Chapter 36: Meet the Father!

Izumi was in his seat thinking about the next chapters of his story when he felt a presence in his vicinity. He quickly recognized the person and felt an arm wrapped around his shoulder.

"Izumi! Have you done your science homework?" asked Tooru in distress.

Confused, Izumi asked,

"Why?"

"Because I didn't do mine and it's due for today!"

Izumi sighed and gave his homework.

"You owe me one.."

"Thank you, Izumi! You're a lifesaver!" Tooru said before running to his seat and doing his homework.

"What was that about?" asked Hori when she came by Izumi's seat.

Izumi shrugged his shoulders,

"Apparently, someone didn't do his homework."

"Oi!" retorted Tooru who heard him.

Hori turned around to glare at the purple-haired teen.

"Tooru, why didn't you do your homework," she asked as she stomped her way to his seat.

Sweat rolled down his forehead, as Tooru had a frightened expression.

"Huh... I forgot... my... homework." he started before ending his sentence in a whisper.

"That's irresponsible Tooru," she sighed before adding,

"At least don't copy everything."

"Thank you very much, Hori-sama!" Tooru thanked her before continuing to complete the homework.

Hori simply shook her head before going to her seat and the class bell rang signalling the start of the class.

It was during the second period of the class when he received an alert from one of his drones. As he checked on its location, he noticed that the alert was coming from Kuoh more precisely Kuoh Academy. Intrigued, he decided to check what it was all about. Sensing that no one was watching him, Izumi closed his eyes and opened the channel of the drone in question. When the image cleared, he could see four students. There were three boys and one girl.

'Aren't those the Perverted Trio? And who's that beside them.' Izumi thought.

Izumi decided to activate the built-in microphone in the drone.

[Matsuda! Motohama! Let me introduce someone] said Issei gesturing to the girl beside them

[Woah! Who is this pretty girl?] asked the bald boy, Matsuda, as he started breathing heavily at the sight of the girl beside Issei.

[Wait a minute! What's a girl doing beside you? They are supposed to run away at the very mention of your name since you are the most perverted out of all of us] shouted the glasses-wearing boy, Motohama, as he was jealous of Issei.

[Hahaha! Let me tell you. This is my girlfriend Amano Yuuma. Yuuma, these are my best friends, Motohama and Matsuda.] Issei introduced the girl to his friends.

[Hello. I'm Amano Yuuma] greeted the girl.

'Wait this is when Issei shows off his so-called girlfriend. That means that girl is Raynare. So Highschool DxD has started huh' Izumi thought as he observed the conversation. He could detect the corrupted Holy power from Raynare with his drone. Unfortunately, that was the only thing he could analyze since he didn't pour much mana into the drone as he didn't want it to be detected by the devils.

[What!] shouted Issei's friends.

The boy then got closer to them and whispered,

[Yeah and, you know the best part, she. Asked. Me. Out.] Issei said as he punctuated each word rousing more jealousy and shock from his friends.

[If you stop jacking, you might get yourself a girlfriend too.] Issei had a huge smirk as he shamelessly showed off his new "girlfriend".

Izumi pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing at the sheer hypocrisy and irony oozing out of Issei's mouth.

His friends were still in shock and speechless.

Turning to Yuuma, Issei said,

[Let's go Yuuma.]

[Okay!]

Speaking of the devils, Izumi picked up a reading of Demonic Energy from the vicinity. He controlled the insect drone and turned around and spotted a girl behind the wall of the school looking directly at where Issei and his group were standing. He saw that he had another drone close to her and since he didn't want to move the drone in case of alerting her, he switched channels.

Once the camera view changed, he had a better view of the stalker. Izumi saw an eyebrow rose when he saw that it was a small girl with white hair and a deadpan expression that was silently eating cookies.

'That's right. Rias already had an eye on Issei so she sent Koneko to spy on him.' he thought once he recognized the white-haired Nekoshou, Koneko.

He could also sense the strange energy flowing in her that Kuroka had, but this one was heavily suppressed. He figured that this was the Senjutsu life-force Nekoshous had.

'Since today is Saturday, that means Issei is going to die tomorrow.' he thought nodding a little.

Seeing enough, he disconnected from his drones and returned to listen to his teacher ramble on the history of Japan. He looked around and could practically see that everyone was almost asleep because of the teacher's boring class.

After what seemed like an eternity, the bell soon rang and it was time to leave the class.

As he was leaving the class, Hori approached Izumi once everyone was out of sight. It amazed Izumi that no one noticed her interacting with him since she was so popular even if the semester only started a little more than a month ago.

"Hey, Izumi, are you going to come?" she asked.

"To your house?"

"Where else?", she deadpanned.

Izumi simply chuckled in reply.

"Sure!"

"Alright, but first we need to go get. groceries. Are you staying for lunch?" she asked a little hopeful.

Izumi could see her eagerness and accepted. Besides, he liked her food.

"Yeah, sure!"

"Great, let's go!" she said and turned around.

Izumi couldn't help himself from smiling as her cheery aura was affecting and followed her.

He took out his phone and texted his mother that he was going to the Hori household.

[Ok! Have fun, but not too much since I don't want to be a grandmother yet. :)]

Izumi could feel the blush spreading across his face. He quickly pocketed his phone and tried to distract himself.

"What are you getting?" he asked her once they started walking towards the stores.

"I was thinking of getting eggs and rice to make some omurice," she replied as she looked through her list.

"Then, do you want me to bring some cake over to your house?"

"Miyamura, I love your cakes, but you can't always bring some," she said looking at him.

"Why not?"

"Because Souta will have cavities if he continues to eat your sweets. And you can't refuse him when he asks."

Izumi dramatically placed his hand on his heart.

"You wound me Hori-san. I would never do that to Souta. Besides, can you say no to that face?" he asked.

Hori lightly slapped Izumi's shoulder before sighing,

"You're right! And it makes me mad! Like how can I a say to that face!" she grumbled.

They were silent for a few seconds before starting to giggle.

"How about this? I'll buy ingredients to bake a cake and we will make it at your house." Izumi suggested.

Hori thought about it before agreeing,

"Okay, but you're not buying."

"What do you mean?"

"I brought money just for this occasion." before showing off her purse.

Thirty minutes later, they stepped out of the shop with plastic bags full of groceries.

"Alright, let's go home to make the food." declared Hori.

They arrived at her house and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, they could hear incoming stomping feet.

"Onee-chan! Nii-chan is also here!"

"Souta/Yo Souta!" said Hori and Izumi at the same time.

As always, the little boy went to hug the black-haired teen.

"Why do you always go hug Miyamura-kun?"

The little boy could only reply in his own way,

"Because he's Nii-chan," Souta stated like it was the most obvious answer.

Izumi took the opportunity to tease,

"You hear that Hori-san? He hugs me because I'm Nii-chan."

"Ha. Ha." Hori said mockingly before taking off her shoes and going into the kitchen with the groceries.

"What are you doing here Nii-chan?" the little boy asked with excitement.

"Well, your sister invited me here and I'm going to help her make the food."

"Ag! Did you bring a cake?"

"No, but I got something better."

"Really, what is it?"

"Your sister and I are going to bake one here. Do you can ask for any type of cake you want."

"Woah! Then I want a chocolate cake."

"As you wish, young master," Izumi replied as he ruffled Souta's hair before joining Hori in the kitchen.

"You're here Miyamura-kun, can you put the rice in the rice cooker?"

"Yes ma'am!" he gave a salute and went to wash the rice.

Hori's eyes stayed on Izumi's form.

'It's like we are a married couple."

*SLAP*

She suddenly slapped herself. Hearing the noise and the red mark on her cheek, Izumi asked worryingly,

"Hori-san, are you okay?"

She quickly stammered out an excuse,

"T-There was just a mosquito on my face."

Izumi called bullshit but didn't call out and let her be.

"Okay, then just be careful," he said before turning back to wash the rice.

Hori also turned around quickly as her face turned red from embarrassment.

'What kind of thoughts am I having!? What is wrong with you Hori? We're not even dating and you thinking about marriage.'

She didn't realize that she started chopping her green onions hard.

'I wonder what kind of thoughts she's having?' Izumi thought when she saw her chopping.

He finished washing the rice and put it in the rice cooker before cracking eggs open.

He looked at her back and sighed. It has been some time, but, every time he saw her, he would feel his heart clench and beat harder. A sudden rush starting from his heart would spread all over his body. He would sometimes become entranced at her and would never get tired of looking at her. The problem? He didn't how to go further. He wanted to express his feelings to her, but he just couldn't find the words. It was like every time he would try to think about confessing or something, his throat would bottle up and no words would come out. How should he even go about? The only clue that he had that she may be interested in her was the monologue she said when he was sick. But even then, he was so out of it that he couldn't even confirm it. So he decided to stick with teasing her for now.

Izumi simply smiled before he finished cracking the eggs open in a bowl and passed it to Hori.

"Here you go Hori-san. I'll go start on the cake."

"Oh. Can I help?" she asked hopefully.

Izumi completely turned towards her and looked dead into her eyes,

"Do you remember what happened last time?"

Hori blushed and avoided Izumi's eyes,

"It was an accident," she grumbled.

"But it still caused a mess."

They were silent for a minute before Izumi sighed,

"Alright, you can help me, but you have to follow each of my instructions."

Hori pumped her fist,

"Yes, Miyamura-kun!"

Izumi began to gather the ingredients for the cake while Hori made the egg. After 15 minutes, The omurice was done and the cake was now set to be placed in the oven.

"Congratulations Hori, you have finally prepared the batter without a mess."

"Shut up!" she lightly slapped Izumi when his words left his mouth.

Izumi chuckled and spoke,'

Okay, you prepare the plates, and I'll put the cake in the oven.

"Sure." Hori turned around and took out three plates for Souta, Izumi and her and placed the omurice in them before bringing them to the living room.

Izumi on the other hand placed the cake in the oven and set the timer for twenty minutes before joining the family.

"Onee-chan is the food ready?" said Souta when he saw his sister come with three plates of steaming omurice on a platter.

"Yup, come sit."

"Where's Onii-chan?"

"He's in the kitchen putting the cake in the oven."

"Oh, okay." the little boy said before sitting down at the table.

A minute later, Izumi came out of the kitchen and joined them at the table. As he sat down, they all said,

"Itadakimasu!" before digging in the food.

They soon finished eating the meal just in time for the cake to finish baking. Izumi went back to the kitchen and brought back the cake after covering it in icing and they happily dug in. Souta went to his room to finish his work and Hori and Izumi went to wash the dishes used. Once they finished, the girl asked Izumi,

"Hey, Miyamura-kun, do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure, which one?" Hori beamed and they went back to the living room before sitting on the floor in front of the TV. She opened the drawer beneath the TV and pulled out multiple DVDs.

"I have these." she proudly showed off the horror movies.

Izumi already knew about her love for horror movies so he just smiled.

"Then let's watch what you recommend," he said.

Izumi didn't have any opinion regarding horror movies since they all felt too fake for him. Besides, his life was already hectic enough to dull him from these movies.

Hori put the DVD in the player and soon the movie began to play. Throughout the movie, Izumi looked at the girl beside him as a sadistic smile appeared on her face when she watched the movie. She would sometimes laugh during what were supposed to be jump scares or gore scenes. After two hours, the movie finally ended.

"Let's watch another one," Hori said still in her horror movie high. Izumi wanted to object that they had watched enough horror and gore for today when he felt a presence approach the house. But what shocked me was the fact that he could sense the mana in the presence. He tensed but made sure to not alert Hori as she was choosing her next film. He could feel the door of the house being unlocked and the door opened.

Izumi's instinct flared when the person with mana approached the living room, but he calmed himself to not cause a scene.

A male voice suddenly resounded throughout the house.

"I'm home!"

Suddenly, at the doorway to the living room entrance, appeared a tall man with long silver hair covering his eyes with long sleeves shirt and jeans.

"Dad!/Kyousuke!"

"That's right Daddy's home!" he held out his arm when Souta barreled into his open arms hugging him.

Izumi was simply in shock.

'That's Hori-san's dad!?'

The man soon noticed Izumi,

"Huh? Who's the boy?"