High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Rias

I had gone to Yuki’s room for Ise.

That part was simple.

That was still true.

I repeated it to myself as we crossed the estate grounds toward the garden where Azazel had told us to gather.

It remained the clearest thing in my thoughts, the only part of the previous night that still made straightforward sense.

It was morning now, and I hadn’t slept very much after what had happened in Yuki’s room. 

I had gone because Akeno’s teasing had gotten under my skin.

Because she was constantly trying to get ahead of me.

There was too much competition around Issei already, and I hated feeling as though I was behind in something so simple and so important.

Because he still wouldn’t call me by my name.

That was why I had knocked on Yuki’s door.

Only that.

Then I had convinced her that even if she had been mistaken about practicing with friends being normal in the human world, that it was still something we could try.

She had questioned me and I had gotten her to agree to try.

And yet all morning, every time the memory came back, it reminded me that I had let myself forget the reason that I now kept repeating to myself.

The path curved through one of the broader garden sections of the estate, lined with trimmed hedges and old trees.

The others walked near enough to remain a group, speaking here and there in quiet fragments.

I kept my eyes forward.

And did not look at Yuki.

I didn’t know if I could look her in the eye right now.

This only made me more aware of her.

The sound of her steps.

The shift of her tails behind her.

The fact that I knew, without looking, exactly when she had drawn close enough that speaking to me would have been easy.

She had tried.

At breakfast. In the hall. On the path just now.

She never tried to force it or made it too obvious that it was what she wanted.

She would approach me in a way that left me an opening to speak to her without the others overhearing us. 

And every time, I had moved away before she could use them.

I didn’t know what to say to her, or what if I would be able to answer any questions she may have for me.

I knew she noticed me avoiding her.

Of course she did.

That knowledge made the guilt worse.

Because I did not want to avoid her.

I knew that I should talk to her about what happened and apologize.

I just didn’t know if I would be able to answer her honestly right now.

Not without admitting something I still did not understand.

The memory came back in pieces again.

Her hands at the back of my head.

Her tails around my back.

The look in her eyes when the lesson stopped being a lesson.

The heat of her mouth on mine.

And her tongue…

I pushed the thought away with a shake of my head and focused my gaze on the ground as we walked to meet Azazel. 

I had gone there for Ise.

That part mattered and was still true.

I wanted him to look at me, Rias, not at Buchou.

So why had the rest of it happened that way?

I didn’t think I was attracted to women.

That should have made all of this simpler than it felt.

I had never really given it any thought.

I grew up thinking that I would find a man that I would fall in love with and that would be it.

I had seen beautiful women, such as Yuki, before, but now I was beginning to question myself.

I still wanted to be with Ise, nothing would change that. 

And when Yuki and I had started, it had been about him.

I was able to kiss her and focus on the thought of it helping me get an advantage against the other girls around him.

Then I had gotten smug and tried to pay Yuki back for that first deep kiss she had given me when I had questioned her methods.

She had been surprised, and I felt proud at getting that reaction out of her.

From there things continued to get out of hand until I was only thinking about wanting to kiss Yuki again.

That was the part I could neither explain nor forgive myself for.

Not because it meant I had wanted Yuki in some simple, clear way.

At least, I didn’t know if I wanted her that way.

But because in those moments on her bed, I had forgotten about Ise.

I felt like I had done something wrong toward him.

Even though it wasn’t supposed to mean something between Yuki and I, I felt like I had betrayed him.

And I didn’t even know if Yuki was thinking the same way as I was, or if she was just confused at how I acted. 

Ahead, Akeno glanced back once over her shoulder.

I looked away at once.

She knew I had been distracted today.

I don’t think she knew what had happened, only that I was lost in my own thoughts and acting off.

Hopefully she only thought it had to do with the upcoming training.

But Akeno missed little where emotion was concerned, and she had spent too much time around both Yuki and me not to notice anything for long.

That was yet another thing I did not know how to handle.

If Yuki caught me alone and asked, I wouldn’t know what to say.

If Akeno cornered me and guessed too much, I wouldn’t know what to say then either.

The difference was that Akeno wouldn’t let it drop if she thought I was avoiding telling her something.

And if I let myself think too long about the fact that some part of me hadn’t wanted to stop before I pushed Yuki away…

I drew a breath and let it out slowly.

The garden came into view ahead.

Azazel was already there, waiting in the open section near a set of tables and seats that had been prepared for us.

I looked back once despite myself.

Yuki was already looking at me.

Not accusingly.

That made it worse.

She looked only as though she wanted me to stop moving away long enough to speak.

I couldn’t.

Not yet.

I looked away first, and looked at Ise.

He was talking with Asia and Xenovia.

He moved his hands as he spoke energetically.

I looked forward and stepped into the garden with the others.

By the time we reached Azazel, only one thought remained with real clarity.

I needed to tell Ise what had happened, and I needed to talk to Yuki about it.

But I didn’t know if I was ready to face either of them yet.

Issei

Something was weird.

That wasn’t too odd considering the girls had been acting strange when I landed in the bath with them.

Which sounded bad, but made sense with context.

It was especially obvious with Akeno-san and Yuki-san.

By the time I landed in their bath, whatever had been going on had stopped and I didn’t get much of an explanation from the girls.

But now Buchou was the one acting off.

She seemed distracted today.

Lost in thought.

We were about to start our training led by the Governor of the Fallen Angles, so it might be because of that. 

But I wasn’t the only one who had noticed Buchou’s mood.

Akeno-san, Yuuto-san, and Yuki-san had all noticed it as well.

They would send her concerned or questioning looks every now and then. 

Yuki-san looked like she wanted to talk to Buchou, but Buchou seemed to be avoiding interacting with anyone.

She would look away or walk just a bit faster so that she wouldn’t have to start a conversation.

Akeno-san looked on with interest when it happened.

Yuuto-san frowned slightly as she looked between Yuki-san and Buchou.

I still had no idea what the actual reason was.

Before I could think too much farther about it, Azazel-sensei waved one hand from the middle of the garden.

“Yo. Sit down. We’re starting.”

The garden itself was huge.

Open enough for training, far enough from the residence that nobody would care if something exploded, and exactly the sort of place Azazel-sensei would pick for a morning like this.

We sat where the servants had prepared seats and a table.

Everyone was in jerseys for our training.

Even Azazel-sensei, which was strange to see.

He had papers spread in front of him, glanced over all of us once, and then got straight to it.

“What I am about to assign each of you is specialized training for you that will focus on improving your skills and power. Some of you will see immediate results, while some of you will be building the foundation for your future.” He said as he looked at each of us in turn. “Your peerage is your team, but right now you need to focus on yourself as an individual. No matter what you will grow.”

The whole peerage had looks of determination on their faces and even Buchou was paying her full attention to Azazel-sensei.

“With that out of the way, Rias, you’re up first.” He said.

Buchou straightened immediately.

Any trace of her earlier mood was gone and the only thing left was our focused, competitive, and proud Buchou.

Azazel-sensei looked at her squarely.

“From the beginning, you’ve had everything. Talent, physical abilities, and demonic power.Even if you do nothing different and skip any training, you would end up as a highest-grade Devil when you become an adult. You could coast through life and enjoy all of the benefits easily.”

He stopped as he leaned back slightly.

“But that’s not what you want, is it? You want to get stronger than you would if you simply grew naturally.”

Buchou nodded hard.

“Yes. I realized that I was complacent before. I don’t want to lose ever again.”

Damn right.

Neither did I.

I felt proud of Buchou as she wanted so badly to improve, even though she was already born ready to succeed.

Azazel handed her a sheet.

“Then follow what’s written there exactly. It will be your training until the day of your match.”

Buchou looked it over.

Then she frowned a little.

“…This doesn’t look like anything special.”

“That’s because it isn’t,” Azazel said. “Basic training is enough for you.”

That made me blink.

Really?

For Buchou?

He continued before anyone could question it.

“Like I said, you already have pretty much everything you need. Your problem isn’t a lack of power. It’s your quality as a [King]. A [King]  isn’t the one who needs to be the brute force of a group. You need to be the brains. Basic training is enough to help increase your power, but you need to train your mind and decision making. Thought. Quick judgment. Flexibility. The ability to read a game and make your pieces perform at their best. Even a Devil without any actual power can rise in the Rating Games ranks if they are cunning enough.” He tapped the paper. “So your training isn’t flashy. Study Rating Games until the deadline. Burn game footage, records, and data into your head. Learn how to answer every kind of situation before it happens. It’s your job to utilize your peerage to best showcase their strengths. But remember this too, until the actual battle begins, you never really know what will happen. It’s the same as on a battlefield.”

That made sense.

A lot of sense with how Azazel-sensei put it.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it fit Buchou.

She already had ridiculous demonic power.

If her real growth point was becoming an even sharper [King], then of course her training wouldn’t just be “blow up more things.”

Azazel-sensei’s eyes moved toward the residence.

“Your mother’s overseeing the details. So don’t get lazy.”

Buchou paled slightly, but nodded again, more firmly this time.

“Understood.”

Azazel-sensei didn’t linger.

He shifted the stack of papers and looked at Yuki-san next.

“Omen-chan.”

Yuki’s ears angled toward him at once.

Her calm gaze watched Azazel-sensei as she waited to hear what her training would be.

He looked at her for a second longer than he had looked at Buchou.

“Your issue’s obvious. Your curse work is excellent. It’s impressive. You have good instinct, quick thinking, and nasty timing. But every time you really let any spells off, your body pays for it.”

Yuki-san nodded.

We’d all seen it.

Against Vali and in earlier fights too.

The way Yuki-san’s magic was impressive and powerful, but it came at the cost of injuring herself every time she used it.

Small spells were fine, but repeated casts or big ones could become serious. 

Azazel-sensei pointed at her.

“You’re forcing output through a body that can’t handle it. That means every spell is eating you from the inside.” He leaned forward slightly. “You need a way to deal with that. Not just survive it. Control it. Build something to let you work around it, maybe. Some way to stop your body and your curses from tearing at each other every time you push too hard.”

That sounded serious.

Yuki-san asked quietly, “And you have something planned for me?”

Azazel-sensei grinned and handed her one of his papers.

Yuki-san began to read it as he continued.

“I’ve got the beginning of an answer. More importantly, I’ve got someone who knows enough high-level magic and theory to actually teach you instead of telling you to figure it out yourself.”

It looked like Yuki-san would have someone to train her.

“Mireia Paimon?” Yuki-san said. 

“Yep. A Devil noblewoman,” Azazel went on. “Top-tier magic specialist, and a member of a smaller branch of the Paimon family. She’ll test your current level, see how your control’s breaking down under strain, and start building a better way for you to handle the backlash.”

Yuki-san was still for a beat as she read her paper, then she looked up at Azazel-sensei.

Then she nodded once.

“Understood.”

Azazel jabbed a finger in her direction again.

“Good. Because right now you’re basically unstable artillery. Useful, deadly, and quick to become a liability for your own side if you don’t think properly.

Her ears twitched in annoyance.

It made me crack a smile and I saw Yuuto-san looking like she wanted to chuckle at it.

Then he shifted to Akeno-san.

“Next is Akeno.”

She looked unhappy to be addressed by Azazel-sensei.

Her smile didn’t disappear, but it cooled.

“…Yes.”

Azazel-sensei didn’t try to ease into it.

“You’re going to have to accept your Fallen Angel blood.”

Akeno-san’s face changed immediately.

Her smile was replaced by a harsh frown.

She had mentioned in the past that she hated Fallen Angels and her father, but now she was told that she had to move past that.

But Azazel-sensei kept going without mercy.

“I’ve seen the recordings from the rating game against the Phoenix family. What the hell were you doing? You lost to the Phenex brat’s [Queen] when you should have been able to put her down easily. If you had used your Fallen Angel side your team may have won that match. But you didn’t and instead you lost, and your friends suffered because of your stubbornness.”

Akeno-san looked down at the ground instead of responding.

“You’re limiting yourself with your attacks because of it.” Azazel-senpai continued. “If you add your holy light to thunder, then you can make true lightning. If you aren’t able to do that, then you’ll never be able to achieve your true potential.”

I’d known she was strong.

I’d known there were things anout her father, her blood, and that side of herself she hated.

Azazel-sensei wasn’t being gentle with it. 

He was being brutally honest and pointing out a failure that she had caused herself to experience. 

Akeno-san’s voice was quiet.

“…I can do just fine without depending on that kind of power. I don’t need it to be a valuable member of this peerage.”

Azazel-sensei didn’t let her have that.

“You’re only hurting yourself and those close to you by denying yourself,” he said. “What are you gonna do if you can’t accept yourself? If you keep denying part of yourself, you’ll only make yourself weaker.” His voice sharpened. “You need to accept it, all of it. Even the painful parts too. If you don’t overcome this by the time of the match, you’ll only be a dead weight. You are known as the [Priestess of Thunder]. You have to become the [Priestess of Lightning].”

Akeno-san said nothing.

Her fists at her sides were clenched and her knuckles had gone white.

I could tell that she didn’t have any room around this now.

She would have to face it eventually.

Buchou looked at her with worry.

Akeno-san didn’t answer right away.

Finally, she gave the smallest nod.

“…Understood.”

Azazel-sensei nodded.

Her smile had completely disappeared as her eyes narrowed at Azazel-sensei.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them she looked like she was lost in her own head.

She probably had a lot to think about with that thrown at her.

Azazel-sensei looked over everyone again.

“Alright. That’s enough for the first three, now for the rest of you.”

And just like that, my attention snapped up hard.

Because that meant my turn was getting closer.

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