Chapter 3: Of Study Sessions and Investigations
Koneko started to get bored by the exercises after just an hour of trying her best at solving the Math problems.
As much as her dedication to her current work and high her devotion to Rias probably were, at least enough to get her to start this slow and soporific study session, nothing did prepare her to deal with the dreadful subject's undeniable difficulty.
She had been twitching once or twice in a while as she had started to notice that her attempts of hopefully get to solve the exercises she had brought for this session were quickly and justly graded with some demoralizing results.
I continued to analyze the minor errors that were sporadically lingering in the papers and most of the time those rendered the equations wrong in several spots and thus unsolved.
It wasn't something to be ashamed for, I had seen some worse cases in both of my lives, and I was careful to point out during my corrections.
In fact, I would even say that Math wasn't certainly the subject I was the strongest at.
But if I have to be incredibly honest over what I was currently working with, I was quite sure that she really needed this kind of help at school if this was her genuine approach to 'easy' tests.
So much that I actually doubted that Koneko was there on Rias' own orders, and that she had really needed some help with her homework.
Much to my delight the sickness I had been suffering earlier today had started to slightly decrease its cruel grasp over my poor brain, making it possible for me to work well with the younger student without showing any worrying sign of fatigue or incapacity to go forward.
But I had yet to sing victory over this circumstance.
Most of the dreadful effects of the Holy energy injection were still there to leave me in a feverish state, something that further burdened my mind as I continued to deal with the explanations to be given to the girl and the corrections of the Nekoshou's complete homework.
She was giving a cute scowl by the end of the first hour, and her golden eyes were narrowing at the piece of paper that I had just finished to evaluate as if it had been responsible for killing her Uncle Ben.
Finally, the silver-haired girl groaned as she was presented with a new sheet of paper with more exercises, with her head slowly falling and banging on the table.
The very adorable scene eliciting a brief smile from me as I felt particularly amused by this very situation.
I had never truly interacted much with Koneko.
There were predicaments that saw me helping around her class as member of the School Council, but I had never singled her out for discussions or conversations.
And the girl didn't have a real motivation to pursue some words with me without any major orders behind such situation, especially with how narrow her perception of the world was in this stage of her life.
School, for Koneko, had to feel more of a hindrance than a proper trampoline for success.
As the Rook of Rias' peerage, there was no reason to doubt that her future was going to be bright despite the major bumps she was suffering with her math issues.
But that is why, despite the overly-annoying headache I was dealing with, I decided to poke around at her 'reasons' to be here right now.
"You know, you haven't told me yet why you decided to choose me to ask for help."
My voice seemed to break through her deflated mood, the girl glancing up to me with a confused look.
"What?" She asked back with a frown.
"There are older students that are more adept in Math than I am," I pointed out calmly. "In fact, I would have expected you to ask to your club's leaders. I think those are Gremory-san and Himejima-san, right?"
The girl blinked in surprise at the explanation, but she gave a solid nod at the last query.
"I-I actually asked but… they have been quite busy in those last few days," The silver-haired Nekoshou replied with a hint of nervousness, and this time it sounded actually truthful to my ears. "There has been some development quite recently. A new member joined the Club-"
"Issei."
She tensed up a little, surprise turning in minor suspicion, but I was quick to continued.
"He mentioned that it was a lucky selection, and by lucky he was talking about-"
"Perverted things," The girl interjected with a proper groan, but then she blinked as some curiosity regained hold over her expression. "Actually senpai, do you know why… he is like that?"
Now, wasn't that a shocker?
I admit that Koneko was never given any scenes beyond the ones where she was with the peerage early on in the anime and it wouldn't be incorrect for a young individual as her to explore the reasoning behind such a strange, and possibly 'disgusting' in her eyes, trait for her newest teammate to have.
Humming quietly at her query, I nodded.
"I suppose I can tell you about what I know about Ise," I muttered quietly, drawing an intrigued look out of the Nekoshou. "But I hope you understand that I will expect you to not tell anyone about this. Think of it as little secret between you and I."
A little annoyance appeared briefly on her face, but she ultimately nodded as I started to explain.
"Ise grew a very lonely childhood. His parents had tried to have a child several times and Issei was something of a blessing to them considering the previous failed attempts and… that meant they coddled him at home without giving him much of a chance of enjoying some time outside," I narrated with a serious voice. "The only childhood friend he had ended up leaving just a couple of months after having known each other and that further pushed him in the introvert state he actually has."
She frowned deeply at this. "But isn't he a pervert? Why would be considered an introvert if-"
"I wouldn't put Issei together with Matsuda and Motohada about perversions," I admitted with a sigh. "Issei joined Kuoh Academy with the idea that he could end up making friends with people, but his first attempt turned out to be a failure when he messed up a conversation with some girls."
"But he is always peeping!" The girl commented heatedly with a huff. "He is still doing something incredibly wrong."
"I think he isn't doing for the sake of being a bad person, but rather to be accepted in a role within the school," I shot back with a sigh. "He preferred to be something, albeit something looked badly at, instead of a true nobody. A clown instead of a shadow."
She scowled. "And why wouldn't he just mind the silence?"
"Because not everyone can live with just the silence," I replied tiredly, making her blink in surprise at the quick response. "You may find it pleasant for so long, but then it gets incredibly uncomfortable at the idea that there might be a hope for them to find sound and noises that are actually lovely to listen to. The chaos that one define as family, friends and other individuals that make life easier to accept as something filled with good and bad things."
Koneko didn't press on that, her eyes falling to stare back to her papers as she slowly began doing some of the calculus.
But I wasn't done yet.
"You shouldn't give up just yet."
She lifted her stare up from the table while keeping her head resting on the furniture as she gave a bored blink back at me, causing me to sigh tiredly at the display of unwillingness to continue.
"About what?" Her inquiry found a smile in my face.
"Stuff in general," I answered with a nod, but I turned to glance at the paper.
"You know, you are actually doing better than I did back when I was your age," I hummed with a truthful voice, looking up in remembrance of… something from my former life. "I was quite the terrible student at Math too. In fact, I had a grave of 0s that almost killed my first year at High School and…"
Man, it's been a while since I thought about home. I wonder how are the others are doing.
It's been so long since I had thought about my old life.
About the simpler times, about the disappointing moments, but also about the little and brief instances of victory that I experienced to the very end.
I wonder how it did all happen. I wonder if I had died or maybe got teleported here-
"And?"
I blinked down, noticing the fascinated tone in the young girl's voice at the topic I've brought up.
Was I getting her attention even now?
Could it be that I was just being a little too paranoid over Rias' activities for any odd situations.
"And I just ended up putting myself into it with some support," I finished the sentence with a quiet tone. "I realized that a helpful hand can take you so far, but most of the effort needs to come from within yourself."
"But isn't it still boring?" She said with some irritation, her voice a little whiny but restrained enough to not sound too childish.
Still, it was quite surprising to hear her speak this much genuinely about her own problems, but I was quick to rule it out as a mere school-related frustration release and more as something far bigger than it looked like.
"It is. I don't think I mentioned 'liking the subject'," I said with a small smile on my face. "Mind you, I still hate Math with a passion even now and I will be the happiest once I end school so that I can get away from those evil numbers..."
There was a brief snort which caught my attention almost immediately, Koneko's hand shot up to her mouth, but I could see her cheeks flaring red in embarrassment at the agreeing noise at my plight.
"As I was saying," I continued with a small twitchy smile in my face, basking in that sight a little more. "Math is not going to get easy, nor you are ever going to like it. You just need to put yourself on the line and deal with it swiftly and efficiently before getting to deal it in some late stage of the year, when it will get quite insane to face even with all the help affordable."
The Nekoshou-in-disguise nodded at this advice, her golden eyes taking in some determined glint while she resumed with her attempts and, much to my glee, I did notice some sudden improvements from her efforts in the next completed sheet.
I noticed that there were still some minor errors in the paper as I looked at the mistakes she made along her calculations, but it wasn't as big of an issue as it had been previously.
She now gave a positive nod at the reduction of red-colored corrections, the change in pace urging her to try more and more with these attempts.
It was after another full hour that I remembered a confusing detail of her current disposition for the calculus.
My eyes soon were frowning at the lack of a certain device while she finished another multiplication done in a paper on the side.
"Koneko, why are you not using a calculator?" I found myself asking quietly, confused by the fact she was doing calculations by hand.
Koneko paused, blinking twice before nodding.
"Sensei said that for this year calculators weren't to be used during tests," She politely replied, glancing back at me with a confused sight. "Why do you ask, senpai?"
"Well, what your teacher is doing isn't condoned by the rules," I pointed out, my tone once again showing some surprise but it was mixed with some annoyance at the fact a sensei might have tried to do this with his class. "Student DO need to have calculators this early in their experience at high school. The exercises are already difficult with those, to think that you did without one..." I finished with a sigh.
Then I nodded to myself as I knew what to do.
"I guess I will have to call Sona-san to tell her about the situation," I commented calmly. "She will be surely fix this issue at once by the time I'm done with that call."
The silver-haired teen looked surprised at the sudden development, but still managed a grateful nod before blinking in dread at a small situation.
"A-Actually..." She said before sighing nervously. "I don't have a calculator back home, senpai."
Now, that was something I could understand for certain reasons.
Since she didn't put much effort in the subject before today, I guess that she didn't mind doing homework without the device.
Still, the girl needed that kind of help and… I slowly walked out of the chair and towards the couch, where my school bag had been resting for a while now.
"Senpai?" Koneko asked in confusion and I nodded as I pulled the small calculator out of my pencil case.
"Tomorrow I will have to skip school again so… you can borrow it."
I placed it on the table, pushing it towards her.
"Once you are done with it, you will just need to give it to Issei and he will pass it to me when he pass around."
She frowned at the mentioning of the pervert. "Why should I even bother talking to him-"
"Because I am asking you to, Koneko-san," I replied with a calm but determined voice. "I know that you are both in the Occult Research Club, so I just hoped you would have the time to do that."
The girl contemplated the dreadful request as she valuated the pros and cons of accepting or not, and in the end she accepted it with a tired look.
"Fine… but I will not do anything else with the pervert, correct?"
I nodded and she hummed in agreement, thus returning back to the practice.
The calculator quickly gave a major boost to her effort, and the time for her to finish the exercises was reduced immensely, allowing her to validate her previous calculations better than before.
Two more hours passed and it was starting to get late enough for dinner when Koneko started to yawn tiredly, her golden eyes softly giving off a sleepy look as she rested a little more on the table.
I smiled and patted her shoulder. "I think you are ready for the exam, Koneko-san."
My words effectively got her attention, her eyes widening in surprise at the quiet declaration and her jaw dropped for a moment.
"B-But there were some mistakes."
"Minor ones," I chided kindly, causing her eyes to twitch in annoyance at my little stern tone. "You are more than ready to deal with the exam without major issues. Get some rest and-"
"B-But I think that I would enjoy more… time here."
…I hope that this isn't proof that I was correct early on.
I hope this isn't about some investigation.
"As I said, Koneko-san, you will have no problems in doing the test. Over-exerting yourself for some nervousness could end up making you too tired to sustain it if you continue to study session," I concluded with a smile.
"So… I should just-" She looked quite skeptical about it, but I wasn't finished yet.
"Go back home, eat something good and healthy for dinner and get some rest. You will deal with the exam with a fresh mind and a healthy body."
At the end of my words she did seem to flash a brief pout, but she quickly hid it by nodding at me.
"U-Understood, senpai."
A few moments later, the little kohai was helped to the door where we exchanged some goodbyes before I found myself dealing with the aftermath of this all.
I felt incredibly exhausted and my mind cried for some well-deserved rest after the crap I had to deal today… but I still had to make some calls before going to get some napping done.
Thus, sitting silently in the couch I spent few moments to regain some mental energy and started to call the two individuals I had to call before the end of the day.
"Tsubaki-san? I hope I'm not disturbing at this late hour but..."
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Somewhere else...
"So… we got a situation."
With those few words, Azazel started the emergency session with most of the leaders at Grigori sitting by the large table of the meeting room.
From Shemhazai to Tamiel, the only one absent to this special sitting was Kokabiel.
Not a major surprise for everyone within the reunion, considering the circumstances behind his possible absence.
The man having long displayed major disinterest in partaking in this kind of meetings after the current leader had started to take a softer approach regarding the dealings with the other factions.
"What did you do?" Shemhazai and Baraqiel asked almost in unison.
The two shared an understanding glance before returning to stare at the frowning Azazel.
"I didn't do anything… this time," The Governor-General admitted with a sigh, the last words with a little bit of embarrassment. "But the situation is still a grave one."
"I hope this is indeed something important, Azazel-kun." Penemue stated, the General Secretary then giving him a teasing smile. "I still have to give you today's paperwork and- oh my, this time its twice than yesterday~."
"Cruel woman," The man started with some fake tears falling off at the mentioning of the greatest threat of them all. "But yes, we have an issue involving our elusive Kokabiel-san."
"The war-hawk?" Shemhazai asked curiously. "I thought he was already monitored after the recent situation about what had happened during World War I-"
"But it seems it isn't enough!" Azazel interjected with an exasperated sigh. "He did some more naughty things behind our backs and..."
The large screen in the room turned on, several documents and bank details of large transfers highlighted.
"We are risking another war."
…
"What?" Baraqiel slammed his closed fists on the desk, creating some minor cracks on it as he stared confused and angered. "Why didn't you inform us of this before?"
"Because I got this information quite recently and… because I had to confirm some curious predicaments within your cadres." The leader explained swiftly, a tired smile on his face as he slouched on his chair. "You know that there are some rebellious elements in everyone's departments, right?"
There was a full minute of silence at that question, some dreadfully nodding while others looking as confused if not more than Baraqiel.
"You mean that Kokabiel could… spark a civil war within Grigori?" Armaros asked cautiously, looking around the table and finding some nods of agreement at his legitimate query.
"He could but… I think he will not do it now," Azazel replied with a careful voice. "At least not until he is sure to have the power to win the eventual struggle."
The man then stood up, his eyes continuing to glance at the documents visible from the screen.
"I think he is trying to poke hard at the Church and at the Devil's faction to spark the second conflict."
"And you are sure of this… because?" Tamiel inquired while frowning at the precise theory, confused over the accurate thinking.
Yet Azazel did smile and gave him a nod.
"Because he has been buying the loyalty of some stray exorcists sited in Rome," He answered with an irritated voice. "I think he is aiming to steal something from them or maybe even go as far to kill some important figure."
"He isn't suicidal to go after the Pope." Shemhazai considered carefully and quickly.
"But he would give a try to kill a Cardinal and get some attention shifted away from Japan," The leader interrupted with a serious look.
"Why Japan of all places?" Tamiel mused over, glancing at the sighing man.
"Because that is the place alluded by my little source," The Governor-General pointed out with a sigh. "He did mention that a group of Fallen Angels went rogue after some simple orders of watching over an interesting subject in Kuoh Town."
Baraqiel shifted nervously, knowing that his daughter lived there.
"K-Kuoh Town? What were they doing here?"
"The Red Dragon Emperor," Azazel revealed with some little hesitation, having kept the news limited to just a few of the members in that room. "I found him almost a decade ago in that part of the world and I just wanted to make sure to get him to join to Grigori once he was old enough to train."
"What did the group do then? Did they kill him perhaps?" Penemue suggested but, seeing Azazel nodding at her, she let her eyes widened in shock. "What!? You mean to tell me some recruits of Grigori went that far to go against an order from you? Who are this idiots?!"
"Raynare, Mittelt, Kawalarner and Dohnaseek."
The answer got some heads to shake.
"You sent some rebellious fools and you expected them to not get cocky about their roles? What did you smoke, Azazel?" Sahariel finally stated, annoyed by how things were turning out to be grim this suddenly.
"I tried to have them re-assigned somewhere else but…" He took a brief pause, then sighed again. "I got news that someone of high importance decided to have them still sent there."
"Kokabiel?" Baraqiel suggested and was met with a nod. "Damn it!"
Some furious whispers were exchanged through the table and the leader of Grigori let this happen for a while, trying to get everyone to release some steam before continuing.
Much to his displeasure, his close friend and Vice decided to ask a very important but uneasy question to answer.
"Still, you mentioned a source giving you all this material," Shemhazai inquired with a frown. "How do we know that this isn't just a trap from Kokabiel so he could gain some advantage?"
Azazel looked partly hesitant as he considered his next words and… that was weird for everyone present to the meeting.
Their leader, as much as sheepish he might sound once in a while, would never look this much clueless about something in any particular situation.
"I… might have got news that one of the members of Raynare's camp had been killed," Azazel admitted with a hum. "Dohnaseek was found dead in Kuoh's park and the wounds that were found on him were caused from a Light Spear created by him."
"You mean he impaled himself?" Tamariel asked with a quizzical look on his face.
"No, the angles which the holes were found suggested that someone took his weapon and used it to kill him," Azazel answered without hesitation. "And the possibility that this was committed by a fellow Fallen Angel is disproved by something else our investigator found in that place."
"And that is? Don't keep us in the dark, Azazel." Baraqiel pressed on, now intrigued by the situation considering whom lived in that city.
The leader blinked and then smiled once more.
"Silver Lining. Several seals to be exact were found and were supposedly used to keep the man's body stuck as he was killed by his aggressor."
"Isn't that basic magic… that even humans can use?" Penemue muttered curious about this whole development. "Do you think it was a human that caused it and then sent you this info?"
"It wouldn't be a Devil because our Fake Holy energy would hurt them and I've carefully tried to find any possible candidate that could best fit with the message and… our technical staff might have found some leads. All of them students." The man nodded at his own suggestion. "The equipment used to send the crypted message isn't nothing to scoff at, especially since only a handful of people in Kuoh seems to have the resources to not only afford the technology but also be capable of using it."
Baraqiel sighed. "So you think there is a young Magician at Kuoh Academy?"
"That is correct idea, my dear friend!" Azazel clapped his hands once to praise the intervention. "But I think I will be able to get some more proof once I will be there to personally oversee the scene and the area to find my elusive contact."
Shemhazai's face darkened at the last bit of his proclamation.
"Azazel, you are not leaving me to deal with the paperwork-"
"Sowwy, Shemmy, but I've already taken a ticket for a flight to Japan for tomorrow," The man-child hummed without restraint. "I'm sorry I didn't give much of a notice to deal with, but this is an… emergency~."
"You will not leave me to face her-"
But the outburst from the close friend was interrupted by quite the sudden action that followed.
"Too late~!"
In that very instant, the windows on the side of the building broke as a laughing Azazel deployed his wings and flied out of the building, leaving behind some surprised subordinates to clean his mess.
An incensed Vice-Director tried and failed to give chase at the escaping Falle Angel as a giggly Penemue latched at him, in her hands already the notes about the amount of paperwork he would have to deal today and tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a chuckling Baraqiel stared at this familiar scene from afar, keeping himself away from be yanked to face the dreadful fate his good friend was going to subjected with.
This very situation proved how refusing the offer of becoming the Vice to the organization years ago had been a wise one, already knowing well enough how Azazel would have made him suffer through his career by dropping on his already imposing stack of paperwork his own tower of suffering.
And yet, as he contemplated over the behavior of his old friend, the man couldn't but consider the nervousness the man had while talking about the Red Dragon Emperor and… the situation at Kuoh.
It's been so long since he had seen his baby girl and maybe it would have done Shuri happy if he had finally gone and see how she was faring as the Queen of Rias Gremory, after so many years of avoiding meeting up with her.
It didn't help that his paternal instincts were acting up at the knowledge that Kokabiel was planning something terrible right in the city where his baby girl was trying to enjoy a normal life as a student at high school.
Part of him also wondered if their daughter got other than her Mama's appearance also her 'interesting' personality bits. How nostalgic, how intriguing!
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AN
So I've fixed some stuff here. Some alterations have been impressed in this chapter and… that's it. Nothing else to add.
Maybe an early omake? Who knows.
Last edited: Mar 29, 2020