Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
Not long after James and Irene returned to the living room with the rest of the group, the doorbell rang once again. And like last time, James was the one to answer it. This time however, Mizore decided to follow him, thinking that her contractor would also be present.
Just as he expected, when James opened the front door, a boy and a girl stood there. The boy, by comparison, seemed to be quite plain-looking. He had short, black hair that covered his forehead with messy, uneven bangs and deep-set, stern-looking dark blue eyes. With an athletic build and standing at 5'11" (180cm) tall, he gave off a dependable and competent impression.
The girl, on the other hand, personified the word beautiful. Like the boy she accompanied, she had dark blue eyes. Her black hair grew down to her lower back with bangs that covered her forehead and eyebrows with long side bangs that reached her chest. Her facial features, arms, legs, and the rest of her rather curvy figure were nearly perfectly symmetrical.
'Damn, the picture attached to the application didn't do this girl justice.' Mizore thought as she examined the girl who she suspected to be her contractor, Shiba Miyuki. 'With looks like these, I wouldn't be surprised if even James, who is surrounded by beauty, is captivated.'
Contrary to Mizore's thoughts, Although James' gaze was drawn to Miyuki, he was more interested in her micro expressions. When she looked at him, she frowned ever so slightly. Though he did not know why, he did not think it was because of his appearance. Instead, it seemed as though she was comparing him to something.
'Even though she's trying to be discreet about it, she's evaluating me.' James thought to himself. 'But why do her eyes keep shifting between me and... Never mind, I'm sure I'll figure it out over time.'
"Good afternoon, my name is Shiba Tatsuya." The young man, Tatsuya said after a moment spent evaluating the two people standing in the doorway. "And this is my younger sister, Miyuki. We've come to meet with James Alaverus and Shirayuki Mizore, respectively."
"Good afternoon." The girl, Miyuki, said as she bowed her head politely after her brother's introduction.
"Well, it looks like you're in the right place, standing in front of the right people." James replied with a smile. "I'm James Alaverus, the owner of this estate. And this is one of my [Bishops]…"
"Shirayuki Mizore." Mizore said, finishing James' sentence. "It's nice to meet the two of you."
"Anyway, now that introductions are out of the way, why don't the two of you come inside?" James said, stepping to the side and ushering the Shiba siblings into his home.
Nodding in response, Tatsuya and Miyuki stepped forward and entered the house. However, before James could close the door behind them, he heard a shout coming from the street.
"Hey, Senpai. We're here, too!" issei shouted, trying to get James' attention before he closed the door.
'Oh, got damn it.' James thought to himself. 'Issei really might die today. Irene is at the minor god-rank while Tatsuya and Miyuki are at the ultimate and high ranks, respectively.'
Sighing as the trio of Issei, Asia, and Irina approached, James stopped his action of closing the door and opened it wide again. Then with a smile, he greeted the new arrivals.
"Yo, Ise." James said. "What's up? Asia, Irina, it's always nice to see the two of you."
"Hi, Senpai!" Irina replied in her normally energetic manner.
"Good afternoon, James-Senpai." Asia replied to the greeting politely.
Issei, however, did not pay attention to James in the slightest. Instead, his vision was focused on Miyuki, who was standing in the entrance way changing into a pair of house slippers. Seeing her beauty and the shape of her body, Issei was about to lose his mind.
'Damn it, why now?' James thought after he saw issei's expression. 'I really don't wanna see him die. What can I do about this?'
While Issei, Asia, and Irina were making their way toward the front door, James was wracking his brains for a way to warn, or at least, separate Issei from Miyuki. As people who were not familiar with Issei, James was afraid that Miyuki or Tatsuya might kill him if they were offended by his inevitable sexual harassment.
"Hyoudou, I'm warning you." Mizore said before James could come up with a solution. "If you get up to your usual antics, you might actually die today."
Hearing Mizore, Issei snapped out of his daze. Then, when he looked at her, he realized that that was a real warning and not just a threat like she usually makes. On the other hand, Asia and Irina were confused. However, when they saw Miyuki, they understood what Mizore meant. She was beautiful to the extreme and she had a great figure.
"Ise, you have to be polite." Irina said. "Don't cause any trouble for James-Senpai and Mizore-Chan."
"Irina is right, Issei." Asia said, pinching the skin on Issei's waist. "Don't' cause any trouble."
"Ow! Ow! Asia... Asia-San... Asia-Sama could you let go, please?" Issei said in a pleading tone. "I haven't done anything, yet. Why am I being punished already?"
As they entered the front door, Issei, Asia, and Irina continued to bicker back and forth. At the same time, Tatsuya and Miyuki looked at them with confusion. Neither of them felt anything strange when issei was staring at Miyuki. In fact, it happens quite often. They actually found it more abnormal that James' stare contained more curiosity than infatuation.
"Anyway, let's get going." James said. "Depending on the terms of our pacts, we might be seeing a lot more of each other. So, I'll introduce you to the rest of the residents of the mansion."
"Makes sense." Tatsuya said with a nod.
"That would be delightful." Miyuki replied with a nod and a smile.
Seeing Miyuki's smile, even if it was not a genuine one, Mizore, Issei, Asia, and Irina were dazed. Meanwhile, James kept observing the siblings. And he noticed that Miyuki's attention, even when she was seemingly focused on something else, was always firmly set on Tatsuya.
'Oh, shit...' James thought to himself. 'I think she might be a Serafall-level bro-con. No, she might be even worse. Like, it's just a matter of time before she crosses a line that should not be crossed.'
As James was having this thought, Miyuki also noticed that James was observing her.
'I'm used to men staring at me.' Miyuki thought to herself. 'But the way he looks at me is different. He doesn't even seem to care about my beauty. Instead, it feels like he's trying to look deeper. But... What does he want?'
A moment later, Miyuki shook visibly. She was surprised at how interesting she found someone who was not captivated by her beauty.
'No, he's not interesting.' Miyuki thought to herself while shaking her head. 'Onii-Sama is the only man I need in my life. All other men are not worth my time. But then again, I might be able to have my first male friend... Ever.'
Miyuki continued to shake her head back and forth as she argued with herself. Naturally, Tatsuya noticed her strange behavior.
"Miyuki, are you alright?' Tatsuya asked.
As she was too deep in her own thoughts, Miyuki was surprised when she heard Tatsuya's voice.
"There's nothing to worry about, Onii-Sama." Miyuki said with a smile. A genuine smile. "I'm perfectly fine."
With that, everyone else noticed the strangeness that James had been noticing since the two arrived on his doorstep. Naturally, Issei was the first to say something about it.
"Hey, Senpai." Issei said after drawing near to James. "is she...?"
"Probably." James replied. "But that's none of our business, ya know."
"Yeah, I know." issei said in a dejected tone. "But it's such a waste."
"I don't' know why you're saying that." James said with a smile. "It's not like you had a chance anyway."
"Ow, that's fucked up, Senpai." Issei said. "You don't know that."
"Of course, I do." James replied. "I mean, look at you. You're a raging pervert with a voyeurism fetish."
"That's not true, I haven't peeped in..." Issei said, trying to defend himself.
"Months." James cut him off. "But I guess that ass kicking made you forget. "I'm amazed you would try to peep while I was staying in the same hotel."
Hearing James and Issei's conversation, Mizore, Asia, and Irina did not react much. However, Tatsuya and Miyuki were confused and a bit disgusted.
"Shirayuki-San, who is this degenerate?" Miyuki asked while looking at Issei with caution.
"Oh, that's Hyoudou Issei." Mizore answered casually. "He's a member of Rias Gremory's peerage."
By this point, James and the others had made it into the living room. When they did, Mizore pointed at Rias while she explained Issei's identity. And following Mizore's finger, Miyuki and Tatsuya saw Rias chatting with a few other girls.
"So, the Gremory Princess is into perverts?" Miyuki asked in a tone full of curiosity.
As soon as her words fell, Leona began laughing uproariously. Irene, who was sitting across from her with Scathach also smiled.
"It's even funnier because she was asking with genuine curiosity in her tone." Leona said while trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard.
"Ugh... I've been asked if I'm interested in Issei twice today." Rias said while supporting her forehead with her hand. "I'm seriously regretting accepting him into my peerage now."
"Buchou, you don't really mean that, right?" Issei asked, sounding a little hurt.
"Shut up, Issei." Rias snapped back. "What will my fiancé think if he keeps hearing that over and over?"
Meanwhile, Rias' fiancé, Jaes, was doing all he could to not start laughing aloud.
"My disciple, why do you not defend your fiancée?" Scathach asked with a mischievous smile on her face.
'Shit!' James exclaimed in his mind.
As soon as Scathach drew attention to him, everyone noticed that James' shoulders were shaking with laughter.
"James, is there something that you find funny?" Rias asked, standing from the sofa with her left hand resting on her left hip.
"No, haha, of course not." James replied, unable to completely hide his laughter when he was forced to answer.
"Oh, really?" Rias said, now crossing her arms under her large breasts and making them more pronounced.
Naturally, when Rias crossed her arms, Issei's eyes zeroed in on her breasts. However, before he could get a good look, a pair of fingers poked him in the eyes.
"Ahh~~! My eyes." Issei shouted in pain.
"Seriously, Ise." James said while shaking his head. "At least have the decency to not ogle my fiancé when I'm standing right here."
Seeing James' movement speed, Irene, Tatsuya, and Miyuki were surprised. Even though Irene could tell that James was stronger than her, she did not think that he outclassed her in speed by that much. Tatsuya and Miyuki, on the other hand, were surprised. Because they are so much weaker than James, they could not feel how powerful he was. However, they had heard rumors of James power. But they never expected him to be that fast.
"Anyway, allow me to make the introductions." James said with a smile as if he had not just poked Issei in the eyes. Then, he strode toward the sofa that Rias and Sona were sitting on and took them both by the hand. "First, let me introduce you to my two beautiful fiancées, Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory."
With James holding her hand and complimenting her in front of the crowd, Rias was quick to forget that she was angry at James for laughing at her. At the same time, Cu Chulainn and Dante came back from the training room and noticed the three new arrivals. However, they decided that they did not want to draw any attention to themselves. Unfortunately, James had no intention of letting them be.
"And last but not least, those are my [Knights]." James said as he pointed at Cu Chulainn and Dante. "The spiritual reincarnation of Ireland's greatest hero, Cu Chulainn, and the youngest son of the Underworld's greatest traitor, Sparda. His name is Dante."
After James' introductions, Cu Chulainn and Dante nodded, making sure that their gazes did not linger on Miyuki for too long.
"So, which of you won the argument?" James asked.
In response, both Cu Chulainn and Dante looked away without answering.
"Hmm... Interesting." James said while stroking his chin. "So, Cu Chulainn lost the verbal argument while Dante lost the physical one, huh?"
"How did you determine that from them just turning their heads away?" Evangeline asked with curiosity in her tone.
"Oh, that's simple." James replied. "Cu Chulainn was in the wrong for what he said, everyone knew that. So, there was no way that he was going to convince anyone that he wasn't in the wrong."
Everyone, other than Issei, Asia, Irina, Irene, Tatsuya, and Miyuki, nodded their heads since they were present for the statement that started the argument. But they were curious to know how James knew that Dante had lost the fight.
"And I knew Dante lost because if Lancer had lost, Master would have made his life hell for the next week or so." James continued.
"Indeed." Scathach said, nodding in agreement. "If this Scathach's disciple had lost to one with a lower rank, it would be a disgrace."
"Anyway, now that introductions are out of the way, Tatsuya, Miyuki... I hope you don't mind that I'm using your given names." James stopped mid-sentence after he realized that he was not using the siblings' surnames. But since you're both surnamed Shiba, I would have gotten confused."
"I don't mind." Tatsuya said without much change in his expression.
"If Onii-Sama doesn't mind, then neither do I." Miyuki added after her brother.
"Good." James replied with a smile. "Then, Tatsuya, why don't you follow me to my studio so we can discuss our pact. Miyuki, you should follow Mizore to do the same."
With that, the Shiba siblings followed their contractors-to-be upstairs to the place they would negotiate their pacts. Meanwhile, everyone left in the living room exchanged glances. Eventually, Rias and Sona looked at each other and spoke in unison.
"That girl is a bro-con." Rias and Sona said in unison. "I can see it in her eyes. It's just like the look in Big Brother's/Sister's eyes."