154 Chapter 154: Pampered Cat

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Kuoh Highschool, Kuoh, Japan

February 2007 (~1 year before DxD's first episode)

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Erik was inside one of the rooms located in the old school building. Today was the day of a meeting between him and the two Kings and their peerage to discuss various things. As the time was getting close to the one that was agreed by all parties, Erik started to sense the kids approaching the room. Soon enough, the doors were opened revealing Sona. The King entered the room while being followed closely by her peerage members, Tsubaki Shinra, Momo Hanakai, Tsubasa Yura, and Shirone Toujou.

"Welcome, Sona. Welcome, girls. We still have a little time before the agreed time, so feel free to relax and have something to eat."

Erik said with a smile on his face and sipped from the teacup that was in his hand.

"Thank you, brother."

Sona said while the girls behind her bowed shortly to Erik. She then looked at the center table and saw that it had an assortment of snacks together with a tea set prepared and ready. She tried to keep the cool facade at the sight of all the snacks and almost managed to do it if not for the small smile that appeared on her face. She had grown while being pampered by Erik, that meant all the delicious snacks that she could get whenever she visited her sister and brother-in-law. But all that pampering had the bad effect that she had naturally become very picky with her food, only truly enjoying the food when it was prepared by Erik. Sona took a seat in one of the two empty armchairs and, while keeping her composure, started to serve a small plate for herself, while some of the more 'mature' members of her peerage did the same. Fortunately, for Erik's amusement, not everyone from her peerage had the same behavior. As soon as Sona took a seat and started to serve a plate of snacks for herself, a white blur crossed the room at great speed and was followed by a thud sound. Sona looked to the place where the sound of impact had come and let out a tired sigh.

*sigh*

The youngest member of her peerage, Shirone Toujou, had run directly to Erik and threw herself on his lap. She was now enjoying the big man's headpatts while her white cat ears and tails were showing, with the last one happily swinging from one side to the other. Shirone was a Nekoshou, a very rare species of cat yokai that had its specialty in the use of natural energy. Sona had met the little white cat girl during one of her stays in The Nexus. Shirone had arrived at The Nexus after having been rescued by Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer from one of the illegal laboratories owned by the Naberius family. The two satans had busted the illegal research laboratory after receiving a complete file, that was full of incriminatory evidence, from an anonymous source. During the busting operation, they found the head of the Devil family in the process of live experimenting with his peerage member, a nekoshou named Kuroka. After being rescued and freed from the operation's table, the girl's only concern was about her little sister. Later, with her little sister, Shirone, safely sleeping in her arms, the black cat yokai girl confessed that she had only agreed with the tests to guarantee the safety of her little sister. Fortunately, even with the older nekoshou having agreed to be part of the experiments, Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer had enough evidence to continue with their process of dismantling the place, finding even more evidence against the head of the Naberius Family in the form of cages full of 'missing' nekomatas and civilian Devils.

At a later date, when Kuroka was recovering in one of the rooms inside a hospital in Sitri territory, she received a visit from Magari, the leader of the yokai's nekomata tribe. After identifying herself to Kuroka and saying that a friend of hers told her about Kuroka and Shirone's situation, Magari offered a safe place for both sisters to live, away from any repercussions that they could get in the underworld. Kuroka accepted the offer and, together with a big part of the Nekomata tribe that used to live in the Underworld because of an old accord, they moved into The Nexus with Erik's blessing. In truth, it had been Erik that had anonymously delivered the incriminating file on the Naberius family and it had been Serafall that warned Magari about the girls' situation together with the new danger that had appeared for her tribe in the form of blind retribution.

Both girls quickly fell in love with the new place. Shirone now could go to school and have friends to play with, while Kuroka was happy only seeing her little sister happy. It was during one of the festivals that they met Erik and his wives. They attended the festival accompanied by all of their children plus Sona. It was friendship at the first meeting. Erik's little ones quickly dragged Shirone to play with them and Sona, making the two girls become fast friends and leaving Kuroka to stay alone with the other adults to talk. The friendship between the two girls continued to flourish and when Sona received her Evil Pieces, she invited Shirone to join her peerage as a Rook. Wanting to follow the footsteps of her big sister, Kuroka, who had ended up joining Serafall's peerage as the Satan's second Bishop, Shirone happily accepted Sona's invitation but only received the piece a year later due to her young age.

"Shirone!"

Sona said, calling for the little girl's attention.

"What is it, Sona? Don't you see that I am enjoying big brother's headpatts?"

Shirone asked back without losing the focus of what was important right now for her: headpatts. Sona, seeing where the situation was taking her, just sighed in desperation, getting some giggles from the other girls.

*sigh*

In truth, she very much wanted to do the same that Shirone was doing now, but it would not look good for her 'King' image to be seen being pampered by Erik. The girls continued to enjoy their snacks while Shirone continued to receive headpatts while munching into a cookie. Some minutes later, the doors opened again and Rias entered the room while being closely followed by her peerage members, Akeno Himejima, Yuuto Kiba, Gasper Vlad, and Valerie Tepes.

Seeing the atmosphere that the room was in, with everyone enjoying some tea and snacks, Rias just smiled and took her seat at the empty armchair while her peerage took the sofa. Soon enough, everyone was enjoying their tea with snacks.

"Did you want to talk with us, Lord Ravenclaw?"

Rias asked when she felt that it was the right time for the talks to start. Erik nodded his head in confirmation while putting down his cup of tea.

"Yes, I did. This is more of me wanting to know about how your plans are going compared to the initial ones and what you two intend to do from now on."

Erik said and looked at both Kings, waiting for their answers.

"Well, as you already know, I recently managed to get elected as the President of the Student's Council after staying as the Treasurer during my first year."

Sona said proudly. Her election to the office had been very smooth thanks to Erik's initial idea to build her reputation within the school first.

"And recently, I managed to recruit Tsubasa to my peerage."

Sona said while looking at the blue-haired girl. Tsubasa Yura had been a lucky find of hers. The seemingly normal girl had an abnormal high strength for a human and since she was young, and before reincarnating into a Devil, was able to see and touch supernatural beings or phenomena. She would engage in fights with monsters or evil spirits and defeat them with martial arts alone, but could not defeat stronger ones. Her reincarnation into a Devil with a Rook Evil Piece allowed her strength to be boosted to new heights together with her durability. Erik smiled and nodded his head in understanding.

"Anyone that you are keeping your eye on?"

Erik asked Sona, who nodded her head.

"Yes. There are some students that I think have potential."

Sona replied, making Erik nod his head.

"Yes. There are some individuals in the school that have potential."

Erik said, catching the attention of the two Kings.

"Can you tell us their names, Lord Ravenclaw?"

Rias asked while trying to keep her image of an unshakable beauty. Erik then shook his head in answer.

"No, I can't. It's part of the experience of a King to headhunt."

Erik said mysteriously, making Rias and Sona sigh in defeat. They both knew that if Erik didn't want to tell, they would not manage to get anything from him. Seeing their reactions, Erik smiled internally and decided to throw bait for them.

"Let me just say this for you two. The top three unaffiliated humans with the most potential in the school at the moment are first-year students."

Erik said, putting the two Kings into pensive moods. He had played a little with the words on purpose there. But his words were not false at all. Issei, Saji, and Aika were all first-year students. After giving them some time to think, Erik turned to Rias.

"How about you, Miss Gremory? How are your plans going?"

Erik asked Rias. The tratative was just to reciprocate the way that she was calling him. Rias was shaken from her thoughts by the question and looked at Erik before replying.

"They are going well. I have not had the same luck as Sona with new members for my peerage, but I have my eyes on some people too. It is just too early to say if they would be a nice fit for our little family or not."

Rias replied, getting a nod from Erik. He knew that she was lying about having her eyes on students, but didn't want to call her for it. Erik knew that Rias had investigated the past of almost the entire school, going back as long as possible in their family history in search of some 'good blood', but she had given up when found nothing beyond some distant relative of a famous priest that showed no visible potential in the art. It was her problem if she didn't want to share, not his. Erik had already given them a good bone to look for. Correction: three good bones.

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a/n: about Shirone in Sona's peerage and not in Rias'. Like I said, the girl wanted to follow her big sister's steps and since Kuroka had joined Serafall's peerage after meeting the Satan and getting to know the other members of the peerage, Shirone joined Sona's peerage.