Chapter 77: Past memories

Beta read by Shigiya

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-Gremory Manor-

I wondered if Rias' mother was going to dislike me after this. After all, I basically insulted her in front of everyone about how she should pay more attention to her daughter. Her blank stare showed very little emotion, stopping me from guessing whether she was angry at me or something else.

Everyone looked at us worriedly, hoping that another argument wouldn't erupt between us. But for now, I had other things to take care of.

Rias, on the other hand, had left, not saying a word as she ran out of the dining room.

I got up from my seat, "I'm sorry this dinner had to come at such an awkward moment, I'll be going to check over Rias. Please excuse me."

As I left, I did hear Shuri's voice talking to Venelana.

"I told you they would react like that if you brought up this topic. You need to learn to be more understanding, Vena."

"Haa… You're right, Shuri. The fault lies with me here for this blunder."

Feeling thankful for Akeno's mother's intervention, I left the room and went to look for my red head. It wasn't that hard to figure out where she went, having an idea of her pattern and after asking the maids where her room was. After a few times of getting lost in the enormous manor and back tracking, I finally found a door left open and the sound of sobs. This was going to be difficult, I could tell already.

"Rias?" I peeked inside, finding a room which was easily ten times the size of my room in Kuoh. Outside on the balcony, I saw Rias on the ground, rubbing her eyes, obviously holding back her tears. I approached her, not saying a word and sat next to her. "I guess things could have been better tonight."

"They… they don't understand me." She said, referencing her parents. "It was always like this, ever since I was a child, they never changed. Especially my engagement with Rizer, they barely cared about me and almost forced a wedding before I could even become a student in Kuoh."

"I won't say you're in the wrong, obviously they should have given this part of your life more thought instead of focusing on their image. But let me play the devil's advocate here for a bit, pun intended, your parents most definitely love you from what I've seen so far. They probably believed that it was what was best for you… which in turn didn't really turn out well I admit."

"You think?" Rias said sarcastically. "It's just… they always cared about the image and status of our family more than me. I know I have responsibilities as the heir of Gremory, but I also don't want to be sold off to the richest family like some trophy."

"At least now you're free, and all of it happened through your own efforts. And let me tell you, hard work betrays none, even though it doesn't assure you absolute victory — it at least gives you the consolation that you did your best. The Rias I knew from the past was a dreamer, a young girl who wanted her problems to disappear just like that." She stopped crying at least, which was good on my part. After all these years, I still didn't know how to handle crying girls. Maybe I should ask Shuri for some advice. "I'd advise you to get yourself together and go back down to face your mother. Running away and crying will achieve nothing but waste time and prove their point."

Rias rested her head on my shoulders, taking my hand into hers. I stopped talking, allowing the silence to continue as we gazed at the "night" sky for the next few minutes. It was weird, but I felt like we were being watched. glanced around a bit and noticed nothing unusual or found the shadow of anyone in particular. But even as I tried to ignore it, that feeling persisted, I even went so far as to ask Vritra if he noticed something.

'I do not believe so, the coast is clear as far as I know. But now that you mention it, the blood within my body does feel colder than usual.'

'You don't have a body.'

'A figure of speech for dragons.'

Right, maybe it was nothing. I was brought back to my senses when I sensed a certain someone pushing herself a bit too closely against me. "Thanks for comforting me," she said, "your headpats help, even though it is a bit weird to do that for your girlfriend. I would've preferred a kiss."

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I never gave her any headpats.

"Rias, you're holding my hand." As soon as I mentioned that, she froze. Both of us slowly turned our heads up to see a small pale hand resting on top of her head, moving gently. Following along the length was a small girl with pointed ears and blank black eyes that showed no emotions whatsoever. Wearing the familiar gothic clothing with her chest fully exposed but having black tape covering her nipples. This scene was even more creepy considering how only half of her body was sticking out of a tear in space, something I didn't even notice whilst so close by.

"Don't cry, Devil." She said without any emotions in her voice, as she stared at the shocked redhead, as if looking into her soul. "Or else the cat will find me."

"..."

"..."

Rias' face went all pale, maybe it was due to how close they were or how she was being touched, having sensed her power when she realized that there was someone else in the room. Even if it was nothing but a small sliver of it, it had already surpassed anything she must have sensed in her life and Sirzechs for certain would never flare his power near Rias for the latter to have a general idea of his might. But Ophis represented the concept of infinity, so even that small sliver was basically a never ending sea of power threatening to drown her.

"This reminds me of the day the Gremory girl mentioned she didn't want to see the Dragon God appear in your rooms whilst both of you slept. Funny how things have turned out."

"Not right now, Vritra."

The shock was too much for her, and the next thing I know, she fell onto my lap, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Didn't think that it was actually a thing, but it was far creepier up close.

I couldn't help but massage my temples, not one normal day for me. The universe was out to get me and would kill from either too much stress or lack of sleep.

"The Devil has died?" Ophis wondered, confused about Rias' reaction, poking her on the cheek.

"No, but you probably almost gave her a heart attack." I knew that Ophis was in the Underworld, Kuroka mentioned as such. I just didn't expect for her to appear at this moment like this. "Why did you pat her head like that?" A part of me was curious, so I couldn't help but ask.

Ophis tilted her head, "The Nekoshou does this to me everytime she is near me, so I wanted to try it too."

Really nothing but a naive girl. How could such an innocent soul could become the de facto leader if a terrorist group that aimed to destroy the world or something or other evil plans was beyond me. Maybe Great Red truly was the main antagonist in all of this, if that dragon hadn't thrown Ophis out of the Dimensional Gap then much of this would have been avoided.

"Can you hide your power so that the others won't freak out when they see you?" Hearing my request, she nodded and closed her eyes before sitting next to me. The air shifted, and using my sensing abilities, I felt the weight that was usually around Ophis trickle down until it slowly vanished.

She turned her head at me, my big brother senses tingling from the stare she was giving me. To others, it may have looked like any other one of her blank stares, but to me it was a desire to be praised for her efforts!

How could I say no!

"You did a good job, Ophis." Even the way she closed her eyes when I patted her head was cute! "Tell me, did something happen for you to… leave? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you're away from them, but are you planning on staying with me now?" I did promise her to have a home prepared for her at any time. And the further away she stayed from the Khaos Brigade and the Hero Faction, the better.

"Shalba asked for more snakes, I remember what you said to me. I said no, he got angry, so I left." Shalba… I felt like I heard that name before, I sounded so familiar. No matter what, this person was an enemy in the end, and it was a good thing he didn't get anything from Ophis anymore. Now, it was probably Kuroka who was still searching for her, it was only a matter of time before she would find her and possibly use force to take her back. No, that couldn't be the case, Ophis was far too powerful to be taken away like that. At worst, she'll stick a large target on my back, having the Khaos Brigade on the search for me — which in itself was a terrifying reality.

"Rias?" my head snapped, towards the door, where both Venelana and Shuri stood. I panicked, they saw Ophis, I didn't have time to tell the girl to hide!

"Ara, What a cute little girl!" Shuri was the first one to react, she closed the distance and picked Ophis up like a toddler and brought her into a hug. The dragon god's face being buried in her chest. "You look like Akeno when she was a small child, so precious!" The woman twirled Ophis around a few rounds, captivated by her adorableness.

"She reminds me of little Koneko-chan." Venelana commented, wanting to hold the Dragon God as well, completely forgetting about me and Rias, and patting Ophis's head. Meanwhile, I was sweating buckets, hoping Ophis wouldn't say or do anything dramatic! "Ah! Looks like we disturbed you two love birds~" she said, looking at her daughter "sleeping" on my lap. Oblivious to the fact that she had in fact lost consciousness out of pure terror.

"N-No, problem, I was j-just about to tuck her in bed." I stuttered, hastily picking Rias up and resting on her bed, my eyes locked on Shuri as she joyfully pinched Ophis's cheeks. The woman was not aware what kind of being she was dealing with! This same girl pinched Kokabiel to death for crying out loud! "A-Ano, Shuri-san…" Damn, I unconsciously mimicked Asia. "I-It's better if you put her down, she might get scared." Or blow up the Underworld if she got annoyed.

My entire body was sweating at this point! My hands were shaking while I prayed to every god in existence that nothing would go wrong.

'D-Do not fret, partner. Ophis would never do such a thing. You should stay calm.' Even Vritra joined to calm me down, but even he wasn't so certain!

'I'd say the same thing to you!'

"By the way, who is she? I haven't seen her with Rias and she wasn't present for dinner." Venelana asked, Shuri wondering as well.

"I'm O—" I moved swiftly, taking Ophis away from Shuri with a broken, a strained smile on my face. They couldn't know this was Ophis, the sheer panic that would ensue could easily cause more trouble and attract the attention of many less than likable Devils. I didn't want her to be taken advantage of by the same kind of people who were part of the Khaos Brigade. At this moment, my first plan of action was to discuss matters with Sirzechs first, he would know what to do.

"She's a… spirit related to Tiamat! She came here to hang out a bit." What? Spirit? That didn't make any sense! Shuri was a Miko like Akeno who used to exercise similar entities in the past. No way they would ever believe such a outlandish li—

"Ohhh! That makes sense!" The raven haired woman exclaimed, nearly making me facepalm myself with how easily she believed that half-assed lie. "What's her name?"

Shit, I didn't think of that. In a moment of uncertainty, I just blurted the first name that came to my mind.

"Komachi, I call her… Komachi…" I said silently, putting my hands inside my pockets. My pounding heart calmed down as I sighed, thinking of my real little sister. Why did I have to say that name… made my mood drop at that.

"Komachi? That's a wonderful name." Venelana smiled, probably finding Ophis' unchanging expression to be rather funny and cute. She then looked at Rias with a complicated face, I could guess she was thinking about what just happened during dinner. "I came here to apologize to my daughter, but now that she's asleep, I don't want to disturb her." She went over and sat by her side, fixed Rias' hair and then gently caressed her cheeks before planting a tender kiss on her forehead.

There was a moment of silence, Venelana truly loved her child, there was no doubt about that in my mind.

"The Underworld is a ruthless place, we may have changed from the Devils of the past in the eyes of many — but few know how this is nothing but a farce. I wanted Rias to marry Riser because of how powerful their family was. As the heir of the Gremory, she will face many challenges, dangers beyond her imagination and a den of snakes amongst the Devils. Rias is pure, naive and trusting, she would have been torn piece by piece by herself."

"So you forced an arranged marriage, because you wanted for the Phenex to be one of the supporting pillars by her side." I said, lowering Ophis on the ground and gave her one of Rias' many limited-edition figures to play with.

"Yes, and Zeoticus was great friends with the head. So you could say that we also had a close bond between our families. Just like with the Sitris."

"Did you not consider Riser's character? I know he is better now but his past self left much to be desired for." Now all he did was flaunt his handsomeness to the girls at school, acting like an overprotective brother and basically trying to act normal.

"I did, but you must understand, us Devils have a different perspective compared to you humans. Riser's desire to have Rias as part of his harem was natural and understandable. And we figured he would have gotten softer with time. You should know that Zeoticus used to be exactly like him in the past and we turned out perfectly fine."

I was having a hard time imagining Rias' father acting the same way as Riser. He looked very humble in a sense of not caring about my nature as a human. He laughed and even offered me an entire castle for crying out loud! Still, I could see her point to some degree.

"But every case is different, Vena." Shuri spoke, using a nickname I hadn't heard before. "As parents it is our duty to keep our children safe and happy. You went for the former whilst skipping the latter part. I understand your fear, and wanting your children to have a secure future but sometimes, it is best to trust our children. Look at them now, they got themselves the perfect gentleman~!"

That made me blush, and a bit awkward hearing that, "I wouldn't call myself perfect by any means, those two just have bad taste in choosing someone like me…"

"Fufufufu, he's quite weak against compliments, Shuri."

"Ever since he was a small child. Even back then, he was quite the pessimistic cutie~!"

We continued to talk, exchanging random moments of the past with Venelana talking about Rias and Sirzechs. I mostly knew most of what she mentioned about her daughter, after all, Akeno always kept me informed about every embarrassing thing that happened to her King. Though it was interesting to hear about Sirzechs, yet his part wasn't as joyful or peaceful as Rias. Having grown up in the middle of the Great War in full swing and forced to take a leading role in it at a very young age didn't make Sirzechs have any fond childhood memories for his mother to talk about.

It was a miracle how both he, Serafall and the other Maous didn't become like Kokabiel.

A while later, it became clear that the conversation began to wrap up. Rias already began drooling on her pillow and regained a healthy glow to her face.

"Before we leave. I initially came here to apologize to Rias after taking Shuri's advice — but it seems I can't do that tonight. Though I believe she would have loved to hear how I was planning to apologize exactly." Seeing my confused face, a mischievous grin came over her face.

"Uh… guess you want me to ask what it is?"

"Indeed!" She clapped her hand. "Hikigaya Hachiman-kun, tomorrow we will all be going to a local beach created in the Underworld. Since our family sponsored it in the first place, we get to reserve a whole day just for us."

That… actually sounded quite nice. I did need a day to relax and just do nothing.

"I'll be sure to tell her." I thanked them, before they left the room.

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"A beach?" Ophis asked, sounding unfamiliar with what was happening. Having gotten bored after she had broken the figurine, and just tried to tune out most of the conversation, until she heard that unfamiliar word.

"You've never been in one? Actually, do you even know what it is?"

She shook her head, which I should have known given she was an entity who lived inside the Dimensional Gap for thousands of years without bothering with the livelihood of humans only until recently where she was kinda forced to.

"It's basically a place people go to near a large body of water and sand to have fun. They play around, go for a swim, have picnics and so on."

"Sounds noisy." She frowned, already not liking the idea of it. Given her past life, would it be fair to call her a hikikomori? Technically, she is the ultimate loner who used to power an entire exorcist organization just because she wanted to return to her home and be alone.

Would be nice to show her a different side of the world, all the different activities she could do and have fun while at it. I empathize with her desire to return to her home and return to a silent life, but there was no harm in showing Ophis how she could enjoy other things aside from silence.

"I promise you that I'll have a great experience. Besides, beaches can be the perfect place to have a nice nap without any noise aside from the sound of waves and without having anyone disturb you… most of the time. Though given the entire area will be reserved for us then no stranger will disturb my sleep." That part intrigued her, I could see why, it was most likely very enticing for her.

"Will you use Absolute Delete Field?"

My eyes twitched at her one track mind, "I'm not an infinite well of power, I can barely use that spell for a minute let alone during an entire nap."

Ophis extended her hand, the hairs on my arm stood as hundreds of snakes emerged from her sleeves and looked at me. Sheesh, I didn't exactly have ophidiophobia but the sigh of so many of these creatures wasn't something I wished to witness regularly.

"I can help you with that."

This time, I went further and flicked her head which recoiled a bit.

"This is a moment for me to relax and not do anything. I'm not going to keep a spell constantly active as that requires a lot of focus and concentration and I'm trying to NOT do that." Her pointed ears slumped slightly. "But I promise you that there won't even be any need to use such a spell to begin with. Just trust me, you'll like the atmosphere."

"... Fine." She agreed, calling back all of her snakes which merged back with her shadow.

"Alright, I'll think how to introduce you to the others later. Keep your powers hidden for now, or until I get to talk to Sirzechs or something, okay?" Ophis nodded. "Good, I'm going to bed for now."

As I got up from the bed, a certain redhead moved. She must have heard my voice or was just naturally being grabby and due to that — accidentally latched onto Ophis without realizing it.

"Mmm… Hachi-kun…" Yeah, she truly believed that it was me and didn't know that she actually held onto a Dragon God, as she nuzzled her cheek.

"..." Ophis for the most part stayed emotionless, continuing to stare at me. I shrugged, Rias brought this upon herself but if I let this stand, she'd most likely wake everyone up in fright with a loud scream. "I have been taken as a hostage."

"Don't say it with that deadpan voice of yours, you'll be fine. Just go to sleep here, Rias is notorious for her constant need to hold onto something in her sleep. It's going to take more effort to free you here than it was to battle Kokabiel." To make it easier for her, I casted a small field of Absolute Silence around them. It was like a switch, Ophis' eyes started to slowly close before she fully fell asleep.

Cute.

After that, I closed the door to her room and returned to mine. As I arrived there, I came to see both Xenovia and Irina present on the former's bed in their pajamas, surrounded by books on kanji and Japanese learning.

"Looks like we have an extra guest today."

"Ah, sorry for the intrusion! We are just getting some homework done and practicing Xenovia's Japanese writing." Irina said, closing a 'Japanese for Dummies' book.

"Urgh… Kanji is going to be the death of me." Xenovia whispered as I could see literal smoke coming from her head as she read one of the books. "I envy you devils and your magical tongues."

Please learn to phrase it better Xenovia!

"Hey! I'm Japanese already, so of course I would have an easier time with this. I just get to speak any other languages fluently, but I still have to learn how to read and write them!" Not catching the accidental innuendo.

"I stand by what I said." Glad to see someone else shared my envy for the Devil's cheat-like ability when it came to language. She would learn how unfair the world was and we would wallow in the future together!

Thankfully they didn't take my bed, "Whatever, just don't make too much noise. I'll need to wake up early tomorrow and make sure Rias doesn't wake up everyone else." Ignoring their confused stares, I hopped on my bed and closed my eyes for my long awaited sleep.

{Break}

-???-

"Oi, wake up! This is not the time to be sleeping!"

If felt like he was in a foggy world, swimming deep in viscous water. Everything seemed off, an alien sense that he could not relate with. Who called him? He did not recognise the voice, but it was a girl, a young one at that.

"Y-yikes..." That voice groaned softly.

He looked up, finding a human girl of average height. She had medium-length black hair and, just like someone he knew, had a strand of hair standing straight from her head

As if attempting to stifle that voice, an electric fan hummed and shook its head from side to side. The girl was slowly shaking her head from side to side at the exact same speed.

"Onii-chan, this won't do. This won't do at all..." Gingerly, she put the yellowed writing paper down on the table. "I knew you were one of those types, onii-chan, but this report just won't do... it won't doooo."

Onii-chan? He… he… who was she? He certainly wasn't her brother, there must have been some sort of confusion here.

"Shuddup, you're the one who wanted to copy my report. Don't like it, don't look at it." A very familiar voice spoke, he was shocked and tried to look behind — only to find himself unable to move. Yet the hand he saw in front of him snatched the paper away from the girl's hand.

"Aah, you look so embarrassed! Don't worry, I still love you, Onii-chan!"

Again with that name, he tried to speak but once again found himself incapable. It was almost as if he could only spectate through the body of another… but he could also feel the sourness coming from within this body. Clear that it wasn't happy in the least with her response.

"Okay, okay, I said sorry. I'll just use the parts I can use, so let me see it~" she sang. "Well, it barely looks like I can use it, though," the girl added rather unnecessarily as she took the report from his hand once again and started copying down some notes.

'Damn you summer vacation homeworks.'

He could hear his thoughts as a usual, yet the tone and just the general attitude felt wholly different, as if it was another person entirely. Less jaded, less tired, "Woah, having to spend my summer vacations like this, I couldn't ask for anything better." Yet still holding that same level of sarcasm.

This couldn't be possible where was this? Who were these two? This couldn't be the same person…

'The middle school I had attended — and which Komachi was attending right now — did not give much homework: a worksheet for English and math, the supplementary kanji workbook for Japanese and an independent research project, plus an essay or a book report.'

Komachi… wasn't that…

He peered at Komachi, whose hand had stopped moving as she groaned quietly, this body chugged down a can of coffee. He heard the boy's thoughts, confused at its similarity yet difference it had over the reality he grew familiar with.

The body's eyes fell on one of the sentences inside. "Hey, it doesn't have to be a book report, so why not do a normal essay?"

"Huuuh?" Komachi looked up and then stood up from her chair halfway, peering at what was in his hand.

"Check this out. It says book report and also 'an essay about tax'."

The more they interacted, the more he understood that these two were indeed real siblings. There was a bond between these two he never seen the boy share with anyone, aside a handful coming very close to it.

"Ahaaaa," Komachi laughed nervously. "I don't know a thing about taxes…"

"Hold that thought. I remember writing about it in middle school," he said, fishing around the cardboard box on the table.

A box of memories, many of which were foreign. It contained all my old essays, albums and research projects.

"Is this it?"

"Show me, show me!" Komachi sprang at him with a jump, coiling herself around his arm. And just like that, she prised the writing paper from the boy.

Seeing them laugh, bicker and treat each other so closely, he sensed a wave of sadness erupt from the depth of his soul. As if something within him knew that this scene would never happen again.

The boy went to the bathroom shortly after and gazed at the mirror. That was were he witnessed the same face, those same dead fish eyes and haircut. His body was a bit thinner than her and frail. Yet there was no doubt about his identity.

"Partner…"

Vritra was wondering just what was this scene he was seeing. A secret his host hid from him? No, maybe a story he wanted to forget most likely…

The dragon patiently watched everything after, a life that bore no resemblance to the one in Kuoh. A town that he was not aware of, a school and friends he had never seen. A cold girl whose presence reminded him of the Sitri, another jubilant and full of life and a boy whose feminine demeanor seemed to rattle Hachiman more than he expected.

More and more scenes burst forth, minutes turned into hours, then to days, months and even a year. It finally clicked in his mind, the general state of this world, these people, the lack of any supernatural and so much more.

"Partner, you're not of this world…" Vritra spoke, an echo spreading around him as their souls resonated with his words. "And somewhere within you, in the deepest corner, you still search to return."

To a certain extent, he never truly understood his host. The boy held a level of maturity and understanding of the human mind that exceeded someone his age. Even with how close they had gotten, Vritra always felt that there was a thin film between him and Hachiman that stopped him from truly understanding his host.

But now, this was no longer the case.

He remembered the darkness whilst in his maddened state, how Indra cut him down into five pieces which were then turned into Sacred Gears. Forced to live centuries trapped in a dark hole with no means of communication or escape, forever miserable in his fate. But then the boy came, woke him up from his slumber, desired companionship more than power and in return Vritra gave everything. Yet even after all that, the dragon was not satisfied, he believed that he hadn't done enough.

But after seeing this, everything became clear to him.

For he gained a personal goal in his heart. One that no longer involved getting revenge against the gods.

"I promise upon my name, Vritra of the Asuras, former Dragon King and Evil Dragon. I swear upon them and my honor to pave a road back to your world, and I shall stop at nothing to achieve this goal, Hachiman."

He needed to grow stronger.

Far… far more powerful.

The world grew dark, the three enormous red eyes kept staring at the void around them before vanishing.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.