Chapter 26: The Council of Fools and a Fool
Friday, April 20th
"Whatever I'm being accused of, I didn't do it. Those two perverts are lying—" The irreverent and tattooed blond cut himself off, pointing in their direction. "Hey, who's that behind you?"
Normally, Sona Sitri would never fall for such a blatant misdirection, and neither would her Vice President Shinra Tsubaki. She could excuse how she was caught off guard by the boy's behaviour and mannerisms, explain away her moment of gullibility as her having grown used to the respect others afforded her position, or blame the myriad other items of business she had on her mind for distracting her.
"Huh? What are you-?" Tsubaki began in confusion.
All of the above could even be true, but the fact remains that Sona turned alongside her [Queen] to glance into the hallway behind them reflexively, taking the bait the teen had practically waved in their faces.
Really, the fact that there wasn't anyone there wasn't surprising at all. What was surprising, was turning back to the classroom less than a second later, just to also see the blonde had disappeared. Where he had gone was just as blatantly obvious as the trick question, what with the remaining students in the classroom staring at the open window, with looks ranging from open-mouthed disbelief to hands stifling giggles. Koneko wasn't even hiding the tiny smirk of amusement she was sending Sona's way.
A moment passed in silence, Sona's eyes meeting Koneko's. The young girl was sitting on a desk, next to which was a school bag that the Sitri knew for a fact didn't belong to the Nekoshou. Two other girls were standing nearby, seemingly having been talking with the girl before Sona's entrance interrupted them, but it didn't seem likely to belong to one of them either.
"Tsubaki."
"Yes, Kaichou."
"Please return to the council room, and inform the others that they no longer need to seek out Uzumaki-san. He will come to us," she said.
"Understood, please excuse me." Her vice president bowed slightly and turned, swiftly leaving the room. Sona meanwhile began to make her way towards the white-haired girl with purpose.
Seeing as the entertainment was over, the rest of the students went back to doing their own things, though the more gossip-minded ones kept an ear on Sona's continued business in the classroom.
"Am I right to assume that is Uzumaki-san's bag?" She asked Koneko while gesturing at her feet, getting straight to the point. She was well aware of the girl's preference for bluntness.
"Mm," Koneko nodded. "Why?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"I would like for the student council to be the ones responsible for getting it back to him, if you don't mind us taking possession of it," Sona supplied in answer. "Uzumaki-san has shown that he's willing to learn, but his lack of a more formal education has caused him to disregard certain important cultural and social barriers, which may impact his future," she explained. "In other words-" she gestured at the window, "-it is clear that he is not fully adapted to the life of a student, and the Student Council intends to assist and work with him on fixing that. Having him approach us to retrieve his bag would help facilitate that."
The tall-for-her-age redhead snorted, and Koneko hummed noncommittally, which Sona knew to mean she didn't buy that as the full story.
Which was true. Everything she said was correct, but she was also interested in getting a read on the boy personally, and potentially offering him a place in her peerage given the attention Rias and present company had given him.
While Sona's intentions were likely obvious to the [Rook, she did not particularly react much at all.
"Okay," Koneko finally said with a nod.
"Thank you." Sona gave a serious nod in thanks, picked the bag up, and turned to leave. "I'll be taking my leave."
As she began heading out of the room, her hearing picked up on the start of a conversation back in the room she was just in.
"... I'm kinda surprised you just let her take it," an unknown girl's voice spoke with a bored, almost husky tone. "Won't he get annoyed at you for selling him out like that?"
"Mm. That's the fun part." Koneko's voice replied, likely aware that Sona was still close enough to hear them with their shared Devil biology. "Since he's an idiot, he'll frustrate her and she'll frustrate him, and it'll be funny for me. Win-win." That settled it, the [Rook] definitely knew Sona could hear them.
The other girl barked out a laugh and said something else, but Sona had just left the range of hearing and didn't catch it.
Either way, she was suddenly much less sure of her chosen course of action.
'I can already feel the headache coming,' she thought dryly.
Monday, April 23rd
Arriving early for school was hardly anything unusual for Sona, who liked to spend a few extra minutes before morning classes going over her duties for the day in the student council room. Usually, she would be joined by any number of her peerage members just by odds of them also having something they needed to do in the space that was effectively their base of operations, whether that be something mundane such as finishing homework, or less-so, such as submitting the paperwork for their finished contracts.
Today, under her instructions, only her second in command was with her. Tsubaki stood patiently on standby to the side of Sona's office chair, one of the only sounds in the room being the scratching of Sona's pen on paper as they waited for the unruly blond to finally make his appearance. The clock continued ticking, slowly counting down the seconds until the start of home room was due to begin.
There was still plenty of time for the boy to retrieve his bag and everyone involved to make it to classes, but the longer it took for him to appear, the less time Sona would have to fulfill her true objectives to any meaningful degree.
'Well, that's not entirely true,' She thought to herself dryly with minor irritation. Since one of her goals was to get a read on his character, even something as simple as his time management was helpful information. Whether he was the type to be right on time or fashionably late, either option said something about him. He certainly wasn't keen on being early, that much was already proven. While there wasn't an actual agreed upon time for his arrival… Kuoh Academy students, generally speaking, did not make the Student Council wait.
It was a matter of politeness and respect for their time, the responsibilities being almost closer to that of part-time jobs under her leadership, rather than a mostly symbolic position.
While Sona personally wasn't surprised the boy seemed to be one of those few that disregarded the unspoken rule given his window stunt the other week, she had hoped that his sense of shame would rein him in. With the embarrassment of having left his school supplies behind last Friday in his bid to escape, it was possible the awkwardness of having to meet with her anyway to retrieve his property would subdue his more boisterous urges.
A quick set of light knocks on the door pulled her out of her wishful thinking. "Co-"
The door opened before she could say 'come in', and the tattooed blond strolled into the room casually with a bored look and a hand stuffed in his pocket.
"Yo." He drawled. "Koneko-chan said you guys got my stuff, yeah?"
Sona felt a twitch coming.
"Uzumaki-san, we would like to discuss some-"
"Aahhh, look, do you guys have it, or nah?" He cut her off with a yawn. "I gotta get to class, don't want to be late, ya'know?"
Her eyebrow twitched. Aggressively so.
'This boy is going to be trouble,' She thought with a grimace. 'There's no mistaking it.'
The next day
Naruto was just walking down the hallway, minding his own business, when a pair of upperclassmen decided to approach him and make a scene, completely through no fault of his own. The girl of the duo was a bit more on the petite side of things compared to most female students, with straight brown hair pulled tightly into long pigtails and an energetic expression on her face as she practically bounced down the halls. In comparison, the blond boy of the two strode in Naruto's direction full of purpose, with exaggerated authority almost dripping off of his smug swagger.
The boy called out, drawing the eyes of others in the hall.
"You there! Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto slowed, stopping the twirl of his cane to plant its end on the floor and lean on it.
"Yeah, that's me. Who's asking?" He responded curiously as the two came up to him.
"I'm Saji Genshiro of the Student Council, and my partner here is Nimura Ruruko, of the same group," He began, the girl bowing lightly as he introduced her.
When she rose, she spoke up with an apologetic smile. "We couldn't help but notice you swinging around that cane of yours, and came to talk to you about it."
The boy cut back in, looking down at Naruto in an attempt to intimidate him. "You need to cut it out, or we'll have to confiscate it for putting other students at risk of harm," he warned.
"Ahhh, man, looks like the fun police have arrived," Naruto rolled his eyes with a groan. "Who are we even kidding here? There's not a chance in hell anyone was gonna get hurt, and nobody at all so far has come up and asked me to stop until you guys got here." He squinted at the two. "That hardass Shitori chick put you two up to this, didn't she?"
There were a couple muffled gasps.
Naruto argued against the council members, oblivious to the deliberate distance the rest of the students in the halls kept from the confrontation, all while they watched the encounter between the student council and the "Delinquent Prince".
"Why you little…" A vein popped on Genshirou's forehead, while the brown haired girl shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Does a brat like you even have permission to bring that onto school grounds?! I've read your file! You never checked in for an injury with the school nurse or any teachers, and you don't have any pre-existing condition either!" He exclaimed in annoyance. "We were trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and handle things quietly, but you had to go and give us lip. So, what's your excuse, hah? Hah?!"
"Eehhhh!?" Naruto grasped his chest and feigned shocked outrage. "I had an accident just last Friday and fell out of a second-floor window in front of half my class! You can even ask your president to confirm it, she was there to witness it herself!"
More gasps rang out.
Naruto scoffed dramatically, putting on a show for the onlookers. "Is this how the Student Council treats injured students, just trying to mind our own business walking down the hall? How inconsiderate."
Without waiting for a response, Naruto hefted his cane up again and stalked right past the two stunned council members, leaving them stun-locked in the hallways amid a sea of disappointed and disgusted looks as students parted ways for the whiskered teen.
"Wha- why the hell are you all looking at us like we're at fault!?" Genshiro spun around, yelling angrily at the gossiping students and getting flinches in return. "He's literally fine! Look, you can see him running away right now!" He roared, pointing in the direction the boy left.
The crowd's heads turned as one, and sure enough the short first-year was pumping his arms rapidly in a mad sprint as he fled the scene, vaulting over the stairwell's guard rail to drop straight to the next floor down.
"Eeeehhhhhhh!?"
As the crowd cried out in disbelief at the ruse, Ruruko tried to calm down her fellow peerage member-slash- budding crush, all while wondering just how her [King] would react when they inevitably reported the encounter.
Somehow, she got the feeling the answer would be "not well".
Chapter 27: Accretion 2
Koneko
(Kuoh Academy gymnasium)
When we had all gathered back in the ORC clubroom after the tennis match got way out of hand, Buchou had informed everyone that they were changing the contest into a game of peerage-versus-peerage dodgeball, this time without any spectators. I had no issue with this, since Uzumaki-kun had finally caught on to the fact that I was farming his and Sona's interactions for amusement. It was for the best (for me) that I avoided him for a bit to let him cool off.
Knowing him, it was a fifty-fifty chance that he would either hold onto a petty grudge and stew in it until the next time we trained, or he would get distracted with something else and forget it entirely.
Apparently Buchou and Sona had already discussed it as a backup option over the weekend, just on the off chance the weather shifted unexpectedly and rained on the planned tennis match. My [King] had taken a moment in the changing rooms to tell me what her plan was, and as simplistic as it was, it was kind of an obvious tactic if you knew about it. Despite that, it should guarantee our victory.
I narrowed my eyes at Kiba as I stepped out from the locker room and onto the polished wooden floor. He noticed my stare, and met it with an awkward close-eyed smile, nervously scratching his cheek with a finger.
'Good.' He knows what he did.
"Ah man, I'm getting kinda hyped!" Hyoudou shouted, pumping his fist excitedly as he left the boys changing room. "I haven't played dodgeball since middle school!"
"Is it that fun, Issei-kun?" Asia asked the boy curiously, a small smile on her face. "I-I haven't ever played it before…" she said shyly.
"Ehhh, maybe?" He replied with a shrug. "I usually got picked for the team last, and got taken out of the game pretty quick because I was slow…" he trailed off in a mutter. He shook his head, regaining his energy with a grin. "But this time things will be different! There's no way I'm gonna get eliminated and let Buchou down!"
Kiba smiled. "Well said, Issei-kun."
The brown haired boy looked like he swallowed something gross at the way Kiba addressed him, but otherwise didn't try to tell him off.
'Progress,' I thought. I gave Kiba a discreet thumbs up.
"Is everyone ready?" Buchou's voice called out to us, as she and Akeno walked over side by side.
Hyoudou looked over at the two, a lecherous grin appearing on his face at the sight of the two older girls in the standard gym bloomers. He slapped his own cheeks suddenly and broke out of his stupor, straightening his posture in an instant.
"Almost," he nodded in response, reaching a hand into his gym shorts pockets. "Now that everyone's here at the same time, I can give these out!" He pulled his hand back out, this time with a bunch of strips of white cloth held in his grip. "I almost thought they'd go to waste when I didn't get a chance before the tennis game, but now's the perfect time."
He began handing them out to everyone based on proximity, starting with Asia, then Kiba and I, then Buchou and Akeno. Turning over the strip in my hand, I saw the kanji for "Fight on!" stitched into the fabric with bright red thread in a blocky font.
"Ufufu~" Akeno did one of her annoying chuckles as she looked at hers. "How adorable."
"These are very well made Issei-kun," Rias complimented him with a smile. "Your effort is very much appreciated.
"I-it was no big deal," he deflected, turning his head away slightly in embarrassment. "I just wanted to do something to show my appreciation for all you guys, and all you've done for me so far…" He glanced at Buchou and me for a split second each, before his eyes landed on Kiba, and the somewhat vulnerable expression he'd been making shifted into one of grudging respect.
'Ugh.'
He may be an awful pervert of the highest order, but I had to reluctantly admit he wasn't all bad. Sometimes.
As I began tying the cloth around my forehead, I heard more footsteps coming from the changing rooms. Because of their extra duties and having more members, the Student Council took longer to arrive as a group.
"They're here," I announced to the others, who were also tying on their bands.
Hyoudou looked at me curiously.
"What makes you say that?"
Much to his surprise, the moment he finished asking, the female locker room opened and out came the girls of the Student Council led by Sona.
Off to the other side, the sole guy of their group stepped out of the male changing room to join them.
"Huh," Hyoudou muttered.
Sona walked towards our group as the rest of her peerage lined up behind her, and Buchou stepped forward to match her.
"I hope you understand, if you try to claim this match doesn't count because you're outnumbered, I'll never let you live it down after all your bragging," Sona informed Buchou matter-of-factly with a small smirk.
"Please, you're the one who keeps talking like you've already won." Rias waved off her friend's taunt with one of her own. "It's as if you've already forgotten that you didn't win the tennis match."
"It's obvious that when quality is the same, as was the case for that match, it's quantity that wins out." Sona rebutted with an adjustment of her glasses. "Oh well, don't say I didn't warn you."
Buchou simply smiled like she was hiding something.
Which she was.
There was no way we could possibly lose.
"How the hell did we manage to lose!"
…
… Is what Hyoudou would have said if we had lost, somehow.
Instead, it was Saji on the Student Council's team who had fallen to his hands and knees in disbelief. After all, they outnumbered us eight to six, and two of our members had only been Devils for less than two weeks combined. That wasn't even considering the fact that Asia was unathletic and uncoordinated even now that she was a Devil, having been sheltered all her life to the point she hadn't known what dodgeball was until Kiba had explained it to her..
The blond boy's head rose and he grit his teeth as he lifted a hand to point accusingly at me.
"That's so bullshit! How is that allowed?!"
I was holding a dodgeball by my side with my left hand. I was also holding one with my right.
And my right forearm.
And my left shin, my left shoulder, and my stomach.
Chakra sticking exercise for the win.
That last one had actually hurt a decent amount and would probably leave a bruise for a day or two, having been magically enhanced and thrown by Sona.
I was just glad Naruto-sensei wasn't around to take embarrassing pictures again, like the leaf incident.
"You seriously saved me, Koneko-chan!" Hyoudou sobbed on the floor like an idiot while in a bow so low it was practically a dogeza, his forehead touching the polished surface. "Without you, my precious Issei-junior may have lost the ability to produce issei-juniors!"
The secret strategy Buchou came up with to beat the Student Council? It was pretty much just "hide behind Koneko until Sona's team is mostly eliminated."
Annoyingly, every one of them are also Devils, so the moment I face-tanked the second shot on my shoulder after catching the first one in my hands, their entire team realized I had some way to catch the balls without use of my hands and began focusing on the others with magical trick shots. Because of that, I had to keep moving to be my team's wall, and I couldn't risk throwing any of the balls I caught in case they managed to catch them and get me out that way.
The ball that I caught with my stomach had been a homing shot meant for Hyoudou. I had taken my time intercepting it because it was funny watching him run around in a panic, but I stepped in right before it hit him where it would reallyhurt.
Sona's desperation to stay in the game as the last left on her team had led to her overpowering that throw to the underworld and back for a 'friendly' game of dodgeball.
"Even though it was our side that resorted to magic first," Tsubasa began with her arms crossed under her bust, "I can't help but feel a little cheated," she said wryly, aiming a dry smile my way. "No wonder Rias was so confident. Whatever it is you're doing, it's broken as hell in a game like this."
"Of course," Buchou agreed with a sly smile. "It's half the reason I agreed to dodgeball while outnumbered. With my Koneko-chan, there's no way we'd lose!"
Sona herself had an annoyed expression on her face.
"I should have expected something sneaky like this when you agreed so easily. At the time, I had assumed it was just another piece of bait meant to incite my pride," she sighed. "Oh well, a deal is a deal. I'll contact the Familiar Master, tonight's reservation is yours," she finished grudgingly.
"Pleasure doing business with you!" Rias chirped smugly, much to the irritation of Sona if the throbbing vein on her forehead was anything to go by.
Both of our peerages watched on flatly as a floating blue magic circle dumped gallons of water on top of the redhead, their childhood friendship and rivalry breaking through the Student Council president's sense of decorum in a moment of weakness. Only Hyoudou and Asia seemed in any way surprised, which made sense since they were new to the two [King]'s dynamic.
"Ahem," Sona cleared her throat, her mouth covered by a fist as she turned to her peerage. "Student Council members, we are done for the evening. We'll return to our regular contract schedule on Wednesday, so feel free to take the rest of today and tomorrow easy. Dismissed."
With that, the Sitri family circle spun into existence under her feet and she disappeared.
Buchou stood frozenly as we watched the other peerage follow suit, either teleporting out or heading back into the changing rooms themselves.
"Ufufu~" Akeno stepped up beside our silent and dripping [King] with a chuckle. "Even though you won the war, it seems you've lost the battle this time, Rias-sama."
"... Akeno?"
"Hai?"
"Please stop talking."
Akeno gave a bright, close-eyed smile and mimed zipping her mouth shut, getting an annoyed huff from our [King].
(Nighttime)
I stepped out of my apartment's teleportation circle tensely with an arm pressed across my chest, forcing myself to keep my footfalls light through the living room. I didn't want to accidentally wake up Shiro if he was asleep, or worse, accidentally use too much force and damage the floorboards under my carpet.
"Stupid, idiot, jackass pervert," I muttered under my breath. "Stupid slime..."
Speaking my annoyance out loud, even quiet as I was, helped vent my frustration and sooth my nerves a little.
I continued giving voice to vindictive insults and threats of violence as I beelined towards my bathroom to shower off the slimy residue on my body. Tearing off the shredded remains of my dissolved uniform, I took my destroyed bra with it, not bothering to unclasp it as I stepped out of my underwear and into the shower stall. I turned the water to its hottest temperature and grabbed a sponge to begin scrubbing, letting the heat sooth the tension in my muscles.
The search for familiars for our two newest members started out fine– fantastically even, in the case of Asia and her baby Sprite Dragon– but took an immediate and decisive turn for the worse when a cloth-eating slime of all things ambushed us. None of us really reacted all that quickly, mostly just trying to scoop the thing off physically, because in the end a slime was just a slime and not really harmful to anyone with even the tiniest amount of power.
But by the time our clothes began showing signs of dissolving and we realized exactly the type of slime it was, it was too late.
True to his nature, the stupid pervert cheered on the slime and refused to help us, too busy ogling our revealed skin and underwear to assist.
When the creep's eyes landed on me, I may or may not have reacted violently in disgust.
When a sudden outward pulse of my chakra blasted the creature off of me, Yuuto-senpai– who had been approaching me to help– may or may not have been coated in the slippery green remains.
If there was one thing about Naruto-sensei's indirect teaching method I was thankful for, it was the fact that overpowering the tree-walking technique made it blatantly obvious that even the most basic external projection of chakra could become an attack.
Of course, getting rid of the slime didn't stop the perv from looking at me, and my chakra shockwave ruined my damaged clothes further. As much as I wanted to beat his head in for taking advantage of the situation instead of helping, I really didn't like the idea of my body being exposed to him any longer than it already was, so I made the smart decision to just go home on the spot and clean up.
When I stepped out of the shower and toweled off, I felt clean again, but I still wasn't able to fully relax. My mind kept going back to the panic and shame I felt when it was the perv who saw me like that.
Instead of Uzumaki-kun.
Ignoring the hormonal thought my mind whispered to me, I decided that I would watch a cooking channel to relax as I rifled through my drawer for a change of clothes. I picked out the simple black sweatpants and pink sweater combo that was quickly becoming my favorite "late-night relaxation" outfit, and once dressed, climbed onto my bed and flicked the TV on with the remote.
I settled on one of those "supermarket challenge" cooking shows where contestants have to use a weird ingredient and come up with a dish on their own, using only ingredients found in a regular store.
A couple minutes into watching, I shifted onto my side to try and get more comfortable, propping my head up with a hand.
They were currently in the stage of running around the set like headless chickens to gather their ingredients fast enough to actually cook their dishes within the time limit. I tended to like these types of shows because of the unusual and creative foods that got made. It was usually interesting to see the different directions the chefs took when deciding what they would make, and whether or not the final product looked good.
I shifted again, this time onto my stomach, with my arms crossed on the bed in front of me to rest my chin on.
The fingers of one of my hands began tapping restlessly as the contestants kept rushing around in a panic, forgetting things in their hurry. Nothing was getting done yet, and I found myself getting annoyed at how long it was taking the show to just get on with it.
And I still wasn't comfortable! My stomach wasn't sore enough to hurt just from laying on it, but with the way my back arched to prop my head up, the stretching of my midsection caused it to ache in a distracting way. Curling up on the couch would be way more preferable to laying flat on my bed.
I uncurled my arms to turn off the TV with a sigh, and planted my face into the fluffy sheets with a groan of restlessness. I wanted to relax, but I was too wired mentally right now.
'Ugh. Even if I move to the living room, I'll probably end up going stir-crazy anyway, sitting alone at home…'
I sat up suddenly, a thought occurring to me.
I reached over and grabbed my phone, checking the time.
'It's not too late, is it?' I wondered.
Deciding not to think about it too hard, I sent a short text. I got an immediate automated response, telling me the person's phone was in 'do not disturb' mode and to try again later. That took the wind out of my sails, so I was back at square one.
'... Or am I? I could just go anyway…'
Decision made, I hopped off of my bed and spun up a teleportation circle.
'What's the worst that can happen?'
"So, just when were you planning on telling me the student council, who I've been trying to avoid, were also devils?"
It turned out that I was the one who forgot about that.
'Uh oh.'
I stifled a shiver as Uzumaki-kun's arm practically wrapped around my shoulders, his action making it clear that I wasn't going to escape this situation despite the overly casual tone of voice.
The worst part was, I couldn't tell if my heart beating faster and my stomach turning was because of my hormones, or because of the dread of the coming conversation. I almost wish those dumb crows hadn't told me about Senjutsu's effects on a Youkai's puberty, because now that I knew about the fact, it kept poking its head into my thoughts in situations like this, making me hyperfocus on random things like how warm–
"Why don't we have a tiny lesson about friends helping out friends with their troubles?" Naruto-sensei suggested in a 'happy' voice. I stared up into his smiling shadowed face, the intense blue sliver of his eyes practically glowing in the dim light as he squinted down at me.
"What do you say, friend?"
His smile widened a little as his grip around me tightened. My breath hitched, and this time it was entirely clear that the cause was dread.
'Why the hell did I think this was a good idea again?'
(Kuoh Academy, the next day)
I trudged through the old school building, on my way to the ORC room after today's training. I was tracking dirt and leaves and water through the carpeted hall, but I couldn't bring myself to care at this point. Normally my sessions with Naruto-sensei were more on the technical side of things, and didn't end up making too much of a mess. The couple times I did end up getting overly dirty, I just teleported directly to the club room afterwards in order to take a shower and change immediately.
A droplet of water splashed onto my nose, having fallen from the tip of my damp bangs. My ears twitched in reflex, popping out of my transformation momentarily to do so and dislodging a stray leaf with the motion.
'... I'm so getting him back for this.'
I went back to ignoring it all as I continued my tired march, only barely remembering to put my transformation back up.
Naruto-sensei got his revenge for yesterday, and it was as tiring and humiliating as it was helpful.
Instead of any practice on theory or technique, he decided today was a day for putting my hand-to-hand training into practice against a real opponent– that being himself. Now, being a Youkai and a Devil means I have a massive physical advantage over him, not even including my [Rook] piece. Actively using my chakra, I could get my speed up to just a little slower than Kiba. Normally, this would also mean that any full-contact sparring we could do would be with me severely holding back, in order to not hurt Naruto-sensei and also to not get sloppy from relying on my higher physical stats.
In other words, sparring with him shouldn't tire me out so much, if at all.
That hadn't stopped him from figuring out a way to make it happen.
(Earlier)
"At its core, chakra is a mixture of physical and mental energy," Naruto-sensei lectured from his position on the other side of our clearing, holding up a cup of water. "The more of it you have, the harder you can push yourself, the faster you can operate, and the longer you can endure. It does this passively, just running through your body as normal." He moved the glass around a little, getting the liquid to swirl without spilling out. "While channeling it intentionally can boost up to two of these things at a time, doing so-" He tilted the glass slightly, allowing the rushing water to spill over the edge for a moment "-can burn it away faster than you generate it."
He twisted his wrist the rest of the way, dumping out the rest.
"Chakra isn't just our bodies' energy, it's also a resource that we can use, one that constantly makes us stronger and faster." Naruto-sensei smiled. "So; In order for you to make the most of that resource– and your demonic power for that matter– you're going to get used to fighting without them, so that every time you do use them, it has a purpose."
I blinked.
"How?" I asked curiously. For as long as I'd been a devil, I've always had my demonic power, and it sounded like it wouldn't be as simple as trying to just seal my chakra away again. I was way past the point of no return on that front.
Naruto-sensei closed his eyes and nodded once in a sage-like manner, a hand cupping his chin.
"It's simple." He said. Eyes snapping open and hand shooting forward as he widened his stance, he pointed dramatically at me. "You must become a super saiyan!"
His grin stretched wide enough to squish his whisker marks when he saw my confused frown.
"Forcefully expel your power through your whole body as an aura like they do in the show, but don't try to hold onto it. Unlike in anime, auras like that just mean that much energy is escaping your body, which is the goal for you right now," he explained with a chuckle. "Actual auras of power are usually more like cloaks, where your energy becomes so dense it can be physically interacted with."
"Now," he continued after I nodded, "try and force out almost all of your power, like you're squeezing a sponge until it's just a little damp."
I nodded again, and closed my eyes to concentrate. I tensed my body, clenching my metaphorical 'muscles' in an attempt to force out my energy quickly.
'Like squeezing a sponge,' I thought.
But nothing happened.
Actually, I think my chakra just got denser, the energy that normally flowed near the surface of my skin being pushed further inward towards my center.
"It helps to try and think of it like a full body exhale," Naruto-sensei called out, noticing that I hit a roadblock. "You can't just push, you have to let your energy escape you while you push it."
"Because exhaling is so similar to sponges." I deadpanned. "Pick a metaphor and stick with it."
Naruto-sensei rolled his eyes. "Just do it already. You already do basically the same thing with tree walking, now just do it all over your body without trying to contain or control it. Let your chakra explode out of you in an unrestrained flow." He paused. "Except for your feet; You probably don't want to blow away the ground you're standing on."
'Explode, huh?' I thought back to the slime incident. 'That, but in a continuous flow. I think I get it.'
I relaxed my body and focused, closing my eyes again. My chakra began decompressing when I untensed and I took control of it all, spinning and rotating it through my body faster and faster and faster, to the point it was hard to keep a hold of it just beneath the surface. My body began heating up from the strain. I took a deep breath and prepared to add my demonic power.
Then I let go, and pushed.
The whistling of wind rushing through the trees and the rustle of swaying leaves reached my ears as my hair suddenly blew outwards. I kept pushing, slowly exhaling while I did so as a sort of pneumonic device, letting my energy rush outward as if I was venting off a storm of wind, my demonic power hitching a ride on the current.
I opened my eyes as I felt myself nearing the end of my reserves, to see the world was tinged in a flickering pinkish haze, dust forest debris being blown away from me in a roughly ten meter circle. I cut off the flow of power just before I hit empty, and colors returned to normal.
I was struck by a sudden feeling of weakness and staggered backwards a step, but a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders from behind and held me steady.
"Easy there," Naruto-sensei warned from right beside my ear. I twitched in response, and felt it smack against his face. "Phteh! Hey, watch the fur," he said with a grumble, letting me go and stepping back. I hadn't noticed that he moved behind me in the first place, but thinking back a few seconds, I realized that I didn't actually see him when I opened my eyes.
Now that I regained my footing, I clenched my fists a couple times and shifted on my feet.
'I was wrong.'
It wasn't a feeling of weakness that struck me. My muscles and body felt almost entirely fine, not a single sign of strain. What it was, was a feeling of everything being normal. Ever since I unlocked my chakra again, I've slowly gotten used to the feeling of it, the feeling of power that came with it just running through my body, passively enhancing even something as simple as getting out of bed in the morning. Without it boosting me, and without my demonic power available to enhance my strikes beyond normal, I was at the level of strength of the average basic [Rook].
"Get a few stretches and push-up reps in to get used to the feeling, and then we'll begin." Naruto-sensei said, cutting off my self inspection.
I turned towards him.
"I'm going to fight with one hand." He was holding a large spray bottle up with a massive grin splitting his face, his other hand splayed open. "Every time you make a noob mistake, I'll throw you. Every time I could get a killing or debilitating blow on you, I'll spray you." He punctuated his statement with a pull of the trigger, a quick stream of water shooting out of the nozzle.
Right into my face.
I glowered as my face dripped.
'I'm going to beat his ass.'
(Back to present)
If my current state didn't make it clear, I did not in fact 'beat his ass'.
With his recent boosts in ability thanks to the unknown Senjutsu user sharing their lifeforce with him, and my current state being only a little stronger stat-wise than I was when I first got reincarnated, Naruto-sensei's greater skill and experience let him easily close the gap in speed; All my power and durability as a [Rook] didn't mean anything when I couldn't land a solid hit on him, and he was using throws instead of strikes.
Being a [Rook] didn't magically make me heavier, so he would have easily been able to throw me one-handed even if he was a normal human.
It wasn't just the spray bottle and his manhandling of me that left me swearing revenge on him though. It was that, combined with the fact that he did his absolute best to always throw me into bushes, into piles of leaves, into mounds of dirt and dust left behind after I 'went super saiyan'. And not once, over the course of an hour of constant 'fighting', was I able to land a clean hit on him that didn't immediately get turned into momentum for his own attacks.
He wasn't only throwing me. Because of my [Rook] defense, he decided that the only way to make his attacks motivate me to not get hit, was to make them as humiliating and annoying as he reasonably could. Instead of landing punches for damage, he made a game for himself out of flicking my ears and poking my nose, cheeks, and sides.
Even though I knew it was the opposite, that he wasn't able to actually hurt me so he resorted to those methods instead, it still felt like I wasn't being taken seriously.
The jerk was literally treating me like a cat, dammit!
I put it all out of my mind for now as I approached the door to the club room, not paying any attention to the tense words I could hear from the other side in favor of thinking about how nice a warm shower and bath would feel right now, while I wait for my demonic power to recover enough to teleport home for a change of clothes.
I opened the door and entered the suddenly quiet room, making my way past the stares of my clubmates and directly to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I immediately turned the shower on to its hottest setting to let steam fill the room
I began peeling off my clothes, releasing my transformation yet again.
It was only when I stepped into the tub and pulled the shower curtain closed that conversation outside picked back up.
Normally, I'd start cleaning from my tail, but there were still leaves and twigs in my hair, so I dealt with those first as I stood under the soothing spray. When I was done cleaning my body, I gathered up all of the too-big-for-the-drain debris and dropped it outside the tub for now to be thrown away later, and began filling the tub for a soothing soak.
When the tube was full enough, I lowered myself in, the warm water engulfing me from butt to chest as I laid back. The feeling of my breasts being submerged (almost like a pair of warm hands were cupping them), and my nipples going from the relatively colder air to the warmer water, left my chest tingling pleasantly for a moment. A thought tickled the back of my mind, but I ignored it.
I stifled a shiver as Uzumaki-kun's arm practically wrapped around my shoulders
Warmth pooled in my lower stomach, either from the water, or for other reasons.
Soon enough, I had unwound enough that my curiosity began peeking through, urging me to listen in to the conversation going on outside while I relaxed in water up to my chin. The others sounded strangely serious
"-ey give any reason for pushing it up?" Kiba asked. "From what I recall, your parents didn't seem like the type to go back on their word like that. Though I've only really met them a few times, so I could be mistaken."
"No, they did not." Rias replied unhappily. "And you're right, they aren't the type. The issue is that they don't see this as breaking their word. If they did, they would have given me a reason why they did so."
"How does that make any damn sense?!" Hyoudou exclaimed loudly. "Your parents told you that you would have until you graduated college, in what world is pushing it up to this month not breaking that promise?!" He said in frustration.
'Ah,' I thought, my mood dimming as I picked up on what was happening. There was only one thing that Rias' parents had in store for her after graduation. 'The marriage contract.'
"It's because they don't see it as a promise. To them, they were just allowing me time to 'grow up' more so that I could get used to the idea," Rias explained bitterly. "Regardless of whether they see me as having done so with the way I'm running the town, or something else came up that made them decide enough was enough, the extension they gave me was always going to be a temporary measure in their minds, despite my desires otherwise."
"That's so bullshit!" Hyoudou growled.
"A-auuh…" Asia gave out a sad whine.
To hear that Buchou's parents had apparently pushed up the Engagement sent a surge of heat through my body, filling me with anger similar to Hyoudou's on her behalf.
Sitting calmly in the water wasn't possible anymore, I was too energized now. I wanted to do something, even if it was just making myself available for my [King] to call on for support.
I stood up and left the tub, releasing the drain to empty it as I walked to the bathroom door, wrapping a towel around myself to begin drying off.
"Akeno-senpai," I called out through the door to the currently quiet shrine maiden. She was Buchou's closest friend, even more so than Sona nowadays, so she was definitely already in the know about any details to the situation that Rias was aware of.
"Hmm?" I heard the miko walk up to the door so that I wouldn't have to disrupt the others. "Yes Koneko-chan?"
"Can you get me a change of clothes from one of my rooms?" I asked just loud enough that only she could hear. "I don't have enough power to teleport right now, and don't have clean spares with me." I didn't want the pervert to hear me and get any weird images in his head. I was still naked after all.
There was a pause.
"Of course. I'll be back momentarily." She said the last part more loudly for the benefit of the others.
It was only a couple minutes before she returned with a knock on the door, and I cracked it open a tiny bit to accept the folded bundle of clothes she slipped through the gap with a quiet 'ufufu'.
Door closed once more, I unfolded the pile on the sink counter to reveal one of my spare school uniforms and–
'That's not my underwear.'
I looked down at the pair of lacy purple undergarments with dead eyes.
The panties– if they could be called that with how little they actually covered– weren't quite a g-string, but definitely weren't far off. The front actually covered a surprising amount given what it was, a curving triangle full of smooth and shiny purple silk, with black floral lace highlighting the edging where it hugged the skin. The two top 'corners' of the patch narrowed down into a black, semi-elastic nylon band trimmed with purple. At the back of the thong was the almost-g-string in question, except it was two strings connected to the band that could be slid apart, to enable rear-access.
The matching top was basically just an open-cup corset style bra, all purple and black lace that would put my nipples on display if I wore it.
Two things were clear.
One. they were degenerate enough to belong to that perverted cow. And two, she had to have adjusted them on the spot with magic for them to even fit me at all.
"You should get dressed quickly, Koneko-chan. We have multiple short-notice guests to deal with tonight, so we must all be showing a presentable front before any of them arrive."
'I think I hate this woman.' I thought in resignation, slipping the thong on and guiding my tail between the rear strings. I shivered as the thin fabric settled snugly between my cheeks, pressing against that place.
I didn't actually hate her at all, but the thought helped soothe my annoyance.
I put on the rest of the clothes and stepped out of the bathroom, the feel of the underwear making me feel self conscious.
Hyoudou glanced over and looked away before double-taking incredulously, pointing a finger at me "Uwoohhhh!?"
I froze in confusion, looking down at myself to confirm I didn't have a random wardrobe malfunction.
"N-n-neko! Cat girl!"
My tail flickered into my vision and my ears twitched on my head.
Dammit. I forgot about that.
Naruto
(Shortly after Koneko left)
I looked at my phone again as I stood in front of my locker, making sure I didn't misread a message I received earlier while stuffing my unneeded school stuff away. After the sparring, I'd gone to the boys locker room to shower up and change before coming here.
Today 3:36 PM
*TheWitch: Would you mind coming to visit the Occult Research club in the old school building late tonight?
*TheWitch: We may have a temporary business proposition to offer you, as well as some unfinished business regarding the Fallen incident last week to finish up.
I'd figured out there was a setting to set custom nicknames on the texting app for saved contacts, because there was no way I was leaving Himejima's chosen username 'NadeshikoMiko' as my contact for her. It was way too girly and completely deceptive of her true nature, and I would not let myself be lulled into believing otherwise.
Back to the contents of the message itself, while the polite and professional wording was definitely something she was capable of, something about the short and one-sided interaction struck me as odd.
Most notably, the fact that I couldn't figure out what the catch was. For all intents and purposes, the message read as a completely serious invitation, no strings or games attached.
'Let's see…' I mused. 'How should I handle this?'
On the one hand, Himejima. Every interaction with her ran the risk of me deciding to risk it all as any hot-blooded male with her attention might. Even holding strong, I might just be playing into her hands no matter how I play it. Truly, it was always a struggle to figure out if the choice to engage with her was a win/win or a lose/lose scenario.
On the other hand, I'm sure that if she wanted to, she could easily sneak in some completely normal sounding innuendo that only I would get…
On top of that, she wanted me to go later tonight, but didn't actually specify a timeframe, and it was already almost six o'clock.
I shrugged.
'Good enough for me.'
If Himejima wanted me to arrive even later than this, she should have said so, and I sure as hell wasn't going all the way home, just to come all the way back an hour later. I was already here, so I might as well check out what she wanted right now, or otherwise hang out until she was ready.
"Her fault for not giving me an actual time." I muttered to myself with a grin. 'If she has a problem with my decision, she can kiss my ass.'
Ten minutes or so later, I was walking up the path on the approach to the old school building's front entrance, idly wondering what I'd make for dinner later.
'I still have a bunch of eggs from last week's carton, maybe I should use them all in an omelet?' I considered it. 'I can throw in some-'
A flash of reddish-orange light– immediately followed by a bright flickering orange light that seemed distinctly reminiscent of a large fire– lit up one of the second floor windows for a couple seconds, cutting off my thoughts.
"Huh." I muttered as the maybe-flame died down. "What are the chances that's the right room?"
I hadn't actually ever been in their clubroom itself, only ever hanging out at the school-proper or other places around town, like one of our homes or the arcade.
I got an idea and grinned mischievously.
'Why even be a ninja, if I never sneak into rooms from the window? Now's my chance!'