Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
Time has flown by once again. Talk in the Underworld of James' possible promotion has been heating up. In the Human World, however, the day that James and Rias, have been dreading is here. Parents' Day. As the name suggests, today is a day where the students' parents are invited to the school to observe the learning environments of their children.
The parents are expected to show up in each classroom during the first period after homeroom. Then, they will be able to observe the classes all the way until the lunch break.
In Class 3-A, the usual group of seven were once again chatting with each other around Reya's desk. However, unlike the usual lively chatter, this time there is a somewhat negative atmosphere surrounding the group. Knowing that Leona, Sirzechs, and Zeoticus were coming would be enough to make anyone nervous. Surprisingly, Rias was the only one who really, seemed to fear what was to come.
"Ri Ri, you really need to calm down." James said while smiling wryly at the nervous redhead.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Rias asked sharply. "Don't tell me you forgot about last year."
Just thinking about last year, James, Sona, Akeno, Tsubaki, Reya, and Flora had to use all their willpower to not start laughing out loud. Because of Zeoticus and Sirzechs antics from last year's Parents' Day, even the other students in class have been stealing glances at Rias with either looks of pity or good-natured smiles on their faces.
"Yeah, point taken." James said while trying to hold back a smile. "Uncle Zeoticus and your brother were a little overboard last year."
"A little!?" Rias exclaimed in anger. "You call that just a little!? They each had an eight foot (approx. 2.5 m) long banner with my face on it, a camera, a video camera with a tripod, and whenever I was called on, answered correctly, or did anything at all they would begin cheering at the top of their lungs."
Once again, the rest of the group had to try their best not to laugh at the hysterical Gremory Heiress as they remembered.
"Okay, so maybe it was more than a little." James said with his lips twitching. "Hopefully, Big Sis Grayfia will do something about it this time."
In response Rias only rolled her eyes.
"If I didn't know Grayfia so well, I would have thought she was spending all her energy to not laugh out loud as well." Rias said with a pout. "But I know she was just doing her duty as the head maid of House Gremory."
Underworld, Gremory Territory, Gremory Estate.
In the meeting room of the servant quarters, Grayfia was standing in front of the rest of the mansion's servants instructing them on what needs to be taken care of while she was away with Venelana and Sirzechs attending Kuoh Academy's Parents' Day.
"And Illiana, you have to remember that the Madam is expecting the black roses to bloom in... *Sneeze!*" Grayfia was explaining in her usual cold tone until she was interrupted by her own sneeze.
At that moment, the room fell silent. No one had seen Grayfia have a moment like that during their time serving the Gremory House. Eventually, the young woman, Illiana, who Grayfia was most recently addressing broke the silence.
"Lady Grayfia, are you alright?" Illiana asked carefully.
"It's nothing to worry about, I just felt a bit of irritation in my nose." Grayfia replied. Then, as if nothing happened, Grayfia continued her explanation.
However, while she was explaining to each of the servants what she expected from them and what they needed to look out for while she was gone, Grayfia was simultaneously thinking about what could have caused that sneeze.
'I don't think I'm catching a cold.' Grayfia thought as she analyzed the situation. 'Devils can't even catch common colds like humans. And as strict as I am with the servants, there isn't even a speck of dust present in the entire estate. I guess someone was talking about me. But who could it be?'
Shrugging her shoulders mentally, Grayfia put the thought to the back of her mind and continued to instruct the servants.
Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
Not long later, the bell rang, and all the students returned to their own seats. A moment later, their teacher, a pretty, middle-aged woman entered the classroom.
"Okay, homeroom is starting." the teacher said to the class. "This will be the third time for all of you, so I don't think I need to tell you about today's schedule, right?"
In response, the students simply nodded. Seeing that everyone was prepared for the day's events, the teacher went over any changes that might occur from this year and the last. As she did, she looked over each student and her gaze paused on Rias. Then, her lips twitched as she tried not to laugh.
Although she was not the homeroom teacher for Class 2-A last year, she, like all the other teachers, had heard about Rias' brother and father's antics which have become legendary for the academy's staff and faculty.
Seeing the teacher's lips twitching as she looked at her, Rias knew exactly what she was thinking. So, instead of saying anything, she simply broke eye contact and laid her head on her desk with a blush on her face. Seeing that Rias could no longer see her, the teacher allowed her smile to reveal itself. And like her, the rest of the class also smiled.
"Oh, and students, please don't make too much fun of Gremory-San after Parents' Day is over." The teacher said in a teasing tone.
"Yes, Sensei!" the class answered in unison.
"Ugh!" Rias grunted in response.
'I'll definitely ask Dad to fire her.' Rias thought to herself.
As a matter of fact, Zeoticus had become the sole shareholder of Kuoh Academy shortly after James, Rias, and Sona had decided to pose as high school students at this school as cover for their devil identities. Fortunately for her teachers in the first and second year, she only found out about this a few weeks ago.
Not long after that, the bell rang signaling the end of the homeroom. A few moments later, the back door of the classroom was opened, and the parents of the students began to enter. And just as they expected, Leona was the first of the three problematic parents to enter.
"James, sweetheart!" Leona shouted as she stared at James. "I've missed you so much!"
"Mom!" James exclaimed happily. "I've only been gone from home for two hours. Is your short-term memory acting up again?"
Hearing that, Leona froze for a moment. She definitely was not expecting James to fire back during class. On top of that, the other parents who entered before and those who were right behind her were looking at her with pity. Recognizing her loss for this round, Leona gritted her teeth and mouthed a few words to her son.
"Just you wait." Were the words James was able to decipher from lip reading. In return, James also mouthed a sentence.
"Bring it on." Was what Leona picked out from her own lip reading.
Then, the mother-son duo smiled sweetly at each other before James turned back to the front of the class. Not long after Leona, Sona's parents, Dante and Rhea, were the next of the devil parents to enter the classroom. Unlike Leona, however, they simply waved and nodded at Sona. This of course caused Sona to receive a pair of dirty looks from Rias and James. Expecting their stares, Sona ignored them completely while smiling smugly.
The next of the problematic parents to enter was Sirzechs. Even though he was not a parent, he was certainly problematic. Therefore no one was surprised when they saw him carrying a tripod, video camera, DSLR camera and a duffle bag. The thing that surprised them was that Rias' father, Zeoticus, was not accompanying him along with the silver-haired maid that usually accompanied the two of them. Instead of her father, there was a flaxen-haired, violet eyed gorgeous woman whose facial features were nearly identical to Rias' own.
"Mother, you came?" Rias said with confusion and delight apparent in her expression.
"Yes, since this is your last year, I convince Zeo to let me come this time." Venelana replied with a graceful smile.
Hearing that, Rias almost cried. Even though her brother was still there to embarrass her, her mother would be much more effective in reigning him in. Therefore, with a smile, Rias turned back to the front of the class. A few moments later, all the parents were in the classroom, lined up in the back of the room. As the teacher was about to close the door, everyone heard a shout coming from down the hall.
"Wait!" A female voice shouted as the sound of running footsteps could be heard from the hallway.
Hearing that voice, Sona froze. Then, she began to shake. Then, as the footsteps neared the classroom door, Sona turned her head mechanically toward the door. The rest of the class also turned their heads toward the door. There for they did not notice the panicked expression Sona was wearing. However, the other six members of her group of friends all recognized the voice who shouted from the distance. And because of that, instead of looking toward the door immediately, they all looked at the expression Sona was wearing. And when they saw it, they smiled. With the largest smile belonging to Rias.
"Sorry I'm late." Yelled a short girl with a large bust wearing a tight fitting white and blue sailor uniform, a large red ribbon tied into a bow that covered her chest, a red jewel in the center of the bow, red knee-length boots with a white stripe at the top, white elbow-length gloves with red accents near the elbow, and a golden tiara with a red jewel in the center. Also, her long black hair was tied into twin tails with spherical buns at the base of each and red reflective hair clips that covered the front of each bun and held the twin tails together.
When they saw the girl that entered the room and what she was wearing, everyone present was shocked. Even those who knew her. It was not uncommon to see her, Serafall, dressed in some kind of magical girl uniform. What they found surprising was that they all knew where this particular style of magical girl uniform came from.
Not paying attention to the stares she was receiving, Serafall looked around the room. When she caught sight of her target, she shouted excitedly as she rushed over to her.
"So-Tan, Onee-Chan has come to see you!" Serafall shouted as she wrapped her arms around her petrified younger sister.
"So-Tan..." Most of the students muttered as they did their best not to laugh.
There was one student who had no problem laughing, though.
"Ahahaha!" Rias laughed uproariously. As she did, she doubled over her desk and slapped its surface repeatedly.
The sounds of laughter and banging on a desk finally caught Serafall's attention. Then, she looked around the room to see where the sound was coming from. As she did, she saw several familiar faces and smiled at them. Then, when her gaze passed over James, she stopped.
James was having a bad feeling when he saw the look in Serafall's eyes. Then when he realized what she was about to say, he panicked internally.
"Jay-Kun!" Serafall shouted as she released Sona and headed toward James. "I really like your Sailor Moon manga! How did you come up with it? Will you let my company animate it like we have for all your other manga?"
To Serafall's series of questions, the class fell silent. Then, it burst into discussion.
"Did she just say that Alaverus-Kun drew Sailor Moon?" One of the girls in the class asked in surprise.
"If that's true then doesn't that mean...?" A boy asked.
"Alaverus-San is Mangetsu no Shita de...?" A second girl asked.
After that question, the classroom fell silent again. Then in unison all the students shouted.
"Alaverus-Kun/San is Mangetsu-Sensei!"