[300 PS = 1 Chapter Bonus]
*
"A challenge...?" I muttered, as it was the first time I had seen a system screen like that.
I would have liked to have had more time to look at the challenge description, but it disappeared when my attention was taken by Rias.
"Sure," I replied casually and brushed some strands of her hair aside so they wouldn't get caught in her bra clasp when I closed it. "All done."
"Thanks," she said, turning to face me again. There was a sparkle of amusement in her eyes, as if she were doing all this to test me, to see how I would react.
As much as I was trying to keep a normal expression and a casual tone, I confess that my heart was racing.
Rias then began to get fully dressed, picking up a short skirt and a white blouse that were lying near the bed. She stopped at the bedroom door after getting dressed, looking around as if assessing the space.
Then she looked down, more specifically at my elephant trunk, and smiled out of the corner of her mouth.
"You're a king now, Tonello-kun, but that doesn't mean you're on equal footing with me and my cousin. If you continue to stay on this territory, you'll still need to fulfill your obligations as a devil if you don't want to be considered a stray devil."
"A stray devil?" I furrowed my brow and asked. "It wouldn't make sense for me to be considered one. Theoretically, I have no one to report to."
She turned the doorknob. "You know little about the codes of devils... Come to the Occult Research Club later."
I took a deep breath and nodded. "All right, I'll go."
She laughed, a sweet and gentle sound that was both chilling and frightening, before leaving the room.
Alone at last, I threw myself back on my bed. There was no reason to bother getting dressed now that I was finally alone.
"I can understand the challenge, but becoming a stray devil? I read the entire novel, but I can't remember a 'code of the devils'. What was Rias talking about?"
Stray Devils were what they called devils who renounced their masters. I didn't have a master, so how could I become a stray devil?
"Did I miss something?"
After thinking about it a lot while showering and eating breakfast, I couldn't come up with an answer on my own.
Finally, when I left the house, I felt the first effects of becoming a devil. The sun seemed strangely strong, but not in the way it would have been before. It wasn't the heat that bothered me, but the brightness. Everything was very bright. That was just one of the side effects of becoming a creature of the night.
The colors of the world seemed less vibrant, almost faded, as if my vision was partially obscured by a fog.
In addition, every time the sun hit my skin directly, I felt an uncomfortable itch.
"I thought these effects were... easier to deal with," I muttered to myself, also feeling a strong migraine from the cacophony of sounds I was hearing.
Having super hearing wasn't as good as I thought it would be, especially when I was still learning to control all these things that had suddenly become superhuman abilities overnight.
When I tried to focus my hearing on something so I wouldn't go crazy, I focused on the sound of footsteps.
Curiously, these footsteps grew louder and louder. I didn't know if it was because I was concentrating on them or because they were getting closer, so I turned to look in the direction of the sound and saw a boy in a Kuoh Academy uniform. He wore glasses, had black hair, and was neither very tall nor very short.
"Hey, Tonello-san, are you okay?" he asked, patting me lightly on the shoulder. "You look kind of... dazed."
"No, I'm fine," I replied, massaging my temples. "I just didn't sleep very well last night. You don't need to worry. And... I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but... how do you know my name?"
"Argh!" The boy put his right hand on the left side of his chest, as if he had been shot. "Don't you remember me? I'm Tomoki Kishin. We're in the same class."
"Exactly! That's why I came to talk to you. You left during lunch yesterday and didn't come back."
"I had to deal with a problem at my apartment with my landlord." I thought of the first lie that came to mind. "Apparently, there was a leak in the kitchen and someone needed to be home to let the repairmen in... The problems of living alone."
"That must be difficult. I have to say, your Japanese is impressive. You're an exchange student and you don't even have an accent."
"Thanks, I... really liked anime."
"Really? Me too!"
We continued walking together, and Kishin kept trying to talk to me about anime. Unfortunately, the conversation wasn't very productive because I didn't know any anime from this world. Most of them were either about magical girls or cyberpunk samurai. However, listening to Kishin talk about his favorite anime made my senses focus on him, and my migraine went away.
When we arrived at school, Kishin said goodbye, saying he had to go to the teachers' room, and I went to my classroom.
That morning, Akeno didn't show up for class.
Class started, but my mind quickly wandered away. I was looking forward to the conversation I would have with Rias later.
Time flew by and soon the bell rang to signal the end of classes. A minute later, as I was leaving, I heard a commotion in the hallways. The excited sighs and the girls pressing themselves against the glass to see who it was made me realize it was Yuuto Kiba even before he appeared at the door of my classroom.
"Tonello-senpai, right?" He asked, looking at me with those eyes so blue they were almost gray.
"Yes, that's me. And you're Yuuto Kiba, the most popular boy in school."
He smiled, neither confirming nor denying it. "Rias-san asked me to take you somewhere. Can you come with me?"