Ashen Throne

"No."

"Yes." Yasaka says, grinning menacingly.

"No." I repeat.

"Yes." She repeats right after.

I groan as I run a hand through my hair. "For the last time, no." I bite out. "No matter how funny it'll be, I am not becoming a school principal."

She raises an eyebrow. "But you admit it's funny."

My eyes twitch. "I am swamped with work already." I sigh. "I'm already full with Kuoh, and later on I have additional things I'll need to do for the survivors' new village." I glare at the woman. "I am not adding more work to my plate. Youkai School is your idea; you deal with it."

She smiles. "Complaining about work? How unlike you."

I roll my eyes. "At least I'm actually doing work and not, you know, offloading it to my servants." I chuckle. "Unlike a certain old man."

She giggles. "Well, that's a low bar to hop over."

I shrug.

A moment of silence passes between us, before she asks, "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" I tilt my head. "I am. Why?"

"I heard of what you did." She begins. "You felled a god. A fragment, perhaps, but a god still. And more than that," She taps her finger against the table. "You absorbed a god's life. Turned its strength into yours." She looks at me, eyes piercing and weighted. "No normal mortal can do that. At least, not without consequences."

I close my eyes, and I smile. "I'm fine." I say. "Most of the pain passed weeks ago."

She stares at me in worry. It's a familiar look. Akeno had given a similar one weeks before. "You plan on doing it again." She says eventually.

I lean forward. "Yep." I admit. "I have no doubt Kagutsuchi's still boiling his skull off right now. He can't do much at the moment, but there's no telling what he'll do in the future." I let a dark smile come onto my lips. "If he does, then I'll fight him. I'll rob his existence and make it mine."

She closes her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm unable to help."

I smile. "It's fine. This whole thing began because of Akeno and I. You don't need to risk anything."

No. It's not simply that.

I can't let her risk anything. Yasaka is an avatar of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. A kind one, but a god still. If Kagutsuchi ever hears that Yasaka is an ally of mine, there's no telling what he'll try and do.

Kagutsuchi is no evil god, but he is a vengeful and cruel one. I am his enemy now, and he'll make use of anything to get back at me.

And if he somehow turns Yasaka into my enemy; if he turns this society I've come to call my second home an enemy,

Then I will come upon his Ashen Throne. I will tear him in half, and as I stand over his regenerating form, I will take all he has. His Divinity, his power, his life, his soul—I'll take it all and-

"That's a fierce expression you have."

"Really?" I place a hand on my cheek. I can feel the dark smile on my lips. "Sorry. I got lost in thought."

"Well, this is no time to be so negative." She says, and she smiles as she swirls the small cup of sake she'd been nursing for the past minute. "The night's still young, and I have far too many grievances I must speak of lest I go insane."

I snort and pick up my own cup. It's filled with herbal tea. "What a coincidence. I was about to say the same."

The rest of our conversation after that is significantly lighter. It's mostly an exchange of complaints about our responsibilities. She speaks of all the placating she needed to do just hours before to keep the Youkai representatives satisfied. And I gripe about my ever increasing pile of legal paperwork I need to fill out as the 'shadow' mayor of Kuoh.

As per usual, our 'short' meeting begins to stretch. An hour passes, then two, then three. Midnight rolls past without us noticing.

At some point, she runs out of sake to drink. I'm quick to offer my pitcher of warm herbal tea. She takes it, and smiles as she drinks. "I'm still surprised at how good this tastes." She admits, before she grins slightly. "You really should sell this."

I smile wryly. "I would if I could. But," I shrug. "I don't have anyone who can control and grow plants like I do."

She raises an eyebrow. "Can those from the Kushihashi clan not help you?"

I grimace. "Their control only extends to 'Wood', not flora in general." I sigh. "And besides, they're more busy trying to adjust to their new home."

She nods. "I suppose that's true. Your control over flora is unique even amongst the druids."

We talk some more after that. We've pretty much run out of complaints about our work, and so we spend the time chatting. My pitcher of tea runs out at some point, but it doesn't slow our conversation in the slightest.

We talk and talk and talk, and eventually, the filaments of the closed tatami doors begin turning white.

Morning has come.

I stand, and I pull the doors open. Light streams into the room, and I find myself before the sight of the rising sun. It's a perfect view; this specific mansion had been built with the sole purpose of giving us the perfect view of the rising sun at dawn.

"Ah, you have to meet with the heir of the Gremory today, don't you?" Yasaka says as she stands beside me.

"I do." I say, smiling slightly as the sun continues to rise past the horizon. "She'll be here in Kuoh in an hour."

"Well," She places a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't we go then? I'm sure I can help you pick out some-"

"No." I immediately say, pinning her with a small glare. "I'm not falling for that trap again. I have a perfectly fine suit I can wear. I don't need any more clothes."

She giggles. "Oh, but our servants had such a fun time dressing you up the last time."

I shiver. "Nope. Not happening. Not again." I hiss as I pull away from her hand. "You're psychos. All of you."

She smiles innocently. "We're just very serious about fashion. That's all."

I grimace. That's an understatement if I've ever heard one.

We part ways soon after that. She goes to sleep for the first time in weeks, and I teleport back to a sleepy Kuoh. It's a Sunday today, and hardly anyone's awake at this time.

I appear inside that empty house not too far away from my own home. The teleportation array drawn below me loses its light as its magic dims, and the world quiets as my inner ear readjusts itself.

I walk out of the array and up the stairs. I call this an 'empty' house, but it isn't so empty actually. At least not until a few months ago.

On the second floor is a furnished bedroom. It's pretty dust; no one's used it ever since it got furnished. But that doesn't matter.

I head in, and turn right towards the large dresser. I pull the dresser open, and I'm faced with several suits. They're either black or blue, accompanied by rolled belts and ties in a drawer just below the hanging suits.

I run my eyes across the line of suits, before I inevitably choose the same suit I wore for my first meeting with Sona. A black suit accented with lines of purple, paired with a white tie. It essentially looks like the armor I wore in my fight against Kagutsuchi, just in suit form.

I stand in front of the mirror for a good moment, and nod. I look presentable enough.

Ready for my meeting, I leave the house behind me, locking the door as I walk out to the streets. I get some odd stares for my foreign looks, but I continue walking.

And soon, I make it to Kuoh Academy. I quickly attach an 'Invisibility' Ofuda onto my arm. My form shimmers out of view, and I take a breath as I carefully leap into the sky. I jump right onto the roof of the large building, the noises I should've made dulled through a combination of practice and Senjutsu.

I rip the Ofuda away. My form becomes visible once more, and I take a breath. The two heirs will be here in minutes.

I wait in silence, taking in the crisp air of this morning. It's a Sunday today; the town will remain mostly asleep for another couple hours.

Then, suddenly a teleportation array appears just a distance away, glowing a bright purple. The world turns bright for an instance, filling my eyes with a blast of white.

The light dies down eventually, and before me now stands two girls. One of them is Sona Sitri, and she smiles as she waves at me. I wave back with a small smile, before I turn my eyes to the girl beside her.

She's quite beautiful, with flowing crimson hair that runs down to her back, and bright blue eyes that shine with sparkling curiosity. There's a wide smile on her face as she looks around, and I can almost feel her excitement.

"Greetings," I say, and the girl blinks as she turns to me. "I hope your trip here has been well."

She stares at me for a good second, before she smiles. "It has, Hyoudou-san." Rias says. The way she says my name sounds a tad awkward, but I have no doubt she'll get used to it in time. "I hope you haven't waited for long."

I smile politely. "I just got here minutes ago. You're both good."

She grins, and then she schools her expression back to a smile as she bows. "Rias Gremory." She says.

I return the bow. "Hyoudou Issei."

And as we do so, there's a feeling in my chest. It's an odd warmth, spreading across my torso and through my veins. It's a familiar weight, as if I'm meeting people I'd long met before.

It's not an unpleasant feeling.

With our introductions over, I give the two a wry smile. "Well, have any of you eaten breakfast yet?" I ask. "Because I haven't, and I'm pretty hungry."

"I haven't." Sona says, smiling slightly.

Rias blinks at her friend's smile, before she grins. "Nor have I."

"Well then," I grin. "Ever heard of tamagoyaki? There's a restaurant not too far away from here."

As expected, Rias' eyes light up. The first thing my eyes told me about her is her fascination with Japanese culture. And, as always, it seems my eyes are correct.

Without further ado, we head out to get some breakfast.