And thus I return. I hope everyone had a happy Easter / spring holidays, or just a nice week.

So that last part was filled with a lot of monologuing, well this part is thankfully going to be lighter on that end, and features more dialogue (mental or real), it still is going to mostly be about establishing characters and character relations, we are still technically in the prologue. However, for those anxious for the story to get moving, I can say that this is the last prologue chapter. Chapter 3 marks the start of Arc 1, A Madness Called Logic, it originally would have been the end of this part, but then I started writing it and it didn't pan out.

Also, remember how I gave a warning about dark themes? Yeah, that's going to come into play here, I'm not going to give the full story, I have that saved for later, there will be references to PTSD/trauma, allusions to mental health issues, and panic attacks/breakdowns. While that won't be the full focus of the chapter I felt it does need to be mentioned as it does come up.

Just as before, I own nothing. DxD, SLASHDØG, Denpachi, and their related characters and settings are the property of Ichiei Ishibumi and his team and associates. Please support the official release and products.

Now back to your scheduled Presentation.


Act 0 - Prologue

Chapter 2 - Ignorance and Innocence

" Yes " - Normal Speech

' Thus Said I ' - Quotes or lines attributed to other characters / thinking

" You Good? " - Texting / phone calls / emails / mental conversation & Titles or Scientific Names

[Weep Puny Mortal] - Monsters / inhuman creatures / creatures in sacred gears

[Special Beam Cannon] - Names of spells or techniques

' Something's off '. That was the overwhelming feeling in Ren's mind that had embedded itself over the course of the past few minutes. It was a combination of little things that got him worrying to start with. The first issue was Noelle had shut the blinds. While this would be innocuous in and of itself, devils were somewhat sensitive to light, and Noelle was no exception to that, the fact that it was such a nice day with the flowers in full bloom made the action highly unusual. Noelle loved flowers, they are, were, and would remain one of her favorite things in general. She regularly cared for and kept flowers in their portion of the Old Schoolhouse, and even more so when it came to her room. The sight of falling sakura blossoms and the second full Japanese spring she saw should have been reason enough she would never close the blinds unless she had to.

Ren knew that better than anyone. He distinctly recalled a practically ecstatic Noelle last year who had wanted to go to some bar in Tokyo where during the set bloom times of Sakura blossoms they would apparently fill a pool filled with sakura petals. He remembered how Noelle had practically begged him to go, despite her normal social anxiety and reclusive nature, the potential social awkwardness of two juveniles in a bar, and subsequently how disappointed Noelle had been when she found out later that they were merely reproductions, not actual sakura petals. If there was one moment Ren wished he had a camera it was then. Noelle had practically looked like a sad puppy with her pout, before asking if they could do flower viewings at least three a week for the remainder of the bloom period. Even if the Sakura blossom episode may have just been a case of being overly excited at seeing something new, her love of flowers clearly was not. There was a reason that Noelle was considered one of the gardening club's "Golden Girls," she adored flowers, would regularly ask him to get her exotic flowers, and would then either keep or plant then care for those flowers at Kuoh with the club and even tended to be in the student-run nursery in her spare time.

Thus Noelle's choice of shutting the blinds, at the height of this season's bloom was even more perplexing to Ren. Beyond such was what came after when Noelle had gone to make their usual afternoon tea and hot chocolate. Normally, Ren helped in this, but Noelle insisted on doing it herself. This in and of itself wasn't concerning, sometimes Noelle liked to do things herself, and Rita had advised Ren to allow Noelle privacy and space when needed and not to coddle her when he sought her advice regarding Noelle. What was worrying was that when she returned Noelle hadn't touched her cup of tea. While Noelle would sometimes save tea for later, but if she wanted to do that she also wouldn't have poured herself a cup and then elected not to drink it. Noelle was many things, wasteful was not generally among them. Then while she was discussing matters she almost seemed distant, like her mind was anywhere but on the conversation points of school, classwork, and requests.

Those three things alone were worrying, the fact that Noelle was late on top of those things was worse. The fact that she hadn't really answered what caused her to be late aside from losing track of the time (a very unusual claim given Noelle usually was fairly impatient and anxious near the end of the school day, either to get to her club or meet up with him or occasionally Sona) was deeply concerning. However, the final nail in the coffin was her evil piece.

One detail most didn't realize about evil pieces, even though it was literally in the manual and accompanying literature about their functions, was that they acted as a link between those within a set. Each piece in the set is bound to the "king" which prevents them both from misusing powers like a pawn's promotion and prevents a reincarnated devil's fledgling demonic powers from overwhelming and mutating them. But one other thing they could do was allow the "king" to have a general indication of the condition of a linked piece's souls and through them their mental and emotional states. Now, this was an imprecise method, it only worked if the "king" and linked piece were in close proximity, and beyond such, it required a fair bit of understanding of a person's normal mental and emotional state and interpretation of what varying feelings or things meant. He had also heard for some the way this power worked was different, with some basically seeing the inside of a person's soul as a sort of mini-planet or alternate reality with one part dictating the condition of their soul, and another dictating the condition of their mind. In Ren's case, it worked almost like a sort of 6th sight. A person's soul was a colored sphere in the center of their chest (in Noelle's case light grey bordering on dusty white), with its condition indicated by the amount of disturbance in it and on its surface, her mental state was a colored aura around her body, different colors meant different things, and the more jagged the aura was the more intense the feelings were.

Generally, Ren would have frowned on the invasion of privacy, and Rita's advice warned against it, but clearly, something was wrong and if Noelle was actually hurting or in danger he couldn't forgive himself if he let her suffer because of his hesitance. With a deep breath masked behind his nearly-empty cup of hot chocolate, Ren channeled his magic toward his king piece focusing on the link with Noelle and looked back at her.


The results were as he had both suspected and feared they would be. Noelle's mental state was chaotic, her aura pulsing with different colors, jagged thorns of emotion held in check by a bubble-like masquerade of calm, and a secondary layer of purposeful distractions. Ripples like a stone from a pond echoed across the surface of her soul, hinting at pain so deeply felt that not even the mind could fully contain it, with its influence echoing onto and impacting the very core of her being. For Ren, it was a sad sight, a frustrating sight, and a sight he had seen far too often before. There was no question now, any suspicions he had were confirmed, and lingering doubts or hopes that he could have been wrong had vanished like a block of dry ice sublimating into an ethereal mist as frustration and grief set in.

'Why? Why Noelle? Why Now?' Were it not for the person he was thinking about sitting across from him, ignorant of his prying, Ren would have cursed. Cursed God, regardless of the pain that would have caused, for why Noelle had to suffer; He would have cursed the world once again for being so cruel; he would have cursed her former family for being so heartless; he would have cursed himself for being too weak and so inadequate in keeping his promise to her mother.

' No. Self-resentment can wait. Noelle comes first ' Ren affirmed before shutting off the [Peerage Soul Sight] as he tentatively called it. The topic would need to be broached, carefully as always, but Ren knew himself that from past experiences if Noelle had an episode, then unless he or someone else she trusted talked with her about it, the experience would bother her for days and risk even more episodes occurring. It was never an easy conversation, but Noelle herself had admitted she wanted Ren to talk with her about these matters, she wanted him to confront her when episodes happened.

' Because you care and because you will be there. I can't keep running and pretend they don't exist. I want to be strong to find the strength to overcome it. I want to find the same strength mom had. You'll help me won't you Ri? '

' Always Ellie. '

' Annette, forgive me. Forgive me for being so weak, and forgive me for what I am about to do. ' Ren thought.

" Um Noelle. Are you alright? "

' Great start Ren ' He thought ' Not even ten words into this conversation and I'm already struggling to figure out what to say '

"Um. I-I'm fine Ren, j-just a little tired." Noelle cautiously replied.

Evasion on her part. While he could accept the tired part, Noelle was clearly not alright.

' Well if she isn't going to be honest about this. Better a quick cut than a slow incision. '

"Noelle, I care about you. No matter what, no matter when. Your problems are my problems. Please won't you tell me what's wrong?" It was one of the many things Ren hated about these kinds of conversations, the conversations that by Noelle's own request happened after she had an episode. He wasn't Rita, he couldn't wordsmith and find the exact way to dig into a topic as she could. She could dig into a topic with minimal disturbance, minimal hesitance, and seemingly minimal effort on her part. Ren for his part fumbled, trying to dance around the elephant in the room until Noelle initiated the actual start of the dialogue, appealing to pathos, and then using his credibility and closeness as a way to get a foot in the door. It felt wrong and manipulative and he hated it. But it was the only way he knew of how to start this conversation without kicking the door down by bluntly saying he knew that an episode happened and demanding Noelle talk about it. He may not be Rita, but even he knew how badly that kind of an introduction would make the subsequent conversation, and he valued Noelle too much to be so blunt. It hurt enough doing things as he normally did with this dance, trying to change things simply to make them faster at the cost of hurting Noelle more was antithetical to everything he stood for and the promise he made both to her and Annette.

" ... " Noelle for her part stayed silent, she was looking down at the now held, but still full teacup, in her lap. She hadn't left or asked him to stop at least, so at the minimum, the conversation was still open.

But it could only continue forwards instead of dancing around if she opened the door for him. That was the boundary he set for himself, that was the limit of his ability, and that was what Rita told him. Ren could never understand what Noelle went through, he could support her, but unless she opened up and told him what was wrong and how he could help he couldn't even do that.

' Don't try to force your way in. No matter how much you may want to help her, you do not and cannot ever understand what she has and is going through. Unless she guides your efforts then all you will succeed in is hurting her heart even worse than if you had been idle. '

It was cold comfort in times like this, but Rita's wisdom held true. He needed Noelle to tell him how to support her, without her all his efforts amounted to was a blind man walking a dark road, lost and confused, and unable to tell either where he was or where he was heading.

Ren put down his empty cup of hot chocolate. Gathering all his will and as much of his emotion as he could he once again tried to reach out to Noelle.

"Ellie, please, talk to me. Please help me see." The use of her pet name got her attention the last part also seemed to click after a moment of sitting in her mind for a bit. It was the same plea he made so long ago, a plea of a young boy trying to honor an oath to a mother he failed to save, and a girl who shut herself off to the world, latching onto, yet also keeping herself closed off from him. The plea of a boy to be given the chance to understand, from a girl who believed nobody could or would ever bother trying to understand much less care for her ever again.

"I-I had an episode." She said. The admission hung in the room, seemingly sucking what life was left in it out just as swiftly. By now both of them knew the other had known, but the admittance seemed to make the atmosphere of the room even darker than before.

"I ... I just noticed the blossoms. I figured I had some time till we would meet and-and then I went to find a quiet spot. The n-next thing I knew, I was back. I was back in the house, and mom was there. Then there was a flash and she was dying again" Noelle seemed to stutter her way through the explanation, her eyes tearing up slightly at the end.

'Annette, why wasn't it you, you could have fixed this. You would have fixed anything.' Ren mentally despaired. Annette was a touchy subject for Noelle. On one hand, she loved her deeply, she was the only good part of her childhood. Noelle could trace both her love of flowers and her new last name to her mother. Yet, that memory was also a tragic one, one forever associated with a mother who lived no longer, a woman who sacrificed everything; her standing, her home, her name, and ultimately her life all to save and give her daughter a chance to live and be happy. Ren couldn't say he knew Annette, outside of the barely even 5-minute meeting he had with her, everything he knew came from the accounts of her daughter, but even then Ren could say he respected her. And he could say a selfish corner of his heart envied Noelle, for having a mother like Annette.

Because Annette cared, unlike the pillars, unlike so many "families" in the underworld he knew, she never stopped loving her daughter and wasn't afraid to throw away everything for her sake. Even while she was dying, her only wish was for her daughter to live, and for Ren to show her the kindness she had never been given by anyone save Annette before then. Thus when she died, Ren made a choice, he would help Noelle, no matter what, no matter how. If anyone got in his way, then he would make them setp aside or fall down. It had been following that promise that earned him some of his first stripes of public infamy in the underworld and the more tradition obsessed 72 pillars, when he found out that due to being the first recruit in his peerage (albeit not of his choice, but rather due to the circumstances surrounding the situation and Noelle's fear of being forced to go back), she had been forced to attend classes alongside him in that gilded cage, the "esteemed" Satan and Sons: Pillar Foundational Educational Center. Worse due to "traditions" about first recruits to a peerage (chief consorts as they called them) and normally recruiting queens first, she was foisted off to one of their "chief consort classes" filled with the Queens, other people she didn't know, forced to learn etiquette he could care less about, train to fight and use magic when he never expected her to, and worst of all surrounded by people who didn't understand or seem to care about her condition.

Then the "school" had to be obstinate about the whole thing when he tried to pull her out. One duel with the professor Noelle's class later and she was officially free alongside him of the tender hands of the "school". That was one thing about devils duels to them meant either weapons or magic, few expected fists to fly in them despite not technically being against the rules. Maybe it was the idea of duels as "honorable bouts" (despite all the dishonorable things that were regularly dealt with or ordained based on the results of a duel) and the notion of one's fists as too precious to be sullied by blood or the idea of a high-class devil, much less a pillar heir punching someone in the jaw to be too inelegant and contrary to their refined image in the public eye. Sure he had won, the poor sap couldn't fistfight his way out of a paper bag, much less against someone who had started to ask for tips from Sairaorg on learning martial arts out of wanting to minimize the use of his esteemed bloodlines of "The Power of Destruction" and "Enhanced Casting" the Gremory family and Bael family boasted. He also won the distinction of getting expelled as a result for "excessive and brutal usage of force on an instructor" a general contradiction given half of the stuff he saw in rating games on the regular.

Personally, Ren found the whole thing rather funny in hindsight. His family was marginally less amused.

'Maybe that was why they got Rita to tutor me after the fact' Ren mused. But his thoughts had strayed rather far from the current topic. Noelle was seemingly looking waiting on him to say something. Something he wasn't sure what it would be in response to or where the conversation had gone since he drifted off mentally.

"Ellie, could you back up a bit, I got a bit lost mentally." Ren admitted, better to ask forgiveness than pretend he knew where the conversation was at and risk saying the wrong thing.

Noelle for her part looked slightly annoyed, a touch exasperated, and somewhat reflective. She let out a slight sigh before starting.

"I was starting to expect that with how quiet you were. Rennie, you really should be paying attention more often. I swear one day you're going to get so lost in the clouds your neck will stretch until your head will be seen by the angels in heaven." Noelle seemed to slip into a bit of a joking tone near the end with her scolding, slipping in Rita's pet name for him (well aside from some variant of Brat or Git when she was annoyed) for good measure. Her good mood however seemed to dissipate as she once again recollected where the conversation had been in my mental absence.

"I just wanted to know why? Why Now? Why did the flowers trigger it? It's never been like that before?" Noelle's voice was quiet and weak, carrying a degree of tiredness, both with the situation of which this would not be the first or the last time we likely had such an event happen, and fear, fear of another event happening, fear of when or where it may strike, and the uncertainty of when or how bad it would be. It hurt that the only response Ren could give was also the response he knew wouldn't help because he himself had that fear, it was different for him than Noelle, as he acted as a bystander rather than the one in the inevitable crash, but it was one that he too had to grapple with, and live with.

Ren sighed "I don't know Ellie. Maybe it was just the flowers that caused your mind to bring up the past because of other things you heard or that had been on your mind, maybe it wasn't due to the flowers at all and they merely were the final straw. I don't have the answers Ellie, I wish I did." Ren's words seemed to deflate Noelle, maybe she had been expecting more, or maybe she had known that was how the conversation would go, but hoped otherwise. She didn't speak up so Ren took the occasion to press on.

"I can't say if your condition is changing or why this happened Ellie, but I can say you are growing. Before today it had been good it was what 4 months now?" Noelle confirmed him with a slight nod "Four months without an incident. That's growth. That's progress. I know you can be strong Ellie, I know, Rita knows it, and Annette knew it as well. I can't see the future, but you can help decide it. If flowers were the problem then maybe I could talk to the Gardening club..."

Noelle interrupted "No! I'm sorry but I can't ... I don't want that. I don't know if the flowers caused it, but I still want to be a part of the Gardening club." Noelle seemed to calm down from the sudden burst of energy she had, not as listless as before, but still drained. "Maybe you're right, but it just feels so worthless. Four Months, after all these years that's all I can take before another episode crops up."

Ren sighed "Noelle, Four Months is still a lot of progress, not all plants grow in a single season, and you still have made progress so take heart in that at least. Maybe it has not been as fast as you want, but it still is progress all the same."

Noelle nodded "I suppose so." She didn't seem convinced, whether that was a testament to his metaphor failing or the quality of his speaking skills was difficult to say.

Still, that left another conversation for Ren on the table and this one would be no easier than the last.

"Noelle..." Ren started, then stopped, this was going to be hard.

Noelle seemed to notice his difficulty. "Yes?" she said inquisitively.

"You haven't been trying to "prove you belong again" have you?" Ren finished. It was phrased as a question, but both knew it was a statement.

"You noticed then." Noelle for her part didn't try to hide the point this time.

"Noelle, Ellie, I won't tell you how to cope, and I don't blame you for feeling this way, but I'll say it again. You matter to me, you don't need to prove anything. If you want to cope by keeping busy then do so, but don't burn yourself out on my account. I need to prove myself to you, not the other way around." Ren said. It was a true statement, Noelle was too good for Ren, not the other way around, Maou knows she bailed him out of trouble more than once or twice. The major issue however in Ren's mind was that at some level he knew how this conversation would end. Noelle would never accept that Ren was indebted to her, and even if she acknowledged his words, it would still take a lot longer for the concept to actually affect her underlying subconscious behavior. Subconscious issues were a pain like that, even if a person consciously knew about them, it was hard to fix them.

"Rennie, you are way too hard on yourself. You've already done enough already, and regularly put yourself in harm's way for me. I'm neither blind nor dumb Ren. I know you worry and I know how much you don't like these conversations, yet you still have kept your word on my account. You've given me so much, so stop pushing yourself down." Noelle had moved from her chair to the couch adjacent to his, with some expression between a pout and an annoyed expression on her face as she took one of his hands into her own and finished her mini-lecture.

"I'll respectfully disagree and formally extend the offer to drop the matter before we end up talking in circles" Ren exposited. Noelle likely wouldn't be happy, but then again, if there was one point in common between the two it was how they both seemed to think the other was better than they thought they were and they were way too stubborn.

"Fine" Noelle huffed, before turning her head towards the ceiling, clearly unhappy, but also amused. The grim mood had finally seemed to dissipate between the two. Noelle then spoke up.

"One question though Ri, didn't you have that meeting with Sona tonight" Her voice was playful, but also slightly admonishing.

Ren's mind almost ground to a halt. He had nearly (totally) forgotten about that. Sona would not be happy, he had missed their last meeting due to homework he had not properly accounted for in terms of time management, and she hated when he missed their meetings. It was a time for them to both discuss matters related to supernatural events, possible peerage candidates for her, or in theory him (if he didn't disagree with the evil pieces and recruiting people on a moral level), compare reports and notes on incidents around Kuoh, double-check the reports they had to file to Serafall and Sirzechs, and more important than anything else binge the latest SRPG, Turn-based Strategy, or tactics games Sona had gotten her hands-on with him. Considering her work as the Student Council President and the limited amount of time she had it was almost sacred to Sona, and he had nearly missed two consecutive meetings with her. Even then he was already ... Ren checked his phone "5:17" at this rate and accounting travel time 10 minutes late.

"You completely forgot didn't you?" Noelle's voice was almost clinical in its monotone.

"I'll just explain that something came up with you and that's why I was late" Ren countered swiftly. That would work, Sona wouldn't be happy, but it would work.

"She'll still be upset you didn't warn her in advance so she could have at least done other stuff while she waited," Noelle pointed out, taking a sip, then grimacing at the taste of the now cold tea.

"Yes, but she probably won't go through with the threat to nail a watch to my wrist."

"Don't count your profits until you've accounted for expenses. There will be a price to pay and Sona generally considers her time very valuable little brother." Noelle warned.

However, by the time she was even halfway done Noelle was only speaking to an empty room. Noelle sighed again.

" And the time that should have been spent with you, Ri Sona considers more valuable than gold."


2 Hours Prior

POV change

Issei Hyoudou shivered as he saw Ren Gregory pass by. Once upon a time, he regarded him with no small amount of envy. Well okay, he still did, but that envy was also tempered by a healthy amount of fear, a fair degree of respect, and no small amount of intrigue as well. Once upon a time, he was called "Kuoh's Prince" it was hard to think that it had been that way until just under 6 months ago.

"Issei. Issei! Earth, hear can you read us Issei Hyoudou?" Issei was shaken out of his thoughts by someone who walked to his side.

"Who ... Oh Kat it's you" Issei said. Katase for her part gave him a playful/mock shove for the comment.

"Issei I told you, either Araya-chan or Katase is fine enough, stop using that nickname." Katase whined. Issei would never tell her how adorable it made her look, and probably that how cute she looked when she was upset was probably why Murayama even came up with that nickname, at times like this she really did look like a grumpy cat.

"Alright, sorry, my mistake Katase." Issei said he wasn't fully sorry if he was honest with himself, although it was an honest mistake on his part. Katase was just too cute at times, were it not for the part that she was one of the only two friends he had at Kuoh, his parents and her focus on club activities and her studies, and him worrying about messing up their friendship if things went wrong then he would have probably asked her out if not asked her to be his girlfriend. Katase leaned in to tease him a bit as she was rather want to do.

"So what had you so transfixed Issei? Am I not good enough anymore?" Rolling his eyes Issei elected for the honest and easy answer rather than continuing to play.

"I thought I caught a glimpse of The Duke." That basically caused Katase to mentally stop.

Ren Gregory, The Duke as he was called nowadays had a bit of a reputation around Kuoh and specifically in class 1B where Issei was. Back when he was known as The Prince many were jealous of how close he was with Sona Sirti and Noelle Fiala, or vice versa depending on who you asked. However, Sona never seemed to mind, and given her position at the time as the vice-president of the student council, it was hard to confront her on the matter. Ren himself just had this aura of untouchability and power, possibly due to his stature or maybe his hypothesized background of being from some old-money family in Europe. Noelle was another matter, small, meek, soft-spoken, some had taken to spreading rumors, or teasing her in class, and some of her seeming moments of being distracted, timid, or supposed medical issues didn't help matters. Mr. Burns never really cared much so long as they weren't too disruptive, and thus the situation went unchallenged. Issei never took part in it, as some in his class did, but then again he never stood against it either.

Then it all came crashing down. During one lunch period, some girls and a boy from his class decided to have a go at Noelle, the boys maybe wanting to date her or possibly promised a date by the girls, and the girls likely wanting to get closer to Ren. Noelle had been fine at first, before getting nervous and trying to leave, then one of them grabbed her. Issei distinctly remembered what happened next, she just froze, like a statue then crumbled to the floor on her knees shivering and covering her head. The three didn't stop their verbal assault and Noelle just kept being seemingly unresponsive aside from shivering. It was like the world kept moving in a slideshow presentation until everything just seemed to stop dead.

That moment was when Ren entered the room. Issei would never forget that face, the face when he saw what was happening of such total fury that for a moment Issei thought Ren had become some kind of demon. His features then near-instantly schooled themselves, yet his hands were balled so tight it looked like his fingers were trying to tear themselves off his knuckles. The next few seconds seemed to pass as slowly as centuries as he swiftly walked, walked not ran, although the rate at which he walked was so swift it may have matched some runners, towards the three, pushing the boy to the floor before scooping up the ball of Noelle then walking passed the Homeroom teacher which had followed him almost challenging the man with his eyes and out the room. Not a single word by him had been spoken and for the rest of the lunch period nobody in class 1B said anything.

One week later the school announced their old Homeroom teacher Nathaniel Burns would not be returning and had "voluntarily sought other work" and a new replacement came in. On the same day a set of punishments ranging from detentions, and suspensions, to expulsions were instituted alongside an overhaul of some school protocol. The two girls and boy from that day had been called to the office and did not return to class 1B afterwards. Noelle was shuffled to another class and from that point onwards anyone foolish enough to try anything with Noelle had found the school, and especially Sona and Ren, with a now vastly stricter attitude towards bullying or harassment of any sort.

"Don't mess with Noelle" that was the unwritten rule among Kuoh students. To break this was to invite Ren, Sona, and/or the school's fury. From then on the Prince became the Duke. A prince may be nothing more than a good face in line for a crown, a duke was a military title, and Ren would personally go to war with anyone who laid a finger on Noelle. To this day Issei wondered what had happened with Noelle, he asked his parents but they didn't answer him, they expressed disappointment he didn't intervene but said that it wasn't their place to speculate and asked him to keep quiet on the matter. In hindsight Issei regretted his inaction himself, Katase and Murayama had reached their arms out to him when he was alone in Kuoh, but he had been too afraid to help someone else to go against the grain himself. He really did want to apologize to Noelle, to ask for her forgiveness for being too weak, too cowardly, but every time he did he saw Ren's face in his mind. What if Ren didn't want him around Noelle? What if Ren would blame him for not helping her? Ren had seemed like he was about to explode in that Cafeteria, how much did he, Issei Hyoudou want to risk that anger getting turned on him?

"Yeah, I get you meaning, sorry" Katase finally spoke up. She hadn't been there at the incident as she was in a different class, but she and Murayama had heard about it, they said they didn't blame Issei for not helping, but that still didn't make him feel much better.

"Anyways I was thinking of visiting Murayama and Toida-san today. You up to come Issei?" Issei raised his eyebrows, it was a poor diversion from the earlier conversation, although given Katase that could have been a genuine change of topic, she was a bit of a scatterbrain at times as even she would admit. Still, since the offer was on the table.

"Sure I'm game" Murayama and her mother had been sick lately, something bad, viral possibly. They had been out of commission for the better half of a week. The doctors said they weren't technically supposed to have visitors, but they did have some ways of visiting them given certain protocols were heeded. Then again, the doctors also had ended up collectively putting their foot in their mouths with the freakout and subsequent relief at finding out the full situation about Murayama's separated but never legally divorced parents given her father's habit of long-distance travel so clearly, they could afford to spend a bit more time thinking before speaking. Even still their worry was slightly understandable given they were still trying to figure out what the two had, which seemingly had spread a fair bit through their neighborhood before they detected it and seemingly based on Murayama's symptoms could be fairly severe.

"Alright I'll lead the way, but we'll have to avoid the side streets though." Issei glanced at Katase confusedly.

"Why?"

Katase for her part shuffled her feet a bit "Oh just this news I heard recently from my parents. Apparently, some dog bit one of their friends the other night so they want me to be careful."

Issei shrugged "Fair enough."

The two then walked on towards Kuoh General, utterly unaware and utterly unprepared for what they would find themselves roped into.


Ah, the art of the cliffhanger, passed down for generations by storytellers, it always works, unless it doesn't. TBH I expected to get to Sona and the meeting with her by the end of this chapter, but that didn't pan out word count wise. Truth Be Told this is actually V2 of this chapter, I didn't like Version 1 that much, so I basically rewrote it. I feel this gets across Ren and Noelle's relationship a lot better than the old version did, even if it's even wordier than V1. So, shout-outs/credit where it's due, "Kat" as a nickname for Katase was something I remembered and borrowed from Dangerous Game by Selet which also has Issei as old friends with her. The main difference here is that they've only been friends for like a year or two here at most, and Katase doesn't actually fully like the nickname, preferring Katase (I mostly cut off the Japanese pronouns, but I may use them and titles when I feel it's warranted for the character, I also am having characters refer to themselves by first names mostly for ease of writing as English is my native language, but I may have others use last names at times or even titles and names with pronouns depending on the context and the character) as she thinks it's too diminutive as a name goes. The last name Araya is just something I came up with when thinking about last names alongside Murayama's last name Toida (although that last one may be from something else, IDK). I also bet some sharp-eyed viewers may notice some other references I slipped into the text as well ;). But finally, we're out of the prologue and into the races. I will say that Arc 1 won't have too much action from Ren, if it did then it would basically be over from the start, due to just power difference, but you can kinda think of it as an intro into the story, and some of our characters getting roped into supernatural shenanigans.

As always I appreciate any comments, critiques, or otherwise. Also, I currently lack a beta reader so I apologize for any grammatical issues. I am however looking and will be rereading this and chapter 1 to check for any obvious grammatical problems.