School once again passed in a blur.
In between classes, I ended up talking with Yuka regarding the topic of Contracts.
"So how exactly do I get a contractor to like me?" I asked her.
Yuka leaned her head on her arm as she stared at me with a strange expression on her face. It was pleasant. It was personal, but she didn't seem like she was ogling me per se.
"Well, it's not simple. Each contractor has their own personal likes and dislikes. A single method to get them to like or dislike you is not available. My best advice is be polite, observe their personality, and then do your best to stay on their good side."
This was the advice Yuka gave me.
I tried asking her more, but her answers always ended up being incredibly similar.
But really, I don't think my heart was in it.
I just couldn't help but think back to yesterday.
Yuka seemed to notice my troubled expression. "Are you okay?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah… it's just that… well, yesterday I met this nun. She seemed like a nice person and it got me thinking."
I noticed a strange tenseness emanating from Yuka. "About what?"
"..."
I wondered if Yuka was really the best person to talk about this to. I mean, how could I expect to get an impartial answer from someone who has been a Devil for far longer than I have? She'd already be too partial to give me a real answer…
"Nothing." I lied.
Yuka pouted adorably. "Liar."
I sighed. "Yeah, but it's something I should probably ask someone else about."
"Haruto," I felt a chill (not a pleasant one this time) go down my spine as I noticed the slightly dark look Yuka gave me, "You're not getting involved with people from the Church, are you?"
I bit my lip, somewhat afraid. This was clearly something Yuka felt strongly about. Now I was really glad I didn't ask her.
I swallowed once. "N-No. I-It's just that meeting with the nun—BY ACCIDENT—I started wondering about something stupid! No big deal! Hehehe…"
For a brief second, I feared Yuka had seen through my lies and bullshit.
We stared at one another for several brief seconds, my heart beating violently against my chest.
Yuka's expression returned to being all sunshine and unicorns again, smiling brightly.
"Oh. That's okay then."
I released a sigh of relief. I never thought Yuka could get so scary…It was kind of sexy when I thought about it though.
Then I thought back to the previous night. I remembered how powerful Yuka had seen, using speed I had yet to develop to cut up that colossus of a Stray Devil. While, as I observed, her physical endurance left something to be desired. If she had been fighting a serious threat, her legs would be her weak point. But other than that, she was still strong. Much more well-trained than me in my current state.
Even with the legendary Divine Dividing, I was still rather weak when compared to Gremory-senpai, Yuka, Akeno-san, and Koneko-chan.
I've yet to even learn how to fully use my Queen traits. I also haven't been a Devil for any longer than a few days.
The only person who could possibly understand what I'm going through would be…
Issei!
That's right! Issei was a perverted idiot, but he was a good guy! Surely he would understand my thoughts!
I quickly stood up from my chair, almost knocking it over. "Thanks, Yuka! But I gotta go!"
I walked out the room at a hurried pace. I pulled out my cellphone from my pocket. I started typing a text message as quickly as I could (which wasn't very fast really. I was horribly unimpressive when it came to texting. Why can't people just call each other?! It's hardly any more dangerous than texting, even when driving, they both hold fairly the same amount of danger!).
Issei, meet me on the roof.
—Haruto
I hit send. It was only a few minutes later that I received a reply.
Sure. But can I ask why?
I pondered the answer to my brother's question. I smiled mischievously, typing back a response.
Nope… but it's important to me.
And with that, I left for the school rooftop. When I got there, I made sure there was no one else around. It would be troublesome if anyone overheard what I would say. It was one thing if anyone overheard me, but it was quite another if one of them was someone related to the supernatural like Sitri-senpai or Gremory-senpai.
And so I waited a few minutes, leaning against the railing while humming to myself.
I heard the door to the roof open, revealing my perverted, best friend.
He walked over to me and leaned against the railing, a curious expression on his face.
"What did you ask me up here for?" It was a fair question. He was being rather calm and polite about it. "You said it was important."
I rubbed my jaw, wondering the best way to bring about the topic of Fallen Angels up to the guy who got his heart torn out and crushed by one…literally.
"OK, so…" I paused, trying to find out the best way to explain the situation. "OK…so it's like this." I paused again, gathering my thoughts before speaking. "OK, you remember in…Ah screw it. I'm gonna do this without references." I took a deep breath. "You see…I met this girl and—"
Issei growled. "You brought me up here just to gloat in my face again?"
I facepalmed. "Wha—I—Shut up and listen will ya?" I sighed. "Well, I met this girl…well, two of them…they're kind of…well they're not approved of by others around us. I…OK—"
"STOP SAYING "OK" AND JUST TELL ME WHATEVER THE HELL YOU'RE GONNA SAY!" Issei finally shouted out in annoyance, apparently fed up with all of my pauses.
He had a right to get ticked off.
I bit my tongue slightly to silence whatever comeback I had in mind. I glanced off to the side, weighing my options on how to explain this.
"Fine… but you have to promise not to shout or get upset."
Issei raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Why?"
I shook my head, pointing at him. "No. Promise first. Swear on your parents's lives."
"...Alright. I swear not to shout or get upset, but not on my parents's lives. That's too serious." Issei finally agreed with a sigh. "Now what is it you have to tell me?"
Well, this was probably the best I was gonna get from him.
"O-I mean-it's…" I blinked. "IgotinvolvedwithaFallenAngelandnunfromtheChurch!"
I was so nervous and uncertain that I ended up just blurting it all out in a single breath. Ise just stared at me, probably wondering what the hell I just said.
"...What?"
Taking one more deep breath, I took a leap of faith.
"I kinda… may have… sort of… ended up liking a nun and a Fallen Angel." I finally admitted clearly and without distraction.
It was almost disturbing how quickly Issei's face turned shock white.
"What?" Then a short pause. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"
"Hey!" I shouted accusingly. "You swore you wouldn't shout or get upset!"
"Yeah, that's cos I thought you were gonna tell me something like you got laid by the washboard or that you recruited more members for your harem or whatever!" Issei started pacing back and forth. "This is a Fallen Angel. A FALLEN ANGEL!" Issei emphasized the fact that one of the girls I was speaking about was a Fallen Angel.
"And a nun." I added.
"Nuns, I don't know too much about. So I don't care about that quite yet. She could be nice for all I know." Issei said in a much lower tone. "But a FALLEN ANGEL!? ARE YOU NUTS!? DO YOU NOT REMEMBER BEING KILLED LITERALLY A WEEK AGO! HAVE THE SCARS ALREADY FADED FROM YOUR CHEST?! Cos if so, I wanna know your secret."
I waved my hands in a gesture to calm Issei down. "I think you're overreacting. Mittelt-chan is actually a pretty nice girl once you see that adorable face of hers not stretched into a malicious expression. We actually had a pleasant little exchange at an ice cream parlor—"
"Nooo! Oh no, you're DATING one too!?" Issei asked, incredulous.
"Come on, we're not 'dating'. We just had a pleasant exchange."
Issei was still pacing back and forward, still trying to process my words. "Last I checked, I don't remember either of us knowing how to use the words 'Fallen Angel' and 'pleasant' in the same sentence."
I opened my mouth to talk before shaking my head, releasing a deep sigh. "Wanna know what? You were clearly the wrong person to come for to ask for help. Forget it." I walked past Issei, preparing to return downstairs off the school building.
"Wait." I heard Issei call out reluctantly. He seemed downtrodden, but calmer. "OK, I'm calmed down. I can tell you're serious and it would be a dick move if I freaked out without even listening to my bro. I'm calm, I'm ready to listen. What's your problem, buddy?"
I smiled slightly. "Alright then…Remember how Raynare killed us because of our Sacred Gears?"
Issei cocked his head sideways, frowning. "'Raynare'?"
I snapped my fingers, realizing something. "Oh, I mean 'Yuuma', which is a fake name by the way. That Fallen Angel's real name is Raynare." Issei didn't know 'Yuuma' had a true name.
"Oh." Issei replied, looking even more somewhat depressed at the fact that the girl who killed him didn't even give him a real name. "Anyway, yeah. I kinda remember that."
"Well, the first thing I feel I have to tell you before I go any further with my problem. Turns out they were under orders from their higher ups." I explained. "It was apparently from their top dog, Azazel. Even if they didn't wanna do it, they had to. Keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that only one of them actually killed you."
"I get it." Issei said harshly, apparently not enjoying the trip down memory lane.
"OK, well… the thing I'm wondering is… why?"
"Why what?" Issei asked.
"Why are we enemies?" For a second, Issei looked shocked and hurt. "With the other factions I mean." Issei calmed down considerably.
"Well, there was that whole big war thing a long time ago, so I guess—"
"But what about now?" I asked. "I mean, we're not at war. Not anymore. Even if it's tense, there's still peace between the three factions. I've learned now that, despite what many of us think, not all of the people of the other factions are evil or cruel like we'd expect. The nun I told you about, Sister Asia was her name. She was an incredibly kind, cute, and sweet young girl. Even if you gave her a crippled Devil in front of her and put a light spear in her hand, I doubt she would even consider harming another person, even a Devil."
Issei nodded, somewhat understanding what I was saying.
"And then there's that Fallen Angel I told you about, Mittelt." Issei tensed somewhat, but remained silent, allowing me to continue. "Yeah she tried to kill me before yesterday and the day before that, but she's not necessarily evil. More like a brat who is a sore loser. I felt it when we fought. She was willing to kill, but she was kind of childish about it. It was more like a tantrum than actual intent to murder. And after I beat her, we had some ice cream and she turned out to be a fairly pleasant girl once you got to associate with her."
Issei stared at me, deadpan. "...she tried to kill you… so you bought her ice cream…?"
We stared at one another for several minutes filled with silence.
"Well when you say it like that, you can make anything sound stupid." The deadpan expression turned to disbelief. "You had to be there to understand my reasoning! She was crying and I felt so bad inside and…You know what, the circumstances aren't really important. Point is, I found out something crazy: We don't HAVE TO be enemies."
Before Issei could go on a rant again, I stopped him.
"I know it sounds as crazy as it is, but if we all just sat down and talked it through, I think we could actually have genuine peace between one another." I sighed, falling into a more solemn mood. "Alright, call me crazy. Go ahead and tell me my idea's stupid."
Issei averted his eyes, not looking at me. He leaned against the railing on the rooftop, looking up towards the sky.
"..." He remained silent. Then, after a minute or two of contemplation, he walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I won't call it stupid."
I gave a surprised expression. Considering the outrageous rant he had been on only a few minutes before, I thought he would've gone batshit crazy at the very suggestion I came up with.
"What?"
Issei grinned like an idiot. "We're bros. We stand by each other no matter what. Even if there's a part of my mind and common sense screaming 'WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? ARE YOU NUUUUUUTS!?', if you want to believe in that, I'll stand by you to the bitter end. You can believe that cos I literally did stay by you in the bitter end the first time."
We both chuckled at his stupid joke, mostly out of the lack of comfort we felt. It wasn't easy joking around about dying considering we already died once.
"Listen, I can't say how it will go, but even if you want to chase something near impossible like universal peace, you can count on me to have your back. While I don't feel comfortable about Fallen Angels, I'll definitely believe you about this nun girl…" I could tell where this conversation was going when that goofy, perverted grin appeared on Issei's face. "Is she cute? What size are her boobs?"
"REALLY!?" I asked, deeply irritated, how he could be so flippant as to move on to the subject of breasts immediately after I have a serious moment, explaining my desire for peace to him. "Is that really all you can think about, boobs-idiot!?...But yes. She was cute. Very cute. I'd daresay you could call her a beautiful bishoujo."
The idiot's grin widened further. "So…Did you—"
"I swear if you ask 'Did you seal the deal?', I will hit you." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean really, get your mind out of the gutter."
Issei pouted. "Geez, give me a break. I was just wondering if you were considering adding her to your harem." He paused, as if noting something. "Come to think of it, I don't actually recall you adding any other girls into your harem. I've seen you flirting a little, but I don't think I've ever seen you kissing any girl other than the washboard."
"Well…" I hesitated. "...It's a process. I can't just walk up to any random girl and say 'Hey, wanna be part of my harem where I'll do many romantic and ecchi things with other girls as well?', ya know? If I want to become a true harem king, I have to form genuine romantic bonds and make sure girls are okay with it. Like with Yuka or Tsubasa-chan. I have to work my way into it. I'm starting to think that they're interested in it, but I want to have feelings for the girls and for them to return those feelings. Not doing so will result in me breaking one of my Five Rules of Harem-Building that I created with Ruruko when she allowed me to start building a harem."
Issei shrugged. "I don't really get it."
I sighed. We're gonna have to do this the educational way.
"OK, remember that manga, Sekirei?"
Another perverted grin from Issei. Ignoring that.
"Anyway, even though the protagonist was kind of feeling love for multiple women, they all accepted that because he was nice to them and treated them well, never taking advantage of them or anything. They constantly fought for his affection like a bunch of horny teenagers. Sekirei is among the many examples on how to build harems! You gotta build'em to last, buddy. And they have to consist of women you deeply care for and who share such affections."
Issei's head leaned side to side, as if he was contemplating my words. He'd probably forget them by tomorrow, but it was worth a shot to try explaining it.
And the conversation kind of devolved just like that. We went from discussing the future and peace to breasts and harems.
Such was a rather typical conversation between us two perverted idiots.