41 Reunion

"So you're going to Kuoh High too?"

I nod. "Yeah. I made an arrangement with the Devils, and they'll revamp Kuoh High to allow male students." I sigh tiredly. "It'll save me the headache of teleporting all over the place, at least."

A couple days ago, Serafall came back to Kuoh to discuss our arrangement, and to inform me that the Devil heirs will be coming here in two weeks. She'd successfully taken Kuoh High as her own, and now I can leave it to her to change things up.

Akeno smiles happily. "We can be together again." She says, running a hand through my hair.

"Want to be in the same class?"

She giggles. "Of course!"

"Then I'll make sure that happens." I say, making a note to ask Serafall to do so. It'll mean introducing Akeno to her, but the Leviathan is trustworthy enough. She won't spill what she knows.

Akeno beams, and I smile back.

We fall silent for a few minutes. It's a peaceful one. My head's laid on her lap, and she's smiling as she brushes her hand through my hair. She'd started doing it when I fell sick, and it's sort of stuck. She likes how fluffy my hair is, apparently.

I don't mind; it does feel kind of nice.

"Do you want to meet her?" I eventually ask. Akeno hums, and I explain further. "Himejima Suzaku. Your cousin. She's still in Kyoto right now."

She stops for a moment, and her smile turns just a little somber. "I don't know." She admits. "I helped destroy her home." She continues. She looks away. "She's always been kind to me, and I…I don't know what I'll do if she comes to hate me."

I frown. "Hey." I gently cup her cheek and pull her eyes back to me. "Hey, come on now. There's a reason we saved her in the first place, you know." I hum. "She hated the ancient rules of her family just as you do. She'll understand."

She shuts her eyes. "How can I be sure?"

"You can't." I say simply. "But still, have faith. In her, and in yourself." I smile. "That's what you told me, right?"

She opens her eyes, and she smiles. "Cheeky."

I wink. "It's true."

We share a laugh.

And as we do, I take a moment to admire the open gardens we're in. It'd been a fairly normal one when we first got this summer house from Yasaka. But now, after months of tampering, the plants here are all abnormal. They're all mythical in some ways, having absorbed the energies we so often use, and later manipulated by my Primal Energy.

The result is a canvas of impossibly bright colors. Of reds and yellows and blues and purples, mixing into one another in the flowers that surround us, grounded by the natural browns of the giant tree in the center of the open garden.

Eventually, we wait no more. We leave the house and head for where the survivors are located. They're living in a series of safe houses built in the eastern corner of Kyoto. Situated in the protection of Kyoto, yet still far enough from the Youkai to spare them from the possible conflicts that can arise between them.

We make it there, soon enough. We draw eyes immediately. Gazes of suspicion and wariness pierce into us. They don't know us, though they assume we're Youkai of some kind.

Once we make it deeper though, some eyes begin to turn to Akeno, and recognition would fill them.

Before long, we make it to the house where most of the remaining Himejima are staying. It's a fairly standard house.; large enough to house a family of five or so. It's a little cramped for the nearly twenty people living inside, but they make do.

I turn to my left, and I see Akeno staring at the door. Her frayed connection with her clan is relit, and she can distinctly feel those who're inside. And though she psyched herself up to come here, I can feel her confidence slowly slipping. "I…" She begins, her words slow.

But before she can speak any further, the door slides open, and out comes a girl. Her long black hair is tied into a ponytail, and her eyes glow a gentle orange. Even from a cursory look, I can see her resemblance to Akeno.

"Akeno-chan…?"

Akeno is frozen, staring at the friend she hadn't met in years. "Suzaku…" Akeno manages, her breath stolen as she stares into Suzaku's eyes.

And then she yelps as I pat her back. Akeno turns to me, and I smile encouragingly as I tilt my head to her friend. "Go on. I can wait here." I say.

She stares at me, before she takes a deep breath. "Okay." She says. "I can do this." She whispers, before she looks back at her friend and smiles. "Can I come in? I…want to talk."

Suzaku still seems surprised, but she slowly nods as she lets Akeno inside. She then turns to me, but I shake my head. She seems to understand what I mean, and she nods as she closes the door.

I lean on the wall, and I sigh. Though the streets are empty, I can feel the gazes on me. They're being discreet at least, but they can't hide from my eyes. Still, I let them watch. There's no reason for me to call them out in the open.

I let my eyes close. I'm not sure how long Akeno will be in there, and I don't intend to find out. This is her part; I won't use my eyes to barge into it.

Which isn't actually all that hard anymore. I hadn't realized just how much effort I needed to forcefully stop my eyes from feeding me information. Even just staring at something will cause some bits of information to pop into my mind. I'd always just ignored it; my brain stored it for later and moved on.

Not anymore. After that first awakening, my eyes have become more 'controlled', I suppose. I take in information when I want to, and I need barely a thought to shut my eyes off. It's honestly relieving; my head feels so much lighter without the constant drone of white noise I needed to-

"Um…"

I open my eyes, and I come to see a young girl, with a bed of neatly cut silver hair and bright purple eyes. She's dressed in a unique yellow hoodie, with a backpack reminiscent of a turtle shell on her back and a pair of shell patterned ear muffs.

It was perhaps the strangest outfit I've seen here in Kyoto. Although it doesn't carry the same surprise dissonance you'd get from seeing the Satan Leviathan herself dressed in a magical girl's outfit.

"Is something wrong?" I ask, silently activating my eyes.

The girl looks away for a moment, before she asks, "Was that Himejima Akeno?" I nod, and her eyes widen slightly. "She's…not dead?"

I tilt my head slightly. "You know her?" I ask, my eyes telling me of her prior relationship with Akeno.

She nods. "Was a friend, and then Matriarch told me she died." She explains, looking up at my eyes. "Did you save her?"

I smile. How blunt. "I did." I say.

She nods, and some of the wariness in her eyes fade. "Thank you." She whispers, making a small bow. "People hated Akeno-chan. I…don't understand why."

I close my eyes with a sigh. "Some people don't like what's different." I say. "Some hold preconceived notions of who and what they are, and those that don't fit are seen as lower. Different. Worthless." I think back to my first life. I quickly shake the thought away. "That's just how things are, unfortunately."

She looks down, mulling over what I said. "I don't like that." She eventually says.

I nod. "Neither do I." I then smile, and somewhat cautiously, I step forward and pat her head. "But we're still alive, aren't we? If we live, we can still change."

She looks up at me, and finally she smiles. "That's true." She says. She then attempts to bow, though that only causes her to nuzzle her head into my hand. "Doumon Genbu. Nice to meet you."

"Hyoudou Issei." I say in return. "It's nice to meet you too."

She blinks, and then her eyes go wide. "Hyoudou…?" She repeats, realization dawning. "You're…the Heir?"

My smile becomes just a little wry. "I am."

She stares at me in wonder. "You're…the one who saved us."

And the one who destroyed her home. But I don't say that. Instead, I shrug. "Not really. It was the Youkai who brought you to safety, not me."

"But they won't have moved if it wasn't for you."

I stop. That's…true. The Youkai representatives had been more than happy when they heard of the planned destruction of the Five Principal Clans. I had to ask Nurarihyon to spare some of his men to help save those that are innocent. Thankfully, the old man was more than happy to do just that, though he was careful to ask those who bear no hatred of any kind to humanity.

I frown. "I suppose so." I admit.

And for the first time, her polite expression breaks, and tears begin building in her eyes. "Thank you." She says softly. "For bringing me-, us here."

I frown for a moment. There's something in her words—a weight that's personal. My eyes glow for a moment, and information floods into my mind-

Oh. That's…

…hmm. I should've killed her father myself.

I force myself to smile. "Anytime." I say, patting her head once more. My hand's a little gentler this time. "Say, wanna eat something? There's a burger joint not too far away." I turn back to the house. "And I think Akeno's going to be in there for a while."

She stares at me for a moment, before she nods. "Okay."

And with that, off we go.