Christmas Eve Preparations

Underworld, Satan Territory, Capital City, Lilith.

"What's with this suggestion put forth by the Council?" Sirzechs asked angrily. "Why would they even consider making James a Satan and turning the Four Great Satans into the Five Great Satans?"

"You really don't read the reports he sends at all, do you?" Serafall asked, her tone sounding a bit fed up with Sirzechs. "Stop acting like a sore loser and act like the Satan you are, Sirzechs."

The other three Satans gasped when they heard Serafall address Sirzechs without the –Chan suffix.

"Honestly, from the way you've been acting lately, I can understand why Jay-Kun no longer respects you." Serafall said.

The sound of Sirzechs teeth grinding could be heard throughout the meeting room.

"Ahem!" Ajuka cleared his throat forcefully. "The reason that the council suggested this was simple. Because of what James did last night."

Ajuka then handed Sirzechs a copy of the report they received from Scathach.

"What?" Sirzechs exclaimed in disbelief. "He defeated Acnologia? That Evil Dragon's power is somewhere in the latter half of the Heavenly Dragon Class. Isn't that at the very least in the God King-rank?"

"That's right." Falbium said. "And that's the reason the Council made this suggestion."

"How did he grow so strong, so fast?" Sirzechs asked in a dejected tone.

"*Sigh* Because he's just as talented, if not more than any of us." Ajuka said, while making eye contact with Sirzechs. "And he works hard on top of that. Something that none of us have ever had to do."

"Yeah, everything has always just come naturally to us." Serafall said with a nod. "Sirzechs-Chan, you're not the only one who has let their pride get the better of them."

"*Yawn* I've never let my pride get out of control." Falbium said in a sleepy tone.

"No, you haven't." Serafall said with a smile. "You're just lazy."

For the first time, after seeing James do something that he knew, that even on his best day, was impossible for him to do, Sirzechs finally took a moment to look at himself. And he did not like what he saw.

'*Sigh* I guess they're right.' Sirzechs thought to himself. 'I haven't been acting like a Satan at all. I stopped striving for improvement... Wait, did I ever really strive for improvement? I don't think so, it just always came naturally. And the way I've treated James and Grayfia... *Sigh*'

Human World, Sicily, Cefalu.

While the Satans were discussing the possibility of promoting James to their ranks, Rizevim was sitting on the beach under an umbrella reading the research he stole from Asgard.

"That big scaley son of a bitch pushed my plans back by a couple of months at the very least." Rizevim cursed while reading the research paper. "Should I kill him now? I should kill him now, right? Yeah, I should definitely kill him now."

Rizevim then looked up from the document he was reading and stared at Acnologia's dragon form and his crushed villa with a venomous glare. Then, he raised his right hand with his palm pointed towards the Evil Dragon and began to amass a large amount of demonic energy in his palm. However, just before firing it, he dispersed the energy.

"No, not yet." Rizevim said while shaking his head. "That lizard and my other hidden piece will be perfect distractions when I start breaking the seal. Hyahyahya!"

Rizevim began laughing hardily, looking forward to plunging the world into chaos. However, before he could be happy for too long, he looked back at Acnologia and remembered how much his plans were set back by the big scaley son of a bitch.

Then, the cycle of reading, hatred, killing intent, and laughter continued for the next few hours. Eventually, Rizevim decided that he needed a change of scenery, otherwise, he really might kill the weakened Acnologia in a fit of rage.

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

The next few days flew by. All three student devil groups did what they could to cut down their afterschool activities after deciding on their plans for Christmas. Since they could not cut down on their training time, something Scathach would never allow, they used the time they created to get what they would need for Christmas Eve ready to go.

Eventually the weekend came. Today, Saturday, December 20th, James would accompany Irina, the ringleader for this Christmas activity, Yuuto, and Mio to go shopping for everything they would need.

"You already contacted the toy manufacturer, right?" James asked while the four teens walked down the streets of Kuoh.

"Yes sir!" Irina said with a playful salute. "They said they would have everything ready by tonight."

"That's pretty quick." Yuuto said with a bit of amazement in his tone. "I mean, we asked for this on such short notice."

"Well, when I mentioned that the Gremory Group and the Sitri Group would be paying for it, they were, like, super excited."

"Well, you know what they say, right?" James said with a wry smile. "Money makes the world go round."

"I've heard that saying, too." Mio said. "But how much food do we need to get? How many people are we planning to feed?"

"Mio-Chan, I'm surprised." Irina said as she looked at Mio with shock.

"Surprised about what?" Mio asked in an aggressive tone.

"You're usually so distant." Irina said, trying to explain her earlier statement. "I never expected you to be so enthusiastic about helping the underprivileged people in the town."

"Hmph!" Mio snorted as she looked away from Irina.

"Don't mind her, Irina." James said with a smile. Then, he began to pat Mio's head and continued to speak. "She's just a tsundere. Underneath her fierce exterior, she's quite the kindhearted girl."

Initially when James began to pat her head, Mio narrowed her eyes in pleasure. However, once he called her a tsundere, she quickly swatted his hand away.

"Don't call me that!" Mio shouted with her cheeks flushed. "If you call me that again, I'll kill you a hundred times."

Seeing Mio acting like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, James and Irina began to laugh happily while Yuuto smiled at the interaction.

"Stop laughing!" Mio shouted, resulting in the group laughing even harder.

While James, Yuuto, Mio, and Irina were going around the town and gathering the things they needed, Shuna, Tsubasa, Tomoe, and Momo were busy in the Alaverus Estate making the costumes that the members of the peerages would wear on Christmas Eve.

"Really, so many of the girls want to wear a Santa costume?" Momo asked. "But won't it look weird to all the humans when there are lots of Mrs. Clause but only one Santa?"

"I know right?" Tomoe said before starting to count on her fingers. "Sona-Kaichou, Rias-Senpai, Akeno-Senpai, Flora-Senpai, Mizore, Moka, Xenovia, Koneko, Ravel, and Mio. Isn't that, like, all the girls who are interested in James-Senpai."

"Don't forget Master Scathach and Rossweisse-Sensei, too." Tsubasa added while cutting a piece of cloth that Shuna had marked earlier. "Anyway, if you guys can't chat while you work, you should stop the chatter."

"Okay!" Momo and Tomoe shouted enthusiastically.

'They forgot about me...' Shuna thought to herself as she sewed the costume she was working on together. 'I'll be wearing a Santa costume, too.'

"Hey, Shuna." Momo said. "We've seen the Santa costumes, but do you have the designs for the other costumes? Like the elves and the reindeer?"

"I do." Shuna nodded, her hands not slowing down even a little. "James helped me draw them a couple of days ago."

"Can we see them?" Tomoe asked curiously.

"Sure, they're right over there, on my desk." Shuna replied.

Taking a few minutes to finish cutting the cloth Shuna needed for the next costume, Momo, Tomoe, and Tsubasa all made their way over to Shuna's desk. Then, when they saw the pictures of the costumes, they were in awe.

"James-Senpai didn't just draw the costumes." Momo said with shock in her tone. "He drew the costume and the person who would be wearing it."

Like Momo, Tsubasa was shocked by the amount of thought that went into each individual costume. Tomoe on the other hand, had quite a bit of blood flowing out of her nose.

"Gasper-Kun looks so cute in that elf costume." Tomoe began to gush. "And it will have a skirt! I might die early from the cuteness overload."

Instead of commenting on their friend's fetish for young and young-looking boys, Momo and Tsubasa pulled Tomoe away from the drawings so that her blood stains would not ruin them. Since everyone's measurements and the dimensions each piece of cloth should be cut in were written on each drawing.

At the same time, in the mansion's kitchen, Leona, Akeno, Tsubaki, Irene, and Issa, who was a surprisingly good cook, were discussing the menu they would be serving on Christmas Eve.

"Well, we already know that James is going to be picking up several turkeys." Leona said with a smile. "But how should we cook it?"

"How many ways are there to cook a turkey?" Irene asked. "Other than baking one, I've never heard of any other way."

"Well, you could smoke it or even deep fry it." isa said nonchalantly. "Personally, I prefer deep fried."

"Yeah, but deep frying a turkey can be dangerous, from what I know." Leona said. "If the turkey isn't completely dry, it could explode when you put it in the oil."

"You don't need to worry about that, Auntie Leona." Akeno said with a smile.

"That's right." Tsubaki added. "We can ask Kaichou to remove the water with her magic."

"That's true." Leona replied with a smile. "Magic makes everything so much more convenient."

"Anyway, if there are so many ways to make turkey, I think we should do some each way." Irene said.

"You just wanna try something new, huh?" Leona said with a smile.

"No, of course not." Irene replied calmly. If you looked closely, though, you could see that her cheeks were a bit red.

"More important than that." Issa said with his arms crossed. "What kind of sides are we going to make? We can't feed people turkey alone, right?"

Before they could discuss things even further, however, they were interrupted and forced to bring this conversation to a stop for now.

"You're talking about what to cook for the Christmas Eve dinner, right?" Shion asked as she burst into the kitchen. "I want to help. Then, maybe James will eat some of my cooking."

Then, for the next half an hour, the group of five did everything they could to dissuade Shion from participating in this part of the plan. Eventually, Leona was able to convince her that instead of cooking for James, he would enjoy it more if she fed him while he was working. A moment later, after being summoned by Irene in secret, Scathach arrived and roped Shion into sparring with her.

"*Sigh* That was dangerous." Tsubaki said.

"Yeah, none of us want the stigma of a mass murder on Christmas Eve." Akeno said while wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.

Leona, Irene, and Issa agreed. Then, they got back to discussing what they would serve with the turkey. Eventually, they agreed on an American-style dinner consisting of: Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, collard green, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and apple pie for dessert.

At the same time, walking through another part of Kuoh, Cu Chulainn looked through many of the luxury stores the town had to offer, in search of the perfect Christmas gift for Tsubaki.

"Damn that Irina." Cu Chulainn muttered as he walked out of a high-end women's clothing store. "If she didn't bring it up, I wouldn't have to worry about a Christmas gift."

To clarify, Cu Chulainn is in no way against giving Tsubaki gifts. However, he knows himself well. And he knows that it will take him much longer than a week to pick out a good gift for Tsubaki. Hell, he usually starts looking for a birthday gift at least two months in advance. Now, Cu Chulainn is racing against the clock, and he blamed Irina for it exclusively.