A/N: So sorry for the late chapters, I had exams last week so I was preoccupied. I'll try to get out extra chapters this week as recompense.
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Hiyama's Mansion, Kuoh town –
POV: Shiori Oreki –
I exhaled shakily, pressing my forehead against my pillow. For a fleeting moment, I wanted to disappear, to sink into the mattress and let sleep claim me once more. But there was no peace in sleep, only restless dreams of Hiyama calling out to me. Dreams where I reached for him but found only darkness.
There was a soft knock against the door before it creaked open. Raynare's voice was gentle.
"Still in bed? You can't stay in bed forever..."
I didn't respond. A second passed before I felt the mattress dip, Raynare sitting beside me. She let out a sigh. "Look, moping around won't help you get him back."
I turned my head slightly, eyes dull. "I know that," I murmured. "But what else am I supposed to do?"
Raynare leaned back, crossing her arms. "Azazel's working on leads. Kalawarner and Mittelt are working in the lab to create some device to track him. You could go help them with it."
I curled deeper into the covers, my voice barely above a whisper. "It won't change the fact that I wasn't there when he needed me."
Raynare's expression softened. She reached out hesitantly before resting a hand on my shoulder. "You're not the only one who misses him, you know."
I turned slightly, finally looking at her. Raynare's gaze held a rare sincerity.
"I miss Hiyama too," she admitted. "I didn't realize how dependent I have become on him recently. I feel like a fish out of water."
I swallowed, my throat tight. "He's probably scared," I whispered. "Being subjected to pain and torture... If he is even alive..."
Raynare's grip on my shoulder tightened for a moment before she pulled back. "I know that he's alive. I can feel him—I can still feel his Holy Element coursing through my body vibrantly. That's why we can't give into despair. We have to find him fast..."
Silence stretched between us before I finally sighed, pushing myself up. The weight in my chest hadn't lessened, but Raynare was right. I needed to get off my butt and find Hiyama.
I took a deep breath, pushing the lingering doubt to the back of my mind. "I'm not good with magical devices like you, Kalawarner, and Mittelt. But I can still do something. I'll go find Rias and her peerage. Maybe they have something they can do to help."
Raynare tilted her head, arms crossed. "So you're going to ask the devils for help? I'm not too sure what she could do, but it's worth a shot."
I nodded. "Hiyama helped them before. He never had any reason to, but he still did. Rias knows that. I'm sure she will find some way to help."
Raynare nodded. "Fine, I'll drive you."
I gave a small nod before grabbing my coat. Together, we left the mansion and made our way to Kuoh Academy.
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Kuoh Academy, Kuoh Town –
At Kuoh Academy, I found Rias, Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, and Issei gathered in the clubroom. I called them on the way and they decided to gather as a peerage for the meeting. The moment I stepped inside, all eyes turned toward her. Raynare elected to stay in the car in order to not antagonize Rias or her peerage
"Shiori, I heard what happened from Kiba. Is there anything I can do to help?" Rias asked as she immediately stood up out of her chair and walked towards me.
I looked around the clubroom to find, who I assume is, Tosca. She hovered silently above the floor in the blue sphere. Kiba stood near it, looking helplessly at it.
I looked back towards Rias, "Actually, I wanted to ask if there was anything you knew about that could help us find Hiyama. Lord Azazel is helping, but I can't sit and do nothing."
Rias thought for a moment, "I can try and get my brother to help, but I am unsure how much help he will be able to give. He is busy most of the time." Having the Satan Lucifer help, even marginally, would speed up the search.
"Thank you, Rias." I said with a slight bow.
Rias waved off my thanks with a smile, "There is no need to worry. Hiyama has helped me and my peerage before, and he continued to do so. Even with Tosca still trapped-at least she is in safe hands until we can get her out." I looked up at Tosca again as she floated.
"I will talk to Lord Azazel about helping Tosca get out since my brother can't." I said while looking at Kiba with sympathy. He was clearly upset, he hadn't looked away from Tosca the whole time.
"Thank you." Rias replied. "I will contact my brother, and I will also talk to Sona to see what we can do to help." I nodded in reply, but as I was about to depart so I could contact Azazel Akeno spoke up.
"Um, Shiori?" I turned to look at Akeno. She had a sad expression on her face.
Oh, I almost forgot… Akeno was planning on asking Hiyama out on a date, she talked to me all about what sort of things he liked. I guess she can't do that now…
She continued, "I want to help directly to help find Hiyama."
"If your master is alright with that, then I see no reason to deny you…" Akeno and I then looked at Rias.
"Of course you can Akeno. Just be sure to keep me up to date." Rias said.
"Thank you, Rias." Akeno said with genuine gratitude.
"Alright, well I am going to go help Azazel with the search. You can come with Akeno." With that me and Akeno began to leave and head back to the car while I called Azazel.
Azazel picked up on the first ring. "Shiori. I assume you're not calling just to check in?"
"I need to do something to help find my brother."
Azazel sighed. "Good, because I have something for you. I've compiled intel on Kokabiel—his contacts, his hideouts, and every suspicious movement we've traced to him over the last decade. I need you, Akeno, and Raynare to go through these documents and find anything of interest. Come to me, at the mansion."
The call ended, and I turned to Akeno and Raynare. "Looks like we have work to do."
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Hiyama's mansion, Kuoh town –
Later that evening, I found myself sitting across from Azazel, along with Akeno and Raynare. The Grigori leader was leaning back in his chair, a stack of thick folders spread out across the table.
"These," Azazel said, tapping the documents, "contain all the intel we have on Kokabiel's contacts and hideouts."
I reached forward, flipping through one of the files. Lists of names, locations, financial transactions, and coded messages filled the pages. It was overwhelming.
"You want us to go through all of this?" Raynare asked, emphasizing the all part. It was quite a bit, and I would rather have a faster way to find someone.
Azazel smirked. "You wanted to help, didn't you?"
I nodded, steeling myself. "Where do we start?"
Azazel leaned forward, his expression growing serious. "Anything and everything. Kokabiel isn't lacking in time to establish hideouts. He could be anywhere, even in the underworld."
Akeno pulled a notepad from her bag and began making a list. "We'll just have to search through every single file."
Raynare rolled her eyes but grabbed a stack of papers. "Fine. Let's get to work."
The search began in earnest the moment we received the files from Azazel. Stacks of thick folders, yellowed with age and filled with detailed reports, sat before us on the large mahogany table in the mansion's study. The weight of them felt unbearable, a grim reminder of just how long Kokabiel had been operating in the shadows.
Akeno sat across from me, already flipping through a set of papers, her expression unreadable. Raynare leaned against the wall, arms crossed, before finally relenting and dragging one of the stacks closer to her. None of us wanted to speak first, but we knew we had days of work ahead.
I swallowed and opened the first folder in front of me. The pages were filled with dense paragraphs, lists of names, and occasional grainy photographs of exorcists, rogue priests, and fallen angels Kokabiel had associated with over the years. Some of them had been crossed out in thick red ink—a sign that they had either been eliminated or were no longer relevant.
I exhaled through my nose. This is going to take forever.
"Alright," I said, pushing up my sleeves. "We need a system. There's no way we're getting through this mess without organizing it first."
Raynare scoffed, already frustrated, but sat down at the table with us.
I ignored her and started making piles. "We focus on two things: Kokabiel's contacts and his hideouts. Then, we sort by proximity to Northern Italy. If we can narrow it down, we might find a lead."
Akeno nodded, already jotting down a list. "I'll go through his contacts. You and Raynare can handle the locations."
Raynare groaned but didn't object. She grabbed a folder at random and started skimming.
As the night wore on, the study became filled with the rustling of papers and the occasional muttered curse when we came across another dead end. Azazel had long since left to check on stuff in the underworld, and me Akeno and Raynare slaved away over the files.
Of course, I made sure to tell Azazel about Tosca as a sidenote. He said he would look into what he could do to get her out before he left.
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Next day –
I rubbed my temples, exhaustion creeping into my bones. The dim lamp beside me cast long shadows over the desk. I had spent the entire morning and afternoon sifting through hideouts, only to find most of them were either already raided by the Grigori or had gone dark years ago.
Akeno stretched in her chair, letting out a small sigh. "This guy really knows how to cover his tracks."
Raynare tossed a paper onto the discard pile. "Or Azazel already wiped out most of his hiding spots."
I exhaled slowly, rubbing my eyes. "It's like trying to chase a ghost."
Akeno chuckled. "Well, he is a fallen angel." Of course, Akeno still didn't like fallen angels. Talking with her dad once is not enough to get rid of that hatred.
Raynare smirked. "Funny, coming from you."
Akeno's smirk twitched slightly. She closed the folder she had been reading and set it down with deliberate patience, her expression sharpening. "I'm nothing like Kokabiel," she said smoothly, her voice laced with an edge.
Raynare scoffed, leaning forward on the table. "Right. And yet you're so quick to lump all fallen angels together when it suits you."
Akeno's eyes darkened, her playful tone vanishing. "I know exactly what fallen angels are like. Kokabiel is proof of that. He wants nothing but war and bloodshed, just like the rest of you."
Raynare's lips curled into a sneer. "And what does that make me, then? What about Kalawarner? Mittelt? Are we just monsters in your eyes, too?"
Akeno didn't back down. "You killed people, didn't you?"
The air in the room grew thick with tension. My grip tightened on the papers in front of me. This is getting out of hand.
Raynare let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "Oh, that's rich. You, of all people, standing in judgment of me? What gives you the right?"
Akeno's fingers curled slightly, but she didn't respond.
"You know what your problem is?" Raynare continued, her voice laced with venom. "You pretend like you aren't part fallen. You act like your blood is some curse that you can just ignore, but you can't. It's a part of you. Yet here you are, acting high and mighty like some holy executioner, pretending you're better than us."
Akeno's gaze flickered, but her mask remained composed. "You don't know anything about me."
Raynare leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "Oh, I know plenty. Enough to know you're a hypocrite. You call fallen angels monsters, but what are you? You're not just a fallen—you're a devil now, too. You've got the blood of two races, yet you to despise one running through your veins, and yet you stand here, pretending you're above us. As if devils aren't responsible for at least as much as fallen, though it is truly worse what your new people have done. You want to talk about evil? Look in the mirror."
Akeno was about to retort but I intervened.
I yelled at both of them, "This is not helping my brother! You can hate each other on your own time! Focus on the damn files!" After my admonishment they quickly shut up and went back to work.
This is gonna be a long search…
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A/N: So what do you guys think? Any constructive criticism is welcome. Also, be sure to leave a review and power stones as that is my motivation.