Chapter 12 - Family and friends

"Say, Chisato-san, would you tell Akatsuki-senpai the truth about his heritage?"

"Yes, I would remove the restriction I put on him, as soon as he needs it, until then, he can live a somewhat normal life…"

"Say, Chisato-san, would you tell Akatsuki-senpai the truth about his heritage?"

"Say, Chisato-san, would you tell Akatsuki-senpai the truth about his heritage?"

"Yes, I would break the restriction on him, as soon as he needs it, until then, he can live a somewhat normal life. I also don't want to lose another important person. The pain of losing a loved one is too great, especially when you took care of that person your whole life. Not to mention that I won't be able to face my sister in heaven if somehow, I let her son die, knowing that I could have prevented that from happing. When my sister died, I found Kojou in the worst imaginable state, a person at the end of their powers could be. He was alone, scared, and above all of those, Kojou was depressed and who could blame him, after all that happened to him! I tried to be a good mother for him, I tried to raise him to the best of my abilities and keep him as far away from this side as possible, but alas, deep inside me, I knew that sooner or later Avrora's powers would be found out and his peaceful life was going to end."

Meanwhile, I was listing to them and before I knew it, a few tears start flowing down my face. You can call me whatever you want, heck, I would even agree with you, but for me, a guy that had lost his family at a young age, being left alone, not knowing if I would have parents that would love me, to hear that my aunt, the woman that sacrificed everything for me, actually love me so much that she would rather keep we obvious of the dangers and mysteries of the world, just to see me safe and alive, made me realize how fortunate I was to have her.

As I was trying to calm myself down, Koneko just got up from the bed and walked behind me. After a few moments of hesitation, she slowly wrapped her arms around my waist, gently hugging me.

"Akatsuki-senpai, I'm sorry for trying to pry into your life. I didn't know that you had to go through sometimes similar … No one deserves to go through what happened to your family. I know how you feel and I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier today." Koneko said her voice a bit sad as she emphasized her point.

No matter what would happen, I will continue being myself. At the same time, I've whipped my tears away and smiled at the cute white-haired girl that was trying to comfort me.

"Koneko-chan, you don't need to apologize for that. I'm glad that you want to comfort me, but don't think that I hate you for just following your master's orders. I don't care why she or he sent you to follow me, but I hope that we can at least be friends. And if it is too much to ask, then forget that I even mention it."

Koneko opened her mouth to speak before closing it as if she swallowed her words.

A few seconds passed in silence before she softly muttered. "No, no, it is alright, Akatsuki-senpai."

"You don't have to be formal with me, Koneko-chan. If we are going to be friends then you can call me Kojou, especially after what happened back there."

If it weren't f Koneko, Yukina, and those monsters, I wouldn't have found out how much of a jerk I was by not thanking my aunt for everything that she did for me, since I lost my family and maybe, just maybe, I could open myself and befriend some people and live a somewhat normal life once again.

After talking with Koneko for a while, I've managed to return to my normal composure, I thanked Koneko one more time, before I left the room, letting her rest for the night, but not before reminding her to call whoever is her tutor to inform them that she would sleep at a friend tonight, after all, I'd rather sleep comfortably tonight than to get woke up in the middle of the night by an angry man or woman accusing me of kidnapping their kid.

Seeing that no one was in the living room, I quickly went to my room and crashed on my bed, too many things happened tonight and sleeping would definitely help me get over them in some manner so to speak.

In the morning, the first thing that I did when I woke up was to take a shower.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, I saw that Yukina was leaning against the window, wearing her school uniform. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to tease her, I sneak behind her and gently blow some air near her ear, causing her to let out a yelp. Yukina blushed when she saw that it was me messing with her and yet she still looked me dead in my eyes as if I did something unforgettable.

"Good morning, senpai."

"Morning. You alright? It seems that you were a bit lost in your thoughts."

"You are quite perceptive sometimes, senpai. I was just thinking about what happened last night." She shyly said.

"Anything about me in particular? I presume."

"You remember what you did to me, right, Senpai?

"I already said that I'm sorry, ok, but if that's not enough then I'll take responsibility for what I did, happy now?"

I said, making my way towards one of the kitchen cabinets to take a cup and pour myself some coffee. Putting my arm around her, I dragged her close to me, way too close for her sanity, I may say. At the same time, I slowly move my face close to her, when I was close enough to be able to kiss her, I close the distance between our lips, even more, causing the girl to blush even redder than before, followed by her closing her eyes.

Seeing that I've teased her more than enough, I put my finger on her mouth and I whispered to her.

"As much as I would love to continue, we can't, not only do we barely know each other, not to mention that I'm fairly sure that you hate me, so sorry for teasing you. I'll buy some ice cream later to redeem myself."

Yukina blinked at me, as soon as she recovered, then, without any kind of mercy she slapped me. I deserve it, no doubt about it, but I'll be damned if it was worth it to see her face when she was embarrassed, especially the face she had, expecting me to kiss her, but at the same time, I know that I may have gone overboard with my teasing.

After she calmed down, I asked her where Koneko was, and Yukina told me that, she had already left after she eat the breakfast my aunt made for us.

Well, time to eat, then to sleep at school. I just hope that nothing would happen there, now that Koneko knows what I am.

Meanwhile, the very same girl was reporting what happened last night to her master.

"Koneko-chan, tell me what happened last night. Even more so when it made you spend the night at your target house."

"Buchou, Kojou-senpai fought a trio of strays' devils with me last night. If not for him, you wouldn't even find my body… I was way too naïve to believe that there aren't any threats in this town that I couldn't fight alone, but the reality was different from what I thought. One of the strays attacked Kojou-senpai, and he punched him back, sending the stray into a wall. The other two also attacked, one of them grabbed me, while the other one was killed by Kojou-senpai and before I could even fight back, the remaining stray stabbed me, afterward the whole place got wrecked when Kojou-san, went berserk when he saw me getting injured by the other stray. I got my shoulder pierced and I was losing a lot of blood. I don't remember that exactly happened, but I'm sure that Senpai saved me from death."

"Then… you aren't hurt anymore, no? Did he heal you?"

"No Buchou, I'm healed."

"As much as it is my fault for not doing my job properly and letting those strays inside our town, it is also your fault for being naive, but I can't punish you for my mistake. Tell me more about Kojou-kun."

"He's different from what we see in school, while quite lazy and somewhat pervert, not at the level of those three degenerates, he's also strong, way too strong even for a vampire, or at least that's what he told me he is."

"He said that? Maybe he is similar to Gasper."

"Yes, that what he said, but also Buchou, that's one of the reasons he lost control, I believe so. Then there's that Himeragi-san, she is always near him, which is kind of annoying, but something about her is strange."

"Thank you Koneko-chan, you should rest, leave the rest to us. Akeno and I would find out more about Himeragi Yukina. You should rest after what happened last night."

Koneko just nodded at her, which kind of made Rias raise her eyebrow at how oddly annoyed Koneko seemed to be when she talked about that Himeragi Yukina and how she's always near her senpai. Then it clicked… OH, Satan! Koneko has a crush on him!