32

By this time, school was about to start. The window of the student council room overlooked the entrance to the school, and Onari could see that the academy grounds had steadily filled up with students. Sona sent Tsubasa Yura, her rook, as a runner to fetch Rias and her peerage from the ORC.

Tsubasa soon returned with the other devil heiress of Kuoh in tow. The first thing through the doors to the student council room was a little white blur, reminiscent of Kunou, that streaked toward Onari. Rias and her peerage entered the room, seeing the now familiar scene of Koneko buried in Onari's chest and inhaling his scent as he patted her head.

Onari quietly greeted the devil-Youkai hybrid, "Hey, little kitten. It's been a while, but I'm back like I promised. I even brought news on a special black cat who's been lurking around Kyoto…"

Koneko stiffened slightly at Onari's mention of her sister, but ultimately nodded into his chest. A year ago, Onari had become Kuroka and Koneko's only source of contact. It had taken Onari a lot of reassurance and bribes of sweets to even get Koneko to listen to what her sister had to say to her, but Onari thought it was worth it if he could help bring a family together again.

Kuroka had originally shown up at Yasaka's door when Onari was 14. She had begged for asylum, and Yasaka had granted her the protection of the Youkai faction and a place to live. She ended up only occasionally living in the castle, but during her stays, she and Onari had hit it off.

When Kuroka discovered that Onari was going to be making regular visits to Kuoh, she had begged him to deliver a message to her sister. That first message was only somewhat well received by Koneko. In it, Kuroka had explained the truth of the situation that ended with the sisters separated.

With Onari vouching for her, Koneko had reluctantly accepted the honesty behind Kuroka's words. It helped that the messenger, Onari, was a Youkai himself. To Koneko's sensitive nose, he just smelled right. That was the only way she was able to describe the reason he was so easy to accept and trust for her.

And so, even though Koneko was basically the same age as him, Onari had gained another little sister figure in the little white cat. When he visited, she clung to him like she was trying to mark him with her scent. He was also the only one Koneko would reveal her ears and tail around.

Rias and Kiba gave Onari fond smiles as they walked into the room. His relationship with Koneko had given Onari a bunch of brownie points with the crimson-haired heiress and her peerage. Well… mostly.

Akeno gave him a polite but slightly distant smile and nod. Akeno and Onari's relationship was complicated. So far, she had refused all of his offers to get her in contact with her estranged family. Even mentioning Suzaku and how much she missed Akeno hadn't shaken her steadfast refusal by much.

Onari thought it was a shame, but there wasn't much he could do other than make it known that he wanted to help. Akeno was obviously hurt by her family's abandonment of her, and she had good reason to be. Onari wasn't actually in favor of having her return to the family, or even having her communicate with anyone but Suzaku. He just thought that reuniting the cousins would be good for both of them.

He still kept Suzaku up to date with how Akeno was doing when he visited. He'd also given Suzaku's number to Akeno so that she could call when she was ready, but he left it up to her to reach out.

"What's Nee-chan been doing?" Koneko asked, pulling Onari out of his musing.

"Well, she seems to be doing well. She still only occasionally drops by Kyoto and the castle, but recently she stopped coming. When I asked her about what she was getting up to, she told me she had joined a team."

"Mm…"

"She still associates herself with the Youkai faction, but she told me she doesn't want to make things complicated. There's probably some politics involved with her new allies. In fact, she told me that the team's leader is a half-devil named Vali Lucifer. Apparently, he ran away from home at a young age, and was taken in by the Grigori when he awakened his Sacred Gear: Divine Dividing."

"Excuse me?" Sona interrupted. "The newest White Dragon Emperor is a descendant of Lucifer? And he's also associated with the Grigori?"

Onari nodded, "That's what Kuroka told me. Honestly, I didn't pay much mind to anything other than learning what's been up with Kuroka for Koneko… It sounds like Three Faction politics, and I try my best to stay out of those."

"That's… understandable. Still, this is valuable knowledge. Do you mind if I inform my sister of this?" Sona asked.

Onari shrugged, "Go ahead. All I ask is that you try and keep me and mine out of the crossfire. Even if the higher ups in your faction know that Kuroka has been unofficially pardoned, she's still technically classified as a stray devil. I don't want the Youkai faction and my mother to come under fire for harboring a 'fugitive'."

"Certainly. I'll make sure my sister treats this sensitive information with the care it deserves."

"Great!" Onari said, pulling Koneko fully into his lap. "Now that that's settled, we can get down to business. How have things been in Kuoh over this past year?"

Rias spoke first, taking a seat beside Onari and Yu Wu, "Things have been normal for the most part. There has been a slight uptick in strays in and around town, but nothing the two of us can't handle."

Sona took over for Rias, "There was an incident about a week ago that we attributed to Youkai activity though. We believe the perpetrator was an Oni of some kind, but they moved on before we could positively identify them. Luckily the damages were rather light. Just a raided alcohol warehouse and rumors about some of the town's homeless residents going missing around the same time."

"Stealing alcohol?! How uncouth!" Yu Wu interjected.

Onari hummed, "Your description of events certainly fits the Oni stereotype, but we can't say for sure what it was without more evidence. Stray Oni tend to be much more blatant with their actions as well… I'll ask around about stray Onis and other Youkai, but if it has already moved on, it's unlikely that we can do much."

"As I suspected," Sona said, nodding. "Still, it's a shame that whatever it was got away."

"If it would make you feel better, Yu Wu and I could take a quick look around the area surrounding the town?" Onari offered.

Yu Wu puffed herself up proudly, "Of course! This young mistress' tracking and investigation skills are unmatched! It will be child's play for this one to pick up the Oni-demon's trail."

"That would be reassuring. Neither Rias or I can afford to leave our post to go on a potential wild goose chase."

Onari nodded, "We'll spend some time searching before we leave."

"Then I believe that is all that we have to report."

"As always, you two have been a pleasure to have as supernatural neighbors. I know all of you have school to get to, so Yu Wu and I will get out of your hair."

"Un… Stay…" Koneko said from Onari's lap, gripping one of his sleeves.

"Sorry, little kitten. We have to go for now. How about this? I'll come back once school lets out, and we can hang out some more then. We can spare a few hours before we start our search. Yu Wu and I will entertain ourselves around town while we wait."

Koneko reluctantly nodded. Onari picked her up from his lap and set her on her feet. He ruffled her hair, making her pout and cutely try to straighten it, and they said their goodbyes to the rest of the devils in the room.

"What do you want to do until Koneko's classes let out?" Onari asked as he and Yu Wu walked out of Kuoh Academy and onto the streets.

Yu Wu's lips stretched in a mischievous grin. She grabbed her Dao Companion's hand and started pulling him rapidly through the streets of Kuoh. Onari let out a fondly exasperated sigh when he realized where she was taking them.

The pair soon came to a stop in front of an infamous street of Kuoh. Lining either side of the street were numerous love hotels decorated with neon lights, hearts, and lovey-dovey people coming and going. Onari turned to look at Yu Wu with wryly amused eyes.

Yu Wu looked somewhat sheepish, but didn't back down or change her mind, "Dual Cultivation?..."