Chapter XXXIII

When Rias came back, Sona was going to shoot her.

Non lethally, of course, and with a basic water spell. But she would do it in the most inconvenient, petty, and mean spirited way possible. She was going to start learning ice magic just so she could produce water cold enough to make that crimson haired daredevil rue the day she thought abandoning her post for a family reunion and leaving all of her part of the work to Sona was a good idea.

Fortunately no Heretics or new Campione had descended upon their city, but Sona was instead feeling increasingly overworked as more and more 'exchange students' made their presence known.

Lu Yinghua was the first and least of her worries.

While the young man looked at her like one would roadkill on the side of the street, he kept to himself and followed Issei's lead dutifully. Instead, the brunt of his acerbic tongue was focused on those around the Campione… which might cause a fight to break out anyway, considering the other hand grenades she now had to juggle.

Church exorcists, Miko from the Committee, random people asking to be inducted as teachers in the school. Sona has to adjust memories and paperwork more times over the course of this week then she had in her entire previous stay in the human world.

Her revenge would be painful.

It would be swift.

It would be-

"President, is there the right place? Should I push it a little bit further?"

"No, you've got it Issei, thank you."

"Yosh!"

Setting it down, the Campione rolled his shoulders, the shining gauntlet on his hand glowing before disappearing.

"So, President, what do we need to do tonight?" Pointing up at the missing roof of the gym, the boy vaguely gestured at the moon. "I mean, it's not gonna rain, but what about tomorrow? Do we just… put a tarp up?"

"For now, yes."

Closing her eyes, Sona focused on the power within her, tapped it, and let it trickle out into streamers.

"That's super cool! Water dragons? Man, magic is something else!"

Despite herself, Sona found herself smiling. His enthusiasm was nice and less… formal than her own peerage. While she undoubtedly cared for them, the Sitri were not as carefree as the Gremory and it had been difficult, at times, to build the bonds needed to be an effective king.

"Thank you. Perhaps one day you will learn something similar."

There was a slight pause.

"...Hehehehehehehe."

And she was reminded of this particular God Slayer's peculiarity. It was, she mused, mild. But she did open her eyes and reflexively smooth her skirt down.

"Please do not… do anything dangerous."

"Ah, as you say, President!" Issei's phone began ringing and he had to step away for a moment, speaking to what sounded like an HCC agent as Sona was free to continue set up.

She sighed and relaxed.

Getting used to working with a Godslayer would take some time, but from what Rias' peerage had told her, the young man managed to handle a situation earlier which could have ended up in trouble. Getting the Church, the Committee representative, and the devils to agree to help fix the gymnasium at a later date was as good a compromise as it got.

But it was still her responsibility to the school to get preliminary repairs going.

What she didn't expect was for the Campione to offer to help her despite it being nearly evening.

"You know, Issei, you're too easy to trust. Still, look up."

"Woah!" Tilting his head upwards, he saw the frame of plastic tarp and metal scaffolding she'd constructed, her serpents still intertwined with the pieces as they slotted into place. "But how can you do that without watching them?"

"Willpower. Hmm. Have you had much about Devils explained to you?"

Shouldering a dozen bags of debris, the plastic straining from the weight of the load, he simply shrugged.

"Buchou explained the basics. But I get the feeling she was trying to keep me from overloading."

"Hmm. Well, why don't you tell me what you know while we take this trash out?"

Using a small space warping spell, she made sure both double doors to the gym's exit were open and that Issei could pass through them. Though Sona did not expect the sudden, sharp headache when he did so. She had to privately admire the sheer potency of the Ritual of Usurpation. After all, it had heavily inspired the Devil's own Evil Pieces.

"I know that Devils name their subordinates after chess pieces, that you guys live a really, really long time, and that you make up one of the Three Great Factions. You, the Holy Alliance of the Church of God, and the Governate of the Fallen."

"More or less, yes."

Discussions about allies, client species, and various internal factions could keep.

"And that you guys have an internal magic completely different from humans. We have… Qi? Chi? Life energy and spirit energy, but the life energy is more like 'Breath' than just stuff from an anime. And you guys don't like 'Faith', which is a sort of concentrated spiritual energy."

"While there are multiple different schools of thought from humans discussing such topics, we Devils consider it to be largely academic. We do not have a divide between our bodies, minds, and souls. Rather, all three are actively intertwined." Pausing, she considered how or even if she should elaborate. Before deciding it was better to warn Issei now. "There are some Devils who believe that makes us superior beings. They are… not only concerned with strength, but, rather, greed."

"Ah. Yeah. Buchou didn't elaborate on that. But, um, there are some people that are the reason you guys are called devils."

"Indeed."

Not out by the dumpsters, she lifted the lids on the school's waste bins as he tossed the massive load in - the metal inside causing a massive bang as he did so.

"Woops?"

Her lips twitched.

"Do not worry. Should we need to, Kuoh may simply have another 'gas leak'."

"I do not wish to blow anything up. Not unless I really have to."

"No." She allowed. "But sometimes it is." As for the rest of the work, it can wait until the HCC sends their mages tomorrow. I only wanted to clean up the insulation and the dangerous bits, so no one gets hurt. Thank you again, Issei."

"Oh, um, is it ok if the Exorcists show up too?"

"Hmm?"

"Xenovia, Irina's partner, offered to help with the repairs since she fought, too."

"I see."

Her instinct was to politely decline the offer. Sona simply did not want exorcists, or their swords, anywhere near her school and very much not near her peerage. Especially Saji. The boy might end up getting into trouble and he had been a diamond in the rough to find.

"Very well." Carefully thinking about what this meant, she slowly nodded. "If they will be students here, as I suspect you will ask them to be, then they may assist in rebuilding. But they also understand the curriculum is strictly secular, yes?"

"Eh. I doubt they'll try and consecrate the ground or put up, I dunno, holy wards or something? They don't seem to be like that. Not unless you ask them too."

Tempted to scoff at the idea of her ever requesting the chance to see such magic, Sona actually found herself intrigued by the idea.

"Do you think they would consider that a fair compromise? A demonstration of holy magic in exchange for their full admission to the school?"

"I can ask."

"That would be nice. Still, first, we ought to continue with your lesson. For now, I shall explain to you how we Devils gather our numbers from many races and many worlds."

"Your… peerages. Uh, like European knights? Or a daimyo's retainers?"

"Somewhat, yes. Tell me, Issei, do you play chess?"

"Heh. Well, let's head to the courtyard! I've got something I thought of just now!"

Sona gave the young man a dubious look, yet followed him out nonetheless. She believed she had already gotten a solid grasp on his personality and thus he didn't mean her any harm or have any scheme in mind as he led her out of the gym and towards the grassy patches near the old building.

That is, until she felt a flash of divine power.

'What is he-?'

Only to blink owlishly as a cart-sized block of marble appeared on the ground, shifting and writhing as the young man slid one hand over it. The stone yielded like putty, changing its form to become a medium sized table, as well as splitting off two seats.

"There, that should be better than sitting on the floor."

Sona took a deep steadying breath.

Trust a Human Tyrant to wield the authority of a slain god just to make himself a chair and a coffee table. Just the fact that he'd done so in such short notice made her wonder whether he had some sort of artistic talent before gaining this power, or if it had some with some sort of divine inspiration for the arts.

"Ladies first?"

He offered her a seat, awkwardly, unsure.

Well, at least he wasn't acting like a barbarian. Sona allowed herself to sit and be smoothly pushed closer to the table as Japan's Demon King took his own seat across from her. A look of concentration on his face, before a smooth rectangular slab rose from the table and split into squared segments that were all too familiar to her.

That was when, with a wave of a magician's hand, he manifested the pieces.

Sixteen on each side.

'A complete chess set? How did he know?'

Her heart skipped a beat, for a moment she felt this might have been a set up, the deal she'd made with her family coming to the forefront of her mind. Only there was no way for him to know about that, and, thinking about it logically, there were much easier ways to strong arm both her and her family into an arrangement.

There was also the fact that he had arranged them completely wrong. And replaced the Knights with Dragons for some reason.

"You… have never played before, huh?"

"Ah, no. But this wasn't all I could do! I looked up the rest of the Student Council and I know all of Rias's friends. So I could do this, too!"

She watched in amazement as the pieces began to melt and dribble and run one by one. The black pieces taking on lifelike imitations of Rias's peerage, as the white assumed slightly less perfect versions of her own.

"Hmm. Not good enough. Tell you what, President, if I can come by tomorrow, I'll clean it up!"

"Thank you, Issei, this is perfect for now." Smiling, she reached out and gently plucked up Tsubaki's piece, running her thumb over the face of her Queen. "Though I suspect I shall have difficulty ever sacrificing any of these pieces."

The lingering divine energy in the marble made her fingertips tingle and, now that she was noticing it, her thighs, where her skin met the slightly warm seat, did too.

"Well, it shouldn't weigh too much. I tried to make all of this as, hmm, airy? Fluid? Not sure how to put it in words. But less… intense. So it might be a little fragile compared to the stuff I make for battle, or, ah, left in the gym-" She giggled gently at his admission. "But it can be carried no problem!"

"Well then. Why don't I teach you how to play, then? If only to offer my thanks for this gift."

"That's wonderful! So, uh, the Rooks… go at the ends?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

Issei simply blushed and began trying to rearrange the pieces, managing to get things half correct. But Sona did purse her lips when she realized there was something she was tempted to do.

"Did Rias explain how certain things work with the Evil Pieces? How, sometimes, we might use more than one to turn someone?"

"No. I think she… maybe made a comment about it. But didn't elaborate. Mostly she was trying to tell me about stray devils and why some of them can be really, really bad. How, well, some of them just run away from bad Kings. But others like to, well, there was one, and, you probably know, she showed… pictures. From after it was captured. And made me promise to be careful about them."

"The man eater?"

"Yeah. The tiger woman."

"That was a particularly unpleasant case, yes. But to address more pleasing topics, Saji Genshiro required four pawns to convert, not one."

"Really? So that makes him super strong for a pawn!"

Sona merely watched as three other pawns gained the features of her most recent compatriot and found herself strangely pleased that the features of all four seemed to sharpen up. Issei's focus redoubled out of respect for the apparent coolness of Saji.

"For my level." She admitted. "In truth, I suspect Rias might have managed to convert him for three. And both she and I together would be unable to turn you into a Devil."

"Hmm. So there's a difference between you? And even sixteen pieces wouldn't work? How many would it take?"

This time she shrugged.

"I suspect one." His face fell at that and she couldn't help but smile a little. "But I suspect only Lords Beelzebub and Lucifer could manage it."

"Huh. So the big guys? Are they as strong as a god?"

"Well, I suppose you would have to clarify which deity. And I shall ask for a clarification of my own - how would you like me to answer that? Perfectly honestly, or diplomatically?"

Moving a single white-pink pawn forwards, she gently lowered the marble playing piece down, surprised at how it was still far more heavy than any normal marble playing piece. If far more reasonable than the usual stuff.

"Hmm. That's a test, isn't it?"

He mirrored her movements.

"It is. Everything is. At least when it comes to sharing information. Even, I suspect, your interactions with the various… diplomatic envoys are tests in many ways."

Snorting, Issei shook his head.

"Ena seems nice. Enough. And seeing Irina was great! But I gotta say, I'm a bit worried about Kiba."

Letting a knight slip free, she was pleased to hear such a response.

"Rias has a slight tendency to think that hugs and kisses will drive away all the world's terrors. That is not a mark against her, the Gremorys have always held great affection for their own, blood related and otherwise."

"I move the, uhh-"

"A bishop, and yes."

Sending out a bishop, the black and red marble piece slid across the board, taking up a position on the far side.

"Well, being perfectly honest, I wouldn't say no to some hugs and kisses from her. But, ah, sorry President, was that, um…."

"It's entirely fine." She suppressed the small flicker of annoyance she felt. "I am quite used to Rias's assets attracting certain kinds of interests. Speaking of, would you like to have a conversation about what the ballet club got up to today, hmm?"

Freeing her second knight, she baited in Issei's bishop. A move that the quailing boy hurriedly made. In turn, she took his bishop with a pawn, he countered by opening his rook side, and she simply freed her queen. The two pieces peacefully sat to the side as they waited for the battle to conclude.

And perhaps it was unsporting of her, but Sona was swift. Issei would, on his turn, attempt to press up with a knight of his own. Then, with her queen, she quite simply placed him in mate.

"Fool's mate. Careful with your f-pawn."

"Ah, f-pawn?"

"This one. Still, when you come by tomorrow, I'll show you how to determine ranks and files."

"I guess? Well, I'll definitely win next time!"

Sona chuckled.

"We'll see."

It was, perhaps, a little mean-spirited of her to immediately go for the win every time, not exactly a bad habit when something so important hinged on her ability to win. Even then, no matter how many mistakes he made or how many times she put him in check, the Demon King didn't seem affected by the loss in the slightest.

To him, it was just another fun game.

To her, it was like dancing on the knife's edge.

'What would happen if I lost now?'

Probably nothing, after all the deal she made with her parents wasn't so stringent that any single loss would have her immediately carted away in unholy matrimony. There was an entire due process in selecting her suitors. An unsanctioned loss to a Campione of all things? They wouldn't force her or mention it.

"Are you okay, President?"
"I'm sorry, just a bit tired is all. It's been a busy week, I'm afraid."
"That's actually something I wanted to talk to you about. Since I'm supposed to be in charge of this place, I mean Kuoh, or Japan, too, I guess. I'd figure I'd start by helping you out! Is there anything I can do to help make sure everything runs smoothly?"

There were about thirty different things she could have said to that.

Even so, the shock of just being offered a favor by a Campione without so much as having to pay something back had alarm bells ringing inside Sona's mind. The reminder that she was supposed to be spying on him for Lord Beelzebub was also there.

"Perhaps."

But. But, but, but. She was a Devil.

"I suppose that depends on what you'd be interested in helping with."

And Devils were beings of Greed.

"Well, I can help finish up the cleaning tomorrow with the others. But I don't actually know what goes into running the city. Do we need to meet with the mayor? Discuss road repair and zoning and taxes? I asked my dad what he'd like to see, he said no taxes, and I said I could ask about that."

Sona had to forcibly remind herself that taking advantage of Issei's relative ignorance would explicitly, without doubt, one hundred percent bite her in the ass. She was still almost violently tempted to conjure up a contract here and now.

"There is one task I could ask of you. While I don't have access to it for privacy reasons, I'd received a report of activity near Akeno's residence. If you'd be willing to look into it for me, I'd greatly appreciate it, as I am already in the midst of discussing the return of a number of Kami to Kuoh."

"Wait! Kami are coming here!?"

"A few patron deities. And a few who have Kanto as their domain and would like to check on certain things. In the spirit of cooperation I suggested they be allowed to do so."

"Hmm. After being screened, you mean?"

Her lips twitched.

"I see you've been learning."

She could already imagine the feeling of the quill in her hand and the vellum under her fingers.

"Still." Sona considered what she ought to open up with now. "What happened to the priestess with the sword?"

"Ena? Her mom, Sumi, I mean Agent Smith! Well, she pulled her away. By the scruff of her neck." He rubbed the back of his head. "Honestly, Ena looked a lot more like a cat than even Yoru."

The Devil strongly considered checking the security cameras for that footage.

"Indeed."

For now she simply smiled.

A Few Days later

Fortunately for Issei, there hadn't been any more incidents after the gymnasium was sliced in half.

The Committee apparently sent the school a check, and they would be getting some new gym equipment since a lot of the damage had already been fixed by him and the Student Council. President even offered to let him have some of it for all the help he was, but he settled for asking them to spend it on some new stuff and not more books.

Ena had apparently failed to properly get the documentation for her transfer into Kuoh ready in time, so she wouldn't be joining them for classes just yet, something her mother was adamant they had to do since they were technically public servants and not secret agents.

Issei appreciated the effort.

He just… didn't know what to think of the girl yet.

She was… forward, not to mention blunt. And she said a lot of things that made him want to shake his head in outright denial. But it wasn't like she was doing it to scare him or piss him off. But at the same time, their conversation still had Issei's mind whirling.

"I knew it wasn't normal. The way they treated me, but it still kinda sucks that I'm some kind of scary monster to them."

And that was the truth of the matter.

Issei Hyoudou wasn't a hero.

Not in their minds, anyway.

To them, Issei must have seemed like the secret hidden final boss that you try your luck with by the end of the game after you beat the rest of the levels. Something that was added just as a challenge for the really competitive crowd. Only Issei was walking around in plain sight looking like an average student instead of tucked away inside some hidden grotto behind a puzzle.

"Huh, maybe I should do that."

Build a cave, leave some cryptic messages around town, maybe even make some loot to offer anyone who decided they wanted to try their luck? Maybe even rehearse some lines to make it really dramatic?

Okay, maybe not that last one.

It was way too much.

'Focus, Issei! You have stuff to do today.'

And by stuff he meant the not-date that he'd promised Aika. Really, he felt kinda guilty for putting her on the spot like that, but there was no way he was gonna take up another stranger who just asked him out on their offer. The last time ended with him getting chased all over town by a pair of angry snake goddesses and he wasn't keen on repeating the experience.

So there he was, waiting for his not-date to be in front of her house.

It was a pretty good looking house too. Very big. Actually, it was bigger than the old school building that Rias and her club used to hang out. Very traditional looking, too. Even if Issei wasn't one for architecture, the place just had this aura of being important.

"Like a haunted mansion."

"I guess that makes me the friendly ghost?"

"Gah!"

Issei started, jumping back as a familiar bespectacled girl swept into view out of nowhere.

"H-hey!"

Expecting her to be in her school outfit had proven to be quite wrong. Aika was, instead, wearing a deep brown duffel coat over a white blouse. That her jeans were, ahem, well fitting only made it seem even better than the admittedly pretty awesome uniform normally worn! Even her hair was different, now in a single braid, while her glasses still sat on the bridge of her nose. Issei uncomfortable with how… satisfied those mischievous, gold eyes of her's seemed to be.

Issei actually felt kind of dumb for showing up in a T-shirt and plain jeans.

"You look great."

"Do I?"

"You do. And I must look great going by how nervous you are acting." Adjusting her glasses, Aika leaned closer to his face with a small teasing smile.

"Ah. I'm trying to calm down, heh, but you do look awesome."

She looped her arm into his and he had to swallow.

"So I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the arcade… but, well, is that… right?"

"It is. But first, how about something to warm up?"

Setting off together, Issei couldn't help but feel anxious and also just… peaceful.

"Sure! There's a cafe down the street! What about that?"

"It's terrible now." Issei stumbled midstep. "The guy running the place bought it from the previous owners and just uses prepackaged stuff. But there's a place two streets down that does American donuts."

Realizing that it was a bit chilly out, everyone else was wearing at least a jacket, Issei just nodded and let Aika lead the way. He, however, didn't even really notice the cool temperatures and was more than happy to scan the area for threats.

Something was crawling up his spine and he wasn't quite sure what it would be. Or maybe he was still a bit suspicious of walking around town.

Getting ambushed twice will do that to you.

Aika, however, was fine simply enjoying the walk.

She was quiet, not quite smiling, the corner of her lips just slightly turned up as she held his arm. There didn't seem to be a need to talk, though, and the few others out and about at the moment didn't do more than, in the case of one old lady, smile at them.

Issei was content, he realized, and once they arrived at the shop very, very hungry.

Because the smell of spices and a view of dozens of amazing toppings slapped him like he'd been peeping on their whole team!

Cinnamon, cardamom, brown sugar, and honey! Raisins, currants, dates, and cherries! Apples, pears, walnuts, and pecans! And there, sitting atop a plate of shining silver, was a tray of thick, crusty brownies, with powdered sugar and shredded nuts generously sprinkled across the top.

"Ah, Miss Kiryu! Here for your regular? We just got some fresh buns out of the oven."

Miss Kiryu?

Was he a friend of her family or something?

"Ah, no. Do you happen to have any tables available? I'm just here for a quick snack."

The man smiled, nodding energetically.

"Of course, of course! I'd have one set up if we didn't. Still, wait a second and I'll get someone to come take your orders. Try one of our chicken croquettes too, on the house."

The two of them were shown to one of the tables in the back of the store and a very fancy menu with even fancier prices was laid out in front of him. The numbers were so big Issei started to wonder if what was being sold was really coffee and not some sort of magical potion.

'I don't think my allowance can afford even half price.' He realized, belatedly.

Just what kinda place was this, and more importantly what kind of girl was his friend?

"You come here often?" He'd never stopped to think about it but… was Aika actually a fancy rich girl? Her house had been, well, he'd assumed it was maybe inherited? Issei wasn't sure what to think. 'Ah, wait, I still have that packet Mr. Amakasu gave me!'

"Hmm? My parents come here a lot, and I come by when I wanna get something on the way to class. Also, have some of the croquettes. Genji may be great at desserts, but the lunch food is wonderful, too."

Not for the first time, Issei was confronted with the fact that he didn't know a whole lot about his classmate. Which made sense, it had been barely a month since classes started so he shouldn't know her as well as he did Matsuda and Motohama.

Even so, he found he wanted to know more.

It was easy to get along with her.

A lot of their interests were the same, and she was as unabashed about what she liked as he was. Actually, she was even more adamant about enjoying herself than they were and it intimidated his friends.

Heck, even Issei was scared of how upfront she was about it!

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah sorry, I guess I'm still a bit nervous after last time." Taking a bite from the croquette, Issei nodded with a hum.

"Was it really that bad?"

"Not bad, we just got jumped by a couple angry goddesses. Also, she was a goddess too and I kinda didn't realize when she invited me."

That earned him a look of bewilderment.

"What?"

"Nothing just… well… let's hope your luck doesn't give out, huh?"

Issei groaned, leaning back against his seat.

"Please don't say that."

"I'm just teasing. Besides, what are the odds of something like that happening twice in a row?" Aika smiled at him, resting her chin on her hands as she leaned over the table and a waiter finally came to take their orders. Just in time really, as Issei flipped over the menu, ready to get something in his empty stomach.

That was when his phone started ringing.

"What's-?"

It was Smith's number.

Before Aika could ask, Issei flipped the phone open and put it against his ear, a sense of dread and anticipation writhing within his stomach, as a hurried voice came through from the other end along with the screeching of wind and the low rumbling of a car engine.

"There is a fight happening at the school. We need you here, now."

Issei sighed, standing up.

He should have known it was too good to be true.