Katase followed close behind Satoru, after a dash to get her own lunch, glancing at the surrounding students. Whose eyes on Satoru changed from disinterested to intrigued as soon as they realized that not only was he not involved with the trio, but he was able to stop them from being perverts… For how long, remains to be seen.
Katase was not exactly innocent in the matter, but Satoru had definitely received a portion of undeserved and unpleasant looks in his direction, simply because of his kinship with the infamous Issei Hyoudou. Looking back on it, Katase could see the parallel of the students' preemptively judging Satoru badly and her own bad reaction to him, which resulted in her actually attacking him. And Katase was greatly ashamed about what happened, now wanting to make amends.
Moments later, as they walked through the corridors, Katase suddenly saw her friend, looking surprised at her and Satoru, a packed lunch in her hands. Katase was planning on taking Satoru out somewhere private before apologizing to him, one reason was to prevent information about her attacking another random person from spreading around the school. Some students already had a bad impression of her, seeing her auctions to punish the perverted trio as an overreaction.
Something that pissed her off somewhat when those same people were never perved on by them, so could not understand why she acted that way.
Second, and perhaps the least of her reasons, was that she was ashamed of having other people watch her apologizing to Satoru.
Seeing Katase approaching when she had already told him her plans, Murayama threw a questioning glance at her. Before she could articulate her question, it was answered a moment later when Satoru appeared behind her. Spotting him, Maruyama waved her hand at him in greeting with her lunch clutched in it. "Good afternoon, Satoru."
"Ah, good afternoon to you too, Murayama," Satoru greeted then looked at both of the girls, each of them suddenly finding the ceiling and the walls very interesting to look at. "Umu… Shall we go up to the roof?"
Katase only nodded at these words, having nothing against such a place for lunch, and headed for the stairs, her head busy trying to come up with things to talk about, or how she should go about thanking Satoru.
Well, first things first, she should thank him for his help with the trio. The fact that he was able to calm the 'scourge' of Kuoh Academy, if even only for a day, was a feat worth mentioning in itself. Not to mention the fact that it ended in a fight with Matsuda and quite possibly at least a conflict with Issei – though perverse, Issei was still his younger brother. It wouldn't have made things easy at home, at least…
Next on the list, Katase should apologize for attacking him. Katase frowned slightly at that thought, realizing that after thanking him for helping with the trio, with violence at that, apologizing for attacking him did not sound too good. But it needed to be done anyway.
And then, lastly, Katase also needed to know, if only for her own peace of mind, whether he had told anyone about the attack on him… Seeing the tangles of social faux pas she had to pass to express herself? Yes, the situation definitely looked unpleasant.
Katase, immersed in these somewhat unpleasant thoughts, didn't notice the moment she arrived at the roof, shocked out of her fugue by the rays of sunshine almost blinding her. Blinking the impromptu dazzling from the bright afternoon sun away, Katase could see that Satoru was already settling himself on the roof. Along with Murayama, he had put his lunch next to one of the benches on the roof – Katase looked simply out of place as she continued to stand.
Hurrying to sit down, she hurried down to occupy the bench next to Satoru, nestling him in between herself and Murayama. Taking a deep breath, she decided to just get it over with.
"Thank you again for your help with the trio of perverts," Katase finally said the right words, having to stop herself from shouting, before she grimaced, preparing herself to say the second half. "And again, I apologize for the attack…"
"It's okay, I wasn't hurt, so as long it doesn't happen a second time then…" Satoru said calmly without changing his expression before stopping for a second. "Umu, I mean of course I felt the blow, and it definitely resulted in a bruise, but in the end I decided I shouldn't react to it. But of course I would prefer it not to happen again."
Katase lowered her gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable as she was subtly chastised, as well as feeling a mixed feeling of relief and disappointment.
She was proud of her martial prowess, despite the many times she had to bear being sexually harassed by the trio, Kendo was something she loved dearly, the amount of time she spent practicing evidence of that love. And yet, despite that, she was just told that her full-powered blow amounts to nothing more than a bruise, one that was easily waved off too.
Of course, if Satoru was hurt worse, she doesn't know what she would feel. Even more crushing guilt she suspects… But, in the end, her blow, Satoru barely noticed it. Does it mean that she needed more training, to make her punishments for the trio stick better in the future, or was Satoru just used to being injured? The way he calmly took Katase's attack, was he actually used to fighting? Just bruises or not, it still would've hurt, the fact that he could stoically talk with her after? He didn't even change his expression!
Realizing this, Katase was even more embarrassed before casting a glance at Murayama, hoping that her old friend would recognize her mute request. Murayama, predictably, recognized the request before getting Satoru's attention, albeit rolling her eyes slightly from looking at Katase. "By the way, you didn't report this to the principal?"
"Um… No." Satoru said after a moment, before he froze for a second, for some reason there was a vague feeling inside Katase for a moment, as if she was standing in front of her opponent in her kendo fights. A sense of danger seemed to be emanating from Satoru, forcing Katase to fight her 'fight or flight' instinct, if she had her shinai with her, she would be already readying it.
"Do you think I should contact the Headmaster?"
"Em, no?" Murayama, clearly embarrassed, and now looking nervous herself, caused the strange feeling inside Katase to subside a little. "It's just that, I… I mean you, should, uh…"
Murayama stopped talking, realizing that she might have just told Satoru to make sure that her friend gets expelled, so she looked at Katase with a panicked expression. Katase realized that she was caught in a bind, just chose to bulldoze ahead. "It's just that I… I did something wrong, I attacked you, and I… I just really hope that you're not mad at me, I'm ready to apologize in any way I can!"
Katase gathered her courage, nodded resolutely, ignoring just how embarrassing this would be, and how her instinct was telling her that opening herself to an attack at this point was foolish, lowered her head in a deep bow. 'Did this mean that Satoru was a trained fighter? I only ever felt this sensation in the training spars against the old Senseis.'
However, with her head down, the strange feeling pushing her fight instinct completely left Katase's mind, leaving her with only a slight confusion of where it had originally come from, before Satoru spoke again. "Umu, you shouldn't feel so bad, I was just a bit surprised, I didn't think it was necessary to push the matter further. Besides, umu… If you're truly willing to do anything to apologize to me, though, I would like to take advantage of your offer…"
Katase raised her head as she looked at Satoru again, a little upset at the feeling of being taken advantage of. A feeling that she discarded immediately, she did offer it, 'So he does want something… No, of course it's better than getting censured by the Headmaster. But still, it feels unpleasant, is there something of Issei in him after all? If he's going to ask for some lewd pictures, then I…'
"You see, I just moved in, I don't know the town very well." Satoru said quite calmly, literally breaking through Katase's train of thoughts. "So, could you take me after school to the uh… Umu, the church in this town? The abandoned church that is, I have to meet someone there… I mean near it! Yeah, that's right, an acquaintance of mine asked me to meet them there, after school."
"Em, yes, of course." Katase, still a little off kilter, simply absorbed Satoru's words, frowning slightly. It was definitely an odd favor to ask in return, especially considering that Satoru could have easily used a map or something, there's the internet on his cell phone after all…
'Wait… It couldn't be!?'
Katase shifted her gaze to Murayama, who was looking at her with a sly look, before her brain matched two and two. 'Did I just get myself a date?!'
***
'Another problem just solved itself!' Momonga almost couldn't stop himself from smiling, but was able to force it down, as he was not alone. Looking at Katase, who seemed to be momentarily frozen with an incomprehensible expression on her face at his request,
Momonga could only think that he had failed. Looking then to Murayama, he noticed that she was looking at Katase with a sly look on her face, occasionally shifting her gaze to Momonga… Huh? Why did she just give him a thumbs up, and why did Katase turn red when she saw that!?
Momonga's great confusion dissipated after a moment, before he exhaled and shook his head, internally that is, he doesn't want to look like a weirdo. 'They seem so strange… Or are they actually normal, and I'm the one that's strange? The current situation is unusual for both my past world and YGGDRASIL, so maybe this is normal for high-schoolers?'
Chalking it up simply as his lack of social graces, Momonga decided to think about something more important. Something Katase said pinged his suspicion, how did she know that Momonga was used to combat situations?
'I thought for a second that Katase and Murayama knew something about the magic of this world and were able to bypass my [Arcane Sight], and were in fact High-Leveled Players that were able to see my Character sheet. But apparently this is again just the result of the differences between my past and current world… Anyway, I did acquire some useful tidbit, so I could complain about Katase not only to Demons, but also to the official authorities of this city? Though, I'm not sure going to the police is a bright idea, no matter how upright and justice-obsessed Touch Me might be.'
Thinking of his past friend, a deluge of memories about Touch Me's complaints about his bosses and coworkers also followed.
'Sure, their official position meant that one supposedly could go to the Police when laws were broken… Unofficially? You'll only go to the police only if you're actually powerful or influential enough not to need to go to the Police to lodge any complaint. I've only seen the Police doing their work a few times, mostly when they were eliminating trespassers interfering with mega-corporations business, or squeezing out the mega-corporations competition. Actually, they were more escorts for VIPs rather than law enforcers – something that Raynare and her group fits into now that I thought about it. They even have their own underground business, just like the police of my past world – except that they're not accountable to any mega-corporation… I think, maybe.'
Scrunching his eyebrows, Momonga tried his best to remember if Rayanare had mentioned anything.
'Umu, Raynare said that she has no patrons, right? But she also said that someone sent her to this place… Umu, how difficult.'
"Satoru?" Katase's voice brought Momonga out of his musings, causing him to turn his attention back to the girl, who for some strange reason now couldn't meet her eyes with Momonga. "I, um, agree… I mean, to take a walk with you, I'm okay with it."
'A walk?' Momonga inwardly raised an eyebrow, did he say something strange? 'I didn't say anything about walking, I just wanted you to tell me the directions to the place where I was supposed to meet Raynare because I didn't want to look stupid in front of the Demiurge by asking him for directions… But then again, I did enjoy the living nature of this world, so fine, a walk it is, I didn't set an exact time to come to Raynare, so I won't be late for sure. Besides, this way, there's no way that I would get lost.'
"Umu, okay." Momonga nodded, looking away only to find Murayama, the girl with the sly smirk on her face, squinting, looking between him and Katase, making Momonga inwardly tense. 'Is something wrong? Am I doing something wrong?!'
A moment later, Momonga's mind was completely cleared, and he realized his mistake. 'Ah, that's right! I called them here for lunch, and I haven't taken out my lunchbox.'
Opening his lunch box, Momonga admired the smell of food wafting off of the opened box. 'I wonder if I used an Appraisal spell on Miki's food, would it reveal an effect? How delicious would the high-level food prepared by Nazarick's chef be? The low-leveled food was already amazing… No, that's a waste of resources, better to put that idea aside for the future.'
"Uwah, Satoru that looks delicious." Murayama's voice informed Momonga that not only him that noticed Miki's efforts, even Katase, who had already unpacked her lunch and gorged on it, glanced at Momonga's food, as if contemplating asking a piece from him.
"Umu," Momonga simply nodded at these words before an idea popped into his head.
"Would you like some?" Lunchbox in hand, he extended to the hungry gaze of the girl.
'I've tried how the food from YGGDRASIL works on the creatures of this world, and on how the food of this world works on me, existing under the rules of YGGDRASIL, and tested the food from YGGDRASIL on myself. But, I strangely forgot to test how the food of this world works on the creatures of this world…' Momonga sighed at such an obvious blunder, internally, the shame of his blunder like a slap on his face.
'It is little blunders like these that tend to pile up into a big overall lump of flaws!'
"Me?" Murayama was surprised for a moment before glancing at Katase, again with a sly look on her face. "I am fine, but someone might be…"
Katase seemed to choke upon hearing this, coughing instantly, causing Momonga to shift her gaze to her, taking a measured look at the girl. 'Am I missing something? Hmm, maybe Katase is a food lover? I never would have guessed from her figure, especially since this world probably hasn't invented various digestive system modifications yet. Though maybe it's because she works out a lot? Physical activity is often used to lose weight, after all, so maybe she likes food and likes sports at the same time?'
Coughing and throwing a sort of indignant but not to say angry look at her friend, Katase turned back to Momonga. "Don't mind her, she's just joking."
"Even so, I meant what I said seriously." Momonga said again, not wanting to miss the opportunity for his experiment, causing Katase to look away again and, after a moment, nodded slightly in response to Momonga's suggestion.
After a moment Momonga slid his lunchbox to Katase, before he could watch carefully to see if any effect happens, as Katase took a morsel of food off his lunchbox, he was suddenly distracted by Murayama. "Oh, I totally forgot, I have something to do urgently!"
Murayama instantly stood up from her seat after saying that, Momonga noticing that she hadn't actually opened her own lunchbox. "Speaking of which, Satoru, could you help me with something for a bit?"
Momonga thought for a moment before nodding and glancing at Katase, who, when he was not looking, had tasted Miki's cooking. And, judging by [Life Essence] and [Mana Essence] getting a small bonus like the inhabitants of this world got from eating food of YGGDRASIL, proving that food from this world acted just as the food in YGGDRASIL. After a last nod as his experiment concluded, he rose from his seats to follow after Murayama, who had already gone to the stairwell without waiting for him.
Katase, clearly enjoying Miki's cooking, didn't even seem to notice him leaving, allowing Momonga to move quickly enough to follow Murayama, preparing for a possible ambush along the way just in case. 'I wonder what she wanted me to help her with?'
Momonga would soon find out, though. After taking barely a few steps and disappearing behind the doors leading to the stairs and downstairs, Murayama stopped suddenly, making Momonga tense up. "Satoru, I'll be honest, you seem like a good guy and if whatever you did to the trio made them stop even a week, you deserve a huge thank you from me for helping with the trio. But after all the problems with the trio… Katase has suffered enough, so she's quite vulnerable to positive attention. And if you take advantage of that, and someone brings something to my attention, if you hurt Katase, or if you have even one gram of Issei in you… No principal will save you, do you understand?"
Momonga blinked, looking at Murayama with surprise. 'Was that… A threat?'
Momonga pondered the words Murayama said one more time before coming to a suitable conclusion. 'Yes, that was definitely a threat.'
After a moment, there was a sense of irritation rising inside Momonga, no one likes it when someone starts threatening them, especially when Momonga couldn't even understand why Murayama was threatening him. Especially with what exactly she was telling him. 'Katase is vulnerable? Not 'one gram of Issei', so she knows I'm not related to Issei?! Murayama isn't a simple person after all, and was able to fool my abilities?!'
After a moment's suppression of emotion stopped Momonga's panic, allowing him to look into Murayama's eyes, giving her an answer. "No need to worry, I just want to take a walk with her to the church…"
Murayama looked closely at Momonga, nodding seriously, before the severe expression she had just adopted disappeared into a smile. "Then I wish you good luck."
After another moment, Murayama turned around and quickly headed down the stairs, leaving Momonga alone to think. 'Hmm, Pandora's Actor hadn't reported Murayama or Katase being a threat in any way… I should ask him to carefully gather information about them. Because the only way I could explain what just happened, is either I'm missing something, or Murayama is not an ordinary person after all. Hmm, if it turns out at the end that Murayama is just a human, and she just threatened me for some unknown reason… No, I'm not petty enough to attack someone just out of displeasure, but it will definitely affect my attitude towards her. Who just threatened someone because they were just asking for directions!? This world is just too weird for me!'
***
Katase came back to reality a few seconds later, in time to notice Satoru returning to the roof, without Murayama in sight. It seems that her best friend had used the 'I had to do something urgently' card, and had left the two alone… And this right after Satoru asked her out!
She probably also told him some more stupid things, threatening Satoru not to hurt her feelings or something much more embarrassing, like she's Katase's older sister or something! And now she has to interact with Satoru, who has listened to all that, their future date looming, and he had just shared a bento with her… And the two of them were now alone on the roof and the sky above and…
"Katase, did you like it?" Her brain short-circuited for a moment before, like an operating system, coming back in, causing a second of embarrassing pause in the girl's response.
"Yes, thank you very much, it's very, very delicious. Who cooked it?"
"My mother." Satoru made his way over before sitting down next to Katase, and is it just her imagination, or did he sit closer than before!? "Umu, the adopted one."
Katease took another look at the bento that she might have eaten too much of with an awkward look.
She hesitated for a moment, remembering what Satoru had said yesterday about his living situation and feeling a little uncomfortable about mentioning this fact and that she had brought it up. Satoru, however, as if he were not paying attention to her reaction, only pulled his food up to him before looking at Katase a little worried. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing!" Katase instantly brushed his worries aside, only to realize that by doing so she had only contributed to the awkwardness in the air. Hurriedly, she tried to find a topic of conversation, before taking hold of the one she had been thinking about a little earlier. "So, are you into sports?"
"Umu?" Satoru seemed surprised by the non-sequitur, thinking for a moment before answering. "I couldn't say that I do. I've tried it in the past, but it didn't work out."
"That's strange?" Katase thought audibly for a moment. "Considering that Matsuda has always been a very tough guy…"
"Umu," Satoru replied instantly, if Katase were a more perceptive person, she would've noticed that Satoru's voice was now tinged with a little bit of panic. But she was not, so this fact simply passed her by, unnoticed.
"I mean, I don't do any professional sports, but, umu, I go to practice from time to time, umu, so I can keep fit…"
"Yeah?" Katase perked up a bit, feeling a little more confident, now that they were treading on more familiar grounds. "Boxing, martial arts, powerlifting? No, um, you don't look like a powerlifter…"
"Ah, umu, not anything specific in particular, I just do anything that catches my fancy from time to time, umu, which comes in handy in my daily life." Satoru seemed a bit taken aback by Katase's insistence, causing her to suddenly feel slightly embarrassed by her abrupt insistence and the fact that she had unconsciously come closer, closing the distance between them even more.
"Ah, excuse me for being nosy…" Katase suddenly remembered her earlier conclusion. Satoru was used to fighting – and if you put this together with his remark that he was training what is 'useful' in life and not professional sport, then some uncomfortable conclusion starts to click together…
There was an awkward silence once more, before Satoru spoke up first. "And you, Katase? You're a member of a kendo club, don't you enjoy the sport too?"
"Not really." Katase answered with a grin, seemingly shocking Satoru for a bit, which she would take for a win. "Murayama is the one who actually likes kendo. She's continuing her family tradition, you see. I just joined the club to accompany my best friend back in elementary school, and since then just been doing it as a way to exercise or keep fitness… I keep in shape."
"Hmm, I see…" Satoru thought for a moment. "Speaking of Murayama, you were saying that she's continuing a tradition?"
"Well, yes." Katase nodded lightly, seeing nothing wrong talking about her best friend, it's a topic to talk about if nothing else. "Not very long, she's not from some ancient samurai warrior family or anything. Her grandfather was a national championship winner, and her father won the gold medal twice, her mother even participated in the nationals once placing second. Even her older brother is preparing for his first competition in six months… So, yeah, a family tradition, quite literally."
"Hmm, impressive." Satoru was silent for a moment, causing Katase to become curious. 'I wonder what he's thinking? Maybe he'd like to get into professional sports after all, in which case Murayama really fits him more than me…'
Katase frowned slightly, feeling something prickle her heart at the thought, before she dismissed it. 'Everyone has their dreams and desires, what can you do about it?'
"By the way, Satoru, have you thought about signing up for any clubs?" Katase asked him, bringing him out of his thoughts, something that he seemed to be doing quite often now that Katase thought about it.
"I think with your physical capabilities, you would do great with kendo."
"Umu, thank you for the offer, but I'm… Not very good with swords", Satoru replied after a few seconds of thought. "I'm more confident in my ma… Martial arts, definitely yes, my hands are my main weapon."
Katase shifted her gaze to Satoru's hands after these words, before realizing the use of a certain word. "Weapon?"
"Yes?" Satoru answered as if he didn't understand the reason for Katase's surprise, as if he really didn't see kendo or boxing as a sport but only as a way to fight… Confirming Katase's speculations about him. "Satoru, answer me honestly… Do you fight? I mean, you obviously have experience in fights, right?"
"Em…" Satoru was silent for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, I do have some experience… I'm quite sure of it."
'One less secret!' Katase wasn't particularly surprised by Satoru's answer, already suspecting it ahead of time. 'That also answers how exactly he was able to easily block my attack without hurting himself and how he had beaten Matsuda… Huh, he probably has a lot of interesting stories about the past. I wonder where he grew up in that case?'
"Umu, I think it's almost the end of lunchtime." Satoru's voice broke Katase's train of thought as he rose from his seat, packing his already empty container of food, with her hurriedly following after him. "It was nice chatting with you for a bit, Katase… Umu, please don't forget about our agreement."
Katase, smiling a little embarrassed in return, just nodded.
***
Serafall Leviathan usually did her job of maintaining diplomatic contacts and making treaties in one particular way. She would arrive at the location of whatever pantheon she would be visiting, regarded as their 'divine' domain, hold a formal banquet, and make some small talk. After some time later, she would find herself in a small room prepared for conversation, where the real negotiation with the Pantheon's representative would begin.
Sometimes it ended with a good talk and a signed [Contract], sometimes with shouting and the door figuratively being smashed in front of her face. But, in general, it all followed roughly the same script with minimal deviations. Maybe the cultural habits of the pantheons could affect the particular implementation of her plans, but usually all existing pantheons understood 'diplomacy' to be about the same action.
As a diplomat, that was her job description. Sure, there was the underlying belief that diplomats were all part spies, and sure she was able to glean some secret by doing her duties as a diplomat, so there was some truth in the belief. But, relying on Serafall as a spy was an endeavor doomed to fail!
So, why was it that she's right now like a preteen spying on her crush sitting in a café opposite Kuoh Academy, trying desperately with her enhanced senses to accrue any info she can from Satoru!.
"Satoru, I can't meet my Sona because of you, I'll never forgive you for this!" Not even the chewy, delicious croissant she's munching on could completely appease Serafall's mood, making her look like a scowling hamster preparing to go out on the warpath instead of the representative of Devil diplomacy that she actually is.
And Serafall did not want to go out on the warpath. Primarily because Serafall as lackadaisical as she may appear, she still knew how to correctly assess her chances and the consequences of her actions. Therefore, she was aware that going on the 'warpath' with Satoru would end very, very badly – maybe for the environment, maybe for Serafall, and maybe for the entire Devil faction.
The only consolation, bare as it might be, for Serafall in the current situation was the fact that Satoru has yet to show any particular desire to harm his peers, be it Rias or Sona. If he, however, showed any intention to attack Sona, Serafall would definitely spit on the Satan' current decisions and rush into battle.
Which, again, wouldn't end well for anyone.
At the moment, while Ajuka was running their information network, trying to figure out which god had decided to make his move, the only decent plan of action for the Devils was to gather information any way they could. All the while, trying to establish as tight a cordon around Kuoh as possible to keep anyone out of the city, and then try to quietly clear a space around Satoru. Not at the level of evacuating the city, of course – but the fewer ordinary people on the street where Satoru lived at the moment, the better.
Additionally, it made it easier to gather information about Satoru himself, allowing Serafall to plan her move as best as possible… Well, the second step, the first has already been taken when she met Satoru after all. And she had already misstepped quite badly there, ruining the chance of Satoru having a better impression of the Devils. But what is she supposed to do when the report that a threatening figure had just suddenly appeared near to Sona!?
"And from the looks of it, he has no particular love for Devils… Luckily, no particular hatred, either." Serafall grimaced as she sighed into the delicious cup of coffee accompanying her pastry.
"Of course that just meant that the Devils are stuck in between a rock and a hard place. It would be easier to just order Rias and Sona along with their peerages to retreat to the Underworld and deal with the problem ourselves, but how would Satoru react to that? I mean, we don't even know who he is, why he came here, and where he's from… Argh, I hate working like this!"
Serafall swallowed the rest of the croissant and reached for her cup of coffee, before taking a sip of extra-strong espresso, grimacing at the taste of the beverage. "I hate bitter stuff, too!"
Serafall needed to arrange a conversation with Satoru again, at least for the sake of ordering the evacuation of Sona and Rias while he was distracted. Better let Sona yell at her all she wanted and say that Serafall had disrupted her education, better to accept Sona's displeasure than hear that she was hurt by Satoru's actions.
Though the mere thought of Sona saying to Serafall something like 'I hate you!' was like a dagger to Serafall's heart, but it was something she would survive. The other possibility however… Was not something she should contemplate while she's near a population center.
Serafall took another sip, feeling the unpleasant taste interrupt her equally unpleasant thoughts, before rising from the table, tossing a few bills onto the table. Serafall didn't even look at how much she owed for her snack, so she threw some more just in case, before heading for the exit.
And even in the busy café, no one paid her any attention, perhaps a few glances, a far departure from the usual, and that was because she was not dressed in her usual Maou Shoujo uniform.
Now dressed in her 'official' uniform, a blouse, pants, jacket, all in dark green soft colors, almost no one that knew her, would recognize her. While her official Maou Shoujo outfit had become her normal outfit to enemies and allies alike, when, right now, she was about to negotiate with someone who's standing is still unknown, the fewer factors added in the interaction, the better. She had even replaced her favorite magical girl Levi staff to a pen suitable for writing [Contracts] in her inner jacket pocket.
Should her negotiations turn the wrong way, however… While her pen in this instance is less mighty than her usual 'sword', it also served as the conduit for the most powerful teleportation spell Ajuka could conjure up. It also, of course, while a bit weaker than her wand, would still serve the same function, powerful enough to wipe Kuoh off the maps, not that she's planning to do that.
Sona's here after all!
Serafall's plan, in the end, was quite simple. To be frank, she simply planned to invite Satoru, to dinner at a fully-reserved restaurant, and try to create at least the appearance of normal negotiations, then, while he was somewhat distracted, order the evacuation of Sona and Rias. If Satoru doesn't react in any way, then, the bulk of her plan is already completed.
What's left is to allow for Sirzechs and Ajuka to join them, trying her best to guide her conversation with Satoru to allow for such a thing. The last thing she wanted was to allow Satoru to think that it was an ambush, reasonable or not, such a thing would provoke a bad reaction with anyone. And while the loss of Kuoh is not a large loss, she still didn't want to risk it – Sona would be quite apoplectic with her if she caused the destruction of her school after all!
Anyway, Sirzechs and Ajuka meeting with Satoru would make her future job a lot easier. Sirzechs as the face of the Underworld, allowing for more important negotiations, and Ajuka as the person desperately needing contact with Satoru to make his [Kankara Formula] work at full strength. She would need to balance the meeting furtively, not too soon for the meeting to be regarded as an ambush, and not too late where Satoru would be comfortable taking a leading role in the negotiations.
After that, if things didn't go the way of the worst-case scenario, where things escalate into a fight, the true negotiations would start. Whether or not Satoru would participate, or just keep silent altogether, it all played into the Devils' hands one way or another. More time to get her sister away from the potential epicenter of a fight between a god and the three Maous the better.
Who knows? Maybe everything will go as planned!
So, making her way to the gates of Kuoh Academy, Serafall was focused, carefully noting the other students with her gaze. Akeno Himejima, [Queen] of Rias Gremory, Kiyome Abe, daughter of a rather old family of beast tamers and suppliers of familiars, Issei Hyoudou…
The brother of the god in the epicenter of all her recent headaches.
Serafall frowned, she had received periodic updates on Kuoh and its academy in particular, including information about the students, but much more on things that concerned Sona's safety. She hadn't really delved too much on things that don't directly affect Sona – so for the students, she was usually given information about their origins, nature and the potential danger they could be to Sona, nothing more.
Serafall didn't have the energy or time to familiarize herself with the identity of every student at the academy… A dire mistake as it turned out. Though it wasn't fully her fault, even after the usual litany of investigations, nothing has turned out. Issei Hyoudou's lineage has no connection whatsoever with the paranormal world – no god, none of the Biblical Factions, and no Youkai either.
Sure, the archive of the Devil's has been damaged severely during the Great and the subsequent Civil War, nor had they a peculiar interest in checking the genealogies of Humans, but nothing? Even now, with the surprise sibling that turned out to be a god, and with a newfound interest in Gorou Hyoudou's lineage, the Devils had found nothing at all. There was a possibility that Satoru's Divine lineage was from a matrilineal source, but without more information about the woman Gorou had a dalliance with, the Devils are in a slump.
The fact that Satoru's mother was from Kyoto, was not something positive – the Devils could ill-afford further widening the rift between the Youkai Faction and the Devils. The two brothers were both sources of worries for Serafall, if for two very different reasons.
It didn't take more than a cursory look at the information gathered about Issei Hyoudou to figure out that the high-schooler is a massive pervert.
Serafall had little against voyeurs and perverts specifically, most of the fans of her shows were one after all, tentacles and magic girls were also a time-honored tradition. She wore her scandally short skirt all for the panty shots after all. Though, if any of her fans took the liberties that Issei did, according to the many complaints of the female Kuoh students… Well, he's at least honest about it? And he's at least smart enough not to peek at Sona!
Still, the potential danger alone… What if he decided to peek at Sona tomorrow!?
Before they learned of his Divine sibling, Sona had tried many times to expel him – that is, before her orders to the faculty were countermanded by Rias. Sure if Sona had decided to complain to Serafall, she herself would go and kick Issei out of the school, no, to Hell itself!
But Sona being Sona, no such complaint ever materialized and more and more complaints kept piling up, until everyone just adapted to the status quo. And soon enough, rumors on how Issei was blackmailing faculties and Sona herself popped up, and Searfal had to stop herself from just turning Issei into an ice statue. That is, if Serafall hadn't known full well that the rumors were all just lies.
It's still a close thing, though.
Now, whatever Serafall wanted to do, Issei is actually untouchable thanks to his brother's status, but if he dared to harass Sona… Well, maybe if her future negotiation with Satoru turned out unexpectedly well, she could ask him for a favor.
Before Serafall could think about the subject further, as she walked on to the school gate, her eye found Issei, along with Satoru… Who was walking away from the school, together with a girl?
Serafall paused for a second before looking closely at the girl and noticing her uncertain gait, the slightly more than necessary focused look, the nervous look on her face, along with a light dusting of a blush…
"Are they going on a date?" Serafall was surprised by the sight. Maybe it was Issei instead… No, she can't even entertain the thought. The girl is going on a date with the god, Satoru.
Well, at least that's some confirmation of Satoru's divine status, he works quite fast. If Serafall wasn't mistaken, it hasn't even been a week since Satoru attended the school… She hopes that they practice the necessary protections at least, Serafall couldn't imagine the pandemonium if the god decided to impregnate the girl.
While other people might perhaps regard such a worry as paranoid, seeing the proclivities of the many divines that Serafall knew of… no, it really isn't. If it was, there wouldn't be such a problem defining family ties within the Greek Pantheon. Using her [Arcane Sight], she at least could breathe a sigh of relief that there wasn't any magical compulsion on the girl, if there was, their future interaction would get quite complicated.
Well, Satoru was quite the handsome young man, so maybe it was love at first sight?
Anyway, it had happened this course of events had made Serafall's plan hit quite the snag.
"It gives me a lot of new information, but I have absolutely no idea what to do with it, and it also seriously complicates things. If they were going on a date, it would be normal to expect that Satoru wouldn't be separating with the girl anytime soon. There's no way to talk with Satoru without also involving the girl… Interrupting the date would be rude nonetheless." Serafall sighed, as they watched the trio leave.
Not that there was any specific ban on revealing information about the paranormal in this world to ordinary people. Even if there was, it would still be impossible to keep all information completely under lock and key, the mundane government and the paranormal simply have the understanding not to interact much with each other. Things were much different back in the days when the Angels and Devils regularly interacted with the people openly, but with the gods' power waning, and the increasing danger of Human weaponry?
The paranormal have simply decided not to show themselves openly, lest they provoke the sensibilities of the much, much more numerous, and trigger-happy humans. The inquisition and the Crusades come to mind – and with the Humans now possessing the ability to use Nuclear weapons…
So in theory, Satoru could have revealed information about the paranormal side of the world to the girl, or he might not have. Again, it was unknown how he would react to Devils like Serafall if they decided to interrupt his date. And now again Serafall could do nothing, and another day without a chance to talk with Satoru would pass in limbo.
"It seems that Satoru knows of our plans, and is, in fact, just mocking us." Serafall grimaced slightly as she looked at Satoru with the girl.
"Just laughing at us… I am being driven into a corner in my field of expertise and in my home field, and there is nothing I can do about it, and he knows it. He doesn't even threaten us so much as he just laughs, as if we weren't even opponents to him, but just children he doesn't even take seriously… Grrr, Satoru!"
Serafall stomped her foot, restraining herself only at the last moment so that she wouldn't crack the ground before she calmed down. "Okay, think Serafall, let's try to come up with another plan…"
With a last glare at the couple, Satoru leading the girl to god knows where, Serafall turned around to plan her next action. Maybe she should visit Sona to complain about Satoru!?