Chapter 88: The End of Club Activities and the Crest
This time, without needing Sona's reminder, Rias fluttered her slender, ink-black bat wings and slowly flew to the edge of the barrier.
Having truly lost its teleportation ability, the glasses now lay in the grass, reflecting blinding white light under the sun.
"To think it could even disguise itself..."
Being fooled by a Sacred Gear left Rias both embarrassed and annoyed. "Since you're so unruly, I won't force the issue."
Regarding this Sacred Gear, she had always harbored resentment. Although Sacred Gears were rare, as the heir of the Gremory family, she had seen plenty of them—even the legendary ones.
Not even Issei's Boosted Gear had sparked greed in her, so destroying this unknown eyeglass-type Sacred Gear meant nothing to her.
A magical attack imbued with destructive force struck the flat, narrow, frameless glasses. The lenses, which had remained intact amidst the azure flames, developed a faint crack.
Rias launched another crimson magical attack with a backhand motion, causing the cracks on the lenses to multiply.
Third strike, fourth, fifth.
It took a full five attacks before the lenses finally shattered completely, dissolving into specks of light that scattered into the air.
Once the main lenses were destroyed, the frames and temples followed suit, turning into motes of light that vanished with the wind.
By the time Rias launched her second attack, Haruto and the others had already arrived at the scene.
Witnessing the destruction of the culprit firsthand, Haruto felt a strange sense of relief—far stronger than when he had reduced Tanaka Hajime to ashes.
In that instant, it was as if he had realized something.
If such a situation arose again, he would never make the same mistake, lest it lead to even more troublesome replacements.
"President, thank you. I really wouldn't have known what to do with those glasses otherwise," Haruto said sincerely.
"Don't blame yourself. If anything, I should be thanking you."
Rias pressed Haruto's face into her ample bosom, laughing. "If you hadn't discovered it early, and we had to deal with it only after finding out ourselves, that would have been a real hassle."
"You just joined the club, and this was your first mission. We should have been there to guide you from the start."
Rias smiled radiantly, her exquisite beauty unparalleled.
"It's a shame Yuuto isn't here. Otherwise, this could have been a proper welcome party for your induction into the club."
Sona adjusted her glasses. "If you want to count it as a club activity, don't forget to report it to the student council first."
The usually serious Sona lightened the mood with a joke, but Haruto's view was blocked by a pair of snowy peaks. Regretfully, he buried his face deeper into the cleavage.
Rias's cheeks flushed as she pressed down on Haruto's restless head. His nuzzling had already skewed her bra—she couldn't let him continue.
"President, can we dispel the barrier now?" Akeno showed signs of exhaustion.
The mana consumption wasn't the issue; it was the mental fatigue.
If they had used a pre-made magic circle to form the barrier, she wouldn't have needed to maintain such intense focus.
But this had been an emergency—there was no time to prepare.
"You've worked hard, Akeno. You can dispel it now."
Rias turned to Anbiki-senpai and Sona. "Thank you both as well."
Sona retracted her wings. "With chaos erupting in Kuoh Town, I can't just sit back and focus on being student council president."
"Hey, don't think a simple thanks is enough to skip out on the reward," Anbiki-senpai exclaimed loudly. "Also, is this kid really a member of the Occult Research Club? I always see him running around the student council—I thought he was under President Sitri's command."
Haruto, still buried in the soft valley, froze. Though he hadn't planned to keep it a secret forever, being exposed on Rias's very first day back—right after he'd just clung to her for support—left him speechless...
He hadn't even prepared an excuse—no, an explanation yet!
To Haruto's surprise, Rias and Sona exchanged a glance before tacitly moving past the topic.
"Anbiki-senpai's reward will naturally be paid in full."
Maintaining the grace of House Gremory, Rias nodded slightly and said, "However, in return, we'll need to trouble Anbiki-senpai to keep an eye on this place for the next few days. If anything seems amiss, please use your mental magic to resolve any potential issues promptly."
"No problem." Anbiki Mika was quite confident in her abilities, especially when it came to mental control.
Even if someone proved particularly suspicious, she could always put in extra effort to completely rewrite that person's memories.
...
Back at the Occult Research Club, Haruto's left hand was held in Rias's embrace as a complex, strange pattern gradually formed on the back of his hand.
He didn't know why Rias and Sona hadn't mentioned the Evil Pieces, but he wasn't reckless enough to bring it up himself.
After completely resolving the issue with the glasses Sacred Gear, Rias made a phone call, and then they returned to Kuoh Academy using spatial magic.
The Occult Research Club only dealt with the perpetrators; the cleanup was handled by another group.
As for how that group would explain the missing hour-plus for all the teachers and students at Aiho Academy, or why everyone had the same dream simultaneously...
That wasn't Haruto's concern anymore.
Anbiki had already helped with the hypnosis release and memory obfuscation. If they couldn't handle the remaining issues, those people might as well resign on the spot.
"All done. From now on, showing this mark will save you a lot of trouble."
Rias released Haruto's hand and added, "Of course, it might also bring you greater dangers."
Just as there were those who revered House Gremory, there were also those who despised it—something Haruto had long been prepared for.
Feeling the continuous flow of Rias's aura from the mark on his left hand, he asked curiously, "President, does this mark appear automatically when I channel magic power?"
"For now, yes. Once you're more accustomed to it, you can control it actively."
Haruto channeled his magic power, and a peculiar incomplete circle emitting a faint red glow appeared on the back of his hand.
Pretty cool. In his previous life, he'd always wanted to try a tattoo but never got the chance. This kinda fulfilled that wish, he thought cheerfully as he examined the pattern on his hand.
Rias returned to her mahogany desk and sat down, interlacing her fingers beneath her chin.
"Originally, I planned to wait until I returned to give you your mark, then take you on a stray devil extermination mission to familiarize you with the workflow before assigning you solo requests. I never expected Akeno would give you a mission during my absence—and such a dangerous one at that..."
Akeno pouted, "Ara ara~ The task I gave Haruto was very simple, with no danger at all. This incident was something he brought upon himself—it has nothing to do with me."
Afraid Rias wouldn't believe her, she turned to Haruto and asked, "Haruto, wasn't the mission I gave you very simple?"
Haruto's lips twitched. The danger level of Amano Yuuma was incomparable to the glasses Sacred Gear—at least with the glasses, his life hadn't been at risk.
"Yes, Akeno-senpai only assigned me one mission, which I completed that same afternoon. The client was very satisfied."
He swallowed his complaints and played along with Akeno.
The situation with Amano Yuuma was complicated to explain, and he wasn't ready to tell Rias and the others yet.
Besides, he also wanted to see if he could extract information from Amano Yuuma about detecting Sacred Gears and how to strip them away.
Whether he'd use the knowledge was another matter, but having it couldn't hurt.
Rias nodded thoughtfully. "I see. In that case, there's no need to arrange a special club activity for you."
Haruto was still curious about how Rias and the others handled missions, but considering all the things he had to deal with, he agreed.
"President, my abilities are sufficient for regular missions. This time, I also witnessed the power of you and Akeno-senpai, so there's no need for a special club activity."
Normally, the Occult Research Club didn't mobilize all members for missions—individual members could handle them alone.
Group activities were either for Rating Games or introductory events for new members.
Haruto was a newcomer, but not entirely.
In terms of combat ability, he was already on par with Koneko in her normal state.
Missions requiring the white-haired loli to use her Nekomata form were exceedingly rare.
Seeing Haruto's stance, Rias finally decided to treat the resolution of the glasses Sacred Gear incident as his official club initiation.
After bestowing his mark and finalizing Haruto's membership, Rias inquired about the other male member.
"Akeno, what has Yuuto been up to lately? He didn't even respond to the emergency support scroll last time."
Haruto had always been suspicious of Yuuto Kiba's true gender.
Not to mention the official artwork depicting him as the buxom "Yuuko Kiba," ever since Haruto started interacting with Rias, the few times he'd seen Yuuto, he'd never sensed any masculine energy from him...
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