Quite a while had passed since the dismissal bell rang, yet the front gate of Saikai Academy was still crowded with students lingering around, some waiting for someone, some lying in wait for someone, and some just chatting.
"Hey, look over there..."
Among the students gathered at the gate, one of them seemed to spot something incredible and immediately pointed toward the entrance, shouting out loud.
"No way. That many..."
"What are the Devils doing? Why are they suddenly gathering so many people..."
"Maybe it is not the Devils going crazy. Have you heard about what has been happening lately..."
What all those bystanders were talking about was a group of more than forty people. Some students even recognized the three well-known figures leading them.
"Damn it..."
From a corner, a man in black stared at the school gate. The moment he saw that scene, a communication Magic Circle appeared beside his ear.
"Boss, today's operation against the Devils is probably going to run into trouble. Those trash bats have gathered under the people from the House of Bael, the House of Gremory, and the House of Sitri, and now they are leaving the school together. What do we do?"
"..."
"Yeah, got it, Boss. I'll inform the others and cancel today's operation right away."
The man in black nodded, ended the call, and looked at the gathered Devils from afar with an ugly expression.
"You sure got lucky. Be grateful you managed to save your miserable lives, you trash Devils. Tomorrow, you will not be that lucky."
He was not the only one forced to change plans on the spot. Because the Devils had chosen to leave school together in a group, several people keeping watch contacted their own leaders, and in the end they all came to the same conclusion.
"Oh my, looks like Rias's idea actually worked pretty well. What a shame. I was already prepared to shock a few people to vent a little. No, to establish authority..."
Feeling the stares that had been fixed on them ever since they came out finally disappear, Akeno Himejima dispersed the lightning in her hand and spoke with a smile.
"Do not say that, Akeno. I already have more than enough trouble on my hands. If you really tear things apart with those people too, I will have to go beg my brother for help."
Walking at the front, Rias stopped when she heard Akeno Himejima's voice and turned back to complain.
"Hehe, it really is rare to see you in such a sorry state, Rias."
"Right? So now that you know your master is drowning in problems, could a certain Queen maybe think of a way to help ease her master's burdens?"
With a shrug, Rias casually accepted Akeno Himejima's teasing, then even turned it around and teased her back for being an incompetent Peerage Member.
...
"It really has been a long time, Cid-kun."
Forcing herself to look calm, Tsubaki Shinra walked to the back of the group with movements that looked natural to her, but were actually quite stiff.
"Yeah, it has been almost half a month, Tsubaki."
Cid casually greeted Tsubaki Shinra as she moved up beside him. At first, he intended to ignore her and just keep walking.
But after a second thought, Cid felt it would be a bit inappropriate to treat his former meal ticket and easy mark like that. He rummaged through his bag, pulled out a box of chocolates Gamma had given him, and handed it over.
"This is for you. A gift for the year of friendship between us."
And also my breakup fee. I hope you will keep our secret.
"Wah, this is... really? Thank you, Cid-kun. I love the gift you gave me. I will definitely treasure it."
Tsubaki Shinra reacted as if she had received something precious. A faint blush appeared on her face as she carefully accepted the chocolate.
It was honestly hard to understand. It was just an ordinary box of chocolate.
Tilting his head, Cid could not understand why Tsubaki Shinra was reacting so strongly. It was not rare. You could buy it as long as you had a little money. Gamma had given him a whole pile of it back then.
As for the taste... Cid could only say it was far too sweet. And yet Gamma seemed to love it. Back when she had sent it to his house, she suddenly started craving some, but had not brought any with her, so he ended up giving Gamma a piece.
Using something Gamma had given him as a gift for Gamma did sound a little strange, but seeing how happily Gamma ate it, he had not thought much of it.
"Ahem, sorry, Cid..."
"?"
Only after carefully putting away the chocolate did Tsubaki Shinra realize that Cid had seen all of her reaction just now, so all she could do was cough awkwardly.
"When I saw you fighting like that for Rias during the match, and then remembered how not long ago you told me you did not want anyone else to know about us, I thought..."
Tsubaki Shinra tried to explain, but stopped halfway through.
Her face was flushed, and she did not dare meet Cid's eyes. In truth, Tsubaki Shinra was overthinking things. Cid's gaze never strayed at all. He kept looking straight ahead at the road, simply doing three things at once, walking with his eyes while using his brain to respond to her.
"But now I understand. I cannot keep letting you move forward alone. I have to take a step forward too..."
He popped a piece of gum into his mouth and kept walking in full left-ear-in, right-ear-out mode. Since he could not understand what she was talking about anyway, he might as well not bother thinking about it.
"By the way, Cid, how did you convince Rias to want to take you in as her Peerage Member? Could it be that you have some special ability, Cid-kun?"
At that, a trace of confusion flashed across Tsubaki Shinra's face, along with a certain expectation in her eyes.
Only heaven knew how shocked she had been. One day Cid told her not to let anyone know they knew each other, and the very next day she saw that he had become Rias's Peerage Member.
Day after day, she had been worrying over how to get her master, Sona Sitri, to approve of her relationship with Cid. Before she could even come up with anything, she received the news that Cid had joined Rias's side.
Even though Cid later seemed to be kicked out by Rias because his body rejected it and because he performed poorly, and even his Evil Piece was taken back, the fact that it had happened at all was shocking enough.
As the Queen of Sona Sitri, who was also Rias's close friend, it was only natural for Tsubaki Shinra to know Rias well. Because of that, she knew very clearly just how strict Rias, who favored an elite force approach, was when choosing her Peerage Members.
"That matter..."
Covering his forehead, Cid recalled how his sister, under the banner of doing it for his own good, had dragged him in front of Rias and told him she had found him a job with strength, benefits, and money, only to cause him nothing but trouble instead.
The corner of his mouth twitched. He glanced at Tsubaki Shinra, and for a moment, he genuinely did not know how to describe his sister. In the end, his lips moved a little before he looked away.
"All I can say is that the reasons are complicated. In short, after going through all kinds of events, my luck was still terrible, and I failed..."
One hand covered the face that was just about to break into laughter as Cid spoke in a deeply sorrowful tone.
He had won big, all right. Back then, the otherworldly Evil Dragons that ganged up on him two against one had been killed by him. Rias's Evil Piece had been dealt with by him. The Eminence in Shadow had once again appeared before the world. His only regret was that the Great Red got away.
"It is okay. This is not your fault. Being able to get that far was already incredible."
Tears welled up in the corners of Tsubaki Shinra's eyes. She could fully imagine how much effort Cid must have put in to obtain such high status and such great power.
To rise from the middle to lower ranks of the entire grade, leap past thousands of others, and finally enter the sight of the proud Rias. Only Cid himself knew how much effort and cleverness that must have taken.
And all of it had been for her, for the noble status and territory that the Underworld government would grant to one of Rias's Peerage Members.
She had always known that a relationship between her and Cid was not really possible, because to people like them, Cid was simply too ordinary.
As Sona Sitri's Peerage Member, after staying by her side for so long, Sona Sitri was not just Tsubaki Shinra's master. She was more like a sister, more like family. Because of that, Tsubaki Shinra could not bring herself to decide something as important as her marriage purely for her own selfish desires.
As a vassal of the future heir to the House of Sitri, if she failed to think of her master's interests and instead married a man who was not a noble and whose strength was only average, how would others see them?
So for the sake of her future happiness, all of her efforts had always been directed toward finding a way for Cid to be with her openly and properly.
The simplest path was actually strength. In this world, the strong stood above all. As long as someone had enough power, money and status would naturally follow. Not only would the people around her stop looking down on her and her happiness, they would even envy her.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
To reach that level of strength, one would need to be at least an Ultimate-Class Devil, in other words, S-class. So she had no choice but to choose the second path, status.
If strength was not enough, that was fine. As long as status kept up, it would still be enough to shut everyone around them up.
In truth, Cid could also be considered a noble. Even if he was only a minor rural baron of the Kingdom of Midgar in World No. 3, that was not a huge problem. At worst, they could use marriage between two worlds as an excuse.
Sadly, that would not work either, because that title had an expiration date. Cid had an older sister above him, and compared to her, his apparent strength fell far too short. That meant the baron title was most likely out of reach for him.
After thinking it through, Tsubaki Shinra realized just how difficult it really was for the two of them to stand together openly. Cid's hard qualifications were simply too poor, so the only thing left was to make up for them through acquired effort.
And becoming a Devil's Peerage Member was undoubtedly one of the fastest ways to do that. For heirs of top-tier families like Rias and Sona Sitri, even though Peerage Members were viewed by most Devil nobles as little better than slaves, they would still properly grant them the status and territory that came with being a Devil's Peerage Member.
But the number of Peerage Members a person could possess was limited. And for positions that could strengthen one's faction, unless there was some internal exchange involving astonishing benefits, no one would hand one of those spots to a boy whose strength, talent, and influence were all average.
That was what truly made things difficult for Tsubaki Shinra.
From the standpoint of a Peerage Member, she did not want an ordinary human like Cid to successfully join Sona Sitri's side, because that would only drag them down.
But from a personal standpoint, she very much wanted Cid to be accepted as one of Sona Sitri's Peerage Members, so he could gain high enough status for the two of them to be together openly.
Cid had probably already noticed this concern of hers. Not wanting to see her so conflicted, he did not beg her to complete the Peerage ritual for him like some kept man. Instead, he chose a different path and planned to rely on Rias to achieve that leap in status.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Tsubaki Shinra felt the tears in her eyes spill out uncontrollably, and her hand instinctively tightened around Cid's arm.
"Um... are you okay?"
Seeing Tsubaki Shinra suddenly grab his arm as if she had remembered something painful, Cid did not pull away. He only asked cautiously.
"I am fine, I am fine. I am just touched."
Wiping away her tears, Tsubaki Shinra held tightly to Cid's arm and showed a bright smile. Cid responded with a polite smile of his own.
He really did not understand how someone could suddenly be so moved just walking along the road. More importantly, why was she wiping her tears on his sleeve?
"Looks like I have finally found the reason my Queen has barely been eating or drinking these past few days."
At some point, Sona Sitri had appeared beside them. She pushed up the glasses on her nose and looked at Cid and Tsubaki Shinra leaning close together, smiling sweetly with that beautiful face of hers.
"Sona!"
The instant she noticed her master had arrived, Tsubaki Shinra snapped out of her private fantasy world and returned to her usual calm expression.
"Yes, Tsubaki. Could you go to the front and keep an eye on the group for me? I would like to speak with him for a bit..."
Sona Sitri originally thought that once she said that, Tsubaki Shinra would obediently go ahead and cover for her. To her surprise, however, Tsubaki Shinra hesitated, her gaze moving back and forth between Cid and Sona Sitri.
"Tsubaki, there are some things you can tell me directly. I am very tolerant toward my Peerage Members."
Sona Sitri gave Tsubaki Shinra a slightly surprised look, then deliberately stressed her words. At the same time, she threw her a look of annoyance over this lack of trust, while also offering a subtle reassurance.
"Hello, Cid-kun. This is our first meeting. I am Sona Sitri. You can call me Sona."
"Mm... first time meeting you. Hello, my name is Cid Kagenou. Please take care of me."
Cid gave Sona Sitri a strange look, then withdrew his gaze and suppressed the smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Cid-kun, did you know? Although I have never said something like Rias does, about treating her Peerage Members as family, I am confident that my feelings toward my own Peerage Members are not the least bit inferior to hers."
Smiling at Cid, Sona Sitri looked just like an ordinary high school girl.
"You can tell. The moment Tsubaki-senpai saw you, Sona-senpai, she looked like a child who had done something wrong and just saw her mother. The bond between you and Tsubaki-senpai really is that good."
This time, Sona Sitri's expression froze.
"Hahaha... Cid-kun, you really do have a way with words. By the way, where do you live? Let me check the map and see if I can adjust the route to head your way earlier."
"Ah, there is no need for that. My address on Itogami Island is pretty far from the school, so I do not mind dropping everyone else off first."
"Hmm. Pretty far, is it?"