"Very well then, what will your standing be in this town?"
"Ah, I've already settled that with the Gremory heiress. Beyond self-defense, I'll intervene only if a situation slips beyond your ability to handle or if something left unchecked threatens to cause harm to my faction. In short, no cooperation, no joint combat—a mutual non-aggression pact."
"Rias..."
Though Sona had pulled herself together to ask, hearing Renya's answer nearly made her bury her face in her hands over her best friend's handling of the situation.
She managed to hold back, though. Being unable to rely on significant martial strength in a crisis was problematic, but paradoxically, if she thought of it as no different from how things had always been, there wasn't much of an issue.
"Anyway, that's how it is. If I recall, your territory is the town adjacent to this one, correct? In that case, you have no say in the arrangements within this town, do you?"
"No, if that's what you settled with Rias, the feudal lord of this town, I have no standing to interfere. However, within the confines of this academy, the matter is entirely different."
'So that's why he went to Rias first, at the old school building separate from the new one,' Sona realized with chagrin.
Faced with Renya's shrewd maneuvering, she couldn't help but keenly regret the loss of any possibility of cooperation or joint combat.
But on this one point, Sona was unwilling to compromise; she fixed Renya with a resolute stare and spoke.
"I cherish this academy. I find my work on the student council genuinely rewarding. For that reason, I will not permit anyone to disturb the peace of this school—be it Rias, or you, or anyone else."
"And since we're nothing more than mere students at this academy, we won't be causing any trouble. Which means neither of us has anything to worry about."
"Yes, I sincerely hope so."
Sona let out a small sigh in response to Renya, who spoke without the slightest sign of concern.
To think that both she and Rias had been so thoroughly handled by someone a full year their junior—it made her wonder, albeit privately, whether being hailed as a prodigy wasn't something of an overestimation.
"Speaking of which, what about the ones currently disturbing the peace... Hyoudou, Matsuda, and Motohama, was it? What's being done about those guys?"
"...Regarding them, the student council has been at its wits' end. We've repeatedly issued warnings and made them write reflections, but with little to no effect... and yet, even the student council finds it difficult to resort to anything more drastic. After all, this town is ultimately Rias's territory..."
At the mention of the academy's shame—which even Renya, a brand-new transfer student, was already aware of—Sona spoke as if deeply embarrassed, letting out a rueful sigh.
Petitions had flooded the student council countless times over, and the council members—all of them servants of the Sitri household—shared Sona's constant vexation.
Worse still, those petitions came not just from female students but from male students as well.
Whether from boyfriends, close seniors or juniors, mere friends, or simply fellow male students who didn't want to be lumped together with them, the complaints were diverse.
Yet within the academy, not a single student—and certainly no faculty member—ever defended that degenerate trio.
"Under normal circumstances, the best they'd get is suspension, and at worst, expulsion followed by arrest. Is this also the effect of that barrier Rias put up?"
"Quite so... For the time being, it seems it's become a battle of sheer patience."
At Renya's words, Sona nodded, picking up her cup to refresh herself with a sip of black tea.
Then, looking to shift the mood, Sona spoke again.
"So, have you found any promising candidates for servants?"
"No, unfortunately not yet. Well, it's a partner I'll be with for a long, long time, so I'll take my time searching."
As a former school for refined young ladies, the academy boasted students with notably high individual specs. Even the male students, having managed to gain admission to such a school, possessed talents that were far from mediocre.
However, within the scope of what he'd seen today, Renya hadn't laid eyes on anyone who met his exacting standards.
At the very least, while there were individuals who satisfied one criterion—be it appearance, personality, or ability—for someone worthy of being welcomed as a reincarnated devil, there were hardly any who fulfilled all three.
But as Renya had said, a "King" and his servants were in it for the long haul. Considering sheer lifespan alone, that could mean a bond lasting ten thousand years.
For a still-young devil like Kurosaki, searching for servants over the span of centuries was perfectly reasonable.
"Is that so? In my case, there is one girl I've had my eye on..."
"Good for you. If the opportunity comes, introduce me. Ah—as a fellow servant-holder, I mean."
'Whoever she is, I've got no intention of poaching her,' Renya implied without saying outright, and following Sona's lead, he took his own cup and drank the black tea.
His bearing was natural and graceful, imbued with an elegance that spoke to a thorough education.
After that, they shared a bit more tea and light conversation before Renya, accompanied by Orihime and Elfaria, took his leave from the student council room.
"It's hard to believe she's a high-class devil of the same rank as Rias Gremory," Elfaria remarked in her formal, public manner, offering her assessment of Sona.
Though, as a reincarnated devil still of low-class rank, her words might technically be considered impertinent, Renya chose not to scold her since they were no longer in an official setting.
"Yeah. Still, as I said earlier, her territory isn't here. She was strangely fixated on this academy, but if the management of her own domain is as slipshod as what we've seen—even if it's not outright neglect—then she's no different from Gremory."
"It's true, she didn't have to go out of her way to attend this school. The one in the next town over would've been fine, too," Orihime nodded in agreement with Renya's point.
Thinking of it that way, Sona might simply be marginally more competent and not all that different from Rias after all.
"Well, even so, it's still better than what Gremory is doing," Renya said, shrugging his shoulders, ending the conversation.
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