Chapter 82 - The true horrors

While Thomas explained to Akeno why he wrote in his notebook about those plants, Tsubaki and the little white-haired girl moved closer to them, curious to hear what Akeno planned to do with the boy. Even though Koneko didn't know the boy, judging by the way he didn't react in any bad way towards any of them, she at least found him bearable for now. Tsubaki, on the other hand, was worried that Akeno would do something that would either scare or embarrass Thomas to such a degree that he would never come back to the underworld.

Meanwhile, Akeno found the boy quite strange, but in a good way, considering that he didn't react in any bad way towards her teasing nature. However, that would not stop her from doing what she knew best.

"Oh, my, so you have such a hobby," Akeno remarked.

Thomas smiled in response. "I don't look like someone who would lock himself in the dungeons brewing potions, do I?"

Akeno was taken aback by his response, not expecting him to be so direct with his words, but that only made her more excited to get to know this boy. Before she answered, Akeno took a few seconds, keeping her hand on her lips as she imagined what a potion master might look like. "Let's see, to tell you the truth, I was imagining a tall and somewhat slender man with greasy long hair. Maybe a hooked nose, dark and piercing eyes, and let's not forget someone who sneers at every occasion he can. As for his clothes, most likely black robes and clearly hates everyone."

This time, it was Thomas's turn to be taken aback by what he had heard. Why, one might ask? Because she just described Snape in the simplest way possible. If he hadn't just met this girl, Thomas would have thought she had looked for information about Hogwarts staff beforehand.

Seeing Thomas's shocked look, all three girls who were looking at him were surprised. Unlike Akeno and Koneko, who didn't get all that worried, Tsubaki was different. She had known Thomas the longest among the other two girls, and she had seen this look before when Thomas and Sona sparred one-time using magic. It was the first time she realized that he wasn't the only one who thought of using different attacks using his magic.

Before she could approach him to see if he was alright, Thomas burst into laughter, surprising the girls once again. His laugh was so loud that even Sona and Rias, who were talking amongst themselves, stopped and turned to see why Thomas was laughing like that. It took him almost an entire minute to calm down before he apologized to Akeno for his sudden reaction.

"I'm sorry, Akeno. It's just that you described my Potion Professor so perfectly I even doubt you weren't a fellow student at Hogwarts."

Akeno couldn't help but chuckle at Thomas's response. She found his laughter contagious, and it brought a smile to her own face. "Well, I suppose I have a knack for descriptions then. But I assure you, I've never been to Hogwarts. Perhaps I just have a vivid imagination."

"Perhaps."

Not wanting to continue that subject, Thomas turned towards the little girl who was glancing at him curiously. She hadn't spoken even once, but for some reason unknown to Thomas, she kept glancing at him. So rather than ignoring her, Thomas decided to turn his head and glance back at the little girl. Using the same facial expression as her, he simply stared at her, not saying anything and praying to God that he would win this staring contest.

Meanwhile, Sona grew curious about Rias's new rook. "Tell me, Rias, how did you manage to make her your rook?"

Rias took a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing. "As I said before, my brother found Koneko alone. She had gone through a traumatic experience when her sister, Kuroka, went on a rampage and killed everyone in a remote place, everyone except for Koneko. I don't know much about what happened, but Grayfia-neesan did tell me that it wasn't exactly a pretty sight and that I should take care of Koneko to the best of my ability from now onwards."

Sona's eyes widened in surprise since the story was tragic, and she couldn't imagine what Koneko had been through. But one thing still made her wonder: what happened to the main reason for this tragedy?

"What happened to her sister? Did Sirzechs-sama catch her?"

Rias shook her head. "No, by the time Onii-san reached that place, Kuroka was long gone. They branded her as a stray devil, but that's all they could do."

"I hope that this won't come back to bite you, Rias. A stray devil capable of doing that is nothing to scoff at."

"Don't worry about that, Sona. Onii-san will take care of it. More importantly…" Rias stopped before pointing towards Thomas, who was still engaged in his staring contest with Koneko. "Tell me about him. How did you even manage to meet him?"

Hearing her friend's question, Sona let out a sigh. "Thomas is a wizard at Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards in the UK. One day, my sister brought Thomas to our house after he almost got killed. I won't go into detail about how he got hurt because that's not my place to tell the story, but it was bad. He rested at our house for a few days before he woke up, and after that, my sister almost forced him to come and eat with us. Surprisingly enough, Thomas was friendly with everyone, not caring all that much that we are devils, but then again, he had already met a devil family before."

Rias became curious about this, as it wasn't all that common for a boy of their age to meet a devil out of nowhere, especially since that boy was from a magical community. "Do you know who that devil family is?"

"Latia from the Astaroth branch family. She's his second friend he made."

"Second? What about the first?"

"His first friend is an exorcist girl, or at least that's what my sister managed to find out when I asked her for some information about Thomas."

While Sona and Rias kept talking about Thomas, the boy in question was slowly but surely losing the staring contest and so he decided to surrender letting the little white-haired girl win this time. Once he blinked, Thomas extended his hand towards Koneko waiting for a handshake. What happened next surprised Akeno and Rias as Koneko maintained her calm demeanor and shook Thomas's hand. Then, in a slightly monotone voice, she spoke just a few words, but Thomas could swear her words held a hint of playfulness in them. "You'll have to work on your stare if you want to win against me."

Thomas didn't say anything to her, but that was enough for Koneko to understand that the boy accept her challenge. Maybe he isn't all that bad, though the little white-haired girl before moving closer to the boy. At the same time, everyone looked in shock at this sudden display, especially Rias and Akeno who didn't expect to see their new member act so friendly towards a stranger that she had just met.

However, contrary to the reaction of her friend, Sona just looked at them knowing very well that this was how Thomas managed to befriend her sister in such a way that she would even dare to kidnap him from his home just to stay near him.

It took her a good minute to come back from her shock, but when she did, Akeno start smiling like a crazy person as she approach Thomas and Koneko. She stopped right beside Thomas and took his arm before looking down at Koneko. "Ara, ara Koneko-chan. Have you already forgotten about us now that you found your prince charming?"

Even though it was as clear as the sky that this was a tease, Koneko simply tilted her head in response to asking a question. "Akeno-san are you perhaps referring to him? Because he doesn't seem to be on a horse."

Akeno faced palmed herself when she heard Koneko's response realizing that the little girl didn't understand what she meant. At the same time, Thomas let out a dry chuckle enjoying the suffering of the teasing girl. Since it wasn't his place to explain things to Koneko, he decided to let Akeno deal with it before he went towards Tsubaki who was looking at this rather unexpected development.

"I would have never thought that you, will be able to resist Akeno's teasing."

"I don't know why wouldn't I be able to? I mean we all are just kids, right? But I can understand why you say that. If we were to be a little bit older then I can assure you, I would have been mumbling like an idiot."

Hearing his answer, Tsubaki raises her hand to her mouth before chuckling softly finding his answer quite funny and probably as close to the future as it could get. This was the first time Thomas saw Tsubaki chuckling at his joke and he had to admit that she was quite cute with how she tried to hide her chuckling.

After that, the kids moved together as one big group with Rias in the lead. Since this was Koneko and Thomas's first time in the capital, Rias decided to show them all of the places she loved to visit every time she came here. And at some point, Thomas simply prayed out loud to God to take him since he couldn't take it anymore. Five hours, that's how long he had to follow the girls inside all kinds of clothing shops and wait there, seeing Akeno, Rias, and Tsubaki in all kinds of outfits that the girls tried out. While he enjoyed his time with the girls, even getting to know a little bit about Akeno, Rias, and even Koneko along the way, Thomas was not someone that could resist such pressure.

In the end, when Sona saw Thomas's exhausted face, she decided to end their trip, fearing that maybe her friend would really die if Rias and Akeno drag him to one more clothing shop. When Sona talked with Rias about this, the crimson-haired girl threw a tantrum telling her friend that this was unfair and that she too wants to spend some time with the boy, wanting to know him better. Sona didn't say anything, knowing very well that Rias just wanted an excuse to try and change Thomas's mind about not wanting to become a devil, but unlike the crimson-haired princess, Sona knew that no matter what she would do or offer, Thomas will not accept her offer, for the simple fact that he doesn't see becoming a devil anything exciting or worthwhile.

One hour, that long it took for Sona to make Rias understand that Thomas will definitely come and visit and she even told her that Thomas will also love to have her and her peerage as friends, seeing how he, Akeno, and even Koneko hit off.

In the end, after one of the most tiring days of his life, Thomas returned to the Sitri mansion together with Tsubaki and Sona, but not before promising Rias that he would come and visit her house this summer before he has to leave for Hogwarts again. However, for some reason, he felt like he was going to walk into the wolves' den. Maybe, this was a bad idea, or maybe this will be the best day of his life, who knows? After all, no one knows what the future holds.

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