"Don't worry about it, she is very well-mannered most of the time so long as you don't disturb her peace," Kousuke said, his hand reach out and gives Ophis a headpat. The latter didn't seems offend by his action, as if her attention were entirely on the pizza in her hand. Then he once again pulled something out of his inventory, this time a soft drink with a straw and push it near her lips. She took a brief look at the brand on the bottle before taking a sip.
"So? What do you say?"
"Let me reiterate first, senior will help me with my situation and in turns, I will lend you a helping hand when you need it one day. did I get that right? There's no other secret rules that I should know about?" Ruri asked uncertainly. After all, it does sounds way too good to be true, making her feels like she's the only one getting the benefit from this deal. She could just lie and refuse to help him when that day comes, of course she won't do that but it's just a hypothesis.
"Yes, oh right—maybe I need a couple more things, like training you to handle your power better. You don't need to come to me everyday, just once or twice a week so that I can make sure that you keep up with the training." Kousuke muttered after thinking for a moment. "Oh yeah, you can also refuse if you're busy with something else, I'm not a bad guy so I can understand if you explain to me properly later."
"If I didn't know better, I would think you're courting her," Issei mumbles suspiciously. Akeno narrowed her eyes at his words, but Kousuke simply gives her a peck to her cheeks to calm her down. Then he glares at his friend for the false accusation, making the latter feels chill running down his spine.
"You might think that I'm doing too much for someone I barely knows, but there's a reason for that." He stated firmly, putting an end to the misunderstanding before it could take root.
"A reason? What is it?"
Ruri begins speculating all sort of things in her mind. Is it truly as the perverted senior claimed? He's going after her? But he already had a harem, or so she thought. Yet at the same time, maybe it's because he has a harem that he wanted to seek more. Thinking up to this point, she didn't know whether to feels happy that someone would even considered a choppy person like her worthy of love, or amazed that he had no qualm in terms of seeking partners.
"It's nothing close to what you think of, that's for sure." He said amusedly. He initially wasn't planning on telling her about the true cause of her changes, but sooner or later, she will figure it out. Instead of letting his future enemy used this information to force her to act on their behalf, it's better that he reveals the truth himself now.
"Do you know who was the person behind the current hype game, Infinite Crisis?"
"Of course, everyone and their grandparents would know by now. It's the mysterious company that appeared out of nowhere, releasing the greatest tech called Simulation Drive capsule that shook the world to the core. They're also the one publishing the game—the Mythos Entertainment right?"
After she stopped talking, Ruri senses a peculiar atmosphere through the club room. Even Rias who regained her sense thanks to Ophis's presence finally realized something as her eyes locked onto Kousuke. They had went through this before, it was when Motohama came out of the closet, and she now goes by her new name, Mizuhana.
"You... didn't, did you?"
Instead of answering Rias's question with the expected headshake, the corner of his curled up into a smile. That reaction revealed everything they needed to know, all except Ruri who were clueless on why everyone aside from Akeno were acting rather strange. Is there something wrong with her answer? Or the question itself? Ruri doesn't know, she can only turned her head to Kousuke for the answer. He certainly didn't disappoint her.
"You might not know this, but Mythos Entertainment is my company. The CEO is someone close to my family member and I initially just wanted to lend her a hand by giving her a job as the manager of a small jewelry store." Kousuke explained, he paused for a moment to sip on his mug before continuing. "But time passed, I awakened my Sacred Gear and ideas just popped in my mind. Do you want to guess what idea it was?"
"...Video game?"
"Bingo! I was getting a little bored of the same old video games, so I thought, 'why not make my own then?' I have everything I needed, so I went ahead. But who would've known that someone helped me push through the roadblocks I had, which gives birth to the virtual machine that are now known as Simulation Drive. Now give me some applause please, I'm pretty proud of myself if I do say so."
Clap! Clap! Clap!
However no one else except Ruri and Akeno clapped their hands. Akeno did it to show her support for him, as any good girlfriend would, whilst the half-dragon only did it because she was told. Kousuke looks at the rest of them with a disappointed look like that of parents upon hearing their child failed the exam meticulously. If only Shirone were also here, then the cute Nekoshou wouldn't hesitate to glaze him as well. However she is currently accompanying her sister to the Underworld, more specifically, they were running an errand for him—that is to deliver a certain book back to the Leader of Grimory. He had no need of them anymore and Azazel won't stop reminding him in the group chat every single day, it was honestly starting to get annoying.
"Tsk tsk, ye of little faith. Anyway, what I'm saying is the reason you suddenly woke up with horns on top of your head one day was because of the game. Meaning, I did it."