Chapter 22: Agreement and Prelude to a Bitter Truth

Ryuichi P.O.V

I wanted to say that I was calm, I wanted to ensure that all the information I had received was "something I had already expected" after assuming that the world I lived in was one where magic existed, I wanted to say that I had maintained a calm expression after hearing and understanding all the information they gave me, but if I said that I would be lying to myself.

All religions were true, and both the supernatural beings and the gods were as real as me or the demons in front of me, Olympians, Egyptians, Hindus, Nordics, Shintoists, and many others that were spread around the world, and knowing that fact, that there were so many beings like them out there, made me feel... small.

A little goldfish in the middle of an ocean full of beings the size of whales and megalodons.

"Now that you know this, you must understand why we are concerned not only about your presence but also the fact that you have awakened a supernatural ability." Sona said with a stern tone as if she were trying to educate a child, but I didn't care, the worrying thing was knowing what I could tell them about my ability, all to avoid any conflict but without seeming like a submissive weakling, because if I did, there was nothing to ensure that a leash wouldn't be put around my neck, or something worse.

"I have lived my entire life, or at least all that I remember, in Kuoh, that spider demon from yesterday was the first one I saw." I said while deciding on a course of action, I had already said that I didn't know how I obtained my ability, so it was best to continue down that path and embellish it with half-truths.

"What do you mean by all the ones you remember?" Rias asked with a serious look, most likely trying to discern whether I was telling the truth or not.

"I was in an accident when I was 8 years old, I don't remember anything before that." I explained, lifting a lock of hair that covered my forehead, there, on the left side of my forehead, a medium-sized scar slightly faded by the passage of time that started several centimeters above my eyebrow and went to my scalp could be visible.

"So you don't know anything about your origins or if it had anything to do with your recent acquisition of these abilities?"

"I don't know, but if I had to say it I would say no, I already said that everything started the day after he showed up at my house." I reaffirmed pointing to the blonde.

Sona drummed her fingers for a few seconds before speaking again. "If so, then how could you produce that glow? Body reinforcement is one thing, although uncommon, doing that is relatively simple for newer supernatural society members, but you did it not only without apparent tutoring but also produced the equivalent of a basic illumination or light spell, which should not be possible without someone who had shown you the steps beforehand"

"It was… instinctive, I did something similar before that, and somehow I knew it was possible, I just did what my body said to do." I said, sounding as vague as possible, and adding the first part to make it more believable, after all, creating or discovering a technique in the middle of a battle was something not very credible, especially for someone who had shown himself to be as inexperienced as me.

Rias and Sona looked at each other for a few seconds as if they were having some mental conversation before looking at me again. "Okay then, last questions." Rias said.

"Do you have any intention of harming the population of Kuoh, whether human or demonic? Are you a threat to us?" Sona said, and I could notice how everyone in the room, except for the brunette from before, was visibly tensed, ready to jump on me if my answer provoked them, although this offended me quite a bit.

"We were the ones who were attacked by one of their own, we almost died, and yet you ask me if I am a threat?" I said in a not-happy tone, and maybe it wasn't the best answer, but I wouldn't let them assume things about me, especially when one of the victims had been me.

"We are not like that demon, she was a stray demon, a criminal within our society, one that we went to hunt the same day you found her, would you label the entirety of humanity as criminals just because some of them are?" Sona replied, and although I still didn't like the implications, I had to admit that she had a point.

"In addition, I think that the behavior we are having more than demonstrates that we are civilized and prefer dialogue to violence whenever possible"

I wanted to say that wasn't true considering that they had directly treated me as a possible threat, but I had done the same thing and was still doing it, although the difference between them and me was that in my first encounter with a demon, she had tried to kill me and eat me.

But in the end, I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to drag this conversation out any longer.

"I have no intention of harming anyone no matter what species they belong to, but if someone attacks me or my family, then I will respond accordingly." I assured.

The silence lasted for a few seconds while my gaze and that of both demons faced each other, and in the end, they both gave in, sighing as if they had avoided an annoying problem.

"Well, if things are like this, then we don't have to meddle more in other people's private affairs." Sona said before adding. "However, you will have to check in with one of us once a week to follow up on your situation"

I didn't like that and was about to object, but she interrupted me before I could speak. "This is not negotiable, we are the regents of Kuoh, and monitoring the presence of members of the supernatural is our job, since you are a resident who will remain for the foreseeable future, we must carry out periodic checks, if you do not like it then we must ask you to leave our territory within no more than one month"

"Fine." I accepted, I didn't have much room to maneuver here, and moving was not among my future plans, so I only had to accept, although I would put a condition to ensure my safety. "But all meetings will be in public places, I have no intention of going to any abandoned warehouse or dark alley with any of you"

"Of course"

"Now." Rias spoke, drawing everyone's attention to her. "There is one last thing left." She said before pointing at my teacher, who flinched a little. "What should we do with her?"

"What do you mean?" My eyes narrowed at her words.

"Although recent, you are already part of the supernatural world, on the other hand, she is an ordinary human, so, following the rules established among all the pantheons of the world, all the recent events, both the attack she suffered and this entire conversation, must be erased from her memory"

"W-what?" Kirisu-sensei tried to move back further but since she was sitting on the couch, she could only crush her back further against the backrest.

"That's not gonna happen." I said standing up.

"This is not something we decide, it is an agreement made by all members of the supernatural society to keep us secret and out of the public eye of humanity, even if it were not us and you were dealing with youkai, angels, or gods, these would be the measures that would be followed"

"Well, I haven't met any youkai or angels, and even if the man christians worship came down and told me the same thing, I'd tell him that's not going to happen"

"Those words are quite bold, you know? An exorcist from the most conservative and extremist side would attack you instantly if you said something like that in the territories that belong to heaven"

"Playing with people's minds and memories is something I don't really agree with, especially since I don't know anything about the process, and I doubt she wants to let any of you get inside her head to draw a blank space, besides, speaking from my own experience, not remembering a part of your life is unpleasant at best"

"So you say that letting her live with the fear of knowing that there are supernatural beings and that this city is ruled by demons, is a more empathetic act?" With that, Rias stopped looking at me and met her gaze with my teacher's.

"Be completely honest with yourself, do you want to live knowing everything you know now? Wouldn't you rather go back to how you were before knowing about the existence of the supernatural? It's not like they say? Sometimes ignorance brings happiness." She said with a tone that was trying to be understanding, and when she said it that way it made me uncomfortable to find logic in her words.

"I…" Kirisu-sensei, although still scared, I could tell that she understood and processed the demon's words in front of her for what they were, a valid argument.

I didn't know what she would decide, I didn't even know what I would do in her situation, because at least I had a way to strengthen myself and perhaps defend myself in the future, while I doubted that my teacher could do something similar, and that was assuming she would even want to try.

Soon after she shook her head a few times and said. "I-I don't want to forget anything." Her voice was shaky, her eyes refused to look directly at anyone in this room other than me, and she was well aware that she couldn't oppose whatever the demons decided, but she had made her decision, and that was all I needed to hear.

"There you have it, that is her decision, and now no one is going to lay a finger on her"

"And what forces us to do that? If we leave it as it is, we are the ones who risk having problems"

"It's not our fault that that thing attacked us, if this is your territory, you two are responsible for preventing monsters like that from attacking the population, aren't you?"

"Nothing is perfect, before getting rid of dangerous elements, we must first know their existence, it is not ideal, but it is what it is"

"Regardless of what you say, the fact is that I'm not going to let you mess with her mind." I said with a tone of completion.

"I see, if you're so against us erasing her memory there might be a way." The redhead said, and all she got from me was a narrowed look urging her to continue.

"How about a bet?" She said she and somehow I felt that this was what she was looking for. "You are willing to fight all of us to prevent them from tampering with their memories, right? Then why not a friendly encounter with one of us, one where none of us will fight with mortal intentions, if you win, none of us will ever touch the subject of your teacher's memory again"

"What if I lose?" I asked, expecting some unfair treatment.

"Then your teacher's memory will be erased, and you will owe us a favor, within reason, of course." She added at the end when she saw that I was about to refuse.

"And why do you get two things if I lose, and I only gain one for my victory?"

"I think you are misunderstanding something." Sona intervened. "Your reward is that we break the rules by turning a blind eye, while we gain a favor, erasing Kirisu Mafuyu's memory does not benefit us at all, it is not a reward for us because we are only following the rules"

I didn't like it, I didn't like this situation in the slightest, and yet there was only one thing I could do if I wanted to prevent them from messing with Kirisu-sensei's memories. "Fine, but I want something that ensures they won't come near her if I win." I reluctantly agreed.

"A magic pact should be enough, anyone can make them so there won't be any problems, tomorrow after school someone will go get you both, so we can meet and resolve this"

"Wait a minute, tomorrow? Why so soon?" I asked, hoping that this would happen after the mission I had, because if I managed to complete it, the benefits from it could give me enough of a boost to have a much better chance of winning, and that's not counting the extra time I would have to continue my training.

"Because regardless of the result, this must be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise it could be discovered that we are offering a deal like this, and we would not be able to fulfill it"

With no choice but to accept, I sighed with frustration and a bit of resignation. "So be it then"

"Then that would be all." Sona said before getting up, the redhead imitated her actions, and they both walked towards the door followed by the rest of the group. "The time we reserved this place will end in 30 more minutes, we do not recommend staying longer or the hotel staff could charge you for the time of stay." She said, and then they all walked out the door, leaving just my teacher and me.

######

The Previous Day

Touji P.O.V

For a little over a few weeks I had felt something strange, it was like a premonition, as if something inside me was telling me that something very important was about to happen.

At first, I thought that perhaps this was because my older brother had finally started his "romantic comedy phase" with a couple of his teachers, and perhaps the perverted loli sister of one of those teachers.

But with each passing day, that feeling increased, and I became more and more uneasy, until finally I came to a possible answer for what this could be, and it was both simple and terrifying, "the canon" if it hadn't already started, it was about to.

I breathed as slowly as I could to calm myself and reviewed both my last actions and those of my brother, for my part, I had continued with my routine just as I had done until now, going to school, coming home, occasionally visiting Koichi to playing with him, and spend the rest of my time studying, nothing too out of the ordinary.

My brother, on the other hand, had had several "important" events in his life, he had started training once again, although unlike before, it was not to resume gymnastics, but rather it seemed like a training montage like the one you would see in an AMV of the shonnen anime of your choice.

His interaction with the opposite gender also increased, and if everything continued as before perhaps I would have an older sister in the future, or two if you think about the fact that both teachers had younger sisters and that girls were older than me.

And if not I remembered wrongly, Kirisu-sensei's younger sister, Kirisu Miharu, must also be older than my brother.

Whatever the case, while fun and curious in their own way, none of these events seemed to intertwine with anything about the supernatural world, the red dragon emperor, the demons, or the crows that may or may not already be in Kuoh.

And all this did nothing but increase my headache, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of this annoying feeling, this bothered me so much that I couldn't concentrate on the advanced calculus book I was trying to study, so that day I decided to take a risk that was both stupid and unnecessary, and check whether Mr. "Tits are the only way" was already a demon or not.

I admit, that may not have been the smartest move, especially since I thought I remembered that the demons were watching him, and if the fallen were here they probably were doing too.

But doing so was the only way I could give myself any sense of which was what was happening right now so that those I know and I would stay extra far away from this whole hurricane where supernatural dangers and boobs would abound.

With that decided, I faced another problem, how to know if the oppai-dragon was a demon? Because as clueless as I was sure he was, I couldn't just walk up and ask. "Hey buddy, by any chance weren't you revived recently by a red-haired demon after your first girlfriend played target shooting with you?"

If I did, I was sure that Sona, Rias, or one of their peerages would catch me and interrogate me at best.

And at worst, although this was very unlikely because they both refused to communicate too much with their super powerful siblings, perhaps this time they would, in which case after attracting the attention of one of those Siscons, I could end up in the some demon scientist's experiment table would search my head for this information, and we don't want that, do we?

So I would have to follow a slightly more "subtle" approach, I went into my room, and after searching through some drawers I found a small silver cross necklace and a small spray bottle filled with holy water.

I acquired these items a couple of years ago when I managed to convince my brother to take a short trip to Akihabara, and although he bought me the silver cross necklace, I filled the small bottle of holy water myself in a small prayer chapel which we found by chance when we got off at the wrong station and wandered around for a few hours to have lunch.

Now, could it be that none of this would work? Maybe, maybe the silver cross wouldn't work for some reason, or maybe the holy water lost its effect after some time, I didn't know, but that didn't matter, because even if none of this worked I could still pretend to be a religious person and give a short prayer to see the boobs fan's reaction.

Even if somehow the canon had already started and he was already relatively strong that should still bother him at least a little, which I highly doubted since I remember that a few months ago I saw the red dragon emperor himself, and there was no army of attractive girls following him, he was only with his 2 perverted friends, so the chances of him still being human were not 0.

With my plan in mind, I went to bed, and when the next day arrived I pretended to have a stomach ache, so my brother allowed me to stay home, and a little less than an hour before classes ended I left the apartment and headed towards the Kuoh Academy.

The walk was calm and without problems, after all, I already knew the location of the school from brief research earlier to stay away from that specific area.

It was fortunate that my brother's school was in the opposite direction and that my dismissal time was earlier than the demons there, thanks to that until now my brother and I had avoided most chance encounters with any teenage demons.

When I was a few blocks away, I took the necklace out of my pocket and sprinkled some holy water on it before throwing the small vial into a trash can.

I then placed it around my neck, adjusting the latch so that a slight shake would cause it to unclasp and fall before sitting on a nearby park bench and waiting the remaining few minutes before the students filed out.

Luckily the time was not too long, and when I saw the students leaving I used every ounce of my concentration to find the main character, which was a bit difficult since in the middle of the crowd finding someone in particular was not easy until the point where I would have preferred them all to have black hair and a simple cut while Issei had an exaggerated style and color as if he were a Yu Gi Oh protagonist.

That was until the girls, who represented the largest number of the school population, led the way, moving away from 3 particular individuals to whom they gave disapproving glances, one of them being my target.

Indifferent to the stares, the acclaimed perverted trio advanced, chatting among themselves while laughing from time to time, and although I could imagine what they were talking about, the looks of disgust that the girls gave them seemed a little exaggerated to me, I mean, sure it could be pretty awkward listening to your classmates talk about tits and stuff, but some of the girls gave them looks like they were the most disgusting thing they'd ever seen.

I shook my head, none of this had to do with me, and they didn't seem to care anyway, so I went ahead with my plan, walking towards them while grabbing my phone to pretend I was distracted looking at the screen.

And with a leisurely and constant walk, I ended up successfully colliding with the future harem king.

"Ouch." I said as my butt hit the ground as I felt my necklace fall in front of me.

"Ow, oh, hey kid, are you okay?" I heard the male voice asking, and when I looked up I saw him, the boy who in a relatively short time would transform into one of the strongest beings in this world.

"Yes, sorry, I wasn't paying attention." I said, trying to stand up and feeling a little pain in my left palm, it looked like I had ended up scraping it when I fell.

"No, it's also our fault I-!" The boy was saying as he bent down to pick up my necklace in front of him when he saw what it was, stopping instantly and showing a slightly nervous expression.

"Hey Issei, are you okay?" One of his friends asked, the one with glasses, while the one with the shaved head took a step forward and extended his hand to help me stand up.

"Ah, ow ow ow, it seems like he hit my leg with his knee, and it hurts, can you pick up what fell?" Issei asked his friend as he held his leg and made a bad act, pretending to be in pain.

"Eh? Oh, sure." The one with the glasses answered with a doubtful tone, bending down and taking the necklace without any problem before handing it back to me. "Here." He said, handing me the object.

"Thank you." I said again once I was standing and received the necklace, I gave a slight bow and continued on my way.

'So it already started, but how long ago?' I thought as I walked, raising my hand and looking at the scratch on my palm, concentrating on not looking back or showing any specific feeling on my face, I didn't know if anyone was watching me, but If that were the case, I wanted to go as unnoticed as possible, being classified as common civilian would be ideal.

It was painfully obvious that he was lying, giving a non-believable excuse, but based on there not being a crowd of girls following him it should be relatively recent, right?

Besides, hadn't he sold his arm to beat the KFC? If that had already happened then he should have had no problem taking up the cross, so now we are before the fried chicken, had Asia already arrived?

She wasn't with him, but maybe she could be inside the school trying to make friends, no, I doubt he would leave her alone, I remember he was very protective of the nun, so are we really quite early in the events?

Well, then the plan would be to leave the house even less to avoid any dangerous event or some psychopath like Freed, or the fallen.

It would take effort to convince my brother, but I think I could make his tutoring happen through video calls.

I'm sorry brother, but your love comedy is going to have to be delayed a little.

I continued my way home and stopped by a convenience store to buy a soda and some chips to have an excuse in case Ryuichi arrived before me, and when I was a block away from arriving, I saw him.

Walking calmly while talking to his pink-haired teacher, and although she seemed to have her usual impassive mask, a second glance gave me to understanding that she seemed to be enjoying their conversation.

I smiled a little. 'Well played brother, it seems that you are managing to disarm the strict teacher.' And unless there was a development he hadn't seen she was ahead.

I was sorry for Kiryu-sensei, especially since in canon Keita was an immature idiot of titanic proportions, but there was nothing I could do, although, would my brother maybe achieve the harem ending with his two teachers?

I thought for a moment before shaking my head and laughing a little at the idea.

'Nah, this may be an ecchi harem world, but they're both human, and although maybe, and just maybe, Kiryu-sensei might accept it if the end of Kissxsis was any sign, I doubted Kirisu-sensei would agree to a two-way relationship, although who knows? Anyway, no matter what you decide, I'll be supporting you, be happy, you Riajuu bastard'

The rest of the day passed without any event worth mentioning, or so I would like to say, because to my big, and I have to emphasize it, BIG surprise, my brother never came to sleep.

At first, I was very worried, the confirmation of the start of the canon and all the dangers that were about to come got on my nerves to the point where I could only sleep after staying up late into the night, so the next morning I didn't get up on time and didn't go to school.

But late in the afternoon, the phone in our apartment rang, and when I answered it was my brother's voice that spoke to me. "Hey, Touji"

"Brother?! Where are you?! What happened? Why didn't you answer your cellphone?!" I asked hurriedly until his voice sounded again.

"Hey, calm down, I'm fine, look, what happened is that my phone broke yesterday while I was training, and due to certain accidents I couldn't return"

"Where are you?" I asked and put as much malicious intent as I could into my voice, warning him that he had to answer me honestly because of all the worry he had put me through.

"I'm…" He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "At Kirisu-sensei's house." He said finally, with a tone that said he had given up on trying to make up a lie.

"What?" That was all I could say, and the phone almost slipped out of my hands, although luckily I managed to catch it in the air.

'Th-was this real? C-come on brother, it even took Yuiga a few years to get her out of her shell and become her boyfriend, and you already reached fourth base? What the hell are you? A hentai protagonist? You don't even have the legendary hairstyle!'

"Before you say anything, nothing of what you're thinking happened, just… some things happened, and I had to stay here, but I swear nothing happened." He told me before I could congratulate him and ask him if he had used protection, I wouldn't mind being an uncle, but I thought it was a little early for that, and we would have to make cost cuts in several places if that happens.

"Oh really?" I asked incredulously, I couldn't think of any excuse for him to spend the night at his teacher's house.

"I swear, and if I'm lying, One Piece will be extended for another 2,000 chapters"

"Oh god, no, anything but that, I believe you, I believe you." I hastened to say, because, at this point, I would die of old age before that damn series ended, I was sure that if that manga lasted any longer, not even a demon would live long enough to read the end.

"Okay, I'll be here a little longer, and then I'll return home, I already talked to Karasuma-san so you can have lunch and dinner at her house"

"Okay"

"And don't tell anyone that I slept here or you'll be in big trouble, if Karasuma-san asks, I was at a friend's house, capiche?" He asked with a horrible Italian accent.

"Yes Yes." I said as I rolled my eyes. "Take care, brother." I added before receiving a "you too." and hanging up the call.

The rest of the day passed without any important events, I was at Karasuma-san's house, and when she asked why my brother left me alone, I told her that he had to stay with a friend due to an emergency, and although she raised an eyebrow she didn't say anything else.

After dinner and returning home, I began to get impatient once again, and when I was about to use the phone to return the call to the last number I had spoken with, the apartment door opened, revealing my brother with a small backpack on his shoulder.

But the most surprising thing was seeing Kirisu-sensei behind him, dressed in her teacher outfit and a small sports bag hanging from her arm.

I was about to make a bad joke, but the expression on both of their faces, especially my brother's, stopped me, it was one I had not seen before, stressed, upset, thoughtful, anguished, all these emotions and more were showed in his expression, he looked at me and gave a smile that did not reach his eyes before speaking.

"Hey Touji, there was a problem at Kirisu-sensei's apartment, so she's staying here for a couple of days, please don't make her feel uncomfortable." He commented as he ruffled my hair for a couple of seconds before walking past me, behind him the pink-haired teacher advanced saying a soft. "Sorry for the intrusión." Before closing the door.

"Sensei, you can use the bathroom first, I'll heat the dinner." He said walking towards the kitchen as the teacher gave a nod before heading to the bathroom.

This whole situation felt wrong somehow to the point that I didn't know what to say, and all I could think was.

'What the hell happened?'

X-X-X-X

Well, another chapter, the first version of this chapter had a 2k word talk about the supernatural world and Ryuichi asking questions, but after reading it I decided to discard it, it would only repeat information about everything we already know, so I eliminated all that redundant verbiage and replaced it with the beginning of this chapter.

Also, soon Ryuichi will have to fight again, any bets on who he will have to do it with?

We also get a Touji POV. It was fun to write, so maybe there will be more like that in the next chapters if he discovers that everything he wants to avoid is happening without him realizing it.

Remember that if you like this story, you can leave a comment, review, and a power stone, that will inspire me to write more, see you in the next chapter.