The next day, it was no surprise that Leon and his group of four all went to school sporting heavy dark circles under their eyes.
Particularly Kasumigaoka Utaha; as someone who had just been reincarnated as a demon, she hadn't yet grown accustomed to the daylight hours. Compounded by the lack of sleep, she looked ready to snap at anyone, leading people at school to wonder exactly what she had been up to the night before.
She had only just joined the Department of Occult Affairs, yet here she was, looking as though she had stayed up late enough to ascend to godhood or nirvana. Who wouldn't harbor a few suspicions?
Add to that the fact that Leon, Yukinoshita Yukino, and Yuuki Asuna were all in a similar state, and the already buzz-worthy Department of Occult Affairs once again became the center of discussion.
Of course, Leon was mostly fine, but Yukinoshita Yukino and the others brought it upon themselves.
After returning to the manor, Leon had simply collapsed and fallen straight to sleep. However, Yukinoshita and the other two girls, thrilled at having obtained their ideal familiars, had spent the night playing with their new pets. They were too excited to sleep and didn't close their eyes until dawn. To say they deserved their exhaustion was no exaggeration at all.
Leon and his companions didn't bother to pay attention to the rumors swirling around the school; they were simply too sleepy and tired to care.
Little did they know, in the Class 1-A classroom, Shiina Mahiru was also troubled.
"Has Senpai Eligos... already arrived at school?"
Sitting at her desk, Mahiru listened to the chatter around her with a look of hesitation on her face.
Yesterday, after losing consciousness in front of Leon, Mahiru had slept straight through until morning. Not only was her illness cured and her fever gone, but her mood had improved significantly, no longer as despondent as she had been the day before.
Her own personal matters aside, the scene she had witnessed at Leon's place was deeply etched into her memory. Even now, the "Angel" of the school had a lingering feeling that she might have just been hallucinating from the fever to have seen such an incredible sight.
"Demons..."
Recalling the scene where that Senpai had unfurled three pairs of sky-blotting bat wings before her, grabbed her hand, and stared straight at her, Mahiru's heart suddenly began to race for no reason.
At that moment, Leon's voice echoed in her ears.
"If nobody wants you, then I'll take you."
"Stop being an angel, Shiina-san. Come be a demon instead."
"Take the effort you used to spend on your parents and use it on the fact that I need you."
Those three simple sentences continued to strike a chord deep within Mahiru's heart, even now.
Mahiru considered herself someone who wasn't easily moved.
On the contrary, she felt she was actually quite pragmatic, even a bit cold.
Though everyone called her an angel and believed her personality to be perfect, only Mahiru knew that it was all an act. She had meticulously crafted that persona just so her parents would know she was well-behaved and successful in her social life.
She smiled almost every day, but when there were no outsiders around, she never showed a smile.
She appeared to be at the center of social circles, getting along with everyone, but a keen observer would notice that she always maintained a certain distance, never letting anyone truly enter her world.
When others talked, she would agree on the surface, but in reality, she was just a cold bystander.
When others expressed kindness to her, she always maintained a gentle appearance, but she never truly took them to heart.
The so-called "Angel" was merely a mask she wore, her disguise.
Eriri might also play the part of a well-behaved girl, but she didn't keep people at a distance. If she was close to someone, she truly viewed them as a friend. Mahiru was different; she had yet to view anyone as a true friend.
Others always praised her for being cute, and Mahiru took that as a given. Her appearance wasn't just a gift from nature; to maintain her beauty, she worked hard at skincare every day and followed fashion trends closely, all to preserve that outstanding look.
Others took it for granted that she was brilliant, but Mahiru put in a great deal of effort for that as well, studying tirelessly and never slacking off, all to maintain her excellent grades.
Therefore, in Mahiru's eyes, she was never an angel.
She was just a mortal pretending to be an angel; not a single thing about her was real.
How could someone as pragmatic and cold as her be moved or touched by a few random sentences from someone else?
Much like how she appeared pitiable yesterday while standing in the rain, if anyone had tried to hit on her by taking advantage of her vulnerability, she would have rejected them coldly. If someone else had learned about her family situation and dared to say those words to her so presumptuously, far from being moved, she would have angrily driven them away or even taught them a lesson.
This was the real Shiina Mahiru, not an angel at all.
However, when those words were spoken by a demon, it was difficult for Mahiru not to be shaken.
"Do they really exist?"
Did demons really exist in this world?
Could it be that she really had been hallucinating from the fever?
Or was it that she was so desperate to be needed, so desperate for her efforts to be rewarded, that she had imagined such an absurd scene?
But what if?
What if... it was real?
"Department of Occult Affairs..."
Mahiru whispered the name to herself, deciding to go and check it out after school.
Coincidentally, while Mahiru was having these thoughts, someone else had come to the same conclusion.
"I have to go see what's going on in that 'Department of Occult Affairs'!"
In the Class 2-G classroom, Eriri grit her teeth as she heard her classmates discussing Leon and the others.
She was truly curious now. What exactly did this club—which had just been established yesterday—do last night to make all its members look like they had been out committing a heist in the middle of the night?
"That damn 'Fatty Kasumigaoka,' talking about becoming a 'community of interests' and how the 'water is deep' and it's better not to look into it. How can anyone not be curious when you look like you were out doing who-knows-what in the middle of the night with someone else?"
Eriri hopped madly in her mind, her teeth clenched.
"I'm going to see exactly what you're up to all day!"
Neither Leon nor the other members of the Department of Occult Affairs were aware of any of this.
What they were even less aware of was that they weren't only being discussed at Sobu High; far away in Kuoh Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, people were also talking about them.
Kuoh Town, Private Kuoh Academy.
This was an academy where the female population held an overwhelming advantage in both voice and numbers, while the males were the weaker party—one could even say they had almost no say in matters.
The reason was simple: until a few years ago, it was an all-girls school. It had only recently become a co-ed school, leading to a campus where female power and numbers were dominant. The boys generally had to huddle together for warmth.
Currently, the gender ratio at Kuoh Academy showed that the lower the grade, the higher the percentage of boys. Thus, the third-year class had the most girls, with perhaps only two boys for every ten students. Second-year boys were slightly more numerous, but still only three out of ten. Even in the first year, boys only made up about forty percent. Combined with historical issues, the top of various power structures within the academy were all female, including but not limited to the Student Council.
At this moment, in the Student Council office, Sona Sitri, the Student Council President of Kuoh Academy, was receiving two rather special guests along with Tsubaki Shinra.
"How rare for you to actually come visit me."
On the sofa used for receiving guests, Sona Sitri sat alone on one side, with Tsubaki Shinra standing beside her brewing tea. Sona's eyes behind her glasses were fixed on the person across from her, and her usually cold face actually bore a faint smile, similar to the one she had when seeing Leon.
"Don't tell me you don't welcome me?"
The person sitting opposite Sona spoke with a playful tone, showing not even a hint of intimidation despite facing the famous "Ice Queen" of Kuoh Academy.
Upon closer look, this person was also an extraordinary beauty.
Her age was roughly the same as Sona's, but her posture was even more elegant and noble than Sona, the heiress of the Sitri Clan. Her figure was leagues ahead of Sona's—so perfect that one might wonder if she belonged to the same species as humans. She was a true living example of a "devilish figure."
With such a voluptuous and beautiful figure, her face naturally wouldn't be lacking. In fact, she was excessively beautiful. Every one of her features was perfectly shaped, coming together to form a face so stunning that anyone seeing her for the first time would find their heart thumping in a case of love at first sight.
No one could resist being attracted to this beauty, and no one could help but fall for her instantly.
This great beauty also possessed vibrantly crimson hair. A hair color that would likely be a disaster for anyone else looked surprisingly natural on her. It didn't look flashy or detract from her beauty in the slightest; rather, it added several times to her charm, ensuring the girl would be the most dazzling star in any setting.
In fact, she was indeed the idol of countless people at Kuoh Academy, the woman universally recognized as number one in both popularity and beauty.
Her name was Rias Gremory, the heiress of the Gremory Clan—one of the families of the Seventy-Two Pillars of demons. She was Sona Sitri's best friend and childhood companion, and the secret queen of this academy.
Standing behind this "Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess" was a female peer whose figure and looks were not at all inferior to the former. She had long, jet-black hair tied in a ponytail, an elegant posture, and a gentle smile, exuding the aura of a classic Yamato Nadeshiko.
Bringing this beautiful girl who served at her side, Rias had come to the Student Council office and was currently having tea with her best friend and childhood companion...
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