"No, no, no!" Kuroka stomped her foot. Causing ripples to run across the water stream in spite of the force of the waterfall. She couldn't have raised her voice that much, yet everyone heard her as clearly as if they had been waiting around in an empty classroom "What's wrong with this guy? Hey, Meowdora. Why do you even want me to teach Senjutsu to this guy?! He's completely useless, meow!"
She snapped her face around, looking at Diodora's disappointed expression as he watched the scene unfold.
"I'm sorry…"
Under the waterfall, just over a rock like in martial arts movies, Genshirou sat cross legged and struggling to keep a straight face. The blond looked ready to start crying, but both the force of the water and Kuroka's hand on his shoulder robbed him of the room to express his emotions properly.
Also, who's freaking Meowdora? Diodora noticed it while in his original world, and didn't fail to do the same when they met. But now he realized Kuroka's odd speech pattern went well beyond a simple tic. She seemed to be utterly incapable of uttering a single sentence without that cat-like meowing. Behind the screen, it was quirky. But it simply became annoying as time went by and Diodora interacted with her.
Thus, his current expression.
"That's my concern alone." Diodora used some demonic power to raise his voice without forcing his throat. It was a nice trick, and he'd be borrowing it from the black haired catgirl "Yours should be for him to learn properly."
"I can't do anything if he has no talent for it, meow!"
Diodora sighed.
"I think you're just biased because you and your sister are geniuses." Diodora eyed the smaller catgirl.
Koneko was dressed in a small bathing robe. White as her hair, and which barely covered some of her thighs. It looked weird on her, especially since her older sister carried her under one arm as if she herself was a towel for later use. She even let her arms and legs hang down uselessly as she kept her emotions in check; tried not to look too distressed about her current condition.
Diodora pointedly ignored her. Gave the little girl the space to avoid unnecessary embarrassment.
After using his Stain-enhanced persuasion skills (a.k.a. forcefully getting Kuroka to agree to his plans or else), the black haired catgirl tagged along in their trip back to Kuoh Town. Stain forced her to submit, at least in the sense that she couldn't just drag her little sister back with her. And instead was forced to stay hidden and watch from afar, given how both Koneko and Diodora were surrounded by devils at all times.
Miyuzuin's original misconception, that Diodora belonged to Rias' inner circle, helped a lot here. It wouldn't have occurred to him to use their interest in Stain like this otherwise. And he couldn't be happier that she and Sona kept tabs on him so much. It created a natural wall between himself and potential troublemakers like Kuroka. Who would get one-shot by one of Rias' Power of Destruction blasts if she made a single mistake.
The result didn't quite fit the picture he wanted to draw, but plans seldom came out exactly as intended. Plus, Kuroka's willingness to (forcefully) hear Diodora out gave him some elbow room here. He simply had to wait until Koneko's turn surveying him came to take everyone on a trip so Kuroka could do her thing and spend time with her little sister and train Genshirou.
And maybe Miyuzuin, who kept glaring at Diodora while the catgirl and Genshirou kept at it.
"Something changed." The half-devil accused, looking at him so much that Diodora felt about to grow self-conscious.
"I got an upgrade of sorts." He didn't want to elaborate, but it seemed like Miyuzuin was capable of feeling the difference.
"I see." She didn't press the issue, but looked discontent with the answer.
Diodora didn't want any problems between them, however. She knew too much and he still needed her.
Maybe appeasing her would be too much, given that they had agreed to only being circumstantial allies. But Diodora knew that he had to put a good foot forward too.
"I'll be able to defend myself from now on." He told the silver haired girl, seeing expression change as she studied his face "I might even have an edge if that Miracle Child shows up again."
Her expression hardened.
"Be careful what you say." She warned him "You don't just go after that sort of person. It'll end badly enough for all of us without that sort of karmic disbalance. Even I don't know how badly things could turn."
"You know a lot of things." It didn't escape Diodora how Miyuzuin seemed to think the same of him, so he had to wonder just where this girl had been that made her so knowledgeable "So I'll keep your warning close to heart."
"I've met unlikely people." She crossed her arms, changing her weight to lean on the leg closer to Diodora "Some that have threaded this Earth before our ancestors were born. They know stuff, and are willing to exchange their knowledge for services."
He couldn't have that many ancestors, though. He was a devil. These creatures lived long lives...
Diodora still nodded. Another thing to keep in mind, should he need things spelled out to him.
"Even regarding Star Seeker?"
"Maybe not so personal." Miyuzuin shook her head.
It was worth a shot.
"No, no, no!" Kuroka yelled again "You're going at it wrong! It's not just your breathing! It's your energy, the energy of nature! Can't you even feel it?!"
"Guh…" Genshirou tensed up even more, looking rather miserable now.
"That's no way of teaching!" Miyuzuin finally intervened, jumping onto the water in spite of her short skirt but being mindful enough to get her shoes off beforehand. The water raised to her knees "You'll only make it harder for him in the long run! You have to start from the very beginning!"
"This is the basics, meow!"
"Even more basic!" Miyuzuin growled.
"How can this not be the most basic?!" Oh, there it was. A normal sentence. Somewhat.
"Why don't we have Genshiou drain some power from her?" Diodora chimed in, seeing how the girls looked ready to start fighting over Kuroka's methods "If it's so clear that it feels different from demonic power, then Genshirou should be able to tell through his Sacred Gear."
"Really, meow?" Ugh, annoying…
"Yeah, maybe." Miyuzuin patted Genshirou on the shoulder, making him perk up a bit "This guy's Sacred Gear is busted like that."
"Eh… So that's the smell that's coming from him, meow." Kuroka looked like she figured out something good, in spite of Genshirou's snake tattoos that overtook most of his chest, stomach, and shoulders "Figures. Those things make even the most normal people smell weird, meow."
Koneko nodded from her spot, but didn't offer any insight on what her sister was talking about.
"Is it alright with you, Genshirou?" Diodora called out, getting the guy to fully focus again and stop sulking "Won't it be hard on you?"
"Yes!" The guy raised his hands as if he wanted to grab something.
As if he wanted to support Kuroka's breasts. Although Diodora didn't know why he thought of that comparison… Must be the girl's wet bath robe playing tricks on his mind.
The snake tattoos uncoiled from Genshirou's arms, and slithered into reality like actual serpents. Supporting themselves from the length of their bodies that continued to be drawn within the reincarnated devil's arms.
Kuroka looked at them with interest.
"Alright, then." She released her sister, who dropped down to her feet without a single complaint, and put her hands out to create a sphere of white-blue energy "Come when you're ready, meow. Take as long as you need, as much as you want. Really taste how it is."
Diodora already knew this process well enough. He did it with Genshirou enough times to know how it'd go. The snakes coiled around Kuroka's wrists, and power was drained away from her. Genshirou would receive it a couple of seconds later, and this process wouldn't stop until one of them called it off.
He had no interest in this part of the training, he had his own snake to worry about.
"Hmm…" Diodora sighed and recalled Kuroka's strange tips and techniques. She wanted Genshirou to attune himself with nature, whatever that meant, and for him to control his breathing and empty his mind.
Diodora applied the same principle, except he tried to look inwards. To keep himself from acting with his body, to keep himself from thinking with his mind. He tried to reach that place between here and there, outside of the physical realm, in that place where his demonic power resided and existed.
Ophis' snake coiled at his attention. Somehow. Or at least it felt that way as he felt a connection with it spark without actually calling it forward. It almost seemed eager to give out some of the power of Infinite, yet it gave Diodora the impression that it was so much more than a simple power battery.
Perhaps not aware or capable of thought, at least not in the way Diodora understood it. But very much alive and having a place in reality, however strange the notion felt.
Diodora smirked without thinking. When he first arrived in this world, he had hoped that the original Diodora had left him with this much. With this one trump card to make things a lot easier and stress free. And now… He had it. It had been given to him, the current Diodora. It belonged to him. Only Ophis would be able to retrieve it, yet he doubted the Infinite Dragon God would go out of her way to do so.
He felt invincible looking at it in his mind's eye. Feeling it in spite of not existing in the physical sense of the word.
He felt alright.
"Hey." Koneko showed up in his vision as he opened his eyes. Dropping droplets as she walked out of the body of water and sat down beside him.
"How are you feeling?" Diodora humored the little girl, who rested her face on her knees and hugged her legs tightly. Helping cover her modesty like that.
"Fine."
"I see. That's good." Diodora nodded. Knowing that the little girl hadn't actually given him an honest answer "Will you practice with her too?"
The little girl gave him a look, studying his expression.
"No."
"I see. Genshirou might be too low-level for you to do so." Diodora turned his attention back to the guy, who kept draining Kuroka of whatever power she was using. Miyuzuin kept look at them with a lot of curiosity.
"You knew my sister?" Koneko spoke up, still staring at Diodora. It almost surprised him that she took the initiative to ask something.
"Not personally, no. But I knew of her." He kept looking at the trio, waiting to see if something in Genshirou's helpless expression changed.
C'mon… You can do it. Just keep trying…
"Are you in love with her?"
The question made Diodora frown. So much so that he had to look at Koneko as if she had asked him something about piss.
"Are you stupid?" He couldn't help asking, given how out of the left field that question had come from.
Koneko frowned.
"Do you want to do lewd things with her?" What sort of education was this little girl getting? She looked so serious about it too. It almost made Diodora consider her question seriously.
"Where did that come from?"
"That's it, isn't it?" Koneko pressed.
Diodora pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I knew it. That's the only thing that'd make this make sense." Koneko spoke neutrally, like she didn't care. But the fact that she actually asked at all made the trick fall flat. It almost made Diodora chuckle.
Almost.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Diodora tried to sound as collected as he could, but remembering what sort of audience this world was originally for soured his mood "That's not it."
"You're a man, after all." Koneko said it like it was the most damning evidence in the world.
"Get better masculine role models." Diodora couldn't help growling "I didn't think Yuuto was like that. You never know."
Koneko frowned.
"He's not like that."
"Then?" Diodora huffed. He had never talked this much with the white haired cat girl, but now he felt really tired. This is why kids are bad for people's health.
"Sounds right." Koneko returned her gaze to her sister.
"Incest is illegal, you know?" Diodora frowned.
"What?"
"You seem to think too highly of your own sister's charms. That's not normal." Diodora pointed out.
"It's not that." She didn't seem affected by his jab, so Diodora didn't press the issue.
"Then?" He now sounded more irritated, even to himself. He would've used Autosuggestion if it was capable of preventing anger.
"It's the only reason I can think of for you to help her." Koneko stated.
Diodora didn't know what to say immediately.
"She's a beauty." He admitted easily enough "But you're fundamentally misunderstanding something. I didn't 'help her'. I'm only helping myself."
Koneko didn't look moved by his words.
"Really?"
"Really." Diodora nodded.
"I don't get it."
"You don't have to." Diodora shook his head with a smirk "Reconcile with her or resent her. I couldn't care less. I care about how she can help me out, and for that I'll keep her placated."
"Then why not let her kidnap me?" Koneko blurted out without looking at Diodora.
"And get on Rias' bad side? No way."
"Hmm…"
"Besides." Diodora turned around, staring at his Oblex. Looking down on everyone far on the top of the waterfall "It's not like I trust her either."
"She's…"
"Not like you remember, probably." Diodora gave the little girl a pointed look "That's fine. People change. Especially when there's no one left for them."
Koneko opened her mouth and left it like that for a few moments. She closed it and nodded.
"She's not a stray."
"If she was, I'd have had her eaten by Stain." Diodora admitted.
"It would be able to use her Senjutsu and Yojutsu?" That had to be the longest sentence Diodora had heard from her.
"I don't know. The knowledge would've been enough."
"What a creepy creature…" Koneko looked honestly frightened, but somehow she showed it a lot less with her sister around. Imagine that.
"You tell me." Diodora crossed his arms "You get used to it."
"Only lunatics do."
The talk fell off after that. And both concentrated in their respective thoughts.
Diodora hadn't lied when he said their relationship held no importance to him. He knew Koneko would grow strong, true. But he didn't need the power anymore. He wanted people on his side, to bolster his numbers in a way that didn't require Stain at all.
Call it a pivot, or perhaps a change of gameplan. But in the end, Diodora's goal remained the same: Stack the odds in his favor, and keep it that way so he'd reach a time when he needed Stain no longer and he could get rid of it.
With Ophis' snake, he already could brainwash the creature strongly enough to not fear it. For now. There were powers like Miyuzuin's Worthless and Delete Field that could threaten to disrupt that safety measure, so Diodora felt the need to push forward the plan of getting rid of the creature.
He could have brainwashed Kuroka and Koneko as well. Yet he stayed his hand.
Call it morality, or maybe naivety. But he didn't think like that.
Diodora simply thought he could win them over by helping them out, and some charm and wits.
He was an amazing dude, after all. No one would say otherwise.
No one…
