Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

A Taste of the Life

Joshua watched with a smile as Kunou worked through some exercises. What else could he do, really, when she stuck out her tongue and bit it thoughtfully like that? She was incredibly adorable at all times, but she managed to out-adorable herself at times and it was entirely too unfair more often than not.

That was his completely unbiased opinion, obviously.

That was also the reason why he'd volunteered to help her with the subject that she'd suddenly found herself short a teacher for. He was no expert in the subject, but he didn't need to be to teach a child like her. She was more advanced than kids her age should be, but that was no surprise. Even then, she was still not quite at a level that would make it troublesome for him.

Well, unless it was about specific subjects like politics and history. He wasn't going to even try to get involved with that kind of stuff. Whenever Kunou had questions regarding those he'd direct her towards Yasaka. He would comment if he absolutely had to, but everyone and their mothers knew that he wasn't even at a level to teach her anything regarding those.

Hell, Kunou could probably teach him a thing or two regarding those subjects.

"What?" she asked, after glancing up and noticing that he wasn't actually working on his own stuff while she did her exercises. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"No, you are just distractingly adorable," Joshua commented with a wider smile.

"I'm not," Kunou argued, pouting in a way that really didn't help her case. He decided not to bait her into a childish back and forth, but that was only because she had things to do. Instead, he just continued smiling and said something else.

"Sure you aren't," Joshua couldn't stop himself from commenting. However, he did continue before she could get started for real. "Any trouble?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Um, no. I don't think so, at least," Kunou mumbled, looking down at her work. She wasn't done yet, but she'd made a decent amount of progress. "I have some doubts."

"And…?"

"I've written them down. I'll check the book when I'm done with this and, if I still have doubts, I'll ask you afterwards," she finished for him, citing what he'd told her regarding doubts. He beamed at her and she returned the expression earnestly, proud with the unspoken praise. Obviously, he wouldn't leave it at that.

"Exactly," he told her, nodding. "Now, back to it, little lady. If you finish with time to spare, you can spend that playing with Morag," he added, making her perk up.

"Great!" Kunou replied, beaming at him. "My other teachers usually give me more stuff to work on, unless it's right before class is over," she added with a cute little pout that spoke volumes of what she thought of that approach.

"That's because they are your teachers and they are contractually obligated to be boring," Joshua explained, nodding sagely even as his daughter burst into giggles. "It's just how things are."

"You are my teacher too," she pointed out.

"But I'm also your dad," he argued, smiling at the words and at the way Kunou smiled. "And that changes things."

"You are the best," Kunou mumbled with a shy little smile. 'Entirely too unfair indeed,' Joshua thought to himself. It was a good thing that she was a nice kid, or Kunou could have done much evil in the world and gotten away with it. The things he wouldn't do for her to keep being adorable weren't many.

"Don't let your mother hear you saying that," Joshua mock-whispered, making her giggle once more. "Now, come on. This is also your last class of the day. We can go somewhere afterwards, maybe ice cream?" he asked, thinking that over.

"Yes!"

"Or maybe something else…"

"Nooo," she whined.

"Depends on if your mother is free when we are done, I guess."

"Yes!"

"So, you do have to finish that first," he commented, looking at her and raising an eyebrow. She blinked then, looking down at the piece of paper she'd been doing her exercise on. With a squeak, she frowned and glared down at it, as if mentally cursing the fact that it wasn't done already.

Holding back a laugh, Joshua looked over his shoulder to share a look with Morag. His familiar pulled on his hair affectionately with one of her legs while sending content feelings through their bond. A second later, she crawled down his back and went back to continue working on the web she weaved on and off through the class in a corner of the room. 'Have fun,' he sent back to her, to which she replied with a happy stream of emotions.

'Well, might as well get some more work done,' he mused, turning his attention back to his own things. He did have projects to work on, several of which were dedicated to make things better for the girl across the table from him. Some might call his priorities weird, but Joshua didn't much care for their opinion if they did.

Bringing his hand up, he grabbed his locket, running his thumb over it.

Letting go, he continued working on a specific set of spells. All of them were similar to what he'd used to check on the defenses of the Hexennacht bases before attacking, which made sense. At the back of his mind, he felt several deities burning their thoughts through the link with the Charm and into his own mind. Apparently, the Egyptians were really liking his new approach to things.

Not surprising, but certainly appreciated, because they were more proactive with the help they gave too. Either way, Joshua had things to focus on other than those things. 'I'm getting distracted a lot,' he mused with a sigh as he shook his head. Taking a sip from his tea, he set it down and turned back to his work, this time actually getting to it.

'Defenses of GD,' he read at the top of the page before continuing what he'd been doing before, right next to another piece of paper that read. 'Defenses of EF.'

[}-o-{]

"That's creepy," Kunou said, looking at him with wide eyes, an ice cream cone in her hands.

"Kunou," Yasaka scolded her, stern look in place. It wasn't very effective though, especially because their daughter was too busy taking in Joshua's new appearance. Besides, he wouldn't let her get in trouble for something that was true, if the reflection in the store's window was any indication.

Good thing he had plenty of spells in place to hide them from attention.

"She's not wrong," he said, his voice mostly flat. His emotions seemed… dulled too, which he guessed made some sense. His eyes, now green instead of blue, took in the pale skin of his arm. He was now a very unhealthy shade of gray instead of his natural color. On top of that, he also looked… emaciated.

'Osiris' change is quite… something,' he thought to himself, taking a deep breath in and doing what he'd changed for. Life Sense was still a skill that he was working on to raise. It was one of the limitations he had to create good illusions that could fool other people's life sensing. The main one, really.

After all, if he didn't know all the details that high level life sensing could catch, then he couldn't properly make fake ones. Yasaka had explained that to him quite well, even if he'd already figured that out. So, if he could get a good read on what he needed to work on, then he'd close that gap in his knowledge.

Which was why he was channeling the god of life at the moment, having asked for help on that front. Sure, it didn't fix the issue, but he didn't need to permanently have great life sensing. He just needed to see what he was missing for good illusions. He could continue working on that in his own time.

'Thank you,' he projected through his link with the Egyptians, letting go of Osiris' presence and turning back to normal. What he got in response was a somewhat indifferent sense of acknowledgement. It seemed that for a god of life, Osiris wasn't very lively. That wasn't much of a surprise, he supposed, knowing what he knew about him.

"That's kind of weird," he thought out loud, blinking as everything seemed to become brighter and his emotions a little more intense. "Hm, interesting," he added, noting down some things on a notebook he had ready before picking his own ice cream back up from where he'd set it down. There was a reason why he hadn't gotten a cone after all.

"Had your fun?" Yasaka asked, raising an eyebrow at him when he looked up.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm working on something-"

"Obviously," she commented, amused.

"-and I kind of need extra life sensing skill, so I'm checking on things from time to time like that," he explained. He ran his fingers through his hair, a wry smile on his face. "Sorry if that, you know, bothers you. I probably shouldn't do that in the middle of a date."

"Probably," Kunou said, nodding sagely.

"I don't mind, so long as it doesn't take long," Yasaka reassured him, looking at ease herself. That was more reassuring than her words, Joshua would admit. He also hadn't felt anything from her with Life Sense before, but he wasn't sure if his skill was high enough for that even with Osiris' help. Probably? Who knew? "Can we know what that is for though?"

"Ah… It's a surprise," he answered, hoping she wouldn't be annoyed. He really didn't want to tell her though. She probably would either be angry or try to dissuade him.

"You don't want to tell me. Will I have to scold you too?" the woman asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably," he admitted with a guilty smile.

"Is dad in trouble?"

"It'll depend, I guess," Yasaka answered Kunou's question. "Is he?"

"Not right now?"

"That's not as reassuring as you might think it is, Joshua."

He chuckled nervously.

"Let's just say I'm preparing some extra stuff for that one project we are working on together, Yasaka," he said, making the woman's eyes widen a little. Not like they could say anything about that in front of Kunou. That, in itself, was a surprise for their daughter.

"Do I want to know?" Yasaka asked.

"Probably not."

She sighed.

"Just be careful," she warned him, glaring at him momentarily with her amber eyes. Well, if he weren't motivated enough to take his time so he'd do things the right way, he definitely was after that. Yasaka was certainly a person he didn't want annoyed with him, for several reasons.

He wasn't too worried though.

"Aren't I always?" he asked with a smile. Being careful was his thing, after all. Being over prepared was his way of approaching any project he started. "Anyway, I think that's enough of that. This is a date. Sorry for bringing work into it."

"If it can be called that," Yasaka said, but she did look happier so Joshua supposed he did something right, at least. "Although, I'd like to just… stay like this for a moment, if you two don't mind," she commented, taking a bit of her ice cream to her mouth with her plastic spoon.

"Hm, why?" Kunou couldn't help but ask, drawing a smile from her mother.

"I just like to take moments like this and just… think of us, as a family," she said.

"I like doing that too," her daughter commented, smiling widely. "Sometimes when we are all together, I like imagining that we are a family."

"Imagining? I'm hurt," Joshua commented, eating some more ice cream himself. "You saying we aren't a real family?"

"That- I mean-"

"Because you are my daughter now, Kunou," he continued, with a shrug and a smile on his face. "You are stuck with me, both of you."

Somehow, judging by the beaming expressions, he didn't think they minded that.

[}-o-{]

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow as he brought his cup of tea to his lips.

"Why indeed," Aika replied, her incredulous expression remaining unchanged. Poor Issei didn't look like he understood more than he himself did, unfortunately. "You are a very weird man, Joshua Davis."

"I've been told that, yes," he said with a shrug. "Your point?"

To that, the girl just sighed.

"Why do I bother? Issei having a Longinus should have prepared me for these levels of bullshit, should it?" Aika grumbled, massaging her forehead. "Just… Why didn't you tell us you were this big a deal? I must have looked like an idiot to Levi!"

"Didn't seem important?" he answered with a shrug. He truly didn't. Him being a big deal in the magician circles didn't really matter when they'd talked. Still didn't, really, as far as he was concerned.

"And the fact that people would have swarmed me if I ever showed my face in a more public magically related setting didn't seem important?" she asked, looking like she was trying really hard to make him understand. He still wasn't getting where she was going.

"I mean, I'd have warned you," he answered, blinking uncomprehendingly.

"... And you didn't think I might need some time to get my head wrapped around that piece of information?" she asked, her annoyance bleeding into some kind of borderline hysteric emotion. "Joshua, what the fuck?!"

"Language," he chided her, making her scream. Good thing he'd cast illusions to hide most of their conversation, or things would have gotten weird and uncomfortable. "Relax, it's not that important."

"No that-" she started before stopping herself and groaning. "Joshua. Do you have any idea how clueless I'd have been?"

"And that's a problem how? Nobody's going to take advantage of you. Only place you could go is either House of Water, where they owe me entirely too much to mess with you," he told her, raising an eyebrow. That seemed to take the wind out of her sails a bit.

"You are impossible," Aika mumbled, deflating on her seat. When Issei shot him a helpless look, clearly having most things flying over his poor head. Joshua just shrugged at him. "Thank God for Levi, I guess."

"Hm, I guess that was an even better call than I thought, huh? I'm good," he commented jokingly. Considering the withering look Aika sent his way, she didn't appreciate the humor. "What?"

"You… I'm going to be good at Divination magic one day and my revenge will be the stuff of nightmares, Davis. I swear," she hissed at him.

Joshua blinked.

"Well, that sounds very ominous," he commented idly. "Is this a good time to point out that you owe me quite a bit?"

In response to that, Aika whined.

[}-o-{]

He set the drink that his current client had ordered on the table together with the snacks.

"Do you mind?" Joshua asked, gesturing towards the free seat across from her. When she shook her head, he sat down, and picked one of the snacks. He couldn't help but chuckle when she glared at him. "Don't worry, I'll get you more," he reassured, snapping his fingers and making a cup of tea appear next to his hand. "Everything alright? Not common for you to come by yourself."

"It's nice here," Koneko mumbled, picking up one of the snacks herself and nibbling on it. "I like to take a moment to myself," she added, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I can leave you be if you want," he offered then, realizing that maybe he was bothering her. In turn, the girl seemed to consider that for a moment before shaking her head. Even then, Joshua decided to stay silent, since she seemed to want some peace.

"You adopted Jeanne."

Or maybe not.

"I did," he confirmed with a slow nod, not knowing where that came from.

"Why?" she asked then, making him blink.

"She needed help, and I helped her," he answered simply. "She was in a bad spot, so I helped her get her feet under her and it all just… fell into place," he explained, leaning back on his seat and taking a sip from his drink. It'd been a while since he thought about those times. 'Man, it's been a while.'

"Just like that?" Koneko questioned, blinking at him with her expression impassive as always. It made him even more curious, since he wasn't really checking on her with his spells or his senses.

"I mean, I guess the fact that I'd lost my family made me more open to the idea. I wanted a family. We both did, really, but we didn't have one so… We formed one ourselves," he said, thinking it over as he spoke. "I never really grew out of that, I don't think," he added with a chuckle. After all, he had picked up Kunou and, to a lesser extent, Asia much later down the line.

Koneko hummed.

"Any reason in particular for those questions?" he asked, even though he had some idea. She was in a… complicated spot with Kuroka, after all. Maybe she was questioning if she wanted to bother at all or if she wanted to stay with her "current" family Rias' peerage-

"Would you adopt me?" she asked, making him choke on his tea.

'I should stop guessing shit about other people's thought process,' he thought to himself wryly.

"That came out of nowhere," he commented, trying to buy himself some time. He hadn't expected Koneko to actually explain herself.

"I'm just asking, what'd you think about that?" she said, making him blink.

"I mean, you are nice and I think we get along. So, I mean… Could happen," he answered. Seemed like she was just talking hypotheticals. Yeah, that made more sense, at least. What did he know though? He didn't feel like making an idiot of himself again, even if it was just in his own thoughts.

"Hm, I think you are nice and we do get along," she confirmed, making him smile. "I think I could have you for a brother."

"That's nice of you to say. I think I could have you for a sister too," he replied, getting another hum from the girl.

From there, the two of them just stayed in companionable silence.

[}-o-{]

[Raynare]

She could almost feel it.

The longer the spars went on, she could almost feel herself grow stronger. She felt the light of heaven washing over her, just as she knew Mittelt and Kalawarna did. It was never so strong as it was when it was helping them progress further, after all, and that was just another reason why she didn't want to stop.

Feeling herself growing strong.

Feeling herself closer to the light.

How was she supposed to stop doing those things?

No, she couldn't do that. So, she kept going. She fought her fellow Fallen. She fought Davis' familiars. She fought Davis' sister. She fought Davis himself. And she kept going, even when her wings stopped keeping her in the air, even when her legs wanted to give up and her magic ran low, when her light attacks grew weak…

She kept going.

"I think that's enough," Davis announced, and she couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees, even though she wanted to keep herself up. "Someone's extra motivated today."

"I can keep going," she breathed out, trying to push herself to a standing position again. Raynare could already feel the light leaving her and her body stagnating. She could keep going though, just a little-

"No, you can't," Davis said and the finality of his voice finished sending Raynare to the ground. "Yeah," he added, walking until he was standing by her. With her face against the floor as it was, she could only see his feet. "Really putting in the work, huh?"

"I have to."

"Why?"

"Because I can't be weak," she grunted, dragging her hands under her to try and push herself up. She heard a sigh then before a hand grabbed the back of her top to pull her up and dragged her to sit her against a nearby wall. Once she was resting there, Davis squatted in front of her and tilted his head questioningly. "If you are not strong, you die. It's as simple as that," she told him, glaring at him and daring him to say something. "And I don't want to die."

To that, the man simply hummed.

"I see," he replied simply, thoughtfully. "It's that simple, is it?"

"The world works like that," Raynare answered, keeping her expression the same. She knew what he was likely to say. That strength wasn't everything. That there was more to it like that. It was easy to say that kind of bullshit when you were strong.

Not so much when you weren't.

"Hm, I guess you are not wrong," he replied, making her blink. He smiled at her surprised expression. "Why the look? I was weak too and I needed to get strong before I could do anything else. You are not wrong. It is that simple, in the end, I guess."

With a groan, he stood up and cracked his neck. Rubbing his weary eyes, he turned to regard his familiars, who seemed to be back to training, on another side of the facilities. Raynare envied them that, but then again, they hadn't been training for as long as she had, at least not without breaks. They didn't need to though. They were already strong. They weren't weak like she was.

"Take a break."

"I can-"

"No, you can't," he said, repeating his words from before and making Raynare feel all the weaker. "Humor me a little more," he continued then, and it was then that she noticed that he was looking at her with indifference, for once. There was no glint of malice or contempt there, she found herself noticing with no small amount of surprise. "You want to be strong so you can live. But why do you want to live?"

"... Sorry?"

"What do you have, Raynare? Why do you live? If you were the strongest being around, if you could do whatever you wanted. What would you do?" he asked and she blinked at him, uncomprehending.

"I'm never going to be the strongest."

"I didn't ask you if you could. I asked you what you would do if you were," he told her, raising an eyebrow.

"... I don't know," she replied after a long moment of consideration, because that was the truth. She'd never stopped to think that, because there was no point. Raynare would never reach that point anyway, so, why bother?

"Yeah, I guessed as much," he said, not quite sighing the words but it was the closest thing. Then he ran his fingers through his hair and looked to the side again. "Can I tell you something weird?"

"You mean, something else?" she asked, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, something else weird," he answered, looking amused. If she were honest, Raynare was relieved to see that. Sometimes she let her mouth get ahead of her and… Well, one never knew with Davis. "I think I like you, after all," he commented, as if he weren't saying something that made about as much sense as her being the strongest around, which is to say none at all. "You are not that bad."

"Who are you?" she asked, getting another laugh from the man.

"Fair enough," he said with a nod. "It doesn't matter, I guess. Doesn't change much for you, just… Eh," he added eloquently. "Continue being not that bad, Raynare. Who knows? I might keep you around," he told her before turning and walking away. "And remember to rest properly. You are not very useful if you can barely stand," he called over his shoulder.

As she watched him leave though, Raynare went over those words. Because they were important, life changing even. He said he might keep her around, which was more than she could say of what her chances had looked like before. On top of that, Davis keeping her around meant that she'd have access to his spells, his training arrays and the light.

And all she had to do was behave and be useful?

Silly Davis.

As if Raynare hadn't already decided to do anything and everything she could for him to keep making her stronger.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Hm, a bunch of little pieces, crumbs really, dropped. Some nice slices of life. Adorable Kunou being adorable. Many characters being shown and interacted with.

All in all, nice chapter, I gotta say. I think I'm happy with it.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter too.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: I title Game of Monsters chapters with song titles or lyrics. Did you know that?

See you.