POV: Haruki
Let me preface this with something very important: Uno is not a game. Uno is war. Uno is the psychological battleground where relationships die, alliances crumble, and chaos reigns supreme. Uno is the ultimate test of character, morals, and how far you're willing to go to not draw sixteen cursed cards.
"You can't put a +2 card on a +4 card. That goes against the rules," Rias said, arms crossed and that smug Gremory pout activated. Her nails tapped against her arm rhythmically, a subtle sign of how deeply she was committed to winning this stupid match.
"What rules? There are no actual rules in Uno. It's cultural anarchy. The cards are just vibes. Of course you can stack a +2 on a +4. That's basic Uno escalation logic. I didn't make the rules, nature did." I replied, spreading my hands like a prophet delivering truth to the masses.
We were playing "family bonding time," aka Rias's idea of quality peerage interaction: Uno. Which sounds harmless until you realize teenagers are inherently competitive and also have a flair for melodrama. Add that to our emotional baggage and general need to prove dominance, and you've basically weaponized Mattel.
Anyway, I was about to win. Two cards left. Then boom: Akeno, Issei, Koneko, and Kiba, traitors, all, stacked +4s like they were building the Tower of Babel, leaving me to draw 16 cards. Or I would've, if I hadn't pulled out a glorious +2 like Excalibur from the stone. And now Rias was trying to gaslight me with non-existent Uno law because she would be the one to draw 18 cards if it went through.
Uno isn't a card game. It's a test of how long you can stay friends with someone before threatening them with a fireball.
"You can't just make up rules because you're about to lose!" Rias said, full-on redhead rage mode.
"You're literally inventing rules right now. This isn't Yu-Gi-Oh. We don't need a judge. Just let me stack!" I said, slamming the +2 card down with the flair of someone who took great joy in being insufferable.
Kiba, the human embodiment of a truce flag, chimed in: "Guys, it's really not that serious. We can just agree on rules and restart the game."
"It is that serious," Rias and I said in unison, locking eyes like duelists about to activate our trap cards. This wasn't about Uno anymore. This was personal.
Uno isn't just a card game. It's a psychological warfare simulator, a stress test for friendships, and a detailed personality analysis tool. It exposes your true self. Apparently, mine is that of a petty tyrant with no shame, and Rias's is... the same but with better hair.
Issei and Akeno were the real villains here, sitting back like popcorn-guzzling Reddit mods watching a flame war unfold. I expected this from Akeno, she's sadistic, but Issei too? Turns out the guy is a chaos goblin. And he was clearly enjoying the way Rias's breasts jiggled every time she yelled. Understandable, really. Horny, but understandable.
"I'm so sick of you making up rules when you're losing!" Rias yelled, now mocking my voice like we were in a schoolyard. Her hands flailed mid-air as she mimicked me. "'Well actually, you have to say Uno before your last card...' Like shut up, nerd."
"That's literally the actual rule. It's called Uno because you say Uno when you have one card. That's not a house rule, that's branding." I threw my hands up, because sometimes justice demands jazz hands.
"Just because you're a spoiled brat who always gets his way doesn't mean you're always right," Rias snapped, jabbing a finger at me.
"Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?" whispered Issei to Akeno. Akeno giggled. Of course she did. She feeds off this.
"Hey, I heard that," I said, glaring at him.
Things escalated, because of course they did, and Rias stood up, flipping the table. "You wanna take this outside, you bastard?"
"Bring it on, bitch," I replied with a shit-eating grin. My posture was already halfway into a shounen battle stance.
Kiba and Issei held me back, while Koneko and Akeno restrained Rias. Honestly, it looked like a WWE standoff.
"Time out, time out," Akeno said, laughing as though we hadn't just declared card-based blood war.
Eventually, the committee of Reasonable People (read: Kiba) called for a truce and suggested we play something less likely to trigger nuclear escalation: Truth or Dare. The ultimate peacekeeping tool of hormonal teens.
You'd think that would be safer. It wasn't.
At first, things were pretty chill. Kiba asked Koneko how many kids she wanted (zero, obviously). Issei dared Akeno to do a tango with a broom, which she absolutely did while making sultry eye contact with literally everyone.
Then Rias, still salty about the Uno war, asked, "Truth or dare, Haruki?"
"Dare," I said instantly. I'm not a coward. I leaned back, arms behind my head, smirking like someone who had nothing to lose and everything to flex.
"Strip. Everything except your pants."
Everyone paused.
She thought I'd hesitate. She assumed I had shame.
She assumed wrong.
I stripped off everything but my pants, revealing a toned body born from training montages, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and a total disregard for sleep.
"Ara ara~ Aren't you a naughty boy?" Akeno teased, fingers suggestively in her mouth.
"Damn, bro. You work out?" Issei said, eyes wide.
"Of course," I said, channeling peak Greek gym bro. "No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which he is capable."
"Hegel speaks of this," Issei said smugly, doing the fake anime glasses push.
"No, he doesn't. Did you even read any of his books?"
"No. Did you?"
"no."
Peak intellectualism achieved.
Rias looked annoyed that I took her dare without blinking. She expected to fluster me, but I am unflusterable. Mostly because I have the social grace of a reality TV villain. Also, shame is for people without abs.
"Truth or dare?" I asked Rias, voice serious. I crossed my arms now, standing tall like an executioner about to pass judgment.
"Dare," she said, prideful and reckless. Her tone was defiant, but I could see the micro-twitch in her eye. She wasn't expecting mercy.
"I commend your bravery. The hardest choices require the strongest wills," I said solemnly, quoting Thanos. Not that they'd get it. Avengers isn't even a thing here yet.
"I dare you ...to give a three-minute stand-up comedy routine."
Shock. Confusion. Betrayal.
Everyone expected me to retaliate with horny energy. But I'm not a basic anime protagonist who fumbles every time a girl gets naked. Okay, I am that, but I've got a strategy. That wasn't the dare anyone expected. Certainly not Rias, who was already mentally preparing to strip in retaliation. But I don't just do petty. I do tactical petty.
Rias is a shameless nudist. Daring her to strip would be like daring a fish to swim. No, what she hates is looking uncool. Looking unfunny? That's her nightmare.
"Bro, you blew your chance. You were supposed to be the chosen one," Issei moaned, like I'd just left him burning on Mustafar.
You don't understand, Issei, I thought she thought she could out-petty me. I was born in the petty. Molded by it.
"You thought you were the player? Well, nice to meet you. I'm the coach," I told her, basking in my own smugness.
Cringe? Maybe. But I felt like the main character. And that's what matters.
"That was so cringe, dude," said Issei.
"Yeah? Well, fuck you too," I replied.
Rias tried to protest, but she followed through. And her jokes? They weren't funny. Like, at all. Think open-mic night in hell. Kiba smiled politely because he's Kiba. Issei laughed way too hard because he's Issei. Doing anything to hit. I respect the commitment.
Rias finished her comedy set. No one clapped. She glared at me with a look that promised vengeance.
Uno may have ended, but the war was far from over.
Truth or Dare had never been this dangerous.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone had gone. Uno was over. Truth or Dare had left its psychological scars. The emotional damage was real. I was halfway to ghosting out of the clubroom when I noticed Rias hadn't moved.
She stood there, arms loosely crossed, not looking at me but clearly thinking at me. You know that look people get when they're clearly thinking about something but pretending to admire the view? Yeah. That.
So I sat down. Not because I'm emotionally available or whatever, but because my gut said this wasn't over. And because bailing on your boss mid-existential crisis is technically an HR violation. Probably.
"You didn't leave with the others," Rias said, without turning around.
Haruki glanced up. "You looked like you had something to say. Figured it'd be rude to Irish goodbye after the whole table-flipping incident."
She cracked a smile, barely. "You read the room better than you let on."
"Not my first dysfunctional game night." I slouched further into the couch, arms behind my head. "I've been through Monopoly sessions that ended in blood feuds."
A pause. Not dramatic, awkward. Just long enough to imply something heavy was loading in the background.
"Can I ask you something?" she said finally.
" I mean, you resurrected me. Pretty sure that comes with a lifetime Q&A pass."
She turned, her expression unreadable. "...Do you hate me?"
The question came out way softer than expected. No smug tone. No 'Gremory pride' filter. Just quiet, real.
"No," I said, flatly. "You're annoying sometimes, but you're not hateable."
She smiled a little, like that answer satisfied her but also confirmed something she'd already known. Or hoped.
She finally looked at me. "Then why do you act like being here is a prison sentence?"
There it was. The devil-shaped elephant in the room.
"It's not about you," I said, which is, admittedly, what people say right before making it about you. "It's the whole 'slave-by-reincarnation' thing. I don't do well with… servitude. Or authority. Or hierarchies built on soul-binding magical chess pieces."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You say I act like it is a prison sentence. well…..Because it kind of is. I didn't exactly apply for this gig. I died helping you fight a cyclops. Next thing I know, I've got horns and a job title I never asked for. You're nice, unnaturally nice, for a devil, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm bound to you. Whether I wanted it or not."
She crossed her arms.
"You're not a slave," she said, mildly defensive.
"Semantics," I said, flatly. "I didn't sign a contract. I didn't agree. You resurrected me without a conversation. Consent kind of died with me, Rias."
That landed. Her mouth tightened, like she wanted to argue but couldn't find a loophole.
"I didn't want you to die," she said. "You threw yourself in front of that cyclops to protect me. You didn't even really know me."
Dumbest decision of my life. And yet, I don't regret it.
In hindsight, sure, I could say Rias was powerful enough to survive the last cyclops. Probably. But I didn't know that. For Big G's sake, the only thing I remembered from the anime was that she was hot. I skipped half the damn plot. I had no clue how peerages worked. I vaguely recalled her vaporizing that fallen angel girl, but that told me nothing about how she'd handle giant mythological murder-beasts. And cyclopes? I'm pretty sure they weren't even in the show. Then again, past-me was too busy skipping scenes to get to the jiggle physics, so what do I know?
But in that moment? I didn't know if she'd survive. She fell into a trap. She could've died. And what was I supposed to do, just stand there or run and let a classmate get crushed?
What would I even say to my conscience?
Sorry, virtue wasn't convenient today?
No. I jumped.
"I know. And I don't blame you. Reckless stupidity is kind of my thing," I said, shrugging. "But I don't regret helping. I just didn't think the price would be… this. Waking up and realizing I'm technically property now? That's a different kind of death."
Rias didn't respond immediately. Instead, she shifted her weight to one foot, conversational vulnerability unlocked, and said, "You're insanely talented. Maybe more than anyone I've seen. You pick up magic like it's instinct. And yet you always look like you're waiting to escape."
"Because I am," I said, admitting what might be considered treason, but unless I horrifically misjudged Rias's character then she wont really try to harm me. "Even if there's nowhere to go. Because it's not about the place, it's about the principle. About being mine."
That earned me silence. Not angry silence. Processing silence.
"...So you hate the peerage system."
"Obviously. I'm a shonen protagonist, Rias. I have to be allergic to authority. It's in the contract."
She laughed quietly at that, but her expression didn't really soften. She was thinking. That kind of intense, Gremory-brand contemplation that usually led to bad things for other people and great drama for her.
"But you don't hate me."
"Nope."
"So what do you want, Haruki? You want me to release you?"
"Would you?"
She didn't answer right away.
She was quiet again. Then she smiled, but not the smug kind. The sad kind.
"Alright then," she said suddendly. "Let's make a deal."
My internal alarms pinged. Whenever devils offer deals, you either get scammed, seduced, or sent to another dimension.
I raised my eyebrow. "Devils making deals? What an original concept.
"You'll stay in my peerage," she continued, ignoring my sarcasm. "but with an open mind. I won't force you to do contracts. I won't ask you to raise your status or play politics. I'll respect your boundaries. But for six months, you try. You learn. You live with us. If at the end of that, you still feel like you don't belong, like this isn't freedom, I'll release you. I'll even make sure you're not declared a stray."
I narrowed my eyes. "Why go that far? You didn't have to offer me a choice. I'm technically bound to you already. What's the angle?"
She looked away, then back at me, almost shy. Shy. From Rias Gremory. Unheard of.
"Because I see my peerage as family. Not property. I don't want to force anyone to be here who doesn't want to be."
Her voice softened more than I thought possible.
"And… because you risked your life to protect me. I won't repay that by taking away your freedom. Even if it's to my advantage."
...Okay, emotionally disarming me was not part of the game plan.
I sat down slowly. "Damn. That's the most un-devil-like thing a devil's ever said to me."
She rolled her eyes, but the smile was back. "Take it or leave it."
"...Alright. Deal," I said. "But you better keep your word. No shady fine print or surprise clauses where I end up sold to the Sitri clan or something."
"Cross my heart," she said, doing the gesture. " And besides it is a formal deal. So I can't go back on my word" she added.
There was a pause. Comfortable, for once.
"Can I ask something?" I said. "why were you that hyped about my magic potential?"
Her expression faltered for a second.
"Because," she said, "I thought you might be able to help me."
I raised an eyebrow. "Help you… how?"
She exhaled, sitting beside me. No drama. No theatrics. Just… honest.
"I'm betrothed. To someone I don't want to marry. My family made the deal years ago. I have until I graduate university before the pressure starts. But if I can build a powerful enough peerage—strong, loyal devils who stand with me. I plan to challenge it. Break it. Win my freedom."
I blinked. "Wow. So we're both prisoners, just in different flavors. That's almost poetic. Should we start a club?"
That explains why Issei barged into the engagement party. If I had paid attention to the anime, I wouldn't have to worry about how I'm going to escape this servitude. I could have used that knowledge to make a better plan, but oh well.
She gave a tired laugh. "Exactly. That's why I understand your desire to be free. I'd be a hypocrite not to.I would've hated me too, if I were in your shoes. I also want the freedom to choose. To marry someone I love and who loves me back. Not someone who sees me as a status upgrade."
I raised an eyebrow. "So you were hoping I'd be your secret weapon?"
"Kind of."
I laughed. "Man, we really are in an anime. 'Beautiful noble lady coerced into marriage enlists the help of her rebellious underling to win her freedom.'"
"I hate that you're not wrong."
"Does this make me the brooding antihero or the shonen comic relief?"
"You're both. With abs." said Rias looking at my body.
"Damn right."
"Is your fiancé really that bad?" I asked, cracking a grin.
She laughed again, this time with more warmth. "Honestly? As far as devils go, he's not awful. Arrogant. Entitled. But not evil. Just… not someone I feel anything for. Not someone I want."
I nodded slowly. "...Yeah, I get that."
And I did. More than I wanted to admit.
"Well," I said, holding out my hand. "Six months. No orders. No manipulation. Just… mutual agreement."
She took my hand and shook it.
"Deal."
And for the first time since I got reincarnated into this nonsense, it almost felt like I chose to be here
AN: Another chapter done! I had a lot of fun writing the first half with the whole Uno game and the Truth-or-Dare chaos, it practically wrote itself. The second half, though? A bit trickier. Emotional dialogue and character interactions are tough to get right, but I did my best. If you've got any tips on how to write better character dynamics or emotionally engaging conversations, I'd really appreciate it.
That said, I hope the chemistry between the characters felt fun and alive, without making either of them feel boring or overbearing. Balancing that kind of back-and-forth is a challenge, but it's something I'm working on.
Also, before anyone jumps me over the whole "he made a deal with Rias, so he must be fine with being her servant now" thing, nope. Haruki's stance on slavery hasn't changed and won't change. He's not okay with it and never will be. The deal he made with Rias is more of a strategic compromise, a way to work toward freedom without immediately becoming a criminal or blowing up the system from the inside. He's playing the long game.