The next day, after school, Rias looked up from the source of her newest headache when Yuuto entered the clubroom. He smiled at her. "I checked up on Hyoudou-kun as you asked."

"How is he?" She welcomed the momentary distraction.

"It seems his headache got worse. I advised him to visit the nurse office."

"Good idea. Do you think he is like that because of what happened to him?"

"You mean as an effect of the stress? Possible." He sat down on the couch. "I hope he gets better soon. The sooner he does, the sooner he can learn to defend himself."

"Yes." Rias agreed wholeheartedly. "And the sooner he learns to defend himself, the better."

"I'm surprised though, Buchou." Akeno chimed in, while putting down a filled tea cup in front of Rias. "I would have expected you to extend an offer to join us, if only so you could make sure he would be safe."

Rias cheeks colored imperceptibly. "Well, that is... After the little dilemma with Narukami-kun, I examined my own behavior. There had to be a reason he would suddenly be so cold, after all."

"Oh? And what is it?"

"I was pushy." She said, feeling more than a bit embarrassed. "Because I wanted to protect him, I tried too hard to get him to join us. Maybe that's why he was so cold before, too."

Her Knight nodded. "Narukami-senpai does seem like the kind of person who prefers to go at his own pace."

"What makes you say that?"

Yuuto closed his eyes. "It's the little things. The way he treats people. The confidence with which he speaks. How he acts around us, compared to others."

"Hmmm." Rias hummed in agreement. "True. He is far more personable with the few people he interacts with of his own choice. I will stop trying to recruit him."

"Oh? And what do you want to do instead?" The glimmer in Akeno's eyes was very much unbecoming of a girl nicknamed 'Great Onee-sama'.

"We'll see what happens. I believe the choice is up to him, whether he keeps his distance or not. He has already shown what happens if we try too hard with something. But" Rias adopted a more thoughtful expression. "we'll need to keep an eye on him, regardless. Even if he's strong enough to look out for himself, there's still the possibility that he'll interfere with the wrong person. And it seems Narukami-kun is good with stirring up trouble."

She left the other reason for this change of attitude unsaid. That ominous power he called Persona left her with multiple questions. Questions, she could not expect an answer to. She recognized the explanation he did give as an olive branch, a sign that he didn't try to antagonize them. Asking for more would be just as bad as continuing to hound him for her peerage.

"Does something similar go for Hyoudou-kun?"

"I will take some time so we get to know him, before extending an offer. I made this mistake once. Now I have to make sure to learn from it." She looked down on the paper on her desk. "Perhaps if I hadn't done it in the first place, this wouldn't have happened."

"What do you mean?"

She put the paper to the edge of her desk, closer to Yuuto. "Read."

He did so. Then blinked, read it again, and blinked a second time. "And your brother agreed to this?"

"Yes." Her expression turned contrite. "Don't ask me why."

"And the other Maou as well?"

"Yes."

"This can only mean trouble for everyone involved." Yuuto put the paper down and massaged the bridge of his nose.

Koneko, who had stayed silent and ate her yokan until then, gave him a deadpan look. "That seems familiar."

… That girl had a penchant to describe the situation very well, in very few words.

Narukami Yu had expected a calm evening. He'd get his groceries, eat something, finally get to reading that book he bought a few days ago, and relax.

The two people sitting across from him, sipping tea, were rather counterproductive to that. Kalawarner, wearing an even more scandalous outfit than before, looked extraordinarily sheepish. She pointedly avoided looking at him, and seemed incredibly focused on her reflection in the tea.

The man who had come with her didn't have those problems. For one thing, he was immensely more powerful than Kalawarner. And much more relaxed, leaning back in his seat with a calm, roguish smile. The golden bangs – were they dyed? His hair was black everywhere else – hanging into his face didn't do anything to hide the intelligent, violet eyes that had focused on Yu.

That highly dangerous man was the leader of the Grigori.

"So, looks like your hopes of never meeting me again were dashed, Kalawarner." He tried hard, very hard, not to be amused by that. It didn't seem to work, judging by the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Serves her right, for ruining the calm evening." Baphomet growled, ever the cranky old goat.

"Dashed, trampled, cut up and thrown into a river." She replied with false cheer, not lifting her eyes from the tea.

Yu and Azazel both chuckled. "Terribly sorry." The latter said, still smiling. "But you're the one who had most to do with him."

"I'm also the one most scared of him." She muttered, apparently not feeling honored to be chosen as part of the escort of the General-Governor.

"Ah well." Her leader shrugged, not the least bit repentant, and changed the topic. "I'm surprised we just got some tea after appearing like this."

"Lottery price. My parents won three years worth of tea. They asked me to use it up. Might as well do that."

Azazel laughed. "That's a good reason. But I guess we should get to the meat of this visit."

The Wild Card nodded, waiting for him to continue. He hadn't expected Kalawarner to start talking in a business tone. "Narukami Yu. We are here to confirm the events started at the beginning of last week, when I attacked you. We ask you for your cooperation on this matter, as you were an integral factor to those events." She even managed to look at him. For five seconds.

With a raised eyebrow, Yu said the first thing he thought of. "That took a lot of courage from you."

"You have no idea." She mumbled into her tea.

"What do you want to know?" He supposed he could cooperate... to an extent.

"I'd like it if you started at the beginning." Azazel took over. "From the point were you got into contact with Kalawarner, up until you saved Hyoudou Issei."

… That couldn't possibly be the end of it. Yu didn't believe that the leader of an organization would show up just to get some information on an incident.

Which meant he'd been told something interesting enough to appear. Yu had this distinct feeling that he was that something.

Relaying the events of the last few days – again – took some time. As Kalawarner had asked, he downplayed her death threat to being overeager and inconsiderate of his opinion, with just a bit violence mixed in. He didn't even need to outright lie, not even about how Kalawarner helped him. Although he didn't bother explaining how he killed Raynare.

Amazing what the right choice of words could do.

At the end of it, Azazel rubbed his head. "That's something. You know, I thought I had that Extractor safely stowed away."

"Did you make it?"

"Yeah." He grumbled. "It was supposed to help people who didn't want anything to do with those powers. They'd get rid of it, lose their connection to anything supernatural, and I'd have a new project. Win-win. Turned out Sacred Gears are too closely connected to the soul to be taken away. It was a messy, messy experience."

"So it doesn't matter that I destroyed it?"

"Not really. It's been lying around for some decades anyway. Next stocktaking, we'd have trashed it. Although," The fallen angel suddenly had a new glint in his eyes. "why did you destroy it?"

"It was in the line of fire." Yu answered, keeping his voice blank.

"The cross and the large section of wall behind it were collateral damage?"

"... If you say it like that..."

"You know what?" Azazel looked at him intently, before his mouth morphed into a smirk once more. "I think I like you."

Yu gave him an even look, before turning his eyes over to Kalawarner, who had abandoned staring at her tea in favor of switching her focus between the two of them evenly. She looked slightly confused. "Is this a reason to be worried?"

The woman blinked at him. Her blinking intensified when Azazel started laughing, loudly and boisterously.

"Nah." He said, still grinning. "Not at all."

Yu had a feeling what would come next. Kalawarner sounded reluctant, hesitant when she talked. "Because you've... proven to have a set of interesting powers... we'd like to offer you a contract." She looked as if she had bitten into something sour, defeat choking her voice.

He looked at each of the fallen angels sitting across him. Neither seemed ready to break the silence. Azazel gave him a curious look, while Kalawarner went back to staring into her tea.

Finally, after three minutes of silence, the Wild Card asked. "What kind of contract?"

"So glad you asked." The smile on Azazel's face was widening even further. "Power like that isn't something just anybody gets. You see..." He stopped when Yu held up a hand.

"If you're going to launch into a recruitment speech, Gremory gave me several. I'd like it if there wasn't any repetition of that."

"Ah, but this is different. I want to make a contract with you to get a better read on what the hell you do. And I want to know that power like that won't be used to attack me and mine. Not change your species and make you a servant."

There was some sort of meaning behind those words. Something to deduce from them, to find out and see.

Yu didn't feel like doing that.

Leaning forward, the Fool gave an animate smile. When he spoke, it was with an openly displayed confidence that matched Azazel's. "Let's cut the subtleties. Why does the Governor-General of the Grigori come into my home in person? Why does he offer me a contract ten minutes after meeting? And why doesn't he need to mask any surprise at what he must have been told I can do?"

Being straightforward just had something over being evasive.

Azazel looked stunned for a moment, before he smiled again. It looked different from the roguish expression before, almost pleased. "A man after my own heart. Those questions all get the same answer. The power you exhibited. This rare, unknown power that exists outside God's System. This odd power that appears every now and then. This crazy power that usually ends up causing a big mess."

Yu had the distinct feeling that he didn't manage to hide his surprise. "There are others, you mean."

"Every now and then."

Azazel seemed on the level. Beside him, Kalawarner abandoned her reflection in the tea once more in favor of staring at each of the males. Her voice was shaky. "What kind of mess, Azazel-sama?"

"That one time, it was the extinction of the Valefor house of the 72 pillars." He replied cheerfully, to which she responded with a choking gasp.

"The Valefor? Wasn't the head of that family an Ultimate-class devil?! And someone with this guy's power killed them?!"

"That's the cliff notes." Azazel's cheerful behavior did not abate. He seemed to give an even wider smirk, as he looked at Kalawarner out of the corner of his eyes. She was freaking out.

Before she could start to hyperventilate – which looked more and more likely – Yu spoke up. "What else do you know?"

"Ah yes." Again, the man's violet eyes glinted. "Let's talk shop. I'll share my notes about the ones with that power we dealt with, and you at least consider this." He pulled a piece of paper out of a pocket of his coat.

Yu took the offered document and skimmed over it. It was the contract. He looked back at Azazel, whose smirk didn't waver. "Just like that?"

"I'm the guy with the big, ominous, slightly loopy organization. You're the guy with the rare, nearly secret power. If I want your cooperation, I have to give you a reason for it. And trust is the best foundation." Azazel sipped some more tea, then shook the mug. "Mind if I take some more?"

"Help yourself." Yu read the contract. "Payed vacation?"

"Kinda redundant, what with the calling up just thrice a month, I know." The fallen drank some more tea. "Where did your people get this stuff? It's good."

"The local Junes. This is a generous salary."

"I know. Didn't think some supermarket chain would have decent tea."

"I think they assimilated a few local shops for their palette. Why the bodyguards?"

"Be a shame if someone like you died. Is that tea just local?"

"I have no idea."

Both heard Kalawarner mumble. "Those two get along creepily well."

"Much as I am loath to agree on anything with an impure one, she is right." Virtue's voice reverberated through Yu's mind. "The mask you chose to don for this event works well. Perhaps too well."

Azazel laughed again, ignorant of the entity within Yu's soul. "She's right, you know. There's not many people who can keep up with me. I dunno, what's wrong with them all?"

"Maybe they're taken aback by how casual you are, as the leader of an entire species." Yu offered his most likely explanation.

The man scratched his chin, mulling over the thought. "Nah. I think it's my looks."

Just then, something in Azazel's jacket beeped. He started patting the coat in search of the source, taking out some odds and ends.

Yu pointedly ignored some of the items he saw, and turned to Kalawarner. "Are the two presences I sense Dohnaseek and Mittelt?"

"Probably." She shook her head and looked at him. "I was made leader of our team, and we act as Azazel-sama's bodyguards."

"I thought you didn't want to be a leader."

"You say that as if I had a choice." Regret flitted over her face. "This doesn't feel much like a promotion."

Azazel stood up and walked from the living room into the hallway, flashing Yu an apologetic smile. He held a phone to his ear, his expression less enthusiastic than before.

"No choice? Why?"

"I don't think we managed to fool him." She moved her head towards the door Azazel had walked out of. "I think this is his way of punishing us."

"Punishing you?" He quirked an eyebrow, when he heard some of the things Azazel said, muffled as his voice was.

"Hey, hey, it's not... As if that... Come on, Shem... Alright! I get it..."

"I don't think he knew what to expect from you. What we said painted you as a monster in the making."

For six seconds, she managed to hold his blank stare, then she looked back down. "To dissuade him?"

"To make sure we don't have to come back. I really don't want to deal with someone who can kill me with a blink. Not like I'll get much of a choice, now. Whether you agree to the contract or not, we'll be made an official observation team, tasked with keeping an eye on you."

"And you're so scared of me that it sounds like punishment?"

"You summoned the White Rider." She looked into his eyes, and the amount of fear he could see there surprised him. "According to the notes Azazel-sama showed me, that thing appears occasionally, normally while some fighting is going on and slaughters whoever is around. That I'm alive is a miracle."

"He wouldn't hurt you without my permission." He felt the White Rider's amusement at the expression on Kalawarner's face, and ordered it down. The being complied, laughing.

"Which means I'd be at your mercy." She threw her head back. The motion was sluggish. "You said you won't hold what happened against me, but it's not all that reassuring from someone who could kill me in a few seconds."

He refilled his cup. "Not without a reason. And even then, I don't want to kill."

"Yet you still did it." She pointed out, her voice just a bit softer than before.

"Yeah. Maybe there would have been another way."

Kalawarner snapped her fingers. "Thinking like that is a bad idea. Ifs and whens and maybes will just make you second-guess yourself. Trust me, that's not a road you wanna walk."

Before he could comment on how odd what she said was, or on the expression of hurt that went across her face, Azazel came back in. He didn't look too happy. "I've gotta go, so I'll make this short: Kalawarner's group will stay and keep an eye on you. Here are my notes on your power and some basic stuff on our supernatural community, free of charge." With a gesture, a magic circle appeared above the table, several books materializing through it.

"If you wanna talk about the contract or anything else, contact her." The General-Governor pointed at Kalawarner. "Oh, and something might crop up in a few days. I'd be thankful if you helped my underlings with that."

Yu and Kalawarner walked over to the man, who had started to talk faster than before. The Wild Card decided not to question that last part, yet. "You look annoyed."

"I am." He huffed, giving the younger one a deadpan look. "Duty calls."

The Fool walked the fallen angels to the door. "There's one thing I'd like to say."

"Something fast?" Azazel opened the door, ready to walk out.

Yu's next words stopped him cold. "It's about Raynare."

"Nobody's gonna persecute you for what happened there." The fallen didn't turn around, but he didn't try to walk forward either.

"That's not it. It's about her last words." There was no reaction from Azazel, but Kalawarner looked at him sharply. "She called out your name, Azazel."

For a moment, there was no reaction, no move, no sound. Then Azazel talked, his voice very, very quiet. "Is that so? I see. Thank you for telling me." And he walked away, not looking back, his subordinate following him with a troubled expression.

Yu closed the door, then noticed a note on the side table. It was the number to call Kalawarner.

Finally, he turned to the books Azazel had given him. Those would make an interesting read, even if he had to postpone his book.

"At least you have your priorities in order." Hitokoto-Nushi said, voice echoing.

The next day, Yu ran across Akeno at lunch break. He was surprised that she was alone. He had only ever seen her around Rias.

"Ara, ara. Hello, Narukami-kun." She smiled at him.

"Hello, Himejima."

The devil walked closer to him, peering at his face. "I wonder... Have the fallen made contact with you yet?"

With a raised eyebrow, he answered with a question. "If you knew about that, a little warning would have been nice."

"Oh?"

"I wanted to read a book last evening."

"Oh my?" She looked troubled all of a sudden, with a hand under on her cheek. "Was it a good book?"

"Very." He nodded in reply. "It's a continuation of another book series I've read. For the past few days, I didn't have much of a chance to read it."

"What a pity. You poor boy. Poor, poor boy." Akeno shook her head, close to tears. "I always knew fallen angels had no sense of timing. I hope you refused whatever nefarious offer they made you just for that."

"It would only be right." He agreed. A few seconds later, Yu chuckled, and Akeno hid her chuckle behind her hand.

"I never noticed before, but you enjoy playing along with this, don't you?"

"There hasn't been much of a chance to." Shrugging, the Fool looked out of the window. It was yet another sunny day. It hadn't rained since he came to this town.

"That simply must be rectified." The devil kept smiling for a moment, then turned more serious. "But what did they offer you?"

For a moment, Yu debated with himself – himselves? A few of his Personas were less than enthusiastic about the idea - whether he should tell her. His decision ultimately had a simple basis "A contract. I don't know much about what that means, though." He took the piece of paper out.

Her eyes flashed, even as her posture changed. With a gesture of her hand, a small circle appeared in the air for a moment, and a wave of energy covered the corridor. The few students within walked away, uncaring of the situation. "May I see it?"

"Is it that important?"

"Quite possibly so." She took the document from him and began to study it.

"If this is going to take some time, we might find a place to sit and eat something."

She blinked at him. "Of course, yes." With an alluring smile, she walked past him, into an unused classroom. They sat down at two desks beside each other, taking out their respective lunch.

For the next minutes, there wasn't much talk. Yu ate his homemade bento in silence, while Akeno seemed focused on the contract.

"This is quite interesting." She finally murmured. "Azazel signed this himself. You would effectively be considered an assistant directly under him and still live wherever you choose to. With a generous stipend, even. You must have been very impressive."

"That's one word for it."

"Would you tell me what happened?"

"It seems my power has cropped up a few times before." He decided to be upfront. If this was as Azazel's notes indicated, then Rias would be able to find out anyway. "And one Persona-user was responsible for the extinction of one of the 72 pillars. Valefor."

Akeno's chopsticks slipped from her fingers. "You must be joking." Her voice was almost toneless. "That was Ultimate-class. I never heard about a human who could..."

The look of recognition that entered her eyes told him why she stopped talking. "Maybe that's why only a few people know. I'm sure there would be someone who'd try and exploit it."

He left unsaid what else he suspected. From what he'd seen when he skimmed Azazel's books, he could make guesses about the nature of the Evil Pieces. If they were capable of measuring a person's potential, then there was a good chance they would conflict with Personas, potential given form. Personas could grow, after all.

In his mind, several of them came forth, each wielding a power they would not normally be capable of. The facets of the soul could change. Potential could fluctuate. He doubted that something like that could be measured easily. It made him wonder how accurate those Evil Pieces were.

Akeno had been quiet for the duration of his introspection, looking at her food. "This is rather worrying. Not only does Azazel come in person, he even knows something. I heard that man is a lunatic, in his own way."

"I got along with him just fine."

"Ara, ara. You get along with him? Very worrying." Her voice lowered until he couldn't make out what she said anymore.

"Himejima."

"Ah? Yes, Narukami-kun?"

He tapped the contract on the desk. "Any thoughts on this?"

"On general principle, I suggest you refuse." She answered, a shadow of her usual smile back on her face. "But other than that, I don't think there will be any pitfalls for you to fall into. Azazel is many things, but for the sake of his research, he is said to be straightforward."

"I see. Thanks." He gathered his things, including the contract, and stood up. "If you want to finish your lunch, you might want to hurry a bit." The Fool walked over to the door.

"Might I ask you a question, Narukami-kun?" Akeno asked. When he turned back, she was smiling again, a hint of mischief on her face.

"What is it?"

"Why?" Yu raised an eyebrow at the word. "Why did you decide to tell us anything at all? We couldn't, wouldn't have forced you. And just now, you asked me for help. Why do you do this, when you clearly distrust us?"

He smiled at her. This was a question he had expected. "You're right. I don't know whether I can trust you. But," he turned around, a hand on the door handle. "if I don't give you a chance, how can I ever make sure?"

Without turning back, Yu walked out of the room, leaving Akeno to her thoughts.

"Yay~ Keep it up, little guy~" Mittelt giggled. The diminutive fallen was lying on her bed, legs kicking up, looking down at her book with undisguised happiness.

Kalawarner sat on her own bed beside Mittelt's, giving her subordinate a bemused stare. The hotel rooms they used as quarters until they found something more permanent didn't exactly give much privacy, pretty much forcing the two of them to get better acquainted with each other.

She still hadn't expected Mittelt to enjoy reading to this extent. "What are you reading?"

"Hm?" Mittelt looked up, blinking. It looked like she had forgotten Kalawarner was there. "Oh, just this." She raised the book, letting her superior – strange thought – see the title.

Said superior looked at it for a few seconds, dumbfounded. "The Hobbit? You read The Hobbit? Of all the books and pieces of fiction in the world you choose this?"

"What?" Mittelt looked defensive. "What's your problem? Is it the genre? The plot? Maybe because it's a human piece?"

"I just..." Kalawarner stopped, then sighed and fell back to lie on her bed. "Forget it. I'm just... Urgh."

Mittelt sat up, frowning. "You've been irritable ever since we came back here. More than usual, I mean. Your temper triggers every time something surprises you. A leader really shouldn't be doing that."

"Shut up." The mature fallen grabbed a pillow put it over her face, muffling her voice. "It's not like I wanted to do this. I told Azazel-sama that I'm not cut out to be a leader, but he didn't listen."

"So, what will you do?" The earnestness in Mittelt's voice surprised Kalawarner.

"I'll probably screw up and get myself demoted. Without angering anyone who could just kill me about it."

She risked a look when she heard Mittelt snicker. The younger one held up a hand and counted. "That makes Azazel-sama, Narukami-kun and the Gremory heiress. Can you believe that we actually risked to antagonize the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess? Raynare sure lost it."

"And she didn't even mention it."

"Good thing you attacked Narukami-kun." Mittelt snickered again.

"How is that good? I was electrocuted, you dolt."

"Imagine what would have happened if Narukami-kun never interfered. Hyoudou-kun would have been killed, which might have roused the Gremory's suspicions about our presence. Maybe even at the worst possible timing."

Kalawarner gulped. It was an unlikely scenario, but not impossible. And she doubted that a devil would be as forgiving as Narukami had been. "Suddenly, it doesn't sound so bad."

"All a matter of perspective." Mittelt nodded. "So, what are your plans, 'leader'?"

"Don't call me that." Kalawarner sat up, looking out of the window. "I guess we'll just continue like this. At least one of us always remains here, in case of an emergency. Azazel-sama expressively ordered us to render any assistance we can to Narukami, and to avoid antagonizing the Gremory. If we find any Stray Devils, we'll let them, or the Sitri know. Simple as that."

"Sounds good. But are you sure you can stay cooped up in here, all the time?"

Kalawarner stood up and stretched. Had anyone with an interest in the female body been present, they would have seen what the combination of tightly fit clothing and stretching did to an alluring female body like hers. Shame there was no such person.

"I guess I'll just have to find something. What do you do, anyway?" Despite having been a team for some time, it occurred to Kalawarner that she didn't know much about Mittelt or Dohnaseek.

"I punish pedophiles." She replied, smirking.

"... What?" That wasn't precisely what Kalawarner had expected. She knew Mittelt was only a bit older than she looked, but she hadn't known her subordinate – still a strange thought – had such a hobby.

"Oh, yes. I make them think they have an easy time, then I shove some dense light energy up their asses. You should see their faces." She was crowing over her... interesting hobby.

"It does sound... cathartic."

"It is." Another snicker. "Watch the newspaper. If we're gonna stay here, I might as well indulge myself."

"But other than pedophiles, what kind of man could you possibly get?" It was an attempt to be as scathing as she usual was.

The answer made her jaw drop. "I prefer the kind of guy who likes me genuinely, of course. And I'll grow up, just you wait."

Kalawarner shook her head. "Guess you are one of those."

"Those?"

"Not all fallen fell because of lust. You wouldn't know, as one of the youngest generation, but our kind exists for plenty of reasons."

"Huh. Never heard about that. Every time anyone mentions the first fallen, it's always lust this lust that." The younger fallen looked contemplative. "But it makes sense. There's plenty of emotions to feel, and they can all appear in a form those stuck-up angels look down on."

"See?"

This was... strange. They had never talked about anything other than the job. In fact, Kalawarner couldn't recall the last time she had talked like this with anyone.

There hadn't been anyone she wanted to talk with.

"You know what I don't get?"

"Hm?" Kalawarner blinked and looked at Mittelt, who had drawn her legs up and rested her chin on her knees.

"Why are we always the bad guys?" Oh no. Not that question.

"We're either traitors, or the offspring of traitors. And our institute is not known for its sanity. It's hard to trust us and easy to blame us. That's how everyone views it." She knew how weary her voice sounded, recounting something she had accepted a long, long time ago.

"I don't like it." Mittelt's voice held something that could have been mistaken for innocence. Impossible, of course. They were beings fundamentally tainted by sin. There was no innocence in their existence.

"Get used to it. Less painful that way."

She turned away, voice quiet. "I don't mind fighting, or getting rid of someone dangerous. I might just like it a bit too much. But every time we do fight, we end up looking like the bad guys. I wouldn't mind if it was only an enemy, you know? But even people that just come across us always point with the finger."

… This... this was a far cry from the occasionally vicious, cutesy, little Gothic Lolita she usually saw. Kalawarner had no words to describe this situation, so she resorted to repeating her advice. "Get used to it."

King: Look, I'm back!

Magatsu-Izanagi: Took you long enough!

King: Why are you here? I wanted Mar...

Magatsu-Izanagi: Decided not to come. Why did you take so long?

King: My life intends to throw as many stones as possible in my way, it seems.

Magatsu-Izanagi: Sounds like an excuse.

King: It's not.

Magatsu-Izanagi: Azazel himself. Now that's extreme.

King: Look at it like this. People with the abilities Yu displayed are just so dangerous that someone of his rank looking at it is completely justified.

Magatsu-Izanagi: Pah. That wannabe tempter's appearance means nothing.

King: Wannabe? Does that have to do with your title 'Tempter of the Void'?

Magatsu-Izanagi: I find it most interesting that you would involve Kalawarner further.

King: What? You thought I'd go throught the trouble of expanding on a character, to the point that people comment on it, and just let them disappear? Give me some credit.

Magatsu-Izanagi: That wasn't exactly directed at me, was it?

King: I know you're smiling behind that mask.

Magatsu-Izanagi: Perish the thought.

King: It seems some people mistake 'untrustworthy' with 'evil'. Yu doesn't trust Rias. She's an unknown factor, with an unknown agenda. But his accusation that she would callously wait for someone to die to reap the benefits was hurtful. The information he gave her was as a sign that he doesn't believe her to be that bad.

Magatsu-Izanagi: As if that girl was capable of evil. She's nice.

King: Don't say that like a curse.

Magatsu-Izanagi: It's not one? Confusing.

King: Riiight. Bottom line: I doubt Rias can be an evil person. All those fanfics that portray her as such... I never understood those.

Magatsu-Izanagi: Attempts to be dramatic?

King: It doesn't work. So, if any of you think that Rias being intentionally selfish and cruel is a better way of portraying her, then that's your opinion, and your entitled to it.

Magatsu-Izanagi: How very accepting of you, boy.

King: Don't 'boy' me. I've come to terms with someone in my family liking Twillight (shudder). Tolerating the opinion of someone I don't even know is child's play. I'm always open for other opinions. If such an opinion crops up in a review, I take the time to look at my story that way, because anything less would be a disservice to the people that take the time to review. But if I just don't see it, then I'll keep writing my own way.

Magatsu-Izanagi: How noble.

King: Make no mistake. That doesn't mean I'll change the intention behind my writing. After all, it's my intention, my story. If someone mistakes said intention, then I simply must check whether my story really does give that impression, or if it's just one possible interpretation of the situation. If it's either of those, changes may be necessary. Or maybe not. Got a problem with that?

Magatsu-Izanagi: With that out of the way...

King: Huh?

Magatsu-Izanagi: REVIEW, YOU PACK OF MAGGOTS, INFESTING THE BODY OF MY WIVE! SHOULD YOU NOT DO SO, THEN MY MYRIADS OF CHILDREN SHALL FEAST ON YOUR FLESH!

King: Wow... He's worse than me at my most unstable. Anyway, I'm not gonna make any promises about my next update. Even if it's semester break right now, I can't tell how fast the next chapter will come out. Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing and Bye.