Wake-Up Call

Underworld, Gremory Territory, Alaverus Estate.

Standing outside of James bedroom are Leona, Cassiel, Venelana, Zeoticus, Sirzechs, Rhea, Dante, and Serafall. Among them are some of the most influential devils in the underworld. And at the moment, they are all speechless. Why? Because not even ten minutes ago, they witness one of the most cheerful children they had ever known walk away from an argument with no emotion on his face.

Having heard Rias' shouting, the members of the younger generation, led by Sona, made their way upstairs to see what was wrong. Making their way to the group of adults, Sona took stock of the situation.

First, she took a look through James' open bedroom door. And what she saw was Rias curled up on James' bed, Sobbing in frustration. In front of the bed, was the chair that is usually tucked under James' desk. And finally, James was nowhere to be seen.

Before making any conclusions, Sona decided to ask two simple questions that would fill in most of the blanks.

"Mother, where is James?"

"He's locked himself in his studio." Replied Rhea.

Sona nodded, expecting as much.

At the same time, Mizore made her way to the studio, then placed her ear on the door.

"It sounds like he's drawing, I can hear the sound of pen scratching against paper." Mizore reported.

"Drawing?" Cu Chulainn asked. Although they had become close during their training, Scathach did not leave them enough energy to chat. In her opinion, if they had the energy to chat, they could use that energy to train a little longer.

Adjusting her glasses, Tsubaki answered Cu Chulainn's query.

"He's a mangaka famous throughout the realms." Tsubaki said calmly. Then she asked, "Have you ever heard of Bleach?"

"You mean the stuff you wash clothes with?" Cu Chulainn asked in genuine confusion.

Without changing her expression, Tsubaki replied. "No, the Manga."

Sona interrupted the conversation before it could continue.

"You two can talk about that later." Sona said sternly. She then turned her attention back to the adults and asked her second question. "Rias did something stupid again, didn't she?"

This time it was Venelana who responded with a simple, "Yes."

Sona sighed in response, then muttered to herself.

"At this rate, he's never going to want to deal with romantic matters."

Although she was trying to keep her voice down, everyone present was able to hear her muttering.

So, when she raised her head, she saw Venelana, Leona, and her own mother, Rhea, smiling at her teasingly.

'Damn it, I was too loud.' she thought to herself as she flushed all the way to the tips of her ears.

The hallway fell silent again.

The one to break the silence this time was Venelana. But only after she stopped herself from clapping, remembering James' comment from earlier.

"Ahem, we need to do something about this." Venelana said, addressing everyone present. "Any suggestions?"

Another short silence ensued. Eventually, Leona spoke up.

"Well, I think..." She began. Once she had everyone's attention, she looked at Mizore then continued. "Mizore, if James is drawing, you should see if he'll let you assist him. I'd rather he not be all alone right now."

Just as Leona's words ended...

*Click.*

The door was unlocked, surprising everyone.

Mizore, snapping out of her shock, looked back at everyone, and nodded. She then opened the door and went inside. Before the door closed, though, Cu Chulainn asked James.

"Hey James, do you mind if I watch? I've never seen a manga being made."

"Sure, as long as you don't get in the way." replied James.

With a smile on his face, Cu Chulainn made his way to the open art studio door. Before entering, he turned back and winked at everyone while mouthing

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him."

After that, he went inside as well, then closed the door.

The next to speak was Venelana.

"I think I'll take Rias home."

Not waiting for anyone to respond, she stepped into James' bedroom and asked Rias if she wanted to go home and Rias agreed, shortly afterward, a teleportation magic circle surrounded Venelana and Rias, and then they were gone.

As Venelana and Rias were teleporting away, Zeoticus and Sirzechs, doing their best to erase their presences, tried to leave as quietly as possible. Before they could get too far, however, each of them felt a vice-like grip on their shoulder.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Grayfia whispered into Sirzechs ear.

"haha, I was just going to get a drink from downstairs." Sirzechs replied with a hollow laugh.

On the other side, Leona and Rhea caught Zeoticus.

"Lord Gremory," Rhea began in a sugary sweet tone. "I think we should take the opportunity to have a discussion about parenting."

Before he could reply Leona chimed in as well.

"That's right, with your many years of experience as a parent, I believe this would be a fruitful conversation." Said Leona in the same sugary sweet tone.

Hearing the two women's tone, Zeoticus felt a chill. And his instincts were telling him it would be extremely unwise to refuse.

"Cassiel, Honey, you don't mind if the five of us use your office for a while do you?" Leona asked with that same sugary sweet tone.

Already knowing what that tone means, Cassiel shook his head and replied. "Not at all, take all the time you need. But what about the food?"

In response, Leona said off-handedly, it was done before James and Cu arrived. You all can help yourselves."

"Before we begin our conversation," Grayfia said as she led Sirzechs into Cassiel's office, "I'll bring up portions for us and the three in the studio."

And that statement sealed all Sirzechs and Zeoticus' escape routes.

Cassiel and Dante, after giving Zeoticus and Sirzechs sympathetic looks, ushered the children back downstairs, along with Serafall.

"Well, let's go back and have some fun." Said Cassiel as he and the group moved downstairs.

Underworld, Gremory Territory, Gremory Estate.

As soon as the teleportation circle faded, Rias ran straight for her bedroom. The whole way there, the same four thoughts repeated on loop.

'Why did this happen?'

'I thought we were friends.'

'Didn't we make up already?'

'Why was he so mean?'

And once she made it to her bedroom, she flung the door open. And without closing it, she dove into her bed and covered herself, completely.

On the other hand, Venelana waited a little while before trying to talk to Rias about her behavior. Twenty minutes later, Venelana was standing outside of Rias open door. Looking inside, she could see Rias rolled up in her bedding like a Cuban cigar.

*Knock* *Knock*

Venelana knocked on the door frame. Not waiting for a response, she entered the room then sat on the side of the bed.

"Rias, I am very disappointed in you." Venelana said softly. Seeing the rolled-up bedding twitch she knew Rias was listening.

Although Rias was listening, she had no intention to respond.

"You don't think this was your fault, do you?" Venelana asked, again with a soft tone.

With that question, Rias finally popped her head out to look at her mother. She then answered, "No, I don't."

"*Sigh* Really? And I'm guessing you have no idea why this happened either, do you?"

This time, instead of replying, Rias only shook her head.

In that same soft tone, Venelana asked another question.

"Before today, did you consider James your friend?"

Hanging her head, Rias answered, "Yes."

"And do you still want to be friends?" Venelana asked, once again with that same soft tone.

Hesitating for a few moments, Rias eventually nodded her head.

"Then," Venelana began, her tone changing to something more stern along the way, "would you like me to tell you why things turned out this way?"

Hearing her mother's question, Rias' eyes widened and she nodded her head vigorously.

"It's actually quite simple." Venelana said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "You haven't been treating him like a friend."

"What are you talking about?" Shouted Rias as she sat up straight.

"Don't forget who you're talking to, Young Lady." Venelana reprimanded.

Hearing her mother's warning in her tone, Rias deflated immediately.

"And that is part of the problem, you forget who you're talking to." Venelana said.

"I don't understand." Rias said with her head lowered.

"Riri, am I your friend or subordinate? Seems like you're forgetting the answer to that question recently." Venelana resighted one of the lines from Heinrich's report involving the incident with Akeno. "Do you remember when James said that to you?"

Rias racked her brain, trying to recall a time when James said something like that to her. Eventually she shook her head, signaling that she didn't remember.

"That was right after James saved Akeno, something you asked him to do." Venelana explained.

Rias began trying to recall the memory again, still with no success.

Venelana then took it upon herself to fill in the blanks for her daughter.

"You do remember asking James to save Akeno, right?"

"Yes." Rias replied.

"And once he did, do you remember what you did?" Venelana asked.

"Uhm... Me and Sir Heinrich negotiated for her release." Rias answered, after thinking for a while.

"Although that was the end result, The first thing you did was order James to take care of the negotiations."

Venelana then went on to remind Rias about the sequence of events.

"On top of that, James even helped Akeno get over her aversion to her fallen angel powers." Venelana said as she was finishing up with this event. "And that undoubtedly strengthened your peerage."

Rias dropped her jaw in surprise. She truly doesn't remember things playing out the way Venelana had just explained. However, she knows that her mother would not lie to her about something so important.

To drive the nail in the coffin, Venelana made one more statement on this particular matter. "On top of that, you never even thanked him for helping you."

Hearing that, Rias hung her head in shame.

Even though Venelana was done explaining Rias faults in that incident, she had more to say. She brought up when James brought home Mizore, and the tantrum Rias threw because of it. Then she asked the same questions she discussed with Zeoticus.

"You were in his home; did you have the right to question who he allowed in? And did he owe you an explanation?"

And she answered them for her.

"The answer is no; you had no say in the matter. And no, he didn't owe you an explanation for who he invited into his peerage."

She then explained.

"What makes it worse, James would have answered any question you asked if you had just asked nicely. Because you two are friends. Instead, you threw a tantrum because you are too used to everything being the way you want it to be."

Venelana continued for the next half an hour, explaining in every way she had witnessed Rias wronging James to the present. She ended her lecture with.

"And even though it wasn't something you wanted to hear, James was right about you, Rias." Venelana explained. "You don't work to improve yourself, at all. You don't train and you don't try to further your studies, you really are only a High-Class devil because of your lineage. You've had everything handed to you, yet you still have the audacity to complain when the Family askes something of you."

Venelana shook her head in disappointment for the nth time this evening.

"On top of that, if you would have kept a calm head. I'm sure James would have helped you come up with a solution." Venelana said, as she finally stood from the side of Rias bed. "But that doesn't look very likely to happen now."

Venelana, then, started walking to the door. As she reached the door, she stopped and without turning around, she said. "You really need to take a good long look at yourself and all your actions. If you keep on this way..."

Venelana then walked through the door and began closing it. Before it closed completely, though, she finished her sentence.

"You'll end up with no one you can truly call a friend."

The door then closed, and Rias lay down, burying her face in her pillow.