Chapter 21: A Meeting Full Of Tension

Ryuichi P.O.V

"What do you want? And what did you do to the people who lived in this building?" I asked without taking my eyes off the two girls while paying as much attention as possible to the presences around the building in case they moved from where they were.

"We used a harmless illusion to encourage the residents of this building to take advantage of an unexpected discount offer at the minimarket a few streets away"

"And for now we just want have a conversation with you." They both took turns answering his questions.

"And about what? Because I'm sorry if I'm rude, but cornering us like this and playing with the minds of the people in this building doesn't sound friendly at all." My tone was as firm as possible considering that if everything went wrong I would most likely end up in a ditch or being lunch for some monster if these two or one of their companions were like yesterday's spider woman.

"Mainly about the events that took place yesterday in a certain abandoned warehouse and maybe a couple of minor matters, if you cooperate then everything should end quickly, and no one would get hurt"

"And what if I refuse?"

"You will be considered a dangerous element, and you will be treated as such, no one here intends for that to happen, but if it does, it will only be because of your reluctance to resolve things by peaceful means"

I swallowed hard and felt like I was backed into a corner, but I still had to get a little more information to make my decision. "What about Kirisu-sensei?" I asked, after all, it was obvious that they knew what had happened yesterday, which would make me, the abnormal guy, their target, so I wanted to know what they planned to do with my teacher.

"As an ordinary person, she normally wouldn't participate in this conversation, but surely you would want to keep it in sight, at least for the moment, right?" This time the redhead was the one who spoke, earning a fleeting glance from her partner.

In response, I nodded a few times, which made her smile as if she expected it.

"Very well, if that is the case, then she can come and listen to everything." She finished, and they both turned around, but before they took a step away I spoke.

"Come? I don't remember you saying that we should accompany them anywhere"

They both stopped, turned their heads, and then the girl with glasses spoke. "The residents of the building will start to return in about 5 minutes when the magic that we use lost the effect, and this apartment would feel too crowded if we all entered, so we have prepared a spacious enough place where we can discuss and where no one will interrupt us." She said as her eyes looked directly at me.

I felt helpless and turned my head to see my teacher, which made me speak once again. "One minute, just wait a minute, and then we'll follow you." I said, and they both seemed to consider it before nodding, leaving the apartment, and closing the door.

Once we were "alone" my body once again lost some of the tension it was building up, but I still refused to relax, especially because of the pale, shaky-legged woman who looked like she was about to faint because she was in this situation with me.

Her eyes looked at me, and her mouth trembled as she tried to say something. "K-Kaname-kun, w-what's going to happen to us?"

I wanted to say that we would be fine, to assure her that nothing bad would happen to us, but to say something like that and have her believe me I had to first believe it myself, and that wasn't the case at all.

"I…" My mouth turned into a line because of the grimace of disgust and insecurity that I was avoiding showing. "I'm not sure, they don't seem completely hostile, and although their energy felt similar to that spider woman's, they didn't feel as… corrupt, if they wanted to finish us off, I don't think they would bother trying to talk, so maybe they won't be hostile"

'Or maybe they are just psychopathic sadists who want to make us think we have salvation and then slit our throats wherever this meeting would be.' I thought, but even if that wasn't impossible, I would never say that to someone who looked as scared as Kirisu-sensei.

She looked down and looked quite worried, so I did the only thing I could think of, I walked over and put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, she just looked up, she seemed tired, nervous, and scared.

"If the worst happens, I will use the same glow from yesterday to blind them and give us a window to escape, please remember this, if at any time I call out your name, close your eyes immediately." I said quietly to prevent anyone from hearing us.

She looked at me, and after several seconds she nodded.

"Okay, then let's go." I said and turned around, taking one last deep exhale before grabbing the doorknob and turning it.

And there, leaning on the hallway railing were both girls looking in our direction.

"We are ready." I said, and they wasted no time, nodding before turning around and leading the way.

I advanced about 3 steps behind them and with Kirisu-sensei by my side. "Since we agreed to go with you, can we at least know where we are going?" I asked as we walked down the stairs.

"We booked a meeting room at the Kuoh Central Hotel, it's quite private and big enough that we don't have any space problems." The red-haired spoke.

I couldn't help but be a little surprised by that statement, and judging by my teacher's expression, she was even more so, the Kuoh Central Hotel was the biggest and most luxurious hotel you could find in this place, and although I had never reviewed, I was sure that booking a meeting room would be considerably expensive.

As we went down I could also feel how all the other energy signatures around the building gathered at the entrance, which was where we were going, and within all the bad things that could mean, like a group ambush, it could also be beneficial, because If they attacked us when we met, a taiyoken could blind the entire group, making it easier to escape.

When we finally went out to the street I saw them, and I could only say 3 things about this entire group.

The first, that almost all of them were girls, and very attractive if I had to point out, the second, that they were all wearing a kind of uniform that looked vaguely familiar to me, and the third and last, that in this group was the same blonde boy who came out of the glowing circle on the floor of my room the day my life turned upside down.

I looked at them all without knowing which one to focus on because they were too many targets to watch, although I was better than Kirisu-sensei, the poor woman seemed to get more nervous when she saw this whole group and came a little closer to me in search of safety.

Almost the entire group gave us just a glance before walking next to the girl with red hair and the girl with short hair, and I say almost because I could tell that the one who seemed to be the youngest of the group, if her appearance and height were any sign, stared at me for several seconds longer than the rest, being the last to turn around before walking in the middle of the blonde and a black-haired girl with her hair tied in a ponytail.

The rest of the trip was silent and tense, at least for me and my unfortunate companion, to the point that the closer we got to our destination, the more I felt like I should turn around, pick up my teacher, run home, grab my brother and carrying him too before running towards the train station, and then to the nearest airport to be sure that none of this people would reach us.

However, in the end, I had to accept that that would probably be impossible if I counted the number of… I don't know if I should call them people, because if they were similar to the woman from yesterday and could transform to camouflage themselves, then the term monsters would fit better.

But the point was that even if a miracle happened, and I blinded them all with a taiyoken, nothing assured me that they wouldn't have more people who could come to my house with a single order from one of those present, after all, if they had seen me yesterday and found Kirisu-sensei's house, it was almost certain that they would also know where I lived.

And at the end, when we were in front of the huge hotel, I took a last breath, but when I was about to enter I saw next to me, and my teacher seemed to have reached the peak of her nervousness, her legs were shaking slightly, and she had a clearly scared expression, I didn't like seeing her like that at all.

So I did something that might otherwise have perhaps earned me a slap, or at best, a harsh scolding from her for being bold.

I took her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

She jumped a little and looked at me surprised, I simply nodded, let go of her hand, and walked forward.

If I had turned to look, I would have been able to see Kirisu-sensei squeezing the hand that I held, and taking one last breath to gain courage before continuing to advance behind me.

Once we were all inside the hotel, a man introduced himself and bowed his head in front of the girl with red hair and the girl with short hair before calling another who took us to a secluded room.

When we entered I could see that there was already someone in there, a boy with brown hair and who looked a similar age to everyone in this group who was observing the things in the room with a curious look, although when he saw us all enter he stood firm as a soldier and spoke.

"Rias-sama." He greeted looking at the red-haired girl.

She gave him a nod and a calm smile in response before answering him. "You arrived on time, good job, Issei"

"You can leave, don't let anyone interrupt us, if we need anything we will call you." The short-haired girl said to the man dressed as a butler, who bowed before leaving and closing the door behind him.

A few seconds passed in silence, and just when I felt like I should say something the red-haired girl did it before me. "Well, why don't we all sit down? There are several important things to talk about." With that said, several of those present took their seats, although others decided to stand to the side or behind the girl with short hair or the redhead.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the same boy who arrived before us talking to the blonde boy, and from the looks of it, he was asking who we were.

"Alright, then let's start with the introductions." The short-haired girl said, pushing her glasses a little and making the glass of the objects shine.

I decided to be the first to speak. "Since you are the ones who have searched for us, you should already know our names, but we will introduce ourselves anyway, my name is Kaname Ryuichi, a 3rd-year student at Tegumi High School, and she is my world history teacher at that same school, Kirisu Mafuyu." I decided to introduce us both because, although calmer than she was before, Kirisu-sensei still seemed considerably nervous, so I wanted to prevent this from getting worse by throwing her into the center of this group's attention.

Both girls nodded at my presentation and began theirs. "My name is Rias Gremory." The first one said.

"And I am Sona Sitri, we are both 3rd-year students of Kouh Academy, but more importantly, we are the ones in charge of keeping the Kuoh territory under control and in order"

"You are in charge? Appointed by whom?" I asked without understanding who had given them authority over this place, was it the government?

"We will touch on that topic as soon as you answer this question." The girl who identified herself as Rias Gremory interrupted.

At her signal, the girl with black hair combed in a ponytail that I had seen before and never noticed was gone, approached once again while pushing a cart where there was a television, she handed the control to Rias and she pressed a button, turning on the tv and showing a warehouse where there were 3 figures, one of them was the woman next to me, the other was me, and the last was the spider woman who almost killed us both yesterday.

Then, when the spider woman was distracted the video showed how I moved my hands, and a glow covered the entire screen before the video ended, to the side I could hear the excited brown-haired boy trying to contain his surprise while he asked the blonde in a low voice about what I had done in the video.

"That's what we're going to find out now." The blonde responded with a calm and friendly tone.

"So." Turning my attention to the two in front of me, the girl named Sona gave me a serious look. "Do we all agree that you were the one in the video?"

I simply nodded to give my answer, denying it at this point would not only be useless, but could unnecessarily tense the atmosphere.

"Well, based on what we saw from that matchup it was obvious that you are a rookie, what exactly is your ability, and when did you discover it?"

I wanted to refuse to answer that, I really did, but my hands were tied in this situation, not only did I not know how they would react if I refused to answer, but, if they did it in a bad way, then I had every chance of losing considering their numerical advantage, and that there was an ordinary civilian with me, so I opted for the path of half-truths.

"It was a day after he came out of a glowing circle in my apartment." I responded pointing at the blonde. "The morning after that I felt strange, like something inside me just felt different, my body felt stronger and more energetic, so I turned to train." I responded, pausing, thinking about my next words, that first response sounded too passive, I knew they had the advantage, but I didn't want to give the impression that they could ask whatever they wanted, and I would sing like a sparrow.

"And what exactly my ability is, I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't have to tell you everything about me, even more so when you didn't answer the only question I asked since we arrived." My tone was serious, and I hoped my expression was too.

"Hey!" A male voice spoke with an offended tone, and when I turned, I saw the brunette looking at me with an annoyed expression. "I don't know who you think you are, you glorified lightbulb, but you can't talk to the president like that!" He said trying to take a step, but the blonde next to him stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

His words bothered me, but the fact that Kirisu-sensei was shaken and scared when he tried to get closer made it even more so. "I can't? Why can't I point out the obvious?!" I growled, standing up from the couch and placing myself between him and my teacher.

"One day after a spider monster almost killed me, they appeared out of the door where I was recovering and brought me here threatened, openly stating that they played with the minds of the people in the entire building to make them leave, surrounding the place as if I was a rat! Involving a normal person, and now you, after intimidating her with your actions, tell me that I can't question?!" I said, and I could see how his eyes widened after he saw my teacher, who was looking at him with a nervous expression, then he stepped back while he seemed surprised by that fact.

Then I turned my gaze to my two "hosts", both were still sitting, although they were observing my every movement, behind them, all the other girls were also observing me, and only by their postures or the almost imperceptible rigidity in their muscles I could tell that they were ready to act at any moment.

"I'll be clear." I said looking at them all. "I won't answer anything else if you two don't respond too, and if what you want is a fight." I warned as I let my ki surround me like a thin layer of semi-transparent energy. "Then come, I know you will kill me, I am clear about that, but know that if it all ends in that, then I will take at least one or two with me"

The atmosphere felt oppressive, and my body, although slightly rigid, was also ready to move at the slightest sign of aggressive action.

"Very well." Sona's voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention. "We will answer your questions, but only with the promise that you remain calm, an aggressive action, and everyone in this place will subdue you instantly, am I being clear?" She said looking me directly in the eyes with an expression that warned me of the consequences if I accepted and didn't comply.

Our staring contest lasted almost 10 seconds until I nodded. "Fine." I said and sat down once more.

"And remember." Sona spoke again. "It was you who asked for it, we had in mind to reveal to you what you obviously want to know after the atmosphere calmed down, but that option is no longer on the table." She finished with a serious tone.

"What are all of you?" I asked the question that had been on my mind since I felt their ki.

"We are devils." Sona answered, and both she and Rias stood up, letting a pair of bat wings emerge from their backs, although it wasn't just them, everyone in this room let out the same leathery-looking wings.

A chill passed through my spine, and I almost let out all my ki on impulse, but luckily I was able to contain myself, although Kirisu-sensei began to tremble even more, and her complexion became almost as white as that of a ghost. "W-what do you want w-from us?" She managed to say, or rather whisper with a trembling voice.

After that demonstration, everyone retracted their wings, making them disappear behind their backs, and both Sona and Rias sat down again.

"Make sure that the person with special powers who just appeared in our territory does not present a threat to the general population or us, and understand how it was that that person who until recently was normal awakened an ability like that." Rias said.

"That… thing from yesterday was also a devil?" I asked, wanting to know if I had literally fought a being out of hell, and to answer me they both nodded.

It took me several seconds of breath to calm myself enough to continue speaking. "You said this is your territory? Does the government know about this?" I asked, hoping that wasn't the case because I wouldn't know how to feel knowing that the leaders of this country simply decided to hand over territory and part of the population to what anyone in the world would identify as evil beings.

"No, we already answered, so now it's your turn." Sona said before asking. "Not counting your encounter with that devil yesterday, is this the first time you've interacted with someone who is part of the supernatural world?"

"The s-supernatural world? Are you talking about other devils?" I asked confused.

Sona seemed a little dissatisfied by my lack of knowledge. "This is why I wanted to do things in a certain order." She complained to herself, although everyone in the room could hear her, but in the end, she relented. "We'll have to give a quick summary so you can respond"

X-X-X-X

Facing Sona, Rias, and their peerages in this way is not the best idea that Ryuichi could have had.

In normal situations, he would have already been immobilized, or Sona and Rias would have shown their superiority in power to put a metaphorical leash on him so that he would not cause problems.

But they are acting a little more patient because they both know that he is new to the supernatural world and that is why he is acting like this.

However, if Ryuichi makes a too-sudden move it will not end well for him, which would be much worse considering that he must be in the best possible condition for his first misión.

In other news, lately I've been wanting to write a Romcom story, so far I haven't written anything and I waiting for the urge to go away, but it's been almost 10 days and I still want to do it, maybe I will or maybe no, but if it did, which world you prefer?

-Nisekoi

-Oregairu

-Kaguya-sama love is war

In each case I already have a defined couple, and in none of them is the main heroine (No Chitoge or Onodera, no Yui or Yukino, no Kaguya), I will not say who I chose in each case, because for those who answer this could affect their decision, But if you're interested, you can comment, I'll give the idea one or two weeks, and if it doesn't go away I'll see what I can do.

I had the intention of also adding Gotoubun no Hanayome to the list of candidates, but it would be predictable who I would choose, because we all know who is obviously the best girl, right?

Anyway, remember that if you like this story, you can leave a comment, review, and a power stone, that will inspire me to write more, see you in the next chapter.