High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Issei

Sirzechs-sama eventually finished his talk and arrived in my room

When he did it made the whole place felt different.

Smaller.

He didn’t have to do anything.

He didn’t have to release power or glare or threaten me.

Just being near him was enough that even an amateur like me could tell he was in a completely different class from everything else I’d ever encountered.

This was the Maou.

The person at the top of the Devil world.

The person whose existence helped keep the whole side of the supernatural world stable enough for idiots like me to do devil jobs and go to school and chase oppai in relative peace.

He smiled at me apologetically and rubbed the back of his head.

“I’m sorry that my chat with Kusari-chan took a while. We can get ready for bed now if you’re ready.”

“D-Don’t worry about it! It didn't take that long. I’ll get the lights then.”

I awkwardly waved off his apology and gestured for him to take the bed.

“No, I don't want to impose on you that far. I’ll take the futon and you sleep in your bed.” He said.

“Well if you’re sure…”

We lay down in the dark after the lights were switched off.

I was tense enough that my whole body felt like one giant overworked muscle.

It was strange that the Maou was going to be sleeping in my room and even stranger that he was sleeping on the floor on a futon.

Then Sirzechs-sama spoke.

“I heard you met Azazel.”

Straight to the point.

“Y-Yeah I did.”

“I also heard that nothing happened when you met. Did he say anything of note?”

“‘I’ll meet you again next time,’” I answered honestly. “That’s what stood out to me.”

“Hmmm, I see.”

His voice stayed calm in the darkness.

“Azazel has an interest in studying Sacred Gears. He has gathered many sacred gear users in the past. You being the current welder of the Booster Gear would definitely interest him. But he’s not the only one interested in the Longinus possessors.”

That sent a chill through me.

“But why are they being gathered?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I do know that if Azazel chose to wield his power recklessly Heaven, the Underworld, and the human world would be affected. Thankfully Azazel is a man with little interest in fighting. Because of him the Fallen Angels were the first faction to withdraw from the Great War.”

I stared into the darkness.

I really, really didn’t want another master.

Seriously. No way.

I was Buchou’s pawn.

That part mattered to me more than I could even explain properly.

The idea of some other faction trying to take me or control me was terrifying. 

Maybe Sirzechs-sama noticed that, because his tone turned warmer.

“You don’t have to worry Issei-kun. The Sekiryuuti is a Devil and we will ensure that nothing happens to you. Plus my little sister seems to care for you greatly. She seems to be truly enjoying her time here in the Human World and I feel like a large part of it is due to you.”

That made my chest feel strangely full.

This person really did love Buchou.

It was obvious in the way he talked about her.

“Hyoudou Issei-kun,” he said quietly, “take care of my sister, of Rias, from now on too.”

“Of course.”

The answer came out before I could think.

That was obvious.

I’d protect Buchou from now on too. Always.

No matter what would happen, it wouldn’t change the fact that I was part of her family.

Even when I became the Harem King, Buchou would still be important to me.

“I am Buchou’s... I’m Rias Gremory-sama’s pawn.”

“Thank you, Issei-kun.”

There was a pause.

Then Sirzechs-sama asked, “Oh, by the way Hyoudou Issei-kun. Is it all right if I call you Ise-kun like my little sister does?”

“O-Of course you can! I wouldn’t mind!”

“Good. Then you should refer to me more casually too. Or just call me Onii-san.”

What kind of insane thought is that!!?

Is this a trap?

Would it be treason or something for me to refer to the Maou as Onii-sama?

“I don’t know if that would be all right… I wouldn’t want to upset anyone bu acting so casually. Would it be fine to continue to call you Sirzechs-sama?

“That is fine with me. It would have been interesting to be called Onii-sama by the legendary Sekiryuuti. What a shame. But then again maybe it won’t be.”

“What do you mean?”

Sirzechs-sama only smiled and gave me an amused look.

But before he could drag me into another weirdly affectionate direction, the image of Kusari-san bowing and leaving the house earlier came back into my head.

Maybe because it was late. 

Maybe it was because he’d just spoken sincerely about Buchou.

Maybe it was because I was stupid.

But I asked.

“Sirzechs-sama.”

“Yes?”

There was the tiniest pause before I continued.

“About Kusari-san.”

The second I said her name, the atmosphere beside me changed.

Sirzechs-sama’s attention sharpened in the dark.

“What about her?” he asked.

His voice sounded the same as before but he seemed to be paying closer attention to what I would say. 

I scratched my cheek even though he probably couldn’t see it from the futon. “It’s just... when we left the clubroom, you specifically told her to come with us. Then later, you asked to talk to her and then sent her back.”

I hesitated.

Even after deciding to say it, it still felt dangerous.

Not because I thought Sirzechs-sama would get angry with me.

He had the kind of calm that made you feel like if you stepped wrong, you might not realize it until much later.

Still, I kept going.

“And...” I swallowed. “Grayfia also said before that she attacked her peerage members. And hwr [Kings] in the past.”

Silence.

I lay there staring into the dark, suddenly very aware that I was alone in my room with the current Maou.

Then Sirzechs-sama let out a quiet breath.

“So that stayed with you.”

“Of course it did,” I said before I could stop myself.

I winced internally.

Way too blunt. Way too direct.

Great job, me. I’m gonna get vaporized.

But Sirzechs-sama didn’t sound offended.

He sounded... thoughtful.

“That is fair,” he said. “You seem passionate about your comrads. More than that, you are also one of Rias’s closest pieces. It would be strange if you didn’t care about someone so near to your own household.”

That made me relax a little.

Just a little.

I shifted under the blanket. “I’m not saying I think she’s dangerous to us.”

That part came out faster.

Maybe too fast.

But it was because I meant it

At first, maybe.

When Kusari was colder. Harder to read.

When every word out of her mouth sounded like she’d weighed it ten times before saying it.

When she seemed to watch every situation as if it would become the worst case scenario for her.

But now?

Now I knew better.

Not all the way. Not enough. But better.

“She wouldn’t hurt Buchou,” I said quietly. “Or Asia. Or Koneko-chan. Or the others. Not unless...” I stopped.

“Not unless?” Sirzechs-sama prompted.

“Not unless something was really wrong,” I finished. “Or someone pushed her too far.”

That sat between us for a moment.

Sirzechs-sama responded calmly. “You trust her.”

“Yes.”

There was no point pretending otherwise.

“I do.”

I could hear the smile in his voice when he replied. “That’s a good answer.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. Distrusting one of your fellow peerage members by default would be the worse instinct.”

That made sense.

It also wasn’t a real answer to what I’d asked.

I frowned into the dark. “Then why say it the way you did?”

This time the silence lasted longer.

I almost thought he might dodge it completely.

Instead, Sirzechs-sama said, “Because it’s true.”

That made my jaw tighten.

“She has, in fact, turned on those who claimed authority over her before. Some of the incidents involved peerage members. Some involved her previous [Kings] directly. That much is reality.”

The way he said it made it sound like a report. Clean. Ordered. Filed away.

I didn’t like that either.

“But that’s not the whole story, is it?” I asked.

That came out rougher than I’d meant it to.

Sirzechs-sama didn’t answer immediately.

And that was answer enough by itself.

I stared up at the ceiling I could barely make out in the dark.

Because yeah. That’s what I thought.

I didn’t know Kusari’s whole past.

Hell, I knew almost nothing about it compared to what I wanted to know.

But I knew enough to know she didn’t do things for no reason.

Not something like that.

Not repeatedly.

“You’re sharp, Ise-kun,” Sirzechs-sama said at last.

“I’m really not.”

He chuckled. “No, you are. In your own way. There are times when simple instincts are the same thing as wisdom.”

That sounded nice.

It also sounded like another dodge.

I kept at it anyway.

“If someone says she attacked [Kings] and peerage members, that makes it sound like she’s unstable,” I said. “Or disloyal. Or dangerous in the wrong way.”

“That is how many people would hear it,” Sirzechs-sama admitted.

“And that’s not all it was.”

“No,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t. But you’d have to ask her for the whole story.”

That made me sit with the words for a second.

He wasn’t denying the attacks. He wasn’t pretending they didn’t happen. But he also wasn’t calling her some monster that turned on people for fun.

“So then...” I said slowly, “what am I supposed to think?”

He answered more quickly this time.

“That Kusari-chan is complicated.”

I frowned. “That’s not helpful.”

He laughed softly. “I know.”

I rolled onto my side a little so I could face his direction.

“Sirzechs-sama.”

“Yes?”

“You told her to come with us tonight.”

“I did.”

“You asked to speak with her alone for maybe 5 minutes.”

“That sounds accurate.”

“And then you sent her back.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

This was the real part.

Maybe it had been from the beginning.

Because I still couldn’t stop thinking about the way she’d answered him.

The way Buchou had reacted every time he spoke to her.

The way Kusari-san had looked more like old Kusari-san all evening, like someone had pulled her backwards.

Sirzechs-sama was quiet for a moment.

Then he said, “Because she is in my sister’s peerage.”

I waited.

That was still too simple.

He continued, “And because unusual things require attention.”

Unusual.

Not girl. Not even servant. 

Thing would have been crueler, but unusual wasn’t much better.

I tried to keep my voice careful. “You mean because of her power?”

“Her power,” he said. “Her circumstances. Her history. The burden she places on Rias’s household. The burden she could someday lash out at those around her.”

Burden.

I didn’t like that word either.

Maybe he heard something in my silence, because his tone shifted.

“You disapprove.”

“...A little.”

“You’re honest.”

“I’m trying not to be rude.”

“I was the one who wanted to be more casual, so I can’t say anything,” he said, sounding amused.

I almost laughed in spite of myself.

Then I remembered Kusari-san standing in the living room downstairs, answering every question with that smooth, careful voice.

And Buchou watching her.

And the way the whole thing had felt.

“It just felt weird,” I admitted.

“Weird?”

“The way you brought her with us.” I exhaled. “And then the way you sent her away after talking. Like... I dunno.”

“Like what, Ise-kun?”

I stared at him in the dark.

Like you wanted to remind her something.

Like you wanted her to remember you were there.

Like you were checking how she acted in your presence.

I couldn’t say any of that.

Not because I was scared, though I was.

Because I didn’t know enough to throw accusations around.

So instead I said, “Like you wanted her there for a reason that wasn’t really said.”

For the first time in the whole conversation, Sirzechs-sama didn’t answer right away.

That made my skin prickle.

When he did speak, his voice was as calm as ever.

“You’re not entirely wrong.”

Well.

That was not comforting.

“What reason?” I asked.

“She needed to be reminded,” he said, “that joining Rias’s peerage did not make her disappear from the sight of the higher-ranking devils around her.”

I went very still.

That was the closest thing to a threat he’d said all night.

It wasn’t even necessarily unfair from his position.

But I still didn’t like it.

“She isn’t property,” I said before I could stop myself.

The room went silent.

My own heart thudded once, hard.

I may have gone too far.

But Sirzechs-sama’s reply, when it came, was so mild it almost made it worse.

“No,” he said. “She isn’t.”

I waited for the correction.

The line about responsibility, hierarchy, politics or how naïve I was.

Instead he continued, “I simply want to ensure that my little sister is safe near her. I won’t take any chances with that.”

He was basically telling me she was viewed as dangerous by him and other Devils as well.

He apparently threatened her with his visit to keep her in line.

But he was doing it like she was an animal on a leash. 

I hated how easy it was to understand his logic from someone who only knew Kusari-san from what they heard.

That didn’t mean I didnt mean they were right though.

“I don’t think Buchou liked it,” I said.

That made him hum very softly. “No. She didn’t.”

“So you noticed.”

“Of course I noticed.”

He sounded almost surprised I’d asked.

“She was tense around you tonight,” I said.

That felt safer than saying angry.

“She was,” he agreed.

I took a breath. “That’s weird, right?”

Sirzechs-sama chuckled. “I’m her older brother. My existence itself is embarrassing to her.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

There was a pause.

I pushed on anyway.

“I’ve seen Buchou embarrassed. I’ve seen Buchou irritated. Tonight wasn’t just that.”

No answer.

I took that as permission to keep digging.

“She kept watching Kusari-san,” I said. “And every time you talked to her, it felt...” I struggled for the word. “Bad.”

His voice, when it came, was gentler now.

“You care for them both.”

That wasn’t a denial either.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Then perhaps you were picking up on the fact that both of them have worries.”

That was such a careful answer I almost wanted to complain.

“About each other?” I asked.

“In part.”

That got my attention.

“In part?”

Sirzechs-sama exhaled, and for the first time he sounded a little tired.

“Rias has always been soft-hearted where it matters most,” he said. “And Kusari-chan is not an easy person to care for from a distance. The closer someone gets to her, the harder it becomes to stay comfortable with only partial knowledge.”

That made sense. 

The more I got used to Kusari-san being around us, the less I could fit her into something simple.

She wasn’t just “dangerous fox girl.”

She wasn’t just “composed and quiet curse user.”

She wasn’t even just “one of ours,” though she definitely was that too.

She was...

Complicated.

Damn it. He was right about that much.

Still, I wasn’t done.

“Then why not tell us more?” I asked. “If all of this is so complicated, why keep saying stuff that makes her sound dangerous and then stop there?”

Sirzechs-sama was quiet again.

When he answered, his voice had gone flatter.

“Because she is dangerous and even I don’t know everything.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed softly  before continuing.

“The seals placed on Kusari-chan are old and frankly a mess. There are layers and layers of interconnected seals and all we know is what we see at the moment. I don’t know what she would be like with them all gone due to how disorderly they are.”

That sounded complicated and awful.

“Why would someone do that to her?”

“Most likely to control her. Her previous [Kings] likely wanted her to be easier to handle. Her abilities now already make her a difficult opponent. Imagine if she had decided to flee and become a stray Devil.”

I couldn’t believe he was trying to explain the reasoning as if it made sense.

But I was more worried about what that meant had happened to Kusari-san.

“A [King] can just do that to one of their servants!?”

“Yes. It’s not always the best system and a [King] abusing their power over their servants is one of its greatest flaws. But essentially a [King] can operate their peerage as they see fit.”

I was speechless.

And I realized how lucky I am that Buchou is the one who was my [King.]

I decided to change the topic.

“So, do you trust Kusari-san?” I asked.

Sirzechs-sama answered without hesitation.

“I trust that she has attached herself to Rias and her peerage in a way that matters.”

The way he said it was slightly odd.

I caught that immediately.

“You trust her loyalty to Buchou,” I said.

“Yes.”

“But not fully her.”

A small pause.

“I trust people according to what they’ve shown me and what pressures they may face.”

Instead I said, “She’s trying.”

“I know.”

That surprised me.

More than it should have, maybe.

I kept talking anyway.

“She’s weird,” I said.

Sirzechs-sama laughed. “That’s not something I’d repeat in front of her.”

“No, seriously. She’s weird. Quiet in weird ways. Sharp in weird ways. Sometimes she says stuff that sounds colder than it should. Sometimes she says stuff that sounds normal and somehow that’s worse. But she is trying.”

I swallowed.

“And she’s getting better around us.”

Even if tonight had looked like a step backward.

He didn’t interrupt, so I kept going.

“She’s been talking more. Tiny bit. And she doesn’t always look like she’s bracing for someone to put her somewhere anymore.” I frowned. “At least... not until tonight.”

That was the closest I could come.

Sirzechs-sama heard it anyway.

“Tonight upset you,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“Because of Kusari-chan?”

“And Buchou,” I admitted. “They were both acting weird.”

He didn’t reply right away.

Then, after a pause, said quietly, “That may be because they’ve both learned things recently that are difficult to carry.”

“So something did happen,” I said.

“I don’t know. But Kusari-chan is a person with a dark and complicated past. And Rias is someone who wouldn’t ignore the pain of someone close to her.”

Buchou and Kusari had definitely talked.

About something big.

And whatever it was had changed the way Buchou looked at her brother.

I didn’t know what that meant.

I hated not knowing.

But at least I knew I wasn’t imagining it.

“So,” I muttered, “I’m supposed to just sit here and trust that everything is fine.”

“No,” Sirzechs-sama said.

That surprised me so much I almost sat up.

“No?”

“No. You’re supposed to grow strong enough that when something is not fine, you can still do something about it.”

That was always it with me, wasn’t it?

I could notice things. I could care. I could want answers. But if I wasn’t strong enough, then all I could really do was worry in the dark.

My hand tightened in the blanket.

“I’m getting stronger,” I said.

“I’ve seen.”

“I’ll get a lot stronger.”

Sirzechs-sama chuckled softly. “Yes. You will.”

A strange silence settled after that.

Then he broke it.

“By the way, Ise-kun.”

There it was.

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking, the Boosted gear lets you transfer power to other people and things, right?”

“That’s right.”

“The Boosted Gear can transfer the increased power to someone else.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“And you like large breasts?”

“Of course! I love them!”

I answered on instinct.

Then realized what I’d just done.

Then wanted to die.

Sirzechs-sama, however, sounded completely serious.

“And Rias has rather large breasts.”

“Yes! Buchou’s  breasts are the best!”

I was already being honest so I just kept answering. 

“So what do you think would happen if you transferred powe to Rias’s breasts? Just a hypothetical to wonder about.”

And just like that, another terrifying idea was born.

The previous tension didn’t vanish.

Kusari-san was still stuck in the back of my mind.

Buchou’s expression was still stuck there too.

Sirzechs-sama’s answers hadn’t made me feel better so much as they’d made me realize I had even less of the full picture than I thought.

But over all of that—like a holy revelation sent directly to my filthy soul—came the image of Buchou’s breasts becoming even more incredible through the power of the Boosted Gear.

It was a strange thing to add to a heavy conversation, but now I couldn’t stop imagining it.

Tonight had answered a few questions and given me more.

And now I had a new lewd fantasy of Buchois breasts. 

I was going to think about this for a long time.

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