[300 PS = 1 Chapter Bonus]
*
Yuuto Kiba and I left the room amid the whispers of my classmates.
It was clear they would be curious about my connection to the most beautiful girl on campus, Rias Gremory, especially since Kiba had mentioned her name. However, the less they knew, the better it would be for me. I didn't want the boys in Rias' fan club to start harassing me.
"How are you adjusting to your new life?" Kiba asked as we descended the stairs.
"I'm still trying to figure everything out. Honestly, the feeling of weakness under the sunlight is quite irritating."
Kiba laughed softly. "I asked you about school and your new country, but about the other thing: it'll get better with time. The first week is the hardest, but you'll get used to it. Besides, you're not alone."
Kiba's words gave me some peace.
I followed Kiba to an old wooden building with colorful stained glass windows that was hidden among many trees at the back of the Kuoh Academy campus. This place was the same place I had come to when I followed Akeno one day. It was the building where the Occult Research Club held its activities.
Kiba opened the door and motioned for me to enter.
Despite its abandoned appearance on the outside, the interior was completely different. The lobby was well lit, and the air had a slight smell of incense. The furniture looked like it dated from the beginning of the last century, but it was well maintained. For an old building, the place was perfectly preserved.
I followed Kiba to the second floor, where he opened the door to the main office. There was a large desk, a set of antique sofas, and several bookshelves on the walls filled with old books.
To the left was a door leading to a parallel room, and steam was coming out from under the door. Given the sound of water that stopped shortly after Kiba and I entered the room, I could only imagine that there was a bathroom there.
When my eyes returned from the bathroom door to look at the room, I noticed something I hadn't noticed at first. There was a small girl with a serious expression lying on the sofa, eating potato chips. She had white hair and looked at me with the corners of her yellow eyes.
"I almost forgot to introduce you." Yuuto Kiba pointed with his left hand at the girl. "This is Koneko Toujou, a valuable member of our club... Koneko, this is Leonard Tonello."
Koneko analyzed me for a second, but soon closed her eyes again and went back to enjoying her chips.
Kiba laughed, a little embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry about Koneko. She doesn't usually trust strangers."
I shook my head. "It's okay. I'd do the same if I were her."
Suddenly, the doorknob behind me and Kiba moved, and the beautiful Akeno entered the room as well.
"Arara~ Look who's here, our new partner. Good afternoon, Tonello-san." Akeno said softly.
I smiled at Akeno. "The pleasure is all mine, Himejima-san. You're wearing a different perfume today."
Akeno's eyebrows rose.
[You showed that you are focused on Akeno Himejima. She liked that.]
[You received +1 heart from Akeno Himejima.]
[The character Akeno Himejima now has a favorable impression of you.]
While I was surprised by the notifications from my system, Akeno put a hand on her chin and smiled.
"I'm glad you pay so much attention to me. Since we're classmates and know each other's secrets, you don't have to be so formal."
"Should I call you Akeno-chan, then?" I checked and realized I had made a mistake when Kiba's eyes widened.
On the other hand, Akeno laughed. "I was thinking we should stick with the formal last name, but I don't dislike how your first name sounds... Leonard-san."
Looking into Akeno's eyes as she said that was exhilarating, but I tried to remain as calm as possible.
Thinking about those new notifications distracted me for a few seconds, and only for a few seconds, because that was all the time I had to calm down before Rias Gremory's melodious voice said my name.
"Tonello-kun, it's good to see you here." Rias came out of the bathroom wrapped only in a towel. Her long red hair was wrapped in another. "I see you've already met the other club members. You seem smart, so by now you must know that..."
"Yes, I know everyone here is a devil."
"Good, that saves a lot of time. We need to talk about your responsibilities as a devil in this city. You must fulfill them and work with me and Sona Sitri while you begin your peerage. Otherwise, you will be considered a stray devil." Rias said as she walked around her desk.
"That's the part I don't understand yet."
"About becoming a stray devil?" She asked and sat down at the desk, literally, crossing her wet white legs. "If that's what you mean, it's very simple. You are a complete exception in every sense of the word. I asked my brother for the King's piece without much hope. I thought it was impossible that he and the other Maous would agree to give a forbidden Mutant Piece to someone they didn't know. Even so, do you know why they agreed?"
I shook my head. Rias smiled and pointed delicately at my left hand.
"The Boosted Gear," she announced. "Throughout history, in the hundreds or thousands of reincarnations that this Sacred Gear has had, its users have never been enemies of the devils. On the contrary, we have often been allies. The same was true of the Divine Diving, of course. For this reason, my brother, Sirzechs, said that if one of the two wishes to become a devil, no matter how expensive the condition, we devils must accept it."
"However, being the bearer of the Boosted Gear does not exempt you from our customs and codes. Stray devils are not only those who betray their masters, but also those devils who isolate themselves from other devils and become a danger to the existence of our race."
"For thousands of years, being a stray devil was not necessarily a crime. We devils were too self-centered to care how many human lives stray devils hurt... But that changed when the current Maous took command of the underworld and began to change the practices of the Old Maous."
I took a deep breath, crossed my arms, and leaned my back against the wall behind me. "Now I finally understand... Basically, being a stray devil is like being an Omega devil."
"Omega devil?" Kiba asked.
"You know, like with wolves. The leader of a pack is the Alpha. The other members of the pack, subordinate to the Alpha, are the Betas. And the one who doesn't belong to a pack is an Omega wolf."
Rias placed a hand on her chin. "Yes, I believe that's a perfect description. Stray devils are like omega wolves... When despair strikes them and there is no one to help them, they become savage and don't think before they act. That's why they're both so dangerous."
"That means I'm going to have to help them, whether I want to or not," I concluded the matter.
"Yes, if you want to stay here on the surface. If you don't want to help, you'll have to find somewhere to live in the underworld where you won't be a danger to anyone."
That should have been a difficult decision, but the abilities I received with this system seemed to depend on my relationships with people. Not to mention that the heart notification that suddenly appeared when I interacted with Akeno...
Living a life in the underworld seemed tempting to me, since I had the spirit of an explorer, but evolving my relationships with the characters of this world was the main reason I came to this world in the first place.
"Argh... Fine, I'll help you guys. What tasks do I need to do?"