The next day after the Occult Research Club returned to Kuoh.
"Hey, did you hear it?" Issei whispered as he leaned closer from his seat. Kousuke turned to look at his friend, confusion clearly written on his face. He glanced around, immediately noticing a pattern: their classmates were unusually excited about something.
"You don't know, do you? I heard we will be getting transfer students!" Issei elaborated with a hint of excitement in his tone. Apparently, someone had accidentally run into the said students this morning. Stunned by their beauty, he'd spread the news around like wildfire.
"Does it matter? We already have girlfriends—oh, sorry, let me rephrase that. I already have girlfriends. Yes, the 's' at the end is very crucial," Kousuke said with a smug grin. He likes poking fun at the 'harem king' whenever he could.
A vein popped on Issei's temple. That bastard was clearly mocking him, his dream more specifically. His friend might have surpassed him for now, but not for long!
"Fuck you."
"Woah, language. Is that the same mouth you used to kiss Rias this morning? Poor girl," Kousuke replied, shaking his head with disappointment like a stereotypical Asian parent. Before Issei could retort, their homeroom teacher entered the classroom.
"Alright, back to your seats and quiet down," he said, smacking a book lightly on the desk to get everyone's attention. "As you may have heard, we got two transfer students joining us today. Please come in and introduce yourself to the class."
As the girls stepped into the room, silence fell for a beat—then the classroom exploded with excited chatter, especially from the boys.
But to Issei's surprise, he recognized them almost immediately. It was his childhood friend he had met just a week ago.
"Hi~ I'm Irina Shidou! I'm new in town, so please take care of me!" she said energetically with a cheerful wave. Her bright attitude only sent the boys into a second wave of excitement before they were silenced by the teacher's stern glare.
"Xenovia Quarta. Pleased to meet you," said the blue-haired girl beside her, calm and composed. She offered only the bare minimum, but her eyes scanned the classroom—pausing briefly when they landed on Kousuke and Issei. She gave them a small nod before the teacher directed the girls to take the only open seats… conveniently just behind them.
"Eh? The rumored beautiful transfer students were them?" Issei muttered, disbelief plastered on his face.
While the future harem king was still reeling, Kousuke just shrugged before looking outside the window. He knew trouble wasn't over just yet. Freed had been destroyed by him, and they successfully retrieved the Excalibur fragments alongside the Saint's corpse. Though the latter is just an old coffin now when Freed's power-up consumed the Saint's corpse.
'So why are they still here?'
Now that Kousuke thinks a little bit more, he doesn't really care of their reasoning. Even if one day they comes to ask for his agreement to live with him, he wouldn't blink. Of course he would refuse in a heartbeat.
Deep in thought, Kousuke was pulled back into reality when he saw an orange cat jumping on the nearby building's rooftop. Then it abruptly turned around as if sensing his gaze, but unable to find the source, the cat simply continues chasing after the blowing plastic bag into the horizon.
He suddenly missed Yasaka's fluffy tails.
Poke. Poke.
Kousuke turned slightly when he felt a blunt prod on his back. Irina was smiling at him, and the short stick in her hand quickly morphed back into a glowing string that tied snuggly around her arm—it was her weapon, Excalibur Mimic.
"Would you mind showing me around town later? I haven't been here for so long you know?" she whispered, one hand cupped beside her mouth.
He stared at her for a moment before shifting his gaze toward Issei, who was pretending to be listening to the class. Both of them are Irina's childhood friends, so he doesn't understand why she was picking on him. The look on Kousuke's face explained his thought without him having to say it out loud, 'Why not ask someone else? Especially that dude pretending to focus in class.'
"I want to use this chance to reconnect… y'know, make up for lost time. Pretty please~"
Kousuke let out a sigh.
"Then ask Issei. I'm not your only choices, is it? In fact, I can see him agreeing without a second thought if you bring it up at him."
Irina pouted at his casual dismissal. She thought she could hit two birds with one stone—gather intel on him while reconnecting as childhood friends. Even Xenovia had agreed with her plan beforehand.
Kousuke seemed colder than she remembered. He used follow her along without complain as kids. Something must've changed him, Irina thought. She couldn't help but recalled the matter of his disappearance. Back then, she might have return to Kuoh to look for him upon hearing the news, if only she wasn't busy training in Europe.
Looking at his profile from behind, Irina wondered what was he thinking about with that serious look on his face. Did he somehow knows her goal for approaching him?
In truth, he was just debating whether to sneak off to Yasaka's mansion on lunch break later. It wasn't that far from Kuoh, at least from his perspective.
Anyhow, Irina didn't give up. In every class that followed, she persistently tried again—passing notes, whispering when the teacher wasn't looking, and more. At first she felt annoyed from the constant refusal, but she began to enjoy it. Something about this whole things seems to amused her.
Her actions obviously didn't go unnoticed by the classroom. Whispers began circulating among them. They wondered if the two knew each other beforehand—and if so, what kind of relationship they had?
Typical teenage gossip.
Just as Kousuke predicted, Issei was desperately waiting for Irina to redirect her attention to him. If he could reconnect with her, maybe it wouldn't be a stretch for her to join his future harem too. Sure, she was a little too religious, but she's cute—and that gave her a pass in his book.
After all, if he could handle Asia, the now half-devil still praying in abandoned church—then maybe, Irina wouldn't be so hard.
Just as the first half of the class was about to come to an end, their math teacher began packing up her stuff. She stepped toward the door but suddenly paused, as if recalling something important.
"Oh, right! Your homeroom teacher might've forgotten to mention but there will be a new physical education teacher starting tomorrow," she said, turning back with a mischievous grin.
"She's stunning, by the way."
Cheers erupted in the classroom once again.
Of course, the teacher had known this would happen—that's why she timed the announcement just as she was walking out. She had been pulling these pranks against the students and her fellow coworkers for a while now.
And the bell rang a moment later, signaling recess. Students rushed out of the classroom—Kousuke included, though for an entirely different reason than others.
"Wait!"
Irina chased after him but he was incredibly fast. And before she knew it, he had mysteriously vanished in the hallway just as she turned to a corner. She panted, frustrated yet a smile resurfacing on her face. "God, I swear I'll get him next time..."
She decided to give up for now and headed toward the cafeteria. Her stomach already started grumbling, hopefully her friend Xenovia also got food for her.
Meanwhile, Kousuke sighed from his perch on the rooftop, watching Irina's figure disappearing into the distance. He had teleported directly up here when she wasn't looking. Her persistence was starting to get to him. Kousuke had a feeling that sooner or later he might have relented to her request.
But for now, he decides to skip lunch at school and heads elsewhere. The corner of his lips curled up at the thought. Time to pay a quick visit to his beloved fluff, Yasaka's mansion. With a thought, his figure disappeared from the rooftop.