I don't own Highschool DxD

Issei glanced over at the empty desk next to his. Shin wasn't here. As far as Issei could remember, Shin had never missed a day of school in his life. Granted, that didn't make Shin the top student in the school or in class but he was better than average. Certainly, Issei knew for a fact that Shin was smarter than he was when it came to school. He frowned.

I just hope Shin is okay. And Asia…

Asia Argento. The cute foreigner that he and Shin saved from some shady business the day before was now staying at his house. Issei had detailed it under the pretense that she was an exchange student from Italy and that she had nowhere to go. It was a lie he was proud of.

The bell rang.

Lunch time already? He thought. Issei packed his books back into his bag. As he was placing his notebook in his bag, he noticed someone standing in front of him.

Did the classroom just go eerily quiet? He thought. Issei picked up whispers here and there but all of them talked about one thing.

Is that… Akeno-Onee-sama?

Why is she at that pervert's desk?

Issei, you traitor!

Issei looked up and almost paled when he saw the expression on Akeno's face.

"H- Himejima-senpai! H- How can I help you?"

The expression on Akeno's face was not pleasant at all. Her expression was mildly annoyed and Issei could probably guess why. In the time that he and Shin had known the Gremory Peerage, the two were frequently seen talking to each other.

"Ise-kun, do you know where Shin is?" Akeno asked.

"Shin? I haven't seen him all day. I was going to go to Hatch Potch after class to see if he's alright," he said, calming down.

Akeno glanced over at the empty desk and then down to the two bags in her hand. Issei's mind put two and two together.

"Um… senpai?"

"Forget that you saw anything. I'll go visit Shin after school so wait for me at the gates okay?" Akeno asked.

Issei watched with a slight dumbfounded expression as Akeno walked out of the classroom with a dejected air around her. His eyes kept drifting down to the bags she was carrying.

Did she make Shin lunch? He thought.

"Akeno? And you're still carrying the bags?" Rias asked as she watched her friend shuffle out of Class 2-B.

"He wasn't here today. I promised I'd make him lunch today since he made us lunch the other day," Akeno said, holding up the second bag.

"Akeno, you know how suspicious this looks right?" Rias said, crossing her arms.

"Suspicious? We're not exposing ourselves are we?" she replied, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

"No, I mean…" Rias wanted to sigh in exasperation.

The two had just met and Akeno was already making him lunch. Without context, the whole school might get the wrong idea about the two. And if the whole school got the wrong idea, Sona would find out and in turn, her brother would as well. Despite not being related to them, Akeno was officially a member of the family and Rias viewed her as a sister.

"I'll just drop this off after school. I'm going with Issei to Hatch Potch to deliver this," Akeno said, smiling at Rias.

"Right," Rias said, following after her friend.

Shin yawned as he woke up. He slept in the restaurant the entire night. His bleary eyes looked across the room to see the white-haired nephilim who had visited him the night before, snoring lightly on the chair across from him. The two had talked late into the night.

Shin sat up, recalling the conversation.

"A Contractor affiliated with the Grigori?" Shin asked.

Sophia nodded as she took a seat, smiling coyly at him. She noticed that he was on guard and raised her arms up.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I'm just here to inform you that I'll be running around your town and possibly ask for assistance," she said.

"Assistance?"

"I'm sure you're familiar with some of these people," Sophia said, placing a few photos on the table.

Shin walked over and glanced at the four pictures laid out before him. Two of them he recognized and two of them he didn't.

"Those two are the Fallen that attacked me and Issei," he said.

"Yes, their names are Raynare and Dohnaseek. They have two other compatriots named Kalawarner and Mittelt. The Grigori noted that an artifact was missing from its vaults and sent me to retrieve it. This is what our cameras were able to record during the time of the theft," Sophia said, leaning back a little.

"So you're just here for them? Why come all the way here then and not to the Devil heiresses?" Shin asked, taking a seat across from her.

"Because your family is this town's Contractors. It's only right to inform you that I'll be here rooting around your territory. Common courtesy and whatnot. It also clears up any misunderstandings that might arise in the future between us," Sophia answered. "As for that, I'd rather move discreetly. Having eyes on me makes it harder. Mittelt is excellent at gathering information so the fact that I'm here and working with Devils might get out so coming to you is better."

"I see. What else do you need from me?" Shin asked.

"Actually…" Sophia prodded her fingers together. A red hue of embarrassment spread across her face. "C- Can I stay with you for the time being? I don't have anywhere to sleep and staying in Kuoh Park isn't… really ideal."

Shin just stopped to process what she said. This girl was really staying in the park. The last thing he remembered before they fell asleep talking of mundane things was her embarrassed face.

Shin snapped out of his reverie when he saw her stirring out of the corner of his eye. "Good morning, Asterope-san," he said, leaning back.

"Huh? Oh… Oh my god. Did I… Did I keep you here all night?" Sophia asked.

"You know for a Fallen Angel and a contractor, she seems pretty harmless," Vivi said.

Where were you last night? He asked.

"Sleeping," she answered.

"No, no, it's fine. Come on, let's get to my house so we can go get freshened up. Then, we can start looking for these creeps," Shin said.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Only… are you sure I'm allowed to be in your house? I don't want to step on your parents' and older sister's toes," Sophia said, following him out of the restaurant.

"Don't worry about them. Tou-san and Kaa-san are on a trip and they won't be home for a while. Nee-nee went to run an errand somewhere and won't be back for a while either," Shin said.

"Can't you track them with magic?" Shin asked as the two walked around the town. He glanced at the men that walked past them. Their eyes were mentally undressing Sophia, which made him and the Fallen visibly uncomfortable.

Sophia shook her head. "There're too many magical signatures in this town. Using a tracking spell will reveal that I'm here and it'll just come back as fuzzy due to magical interference. If the Gremory and Sitri Heiresses weren't here, I could probably do it."

Shin nodded and followed after her. "So how'd you track them all the way here?"

"I used the Grigori's vast network of contacts. One of them pointed me in this direction," Sophia said. "So this is the last place you saw them?" she asked, kneeling before the fountain.

"This is where they tried to skewer my friend, yes," Shin said.

"It's faint but I can feel traces of holy energy here and there," Sophia said, kneeling and placing her hand on the ground. "You really gave them a run for their money didn't you?"

"It's been a while since I fought. I couldn't overpower them outright," Shin said.

"Welp, it looks like they were here." Sophia got up and dusted her hands off. "Question is, where are they now?"

"Well, there's an abandoned church outside of town. They might be over there. Come to think of it, a nun came here yesterday," Shin said.

"A nun? In Devil territory?" Sophia asked. "Is the church trying to convert Devils or something?"

"No, she said she was excommunicated," Shin said.

"I see. Hmmm." Sophia placed a hand on her chin.

"What?" Shin asked.

"Where is the nun now?" Sophia asked.

"She's with Issei. But, Issei's at school so she might be at Issei's house. Why?" he asked.

"Nothing. Is there anyway we can meet up with this Issei after school?" she asked.

"Yeah but it might be later. Issei has a club meeting since he's the pawn of Rias Gremory," he replied.

"Wait… does he have spiky brown hair and looks like he's lost half the time?" Sophia said.

"Yeah, why?" Shin said.

"I think I met him the other day. He was coming home alone and I noticed something off about him. He has a Sacred Gear, doesn't he?" Sophia said.

"You met Issei?" he asked.

"Yeah. The Gremory Princess came to get him. Come on, we need to scout out that church you mentioned. More often than not, when we, Fallen, are sent on missions, we stay in those churches that are no longer in use because it makes them feel closer to God. It's a good place to start," she said.

"Akeno, are you alright?" Rias asked.

At the mention of her name, said girl perked her head up and looked over to Rias. Rias had an amused and confused look on her face. She nodded her head down, causing Akeno to look down. A red hue appeared on Akeno's face.

"Is there something on your mind that's bothering you? You did overpour the tea into the cup," Rias said, putting her papers down. The club meeting was going smoothly. It was just the two of them in the room. It was Koneko and Kiba's turn to train Issei today and that left her with time to file some paperwork. It was something all High-Class Devils needed to do when adding a new member to their peerage. There was paperwork that needed to be filed and submitted to update said Devil's records on the registry and to legally take the newly reborn Devil into that Devil's household. In short, it was like a different form of adoption.

"Nothing, nothing really." Akeno placed the pot down and used her magic to clean up the spill. She sat down in one of the chairs and sighed.

"Is it a boy?" Rias teased. She had an inkling of what it was but she was probably just kidding herself.

"What? No. I was thinking about getting a job," Akeno said.

"A job? Akeno, you're my lady in waiting. You already have a job and we pay you handsomely for it." Rias gave her a confused look.

"I know I have a job. I was thinking of getting a job here in the human world to blend in better with everyone else. I don't want to look weird in the fact that I always have a large amount of money on me," she said.

"Akeno, you live in a shrine. People come to pray and give alms," Rias said.

"Yeah, but there was this help wanted sign at Hatch Pot-"

"You want to work at a pub?" Rias raised an eyebrow at the mention of Shin's restaurant.

"Should I?" Akeno asked.

"I'm not gonna stop you. We're going to be here in the human world most of the time so we should find you something to kill the time aside from… you know. Dealing with our pigeon infestation problem," Rias said.

"Is this the church?" Sophia asked. The church was located in the outskirts of Kuoh where the town became one with the woods. Despite it being a few hours' drive from the beach and approximately a 2-hour drive from the train station to Kyoto, Kuoh could easily be described as being a town in the boonies. The area was heavily wooded and Shin had remembered his encounters with various entities (mainly Youkai) when following his sister.

"Yeah," he said. "Sense anything? Ran? Sophia?"

Ran sniffed the air and growled. Her tail stiffened as she bared her fangs at the church. "I'm picking up lots of scents. Fallen and human."

"I'm detecting lots of people inside as well," Sophia said. Her eyes were glowing violet as she made out hundreds of glowing silhouettes inside. "I'm counting four fallen and 20 humans."

"Counting? Ran can't even tell how many with her sense of smell," Shin said.

"My Contractor taught me my magic. My eyes can see soul signatures inside the church," Sophia said. The violet light in her eyes disappeared. She pulled out a small bottle of eyedrops and let a small drop out into her eyes. "Makes my eyes really dry though."

"So what do we do now?" Shin asked, leaning against the tree. This church had many bad memories for his family. Shin had a personal connection to this church. That kind lady who used to visit the church and helped him get over his initial hurdles with magic. "Do you want to rush in?"

"No, there's too many for the two of us. I'm very confident in my ability to sneak in and dispose of the four silently but when those rogue exorcists find out that the Fallen Angels who have them on a leash are dead…"

"They'll attack the town and force the Devil Peerages to get involved," Shin finished.

"I don't want this simple assassination slash retrieval to turn into an excuse for Kokabiel to start a war with Heaven and Hell. We have enough on our plate as it is," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I wish my sister was here. She could just walk in there and slaughter everyone on that church without even using her Magic." Shin mused. He opened his hand and created a pair of binoculars. "Wait… I see someone."

"Describe them," Sophia said, blinking away the last of the eye drops.

"Blue hair. Violet v-neck. Big tits. Her v-neck exposes lots of cleavage."

"Was the big tits description really necessary?"

"No. I just added it in… oh God, Issei's rubbing off on me," Shin said, dispelling the binoculars.

"Let's head back to the pub. We need to draft up a plan. I'll probably call up some reinforcements to help contain the rogues," Sophia.

"Or…"

"Or?"

"We can make our own strike team and go in." Shin smiled.

"Let's go back to the pub and draft this plan. We shouldn't be talking about this here. Mittelt is a specialist in surveillance magic so this church could be bugged," Sophia said.

Issei fell down panting. His entire body felt like it had been thrown through the ringer, put back, and then broken down all over again. He tried to get up when he felt a foot slam him back down into the ground. His eye moved up to see Koneko stepping on his head with a disappointed look on her face.

"Slow. Not learning fast enough," she said.

"Now, now, Koneko. It's only been a couple of days. Issei's still getting used to this so you shouldn't be so hard on him," Kiba said.

Koneko nodded and took her foot off Issei's head.

"Please don't hurt him too much."

The three turned to see Rias and Akeno walking out of the old school house towards them. Rias had a small smile on her face while Akeno gave Issei a slightly worried look.

"We still need him and he's part of our peerage now. Don't maim him during training. Akeno?" Rias asked.

"Hold still, Issei."

Issei nodded, a slightly perverted smile manifesting on his face. A small trail of blood escaped his nose. Akeno knelt before Issei and touched his forehead. A red magic circle appeared on his head and Issei felt all the pain and wounds on his body disappear.

"Wait what?" Issei got up and touched his body.

"What?" Akeno had a confused look on her face. Her eyes lit up when she recognized the disappointed look on Issei's face and a playful smirk appeared on her face. "Ara ara, Issei-chan. Were you hoping for something else? Something that Rias-sama did on the day she rescued you?"

"N- No," Issei said.

"Fufufufu…"

"Akeno, stop teasing him. We're done for today, Issei. You can head home now. You've gotten better by the way. I've never seen Koneko that ragged aside from when she trains with us," Rias said, helping him up.

"Thanks. I've been practicing in my free time but I can only get so far by myself, hehe," Issei said.

"Are you heading home now?" Akeno asked.

Issei stopped and glanced over to the vice president of the Occult Research Club. Akeno had a terrifying smile on her face. A demonic aura was radiating from her body that only he could feel. If Buchou wasn't here, then I'd probably be pissing myself, Issei said.

In the back of his head, Issei heard a voice laughing.

"Uhhh… I have to go to Hatch Potch to help Shin since we're opening the pub on Saturday," Issei said.

"Issei, are you okay?" Kiba asked.

"Right! I'm super fine and dandy," Issei said.

"You said you're going to Hatch Potch, Ise-chan?" Akeno asked. "Let me escort you there."

"I'll come with you-"

"Buchou."

Rias froze in her tracks upon hearing Akeno's voice. "Ise-chan and I will be fine. Just stay here and take care of the others. Besides, don't you have a pigeon infestation to deal with? Grayfia-sama will be coming in a few minutes to discuss it with you."

"R- Right," Rias said, remembering that her sister-in-law was coming to visit her today. However, she was far more concerned with Akeno's tone than she was her older sister.

"We're almost back at the pub. Wanna have some dinner when we get back?" Shin asked.

"Asking a girl you just met out on a dinner date already?" Sophia asked, smiling coyly at him. Her eyes had a twinge of mischief inside of them as she grinned at the blush that was slowly spreading across his face.

"W- What? N- No! Where did you get that from?" Shin asked.

"Pfff, hahahaha! You're so easy to tease man. Jeez, I know that you're just being nice," Sophia said, punching him in the shoulder.

"Right," Shin said.

"Aww, is that disappointment I hear in your voice? Did you really want to ask me out on a date?" Sophia laughed at his expense.

Shin huffed before breaking into a small fit of laughter. It had been a while since he was able to joke with someone other than Ran, Vivi, and Issei. Sophia was a very easy person to connect with and talk to. She could honestly be his first female best friend outside of-

"Shin-kun?"

Shin stopped walking when he saw two people standing outside the pub. He saw Issei turn to face the two and he waved.

"Shin and… you're that Fallen Angel from the other day!" Issei said, pointing at Sophia.

"Yup! Nice to see you again, jailbait!" Sophia said, waving at him.

Shin remained silent as Sophia and Issei interacted amicably. However, the focus of his attention was solely on one person and her reaction. Akeno looked at Shin then turned her attention to Sophia. Without warning, Akeno stood in between Issei and Sophia and raised her hand.

"Who are you and why are you with Shin-kun?" Akeno asked as lightning crackled off her body.

Shin and Issei's eyes widened as one thought crossed through their minds simultaneously.

Shit.

Contractors

Powerful human mages who are "contracted" to a powerful being.

In the past, they were depicted in a multitude of human stories and performed many feats that earned them the titles of heroes and monsters. Many of these ancient beings became the ancestors of the powerful members of Khaos Brigade's Hero Faction.

The strongest of these contractors are known as the Seven Stars, whose rumored Sponsors are the Seven Great Gods. Though, legends are merely legends. But some say these have a grain of truth within them.

Nowadays, these powerful janitors lead normal lives, wishing to no longer step into the light.

Sponsors

Sponsors are powerful supernatural entities, usually Loci or Gods, that sponsor a human known as a Contractor.

More akin to a guardian than a Contract Holder, Sponsors teach, nurture, or if the Sponsor is malicious, brainwash and enslave their contractors. These beings vary in race and intent and can be very malicious indeed.

The strongest of these Sponsors have long since faded into the lost texts of Nod.