Isn't James Cute?

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

After the misunderstanding was solved, James followed Akeno into her bedroom while Rias returned to her own room. After entering the room, Akeno sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her. And just as Akeno's gesture suggested, James took a seat right next to her. Then, Akeno grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her waist as she leaned into his embrace.

"So, what did you have to tell me?" Akeno asked with a serious expression on her face.

Hearing Akeno's question, James took a deep breath. Then, he looked into Akeno's eyes.

"I met Baraqiel today." James said solemnly.

After that, the two fell silent. James continued to look into Akeno's eyes until she lowered her head and began to shake with anger. After a few minutes, Akeno spoke without lifting her head.

"Why is he here?" Akeno asked quietly.

"He was assigned as Lord Odin's escort while he is in the area for the signing of the alliance treaty." James replied.

Once again Akeno fell silent. Then, after another minute of silence, Akeno spoke once again.

"Did he say anything to you?" Akeno asked, still with her head lowered.

James then scratched his head with an awkward expression that Akeno could not see.

"Well, he didn't really have the chance to say anything." James said awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" Akeno asked as she raised her head.

James then explained how when he first met Baraqiel, Baraqiel stared him down with hostility. Then, he told Akeno what he said after he found out who Baraqiel was. After that, James waited for Akeno's reaction. And it did not take long for James to hear it.

"Ahahaha!" Akeno began to laugh uproariously. "Good, you said everything I would have said. How dare he be angry at my boyfriend when he wasn't there for me? Does he think that he can abandon me for that long and have any say in my life? His intelligence must have fallen too when he fell from Heaven."

Hearing Akeno's happy laughter, James was surprised when he saw tears falling from her eyes. Then, he wrapped both arms around Akeno and hugged her tightly. After feeling James warm embrace, Akeno gripped the front of his school uniform and began to sob quietly.

At the moment, Akeno was feeling quite a few mixed emotions. Anger, sadness, disdain, happiness, and love. Needless to say, all the negative emotions were aimed at her father while the positive emotions were reserved for James.

After a few minutes of crying, Akeno finally lifted her head. When she did, James looked deeply into her beautiful violet eyes. After holding eye contact for a few moments, Akeno slowly closed her eyes and inched toward James. Knowing exactly what Akeno wanted, James leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips. James did not try to push his tongue into her mouth for this kiss. Instead of a kiss filled with lust and passion, this was a kiss filled with love and affection.

Once James and Akeno broke the kiss, Akeno smiled at James. After seeing Akeno's smile, even with the tear stains on her face, James felt that this was the most beautiful smile Akeno had ever shown him.

After that, James and Akeno talked for a little longer. Akeno made it clear that she had no intention of forgiving her father and that James did not have to worry about Baraqiel's feelings.

"He gave up the right to have me care about him when he left me alone to fend for myself back then." Akeno said with a resolute expression. "I have a family now, and I'm happy. If he wants to be a father, he should accept that and let me live the life I'm living."

In response, James nodded. He had no intention of talking Akeno into forgiving Baraqiel. With that said, he would not object to it either. He believed that Akeno had the right and ability to choose how she would interact with her father in the future. The only thing he could do was to support her the best he could.

Shortly after that, James decided it was time to head home. Although Akeno was disappointed and wanted to have some more intimate time with James, she understood why he decided to leave. With Loki's threat, they could be called into action at any time.

Like that, James said his goodbyes to Akeno. Then, he told Rias that he was leaving as well. A few minutes later, James was back in his own home. Then, he and the rest of the residents in the Alaverus mansion spent the evening like they usually do. With the exception of James, who asked Scathach to spar. Even though he was not negatively affected by his meeting with Baraqiel and his subsequent conversation with Akeno, he did have some negativity built up that needed to be worked off.

After the spar, James went to bed so that he would be ready for school the next day. For everyone else in the house, the night passed like any other.

The next day, morning training and the morning classes went as they usually would. James' class had their first P.E. class with Scathach, too. Then, at lunch time, Azazel called James, Scathach, Sona, and Tsubaki into the Occult Research Club's club room.

When they arrived, they found an unexpected guest.

"Vali?" James said when he saw his rival standing in the corner of the room. "Why are you here?"

Vali looked over James and was surprised to see how much stronger he had gotten in a month and a half or so. Then, he gritted his teeth and vowed to himself that he would surpass the Red Dragon Emperor.

"Azazel called me and asked for my help with something." Vali said with fire burning in his eyes.

Hearing that, James glanced at Azazel. Then, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Why is a member of the Khaos Brigade here?" Sona asked while looking at Azazel sternly.

"Take it easy, Sona." Azazel said while raising his hands disarmingly. "We need Vali's help if we want to find out about Loki's weaknesses and all that good stuff."

"I see." Scathach said while nodding her head. "You want to use the dragon gate. That is the only reason I can think of that would require both Heavenly Dragons."

"Right." Azazel said with a smile and a nod. "With the two Heavenly Dragons, and three Dragon Kings, we should be able to summon Midgardsormr... Well at least summon his consciousness, anyway."

After Azazel spoke, everyone fell into silence. Then, James spoke.

"Tannin, Skiadrum, and who else?" James asked. "We only have access to two of the Dragon Kings, right?"

"Actually, do you remember when I asked you to tell Saji to be ready for my call?" Azazel asked.

"Yeah, you said something about that after the initial meeting with Lord Odin." James replied.

"That's right." Azazel said with a nod. "As I'm sure you are aware, Saji's [Sacred Gear], [Absorption Line] is one of four [Sacred Gears] created from the Prison Dragon, Vritra, right?"

Everyone present nodded. Even though Issei was unaware of that fact, he nodded along anyway so that he would not appear lacking.

"Well, we at the Grigori, just got our hands on the last of the four pieces of Vritra." Azazel said. "So, if we integrate the rest of those [Sacred Gears] into Saji, we should be able to revive Vritra's soul."

After hearing that, everyone was surprised.

"Is that even possible?" Tsubaki asked curiously.

"Yes." Azazel nodded. "Under normal circumstances, it would be quite time consuming. However, now that we have a grand master in the art of runecraft, the time would be shortened considerably."

With that, everyone turned their heads toward Scathach.

"That is true." Scathach said with a nod. "If all the pieces of Vritra are gathered, I have runes that could quicken the recovery of Vritra's soul."

"Then, once Vritra's soul is intact, we can summon Midgardsormr's consciousness and get as many details about him as possible." Azazel said with a smile.

Everyone once again nodded when they heard Azazel's explanation. Then, James turned his attention to Vali.

"So, why are you willing to help with this?" James asked curiously.

"Because fighting a god would be a fun fight." Vali said with a battle hungry smile on his face.

"I see." James said with a nod. "Typical Vali."

"Don't act like you aren't thinking the same thing." Rias and Sona said simultaneously while rolling their eyes.

"I never said I didn't." James replied with a battle hungry smile of his own on his face.

"Anyway, tell Saji to come here after school." Azazel said. "Then, I'll take him to the Grigori headquarters, and we'll integrate the rest of the [Sacred Gears] with him."

Hearing that, Sona nodded. Then, Azazel turned his attention onto Scathach again.

"At that time, we'll need your help as well." Azazel said.

"Worry not." Scathach said. "I will offer my aid when it is needed."

"Good." Azazel said with a smile. "Then, I'll let you all get back to having lunch."

And with that, Azazel made his way out of the room. Shortly after Azazel left, Vali also left the room via teleportation.

"We need to keep an eye on Vali." James said seriously. "I don't know what it is, but I know he's up to something."

Everyone nodded in response.

"Oh, by the way." Issei said with a curious glint in his eye. "How did Azazel grow his arm back? I mean, didn't he cut it off during the fight with that one chick?"

"Oh, you mean Katerea Leviathan." Sona said. "I'm guessing he didn't regrow it. More than likely, it's a prosthetic."

"Your guess is correct." Scathach said with a nod. "One of his arms seems to be a piece of highly advanced technology."

"I bet it's tricked out like the main character of Sekiro." James said with a smile.

"If that's true, that's pretty bad ass." Issei said as he remembered the game James was talking about.

Everyone else in the room looked at the two video game junkies weirdly as they began to discuss what kind of hidden mechanisms Azazel's arm could contain.

"Those two are something else." Rias said while shaking her head with a wry smile on her face.

"That's true." Sona said. "When you see them like this and then when you see them at each other's throats, it's hard to tell if they are friends or not."

"Either way, isn't it cute the way that James' eyes light up when he's talking about the stuff he really likes?" Akeno asked as she stared at James with a smile.

In response to Akeno's question, Rias, Sona, and Koneko nodded their heads. And like Akeno, they also stared at James while he conversed with Issei with a smile on their faces.

"Issei is cute, too." Asia said as she watched the excited Issei.

However, after Asia spoke, only Irina nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Xenovia was switching her gaze between James and Issei, trying to decide which she would have a better chance of having a baby with.

"You should all prepare yourselves." Scathach said as she gazed at everyone in the room. "Once we get intel on Loki, we will more than likely be expected to do battle shortly afterward."

With Scathach's words, James and Issei's conversation ended. Then, along with everyone else in the room, they nodded at Scathach's statement.

Not long after that, the lunch break ended, and everyone returned to their classrooms. After that, the rest of the school day went by peacefully. After the last bell rang, Azazel took Genshirou and Scathach to the Grigori's headquarters while the rest of the devils participated in their club activities. That was all they could do until James and Issei were called to summon Midgardsormr's consciousness, after all.

Then, after everyone's club activities ended, everyone returned home. At about midnight, Scathach returned to James' mansion. When she did, she immediately went to find James.

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

Sitting in his room, maintaining his swords, James was interrupted by the knocking on his bedroom door.

"Come in." James replied without raising his head from his activity.

Shortly after James spoke, the door was opened and Scathach walked in.

"So, I guess everything went well?" James asked.

"Correct." Scathach replied with a nod. "Be ready. Tomorrow, you and the other Dragons will be called to summon Midgardsormr's consciousness."

"Got it." James replied as he sheathed Ochiru Sakura. "How is Saji?"

"He is fine." Scathach replied. "He will not be attending school on the morrow, however."

James raised an eyebrow at Scathach's response. Understanding the question in James' gaze, Scathach answered before James could put it into words.

"He needs time to get used to his new abilities." Scathach said preemptively. "Though one day will certainly not be enough time. Every little bit could help if he is needed in battle."

"That makes sense." James said with a nod. Then, with a mischievous smile, James spoke once again. "I hope we can get this crap with Loki over with quickly. Then, we can go out on our date."

Scathach raised an eyebrow at James reply. Then, she smiled.

"A date, is it?" Scathach said playfully. "Well then, I hope you are able to impress this Scathach when the time comes."

Then, without giving James a chance to reply, Scathach turned around and walked out of James' bedroom while she swayed her hips. Then, as she was about to close the door behind her, Scathach looked over her shoulder with a seductive glint in her eyes. After making eye contact with James, she turned her head back to the front and left the room, closing the door behind her.