In the clubroom of the ORC things were very quiet. The only people in the room were Issei and Rias. The other devils were out doing their jobs and Mash had to go home since Da Vinci needed her at Chaldea for something. Rias was doing her usual reports while Issei, with nothing else to do was brushing up on some of his old magecraft lessons. It had been some time since the others left and the atmosphere in the room was a bit awkward. After a while Issei decided to break the silence. "Those guys sure have been gone for a while," he said awkwardly. Really? That's the best I could come up with, he thought to himself.

Rias smiled at him. "Yeah, the customers this time around have been waiting for everyone since we had to deal with the Excalibur incident. Kiba especially, since he went off on his own for days on end. He has a long backlog to fill."

"I'm more concerned about Asia and Xenovia. I know they're together because Xenovia needs to learn about doing jobs but, she lacks common sense and Asia tends to get wrapped up in the flow of things easily."

"You could have gone with her if you were that worried."

"N-no, it's not that. I guess I'm just being over-protective."

"You really treasure Asia, don't you?"

Issei scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It's just, she is too innocent and having been around all kinds of people, some with less than pleasant personalities, Asia is a rare find as far as people's personalities are concerned. It just makes me want to protect her in a way that is different from my want to protect Mashu."

"Is that why you don't make a move on her?" Issei looked at Rias confused. Rias sighed and continued. "I know you tend to think that we're teasing you, but you can't keep thinking like that if you want to be a harem king. You can't really think that she's sleeping with us nude just because she sees me and Mash doing it."

I kinda was actually, Issei thought, but he wasn't gonna say that out loud.

"She likes you, but she has never been in love before and considering how she was raised in the church her best option is to copy what we are doing to get your attention. If you really want to protect her you should claim her as your woman before someone else tries to," said Rias with a bit of exasperation.

"They'll claim her over my dead body!" said Issei with a bit of a murderous glare in his eyes.

Rias showed a wry smile. "That's the spirit. If you're a man, then you'll step up and claim what's yours." Her look changed from wry to mischievous. "Speaking of claiming what's yours, we haven't had some one-on-one time in a while." She got up from her desk and started walking towards Issei. "I've been wanting to spend some alone time with my precious Issei for a while now, and since this is a rare chance since Mash isn't here, why don't I spoil you a bit?" She came and sat next to him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Why don't you relax and lay down on my lap?" she said while patting her leg.

Issei was trying to control himself, but he was obviously excited. A lap pillow?! I am so happy to be alive right now! he thought to himself and laid down on Rias' lap. As he was relaxing Rias was running her hand through his hair soothingly. Issei looked up from his spot on her lap and was met with his favorite view of Rias' breasts. He could barely see Rias' face and was hoping the same was true for her because he was pretty sure he was making a very perverted face.

He was wrong however as Rias made a mischievous smile again at seeing his face. "Like what you see?" she teased. At her comment Issei tried to fix his expression but Rias stopped him. "You don't have to hide your face Issei. I told you before, I was always fond of how you used to be. It shows me how you really feel. You tend to have a sharp tongue when you speak and are honest when you talk, but you rarely show how you're feeling. I want to see more of the old you, the part of you that was unrestrained and was clear with his desires," she said emotionally.

Issei had a conflicted look. "I don't think there was anything special about the old me. Sure, I was honest, but that was as much a detriment as it was a benefit," he said with a bit of sadness in his voice.

Rias brought him up and laid his head on her chest. "Don't be so self-deprecating. Even if you understand that you may have acted poorly in the past it doesn't mean you should give up on who you used to be. If you're not comfortable showing it in public that's fine, but you shouldn't have to hide it when you're at home, or with us." Rias looked Issei in the eyes. "Just like how you wanted to see the real me when you helped me, I want to see the real you. Will you let me?" she asked in an almost innocent tone.

Issei still looked conflicted but after a bit he decided to do as Rias asked. He readjusted himself and completely enveloped himself in Rias' breasts. "Boobs…" he muttered quietly. Rias let out a small laugh but embraced him gently. After Issei had his fill, he removed his face from Rias' chest and he had a blissful expression. His eyes eventually met Rias' again and he moved in and kissed her. They made out for what seemed like hours but was actually a few minutes until Issei pushed her down on the couch. Issei was now on top of Rias as they stared at each other. Issei was looking her up and down and eventually met her gaze again. He was on his last leg in terms of restraint and was silently looking for confirmation from Rias to continue. After a bit she showed a smile and gave a small nod for him to go ahead. With the ok, Issei began undoing her top.

But as if to mess with him, a light from a summoning circle appeared in the room and Akeno returned from her job. She gave a long stretch as she spoke. "My, that job was long. Rias-buchou, Issei-kun, I'm ba-" She paused mid-sentence at the scene in front of her with the pair looking like deer caught in headlights. She gave a mischievous and seductive smile. "Ara ara, am I interrupting something? Maybe I should come back later. Or maybe you'd like me to join in?" she said teasingly.

Issei immediately got off Rias and was now covering his face. He was now too emotionally unstable to play off what he was doing and was now avoiding eye contact. Rias tried to look refined as she fixed her top, but she was clearly annoyed that her time with Issei was cut short. "How did your job go Akeno?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"It was fine Buchou. How was your alone time with Issei-kun?" she shot back teasingly.

"It was fine until you showed up," she said, her tone becoming more annoyed.

"No need to be so upset, Rias. If you want, we can continue where you left off," said Akeno, licking her lips.

Issei finally removed his hands from his face looking at the pair but staying silent. Rias saw his reaction out of the corner of her eye and decided to capitalize on it. "That might not be a bad idea Akeno," she said with a small smile.

Both Issei and Akeno were staring at Rias with surprise. Akeno had a suspicious look. "Why the sudden change Rias?"

Rias smiled confidently and turned to Issei. "I know I said I want you to be yourself around me, but you should be like that with the others too. I know it might be a bit much but why don't we continue like Akeno suggested?"

Akeno now understood what Rias was trying to do while Issei was still conflicted. Before he could come to a decision the light of a summoning circle happened again and Koneko returned. When she appeared she was confused about what was happening and with that Issei got up and left the room. Akeno looked a bit disappointed. "Aw, he ran away."

"I guess that was still a bit much for him, but we made progress at least," said Rias. Akeno nodded in agreement, with Koneko still being lost.

Issei, who had left the room, was walking around the club building trying to recompose himself. Ddraig, who had seen his partner's state, decided to talk. [Partner, why are you acting so childish? You should be used to things like this by now. I was surprised you didn't take the queen up on her offer.]

"Look, I, just couldn't think straight at the moment. Having lost my memory, learned manners and how to act all over again, and then gained them back, I feel very conflicted about my old personality. I'm happy to find people who would have accepted the old me but-" Issei took a deep breath. "At this point I think the only thing stopping me from showing them who I am is me (no shit Sherlock)," he said with a bit of melancholy.

Ddraig understood to some degree. Even though he was awakened when Issei lost his memories, he was able to see into his memories when they came back. Suffice to say, Issei was weirdo even by weirdo standards in Ddraig's opinion. [Well in the end it's up to you, but if you plan on helping those other two girls who you planned on helping, I think you should take your own advice and accept yourself first.]

Issei laughed mockingly at himself because he knew Ddraig was right. "Yeah, I'm better at giving advice rather than following it. Should work on that too."

As Issei was looking dispirited, someone unexpected appeared. "Hey there Ritsuka-kun~," said Merlin cheerfully.

"Merlin? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here because I learned something that might be of interest to you," said Merlin casually.

Issei cocked an eyebrow at him. "What is it?"

"I've had a premonition, a vision of the future. Your future," said Merlin.

"Why of mine?"

"I'm not sure, but what I saw was hazy, but I could see the result without question," he said, dragging out the explanation. Issei gave Merlin a look for him to get to the point. "I saw you dying," said Merlin calmly.

Issei did his best not to show his surprise and kept a stoic and calm atmosphere. "What caused it? Do you know when?"

"Unfortunately not. As I said it was quite hazy, but from what I saw it will probably be soon since you didn't look much different from how you do now. The vision happened not long after your encounter with the white dragon."

"I see…"

"What will you do Master? Are you going to try and defy your fate?" asked Merlin with almost twisted humor.

"That would be preferable, but it isn't uncommon for someone to cause their fate in an attempt to prevent it, so I'm going to do what I always do, and if it should come to pass then so be it."

"Are you going to tell the others? Do you not think they should know?"

"It would only cause problems and misery if they knew, so I won't tell them." Issei made a deep sigh before looking directly at Merlin. "To be honest I was already preparing myself for a sad separation. Rias and the others will live for thousands of years, long after my life would have expired naturally. I was always prepared to die before them, so I was going to live my life with them the way the doctor wanted me too."

"The way Romani Archman wanted?" mimicked Merlin confused.

"He said that life is a journey of love and hope, as such I've decided since that day that I will live my life so that no matter how much time I have, the people in my life would be happy and that I would live without regret. Of course, there is no way for me to get rid of all my regret but, we can't have everything we want," he said repeating the words he said to Raynare in their final battle.

Merlin had an indescribable expression of happiness and a wicked sense of pleasure, similar to how he felt when he told Artoria about her own tragic fate. "If that is the case, then I will watch over your tale to the very end, Master."

"Thank you, Merlin, for everything. I will keep your warning in mind as I push forward." After the conversation he went back to the clubroom where everyone else had returned already. Rias gave him a caring smile which he returned, and they all continued their business as usual.

Hey guys! So, a bit of behind the scenes here, originally the last part with Merlin wasn't in this chapter, but when I was writing this chapter a channel I'm subscribed to released a video about an, at the time, recently translated fate story about Artoria's backstory that was Japan only for a while. In it Merlin tells and shows Artoria her tragic future if she pulls the sword of selection and she does it anyway. This inspired me to do something similar for this story, and as far as what death is foretold for Issei, I'm sure people who have read the light novels have an idea of what part of the story this is. On the topic of the rest of the chapter, I was rereading the old chapters I wrote when trying to get ideas for some filler and I realized that while I was implying a lot of "action" between Issei and the girls, I was more or less focusing on the story. In other words, I was too focused on the plot and not enough on the "plot". This is partly because I wasn't really confident in my ability to do a believable scene without being too light or too overdone, but I think I did a good job on this considering how other anime handle relationships between character love interests, but that is up for the readers to decide. On a final note, I've been working on the DxD, Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover story and have done three chapters but it's not coming out in a way that I'm satisfied with, so it's gonna be a bit before I release any of those chapters. So starting this month I'm going back to writing this story and working on the next arc. I will go back to that story when I'm sure I know what to write for it because I have good ideas for it but not a good way to string it all together. So, with that said, look forward to the last chapter of this volume sometime next month and the beginning of the Factions Conference Arc after that. Oh yeah! Almost forgot. Here is another question for you all. What Servant would you give each DxD character? I look forward to the answers in the comments. ; )