47 Midnight Picnic

Things progressed rather quickly after that.

It seems I've underestimated Sae's enthusiasm. She began her employment under me near immediately, and it wasn't long before I saw my seemingly endless list of tasks begin to shorten. It's still a ludicrous amount of work I still haven't done, but at least I can see the end of it now.

Her speed is made even faster as she recruited more people to her cause.

Or-, well, it was less 'recruiting' and more of people deciding to join somewhat randomly. Her friend Tobio expectedly began helping, but so did a number of her friends that were kidnapped by Hanezu. And they also got the help of a magician, apparently. Though the only person from her group I've met is Sae herself.

Naturally, I rewarded her company with the money I promised. She and her friends were quite surprised at the sum, but for me, the money I was shilling out was nothing but pocket change.

Not that I'm losing money in any way. The contracts they dealt have earnt me quite some Yen as well. Dealing with Stray Devils, helping Sona and Rias with their peerages, rebuilding old buildings—they all inevitably pay back to my pockets in the end.

Suffice to say, I'm beyond rich now. Not that it means much.

Anyway, it's been a month since Sae's contract began. It's just past midnight, and for once, I'm actually in Kuoh. I'm not sleeping of course, nor is Akeno. We're not at home either.

Instead, we're in that small forest I used to frequent when I was younger. I hadn't gone here in years, and I don't really have a reason to. It's just a forest. A forest unnaturally packed with Primal Energy perhaps, but still just a forest.

We're sitting atop a small blanket, laid out across the grass. There's a basket right next to me, filled with a dozen empty beer cans. There's a half-empty can in my hands, and a nearly empty one in Akeno's.

"I just…hate him." She says softly, her smile tired and sad as she idly shakes the can she holds. "He wasn't there when mom was killed. And thinking back, I don't think he was there for both of us much at all." She takes a breath as she drinks the last of her beer. "He isn't the worst out there. I know that. But he's…you know."

I nod. "It's personal. He's your father, if only by blood." I say, handing my own beer can to her. She happily takes it from me and begins drinking again. "You had expectations, and he didn't live up to it."

Today's a rare night. I was surprised when Akeno asked if I was free this midnight, and even more surprised when she began speaking about her father. She never did like speaking about her past, and I never minded. It was her story, after all.

Yet, here she is now, talking about it at length.

Her eyes sink to the ground. "Mm." She goes silent for a moment, before she downs the rest of the beer I gave. "...I know that it wasn't his choice."

"Hmm?"

"It wasn't his fault." She whispers, though she looks pained just admitting it. "He's important to the Grigori. He was probably busy, and they killed mom when he couldn't do anything. But I," She grits her teeth. "I just wish he did something after that. He had a year-, no, more than that. And he did nothing."

"Maybe he couldn't find you?" I offer.

She scoffs. "If he tried, then we should've heard something by this point, right?"

I grimace. "That's…true." There's still a number of reasons why her father hadn't reached out, of course. But even then, we should've heard something if the man really cared for his daughter. It isn't as if I'm hiding Akeno's name from the government records.

…I know the reason of course. It's a pitiful one at best, and degrading at worst. But it's the man's decision, so I'll let it be.

"Sometimes I wonder." She says, gently dropping her empty can back into the basket. "I wonder if this all never happened."

I frown. "What do you mean?"

She laughs slightly. "Like, if I never met you back then. Or if my father came to save me." She looks down with a tired smile. "Or if I was never born at all. Would mom still be alive? Would everything be fine?"

I scowl. "Don't even-" Before I can finish, she puts her finger over my lips.

She's smiling at me now. It's a pretty smile. "I know. It's not actually important." She scoots just a little bit closer, and our shoulders touch. "But I can't help but think still. In an alternate world out there, where I never met you back then," She closes her eyes. "How would've everything turned out?"

I gently pry her finger away from my lips. "We'd still meet, I think." I say confidently, before I give her a wink. "We're fated together. I'm sure of it."

She giggles. "How romantic." She says as she leans her head on my shoulder. I let her.

"Is it?" I chuckle. "Seems like I've drunk a little too much beer."

She snorts. "You barely drank half your can before you gave it to me." She grins. "And don't lie to me. You're not a lightweight by any means. I've seen one of your 'drinking games' you have with Yasaka." She giggles. "You can probably drown a person with the amount of sake you drink during that."

"Well, it's not like we can get drunk on that stuff in the first place." I then hum. "Although, I wonder how our bodies will react to Ambrosia."

"Ambrosia?" She frowns for a moment, before she blinks. "Oh, you mean the thing the Greek gods drink like water up there?"

I nod. "They say a single sip can drive even the most resilient man to addiction. Not sure if that's true, but that's what I heard." I smile. "I'd like to get some someday. Just to check what it tastes like."

"Trying to get a drink meant only for the gods, huh?" She giggles. "Only you, Issei. Only you."

I smirk. "Only me."

We spend some time just sitting there, watching the blinking stars through the little gap in the canopy above. The air's pleasantly cool to us, and the Primal Energy that flowed in the air felt like a pleasant tingle running across our skin.

Then, for a moment, I debate on whether or not I should mention something. It isn't anything urgent, and I'll probably cause my future self some problems, but-

"Do you want to go on a trip tomorrow?" I ask. "Like, just the two of us? Because as much as I love this country, I admit I'm…going a little bit insane."

"Oh? Where to?"

Well, she sounds interested at least. That's good. "I haven't thought about it yet." I admit. "I just-, I need to go somewhere…not here, you know? I want to see more of the world out there."

"Mm. I'd like that too, to be honest." She closes her eyes. "I've never gone out at all. It'll be nice to see what other countries are like, I think." She smiles. "So, where do you want to go?"

I hum. I'm not quite sure, really. There's a lot of choices I can pick from. Distance and time aren't an issue; I have money to splurge if I need to. I think over my choices for a good minute, mulling over it inside my head as I stare at the stars above.

And then, somewhat randomly I say, "Wanna go to Europe?"

She blinks. "Europe?"

I nod. "I don't know too much about it, but that just means it'll be a new experience for us both, no?" I smile as I playfully poke her nose. "And besides, you've been wanting to get some new clothes, right? They have a bigger selection there, I think."

She giggles. "Well, that's true." She gives my nose a poke in return. "So, when are we going?"

I turn to her and grin. "Today's a Thursday. We can just go tomorrow if we need to."

She nods, before she pauses. "What're we going to say to mom and dad though?"

My grin only grows. "Girl, my friends are 'billionaires'." I'm talking about Rias and Sona, of course. "They can get us plane tickets to fly to the other side of the planet and it won't seem too weird."

She grins back. "Then we should start packing then."

I nod. "We should, yeah."

None of us move for the next few hours. This midnight picnic of ours has yet to end, and we have no reason to end it so abruptly.

We finally leave when dawn begins to break through.