AN: This is the next chapter to life as a devil. No, action yet but cannon derailing is a go. It is going to start small but boy oh boy is it going to get out of hand soon.

"Inner demons/angels speaking"

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Chapter 2

Shirou finally finished repairing the AC for the Student Council as the Student president Sona Sitri, heir to the house of Sitri and the sister of the Leviathan, stared at him inquisitively.

"You know Shirou I am still surprised that you are willing to use magic for such trivial things." Sona commented as she helped him put away his tools.

"Well it makes things easier and cuts on the maintenance cost, so I don't see a reason for not using magic to fix things." Shirou replied as he packed his things and took a seat, "So what is the reason for calling me? Surely it was not the broken AC?"

"That is true." Sona said as she took her seat and Shirou tried to block out the comments of how fine she looked from his inner residents. He was not about to lust after a 17 year old girl damn it.

"I called you here to discuss about the terms and conditions for allowing a magician like you to live in my territory." Sona said as she took out a bunch of contract papers. "The papers should list out everything that there is to know and should you accept the contract you would be obliged to handle a few requests from me, depending on your skill level and in return I would help you get special tomes and magical regents. In short, I would become your patron for as long as you stay." Sona said as she drank her tea.

The first question that came into Shirou's mind was 'Where the hell did she get the tea from?' immediately followed by 'Does she not know that he was a Devil like her?'

Shirou was going to correct the small miscommunication between them when he was stopped by his literal inner demons and angels.

"Stop Shirou let the girl assume that you are but a simple human magician and not a devil. It would allow you to do things which would have otherwise being impossible due to the devil politics and usual devil code of conduct." Kokabiel whispered in his mind.

"Yes, yes, let her assume that you are a human magician. I really want to capture the look on her face when she realises that you are a Devil and a Gremory/Bellial to boot too." His adopted ancestor said while giggling. He knew she was a mischievous woman but this prank might be a bit too far.

"The angel and demon is correct Shirou. Exposing yourself as a Devil would make you part of their faction with all their benefits and drawbacks that comes with being a Devil. Letting her assume that you are a human magician would allow you to spread your connections a bit further and allow you to make connections with the other factions who would look upon you without the stigma of being a devil." Indra advised him.

The Lord of Devas and Kokabiel had a point but there was just one slight problem.

'I am a Devil and I doubt that others would not be able to sense my ancestry and origins.' Shirou pointed out. He was not sure why Sona had not figured out that he was a devil; surely the members of other factions would figure it out soon.

As soon as he pointed out that fact the residents of his world went into a flurry of conversation talking in such a rapid fire pace that Shirou was unable to make out what they were saying.

"Shirou" Beelzebub finally said as the residents of his inner world went about their business. "You are using your powers to keep us in check and not materialise in the material world."

'I know that.' Shirou replied getting an idea what Beelzebub was hinting at. 'Does that mean that my actions of keeping you guys in check, is also suppressing my signature as a devil?'

"Yes, as you know that you cannot use too much divine or demonic power least one of us use that as a medium to materialise in the real world and in doing so you have hidden your signature as a devil and masked yourself as one that is most neutral on the magical spectrum and familiar to you, a human being. A human with powerful magic but a human nonetheless" Beelzebub explained.

Shirou found it interesting that his actions were having such an effect but he guess that he should have seen it coming, so for now he would play along.

He analysed the documents and learn of its content. Structural Analysis was really a great spell to cut down on the paperwork without skimming any important fine print. The contract did not ask much of him and he found that most of the things that Sona could request of him were things that he would have readily agreed to in the first place, this just made things official.

"I am fine with the terms and conditions, Sona." Shirou said as he signed the contract, "But did you really have to make it so official? You do know that I would have readily agreed to types of request stated in the contract."

"I know but procedures are procedures." Sona said with a small smile as she took back the papers. "Also you are using magic for trivial things again."

"It is not trivial when I am making a deal with a Devil. Have to watch out for the fine print and all." Shirou retorted, earning himself a smile from the Sitri heiress.

It was really strange how quickly he had become friends with the Sona in just a month. She was quite dutiful, fulfilling her duties as the student president well and was quite smart and intelligent too, reminding him greatly of his past friend Issei.

Looking at the time Shirou knew that he was late for class, though he did not mind skipping class due to how dull it was at times. He reckoned that he should get going he did not want to spend the time in the Council office and let rumours about his relationship with Sona take wings. No thanks, he did not about to make his life in a rom-com, just yet.

Before he could voice out his intentions, Sona interrupted him, "Tell me Shirou do you play chess?" as she pulled out a chess set from out of nowhere. Again where was she keeping that?

"Yes." Shirou replied though he did not have much of an interest in it apart from it being the basis of the Evil pieces and the craze of the Rating Games. He was more of a go and shogi player anyway, a trait he got from his past friend Issei.

"Care to play a game?" Sona said with an expectant look on her face. She looked really happy since he signed that contract.

He was about to say no but Indra really wanted to play a game of chess or chaturanga as he called it, wanting to see how Sona stacked up to his skills and how much modern chess had changed from its roots.

Inwardly sighing, Shirou reluctantly said yes.

"So let's start shall we. What colour do you prefer?"

"Do you even have to ask? White of course." Shirou replied, steeling himself for his disastrous defeat.

Sona simply gave him an impish smile as she waited for his first move. The game was on and Shirou knew it was going to be a long one.

####################

"Again!" Sona said as she rearranged the board.

"Do we have to?" Shirou said whining a bit, he had only won 3 games out of the 20 they played so far and it was getting pretty late too. The two of them had been playing the whole afternoon and the final classes for the day were about to be over.

"Yes." Sona curtly replied. This was the most fun she had in a long, long time.

Shirou while was not the best player she had played against was quite sharp minded and quick on the uptake. He was also really good at the game inquiring about the various legal moves and Sona was really enjoying herself as she taught him the rules and some history behind how they came into being.

He kept on surprising her as he defeated her three times with some of the really obscure gameplay rules of chess, which while were not used for a long time were still legal to date, just phased out of favour for some more popular playing styles.

Shirou was no professional player as no chessmaster would dare experiment and mix and match their gameplay styles like Shirou did. But damn her, if some of them were not innovative and really surprising moves, catching her off guard more often than she would have like. Her mind was put through the paces as she tried to keep up with Shirou and his trapping skills and it was only her vast knowledge of the game that allowed her to win and stalemate their games so far.

It was just an exhilarating experience for her.

What she did not know was that she was up against a multitude of gods, devils and angels, who kept giving Shirou input on which moves to play and even predicting her moves to create the perfect traps. Shirou kept in mind their advice as they played and upon Indra's prompting kept asking about the various chess rules as the games progress and using them to further refine his gameplay style.

"Then let's play Tamerlane's Chess than." Shirou said, as Indra as informed by Darius about it, a variation of the normal chess evolved in Persia and the Lord of Devas was eager to play that variation of chess, which sounded more interesting to him and even the others wanted to play that as they felt that it would be more challenging than a normal chess game.

"Tamerlane's Chess? You know about it?" Sona asked in a quite tone, surprised that Shirou knew about the obscure variation of chess. It was not as popular as chess was and thus not many know about it or even the fact that it existed. So she was really surprised that Shirou knew of the obscure game.

"Yes, you did explain a bit about it before." Shirou smoothly said, he was going to make the excuse that Sona in her enthusiasm had mentioned it offhandedly while explaining the moves and he was going to stick to that excuse. It was better than telling her that he learned about it from an ancient dead Persian king who lived inside his soul.

"I did? I guess I did." Sona whispered as she tried to recall whether she had mentioned it or not. Accepting that she must have mentioned it Sona sighed and said "Sorry Shirou, I don't have the pieces and a suitable board with me, right now."

"Then I guess that's it for today." Shirou said as he got up.

"Come on Shirou, one more game." Sona said giving him her best puppy-eye look, let it not be said that she had not learned it after witnessing her sister use it on her all the time.

Shirou resisted that look, that sweet innocent cute look that could melt the hearts of gods and men. He had by far seen better ones from his female friends and thier childrens in the past to succumb to that. in fact Shirou wanted to say that she needed to practice it a bit more if she wanted to have any effect on him as he was now immune to it.

Sadly, while he was immune to it, the inner demons and angels in his mind were not.

"Shirou how can you refuse such an innocent little girl's request?! Are you not a man?" his adopted ancestor raged in his mind.

"Yes Shirou only the most evil of gods and demons would refuse such an innocent and sincere request made by the girl before her. Are you really that heartless?" Kokabiel said agreeing with his ancestor.

"Shirou" Indra said in a low voice, "Accept her request or you would learn the power of all the shastras that I know, the hard way."

"Don't forget Gungnir too." Odin chimed in.

'Okay, okay, I will play a game with her. Happy?' Shirou irritated replied.

"""YES"""

"One last game Sona." Shirou said as he sat down for one last game, vowing to make this a quick one.

Sona beamed at his reply and readied her black pieces, intent on winning this last game of theirs.

##########################

In the end Shirou was stuck in the Council office for another half an hour as Sona pulled out all the stops and stalemated him at every turn. Still he won the game and fled from there before Sona unleashed her puppy eyes on him again and bend the demons in his mind to her will.

It really was a look that could melt the hearts of gods and men as proven by his inner demons and angels.

There at the gate, Shirou saw Issei Hyoudou, the resident breast loving pervert waiting for him.

"Yo, boss." Issei greeted him, seeing him come out of the building. "What kept you?"

"Just some business." Shirou said deliberately not speaking about his visit to the Student Council. He knew Issei would see something that was not there and give birth to rumours that he did not want.

"Okay." Issei said accepting Shirou's reply. The boy knew that when Shirou meant business it was usually that along with mind-numbing numbers, calculations, booking and tax forms. Something that Issei did not want to learn about so early, in this part of his life.

"So off to the café boss or is it Restaurant duty today?" Issei asked.

"I guess that going to the Restaurant would be a good idea. I am in the mood to cook something." Shirou replied. Yes, cooking would help release some of the mental stress he had accumulated from devising all those strategies and listening to advises of his residents.

"Really boss?" Issei said stars gleaming in his eyes after hearing that Shirou was going to cook. Why should he not after all Issei had never met another chef better than Shirou and he rarely cooked but when he did, it was always a feast, literally at times.

"Yes, so why don't you go ahead to the restaurant and tell the guys to prepare for my arrival." Shirou said, "I am in a mood to cook some French cuisines today."

"Alright!" Issei shouted in joy, "I'll call Matsuda and Motohama too, can't let them miss this opportunity." Issei said as he texted them and began to run off. "See you in the restaurant boss."

Seeing the brunette go jumping in joy and excitement Shirou wondered just what had led to him hiring the perverted boy.

"Must be his enthusiasm and optimism." Shirou muttered as he went to the restaurant. "And I was short on staff too."

Really just because he was of age and was at a stage where he was supposed to learn about responsibility, did not mean that his mother had to buy him a restaurant and café to manage as part of his training, she really like going overboard sometimes.

Still his business was going well and apart from some few hiccups due to his age, the café and the restaurant were doing well. The fact that Shirou was allowed to cook to his heart's content in the restaurant allowed him to tolerate all the paperwork that came with being an enterprising owner-chef.

Seeing the smiles on the face of his customers was always a soothing experience and he was really glad that his mother had given him the opportunity to do so.

"I wonder what they would order today?" Shirou wondered as he headed to the restaurant, his mind not thinking about magic, the eldritch abominations in his mind and how he was now mistaken as a human magician.

################################

Rias was happy, she was really, really happy.

She was finally going to meet the illusive owner of the Heaven's Feel Restaurant and get to taste his cooking.

The restaurant even if it had only opened in just a month had quickly become the talk of the town alongside the Celestial Maiden's Café, both of which boasted high quality service and even higher quality meals. Heck, Koneko had seen the Perverted Trio entering the café and not ogling the maids and simply enjoying their tea and cakes.

Rias knew then and there that the restaurant and the café had to be good if it could make the perverted trio forget about the female body and enjoy the drinks and dishes that were served.

The take-outs that Koneko brought back cemented the notion as Rias was lost in simply divine taste of the meals.

The cooks were just too good and it was said that the head chef was even better as he not only was leagues above the cooks of the restaurant but had also taught the cooks and raised their level of cooking to new heights.

Sure, the meals cooked by the head chef was nothing compared to the meals that her step-mother Clara cooked back in the underworld but being stuck in the Human world with no access to her divinely crafted meals, Rias had to settle for the meals cooked by the owner of the Heaven's Feel Restaurant.

Rias never did visit the Restaurant herself due to how busy she was with her duties as one of the overseers of Kuoh and the president of her little club and she regularly sent Koneko to the restaurant in hopes of finding the boss and buying take-outs for the club.

But not today, today she was going to go to the restaurant herself and meet this chef and give her best recruitment speech to become her personal chef. Rias was sure that she could easily make offers that the chef could not refuse in the slightest, whether it was money or fame, she could easily provide them.

And finally, finally she no longer had to eat sub-standard meals again. No offense to Akeno and her cooking but they simply paled in comparison to the meals prepared by her step-mother Carla, who had thoroughly spoiled her with her divine cooking.

The fact that she was going to eat for free along with her peerage was an icing on the proverbial cake as Sona who was in an equally happy mood had graciously offered to pay for the meals and even brought her peerage along with her.

'Poor Sona, if she only knew just how empty her purse was going to be after tonight. But her loss my gain, I am going to eat my heart out tonight.' Rias thought not ashamed in the slightest that she was going to mooch off her rival as it would allow her to save up for some of the figurines she was looking to buy for some time.

Really the meals of the restaurant while not expensive were so delicious that she had been buying them in bulk for herself. Combine that with the number of her peerage members and the cost became a bit too much for her monthly allowances that Rias had to skim out on buying her mangas and figurines.

The natural devil metabolism and magical and physical skills of her peerage meant that they were not gaining any weight, which they took full advantage of and began to eat not less than three helpings per meal. Heck even Kiba who did not like eating much had been eating no more than five helpings each and she was sure that he had been secretly making trips to the restaurant too.

Rias was for once really glad that she had a small peerage. She really could not imagine just how larger her eating expenditures would have been if she had a full peerage.

At least her peerage members had the decency to work harder and earn their own meals at times, but even with their increased efforts the bulk of their meals was still paid from her purse, though Rias did not mind as her peerage was showing positive signs of eating more.

Koneko was facing a sudden growth spurt and was growing into a healthy young lady with a great figure to boot too. Her strength and defences had grown leaps and bounds and she had even increased her overall speed and reflexes with all the jogging and sneaking she did to get some extra bites out of Kiba's plate when he was not looking.

Gasper, her extremely shy bishop had also started to interact with them more as they began to share the meals together and he was even willing to come with them to the restaurant to eat despite being so scared, though he was crossdressing to blend in. The food was just too good to turn down.

Akeno had also been looking much fairer and to avoid gaining weight had started doing more physical exercises which much to the surprise of everyone had allowed her to surpass Koneko and Kiba in terms of pure physical prowess. Rias did not know where she learned Akido and Judo but Akeno was quite proficient in them and used them to thoroughly demolish Koneko and Kiba in a spar now that her physical skills were beyond them.

Rias had known that Akeno was her Queen, and the Queen piece was said to have all the strengths of the other pieces, the strength of a Rook, the speed of a Knight and the magical power of a Bishop, but seeing how Akeno who was more like her and a squishy mage type demolish her two pure physical members, nailed the fact home of how neglectful she had been regarding Akeno's training, if this were the results of a month's worth of intensive physical training.

Akeno still preferred to use her magic over getting up close and personal but damn it was she scary when she got close and started using her throws and grappling skills. Being a sadist, she naturally went for maximum pain to disable her opponents in quick succession or keep them lock in a really painful vice grip, which coincidentally Akido and Judo were really great at. It was really a match made in hell.

Let it also not be said that Akeno's magical power had grown any weaker and in fact Akeno was now finding it easier to cast her spells now that she had better physical endurance and reflexes, not to mention a larger magical pool.

Akeno said that it was most likely due to increasing her physical abilities which allowed her channel and generate more and more magic through her body. This somewhat validated the theory that of good physical condition being intricately linked with good magical prowess.

Rias had thus started to work out with Akeno and had seen similar results too, while her physical abilities did not grow as much as Akeno's, Rias did notice that her magical powers did gain a big boost.

Still the one who went the most drastic transformation and benefitted the most had to be Kiba, who due to eating so much had gain a lot of mass and his usual workouts had resulted in him developing what Rias could only call Pink-type muscles. She really could not believe such muscles that had so much power packed in such a lithe frame and had such extreme endurance. Not to mention that he had developed such well-defined muscles and abs in the process.

Now Kiba was by no means ugly and he had always been a pretty boy but over the course of the month not only had he developed such well-defined muscles and abs but had also gained a much more rugged look that simply enhanced his princely disposition. He was more like a Gallant White Knight with the bearings of a Royal, instead of a charming but a bit too pretty prince.

Rias was not ashamed to admit that she now harboured a small crush on her knight. She was after all an healthy 17 year old girl and it was normal for her to be attracted to a handsome boy like Kiba. It was a pity that he viewed her as a big sister and being the perfect gentleman and knight, he would never dare make any romantic advances towards her.

This small crush of hers really made her sympathise with the three perverts who called him a playboy heartbreaker. Didn't he see what he was doing to her with his charms and actions?! It really grated her nerves. What was he some sort of dense Harem Protagonist? If so, then she could really see why people hated Ichika Orimura so much.

Putting aside her thoughts about her playboy knight, Rias looked forward to her free meal and the look of horror on Sona's face as she realised just how empty her pockets were going to be.

Her friend and rival would truly rue this that that she made the mistake of treating her.

Walking into the restaurant Rias was surprised to see a familiar face greet her. The infamous pervert of Kuoh, Issei Hyoudou, who seemed equally surprised to see her.

"Yo, Issei got any free table for us?" Kiba said as he greeted the breast loving pervert.

"I wish I could say no, you damn bishonen but you just had to lucky enough to come at a time when we have a lot of free tables." Issei spat out and Kiba just laughed it off. "Just don't make too much noise like always Kiba."

"Don't worry Issei, I am just here to eat with my club president and club members nothing more." Kiba replied as he grabbed Issei and said, "And you know what I am not even going to ask for discounts today."

"Seriously?" Issei said as he looked at Kiba in disbelief. "Don't believe you. You always try to get a discount."

"No really, no discounts and no schemes today. I am just here to eat today and enjoy the time with my club mates. So, how about those tables?"

Rias was not aware that Kiba was this close to Issei and was such a regular customer that he could get discounts on his meals. He really must have been sneaking here to get some extra meals.

Kiba not wasting any time gave Issei the details of their group, who led them to a suitable area where all of them could dine in peace. She was really impressed that Issei was acting so calm and professional, unlike his public persona at school.

"And what are your orders? I would recommend French dishes for tonight." Issei said, making Rais grin as she began to list out her orders while she enjoyed seeing Sona slowly grow several shades paler with each dish she ordered and Issei had to take out a notepad to write them down.

"So that's what I am going to eat, what about you guys?" Rias said turning to her peerage who were just as eager to order their own meals.

"Now, Rias we should not impose much on Sona." Akeno said as she ordered 12 dishes.

"Yes, it is not polite to impose too much Bouchou." Kiba said while Koneko nodded in agreement laying down their orders of 10 dishes and 15 dishes respectively.

"Now I know why you were so damn happy and were not asking for discounts, you damn mooching bishonen bastard." Issei said as he noted down Gasper's order of 8 dishes.

"Never said I would be the one to pay the meal now did I?" Kiba quipped, shamelessly admitting of mooching of off Sona.

"This is going to be an expensive meal," Issei silently commented as he took Sona's order of a simple three meal course while cursing Kiba's shameless attitude. That damn bishonen should not let someone like her pay for his meals.

Still it was something that they had agreed among themselves and Issei did not want to interfere much and thus went to the kitchen with their orders.

Their meals were quick to be served and Rias took the first bite of her dish, the texture was just right not being too hard or soft and being easy on her tongue letting her taste the flavours that blend together harmoniously and every new bite of her dish simply worked up more of her appetite the more she ate.

Looking at Sona, Rias saw her getting lost in the taste with a blissful smile on her face and as much as her rival like to deny it, Rias had to admit that Sona really did resemble her sister when she smiled like that.

"B+" Rias said as he graded the dish. It would never be the same as the meals made by her step-mother Clara but Rias had to admit it was damn close to it and tasted extremely well.

"I think it should be rated higher than that don't you think Ms Gremory?" Issei said a bit irked that she had given a simple b-grade to the dish.

"Don't be so offended Hyoudou." Sona said as she took another bite of her dish, "Rias has been served top-class meals from her childhood, made by chefs that are renowned all over the world and have an almost legendary status in the cooking circles. Her giving a B-grade is quite high praise, one that many chefs would be honoured to receive."

Issei for his part wondered just what kind of chefs Rias grew up with, if she could say his boss' dishes were B-grade. Shrugging he went back to his work and brought in more food as he saw Kiba and Koneko demolish their meals.

They ate their food in blissful silence with Rias grading each dish as they ate. To her delightful surprise Rias gave almost all the dishes B+ with some few exceptions that earned A-, not good enough to be really called a solid A-grade dish but was definitely higher than the B-grade dishes.

"I really can see why you looked so happy when I said I was going to treat you to this restaurant Rias." Sona commented as she drank the white apple juice like it was some exquisite wine, which it might as well have with its fine taste.

"Yep, and I am not ashamed to admit that I am happy to mooch off of you Sona. The food of this restaurant is just that great." Rias said as she finished her plate and Issei handed in her next dish. "In fact my other plan is to recruit the head chef and owner of this restaurant."

Sona quirked an eyebrow at her comment, "And what makes you think that a chef of this calibre would leave his business behind and serve you Rias?"

"Apart from the fact that I am beautiful, heir to an ancient and noble linage, am rich beyond measure, have connections that even politicians would envy and using all those can grant any request the chef has from providing the best and even rarest ingredients to him, giving him enough capital to expand his restaurant to multiple cities and even providing him the most well-guarded and sought after secret recipes of master chefs, Sona." Rias said rhetorically, "I am still a good negotiator and can get him to see my point of view."

Issei who was waiting at the side could only gulp after hearing his senior list out the reasons as to why his boss should serve her. The sheer confidence and conviction in her words made Issei believe that she could really deliver on her promises. He really was not seeing any downside of his boss accepting her offer, apart from one that might result in this restaurant being close down.

"You are forgetting that he might just refuse you out of sheer professional pride, Rias." Sona commented, "Some people are just too prideful for their own good or care for their underlings too much to abandon them for greater pastures." Pointing to Issei she said, "The fact that he has someone like Hyoudou working under him shows that he has a kind heart and willing to give a chance to others. Hyoudou being polite and professional so far also shows that the man has earned his respect and Hyoudou is working hard to not disappoint him. Such men are rarely moved by promises of fame and money Rias."

Taking a sip of her own apple juice Rias could not help but smile as Sona gave her own insight on the matter. She was expecting, no, counting on her rival to say those words this night. "Just the words that I wanted to hear from you Sona." Rias said as she drank her wine, enjoying the mild taste of the apple juice as it re-ignited her appetite.

"The owner and head chef of this restaurant is a man of morals and cares much about his employees, a virtue that would help him fit right in with my family." Rias said, twirling her glass, "But that is not his best quality yet, Sona."

"Oh? And what will that be?" Sona asked curious as to what had gained her friend's attention.

"It is his teaching skill that makes me want to recruit him, Sona." Rias replied surprising her friend. "You might not be aware but in just a month he has somehow trained the chefs of this restaurant and whipped them up into adequate cooks."

"Did you know that when this restaurant opened I mostly graded their best dishes at a mere E-grade? While nothing stellar it is still quite a high grade compared to other restaurants but I was going to write this restaurant off but then by chance I got to eat some dishes made by the head-chef which was a solid C+ dish, the highest grade that I have ever given to any restaurant and hotel that I had the pleasure of visiting and thus I kept on taking take-out from this restaurant."

Taking another bite of her dish, Rias continued, "Now most of the time I did not get to eat meals made by the head chef and had to settle for lower grade meals but to my surprise I found out that the meals were getting subsequently better day by day, all prepared by the regular chefs of this restaurant and by the end of the month their dishes went from mere E-grade dishes to a solid D- Grade dishes and are just getting better every day and by the end of this month they would easily be able to made a consistent D grade dishes."

"To give you an idea of what those grades mean, D-grade is the level at which Akeno cooks her regular dishes while her best dishes are at merely C+ grade." Rias said, finishing her final dish. "Hearing this Sona, does that not want you to hire someone who has such excellent teaching skills?"

Rias knew that she was now simply taunting her friend as she knew that her friend valued people with good teaching skills since she wanted to open up an academy for reincarnated devils in the underworld.

But sadly for her, this time she was a bit late and Rias had taken the advantage of it.

"Why?" Sona asked slightly miffed at having missed out on securing someone of this calibre.

"The reason is simply Sona." Rias said looking savouring her drink as it washed down her throat. "I want him to continue as he is, cooking in this restaurant and teaching his chefs and raising them to better heights. I want him to expand his business and hire more and more chefs to work for him and learn of his skills and techniques to grow into better cooks and chefs. I want him to show his love and care for his employees, helping them in their times of needs and nurturing their talents and securing their loyalty."

"In the end, all I want is for him to be successful but not just limited to this town but the entire world as his chain of restaurants dot every corner of the globe, manned by skilled chefs that have learned from him and grown into better chefs, letting the world know that it is in the Heaven's Feel Restaurant that you can find food fit for kings and Gods." Rias said, as she put down her empty glass. The eyes of all the employees and customers in the restaurant now trained on her.

"Only then, when I travel the world and see the name of this restaurant will I know that I would have a meal that would be adequate enough to sate my hunger."

Some would have called her a haughty and spoiled rich girl whose parents dotted on beyond reason and was arrogant beyond measure for having such a reason like that and call her out on it, even if it was under their breaths but no one in the restaurant did.

Her words though seemed petty were filled with a conviction, sincerity and passion that did not belong to a mere spoiled brat from a rich family but to someone who was a step above the rest. She carried herself with an air of nobility that was now bare for all to see and commanded a presence that they could not deny.

'A Lord, a Ruler, A KING!' That was what her presence eluded. Her simple conviction and passion enrapturing them instead of making them sneer in disgust at her arrogance, they were captured by that arrogance and could not help but smile at that arrogance that allowed her to carry such a strong conviction.

It was now up to her abilities that would decide whether it was truly arrogance or just an overwhelming confidence that defined her core. It was that, Issei noted, would decide whether she was a Lord or a King.

"Great speech, young Lady." Issei heard a familiar voice ring out in the lobby and heard the now all too familiar footsteps of his boss, looks like this night was going to be really interesting.

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Sona was impressed by Rias and to her surprised was even convinced that Rias would be successful in her task. Her passion, sincerity and confidence had simply overwhelmed her and Sona for once could not help but admit that at that moment, she was in awe of her rival.

Rias really seemed like a proper king and ruler at that moment when she said those words.

Sona would have added her own comments but then she heard an all too familiar voice.

"Great speech, young Lady." A voice that she was now thoroughly familiar with since she had spent an entire afternoon listening to it as she had enjoyed the company of its owner.

"I have heard many speeches and I must say many of them do not have the same certainty to them like yours did. You have me impressed, Ms Gremory." The owner of the voice said and it was then Sona realised why the food tasted so magical. The owner of the voice like to use his magic for almost all trival of tasks and this seemed just right up his alley.

"Does that mean I have won your service with my words?" Rias said and Sona could not help but pity her.

'You are too late Rias, he is mine' Sona thought with unbridled glee, who knew that boy was so damn talented? It was sad that Rias had decided to make her move in this restaurant and not in the school like she did or else Sona was certain that her rival would have convinced him in a heartbeat, if her earlier display was anything to go by.

"That is to be seen Ms Gremory. I see that you are enjoying your meal. I hope it is too your liking."

"Very." Rias replied, with a grin. It seemed that her rival had failed to recognise their classmate.

"And what about you Ms Shitori?"

"It is satisfactory." Sona said as she wiped the edges of her mouth with the napkins, "though, I do have a complaint regarding the meal."

"And what that might be?" he asked with an innocent smile on his face but Sona could see the mischief that danced in his silver-grey eyes.

"That, you really like using magic for the most trivial of things, Emiya Shirou."

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AN: So, this is the new chapter and damn it did I just sent cannon off the rails by a whole year. Do not expect cannon to be the same but Fate being a fickle thing would fight to assert things again and make things go as destined.

Also for those cannon purists out there this means that things that happened in cannon might happen, but also might not happen and has some really weird resolutions. Don't get your hopes too high but Fate is a fickle thing and I might be a bad writer and might go suck cannons tits like a Nasu-fanboy.

They really don't like it when I mess up with fate mechanics and not follow it to the damn letter as stated in cannon, especially on Beast Liar and Space Battles. So I am for once and for all saying this.

DO NOT ARGUE ABOUT FATE MECHANICS IN MY STORIES! I AM AN INCOMPETENT HACK OF A WRITER WHO CANNOT FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD DO JUSTICE TO ANY UNIVERSE AND THE NASU-VERSE'S PERFECT MECHANICS LIKE THEIR CREATORS DID AND INTENDED.

Now that is done, have a nice day.