"Prez," Issei called out as he entered the club room "I'm back and I've finished with today's flyers."

As he walked in, he caught the usual sight of Asterios in his big chair, and Koneko Toujou on his lap.

The big guy turned to him and nodded "hello."

"Hey Asterios," Issei waved back, his body not a single bit tired despite the rounds he had made "How come I didn't see you at the club this afternoon?"

"Asterios goes for track meets every so often," Rias explained from her chair. She had a pair of glasses on, for some reason, and was reading some papers "So he usually goes there until night time, where he joins us."

Issei blinked "I didn't know you could join more than one club."

"I asked Sona to pull a few strings," Rias smiled "It gives him something to do when the whole club is busy with contracts."

"it's fun," Asterios nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Huh," Issei scratched his head "What do you do?"

"He runs." Koneko stated, shrugging at his look "He's good at it."

At her Rias had to hold back a snicker at the description.

Yes 'Run', and in the progress humiliate near every other athlete in the school and make each session a contest for the boys to catch up.

Sona already complained about it, since every track meet with Asterios would result in some of the boys running themselves ragged and passing out trying to keep up. She requested her to ask Asterios to lower his standards. She didn't have the heart to tell her that Koneko had told the exact same thing.

At least Tsubasa Yura liked it whenever Asterios went for a track meet, according to her it was a treat seeing so many boys get sweaty and dirty trying to keep up with him.

"Neat," Issei grinned "By the way, how did you two lovebirds like that book?"

"Buzz off." Koneko eyes narrowed, before she blushed.

"it was nice," Asterios answered.

Issei felt both pride and envy.

"i learned a lot of word," Asterios face scrunched up "though i can't tell you, because koneko said not to repeat it out loud."

Once again Issei felt his heart drop in disappointment once more.

Koneko however looked a mixture of both relief and disappointment.

"Okay enough of small talk," Rias clapped her hands to bring their attention towards her. She looked at Issei "Issei did you finish handing out today's worth of flyers?"

"Sure did Prez!" Issei gave a salute.

"Excellent, and at record time today to!" Rias smiled "Good boy Issei."

The brunette could help but grin.

"And I think you're ready for your first contract," Rias stood up, taking off her glasses and putting them on the table.

Issei let out a whoop.

"For now, you'll be taking any extras from the other members," She stopped next to Koneko and Asterios "Koneko's has one since she's doubled booked for the night, and she needs some help with it."

"Don't embarrass me," she said to him blandly "But thanks for doing this, it would be rad."

Issei slumped over at first, but perked up. He turned to the two "No prob." He turned his focus on Asterios "Sorry big guy, looks like I'm done handing out flyers!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself Issei, you'll still have to hand flyers until you get your own contracts."

"Sorry big guy, but looks like I might not spend all my time here handing flyers," Issei amended without even breaking eye-contact.

Koneko rolled her eyes.

But Asterios just nodded "it's fine, it was fun."

Issei nodded "Alright, time for my first contract!"

All that energy and all the cheer for his first step as a Devil and getting his own Harem.

All of which died out, just like how the magical circle under his feet died out when it tried to teleport him. He was too weak, not enough Demonic or Devil energy inside him for the circle to even use and teleport him. That SUCKED!

It was even worse, since the rest of the club had chosen that exact time to enter the room and saw his failure.

Besides exasperation from Rias and a smug smirk from Koneko, he saw sympathetic smiles all around. At least Asterios was kind enough to not look at him and make him feel like a failure.

At that note.

"Hey Prez," Issei called out to Rias Gremory "Uh can I ask something?"

"Yes?" Rias lowered her palm from her face.

"I know that I can't teleport because," Issei paused as to find a nicer way to e-

"You suck Devil Balls."

"Thanks Koneko," Issei sighed "But Asterios said that he can't teleport because he's not part of your peerage."

"Like I said, he's the only one here who's not a Devil." Rias confirmed.

"How come though?" Issei asked "He's probably been here longer than me, why hasn't he joined?"

"It's simple," Rias leaned again a chair "He just doesn't want to."

Issei blinked and looked at Asterios who was busy demolishing a whole cake in his hands, while Koneko and Yuuto looked on in awe "But isn't he with you?"

"Legally, in both Human and Devil terms, Asterios is only affiliated with me and my household as a citizen of Kuoh, a student of Kuoh Academy, and most importantly a member of the Occult Research Club. He is, however, not part of my Peerage or the Household of Gremory and as such not a Devil and doesn't bear the Gremory's family crest." Rias explained "While he does follow us for Stray Devil Hunts-"

Issei tilted his head at the phrase.

"-It's of his own accord, rather than due to a sense of duty. He's not allowed to participate in Devil activities, unless he asks for it and I allow it." Rias finished.

"So basically Asterios is our adorably large permanent guest," Akeno added cheerfully "Always with us, but never for anything important."

"Really?" Issei's eyebrows rose. He looked over to the Minotaur and asked "How come you don't wanna turn into a Devil Asterios? All the stuff you get from it rocks."

Asterios lowered the plate in his hands, Koneko grabbing it once it was in her face, and was quiet for a moment. "if i become a devil, then i stop… being a Minotaur." He said slowly "i deserved to be what i am."

Issei eyes widened at the words, inwardly he couldn't help but admire his pride as his species.

Rias however…

"Asterios," Rias called out "If you wouldn't mind, would you like to escort Issei on his first contract? You don't have to help, in fact you shouldn't, but it would be nice of him to have someone to protect him."

She ignored the dismayed reaction from her Pawn, and focused on Asterios' face lighting up and nodding at her request.

[Scene]

"Koneko," Rias spoke after both Asterios and Issei left the clubroom. It was only the four of them there, and there was a tension in the air. "I want you to explain to me, exactly what happened when you found Asterios."

Koneko was looking at her with her hands by her side. She sighed "When I was summoned by that creep, Asterios was already there. He tried to kill me."

"What." Yuuto's back straightened as his eyes turned sharp "Is he-"

"No." Koneko cut him off before he could finish. She wilted a bit "Sorry Yuuto, but the answer is no."

"Why was he trying to kill you?" Rias asked.

"To eat me," Koneko answered "The creep wanted to feed me to him and make him stronger for whatever reason. And he said that if he fed a Devil to him, it would make him even stronger."

"From your words, I can guess that you weren't his first victim." Akeno chimed in, her face serious "I heard from Rias that there was another person that you said was also kidnapped, but you never told us what happened to them." Her face hardened "Asterios had eaten them haven't he?"

Koneko was quiet.

"…Koneko. When Sona sent a team to investigate, she found a place with a magical lab and notes from a Magician, but she didn't find the body of the man who owned it" Rias eyes stared into hers "What happened to the man that had tried to feed you to Asterios?"

"When he wouldn't kill me, because he saw that I was afraid, he tried to run." Koneko mumbled "The creep started calling him a monster over and over, and it made him snap. The creep kept calling him that, even as he was getting butchered," she swallowed "And even as Asterios was biting him to pieces."

…

"That doesn't sound like our Asterios." Akeno stated firmly "Even during the Stray Devil hunts, he never showed any desire to eat flesh."

"That's because he doesn't want to. After he killed that creep, he ran away to the basement and just… sat there." Koneko pulled her legs to her chest and hugged them close "He just sat there in the dark, alone."

Rias felt pity, but before she felt that pity she felt duty-bound. So, despite the glare she could already feel from Koneko, Rias asked as King to her Peerage "Koneko, if you knew that. Why did you invite and insist on such a dangerous individual on joining the club?"

"Because he was scared that he did all of those things." Koneko mumbled, she hugged her legs tighter "I saw it when he was in the basement, I saw it when he was attacking," she looked down at the floor "I even saw it when he was eating the creep that summoned me."

Her grip on her knees tightened "And he wasn't just scared to. I saw that he hated what he was doing, that he hated himself and…"

"It struck too close to home."

Koneko closed her eyes as she felt a pair of arms hug her.

"I'm sorry Koneko, but I was just worried." Rias whispered, she sighed "Now I both regret, and am thankful that I sent Asterios away for this." She pulled away and hugged herself "I'm glad that I could hear it from someone that isn't him who knows how he might feel about it, but I feel dirty now that I know without his knowledge."

"So he hates some part of himself huh?" Akeno placed a hand on her cheek, a smile that didn't reach her eyes on her face "I suppose that's something some of us know about."

"Master," Koneko lifted her head to look at Rias "Please don't send Asterios away, don't leave him alone. I, I don't want him to be alone."

"You don't have to worry about that," Rias' hand ruffled her head "Even if he's not part of my Peerage or my Household, I won't let Asterios be alone if I can help it."

Koneko smiled "Thank you."