Interlude 2

Rias Gremory, heiress of the Pillar House Gremory, alongside her childhood friend Sona Sitri, heiress of the Pillar House Sitri, had been responsible for taking control of the supernatural side of a city in the human country of Japan. Their city, Kouh, was a small-sized one, with only a university to be considered its point of attraction.

This had been the main reason that the both of them were allowed to reside there, something that bothered them initially, but with the promise of giving control of the school in the city to the Sitri Heiress and with Rias being fascinated with Japan they forgot their annoyances and focused on what was appealing to them there.

Sona didn't wait long to take over the school, for her, it'd be an opportunity to learn how a human institution worked, and what she could take from it to apply to her dream to make a school of her own.

Rias, on the other hand, focused on experiencing everything she could of the local culture. She'd gone to festivals, visited temples, although with caution to not bother the local Yokai, she also looked at the tourist attractions of the country, however, there was one that she liked the most and returned whenever she could, the commercial area in Tokyo, Akihabara.

The Gremory heiress was an otaku, someone who had consuming interests in anime and manga, she'd spend her allowances mostly on these subjects, she'd also spend her time on those, leaving the obligations of taking control of the city to her friend.

Regrettably, the Sitri heiress was more focused on the school and its ongoings, thus none of the two noticed the group of Fallen Angels that had decided to take over the abandoned church of the city.

It only came to their attention when they started having their local clients being attacked, something that prompted the two to have their peerage investigate the matter.

It wasn't hard to find out what was going on, the stray exorcists responsible for the attacks weren't trying to hide that they were the ones responsible for it, they were fearless, after all, other than being in a group of forty they also had four Fallen Angels to back them up.

The heiress duo couldn't do much against such numbers, they tried to retaliate by making ambushes on their client's houses, which was successful, and for some reason the fallen ordered for the attacks to stop.

Both Sona and Rias were delighted with the outcome and considered the matter resolved, Sona, being the more careful of the two, decided to keep a watch over them, in case they decided to attack once more.

The attack came a few weeks later, this time the targets were two teens who did not know about the supernatural, they were Genshirou Saji and Issei Hyoudou.

Both boys had managed to get the attention of the fallen angels and the devil duo that controlled the city. They had Sacred Gears, artifacts bestowed by God so humans could protect themselves from devils and fallen angels, unfortunately, the artifacts only made them become a target for the supernatural organizations.

That being the case, it wasn't a surprise that the course of action decided by Rias and Sona was to recruit both of the boys to their peerages, thus making it so the fallen and their minions had to think twice before targeting them.

Sona chose Saji, his personality being more in line with what she wanted with her peerage, which led to Rias being given the right to turn Issei into a devil.

Sona's approach was more direct and riskier, she confronted the teen, told him about her world and the powers that the boy had. Saji accepted her offer, mainly so he could be with the girl he liked.

Rias' approach was something that her friend was against, but the quickness required by the situation, and her need to get powerful fast clouded her judgment, making her choose to let the fallen kill the boy so she could resurrect him and guarantee a new member to her rankings.

Her plan went without any problems, the only hiccup was the need to use all of her pawn pieces to reincarnate the boy, but that wasn't that much of an issue, if he took that many pieces, he'd certainly be a very powerful member, one that would act in the place of the eight others he took the place of.

-O-O-O-

"I still think you should get his agreement, Rias. If he finds out he might not trust us anymore," Akeno said to her King, they had been arguing about the redhead's decision for a while now.

"I already told you that it'll be fine, Akeno. He won't find out and I'll just have to make it so he doesn't want to leave us when we tell him what happened." Rias said, her attention was mostly on the small book in her hands.

"We'll talk to him today, you'll see that there won't be any problems, I don't think little perverted boy Issei will be able to handle the two one-sans of the school on his own." She completed, her book was closed and she was now looking at her Queen.

Akeno smiled at the remembrance of their new addition's particularities, she'd have a great time teasing the boy, she had seen many that wouldn't be able to keep themselves composed when she teased them.

"That'd be an incentive for him to stay with us, he'd also be so fun to tease… I wonder if he'd act on his perverted thoughts and jump us~" The girl's grin got wider. "That'd be such fun~"

Rias let out a sigh, she'd seemed as if she had had to deal with this for some time, "Quit it Akeno, you'll scare him away."

"Moo~ Rias-sama, if you talk like that you'll make me cry… How could a good girl like me scare off the big bad pervert?" Rias chose to ignore her friend, instead, she sent her familiar, a bat that could turn into a woman, to her knight so he could bring their new addition to their club room after classes were over.

"I want you and Kiba to wait in the kitchen, keep an eye to see what he does while I make him wait for a bit, I'm sure he'll like the show." After her familiar had left to relay her message she started to make her desk presentable.

Akeno, for her part, went to the kitchen, she'd start on the tea that would be served in their conversation, she was adorning a smile, thoughts of ways to tease her new junior popping on her head.

It wasn't long after that when Rias started her shower, she'd thought of the time needed to make sure that Issei would be able to get at least a few minutes of her silhouette, that would make it much easier for her to take the conversation to where she wanted.

A few minutes later, Kiba gave the door a few knocks and opened it, after giving Issei a bit of time to acclimate himself with the room, he left to the kitchen, as was instructed by his King.

Her plan was going well, Issei had looked around and once he was done, he took a peek at the side of the room that showed the shower and its user.

The Gremory heiress saw that the boy's attention wasn't on her as much as she'd like so she decided to move on with the plan.

"Ara, welcome to the Occult Research Club, I'm sorry to make you wait... I can't help but have a shower after school." Issei's attention was now on the new addition to the room.

"It's fine, I didn't wait too long," The teen answered, "So, what is it that you wish to discuss with me, Ms. President?"

Rias couldn't hold her frustration from leaking as the boy easily dismissed her attempts at making him distracted.

She took a seat and made sure that the way that she crossed her arms would make them attract his attention. Her tactic failed since Issei didn't let his eyes wander from under her chin.

"How about we discuss it while appreciating some tea? I'm sure Akeno is finishing it right now." Once seated, the redhead said.

That had been the cue for Akeno to show up, and by the time it took her, she had been prepared ever since Kiba had shown up in the kitchen.

The Queen did her part, she served the tea making sure that her breasts were touching the teen's arms, however, his interest was in the cup and its content. He didn't even notice the frustrated look that showed on the raven-haired beauty's face.

Seeing as the plan wasn't working, Rias chose to pass on as a confident leader, she also made it so she'd get his attention so Akeno could compose herself. "Now that we have our refreshment, shall we begin?"

Issei finished his drink and looked at the girl sitting in front of him.

"Since I'm the one that invited you here, I'll go first. I am Rias Gremory, President of the Occult Research Club."

He put his cup down, bowed his head, and presented himself.

"I am Issei Hyoudou, second year at Kuoh Academy. A pleasure to meet you."

His formal approach only bothered her more, she strained a smile and continued, "This is my Vice-President, Akeno Himejima."

Akeno had enough time to get past her failure, and now that she had another opportunity she tried again, this time with a simple flirty smile, she purred out, "Nice to meet you Issei-kun~"

"Now then, what do you need me for?" Once more, her attempts didn't phase him.

"Well, I called you here to invite you to join my club, what do you say? Are you interested?"

Rias was starting to get tired of not being able to get a reaction out of her new pawn, so now she tried the direct approach.

Upon seeing his surprised face she got encouraged to keep going. She discreetly motioned for her other members to get up, she realized that Koneko had appeared during their conversation.

"However, before you accept, you have to know something about us… We are Devils!" Once she proclaimed her species, she and her three fellow devils released their wings.

Issei looked around, his eyes glued in the wings that showed up. Rias saw how much they affected the boy, thus she gave out another information that'd manage to bring out some reaction from him.

"And there is one more thing you should know, you're also a Devil, that is why I want you to join my club."

"W-What? No, I'm not!" This had been his biggest reaction so far.

Taking this as him beginning to be more lenient towards her, she moved out from behind her desk and got close enough so she could touch his chest.

"Yes you are, you became one when you died yesterday and you wished to live again." With a hand over his heart, she saw his confused face and continued, "We devils have an artifact that can turn other beings into our species. I used them on you, and they brought you back to life, but you did it by becoming one of us."

Issei stayed silent, thoughtful. Rias took this as an opportunity to try again, she trailed her fingers down his chest, but his lack of reaction made her step away.

Seeing as he didn't fall for any of her or Akeno's seduction attempts, Rias got afraid that he'd refuse her, so she decided to give him some space.

"Go home and think about it, give me your answer tomorrow. And before you ask, I can't turn you back into a human, if I tried I'd only kill you." She hoped that the warning would be enough for him to consider her offer because he wasn't as much of a pervert as they thought.

Now she didn't bother to hide her emotions, she turned and sat in her chair. There was only one thing that'd make her feel better, a good manga, unfortunately, there was none on her table.

When she looked back up, Issei had already left, and the other three members were looking at her with different amounts of worry, Akeno was the one who had the biggest, Kiba and Koneko were more disturbed because they saw how all of her plans had failed.

-O-O-O-

The next day came quickly, much like in the previous one, Kiba knocked on the door and got in, Issei following him.

This time Rias was working, she had some reports to send to her family that was due this day. The sound of both boys getting in took her away from her paperwork, it was a blessing for her, she'd have some time to take her head out of these reports.

"Hello once again, Issei-kun." With her words, Akeno and Koneko who hadn't noticed their entrance looked up and were now inspecting the teen.

His greeting was short and simple, which only served to make her nervous.

"So have you thought about my proposal?" She had hope that it wouldn't be a troublesome ordeal, that he'd accept and they could move forward as a group.

"Yes, I'd like to accept your invitation." He answered and gave a formal bow. The redhead didn't even notice it, such was the relief she felt upon his agreement.

All her worries were momentarily put on the back of her mind, the last thing she'd want to think about now was paperwork.

"Great! Let's celebrate! Akeno, please go grab the cake and the tea, we have a welcoming party to make."

Akeno followed her king's order and the group of five had a small party to celebrate a new member to their peerage.

All the fun ended when it got too late, and people started leaving, after all, they had classes the next day. It had been a fun bonding time, even though they didn't share much about themselves during the occasion. However, out of all the five of them, one had felt the end of the party the most.

Rias had a terrible night that day, she'd spent it finishing all the reports that she had left unfinished, she could understand why her parents wanted to know what happened, it was rare when something did.

This time, only the fallen angel ordeal would have been of any notice, such was the quietness of her city.

-O-O-O-

The following day ended up becoming Issei's first day, thus it became a teaching day for all of the ORC members.

Rias was the most experienced devil, so she took charge in answering everything that her new pawn could throw at her, from the basic concepts of what he's expected to do as a peerage member, to the inner workings of the devil's nobility, Issei had asked it all.

It was no surprise that by the end of the day she was exhausted, all she wanted to do was lay down and watch some anime, something that she did. Thus making Akeno responsible for the final teachings of their new member, she decided to teach him about the beings that attacked him.

She was vicious in her telling of the fallen angel's history, her negative bias was clear for anyone to pick up on.

All in all, Issei left the club room that day with enough information to work as a devil and to take on any fallen that tried their luck against him, unfortunately, theoretical knowledge needed to be paired with combat prowess, thus further giving him the motivation to get stronger.

The following week turned out to be full of little findings from all the members of the peerage. With Issei as a figurehead, everyone disclosed something that they liked.

Rias started by disclosing her fondness for the country she was in, especially mangas and animes, which hadn't been a surprise for any of them.

Akeno, seeing that Rias had only outed something that everybody knew of her, decided to only say that she enjoyed teasing others, but upon further insistence on the part of Issei, she revealed that she enjoyed cooking.

Koneko warmed up to Issei after seeing that he wasn't acting like a pervert anymore, although she still caught him throwing glances at her senior, and she made sure to point it out immediately. She outed herself as a food lover, but she was frustrated because she didn't know how to cook, something that the group did not know. Upon this discovery, Akero offered herself to teach the youngest of them how to make some simple dishes.

Finally, Yuuto revealed himself as someone who enjoyed training, more of the sword-training kind but still training nonetheless, his likes allowed Issei to reveal his desire to improve himself, which ended up being the biggest surprise of the day.

Issei's desire to get stronger wasn't the only information about him that was unexpected by his fellow club members.

Throughout the week, the teen showed to be a responsible guy who liked to keep it to himself, he was the opposite of what the other students claimed him to be.

No longer was he a loudmouth creep that enjoyed every opportunity to look at a girl's bosom, he wasn't the boy that proclaimed, to anyone who wanted to hear, that breasts were the sole reason of his life.

What he showed to the members of the Occult Research Club was a teen that desired to make friends, and also have some fun with them, either by being the center of attention due to some teasing comments made by Akeno or by teasing their leader for her lack of work done.

As the days passed by Issei ingrained on the other's minds his position as the thinker of the group, the one that tried to make it so everyone was doing their duties correctly, his eagerness to do so, added with the teasing that Rias suffered from him, landed him the position of the President's assistant.

For Issei this turned out to be a very interesting experience, he had never had to deal with any managerial duties, in either of his lives, so this ended up becoming another thing that he'd put his mind on, at least while he was at the club's room.

These new findings of her pawn made Rias very content with the new addition, so much so that she couldn't help but gloat about it whenever she met Sona.

For Rias, Issei was the perfect addition, he was strong since he required all eight of her pieces, he was funny to be around, always trying to light up the mood by being subjected to Akeno's teasings, and more importantly them all, he was willing to do part of her work, this made it so she had a good amount of free time in her hands, time that she spent either reading mangas or watching anime.

She couldn't be happier with the boy, Sona's reaction upon listening to his exploits had also been a good laughing experience, after all, she had been the one to choose Saji over Issei.

-O-O-O-

Saturday had been a calming day for the redhead, she had time to do her obligation during the next day, and she wouldn't have to think about school or anything related to it, she'd be free to laze around all day, binge-watching some new anime that had fully released its first season.

Lamentably for her, a certain pawn had different ideas in mind for the perfect Saturday.

Rias used the ORC room as her home, so when there wasn't anyone other than her using it, it just became a living room for her small apartment.

Today, she had prepared to follow her desire and waste away the day laying in bed, but the unfortunate timing that she chose to take food to her room would put all her plans on hold.

Because, just as she was crossing the main room of her living quarters, the door bursts open showing a way too excited Issei and an extremely tired girl, Issei saw her immediately, he got in, and before he could start talking Rias interrupted him.

"Issei, why have you brought a nun to my home?" She was angry, this would not be a peaceful day, not even on the weekends had this new pawn of hers let her have some otaku time.