Akira looked at the girl standing in front of him—someone he hadn't seen in quite a while.
She was dressed like she had stepped out of an old detective movie.
"Rias?"
Rias Gremory adjusted her sunglasses slightly.
"Oh? You recognized me that easily?" she said. "I thought my disguise would work."
Akira replied calmly.
"Well, not really. You clearly look like you. And my Mystic Eyes can see through your mana signature easily."
Rias sighed.
"Well, that's just you. For everyone else, my disguise will work."
Akira tilted the helmet slightly.
"Yeah… I don't think so. So why are you here without telling me anyway?"
Then he paused, noticing the girl standing behind her in a similar outfit.
"Who's that?"
Rias replied,
"Well, I heard you moved back to Japan. Since I was already in the area, I wanted to greet you and talk a little. When I heard about the signing event, I just came directly."
She gestured behind her.
"As for her, I'll introduce her properly in a moment. Do you have time after this?"
Akira glanced at the long line of fans waiting.
"Well… It's about time for a break anyway."
He turned slightly to the side.
"Machida-san, can we take a five-minute break?"
Machida Sonoko looked at him, then briefly glanced at the two disguised girls.
"Sure. It's about time anyway. Just five minutes."
Akira nodded.
Then he guided the two girls toward the staff room behind the signing area.
After entering the room and confirming no one else was inside, Akira removed his helmet.
Rias Gremory immediately noticed something.
"You cut your hair short."
Akira shrugged.
"I thought I might look cooler like this."
Then he glanced at both of them.
"So… are you two planning to stay in those old detective outfits?"
Rias frowned slightly.
"It's not cosplay. It's a disguise."
The two girls removed their masks and sunglasses.
Rias's long crimson hair fell freely over her shoulders, her blue eyes shining with mild annoyance.
Behind her stood another girl with extremely long black hair tied into a ponytail that almost reached the floor. Her violet eyes watched Akira calmly.
Akira looked at her.
The first thought that came to his mind slipped out immediately.
"You have really, really long hair."
Akeno Himejima smiled politely.
"Oh. Thank you."
Rias crossed her arms.
"What about me?"
Akira looked at her for a moment.
"You look like you did a few years ago… just bigger."
Rias sighed.
"That's not how you compliment girls."
Akira blinked slightly.
"What compliment?"
But he decided not to say that out loud.
Then Rias gestured beside her.
"This is my queen, the one I told you about. Himejima Akeno."
Akeno gave a light bow.
"I've heard quite a lot about you from Rias. Sirius-sama."
Akira shook his head slightly.
"Just Akira is fine. That's what everyone calls me anyway."
He looked at her.
"I'll call you Akeno, too."
Akeno nodded.
"Then Akira-san."
Akira smiled slightly.
"Nice to meet you, too, Akeno-san."
Rias clapped her hands once.
"Well, greetings aside, aren't you going to entertain your guests?"
Akira gestured toward the only table in the room.
"Sure. Sit wherever you want."
Rias sighed but sat down anyway. Akeno followed her.
Akira glanced around the room, confirming no cameras were pointed directly at them.
Then he casually took out a tea set and placed it on the table.
He poured drinks for them.
But instead of tea, the cups were filled with steaming hot chocolate.
Rias stared at the teapot.
"Why is there hot chocolate in a teapot?"
Akira shrugged.
"Why not? It works."
Rias stared at him for a moment, then simply took a sip.
Akira sat down across from them.
"Alright. Before anything else…"
He looked at their outfits again.
"Why are you dressed like Inspector Gadget again?"
Rias became a little angry at that.
"Don't you have any conscience? It's all because of you."
Akira blinked.
"What did I do?"
Rias leaned forward slightly.
"You put me on the cover of Volume Two of your novel. Did you forget?"
She pointed at him accusingly.
"And now, because of that, everyone here will recognize me."
Akira tilted his head.
"But I changed your name and some of your characteristics, right?"
Rias frowned.
"It doesn't matter. You didn't change my hair or eye color. If I walked in normally, everyone would think I'm cosplaying as myself."
She crossed her arms.
"Do you even hear how that sounds?"
Akira coughed lightly.
"…Sorry about that. That was beyond my calculations."
Then he looked past her and pointed at Akeno.
"Okay, I can understand you. But why her, too?"
Rias answered immediately.
"I can't do this alone. She's emotional support."
Akira nodded slowly.
"Well… if you say so."
Then he leaned back slightly.
"So why are you here anyway? There's no way you just came here to say hi, right?"
Rias opened her mouth.
"Well… actually…"
But suddenly she didn't know what to say.
She had rushed here because of the relationship update Akira posted two days ago.
But she couldn't just ask that directly.
So instead, she quickly asked something else.
"Well, I really did come to meet you… and to learn about your recent situation."
Akira shrugged.
"Sure. What do you want to know? I can answer as long as it's not a family secret."
Rias nodded.
"So, are you settling down here for a long time?"
Akira replied calmly.
"Yes. I'll stay here for a while. I'm planning to go to school here."
Rias tilted her head.
"So we'll be neighbors for a while, right?"
Akira answered immediately.
"If you consider two hours of travel by Shinkansen neighbors… sure."
Rias waved her hand dismissively.
"Distance is nothing for someone who can teleport, right?"
Akira thought for a moment.
"Well… that does make sense, I guess."
Rias nodded.
"Anyway, second question. What happened to your parents?"
Akira's expression didn't change.
"Well, that's family-secret territory. But all I can say is they're fine. They just won't be showing up anytime soon."
Rias looked at him carefully.
"Did they go to where the rest of your family disappeared to?"
Akira shrugged slightly.
"As I said, those are family secrets. But you could say it's something similar."
Rias nodded slowly.
Then she took a breath.
"And for the final question…"
She looked directly at him.
"Two days ago, you updated your relationship status on your Nexus account, right?"
A brief pause followed.
"So… are you really in a relationship?"
Akira smiled.
"Yes. I have a girlfriend now."
Rias fell silent for a moment.
"I see… Who is it?"
Akira answered casually.
"I told you about her before, right? My childhood friend Erika. She's my girlfriend now."
Rias nodded slowly.
"Oh… that dhampir you told me about. So it was her."
She went silent again.
Akira looked at her, wondering why she had suddenly become so quiet.
Akeno gently called her.
"Rias."
Rias snapped back to attention.
"Oh— congratulations."
Then she quickly added,
"So anyway… what is she like? What does she look like?"
"Well… she is… how should I say it…" Akira thought for a moment and nodded. "She takes care of me. And if I do something bad, she scolds me, but she never gets too angry at me. Anyway… she's good."
Rias had no idea what that description meant.
"Why is the usually sharp Akira saying nonsense now?"
But she could tell from the way he spoke that he liked her.
So she asked another question.
"Do you two have a picture or anything?"
Akira shook his head.
"No… I forgot to take any."
He paused.
"Wait… when was the last time I even used my camera?"
Then he waved it off.
"Anyway, if you want to know how she looks, just look at the cover of Volume One of my novel. That's her."
Rias nodded.
"I see… Where is she now?"
Akira replied,
"She said she'd be hanging around here somewhere, keeping an eye on me."
He took out his phone.
"Let me see if I can ask her."
He sent a message.
Erika, where are you?
A moment later, Erika replied with a series of emojis.
An angry face.
A knife.
And finally a skull.
Akira stared at the screen.
"Yeah… I don't really understand this language. Can you tell me what it means?"
He showed the phone to Rias and Akeno.
Rias looked at it.
"She wants to kill you."
Akeno nodded politely.
"She seems very angry. I believe she is saying she will kill you."
Akira frowned.
"Why couldn't she just type it? Why use emojis?"
Rias stared at him.
"That's what you're worried about? What about the murder part?"
Akira shrugged.
"Well, I mean… she's always angry at me. Mostly because of my faults. But she calms down after venting her anger, so it's fine."
Rias asked cautiously,
"…How does she vent her anger?"
Akira answered seriously.
"Last time she tried to crush me to death by hugging me tightly."
Rias and Akeno had absolutely no idea what to say.
After a moment, Rias asked another question.
"How far have you two gone?"
Akira answered confidently.
"Well, pretty far. I can't say exactly where, but let's just say we traveled even to—"
Akeno gently interrupted him.
"Akira-san… I believe she meant how far you've gone in your relationship."
Akira blinked.
"Oh. Yeah… that makes sense."
He thought for a moment.
"But how far…"
He hesitated.
He definitely couldn't say biting again like he did with Utaha.
So he answered carefully.
"We just got together recently, so not that far."
Rias asked,
"Kissing?"
Akira shook his head.
"No. Not yet. Just holding hands."
Deep down, he wasn't sure how to explain things like blood drinking… or how far that counted in a normal relationship.
So he decided to keep it simple.
Rias nodded slowly.
"I see."
Just then, Machida's voice came from outside the room.
"Sirius-kun, break time is almost over!"
Akira called back.
"I'll be there soon, Machida-san."
Then he turned back to Rias and Akeno.
"Looks like my time is almost up. What are you two going to do?"
He added,
"If you're free this evening, we could hang out more."
Rias shook her head.
"Sorry. I have some important business to take care of, so I don't have time today."
Then she smiled slightly.
"But since we're neighbors, we can meet again in the future."
Akira nodded.
"Sure. We can."
Then Akira suddenly remembered something.
"Actually, Rias… can you help me with something?"
Rias tilted her head slightly.
"What is it?"
Akira reached into his inventory and took out several vials filled with blue liquid.
"There are some new health potions I created. They're called Cerulean Dew."
He placed them on the table.
"You said your team has a lot of different types of people, right? Can you test these on them if they get injured and give me some feedback?"
Rias looked at the vials.
"New potions? How good are they?"
Akira replied calmly.
"Almost close to Phoenix Tears."
Akeno's eyes widened slightly.
"That good? Is it dangerous? Are there any side effects?"
Akira shrugged.
"Well… that's what I want to test."
Akeno looked like she wanted to say something, but Rias raised a hand.
"Don't worry, Akeno. He wouldn't give us something truly dangerous."
She looked at Akira.
"You've probably already conducted a lot of tests before this, right?"
Akira nodded.
"Yes. It won't cause anything too dangerous. I just want to check how long it takes to heal each type of injury. That's all."
Rias nodded.
"Alright then. I'll test them and tell you the results later."
Then she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, in exchange for that… you can have this."
She handed him a small piece of paper with a red magical symbol drawn on it.
Akira looked at it.
"A summoning circle?"
Rias nodded.
"Yeah. If you're ever in trouble, just call me."
Akira shrugged lightly.
"Sure. If I ever need help, I'll ask."
Rias stood up.
"Alright then. Go back to your signing event. We'll leave now."
She and Akeno said goodbye to Akira, put their disguises back on, and left the room.
As they walked away down the street, Akeno asked quietly,
"Are you not going to see his girlfriend?"
Rias shook her head.
"Not yet… not today."
Akeno looked at her curiously.
"So… are you going to give up?"
Rias's eyes sharpened slightly.
"He really does seem to be in love."
She paused.
"But that doesn't mean I'll give up."
She clenched her fist.
"No matter what."
As Rias finally resolved what she had to do, Akira returned to the signing table… still wondering what he had done wrong this time.
"Why is Erika angry again?"