Momonga lightly made his way out of the principal's office before turning to Miki, who was following behind him, smiling slightly. A smile that Momonga returned, glad to have a chance at furthering his education, even if it had almost hit a snag in his meeting with the headmaster. "Thank you for your help, Miki… I mean, Mom.”
Momonga wasn't sure exactly why Miki had suggested for him to call her ‘mother’, especially when they haven’t known each other for long – familial relations or not. But, it might have been a quite common occurrence.
And judging by her not asking more about his emancipation – especially since he didn't have a good idea of what that was himself, it was easier for him to refer to Miki as mother. Something which also added a layer of plausibility to his identity, if he lived with his mother, he was less suspicious, especially as a young man who had not yet reached adulthood.
True, the very thought of addressing Miki as ‘mother’ was strange to him, but he would soldier on.
The last time he had seen his mother was decades ago, when he found her dead in the kitchen, trying to make his favorite dish. It was probably the worst day of Momonga's entire life – perhaps even worse than the end of YGGDRASIL, despite the recentness of the latter.
But time had passed, and old wounds were scabbed over. And with her body long ago being turned in for processing at the fertilizer aggregators, there were no more things that triggered any memories of her passing. So, Momonga pretty much stopped thinking about it years later, remembering what had happened only occasionally on the anniversary of her death.
When the developers of YGGDRASIL announced the end of service – on the days leading to it, Momonga often remembered and drew parallels to it with the death of his mother. Perhaps trying to reassure himself that even such great past wounds became less painful as time passes and would be forgotten in time, so he would survive even the end of YGGDRASIL.
And, so, as a result, he had long since stopped being sad about his mother's death, simply accepting what had happened as the harsh truth of life, so he felt no sadness in calling Miki ‘mother’. Still, the very act of referring to her in that way felt strange, unfamiliar, and, frankly, unexpected to Momonga. After all, she was close to his real age!
However, Momonga could easily suppress his thoughts on the subject with the thought that he was doing it to avoid drawing attention to himself as he walked Miki out of school, watching the minutes pass before his classes started.
‘Ha, I didn't even bring a computer with me, how would I take the class? Or will they give me a school one? How exactly schooling worked in Japan in the past?’ Momonga thought for a moment, but judging by the fact that the principal hadn't mentioned it, then it was likely that the school would provide his study material.
If worse comes to worst, Momonga would have no trouble creating them with [Create Greater Item] – though, Momonga hadn't checked to see if he could create a complete computer or complex electronics at all using his abilities alone. ‘Okay, I'll walk Miki to the gate, and maybe I can check it before class starts.’
Escorting Miki to the gate, Momonga bowed slightly as he said his goodbyes. “Thank you again for your help.”
“You're welcome, Satoru," Miki smiled back warmly at him, before turning around and making her way back home – Momonga, on the other hand, activated [Life Essence] and [Mana Essence].
‘Hmm, from the looks of it, for Miki, every single bite she ate was considered a separate dish, so now the effects of food are starting to disappear and weaken, one by one. Interesting observation, I should write it down somewhere. Hmm, maybe I should start creating a sort of ‘Experiment Journal’? I'm sure it'll be useful in familiarizing Nazarick as to the differences between this world and YGGDRASIL. Huh, another thing to add to the ever-growing and growing list of concerns…’
After a moment of watching Miki’s disappearing form, Momonga turned away, then quickly walked to his class, leaving Miki to make her way home alone… Walking, since she didn't have a driver's license.
***
Pandora's Actor, no, Issei Hyoudou, he didn’t want to become sloppy because of his happiness having Father near him, made his way to his class exactly as he normally would. All the while, he kept a grim and sour smile on his expression and responded languidly to attempts to cheer him up from his friends. Issei was perfectly maintaining the mask of the man who had just survived an awful ‘date’ and a betrayal by his father. An expression that let the world know that something extremely sad and unfortunate had happened in his life.
Issei’s act was so perfect that it even caused Aika Kiryuu – an old acquaintance of Issei since elementary school who never missed an opportunity to vent a sarcasm or mock him, to retreat, allowing him to ‘mope’ himself in peace.
Issei would love to dive deeper into Aika’s psyche, to know more about ‘Issei’, but found that he was too disappointed by her to bother. Of course, he still did it, his orders were absolute no matter what he felt about it.
‘There's nothing special about Aika Kiryuu – she’s as directionless as the rest of her peers.’ Issei sighed inwardly a little.
‘Although meeting Kiba Yuuto has stirred my feelings as an actor and my instincts as a collector too much, it would be too stupid to assume that everyone I meet on my path will be as unique as this ausstellungsstück… Father bestows rewards – but only on those who can take it themselves, wonderful delicacies are hidden at this banquet among the tasteless dishes of third-rate cooks. Father has given me a purpose – in my service I need to get information about my entire surroundings, now I am a restaurant critic, and even if the offered dishes taste like dust – I will do my Father's will and deliver every minute detail of the dish.’
‘Pandora's Actor?’ Just as he reiterated his loyalty to his Father, Issei instantly felt the connection of a [Message] from Father formed between him.
“Yes, Father?” Issei spoke softly as he leaned forward, crossing his arms in front of him to conceal the movement of his lips, yet speaking softly to minimize the chance of eavesdropping. He was now looking as if he were scowling at something under his nose – a fitting picture for someone who had looked so sad a little earlier.
‘I ran into the headmaster of this school – he has magical powers and possessed several artifacts that might not be made by him, precluding the existence of another. And, by all appearances, he knows I am no ordinary person – he has probably already passed on information about me to the others aware of the magical world he knows.’
Father replied bluntly, getting right to the point. ‘The artifacts he possessed allowed him to ignore low rank illusions, and possibly see the true form of doppelgängers, though whether he can see through the abilities of a greater doppelgänger is still unknown. Plus, he can summon back-up. If someone stronger shows up, be prepared for a fighting retreat if the enemy turns out to be too strong – retreating with as much information as possible is priority. If you think you are being lured into a trap – retreat, any information you might gather by springing it is useless if you can't pass it on. Until such a possibility occurs, act naturally and try to gather information without giving yourself away, but don't take any unnecessary risks. If you were to be near the director for whatever, use your special abilities to conceal your nature, but do not transform without a plan – you are Nazarick's trump card, to use you without a plan is dangerous and pointless. If you discover any strong adversary, let me know immediately.’
“As you command, Father," Issei nodded slightly, simultaneously suppressing his desire to bow completely and yet incapable of not showing respect to his Creator in any way, even if He was incapable of seeing him when using [Message].
After a moment, the connection between Issei and Momonga disappeared again, and Issei breathed out a slightly picturesque exhale, as if he had just finished a sad and inaudible monologue. Thinking out loud some thought, confusing the potential observer, then slowly leaned his head back with his hands in front of him, showing his ‘defeated’ posture.
Issei's mind, however, was working at full strength – his current target for observation being the director, there’s some problem, however.
If he was to observe through walls without seeing the target or looking into their eyes, without communicating or using his special skills, he could only penetrate the minds of extremely weak beings, level thirtieth and below. And that was if they had no resistance to mental influences, so there was a good chance that he could not penetrate the director's mind. What was especially dangerous, however, was that it’s possible, in the attempt to invade his mind, Issei’s action could be detected by the Headmaster himself, so Issei froze in indecision.
If he could have approached the Headmaster and could see him, then Issei would have planned much more confidently. However, his order was also very clear – to stay away from the Headmaster and not draw attention to himself. On the other hand – Father also said about the need to gather information without risking himself in vain…
Issei was at a loss.
He wanted to receive more information from Father, to clarify his orders, to prevent a single blunder in his work, and not to fail in a single verse of his song. And yet, at the same time, all this was a test of the Issei himself, on how he would be able to act appropriately to carry out His plans.
Issei frowned before still taking his chances, preparing to flee a moment later if he was discovered. Overconfidence might be a slow and insidious killer, but underconfidence might even kill you even quicker – or worse, disappoint Father.
“[Mirror of Thought]." Inaudible to anyone listening, furthermore turning sideways, looking out the window, Issei used his strongest of mind reading abilities, then further amplified it and cast spells to conceal his potential interference with another being's mind.
"[The Look From Within], [Silence in the Looking Glass].”
A moment later, Issei's mind reached out to the headmaster's mind, with careful light touches testing the latter's mind defenses. It was hard to tell if something had been originally applied to the Headmaster's mind, since he had acted calmly even before Issei's actions and did not react when he did start. Of course, it’s very possible that it’s all a trap – but jumping the gun is unwise as well…
‘Hmm, so far so good… However, I should be wary – creatures of this world may have strange abilities that interfere with my observation or even be able to notice my actions easily.’
So, carefully, but quickly, Issei began to retrieve the memories of the Headmaster, Johan, starting with the most recent ones, since Father had only met him a dozen minutes ago.
‘Hmm, so… Zeoticus Gremory’s contracted mage, the younger sisters of the two Satans… And they decided? Hmm, really? Of course, they will provide insurance and protection – but even so… Ah, validation? It makes sense, but the risk… Ah, a potential enemy would not kill them so easily, but try to take them alive, and they are sure they could prevent that. Johan, growing up – resentment, eager to prove himself, prone to confrontation – all useful stuff to know. And regarding his powers, um, Johan he’s… level thirtieth? Within those limits, plus or minus five levels, judging abilities in the new world and only by their memories and thoughts is extremely difficult, note for the future, humans are an unreliable source of information.’
Confident that his intrusion has not been detected yet – or if he had, then he needed to get more pertinent information quicker. Issei began focusing on his older memories. ’Hmm, going a bit deeper now – a little more orderly chaos, but still empty meaninglessness, bereft of purpose. Oh, there’s another babysitter for the Sisters – a demon, one that’s a little higher level than Johan, but they can't interfere. Agrippa – stronger than Johan, but I would not call him strong… Ah, finally, the Maou, Sirzechs Lucifer. From the rumors, Johan has heard but not seen first-hand, the owner of a really impressive power, at least above the eightieth level. But, Johan has never observed him personally, so the estimate may differ greatly in either direction by dozens of levels… Perhaps even to the hundredth level? Potential danger – I need to warn Father…’
The sharp sound of bells brought Issei back to the tangible world, informing him that classes had begun, and he quickly left Johan's mind and rose with all the students, as their routine greeting began. ‘It is necessary to deliver information about certain things to Father, but it is not urgent at the moment. Instead of apprehension, the poor fools had decided to choose pompous hubris as their response, a desire to turn Father's appearance into their own luck.’
Issei had to fight his instinctive desire to destroy all these ants to dare to presume to use Father, but he successfully controlled himself. Assuring himself that it’s all a part of Father’s plan, he just has to play his role, and all would be right.
‘These fools see the danger he represented, the barest hint of the iceberg they’ve seen, as a ‘test’ for Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. All the while, not even realizing that they are only writing their own lines in His great play… Truly, Father, how far does your plan extend?’
***
‘Having some kind of plan at this point would be nice,’ Momonga sighed as his thoughts turned maudlin, before rising from his seat after the bell sounded. The memories he got from Issei informing him what he needed to do.
Unfortunately, the school didn't provide him with a computer – although he noticed that those existed in this world, albeit so ancient and primitive that they would have been of value only as antiques in his past world. But, having roughly understood the principle of operating them, Momonga was willing to try his hand at working with them…
However, the problem was that apparently none of the students were assigned a computer – they all used paper instead! And they had to use expensive ink to write on them! Wasting both the ink and the paper!
You had computers, why didn't you use them and write on paper instead?!
Fortunately for Momonga himself, he was provided the textbooks and notebooks of this world, along with a suitable single-seat desk and writing utensils – something that he was grateful for. He doesn’t really have the legal tender to buy the expensive school supplies. How rich must the school be to provide such rare resources to every student for free!?
Momonga has to admit – it’s weird to hold on to a pen for the first time.
Although writing with a stationary was not unusual for Momonga, after the widespread use of technology in his past world making tablets and stylus the preferred way of writing, he never actually ever held a pen in his life. Even in YGGDRASIL, magic and special abilities existed that could transfer entire texts in a flash, he could still write Japanese, though not very confidently, quickly or beautifully.
By the end, however, he did figure out both how to write his name, and after introducing himself to the class, received some initially interested looks from the other students. Something which was quickly replaced by disappointed and even disgusted ones when he mentioned that he was Issei Hyoudou’s older brother.
‘Issei, it's my fault you accidentally died, I admit and apologize… But stop destroying my reputation from the afterlife!’ Only his undead nature was able to suppress his desire to fix his reputation and use some kind of spell like [Wish Upon A Star] to change all people's memories of Issei.
Other than that car wreck of a first introduction, lessons proved uninteresting for Momonga – at least the first lessons, that is. Not because he’s a natural genius or anything like that, nor because he was well-educated, his only elementary school level education proves that. Rather, he never had a problem with the Japanese language in the first place, given that he was an adult who knew it well – even if he had to refresh some of the grammar rules he'd managed to forget. He’d even managed to learn some that he didn't know!
He knew math because he had studied YGGDRASIL formulas, he remembered biology roughly because of his study of the world of YGGDRASIL itself, even if he had to make extra marks in his recollections concerning magical creatures.
Literature, history, and chemistry, however, were another matter entirely, he was poorly taught in those subjects – in fact he lacked formal education in those subjects entirely! He could recall scattered memories in the past from his friends from Ainz Ooal Gown mentioning bits and bobs about the subject, but no more than that. He had managed to deflect suspicion for a couple of times during class, using the years as a salaryman to avoid attention and to get extra work instead of answering a question. But in the end, he mostly just stared blankly at his textbook and whatever it is the teacher wrote on the board, hoping that his teachers would perceive his gaze as understanding the subject.
Finally, however, when the school bell rang and the students began to gather for their big break, chatting among themselves about inane things and about where to settle down for lunch, Momonga ran into a problem.
Momonga didn't need to eat, strictly speaking. Though he could do so thanks to his new body, food did give him buffs, but the concern was that Momonga didn't have the kind of money that people of this Japan used. Without money, he couldn't buy himself a proper lunch, and judging by the way all the surrounding students acted, not eating lunch would be taken as something strange – something that might even attract attention.
No, of course he could use the food in his inventory, but as far as he could tell from Miki's reaction – that kind of food was unusual in this world… even the low-leveled item.
Momonga frowned as he pondered this conundrum. Should he risk not eating anything? After all, it wouldn't be strange if he missed one meal, would it? Maybe it was a little strange, but if he brought lunch tomorrow, maybe the watchers could just let today's mistake by Momonga pass them by, dismissing it as mere coincidence?
A slight exclamation from the people who had not yet left the classroom caused Momonga to scramble out of his musings, chiding himself for losing focus. Thankfully, he did not make any sudden movements that would attract attention, as the idle chatter suddenly turned into insistent whispers. So, instead, he shifted his gaze first to the window, concentrating on its reflective surface, checking to see who was standing behind him at the moment and listening a little more closely to his surroundings' voices.
In the reflection of the glass, Momonga saw two girls in school uniforms with… very noticeable features.
One has long red hair running freely down almost to her knees, the hair covering her very provocative school uniform, whose skirt was obviously specially shortened. Most notably however were her volume of breasts that seemed more dangerous to her back than seductive. Momonga certainly preferred big breasts to small ones, so it was impossible to say that he didn't like what he saw, but…
‘What am I thinking! Maybe they're coming to attack me right now! Get your head back in the game, Momonga!’ Momonga shifted his gaze to the second girl who entered following the first, walking half a step behind the red-haired girl. ‘But their appearance doesn't help me concentrate on this possibility at all. What a scary ability, to distract me so completely!’
The second entrant was slightly shorter than the first, with black hair gathered into a high, thin ponytail that came down almost to the girl's heels. Momonga wondered how she styled her hair that it wouldn’t drag on the floor. The other girl was dressed in the same clothes as the first entrant, and with breasts that seemed even larger than the first girl's. Given her barely realistic breast volume and the length of her hair, Momonga wondered for a second if this girl was a created NPC like the denizens of Nazarick – they definitely were eye-catching enough to merit such a possibility.
Before Momonga could think about this possibility further, however, his new sense that he pegged as his magic radar, noted that the two girls possessed magical abilities. So, slowly, without making any sudden movements, he slowly turned his gaze to them.
"They're here…", "…don't tell me they know…", "…and it's Issei's brother! Of course, he is…", "…and yet he seemed so decent…"
With each of his classmates’‘silent’ conversation he overheard, Momonga felt his dignity crumble under the iron boot of indifferent public opinion, making him even consider going back to Nazarick for a moment. Huh, to think, in Nazarick he was choked with endless admiration from the NPCs, but as soon as he was in the opposite situation, he instantly preferred undeserved admiration to undeserved censure.
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They activated his emotion suppression almost equally!
‘Issei, why couldn't you just be a regular schoolboy?!’ Momonga's overwrought emotions dissipated a moment later, exactly as the breezy couple stopped in front of his desk.
“Hello," The red-haired girl smiled at Momonga before extending her hand for a handshake,
"My name is Rias Gremory, and behind me is Akeno Himejima.”
“Umu, a pleasure.” Momonga responded to Rias' handshake in kind, still inwardly wary of her actions and reactions as he also watched Akeno behind her – thankfully she wasn’t moving to box him in. She was keeping a calm and even good-natured smile, slightly raised one hand and waved at him slightly without saying anything.
"Satoru Suzuki.”
“It's nice to meet you, Satoru," Rias glanced at him with a smile before letting go of his hand.
"I must admit, it's very unusual to meet a newcomer who transferred after the beginning of the school year. I hope you'll forgive this mild curiosity – you're not busy right now, are you?”
“No.” Momonga was even glad for the chance that he could not procure lunch without attracting suspicion. But at the same time, he reminded himself that depending on where the two girls were taking him now, he might be in for a fight.
"If you wanted to talk about something, I would be happy to answer your questions.” After another moment, Momonga sensed an attempt to use magic, but not directed against him – but against the people around him. Gradually, Momonga could easily hear their whispers begin to subside and people began to return to their normal activities.
‘An illusion? Or some kind of mind effect…’
‘[Silent magic: Life Essence], [Silent magic: Mana Essence].’ Momonga silently cast his spells, glancing at the data revealed. His findings made him relax a bit.
‘Unless they used something like [False Data: Life] and [False Data: Mana] beforehand, what’s shown should be how strong they truly are. Hmm, I'd say the red one, Rias – is close to a level forty mage, while Akeno is much weaker, about twentieth. They are both completely no danger for me, but it's really like Nigredo said, meeting a level forty being in this world is not that rare. After all, what are the chances of me finding two in a school I just randomly enrolled in?’
As Momonga slowly started to stand up, he once again assessed his situation.
‘The difference between Rias and Akeno may seem enormous, but they are much closer in power level than level ninety-nine and level one hundred… Hmm, the only question remains, are they the Director's spies or his soldiers?’
“Then I guess we can take a little walk. You don’t mind, right, Satoru? This is not exactly the best place to have a chat." Rias smiled calmly, then started to walk away, clearly expecting Momonga to follow behind her, with Akeno herself, showing a good bit of professional training, lagging behind Rias. The position as they moved, maintained so that Momonga himself would be on an angle between the two of them.
‘Basic PK trick, one leads, the other watches from the side.’ Momonga easily rose from his seat, standing and then walking between the two girls. ‘In case of danger – I have to deal with them instantly and simultaneously…’
Then, remembering the ability of the previously slain red dragon, and the fact that his [Goal of All Life Is Death] was still on recharge, and was only supposed to recover in three full days, Momonga tensed a little internally. ‘Assuming that these girls do not possess any of the strange abilities of this world, that would counter me. A level one like Issei did carry a World-Class Item after all, so I need to keep on my toes.’
Rias silently made her way to the exit of the classroom, opening the door before stepping forward, Momonga following closely behind… Which had almost made him nearly bump into a tall and stout man in gilded purple armor, with a stern expression on his slightly unshaven face, who had taken a step back.
Momonga's gaze lingered for a moment before realizing that the figure in front of him was shrouded in a light haze, as if the figure itself were translucent. It was a clear sign of the use of magical invisibility that was countered by Momonga’s [Arcane Sight].
“Something wrong?” Akeno spoke for the first time, asking from the side from Momonga, and he had to slow his responses before he could cast a spell.
Momonga on the other hand only smiled inwardly, not planning to reveal his cards so early and so easily, inwardly beginning to prepare for a possible fight. ‘Another level forty, but this one appears to be more of a magic knight, judging by his armor. A rather astute act if Rias was leading me to an ambush, having an invisible backup. And, oh? I see another one – this one appears to be a mage, but judging by how far he’s on the corridor, he fights from a long distance rather than a middle distance. Ranged attacks or summoner?’
“No, nothing," Momonga swept his gaze lightly over the black-haired figure of the frozen demon in front of him, as he counted the ‘invisible’ figures around him. He moved his eyes surreptitiously so as to not give out the fact that the ambushers were not so hidden after all.
‘And that makes eight – or six, if you exclude the two girls in front of me. It's hard to judge levels using only basic indicators like HP and Mana, but I would say their levels are in the thirtieth or higher, the strongest being apparently the forty-five leveled mage. Garbage in combat, but still enough for me to be on guard. Who knows what these strange people around here will throw out…’
***
‘Who knows what this strange man will pull…’ Akeno watched the unknown young man who had introduced himself as ‘Satoru Suzuki’ closely, trying to move at some distance, so that she was not leading him in a kind of convoy, but simply moving slightly behind Rias. Slightly behind her ‘king’ that is.
The news of an unknown person appearing at Kuoh's academy had reached Rias Gremory from her father within minutes of his first entrance to the headmaster's office – after which Rias had to argue with Zeoticus a great deal. First, demanding that he promise not to send Gremory's fighting forces directly into the academy – fearing both diplomatic incidents and the fact that in the end, there might easily be nothing of the Academy left. The fighting would also almost certainly disrupt the normal work and rhythm of Kuoh's life.
By the end of the day, though, Akeno had no doubt that Zeoticus had sent his personal bodyguards or some other elite group of demons anyway. After all, while she couldn’t see any, she had a feeling as if someone powerful was near her, even if she couldn't pinpoint exactly where or how many there were.
Akeno could sense the presence of high-ranking demons, being always gifted at sensing magic – and she felt nothing from Satoru. Literally, nothing.
He didn't feel like a demon, a fallen angel, a mage, or even a human, which left Akeno with no idea what ‘Satoru Suzuki’ was supposed to be. After all, all living things possessed magic, no matter how small.
But perhaps that was no surprise.
In the first case, Akeno simply didn't know what she was supposed to feel, and therefore couldn't grasp Satoru’s identity. The world was big and for the hundreds of magical beings and abilities that Akeno knew about, there were a thousand that she didn't know about. And then, above all, ten thousand of things that she didn't know that she didn't know about.
Of course, this is all barring the possibility that Satoru had an ability that masked him even from Akeno's keen perception, unrelated to his general level of power – such as a [Sacred Gear] or magic.
In the third and most unpleasant option, her inability to tell what Satoru is, was proof of his strength. That Zeoticus had been right in his assessment of an ultimate class demon level opponent, and Akeno needed to pick up Rias and run away right now, straight to Director Johan's door. All in, hoping that she had enough strength and time to activate the emergency portal.
Akeno had fought in the past, although intermittently – the destruction of the Stray Devils in the city fell on the shoulders of all demons who encountered one. But, it was Rias who was in charge of tracking them down and destroying them throughout Kuoh's territory, with Akeno occasionally accompanying her. Even then the level of enemies she had fought were only low-leveled Demons, with anything tougher screened by the many demons the two older sibling Maous had placed in the city.
In other words, Akeno was relatively inexperienced in combat, only being in a scrap several times – and so, the possibility of fighting an enemy that she had no hope in defeating had only remained in her imagination.
An enemy equal to that of an Ultimate-rank Demon was definitely in that category of a hopeless fight. If Satoru really was that strong, that is. But the fact that the possibility exists was still something that caused her heart to beat erratically.
And now they would suddenly provoke such an opponent.
Akeno was dead… To be fair – most of this city was dead, including Rias and Sona. Of course, if anything happens to the two heirs, Satoru would also be dead, as the emergency forces arrived in Kuoh – followed closely behind by the two Maous. But that would be cold comfort if she were already dead.
So Rias, though she had hammered out permission to at least try to make contact with the mysterious Satoru, didn't feel too confident. That’s why she didn't immediately lash out at him, demanding him to respect the Underworld's authority over Kuoh, long ago bought from the Youkai factions for the Demon Faction’s use. Instead, preferring the most diplomatic and mild of languages, ‘excuse my curiosity, but can you tell me a little about what the hell you were even doing in my city!?’ if a lot more politely. Well, she did say polite, and not diplomatic – she had almost had a heart attack when she heard Rias speak that way.
Luckily, nothing bad happened, and Satoru had acquiesced to her demands peacefully.
According to Zeoticus, there was zero chance that this was all completely coincidental, and in the matter of protecting her daughter, Akeno was inclined to believe him. As were believing that having her and Rias ‘escorting’ the Ultimate-Rank level threat was more ridiculous than threatening.
Why would basically handing the most probable assassination target on a platter be the way to go? Akeno understood that having Satoru where they could see him is much better than letting him wander alone – but why couldn’t Sona handle it instead?
Out of the corner of her eye, Akeno could see that Satoru was taking glances at the window, looking at something out of it. Akeno, unable to hold her curiosity back, followed the direction of his gaze, spotting three familiar troublemakers, currently enjoying their lunch and seemingly were loudly chatting about something. Most likely about a woman's body.
The famous ‘perverted trio’ of Kuoh Academy – no less an attraction of the academy than the ‘two Great Ladies of Kuoh’ – Akeno and Rias themselves, if for two entirely different reasons.
As far as Rias and Akeno have managed to gather, Satoru Suzuki had introduced himself as the older brother of one the perverted trio, Issei Hyoudou. He had applied to the Academy just this morning, together with documents in his name and a diploma from Kyoto University Academy. Fakes, of course.
However, while the diploma might have been fake, was Satoru’s relation to the Hyoudou family also fake? The Youkai were famous for having large and long family relations, at least some of them. For the longer-lived Youkai species, they could create many families during their lifetime, so having many extended families was not impossible, especially as Kuoh was formerly a Youkai territory.
Of course, it was also possible that this was all a Youkai prank – that faction is famous for having some very egregious pranksters, after all. And while there were not many true ‘heavyweights’ among that faction that would risk pulling such a prank on the heirs of two very important Pillar families.
And while no one investigated the Hyoudou family too hard when enrolling Issei in the academy – as far as it was known, they did not have Japanese monster blood flowing in them either.
But even so there remained the issue of family resemblance – Satoru Suzuki looked like the splitting image of a much older and mature Issei, and not at all dissimilar to the Hyoudou Patriarch either. Not that changing appearance is a rare skill, nor was it all that common either.
But still, to be able to change one appearance to mimic familial resemblance so perfectly, requires great magical power, and knowledge. Never mind, doing so without giving out any trace of it? One needed to be an ancient magical being, who has centuries of experience in controlling their magic – lending credence to Satoru’s identity as someone of the Ultimate rank.
But in that case – why Issei? Issei was certainly an amusing pervert, but he was ill-suited as a cover to infiltrate Kuoh Academy, his reputation preceded his accomplishments, and one mention to Satoru that he was Issei's older brother could bury his reputation permanently.
Something wasn't quite clicking right in Akeno's mind, as if she had overlooked, or perhaps didn't possess an important piece of information, which made Akeno nervous. Her nervousness then passed on to Rias, and seeing the nervous ‘king’, only made her even more nervous.
Only Satoru seemed perfectly calm in the current situation – having to escort such an unknown is nerve-wracking to both Akeno and Rias. Sadly they cannot simply leave, as while watching him during lessons, they also had to do it with the help of simple human observers, since it turned out that she simply could not use magic to watch him. Nor can they simply send familiars, as if through their eyes they could not find him.
Rias managed to find out that all throughout the day's lessons, Satoru was perfectly calm, and in some time he just seemed bored. He hadn’t even bothered to put out the textbooks, preferring to sit silently sinking into his thoughts, only sometimes reacting to the teachers’ questions.
What’s even stranger, however, was that whenever he was called by the teacher to answer some sort of question – even once from a subject not in the textbook, he would just shrug. Oftentimes, the teacher would even just simply forget that they had asked him a question! And no one found it weird or even glanced strangely at his actions.
Akeno even checked Satoru's teachers and surroundings after class for mental manipulation, but could find nothing. Which meant either that there was no such manipulation or that Akeno couldn't detect it.
The possible consequence of the latter option unnerved Akeno, causing her already troubled mind to think of even more dire possibilities, which in no way helped her calm at the moment.
So, with the stairs leading to the rooftop of Kuoh Academy in sight, Rias started speeding up, almost leaving her [Queen] and Satoru behind. Akeno didn’t blame her though, Rias could barely keep herself from some kind of nervous tic, and Akeno wasn't much better off wanting for all this to be over with.
Though what kind of plan is just leading the unknown danger to the rooftop to talk with him, Akeno doesn’t really know. It’s not like the change in elevation would make the situation any less dangerous to the two of them. Actually, why couldn’t they just have this talk in the headmaster’s office, so that the escape route is much closer?
‘I should have just put my foot down and told Rias that the school wasn’t her responsibility, right now.’ Akeno tried to calm down, seeing as Satoru hadn’t reacted to Rias’ action, and failed. ‘It's Sona's responsibility by day, we should have just dumped everything on Sona…’
Though knowing Sona, who fancied herself more of a strategist and tactician, but not a negotiator, who panicked about involving her family in any way, she couldn’t imagine what she’d do. Most likely, she’ll just try to sit Satoru down to play chess – which was probably even sillier than trying to negotiate on the academy rooftop during their lunch break.
Anyway, walking up the steps up to the rooftop, and the waiting Rias, they’re already here. She just has to hope that Satoru didn’t have any ill-intent – and if he does, she’s really hoping that the Gremory backup she’s feeling was around, wasn’t just a tic of her nervousness.
If nothing else, the rooftop should provide a clear firing line.
So now, Rias, who Akeno could see was trying to regain her original confidence when she had argued with Zeoticus about the fate of Kuoh Academy, took a deep breath. Another of the reasons Rias wanted to designate the location where she would confront Satoru, was for this small symbolic gesture of defining the negotiating place.
Though, even Rias knew that such a symbolic gesture meant little.
After all, she had decided to not invite Satoru to the Occult Research Club, the actual seat of her power, nor had she actually recalled her whole peerage. Perhaps she was feeling that leading Satoru there would have an adverse effect on the chance of open negotiations? And seeing that any other rooms would just elicit the same response, the roof was the only place suitable as ‘neutral’ territory.
At least the roof has chairs? Akeno doesn’t really know how to feel if she has to entertain the ‘guest’ on the concrete ground. Rias seems to have already chosen the place where the negotiations were supposed to take place, seeing as she’s already seated on one of the chairs.
So Akeno, trying to appear more confident than she really felt, made her way, taking a seat behind Rias' back, as her role as [Queen] dictates. Satoru, who looked as relaxed and unruffled as he was before, maintaining an unreadable expression, settled down opposite Rias, tucking his legs slightly.
There was an awkward silence for a moment – Satoru was clearly putting the initiative in Rias's hands, and yet he looked so calm that Akeno would not be surprised if he was now planning their destruction. At the same time managing, in a strange way, to give the initiative and yet keep the situation under his watchful control.
“Ahem," Rias spoke first, trying to ease her nervousness, and unable to tolerate the silence anymore. "It is a pleasure to welcome you to Kuoh and especially to this academy.”
“Umu, thank you.” Satoru nodded slightly, showing the proper amount of ‘official’ respect, but nothing more. It is as if he doesn’t care at all about the fact that he was in the presence of the heiress of the Gremory family and the younger sister of Lucifer to boot. He had easily dismissed the fact that Rias had greeted him on behalf of Kuoh, and thus on behalf of the ruler of this place… Not that Akeno was too well versed in such diplomatic etiquette.
Akeno were only familiar with how Rias would act as the heiress and never really in any official capacity, or only in view of her upcoming duties as heiress to the Gremory family. But at least, judging from the interaction, that was the impression Akeno got from the brief exchange of phrases.
Rias waited a few seconds to see if Satoru would say anything else, but he didn't seem to care at all about this negotiation. He was really acting as if he was only ‘satisfying’ Rias Gremory's curiosity, as it was said, rather than engaging in dialogue. Ha, to invert and twist Rias' own phrase in an instant, as a result of which she was now relegated from the position of ‘negotiator’ to the position of ‘asking for answers’.
It was a cruel and mocking but masterfully executed trick that may have caused enmity, but it also demonstrated Satoru’s keen mind.
‘Ha ha, I'm slowly beginning to like you…’ Akeno smiled slightly, feeling her nervousness slowly begin to recede at the playful gesture.
“Ahem, in that case…” Rias, still feeling uncomfortable though, especially after Satoru had reduced her negotiating position with a single phrase, easily bridging the chasm that separated the ‘heiress of the Gremory family’ from that of the common man.
"I would like to know… What is your purpose for coming here? In Kuoh Academy especially.”
“Hmm, my purpose for entering Kuoh Academy…? Well, that’s simple… I wanted to get along better with my little brother, Issei. I see it to be much simpler for me to enroll at the same school as he did.” Satoru both answered and did not answer Rias' question.
Akeno knew he could easily lie, but if Issei really was his little brother – who knows, maybe he was telling the truth? I mean, coming to protect his family and younger brother from the world of the paranormal was a simple, understandable, and logical motivation… Though it didn't explain who Satoru Suzuki really was or who he was to Issei, as Rias had investigated Issei when the thought of adding him to her peerage first appeared.
Issei had no older brother.
“Which faction do you represent?” Rias took the plunge, simultaneously questioning both Satoru's political affiliation and his species.
“Only myself.” Which Satoru just as easily rebuffed. In a way it answered Rias' question by actually saying that he had come here, unaffiliated with any faction, and thus not having their support behind him. Which, also, in turn, meant that he was strong enough to allow himself this autonomy. And yet, his answer also easily evaded divulging his true nature, so that Rias couldn’t continue to press the subject – that is, unless she wanted to choose to stand as opposition, who was trying to ferret out his secrets.
With one simple answer, he had positioned himself as a neutral figure – one that, without having a clear picture of his power, Rias couldn’t take any hostile action towards. At the same time, he had also hinted that even if Rias did figure out his affiliation, he had shown that he was acting on his own volition without the support of that faction – and also without any restriction.
Of course, that was simple sophistry, as any hostile action on his part would still carry an effect to his faction – no matter how independent he proclaimed to be. But, Rias couldn’t move to figure out that information without being the party that had ‘broken the peace’ first.
‘You're really good!’ Akeno liked this strange, appealing way of Satoru, turning his verbal opponent's words, thoughts, and actions into his own advantage. With slight hints and just a few words, achieving results that would not have looked half as graceful had they been uttered by someone not maintaining Satoru’s mask of quiet politeness.
Akeno had never thought until this moment that she would enjoy watching someone satisfy their own sadistic tendencies, much less through conversation – but life, as it turned out, was amazing and full of surprises!
“Ahem, right, what about… your plans?” Rias looked intently at Satoru. “I mean, I'd prefer it if you weren't planning to set up your residence here…”
“But Miki's house is in Kuoh and I live in it. I suppose you could think of it as my residence as well…” Satoru tilted his head slightly to the side. "Well, Miki's residence…”
Akeno felt her smile creep further up her cheeks against her will. It was only the guise of professionalism to prevent her from bursting out laughing, as Satoru took Rias by the nose like that and made her look like a fool. Akeno considered Rias her friend and wouldn't have been happy if Satoru had become truly hostile to her – in the end, he still kept his calm politeness and clearly made it clear that he wasn’t Rias' enemy.
Even if his answers amounted to mockery with a slight touch of sadism and masterful, truly masterful skills as a negotiator and deft politician. He hadn’t actually outright become hostile, it was simply Rias’ bad luck to encounter such a cunning linguist.
Akeno had heard of the Youkai of Kyoto being mired in politics, but never thought she could see the results of such a brutal selection for herself… Not that Satoru had shown any Youkai characteristics.
Satoru's words and actions seemed to tickle the nerves all over Akeno's body a little, causing her to take another close look at the new guy.
“Ahem.”- Rias tried to clear her throat once more to mask the redness in her cheeks as she was led around in circles in the conversation.
“Rias, perhaps I could get you some water to drink? It seems that your throat is particularly dry.” Satoru feigned politeness, though he didn't particularly change his expression from his polite and calm mask, managing at once to both hint at his desire to leave the current negotiations, seeing that lunch is coming to an end. And to mock Rias' actions and nervousness, standing on a fine line between sadism and mockery, an insult and a joke.
Akeno couldn't help herself and let out a light chuckle with her nose, which earned her an angry look from Rias, who had broken negotiating protocol and had tacitly dismissed Satoru.
But he instead looked from Rias to Akeno and back again, keeping the same expression as before, as if he had nothing to do with it.
Rias, realizing that she was being mocked like a little child trying to get into a place where it was too soon for her, only took a deep breath and exhaled, asking the last and most important question, "Do we have reason to be wary of you?”
“No," Satoru answered calmly, before he looked at Rias carefully, his gaze touching Rias' as she suddenly flinched, just as Akeno flinched instantly, forgetting her mirth in the same second.
If eyes were a reflection of the soul, then this man, this creature, had no soul, his eyes were empty and lifeless, staring at the world coldly. It was like an empty abyss, drawing in anyone who stared too long into it.
“Unless you take the first step against me, that is, I would not be the first to break the peace.” Satoru replied, keeping the same calm and polite tone and the same expression on his face, but his eyes differently – paradoxically empty and yet full of ruthlessness.
“And I would be glad if you would not do so right now, as a gesture of goodwill. I would like my first day of class to end peacefully.” Satoru looked away, and the spell was immediately broken, allowing Akeno and Rias to breathe out the air that they suddenly held as they were plunged to the deep end of the pool.
“And call these people away, before either of us takes the first and final step.”
A moment later, Satoru looked up, and Akeno realized that three pairs of demons had appeared behind her where there was no one before. Judging by the look of them, they were ready to rush into battle at that moment, as soon as anyone made a move.
‘First and last step, just like he said’ Akeno froze once more, finding herself in such a precarious situation so suddenly. A stark difference from the pleasant, for her, conversation they had before,
‘But that explains exactly why I felt the presence of strong demons nearby, other than Rias herself – although it does not explain how Satoru could find them so easily. Ha, so he was really someone on the level of the Ultimate-Ranks, if not stronger. God – ouch! Who the hell brought him into our school…’
The demons, obviously intent on battle, hesitated for a moment… before they obeyed the order and lowered their arms, stepping back to show their peacefulness.
Rias could give the order, "Stand back.”
Satoru on the other hand only silently and slowly rose from his seat, not provoking the demons before smiling and bowing slightly again. "A pleasure doing business with you, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima.”
Turning around slowly, Satoru headed away – exactly at the moment when the bell sounded to end the lunch break.
The only thought in Akeno's mind at that moment was something truly trivial.
‘Hah, he remembered my name!’