This chapter ended up being a lot shorter than intended but considering how the following scenes aren't really tied to what will happen this chapter, I'll put it in the next one where I think it will fit better. Anyway, this chapter will go further into Fumiko and Akira's backstory. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

After the meeting with Genesis Director Grimm Red, Luke and Fumiko were walking through town to a particular location. Luke had received a text message from Issei earlier that day, requesting him to come to Modest Major with Fumiko after the club meeting. After several minutes of walking, they arrived at Modest Major and entered the establishment, with Katherine waiting for them behind the counter.

"Ah!" Katherine blushed upon noticing Luke entering. "Um, hi. Eh, please come upstairs."

Luke and Fumiko followed Katherine up the staircase and into the Velvet Suite, where the other members of Melody's peerage were waiting.

"Good, that's everyone." Akira said, standing between the chairs Melody and Misaki were sitting in. "Thank you, Hyoudou."

"Akira-san wanted me to ask you to come here." Issei stated to Luke and Fumiko.

"How come just us and not the rest of the Occult Research Club?" Luke asked.

"Fumiko is my little sister, and she seems pretty close to you." Akira replied. "Out of everyone in the Gremory peerage, you deserve to know this as much as everyone else here. Although, Melody-sama, Misaki-senpai, and Katherine-chan already know everything. You already know about our parents, right, Luke-kun?"

Luke nodded.

"Well, it's time to hear my side of the story…" Akira began recalling painful memories. "Our parents only met because their parents knew each other. Since they were both always busy with work, a mentality pushed onto them by their parents, they agreed to the marriage and later, Fumiko and I were born. Even as newborns, our parents were mostly working. Thankfully, one of our neighbors was kind enough to look after us while they were at work. To be honest, she was much more of a parent to us than they were. That's how it was until we reached elementary school. About seven years ago, I didn't do very well on a test…"

(A nine-year-old Akira was being yelled at by her father as an eight-year-old Fumiko watched.

"What the hell is this?!" Mr. Kazuya shouted. "We work our asses off to pay for your education and this is how you repay us?!"

"I-I studied as hard as I could!" The young Akira pleaded.

"Clearly not enough!" He slammed a glass bottle against the table and broke it.

"It's a hard subject for me! I really did try my best!"

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

Mr. Kazuya swung his arm with the broken glass bottle at Akira, cutting her underneath her left eye.

"AH!" Akira clutched her left eye as the wound underneath immediately started bleeding profusely.

"Onee-chan!" Fumiko exclaimed as she ran over to Akira's side.)

Akira touched the scar under her eye and Issei gritted his teeth in anger.

"That piece of shit!" Issei growled.

Akira continued. "After that… I decided to run away and take Fumiko with me, but…"

(On the same night Akira was cut by her father, she and Fumiko were lying on an air mattress. Akira had a bandage over her left eye and was unable to fall asleep.

"… Fumiko, are you awake?" Akira whispered to her.

"Y-yes." Fumiko replied.

Akira sat up. "We can't stay here anymore. You saw what our father did to me. I say we should run away. Tonight."

"R-r-r-run away?"

"Yeah." Akira grabbed one of their old blankets and started packing her clothes into it. "Gather your things, Fumiko. I'd rather take my chances at an orphanage than spend another night here."

"But what about our parents?"

"They're the reason we need to leave." Akira finished packing her things. "Ready, Fumiko?"

However, Fumiko was incredibly reluctant to follow Akira's lead.

"Fumiko?"

"I can't… I can't… I can't just abandon the people who gave birth to us!"

"Fumiko…"

Akira reached her hand out to Fumiko, but she backed away and Akira was taken aback by her reaction.

"… One day, you'll need to stand up for yourself." Akira quietly approached their bedroom door. "I'll be waiting for you."

Akira snuck out of the apartment alone, regretful that she couldn't take her dear little sister with her.)

"… That was the last time I saw you before last week." Fumiko's words confirmed that Akira's story was true.

"Unfortunately, life wasn't that much better after I ran away from home. I was so cold and hungry I was beginning to regret my decision… that's when I met him. Hiro Fukunaga."

"Wait, you're not talking about that Hiro Fukunaga, are you?" Hikaru questioned.

"Who is he?" Luke asked.

"He was a member of the yakuza!"

"Seriously?!" Issei was shocked. "You were actually taken in by the yakuza, Akira?!"

"What's a 'yakuza'?" Asia tilted her head in confusion.

Akira nodded at Issei's question. "Yeah, they gave me food, a bed, and most of all, a real family. In exchange, they had me do cleaning at their casinos."

"By 'cleaning', do you mean…?" Spiral was about to raise his concern.

"Relax, they didn't want a kid to be doing any of the illegal stuff, so I was doing actual cleaning. Sweeping, cooking, and washing dishes, those kinds of things."

"Are you still with the yakuza today?" Luke inquired.

"Not for the last three years, since I became a Devil."

"H-how did you go from being in the yakuza to becoming a Devil?" Fumiko asked.

"… One day, Hiro and I were taking a ride when a rival family ambushed us… He tried to shield me from the bullets… he didn't make it, and I received a few shots in the chest. I crawled out of the car, begging for someone to help… I passed out. Next thing I know, I was reincarnated as a Devil."

"That's horrible…" Azusa looked down at the floor in sorrow.

"That's my story." Akira sighed. "But there's still one more thing I need to say… Fumiko?"

Fumiko became attentive once again.

"Getting cut by that bottle… wasn't the main reason I ran away. That would be… Ah, I know you don't want to hear this, but… you need to."

(After receiving that cut by her father, Akira went to the bathroom to wash off the blood and apply a bandage to it. An hour had passed, and she was finally able to stop the bleeding and put a bandage over her eye. On the way to her room, she could overhear her parents talking in another room.

"You did the right thing." She heard the voice of her mother. "If that leaves a scar, she will know to study harder, so she doesn't get another one."

"We work our asses off so that those girls can have a good education." Her father said. "That's the only reason we had 'em."

Akira's eyes widened upon hearing her father's words.

"Once those girls get high-paying jobs, we'll never have to work another day in our lives." Mrs. Kazuya stated.

"All our hard work will finally pay off. And it'll be even better if they find rich husbands. We really hit the jackpot with Fumiko, though! She picks up on things very quickly and she wants to be a doctor, but she's still naïve and easy to control!")

"That's a lie!" Fumiko stood up and shouted. "No-no one could be that callous… Especially to their children…"

"I knew you would get like this when I told you." Akira lowered her eyes. "That's why I had to bring it up last."

Luke looked at Fumiko, who had a complicated expression. "… Fumiko."

Fumiko suddenly ran out of the room.

"Fumiko!" Luke followed after her.

"Should we go after them?" Misaki asked Melody.

"No." Akira replied. "If Fumiko won't listen to me, she won't listen to any of you guys. It would be for the best if those in the same peerage helped her out."

Something caught Issei's sight, and he could make out a couple of tears dropping from Akira's eyes.

Luke had chased Fumiko for a while and when they finally stopped, he realized that they were across the street from the rundown apartment she lived in.

"Fumiko, what are we doing here?" Luke inquired.

"I-I need to ask my parents myself." Fumiko said. "They can't be so cruel to their children."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Fumiko reluctantly nodded.

"… I'll do it, then." Luke offered.

"Huh?"

"If your parents see you, they're only going to be more belligerent and refuse to answer your questions. You can listen in on our conversation nearby."

Fumiko thought about Luke's proposal for a few seconds. "O-okay."

As Fumiko hid around the corner of the apartment building, Luke approached the front door and rang the doorbell. He heard someone inside walking toward the door and when it opened, he saw a muscular, middle-aged man with aqua colored hair answer.

"Who are you?" The man asked in a tone that indicated that he was greatly agitated.

"I-I'm Fumiko's classmate and I happened to see her coming in this apartment once." Luke answered using half-truths. "I haven't seen her in the last couple of days. Would you happen to be her father?"

"Well, if you ever see her, tell her to come straight home before I have to find her myself and drag her back!"

"… If I may ask, how do you view Fumiko?"

"That's a weird question, but all right."

While in hiding, Fumiko paid close attention to what her father was about to say.

"My wife and I have been working ourselves ragged for as long as we can remember. We never had a moment to really enjoy ourselves. One day, my wife had an idea… what if we had children that could become successful? We wouldn't need to work ever again. We had another daughter, but she ran away from home, so Fumiko is our only chance at the easy life. That's why she's forbidden from having friends or hobbies. They would only distract her from her studies, and she won't get scholarships or recommendations, making things harder for us 'cause we have to foot that bill."

"So, Fumiko is just an investment to you?"

"Yes."

Luke looked at Mr. Kazuya's eyes and could tell that his words were sincere.

"… I'm sorry for bothering you. I hope Fumiko returns home soon."

Even though Luke was well aware that his own words were a lie, he was trying his best to contain his disgust of having to say such a thing.

"Well, I need to get ready for my night job. Bye."

After Mr. Kazuya closed the door, Luke looked toward the corner of the apartment building and just as he walked toward it, Fumiko bolted into the streets. Luke wanted to call out to Fumiko, but he knew that her father would hear him, so he just chased after her again.

Akira was walking down the streets and as she passed by the park, she saw two little girls with their mother and father. The sight of such a close family filled Akira with sorrow.

"Well, either I'm seeing a ghost or Akira-chan is fine and dandy."

Finding the voice familiar, Akira looked over and saw a well-dressed young man that looked to be about ten years older than her with slick, dark hair coming up to her with a friendly smile.

"Yagami-san!" Akira smiled back and the two briefly hugged. "It's been years!"

"Where've you been all this time?" The man Akira called Yagami asked. "We thought you died with Fukunaga-san."

"I nearly did. Thankfully, someone passing by saved my life."

"Are they treating you well? Doing honest work with them?"

Akira nodded.

"Good. That's all that matters."

"Hey?"

"Hm?"

"Remember how I told you about my little sister, Fumiko?"

"Mm-hm."

"I saw her again recently. She's… still living with our parents. I told her what they really think of us… but she didn't take it well…"

"Well, I hope she comes around sooner rather than later."

"Yeah… I hope so, too."

Fumiko ran inside the Sigmund residence, passed Seth and Hana who were sitting on the couch, and toward the hallways leading to the bedrooms, entering Luke's room, and locking the door. Following from behind her, Luke stood in front of his bedroom door and knocked.

"Fumiko, can you let me in?"

There was no response, but Luke could make out the sound of sobbing from the other side of the door.

Maybe I should just leave her be for a while… Luke contemplated. Or I could ask Seth what to do.

Luke was about to head toward the living room, but he looked back at his locked bedroom door, and tightened his fist with resolve.

No… I need to figure this out on my own. I can't keep asking Seth or President for help when I'm in a corner.

He held out his hand and there was a sapphire glow in his palm. When the light died down, a key made of sapphire dragon scales appeared in his hand.

"Skeleton Key." He muttered under his breath.

As he was about to put the key in the keyhole, it began to alter its shape and smoothly slipped into the lock. With a turn of the lock, Luke was able to open the door and saw Fumiko sitting on his bed and crying. She looked up to see him, only to continue crying and Luke sat down next to her.

"W-wuh-why…" Fumiko sobbed, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Why don't they love me…"

"Fumiko…"

"Lu-Luke-san… do you know why I wanted to become a doctor?" Fumiko sniffled. "I… I wanted to help people in pain. Especially my parents… They always looked exhausted and miserable when they came home from work… I… I studied harder than anyone… Just so I could ease their pain, but… Parents are supposed to love their children… Did… Did I do something wrong? WHY WON'T THEY LOVE ME?!"

While her eyes were slammed shut as she shouted, Fumiko suddenly felt something wrap around her and pull her in. Upon opening her eyes, she saw Luke had embraced her and was gently petting the back of her head as tears trickled from his eyes.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Fumiko…" Luke spoke to her softly. "You're the sweetest person I know, and you absolutely deserve to be loved."

"L… Luke… san…"

"President, Akira, everyone in our club, and me… We want you to be happy and fulfill your dreams. You don't need your parents to love you… you just need our love."

Fumiko burst into tears once again, but this time these tears were those of joy and relief. Her eyes were closed the entire time, but she could feel the warmth of Luke's embrace as she cried until she fell asleep.

Outside of the room, Setsuna had quietly watched the whole thing without either Luke or Fumiko noticing her. Even from such a distance away, Setsuna could feel Luke's gentleness which left her with a soft smile.

A/N: You have no idea how many times I thought to myself that the last scene wasn't good enough. Thankfully, I went over it with my consultants beforehand and they agreed that it was good. This moment marks a turning point in their relationship

And yeah, before becoming a Devil, Akira was in the yakuza. Not something I intended when I created her but felt like it would be something interesting for her.

The next chapter will be sorting out the team that will be exploring Seihai Station in search of the Aegis and the search itself. It should be the penultimate chapter of the arc, but naturally it won't be smooth sailing.

I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!

Luke Harem: Rias Gremory, Annabelle Wright

Issei Harem: Misaki Shirayuki, Asia Argento, Hikaru Ueda

Rias Gremory Peerage: Rias Gremory (King), Akeno Himejima (Queen), Yuuto Kiba (Knight), Xenovia Quarta (Knight), Koneko Toujo (Rook), Fumiko Kazuya (Bishop), Gasper Vladi (Bishop), Luke Sigmund (8 Pawns)

Seth Sigmund Peerage: Seth Sigmund (King), Annabelle Wright (Queen), Alastair Wright (Rook), Emery Belmont (Rook), Hana Sakuya (2 Bishops)

Melody Morag Peerage: Melody Morag (King), Misaki Shirayuki (Queen), Katherine Petrova (Knight), Spiral Hirano (Knight), Azusa Hirano (Rook), Akira Kazuya (Rook), Hikaru Ueda (Bishop), Asia Argento (Bishop), Issei Hyoudou (8 Pawns)