To say Yanagi took the reveal of Irina well, was to say Hyoudou wasn't a perverted loser with a tiny penis.
Utterly fictional in other words.
It was only the fact that they still had some classes remaining after lunch, that kept the voluptuous gravity manipulating shortstack from stomping her way to his apartment.
It was one of the rare moments he was glad he went to a Japanese school. Because if this was Scotland, she wouldn't have given a shit and just blew off the afternoon classes.
That didn't stop her from demanding he explain everything he knew about Irina and everything he'd done with her.
And she wasn't happy with that either.
He spent his afternoon classes being stared at weirdly by Koneko and having invisible impacts smacking into him every few minutes.
It didn't hurt but it did keep him distracted.
If it were anyone other than Yanagi, they'd be getting a gauntlet clad touki enhanced fist smashed in their face for their shit.
Because it was her though he let it go. He kind of deserved it after all.
Either way, as soon as the bell went signifying the end of classes for the day? Yanagi wasted no time in marching over to him and grabbing him by the hand and dragging him by the hand to leave the classroom.
Koneko stood outside the class waiting for them and upon noticing him she began, "Evander I-"
"He's busy today." Yanagi shut her down hard, stunning the white haired devil girl with the upfront bluntness.
Kaito could only give her a helpless shrug as he let the short girl pull him along.
She didn't say a thing to him even when they got out of the school, frown firmly locked in place.
And Kaito wasn't really sure what to say here either. He had known after all of Yanagi's intentions and she knew that he knew. She had just been patiently waiting for him to get in the right place.
And then Irina came along. And he'd lost control of himself in the moment. Yet, despite it…
Kaito couldn't say he regretted it at all.
And he knew that wasn't fair to either of them. But he couldn't help himself. He wanted Yanagi, but he wanted Irina as well.
So he just let her drag him along.
…Until she remembered she hadn't ever been to his apartment before and had to get directions from him.
"…So this is where you live," Yanagi commented as they walked along the landing towards his apartment, her head peering from side to side, "Good to know."
"If I have my way, I'll be moving out of here soon." Kaito shrugged. Though, he had to admit there was some sentimental value in the place. It was his first ever home, his alone.
Perhaps he'd purchase it? If he wasn't wrong, these small apartments went for something like two million yen if not a bit lower. He could totally afford that now.
Hmm, that wasn't a bad idea actually. The rent for his apartment, paid for by his sponsors was roughly forty thousand yen a month. He could buy it and rent it out.
It would take a few years but then the apartment would start getting him a net gain and he would still own the property which he could then sell later if needed.
Perhaps part of his future lay in becoming a property owning business tycoon and-
"Stop stalling!" Yanagi broke him from his thoughts, and it was then he realised he'd unconsciously led her to his apartment door and stopped out front of it, "It's not like I'm gonna smoosh her into paste by increasing the gravity over her body a hundred times over in every direction."
Wait…what?
"You can do that?" he gaped at her. Like, just increasing normal gravity from above by one hundred times was something else but…every direction?
"Yup, drains me a lot and it's the max I can do right now, but I can totally do that," Yanagi gave him a toothy smirk, "You should remember that next time you make me mad."
…That would be amazing for training. He'd need to build up to something that crazy though.
"I'll be sure to remember." he replied as he reached into his pocket for his keys.
To be honest, he wasn't really worried about Irina getting into trouble here, even with that. Gravity Jail or not, Irina was very strong and very fast. And now she had a sacred gear that took it to the next level.
And he really doubted Yanagi would actually try to squash someone like Irina just over something like this. She might have been mad right now and a total troll at times, but she was a kind girl.
Oh well, best to get this over with.
He slotted the key into the door and turned, opening it up. when he pulled the door open, it was to reveal Irina sitting on the chair in front of the television.
Thankfully, she wasn't as skimpily clad as he had left her this morning. She had changed into a pair of track pants and…wait.
"…Is that one of your shirts?" Yanagi peeked under his arm to stare at the girl and deadpanned.
Why yes, yes it was. It was just a simple white t-shirt that looked positively massive on Irina's much smaller and sveltely built frame.
Irina turned at their voices and her purple eyes lit up upon seeing him, "Kaito-kun you're back!" she chirped excitedly, hopping up from the chair she was sitting on.
Kaito specifically did not respond to Yanagi's question as he stepped inside, "Hey Irina, how's life?" he greeted her blandly.
He forgot one thing though.
"Great, I found an anime on I haven't seen since I was a kid, it was even marathoning it was great!" Irina happily replied back, not at all sensing the mood. Her gem-like purple eyes zoomed in on the girl who entered the apartment behind him, "Oh, are you Yanagi-chan? I'm Shidou Irina, nice to meet you!"
In response Yanagi stepped passed him, leaving him to close the door and made her way over to Irina, not greeting her back. Instead, the grey haired girl was frowning as she peered at Irina and began circling her, "…Taller than me. Twin tails. Fit. Big boobs, big ass and wide hips. A natural air head….and virgin church girl," she murmured as she examined the taller girl, making Irina blink and stare at her confused, "Tch, you're really formidable. You cover over five different fetishes."
Kaito resisted the urge to palm his forehead. That was the first thing she said?
"Umm…thanks?" Irina tilted her head and replied, "Is that a good thing?"
"Definitely," Yanagi nodded simply, "For a homewrecker like yourself." she promptly added.
"….I'm not a homewrecker," Irina pouted, "Why would you think that?"
Yanagi in response crossed her arms under her breasts and made a show off pushing them up as if levelling a weapon at the twin tailed older girl, "you totally are, you made a move on my territory, even if you didn't know, I've been setting that dumbie up to be mine for months," Yanagi replied, before jabbing her thumb over her shoulder at him, "You see that? That is where my babies will be coming from."
…Wait, what? Again…what? Her as well!? That was the first he'd heard of that from her. They hadn't even got to dating yet!
"Oh, mine too!" Irina chirped back, "I actually wanted to get started on it last night but Kaito-kun said he couldn't because he had to talk to you first. I don't mind if you go first Yanagi-chan!"
Silence.
For once, it was Yanagi the impish troll that had been stunned into silence. And it took her a good few moments to find her voice, "….Excuse…me?" the short girl gaped at Irina.
"What do you mean?" Irina tilted her head, looking genuinely confused, "You're going to marry Kaito and so am I, we'll both be his wives. We'll be like sisters!"
Yanagi stared at the twin tailed older girl for a moment in utter silence before her neck turned around almost robotically, "Kaito…explain." her voice was bereft of emotion and for a moment he swore he could see gold shining beneath her bangs once more.
He winced.
…How the hell would he explain that? It wasn't even his idea in the first place. It was Irina's!
He was just the shmuck who couldn't say no to such an idea.
Honestly, all he could do, was wing it at this point.
"…It's pretty common in the supernatural side of things for men to have more than one wife?" he tried.
"Yup!" Irina thankfully contributed, "Like King Solomon had hundreds of wives and lots of the church higher ups have quite a few as well. Not to mention most devils have harems, I actually fought a guy once who had a peerage of nothing but girls that were his lovers."
Yanagi just continued to stare at him. Thankfully though, that ominous yellow glow disappeared.
She sighed after a bit of staring at him, "Okay, so it's way more common than I thought, but what has that got to do with me having to share?" she asked pointedly, "I was here first and if it weren't for your stupid self-pity issues over being broke, I'd have already tattoo'd my name on that well muscled ass of yours."
"…Look," Kaito sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come to this. I really was just planning on making something of myself and then asking you out…but…"
"But?" Yanagi prompted him to continue.
"But I'm a total sap," he admitted in defeat, "I met Irina and didn't want her to die on the mission she was given. And then we found out God was dead and she got kicked out of the church and she had nowhere to go..."
He really honestly had no other excuse.
"That doesn't make it any better," Yanagi shot back bluntly, "Just because you're a sap and she's hot as shit doesn't mean you've fallen for her…unless.."
He felt the pressure of her stare increase and he winced, "…I can't say for sure, I'm not sure what love is at this point," he admitted, "But, I can definitely say I really enjoy having Irina in my life, not even just because of how attractive she is but because I genuinely like being around her, just like you. Sorry, I don't really have any excuses, I know it's a scumbag move."
Honestly, he knew he should have had a plan before talking with her about things. But, how was he supposed to make a plan for something like this that didn't involve plain old manipulating her to see things his way?
That just wasn't his style. He'd rather just take it head on.
"Damn right it is, this so isn't what I saw coming," Yanagi huffed, before turning back to face Irina who had stayed silent to let them speak, "What about you? What do you have to say on this?"
"Sorry?" Irina tried, before frowning herself and shaking her head, "No wait, I'm kind of not. I'm sorry I'm causing you trouble, but I…kind of don't regret anything? I love Kaito-kun. I want to be with him and don't see anything else that I want beyond him. It might be selfish of me, but I don't plan on letting him go."
Yanagi's mouth opened wide and Kaito got the feeling she was staring wide eyed in shock at Irina's blunt confession.
Kaito wasn't any better. Actually he was worse, he felt his heart speed up and pound rapidly and felt his cheeks flush.
…Nobody had ever outright bluntly declared they loved him like that before.
"Yeah, well so do I!" Yanagi shot back after she gathered her wits.
"Do you love him, enough though?" Irina fired back, for the first time narrowing her eyes in the slightest hint of hostility, "I don't know how much you know about things. But, even while I don't know much myself, I know one thing, it was taught to a lot of us at the church. Women, especially supernatural women flock to the strong. Kaito-kun is strong, really strong. And he'll just get stronger and stronger in the future. The stronger he gets, the more women will come to him and try to snatch him for themselves."
"…Damn thots." Yanagi growled.
…Kaito wasn't sure where Irina was going with this. But she was doing a better job than him, that was for sure.
The grey haired girl shook her head, "Whatever, where are you going with this?" she asked.
"Nowhere, I'm just letting you know," Irina shrugged, "Will you be able to deal with it? All these women approaching him? I know the heiresses of the Gremory and Sitri already have their eyes on him. They're powerful and rich and they're devils, they're not the type to be above seduction to get him. If you can't handle that, then you should just give up now, you won't be able to handle marrying Kaito-kun."
"…Freaking Gremory as well? I knew that chicks tits had to be supernatural," Yanagi growled, completely ignoring the fact her own tits were just as huge and looked even more out of place on her tiny frame, "Whatever, are you trying to say you can handle it? That you won't care about all these hussies after him as well?"
It was kind of odd how easily she accepted girls would be pursuing him. Kaito wasn't even sure about that really happening himself, but…she believed it so readily.
"I mean, like you I'd want to keep Kaito-kun to myself, but I'm just not going to be selfish about it," Irina crossed her arms and smiled brightly, "Kaito-kun is the light of my life. I'll support him the best I can. Just like King Solomon the more powerful he gets, the more women he'll attract and the more of them he takes for himself, the more connections and power he'll get. And Kaito-kun wants to be powerful more than anything else and he's already claimed the power of a Cadre and become part dragon, so there's no stopping it now."
She then sighed and smiled at Yanagi kindly, "Besides, there's one big problem about this even if I did just want to selfishly keep him to myself."
"…Yeah, and what's that?" Yanagi uttered back, tone rather subdued.
"Because it's both or neither," Kaito decided it was time to make himself known in the discussion again, his voice causing both girls to look at him, "It's pathetic of me. But I'm not going to choose one of you over the other. I'll admit it, shameful as it is, I want you both, but I won't settle for just one and leave the other out in the cold."
As much as he'd hate it, as much as he'd quite possibly rage about it later. It was better to let both go than to choose one over the other and leave them heartbroken.
"Kinda that…" Irina pointed out with a wince.
"….Oh." Yanagi said simply.
She then…just sat down on the floor.
And sniffled a bit, "You suck." she directed at him.
"Sorry." was all he could say. He totally was too. Yanagi was a great girl who deserved to get what she wanted. It wasn't fair of him.
He was very well prepared for her to hate him for this. And he would deserve it. It would hurt to have her walk out on him after this, beyond even the relationship aspect of things, she was still his best and only friend, but he simply couldn't give himself to her alone.
"This isn't fair," Yanagi added, "This is like if you asked me out and I said yeah but I wanted to fuck somebody like Hyoudou on the side. How would you like that?"
Red blurred his vision.
"Umm…Kaito-kun?" Irina called to him a bit awkwardly
"See, that's what I mean!" Yanagi pointed at him.
And it was then he realised, without him even noticing. His lips had shifted into a snarl, a gauntlet had formed on his wrist and the familiar weight of wings had manifested on his back.
Kaito blinked and took a deep breath, dismissing his Sacred Gears. Just the mention of what she just said had sent a white hot rage rushing through his veins.
The image of that fucker touching Yanagi at all, made him want to go find him and tear his head off right fucking now.
"You don't like that thought at all." Yanagi snorted.
"Course I don't," Kaito huffed, what did she want from him? Beyond what he wouldn't give, "I'm serious though, don't just say shit like that to get a rise out of me. I understand you're pissed at me, and I won't blame you if you decide to look for someone else, you deserve everything you want out of life. But don't bring that shit up again, cuz if you do I'll go kill him, that's one thing I won't accept at all and I don't care how selfish you call me over it."
The thought was such, that he didn't care if he turned Gremory, her brother, her peerage or the entire devil species against him. He would never allow that.
And he didn't care how possessively selfish that made him sound he noticed as well.
"…Please don't, I know Issei has strayed since we were kids but I don't want him to to get killed." Irina pleaded.
"…Whatever, you get my point," Yanagi sighed in defeat, "….Fine."
…Fine?
"What?" Kaito blinked.
"I said fine!" Yanagi growled and her head whipped up, golden eyes peering through her bangs, "You want a harem like Hyoudou? Fine, let's get you one, but don't think for a damn second I'll be playing second fiddle to anyone. In fact they'll all play second fiddle to me!"
….Huh?
Just like that?
What?
Yanagi sputtered a second later as Irina swept her up into a hug from behind, casually lifting the shortstack into the air, "Don't worry Yanagi-chan, Kaito-kun has plenty of love to give us both!" she boldly declared.
…No, what?
"…I gotta ask, do you actually find this fun?"
Kaito looked up from where he lay flat on his back, panting deeply and trying to regain his breath. He'd changed out of his school uniform in favour of a pair of shorts and tank top…that were practically cut to ribbons and his body was covered in bruises and cuts.
The one who asked the question, was Yanagi. Currently, they were in an abandoned construction lot Kaito had come across a few weeks back, where he'd taken to sparring with Irina away from prying eyes.
Yanagi was sitting atop an empty drum of what was once probably oil, hand cupped in her palms and leaning on her knees as she stared straight at him.
A golden glow emanated from behind her bangs.
"…Kind of, yeah." Kaito shrugged, despite the extra gravity pressing him into the dirt and making it even harder to move with his beat up body.
The result of sparring with Irina and letting her try out out new Sacred Gear…while having Yanagi herself use her Gravity Jail on him to increase the gravity pressing down upon his body five times over.
…He got his ass kicked.
Badly.
While it was true at his full strength he had been stronger than Irina. They were more or less on the same level when they fought Satanael until he transformed his organs and then gained Arondight.
Her own new Sacred Gear was very simple to use and an incredible equalizer. It could go either way in a fight with her at that point, never mind with gravity increased around him.
"Do you want to go again Kaito-kun?" Irina asked with a bright smile from where she stood a few feet away from him, in much better condition than himself.
"No I think that's enough," Yanagi shut her down right quick, "I'm bored now." she informed.
Kaito winced a bit.
Honestly, things were…a bit awkward still after everything that went down in his apartment. A few hours had passed since then, it was already passed six and approaching seven in the evening.
Beyond anything else, he'd wanted to make sure Yanagi understood the kind of world she was entering. For all she knew she had 'super powers' she hadn't even known where they came from until today or the true wider world.
So he figured he'd kill multiple birds with one stone. He'd explain things to her and give her a demonstration of what a lower-tier supernatural fight was like using himself and Irina as an example.
…And at the same time get a feel for moving under gravity and see if it was viable to train with it.
Also, seeing him get beat up would possibly vent some of the anger Yanagi had at him. While she had accepted things in the end, that did not mean she was at all happy with him right now.
He found that indeed it was possible to train under increased gravity. But, multiplying the force of gravity pressing down on him even from just above…was not at all as simple as just increasing weight.
He'd not even been sparring with Irina half as long as they had a few times before, but already his body ached in ways it never had before.
It was quite painful, but at the same time he relished the feeling. It was an odd mindset to have for sure.
"Mmm, fair enough, probably for the best Kaito-kun is super beat up, he'll need to take a day or so to heal," Irina agreed with a shrug, "And it's about time for dinner, I tried out making cookies with protein powder this morning that I want Kaito-kun to try out."
"Tch, you're good Irina-chan, I have to admit, you're a worthy rival," Yanagi clicked her tongue. Weirdly, as opposed to her being angry with him, the short girl had started getting along quite well with Irina, "But it's my first time at his apartment, so I'll be making dinner for him tonight."
"Okay dokie!" Irina agreed without much fuss, or any actually, "He can just have my cookies for dessert."
'I don't understand girls at all.' Kaito sighed. Even with the memories of his other self, he didn't get them one single bit. It wasn't even like he was the one that actively pursued them and dumped this on them, it was the other way around yet somehow he was the one in the bad books.
Well, he supposed it didn't matter. As long as they were getting along he could deal with Yanagi being a bit miffed at him for a while.
And so they returned his apartment. Though on the way, they had to stop at one of the grocery stores.
Because and Kaito quoted, 'An idiot himbo like you won't have proper ingredients for making true healthy food.'
It was rude.
And insulting.
And when they got back to his apartment, Irina wasted no time in jumping back on the chair to resume watching her anime. Some kind of magical girl thing. Milky-something or whatever while Yanagi got started on cooking up dinner for the three of them.
Kaito found himself just standing there awkwardly, not sure what to do. Sure, he could watch the television with Irina, but he found his eyes more on Yanagi than anything.
He wasn't sure what to do.
And it was awkward.
"Idiot," Yanagi sighed, not looking back at him as she stirred something in one of his pots, "Don't just stand around, if you're gonna say something, say it already…and change your clothes while you're at it, those are all ripped now."
"…I will in a minute," Kaito couldn't help but let his lips quirk up into a deprecating smile, "I'm just not sure what to say, you kind of got put on the spot earlier."
A spot partly of her own making, but she was still stuck in it and having to decide.
"Then don't say anything," she replied, without turning around, "Am I still pissed? Hell yes. I never once imagined I'd have to share you with another girl, never mind have to deal with the fact that you're apparently going to atttract tons of girls because you're strong. And can I just say that supernatural girls are all complete and utter total thots? They're not all that different from gold diggers from the way Irina-chan explains it."
"Well…they're not all that bad, just for a lot of them like devils power is is attractive to them." Kaito shrugged.
Or at least that was what he picked up from the memories of his other self. The power was the draw for most of them, but that didn't mean they wouldn't actually gain actual proper romantic feelings for the target of their attraction.
Or maybe that was just nonsense and he only saw what he wanted to see and wanted to believe he could make this work.
"Whatever, it's partly my own fault anyway," Yanagi clicked her tongue, "I should have just brushed your baby whining about being poor aside and locked you down ages ago. Or tried at least, because going by your luck I would never have managed it, all these supernatural annoyances would have still found their way to you."
The short girl sighed, shoulders slumping, "The worst of it is, I can totally understand the logic Irina-chan told me earlier," she admitted, "You've already got a bunch of girls at our school crushing on you after you saved Murayama, Aika took one look at you while you were hard and wants to slobber all over your dick and you've even got two literal demon chicks wanting to seduce you into their service…keeping you to myself was a fools errand all along."
Well, he didn't think Rias or Sona were interested in him at all sexually. He wouldn't put it past them to use it as a possible recruitment strategy though. Rias' drew Hyoudou's initial loyalty with promises of him getting a harem if he rose up the ranks after all. And she had no problem getting naked in front of him or giving him the chance to feel her up.
Still, there wasn't much he could say in response to her words. He could, tell her he loved her. But, again, he wasn't the most experienced with it and while he felt very strongly for her, beyond strong in fact and would pick a fight with Great Red for her if it ever came down to it, he didn't know if that was truly love, he couldn't even explain it properly to her either.
But in the end, he wasn't that good with words anyway, he was always a man of action.
"Sorry." he apologised as he stepped behind the short girl and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"You should be," Yanagi replied without missing a beat, even as she relaxed into his hold and leaned against his chest, "Stupid himbo."
"That I am," he agreed, "…Though, I have to ask. Why did you agree? I honestly expected you not to and I'd totally understand."
"You really are a stupid himbo," she repeated her insult and stopped stirring the pot to look up over her shoulder and give him a dry gaze through her bangs, "I just weighed my options. I either had to share you and still have you or give you up, in the end, pissed off as a I am about it, there's really no contest on the choices."
Kaito blinked, staring down into her eyes, "….And choosing to have me is really that big of a no brainer?" he found himself asking.
Yanagi snorted, "The fact you can be so confident about who you are and see no problem in taking on a guy that according to Irina at full strength could wipe out this entire city…yet not be able to see your own worth, is probably the funniest thing about you…or the saddest," she replied then shrugged, "I've not decided which yet."
He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he decided to just stay silent, only tightened his grip around her shoulders a little bit.
They stayed like that for a few moments and he just enjoyed being close to the girl.
"By the way…shouldn't you get bandaged up or something, you're kind of littered in cuts from that funky sword of Irina-chan's." Yanagi commented after a small period of silence.
It was a blatant topic change, but one he was glad for.
"It'll be fine, I told you before right? I double all my body's physical abilities with my Sacred Gear, and I've got them active still right now," he informed her, "That includes my body's recovery rate. With a good meal and some sleep, these will be healed by morning."
"Mmm, it works like that too huh?" Yanagi mused, "Interesting." and said nothing else on it.
"Yeah, it's totally great for when I push myself training." he agreed. He was really glad for the subject change.
"Not what I meant dumbass." Yanagi snorted, then stepped forward and forced him to let go, "Now get out of my way while I cook, if you want to feel me up that badly you can do it later."
"…Okay?" Kaito agreed.
"You can grope me if you want!" Irina piped up, looking to him with a bright grin as he made his way over towards her.
Apparently she had been listening.
Granted, not that she could have avoided that in the first place without plugging her ears considering how small his apartment was.
Kaito again wasn't sure what to say to that. He just stared at the twin tailed girl. Like, yes he would love to grope her and he knew she was serious. But…he was pretty sure Yanagi was just teasing him there like she always did.
Yanagi spoke up before he could gather his wits to respond, "If you start making out with her and feeling her vastly inferior tits while I'm making us dinner, I'm going to torque your balls in opposite directions with my gravity powers."
…Well, okay lesson learned.
Kaito froze there like a statue and did not say a word. Like a rabbit that played dead in the face of a predator.
"Hey, my boobs aren't inferior!" Irina shot back.
"Whatever you say self-proclaimed church girl." Yanagi snorted.
And so we return with the big one four, fourteen yay?
I'd usually go on a highlight reel for laughs here in the chapter, but honestly. My grandfather is likely to die today, tomorrow at the latest by estimates and my dog has slipped in health as well and honestly thought I was going to need to get him put down yesterday. He's perked up a little bit, but if he doesn't keep it up, he'll probably not last another week either. So yeah, I'll just leave this off with the fact that we've finished up to chapter 20 for this story on the Pa-atreon if you wanna read ahead.
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.