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Peace was an extremely relative concept at Kuoh Academy. For Kaiju, peace meant being able to sit under the shade of a large cherry tree in the school courtyard without having to dodge bamboo katanas, or without having to listen to Issei and the rest of the idiots debating which girl from the tennis club had the best proportions.
It was lunchtime. Kaiju was leaning against the tree trunk, eyes closed, enjoying the warm spring breeze. Beside him, Sylvie hummed a soft melody while opening a pair of bento boxes (carefully transmuted and prepared by him that very morning). The gray-haired girl looked radiant in her uniform, and her mere presence was enough to keep any trace of stress at bay in the young man's mind.
"Kaiju, open your mouth," Sylvie said with a sweet smile, holding a small piece of tamagoyaki between her chopsticks.
Kaiju opened his one healthy eye, smiled slightly, and allowed himself to be fed, chewing calmly. It was a scene worthy of a perfectly normal school romance. Too normal. The universe, apparently, hated seeing Kaiju relaxed.
"Sylvie-chan! I found you!"
A sharp, energetic, and dangerously confident voice shattered the bubble of tranquility.
Kaiju turned his head. Walking toward them with determined steps and a smile that could only be described as Machiavellian was a short brown-haired girl with glasses. She wore the academy uniform with deceptive neatness, because her eyes, shining behind the lenses, betrayed a mind operating on frequencies that would make a convicted criminal blush.
Sylvie immediately lit up, waving her free hand.
"Aika! I'm so glad you found us. Come, sit with us."
Kaiju raised an eyebrow. "Aika?"
"Kaiju, I want to introduce you to my best friend in class," Sylvie said, with a tone of genuine and innocent pride. "This is Aika Kiryuu. She's been incredibly kind to me since the first day."
Aika stopped in front of them. She did not greet him immediately. Instead, she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her index finger, and a sharp gleam crossed the lenses. Her gaze lowered from Kaiju's face, passing over his shoulders, his chest, and finally stopping very deliberately and shamelessly at his crotch before rising back to his eyes.
Kaiju's survival instinct, the same one that warned him of attacks at the speed of sound, lit up like a Christmas tree. A shiver ran down his spine. This girl had no Ki. She emitted no magical or demonic energy. She was one hundred percent human. And yet, her presence was terrifying.
"So you're the famous Kaiju," Aika purred, sitting down on the grass right in front of him, crossing her legs. "The 'mysterious bad boy' who has our sweet and pure Sylvie completely in love. I've heard the rumors. Fights in the hallways, jumping over two-meter walls, and barely talking to anyone."
"Rumors tend to be exaggerated, Kiryuu," Kaiju replied, keeping a stoic face, though his brain was already cataloging this girl as a Level S threat.
"Maybe. But appearances don't fool me," Aika smiled predatorily. "Sylvie, dear, would you mind if I borrowed your boyfriend for a couple of seconds? I need to make a... quality assessment."
"A-An assessment?" Sylvie blinked, tilting her head in innocent confusion.
Before Kaiju could refuse or use his speed to discreetly move away, Aika leaned forward and grabbed his right hand.
Kaiju tensed, ready for an attack, but Aika simply extended his fingers, observing them with the concentration of a Swiss watchmaker. She analyzed the distance between his thumb and index finger, the length of his middle finger, and the thickness of his knuckles.
"Interesting..." Aika murmured, slowly nodding to herself, with a perverted smile drawing itself across her face. "Dense muscles, prominent veins, optimal blood circulation... And based on the radius of the palm and the distal phalanx..."
Aika released his hand, adjusted her glasses, and looked at Sylvie with an expression of absolute approval and fake astonishment.
"Congratulations, Sylvie-chan. You hit the jackpot. We're talking about, at the very least, a solid eighteen centimeters of pure untamable virility. An enviable diameter and endurance that probably challenges the stamina of a marathon runner. You're in very, very good hands."
Kaiju's brain experienced a monumental short circuit.
His eyes went wide. The immense power of his Celestial Eyes, his mastery of Ki, his ability to disintegrate monsters... absolutely none of that had prepared him to be psychologically undressed in the middle of the school courtyard by a teenage girl with glasses.
"What the hell did she just say?!" Kaiju screamed in his mind, feeling his ears begin to burn with embarrassment. "How...?! Is that even possible?! Is it some kind of degenerate clairvoyant ability, or is she just guessing?!"
Sylvie, for her part, froze. Her face went from its usual paleness to such an intense red that she looked about to emit steam. The poor girl, despite her devotion and her daring attempts to please him in private, was not equipped to handle the crude, unfiltered humor of her new best friend.
"A-A-Aika!" Sylvie squealed, covering her face with both hands, smoke practically coming out of her ears. "D-Don't say those t-things in front of him! It's embarrassing!"
"Embarrassing? It's basic science, Sylvie-chan!" Aika let out a clear, loud laugh, patting the overwhelmed girl on the back. "I'm just looking out for my friend. A girl has to know what she's dealing with on the battlefield of romance. And I assure you, he's a heavy-class battleship."
Kaiju remained petrified, staring at Aika as if he had just seen the most terrifying monster in the entire multiverse. He had crossed dimensions, faced death, and prided himself on being unshakable. But before Aika Kiryuu, he felt like an open book in the adult anatomy section.
"You..." Kaiju pointed at her with a trembling finger, completely forgetting his tough-guy facade. "You're a danger to society."
"And you're a diamond in the rough, Kaiju-kun," Aika winked at him, completely immune to the boy's intimidation. "Take good care of Sylvie, or I'll tell the whole class the technical specifications of your 'secret weapon'."
While Aika laughed triumphantly and Sylvie continued curled up into a little ball of embarrassment, murmuring unintelligible things, Kaiju swallowed, looking up at the sky. He had found his greatest enemy in this ordinary world. It wasn't a demon, it wasn't a fallen angel... it was a high school student with a terrifyingly accurate virility radar.
The multiverse was, without a doubt, a very unfair place.
...
Recess at Kuoh Academy was coming to an end. In one of the main hallways, near the lockers, Kaiju was leaning against the wall, enjoying a glorious and crunchy melon bread he had saved as dessert after Aika's interruption. Beside him, Matsuda and Motohama argued heatedly about the latest edition of their favorite magazine.
Everything was annoyingly normal, until the air in the hallway seemed to change density.
It was not a lethal threat or bloodlust. It was a wave of teenage pride and poorly channeled pheromones.
Walking toward them, chest puffed out, with a smile that threatened to split his face in two and an aura of superiority that was irritating from miles away, came Issei Hyoudou. But he was not alone.
Linked to his arm, walking with timid steps and a sweet smile, came a girl. She was a young woman with silky black hair and a slender body.
Kaiju was about to take another bite of his lunch when his eyes registered the scene. His brain, forged under multiplied crushing gravity and capable of processing battles at hypersonic speed, suffered a catastrophic system failure. His muscles relaxed. His fingers lost their strength.
Plop.
The melon bread slipped from his hands and fell to the floor, scattering sugary crumbs over the tiles.
The sound was tiny, but to Matsuda and Motohama, it was as if a nuclear bomb had detonated in the hallway. Both stopped arguing instantly. Their jaws dropped to the floor and their eyes widened with pure cosmic terror. They looked at the bread on the floor, then at Kaiju, and then back at the bread.
"Kaiju... dropped his food?!" Motohama shrieked, taking a step back, pale as a ghost. "His reflexes failed! The end of the world is near!"
"It's the apocalypse! The laws of physics have been broken!" Matsuda shouted, clutching his head in despair.
Kaiju did not even hear them. His one healthy eye was fixed on the couple that had stopped in front of them. Issei radiated a happiness so toxic it was almost blinding.
"Guys, pick your jaws up off the floor," Issei said, laughing with an arrogance that desperately begged for a karate chop to the back of the neck. "I know it's hard to believe, but I want to introduce you to someone. This is my girlfriend, Amano Yuuma."
The girl bowed slightly in a flawless greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet Issei-kun's friends."
Matsuda and Motohama hugged each other, crying tears of blood from envy and the injustice of life. How was it possible that the dumbest of the three had managed to get such a beautiful girl?
Kaiju, for his part, snapped out of his initial stupor. His gaze sharpened. There was something about that girl, something vibrating at a strange frequency. His warrior instincts screamed at him to investigate further. He clenched his fists and began focusing his Ki toward his senses to read the energy hidden behind that perfect smile. He needed to scan her.
But before he could concentrate even a single ounce of his spiritual energy, a small and soft hand firmly intertwined with his, pulling him with surprisingly determined strength.
"Kaiju, there you are!"
Sylvie appeared out of nowhere, her cheeks slightly flushed and a notebook pressed tightly against her chest. Her gaze quickly passed over Issei and the new girl, but did not stop on them for even a millisecond. All her attention was fixed on him.
"The bell is about to ring and you promised you'd help me understand the chemistry formula before the teacher came in," Sylvie said, with a sweet tone but with that subtle and unshakable possessiveness she had developed.
"W-Wait, Sylvie, give me a second. I need to check something about Issei's new friend..." Kaiju tried to excuse himself, resisting slightly.
"No buts! Education comes first!" she interrupted him, puffing out her cheeks a little and pulling his arm more insistently, literally dragging him down the hallway in the opposite direction. "Besides, you dropped your bread on the floor. I promise I'll bake you a better one when we get home, but now, to class!"
Kaiju sighed, his concentration shattered into a thousand pieces. He had no choice but to let himself be dragged by the gray-haired girl, throwing one last glance over his shoulder toward Issei and Amano Yuuma, who were already being interrogated by a hysterical pair of crying idiots.
The chance to discover the truth had vanished. And all because of the academic priorities of his overprotective girlfriend.
...
The weekend had arrived in the city of Kuoh, but Kaiju's plans for those two days of rest were very far from involving homework, dealing with the trio of perverts, or participating in destructive training.
Sylvie was in the laboratory's living room, carefully folding freshly washed clothes, when Kaiju appeared through the door with a small travel backpack hanging from his shoulder and an enigmatic smile.
"Leave that, Sylvie. Pack some comfortable clothes and a light sweater," Kaiju instructed, approaching her.
The girl blinked, letting go of the shirt she had in her hands. "Are we going to the pocket dimension with the others?"
"Not at all. The guys are staying here to rest with Lala," Kaiju winked at her. "Today you and I have a date. And it's not going to be in this city, or in this country."
Fifteen minutes later, Sylvie was ready, nervously clutching the strap of her small crossbody bag. Kaiju took her hand gently and, without further ado, activated his Celestial Portal. The dimensional rift opened in front of them, showing not a battlefield wasteland, but a clear blue sky and the distant sound of flowing water.
When they crossed the threshold, the air of Japan was instantly replaced by a cool breeze with a slight salty touch.
They had appeared in a cobblestone alley, hidden from the eyes of passersby. As they stepped out into the sunlight, Sylvie's eyes opened wide. In front of them stretched an immense emerald-green water canal, crossed by wooden gondolas and bordered by ancient and beautiful buildings of Renaissance architecture.
They were in Venice, Italy.
"Wow...!" Sylvie whispered, bringing both hands to her cheeks, completely amazed by the beauty of the place. "Kaiju... this is..."
"I thought we needed a change of scenery," he said, interlacing his fingers with hers. "Just the two of us, walking around like normal tourists."
To ensure that normality and avoid any trouble with local factions or indiscreet glances from European mystical entities, Kaiju kept his Divine Energy Concealment active at all times. To the rest of the world, they were nothing more than a young couple enjoying their vacation.
The morning passed like a dream for the gray-haired girl. They walked through St. Mark's Square, where Sylvie burst into laughter—a sound that filled Kaiju's chest with pride—while feeding the pigeons that boldly perched on her arms. They walked over narrow bridges, deliberately getting lost in the maze of cobblestone alleys, buying small souvenirs and enjoying absolute anonymity.
At noon, they bought artisanal gelato from a small corner shop. Sylvie had chosen strawberry, and Kaiju dark chocolate.
"Try this, it's delicious," Sylvie said, her cheeks slightly flushed, bringing her small spoon to the boy's lips in a gesture of pure tenderness.
Kaiju accepted the bite, smiling. Seeing her like this, free of fear, not worrying about household chores or pleasing him out of a traumatic sense of obligation, was the greatest victory he had achieved. He was genuinely happy, enjoying the peace he had fought so hard to build.
As evening fell, the sky over Venice was dyed in orange and purple tones. Kaiju rented a private gondola to travel through the city's narrower and quieter canals. The only sound was the soft splash of the gondolier's oar against the water and some distant accordion melody.
Sylvie was leaning against Kaiju's chest, hugging his arm. The wind caressed her hair as she watched the ancient facades bathed in the light of sunset.
"I never imagined the world could be so big... and so beautiful," Sylvie murmured, looking at her own reflection in the canal. "For a long time, my whole world was a dark room. I thought I would never get out of there. And now... I'm here. With you."
Kaiju slid an arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer to him.
"The world is enormous, Sylvie. And we have all the time we want to travel through it entirely, piece by piece," he answered softly. "I promised I would show you there are things worth living for."
She raised her face to look at him. In her gaze there was no longer a single shadow of the frightened little slave girl; there was only love, pure and absolute. She leaned upward and closed the distance between them, joining their lips in a warm and sweet kiss, illuminated by the dim light of the lamps that were beginning to turn on in the floating city.
There were no demons, no school incidents, no chaotic interruptions from their classmates. Only a perfect evening, a piece of absolute peace hand-carved in the middle of the multiverse.
When night finally wrapped around them and the ride ended, Kaiju paid the gondolier and they both walked back toward a solitary alley to open the way back to Kuoh. Sylvie rested her head on his shoulder, exhausted but wearing the most radiant smile she had ever shown.
It had definitely been the best weekend of their lives.
Shin did not seem to be in any condition to obey or disobey. Propped on one knee, with one hand gripping the lower edge of the counter, he tried to force air into his lungs while the world spun around him. Elsa's kick had not merely been strong; it had been unnatural. Every breath sent a burning stab through his abdomen, as if a red-hot iron had been driven between his ribs. The taste of blood invaded his tongue and a sharp ringing pierced his ears, but even so, he managed to keep his eyes open. He could not afford to close them. The thing that had struck him was still at the entrance.