The match was over, and everyone returned home together.
Yuuto and the others were all badly injured—especially Yuuto—but with Asia around, even a hole in the stomach was a minor scratch. Thanks to her healing powers, they were discharged from the hospital almost immediately.
During that time, Sirzechs relayed a message through Rias to Issei, Yuuto, Akeno-senpai, and Shirone: they were being considered for promotion to Middle-Class Devils.
To be honest, the only ones really surprised by this were Issei and Asia, who were still relatively new to the world behind the scenes.
Even Akeno-senpai, the "weakest" among the four, had enough power to rival high-tier High-Class Devils. The other three were easily Ultimate-Class. Of course, even among Ultimate-Class Devils, there's a wide range of strength.
In this world of relentless power inflation, each rank jump represents an enormous leap in strength.
Anyway, I'm currently on the rooftop with Shirone. We're here to fulfill that promise. Saying it aloud would've been too embarrassing, so we ended up here through nothing more than mutual, wordless eye contact.
To avoid repeating what happened last time, I reinforced the rooftop access and perimeter with a strong barrier.
Shirone, naturally, put up her own barrier too. It turned into a seamless bit of teamwork.
Now, under the night sky, gazing at the stars, Shirone was the one to break the silence.
"We won the match... but I lost, personally. It was frustrating. I knew I didn't stand a chance once he removed his limiters. I'm proud I was able to pass the baton to Rias-sama and the others... but even so, I couldn't help feeling frustrated."
I see... so when I visited her in the hospital and noticed her eyes were a little red, it was because she'd been crying from frustration.
"Then you've got to get stronger."
I didn't say anything cheesy like "I'll protect you, Shirone!" That just didn't feel right.
"Yes! That's why, Ikki-senpai—please give me courage."
She turned from the sky to face me directly.
We could've gone in for a kiss right then and there, but I decided to tease her just a little.
"Only courage?"
"...Give me motivation, too."
"Just those two?"
"Ggh! Then give me perseverance, kindness, a future, love... give me all of you, senpai!!"
Uh-oh. I started this, but after hearing that, there was no way I could hold back.
I pulled Shirone's slender frame into an embrace and kissed her.
Our first kiss at the amusement park had lasted maybe ten seconds. This time, I lost count—but it must've been over a minute. I honestly couldn't figure out when to stop.
Even so, when we finally parted naturally, we just stood there with flushed faces, staring into each other's eyes—frozen, really.
"Um... maybe we should go to bed?"
"Y-Yes..."
We awkwardly made our way back to the bedroom, where we found Kuroka waiting for us with a smug grin.
Knowing her, she'd probably grill us for details... but that didn't mean we had to tell her anything.
Just as I was thinking that, Kuroka pulled out a digital camera.
"Well? Don't you think it came out purr-fectly~?"
On the screen was... the kiss we'd just shared!?
Wait, what!? I'd sealed off this entire house with a tight barrier! Even Kuroka shouldn't have been able to break through in that short time!
"Fufun~ Ikki, when it comes to romance, your guard drops like a rock. Even if I couldn't get onto the rooftop, there's another six-story building right next door. I just took the shot from there, nya~"
Ravel chimed in sheepishly from the side.
"It's okay! We explained everything to Rias-sama before going up! She said she'd supervise Kuroka to make sure she didn't do anything weird, and the others came along too."
"Keeping up that stealth field so neither you nor Shirone noticed was exhausting, nya~"
...Wait, does that mean everyone was watching us!? That's no kind of reassurance, Ravel! Damn it! Next time, I won't just block access—I'll set up a barrier that makes us invisible from the outside too!
========
The Next Morning...
As soon as Issei saw me in the training room, his eyes lit up with rage. His body turned crimson with armor as he charged at me, tears of blood streaming down his face.
"Daaaamn youuuuu! Flaunting your lovey-dovey crap like thattttt!!"
"Like you're one to talk! You confessed your feelings to Rias on a live broadcast, you moron!!"
We ended up in an all-out brawl first thing in the morning... though yes, I did win.
His new "True Queen" form is still unstable, so I kept targeting the points where his aura thinned out and landed repeated counters until he went down.
Still, his raw power is already ahead of mine, so it was a pretty close call. One mistake in aura control could've spelled disaster.
After all that, the school festival finally arrived.
The Occult Club's "Haunted House," set up in the old school building, was a huge hit from the start.
The biggest draw? A photo shoot with your favorite club member.
The school's former all-girls status meant there were more female students than male, and since the Occult Club is basically a collection of idols, the photo requests came pouring in—especially for our two big-sister types.
Yuuto's gentlemanly aura and Gasper's trap appeal also had no shortage of fans.
I got a decent number of requests myself, but nothing overwhelming. Maybe word had gotten around that I was dating Kuroka, so people were being respectful.
As for Issei? Predictably... zero requests. Can't say I'm surprised.
"Ikki-kun! Table 3 ordered a strawberry muffin, and they want a photo too!"
"Got it!"
While rushing around, I loaded the dish Yuuto had prepared onto a tray and headed for Table 3—only to find Kuroka, dressed like a university student, sitting there casually.
"Kuroka?!"
"Fufun~ I helped a little with the setup, so I figured I might as well enjoy the event too. Maybe I'll have Shirone purify me afterward~"
Purify? She's a devil and a shapeshifting cat spirit—who or what could possibly possess her? It'd take at least a Great Satan to pull something like that off.
"Well, I'm a customer right now, so let's take a photo together! Hmm... Ravel, would you mind taking it for us?"
Normally, it's just a simple two-shot—cheek-to-cheek or solo pics—so asking someone else wasn't necessary. But then I turned to Kuroka... and saw her open her mouth in an obvious "Aaah~" pose.
"Come on, I want you to feed me the muffin~"
"K-Kuroka-san!? This is a normal photo service! Couple photos aren't allowed!"
Yeah, if we allowed that, chaos would break out. I mean, some girls might end up hospitalized just from standing next to Yuuto's gentlemanly aura.
As Kuroka pouted, Shirone arrived and whacked her over the head with a purification stick.
It looked like the fortune-telling and exorcism booths were closed for lunch.
The café remained open, but the other activities were taking a break to give everyone a breather.
"Honestly... we're busy enough. Don't push your luck, please. Ikki-senpai, I'll take over here—please go have lunch with Issei-senpai."
I handed things off to Shirone, took a normal photo with Kuroka, and went on break with Issei.
The girls rotated out for breaks, too.
Behind the old school building, while munching on rice balls, Azazel-sensei showed up and shared some info about what was going on around Sairaorg.
"What?! The higher-ups who backed Sairaorg have all pulled out?!"
"That's right. Thankfully, his mother, Misla Bael, is a brilliant woman. Though she's been bedridden for a while, she's recovered and still has strong connections. The ones who still see value in Sairaorg have stuck with him. But if it were just him alone, they probably would've all abandoned him. He only recently began to rise through the ranks, so his political ties are still weak."
Makes sense... Sairaorg only became the heir a few years ago. Building a solid network would take time.
"That's the devil's world for you. It preaches meritocracy, but bloodlines, pride, and politics are always at play. If you guys ever aim for the top of the underworld, you'd better steel yourselves now."
Just thinking about the constant friction between exorcists and Youkai in Kyoto gives me a headache.
Azazel looked at our serious expressions and chuckled lightly.
"Well, that's still a few years away. For now, enjoy your youth—that's the foundation you'll build your future on. Just keep growing, along with Issei's new form."
"Hear that, Issei? The guy who lost to me in a mock battle this morning?"
"Shut uuuuup! Next time, I'm beating you, Ikki!!"
Hah! Like I'll make it that easy!
We ended up running around after each other and, thanks to post-meal exercise, both doubled over with stomach cramps.
Azazel-sensei just laughed even harder.
"Yep, you idiots climbing to the top might actually bring some fresh air to the underworld."
And so, as night fell, the festival came to an end—with everyone sneaking around to watch Issei officially confess to Rias-senpai.
It was a fitting finale to an unforgettable school festival.
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