KUOH ACADEMY – STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM
Kuoh Academy had regained its normal appearance, but Gasper could still sense the invisible marks left by the last battle.
His bats continued moving beyond human sight, scattered across rooftops and exterior corridors, while he walked through the main building toward the student council room.
The reason for his visit was simple. Xenovia and Selene needed to be enrolled in the school, and Sona had enough authority to handle that without relying on documents, lengthy excuses, or inconvenient explanations.
Gasper stopped in front of the door and knocked twice.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Come in."
Sona's firm voice came from the other side.
Gasper opened the door and found Sona behind the main desk, with Tsubaki beside her organizing some documents. Both raised their eyes at the same time, and for a moment the room became far too quiet for a place that had already returned to normal operations.
Sona rose from her chair before he could say anything. Her posture was impeccable, her glasses perfectly aligned, and her expression controlled, but Gasper noticed the stiffness in her shoulders and the exhaustion hidden behind the formality.
"Gasper." Sona inclined her head slightly, maintaining a serious tone. "Before anything else, I need to formally thank you for saving the surviving members of my peerage."
Tsubaki also stood and repeated the gesture respectfully.
"I thank you as well, Gasper-san." The Sitri Queen's voice remained calm, but her gratitude was genuine. "Without your intervention, our losses would have been far greater."
Gasper watched the two of them for a moment.
'That's exactly the kind of attitude I'd expect from Sona.'
Even while carrying grief, guilt, and pressure, Sona still found room to follow etiquette, acknowledge help, and maintain her position as King in front of her own Queen. It suited her perfectly.
"You don't need to thank me." Gasper entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I did what needed to be done."
Sona raised her face, and for a second, the serious mask seemed to crack. The lapse was brief, almost invisible, but Gasper saw it.
"Even so, thank you." Sona sat back down, indicating a chair in front of the desk. "Did you come to discuss something specific?"
"I did." Gasper sat down without hurry, but kept his eyes on her. "Before that, I want to know how you're doing."
Tsubaki shifted her gaze toward Sona, as though she too was waiting for the answer. The silence that emerged between them made it clear that this question had already been asked more than once since Tomoe's death.
Sona adjusted her glasses.
"I'm fine." She pulled a folder closer, using the movement as support to regain her composure. "I've returned to my duties, the student council is functioning, and the Sitri peerage will continue fulfilling its responsibilities during the conference."
Gasper held her gaze without immediately answering. Every word was correct, well organized, and far too perfect to be true.
'I won't contradict her in front of Tsubaki.'
Gasper rested one hand on the desk and, after a few seconds, placed it over Sona's hand. The touch was neither abrupt nor possessive, only firm enough to stop her from escaping into the documents.
"Sona, you're an incredible King." Gasper spoke in a low voice, without turning it into a speech. "Tomoe died because of a trap prepared by powerful and cowardly enemies, not because you failed as a master."
Sona went still.
Tsubaki watched the scene in silence but did not interfere.
"You protected those you still could, withdrew your peerage from the battlefield, and remained standing even after that." Gasper kept his hand over hers, preventing Sona from hiding behind routine. "That doesn't erase the pain, but it doesn't make you a failure either."
Sona looked at his hand over hers and took a deep breath. Her expression remained serious, but her fingers relaxed slightly.
"You make it sound simple."
"It isn't simple." Gasper replied without looking away. "But it's true."
Sona closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them again, the pain was still there, but less hidden.
"Thank you, Gasper."
Gasper nodded naturally, although his thoughts followed a much less noble path.
'Is it wrong to take advantage of someone's grief to flirt with her? Yes, definitely.'
He kept a calm expression.
'But since I'm a devil, it doesn't matter.'
Tsubaki discreetly cleared her throat, and Gasper decided to remove his hand before the scene stopped looking like consolation and became something else. Sona also regained her composure, although she had not immediately pulled her hand away.
"So." Sona returned her focus to the practical matter, as though she needed that structure to continue. "You came because of Xenovia?"
"Because of Xenovia and Selene." Gasper leaned back in the chair. "I want to enroll both of them at Kuoh Academy."
Sona showed no surprise at hearing Xenovia's name. She had already interacted with the exorcist and knew that she was now part of Gasper's peerage. Selene, however, was someone she only knew from reports.
"Selene is the Bishop you reincarnated before Xenovia, correct?" Sona asked, already pulling out a blank form.
"Yes." Gasper confirmed. "She's still adapting, but she needs to learn how to live in the human world and get used to the group's routine."
"And Xenovia needs to learn practically everything that doesn't involve a sword." Tsubaki commented calmly.
"Exactly." Gasper made no attempt to defend his new Knight. "Ravel is teaching her etiquette and devil society, but school should help correct some basic problems."
Sona wrote down some information on the form and handled the enrollment efficiently. The lack of documents was not a real obstacle inside a school controlled by devils, especially with the student council president signing the authorization.
"I can place them in the same class." Sona studied the schedules for a few seconds. "That will make supervision easier and prevent Xenovia from being left alone for too long."
"Good decision." Gasper imagined Xenovia answering ordinary questions from human students and concluded that leaving her unsupervised would be asking for disaster.
"I'll be direct." Sona looked at him over her glasses. "If she causes problems, I'll hold you responsible."
"Fair." Gasper accepted without complaint. "But try to warn me before expelling her."
"I don't intend to expel her." Sona resumed writing. "I intend to correct the problem before it turns into a diplomatic incident."
Tsubaki collected the signed papers and organized everything into a separate folder.
"Selene and Xenovia's enrollment will be ready later today." Tsubaki looked at Gasper. "They'll be able to start tomorrow."
"Thank you." Gasper rose from the chair. "That'll make things much easier."
Sona also stood, maintaining the composure she used to conclude official matters.
She inclined her head slightly. "And, Gasper... thank you for what you said."
Gasper stopped in front of the door and looked at her one last time.
"You don't have to carry everything alone."
Sona did not answer, but the change in her gaze was enough for Gasper to know that his words had hit their mark. He left the room shortly afterward, closing the door carefully.
CLICK.
His absence made the room seem quieter.
Tsubaki waited a few seconds before approaching the desk.
"You seemed less tense while talking to him."
Sona sat back down, but did not immediately return to the documents.
"Gasper is more mature than he looks." She looked at her own hand, remembering his touch against her fingers. "He understands when someone is trying to keep their composure even while they're broken inside."
Tsubaki remained beside the desk.
"He also seems to carry a lot without saying anything."
"Yes." Sona picked up the pen, but did not write. "My sister told me about his role in the Peace Conference."
Tsubaki frowned slightly.
"Serafall-sama spoke to you about that?"
"She did." Sona rested the pen against the paper. "During the conference, even with Rias and me formally responsible for Kuoh's security, Gasper will be the main response force if something goes wrong."
Tsubaki fell silent for a moment.
"I didn't know that."
"Very few people do." Sona turned her gaze toward the window. "Officially, Rias and I will handle the local organization. But if the Old Satan Faction acts again, the fastest response will probably come from him."
The Sitri Queen absorbed the information seriously. She had already seen Gasper act during the crisis, but hearing that the Maous themselves considered him a central piece of the conference's security gave his presence a different weight.
"Doesn't that put too much pressure on him?" Tsubaki asked.
"It does." Sona interlaced her fingers over the desk. "But Gasper is already at the center of all this, whether he wants to be or not."
The sentence lingered in the air for a few seconds. Kokabiel, the barrier, the capture of the fallen angels, and now the conference. Everything seemed to revolve increasingly closer around him.
Sona took a deep breath and pulled the enrollment folder closer.
"That's why we'll do our part." She recovered the firmness of the student council president. "If Gasper is going to protect Kuoh, then at least we can make sure he doesn't have to worry about documents, classes, and school problems."
Tsubaki nodded.
"Understood."
Sona began filling in Selene and Xenovia's final information. The gesture was simple, almost insignificant compared to the war that seemed to be approaching, but it was a way to keep the gears turning.
And in that city, which was about to receive the leaders of the Three Factions, everyone needed to fulfill their role before the next attack came.
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