A new property and a new member.

Natsume looked at the little girl and what appeared to be her mother. Or was it her older sister? The woman seemed to be in her early twenties, though her true age was unknown to Natsume. And she wasn't going to ask her either.

"Hi, I'm Natsume Minagawa. Do you need anything?"

Although Natsume did not know the two girls, she asked politely. They might be known to Drako and company.

"You must be one of the students at that school... I'm Shuri Himejima, nice to meet you. Is Drako home by any chance?"

Shuri introduced herself in a calmer and more refined manner, displaying the manners she had learned since her childhood in the Himejima clan.

As Natsume expected, they were known to Drako.

"Yes, but he's..."

"I'm right here."

Natsume was startled, not expecting Drako to appear right behind her.

"Drako!"

Akeno did not hesitate and jumped into Drako's embrace.

"Hello to you, too, Akeno. To what do we owe your visit, Shuri?"

Drako stroked Akeno's head as he spoke to Shuri. He had to admit, stroking the girls' silky hair was addictive.

"Well, Akeno and I want to show you something. But, Miss Natsume says you're busy so Akeno and I can come back later." Shuri says with a slight smile.

"No, no. Kuroka and I were helping Shirone with her Senjutsu, but Kuroka can handle that on her own. I'm not ashamed to say that she's far superior to me when it comes to Senjutsu."

"Ara, I didn't think you could be so humble, Drako. Honestly, I'm surprised to see you admit defeat in anything. Or maybe it's because it's Kuroka we're talking about?"

Drako felt her eyebrow tremble. As expected of Shuri Himejima, she had very keen senses.

"It's good to admit defeat once in a while ."

Drako shrugged.

"Well, as long as you don't forget about Akeno, you can do whatever you want. I, having been raised in an ancient clan, understand better than anyone what a figure (man) like you represents and needs."

"Okay, okay. Didn't you want to show me something? Now that I've given Kuroka all the work, I have the morning off."

"But, Drako, is it all right to leave all the work to Kuroka?" Akeno asks with genuine concern.

"In fact, it was Kuroka who made me come to greet you. She wanted to spend time alone with Shirone, "exclusive cat talk" or so she called it. Well, it's okay if the lazy cat does something once in a while, too."

"Pfft... you're so mean, Drako." Akeno chuckled.

Having been living for six months with Kuroka, Akeno could tell she knew her a little. She was a lazy cat who didn't like to do anything that might tire her physically or mentally.

"Now that you mention Kuroka, her little sister and her teacher arrived yesterday, right? Akeno and I would like to meet them, why don't we invite you to lunch?"

"In a restaurant?"

"No, at my house."

"Hmm-mmm... it's okay, I guess. Although you're going to have to make a lot of food since there's no shortage of us. If I'm not around to cook, I doubt any of the people in this apartment can cook anything that could be considered food. Do you mind if they all come over and eat?"

"How many are you in total?"

"Eight."

"Hmm... looks like I have to go buy some more ingredients. Baraqiel and Raynare are coming too, so there are 12 of us to eat."

"We're running out of ingredients too, so if you don't mind, I'm going to accompany you to the supermarket."

Natsume and Akeno only waited silently for Shuri and Drako to finish deciding what they would eat today. It was impressive to see how in just a few minutes the fate of more than ten people had been decided.

"Well, what do you want to show us?" Drako asked.

"Follow me, Drako!"

Akeno pulled Drako's hand out of the building.

"Ara-ara, my daughter is so impatient. Natsume Minagawa... can she call you Natsume?"

"Yes, Shuri-san."

"Just Shuri is fine, Natsume. Why don't you come with us?"

"No, no. I don't want to meddle in other people's business."

Natsume was quick to refuse. It was clear that these two girls had come looking for Drako, and she did not want to be the third wheel.

"You don't have to worry about that. What we're about to see is something that concerns you, and everyone in your organization."

Finally, Natsume nodded and followed Shuri out of the building. Drako and Akeno had already gone ahead, but it did not take them long to catch up. In fact, they had barely moved a dozen yards from the door of the apartment building. Drako looked surprised, as she was staring at something with wide eyes.

"Hey, Drako, what are you-"

Natsume didn't finish the question. That's because she was even more surprised than Drako.

"Grigori's methods sure are impressive, huh. Being able to do this without Mordred or Kuroka detecting them is impressive."

Drako could not help but praise Grigori's abilities as he looked on what lay ahead.

Next to the apartment complex, a six-story building had appeared. This building had been gone the day before, and Drako did not know whether to laugh or cry when she saw that it was completely identical to the building where she used to live in the underworld.

"What is the meaning of this, Shuri?"

Drako did not need to look to know that Shuri and Natsume were approaching.

"Ara-ara, I thought you'd be happy to see your old home."

"Woah, I didn't know Drako-kun lived in such a big house."

Natsume had already put aside whatever common sense she still had inside. After all that had happened over the past few days, that a huge mansion should now appear next to the apartment building was no surprise. So Natsume decided to simply be swept away by the current.

"Yes, this house is exactly like the one I have in the underworld."

Natsume simply nodded when she heard Drako say that he has a home in the underworld.

Although several people lived in the house of the underworld, including Baraqiel, the house was owned by Drako. It was a gift Azazel had given him when he heard that he had saved the lives of Akeno, Shuri, and Raynare.

"Shuri, what is the meaning of this?" Drako asked again.

"How impatient you are, Drako."

To Drako's irritation, Shuri evaded Drako's question again with a smile. Akeno realized something was wrong when she saw that Drako's eyebrow was shaking.

"Okaa-san, can you stop teasing Drako?"

"Ara-ara, are you starting to prioritize your man over your mother? Sigh... and to think that this moment would come so soon..."

"Okaa-san!"

Drako watched the mother-daughter interaction with a smile. This interaction would never have taken place if he had not saved them, so he is proud to have succeeded in changing their cruel fate.

"Well, since my daughter wants to, I guess we can go talk about official business. But... this doesn't seem like a suitable place to talk, so why don't we go inside?"

....................

Sitting around a table in the new house are Drako, Natsume, Akeno and Shuri.

"I, Shuri Himejima, am acting as Grigori's representative right now. I have something to negotiate with your organization..."

"Akatsuki. The name of this organization is Akatsuki."

"[Dawn] (Akatsuki), huh... Not a bad name. Well, that aside, I came here to make you an offer. Specifically, I'm here to offer you a property exchange."

"This property for the underworld," right? Now that we're officially separated from Grigori, it doesn't make sense for the leader of [Akatsuki] to own property in [Grigori's] territory."

Shuri nodded. As a representative of Grigori, all she said was not her own opinion, but that of Grigori. Since Shuri had nodded, she meant that those who agreed with what Drako had said were Azazel and Shemhazai.

What Drako and Azazel wanted to show the rest of the world was that [Akatsuki] and [Grigori] were two different organizations. Akatsuki was a mercenary organization that Grigori had hired to carry out a mission. The fact that Akatsuki's leader had property on Grigori's territory could give the outside world a wrong idea about the relationship between the two organizations, and it could appear that Akatsuki is a subsidiary of Grigori. That was the exact opposite of the purpose of creating Akatsuki, as what Drako wanted to achieve was international fame as an independent organization.

"I guess you came prepared."

"That's right."

Shuri nodded and placed her purse on the table. She opened it and took out a stack of papers.

..............

"That's it."

Drako returned the papers to Shuri after completing all the necessary procedures.

Grigori had already gone ahead and put Drako in charge of the property that had been built in a single night. Having allies who are one step ahead is always satisfying.

Drako only had to transfer ownership of the underworld to Grigori. Likewise, he read all the papers in case Azazel had put some sort of joke in them. Even if there was some nonsense, though, Drako had no intention of listening to Azazel.

"Yes, my role as Grigori's representative is over. Seriously, why do they give such an important role to a modest housewife like me?"

Shuri Himejima is a modest housewife?

Although Drako wasn't going to say otherwise, Shuri Himejima, who had been trained to be the next [Suzaku], wasn't just a mere housewife.

"But... I still have a matter to attend to, not as Shuri Himejima, but as Akeno Himejima's mother."

Shuri took one look at Akeno that Drako deciphered as concern. Why would Shuri be concerned?

"Drako!"

Akeno rose suddenly.

"I want to join your organization!"

"Sure, welcome."

"I don't care if you refuse! I got permission from Mom and Dad to do it!"

"Mmm... Akeno-san, Drako hasn't rejected you."

"Huh?"

Akeno was stunned.

"But Mom said Drako would refuse because girls like me shouldn't go into battle."

Drako sighed internally. That was surely the excuse Shuri had given Akeno to try and make her forget the idea of joining them. Apparently, she had not achieved the intended result, but Akeno had been left with some doubts.

"Of the eight of us in [Akatsuki], I am the only man. Besides, stop with these prejudices against women, they're absurd. Why couldn't a woman join an organization just because she's a woman?"

"Then we have one more partner... With Akeno-san we are already 9 people. Nee, Drako, are Ikuse-kun and Samejima-kun coming?

"That's right, but not just them. I intend to recruit the other two Four Fiends, and there are a few more people I'm interested in."

Drako began to speak to Natsume, leaving behind an Akeno who had not yet come to terms with the ease with which Drako had accepted.

She then smiled and gave her mother a mischievous smile. Her father had refused Akeno's idea to go with Drako, but her mother was not in favour of the idea either. They preferred that she remain at Grigori, as she had the potential to rise to a high position in the organization.

In the end, Akeno was very stubborn about leaving with Drako, and there was nothing his parents could do. Baraqiel was even more stubborn, but Shuri stepped in and allowed Akeno to join Drako.

Although Shuri had complained, it was she who had taken on this job that Baraqiel should have done to accompany Akeno.

"Very well, this afternoon you will have all your belongings left behind in the underworld. Kuroka's too, of course, along with Akeno's."

And so, Drako got a new house (identical to the old one) and a new member in his organization.