A Win and A Threat

[Soccer Field — Kuoh Academy]

{Issei Hyoudou}

"Get the ball Issei!"

Darn it! 

"I am trying!"

Why are juniors and seniors forced to play together? It isn't even fair! We are not even from the same class!

"Get the ball from Kiba!"

They keep shouting, expecting me to steal the ball from the most athletic guy in the school!

But I did try. I just couldn't watch him steal the attention of all of the girls!

"Gimme the ball, Kiba!" I dashed towards him, trying to steal the ball off of his feet. 

But…

"Ekkk! Get away from Kiba, pervert!"

"Dodge him Kiba!"

It wasn't like those fangirls needed to scream either, the boy wonder of the school, the prince charming jumped past me as I tried to take the ball.

"Show them that you are better, Kiba!"

"Score a Goal!"

"Dammit Issei!"

My team yelled as Kiba had already ran past most of them, dodged half the team and was already against the goal post.

"Stop him!"

"You can do it Kiba!"

"Show them!"

My team screamed to stop his shot, while the girls cheered.

But unfortunately, there were only two defenders in front of him and they weren't an issue for Kiba. 

He easily dodged past one while he didn't even care about the other and shot his shot —making the ball fly past the guy, barely not scraping his ear and flying straight at the net.

"Darn!"

"He did it!"

"Goal!"

The team groaned as everyone understood that there was no stopping the goal. He had already dodged all the defenders and easily shot at the goal post. 

However…

"W-What?"

There was a variable that none of us expected.

"The goal didn't go through?"

"The goal didn't go through!"

There were two separate reactions to the shot. One, that of the fangirls, who were shocked and sad.

Another of the players, who were shocked and happy.

"Get to position!" Our captain shouted, and I finally got my senses back. 

"Y-Yes!" I ran towards the position, allowing the goalkeeper to throw the ball towards us, allowing for the game to continue.

Yeah, the goalkeeper saved the ball.

"How did he do that?" Even my team was confused, "How did he even jump that high?"

Everyone was both confused and amazed. The ball that was guaranteed a goal, was stopped by the goalkeeper with a jump towards it. 

"Was he always this good at football?"

"It has to be a fluke, right?"

The whispers were so loud that we could hear them even on the field.

But we didn't have time to keep worrying about that, as once again, the ball was stolen from us.

"Ahhh! Damn it!"

"Get the ball!"

I ran towards the ball again, chasing after Kiba as fast as I could. But it just wasn't possible to match his speed, it almost felt like he was cheating somehow!

"Go Kiba Go!" 

"You can do it Kiba!"

"Don't miss again, Kiba!"

It annoyed me at how unfair it was. Everyone was working hard, but only Kiba was getting cheers.

But sadly for me, I didn't even have the time to be sad as I had to chase after this handsome jerk!

"Stop him!"

I tried, I really did! 

But once again, he was just that much faster and swifter than me. He swirled past me, and the ball went right above my head before he caught it again with his feet, carrying it forward.

Gosh darn!

There is no way we will get lucky again!

"Stop the goal!"

"Do it Kiba!"

"Go Kiba!"

This time, I closed my eyes with a sigh, certain that it was going to be a goal. 

There was no way the ball could be stopped again.

"Shoot!"

"Catch it!"

But… guess what?

"Huh?"

"How is that possible?"

Even Kiba was surprised, "Heh?"

Why? Because the Goalkeeper has managed to catch the ball once again, stopping him from scoring the goal.

"Who is he?" 

The audience became curious.

"How did he stop Kiba's goal… twice?"

Their curiosity made sense.

Kiba was a monster on the field, be it any field —academics or sports. And it was almost impossible to win against him.

But someone was giving Kiba a run for his money, stopping both his shots with relative ease.

"Isn't he a third year?"

"Yes, he is in Rias and Akeno's class." 

"Rias and Akeno? Ahh! I am so jealous!"

Yeah, this guy was an upperclassman. But before today, none of us had seen him being this active in sports. 

And we didn't even know that he was good at sports.

Forget that, most of the students didn't even know his name.

"What's his name?"

But I did.

"It's—"

Oh, I knew him very well.

"I didn't expect you to be this good." Even Kiba praised the guy.

The guy that had made my work difficult so many times and called the student council on me and my friends.

"I just don't want to lose so easily, Kiba." He laughed.

The guy that I hated just as much as Kiba, laughed.

Ugh, so annoying!

"You won't be stopping the next shot, Reo."

Yeah…

"We'll see about that."

It was Reo Takedo, my senior and the guy that always causes trouble for me.

…

…

{Magical Physique: Allows Reo to go past his human limits and display superhuman level physical abilities!

Magical Physique directly scales with Reo's magical prowess.}

The night I met Kuroka, was the night I got this skill. 

And boy was I happy with it.

"That's a goal!" Shouted the captain of our team, overjoyed at having scored the only goal in the entire game.

"W-We won!"

"How!"

In this whole game, running for over ninety minutes, I didn't allow a single goal against us. Taking full advantage of this Magical Physique that I acquired, I could easily stop Kiba.

Now, I had a guess that he wasn't using his full powers, or maybe he wasn't even using his powers at all. But being able to stop him when no one else could, I felt a different level of satisfaction.

"We won against Kiba!"

Not easily to be fair. 

Even after I stopped his shots, our team could not steal the ball from him and after overtime, we finally landed our final goal with the penalty shootout.

Yeah… the team wasn't that good. They couldn't shoot even a single goal till this one, the final ball. 

But at least we still won.

"Good game." 

While everyone was either heartbroken at Kiba losing, or overjoyed at winning against him —the prince charming in question came to me with extended arms. 

"That was the first time I had fun playing football here." He stated with a smile.

Was he overconfident or arrogant?

Not really, it was just the truth.

Humans couldn't win against a devil after all.

"And this is the first time I have sweated this much as a goalkeeper."

It was true. It didn't matter if we were losing from the start. But after I stopped the first two goals, the pressure of continuing to do the same was insane and the audience's reaction made it impossible for me to accept defeat.

Kiba looked around, and seeing everyone's focus on the perverted clowns jumping around, he leaned towards my ear.

"I thought you were a magician, was it a spell?" He was curious, since even in games magicians were not known for their physical build.

"Yes and no." 

"And… what does that mean?" He raised an eyebrow, curious and looking for an answer.

But he wasn't going to get one.

"Trade secret."

This had made him a little disappointed, "I hope you will share a little in the future. We might be different, but compared to everyone around here, we are more similar than you think."

He wasn't totally off, we were similar but I wasn't sure if I would be comfortable with sharing my stories with him, or others. 

"Yeah, we do have quite a while to figure that out."

By now everyone's attention was back at Kiba and me, but I did not want to get stuck in a bullet round of questions. 

"See you later, Kiba." I decided to dip. "It was a fun match."

Kiba looked to the side and understood immediately why I was in a hurry. "I should leave too, but maybe it won't be possible for both of us to escape this." He shook his head with a chuckle, "I will take the fall this time."

"I will repay the favor soon." Saying this, I did my best to leave before the people could gather around me.

However, before I could leave, I heard Kiba say from behind.

"And Rias said she wants to see you tomorrow before class, so people make sure to drop by the Occult Research Club."

"Sure thing!"

Occult Research Club, huh? 

That's one weird and ominous club name.

…

…

[Late Evening — Near Kuoh Supermarket]

Does Rias have some separate connections with the school's authority? 

I know she is rich and the rich can get away with pretty much anything, but I do think that a club with the name such as Occult Research would never get such an easy pass.

But I did hear that the Student Council is quite special too, so it does play out.

I could guess anyone else trying to use that name and the school committee immediately rejecting the request. And what is the club even about?

Do they truly research about the Occult or is it just a safe space for them to relax?

Guess I will get the answer tomorrow. 

And so I sped up my pace, not to worry about the Occult or anything similar, but because my stomach was growling.

"Excuse me."

I instinctively turned towards the voice, "Huh?"

I swear that I saw no one around me just a second ago.

"C-Can you please show me the way to Yamada Cafe?"

It was a girl, a rather cute girl standing before me in a knife pleated skirt, a rather short skirt I must say, and an off shoulder top. 

She held a blush, a painted one if your eyes were sharp enough, long hair left open and neatly curled. And to appear a bit taller, she wore quite the tall heels.

She was the textbook definition of a cute girl, and I wasn't complaining.

"Ah, sure it's to the lef—"

{Alert: Supernatural Being}

{Threat: Low-Low Level}

{Type: Fallen Angel}

But boy was I complaining about this system notification.

No, I wasn't complaining —I was sweating bullets. 

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