Edited by: Marethyu, Bluwuh, Priapus, Immortal Spank

"Oho? Look who's up and early for once." My mother says as she enters the garage, a cup of coffee in her right hand and a red bento box in her left. "Unless you stayed up late again."

"No, I just woke up like ten minutes ago." I wave off her concerns, focusing on the laptop screen.

My mother pauses for a second, looking me up and down before speaking again.

"You're going to school today?" She asks, gesturing at the school uniform I'm wearing. "That's odd."

"There isn't a dangerous schizo Fallen Angel running around anymore." I shrug. It always feels good to remember that I blew his brains out. "So, you know, I actually feel safe going now."

"Schizo?" She blinks at my odd choice of words.

"He was speaking nonsense when we were fighting; I dunno. I wouldn't be surprised if he was just insane."

I'll drop out the moment I finish that one quest I started there. Whatever I'll be learning in school, I already know, and whatever I don't know, I can just research and study by myself. I don't see how high school is ever going to help me when I can literally build something straight out of comic books in just a few days.

And with the current progress I'm making on this little Super AI project, I'm already way beyond the average human level. The Engineering skill is such a cheat—not because of the growth I have, but primarily because of its broad range.

Speaking of the AI, it's been going… slow, but not because of incompetence or distraction. Simply put, I want to make this AI using a coding language I invented. I want it to be hack-proof and entirely mysterious for anyone but me.

To accomplish that, I needed to at least learn and master every single existing language. Honestly, it isn't difficult. I could already learn these types of things really quickly even before the massive increase in INT, which I believe actually helps in this regard.

It doesn't make me smarter, as far as I'm aware, but it makes me process and understand things easier. It isn't just a measure of how powerful my magic is or how much MP I have. Good to know.

…You know, this makes me wonder. If it really did make me smarter, just how much would that impact my personality? I mean, the average intelligence in stats is ten, but I have over two thousand. Would that make me, like, reach enlightenment or something?

Being two hundred times smarter than the entire population of the planet might just completely destroy whatever sliver of humanity I have left. I would view even my own mother as a dumb pet.

Too bad that's not how it works. I'd rather actually be like that than have to wrestle with these stupid emotions every time I see her giving me a sad look. Way more straightforward and far less stressful. By the way, what's the progress on that, Game? You said I won't have to feel them anymore the stronger I grow.

Slow, but steady.

…I have a feeling you're lying.

Everything I say is a lie now?

Potentially.

You are being unfair.

I'm sorry, am I supposed to continue being so gullible and believe everything you say after all the shit you pulled?

…

That's what I thought. You don't get to fucking complain about fairness. You have no one to blame but yourself.

Regardless, back to the earlier subject: once I'd finished learning everything I needed to learn, I started the long and hard road of making my own language. Which… isn't that hard either, to be honest. It is, however, very time-consuming. And work like this needs to be accurate and free of bugs and exploits. Speaking of exploits, though, my Engineering skill is high enough that I can now get a sense of how many bugs are left in my code, so writing perfect code is just a matter of persistently testing until I know it's clean.

So my Super AI project is postponed until I've made a language that only I and the AI itself know. Why do all this? Because I'm more than certain that the yakuza as well as the Amon did the exact same thing.

Sure, it isn't exactly practical normally, but again, Engineering skill is one hell of a cheat skill. I'd argue it's my most powerful skill right now because, unlike, say, Devour, it has little to no risks. I can do things straight out of fiction that aren't really applicable in the real world.

Then again, this is a fictional universe I'm in. Or it used to be.

I can't afford to be easily compromised when those two technological powerhouses exist. I need to compete and even surpass them when it comes to AI. Make something so highly intelligent that it makes your typical quantum computer look like a complete joke. Unhackable, capable of acting independently, and able to learn and improve on its own.

An actual living being. Not a JARVIS, but an Ultron. One that is loyal only to me.

Something that can help me avoid the consequences whenever I decide to embrace that little 'neutral evil' tag on my status page. Hell, maybe I can hack into the Tojo clan and get whatever confidential info they have. I'm sure they have something important that could help me.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I haven't even come up with a name for the AI yet. I want something that sounds cool. It doesn't have to be an acronym.

"Hm." She sips from her coffee, putting the box on the table. "Anyway, here."

I blink a few times, admittedly dumbfounded. There's no way she actually went through the effort of making this. She's too damn lazy. She can't even cook for shit.

"You made this?" I raise a brow.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" She questions, looking slightly upset at my apparent lack of faith when it comes to these types of things.

"The last time you made me a bento was in third grade." I deadpan. "Besides, I have money. I can get whatever I want from the store."

"Yes, but I made this with love! The ultimate secret ingredient!" She argues, smirking and puffing her chest. "Obviously it's going to taste so much better."

I look at her unamused for a few moments before opening the lunch box, pausing slightly at what I see. A colorful assortment of well-made food, not as disastrous as I thought it would be, considering the cook in question. In fact, it looks pretty good. Since when was she able to cook?

It honestly looks like something my father would make, and he was a very good chef, from what I can remember. He did take care of most of the housework since he was pretty much retired and didn't have to work anymore. Well, 'work'. I don't know what he used to do as a Tojo Clan patriarch.

"See? It looks good, doesn't it?"

"Asia is getting really good at Japanese-style cooking, isn't she?" I say smugly as I close the box.

"Wha- No!" She exclaims. "I swear it was me! I spent hours makin' it!"

"I'm sure you did."

"Why can't you believe me?" She bemoans. "My daughter is so mean! You're going to make me cry!"

Lucifer chuckles as he sees this scene unfold before him, finding her amusing. He said she was charming before, didn't he? He may be old and wise, but he sure as fuck has bad taste. I can't imagine how my father handled it.

I don't respond to her whiny girl act, knowing the eventual back and forth if I do, and refocus on the laptop screen, fixing bugs, and adding more code. I can feel her gaze on me, though. She's not interested in what I'm doing, clearly not. She's just staring at me.

I don't know why, but it's weird. She's weird.

"What? What are you looking at?" I ask. "Something on my face?"

"No." She sips from her coffee. "I just forgot how cute you look in a skirt."

"Are you mocking me?" I give her a sideways glance.

"Not everything I say is an attack on your character." She responds, looking exasperated. "Ah, I miss the days when you were little, always running around the park wearing the cutest skirts."

"I didn't like them then either."

"Yeah, but you didn't cry about them as much."

"You are mocking me."

"I'm not; I'm just saying you're a big baby."

"Why don't you wear them, then?" I counter. "Instead, all you wear are T-shirts and jeans. Knowing you, you probably also wear men's boxers, you fucking weirdo."

"No way, I'm too old for your typical skirts." She rolls her eyes, ignoring my accusation and answering like it's the most obvious thing ever. "I'm in my mid-forties. I can't be seen wearing that."

"Then drop dead already, hag." I scoff in annoyance, closing my laptop, putting it in my bag with the lunch box, and standing up.

As I try to walk past her, I'm assaulted by my mother as she pinches and stretches my cheeks after putting her cup of coffee on the table. I don't know how she does it considering I can probably tank a nuke to the face, but it's still just as painful and annoying as ever.

"But then who's gonna take care of my little baby girl~?" She coos.

I drop my bag and grab both of her arms, activating my Touki for half a second just to twist them painfully. Her grin drops, instantly replaced by a look of terror and pain.

"A-ah, wait, no, I'm sorry! I'm just joking! I'm jus– OWOWOWOW!"

"Get the hell off me." I scowl before kicking her to the side. She crashes into some of the things I have lying around, like car parts, tools, and the mini robot I made. However, she stands back up relatively undamaged. "I'm not in the mood for this shit."

"Psh, you're never in the mood for anything, ya grump." She rolls her eyes and rubs her side, not one bit bothered by the display of violence. "Still, it makes me happy."

As I hold the bag over my shoulder, I get a little curious. What does that mean? What makes her happy? Ugh, no. It's probably something stupid. I don't want to be late, and I also want to do some tests with my illusion magic while I'm there. I shouldn't waste my time with her idiocy.

…

"...What does?"

And, like the fool that I am, I ask anyway.

"Knowing that even with your scary gorilla-like strength, your cheeks are just as soft and squishy as ever." She nods to herself, looking proud for no reason. "My daughter really is the cutest in all the realms."

For fuck's sake.

– Sona –

Watching the students walk into the school building from the window, the Sitri Devil raised a brow. Huh, so she'd finally decided to show up for once? That was odd. Sona had almost written her off as a dropout.

But it was good to see her taking this seriously. Sure, she was at a level beyond what they taught her, but it wasn't about learning at this point. It was about discipline and following the rules. As a student, Akane needed to show up.

…Well, it was also because Sona would be forced to stop by her house to drag her to school, and she didn't have the patience or the courage to do that. Akane wouldn't learn her lesson and would even stay home out of spite, and her mother still intimidated Sona to a degree.

Sona was sure she'd gotten slightly better in Mizuki's eyes, but she doubted it would be enough to completely get rid of the animosity she had toward devils. That was a huge task. Hopefully one day, though. She seemed pleasant whenever she wasn't glaring at them with the fury of a thousand suns.

Akane paused as she spotted Sona looking at her, then smiled and winked, which may or may not have made the devil blush. She didn't understand what was going on, nor did she know when she started to feel attracted to Akane, but she didn't like it one bit.

Sona used to be very sure that she only felt attracted to the opposite gender, but not anymore. Something within her clicked when Akane pinned her to the wall that one day. How and why, she didn't have a single clue.

And now that Rias had noticed, she was becoming increasingly annoying. She wouldn't let it go, and no matter how many times Sona would deny it, she would call her bluff. This was the worst—why did it have to be Akane of all people? Their personalities were the complete opposite. They weren't even compatible.

To make matters worse, she was still technically from an enemy faction. They couldn't get together, even if she wanted to, unless the peace conference went smoothly. This was way more complicated than it had any right to be.

Sona shook those thoughts out of her head, dragging her attention back to Rias' cousin. His visit was very unexpected considering his… intricate situation, but it was a welcome surprise to be sure.

Unlike most in their age range, Sairaorg was a humble and very likable devil, especially seeing how he was shunned and mocked due to his lack of talent. By all means, he was under no obligation to be as positive and polite to other people as he was being. Sona knew she wouldn't have been anywhere near as agreeable as him if she had gone through even half the things he had.

To see him getting along with Rias, who was born with all the talent in the world, was very admirable. He never showed an ounce of envy toward the redhead. Instead, he was incredibly supportive of her and helped her out multiple times when they were kids.

Admittedly, Sona hadn't seen him in years, and aside from his impressive growth spurt—he'd gotten huge—she didn't expect him to have grown this strong. He had no talent in devil magic, nor was he born with the Power of Destruction like Rias.

His Vapula heritage wasn't really sought after either; lion taming wasn't impressive in comparison to the Bael heritage as it didn't directly benefit his power. He shouldn't be this powerful, yet her senses were telling her otherwise. He was nearly as strong as Rias.

Sona's violet eyes then moved to the woman sitting beside him. Blond hair, blue eyes—a devil from the house of Abaddon. Kushia, as he introduced her to them. His Queen. If his power didn't come as a surprise, the fact that he somehow convinced a pure-blooded devil to be his Queen certainly was.

Sai had a tough life, mostly because of his reputation as the "Talentless Weakling" of the mighty Bael Clan. Nearly everyone looked down on him and mocked him. Being needlessly cruel to someone whose only crime was being born.

She was happy for Sai for having someone like her by his side. She was noticeably more powerful than the average high-class devil. Hell, perhaps even stronger than Sona herself.

It made the Sitri wonder if she was the only person in his peerage or if he had managed to find others to join him. And if they were just as powerful as Kushia.

"I have to say, seeing that Rating Game you had with Riser got me pumped." He said to his cousin, sitting on the other side of the table. "I knew you could've handled it; I always believed in you, but seeing it firsthand? Man, that was one hell of a match."

"Psshh, what can I say? I wasn't even trying." Rias rolled her eyes arrogantly, making Sona audibly snort. "A piece of cake for someone like me."

"She was crying and whining all the time," Sona said. "Fully convinced she was going to lose."

"Doesn't sound like Rias," Sai said with a blink as his Queen giggled. "Is this true?"

"Don't listen to her; she's just jealous." Rias scoffed.

"Jealous of what?" The Sitri Devil questioned. "Your defeatism?"

"Can you not try to embarrass me in front of my own family for once?"

"I don't have to. You're doing all the work."

"Ugh, now you're sounding exactly like Akane." Rias pouted. "As if your crush on her wasn't enough."

Sona took the first sentence as a compliment and utterly disregarded the second one.

"Haha, well, regardless, what matters is that you won," Sairaorg said with a hearty laugh, getting in between their banter. He did seem more amused about it than uncomfortable. "Though, I heard some rumors that you had help from a human, is that true?"

"W-well, yes, somewhat." Rias paused, glanced at Sona's look of disapproval, and then sighed. "...I wouldn't have won without her."

Sona knew the kind of rivalry Rias had with her cousin would make her want to look great in his eyes at all times, but she wasn't going to let her take all the credit. It might just end up getting into her head.

And Sona was here to prevent that from happening.

"Really? Wow, she was that helpful?" Sai looked surprised. "How'd she help?"

"Training, mostly," the redhead answered. "And strategy before the match."

"But for a human to be able to match you in strength…" Kushia hummed, speaking up for the first time. "She must be pretty powerful, right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," Rias confirmed. "Honestly, she's terrifying. Her magic is way stronger than it has any right to be. It's even comparable to my own Power of Destruction."

"That strong?!" Sairaorg's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure she doesn't have any Sacred Gear or anything like that?"

"Not as far as I know."

"She was certainly very inspiring," Sona quipped with a knowing smile. "I've never seen anyone motivate Rias as much as her. Not even Lord Lucifer."

Rias narrowed her eyes at Sona, silently telling her that she didn't find this very funny. Sona did, however. She thought it was hilarious, even.

"That right? She sounds like an interesting person." Rias' cousin said before pausing. "Wait, is it the same person that helped you take down Warhawk Kokabiel?!"

"Eh?" Rias blinked.

"You know about that?" Sona raised a brow. "Word sure travels fast."

"Are you kidding? Most of the underworld is aware of what you've done by now." Sai's grin widened. "You two, the Immortal Dragon's daughter, and this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, the four of you defeated a Cadre on your own."

Well, there was David too, but it's very doubtful that any devil would want to give someone from the church any credit. Sona thought it was a shame. Peace wasn't going to happen if there was still this much animosity between each other. Granted, though, nobody liked the church. Not even the church liked the church.

The angels were fine though. Comparably anyway.

"Everyone's been talking about it lately." He continued. "And in a good way, too. Some say that you were bringing honor to our kind, and others think this might be good for the peace conference happening soon. Practically everybody is happy about this."

That was true. The fact that they worked with the yakuza via Akane and Ichiban to defeat a well-known warmongering psychopath might end up making the conference go more smoothly.

It was good that it was Kokabiel who went rogue. Other Cadres didn't have nearly as bad of a reputation as him. If another cadre was the one they killed, then it might've been damaging overall. Sona supposed that they were lucky this time.

"It is certainly a great feat," Kushia added. "A Satan-class threat like Kokabiel was no pushover, I imagine."

"It's pretty eye-opening, honestly." Rias nodded. "I've never fought someone that much more powerful than me, and definitely not to the death like that. The fact that I could've easily died at any given moment—that a single slip-up might get me killed was… terrifying."

"Oh?" Sai looked interested.

"It reminded me of my mortality, I guess, and if I want to avoid going through that again–" Rias stared at him with a determined expression. "Then I'll have to push myself even harder."

Sona smiled at her childhood friend's resolve, feeling proud of her. It might've taken lots of harsh words from Akane and a whole life-or-death battle, but it was good to see her motivated to improve with no mental blocks to slow her down. It reminded her of the times when they were little.

"It was an extremely difficult battle, for sure," Sona added. "Luck most definitely played a part in it."

The conversation she had with Akane and Ichiban flashed in her mind. Both brought up good points: Akane's frustration about how they could've prepared much better for the battle, as well as Ichiban's understanding that some things can't be avoided and that what matters is picking yourself up no matter how many times you're knocked down.

Sona realized that she liked that mindset. You only really lose when you die. As long as you're still alive, you can still keep moving forward.

"Is that so? It must've been a close call," Sai said, then smiled. "Still, you managed to persevere, and that's all that matters at the end of the day."

"I guess so. I'm happy to be still alive, that's for sure." Rias grinned back.

"I would've been pretty disappointed if you'd ended up dying." He cracked his knuckles. "Especially with the tournament right around the corner."

Sona blinked in confusion. Tournament? What tournament? She tried to recall anything about a tournament, but nothing came up.

There wasn't anything of that sort planned, as far as she knew. Maybe it was something new? It sounded like something Serafall would probably come up with because she was bored.

"What do you mean?" Rias was just as oblivious as her. "What tournament?"

Sai and Kushia blinked, glanced at each other, and then looked back at Rias.

"The… tournament." Kushia reiterated. "Of the Young Devil Gathering."

Sona froze; her eyes widened as she quickly remembered. The Young Devil Gathering was this year?! She was so occupied with multiple different things that she'd completely forgotten about it! Oh no, she didn't prepare for anything. Her parents were going to be so mad.

"That's this year?!" Once again, Rias was just as stunned as she was. "I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until two years at least!"

"You forgot?!" Sai responded in shock. "How did you forget about what might become the biggest event of our lives?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I had a fucking arranged marriage to worry about?!"

"Riser is going to be there too, you dumbass!"

"That's not the point, idiot!"

"How long until the gathering?" Sona, still composed, asked Sairaorg's Queen.

No need to panic. They might still be able to salvage this, after all. Even as short as three months was more than enough to prepare accordingly, especially if Akane decided to help them out with this as well.

"A little under one month," Kushia answered.

Sona gently put her forehead on the table and held her head in distress with a groan as the two cousins started calling each other silly names like they were twelve. Just when she thought she could relax…

They were fucked.

– Akane –

I've never realized just how many people in the school are aware of the supernatural until now. Excluding me and Gasper since he's in god knows where, there are twelve. Twelve people capable of sensing magic if I'm close enough to them.

I want to test my illusion magic on actual, sentient beings without anybody figuring it out, and school is, ironically, the best place to do that. There are fucking cameras and shit everywhere in town, and after the Kokabiel fiasco, there's even more than usual now.

Since I'm planning to leave Kuoh for some level-ups via my own cloaking device, I needed to map out the location of about every camera in Kuoh for extra measure, and I've found literally over a thousand in just the central section of the town.

The only few blind spots are the inside of my house and the school. The former option is useless since the only person that's in my house is my mother, who is very aware of the existence of magic and would instantly notice me trying to mindfuck her, but the school has a lot of normal people in it.

But the challenge here is avoiding every person who is capable of sensing or recognizing magic. The problem is that those twelve people actively hide their own energy signature, and that isn't making things any easier for me.

I can sense them if they're close enough. Well, most of them. The one that I'm having genuine problems sensing right now is Koneko. Thankfully, she was chilling in her class on the other side of the building the last time I saw her, which was like, three minutes ago.

So after a while, I've concluded that the best sweet spot is in my own class during break. It's still dangerous, but I have to know just how effective my illusion magic is before I try to use it for real. I'm not confident I can actually try it on, say, Sona or Rias, but that's to be expected since they're a lot more powerful than what my illusion magic can affect.

…Now that I think about it, I could probably test it out on Asia for even better results whenever my mother is out of the house, couldn't I? Huh, for some reason, that idea never crossed my mind. Yeah, she's a little stronger than your average person due to Twilight Healing, but she isn't close to powerful enough to notice me casting illusion spells.

I should try that when I'm home.

Still, even using it on normal humans should give me a good idea of how powerful it actually is. Mindless man-eating plants and zombies aren't very helpful for this. Still really satisfying to kill, though.

"Aren't you gonna get yourself some lunch from the cafeteria?" I ask Ichiban as I take the lunch box out of the bag.

"Ugh, no, shit's too expensive there." He shakes his head, pulling out three convenience store bentos. "These are way cheaper."

Well, that won't do. He can sense magic. I need him out of here for a bit.

"Ichi, three of those aren't cheap," I argue. Well, they're pocket change for me, but he's broke as fuck. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Relative to what I can get from the cafeteria?" He snorts. Good point. "They think money grows on trees."

"You fatass."

"Fuck you, I'm hungry."

"Shut up and go get me some oolong tea, fatty." I tease, sliding him five hundred yen. "Hurry up."

"But I–"

"Shush, that's an order." I wiggle my eyebrows. "Run along now. Burn some calories while you're at it."

The annoyed glare he gives me is beyond amusing; it actually got me to laugh.

"I'm messing with you, Ichi. Relax." I playfully punched his arm before handing him more money. "Here, get yourself a drink or two."

He stares at the money for a few moments before sighing. He takes it, but he doesn't look particularly excited. I just want him to get out of here for a few minutes. Though, some tea right now sounds lovely.

"Fine. You better not touch my food."

"I won't."

"I'm serious, Akane. I'll actually fight you over this."

"Damn, dude. I won't touch your shitty convenience store food." I blink in surprise at his aggressiveness. "Chill."

He squints at me in suspicion before leaving the classroom. Damn, finally. Now he and Issei are out, and as far as my senses can reach, I don't feel anyone nearby. Good, but I still have to act quickly about this.

I pull out my laptop from the bag, clicking my tongue at the small crack on the screen before I look for a good target to use my illusions on, using chopsticks to eat from my lunch box. I immediately grimace once I taste the inappropriate sweetness in my supposedly savory lunch.

Well, at least now I know she was telling the truth. Only she would fuck up this bad and mix up sugar and salt. They're in two entirely different and branded containers, you idiot.

I ignore the unsuited sweetness of the food and begin my experiment before Ichiban comes back. I pick the bitchy teacher still in the classroom, too busy with her phone, and silently cast a visual spell by moving my index finger, a slight pinkish glow surrounding it.

She notices nothing weird until a big, fuck-off illusionary black widow straight out of fucking Australia falls on her phone's screen, prompting her to scream in fear. She ends up throwing the damn device through the window.

I fought off the urge to laugh harder than I fought Kokabiel, hiding my face behind the screen as the other students looked at the teacher, startled at the suddenness of what the hell she just did. Even students right outside the classroom came to see what the noise was about. The teacher just sobs, either out of regret that she threw her phone and broke the fucking window or terror at what she saw, I don't know. It's still hilarious.

"How unkind of you." Lucifer chuckles as he watches the scene unfold. "But I'll admit, it is a little amusing."

See? Even he agrees, devil god notwithstanding.

The students approach her and try to comfort her as she tells them what she saw, while I'm still resisting the laugh behind the screen. Feeling a little evil, I cast the same spell again, and another equally big spider appeared from under the desk.

She backs away and loses her shit, pushing some of the students off her as she falls down on her ass, her screaming intensifying tenfold. I wince at the loud noise, but honestly, this is just way too fucking funny.

Not even a second later, and she straight up passes out. The students all gather around her as one girl leaves the classroom to get some grown-up to take care of it. They do act quickly, though, putting a bag under her head as they put her in a more comfortable position.

"W-what–" I cleared my throat, trying really hard not to laugh and calming myself down. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I don't know; she just started screaming all of a sudden." One student answered me. "Saying there was some black spider or something."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Another student asks.

"Probably. She's fine, just out cold."

"Was she hallucinating?"

"Maybe she didn't have enough sleep."

As the students discuss what just happened, I glance at my hand. So this is a spell that focuses on a single person. Very effective, and might even work on a high-class devil if they weren't on guard. Good to know. This is going to be extremely helpful once I practice a little more.

I try to cast another spell, this time more of an AOE type thing without targeting a single person, but then Ichiban shows up, and I immediately cancel the spell. He looks confused as fuck, glancing at the teacher before approaching me with two bottles of oolong tea in his hands.

I made sure to leave as little magic residue as I possibly could, so I doubt he'd feel anything wrong, and the traces should fully disappear in a minute or so. Not so sure about Ddraig, though, if he can even sense things outside his Sacred Gear prison.

"What the hell happened?" He asks me, handing me a bottle.

"Dunno, she was apparently hallucinating. Screaming about spiders or whatnot." I lie as I open it. "She randomly threw her phone for some reason. Caught me off guard, to be honest."

The PE teacher then enters the class, asks some of the students what they saw, and then picks up the unconscious woman off the ground, likely bringing her to the infirmary or something. The students, still in shock and surprise, continue talking about what just happened.

I wish I could've done more tests, like seeing the difference between targeting spells and universal illusions that work on everyone, but oh well. This is enough to know where I stand when it comes to illusion magic.

Just a few more hours of practice should be enough to use it in actual situations against real opponents.

Satisfied, I gulp my tea and focus back on coding. Ichiban looks slightly concerned, but then shakes it off and changes the subject.

"So, uh, what are you doing?"

"Hacking the government."

"Eh? For real?"

"No, you dipshit." I snort, making him click his tongue. "I'm just writing some code."

"Why?"

"To hack the government."

"It's not any funnier the second time." He frowns. "What is it really for?"

I smirk at him but say nothing, prompting him to draw his own conclusions as his annoyed look turns into a worried one.

"...You're not actually trying to hack the government, right?"

"You're actually so fucking stupid. Holy shit." I laugh. "Of course not. Why would I even do that?"

"Goddamn it, I don't know what you do in your free time, alright? Knowing you, that shit might as well be one of your hobbies." He complains. "I don't know what it is with you, but this isn't funny. This thing you're doing really gets on my nerves."

"I'm sorry, but you just make it so easy for me~" I pat him on the head, but he immediately slaps my hand away. "I'll make it up to you later, I promise."

"Whatever." He scoffs, opening his first bento. Before he takes the first bite, though, he speaks up again. "...You seem like you're in a good mood today. What's up with that?"

"Am I?" I tilt my head. "Well, I guess it's because I'm not as stressed. Since we already took care of Kokabiel and all that."

And also because I've been making excellent progress on most fronts. Personal growth is still soaring because of my training with my mother; my illusion is already semi-usable; and the Super AI thing, while a bit slow, is doing relatively well. Yeah, I guess that would do it. I mean, I don't really have any more future knowledge to rely on, but I can handle it. I'll be fine as long as I keep this productive energy going.

"That's true, I guess," Ichiban says before pausing for a moment. "Oh yeah, by the way, Saejima-san called me early today. Apparently, he wants me to train under him."

"Really?" Taiga Saejima, huh? Mother says he's currently the most powerful person in the Tojo Clan. "When are you starting?"

"Today, right after school," Ichi answers with a grin. "The Taiga Saejima wants me to be his student? God, I'm so fucking excited. Say, wanna train together after?"

"Hm?"

"Yeah. Even Issei is coming along." He nods. "I mean, you don't have to if you have something you need to take care of."

Hmm, I'll admit, I'm a bit curious.

"Sure. If you'll have me." I accepted his offer. "Training facility we used for Rias' Rating Game?"

"Yup. After school directly."

"Sounds good."

I haven't seen this Saejima or even Majima fight, so I want to see the full extent of their power, but they can't possibly be that much stronger than Ichi since he unlocked his Balance Breaker, which is a subspecies, mind you. He was giving an, albeit damaged, Kokabiel a lot of trouble, after all.

And with his ever-growing power in that form, who knows? He might end up winning against people like them.

Regardless, it should be a very fun fight to watch.

"Amamiya-san?" Tsubaki suddenly calls for my name, peeking from the door. "Shitori-san and Gremory-san are calling for you in the student council room."

Shitori? Who's– ah, right, Sona's human name. Right, I forgot.

"Looks like someone's in trouble~," Ichi says, making me roll my eyes.

"I doubt it's something serious," I say. "You better not touch my food."

"I won't."

"I'm serious, Ichi. I'll actually fight you over this."

"Oh go fuck yourself."

So easy.

Heads up, I have barely any experience with programming/hacking. The last time I programmed anything was in sixth grade, so please don't make fun of me too hard if you're in that field lmao.

If Akane sounded deranged there, keep in mind that, yes, she is indeed deranged, but she also has supernatural powers and can make impossible bullshit possible.

Thank you for reading. Don't forget to check the pat re on for extra content and other cool stuff.