Akeno Himejima sighed as she wiped her face clean from the dirt that stained it, the water of her shower running down her back as leaves and twigs fell down. Things had been going so smoothly as of late too. Another six months and she'd have just enough strength to pull her weight during Rias' rating game, maybe more.

But then, that damned berserker had to come in and ruin things.

She turned off the showerhead, wrapping both her hair and body with a towel before stepping out of the shower. Opening the door out of the bathroom, she stepped into Rias' office and frowned at her friend's absence. She must still gather the sin from her own little generators in town, a slower process than her own but more sustainable. Rias could afford to be slower, she was already strong.

It was Akeno who needed to pick up the slack.

The door to the office opened as a familiar blond head of hair peeked in, her frown disappearing as she greeted her favorite little brother. "Kiba, how are you? It's been some time since-"

"Where's Rias?"

Her smile faltered at his brusque attitude but didn't criticize him for it. "Out still. You know how stressed she's been with the game coming up."

He nodded, looking a little annoyed at her absence but accepting of it. Did he have something important to ask her? "Why did you want to see her?"

Kiba glanced at her, a heavy frown on his face as he appraised all he wanted to know with a single look. "You did that ritual again, didn't you?"

Akeno felt her heart drop slightly at his bitter words but wasn't surprised. He was always the most attached to his humanity out of the two of them, having lost it far more recently. "You know why it must be done. And besides, I only hurt people who deserve it, Kiba. Kuoh's a better place without those kinds."

"No one deserves it, Akeno. Not like that."

The debate which caused the rift between them to grow so quickly continued to ail her, but she pushed through it. He would understand in time. After all, he knew just as well as she did how awful humans could be. "I'd rather we didn't fight, Kiba."

"Then we won't."

He turned away from her at that moment, leaving the room without another word as her shoulders dropped with the weight of his rejection. He was still naïve, still rejecting the devil inside him. But time would help him understand that what she was doing was making the best out of a bad situation. Compared to other devils, her method was practically saintly.

Her method was justice.

… … …

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Alfred? Are you in there?"

The man in question jolted awake, falling from bed as the voice of his first friend here rang out from the door. He cleared his throat, still processing the fact he was conscious as he yelled back. "M'up! Be right there!"

Crawling to his feet, Alfred trudged his way to the front door. He went to rub his eyes from the sleepiness, before pausing once he realized that something was covering his face. He looked into the mirror, and the events of last night replayed themselves in his head.

"…Shit."

Threat's black and red mass covered him, the top of his head being all black until the hash pattern of the red began to appear near his mouth, giving him an almost ever-present grin which seemed to morph to the shape of his mouth. Over his eyes were what looked like two large golden teardrops, though jagged and elongated near the tip which curled around itself. His neck and chest retained a mostly solid black, the hash pattern slightly reemerging past his shoulders and pectorals before getting more prominent as it went down.

"You alright in there?"

He whipped his head to the door, Threat transforming back into his school uniform as he opened the door. "Sorry, sorry. What's up?"

Kiba raised an eyebrow at his exhausted appearance but pushed it aside without much comment. "Class starts soon. I was just making sure you were up."

Class? Right, class. "Yeah yeah, I'm a… I just need to grab my bag."

"If you're sure."

Yanking his bag off of the desk in his room, Alfred slung it over his and joined Kiba outside as the two of them began to walk out of the building. They chatted a bit, a bit slower than usual as he had a tendency of spacing out a bit mid conversation, but it was still nice.

"I'll see you later, take care of yourself."

"Hm? Yeah, you too man."

Alfred blinked, somewhat surprised at how quickly the two of them had gotten to the academy. Then again, he had been half-asleep while on the walk here so that made some sort of sense. Checking the time on his phone, he realized he was here half an hour early, which meant that he had half an hour to find his classroom and maybe take a quick nap.

He walked through the main building, taking long and heavy blinks as he passed a few other early birds through the halls. He approached the staircase, going up the first half of the flight before turning to get up the other half.

"Fancy seeing you here, Berserker."

The tiredness vanished in an instant.

The devil from last night stood atop the stairs in a Kuoh Academy girl's uniform, hands on her hips as she gave him a wicked grin. He took a step back, body tensing as she cooed at his defensive stance.

"Aw, is the big bad Berserker scared of little old me?"

She took her first step down the stairs, practically cackling as he flinched. She took another, then another, and another, all the way down until she was on his level mere feet away. Her eyes narrowed as she smiled, showing off her teeth as she pressed a single finger against his chest. "My my, its ability to transform is quite something. Though I do miss the tentacles~"

"What do you want?"

A gasp escaped her lips, an obviously fake amount of surprise coming over her as she held a hand over her mouth. "Is that all you think of me? Someone who wants to use you?"

"I think you want to kill me."

Her finger trailed up his chest and rested on his chin, tracing the side of his jaw as she whispered malevolently to him. "Well, you'd be right about that."

His hand began to transform just as she moved away from him, not a shred of fatigue on her face as she pressed her hand against the side of her face and tilted her head. "My my, you are so quick to violence. You may have interrupted and ruined my ritual, but you don't see me trying to make your organs cook."

He didn't let up on the claw, gaze steady as he shot back. "Yeah, a ritual where you kill innocent people for power."

"I do not kill innocents!"

She snapped back quickly, angrily, before returning to her aloof mask as if nothing had happened. "I only kill those who deserve it, after all. Those who fail my test."

"Which would be?"

The question seemed to placate her, as a hint of pride entered her voice as she explained the method to her madness. "I simply place them in a simple illusion where the greatest temptation for them to indulge in sin appears before them, and I wait to see if they take it. Those who do, die, and those who don't go home as if nothing ever happened."

He scoffed at her test, finding it unfair at best and rigged at worst. "So, you convince them to do it and then blame them for it? Real fair of you."

Her nose wrinkled at his criticism, the corner of her eye twitching. "As if an ignorant human like you would understand the gravity of it."

"The gravity of killing people for power?"

She looked ready to strangle him at that moment, but once again she cooled her anger just enough to make a low blow. "My my, even without that meddlesome aura of yours, you still have quite the talent for aggravating people."

"It's what I'm best at."

An echoing of other students interrupted their standoff, causing the devil to sigh as she put on a friendly smile. "Lucky you that I'm forbidden from acting during the day. But should I ever see you again once the night has fallen…"

Her teeth flashed once more, a promise of violence and more should their paths cross. Alfred said nothing, leaving her in the stairwell as he silently made his way to class fully aware there was no way he was getting any sleep now.

… … …

Lunch once again saw him eating a rice ball, navigating his way to the library as he finished off his meal. He kind of wished for a good burger, but he had no idea where he was going to go for that kind of food. Maybe there was a McDonalds? There probably was.

Finding a corner with a desk and chair, Alfred tossed his bag on the desk and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes. He kept time on his phone, setting an alarm for five minutes before the bell would ring and another alarm two minutes before that. Just to be safe, of course.

It was actually quite easy for him to find a lull in consciousness, his mind drifting quickly due to the lack of sleep. He found comfort balanced upon that chair, never too close to falling forwards or backwards. It was a precarious position to be in, of that there was no doubt, but it was one he found comfort in all the same.

It was not a comfort that lasted.

"So, you're the one."

His eyes snapped open as his balance faltered, lurching forward in an attempt to prevent himself from falling. He turned to the voice, noticing a brunette with drill-like curls along her hair. She regarded him like some sort of science experiment, analyzing his existence with a sharp sense of intrigue. It did little to warm him to her presence.

"Who are you?"

The girl blinked, almost as if she were surprised by the fact that he was speaking at all. "I am Abe Kiyome, and you are an anomaly."

"Explain."

His pleasantness had been worn away by stress and a distinct lack of sleep. She took no offense to it, or at least not visibly, as she continued her spiel. "Even now you're constantly generating a negative magic, and it seems your body is releasing small traces of it into the air to compensate for it. At least, whatever that familiar of yours doesn't eat."

Said familiar formed a sharp tendril from his shoulder, pointing it at the girl accusingly as she looked mildly startled. "Oh, it can understand me. Hello there."

"Threat."

Begrudgingly, his companion pulled itself back into his shoulder. Alfred shook his head, eager to get on with things so that he could get back to his nap. "Are you a devil too?"

The girl balked at his question, waving away his concern with a hand as she presented some sort of badge. "Nothing of the sort. I am a council approved magician and carer of magical fauna. One of my friends saw your battle last night and brought it to my attention, and well, let's just say I am very interested in studying you. With consent of course!"

That last bit was added in hastily, as Threat formed another spiked tentacle aimed at her head. Calming the creature down, Alfred eyed the so-called magician with blatant suspicion. "Right, totally. Let's say I believe you, why should I agree?"

Some sort of spark entered her eyes as she reached into her cleavage and pulled out a milky-white vial, taking a moment to wipe off the boob sweat that was on the glass before presenting it to him. "As a token of good faith, I present to you my Fatigue Wiper which-"

The magician barely even had time to blink before the vial was at his lips, the vile tasting concoction traveling down his throat at a slime's pace. A saner man would have been hesitant to drink any random vial given to him by a mysterious woman, but Alfred had passed sane the moment he got barely forty minutes of sleep after an exhausting night. He was tired, grouchy, and desperate for some energy.

And, to her credit, it worked.

"Woah, what is this stuff made of? I feel like I can run a marathon backwards!"

His hand practically shook as he handed back the vial to her, leg bouncing so fast that he lost the rhythm of it immediately. His fingers tapped against the wooden table as she grinned at her own invention. "A simple recipe of 100% caffeine extract and a dash of cocaine boiled over hellfire."

"Say what."

His hand clenched over his heart, suddenly massively worried about his health. Kiyome didn't seem to notice, or care, as she stuffed the vial between her boobs again and clapped her hands together. "By the way, you may have some irregular bowel movements later."

"How irregular?"

"Very. You may want to grab some baby wipes later."

Adding that to the list of things he needed to get done today, Alfred crossed his arms and tried to regain some semblance of seriousness. "Back on topic. Say I agreed to your plan, what would I get out of it?"

Expecting anything from the odd magician was hard to do, but he could say quite confidently that he hadn't expected her to pull out a pamphlet organized with her home address and services listed out in bullet points. Say what he would about her, she was nothing if not prepared.

"As a magician, I can assist you with any magical or otherwise supernatural issues you come across. And, as the last member of my bloodline, I have several contacts within the supernatural world which could prove of use to your endeavors, for the right price of course."

His lips tightened as he tried to hide how eager he was to have someone answer his questions regarding the world he had peeked at last night. Fingering the pamphlet with heavy skepticism but more than a little intrigue, he decided to step a touch out of his comfort zone. "…Fine, I'll trust you for now."

"Excellent! Here is my business card in case you ever need to contact me."

She handed him a professionally printed business card with her name, number, and the name of some company called the "Supernatural Entity Observation Company", before scurrying off not dissimilarly to a mouse. Giving both the card and the pamphlet one last look, he stuffed them in his bag and rose to his feet. Thanks to that energy booster, he had little need for a nap now, so he decided to just head to his next class early, careful to disable his alarms lest they catch him off guard.

It wasn't a particularly long walk to his next class, despite it being in the gym building away from the main high school campus. The academy itself was fairly well packed together, allowing him to get from the main academic building to the gym building in only a few minutes. Of course, his naturally fast walking pace could have also been the culprit there, but who was to say really.

Entering the gym building and slipping into the men's locker room, he waited a moment to make sure no one was around and then had Threat simply shift into his gym uniform. Stuffing his bag into his locker, Alfred waited another few minutes before leaving the locker room and giving the massive gymnasium a second look over.

As other students trickled in, he realized that there had to be an easy hundred or so students taking the gym class at the same time as him. There were a few familiar faces, with Isami in the corner with a disturbing expression and one of those perverted duo guys (the bald one) doing something similar in a different corner. It was a fairly standard looking class, at least, until he saw a painfully familiar head of black hair tilt in his direction.

The devil from last night noticed him, her eyebrows pointing down as her lips almost made a perfect "V", an evil grin on her face which would've given any other man a heart attack and swiftly vanished from her face.

He had the worst luck imaginable, he really did.

"Oh, Evander, you're in this class too?"

Careful to keep his face blank lest he show any unwarranted disdain to some random person, he noted a familiar red ribbon as a name came to his immediate mind. "Ah, Murayama. How are you?"

Brushing a long lock of hair away from her face, Murayama placed a hand on her hip and pushed her chest out forward slightly. "Well, thanks for asking. Though I was a little sad when I didn't hear from you last night. I thought you were ignoring me."

She pouted at the end, and he couldn't help but feel a little bad about it. He hadn't meant to ignore her in any way, he just got distracted with a bit of an upheaval to his understanding of the world. Not that he could share that, so he went with a different excuse. "Sorry about that. I only recently moved here so I was a bit busy making sure everything was in proper order. Paperwork stuff and all that."

The girl winced at that, a twinge of sympathy overcoming her as she scratched the back of her head. "Yikes, I could only imagine it. Well, if that's over with then maybe you'll be free today?"

His mind flashed to the pamphlet Kiyome had given him, and yet again found himself stretching the truth. "Afraid not. I have to head down to a doctor to make sure my medical stuff is up to date and get a checkup."

The ease of how quickly the lie came to him was both worrying and not totally surprising. He had often had to come up with lies right off the cuff during the early days when messing around with Threat and his powers, back before he knew how dangerous they were. After that, well, it became easier to lie whenever new friends asked him to hang out. After all, the more he was around them the quicker his aura would take effect.

It was… easier, that way.

"Man, it must be hard leaving your home like that."

He blinked, having lost himself somewhat in the memories of his life after the incident with his parents. He forced a smile, though whether it was for her or for him he couldn't say. "To be honest, I came here to escape home. Figured here would be a better chance than there."

Her response wasn't immediate, and for a moment he wondered if he had spoken too honestly and alienated her because of it. His fears were quickly put to rest however, as she bumped her shoulder into his arm and shrugged. "Well, if you ever feel like you need an escape, I wouldn't mind being there. You seem like a cool guy anyway."

"…"

What could he say to that? It was unnaturally kind, almost suspiciously so, but he couldn't see any sort of ulterior motive driving her actions. She seemed genuine, if a bit awkward, and that was something he could appreciate. "Thank you."

"N-No problem, dude."

Chuckling to himself at how unused to praise she must be, Alfred chose the high ground and didn't make any mention of her darkening cheeks to her. Instead, he stood patiently as the gym teacher blew into her whistle and organized all the students together.

"Right, this is your guys' first gym class of the year, so we'll do something fun. Himejima, Murayama, come up here."

Giving him a thumbs up, Murayama left his side and joined the devil on the opposite side of the teacher.

"We will be playing dodgeball today, with those two as the captains. Next class, I want a page-long paper on the strategy your team used and how it could have been done better. Now, captains, pick your teammates."

The teacher stepped to the side while the devil and Murayama did a quick game of rock paper scissors, the devil winning and some random student as her teammate first. Murayama went next, her eyes landing on him as she pointed. "I pick Evander."

Alfred held himself in the best composure he could, ignoring the heated gaze of the devil as he stood between her and Murayama, though closer to the latter than the former. Obviously.

"Fufufu, Katase."

And so it went, each side picking what may as well have been a random person until the only one left was Isami, who was forced onto Murayama's team much to the kendo enthusiast's displeasure.

"Great, stuck with the pervert. At least Kiryuu isn't here too."

He had no idea who this "Kiryuu" was, but going off of Murayama's tone, he decided that was probably for the best.

The two teams then broke up the gymnasium, with Murayama's team taking one half and Himejima's the other. Murayama took charge of the front, getting the other sports-oriented students up there alongside her while the less athletic stood back. How that ended up with Isami using him as a human shield while the teacher was yelling out the rules, however, was a mystery.

"Hey, so like, you know that weird thing that happened yesterday?"

It took a moment for him to understand exactly what she meant, as all of yesterday could qualify as a weird thing to him. "Yeah, I do actually. What was that about?"

He couldn't see her face on account of her hiding behind him, but he could imagine it was as expressive as it was the day before.

"Well, my arm started itching afterwards, right? So, I went to the nurse's office to try and get something for it when all of a sudden, some voice started whispering in my head and-"

She was cut off as Alfred's senses went haywire, his body rotating as he grabbed her and bent back to avoid a dodgeball rocketing right past his face. The rubber ball slammed against the wall, making a deafening boom in the gym as steam practically wafted right off it. He, alongside everyone else, turned to face the offender who simply covered her mouth in faux shock and giggled nervously.

"My hand slipped."

Nobody batted an eye at the devil's shit response, the teacher only sighing as she restated one of the rules. "And for the last time, no headshots. Shoulders down only, understood?"

Several heads all nodded, including the devil's even as she made eye contact with him and flicked her wrist at him. That was enough for the teacher, who brought out two other dodgeballs and had a student pass her the first one. "Good. Now, each team will start with one ball and the captains will participate in the tip-off. In the interest of time, there will be no outfield. If you are hit, you're out, end of story. Now, get ready."

Standing in the center of the arena, Murayama and Himejima stood not quite eye-to-eye with one another (the devil having a good few inches over Murayama). It was a distinctly unfair advantage, but one that no one commented on as the teacher tossed the ball into the air and both girls leapt for it.

That was when shit hit the fan for his team.

While he didn't know who each person was, he could tell that his own team had gotten the short end of the stick when it came to talent. There were fewer athletic students on his side, not too many less but a noticeable number, and that was enough to tip the initial favor into Himejima's favor. Combine that with the devil's height advantage during tip off, and you have a poor initial volley.

A ball rushed past his shoulder, some poor guy squealing as it hit him in the balls. His team's ball wasn't quite as lucky, missing its target as Himejima spun out of the way like some sort of ballerina. That left one other ball in immediate possession, her eyes locked onto him as she tossed it at a girl who was sprinting to reach one of the discarded balls.

It bounced off the girl's back before her fingertips to get to a ball, ricocheting off of her and hitting two of the other front liners in a manner which looked impossible. It then bounced to the floor, rolling back towards Himejima as she picked it up from the floor, reared her arm back, and smirked.

He had to move.

Alfred dove to the floor as the ball whistled past where he had been standing, performing another ricochet on some poor fellows behind him. He rolled across the floor and grabbed a ball, ignoring how his teammates scrambled about in the chaos and making a tactical decision. He pulled his arm back, aiming not towards the devil but instead at the red headband girl who acted as her second.

He threw the ball, letting his fingers push against it at the last moment as it spun through the air. The ball curved around, narrowly dodging the girl's outstretched arms as it bounced off her thigh and hit the foot of another girl who hadn't even noticed him throw the ball at all.

The two girls walked off, leaving Himejima less defended but by no means any less dangerous as she twirled out of the way of two other balls, letting her teammates take the hit. The balls rolled forward, no one else daring to touch them as she picked them up from the ground and ordered someone else to grab the third. Holding both up, she tilted her head and threw them.

Both balls tore through his team's ranks, ricocheting both off of each victim and even off of each other as her single dual throw took out a decisive ten people. The third ball thrown by her teammate was less successful, having been caught by Murayama and immediately thrown right back at the attacker, getting the girl out.

Alfred ran for one of the balls, grabbing both it and the second as Isami tossed it to him, seemingly wanting nothing to do with it. He tossed the extra ball to Murayama, rushing to the front just as Himejima was winding up her next throw. He slid under her attack, throwing his ball at her upper midsection only for her to bend backwards with her hands touching the ground, performing a backwards cartwheel to avoid the ball.

"Showoff."

The devil didn't say anything, her smirk only widening as she caught the ball from one of her teammates and aimed at him once more. Still on the ground and in no position to easily dodge, he rolled onto the back of his forearm and pressed his hand against the ground. Using his arm almost like a lever, he grunted as he pushed off the hand turned in the air, catching her ball before landing on his feet.

She scoffed at him, nose upturned as she regarded him with little in the way of joy. "Showoff."

He held onto the ball as Murayama tried to take advantage of Himejima's distractedness, tossing the ball at the devil while she wasn't looking. It didn't work, as the other girl lifted her hand and caught it without issue, before flicking the ball back with shocking speed.

"Murayama!"

He tried to run in before it could hit her, but there was no way he could without using any amount of supernatural strength. He was helpless as she tried to dodge, not moving fast enough as the ball slammed into her back and pushed her into his arms. She gasped, the hit likely causing the air in her lungs to expel out as she grabbed onto his shirt and whispered to him.

"A-Avenge me."

She then pushed off him, swearing under her breath as she tried to walk off the hit.

His eyes narrowed, fingers tightening around the ball as he vowed to get her the pound of flesh she deserved. He tossed the ball, taking notes on how Himejima threw it as he added in his own special curve to disorient his target. The girl (some random) attempted to catch it but missed as its curve threw her off and left her open, allowing it to bounce off her shoulder and hit another girl in the chest and finally hitting a third in the back of the thigh.

The devil noticed his copying of her technique, sulking somewhat before upping her own game. They each began to decimate the opposite team, with Isami at some point getting hit directly in the tit and practically passing out because of it.

And then, it was just them.

It was a classic Mexican standoff, each of them holding a ball with the third somewhere between them. They eyed each other, each waiting for the other to make a move. His arm practically shook from the tension of it, the muscles in his arm itching to move and be done with the sudden stillness. She, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content with how things were, a perfect poker face masking her intentions to him.

In retrospect, he would have difficulty knowing who had actually moved first. It was just a blur of motion in his memory, with what happened exactly being hard to tell. Regardless, one of them had moved and as such both of them had thrown their ball and moved their body accordingly.

She had thrown it center right, having successfully guessed that he would follow the momentum of his throw and dodge to the right. He had thrown it all the way to her left, knowing that she liked to barely let the ball skim past her and that she'd overcorrect to account for the curve of his throw. Of course, there was one thing she didn't account for.

He didn't curve his last throw.

Alfred watched as the realization set in too late, her body already moving to the left and setting the ball up to hit her dead center. He on the other hand was forced to recognize his own downfall as his habit of throwing himself into dodge meant that his face was in the direct path of the ball and that there was little he could do to change that.

So, he closed his eyes.

The bit between the ball hitting his face and him waking up on the ground was a complete blank for him, as Murayama helped him to his feet with an ecstatic grin.

"Holy shit, you just beat Himejima one on one! Her streak is over!"

He blinked away the pain in his face, unsuccessfully, and groaned out a response. "I won?"

"Yeah, hitting your face means that the hit didn't count."

He hummed, following Murayama out of the building as he dazedly glanced back to where the devil stood. They locked eyes, and rather than be upset like he thought she'd be. If anything, she looked pleased with herself, a hand raising as a single spark of lightning briefly arced between her fingers. And, in that moment, he knew exactly what the message was.

Next time, it wouldn't be a rubber ball.

… … …

Did I expect to get this out as quickly as I did? No. I expected to take at least another few hours, but that's how the cookie sogs I guess. What helped was me deciding to end it here rather than go on another 5k words, which I almost did before stopping myself. Honestly, as much as 10k word chapters can be fun I prefer 5k for both writing and reading. They tend to be much easier to produce and I feel that they have just enough content that you enjoy yourself while not being too long as to kind of drag sometimes. Personal preference, I know. Regardless, the next chapter will probably have more supernatural ties to it as well as some more lore bits to crunch down.

I hadn't actually planned on writing a dodgeball scene, but as I was going through the kinds of sports that might be played and ignored, I ended up liking the dodgeball idea and decided to actually write through the entire class (which was supposed to just be a breakoff scene to the next bit I had planned). Also, the idea of Akeno being unable to actually act upon her desire to strangle Alfred during the school day so instead opting to just be petty towards him as much as possible is funny to me. So yeah, that's how that a stray line of thought ended up taking over the latter half of the chapter.

This has been A Decent Hoonter, and Japanese volleyball is weirdly super structured.