Beta read by Shigiya
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-Castle Gremory-
My conversation with Grayfia continued for a little while longer. We drifted away from any matters concerning Kuroka's case and my plans with Lord Bael.
And to say that it was an enjoyable experience would be an understatement. For someone who proved herself to be an Ice Queen, she talked quite a bit. We spoke about Rias and any future training she can go through to practice her Power of Destruction. She even helped me with matters concerning magical spells and Touki, agreeing to teach me new spells that she believed would be suitable for me on top of overseeing my own training while I practiced some spells Vritra wanted to teach me.
It felt wrong to say it, but I wished the ride lasted a little longer.
Unfortunately, it was clear that we were reaching our final destination, looking at the scenery, there were paved roads and beautifully pruned trees. The path stretched straight ahead where a huge structure suddenly came into my view.
"It seems we have arrived." I was so shocked at the sheer size of the castle. I could understand Lucifer's main headquarters to be extravagant and impressive — but for the Gremory to have something similar as well? At this point I was beginning to wonder if they were trillionaires by any chance.
"That's the main residence of the Gremory House. There are a few manors scattered across the land which are used for a living quarters for servants, guards and even a few homes for Lord Gremory's harem members." she mentioned casually with a stoic face.
"..."
"By your expression, you find this matter of his harem quite bizarre I assume?"
"Of course, I'm from the human world, even though I'm in a relationship between Rias and Akeno… I still can't get over your race's nonchalant attitude over harems — especially given he's married. Like, doesn't Rias' mom find the whole thing weird?"
"I can understand your confusion, but let me answer it with another question." Oh, I wasn't expecting that. "How many kids do you think Lord Gremory has?"
This looked like a trick question given I knew about Sirzechs and Rias. As far as I knew, there wasn't any illegitimate child or anyone hidden from the public.
"Two," I answered, waiting for her to suddenly drop a bomb and say a higher number.
"You are absolutely correct."
Eh… Now I was even more curious where she was going with this.
"Even with an entire harem, Lord Gremory only managed to have two heirs with Lady Gremory. That in itself was considered as a miracle. Don't forget, Rias is a few centuries younger than my husband." That was true, a bit hard to come to terms with given his siscon attitude which was said to be around the same level as Serafall. All of those points making it hard to see him as an ancient monster.
"The Phenex have a lot of descendants though, more than even the average amount of kids per family in human society." From what I remembered, there were currently four of them, with Riser being the third brother and Ravel the youngest. I still remember meeting Ruval, the current heir, last time during Rias and Riser's Rating Game.
"That is true, but their case is an anomaly you can say, their fertility rate has always been exceptionally high compared to the rest of the Devils and that is a blessing many are very envious about." Bringing into account how before the Evil Pieces, the Devils were a dying race after the Great War — I could see why. "Coming back to my explanation. Despite having more than one partner, Lord Gremory never had any other children with them. Having multiple partners just gives us more chances to have kids and have a future generation, not to mention how having a harem has always been part of our culture and is also quite normal for us."
In the end, I shrugged. "Right, I'm in no position to give any critique without sounding like a hypocrite. I will say that it does help to accept both girls as part of my life, but I'm still not fully acclimated to this."
"Do not worry, Hikigaya-sama. I'll make sure for you to get used to it as soon as possible."
"..." I did not like how that sounded. Something about the way she had said that sounded to omenuse for me. I felt goosebumps over my body on what she might be implying and was wondering if I was just letting my hormones put weird thoughts in my head. "I'm sorry, can you explain what you meant by th—"
Click
She opened the door of the carriage before I could finish my question.
"Please exit the carriage, the others are waiting for you."
"...Right, give me a second."
This woman was dangerous, in more ways than one and I needed to keep myself on my toes.
Looking outside, I saw a vast field of beautiful blooming flowers, water flowed out of a magnificently modeled fountain, and birds of various colors flew about. How they managed to create this in a land devoid of any water was impressive.
The maids and butlers stood in line on both sides of us and made a path. A red carpet stretched out towards the huge castle, and the huge castle gates opened with my ears picking up the sound of gears rotating.
"Hikigaya-sama, please, come this way."
Grayfia made a slight bow and urged me forward.
I gave her a last suspicious look before moving forward. Before I could get any further inside, a red silhouette broke out from the line of maids and ran towards me — it was none other than Rias.
"Hachi-kun, you've arrived!" She jumped before nearly making me fall from her tackle. "I'm so happy you're finally here!"
"I was just gone for a few hours, it's not like we haven't seen each other for a few days or something." I commented, still returning the hug to the excited girl. Though at the corner of my eyes, I saw a redheaded kid standing right behind Rias.
"Welcome to the Gremory House, Hikigaya Hachiman-sama. It is an honor to finally get to meet you" he said formally, bowing his head with great posture.
"Ah, Millicas! Hachi-kun, this is Millicas Gremory, my brother's son and my cute little nephew."
Now that I thought of it, Rias did mention him multiple times in the past. To return the courtesy and not have the boy left hanging, I squatted, bringing us on the same eye level before extending my hand.
"Hey there, I heard a lot about you from your auntie. Rias mentioned that you're quite the smart kid, a genius even. It seems she forgot to add that you're quite the gentleman as well, color me impressed." He blushed a little in embarrassment at my praise.
"I-I, thank you for the compliment, Hachiman-sama!"
Rias spoke while giving an amused smile.
"Because only the person himself who succeeded the title of Maou can retain the name, this child is a Gremory even though he's my brother's son. He's also next in line for the family head after me."
Heh, so he's next in line after Rias. Certainly, quite the responsibility on his little shoulders. It brought into attention how Sirzechs had to cut all ties with the Gremory side to become a Maou.
"Come on, let's go into the residence." Rias held my hands along with Millicas and brought us through the gate. Both of us kept up with the excited girl, I even saw the young boy next to me sigh helplessly.
'He's probably more mature than his aunt.'
We passed through the enormous front gate and went inside. The inner castle gates also opened one by one. We then arrived at what seemed to be the entry hall, where there were stairs which led to the second floor. Not to mention the addition of a splendid chandelier at the center, which was probably twice my height and likely weighted more than a car given that it had lots of gold on it.
Before we could venture any further, Grayfia appeared in front of Rias, blocking her path.
"Ojou-sama, I'd like to show everyone to their rooms at once." The white haired maid raised her hand and some maids gathered around us. I didn't fail to notice how every one of them were quite young and beautiful… Did someone have a specific criteria for anyone wanting to work here?
"You're right, I almost forgot about that, got a bit too excited. By the way, I've been here for a few hours and couldn't find my father anywhere, where is he exactly?" She asked.
"The master is out at present. He's expected to return by this evening. He said that he would meet with you while dining with everyone together at supper."
"I see, I understand, Grayfia. That's fine, almost everyone is either taking a nap or still unpacking their belongings."
'Haa… I want to take a break as well.' My shoulders began feeling quite sore over the last few days, I even started to get periodic headaches and dry eyes from constant magic use. A clear sign that even if my body was still mostly well, my mind needed to relax for a bit. I hadn't even spent a day here before having talked about Sirzechs with the Naberius case leading to confronting Bael and having caught Kuroka herself for a bit. Though I didn't count the ride I had here with Grayfia as that conversation ended up being quite pleasant at least.
"Ara, Rias, you've finally brought him here."
At that moment, a woman's voice was heard from above.
As expected, an amazingly beautiful young woman wearing a white dress came down the stairs. She looked just about the same age as Rias and even had a similar face with the only difference being her brown coloured flaxen hair and narrower eyes.
Taking a random guess, this was probably Venelana Gremory — Rias and Sirzechs' mother and the friend Shuri-san spoke about during Rias' Rating Game. I wouldn't be surprised if anyone else would mistake her for the girl's big sister or something.
"Mother, this is Hikigaya Hachiman. Hachi-kun, this is my mother."
Following Millicas' previous example, I gave the woman a polite and respectful bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Gremory-san. I can see where Rias got her looks from. If I didn't know any better, I could've easily mistaken you as her sister." Ah, maybe that was too much… I let my honest thoughts out in my nervousness.
"Ara, to say such a kind compliment. You make this old woman feel young again." The woman touched her cheek with her hand and smiled.
"As years go by, Devils can freely change their appearances with magic. My mother always has the appearance of the same age as the current me." Rias added as she pinched my cheek, in annoyance. "And what's with you today? You're being extra nice for some reason." Her eyes narrowed at me, making it obvious that she was feeling a bit jealous. "…You know nothing will come out of it even if you compliment my mother, right? You won't get my mother into your and Akeno's little harem, mister!"
What the heck was she saying!? Couldn't I be nice to someone, without accusing me of trying to bed another woman!?
Like I'd let her get away with this!
"Kya!" She cried in surprise when I pinched both of her cheeks in retaliation. "Hwashi-kwun!!"
As always, her face was quite malleable and soft to the touch. It was very funny to stretch them and squish them together despite this being a punishment. No matter how beautiful or sexy she might try to make herself look, I always saw this adorable dork first and foremost, who had to deal with her weeb tendency.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't accuse me of being a MILF hunter, you dummy. I just think it's a good idea to be respectful to my elders and certainly my girlfriend's mother of all people… Furthermore, Shuri-san, along with my mother if she ever found out, would probably kill me if I wasn't being polite enough with her best friend and a lady."
She blushed despite trying to look angrily at me. Her attempts to make me let go weakened as she just ended up crossing her hands. "Fwine, lwe me ro now."
I stopped pulling and caressed her cheeks instead. "You don't have to get jealous, it's not like I'll ever forget about you and Akeno. You two have been the biggest pain in my ass since childhood, not including the others with their annoying quirks, and I think I'm suffering from a case of Stockholm Syndrome with how I ended up caring a lot for you two succubuses."
"..." Rias entire face turned red now, I could feel her heartbeat quickening. "You're a meanie… saying such embarrassing things."
"Only to you."
"You can try being more gentle and loving."
"Nope, it's fun to mess with you."
It seemed that our small moment ended up going too far. Millicas had an enormous grin on his face as he obviously tried to hold in his laugh.
"Ara, you two are making me quite jealous I must say. Even Zeoticus and I never had such an interesting dynamic." Venelana pouted in a manner that once again mirrored Rias a lot, in a cute way. "You better pay attention to your boyfriend, Rias, or I might end up stealing him for myself~"
"Mother!?"
"Fufufu, joking! I'm just messing with you, dear. Or am I~"
I was glad to see I wasn't the only one who enjoyed seeing Rias getting worked up or flustered. Even her own mother seemed to like teasing her like me.
"Oh my, where are my manners! After such a nice introduction, I forgot to introduce myself. Nice to meet you, I'm Rias's mother, Venelana Gremory. Please treat me well from now on, Hikigaya Hachiman-kun. Shuri talked a lot about you, I'm sure she'll be happy to meet you again."
As was I, a long time passed since I had last seen her. I was sure she was with Akeno, the latter missed her mother a lot. Even if she didn't show much on the outside, I knew that she was waiting for this moment for a long time — so it was better to let those two have their moment.
{Break}
Several hours after that meeting in the entrance hall, we were in the dining room. An extravagant meal so large that I could never eat it all as it was piled on top of expensive-looking plates.
Rias and her group all took a seat at the table with me joining them, sitting next to Akeno and Rias. And then, we were followed by Buchou's father, mother, and then Millicas.
The sky had gone dark a while ago. When I looked up at the sky, there was a false moon floating up there. Again I remembered that it wasn't the real one, but rather a creation of pure magic. I still found it hard to imagine what kind of spell would allow them to create such a thing and let it run for literal decades without stopping. I suspected it was some sort of spell creation that only a Devil like Ajuka Beelzebub or someone of similar intelligence could come up with.
The flow of time here matched the human world with the same 24/7 format. All of this for the sake of reincarnated Devils and make them feel more at home and comfortable with their new lives. A commendable action given the history between reincarnated and pure Devils.
"Please enjoy yourselves. No need to hold back." The one who spoke was none other than Rias' father, Zeoticus Gremory. He wore a suit of similar color to his wife's dress.
Before coming for dinner, I was taken to my room where I was once again shocked by the sight before me.
A huge oblong table, an extravagant chandelier on the ceiling, even the chairs we sat on were covered in expensive-looking ornaments… Back then, I just looked at the chandelier dryly. Did these people have nothing but chandeliers in every single room? I much preferred having a regular ceiling lamp. For some reason, I couldn't stop imagining what would happen if this thing was too heavy for the walls to hold anymore and suddenly fall on me in my sleep. A regular lamp would never do that, this was just an accident from a horror film waiting to happen!
The canopy bed was also huge and comfortable to sleep on. My body would just sink inside as I sighed in content.
"This is definitely the doing of that redhead." I said while looking at the other parts of the room.
There were many tatami-mats… Each of the rooms also seemed to have all the necessities needed to live in, including but not limited to; a bath, toilet, refrigerator, television, and kitchen to mention a few. I think there was also a storage room, living room, basically what amounted to a fully equipped large apartment inside each room. Xenovia was impressed when she came to my room to compare.
"…I can't settle down. I grew up in a modest church, sharing a room with Irina and the sisters for years — this is too much. Sorry, but can I stay in your room? I'm not feeling comfortable alone in such a large and spacious room."
I could see how Xenovia, who lived a simple life at the church, the size of the rooms seemed to have been a serious shock, and because she couldn't calm down about it she had taken her entire luggage to my room and asked to move in.
"Can't you stay with Akeno, Rias or Koneko?" I asked, she just replied to me why showing the large covered Holy Blade of hers on top of the luggage.
"I like to have Durandal beside me every night. Mother Griselda mentioned how it helps to forge a close bond between the sword and wielder."
"...You know it looks weird to have a girl sleep in the same room with a guy who has girlfriends. Also, Irina has her Excalibur shard with her." I couldn't help but comment, knowing those two well enough and how they could get jealous from this or in Akeno's case, might try to make this into something else and force her into my harem. "Tell me why you're really here, cause I honestly don't see any other possibility why you wouldn't just share a room with Irina."
She hesitated a bit before speaking, "Because, I don't feel comfortable leaving you unguarded." Xenovia finally revealed her intentions. "I know the Gremory are trustworthy, I wouldn't have let Irina join Rias Gremory otherwise. But it still doesn't change that we are in the home of people we used to consider as our biggest enemies just recently and I just can't bring myself to sleep peacefully."
That was… understandable. One thing I knew about Xenovia was how she took her role very seriously, and old habits and teachings tended to die hard. In the end, I relented. "Fine, you can stay for today if it helps you to get used to the place. But then you'll need to return to sharing a room with Irina. I still don't find this appropriate."
"Are you going to mate with me in my sleep?"
"Ku–!" I nearly choked on air. "Don't say such things! I would never do that to you, that is literally rape!"
"Not as long as I don't mind."
"Alright, time out young lady! You've been spending too much time with either Akeno, Raynare or Aika. I'm NOT going to touch you at night and that's final!" I said sternly, making sure to convey as much I could with my words and tone. Wasn't she supposed to be a former member of the Church? Why was she saying something so dirty minded then!? "And if you're planning on doing something then I swear to God I'll bind you and throw you out in the hallways."
She flinched a bit as I said His name. "So you agree I sleep here?"
This girl…
"Haa… I just agreed, didn't I? Again, it's just for a day." With how big this place turned out to be, there was bound for there to exist a couple of dozen unused beds around.
Thankfully, Grayfia came to my rescue and arranged the maids to bring in another bed by the time dinner was over. She was truly the best maid I've met in my life.
…
I turned my attention back to my seat at the dinner table. I held my fork and knife and used proper etiquette to eat just like everyone at the table — except Xenovia again who was still looking at the different silverware in front of her. I grunted, getting her attention and showed her how to eat properly. She mimicked my actions and crudely started to eat her food. It wasn't the best, but she was actually doing it so well after a few rounds of practice that I wanted to cheer for her.
'I feel like a proud father.'
Whilst Irina had an easier time, she looked far more used to such things than Xenovia. Surprisingly, she was having a good time chatting with a certain young boy, Millicas. From what I could hear so far, she just answered all of his questions about her time as an Exorcist, going so far as to even be very careful with her words by doing her absolute best to not utter God's name by force of habit like she would do before and hurt herself. This time she was putting an extra effort for the kid. And, she also kept out any gruesome details of the latest fight while also changing the narrative that painted her as a much more capable fighter.
Safe to say, the kid was hooked by her storytelling.
There was another surprise tonight, someone who I hadn't seen for a long time now was present — Gasper Vladi.
Gasper in front of me, he was eating with watery eyes that were squeezed shut while wearing a cute green and white frilly dress and a black bonnet. According to Rias, Grayfia dragged him here by force and Venelana forcefully gave the boy a bath and clean clothes to wear.
Koneko hadn't started eating at all and was just staring at me. Even though, usually, she would have been the first to heartily dig into the food. Strange, I wonder if there was something going on here.
Zeoticus tapped his spoon against a crystal glass, getting everyone's attention.
"Members of Rias' group and our two special guests, please think of this place as your home. Having just come to the Underworld, you're in an environment you don't understand. If there's something you want, please say so to the housemaids without reservation. They'll prepare it right away."
Hmm, Grayfia already helped me with Xenovia's case so not much help needed for that. But I was wondering if I could ask him for some information about Bael. Though his wife was the better person to ask such a thing given her lineage, I was curious what he had to say first.
"By the way, Hikigaya Hachiman-kun." He turned to face me.
"Yo," I instinctively gave him my regular greeting, ignoring the slight shoulder jab from Rias.
He rather enjoyed my gesture .
"How do you find the Underworld? I believe this is your first visit to our homeland."
"Quite impressive I must say, there is only beautiful scenery wherever I look and the climate isn't that bad. I didn't expect to find so many regular shops and malls in the city while coming over here, so I'll probably buy some souvenirs for my family. Maybe I'll try to get a mini Maous collection figurines." I said that as a joke.
"Hmm. A souvenir, huh. I see."
Zeoticus' rang a hand bell beside him. A butler-like person then immediately approached.
"What is your order, master?"
"Yes. Prepare a castle with lifesize sculptures of our Maous made of the best crystal and gems as a decoration for one of the indoor gardens for his parents."
"Hehe…" Who knew Rias' father had a knack for jokes as well? I liked this guy already, he was obviously quite relaxed and easy going. But for some reason, I was the only one at the table to laugh at the joke.
"Yes. Shall it be Western? Eastern? Or Oriental? There are quite a few available in Belgium and Osaka though I'm afraid none of them have any modern swimming pools."
"What a worrying conundrum."
The butler also responded by continuing this funny bit.
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It was a joke, right?
"What a worrisome choice."
"Akeno, why is no one laughing at the joke?" I asked the raven haired girl near me since Rias had her hands covering her face the entire time. She seemed quite embarrassed from her father's joke. Maybe it was a dad joke that I wasn't getting.
"Ara, whoever said this was a joke?" She said mirthfully, "They're being quite serious."
"..."
Wait what!?
"H-Hold on a minute!" I quickly stopped those two from going any further with their ridiculous conversation about castles.
"Oh, does a castle not suit your taste, Hikigaya Hachiman-kun?"
"Not that!" Why were people in this world so extravagant!? "I-I think a c-castle is going a bit too far. My parents wouldn't want such a luxury and prefer living a modest life." If you could call my current home modest, but to his eyes there was no other way to describe it. "There's no need for something so extravagant, just something small will suffice, even a small keychain will be enough."
Seriously, our cultures and living standards were too different!
"Dear, since the land in Japan is too small, it's impossible for a commoner to have a castle."
That was the voice of Rias' mother. Thank you very much for your help! I would call my family a middle-high class family but I could see how we would be peasants or commoners in their eyes.
"What? Certainly, Japan is small. Hmm, if a castle is no good, I wonder what else would be a good present…"
"Father, worrying about it that much will just trouble them. Hachi-kun's parents don't possess strong worldly desires anyway." Rias said, persuading them from turning my family into royalty in a matter of hours. I thanked her deeply inside my head and promised to repay this gratitude with some home cooked meals made by yours truly.
"Yes, little Hachi-kun's parents here are quite modest. I've met them a couple of times and they are quite fun to talk with. They would enjoy having some company more than anything else." Shuri also came to my aid.
"I see, then we will pay them a visit next time we visit the human world." Zeoticus said and nodded deeply and just stared at me with an intense gaze. "Hikigaya Hachiman-kun…"
For some reason, he kept calling out to me. Was he very interested in me? Then again, I was dating his daughter so I could understand it.
"Yes?"
"You may call me 'father-in-law' from today on."
"..." At this point, I would rather accept that than to have him suddenly declare handing over a truck filled with gold bars to my parents as a small gift or something.
Just as I was about to accept, someone else spoke before me.
"Dear, you're being too fast. There's such a thing as order first." His wife scolded him, pulling on his ear, getting a pained whine from the head of the house.
"Y-Yeah. B-But he taught our daughter so much, he's even well mannered and powerful. Even Sirzechs likes him, doesn't it make you happy?"
Well that was good to hear, Lucifer liked me… there was a joke somewhere there that I was missing.
"Dear, I said that it's still too early to celebrate."
"That's true. It seems I just tend to be too hasty."
He let out a deep breath. It seemed that he was completely dominated by his wife. This showed that Rias' mother had a lot of power in this household. Thankfully so, if the man could so easily hand out castles like that then I worried about this family's financial stability in the next few decades.
"Hikigaya Hachiman-san. Is it fine if I can call you Hachi-kun?"
Rias's mother asked.
I nodded, at this point, I more or less got used to people aside from Rias and Akeno calling me that name.
"Sure, I don't mind."
"Will you be staying here for a while?"
Given the Kuroka case, possibly.
"Yes, or until the parent-stud—hurg!!" I nearly bit my tongue when I felt Rias pinch my thighs, hard! She gave me a warning glare, hinting me to not finish my sentence. It took me a few seconds to realize why. She didn't want them to know about the parent-student day in Kuoh Academy.
"I mean, until my parents call me back for some private matters."
"I see. That's perfect. We can get to know each other and even bond with Rias's new boyfriend. Isn't that right, Shuri?"
"Fufufu, of course! I have so many activities planned with everyone here. Oh, did you know Beelzebub-sama's company created an artificial beach on the north side for us to enjoy? We can all go together there!"
"Really, that would be marvelous! You're coming as well, Grayfia." Venelana said, having the white haired maid nod her head while also releasing a helpless smile. "Oh, and Hachi-kun, you won't mind if I start teaching you about certain etiquettes and history of the Devil race?"
Eh? That came out of nowhere.
"I don't see any prob—" Bang!
Rias banged the table in a rather violent way.
"Father! Mother! I've been listening quietly until now, but what kind of thing are you trying to advance while leaving me out of it!?"
Her mother narrowed her eyes at those words. There was none of the smiling face from when she had pleasantly greeted us before, as she gave a hard glare.
"Be silent, Rias. You've already destroyed your engagement with Raiser, remember? The fact that we just permitted it should be thought of as special treatment to the rest of the pillars. How much effort do you think your father and Sirzechs had to put in in order to take care of things with the other high-class devils and your grandfather? Rating Game or not, it doesn't change the fact that this move from you has tainted our name across the Underworld and had gotten your grandfather in a fit of the entire situation. At least we can still manage most of it given you've won the game, but imagine the catastrophe we would have to deal with if you had lost instead."
"Onii-sama has nothing to—"
Rias's face became clouded by anger and she tried to speak out, but her mother didn't let her, cutting her off with a wave.
"You mean Sirzechs is unrelated to what you do? Officially, that is true. However, everyone sees you as Lucifer's younger sister. Right now, when the three great powers have formed an alliance, your position is known even by the lower classes of the other powers. You can't behave selfishly as you have in the past. Everyone will pay attention to you from now on. Rias, you have been placed into that kind of position where your actions have consequences for not only your peerage, but those around you. There will be no second instance of that kind of selfishness like with your betrothal. Do not carry that selfish attitude like—" Alright, I had enough of this charade.
"Rias did nothing wrong," I exclaimed loudly, drowning her voice. "And those who have a word to say against her can come and say it directly to my face or her. If they are so cowardly to speak from people's back then their opinions are worthless and you should care more about your own daughter to begin with, Venelana-san."
We started out great, but if this was how she truly felt about Rias and her actions, then I wasn't going to hesitate to go against her.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.