Disclaimer :

I do not own High School DxD.

High School DxD is owned by Ishibumi Ichiei.

Warning: Bad Grammar

Dialog Tags:

「Spells/ Skills/ Abilities」

thoughts

[long-range communication]

SFX

Chapter 03: Rough Start

"Eh?"

Momo couldn't believe what had just transpired before her. A while ago, she entered the room and apologized for being late. And as she saw a tall, muscular man standing beside Sona, she quickly assumed that he was the newest recruit and introduced herself to him.

She was immediately confused since Kenji was just staring at her with his mouth open slightly. And then, something unexpected happened.

Kenji suddenly lost consciousness with blood dripping from his nose. Thankfully, Sona and Tsubaki could catch him before he hit his head on the desk.

"Hahahaha!"

"Oh my! Giant-senpai is so embarrassing right now! Hahaha!"

"Bwahahaha! Oh God– Ow! Hahaha!"

A burst of laughter came from Tsubasa, Ruruko, and Genshirou. It was from an amusement. Even Reya and Tomoe were giggling at the unbelievable scene.

Sona and Tsubaki sighed while shaking their head. A small smile appeared on their face while they brought the unconscious Kenji to one of the chairs and sat him down.

Momo who was still confused asked Sona,

"Kaichou, what just happened? Is he gonna be okay?"

Sona stiffened her mouth for a while to hold herself from giggling. After exhaling her breath three times, Sona answered,

"He'll be fine. It seems he just got charmed by you, Momo."

Momo widened her eyes for a while. This might be not the first time that someone got charmed by her. However, to this extent? This was something new.

"Kaichou, how about we set him into sleeping on Momo's lap?"

That was a suggestion from Tsubasa which made Ruruko and Genshirou laughed louder than before. Momo just sighed tiredly at that silly suggestion. Sona shook her head while still being amused and said,

"I think we better not do that. If just by looking at Momo he already passed out, I am afraid such strong stimuli will kill him instantly."

"Well, we now know that Momo can defeat him just by standing in front of him," commented Reya with an amused smirk.

"It's not funny, you guys."

Everybody laughed ignoring the frown on Momo's face.

Sona cleaned Kenji's nose using a tissue before he groaned slightly and opened his eyes.

She was stunned for a moment when realizing how sharp his eyes were as she looked at them up close.

Fortunately, she managed to recover quickly.

"It's good you already woke up, Kenji-san."

Kenji who was still half-awake leaned forward after Sona stepped aside to his right. He looked at Sona with a confused look as he asked,

"What happened?"

Before Sona could answer, Ruruko cut in by saying,

"You passed out by an attack from divine power, Giant-senpai."

He stared at Ruruko while tilting his head and said,

"What do you mean? I only sense devils' presence in this room."

Ruruko who was holding back her laughter by puffing her cheeks pointed her finger in a certain direction. Following it, Kenji found the white-haired beauty standing while staring at him with her stoic expression.

Then, a realization kicked in.

"AHHHH!"

Kenji ran into a corner instantly and faced the wall as he crouched wearily. He couldn't believe it. He just messed up and leave a bad impression on her.

Damn it!

He really wanted to cry right now.

Uh.. This is so awkward.

That was a thought Momo had after Sona managed to bring out Kenji from the corner. Right now, the members of Sona's Peerage were sitting in their respective seats, which had made Momo face Kenji.

He was averting his gazes from embarrassment though she could feel Kenji was stealing glances at her occasionally.

Now, Momo wasn't a dense individual. She guessed that Kenji had a crush on her. But to think that he had that feeling on their first meeting was something else for her.

She didn't know what she had to do.

Momo wouldn't and didn't want to ignore Kenji. If she did, she would feel that she was a terrible person. Besides, they needed to communicate with each other since they were in the same Peerage.

However, Momo also didn't want to feel awkward whenever she talked with him.

What should I do about this?

She began to think about how she would treat him from now on. And then,

"Momo!"

She jumped a little when she heard Sona shout her name. She turned her gaze at Sona who stared at her with a stoic face.

"Y-Yes, Kaichou?"

"Look at your hand. Client's calling."

Momo widened her eyes slightly as she stared at the glowing Sitri's sigil on her left hand. It seemed she was too invested in thinking about how she would have to handle the issue with the newest member.

And as she looked around the room, she could only find Sona and Tsubaki. And by not sensing the other members leaving, it proved how much she lost focus on her surrounding.

"I'm sorry, Kaichou. I will get going, then."

Momo rose from her seat and walked away from it before she prepared her teleportation circle.

Sona just sighed softly as she knew the problem she had.

"Momo."

She turned her head at Sona who called her name with a slight frown on her face. She didn't want to show it, but she was scared that Sona would give her a punishment because of how unfocused she just was.

Sona spoke,

"I think you must talk about your situation to Reya or Tomoe. I really want to help you, but it is sad for me to admit that I have no experience with this 'issue'."

Momo slightly widened her eyes before she bowed to Sona and disappeared from the room via teleportation.

After handing out the summoning flyers of Sitri as ordered by Sona, Kenji walked back to the school with weak steps. His shoulders slumped down as he kept groaning weakly.

He couldn't believe that he had to pass out from just seeing Momo cutely tilting her head. He cursed himself for being such an idiot.

"How do I show my face after that? Shit. She must think of me as a freak! Haha..."

He talked to himself and let out a desperate laugh. He was so embarrassed to the extent he was considering ripping out the fabric of space to hide himself in the dimensional gap.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and found Genshirou grinning widely at him after he turned his head.

"Yo!" He waved his free hand at him as he kept grinning.

Kenji let out a small groan before he continued to walk and responded,

"Ughh.. What do you want?"

Genshirou who walked beside him laughed a bit before he answered,

"Relax, dude. Just want to say sorry for my rudeness earlier. You seem like a good person. Let's be friends, eh?"

Kenji snorted at Genshirou.

"Heh! You said that, but we both know that you are willing to become my friend after you are sure that I'm not a threat to you. Good luck on making our King loves you, by the way."

Genshirou backed away a bit and pointed his finger towards Kenji.

"H-How did you know?!"

Now it was Kenji's turn to be grinning while he looked at the flustered Genshirou as he didn't expect someone to know about his feeling towards Sona.

"So it's true, then? Well, my ability to guess is still top-notch, it seems."

"W-What?!"

Of course, it was a lie. He didn't take a guess, but completely knew from the start as he still remembered Genshirou's crush on Sona Sitri from the novel.

The reason he did that was because he wanted to see Genshirou's reaction. Called it a little payback for his rudeness earlier.

"Hahaha! You have to look at your face right now! It's so amusing!"

Genshirou growled at him before he realized that he had something to counter him.

"Shut up! I bet my condition was still better than you who passed out just by looking at your crush."

Kenji choked out his breath when Genshirou mentioned that embarrassing event. After composing himself, he let out a tired sigh and said,

"Haahh.. No need to remind me."

"Hahaha. Sorry, dude. It's too funny, you know? No one expect something like that would happen, after all."

Kenji groaned as he hold his head with both hands.

"Ugghh.. She must've thought of me as a freak. Now I won't have a chance. I messed up."

"Relax, man! Unlike me, you have a face to back you up! I'm sure it will be fine! By the way, that's the first time you meet Hanakai, right? To think you experience love at first sight. Hahaha."

"Oh! For the love of.. Shut it, bollocks!"

Genshirou felt that Kenji was annoyed by his teasing, so he put a stop to it. Still, he couldn't help but to curious about something.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop the teasing. But you don't mind if I ask you about it, right? What makes you like Momo, anyway?"

Forgetting his annoyance, Kenji's eyes flared with spirit and determination as he stopped walking and looked at Genshirou.

He raised both of his arms and yelled,

"How could you be so blind?! She's the most gorgeous young woman I've ever seen! Her white hair is as beautiful as silk! Her pair of blue-green eyes shine like emeralds under a clean ocean! She's more beautiful than a goddess with a smile that beats the beauty of heaven! She's the best! THE BEST!"

Genshirou just gave him a deadpanned look after the passionate rundown of explanation about why he liked Momo.

Meanwhile, Kenji gasped and hurriedly cover his mouth while looking down as he was embarrassed of what he just did.

"You're such a simpleton for Momo, aren't you?" Genshirou asked that rhetorical question.

Kenji ignored him as he walked faster to avoid him making another comment. Genshirou shook his head as a light smile appeared on his face before he followed him.

During their conversation, the boys failed to realize that two girls are watching them from behind the wall.

The girls were Kusaka Reya who was busy giggling as she looked at the frowning Momo who leaned her back to the wall while holding a box of juice in her hand.

"Ufufu. It seems you have a passionate fan, Momo-chan. And a handsome one at that. You're really lucky, you know?"

Momo didn't know how to respond to that except with,

"Yes. I admit he is quite handsome, but his feeling is too heavy."

The giggle stopped after that moment. Reya's face turned serious as she put her hand on Momo's shoulder and said,

"Listen, Momo-chan. Give him a chance. Even though I agree that it's too heavy, I can tell that he harbors a genuine feeling towards you. If you push him away before he makes any move, no one could tell how much it will hurt him. And please remember to act as usual as you could with him. Don't want to make the room awkward, right?"

Momo rubbed her chin as she thought about the advice Reya gave. After a while, she released a sigh and said,

"Alright. I will try. Thank you, Reya."

Reya nodded at her while smiling softly. They then proceeded to go back to the Student Council Office.

How could this happen?

Momo thought as she was walking beside Kenji. The atmosphere between them was very awkward since they didn't talk at all from the moment they left the school.

They were patrolling Kuoh Town right now. As Sona wanted Kenji to have experience in this kind of job, Sona put Momo in charge of him telling him what he had to do and how to interact with the agents of Grigori and Heaven – if they met on their way – who helped them managing the security of the town after Kuoh Treaty established.

Unfortunately, Momo couldn't bring herself to talk to him since she remembered his proclamation earlier. Instead, she tried her best to look away from Kenji even after hearing Reya's advice.

Ah. What should I do? Why did Kaichou put me in charge of him? Why it can't be Reya or Tomoe instead?

She didn't know what Sona had planned. Was this her way of teasing her or she had something else in mind?

Judging by Sona's character, Momo quickly chose to believe in the latter.

Yes. Sona Sitri, one of the most intelligent individuals she knew, must've had a secret reason for making Momo in charge of Kenji.

Trying to decipher her King's thoughts was a hard thing to do for the current Momo. But, she managed to know a part of Sona's reason.

Yes. That must be it! Kaichou wants to make both of us comfortable with each other!

And now she knew, Momo had to do her best to meet her King's expectations.

Alright, Momo. Just be professional. Ignore his quirk and try to forget that freak occurrence.

But before she could open her mouth, Kenji suddenly spoke,

"H-H-Hanakai-san. C-Can we talk?"

Momo instantly turned her head to Kenji who had a faint of red on his cheeks. He tried to look calm but had failed miserably as he stuttered on his words.

She looked at him with a serious expression on her face and responded,

"Yes. Of course, we can talk. What do you want to talk about, Mizushima-san?"

Momo widened her eyes for a moment as she saw Kenji bowed his head to her and said,

"I apologize for causing you trouble. I hope you can forgive me, Hanakai-san."

She blinked in confusion for a while before she realized what he was referring to.

A smile appeared on her face knowing how genuine he was in his apology, even though she felt he didn't need to do it.

"Please, raise your head, Mizushima-san. I forgive you. I hope to work along with you in the Peerage."

After a while, Kenji raised his head and stared at Momo with a smile that surprisingly made Momo stunned for a bit.

"Thank you, Hanakai-san. I hope we can get along and be a friend. At least, for now."

The last sentence was said in Kenji's mind. He still hoped that he and Momo could become much more than a friend without knowing that his wish wouldn't easily be fulfilled.

"Of course, Kenji-san. After all, we need to warm up to each other to work effectively. If that's all, then let's continue our patrol," responded Momo who had her stoic expression back.

Momo then walked past Kenji who found the ground interesting. She kept walking without looking back even once.

A wind blew his hair as he turned around and he stared at Momo for a while before quickly following her.

That was a confirmation for Kenji.

He had messed up and had to endure a rough start in his journey to fulfill his goal. And to be honest with himself,

It hurts.

To be Continued