When the light faded, Junichiro found himself in his old haunt standing in front of what remained of his first workshop. The sheds were still standing but had begun to rust and the items he'd left inside were nothing but trash now. Not that he'd left much behind.
He stepped into the shed that had acted as his bedroom where he began pulling up the plastic flooring. It was little more than plastic tiles that interlocked together, so fairly easy to take apart. Beneath the flooring was a small metal box with a simple latch that had a tiny lock through it. Something a child might place their precious items inside of to 'protect' them from a sibling or parents. Not exactly the most secure thing on the planet.
Except it was covered in deep scratches that marked out an array of runes. The runes had two purposes. The first, destroy whatever was inside of the box, and the box itself, if it was opened improperly. Second, to send a signal that would let Junichiro know if someone had messed with it. Neither rune array could be disabled without setting them off.
With the box collected, he pulled out his second spell scroll and activated it. After another flash of light, he arrived back at his home inside of his workshop. After his arrival, he walked toward one of his work tables, collecting a small hammer along the way. He set both the box on the table and sat down. A swift strike of the hammer broke the simple little lock and disabled the fail safes.
That's right. The only way to safely open the box was to break the lock. He knew anyone who could recognize his runes for what they were would expect some sort of complex thing that required significant work or something special to open the box. Anyone encountering a magical box would expected it to be trapped somehow and that the most obvious way into it would be the most heavily protected.
He set aside the hammer and the broken lock to flip the box open. He unfolded a bunch of soft towels and revealed the item cradled safely within, "Hello again."
He reached into the box and plucked out the vial containing the Essence of the Blank, one of the two items he'd awoken in this world with. He'd been saving it for so long, knowing he couldn't take it if he was going to become a devil. But the moment he became one...
He admired the small glass vial filled with clear liquid, "Soon."
He set the vial down and went to collect another box. He flipped it open to reveal several metal spheres covered in runes that had been painstakingly engraved with his laser. It wasn't the first set he'd made, in fact he'd been working on previous versions for a long time now. This was the final version he planned to use after the several previous versions. It took him some time to get what he wanted to work right but... Once he installed it, he felt like it would officially raise him to the level of a Master Artificer.
He only considered himself a Journeyman at this point. He was his own hardest critic.
The next thing he grabbed was the Boosted Gear gauntlet, which he set on the table as well. He had made a lot of plans and shortly after he became a devil, his personal power would sky rocket appropriately.
The last thing he would do, before letting Rias turn him, would be to remove Avalon from inside of himself. He'd replace it right after, but he was pretty certain that Avalon would not let the Evil Pieces do their work. It wasn't something he was looking forward to as he'd become accustomed to Excalibur's Sheath protecting him from all harm.
He couldn't help smiling as he thought of the things that Avalon let him do ever since he'd claimed it. Things like grabbing hot metal in his bare hands instead of using tongs. Being immune to the heat, even magically enhanced heat, was a wonder to him and make his work with the forge so much easier. He didn't want to give it up for that reason alone!
With the major items set out for him to look over, he continued to plan his coming change.
Rias sighed as she approached the front door to Junichiro's home. He'd given her permission to teleport in using the circle inside, but she felt she needed to do this properly. Teleporting into someone's home was too informal for what she planned to do.
As she got to the door, she double checked her clothing and made sure everything was still in perfect order. She was wearing an outfit that was best described as business casual. She had on a tight black skirt over pantyhose with short black heels, a white button up shirt, and a black blazer.
She chose her clothing to help set the tone of the conversation she wanted to have with Junichiro. She felt the need to apologize for what Akeno had said and the conversation she'd sparked. She also wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help him with his anger. Thinking back on it scared her. No one should have that much hatred within them. She thought she knew hatred thanks to Akeno and Kiba, she'd been wrong.
The choice of clothing was also because she was hoping to seem more mature and reliable. She still very much wanted Junichiro to join her peerage. There were very few things that could get her to change her mind on that. She'd even written up and improved contract for him, one that guaranteed him all the freedom he wanted.
Only after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves did she ring the doorbell.
Junichiro walked toward his door with a small smile. He'd felt when Rias had walked across his wards and was slightly surprised she'd chosen to come in such a way. When he opened the door and saw what she was wearing, his smile grew. Rias might have been going for a professional look but given her body type and the size of certain, still growing, assets, she looked far more like a sexy secretary. He wondered if she realized that wearing a shirt that was straining to hold her breasts in place wasn't quite as professional looking as she thought.
After taking in the entire package that was 'sexy secretary Rias,' he stood to the side and gestured to the interior of his home, "Come on in Rias-san."