Rias Gremory, a tall, lush-breasted beauty with a long mop of scarlet hair, known in her circles for her destructive power and background, read the bloodhound's report with interest. Her friend, Sona, was interested in the common man...

This was completely atypical for her.

Neo Mori. Young guy, eighteen years old, good reputation and... well, he was smart, Rias couldn't help but notice. He'd passed the tests on par with Sona, and that was something.

Rias hated cramming for information she didn't need, and she didn't want to take first place on tests at the academy, and why would she?

Some kind of human test. Being in the top ten was enough for Gremory. If she had to, she would learn anything, but as long as it didn't directly concern her, the girl wasn't going to strain her brain unnecessarily.

She had other concerns.

Finding useful people and then recruiting the pieces she would definitely need in the future.

In this Age, demons are not far behind humanity. Or humanity from demons? Whatever is alien to one is alien to the other. And vice versa.

Perhaps that's why the offspring of the Gremori and Sitri families are now in the great battlefield called "the human world," but they feel perfectly normal.

If they were otherwise, they wouldn't be here, but here she is, Rias Gremory, reading with interest the report about an ordinary, though intelligent, man, making plans for him in her mind.

- He is ordinary. - Rias uttered for the umpteenth time, raising her scarlet eyes to the frail girl with white, almost silver hair. She was sitting on the leather sofa, silently finishing her third box of cookies with her tea. - What was it that made Sonja so interested in him? Koneko, you've seen him a couple of times, what do you think?

Koneko looked away from her food, her curious golden eyes on her mistress:

- An ordinary boy. A good one. Helps everyone, even if you don't ask for it. - The girl answered quietly, in short chopped sentences. She sipped a few more sips from the porcelain cup, and then continued. - And also... he smells good.

- Very important information... - Rias said slowly and took a seat beside her Rook. - What shall I do? She must be interested in him. There must be something wrong with him, but she has made no claim. Not officially, but unofficially. - Gremory chewed her lip, wondering what to do.

For one thing, if Sona was interested in someone, he was definitely unusual. Maybe she somehow found out that this guy had the Holy Mechanism...?

No, no, she would have sensed it. Owners of holy mechanisms have slightly different auras, and with such a long stay in one place, demons might well notice an anomaly.

But if he doesn't have a holy mechanism, why would Sonya want this man? Was it because of intelligence? Something else? Special abilities not inherent in humans? A very powerful mage or exorcist who hides his aura?

Hmmm...

- Sona might get mad at me if I start creeping in his direction. Especially since we've already chosen our potential holy mechanisms, and this "Neo Mori" Sona spotted first. - Rias began slowly pacing the spacious office, which looked more like a certain nobleman's room, with leather furniture, large closets, a private toilet and shower room, than the office of the "Occult Club. - In fact, she had similarly asserted her rights to it. In fact, but unofficially. In the worst-case scenario, Sona will declare personal war on me... for a while, and then get over it. But if anything, I'll apologize, I don't mind. Still... what should I do?

- I can follow him. - After a few minutes of silence, Koneko said slowly. - To Neo Mori. But I can't promise anything.

- Thank you, Koneko, that would be wonderful. - With the same intonation, the demoness said, continuing to read thoughtfully into the personnel file of a quite ordinary person.

Nekomata nodded her head and rose from her seat, finishing her tea in a gulp:

- He should be at the academy. I'll see to it. - With those words the girl walked out the door, leaving Rias to ponder all alone.

Yes, it's a complete farce with her personal figures. She doesn't have a complete set, she needs to get her servants as quickly as possible and start training. Both her personal and the rest of her servants. She saw no point in training an incomplete unworked team, much less...

Her gaze fell on the locked door, from where the aura of the girl's most troublesome figure wafted. Perhaps the strongest... in potential, but which way to approach her?

Trouble had a way of piling up, and then there was the huge area, the size of the city, given to the girl to look after.

We should have started setting up barriers, sending out trackers, but... Kyo's city had always been a quiet place, and Rias doubted anything would change drastically with her arrival. The area could wait until she'd sorted out the figures.

Yes, that's right.

The girl nodded her thoughts, then put the report aside and picked up an inconspicuous book labeled "Fairy Tales" from her desk.

Even demons have their little weaknesses.

- He did what?! - Sona jumped up from the table, pounding the innocent wood with her fists, making it crack.

- Ahem, he was in Toro Ando's house for about three hours, we don't know what he was doing there since the forest and the grounds of the building are under the control of the Kitsune community. - Tsubaki reported as she held a sheet of recorded surveillance information to her chest. - Other than that, he's a pretty ordinary guy. I can only assume that Neo goes there for the calligraphy class he was talking about.

- Calligraphy... - Sitori said thoughtfully, knowing that it was likely... but it was not a coincidence. All his words, all the innuendos, and now this, could there be such a coincidence?

Well, a lot of things are possible in the human world, like demons and other "mythical creatures" living next door to humans, so why wouldn't something like this happen?

But still... to deny that it's not a coincidence is too silly.

- Toro is a renowned craftsman; if he's interested in Neo, he has an extraordinary talent. Remember how many willing demons he's sent to learn from someone else? And no one would tell him anything-we all know how eccentric and short-tempered he is. But what did he see in this guy that the demons didn't? That he's human?

- President, you're too hung up on Neo Mori. I want to point out that this is not normal. - Tsubaki flashed her glasses, glancing disapprovingly at the girl hovering in her thoughts, making hundreds of theories and immediately denying them. - Have you really fallen in love with this young man? - Shinro decided to come at it from a different angle, and succeeded.

- Ahem, I'm what? - The strong demoness, but at heart an ordinary girl hiding behind the face of the "ice princess", immediately pulled herself together, looking at the mocking look of her friend. - Don't be absurd!

- Don't forget, President, that we have another guy in mind... - The girl shifted her gaze to her clipboard for a moment. - Genshiro Saji*, potential carrier of the holy mechanism.

- One does not preclude the other. - Sitri remarked philosophically, wincing at the fact that her red-haired friend had said the phrase more than once herself. And in rather silly situations that did not fit the phrase at all. - By the way, class is over and he's still not here. And the tracker says he's... at the academy.

Sona frowned and went to the window, tracing the boy's location. He was sitting under a tree, practically in front of the student council office, and was talking passionately about something to a rather familiar young girl.

Painfully familiar.

- Rook Rias... - The demoness slowly removed her glasses, releasing her magical energy for a moment, then squinted at the nodding Koneko, whose pale face shone with a small smile. - Fine, Rias, is that how you want to play the game? Breaking all the rules and entreaties? You sent your servant to him for a reason. You knew I was interested in him, but you didn't give a formal declaration? You sly, scarlet, stupid demoness!

- President, your orders?

- Let them communicate. - Reluctantly, Sona said, slowly returning to her desk to calm her anger. - I'll speak to Rias myself later. Privately. И... Make some tea, will you?

- Right away. - Tsubasa bowed and picked up the small porcelain teapot from the table, then put her hand to one of its sides and created a spell from the category of everyday magic.

Being a demon had a lot of advantages in everyday life.

As well as a lot of downsides...

- Koneko, I'm sorry, but I have to go. - Neo said as he slowly rose from his seat. - I have an appointment with the head of the student council, and I'm already late... give me your hand.

The girl hesitantly accepted the outstretched palm and squeezed it too tightly, making the guy ouch:

- Oh, you're strong... And you look so fragile. - Neo helped the girl up from the ground, then wiggled his hand in the air and looked questioningly at the glowering Nekomata. - Never mind, it's just that I'm weak. Can you imagine, I fell once and broke my arm, so embarrassing!

Koneko smiled again, censuring herself in her mind for unrestrained strength, and just nodded her head.

- Then I went. It was a pleasure talking to you, Koneko.

- Likewise. - Nekomata nodded again, looking after the guy as he left.

She couldn't figure out what was wrong with him... The familiar smell brought back memories of her sister, and she found herself thinking strange thoughts about it more than once. It was only now that she realized she was smiling. For the first time in a very long time...

But whose scent was that? It certainly wasn't Naeo's, though the half-demoness had taken a liking to him unknowingly.

There was something about him... A calmness that the girl remembered from her childhood memories. As if she was back in the family circle and none of the horrors of the past had happened yet. A very strange and painfully sorrowful feeling.

Koneko staggered toward the occult club, but suddenly stopped and turned a hundred and eighty degrees questioningly, raising a thin white eyebrow.

- Why did I talk to him? - Nekomata shook her head negatively, shaking off the silly thoughts and re-sentencing herself for being "catty.

She should have just followed up, and she overdid it. As with the power... Rias shouldn't know about it, but the conversation had to be told.

After all, Neo is a regular, except for the smell, guy. That was all that mattered.

Nodding and convincing herself with these thoughts, Koneko guided her feet again toward the occult club.

And only a thin, invisible thread spoke to the actions of the spider that had lured another victim into its web.

For everything was going exactly as he wanted.

*We don't know when they laid eyes on Issei and Saji. I assumed from the characters' reservations in the early book that they knew about their traits beforehand (how much beforehand is unknown). If there's info that contradicts my speculation, drop some hoops in the comments for the author to fix.

Yeah, I'm going to try to explain all the fucked up shit that went on in DxD. Why, in fact, they don't keep track of the territory, what they do there, and more (there will be a bit of AU and OOS).