Chapter 9

The next day came, I was a little nervous about what would happen at the clubroom, we'd meet Riser, how'd he be? I wonder if he'd be some super bad guy, his peerage did like him, right? Something like that can't happen to someone as bad as Rias makes him look to be.

Classes, much like since I became Issei, have been easy, the other students started to open up to me, I guess a month of just staying in my lane was a good enough time for them to start to forget, Matsuda and Motohama were still doing their thing terrorizing teenagers that just wanted to change clothes.

Asia calmed a bit, after the talk with the kendo club girls, she simply did like me and ignored the people who still bad mouthed me, it made life more pleasant at school, we simply avoided teenage drama, I could say that I already had enough of that with only the ORC.

"Asia-chan, we should get to the club room earlier today, we can do our homework there," those were my words as soon as class finished for the day, she agreed with me and we left, some people gave us farewell wishes, others just ignored us.

The corridors were fuller near the classrooms, all the students were leaving them after all, during our walk I noticed a habit that had come to us, whenever we walked together we held hands.

Now that I think more about it, she's the one who starts it most of the time, I don't know if she does this consciously or not, I know that I like the feeling so I won't point it out.

And now that I'm thinking about this, I wonder if I should tell her what happened last night, what would she do? Would she confront Rias or would she be angry at me? A more hormonal part of me wished she'd try to one-up our king and jump me as soon as my words left my mouth, but I don't think Asia would do that.

I know that Rias will have to tell everyone about her marriage, maybe they already knew, and just me and Asia were left out.

These are just things that made me nervous, that and what would our supposed first big enemy be like.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I only realized we arrived at our HeadQuarters when I saw Rias sitting at her desk, looking as if nothing had happened. Is that what she wants the others to know? Should I go and mention it, or should I just keep quiet as well?

-O-O-O-

"Hello, Buchou!" Asia said that.

At the sound of her voice, Rias finally looked up at us, she probably had just as many things in her head as I did in mine, maybe even more...

"Hello Asia-chan, Issei." Her smile was sweet, at least she looked happy now. I also caught a slight blush when she looked at me.

I smiled back, and her face reddened even more.

"Issei, can we talk for a bit?" It was brave of her, honestly, I don't think I'd want to talk if I was the one who did what she had done last night.

"Sure." At my approval, she got up and took my hand, Asia looked bothered by it, but she didn't say anything.

Rias guided me towards where she lived, it was nice, her room was full of shelves which were full of manga, there was a section for figurines and other collectible items.

She guided me to her bed, which was rocking my stolen blanket. This might be getting a little uncomfortable for me, yeah I want to continue what we were doing, but Asia was just outside and now I'm having second thoughts about all of this, should I have kissed her back yesterday?

"Issei, I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday… I panicked and made a bad decision… Sorry." Our position was similar to last night's, facing each other sitting in a comfortable bed.

"That's fine… I saw how you were acting, I figured something bad had happened… And the kiss was nice." I wanted to get that out in a confident manner, but I was shy about that last statement, shy and confused.

"Y-You thought so too?" Oh her sweet smile, it's gorgeous. "Great!..." Now she was blushing, "Um… But I don't think we can do that right now…" She mused a little.

Suddenly determination filled her, and all of that shy girl's appearance was gone, "I called you here because I need your help to get me out of this contract!" Here we go again…

"Rias, I don't think sleeping with me is the best way to go about this."

Her cheeks pinked again, but her determination didn't falter.

"That wasn't my plan… I don't even think that was a real clause in the contract, just something Onii-sama said to me…" That made more sense.

"Anyway, you've helped me in running this peerage ever since you got here, I've talked with Akeno about this, both the contract and you, and we agreed to listen to what you thought about it…"

Well, I didn't expect that, I guess she brought me here because she didn't want the others to hear about the contract, so she didn't tell them? Bah… There's no need to think about that right now.

"That's nice of you two… But to come up with something I'd have to read the contract, all I can do about it now would be considering only what I've read about the devil's society… So- do you two have made any plans? Anything at all?"

I enjoyed these types of conversations, we'd have them concerning territory management. It was an interesting side to Rias, whenever she'd be willing to talk about it, mostly when she had a meeting with Sona coming up…

"Yes! We thought about it a bit, Akeno said that she'd take my place, and offer herself to Riser, but I won't accept that. I was thinking about asking my Nii-sama for help, but I don't think he'd be able to do much."

Strange, they should have thought about the Rating Games, isn't that a big motivator for her to go around recruiting people? Isn't that what moved her to look the other way when Issei was on his date with Raynare?

"Rias, didn't you two think about a Rating Game? Isn't that the go-to for devils, that or straight-up duels?"

She became downtrodden, it seems that she did think about it.

"We have, but… Riser has a full peerage, mine is not complete, I wanted to see if I could do something else, something less risky, something where none of you had to hurt because of me."

That's sweet of her, but we're devils, I don't think they'd accept that.

"Did you think about talking with this Riser, was it? About the contract? Maybe he doesn't want to fulfill it as well?"

Here I saw how low she thought about the guy, she looked at me as if I had said the most outrageous thing on earth.

"No I haven't talked with Riser about this, and I'm sure he wants it to happen, whenever we met each other at parties he tried to sweet talk me into getting closer to him."

I can sense a misunderstanding here…

"Rias, are you sure he didn't just want to know you better because he had to marry you? You know, so you two could be friends and this whole thing didn't become so much of a pain for the two of you?"

Once more she looked incredulous.

"I don't think so… He'd say some annoying stuff about me, so I don't think he wanted to be friends with me."

I'm dealing with a child, I'm sure of it.

"Rias, did you treat him well when he first started to go talk to you? Or did you annoy him as well?"

Now she looked guilty, so I was right… Maybe this will be simpler than I thought.

"By your looks, I can tell that you annoyed him, then he annoyed you back, and this hatred that you have for him started from that… And maybe he shares that with you."

"What do you mean? You're saying that he doesn't want to marry me? Then why would he mention it whenever we met?" She was starting to get angry.

"Maybe because he knew that'd get a reaction out of you? Since you two annoyed each other, all that he wanted was to make you go away, so that was a way he found to make you do so? Also, who'd want to spend the rest of their lives besides someone that they didn't enjoy the company of? I know that devils don't divorce, and you two are well aware of it."

And now she's pissed…

"WHY ARE YOU TAKING HIS SIDE? YOU'RE MY PAWN, MY PEERAGE MEMBER, YOU SHOULD TAKE MY SIDE, NOT HIS!"

Yeah… A child... I'll have some work with her…

"I'M NOT TAKING HIS SIDE! I'm just saying the way that makes more sense to me! You both were wrong, he tried to approach you, but you were angry at the whole situation and lashed out at him, he got offended and you two started to annoy each other, now here we are… I bet it's his family that's pushing for this to happen faster than it was planned!"

I might have lost a bit of control myself there, but that did work to make her listen for a bit, so I took advantage of her bewildered state and continued.

"I don't think he wants this any more than you do, and that is what encourages me to talk with him… We could make an agreement, this might be easier to handle than we thought."

My confidence in a plan calmed her down, now she was simply curious.

"What do you mean? Did you think of something?"

And now, a calculating smile blossomed on my face.

"Yes, if I got it right, and he doesn't want to marry you, we could make a deal. We could go with the Rating Games route, it's the easier way to make your parents accept the dismissal of the marriage. We put the contract on the line, and after we win, you're free."

Briefly, I saw hope in her eyes, but it soon was shadowed by doubt.

"But we're outnumbered, you're all great but he's stronger, how can we win?" Those were her concerns...

"That is where a deal with him comes in place, if he doesn't want the marriage to happen, he'll be open to it… He can't just throw the match, that'd be obvious and some might not accept the results, we'll have to perform, something that the other devils will for sure believe, but it can't be something humiliating for Riser, because he wouldn't accept that."

At that time, our conversation was interrupted by the other peerage members, I can guess that our outbursts got their attention.

"Is everything okay Rias-sama, Issei-kun?" Akeno took charge, and once they all saw that we were simply sitting there they looked more relaxed.

"Yes Akeno, me and Issei were just letting out some steam, I'm sorry if we worried you all."

She walked right into that one… Akeno wouldn't let that pass.

"Oho… Letting out some steam with your kouhai… How bold of you Rias-sama, maybe I can help with that~, what do you say, I~ssei~kun?"

This woman… Rias was bright red by now, Asia looked angry, Kiba was amused and Koneko still looked worried.

"It was nothing like that Akeno, we were just talking about something that will happen today… I'm also sorry to have worried you four."

My response gave time for Rias to compose herself and get up.

"He's right, and that is why I want to talk with you all in the club room… Something important is happening today and you should know about it."

We all left, Asia took my side and my hand as we dislocated to the main HQ area.

-O-O-O-

Once there, Rias took her position at her desk and asked for us to sit as well. Akeno stood by her side, I think she figured what we were talking about, she looked serious.

"When I received my Evil Pieces, I also received some bad news… I was ten, an age where devils can be considered responsible enough to take the position of a king."

She had all of our attention, she also looked serious, so we did our best to take on every word she said.

"There was a celebration party, my birthday… My father was the one who did it, he stopped everyone from doing whatever they were doing and gave a speech. 'Today, it is with the utmost honor that I announce the start of a great partnership… Let it be known that from today forward the Gremory and the Phenex families will be united by our youngest, that is thanks to mine and Lord Phenex's efforts into coming up with the betrothal of Rias and young Riser… Cheers!'"

She said that with the same disdain that she used when mentioning the Phenex Scion.

"I'll never forget those words, I was so sad, I ignored him for months, I only talked with him again after he promised that it'd take a long time for the contract to happen and that if I wanted to I could get out of it… Now I see that he was lying to me… Today, Riser will come here to talk about the contract and they want to fulfill it as soon as possible."

The reactions were mixed. Akeno and I already knew, so we were calm, Koneko looked worried, Kiba was angry and Asia looked lost.

The room fell in silence, everyone was thinking about one thing or another, that's when I decided to say something.

"We were talking about that in Rias' room, she wanted to know if I had any ideas that could help her get out of this without having to marry Riser."

Everyone's attention was on me, mine was on Rias, I wanted to see if she was okay with me telling them what I came up with, I don't even know if she'll want to follow that, she looked as if she understood what I was thinking and gave me a small nod, so I continued.

"I gave her an idea, one that assumed that Riser also didn't want to marry her… Since he's coming here today, we can try and talk this out, we know that both Rias' and Riser's fathers want this marriage to happen, so we'll have to do something that both of them see as acceptable for it not to happen."

I saw some nods of understanding, this was a good start.

"If Riser doesn't want to marry as well, we can make a plan where we beat them in a Rating Game… If he does want to marry Rias, we'll have to challenge him to one, and train really hard, because the only way devils accept something that they don't want to is by using force. And that is what we have to do, regardless of Riser's sentiment."

Once again the room fell in silence, everyone was absorbing my words, now I'd know Rias' thoughts on this.

"I agree with Issei-kun, if Rias-sama doesn't want this to happen we'll have to be her strength and show those guys that we won't be pushed around." Akeno seemed pleased with my idea.

I saw that the other peerage members didn't want to say their opinions, they looked as if they agreed with me, surely one of them had some reservations about it.

I didn't get to see that, for Rias took Akeno's agreement and the other's silence as backing to my words.

"I don't like the idea of negotiating with Riser, but if it's what all of you agree with, we can give it a try. In any case, we'll have to train to take on his peerage, he has a full one, we're outnumbered at almost three to one, so if we want to win, we'll have to get stronger."

Her words sealed the deal, we had a plan… Now on to executing it.

Unfortunately, that'll have to wait, because the same red circle that I saw last night showed up in the middle of the room, and just like that time, Grayfia stepped out of it.

This might be a bit tricky, I don't know if Grayfia would be pleased with our idea of negotiating with Riser about us winning the possible rating game, I know she's loyal to Sirzechs, and I think he doesn't want this to happen, but we have to be careful about the possibility of this silver-haired maid working for Rias' father.

"Good day, Rias-sama." Grayfia's greeting came with a bow.

I didn't bother to pay attention to Rias' response, I had to talk with her and find a way to limit the maid's influence in our talk, I also had to know if she'd interfere in our plan;

A good thing was that Rias moved to sit closer to us, the idea of us all staying closer to destabilize our enemy was sound, I'd also be able to talk with her.

She sat by my side, which was great because it allowed me to whisper in her ear, "Do you think Grayfia will do something about our plan? Should you let her stay here for our talk with Riser?"

Before Rias could answer me, the maid did, her senses were much sharper than I hoped them to be.

"Don't worry Issei-san, I'm here only as a pacifier… I'll only interfere if any of those present try to make any aggressive moves."

I think she's mad at me, I can't tell by her poker face, but she did sound a bit too cold. Regardless, I don't think she'd harm me if I voice my concerns.

"That's good, but there is something else I wanted to know from you."

I somehow managed to not look away from her glare.

"Will you tell Rias' father what we discuss here?"

Now I was certain that she was mad at me, I could feel the temperature drop, this was killing intent, was she trying to scare me? Was this an unconscious action? I don't know and I don't care, I only wanted her answer.

We stared at each other, she looked to be analyzing me, her glare was hard to stare at, but I had to, we can't show weakness now, we'll have to face many people thanks to this contract, I can't back away at the beginning.

"I'll inform Lord Gremory of the results of this meeting, if you come with a plan to make it so the marriage doesn't occur I won't inform him of it, you have my word."

Now it was time for me to glare, alas I wasn't as intimidating as she was, and she had probably dealt with way worse than me anyhow, the thought mattered.

Our little back and forth was interrupted by yet another light show, this one had an orange hue, the same that comes out of the fire from an open flame.

It was obvious whom this teleportation circle belonged to, the Phenex Scion was here, we had to get ready for our plan, the first step was to show a united front.

The light dimmed out, in its place a tall blond young man showed up. He had an aristocrat air to himself, he looked as if we should be honored to be in his presence.

"Hello betrothed, long time no see." His smirk was annoying.

"Riser." That was all Rias said through her gritted teeth.

"So this is your peerage… Humm… You have some cute ones, I can give some props to that."

I don't know if he was talking about the girls or if he included me and Kiba in that, he did look at all of us, I'm taking it he's doing this to annoy her.

"Anyways, I'm here per my father's wishes to make our marriage a reality earlier than expected. We expect to begin the preparations in a month. Mother also wishes to talk to you about your dress, she said something about matching clothes."

By the way, he said it, my guess was still a possibility.

"I'll not marry you, Riser, I already told you this!"

He got angry, really angry.

"I know, but your opinion doesn't matter, does it? We will marry whether you like it or not."

I even saw some fire leaking out of him when he said that.

Rias looked ready to get into an argument with him, if she did that we wouldn't be able to put our plan in motion, so I intervened.

"Excuse me, Phenex-sama!"

My peerage companions were surprised by my formal speech, Riser looked interested, as did Grayfia.

"I'm Issei Hyoudo…" Before continuing my greetings, I raised my left arm and willed my sacred gear to come out. "I'm this generation's Red Dragon Emperor and Rias' pawn… I'd like to talk with you."

The two foreigners looked surprised by my revelation. I'd expected that from Riser, not from Grayfia, did she not know about me? Had Rias not told her family about my powers?

"And what would you want to talk about, Mr. Pawn?" His words were condescending, he stuck to the position that put me beneath him.

"Firstly, I believe it'd be better for us to sit and share some good tea, Akeno-san makes a wonderful one."

Akeno caught on to my plan, she gave a small bow and left for the kitchen... Good, we can make it through.

"While we wait, I'd like to ask your opinion on this contract Riser-sama. I couldn't help but notice that previously you only mentioned your parents having the desire for it to happen."

His surprised face was good to see, I bet he wasn't expecting this Mr. Pawn to read him like that.

"You're smarter than you look… As for your question, I don't want to marry Rias… Why would I? She's an annoying brat, she gets whatever she wants to get without any effort whatsoever. The only good thing about her is her body, and according to my father her ability to use the Power of Destruction."

Oh… That'll make things difficult.

Rias shot up, her power was leaking out, the black miasma that was the pure form of said power started to grow, thankfully, Grayfia was paying attention, and she somehow froze it.

"Rias-sama, please calm yourself." She only said that. Rias was seething, but she railed in her power and sat down.

"I disagree with your words, but that's not what's important right now… What matters most is that I might have found a way to make it so you two can get out of this stupid contract and live your lives as you please."

His focus moved from Rias to me once more, but before I could continue, Akeno showed up with our tea. We waited for her to serve everyone and sit down before I kept on talking.

"To annul the contract we have to do something that both Lords will accept, from my readings devils put power above all, and currently the very best way to show power is through a Rating Game."

Everyone could see where I was going with this, it was the obvious choice.

"So what? You want me to throw a game and lose all my face within my society?"

Good, he brought it up.

"No. What I had in mind would give you more face within your peers…" Now he wasn't the only one intrigued, every single one of those in the room was hanging to each and every word of mine. "Rias-sama will challenge you to a Rating Game, one where the contract will be on the line, if we win, you two are free of it, if you win, you move forwards with it."

"The catch is what happens next. You'll accept it, but being as magnanimous as you are, and after seeing that Rias' peerage has so much fewer members than yours, you decide to give her some time to train, further than that, you are so confident in your win that you decided to go look for places where you could spend the festivities with your soon to be wife, of course, you took your peerage with you, after all, you all could take us on at any time."

A look of realization downs on Grayfia's face, Riser looks giddy with the idea, my peerage companions look confused.

"I don't particularly know how long it'd take for you to find the perfect place for you to take your wife, it's very important, after all, it could be the location where a baby with the Phenex's regeneration and the Bael's Power of Destruction could be born, I'm sure Lord Phenex would like you to take your time for such. What do you think?"

He was ecstatic, he looked at me as if I was some sort of savior, his smile didn't leave his face once.

"And while I'm away with my harem, Rias is working her ass off to get strong enough to beat me… That sounds perfect, so perfect that I might want to reward you for such a marvelous idea, Red Dragon Emperor."

I don't know what he's thinking, I didn't expect him to be this happy about my idea, my curious face prompted him to continue.

"What do you say, sir, about knowing my sister?"

Wait… Is he planning on selling his sister off to me? Wha…?

I couldn't hide my confusion, he smiled even more at that.

"I'd love for her to get to know the Red Dragon Emperor, and with a brain like that I'm sore you two wold hit off wonderfully… Also, I know that for you it's only a matter of time before you reach the upper ranks within our society, so I'm positive that my parents would love such arrangements."

I can see the political play, but doesn't this guy stop to think for a second? He's doing to his sister what his father did to him, and he wasn't even a little bit pleased with it.

I couldn't answer him, for Rias was once again standing, glaring at the blond man, this time, however, she wasn't the only one, Asia was similarly glaring at him. I never thought I'd see her angry at someone with such intensity as she was displaying right now.

"I take it you agree to our plan? And before you go running your mouth, Issei will not accept your offer!" My king was quite decisive in that, she even managed to take some wind of Riser's sails.

"Tch… I guess I can't have everything… Fine, I won't push for it, but I'll be sure to mention you to her. As for your plan, how long do you want?"

Rias was satisfied with the way things went, she still looked bothered, my guess is because of his comment about singing me some praises to Revel. His question though took her attention.

"You said that your father wanted to begin preparations in a month… This means that he was prepared for some pushback on our part, with this sweetening offer, how about we double that?" I interjected, maybe two months were too few, but if they slacked off for the same amount of time, and we worked ourselves hard, I believe we could do it.

Riser contemplated my offer, he seemed to take it seriously.

"I don't think he'll accept it… He wanted me to get this done by next week, there is too much to do before we start the ceremonial preparations, I think I can get you at most a month."

That was not very good news, Lord Phenex must be planning something, and it must be in a month's time, I don't doubt this is all just some political play for him to grow in power. I wonder if there'll be some event at the time where he plans to announce their moves to make the alliance happen.

I looked at my friends, they were determined, Rias saw me, she understood that this was her call to make.

"We'll accept that… In a month's time, we'll have our Rating Game, if I win this stupid marriage is canceled, if you win…" She looked as if she was going to get sick by saying that. "We'll marry."

Riser was satisfied, our peerage seemed as well, I was happy that we got more than ten days, as had been in the original timeline.

"Excellent! I'll inform my father. This turned out to be a very good day, if you'll excuse me, I have some places to visit with my peerage… We'll see each other in a month." And he was gone.

We all released a small relieved breath, the first part of our plan was in motion, now it all depended on us.

"Rias-sama, I'd like to congratulate you on getting a favorable outcome from your negotiation…" Grayfia said from where she was sitting. Then she looked at me. "You too, Sekiryuutei-dono, I'm pleased with Rias-sama's find in one such as yourself… When this all is behind us I encourage you to look for me, I believe you'd be an excellent butler, and I'd like the opportunity to personally train you."

Nice, I impressed her, I don't know about this butler talk, but I'll take it as a compliment.

"Thank you Grayfia-sama, I'll keep your proposition in mind, for now, I think I should dedicate myself to improving, so I can make sure that Rias-sama does not have to do something that she doesn't wish to."

She was satisfied with my answer, and after a bow and some formal parting words to Rias, she left in a flash of red light.

Now it was only us left in the room, I expected some of them to talk to me about my idea, but none did. That disappointed me a little, why aren't any of them expressing their opinions? Why is it only me that's talking?

"You look worried… Is everything alright?" Our king took me out of my internal musings.

I looked around, everyone was looking at me… Fuck it.

"I'm okay, but I'm curious about something. Why did none of you speak up? Why don't you give any ideas towards the plan, any criticism?" My words were directed to all of them, and they understood it.

No one stepped up to answer, nothing… If they aren't going to step up, I'll single them out.

I turned to Asia, she fidgeted under my gaze, but she caved in.

"I-I trust you Issei-kun, if you believed that it was a good plan, so did I."

That was one down, my next target was Kiba. He stared back at me, but eventually, he caved in as well.

"Rias-sama trusts you, and we've all seen how competent you are. You are the brain of the peerage, so it only makes sense to agree with your plans."

The next was Koneko, she was still a little distant thanks to the senjutsu talk, but I guess all the others speaking up gave her a little motivation to do so too.

"You're smart… Rias-buchou brags about you to Sona-kaichou, and Sona-kaichou gets jealous... so I trust your plans."

Only two now…

"I'm also a little jealous of you… You work as if you were in my position, it's normally the task of the Queen to help out the most in the peerage… You even got Grayfia-sama's approval, your ideas are great, just because we don't say anything doesn't mean we don't agree with them." I was staggered by Akeno's point of view, I just did what I thought needed to be done…

Rias smiled at my expression, she put a hand on my shoulder and said, "You see, all of us trust you, that is why we do what you say… Koneko-chan is right, I do brag about you, and Sona is still trying to get you in the Student Council, and if you want to I'll allow you to go, I just figured that you already had too much on your plate as is."

Those were touching words, I'm happy that I asked...

"I see… Um… I'm sorry if I made any of you uncomfortable. Thanks for your kind words."

That was embarrassing, I really want to go now. They're all looking at me, those warm smiles…

Something unexpected happened, Koneko walked from where she was, and got to the very tip of her toes…

She petted me, like one pet a child. Why did it feel so good?

All the other ORC members started laughing at the scene, Koneko looked happy, I only got more embarrassed, but for some reason, I didn't want to leave anymore.

"Koneko-chan, I'm sorry for bringing bad memories back." My words stopped her, her eyes open wide, staring at mine.

An easy smile came to me, and getting too caught up in the moment I hugged the petite Nekoshou.

Initially, she froze, but after a few seconds, she hugged me back and started to make, what to me was, purring sounds.

This in turn gave the idea to the others to join in… And our cute little hug became one happy memory for our group, and I'm sure this will serve to make us much closer than we were before today.