Hello, Belial here! Bet you thought this story wouldn't get an update, huh?
WRONG!Yeah, I know it's been a while since I updated anything that wasn't His Angel, and I'm sorry- College has just been too much for me to consistently write this past semester, but with the Covid-19 outbreak I've gotten significantly more time. (They doubled our spring break and switched the remainder of the semester to online classes, so I should be able to write a lot more from here on out.)
Yeah, so this isn't a super long chapter but I think it's a pretty good one. Make sure to leave your thoughts in a review, and join the discord! (More on that at the bottom.)
Anyway, I'll leave you alone now. Enjoy the story, and as always, PLEASE give me any suggestions or ideas you have. Good scene ideas are what inspire me to write, so even if you think you're ideas are mediocre, tell me.
Issei, hands in pockets, walked down a street in Kuoh. It was just a little drizzly, but not so much that he needed an umbrella- just enough to give the day a muggy kind of feeling. He had some headphones in, playing music from a far outdated iPod shuffle while he walked.
All in all, it was his favorite kind of day.
He was already in a bit of a good mood. Chow had hooked him up with some stellar lunch, like always, and had given him some spending money; essentially an allowance. It used to make Issei feel a bit uncomfortable, taking money from Chow- until the old geezer revealed he was pretty well off; not quite rich, but definitely not hurting for cash. The old man wanted his ward to focus on his studies instead of getting a job, so he covered Issei's expenses for pretty much everything- not that the boy was a frivolous spender to begin with.
That said, having been a street urchin for some time, it always made Issei feel larger-than-life when he had money in his pockets.
He was walking through a downtown area, with no real destination in mind- until he spotted something familiar.
A full head of red hair, sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb.
A grin quickly plastered itself on his face.
Now, Rias and Issei had been friends for a couple weeks by this point. They'd only hung out outside of school a single time since the incident with Asia, but nevertheless they continued to hit it off every time they spoke, and each learned something about the other every single time they met.
Issei, as attentive as he was, had picked up on something she worked very hard to conceal.
She was easy to mess with.
Whether it was because of her upbringing or because she had superstar status, she was one of the single most fun people to pick on, in good fun of course. Occasionally, she would give as good as she got, and her witty banter was second to none- but when it came to pranks and jokes, she was as fresh as a spring chicken.
Issei couldn't have been more excited as he stalked her from afar, affirming that she hadn't seen him yet. Once he knew she hadn't, he slowly closed the gap between them, working his way through the people silently like only he knew how. She was standing still in a crowd flowing around her, watching something on the streetside. From his distance, it looked like the entrance to an arcade- flashing rainbow lights framed a door with an equally flashy sign hanging above it.
As he approached, Rias glanced around, and he carefully ducked behind someone next to him to avoid detection. Because of his upbringing (or rather, the lack thereof) he was beyond skilled at hiding in a crowd, and not even the person he hid behind noticed him, much less Rias.
The girl, having completed her cursory glance, took a hesitant step towards the arcade. She looked around once more, then took another step, and another. As she drew just a meter from the door, Issei struck.
"Hi!"
Rias nearly jumped out of her skin as she instantly turned around to face Issei, who retreated back a couple steps and laughed. She sighed and held her head in exasperation, both relieved and disappointed that out of everyone, he was the one who'd seen her.
"Whatcha doin? You going to the arcade?"
Issei peered past her into the door. It looked near-empty inside; a perfect time to visit.
"Is that what it is? I was wondering." Rias admitted, looking inside once more.
"What? You were wondering? You don't know what an arcade is?"
"I know what an arcade is," Rias said indignantly, "I just didn't know what that's what one really looked like." She seemed intrigued by the arcade, but turned once more to Issei, pushing it to the back of her mind. "But nevermind that. What are you up to?"
"No no, don't 'nevermind that' me. Did you just say 'I don't know what an arcade is'?"
"No. I said the opposite of that."
"Sounded like it to me. Let's go inside."
"What? I can't go in there, I-"
"You what? Mom and Pop gonna find out?"
Rias glared daggers at him.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, it was true. She'd never in her life been to an arcade, or a theme park, or a roller rink, or anything of that sort- her parents wouldn't let her. 'It isn't something a princess should do', they'd say.
"Well? I'm waiting." Issei egged her on, by this point in their friendship knowing full well why she'd never been to an arcade. "Come on, this one has a great Dance Dance Revolution setup, and I'm friends with the owner. It'll be fun."
"Hm…" Rias knew she should say 'I'm really busy, sorry' or something to that effect, but she just couldn't bring herself to. Truth be told, she wanted to go inside, very badly.
"Say it, say it, say it. 'Sure Issei, I'll go in!' That's all it would take."
"Fine. I'll come in for a minute, just to see what it's like."
"Atta girl! Come on, they've got a killer claw machine."
There are a lot of things Koneko expects to see on one of her arcade days. Prizes and food, obviously. The owner of the arcade, duh. Couples, high-score fanatics, families with kids, all frequent. Even then, she's seen some pretty weird things- there's not a whole lot that would surprise her.
But if there's one thing that would-
It would be Rias, with a human, on one half of the duet dancing machines, performing her absolute heart out to the song Butterfly.
Having just entered the arcade and come face to face with exactly that, Koneko decided maybe she'd eaten too much candy and immediately headed for the door.
"Hey, I think we got the high score!"
Issei, sweat dripping off his brow, pointed to the screen in front of he and Rias. Sure enough, RED/ISE was now at the top of the list, just above HED/ASS and URR/DUM.
Rias, looking a little frazzled but not quite as exerted as Issei, pumped her fist in the air with a bit of dramatic flair.
When they'd come in, Issei had started taking her around all of the different games and machines, and the first thing to catch her eye had obviously been the flashiest thing in the place- DanceRush Stardom, a two-player hyper-physical dancing simulator. She'd been apprehensive at first of course, but after watching Issei try it out she was hooked. They'd proceeded to spend about an hour on the same machine, until they'd just got the high score.
Both of them were remarkably fast learners, and while Issei was lighter on his feet, Rias had reflexes that blew his mind. The end result was that her dancing was quite a bit faster and more precise than his, but he had a stylish and smooth flair to it.
"So what's next?" Rias asked, eagerness in her voice. She couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes, and any thoughts about being reserved had been blown away.
"Uh…" Issei looked around, wiping the bead of sweat off his head while his eyes searched for something else to keep the princess entertained.
He figured it wouldn't take much.
"How about air hockey?"
Koneko stood in the doorway of the arcade once more, and beside her-
"Oh, wow. You weren't kidding. She's totally hooked on him, huh?"
Akeno Himejima.
"Told you. You owe me candy."
"Haha, guess I do. One second."
Akeno held up her smartphone, and snapped a quick picture of Rias absolutely destroying Issei Hyoudou at air hockey. She lowered her phone, and pity quickly took the place of her smile.
"I guess I'm gonna have to talk to her about this, huh? If she falls for some random human, it'll seriously cause problems..."
"Or the friend chicken will just kill him."
Akeno sighed in concern. Koneko was right. They wanted nothing more than Rias to be with someone she loved rather than had chosen for her, but...a human wasn't the right choice.
"I know. And I think she knows that too."
The two of them watched her in silence for a moment. She looked so...happy. Almost more happy than they'd ever seen her, and certainly more happy than they'd seen her in a long time.
"What do we do?" Koneko asked, looking up at her senior.
Akeno cast one more glance at the two. Issei just lost his second round in a row, but they were both laughing.
"Let's go. She's having a good time." Akeno ushered the rook outside, choosing as the Queen not to disturb their master.
"Give up yet?"
Rias held out her air-hockey striker in challenge, waiting for him to match her.
"Okay, okay. You win. I concede."
Instead, he held his hands up in surrender. She was merciless, and way faster than him.
The score was 4-1, in Rias' favor. That's not an individual game's score, mind you- that was total wins/losses.
Issei was pretty convinced she'd let him win that one, too.
"So, you've beaten me at my own game. Anything else you wanna humiliate me in while we're at it?"
Rias hummed, thinking it over. "Effortlessly beating you again does sound nice, but I'm kind of curious about that."
She pointed towards something Issei's brain tended to actively block out when he was at the arcade- the photo booth.
"That's not a game. It's a photo booth."
"A photo booth?"
"A relic of the forgotten past, really." Issei put on a dramatic tone as Rias walked in a circle around the booth. It had curtains on either side so light couldn't get in, and was just barely enough for two people to fit in- if they were close.
"Let's try it."
"Really? It just takes cheesy low-res pictures-"
"Let's try it!"
Eagerness in her voice, Rias impatiently grabbed Issei's shirt as she herself flew into the booth. They both fell onto the one seat inside, and ended up with her in the far-right of the booth with her back to the corner, and him nearly on top of her with his back towards the left entrance.
"Smooth moves, red." Issei had a light blush as he positioned himself in a more modest way, not trying to do anything to her she'd think is weird.
Rias laughed, glad she'd been on the giving end of the nonsense for once. She'd given up on any pretense of acting high-and-mighty or being reserved at this point, and was just a girl at the arcade.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll be more careful next time."
"Somehow I don't believe that...anyway, lemme see how this works." Issei fiddled with some buttons on the panel in the front of the photo booth, and all of a sudden it whirred to life.
A screen appeared in front of them, shining in from a projector behind. All it had on it was a countdown-
3,
Issei didn't think the countdown would be so sudden. He couldn't really think of a pose, so he just put up a peace sign with his left hand.
2,
Rias realized it was about to take their photo, so she wrapped around Issei's right arm with her left and flashed a peace sign with her right hand.
1
The picture booth flashed intensely bright light, startling Issei and making Rias outright flinch. A shutterstock sound effect played, and the projection started again.
"I think it's gonna take another one." Issei said, preparing. Rias was inclined to believe him- until the photo booth started to whir and the projection stopped, leaving them in near-total darkness.
"Or...maybe not." Rias replied, noticing it was starting to print two large pictures out of the panel.
"What the hell? It's supposed to print a bunch of small pictures, not one big one." Issei looked mildly confused as he took the two photos. He couldn't really see anything, so he handed them off to Rias and started to get up. As he exited, he turned around and extended his hand towards her to help her up.
"Princess," Issei exclaimed sarcastically as he helped her out of the photo booth.
Rias laughed. He sounded obnoxiously similar to her actual servants at home. Once she was up, she spared a glance towards their freshly-printed photo.
Rias was on the left, with a peace sign on her right and Issei's arm in her chest. She had a big grin and her eyes were wide open. He was on the right, with a big dopey smile and his eyes totally shut while he held his peace sign to the left. They were both enjoying the experience, but he was clearly enjoying something else too.
Rias laughed out loud when she saw the picture clearly. They looked just like a normal human couple on a normal human date.
"That bad, huh?" Issei asked sheepishly, wondering how rough the picture must've been to make her bust out laughing.
"No, not at all. I love it." Rias held out the other copy to him, and folded hers neatly in her pocket. She had a sincere smile on her face, and the unexpected intensity of the moment made him just a tad embarrassed. "You do look like you're enjoying your arm in my chest," She followed up, giggling.
Issei choked on his own breath when he saw it, realizing his cherished moment of unexpected second base was forever caught on camera. After a moment, he started laughing with her.
It was just so cheesy.
"Alright, alright. You got me. Anyway, you ready to move on? Lotta games left to play." Issei said, gesturing around to the arcade to all the stuff they hadn't done yet.
"Let's-"
Rias was interrupted when her cell phone went off.
"Oh, sorry. Give me just a second."
"Sure, sure, by all means."
She pulled her phone out to check it, and sure enough there was a text from Sona.
"Gotta jet?" Issei asked, figuring someone like her was busy yet again.
"I do, but not just yet. I've got a few more minutes, so let's make it count."
"Alright, alright, alright! That's more like it! Remember that claw machine I mentioned?"
Rias placed a picture frame down on her desk, right beside a small stuffed toy.
"Is that a plushie dragon? Cute."
"A-Akeno! I didn't realize you were still here..."
"A plushie and a new picture? Someone's been busy today."
"These are just...souvenirs."
"I can tell. Is that Issei, in the picture?"
"...Yes, it is."
"You two look pretty close there, ufufu. Is that a photo booth? How moe-moe. Oh, did he win you the stuffed animal too? That's so cute~!"
"Shouldn't you be doing something right now?!"
To make a long AN short: PMs are super broken right now. If you wanna ask me a question or talk or say hi or anything like that, consider joining my brand new discord server:
discord .gg /taPjVJJ
Copy that, delete the spaces, paste into discord or your browser, and join away! Super simple. Anyway, hopefully you all liked this chapter, short as it was. I'm getting a better feel for their relationship and the direction I wanna take this story, and I think you'll like it too.