Tap. Tap. Tap.
Step after step was taken by a figure as they navigated their way through the wilderness.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Were an attentive observer present, they would have noticed a certain peculiarity.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Hunters were capable of walking through the bush in a relatively quiet manner by moderating the length and power behind each stride, being mindful of the placement of their feet, and avoiding stepping on things that could ultimately produce noise, such as fallen twigs or branches, leaves, or even grass. They were almost silent as they did.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
This figure could easily avoid the primary methods of making noise in the wilderness, like hunters. No twig, leaf, or grass was stepped on outside of their intent, each stride was perfectly calculated both in length and in strength, and their weight distribution was borderline perfect for what was humanly achievable.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
However, the figure still made noise with each step despite all of this. What's more, rather than the naturally expected result of the sound being swallowed into the surrounding area and being lost amongst the noises of the forest, each step rang out in a clear register that easily carried through the whole area in a blatantly unnatural manner.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The figure came to a stop in front of what could one day have been called a gate but was now little more than a twisted, dented piece of green-painted, oversized metal.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
After a moment of silently staring at the gate, the figure walked past it and into a village.
To its left and to its right alike, dozens of dilapidated and mostly broken houses stood, some of them barely. Wood and stone alike showed great rents as if some form of blade had carved chunks out of them.
Dark brown stains marred the ground, walls, and roofs alike, causing the stench of old blood to hang over the entirety of the village as if it were as much as a slaughterhouse.
"Run! Your mother and I will hold it back!"
"But-"
"You have to survive! You are the legacy of our clan! The proof that we ever existed! Now run, and don't look back!"
Anger burned in its chest as old memories resurfaced, but the figure was quick to bury them, changing the burning hot wrath into ice-cold resentment, feeding further onto what was already there, brewing within their heart.
The figure's fist unclenched as it relaxed, before it walked further into the desolate village, unmindful of the blood dripping down its palm and trailing after it.
It thoughtfully looked all around itself, the form of the devastated buildings being overlaid by a memory of them from before-
A shake of the head brought its focus back to the present. The figure stopped right in front of the big house that once served as the home of the village's chief before its gaze turned toward a wooden hut off to the side.
The hut wasn't particularly large, more a shed than anything else, and it felt noticeably foreign and incongruent, due to the difference in both age and style that it bore from the rest of the village's buildings.
The figure slid the makeshift door aside and went into the hut, stripping down completely naked and cleansing its body using a bucket of water that had been previously placed there. It followed that up by slipping into a plain white kimono, before walking out of the hut.
It made its way into the derelict manse, navigating its way through the broken and rotted wooden planks with ease that spoke of familiarity, before walking out into the back area of the plot of land.
A stone monument met its gaze, 6 ½ feet in size, and with hundreds of names engraved onto its otherwise unadorned surface.
A few shuffling steps took the figure closer to the pillar before it knelt in seiza, then prostrated itself to the monument.
"Mother, Father, I have returned."
The figure's shoulders shook as it stayed in this prostrating bow before it took a fortifying breath and returned to its seiza, unmindful of the dirt now staining its forehead.
"There is not a day that passes in my life where I do not miss the two of you. The happy life we lived in this village.
"The way Mr. Sugiyama made funny faces at running children, Kouri-sensei's teachings of the way, Mrs. Kotoura's rice cakes… I even miss Grandfather's scolding looks, and the way he pretended to not be pleased whenever I showed him something else I learned at the academy, but 'happened' to make his special Udon for dinner that day."
The figure's fist clenched once more, staining the sleeves of its kimono in red.
"I've spent years honing my skills so that I could one day get back at that monster for what it did to us, but I still feel as if it's not enough…" A glint of vicious satisfaction came to its eye at that moment. "But I've found a way to do it. I'm working with a group of people whose goal is to destroy those beasts as we did.
"We've been having little success in completely cleaning this world up from the beasts, but something happened that could make a difference. We found a clue about the legacy of the Hero. If… When we get it, we'll be able to truly make a difference in this war, and save humanity from them!"
The figure's gaze fell back onto two sets of kanji on the pillar that it knew intimately, having taken the most care it could as it carved them, before sighing, the raging fire in it cooling as the refuse air left its lungs, returning it to a state of calm. It kowtowed once more to the monument, before standing up and making its way out of the manse and back into the hut. A quick wash and change later and the figure made its way out of the village, only to be met by a figure in a pristinely white hooded parka, so thick and lined with fur that none of the owner's body could be seen through it.
"Done?"
The first figure responded to the parka-wearing person's question with a curt nod, getting one in response, before the parka-wearer turned around and walked off. The parka wearer reached into one of the coat's pockets and withdrew a walkie-talkie, which was held in a gloved hand. It pressed a button and whispered into the device for a moment, before nodding to itself and sliding it back into its pocket, turning towards the first figure before speaking up in thickly accented Japanese.
"Yaponskiy researcher figured clue out. It was map to cave. Operative team digging now."
The first figure nodded at that, cold determination shining in its eyes.
"We're one step closer to destroying those monsters for good!"
The parka wearer turned its head, looking at the first figure from the corner of its eye, before silently turning forward once more and walking on.
RATATATATATATAT!
BOOM!
A cloud of dust rose as a consequence of a grenade's explosion, before a stumpy figure that was more maw than anything else leaped out of the dust, shocking the Humanitas special operations team by clamping its oversized fangs around one of the operators' armored torse and, with a quick jerk of the head, disemboweling him.
Showing their experience as professionals, the rest of the squad shook off the shocking scene in but a moment before lighting up the beast once more.
RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAT-
The rain of carbine, submachine gun, and machine-gun fire over the beast was followed by another shot from an under-barrel grenade launcher, this one aimed straight into the creature's wide-open maw as it screeched in pain from the firepower being concentrated onto it.
BOOM!
This explosion wasn't followed by a cloud of dust, but one of blood and viscera, covering the walls of the cave and the operatives alike in filth.
One of the figures in the full figure concealing black tactical gear gestured with one hand, prompting two others to fire off a salute before making their way deeper into the cavern in a well-practiced two-man breach-and-clear line, the one in the front wielding a Remington 870 7-round tactical shotgun, while his partner behind wielded a Howa Type 20, which he kept aimed forward and over the first man's shoulder.
The two hustled down the cave under the illumination of their vest and helmet-mounted flashlights, walking around a bend and out of sight of the rest of the squad, only to call out a loud "ALL CLEAR!" a couple of minutes later. The rest of the squad made their way down the cave with weapons in hand and ready to fire, only allowing themselves to slightly relax and train their barrels away from their two other squadmates when they found themselves in front of a big stone wall with various motifs depicting vicious and bloody scenes of carnage and bloodshed.
A call over the radio later and a team of researchers in white labcoats had joined the squad in the cavern.
The head of the research team was a hardy 70-something-year-old bald Japanese man, whose face looked like Christmas had come early as he observed the images carved on the stone wall.
"Marvelous…" The man adjusted his glasses with a trembling hand, his eyes shining with unshed tears as he spoke, "45 years… It's been 45 years of being mocked and scorned, and considered a fraud and a lunatic by the scientific community for my research into the possibility of Japanese folklore being real! But this! Ha! Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY, I WILL BE VINDICATED! THE TRUTH OF THE WORLD WILL BE KNOWN, AND I WILL BE RECOGNIZED AS THE GENIUS I AM-"
BANG!
The man's unhinged rant was ended by a shot to the back of the head by a slim young woman in a lab coat, this one bearing a monogrammed HI on the breast pocket.
She looked to be around her low 20s in age, with silky black hair reaching her waist, a nicely sculpted face with a pointed chin that, when paired with her blue-colored narrow eyes, displayed the fact that she was a mix between white and Japanese parents.
"Now that the loose end is tied up," She said as she handed the pistol to one of the operatives, "It's time to get what we came here for."
She crouched over the corpse, cupping her hands and scooping up bits of blood, grey matter, and cerebrospinal fluid, before smearing them over the wall.
The operatives and all the other researchers took a cautious step back as the cave shook, but the woman stood there impassively.
"It's not safe here, Lady Nina. You should retreat and let us-"
"Quiet, you buffoon. I do not wish to miss any part of this."
Before the operative could say another word, the sounds of grinding stone filled the cave, causing dust and dirt to fall off the ceiling, which was followed by the incredible sight of a stone wall sliding aside into the stone wall beside it, revealing itself to be naught but a door blocking off a rounded passage.
As soon as the door rolled halfway out of the way, all those present were covered in a red-hued light, which only got more intense as the wall rolled the rest of the way into its recessed space.
The red light dimmed shortly after that, allowing the whole group to see a pedestal, which hosted a plain, brown-colored drinking gourd with a dark red rope around its middle.
"Well?" Nina spoke up impatiently to the armed men, "What are you waiting for? Go get that gourd!"
The operatives traded looks before the shotgun-wielder cautiously walked in, his weapon raised and ready to fire at anything that moved.
He walked to the center of the chamber, where the pedestal rested, completely fine, before lowering his firearm and reaching for the gourd.
"HNNNNNG-"
He let out a grunt the moment his hand wrapped around the thing, only for his whole arm to dry out as if all of the fluid in it had been sucked out. This effect spread rapidly, causing the man's entire body to start deflating at a visible rate until only what looked like a saggy, stretched bag full of sticks remained, which shortly after crumbled into dust.
"Well, isn't that interesting…"
An intrigued smile split Nina's face at the sight before she snapped her fingers at her aides, who were nowhere near as calm as her.
"Use a pair of tongs to put the gourd in that specially-prepared box."
A middle-aged man in the lab coat was pushed out by the rest of his peers, tongs in one hand and box in the other. He looked back at Nina, ready to plead or beg, only to change his mind at the sight of her adjusting her glasses with her CSF-covered hands.
Gulping, he walked up to the gourd and gingerly picked it up with the pair of tongs, before softly putting it inside the box on his opposite arm, and closing the lid.
He walked up to and handed the box over to one of the spec ops team people, before hurriedly rejoining the group of labcoat-clad researchers.
Nina and the leader of the operatives traded nods before the group cleared out of the cave, no one bothering to clean up the corpse of the elderly man.
In the Shikoku region, there was a special club.
Tucked in between the cracks of society, invisible and unknown to the average person, the 'Royal Purple' resort catered to the whims and vices of the rich and the famous.
High-level executives, politicians, and celebrities could easily be found within, acting in ways that they would never do in the public eye.
Married men and women could be seen surrounded by and feeling up attractive and scantily-clad young men and women.
Celebrities who'd built their reputation and fame upon wholesomeness and purity showed their true selves, sitting around various gambling tables, drinks in hand and cusses on the tips of their tongues which were slung back and forth as the games progressed.
Politicians of different political parties, who spent their whole time in the public eye fighting in their attempts at pushing forward opposing agendas to the point where they were even seen by the media not just as rivals but as outright enemies, seated side by side within a cigar lounge, a fat Cohiba in the dominant hand of each, laughing at a joke told by one of them.
It was to this scene that Issei, clad in a pair of black dress pants, a black long-sleeved shirt, brown-colored oxford dress shoes, and a red jacket, walked into.
Except for his vibrantly colored jacket, his entrance would've not warranted any extra attention were it not for the fact that he had company with him.
Three other individuals walked in after him, two of them male and one female, each of them dressed in the same style if in less conspicuous colors, each of them wearing a plain porcelain mask over their faces.
Many pairs of eyes followed the group of four as they were escorted by one of the resort's attendants to a door marked VIP.
Whispered conversations filled the resort's main area as soon as the door closed, yet, less than a minute later, the place had fallen back into the pattern of merriment and debauchery that it was previously steeped in.
The attendant escorted the group of four down a set of stairs, through multiple corridors, down another set of stairs, through a few more corridors, then up a set of stairs, before finally stopping in front of an unmarked door, which she opened for them before bowing.
Issei didn't hesitate to stride in, with his three tagalongs following his lead and walking in after a moment's hesitation.
The sight they were met with was that of a rather comfortable and spacious lounge. Looking around allowed them to notice the presence of a fully stocked bar, a set of comfortable-looking cushioned booths near a wall-mounted TV and sound system, and a table covered in various foodstuffs.
Across the booths, all the way on the other side of the room there was a circle of armchairs arrayed underneath an exhaust system, with various glass boxes filled with a variety of cigars, cigarettes, and everything in between, with a great variety in brands.
Seated on one of those armchairs with a cigarette holder in hand was Murasaki, who smiled sultrily at Issei the moment the two made eye contact.
"Icchan! It's been far too long since I've last seen you!"
The three masked individuals simultaneously turned their heads towards Issei at the mode of address, while the purple-haired woman snapped her fingers, causing the three masked figures to jump in surprise as her butler suddenly showed up and took the cigarette holder from her grasp, before spraying her open mouth with some breath spray.
Her breath refreshed, the woman stood up to her full height, revealing the fact that her shapely body was encased by a skin-tight slinky number in a purple as deep and rich as her hair, with a rather deep and risque decolletage, and slit cut on one side revealing her smooth-skinned leg.
As before, her wavy, purple hair fell over her right shoulder, partially framing her round face, and highlighting her bright, brown eyes by contrast. Unlike before, however, she had traded her bright red lipstick for a dark purple.
"Icchan~"
The purplette all but moaned as she sauntered towards the brown-haired teen, each of her steps causing her barely concealed breasts to wobble in a manner that looked very dangerous for the sense of propriety that her fashion sense hinted towards her not possessing.
The three masked figures watched in silence as the woman all but pressed herself against Issei's body, one of her hands reaching up for his loose purple bang and twirling it around her finger.
"You have no idea how much I missed you, Icchan~"
The two stood like that, Issei nonchalantly looking down at the purplette, while said purplette kept twirling his bang around her finger, subtly grinding her chest against his, and all but swallowing him right there and then with her eyes. The only thing keeping her from grinding her crotch against his was Issei's casual slouch, which left one of his knees out a bit ahead of his torso.
Seemingly unbothered by all of this, Issei spoke up.
"So, about the whole team stuff?"
The woman kept her ministrations up for a while longer before pouting and huffing as Issei didn't react to her efforts at all, taking a disappointed step away from the teen before speaking up.
"As much as I would have liked to follow your plan of forming a team to deal with the issues you previously talked about, I unfortunately still have someone to answer to, and while that someone said that they saw potential in your plan, they suggested something a bit less… Involved."
Issei's brow rose involuntarily at those words.
"Oh?"
"The person upstairs thinks that your idea of having an investigation group has merit, but that our group is not in a position to open hand of someone who'd be considered important enough to represent our faction in this investigative effort of yours in a full-time fashion.
"Instead, there would be a designated representative of our faction that would join your core group whenever your activities took you into our territory. This representative would be responsible for ensuring that whatever doors needed to be opened and whichever resources needed to be made available for the advancement of your efforts, would be.
"The other heads agreed with this suggestion."
Issei stared blankly at Murasaki as she spoke, before responding in the blandest tone he could possibly conjure at that point in time.
"So let me get this straight," Issei spoke up with a frown, "These people want my group to act as their problem solvers, walking into their territory to put out whichever fires spring up related to the business I previously mentioned, all under the supervision of their 'representative', who gets to decide what is or isn't considered a need for the investigation, meaning they get to politely tell me to go fuck myself if I as much as ask for transportation or even a bottle of water. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes." The woman nodded. "Other than Hageshi Katagi-san, the other heads don't seem to see these invaders as a real threat. They think that they're able to handle any issues that crop up on their turf, and see any fires started on the lands of others as something advantageous to them.
"The only reason they're even nominally participating in this whole endeavor is to put themselves above any accusations of using this external threat to 'unfairly' get one over the competition, never mind the fact that there is no such thing as fair in the conflicts of Yakuza."
"So they're trying to play games, huh…" Issei said in a tone as grave as his expression, before shrugging, his face relaxing as his tone turned nonchalant, "Well, it is what it is."
The sudden 180º turn of his mood had Murasaki and the three masked individuals reeling in at the whiplash, prompting Aimai to clear his throat in order to signal his mistress to recompose herself.
Having regained her bearings, Murasaki spoke up.
"You were rather quick to get over the political plays at hand, Icchan."
"'Do just enough for your name to be cleared of collusion with the enemy, and not a single thing more than that. Try to figure out how to profit off of the enemy's action'. That's part of the basics of the game," The brunet smirked maliciously. "We all know what they say about people who play stupid games though, don't we?"
Murasaki's expression bloomed with delight at Issei's words, as if she were proud of the malice in his demeanor. The purplette moistened her lips with a flick of the tongue before purring out.
"And which type of game are you playing, Icchan~?"
"Watch the idiot self-sabotage."
His deadpan, straightforward response caused the woman to freeze in shock for an instant, before her shoulders started shaking.
"Kukukukukukukukuku~ Each passing day I want you more and more, Icchan~"
"That sounds like a you problem." The brunet ignored the narrowing of the one visible eye of Murasaki's butler and turned towards his entourage, "We're done for now, so let's go."
"Mou~" Murasaki draped herself over Issei and whisper-moaned her words right into his ear, "Won't you keep me company for a bit longer, Icchan~?"
"Nope."
"Why nooooooot~"
"Tomorrow's a school day. Plus, you're kinda giving me some 'crazy' vibes, so…"
He shrugged, causing the purplette to lose her hold on him in the process, before nodding his head towards the exit and walking off, his masked entourage following after him.
The closing of the door sounded much too loud within the empty lounge, before a sound filled the air.
"Kuk… KukukukukukuHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
While the other attendants in the room averted their gazes from the scene in abject fear, Aimai only sighed at his lady's troublesome nature of always wanting whatever she couldn't have.
'What a troublesome lady I have.'
Pushing that thought aside, Aimai slightly lifted the barest corner of his eyepatch, causing a black mist to fill the lounge. A moment later and the other attendants were blinking in confusion, any recollection of the previous scenes completely missing from their memories.
Issei didn't hesitate to slump over the comfy couch of Susanoo's office, shucking off his jacket and throwing it right at one of the masked figures, who ducked to avoid it before pulling off its mask, revealing the sight of one Shisho Motohama.
"Oi! Watch it, you ass!"
Issei's response to that was to flash Motohama a middle finger, which the glasses-clad male responded to in kind.
Aika, who had unmasked as soon as Motohama did, could only roll her eyes at the boys' byplay.
"Men."
"Hey!" Matsuda, the last of the masked figures to unmask, spoke up, "Our mutual jackassery comes from a place of love and brohood."
The other two nodded in unison at that, while the girl plopped herself right over her boyfriend's body as she spoke.
"Couldn't you show your love and brohood by doing something else like complimenting each other?"
"We do that," Issei responded while wrapping his arms around the girl's waist and resting his chin on her hair, "It's just that it usually happens when girls aren't around."
"...Men are weird."
"Oh yeah?" Matsuda plopped onto one of the armchairs beside the couch Issei and Aika were sprawled over, "At least we don't keep guys that we don't like around us in our immediate circle of friends and pretend to like them while competing with them at every possible opportunity."
"Yup," Motohama spoke up, "When guys don't like guys we either avoid each other or fight. We don't go for any of that frenemy type of stuff."
"Please," Aika snorted, "Frenemies are for people with too much energy and free time on their schedule. If I wanted to spend time with someone I don't like I'd give my mom a call."
Everyone went silent at those words before Issei spoke.
"Well, that escalated quickly."
Motohama and Matsuda traded silent gazes, but neither of them knew what to say next.
"As… Interesting as this all is…" Susanoo, the person who owned the office the teens had been using as a lounge, spoke up in a bemused tone, "It doesn't really tell me anything about how the meeting went."
"Oh, that," Issei met Susanoo's gaze over Aika's head, "Total sham. Other dudes are gonna make the tokenest of efforts to avoid becoming targets of mudslinging. Other than that…"
He shrugged, getting a frown from the god seated behind the desk.
"Those self-centered morons can't understand the gravity of the situation!" The storm god all but shouted as he slammed a fist on his desk.
"Eyeup."
Susanoo turned his gaze towards Issei, the teen's nonchalance causing his irritation to cool.
"You seem rather calm despite the circumstances."
"That's because I already expected things to go like this."
The storm god wasn't the only one to blink in surprise at Issei's words.
"What."
"I was invited by you to the meeting, where I spoke as the representative of an unknown, unseen third party that was also sought out by you, and brought up a situation that they are all too proud to see as an issue. As far as they're concerned my words are worth less than the brain cells I exerted to formulate them, and they're only giving me this much lip service because both you and Murasaki jumped into the proposal head-first, and because Nezumi confirmed that the information about the invaders is real.
"There'd be better chances of me punching the sun than them acting in good faith towards me."
These words got another round of surprised stares before Susanoo spoke once more.
"Why even go to the meeting if you already expected to be fed nothing but bullshit?"
"Confirming the level of contempt slung my way so that I could figure out how hard to fire back at them." The brunet fell silent for a moment as he shifted positions to best spoon Aika, before picking up the thread of the conversation once more. "Since they don't see the bad guys as a problem, then I don't really need to make an effort to put out the fires they start. Let them invest their resources into that."
Susanoo frowned at that.
"What about the innocents caught in the crossfire?"
"There won't be any. A certain dragon-masked martial artist will go around smacking down anyone that touches an innocent head of hair with extreme prejudice, day in and day out. It doesn't matter who touched the innocents, they all get the privilege of meeting god ahead of time. And when touching innocents is verboten…"
"The guilty are all that remain…" Susanoo finished Issei's sentence, before muttering to himself, "With the multiple cleanup operations we've run in Kanto, it's unlikely that our business will get affected, but the same can't be said for the others…"
The storm god turned an impressed gaze toward Issei, who shrugged once more.
'I've been playing chess with Sona for long enough for something to stick.'
Issei and Susanoo spent the rest of the night plotting, while Aika, Motohama, and Matsuda were exposed to another layer of Issei.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Clack.
Issei's brows furrowed, his hand raised for a long, tense moment before he nodded to himself as he made his choice.
Clack.
Sona barely stopped before her own hand moved, picking up a bishop and moving it.
Clack.
The pattern repeated for the entirety of the match, with Sona barely frowning before making swift moves with very little visible trouble, while Issei took his time thinking and deliberating on the state of the chessboard, and the move that he believed was best to make.
Issei's brow furrowed further and further as the match progressed, his hands taking longer and longer to move between plays, whereas Sona's just kept speeding up, moves that took seconds for her to deliberate upon being shortened to instants as her mind dissected Issei's moves faster over time.
Half a dozen moves later Issei's king piece clattered to the side, knocked over with a flick of his index finger. The brown-haired teen turned a wry smile towards the student council president as he spoke.
"I lost. Again." Huffing in good humor, he took a moment to take a sip of the delicious tea he had been poured at the start of the match and which was still steaming hot despite the time passed, something that he just chalked up to magic. "Was that the 24th time?"
"25th."
"You didn't look that focused on our previous matches though, so that has to mean I'm getting better, right?"
Sona's lips were the ones to twitch this time, a quirk at the corner of her lips hidden behind her teacup as she spoke with a raised brow.
"...Perhaps."
"Which translates to 'you're pretty good' for us regular, non-chess guru folks."
The other corner of her mouth rose unbidden at the boy's words, yet she once again hid it by sipping on her tea.
Gulping his tea down to the last drop, Issei placed the fancy-looking cup down on the equally-fancy platter, before letting out an appreciative whistle.
"That was some good tea."
"Of course," Sona responded with more than just a bit of pride in her tone, "Tsubaki's culinary skills are exceptional."
"Not as good as my mom's, but definitely in the top 5 as far as I've experienced."
The student council room fell silent, the gazes of the members going from Sona to Issei as an odd sense of tension seemed to build up within the room.
The Sitri heiress finished her own tea in order to make any possible stalling tactics unavailable for herself, before turning a grave gaze towards Issei.
"Hyoudou-san-"
"I'd like to think we're close enough for you to use my first name, Sona-chan."
The boy's words completely derailed the girl's thought process, a bright blush spreading across her face as she spoke.
"A-alright… Issei…"
"Cute."
That one word from Issei was enough to make the girl's brain bluescreen, her thoughts so thoroughly jumbled that she didn't even have the wherewithal to do anything other than babble thoughtlessly. Her face warmed up further as Issei's hands started reaching out for hers-
WOOSH!
Only for a glint of silver light to force the teen to abort the gesture, before a swipe of a Naginata from Tsubaki forced him to tip his armchair back, before turning the falling motion into a backward roll that allowed him to land on his feet.
He raised his arm, easily blocking a roundhouse kick from Tsubasa, Sona's rock, much to the shock of the rest of the Sitri peerage, all of whom drew on their power in preparation for a fight-
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?"
Before Sona's shout caused both sides to stop in place.
Brandishing her Naginata at the relaxed-looking young man, Tsubaki spoke.
"He called you by your first name, Kaichou." Seeing that her king seemed to be far too frazzled to understand what she truly meant, Tsubaki decided to clarify. "He called you 'Sona'. In fact, now that I think about it, he only ever addressed you by your proper name, rather than by the name you use here in Japan."
Tsubaki's words were like a bucket of ice water over Sona's head, prompting her mind to fly back to every single interaction she'd previously had with Hyoudou Issei and dissect it bit by bit. A frown appeared on her face as she turned a cold gaze toward him-
"Finally!" Only for the teen to throw his hands in the air as he exclaimed, "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to notice?"
Those words confused all of the present girls, though Sona, as the King, was the one to speak up.
"You wanted me to know that you know… But why?"
"Because this is the sort of secret that if blurted out at the wrong moment could result in a massive misunderstanding with tragic consequences," His gaze went to the katana in Meguri's hand, before moving over to Tsubaki's Naginata and then over to Tsubasa's raised fists, before his brow raised sardonically, "Case in point."
Seemingly unbothered by the weapons and distrust aimed his way, Issei lifted his previous seat to a vertical position before seating himself on it, one leg crossed over the other while his hands reached out towards the tea set.
A good bit of the tension left Sona's shoulders as she witnessed the lack of animosity or threat from Issei, resulting in her, too, returning to her previous seat, right across from him.
Noticing their King's attitude, the rest of the peerage withdrew the sense of animosity they had been projecting toward Issei, though none of them stowed away their weapons.
Sona, her body language much more closed off than normal, spoke up.
"What are you doing here?"
He raised an eyebrow at Sona, taking a sip of his tea before answering, a small, teasing smile on his face.
"Flirting with a pretty girl, of course-"
"Enough of the empty words, Hyoudou Issei-san. Why did you come to Kuoh Academy?"
"First, I meant the thing about you being a pretty girl." He took another sip, "As to why I came to Kuoh academy? Well…"
BANG!
Issei's fist slammed against the table between the two loveseats, causing the devils in the room to jump into full awareness, every weapon in the student council's office turning towards him. Uncaring about all of that, Issei's gaze met Sona's, such great passion burning within them that it left the girl slightly flustered.
"An all-girls academy opens its doors for young men for the first time, with a limited amount of openings ensuring that the gender ratio would be 7-to-1, with those 7 girls being curious about how to interact with teenaged boys in a social context due to a lack of previous exposure?
"Few things are as close to paradise to a teen boy as this!"
The brunet stood up so abruptly that his seat was pushed back, his arms spread wide open as he continued.
"I chose to study here at Kuoh Academy in order to find my living heaven, and to work towards my ultimate goal!"
Sona's focus on Issei redoubled at the words 'ultimate goal', her eyes narrowing as he kept speaking.
"I, Hyoudou Issei, shall hoard as much love from beautiful women as possible, creating the ultimate harem to surpass even that of the mightiest figures of history! My harem shall be one of such quality that both kings and gods will be unable to feel anything other than admiration towards it!
"Resentment? Envy? Jealousy? None of those things would feasibly exist, for all men in the world would acknowledge down to the very core of their beings that there is no other harem as incredibly high quality as my own!"
He leaned forward, leaving the two of them nose-to-nose, his eyes shining brightly with conviction as he spoke.
"And you, Sona Sitri, are someone who I want in this perfect harem! The wit, the smarts, the cute way you blush whenever I compliment you, the way you try to hide your pout whenever you're teased… These are all things that make me want to make you mine!"
Issei followed up on his blazing declaration by… Sitting back down, relaxed in his seat, and shrugging.
"Well, that's pretty much it."
The Sitri heiress, trying her absolute best not to once again bluescreen at the ridiculousness of the situation she was faced with, spoke up in a deadpan.
"You're in Kuoh… Because you want a Harem?"
"Correct!"
"I-… This-… Wha-..." The girl took a deep breath, taking off her glasses and wiping them clean in order to buy herself some extra time to think, before finally settling on a response for the young man. "What the fuck!?"
Sona's words were so utterly shocking to her peerage that for a moment they all forgot about the fact that they were supposed to be keeping an eye on Issei, their necks turning so fast that were they human they would've likely gotten whiplash.
"That right there!" Issei brought their attention back to him by taking Sona's hands into his, his eyes focused right on hers as he spoke, "A bright mind capable of thinking many steps ahead, a cool head tempering her demeanor on an almost constant basis, a cute side that asserts itself on occasion, and an inner fire that just needs some kindling to erupt! How was I supposed to not want to make you mine, Sona Sitri?"
The girl hurriedly pulled her hand from Issei's, taking a moment to clear her throat, before speaking.
"It seems that you hold no animosity towards me or devils in general, Issei-san, so you're free to go for now. The student council will keep an eye on your activities within the academy grounds though, so keep that in mind."
"Alright." Issei shrugged nonchalantly before making his way to the exit of the student council room. He stopped halfway through the doorjamb before turning back towards Sona and grinning widely at her, "See ya soon, Sona-chan!"
He then proceeded to close the door.
Sona, her bearing composed, as usual, spoke.
"Girls, please give Tsubaki and me some space."
The other members of the peerage gave their king worried looks before leaving the office, leaving King and Queen alone.
Tsubaki's gaze fell on Sona, who took a sip from her own teacup, before putting said cup down on its saucer, crossing one leg over the other, and placing both hands on her lap, before taking a deep breath-
"What the fuck did I just witness?"
-Chapter, End!-