My lovely girlfriend did not drive me to Kuoh. She didn't even give me a car. I should probably buy one soon.
Instead, I stood at the gates of Kuoh, the morning sun already climbing above the old brick buildings. My grey hoodie was pulled low over my forehead, and the black hat pressed down on my hair. My horns ached faintly beneath the fabric.
But I had to come back. I had to keep up appearances. The devils were already watching me—Koneko had made that clear. If I disappeared now, they would come looking, and if they came looking, they might find Ai.
I hoped I could make a deal with them.
My thought was an extremely thin possibility, a desperate attempt. But what kind of deal could I offer? I had some power now, yes—my skills and abilities: Sun Breathing, Shrine, Severed Universe. They were ready and waiting for me to use.
But Rias Gremory had a peerage, magic, resources, centuries of knowledge, and the Power of Destruction. I had a system and abilities I didn't really know how to use—a system that wanted me to live like a pervert, and I had a pregnant girlfriend.
The only question was how much information I should divulge.
There were just too many things I was dealing with at the moment, and the devils were one of the things I didn't want to deal with right now.
I knew ninety percent of the novel. I had read it in my old life. I had also watched the anime and absorbed the lore. I knew that the Fallen Angels were hiding in the church. I knew about Raynare and what she was planning. I knew about Issei's Sacred Gear, the Excalibur fragments, and the war that was coming.
My memory, for some reason, was too good in this life. I held so much information that it would be a waste not to use it to my advantage—especially when I knew about the war that was coming.
If I played this right, I could use that knowledge and trade it for protection. I needed a way to hide Ai, or a guarantee that they would leave her alone. Because even now, there was a high risk of her being discovered, as she now had a new magic system regarding human magic—being able to surpass devil magic.
That was dangerous to possess. Just having the ability of Reality Marbles and the ability to use the magecraft of the Fate series meant a lot.
Or I could keep it close, maybe use it to stay ahead of the game, to never let them know how much I really understood.
The gates loomed ahead. Students filtered past me, laughing, chattering, carrying bags—some had instruments on their backs. I moved forward. None of them looked twice at the boy in a grey hoodie and a black hat. My white hair was a contrast to the norm, but they still did not look back.
My hand touched the brim of the hat, checking that the horns were covered. The hood was thick, the fabric bunched around my forehead. I kept my head down. I kept my mouth shut so others wouldn't notice me, so they wouldn't have a reason to look.
But what about when I have to fight? What about when the system throws another quest at me?
I pushed the thought aside. I had to take one step at a time. First, I had to get through the day, then figure out how to approach Rias Gremory without making myself a target. I did not need their attention.
The main building rose up in front of me—the old stone and stained glass, the kind of architecture that belonged in a European university, not a Japanese high school. The Occult Research Club was somewhere on the top floor, hidden behind doors that most students never thought to question or open.
I had never been inside it, but I knew what waited there. A red-haired devil, her queen, her knights and rooks, even her pawn—the MC of the world. It was a peerage that could tear me apart if they decided I was a threat.
But I'm not a threat. I'm just a nobody who got lucky. That's what Koneko told them, right? A normal human.
The lie tasted sour in my mouth. Nothing about me was normal now.
I walked through the gates, my sneakers scuffing against the pavement, my hands shoved deep in my hoodie pockets. The morning air was cool, carrying the scent of leaves and the distant echo of a train. Students passed in waves, filling the courtyard, heading toward their classrooms.
No one looked at me. No one noticed the boy who had been gone for three days, who had come back with silver hair and horns hidden under his hoodie and hat.
I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.
The first bell rang. I moved with the crowd, keeping my head down, my shoulders hunched. The halls were familiar—the same lockers, the same bulletin boards, the same smell of chalk and floor wax. I had only been here a few days before everything changed, but that routine was already ingrained in me.
I found my classroom, slid into my seat at the back, and kept my face toward the window. The teacher droned, paying attention to the daily students. Some of them whispered. It was normal. Extremely normal these days.
But I could feel it now—the undercurrent beneath the surface, the weight of mana that I could sense. There were a lot of things hiding in plain sight. Koneko was in the building somewhere, her small frame belying the strength she carried. Issei was probably laughing with his friends, unaware of the fate waiting for him. And Rias Gremory sat in her club room, watching.
I wondered if she already knew I was back.
The hat pressed against my horns. The hood itched against my neck. But I still sat there as still as I could be, breathing slowly, keeping my unease underneath, not on my face. I couldn't let them know how I felt.
One day at a time. Prove it to Ai. Prove it to myself. Day by day.
The hours dwindled. Math. History. English. I kept my head down and my mouth shut. I only answered when called upon. No one asked where I had been, and no one pointed out my silver hair hidden under my hood.
But once lunch came, the classroom emptied out, and I stayed at my desk. The door opened.
I didn't need to look up to know who it was.
"Amamiya."
Her voice was flat and quiet—the kind of voice that carried authority without raising its volume.
I looked up to confirm who it was.
Koneko Toujou stood in the doorway, her golden eyes fixed on me, her face as unreadable as ever. She was small, pale, almost invisible among the crowded hall. But I knew what she came for.
"Buchou wants to see you."
I stood up slowly, keeping my head down. My hands stayed in my pockets as the hat pressed against my horns and the hood itched against my neck.
Koneko watched me with those flat golden eyes, her face giving nothing away. She was small, barely over four and a half feet, but I could feel it—the demonic power, the one that put me on edge. What irritated me even more was that smell; it was like a cat that hadn't showered.
The nekoshou blood—the extinct ones, only two known existences that currently exist with that blood in this day and age.
"Buchou wants to see you," she repeated, as I nodded my head and responded, "Lead the way."
The halls were now mostly empty. The lunch period meant most students were in the courtyard or the cafeteria. The few who passed didn't even bother looking at us. Koneko was almost invisible to them, just another quiet girl from the Occult Research Club, and I was just the nobody in a grey hoodie.
Good. Stay invisible.
We climbed the stairs all the way to the third floor, then another flight to the top. The Occult Research Club was in the old school building, a wing that most students wanted to avoid. The rumors said that it was haunted. The truth was even worse.
Koneko stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. She didn't knock. She just opened it and stepped inside.
"Buchou, Amamiya is here."
I followed her in.
The room was larger than I had expected. It was more like a parlor than a club room. There were antique sofas and a long table, bookshelves lining the walls, and stained glass windows that cast colored light across the floor. It smelled like old paper, but there was also something sweet in the air.
It was a perfume. It smelled like apples. And in the center of it all, there was a woman seated behind an ornate desk. It was Rias Gremory.
She was beautiful, but not as much as Ai. But the descriptions in the anime and the look she had then hadn't done her justice. Her crimson hair caught the light like fire, spilling over her shoulder and down her back. Her blue eyes were sharp as they were assessing me, running over me like she was cataloging every single detail I had.
The Kuoh Academy uniform fit her perfectly, the black ribbon at her collar drawing attention to the curve of her neck.
I forced myself to keep calm. I was now in the presence of someone who could accurately see me as a mere bug. The people who backed her could always crush me like an insect.
But then she had spoken.
"Thank you, Koneko, for bringing him... Please have a seat, Amamiya-kun."
She gestured to the chair across from her desk.
At this moment, I wanted to take it in, this existence of being below someone. In the future, I will face it many, many more times. I had to feel this burden of the weak.
I wanted to overcome it.
I moved slowly, keeping my head angled down, my hat low, with the horns pressing against the fabric of my hoodie.
But I had deemed it unnecessary to care about it. I had slowly taken my hood down and let it rest against my neck. In this single motion, I had taken my hood and hat off.
"H, horns?"