II.1

Turning a page, Shinjiro narrowed his eyes at the magical tome.

Magic was turning out to be similar to math. Both literally and figuratively.

In the figurative sense, both math and magic were extremely interesting from one point of view. The things one could accomplish upon mastering both were universe shattering. Yet, depending on the medium one learns about them, they could be the most boring subject ever taught.

The magical tome for instance was... dull. It read clinically, explaining things in a logical and concise way that left no argument for misunderstanding.

He was grateful for that, yes, but it also sucked all of the mystery out of magic.

Sighing, he turned another page. The practical side of magic had to be more interesting than this. Theory work was just not his forte.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

For a moment it didn't register that someone had spoken, as he could still hear the sounds, but he eventually was wrenched out of his thoughts by realization.

Casually, he turned to the voice of origin and-

Holy shit.

-barely stopped himself from blurting out his thoughts at the ungodly size of the woman's bust that is staring back at him.

With a blink, Shinjiro collected himself from... that, and trailed his gold eyes up to meet the person's cerulean ones. Her long, bright red hair cupped her smiling face unnaturally well as she stared back at him pateintly, holding a small tray of food.

Behind the teenager was another girl with an even bigger size bust- how?- with equally long black hair and purple eyes demurely standing without a tray in hand.

Curious.

The girl at the front looked... familiar. He'd never seen her before but her red hair was pretty distin-

Ah. That weirdo from earlier. Whoever they are, they can't be bothering him already, right?

Locking his eyes back with the girl he's ninety percent sure is related to that lazy hypnotist, he shrugged.

"Not like I could stop you."

His answer is both the truth and a little bit of doublespeak. The message that he really couldn't stop her if she was involved in the supernatural, as he has no real abilities, but that he'd prefer to be left alone.

If she gets it, she doesn't show it, as she simply plopped herself down in front of him with a happy hum and began to eat politely. In reply, he went back to reading his book about boring ol' magic.

Maybe he was jumping the gun a bit? She could just be a normal high-school girl.

His eyes flickered to her breasts again. Nevermind. Those cannot be natural. He wasn't normally perverted enough to look, espeically twice in less than a minute, but for a fifteen or sixteen year old girl they were utterly ridiculous.

Actually, their size was absurd for a girl of any age.

Though, by that metric, the other girl would be even more entrenched in the supernatural.

He quietly snorted to himself, shaking his head slightly. Am I really measuring threat levels by their boob size? I must be going crazy reading this boo-

"What are you doing?" The redhead suddenly asked, interrupting his thoughts once again. With her voice, the sound of her soul's buzzing minutely changed in tune.

Or maybe I'm going crazy listening to souls buzzing all day. He deadpanned, calmly looking up at her.

With a slow blink, he answered as if she was a particularly stupid child. "...Reading. Or, trying to, at least." He muttered under his breath.

That sounded rude, but he didn't mean it as an insult. It was a... bait. Both a gauge of her temper and a ploy to reel her into his cover story. He had a feeling she wasn't going to... catch the hint, so he was at least going to control the conversation.

She gave back a look of mild confusion, but didn't seem particularly offended. In fact, she looked more intrigued than anything.

That reaction was a passing grade in his book.

"...Am I bothering you?" She slowly replied, a slight frown on her face.

He sighed in response, letting the incessant buzzing wash over him before responding. Truth be told he was bothered, but mostly by the sounds than anything. She was actually doing fine in terms of being a decent person.

Plus, her soul was making some really interesting sounds. A cacophany of dark tones twisted somehow remixed into an upbeat mood of a melody.

It was beautiful. It was weird. He... liked it.

"I meant that literally, not as a snide remark," He finally answered, giving her his full attention. "Sorry, today has been... a day. The name's Shinjiro."

She didn't even blink at his lack of a surname. Though, that wasn't too odd. Only the most pompous ever really pointed it out.

He technically had a last name, but it wasn't one his parents had given him.

Besides, most people just assumed he wasn't used to Japan and it's formalities. They were wrong; He just didn't care.

"Oh, what did you mean, then? And it's fine, everyone has those days." She replied, a stupidly happy smile on her face. It made him feel worse for being rude earlier. "And I'm-"

"Gremory, right?" His eyes flickered over to the other girl. Her neutral expression hadn't changed once. "Though I don't know either of your first names."

The redhead happily hummed. "That's me! I'm Gremory Rias and this is-"

"Himejima Akeno." The clearly Asian girl introduced herself softly. "Well met."

He didn't like the sound of Akeno's soul. It felt... off, stopping and starting at random. Like a song with half of the notes taken out, and the notes that did show increased in intensity at random.

She sounded... broken. It was unsettling. He didn't like her song.

"Right," Rias nodded, not taking her eyes off him. "So... how'd you know my last name?"

He shrugged, ignoring the pit in his gut. "You and your dad have very... distinct looks. I'd honestly be more surprised if you weren't related."

"My... dad?" She tilted her head, a finger on her chin. "Oh, you mean that school board member, right? That's my older brother, actually."

That little fact didn't really change his game plan. The game plan being don't piss off the blatantly supernatural family.

His eyes trailed over to Akeno, whose expression still hadn't changed. Dont piss off the supernatural family... or their friends.

"Oh, my mistake. He just looks way older than you so I assumed..." He replied honesty.

"It's fine." She hummed, deciding to finally start eating the food she'd sat down with. With that, he went back to reading his book, taking it as a cue the conversation was finally dying.

He didn't get very far before someone spoke again. Surprisingly, it wasn't the redhead.

"So... what did you mean earlier?" Akeno asked suddenly, her tone deceptively innocent.

Somehow, the question felt like a threat.

"...About?" He replied seemingly absent-minded, not having taken his eyes off his book.

"You said you were speaking literally so... what did you mean by saying you were trying to read?"

Ah, so that's why she sounded like that. Best friends are always so protective of each other.

"Oh, That." He shifted the book, turning it so it was facing the both of them. Rias' eyes perked up, scanning it as well. "Well, I guess it would be easier to just show you. You ever seen anything like this before?"

Akeno hummed, her gaze losing interest. "Interesting. I'm afraid I've never seen anything like this before."

"...Yeah. Me neither." Rias eventually added on, still trying to read it despite being clearly unable to.

Well that confirms that. Nobody would be able to easily read the book without the blood giving, it seemed.

"Right." He nodded, turning the book back to himself. "I think deciphering it is supposed to be some sort of inheritance test. Still not sure exactly where to start."

"That's... so cool," Rias whispered in.. awe? Her eyes even looked like they were shining. Like she was looking at him in a new light, somehow.

He didn't see what was so amazing about a book he couldn't read. Once again, the book itself was really boring.

Maybe it was something to do with his inheritance story? That... technically wasn't a lie. The only part that was a lie was his inability to read it.

"Thanks, I guess." He decided to answer politely.

Though, truth be told? He didn't really get it.

--

A/N: will post again tomorrow.