Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Just Show Me Where to Go

"You've been doing good work with them," Sairaorg commented, looking at the training grounds ahead of them while his peerage battled his strike team of a sort. Jeanne, the fallen and Kuroka faced off against the devil peerage and they were giving them a run for their money, by the looks of it. Joshua and Sairaorg were staying out of the spar, having just finished their own. Another idea they had was to fight their respective groups on their own, but that was something for another time.

"I better have, considering I'm having them have my back," Joshua replied with a shrug. Sure, he could very easily take them on, especially under his wards, but he still trusted them at least enough to turn his back on them to do things. He had fought Walburga while leaving them mostly unattended.

There would never be a hundred percent trust there, he didn't think. There was some trust there, especially with Raynare – funnily enough – and Kuroka. That, in turn, translated into them being stronger through his training, because he felt like he could make them stronger without it possibly backfiring. Then again, Kuroka had already been very strong when she… dropped by.

Still, he wasn't sure for how long that would stay the case, but for the moment, it was.

"Man, I should have you train my peerage," Sairaorg said then, giving him a smile. "I wouldn't want to take any more of your time though and I still do have some pride," the devil added, but Joshua knew better. It was all in the first part of that last statement.

Sairaorg didn't want to take up his time when he could just leave him be so he could better work on Project Awakening, the project that would see his mother wake up. Joshua supposed that was one of the reasons he was seeing less of the Bael as of late too. It made him feel bad for all the things he did that weren't trying to cure the Sleep Disease, but hyperfocusing wouldn't be good and neither would be not taking breaks.

Besides, neither Yasaka nor Serafall would let him, he was sure. And that was with the latter having a vested interest in him going through with that particular project too. That didn't make Joshua feel any better on the matter, but it was how things were. He'd just have to deal with it.

"Things are going well for you though, it seems," Sairaorg commented, his voice softening just like his smile. "I'm glad. I know you… went through some rough spots. I'm happy for you, man."

"Thank you," Joshua replied with a slight smile of his own. "You helped me through some of those, so thank you for that too," he added, his hand moving up to his locket. "So, I guess it's my turn now," he mused. Before he could do anything else, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.

"Don't push yourself too hard, yeah?" Sairaorg told him, making him blink. "I've waited for a while already, Joshua. I can wait some more. I don't want to see my friend work himself into the ground because of me. I want to make that clear," the devil explained, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"You do know that doesn't help with the pressure, right?" he replied wryly, drawing a laugh from his friend as he took his hand away.

"I suppose that could happen," Sairaorg acknowledged, still chuckling. "Sorry about that, but I mean it. Take care of yourself. I know you are working on it, and that by itself is more than I could hope. From what you tell me, you've made some crazy amount of progress already. This is way more than I'd ever hoped to achieve. I'll wait, Joshua."

"Thanks for that. It does help… a little," he said, running a hand through his hair. He didn't think he could precisely relax, not really. It was why Sairaorg was telling him this again. He was fairly sure they had had this conversation at least once already, after all. Still, it was lessening some of the pressure, he supposed.

"So, back to sparring?" the Bael said, drawing a laugh from Joshua. For all that he could be deep and what not, Sairaorg was always going to default to his usual setting… Which was training. He wouldn't have his friend any other way though.

"Sure thing, Sairaorg," he replied, pulling out his weapons. They might not be content with just training, but both of them knew Sairaorg was a worthy challenger regardless. He was good enough to satisfy their need for an actual fight.

Joshua was still working on something else to occupy the slot of his time that Hexennacht had occupied though. Not that he didn't have stuff to use that time with, but he thought it was important to keep weakening Khaos Brigade above all things. Anything else he could push back a little, but the terrorist group that wanted to unleash things of apocalyptic nature on the world?

Those had to be dealt with, sooner rather than later.

So, Joshua would do something about it. Things had been put in motion. The ball had been rolling for a while. Factions were working on things and he'd already dealt with a branch himself, if not quite as big of one. He'd taken out two Longinus from the equation. Things were going well.

Too well.

Joshua didn't want to get overconfident. He didn't want to assume things were finished already, when they were clearly not. At any moment, something could happen to turn things around. They had to keep going while they had the advantage. If they let their guards down, anything could happen.

So, yeah, he was looking for new targets, new objectives to weaken the organization.

And he'd keep doing that until they were done for.

He'd rest when Khaos Brigade was no more.

Not a minute before.

[}-o-{]

Joshua sat on the counter of his kitchen, with a tray of snacks and two cups of tea by his side. A little further in that direction, Koneko was sitting on a stool that brought her to the perfect height to use the counter as a table while she happily munched on the food. It was a usual sight, really, whenever the Gremory group dropped by and their usual workouts were finished.

Kiba would go with Jeanne, Rias and Akeno would go by themselves and Koneko would go with him. Before, Rias might have tried to spend time with him, pulling Akeno along for the ride. Since his rejection, the Gremory heiress had pulled away a little, which was fair. He didn't blame her for that.

However, there was one difference this time to any of the others.

Koneko had been more silent than usual, which was saying something. Joshua understood why though, so he just mostly kept her company, just like she'd asked. He'd gone to great lengths to do everything she had requested of him, following the instructions she'd given him to a T and making sure everything and everyone else did too.

"She's here?" Koneko asked, looking at the half-eaten snack in her hands.

"She is," he confirmed, glancing towards Kuroka, who stayed mostly at the corners of the room. He'd hidden her so thoroughly that not even Koneko with her remarkable senses could detect her. Still, he'd never allowed the older Nekoshou to get anywhere close to an arm's distance. That had been one of the younger one's conditions, after all.

"What is she doing?" Koneko asked.

"She cried a little when we first came in," he told her, looking at the very clearly moved Kuroka. "She's mostly done as you asked, keeping her distance and watching you. She's… very happy to see you, Koneko."

The girl didn't respond to that other than with a hum and slowly going back to eating. Joshua didn't need to be a genius or read her life energy to know that she was feeling conflicted. Just with the way she went about eating her snacks, he could figure that out. Koneko wasn't very expressive, but she'd never taken that long to empty a tray. Hell, she'd barely cleared half of it and that was with him eating a little more than usual since she was taking so long. Her tea would also have long since turned cold if it weren't for his spell keeping it in perfect condition.

"The other thing…"

"Is ready, whenever you want it," he replied after she trailed off and stayed silent for a moment. "If you want it," he added softly. The short exchange seemed to confuse Kuroka. That was expected, however. It was a part of the deal that he hadn't shared with her. The only part he hadn't, which was on explicit orders from Koneko.

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Koneko," he waved off, but she hummed again as she shook her head.

"There is," she argued, even as her voice remained just as calm and soft as usual. "You helped me with… Senjutsu," she mumbled, stumbling over the last word still, which hadn't happened in a while, from what he remembered. It was an emotional day all around for her though, he was sure. "Helped me get better. And now helped me with my… With Kuroka," she finished, and he could see the older Nekoshou's heart break at the correction. "So… thank you."

"Don't mention it," he replied with a smile, unable to stop himself from planting a hand on top of her head. She didn't stiffen though, nor did she say or show anything. "Anything you need, just say the word, ok?" he told her, getting an agreeing hum as he lightly ruffled her hair a little and pulled his hand back.

"... Can I come here sometimes? By myself?" she asked after another long moment which she used to eat another snack. The question caught him by surprise a little. She'd never seemed too inclined to come by without being brought by Rias for training, really. Sure, they had a good time afterwards with snacks and such, but still. "It gets… lonely in the club now. Rias works, Akeno helps, Kiba is out with Jeanne…"

"Sure, just give me a call and if I'm here, you can visit whenever. Hell, even if I'm busy, I'm sure my familiars will be happy to keep you company. Cheshire likes you," he told her, drawing a slight smile from her.

"I like Cheshire too," she mumbled, drawing onto herself shily and munching on a new snack. "She's nice."

"She sure is," he agreed with a nod, taking a sip from his tea.

"And Margalo too… Morag can be fun," Koneko continued, taking bites in between statements. "Nagini is…"

"Yeah," he said before she could finish, an amused smile on his face. He knew what she was going to say in that regard. Nagini was by far the most… intense of his familiars, to put it mildly. She was a sweetheart deep inside though… very deep inside. Joshua was fairly sure that the only ones that actually really got to see that side of her were him, the other familiars and Kunou.

"Asia is kind."

"She sure is."

"So… I like it here,"Koneko finished with a sage nod that was just adorable.

"I'm glad to hear that," he replied.

"I can come whenever?"

"Whenever," he confirmed.

"And she…"

"She'll stay away if you want her to. Or we can do this some other times. Or whatever you want, Koneko. You make the rules," Joshua reassured her.

"... Can I see her?" she said then, making his and Kuroka's eyes widen. "I want to see her… But I don't want her to see me when I do."

"I… can arrange that. Can you give me a second?" he asked hesitantly, glancing towards Kuroka. Koneko followed his gaze for a bit, but otherwise returned her attention to the food.

"Sure."

Nodding, Joshua set the illusions that hid Kuroka over himself too.

"I know what you'll say," the older Nekoshou said before he could even finish opening his mouth. "I won't sense her. I promise," she added and it kind of hurt to see her so… desperate, among other things. Joshua stared at her for a long moment, deciding if he believed that. Ultimately, he guessed it didn't matter. If she broke her word, he'd sense it. Maybe he couldn't hide Koneko's life energy well enough with his own level of Life Sense being lower than Kuroka's, but he would definitely sense her sensing Koneko. No way she'd be able to hide that from his spells.

"I'll trust you with this," he said in the end, getting a resolute nod in return. "Ok, whenever you want, Koneko," he added, letting the spells fall around him and getting a very slight nod from the younger girl.

"I'm ready," she said soon after, and he got the impression that she wanted to go through with it before she could change her mind. So, he put his spells over her, making her disappear from Kuroka's senses and then removed everything that hid the Nekoshou.

Koneko then stood up and moved somewhere else as she looked at Kuroka, who continued staring at the spot where she'd disappeared from her view. Joshua, meanwhile, kept a close eye on everything, making sure that there were no problems.

Ultimately, after a long minute, Koneko nodded.

"Thank you," she mumbled, before leaving. A minute later, she teleported back home while Kuroka stayed in the kitchen. Maybe it wasn't all that the dark-haired Nekoshou had wanted, but she still echoed her sister's statement when Joshua told her that Koneko had left.

[}-o-{]

"-And I'm starting another project now," Kunou announced proudly after finishing her report on how her classes were that day. It was admittedly a lot of exaggeration about how well she was doing, from what Joshua had gotten from Yasaka, but he allowed her to get away with it. Not like she was a bad student. She just got easily distracted, but she did well all things considered. It'd be hypocritical of him to ask her for perfect grades and such when he hadn't been the best student by any stretch of the imagination. So as long as she did well, he was happy.

"Oh, what's it going to be?" he asked with a slight smile as they continued eating dinner. They'd come to his place this time, but Jeanne and Asia had both agreed to have a quiet dinner by themselves. He'd have to do something nice for both of them and he had some ideas about what to do for each already. A plant or two here, some help with a date there, easy peasy.

"I want to make a story too," Kunou said, looking very resolute… Which in turn made her look very cute. Not that she didn't look cute all the time anyway.

"Oh, that's a lot harder than what you usually do," he pointed out, smiling proudly at her. She'd made a lot of progress from the girl that couldn't make an already drawn circle work, that was for sure. "It's going to take time."

"I know," she admitted, some of her confidence leaving her. "But that's fine. I just… I wanted a project that would take time. Something hard."

"Any reason in particular for that?" Yasaka asked and Joshua got the impression that she already knew the answer to that from the way she glanced at him. Curiously, he glanced between the woman and their daughter. The latter intrigued him even more when she started shyly poking her food around the plate.

"Dad is always starting projects that are hard," she mumbled, not looking at any of them. "So I wanted to do that too."

"You are just adorable, you know that?" he said, drawing a pout from the girl.

"Am not."

"Totally are," he disagreed with a chuckle. "Well, I, for one, am very happy that you want to imitate me. Just know that it'll be hard and you'll get frustrated more than once. They take time for a reason," he told her.

"I know that," she grumbled, stabbing a piece of meat in her plate as if it had offended her somehow.

"Kunou," Yasaka said simply, making the girl flinch a little.

"Sorry," she mumbled, getting a nod from her mother.

"This food is amazing, Joshua. You continue outdoing yourself," Yasaka praised with a smile.

"I try," he replied, trying and failing to not feel too awkward. "I want to try more Japanese food in the future, but I want to make sure I do so well before trying to serve that to locals," he added with a smile. To that, he got a roll of both Yasaka and Kunou's eyes.

"You are great, dad. I don't think you could do badly even if you tried," the little girl told him, as if he were being silly. Maybe he was, but she thought very highly of him and he wanted to keep things that way for as long as possible.

"I'm sure whatever you prepare will be good enough, Joshua. A year back you probably didn't even know proper Japanese food. We wouldn't hold it against you if it's not perfect," Yasaka reassured him, likely guessing where he was coming from.

"I know, I know," he replied before-

"Say," Kunou interrupted, tilting her head as if she had just thought of something. Both Yasaka and Joshua turned towards her curiously, especially when the girl hesitated. "Is Serafall going to join us sometime? I mean… for dinner like this, or going out?"

Joshua turned towards Yasaka at that unexpected question… almost cursing when he saw the woman looking at him already and he could very well guess what was going on through her head. 'You answer,' she seemed to be telling him. Because of course.

God forbid he had an easy time with this kind of thing.

"... She could," he answered hesitantly, turning back towards Kunou. "If you don't mind, that is," he added, eyes darting towards Yasaka too, to make it clear that he meant both of them. That made the woman beam at him while the girl mulled that over.

"I don't mind," she mumbled then, poking at her food again, thoughtfully this time. "She's nice."

"I guess we can see where we can all go together next time, if you want."

To that, Kunou hummed.

"We could spend time here, with Cheshire and the others," the girl suggested, a soft, shy smile forming on her face. "Like a family."

He returned the smile back at her fondly.

"That sounds great," he agreed with a nod, looking at Yasaka to see her sharing the same expression as him.

[}-o-{]

"So, you ready?" Joshua asked, sitting across from Aika and Issei, specifically from Aika though. The girl looked a little nervous, but also excited. Issei, for his part, looked a little unsure and awkward, but that was fine. He was there for emotional support, sort of, so it made sense that he didn't really know what to do other than sit there next to his girlfriend. Which was funny, because that was exactly what he needed to do.

"I am… I think," Aika mumbled, fidgeting with the edges of the piece of paper in her hand. Her eyes scanned the design drawn on it again and again, trying to make sure that everything was perfect. She was getting more nervous, Joshua realized, the more time passed.

"Then let's do it. I've got my own spells in place in case anything goes wrong, so don't worry," he reassured. Idly and unnecessarily, he double checked those aforementioned spells to make sure they were up and ready. They were, which meant that everything was in place. He'd made sure that he was as in control of the situation as he could.

Aika was going to cast her first spell, after all.

A small but very significant step after she had spent so long preparing. He knew that she'd basically devoured books on her chosen magic. He also had had plenty of conversations with her, teaching her what he could and trying to help her along even if he wasn't very knowledgeable in that branch. He'd also had plenty of discussions with her in general, offering her someone to bounce ideas and theories off of.

"Go ahead, it'll be fine."

"You sure there won't be any explosions or… anything bad happening?" Aika asked, growing more and more afraid by the second. That is, until Issei planted his hand on her shoulder.

"It's going to be fine. Joshua knows how to teach magic, remember?" he reassured and Joshua got, once more, a glance at the boy that had been a harem protagonist back before he'd completely derailed the plot. Although, all things considered, Joshua wouldn't be very surprised if that went on to be the case anyway even with the changes.

Hesitantly, Aika looked between Issei, Joshua and the circle in her hands.

"Ok… Let's do it," she said, visibly gathering her courage as she laid the paper on the table. She seemed to have calmed down, but just in case Joshua kept a close eye on his own spells. He needed to contain any mistake that might happen if she wasn't focused enough on the spell. "Let's do it," she repeated.

And so, she did. She took a deep breath in, and the circle started shining. It projected over the piece of paper. Then, Joshua pursed his lips when he saw it flicker. That expression turned to a smile when the circle stabilized again.

'Come on,' Joshua thought, urging the spell to work.

And it did.

All that Aika had told him that to anyone but her would just see an orb of colorful lights… Which was definitely the case for him, at least. He wasn't sensing anything wrong with the spell, at least. Furthermore, nothing was going haywire and Aika seemed to be noticing something.

So, he waited, watched and leaned back. An amused expression crossed his face as he regarded Issei, who in turn was looking at his girlfriend and her spell in awe. Then he took in Aika herself, who looked at the orb in front of her like it was the most interesting book she'd ever read.

That is, until the lights dimmed and then it disappeared.

"So, what's the verdict?" Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl. She'd told him more or less what she'd be trying to do. A simple divination spell that was supposed to tell the caster if the target had anyone… vying for their attention as it were. It was a little unreliable in some aspects, but if anything that motivated Aika even more.

She wanted to perfect that spell, apparently.

Not what he'd have done, but she was her own person.

He wasn't sure he wanted an actual answer to his question though. After all, Aika had told him that she was going to cast that on Issei… And ended up casting it on him. She'd also done that on purpose, because she didn't even look the slightest bit surprised.

"Wow, maybe you have reason to call him sensei, Issei," she said, making both of them blink at her. Then Joshua felt a pit form in his stomach. "I mean, I expected a decent number. But this many? I've been letting my boyfriend hang out and work with a player. I don't know if I should be impressed or worried. Are you going to teach-?"

"Are you going to be quite done sometime this week?" he asked, bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, he was sure that he shouldn't even have asked.

"I don't know," Aika answered, grinning widely at him, clearly far too entertained to let it go. "I think I could milk this forever. Definitely a year, maybe ten, but I think if I really try, I could go on for a hun-"

"Aika," he interrupted, giving her a flat stare. Ultimately, when she closed her mouth and stared at him with wide, "innocent" eyes, he just sighed and smiled. "... Good job. You are officially a magician now, Aika Kiryuu."

She blinked at him then, seemingly not processing that for a long second. Then she squealed and brought Issei into what looked like a painful hug. The guy didn't seem too bothered by that though, simply hugging her back and congratulating her.

All in all, despite the slight… "mishap", it was a good night. Now he'd have to make sure Aika never told him the details of what she'd gotten from the spell though. He felt like he really didn't want to know.

God, her magic was dangerous.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

I tried my best to bring out some characters that have more or less been pushed to the side. You know, Sairaorg, Koneko and Kuroka, Aika and Issei… Not Kunou, of course, but there can always be more Kunou in this story.

If you disagree, you are a heathen and I don't know what you are doing in this story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

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

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: How did you sleep last night? I slept fairly well, despite sleeping like… four hours. I'll just have to make sure to take a nap later in the day.

See you.