High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Kusari

The third time Satō Tomomi summoned me, I recognized her room immediately. 

That was not a good sign.

The magic circle bloomed across the floorboards in a familiar pale red, and when I stepped out of it the middle-school girl in the oversized T-shirt and shorts actually jumped a little in relief.

“Kusari-san!”

I glanced once around the room.

Same stuffed animals.

Same cheap curtains.

Same stack of magazines near the bed.

Still way too much pink.

Same nervous, overfamiliar atmosphere of a client who had already used up the easy, harmless justifications for requesting a devil.

That made me tired before she said a word.

I straightened and spoke in the formal cadence devil work required.

“I am Kusari, a devil of the Gremory peerage. I have answered your summons. State your request.”

The formal air of it always made humans sit up straighter.

Even this one.

She nodded quickly, then wrung her hands together.

“It’s about a girl in my class,” she said. “She knows I like someone, but she’s still going after him anyway. I want you to curse her.”

I looked at her.

Then I looked at her a little longer.

This was, I realized, almost impressive.

The first time she had wanted me to curse her brother for stealing her money and blaming her for it.

The second had been over another petty revenge for someone taking her homework, and I had already started viewing her requests with concern. 

And now this.

“This is the third time,” I said.

She blinked.

“Huh?”

“This is the third time you have summoned me to ask for a curse over a personal grievance.”

That made her flush.

The embarrassment was good. A useful sign. It meant she was not yet so deep in the habit of it that she had stopped hearing how ridiculous she sounded.

“It’s not like that,” she muttered.

I stared at her without responding..

The girl looked down at the floor. “She knows. That’s what makes it worse. She knows I like him, and she’s acting all sweet around him on purpose now.”

That might even have been true.

Human social settings were vastly different from the world I had grown up in, but that did not make small cruelties like this any different.

Still.

I folded my arms.

“You should solve this differently.”

She looked up, startled.

“What? Are you not going to help me?”

I sighed.

“No, it would be foolish for me to not complete a contract by turning away a client. I simply want to help you do this in a better way.”

She looked confused.

“Why do you care?”

I thought back to my argument with Rias, the small dim room that was Gasper-kun’s world while he was sealed, and azazel recognizing me and bringing up pieces of my past in front of others.

Maybe I was trying to focus on anything else and was convincing myself that her behavior needed to change.

“No reason.” I said at last. “Now, if the issue is a boy, then speak to the boy. If the issue is your friend, speak to your friend. If the issue is your own cowardice, solve that rather than asking me to keep punishing people for you.”

The words came out sharper than I intended.

Or I was still angrier than I realized.

Either way, the girl flinched.

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered.

Perhaps.

The room went quiet for a moment.

Then she said, more softly, “I know this is dumb. But I keep thinking if I don’t do something first, then I’ll lose.”

At least she was honest.

I let the silence sit between us for a few seconds before speaking again.

“I won’t nut If I refused, you would summon another devil,” I said.

She hesitated for a beat then nodded.

That settled the matter.

I moved closer and knelt beside the low table.

“All right,” I said. “Not the kind of curse you keep asking for. Nothing that will actually ruin her social life. Nothing that lasts.”

Her eyes widened a little.

“What kind then?”

“I can do something simpler but more direct. If she lies to him or tries to manipulate him around you,” I said, “she’ll get tongue-tied. She’ll stumble over herself and fail to say what she means. It will last a few days at most.”

It was enough to work on a normal human, but only just enough. 

The girl stared.

Then, slowly, she nodded.

“That’s... okay.”

She wasn't satisfied

But it was better than what she had wanted, and that counted for enough.

I held out my hand.

“Payment.”

She rummaged through a drawer and produced a small envelope of saved allowance money, then hesitated and added a silver hairclip set beside it

It looked treasured enough that the offering was honest.

“I was saving these,” she said.

That meant the exchange would hold.

I accepted them, then drew out a thin black thread  to use as a charm from my sleeve and wound it around itself until it formed a small knot.

“Put this in her room,” I said. “Do not break it. Do not tell her about it. And if you summon me a fourth time for something this petty, I will charge more.”

That got the first real smile out of her all evening.

“Okay.”

I stood.

Then, because I was apparently in the mood to make poor choices, I added:

“And if you like him, tell him before your courage runs out again.”

The girl’s face went red.

“You make it sound so easy. Have you had enough boyfriends that this is nothing to you?”

I frowned slightly.

“No, I can't say that I have had many relationships. I just know people who bumble through their feelings and know what not to do.”

“Then what about you?”

I tilted my head slightly.

“What about me?”

“Is there someone you want to be in a relationship with?”

That was an easy question to answer.

“No.”

“Come on, there has to be someone.”

I considered it for a moment.

I thought of all of the beautiful women in my peerage.

Xenovia-san, Asia, Yuuto, Akeno, Koneko, Rias.

One would be lucky to be with any of them.

And Issei already had the attention of most if not all of them, not that it changed anything.

I smiled and shook my head.

“No, I don't think it's in the cards for me.”

The magic circle began forming under my feet before she could answer.

The look she gave me when she saw my face was off.

I didn’t have time to figure out why as I was teleported away. 

As the room dissolved around me, I thought, not for the first time, that humans were exhausting.

I arrived back in the old school building with that thought still in my head and immediately Rias and Issei voices near Gasper’s room.

I left the club room and headed towards them.

Rias was closest to the door.

Issei stood a little behind her, visibly trying to figure out how much optimism it was possible to force into a situation involving a shut-in half-Vampire who would rather hide in a box than speak to anyone.

Both of them turned when I approached.

Rias’s gaze found me first.

Then changed almost too quickly to read.

If it became cold or sharp I would know exactly how to react.

Instead her gaze became careful and concerned.

That was not easier to handle.

“Kusari,” she said.

“Buchou,” I answered.

I saw her frown slightly at the distance in my tone.

Issei scratched his cheek. “You got back good timing-wise. We’ve been trying to get him to respond.”

That, at least, was simpler.

I walked closer and looked at the closed door.

“Has he?”

“Not really,” Issei admitted.

From inside came the faintest miserable sound.

“What happened?” I asked

“Buchou had Gasper and I do our Devil work together. It seemed like a good idea to have him get over his fear of people and have me there to help. But it didn’t go so well.”

Rias exhaled softly and turned back toward the door.

“Gasper,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

The apology hung there.

Too late in the way all apologies were when spoken through a locked door.

For a second, I saw the scene doubled over itself: the sealed room from the day before, the conversation between Rias and me afterward, and now this.

I wanted to leave for a moment. .

But I didn’t.

Because despite everything, Gasper-kun was not the one I was angry with.

And because leaving would have felt too much like punishing him for the room.

Rias rested one hand lightly against the door.

“I should have dealt with this differently,” she said. “I know that now. But I want you to come out. We’re trying to help you.”

Silence.

Then, very faintly, “...No.”

The voice was small enough that if we had not all been waiting for it, it might have been mistaken for my imagination.

Rias closed her eyes for a second.

Issei looked at the door, then at me, then back at the door.

“What if I  just go into his room to talk to him?”

“You can’t do that!” Rias and I said at the same time.

He jumped. “It was just an idea!”

“It was an awful one,” I said.

“I’ll think of something else,” he muttered.

There was another tiny sound from inside.

Not quite laughter.

That was more reaction than he had gotten a minute ago.

Issei heard it too.

He straightened slightly, then tried to talk to Gasper-kun. 

“Look, I get it,” he said. “I do. Kind of. Maybe not the same way. But I’ve got a Sacred Gear too, and it’s messed up my life plenty.”

That made the silence inside shift.

I looked at the door.

Then at Issei.

That had been the correct approach.

He noticed and gave me a brief, surprised look, as if he had expected me to tell him he was wrong again.

I only folded my arms.

He went on.

“Before I even knew what I had, it got me dragged into things way bigger than me. People expect things from me because of it. People will come after me because of it too. Half the time I’m not even sure whether I’m being seen as me or as the guy with Boosted Gear.”

That was something he had to make himself say aloud.

Inside the room, Gasper made a softer sound this time.

It was less fearful and more attentiive.

I stepped closer to the door too.

“People will do that,” I said. “Look at your abilities ability before they look at you.”

Rias glanced at me.

I kept my eyes on the wood.

“They decide what you are based on the worst thing they think you could do or become,” I continued. “Sometimes before you do anything wrong at all.”

Gasper’s voice came, thin but clearer than before.

“...it’s the same for both of you?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

Rias did not interrupt.

Issei looked at me for a second, then back at the door and kept going.

“So if you stay in there forever, that doesn’t fix it,” he said. “If you do the rest of us will have to keep guessing at the kind of person you are. So doing nothing at all is kind of dumb.”

There was a pause.

Then a tiny, offended noise from inside.

I crouched a little before I continued.

“You were right yesterday,” I said. “People did get scared. They treated me differently because of it.”

I heard Rias shift behind me.

Felt more than saw the way her attention sharpened.

I ignored it.

“I also know,” I said, “what it feels like when your abilities become the thing people use to decide your worth.”

The room stayed quiet long enough that I thought he might have stopped listening.

“...you said the people in your village were the ones who treated you differently…. Did they hate you?”

I almost smiled at the concern in his question.

“Some did,” I said. “I think most were only afraid and listened to the ones who hated me. 

That one came out sharper than I meant it to.

Rias heard that too.

The silence after it was slightly tense. 

Then Gasper asked, “...Why do you want to help me?”

Because he was just a scared misunderstood boy and I did not wanted him alone in there.

Because I saw too much of my past in how him.

“Because you deserve it.” I said. “I know how hard it can be to move past the pain and fear that you have, but you’re a part of our peerage and I want to be there for you. I want to be there for you because no one was there for me.”

Inside, there was movement.

A shift of clothes maybe. Or a box scraping the floor.

Enough that Issei heard it too and lit up immediately.

“Yes!” he said. “Exactly! Also, if you stay in there forever, Xenovia is going to keep talking about how her insane training worked.”

Xenovia-san’s voice came faintly from down the hall. “I can hear you mocking my training! It’s proven to work!”

“It didn’t work! Saji’s Sacred Gear is what helped! You just chased him till he cried!” Issue yelled back

“It only helped because of the training!”

Even through the door, I thought I heard the tiniest huff from Gasper.

Not quiet a laugh yet, but closer.

Rias took that moment to step in again.

“Gasper,” she said, gentler now. “I’m not asking you to trust this all at once. Just open the door.”

It was quiet for a moment until there was the faintest sound of a lock turning.

My eyes lifted to the handle.

Issei noticed too and leaned closer, though this time he managed not to crowd the door.

“You can just crack it,” he said. “We’re not asking you to come out already.”

“...That sounds difficult...” Gasper muttered from inside.

“Not as difficult as Xenovia training and you survived that.”

I almost smiled at that.

The handle turned.

Then the door opened a sliver.

One red eye appeared in the gap.

“Gasper...” Rias said.

He jolted and almost shut the door again.

But he didn’t.

Rias’s relief was visible.

Issei grinned like we had already won something.

I looked at the eye in the crack of the door and thought that maybe this was what progress looked like for Gasper-kun.

Small. Uneven.

Suspicious of its own existence.

But still there.

_________________________________________

Issei

By the time the door opened a crack, I already knew two things.

One: Gasper was way less impossible to deal with than I thought he might be.

Two: Kusari-san was better at this than she probably wanted to admit.

Not because she had some magic phrase.

Because she knew exactly what to say to him.

She knew how he felt and what he needed to hear.

And yeah, that thought sat weirdly in my chest after whatever happened with her and Buchou.

Gasper’s eye stared out at us.

Then at me.

Then at Kusari-san

Definitely longer at Kusari-san.

I’d take help wherever I could get it.

“See?” I said brightly. “Not so bad.”

“...It’s still bad...” he muttered.

“True,” I admitted. “But now it’s slightly less bad.”

That got another tiny exhale from him.

I glanced sideways.

Kusari-san had made her face composed again, but not in the sharp, dangerous way from before.

This was more the kind of stillness she got when she had said more than she meant to and was trying not to show it mattered.

Buchou looked at her once.

Then back at Gasper.

Then at me.

The whole thing still felt fragile.

Like if anyone pushed too hard, the door would slam and we’d lose everything we’d gained.

So, naturally, I kept talking.

Because with me, talking was both the problem and the solution.

“You don’t have to come all the way out tonight,” I said. “But tomorrow, training again. Okay?”

The red eye in the gap narrowed.

“...With Xenovia-senpai?”

I winced.

Fair question.

“With everybody,” I said quickly. “Not just Xenovia.”

“That sounds worse.”

“It’s not!”

Kusari-san finally spoke again.

“It might be,” she said.

I looked at her.

She looked back with the faintest deadpan expression.

Then, after a beat, added, “But not by much.”

That was the first actual little joke I’d heard from her since Azazel brought up her past.

It was good to see that it was still there.

And weirdly, hearing it made something in me unclench.

Not because everything was fine.

Because it meant not everything was broken.

Gasper, behind the door, made a tiny uncertain sound that I was pretty sure this time really was the start of a laugh.

That meant he was still willing to listen.

And if he was listening, then I still had a chance to do what I did best.

Which, unfortunately for everyone involved, was say something shameless enough to either solve the problem or make it catastrophically worse.

I grinned at the crack in the door.

“See? You’re getting it.”

“...I’m not getting anything...”

“That’s because you’re not thinking big enough,” I said.

Rias-Buchou turned toward me slowly.

That alone should have warned me to stop.

It didn’t.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“I mean,” I said, pointing dramatically at the door, “that Gasper’s Sacred Gear is amazing.”

There was a short pause.

Then Gasper’s eye blinked once in the gap.

“...Amazing?”

“Yes!” I said. “You can stop time!”

“...That’s why people sealed me away...”

“No, no, no, that’s the negative way to look at it,” I said quickly. “You need to think about the positive uses!”

Buchou narrowed her eyes.

“Kusari,” she said, without taking her gaze off me, “do you know what he’s about to say?”

Kusari-san, arms folded, looked at me for half a second and answered with perfect calm.

“Yes. It’s as dumb as you’d probably expect.”

That was not encouraging.

I pressed on anyway.

“Think about it, Gasper!” I said. “If you could stop time properly, you could do all kinds of things!”

“Useful things?” he asked, sounding suspicious and faintly hopeful.

“Yes! Extremely useful!,” I said.

“Something we all would think is useful?” Buchou asked.

“….Sure.”

That was the point where Buchou sighed deeply.

With the long-suffering exhaustion of a woman who knew exactly what kind of direction my brain had just gone in and had already decided I was probably beyond saving.

Then I leaned a little closer to the door and lowered my voice just enough to sound like I was sharing a sacred secret.

“For example,” I said, “you could use it for ecchi things.”

The silence that followed was immediate and absolute.

Buchou closed her eyes.

Kusari-san put one hand over her face.

From behind us, Koneko-chan’s voice carried in from down the hall.

“…Pervert Senpai….”

“Is Issei saying something lewd again?” I heard Xenovia ask.

“Always.” Koneko-chan answered her.

There’s no way she heard me.

Or does she just have a sixth sense at this point?

I decided to ignore it.

Gasper, importantly, was still listening.

“Ecchi... things?” he repeated.

Now we were getting somewhere.

“Yes,” I said very seriously. “You know. Like if a group of girls was changing clothes somewhere, and you stopped time and—”

“Ise!”

Buchou’s voice cracked across the hall like a whip.

I jerked upright.

“What!?”

“You absolutely will not finish that sentence!”

“I was motivating him!”

“With that!?”

“It’s a valid use!”

“Only to you!”

The door trembled slightly.

Then Gasper made a noise.

He finally laughed without panicking that he did.

Kusari-san lowered her hand from her face just enough to look at me like it was a miracle the peerage had collectively agreed to keep alive.

“You really are hopeless,” she said.

“Maybe,” I said. “But tell me it’s not helping.”

“I won’t dignify that.”

“Ise...that’s not the kind of encouragement he needs.” Buchou said.

“Normally, no,” I said. “But this is a Sacred Gear we’re talking about. You have to think of all the possibilities!”

Buchou looked like she wanted to throw me into the pool from yesterday all over again.

“Why,” she asked, each word painfully deliberate, “is that the first possibility your brain produces?”

“That answer should be obvious by now.”

“You could just ask me to get naked if you wanted to see! You see a naked girl’s body every night”

“It’s not the same! This is a man’s dream!”

Gasper’s eye was still visible in the crack.

Still there.

Still not retreating.

I seized the chance.

“And think about this,” I said, pointing again before Buchou could shut me down. “If you can stop things in your line of sight, then you can learn to control exactly what you affect. Which means one day you can use it to make dreams come true. But before that, you could use it in a fight, or to help people, or to save someone.”

Gasper seemed to focus on the idea of being able to help.

His eye moved from me to Kusari-san, then to Buchou, then back to me.

“...You really think so?”

“Yes,” I said immediately.

“It’s not how I would put it but yes, you can support those you wish to.” Kusari-san said.

Then, because this was important enough to stop joking for a second, I added:

“Look, if you stay in there forever, your power is still going to be scary. It’ll still be dangerous. You’ll still be the guy with the ridiculous time-stop Sacred Gear. Hiding won’t change that.”

The crack in the door widened by maybe half an inch.

“But,” I continued, “if you come out and actually learn how to use it, then it becomes your power instead of just the thing everyone else is afraid of.”

My words seemed to reach him.

Because Gasper stopped immediately trying to shrink away from the conversation and just listened.

Kusari-san spoke then, quieter than me and infinitely more controlled.

“He’s right.”

Gasper looked at her.

She kept her gaze on the crack in the door.

“You do not stop frightening people by becoming smaller,” she said. “That will only let them treat you worse.”

I felt Buchou go very still behind me.

I had no idea what to say to that for a second.

That wasn’t only for Gasper.

Gasper heard it too.

His voice, when it came, was very small.

“...Did that happen to you?”

Kusari-san’s expression barely changed.

“Yes,” she said, then more quietly to herself. “But I didn’t get a choice in it.”

Somehow that made it heavier than if she’d said more.

Gasper was silent for a long moment.

Then, very quietly:

“...I don’t want to stay in here forever.”

“Good,” I said at once. “That’s progress.”

Buchou shot me a look.

I ignored it.

“If you want,” I said, “then tomorrow we can keep training. We use Saji’s Sacred Gear, we keep the overload down, and we’ll do it right.”

“Without giving Gasper-kun any strange ideas about how to use his powers,” Buchou said sharply.

I looked at her.

She stared back.

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

“I can’t promise that Buchou.” I said as I broke the silence.

Buchou made a strangled sound.

I saw that Kusari-san nearly smiled at our antics. She either found it amusing or was enjoying Buchou’s frustration.

But Gasper made that small laugh again. 

That tiny uncertain sound.

And when the door opened just a little wider, enough for more of his face to show, I knew I’d won.

Or at least gotten close enough to call it that.

Buchou and noticed too.

The exasperation on her face eased into something softer.

Relief.

Kusari-san’s calm face softened seeing Gasper come ever so slightly more out of the room.

“There,” she said quietly. “That’s enough for tonight.”

Gasper tensed. “T-Tonight?”

“Yes,” she said. “We aren’t dragging you outside by force. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

“Without Durandal?” he asked weakly.

From down the hall, Xenovia called, “No promises.”

She, Asia, and Koneko-chan were coming towards us.

He immediately tried to shut the door again.

I slapped my hand against it before he could.

“Oi!”

“That was a joke!” I said.

“You don’t know that!” Gasper cried.

“I’m like 50% sure!”

“I-I’m sure that Xenovia-san is just trying to help!” Asia said quickly as they reached us. 

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t chase you again. And if she tries she will regret it.” Kusari-san said with a scary look in her eye.

Xenovia took a small step to the side to move away from her.

Even Gasper noticed and cowered slightly.

“...Gya-kun is getting louder.” Koneko-chan said, carrying a piece of leftover garlic and looked entirely too satisfied with herself.

“Not garlic again! Koneko-chan is a meanie!” Gasper cried, trying to shut the door I held open.

Kusari-san narrowed her eyes at her.

“Koneko-chan.”

Koneko-chan’s smug look disappeared and she hid the garlic behind her back. 

“I’m just trying to motivate Gya-kun. He’s a scaredy-cat and needs a push.” Koneko-chan defended herself.

Kusari-san stared at her for a moment.

“….Fine.”

Koneko-chan’s smug look barely came back. 

Then Asia stepped forward. 

“Gasper-san... tomorrow, I’d like to talk properly too. If that’s all right.”

There was a pause.

Then, from inside, “...Okay.”

Asia lit up.

And just like that, the whole miserable, exhausting evening suddenly felt worth it.

Even Kusari-san seemed to be in a better mood.

Not enough to look happy exactly, but enough that the hard line in her shoulders eased a little.

She was still too careful.

Still carrying whatever had happened with Buchou earlier.

But there was less coldness to her now than when she had first returned.

Gasper’s door stayed cracked open just long enough for us all to count it as a victory before he retreated again with a muttered goodnight.

That was fine.

We’d take it.

As we started to move away, I felt lighter than I had when the evening started.

We hadn’t solved everything.

But Gasper had agreed to keep trying.

Asia had gotten her promise.

And Kusari had spoken to him in a way only she could.

I fell into step beside Buchou as we left the hall, and after a second I glanced back once.

Kusari-san was still there for half a breath longer than the rest of us, looking at Gasper’s closed door.

Thoughtfully.

Koneko-chan and Xenovia were still by the door too, waiting for her to join us.

Then she turned and joined them as they followed us to the club room.

And for the first time since Azazel had brought up her past and then disappeared, it felt like the peerage was back to normal again.

At least for the moment.

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