DxD: Like a Devil Chapter 60

Edited by Priapus, Marethyu

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– Ichiban –

As they got out of the car, Ichi took in the sights of the place they’d be staying in for their vacation. A personal resort owned by Akane because the rich girl wasn’t rich enough, apparently. But he wasn’t complaining. While he’d be happy if she lost the attitude that came with it, he’d enjoy the benefits to his heart's content.

Although, he still felt terrible that he was the one getting spoiled so much. That’d be fine on its own, but Ichiban had nothing worth giving back, being poor and all. Well, nothing besides his eternal servitude, that was.

Seemingly, despite so many unrealistic demands, Akane was satisfied with that. Ichiban didn’t know how to feel about that.

“Wow, this is beautiful,” Asia said in awe. “I never knew you had a place in Hawaii, Akane-san.”

The resort’s main building, while nowhere near as big as the one they’d stayed at during the tournament in the underworld, could still comfortably hold all six of them with ease. Surrounded by a small field of green grass, a large pool behind, and the beach right in front of it.

So even though Ichiban would love to spend most of his vacation in the nearest city, staying here to relax every once in a while was valid. Too much excitement could lead to exhaustion, after all, so having a resort like this to stay at sounded better than a hotel in Honolulu.

Granted, they wouldn’t have anyone to fulfill that 5-star service for them, as they’d have to do all the cooking and cleaning themselves, but a private resort far away from other people was ultimately the more comfortable option.

“It’s too humid,” Koneko muttered in dissatisfaction, pulling at her yellow shirt. “And hot.”

“Everywhere here is humid and hot, Koneko-chan,” Kiba told her. “It’s Hawaii in the summer. You’ll have to get used to it, I think.”

Koneko pouted but didn’t complain anymore. Ichiban could relate— while he was enjoying the humidity at the moment, he knew it would get old very quickly, especially seeing as he was gonna be feeling like this the entire time they were in Hawaii. He just hoped the resort had good AC.

“Oh, quit it. You’re on vacation in Hawaii with me. You’ll have VIP treatment anywhere you go.” Akane smirked, hands on her hips. “Get my and Asia’s bags, Ichi.”

“What? Why? You have your own dimensional storage—”

“Tsk tsk, that’s not how you respond to me.” She cut him off, wagging her finger at him. “What you should say is ‘Anything for you, goddess!’. Then you offer me a foot rub or something like that. To show your devotion and eternal worship of the greatest person in the world. I demand nothing less than that, alright?”

Ichiban stared at her in silence before he sighed deeply. He could hear the amusement coming from the rest of the group as he did what he was told. He grabbed their bags, and while they didn’t really weigh anything for him, it was still annoying.

“Um, it’s okay, Ichi,” Asia said as she stepped up to him, putting a hand on her bag. “I can carry it myself. You don’t have to bother.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” He waved it off as he smiled at her. “It’s nothing really.”

“Yeah, let him do his job.” Akane giggled as she led the group toward the building. “C’mon, let’s check out the inside.”

With three large bags and two smaller ones in hand, Ichi was the last to enter the resort building. There was only a single floor here with a large living room, an open kitchen further back, and two separate bedrooms on the left and right sides of the entrance. It wasn’t anything fancy on the inside, but it looked comfortable, and that’s all that mattered.

“Yoo, this place is huge,” Issei said with a huge grin, taking a seat on a couch facing a massive TV. “We’re really gonna stay here for a whole month? This is awesome. Having rich friends is the best.”

“It’s nice in here. Not humid.” Koneko nodded in agreement before stretching her arms and falling onto a sofa, melting on it and prompting a relaxed smile from her. “And it’s so comfy~”

“Koneko-chan, we need to put our luggage away first,” Kiba told her. “We can relax later.”

“It’s fine. We can stay here an hour or something before we go to Honolulu.” Akane said. “Let her rest.”

“Well… alright, if you say so.” He nodded with a smile. “So, how will we split up the rooms? Who goes where?”

“Each room has two beds, so it’ll be in pairs. Koneko can go with Asia, and you can share with Issei.” She responded. “Ichi and I will stay together.”

“Eh?” Ichiban blinked in surprise.

Of course, as ‘goddess and servant’ (Read: girlfriend and boyfriend), sharing a room together was natural, but he didn’t expect her to blurt that out so suddenly. They hadn’t even told the rest of the group that they were dating yet.

“After all, I’m required to have my bodyguard near me at all times.” She explained with a shrug. “Annoying, but what can you do, right?”

Despite ‘unintentionally’ calling him annoying, Akane still threw him a sultry, knowing smirk that may or may not have made his face feel strangely hot. And it also may or may not have made him feel even more thrilled to be here.

This month was going to be the best thirty days of his life.

“Ah, I see. That does make sense.” Kiba responded, his eyes flickering between them as his polite smile turned into one of amusement. “I don’t mind sharing the room with Issei-san. Koneko-chan, are you fine being with Asia-chan?”

The short girl gave a thumbs-up from her seat as she was unwilling to move an inch, prompting the blond to smile.

“I am fine with Koneko-chan as well.” She nodded. 

“Aw man, really?” Issei complained. “I have to share a room with a dude?”

“No woman would trust you to be anywhere within ten kilometers of their vicinity, Issei,” Akane responded with a brutal remark. “Be thankful you’re in the same building.”

Ichi couldn’t help but grimace as Issei seemed like he wanted to curl up in a ball and cry his heart out. He didn’t really deserve to be treated like this, but that was Akane for you.

On the other hand, Koneko snorted in amusement, prompting him to stand up and glare at her angrily.

“What’s so funny, pipsqueak?!” Issei scowled.

“It’s funny cuz it’s true.” She said with her usual blank tone.

“Wha— Seriously?!” He whined. “You too?! I dropped the pervert act ages ago! I redeemed myself already!”

As Issei continued to get bullied by a girl barely half his size, Kiba sighed to himself and addressed Ichi and Akane.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me.” He said, taking his bag with him.

“I’ll be in mine, too, Akane-san,” Asia said, taking her bag off Ichiban’s hand. “Thank you so much for carrying my luggage, Ichi! You’re so very kind.”

And as the blond left, Ichiban quickly noticed Akane staring at him expectantly.

“What?”

“Wow, I have to spell that out for you too?” She asked rhetorically, giving him her annoying signature smirk. “You’re too green, Ichi. So naive and ignorant.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Tsk, tsk. See, this is why you never had a girlfriend.” She added with an exaggerated sigh. “Isn’t it obvious?”

This time, Ichiban didn’t say anything. He only stared at her with an annoyed frown as she kept testing his patience.

“I’ll be merciful this time and tell you what I want.” She continued. “Put my bags in my room right now.”

“You could’ve just said that.” He responded with a glare as they walked toward their room. “Why do you have to make it so complicated…”

“I’m not. You, as my boyfriend, must always know what I want.” She said as she closed the door behind them. “As in, you must be able to read my expression and immediately do what I think you should do.”

“Are you— how the fuck am I supposed to do that? I can’t read your mind.”

“Excuses!” She pointed at him with an accusation. “I will not tolerate laziness. Do your job, or you will be punished,”

“I didn’t do anything to deserve a punishment.”

“And that’s exactly why you deserve it.” She said with her smirk widening as if she’d flawlessly won the argument.

Ichiban was speechless— he genuinely had no answer to that. What the hell was wrong with her this time? What, did she feel extra sadistic today and just wanted an excuse to bully him for some reason?

Eventually, as his glare intensified, Akane broke out into a fit of laughter, quickly making him realize that she was just messing with him.

“You’re such a bitch sometimes.” He said with a sigh before he felt himself smiling as he set the bags aside. “You actually had me fooled.”

“Haha, no way; how did you even fall for that?” She questioned, still giggling.

“It just sounds like something you’d do and say, alright?” He responded. “Make up something absurd and expect me to adhere to it knowing I can’t just so you can make fun of me some more.”

“Fair, fair.” She sighed in contentment, throwing herself into the bed. “I guess I can be mean sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” He glanced at her oddly.

“Most of the time.” She corrected herself with a roll of her eyes before smirking at him. “But you still love me~”

Had it been any other time, Ichiban would’ve denied such a thing and told her to fuck herself. But now, as a teenager who was so hopelessly in love with this girl, he couldn’t even try to do so.

“Better thank your lucky stars that I do…” He muttered in response as he looked away to avoid making eye contact with her. 

In response, Akane giggled again and suddenly dragged him to be on top of her by pulling the ice chain that appeared around his arm out of nowhere. As she forced him to look at her sexy smirk, Ichiban couldn’t help but lean forward for a kiss, which only made her even more smug.

“Don’t you get it already?” She said, licking her lips after pushing him off a little. “Trying so hard to look strong and scary only makes you more adorable~”

“Shut up.” He grunted, stealing another kiss as that smirk of hers grew three sizes.

Ichiban had always thought that he hated that arrogant look of hers. It had always annoyed him and made her look punchable.

He’d never thought he’d grow to love it.

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– Akane –

Ah, Hawaii. As obnoxiously hot as ever.

Obviously, I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to come here, of all places, but the sizzling heat still bothers me, and it doesn’t help that I sweat easily. But because I’m of infinite intellect, all I had to do was not to feel miserable all the time was supercooling the air around my body. With ice magic rivaling that of Satan class, it was nothing to me.

And that’s really the only negative aspect of this trip, so even if I wasn’t as smart as I am, it’s easily ignored because there are so many things here that can distract me. So after resting a little in the resort — and enjoying an intense make-out session with Ichi that nearly turned into something else — we took off to Honolulu, and even the ride there was fun. Cycling through our music tastes, enjoying the scenery, that kind of stuff.

Ichi took the wheels and was oddly insistent despite my offer of driving, but if he’s that passionate about serving me, then who am I to argue? Doesn’t hurt that he’s good at driving, too. He even has a real driver’s license somehow. I’m guessing the Yakuza got him one? That’s convenient.

After parking somewhere, we decided to explore the city. Now, I’ve been here before, but I was very little at the time—I think around four or five—so I don’t really remember Honolulu very much. It’s about 7 p.m., so while the sun is setting right now, we still have a lot of time to enjoy ourselves.

Our first stop was, of course, the closest restaurant we could find because none of us had eaten since we woke up—a nice and popular steakhouse close to Waikiki Beach. A lovely view and good food. What else can you ask for?

“Oh man, I’m starving,” Ichiban says, looking at the menu. “But I don’t know what to pick.”

“Whatever you want,” I tell him. “I’m treating everyone here, so don’t worry about the price.”

“I can barely read any of this, but all the pictures look so damn good.” Issei nearly drools.

“Oh, I can read it,” Asia says, scooting closer to him. “Want me to translate it for you?”

I cross my arms in mild annoyance as I hear that.

“Really, Issei?” I huff. “All this studying for the exams, and you still can’t read basic English?”

“Nope. I mean, look, I’m sure a genius like you can’t relate, but everything I’ve studied?” He says, tapping his head. “Yeah, it’s not in there anymore.”

Seriously?

“Right?” Ichiban agrees with him, a stupid grin plastered on his face. “It’s like your brain holds onto everything you’ve learned right until the exams are done. Then it all goes poof!”

“Are you kidding me?” I look at Ichiban. “So wait, we’re going to have to go through all of this again? All of this fucking studying because you morons can’t keep it in your head?”

“See? That’s what I mean. You’re too smart to relate to us.” Issei points out, making a good point for the first time in his life. But because he’s Issei, I’ll ignore it. “Literally, most other students go through this exact same thing.”

“Bullshit.” I scoff, still looking at Ichiban. “You can recall every tiny detail about Dragon Quest lore just by reading it once, but Newton’s Laws of Motion are too difficult to remember?”

“I like Dragon Quest.” Ichiban shrugs. “I don’t like Newton and his laws. That’s just how it is.”

“I refuse to believe that. You’re messing with me.” I say. No way this is a normal thing. “I never went through anything like it before.”

“What, so your experience is the only thing that matters?” Ichi raises an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

For a moment, the table remains silent until Ichiban snorts, looking at Issei in front of him.

“Gifted kids, am I right?” He says before addressing me. “You just can’t relate to us people of average intellect.”

“‘Average’.” I chuckle.

“First of all, fuck you.” He responds. “Second, if you really don’t believe us, you can ask Kiba and Koneko.”

I blink and then glance at them. As they notice my stares, they look away a little nervously.

“Well, there is some merit to their words…” Kiba nods.

“Too much useless knowledge for my brain to bear.” Koneko agrees.

“Wow.” I can’t help but shake my head in disappointment at that. “So you’re all just that useless, huh? But that’s on me. I shouldn’t have expected anything from you, idiots. Except for Asia, of course. I’m sure if she went to school, she’d do better than all of you by lightyears.”

The blond beams at my compliment.

“Yeah, yeah…” Ichi rolls his eyes before closing the menu. “Anyway, I’m taking the double bacon cheeseburger.”

“Me too.” Issei nods. “It looks so damn good…”

That’s so boring. But I guess burgers in the US are always going to be different from the ones we have in Japan. Maybe they want that authentic experience.

“Coconut shrimp with fries for me,” Kiba says.

“Um, I think I’d like the grilled salmon if that’s okay,” Asia adds.

“Of course, it’s okay.” I smile at her before glancing at the menu.

I can be boring and pick the A5 Wagyu steak, but we have a lot of it back home. I’m not a picky eater, and I like trying new things, so I want something I don’t usually find in Japan—or, I guess, something I don’t eat very often.

I looked through the menu a few times, and I thought their Hawaiian-style fish tacos sounded delicious. I guess that works. I can try traditional Hawaiian cuisine later, but right now, I just want to eat something.

As I find my order, I feel Koneko poking my side, prompting me to look at her as she’s pointing at hers.

“Can I have this?” She asks innocently as my eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“T-the fifty-ounce tomahawk steak?” I say to make sure. At her hum, I whip my head at her. “Are you sure you can eat all of that?”

She nods again.

…Fuck it, I’m curious. I wanna see if she can.

“You know what, yeah, sure,” I say, making her eyes twinkle in excitement. “Everyone got their orders?”

As everyone confirms, I look around for a waitress. Once she sees me, she smiles and heads to our table. However, moments before she arrives, I spot a face that looks oddly familiar on a table in the interior of the restaurant, looking at me weirdly. It's a black-haired girl wearing sunglasses, a dark purple blouse, and tight black shorts.

The moment she spots my gaze, she looks back at her phone, gets up from her seat, and walks toward the exit in an attempt to hide away from me, making my eyes narrow suspiciously. She was definitely looking at me just now, wasn’t she? In recognition, too. And I feel like I know her, too, for some reason.

Before I can use Observe to check out who the girl is, the waitress gets in front of me, cutting my train of thought.

“Hey there! Ready to order?” The waitress says politely.

I blink and try to look behind her, but the girl has already left, making me frown in mild annoyance.

…Eh, whatever. It’s probably nothing important. If it was, I’d notice it. Familiar girl or not, it’s as if she felt like she was dangerous. Besides, what are the odds of us running into trouble here? We’re on an island where none of the main story events take place.

On the off chance something does happen, we’re more than tough enough to handle it. I mean, come on, there’s barely anyone in the world that can fight me on equal footing. I proved it during the tournament finals.

To be honest, I’m just too hungry to care right now.

“Uh, yeah.” I nod. “For appetizers—”

“Oh wait, hold on, I’m changing what I want,” Issei says, flipping through the menu.

God fucking damn it, Issei.

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– Rias –

She’d known that something like this wasn’t going to be easy to properly investigate. With this being a nonsensical situation to begin with and with so much conflicting information, Rias was starting to think that this might be a lost cause just minutes into her investigation.

She wasn’t left with any clues. Not even a crumb that would lead her in the right direction. Everything she’d noted down thus far was just speculation of what might’ve happened, but nothing that could explain what had actually happened.

Honestly, it was starting to get frustrating. Rias trusted Gasper. She truly did. That’s why she’d refused to give up despite having quite literally nothing to work with besides the words from her Bishop, even though her own mother had told her to quit it and instead punish the boy for what he did.

And honestly, Rias had no reason to listen to her. Not when that same mother was the one who forced her into that stupid marriage against her own will. In fact, Venelana was still scolding her for not ‘swallowing her pride’ and marrying Riser.

Why would she ever do anything for that bitch? Venelana could call her an ungrateful brat all she wanted, but Rias wouldn’t let her steal her future for the sake of their family. What an incredibly selfish thing to do as a parent.

Rias sighed to herself and shook her head.

But she digressed. What mattered to her right now was finding out what the hell had happened that day because she was now sure that Gasper didn’t have schizophrenia or something like that. Anxious as he might be, why would he suddenly turn schizophrenic?

Unfortunately, that little nugget of information did not get her any closer to the real reason. Why had he suddenly lost control and attacked Akane despite her being very kind to him? Yeah, sure, Akane probably didn’t mean most of the things she said that time, but Gasper wouldn’t know that. Hell, Rias had believed her at the time but remembered later that Akane was too harsh and bossy to say any of these things.

If Akane were 100% herself with Gasper, she’d say something like, ‘The time in solitude and darkness is over, vampire! Come out and worship your goddess!’ before physically dragging him outside, kicking and screaming.

Naturally, that wouldn’t work either, but that would have been the accurate Akane response had they not told her about Gasper’s anxiety problems. Or maybe Rias was exaggerating. The whole goddess thing was a little more recent.

“Have you found anything, Akeno?” Rias asked, glancing at her Queen.

The only one who’d insisted on staying here with her. Naturally, all her peerage were worried about Gasper, Koneko especially, but Rias had convinced her and Kiba to enjoy their vacation in Hawaii as the Gremory heiress was prepared to lead this investigation on her own.

She didn’t want to trouble them after they’d helped her so much this year, from Riser to Kokabiel to the tournament. And yes, while they may have lost during the finals, she still found their performance to be fantastic. They honestly deserved a nice, long break.

Akeno had refused to go, however. At first, Rias thought it was because she didn’t exactly like Akane that much to bother, and while that might be true to some extent, it was mostly to stay with Rias and help her out with her investigation.

Rias felt very grateful when it happened. She really was lucky to have a wonderful peerage like them.

“No.” Akeno shook her head. “Nothing at all.”

“Of course not…”

Rias sighed. Now, with summer vacation and a whole lot of free time for herself, Rias had decided to do a thorough investigation by first looking around in the place they’d had Gasper stay in. They’d left it as it was and told the yakuza not to touch it until they’d adequately examined the area.

All they did was make an illusory wall to show that the old school building was as it always used to be. In reality, a chunk of it was missing after Gasper’s panic attack and his subsequent battle with Akane. The building was barely hanging on. Of course, the room where everything had started had also been left as it was.

So now that Rias was here, it was with great annoyance to say that she’d found nothing. Only faint traces of Gasper’s Sacred Gear and magic lingered in the air. But that wasn’t a clue. It told them nothing they didn’t already know.

This was what she’d been worried about. She’d truly hoped they would be able to find something— anything that could help her explain what the hell happened. To prove that Gasper wasn’t going crazy and to give him peace of mind.

Because the boy himself was convinced that Akane was some kind of big bully who’d told him to kill herself, which Rias had found absurd. True, Akane was a bully sometimes, but she only really ‘bullied’ jokingly. She’d never tell someone to kill themselves like that.

Well, okay, she did seem capable and very willing to say something horrible, but probably to enemies or something—not to Gasper, of all people. Yes, she was rude, inconsiderate, vicious, and very self-centered. Akane would most definitely call him an idiot or a weakling. 

But she would also try to help him get over that weakness anyway. That was how she’d dealt with Rias back then.

That was how I found myself looking up to her. Rias thought to herself.

“Rias, I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” Akeno said after a moment of silence. “But maybe Gasper was imagining it?”

She glanced at her Queen, processing her words for a moment. 

“That’s impossible.” Rias refused to even humor that thought. “He didn’t imagine it. It did happen, and we’re here to figure out how.”

“Rias—”

“We have to trust Gasper, Akeno. It’s our responsibility.” The Gremory heiress insisted. “And I don’t care how long this takes me. I will find out what really happened here.”

Her Queen remained quiet for a moment before she started giggling.

“Stubborn as ever~” She said before guilt flashed in her expression. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything when I said that.”

“It’s just that what we’re doing feels pointless… is that what you’re thinking?” Rias guessed. At her Queen’s frown, she giggled. “Oh, I know how it feels. It does look pretty pointless right now. I mean, we’ve not found any clues despite us staying here for about two hours now. But the thing is, Akeno…”

She scanned the room— Every nook and cranny had nothing to hide; that much was true. This was probably why Akeno felt the way she did.

“…What we’re looking for is in this very room,” Rias added. “I’m 100% convinced. Maybe we’re not finding anything here because we’re not good enough to find it.”

Akeno paused.

“What do you mean?”

Rias grinned and, instead of answering, decided to remain vague, thinking it made her look cool.

“Let’s just say we need an extra pair of very experienced eyes.” She said.

If this plan didn’t work, then Rias might be convinced to drop this investigation, but she knew better.

After all, even if she hadn’t found a clue, it was impossible to hide anything from the most outstanding devil scientist in history.

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– Akane –

After enjoying a great meal at one of the better restaurants in Honolulu, we decided to take the rest of today slow since we had just come here, and, admittedly, we all still feel a little exhausted. So I put my plans of drinking until I pass out on hold, thinking it’s probably better to do that tomorrow. I also delayed my plan of making the base I wanted. I honestly didn’t feel like it.

So we’d just walked around, exploring the place at our leisure. We stopped by several cafes and had enough dessert until I felt like I was about to burst. Honestly, watching the midget eat that entire tomahawk steak by herself and still have room for sweets made me a little afraid of her. What the fuck is her stomach made of?

I’m not going to lie; it was entertaining to watch in a weird, gross way. I recorded the entire thing and sent it to Rias. 

Spending a vacation here really was a great decision. But, of course, it was. I’ve never made a bad decision in my life.

From the glowing streets to the now-empty beach, as the sun had set about two hours ago, we stopped to watch the fire dancers do their thing. Obviously, watching something you know you can do effortlessly isn’t really fun per se, but I view it like watching a well-trained dog doing tricks.

My smile turns upside down as I look behind me. It would’ve been a lot more entertaining if I didn’t feel like I was being watched.

Ever since we left the restaurant, I felt like someone was following me. I don’t know who or why, but it’s been slowly getting on my nerves because I can’t find them. I had to throw a few Spyders to search for the culprit, but so far, they haven’t found anyone that looks suspicious in the crowds.

What’s kind of worrying is that I feel them very close by.

One might say that this could be the yakuza just making sure I’m safe, but it’s definitely not. I can tell when it’s the yakuza, and while I don’t exactly feel any malicious intent from this person, I don’t trust it.

I growl to myself as I don’t find them anywhere. It’s someone that knows who we are, I’m sure of it. That’s why they’re not making a move right now— they’re scared. And they should be, because I won’t show mercy to anyone ruining my vacation.

These fucks better not piss me off.

They’re in this crowd, that much I can tell. But who is it? I can use Observe on everyone standing here, but that sounds really annoying. There are like a hundred people. Having to go through each and every one of their stats will take too long.

I feel someone tugging at my shirt, making me look at Koneko whose expression sharpens, which tells me that she has the same thought. She takes a moment to try to sense where the presence is coming from, reminding me that, even though she’s nowhere near the strongest in our group, she’s still better than all of us when it comes to tracking because of her Senjutsu.

She’s why Lucifer never materialized today.

Eventually, Koneko seemingly finds out who it is as she walks deeper into the crowd. This encourages me to follow her as she grabs the culprit by the arm and drags them away, prompting a pleased smile to tug at my lips.

Koneko shoves them away, and as I get a closer look at their face, I realize it is the girl from the restaurant. First, she scowls deeply at Koneko, but as she meets my gaze, she starts to panic, eyes widening in shock.

“You have five seconds to explain why you’ve been following me around the past few hours,” I tell her. “Five—”

“W-w-wait! It’s me!” She quickly says as she takes off her glasses. Her eyes are a dark shade of pink, but not quite purple. “You remember me, right?”

I frown in thought before my eyes widen in recognition. Surprisingly, yes. I do remember her, even without having to use Observe.

“You’re…” I pause. “…What’s your name again?”

“R-Raynare.” She responds with a disappointed look, sad that I’ve forgotten her name for some odd reason. “You know, that Fallen Angel who formerly worked for Kokabiel?”

“Oh.” I squint my eyes at her. “You’re here to cause more problems, huh? Was one ass-kicking not enough?”

“Troublesome crows need to be taught a lesson,” Koneko says, cracking her knuckles.

“What?! No! I’m not here to do anything bad!” She quickly explains herself. “I-I’m here on a vacation too!”

“Oh really?” I raise a brow.

“Y-yeah. It happened after I returned to the Grigori.” She nodded. “When I reported back to Lord Azazel, he told me to take the next few months off. I’ve been in Hawaii weeks before you.”

“Why would he do that? What did you do to warrant a vacation?”

“You’re useless,” Koneko nods, finishing my sentence for me.

Raynare flinches at our harsh words, but she doesn’t try to argue.

“L-listen, I know what I did back then wasn’t exactly… ‘cool’ of me.” She says with a sigh. “But I’ve changed, alright? I’ve washed my hands of that kind of work. In fact, I’m not even part of any of the combat squads.”

“Really now?” I hum. “Then why were you following me? What do you want?”

Raynare’s face goes red as she looks down at her feet, making me blink in confusion. I recognize this kind of reaction, but I’ve never expected it from her of all people. Am I imagining it?

“T-the truth is…” She clears her throat, giving me a red magical marker from her pocket. “I was thinking… if you can maybe sign my shirt?”

Even Koneko seems taken aback by that, and so am I. Her? The dumbass bitch that tried to kill us?

“You want me to what?”

“Look, I’m a big fan, alright?” She admits with a squeak. “Ever since I got the news of you defeating that bastard Kokabiel. And seeing you in that tournament, I just knew you were something else. I was enchanted.”

I’m still in disbelief, so just to check, I use Observe on her regardless. Lo and behold, her ‘Thoughts about you’ section is saying she was a massive fan of me. No ulterior motives or anything like that. In fact, her REP is maxed, and her AFF is at 75. 

What the fuck? I don’t remember maxing out her REP. I never got the notification.

Koneko and I look at each other for a moment, neither of us knowing how to react before I decide to humor her request. I mean, I should expect to have a lot of fans, right? Why should this come as a surprise? The tournament was live-streamed to the entire supernatural world…

“Sure, whatever,” I say, taking her weird magical marker. “Where do you want me to—”

“Anywhere!” She responds, her expression brightening up as I write my signature on her chest. The writing glows for a moment before permanently etching itself onto her shirt. “Oh, thank you so much, Lady Akane!”

I pause at suddenly being called ‘Lady’ before I smirk. Oh, I like this~

“Sure, sure. Anything for my fans~” I give her the marker back. “Have a good night, Ray. And you better not get into more trouble.”

“Yes, ma’am!” She gives me a deep bow before walking away with a wave. “Have a nice vacation!”

Once she’s out of view, I notice Koneko’s judging stare.

“Being popular, am I right?” I snort.

“So vain.” She mutters with a shake of her head, returning to watch the fire dancers.

You know, as troublesome as she is, I am starting to like her. Anyway, now that’s taken care of…

I frown.

Why do I feel like I’m still being watched?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

– ??? –

Observing the group of Japanese kids from afar, he couldn’t help but sigh. Of all the vacation spots, was Hawaii really their best choice? Seriously? It was hard to believe the Amamiya girl and her friends were here…

His job now seemed significantly more complicated with their presence. He really didn’t need a bunch of kids interfering in a mission this serious.

He was well aware of how formidable these kids could be. He’d heard stories of them overcoming Kokabiel and had even watched the live-streamed ratings games himself. They were not your average kids— if they got involved, preventing them from getting hurt would be the least of his concerns. He knew their involvement would only complicate things further.

Plus, if anything happened to the Amamiya girl due to this ‘conspiracy’...

This situation could turn dire. He was currently the only undercover agent in Hawaii because they wanted to keep the Overseer from noticing anything unusual. With these kids around, they’d have to be excessively cautious, jeopardizing his mission to eliminate the threat in Hawaii.

The notion of recruiting them briefly crossed his mind. Given that not many humans recognized them, they could make effective undercover agents. But he quickly dismissed that idea; it would infuriate the Yakuza and possibly cause a rift between them.

“Damn it…” He muttered softly.

From confronting a lunatic trying to awaken an ancient goddess to now having to deal with a couple of kids capable of annihilating entire nations single-handedly.

What a shitshow.