Chapter 5
Now that he was a Devil, Issei thought he might start seeing the world differently.
Rather, after visiting his parents to let them know he was okay, and riding through Kuoh on his bike, he was surprised to find how mostly normal everything felt—provided he ignored the everpresent, strange, foreign presence in his body he could only assume was this Aether.
I guess I’m not as gassed when riding anymore either. Pretty sure I’d be sweating up a storm last week after riding home and back…
Though the knowledge of the supernatural had skewed how he viewed other people. It was stupid, and Rias had already told him that the only other devils in Kuoh were Sona and her peerage, but he couldn’t help but eye everyone with increased scrutiny. Analysing. Wondering.
Especially his boss, who hadn’t given a single shit about his excuses and had him double-podding peas for the entirety of his shift.
I don’t care what Rias says, that French prick is DEFINITELY a Devil. Or a Demon.
At the thought of his fiancée, Issei felt an excited flutter in his belly. Just thinking of Rias as his fiancée still felt surreal to him. Kind, gorgeous, funny in her quirky way, an unrepentant otaku and an even more talented gamer than him—in RTS and strategy games only, he hastily added to assuage his own ego—he, and especially his friends, didn’t think girls like Rias even existed outside of the fantastical realm of anime and light novels.
Not only did Rias very much exist—he made sure to squeeze her boobs every chance he got just to make sure she wasn’t a figment of his overactive imagination—but she’d said yes to marrying him.
I can’t wait to see the look on those retards’ faces!
Or his dad’s. His old man still sent him pitying looks every time he saw them together, as if in preparation for the inevitable heartache the too-perfect Rias would put him through.
In his pop’s defence, Rias genuinely did seem too good to be true. No human was that perfect.
Issei stopped in his tracks and frowned in distaste, not liking the trap his mind had so easily fallen into. It would have been so easy to wave off the perfection that was his fiancée as something supernatural, but that was doing her dirty in a way that made him subconsciously clench his fists in anger.
Besides, Akeno and Koneko are Devils too apparently, and those two are NOTHING like Rias.
Letting himself into the dorm building after putting his bike away, Issei ignored the subtle, disdainful looks the other, uppity students still sent him and paused when he reached the elevator. Turning, he hummed in thought and gave the doorway to the stairs a considering glance.
He’d only used the stairs once or twice before, and while he was typically pretty in-shape—especially with how much he got around on his bike—he wouldn’t call the trip to the top floor easy.
With a grin, he ignored the elevator and rushed up the stairs three at a time, whooshing past students who pretty much only used them in emergencies, or to go up and down a single level. Before he knew it, Issei found himself standing outside the door to Rias’ dorm room, not even out of breath.
This is insane!
Still giddy at the upgrades his body had gone through, Issei silently let himself into Rias’ room and stopped dead in his tracks.
His fiancée was at her desk, tapping away at her laptop while the afternoon sun shone through the window and bathed her in gold. Knowing what he did now about his new body, Issei very much doubted the glasses that sat on her nose were anything more than reading glasses, or just a fashion accessory. As always, Rias looked stunning dressed in a tight blouse tucked into a high-waisted skirt, her long, crimson locks pulled back into a messy bun.
Noticing he was just standing there not saying anything, Rias looked up and blushed prettily at what she must have seen on his face. Favouring him with a smile, Issei felt his heart melt, his eyes going to the ruby and diamonds glittering on her ring finger, still unable to believe she’d said yes.
‘How were your parents?’
‘Good, thankfully. Mum stuffed me with so much food I think I’m gonna burst.’ He approached and leaned against the edge of her desk, crossing his arms and frowning in consternation. ‘Are you sure they’re not in any danger?’
Rias let out an exhausted sigh and favoured Issei with an understanding smile. ‘As sure as I can be. I should reiterate, it wasn’t personal with you, Issei, they just didn’t want the Codex to fall into our hands.’
That…didn’t make him feel better. ‘But—’
‘That being said,’ she continued over him, reaching out to take his hand, ‘I spared no expense in making sure they’re as safe as possible. I’ve put up magical protections on their home and their persons. I also have Gasper monitoring them with his summons around the clock.’ Her smile morphed into a dark look Issei didn’t like on her face at all. ‘There’ll be no more issues like last time with my useless familiar.’
Issei grunted, half in agreement, half in annoyance.
I owe that little fucker a kick to the balls.
‘The sooner we can deal with these weasley, bird-brained fucks, the better. I don’t think I’ll be able to relax until they’re out of the picture…’
Rias smiled in understanding and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
‘Did you reschedule the dinner?’
Issei’s dour mood quickly evaporated and he favoured Rias with a teasing grin. ‘This Saturday, my parents will get to meet their new daughter.’
Rias flushed in delight at his words then, with a hungry look in her beautiful eyes, she yanked him around the desk and into her lap, capturing his lips in a fiery kiss that had her greedily swallowing his groan of desire.
When they finally pulled apart, Issei—more out of breath now than he had been after biking across the city and running up several flights of stairs—looked down at the laptop and grinned when he saw the contents of the Codex’s shop listed out in neat tables, matched with Rias’ personal notes and opinions on each one right next to them.
‘I see you’ve been busy…’
Looking back at Rias, he almost squealed at her embarrassed flush. ‘It’s important we make the right choices…’
‘Ahuh,’ Issei teased, and Rias sucked in an excited breath as he reached down and ran his fingers up her stocking-clad legs, pulling the flowing skirt with him until his hand cupped her warm pussy. It was like a furnace, her excitement almost seeping through the nylon. With a smirk and a quick tug, he tore Rias’ stockings at the seam and came into contact with her soaked panties directly. ‘I know I’m a good kisser, but I doubt I made you this wet…’
Rias whimpered, her eyes fluttering closed as she held his arm in a deathgrip, keeping his hand exactly where it was. ‘You need to stop tearing my stockings,’ she whined, her gorgeous eyes fluttering open as she pouted up at him. ‘I’ll stop wearing them if you hate them so much.’
Issei chuckled and leaned down to plant a kiss on her temple. He trailed kisses down the side of her face until he reached her ear. ‘What’s the point of getting engaged to a filthy rich girl if you can’t tear her stockings every now and then?’
Issei had slipped his hand inside Rias’ panties by now, his fingers running up and down her glistening slit and circling her gushing opening. From everything he’d absorbed—books, porn and his idiot friends—Rias was definitely on the more enthusiastic end of the lubricious spectrum.
Not that he was complaining.
‘Were you maybe thinking about… how we’d be getting those points?’ Issei teased, his lips still pressed against her ear, his warm breath causing her to shiver with delight. ‘You were, weren’t you? My filthy little slut…’
Issei felt a flash of excitement as his dirty talk had the desired effect, and Rias let out a primal, guttural groan that went straight to his cock.
Honestly, he’d spent most of the day trying to wrap his head around everything—the Codex, the twisted-ass system, the fact that it basically wanted to turn him into a cuck. It was a lot and all of it was fucking crazy.
After the rush of the previous evening’s festivities had worn off, he figured he’d feel gross about it. Hell, he should’ve felt gross about it. But now, with his fingers dripping from how worked up Rias was, and her looking like she'd melt if he so much as breathed on her, he understood.
He got her excitement.
And the worst part? He wasn’t horrified or embarrassed like he thought he should be.
Instead, after a lot of introspection and several epic jerk-off sessions in the shower that morning, Issei realised he was kinda—embarrassingly—into it.
That probably said a lot about him—none of it good.
And he kinda didn’t care?
He wondered if he would have been as sanguine about everything if Rias wasn’t happily showing off his ring on her finger.
Don’t know, don’t care.
‘How much time do we have until the others get here?’ His cock was threatening to tear a hole through his jeans, he didn’t know if he had it in him to wait until the rest of Rias’ peerage turned up and they got this little meet and greet out of the way.
Like a switch however, his words had the unintended, annoying effect of resparking Rias’ focus and pulling her out of the haze of taboo fantasy she’d only just been lost in. Gently tugging his hand away from her pussy, Rias smiled up at him and—with her breaths coming in ragged, excited gasps—smiled at him.
‘They’re not coming here,’ Rias informed him with a wide smile. ‘We’re going to meet them. Issei, I think it’s about time I show you my real home.’
Just like his words had done for her, Rias’ brought him out of his lusty fugue state.
‘Your what?’
Rias giggled and stood on wobbly legs, her body moulding to his side and his arm sandwiched between her tits.
How the fuck can I be jealous of my own arm?!
‘What did you call me? Filthy rich?’ she teased with an impish smile. ‘Did you seriously think your filthy rich fiancée would live in a dorm, no matter how nice it is?’
Blinking wide eyes at her, Issei took in his surroundings and the jaw-dropping view before turning back to Rias and nodded. ‘Um, yeah? If not, what’s the point of all this then?’
She laughed again. ‘Oh, this little place?’ she motioned to the ridiculous opulence they were surrounded by as if it were some cheap hostel. ‘I mostly just have it to keep up appearances—and to occasionally ravish my handsome human boyfriend.’
Issei just stared, his mind struggling to comprehend.
‘Now that I have a devil fiance though? I think it’s time he sees our home…’
Despite himself, Issei wasn’t prepared for how much her calling it “our home” would hit him in the feels—it was as if fireworks were going off in his chest and he’d been suddenly socked in the gut at the same time. It was a powerful feeling, and apparently he was telegraphing said feelings on his face because his fiancée’s smile was almost blinding as she held her hand out to him.
‘Come, take my hand, it’ll be easier to show you than to explain…’
Issei looked down at Rias’ outstretched hand with a no-doubt stupid expression on his face—palm side down, of course, her ring proudly on display. Without thinking or hesitating, he took her hand as the room was bathed in crimson.
When the light died down, Issei found himself somewhere else entirely—and his brain immediately stalled trying to process it.
They were indoors, he was sure of that much. But the room he’d landed in made the main hall of the university’s auditorium look gimped by comparison. It was enormous—tall enough to make him dizzy, wide enough to make sounds echo like a cathedral. The air shimmered with energy, warm and charged like the moment before a lightning strike. He turned in place, mouth half open and eyes wide, trying to take it all in.
The atrium rose three—no, four stories, maybe more, but there were no floors above, just walls of smooth black stone broken by massive stained-glass panels that shifted as he watched, like they were alive. The light shining through them crawled across the walls and floor in slow-moving waves, casting kaleidoscopic patterns that changed with every second. At first, he thought it was a trick of the light then, while he was gaping at it, one of the windows shifted its pattern from a demonic figure to that of two armies clashing under a sea of stars.
Holy shit! The windows move! Of course the windows fucking move!
The haze in the air had a weight to, a soft resistance against his skin. Aether. He didn’t need Rias to tell him. Whatever sensitivity he’d inherited after his reincarnation was making his entire body light up like a Christmas tree now. The ethereal, wafty strands drifted upward from a grandiose stone fountain at the centre of the room.
To call it a fountain was probably wrong, but it sure as shit looked like one, except there was no water, and the basin was covered with a thick, glass lid that had glowing runes inscribed on it.
Beneath that lid, something churned. Pale mist, thick and luminous, moved like a living thing, leaking upward through the gothic tower-like centrepiece of the fountain through the sprout in a controlled plume that coiled toward the ceiling.
He followed the cloud of aether up—and damn near forgot how to breathe. Suspended above the room was a glowing crystal the size of a car, jagged and veined with inner light, pulsing gently as it drank in the aether like some kind of…heart. The whole room, maybe even the whole manor, was built around it—perhaps the battery that powered everything magical he saw
Maybe I did get Isekai’d into a Final Fantasy game—where else would I find crystals that fucking big?
‘Really, Mistress?’ a voice cut in, sharp and tinny and far too unimpressed. ‘Another one? Must we continue collecting strays?’
‘Be nice Lucien and mind that barbed tongue of yours—that’s my fiance you’re turning your nose up at. You are to treat him as you do me.’
Rias’ words were followed up with a metallic groan of despair.
Issei barely heard it. He was too busy trying to wrap his head around the place. Doorways just... hovered up on the walls at random levels, with no staircases, no galleries—nothing connecting them. Like someone built a mansion and forgot about gravity.
Or…maybe they have wings, dumbass!
‘Perhaps we should build a kennel,’ the voice went on, laced with venom and exasperation. ‘At least the other meatbags understood proper manners, this one looks like it’s about to start chasing its own tail.’
Stifling silence met the harsh words and the metallic voice came back, contrite.
‘A-apologies, Mistress…’
‘You know, maybe there is a little canid in him—you should see what he can do with his tongue,’ Rias replied smoothly from somewhere behind him, amusement thick in her tone.
That one hit, but not immediately. It just slotted itself into the backlog of things he’d emotionally process later.
‘Ugh, that’s disgusting. You organics and your mating rituals. I already have to clean up after Miss Akeno far more than I’d like, I refuse to do the same for this simpering, knuckle-dragging fool!’
‘I assure you, Lucien, when the two of us are together, I am the one making the mess…’
Another mechanical, despairing wail tried to intrude on Issei’s overloaded psyche. Finally, his eyes completed the slow, wide circuit of the room, then landed on them.
Rias stood near the edge of the summoning circle, arms crossed and her eyes shining with pride as she beheld his reaction. Beside her, like a nightmare who’d raided the wardrobe of Sebastian Michaelis, was the source of the tinny, robotic voice.
Lucien.
At first glance, Issei thought it was a mannequin in a tuxedo. Then the thing shifted, and every part of his brain lit up with warnings. It stood perfectly still—too still—like it was waiting for something. Its suit was flawless. Old-fashioned, regal, with blood-red trim and a cravat tied so neatly it could’ve passed even the tight-ass Prez’ ridiculous standards back in high school. Four arms—two clasped behind its back, two folded across its chest—didn’t even twitch as it regarded him like a piece of dogshit on the side of the foot path.
But the face...
The face was the worst part.
It wore a mask—smooth, ivory, and sculpted into a frozen serene, gently smiling expression. A little too perfect. A little too calm. Behind those hollow pits the thing called eyes, two soft white lights glowed, watching without blinking. Judging—calculating—maybe imagining how best to eviscerate him.
And the top hat?
The top hat was somehow the final insult—like the thing knew it looked terrifying and just went all-in on the whole gentrified look just to fuck with people, as if it were playing a part, pretending to be a butler.
But Issei knew a psychotic murderbot when he saw one. Sure, that might have only been in video games, but his entire life had turned into a video game ever since being reincarnated as a devil.
‘Rias?’
‘Yes, my love?’
‘Why is the creepy murderbot looking at me like it wants to pin me to a corque board and study my intestines?’
The creepy murderbot in question somehow managed to affect an eyeroll with no visible eyes. ‘Oh please, I very much doubt your intestines are any more interesting than the countless others I’ve already seen from your species before.’
Its expression was frozen in that gentle smile, but Issei somehow knew it was smirking at him, fucking with him.
Issei slowly turned to Rias. ‘Is it fucking with me?’
Rias cleared her throat, her cheeks dusting a gentle pink.
‘Lucien can be… enthusiastic about protecting my home—our home.’
Issei ignored the pleasant tingling feeling again at the mention of this now being their home and eyed the automaton up and down with narrowed eyes. ‘Why do I get the feeling that’s the understatement of the century?’
‘I should be surprised that the first meatbag you bring home is a knuckle-dragging simpleton, but alas… I am not.’
‘I said be nice, Lucien,’ Rias snapped, her beautiful eyes narrowing in warning. Issei’s eyebrows shot into his hairline as the robot-butler stiffened and immediately backed down.
She’s so hot when she’s angry…
‘You…named the homicidal butler, then? What even is it?’
Lucien let out a sigh of disappointment. ‘Talking like I’m not even here—more fool me for expecting more from the Mistress’ plaything.’
‘Hah, joke’s on you Bolts, I love it when the Mistress plays with my thing.’
Rias looked embarrassed by the bickering and the situation in general. ‘I, erm, created him when I was very young…’
Issei turned to her in shock. ‘You created him?’
A wide, proud smile blossomed on Rias’ beautiful features. She spread her arms wide and spun around before turning back to him. ‘Everything you see, everything in this home, the home itself, I made it all with my runic magic.’
‘Mistress is indeed an unparalleled genius,’ Lucien affirmed with a nod. It didn’t have the ability to emote perse, but Issei was sure if it could manage it, it would have a look of pride on its creepily bland features. Its glowing white eyes then dropped to Rias’ finger and it clicked a non-existent tongue. ‘I cannot believe you allowed this monkey to put that filthy, peasant ring on your majestic finger—’
Rias slowly turned to Lucien with a smile that sent shivers down the automaton’s metallic spine. Issei was just glad he’d never been on the receiving end of one of those looks.
‘For the last time, Lucien—and you know how much I despise repeating myself—Issei is my fiance. He will be my husband. You are to treat him as you do me. Am I understood?’
While Issei had no way to tell what the creepy murderbot was thinking, he had the feeling that it had been suitably cowed. After a brief pause, it took a step back and gave a polite half-bow.
‘Of course, Mistress. The others are awaiting the both of you in the War Room.’
Smiling brightly, Rias nodded, then turned to Issei and held out a hand. ‘Come, Issei, let’s go meet the others.’
Taking the outstretched hand, she led him towards a dead end at the far end of the hall, but before reaching the imposing, stone wall, a marble platform rose out from the ground and hovered about a step high, as if waiting for them.
‘These platforms are for guests who can’t fly—once you get used to your wings, you won’t need them anymore either.’
Figuring his sexy devil girlfriend wouldn’t let him fall to his death, Issei reluctantly stepped onto the surprisingly solid, floating platform after her and braced himself.
‘Holy shiiiiit!’
His stomach flipped as they were immediately rocketed up towards one of the openings high up along the wall, but the disorientation was more a result of the sudden, rapid shift in positions than any physical feeling. To Issei’s shock, there was no jolt, no feeling of overcoming inertia as they sped up and came to an instant stop.
It was as if they stood still and the world moved around them.
As Issei hopped off the platform into the corridor it had stopped beside, he turned and gaped once more at the jaw-dropping atrium. From up here, he had an even better view of the fountain, the Aether clouds permeating the air and the huge, pulsing crystal.
‘...How?’
‘Magic,’ Rias answered simply, wrapping both arms around his waist from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. ‘And…that’s also why I’ve never been able to bring you here until now—this would be all rather hard to explain…’
Tearing his gaze away from the pulsing crystal, Issei’s eyes locked on the myriad stain-glass windows from his much better vantage point. With the way they moved then cycled through what they depicted, the windows bathed the atrium in an ever-shifting spectrum of multicoloured lights that was a magic all on its own.
‘What magic does…this?’ Issei couldn’t keep the awe from his voice, and he could practically feel Rias preening behind him. ‘Can I learn it?’
‘Runic magic,’ she whispered into his ear, sounding incredibly pleased with herself. ‘And of course you can, you can learn any kind of magic you want—the only limit is your willpower and imagination. And talent, I suppose.’
They stood in silence, just marvelling at the hypnotic spectacle. Issei knew they had others waiting on them, but in that peaceful, magical moment, he was finding it hard to care.
‘What is runic magic?’
Rias hummed in thought, their bodies swaying to the silent rhythm of the giant crystal’s pulses. ‘Fiction does a pretty good job of describing the basics, to be honest. If it’ll make it easier to understand though, think of runic magic like…coding.’
He turned and raised an eyebrow. ‘Coding?’
Rias giggled and squeezed him tighter. ‘Sure. The runes themselves are the coding language—Java, Python, whatever—you can combine them to create simple, powerful effects. Rituals are like programs—far more complex in both application and scope, but with much greater power and flexibility. Magic is like the hardware that makes it all happen…’
That actually is pretty simple to understand…
He grinned. ‘So you’re saying this house is like one giant operating system?’
He heard the mirth in his fiancée’s tone. ‘If you like, though I doubt any operating system can cook, clean and carry you around in a three dimensional space while cancelling the effects of inertia…’
‘Don’t be so sure,’ Issei quipped as he spun around and rested his forehead against Rias’. ‘Have you used Windows lately? So much bloatware these days—who’s to say some of it isn’t magic?’
Rias rolled her eyes, kissed him, then took his hand once more and led him through the house. Given what he knew now about runic magic and Rias’ apparent mastery over it, it let Issei absorb everything he saw now under a new light.
The manor is basically a blank canvas, and every cool bit of magic I see is just Rias flexing her talents…
Windows that showed fantastical landscapes rather than the outside, rugs that purred when they walked on them, lit candelabras that danced and floated around them as they walked, water features that flowed contrary to gravity… the manor had a casual whimsiness about it that spoke to the years Rias had spent honing her craft.
It’s like looking back on a kid’s playroom, locked in a time capsule…
Rias’ utterly adorable looks of embarrassment and delight as they passed each wonder made the trek to this war room a treat.
It took several minutes before they finally reached the staircase that led to their destination, and while some of the time could be waved away by Issei’s wonder and gaping at the sheer amount of magic he was being subjected to, at the end of the day, the manor was just unreasonably large.
Of course, Rias’ protestations that it wasn’t that big meant little—his rich fiancée was clearly out of touch.
‘Ahuh, just make sure you keep that energy when you inevitably start fucking big-dicked fuckboys, Princess.’
He meant it as a joke—a way to poke fun at the absurd situation the Codex had put them in—but the way Rias’ face lit up a brilliant crimson had his own cock throbbing with need.
I really am a fucking perv…
Ascending the stairs, the large, ridiculously heavy-looking wooden and cast-iron doors opened on their own on silent hinges. Beyond, the war room looked like a conference space designed by a stereotypical villain—or devil, he guessed—with a flair for the dramatic.
A huge stone table dominated the middle of the open space—black granite, he guessed, with faint silver, intricately carved inlays that looked suspiciously like they’d glow if someone muttered the right magic word.
Runes?
High-backed chairs circled the round table, spaced out with that same unnatural precision Rias seemed to love. A long fireplace ran along one wall, fire burning low and steady, throwing shadows like it was trying to set a mood. The opposite wall had a classy bar that looked sleek, polished, and stocked with spirits he both recognized and didn’t.
Candelabras floated overhead in slow, silent loops, the purple flames of the candles swaying gently, giving the room just enough light to be dramatic without blinding. At the far end, a pair of tall doors stood open to a wide stone balcony, and past that, the mountain fell away into a sweeping view of KU. From up here, the university looked like a model town. Unreal. Small.
The view answered one of Issei’s unanswered questions.
We only teleported to the other side of the lake… but given how big this freaky manor is, how the hell can’t we see it from the dorms? Magic?
Three familiar faces were waiting.
Koneko sat low in her chair, hoodie sleeves pulled halfway over her hands, the hood itself up like she was trying to sleep through the meeting. Leggings pulled tight over surprisingly muscular legs and the heels of her sneakers resting on the edge of her chair, zero interest. Her gaze flicked to him and then back to the fire in an instant, like he was worth less than the dirt on the soles of her shoe.
Kiba looked like he wanted to stand. He didn’t—he looked too wired, like he’d had one too many espressos. The way his heel bounced against the floor gave it away. Leather jacket, tee, jeans, boots. Tired eyes. He’d been working—Issei didn’t need to ask to know it was something to do with the bastard who’d killed him.
Akeno, as always, was effortless. Relaxed. Legs crossed, halter blouse hugging her figure just enough to make him feel guilty for noticing, and skinny jeans paired with heels like she’d wandered in from a rooftop lounge. She offered them a sultry smile and gave them a toast with a wine glass that was in the process of being re-filled by a floating bottle as Rias and Issei finally stepped into the room.
‘If I knew matrimony would make you so tardy,’ she said, voice syrup-sweet, ‘I wouldn’t have helped Issei size the ring.’
Kiba and Koneko jolted as if they’d been zapped, their eyes quickly flicking to Rias’ ring finger. She had her right arm wrapped around his, while her left hand sat perched on the wrist, proudly displaying her new jewellery.
‘Ugh.’
Koneko’s scoff of disgust didn’t deter Issei any as he hurried to break the ice. He approached Kiba first, and shook the too-pretty dude’s hand with a strong grip.
‘Hey, not gonna lie, I always hated you. Thought you were the childhood friend slash love interest trope that hung around like a bad stink—you’ve no idea how happy I was when I found out this was all devil business!’
Kiba returned the shake as Rias and Akeno tittered in amusement. ‘...Thanks?’
Rounding the table, none were as surprised as Akeno when Issei pulled her into a brief hug. ‘Hey, thanks for taking care of my parents. I really appreciate it.’
A little flustered—and clearly surprised by that—it took Akeno a moment to gather her thoughts before she favoured Issei with a too-sweet smile. ‘That’s two you owe me now. You best be careful Issei, I will come to collect. Soon.’
‘Right, so we’re a transactional kind of devil gang then? Gotcha.’ Before anyone could react, Issei moved past Akeno and stopped still in front of the utterly adorable little shit—looking even more so that evening in her oversized hoodie and with that pouty, annoyed expression.
Issei wasn’t gonna lie, he loved to tease the annoying midget—she was just too precious, too easy to rile up. Did Rias’ warnings that she’d no longer hold back and bend him into a pretzel if he pushed her too far deter him?
Fuck that noise.
Besides, he had more important matters to attend to.
He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a small box filled with sweets. While his boss had worked him until his fingers felt ready to fall off, that hadn’t been enough to deter Issei from his rampant curiosity. Issei almost squealed when the midget’s noise twitched as she no doubt sniffed what he brought out—he’d always found her dry, stand-offish nature annoying and cringe, but now that he knew she was a cat-girl?
Well, now everything she did was adorable.
Obviously.
Not that he’d ever tell her that… not until he could reliably tank one of her supposed falcon punches, anyway…
‘...is that strawberry?’
‘Yesss,’ Issei purred like a skeezy drug dealer, opening the lid to show the suddenly interested cat-girl the box’s contents. ‘Ichigo Daifuku, fresh. I made them earlier… just for you.’
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
‘Bribe? Really?’
He looked over to Akeno, who was seated beside Rias at the foot of the table—the foot of the circle table being the chair that faced the balcony, apparently—the two beautiful ladies watching the exchange with amusement. Kiba watched too, but he looked more antsy and bored, than amused.
From what Rias told him, he was the only member of the peerage that didn’t attend university. The pretty-boy was Rias’ man on the ground, her bloodhound, her fixer. If he wasn’t working, he was uncomfortable.
Weird.
‘Nooo, no bribe. This is a transactional kind of peerage, as Akeno made it abundantly clear.’ He slowly waved the opened box in front of the mesmerized kitten, her nostrils flaring and her golden eyes tracking it like a hawk. Gotcha. ‘Rias tells me you love daifuku. Trust me, these are delicious.’
Koneko’s gaze snapped to Rias in shock, her features a mask of betrayal. Rins grinned unapologetically and shrugged. ‘I knew he’d make you some, and they really are delicious—I’d love nothing more than my adorable peerage to get along.’
Her head slowly and jaggedly turned back to him, like she was a mannequin and her neck bearings needed oiling. ‘What,’ she paused, licking her lips, ‘what do you want, Pervert?’
‘Show me.’
‘What?’ Her small face scrunched up in confusion and Issei found it wild that just the knowledge that she was a cat girl made everything she did so cute by default.
‘Your ears and tail, I need to see them.’
Her pale face flushed scarlet. ‘Pervert!’
Sensing the imminent danger, he held up the daifuku like a shield between them and waved a hand dismissively. ‘Not like that Midget, relax. I just want to see them.’
The flush on her face looked like it was more out of anger now than embarrassment. Mostly, she looked angry at herself for how easily she could be bribed.
‘If… if you even think about touching them, I’ll rip off your arm and beat you to death with it.’
‘You sure? Ask Rias, I have magic fingers…’ Koneko narrowed her golden eyes and made to follow through on her threat before Issei held his hands up in surrender. ‘Okay, okay, sheesh, no touching, got it.’
If ever there was a reason to get stronger—other than revenge, of course, a pretty great reason, in his opinion—then being able to tease the adorable cat girl without the risk of dismemberment and imminent death was right up there.
He turned to Rias and covered his mouth, stage whispering while pointing at Koneko, ‘I think there’s something wrong with that one.’
Rias and Akeno both looked highly amused by their byplay. ‘That’s okay, my love. More foot-rubs for me.’
Akeno’s look of amusement quickly shifted to one of disgust. ‘Is this going to be the norm now? You two make me sick.’
Rias’ smile didn’t falter. ‘I thought you were cultivating lust, Akeno, not jealousy.’
The woman in question cringed, then scoffed in annoyance before looking away in defeat and taking another sip from her glass. While Issei wanted nothing more than to get some details about what cultivating lust actually entailed, he had more pressing matters to attend to.
Turning back to Koneko, Issei held out the box of sweets and waggled his eyebrows. To say the cat-girl in question looked torn was a massive understatement, Koneko looked all-but ready to pounce on him to get those sweets.
Luckily, the midget seemed so repulsed at the mere thought of touching him, that he was relatively safe. For now.
With her golden eyes already devouring the sweets, Koneko shot him a glare. ‘These better be good…’
Issei snorted, not buying her tsundere act for a second. ‘Puh-lease. With all the sweets I’ve made for Rias over the years, do you seriously expect me to believe you haven’t bummed a whole boat-load from her? You know how good I am.’
Though she tried to keep a stoic facade, an adorable little tongue poked out and licked at her lips at the memory of said stolen confectionery. Almost against her will, Koneko began to reach out for the box of daifuku, almost salivating in preparation.
Before she could snatch the box however, Issei pulled it away. ‘Ah-ah!’
She immediately scowled, her eyes narrowed dangerously. Issei only raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to hold up her end of the bargain. With an annoyed sigh and a soft exhalation, Koneko seemed to un-tense and her form subtly—incredibly—shifted.
If he were being honest with himself, not much really changed—at least visually. A large pair of snowy-white ears lazily flicked out through slits he hadn't even noticed in her hoodie, her golden eyes narrowing into feline slits. It took him a few seconds longer than he’d like to admit, but eventually, he clocked the two fuzzy belts coiled snugly around her hips for what they really were—tails.
Plural.
He might be new to this whole supernatural thing, but he was a man of culture. Even he knew a cat-girl with two tails wasn’t someone you messed with.
But the real shift wasn’t physical.
It was the sudden pressure that dropped on him like a weighted blanket laced with malice. A suffocating presence radiated off the midget like she’d finally stopped pretending to be harmless.
This wasn’t just Koneko agreeing to his request. It was a warning.
And just like that, he knew—he’d have to get a hell of a lot stronger before he could even think about messing with her.
Either that, or start carrying sweets like a crack dealer.
Taking his silence for wholly unwelcome appreciation, Koneko angrily snatched at the treats in his grasp. Again, he pulled away.
Before she could attack him, Issei pointed to the side of her head. ‘You won’t let me touch you, so do me a favour and brush your hair aside? Right there?’
His request was so weird, out of the blue and inoffensive, Koneko managed the seemingly impossible and did as he asked without complaint or protest, if for no other reason than sheer curiosity.
When she brushed her hair aside, only to reveal more hair, Issei tossed the box of sweets at the terrifying midget then turned to Rias and cheered like an idiot, a massive grin on his face.
‘I fucking knew it!’
Everyone bar Koneko was looking at him with sheer bemusement, the cat girl groaning in delight as she bit into her hard-earned daifuku.
‘I’m…so confused.’
Issei rounded the huge table, snatched the glass of wine from Akeno’s grasp and downed the rest in one go. The half-Fallen looked too weirded out to be annoyed, thankfully.
Holding up the empty glass as if in toast, Issei puffed out his chest and gave a victory pose. ‘I knew all the artists were just a bunch of lazy dumbasses! I was so tired of seeing them draw cat girls with two sets of ears—get the fuck outta here with that bullshit!’
‘Mm. Lazy.’
Issei spun around, eyes wide with a delighted smile on his face at what he heard.
Are we bonding?!
Koneko was once more munching on the daifuku, her cheeks adorably puffed and her eyes regarding him with a deadpan stare.
‘Whazzat?!’
‘You’re an idiot.’
Undeterred, Issei grinned evilly, a villainous chuckle seeping from his lips.
Oh Tsundere kitty-cat, why do you resist? It’s only a matter of time before you’re curled up in my lap and I’m scritching those fluffy ears of yours…
Koneko’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘I just had a sudden and violent urge to murder you…’
‘As adorable as this is,’ his fiancée called out, getting everyone’s attention. ‘I think it’s time we get to the purpose of this meeting—the other purpose—before Kiba-kun drills a hole through my floor with his incessant tapping…’
The man in question stiffened, as if he hadn’t realised he was tapping his foot nervously. ‘Apologies, Buchou.’
Issei resisted the urge to chuckle as he took the offered seat to Rias’ side. He had to admit it was pretty cute that her peerage still referred to Rias by her highschool nickname, even though there was no longer a club that she was the president of…
Once they were all seated, Rias motioned to Kiba with a kind smile. ‘What have you got for me?’
Kiba winced apologetically. ‘Not…much, and most of it circumstantial. I’m sorry.’
‘Anything is better than nothing, go ahead.’
Nodding, Kiba gave his report.
‘I tracked the Fallen down to two locations—the abandoned church on the other side of town, and an old warehouse in the industrial sector. Both have been completely scrubbed, as if by pros. No traces were left.’
Rias turned to Akeno with a frown. ‘I thought Sona was keeping the old church around as bait—wasn’t she keeping an eye on it?’
The raven-haired beauty was tapping away at her phone. ‘I’ll look into it.’
‘Please do.’
Issei had intended to remain silent, to see how Rias and her peerage operated. A part of him had to admit it was a little hokey, like a bunch of school kids pretending to be in a spy thriller, but he only had to remember the stakes. He only had to remind himself that these Fallen would have killed him had Rias not been able to reincarnate his… soul or whatever.
At the mention of the buildings being scrubbed down though, he couldn’t hold his tongue.
‘How exactly did you know they were there, then? If they scrubbed the place down so thoroughly…’ When they all turned to look at him as one, he winced. ‘Sorry…’
‘No,’ Rias chided, putting a gentle hand on his arm, ‘ask as many questions as you like. The sooner you learn the capabilities of your peerage mates, the better we’ll all work together as a team.’
Kiba nodded in approval of Rias’ reasoning before turning to Issei to answer. ‘They might have covered their tracks excellently, but I have this…sense. It’s hard to describe. I usually just call it smell for simplicity’s sake, but it’s more akin to an itching on the back of my neck.’ He smiled, then motioned to Issei. ‘It’s that sense that let me know there was a power within you, and it was that sense that let me feel the holy energies leftover in the church and warehouse despite the thorough scrubbing.’
Issei nodded thoughtfully and in thanks.
Weird bloodhound-like senses, got it…
‘They’re clearly pros, not just some rogue, splinter faction. At least from what I’ve seen of how they operate and their efficiency. Unfortunately, I imagine they’ve been here for a while…’
Rias cursed in annoyance and at Issei’s silent, questioning look, she elaborated. ‘Sona and I share the responsibility of defending Kuoh from supernatural threats. I, through Kiba, handle any demon attacks and outbreaks while Sona is supposed to deal with everything else. She’s clearly slacking.’
She looked annoyed by that too, and Issei could empathise. After all, her slacking had cost him his human life.
Not that he minded now, given the outcome.
Koneko, finished with her daifuku and looking devastated by that fact, piped up morosely. ‘She’s focusing too much on the schools and forgets her purpose.’
Rias hummed in approval, an annoyed frown on her beautiful features while Akeno still tapped away at her phone.
Issei had another question.
‘You two…what? Run the city like royalty from the shadows or something?’
Shaking her head as if to clear it of her racing thoughts, Rias turned to him and nodded. ‘Something like that. While we’re close friends—have been since we were little—we’re also in a… competition, of sorts, to see who will win over full ownership of Kuoh. Unfortunately, with how prestigious the schools are, along with her philanthropic and business ventures, Sona is winning said competition.’
Issei’s face scrunched up in confusion before realisation dawned on him. ‘Oh, don’t tell me, you two are treating Kuoh like one of your 4X games…?’
Rias’ eyes widened in alarm, but her embarrassed flush was all the answer he needed. At seeing the other member’s clear confusion however, Issei elaborated with a sly smile—talking over Rias’ embarrassed protestations.
‘Alright, so... imagine a video game where you start with almost nothing—like, a patch of land, or a small, nothing city in the boonies of Kanagawa—and the whole point is to take over everything. Not just fighting, but running stuff. You explore, you build cities, gather resources, make deals, crush enemies. It's called a 4X game—means Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate. Yeah, it’s a mouthful.’
Seeing Akeno, Kiba and Konkeo’s wide-eyed stares, and Rias’ hilarious attempts at hiding her crimson face in her hands, Issei shrugged and summed it all up.
‘Basically? You act like a ruler. You grow your territory, make it stronger, and wipe out the competition if they get in your way—or ally and subjugate, I guess, if you’re lame. Winner takes all.’
Akeno, not quite able to smother the grin that threatened to split her face in two, turned to Rias with a delicate, arched eyebrow. ‘...Which is exactly what Buchou and Sona are doing with Kuoh. Only instead of armies and taxes, it's school events and ley lines. And instead of fighting, they’re smiling and handing out scholarships and plotting world domination.’
‘Busted.’
Issei grinned at both Akeno and Koneko’s reactions.
‘They're not just running the town—they're playing it. Like it's some big strategy game and we’re all pieces on the board. Tell me I’m wrong.’
Rias finally turned to him and gave him a long, suffering sigh. ‘Are you done teasing me, my love?’
‘Not yet. What do you mean you’re losing? I know this Fallen shit is important, but you best believe we’re coming back to that. I can’t have my girl losing. I’m not marrying a noob.’
Rias grinned impishly, her eyes flashing at the challenge. ‘Sona is a fearsome foe—you mustn't underestimate her. She’s also fair and kind, if a little strict and overserious. This game isn’t as adversarial as you’re imagining it to be.’
Issei hummed in thought. ‘Definitely gives off dommy-mommy vibes, that one…’ He remembered meeting Sona once or twice over the years, but the few run-ins he’d had with her left a lasting impression.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had her own secret devil mansion with a whole sex dungeon and a closet filled with black latex…
Akeno giggled into her hand at his idle observation and Rias smirked knowingly. ‘My love, your instincts are more accurate than you know.’ At seeing him perk up, she laughed. ‘Down, boy.’
Rias finally turned back to the patiently waiting and fidgeting Kiba and smiled kindly. ‘What makes you think they’ve been here a while, Kiba-kun?’
‘Too sophisticated,’ he answered immediately, professionally. ‘To completely gut and scrub down two locations in such a short amount of time? And that’s only two locations that I’ve found. Then, to be able to infiltrate the seat of the local lords’ power and remain undetected, and to now completely evade me while I’m on the hunt? I don’t think it’s my pride talking when I say that tells us they’re much more entrenched than we’d like…’
Rias frowned in thought. She did that thing where she pinched her chin between index finger and thumb while crossing an arm under her heavy breast. It was a look Issei was familiar with, especially when Rias’ supreme intellect was challenged.
Kiba continued, hesitant. ‘You’ve seen nothing from your scrying…?’
‘I’ve been checking all week while taking care of Issei—honey, lean back.’
It took Issei a moment to realise what was going on. When he noticed Kiba and Akeno subtly leaning back in their chairs, he hurried to tuck his elbows in and followed suit, just in time.
With a graceful wave of her hand, Rias murmured something under her breath, and the runes etched into the massive stone table flared to life in a blinding white glow. Issei yelped and instinctively squinted away from the flash.
‘Sorry,’ Rias muttered with a wince, not meeting anyone’s eyes. ‘It’s a bit inelegant. The magic’s… complicated.’
Before he could ask what she meant, the entire stone surface gave a low shudder—not noisy, but full of weight—and began to rotate. Silently, smoothly. The round slab, easily three metres across, tilted backward like it was mounted on invisible hinges. Runes chased one another across its underside as it completed the slow flip, until the reverse side faced up.
What emerged wasn’t the gleaming, polished surface of the table’s underside like he was expecting. It was a city. A miniature one—sculpted in uncanny detail.
At first, Issei just squinted, puzzled. Tiny houses. Sloping roads. The faint suggestion of a riverbed. His eyes skimmed over it, half-expecting it to be a random model or some kind of magical diorama.
Then his gaze snagged on a bridge. A familiar one. One he used to bike over on the way to middle school.
His breath caught. A few blocks down, he spotted the triangular rooftop of the arcade where he used to blow his allowance. And right at the edge—a familiar bend in the forest path near the old shrine.
‘Wait a sec…’ he whispered. ‘Is that…?’
The realisation hit him like a slap to the face. ‘That’s Kuoh!’
The flipped table finished its descent, settling with a soft hum into the floor — level with the stone beneath their feet, like a platform or altar. Issei leaned forward, hands braced on his knees, gawking at the perfect little city laid out in front of them.
Lights dotted the landscape. Dozens—maybe hundreds—of tiny glows scattered throughout the streets and buildings, each different sizes and intensities, some lights, like at the Night Market, were gathered together in a big clump. Most were a soft, constant white. A few burned red. Others glowed green, tucked away along the outskirts.
He frowned, watching them shift and flicker. ‘What are those?’
Rias, still watching him from beside him, answered softly. ‘White means Human. Red, Devil. Green… are Yokai.’
Issei blinked. ‘Seriously?’
She nodded. ‘While not perfect—obviously, given your accident—this is as live and up-to-date a scrying ritual as I can manage and lets me keep an eye on who’s in the city, and where.’
He leaned back slowly, eyes wide. The model hadn’t just looked real. It was. ‘Did you… buy this? Or did you make it? With your…runes?
Rias grinned proudly. ‘I made it.’
Her proud grin turned to bemusement when he turned a sly grin onto her. ‘I didn’t know I was marrying such a nerd. I mean, being an otaku is one thing, but you’re into models and minis too? Where’s the hidden shelf of gunpla you’ve somehow managed to hide from me?’
Rias flushed a deep crimson and the others all chuckled at her expense. Looking to Akeno for an explanation, the slutty temptress sent a sly smirk at her best friend before turning back to Issei.
‘There’s no shelf,’ she explained, and Issei pouted at her as she ruined the bit. His annoyance was short-lived. ‘Rias has an entire room filled with plastic toys.’
‘Not just Gundam,’ Koneko helpfully supplied, the lower half of her face and what Issei secretly suspected was a grin hidden by her knees, ‘ecchi stuff too.’
Kiba, more relaxed now with the teasing atmosphere, smiled politely. ‘Buchou loves her toys.’
Rias had her hands buried in her face now to hide her shame. ‘Can we move on now? Please?!’
After a few more chuckles at her expense, Rias managed to compose herself and somehow managed to regain her regal poise, motioning towards the model city. ‘This is more than a simple model, Issei, it’s a scaled identical copy, from everything to the glass to the soil beneath the concrete. It not only allows me to observe and track anyone within the city, but it lets me pinpoint the location of Demon outbreaks in real time to better help hunt them down.’
I’m assuming she’ll elaborate on this Demon stuff when she thinks I need to know…
With a wave of her hand, all the white lights vanished. ‘Typically, I have no need to scry for humans.’
What remained though were the red and green lights, the former concentrated at KU—with the small blob in the mountains no-doubt representing their group—and the latter scattered throughout the city, with several concentrations here and there.
‘The Yokai are clans who are aligned and living in Kuoh with permission from Rias and Sona,’ Akeno took over, seeing Issei’s eyes bouncing between the different green lights. ‘And if there were a Demon break, they would show as a black light.’
Issei looked up. ‘And what’s the difference between Devils and Demons again?’
Rias took over. ‘We don’t have time to get into specifics, but you already know Devils cultivate emotional energy to strengthen their bodies and grow in power quickly. Demons are the result of Devils doing this recklessly, or improperly. They’ve lost themselves, their minds and bodies warped by the overwhelming, unfiltered essence and corrupting them into being little better than beasts that need to be put down.’
Issei gulped. ‘Right. Cultivation is dangerous.’
Rias and the others nodded gravely. ‘No power is free.’ Then his fiancée turned to him with a secret smile and winked. ‘You, of all people, should know that…’
Issei flushed while the others looked on curiously. Akeno looked annoyed at being out of the loop—as Queen, likely an uncommon occurrence—but Rias pressed on.
‘What you’re not seeing, and what’s notably missing from this map, are gold and purple lights.’
‘Let me guess, gold for churchies and purple for the bird fucks?’ He turned to Akeno and shrugged. ‘No offence.’
Akeno sent him a radiant smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes and sent a spike of inexplicable terror through his psyche. ‘Whatever do you mean, Issei-kun? I’m a Devil.’
Not sure why he was terrified, he readily agreed and turned back to Rias. ‘And you’ve seen no purple or golden lights? Not even once?’
Rias looked uncomfortable. ‘I already said the map isn’t perfect, not yet, and I don’t look at the map all day, but in the years it’s been active? No… I haven’t seen gold or purple light even once.’
Kiba finally inserted himself back into the conversation. ‘This only further proves how formidable our enemy is—to have ways to mask their signatures from divination or scrying of this level…?’
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as everyone processed the information and thought on next steps.
Everyone except Issei, who’d whipped out his phone and began tapping at the screen with rapid, dextrous fingers.
It took a minute or two, but Rias eventually noted his lack of decorum and raised a challenging eyebrow.
‘Are we boring you, my love?’
Issei ignored the jab and kept tapping away, his eyes glued to the screen as he read through emails. ‘Hey Kiba, any guesses on the size of their organisation? Based on what you saw?’
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kiba turn to Rias for approval and only speak after her approving, encouraging nod.
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, Kiba closed his eyes and interlocked his fingers, no-doubt recalling what he’d seen to best try and answer the question. After a minute of silent contemplation, he opened his eyes and answered as best he could.
‘Both sites were completely scrubbed of aetheric signatures—it was like a void had opened up and swallowed all the Aether in the entire area. It was…unusual.’
Rias pinched her chin in thought. ‘Feels excessive unless you’re trying to hide a substantial force, no?’
‘I don’t know,’ Kiba mused. ‘Hiding Aether is one thing, but the church and warehouse have been abandoned for years—yet they were spotless. Well, mostly spotless.’
Rias’ eye sharpened at that but Akeno voiced the question. ‘What do you mean by that?’
Kiba shrugged, at a loss to explain what he’d seen. ‘Areas that would typically receive the most traffic—main areas, bathrooms, kitchens, hallways—all of them were spotless.’
‘Would you say too clean, for an abandoned building?’ Rias followed up and Kiba nodded after a moment’s thought. His frown was growing more pronounced as pieces started to click together in his mind.
‘And when, exactly, did you investigate these sites?’
Everyone turned back to Issei, who still hadn’t looked up from his phone.
This time, Kiba answered without looking to Rias for permission. ‘I went to the church first thing Saturday morning, found the warehouse shortly after.’
Issei froze, then slowly looked up, his eyebrows raised. ‘So I was attacked Friday night, and in a few hours, the two places you found weren’t only scrubbed down, but whatever they had set up there for their base of operations was completely disassembled? Without Trace? He turned to Rias, his incredulity written on his face. ‘Is that even possible? With magic, I mean.’
Rias favoured Issei with a smile. ‘Oh, it’s definitely possible, easy even.’ Though her words looked to have cut down his theory, the pride in her eyes hinted at something else. ‘But magic at that scale, and on such short notice, would be borderline impossible. You’d have to set up a ritual, allow it to take its course, then somehow set up another ritual that removed all traces of Aether from the area. Even with scrying blockers, the timing doesn’t add up—we would have sensed something.’
‘Right,’ Issei nodded, his suspicions confirmed. ‘I figured it might be something like that. So then I asked myself, if I was a big, scary, Fallen PMC and I needed to scrub down sites on short notice without drawing too much attention, what would I do?’
Before anyone could answer, he continued.
‘First, I’d want to make sure the locals I’m supposedly hiding from couldn’t sense what I was doing, so I wouldn’t use magic, or anyone affiliated with the supernatural.’
Rias’ smile had been growing progressively wider the longer Issei talked, but his eyes were still glued to his screen. Even the ever-unflappable Koneko had sat up in her chair at attention, curious to see where this was going.
‘Makes sense, I concur.’
‘Then, the next obvious choice is whoever the Yakuza use to, erm, clean up their messes, right?’
‘Yes, obviously.’ Issei missed the sarcasm in his fiancée’s tone, and the look she’d shared with her best friend shortly after. Akeno’s eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline at this point, a new level of respect shining in her violet eyes.
Issei continued, ‘but then I figured, while that would make sense in terms of skill-sets and expertise, it doesn’t make sense in terms of scale. Those guys are probably used to making bodies disappear, maybe guns or cleaning blood from a room, but scrubbing down half a dozen buildings in one night? Not even, a few hours? That’s way too much—’
Rias cut him off. ‘Wait, what do you mean half a dozen buildings?’
Instead of answering, Issei looked up with a grim expression and tossed his phone to Rias. ‘If it were me, I’d hire the largest industrial cleaning company in Kuoh and pay them handsomely to do a rush job. ‘Yo, Kiba, I bet that church and warehouse smelt fresh—maybe a hint of lemon? Not stale and mouldy like an old, abandoned building should?’
Kiba nodded slowly, his eyes wide.
‘Issei, what am I looking at?’
Rias was scrolling on his phone with a look of puzzlement on her face.
‘You’re in the database of the largest cleaning company in Kuoh. Scroll down to last Friday and you’ll see a pretty lucrative job where they were hired to scrub down seven sites for the client Vespari Holdings.’
Silence.
Issei flushed at the attention and scratched the back of his head. ‘What?’
Rias spoke first. ‘How did you even get this? I doubt the cleaning company posts their invoices publicly…’
Issei flushed deeper and averted his gaze. ‘You know… I just emailed their front desk pretending to be a new client. I attached a fake quote form laced with some malware, kept sending it until someone was dumb enough to click the link and bada-bing-bada-boom, I was in. He scratched his cheek sheepishly, ‘You really shouldn’t click on links you don’t trust, ya’know?’
Akeno's eyes were alight with mischief and interest. ‘You hacked them?’
Issei tilted his head from side-to-side, squirming in his seat. ‘Hack is such a strong word, this was just a bit of social engineering…’
Silence.
Everyone was staring at him now, even Rias. He couldn’t tell whether to be proud or insulted at how shocked they looked.
What? Did they think he was playing video games in his classes or something?
Growing uncomfortable with the intense scrutiny, Issei pointed at the model city beneath them. ‘Oh hey, there’s a golden light at the church—that seems kinda important…’
‘Issei, that’s not funny—’
Rias’ eyes widened in shock and she jerked in surprise when she turned and saw he wasn’t lying. A single, flickering golden mote of light had indeed bloomed to life within the model of the abandoned church on the table.
‘Kiba!’
‘On it, Buchou!’
‘I guess that means the meeting is adjourned?’ Akeno rose after her question, stretching out her back extra far, her clearly unsupported breasts barely contained by the halter top. Issei was pretty sure he could even make out the shape of her nipples through the thin material.
Big…
Catching him staring, Akeno shot him a flirty wink while Koneko scoffed in disgust.
Rias snorted. ‘Trying a bit hard there, Akeno?’ She didn’t sound mad, if anything, she looked amused as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, her eyes never leaving the golden mote of light at the model of the abandoned church. ‘All of a sudden interested in my, what was it, my pet human?’
Aside from her cheeks tinting pink, Akeno looked utterly unapologetic. ‘Worried I’ll steal him away, Rias?’
Rias snorted, the complete lack of reaction showing how little she was worried about that. ‘You’ll have time to play with him later.’ Rias turned to Koneko, completely ignoring the delighted expression on her best friend’s face and Issei’s incredulity. ‘Keep Kiba posted please.’ Rias then turned to Issei, her eyes smouldering with desire.
‘You and I have plans for tonight, Mister.’
Issei gulped, his cheeks flushing a deeper crimson than Akeno’s—who was lost in her own world at that moment, and eyeing him like a piece of meat.
They did have plans that evening, and he was pretty sure they involved not only some grinding, but also the first item in the Codex’s points store…