It's been quite a few hours, but we're finally almost arriving at our destination.

We left the Devil World through Neith's Gate, and then headed for the airport. Lizel-senpai's private jet was waiting for us there, and we all boarded it.

Of course, it was me, Lizel-senpai, Miyabi, Reina, Ruki, and the 4 homunculus. So it was quite cramped. But even so, I could never say it wasn't a pleasant trip. Even though I slept for a good chunk of it.

Our first stop was the airport we left Japan from. Miyako was there waiting for us. Apparently, she'd take care of the homunculus while we were out.

"Welcome back. How were things?"

"There were some troubles, but things were solved in the end."

"Hey mom, listen to this."

Lizel-senpai left the homunculus with Miyako, then she and Miyabi began talking with Miyako. It seems that they had something to discuss. We'd be waiting here for about an hour or so. That was so that the jet could refuel and also to drop off the homunculus.

Since that was the case, I figured I should pay my parents a visit. This is probably the longest period of time I've been far from them, so I have to admit I'm a little homesick.

"Reina, do you want to drop by our home for a bit?"

"Yes desu! Reina wants to see papa and mama."

With Transite, there'd be no problem of not making it on time, so we might as well go. That's when I remembered Ruki.

"What are you going to do, Ruki?"

"A-ah, I don't really have anything to do, so…"

"You want to come along?"

"Can I?"

"I don't think there'll be any problems."

We're not going to be doing anything much, but I'd feel bad if I just left Ruki here with nothing to do. So I told Lizel-senpai and the others where we'd go and then I used Transite to teleport home with Reina and Ruki.

Given that we'd teleported there, we arrived in front of my home in the very next second. I could have just teleported in, but who knows what's going on in there? I'd better just press the doorbell, plus it'll be a nice surprise for mom and dad.

"Oh, Yuu-kun! Reina-chan!"

Mom seemed really happy as she saw us. I don't think she knows Ruki's name, but she also greeted her as we went in. Then it was dad's turn to see us.

"Yuuto, Reina. And she is… your friend from the athletic festival… what's her name again? Anyway, what brings you all here so soon?"

Ruki introduced herself, leaving out the part she's a noble daughter. She probably remembers how dad tends to get a little overexcited, so I'm thankful for her consideration.

And then I explained to mom and dad how we were just making a quick stop here, but that we'd be leaving again in the next hour, so we decided to drop by.

What followed was just a normal conversation of my parents asking what happened. Of course, a few events were omitted, but we told them about our training and Poran and all that stuff. I also asked what happened around here, not really expecting anything, but it seems Aspite dropped by.

I wonder what he wanted with me. I don't have his phone number, so I'll have to wait until classes resume to see him in person.

"Yuu-kun, why don't you show Ruki-chan around the house?"

"Eh? A-ah, alright."

I mean, there's not much to see, but I guess I might as well. Though I feel like mom just wanted me out of the living room so she and dad could talk with Reina alone. Why do I feel like I'm some troublemaker brother?

Anyway, I showed Ruki around like mom told me to. But, like I said, there's not much to see, ours is only a normal home you'd see anywhere. I only showed the outside of Reina's room as well as my parents' room, but I figured I could invite Ruki into my room.

"Eeh, so this is where Yuuto-kun grew up."

I don't think there's anything special about my room, but maybe Ruki's curious as a girl. I'll let her look around as she pleases for now.

"Since this is Yuuto's room, then there should be… aha! Found it."

Ruki pulled something from under the bed. Come to think of it, ever since I went to study with Nagasawa-sensei, I didn't have time to…

"Aaa! Put that away."

"No way. I'm curious as to what kind of stuff Yuuto-kun likes."

I had to get that away from Ruki, but I ended up tripping and falling over her. Luckily, we fell on the bed, but not everything was fine.

If looked from a third person's perspective, it looked like I'd just pushed Ruki down on the bed. The only thing that would make it look more like we were about to do perverted stuff would be if we were naked.

Crap, now I'm imagining Ruki naked. Ruki's pretty, but she's looking even prettier now with some red on her cheeks. I wonder if Ruki wouldn't be too mad if I…

"Is this the part where I find out why Yuuto-kun was chosen as Lovers' Candidate?"

"A-ahaha…"

That made me a little embarrassed, but I guess it helped me calm down a bit. Ruki's not even my Card, so I can't even use Healing Lovers as an excuse for my perversion.

But then again, Ruki isn't looking into my eyes, but she doesn't seem to be trying to get away. She did say she didn't particularly care about the Devil King War, so maybe I could make her into a Card. Maybe I should try to make a move on her?

"Ruki."

I called out her name and put my hand on her cheek. I think she got the message, since her face got even redder and she closed her eyes. But she still wasn't trying to get away.

This means I can go ahead, right? I'll try kissing her first, and then I'll ask if she wants to become my Card after that.

But, right before my lips touched Ruki's…

"Onii-chan, it's about time-"

Reina came to call me, and ended up catching quite a scene. She went downstairs in embarrassment, just reminding me it's almost time for us to leave. Yup, she's about to report this to my parents.

Our time was up, so we decided to end things there. Ruki seemed to have trouble looking directly at me, so I decided to leave it for a while. For all intents and purposes, it was just a little teasing that got out of hand.

I said goodbye to my parents and then left with Reina and Ruki. Again, thanks to Transite, we got back to the airport the very next second. Miyako seemed to have already left with the homunculus, so we just boarded the jet again and continued our flight.

It would take a few more hours, but we'll arrive at our next destination: the region managed by the Kouma family, Italy.

"I'm amazed the Devil King allowed your family to keep watch of such an important place. Was he close to your family before becoming Devil King?"

"I'm not too sure on the details, but I know the Devil King is friends with mom and dad."

During our flight, Lizel-senpai suddenly asked Ruki that. I don't really get it. I mean, I know that the Devil King can basically do whatever he pleases. So if he wanted to he could, for example, move the Yuugaoze's territory from where I live to somewhere else, or even take it away entirely.

In short, the noble families are always trying to please the Devil King, so they get to keep the territory they've worked hard to build, or take their rival's place. But I don't think there's any territory that's better than the others. At least, I don't remember anything like that from my studies with Nagasawa-sensei.

"Is there anything special about the territory Ruki's family takes care of?"

"Eeh? Yuuto doesn't know that? Even me who's 'dum' dumb knows what it is."

"Reina also knows about it desu."

Guess there's still gaps in my knowledge. I learned a lot from that week with Nagasawa-sensei, but I suppose I still have stuff to learn.

"The place where we're going is considered one of the most prestigious territories for devils. That's because it's the birthplace of the Devil King Arcanas."

I see, so that's… wait, what?!

"There's nothing special about the place as far as I know though. But if it's Yuuto-kun, maybe being in a place like that will help deepen your bond with your Arcana. Some people even say it might be possible to hear the Arcana's voice."

Well, that part isn't a problem for me. Speaking of it, is it true, Sein? The Devil King Arcanas were made here in the Human World?

[… Yes, that place is where the Devil King Arcanas were made.]

I remember you said that there was a curse placed on the Arcanas. Is this where it happened? Maybe there's a way to break it there as well.

[Thank you, Yuuto. But it is not yet time for you to worry about that.]

Yeah… I guess I'm getting too far ahead of myself. If that curse was some simple matter, it would have been broken long ago. Still, it couldn't hurt to take a look.

The rest of the flight was just us talking about some general stuff about where we'd go. Some of it was normal tourist stuff, other stuff was more magical.

Now that I think about it, just on this summer break, I've already traveled outside of Japan twice and even went to a whole other world. Not bad for someone who was just a normal human not too long ago.

Once we landed, Ruki used her phone to call someone. A little while after, a car came to pick us up. Seems like it was the Kouma family's car, so we went in.

"Hello. Hope you all had a nice trip."

"Mom?!"

There was a woman already inside the car. She looked exactly as I'd expect an older Ruki to look, so no doubt that's Ruki's mother.

Ruki herself seemed rather troubled by her mother having shown up. She probably feels embarrassed to have to introduce her mother to her friends.

"I'm Rumi Kouma, current head of the Kouma house. And also your host while you're here."

"A-ah, I'm Yuuto, Lovers' Candidate. These are my Cards, Lizel, Miyabi and Reina."

Lizel-senpai, Miyabi and Reina bowed their heads. For all intents and purposes, I'm their master and they're my servants. I don't really like to think of them like that, but it's easier to pretend like this in front of some nobles. I don't expect Ruki's family to be some stuck up nobles, but just in case.

Ruki sat beside her mother, while Rumi was looking at me from head to toe. Somehow, I felt like she was evaluating me or something? Or maybe, strange as it may seem, like she was "eating me up".

"So you're Yuuto, huh. Let me ask you something, have you laid your hands on my daughter yet?"

"M-mom?!"

"N-no, of course not. We're just friends."

Funny how I had the chance to lay my hands on her just a few hours ago. Maybe it's fate playing with me.

"Slow on the uptake, huh. Well, it's also fun to eat boys who haven't learned to handle women yet, so it's fine. It's a shame this isn't a long ride, or we'd start right now."

I felt like Rumi's eyes were like a predator watching its prey, in this case, me. I feel like she'd become good friends with Miyako. I'm not sure how to react.

"Y-Yuuto-kun, mom's only joking. Aren't you, mom?"

"By the way, you don't have to act formal around me. I don't mind, and Mike, Ruki's father, also won't mind it."

"Don't just ignore what I said!"

Phew, at least I won't have to keep pretending to boss the girls around all the time while we're here. Also, now I see where Ruki got her teasing nature from.

And like so, our ride continued until we reached the Kouma mansion. We entered, following Ruki and Rumi.

Some servants came and got our stuff. It seems that Rumi wanted to introduce us to Ruki's father while the servants put our stuff in place.

"So you have arrived. Welcome, I'm Michael, but some prefer to call me Mike."

Ruki's father, Michael, was, for lack of better words, really pretty for a man. I mean, if you'd told me he was a woman, I would have probably believed you.

Michael had long golden hair, and clear blue eyes. His clothes were also very loosely fitting, so that probably contributed a bit to making it hard to tell if he was a man or a woman, since we couldn't really see his body shape.

Ruki might get her looks from her mother, but the whole gender mistaking thing, that's definitely from her father.

Of course, we all introduced ourselves after that. Since Rumi told us it was fine to act normally, we all introduced ourselves, unlike before, when I introduced myself and the girls.

"Forgive me if this seems rude, but I'd like to ask why you chose to come here for training. You might have heard from Barbatos that I'm also interested in your performance, Yuuto, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to ask."

I guess it's a fair question to ask, but honestly it's not like I particularly chose this place. I'd be fine with staying on Neith's place, but the children were making it hard for us to do Healing Lovers. Ruki was there and we asked if we could come over, that's about it.

But I'm not sure if I should say that. That might make Michael or Rumi a little mad, so maybe I should pretend I chose this place for a specific reason.

"W-well, this is the birthplace of the Arcana, so I thought it could help a little…"

"Oh, but I'd heard you were able to hear your Arcana. Was that wrong?"

"... You know?"

"As I said, Barbatos and I are very interested in your performance."

Now that's… a bit creepy. I feel like I'd been told that the Devil King and a friend of his were interested in me before, but it feels different. I've been trying to keep my hearing Sein a secret, yet someone I'd never met before knew it as a matter of fact.

"Mike, you're scaring Yuuto."

"Sorry, you probably feel uneasy with me suddenly putting your secret in the open like this, but feel at ease, there are no enemies here. As a show of trust, I'll even tell you all a secret of my own."

Right after Michael said that, something showed up behind him. 6 pure white wings. He looked like…

"As you might have imagined from my wings, I'm an angel, one of God's agents. Well, other than Ruki, I'm the last one alive."

T-that's… taking a quick look behind me, the girls seemed almost like they were going to fall over. It's a little easier for me to accept this since, you know, it was only a few months ago that I found out about devils, and a few weeks since I found out about God. Might as well throw angels into the mix.

But I understood why Lizel-senpai and the others were so surprised. Angels were the stuff of legend, everyone knew God was a thing, but did God have helpers? Some people believed yes, others not. I'm not sure what was the girls' stance, but I'm sure this was no small thing.

And also, this would make Ruki a mixed-blood devil. I hear that some noble families have lost their status due to giving birth to a mixed-blood, but I don't think the current Devil King minds that.

"Excuse me."

Michael said before putting his hand on top of my head. His other hand was on top of Ruki's head. I saw his hands start shining. I don't know what kind of magic this is, but I feel something inside my body.

It wasn't long before Michael was done, then he did the same thing to Lizel-senpai, Miaybi and Reina. Once he finished, he returned to where he'd been at first.

"I'm not sure if you've heard, but I was the one who trained Barbatos before he became Devil King. I don't mean to say he won because of me, but his strength definitely increased. What I mean to say is that, I'm willing to also train you all, so long as you accept a certain condition."

He's suddenly offering to train us! I don't think even Ruki expected this. But if he trained the current Devil King, then how much stronger would I become if I took this offer?

"The condition is quite simple: Yuuto must pass through Ruki's Characteristic Magic."

"W-wait, dad, you mean Last Judgment?!"

That's an ominous sounding name, but it feels in line to what you'd expect from Judgement Arcana.

"Yes. You all might not know, but Ruki's Last Judgment will observe everything you've done in this life and any past ones you might have, as well as what you're destined to do, and pass a judgment. If you're acquitted, then nothing happens. But if you're condemned, not even your soul will remain and even reincarnation will be impossible."

"D-dad, isn't that a little much?"

"It might be, only Yuuto can say. But what I can promise is that I'd make you fight on even grounds even against the likes of the Triumph Candidates."

That's… I'm painfully aware I'm still much too weak. Training with Reina and Miyabi has been making me stronger, but I feel it's too slow. I'm not sure if I would have been able to beat Yotaka if I had to fight her. And then there's still the Triumph Candidates.

If I take Michael at his word, that by training with him I'll at least have a chance to fight, then wouldn't it be worth it? It's really about Last Judgment.

But do I even have past lives? And if yes, what kind of person was I? And even if not, how about the future? What even are the rules for the judgment? Maybe it doesn't even follow the standards I know.

"Jeez, Mike, you can't just drop something like that on our guests as soon as they arrive."

"I apologize. You don't have to decide right now. Think it over and tell me tomorrow. You all must be tired from the trip, so please rest."

I guess that's a little saving grace at least. I'll be able to think it over for a little while before giving an answer.

After that, we were invited to eat with Rumi, Michael and Ruki. Then, we were guided to our room. After just now, I don't think there's any mood for Healing Lovers.

"… What does everyone think I should do?"

"There is a limit to how strong we can get by training just between us. It would be reassuring to train with him, assuming he's telling the truth. That being said…"

"But like, that judgment thing, isn't it dangerous? It's not just about getting hurt, Yuuto could seriously be gone forever."

"Reina doesn't want to lose onii-chan desu…"

I guess it's still not something we can easily decide on. If only Ruki could do something like tell me the result first and then I'd decide. But, from how she looked, I imagine she also doesn't know.

That, or it's not looking good for me. But let's believe in the first option for now.

[Yuuto.]

Sein? What's up?

I heard what Sein had to say, then I told the girls. After a small discussion we decided on what I'd tell Michael tomorrow.