A red encounter

It was week number 5 since Lumine arrived in Japan.

Issei trudged through the streets as his body felt severely sore. It was another day in Kuoh high, and his shenanigan as one of the Perverted Trio didn't exactly dwindle down. Sure, he didn't peek as much as he wanted to change and keep his friendship with Lumine, but he wouldn't stop his appreciation of boobs.

But it sure didn't exactly change his reputation as part of the group.

'At least those two dumbasses apologized to me.' He thought to himself. He is grateful those two are sensitive enough to apologize for nearly jeopardizing his relationship with Lumine. Though it didn't stop those two from grilling him for information.

He sighed in exhaustion before passing by a 7-11, noticing a game magazine. 'I guess I got a little time to read it.' He enters the store and makes a beeline towards the magazine section.

Unknown to him, a redhead girl would also do so from an opposite direction before the teenagers collided with each other.

"Ow!" Issei barely kept his balance and looked at who crashed into him.

He didn't regret a single moment, burning the image into his mind for years to come.

In front of him was a teenager with blue eyes and the smoothest white skin he had seen. Her most distinguished part (to him) is her buxom figure and her crimson hair. The girl was wearing the female Kuoh uniform, so she could be someone he saw before.

"Wow…" he mumbled out as a blush plastered on his face. The girl, on the other hand, saw his stunted expression before leaning forward, unaware she showed her cleavage, and waved at his face.

"O-oh uhm, sorry about that." Issei quickly apologized, before trying to remove his gaze from her cleavage. The girl giggled cutely, further causing him to blush. "I-I was trying to get that game magazine."

The girl looked at said game magazine before picking it up. "If you don't mind, can we read it together?" She sounded beautiful, and Issei thought he was hypnotized just by her voice.

However, his mind was nearly short circuited by her question. This was the first time he got invited to read a magazine with a girl, and it was one of his favorite things in the world too! He quickly rebooted his mind and nodded, not trusting his words.

Her expression brightened before opening the magazine and stood side by side with him. Issei carefully shifted his body to make sure he didn't touch any inappropriate area, however tempting it was, and read the magazine with her.

It took all of his willpower to focus on it, as her scent smells incredible. He didn't know if it was perfume, or her own smell, but he felt intoxicated by it. He continued to push his willpower to read the magazine until a page caught his eyes.

"MGS 4 is coming out in June?" Issei leaned in and scanned the magazine's article. From what he could tell, it was under beta testing and Kojima was ready to release it worldwide.

"I never knew you were a fan of Metal Gear?" The teenager asked, before the boy grinned ear to ear. "Of course I am, I got all the games including the NES games. I gotta have to thank my dad for buying all of them." The boy boasted.

The girl, with starry eyes, decided to brag too. "I got all the games too and even more!"

"Even the merchandise?" There was no way the girl had everything right? He remembered those sold at quite the hefty price. The redhead just nodded and smirked at the boy, who slumped his head.

"Well," she continued, trying to cheer the boy. "At the very least you got the games right?" The boy nodded, but still a little down. She sweatdropped and felt slightly bad for bragging about her collection. She was a rich girl, so she could afford the merchandise.

"What about I get you one when MGS 4 is out?" Issei perked up, surprised that the stranger was willing to give out something like this. 'She's really that rich?' Well, he wanted some of the merchandise. But…

"Nah, it's okay. I can't take advantage of your generosity." Even if he wanted to give in, there was no way he would do so. "Plus, I'm already saving up for the Espionage edition."

"Why don't we buy it together then?" Issei now started to feel suspicious by the girl's aggressive approach. She constantly wanted to give him something he wanted, almost like she's trying to butter him up.

Unfortunately for him, it was working for him. "I have to see my schedule first, since we're still students right?" The girl nodded before flipping to another page, both of them continued reading the article.

"If you're really up for it, then why don't we exchange numbers?"

'HOLY SHIT!' Issei screamed inside his head. This was the first time a stranger, a girl at that, offered her phone number to him. Was his luck finally lifting up? "S-sure," Issei stuttered out like a fool. The boy mentally smacked himself and tried to recompose himself.

The crimson head girl silently giggled, finding his reactions very cute. Their accidental encounter was definitely enjoyable and beneficial. If anything… Perhaps they can be friends even without any agendas at all.

Both teenagers took out their phones before exchanging their numbers using QR code. Issei looked at his phone to see his new contact, his eyes widening into the size of a saucer at the name.

Rias Gremory, the most famous girl in Kuoh High, known for her beauty and intelligence.

'How am I so STUPID?!' Her features were a dead give away to who she was. And yet here he was, bumbling around like a school boy with a crush and didn't think of who he was interacting with.

'Wait, does that mean she knows who I am?!' He changed his gaze to her, who slyly smiled at him. "Surprised." She said in a sing-song way.

Issei spluttered, trying to form words but none came out. Oh gosh, he's more of an idiot now. And now Rias was laughing at him too.

"Relax, I already knew your reputation in the school." Shit! "And I honestly find it interesting about your… ambition."

Issei could feel his soul slowly leaving his body. That was it, the final nail in the coffin. The most famous student in Kuoh found him and even exchanged his number. He could picture it, all the blackmails and threats he would get from her.

"But I just wanted to be your friend." That's it, his life is now a sla- wait what?

"Uh?" He barely got it out of throat. What did she just say? The girl laughed harder, as if something had released from her heart and she wanted to let it out.

"I said I wanted to be your friend. Actually, ever since I saw you in the old school building I wanted to talk to you." Old school building? The only time he went there was-

"Y-you saw what happened there?" Issei's voice became smaller, a slight fear leaked out of her voice.

Rias nodded sheepishly. "I didn't mean to, but that was the first time I did get a good look at you." She heard his reputation, and even saw him run past her. But she never got a good look at him.

Now they are face to face, she could say he could be a handsome man in the future.

"I- I see." Issei scratched the back of his head. "It was just my housemate coming to give me my lunch box, but Matsuda and Motohama nearly screwed up my friendship with her." The boy elaborated.

Rias nodded while saying "I see." She certainly could tell what happened, but with the boy clarifying the situation, it gave her the bigger picture.

Issei peeked with the corner of his eyes before muttering out a curse. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to go now. It's getting late for me." The girl nodded understandingly, she had to leave for her home too.

Once they left the 7-11, both of them waved goodbye to each other and went their separate ways.

Issei stared at the new contact number before grinning ear to ear. He couldn't believe he got to talk and even exchange numbers with such a beautiful girl.

Rias also stared at the new contact number, before snickering like a schoolgirl who got her crush's phone number. She couldn't believe this unexpected encounter, and she was truly happy it happened.

'I hope our later interactions will be as great.' Both of them silently hoped.

*---------break---------*

Lumine could tell something great happened to Issei. The boy was in an incredible mood when he got home.

As of now, she was in the living room watching a drama show playing on the television while Issei was busy with his phone. She craned her neck towards him and took a peek on his phone.

Ise: [Imagine the next MGS game is a hack and slash.]

R1As: [Don't be ridiculous. That would go against Kojima's vision.]

R1As? What kind of name was that? MGS AND Kojima? What were they talking about?

"Curious?" Issei asked, which caused Lumine to yelp. "It's just me and my new friend talking about a video game."

"A video game?" Lumine tilted her head curiously. Issei nodded before thinking about something. He snapped his finger and smiled. "Why don't I show you one of the games this series had?"

Lumine hummed for a moment, thinking about what he was trying to present to her in this world. Well, she had never heard of video games before. She nodded, what harm could there be to sate her curiosity?

That night she was amazed how deep of a rabbit hole she allowed herself to jump into. Video games are truly amazing.