Occult Research Club

Walk to school in the morning.

I'm walking to school, but I'm having a hard time because on the way, other students are watching me.

I'm used to having students look at me every time I come to school, but this time the situation is a little different.

Usually, 75% of the looks I get are of admiration, because the vast majority of students at this school are female. The other 25% are looks of envy from the scarce masculine gender.

Of course, there are some exceptions. Girls like Himejima Akeno, Rias Gremory or President Souna Shitori do not share the admiring look that the rest of the girls have.

There are also exceptions on the boys' side, though less so. From what I've seen, Kiba Yuuto is the only boy who doesn't look at me with hostility. In fact, he looks at me with sympathy, and I look at him the same way. We're both kids who suffer from that kind of look every day.

But it's different today.

Guys still look at me with envy, that hasn't changed. In fact, I think their resentment has increased by 200%.

"Ise, I feel a little uncomfortable."

"You have to get used to it."

The girls, on the other hand, don't look at me directly anymore. All the girls' eyes are on the person walking next to me.

If I say that the envy that the boys are emitting is immense, this is nothing more than a small lake compared to the ocean, which is the envy that the girls are emitting.

Although it can't be helped.

Next to me is the new student at Kuoh Academy, my girlfriend, Yuuma Amano.

And we are walking while holding hands, I am also carrying her backpack.

We met this morning. She was waiting for me at the next crossroads as I left my house. Yuuma-chan said she'd catch me on the way, but I doubt it very much. My eyes are extraordinary, detecting lies is a simple thing for me.

"So the rumours are true... ..."

"The king of the school has found his queen, but she is an unexpected queen. I always thought it would be Rias-oneesama or Akeno-oneesama..."

"I was sure Souna-kaichou and Ise-kun made a perfect couple!"

"It's not enough for him to have the heart of every student in the school, he also has to capture the heart of the beautiful new girl..."

"That bastard..."

I can hear the screams of both boys and girls from all directions.

Sigh...

I've been expecting this from the start.

"Why is the reaction so exaggerated?"

"What did you expect after what you said in class yesterday? I'm surprised you could make friends in class, I thought they were going to kill you on the spot."

She gives me a look that says, "You're overreacting." How deluded, she's underestimating my influence on the masses.

"Let's go to class before some girl goes crazy and tries to kill you, I wouldn't want my girlfriend to die so soon."

"Yeah, I don't want to die again so soon either. By the way, someone's coming over later to talk to the two of us. Or rather, she wants to talk to you, I'm just an escort."

Does anyone want to talk to me?

Well, I can pretty much imagine who wants to talk to me, and also the reason why they want to.

We walked to the classroom.

When I opened the door, everyone was looking at us. Yuuma-chan suddenly blushed and let go of my hand, retracting it shyly.

Well, that would be normal, since enduring many glances from afar is not the same as enduring glances from less than five meters away.

Yuuma and I go to our seats, which are in the last row. My table is next to the window, while Raynare's is only three feet to my right.

BANG!

I catch a hand, trying to hit my head from behind. When I turned around, Matsuda was standing there. Motohama was next to him, too.

"I want to be your disciple."

Matsuda was screaming as he cried. From his expression, I can guess what he means.

"Until yesterday, we were partners in the 'Impopular Alliance'! But we want to change! We don't expect to have the title of king like you, but we want to equal Prince Kiba!"

"Hyoudou Issei, with your help, we can achieve anything."

Unlike Matsuda, Motohama is acting calmly by adjusting his glasses, even though his eyes are very sharp. Both of them are surprising me, I would never have expected such determination from the two perverts.

But I laugh, and I tell them in a loud voice!

"I refuse! Real men must make their own way!"

...…..

After school.

"Hi, how are you?"

I'm looking at the student who came to see me with my eyes closed.

The girl in front of me is none other than the school idol, Rias Gremory.

She captured the hearts and minds of the kids at our school with that otherworldly beauty. She's my senpai since she's a year older than me.

"So, you're the girl Yuuma-chan talked about."

I responded in a neutral voice, deliberately letting out a slight surprise. I was already expecting a visit from Rias Gremory, or at least someone from her Peerage.

"I was going to send Yuuto here, but I thought it was better if I came myself. I've wanted to meet you for a few days, Hyoudou Issei, Yuuma has told me a lot about you."

Yeah, just what I expected.

As far as I know, the city of Kuoh is owned by the devils. Currently, it is ruled by two upper-class devils. Sona Sitri, the heiress of the house Sitri, is the one who rules it by day, and Rias Gremory, the heiress of the house Gremory, is the one who rules it by night.

Before I only knew general matters of the supernatural world, all that information coming from Ddraig and his previous owners, but I did not know much about contemporary politics.

It was Yuuma-chan who briefed me a bit at recess, as I wanted to know a little more. Having dealt only with humans, leaving aside Lilith and the first Lucifer, in my previous life, I feel interested in the other races. It is natural for human beings to be attracted to the unknown, although sometimes the unknown can be scary.

For my part, there few beings in this world scare me, if any. I have already died twice, once in old age and once in combat, so I have no fear of death. Nor am I afraid to fight the most powerful beings in this world, for with Boosted Gear I would not even lose to Zeus.

Maybe if I had to say something scary, my mother, when she's outraged, can be a little scary.

"OK, OK, so what do you want me to do?"

"I'd like you to follow me if it's not too much trouble."

"No, it is my pleasure to accompany a beautiful woman."

I smile slightly as I respond to Rias Gremory, to which she responds with another light smile.

Now, I am truly surprised. This is not something that happens every day.

I mean, 99.9% of the time I give a girl that kind of smile, she ends up blushing and looking away.

The other 0.1% is my mother and Souna-Kaichou.

But this girl can keep her composure and smile back at me, something even Kaichou was not able to do. Although I think Kaichou didn't do it because she simply didn't want to, she's too serious a girl.

"Damn Hyodou... he has a strange relationship with Rias-Senapi too..."

"I knew it! Ise-kun makes a perfect match with Rias-oneesama!"

"Is this the legendary love triangle?"

The boys are clenching their fists, and the girls are gossiping. I can swear I've seen one of the girls with a frustrated face give money to another of the girls, who seems especially happy.

But seriously, didn't you just hear how we introduced ourselves? How can it be a love triangle when we didn't even know each other before?

Shut up. Seriously, shut up.

Yuuma-chan and I follow Rias, who's already walking in front of us.

The place we went to was the back of the school building.

In this place, which is surrounded by trees, there's a building called the old school building.

Apparently, it was used a long time ago, and there is no sign of people here. It's so creepy that it's listed as one of the 7 wonders of the school.

It's old, but it's not that bad.

"This is the place, the rest are waiting for us. Come on in."

The rest of it?

I suppose she's talking about the rest of the Peerage.

"Yes, Buchou." Yuuma-chan answers.

Buchou?

Does Rias-Senpai belong to a particular club? Is Yuuma-chan part of the same club?

We enter the building, which is two floors high, and we go up the stairs. We go further into the building. Even the corridor looks clean. It looks like even the rooms that aren't in use don't have any dust on them. When you think of old buildings, they would be full of insects, spider webs and dust. But I haven't seen anything. They must clean the building often.

While I was thinking about those things, it seems we've reached our destination. Rias stands in front of one particular classroom.

I was very surprised by the sign on the door that said.

[Occult Research Club]

Occult Research Club?

Just reading that name makes me wonder. I'm not saying the club sounds weird.

Who am I kidding, the name sounds really weird.

"Here we are."

Rias opens the door and, and I'm surprised when I follow her into the room.

There are strange signs and words in every area of the classroom, and the one that stands out the most is the circle drawn in the center of the room.

Looks like the magic circle takes up most of the room. I can feel something awful and strange about it.

There's also a couple of couches and desks in the room. Some people are sitting on the couches.

The first one is a girl with a small build...

I know her. I know that girl!

That girl is a rookie, Toujou Koneko-chan!

She's a rookie, but she looks like an elementary school student because of her childish face and small body!

She's very popular among a specific group of boys. She's popular among girls too and is treated as a pet because she's cute.

She's eating youkan quietly. She always has a sleepy expression.

If I remember correctly, she's described as not showing emotions.

She's not the only one present.

A boy is sitting on another couch.

He's the number one prince of our school, Kiba Yuuto.

It's said that he captures the hearts of the girls in the school with that smile of his. By the way, he's in the same year as me. But he's from a different class.

The other person is standing, making what looks like several cups of tea.

A black hair in a ponytail, the legendary ponytail that is almost extinct. She is the person who is said to be the last girl in school with a ponytail.

The beautiful face, which is always smiling. The quintessential Japanese woman. She is one of the Idols of the school, Himejima Akeno-senpai.

She is said to be one of the "Two Great Onee-sama" along with Rias-senpai.

She is the woman who is idolized by both male and female students.

"This is Hyodou Issei-kun."

Rias-senpai introduces me. Toujou Koneko-chan bows her head.

"Ah, nice to meet you."

I bowed my head too. After confirming that, she keeps eating her youkan.

Hmm. It's just like the rumour says. She may be a girl who doesn't talk much.

The prince of the school gets up from his seat. He makes a gesture worthy of a gentleman.

"We've met before, but we'd better introduce ourselves again. I'm Kiba Yuuto, nice to meet you, Issei-kun."

He smiles at me. Yeah, it's that smile that has most of the women at Kuoh Academy in awe.

"Ara ara ara. Hello, my name is Himejima Akeno. Nice to meet you."

She introduces herself politely with a smiley face. Her voice sounds fascinating.

"I am Hyodou Issei. A pleasure to meet you!"

I greet them without any problem.

"I think introducing you to our latest member is unnecessary, as you seem to know each other quite well."

Rias-senpai points her finger at Yuuma-chan.

Well, I think saying we know each other pretty well is a bit of an overstatement. It would be more accurate to say that I knew Yuuma-chan a little better than the rest of the [Occult Research Club] members.

I noticed that there's a shower curtain in the back of the room, which means there's a shower.

I think it's better not to comment on the tastes of the person who decided it was a good idea to put a shower here.

After Rias-senpai confirms that we have finished introducing ourselves, she starts talking.

"We're all here now. Hyoudou Issei-kun. No, let me call you Ise."

"Sure, I don't mind at all."

"Well. Then let me introduce us officially."

"Yes?"

"Though you may guess, we are not human. We are devils."

Mmmm...

"I already knew that."