John was already awake by the time woke up, he had already done his morning prayer and dressed when Issei was just barely getting out of the mattress John set up on the floor for his friend.
"Jun" called Issei, looking at him with a worried look "what if Rias-san and the others ask for us?" John sighed, he also was scared of that possibility, Akeno coming into his house shortly after he teleported to it despite the park being dozens of minutes away from his house really drove the point home that Akeno wasn't entirely human and if she wasn't then neither was her childhood friend, which, given that his girlfriend confirmed it when she came here last night, was all but assured.
"Go with them, I'll also go with you, but do not accept anything they give you, got that?" asked John with a serious tone, Issei nodded but John knew his friend, he was shaken. His entire world has turned upside down by the revelation not only by the fact that his girlfriend just tried to kill him but the fact that she wasn't even human, he sat next to him and put an arm around him, "I know, I was the same when I found out, you don't know exactly who is human and who isn't, you almost died by who you thought was going to be your girlfriend. Believe me, sometimes I'm not even 100% if someone is just messing with my mourning drink" he told him, "but hey, we're not really alone in this, you've got me and you also have two other people that are willing to show and teach you what they know about all they know about this new world we now see" John reassured, trying to lift up his friend's spirits, then he grinned "and maybe you should take this as not immediately falling for the first girl who smiles at you, okay?" Issei snorted.
"Geez, thanks, Jun-kun" Issei replied with an annoyed tone while rolling his eyes, though the joke did make him relax a bit.
"No problem, Ise" replied John with an equally cheeky tone, "now get dressed, we still gotta go to school." Issei nodded, from then on, their morning went normally with the exception of Issei explaining to John's parents as to why he was at their home without them noticing. John had no idea how he lied through his teeth trying to explain the situation, but he did. He also had no idea as to why Akeno didn't question him about why Issei appeared in his home, John however knew that Akeno knew that Issei came with him to his home when that "fallen angel" tried to kill Issei, classes were mercifully normal for John, Issei and his friends, he had no problems up until lunch, the group of four was eating at their usual table when someone came behind Issei, it was the blond boy from Rias's group, Kiba.
"Issei-san?" he asked, "President Rias asks for you to come to our club room" John's eyes narrowed, for him this was expected and yet he was scared, what did Rias want, did she know something as to why the "fallen angel" tried to kill Issei?
"Uh, um, why?" asked Issei, a bead of cold sweat going down his face, understandably so, John did warn him that it was possible Rias, and her group wasn't human.
"She will explain once you're in our clubroom" Kiba replied.
"Okay, he will go, but I'm going with him" intervened John, standing up, the only way someone could tell if Kiba was surprised was the way he tensed up and even then, only those that were paying attention noticed.
"Why so? I know your friends with Issei-san but…" John cut him off.
"Because he is my friend and I want to know why he is suddenly called over to the famous ORC club" John narrowed his eyes at Kiba, "is that a problem?" he asked, Kiba said nothing at first, thinking about John's proposal before finally nodding.
"Its fine, John-kun" replied Kiba "please, follow me."
The building the ORC's clubroom was located was inside the old school building, a wooden structure the size of the current building, the inside wasn't as decrepit as John thought it would, but it did look old, judging by the wear in the wood, the dust and the fact John could swear he saw leakage in some of the boards. Which made it all the more surprising when the clubroom itself looked immaculate, with a certain gothic style and elegance to it, the desk was enormous and made of luxurious wood, the windows were doors to a balcony and it seemed there also was a fully functional bathroom for some reason, if the sound of flowing water meant something anyways. So far only Akeno and Koneko were present in the room, Akeno made no introductions since both boys knew her, only bowing to the two and welcoming them to the Occult Research Club's clubroom, when she saw John however, she smiled a bit and gave him a kiss in the cheek.
"My, I did remember Rias asking only for Issei-kun, why did you come, John?" she asked with her trademarked smile, John however responded seriously.
"Because my friend, whether he admits it or not, needs me here, especially ever since yesterday's events" replied John in a forceful manner.
"Does he suspect it?" Thought his girlfriend with worry, she felt the need to reassure John.
"Don't be like that, John, Rias-sama is not the person you think she is, she wouldn't ask Issei-kun anything untowards" the door to the bathroom opened "speak of the devil" out came Rias Gremory, clad in her school uniform but also with her hair wet, Issei blushed a bit as she introduced herself again, noticing that she was bathing just a few steps away from where he was.
"Oh, what are you doing here, John-kun?" asked Rias, her eyes widened a bit in curiosity.
"Don't use honorifics, Rias, neither of us are Japanese, I'm here to be with my friend" John crossed his arms, his expression still neutral but carrying an edge of defensiveness with it. In truth John was nervous, while he was aware of where he was and who was he surrounded by, he couldn't just let his friend be in a situation where Rias had all the power over Issei. In his defence he knew next to nothing about the real person Rias really was so he considered coming over to at least make sure Issei was not alone should things go south for him.
"Oh, why? It's not like he is in trouble or anything" replied Rias.
"Stop lying to me and pretending nothing happened yesterday, Rias, I may not know what species you are, but I know full well only Issei and I are humans" responded John, a bead of cold sweat went down his face and adrenaline started to flood his body, Rias sighed.
"Well, I guess it's true, I'll cut to the chase then, me and the rest of the ORC are devils, but I guess you and Issei suspected that" stated Rias, "I suppose showing our wings would be redundant, would it?"
"Considering what happened yesterday, yes, it would be, right Ise?" asked John, Issei could only nod, in truth, while he did suspect the ORC is not composed of humans thanks to John's warnings, it was still a shock for him, a part of him had hoped that everything that happened yesterday was only a dream and that this was all a prank.
"So, uh" started Issei "why did you call me here for, R-Rias-san?" he asked, Rias smiled.
"I'm glad you asked, Issei, you're quite the special person, just like John, though in a different manner" when Rias said that John activated his own witch-sight, Issei's aura was green but also red, though this wasn't the red of the devils in the ORC, it was a deeper tone of red, John narrowed his eyes.
"She's right Ise, you must have something with you, I'm seeing it right now" I replied, Rias kept her smile.
"Indeed, he has, he has something that is the equivalent of a MOAB in the supernatural world, he has a Divine Arm, a divinely crafted weapon designed to grant humans powers beyond most supernatural races, sometimes beyond even those of the gods." She explained briefly, "and if my cute subordinate Koneko is correct, Issei might have a strong one at that." She turned to Issei, "let's do a little test, shall we? Close your eyes and imagine the strongest person you can think of" and Issei did just that, he thought of a character. A character from one of his favourite shounen anime, he got into the pose and thrusted his right arm forward, when he opened his eyes, he looked around the room, looking at the shocked faces of everyone around him.
"Has it worked; did something happen?" he asked with anticipation.
"Look at your hand, Ise" replied John, looking very intently at his friend's arm, Issei did so slowly, and his eyes widened, encasing his right hand and forearm was clawed red gauntlet that looked like a western dragon's claw, with red scales that felt like metal to the touch and a green jewel right at the centre of the back of the hand. While Issei looked at his transformed arm in shock and awe John was back from his own surprise, his eyes widening for a different reason, now he knew why Rias wanted to see Issei.
'She wants to recruit him, of course she does! I don't know why Ise suddenly has the claw of a dragon as his right hand, but Rias thinks it's important enough to probably take him to her side, dammit, and I can't really do much to stop her!" thought John, with dread he looked at Rias.
"It looks like Koneko was right" she said with awe as she approached Issei, touching his now 'dragon-gauntlet' "it's a draconic Divine Weapon, if only I knew what type it is" she looked at Issei and grinned "these Divine Weapons are among the strongest in existence, Issei, you hit the proverbial jackpot with this one" Rias then sat on the couch, "please sit down, you two, this will take some time" the two of them sat on one of the couches. While they sat down and Akeno made some tea for the three, Rias explained all that she knew of the supernatural world, about the Three Factions and their war between them, their ceasefire and their races, also their recruitment of humans with Divine Weapons to bolster their ranks and the peerage system, at the end Rias sighed.
"I will not lie, Issei, I want you to join us" she replied "while I won't deny that it would help the Devil faction greatly to have you as part of my peerage I also have a selfish reason for it" she looked at Issei, more specifically behind him, her eyes looking unfocused, melancholic even, then she focused on Issei "don't take this the wrong way however, while its true reincarnated devils who serve as peerage members live in a legal status of… semi-slavery, that will not be the case for my own peerage, my own members can attest to that, and eventually, you yourself can ascend the ranks and become a High Class devil in your own right. Especially since you have a powerful Divine Weapon" she smiled at Issei and leaned on her seat "you won't be treated harshly, not even as a slave, and you can refuse my offer if you wish"
'Clever girl' thought John, he will not berate Rias for wanting Issei in her peerage, anyone with half a brain would want Issei in his own camp, she is simply taking her own side. What did ruffle his feathers was the fact that many reincarnated devils live almost like slaves and while Rias reassured Issei that he would not live like that, the fact of the matter is he has no defence if Rias changes her mind. Hell, he has no reason to believe Rias would keep her word, he felt he had to challenge her, if only to try save Issei from an uncertain fate. Good thing he got his own wand here in case he needed to distract them with his own magic, "can you guarantee that?" he asked.
Rias nodded "I can, I assure you, it doesn't benefit me in the slightest to mistreat Issei-kun, not just from a pragmatic standpoint on the fact that a Divine Weapon user must be trained well so his weapon is better honed, but also because that's just not the type of person I am, I fully believe it's not right to mistreat people simply because you can get away with it" Rias grimaced "unlike some people I know" John however still didn't believe her.
"Can you now?" he asked again, his eyes narrowed "I'll be honest Rias, the mere fact is that if Issei joins, he is completely at your mercy, he would be, by all intents and purposes, your slave" he replied, "can you really guarantee me you're better than the woman that tried to kill my friend just yesterday?" Rias also narrowed her eyes.
"I'm frankly a bit offended you could compare me to that fallen angel, if I really wanted him dead, I would have done so" Rias rested her head on her hands "do you really see me as a Machiavellian woman with muted feelings and my only goal being getting as much power as I can?"
"I don't know anything and that's why I'm asking" replied John with an equally forceful tone "as his friend who has been with him for years, I will say that I have absolutely no reason to trust you" John then turned to Issei "Issei, I'm serious, it's a bad idea to join her peerage, Rias might be telling the truth or might be lying but you don't know what you're getting yourself into" I replied, Rias was about to speak just as Issei started talking, he looked at John with a look that gave John pause and dread.
"Jun" he sighed, "I don't know, you're right, I don't know what I would get myself into, but what chance do I have if I'm alone? You said it yourself once, there is a very high chance someone will forcefully recruit me or even enslave me or kill me for what I am" he grimaced, "can you really say you will be able to protect me at all times, better than Rias-san, until I'm strong enough to be by myself in the supernatural world?" he asked, John was about to speak, but he shut his mouth. Truth to be told, John knew he couldn't, there is a reason why he didn't fight 'Yuuma', he was not confident in his own offensive abilities, he had only been training for a few days, against a being that could skewer him with a lightning bolt, there was nothing he could do, especially if such a being had been fighting for its whole life. John grimaced, he hated doing this and resented Rias for putting him and Issei in this position, he sighed, he had to be rational for Issei's sake, he looked at him.
"Fine then, do what you want" he simply said, Issei then looked at Rias and accepted to become part of the peerage, Rias smiled and thanked him.
"You've made a wise decision today Issei, you may be my servant but you're also from now on my friend and part of my peerage, someone who is under my protection" she took out a chess box and opened it, in the box where white chess pieces with a bishop, a rook and the queen missing, the twelve pawns immediately started to glow red and levitated towards Issei, Rias' eyes widened, "twelve pawns?" she asked in awe, she shook her head and simply stood up, urging Issei to do the same, from their positions they did some sort of ritual, a ritual where Issei made an oath to Rias to be a servant faithful to her as his new master. John tuned out the words, simply focusing on the ritual itself, in his insides he was fuming, watching how his childhood friend was enslaving himself, it was hard to see for himself, when it was over John stood up and walked towards Issei.
"I hope you made the right choice" he said "we'll see each other in class" he was about to walk away when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Rias, she had a concerned and apologetic look.
"Please, I understand how you feel as a human who just saw this, it must be hard to see your friend become a servant. But I promise you, Issei will NOT be mistreated, I swear upon my family name" she promised, John ignored her and simply left the room.
"I'll talk to him" said Akeno, shadowing John until she found him in the rooftop of the school after several minutes of walking, he was simply looking at the horizon, but Akeno knew he was conflicted about the whole thing, his own friend accepted slavery over facing the supernatural world alone, she sat down next to him, simply sharing his feelings in silence, if John noticed her he didn't say it until a few seconds later.
"I don't know what to think, I knew this would come but I still feel horrible, Ise just accepted slavery and Rias could have been lying, hell, YOU could be lying about our whole relationship, I just…" he sighed and looked down, "sorry, I know I sound like a dick right now, it's just, I don't like this at all."
Akeno shook her head, "no, it's okay, you're conflicted, its normal to think this way" she put an arm around his shoulder, "but I want to clarify something, Rias did not make me go out with you, I'm genuinely attracted to you, John, and I do want our relationship even if I wasn't part of Rias-sama's peerage, that's for the first" she scooted closer to John, "second, Rias means what she promised, you won't have to fear for Issei-kun"
"I don't know that, Akeno, to be honest I can't trust your words either, I hate it, but I feel like that" he admitted, Akeno grimaced.
"Then don't believe me, look for yourself when it happens" Akeno smiled as an idea came to her head, "why don't you give Rias a grace period? You'll see how she treats Issei-kun during that time, I promise you, Rias will not give you a reason to do something" she replied, John thought about it, while part of him was screaming at him to not accept, another part was telling him that he was being paranoid and that Akeno's proposal was as reasonable as it could be, after a few seconds he conceded.
"Fine" he replied, "Rias has two weeks to show me she kept her word" Akeno smiled and hugged him at his side.
"Trust me, you won't regret this, John" she gave him a kiss on the cheek, John blushed again but this time it was a smaller blush, she giggled when she saw John's blush, "just for trusting me after school I will treat you to ice cream, deal?" John sighed and nodded.
True to her word, Akeno invited John to an ice cream parlor where they spent the afternoon in, after that John left and kept on practicing with my magic in his house's backyard, to be honest it was a relatively "normal day", the next day however, while hanging out with Oda and Junji in the school's rooftop John decided to use his witch-sight on them, blue aura, on both of them, he didn't let his surprise show, easier to do this time since John had accepted that this world had wizards now.
'I'd have to bring them to Doctor Hoshino.
John decided in the end to do just that, he told his friends that he would bring them over to a friend, it was hard to convince them since they themselves do not know of the "supernatural world" as John started to call it, but he had to try, he promised them that it was a family friend and that he simply wanted to catch up with John and see his friends, Oda and Junji reluctantly agreed to follow him. Going to the centre of Kuoh, straight to one of the apartment buildings where Doctor Hoshino resided, having memorised the route when Father Nishimura took him there, while walking John was understandably nervous, he honestly didn't know what he could tell Doctor Hoshino, he was an abrasive man, he might berate and refuse to tell them anything. John didn't even know why he even brought Oda and Junji here if they could remain blissfully unaware of this world unseen by most of humanity, but one thing made him act, two things actually; Issei getting attacked and almost killed by a so called "fallen angel". While it didn't seem so such an event shook John to the core, right after he himself almost died as a sacrifice to the "Lover", for John, knowing that his friends had the potential to be mages, Oda and Junji staying unaware was simply not an option. What if a creature or a cult or something detected their aura or something and they got caught in the same situation Issei or himself did, or what if they got caught in a peerage that wasn't as supposedly benevolent as Rias' is? John did not even want to think about it, he pressed the bell of one of the flats of the apartment when Joh suddenly remembered that he didn't exactly remember which flat was Doctor Hoshino in, he waited for a few seconds awkwardly when Junji poked his shoulder, looking at John with a questioning look.
"Jun-kun, are you sure Hoshino-san is even here?" asked the bald boy, John nodded nervously.
"Y-yeah, I'm sure he lives here, he was here about a week ago after all and he didn't say anything about moving" John rang the bell again and a cold sweat poured down from his forehead, he was about to give up when…
"What are you kids doing?" interrupted a voice, it was Doctor Hoshino, wearing a yellow jersey and blue pants with two shopping bags, "you kids waiting for someone? Wait" his eyes narrowed "you're that John kid, what are you doing here now?"
Once inside Doctor Hoshino's flat he began to explain the situation to both his friends and Doctor Hoshino, to his friends he told them about everything that has happened and dropped the bombshell that was that god, spirits, demons, even God Himself is real, proving it by summoning a small flame on one of his fingers, further driving his point home and driving his friends into muted shock. To Doctor Hoshino, he told him about their auras and their potential as mages, the doctor sighed and rubbed his temple.
"Well shit, this just got more complicated, oh well, you dropped the bombshell, might as well tell them what they can do" he turned to the still shocked Oda and Junji, "you two, listen" the two boys turned to the doctor and listened to what they could do to train, to go with John and train their "magic" using his notes and slowly work their way to the higher "tiers" of magic, he also gave them warnings, "the devils that John told you about, there is a distinction between the devils you see in media, let's call them the "red people" for clarity's sake and the actual demons, the former are mostly people. Yeah, many see us as inferior, but you can reason and negotiate with them, with the latter you can't, they hate you and everything you are, how will you identify them? That you'll have to talk to Father Nishimura, John's priest, I'm no theologian, I'm a scientist and a magician" he looked at the boys, "I won't lie, this world just got more dangerous for you two, but believe me when I say this, joining a devil's peerage, like your friend Issei has done is not a good idea. Sure, he might have gotten lucky and so did John by having a girlfriend from their race, but by and large those devils would see you as nothing but their slaves because that's basically what you would be. You won't be any safer with them unless you somehow manage to convince this Rias person" he told them, "and you guys, as far as she knows, have nothing that might interest her" the man sighed "your best bet is to train together and watch each other's backs like hawks which I'm sure you can do anyways"
"Hoshino-san, you're not exactly encouraging us with what you said" stated Oda with a bit of a nervous frown, Doctor Hoshino chuckled.
"I'm not, am I? Well, that's because there are a lot of dangers, I wish I could say something uplifiting but I can't, I can't sugarcoat this shit, but what I can tell you is this, thousands of years ago we made those dangers our bitch and it took the combined efforts of several slave races and monsters to bring us down with that. We are not powerless, YOU guys are not powerless, you have magic, that's a start, if you guys keep trying then it's only upwards from there, regardless of how much time it can take you, soon enough you'll be able to cast Testicular Torsion on your bully and that's just the tip of the tip of the iceberg."
It took some time to process the words of Doctor Hoshino, although Oda was faster in making a comment.
"That last part sounded very specific" Doctor Hoshino grinned.
"I may or may not have used it against an asshole in the University of Yale when he criticized one of my theories as the "work of a functional illiterate', heh, I hope he had fun with his surgery" it was at that moment that the two boys knew that Doctor Hoshino was serious.
"S-so, Doctor Hoshino, h-how can we protect ourselves?" asked Junji.
"Repent and believe in the Gospel" he said simply, a few seconds of silence passed when he finally started to giggle "well, if only it were that easy to just say "I believe" and then believe, serious talk though, the Devil is real, not devils, well, not just them anyways, but capital D devils, we'll talk about that later, as to how to protect yourselves, train with your boy, John"
"Jun-kun?"
"Ah, right, honorifics, years being away from Japan made me forget them sometimes, yes, Jun-kun, he has my notes on elemental magic, it's basically your standard DnD magic focused on the four elements, water, fire, earth, light and dark, they are the easiest to use and also the weakest, but then you have what I call, and excuse me for the funny pretentious name "mana-centric" magic which is the one most supernatural beings use. And then there is what I also call "void-arts" which is what used to be humanity's exclusive brand of magic, again, we'll get to that later when you guys are ready, fortunately for you guys, being latent Void-conduits means that for elemental magic you don't need years of training if someone hands you their notes, just a lot of practice, like a muscle, that should be enough to deal with most small fry until you get into the big guns of the supernatural world, now that's when things start getting interesting" said Doctor Hoshino, taking a sip from his tonic.
"Um, Doctor Hoshino, that sounded like wizard-speak" replied Oda, John snorted, and Doctor Hoshino smirked.
"Nice one, Motohama kid, that was a good pun, point is, train with John with baby's first magic spell and when you think you're done I'll do you guys an exam and see if you're ready for the next set of magic, that's when things get interesting", he stood up, "now, you came here for only thirty minutes and I didn't even give you a drink, I think I still have some Coke, go grab something and stay for a while, or don't, I just appreciate the company"
They stayed in the apartment for a few more hours, hearing Doctor Hoshino's stories in the university, his insights in the supernatural world and his rivalries with some of his colleagues from his time at the University of Tokyo.
"And then I said that asshole of a rock-picker, 'you better take that back or I will shove that geode where the sun doesn't shine!'" he said, Oda Motohama was on in the story while Junji Matsuda was simply reading one of the books from Doctor Hoshino's bookcases.
"What did he do?" asked Oda.
"Well, you know the asshole by now, he chickened out,I had to be escorted by security though" Oda and Junji giggled.
"Well," Hoshino sighed "you guys better get back home, don't want your mamas to complain about you three being past your bedtime now, do we?" all of them either shook their heads or said 'no' "good then, remember, start training, if a 'fallen angel' or a cultist confronts you, your magic might just be the one thing that saves you"
The three boys left on that note, it was quite late, almost 9pm and home was a thirty-minute walk from where they were, most of it was done in an awkward silence up until Junji talked to John with a concerned expression.
"Jun-kun, are we safe?" John looked back at Junji and thought on his question, truth to be told he himself didn't feel safe, every time he walked to school now, he had to be careful with what he did, not wanting to draw any more attention than he already did. Especially since the use of his witch-sight revealed that it's not just Rias' group who are supernatural beings but also all the Student Council and almost half of the entire student group, Oda, Junji and himself were the only "void-touched". John himself just started to train and only managed to avoid the fallen angel from killing Issei through sheer surprise and probably divine intervention, still, he wanted to try and instill confidence in his friend.
"No, now that we know the truth there is simply not going back, the things Doctor Hoshino talked about, the things I saw, they aren't the type to leave us alone, what we can do is be prepared for when they inevitably come".
That's all he could say, not exactly the most encouraging words but it satisfied Junji for now, some twenty minutes later the three boys went back to their houses, explaining their little escapade to their slightly worried parents and going to sleep early.
The next day John had his lunch in the school roof again, once again being accompanied by his friends but this time Akeno joined in, sitting right next to John, much to the awkwardness of his friends, who asked how Issei was doing in the Occult Research Club after a few seconds of silence, Akeno giggled a bit when asked.
"Oh, he is doing just fine, whenever our President is present during training, he gets quite…spirited, it seems he likes her a lot"
"Can't imagine why" John said sarcastically, it wasn't a secret that Rias fit Issei's type to the t, especially regarding her physical aspect, Akeno looked at his boyfriend.
"Whatever you could mean by that, John" replied Akeno with a teasing smile.
"What I mean is that Rias is motivating Issei because Issei finds her attractive, in other words, he is trying to impress her, and she knows it" Akeno giggled.
"My, my, I forgot you are quite blunt and don't exactly mince words, that could win you some enemies, John".
"Yeah well" he said with more neutrality, truth to be told now he was a bit wary, despite Akeno's words, he was more wary around her, now that he knew devils were real, he couldn't help but be on guard, "it's still a bit obvious he is trying to show off" he replied.
Akeno, John and his group went in their respective ways, after class, John took his friends to his house to train their magic using his own experience, paltry as it was, and the notes Doctor Hoshino had, Akeno went back to the club, her smile disappearing, at this hour Akeno knew Rias would be alone at this moment, she entered the clubroom and went to Rias' desk, where she was sitting in handling some sort of paperwork, looking up she smiled when Akeno came, leaving her papers and putting her chin on her hands.
"So, Akeno, productive week, right?" she asked, Akeno giggled.
"It really looks like it had been".
"A Longinus-class Divine Weapon on our hands, if Issei is trained right, I'd finally get enough power to get him off my back".
"The problem would be the Fallen Angels" with that Akeno frowned, "Rias, we really should deal with them" Rias' smile also went away.
"I don't disagree with you, but you know why we can't".
"Rias" the redhead cut Akeno off.
"No, Akeno, we have no reason to believe they are rogue agents, best case scenario we create a diplomatic crisis if you're wrong" Rias sighed, "well, I don't want to talk about that, unless they start attacking us directly or start mass murdering the inhabitants of Kuoh there isn't much I can do, tell me about John, it seems he's getting a bit suspicious of us, me recruiting Issei didn't help, he really didn't like that" Akeno maintained her neutral look.
"He trusts me well enough, I'm not able to sway his opinion on you however, perhaps someone has already told him to be distrustful of us" she theorized.
"Oh, come now, Akeno, I doubt very much it takes humans much convincing to be distrustful of the supernatural, religious or not, I certainly would be if I was in his place, what about his…gift?" Akeno furrowed her brow.
"I did not sense it…" the red head groaned before Akeno continued
"Am I seriously the only one who noticed it?" she exclaimed.
"At first" finished Akeno, which brought Rias' attention, "it felt like…dark magic" she explained, getting a thoughtful look, "I don't know how to explain, the form of the mana was there, all the superficial stuff was there but…there was something that made it completely different, I couldn't observe further, it was in trace amounts, but his two friends also had it" Rias frowned.
"You think they're mages?"
"It's likely, but we can forget about recruiting them, their power is too small" replied Akeno, the devil sighed.
"Shame, I could really use a bishop, maybe you'd even have an actual reason to date John" Rias grinned a bit, Akeno turned her face.
"Me acting as his girlfriend serves the purpose only to monitor him…he is just like any man, the moment I hint at me offering myself to him he will act like any other".
"I wouldn't be so sure of that Akeno" for once, Rias surprised Akeno, who looked at her with widened eyes "he doesn't strike me as the type of guy who would just sleep with the first girl who is nice to him".
"Bullcrap, I know his type, he is hiding behind a façade, I'm sure even his own story of him losing his mother is false, why do you defend him anyways? You must deal with Issei!" Akeno retorted.
"Surprisingly he is trying his hardest to not look at my tits, so that's a start. He also has tried his best at everything I order him, he's quite the dedicated guy" replied Rias with a joking tone, Akeno scoffed.
"He doesn't get points for basic decency."
"When you don't have as much self-control, I think you should get points for the reason that it's harder for him".
"Why do you defend him?" Akeno asked, "before last month you thought like me, that all men were at the end of the day, the same" Rias huffed.
"Because I can't deny what I'm seeing, Akeno, John is not like the others, and he is trying to change his friends for the better, with varied success but still, besides, didn't you tell me that he ran straight through to that Fallen Angel just to save Issei? What kind of scumbag does that?"
"Even pimps love their mother" Rias sighed and looked Akeno.
"You know what? Let's make a wager" she announced, Akeno looked at her with narrowed eyes "try to keep pretending to be his girlfriend for at least until summer break, then offer to have sex with him when summer break comes, if I win, you'll have to retract yourself, if you win, I'll retract what I said and finally give you a deadline where your job with him finishes" Akeno raises an eyebrow.
"Fine, I accept, President" she shook Rias's hand.
At the end of the school day, John and his friends sans Issei started to walk over to John's house, all while John started to explain to them what little he knew about "magic", his two friends could not hide their dread, and that was because of the possibility that they could be targeted by other supernatural races due to their condition as mages, they were also sceptical of John's claims on magic, Junji even said it outright.
"John, that's all well and good but we haven't seen you use that magic, how about you…show us?" he asked, Oda nodded in agreement, John sighed and looked around, the area they were in was a suburb where barely anyone passed through, there was no one in the streets but them and thus no one to witness this but them.
"Fine, you want proof, I'll give you proof" he took out the "wand" from his pocket and pointed at the ground, using less "mana" this time he fired off a firebolt the size of a golf ball from his metal rod, the small firebolt left a scorch mark that couldn't be seen in the black pavement unless you really looked closely. The two boys stared wide eyed at John, once John explained what he did and that it was a simple spell to learn, in his opinion that is, Oda and Junji certainly didn't think so, they looked at the fire dancing around his metal rod in awe and fascination, John grinned a bit "touch it, it's not going to burn you".
Junji was the first to touch the fire after five seconds of hesitation, he flinched when his hand was in the fire, but he noticed that he didn't feel any warmth, yet he could tell the fire was touching him, like a caress "this is both the coolest and freakiest thing I've ever seen, Jun" he commented.
"And Doctor Hoshino said we can do the same thing?" asked Oda, John nodded.
"Yep, we're pretty much wizards" Oda nodded in awe, the reality of what they are settling in, after a few seconds of reflecting upon it both boys grinned.
"You mean to tell me we can do that? Like, just throw fire with our hands?" asked Junji.
"For elemental magic, yeah, for the rest of it, things become more complicated, but that's for later"
Before the two boys could really start getting excited, a harsh voice was heard behind John, "so, two humans and the mage that pissed off Raynare" John looked back, his eyes widened in terror, behind him was another one of those Fallen Angels with a grim expression, this one wore a suit, shades and a fedora, "well, I'll chalk up those two to collateral damage, wouldn't be the first time it happens anyways" with one hand he conjured one of those "light spears" John saw before. Just as before John quickly, almost out of instinct, took out his want and conjured his fire spell, multiple times as if to make sure the Fallen Angel was taken out of commission, then he looked back at his friends.
"Run, run, run now, dammit!" he screamed, and his friends, just as surprised and full of terror as he was, ran the opposite direction of the "Fallen Angel", while they ran John remembered that he stored his towel, the one he used to teleport himself and Issei to his house. He grabbed his friends and turned them to a back alley, where he opened his backpack and layed the towel on the ground as quickly as his hands could do it, "stand on the center!" he ordered to Junji and Oda. He could hear the flapping of wings getting closer to them, looking back he saw the Fallen Angel right at the entrance of the back alley, but just as it was about to throw a "light spear" John's teleportation spell activated, putting the three boys in the (relative) safety of John's bedroom. With a mixture of fear and instinct John looked out his bedroom window, scanning outside of his house for anything abnormal.
"J-Jun?" asked Oda, his voice trembling fromn fear and adrenaline, "w-was that one of those supernatural things Doctor Hoshino warned us?"
It took John a full ten seconds to respond, "y-yeah, it was, though not the same one that I saved Issei from" such a thing slipped from John's mouth, which Junji noticed immediately
"W-wait, Ise almost died?!" he exclaimed, John widened his eyes at his own blunder, but he sighed and sat down on his bed.
"That's right, I saved him by the skin of my teeth, using the exact same method I used as of now" replied the boy, his mind was going at one thousand kilometres per hour, he could not stop thinking of the worst case scenario, the fact this happened a second time meant that potentially this would happen every time until the three of them were dead, to use an analogy, John, Junji and Oda were now garrison soldiers in a castle under siege, and the enemy would not stop until they got an opening. John looked at his friends, looking at their scared, nervous and even desperate faces, they were reaching the same conclusions, what if this happened again? What if this happened until the three of them were dead and the beings that tried to kill them would simply wipe the memories of their loved ones as if they never existed? With what they saw as of now that seemed likely to their panicked minds. John stood up and looked at both of his friends.
"Guys let's just go to sleep, we'll talk about this with Issei" Junji then remembered something.
"Wait, you're not gonna mention this to Akeno-san?" John shook his head
"She already knows I'm targeted; I wouldn't be surprised if she is telling her boss right now, it's a long story that I will tell tomorrow but the necessary stuff for now is two things, one, she won't intervene unless she thinks I'm in danger and two, I don't trust her boss one bit, that's another story for tomorrow" I approached both. "Whatever we decide tomorrow, this stays between us for now, okay?" Both of them nodded, once that was done John told both of them to leave through his window and then call from the bell, that way his parents would think they simply came for a sleepover, they did, John's mother, Kirino, opened the door for them, they had dinner together and the three boys had a frankly restless night, neither of them being able to sleep due to the many things in their minds, John, to his defence still had dreams. Of impossible creatures of many eyes and teeth, of 7 figures looking at him and of a world of darkness.