Chapter 2: Mistakes were Made
This wasn't going to be an easy morning.
Yawning tiredly as I woke up in a lake of sweat, I slowly managed to pick myself from falling back on the bed.
It was surprising how I managed to avoid getting ensnared by the alluring crave I had for more sleep with how drained and tired I still was.
Dohnaseek's words about my coils echoed truthfully in my brain, pointing out once more how I was still fairly new with the whole Magic sthick and how my current abilities were still lacking in keeping up with a proper fight.
My entire body was sore, weakened, and still recovering from the straining encounter that happened the previous night, and I would be lying in saying I didn't have a certain inner wish about skipping school today to gett more sleep.
And if it hadn't been that I did have something important to do today, I would have ponder over the notion for a little longer than now, possibly weighting if skipping a day would or not spark the suspicions of Rias about my 'harmless role' at Kuoh.
Sure, I knew that Sona was too much busy with her own problems regarding the Academy and her own duties coming from Hell, but the Gremory was the one that constantly kept an eye open for any possible threat in their shared fief.
While I was still a noob about this whole mystical nature of the world, I was still what many would define a Magician in the making and with good reasons.
The Silver Lining was a fine proof that I knew a few things about the basics, enough to label me as an apprentice of the magical order.
Being capable of turning a 'Containment Spell' from the Japanese-based Spellcraft in something useful for the predicament I had to deal the day before was something to also consider unique and… worrying in some cases by those that didn't knew well enough of my personality and affiliations.
About my motivations and my ambitions.
The death of the Fallen Angel was going to have the dual effect of bringing more attention to the presence of possible curious individuals lingering around the proximate area of the school while also making Raynare a little nervous over the current pace of their operations, pushing her to get a more desperate in the hopes of avoiding some hostile Grigori's operative in Kuoh.
If I continued to play my cards well in this very circumstance, I was fairly sure that I could end up catching Asia before she could even consider approaching the rebelling Fallen Angels.
And I would be gaining an ally in the process, which I had long planned to have her assigned to live by the Hyoudou residence for the time being.
Why that place and not my home?
The first reason was that my new parents were the no-nonsense kind of people that would turn down politely any offer of housing the nun, even though there is a strong motivation behind such a request.
The second reason was that I would then gain some respect from Issei, the boy understanding that I was putting some trust about his capacity to not cause any perverted act around the naive girl, while also having him start to take some serious efforts to properly reduce to a minimum his pervertness.
At least make it an inward reaction rather than a full-fledged outward outburst every time he found himself dealing with Oppai.
Standing up from the bed in a sluggish pace, I glanced at my PC and smiled as I remembered the little idea I had about how I had managed to keep my 'suspicious' books in my room without having no one notice where they were.
Two weeks of various afternoons spent writing down the content of those tomes in multiple document files within the computer, taking photos of all the signs that couldn't be reproduced with the keyboard, I had two whole magic textbooks detailing Japanese Spellcraft and basic healing techniques saved in a safe hidden by two complex passwords.
A very elaborated scheme that became necessary when the possibility of being eventually tailed around by people or getting my room violated by unwanted intruders became a legitimate fear.
Speaking of 'people', before going to catch some rest I did spend some time browsing around in search of a very important contact's details over some individuals that I had to keep an eye onto.
With the plans of Kokabiel entering in motion in mere months, it became a must to inform Azazel of what was going to happen Kuoh Town.
The man might have some limited interest in Issei, but I was fairly unsure if said interest did span to a level of keeping the brunet under constant surveillance, excluding Raynare's 'missed' duty.
It was a big guess, but if I managed to pass on him the memo that someone was planning to start another Great War while also trying to cause problems within Grigori and gave him some proof of these possibilities, I could easily get some indirect help from him.
Setting up an untraceable post within my PC was something that drained even more of my free time but also part of my available funds, either from pocket money or small rewards from odd jobs around the city.
It still was more than enough to get me to send a lengthy message to the Governor-General.
A message that contained numerous pictures with the dates and the places where these were being taken, and some peculiar bank transactions visible that were gained by browsing within some Grigori-owned branches without being spotted by the efficient security system enforced by the former Fifth-Heaven-led organization.
As I finished putting on my school uniform, I noticed that my right hand, the one that had absorbed the 'Heavenly Energy' from Dohnaseek's final Light Spear, was still suffering some irritation from the minor adjustment to the coils contained within it.
Creating a separate section of my Magical Core meant to be used to accumulate Holy Energy was a blunder I conceptualized from some theories merely alluded within the Healing Book I had yet to finish to study about.
A Magical Core was something unique that was present within all living beings.
It was the main reactor for everyone's life but only a minor percentage of people could really tap into it and do spells.
Its general purpose was to sustain only a single type of energy, rarely two if the being was something close or a hybrid, most of the cases being Fallen Angels that were born by pure Fallen Angels and humans.
Since my body couldn't hope to survive a sudden injection of holy energy with my Basis-Type Core, I decided to try and test if the Mithridates' method could be used in this specific situation.
Mithridatism was usually applied about building some immunity to poison by ingesting a small and gradual quantity of non-lethal poison.
In this predicament of mine, I was slowly filtering the Holy energy within my core in the effort of trying to integrate the new energy without causing any major issues with my current biology.
Some sickness had been expected to happen during the lengthy process.
Some minor aching and a partial sensation that was akin to drugs' withdrawal were partly possible during this difficult, but I was glad that the worst that could have happened, which was a complete rejection of the new energy, was nigh-impossible to be a thing since I wasn't a Devil and I didn't have any reason to be subjected to any energy-rejections that violent.
A Devil was terribly vulnerable against Holy energy which made 'energy transfusion' of said type of energy within a Devil's body a known failure that could easily lead to the death of the subject.
Putting on some bandages over my sickly-pale hand, I decided to also wear a finger-less glove with some minor protective runes that hid the energy pattern contained within it,
It was meant to keep an extra layer of disguise from any Devil specialized in energy-detection within Kuoh.
It wasn't much as there were better means to properly hide out this kind of issues, but I was going to have an easier time at school today without wasting too much time over it.
Walking downstairs to the kitchen room, I was greeted by silence, a steamy plate of bacon and scrambled eggs, and a small paper sitting right beside the food on the table.
I blinked at the lack of people this early in the morning, and my curiosity urged me to take a peek at the little note.
I started to read quietly the content of the small thing, and I sighed tiredly at it.
We will be working overtime and will be home later than usual.
Simple, curt and actually some good news for me.
This message was actually offering me some more opportunity to further study and expand from the books I had in my computer, and see if I could get some more texts I could learn from in the meantime.
With general happiness plastered in my face, I walked out of my house with a happy belly and a good chance of having something productive to do once I was done with the normal day at school.
I yawned, my attention keeping fixed on the teacher as I continued to half-listen to today's lesson about Japanese literature.
I admit I didn't expect the subject to hold this level of difficulty and detailing, with its deep poetry and narration of the various periods, offering some major insights over the Shoguns and the Daimyos of the numerous Eras.
Still, it wasn't worse by any mean to what was European literature, this subject managing to get close enough but also not close enough to make my head hurts every single lesson I took about it.
Part of my focus was also split away from the lecture to glance both at Akeno and Rias.
The two girls were in the same class as I was and they were regarded as the 'favorite duo' of the school by both teachers and students.
Beautiful, smart and, morally graceful.
Those two were quite the grand ambition for many young men seeking girlfriends, respectfully holding a similar kind of appeal that made them popular while also lovable.
A position that many women that studied at Kuoh should normally envy, but it was actually praised and quickly accepted by all girls that looked up at them as role models, showing that their reputation was way beyond the one that air-headed divas would have to deal with in a normal high school-centered scenario.
I continued to keep a good composure for the rest of the hour, quickly walking out of the classroom the moment the teacher had confirmed the end of his class and had allowed the students to leave the room.
A minor pause of ten minutes would ensue to offer some break to the students.
It was a brief relief but good enough to approach Issei and give him some more details about our planned little chat.
Finding the brunet turned out to be quite the simple task as the boy was usually wandering around the entrance of his classroom during the pauses and, a few moments later, I was patting his shoulder with a small smile much to his panic and surprise.
A little yelp left his lips but he stopped himself from letting out anything remotely girly as his eyes noticed my figure and recognized me.
"O-Oh, Hoitsu-senpai."
"Good morning, Ise-kohai," I greeted him with a kind smile. "Might I remind you about our discussion about Drag So-Ball?"
He blinked in confusion, then a flash of recognition washed on his face.
"R-Right, almost forgot about it… it should be in-"
"The thirty-minutes pause after the third lesson of today," I interrupted him with a quick nod. "We shall catch up on the roof to discuss the latest episode."
His eyes glowed a little as I knew he was a fan of the Dragon Ball's rip-off.
"You mean the Super Dragon 3 transformation and Satoru going against Mango Belus? That was-"
"Incredible, I know!"
I smiled widely as I did catch some glimpses of the episode yesterday and…
I missed watching Dragon Ball and what was available in this dimension did make a good figure compared to the legendary anime.
"Still, I wonder, what do you think of the let-down of Sora?" I inquired with a hum. "I mean, he managed to beat Terminator X and seemed to be ready to become the new protagonist-"
"But they make him go out so easily about the whole 'he peaked' crap," The reincarnated Devil continued for me with a gloomy face, showing annoyance about the producers' decision. "It's kind of sad but I guess Satoru is more popular than his son. It wouldn't have done him justice if he lost that importance."
"I guess you are right."
I nodded in agreement, finding the parallelism between Gohan and Sora quite... identical in certain points.
"Then I suppose we can continue later- and remember to not do anything 'weird' in the meantime," I smiled sweetly while squeezing at his shoulder a little more, to push the point across. "I would hate to have to pick you up and personally have you sent to deal with a teacher's lecture."
Issei bowed his head in embarrassment, yet his eyes hardly kept still while he spoke. "I-I will make sure to not cause trouble, senpai."
I patted his shoulder once, sporting a small smile... "Good! Then we will see each other later, kohai."
Turning around, I started to walk away from the boy, ignoring the mutterings of some students at the fact I did speak with a junior student.
I was part of the Student Council and it had to be quite confusing to see me talk so calmly with a member of the Perverted Trio, no serious despise evident in my tone during those conversations.
I guess I could have approached him in another way, but the rumors were hardly going to escalate without any further situation that might spark some unpleasant theories from the student body.
Like hell I was going to allow the Ise-Kiba debacle from happening again with me.
With a small sigh leaving my mouth, I returned back to the classroom and I continued with today's lessons, ready to deal with two sessions of Math and of Biology.
Three hours later and I found myself limping on my way to reach the roof, trying my best to hide this little issue from showing to anyone walking around.
The expected symptoms were starting to show in the form of severe pain going through my left leg, and some minor itching by the chest's area that was getting my breath short.
I also felt something close to feverish, but I was still capable of formulating logical thoughts and, after informing Sona herself that I wouldn't be able to participate the council session because of health problems, I decided to make my chat with Issei the last thing I would have to do at school today, taking an early leave to return back home.
I had completely miscalculated the time it would take for me to recover from the dangerous process of integrating the 'foreign magic' and only the Gods know how much I would have to wait before being able to experiment around with my regular magic.
At least I wasn't going to die, I mused darkly as I finally reached for the handle that led outside to the roof.
As the sudden light from the sun started to dim a little and my eyes slowly adjusted to it, I found myself staring at two individuals rather than the one I was expecting.
Issei looked partly guilty as he shifted nervously from his seat loacated quite distant from the smiling blond that was Kiba Yuuto.
The unexpected young man was standing near the only entrance to this place.
"Sakakibara-senpai, I'm sorry if I'm intruding but-" He turned to the nervous-looking brunet with a small smile. "Issei-kun told me that you were going to discuss Drag So-Ball and I am kind of… a fan of it."
He winked my way and I restrained myself from sighing at the pretty boy's fake attempt to infiltrate the discussion.
I should have considered the fact both King and Queen of the Gremory's peerage would have avoided giving up some hints to any suspicious actions directed at me, maybe they had spotted me while I was leaving with Issei for the park when they 'rescued' him yesterday.
But still, the lack of a direct and more invasive confrontation from the redhead confirmed that Issei did keep his mouth shut about my role in killing Dohnaseek. That also meant I could give some respect to the usually pervy boy for not letting that secret go by a possible boob attack.
"Sure," I replied with a wide smile, deciding to hide my minor annoyance as I knew what was happening anytime soon now. "Then I guess we should begin."
The two boys nodded, Kiba smiling happily while the other teen seemed to have taken a bite out of some lemon from how annoyed he looked.
Such was the terrible thing known as 'aggressive intrusion'.
But I guess I have to explain why I had to go along with this ploy and not call out the pretty boy out of his silly act.
If I did urge him to leave so suddenly, either diplomatically or violently, this action would be taken as evidence for further investigations and, frankly-speaking, I didn't want to deal with Rias anytime soon.
Especially without some power to protect me from an eventual 'unkind' reaction from hers.
So the discussion did happen, but it was only about the anime which only Issei and I knew about.
Kiba didn't try to hide his lack of familiarity with the show, but he still tried to downplay it as some mere forgetfulness thorough the rest of the conversation.
A lie that was easily caught by both the brunet and me, but not outright slammed right onto his face.
It was an odd situation that continued for about two more hours.
My health deteriorated a little more but nothing that truly alarmed me just yet and, seeing that it was starting to get dark, I decided to conclude this chat with a few words for the poor Devil.
"Ise-kohai, I almost forgot. Can I ask you a favor?" I quietly asked at the young man.
The boy blinked and nodded, the blonde looking curious. "Sure, what do you need, senpai?"
"Tomorrow I might have to skip school," I said with a pained smile, my face had to have been quite pale at that point. "You see, yesterday I got a deep cut while preparing dinner and the medicines I had to use aren't particularly sitting well with my body. If it's not asking too much, could you make an effort to get a copy of the homework of tomorrow from Tsubaki-san-"
He tensed at hearing the stern woman but I was quick to assure his safety.
"I- I will call her to tell about the situation," I assured him with a small nod. "I-If you avoid any issues tomorrow she will be less prone to lecture you and get you some detention."
The teen nodded slowly and accepted the request. "I will do what I can, senpai."
"G-Good."
I nodded too, my lips twitching in a brief situation of shivers.
"Then I-I can give you my address so you can pass around tomorrow."
I took a small piece of paper and wrote down the address to my house, the boy nodding while storing it in one of his pockets. "Understood."
"T-Then I go as I think I will need some p-power nap after this little situation."
As I went towards the door, I saw Kiba walking by. "Do you need some help, senpai? You do seem quite…"
"I-I can hold until back home, Kiba-san." I nodded thankful at him, while I tried to dodge the little bullet there. "A-Also I don't want to get some r-rumors going about our current situation here."
He blinked innocently. "What rumors, senpai?"
I looked back at Issei and the brunet didn't deign to look back much to my disappointment. "S-Something about your romantic inclinations. Don't wish for the rumor mill to hit us about that."
He frowned in confusion. "That sounds completely silly, senpai. No one would-"
"Did y-you know that girls are shipping you with Issei?"
His confusion turned in dread at my interjection.
"I hope you will make sure to clarify the s-situation or the rumors will only end up getting w-worse."
He nodded quickly and I was granted the chance of leaving that place of dread behind as I ventured out of the school and towards home.
Reaching the modest-looking house, I sighed as I let my body hit the couch, the coziness almost taking my consciousness out as I tried to deal with the growing aches of the process.
And then my stomach starting to softly groan at the terrible suffering it was subjected.
For the interest of everyone, I decided to avoid eating anything at lunch, knowing that it was now a matter of time before I would have to go to the bathroom and throw up what was left of my breakfast.
A pity that I couldn't do anything with the extra hours of being alone but dealing with the regret coming from the results of my poorly-made choices.
I was about to close my eyes and let my sore brain drift away from that reality of pain when I heard a familiar and unholy sound reach out for me.
Ding Dong~
God-frigging-dangit!
I groaned on my pillow before slowly pulling myself out of that delightful place of comfort and back to the ever-aching situation of walking around.
It was my sheer determination that got me towards the door and as I slowly opened it to see who was daring to disturb me in my moment of sorrow, my eyes were greeted back by a pair of golden ones.
Then I stared up and I saw silver-hair and…
Why was Koneko here?
She had some books in her hands, grasping them softly as she looked a little bit nervous through her 'blank' mask. "I'm sorry if I'm here without notice… but I need your help, senpai."
…
"W-What?"
"I… I have a Math exam tomorrow and Issei-san said that you were good at it," She explained with a faux-innocent tone. I admit her acting was good but- "C-Can you help me with that?"
I knew that her tone was as fake as her current attempt of pulling a nervous expression.
Her act another attempt to investigate my presence at the park the night before and I was surprised by how paranoid Rias was being over this matter.
But maybe the redhead had reasons to be this much careful over these instances as it wouldn't be the first time that she had to face quite the dangerous threats in Kuoh.
And as much as I wanted to kick her out for the sake I was in a world of pain already as I was now, I decided to let her in out of moral weakness and inherent lack of strength in kicking her out.
I just was feeling capable of making some good reasoning over why she shouldn't enter to avoid sparking new suspicions and… what kind of choice did I actually have in this matter?
"S-Sure."
The Nekoshou-in-Disguise nodded and walked inside, eyes scanning inquisitively before settling to the living room table and placing the books there.
The girl looked back, a patient glance while I slowly made my way towards the chair the opposite she was currently sitting on and I prepared myself to deal with possibly the last issue of today.
Gods, I hope I am not going to need to throw up to the bathroom now with a cute but dangerous chibi in my house.
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AN
Yes, my dudes. Koneko is in and she is the first of the many chibis.
Expect some silly instances of pseudo-fluff as I will not give them the familiarity of having true fluff… just yet.
Head-patting will be impossible to avoid!
Also, lots of support and I appreciate it, but once more I stress that the Xover element has been properly pondered and will not be as overwhelming as last time.
Some xovers might be leaving… while some 'minor objects/individuals' from other Xovers might appear.
Nothing lasting, but it will be fun for sure.
Last edited: Mar 20, 2020