Rias sat in her bathtub, a gentle sweet smile printed on her face. She touched her lips, closing her eyes to picture that kiss before her smile slowly died down. She remembered her current position in the demon realm before she sighed.
"... I will try to get stronger for you." She said lightly with a sad smile before she shook those bad thoughts out of her head. She would try and enjoy every moment she had left, just in case she failed...
The next morning, Rias sat in the Occult Research Club. The Occult Research Club is a school club focusing on various research on the Occult. The club was once disbanded and later reestablished by Rias Gremory, it is primarily used as the main base for Rias' peerage at school. The club is located at the old school building of Kuoh Academy.
Currently, Rias was facing the judging look from Akeno, which she was avoiding. What was the sole reason for her approaching Anos? It was to have Anos join her peerage, but she had completely forgotten that goal.
"I don't want to force him into this... let's first see if Issei is special... then I will try," Rias said with a downcast look, to which Akeno sighed as she realized that Rias was in love. She didn't want Anos to be pushed into this, and in the end, be left with a broken heart.
"Then, when will we approach Issei?" Akeno said in defeat, to which Rias paused for a moment
"I need time to make sure, let's watch... and in the meantime, we should start training," Rias said seriously stunning Akeno. This was indeed a shock, Rias' training?
Rias got up and went for a walk... well, she sensed Anos somewhere. So going around, she arrived at a window where she saw Anos at the back of the school building, facing a girl who was confessing her love towards Anos.
She opened the window lightly and listened in closely to Anos' reply to her.
"Sorry Murayama," Anos said lightly, Rias smiled lightly as she could tell Anos was trying his best to be soft. Last night, Anos told her that he had problems showing his emotions towards others. At times he could come off as being emotionless, something he wanted to change.
"I-I'm willing to share," Murayama said shocking Rias who looked behind Murayama. Rias was left speechless, for those two to want to date Anos at the same time... it made her slightly uneasy as that was a male dream.
"Sorry, but I'm Rias' boyfriend," Anos said with a helpless look while rubbing his hair, stunning Murayama and her friend Katase. The two had a heartbroken look, the courage needed to do this wasn't simple, and to be rejected... well, they almost wanted to cry.
Anos was about to leave, but after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he turned towards them.
"I'm new to the school... so, I don't mind being your friends," Anos said with a sigh, causing Rias' eyebrow to raise. Anos had told her he never had a friend, and he never cared to have a friend. But seeing him going out of his comfort zone for her... warmed her heart.
'I should tell him... but I'm setting him up to have his heart broken...' Rias thought, closing her eyes for some time, before shaking her head. She left the window, just as Anos looked up as he felt someone watching him, but all he saw was the opened window, which he ignored.
'I need to get stronger, for our love.' Rias thought with the flames of love burning hard in her eyes...
[MC POV]
Friendship was a new concept for me, be it in this life or the last, I was almost on my own until I fell In love... just for my daughter to end up killing me. But that wasn't important right now, that plot was for a later date.
Anyway, I went on to start making friends at school, although I rather hang out with Rias, I heard that she had left school early. I planned to ask her about that later, while in the meantime, I tried to be more... well, in touch with my human side. I was only more in touch with my humanity around my mother, but I was starting to see that as a weakness.
Anyway, seeing as I was making friends, pretty much the whole class gathered around me, trying to be my friend which I found to be pretty annoying. Before school came to an end, I was summoned to the Student Council, where Sona had summoned me.
"I don't believe I did anything wrong to be summoned here," I said lightly while looking at Sona, and everyone there.
"You didn't, I just wanted to speak with the boyfriend of Rias," Sona said lightly while inviting me to take a seat. I did just that while looking at the chess game which had gone incomplete.
"You play?" Sona asked calmly, to which I nodded slightly. Sona's eyes narrowed slightly, remembering the information she had on me, mostly about how easy it was for me to solve all the problems thrown at me.
"You want to play?" She asked to which I shrugged as I didn't mind. So Sona set up the board with my help, and we began to play. I was white, and she was black.
"Why did you move to Japan?" She asked lightly while I started the game with Pd4, followed by her playing Nf6.
"My mom likes to move around a lot, so why did you summon me here?" I asked while playing Nc3, with her following with Pd5.
"I wanted to get to know you better, and see if you can join the student council," Sona said while raising an eyebrow seeing me play Bg5. She played Bf5, and I played Pf3.
"Oh? Aren't you going to know me better? Is it wise to have a new student join the student council?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, she smiled lightly while playing Nc6. I played Pe4,
"If you have the capability, then there are no problems with it. for example, if you beat me then you can join." Sona said with a smile while playing Pdxe4, taking my pawn. She thought I would take her back, but I instead played Pd5.
"What would I gain from such a thing?" I asked lightly while she paused to think of her next move. So, she went on to explain what the student council did.
The student council helps share students' ideas, interests, and concerns with teachers and school principals. They often also help raise funds for school-wide activities, including social events, community projects, helping people in need, and school reform.
"You would have more freedom in school so long as your grades stay up," She said while playing Ne5, with me playing Pfxe4.
"Okay, I'm interested... can I skip school so long as my grades are up?" I asked leaving Sona speechless, but she nodded lightly with some hesitation while playing Nxe4.
"Why do you want to skip school?" She asked with a frown,
"I need to take up a job," I said calmly while playing Qd4, and she instantly went on alert seeing me move my queen.
"So long as you do your school work and homework, and your grades are up, there would be no problems. You also can't skip school every day as that would reflect on the student council.... well, that is if you beat me." She said slowly. While playing Kc6.
"That shouldn't be too hard," I said, playing Bb5. She played Nxg5, taking my knight, but I didn't care and went on to Castle.
She played Qd7. I played Pdxc6. She played Pbxc6. I played Qe3.
Sona bit her lips seeing this, and in the end had no choice but to play Qxd1, which put me in check. I played Nxd1, taking her queen. She played Pcxb5 taking my bishop, but I just played Qxg5, taking her knight.
She played Pe6, I played Ne3. She played Pf6, and I played Qh5, putting her in check. She played Pg6, I played Qf3. She played Rb8, I played Pg4.
At this point, sweat covered Sona's forehead as she realized she might lose. She gave up on her Bishop and pushed forward with pawn to C5.
I played Pgxf5, she had no choice but to play Pgxf5. I played Ne2, she played Ph5. I played Nf4, she played Kf7. I played Rd1, she played Be7.
I played a shocking move, with Nxe6, which Sona didn't see. Sona had to pause for a moment, giving her next move a good few thoughts, but in the end, she couldn't take my knight back. Through gritted teeth, she played Pce.
Another shocking move was played by me, Nxf5. Seemingly, I was leaving my other knight for her to take, but Sona quickly realized she couldn't take my knight. So, she played Rb6. I played Nf4.
"You're good," Sona said her face covered in sweat. She didn't know what to play, a part of her wanted to give up, but she kept playing, so she went on to play Bf8. I played Qd5 check, she had no choice but to play Ke8, and she sighed in amazement as she had lost.
"You were not bad yourself, rare I come across someone so young yet so skilled," I said while playing my final move, Qd7, which was checkmate.
"I lost..." Sona said with a lost look for some time before she looked at me with this lost and confused look... which slowly began to soften. She blushed lightly, but just as she was about to speak, the door opened as Rias came rushing in.
"I was waiting for you so we could walk home," Rias said while throwing a quick look at the chess board before her eyes widened seeing as I had won.
"I heard you left... and guess who is joining the student council?" I asked with a smirk, that wasn't a fake smirk... when it comes to my ego, my emotions would show.
"... that was all to the game?" Rias asked careful with her words, and to that, I nodded my head while getting up.
"Well, I should get going home, tomorrow we can talk about me being a student council... so, you want to walk home together?" I asked Rias who nodded while throwing Sona a look that said 'We are going to talk about this later.'
"So, I talked to my family. Tomorrow my sister-in-law will come check on your mother while we're at school." Rias said lightly,
"Thanks... is that why you were out? You don't need to skip school because of me." I said with a frown, to which Rias waved my words off.
"I spoke with them last night. I will be leaving the school a lot this month... when it's all over, I promise to tell you everything. I promise I will make time for us." She said to which I looked at her for a moment, before speaking.
"Don't let me get in the way of your work, I will always be waiting for you right here," I said calmly, making her smile happily before she hugged me, just to quickly let me go seeing as we were being watched.
"Love isn't to be looked at with shame, it should be allowed to bath in the sunlight and blossom. I want to show off my love, and not feel embarrassed about it." I said while holding out my palm. Rias' face turned bright red at that, but she still took my palm.
"The strongest power out there is love when it has been allowed to spread its wings open, exposed to the world, leaving everyone dying of envy," I said with a smile, and to Rias' shock she did feel herself grow stronger by a bit. Our love making her stronger. This would have been impossible without me knowing how to control the power of love and bring it out. But the more Rias stops hiding her love, the stronger she becomes.