—
Shadows swallowed the room whole, broken only by the faint glow of scattered candles.
Curtains drifted gently before an open window, revealing the moon beautifully embraced by the night sky.
In the dark room sat two girls on separate sofas, facing each other, one with crimson hair and the other with raven black hair. Both had teacups in their hands.
Akeno took a long sip of her tea.
"So I made the call to Grayfia to start the process to unseal Gasper…" Rias said.
Akeno lowered her cup. "I see. So when can we expect the order to go through?"
"Normally it wouldn't take too long…"
"But…" Rias sighed. "My brother just happened to be standing right next to her when I called."
Akeno stilled for just a moment, and blinked "...Oh my. That does complicate things, doesn't it?"
Rias leaned back into the cushions. Just remembering the conversation with Sirzechs was making her head throb.
It was supposed to be simple—fill out a form and submit evidence that Gasper was in control.
Grayfia herself had told her as much.
But after her brother heard what she was trying to do…
It would be an understatement to say he wasn't calm about it.
"To spare you the details…" Rias rubbed her temple. "My brother, in all his wisdom, decided an inspector was necessary to confirm if Gasper is truly fit to be unsealed."
Akeno set her cup down gently. "Well… Gasper will pass. You know that." A small smile touched her lips. "And if it helps, I'll make sure of it personally."
"That's great…" Rias's expression didn't ease up. "But there's still a problem. The person he's sending as inspector…"
Akeno raised a brow.
"...is Grayfia."
Silence enveloped them both.
"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Akeno said.
Rias stayed quiet, 'This is all Brother's fault… If he hadn't been there, Grayfia would have helped push it through quietly. But now that he's sending her…'
Rias's jaw tightened.
"Yes, it is." Rias stood. "Which is why we can't afford to leave Gasper unprepared. Knowing my brother, he won't ask Grayfia to go light on the evaluation."
"Did she say when she's coming?"
"No. Just that she'd come when she has time." Rias moved toward the door, locking into a resolute stance. "Which with Grayfia could mean tomorrow morning."
She glanced back. "Come on."
Akeno rose from the sofa without complaint. "We're going to Gasper, I take it."
"Obviously."
"...Right." Akeno looked away, just slightly. "Well, about Gasper."
Rias turned fully. "What about him?"
"Koneko is out on contracts tonight, right?"
Rias raised a brow at the unrelated question, but nodded anyway. "She is."
"Well, when Koneko is out… Gasper tends to go on what he describes as 'long, enthusiastic walks at night'…."
Akeno paused for a moment.
"His words, not mine."
Rias stared at her for a long moment.
"...So he's not here."
"I'm afraid not."
Rias closed her eyes briefly and let out a breath through her nose.
"...Of course he isn't."
*****
The streets were crowded with people—most of them businessmen heading home after a long day, some of them students walking with friends fresh out of club activities.
But one stood out among the crowd.
A boy in a middle school uniform, his brown hair cut off into two short tails at the back. Unlike everyone around him, he wasn't looking at the ground or at a peer beside him.
He was staring directly at the sky.
'Nothing. Just like every other day.'
Issei Hyoudou was looking for something he genuinely could not explain—or better put, someone he could not explain.
"The Man In the White Mask." "The Man That Made The World Stop." Those were the names he'd been using, for lack of anything better.
But no matter who he asked, he always came up empty. He'd even gone looking for urban legends online and found almost nothing—just some scattered posts about glowing red lights spotted around Kuoh at night.
That was it.
Three months of nothing, and he was still out here staring at the sky like an idiot on his walk home.
Issei sighed. '...Maybe mom was right. Maybe it really was just… a bad dream.'
He was just tired of it.
Slowly, he turned and started walking.
He cut through Kuoh Park on his way home, the same shortcut he'd taken a hundred times.
'Maybe it's better if I just stop and focus on entrance exams…'
He flipped open his phone and checked his calendar. '...After all, they're right around the corner ar—'
BOOOOOM!
An explosion rang out somewhere deeper in the park. The shockwave hit the trees hard—leaves tore loose, and a wall of wind rushed straight at him. Issei planted his feet and hunched forward, arms spread wide, trying his hardest not to blow away like a kite.
As the wind died down, he straightened up and looked around. "What the hell was that!?"
Then, from somewhere in the dark ahead of him, a voice cut through the trees.
"You've got a lot of nerve stepping into my territory." Someone said with an extremely calm yet strained female voice.
"Honestly, I don't know whether to be surprised by the boldness of your sneak attack or insulted by your stupidity, Mr. Stray Devil." said the same voice.
Issei stood completely still.
Then, slowly, he looked up.
The sky above the park was purple.
A chill ran straight down his spine.
But he ignored his natural instinct and walked toward the voice anyway.
"MHM! Is running your mouth the only thing you're capable of, Sitri?" A distorted voice rang out from the clearing ahead.
Making his way through some bushes, Issei stepped into a small clearing—and stopped.
In the middle of it stood something that could not be described as human.
It was a humanoid figure, easily eight feet tall. Its body was grotesquely defined, lined with far too many abdominal muscles. It had one head… with three faces one for each side.
And oh my, its hands….
'Oh god…' A wave of nausea hit him just from looking at them.
Each hand had thirteen fingers.
And a short distance away from the creature stood a girl with glasses.
She had dark hair cut into a neat bob. One hand clutched her left shoulder, blood pouring through her fingers.
Blood also covered the left side of her face, completely blinding one eye.
FLAP!
Issei looked up—and saw a swarm of bats circling overhead as they swam in the sea of purple.
"You know, I thought it would have been harder to catch the great Leviathan's sister off guard." The stray devil put his right hand forward; purple lightning cracked to life, forming into a shape resembling a spear.
The stray swung it—
SHING!
The strike cleaved a row of trees cleanly in half.
He rested the thunder spear across his shoulders, arms draped over it.
"But I guess even if the apple comes from the same tree, it never tastes quite as sweet."
Issei's eyes widened. 'HOLY SHIT MAGIC'S REAL!!!'
"Still… a paycheck's a paycheck."
A grin spread across his twisted faces.
"But at least make it a bit fun for me, okay?"
The girl scoffed. "So I have a bounty, huh? That's news to me."
"Well, since you'll be dead in a bit, there's no harm in telling you—there's no bounty on your head. My client just wanted to hurt your sister for being a fake Leviathan or something like that. I didn't really pay attention to her rant, you know, Old Satan faction, full of lunatics, didn't really want to catch the disease."
Sona's eyes were glaring daggers.
"I'm afraid you're just simply collateral."
The stray moved his spear and spun it in his hands, passing it over several times. "But don't you worry that pretty little head of yours; after all, it won't be yours for long."
He stopped spinning the spear and pointed it right at her. "It will make a fine piece in my collection."
With speed that Issei could not follow, the stray moved to close the distance.
Now right in front of her, the stray thrust his spear at her head—but she tilted her head just in time, letting the tip slit her cheek.
Moving quickly, Sona opened her palm, facing right at the stray's abdomen, a blue circle coming to life.
The stray, feeling the demonic power, opened his main mouth, a yellow magic circle forming, as he snapped his head down.
Both circles released their spells: a wave of thunder and a beam of energy clashing—
BOOOOM!
It exploded right on impact, creating a veil of smoke.
Two figures jumped out of the smoke, the stray closing the distance on the retreating Sona.
Sona stretched her arm toward the nearby fountain. Water surged toward her palm, trembling slightly as she forced it under her control.
With a sharp motion, it split—forming six large serpent heads.
And with a flick of her hand, she sent them right at the stray.
The stray grinned at the spell and rushed forward, leaping over one as it snapped at him.
As another lunged at him—
SHING!
He brought his spear up and cut right through it and the tree behind it, cleanly in two.
But the severed head didn't fall.
The water twisted and split…
And became two.
"Huh… cut it and it reforms making another? That's actually pretty good…" a familiar male voice called out from somewhere above Issei.
Issei slowly looked up and saw… a blond guy about his age, maybe younger, wearing a sailor suit, sitting on a tree branch scribbling in a notebook.
Right on the cover of the book was a title: "Cool Spell Ideas to Throw at Kiba. VOL NO. 4"
Issei didn't know who Kiba was.
But he couldn't help but feel bad for him.
But then Issei saw it….
There was a white cat right on the boy's left shoulder.
The same white cat, the man in the mask had…
Issei got to his feet and pointed. "IT'S YOU!"
Gasper blinked, tilting his head as he looked down at Issei. "Ummm… do I know you?"
"Uh, well… not really… I guess." Issei's face flushed with embarrassment. 'Man, this is not going exactly like I imagined it would.'
Then Gasper squinted. "Wait a sec… that horrible haircut… no way… is your name Issei by any chance?"
Issei's eyes widened. "HOW? HOW DID YOU KNOW!?"
"Keep your voice down, idiot!"
The stray stopped in his tracks and turned one of his faces toward the noise. "What? A human? But how? I set up a barrier."
Sona, hearing this, turned to look—and froze when she saw Issei pointing straight up at Gasper.
Gasper sighed and closed his book. "Way to go, Mr. Bad Hairdo. Now they know we're here."
Gasper closed his eyes.
"Well, you two only got yourselves to blame," the stray said, opening a mouth from its side, a light blue circle igniting, releasing a beam of frost right at them!
Sona, seeing that, tried to get one of her snakes to move them out of the way…
But it was too late.
Seeing the beam right in front of him, Issei shut his eyes and said the only word that felt right.
..."Fuck."
"Now…"
BOOOOOOM!!!
.
.
TICK!!! TOCK!!!
"The world is at a standstill."
Before Issei could even react, something yanked him off his feet as he was flung into the air!
But just as he was about to hit the ground, two sets of sharp cat claws dug into his clothes, halting his fall.
Blinking, Issei looked at his shoulder—and froze. The same white cat from before was dragging him like he weighed nothing, all while still perched on Gasper's shoulder.
'Since when were cats this strong!?'
He glanced back at where he'd been standing—and saw the beam, frozen in midair.
Then he turned to look at the girl and the stray, but…
The girl was gone!
And the stray wasn't moving either, as if he was locked mid-motion like someone had hit the pause button on him.
All Issei could hear were the footsteps of the blond boy and the wind as he passed through the field.
"Four seconds have passed."
"Five seconds have passed."
"Six seconds have passed."
Issei felt a grip on his back—and got thrown again, landing hard in some bushes. "WOAH!"
He scrambled back up as fast as he could.
"What the… how the hell are you moving?!" Gasper said, eyes wide.
Before Gasper could keep going, Shiro tapped him on the cheek.
"Huh? Oh right."
He looked up.
"Time begins to flow once more."
BOOOOOOOM!!
The beam of frost hit where they'd just been, turning everything in its path into ice sculptures.
Gasper turned to Issei and brought a finger up to his own lips.
Issei got the message.
The stray looking at his handy work just turned away from it, getting ready to cut down the injured Sona.
But…
His eyes widened.
SHE WAS GONE!
Tap.
Tap.
He heard footsteps right behind him.
"Your next line is 'Where the hell did she go?'"
"Where the hell did she go—"
"..."
"!!!!!!!"
The stray swung around, swinging his spear right at Gasper. Only to hit…
A bubble?
BOOOOM!!!!
Right as the spear distorted the form of the bubble, the energy stored right inside exploded outward!
Blanketing him in a cloud of smoke.
…
As the smoke slowly settled.
The stray could be seen standing, his hair messy.
"Huh." The stray rolled his neck. "Not bad. I kind of felt that." He said showing a toothy smile.
Sona, tucked in a nearby bush, sat up—and froze. A boy stood beside her, arms crossed, brown hair and uniform swaying in the wind.
A white cat sat beside him.
Issei had only one thought in his mind…
'That shit…'
Issei's eyes were reflecting Gasper back.
'…was badass.'
Gasper swiped at his side. A steel ball appeared out of nowhere, dropping right into his palm.
The stray's grin spread wide across all three faces. "Show me what you got, kid!"
Gasper took a step forward.
And so did the stray.
Their eyes locked right at each other!
….
"SONO CHINO SADAME!!!!!!!~♬"
They both stopped.
Gasper put up a finger. "Hold on a sec."
He reached into his pocket and flipped open his phone.
His ringtone blaring loud for all to hear—
"JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!!!!!"
Beep!
He pressed it to his ear. "Yell-ow."
"Where are you?" A somewhat emotionless voice said from the other side.
"Oh, just taking a walk; so what's up?"
"Is Shiro with you?"
"Uh, yeah, why?"
A vein throbbed on the stray's forehead. His teeth ground together.
"No reason… just get back soon; it's anime time, and you owe me ten youkan… and a mountain of meat."
Gasper frowned. "Huh!? When the hell did I rack up that debt?"
"...don't question it."
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE IGNORING ME!?" the stray said, leaping right at Gasper.
Gasper simply took a step forward.
"[LAGTRAIN]!"
The stray's spear pierced straight through Gasper's abdomen.
Issei's and Sona's eyes went wide.
….
"Hey…" a sharp voice rang out from behind the stray as the Gasper embedded in the stray's spear suddenly exploded into pixels.
Issei's jaw dropped at the sight.
"Koneko, I'll have to call you back."
"Mhm, alright."
Gasper closed his phone, his whole body covered in a flowing blue aura.
"Hey, Bastardo," he turned to face the devil, his eyes burning with rage. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone on the phone?"
"I don't care; just fight me already!!!"
Gasper took a step forward.
A silver figure with blue glasses and spikes for hair shimmered to life as Gasper pointed at the stray.
"Fine, then allow me…"
[LAGTRAIN] draped an arm on Gasper's shoulder as it lowered its head to the same level of Gasper's and pointed right at the stray with him.
"To teach you some manners."
←—TO BE CONTINUED—