Chapter 7: Cute x Cat

Koneko flinched every time I took a bite out of my cookies while I relished the taste. She was eating out of her own bento but doing it painfully slowly, her gaze firmly affixed to my cookie box. The sheer desire in her eyes was clear.

I could see her making mental calculations on what to do as the cookies in the box slowly started disappearing one by one, she got more and more agitated the fewer and fewer cookies there were. I could see the indecision plaguing her.

Man, this was entertainment alright. This is way more fun than anything else I would be doing during lunch break instead. I really need some entertainment in my life.

As I lowered my hand into the box again Koneko suddenly moved closer to me, getting my attention and looking at me with eyes filled with longing, her gaze alternating between my cookies and my face. There was an unsaid plea in those eyes.

I raised my eyebrow at her, what did she think she would accomplish by simply looking at me like that? Did she think I was one of her fans that would grovel to her and give her my hard-earned cookies just because of a longing gaze?

Tough chance pal. This heart died years ago, you need some bigger guns than that.

To punish her for her naivety I quickly plunged my hand into the box of wonders and pulled out another ate it with speed shocking her. I was having entirely too much fun messing with her head.

"What do you want?" I asked, looking her straight in the eyes. I was very weak to cute things but I was weak to sweets too, especially when those sweets are my only meal of the day. But I was a man that could come to a compromise.

"...Can I have some?" She asked me in a monotone voice while pointing at my cookies. In response, I simply furrowed my brows.

"Why?" That simple question seemed to shake her as I wore a shit-eating grin on the inside. In truth I was not too opposed to giving away my cookies, I could always make more and for my current meal, I could always buy a sandwich.

I was doing this because I was bored and wanted to mess with her. And I don't want to give away my cookies when I could instead get something for them.

"...What do you mean?" 

"I meant why should I give you my cookies?" Koneko took a step back as her eyes darted around cautiously searching for a response she could give that did not boil down to "I want it.".

Seemingly finding something she extended her own lunchbox toward me. It was half eaten. 

"...Trade?"

"No thanks." She frowned a little, making a cute pouty face, I want to smoosh her cheeks and pat her head. Even though I said that, the intensity in her gaze did not falter in the slightest.

I sighed as if I was making a concession.

"Well, it seems like you won't give up on my cookies for some reason but they aren't free. I want something in return." Hearing my words Koneko got into a more defensive stance and I couldn't blame her, 90% of the male population of this school were perverts who would most likely demand something perverted.

...I won't throw stones from my glass house. I am no better. Yes, I admit I am a pervert. But at least I have class and enough self-restraint. I can hardly resist messing with a cute girl though.

"Since you are taking my cookies at least let me pat your head." Koneko narrowed her eyes at me, as if weighing the pros and cons to put pressure on her I slowly reached my hand into my container when suddenly she grabbed my wrist, stopping it in place.

Her grip feels like it is made out of tungsten.

"...Fine, you can. ...Pervert." She said that but her mood visibly improved as I handed her the half-empty box of cookies, well her expression did not change much but her eyes lit up.

She took a bite of the heart cookie and let out a noise of contentment as she closed her eyes, I wasn't at the foodgasm level but goddammit I would reach there eventually.

I extended my hand and placed it on her head, she briefly paused, just looking at me for a moment before she resumed eating her cookies. Her hair felt soft, in fact, it was probably one of the softest things I have ever touched. This was like petting a cat but even better.

This creature was, incredibly cute. If my inspect could measure cuteness or charm they would both be over 9000.

So I sat there, neither of us said anything as I petted her head. I don't know if I am doing it right or anything but she certainly didn't look like she minded. In fact, as I briefly retracted my hand for something she almost leaned into my touch before catching herself.

But her supply of cookies did not last forever as Koneko looked into the empty box in dejection while I also pulled my hand away. Honestly, even I felt a little sad for her. She looked like a sopping wet kitten.

...Hmm, I guess I guess I could do that. I got up from my seated position. 

"Whelp, I guess I should take my leave for now and find some lunch to grab." I said as I took the metal case from her hands. Huh, from this angle as she is crouching I can see her panties, blue stripes, nice.

I will save this memory for later on if I ever give myself enough time to pleasure myself.

Considering how busy I am that may just turn out to be the distant future.

As I was about to leave I turned to Koneko and pulled out a sealed plastic bag with some more cookies inside(my emergency stash in case I did a little more donation collecting and got home late) and handed it to her as her eyes lit up again. 

"Geez, don't look so sullen. Here, I have some more left, you can have them. Think of them as thanks for the fanservice." Koneko nodded at me with brighter eyes before she noticed what I meant and followed my line of sight to see her exposed skirt, she frowned and glared at me slightly with a slight blush on her face.

"...Pervert. But thanks." She said as she fixed her skirt while I was already heading down the stairs. This was a fun lunch break.

Of course, I didn't give her the cookies for that reason. Acting like this I make a good impression with the Gremory peerage, and I think a few cookies are worth the first impression.

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-Occult Research Club-

"So, Koneko. Are you saying that there is someone with high mana in school?" Rias asked, receiving a nod of affirmation from her. She was rather intrigued by who caught Koneko's attention, she was confident in Koneko's ability to appraise people.

She was looking for new peerage members after all, with her parents being more and more insistent on her arranged marriage to Riser Phenex she felt like she needed to find more peerage members to make her peerage stronger.

While she still did have some time left her and Riser's parents were really insistent on trying to push the date forward despite her vehement protests.

So this came as good news at a good time. From Koneko's words, it seemed like she encountered a student with unusual amounts of mana. Which could mean a few different things.

Either they naturally had more mana which meant they were great bishop material or even better than that, they had a sacred gear, which was incredibly rare. They could also be a magician but that was unlikely, she already knew all the magicians in town, so she decided to ask Koneko some more before coming to a conclusion. There was a chance they already knew him but missed him or looked over him.

"So Koneko, what is his name?" There weren't too many male students in Kuoh so Rias wanted to get a name to check who they were and if she recognized them. But she quirked her eyebrow up as she saw Koneko freeze up.

"...I forgot to ask." Rias rubbed between her eyebrows in frustration. This was going great already, she did not even know their name. She heard Akeno giggle behind her adding to her frustrations.

"Ufufu~ now now Rias, no need to get so worked up over it. Koneko-chan, what else do you remember about him?" Akeno asked nicely as Koneko thought for a second before answering.

"...He is a pervert, but he also gave me snacks. Maybe good at baking? He had brown hair and blue eyes." Rias sighed, at least she knew one thing about the mystery student. If he was a pervert like Koneko described it would actually be easier to get him into her peerage so that she was thankful for. Plus Koneko did not seem to really dislike him so that was good. That meant he could also be a good fit for her little family.

Well then, it was time for her to look for this mysterious student. Maybe she should ask Sona first. She probably could get his name and information.

"Akeno could you look into him?"

"Of course. Leave it to me~"

Something about how Akeno said that didn't sit right with her but she decided to trust her Queen. In the meantime, she had her own homework to do on him.

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-Takumi-

School was finally done and I had retreated to my laboratory with a thought plaguing my mind.

I should really work on some offensive capability. 

While I do have some time until the cannon starts that doesn't mean I shouldn't start bolstering my power early. Especially since there is a chance the Fallen Angels may notice me as well. After all, they went after Issei because he maybe had a sacred gear and no other reason.

Who knows the next time I go out I will get ambushed with a light spear straight into the noggin. If someone wants to pick a fight I want them to regret it. And for that, I needed at least some way to protect myself.

So I got started on working on the most basic offensive spell I could think of, a mana arrow, a classic. The reason why I didn't go for something like a fireball was simple.

First of all, elemental magic was more complex and I didn't even know how to work on fire at the moment. Second, collateral damage. Missifre a mana arrow? You broke a poor sod's wall. Misfire a fireball? The neighbourhood caught on fire. Also, you are also a part of that potential collateral.

Figuring out the mana arrow was easy enough to give me some self-confidence back. It was just a solid shape of mana that I shot out. I just had to set the values such as the solidity, size, speed and such of the arrow and I could cast it with its magic circle.

To test its destructive prowess, I transmuted a crude stone doll out of the ground and shot the arrow at it, and it managed to break apart the doll which was good but not really good enough, Raynare was able to get rag-dolled through a wall with a punch and still get up. Hmm, I think I know an easy way to make it stronger.

You see, when you are good enough at science applied physics is your true ally. 

I created yet another mana arrow, this one 75cm long(30 Freedom Inches) but before shooting out the arrow I modified the formula and added another variable. This new variable wasn't anything revolutionary, it was just rotational force. 

I held the arrow in front of me, adding more energy into it as it started to spin faster and faster before I released it, the recoil from it forcing my arms up as the arrow shredded the stone doll and cracked my wall. It's really amazing how much stronger you can make a simple spell just by giving it rotation and more speed.

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You have created [Mana Arrow Lv.3]

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With more practice, I could deploy it faster and deploy more of it but I really need a shooting range or something lest I collapse my basement. Thankfully I was pretty good with transmutation already so it took me only a few minutes to paint some circles on the walls and restore them to a pristine state.

Well, now that I had the bare minimum I needed to be able to defend myself from some crow-winged hooligans skulking around in case I got jumped, it was finally time to improve my basics.

What was I talking about? Of course, I was talking about getting some roaring muscles!

Time to break down this weak body and build it back up into a body that is one that looks like it is sculpted from marble. 

But as I preparing to work out it was on this day I felt my largest grievance with this world.

Most of the music I used to listen to while working out didn't exist here.

Pain.

<<If you liked the chapter don't forget to drop me some stones!>>

A/N: Takumi likes teasing and messing with people. The Devils are slowly taking notice of Takumi but he is still managing their interactions with himself while also steadily building his power. Speaking of building his power it is time to grind those stats.

Also, Koneko is cute. I like her.

What did you think about this chapter? I would love to hear your thoughts about it.

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