— — — — — —
On the Underworld train bound for Kyoto—
Ryo lounged in a spacious VIP seat with one leg crossed over the other, reading through the intelligence report on Ingvild in his hand.
Even in the photograph, despite the exhaustion lingering on her face, she was strikingly beautiful. Combined with that glossy purple hair, she looked absolutely stunning.
But compared to her looks, what interested Ryo more was the information in the file itself.
"Born in a small European town in the human world, Ingvild inherited Leviathan blood from her father, though it never awakened in him. Before turning eighteen, she contracted Devil Sleep Disease. With no other options left, her parents summoned a devil in the hope of saving her. Coincidentally, the devil they called happened to be a close retainer of the Leviathan house, who recognized her bloodline. Unable to cure her, they temporarily sealed her in ice until she revived recently after her Longinus awakened..."
Ryo raised his head with an amused expression and tossed the file onto the table in front of him.
Then he looked across at Akeno Himejima.
"Pretty convenient series of coincidences, don't you think, Akeno?"
She got sick. Her parents became desperate. They randomly summoned a devil who just happened to be tied to the Leviathan lineage. Then she was secretly frozen away for over a century and nobody said a word.
No matter how you looked at it, the whole thing reeked of something fishy.
"It does feel a little too convenient. But Devil Sleep Disease is a hereditary illness, so—"
Before she could finish, Ryo cut her off. "Devil Sleep Disease isn't entirely hereditary. And why hide her? Even Katerea Leviathan didn't know anything about her."
Akeno froze.
Then her expression changed completely.
"Get it now?" Ryo said with a smile.
"…I understand." She took a deep breath and frowned.
Ryo picked up the freshly brewed tea beside him and took a sip, "Sending someone like this to my side under the excuse of making her my attendant… when really they want to control Ophis through a Longinus."
He chuckled softly, "Are the members of the Devil Council always this optimistic?"
"And what are you planning to do about them?" Akeno asked awkwardly.
She understood perfectly well what Ryo was implying. She also knew he was already dissatisfied with the Devil Council.
But as a half-devil tied to the Gremory household, this was not exactly a comfortable topic for her.
"Nothing much." Ryo shook his head. "I was just wondering what would happen if God suddenly came back to life right now. Or even just… showed signs of revival."
Akeno clicked her tongue internally.
'You're trying to scare those devil politicians to death…'
If there was one being devils feared above all others, it was naturally God—the one who had defined the very existence of devils.
If that being returned, the entire Devil Council would lose their minds.
And unfortunately for them, Ryo had already agreed with the Angels a few days ago to resurrect that God.
Silently, Akeno offered five metaphorical sticks of incense for the council members' future suffering.
"You want to have some fun with it?" Ryo proposed cheerfully. "According to a well-informed source, God may already be in the middle of a full-scale revival."
"The phrase 'well-informed source' feels a little…" Akeno said hesitantly.
"Then how about 'according to a certain person's attendant'—"
"No attendants either!" Akeno immediately shook her head.
Wasn't that basically announcing it was her?
"Hm? What about me isn't okay?" asked Lavinia Reni, tilting her head in confusion from the seat beside Akeno.
"We're not talking about you." Akeno raised a hand to calm Lavinia down before turning stiffly back toward Ryo. "Governor, perhaps we should use a more tactful expression."
"That's not impossible…" Ryo said, looking thoughtful. "But…"
Seeing that expression, Akeno immediately thought, 'Rias… where are you?'
Blushing furiously, she muttered, "Something like replacing Suzaku-onesan… that wouldn't be appropriate."
"What?" Ryo looked genuinely shocked. "You want to do it together with Suzaku? Akeno, how did you even come up with that idea?"
Akeno's smile froze solid.
If she could, she would have stuffed one of her stockings straight into his mouth right then and there.
Unfortunately, she neither could nor dared to.
Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile, "Well… if Suzaku-oneesan and I are together, then there's no chance of mistaking us, right?"
"My vision doubles sometimes. Bit of astigmatism too. Seeing one person as two is perfectly normal." Ryo sighed dramatically. "Sometimes I even mistake you for Lavinia."
The moment Akeno heard that, a chill ran through her entire body. In the middle of summer, she suddenly felt like she'd been dropped into an ice cellar.
At that moment, only one thought remained in her head.
You want to add Lavinia too…? Three girls…?
After a long pause, she said stiffly, "If it's double vision, then mistaking just me for both Suzaku-oneesan and myself sounds more reasonable."
By the time she finished speaking, her face was practically tomato red.
But compared to adding Lavinia into the mix, Akeno chose to grit her teeth and endure it.
"So the announcement becomes: 'According to an unusually well-informed ordinary citizen'?" Ryo asked teasingly.
Akeno gave him a flat smile. "This unusually well-informed ordinary citizen just happens to have a fallen angel executive for a father and works as the secretary to the Governor-General of the fallen angels. Very ordinary indeed."
"Then it's settled."
Ryo broke into a broad grin.
"As long as you're happy," Akeno Himejima sighed. She already knew it—he was going to do it anyway… well, that was better than a threesome… maybe.
But at this rate, she really was going to end up being Ryo's little secretary for the rest of her life. So whatever could happen would happen.
Just then, the train gave a long whistle, followed by the sweet voice of the onboard announcer. "The train has now arrived at Kyoto Station. Passengers are requested to disembark in an orderly manner. The Underworld Railway Committee wishes you a pleasant day…"
"We're here."
Ryo stood up and glanced toward Ophis, who had spent the entire trip silently eating ice cream beside him.
He laughed softly, "You sat there the whole time without saying a word. You really are obsessed with food."
Ophis looked up blankly, then swallowed the entire remaining chunk of ice cream in one bite.
Smiling, Ryo took her hand and stepped off the train together with Akeno and Lavinia.
The moment they got off, another train from the opposite direction pulled into the platform across from them.
As the train sped past—
Ryo's eyes met those of a purple-haired girl sitting inside.
.
.
.