"I think that last part was unnecessary, Issei really considered you his friend" Rias said, frowning. As she had explained before, they had no other choice, so she understood Kaito's actions, but telling him that he did not like him seemed unnecessary, especially for someone as immature as Issei, who had already recently been betrayed by the person he considered his first girlfriend.
Upon hearing her, Kaito could only shrug.
"It was necessary. After all, if I excused myself by saying that he is a pervert as a reason for not bringing him with me, wouldn't that make me a hypocrite if I later acted like a pervert?" Kaito explained. "And I know more perverted people, it's simply Issei who I personally don't like.
Besides, we've only known each other for a few weeks and almost the only interaction we've had is greeting each other and training once. If he thinks that we're friends just because of that, then he's too naive and immature"
"You make it sound as if you've lived through too many things" Rias said. "Even so, so you don't make friends with simple people anymore? Do you see other people as useful or useless resources?"
"I think you don't understand" Kaito sighed. "I already told you that it's simply Issei who I don't like.
It's true that I have a method to know who is trustworthy and who I can approach, as well as knowing the usefulness or potential of people, but I don't simply see other people based on their usefulness.
For example, Kiba doesn't have much potential, even so, I recruited him to my territory because he's someone I know I can trust"
"But you can also trust Iss..."
"Rias, shut up, Kaito can do whatever he wants" Koneko interrupted her.
"I-I am sorry" Rias immediately apologized, realizing that she had overstepped.
"It's fine, I really don't care" Kaito didn't pay any attention to her words. He couldn't expect everyone to agree with his opinions. Just as he wouldn't reproach Koneko for agreeing with him.
"Kaito" Once that was over, Koneko looked at him with her golden eyes shining with anticipation.
Kaito simply smiled at this and handed her a small semi-physical scarlet sphere.
"Ahhhh"
Kaito inserted it directly into her chest, and Koneko took a deep breath in surprise for a second before feeling the changes in her body.
To her disappointment, she didn't really feel anything noticeable, so she could only skip that part and go directly to the end. She closed her eyes and imagined the most powerful thing she knew.
"Trihexa" she murmured, remembering the name Kaito had told her when she related what she had seen before dying.
A scarlet gauntlet appeared on her left arm, but not only that, the green gems on it also lit up and an agitated voice spoke.
"Damn it, girl, are you trying to scare me to death? What is that thing you imagined?" The one speaking was Ddraig's consciousness, the Red Dragon Emperor and the one from whom God created the Boosted Gear.
"Ddraig, did you get scared?" Koneko teased, since she already knew that voice from before she died.
"Me, scared? Don't talk nonsense, I was just surprised to be awakened out of nowhere by a presence comparable to Dream or Infinity" Ddraig snorted indignantly.
Even through a simple memory, Ddraig was able to feel Tribeca's immense power.
But while Koneko talked with the dragon and felt her own power, the rest of the room looked at Kaito in disbelief.
"K-Koneko?! You took the Boosted Gear and you didn't even use it yourself?!" Rias exclaimed incredulously.
"I have my own path" Kaito nodded.
"B-but even so, the Boosted Gear can double your power every ten seconds, what will you do if it becomes stronger than you?"
"Koneko is already stronger than me" Kaito replied naturally. "Although I can defeat her if I use my most powerful abilities, she is stronger overall"
"Is that okay? What if... well, she..." Sona asked quietly, hesitating.
Kaito raised an eyebrow before realizing what she meant.
"Pffft. Koneko, betray me? Don't talk nonsense" Kaito laughed without hesitation.
"That's incredible trust."
"Of cou..." Kaito was about to agree when he realized who was speaking. "You're awake, how much did you hear?"
"Most of it" Grayfia replied, getting back up and sitting next to Rias, who quickly made room for her.
"And how much do you believe?"
"...most of it"
"Seriously?" Kaito raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"Before I answer, I want you to answer something" Grayfia said, looking at Kaito with absolute seriousness and something else. "You... don't remember me?"
"Remember you?" Kaito frowned before thinking of something. "Is this about the Great War?"
"Yes!" Grayfia opened her eyes excitedly and immediately nodded.
"No"
But Kaito's answer immediately disappointed her.
"What about this?" Grayfia extended her hand forward and showed the upper part of her palm. A black circle no more than four centimeters in diameter appeared on her clean, pale skin.
Kaito observed it for a moment. He managed to feel some kind of connection linking that tattoo to him, but it was too weak for him to know more.
"No" Kaito honestly replied, repeating his answer. But before the expression on Grayfia's face could worsen, he continued explaining. "The truth is that I still haven't gone to the Great War"
"Still?" Grayfia asked in confusion.
"Yes, I haven't been there. Ophis also told me before that she had seen me there, so I'll most likely travel back in time there in the future"
"Travel... through time?" Grayfia repeated incredulously. "Is it really that easy to do that?"
"Not really. I've only done it a few times."
"A few times" Grayfia repeated as if she had just heard something insane. And honestly, it is.
"Then, whatever it is that you know about me hasn't happened yet, so I'm sorry to disappoint you.
By the way, what happened there that made you believe me?"
"I don't really know" Grayfia answered. "It happened a long time ago and I was barely present, so I don't know the full story.
I know that halfway through the war, two people broke through the dimensional barrier and arrived in our world. They paid no attention to anything while they fought, causing enormous casualties among all the factions in just a few minutes.
After a while, one of them started losing and retreated, but for some reason, when they saw me during their escape, they went straight toward me and attacked me.
I don't remember anything after that since I was young, but according to what I was told, one of these beings stopped because they were concerned about me, which the other took advantage of to escape.
This person inserted some kind of black token into my hand and then I was healed. After that, they left to chase the other person through the dimensional rift opened earlier.
They never appeared again and it was erased from most records. Only one connection remained with that"
"Only one connection?" Kaito asked.
"Me" Grayfia replied, placing a hand over her chest. "As soon as I woke up, I was investigated. Apparently, this thing has a connection to someone. That, along with the concern and healing from before, was interpreted as a claim from those people, and I was turned into their fiancée in case they ever returned"
"And that person is me, huh?" Kaito easily guessed.
"Traveling through time just to get yourself another girlfriend. Definitely something Kaito would do" Koneko joked, having finished her business.
"Actually, since she is my fiancée and will help me here, it's because I saved her in the past, you know? I didn't get a girlfriend, I saved my girlfriend" Kaito corrected her.
"But I'm only your fiancée and I'll help you this time because you saved me before" Grayfia said in confusion.
"Ahhh, paradoxes, what interesting and confusing things" Kaito sighed with a smile.
"Now that I think about it, I think I had read something about that in the Old Devil's library when I killed them all" Koneko murmured, suddenly remembering.
""You killed what?""
"What?!"
While Rias and Sona were surprised by who Koneko had killed, Kaito was surprised by something completely different.
"You're talking about the first time, right? Are you sure you saw that?" Kaito asked seriously.
"Yes. I don't remember too much because I didn't pay attention to it at the time. But there were several books that talked about an event called The Great War: the battle between two beings from another world. And there were also quite a few that talked about Grayfia and her political importance" Koneko explained.
"I see" Kaito nodded, thinking about the implications.
"Is this important?" Rias asked.
"Yes, that means I won't be traveling through time within this specific simulation, but I'll be traveling in the real DxD" Kaito explained. 'And as far as I know from information from the system and Gid, once all the divinity of a world has been absorbed, it completely disappears from reality, which includes time. So there shouldn't be a DxD in the past'
"DxD?"
"That's what I call your universe, don't worry about it"
"I-I see. How interesting" Rias said, nodding.
"Pffft." Akeno immediately laughed upon seeing her serious and 'deep' expression. "Rias, you have no idea why he's being so serious, do you?"
"A-Akeno?! Of course I know" Rias retorted, blushing.
"It's fine, there's no way for us to understand the seriousness of that because we don't understand the entire context, so you don't have to pretend you understand" Akeno said.
"Y-You're right" Rias said, feeling less stupid than she had a second ago.
"Rias, you're being pretty stupid right now, so don't worry" Koneko said as well.
"That's not making me feel any better" Rias complained.
"So, leaving aside all the explanations and everything we have to talk about later, you'll help me this time, right?" Kaito made sure, ignoring the exchange between the girls.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)