After practicing all night, Tetsuya got more familiar with his abilities. He morphed his ice in different ways and tried different weapons to see what would be more useful with his current physique. He knew he had a busy day tomorrow and questions to be explored, so after finishing his training for the night.
During the following day of school, Tetsuya had asked around about Issei, and nobody knew who he was. This left him a bit conflicted if Issei isn't at Kuoh, then where is he? Is there an Issei in this world? Or did his presence cause a butterfly effect, and someone else in the world was chosen as the red dragon emperor? These were all the questions that Tetsuya had mulled over, but he decided to worry about them later.
He went to the school's bathroom during lunch and sighed as he washed his face with water. Today was the day that Rias would come over to his house for the project. This will either be a good chance to get some affection from her or go horribly wrong and cause his death.
As dramatic as he's being, he doubts Rias would actually kill him. As long as he doesn't say anything too out of line, and as long as the system doesn't fuck him over. Tetsuya sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder. Time to get over the rest of the day and then go home and clean up the house so he doesn't seem like a slob.
The rest of the day went by in a breeze. Rias and Akeno hadn't even attended class today, so he's assuming they must be busy with orc duties still. The bell rang, so he got up and left to go home and clean up. As he walked through the courtyard, he didn't notice that at the window of the orc, blue eyes had been observing him from afar.
A flicker of curiosity in her eyes alongside interest as she observed Tetsuya walk as if he were in thought. Akeno, who had been nearby, teased her with a playful smirk on her face, "You seem to be staring too hard, Rias. Finally find a boy you're interested in?" The tease caught Rias off guard, making her slightly flustered before she glared playfully, "Oh shut it, I'm just curious. How did he go under the radar for so long? And why do we just all of a sudden detect magic power within him?"
Akeno shrugged, brushing her skirt. "Who knows? You're the one who has the date at his house tonight. I'm sure you'll find out."
Rias looked at her exasperated, "You really are not taking this seriously, are you?" Akeno grinned, "Nope, not at all, but you have to admit," Akeno had finally looked out the window with her and teased more, "He's a cute one, isn't he?" Rias just rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it as they continued to watch him from the window.
{Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima affection +2 for being cute!}
Tetsuya saw the notification pop up, exasperated. "What the fuck happened? I'm not even talking to them right now. He finally looked back as his gaze trailed up to the window, and he made eye contact with them. "So that's why they were watching me all this time." Tetsuya thought to himself as he just smiled politely, then turned around and kept walking. He still had to prepare for tonight after all.
After that brief encounter, Tetsuya went home and made sure the house was spotless. Then he did some brief training and meditation to expand his mana reserves and physique, and finally took a shower and changed into more casual clothes. Then he finally heard knocks on the door.
He dried his hair off, then went and answered the door, and there Rias stood, still in her school uniform, yet it was still an epitome of elegant and seductive charm that very few could pull off, as he noticed she held her bag to her side.
"Good Evening, Tetsuya, I believe this was around the time you told me to show up?" she had said with a smile that had almost made Tetsuya's heart flutter, but he maintained his composure and matched her energy with a smile of his own/ "Yeah, right on time, come on in."
Rias stepped inside as he closed the door behind her. Her eyes trailed around the interior of his home. "It's quite cozy in here, not bad at all." Tetsuya shrugged, "What can I say, it's home, so I do my best to take care of it. Cmon let's go do the project in my room."
Rias then teased him, "Inviting a girl directly to your room? That could cause some misunderstandings, don't you think?" He didn't let the tease shake his composure. "Depends on your own actions, not mine, Rias. I only intend to do the project; there's nothing else I planned to do unless you have other plans." He teased her right back. As he saw her playful smile grow.
{Rias Gremory affection +1 for not backing down}
"Touche, very well, Tetsuya, lead the way." he then smiled and led her there. Making sure to have two chairs placed near his desk, as he politely pulled a chair out for her, "Who would have known you would be a gentleman?" she had teased him again as he said, "It's simply called having manners."
Rias giggled, then took a seat in the chair he offered with grace, and then Tetsuya finally took his seat on the chair next to her. Rias placed her bag on the desk and said, "So what do you want to do this report on?"
Before Tetsuya could even respond, the system popped up with
{Option 1: "We should do our project on Mia Khalifla"}
Reward: Random ability
Consequence: Rias decreased affection
{Option 2: "I'm in the mood to study Hitler, let's do our project on him!"}
Reward: Your physicals are enhanced by 100%
Consequence: Depends on your delivery
{Option 3: "Fuck the project, let's have sex instead."}
Reward: The sweet release of death
Consequence: Why the fuck would you even choose this?
Goddamn system always wants to pop up at the worst times, Tetsuya thought to himself. Three was ruled out automatically and one... yeah, no, that's asking for problems. The only real option was two, and even that was controversial, but what choice does he even have? He chose option two.
"I'm in the mood to study Hitler, let's do our project on him!" the system forced him to say, catching Rias off guard, yet she didn't look weirded out; she was more intrigued, it seemed. While at the same time, he felt the muscles in his body strengthen dramatically and condense subtly as he quickly got adjusted to his new strength.
"So do you always just casually say you want to do our project on one of the tyrants in history?" she said with a smile that showed she was judging him based on his answer, which he was warned of in the consequences. So he responded with "Not all the time, but I considered that someone as pretty and talented as you would rather do something unconventional."
Rias raised a brow, but it managed to get a smile out of her. looks like he managed to turn the situation around in his favor.
{Rias Gremory +2 affection for being interesting and complimenting her. Rias Gremory's threshold has reached 20. She now considers you a friend! Random Trait awarded!}
[Blessing of Durga]
You are a child blessed by Durga, the goddess of righteous fury. You are immune to corruptive effects and negative effects, and mental statuses during combat. In addition, the more evil an enemy is, the more advantage you have against them.
Not bad, it'll be useful, Tetsuya thought to himself, feeling satisfied. He then turned his attention fully back to Rias, maintaining eye contact, not letting her presence affect him too much. "It's an interesting choice of topic, but you're right, I wouldn't mind doing something different. Fine, let's do it." Rias had said as she opened her back and pulled her notebook out, as Tetsuya leaned back in his chair.
They worked together, writing a report on Hitler's history and what he should have done differently. Trading playful banter every now and then, but managed to maintain their focus on the task, an hour had quickly passed, so they decided to take a break for a few minutes. When Rias had said, "So tell me, do you think Hitler was wrong or was he justified?"
Tetsuya raised a brow at the question, then shrugged, playing with his pencil. "Depends on who you ask, no matter what, the answer will be controversial. But when you think about it, nobody will ever agree on what's right or wrong in a war."
He leaned back in his chair, maintaining eye contact as he followed up with "At the end of the day, war is war. There is no right or wrong. Each side will just consider the opposite side its enemy. It's just a circle of violence that ends up with losses on both sides."
Rias had nodded thoughtfully and said, "That's quite the intriguing opinion. Most would just criticize his actions, but you're considering the perspectives of both sides. But we'll, you honestly aren't fully wrong. There are no right or wrong sides in war."
{Rias Gremory +2 affection points for your unique perspective}
Tetsuya nodded, and then a comfortable silence ensued as they continued to work on the paper for another hour before Rias stood up. "It's getting pretty late, we should continue tomorrow and finish it up."
Tetsuya stretched, "Yeah, you're right, besides, I shouldn't have you going home all by yourself this late at night, someone might come scoop you up if they get too entranced." he teased her as she playfully rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I'll be fine. I appreciate your sarcastic concern, though." She playfully bantered back as he walked her to the door. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then I suppose, then Rias." Tetsuya had said, opening the door for her. Rias smiled and responded with "Yes, I suppose you will." She waved goodbye and walked out as he watched her go, her hips purposely swaying like she knew he was watching before he closed the door.
He sighed a ran a hand through his hair. "Well, day one seemed successful, but now.. she's coming back tomorrow.. shit, I don't even know how I got through today."
Meanwhile, with Rias, she had walked down an Alley and used a magic circle to transport herself back to the orc, where Akeno waited, sipping on Tea. Akeno looked up and said, intrigued. "So did you find anything out about his abilities?"
Rias blinked multiple times as realization came into her, and then her cheeks reddened. She had gotten so charmed and fully immersed in the banter that she forgot she was supposed to try and probe and find out anything about his abilities. "Shit...."
The last thing that was heard from within the orc was Akeno's giggles as Rias buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.