Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
Today, the first day of the second term of the school year, instead of homeroom, the students were brought to the auditorium by their homeroom teachers for an announcement. As they made their way into the auditorium, the students could not help but chatter about the upcoming announcement.
"I wonder what the big deal is." A boy from the first year asked his classmate.
"Who knows?" another first-year boy replied.
"I heard that there is going to be a new teacher." a first-year girl said, inserting herself into her classmates' conversation.
"Really?" the first two boys asked in unison.
"Is it a man or a woman?"" the first boy asked.
"I hope it's a woman." The second boy said. "And I hope she's hot!"
The girl who was talking to them and all the other girls in the class looked at the second boy with disdain.
"I'm not sure." The girl replied.
"Then, do you know what subject the new teacher will teach?" The first boy asked.
"I don't." the girl replied while shaking her head.
"Well, we'll find out soon." the second boy said after he escaped from his fantasies.
"That's true." The first boy and the girl replied in unison.
Conversations like this one took place throughout the student body. The excitement from knowing that there was a new teacher coming was tangible. Meanwhile, the devils and supernatural beings working at the school, who knew about the new teacher's identity, looked at these students who were excited about the new teacher with pity.
"Does our school nurse know anything about psychology?" Moka asked.
"I don't know." issei replied. "But why do you ask?"
"I get the feeling that we're gonna have a lot of traumatized students after they take Scathach-Sensei's class." Moka replied.
Then, Mizore, Momo, Tsubasa, and Tomoe nodded in agreement. Even though the members of Rias' peerage had never trained with Scathach, from the few days that they spent around her, they knew that she was intense, to put it nicely.
Once all the homeroom teachers reported that their classes were accounted for, the principal walked toward the center of the stage. With the other teachers sitting behind him on the stage as well.
"Good morning, students." The principal said, addressing the students.
Then, he gave a speech that seemed to be interlaced with sleep magic. At the end of his speech, he finally introduced the new teacher.
"Now, allow me to introduce you to our new teacher, Scathach-Sensei." The principal said as he gestured for Scathach to approach the center of the stage.
After receiving the principal's cue, Scathach stood and walked toward the principal.
"She will be teaching Physical Education." Said the principal when Scathach arrived near the podium. "Now, Scathach-Sensei why don't you tell the students a little about yourself."
Nodding in response, Scathach took the principal's place at the podium and spoke into the microphone.
"Good morning students." Scathach said in a cold tone. "You may refer to me as Scathach-Sensei. There will be no nicknames."
Hearing Scathach's tone, many of the students were taken aback. However, many of the males in the audience, both students and teachers, thought that tone made Scathach even more attractive.
"AS the principal said, I will be teaching physical education." Scathach continued. "Also, I will be taking over as the coach and advisor for the MMA Club."
Hearing that, most of the students and teachers drew in a breath of air. Then, one girl among the student body raised her hand. Deciding that answering one question would not be a problem, as long as it was neither something stupid nor inappropriate, Scathach pointed at the girl and gave her permission to speak.
"The MMA Club has had the same coach and advisor... Who never showed up for two years. Why are they being replaced now?" The girl asked curiously.
"That's quite simple." Scathach replied with a nod. "Because I am James Alaverus' master in martial arts. It is my merit that he is as strong as he is now."
Meanwhile, in the section where Class 3-A was seated, James' classmates were staring at him like he grew a second head. James, of course, paid no mind to the stares from his classmates.
"What a masterful half-truth." James said while stroking his chin.
"Yeah, I know for a fact that she didn't teach you Muay Tahi, wrestling, or swordsmanship." Rias said with a nod.
"But it is true that she is the reason that James is as strong as he is now." Sona chipped in.
Tsubaki, Reya, and Flora nodded emphatically in response to Sona's statement.
And when most of the males in the auditorium heard that Scathach was James' martial arts master, they thought again about annoying/pursuing her. Most people were aware that James was a world class martial artist even though there were no competitions for MMA in high school. But rumors that James had been scouted for MMA leagues from around the world had been floating around the school since James was a first year.
Eventually, Scathach decided to put an end to the chattering around the auditorium. Releasing her aura just enough to put pressure on normal people without harming them, Scathach drew everyone's attention to herself. Once she was sure that everyone was looking at her, she spoke once again.
"I will make sure that all of you are as healthy as you can possibly be as a result of my classes." Scathach said in an authoritative tone. "And slacking off will not be tolerated. I have already read all your files and records from the previous teacher. So, I know how much each of you can handle."
At that moment, most of the student body felt a chill run down their spines.
"Now, I hope we will all be able to get along."
And with that, Scathach walked away from the podium and returned to her seat among the other teachers. Then, the students broke into chatter again.
"OMG! She's so hot!" A second-year boy exclaimed.
"She really is beautiful. Like, really beautiful." A girl from the same class said in response. "I want to be like her when I grow up."
"Do you think she'll punish me if I'm bad?" A third-year boy asked.
Instead of receiving a reply, the rest of that boy's classmates looked at him disdainfully.
After that, there were a few more words from the principal before the students were sent back to their classrooms.
On another note, there were many new applicants to the MMA Club after school that day.
After the students returned to their classrooms, there were still a few minutes of homeroom remaining. Although that did not mean much to most of the students, in classes 1-A and 2-A the teachers had announcements to make.
First, in Class 1-A
"Okay, boys and girls!" Nekonomiya Shizuka said in her usual cheerful tone. "We have a transfer student that I would like to introduce to you all before the first period."
With that, before the excitement from the announcement of a new teacher could fade, more excitement was piled on top of it.
"*Sigh* Why does that fried chicken girl have to be in our class?" Koneko said under her breath.
"Now, now, Koneko-Chan." Maria said with a smile. "You need to be nice."
"Now, Phenex-San, please come in." Nekonomiya-Sensei said toward the closed door.
And just as the devils expected, the transfer student was none other than Ravel Phenex of the Underworld's Phenex House of the 72 Pillar Houses.
"It's nice to meet you all." Ravel said as she took her place next to Nekonomiya-Sensei. "My name is Ravel Phenex and I hope we can get along."
Then, as is commonly seen with transfer students Ravel was barraged with questions from her curious classmates. Because the homeroom had been shortened by the assembly that introduced Scathach as a new teacher, Nekonomiya-Sensei allowed the students to ask all the questions they wanted, to Ravel's annoyance. Eventually, the questions came to an end when the bell signifying that the homeroom was over rang.
Around the same time in Class 2-A the homeroom teacher had just finished introducing a transfer student as well. Like Class 1-A the transfer student was a beautiful girl. With brown hair tied into twin tails, violet eyes, and a bubbly personality, she introduced herself energetically.
"Hi, everyone!" Irina said with a smile. "My name is Irina Shidou. I'm looking forward to my time with you all!"
Most of the students were excited to see the new student. And her cheerful personality was infectous. So, as she smiled, the majority of the students she greeted also smiled. However, there were a few students who were, rather than excited to see her, confused by her appearance.
"Irina?" Issei said with confusion in his tone. "Why are you here?"
However, before Irina could respond, a blur with blue hair rushed to the front of the classroom and wrapped Irina in a tight embrace.
"Irina!" Xenovia shouted happily. "I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad to see you again."
With Xenovia's outburst, the other students were confused. They knew that Xenovia was not shy. In fact, she was very outspoken, especially about things she did not understand. However, they had never seen her react like this to anything.
"So, I guess they know each other." One of the girls said as she watched the reunion between the exorcist and the former exorcist.
"I guess so." Another girl responded. "It looks like they are really close."
Hearing that, the other students nodded and looked at the two girls in curiosity. Before they could get to the bottom of the situation, however, the bell that signaled the end of the homeroom rang.
===Lunch Break===
After the morning classes ended, Irina joined Yuuto, Issei, Asia, and Xenovia as they traveled to the Occult Research Club to have their lunch. And when they arrived, they found that Koneko and Gasper were already in the club room along with Rias and Akeno.
"So, I guess Mio and Maria went to the MMA Club, huh?" Issei asked in a disappointed tone.
"Yes." Koneko replied simply.
"Oh, I wasn't expecting to see you again." Rias said as she noticed the smiling Irina.
"Yes, I was sent here so that Heaven would have a representative in Kuoh as well." Irina said, explaining why she had transferred into the school.
"A representative from heaven?" Akeno asked curiously. "Since when do exorcists represent heaven?"
"Well, I'm actually no longer an exorcist." Irina said as a pair of white feathered wings sprouted from her back.
At that moment, the door to the club room opened and in walked Azazel.
"I see, so Heaven has integrated the devil's [Evil Piece] technology already, huh?" Azazel asked with some interest in his tone.
"That's right." Irina said cheerfully. "Heaven calls its reincarnated angels, [Brave Saints]."
Then, Irina folded her wings and showed the back of her right hand. On the back of that hand was a black spade symbol and the letter A.
"I was reincarnated as Michael-Sama's [Ace]." Irina said with pride.
"So, instead of chess, the [Brave Saints] are modeled after playing cards." Azazel said, instantly seeing through the way the angel's reincarnation system worked.
"That's right." Irina said. "For now, only high-ranking angels are made the [Kings] of their own decks. And they can reincarnate humans into cards of their suit. For example, Michael-Sama is the [King] of [Spades]."
"I see." Azazel said. "That's actually quite interesting. But I would like to ask an even more interesting question."
"And what's that, Sensei?" Issei asked curiously.
"How was your P.E. class with Scathach?" Azazel asked with a shit eating grin on his face. "I heard she taught Class 2-A this morning, right?"
In response to Azazel's question, Yuuto, Issei, Asia, Xenovia, and Irina shuddered. And seeing that reaction, Azazel's grin grew wider. Also, Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper were curious about how it went.
"So, how was it?" Azazel asked, clearly taking pleasure in their misfortune.
"That woman is a sadist!" Issei shouted. Then, he quickly covered his mouth, scared that Scathach might hear him.
The other second years nodded their heads quickly.
"So, what did she do?" Rias asked with interest.
"The first thing she did was check everyone's muscles to see how physically fit they were." Yuuto said, his usual gentle smile gone from his face. "And as she got to the devils and Irina, she slipped on weighted magic circles so that we would be equal to humans in strength and speed."
"She also gave us enough wiggle room so that if we pushed ourselves, we could exceed their limits for a brief amount of time." Xenovia said, picking up where Yuuto left off.
"Then, she made the entire class run around the track so that she could get a feel for our stamina levels." Irina said with a cramped smile. "I've never had so much trouble running before. The weighted training with the Church was nothing compared to this."
The other members of the Occult Research Club were shocked into silence. They never thought that Scathach would go that far. Azazel was the first to break the silence, though.
"Let me ask you something." Azazel said with a smile. "How did Mizore, Moka, and Shuna react?"
The second-year students in the room stopped to recall the answer to Azazel's question. Then, when they remembered, they all opened their eyes wide.
"They acted like it was nothing at all." Issei said with shock in his expression.
"Now that I think about it, the members of President Sona's peerage didn't react either." Asia said with a contemplative expression on her face.
"That's because they most likely went through training that was much worse over summer break." Azazel said, his smile was no longer on his face. "And if you're really serious about getting stronger, the training you did today will look like child's play."