The night was calm and serene, with Issei laying naked on his bed, since he always slept in the nude, alone in his room for once.
Bell was having a bath with Elena, his two most devoted girls taking some time to bond with each other during a nice soak. Asia was in her room, reading some of the shoujo manga Issei had bought her, the girl much more interested in romances and friendship stories than the action and adventure manga he preferred.
As for his parents, now that his father had quit his job he had a lot more energy, and both of the elder Hyoudous had taken to going to bed early. Issei was happy for them, but he did admit it was a bit distracting to catch the occasional noise that escaped their room while they were having fun.
He had just been considering checking to see if Elaheh or Felicia might be up to having some fun with him when a transportation circle appeared on the floor, emanating red light. Issei tensed but relaxed after a moment rather than going into an attack when he recognized the presence that was coming through, curious. When Rias Gremory appeared in his room, the main thing that surprised him was that she was completely and very obviously naked.
On Rias' part, doing this had taken quite some steeling of her resolve, helped along by a fair bit of desperation. She might have been a bit more confident and self assured had she been turning to a member of her peerage, but neither Kiba or Gasper were options she was comfortable with, for multiple reasons.
Honestly, of all the men she knew, Issei really was the best choice, for multiple reasons. She had grown to like and respect him through their recent interactions, he was actually rather good looking now that he'd matured a bit, and she believed he would likely be able to deal with any retaliation from Riser. She might not have been able to see all of his capabilities yet, but just Salvation and Bell's obvious strength told her that he was likely quite a bit more powerful than she was currently aware of.
Seeing him laying on his bed, naked, she blushed lightly but approached him, not hiding her own body in the slightest. She needed him to be attracted to her, and she'd never been all that shy in the first place, especially amongst those she trusted.
"Hyoudou-kun, I need your help." She said, bowing her head slightly, once again feeling a bit insecure due to the fact she had no real connection to him beyond a budding friendship.
He propped himself up on his elbows, looking up into her eyes seriously after pulling his gaze away from her breasts. "What could you need while coming to me in such a state?" He asked gently, obviously having some idea but giving her the opportunity to clear up any misconceptions or change her mind, something she did appreciate.
Slowly she got on the bed and straddled his thighs, his manhood already standing straight up before her. "Please take my virginity, Hyoudou-kun. Right now."
Despite knowing that he'd grown up a bit, and was much more in control of himself, she was surprised when his only reaction was to reach out and gently take hold of her hand. "What's pushing you to do this?" He asked, gentle concern in his voice, and she almost started to explain, to let loose with all of her fear and anger and desperation, to vent. The only reason she didn't was because she knew she was on borrowed time, and if she didn't do this immediately it would likely be too late.
"I'll explain later, Hyoudou-kun, but thank you for your concern." She said with a shaky smile. "Please, just tell me you'll do what I need."
He studied her a bit further, debating with herself, and she had a small guess as to why he hadn't already pounced on her as she imagined he might have before his disappearance. It was obvious that she wasn't here entirely because she wanted to be, and his utter abhorrence of nonconsentual sexual acts had become widely known throughout school.
"I promise, Hyoudou-kun, any regret I might eventually feel at having you take my first time will be much smaller than what I'll feel if you don't." She assured him as sincerely as she could.
He closed his eyes and let out a breath before looking up at her. "Alright, but I'll want an explanation after."
She smiled at him. "Thank you." With that she looked down, allowing herself to fully take him in for the first time.
She hadn't seen his entire body fully exposed before now, and she found she'd severely underestimated how extensive his scarring was. Scars from what had to be blades, fangs and claws were joined by several patches of burn scars and at least a dozen that appeared caused by bullet wounds. And that was just what she could see on his frontal upper body. Even his penis appeared to have several small scars of its own.
Not that she minded. She hadn't really considered it till she'd seen Issei upon his return, but she'd realized she found scars attractive, depending on the context. Scars like the ones she was seeing now told her that Issei was a survivor, and likely an experienced warrior who earned them in fights, real ones to the death rather than Rating Games, all of which he'd managed to come out of alive. They were symbols of strength to her, and she'd always found strength attractive, as most devils did.
Plus, it was quite a contrast with Riser, who didn't have a single blemish on his body due to his Phenex regeneration.
As for his manhood, she wasn't disappointed. It appeared that Kiryuu Aika had been correct about it. Large, but not too large, about the perfect size. Rias could see that he kept himself well groomed with a trimmed bush of hair at the base, which she found she rather liked, even if she herself tended to use magic to leave herself hairless below the neck. Even the aforementioned scars added to its attractiveness in her eyes, his foreskin peeled back slightly simply due to how hard he was.
Taking a breath Rias lifted herself up onto her knees, reaching down to gently take hold of Issei's shaft and aim it at her sex, which was rather wet despite the desperation that had brought her here. It wasn't like she would have minded being involved sexually with him in other circumstances. She'd had a fair share of wet dreams involving him, after all.
Seeing her hesitate before lowering herself down he reached up to gently caress her sides. "Take your time. It's your first time, I'll go at your pace." His eyes were gentle as he looked up at her.
She gave him a grateful smile before taking another deep breath and beginning to sink down. She'd just felt his very tip brush against her lower lips when she suddenly found herself sprawled on her side in a rather undignified fashion after a bright red light flashed in the room. Looking up to figure out what was going on she felt herself go pale.
Grayfia now stood in the room in the exact location Rias herself had arrived at, looking every bit the professional and diligent maid she was. The silverette was gazing calmly at Issei, who was now on his feet in front of her, a rather large, blocky looking handgun in hand and aimed at her face, looking rather dangerous despite his continuing nakedness.
It took a moment for Rias to get over her panic enough to call out. "Hyoudou-kun, no!"
Issei kept his eyes locked on Grayfia's. "I don't take well to having my home invaded by unknowns." He said softly, glaring at the maid without changing his stance or aim in the slightest.
Grayfia bowed her head lightly, apparently not wanting to startle the brunette into pulling the trigger. "I am the head maid for the House of Gremory, and am here to collect our wayward heiress before she does something unfortunate."
Issei didn't waver, simply tilting his head slightly in Rias' direction without taking his eyes off Grayfia. "Gremory-senpai?"
"She is." Rias said as she got off the bed on shaky legs, her heart hammering at how badly this could go. "Grayfia is the Gremory maid, and one of the most trusted members of the house."
Issei seemed to consider that for a moment before lifting his weapon to point at the ceiling. "I'm assuming this is connected with why you came to me tonight?"
Rias sighed, both in relief that the tense situation had been resolved and in sadness that she'd been stopped. "Yes. I promise I'll explain later, Hyoudou-kun." She said as she stepped toward Grayfia, using her power to make some of her usual underwear appear on her form. "I apologize."
"I am glad I got here in time." Grayfia said calmly as she turned her head from looking at Issei to stare at Rias. "This is not appropriate behavior of an heiress of a noble house. Particularly with a human, though I suppose that was the point."
"It was." Rias said sourly, feeling anger join the despair in her gut. Then she sighed as Grayfia put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll see you later, Hyoudou-kun." And with that, the two teleported away, leaving Issei to stare at the spot they'd been standing, weapon still in hand.
That was how Bell and Elena found him when they burst into the room a few moments later, naked and ready for a fight. Seeing him alone in the room the high pixie sighed. "Alright, what did we miss?"
Lunch at school the next day found Issei distractedly eating his bento while trying to shake the previous night from his head. Despite the fact that her obvious desperation definitely detracted from the experience, the Gremory heiress was still absolutely among the top twenty or so of the most beautiful women he'd ever met. Which was saying a lot, considering the rest of the women that occupied such high positions in his personal rankings. He had to wonder if there was something about being a devil that led to amazing attractiveness, but he didn't exactly have a huge sample size to go by, at least not yet.
He was brought (somewhat) out of his rather arousing thoughts when Aika planted her (in his opinion) cute little backside on his desk, turned sideways to look at him with her arms crossed under her modest breasts. "Yes…?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as their classmates looked over to see what was going on.
"I have a very important question about your girlfriend, Hyoudou." She said flatly and almost sternly, glasses shining as she shifted her head to look down at him with a serious look on her face.
The classroom went silent as everyone turned to find out what could make Aika become so seemingly concerned, with even Asia tilting her head in curiosity.
"Okay… Go ahead and ask. I have nothing to hide." He said as he popped a sausage into his mouth and chewed, eyebrow still raised.
Aika leaned forward, eyes intent. "What's the sex like?"
Murayama, who had been absently sipping at a juice box while observing, immediately let out a truly glorious spray onto Katase's face, her fellow kendoka not seeming to notice as she stared in open mouthed disbelief at Aika's audacity. Matsuda tripped and fell on his face from a standing still position, while Motohama's glasses slowly slipped off his face and onto the floor next to his fellow pervert without him even noticing as his mouth opened and closed in his own shock.
Asia, for her part, immediately blushed a bright, luminescent red, remembering all the sounds she'd heard coming from his room, and the few times she'd peeked while praying to God for forgiveness.
Issei, for his part, simply gave a long and slow blink as he continued observing Aika while calmly chewing his food under the bespectacled girl's gaze. Once he'd swallowed he responded. "Excellent. Bell-chan is rather petite, not in a loli way, but enough that full penetration is uncomfortable for her, so we save that for special occasions. She does have a huge oral fixation though, and she can do some very impressive things with her mouth. Plus she's started getting into cosplay recently, so roleplay is something we've been experimenting with as well." He answered honestly and frankly, proving he had no intention of hiding anything as he saw Aika's cheeks redden and a perverted grin appear on her face.
One of the girls in the room let out a sound very reminiscent of a kettle boiling, while several boys were staring at him in jealousy and awe.
Of course, Issei wasn't done. "She also enjoys sitting on my face quite a bit, especially when she can get to enjoy watching Elena-chan riding me, which sadly deprives me of my ability to take in such a heavenly sight, but I'm not exactly going to complain. It's really helped my own oral skills." He continued before calmly popping some rice in his mouth and chewing as he let that settle.
It was a mark of how flustered he'd made everyone that it took a bit for anyone to really notice what he'd just said, and of course it was one of the other two perverts in the room. "Wait, 'Elena-chan'?" Matsuda asked after he'd picked himself up off the floor.
Issei raised an eyebrow. "I haven't mentioned Elena-chan?" He asked innocently, hiding his amusement. He was rather enjoying going with Bell's idea of screwing with the class by slowly revealing more and more of his girls as the opportunity arose.
Almost the entire class collectively shook their heads, still in shock and trying to process, so he grabbed his phone and pulled up the picture he'd prepared with the girls for just such an occasion. It showed an absolutely breathtaking European blonde woman sitting naked on his bed, back to the camera, arms raised to tie her silky golden hair as she had her head turned enough for her beautiful face to be visible, a sexy smirk on her red lips and her green eyes lidded with lust. Due to her position only her smooth back, a bit of side boob, and the tops of her very attractive buttocks could be seen, her legs hidden by a sheet, but that was more than enough for anyone looking at the picture to tell she could give any model in the world a stroke from sheer envy.
Handing the phone to Aika he went back to his food as she studied the picture, the perverted duo crowding around her to look as well. The brunette girl raised an eyebrow, impressed, her blush deepening. "Damn, Hyoudou, you must be magic to attract girls of this quality." She said as she passed the phone along so the rest of the class could take a look, ignoring Matsuda and Motohama practically crying tears of blood at 'the unfairness of the universe'.
Issei smirked lightly and gave Aika a look that made a shudder go down her back. "Maybe you'll find out some day…"
Aika's mouth fell open, unable to believe that Issei seemed to be flirting with her (in a very direct manner appropriate to perverts like them). Then it closed with a click and she gave him a considering look, but before she could respond the bell rang. She got off his desk and tapped her lips thoughtfully as she continued looking at him. "Hmm… perhaps I will…" With that she smirked at him before she made her way back to her seat, swaying her hips, as Ochu-sensei walked back into the room, leaving Issei to chuckle lightly at the chaos of the day.
Issei made his way to the ORC's clubhouse after classes had ended, intending to get an explanation for the previous night and see what he could do to help, as anything that would prompt the red headed devil to attempt to do what she did had to be serious indeed.
Bell had wanted to come, but Issei had decided that it would be best if she didn't, if only to keep from overly pressuring Rias. This was likely going to be an uncomfortable enough discussion for the girl without more people there.
Arriving at the old schoolhouse he pursed his lips as he felt a pulse of unfamiliar power emanate from the ORC's usual meeting room, prompting him to quickly head upstairs and open the door without knocking, wanting to see what was going on without anyone trying to hide anything. He'd apologize afterwards if necessary.
Inside he found the entire Gremory peerage, the maid from the previous night, and an unknown man that appeared to be in his early twenties, with blonde hair and an arrogant look on his face. What most caught Issei's attention was the fact that this person had grabbed hold of Rias' arm in what appeared to be a possessive manner despite her obvious dislike, maintaining his hold even as everyone turned to look at the sudden arrival.
Issei took this all in before stepping in and closing the door. He could already tell he wasn't going to like this.
"Who are you?" The man rudely asked as he let Rias go, turning towards Issei with a narrow look in his arrogant eyes.
Issei was unruffled. "Hyoudou Issei. I'm a friend and business associate of Heiress Gremory. I think the better question is who you think you are to treat her in such a way." He said coldly as he stared down the man he could already tell was a massive prick.
The man's eyes narrowed further as he approached Issei, ignoring Rias' call for him to stop. "I am Riser Phenex, scion of House Phenex of the 72 Pillars, and Rias is betrothed to me."
And suddenly everything made sense. Of course it would involve devilish politics that were outdated by at least a century. It made Issei want to sigh in exasperation, but he kept calm as Riser got in his face. "Arranged by her father, I assume?"
"Indeed." Riser said as he glared at Issei. "He was determined to make the best match he could for Rias, and so naturally he chose to betrothe her to me."
"In that case my estimation of the man has lowered considerably." Issei said rather blandly.
Riser's eyes blazed with fury. "Who do you think you are? I've tolerated you so far for Rias' sake, but now that I look closer you aren't even a reincarnated devil, just a human. You should know your place." He sneered.
At that Issei looked honestly amused. "Shouldn't you take your own advice? Though I suppose it's hard to see where you stand with your colon in the way."
Riser's eyes widened in enraged shock as he moved to attack, but stopped when Grayfia spoke up. "Please calm yourself, Lord Phenex. We have important matters to discuss." She turned her gaze to Issei. "Private matters."
Issei, who hadn't even twitched when Riser looked like he was about to attack, simply glanced at Rias, who nodded with a sigh, before he nodded back and stepped out. "Very well, I'll wait outside for matters to be settled. My business is not too urgent now." He stepped back and opened the door. "Rias, Yakitori." He said, nodding to Rias and Riser in turn, before stepping out and closing the door as Riser shouted in outrage.
With that Issei leaned against the wall as he considered how to deal with the situation and get Rias out of this, frankly offensive, arrangement. He could feel the anger burning in his breast, and he knew that if he ended up meeting Rias' father he'd wind up kicking the man's ass.
Eyes closed in thought he felt the pulses of power that indicated that Riser and Grayfia had left, and a minute or so later the door opened, allowing Kiba to stick his head out. "You can come in now, Hyoudou-kun."
A few moments later found Issei sitting before Rias's desk with tea in hand as the devil rubbed at her forehead, looking exhausted. "I apologize for that, Hyoudou-kun. Riser is…"
"And asshole?" Issei finished for her, a small smirk on his lips as Akeno giggled at the blunt assessment.
Rias smiled. "Pretty much." Then she sighed. "I'm guessing I owe you that explanation now."
"Not really much left to explain, Gremory-senpai. Arranged marriage to someone you detest at the least, you looked for a way out, thought you found one, went for it, was foiled, and is now back to searching."
Rias nodded, a frown on her face as she sighed. "Essentially. I apologize for trying to use you in such a way."
Issei nodded in acceptance. "So, what now?"
"Now I've been given an opportunity to get out of this engagement. Our parents have agreed that if I win a Rating Game against Riser I can make my own decision about marrying him." She said, brow furrowed and arms crossed under her breasts.
Issei nodded, remembering what he'd been told about Rating Games. "So you have a chance now."
Rias let out a long, despondent sigh. "Not really. This is false hope, if anything. Riser has a full peerage, while I do not, and for all of his arrogance he is strong, having only lost Rating Games on purpose as favors to his opponents. Phenex regeneration, a strong peerage, and personal power account for a lot. Even if I had Asia-chan, and perhaps even you, in my peerage the odds would be very long."
"So, are you giving up?" Issei asked calmly as he sipped his tea.
Rias' eyes blazed. "Like hell. If nothing else I'm going to make sure Riser bleeds for this."
Issei smiled, pleased. "Well then, how would you like some help…?"
Rias quirked an eyebrow before her eyes began to shine in anticipation as Issei explained, a smile appearing on her face.
"I accept." She said promptly once he was done, the two sharing a wicked smile as the plans took shape.
Riser wasn't going to know what hit him.
Most of this chapter has been done since the end of last month, but the ending has been fighting me, and I think it shows. The confrontation with Riser is rather stiff, and the very end seems rushed.
Still, it's done now, and things are going to pick up. Next chapter will be the training for the Rating Game, and I have some plans for it, mwahaha.
Not much else to say, so I'll go ahead with my usual reminders.
As I've stated previously, my best friend and their roommate have a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, and another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. They have been forced to take a hiatus due to real life issues, so their latest episode was on The Game Awards. This was recorded before the show itself, so they don't discuss what a shitshow it was, and focus on the nominees and some related topics. It was interesting, and should tide people over till they return. So that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on all your favorite podcatchers.
Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. I relied on all of you when I wasn't working, and it definitely still helps even now that I'm gainfully employed. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on the Coeurl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America, Astral Prime FC)
I used to have a poll on what to update there to incentivize donations, but I recently realized that part of the reason I have trouble motivating myself to write is that I've been letting others dictate what I write, so that's no longer a thing. I apologize, but as of now, I don't have anything to really reward patrons with other than my gratitude.
If you'd like to send a few cents my way anyway, I'm at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. However, if you'd rather donate a one-off amount rather than a monthly sub, I also have a Ko-Fi. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .
That's all for this chapter. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and till next time. Bye.