Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
While the students on the rooftop were cheering for James and Mio, Koneko, Ravel, Maria, and Kokoa looked on with smiles. At the same time, however, it was clear that all their smiles were a bit stiff.
"You know, even though I'm happy for Mio, seeing her like this is making me irritated for some reason." Maria said, maintaining her strained smile.
The other three nodded in agreement with Maria's statement. And they all, including Maria, knew why. They were envious. Koneko and Ravel had been waiting for a chance to be with James for a while now. Meanwhile, although Maria and Kokoa were not so romantically interested in James, they had to admit that being his girlfriend would not be so bad.
"James-Senpai finally has a girlfriend." One of the girls on the roof said, finally realizing the weight of the situation.
That situation pulled the four girls from the envy. Although they all knew that James had more than a few girlfriends, the students had no clue. To the public at large, James had been single since the first day of his first year. So, for him to get a girlfriend right before graduation, it was a pretty big deal.
"No, I don't like this." Koneko said with a frown.
"Yeah, Mio is now his public girlfriend." Ravel said in agreement.
"More important than that..." Maria said with worry in her tone.
Maria's worried tone caused the other three girls to look at her in confusion.
"What's wrong, Maria?" Kokoa asked in curiosity.
"What will the other girls think when they realize that Mio is James-Nii's public girlfriend?" Maria asked with trepidation.
"I... I'm sure it will be fine." Ravel said. "They won't make a fuss about it, right?"
"Most of them won't." Koneko said, shaking her head. "But Buchou..."
Thinking of Rias, the other three girls were confused. None of them were around when Rias was at her worst when it comes to her possessiveness. But Koneko remembered the day when she slapped James almost four years ago.
"I'm sure James will do something." Kokoa said. "He's good at coaxing them, after all."
"I hope you're right." Koneko said nervously.
A few minutes later, the uproar on the roof died down and Mio, wearing a bright smile, made her way off the roof. Seeing Mio coming their way, the other four girls hurried away from the door and rushed back to their classroom.
James, on the other hand, sat on the roof for a little bit longer to eat the rest of the caramel covered cream puffs. Unlike what Koneko was concerned about, James was not worried about Rias going on a rampage due to Mio being seen as his public girlfriend. Over the years, all his girls had already considered that only one of them could be his public girlfriend. So, they were prepared for the eventuality that someone else would take that role.
"Well, I better head back." James said, dusting the crumbs off his hands. "I never thought Mio would be my public girlfriend, though."
After that, James picked up his lunch box and started walking back to his classroom. Then, after a few minutes, he was back at his desk with his lunch box back in his bag. After he put his bag away, the other devils approached.
"So, how did it go?" Flora asked with a smile.
"Pretty good, all things considered." James said with a chuckle.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rias asked.
"Well..." James said, beginning to explain his lunch with Mio.
As he explained, Rias, Sona, and Akeno fidgeted a bit. Although they were prepared for this possibility, it did not make it any less uncomfortable knowing that they were not James' public girlfriend in the Human World. Still, Sona and Rias were easily pacified as they knew that they were first in the running for James' first wife.
'The first wife position is mine.' Rias and Sona thought at the same time.
Shortly after that, the bell signifying the end of the lunch break rang and the rest of the day went by smoothly. After the final bell, all the first- and second-year supernatural beings went to participate in their club activities. Meanwhile, the third years made their way back to the mansion.
While they were on their way home, all six girls pulled out caramel treats of some kind from their bags and handed them to James with a smile. Naturally, Tsubaki and Reya's were friendship gifts, though. Then, with a big smile, James thanked them all while giving Rias, Sona, Akeno, and Flora a kiss each.
After a twenty minute walk, the group arrived at the mansion and entered quickly. As soon as they did, Tsubaki split up from the group to find Cu Chulainn, while Reya ran off to finish preparing to give Yuto her chocolate.
"Well, we probably won't see Lancer and Tsubaki for the rest of the night." James said with a knowing smile. "But still, sometimes I think Yuuto is asexual. I mean, he's got three beautiful girls all over him and he shows no interest at all."
While everyone else chuckled at James' little joke, Sona wore a somewhat conflicted expression. The three girls, Reya, Momo, and Tsubasa, were all members of her peerage. And for the better part of three years, Reya has been trying to get Yuuto's attention. While Momo and Tsubasa have been interested in him since the first day of their first year.
A few moments later, after changing their shoes, the group of five entered the living room. When they did, they were surprised to see Zest kneeling in front of the door.
"Good evening, Young Master James." Zest said in her usual tone. "Would you like dinner, or a bath, or maybe... me?"
Seeing that, the girls began to giggle quietly. Meanwhile, James began rubbing his temples. Then, he looked around the room and saw his mother, Venelana, Grayfia, Irene, Evangeline, Kahlua, Akua, and Erza watching the spectacle.
"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this question." James said in a tired tone. "But who was it that put her up to this?"
"It was me." Sheila said, walking into the living room from another entrance. "Wasn't it great?"
"Oh, wasn't expecting to see you here, Sheila." James said in surprise with a smile on his face. "It's good to see you again."
"Yup!" Sheila replied with a smile. "Leona told me that you would have a bunch of chocolate that you weren't gonna eat. So, I came over to get my fix."
"I see.," James said with a nod.
A moment later, James held out his hand with the bag of chocolate. Then, the bag disappeared. In its place was a bag holding caramel treats while Leona was holding the bag filled with chocolate. Each one had a card that let James know who it was from, and he thanked all the ladies present.
Meanwhile, Rias eyed her mother suspiciously.
"What are you planning, Mother?" Rias asked, suspicion filling her tone. "That was way too tame compared to the way you've been acting recently."
"Calm down, Rias." Venelana said with a smile. "I'm not trying to seduce him every waking hour, you know."
Though she did not respond, Rias kept her eye on Venelana and was even more suspicious of the caramel that James received from her.
The next few hours were spent simply chatting and having a good time. Then, the other high school students began to arrive at the mansion. And like the others, they all gave James and the other males of the mansion caramel or chocolate. Before sitting down for dinner with everyone in the mansion.
But before they could eat, a teleportation circle appeared in the dining room. A moment later, Yasaka and Kunou appeared before the magic circle vanished.
"Happy Valentine's Day." Kunou shouted and rushed at James to give him a hug.
"Hey, Kunou." James said, accepting Kunou's hug with a smile. "I'm glad you could come by."
Smiling happily, Kunou hugged James even more tightly. Then, James lifted Kunou and made his way toward Yasaka. Wrapping his free arm around her, James leaned in for a kiss.
"It's good to see you too, Yasaka." James said after a short, yet loving kiss.
"You too, James." Yasaka said with a smile. "And Happy Valentine's Day."
Yasaka then pulled a small bag from her kimono sleeve and put it in James pocket. Then, they took their seats around the table.
After a nice Japanese style dinner, James' girlfriends all left to take a bath. Meanwhile, James sat with the rest of the mansion's residents and chatted happily. However, before everyone could get too comfortable, Shion entered the room with a plate of chocolate cookies.
Immediately, everyone recoiled in fear.
"Damn it, when did she have time to make those?" Leona asked, scared out of her mind. "I made sure to keep her busy with running errands all day so she wouldn't have time to make anything."
"I don't know, but I'm really scared." Venelana said. "That smile she's wearing is absolutely terrifying when she's holding food that she cooked."
"Mom, why are my hands and tails shaking?" Kunou asked Yasaka with a pale face.
"It's because of your instincts." Yasaka said, feigning calm for her daughter. "You should listen to them whenever they warn you. They will never deceive you."
While the women were inching away from Shion slowly, James was sitting relaxedly.
'Well, there's no way those are for me.' James thought to himself as he looked at the... cookies... Shion was carrying. 'Shion is aware of my hatred for chocolate. So, I'll just enjoy the show.'
Unfortunately, James thoughts could not be further from the truth. After scanning the room for a moment, Shion's smile widened when she saw James, before she walked toward him at a brisk pace.
Seeing that, James began to pale. As Shion got closer, James' face grew paler proportionally.
'Shit, shit, shit!' James screamed internally. 'Why would she bring chocolate cookies toward me? Doesn't she know I hate chocolate? What's going on?'
"Happy Valentine's Day, James." Shion said with a bright smile after stopping close enough that James could reach forward and grab a cookie. "I know you don't like chocolate, but I tried to make something that even you would like."
Although James wanted to deny her immediately, after seeing the anticipation in Shion's eyes, he could not bring himself to do so.
"I... see...Thanks, Shion." James said, not reaching out for one of the cookies. On the other hand, he tried his best to smile. Though his smile was only a step away from shedding tears.
"Here, please try one." Shion said, not noticing the change in James' expression.
Shion then picked up one of the cookies and held it in front of James' mouth. Meanwhile, while the others watched this, they showed expressions of pity for James. James was too kind to his peerage to tell Shion that he refused to eat her biologically weaponized cookies. And just as they expected, James closed his eyes and opened his mouth a moment later.
Seeing James' invitation to feed him, Shion smiled so brightly that the average human would be blinded. Then, she placed the cookie in James mouth with love and care.
Grimacing at the thought of eating chocolate, James bit down on the cookie and began to chew. A few moments later, James swallowed and his eyes shot open in surprise.
James was not the only one who was surprised, though. Everyone who watched the spectacle was surprised, too, for two reasons. First, James did not begin frowning in disgust when he ate the chocolate cookies. Even though they knew that he was trying to spare Shion's feelings, he should have reacted negatively regardless after eating chocolate. Yet, he only opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The second thing that surprised everyone was that James was still conscious. Usually, anyone who eats Shion's food falls unconscious before they can even swallow it. Yet James seemed to be fine.
These are actually... really good." James said after swallowing the bite of the cookie in his mouth.
However, before anyone could react to that unbelievable evaluation, James collapsed with his eyes open and with that same pleasantly surprised facial expression on his face.
Not noticing James' condition, Shion began to jump around in bliss.
"He said it was good!" Shion shouted happily. "James, I love you so~~~ much!"
Unlike Shion, the others were terrified. Immediately, Irene lunged at James and placed her index and middle fingers on the side of his neck. Not feeling a pulse, she panicked even more.
"Someone, go get Asia quickly!" Ireen shouted hysterically. "He's not breathing, and his heart isn't beating! Hurry!"
After that, the entire mansion went crazy. In less than a minute, Asia and Shuna were both treating James with anxiety. Eventually, after another minute, James was brought back from the brink of death. However, he remained unconscious for the next eight hours.
Meanwhile, Shion was forbidden from cooking ever again. Naturally, she had mixed feelings about this. Although she felt terrible about almost killing James, she was exhilarated about James complimenting her cooking.