AN: A bit later than I'd like again, but it's still the weekend! That's good enough for me. I think part of why I keep almost falling behind on my schedule is because I write, like, 90% of the next chapter in the second week after I post. The first couple days after I post, I can't help but think to myself, "I got two weeks to finish this, one day of putting it off won't hurt."

And then it's suddenly the next weekend and I only have a week to meet my expectations lol. Anyway, on with the chapter.

ᓚᘏᗢ

Koneko

(Thursday, April 26th - ORC Room, shortly after classes)

"Thank you everyone for getting here so quickly," Rias addressed the room as she moved to take her seat. "There isn't going to be a whole lot that needs to be said today so I'll try to make this quick, but it is important."

"As everyone is already aware, Issei-kun was attacked again last night; this time by the confirmed rogue exorcist known as Freed Sellzen, a psychopath who is wanted by the church for numerous crimes." Buchou began from behind her desk, a serious expression across her face. Akeno stood to the side with her eyes closed and a round serving tray held under her folded arms, while the rest of us were seated on the couches.

"What the boys may not be aware of, is that Uzumaki Naruto was also attacked in his own home by this same man just a day beforehand," she explained in a professional tone, getting down to business. "According to all our evidence, he is working together with a group of at least three Fallen Angels," She looked Hyoudou's way. "The two that attacked you before– Raynare and Kalawarner, if the names they gave you were accurate– and a man that Uzumaki-san had encountered a few days ago, who Sellzen directly referenced during their encounter."

Hyoudou twitched when she mentioned the first Fallen's name. Unsurprising, considering the crow had killed him.

"This is unacceptable," Buchou continued, eyes narrowing. "These blatantly targeted attacks from this group present a clear and present threat to those under the banner of my family, and I will not sit by and let it continue!" She slapped her palms on the desk and stood, controlled anger dripping from her voice even as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She let the breath out through her nose and opened her eyes again, expression smoothed. "While it's extremely likely that they're acting of their own accord, there's still a chance that they are following official Grigori orders, which could potentially end up turning this into a much bigger conflict if handled poorly. That being the case, everyone should stick together in pairs of two when outside of school for now, while I make sure we're not going to be making a mess when we deal with the situation. Be sure to let your clients know that you are cancelling all contracts for the next couple days, for their safety." She clapped her hands together. "Any questions?"

Hyoudou raised his hand as if we were in class, causing Akeno to stifle a giggle despite the serious topic.

"Yes, Issei-kun?" Buchou asked with her lips quirked in amusement.

He lowered his hand. "How are we going to split into pairs if there's only five of us?" He asked in curiosity, brown eyes glancing around as if he was looking for someone invisible. "Is there some hidden sixth member I haven't met yet?"

"That's a good question, and the answer is yes and no," Buchou acknowledged. "We do, but they have trouble controlling their power, and are currently sealed away in the school for everyone's safety."

"That's kinda badass…" I heard the boy mutter, and rolled my eyes. Whatever image he probably had in his mind, Gaspy was the exact opposite of it.

"Akeno will be assisting me with contacting the relevant parties as my second in command, and given their friendship and the fact that he's also been directly targeted already, it would be best for Koneko to stick with Uzumaki-san for the time being." She looked my way with a small smile. "I'll leave it up to you to convince him to go along with it. Knowing you two, that shouldn't be too difficult."

"Mm." I nodded in agreement. Uzumaki-kun would chafe at the idea that one of us needed to be around for his protection– especially now that he wasn't on the verge of death all the time and could put up an actual fight against the average supernatural being– but if it was me, he'd go along with it for the sake of us using the time to goof off together or train.

Which is why I wouldn't tell him immediately. Unless he inadvertently brought it up, we were going to hang out like normal, and when one of us would normally leave, I'd inform him then.

No need to make the atmosphere weird in the meantime.

"Wait a second, doesn't that just leave me and this Handsome Bastard as a pair?!" The [Pawn] looked over at Kiba, who just smiled at him politely.

The newest member of the peerage hunched over and clutched his hair in despair. "How am I supposed to start building my harem if Mr. Popular is constantly with me?!" He griped.

The [Knight] just chuckled in bemused sheepishness, probably thinking it was friendly teasing on Hyoudou's part that he just didn't understand, owing to his lack of male friends. "Please look after me, Issei-kun."

Hyoudou made an expression as if he'd tasted something bitter.

'Ganbatte, Kiba-kun.'

I rooted for the blonds' success in my head.

Kiba really needed more friends. Hopefully he'd be a good influence on Hyoudou over time.

"Right, that was all I needed of you for this meeting," Buchou said with a swift nod to herself. "With the only other current issue being handled by the twins, you three are free to hang around here or go off and do your own things. As long as you stick with your partners it's up to you."

The three of us got up as she dismissed us, and I left the room with Hyoudou and Kiba following in my footsteps.

"What's your plan for the day Issei-kun?" Kiba asked conversationally. "I have nothing urgent to do today, so I'm following your lead."

"Haaahhhh…" The other boy sighed in resignation. "Fine. I was gonna go jogging and do some other exercises in the park while handing out flyers. Buchou said that I need to focus on building up my demonic power, and that physical training would be the quickest way to do it for me right now."

I tuned the two boys out as Hyoudou reluctantly engaged with Kiba's small talk, instead focusing my attention on my chakra as I attempted to boost my already enhanced senses of smell and sound as far as they could go. I closed my eyes as I walked through the hall too, giving all my focus to the task and relying on my hearing to navigate the building, using the sound of my footfalls to mentally judge the distance between me and the walls around me on my way to exiting the building.

Wrangling control of my chakra for this type of delicate task was something that was already a hassle normally, but with my true features hidden it felt downright sluggish. Giving my body and senses a general boost was easy enough to do even as an unconscious reflex, but going further than the basics, with organs that weren't so straightforward as just physically strengthening them like muscle tissue and bones, that took serious precision. There were multiple stages for hearing, from the ear picking up the vibration of sound waves, to converting those vibrations into electrical signals, and then the brain interpreting those signals, and all of those stages required completely different methods of chakra manipulation to enhance.

So far, I was only good enough to boost one aspect of each at a time, and even hidden, my true ears were already extremely good at picking up on distant sound waves, so I could focus my efforts on enhancing how well my inner ear translated those vibrations into information I could interpret. Thankfully, it wasn't like the constantly changing nature of tree and water-walking, where you had to have control and speed. Once you managed to get the initial enhancement just right, all you had to do was maintain it as-is.

When I managed to get it, it felt like what I imagined it did for someone with bad eyesight putting on glasses. The fuzzy and constantly shifting vague idea of distances in my head sharpened, the sounds of my footsteps, the steps of the boys behind me, and their voices, all bouncing off of the walls and doorways and windows with such near-perfect clarity, that it felt like I hadn't even closed my eyes for a moment. If I wanted to, I could turn and open the door to the unused old classroom on my right, getting the doorknob on my first try. The more rooms and turns away from me the sound traveled, the fuzzier my perception got, but it was good enough to navigate my immediate surroundings and pinpoint the direction of everyone in the building.

I could even hear the rapid clacking of Gaspy's keyboard in the general direction of his sealed door.

Unfortunately, my goal was still out of reach with all these walls in the way. Even with my nose equally enhanced, the only presences I could detect were the rest of my club members and the lingering scents of the twins. My mental map of the old school building was pretty solid, but there was still a good chunk of distance between here and the main building, with a wooded area in between.

Uzumaki-kun had mentioned to me earlier in the day that he was interested in finding a club to join in order to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby, and that he'd be sticking around the school for longer than usual to take a look at his options. Assuming that held true, and he didn't get bored or distracted and leave, I should still be able to track him down without having to text or call once I got out of the woods.

Exiting the building, I distractedly waved goodbye to my clubmates as we split off. They were cutting through the woods on a more direct path to the outer edge of the school's property, while I headed towards the main building's clubhouse.

First, I'd try to listen for Uzumaki-kun's name, voice, or the tapping of his cane when I got closer. If he was being quiet and that failed, I'd attempt to track his scent based on what he had for lunch. If I couldn't figure that out since I was a novice at actually pushing my nose this hard, then I'd try to pinpoint where he was based on a combination of both; If there were multiple distinct scents of in a group of people, I'd listen for sounds of movement, and whichever group had more scents present than the amount of sounds that I could match to them would be his most likely location.

Naruto

(Earlier)

Although most of the posters advertising clubs had been taken down from the halls by now, the school still had plenty of noticeboards up around the building that were regularly updated with news and resources for the students to use, including directions to the school website where they kept a list of clubs that were still recruiting. Looking down at this list on my phone screen as I leaned forward on the sill of an opened window with my elbows, I'd narrowed down my options to two potential choices; the Calligraphy club, and the Computer club.

'Calligraphy seems super boring and annoying to learn, but it's a necessary step for Fuinjutsu, and Fuinjutsu is cool as hell,' I thought in consideration, weighing the pros and cons in my mind. 'Even if I never get back to my peak, there are plenty of seals I've seen that can be powered with energy other than the user's chakra, so it would be something I could have access to no matter what else happens in the future.'

I grimaced when I considered how long it might take to get to that point though. 'Never mind time, where am I going to learn the actual basics from in the first place? Unless this world has its own form of super flexible "magic language" that anyone can learn to use, I'd have to figure out everything from total scratch, without even having my clones to speed up the process.'

I took in a breath of fresh air as indistinct sounds of conversation reached me from both the classroom behind me and the courtyard in front of me. The room was emptying out as the other students left to go to their clubs or join the waves of teens leaving for home below me, but as always there were the stragglers who hung around for a bit.

'On the other hand, even the Elemental Nations started getting more advanced technology while I was growing up, so no matter which world I end up in, no matter what happens with my chakra, understanding computers will be useful regardless.'

I sighed. No matter how enticing the thought of pulling up to a fight with a piece of paper that effectively said "I win" was, it just wasn't a realistic thought to entertain, and I couldn't honestly say I would enjoy spending my currently limited time learning something so boring and currently useless, even with my acquired appreciation for literature.

"What's with the sigh? You're not gonna jump out the window again, are you Uzumaki?" A familiar girl's voice spoke, approaching from behind me. "There are easier ways to tell a girl you don't want to talk to them, you know."

I rolled my eyes with a smirk, turning my head to look at the redhead over my shoulder.

"Don't you have your pretty-princess tea party or whatever to get to, Ueda?"

Mitsuri flushed red in embarrassment but tried to play it off like my jab didn't affect her, rolling her own eyes.

"Y-yeah yeah, keep laughing it up you ass–"

"Oh, I definitely will. Do you change into the girls uniform when you're there, or do you prefer the butler look?" Her eyes narrowed at me and I threw her a cheeky grin.

"–but my club only gets together three days a week." She pretended to ignore the question and continued, eyes threatening violence on me if I kept teasing her club choice. "Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only, and a lot of it is apparently etiquette practice."

"... So you play around with spoons?" I couldn't help myself.

She smacked the back of my head.

"What are you looking at that's kept you here today? You usually leave the moment you finish packing up your stuff," she asked curiously, blatantly changing the subject. Heh, that's my win.

"I was checking the school website for the list of clubs still available." I gestured vaguely with my phone, turning back to it after having had my fun.

"Huh, I thought you were more of a 'leave and do your own thing' kinda guy." She stepped a bit closer and leaned over my shoulder to look at my screen, the girl being a full head taller than me. She hummed from beside my ear. "What's gotten you interested?"

Ignoring my hyper awareness of her proximity, the slight warmth radiating from her body, her naturally husky voice– Puberty sucks, but luckily I have prior experience trying to keep it in check– I explained my decision.

"I've been looking for something new to learn that interests me, since I've hit a sort of soft-ceiling in biology." I began scrolling back up to the "C" category, since I was viewing the English version of the page. "Funny enough, it was hearing about your club choice that gave me the idea." I chuckled at the growl she gave. "Hey, I'm being serious! You wanted to expand your horizons and grow in a direction you think you're weak in, and that made me realize that joining a club would be a good way for me to do the same."

"Fine," She exhaled through her nose, the air tickling my ear. "I believe you. What clubs were you looking at to fill that roll then, Mister 'barely-passed-the-entrance-exams'?"

"One of these two." I pointed out the two listed clubs, conveniently being placed right beside each other alphabetically, the entire reason I'd switched to the English version.

"The computer club, and the… uh…" I could hear her lips moving as she tried to sound out the English word in her head.

"Calligraphy." I said in Japanese to translate for her, shifting to lock my phone and place it in my pocket. She stepped back out of my personal space so we could talk face to face, and the incredulous expression on her face would have been amusing if it weren't an accurate judgement of how little payoff I would get for all the effort I'd have to put in.

"Calligraphy? You?" If she weren't so baffled by the thought, and I'd actually decided to pick it outright, I got the feeling she'd be teasing me about it the same way I did to her.

Even without any teasing though, I felt like I had to defend my choice.

"I'm probably going to pick the computer club anyway, because it's way more interesting and useful for day-to-day life," I admitted, "but there's a field I want to get into as a hobby at some point in the future, and I'd need good calligraphy skills just to get into the basics." I sighed with a grimace. "It's just way too boring, and my schedule's way too hectic right now to give it the focus I'd need to," I complained.

"Oh yeah, now that makes a lot more sense coming from you," Mitsuri deadpanned. She shook her head a moment later. "Honestly, don't even bother thinking about it too hard and just go for the computer club. Nine times out of ten, clubs for stuff as random and specific as calligraphy are either just hangouts for kids who want to goof off, or for the people who are already super into it and want to show off to each other. You're probably better off learning it from tutorials online, which you could do in the computer club anyway," she told me with a shrug.

"Huh," I said eloquently, staring off into space as I thought about it. "I didn't think about it like that. I guess I'm still not used to just how much stuff you can find on the internet, yet." I was definitely feeling better about my decision now. It didn't feel like nearly the loss of opportunity it did before, and a whole new world of vague possibilities opened up in my mind, such as more cat videos. "Thanks a lot, Mitsuri-chan. Seriously, that was a big help!"

I sent the redhead a grin, then turned to grab my sword and school bag from where they leaned against the wall, before beginning to walk towards the classroom door while throwing a hand over my shoulder in a wave. "See you tomorrow then, I'm gonna go check it out and apply." Was it rude to leave suddenly like this? Maybe, but who cares among friends.

"Huh? Oh, right. Uh, see you tomorrow?" She said in an uncertain voice from behind me.

'I wonder what that's about.' I thought to myself as I entered the hallway. 'Maybe she's feeling sick, and is thinking about staying home tomorrow?' I questioned. 'I just thought she was embarrassed, but maybe she also has a fever?' I mentally shrugged.

Oh well. It wasn't really my business if she wasn't gonna bring it up herself.

Onwards, to the club house!

"And why should I let someone like you join the club?" The guy held my application papers slightly away from himself, as if they were going to get him dirty.

I looked up at the upperclassman standing in front of the closed door to the computer club, pushing his glasses up as he looked down his nose at me. If it weren't for the over-the-top flourishes he used while talking, I'd have said he looked like the strict type of student who took their studies seriously, with short and straight black hair cleanly parted down the middle, and perpetually narrow gray eyes behind equally narrow glasses frames.

Instead, his first impression on me just reminded me of an older and tamer version of what's-his-name, the pervert-trio guy.

"Uhhh… because I want to learn more about computers, and you're still recruiting?" I responded in confusion and a bit of irritation.

When I'd knocked on the door, this guy had been the one to answer, and from the moment I'd asked to join he'd given me nothing but problems about my application, not even bothering to introduce himself other than announcing he was the president of the club.

"What's the big deal? I already got the forms from the staff and signed the application, and you already went through it to make sure everything was accurate, so what's your problem man?"I asked. Then I blinked, running what he said through my head again. "And what do you mean 'someone like me,' hah?! Are you some kinda racist?! I'm literally Japanese!"

I wasn't, but it's not like anyone could actually tell me otherwise. It was kind of absurd how closely the elemental nations matched Japan culturally and language-wise. We even had a bunch of the same gods and religious practices. I'd almost go so far as to say there's been crossover between the worlds in the past, if it weren't for the even more glaring differences between us.

"Y-you–!" He bit out, taking a reflexive step back as he clutched his chest. "How dare you accuse one such as I of such foolish and outdated practices!" He exclaimed, taking care to keep his voice low enough that it wouldn't carry far. "This is a place of learning and the future. The willfully ignorant that believe such things, and uncouth delinquents such as yourself have no place in–!"

"Ah, found you."

The soft monotone of Koneko's raised voice cut in from down the hallway, getting the jackass to bite his tongue and cut himself off mid-rant.

"Hiya, Koneko-chan." I lifted my hand and called in greeting as she approached.

The Computer Club president coughed into his fist, standing straight with his shoulders back and one hand held at rest behind his waist. "Hello there Toujou-san, what brings you here?"

"I was looking for Uzumaki-kun." She pointed at me as she stopped next to us. "Heard someone say he came this way."

"A-ah," I spotted the corner of his eye twitch slightly, though he hid it admirably with an adjustment of his glasses. "I see… well, I hope he hasn't inconvenienced you too much?"

'Hoh?' I smothered a smirk. 'So that's how it is…'

He'd instantly smoothed his expression and opened his stance, removing any signs of his previous hostility and enhancing his image of competence the moment he realized someone else was here.

Koneko shook her head mutely.

I turned slightly to face her. "Didn't you have a club meeting?" I asked.

"Mm." She nodded. "Buchou let us go early. What are you doing here? I thought you weren't in any clubs."

Mister club president was the kind of guy who liked to maintain an image of reliability and professionalism. He only broke it earlier because he was dealing with me, someone he deemed a delinquent and saw as beneath his courtesy. Now that Koneko was here, a well known kouhai who was widely liked and respected, he instantly put the front back up to make a good impression on her, while acting like it was my fault she went out of her way to find me.

Too bad for him, she definitely already heard everything and was setting me up to get back at him. I played along with her innocent act, putting on a big friendly smile and taking some inspiration from the main character of that anime we were watching Monday night.

"I wasn't, but Mitsuri-chan convinced me to give it a shot. After handing in my application, Mr. President here-" I leaned over and gave him a couple friendly pats on the back like we were buddies, "-was just going through the do's and don'ts with me." His shoulders were tense, and his fist clenched behind his back.

"That is correct." He played along with the lie with barely any hesitation, anything to protect his carefully curated image. "Unfortunately, there is still some remaining paperwork to make sure whether or not our club is a good fit for Uzumaki-san," he said with an apologetic tone, gesturing with my papers, "so it would be for the best if you could excuse us to get that settled, as it may take a while."

I'll give it to him, he was fairly quick to roll with things and verbally turn a situation around. I think he was trying to be vague enough that he could send her away, and still deny my application later on without coming off as the bad guy.

I grinned. If I was already a delinquent in his eyes, it would be stupid to not use it to my favor.

"Say prez, y'think it's okay for my friend to join us inside for a while, let her hang out a bit and meet the other students? Come on, it should be fine, yeah?" I prodded him with my elbow, playing up the subtly smug tone of someone who knows they won.

From the set of his jaw, he was probably clenching his teeth at his plan being foiled.

Koneko looked up at him, staring into his glasses with the most doll-like expression I'd ever seen her make. "Is that really fine?" She asked innocently.

"That… should be acceptable." He bit out, just barely managing to sound like it didn't physically pain him.

Heheh, sucker.

He stiffly turned and opened the door behind him, gesturing inside with a muttered "after you". Koneko took the invitation first and stepped inside. I followed shortly behind, but not without looking to the side and shooting a smug smirk at the president as I passed him, much to his silent outrage if the vein throbbing on his forehead was to go by.

The room was different from standard classrooms in the main section of the school, not just in terms of layout, but also in size. Being just a club room, it was a bit smaller, but it was on the larger side compared to other club rooms I'd seen in passing. The floor plan was laid out almost like a "U" with tables running along all three other walls, computer stations set up on them at regular intervals. In between the computer tables was mostly open space, broken up by two tables pushed together in a line in the center of the room, making a long table that people had to walk around.

To the right side of the door was a large desk facing the room with some paperwork scattered around it, and next to that on the right wall was a door to what I assumed was a storage closet, given that the club room next door wasn't all that close.

A bit over half of the fifteen or so computer stations were occupied by other students, and there were three students at the center island. Two of them had textbooks out and were chatting as they did homework, while the third was an older looking tanned teen with black hair dyed blond at the tips and a pair of piercings hanging from his ear, who stood leaning over what looked like an opened computer box, various electronic-looking things scattered around his space. He was about as tall as the president If I was guessing correctly.

glanced over as we walked in, eyes flickering between Koneko and I, lingering on me for a moment as he took in my blazer and my awesome sword-that-he-didn't-know-was-a-sword, before focusing past us on the President. He deadpanned at what he saw and brought a hand up to cover his face with a sigh, before straightening up and moving towards us.

"I take it you're looking to join the club?" He asked as he came to stand in front of us.

Koneko shook her head, while I nodded. "I am, she's not. She's just hanging around with me for now since her club let out early."

"Gotcha," He nodded in understanding. "I'd like to hope four-eyes didn't give you too much trouble, but that'd be a damn miracle. Welcome to the club."

"Kanetatsu, please don't get ahead of yourself," the president chided the guy as he approached from behind. "Uzumaki-san's paperwork is not yet official, and I still need to–"

"Ahh just shut the hell up, man." Kanetatsu cut him off with a roll of his eyes. "You always do this, so quick to judge." He looked at me again. "Listen, feel free to ignore this guy when he gets too full of himself and tries throwing his weight around. You already heard him say it, but the name's Kanetatsu." He jabbed a thumb at his chest. "I'm the VP of the club, and that guys senior member too. The only reason he's the prez is 'cuz I just want to mess around with computers, and being in charge would take too much time away from that."

"Tch." The president turned his head away with a sound of annoyance, before turning fully and walking towards the corner desk with a grumble. Was he sulking?

How childish.

"Thanks." Koneko's voice distracted me from the time honored tradition of sticking my tongue out at the retreating back of the loser in this battle.

"Oh right, thanks for the help, Kanetatsu," I said with a sheepish grin.

"Don't worry about it," he waved it off. "It's always great getting new people into the world of tech. Now, why don't I introduce you two to the rest of the members? Oh, and please, feel free to call me Tatsu for short."

(Much later)

After a couple hours of meeting my new club mates and watching as Tatsu explained what he was doing with the computer, the club officially closed for the day, leaving Koneko and I to find something else to do. Given that we already trained yesterday, both of us were feeling like taking more of a lazy day with her weirdly sudden day off, and so decided to start on the second season of that "isekai" anime.

The irony of someone like me watching the genre was not lost on me. I still sometimes smirked in amusement whenever the thought crossed my mind.

Somehow, we ended up at my place instead of the mansion with multiple cutting-edge home theaters, but I couldn't even find it within me to complain about it. The fuzzy feeling in my chest more than made up for the much lower quality set up.

As a hormonal teen, bringing a girl home with me in any capacity, even just as friends, did strange things to my body and mind.

With the newly dubbed Kuro the cat fed and watered in my room while Koneko waited downstairs, I made my way back down in some more comfortable clothes. For some reason, Kuro always seemed to hide in one of the bedrooms whenever my white-haired friend was around. Maybe the cat just naturally sensed something off about her, since she was a youkai?

Thoughts for later.

And so it was relaxing together with the girl I liked on my shitty couch, half-way through watching the second season on my thrift store-tier TV, that we had to pause in order for her to take a sudden phone call.

"Yes, Kiba?"

I couldn't hear what was being said on the other end; I'd noticed before she kept her volume lower than most people, which made sense with her hearing.

"Mm… Why…?" She glanced at me, before reaching over and touching my arm while closing her eyes. Usually her face scrunches up a little when she scans me, but this time her face was relaxed. No slight creases around her eyes, her small nose wasn't twitching or flaring unconsciously, and her smooth, pink lips were–

I tore my gaze away with a blink when I caught myself staring at my friend inappropriately. The warmth of her palm on my skin seemed a bit more intense than usual.

A moment or two later, she pulled away. "... Sure, I'll help. See you soon." She ended the call.

I looked at her in confused curiosity as she met my stare.

"Want to help the boys rescue a nun from Fallen Angels?" She asked plainly.

What?

"I'm down for a rescue operation. But, uhh… how did they get into that sort of situation?"

She shook her head. "Don't know, didn't ask."

"All right," I grunted as I pushed myself up. "Let me get my gear and we can head out." I was always down to help people in serious trouble.

Hopefully it wouldn't end up like the Gaara rescue mission, with someone having to die to save the rescuee.

~,,––,,^^-

I might start drafting up the start of a Youjo Senki/Elden Ring crossover if I find myself procrastinating again this week. Maybe I just need a week off from working on the same story to get back into it, and filling up that first week after posting with a different story would keep me productive without negatively impacting this one.