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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
High School DxD, New, BorN, Hero and other products related to the DxD Series are all owned by Ichiei Ishibumi, Miyama-Zero, Fujimi Shobo and TNK.
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Chapter 11: Confrontations
I've gone through difficult choices to keep myself from getting this level of investigations from Rias continuing, making sure that nothing could urge those to continue even after the situation with Asia was settled.
I was quite annoyed to find out with the direct presence of Akeno for this Art Contest that this wasn't the case, as I did forget to take into account the fact this Rias was actually…
Petty.
Before the Phenex Arc, the heiress to the Gremory Clan was pretty much an entitled brat with a sweetening coat of kindness and good manners keeping people from perceiving her major flaw.
The redhead was genuinely concerned about those around her, but the way she tried to approach people that sparked some interest to her and her lack of concrete social skills at dealing with the simple student she knew nothing about were good enough reasons to create an unhealthy way to deal with everyone around her that wasn't her peerage or her family.
And while I was humanizing this aspect of her mind, I wasn't certainly going to let some spoiled girl get a freebie in stepping on me.
"What is your best quality, the one thing that you are best for this task?" I decided that to avoid getting stuck with this young woman for too long, I needed to put my head on what I had to do and avoid the rest.
"I'm fine with coloring. I hope this is not a problem for you, Hoitsu-kun-"
"Hoitsu-san, I don't remember extending any familiarity with you, Akeno-san."
Her smile twitched hesitant but I had most of my attention of the white paper as I started to draw the first lines of the subject I had in mind for this contest with a soft pencil.
For few moments there was some pleasant silence, which ended up giving me some extra time to elaborate some defense against the Yamato Nadeshiko sitting quite close to me.
The Fallen Angel-Devil hybrid took this time to actually glance both at me as I focused on the drawing and the drawing itself since the first few hints about my subject started to appear.
"You are drawing Sensei?" The Queen of Rias' peerage stated with barely hidden surprise.
"I remember hearing from some members of the council that she was supposed to retire during this year. Seeing her unusually happy expression when she entered the classroom, I think she got some good news about it." I stated while keeping my eyes on the paper.
"You mean that she could be retiring any time now?" She said with some small surprise dripping from her tone. "I didn't know about this and… you want this to be a goodbye gift to her?"
I nodded, a soft humming coming from the young woman as she continued. "That is kind of you."
Blinking I glanced up with a frown. "And that what's supposed to mean?"
"Only that I think this is the first unique act you have ever shown in Kuoh." As she finished with that statement, I found myself snorting and let my attention slip back to the lines I was defining.
"That is quite the erroneous idea you have of me, Akeno-san." I remarked. "I think the fact I've been quite renowned for 'unique acts' ever since the beginning of this year."
She blinked. "Truly?"
"I've been helping Issei to detach himself from his former group of idiots, I helped Kunou-chan around the school and I also gave Asia the opportunity to be part of the Club she best fit for."
She flinched at the last example, just as I had expected, but she managed a frown.
"Rias only wanted to befriend Asia-chan-"
"-But she ended up getting her pushed away."
A minor scowl appeared on Akeno's face. "Buchou has a good heart-"
"-But poor social capabilities when dealing with fellow students and peers her age." I interrupted once more, this time deciding to explain a little more. "It's fairly clear that, while not done consciously from her part, her attitude towards 'interesting people' is somewhat childish. She has this idea that getting them on your club would mean instant friendship, without needing to expand further on that."
The female hybrid looked ready to protest, but I wasn't finished. "I understand that she had lived a sheltered life and that you were already there before you both started studying at Kuoh, but I think it's right to say this 'unpleasant' truth."
I put down my pencil, dragging the eraser some of the mistakes I've left behind, then spoke again. "She isn't perfect in that part and she needs someone to guide her through that part she is so hesitant about."
Akeno's protests died before they could be voiced, her violet eyes widening a little at that depiction of the Gremory. "W-What are you talking about?" She tried to appear clueless, but the stutter ruined her attempt.
I sighed. "You mean how is it possible that someone that much could be understood from not talking to someone?" I glanced once more at her. "Why of course, your leader does flinch a lot when her confident move is turned useless by a simple tactic."
She frowned at that explanation. "It could be just surprise-"
"Surprise doesn't generally get people that much tense." I sighed, dropping my pencil once more and starting to contemplate which pen to use to retrace the lines of the drawing. "Her flinches are tense. She tends to get on a very defensive stance when her determination is forced to a halt."
The Himejima blinked at that. "Buchou could be a little bit hesitant once in a while, that doesn't certainly mean she is that much inexperienced with people."
"Then I will wait and see if my theory or yours are valid with future events." I conceded tiredly, I was starting to get annoyed about the whole chit-chatting as I was paying little attention to the drawing now.
Of all days, Rias had to annoy me while I was doing such important task?
"By the way, why did your boss send you here?" I asked calmly, ignoring the confused frown from the girl. "Is she perhaps interested in Kunou-chan, now?"
There was a brief moment of silence, then Akeno smiled. "Actually, Hoitsu-san, I decided to see what kind of person you were on my own."
...What?
What the actual heck?!
"Uh?" was what ended up leaving my mouth and the girl giggled.
"I guess it's kind of surprising as you had this little big theory of yours about Rias-buchou." Her smug look was annoying to even know it was there, even through I was still staring at the paper.
"A little bit but..." I softly dropped the pen and held one of my hands right up to cup my own cheek, then closed my eyes in a satisfied expression and relayed the true counter to this girl in particular.
It was a counter I had only thought possible but never tested its practicality, knowing that there was a minor chance of ending up with some unpleasant situations in the near future… but-
"Ara, Ara, is Akeno-san interested in me in a perverted way? I can only wonder what kind of things she would do to me then~"
I blinked my eyes open to gauge her reaction and I was rewarded with a full-face blush from Akeno, her eyes wide open as her jaw had dropped low. She seemed frozen in time, stuck in that expression and I decided to move before she could react more about it.
I slid the finished drawing right at the girl, her violet eyes finally darted away, looking down as she noticed the work in front of her and she blinked.
"It's your turn, Akeno-san." The girl didn't answer at my input, returning to stare up at me and… it was intense. She continued to stare for two full minutes, something that left me quite nervous for some reason and I expected her to launch a full-fledged lewd assault at that and…
I was confused when said thing didn't happen, the Himejima silently starting to pick the various colored pencils and markers to begin her own work.
There was no further interaction from that, which caused me to frown warily at the suddenly quiet girl. While she was particularly reserved sometimes, it looked odd to see her go this much unresponsive after we just ended up that talk.
Did that comeback seriously cause her to back away from… everything she could have asked after that?
The comeback itself was actually a joking remark, nothing more and nothing less, yet the effects that it caused on Akeno looked… quite impressive.
What has just happened to the girl currently busy with the coloring phase?
The mystery remained unknown for the rest of the contest and even after as, just brief instants after giving the final result, which was quite well-done in my opinion for both sides, the Himejima retreated with a polite nod back to her desk and decided to not turn around to stare back where I was.
Rias looked confused too, seeing her Queen getting this quite and reserved without an apparent reason and she did glance back where I was sitting, trying to understand what was going on with Akeno.
Of course I avoided her eyes as I knew that the possible reason the usually teasing girl was in that state was the very playful remark I did starting with that 'Ara, Ara'.
To think that the magnitude of that statement could bring to the girl was of this level…
I don't know if I should be impressed or scared for any future retaliation now…
Kunou looked positively elated at her first day at Kuoh Academy.
As we meet up by the school's entrance, the kitsune was quick to barrage me with details from her first day, from the interesting lessons she had to take notes of to the classmates that were kind enough to help her around.
Koneko would pass by during the pauses between lessons to ask if she required any help, to which the blonde kindly said no. The only issue that she had with her day was the fact she was supposed to stay sitting for full hours and couldn't move around when she wanted too.
It was felt 'odd', but the girl managed to bear through the day until the end of the lessons.
She was latched her hands onto my arm as we started to make our way back home, my other hand busied with my phone as I quickly contacted Baraqiel to inform him of the situation with Koneko.
The man agreed that bringing the attention of the Gremory peerage upon us this early on would be a dangerous thing to do, him in particular since he wasn't still sure how to deal with his daughter and, without fussing too much about it, he accepted to go and visit some pubs while I was busy with the silver-haired Nekoshou.
Once we were back home, I started to prepare quickly some lunch while Kunou rushed to her room to change back to her home's clothes and drop her school bag by her bed. She went to the bathroom to clean her hand and wash her face from any trace of sweat, while I decided to clean my own hands in the kitchen area.
I decided that today was a good day for some omelets and started to bring out several eggs out of the fridge and, as I did so, I also noticed the bag of potatoes hiding by the far corner of the machine and picked some of those too.
And while in the frying pan the content for the omelet started to cook, on a medium-sized pot I had water start to boil as I peeled the ten potatoes I had picked to prepare the dish I had in mind.
Thirty minutes later, I had the steamy omelets put in plates, ending up making one more than planned, while the potatoes were almost boiled to an acceptable level.
Kunou was sitting by the table and waiting patiently, her mouth watering at her plate with the delicious-looking omelet, but confused at the lacking quantity. Her golden eyes turned back to the kitchen room which I had ventured once more and she saw me returning with a large plate with several boiled potatoes.
She frowned in confusion, her eyes following my actions as I dropped five of the potatoes on the free space of her plate and her nose sniffed at its scent.
Eyes widening, she grasped her fork and carefully picked the interesting food and took a bit from it.
She munched slowly, testing the texture and the taste and, few moments later a smiling kitsune had finished her first boiled potato.
I sat down and took a bite from the omelet and nodded happily at the result of my hard-work.
Just as the lunch commenced, our little moment of peace was abruptly interrupted by the door-bell ringing only once.
I stopped and blinked while looking towards the main entrance door. Did Koneko come earlier than expected?
Walking towards the door, I peeked from the door-hole and nodded at the sight of familiar white-hair. I opened the door and was graced with my kohai with her school bag on her back.
"Senpai, did I come too early or-"
"No, no. You may enter, you are not disturbing." She blinked at my interruption but nodded as she stepped inside and glanced around the new house. Surprised and awed, the Nekoshou wandered a little before setting her attention to the living room and noticing Kunou looking back at her with a smile.
"Ku-kohai." The oldest of the two girl greeted with a small smile.
"Ko-senpai." The little blonde returned with a bigger smile.
The silver-haired girl rushed to the table and paused only to glance at the plates there, mouth opening to ask something but her stomach-
Growl
Beat her to it.
A little blush spread in her cheeks and she sighed. "I might have forgotten to eat something for lunch, senpai."
Kunou smiled and nodded. "Well, Niichan did make a third omelet, Ko-senpai. You could have it!"
"I don't wish to impose-"
"You are not imposing..." I patted her head from behind. "Koneko-chan."
The girl blinked in surprise and then huffed at being patted so suddenly, causing the blonde still in her seat to giggle at the scene.
Moments later Koneko was sitting with us by the table and enjoying her own share of omelet and potatoes, smiling as she consumed the delicious dishes. The entire lunch was a brief affair and while I was cleaning the empty plates back in the kitchen, both girls started to discuss with each other.
Their words were muffled by the fact I was far away from the scene, but I could still see from time to time the two sharing some friendly bantering.
Once I was done with this chore and returned to the living room, I found myself staring at quite the situation.
Koneko had her eyes closed as Kunou continued to hug her. The little kitsune was humming happily in the embrace and I could see a small smile in my kohai's face as this WMD of cute continued to manifest before my eyes.
I stared for few moments, until golden eyes finally opened with a pleased expression and froze at my sight. Koneko stiffened a little in the embrace and the blonde turned to see what caused her senpai sudden freezing up.
"Niichan."
I blinked back to reality. "I-I finished cleaning the dishes." The girl nodded finally ending the embrace. "Koneko-chan, if you want you could stay a little more after we finish our study session."
The Nekoshou seemed to genuinely contemplate the possibility but much to Kunou's and my dismay, the girl shook her head at the idea.
"I would like to, but I have things to do back home. Thank you for offering, senpai."
At those words, the blonde quickly went for her room with the intention of quickly do her homework and then join us for the study session.
Differently from the first time, Koneko had bought a calculator and was being incredibly careful with the way she was completing the various sets of math queries I've written down for her to complete.
It was a particularly quiet session, the girl having little to no trouble in grasping the logic behind some of the exercises.
An hour later Kunou managed to join us and started to ask about some of the formulas her senpai was using and, much to my glee, Koneko was keen to answer every single question from the fellow Yokai.
The session lasted for about two more hours and I was happy with the results the girl managed to get from this first repetition. Before she went back home, the girl and I ended up establishing the hours where she could come for the sessions and I was quick to add that she could join us for lunch if she wished for.
She obviously didn't answer to that, but I could see in her eyes that she would thought about it.
I waited some time after Koneko had left the house to call Baraqiel. The man returned half-an-hour later and he seemed sober from his trip to the pub, a good thing since I wanted to focus on some training now.
We moved upstairs where the house had built-in a special dojo filled with various seals and long-term spells that absorbed damage and restored any physical alteration to the room.
There was a small table by the far corner of the room, 10 small bottles of Tears of Phoenix sitting there in line and prompting me to frown at it.
"Why are there so few of those?" I turned at the Fallen Angels, some electricity crackling in his arms and causing me to tense up a little.
He smiled. "Azazel told me that you are lacking in terms of offensive spells and attacks, we will focus on that first and..."
Before he could finish this sentence, thunder sparked out of his palms and launched towards me. My eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected attack and I quickly erected five Light Barriers in front of me.
My jaws dropped the moment I saw the lightning passing through the white walls without any sign of alteration or slowing down.
It finally crashed on my arm, that I have lifted as to take the brunt of the attack within my limb rather take the hit on my head or chest. The resulting pain stunned me a little, my eyes closed instinctively and, as I prepared to take on the searing sensation to the fullest, I felt it vanish in a wave of heat.
Gone was the painful effects of the attack, yet I could still see the electricity dancing all over my arm… with a striking difference. It was no longer glowing blue as it had left Baraqiel's hands, it was a pristine white lightning playing around my limb and I could feel its power coursing around my Magical Core.
I blinked again as the electricity finally dissipated, leaving behind only its energy. Turning back to the Fallen Angel, the man nodded at me and sighed.
"That, Hoitsu-kun, is a suspect of mine proving to be correct." He started to explain. "You have an affinity to Thunder and a minor one to Light."
… "Wait, isn't that kind of exclusive to-"
"While the Holy Lightning bloodline helps to harmoniously create powerful Thunder-based elemental casts, people can still try and develop similar powers but they tend to spend more time to achieve what my family is capable of gaining in mere months of training."
"So I could technically gain some powerful techniques from training with this-"
"At the expenses of spending quite the large amount of time to develop." Baraqiel reminded, electricity crackling again around him. "I will show you some techniques and I wish that you use those immediately during the spars we will have."
I nodded and carefully prepared to see this unfold.
The first spell was what I could assume as Electricity Bolts, rapid-firing low-damage attacks that were meant to be common at this stage.
The second one looked like a transparent wall with some blue corners, it seemed sturdier than the light barriers and thicker in size.
Finally the third technique was a… whip? I saw Baraqiel playing around with it, seemingly distracted by something and then he suddenly stopped, his cheeks turning red and-
Oh no, I am NOT dealing with that kind of stuff!
"S-Sensei." He twitched and seemed to break away from his reverie, noticing that he had been still for a while.
"Sorry, Hoitsu-kun." He apologized while staring at the palm previously holding the electric whip. "Just being reminded of… my late wife."
I don't need this.
"She was so sweet and understanding." A good sadistic and dominatrix too.
"I could even go so far to say that she completed me." I mean, Akeno did get both the sadistic and the masochistic traits from both of her degenerate parents.
"By the way, sensei, can I ask you something… hypothetical before we begin?"
The man paused and nodded. "Does it have to do with my daughter?"
A chill went down my spine as I wanted to avoid mentioning what had happened today but I still wanted some answers about it.
"Actually it has to do with your relationship with your wife, sensei. Nothing overly personal or-"
"Please do ask, I will answer the best I can about my Mist-I mean, my Shuri."
That was quite the close call there…
"Did your wife make use frequently of the term 'Ara, Ara'?"
The answer was an instant nod. "It was something of a unique thing for her… I remember my little Akeno copying her about that and… does she still do that?"
"She says that quite frequently. I thought it was something that was associated with the 'Onee-sama' reputation she built around herself."
"Oh, that explains a lot, but I think you should directly ask your question, Hoitsu-kun."
I gulped nervously at the little push from the Fallen Angel and… I decided to formulate a smart question. "Have you ever replied to your wife with a sentence starting with the 'Ara, Ara' term?"
He went still for a moment, then a dumb smile appeared on his face and he nodded.
"I do reckon that it was how we ended up dating together. It was while she was nursing me back from a terrible injury I had received while fighting a Stray Devil and, seeing how she repeated that every time she spoke teasingly I decided to reply in kind."
"And?" I tried to push as Baraqiel stopped and started to blush again.
"A-And we ended up discovering more about each other."
...Oh no.
"Did you or your wife tell about this story to your daughter-"
"Of course! Which parent wouldn't tell their children about how their love bloomed." Then he looked hesitant. "Although my dear wife did end up going through some… details I think could have been avoided but, Akeno-chan has to be a fine and upstanding student."
How wrong you are, Baraqiel-sensei…
"Anyway, let us not diverge with the past's sentimentalism any longer, let's see if you got a gist of what you are supposed to do with this new knowledge. Let's go!"
And with that the first of many spars began!
But as the brawl started, at the entrance of the dojo where Hoitsu's bag was lying, the phone contained within it started to vibrate, notifying the arrival of a new message.
Title: Invitation for Tea Time at the Occult Research Club.
AN
So it seems that some misunderstanding is happening. I wonder how this will unfold…
In two chapters from now another minor time-skip and the beginning of the second mission. This one sadly lacking a female chibi. (keep an eye over every word of this sentence as there is a clue there).
Also trying to deal with the fact the Call of Duty Zombie timeline is now officially over in quite the 'meh' ending. It does solve some questions, but the overall emotion about it is bitterness. Something felt like it's missing.
P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
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