Chapter 3

"Campione" Issei said out loud the, oh, so familiar word. A word that he associated with something of a guilty pleasure of his and something he wished that was real at times as the world he associated the word with was something that he wanted to live in.

Not to mention that it was a world where if he was able to become of the supreme fools, he would be free to pursue his dreams and no one would bat an eyelid at his antics. Yeah it was a world he wanted to someday go to.

But that was just a fantasy, an illusion, a wonderful dream, something that he simply wanted to indulge in yet would never achieve.

'It was not supposed to be real.'

That was the single thought that ran in his mind at seeing one of the top Hime-Miko of Japan, Mariya Yuri, and thus seeing how irrational and absurd that thought was Issei did the only thing logical at that point.

"Run." He muttered under his breath ignoring the surprised looks Mariya was sending his way and the confused expression of Sona.

"Run." He spoke louder this time catching the attention of both the girls.

Upon hearing his intension of running away from her, Mariya moved to intercept Issei but Issei proved faster than her as he grabbed Sona's hand and dragged her along as he ran away from the Hime-Miko.

Mariya gave chase to the duo intent on finding out how Issei came to know that word and why in the world Issei connected her with that word. She knew that there was a possibility that Issei was connected to the hidden world of the supernatural and the world which the Campiones ruled supreme. But why did he call her a Campione?

She was not one of the six Devil Kings, who had slain gods, she was just an ordinary mortal compared to the King of Magi. Moreover she was not a follower of any of the present Devil Kings and thus had no connection to them.

'No' Mariya realised, her eyes widening in shock even as she gave chase 'I do have a connection to a Campione.'

Vobon, the oldest Campione of the current age and the one who had kidnapped her for a ritual in the past.

'Was he there? Was Issei there when Vobon took me? Or was he there during the ritual? Is he an agent of Vobon?' and many more questions began to pile up in her mind even as he chased after the duo. Her turmoil increasing as her mind kept coming up with one scenario after another.

'Is he afraid of me? Is that why he is running away?' memories of their past meetings flashed by as he recalled how the strange boy interacted with her.

He was frustratingly annoying and more over frustratingly polite to the point that Mariya had trouble distinguishing whether he was simply being polite or sarcastic. He said that it was simply the result of one of the many detentions he had suffered and the remedial etiquettes lessons imparted to him during those detentions. Though Mariya often wondered if his teacher was simply just being sarcastic which knowing how dense Issei could be, Issei misinterpreted as politeness.

Oh the boy was just so insufferable and after spending so much time with him even her sister had remarked that she was becoming a bit more sharp tongue and snarky.

Despite his rude and smartass, snappy comments Mariya had found that he was an honest boy. a boy who despite is honesty had confessed to her in a roundabout way. Alighting strange feelings inside her, which Mariya did not know how to handle. Had it been simple confession, than her course of actions would have been much clearer but the strangeness of his confession and her own response to it had made Mariya think about it more than once and even contemplate about accepting his roundabout proposal.

In a way the boy named Issei Hyoudou had created a storm in her heart during their few interactions, filling her mind with thoughts of him and his words and now he was doing the same thing again, creating a storm of strange feelings inside of her again, making a mess of her perception of him leaving her behind as his words kept ringing in her mind.

Mariya chased after the boy ignoring her own exhaustion, ignoring the pain building up in her legs, ignoring the dirt and tears sporting her dress as she gave chase.

Her mind focusing on simply one objective and one person, she was going to catch Issei Hyoudou and get her answers from him. He had accused her of playing with his heart but did the boy eveer think about the cruel games he was playing with hers. He was going to pay for it and she will have her answers.

'Please Issei, please don't hate me. please don't hate me because of that man.'

And thus with that thought Mariya chased the boy, never noticing how she cursed the name of the man who she feared above all, nor the tears falling from her eyes.

"Vobon! Rot in hell you bastard, rot in hell."

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"OK, Hyoudou what the hell happened back there?!" Sona shouted; sweat glistering off her face as she tried to catch her breath after the importunate run Issei had taken her.

One moment Issei and Sona were lost and then Issei saw a miko and went into some sort of shock after which he grabbed her and ran like the Devil himself was after him.

At least for now they had stopped running, and were now somehow had ran into her garden in Kuoh.

"You wound not understand nor believe me if I tell you." Issei said catching his breath, for once he was glad that he was chased by the track team and the kendo club everyday which made him into such a good runner. He really did not want to answer some of the questions that Mariya would have surely asked him.

Though looking back, Issei thought that he had been just to rash running away from her like that. Mariya's name and the name of her school could all have been a very big coincidence and that they really existed, and Mariya could even be a Miko too, heck, their own school Kuoh Academy had several families who were from a long line of Mikos, with even his own class having several girls who were mikos too. So Issei knew that he might have been overreacting over the entire situation.

"I will have to say sorry to Mariya later." Issei decided as his mind came up with a rational explanation for the situation. After all Issei could not have spontaneously gained the ability to cross dimensions and had travelled to the Campione-universe.

"You still owe me an explanation Hyoudou." Sona said as she glared at him, this was not how she imagined her little trip to Issei's house would turn out like.

She just wanted to meet his parents with a valid official reason and maybe have scouted out how her future in-laws might have been, not get lost in her own territory and find out that her future possible partner was seeing another girl, who could have been his girlfriend.

Sona knew well enough that Issei wanted to create a harem and she was ok with that but even with that knowledge, Sona could not help but feel a bit betrayed that Issei was hiding something like that from her.

'Hypocrite' Her mind retorted.

Ignoring her guilty consciousness for now Sona pressed on, "I'm waiting Hyoudou."

Issei for his part was seemingly lost in his thoughts not even acknowledging Sona's words as he thought about the mess he had created in his rashness. It would no doubt affect his relationship with Mariya though by how much Issei was unsure. He just hoped that he did not end up being in the friendzoned forever.

"I…I will explain all this later Sona and I might need Mariya's help for it too. So please wait, we might even get a good laugh out of it." Issei said, letting loose a nervous chuckle, knowing that Sona would not be satisfied with a words, yet he hoped it would placate her for now.

Before Sona could voice her dissatisfaction, a familiar voice rang throughout the clearing.

"Found you." The owner of the voice, Mariya said, sounding quite tired and exhausted. Her appearance amplified her tired state as she looked like she ran a marathon, which she could have as Sona recalled their small chase, her clothes dirtied and torn with pieced of broken braches, leaves and dirt clinging to her dress.

"Now…don't you…dare run away again Hyoudou." Mariya spoke even as she tried to get her breathing under control, she walk towards them, even though she looked like she would fall at any time, "I…have questions for you and…I won't leave…without answ…"

The girl collapsed without completing her sentence, her exhaustion finally catching up to her.

Issei was quick to attend the fallen girl and Sona saw that he was simply flustered and panicking over the fainted girl, running around like a headless chicken.

Sona would have giggled at the scene but she was also a bit worried about the health of the fallen miko.

"Issei calm down. We are in my garden and not far from the emergency medical wing of my home. Let me just call some of the servants and we can get them to treat the miko." Sona said trying to calm the boy, for once she was quite thankful that her stubborn overprotective parents had arranged all this for her, though she had managed to get them allow her to manage the affairs of her own mansion in kuoh on her own and not be dependent to them, which Sona had found that it was not as easy as it seemed.

After calling the servants Issei took the responsibility of carrying Mariya to the mansion, though sona had to supress the urge to smack the boy when he carried the fallen miko in a bridal carry, as irritation boiled inside her looking at the scene. It was due to how Issei's eyes kept wandering upon Mariya and nothing else. Geez the boy really should supress his urges.

As Issei carried Mariya inside the mansion, Sona noticed that the miko had dropped something on the ground.

It was a small keychain with a small book with a stylised golden cross hanging from it, and looking at it Sona could not help but feel a strange sense of familiarity. Something inside of her recognised the keychain though her tired mind could not recall what it was.

For now she simply pocketed the keychain and followed Issei inside.

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Time went by as Issei waited by Mariya's side waiting for her to wake up.

Seeing how late it was, Issei had called home and said that he would be staying at a friend's house, which was not out of the ordinary as he was more often than not dragged by Matsuda and Motohama to see some new videos or games. Thus his parents did not question much about it.

"You know Issei you don't have to stay by her bedside like that. It sends all kinds of signals you know." Issei heard Sona's remark as she entered the room.

"Well I can't just leave her like this not when it is because of my stupid actions that she is like this." And that was just the kick to gut, had Issei know that running away from Mariya would have resulted in her becoming like this. He would have rather faced her interrogation then and there. 'It was not like I escaped it either.' Issei morbidly thought about his reasons for running away, though he felt that it was a natural response to the situation.

"She is just tired and exhausted Issei, not fatally wounded. So stop being dramatic about it, you are not some shonen manga hero who is tending to an injured friend." Sona deadpanned, irritated at his behaviour, 'You are acting more like a Harem Protagonist than anything. In fact this scene screams of Flag point.'

Reviewing her thoughts Sona could only blame Rias for making her think of such things.

"I, uh, did say I wanted to be a Harem King." Issei replied, surprised that Sona could make such references.

"I said out loud didn't I?" Sona said trying to be as calm as possible; it would not do for her to start panicking about her breaking her image. She had to simply keep calm and carry on, it worked for her before and it should work now.

Seeing Issei nod, Sona simply said, "And I believe that you won't spread this information? It would greatly pain me to attend your funeral at such an early age."

"Calm down Madam President!" Issei could not help but shout in fear Sona could really be scary when she was like that.

"I am calm." Sona replied with a smile on her face, "See, serene mind and serene body."

Issei while at any other times would have been happy to see Sona smile, had come to recognise that her smiles sometimes had different kinds of meanings. With her current smile being her patented 'I will kill you with this smile on my face if you don't listen' smile.

He sometimes wondered if she was a sadist.

Issei could only let loose a small meep seeing Sona smile like that she really was scary at times.

Upon hearing Issei's meep Sona could not help but let loose a giggle as the two descended in laughter.

"Jokes aside Issei, when are you give me an explanation." Sona said, anxious to know what sort of relationship Issei had with the girl he was being quite caring and affectionate towards her.

"Well I think it is better if we wait for her to wake up." Issei replied, even though he really did not want to explain things yet, to say the conversation would be awkward would be an understatement.

"And your relationship with her?"

"Only friends…for now."

"By which I can guess that you want to make her your girlfriend and part of your Harem." Sona deduced anger evident in her voice. Really even when Sona subconsciously knew that it would be something like that, it was still a bitter pill to swallow. "You really are the worst Hyoudou."

Issei for his part could only hang his head in shame, he really had not meant to hurt anyone's feelings not when the two girls he was pursuing had simply given indications and not taken it to the next level.

'I really should have known better.' "Now what?" Issei asked, knowing that he had missed his chance with Sona he just hoped their friendship was not damaged beyond repair.

"Now we wait for Mariya to wake up and you will tell her about me, your dreams and give us both a proper explanation on why you ran away." Sona calmly replied, while she was a bit bitter at finding out Issei was pursuing another girl after he confessed to her. She also knew that he was not someone who was part of her peerage and thus had no right to control who he loved.

'Like Rias would let me do that.' Sona thought back about the deal she had made with her scarlet haired friend.

"And then we shall see whether or not she wants to be in your Harem or not."

"What?" Issei asked blankly, not sure if he heard that correctly.

"I said we will see whether or not Mariya wants to be in a harem, which honestly considering the romantic attitude of girls these days is highly unlikely and she would probably leave you as a result." Sona repeated, making Issei cringe at the bit. He really should have seen that coming. "This is going to be your punishment for playing with the hearts of two girls." Yeah he really should have seen it coming.

Silence descended into the room with an angry devil, a depressed boy and a sleeping girl. It was a scene that would be the perfect point for an angel to come in a save the day but alas it seemed that even they did not want to intervene in the matter of broken hearts and love.

The silence persisted till the sleeping maiden finally woke up, relieving the boy of his worries for a single moment and placating the angry devil though with how the boy's attention was now fixed on the maiden anger once again boiled in the devil's heart.

"Sorry to be bothering you Ms Shitori." Mariya said, feeling still weak and tired from her run. She had honestly not expected Issei to know such a kind and wealthy girl, who by her expression was clearly unhappy with her sudden intrusion.

"You aren't being a bother Mariya. It's all because of this idiot's fault that you are in this situation." Sona said as she smacked Issei head. Honestly Sona could not find herself being angry at Mariya. She seemed like a kind and naïve girl. Were it not for Issei, the poor girl would not be heartbroken like she was going to be in the next few minutes.

"Now start explaining why you ran." Sona ordered Issei, while she was quite a patient person she doubted that Issei would ever explain his action if he is not commanded to do so.

"OK, OK. You don't have to bug me for that." Issei replied, clutching his head in pain. Who knew Sona could hit so hard. "But first Mariya I want to ask some questions? Will that be OK with you?"

'What's he up to now?' Sona thought trying to see what angle Issei was trying to play at. Really the past few hours had really thrown her impression of him out of the window.

"OK, Mariya first question, Are you a Hime-Miko?" Issei asked Mariya, making Sona wonder why Issei was asking such an obvious question when the girl was wearing a miko dress.

Looking at Mariya, Sona saw that the girl was surprised at his question, becoming nervous as Issei kept waiting for her to answer his question.

"Yes, yes I am." Mariya replied quietly and sona noted that there was bit of fear building up in her eyes.

Issei also seemed a bit shocked at Mariya's answer and even he was growing nervous and scared, though he was doing a remarkable job in keeping calm.

"OK then next question. Are you a member of the History Compilation Committee of Japan?" Issei asked Mariya, this time Sona noted Mariya seemed more resigned than shocked at the question.

"Yes, yes I am." Mariya answered, her tone listless as she seemed to resign herself to an unseen fate.

To her side, Sona saw that Issei had yet to notice Mariya's expression or her state of emotions. In fact he was having a small panic attack as Mariya's answer seemed to have rattled him into panic.

'OK what is going on?' Sona thought, as she tried to find out what was going on between the two of them. From the questions asked Sona deduced that Issei was not asking Mariya about some mundane job or organisation and by his reaction Sona deduced that he was in fact referring to the magical side of the world.

While Sona was not well verse in the political landscape of Magical Japan, she did at least knew some of the more renown magical associations and those who were quite close to Kuoh, of which she did not recall a History Compilation Committee, and Issei seemed to imply that it was big organisation either at a national or even international level, which just seemed impossible.

'And I have a member of that committee in front of me.' Dearly departed Lucifer, was she becoming lax in her duties if she had not known about such an organisation being so close to her territories.

'Did Rias know about them?' Sona thought bringing up a good point. 'If she did and did not inform me, then we are going to have words with each other.' really while they were rivals seeking to one up each other, such a vital piece of information should not be kept secret. It was simply not done.

"OK, last question." Issei said taking a deep breath. "Does the name Marquis Voban mean anything to you?"

This time Mariya closed her eyes and a sad smile broke on her face. It was truly a disheartening sight to see, one that really was not something Sona wished to see on any girls face.

"Yes, yes it does." Mariya replied quietly, "It is the title of Balkan's King, Duke Voban, a wolf in human skin, a tyrant, a monster, a Campione, Godslayer." Her words were quite, all but whispers in the wind, yet to her companions those words were like storms that had shaken them to the core.

"I'm tired Issei." Mariya said, emotionally spent by not only recalling the memories about her time in the king's care but also because she now knew that her new friend was somehow irrevocably connect with the same monster that still haunted her dreams. "Please let me sleep for now."

Her plea to leave her alone was left unsaid as her two companions got her silent request and exited the room, leaving her behind as Mariya sought refuge from her worries in the sweet bliss of sleep. All the while unaware of the storm she had caused in the hearts of a boy and a devil.

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AN: OK I thought of putting a fight in this chapter but decided that this would be enough for now. I also gave Mariya a big, big, powerup and that would come in play in the next chapter.

Anyways Read, Review and give me your thoughts on this chapter.

See ya next Time Tale Master out.