Taking the first step out of the [Gate], Momonga was not knocked down a moment later, and did not fly into the back of an ambush of the Special Forces. Generally, nothing incredible to indicate that the Pandora Actor had somehow done something ill-advised while Momonga was distracted. "Umu, things seem to be looking up already. Hmm, it's amazing how your expectations lower, once you run into trouble a few times…"
Momonga moved himself into his room, Gorou's previous office, to be more precise, a room that he had sort of turned into his personal room, then looked around as he sniffed, catching a familiar scent. "Hmm, that smells good!"
Momonga wondered about that fact for a moment – the smell of food cooking must also mean that there was someone cooking, the identity of which Momonga couldn't guess. "I hope that Pandora's Actor hasn't taken the form of another Player, or worse a random person he picked from the street… Or I guess it's pointless trying to hide it from Miki anymore? I wonder where Miki is at this time, the last time I saw her she wasn't looking so good. I hope she's not lying tied up next to Pandora's Actor, otherwise I'd have a hard time having breakfast… I hope Pandora's Actor hasn't left her unattended in violation of my instructions. Hmm, wait, there's no point in me eating, so why would Pandora's Actor cook food for me at all?"
Momonga dropped these idle thoughts after a few seconds, deciding, as he did with the Demon problem, to deal with one issue at a time. After all, the mystery would easily be solved just by simply walking down to the kitchen instead of theorizing.
As one might expect, outside those doors, the smell of food only grew stronger, causing Momonga to feel his mouth producing an excess amount of saliva. "The reflex reactions of my created body do reflect my condition… Although, after copious bout of sex and all the previous experiments, I can just assume that my body is fully alive and shows the same behavior as a normal human body. Though, how it interacts with my undead features, like infinite endurance, I have no idea."
Remembering how he had used that infinite stamina, Momonga had to fight back a blush and his body's natural reaction. He simply has no time to indulge in his newfound carnal desires.
"I wonder if I can create my body as a modified human? I mean, I created a body out of fire, if I create a body from YGGDRASIL or some of the more genetically modified humans in my past world, would they work, or would they also fall under [Racial Skills]? But if I copied the body modifications of the past world, that shouldn't count as [Racial Skills]. Then again, it's not like I remember much about that… No, I'm getting too distracted by extraneous considerations again, I should quickly get something to eat and go to school!"
Descending the stairs to the first floor, Momonga sucked in air again to enjoy the smells before making his way to the kitchen and peering down the aisle… Finding his gaze on a much more lively Miki, who had finished making some kind of rice dish, which, upon noticing Momonga, instantly smiled some strange smile. The only word to describe the smile, after some thinking, was 'spirited' or, perhaps, 'enlightened'.
It's a strange expression nonetheless.
As Momonga drew nearer to her, Miki instantly dropped to one knee, a movement that is very reminiscent of the Floor Guardians. The similarity almost made Momonga recoil, glad for the suppression of emotion that saved him from an even more extreme reaction in the form of a shocked open mouth and falling backwards, tripping over his feet.
"Lord Momonga! This lowly one greets you!" Momonga even allowed for a moment the thought that the Pandora Actor had taken Miki's form and thus solved the problem of Miki's behavior by binding the real Miki and placing her somewhere in his room. But a moment later Momonga found Pandora's Actor, still in Issei's form, crouching down on one knee next to Miki, looking at her with an approving gaze, before returning his full attention to Momonga.
"Father… I have completed your orders."
"Ah, ahem, umu, yes, definitely." Momonga couldn't find a decent response to this situation in his mind, so all he managed to do was what apparently worked well with the Demons. Pretend that what was happening was perfectly normal and act as such, minding his own business and hoping that the storm would pass him. Hoping against all hope that the problem would either resolve itself or develop to the point where he would understand how exactly he could solve the problem.
In other words, procrastination. Why should he try to solve this problem, when future Momonga could handle it?
Accepting this truth of life, Momonga made his way to a vacant chair in the dining table before settling into it, if nothing else, he could at least enjoy the breakfast, he could worry about Miki later. And then, after waiting for a few seconds for the two to join him, realized that Miki and Pandora's Actor had remained kneeling, and would not move without his permission.
"Rise your heads and resume your previous actions."
Instantly, Pandora's Actor rose up with his usual flourish, sitting on one of the chairs, while Miki returned to setting the table, placing breakfast in front of Momonga and Pandora's Actor as if nothing had happened to disturb her routine. Seeing the picture of normality, Momonga was even able to lie to himself that everything was as it should, as he began eating the prepared breakfast. He could even enjoy the taste, somewhat!
As the time passed, the food was eaten quickly, allowing Momonga to feel a semblance of normalcy for a moment… And then he felt a slight pressure on his thigh, as he shifted his gaze to the side to see Miki sitting on the floor, her head resting against his leg.
Momonga doesn't know how to respond to that.
Momonga blinked, checking to see if the strange mirage would disappear after a moment, then, when the mirage lingered a little longer, he closed his eyes for almost a second, opening them again.
The mirage did not disappear.
Momonga even felt the pressure shift slightly, as Momonga's vision suggested, Miki had rubbed her cheek against his leg slightly. Momonga, bereft of any thought, did what his instincts told him to do. He raised his hand and stroked Miki's head, as if she were a strange kind of pet.
Momonga was pretty sure that there was something wrong with that picture, but he doesn't really want to think about it right now… Or ever really.
'A woman's hair really is pleasant to the touch.' Momonga noted quite automatically, sensing how even his sense of shock was too shocked to manifest, allowing Momonga to send a few more bites down his gullet in silence before he put his plate away.
"Umu, I suppose I should go to school…alone, I suppose."
"Absolutely, Father." Pandora's Actor responded without any pause, while Miki, once Momonga's hand was removed from her head, reached out to follow him like a dog, before she lowered her head down in frustration.
Momonga rose from his seat and calmly grabbed the prepared lunch that was on the kitchen counter before nodding. "See you soon, brother, mother."
"I look forward to it." Miki replied while Pandora's Actor only nodded slightly, allowing Momonga to make his way out of the house, walk a few meters down the street, turn the corner and use the spell, [Silence] without pause.
After another moment, with no one around to hear him, regardless of the colorless flashes of emotional suppression, Momonga let his emotions run wild.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
***
Making her way to the classroom as she usually does, Katase entered, not bothering to hold back the yawn trying to get out. "Fuaa, good morning."
"Good morning." Murayama's, her best friend, voice reached Katase at the same time as she was able to cover her mouth and look around the classroom. Murayama, noting the bag under her eyes, and the constant held back yawns, raised one of her eyebrows. "Had trouble sleeping?"
"M-hm." Katase replied to her friend before making her way to her seat, somewhat thoughtfully beginning to sort through her school supplies. Surprisingly, she somewhat missed her daily beatings of the Perverted Trio, it helps her wake up if nothing else.
Nothing like pure rage to ward off her sleepiness.
Not that not hitting someone with her training equipment was new to Katase, she had trained Kendo for years without ever using it outside of practice. Of course, with her tenure in Kuoh, it had become something of a daily habit, it was the kind of action that usually ended every confrontation she had with the perverted trio. She had already given up on using it as a deterrent, but at least she could take her pound of flesh, and even in the face of the court she would say that she acted solely in self-defense.
If the perverts even had the courage to take it to the court after all they had done.
But in the end, those were the three perverts, they're a special existence to say the least… And Katase raised her hand against a random person, giving into her emotion, she couldn't even blame the trio for that.
Katase knew that her blow was a heavy one, given the wooden sword's rigidity, Katase might well have broken the man's arm… or was it his shoulder? She couldn't recall exactly where her blow had hit.
Nevertheless, such an action would have required a call to the principal at best, and who knows what would have come out of the conversation with the principal later… If, of course, this were an ordinary school and not Kuoh Academy, where even volumes of complaints against Issei and his friends did not prompt the administration to react in any way.
On the other hand, for some reason when it wasn't about the trio but about other problems, whether it was academic failure or getting money to support the clubs, it was solved without any delay, professionally and quickly. Katase didn't know to what god Issei had sold his soul to in order to get such leeway, or what he had threatened the headmaster with… But the bottom line was that, if information about Katase's assault got out, Katase would at minimum have to explain herself to the administration. And at maximum, a new note might appear in her personnel file, and she would have to leave the kendo club. And Katase liked kendo!
Even in her own mind, she couldn't lie to herself, what she did wouldn't result only in a reprimand, she would either get expelled or arrested for her aggravated assault.
So after returning home and after contemplating what would happen if Satoru reported her to the faculties, Katase couldn't really relax. During the evening she would ruminate on what to do next, and at night she couldn't sleep, tossing and turning until late at night waiting for a police officer to knock on her door. The trip to the school today felt like walking to a scaffolding where she would be hanged, just waiting for the moment her executioner would drop to the floor below her, that is, being called to the principal's office.
.
Still, the image of what she did still couldn't leave her head, a strike so hard that she broke her shinai… Sure it had already begun cracking when she had missed one of the trio, hitting the ground instead, but still, the sound of the wood breaking as she struck Satoru… It sounded as if she had broken his bones, if Satoru had screamed or just passed out, an image that accompanied her nightmares, Katase didn't know what she would've done.
In fact, after separating from Satoru, and after school, Katase had spent a lot of time trying to find him to see if he was okay. But no matter how hard she searched she couldn't find him, 'he was heading to the hospital, or the police' her paranoid mind supplied to her, adding to her worries. She was so worried that he almost tried to find Issei to ask him for his brother's phone number, but she couldn't find him either.
The sun had almost started setting before Murayama convinced her to go home, and just try to meet them at school. Something that felt like an eternity through her sleepless night, as she worried about police officers visiting her home, or that he would be arrested or expelled as soon as she arrived at school.
Katase even sleepwalked through her usual walk with Murayama to school, arriving there tired, sleepy, and still nervous.
But there were no police, teachers, or parents waiting for her. It was as if the events of yesterday had resolved themselves without any problems.
Katase would have hoped for that kind of luck at least.
A student entered the classroom, the sound of the door opening distracting her from her thoughts. Aika Kiryuu, one of her tentative friends, the two greeting the spectacled girl, Murayama an energetic one and Katase a tired one.
"Katase?" Aika instantly noticed this fact, making her way to her desk, a curious tilt on her face. "Did you have trouble sleeping? Were you dreaming about perverts again?"
Katase involuntarily flinched, before glaring at Aika angrily, which only raised her gaze to the ceiling in response, almost whistling some tune in order to appear innocent in the current situation. The reason they were only 'tentative' friends, Aika Kiryuu is a massive pervert. With the only reason why the perverted trio is not a quartet, because, strangely enough, the trio of perverts do not want to be perverted on.
Katase might not mind so much because Aika doesn't let her perversion show openly, most of the time, but she could not accept her being friends with the perverted trio. Sure, they mostly interact through passive aggression and jabs at each other, but it was still something, Aika could sometimes even just maintain a dialogue with the trio.
Katase and Maruyama couldn't accept something like that… Although maybe it was the fact that Aika wasn't the target of constant peeping from Issei and his cronies. Katase wondered how quickly Aika would change her mind about the 'trio' if she turned to be a target of their peeking, but Katase didn't want to wish that on her friend, pervert or not.
The sound of the door opening again distracted Katase from her contemplation, allowing her to see the appearance of the previously mentioned perverts, as she clenched her fists, before blinking, looking at the Matsuda who appeared ahead.
Matsuda's face had two deep bruises under his eyes, not from the lack of sleep, but the kind Katase had seen several times during and after training at kendo clubs. The sign of a broken nose.
And Katase was absolutely certain that Murayama hadn't managed to break Matsuda's nose yesterday, though she wouldn't have minded such a thing at all, the opposite in fact. Katase was absolutely certain that Murayama didn't do it because otherwise Murayama would definitely have bragged to her friend about the successful revenge on the perverts. Even if it was nothing more than empty consolation, no amount of injury could wean the trio from peeping.
Matsuda, taking a step inside the classroom, was not wearing his usual nasty smirk as he looked at Katase and Murayama. No, the opposite, it seemed to Katase as if Matsuda was intentionally sidestepping his two favorite objects of ogling, silently and quickly making his way to his seat.
"Matsuda, did you finally bump into the boyfriend of the next girl you decided to perv on?" Aika smirked, showing no particular concern for Matsuda's condition, but showing interest in the story of how it happened instead. Katase, casting a silent questioning glance at her friend, Murayama, and getting no response from her, also tried to listen to the pervert's answer without outwardly showing her interest.
Matsuda, however, did not respond to Aika's jab, simply casting her a frown before turning away, pretending that he was busy with something. Of course, the action was an answer enough.
"I guessed right?!" Aika's almost shouting made Katase blink in surprise, the implication surprising. Was there really someone capable of keeping Matsuda in line after all?! Katase certainly didn't want to acknowledge the positive traits one of the perverted trio might possess, but Matsuda was quite involved in athletics in the past, a bright prospect even in tracks and fields. His achievements, breaking several records in junior high, made Katase want to even talk to him, before she met him personally that is.
Moments later, Matsuda's friends Motohama and Issei appeared on the doorstep of the class, making Katase look to see if they would sport similar injuries. Unluckily, to her disappointment, they didn't, though they too behaved like Matsuda, too immersed in their own affairs to pay attention to their surroundings.
Though, Issei for a moment, shifted his gaze to Katase, causing her to reflexively reach for her textbook, which could have worked as a throwing projectile, just in case Issei started doing something disgusting again. And yet, to her surprise, there wasn't the usual lusting leer in Issei's gaze. His eyes would usually move, as if he were molesting a person with his eyes, it was so intense that one could almost physically feel it, usually concentrated on her breasts.
No, Issei's gaze was almost… Evaluating? Not in his usual sense of trying to measure her breast size, but it was as if he was evaluating her as a person.
Katase couldn't even imagine a suitable reason for such a strange thought in her mind, her confusion a different kind to her other classmates. Their hushed whispers were mere formality, everyone could hear them talking excitedly about what could've caused the perverts to reign in their usual antics. With the only clue being Matsuda's injuries, the prevailing argument seemed to be that the trio had perved on the wrong girl and had been beaten black and blue for it.
"What…? Did the sun rise in the West this morning?" Aika, watching this surreal sight before her eyes, blinked before she coughed into her fist and tried to check her hunch. "By the way, the girls' swim club is going to practice today…"
Katase shifted her gaze to the trio, waiting for their usual response… Which wasn't coming. None of the trio responded to Aika, pretending that they were completely uninterested in this information, a reaction that shocked Katase to the core, as if a fundamental part of the world had just changed. At the very least, if they were their usual selves, the trio would have chuckled evilly, glancing amongst themselves, and whispering about how they would ogle them… But nothing, what in the world is going on?!
"Katase," Murayama's voice brought Katase out of her shocked state, causing her to shift her gaze to her friend, "What if it's… Satoru?"
Hearing the name, the trio of perverts flinched, finding Motohama glaring at something in the distance, Issei with some strange glint in his eyes, and Matsuda nearly exploding with anger, turning red to the tips of his ears.
Katase blinked as a picture came together in her head, one that she found very probable, causing her sense of guilt to rise up again. Satoru had certainly said something yesterday about trying to put a lid on the trio of perverts, but Katase, and Murayama, for that matter, had seen the gesture as more of an attempt at sympathy than any promise. The both of them had not seriously expected him to do something like that. Nothing they did certainly deterred the three perverts
Katase and Murayama had, amongst the both of them, almost broken half the bones in the perverts' bodies. Even when Motohama broke both his legs fleeing from their wrath by falling off of a small hill, it only gave the Kuoh girls a month's respite as he started walking on crutches again, it didn't matter. He kept perving on them, even on crutches!
Katase generally thought that the perverts' antics would only end when they were jailed for harassment, not before and in no other way. Katase didn't know what dark magic Satoru actually possessed, but he did what Katase had typically thought impossible. He managed, at least temporarily, and without life, or back-breaking mutilation to put the trio of Kuoh perverts to rest!
'And I almost broke his arm yesterday, and he didn't even tell anyone about it.' Katase felt a pang of regret, before it was accompanied by shame. 'Damn, I should at least apologize to him after something like that… And thank him too.'
Katase, coming up with a plan of action, felt her guilt alleviate a bit, looking to Murayama who looked back with a nod, having come to roughly the same conclusion as Katase. As the bell rung and their homeroom teacher began the roll call, Katase felt herself being fired up.
'Satoru, I will definitely thank you!'
***
'How strange when relationship problems with Demons seem so much easier to solve than relationship problems with one's adoptive mother… Or is that actually normal? Punitto Moe always said it was easier for him to weave intrigues against enemy guilds than to deal with relationships with his family.' Momonga wasn't even paying attention to the passing hours of class, enjoying the benefit of having all the teachers trying to ignore his presence… As did the students, for that matter? Not that Momonga was in a state of mind to care.
'How did that happen? It's either my or Pandora Actor's fault, my creation, so also my fault, just indirectly, so any way you look at it, Miki's situation is my fault… I did say that I see Miki as a 'pet', but that was more of a philosophical remark, I even thought of it as a beautiful poetic description, without the odd sexual fetish subtext! Or was it all Pandora's Actor's fault and Issei's friends that he got involved with?!'
Momonga's stress finally crossed an invisible line, forcing his passive to calm him down, allowing him to look at the situation soberly. 'Umu, I finally understand what kind of 'bad company' the parents in the movies are wary of letting their kids associate with. Usually, at least in my past world, this meant drug dealers or homeless people who squandered all their money and survived by committing crimes, so maybe the company of voyeurs also counts?"
Ignoring his paternalistic instinct of somehow forcing Pandora's Actor to no longer associate with Issei's friends aside, a strain of thought entered into Momonga's mind.
'Although, if they are students in this academy, and not behind bars as they should, could their behavior be within the norm? Or are they in a special position here, that they can get away with committing such crimes? That would be strange, but not impossible, can I use it somehow?'
The thought of maybe using the connection was being weighed in with having to interact with the perverts… Causing the idea to be immediately discarded, he's not that desperate, yet.
'Okay, never mind, going back to the situation with Miki… Is there anything I can do to try to rectify this situation at all?'
The thought of his 'mother' caused Momonga's mind to conjure up the image of what happened in the morning, of Miki rubbing her face against him. And then his mind extended the analogy a little further, of collars and leashes…
Momonga's mind was cleared a moment later, but it was with horror that Momonga realized that it had been cleared not only of stress, but also of a little dash of lust.
'Does my first experience with sex have that much of an effect on me!?' Momonga thought back to Albedo's figure, then, sensing that his body was beginning to react to his thoughts of a moaning Albedo, reset those thoughts. Momonga realized, with no small amount of horror, that yes, indeed, he might have turned into a bit of a pervert.
'What options do I even have!? How to fix this before I become like Issei, or worse Peroroncino! I don't want to become a person that would discuss a porn game in public, or scream out the ranking of voice actresses based on how sexy they sound! I need to fix Miki before this gets worse! [Control Amnesia] might be an option, but not a permanent one. With each passing second it becomes more and more untenable, given that with each passing second I will need to erase more and more memories, make up more and more false memories. It will raise a lot of questions, not to mention the reaction of other people, and how would Pandora's Actor react when I, effectively, countermand his actions… Umu, apparently this option has already effectively gone out the window.'
The displeasure within Momonga didn't reach the level at which it would be suppressed, making the feeling to broil under his skin, the feeling quite unpleasant. 'Okay, let's look on the bright side! Miki, anyway, already knows about me and Pandora's Actor, and seems to be reacting normally to it… This most likely indicates that she will now need a psychiatrist to try to restore her sanity, but it sure saves me a lot of trouble! Okay, I need to look for another positive… Ah, that's right! Miki can now back my identity up if anybody were to ask… But at the same time she has also become a weak link, Pandora's Actor is strong enough, but Miki has no meaningful protection against mind reading or charm magic. Something which I should have taken care of in the first place, when I first decided to live in her house…'
As soon as one mistake is noticed, a dozen or more seemed to pop up like cockroaches, almost making Momonga curse at his laxness. What if some assassin had attacked the house, and he didn't think to have some countermeasure in place, or some hypnotist taking advantage of Miki… like what he's doing already. But what if another hypnotist had done something to take advantage of Miki! Other than him, that is…
'Umu, it turns out it's easy to accept my failures, or is it just that it's because Miki is close to my real age? If I were in my past world, and Miki was not married, and is actually interested in me… Who knows? Maybe if she were my co-worker…'
Momonga was distracted by what ifs for a second before he shook his head to clear it up. 'Okay, this is all just distractions, what happened has already happened, and now I should deal with its consequences, and maybe even come clean to his lover, if she wanted their relationship to turn that way, Albedo… Um, I'm not sure how Albedo would react, and I'm a bit afraid to find out, I just started a relationship with her, and here I am doing something extremely perverted… Okay, that's future Momonga's problem! We'll deal with that later, let's concentrate on the demons first! Though… what to do about them?'
Sighing, Momonga took a look at the front of the class, seeing nothing had changed, it's still the same gibberish as always, so he looked at the window, at the sky beyond instead. 'Apparently my actions had put the Demons on the back foot, as they seem to be still trying to gather information about me, so they're keeping their distance, but it's unlikely to last. They're probably now trying to figure out who I am and gather as much information about me as possible… Which is another reason why I need to provide Miki with suitable protection, though I can't guarantee complete information blackout. Some information would still leak out about me for sure, unfortunately I don't have any special [Stealth] abilities, and I'm not smart enough to leave no traces during my existence in this world. I've already left some trail with some people, and that's not to mention Raynare, who I kind of promised to drop by the church today, granting her my protection.'
With another sigh, Momonga contemplated the grave mistake he had made, granting initiative to the Demons in his desire to keep a low profile.
'Umu, it seems that I'm in quite a bad spot, the Demons can gather as much information about me as they want, choosing the right moment to strike, physically or metaphorically. All the while, I couldn't gather information about the Demons themselves. Pandora's Actor had given me a rough idea of the power level of the Demons in the school, their ability to reincarnate humans and creatures alike, and the heiresses of the Demon clans in the school. And I managed to determine their approximate strength level, quite a lot of information, but not enough.'
Returning his attention to the teacher, probably of the Demons' subordinates, Momonga cursed his inability to take advantage of the source of information in front of him.
'Pandora's Actor didn't get inside the mind of the heiresses themselves, for fear of possible artifacts or retaliation, so he could only get information from their servants, which were surprisingly diverse. Still, the information was too incomplete to make any judgment on it, and he can't gather more information without putting himself at risk of discovery. In other words, my stranger's advantage is melting with each passing day. And, with the way I've already started the negotiation by illegally entering their territory, I shouldn't hope for a quiet conversation. Most likely they will try to put conditions on my stay here, and not knowing anything about my opponent, I can not adequately respond to the actions of the enemy. So I need to either find a way to get more information about the Demons to at least level out the playing field, or make the first move myself, while I still retain some advantage over the Demons.'
With a nod, Momonga began arranging for his plan of action.
'Since Serafall Leviathan hasn't shown up, it all comes down to two heiresses of demonic clans, one way or another. Rias Gremory, who I've met before, and Sona Sitri, who's pretty much a stranger to me… Great, an obstacle right from the start. Though actually, I don't know much about Rias either, except that she is supposed to have a lot of unique servants gathered together according to Pandora's Actor…'
Momonga felt some kind of stirring inside him, thankfully, not physical excitement, but simply his collector's nature pinging. Most of all, Momonga loved collecting things, even if the 'things' in this case were living people, or well, demons, and there was no better way to get his attention more than the word 'unique' or 'rare'.
'Get yourself together, Momonga! No matter how unique they may be, they were still the servants of a Demonic aristocracy, there's little hope of getting them on his side. Especially since most methods, the direct ones at least, would turn the demons against him even more.
So what could he do? Maybe he could befriend them and try to switch their allegiance that way? But how could he do that when he didn't know them in the first place? Just walk up and try to strike up a dialogue about the weather?'
Momonga pondered the possibility before inwardly dismissing the idea. 'No, that would look stupid, I don't have any particular mundane topics to try to strike up a dialogue with. Besides, the Demons would probably react quite badly to my attempt to get close to a VIP like the aristocratic heiresses… Umu, to draw an analogy to my past world, I would get shot by the personal security of a mega-corporate heiress if I dared to linger close to them. In this world, my position is a bit better since I'm an unknown, where they're unsure of my personal power… Then again, it might just mean that they would resort to overwhelming retaliation as their first response.'
Feeling the unique collectible slipping through his fingers, Momonga felt a sense of emptiness pervade his heart, with a sigh Momonga continued on his planning, though with less enthusiasm than before.
'In other words, I can't get close to Rias Gremory and, what was her name…? Sona Sitri, I think? Yes, I think so. The only way to get more information about the Demons is either to get them to make the first move on me themselves or to try to send a spy to them, like Pandora's Actor acting as Issei. He would suit that role very well, he's clearly smarter than me, but on the other hand, he finds a strange way to twist my orders every time. Of course, it leads to the best, or at least correct result, but in an also a completely different way than I expected. If only I had something, I could get these girls interested in…'
Momonga thought for a moment before sighing. 'Okay, I'll have to order Pandora's Actor to get inside the girls' heads and try to find some way to interest them, maybe he could push them to trade one of their servants…? He has some abilities to test the minds of higher level players, so it might work! Though relatively weak, he's still a [Doppelgänger] rather than a [Mind Eater] like Tabula, so it's as expected, but his abilities should be enough for a level forty, unless they are wearing divine class or similar level items.'
A moment later, the bell signalling the end of class rang, shocking Momonga out of his musings, allowing him to look up to the hanging clock. 'Huh, how fast time flies when you're thinking about something important… Indeed, it's already time for lunch, and this time I even grabbed lunch provided by Miki, so I should settle down somewhere quiet to eat… Hmm, given that I don't need to eat and Miki's food doesn't provide me with any meaningful buffs, while cooking it consumes Miki's resources… Can I say that I've already started picking up the habits of bosses of my past world and am now wasting resources on my own pleasure? I'd hate to find that trait in myself…'
A moment later, the sound of the door opening attracted Momonga's attention, causing him to shift his gaze towards the door of the classroom. And among his classmates exiting to either go to the cafeteria or going to some other place to eat their lunch, Momonga spotted a somewhat familiar girl. The girl with short blond hair, gathered in a straight haircut to her shoulder height, held with a headband on her head, and a high forehead seemed familiar to Momonga. 'Hmm, who was it again… Ah, right, wasn't it Katase? What is she doing here, she is supposed to be in Issei's class, isn't she?'
Katase, however, ignoring Momonga's musings, made her way straight to his desk, before suddenly standing stock still as she arrived in front of his desk, causing some suspicion to arise in Momonga.
'What is she doing here? I don't think we're really that acquainted, or could it be! Huh, have the Demons already decided to make their move!?' Momonga instantly tensed up readying himself for potential battle, a bevy of spells at the edge of being cast, only the fact that he's surrounded by normal humans staying his hand for the moment.
'Sending not one of their servants against me, but a mere human, what's the use? They'd already attacked me before to test my reaction… Are they using the other students as hostages!? Damn, I still haven't found a way to explain my abilities and I haven't learned the reason the local paranormals hide their abilities. If I now show my magic in front of ordinary people, it could have unexpected consequences… Damn, their first move was much more dangerous than I thought!'
"Good afternoon, Satoru," Katase, however, instead of doing any offensive moves, stopped in front of his desk and bowed to him, forcing him to hold back his use of [Time Stop].
"Isn't that Katase…?", "What is she…","…don't tell me that he's also a pervert…"', "No, she wouldn't be so polite then…", "But he's Issei's brother right…"
Momonga ignored the whispers of his classmates, but the snippets that he caught stabbed into his heart with a cold thorn. 'Issei, why are you like this?!'
"Umu, good day, Katase." Momonga replied calmly, however, not allowing his emotions to show on his face, the features of [Create Body] helped him greatly in this.
Katase froze in front of Momonga for a moment, causing him to curse internally that he had already done something wrong. Not knowing exactly what he should have said, he decided to choose the first subject that popped in his head. "You look tired, is something wrong?"
"Erm, no, I'm fine…" Katase, clearly confused by Momonga's words, looked away slightly before answering, seemingly still gathering her thoughts together. "In fact, I'd like to thank you for helping me yesterday with the Perverted Trio. They even refused to peek at the swim club today, after what you did yesterday…"
"They what?! Did I hear you right?!?", "No way, not even the principal could…", "Is he a magician?! It's a miracle!", "He might be not a pervert after all!"
Momonga instantly felt some small relief from the whispers, that his reputation seemed to have begun to improve thanks to being able to handle the perverted Trio. And this time he didn't even feel much embarrassment from being praised! Unlike in Nazarick, where his every move caused tons of unearned admiration from the former NPCs, at this moment he was being praised for something he actually did. And after all Momonga's problems caused almost directly by Issei's reputation, it felt like a pleasant change in tone.
"Oh, that wasn't hard." Momonga even allowed himself a little modesty at this point, before realizing an important point. He needed to preserve his image as a normal student!
"Before we continue this discussion, I'd like to eat my lunch before the lunch period ends… Ah, do you have anything to eat, I wouldn't mind sharing mine if you don't." There, that should sound appropriate, right?
"Ah, yes, of course…" Katase nodded, agreeing, before Momonga rose from his table, trying to find a place to eat his lunch, Katase moving close behind him.
Hmm, could he try to turn this to his advantage? If he tried to interest the Demons in the fact that he had fixed Issei, would he be able to get their attention then!?