Rias, Akeno and Koneko flurred me the moment I entered the room. Venelana saw her daughter, giggled and then left the room after telling us to 'take our time' whatever that meant.
"Ray-kun, are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, it wasn't much, really... I'm sorry for placing you girls in danger".
"As long as you're okay..." Rias sighed in relief but still didn't let me go, and neither did Akeno. They spent the next half an hour asking me questions about the incident, making sure I was alright.
"Ever since that incident we have been worried but Mom and Dad wouldn't let me leave, we initially thought someone had attacked you".
"No such a thing, it was a... little accident"
"A little accident that destroyed a whole district" Rias pouted, "I don't want you to think that I'm powerless you know... I-If you ever need help, tell me... we are friends aren't we?"
I hugged both girls and watched from the edge of my eyes how Kuroka grabbed Koneko and inspected her.
"You're okay, Shirone-nya?"
"Nothing happened to me nee-san, you..."
"I'm okay too -nya~"
"By the way, Rias... I have a favour to ask you" I decided to not beat around the bush, her brows squinted a bit since I have never asked for favours.
"It was about time you asked me for something! what is it, I will do it!" Her insistence left me baffled. What I'm going to ask her is quite beneficial for her anyway: "Can you take Kuroka into your peerage?"
!!!
"So it is that -nya..." Kuroka looked at me with resignation while Rias gasped, her gaze trailing between me and Kuroka as if she couldn't believe it.
"A-Are you giving her to me- OUCH!"
*BONK!*
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm not 'giving' her to you. I have somewhere to go and I would prefer if she stays close to Koneko-chan. Kuroka is still mine, I'm just lending her to you temporarily, got it?!"
I felt the need to make the 'lending' clear. Rias harrumphed and looked away while Akeno started her 'Ararara' nonsense.
"Master... I'm sorry -nya" Kuroka apologised and I patted her head and fluffed her ears. This is the part where she said she wanted to come with me, but she wouldn't say that... because she wanted to stay with her little sister.
"I understand, fool"
"So... will you do it?" I asked Rias who nearly started skipping in place, "I have wanted Kuroka from the start! But... because she was a criminal and she was yours too, onii-sama said I shouldn't" Rias trailed, she lifted her hand and a chess-like piece materialised in her hands, it was a bishop.
"But I promised I will take care of her, she will be a member of our family!"
"*cough* Temporarily" I added with a smile and her eyes rolled.
"Go ahead".
Rias tried to make Kuroka into her servant, but she failed, the piece wouldn't go into Kuroka no matter what.
"W-Why?"
We were all a bit lost on what to do now, I wanted to ask 'her' for help but she did pop up before I even had to say anything.
"I think I know what is going on, dear"
Venelana appeared next to us with a curious look, her curious look was focused on me. I was the only one that wasn't surprised. Of course, I had already felt her energy, it is a destructive energy that's too obvious to miss.
"Kuroka-chan should already have a piece inside her, she was Naberius' bishop" Venelana giggled, "Can you do something about it, Ray-kun?"
Now she's testing me?
I focused on Kuroka's body to see what was going on and certainly, there was something, it wasn't a physical piece inside her flesh per se. It was more like an array of energy inside her body that spread like a web... or maybe even a parasite, and it had the shape of a bishop's piece.
The pattern to recreate it was rather simple too.
I touched her chest lightly.
"Hyan!~"
"Stop making weird noises..."
"Sorry -nya~"
I focused on manipulating that energy and slowly but surely the piece inside her body started coming out until it was in my palm. The bishop's piece was cracked but it still emitted some sort of corrosive energy.
"A-Amazing..." Venelana gasped, "Would you allow me to see it?"
I handed the cracked piece over for her to study and in the meantime, Rias pushed her piece into Kuroka's chest, this time it was accepted as a pair of bat-like wings manifested from Kuroka.
"Yay!" Rias celebrated, she got a very powerful servant just like that. Kuroka and Shirone cheered on, Akeno is still doing her Ararara... come on, girl.
"That's all I came to do today-"
"Wait, Ray-kun, you have to stay here and play with us tonight at least!" Akeno protested once she saw me ready to go, but I didn't have much time.
I took her forehead and kissed it, she blushed by my suddenness.
"I'm going on a bit of a journey girls. You won't see me for a while".
I didn't think they would be too worried about me, but Rias surpassed my expectations.
"No, you can't! We were going to transfer to your and Anna-chan's scho- uhm!"
"Shut up, Rias!"
Akeno covered Rias' mouth, Venelana sighed and rubbed her temples.
"..."
"I-It was supposed to be a surprise".
I laughed, this is even more relieving. I pulled the two of them in a tight hug and whispered something in their ears.
"R-Really? Can I do that?"
"Yep, I allow you... as long as she's okay with it".
"Cool, then when are you coming back? A week? a month?"
"S-Something like that..."
"We have to play together when you return, it's a promise!"
"I promise!"
"Pinky promise!"
These girls... they forced me to make pinky promise with them before giving me each a kiss on either side of my cheeks, they're so sweet.
I returned to the main hall, the girls followed me all the way, Kuroka looked like she wanted to talk to me.
"I also promise, Ray... when you return I'll be stronger you know!" Rias said.
"Oh really?"
"I'll... I'll be at your level, you just wait..."
Her gaze indicated she was scared of empty promises, but at the same time, she wanted to push herself to her limits. I hugged her and nodded.
"Sure. But if by the time I return, you don't follow through with your promise, there will be consequences, alright?~"
!!!
"Y-Yeah..."
**
**
I said my farewells to the girls, to Rias parents -who insisted that I should stay for dinner- and to Kuroka, but as expected, the woman still had something she wanted to tell me. She pulled me aside and I told Azrael and Hasshaku-sama to wait a bit away so that we could have some privacy.
"So what did you want to tell me?"
She was fidgeting, awkward and looking at every bit of the green grass of the mansion, everywhere except my eyes.
"So, -nya... it is like this -nya".
"..."
"It is difficult to say -nya" She laughed awkwardly but still I noticed a slight tear threatening to leave her right eye. I pulled her and cleaned it off.
"Is it that hard to say?"
"N-No, thank you for everything -nya!".
She bowed and her cleavage bounced all over the place.
"You talk like we won't see each other again, you girls are all like that, I said I'm just going on a small journey, you all don't have to get so melodramatic".
"It is not that, it is just... I have been meaning to tell you, but you're always busy" She looked away, her ears fluttered, "I haven't had the chance to tell you. You have done a lot for me and I haven't been able to express it, now you're going, I feel like this is my last chance -nya".
I raised her head and pulled her into a tight hug, forsaking the softness of her body and instead focusing on the warmth she irradiated.
"Kuroka, you're not a bad girl... you just had circumstances".
*Sniff*
She started crying, she took my palm and put it against her cheek
"Nobody has ever been kind to me or done me any favours... only you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be alive -nya, I wouldn't have met Shirone again".
Before I knew it, her lips were gracing mine. She's a naughty being, admittedly a pervert from what I know, but this kiss was very tender, it was as if she had leapt back in time to the point where the wickedness of the world hadn't perverted her.
"F-For me you're a saviour -nya... w-what am I to you?"
I was going to say a prisoner but retracted soon after, if there is anything cats are experts at, is making that 'look' that look that makes you pity them as they beg.
I sighed, Yasaka wasn't going to like it, but...
"You're my pet, my black cat".
"Yes -nya!~"
Her eyes brightened up like she had received an acknowledgement, I don't know who else would be happy after they were labelled as a pet. She hugged me and started to sniff me.
"Master, don't forget to come back for me -nya".
"I will, take care of the girls in my absence, alright? and if you ever want to see me, that's possible too"
"Huh? How?".
...
[Kuroka Toujou has been added to the list of customers].
***
A/N: Hey guys, I'm the author. I just wanted to tell you to feel free to go see a new book I'm working on slowly. I don't have a definite schedule yet.
It is called Marvel: The Multiversal Brawl. A sort of multiversal contest where MC has to fight other powerful beings to win the tournament. Either he invades their world, or they invade MC's world. That is what it is in simple terms.
As you can imagine, MC's world is Marvel; he's Tony Stark's illegitimate son.
It is mostly focused on the Avengers' side, although there is some X-MEN influence in it, too. Both are quite difficult to mix in the same timeline.
This is extrajudicial, but I plan for the first world he invades to be Stellar Blade. I hope you enjoy it. If you're planning to drop your stones here, I'd rather you drop them in that book instead. Thank you!