After getting directions from his shady classmates, he nervously made his way towards the old school building, which was used as the base for the occult research club. It took him a minute to reach, as it was in a secluded section, set apart from the main complex.
As he arrived, the first impression Issei got was that it was massively unimpressive. He had assumed it would be like her residence that he was in last night, but the reality was far closer to that of a haunted house. The walls were damaged. The paint was old and was coming off in places. Through it, Issei managed to spot small cracks and craters in the solid concrete matrix underneath.
"Well, this is… definitely not what I expected."
All in all, it looked more like a ghostly mansion. A perfect set for horror flicks and strangely fitting for an occult research club's base.
He pushed his hands into the large pockets of his linen pants, his fingers fiddling with the chewing gum packet he'd brought just in case, and tried to ignore the rapidly beating heart.
"Okay…"
…
…
Yeah, this was much more difficult than it had any right to be.
"G-Geez…" He began to walk, but his nerves failed to relay the order. He curled his fingers and drew out a shaky breath. It was so intimidating. The building, the situation, the rustle of leaves around him, everything.
Break the agreement. In any way possible.
That was the task Satan the 2nd had tasked him with that day. And in turn, he was promised to devil society without putting the slave collar on and backing from the Satan faction, as well as a permanent remedy to his medical condition, or at least something very close to it.
When he heard that, he was very skeptical. It was, after all, too good to be true. It felt like a genie had appeared before him and told him that it'd give him all his wishes in exchange for fetching a glass of water.
Ddraig had been dead since the last Great War.
After his death, much of his corpse was used to create various gears for the system. The boosted gear, being the one that housed, or rather caged, his Spirit and concept, while his Scales were turned into a much more common 'Twice critical' gear. Almost nothing had remained of him.
If he got his hands on the remains of Ddraig's corpse, he could very easily bypass all the restrictions. Ddraig said it as well; he could easily forge a new dragon-human hybrid container best suited to himself, and finally achieve the balance breaker that has eluded him.
So, for the devil lord to claim that he had some of his remains still with Lucifer's treasury itself was hard to believe. But for him to offer it to him in exchange for what should amount to a minor nuisance to someone of his stature was ridiculous.
Even if he desperately wanted his sister's happiness, he could just do it himself. He was the strongest devil in history. A super devil. Someone even Azazel- the genius Azazel- was cautious of.
Plus, from what he'd heard, he was also a great friend of the other satans. So, the four strongest of their race. If they all agreed to make an exception, who could dare oppose it?
In the devil society, where might reigns supreme, he could quite literally do anything. He could easily tear the arrangement, and the rest would have to swallow. That's just how it was.
So the question was: Why? Honestly, he didn't care for the why. There was surely something going on beyond the curtains, but he was not smart enough to deduce it. If they didn't say it outright, then there was no point in making hypotheses.
He just cared about the godsent deal. And in it, he just saw positives.
Azazel vouching for it made it all the more tantalizing.
Once accepted, he had thought it would be easy. Seriously, how hard could it even be? Satan's sister already hated this arrangement; he just had to make the last-minute entry and act the white knight.
Surely, it would be so easy, right? He thought so too. But there was a heaven and earth's difference between the world in his head and the world outside.
He talked big shit earlier, but what was he supposed to do here? Good god….It was not his place. There were going to be people discussing family matters, and he'd stick out like a sore thumb.
He didn't belong anywhere near devil politics.
He didn't know the Phoenix guy, and to be very frank, he barely knew the girl. All he knew was that there was an agreement signed between the clan heads long ago.
Yes, she appeared nice and caring in the limited interaction he had with her. Yes, she was hot. Stupid hot. But was that really enough to jump into such a life-changing and delicate situation?
It wasn't so much that he feared fighting the phoenix nepo. No, he didn't. In fact, his first and only realistic plan had been just to beat him black and blue until he backed off. But rather, how would he face the people in that room?
If he just barged in and went full 50s movie hero, 'Leave her alone, you scum! She doesn't want you!', what would they think?
They'd surely look at him weird, right? Maybe even directly ask a question like, 'Just who is this guy?'
What would he answer then? That he was just a humble human with loving parents.
What would Rias herself think? She'd surely look at him funny, right?
What about Akeno…?
Aaghh…Just imagining their faces made his eyes teary.
As he spiralled into the tsunami of thoughts, he unconsciously took a half step backwards.
"Issei, are you alright?"
…and ended up bumping into Kiba.
"Uwaahh…." Like a wet cat having their tail stepped on, Issei shrieked and jumped ahead. He almost stumbled and fell into the dirt as he swished around and raised his arms in a sloppy karate/judo/kung-fu stance.
"K…Kiba, you pretty devil!…S-stop sneaking on me!!"
Kiba eyed him with amusement. Especially, his choice of clothes for school hours, "What are you wearin-"
Right, there was that as well. His atrocious dressing style. As he stood before the primly dressed ikeman, his casual tee and suede loafers, which he definitely didn't borrow from his dad, looked extremely out of place against his formal trousers and ironed shirt.
Of course, it did. He looked less like a student and more like someone who'd returned from a Mediterranean vacation but had still not clocked out of it.
Issei flushed. He stomped across and marched right up to his face. He glared pitifully, "No. Sneaking. On. Me. You hear?! No sneaking!"
Kiba laughed. "But I didn't-" He quickly caught himself when he saw dark shadows over Issei's face, getting closer and closer.
"Ok, ok, no sneaking." He raised his arms placatingly, "But seriously, what were you doing back there? You looked like someone had frozen you in a hypnosis spell."
"That…" He pulled away, quickly making up an excuse, "…Uhh…I was just wondering whether I got lost again."
"…Are you really that bad with directions?"
"Not just with directions; I am bad with literally everything," Issei grumbled, crossing his arms. "Now, since you're here, am I right to presume this is your club headquarters?"
"It is." Kiba hummed. "You're right on time. The President just called for everyone. Let's go."
Issei followed Kiba inside, "Rias called everyone? Is this your routine?"
Kiba shook his head. "No. Last night, when you left, we went to check on Asia. After spending some time there, the president asked Koneko and me to go back and get some rest, saying she'd meet us again today at lunch."
"Asia is the nun, right? What happened to her? Is she alright?"
"Oh, she is stable." Kiba chirped happily. Well, that is a surprise. Just last night, he was all down and gloomy over it. Issei stared at him from the side, and he saw a touch of relief on his face.
The blonde boy rubbed his chin, "I don't know all about it. But the president's friend, heir of the Astaroth clan, visited Asia last night. Apparently, he knew her from before."
"A devil noble knew a simple church nun?"
"Yes. He said she had treated his fatal wounds. And he'd like to return the favour by curing her."
"Sounds like a good guy."
They arrived near the doors of the clubroom. A red magic circle lit up around the corner, catching their attention.
"It's Koneko," Kiba whispered. And sure enough, the tiny thing came out when the lights died. She stared back at them, particularly Issei. Her feline eyes moved ever so slightly to capture his atypical clothes, and Issei immediately knew she was ridiculing him in her mind.
"Good morning."
She didn't answer. She just began to walk towards the door. But Issei could swear he heard a whisper, "…Tourist."
Issei swished his head around. "She said something, didn't she?" Asked Kiba, smiling a troubled smile.
"I…I think we should not waste any more time."
As Kiba pushed open the big double doors of the clubroom, Issei peeked inside. Rias was sitting on the couch with a sour expression. She had her arms crossed and her feet were tapping on the floor out of frustration as she stared ahead at empty air.
Frankly, she seemed to be avoiding looking at the woman standing beside her. Issei knew her. Of course, he did; she was none other than Miss Cosplayer herself.
"Ah," He raised his arm to greet her, but halfway through, he caught himself. He wasn't supposed to know her, was he?
As the door opened, her eyes flickered to the three of Issei, Kiba, and Koneko entering. As expected of her, she didn't even look at him beyond a cursory glance. There was not a hint of recognition in her eyes, no hint of affirmation, or anything.
'Damn, she is really good.'
Akeno was also in the room. She was standing by the window, still sporting her smile. But much like everyone in the room, she too appeared glum.
"Oh my," Behind him, he heard Kiba take a sharp breath at the frigid atmosphere brewing in the room.
"Oh my, indeed."
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Deeply, deeply sorry for disappearing like that. Things came up. Had to pull up some extra shifts beyond normal. And things got hectic. Really, Sorry. Will try to be punctual in the future.
If you like it, please add it to your library. Pwease🥀😭