The morning after the mission.
Ryota walked towards the academy, thinking about the rewards. They already had their rewards from Mephisto, including the free ticket. Even though Mephisto said they could use it any time, Ryota didn't know when the next holiday would be.
At least he had to find a way to get Osakabehime to join them on this vacation.
He walked through the academy gates while Sona and Tsubaki did their student council work, checking the students' clothes.
"Sona, Tsubaki-chan, good morning." said Ryota.
"Ryota-kun. Good morning." Sona and Tsubaki nodded and smiled at him.
Ryota looked at Tsubaki and noticed she was already wearing the earring. He felt a bit confused so he asked her.
"Sona already gives the permission for that?" asked Ryota while pointing to the earring on Tsubaki's right ear.
"Yes. Even though the rules forbid students from wearing accessories, at least this one is small enough not to attract the attention of others, so I'll make an exception." said Sona.
"Heeh, thank you, Sona, so what is the price for this exception?"
He glanced at Sona. He was happy about Sona's exception, but there was no way someone as strict as Sona would make an exception without him doing anything to repay her.
This girl was too clever and sometimes cunning too.
"You're right. I have a request for you. Come to the student council room after class is over." said Sona while smirking at him.
At the same time they were chatting, a loud voice interrupted them.
"Whaaat! Why doesn't any of you remember about Yuuma-chan! I really remember introducing Yuuma-chan to you two! And then you punched me in the face and shouted at me 'Why is a beautiful woman like her Ise's girlfrieeeeend!?' Right!?"
"Listen Ise. It's because you keep shouting your absurd harem dreams. Your imaginary girlfriend isn't real. And what is that specific situation? If you have a girlfriend, I've already broken all your fingers so you can't masturbate anymore."
"He's right, Ise. Not only your finger, but I'll also cut your little thing between your legs."
"You guys are scary! And Yuuma-chan is a real person!"
Ryota, Sona, and Tsubaki looked towards the loud voice. They saw Hyoudou keep asking his two perverted friends, while both of them gave him sympathetic looks and tried to cheer him up with adult magazines.
Ryota was slightly surprised after seeing Hyoudou. News of his death from Osakabehime shouldn't be fake. That meant maybe he pretended to be dead back then, or he really died, and he somehow came back to life.
Ryota looked at Issei for a while and he felt something different from him. He had a 'devil' aura.
In this city there were only two devils who could turn humans into reincarnated demons.
The chances of Sona reincarnating him were very small. Ryota often went to the student council room and he knew all the members in Sona's peerage had something in common.They were disciplined people even before entering Sona peerage.
Issei wasn't a disciplined person. He even peeked at girls when changing clothes, meaning the one who reincarnated Issei was Rias Gremory.
Although he was curious about why someone would want to reincarnate a super pervert like him, this was not Ryota's problem, so he ignored it.
Ryota chuckled and asked Sona.
"Hahaha, what are you going to do now, Sona?"
"Ryota-kun... you can come in now. See you later." said Sona, then she walked towards the pervert trio, leaving him and Tsubaki alone.
Ryota glanced at Sona's back before he hugged Tsubaki and kissed her cheek.
"I missed you, Tsubaki-chan!" whispered Ryota into her ear.
"R-R-Ryota-kun!" Tsubaki blushed, feeling happy and embarrassed at the same time.
"Shhh! Don't scream, or Sona will see us!"
"B-but the other students are watching us!"
Ryota looked around him, all the students were looking at them, some boys and girls were glaring at them jealously.
He sighed.
"I'll be waiting in class, Tsubaki-chan." said Ryota.
"Y-yes." Tsubaki nodded with a smile.
---
"Hey Tsubaki-chan, is Sona going to invite me to the student council?"
"No, she wants to talk about something important, so the student council room is the best place."
'Maybe they already knew I was a magician after I gave the earring to Tsubaki-chan. I guess telling them a little bit about me won't expose Tamamocchi and the others.' thought Ryota.
After class was over, Ryota and Tsubaki walked side by side to the student council room. On the way there, some people greeted them, while some just stared at them, like a certain black-haired girl right now.
Ryota stared at her, while this person also continued to stare at him, and their eyes met. He knew her because she sometimes talked to Sona and Tsubaki, but Ryota rarely spoke to her, and that could be counted on one hand.
"Why are you looking at me like that Himejima-san? Are you jealous of us like the other students too?" Ryota frowned. He didn't really like her, especially when she always acted too familiar with him.
Moreover, Ryota felt something strange every time he saw this girl's smile.
She seemed to be hiding her true emotions behind the smiles she gave to the other students. Just like Yuuto Kiba.
"Ara ara, Kise-kun. I always said call me Akeno. I just wanted to know where you and Tsubaki are going now. Are you two going on a date?"
Ryota sighed.
"Listen Himejima-san. We're not friends. At most, we're just acquaintances. I won't call someone I don't speak too often by their first name." replied Ryota.
"Then we can be friends now Kise-kun, you can call me Akeno, and I call you..."
"Kaichou summoned him to the student council room. Please excuse us."
Tsubaki cut off what Akeno was about to say and kept walking.
Ryota shook his head and ignored Akeno, then followed Tsubaki.
"Ryota-kun, please be careful around her. If she talks to you, call me immediately." Tsubaki said with a serious expression.
"Are you jealous, Tsubaki-chan? Don't worry, I think we won't talk to each other too often." Ryota replied while smiling at him.
Tsubaki blushed.
"N-no! Here, we've arrived." said Tsubaki while fixing her glasses.
She knocked on the door and opened it.
The student council room was as big as a regular classroom, or maybe even bigger.
There were several tables and chairs filled with documents on it. 2 large sofas on the right, with a table in front of the sofa. On the left wall there was a shelf filled with trophies and various kinds of goods.
There was a large desk with a black office chair and behind it was a large window.
The table was where the student council president sat, where Sona was currently looking towards the door.
Even though Ryota wasn't a student council member, he sometimes came here to chat with Sona and Tsubaki, so at least he had met and got to know all the members.
In the room, there were three people. Besides Sona, two other people were doing their student council work.
"Hey Sona, hello Reya, Momo. Where are the others?" asked Ryota.
"Hello, Ryota-senpai."
They greeted him back.
One of them was a girl with long brown hair ending in two short braids, Reya Kusaka. Ryota accidentally ran into her before joining Kuoh Academy at the bookstore when he wanted to buy a cooking recipe book for Tamamo. When they met again at Kuoh Academy, he knew reading books was her hobby.
Another girl with wavy white hair and blue-green eyes, Momo Hanakai. Even though he wasn't familiar with her, at least he knew she was in love with Kiba Yuuto. Every time ryota was in the student council room, Momo always tells about how cool Yuuto was to Reya.
"Tsubasa, Tomoe, Ruruko, and Saji are doing equipment checks at the sports club today." said Sona.
"Saji? Student council newest member?"
He was confused a little bit because he had never met this guy called Saji.
"Yes. Please sit down, Ryota-kun."
Sona moved to the sofa and Ryota followed her, sitting on the other sofa, while Tsubaki stood behind Sona.
"Here is your tea Kaichou, Ryota-senpai."
Sona and Ryota thanked Reya for making tea, and started looking at each other.
"So, do you need anything, Sona?" Ryota said while drinking his tea.
Sona calmly looked at him and fixes her glasses.
"Do you know anything about magic, Ryota-kun?"
Ryota smiled. He had already decided to tell them a bit, so he answered.
"Is it about the earring? Yes, it's a magic item."
Sona and other members are shocked and remain silent. A few seconds later, Sona regained her composure and asked again.
"Is that so? Then who are you? How did you get this item?"
Ryota glanced at Tsubaki. She looked nervous and wanted to say something.
"I'm a magician. I can't tell you which organization I'm from, but I can tell you the items are mine." Ryota said calmly.
"Also, I know all of you are devils. Even when you hugged me at that time, Tsubaki-chan. I already know you became a devil." Ryota said again.
"T-then..." Tsubaki was still shocked and asked him.
"Ah... Don't worry, even if you are not a human anymore, I will still love you, Tsubaki-chan." Ryota said while giving her a loving gaze.
"R-R-Ryouta-kun..." her eyes filled with tears, and she wanted to hug him now.
"Ehem... Please postpone this lovey-dovey scene for later. Then can I ask you Ryota-kun?" said Sona. She looked a little angry because of how loving the atmosphere they gave off earlier was.
"Sure."
"If you knew about us as devil, why didn't you ever tell Tsubaki or me about this?"
"I can't. It's dangerous for me, even when I want to tell you and Tsubaki-chan, because your peerage is connected to Satan, and all the higher-ups from any faction know about my true identity. You know what I mean, Sona?"
"...If I tell Onee-sama about a human who knows about Devils, she will investigate about you, and your identity will be revealed." Sona answered calmly.
"Smart as always, Sona! The only reason I'm revealing myself to you is because you know about the earring, and I don't want to lie to Tsubaki-chan. Don't worry. Soon I will tell you everything. Right now, you and Tsubaki-chan just needs to know that I am a magician, and I have no hatred for devils." Ryota said with a smile.
"...Is that so? Then what will you do if I tell Onee-sama?" Sona asked.
"You can't possibly do that. I know your personality well enough. If you don't tell her, your peerage members won't either, because they'll listen to you. You can keep this a secret, right? Including to the Gremory's peerage."
Sona sighed.
"Well then... I also have a hunch you won't accept my invitation to join my peerage, so I won't."
"That's right. Becoming a Devil doesn't bring me any benefit. Sorry, Sona."
Tsubaki, hearing Ryota's refusal felt sad, but he noticed this and said.
"Even though I can't join your peerage, I can still become your family's Contracted Magician or something. How's that Sona?"
"Contracted Magician? I can't make decisions directly if I don't even know your true abilities. Sorry, Ryota-kun. Why are you proposing this?" asked Sona.
"I can teach magic to your peerage, especially for Reya, she seems to like to read and learn a lot of things, so this will be good for her. Reya and Momo are your bishops, right?" Ryota said while glancing at Reya.
He had felt in Sona's peerage, the ones with high demonic-powers were Sona, Tsubaki, Reya and Momo. The others also had demonic-powers, but these four people had above average, especially Sona. Ryota thought Sona's power seemed to be stronger than a normal high-class devil.
Reya, who was mentioned, smiled at him.
"Yes, they are my bishops, but, what is the benefit for you?" asked Sona curiously.
"Becoming a Contracted Magician of the Sitri family will give me an easier way to enter the Underworld. Also, most importantly, I can follow your peerage, and my time with Tsubaki-chan will increase." said Ryota while winking at Tsubaki.
Mephisto had told him earlier, a normal human magician couldn't enter the Underworld so easily. Even though Ryota was able to enter through the Fallen Angel path with Azazel's help, the realms of the Fallen Angels and Devils were very different. the only way if he wanted to enter devil territory, would have to be illegally.
Tsubaki blushed while Sona got annoyed again.
"Don't worry. You don't have to accept my proposal, at least until I reveal my true identity. Bye, everyone!"
Before leaving, he explained all the functions of the earrings to Tsubaki, then he stood up and prepared to leave the room.
Ryota turned and said to Sona.
"Sona, I'm giving you one important clue about me. 'Heroes.' said Ryota while giving her a teasing smile. After that, he left the student council room.
Hearing Ryota's words, Sona was deep in thought.
'Heroes?...'