It had been about a week since I was detained here, if my head hadn't gone bonkers already. That damned Gremory brat... I really might get trauma to white color soon. And yellow. And shrine maidens.

Shit.

And a trauma so traumatic my brain had tried to shove it to the dark, cramped corner of my mind out of fear of the whole body going into epilepsy. It wasn't about the defeat actually. Of course there were far, far stronger beings than me. Plenty of them could make me qualify as an insect.

But that's one thing. It's another matter when your ass got handed by nothing more than a human who should've been like me in front of those freaks. Just imagine a roach standing up on two legs, and half-murdered you with its teeny tiny legs? Shit, my brain hurt just from remembering that.

" Wake up, Dohnaseek."

My dream of boxing insects was abruptly ended by a boot splattering it everywhere. I found myself kissing the floor, with both my hands and feet still bound. Groaning a bit from the pain, my body adjusted its position to sitting.

Devil brats. I guess human rights were invalid for supernaturals huh? It's just right that... man got along swimmingly with them. Not that I'm one to talk, though.

Shit, so terrifying. I never expected to be so afraid of humans. My throat dried up, and phantom pains caused goosebumps everywhere. Mixed with that were shame and frustration. How could this whelp whoop me like that? And a drop of confidence. All those emotions were stirred inside me, causing my stomach to drop down even more than I thought possible.

Guh, I wanna vomit.

" Akeno."

" Hai, buchou."

Those hateful pee-colored contraption dragged my arms back to the wall, forcing me to swallow back bile and yesterday's meal. Gotta say, I could eat better in this prison. Peanut butter sandwich rocked more than cold, hard bread. If that's what those brats' idea of prison food... I could get the feeling of people screaming capitalism in the news.

Looking at him, I felt a bit better.

At least he wasn't a fumbling, stumbling, idiotic brat wet behind his ears. I wasn't very attentive back then, but properly seeing him now, those were some eyes. The guy who took me out was someone worth recognizing.

Still a kid though. Not even 20 I bet. How far would he go farther in life?

" Dohnaseek, right?"

The yellow gag inhibiting my voice disappeared, and I could finally feel my jaw again. Being forced open for such a long time was not good experience.

" Just so you know, your whole plan's screwed."

Oh. Interrogation, then.

The redhead butted in, leaning to the wall next to me. The soft and cuddly Gremory whose favorite hobby was playing house, eh? Like hell they could do—

My heart stopped seeing two feathers fluttering down.

" Still doubtful?"

His words felt like a bucket of ice dumped into my bloodstream. My whole body was instantly numbed from both fear and panic as reality downed on me.

" This is not gonna end well for you."

The boy snorted, while the two devil women giggled maliciously at my silly, almost comical phrase. Yes, it was a super cliche last words spoken from third-rate villains in third-rate movies. Unfortunately, my brain couldn't think of anything else.

Wait a minute... The date, it's been two weeks already? ...

In that case... Has Lord Kokabiel forsaken us? Impossible, as he was the one overlooking this mission... That meant this mission was busted, and we're all thrown under the bus?

They must be lying... But everyone else died already, so it's as good as the truth anyway... Won't change the fact that I was royally screwed.

" Well? Are you just here to tell me that?"

" Dohnaseek, we have a deal for you."

Oh, the Gremory wanted a deal, eh? How interesting. Let's hear what she had to say. With my posture properly fixed for maximum comfort and poise (as much as possible from a shibari victim, anyway), I properly looked at the devil female.

With magic, her Queen summoned four chairs and a table. Her blood red hair fluttered down as her immaculate form sat down on the wooden chair. It was rather tricky to sit on a chair like this right now, but beggars can't be choosers.

...

But how should I say this...

My neck felt cold and my skin prickly. There's also something dark and creepy peeking out from the corner of my eyes. It's been a while since I met something that could actually make me feel dread to this point. Last time was when I got ambushed by a spider-type Stray Devil in mating season. Yeah, from there I knew that spiders eat their mates after the deed.

Don't get me wrong. She was hot, it was an awesome night, but holy shit.

" But man, Dohnaseek, you Fallens must be having it rough. Are all your missions as suicidal as this one?"

But that's it. Aside from the bone-chilling sensation on my neck, the guy looked absolutely normal. Heck, if they didn't tell me they wanted a deal, I would've thought this was a normal conversation between drinking buddies.

Really, what a surreal situation.

I shivered. Nope, not interrogation again, please. Those two devils were bad enough already... Add in this manslaughterer and I wouldn't even dare to imagine what would happen to me. Hell... I might even awaken to something.

I almost did last time, damn it.

Honestly, what more did they want? I'd spilled everything already. Just off me and be done with it. Couldn't a man die with dignity? There's no need to keep me here like a shibari guinea pig.

" Well, not all times. I just got the short end of the stick this time. Who'd expect this small time city to have two sisters of devil sovereigns?"

Even Kokabiel-sama wouldn't have expected it. This city was like a nuclear zone to devils after the previous landlord disappeared, after all. How could it even be possible for two very valuable, pure-blooded devils who also happened to be Maou's siblings to stay here? What kinda shitheads sent such important figures to this place?

Unless...

" I doubt you Fallens are so sloppy as to neglect preliminary investigation."

My heart fell to my stomach, and the space it left grew colder and colder. This backwater scum dared to question Azazel-sama... The illustrious leader of Fallen Angels?! HOW DARE HE! Even insinuating him sending a whole squad of Fallen Angels to their death was a crime.

When the red in my eyes subsided, I found the table caving, and my body was being held down by Rias Gremory's Queen. Warm liquid trickled from my forehead to my nose, and went on to my chin... Blood, huh?

" You dare, belittle Azazel-sama? Don't bite more than you can chew, human."

The bastard... How dare he huff as if I were a lactating baby. The Queen forcefully dragged me back to my seat via my restraints, this time completely tying me to the chair. Her face was cold and stony, but that was the farthest thing from my mind now.

He crossed his arms and moved his finger back and forth as if berating a naughty child. That face was not something for a child to see, though.

" What are you assuming from my words, Dohnaseek? From what you just said, aren't you the one suspecting your precious Azazel-sama?"

Shit. Fuck. And everything bad. Damn, this guy just roped me in, and I fell hook, line, and sinker for his wordplay. Actually, it wasn't even wordplay. He simply brought forth my fear and exposed it to my face. Seriously, were all human kids like this? Weren't their brains supposed to be rotting from fast food and TikTok?

But he wasn't wrong. As much as I denied it, I couldn't help but doubt the upper management for botching such basic preparation big time. There was nothing I wanted more than verify this immediately.


Faust POV

Well, wasn't that convenient. I thought I'd have to coax and draw things out more to get the results. To be honest, Dohnaseek was more... how should I say this, gullible than I thought. I got somewhat suspicious at how easy it was, but Rias-senpai said stress did dull the mind quite a bit, and with how he was stuck in a white room for a week...

I guess that particular torture method worked decently against supernaturals too.

Now, all we needed to do was leave some clues about Azazel, and there's our guide for the whale we were going to try fishing.

" Good job there, Rias-senpai, Akeno-senpai."

" You too, Faust-kun. Now, it should be easier to approach Azazel and not get killed right away."

" Good job to you too, Faust-kun. But are you serious about meeting Azazel?"

Her face grew sharper at the mention of the big bad of the Fallen Angels. Come to think of it, she was particularly delighted when she was left to handle Dohnaseek. The white room and restraints were also her ideas. I thought that White Room was a particularly vicious torture method that people usually didn't know unless they actively researched brutal psychological destruction.

It could pop up on her youtube too, I dunno. There was a science channel that reviewed torture methods, and I knew that method from there.

My head nodded lightly at her question.

" You were talking about that Dohna-shit being suicidal, but you're not that different, Faust-kun."

She went inside the other room to prepare tea, so we were talking somewhat loudly.

" I don't think I'm that bad. I properly prepared, didn't I?"

" She's not far off. You know, in some cases, you're worse than him."

Rias-senpai giggled at her Queen's comparison. She crossed her arms under her sizable bust and grinned with both her eyes and face. She pointed out her index finger.

" Rushing to Freed, despite knowing he's a psychopath, armed no less."

" I was armed too, and I didn't 'rush'."

Smile still on, she stuck out the middle finger.

" You confronted a whole batallion of fully armed priests and Fallen Angels, and bamboozled them even though that's the enemy's turf, on your own."

" To be fair, I didn't 'confront' them. Not directly, at least."

" And you taunted a berserk Fallen Angel, who was slathered in blood."

" She was tired, and there were all of you around. She couldn't have done anything."

Her smile didn't even falter. She was about to raise the third finger, but Akeno-senpai beat her to the punch.

" Don't forget the explosion!"

She yelled from the other room.

" That was for science. It couldn't be helped."

I looked the other way, a bit unwilling to remember that shameful incident. My ears still had this ringing from the scolding Sona-kaichou gave me for that sometime after we returned.

And the slap. Especially the slap.

Rias-senpai raised the fourth finger then.

" And now, you're gonna meet a Fallen Angel top dog, Azazel. Faust, you may not realize this, but do you know how crazy it is? Even big brother's never met him yet. Even Dohnaseek might never have seen him too. Yet he still commands so much respect from his ranks. There's a reason to that."

I nodded resolutely.

" That's what I'm looking for. If he were an incompetent leader scorned by his subordinates, I would've done this differently."

" And if we're wrong?"

My smile must've been quite something for two devils' eyes to lose their shine a bit.

" Well, I'll be dead at most."

" But I don't think I was wrong, and it's going to be fine. That's why I brought his own soldier as the middleman, right? Not much, but better than nothing."

My hastily added response wasn't responded too well after that casual remark. Aaah, this is why I didn't like interacting too much with someone. I could let my guard down at times to people I was too used to.

Look, even Akeno-senpai got frozen with her tea tray. I quickly took the tray from her hands before she could drop it. She snapped out of her reverie after the tray was off her hands. Hmm, muffins looked damn fine.

" You were frozen stiff, Akeno-senpai."

" Faust, you..."

She sat beside her King, while I was distributing the cups. Both of them seemed to be put off by my brash remark earlier. Damn it, me and my stupid mouth. Of course they would. Who the hell would talk about something so sombre like that so casually.

I sighed mentally, dreading the awkwardness to come.

What should I do now? But the follow-up should've somewhat negated the damage... right? As such, the only thing available for me was to carefully observe. It sucked, but hastily executed plans would only bring more problems instead of solving the target.

" That's definitely enough to be categorized as worst case."

Rias-senpai spoke seriously, as if asserting 'don't even joke about something like that' to me, with Akeno-senpai nodding. It seemed I dodged the bullet for now... She leaned back and sipped her tea. The other one, though, leaned forward with her hand outstretched...

" Owww!"

And pinched my cheeks, hard.

" Saying such things so easily is no good, Faust-kun."

The black-haired yamato nadeshiko was smiling outwardly as she usually did, but her eyes were not. But after that, her hands warmly ruffled my hair as usual. Although a tad confused with her actions, I decided to leave that for later.

" So, when will you go?"

" I'll have Dohnaseek guide me... or that's the pretense, anyway. There's no way he wouldn't try to run. But I know where Azazel is already, and even contacted him online. I haven't decided on when."

" What happens if he doesn't go to Azazel?"

Honestly, that possibility was scary. But, forcing him to do something might prompt him to alerting his big boss Kokabiel as in a way, he was that kind superior that gave him a "chance" instead of the biggest boss Azazel...

Damn, I'm really... dizzy.

Come to think of it, I'd been thinking a whole lot these days... And I've been very tired lately, with almost no chance to really rest my mind properly. People would call this phenomenon 'burnout', but it was bullshit, really.

In my case, wouldn't that mean I'd been experiencing this 'burnout' for...

How many years again?


Sometimes, I wondered where he forgot this precious thing called common sense. Not one to say since my own circumstances were quite... complicated, but this guy called Faust Kuroki seemed like he took it off and locked it away somewhere dark. Why didn't you just stay home and sleep if you're so tired you suddenly pass out, anyway?

It was a bit difficult to detect though, as he also never looked too energetic. I'd believe him if he said he were tired 24/7. He didn't look dirty or unhygienic, not at all. But he looked really, really tired and no-nonsense all the time.

" Akeno, could you take care of him for a bit? It seems Sona wants to clarify on club reports... And tonight's details."

" Yes, buchou."

Even though she rarely made mistakes, the one that supervised the school a.k.a Strict-and-Strict Sona Shitori (Yes, people called her that. SS and SS, just because they couldn't call her Super Sadist in the open) would make even less mistakes than our president would.

After gently ruffling our resident human's hair, she left the room hurriedly. Fufu, and how long since she said all males were the same in her eyes. Little less than a decade I've been with her, and not once have I seen her do that except for family. None in three years of our highschool time.

How sinful you are, kouhai of mine.

Oh, his neck's gonna hurt if he kept on with that posture. His face did look like he's cramped painfully.

There you go. Better.

Even I couldn't deny the charm of the tough act that hid the softie underneath. Well, if that's the extent of his charm, I'm sure Rias wouldn't even spare him more than a few days though.

Just what are you, Faust Kuroki?

My inner monologue stopped when he moaned and grunted. His eyebrows were taut and his face tense. I thought maybe some stroking would calm him down, but once my palm touched his forehead, his eyes snapped open.

" Akeno-senpai?"

He rubbed his eyes and temples alternately, his headache still plaguing. After sloppily pulling himself up, he tried giving his neck and shoulders a crack. Unlike usual, he didn't make cracking sounds. My healing magic was far cry from Asia's, but tense muscles or cramped shoulders posed no problems whatsoever.

" Did you use healing magic on me?"

" I did. You've been cracking your neck and shoulders a lot lately. It'll be bad if you're not in top condition for tonight."

His face still looked like he was thinking very deeply. Ufufu~ Really, just how little trust do you have on devils, Faust-kun? Or more like, everyone?

I patted down my skirt that was a bit ruffled from the lap pillow.

" That part's kinda cute, too, though. Like a wounded bunny."

" Thank you, Akeno-senpai."

He bowed a little, and sincerely delivered his gratitude.

" After seeing you sleep so soundly here, I couldn't help but give some service, could I? Were my thighs nice?"

My hand crept up from my thigh to my hip before touching my cheek. As a bastard of two species specialized in seduction, my casual gesture must've scored some damage at least. After that time in the cafe, my pride felt like it was bruised. Since then, I made it my goal to definitely, definitely make this damned old young man with sarcastic tongue bring out his inner cherry!

It seemed Rias too, had been embarassed several times by him. Rias was admittedly a bit loose with her manners in safe zones, but me?

Preposterous.

Now, Faust-kun. Fall like a good boy you are!

" They really were. I didn't expect you to give me a lap pillow though, Akeno-senpai."

Oh, right. I forgot he was honest when it came to appreciation.

" Don't mention it. What I wouldn't do for my kouhai, ufufu~"

His face looked a bit sullen after I said that. Did I... dredge some sort of bad memories? Wait no, angry? Bored? His expression hardly changed so it was almost impossible to decipher how he was feeling. Even though I also read psychology books to deal with my friends' issues, Rias was much more proficient in this sort of thing. It was painful to realize that their problems were rooted too deep for us to heal them properly.

It was painful to realize mine was also like that.

Perhaps that quote 'you can't heal others, etc, etc if you don't heal first' that I often laughed to sometimes had some truth to it after all.

" Right..."

" Would you like some more?"

He gave me that look he used at the cafe. Disbelief and exasperation mixed into one.

" Perhaps I'll take you up on your offer later, Akeno-senpai."

He sat down and stretched, almost like a cat. I know that expression was usually reserved for girls, but look at him. His back was arching quite far there. For a boy, Faust Kuroki was very flexible.

" Faust-kun, how do you feel nowadays? It seems you're already comfortable with the supernaturals, but I'm just making sure."

Still beside him, I picked my own cup and sipped while waiting for his answer.

" I'd say that right now, my state of mind about the supernatural world is the least of my worries."

" What an answer. It is important, you know? You, Issei-kun, and Asia-chan happened to run into big trouble first thing in the supernatural world, after all. You know what happens to people with too much on their plates."

His hands put down his cup as he stared deeply into my eyes.

" Alright. It was hard not throwing Issei's friends out of the window and memory-wiping everyone into believing they stumbled. Or coaxing the class to beat them harder."

" Fufu. I see."

I don't know how much of that was the truth. Darn.

He was eating the muffin I prepared. This might sound like boasting, but they were phenomenal. I peppered them with lots of chocolate chips and some mint for that chilly touch. Faint cracking sounds could be heard as his molars crushed the crunchy chocolate sprinkled on top. Normally, those sounds were barely audible, but with devilishly enhanced senses, I could hear them loud and clear.

Devi-good, aren't they?

Damn Rias and her anime obsession.

" This is really good, Akeno-senpai."

Mm-hmm. It's always a delight to hear your cooking appreciated. Well, chocolates had some stress-reducing effects, boosting that hormone that sounded like oxygen... Right? Either way, this should make him a tad more energetic.

He finished one more muffin with moderate pace, with no sound other than him chewing leisurely. Fufu, the usual noisy clubroom was good, but this kind of comfortable silence was also fine once in a while. It seemed Faust-kun preferred silence over noisy atmosphere. Then, he'd never go to places like host clubs or concerts, huh? That's a plus.

" Thank you for the food. They were tasty."

" Mm-hmm. It's good that you like it."

He looked somewhat unsettled. Okay, there was very little change to his manners, and he acted as usual. But after a while, you'd notice some quirks, something distinctive of his . He'd been coming here almost everyday for about a month, maybe more after all.

" Now, Faust-kun. You can tell this big sister here if you worry about anything."

He chuckled at my attempt. A bit dry, but for him, it was quite a step forward. I didn't quite understand why, but with me, he was far more guarded compared to Rias.

Hmph. How rude of you, kouhai.

" Akeno-senpai... please don't read my mind so casually."

" Fufu, jackpot, Faust-kun."

We looked at each other for several seconds, unwilling to break the stalemate yet. Huhu, even with all the awesome chess you played, you're done once your guard is down. Instead of responding, he stood up and leaped behind the sofa across mine.

Avoiding eye contacts was anti mind reading basics, although it's useless in this case.

Did he forget even Rias was unable to read his mind?

Brrr... What's this chill on my spine?

" Faust-kun, what's the matter? Suddenly running away like that really hurts a girl's pride."

The feeling of being observed grew a bit stronger.

" Akeno-senpai, you have that look."

" What look?"

" When we screwed several thugs. The yandere face."

Oh, that look. Whoops, I suppose? Even Rias felt uneasy from that look from time to time... Can't really blame him then. Or that's what I was supposed to say if he weren't as, if not more, terrifying than me in that respect.

Thus, I ran over to the couch by fully utilizing my devil speed, which meant for him, I pratically shunshin no jutsu-ed to his place. Of course, not as fast as Kiba-kun's top speed, but quite decent nonetheless.

Imagine my surprise when he didn't even bother tracing me, but turned his head to where I stopped. I pushed down on his shoulders to prevent him from running, which he caught fairly easily. But he really underestimated the strength of a Queen.

" Hello pot, you look black as ever."

" Akeno-senpai, that sounds really racist."

I pinched the retorting smartass' cheek for his implied comment of me. Hmm, I wonder I felt so irritated... I'm pretty sure I was normally more tolerant than this. Was I too used to his normal attitude that this felt fresh? They said devils and fallens were very inclined to their desires, too.

His cheek found solace not long after, as it wasn't like he was a manwhore catcalling me (or Rias, for that matter) when we were having contracts at a bar. Nor was he that direct or insulting, actually.

" Faust-kun, why do you look relieved?"

" Nah, it's nothing."

Again, I lightly pinched his cheek.

" Running away from a girl is very rude, you know? I'm really hurt."

" Not in the case of yandere, Akeno-senpai."

Electricity danced around my fingers, and I made sure his eyes were locked to that. Faust also took on a fight-or-flight stance, namely getting ready to stand and bolt ASAP.

" Violence isn't the solution."

" But more violence is the most fun way to end it."

" Hoho~"

" Fufufufu~"

The door suddenly creaked open, revealing Rias there.

" What's with the American standoff?"


Faust's POV

I was lucky Rias-senpai came in before it turned to a very easily hidden murder case. By the way, it seemed Akeno-senpai was a vivid consumer of holy content that was meme, showed when she pointed finger guns on both me and Rias-senpai.

Which really stunned our poor club prez, thinking her Queen wanted to erase some of her memories, causing her to also get into stance. Hm, Akeno-senpai could suddenly attack anywhere anytime, and not even Rias-senpai was spared.

Duly noted.

Just kidding, though.

Rias-senpai was currently shaking her head at her Queen, who was trying to explain why she had been trying to cook me.

" Well in this case, you're both at fault."

" Yes, I'll admit that. I'm very sorry for running away from your... peculiar advances, Akeno-senpai."

Rias-senpai tilted forward and placed her chin on her hand.

" Just plain curiosity... how peculiar?"

" Yandere kind of peculiar."

" I see. Classic case of pot calling kettle black, then."

Akeno-senpai seemed to ditch her usual yamato nadeshiko act and pouted with her arms crossed.

" My words exactly. And when I was just worried about you..."

It didn't seem she was lying. Come to think of it, Rias-senpai was worried about me as well, especially since that " worst case is death, anyway" incident. She stared carefully at me, her blue-green eyes meeting my blander ones.

" You know, Faust, we devils see death differently than humans. We live very long lives, near immortal even. Our bodies are resilient, that normal diseases or injuries couldn't even affect us."

She then clasped her hands and put them on her thighs.

" But that means our death would come as very unnatural, and rare occurence. That means something bizarre had to happen for us to die. A violent, or at the very least, not a peaceful one your race can have."

" We are terrified of death, very much so. More than you think. That's why please don't mention such fate like that, even as a joke."

Damn, I really triggered a hulk-killing landmine there.

" I'm very sorry, Rias-senpai, Akeno-senpai."

Rias Gremory waved her hand frantically at my slight bow.

" It's fine, really. We're just making sure you don't go to Azazel with some sort of twisted suicidal intent."

That accusation made me laugh a bit.

" There are less troublesome ways, you know. Easier and far less potential pain compared to screwing the fallen angel leader to screw his subordinate."

Rias-senpai scrunched up her face, while Akeno-senpai's grew a bit redder. Why were they reacting like that, though? Didn't we discuss this already back then?

" My, that's quite... an amusing visualization."

Oh, that kinda screwing. Sausage party kind. Ugh, I felt the bile coming up... yuck. Shake it off, play dumb. The yandere queen however, was having none of it.

She sensually leaned forward and stroked my chin. Of course, feeling the danger in those fingers, I retreated as far as I could. But the soft leather could only go so far back.

" Hmm~ It seems that you're still interested in females. It seems I was worried for nothing."

" Please be lenient, Akeno-senpai."

I firmly grabbed her shoulders.

" I'm a bona-fide male here, so let's stop before this gets more complicated."

Dammit, this woman... she's not budging at all! What kinda cheat strength turning to a devil gave huh?! And why the hell me? I swear, you'd get way better expression from Issei! You could make him die of blood loss just by doing... that! The contest of strength got us to a very close position, where her ripe mammal organs were dangling right in front of my face!

" Akeno, stop teasing him."

" Aww, even though I wanted to ask him what's so complicated?"

Rias-senpai's glare met Akeno-senpai's almost closed eyelids. For unknown reasons, whenever she's excited or angry or in teasing mood, her eyes got really, really thin. I couldn't even tell if she could see anything with her eyes squinted to one nanometer of gap.

Hm, was this what people called catfight? Interesting.

I reached for the muffin again, but there was only one left. As an exemplary Japanese man, I wasn't one to take the last piece of good stuff.

" It's very kind of you, Faust-kun, but you can eat that. You see, I have more prepared."

From a yellow magic circle that suddenly formed above her hand, she summoned a plate of those delicacies. Mm-hmm, I supposed she made enough to ensure satisfaction from the anomaly that was the loli Rook. Someday, there would be a research paper on her eternal small stature despite consuming only sweets.

" I can't really blame Akeno, though. You're really thinking hard about something."

That's quite scary.

As expected of devils... I suppose? Or maybe it wasn't that hard figuring me out, it's just people didn't really pay enough attention? Just the thought was both comforting and depressing. It wasn't a bad change, but a change nonetheless. Being on guard should be a given reaction, right?

" But let's leave it at that. Let's focus more on the upcoming dodgeball game, shall we?"

With the finality in her tone, we all moved on to different topic. One of them was that them considering me not taking part in the game and just go with whichever. It was a convenient arrangement that allowed me to obtain all benefits with practically no downsides.

It was the kind of deal people must be most wary of.

" Won't that be unfair to others? Even Asia's playing."

Rias-senpai smiled mischievously at my comment.

" Then, which team were you going to be in? That's not very fair to you, too."

" I wasn't aware this had some sort of political ends."

Akeno-senpai and Rias-senpai looked at each other once they heard my comment. I mean, it's just dodgeball. It wasn't a Rating Game or the likes. Why make such a big fuss out of it? It's not like they're parts of opposing popular kids clique... or maybe? It shouldn't be, as they had this relation since childhood.

" No? But won't you be uncomfortable being the only one who got to win when your other people you were close to lose?"

What social way of thinking, as expected of someone deep in the ways of nobles. For me, I couldn't care less, though it would be bad if I said that out loud.

" I have no reason to believe any member of both teams would be so petty."

Club prez nodded at my answer, seemingly satisfied, relieved, and a tad confused at the same time. She wasn't the most discreet person when it came to emotions, and here I thought nobles trained intensively on that end for politics. I suppose she was really pampered.

Her right hand also smiled good-naturedly, although this one was far harder to read. Her Mother Mary smile was practically the same as always, even now. No dice on that end too, I guess.

" Alright. So be it."

With a cool snap of her fingers, and an even cooler effect better than almost any CGI (because it's real), a person emerged from the magic circle beside her personal desk. She was petite, with her glasses reflecting what light inside the room.

" You better have good reason for this deliberate summoning, Rias."

To the cold words of her childhood friend, Rias Gremory responded naught but a smug smile.


Sorry for the long pause. Been busy with college, and trying to find work.