Akeno's beautiful eyes widened slightly, and the gentle, sweet smile on her face stiffened for the briefest instant—so subtle it was almost imperceptible.
Still leaning forward, she stared at the black-haired boy from point-blank range.
It was too strange.
Hyoudou Genichi—one of the infamous Pervert Trio at Kuoh Academy, the supposed ringleader. Rumor said that the moment he saw a pretty girl, his eyes would light up, drool would start running, and he'd do all kinds of disgusting things that made people cringe.
It was practically common knowledge across the entire school.
But now…
The boy in front of her was calm to the point of indifference. Faced with her near-provocative greeting at this distance, his pupils didn't dilate, his breathing didn't turn ragged, and not even the tiniest muscle on his face twitched unnaturally.
He simply returned her gaze with the cool steadiness of someone assessing her, took the tea cup without the slightest fluster, and even thanked her politely.
That composed presence.
That hard-to-describe calm and distance hidden behind his eyes.
And the faint aura leaking from his body—completely different from the weak, freshly reincarnated presence he'd had yesterday…
Everything about this was nothing like the "Hyoudou Genichi" she knew.
The disconnect between rumor and reality was so sharp that a thick knot of suspicion and curiosity instantly formed in Akeno's chest.
She slowly straightened. Her smile remained, but the warmth in her eyes dulled, replaced by a sharper, more deliberate scrutiny.
"By the way," Akeno said softly, as if chatting idly, though the probing undertone was unmistakable, "you're completely different from the rumors."
Those amethyst eyes didn't blink. She watched Genichi's face like a hawk, searching for even the smallest crack.
Genichi lifted his gaze to meet hers. His expression still barely moved.
"I went through a life-and-death moment," he said evenly. "Changing a little seems normal."
His explanation sounded reasonable—after all, nearly dying and being reincarnated would change anyone.
But Akeno wasn't that easy to fool.
A brush with death might make someone awaken. It might make them timid, or unstable, or extreme.
But what this boy radiated wasn't any of that.
It was a settled, goal-driven calm—so steady it bordered on cold.
This wasn't "a little change."
"Is that so?" Akeno's tone lifted at the end, clearly unconvinced.
She was about to press further—
Click.
A hidden door deeper inside the clubroom opened. With it came a billow of steam and the clean fragrance of body wash, and a figure stepped out.
Rias Gremory held a towel in hand, gently drying her damp, gorgeous crimson hair.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Genichi," Rias said casually as she walked over, still drying her hair.
"I stayed over at your place last night, and it felt uncomfortable not taking a bath, so…"
Her words cut off abruptly, as if she'd only just realized how that sounded. A perfectly timed blush surfaced on her cheeks, and her green eyes flicked toward Genichi.
The moment she said it, the atmosphere in the room turned… delicate.
Koneko, who'd been buried in her snacks, had one ear twitch almost imperceptibly.
And Akeno's smile grew even more suggestive, her gaze sliding back and forth between Rias and Genichi like she was confirming a hypothesis.
Genichi's mouth twitched—barely.
This devil princess was doing it on purpose, wasn't she?
That deliberately ambiguous phrasing—was it to watch his reaction?
Or did she just think it was funny?
He kept his face neutral, acting as if he hadn't caught the implication at all.
"It's fine," he said calmly. "Rias-senpai, can we get to the main point now?"
His bluntness—his complete lack of "romance"—made Rias pause, then she let out a small, helpless laugh and shook her head.
"You're really not cute."
"Fine, fine."
Rias stopped teasing him. She tossed the towel casually over the sofa's armrest and took the seat of honor, her posture straightening.
She swept her gaze over the room—Akeno, Kiba, Koneko—and finally let it settle on Genichi. The lazy air around her faded, replaced by the formal, commanding presence of someone born to lead.
"Then, first of all: the Occult Research Club welcomes you, Hyoudou Genichi."
A standard, official greeting.
But immediately after, her tone shifted, her eyes sharpening.
"However, the Occult Research Club is only a front—more of a personal hobby. So I'll be direct."
She paused, as if gauging his reaction.
"We are devils."
The word fell from her lips with calm certainty, heavy with the weight of an absolute fact.
Silence.
Kiba stopped what he was doing. Akeno's smile tightened. Koneko finally lifted her eyes from her snack bag.
All eyes gathered on Genichi, waiting for his response—
Shock?
Fear?
Denial?
Collapse?
But Genichi's expression didn't change at all.
No surprise. No fear. Not even a twitch of his brows.
He simply looked at Rias.
That excessive calm, more than anything, made something uneasy rise in Rias and the others.
No matter how strong someone's nerves were, hearing something that overturned their entire worldview shouldn't produce zero ripples.
Unless…
"Looks like you aren't surprised," Rias said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"You remember the woman who almost killed you last night, right?"
She continued, watching his face. "She was a fallen angel. An angel who once served God, but fell because of evil thoughts—betraying faith and duty."
There was clear contempt and hostility in her tone toward fallen angels as a group.
Genichi fell silent for a moment.
He knew Rias was waiting for his stance—or more precisely, testing how well he accepted "devil" as a reality, and how he viewed the enemy.
When he spoke again, his voice was still steady, but the meaning behind it made the room shift.
"I don't care."
His eyes swept across everyone present.
"Devil, angel, fallen angel… God or demon. To me, there's no essential difference."
The moment those words landed, Kiba's gaze tightened. Akeno's smile disappeared completely. Koneko frowned slightly.
In a devil society where bloodline and faction mattered, that kind of indifferent, almost blasphemous dismissal of sides was… out of place.
Genichi ignored their subtle reactions and continued. This time, urgency seeped into his tone—an unabashed hunger that he didn't bother to hide.
"What I want to know is how to get power. Power strong enough to protect myself and accomplish my goals."
His gaze locked onto Rias.
"You saved me. You gave me a new identity and a new life. So you should have a way to help me obtain power—right, Rias-senpai?"
He drove the conversation straight into its core.
Identity. Faction. Ideology.
Those were secondary.
Power was the only thing he cared about right now.
Rias studied him for a long moment.
This boy's goal-focus was nearly obsessive. His thirst for power wasn't masked at all.
Deep in his eyes, something burned—darker, more urgent, more relentless than simple ambition.
"Of course," Rias said, nodding, that confident smile returning—like everything was still within her grasp. "As my peerage, I'll naturally guide you and help you master the power of a devil—your own power. But…"
Her tone turned, and she leaned forward slightly.
"Before that, I need to make something clear: the relationship between you and me, and the rules and obligations you must follow as a peerage devil."
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