Chapter 10 : Little Kouhai.

I was a bit more grumpy this morning than the others before.

I was, also, running a bit late.

Now, before all of this happened, I never could have been considered to be some kind of morning person, and, as ironic as it sounds, waking up with a freaking pounding headache like clockwork everyday was doing absolute wonders to curb that particular fault of mine.

Which it shouldn't have, since it wasn't how it worked with bog-standard cephalalgia, those usually prompting you to go back in your bed, really fast, and call in sick when you were in my case and started seeing absolutely jack-shit, your optic nerves screaming at you in tongues of a bygone era that the light hurts, but the fact that what currently ailed me tended to vanish back into the void with a few minutes of meditation, which needed me to be properly awake to settle in, actually managed to wake me up bright and early, in a parody of a virtuous effect.

And so, I was actually better in the morning than I had ever been, which sounded like a fucking joke even in my head.

I wasn't running on caffeine, nor vape-inhaled nicotine, was plagued by the constant susurrus of the most dangerous earworm in existence, and I was more productive than I had ever been, imagine that.

No, what made me grumpy this morning in particular was the fact that I was, again, goddam sore, for what was the third day in a row, because sport was the kind of punishment you reserved for a whole Circle of Hell as depicted in Dante's Divine Comedy.

In my opinion, at least.

Which meant that, today, I was running a bit late, since I had taken my sweet time under the shower to massage my screaming thighs under the scalding curtain of blessed warmth, barely managing to keep tHe VoIcEs at bay as pain signals were regularly lighting my nerves on not!fire.

And so, I was hauling ass, if only because I wanted close to a perfect attendance records, and I had an inkling that Japanese High-Schools were a bit more anal about the concept than European ones-

-which parts of my inherited memories/instincts-thingy were confirming to me now that I had properly formulated the query or whatever, to my dismay.

Luckily, I am successful at arriving at Kuoh High-School with a few minutes to spare, getting the much needed opportunity to get a breather.

A few long inhale/exhales combos latter, I am back to a proper sinus rhythm, and finally get the opportunity to pan a look around-

-not getting offended by the few, awkward and slightly judgy looks sent my way-

-before finally landing my eyes on the two curtains of crimson and jade-black hair I had learned to associate with Rias and Akeno-

My eyebrow shoots up as I hum consideringly.

-the former apparently engaged into a conversation with a few of our classmates, if I had the faces right -almost certainly a losing bet, this early in the year-, her Queen her eternal, quiet and demure shadow.

Well, good for the peppy devil if she manages to make some other fren than me.

My lips curl up.

Yeah, actually good for her.

Humming a quiet song under my breath, my school bag negligently held over my back, I sedately make my way in the school grounds proper, leaving Rias to sympathize with true, organic -eh-, Japanese-born high-school girls.

"Prima-chan!" Rias' eyes instantly zero on me as soon as she steps in the classroom, crossing the room at a speed that would barely qualify as human but apparently nobody but me notices, "How are you this morning!"

I giggle at her enthusiasm.

Alright, after a few days, I'm starting to see why her brother is so much of a siscon.

Akeno, who followed her King at a more reasonable pace, and I exchange a nod, before I turn myself back from my seated position toward the positively vibrating Gremory heiress.

"Sore." I answer amusingly, prompting the half-fallen to give me another not-quite lecherous look that I ignore with -already- practiced ease, "I woke up with my legs feeling like jelly," -if jelly was made of riled up bullet ants- "And spent way too much time in the bathroom trying to summon some modicum of blood flow in them."

That's also approximately the moment when I realized that what I lacked topside -at least compared to the two very well endowed girls- had somehow transferred to my hips and thighs, since I hadn't really paid it any sort of attention before.

There's nothing quite like trying to wrap your hands around your upper legs and realizing that you'd need a full, third one to manage to make a circle around them.

In short, I had thick squishy thighs and a very nice backside, if my bathroom's mirror didn't lie to me this morning.

I hope I won't have to sacrifice them on the altar of gains, with all the sports I'm going to-

I blink, before shaking my head ruefully, feeling a bit of heat on my cheeks.

Later.

I manage to wrench my attention back just as Rias ends her own question, a finger on her chin.

"-that much exercise everyday for…" she trails awkwardly, before catching herself up, "For us girls?"

I arch an eyebrow in her direction, holding her gaze for a beat.

I'm pretty sure she was one moment away from saying 'for you humans'.

"Not necessarily," I answer easily, internally very amused as I note her shoulders minutely slacking in relief that she didn't screw it up, "You just have to work on different muscles each day, give those you already worked on enough time to heal and get stronger."

"Oh." she utters, probably realizing that I cannot cheat away the rest period with bullshit devil physiology.

I was admittedly quite disheartened that Skully's records didn't include a beginner's guide to Warp-assisted biokinesis, since I was pretty sure that was an actual thing in the original setting.

Otherwise, I could've cheated my ass off my physical conditioning/limit break training.

I had an inkling, an instinct, that it was tied to the more 'positive' side of the Warp, as well as the multi-hued blue of Change, but I was understandably a bit leery of experimenting on myself.

"And you, what's going on?" I change the subject, the clock still ticking as we wait for the homeroom teacher's arrival.

Rias perks back up, what I can only infer to be her Dismay at realizing that I'm only 'a squishy human' vanishing like snow under the sun.

"Oh, it's great!" she chirps, balancing on the sole of her shoes, getting a look of fond exasperation from her nearby Queen, "At first, I looked for you, but then I caught a few of the girls in the class, and we got to know each other a little."

"Yeah, got here a bit late: the warm water was too heavenly." I commiserate, idly noticing that this particular word is actually devil-safe.

Nice, I actually wasn't sure.

"How come we missed each other, then?" she curiously asks.

I give her a one shoulder shrug in answer.

"I didn't want to intrude, and we were going to see each other in class anyway." I explain simply.

My statement makes her pause, before slowly nodding.

I'm actually quite relieved that she doesn't take it badly because it's not like the girl isn't free to live her life and me to live mine, after all, so I would've been quite annoyed if she started to low-key throw a tantrum over something so minor.

"Say, do you want to-" she starts, just in time for the teacher to enter the room.

My eyes flick in his direction, before darting back in hers.

"Later, eh?"

"Later, Prima-chan!"

For the first time since the beginning of the week, I was eating alone and the silence in my near vicinity was positively blissful.

Rias' proposal had been for us to eat with the others, and, since I had some very mixed feelings about our classmates since the shitshow of two days ago, I had politely declined, while assuring her that she could go have her fun meeting new people without me taking umbrage to it.

Turns out, a devil was more forgiving than I, since she wasn't caring that much that they had stood aside/enabled the prissy cunt -whose name I couldn't be bothered to remember- bullying attempt.

I suppose there was some kind of conflicting 'devil vs human' morality happening here, but it also could be that the Gremory heiress was just like that at the beginning.

Did I begrudge her for it?

Nah, not one bit: I honestly couldn't care less, and, I'd even callously admit that I'd rather have her take a liking to a few other humans than stay focused solely on myself.

It would be, after all, better for me and my rough plan to keep a low profile, supernaturally speaking.

Plus, it was allowing me to review this morning classes, which meant more time on my meditation mat thingy this evening-

"Is this seat taken?" a voice, slightly husky, wrenches me out of my thoughts, while simultaneously giving me a very strong sense of déjà vu.

I straighten my posture slightly, opening my mouth to answer as I turn myself in the speaker's direction-

Oh.

Oh.

-my eyes landing on Koryu Sakura and my throat instantly getting a bit dry.

I stare, a bit dumbly, at my very hot senpai, before catching myself as she raises an interrogative eyebrow.

"Ah! P-please, Koryu-Buchou, take a seat!" I not-quite stutter, dying a little bit inside.

Yeah, good job Prima, you absolutely nailed it, you dunce.

Wait.

Prima?

Later.

"So, what brings you here?" I start conversationally, trying to prevent the situation from turning any more awkward than I already made it.

"Well," she answers easily, after having daintily sat herself in front of me, unknowingly -or maybe knowingly, please let it be knowingly- giving me an absolutely unsubtle view of her cleavage, the Kuoh uniform doing shit-all to prevent my imagination from running a bit wilder than usual, "I happen to have not had the time to cook my usual this morning, and I saw a familiar face sitting alone in the cafeteria.

"Now, I'm usually surrounded by my 'clique'," she carries on, a bit distastefully, prompting a dry chuckle to escape me and her lips to quirk up minutely, "So I had hoped to catch a bit of a breather and talk to someone who doesn't yet worship the very ground I walk on."

I blink, before giggling.

Alright, that wasn't at all how I pictured her when all the pretenses were cast away.

I feel myself relax almost instantly, and if the Amusement creeping off her imprint in the Immaterium is anything to go by, she's in the same boat as I.

I close my opened notebook to give the girl in front of me my full attention.

"I'm afraid I'll be quite bad at the worshiping thing, anyway." I answer, a bit cheekily, "So the only thing you'll find here is some polite conversation."

She does the same little prim and proper snort she did yesterday.

Ergh, why do I feel like a pig in a dress next to her?

"Oh?" she emotes questioningly, "Polite, are we?"

"Well," I not-quite drawl before I even catch myself, "Kind of the norm in this country, after all."

She hums consideringly, before nodding slightly.

Hmm.

I think that, right there, is someone just as done with this whole sanitized society bullshit than I am.

Honestly, congrats to her, because she has endured it way longer than I had, and still hasn't told everyone to fuck off.

"I'm curious, though: why the Kendo club?" the chestnut haired beauty asks, seemingly dropping the previous subject.

I tilt my head a fraction, before giving her a one shoulder shrug.

"I know my way around arming swords," -or at least a part of me did, and a quick session with my Illnis Mk.V in its scabbard had confirmed that I had some kind of muscle memory to go along with it- "And I wanted to see how that translated to a more eastern type of fencing.

"Maybe it'll work, maybe I'll be a complete beginner, but at the very least I'll learn some new things."

Plus, it technically wasn't a waste of my time to learn a martial discipline centered around cutting shit up, since I could amplify the edge of my blade to an absolutely ridiculous degree by channeling the Warp in it.

Well, it also tended to make the heads of people injured by it explode, if getting bisected somehow wasn't enough.

Nonetheless, I probably had the only arming sword in this world whose edges would never dull and always cut as long as I powered it, so Kenjutsu katas would probably be of help.

"Pardon me for saying, Hanako-san, but you seem to be the kind who meshes poorly with authority, even if you know how to play ball." she points out while distractedly looking at her plate, a pair of lacquered chopsticks -her very own, I presume- held at the ready in her left hand, "And, in case you somehow missed it yesterday, I happen to run a tight ship.

"This is a fact, it is who I am when I'm treating things seriously, and the Kendo club is dear to me.

"So, despite all of that, are you going to rise up to the challenges even if it means that you'll have to bear with me?"

I glance at her, as she pushes her bangs aside elegantly behind her ear, having seemingly decided on what to eat first, effortlessly looking like a picture made by an artist, for some reasons.

Oh, I don't think I'm going to complain, like, ever.

"Oh, I don't think I'm going to complain, like, ever." my brain-mouth filter crashes abruptly.

I instantly redden.

Koryu-Buchou locks eyes with me, an eyebrow arched.

"Erh, forget I said that?" I try, feeling like hiding myself inside the deepest hole that I can find.

Her lips quirk up-

-and I feel something ghosting along my leg for a beat, making me blink in surprise.

"No," she answers amusedly, her voice dipping a notch lower, huskier, nuances of Pink and Purple dancing around her imprint in the Immaterium, "No, I don't think I'm going to, little Kouhai."

Eh?

Eeeehhhh?!

…Task failed successfully, I guess?

[AN: Before everyone asks: Koryu Sakura is generally done with the Japanese society because they're kind of harsh on gay folks.

And, yes, she's very, very gay, even if the rest of the club doesn't know it.

Now, before people start to cry about Prima not aiming for the canon cast members, just remember that she's skimming their thoughts almost constantly, and that she didn't feel any kind of lust down there yet, not like the hot, human, senpai dangled right in front of her.

So of fucking course if she's getting blatantly hit on she's going to take the plunge at some point.

It's also because I like for my MCs to have some kind of plausible explanation when they get together with someone as to why they know how to seggs, because writing exploratory two virgins sex scene is an absolute chore, and, in my opinion, the most boring type of lewds you can ever write.

Now, you could argue that she technically already has some experiences, which is true, but not in same sex relationships, so làh.

And if you're asking yourself if it is a little abrupt: it is, but Sakura totally wanted to see if she hadn't mistaken the ping on her gaydar the previous day and 'forgot' her bento on purpose. At worst, like she said, she'd have a meal away from her 'clique', and at best, well…

She'd have a Kouhai to bully in the not so distant future, eheh.

As for Rias? Well, it's because I'm setting things up for a future plot point, so you'll have to be a bit more patient to see how it unveil.

Hope you enjoy, xoxo]