At Kuoh Academy, the morning began like any other: regular human students (or at least those who thought they were) strolled through the courtyard, chatting about exams, club drama, and what on earth the new cafeteria was putting in the soup. The sun shone brightly enough to fool even the most vigilant fallen angel, and a light breeze rustled the trees as if the school itself were breathing.
In the Third Year classroom, Rias Gremory was already seated at her desk. Impeccable as always, her long crimson hair cascaded like a fiery waterfall over her shoulders. But if anyone paid close attention—and Akeno certainly did—they'd notice Rias wasn't exactly focused on the notes in front of her.
Her eyes were fixed on a specific chair. The one by the window, in the last row behind her.
Empty.
"Staring at his chair again?" Akeno appeared beside her friend, resting her chin in her hands as if watching a romantic comedy. "Keep this up, and you'll build a shrine to him, Rias."
Rias crossed her arms, trying to maintain her composure. Trying.
"Don't be ridiculous. I need to review his part of the literature project. The deadline's tomorrow, and if he's late…"
"Right, right. It's all about deadlines. Absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Kazuya is criminally handsome, with those intense eyes and… well, everything else."
Rias huffed, but her attempt at indignation was betrayed by a slight blush on her cheeks.
From a certain perspective that came later, it was wild to think she and Kazuya had only known each other for a little over a week. But in seven days, he'd managed what countless demon suitors, nobles, and underworld warriors hadn't: making her heart race with a single glance. If that weren't enough, he was essentially someone her brother had prepared to join her peerage and save her from that dreadful arranged marriage. In her mind, after some thought, wasn't he like a knight in shining armor?
In her arrogance, she hadn't even considered that he might refuse her offer to become a demon later, something she planned to propose this weekend…
To Kazuya (blissfully unaware), Rias was just a classmate, someone he worked on a literature project with after school. They'd spent an entire afternoon together at his house, where she'd nearly given in to her desires.
"I'll admit he has a dangerous charm," Akeno said, a playful smirk on her lips. "But you're acting like a lovesick schoolgirl. Oh, wait…"
"Akeno," Rias warned, narrowing her eyes. "I'm a Gremory. I don't get 'lovesick.'"
"Of course not. You just reread the same paragraph of his essay three times a night because you love literature… and his handwriting."
The bell rang, and students began filing into the classroom. Voices, footsteps, desks scraping. But Kazuya's seat remained empty.
Rias sighed and closed her notebook, trying to act like she wasn't waiting. Like his absence hadn't inexplicably thrown her entire morning off balance.
She turned to the chalkboard, determined to focus on the lesson. But deep down, her thoughts betrayed her, lingering on a persistent image: Kazuya, smiling with that distracted air, running his fingers through his hair while talking about how modern literature underestimated the power of metaphors.
The classroom door opened softly, as if pushed by the wind itself, but the effect was almost like a thunderclap. Sona entered with her usual student council president poise—impeccable, sharp, and perfectly boring. Tsubaki followed behind like an elegant shadow, always one step back, as if the universe had decided even vice-presidents needed dramatic presence.
Some students straightened up. Others just pretended not to care, a respectable feat considering Sona could deliver glares sharper than a holy blade.
"You think she noticed the empty chair too?" Akeno whispered to Rias, her eyes dancing with amusement.
Rias didn't respond but followed the student council president's gaze, which briefly swept over the back row without pausing, without showing anything. Or at least nothing a normal person would catch. Rias, however, wasn't exactly normal. And she knew Sona well enough to spot the slight tightening of her lips. Interest? Curiosity? Or just her usual need to control every situation? After all, Kazuya had skipped class, and Sona wasn't a fan of that…
Before Rias could draw any conclusions, the teacher entered. She was the typical figure who tried to seem authoritative but whose posture screamed, "I gave up fighting this class years ago." She dropped a stack of notebooks on the desk and began scribbling characters on the board with the energy of someone who'd rather be sipping coffee at home.
"Good morning, class. Open your books to page 112. Today we'll continue studying the poems of…"
"Teacher!" A female voice interrupted. It came from the third row, where one of the girls from Kazuya's infamous and increasingly noisy fan club raised her hand with enthusiasm. She was the same one who handed out flyers with his face and phrases like, "The Third-Year Prince smiles at everyone… but does he smile for *you*? Find out!"
Rias narrowed her eyes. This was going to be something.
The teacher stopped writing and turned slowly, as if bracing for someone to announce they'd summoned a dragon in the classroom (which, at this school, wasn't such an absurd possibility).
"Yes, Sakamoto?"
"Do you know where Kazuya is?" the girl asked with a sincerity bordering on soap opera drama. "He's never late. Did something happen?!"
The room fell silent. Some students, mostly girls, turned, as if only then noticing his absence.
The teacher scratched her head, torn between explaining the situation and wondering why this was relevant to literature class.
"Oh, right… he called the office this morning. Said he had a personal issue and needed to miss today."
The response hit like an emotional bombshell. A collective murmur followed, then sighs, worried glances, and—in the case of the fan club—notes in their notebooks with titles like "Kazuya: Mystery and Suffering?"
Rias remained still, her face impassive, but inside, something tightened. Personal issues? He hadn't mentioned anything like that during their last afternoon at his house. Sure, he wasn't obligated to share personal details with her, but… well, she kind of hoped one day he would.
Akeno, ever attuned to her friend's mood, leaned in again.
"Gonna make a worried face now, or keep pretending you're not dying of curiosity?"
"I'm just… surprised," Rias said, turning a page in her book with carefully constructed calm. "That's all."
"If you say so."
The teacher resumed the lesson, trying to regain control of the class, but the atmosphere had shifted. Kazuya's absence was like a missing puzzle piece in the day, and for some—including Rias—it was anything but insignificant.
She glanced at the empty chair again. Just for a moment.
Then, she sighed softly.
"I hope you're okay, Kazuya…" she murmured to herself before finally turning her eyes back to the board.
But the thought of him, as always, lingered—circling, smiling, and being stupidly charming inside her head.
The rest of the classes passed in a blur or, in Rias's case, a frustrating sequence of attempts to focus on math formulas and historical dates while her mind kept repeating: *Personal issues. What could've happened to him?*
She only realized she was staring into space when Akeno poked her with a pencil or when the teacher called her name. Three times.
By the end of the day, with the sun beginning to set, bathing Kuoh Academy's corridors in golden and orange hues, Rias and Akeno headed to the old building housing the Occult Research Club, one of the quietest and, ironically, most secretive places in the school.
Akeno walked with her usual lightness, a serene smile on her face as if each step were part of a dance. Rias, on the other hand, was unusually quiet.
"Going to focus today or spend the whole club sighing at the door?" Akeno asked, twirling the club building's key around her fingers.
"I'm not sighing," Rias replied, annoyed and, yes, maybe a bit defensive.
"Of course not. It was just the wind."
The Occult Research Club room was as it always was: curtains drawn, a faint smell of tea in the air, and the calm, almost always stoic presence of Koneko, already seated on the couch with a pack of cookies in her lap.
"Rias-Buchou, Akeno-Senpai," the nekomata murmured, briefly looking up before grabbing another cookie with her small, determined hands.
"Koneko-chan," Rias greeted, sitting in the armchair beside her. "Anything happen while we were in class?"
Koneko chewed in silence for a few seconds. Then, as if delivering information out of pure moral obligation, she said:
"Saw a fallen angel near the school gates."
Rias straightened in her chair. "When?"
"Lunchtime. She was talking to a human."
Akeno, who was preparing tea, turned slowly, her smile gently menacing. "A fallen angel approaching a student? That's not common. Who was she?"
"Don't know her name. Pretty. Black hair, curvy…" Koneko said, as if reading a spec sheet. "Dressed provocatively. Seemed more interested in causing trouble than anything else."
"And the human?" Rias asked, her brows furrowed.
"Issei Hyoudou. Second Year. Not involved with any underworld groups. As far as I know, he's just a random guy with a pervert reputation and a weird obsession with Kiba that showed up recently."
"With Kiba?" Akeno blinked, surprised. "That's… unexpected."
Koneko shrugged. "She tried flirting with him. But he refused. Said something about 'not betraying Kiba-senpai's shine' and walked off."
The silence in the room lasted exactly five seconds before Akeno burst into an elegant laugh, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve.
Rias, however, didn't laugh. Her eyes were fixed on nothing, but her mind was already connecting dots. A fallen angel approaching a random human wasn't cause for alarm… unless that human had something special. Something that drew supernatural attention.
"You said she seemed malicious?" Rias asked.
Koneko nodded. "Like she had a plan. Didn't seem like just curiosity."
Akeno stopped laughing, her expression growing more serious. "Any Sacred Gear?"
"Too early to tell," Rias murmured. "But if fallen angels are moving near the school… it could point to something bigger coming."
She crossed her legs, her eyes finally drifting from the thought of Kazuya, just a bit, as her duty as a Gremory heir took over. His absence still bothered her, yes, but now there was another strange piece on the board.
"Keep an eye on this Issei. Discreetly. And if the girl shows up again…"
"We follow her," Koneko finished, standing with the last cookie in hand.
Rias nodded. "This could be the start of something. And we can't be caught off guard."
Akeno looked out the window, where the sky was slowly darkening.
The room's comfortable silence was broken once more by Koneko, now standing, looking at the door with that impassive, direct demeanor only she could pull off.
"One more thing."
Rias and Akeno turned to her immediately. When Koneko spoke in that tone, it was usually something serious.
"When Issei passed by me today… I smelled something strange coming from him."
Akeno raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Strange how? Cheap cologne? Teenage hormones?"
Koneko shook her head, serious. "Dragon."
Rias leaned forward slightly. "You're sure?"
Koneko nodded. "It wasn't strong, but it was there. Like it was dormant. Hidden. But it was definitely a dragon's scent."
The room fell into a tense silence for a few seconds.
Rias rested her elbows on her knees, interlacing her fingers under her chin, thoughtful. She hadn't sensed anything from Issei, but she'd been a bit too focused on someone else lately…
"Akeno…" Rias began, her voice low and sharp as a freshly honed blade, "We need to confirm this as soon as possible. If it's true… if he's really carrying something draconic…"
"Then we might have a potential peer with a Sacred Gear, as I mentioned," Akeno finished with a smile, though her eyes were more serious than usual.
At that moment, the door creaked softly and opened, cutting through the room's heavy silence like a fresh breeze. Kiba Yuuto entered with his usual impeccable posture, uniform pristine and a polite smile, but there was an unusual gravity in his gaze.
"Kiba," Rias called, raising her eyes with a restrained nod. "You're late."
"Fulfilling a contract." He approached, his steps light but firm. "A client near the old church…"
The moment he mentioned the location, everyone's eyes narrowed, as his tone dropped a few degrees. The tension in the air thickened.
"And?" Akeno asked, her gentle smile not hiding her concern.
Kiba crossed his arms.
"Felt movement. Fallen angel energy." His gaze met Rias's. "They're active. It wasn't just surveillance… they were gathered. And it seemed recent."
Koneko, who had been silent until then, looked up, her ears almost imperceptibly twitching.
"At the church?"
"Yes. Something's about to happen, or… it's already started."
Rias brought a hand to her chin, pensive but maintaining her calm composure.
For now, the matter ended there, with a silence heavier than before.
_________________________
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