I withdrew from the bedroom coolly.

Or, at least, that was the plan, as I was greeted outside the door by a girl with long black hair in a ponytail. That and her yamato nadeshiko energy identified her as the only girl to rival Rias in sheer head-turning – Akeno Himejima.

"My, my…" she exclaimed, obviously seeing through my obviously flustered expression.

Aika quickly followed her, looked downwards at me, grinned, and left.

All I could say was "Good grief."

"Don't mind her," Rias said, who had thankfully put on a bathrobe, "She's a friend of mine,"

"Of course she is..." The two big sisters of the school would obviously be best buddies.

"Sorry if I surprised you just now," Rias said. "You passed out after using all your energy defeating Kalawarner, so I helped you get home and stayed in the guest room overnight."

That's not the issue

"Just letting you know," I said to her. "Mom has some old pajamas she would be happy to let you borrow if you ever need to crash here again."

"Oh. I can't sleep with clothes on," she said without hesitation.

Of course. I found out last night she was a devil. Sleeping in the buff sounds like the kind of shit they would get up to.

"Your mom did let me borrow one of your old stuffed animals to snuggle with, so thank you!"

Okay. The fact pattern of her sleeping habits that she has just given me is giving me so many mixed emotions. Not to mention, I now know my favorite Raichu plushie that I see on the bed has been in close contact with one of the hottest girls in my school.

"Thank you again for what you did last night. I knew I could trust you. My name is Rias Gremory, by the way, and yes, I am a devil. It's nice to meet you. I can call you Makoto, right?"

She then began walking towards the bath with the same hypnotic smile on her face from earlier.

Okay. I am apparently an angel and I am now on a first name basis with a devil. This has to be some sort of sacrilege.

I went back down to breakfast. After Rias had showered, she and Akeno joined us.

"Do you want me to fix you some tea Lady Gabriel?" Akeno asked my mom.

"I have coffee already made. Thank you, though, Akeno."

"I suppose you've met Miss Gremory?" Mom asked me.

I nodded, not wanting to mention the awkward wake-up call.

"The look on your face was priceless!" Akeno added, giggling. She wasn't helping.

"Speaking of which," my mom added, "I assume by now you are an angel."

"I assumed as much."

"You've had these powers from birth because I too am one," she said as a set of ten wings of her own and a halo above her head materialized. I would have comically reacted to this or done a spit take with my coffee, but after last night, everything ceases to surprise me.

She brought her wings and halo back in, "My true identity is the seraph Gabriel. I would normally reside in heaven, but things have changed.

Not only had Jehovah God been killed centuries before, but 18 years ago, Heaven had been overthrown by Halja, the Norse Goddess of Death, the only survivor being me, by the skin of my teeth, forcing me to live in hiding on Earth.

I met your father, a human, shortly after, making you a Nephilim, a hybrid of a human and an angel."

That had proven my previous statement wrong, "So let me get this straight." I said. "God has been dead for centuries."

"Yes."

"Heaven has been taken over by the Goddess of Death."

"Yes."

"Forcing you to live on Earth, where you fell in love in love with a human."

"Yes."

"And gave birth to me."

"Yes."

"It's official. Nothing makes sense anymore."

"Wasn't she in possession of a Longinus-level Sacred Gear?" Rias asked.

"Yes. She took us by surprise because she wasn't the one who was supposed to have that power." Mother added. "She managed to amplify her existing power to unheard levels, overpowering even Michael.

In the chaos I went to Earth searching for the boy in this very town who was supposed to have that power, but I couldn't find him. When I went to his address, the residents said that no one by that name lived there.

I searched phone books, records, pretty much everything, searching for him or any of the other Longinus users I could find that could possibly stop her, and my fears had been realized. Ragnarok had happened. Halja reset the universe to 18 years in the past, eliminating not only the lives, but the very existence of all other Longinus users that could oppose her rule as the new supreme God."

"No wonder she's the 'goddess of death'," Rias commented.

"Yeah. That's cool and all, but I'm already late for school, so…" and I left the house. As I was leaving, I could hear Mother saying, "But it's Sunday!"

Yeah, I knew. I just needed some fresh air to make sense of whatever my mother just said. What the hell is a Sacred Gear? What's a Longinus? Is this an alternate reality? Does that mean I don't exist in the other reality?

As I was asking that and a million other questions, I heard a voice calling out to me.

"Excuse me, you're Makoto Fujiwara, right?"

The girl had long, dark black hair and violet eyes, she was quite good-looking, but she gave off less of a, well, Rias Gremory, vibe and more of the "cliché girl next door" vibe. She looked like she was about my age, but I've never seen her at school before. Perhaps she goes to one of the more reasonable establishments.

"Yeah, that's me. Need something?"

"No. Nothing," she replied. "Well, my name is Yuma Amano, and… I'm just wondering… are you seeing anyone right now?"

"No. Why?" I asked, bluntly. That was a pretty personal question…

"Good. In that case… I know this is a bit last minute, but… would you be willing to go out on a date with me?"

Well that was sudden.

I had to think about that for a second. All this time I've been trying to avoid relationships. And here I am with an extremely cute girl asking me out right on the fly. This is a perfect situation.

Too perfect.

One of the fallen angels last night did mention another one of their allies being interested in Aika's dagger…

However, that thought was being clouded by the grief that Aika and especially my mother would give me if I waste an opportunity like this.

I rubbed my forehead as I was thinking on this, and finally I said, "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's wonderful!"

We exchanged numbers and we agreed to meet later that afternoon. I was planning on telling my mom, but she had just sent me a message on my phone she was meeting someone this afternoon and won't be home till late.

Good thing she had given me a black credit card for situations such as this. The things she will do to ensure she becomes a grandmother…

I put a polo shirt and some nice jeans. Didn't want to be too fancy. Afterall, this whole situation is awfully suspicious. I also made an effort to tame that cowlick I seem to keep getting to no avail.

Part of the reason I agreed to do this, though obviously not admitting this to Yuma, was to see if she was really one of the fallen angels trying to kill me, or just a lonely teenager.

I arrived downtown slightly spiffed up. Yuma arrived at about the same time. My mom had a "100% Foolproof Date Plan" that she would never let me forget since I was in Middle School.

Step 1: Go to a nice restaurant.

We went to this place that I liked to go with my mother. She recommended this restaurant and I would agree. The prices were on the higher side but that's what my mother gave me the card for. She seemed to particularly like the dessert she ordered.

Step 2: Go shopping

I wasn't particularly into clothes shopping, but Yuma pointed out a clothing store she always wanted to shop at. I managed to find some clothes myself.

Step 3: Have fun on the town.

We played some games at the arcade. I noticed she had insane reflexes on DDR and was surprisingly into House of the Dead.

And that ended my insanely cliched date. I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. Almost forgot that I was super suspicious of her.

Speaking of which…

We were approaching "Step 4: End on a high note. Make the date memorable" We were approaching the park fountain as the sun was going down.

As I was in front of the fountain, she asked, "Hey, Makoto? Since this is our first date, could you to do something for me?"

Okay. One of three things is about to happen. She's gonna either:

A. Ask me to close my eyes. Pause for dramatic effect… and cue the romantic music as she kisses me.

B. Shank me.

C. Be a total tease and banish me into friendzone hell.

"Okay…," I said, bracing myself for one of those three answer choices.

Unnerving pause.

"Would you die for me?"

It's B. Definitely B. The jarring change in her tone of voice gave it away. This definitely wasn't one of those "Would you endure blistering winds and scorching deserts, risking life and limb for me?" rhetorical-type questions. This was more along the lines of, "The game was rigged from the start. Nothing personal, kid."

I chuckled and said, "Somehow, I knew you were going to say that… Raynare!"

Her cold stare turned into one of surprise. She probably wasn't expecting me to have an idea of her true identity already after one of the fellow fallen angels mentioned that name. Judging by her reaction, I must have been right on the money.

She immediately lunged at me with a red light spear as I summoned a teal light sword to parry it. However, her strength proved to be much more than I anticipated as the blow ended up launching me into the fountain as I was parrying it.

I quickly regained my composure. I had been soaked by the fountain and I felt a bit of blood coming down my forehead.

As my eyes were clearing up, I noticed she had two black wings like the fallen angels last night. While she was still wearing the same dress from our date, her eyes were noticeably sharper, as if she was purposefully making herself look less aggressive as "Yuma."

"I don't know where you heard that name, but it doesn't matter," she said. "Master Halja ordered me to eliminate the angel who slew Kalawarner."

This is bad. She seems to be much stronger than the other fallens. It wouldn't hurt to try and talk this out.

"I must say I'm disappointed," I said. "Our date was going quite well."

"I agree. You proved to be more enjoyable than I was expecting. It's a shame it has to end this way."

She then summoned another light spear. It was clear that talking wasn't going to work. I revealed my wings and halo and summoned another light sword, plus a second one in my left hand for good measure.

I had to be careful. I couldn't overexert myself as I learned the hard way last time.

She lunged at me again. This time, being more prepared and with the extra light sword, I managed to properly block the hit. However, it was still obvious she had the superior offensive capability and it still managed to knock me back a bit.

"Impressive. No wonder you easily overpowered Kalawarner," she said before flinging the light spear at me. I parried that one away, but she then followed with a second one that hit me straight in the abdomen.

I managed to heal it before I bled out too much, but it was getting obvious my strength was running out.

"You're quite stubborn," Raynare said, about to aim for the finishing blow. "I would have loved to get to know you a little more but I'm unfortunately on a tight schedule."

I don't know how much longer I can hold out. I can't defend for much longer, much less attack.

It was then that someone came to my rescue yet again. This time it was… Aika?

She had summoned some sort of deflector shield in front of me, holding her dagger in front of her. The question was why she had devil wings like Rias.

"Who's this girl? Been seeing other women, Makoto?" Raynare inquired.

"I don't know her," I lied.

"Sure you don't…" Aika replied.

"It doesn't matter. I've been looking for that Artificial Sacred Gear," Raynare added. "We'll be taking that back now."

As she was saying that, Dohnaseek and Mittelt emerged from out of the forest.

However, as that was happening, we received backup of our own.

Akeno arrived as bolts of lightning suddenly prevented the other two fallen angels from approaching and Rias rushed in to help me get back to my feet.

"My, my. We seem to have quite the audience," Akeno observed.

"My name is Rias Gremory. The heir to the house of Gremory," Rias announced to Raynare. "The boy you just tried to attack is the son of the seraph Gabriel, Makoto Fujiwara."

"I think we've already introduced each other by now," I muttered.

"Well, that's a surprise," Raynare replied. "What is high-ranking devil like yourself doing with the son of a high-ranking angel?"

"Simple – To focus on defeating actual threats like you and your employer. And if you try to harm any of my allies or servants again, I will personally obliterate you."

"That's a shame. But I should warn you that my boss is much more ruthless than either of us.

That being said, I did enjoy myself, Makoto. We should do this again some other time." Raynare said as she and her goons flew off.

"Good grief," I exclaimed.

"Y'know I keep telling you to get a girlfriend, but you didn't have to go that far…" Aika commented.

"I don't want to hear a word about whether or not I have a girlfriend ever again," I fired back.

Rias and Akeno led us to that old schoolhouse from earlier.

The schoolhouse seems quite well taken care of despite the fact that literally no classes go on in here.

We entered a classroom labeled, "Occult Research Club."

It looks less like a classroom and more like a living room. Granted, a living room doesn't usually have these many candles or a summoning circle.

"So, how was your date?"

Mom was in the room with two other students.

One was a petite girl with white hair. I would have confused her with an elementary school student if I didn't know she was a freshman named Koneko Toujou.

The other was a fellow second-year named Yuuto Kiba. This was the first time I've seen him not surrounded by a groupie of girls.

"It was nice," I replied to my mom, "except for the fact she was a servant of the Goddess of Death,"

"So, I take it the second date isn't happening?" Koneko asked.

"Well, Yuma's still in my contacts…"

"I suppose we're all settled then," said Rias, "Normally, this club is merely a front for me and my servants to operate within the school grounds. As you can guess, all of us are devils."

Each of them revealed their bat-like devil wings.

"However, since you've been such a big help to us recently, not to mention being the son of Miss Gabriel, who's offered to be our faculty representative from here on out, we've decided to welcome you as our first honorary member of the Occult Research Club.

Welcome to the family."