Reencounter

As the students left the academy and went about their day, near the main school building, in another building, with an older and somewhat run-down appearance, two renowned students were having their personal meeting.

Rias Gremory was a young woman with long red hair and a voluptuous body, with large breasts and ass. Her name and appearance made it clear that she was a foreigner, despite her perfect pronunciation of Japanese. She was also the president of the Occult Research Club.

Sona Sitri, known as Souna Shitori by the normal humans of the school, was a young woman of small stature with short dark hair, possessing a serious and professional appearance, which matched her position as Student Council President.

The two were devils, Rias being the one responsible for Kuoh's territory, work that she shared with Sona after some agreements between the two and their families. At the moment, the two childhood friends were playing chess.

"When the students sent by the Shinto faction will arrive, Sona?"

Rias asked, as soon as she managed to grab a knight from her friend. That being said, looking at the board it was clear that the redhead had fewer pieces and was in an overall unfavorable situation.

"Next Monday. Tsubaki will introduce the school to them at that time."

Ignoring the obvious attempt to distract her, Sona takes one more of Rias' pieces off the board.

"Any idea of what we can expect?"

Rias asks, after making a casual move without thinking too much about it. Sona, who was about to go next, stops and looks seriously at her friend.

"You're not thinking about..."

"Recruit them? And risk offending the Shinto faction? Absolutely not."

Rias spoke, shaking her head in denial of that possibility. Sona, however, didn't look convinced.

"Having said that?"

The short-haired one asks with a raised eyebrow.

"If any of them are strong enough and I get a contract, maybe it's the ticket that allows me to change the agreement of marriage."

Rias' tone was hopeful but also anxious. She had a pawn piece in her hand and was clutching it anxiously as she bit her bottom lip.

Sona considered her friend's speech as she made her next move.

"I understand. It's actually a good idea, and a contract of equals between the two sides would not offend the Shintoists. Well, that all depends on the type of students that are coming."

Sona finishes saying as soon as she takes another piece from the redhead.

"So I have to count on my luck? I think I can do it."

The redhead spoke, putting a smile on her face that would be enough to make hearts stop. Sona smirked, both at her friend's speech and her next move.

"That being said, your luck doesn't prepare you for everything. Checkmate."

Rias blinks a few times and looks at the board, seeing that her king had been surrounded and there was nothing more she could do.

"Indeed." After sighing in acceptance of her defeat, Rias continues the conversation, changing the focus of the subject. "And what do you think of the Shinigami and the Substitute?"

Before answering, the student council president adjusts her glasses, taking on a slightly more serious expression.

"It's very weird. Unlike the new students we didn't get any prior notice, and even with her explanation of the situation I still feel like the Shinigami is leaving something out. I used our contact with the Shinto faction to notify them about her, but have yet to get a response."

Rias had an amused smile as she leaned back in her chair.

"I see. Well, at least we can say that things certainly won't stay quiet here."

...

Because of his identity, it wasn't convenient for Susanoo to openly appear near the academy, so he simply gave the directions to Issei and Cynthia and let them go. The god's smile was suspicious, but they decided to ignore it.

Fortunately, even though they were trained by Zoro, they didn't share the green-haired's sense of direction or lack thereof.

"So this is the place?"

Issei asked rhetorically as they reached the spot Susanoo had pointed them to. If anything, he was even less impressed than when seeing the house.

"Looks high class."

Cynthia commented noting the students' clothes, the conditions of the school, and the types of vehicles that were going to pick up the students.

This was probably the first school that the two looked closely at. In their travels, they likely passed by several but never paid attention to them.

'Ise, are you feeling it?'

Although the blonde was talking with her boyfriend, anyone passing by the two wouldn't hear anything. That's because Cynthia used her aura to telepathically communicate with Issei.

'Yup. Ddraig?'

Both, with both their haki and their aura, felt various non-human presences in the school, which was not surprising considering that it was Susanoo who arranged for them places there. Still, due to the lack of contact with this world, they didn't know which race the type of aura they felt belonged to.

[Oh, it's been a while. They are devils, although I can't say which house they belong to exactly.]

The two nod, not being strangers to the idea of devils, not least because it's not like they haven't encountered other types of devils from other worlds before.

"There's a lot of them."

Issei notes casually as he applies aura to his eyes. The result of this is simple, giving him a vision that goes through objects, basically an X-Ray vision. And he had obviously already abused that ability several times. For the moment, however, he didn't look through clothes, only the walls and buildings.

His eyes flicked over several students, teachers, and workers in general. He glanced at a few that he could identify as devils, like a blond-haired boy happily eating a bowl of ramen, or a blue-haired girl tidying up a classroom, plus a few others. What caught his attention, for reasons he didn't even know, were a girl with large breasts, dark hair with a ponytail, a small girl with short white hair, and a girl with long blonde hair and a mole near her left eye. He felt a natural attraction to them, the wish to simply go and meet them.

'Does this have something to do with my other self? Or is something else?'

The question was only for himself, and only Ddraig heard it, though he didn't have an answer either. Perhaps Ur could have, but he had yet to awaken.

'Well, whatever will be will be.'

Thinking that he puts the feeling on the corner of his mind and keeps looking around the school. At first, the young dragon intended to look further back when he noticed an old building, from which he felt the presence of some more devils there, but in the corner of his eyes he noticed other people, who quickly caught his attention.

A big smile took over his face. Taking Cynthia's hand, without explaining anything he ran towards the front gates.

The blonde was momentarily confused until she sensed presences approaching the entrance.

The two hadn't noticed before because they were paying attention to the devils and they missed two peculiar presences that they had become accustomed to in their childhood, along with another familiar one that was human.

"You took too long nii-chan!"

Nezuko complained, puffing out her cheeks to pretend to be upset.

"Sorry Nezuko, but the teacher asked me to help and I couldn't refuse."

Tanjiro tried to excuse himself with a weak smile.

"You need to learn to say no."

Tatsumi commented sighing.

There was also a third girl with the group, Orihime, who Issei and Cynthia didn't know, but that didn't matter to them right now.

The four passed through the gate and turned around, bumping into the sekiryuutei and the blonde. The group's first reaction was a mild surprise at having almost bumped into the two, while Nezuko, Tatsuki, and Tanjiro felt the pair was familiar.

"Yo, it's been a while, guys."

It was Issei's greeting that made the trigger click in their heads.

"Ise! Cyn-chan!"

After a brief moment of confusion and standing still, the first to react is Nezuko, jumping on the two and grabbing each one's arm, and hugging them.

"Chichichi, did you miss us?"

The sekiryuutei spoke, rubbing the top of her head affectionately. In response, Nezuko nodded her head several times.

"If you are alive you will always show up sooner or later, huh?"

Tatsuki spoke, smacking Issei's other arm, and having to look up to face him. Unconsciously, she gulped, both because of his height and because of his own body, which was much more developed than when he was a child. There was a slight tinge of red on Tatsuki's cheeks and an even stronger tinge on Nezuko's.

Issei noticed, and just smiled at the two, while Cynthia had a smile as big as her boyfriend's. Contrary to what some might think, there was no jealousy, on the contrary, she seemed satisfied with what she saw, and her mind seemed to plan something.

"It really has been a long time." Tanjiro said, laughing happily at meeting his childhood friends. "Are you traveling somewhere around here?"

When they were little, they once asked where the two lived, and to cover it up, Cynthia replied that their families traveled together all the time.

"No, this time we're staying here. We will be going to this school too."

This made the three of them widen their eyes, and soon surprise turned to joy.

"This is amazing!"

Tanjiro spoke, smiling even wider.

"Great! Let's do several things together! I have all of Kuoh to show you! Hehe, we have to compensate for a long time!"

Nezuko was even more excited, jumping up and down, and hugging the couple tighter.

"Heh, things weren't interesting enough even before either way."

Tatsuki spoke with a shrug and a smile.

"Guys... sorry, but who are they?"

After all this time, Orihime finally spoke, pointing at the two, confused.

"Oops, sorry Hime-chan." Tatsuki says with an embarrassed smile, scratching the back of her head. "They are our childhood friends. Hey, can you two come with us now? We are going shopping, and we can introduce you to Hime-chan better."

"Of course, but what about Ichigo? I would imagine that would he be with you, no?"

When Cynthia asks this question, she can't help noticing Orihime's reaction to the name of the orange-haired.

Tanjiro is the one who answers her question.

"He's been busy the last few days. I think he got a job."

The others didn't elaborate, but it was noticeable to Issei and Cynthia that there was something off about it, something they would probably look into later.

"Shall we go then?"

Nezuko asks, her huge smile never leaving her face.

"Chichichi, of course."

With Issei's confirmation, the group started walking under the gazes of several students stunned by the proximity with which one of the school's idols, Nezuko, simply jumped into Issei's arms, which was bigger than any of the student body and didn't let go. That day, a certain amount of the male students wept over the "loss of their heroine".

As the group was leaving the front of the school, the Sekiryuutei turned his head, having a view of the old building that he didn't have time to observe properly. Interestingly, his eyes were automatically drawn to a specific point, to an open window with a female student with long red hair looking at him.

The two locked eyes in that instant, and both Rias and Issei felt their hearts leap, lightning seemed to move through their bodies, which was a particularly strange sensation for the leviathan who both controlled and was immune to electricity.

Heat formed in their chests, even though they both had no idea why. The sekiryuutei had the sudden urge to simply jump to that window, and he was about to do just that when a tug on his shirt made him focus again on his surroundings.

"Ise?"

Nezuko asked, confused that he had suddenly stopped.

The sekiryuutei blinks a few times, shakes his head, and smiles at her.

"I just remembered something that I have to see later."

Having said that, the group went along.

At the same time with Rias, if it weren't for Sona suddenly calling out to her, the redhead might have simply flown toward Issei.

"Are you ok?"

Sona asked, not mentioning her other concern. She saw the exchange of glances between Issei and Rias and wanted to avoid the possibility that he was trying to mentally manipulate her best friend.

"He didn't do anything, Sona, I know what you're thinking. It's just... well, I hope to see him again soon".

The redhead says, shaking her head, and trying to concentrate on decreasing the internal heat she felt.

Sona however didn't seem very convinced but she decided not to say anything and leave it for when they officially met.

'But that kind of presence was that? If I didn't know better I'd say he's an incubus. But it's also not like there's an incubus that can manipulate Rias. Then...'

While Rias was confused about what she felt, Sona tried to understand who she was going to deal with, not knowing that her impressions of Issei's aura were just the result of a "joke" made by Susanoo.

...

Somewhere in Kuoh, on the outskirts of the city, in an abandoned warehouse.

"Are we ready?"

A hooded man asked, carrying a katana in his right hand and a pistol in his left hand.

"Yes, we will have to act quickly so as not to attract the devils, but it will be simple."

"We will finally finish what the cowards of the church and the weaklings of the devils could not achieve years ago."

"Terminate this cursed bloodline."

Several voices spoke one after the other. Soon the warehouse was empty again, with the only thing out of the ordinary being a metal barrel with fire in it. Inside the fire burned three photos, which belonged to Nezuko, Tanjiro, and Kie, their mother.

I don't have a lot to say for the notes. The next chapters will have a lot of slice of life and focus on the relationships, especially with the girls, while the characters settle down, adapt and learn about Kuoh and their friends. There will be a bit of action as well, of course.

Reviews are appreciated.