Before long, Ryuya descended from the sky with Ichika in his arms, landing lightly on the hotel rooftop.
The other four sisters were startled.
"What are you two…?" Miku's eyes immediately narrowed when she saw Ichika being carried by Ryuya, her cheeks puffing up slightly.
Ryuya gently set Ichika down.
"I brought Ichika back."
"Huh? How did you bring her back? Why did you fall from the sky…?" Everyone stared wide-eyed.
Ichika still felt a little weak in the legs, but she laughed it off.
"We jumped across buildings to get here! I used to love riding roller coasters, but compared to what we just did, roller coasters are nothing…"
The sisters exchanged glances. They all knew about Ryuya's abilities. Since he possessed supernatural powers, doing something like that wasn't really surprising.
After spending so much time with him, they had gradually become accustomed to his occasional unbelievable feats.
Ryuya glanced at the time and said, "Come with me. We're going somewhere."
"Huh? Where? The fireworks festival is already over," Itsuki asked curiously.
"You'll see when we get there."
Ryuya answered casually, hands in his pockets as he headed downstairs.
The girls looked at one another before following him. Soon, they arrived at a nearby park.
From a distance, they could already see a small pile of items laid out there. They were personal-use fireworks.
"Huh? Did you buy these?" Ichika asked in surprise.
"All the large fireworks were bought and used up by the festival. The only ones left for sale were these small ones for personal use. I searched quite a while before I managed to find them. I hope you can still enjoy yourselves."
As he spoke softly, Ryuya carried a metal bucket to the riverside, filled it with water, and brought it back as a safety precaution.
"So when you left earlier, you went to look for fireworks?" Itsuki asked quietly.
"Yeah. I also waited for Ichika to finish her audition so I could pick her up."
Yotsuba suddenly looked greatly relieved.
"I thought you were angry…"
Ryuya looked puzzled.
"Angry?"
"Um… you see, Nino said some pretty harsh things earlier. Everyone knows you were just worried about us."
When Itsuki saw the confusion on Ryuya's face, her mood suddenly brightened.
So he really wasn't angry after all!
Ryuya blinked twice in surprise, then calmly replied,
"Who would get angry over something like that?"
"…Because when you left earlier, you really looked like you were angry," Nino muttered softly.
She had actually regretted it for a long time afterward. She had even thought about apologizing to him when she got the chance. But now that the opportunity was here, her pride made it hard to swallow her embarrassment…
Ryuya chuckled helplessly.
"I already told you I'm not angry."
He lit a sparkler with a lighter, then used his magic power to send it shooting into the sky. Once it flew high above, it burst apart, creating the effect of stars scattering across the night sky.
The girls looked up at the sky and all let out a collective "Wow!"
Their excitement quickly grew, and they ran to Ryuya's side, picking out the fireworks they liked and starting to play with them.
Seeing how happy they were, Ryuya walked over to a bench in the park and sat down, quietly watching the five identical girls laughing and playing.
After a while, Nino suddenly walked over and said softly,
"Thanks for today. You worked hard."
Ryuya looked up at her and replied casually, "It's nothing."
"But I still have to thank you. After all, you prepared all of this for us. It makes up for the regret of not being able to watch the fireworks together."
As Nino said that, the other sisters also gathered around.
The five girls stood lined up in front of him. Ryuya let out a slow breath and said calmly,
"The commission I accepted was to watch the fireworks together with the five of you. Since you missed the fireworks festival, it's my responsibility to find a way to make up for it. All of this is simply what I'm supposed to do."
"Uh…"
For a moment, they were all at a loss for words.
So he was pushing everything onto the commission…
Though, when you thought about it, that was technically true.
Ichika smiled helplessly.
That really was just like Ryuya.
Still, the encouragement he had given her and the tolerance he showed toward everyone were completely genuine.
Ichika cleared her throat lightly and said with a smile,
"Don't just sit there like that. Come play with us too. You bought so many fireworks, we need to hurry up and set them all off."
"You could just light several at once."
"Haha, then come help us light them."
The girls pulled him over to help.
Ryuya's eyes flickered slightly as he clearly sensed their emotional fluctuations growing stronger.
One could easily imagine that the "price" he would collect later would increase as well.
Heh, fair enough. At least it means all the effort I put into this wasn't wasted.
Ryuya smiled inwardly and joined them in playing with the fireworks.
…
The next day.
After classes ended, Rias brought everyone from the Occult Research Club to Ryuya's house.
"For the next week, the old school building area will be undergoing a major cleanup. All club activity rooms will be temporarily closed. Ryuya, we'll hold our regular meetings at your house for now."
Hearing Rias say that, Ryuya really wanted to complain about why they didn't just go to the enormous castle that belonged to Rias instead of coming to his relatively small villa.
Sure, his house was fairly large, but compared to Rias's ancient castle, the difference was enormous…
Well, staying at his own house was fine too. At the very least, it felt comfortable.
In the living room, the regular meeting began. Rias reviewed the number of contract requests everyone had completed.
"This month's contract totals: Akeno has eleven, Koneko has eight, Asia has four, and Ryuya has twelve. Those are all pretty good numbers."
"My, my… I didn't expect first place to go to Ryuya," Akeno said with a hint of surprise.
Ryuya smiled slightly.
"Just good luck. You might not believe it, but I ran into a set of quintuplets. Each of them commissioned me twice."
"That kind of luck is unbelievable," Koneko muttered. "What kind of probability is it for humans to give birth to quintuplets?"
"And Ryuya also has a Faith Contract…" Asia said with a hint of envy. She had only completed four contracts.
Rias smiled and comforted her.
"As a newly reincarnated devil, completing four contracts is already a very good result, Asia. Don't compare yourself to Ryuya. This guy is basically a monster in every category."
"Hehe, I feel like Ryuya will be the first among us to become a High-Class Devil," Akeno said with a sigh of admiration.
But Rias looked slightly worried.
Ever since the Rating Game ended a few days ago, Ryuya's existence had become known to every faction.
To be honest, she had been worried these past few days. Ryuya was far too special. She feared that certain people might start targeting him, trying to uncover the secrets surrounding him.
Ryuya himself was mentally prepared to some extent.
But worry was one thing, life still had to go on. It wasn't like he could live every day trembling in fear.
Before the storm arrived, the only thing he could do was become stronger as much as possible.
…
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