It's so nice to see everyone again!
And for once, I think I mean that without a shred of sarcasm this time around.
Gasper doesn't count. Technically, this is the first time I'm meeting him.
Speaking of, my gaze flickers down at the femboy dhampir for a moment.
Yeah. If I didn't already know it was a he, I'd one-hundred percent be standing here thinking Gasper was a cute girl.
Because he definitely looks like one. Especially while wearing the Kuoh girl's uniform.
And he nearly sounds like one, too. His voice is just light enough to leave you guessing if you can't see him. But really, pairing his face up with the voice would leave anyone completely fooled.
Though I do have to say, the novels did not do his shrill screeching any justice. At all.
Like holy fuck. Are we sure that's not his true Sacred Gear!?
Rias let out an audible sigh, her fingers coming up to massage the sides of her head, "Seriously, that's what you've been doing? I've been trying to contact you since this morning!" She huffed out, clearly aggravated, but more so just plain tired.
I blinked at that, my one empty hand coming up to my robe and sliding inside.
Only to find absolutely nothing.
Ah.
I shrug, "Left my phone by my bed this morning, and uh, eh," I cough, "let's just say I couldn't get it without dire consequences."
From the corner of my eyesight, Shirone gave me this half-lidded stare.
She knows. She totally knows.
Akeno giggles like a predator, "Ufufufu~..."
Of course, she'd figure it out.
Rias pouts, "You wouldn't even risk those dire consequences for me?"
I give the redhead the blankest stare I could muster, "Nori Junior's chastity is far more important than a phone, Rias."
Shirone snorted at that and slapped me on the back, while Akeno held a hand to her mouth as though holding back a greater laugh.
Rias, though, just looked plain confused, "...Junior?"
Gasper looked up slightly, like he was about to offer something, but quickly sighed away before curling himself up even tighter than before.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her before promptly explaining absolutely nothing, and instead plopping Gasper down on her desk.
"E-EEK!?" He shrieked while still immediately grabbing onto the wood.
He attempted to pull himself out of my grasp.
No dice. Not even a little.
It was almost kind of sad, really.
"P-President! Pleeassseeeee…H-Heellppppp…" He cried, thankfully lowly this time.
I think his vocal cords might be finally giving out.
Rias gave him a small, sad, but reassuring smile and patted him on top of the head.
Gasper flinched. I felt his gear activate-
My divine power surged forth, almost on instinct by now. I barely saw the flicker of his gear's power in his eyes before I smashed it straight back down.
He blinked as nothing happened. His gaze darted back and forth for a second, before, steadily, I felt the trembling of his form settle.
Finally, he seemed to relax. If only a tad. Letting out a shaky breath as Rias pets his hair.
Off to the side, I could see Akeno frown, but not out of anger. At my side, Shirone came walking up, her arms looping around my free arm as she held her body against it, yet even still, she wears a similar expression to Akeno as she looks upon the dhampir.
"Well, then." I begin again, "This guy wouldn't happen to be why you seemed so insistent on contacting me, right?"
At that, Rias let out another sigh, as Gasper went still under her hand.
"In part, yes," Rias confirmed, though before she could go…
Gasper raised his head immediately, and I could hear him taking a breath.
Fucking. Nope!
With a bit more force, I slam him back down on the desk, causing whatever words he was going to scream at the top of his lungs to instead turn into a shrill, terrified shriek.
Of course, at the same time, his Sacred Gear activated.
It was stomped down just as hard with barely even a flex of my divine might at this point.
Then, before his shriek could go on, I hissed out a harsh, "Hush up!" directed straight at Gasper.
His mouth locked up instantly.
"If the next words that were about to come out of your mouth," I quickly continued with a snarl, "had anything even remotely relating to Rias abandoning you, I will lock you in a me damned tanning bed for four hours!"
Even with his mouth closed, locked, the key thrown away, I could still hear the muffled, terrified cry pushing past his throat, his entire body shaking under my grip.
"Don't even think that shit! Rias would never abandon you, do I make myself clear!?" I tact on, just for good measure.
With surprising swiftness, Gapser rapidly shakes his head yes in understanding, and, without prompt, looks toward Rias, before barely managing a small, "S-Sorry…"
Akeno sighed and grimaced, but didn't say anything.
Rias gave Gasper a small smile, "It's alright," she answered him gently, before looking at me, not really with anger, but sheer and utter exhaustion, "please, don't be so harsh on him."
"Should have gone with four days." Shirone chipped in.
Gasper whimpered, muttering something about 'Shirone being so mean' as everyone turned and looked at said cat girl for a moment.
She shrugs, "Four hours wouldn't be enough." She helpfully explains.
Hmm. You know, maybe she's got a point?
"As I was saying," Rias continued, electing to ignore her Rook's fairly good point, "yes, Noriaki, Gasper here is part of the reason I wanted, no…need your help. The other is Yuuto, he…" Rias bit her lip, stopping herself, as if she didn't entirely know where to even begin here.
"I don't need everything at once, now." I speak up, "Just start from the beginning. You sent a lot in your messages, but if I had to guess…this is all stemming from your guys' game against Sai?"
I blinked, and everyone was suddenly frozen.
For a second, I almost checked if Gasper managed to get his Sacred Gear's power through; that's how jarring the change was.
Despite them being frozen, however, each one looked different.
I look toward Shirone, to find her white cat ears out, and standing straight up, her tails out behind her and stuck out like a pair of lightning rods.
I'd laugh if she didn't look so pissed off all of a sudden.
Akeno didn't look angry; she looked outright ashamed, her face becoming so downcast it could storm without a single bolt of lightning.
To put it plainly, Gasper somehow went even paler than he already was, something that shouldn't be possible. I couldn't see his face, but I imagine it isn't any better than everyone else's.
Finally, Rias. She looks both ashamed and mad. Her teeth gritting as her face twisted like it couldn't decide between a sneer or a depressed frown.
I let out a sigh to cut through the silence.
"Well," I begin again, "if that's not confirmation, I don't know what is." I look between each of them, hearing their silence, before suggesting, "How about we at least get comfortable before kicking this off, yeah?"
The chorus of nods I received in response did nothing to assuage the sudden feeling I got that this was going to go swell.
~ A New Sun ~
Everyone had moved from around the desk to the comfy couches in the center of the room.
For a moment, Akeno left the room to get tea.
It was quiet as she left, and it remained so, up until she returned.
"Thank you, Akeno…" Rias nodded at her, genuinely, but numb.
Akeno nodded right back without a word, setting the plate with the tea cups on the table between us all before taking her spot right next to her King.
The air was this odd mix of tense and awkward. I don't think even my sword could cut whatever the hell this is.
In my lap, Shirone lay, her ears or tails occasionally twitching as I pet her steadily. Yet even she was silent.
For the moment, I had returned Gasper to his box, but had moved said box so it was right next to us and the couches for this.
He didn't even try to fight, or scream, or even accidentally use his power.
The dhampir was like a wet noodle when I placed him in, limp and silent.
Eerie as hell.
"So…" Rias started up, her vision veering off and avoiding mine entirely, shame burning across her face, "This, um…" she gripped her hands together in her lap, and hung her head with a sigh, "Okay, there's really no point in beating around the bush, so, I'll just…say, everything."
So say everything she did.
What happened in her Rating Game match against Sai?
I had already figured it was a stomp on Sai's end, and props to him, I always believed he should have won that match in the novels.
Here? Holy fuck.
Sai didn't just stomp her, but, in Rias' own words?
She humiliated herself. Basically, in front of her peers and the rest of the Underworld.
How?
Well, it's partly as I had thought. She brought Gasper to try and even the odds.
Specifically, Sirzechs had let Rias unseal Gasper after the 'war' with the Fallen concluded, because he figured it was time he grew up a little.
That, and having her only Bishop actually active and helping protect her, was likely another factor, but that's obvious, really.
Still, at first, Gasper didn't really participate.
In her first matches, he was present at all, due to his crippling fear of people.
He knew he'd be broadcast across the entire Underworld if he stepped out onto the Rating Game field, and that thought, of course, petrified him.
It was fine at first, but when it was clear they were going up against Sai, and having seen him and his team and how they work so far…
They needed Gasper. It wasn't even a question.
Unlike the strange, random variant Rating Games rules they used in the novels, these were straight battles, standard rules.
So, Rias had concocted a plan.
She couldn't fight Sai by herself. But, at least at first, Shirone could.
Additionally, Shirone could also force her way past Gasper's time stop when utilizing enough spiritual power.
To put it simply, all they needed was for Gasper to timestop Sai, and then Shirone would jump his ass after powering up, as it were.
Slight problem.
No, it's not Gasper's lack of control. Shockingly enough, everyone had a pretty good idea of how and when Gasper actually uses his power.
Usually, when he gets scared. So all they had to do was get him scared.
Something real easily accomplished, considering Sai apparently both terrified but also somewhat inspired Gasper, strangely enough?
Regardless, no, that wasn't the problem.
In fact, Sai wasn't immune to his time stop. The plan was going without a hitch.
But a certain Pawn on Sai's team was.
Yeah.
The plan went to shit when Regulus, to protect Sai, went Balance Breaker with him, allowing him to easily break Gasper's time stop.
If things couldn't get any worse, Regulus recognized that Gasper was the one who could freeze time, and so Sai and Regulus immediately went to take him out.
Gasper then proceeded to accidentally undergo a pseudo Balance Breaker out of sheer fear.
Oh yeah. And it only gets better from here.
Sai was still fine, what with Regulus protecting him.
But Shirone? She was fucked. As were Rias and Akeno.
Yuuto, though?
He had already gotten himself taken out.
See, her Knight has been more than a little…unstable, recently. But he was a separate matter, for now, she was going to brush past him.
Right, so Sai has the entire Gremory Peerage at his mercy by one of their own members. Is it any wonder what he does next?
He takes out Gasper, thus freeing everyone, before proceeding to have everyone else stand down, so he can take the three versus one.
Er, two versus three, because Sai is wearing Regulus.
Seriously. I'd be cheering for the guy, but one of my girls was the one who got their ass reverse jumped, so…
Sorry, man, in another life, perhaps?
From what Rias describes, the dude bulldozed through pretty much all of their attacks.
Power of Destruction? Get that shit out of here.
Holy Lightning? The dude ate it like it was a bowl full of All Berries Cap'n Crunch.
Shirone was the only one who barely stood a chance, using her Senjutsu to somewhat bypass Regulus and strike at Sai underneath.
Yet, it was still Sairaoag Bael, amped by the destructive power of a Longinus in Balance Breaker State, and he was tenacious as hell.
Shirone fell first, and Rias called it before her Rook could get up and hurt herself trying to fight past what was clearly her limit at that moment.
Rias let out a trembling sigh as she finished talking.
Silence reigned for a moment.
Before I nodded, my hand came down on Shirone's head, scratching between the cat girl's ears.
I broke the silence with, "I'm glad you called it when you did."
Genuine, without a hint of judgement, because that's what it was.
"R-Really!?" Rias responded immediately.
Of course, Shirone turned and looked at me instantly, her glare harsh and scathing.
I swatted her ass before she even got the chance to open her mouth, causing the white cat girl to yelp and perk up.
"Don't." I speak, one stern word, "I know what you're going to say. Everyone has their limit, kitten. If you break past yours too violently, especially with Senjutsu, it will not end well. You know this."
Shirone's harsh face cracked near instantly.
"...P-Pervert." That was all she could really manage before lowering her head back down and smothering her face against my arm.
I pat the cat on her back, "Still, to go against a guy like that, with a Longinus in Balance Breaker? And not instantly fold? Real good job there, kitten." I lean down and kiss her on top of the head, "I'm proud of you."
Shirone shivered against me and clung to me tighter, mumbling out, "S-Shut up…"
I chuckled a bit before looking back at the others.
"Yes, really, Rias." I ruffled Shirone's hair a bit, "Like I was telling kitten here," I pause to get swatted across the head by said cat, moving on without even flinching, "limits. There's a time to break them, but break them too hard, and well…not fun. It sounds as though you guys were seriously outmatched, without any real idea of what you were truly fighting against."
Rias gave me a truly defeated sigh as she slumped back into the coach, "A Longinus as his Pawn. We knew he took up all his pawns, but Regulus never really fought before, so I suspected he was powerful, but not entirely trained or used to his abilities. I figured he wouldn't even matter if we could just get Sairaorg first…" she trailed off.
I raise an eyebrow at that, "No plan for if he was actually a pretty big threat?"
She nodded after a moment, "All of us were going to converge upon him if he ends up being stronger than his Queen, yes."
Well. Shit.
That's one way of coming up with a plan for someone you know literally nothing about.
Throw everything, plus the kitchen sink, at the guy.
She shrugged, giving me a sardonic smile, "It was all I really had time to come up with. We barely had any time to prepare, and I was already planning around him having so many more members…" She trails off with a shake of her head, "I did the best with what I had. It just wasn't enough." Slowly, she looks down, "I wasn't enough…"
I went to say something, but Rias continued.
"Seriously, you should have seen him, Noriaki." Rias begins again, with a small, bitter smile, "In every Rating Game he has been in, he always takes to the field first, and immediately enters the battle. His goal is always to find the enemy King and challenge them personally.
"Even before he donned Regulus, I couldn't hope to match him. I had to hide behind everyone else, because if it was just the two of us…" She stops a moment, letting out a shaky breath.
Her fists clench her skirt, and she trembles, but I could tell it wasn't in fear.
It's hatred.
She frowns, her teeth gritting, "I've always been compared to my brother, the, 'sister of Demon King Lucifer' they call me! But that, that didn't mean anything! I was never…" she hissed out a breath this time, stopping herself from that line of thought, immediately switching gears, "As it stands, Sairaorg is closer to achieving my dream then I am now, and it's not even his!" Her face had grown nearly as flushed as her hair by this point, and she was huffing now.
Ah, yes. Her dream.
Honestly, if I couldn't remember basically everything with perfect clarity, I'd have easily forgotten that.
Her dream to become the Rating Game Champion.
It felt like it was pretty quickly thrown off to the side in the novels, and completely and utterly forgotten about.
Along with Issei's promise to help her.
I had to stop myself from snorting, remembering that little detail.
With Rias far more haggard of breath, I take my chance to interject.
"Well?" I spoke up abruptly, "If that's so, what are you going to do about it?" I lean back against the couch, casually, "And, how do I factor into any of this?"
Rias took in a shaky breath, Akeno putting her hand on her shoulder to steady her, as she looked straight at me, her gaze eerily steady.
"Because at the end of the month, we're going to have a rematch with Sairaorg, and I believe, no," her gaze becomes far more intense, "know we need your help. We aren't ready. I…I'm not ready. I can't ask my brother for help, and I don't think what we need is a new, different strategy! We need power, and I know you can help us reach for it!"
My blink couldn't have been slower.
I take a slow breath, considering for a moment what I'm hearing.
First, a rematch?
How in the fuck?
Oh, losers' bracket, right.
That doesn't usually end with a fight against the winner of the top bracket, does it?
Ah. Wait, there's devil political fuckery going on, can't forget that.
Right, that thought settled…
"You know," I sigh, "this type of thing isn't going to be solved by just training."
Rias nods, almost desperately, "I know, but…well, you helped Shirone and Akeno, so, I…" she slowly winces, as it dawns on her what exactly she's asking, "thought you could help them, too?"
"I'm not a therapist, Rias." I naturally answered, to which she huffed.
"If therapy worked for them, all that money my parents threw at their programs back in the day would have been worth it," she bit back, "that's not what I'm asking for, Noriaki."
Well. Damn, First things first.
Her parents? Trying to get her clearly traumatized peerage, who were also mostly children, help? What kind of alternate universe have I ended up in!?
Second, "Well, if I'm not going to be a therapist, what else could I do?" I logically fire back.
At last, Akeno chimes in, "Just do what you did with me."
Robotically, my gaze turns to her, "...I'm sorry, what now?"
She giggles, dryly, "You heard me. Gasper and Yuuto…they need wake-up calls at this point. Not therapists."
My eyebrow rose steadily, "So, slap them, and tell them what's up?"
In response, Akeno's eyebrows wiggled back at me, "Well, maybe save the slapping for me-"
"No." I shot her down once again, this time completely cutting her off.
Akeno huffed and pouted, her arms going under her chest and pushing it up.
As if that'd do anything to me.
Rias suddenly stood up, "If that'll work, fine." She gritted out, strained, "I don't know what to do anymore, and we're running out of time, so," she bows, "please…please, help us…"
…Fuck, man.
I'm not heartless, as much as I want to say none of this is business, I'd be kicking myself for the rest of my natural lifespan if I said no.
Hah. The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?
I glanced down at Shirone, who was looking up at me, just a bit.
Rias held her bow perfectly, steadily. Right up until I leaned forward and spoke once again, "Alright."
She perked up.
"But first," I continued, a small smirk growing across my face, "let's talk business, yeah?"
Heartless, I may not be, but I still don't want to deal with all this drama for free, you know?
Rias let out a relieved groan, Akeno giggled as usual, and Shirone huffed against my chest.
And at last, the air started feeling just a tad lighter.