Choice

"This is Vahn-sama's power? Incredible..." muttered Asia, her eyes wide as she marveled at the Corridor of Intertwined Fate's fantastical terrain and layout. After everyone had lunch, Rias asked Vahn to take her, Issei, Kiba, and Koneko inside to get her acclimated to her duties as the group's healer, so they were presently outside the safe zone of the First Floor of the Inner Sanctum's First Stratum.

As Rias had placed him in charge, Vahn stated, "The monsters on this Floor are only around as powerful as the average human, but that's no reason to lower our guards. Issei, you'll take point. Kiba will watch your back while Koneko protects Asia. I'll take up the rear, provide overwatch, and issue orders as needed."

Though he was a little annoyed that Vahn would be at the rear, allowing him to stare at Koneko's and Asia's bottoms as much as he wanted, Issei raised his crimson-gauntleted left hand, responding, "Right! Just watch as I pummel every monster we come across!"

BOOST!

With his Sacred Gear doubling his physical parameters, Issei felt like he could take a Truck-kun head-on, and it wouldn't be him but the driver who got sent to another world. Fortunately, while it was obvious to Vahn, Kiba, and Koneko that he was trying a little too hard to show off, his experience with fighting and farming on deeper Floors made the First a cinch...

...

..

.

"So time passes six times faster in here than it does the outside...?" asked Asia, prompting Issei, who was the one explaining things to her, to beam as he affirmed, "That's right. And, get this: it gets faster the deeper we go! And, who knows, by the time we reach the one-hundredth Floor, we might be able to stay here a full year with only a single day passing outside!"

"Truly!? That's incredible!" exclaimed Asia, matching Issei's energy as the two sat beside each other around the endlessly burning campfire located at the center of every Checkpoint. Outside was brightly lit, but within the sealed-off enclosure, it was like the dead of night, ostensibly to facilitate rest.

"Wait, but doesn't that mean we would grow older very quickly?" asked Asia, touching her chin with her right index finger and tilting her head to the side.

Though he was initially going to wave his hand in front of his face and say they didn't need to worry about things as Devils, Issei's smile cramped as he remembered that Asia was a relatively normal human. That meant that, unless they could talk her into becoming a Devil, she would only live sixty to a hundred years while the rest of them, except for Vahn, could possibly live ten to a hundred times that amount...

Thinking that Issei didn't know how to answer, Vahn decided to lend him a hand, stating, "That's not something we need to worry about. Even if time is compressed six, sixty, or even sixty-thousand times within the Corridor, our physical bodies are chronally linked to the outside. We age in so far as we experience the flow of time, but that's why we don't run out of stamina or feel hungry too quickly."

"Wow..." muttered Asia, pressing the tips of her fingers together as, much to Issei's chagrin, she gazed at Vahn with starry eyes. It didn't help that, at that moment, Koneko was lying cross-armed atop Vahn's lap, enjoying having her head, adorned with adorable cat ears, caressed.

No longer able to contain her curiosity, Asia, her gaze fixated on Koneko, asked, "This may be forward, but what is the relationship between Vahn-sama and Koneko-chan? The two of you seem very close..."

"We're—" started Vahn.

"Lovers..." completed Koneko, causing Asia to blink in surprise, Kiba to exhale faintly and shake his head, and Issei to look like he had just heard that the average bust size of women around the world was decreasing by the day. Koneko was widely regarded as the mascot of Kuoh Academy, so he felt like he could cry tears of moist crimson imagining her passionately intertwined with the much larger Vahn.

"Oh, my..." uttered Asia, holding her hand up to her mouth and eyes wide, full of curiosity as she asked, "Then...is this something only lovers do? It looks very comfortable..."

Resurrecting Issei from the dead, causing him to adopt a deathly serious expression and give a thumbs up, Vahn responded, "You don't necessarily have to be lovers with someone to have them lend you their lap or caress your head. If you're curious, I'm confident Issei wouldn't mind lending you his."

"Oh? Wouldn't that be troublesome...?" asked Asia, directing the question at Issei.

"Not even a little...!" responded Issei, his nostrils flaring and fists pumping before he promptly calmed himself, cleared his throat by coughing into his right hand, averted his eyes, and added, "But only if you want to..."

"I would like to try..." affirmed Asia, resulting in Issei tensing and sitting ramrod straight as she carefully folded her arms atop his lap and tried to adopt the same position as Koneko but struggled due to her breasts. She wasn't nearly as endowed as Rias and Akeno, but she had sizeable, nearly C-Cup breasts, causing Issei to tremble and turn progressively red as he held his breath and did his best to prevent a certain part of his body from reacting.

"Mmnn...it's harder than I imagined..." groaned Asia, inadvertantly sending Issei over the edge as he released his held breath in a manner that made it seem as though his soul was escaping his body. The number of days he had been single nearly matched the number he had lived, so while he was regarded as one of Kuoh's Perverted Trio, his experience with women was almost entirely imagination-driven.

"Issei-san...?" asked Asia, turning onto her side and staring at Issei with large, innocence-filled eyes. Looking into them caused Issei to feel guilt wash over him, so instead of meeting them directly, her turned his head to the side, muttering, "I-It's nothing..." as he carefully placed his right hand onto Asia's head, gently caressing it.

"Nn...okay, then..." responded Asia, narrowing her eyes in satisfaction as she entrusted the full weight of her upper body to Issei's lap and enjoyed having her head stroked. She could feel something long and hard pressing against her left breast, periodically twitching, but since she had never laid atop a boy's lap, she assumed it was normal, a contented smile adorning her face as she emulated Koneko and behaved like a cat...

...

..

.

After emerging from the Corridor around 8 PM, having spent nearly two full days inside, Rias informed everyone that the matter regarding Asia had been settled before Kiba, Koneko, and a reluctant Issei returned to their respective residences. Cohabitation bred familiarity, so while Vahn had exhibited the qualities of a bro by facilitating him and Asia spending time and interacting with one another, Issei was afraid it wouldn't matter if she witnessed Rias and Akeno being intimate with him and expressed an interest in trying it herself.

Proving that Issei was correct to be concerned, Rias wore an unabashed smile as she explained to Asia, "As a servant of House Gremory, interim or otherwise, you'll need to get accustomed to nudity and helping Vahn and me with everything from bathing to getting dressed in the morning. Since tonight is your first night, we'll start slow by having you wash his back. If you can handle that, you can work on his front after."

As Akeno helped Rias disrobe as she spoke, Asia swallowed hard but didn't question her new Mistress's words as she responded, "Right. I'll give it my all," before approaching and blushing slightly as she began to undo the buttons of Vahn's dress shirt.

Though he didn't stop what Asia was doing, Vahn expressed his concerns both directly and indirectly by asking Rias, "Is this really okay? It's pretty obvious that Issei has feelings for Asia. If she's willing, I think the two of them would make a good couple. And if they are going to start dating, we shouldn't be doing things like this..."

"Me and Issei-san, dating...?" asked Asia, sporting a very confused look as she stared up at the much taller Vahn. She knew what dating was, as she had always dreamt of going on one, but she felt that was something for the far future.

Nodding, Vahn looked down at Asia and reiterated, "Issei really likes you, so even if the two of you don't start dating, he would be hurt if he learned we were doing things like this."

"Oh, Vahn..." muttered Rias, exhaling a faintly exasperated sigh but smiling as she could see that Vahn was sincerely attempting to help Issei out, but if the latter couldn't win Asia's heart himself, she would only be dating him out of sympathy...

"Mmnn...Issei-san is a very good person..." muttered Asia, staring down at Vahn's body as she undid his final button and peeled open his dress shirt, her green eyes glistening slightly as she confessed, "But my faith wouldn't allow me to be in a relationship with a Devil. I don't have the same hatred for Devils that some in the Church do, but when I eventually die, I wish to be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. And humans who have relations with Devils are fated for Hell..."

"Is that true...?" asked Vahn, directing the question to Rias.

"For the most part," confirmed Rias, surprising Asia quite a bit by adding, "But I have heard of multiple cases of humans being romantically involved with Devils and still going to Heaven. In fact, there have even been Devils who have risen to Heaven. After all, the original leader of the Devils came from Heaven. If a Devil can endure the pain of adhering to the scriptures despite the pain it causes them, God would not shun them."

"Then...it's okay for me and Issei to be a couple...?" asked Asia, tilting her head adorably to the side. She still had doubts, but since all the members of the ORC seemed like good people, she didn't think Rias would outright lie to her.

"That's right," confirmed Rias, crossing her arms under her naked breasts as she added, "And it's not that difficult to accept if you just think about it. One of the key characteristics of the God of the Bible is his benevolence. If he condemned his faithful to descend or burn in Hell just because they fell in love with a Devil, that wouldn't be very benevolent. If anything, it'd be petty."

"I suppose..." muttered Asia, a prominent frown marring her face as she contemplated Rias's words. She knew things weren't nearly as black and white as many in the Church would have their flock believe. There was even widespread corruption in several branches, and she had personally experienced how intolerant they could be as she was once regarded as a Saintess, only to be scorned and excommunicated for showing mercy and daring to treat an injured Devil with her power...

Catching Asia a little off guard, Vahn gently cupped her head, drawing her to his chest as he reiterated, "Issei cares about you...I'm not saying that you need to date him, but if you want to spend time with him as you did in the Corridor, we shouldn't do things like this. I know how painful it feels to have the girl you like do something with another boy, so unless you clarify things with him, we shouldn't get too close..."

Understanding that Vahn was referring to her treatment of Issei, Rias felt a pang of guilt permeate her chest as she realized she wasn't being fair to the newest and most immature member of the ORC by conspiring to have Asia imprint on another boy. She also felt that Vahn was overstepping his bounds by speaking on Issei's behalf, but compared to her sin, his was at least good-intentioned. Thus, rather than advancing her Operation: Have Asia Fall for Vahn Plan, she drafted a new one called Wait and See what Asia Decides for Herself...

...

..

.