For some reason he could never comprehend, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima were treating him as if he was a cute poodle.

" No."

" Umm... What are you talking about?"

The king and the pawn finally joined in, with Issei sitting next to Asia and Rias leaning to her luxurious mahogany desk. After pondering for a while, both woman giggled and shook their heads in amusement.

" Oh yeah! I never got to thank you, Faust! Really, you're the best, bud! The way you cause them to fight each other after stuffing half-dead people in places very hard to find is a little scary, though."

Asia's gaze was very similar to a rabbit running from a fox.

She inched away from him, trying to meld into the sofa in her effort. Faust fixed his posture, trying to soak in the soft and opulent feeling of a super expensive sofa. Even though they were both displaying similar action, the intent couldn't be any farther.

" But from now on, I'm not gonna lose out to you! Look! Boosted Gear!"

{BOOST!}

The color scheme was the same, but the gauntlet had extended to cover all his forearm, with horns jutting out from the sides. It now covered each fingers, too, with sharp, black, metal claws. There were some engraving surrounding the huge green jewel that pulsed gold.

" Huh, that wasn't there before. Did it evolve?"

" Yeah. Amazing, right? I got this after defeating that fallen."

Faust turned his head slowly, almost mechanically, to Rias. She didn't want to be subjected his inquisitive gaze for too long, and thus started explaining.

" I thought it was wrong to be the one to take care of that Raynare. So, I had Issei take his own revenge for Asia. Sorry."

" Buchou..."

She resorted to counting creases on her table to the best of her abilities. Faust harrumphed, but inside, he couldn't fault her actions. It was a good and safe way to improve Issei's fighting capabilities without much risk. Being resourceful was good, and honestly, should've been expected from a devil.

" It was vexing, though. Well, whatever."

" So, what can it do?"

Issei dismissed his new toy, turning it to red particle before dissipating completely.

" You know how my previous version doubles my stats?"

" Well, that's the first I hear about it, but okay."

He raised his finger, as if a veteran talking to a clueless newbie. The expression and the action were nailed perfectly, ten out of ten. Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno all looked at Faust, expecting to see the cold murderer face again. Their disappointment was ten out ten, too.

Akeno's in particular was cranked up to 20, though. Her expression was far too obvious, that no one could ignore even if they wanted to.

" I can now boost however much my body allows, every ten seconds. And then, I can release them in for a single burst if I want to."

Faust's eyes widened, then he whistled a little too loudly.

" That's a freaking cheat right there. Won't the devs come and arrest you for possessing that kind of broken weapon?"

" Destroyed the crow with a swift punch to the face. Sloppy. Amateurish. Still got the job done."

Issei was crying rivers when his resident snarker flung praise to him. As she always did, her mouth never stopped munching on cookies even when his bawling had gone to a rather disturbing level.

" Looks like you're in the 'defeat a fallen angel solo' club now, man."

He looked positively ecstatic. The sofa creaked a little as he jumped, and punched up in happiness.

" I didn't know you'd be so happy with that."

" Yeah, I can't always get outdone by you, especially when I'm a devil now."

The other devils nodded in agreement, and commended his resolution to continuously improve.

" By the way, Faust-kun, come with me for a while."

" Hm? Alright."

He followed her out of the room, and to the hallway. After being separated enough from the clubroom, she stopped and looked out from the window next to her. The old school building had always been cool, benefitting from its classic architecture. Her red mane swayed from gentle summer breeze, adding to her already high charm value.

" So, what do you want to talk about?"

" To the point, as always. Don't you ever consider that I just want to have a nice walk with you for once?"

" Frankly, no."

She pouted, but only for a second. Partially sitting on the window frame, her lips formed a thin and mischievous smile. Then, she looked outside.

" About our deal, I'd like to keep it a secret from the rest of the club."

" Just that? Of course."

" I see."

They shared a comfortable silence, basking in the warm air. He'd read that devils were weak against sunlight, but apparently she was powerful enough to disregard such vulnerability as mere annoyance. He leaned back to the wall next to her, arms crossed.

Then, she dropped down from the window, and affectionately rubbed his forehead and swiped his long, grey bangs away. The prickly and messy hair was temporarily flattened, but quickly returned when Faust flinched away from her touch.

" Sorry, was that unpleasant?"

He shrugged.

" I was just a little shocked is all. Not everyday you have the first lady of Kuoh being affectionate, after all."

" Oh, you."

She smiled, but her lips weren't curled up as far as they usually were. Also, her eyes looked somewhat sad.

" What are you planning to do after this?"

" Maybe finish up the last tome you gave me, and then... Hmm, I guess I want to relax a little after all this stuff happening."

She giggled at his answer.

" I'll lend you some more, then. I swear, you swallow those so quickly."

" Unfortunately, though, the common point was that they mostly state 'what', and not 'why'. I can barely find explanation there. Why and how does magic exist? What is magic, really?"

He was quite excited in shedding light on the things science couldn't explain. Rias looked at the rare glint in his eyes, only emerging when talking about something that interested him. It would be nice if he could take interest in other things too, though.

" I'd like to know more."

Great thirst for knowledge seemed to haunt whoever bore the name of Faust. The original one had so much thirst that he basically sold his soul to the devil for that.

What a twist, Rias thought. She was a devil, too. It was like the original myth all over again. The devil clan changed from Mephistopheles to Gremory, though.

" Guess I'll finish the book here, then. Do you have more to talk about?"

" You know, Issei is too honest of a boy, isn't he?"

" Too honest, yes. Anything with 'too' in front will be bad. I don't bother counting how many times he almost got murdered by the kendo team or sent to detention for being honest to his desires."

She looked at him with a hard-to-read face. It was as if she was pondering about something very hard, and still lost about it.

" I offered him to play with my breasts if he managed to obtain a contract."

" Oh, that would certainly rile him up."

She chuckled.

" He didn't even try to hide it. I won't be able to deny it even if I want to."

" I see."

" Fufu, what do you think, Faust-kun?"

He was puzzled by the question. Just what was he supposed to think about? Times like this made Faust regret having absymal EQ. No matter how much he researched psychology to understand other people, there was just no helping that.

" You've gotten good grasp on your newest family member, which is necessary, I think."

Her solemn smile was there, and Faust knew something was off. Again, it could be fake, but that meant she'd planned this all along. From his recent experience, there was very little chance such thing was true.

" What was she trying to imply?"

Faust was confused.

" Sona was right. You do think a lot. Too much even."

Faust's eye twitched a little at how freely his information was being distributed. Of course, it wasn't sensitive or anything, but he was starting to doubt the student council president's ability to zip up.

" I'm sorry, Faust."

He grimaced a little at how she called him, but only for a fraction of a second. These devils had been snooping around people they're interested in, collecting secret information. Sona, too, had uncovered his previous plots, suddenly confronting him one day. It was mind-boggling how far they would go sometimes.

Well, he'd done the same, so he couldn't really complain. But he didn't go around blabbing facts about other people everywhere.

" Then again, Rias and Sona were childhood friends, with close relationship at that. Rias certainly couldn't be classified as 'nobody' in Sona's book, and she was very involved with me recently, and might go to her for some pointers... Why the hell do you need pointers? I'm not some ticking time bomb... And I think I haven't given her enough incentive to seek help..."

" Faust-kun? I'm sorry if you feel I dig too much..."

And then... Faust thought. Why did she choose to tell him? Wouldn't it be more convenient to just use them for her own agendas? Surely manipulating unknowing person would be so much easier compared to one with information, right?

The more he thought, the farther he felt he was from the correct answer. He'd developed some sort of sense for that after years.

The nerves of his brain were firing off very quickly, as when he found some interesting riddle to solve. But, after a while, he got quite tired. Finally, he concluded he didn't have enough data or understanding to solve this problem yet.

" Hmm... I don't understand. Why are you telling me this?"

" Huh?"

He kept his silence, waiting patiently for her to answer. Well, not that patient, since a patient man wouldn't goad an answer out so blatantly. However, he rejected such notion in his mind. He refused to believe that he wasn't as calm as he thought he'd be. It was obvious, and he'd known it would happen, but he didn't have to like it.

Rias was flabbergasted.

Of course, she didn't expect him getting tearful or moved or anything like that. Reactions labelled as anger would be far more appropriate for this occasion. However, Faust was far too smart and perceptive. Revealing this later would surely blow up in all their faces, both hers and Sona's.

It wasn't about what he could do to them, although the notion was quite scary too. He'd shown that he could be dangerous if he wanted to. But Rias truly believed that a healthy relationship was based on trust, and she was already far too amused, and admittedly somewhat attached to her pawn's friend.

Here she thought he'd deciphered it as a breach of privacy, which he most probably did. But it was not anger he showed. It was just curiosity, and mild annoyance.

" I just thought it'd be better to lay this out now, than to have you find out later."

Faust looked her over, his eyes cold and inquisitive as always, as if searching for whatever clue he wanted. She felt like she got scanned. He definitely learned magic way too fast. This guy was supposed to not know magic until they met.

" Mm-hmm. I understand. I appreciate your consideration, Rias-senpai."

Faust Kuroki gave a slight smile, warming his hard exterior just a little. He scratched his head, messing up his already messy gray hair. She thought he'd come to terms, and they walked back to the club room together.

A few days later...

" Sirius, calculate this algorithm, double check it, and then, we can finally try match that with this so-called magic. Argh, damn it. The first time is always a chore."

He was reading the results and making necessary adjustments and resolving errors that sprouted from his analysis. If this worked, he'd finally take the first step to actually having an idea what magic really was. And perhaps shed some light on the world of supernaturals.

He'd looked through anomalies that happened in the world for the past century. From a person eating steel, weird incitements that led to huge riots, to weird sightings of supernatural creatures that went down far too quickly, he filed them, and calculated the probability of what actually happened and the expectation based on the parameters of normal incidents. The analysis caused him so much headache, but the results were satisfactory.

" Calculating... By the way, sir, this is the report for this month."

" Ooh, nice. Thanks, Sirius."

" Anytime, sir. I'm pleased to say that we've achieved 3% increase of growth in portfolio compared to last month. It's not very impressive, but considering my risk-aversion protocols, it is a quite respectable amount. This year, increase has reached 29%."

" And that's passive."

" The investing volume is getting higher, yes."

" Adjusted forecast?"

" Projected further increase of 15% until the end of the year. However, the analysis indicated that next year will have lower growth rate compared to this year."

He sighed. It was to be expected. The economic climate couldn't always be positive, after all. It would be foolish to assume so. Rias had provided some more tomes, and he possessed some idea on how to go about actually practicing magic, but the most pressing problem was that he had no reliable reference. The devil's tomes were very vague, and like its subject, they explained the terms very loosely, with no clear logic.

So, he had to take to himself to decipher them and actually experiment bit by bit, drawing data from there. The worst part was that he couldn't really have Sirius shorten things up, since he had no idea what to do or how to go about it.

" Well..."

A magic circle appeared on top of his palm, glowing faint silver. It was small, and the power was disappointing, but it was a start. After weeks of mulling and theorizing while experimenting, he finally found success. After finall finding out what the heck mana was, defining chi wasn't too hard. However, he still couldn't find a way to utilize it, though. Koneko's hint had helped a lot, but he'd never seen its application first hand, so it was harder than magic, in a way.

Still, it would be just a matter of time.

" The most important thing is to learn body enhancement magic first, everything else comes after."

He muttered, and dissipated the magic circle. The most frustrating thing was, he finally figured out what magic was about when he tried following his instincts, and just go for it. The answer was in the feeling, something science couldn't quite put its finger into.

But they could at least analyze how it was supposed to happen instead of just saying it was different for each person. Perhaps it was because magic was already so ingrained that they didn't think much of it?

" Sir, you have pushed yourself to 180% of your bodily threshold. Please rest for at least tonight, and if possible, take tomorrow off as well. If you wish, I will send a notification to Sona Sitri."

" You're right, Sirius..."

His head was happy its master finally heeded its warning, and blared the signs without any mercy. Faust had to drag himself to the bed, as his virtual assistant shut the computer down. He blacked out the moment he reached his destination, and entered a state of dreamless sleep.

.

.

.

It was cold, even in his dreams. But, before he could resume his cognitive function, there was a sharp blow on his midsection, followed by a dull thud when something met his temple. Shivering from the cold and dizziness, he shakily stood up only to see his soaked sheet, and the empty bucket to contain it near his head.

His mother's spouting fell on deaf ears, as he tried to regain his balance and purge the searing pain plaguing his head. Seeing as he was no longer asleep, the woman exited the room and slammed the door to its hinges so hard that the whole room shook.

" Ugh, even though this is my first time snoozing..."

He crawled up from the wet floor, using his bed as support. It was very rare of him to be so tired that such method had to be used to wake him up. After all, he didn't get sick often, and even at his sickest, he'd still be kicked out to go anyway. It always went that way.

Besides, it's not like this was his first time being woken up like this.

Why not go at his own volition?

His mom's mood seemed to be particularly bad this week, too. Rubbing the bump on his head and wincing slightly from pain, he walked to the bathroom lazily.

" Better get this done fast."

He murmured, while thinking the faster he left, the faster he'd be away from this wretched house environment. For him, calling this place home was a little more than sarcasm. Thus, his mind switched to auto, and began doing his morning chores as efficiently as possible.

He left the house without breakfast, still dizzy, but this time, able to recognize the incessant screams of his mother and his father's hypocritical sarcasm.

Useless child that's a waste of good food.

Ungrateful lazy bastard with foul mouth.

Failure.

Honestly, he thought. Change the script a little. Looking up at the blue sky, his eyes blank and void of emotions.

" How tiring..."

Slinging his bag on his back, he walked down the street to the station. The familiarity allowed him to relax a little, and tension slowly seeped out of his body.

The tension left, leaving fatigue and pain to wreak havoc.