"So you let her stay at your place?" Rias said after sipping her tea. After having re-told this particular little doozy for the third time, Haru just rolled his eyes and nodded. Akeno handed him a cup of tea which he was momentarily amazed at as he loved her tea.
"Yeah, I seem to be a good Samaritan as of late. She left pretty early, not before hitting me with the most amount of the word 'thanks' I've ever witnessed. And again, Akeno your tea is just… God damn." he said, causing Akeno to smile at him. "So where's Issei anyway? Isn't he normally here drooling after you?" Rias looked troubled for a moment but shook her head.
"I haven't seen him since this morning. I was going to ask you if you'd seen him." Rias replied.
"He's probably a bit shaken up from last night. It's not everyday that you come across an Exorcist like that guy." he said, waving his hand casually. Rias eyed him critically.
With the amount of things Haru had kept to himself and the way he thought, would it be entirely out of the question for him to know something about the Exorcist from last night? she thought.
"You're suspecting me again. You get that look on your face and I'll be honest, I do know that lunatic. His name's Freed Sellzen, an Exorcist from the Vatican. He went rogue and killed a priest and has been on the run ever since. That guy only wants to kill Devils and monsters for fun and any human who has dealings with them. Honestly I doubt I killed him with that explosion." Haru said with a sigh.
"How do you know all this?" Kiba asked. He had a history with some dark things related to the church and only Rias and Akeno knew about it.
"Well, I'd spent some time at the Vatican shortly after leaving the underworld. I was kinda lost at that time and had dug up some things about Holy Swords and their users. I thought I could find a path in life as an Exorcist but really it wasn't for me. One I'm a Hedonist, so that's one problem, two, I'm a magician by birth so that's instant heresy or whatever, and it didn't help that I was as much of an ass back then as I am now. The boss lady there, a lovely woman called Griselda Quatra and two other Exorcists called Xenovia and Irina were the ones I'd pissed off. I got chased out with swords and everything. It was pretty funny looking back on it. But even so, I found I had a weird thing about being able to wield Holy Swords." Haru explained. He could see multiple emotions ripple lightly over Kiba's face. None of which were good. His body was tense and his fists were clenched tightly.
"I won't go into detail as that's a story for another day." he said, drinking his tea. Rias and Akeno shared a look, knowing that Kiba wouldn't react well to talk regarding Holy Swords.
"Is there any group you won't cross or annoy?" Rias asked with some amusement. Haru grinned, never having considered that question.
"Most likely none. All factions have done and will do stupid shit and deserve to be mocked for it. I'm just the guy who does it and has the means of getting away with it. But, sometimes it pays off more than I expect, like the time I had a little involvement with a Hindu deity. Got an awesome weapon out of that little encounter." He said with a proud smirk.
"Which one?" Akeno asked in surprise.
"Brahman." he replied as if it was no big deal.
"No, don't tell me, the weapon you got wouldn't happen to be—" Rias was cut off. He cut me off again! she raged.
"Yes, yes it is. Care to name it?" Haru said with a smug grin.
"The—"
"The Brahmastra! Exactly." he finished gaining an extremely peeved look from Rias.
"Why do your manners go out the window when you talk to me?" she groaned. She didn't need an answer as she already knew it. Simply because he liked annoying her and it worked. Every time.
"I think the better question is why would Brahman let you use something as powerful as his Brahmastra?" Akeno asked, extremely interested. From day one he'd been surprising her with tales of things he'd done and even things she'd seen him do, like the dance he did the day before. No one in the ORC had witnessed his calm, logical, strategic mind, but had seen the more fun, energetic and somewhat crazy side of him. She knew Rias didn't really trust him, Koneko kept her distance and Kiba was indifferent, but she didn't think he was a bad guy. A bit rude and careless of other people but he'd been nothing but nice to her personally.
"We had a game of chess, that's all. The stakes were if I won, he was to let me have the Brahmastra, and if he won I would fight for him with no questions asked. Simple really." He said now looking bored. "Is there anything else you wanna go over? I'm kinda wanting to go home and sleep so if there's anything else, speak up."
"I'd actually like to talk with you some more, if you wouldn't mind." Akeno said. Haru was curious as to why Akeno of all people would want to indulge in conversation but he saw no reason not to.
"Alright. I suppose I can wow you with my tales of adventure and general mayhem for a while." Haru said with a small mischievous smirk.
Akeno picked up her school bag and turned to Rias. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, so don't do too much without me."
"Alright, but take care you two. I'm holding you responsible for anything that happens Haru." she said sternly. Haru cast her a side glance and sighed.
"Yes mother dearest, we'll behave." he said before leaving with Akeno following.
The rest of the ORC were quiet for a time, having nothing to discuss besides last night and even that was limited in topic material, they were all there.
"Are you sure we can trust him around any of us on their own? I mean, he doesn't seem like a bad guy but there's too much he does behind the scenes, and he's not affiliated with anyone. He's got no interest in joining us, he's destined to fight, and with the way things are now, kill Issei. We don't know who he is at all. A name and little bits of his history can only give us so much information." Kiba said as he voiced his concerns.
"And from what he's told us, he seems too well connected and good at getting into different factions. He has no interests besides himself and making sure Issei doesn't get killed. Have you noticed that he's only there when Issei's in trouble?" Koneko added.
Rias had noticed. It was none of them really knew where they stood with Haru, or even knew anything about him other than his little anecdotes. He was a rogue element in the grand scheme of things. She then had an idea. She'd contact her brother Sirzechs. Haru had told her that he'd been with the Gremory clan for years, so Sirzechs must have learned about him in some detail. Whoever Haru really was and just what he was, she was determined to find out.
As soon as Haru got into his house with Akeno, shit got awkward fast. Within seconds there was an intense stare off between Akeno and Rossweisse, neither of them breaking eye contact. Rossweisse had just got down the stairs to greet Haru and tell him about some things she'd found on sale at the shopping district, when suddenly he's got a beautiful girl behind him with a smile on her face. And that smile stayed there throughout the entire stare off.
"Um...Hey Rossweisse, how's it going? Lovely weather today huh? With all that rain and errm, wind. Well shit. This isn't awkward at all." He said, trying not to let the tense atmosphere get to him. Rossweisse just huffed and went back up stairs. Haru winced when he heard the door to her room slam shut.
[You're a dick.] Albion stated flatly.
How exactly is that reaction my fault? Haru inquired heatedly.
[Oh you know for a fact she likes you, so what do you do? Ignore it and bring another girl home. How dense are you?] Albion said with a biting tone.
I'd already guessed she liked me, I'm just not so much of an idiot as to go assuming things. But seriously, I can't help but feel like I went and made a totally avoidable harem protagonist mistake. Haru replied, starting to feel a bit bad. Not about Rossweisse, but for himself making such a stupid mistake.
"I'm guessing I should go..." Akeno trailed off, for once feeling awkward about something.
"No you don't have to, besides it's damn cold out there. Just go to the living room and relax, I'll be with you in a minute." Haru said before going upstairs. Akeno looked around briefly.
His home's tidy, strangely tidy considering only he lives here. Unless that girl actually lives here too, that would explain the lack of mess and things being organised. Akeno thought. For a moment she felt what she thought was jealousy in her chest. She sat down on one of his sofas in the living room opposite a single chair which had a sign on it.
It read: This is my chair, there are many like it but this one is mine. -Haru Namikaze
She smiled at the words. She noted that Haru's sense of humour was strange but that's what she found rather charming about him.
Up stairs, Haru was busy repeatedly knocking on Rossweisse's door
*Knock, knock knock.*
"Rossweisse."
*Knock, knock, knock.*
"Rossweisse."
*Knock, knock, knock.*
"Rossweisse."
"What do you want?" Rossweisse finally said through the door, sounding quite irritated. Alright Haru, play it smooth.
"I just wanna talk. Come downstairs, have a drink and we'll talk. Trust me, she's just a friend so there's no need to be… well, like this." Haru said sincerely. The door opened a tiny bit, enough so he could see one of Rossweisse's blue eyes.
"Fine, but I want an explanation." she said before opening the door fully and going downstairs with Haru behind him.
One of these days women are gonna get me killed. Haru mentally groaned.
They both entered the living room only to find Rias on his sofa as well as Akeno.
"I swear, if one of you doesn't explain I'm going to shit." Haru growled. This was an invasion. His fortress of solitude was falling to literal Devil women. Rossweisse instantly cheered up when she saw Rias.
"Rias! It's good to see you again, my King!" Rossweisse greeted cheerfully to a bewildered looking Rias.
"Rossweisse? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Haru was kind enough to let me stay here. He found me outside of his door and was sweet in offering me a room." she said.
Oh that's utter bullshit! Haru seethed.
[I've got no words for this. This is just funny.] Albion chimed in.
"Ex-fucking-scuse me! What are you doing here?" he yelled pointing at Rias. "And you, why are you blowing it totally out of proportion!?" he shouted, turning his gaze and pointing to Rossweisse.
"I let teleported her here." Akeno said with a cheeky smile. She couldn't help but find it funny seeing his reactions to things that directly affected him.
"I have business to discuss with you Haru. It's Issei, he's—"
"Done something stupid?" Haru said, cutting her off yet again. At this point it may as well be a game to him.
"Yes. He's gone after the Fallen Angels." She said grimly. It seemed that no matter what, Issei was bound to find trouble somehow. After Rias explained the situation, it was time to go church crashing.