She who found bonds of friendship

XIII

Issei awoke with a splitting headache, so great was the agony currently lancing through his skull that his transition between slumber and full consciousness was rather jarring. Skipping out entirely on the 'groggy' aspect that normally accompanied waking up.

"Oooh…" A pained groan left his lips, his heads pulling themselves up to cradle his head while his eyes remained tightly shut. If someone had asked him how he was feeling at that very moment, he would have told them to go outside and stick their head under a truck and then come back to him and ask the same question again. It might have been a touch more violent than his usual type of answer but he wasn't in a particular good mood. "...my head…"

Was his head even attached to his body anymore, he was sure he was pressing his hands against his skull - he could feel it on the tips of his fingers - but for the life of him, he couldn't feel his fingers against his skull, it was like touching a brick wall and being surprised when you couldn't feel the same sensations as the clay blocks.

All in all…

It wasn't a good waking for him.

The only other times he had come close to waking up like this would have been if he was in the school nurse's office, after being caught by whatever girls club he and his friends happened to spy on this time. The Kendo club might well have been the most infamous of the bunch, but that didn't exclude the others. He was sure that the swim team had given him the worst beating…

Something that made sense given that their main form of attacking had been kicking and he'd seen the way they paddled those legs in the water. They were attractive as hell in those situations, much less so when they were rocketing towards your face and ribs at maximum speed.

All that aside, his pain and his current lack of feeling - coupled with prior experience - led him to the singular belief that he was in the nurse's office once again. Though he couldn't remember doing anything that would have warranted this sort of beating, he was fairly certain that the last time he'd peeked on the girls would have been…actually, it would have been in the morning and he had been able to get away from them that time. Mainly because they hadn't caught him.

So why was he in this situation?

"...Roman-sensei?" He called out as best he could, hissing as another flash of pain struck his head from the volume of his own words, it was as though someone had held an air horn to the side of his head and let it loose as loud as they could. Coupled with the headache, it was nothing short of agonising for him. The end result had effectively been him getting out the 'Ro' before the pain struck him.

The subsequent hiss of agony only served to make his situation much worse, as if he was put into some manner of vicious cycle. The pain was caused by loud noises, which made him cry out…which was a loud noise which would cause more pain. He wasn't thinking all that much about that aspect of it, only that he was not approaching a level of pain that was not even the worst headache he'd ever had compared to.

He was sure there was a muffled voice before he felt something pry his eyelids open, blue light instantly flashed through his eyes and blinded him for a brief moment, his eyelids burned as he gasped out in pain, waving his hand to try and knock away whatever had just pried open his vision just to assault him.

The attempt at defence didn't earn him much, especially when something gripped his wrist and held it in place. Tightening its grip on him like a vice to the point where he felt as though his hand was starting to go numb. Whether it was because of the sudden restriction or just the fact he had gone quiet, his headache felt as though it was starting to clear up, his vision following not long after and his eyelids rising and falling like shutters.

Soon, his hazel dyed eyes were dancing around the space in front of him and rapidly locking onto whatever blob of colour they happened to land upon. It would barely last a second before he would move to the next once, then finally recalling what he was searching for and moving his head towards the direction of his trapped arm, his left limb held loosely in the air while in the grip of something humanoid.

He couldn't make out any of the facial details, other than the fact they had long hair and were wearing a blue shirt, his right hand moved towards his trapped limb and tried to pry the fingers around his wrist off him. "Ge-"

"Stop fidgeting for a moment or I'll end up knocking you out." An authoritative voice stopped him in his tracks, there was just something about the tone that made Issei absolutely convinced that whomever had spoken - it sounded female and vaguely familiar to him - would almost certainly follow through on that threat. So he complied with the demand, though his muscles didn't lose their tension and he still moved his right arm to brace his left.

"Good." The woman's voice called out again, "You were on the receiving end of a rather nasty mental attack, very nearly fried every single nerve in your head. Not quite as bad as it could have been but not something I would want to be on the receiving end of." a pause, then the blur in front of him jostled, their shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "Though you must feel like you've woken up from the single worst hangover in history."

"...Huh?"

"Actually, that's a pretty accurate analogy. Your brain was flooded with divine power so someone did something around there and you just weren't able to handle any of it." All of that went mostly over Issei's head, more on account of him being completely and utterly out of it at the moment and only just barely recovering. Even if he wasn't, most of it would still have been lost to him. "So I'm just gonna have to purge your brain once again."

"Purge wha-gah!"

The blur moved, something small and cylindrical was held up in front of his eyes and then flashed once again, his eyes clenched shut and he leaned away from the light, an aching feeling shot through his head as he shook it from side to side, as if that would somehow send the pain flying away from him and into the furthest reaches of wherever it had initially come from.

He didn't care, just so long as he didn't have to deal with it.

"I shall assume there is nothing you can do about the discomfort?" Issei recognised that second voice too, also female and sounding concerned about him? That was nice.

"This is the fast solution you wanted. I'm flooding his brain with a counter agent to the Holy power still lingering there. It's just colonic irrigation for the brain."

"Fitting." A third voice chimed in, barely above a whisper and almost devoid of all emotion save for the faintest hint of amusement. He wasn't sure what the words 'colonic irrigation' were, but somehow he felt as though he should have been offended that the comparison was made to him and how it was described as fitting. Issei was fairly decent at picking out when someone was insulting him or not.

"Koneko, please." Koneko? He was certain he heard that correctly. What was Koneko doing here? For that matter, the second voice sounded even more familiar to the point where he was now certain he could place it. No, it was beyond certain. He knew without any shadow of a doubt who the second voice belonged to. That was Buchou! "At least try to pretend you're concerned about your fellow peerage member."

"Hmmm."

"Though I must say, I find this to be a rather surprising tool you have developed. Have you encountered something like this before?"

"Someone's brain flash fried with Holy Power? No. Never." The first voice responded to Rias with a curious glint to it. Issei wasn't exactly filled with confidence, though he was still pleased that his thoughts were now starting to come together more clearly to the point where he could actually say if he had confidence or not in regards to something like this. "Though the principle remains more or less the same with other mental attacks, it's just a matter of driving the magical energy clinging to the mind out of the body with an influx of another spell."

"So this was mere guess work?" Rias' voice now contained an edge to it, something Issei found surprising and a little endearing, as though she was worried for his safety and-wait…guess work? What did she mean 'guess work'?

A snort from the first voice "Yes, but this is a guess from me. So it might as well be correct." his eyes opened up once more, focusing on the blur and squinting as his vision cleared up, the shapes became more and more detailed, his eyes widened ever so slightly. The brunette's face soon occupied most of his vision, his left hand still held tightly in her opposing palm with her fingers wrapped around him like a clamp.

In the brunette's right hand was a small metallic device with a curvature at the end, a small jewel carved into the shape of a rhombus lay at the end of it, glowing an eerie blue and pulsating. It looked like an upside down L to him. Though he might have only had a couple of conversations with the woman, he knew who she was well enough.

She made quite the impression on him, so it was expected.

"M-Mrs Archaman?"

"Ah! See?" Leona sent a proud smirk to someone standing off to her right, a place where Issei wasn't currently looking and therefore couldn't see. "He's both conscious and lucid enough to be able to tell who he is speaking to." She released his arm, letting him drag the now numb limb back towards himself and cradle it close to his chest.

Why the hell was her grip so strong?

"Told you, guesses from me are as good as confirmed." Another boast came from her as she crossed her arms over her chest, the sky blue button up shirt jostled as she leaned back into nothing and grinned, it took Issei a faint moment to glance down and notice that the woman was currently kneeling down on a carpet and he was not in a place he recognised.

"Still…even if you're confident, I would at least like to be made aware of such things beforehand in the future." Rias voice drew his attention to his left, his eyes wandered upwards as he did so and found himself staring up at the portrait side of Rias face, her expression set in a troubled frown before her blue eye glanced down at him, then widened slightly as she turned to face him fully. Dropping down to her knees and staring at him from over the armrest.

Issei was more focused on her chest now being supported by the armrest of the sofa.

A knowing snort had him wince and glance to his original view, then noticed the semi-amused smile on the face of the nurse's wife and her knowing gleam in her eyes. Yep, she knew what he had just done and she knew that he knew that she knew. "I suppose we can confirm that his brain doesn't seem to be suffering from any immediate signs of damage."

"No more than usual." Koneko's words were like nails being driven into his already battered form, he wasn't sure what had happened to him but he wasn't feeling thrilled by his current position or the bedside manner he was on the receiving end of. Koneko's voice coming from somewhere in the room didn't help matters much either.

Rias sighed to his left "Koneko…"

"...Hmmm."

Leona merely grunted, not looking as though she was particularly bothered one way or the other in regards to the whole affair. "You can worry about internal damage to his mind at a later date, this is just a quick fix method I had on hand so you didn't spend the next week trying to repair the damage done by whatever had struck him." a frown made its way onto her face. "Speaking of which, did you see what manner of weapon caused it? I've never heard of a Fallen Angel doing something like this under their own power."

There was a silence from Rias "...Nor have I, in truth. When you told me his mind had been flooded with Holy Power I was rather shocked, not least of all because a member of the Fallen should not be capable of channelling such energy since they were cut off from Heaven. The same would apply to Asia since she was excommunicated, or so the reports have mentioned in detail."

"I suppose the only other method that remains would be to ask them personally and just hope they're nice enough to fill you in."

A chuckle from Rias "Perhaps over some tea and jaffa cakes?"

"...You really like those, huh?"

"I believe they are acceptable, yes."

The conversation had taken a back seat in Issei's brain, however, as he pieced together what little he knew about the last couple sentences. His presence here, the mention of the Fallen Angels for whatever reason and Asia.

Asia…

The last thing he remembered was-

"Asia!" Her name left his throat as a mixture between a gasp of horror and a shout of anger, pulling himself up quickly and going light headed, his hands shot up to balance his head up and stop himself from falling back down immediately. But he didn't have time for that sort of thing "Where's Asia-?"

"You mean the Nun that I explicitly told you was an enemy of ours because of her association with the Grigori?" There was something about Rias tone that had him lock up, forgetting all his worries and soon feeling as though he wasn't going to like what he saw if he turned in the direction of the Occult Research President. Though the choice was very clearly taken out of his hands. "Issei. Look at me."

Slowly as he could, to the point where he thought he could ever hear the grinding of his bones as he used his neck muscles to pivot his head, Issei dragged his vision sideways and then angled it upwards so that he could adhere to the command of Rias. He really hated being right all the time, because the look she was giving him was somewhere between disappointment and frustration.

"B-Buchou…I-"

"The same nun who was only recently involved in the murder of an associate of ours? Who was allied with the very same man who tried to kill you immediately?" She continued onwards, not even allowing a second in which he could have offered a rebuttal. "An individual who was clearly of importance to them and you decided that it was acceptable to not only ignore my instructions, but drag a non-combatant into what would undoubtedly become a combat situation with a hostile faction?"

He would have spoken up at that point, but the best he could manage was an ashamed noise as he fought the urge to look away from her. The chances were that if he did that, she would just demand he look her in the eye again. It wasn't as though she was incorrect either, he had been expecting something like this in the back of his mind but he didn't care at the time.

"And because of your actions, both you and Archaman-sensei ended up getting hurt." She gave him a pointed look, her lip showing her dissatisfaction. "Neither of which sit particularly well with me. What you have done was both reckless and foolish." her arms were brought up, crossing under her chest as she stared down her nose at him, sapphire blue orbs narrowed at him in disappointment. "And it could have very well ended with your deaths."

"...I-"

"And would have involved the Gremory name. A peerage is more than simply an affiliation with me, Issei. You represent the Gremory family - my family - at all times and there is no telling what the result could have been if you had gotten injured." She leaned forwards, resting her arms on the side of the sofa and looming over him, forcing him to straighten up and shuffle backwards. "Or worst of all, killed. Archaman-sensei had the excuse of ignorance…but you did not, Issei…"

"I can't…" His head was still ringing, moving his hand up to grasp his temples "Roman-sensei got hurt?" he had trouble placing it, the last thing he recalled was coming up on the turn and then nothing. He got flashes of the nurse being sent flying and Asia screaming…Yuuma's face was there for whatever reason as well…

Yuuma…

"...What happened to Asia?" He had trouble keeping the tremble out of his voice, even now it was still barely above a whisper as he glanced around the room. First to Rias then to Leona "...Where's Roman-sensei?"

"He's currently sleeping off a rather nasty blow to the head." Rias answered bluntly, something that had him flinch on instinct. He recalled the last time that the nurse had gotten injured and it had been a result of him going off and doing something a little bit foolish. If that was the case this time, he didn't know what he would do. "I don't suppose you might shed some light on this?"

"...Yuuma punched him in the chest, flew across the road and landed on his head…I think, I just saw him fly."

His eyes turned downcast.

"And that was all you saw?"

"I mean…yeah…my head still sort of hurts but…Roman-sensei went down and…" He grimaced, shooting a glance towards Leona and finding himself blanching at her emotionless face. In any other situation, he wouldn't be so worried about the lack of visible emotion on someone's face. In this situation? It was just eerily horrifying. Like waiting for a jumpscare in a move, tension so thick that you were absolutely certain that something was going to happen and you were just counting down the seconds until it did.

"...The Fallen retreated as soon as she saw myself and Koneko arrive, evidently she had been delayed by the two of you long enough for Leona here to alert us." She frowned heavily "Something you should be thankful for, any longer and your actions might have ended more severely than a mere headache and a bruised temple."

Now he just felt horrible.

"I am not saying this to be cruel, Issei…you must simply understand that as long as the nun is a part of the Grigori then we cannot associate with her in any capacity. That is simply the way things are. Our two factions are enemies."

"Asia isn't like that!" He blurted out before he could help it, his eyes snapping up towards Rias "She's just a nice girl! She heals people because she thinks she's supposed to! She's not with those creeps because she wants to be either! I don't want to be her enemy-!"

"What you want doesn't factor into it." Rias shut him down coldly "This is simply the way in which the world works. Our two factions are enemies, she is allied with the very same Fallen who killed you barely a week ago, and who injured Archman-sensei. Simply 'wishing' for the nun to stop being your enemy because you cannot bear the thought of hurting her isn't good enough."

"Just tell me where she is-"

"So you can do what? Ignore what I just told you and go charging off into the waiting arms of the Fallen? Did you forget that I told you your actions will reflect on the Gremory and on your fellow peerage members."

"So just sack me if I'm such a nuisance! I'm just a pawn! It's not like you'd lose anything of value!" He snapped before he could help himself, but he was incensed at this point in time. If he was truly such a problem then he was fine with being cut loose, just so long as he didn't cause trouble for anyone else with what he wanted. Right now, what he wanted was to save Asia from those creeps. She obviously didn't want anything to do with them.

So what if she was Grigori?

That had nothing to do with whether or not he wanted to help her!

"Don't be foolish." Rias didn't even look put off by his sudden shout, instead placing her hands on her hips "You think your value is so little to me that I would just dismiss you so quickly? And you should not so swiftly look down on the pawn." a smirk made its way onto her lips "You should pay more attention to the game of chess, Issei. A pawn can quite easily become a Queen in the right circumstances, or perhaps a knight?"

Issei just made a face at her "...Huh?"

"But that is neither here nor there. This matter is now closed, I am returning, myself and Akeno have something to attend to." She pointed at Issei "I do not want to see you saving this nun." she glanced past him over the top of the sofa "Koneko had elected to remain for as long as she is allowed, however long your host extends that courtesy to you is not up to me."

Without waiting for another word, she walked past the sofa while granting one final glance in the direction of Leona. "Oh, yes. In relation to those crow problems, it turns out that they aren't supposed to be there. So I'll be sure to send someone along quickly to help you in dealing with that little issue." she resumed her walk "I'll see you later, Koneko. Avoid causing too big of a mess."

"Hmm." As expected, Koneko's response wasn't all that loud, the girl just humming in affirmation. Though Issei didn't turn in her direction, still staring at Rias back as she ventured towards the door to the room, pausing as she made to close it behind herself.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs Archaman. It's a wonderful house."

"Thanks. Roman picked out the coffee table."

"Did he? It's a very nice coffee table."

What even was this conversation?

"I hope to see you again very soon."

"Sure, if I ever get bored, I might invite one or two of you around." Leona chuckled at her words "Besides, with how busy this town can get, I'm sure it won't be too long before we encounter one another once again."

"Fufufu. If you say so." The door was closed with a clicking noise, a few moments passed before they heard the front door open and close through the wood.

"...Mrs Archaman…I-"

"If you're going to apologise about Romani, I'd rather you didn't say anything." He closed his eyes, he should have been expecting this as well. Especially after her not so subtle threat in relation to what would happen to him if the nurse got hurt in any way because of him. Which was exactly what had happened. "Especially since I was the one who allowed you to continue on. It wasn't as though I didn't know how important Asia was to the Fallen around here."

"Still, I-huh?" His eyes flew wide, his head snapped up and he all but gaped at the woman, watching as she slotted herself in the chair to the right of the sofa, crossing one leg over the other and looking rather amused at him. Though there were clear crinkles in her cheeks and foreheads where she had obviously been frowning. He didn't need to figure out why.

"And why chess? Of all the things that Devils could have picked, why did they pick chess?" She continued onwards, cupping her chin and raising an eyebrow to herself. He wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to herself, probably herself because he wasn't going to be able to give her an answer. Not with his mind still reeling from her previous statement. "Why not something like chequers? Or Risk?" a moment of silence before she snorted "Even Dungeons and Dragons would have made a bit more sense than chess."

"Umm…"

"It's not even that interesting a game? Were they trying to replicate strategy or something? But which sounds more impressive to you? Pawn or Warrior monk?" She didn't even wait for him to respond before she continued onwards "Even with the Bishop being related to magic, it would still sound more impressive if you called it 'Paladin Warlock'. That sounds much cooler, doesn't it?"

"I-I guess?" It did sound a little nicer than Pawn but at the same time "What are you even talking about?"

"Hmmm? Ah, yes. I suppose you're feeling a little lost right now, aren't you? As to be expected. I'm a mage so I knew all about your little date through my magical powers." She waved her fingers around as she said that, earning a baffled face from Issei. "So I was the one who asked Roman to bring Asia back here…and I was the one who wasn't paying attention. Really, this entire affair was my own blunder for not assuming that the Fallen - who had already proven themselves stupid beyond my wildest fantasies - would do something stupid."

"R-right…so…" Shaking his head, he looked to the side "How is Roman-sensei?"

"...He's fine, now." She replied after a moment of silence "Nothing so much as a scratch on him, which is rather lucky, all things considered. He's still asleep but I expect he's going to be waking up soon." the brunette turned her head to the left, letting it hang almost lazily "Which I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear about, hmmm~" her lips curled into a wry smile "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about Romani being so popular all of a sudden."

Issei just made a face at her, then shook his head from side to side "So…Roman-sensei is alright then?" he let out a sigh of relief at that, he wasn't sure how he would feel if the nurse got hurt. Not that he regretted his actions, but he would regret the fact that anyone got hurt as a result of them. He briefly paused, considering something and soon turning his head to look over his shoulder, positioned just behind the sofa on a put up chair with a cardboard box in her hands.

Koneko stared back at him with a completely dispassionate gaze, her arm still halfway into the box. Sitting upon a wooden chair in the far corner, just to the side of the front windows. The fact she hadn't moved since he made eye contact with her made him - for a moment - believe she was a statue of some kind. Though the impression quickly fell away when she resumed her movements, albeit rather slow.

With almost snail-like speed, she withdrew a small chocolate covered biscuit from the box on her lap, all while staring him dead in the eyes, then moved it towards her mouth and bit down on it with a crunch that almost seemed to echo around the room. A moment later, her eyes narrowed at him in suspicion, her posture shifting and becoming more guarded than before, almost as though she was expecting him to try and do something.

"...So how come you're here?"

She wordlessly glanced down at the biscuits on her lap, then back at him with a raised eyebrow. Issei might have been a little oblivious at times, but he could very easily determine that she was making some sort of unspoken comment towards him along the lines of 'Why are you asking something so obvious?'.

Clearing his throat, he turned back around and found himself staring at Leona once again, watching as she still sat motionless since her last position, left leg crossed over her right and her arms positioned just under her chest as if to accentuate her body. Issei made no effort to look below her chin, if only because he considered himself to have some sort of principles in the matter.

"Are you going to wait around for Roman to wake up?" He almost gasped when she suddenly spoke up, her tone of voice shifting into something different, more gentle. Issei found himself briefly torn between answering her one way or the other. Biting his lip and glancing down to his lap, twisting his hands so he could stare at his palms. Flexing his hands back and forth for a few seconds.

"...Is that okay for me to do?"

"...I don't see why not." Her response was without judgement "I know that Roman thinks of you as his friend, strange as it is that he's made friends with someone half his age, but I'm not going to complain about it that far." as he raised his eyes, he saw her expression was far more understanding than he would have expected. "Though I'm curious if that is really alright with you, though?"

"..."

"You're still thinking about Asia, aren't you?" He wasn't surprised she knew, it was hardly as though he was going to make it any less obvious one way or the other. Fact of the matter was, regardless of what Buchou had told him, he had very little intention of simply leaving Asia there. What he wanted to do, rather what he felt as though he needed to do, was go there and save her. For the simple reason being that she was the sort of person who deserved to have some sort of happiness given to her.

It wasn't a very complicated reason and it wasn't one that should have needed explaining.

He just thought Asia should be happy and that was that.

"...Yeah. I am."

"Even after what your King just said?"

"...Probably." A mirthless chuckle left his throat, his hands moving past his face and resting on the back of his head, his eyes fell shut as a sigh left him. "You probably think that's a bit stupid, right?"

"A little." He probably should have been more offended, but it wasn't as though Leona was wrong. He was sure that Koneko thought he was an idiot as well, especially since the sound of chewing biscuits had long since stopped since he last paid attention, he could also feel a burning stare in the back of his neck. No doubt from his fellow peerage member staring at him. "Though what is heroism without a dash of recklessness?"

Her teasing voice brought his attention to her once more, his eyes opened to reveal a strange sharpness to her smile that hadn't been there before, it almost looked like a cat picking on a mouse or something. The one saving grace being that it might have been aimed in his direction, but it wasn't specifically directed at him. He just so happened to be in the way at the time.

"Besides…If you're both going to stick around here for Roman-" She glanced at Koneko and offered a wry smile "-and eat my food."

"You offered." Koneko simply replied.

"Fair, but I'm doing a bit here." Leona waved her hand as she continued onwards, not at all looking concerned or troubled by the interruption from the white haired girl. "If you're both going to do that, then the least you can do is accompany me on a little errand, hmmm~?"

An errand? She was concerned about chores at a time like this?

"Especially since I've received permission from a certain someone to go perform a little act of pest control." There was something about her words, as though she was alluding to some unspoken joke or perhaps there was another meaning to her words. Either or, Issei didn't particularly care for them beyond the initial remark about them.

No, what he was more focused on was Asia. Sharply rising from his chair and noticing the way in which the woman's eyes tracked him, though he once again paid little heed to it, already moving past her towards the door. He only stopped when her hand moved out faster than he could react to and clamped down around his left wrist like a vice. "I take it you're away to do that little reckless heroism, then?"

"...Please let me go.

"Nope." She replied before he could finish, he tensed as her words cut through whatever defence he had left. "Because you're going to be helping me deal with a couple of birds that are a touch just outside of their normal area and have now gotten to the point where I am getting motivated to deal with them." uncrossing her legs, she rose from her seat with a slowness about her that was reminiscent of a patient hunter. "And considering that you're involved in this, I would say I am well within my rights to request some…volunteer help."

"Look, I'm sorry about Roman-sensei-" He began, only to pause and widen his eyes as she raised her right hand up and forced her index finger into his lips in a 'shushing' motion. He went cross eyed as he focused on the digit in question, then glanced back up at the woman as she stared at him blankly.

"This and that are now two different things." Her words were hard, a forceful texture to them which was virtually compelling him to listen to her. "Now, are you going to stand there for a moment while I explain something to you?"

He wordlessly nodded his head up and down.

"Excellent." He assumed she was trying to be clever when she spoke in Italian, raising an eyebrow at her a moment later in confusion only brought him a tired look. "Ah, yes…you all understand virtually every language, don't you? Nevermind that now." she released him and took a step backwards, crossing her arms over her chest once more. "Now then, especially since you're going to run away and do something completely and utterly without common sense, it naturally falls upon the only responsible adult in the room to make sure you don't do that."

"But Asia-"

"I mean, what sort of idiot runs off half cocked without a single plan in his mind?" She continued on, speaking over him as he tried to get his point across, making gestures with her hand all the while as her eyes wandered away from him. "You don't understand anything about being a Devil, you've barely managed to grasp the simple fundamentals on a Sacred Gear and you're walking right into a Church - abandoned or not - where you'll no doubt be out numbered at least five to one, that we can confirm."

Her eyes fell back to him "And lets not forget, these are Fallen Angels who survived the Great War against both Heaven and Hell, who would have been mere grunts on the frontlines during some of the worst fighting the planet has ever seen on this side of the supernatural…Then there is your repertoire of skills that amount to…" she fell silent and Issei felt a wave of shame and indignation flood through him. "...An hour of shadow boxing or maybe doing Power Rangers moves as a kid while trying to look cool?"

Now he was starting to feel a little insulted "Okay, maybe it's not a great plan but it's better than sitting around and doing-"

"And you elected to ignore the fact that there is someone present who has a connection with Asia, is allied with the Gremory peerage and therefore has opened her services to all members and might be a little willing to lend some assistance." Leona cut him off once more, he felt a haze of irritation sweep through him at her continued habit of speaking over him whenever he tried to make a point. Combined with her lackadaisical manner of speaking with that carefree smile on her lips…

Issei just felt a great wave of anger directed both towards her and towards himself, though he didn't let it show. He wasn't going to start an argument now of all times, especially not when there were more important things to be worried about like Asia. He didn't even know what sort of point she was trying to make in the first place to begin with.

Electing to ignore who?

"It's not like said person makes magical items for people to use whenever they want…and it's not like she'd be willing to waive the cost for this one expedition considering its something she wants to do herself as well?" The brunette pulled her arms behind her back, leaning forwards slightly and letting a lazy smile dance upon her lips while her eyes turned half-lidded. "It's not like anyone around here fits any of those criteria, right?"

He just stared at her, squinting slightly and blinking several times "...What the heck are you talking about?"

The smile vanished, replaced by a deadpan look as she glanced over his shoulder towards Koneko, raising an eyebrow and wearing an expression that just screamed incredulity. "Was I being too subtle or something? I'm at a loss as to how he missed all of that."

"...Idiot."

Koneko's whispered insult might have been the last straw for him.

"Alright, I get it!" He snapped, stomping his foot down and throwing his hands up in irritation "It's not a very smart thing to do and it's the exact opposite of what Buchou told me! But I'm not going to give up now, sure it's running counter to everything you guys have told me so far but you know what? I don't care!" he was breathing heavily at this point, he was receiving bewildering glances from the woman in front of him and a blank look from the white haired girl.

Issei ignored both of their expressions, instead focusing more on his own feelings at the time. "I don't care what happens to me or if I get hurt! What matters to me right now is making sure that Asia gets out of that shit hole and into a place where she can actually feel like someone gives a damn about her! So you can shout and insult me all you like but I'm going and I'm not gonna take no for an answer!"

He was taking in greedy breaths at this point, his eyes flickering between the two of them and with sweat starting to form on his forehead, he felt as though he'd just screamed out all his supply of oxygen but he said what he felt needed to be said. He was going to save Asia from being around those creeps and he was probably also going to kick Yuuma's ass for hurting Roman-sensei.

It wasn't like she didn't deserve it.

Leona just stared at him, her brows slightly raised and her head tilted to the side. After a moment of nothing from her, she finally started to move. Her left hand coming out from behind her back, her index finger raised and reaching towards her cheek, finger curling slightly before she scratched herself. Then she blinked once "A very…passionate speech."

Was that seriously all she had to say?

"But if you'd actually paid attention to anything that I said instead of thinking I was running counter to you, perhaps you might have noticed how I was describing how willing I was to lend you a hand."

"...Eh?"

"Ah, so now you understand what I'm saying?" The hand came away, moving to her hip as her lips curled into an amused smirk, leaning on her left leg. "I see you're one of those types that don't much understand vague statements and prefer everything being spelled out for them. I was going for a more classical approach of hypotheticals to try and get across the implication of what I was offering…but I suppose it doesn't really change what we're gonna end up doing at the end of the day now, does it?"

"...You…huh?"

An eyebrow was raised at him "Really? Did you think that somehow I was just going to leave you high and dry?" she sent him a puzzled look "Did you seriously forget that I was the one who told Roman to bring Asia back here in the first place? What did you think I was having her come here for if not for a slight case of 'asset repossession'." she even went as far as to raise her right hand and make the quotation marks with her fingers.

All Issei could do was stand there now feeling a little dumb. "But…you…eh?" He wasn't saying anything that he wanted to say, instead pointing towards the door where Rias had left "But Buchou said…and aren't you…?"

"Hmm? I suppose Miss Gremory did allude to something in regards to the nun being an enemy." Leona remarked with a wave of her hand, then cracked a smirk "But it's a really funny thing. When you work with people for as long as I do, especially when you start making contractual arrangements, you tend to look at a little thing we call the 'fine print' so to speak." she jerked her head to the door. "In this case, Miss Gremory mentioned how she didn't want to see you saving Asia and that as long as she was affiliated with the Fallen, she was an enemy."

A pleased smile came to her face, spreading her arms wide "Simple. We go in, recruit her into our little cabal, and we do so while Miss Gremory is away with whatever meeting has her occupied." a beat before she tacked on at the end "So she technically won't see you doing anything. You'll have already done it by the time you meet again."

To say that Issei was left dumbfounded by the remark would have been to completely understate the entire response. He was bewildered beyond any shadow of a doubt. True enough, the longer he thought about what Leona had said, the more it made sense, but it was just one of those things that made so much sense that it broke through the realms of normalcy and looped back around into madness once again.

Following Rias whole command to the letter was something he hadn't even considered, let alone using it as an excuse. All the same, it was a convenient excuse regardless and he couldn't help but feel his annoyance and puzzlement melt away like snow in the summer sun, replaced by a blooming flower of hope in his gut. "You mean…you'll-?"

"Help? Naturally." Leona stated as though the answer had been obvious, rolling her hands up into fists and then placing them on her hips as though she was some manner of super hero, even going so far as to jut her chin out and stare just off to the side, almost waiting for a gust of wind to come in and blow at some imaginary cape. She looked rather ridiculous but at this rate, Issei wasn't going to complain about getting help.

"Wait but…aren't you?" Issei bit his lip, looking Leona up and down with a new sense of trepidation. Images of how easily Roman-sensei was sent ragdolling through the air played on his mind in repeat. He couldn't even begin to imagine how the man would react when he awoke and found out his wife had gone to do something dangerous just to help Issei out with something.

"Aren't I?"

"...Roman-sensei would be worried about you." It was a simple comment, but it seemed to spark some sort of reaction inside the woman, her eyes briefly flickered as apprehension flashed across her features. So fleeting that it could scarcely have been said to occur at all, but all the same, it had occurred. "And you're not…"

"A Devil, is what you're going to say?" She raised an eyebrow, completing his thought and looking back at him now with a blank expression, gone was her earlier amusement and excitement. Now replaced with cold indifference. "Because I'm just a human and you've seen what even the lowest of Fallen can do to a human, right?" She gave a smile that was all teeth, her eyes flashing dangerously "Especially since you've gotten front row seats to what they can do to a human…three times now, I believe?"

Issei hesitated, not just because it was a sore topic for him but also because he got the feeling he might have said something wrong. All the same, he felt like it needed to be said. "I'm not ungrateful for anything but…"

"You are right though." Her blunt admittance and shrug of the shoulders caused him to feel no shortage of surprise at her acceptance of his words. "I'm just a regular human. Nothing like Devils, Grigori or Angels. Not even like the Yokai and certainly not like the Gods. I'm just a weak little human."

There was something about the way she emphasised the word that gave him the distinct impression she was having fun with it. As though it was a joke to the world or something like that.

"Which is why I know, better than anyone, how useful creativity can be…because when you're at the bottom of the food chain, you tend to think smart to avoid getting snacked on by predators." Her smile sharpened "And I'm a very creative person. As for Roman…He'll be very worried, yes." the expression softened "But he's also the type to try and do the best for everyone. So when he wakes up and hears what happened to Asia…He'll most certainly be torn between going out and wanting to help her and being afraid of getting hurt."

"So…you're going instead?"

"I am more than a match for a couple low ranking angels of the Grigori." Leona boasted with a wave of her hand, although Issei got the distinct impression it wasn't much of a boast. The way she phrased it was like it was in the same ranking as saying she was more than a match for an angry rat or something. He was a little envious of her seemingly limitless confidence.

"But-"

"I can see why you and Roman might get along so well. You're both much too worried over the smallest of things." With a mirthful huff, she jerked her head towards the direction of Koneko "Besides, it's not like we're going alone…are we?"

It took a moment for her words to register with him, when they did he craned his head in the direction of the Rook and blinked once at her. Koneko's doll-like face betrayed none of what she was feeling, instead she just opted to stare at Leona for a few moments of silence, then spoke up. "Have to keep pervert alive." She shrugged her shoulders, glancing back down to the box of biscuits and pulling another one out "Look out for each other. He'll end up going anyway." her sentence ended when she crunched down on the sugary treat.

"Koneko-chan…" Issei sniffled at her, feeling a surge of emotion wash through him. Even ignoring the slight quip about him as he realised she was going to help. "...Thanks."

"Hmm."

Leona made a noise "So how is it that when I offer to help, a grown woman, you go 'but what if you get hurt?'" she gestured to the Rook "But when she offers to help, you get all teary eyed and thankful?"

"...No offence, but I haven't seen you shatter brick walls with your bare hands."

"...Fair enough." There was a pause from the woman, a frown came upon her face as if she was considering something. Then the frown reversed itself, moving into a more amused curl of the lip as her eyes danced between himself and Koneko "So if you saw me break something tough with my bare hands, there would be no issues?"

Issei would have liked to imagine she was joking.

Although something about that look she was giving him signalled to the boy that she really wasn't joking in the least. As if she was somehow taking that as a challenge for her to overcome, or perhaps she just wanted to show off. Issei was quickly coming to the conclusion that Roman-sensei's wife might be about doing that sort of thing.

Not that he was going to argue against her.

"I-it's fine." Sputtering on the first word as he rushed to back pedal, he raised up his hands to ward her away from getting any more ideas. Or ideas that might involve something being broken that didn't need to be broken. "Just…happy for the help, I guess." A sigh escaped him, his hands coming back down to his hips as he glanced at Koneko, the white haired girl hadn't said all that much during the entirety of the conversation.

She didn't say all that much on the best of days either, but he didn't know if he was basically dragging her along because he was stubborn or if she was coming of her own free will. "Are you really alright with coming, Koneko-chan?"

It might be weird, but he'd like clarification on it before he thought of doing anything else.

"Hmmm." Koneko just hummed in affirmation, giving a single nod of her head without even looking towards him. Though that was the expected sort of response he had when he tried to get her attention. He considered it a good day if she even so much as looked at him.

"...Well then…" Clearing his throat, he locked eyes with the door that led to the hallway and took a single step forwards. "Let's get-"

Leona lowered an arm like a ticket barrier, hovering the limb just in front of his chest and staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "I like being spontaneous as much as the next person, but do you even know what you're going to be walking into?"

"...Uhmmmm…"

"No, exactly." The arm was raised, moving back to the woman "Which is why we need a little something called a plan. Though making one right now would be a little troublesome, especially since we're waiting on one more person-"

As if on cue, that was when there was a ring of the doorbell. Issei tilted his head at the tune, raising an eyebrow as what he imagined a sound that would have come from an old music box would be like. Glancing up at the tune which sounded rather sombre, almost a little depressing now that he thought about it.

After around seven or eight seconds, the tune cut out and left the room in silence once more.

Not making an effort to hide his emotions at the doorbell tune, Leona just stared at him and shrugged. "I like it, maybe it's a little saddening but it's still quite nice, right?"

"Uh-huh…" He wasn't convinced, though he quickly remembered something else "Wait, wait, what do you mean more help?"

"Who do you think rang the doorbell?" The woman remarked with a huff as she turned on her heel, disappearing around the corner. A moment later, the door was opened up with a creak and her voice filtered through once more. "You got here fairly quickly, didn't you?"

"I am Rias Gremory's Knight." Issei felt his lip curl into a grimace at the voice, the voice that he loathed with a passion. That which belonged perhaps the greatest enemy of all those who were like him. "If I wasn't fast, I wouldn't be very good."

"I suppose not, come on inside then."

Sure enough, Issei heard a new set of footsteps as the owner of the voice echoed throughout the room. After a short silence where the handsome bastard presumably remembered his manners and took off his shoes, Leona emerged around the corner with one Yuuto Kiba in tow. The boy raised an eyebrow when he noticed Issei, then glanced to the side and made eye contact with Koneko.

The bastard was silent for a moment, then spoke up "I feel as though I have walked into something that requires a touch more of an explanation than the one I was provided with." His tone was a little wry, mixed with something bordering on concern or perhaps tension. Issei didn't focus too much on it, instead he found himself fighting back his glare aimed at the handsome prick.

His eyelids fell shut, his right hand moved towards his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. Taking deep breaths in and out as he looked past his dislike of Kiba and towards the matter at hand, that being that Asia needed help and right now he didn't exactly have much room to turn down anyone who was willing. Even if they might get in trouble for it.

"What one were you provided with?" Leona asked as she moved about the room, leaving Kiba awkwardly standing in the doorway.

"Buchou summoned me to this location, told me to make sure you all didn't get hurt, and then left to attend something with Himejima-senpai." Kiba replied with a tilt of the head, the beginnings of a smile on his lips as he stared at the woman. "Though I suppose this is our first proper meeting with one another…" he bowed his head lightly "Yuuto Kiba."

"Hmmm. Leona Archaman." She chuckled, "Certainly a polite one." there was a brief pause before she shrugged her shoulders, seemingly dismissing him for a moment as she walked towards Issei, the boy in question blinked and managed all of a single step backwards before her hand clamped down on his right shoulder and pulled him forwards, spinning herself around and dragging him in front of her like a human shield. "As for that explanation…We're going to break into a church run by Grigori and steal a nun."

Kiba stared.

Then he blinked.

Then he opened his mouth.

Then it closed again.

"It's as exciting as it sounds." Leona - not so helpfully - chimed in from behind Issei, the boy in question feeling precious little aside from a headache at her explanation. The worst thing was that she was absolutely right and at the same time, that sentence was so unbelievably simple that it made them look like they were troublemakers rather than rescuers.

"I…see?" Kiba replied back, rather slowly and leaving Issei with the impression that he very much did not see. Though it wasn't as though he could be blamed for that. "...Sorry, I don't want to sound rude, but would you perhaps run that by me again?"

"Sure, sure." Waving her hand, Leona walked back towards the far end of the room, Issei watched as she made for the door that led to somewhere, he presumed it might have been the kitchen or something. "We'll need to make a plan anyway so I can fill you in on the details. I already know where Asia will be so all that we need is to simply find a simple method of breaking in and swiping her."

"I've been in this room less than a minute and I'm already embroiled in a kidnapping plot." Kiba commented after a moment of silence, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at the back of Leona. "Exciting, indeed."

"Blame him." Koneko grunted, it took Issei a moment to notice that she was pointing in his direction. "Wants to save someone."

Issei fought back a comment when Kiba turned to face him, expression unreadable.

"Is that so?" The boy whispered, something odd reflected in his tone, then the picture perfect smile came back upon his features - Issei wanted to vomit at the sight of it - and he nodded his head slightly. "In that case, I would be more than willing to lend my aid to this cause. Especially if it is the word of my King to keep you safe."

"You're really trying to go for that whole Knight thing, huh?" Leona chuckled from across the room.

"Well…They say to speak for the job you want, no?" Kiba replied with a shrug "I'm just speaking for the job I currently have."

"Hmmm…Who wants snacks?"

"Me." Koneko was naturally the first to answer.

Leona chortled again "That went without saying."

AN: Yep, last couple chapters for this arc.

Big rescue and all that.

Get to see Leona do something magical...fun times!