Yup, I'm back. A bit later than I had hoped for, but within the time frame I had expected (equipment troubles). Regardless of that, here I am, and that's all that matters really!

I'd like to thank Tyric Gaia and Jarod for seeing fit to support me on Pat reon!

If anyone else feels they are able/willing to offer me this sort of support, you can do so at ' Pat reon "dot" com "slash" FrancoGamerxz '. If you can't or don't wish to, that's okay too! You can support me by reading my work, giving me feedback in the form of a review to help me improve upon any possible weaknesses in my writing, and leaving a follow/favorite!

With that out of the way, let us proceed.

"…ctually, not really…"

"-ight, idiot! Why would you-…"

Words flowed freely throughout the Kuoh academy campus for the duration of the student's lunch break. Various people from the academy gathered together in certain specific areas, forming what are commonly known as 'groups' or 'cliques', wherein individuals with similar or complimentary interests, personalities and temperaments to one-another engage in the process of social interaction.

This was the norm for the overwhelming majority of people, and it held true even for those who could be considered… Abnormal… within the bounds of Kuoh academy.

Hyoudou Issei.

Ichijin Matsuda.

Shisho Motohama.

Kiryuu Aika.

These were individuals who, due to their common interest in perverted subjects, would be expected to create a social circle of their own, following the basic structure of all others within the academy. They broke the mold, however, all due to the presence of a certain Himejima Akeno, the woman generally considered to be the second most popular person in Kuoh Academy, whom many looked up to, and many more simply looked at, wistfully admiring from afar someone who they considered to be unreachable to the average person.

"Ise?"

Dozens of eavesdroppers ground their teeth simultaneously at the overly casual form of address from one of the two 'Great Onee-samas of Kuoh' towards the most infamous student/delinquent of the academy.

Issei, either unaware or uncaring of the animosity currently being sent his way, turned towards the one to have addressed him, his previously far-staring eyes focusing on Akeno with such sharp intensity that she had to suppress a reflexive squirm, before they went back to their usual playful/lecherous state as he spoke.

"What's wrong, Akeno?"

The fact that he directly addressed the young woman without a single honorific further increased the amount of teeth grinding coming from nearby, dozens of pairs of eyes glaring venomously at him with all the effect of aiming a laser pointer at a slab of steel, which is to say none at all.

The Vice-President of the Occult Research Club of Kuoh academy herself had to suppress a mirthful chuckle at the sheer envy written on the face of many a student around 'Their' tree, her focus still on the first subject as she answered.

"You seemed a bit off, so I decided to keep watch of you for the day. So far I've noticed you staring off into the distance, paying almost no attention to the conversations going on around you, and not eating a single thing." The Yamato Nadeshiko of Kuoh Academy frowned very lightly at that, a look of worry on her face as she spoke. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah…" The brunet gave Akeno an attempt at a reassuring smile, which came out as more of a half-grimace. Seeing the unconvinced look on the girl's face, Issei heaved out a small sigh before speaking in all but a whisper, not wishing to break the general friendly banter between the remainder of the group. "I just… I've got a few things weighing on my mind."

"Anything you're comfortable with sharing?"

The brunet shifted, resting his chin on his fist in an unknowing mimicry of the classical 'Thinker' pose, while various thoughts ran through his mind. After a few minutes of thinking, with the background noise of Aika teasing Motohama and Matsuda, Issei looked back at Akeno, and then spoke.

"Imagine that you're involved in a dangerous situation. You're tough enough to deal with this dangerous situation, but the people around you aren't. This means that in case something spills over from the side of your life that involves said dangerous situation, the people you're close to could be the ones suffering for it. What would you do?"

Akeno was the one to stop this time, her eyes closed as she thought this situation through, and tried to figure out the best possible advice to give at that specific time.

"Well…" The Gremory queen started, "Am I sure that the people around you aren't able to deal with the situation, or am I just guessing? And even if they were, could they not learn to be?"

"You're sure that they're unable to get involved, rather than simply guessing. Some of them have the potential to learn to deal with those sorts of situations eventually, but others don't."

"Ah, I guess I know of a way then." Seeing Issei leaning closer to her in interest, Akeno continued. "For the ones that can learn to deal with the situation, you teach them to do so. To the ones that cannot… Well, the best solution would be to distance yourself from them in order to keep them safe, until you yourself were capable of ensuring that there was no possibility of the danger spilling into your personal life ever again." The girl shrugged at that. "Those are pretty much the only pieces of advice that I can give you without knowing more about the situation."

Issei ruminated on those answers for a bit, his head bobbing lightly as his mind started considering and eliminating possibilities one by one. Nodding, the brunet spoke.

"Yeah… Okay, thanks for your advice, Akeno." Issei gave the fallen/devil a small - yet genuine - smile which had her outwardly smiling back with a tiny dusting of a blush. "You've given me a lot to think about." Having said that, Issei allowed himself to turn around and join the banter between Aika, Motohama and Matsuda, his spirit marginally lighter than it had been before.

Unknown to Issei due to him having turned back to the rest of the group was the bright smile that Akeno was giving him.

Others actually noticed the smile, grinding their teeth in anger and envy.

Akeno simply cackled inwardly at their suffering.

And so, another day at Kuoh passed…

"Uhhh… What are we doing here, senpai?"

Issei raised a hand at Dai in the universal 'wait a moment' motion, even as the sounds of heavy metal on metal kept sounding around them.

He thought back to the words of advice Akeno had extended to him, and decided that that was the best path to take at the moment.

Motohama, Aika and Matsuda were already training as hard as they physically could, but they were still nowhere near the minimum level of strength required to step into the supernatural world safely. Daichi, on the other hand, was already damned close in terms of raw strength, and that was without any sort of previous instruction.

Knowing that, and knowing that Daichi had already emotionally invested himself into the supernatural world, Issei decided to help Daichi progress further and achieve the necessary strength to stand up on his own feet in supernatural matters, leading to the current situation.

Standing up from his crouch, the brunet wiped a small bead of sweat off of his forehead, before addressing Dai.

"You've just made some discoveries. Discoveries about yourself, your parentage, and the world you live in. Do you know what the common traits between these discoveries are?" Looking back at the boy and seeing him shake his head, Issei decided to continue. "The common traits between these discoveries are that they're incomplete pieces of data, that they paint a more dangerous image of the world that surrounds us than we were previously considering, and that it shows that we are constantly in danger."

The brunet took a few steps away from Daichi before turning towards him, assuming a lecturing pose as he spoke.

"Be it because of your race, your parentage, your uncle's actions in the district or this new threat that has even the Shinto pantheon spooked, it's a fact that we seem to be heading towards choppy waters, so to say. Life from now on is not going to be smooth sailing.

"When life gets hard, Daichi, you must learn to get hard as well. After all, only hard men survive and thrive in hard times.

"What I mean to say is that you need to learn to protect yourself against danger. Luckily enough you already have an unnatural level of strength, probably akin to that of 4 or 5 strong men, all of this naturally.

"Knowing this, I asked myself: 'What happens if someone as naturally strong as 5 men were to actually train hard?' And so… Here we are!"

Issei punctuated his last words with a wide sweep of his arm, under the backdrop of the abandoned construction site that he used for his own training, revealing a myriad of hand-made weights, fashioned from things ranging from pieces of rebar with varying numbers of pneumatic tires of differing sizes attached to each end, to steel girders laden with the weight of single drum rollers.

"We'll be using these weights to help you get fit, then get stronger. We'll start low with these-" Issei said while pointing towards the rebar-tire weights, "-and then gradually increase the weight whenever we get much too comfortable with any individual weight."

"I-Issei-senpai… That's… I'm not sure I can do all that! I'm not strong like you!" Daichi was so caught up in his self-doubt that he didn't have the time to register Issei picking up a set of weights. "I-…I'll just mess things up, a-and… And disappoint you and uncle and-"

Daichi's speech was interrupted when a large weight settled into his previously-gesticulating hands. Trembling from the exertion, Daichi looked at the one who had placed the weight atop his hands, Issei, who had placed himself directly underneath the tottering weight.

The bigger boy eyed Issei in nothing less than surprise, even as he spoke in a strained tone of voice.

"S-senpai, g-get away f-from there! I-…I c-can't handle t-this much longer!"

Crossing his arms, Issei looked up and met Daichi's gaze before speaking nonchalantly.

"Nah, I'm okay here, thanks."

Daichi panicked at that, the trembling of his arms increasing as did the burn in the muscles, shooting Issei a wet-eyed, pleading look.

"Senpai, please!-"

"You have to lift a heavy weight. Let go or allow it to fall forward or sideways, and you hurt an innocent person. Fall backwards and you hurt yourself. The only way to get out of this one is to be strong enough to either smoothly move the weight, ensuring that it doesn't strike the person you're trying to protect, or to be strong enough to keep lifting that weight for as long as your innocent is standing somewhere you can hurt him."

Issei's gaze sharpened, narrowed eyes boring straight into Daichi's as he spoke.

"This is just one of the various possible things that you'll have to face now that you've joined the supernatural world. Bad people will be doing bad things, and while it's not fair to expect anyone to go out of their way to try to be a hero and save everyone, I believe none of us have it in our hearts to let someone innocent get hurt if they're within our reach. If you want to be able to help these people within your reach, be they a stranger, friend or family, then you need to be strong.

"You need to be strong in body, you need to be strong in mind, and you need to be strong in spirit. The only way to gain this strength, Daichi, is to work for it! Never give up!"

A small light appeared deep within Daichi's eyes. The young man was considered by most a spineless wimp, someone with no pride, confidence or guts, unable to stand up for himself, and always getting stepped on. Issei, as someone who watched him brandish a table at a literal god, knew that none of these things were true. There was something within the young man, the one who at the moment could be compared to a lump of untouched coal. All he needed was someone to help push him, someone to bombard him with pressure and heat, until the coal of today turned into a big, powerful diamond.

"Work hard, Dai! Push yourself to the limit, and go beyond that! After you stop and recover fully, you do it again! And again! And again! You do it until you're strong enough to protect the people precious to you! You do it until you're strong enough to be acknowledged by those who you respect, and whose opinions you care for!

"You do it until you're strong enough to shape your fate with your own two hands.

"Now do it, Daichi! Show me what you've got!"

Something special happened at that moment. The light that had been shining within Daichi's eyes, the flicker that showed itself back at the bar in the presence of Susano'o? It was little more than a reflection of the fire that had started within his chest, the one which was nothing more than a few smoldering embers, barely putting out enough heat to offset the cold. And right now, at this moment?

"RAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!"

At this moment, the smoldering embers ignited into a veritable conflagration, the sheer ferocious fire that burnt within Daichi giving him the strength of spirit to push beyond the limits of his body, to stabilize the makeshift weight he had been given…

"AUGH!"

…and to toss it straight across the construction site.

"Hah… Hah… Hah…"

Any regular person watching the scene at this moment would be equal parts shocked and terrified. The kind, calm, 'wouldn't hurt a fly' Daichi of normal day-to-day life was gone, leaving behind a massive beast of tense, coiled muscles, creased brows and narrowed eyes, mouth spread into a snarl revealing a threatening amount of teeth, each snort of his creased nose releasing a small puff of barely visible steam.

Uncaring of all of these factors, Issei placed a hand atop Daichi's shoulder, giving him a proud smile as he spoke.

"Good job, Dai. Keep honing your spirit and you'll be kicking ass and taking names in no time!"

Daichi's countenance gradually softened, his previously heaving chest going back to normal as his breathing smoothed out, his glare softening into a resolute look, and his snarl receding into a frown of concentration.

Noticing his mood, Issei pat him twice more on the shoulder, before walking back towards the makeshift weights.

"Okay, so we start with…"

Two weeks had passed since Susano'o first stepped into 'The Hammered Dwarf'.

Despite the shock of that whole situation, the days following it were mostly uneventful, with the exception of Daichi's training regimen. Issei had Daichi performing all sorts of physical exercises using his improvised weights.

Each day of working out ended up with Daichi drenched in sweat as he dragged himself back home, but in the end none could dispute the results.

Likely due to his supernatural constitution, the exercises he went through on a daily basis helped Daichi lose a noticeable amount of pounds of fat, and to create some thick, powerful muscle, especially along his arms and legs – his midsection still required much more work as far as weight loss went – which, paired with his massive stature and his focused frown, had the people parting around him like the red sea. He was dressed in a long-sleeved tee olive-colored tee, a pair of brown khakis and dark brown leather shoes, polished to a shine.

Daichi was flanked to the left by Ginei, whose slim build was covered in a light blue male kimono top, with light grey hakama, black tabi socks and a pair of waraji. His brown, back-length hair was done up in a ponytail, and his ears were pierced, with kanji-covered tags hanging from his lobes. His trusty Kendo case was still with him, the strap wrapped over his shoulder and leaving the case itself hanging against his side.

To his right was Issei, clad in a red button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, black slacks and black shoes. His hair was slicked back with the exception of his single purple bang, which was allowed to hang in front of his forehead.

Walking in front of the three was Andre, clad in a white button-down shirt, black slacks and shoes, with his customary apron over all of those things.

The bald man lead the three young men through a series of twisting and turning streets and alleys, each of them taking them further and further away from any main streets, and into increasingly remote areas.

The three of them stopped in front of a large and noticeably abandoned warehouse, before Andre beat a rhythm against the massive door.

Three quick knocks, followed by a 3 second pause, followed up on further by five knocks, each of them spaced apart by a second, before a 5 second pause, followed by four quick knocks.

As soon as Andre finished his knocks, the sounds locks disengaging reached the party, before the massive door slightly rolled aside, forcing each of them to squeeze in sideways into a darkened room.

Sighing out loud, Andre lit a cigarette, its burning tip showing brightly against the dark background. He took a deep puff, releasing a cloud of smoke with a pleased hiss, before speaking in a nonchalant tone.

"Kirin, will you please skip all the melodrama and let us take our places?"

The sound of a clicking tongue reached the men, before a feminine voice spoke in an airy tone.

"Fine, fine… Spoil my fun why don't you…"

The three young men ignored her grumbling in favor of appreciating their returned vision, vision which revealed a group of people sat around a round table.

One of them, the source of the airy voice, was a woman seemingly somewhere in her early 40's, her skin having a healthy, peachy hue, with a few laugh lines around her ruby-hued eyes and, lips. Red markings were present on her skin in the form of six thick whisker marks, three on each cheek, and a hue outlined her eyes. Her plump lips were colored in a ruby red color, with one of the corners upturned in a particularly vulpine-looking feature, even when her face was at rest. She also had a pair of fox ears atop of her, white with red additions, from which a neat mane of white hair ran down to her lower back. Her breasts could be easily estimated to be in the DD-cup, easily filling her white-and-red kimono at the top, while a similarly plump behind rested on a stuffed chair. Her kimono reached all the way to her ankles, unfortunately, covering up her legs from view.

Behind her sat a girl who might as well have been a clone of her, except that said clone's smoother, line-free face placed her somewhere in her teens, perhaps 19 years of age, and had way less of the red markings. She was also clad in a shorter kimono which reached only her thighs, revealing smooth, peachy, toned legs. Whereas the face of the woman seated in front of her was neutral, hers was much less so, her lips stretched to the limits into a vulpine grin, while her eyes looked like little more than curved slits.

Sat to the left of the fox woman was another woman, this one having skin as pale as freshly fallen snow, gray hair done up so that the back was arrayed in a tight bun, while a pair of bangs fell over each side of her face, framing it perfectly and reaching all the way to her chin. Her face placed her somewhere in her mid 30s, likely 35 or 36. Her eyes were narrow, though still visible, revealing a pair of ice-blue orbs, seemingly able to freeze a person in place with a single look. One could almost hear the crackling of ice if they were to as much as make eye contact with her. Her build was slim, with a modest pair of B-cup breasts, which were offset by a, although just as sensibly sized, ridiculously toned behind, it's shape perfectly defined even underneath the woman's black yukata. Her legs had a similar level of definition, the very outline of her calves showing even underneath the black, silky material.

Behind her sat a girl with equally grey hair and cold, blue eyes. Her height would place her somewhere in the 13/14 age range, but the rest of her body seemed to not be following the memo, giving her a flat chest, and a small butt – though Issei could notice it was also very much toned. The girl's grey hair was arrayed in a hime cut which reached all the way to her shoulders. The rest of her features could be considered a copy of those of the woman in front of her as well, up to and including the black yukata she wore.

The person sitting to the right of the fox woman broke the chain, being a 6'4" bastion of a man. His face was square, with prominent brows, thick lips, a thick nose, and a square jaw with a noticeable under bite. His height was complimented by his build, which could simply be described as 'muscles'. His muscles like had muscles of their own, that's just how buff he was. He was clad in a black suit that seemed to be straining to the extreme just to keep from shredding from the sheer bulk of the man's muscles. His head was bare of anything other than a single horn growing from the middle of his forehead.

Behind him sat someone who looked like an copy of him, from appearance to mannerisms, with the exceptions being the fact that they had less-weathered skin on their face, two horns instead of one, each on each side of the forehead, and their head had a little bit of hair. It was just a buzz cut, but it was still more than the other figure.

All of these people focused their gazes on the nonchalant Andre, who sat down on the chair across from the fox woman, his eyes closed as he enjoyed his smoke.

The silence stretched as time passed, nobody saying a thing, until Andre finally finished his cigarette, put it out on the tabletop, before turning towards his group and speaking.

"I told you before that there were 4 supernatural folks heading up the Kuoh red light district. Now, you get to be introduced to them."

He turned back around, a finger pointed at the fox woman sat directly across from him.

"This is Kirin, head of the Kunimitsu clan of Kitsune. Her clan runs a chain of very successful soaplands. Behind her is her daughter Kasumi. They're a pair of tricky little foxes, deriving enjoyment from messing with people, and they will take every opportunity you give them to do so."

The older fox, Kirin, hid her mouth behind a wide, white sleeve, whereas her daughter Kasumi allowed her grin to stretch even wider.

Andre followed that up by pointing at the woman in the black Yukata.

"The cool beauty over there is Shimo, the head of the Hyo clan of Yuki-onna (snow women). Annoy her and you might find your privates flash frozen." Daichi shuffled uncomfortably at that, whereas Gin gripped the kendo case carrying his sword tighter. Issei crossed his arms behind his head, his face curious as he allowed his eyes to commit the features of each person Andre described to memory. "Behind her is her daughter Suzushi, whose tolerance and temper are half as forgiving." Seeing the cold look in the girl's eyes, Issei and Daichi decided to take Andre on his word. "Their family makes a living running a hostess club. Their customers apparently enjoy both Kuuderes, and frigid, untouchable, domineering women." Seeing their questioning looks, the man shook his head as he spoke. "Don't ask."

Andre's gaze shifted over to the last group at the table, before speaking up.

"Last, but not least, are Wareru, head of the Massho Oni clan, and his son Butsu. Their family makes a profit by working as bodyguards for quite a few establishments, not all of them part of the red light district. Their family also has an almost single-minded devotion to fighting, breaking things, and proving their strength."

"BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS!"

Everybody seemed willing to ignore the outburst from the two-horned Oni, prompting Daichi and Issei to do the same and keep their focus on Andre as he spoke.

"And there you have it. The heads of the Kuoh underground scene."

"My my…" Kirin spoke up in a rich, raspy, deep voice, causing a chill to run down the backs of all the men present. "It is only customary for each of us to have one other with us, as our seconds. I thought Gin-san was yours, Andre."

"He is. He's my most experienced employee."

"Then why ever would you have brought such…" The Kitsune allowed her eyes to travel along Daichi and Issei's bodies, licking her ruby red lips before proceeding. "Tasty… Little… Morsels… For? Might they be a gift for little old me?"

The way she punctuated each word had Daichi blushing up an absolute storm, while Issei nonchalantly reached down and re-adjusted himself, much to the visible amusement of Kasumi, and the visible disapproval in the faces of both the snow women.

Andre himself chuckled at this, already expecting the woman to try her best to mess with the two newcomers, before answering. "Stop teasing the boys, you wily old fox. You know teenage hormones can only be pushed so hard before the mind stops responding."

The woman smirked at that, her own eyes curving into arched slits as she spoke. "Too true, that. Break someone too early, and you find yourself a toy down. Though…" Her gaze switched over to the nonchalant Issei. "This one is unruffled. Brazen. Experience, confidence or arrogance? Either way… this sounds like it could be very fun for me~"

Issei narrowed his eyes at the grinning Kirin, his tone serious and solemn as he spoke.

"My 'Ara Ara' senses are tingling."

Ginei tripped in place at that, while Andre face palmed hard. Kirin let out a husky chuckle that did things to the teenage boy's hormones, whereas Kasumi snickered into her sleeve.

The younger of the snow women glared at the young man, while the older one spoke up.

"I too must question the reason behind the presence of these… Young men. To have brought such a sizeable group to the meeting table… Might it not be that you're planning a… Hostile takeover, Andre-san?"

The mood in the room shifted instantly at Shimo's words, with the gazes of the Kunimitsu women sharpening in focus even as they each picked a target. Suzushi gave Ginei an angry glare that seemed to have some history behind it, whereas Ginei responded simply by glaring back, his feet shifting into a different stance even as he clutched his kendo case tighter into his body.

The two Oni started gritting their teeth at that, their muscles bulging under their suits.

"Am I a zoophile for finding kitsune extremely hot?"

Issei's question had everyone else in the room giving him incredulous stares. Seeing those stares, the boy spoke in a defensive tone.

"What? It's a legitimate question!"

"Hah… As your employer, I'm slightly starting to regret having brought you to this meeting."

Issei gave Andre a shocked look.

"What? Why would you regret bringing me here? I'm awesome!"

"You're a pervert." Was the deadpan response from Shimo, Suzushi, Ginei, Andre and Kirin, all in an eerie moment of synchronicity.

Huffing, Issei crossed his arms and looked away, a mumbled "They're not mutually exclusive" reaching the ears of those in the room.

Kasumi lost it at this, laughing up a storm to the point that she had to clutch into her side.

Issei smirked visibly at this, turning back towards the rest of the room and taking a dramatic bow.

"I'm glad at least someone enjoyed the performance."

Ginei blinked owlishly, before turning his gaze towards Issei. "Performance?"

The young dragon nodded sagely as he answered.

"Of course. Can't have my first foray into diplomatic relations – well, not really first but that first one doesn't count – end up degenerating into a fight. If me acting up a bit was all that was needed to help things cool down, well…" Issei finished with a shrug.

Having managed to get control over her laughter again, Kasumi spoke even as she wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. "I feel like you'll be someone very fun to hang around!" She followed that up by turning a teary-eyed look onto Andre, her lips in a quivering pout. "Are you sure we can't have him, Mr. Andre? I'll take good care of him, and feed him, and walk him…"

She allowed her gaze to drift from Andre to meet Issei's directly, her faux naïve face melting into a display of wicked sensuality. "I'll even bathe him and everything~"

Andre could do little more than mutter out a 'teenager hormones', while Issei spoke up with a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry to say, darling-" He didn't sound sorry at all. "-I'm more of a Keeper, rather than the one to be kept." His previously small smirk widened into a hungry thing that had Kirin and Kasumi's eyes fully open in surprise as he spoke. "If you try to 'tame' me you may find yourself being devoured in the end."

The surprise in Kasumi's face faded, replaced by amused glee as she turned towards Kirin. "Mama, I really like this one." Kirin gave the Kasumi a wide grin at that, before responding.

"I understand why, baby. Now if only mama were a few hundred years younger…"

Daichi choked on air at the woman's mention of 'a few hundred years', while Issei cut into their conversation.

"I have a marked appreciation for mature women, especially one such as yourself who has aged gracefully, like a fine wine."

Kirin gave the young man an amused, yet condescending smile at that. "My my, aren't you quite the charmer?"

Brushing off her condescension took no effort at all, a smirk on his face as he responded. "I try."

Issei's arm suddenly turned into a blur, stopping a few inches away from his face, an ice spike trapped between his fingers. Everybody turned towards Suzushi, surprised gazes all around. Those surprised gazes changed, with Shimo's turning into disapproval, Kirin's into mild annoyance, Kasumi's into real annoyance, the two Oni's into interest at the possibility of violence, and Daichi and Ginei's into genuine anger.

Before anyone could do a thing, Issei spoke up, his tone mild.

"You got that one for free. The next one you'll pay for."

Those words were followed up on by a blast of Pressure that had the three other leaders of the Kuoh underground focusing intensely on Issei, even as their children focused on shaking off the effects of said pressure.

A frown on her face, Kirin was the one to speak up next.

"You know, I thought that she was just being dramatic, but I can see logic behind Shimo's claim of this being a hostile takeover."

Andre face palmed at Issei's actions which completely undid his attempt at venting the pressure in the room, ignoring the desire to light up another cigarette as he spoke.

"Why would I try to take over you guys' places? You lot know that I didn't even want to be one of the 'heads'. The only reason I took the stupid title is because of you guys' persistence. Don't act like any of that has changed since."

The three heads nodded in acquiescence, the invisible pressure each of them released vanishing altogether and allowing Ginei, Daichi, Suzushi, Kasumi and Butsu to breathe clearly again.

"Now that we're completely and absolutely sure that no one will be killing anyone else-" Suzushi's calm façade didn't break even as she conspicuously moved her gaze away from Andre's "Can we please get down to business? Your… eccentricities… Took up a lot of time, in which I could have already explained the reason behind me calling for this meeting."

Seeing that no one intended to interrupt him again, Andre kept speaking.

"First things first, officially introducing the two new faces that are joining us." Andre waved his hand towards Daichi. "This is Daichi, my nephew who has very recently decided to join the 'family business '. And this-" Andre's hand moved over towards Issei, whose countenance had returned to its initial, unassuming one, not that it convinced any of the people present to drop their guards around him. "Is Issei, my latest employee, and the reason behind this meeting in the first place."

Andre nodded at Issei, ceding the 'stage' to him, which he responded to with a returned nod. Walking up to the table in a way that none of the other youths did, Issei cleared his throat before speaking up.

"A source informed us of a new threat encroaching into Japan. A recent wave of mysterious deaths and disappearances is occurring in rural areas, though at the rate it's going on it seems likely for said deaths to eventually reach urban areas. If mysterious happenings keep occurring like this, this whole 'secrecy from regular people' thing we have going is going the way of the dodo.

"Other than that, there's the fact that these mysterious events may soon reach our very own backyards. This means that we need to be more coordinated as far as the elimination of things that go bump in the night go, without alerting either the Devil faction, or the regular government."

Steeping her fingers together, Kirin spoke up.

"How reliable is this source of yours, and how sure are you that they're being truthful?"

"I have no idea about how reliable this source truly is, but I can tell you with certainty that the threat they were talking about is real. I've been keeping an eye on the news and an ear on the ground, and funky stuff really is happening in the countryside. Children going missing from their own beds without anyone noticing, villages of people are falling ill with the same untreatable sickness, families vanishing altogether, with only trails of sludge and slime remaining in their homes…

"It all points towards a deliberate and malicious campaign of supernatural attacks on mundane."

Wareru interjected at this point, his voice sounding like two massive boulders grinding into one-another.

"Can we smash?"

Issei shook his head at that.

"We can see enemy action behind the patterns, but we have no idea who or where the enemy is. Moving in too early without any real plans of action could spook whoever is behind this into going down to ground, or it could cause them to escalate in their attacks.

"All we can do at the moment is keep our own city clean, all the while keeping an eye and ear out for new data."

Issei turned towards Andre, prompting the bald man to nod slightly and move back into a more prominent position, while the younger man walked back to stand beside Daichi and Ginei.

Clearing his throat, Andre spoke up.

"And there it is. I called this meeting to both make sure that all of you were informed of this, and to bring Issei and Daichi into our efforts of protecting our slice of Kuoh, and to organize the kids into some sort of… Team."

"BUTSU STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT CITY!"

Wareru turned towards his son before speaking up.

"Butsu be one. Fox girl be one. Snow girl be one. Sword boy be one. Each of new boys also be one. One person smash one thing in one time. If Butsu is smashing thing, then who smashes other thing that need be smashed?"

Wareru's tortuous mangling of the Japanese language managed to calm Butsu down, having the two-horned Oni rubs his chin as the gears within his head slowly brought themselves into motion, the effort of such showing physically on his constipated-looking face. One could even swear smoke was coming out of his ears.

A look of understanding suddenly passed through his face, leading Butsu to slam his right fist into his left palm as he spoke.

"WHILE BUTSU SMASH THING, PUNY OTHERS SMASH OTHER THING!"

Wareru nodded wisely at that, his tone sagely as he spoke.

"That be meaning of team. Team be people who help smash."

The two-horned Oni gave each of the other youths a considering gaze, before speaking up again.

"BUTSU WANT BE TEAM!"

"Well…" Kasumi shot Issei a hungry look, barely managing to keep herself from drooling at the young man whose pressure almost caused her to wet herself, before speaking up. "I wouldn't mind joining a team if Issei is in it~"

Ginei and Daichi nodded at that, mirroring the younger Kunimitsu's sentiment – to a certain degree – while Issei himself spoke with a shrug.

"Sure, I'll join a team, why not?"

Shimo gave her daughter a look that was inscrutable by all but said daughter, one which was returned in kind by Suzushi. The two seemed to be having a full conversation through their gazes alone, before Suzushi nodded. She turned her naturally frigid gaze towards Andre before nodding her assent.

Seeing that everybody was in agreement, Andre spoke.

"Well, now that all is settl-"

"Wait just a second, Mr. Andre! There's still something that we haven't discussed yet."

The bald man sighed, turning towards a smirking Kasumi before speaking.

"And that would be…"

"The team leader, of course!"

The girl's words had everyone in the room freeze for an instant, before people started eyeing one-another in significant ways. Andre sighed again, thoughts of 'trouble-making fox women' running through his mind, whereas the rest of the group seemed to be staring at one-another, then shifting targets and staring more, as if sizing each-other up.

Suzushi spoke up at that.

"That's not really a problem. The choice for a team leader is a very obvious one to anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together." The girl gave Butsu a disdainful look which the two-horned Oni was ignorant to interpret, before continuing in a conceited tone. "Obviously, the person fit to be team leader among us is-"

"Me." Was Suzushi's ending to the sentence, whereas Daichi and Kasumi simultaneously called out "Issei!" Ginei seemed to abstain for the moment, whereas Butsu called out a "BUTSU STRONGEST IN TEAM!"

Issei, too, abstained from voting, though his abstention had Kirin, Shimo, Andre and Wareru eyeing him, each of them showing a confusing mixture of emotions.

Shimo was the one to break the sudden silence in the room.

"How unexpected for someone of your… confidence-" The words she really wished to use, arrogance and ego, were merely implied rather than stated "-to not consider yourself someone worthy of commanding a team."

Issei whistled inwardly, impressed at the old woman's ability to disparage him without appearing to do so. By framing his abstention as him not believing himself capable of leading the team, it causes the other team members, and, most importantly, their Parents/Clan Heads, to doubt him, and his competence to lead.

Usually, someone in Issei's current situation would have to make up some sort of excuse or justification to address both the spoken and unspoken words, with a hastily-crafted excuse likely having holes that she could poke into until his argument went the way of a popped balloon.

Unfortunately for Shimo, she chose to do this to someone who didn't need to make up anything to defend his position at this current moment.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Issei spoke.

"We're establishing a team. This means that there will be a point where we'll have to put our lives in each other's hands, something which requires mutual trust. Unless you have some sort of inner personality divination and comprehension tool or ability-" He totally had one, but they didn't need to know about it "-then you have to let this trust build up gradually overtime, meaning that a first step has to be taken."

The brunette allowed his gaze to move through the abandoned warehouse, noticing the fact that everybody's gazes were focused on him, before proceeding.

"Figuring out who each of the group members believes to be capable of leading them through dangerous situations is a good first step. Unfortunately, while most people here have previous history with one-another, and have had the chance to assess a bit of my… Capabilities… I personally have no idea about what each of the people present in this room are capable of, be it in a combat capacity, or in a leadership one. Rather than giving an opinion from ignorance, I decided to see what the more informed individuals would choose."

Issei could have almost sworn that he saw a positive glint in the frosty gaze of Shimo at his words. Regardless of this, the woman spoke up again.

"Are you saying that you would be alright with any of the others present being picked as team leader as long as they showed the necessary skills to do so? Of course, keeping in mind that Daichi-san is in the same position of a newcomer as yourself, and thus, by your own criteria, ineligible to be selected."

'Let's see you fast-talk your way out of this one, boy.'

"I believe you misunderstood something a bit, Shimo-san. I believe you inferred from what I said that I'd be willing to be led by any of the people more experienced as far as your stray elimination cooperation pool… Thing... Was concerned.

"Of course, that extra bit of experience with the majority of the members of this tentative team weighs heavily on my likelihood of accepting or rejecting someone as my leader, however it is but one of the factors, and would not single-handedly make me choose."

"Hoh? And what would be a deciding factor for you in your choice of a team leader?"

Ignoring the woman's attempts at tripping him up orally, Issei reached for the buttons of his shirt and started undoing them, one by one, to the surprise of all present.

Each button undone revealed a bit more of toned, muscled flesh, a sight that only Kasumi allowed herself to react visibly to as she leered at Issei, giving her lips an exaggerated lick, whereas the rest of the people present were either neutral, or feeling awkward.

Issei unbuttoned the last button of his shirt, allowing it to remain in place for now, hanging from his shoulders, as his right hand pulled his left sleeve further up from his forearm, revealing a raised groove of scar tissue around his forearm. While it wasn't too tall to the point that it could easily be unnoticed in casual observation, everybody in the room had supernatural senses, and was in a state of caution at meeting others capable of actually hurting them, meaning that the scar stuck out to them like a sore thumb.

"This is my first combat scar. I got it from the recoil of the attack I used to obliterate the magically-empowered form of The Invading Snake, recoil which resulted in my arm almost getting permanently destroyed. This happened less than a week after I first learnt of the supernatural world, and Awakened my Sacred Gear."

Eyes all around the room widened at that, with the people of the supernatural world knowing of the Invading Snake, if even just as a bedtime story.

Issei then proceeded to allow his shirt to glide down his shoulders, revealing his leanly-muscled and heavily toned torso – and a big scar on his chest.

The brunet placed his hand directly over the scar in order to attract the room's attention straight to it, before slowly doing a 360 degree turn, causing Ginei to lowly breathe out "All the way through…"

Issei gave the people more time to stare at his scar, before resuming his words.

"This one was even worse. I got stabbed all the way through by the possessed avatar of an Ancient Blood God, just before said possessed avatar empowered the individual I still despise the most in the universe – I'll probably take a piss on whatever grave he's got soon – granting him a continuously-growing power which skyrocketed him straight towards Ultimate class, all the while corrupting his body and mind. His soul couldn't be corrupted, since it was already pretty rotten."

Issei cleared his throat, successfully averting a rant on Travis – just the name was enough to cause disgust – only to continue explaining his scar.

"I died. Then I got better. Then I proceeded to obliterate the empowered and corrupted douchenozzle off the face of the earth, something the Moirae themselves-" Issei saw the grown-ups flinch at the mention of the weaving old cunts, as expected "-told me I'd be unable to accomplish since my path at the moment would have only led me to death. All of this within 2 months of me joining the supernatural world."

Allowing the new gazes he was being given to slide off of him like water off a duck's feathers, Issei continued.

"Based on my source, things are going to become extremely dangerous sometime soon. If anyone here had the ability to lead the team well enough to allow us to navigate and survive situations like the ones I went through, then I wouldn't have issues with them becoming the team leader."

"If you'll bother lying to us, then at least do it pro-"

"Suzushi," Shimo cut her off harshly "Enough." Seeing the girl's questioning gaze, the older Yuki Onna spoke up. "I… believe that all of this young man's accounts are genuine. Based on his precedents, I believe that having him as the leader of this new team would be optimal for the moment. All in agreement?"

Andre, Kirin, Wareru and Shimo herself raised their hands, followed shortly by Daichi, Ginei and Kasumi. Suzushi crossed her hands within the sleeves of her Yukata, sat back on her chair and allowed a frostier expression to cross her face. Butsu, on the other hand…

"BUTSU STRONGEST THERE IS! BUTSU SMASH REAL GOOD! BUTSU BE LEADER!"

Before anyone could cut in, in an attempt at appeasing the Oni, Issei himself spoke up.

"Butsu, you're good at smashing things, right?"

"BUTSU BEST AT SMASH!"

Issei nodded at that, before speaking up.

"We can all agree that you know how to smash, but you won't always know who to smash, where to find them, and when to do the actual smashing. These are all things that I can learn. By learning these things, I can spare you the job of figuring stuff out, and simply tell you who to smash.

"Isn't it better for me to be a leader then?"

Butsu's face changed again, the rusty gears within his brain grinding against one-another, the result being smoke almost coming out of his ears, and his face looked as if he were constipated.

The Oni eventually nodded at that. "PUNY LEARN THINGS, TEACH BUTSU."

Everyone turned an expectant eye towards Shimizu, prompting the girl to give the most marginal of nods, prompting Shimo to speak up.

"I believe that is it for this meeting. Unfortunately myself and my daughter must make away with hast, to deal with some family issues. If any new information about this whole situation, or the team, is discovered or generated, I'd rather appreciate it if said information were to reach me.

"We'll be off."

With those words, a small snowstorm started up in the room, covering everybody's views and then dispersing completely, having taken the Yuki-Onna with it.

Each individual after that went their own path, all of them with a common thought in mind:

'Absolutely keep an eye on this Issei kid.'

-Chapter, End-

FrancoGamerxz here. If you've previously read this chapter already, you might notice a few slight differences in it.

I wrote and uploaded the previous version of this chapter while extremely groggy on sleep (Creativity flows through me best during the latest hours of the night, and the earliest ones in the morning). This led to me commiting some mistakes, most of them regarding the naming of characters.

In many sentences I intended to say Kasumi, but I ended up saying Kunimitsu, making things very much confusing. That was corrected. It was also brought to my attention that Kirin are apparently a race/entity that is actually opposed to Kitsune, however I did not use Kirin in said context (since I didn't even know this context existed), but rather as the first name of a character.

In some occasions I meant to type Suzushi, but I ended up typing Shimizu instead. Also corrected.

Plus, another thing that apparently wasn't too clear:

Kunimitsu is the surname of both Kirin and Kasumi, while their race/species is Kitsune, a type of fox yokai.

Hyo is the surname of both Shimo and Suzushi, with their race being Yuki-Onna, snow women.

Massho is the surname of Wareru and Butsu (bestest smasher), and their race is Oni.