6 Confused Feelings

(PoV Koneko/Shirone)

--------- In the square where Ban used to live... -------

I find myself in a strange situation now, a few days ago I coincidentally met Ban-Senpai, I was on the roof sleeping in my cat form, enjoying the silence that the space provided, when suddenly I started to smell something delicious, when I looked towards the source of the smell, I saw a very tall young man with light blue hair, red eyes and a beard the same color as his hair.

He was preparing a dish, I approached him thinking about asking for some, but when he was about to eat he noticed me seeing me beside him, Ban ended up jumping from the bench scared, I was also scared by the sudden action but soon I calmed down, when he spoke to me I noticed that I was in the form of a cat, it is common for me to forget that because I am quite used to being in this form, but I had no way to change form in front of him

After that he seemed to have noticed my reason for coming after him and ended up talking to me while he gave me some of his food, when I tasted the dish my eyes lit up, it was delicious! After a few moments I noticed that it was already finished, Ban next to me ate the same way as I did, it took a few minutes, but both of us didn't seem satisfied

He had looked at me as I seemed to be unconsciously licking the plate, I felt embarrassed but to my surprise he just chuckled and gave me a second piece, I looked at him for a few seconds as I had already taken a piece of his food, Ban didn't mind and I ended up eating another piece again

While I was eating, he was stroking my head with his hand, I didn't think it was bad and besides I had eaten some of his food so I couldn't complain, when I finished he said I had to go and if I wanted to eat more I had to meet him at the central square, I didn't understand why it was in the square in particular, at night I was waiting for him at the school gate in my cat form, and why did I stay?

I don't even know the answer, but I believe it was the food or something in particular that would make me regret not going, Ban took me in his arms with care and comfort as I walked towards a bathroom, not even I dared to enter and he was laughing at me, it irritated me a little but his laughs were like he had known me for a long time and we were something like friends, that somehow made me a little more comfortable because of the strange feeling , after that he continued his way to the square, where he ended up sitting on one of the benches and started talking, he lived there...

It made me feel a bit bad for having eaten his food at school, after he spoke for a while, Ban started taking his utensils again out of his bag and started talking again, but now he was talking about his story, I ignored it at first, but he got into a very sensitive subject for me, the story talked about abandonment and being alone at the end, when I heard that I stared at him, his story was almost similar to mine, I was also abandoned by my only family , if it wasn't for Rias-Buchou... I believe I'd be alone by now

I was somewhat moved by the story, after his story he talked about being a loner and that I should have an owner and now is the time I should go back, I didn't mind that and spent the night sleeping with him, doing- the company, in the morning, before Ban woke up, I went back to Rias-Buchou and she looked angry, but she calmed down when she saw me, but her anger wasn't just because of me, I found out from Kiba-Senpai that Rias-Buchou received a call from her brother, where he said that their wedding had been moved forward again to the end of this year, so I followed Rias with Akeno to the student council, as Rias wanted to tell Sona the news

(A/N: I'm going to drop the honorifics a bit now)

But in the middle of the way, I saw Ban who was in front of us, I froze and stared at him, when he reached my side he said some things to me, because he had noticed my gaze on him, Ban considered me a little girl, it was for me to get irritated and hit him, but the only thing I felt was sadness and I lowered my head, after that Rias and Akeno noticed the situation and soon interfered in the middle, I managed to somehow reconcile the situation and we went to the student council, after saying a few words to Ban that made me proud for his surprise

When we arrived at the student council door, Rias entered first with Akeno and I following behind, Rias and Sona started talking about the wedding while in the room I could notice some murmuring, Rias and Sona weren't fully focused on it so they didn't care , but since I'm a Nekoshou, I naturally have very keen hearing and could hear some murmurs from Sona's peerage

"Impossible, Sona lost-"

The voice that was speaking received a light tap on its shoulder from Tsubaki, who also spoke in a mumbling tone.

"It wasn't a defeat, it was a draw"

This didn't go unnoticed by my ears, but I decided not to comment on it, but soon enough, Rias got into a subject as something had piqued her interest.

"Hey Sona, who was the young man who left a little while ago?"

It was obvious that Ban was in the student council, after all there was a hall just for this purpose, and if he was in the student council it also meant that Ban got a certain interest from Sona, Sona didn't seem to want to lie, after all, we are devils, a little lie wouldn't fool us so easily, she also knew, that if she didn't tell Rias the truth, she would only end up more and more curious, and sooner or later she would find out

"His name is Ban, I called him here for a chess match, and also to invite him to StudentCo, I want him in my peerage"

"Oh?"

Sona who heard this little surprise from Rias soon said something

"Don't think about trying to make him part of your peerage, I already agreed to give you Issei on account of your wedding coming up, but I won't give you Ban"

Upon hearing the reason for the young man's presence in the corridors, Rias created a small interest in Ban, at the end of the small conversation, Rias asked everyone to watch over Ban, to see if he had any Sacred Gear, so I spent a few more days with Ban, listening to his story, I felt like I had made a true friend, or something closer like a brother, after all the reports to Rias, she told us to give him one last test, so Yuuto was in charge of fighting him

It was simply impressive, it was a one-sided fight, which I never expected to happen, I saw Kiba being defeated easily and I noticed that Ban didn't even sweat, after the report that night, Rias said to focus on Issei the pervert, because instead of Ban, Issei had a Sacred Gear, even Kiba and I saying about Ban's physical abilities, and his ease to defeat Kiba, she still didn't care, because she believed that someone who had a sacred gear was more important than someone who I didn't, when I heard that I could only agree

Since then, I didn't have time to see him at night, but in the morning I looked at him a bit, so the days passed, but suddenly, one day, Ban didn't go to school, I didn't mind at first, but after that, another day passed without him going to school, I started to unconsciously worry, but I restrained myself because I had to watch Issei, but on the third day without Ban's presence, I started to get visibly nervous and worried, that night, I visited the square, but I didn't find any sign of his presence nearby, this only made my despair arise

During the whole night, I went through the whole city of Kuoh in search of Ban, but I didn't find him anywhere, it was already dawn when I circled the whole city, even so I didn't find his features, so I went after his scent, it wasn't so difficult, after all I spent many days with him at night, so in a way I can easily recognize him

I went to all possible places, and when I passed by a set of simple apartments, I felt a small aroma similar to Ban, so I decided to look for him there, walking along the corridor of apartments, I smelled each door looking for Ban, until that I found a specific door where its smell was greater, I looked for a window on the other side so I could look or enter the place, while I was thinking about it, I saw through the window that there was a light on in the place

I got excited because Ban could be inside, and that would be the reason he didn't go to school because he was moving, approaching the window even more, I noticed that it was a little open, when I saw that I had the conviction to go in, even if Ban could see me as a thief, I think he wouldn't mind, because he was also one when he told about his story, when I entered I saw his two bags, but what caught my attention in the bags, was that one one of the bags was half open and in it I could see a painting

Where in the frame there was a photo of 8 people and a pig, who were celebrating something, what caught my attention is that in the photo, it was that Ban had one of his arms around the shoulders of a woman with white hair, bulky body and also that it was beautiful that she was sitting, in the other arm was a little boy that seemed to be the same size as me, but he had blond hair and he was holding a glass that seemed to contain beer inside

The other 6 people were also quirky, one girl... boy? With pink hair and glasses who was wearing feminine clothes that obviously didn't match him, a mega muscular man with ginger hair and a mustache of the same color, next to a beautiful girl with black hair who was wearing an outfit, let's say, quite revealing too much, and the last two were also together, a girl and a boy who was almost my size with brown hair

(A/N: This will be important for the story later, believe me, if you want to imagine it, think of the whole group celebrating with a party)

I stared at the image for some time, especially the closeness between Ban and the smiling girl he was grabbing, seeing that I felt a slight pang in my heart, was I feeling envy? I can't say, my feelings are confused since I met Ban, before I always suppressed my feelings and I tried to remain expressionless for everything, but when I met Ban, I started to open up more and whenever I'm around him I can't keep it my usual blank expression

Putting the image back in the bag, I looked at the room that was completely empty, with no sign of being used, but seeing Ban's things there again, I was sure that at some point he would appear, so after turning off the light, I left, when I was returning to the ORC I saw some members of Sona's peerage who also seemed to be looking for Ban

This is understandable because I learned on the day of the first meeting between Ban and I, while I visited StudentCo with Rias and Akeno, Sona had said that she was thinking of making him part of her peerage, so I decided to warn them that Ban might be possibly well and who just must have done something or visited someone(God ' 0 ')

At least I hope he's okay... On the sixth day since Ban stopped coming to school, I was inside the ORC, disheartened by the situation, Rias, Akeno and Kiba were with me in the room, when suddenly Rias-Buchou was reading something that made her excited, and soon there was a surprised cry in the room

"So he's the captain?! That child?!"

Me, Akeno and Kiba who were in the room jumped in surprise at the sudden action, seeing that it was nothing serious we relaxed, and Akeno was the first to ask when she and Kiba approached out of curiosity, Rias looked embarrassed by her extreme reaction but he replied anyway

"A-Ah, it's just that I was reading a bit of a book coming from human culture"

Rias was not someone who was interested in ordinary books, she is what they call Otaku, who read fictional stories better known as manga, but as she explained what she was reading, she said something that caught my attention.

"…There's this boy named Meliodas, he's supposed to be a bartender at a tavern, by the description, he's about the same height as Koneko and has golden blonde hair, and green eyes that he meets with a woman named Elizabeth. that from what was shown she has white hair like Koneko, is bigger than Meliodas and has light blue eyes"

Hearing that, the two people Ban was holding in the photo came to mind, so I approached and when I got closer I saw that Rias-Buchou was on a page where there was a drawing on some posters and looking at them, I saw a familiar name, which made me quickly take the manga from Rias' hands, to analyze it, Rias who was speaking, froze when she saw my movement, Akeno and Kiba also looked at me, when Rias spoke

"What was Koneko? Something wrong?"

When she asked that, I put the open book in front of the three pointing to the posters, especially in a specific one and said only one word

"Here"

Rias looked confused, but Akeno and Kiba who paid more attention to Ban noticed her name there and calmly said

"This can't be a coincidence"

With that they end up falling into deep thoughts, when Kiba spoke

"You never know Koneko, who knows if the author didn't just think of a simple name-"

Preventing him from continuing, I put it on the page where there is Meliodas giving food to Elizabeth, and Hawk beside them, while I took the cell phone and opened the photo that had on the board and said

"And now? It can't be a coincidence."

In the cellphone picture they were more realistic, but they shared many similarities, Rias who had already remembered about Ban, noticed the similarities between the pictures, and she looked extremely excited for some reason.

"Was the author one of those? I have to ask for an autograph through Ban if they are friends!"

Akeno and Kiba nodded at Rias' words, Kiba then spoke

"It's Koneko-san, maybe they were friends and one of them decided to write a book and put them in the story"

What Kiba said was also a possibility, but I noticed that there were more pages than Rias had read and I started to read by myself sitting on the sofa, with Rias next to me and Akeno with Kiba standing behind the sofa, on the penultimate page from the book we saw that Meliodas, Elizabeth, Diane and Hawk, the talking pig, were now going in search of their third member of the group, I noticed that Diane looked like one of the people in the photo only in a giant form, as she was presented in the manga

Moreover, from what they said, this third member was in prison and by the last sentence of the page, it carried over to the next page, where my eyes widened, not just me, but everyone in the room at the sight of a picture of a totally equal being to the Ban we know, and there he was, full of big nails on his body, holding him in place, plus the manga also featured a fox tattoo and at the bottom of the page was a description saying:

'Fox Sin of Greed, Ban'

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Hello everyone, IsekaiFan Here, I honestly won't say anything here at the moment, I'm sleep deprived trying to bring this chapter to you, I'll still have to wake up early so I won't waste time here, if you find any writing errors comment on the paragraph, I will try to correct it, comment to encourage me to write more, you reached my other goal for this Novel, so there will be an extra chapter later

This chapter have 2,9k of words! Enjoy!