It was a look that belayed the younger girl's feelings.
Confusion.
How? How could they have so much absolute faith in him?
Weren't they worried at all?
He wasn't some sort of immortal, some kind of superhero. He was Naruto.
He was overwhelmingly strong, sure. But he wasn't impervious, he could still get hurt, bleed, die.
Yet they weren't worried at all.
She knew they cared, but even if you had faith in another person, you still can't help but worry about their safety anyways, it was a normal fear.
Then something clicked in Mio's head.
They never saw him fail...
They weren't there when he failed to catch that masked man in the forest.
They weren't there when he admitted that he had some insecurities about who he was, when Mio and Maria inadvertently discovered that they had no idea who he was after searching his room.
They never saw him fail...!
What must he look like in their eyes? A young man with incredible power and ability, someone who could defeat powerful figures from different factions. Someone who could take out a legendary beast with a single attack.
As a half-devil, Mio sometimes couldn't help but see Naruto as something higher, a viewpoint that she has been trying to temper. Something that neither of them needed.
But what about pure devils? Or part-devils that simply didn't repress that part of themselves? How did they see Uzumaki Naruto? Especially when power is highly respected by devil culture as a whole?
She wasn't sure, but she was positive that their expectations for him were too high.
Hero worship.
Nevertheless...while she still believed that they had too much blind faith, their logic was still solid. As much as she hated to admit it. She was just being very stubborn about it.
And childish.
So Mio opened her mouth, preparing to apologize for her behavior from before.
"None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you! If you just stopped being selfish and accepted the union, then everything that occurred wouldn't even have been possible!"
Both Mio and Akeno snapped their heads towards the scream, staring at a familiar devil that was castigating Rias while she was talking to Sona; with her Peerage behind her. Both devils were staring at the noble devil in shock at the interruption.
Mio's eyes widened, that guy was the same guy that made a scene when she accidentally tripped him earlier!
"...I don't see how you could have made the correlation, but the break up of the engagement had absolutely nothing to do with the day's events." Rias retorted sharply, annoyed at the disruption of her conversation with Sona.
The devil sneered. "Oh! No correlation, huh? How about the fact that if you had just married the Phenex, then the duel would have never happened to begin with! Then that monster that came out from that duel would have never appeared! Finally, the schedule for the marriage itself would have been more carefully chosen! Meaning that we would have spared from hiding from an SS-ranked criminal!"
Murmurs of agreement began to rise from among many of the devils following the rant.
"Now that I think about it...that's true. Shouldn't the Gremory heiress be more aware of her position? She's being awfully obtuse about this..." a young male devil mentioned slowly, sharing a look with a female devil beside him.
Said female devil snorted. "I seriously doubt that she was being obtuse, more like she took advantage of the situation. Using that Uzumaki-guy for her benefit...kinda makes me doubt her position to be honest."
Numerous opinions began to get bandied about, slowly forming the small crowd into something else...
Sona glared at the devil that castigated the Gremory heiress. "Zephyrdor-san of the Glasya-Labolas clan...once more you're causing trouble when there was none to be had. Your assumptions are based on nothing but speculation and half-truths. For all you know, Riser-san could have transformed into that beast-"
"Stop protecting her!" Zephyrdor interrupted harshly. "Everyone knows that you're childhood friends with Rias Gremory! Your objection is filled with bias, pure and simple! If Rias Gremory just followed her obligations as a Gremory instead of lashing out like a child, then none of this would have happened! "
Sona was taken aback by the ruthless shut down of her argument, leading to some cheers from quite a few devils that were getting riled up by the spawn of the Glasya-Labolas clan.
Many among Sona's Peerage snarled at the blue-haired young man, furious with how he was treating their 'king'.
Rias just grit her teeth, this looked like it was getting out of hand. "Why are you blaming me? Instead of looking at me as the culprit of these unfortunate events, why not-!"
Before she could even get started, many among the crowd began to 'boo' her, stopping her words from getting heard, as the large crowd slowly began to form itself into a mob. Intent on nothing except finding a reason to vent their frustration.
With that, Sona's Peerage quickly formed around Sona and Rias, seeking to protect them should hostilities arise.
Yuuto stood up, preparing to defend his 'king' should things get out of hand as well. Although he was pretty sure that combat may be necessary.
Even worse, the guards were all posted outside, so it wasn't like they could break it up...
"...No...no...not again...please no..."
The 'knight' glanced at Koneko, watching in growing dread as the young girl began shaking and hyperventilating while looking at the crowd.
...She's seen this before...
Yuuto turned to look for Issei, finding him placing Ravel down on the floor, against the wall. Before summoning his Boosted Gear and preparing himself for a fight.
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