Just wanna stop you for a second and do something someone reminded me of in the review section when asking about Shintaro's Evil Piece. A big thanks to makoto x chelia for helping me decide between Knight and Rook for Shintaro's placement on the Peerage, you were a big help!

Now, onto the story!

First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou

We Lived, Bitch

When I woke up on Monday morning, I felt like death, and I don't mean in the usual way all teenagers feel like death when they wake up on Monday mornings. Everything hurt: my head, my chest, my arms, my legs, all of it. I didn't know what the hell had hit me when I was coming home last night, but that fucking thing needed taking somewhere to be dismantled. I stood up groggily and walked over to my bedroom window, then I pulled open my curtains. I immediately recoiled from the sun which felt like it was burning me despite the fact that it was still nowhere near that kind of summer weather for another two months.

"The fuck …?" I wondered out loud as I stepped back into the more shady area of my room. "I'm not hungover, am I? I don't think I drank anything last night … I don't even know a place that would serve someone my age …" I closed my eyes to think and got flashes of being impaled the night before. What a fucked up dream, I thought, sighing. It had seemed so real.

Wait, I'm not a vampire, am I? I asked myself. Then I hit myself in the head because that was fucking stupid.

There was a small squeaking sound from my shelf. The hamster. Oh yeah, I planned to sneak you back in today, didn't I? I thought. Whereas the thought of the smiles on the faces of the students finding their beloved class pet returned to them filled me with joy a week ago, feeling the way I did this morning, I just couldn't bring myself to feel any enthusiasm over it. This was going to suck. I hated feeling like I was just going through the motions.

I decided to see if hydration would help with my current problem. I carefully stepped around the parts in the room that were being lit by the sun, which thankfully wasn't shining directly through the window at this time of the day, and exited my room, where I promptly bumped into Ise-nii, who seemed to have the same idea I did. He looked like shit. I assumed I was looking similar. He also looked incredibly freaked out, which was something else I could understand.

"Morning, Ise-nii," I groaned.

"Morning, Shin," he said. "Hey, uh … you don't remember anything weird happening last night, do you?"

I perked up a bit at that. Could it be …? "… Yeah, there's some pretty weird shit buzzing around in my head," I admitted.

"Me, too," he said.

"… I think we'd best save this until we're heading to school," I suggested. "Don't want Kaa-san and Tou-san hearing this conversation and thinking we've both gone mental."

"Y-Yeah, good point. Were you headed to the bathroom?"

"Nah, you go ahead. I'll use the sink downstairs."

Walking to school that morning was literally the worst experience of my life so far. Drinking water had done very little to help with the full-body pain, and the sun's burning sensation on my skin was only making it worse now that I was outside and directly exposed to it. Ise-nii walked beside me and he looked just as shitty as I felt. We were both walking a lot slower than our usual pace. Neither of us could get any real motivation to move quickly with the way we were feeling.

"So …" Ise-nii began after we walked in awkward silence for a while, "… you remember what happened last night?"

I swallowed. "Yeah, I do," I said. "I was … honestly hoping you wouldn't. It would be so much easier to just assume everything that happened yesterday was a really messed up dream."

"Yeah, tell me about it … Hey, wait, what the hell were you even doing there?"

"That's not important."

"I disagree."

I sighed. "I was following you on your date to make sure you didn't fuck it up," I admitted. "And so I could make fun of you for it afterwards. Really freak you out, know what I mean?"

"… Not gonna lie, that's pretty fucking creepy, Shin," he said. "But … I guess I'm glad, in a way. Not that you died or anything! Or … whatever it was that happened to us. It's just a lot easier to deal with knowing you can, you know, clarify my story. I can't decide whether I feel better or worse for knowing all this shit really happened, but it's something, at least."

I was glad he saw it like that. This would have been really awkward if he had taken offence. "So … what do we do now?" I asked.

"I dunno, little bro," he said. "But we need to figure this shit out."

"Yeah … we really do. What the hell happened after we passed out …?"

That question haunted us all the way to school. When we separated, we decided it would be best to figure things out later. Ise-nii said he would go and ask Matsuda-san and Motohama-san if they knew anything, seeing as he had introduced Amano-san, or whatever the hell her name really was, to them the week before. I said I would ask Koneko-chan since she was with me when I was spying on his date, right up until just before any of this went down.

I got to my classroom and sat at my desk. Koneko-chan was already there. I thought about how I could carefully broach the subject of yesterday, although I admittedly didn't expect much out of her seeing as she had left before the event even occurred. As I sat down, I felt a bit better.

"Hey, Koneko-chan," I said, comforted by the friendly face.

"Hi," she said, and nothing else.

"Um …" I began. "You, er, don't remember anything weird happening yesterday, do you?"

"No," she said.

"So, after you left the park, everything was normal?"

"We never went to the park yesterday."

"Yes, we did, when we were following Ise-nii and his girlfriend around."

"You expect me to believe that pervert has a girlfriend?"

I looked at her, my mouth agape. Did she … not remember? What was going on here? "You know he did," I said shakily. I couldn't help it, my voice was coming out like it would in the cold. "This … this happened last week …"

She just shrugged. I knew I shouldn't stare and that it made me look like a weirdo, but there was something bubbling inside me I didn't like in relation to Koneko-chan. This … this was hurting, deep down, in a way I hadn't felt before. She had to be lying, right? I remembered. Ise-nii remembered. We couldn't have both had the same hallucination, could we? That didn't seem possible. But why would Koneko-chan lie to me like this? Somehow, in my head, it made even less sense than the rest of the situation.

Or maybe I was just going crazy. I guess that's also a possibility.

Somehow, I ended the school day more upset than I had begun it. Koneko-chan had been avoiding me all day, I was sure of it. Usually, I could approach her for conversation in the hallways with no problem whatsoever, but today, there were always people strategically placed between us that made getting to her problematic, and when I got to where she was, she had already moved on. In classes we had together, she had apparently decided to switch seats for the day so that she was sitting away from me. That was already bad, but what made it worse was this weird pain in my chest I'd been feeling since she lied (if I wasn't insane) to me this morning. I didn't like this feeling.

I had returned the hamster to its classroom discreetly at lunch, but the thought of the good cheer its return would bring didn't excite me in the way it normally would have. My emotions, other than that pain in my chest, just felt … dull.

I just wish this day would end, I thought miserably. If only I could turn back the clock to last week … Just that one night and everything seems so different … I don't like it …

A hand on my shoulder stopped me short as I started to walk out of the school gates without really paying attention to anything around me. I turned to see who it was and saw that it was Ise-nii looking at me with some concern. "Hey, Shin, you okay?" he asked.

I laughed. It was a fake laugh and I knew he could tell. I was never good at faking it (that's what she said). "Why wouldn't I be?" I asked sarcastically. "I only appear to be having a mental breakdown and am actively questioning my entire sense of reality. Other than that, I'm great."

Ise-nii brought me in for a bro-hug and I felt somewhat better, not just because of the comfort of my brother but the thought of all the erotic fanfiction the girls who were seeing this would likely think up because they were all sick in the head and every girl in this school had a dire obsession with slash fiction genuinely amused me as much as it sickened me. You would be astounded the kind of ships these girls could come up with. And they call Ise-nii sick.

The thought managed to coerce a genuine chuckle out of me. "Thanks, Ise-nii," I said. "Now please let go before girls start saying one of us is adopted to justify their twisted imaginations."

"Good call," he said, laughing a bit as he let me go. "Look, Shin, I know this is bugging the hell out of you. It's bugging me, too. But Matsuda and Motohama don't remember Yuuma-chan at all, and all the pictures we took together on my phone are just sorta … gone. I … I think it might be best if we just try going back to normal."

"… Yeah, you're probably right," I said without meaning it. I wanted to know what was happening. I wanted to know why Koneko-chan was avoiding me.

"I'm gonna head over to Matsuda's place with him and Motohama to watch some porn," Ise-nii said without so much as an ounce of shame. "I'll be out late, most likely, so I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Ew," I said in disgust. "You guys are making actual plans to watch porn together? I dunno what you do when you're watching porn, but with me it's not exactly a spectator sport. Or, what, are you guys into the old circlejerk? Like performing 'dead man's hand' only with someone else's hand and it's not so dead?"

"Should've known that'd just give you ammunition …" he muttered, though the smirk on his face told me he was pleased I had my sense of humour back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." I watched him walk towards his two friends, then turned around and started walking home.

I thought about Koneko-chan the whole way back.

The night had the exact opposite effect on my to the day. I felt fucking amazing. Too amazing, in fact, as at the point in the night when I should have been going to sleep, I felt so full of energy that sleep was literally impossible. I felt like going for a run, which wasn't something I would usually be thinking. Plus, the lights were off and the curtains were drawn, but I could still see like the whole damn room was being lit up. It made sleeping somewhat difficult even in addition to the energy boost I was experiencing.

That was why I spent the middle of the night pacing my room rather than trying to get to sleep like a normal human being.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I asked aloud as I paced. I couldn't help it, the extra energy was making me project everything out loud. I would have to get control of that. "I get hurt when the sun shines on me, I get extra energetic at night … Am I absolutely sure I'm not a vampire?" I hit myself again. "No, enough of that, you idiot, vampires don't exist. Maybe I've suddenly become an albino? That'd explain the sun, but not what I'm currently experiencing … Hmm … We live in confusing times, it would seem." I stood still for a few minutes, thinking, trying to get rid of the excess energy by rapidly tapping my foot. It wasn't working, so I started pacing again.

"What the hell's up with Koneko-chan?" My thoughts went back to her for what felt like, and probably was, the millionth time that evening. "Why's she been ducking and dodging me all day? Did I do something wrong? Oh God, I really hope I didn't do anything wrong … Was I too forceful in my questioning this morning? Did I make her uncomfortable? I hope not … But then why is she lying? She's got to be lying. This isn't like Ise-nii's idiot friends, she was there right up until we got to the park. She has to remember … doesn't she? So why … why …?" I growled and tore at my hair. "Why do I care? So what if she's avoiding me? She shouldn't be lying to me! So why do I feel so fucking bad right now? This fucking pain in my chest … It's not like I like her or anything."

All the energy drained out of me after those words left my mouth. I stopped dead in the centre of the room, all the frustration forgotten and only sudden realisation in its place as my heart hammered away in my chest. "Oh my God … I do like her …" The problem with spending so much time with one person was that I never truly realised just how much I liked spending that time with her until I was no longer in a position to do so. "That's why what she said … that's why her avoiding me … that's why it all hurts so damn much … I've … I've got a crush …"

Suitably shocked by the revelation that I had romantic feelings for my best friend, I sat down on my bed, pretty much just letting myself drop. I needed answers, but now that I thought about it, the idea of pushing her into giving them just felt wrong, no matter how much that information directly affected me. Now that I knew my own feelings, now that they weren't being drowned out by my attempts at joking or the negativity that had infested me throughout the day, now that I was thinking … I wanted to apologise for being so pushy for answers earlier, for every bad word I had just said regarding her …

I honestly couldn't bring myself to hold the secret keeping against her.

"Koneko-chan …" I said as I laid down on my bed. All that filled my head were images of her face … that pretty face … "Koneko-chan …" I muttered as I did what seemed impossible mere minutes ago and fell asleep.

I felt slightly better waking up that morning than I had waking up the morning before, though I still felt like death. Sleep had let that insistent pain in my chest calm somewhat, and while it was still agonising, it was at least manageably so. Even then, I couldn't bring myself to move at first. Every fibre of my being was telling me I should just lie in bed until the hurting stopped. This was the sort of thing I was trying to avoid by always keeping a smile on my face. My emotions have a habit of getting the better of me.

"Ise! Shin! Wake up! It's time for school!" Kaa-san yelled from downstairs.

I groaned and sat up in my bed. As shitty as I felt, it had nothing on how terrifying a sufficiently angry mother could be, so my sense of self-preservation won out fairly quickly. I stretched my arms out and was satisfied by all the cracks and pops that came from my joints.

"Wait, is Ise even here?" Tou-san asked Kaa-san downstairs.

"His shoes are in the entrance, so I know he came home," Kaa-san tittered. "Geez! Staying out at his friend's house so late! And he's going to be late for school! When I get my hands on that boy …" I was amused to find that I was still seemingly angelic in my parents' eyes. Another downside of Ise-nii's open perversion: our parents were pretty much 100% sure I was going to be the one out of the two of us who would be giving them grandchildren.

Kaa-san's footsteps were coming up the stairs. I sat up further and swung my legs off the bed, hoping to hear better, only for my little toe to hit my bedside table's leg. I instinctively flinched but found that stubbing my toe didn't hurt the hellish way it usually did. Before I could wonder about that, Ise-nii's bedroom door opened … and there was silence. Somebody said something too muffled to hear. I assumed it was Kaa-san because of the softer pitch, but then Kaa-san spoke loudly and in a robotic voice: "… GET READY QUICKLY."

Ise-nii's door slammed shut and a few seconds later Kaa-san came into my room with a worried look on her face. "Shin … who is that girl?" she asked.

"What girl?" I asked in confusion.

"The … the one in Ise's bed."

My eyes widened. "There's a girl in Ise-nii's bed?" I asked in disbelief.

She stared at me for a few moments more, then said "Just get dressed," before shutting my door and going back downstairs.

"What's wrong?" I heard Tou-san ask. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Oh, God, you didn't walk in on Ise having one off the wrist again, did you?"

"There's a girl in Ise's bed," Kaa-san said in a flat voice.

"Huh?"

"In Ise's bed, there is a girl. And she's naked."

"… Are you sure it's a real girl …?"

I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. I stood up to get dressed as quickly as I could, I just had to see if this was real. What the hell had happened at Matsuda-san's place last night to result in Ise-nii taking a naked girl to bed with him? I leaned on my bedside table as I was standing up and it wobbled a bit, which was unusual. I looked down and saw that there was a big chunk missing from the bottom of the leg I had kicked by accident a minute ago. Did I do that …?

I shook the question out of my brain. Stuff like that could be worked out later. I got dressed as quickly as I could and left my bedroom just in time to see Ise-nii exiting his … accompanied by the most popular girl in school, Rias Gremory. To say my jaw dropped would be an understatement – I'm pretty sure it landed in the Earth's core.

"Wha …?" was all I could get out of my mouth as I looked between the two of them. "When the hell did this happen?"

"Last night," said Gremory-senpai. She smiled at me, a smile full of kindness. "Good morning, Shintaro."

The strangely familial use of my first name made my cheeks heat up. "M-Morning," I mumbled in response. I threw Ise-nii a "WTF" look, but he just shrugged at me and indicated that we should go downstairs. I got the message loud and clear – hopefully, I would get an explanation when this was explained to my parents.

"Thank you for the meal," I, Ise-nii, and Gremory-senpai all said before tucking into our breakfast.

"This is very delicious, Mrs Hyoudou," said Gremory-senpai.

"Th-Thank you very much," Kaa-san said awkwardly.

Kaa-san and Tou-san were staring at Ise-nii and Gremory-senpai with unsure expressions. I, too, was incredibly confused, but I was trying to hide it by spending time eating my food and just listening to what everybody was saying. Between the emotional roller-coaster that was yesterday and the confusion of this morning, I could feel a headache racing towards me like a freight train. I wished someone would just tell me what the hell was going on already.

"Ise, don't be rude," Gremory-senpai said sternly to Ise-nii, who was leaving his food basically untouched. "Your okaa-sama made this food for you. Eat it."

"Y-Yes," Ise-nii responded instantly, then proceeded to start eating his breakfast way too quickly.

"Damn, Ise-nii, are you even chewing?" I asked, slightly put off from my own food from the way he was basically inhaling his. "Not everything is as soft and liquidy as what you're usually given to swallow, calm the hell down."

He glared at me from across the table.

"Shintaro, you shouldn't speak in such a vulgar way at the table," Gremory-senpai admonished me. Something about the way she said it made me wilt in shame, like it was an older family member calling me out on something. "Though he does have a point, Ise. It's impolite not to eat so you can taste it." She wiped Ise-nii's mouth off with a handkerchief.

… Wait, when the hell did I get a big sister? I wondered. It was certainly what she was acting like.

"I-Ise …?" Tou-san spoke up, looking nervous. "W-Where did this lady c-come from?"

Gremory-senpai put down her chopsticks and bowed her head towards our parents. "Oh my, I apologise for not introducing myself," she said. "Mr and Mrs Hyoudou, my name is Rias Gremory. I'm an upper-classman of your two boys at Kuoh Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you." The smoothness with which she was able to say that despite the state she had been found with Ise-nii in this morning was impressive.

"I-Is that so?" Tou-san asked, looking no less put out by her presence. "Forgive me for asking, but are you from a foreign country? Your Japanese is very good."

"Yes," said Gremory-senpai. "My father works over here, so I've been living in Japan for a long time."

Tou-san looked placated by this, which I think says something about either him or the male gender as a whole, because Kaa-san was still looking at Gremory-senpai with suspicion. I would like to think it's just Tou-san – even I still thought this situation was weird.

"So, Rias-san …?" Kaa-san began.

"Yes, Mrs Hyoudou?" asked Gremory-senpai.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Ise?"

Here we go, I thought as I prepared to hear an explanation for why she was in bed naked with Ise-nii last night and this morning.

"We're just close schoolmates, Mrs Hyoudou," Gremory-senpai explained.

"That's a lie!" Kaa-san denied immediately.

Yeah, nice try, Gremory-senpai, but nobody's falling for that. I was pretty close to Koneko-chan, at least I thought I was, but I still couldn't picture a scenario wherein she'd be naked in my bed … not a scenario that would ever happen outside of my own torrid fantasies, anyway.

"Ise said he has nightmares, so I was just sleeping beside him," Gremory-senpai continued with the blatant lies.

"Just sleeping together!?" Kaa-san exclaimed in disbelief. "Both of you were naked!"

"That's pretty normal these days. People sleep a lot better together when there's less layers between them."

"I-Is that so?" Kaa-san asked quietly, much to my disbelief. "So young people are sleeping in the buff with each other these days … huh …"

Wait … No. No, she couldn't, could she? She couldn't actually believe what Gremory-senpai was telling her, could she? I thought not, I was so sure she didn't actually believe her, but the longer I looked into my mother's face, the more I saw that she really did believe every word that had just come out of the redhead's mouth.

My parents are fascinatingly stupid.

Whereas Ise-nii looked really uncomfortable with the stares we were getting from other students as we walked to school, I was completely unbothered by them. Primarily because I was still so weirded the fuck out by all of yesterday and this morning. I had received what was apparently the cliffnotes version of what was happening from Gremory-senpai, though I felt like I would need some more details before I bought what she was saying.

So, according to her, Ise-nii and I are Devils now.

Devils.

Oh, and the reason my parents had bought that bullshit she was spouting at breakfast hook, line, and sinker was that she was using her Devil powers to mess with their heads so that they wouldn't question her presence in Ise-nii's bedroom that morning.

Devils.

And she was also apparently our master, to boot!

Devils.

What the fuck is happening with my life? I thought as I walked on one side of Gremory-senpai while Ise-nii walked on the other side, carrying her bag for her. We looked like shit bodyguards.

When we got into the school building, Gremory-senpai took her bag back from Ise-nii. "I'll send people to fetch you both later," she said. "I'll see you after school." And that was it, she just walked off and left us there to absorb everything.

Not that we had long to do that. Matsuda-san smacked Ise-nii upside the head before we could get any serious thinking done. "Explain!" he demanded of Ise-nii.

"Relax, Matsuda," Motohama-san said level-headedly. "We should at least give our good buddy a chance to explain himself. So, Ise, what happened when you left Matsuda's place last night?"

I could have stayed to listen to this, maybe make fun of Matsuda-san and Motohama-san like I usually did, but I really wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to get through the day so I could get some damn answers. I trudged through the halls of the school, and the students that knew me looked at me oddly, like they could tell something was wrong. I walked to my classroom and sat down in my seat, not really acknowledging the world around me.

"Good morning, Shin," Koneko-chan said from beside me.

"Yeah, hey," I said, and that was all. It was rude, but after yesterday … I just wasn't sure if I could make conversation without letting slip something I couldn't take back. No matter my own feelings towards her, I wouldn't ruin my relationship with Koneko-chan if I could help it. I would just get through the day, get all this shit out of my head, and our routine would go back to the way it was before.

But of course life couldn't be that simple, as I discovered when I was fetched after school. I didn't bother moving when the bell rang while everyone else got to their feet and left. Then I found Koneko-chan standing in front of my desk, waiting for me.

I sat and stared until it clicked. "You're the fetcher, huh?" I said.

"Yes," she said. "Buchou, that is Rias Gremory-senpai, asked me to bring you to our clubroom after school."

"… Okay, then." I stood up and picked by bag up, slinging it over my shoulder. "Lead on, Koneko-chan."

The walk was quiet at first. We got out of the classroom and into the bustling hallways, full of students who were going either home or to school clubs. We drew no more attention than usual. The rumour mill was having a lot of fun with the two of us since the beginning of the year. It's basically impossible to maintain a friendship with someone of the opposite sex in a school full of gossipy teenagers without words being spread, regardless of the context of the friendship.

We were almost at the exit of the main school building when Koneko-chan spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" I asked.

"Leaving you in the park on Sunday night," she said. So she did remember … "And lying to you about remembering it. I didn't want to keep any of this from you, but I had to. Buchou told me not to say anything."

"… Then why ignore me?" I asked. I tried and failed to keep the hurt out of my voice. "You could've just played it off like everything was okay, and maybe I would've just gotten to thinking it was a dream or something. Why did you avoid me all of yesterday?"

"…" For the first time in the conversation, she hesitated. When she spoke again, there were the barest traces of emotion in her voice, something which I hadn't heard from her before. "… Because I didn't trust myself not to tell you everything the second I started talking," she admitted. "My plan was just like you said, to just pretend everything was normal. But when I lied to you yesterday morning, the look on your face … You're always so carefree, Shin-kun, that I didn't think I could hurt you like that, but the expression you had … If I had to look at it again, I thought I would just spill everything. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, I never wanted to. And … I'm sorry for leaving you to die."

… I wasn't expecting so much from her. She'd never spoken that much in any one instance since the day I first met her, but here she was, apologising to me with more feeling in her voice than I ever heard from her before. It made me feel like shit for making her feel this guilty. How could I call myself a man if I let a cute girl feel this way? I looked at her face as we walked, and while it appeared to be stoic as usual, I could see something new in her eyes that I didn't like. I wanted to make it go away.

"You know, you're a really bad actress, anyway," I commented idly.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, you've just got the one facial expression and no voice variation. You couldn't have put a little more, 'Wow, Shin-kun, yo ass is CRAZY' into your voice when you said you didn't remember anything weird from Sunday?" I shook my head. "Shame, Koneko-chan. Shame. I really need to educate you in the art of bullshit if we're gonna keep up our double act."

"… Why are you so stupid?" she asked me. That look in her eyes I didn't like wasn't completely gone, but it faded, and as far as I'm concerned that's only a good thing.

She led me into the Old School Building, which looked a hell of a lot nicer on the inside than it did on the outside, and took me to the second floor. We stopped outside a particular classroom with a sign on the door that said "Occult Research Club."

"Buchou, I've brought Shin-kun," Koneko-chan said through the door.

"Yes, come in," Gremory-senpai said after a small wait.

Koneko-chan opened the door and led me inside. All over the walls, ceiling, and even the floor of the room, there were these weird symbols, most of them circular in nature, some of them on pieces of paper and some painted or carved directly into the various surfaces. The biggest was a circle painted onto the floor in the centre of the room that looked like a good few people could comfortably stand inside it. It gave off a really creepy vibe. There were two sofas, a coffee table, and an armchair at one point in the room, and a desk with a chair behind it in one corner. There was another door to a room off of this one (never a good thing to have, in my opinion – it gives off a real serial killer feel).

Koneko-chan went over to one of the sofas and sat down. I followed and sat next to her. There was a plate of chocolate already waiting for her on the coffee table, which she immediately picked up and started eating.

"Want one?" she offered after swallowing a piece.

"No thanks," I denied, a little surprised that she was offering me her sweets.

We were sitting there for a few minutes when somebody else, a male this time, spoke through the door and had the same exchange that Koneko-chan did. Gremory-senpai was in the other room that branched off from this one, by the sound of her voice, which was muffled by some continues hiss-like sound that reminded me of running water. When they were told to come in, one of the two who stepped through the door was Ise-nii, and the other was none other than the most popular guy in school Yuuto Kiba.

Kiba-san was handsome, even I could see it. He had short blond hair, bluish-grey eyes, and a mole underneath his left eye, just that small imperfection to emphasise how good-looking he was. He wore the school's uniform flawlessly.

"Hey, Ise-nii," I said as they entered. "Hello, Kiba-san. It's nice to meet you in person."

"Nice to meet you, as well, Hyoudou-kun," said Kiba-san.

"I believe you know of my brother," I said jokingly to Koneko-chan.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you," Ise-nii said to her.

Koneko-chan just bowed her head at him and carried on eating her sweets. He started looking through that door near the back of the room and as his face went redder and redder from realisation, it occurred to me that he looked as big a pervert as the rumours about him would suggest in that moment. Curious as to what he was seeing, I stood up to tilt my head in the direction of the room and saw a shower curtain.

"Oooooooh, that makes sense," I said, glancing at his expression before sitting back down.

"Pervert," Koneko-chan said scornfully.

Gremory-senpai exited the shower room fully dressed, though her hair was still wet. It gave her already alluring hair a shine that really did something for it. "I couldn't take a shower last night because I stayed at your place," she explained to Ise-nii and I.

"Honestly, I'm more curious about the shower being here than you using it," I said.

I was going to say more than that, maybe crack a joke or something, but seeing the girl behind Gremory-senpai took my breath away. Akeno Himejima in the flesh … I thought. Believe me, the awe was warranted, this woman was beautiful. Raven black hair that went all the way down to her legs even though it was tied up in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, captivating violet eyes, fair skin, a body so voluptuous it was straining against her uniform like it was going to break all the buttons off …

I stared, slackjawed, for several moments before saying the first thing that came to mind … which, because I'm me, was inappropriate humour. "So," I began, "is wearing tops three sizes too small the 'in' thing now, or are you one of those girls who gets off on being short of breath?" Koneko-chan elbowed me in the side harshly. "Ow!" I looked over and saw her glaring at me intensely. It made me nervous.

…

…

…

I am so lucky that Himejima-senpai started laughing. She did so elegantly, putting a hand in front of her smile as her eyes twinkled with amusement. "I like this one," she said. "And for the record," she winked, "it's the latter."

I got the sudden urge to unbutton my shirt to get rid of the heat that coated my entire body the second she winked. Did that line actually work? I thought in disbelief. I nervously looked at Koneko-chan to see how she was reacting only to find she was no longer glaring at me, but was now glaring at Himejima-senpai. And did she just move closer to me on the sofa? Or is that just my imagination?

It was probably my imagination.

Himejima-senpai bowed to Ise-nii and I. "My name is Akeno Himejima," she said. I was too focused on the way her chest was moving with her bending over to pay close attention. Not that I needed to, anyway. There wasn't a guy in school who didn't know who she was. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Looks like everyone is here," said Gremory-senpai. "Now, Ise, Shintaro, we, the Occult Research Club, welcome you … as Devils."

And here it is, I thought. Time to get those answers.

Himejima-senpai gave everyone tea. I sipped it carefully, allowing myself to taste it as well as making sure it didn't sear my mouth too badly, as most hot beverages usually seem to on the first sip. "This stuff is superb," I said. She had brewed it just right.

"Yeah, it tastes good," Ise-nii agreed.

"Thank you very much," Himejima-senpai said with a small laugh. Then she went and sat next to Gremory-senpai on the other sofa, along with Kiba-san. Ise-nii had settled down on the other end of the sofa Koneko-chan and myself were occupying. There was a surprising amount of room on that side of the sofa … maybe Koneko-chan had moved closer to me …

"I'll get to the point," Gremory-senpai said, cutting off my train of thought. "We're all Devils." She waited for a response. "Your expressions say you don't believe me. Ise, you did see the man with black wings last night, didn't you?"

"Wait, what?" I asked. I was passed over.

"That was a Fallen Angel," Gremory-senpai explained. "They were once Angels who served God but fell from grace due to acts of sin. They're an enemy of us Devils. We've been at war since ancient times. We've been fighting over possession of the Underworld, what you humans would know as Hell. The Underworld is basically split in half because of this, with the Devils occupying one side, the Fallen Angels the other. Devils make pacts with humans in exchange for sacrifices in order to build our strength, whereas the Fallen Angels manipulate humans to eliminate Devils. Then, one day, God ordered his Angels to destroy both sides of the conflict, and thus the three-way conflict that troubles us even to this day began."

"Oh, wait, I know what this is," I said. "This is the part at the beginning of the RPG where a crapton of lore is just dropped into our laps, right?"

"Yeah, this … it's kinda hard to believe," said Ise-nii. "Is this what you guys do all day?"

"The Occult Research Club is just a way of camouflaging us from the humans of the school," said Gremory-senpai. "In reality, it's a gathering place for my Peerage of Devils." She paused, I assume to see if we believed her yet. She clearly didn't see any sign because she went on. "Yuuma Amano."

My breath hitched in my throat. It was the first time anyone other than Ise-nii had said that name since the day of the date.

"You went on a date with a girl named Yuuma Amano, right?" Gremory-senpai pressed Ise-nii.

"… If this is a joke, you can stop it now," said Ise-nii. "I don't find it funny. I don't want to talk about this here." The hurt in his voice was tangible. If not for the fact that Koneko-chan was sitting between us, I would have laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"She existed," Gremory-senpai said with conviction. "She tried to erase all the evidence of her existence left behind, that's why nobody can remember her but you two." She clicked her fingers and Himejima-senpai put a photograph on the coffee table. "This is her, right? Yuuma Amano." It was her, all right. Amano-san's face was in that picture, plain as day, even though all the photos of her in Ise-nii's phone were gone. "She is a Fallen Angel. The same kind of creature that attacked you last night, Ise."

"Wait, wait, hold on," I said. "Ise-nii was attacked last night?"

"By this weirdo in a big coat," Ise-nii said. His voice was devoid of emotion, likely due to the shock of everything that was being said. "I passed out after he stabbed me. I don't remember anything else before waking up in bed this morning."

"This Fallen Angel calling herself Yuuma Amano," Gremory-senpai continued, "came into contact with you, Ise, to accomplish her goal. After she accomplished it, she got rid of any evidence that she'd ever been here."

"What the hell was she trying to achieve?" I asked.

"She wanted to kill Ise."

"Why!?" Ise-nii asked loudly. He was really starting to flip out over this. "Why did she need to kill me!?"

"Calm down, Ise," Gremory-senpai said gently. "This isn't exactly uncommon. No … you were just unlucky. There were possessors that weren't killed …"

"What do you mean, unlucky!?"

"Ise-nii," I said, gaining his attention. "Calm down. I know it's hard, I'm not exactly happy hearing this myself, but we're not going to get anywhere if we keep on like this."

He took a few deep breaths, visibly trying to calm himself, and sat down again.

"At the end of your date," Gremory-senpai went on, "you went to the park, where she killed you with a spear of light, then killed Shintaro when she found out he'd seen her."

"But we're still alive!" Ise-nii argued. "Why the hell was I targeted!?"

"She had to get close to you so she could look for something inside of you, something dangerous. The signal she got from it mustn't have been very strong at first, otherwise she would've acted sooner. She only went through with her plan of attack when she realised you did indeed possess a Sacred Gear."

"What's a Sacred Gear?" I asked when Ise-nii failed to respond.

"It's an irregular power found in certain humans," Kiba-san explained. "Most major historical figures are said to have been Sacred Gear possessors. They used their Sacred Gears to achieve the things they're known for."

"It's the same thing nowadays," Himejima-senpai added. "All those people with major roles on a worldwide scale? Sacred Gear possessors, most if not all of them."

"Most Sacred Gears are useless outside of human society," Gremory-senpai explained. "But there are Sacred Gears with powers that can be threatening to supernatural beings such as us Devils, Fallen Angels, and even Angels. Ise, raise your hand."

Ise-nii raised his left arm with confusion written on his face.

"Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind," Gremory-senpai ordered.

"Strongest being …?" Ise-nii thought aloud. "Hmm … Son Goku from Dragon Ball …"

"That's it, now imagine him in a pose you associate with strength. When he appears the strongest." She waited for Ise-nii to get a good idea. "Now slowly lower your arm and stand up." He did so. "Now mimic the pose you were imagining. Keep it really clear in your mind, okay? You cannot hold back."

Oh my God, is this really happening? I thought as a grin that threatened to split the skin of my face spread across my cheeks. Am I about to see my big brother playing Son Goku at the age of seventeen? Oh, comedy gods, how you have blessed me this day! I shall cherish this memory forever and ever!

I watched on in glee as Ise-nii put his hands together in the same fashion as Goku does on Dragon Ball. Then he thrust his hands forward and shouted, "Kamehameha!" Something changed when he did. The atmosphere of the room felt … heavier, somehow, like there was something in the air pressing down on me that wasn't there before.

"Now open your eyes," said Gremory-senpai. "This place is filled with demonic power, so your Sacred Gear will appear more easily."

Ise-nii did as he was told and opened his eyes. A blinding flash emanated from his left arm, causing me to shield my eyes for a split-second, then it dissipated just as quickly. I opened my eyes again and saw that Ise-nii's left hand was now covered by a red gauntlet. There was what appeared to be a green gem at the centre of the back of his hand. "What the hell is this!?" he shouted, looking down at it.

"That's your Sacred Gear, Ise," said Gremory-senpai. "Now that you've summoned it, you can call upon it anytime, anywhere. The Fallen Angel, Yuuma Amano, saw this Sacred Gear as a threat and killed you for it. You summoned me when you were on the verge of death, using this." She held up a flier with some demonic-looking symbols on it and a phrase – "your wish will be granted." "This is one of the fliers we give out. The magic circle is the same as the one on the floor in here, and is used to summon us. We have to hand these out since the days of people summoning Devils to gain every little desire have long since passed. The day you died, my Familiar was handing these out in town and you were given one. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called out to me when you were on the verge of death. You must have wished particularly hard to summon me. Normally, one of my servants is summoned. I sensed you had a Sacred Gear in you, so I decided to save your life by bringing you back as my Devil servant."

"Um," I said, raising my hand. "Okay, so I get the picture about why you brought Ise-nii back, what with the Sacred Gear and all. But why me? I'm not at all special, am I? Why bring me back?" It was a question I didn't want to ask, to be honest, but I had to know. If the reason she brought Ise-nii back was that Sacred Gear, then what was she getting out of me being here? I just couldn't see a reason.

"There were a couple of reasons, actually," said Gremory-senpai. "The first thing I noticed is that you have usually high potential for growth, and I mean that in a supernatural sense. Devils can see potential in humans to a certain degree. We have to if we're going to build up our servants, you can't always count on a Sacred Gear possessor falling into your lap. The second and more important reason, however, is Koneko." She smiled fondly. "You should have seen her asking me to bring you back. I couldn't bring myself to let one of my servants lose somebody she's so fond of, so the decision seemed obvious."

"Buchou …" Koneko-chan very nearly groaned. She looked embarrassed, and it was adorable.

But I was thinking about more than how adorable she looked while embarrassed when I was looking at her. She … asked Gremory-senpai to bring me back? The idea of it sent my heart fluttering. I felt red rising to my cheeks not unlike the red currently in hers, though I suspect I had less control over its presence. I felt not a smirk, but a genuine smile grow on my face. Koneko-chan …

I was snapped out of it when bat-like wings sprung from everybody's backs, startling me and Ise-nii. I felt an extra weight on my back and turned to look, finding that those same wings were sprouting out of my back, too. Holy shit, I can fly, I realised with growing excitement.

"Let's introduce ourselves anew," Gremory-senpai suggested. "Yuuto."

"My name is Yuuto Kiba," said Kiba-san. "I'm a second year. Like you, Hyoudou-kun. I'm a Devil, too. Nice to meet you."

"First year," said Koneko-chan. "Koneko Toujou. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm a Devil, too."

"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third year," said Himejima-senpai. "I'm the vice-president of the Occult Research Club. Nice to meet you. Even though I'm like this, I'm also a Devil." She gave off a little laugh at the end.

"And I'm their master as well as yours, a Devil from the house of Gremory," Gremory-senpai said with a flourish of her hair. "My house holds the rank of Duke. Let's get along, Ise, Shintaro."

Taking a breath, I stood up and bowed. "I am Shintaro Hyoudou, first year," I said clearly. "I guess I'm a Devil now, too. I won't lie, I probably won't look like I'm taking things seriously a lot of the time, but I'll work my hardest to show that you didn't make a mistake in bringing me back." I might have overplayed it, but having discovered that Ise-nii was so special by supernatural standards, I felt that I had to work extra hard to make sure I wasn't just a waste of a servant. Rather than sitting back down, I leant down to speak to Koneko-chan. "Can we talk outside for a minute, Koneko-chan?"

She tilted her head curiously, but nodded, following me out of the room.

"What did you want to talk ab—"

Before she could finish speaking, I wrapped her in a hug. Not glomping her in a jokey hug like I'd done in the past, by an attempt to show genuine affection and warmth. She went rigid. "I'm sorry if I was harsh at all before," I said. "I was confused and kinda scared, and I … I thought badly of you when I thought you were just ignoring me. I shouldn't have. I should never think anything bad about my best girl, should I?"

As I spoke, I felt her relax in my arms.

"And … you don't need to be sorry about what happened in the park," I said softly. "I don't think there's anything for you to be sorry for, but since I get the feeling you need to hear it, here you go … I forgive you."

With those final words, she relaxed completely into the hug and wrapped her arms around me in return. We stayed out there like that for a few precious moments and then rejoined the others in what was now the clubroom I belonged to. Before we got through the door, however, I added some more words.

"Thank you for saving my life."

I cannot believe I got this out so quickly. Don't count on that happening again, I work pretty much full time these days, but apparently this week I was struck with Flash-like lightning bolt that only increased the speed of my typing. Thought about releasing this next week but decided I could end this week on a high note since I'm finally uploading stuff again.

So, this chapter was basically meant to illustrate that Shintaro is actually really sensitive, emotionally speaking. Like he mentioned in the narration, one of the reasons he tries to keep himself and everyone else smiling is that his emotions can completely overwhelm him if he doesn't keep good humour about things.

And on a more positive note, we also have his motivation for doing a good job and getting stronger. We'll get back to his humorous personality next time, I promise; it was just necessary to show his response to the situation here without trying to add distracting comedy to every bit of it.

I'm also well aware that Japanese people introduce themselves family name first, but I got confused and jumbled up, so I just stuck to given names first to avoid any glaring inconsistencies. People still use last names out of politeness, though.

Here are the harem girls introduced so far:

Shintaro: Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima,

Issei: Rias Gremory, Raynare,

For those of you who remember last time, when I agreed to add some characters from other series to the story, that is still happening, but be warned, they're more like OC versions of characters from other series I've made to fit into the DxD universe as well as the original plotline focusing on Shintaro which will come into more prominence in the future.

Now, before we go out, I'll answer the reviews.

Clarent excalibur: I'll go ahead and tell you Shintaro has Asia since that's relevant to this first arc, but whether or not he gets Xenovia, you'll have to wait and see, I'm afraid. Yeah, I love Koneko, too.

Derek 23: Thank you, I will endeavour to do so.

massone22: And I'm glad to be writing it again.

Ryujomaru15: I'm happy to be writing it again. I figured I'd give him more of a personality to set him apart from Issei rather than just having him be "the other main character" like I felt he was last time I tried to write this story. And yes, as you can probably guess from this chapter, Shintaro is a Rook in this version.

See you next time!