Well, that was a good sleep while it lasted.
"Nyahhh~! Darling~! You're back~!" Kuroka clung onto me like I had gone missing for over a year, only to turn up out of nowhere abruptly. She nuzzled up against my chest, her face grinding against me hard enough to sharpen a blade's edge, as a low purr radiated from the back of her throat.
For once, I could tell it wasn't the sexy seducing kind of purr, but that genuinely happy and warm cat purr.
A warmth that's not my sun flowed from my chest, and a smile stretched across my face as I wrapped an arm around her back.
I slid right into bed after doing a little trolling with my text last night, and as soon as I did so?
Kuroka, who was curled up almost in a ball, straightened out and clung to me.
All in her sleep.
Yeah, I saw this all coming, albeit not quite to this level.
She really missed me, huh?
Well, "I missed you too, kitten~." I utter down to her, whilst patting her on the back.
"Nyah~!" She perks up before her nuzzling goes even harder.
Obviously, before I head out again, I'm going to check up on Rose, too.
She probably won't have such an animated reaction, but I'm sure it'll be no less cute.
Then, before I head to Kuoh, I'll check up on all the girls. You know, just make sure they're all okay and all that.
When I get there, I'll have a quick check-up with the Cult Sword girls before making my way to the Old School Building.
Ah, I love it when plans are simple and easy to make.
Now, the plan for getting Kuroka to let go of me…
I look down at her, and at almost the same time, she looks up at me, and our eyes meet.
Her pupils dilate, her eyes sparkling, before she lunges straight up, her lips crashing into mine and taking me completely and utterly off guard.
Ah.
Well, sorry, Rias. I might be a bit!
~ A New Sun ~
I stagger out of my room, not out of breath or anything, but more so out of sheer and utter shock.
On my bed, a now very naked Kuroka has curled up in the middle of the bed.
The bed itself, which looks like it just went through a Great War all its own. The blanket? Halfway across the room. Half the pillows? On the floor, while Kuroka is cuddling the others. The sheets? One end is pulled up off the mattress, and I feel the need to go in a fix it.
But I can't, because if I approach, I know I won't be leaving the house today.
But is that really a bad thing? The traitorous part of my brain echoes.
Yes. Yes, it would be.
So I close the door gently behind me, tug and smooth out my robe, and take a breath.
Now, to Rose. Right!
I'm very thankful my room has a bathroom connected to it right now.
I make a quick walk down to the living room, where, not at all shocked, I find Rose already there.
What I am shocked by is the fact that she's wearing a kitchen apron, though unfortunately, she's got other clothes on under it, and seems to be knee deep in a cookbook.
Fortunately, as she's so immersed in said book…
That she doesn't even notice when I sneak right up behind her.
I hear her grumble something under her breath about precise salt measurements, and that's the last thing I hear, before my arms suddenly wrap around her waist and pull her right up against me.
"Hey, how ya doin'?" I whisper swiftly right into her ear.
Her reaction is just as swift.
"E-EHHH!?" She jumps, at first trying to scramble away.
Only, as her hands wildly waved, several dozen magic circles of different colors appeared around us, spinning up like machine guns.
You could almost hear the whirling of such too.
With a shuckle, I let my divine power surge, smashing the spell apart before they can total the entire building in a flurry of elements.
That one act, or perhaps it was the chuckle, caused her to still.
She blinked before turning her head as much as she could, her lip quivering, "N-N-Nori?"
I smirk back at her, "The one and only, Rose."
She let out a shuddering breath, "Ah, you, uh," she looks around the kitchen, specifically, the not fully formed meal in front of her, "this, is was going too, um…"
I shake my head, "You practicing to surprise me or something?" I answer for her.
Her jaw shut, and she nodded rapidly.
With a smile, I leaned down, whilst gently putting a finger under her chin and lifting her head, giving her a chaste kiss.
"M~Mmm~!" She squeaked, yet even so, her body relaxed against me.
"I look forward to it~!" I wink down at her, my smile never leaving.
Rose looked back up to me, right in the eye, and let out a light breath, as she slowly found her voice again, "...good, t-then! Um…"
Her eyes shifted a bit, back and forth, as if trying to decide on something.
It didn't take long.
She arched her back, pushing her body and specifically her ass, straight up against me.
Her hand came up, caressing my cheek, as she spoke once again, her eyes steadily beginning to gloss over, "T-Then! Welcome home, d-darling~..."
Without another word, without me having to move, she smashed her lips against mine.
Ah.
I believe a pattern is starting to emerge.
~ A New Sun ~
Twice.
Twice in one day, I was caught completely off guard like that.
And everyone knows how the old saying goes.
We had to clean up the kitchen thoroughly afterward. That, and Rose staggered back upstairs wearing only an apron.
Before I headed out, I ended up ordering food for everyone.
I feed Rose myself, mostly to make up for the fact that she was going to have to penguin waddle around the rest of the day.
Kuroka though? I had to leave the food by the bed, or else that damn cat would have tried to jump me.
Seriously, the way she was looking at me…
Yikes.
Needless to say, as I had thought, a pattern was indeed forming.
My pitstops across Kyoto were frequently halted by…well.
"Oh, Lord~, your humble servant has missed worshiping you, personally~..."
Suzaku.
"It's been a bit too long, hasn't it, my Lord~? You know, you've missed quite a bit~..."
"W-Wha~!? Why are you looking at me!? I haven't been a brat! N-Not at all~..."
"She's lying by the way."
"E-Eehhh!?"
Yasaka and Kunou.
Thankfully, I have pattern recognition skills sometimes, and this time, they seemed to work.
I was very prepared.
Was.
It is now the afternoon, and I'm just now getting to Kuoh via teleportation.
I let out a huff as I straighten my robes out for hopefully the final time in one day.
I can't even be annoyed. I've got a whole group of very willing girls to jump into bed with me; hell, they really want to, not just willing.
So yeah, I'm huffing at myself for not even considering that they'd all want a piece of me after not seeing me for a while.
Honestly, I'm somewhat considering trying to get all my girls to live with me. It would just make everything far nicer and easier.
The problem is, though, in Suzaku and Yaska's case, they both have big responsibilities and duties to attend to, so that while they might be able to move shop, the place they are now is far more fitting for said job.
Kunou should be fine, though.
…Not sure how well putting Kunou and Kuroka in the same house will do, but I think my curiosity may get the better of me there.
Shirone is also another one who is going to be a problem, due to being a part of Rias' Peerage and all.
With a sigh and a shake of my head, I allow those thoughts to pass by.
I can focus on that later.
For now?
I look up at the Junior Division building of Kuoh Academy.
Now, where the hell is my clone?
It was mostly an afterthought, but I did leave a clone behind to watch the Cult Sword girls. So, where did he haul up?
Thankfully, it only took a moment of spreading my senses out to find him.
The clubhouse building, the dojo. Of course.
Well, slightly beneath the dojo, for some reason?
Ah, well, in another flash of light, I was there.
I took a glance over and nodded in approval, seeing the dojo still as well-maintained as before.
With a little pull, the doors slid open, and I almost immediately stopped.
Slowly, my head tilted up, toward the roof.
The roof looked a bit different. As though a hole had been blown through the center of it, and was patched up remarkably well, but you could still pretty easily tell there was a hole there.
The slightly off coloring of the new wood, the freshly polished sheen of it, oh yeah, it's really easy to see.
Still, the fix-up was done fairly well, and I don't see a spot of dirt on the floor. So! Points for well-done repairs and cleanup, at least.
I'm spanking whoever thought blowing a hole through the roof was a good idea, though.
The doors to the basement burst open.
Leaning there, hanging on by either side of the door, was my clone.
He stared at me, eyes wide, haggard, and damn near bloodshot. His robe was far more roughed up, his hair tousled, and not in the fun way.
I deadpanned at my clone's obvious antics, but didn't even get the chance to open my mouth before he blurted out-
"OH THANK ME."
And popped, right then and there. The purest look of bliss across his face.
I blinked.
Oh. Oh.
Okay, what the fuck!?
As soon as I left, a whole bunch of shit immediately started happening with them.
Mostly related to Avi, that shrimp.
I…ugh, I would go on a tirade about this right now, but to be honest, I'm just really not feeling it at the moment.
I rub the bridge between my eyes and sigh, before turning and promptly walking out of the dojo.
So, to simplify?
Avi has a new butler. There was a whole bunch of shenanigans with him, or rather, everyone thought it was a he, but really it was a she. Avi's family was testing her because they wanted her to be the new heiress of the clan, since her brothers went missing during the 'war' with the Fallen.
But it's alright, everything turned out okay in the end. A whole bunch of family drama was resolved, Zekka may or may not have accidentally assaulted and rizzed up that butler girl, Avi got her brothers back, so on and so forth.
She, Zekka, and the butler girl also survived getting attacked by members of this other Hero Faction. Two. One of them, Michelangelo, who possesses the fucking Tower of Babel as a Sacred Gear.
So yeah. When I'm done with Rias and Co., I'm definitely going to need to revisit this.
For just this once, I enable myself a walk to my next and hopefully final destination of the day, the Old School Building.
Mostly so I can clear my head a bit before I get swept up in whatever's to come of this.
But also, to curse myself.
That clone was the weakest one I could make. He wasn't there to fight anything; he was there to simply observe and advise when need be.
It's why he looked like that by this point. He couldn't do anything, and it was eating him alive from the inside out.
Although the girls never saw that.
I let out a sigh.
Note to self? Make sure to grab a maid outfit before heading back.
Why? That sassy ass fucking butler was being the classiest prick I had ever seen, and practically danced around calling my clone weak the whole time.
It was a little up in the air whether or not she's joining Cult Sword, or another club, but I don't care.
Also, she and Zekka put the hole in the ceiling.
Someone's getting their ass beat.
As I was planning, before I even knew it, I was standing in front of the Old School Building.
I couldn't help but blink. Time really does fly when you're planning like a petty bitch, huh?
In any event, I continue to make sure my presence is suppressed and leave all previous thoughts at the door before walking right in.
~ A New Sun ~
Why isn't he picking up his phone!?
For the umpteenth time today, Rias sat in her chair, her hands and face glued to her phone as she rapidly pressed on the device, staring a it intently.
She's lost just how many times she's texted and called him today by this point.
When she got up for school this morning and saw the fact that Noriaki had replied to her, she was absolutely ecstatic.
Sure, it was just a thumbs up, but that means he's back!
Or at least has cell service. Either would work for her!
But ever since then, there's been dead silence from him. Not a single call or text back since. Not a single reply. Hell, he hasn't even seen her messages!
She would ask Shirone what's going on, but if she hasn't said anything yet herself, she also probably doesn't know…and besides?
Rias looks up from her desk, finding said white cat croached next to a cardboard box in the corner of the room, her head tilted.
Rias sighs. Yeah, she's busy right now. To be fair, they all are right now.
Akeno, her Queen, is standing at her side, smiling as usual, even as she goes through her own device, with a stack of papers in front of her.
To be fair, Rias has her own devil's work to do; it's just that this is kind of more important.
Notably, her Knight isn't around.
Still.
She knows where he is, it's just, he's not really allowed out right now.
She's tried everything at this point. Everything that makes sense, anyway. But nothing was working with Yuuto, or Gasper, for that matter, and she really doesn't have a whole lot of time left.
Rias' gaze is drawn to movement in the corner of the room, once again.
This time, the box slowly opens, with Gasper, her little dhamphir bishop, poking the top of his head out, looking terrified, even as he only sees Shirone.
Her white cat mutters something to the dhamphir, which seems to make him shrink back a little.
Honestly, it's a wonder she's still trying to help, especially after the game.
That just makes her heart break a little more every time she watches this play out.
Shirone tries to coax Gasper out of the box.
She barely opens it before something scares him.
They blink, and the box vanishes and appears in another corner of the room.
The question really becomes, what's going to do it this time-
The door bursts open.
"Whats upppppp~!"
Her mind barely registers the fact that Noriaki, in casual robe and all, is suddenly just here, before she hears the familiar-
"FUEEEEEEEE!"
…screech, of her Bishop.
A half a blink later, the world flipped white, and then he should be-
"Eeeeeh!? Wait! W-Wait! How-Who-Noooo!"
…not, in the middle of the clubroom, being held up by the back of his shirt by Noriaki.
It took Rias a moment, but then she remembered.
Noriaki is technically kind of a god? Half god? Something like that. Of course, he can't be affected by Gasper's Sacred Gear.
"Bad Dio. Bad." Noriaki chastised him lightly, even swatting the top of his head like one would a cat.
"N-Neh!? Neh!? Stop! Stop it! Who are you!? President!? Shiroonnneee! Heeellpppp!" Gasper cried as he flailed about, his eyes constantly flickering, like they were trying to activate.
But at the same time, Noriaki's eyes also glowed, and Rias felt a prick of divine power lace through the air.
"Ufufufu~, calling out for the others, but not for me, Gasper?" Her Queen sighed overdramatically, "You wound me~..."
"Fuueeeeeee!"
This, of course, only caused him to screech again and do everything in his power to try and get further away from her.
Unfortunately, that amounted to flailing around more.
"Akeno." Rias finally spoke up, chastisingly, to which her Queen only gave a cheeky smile back in return.
Shirone finally came walking up, huffing, "Pervert Senpai." She addressed Noriaki.
"Hmm?" He hummed, before glancing her way, "Ya, kitten?"
She deadpanned at him, but Rias caught the way her cheeks flushed just a bit.
So, cute~!
"Can you put my good-for-nothing vampire classmate down?" She continued to ask.
That caused Gasper to freeze up; only his head slowly looked toward her Rook.
"W-Wha!? Shirone is such a m-meanie…!" He whimpered.
With almost the same slowness, Noriaki looked down at Gasper, his face twisted into equal parts amusement, but also sheer and utter contempt.
"...Dude." He starts, "If you keep screaming like that, I'm going to have to side with her."
"U-Uwah!?" Gasper flinched, barely managing to look at him straight, "You too! You're also mean! And you have a really scary face! And your eyes look like a pair of suns! I don't like the sun! It scares me!"
Despite saying all that, Noriaki didn't look the slightest bit moved; instead, he merely tilted his head.
"I mean, I am literally the son of the sun goddess." He smiles, "You're a vampire, right? A daywalker? Want me to show you why you should fear the sun so bad?"
"EEEEEEEEKKKK!" Gasper wailed, his eyes rapidly flickering in extreme desperation and panic, "Somebody! Anybody! Heeelpppp meeeeeeee!"
Shirone's ears twitched, and she scowled.
"Loud." That was all she had to say to all of that, causing Gasper to break down even further from words, into sobs and tears, with the occasional sputtered 'sorry' here and there.
Noriaki smirked at Shirone, "Now now, kitty, that's not nice at all."
She grumbled, before sniffing, and finally huffing, "Neither was going on a perverted degenerate sex marathon before coming here." She accused, causing Noriaki to freeze.
…Seriously? That's what he's been doing!?
"And not inviting me," Shirone adds on after a beat, and far quieter than before.
Now, it was Rias's turn to deadpan.
Noriaki just snorted, Gasper looked completely lost, and Akeno…
"Ufufufu~, well, Shirone, if you're so interested, there's always time right now…" she giggles, a hand coming up in front of her mouth as she smirks, "I can help~!"
"No." Noriaki immediately shut her down without even a shred of doubt.
Akeno huffed, Shirone looked smug, and Rias was now slowly starting to regret every single decision she's made this past month.
At least Yuuto wasn't here to top it all off.