What to do?

Chapter ten. A/N: Read the paragraph comment.

Now face to face with both Rias and Sona, I gave a look of appraisal to the both of them, unsure on what to make of the looks I was getting from either of them.

"You are here, and just on time too." Sona was the first one to break the silence between the two organizers of the meeting. I gave a short nod in response to her, I had made it a point to arrive on time, after all the Sitri's heir did not look like someone who liked people making her wait. "Let's get down to business then. First, I would like to..."

"Woah there." I raised my hands up to put a stop to her; I was not one for formal meetings and I wasn't about to spend my saturday night standing up in the middle of a room answering some questions. "How about we don't do that? I would like to treat this more like a normal conversation. You can ask some stuff after I take a seat; and I will get to ask what I want to ask too."

"Sounds good to me." Rias chirped, hoping into the conversation from her position in the couch. It looked like she was in a far better mood than Sona, though it was understandable given that she was not involved in the mess fighting the Stray. "You are far too tense Sona! He's agreed to talk to us after all."

"... You might be right." Sona agreed with her best friend, but I had a feeling she wasn't quite done just yet. Directing a sharp look at me, she added. "Though you will understand I am a little less... Agreeable than her, given that you did blackmail my servant into standing in her underwear for you to accept coming to this meeting. We can also add to that you looked under her skirt while she was restrained."

"...?" Rias raised an eyebrow at that, directing a curious look at me at that.

"Wait a second there...!" I tried to say, but the moment I had started to talk in my defense I realized something that might make that task more than a little difficult; the simple fact that I had literally done exactly what she was accusing me of. "Ok, I kind of did do that but you are making it sound way worse than it actually was!"

"... Am I?" Sona retorted, not looking all that convinced by my response.

"Look, ask her later if she hated it so much!" Gosh, I totally sounded like a sex offender! I was not doing too hot so far, I needed a change of topic. "We can talk about this later with her, alright? You also conveniently left out the part where I saved her before doing all of that!"

This, I needed to hold onto this. I needed to lead the conversation towards a place where she would feel indebted to me, at least in some level. "... And the fact you send her to stalk me in and out of school too!"

"I did what I considered would be in this town's best interests." Sona replied, but I did sense that she had at least become a little less confrontational. "While I agree what you said is undeniably true, it does also bring up quite a few questions."

Feeling that the conversation was about to head into a place that interested us all far more than the previous topic, I decided it was a good time to get comfortable and take a seat. I picked a sofa that was right in front of the couch that Rias was sitting in.

"I imagine it does." I replied to her, for my next words however I turned towards the redhead that had chosen to remain silent while Sona and I had our little battle with words. "How much do you know about what happened yesterday?"

"Not that much!" Rias replied, a cute pout showing up in her face while she looked at her best friend. It was clear that Sona had avoided to go into the specifics about what had transpired last night. "However, I do know that you -a human- somehow managed to defeat a Stray in a single hit. You also happen to know quite a lot about us Devils, but that's about it."

"I imagine that's what it must have looked like from the outside, yeah." I replied to her, sounding a little too vague for her liking no doubt; to someone that didn't know about my abilities, the short fight was bound to at least look a little confusing.

"So there is more to it, then?" Sona interjected, it was clear that she had her own thoughts about what had transpired.

"Who knows?" Was all I offered back to her, shrugging my shoulders. "There might be more to it, there might not be. That's not the reason behind why we are here though, or is it?"

"It is not." The Sitri agreed, crossing her arms below her breasts. "Let's discuss why were are here then. Specifically, why are you here?"

"That's a broad question." I told her, was she being too vague on purpose? It made sense, if I gave a quick answer without thinking it could end up revealing a little about 'my plans', unfortunately for her though, I didn't have any of them. I am more of an 'in-the-moment' sort of guy! "You mean why I am here in this meeting? Why am I here in this high school? Or maybe even why am I here in Kuoh?"

"Every one of them."

"You might find this answer a little disappointing then." I confessed, a little amused at how Sona had once again forced the conversation into something that resembled more an interrogation than a mutual conversation. "I am here because I wanted to meet Rias. It wasn't me who decided I should come to this school and finally, I just live in this city, there's not much I can say about that..."

"Why me in specific?" Rias decided this was a good chance for her to jump back in. "You know we are both devils, so what's the reason behind picking me in specific?"

"You struck me as a little more approachable." I admitted, I had no problem in confessing that much. Even before this meeting I had felt me and Sona would clash too much for us two to be able to work together, much less for us two to establish a friendship. That's not to say there was something wrong with how she behaved, we just weren't all that compatible. "... No offense!"

"None taken." Sona replied.

"I feel like it's my turn to make a question, then." I stated, it was only fair after all. It was in all of our best's interest to keep the conversation civil, so obviously no one disagreed with my statement.

Now that I was thinking about what to ask them however; I realized there was not much I could ask that I didn't already know, or at least not that much I cared about. Still, there was one or two things that I could bring up that could reveal a little about where they stood.

"You two are High Class Devils, correct?" Both of them nodded at me, neither of them understanding where I was heading with this, for now at least. "Which means the both of you are entitled to a set of Evil Pieces, correct again?"

Again, both nodded at my words, this time however Rias looked much more enthusiastic in her delivery. It looked like she at least had some slight idea where I was heading with all of this, or perhaps both of them did, but she was the one excited the most by what I was insinuating.

It was almost sad to see how desperate she was for even the small chance of recruiting someone that could strengthen her small group. I had a theory on the reason behind why she looked even more desperate than her series counterpart, something that could benefit me or end up dooming us all.

Somehow the actions I took had gotten their attention almost too effectively and as a result, Issei had managed to fly under their radar for the moment. This in consequence meant that Rias had nothing on the table right now, thus making me her best and maybe only exciting new prospect.

"... That in turn puts us all in quite an interesting position. You see, at the present time I am not in alignment with any faction, national or otherwise." I added, there existed numerous amounts of foreign factions outside of the Three Major Factions after all, so it was an important distinction to make. "That however may be subject to change in the not so distant fut-..."

"I am interested." Rias rose up from her seat, interrupting me before I could deliver the question that she proved to be expecting already. With a hand raising up, she placed it on top of her chest and carried on with her response to a question that had not even been delivered yet. "If I am understanding you correctly and you are contemplating to become a Devil, you would be more than welcomed with us."

"Rias, isn't this a little too...?" Sona interjected. The conversation had escalated almost too fast for her liking.

"For now, I am afraid it's a no." My response put a stop to Sona's sentence, making both of them focus their gazes on me. Rias pouted and I had to admit she looked almost too cute to refuse her, but I wasn't quite done talking just yet. "... It's a 'no' for now, at least. It is true that we don't know all that much about each other, so with that in mind I have a proposition."

"How would you feel about the idea of... Hm, how to put a name to this? Let's call it 'organized hunts'."

"Organized hunts?" Rias questioned, and for once ever since the conversation had started it looked like Sona was interested in what I had to say if how she leaned forward was any indication of that being the case.

"It's a concept I think all of us could find some benefit in. I happen to be in a position where I need fights to further develop, and you all have access to the information of when a Stray Devil is around, right?" I inquired, this was a concept I had been thinking for a while. I could get a constant source of fighting and get closer to them, which was something that seemed all the more likely now. Their response was once again, a firm nod.

"With that in mind, how about we organize something were me and... Let's say two members of your group take care of it? You could join us if you want too." I added while looking at Rias, I was certain she was already on board with the idea, no doubt she could also see the other benefits to it too.

"If we do..." Rias added, now following my train of thought. "We could get to know each other better, you could see how we do things from our side and in turn, could help you make a decision at the end?"

"Correct! You are in, then?" I asked, looking for confirmation.

"I am." Rias replied, a soft smile now adorning her features. "We can arrange the little details at the Occult Research Club tomorrow, if it's alright with you."

"If we are done with that." Sona coughed, making us both glance at her. "I will consider that offer for now, but let's move onto a different topic, for instance..."

I smirked while listening to her, the rest of the meeting did not matter to me. I had come here to get Rias interested in me and I was convinced I had not only achieved that, but also managed to arrange at least one confirmed future meeting, and there would be a lot more to come if things went well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Who is it?" The voice of Tsubasa Yura reached my ears through my phone, the moment the meeting with Rias and Sona had finished I decided to give her a call. The reason? Well, other than just wanting to talk with a hot girl, I wanted to arrange a practice match with her.

Her devil powers aside, how far was she from me in a hand-to-hand fight? I do know how to throw a punch, but how would I fair against someone like her who no doubt had at least some real training under her belt? The difference between me and a supernatural being, I needed to see it, I needed to feel it for myself.

"It's me, Akemi." I responded while I kept walking through the streets heading straight home. "You sound a little tired. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, Akemi!" I could hear some sounds in the background of something falling to the ground through the phone. It looked like she had not been expecting me to call her so soon. "I'm fine, it's just been a stressful week... Is the meeting over already?"

"It is."

"... Did it go well?" I could hear the slightest bit of concern bleed from her tone, it was clear to me she feared that things between me and Sona could have easily gone wrong.

"Yeah, no need to worry." I assured her, and I could swear I heard her mumble something that sounded an awful lot like 'I was not worried'. Perhaps it was just my imagination? "Things were a little rough at the start but it looks promising so far."

"So far?" Tsubasa questioned, no doubt noticing that the comment implied future meetings too.

"Yup, Rias told me we could meet at the Occult Research Club to sort some things out. Sona is still on the fence about that, though." I explained to her, stopping myself right in front of a traffic light as I waited for the light to change, the sound of the cars engines momentarily making me unable to hear Tsubasa. Anyway, I'm calling you so we can arrange our own little meeting too."

"... You want to meet again?" Her response came with a short delay. It was a shame this conversation was being held on our phones since I was missing the chance to see her reactions. "What for?"

"Oh, why so cold?" I questioned, chuckling at the silence that followed the question. "Come on, it will be fun. I want to do a quick test, see how I handle myself in a spar with you, how does that sound?"

"You want to spar with me?" Her tone alone made obvious what her answer would be. Tsubasa sounded thrilled, no doubt excited at the chance to prove her strength after being left so defenseless against the spider monster. "I am in!"

Another little appointment now added to my schedule. This next week promised to be quite an eventful one, and I was all for it. The question now was...

What to do with Issei? It looked like thanks to me he had somehow managed to remain under the radar, but is that maybe the desired result? Or is he needed for us to succeed and avoid a tragic end at the hands of whatever enemies I am unaware of?

If so, making Rias aware of the existence of the Red Dragon Emperor could be another shot at gaining her favor… Whatever the case might be, I needed to watch him better from now on. It wouldn't be too long until the Fallen targeted him, I needed to deal with them somehow.

End of chapter ten.