A/N: Eyyyyyyy

The waters ran red as Asterios sat under the shower head, the small form of Koneko hummed as she lathered up her hands and scrubbed the Minotaur.

Blood that had been flash boiled was apparently much tougher to clean than regular dried blood, so it took more effort to scrub clean. But on the plus side, it allowed her to get more hands-on during their usual after fights shower, which was a plus in her book.

Initially Rias had planned for a celebration if they had managed to win, but when they returned back to the clubhouse, nearly all of them felt the fatigue hit them at once. In the end, Rias managed to tell them to rest and they would celebrate tomorrow.

"You did great today Asterios," Koneko complimented, scrubbing away the blood and picking away at any of the more stubborn flakes. A smile on her face "You really proved that Riser was just a flaming chicken."

Asterios smiled, a sight that Koneko has surprisingly gotten used to despite the initial fear it filled her with, "thanks…" He lowered his smile as he seemed to tried to think of the words "i think… you did great as well…"

She felt her ears and tails wag in excitement at the compliment. Despite that, she kept a steady smile on her face and let out a confident "Heh, I know." As she pulled away from his shoulder, her eyes trailed down to his hands and the Devil was reminded of something "Still, cool as it was when you threw it, a shame that you lost one of your axe."

Asterios tilted his head, before he shook his head "it's fine, i can just summon it again."

"Really?" Koneko moved to the other side and began cleaning the other shoulder "Even though you tossed it away in the Rating Game?"

Asterios nodded.

"Sweet." Koneko leaned so that she could look Asterios in the eye "Think you can teach me that?"

Asterios pursed his lips, he closed his eyes for a moment, before he opened them and sadly shook his head "i… don't know how i do it. i just do."

"Shame," Koneko shrugged "Would be nice if I could just summon a box of snacks everywhere with me."

"want me to start carrying some?" Asterios offered.

Koneko blinked as she paused her scrubbing at the offer "Seriously?"

"yes, it would make koneko happy right?"

She felt her extra appendages wag before she shook her head and grinned "Sure, keep them in your hair if you want someplace to hide them."

Once she was done with his shoulder, she moved to his back.

"You know," Koneko started as she pulled away at the Minotaur's mane, running her fingers through it to wash it better "Since we won the Rating Game, we can probably celebrate."

Asterios waited until she was done with his hair, before turning his head to look over his shoulder "president said we should rest today, right?"

"No no, I mean yeah she did say that" Koneko shrugged as she held up her hands to wash away the dried blood on her hands "I mean like personally celebrate, because I think we both deserve a reward." She raised an eyebrow and smirked "Wanna have fun?"

Asterios looked at her for a moment, and nodded "sure."

[Scene]

It was the next day that Akeno woke up in a rather familiar room, the black haired teen smiled as she saw the familiar face of her friend lying next to her.

Rias smiled as their eyes met and sat up"Glad to see that you're awake Akeno," the smile dropped a bit as she reached out to her "You sure you aren't hurt?"

Shaking her head and pushing the hand away, Akeno smiled "I'm fine Rias, thanks in part to your usual healing." She sat up and stretched her arms above her head.

"Well I couldn't just let my best friend recover on her own now could I?" Rias smirked and crossed her arms "With all the damage you receive, what kind of King would I be if I let my Queen heal all on her own?"

"I'm flattered oh dear Rias," Akeno fluttered her eyes "To have such a kind King help me so."

The two of them broke out into giggles.

"Jokes aside, I'm glad you're okay." Rias smiled as she looked over to see if there were any lasting scars or injuries "You were fighting the Queen for quite some time and you even had to drag yourself to us."

"It's nothing I couldn't handle," Akeno confidently stated, before her smile turned devious "Although as thankful as I am, I couldn't help but notice you seemed eager to help Issei first."

Rias felt her face heat up slightly and cough "We-Well he did also fight a lot, and I thought to help him but your injuries seemed to be more dangerous." A small, almost unnoticeable, pout appeared on her face "Besides, with Asia helping him I'm sure he would recover. Even if some part of me wished that he was hurt just a little more."

Akeno laughed "To think that the Rias Gremory would crush after a boy, just after escaping a marriage. Such a scandal would echo throughout the Underworld!"

"Oh hush!" Rias shoved her friend slightly, her face still red "He just said some things that hit me harder than I should." The red in her face faded as a more serious look appeared "However, there is something I do need to check when I see him again."

"The Dragon arm right?"

"Yeah," Rias crossed her arms and sighed "Honestly, I don't even know how or when he decided to turn his own hand into a Dragon just to help in the Rating Game."

"I say it helped," Akeno shrugged "Even if Riser was weakened, he kept up with Asterios to beat him down after all."

"Still, I should have some words for him to use and do such a dangerous thing." The worry and anger on her face was slightly ruined by the obvious blush on her face.

Akeno could only smile.

"Speaking of," Rias opened her eyes and turned to Akeno with a grateful look "I should thank you as well, don't think I didn't notice what you did."

This time it was Akeno' turn to blush, the black haired teen looking away "I felt that I should do all that I can to at least help you win, after all you've done."

Rias covered her mouth to hide a giggle, before she lowered her hand "I'm thankful nonetheless for whatever reason you have. If I can ask, what convinced you to… you know?"

"Oh, it was by seeing brave little Koneko doing the same!" Akeno answered happily.

"Right," Rias was reminded of her Rook's allowing the spell that hid her tail and ears drop for a moment during the Rating Game "Even Koneko was able to…" She closed her eyes as she tried to process the information.

Only for them to open in shock when she felt her forehead get flicked by Akeno.

Those purple eyes stared into her with the usual mirth "Now don't overthink it. Just like how I did it because I wanted to help you, even if it took Koneko to do the same, it just meant that Koneko wanted to help you as well. It's not different than Issei sacrificing his hand for you." She pulled back and covered her mouth to hide a smirk "Unless you want to say us caring for you is not a good enough reason?"

Akeno received a pillow smacking her in the face as a response.

[Scene]

POP

Cheers echoed out in the Occult Research Club's main room where Rias' peerage and some of Sona's own had gathered for the celebration for Rias' victory.

The table was filled with food of all kinds, from multiple boxes of pizzas to what looked like a plate of roast pork, complete with an apple in its mouth.

The latter caused Asterios to stared at it rather hungrily, his red eyes seemingly boring into it. He wasn't the only one as the white haired Devil on his lap was also staring at the various sweets and junk food that surrounded the plate.

Rias couldn't help but laugh from her seat next to Issei, the Pawn looking more than a bit flustered as he sat between his cheerful King and a rather pouty looking Asia.

"In celebration to our victory against Riser, and to annulment of my marriage." She held up a glass, filled with simple grape juice that she had to thoroughly explain to Sona, "Let's celebrate and dig in!"

"Huzzah!"

Finished with their cheer, both Koneko and Asterios lunged for the table. Koneko reaching for the many snacks and sweets, while Rias saw Asterios grab the whole pig and bit down on its mid-section.

"Wow!" Yuuto couldn't help but gasp slightly at the size of the bite "I'm pretty sure Asterios swallowed a couple hundred dollars' worth of Pork with that bite."

Seemingly to prove the point, Asterios took another bite that was even larger than the last one.

"At least we know that he doesn't mind eating meat," Sona muttered as she watched the Minotaur tear apart something that would have been considered a feast alone. It would have been disgusting, if not for the absolute wonder that was in his eyes.

"Thanks for humouring me about that Sona," Rias thanked her friend "I wanted to give Asterios something special for his role in the fight. Enjoying yourselves?" She ask the two that were eating their hearts out.

"Absolutely."

"yes."

A round of chuckles went around the club room as they continued to feast. The rest of the club room began to join in, each of them grabbing a slice of the pizza while some of the braver ones reached for the snacks that Koneko was going through.

Issei found himself stuck between Rias and Asia, both of them trying to feed him their slices of pizzas, even though the boy had his own. Yuuto found himself in a conversation with Tsubaki, the Student Council Vice-President seemingly stammering every few words as she tried to discuss the Rating Game with the Knight. Akeno and Sona were both talking with each other, the two friends of Rias talking about the possible future now that Rias' arranged marriage had been handled.

Meanwhile Koneko and Asterios continued to happily gorge themselves in the meal presented to them.

[Scene]

As the celebrations, and the meals, died down. Sona allowed herself to stand up, and face the white haired duo in the room. There was a serious look on her face, and it almost looked like her glasses had gone opaque.

Rias, seeing that look, smiled uneasily "Uh oh."

"Toujou-san, Minos-san."

Koneko, who was sprawled out Asterios' lap, lifted her head slightly. While Asterios, despite having ate a whole pig, turned to her with his usual stoic look.

Upon the seeing the look, Koneko's face scrunched up "Sona-senpai is gonna start complaining again."

Sona sighed, losing the serious look and adopting a more annoyed one instead. She looked at the two and asked "Have the two of you at least considered taking my words into consideration?"

Koneko opted to look away, not even hiding the guilty look on her face.

Asterios stared her in the eye and answered "koneko said that she doesn't want to do any of the things that other-president said i should do," he paused "so i don't want to."

There was no hiding the smug 'Heh' from the white haired Devil.

Issei shrugged "Hate as I like to agree with Koneko, but thinking about Asterios without his long hair is pretty weird."

Asia tilted her head and seemed to try and think of it, before shaking it "I can't seem to imagine him without it really. Even though I've known him the shortest."

"I also can't imagine that trying to get Koneko to give up her spot on his shoulder is still a no go," Akeno giggle "It's the only way she gets to feel tall!"

Sona sighed and rubbed her temples "I suppose it was worth an effort again, very well I'll try not to bring this up further in the future." Though her eyes did lock onto Asterios "However Minos-san, I implore you to at least make choices on your own rather than just follow others. Especially from Toujou-san."

She ignored the rather angry look thrown her way and walked to Rias.

The red head smiled "Oh, did I break a rule as well?"

"Hardly," Sona shook her head "Just wanted to inform you about a noise complaint I received from one of the residential area."

At those words Koneko stiffened slightly.

"Apparently some people heard loud screaming at night, and it spooked some of the Supernatural beings living here enough to complain." Tsubaki added "Might be some kind of beast that got loose."

"Oops."

Heads turned to white haired Devil, who had her hands covering her mouth the moment she realised that her tongue had slipped.

Issei blinked as he processed the words, immediately a grin exploded on his face and looked at Asterios with glee "Asterios you lucky DOG!" He exclaimed.

He didn't even care when a red faced Koneko stood up and tossed an empty pizza box over his head.

"It's not wh-" She stopped as she realised the implications of her words, before turning to Asterios.

The Minotaur tilted his head "but you said not to talk about it in front of others?" He genuinely questioned.

Her face flushed even further as the words, even more so when Akeno chimed in with a "Oh my, to scream loud enough to get complaints?"

"…Karaoke…"

Koneko mumbled, her face still somewhat embarrassed at admitting her hobby but she figured it would still be the less embarrassing option "We spent the night singing, and I wanted Asterios to sing metal music."

"she said i was good at it."

"Strong lungs," she remembered her compliment last night.

Issei paused, before he shrugged "I think it's funnier to think you guys f-" He never finished his sentence before an empty pizza box was thrown into his face.