Chapter 5: A Night Without Rest

The curtains in his room were drawn and the door closed shut. No one in the house, alone from Issei, was awake.

Sitting on his bed, weary as he was, he couldn't help but be mesmerized by the red and green gauntlet adorning his left hand.

Soon enough though, his eyes dulled as he became wrapped up in his thoughts.

His life had been confusing beforehand, what with the usual teenage woes and such, but now his life was spiraling out of control.

As hot as Rias was, it was pretty difficult to wrap his head around the fact she was suddenly his 'Master'. That suddenly he had to fight and toil and struggle and suffer for an indeterminate amount of time just for the chance to gain some sort of freedom.

He didn't want any part of this. It had all just been thrown onto him without him asking.

He was suppose to be angry; anyone in this situation should've been seething with anger.

However the heat in his stomach was far less than it should have been. Those nasty, hard, damn near tangible emotions that roiled in your gut like a vat of molten metal seemed more like a pot of water that hadn't even reached boil yet.

He . . . wasn't angry. Irritated? Perhaps, but even then he wasn't sure he could call the emotion that.

"I should be able to talk to you," He whispered, his voice seeming almost breathless with the ease that the sentence passed his lips. "But our communication is blocked until I'm strong enough to handle the power you hold."

"I . . . I'm not sure how long that'll take," Hesitation and indecision marred his words as he spoke to the foreign object adorning his left hand; steadily though, his voice rose along with the conviction in his heart. "But I'll work as hard as I have to. I want to get there as fast as possible, I'm already behind everyone else."

He rose silently from his bed and walked out his room; completely unconcerned with any of his family seeing his sacred gear, knowing full well no one would begin to stir for at least another hour.

Barefeet padded down empty halls and past closed doors until he found himself standing within one door way.

The basement appeared the way it always had since he was little. Cement grey walls, floor, and ceiling, with bare few objects within. A stack of dull brown boxes with personal belongings made up the storage aspect, paired with a tall beige filing cabinet with drawers locked and no key present. Those objects took up space along the far left wall, while on the opposite end of the room, lay an ugly shag carpet that was probably a dark red at one point, but had transitioned to a color more reminiscent of rust. Upon that carpet was an old bench press with the bar still on the rack, free weights strewn about haphazardly, and a few sets of dumbells that he knew hadn't been touched in some time. Drilled into the ceiling was a pull up bar that hung from chains that somehow hadn't oxidized over the years.

The equipment was apparently from a time when his father used to work out, however Issei knew it hadn't been used since he was born, as even in pictures depicting his first birthday, it was apparent his father hadn't been managing his physique.

Looking down at his left hand, he willed the gauntlet to disappear. It didn't respond, and a frown marked his face. His eyebrows scrunched together into a small glare, as he focused his mind on making the sacred gear retreat. This time it did.

Huffing out a small sigh and relaxing for a moment, he let his feet carry him so that he stood directly below the bar.

"Guess this is as good as any place to start."

He had a vague recollection of his dream, but the images were slipping out of his mental grasp and he couldn't even put the story into words.

He had been awake for all of 3 seconds now, but it was enough time to fully bring his mind into the present.

Zero drowsiness; his mind was working at 100% already.

'Just like it should be.' Kosuke smiled slightly in pride at the thought.

A quick glance at his alarm and familiar green numbers pointed it out to be 4:37.

His feet swung over the bed and he smoothly transitioned into a walk once his toes reached the hardwood.

The two fans he kept near his bed hummed noisily and he could hear them as he walked out the door and turned down the hall to the bathroom.

More like stumbled; while his mind was there, his body wasn't quite there yet.

Hell, he had to put one hand against the wall just to steady himself while he expelled damn near a liter of piss.

His finger met the flush easily, and soon enough the room was drowned out with the loud churning of the water in the bowl.

His surroundings were dark, and he couldn't see much, but his feet guided him to the kitchen on sheer memory alone, having taken this trip once or twice a night for a year now.

Guiding a cup to the water tray on the fridge, Kosuke pushed the button and watched the cup fill up with cold water.

Blue LED's lit up the small area in front and threw harsh shadows across the kitchen. Even now, without utilising his sacred gear, he could feel the presence of the shadows like the touch of objects against the hairs on his arm.

It was light, but recognizable.

Taking the cup away once it had filled up enough, the boy downed it all in a short few seconds.

The lights turned off, the shadows softened, and the room was plunged into darkness once more.

Kosuke was able to find his room easily though.

Upon entering, he stood within the middle of his room, looking at his bed with a small frown.

Usually he'd go back to bed at this point, but was he even tired anymore?

He wasn't drowsy in the least bit. He had arrived home around 11:45 and hit the sack.

'So about 4 and a half hours, huh?' His mind surmised.

Just enough to fall into a deep sleep, but not long enough to be incredibly drowsy by the time you awoke.

'Fuck it.' He turned the fans off, grabbed his phone off the charger, and headed off to the bathroom once more.

The room was quickly filled with the sound of running water, and Kosuke began brushing his teeth.

He connected his phone to the bluetooth speaker he kept in the room, and turned on a soft playlist.

Within a couple minutes, the shower water was comfortably lukewarm - he rarely took warm or even hot showers- and he stepped inside, not even bothering to turn on the lights.

These were the times he appreciated most.

While he was naturally extraverted, over the two and a half years since his parents had died, he had come to truly enjoy being alone as well.

Being alone was great if you knew how to enjoy your own company. It was something he had dreaded when he was younger, but now he welcomed it.

While the water felt a little hot on his sensitive face as he washed the soap off, it felt much nicer on his body that was cold to the touch.

Friends, he had found out, were really good distractions. And that was all nice and well at times, but nothing really got done when you were with your friends, just a whole lot of goofing off and riffing off one another.

It was all good and well, and Kosuke gained a lot of energy from crowds of people, but at the same time, he knew that there needed to be a balance.

After all, work didn't get done with distractions, and Kosuke was someone who completely devoted himself to his work.

Dunking his head under the water, he massaged his scalp. Before blindly grabbing for a bottle of shampoo- dammit, he needed more- which turned out to be conditioner and lathered it in.

Even though he was still a kid for the most part, he was no different from the men who would work long hours in the office and completely forgo feeding themselves and other natural needs just to see something through to the end.

It was often when he'd find himself so completely absorbed with his music that he'd forgo meals and even put off bathroom breaks.

A long drawn out sigh escaped his lips once the warm water began spilling from his hair.

It was getting fairly long, huh? It'd probably be at the desired length in a year or two.

Brushing his teeth, blow drying his hair, it was a good 8 or so minutes when he finally made it back into his room.

'5:12.' He acknowledged.

Roughly 2 hours until he needed to go to school, and even longer if he decided to just jump to the school with his new abilities.

'That leaves plenty of practice time.' The sheer thought was enough to provoke a smirk from him.

'Alright, alright, alrighty then.' Gripping just below the headstock and plucking a guitar off its stand with his left hand, his right hand guided his stool beneath him.

Spinning to face the desk in one smooth motion, he briefly wondered what to start with.

He should probably be practicing scales to a metronome, playing licks up to speed, playing along to some songs he knew, or warming up.

'Butttt . . . Jamming to a backing track is always more fun.' Opening up a new project on his DAW of choice, he loaded a rhythm section he had been working on about a week before.

An exercise in voice leading within C Harmonic Major that had actually yielded something pretty fucking good.

He would be sure to turn it into a full song.

All his equipment was wired and ready to go, he just needed to adjust the volume a bit on his PA.

His PA setup wasn't very professional, it was just about as many free or cheap speakers he could find through craigslist or in thrift stores all wired up and spread throughout the room.

It was cheap, arguably better than a wall of 4x4 cabs, he had achieved full surround sound through his room, and it got LOUD.

Very Loud.

There was a stupid amount of wiring and power involved, he wasn't even sure it was all that safe. The power consumption was probably ridiculous, but he had kill switches and a nightly routine of unplugging power cords from wall outlets. Hed usually leave everything unplugged until he needed it, however it seemed in the slew of recent circumstances, he had completely forgotten to unplug his setup.

It had been running for 4 days now.

"Fuck." The electric bill was probably gonna be atrocious.

His fingers absentmindedly ran through licks while the guitar was unplugged. A quick warm up would do him some good, he hadn't played in 4 days now.

The wiring situation wasn't all that pretty, but he did his best in concealing it all. His eyes traced the thick bundles of wire that wrapped around the room where crown moulding would be.

The wires brought his mind back to the electric bill. In worst case scenario the allowance his aunt gave him would go almost entirely to bills and hed pocket nothing this month. He had money saved up, but no money was still something he didn't like to hear.

Enough of that though, he was fully warmed up.

After an hour of quite possibly one of the best sessions he'd ever had, he figured that was enough for the morning.

It was 6:20 and he was still in his boxers after all.

Opening the closet, he was greeted to the monotony of dress code. Just a sea of simple neutral colors.

School uniforms sucked. They sucked ass, but it was what he had to work with.

At least they were a bit lenient with the students.

It wasn't cold enough to wear the jacket yet, he was fine with the shirt on its own.

Appropriately dressed, and with his backpack in hand, he headed down the hall and towards the kitchen.

Dropping his bag onto one of the couches, he slipped into some shoes and then into the kitchen for some more water.

Taking his time to finish what was in the cup this time around, he pressed his forehead against the cold steel of the refrigerator.

Standing there for a few minutes, he let himself doze off for a bit.

There was a short period of time in which all was still in the room, and everything remained quiet.

It was only interrupted by the ring of the doorbell.

Kosuke glanced at the timer on the microwave.

6:27

Who the fuck could possibly need him at this time?

Regardless, his feet carried him to the front door.

When he opened it, it took him a few seconds to process who he was looking at.

"Koneko." He said aloud in confusion.

White hair and golden eyes peeked up at him.

"Yeah, Rias wanted me to grab you," She explained as she let herself in, Kosuke a bit too offput to really put up any resistance. "Were having a club meeting before school today."

"Really now." The words slipped out of his mouth as he followed her with his eyes, one hand on the doorknob still.

He saw her glance around the livingroom, lingering a bit on the piano in the corner, but eventually her eyes landed on whatever she was looking for and she went to grab it.

"School doesn't start for a while; do we really need to be there that early?" He asked as she picked up his backpack and threw it over her shoulder; heading towards him and dragging him out his house.

The air outside was chilly, he'd estimate it to be around 60 or 55. The sky was still grey, interrupted only by the odd few trees that showed off just how green and vibrant they still were.

"The meeting doesn't start for 30 minutes," Her gaze caught his own once more as he numbly locked the door. "I figured I'd make good on that offer and take you for a bit of candy before the meeting."

Kosuke's excited grin in response was the sunlight among the bleak grey.

Walking in, bag of candy in hand and his escort at his side, he noticed the room looked more lively in the mornings.

With the curtains drawn back, and the beginnings of sunlight filtering through, the room looked like any other clubroom at school.

Still, his legs carried him further in. Dropping onto the couch and instantly lounging, he turned an eye towards everyone amassed, receiving a few pleasantries and smiles.

"Good everyone's here, although I ask next time, you two." She was looking directly at him and Koneko now, a smirk on her face that told him nothing was good. "I do ask that you keep your dates to after club meetings."

The comment drew a small pout from the girl, while Kosuke smiled a bit in amusement.

"To start off..."

That began the 30 minute seminar in which Rias went over some of the more basic aspects of Devil Hood. Broaching topics about responsibilities, explaining Pact's a bit more, and even going as far as general history. The Great War was explained in further detail with everyone chiming in on key events and people.

It was a good solid introduction to what their life currently entailed, and both Issei and Kosuke could tell there was still far more that needed to be said.

However-

"The first bell will ring in a few minutes, I think this is a good place to stop." Akeno announced, her eyes still stuck on the clock on the wall to her left.

"You're right." Rias ended the meeting there.

"So study hall, huh." Kosuke repeated softly as the teacher disappeared out the room.

Apparently this big staff meeting was being held that day, so for the next two hours, they were stuck in homeroom, finishing up projects and such.

"Yep." Looking up, he saw Murayama drag a chair and sit across from him at the desk while finishing up her explanation. "These happen every so often, so expect another one not too far down the line."

"Hmm." he hummed in response.

Murayama smiled rather largely at him, before looking down at the papers in her hand.

"Alright, so with the project he gave us, I think we can-"

"We?"

Murayama looked up and blinked.

"Naw there's no we." He leaned back in his seat with a smirk on his face and amusement clear in his dark blue eyes.

"You're way~ too much of a distraction," Kosuke continued as he leaned in towards her. "How would I ever be able to focus."

"Ok." Murayama blinked again before setting her face in a teasing smirk and leaning back in her chair, narrowed eyes fully focused on his. "Just what about me is so distracting."

"Everything." And within a second, he had grabbed his items and stood up from his seat.

"Wait, what." She heard herself say as her eyes followed him migrate to another seat to the back and in the corner.

Worst part was, he had picked a spot where there were no seats available around him.

He even had the gall to send an infuriating smirk her way and then ignore her afterwards!

Huffing out a sigh and planting herself in Kosuke's original seat, she tried to buckle down and get some work done.

If he wanted to get his work done as fast as possible, he needed to be alone and focus. While he couldn't truly be alone due to it being a classroom, it wouldn't be too hard to tune everyone out.

All he needed were his earbuds and a playlist. Fishing his earbuds out his pocket and underneath his shirt easily, Kosuke unlocked his phone and began scrolling through the vast amount of songs on his phone.

He had something like 76 hours of music downloaded, and there were still new additions almost daily. With that kind of selection, perhaps he was better off choosing a familiar playlist.

A softer playlist would work well; scanning the 6 page packet he'd been given, he guessed it wouldn't take him more than 15 minutes. It was mostly comprised of 4 or 5 concepts with a good 5 or 7 separate word problems and equations related to each. If you knew how to solve the first you encountered, the other 5 or 6 were simple to get through. It was the kinda bullshit half assed practice that teachers often handed their kids. Some reasoning along the lines of, "solve this set of problems multiple times and you've successfully learned it."

The concepts were linear and there was only ever one solution, he didn't need to practice the same concept for two weeks, doing nothing but the same problem with just a couple numbers substituted and the functions swapped. He didn't need to practice the same fundamental equation 13 times, 2 was more than enough.

It was nothing more than an insult to his intelligence, and considering the school he had transferred into, this was probably an insult to most of his classmates as well.

This was the kind of public school nonsense he thought he wouldn't be seeing more of once he had transferred into this academy.

His face held a slightly irritated look; once he started the first song on the playlist, he let himself relax into it.

A sigh escaped him as he glanced through the first problem; he didn't even finish reading the word problem before he knew what he was being asked of.

All he could hope for was that this wasn't normal, and that it was just a last minute "keep the kids busy" measure while the teachers handled whatever they needed to take care of.

"Hey Murayama." He said with a low even tone, plopping himself lazily into the chair she had left in front of his desk earlier in the period and setting his packet down.

Those problems were easy but solving them for 20 minutes straight was exhausting.

"You're finished already, Kosuke?" A look of surprise flashed for a second, before she peered at the remaining problems on her own packet appraisingly. "I've got 7 left."

"That entire row over there and the small group in that other corner," Tilting his head in the two directions and leading her eyes there, he finished up his sentence. "are finished too. I'd say the rest of the class should be done in either 10 or 15 minutes."

Murayama would probably only take 5 more minutes if it weren't for him giving her the rest of his packet to copy.

Things were certainly different here.

At his old school there would've been kids who even trying, not just sitting there and lazing about, would take practically the whole 2 hours they'd just been provided and still struggle. Here though, all the kids were at similar levels of intelligence and at the higher end of the spectrum. Kids were weeded out each semester if they couldn't hang with the program, so it was often that there was transfer students. Kids excelling at their previous schools and being recommended in by their teachers.

Kosuke himself had tried the last semester of his previous year and made a conscious effort not to procrastinate. His A-B average had turned into straight A's once he gained a drive and at the end of the year, his teachers had put in a good word to this school.

"Don't forget we have casual friday tomorrow."

"Casual Friday?" he asked, suddenly ripped away from his musing as he replied to her.

"Oh," A thoughtful hum made itself known from the girl before she began to explain. "I guess you wouldn't really know, huh? It's only now going into effect."

"Basically every Friday were allowed to wear street clothes instead of our school uniform."

Kosuke blinked in surprise.

"And how exactly did we earn that privilege?"

He watched her eyes open just a bit wider and her smile grow. Seeing her excitement made him smile just a little bit too.

"Well the student council president came up with the proposal last year. To sum it up if all the students decided to study a bit more in earnest and the class averages rose on our finals by 5%, we'd get casual Friday." Murayama summed up.

That was . . . a damned good deal wasn't it. Motivated students which helped out the school, and it seemed admin didn't mind giving them a small reprieve from dress code as they had earned it.

"To be able to negotiate something like that and actually get approval from the dean, this guy must be pretty smart, I'd like to meet him sometime."

"Her names Souna, but yeah. If you wanna meet her I can take you. It'd probably be good too since your new at this school." Murayama trailed off a bit at the end, talking to herself more than him.

Hmm.

He was finished with his work, maybe he'd go check on Kiba, his class was a few doors down wasn't it.

Scooting out from his seat, he offered the girl an absentminded "I'll be back" and headed out.

"Hey class from down the path!" His greeting brought on more than a few smiles and waves. Stepping inside he made sure to smile back at everyone he passed by.

"Who's that." Was asked quietly a few times, but Kiba's "Ah, Kosuke." certainly was the loudest.

"Just the man I was looking for." Kosuke tried not to grin too much at what he was about to do.

"You two know each other?" Some guy standing at a desk in front of Kiba had asked.

"Oh yeah for sure," Placing an arm around Kiba's shoulder in good nature, he tried not to burst out laughing too early. "This is my boyfriend~, Kiba."

"Yeah, this is my good frien-" The polite smile he had on his face quickly morphed into shock once the words registered with him. "Wait, what!"

Kosuke couldn't hold in his laughter once Kiba had shoved him away roughly, and neither could most of the class.

"No no- this isn't no wh-" He fumbled over words and for the first time his composure completely slipped; the entire class was laughing pretty loudly, and some dude further down the row actually started crying.

"Bro, why you acting different all the sudden." His joke earned him a high five from some of the boys closer to him.

"Kosuke, please stop before someone thinks this isn't a joke." Kibas voice sounded a lot more pitiful than he was used to hearing.

"Alright alright man, I'm done." Kosuke snickered a little bit more before pointing his thumb towards the other end of the classroom. "But I think it's a bit too late for those girls over there."

"Why is it always the cute ones that are gay!" Kiba deadpanned at the sight of the 12 females arguing amongst themselves and taking the joke way too seriously.

"Oh you don't really think Kiba's gay do you, it's obvious the other one was just hazing him."

Thank goodness one of them had some sense about them.

"I don't know, I mean, Kibas never shown any interest in any of the girls at this school. Not to mention Kosukes part of the ORC now as well, the two must spend a lot of time together after school."

3 more girls rushed to the gathering and even Kosuke was a bit thrown off at the new situation.

"Isn't Issei apart of it too," A couple gasps sounded off before the speaker continued in a softer voice. "Do you think all the boys in that club do those kinds of things."

"There's no way!" A group of 5 approached and Kosuke felt the situation start to spin wildly out of control as almost the entire female population of that class, and even some girls from the neighboring classes all stood amongst themselves.

"We've seen how Issei acts, he's so straight he makes most of us look gay."

"But what if he's just acting out and overcompensating so that no one would catch on."

Now it seemed all the girls were convinced; they quickly fell into hushed whispers and Kosuke began to regret his actions.

'Maybe I should've hazed him in a different way.'

"Is that how fan clubs start?" One of the dudes asked.

Turning to him, Kosuke ground out a "I hope not." before trying to change the topic to something more appealing.

"So what are your guys' names?" he asked the 4 boys whos seats were closest to Kiba's.

"Shirozaki." The others followed up after him.

No club with Murayama today, meant he had some time on his hands.

And he knew exactly what he wanted to spend the next hour doing.

Heading down a staircase and walking into the shadow present, Kosuke's steps never faltered and within a second he was walking into his living room.

Throwing his bag onto the couch and heading towards the high gloss piano seat reserved for him and him only, Kosuke sat himself down at the baby grand steinway in his living room. It was a beautiful caramel brown that held strong figure and variation in the wood. The high gloss was a magnificent choice and he made sure to wipe it down every two weeks.

It was something his aunt had been renting ever since he had come to live with her.

He didn't take lessons anymore, the songs he wanted to learn were all online free for him to view. Ost of the stuff he liked to play was either songs he created himself, or pieces originally created for multiple instruments, but someone with the kind of skill he wished to have already made a solo arrangement. He played lots of video game pieces, or anime openings. He studied music theory in class and implemented the practical stuff there, but at home it was all fun.

There was a particular passage that had his left hand fumbling that he wanted to get under control.

That would be how he spent the rest of his lunch period.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here!" Barely three steps in the facility and he was already being yelled at.

"I haven't even done anything." He uttered without thinking.

"Yet, Hyoudo! You haven't done anything yet." The hurried footsteps of the gymnastics club captain led her face to face with Issei; the boy noticing how pretty she was almost immediately.

He wasn't sure if she was red from exertion or from yelling at him, but he was still fascinated with the speed it had occurred. Lunch had only started 10 minutes ago, so if either were true-

"Again what do you want?" She bit out, snapping Issei out of his musing.

"I want to train."

His response was a mockful laughter; and with her face this close to his, and the volume with which she started guffawing, he noted her face didn't look very pretty at all.

Her laughter went on and on, like a wild jackal. Hell, some of the girls in the back joined in.

It really started to piss him off. Something that had been happening a lot lately.

He was real tired of all the ridicule.

His abashed yet friendly face slowly morphed into a tight lipped frown; a near perfect replica of the face he had seen Kosuke pull off time and time again.

"Are you done yet." Almost immediately she stopped laughing and raised her head from her position bent over to meet his eyes.

Her eyes closed and she slowly rose back into a stand.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to train you?" The skepticism in her voice needn't even be pointed out.

"Not you specifically, but yeah something along those lines." Was his cold response.

"Ohhh~," A girl farther back suddenly called out. "Looks like somebody finally grew some balls."

He didn't even try to keep composed, his eyes whipped towards hers in a barely contained glare.

"Kyah!" She cried dramatically, clutching at her friend who barked in laughter. "Im sooo~ scared."

Clenching his teeth for a moment he turned his attention back towards his original target.

"So, will you-"

"No." She cut him off immediately, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth as she saw his expression. "This room is open to everyone during lunch, if you want to learn from me, you'll have to join the club."

She whipped around and began a slow walk away from the boy, tossing one last remark over her shoulder.

"And no, I will not permit you to join the club, so tough luck."

A snicker had barely made it past her mouth when she found reason to face him again.

"Here then."

She turned around in mild confusion before her face lit up in fury.

Issei held his hand outstretched with 3000 yen(something like 30 USD) in his palm.

"Are you calling me some sort of prostitute! I don't know what the hell you heard, but I am NOT easy! And even if I was there's no way I'd ever… with you." Her anger was enough to make her choke on her words, and the last part of her sentence was said with no small amount of contempt.

Her reaction caught Issei so off guard he immediately fell back into old habits and quickly tried to run damage control; instantly losing all face he had just made with them.

"No! No no no noo. I meant like, I- I meant as in, like a teacher. Im paying you to teach me." He had become flustered enough to start tripping over his words; and the girl, seemingly happy with the fact he had groveled before her, dropped all her anger within moments.

Snatching the money out his hand, and turning a nose up at him, she turned around once more and briskly walked away.

"Thanks for the gift loser, but your still on your own." A nasty cackle erupted from her, and even though Hyoudo couldn't see her face, he could imagine her visage twisting into that ugly image again.

His fists clenched, but luckily he had the sense to spin around fast enough that they didn't see his face contort into abject rage, and to shove his hands in his pockets.

He walked at a clipped pace towards the other end of the room, as far away from everyone else as he could get, and towards the balancing beams.

He didn't have the control to school his expression into a constant state of apathy like Koneko did, but he at least knew how to hide it from people.

He calmed down soon enough, and his feet eventually led him in front of a long row of balancing beams. And while he did want to just hop on and get to work, he was apprehensive of it.

He quickly glanced across the room to where the other girls were going through stretching exercises, before looking back down at the narrow walk.

He didn't exactly want to fall and have the others laugh at him. An understandable fear.

'But then again.' His eyes narrowed and he hopped onto the beam and managed to balance himself fairly easily.

'I'm already a laughing stock as well as the butt of their jokes,' His angered thoughts carried him forward as he walked across the 12 foot long beam, his steps fast and unhindered. 'Not like anything I do now will make it worse. Why care.'

A smirk crossed his face as he saw himself nearing the ¾ mark.

'I got this shit in the bag-' His balance faltered and he caught himself slipping off the beam.

Despite their attempts to remain quiet, the hushed snickers of a few of the ladies across the room still managed to reach his ears.

His face flushed as he walked back to the beginning to start over.

"Guess that'll teach me a lesson." He muttered under his breath as he stepped onto the beam once more.

Taking a much more sedate pace this time around, he found it much easier to keep balanced. About midway he faltered again, and quickly crouched down so as to place his hands down and steady himself. However, before he could even wrap his hands around the beam, he noticed that his balanced had been regained.

'Was it because I was crouching?' He asked himself.

Resuming, he made it across the beam with avail. He frowned though as he finished; he wanted to test his hypothesis still.

Stepping back on he waited for his steps to falter, and when he lost balance, he quickly lowered his stance and noticed immediately, even with one leg off to the side in the air, his balance had been regained.

A smile made itself known at the discovery, and soon enough, the bell signalling the end of lunch rung.

"Make dinner for two, I'll be home tonight." She read over his shoulder, before placing herself at his side and teasing him. "Ohhh~ you're girlfriend coming over tonight?"

"Yeah, you are coming over tonight." A smile tugged at Kosukes lips as he and Murayama walked down the hallways. "I was always told to take a girl out to dinner before I could get what I was really after."

Murayama snorted at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry little boy, but I don't think you could handle all of this." She mocked him as she slid her hands down her body to accentuate all her curves.

He watched her exaggerated movements out the corner of his vision before rolling his eyes.

"No, It's my aunt. She'll be back from her business trip tonight so she wants me to make dinner for more than just one." He explained as he cut around the oncoming students.

Snaking through with minimum effort, moving the barest amount to get past them, leaning, weaving and side stepping through the crowd like it was a game. And it was a game to him, something he had been practicing for years now. Weaving through crowds was second nature, it as how he had gotten so good at being able to dodge or take glancing blows while in kendo even though he'd only been practicing a few days.

It would most assuredly come in handy with this new devil business he had found himself in. It was the only reason he lasted as long as he had against the girl from before.

'I bet she'd be real surprised if she ever saw me again.' He smirked a bit in good humor

Murayama didn't know exactly why he was smirking, but it didn't matter much as they reached the school gate and the two had to go their own separate ways.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kosuke." She called out.

Kosuke just waved with a smile before turning the corner.

"What are you doing?"

Glancing over his shoulder in a tight lipped look that could almost be labeled as irritation, but was nothing more than a blank slate, Kosuke eyed Kusuri behind him.

Golden eyes locked onto Kosuke's own amber irises; Kusuri kept her eyes trained on the naked boys eyes, finding herself a little caught up in the annular eclipse.

"Watch." Kosuke took one more glance to his right; where the tall mirror lay against his wall, and took in his whole body once more.

Licking his lips in anticipation, he trained his eyes at the space before him and focused all his thoughts onto one goal.

As if the sun outside had set within seconds, the shadow of his body, which had been behind him, began to rotate clockwise, gaining more mass and length as it traveled, until 6 hit 12 and his shadow now stood before him.

Not a word was said and Kosuke stared deep and hard into the void of darkness on the floor. In his mind's eye, visualizing the next step in vivid clarity until it wasn't just a fantasy-

Slowly a black hand and forearm emerged.

-but full blown reality.

Rising from the 2-D shadow came another hand and forearm combo followed up by an arm and shoulder.

He felt more than he saw Kusuri approach his side; he only had eyes for his creation after all.

Setting its hands off to the side of the shadow, the creation began to haul even more of itself out of the confines of the black pool, until the form of a boy kneeling could be seen.

Head down and hair splayed forward, dark black droplets of water fell from his form, revealing white skin and a nude form, while the obsidian ink gathered at his feet and grew into a shadow.

Once the other boy rose, surprisingly dry after being soaking wet from the black ink before, Kosuke found himself looking at Kosuke.

"This is a fucking trip." He heard his double speak up.

The original Kosuke snorted and bit back a snicker.

"Damn, I got to give myself a pat on the back for this one, I did damned well."

"Yeah, I did a pretty good job," He heard the other say aloud, taking glances around the room before training a similar look of interest on him. "But this could have ended much much worse."

"Ah." With a snap and an odd sound of agreement, Kosuke quickly caught on to what his copy was going on about. "The issue with the existential crisis, huh? Yeah, I had considered that."

"It's pretty wild," The other boy spoke up, one hand on his hip and his face taking on a thoughtful expression. "I feel exactly like the original, if I didn't have memories of surfacing from that shadow just now, I would have probably tried to kill you out of shock."

"Memories, huh? But aren't you exactly like me. I tried to give you the same memories so that you didn't come out as some sort of husk." Kosuke said with a small frown before pressing it further. "Just what do you remember before this?"

"Our entire life, I mean, I am you. I remember Kusuri asking me what I was up to, then showing her my 'creaton', thinking through the entire process, and then I was crawling out of the shadows, and suddenly I'm talking to myself.

"Wow, that's… something else man." Kosuke was impressed and whistled lightly in show of.

"Crazy shit, right? Still trying to wrap my head around it."

The two shared a laugh at that one.

"Damn, yeah. I still have to remind myself I'm not the original and fall into fight or flight mode." His copy spoke up.

Kosuke drew in a breath and recoiled slightly.

"Damn, sorry about that man, must be a total assault on your brain."

"Naw, naw." The other made a shooing motion with his hand and dismissed Kosuke's concern. "I'm fine, It's not some ever constant thing that'll drive me crazy like I- we had initially thought while figuring this little trick out. And besides, I'm you, I can handle this."

"Youre right, youre right." Kosuke smiled at the other Kosuke.

They both laughed heartily again.

Now taking a moment to glance down at Kusuri who had stayed silent by his side, Kosuke gave her a warm smile that betrayed the excitement he was feeling.

"So, Kusuri, what do you think?"

Kusuri locked bored eyes with him and just stared for a moment.

"Before I praise you and such, cause this is quite the good job, mind if I ask something first?"

Kosuke nodded in response.

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

"Why exactly did you need to get undressed for this?"

Sure enough, little lady was right on the mark. Kosuke was completely in the buff, not even some boxers to work with.

"I needed to get a solid look at my body to make sure everything was perfect in my head when I formed him." The boy explained rather easily.

A small hum of acknowledgement made itself apparent in the girls throat.

Kosuke just tried not to focus on the fact that he was essentially exposing this 13(?) year old girl to his nude body.

Good luck with that one, Kosuke.

"Hmm," The other Kosuke hummed in thought, closing his eyes and pondering for a moment. "You know I'm still thinking in terms of normal Kosuke, as in original. I have to keep reminding myself that the real one is top priority."

"We should probably fix that, sounds like trouble waiting to happen."

"Yeah, it probably is. Next time I manifest another clone, I should probably add that to the package."

"I don't want to make him too reckless or that'll defeat the purpose though."

"Exactly, I'll have to ponder this some more, perhaps something like 'Protection: you come second to the originals purpose." Kosukes copy supplied.

"And since both our goals are the same, we shouldn't have too much to worry about."

The two high fived at the exact same time, already thinking the same exact thing.

"Damn, if I'm not the shit."

"I know I am." The other Kosuke followed.

"Well I guess it's time to go then." And with that, Kosukes other fell backwards and into the black void that was his shadow until then even it disappeared into nothing.

"Neat."

Sucking in deep lungfuls of air, Kosuke leaned more into the cool metal that pressed against him. His skin was damp from sweat and red from exertion.

The open window above him let in the cool air and the sound of the train speeding along the tracks.

Rising up slowly, he took a glance out the window before slumping back onto the floor.

A smirk made its way on his weary face.

He had meant to throw himself to his old neighborhood, but somewhere along the line lost concentration and ended up on the back of an empty train halfway across japan.

At least he was in the same city as the neighborhood he had been searching for.

He had been spending the past hour jumping to different locations without having to enter and exit the shadows. His accuracy had increased and all it took for him to get where he wanted was the blink of his eyes.

However, when it came to incredibly long distances, and boy was this fucking far, his accuracy fell.

The window on the wall to his right showed the dark night sky and the tops of buildings. Lights from businesses and skyscraper windows shined bright like the stars in the night, and the usually green tree leaves became the black silhouettes the lights struggled to fight against.

At least he was only a few blocks away from his original goal.

He was quite curious how far this was though.

Suddenly more alert, he dragged himself into a more proper sitting position and took out his phone.

Google maps should be able to calculate the distance.

Light filtered through the numerous windows and moved across the train in haphazard patterns. Cold but welcoming metal chilled his body, and dark blue eyes focused on the screen before him.

He involuntarily gulped and his hand shook a bit when the results finally came up; dark blue eyes widening considerably and turned a much lighter shade now that they were freed from the shadow his eyelids cast.

"1000 km." A feminine voice said, and his gaze turned upward where he saw Kusuri's face smiling softly down on him. "Good job, you continue to surprise me and surpass all expectations. I can only hope this trend continues in our future."

She . . . had a really nice smile didn't she. This was the first time he had seen it, but it was something he hoped to see more of.

"Our future, huh?" She tilted her head the barest of inches but it was enough to send her long black hair to fall around his face; a black tunnel that forced him to focus on her and her piercing gold eyed stare.

"Yeah, our future." She answered soft and as graceful as always; the kind of act that not even Rias was capable of. "I've been with you since you were born, and I'll stay with you until the day you die centuries down the line."

A soft grunt of acknowledgement made itself known.

"Anyways," Finally pushing her hair back and lifting the veil of darkness around his face, she pointed off somewhere nearby from the window closest them. "Let's get off over there."

And then, she wasn't there anymore.

A quick glance out the window, and he saw her standing on the roof of a house nearby.

Within the blink of an eye, he found himself sitting on cold hard roof tiles while waiting on the little girls next instructions.

"The old bridge you use to frequent." She said softly.

They both found themselves standing across from one another near instantaneous.

The large bridge towered above them; the position of the moon and the numerous lights nearby keeping the ground free from any shadows, but failing to keep them away from the walls.

It was fairly cold that night, enough that he could see his breath leaving his mouth. And in his light long sleeve, shorts, and mid-calf reaching socks, you'd believe him to be cold, However all he felt was the comforting coolness that came with being outside at night.

He saw her flicker out of existence and reappear much farther away from him. An actual instantaneous movement which he couldn't track whatsoever despite his eyes being trained on her.

"I want you to use the shadows to catch me, however you must not be seen by me."

His eyes did a preliminary sweep of the dark walls that surrounded him, and the various railings above that made the support of the bridge. A hazardous catwalk shrouded in black.

A small grunt of acknowledgement was all Kosuke made before he disappeared from view.

Kusuri stood there waiting for him to show, but she seemed almost alone now. It was true that she couldn't see him, but she could sense his location from just how strong her connection to the shadows was.

Several seconds became several minutes, and she was starting to wonder if he had actually just decided not to participate. Her foot began to tap the floor impatiently, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that she caught herself.

A smirk appeared on her face when she realized what he was doing.

"I see, trying to draw out my impatience so that I'd be-" She stopped speaking to whip her head behind her, where she sensed the boy.

She caught the briefest glance of him out the corner of her eye before he vanished once more. Turning her head a bit more slowly this time, she looked to a spot high on the wall to her left, and then to her right, above her, and in a myriad of different directions as she tracked his various jumps.

"Very smart, you showed up before I could finish my sentence in the hopes of catching me off guard, and your tactic before hand to draw out my impatience increased the effectiveness of the play." Kusuri stared ahead of her into space as she applauded the boy.

Her stopping gave Kosuke a chance to remain in one position and listen. He didn't have to jump to a new location as soon as he surfaced because she had tracked him so soon.

"No response either, huh?" A small smile appeared briefly on her face before falling back into a thin line. "I have nothing but the highest of praises for you. I'm very glad I don't have to rid you of the foolish actions that have gotten my previous wielders killed, it's a relief that I have a good base to start from."

"Right, Kosuke." Her eyes floated over to his position atop a covered lamppost, however she didn't even catch a glimpse of him this time.

'Very Good, he's a fast learner.' She waited once more for him to resurface, however she couldn't sense anything this time.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and for a second time that night he had gotten the drop on her.

"Interesting."

He heard her say aloud.

'Good, she cant sense me if I haven't emerged.' He summarized in his head.

He stood in the black world that held the shards of light that he used to travel. Staring outside of one, he could hear and see what was going on without her being able to sense his location. And it made sense, he wasn't really anywhere after all.

'I could have finished this easily enough within the first move, but she doesn't have a shadow for me to jump to.' He didn't dare speak aloud; there was no doubt in his mind that she wouldn't be able to hear, but he didn't feel like developing any bad habits.

He had to find some way of producing a shadow close to her, and reaching it quickly. The problem was she was in such a well lit area and far away from any walls. The moment he emerged she knew where his location was and she'd look right at him. While he could easily extend the shadow of the walls to get closer to her, it was way too obvious. He needed something to surprise her.

The size of the shadow didn't matter much, he just needed clearance in general. Something as small as a pebble would suffice.

'A pebble, huh?' Rapidly a plan formulated in his head and he struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from rising.

With a single thought, a large window of light appeared beside him, the background was of the train tracks and the pebbles that lay around. Not even bothering to move from his spot, his arm snaked in and snatched a good sized rock before reeling back in.

From his position he saw her look above to where she had clearly sensed his presence when he had retrieved the rock.

Now he really couldn't hold back a smile from taking form.

'Good even partial emergence is enough to trigger her senses.'

Turning around and staring at the floor, he willed another window into existence. This one far more immense in size than any before as it served as the portal for the underside of the bridge. Eyes that mimicked that of an annular eclipse focused on the window before him as his thoughts shrunk the window into a small circle that opened directly above the little girl.

Tossing the pebble down into the window he turned around to the original window and watched her like a hawk.

Her eyes narrowed and she glanced above her.

'Perfect.' Pushing a single foot out of the window before him, Kosuke took great pleasure in seeing her surprised face whip towards his location.

Pulling his foot back in before she could see, he jumped through the shadow the rock was creating and appeared right behind his target.

Eyes gleeful he prepared the last step of the plan.

In one smooth motion he lifted up his shirt and quickly covered her face with it.

"Gotcha!"

"KOSUKE!" It was the first time he had heard her raise her voice and all he could do was fall into a fit of laughter.

Quickly releasing her, she then turned around and tried to glare at him.

She was so small though. He couldn't take her seriously for a single second. His laughing increased two fold.

Her glare quickly turned into one of the cutest pouts he had ever seen.

"Ok ok, Im sorry. C'mere." Finally getting himself under control but smiling nonetheless, he pulled her into a hug.

Face buried into his sternum, she stayed there for a short while not saying anything.

Kosuke felt her deflate a little and felt the explosive sigh that she emitted.

"Fine then, let's go home."

"I've been able to locate him before, multiple times." Indignation in her voice and brows furrowed, Rias watched once more as her magic circle collapsed in on itself.

The bright red lights from her magic circles lit up the room momentarily and waves of light rippled across the faces of all present, before quickly retreating as the magic collapsed and plunged the room into a dim darkness once more.

Kiba drummed his fingers lightly across the top of the couch who's back he leaned up against. Boredom and impatience was beginning to wear on him so much that even his normally polite visage had fallen into a tight lipped frown.

Koneko refused to even deign the matter with her interest; she sat facing away from everyone and stared at the wall before her.

Issei sat across from her on the other couch presented, face set into one of slight concern although it was hard to tell as he had been spacing out for much of the day and appeared to have been lost within his thoughts since the morning.

However, this was of no concern to Koneko who paid him zero attention, instead watching in a daze as soft warm lights arced low upon the far wall before quickly falling into oblivion. Easily returning to the monotony of the cold grey walls.

Kiba's head tilted back and a silent sigh escaped him; his fingers drummed a little harder and the pace had quickened.

Akeno, who remained closest to her king, showed the barest hint of a smile when she saw the barely held frustration on Rias' face.

The ever so calm and collected Rias who was now showing just how easily her newest addition could get to her greatly amused Akeno whether or not she showed it.

Rias blew a hair out of her face only for it to fall back on her forehead and cling to her brow that was slightly damp with sweat. Her face twitched and full blown irritation could be seen for a brief moment.

Her movements were noticeably more jerky and rushed as her left hand raised for the umpteenth time that night and called upon her, now shaky, magical reserves.

And for the umpteenth time that night, it failed again.

Both hands shot up to her face in an instant and slid down hastily.

"Hahaha~" Akeno giggled in a cute manner.

Blue eyes shot towards purple; one set in irritation, the other in clear mirth.

"What's so funny." Rias almost snapped, but managed to keep some semblance of control over her limited amount of patience.

"I just think its funny seeing you get so hot and bothered by our junior~" Akeno replied, almost begging for a confrontation.

Kiba exploded into motion as he pushed off his support and regarded the two; arms crossed and an impatient expression on his face.

"You know I think we should stop here," His voice was hard and unwavering, commanding rather than suggesting. "He's not in any trouble otherwise you would have known, so were more than likely to see him tomorrow. At that time we can ask questions about his whereabouts and why he skipped the meeting after school."

"For now though," And now his attention focused solely on Rias. "You need to rest, I can see how weary you are, that isn't healthy."

"I'm just fine, I can-" Her response was promptly cut off and any excuses were shut down immediately.

"He's right, you don't have any work to do, what harm would some sleep do?" Akeno said, and while it had been worded as a question, it was an unspoken order that even a king had to obey to.

Her shoulders relaxed and the tenseness that had occupied her body vacated instantly.

"Yeah, I guess you two are right." Brushing her bangs out of her face and finally letting the exhaustion show in her voice, Rias shuffled to the other door at the end of the room and disappeared behind it.

"There's one thing I wanted to ask." Opening a can of prego, he dumped the contents into a pot filled with ground beef.

Kusuri sat on the counter behind him, ankles crossed and hands in her lap, always the prim proper lady.

"Yes." Her elegant voice had resurfaced and Kosuke admired her poise.

"How come you don't have a shadow. That exercise took longer than it was suppose to since I couldn't just surface from your shadow." Blue eyes searched the spice cabinet for the bottles he needed while he waited for a response.

He waited a long while before she gave him a response, in which time he had added the seasoning, stirred the mixture, and set a pot of water to boil.

"Can shadows cast their own shadow?" Was her eventual answer.

The pot had finally reached a boil; adding a bit of salt he followed with a box of spaghetti. Idly stirring it around he muddled over her words.

"How . . . . vague."

Somehow, even with his back turned, he could tell she was smiling.

"If you're about to get into a battle, I want you to take my hand." For once she actually seemed concerned, and his eyes drifted towards her outstretched hand as she continued. "You've exhausted yourself all day; your running on fumes. You should conserve energy for whatever foe it seems your friend is facing."

Kosuke seemed to mull over her words for a moment, eyes still focused entirely on the small hand offered.

Without a word, he grasped her palm tightly and almost immediately, found himself 10 or so yards behind Issei on a neighborhood street. Glancing at his side, Kusuri had vanished and thus he was fighting this one on his own.

A purple dome blocked out the night sky, and a business woman with black wings reminiscent of that Yuuma girl hovered above a speechless Issei.

It was obvious he was at a nasty advantage.

The street was far too well lit, and on top of that, his opponent was airborne.

'Damn.' He knew his only chance at saving his friend against this obviously superior opponent would be to rely fully on his sacred gear. However, for that to happen, he needed a place where he could utilise the shadows as well as keep her out of the air and in more neutral territory.

And as if the devil herself was watching out for him, thankfully a large parking garage wasn't too far away from them. Just behind them and maybe ten minutes away.

However looking at the spear of light the woman held, he didn't really think he'd be able to get their fast enough. She was a far more experienced flier; Kosuke would be a fool to not believe she'd be able to catch up to them if they tried to haul ass to the parking garage.

There was only really one option. He'd just have to grab Issei and jump straight to the parking garage. His accuracy was much higher now that he'd had so much practice; he just wasn't sure on how much energy he had left to spare. Kusuri was right when she had said he'd exhausted himself.

Particles of light shimmered into existence near her hands, and even before it began to take form, he knew what was coming.

'Shit!' He tipped backwards and let himself fall within his own shadow. Once in the black confines, his body righted itself, similar to when resurfacing within a pool, and he reached upwards to the door of light above him.

It was all one smooth motion, as if falling from one story to the next, but he made it.

Emerging from Issei's shadow, his hands wrapped onto the back of the other boys shirt, and he violently threw the two of them off to the side. It was just in the nick of time as well; buried into the street a good 3 feet, was a pike of light, with what he could make out to be serrated edges.

"She really isn't holding back is she?" Kosuke said quite unnerved by the sight.

"And just who the hell are you, when did you- I swear I was only fighting one devil." The woman-fallen angel if Rias' description was anything to go off of- looked on in confusion.

"Kosuke, how did you get here!" Issei trained his frantic gaze onto his friend.

"And what the hell happened to your eyes!" Kosukes mind was on so many other things at once, that he barely even registered the crazed rant his friend found himself in. His immediate focus at least, was the spear they had narrowly avoided, and the woman who had thrown it.

This close up, he noticed she had some really dark circles beneath her eyes; it was really detracting from the beautiful mature woman he found himself in dire straights with.

It looked like she hadn't slept in days.

But that wasn't too important right now.

After all there was a reason he had jumped in the fray.

"Kosuk-" Issei's rushed and frantic tone reached him, but the other boy quickly cut him off with an irritable "hold on!".

It was at that same second that Issei found himself standing in the dark. His body had been laying before and in the confusion he now found himself in, he fell over trying to right his balance.

Kosuke had no trouble at first, but it wasn't long after that the exhaustion hit him, and he found himself fighting to not fall flat on his face. He now joined the floor with Issei; on his hands and knees wheezing for breath and a hot flash running through his body. His lungs felt like powder, and his body felt weak.

'Shit!' It was only now when he needed to use his sacred gear most he started tanking on empty.

Taking a good 30 seconds to gather himself, Kosuke slowly lifted himself into a standing and watched as Issei did the same.

"Look, Issei." Taking a second to swallow and breathe, he tried to get his panting under control. "I don't know how long it'll take for h-"

A shin buried itself into his stomach and sent him hurling through a wall.

His mind was in a disarray, his nerves weren't quite firing correctly and his senses struggled to record the situation. He tried lifting his head but immediately regretted it as his balance was nonexistent.

His forehead was hot, and he could feel the blood pulsing behind his eyes. It was hard to breathe and bright dots flickered in his window of vision like glitter. Black began to encroach on the edges of his vision, and it wasn't the kind of black he was comfortable with.

'Oh fuck.' he needed to focus on something fast otherwise he'd pass out and be done for.

He could still hear the remains of the concrete wall -that he had been fucking thrown through!- crumbling. He could hear the strange groaning sounds emitting from his chest. He sounded like a zombie or something. He flexed his fingers and felt the concrete dust surrounding him everywhere. The adrenaline racing through his system kept him from feeling the brunt of the pain, but there was still a deep ache that he could feel damn near in the marrow of his bones.

His hair was splayed out across his face so he couldn't exactly see, but the taste of copper and the smell of iron definitely alerted him to blood.

It took him a good few minutes before he was able to move his whole body. Pushing his body into a crouch, he surveyed the damage done to his body. Everything seemed to still work and function, he was a little sore but that was to be expected. He was bleeding from the nose, a lot, but other than that he was set to go.

He just had to get to Issei.

Walking out to where he originally jumped, he found a large hole in the floor that descended three floors. Down there he could see Issei taking a nasty beating from the fallen angel. Thoughts of the woman brought back memories of being pierced through the stomach.

'That definitely takes someone out of the fight.' He unconsciously thought, wincing slightly as the lady hurled Issei threw the air like a rag doll.

Wait, take out of the fight? Now that the thought was there, he was starting to roll with it. The basis for a plan began forming even without him wishing.

The huge drop to a floor unlit by any source of light, a huge shadow on its own, the dark pillars that shot up like weeds throughout each floor, speed, trajectory, piercing power, factors quickly fell into place like a puzzle that solved itself.

'Its beyond fucking crazy but…. I've got nothing else to try, and I can't sit here watching Issei suffer anymore.' From his spot observing he saw the woman breathing heavily.

'She's tired, she'll be distracted, this is my best chance.' He wasn't sure exactly if his plan would work, but dammit, he had total control over shadows, he could make it happen.

His plan banked on being able to carry inertia through the shadows. If he dropped down these three floors, and carried that momentum through another shadow right in front of the woman, would he be able to pierce her stomach with his bare hands and take her out of the fight.

It was a long shot, and it was beyond risky, but he couldn't think of much else. He only had one shot as well, so he had to make it count.

Perhaps he should practice on a concrete wall first?

'No, no definitely no.' He shook his head violently.

After all if it didn't work, worst casinario if he went after the purple haired woman, he'd only have to deal with jammed or possibly broken fingers. If he practiced on the wall first-

His eyes shifted to the concrete pillar beside him.

-an obliterated hand and a shattered femur.

Turning around he searched his surroundings for a possible weapon.

'There's rebar in concrete, maybe I can use a long piece of steel from the broken wall and use it.' Unfortunately, the exposed rebar was straight as could be.

There was no way for him to break it and use it as a spear. And unfortunately for him also, all the rocks and hunks of concrete were either far too large to actually carry, or too delicate to pierce with. It would just disintegrate in his hands.

A pained scream from Issei made Kosuke whip his head back at the hole he was supposed to be surveying through.

'Shit, there's no more time!' He realized.

A grimace on his face as he was being forced to make a hasty decision that could easily end in failure; he couldn't ignore the situation any longer as the woman was placed squarely in front of a pillar.

With nothing on his mind but the single task, he visualized every aspect of the process. He saw his body performing the actions, he imagined the end result, he imagined what it would feel like to connect the two windows together like a portal.

Raising his right hand up to the ceiling, he made his hand as flat as possible, before tipping over the side and letting gravity take him the 45+ feet below.

Wind whipped past his ears, and he was fucking terrified. Fear gripped his heart at the all too real thought of hitting the ground and not passing through. But he pushed through with the image in his head.

When he saw the black floor morph into a window of light, with his enemy on the other side, he knew it would work. He didn't let himself believe that it wouldn't. He visualized piercing his enemy and downing her just as much as he focused on the actual carrying of momentum.

He shot out of the pillar sideways and pierced her stomach like he expected. However his speed was more than he had anticipated and he planted his feet on the ground to steady himself. Her body hit his and was flush against his own as the momentum carried the two of them, Kosuke braking and sliding more than 20 feet across the floor.

Finally everything came to a stop.

Issei stared on in some strange mixture of horror and surprise, confusion, delight, and relief? His face had twisted and filtered through so many emotions that Kosuke couldn't quite figure it out.

"Hey, what are you-" A loud wet cough interrupted Kosuke; mainly because of the blood that sprayed onto his back.

And that's when he fully took stock of the situation.

His entire arm, all the way up to his bicep was buried inside of her. The two of them were so close that her hair fell into his own. Her head rested on his shoulder, and he felt her shudder, before all her weight finally transferred to him. Her legs had given out, and Kosuke reacted by grabbing her waist and steadying her.

She began shivering- no. He began shivering violently. His eyes widened to full capacity.

"U- uhh - uh." His voice began to quiver slightly and his mouth tried to form words, yet only choked sounds came out.

Holy shit . . . What the fuck had he just done?

Her blood began spreading rapidly, covering parts of his clothing and spilling all over the floor like a paint bucket toppling over. He was hot, she was too warm. He needed to get away.

There was a disgusting squelching noise as he pulled his arm free. Her body fell and hit the ground hard. His hands shot out to grab her, but then he quickly retracted both.

Her blood covering his arm was warm. Too warm. It was so warm that the cold couldn't pierce it.

It was warm . . . too warm, and thick too. It was sticky and no matter how much of the substance dripped on the floor, there still seemed to be a very thick layer around his right arm.

It . . . it was way too warm. He didn't enjoy being this warm. He prefered the cold.

This . . . this was far too much for him.

Once he stopped looking at his arms and focused a bit more downward, he took notice of the lady.

She, just like the other fallen angel he had met and pretty much all the female devils thereafter, was beautiful. And yet her body betrayed that image as he couldn't decide between hot and beautiful how to describe her entirety. Her body was damn near sinful. She had curves for days, and mile long legs that she did not hesitate to put on display. Her tight skirt suit made sure to show the wide hips and thin waist she had somehow managed to achieve. Slits in the side of the skirt showed the greatest set of thighs he'd seen in a while. There was a gaping red hole in her stomach. Her bust was outrageous, easily rivaling Akeno's. It was almost unsightly how large they were. He wouldn't even try and figure out the cup size.

He saw Issei cautiously shuffling forward off to his left.

Her body was something else, and there just had to be some magic that helped her achieve it, because no women, model, pornstar or anything of the sort had managed her proportions. And when he looked at her face, she was a mature beauty. Absolutely stunning, and yet . . . she appeared to be crying.

Why was she crying?

Why was she even-

His knees gave way to the crushing weight.

"I- Im Im I- Im s-so sorry, I-I I didn't know that-" He choked hard on his words, and his body was racked with tremors as he watched tears slide down her face even further.

He should've known the outcome, he couldn't act surprised now. A blow like this, you couldn't just walk away from. It took you out of the fight for sure, but it took you out permanently.

Fallen Angel or not, he didn't want to murder anybody.

Two hands seized him by the shoulders and yanked him up and tore him away from the sight.

He found himself sitting up against a pillar farther away right next to Issei. It took him a few minutes but he got his emotions under control. He didn't look a complete mess now.

The two sat there in silence for a while, before Issei finally did the brave thing and broke the silence.

"You know, after all this . . . I think I'm gonna watch some porn."

Silence.

Kosuke should've been angry that Issei had the fucking gal to bring up something as irrelevant as that right now. He should've, but for some reason . . . he started to laugh.

"Hahahaha," It was a loud laugh that shook his shoulders and closed his eyes; why the hell was he laughing?

"We narrowly escaped death just right now, and thats whats on your mind, jacking off?"

"Well, you know." Issei started off sheepishly before resolve entered his voice. "It is a good stress reliever."

"Hmm, you are right about that." Kosuke figured slipping into casual conversation would help ease and calm him down, and it was definitely working.

He just tried to ignore the dying woman who lay 20 feet away.

"You know, I've got some DVDs at home." Issei offered.

Kosuke turned to him with a small frown on his face.

"And why would you buy those when that stuff is free online?" Kosuke asked with scepticism clear in his voice.

"Im telling you, a lot of these movies go onto the sites with monthly subscriptions. This isn't anything you'll find on just normal viewing sites. There is a reason why we pay."

Kosuke sat there for a moment, thinking about it a bit.

"Can I go to your place after school tomorrow and borrow one then?" He finally said with a straight face.

"Yeah, that's fine."

The two settled into an unnerving silence.

The conversation had managed to get him under control and thinking logically again, but there was still the problem of the woman who was again, dying on the floor.

"Let's head to my house, Issei." Kosuke said as he rose from the floor and began walking towards the girl.

"Kosuke, what are you doing?" Issei said with a hard edge to his voice once Kosuke had neared the fallen angel woman.

"Treating her." Tearing a long strip from her suit he began wrapping it into a makeshift bandage of sorts.

"The hell you aren't." There was definitely some heat in his tone now.

"Look, from what Rias told us this morning, we seem to be in this weird fragile truce. Like some sort of cold war. Actions like these might just be the end of us. Not to mention we don't know why she actually attacked us." Kosuke tried to explain as he finished the quick patch up job, enough so she wasn't bleeding all over him anymore. "I for one, am not the type to jump to conclusions too quickly, neither of us know the full story, so I'll ask when she wakes up."

"When she wakes up? She's clearly gonna-." Issei's anger died down and now he was just tired and miserable, no fight was left in him. "She tried to kill us, you know."

"But she didn't succeed, did she? Simple as that." Bending down, he scooped up her unconscious body and turned back towards Issei.

"Do you know how to stitch together a wound?"

"No." Issei answered.

"Hmm," Kosuke walked over to Issei's side and reached him. "We can ask google about it when we get to my house."

"Before we go though," Kosuke turned his head to the side and focused on a pillar not to far away from them.

Issei followed his eyes and looked on in surprise when another Kosuke emerged from the shadows.

The two Kosukes nodded to one another before the 2nd disappeared into the shadows.

"What the hell was that?" Issei asked bewildered.

Kosuke just smiled slightly.

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow, for now we've got one last jump for the night."

Issei nodded and placed his hand on Kosuke's shoulder, already knowing what to do.

When Kosuke surfaced in his living room, he was somewhat expecting Kusuri to be there, but he sure as hell hadn't anticipated Rias being there.

She stood up from the chair she was sitting at.

"Kosuke, where have you be- Issei, youre- you two are hurt, who is-" Questions played on her tongue and for a second she didn't seem to know what to do with her arms.

WIthin seconds though, her calm orderly facade reemerged.

"I'll explain everything a little bit later, but do you think you can heal her, and perhaps Issei too?" Kosuke asked.

"What about you?" Her voice was stern, no doubt she had realized who the woman was, or rather what she was.

"I wasn't hurt nearly as much as they were, if you really want to, you can get to me last."

Rias looked like she wanted to say something, however, out of respect or perhaps something else, she chose not to. Only stepping forward to take the woman out of his hands.

He saw her eyes linger on the wound he had inflicted and of course, his right arm, but she didn't say anything and disappeared behind the hallway with Issei in tow.

Looking at the kitchen, he saw the garlic bread had been taken out of the oven, and the mess he had made earlier had been cleaned.

"Kusuri." He spoke her name softly.

"Yes?" Came her equally soft response as she appeared before him.

"Did you clean the kitchen for me, and take out the bread?" He asked.

"Yes."

Kosuke managed the barest hint of a smile.

"Thank you, Kusuri. You've been nothing but a big help." Kosuke said and reached to pat the top of her head.

Once he was reminded of the sickening amounts of blood that clung to his right arm, he lowered it.

Kusuri took the initiative and moved forward, taking his left hand and resting the palm on the crown of her head. Eyes closed and waiting expectantly, Kosuke thought she looked way too cute and made sure to pat her head.

The sweet smile he got in return really warmed his heart.

What he really needed now though, was a shower.

Waking down the hall, he ripped the remnants of his tattered shirt off and stuffed it into a trashcan. His shorts and socks would be sure to follow after he got in the bathroom.

As he walked into the bathroom, a quick glance at the clock on the wall told him the time.

"10:23, huh?"

Damn if today hadn't been a long day.

"I think you should get to her first, Rias." She heard a familiar voice say from the doorway.

A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed it was Kosuke. She had thought he was getting in the shower though.

Getting up from her crouched position where she had been treating Issei, she got ready for what was no doubt gonna be trouble.

"Issei, Think you can leave the room for a sec?" She asked, although Issei could tell it was more like a command.

Rising without a word, he walked past the two and closed the door behind him.

The guest bedroom was left in complete silence for a few seconds.

"I won't treat her."

"Why not?"

Rias sighed heavily at his response.

"Do you really need to ask me that?" She really didn't want to deal with this right now.

She had only gotten about an hour to rest before waking up again. And of course, the bright idea to go to Kosukes house hit her, so she couldn't just stay in the club room after that.

When she got there, no one was home. Rias figured at most she would just drill him about his whereabouts earlier, and then she could go back to sleep. He couldn't be gone for too long, there was food on the stove after all.

Glancing off to her side, she observed the Fallen Angel she had admittedly dumped onto the bed without much care or thought.

She was most assuredly not prepared to handle the situation Kosuke had managed to find himself in.

Today had been a very long day, and she doubted it would end anytime soon.

"Aren't you the one who told me were in some sort of shaky ceasefire as it is." His words drew her eyes back to the boy. "Wouldn't this be grounds for retribution or something. I find it hard to believe they would just let this slide."

"You don't need to worry about that."

Somehow the situation felt a little comical. It was like watching your dog or cat bring in a dead animal from outside and drop it off by your feet.

If she was being honest, she was fighting the urge not to celebrate. She didn't exactly know the entire situation, but she did know that Kosuke was the one to land such a devastating blow. And for a rookie servant not even a week into the job yet, he had been able to fatally wound a superior opponent.

Just the thought alone managed to bring the corners of her mouth into a pleased smile.

Luckily his eyes weren't focused on her face, so he didn't catch her slip.

His eyes were glued onto the growing red spot on the fallen angels stomach, obviously he was worried about something.

"If you're worried about the mess, dont worry, Ill take care of it." Rias offered pleasantly.

"That's not what I'm worried about." Kosuke said slightly exasperated.

She watched him as he walked closer to the bed, a grocery bag in his hand that she hadn't noticed before. Hell she didn't remember him coming in with it either.

"Do you hate them?" He asked.

"Hate them?" That certainly erased the small smile that she had before.

She didn't exactly hate them . . . but she didn't care much for them either.

They were just. . . Fallen angels and their affairs didn't really register on her list of 'Things I Care About'.

It was similar to the way that if your country was at war with another, you don't really think about the casualties they suffer, or what crimes they might be suffering to.

If a country was bombed, you just kinda took it at face value, you didn't think about it nearly long enough to even question how the civilians felt.

It just didn't register, it was a thought that didn't even occur. She felt nothing to them.

She followed him with her head when he knelt by her side and tried putting some pressure on the wound.

She felt nothing but apathy, and even that attitude was better than most others. While she could certainly see the effects of the war and even live through it, constant reminders plaguing her very being through family or her own observations, her feeling were second hand in nature. Second hand accounts and observable reality based off actions that had taken place before she was born. She didn't fight, she hadn't lost anyone close to her. None of the hatred and grief that she knew plagued most others were existent in her.

None of that, she just didn't care for a single second.

"No I don't hate them." He heard her say.

Hands pressing against the sticky mess that clung to her clothes and spilled onto the bed, he tried desperately to get the blood to stop.

There was this fear simmering in his gut; the very real reality of his actions reaching its ultimate consequence made him sick. The anxiety reached its peak and he felt a hot flash run through him. His heart beat faster and he was feeling a little light headed. He was on the verge of hyperventilating as the crushing reality of what would most likely happen began weighing on him.

It almost felt like he had been thrown through a wall again.

He couldn't let this woman die in his house, he couldn't let her die whatsoever. He didn't want that weighing on his conscious. And while he had figured this was something he might just have to do one day, he hadn't expected it to happen so damned fast.

"Why won't you heal her then." He was more than a little surprised to realize none of the frustration managed to make it to his voice.

He sounded perfectly collected.

"When I healed you and Issei, I had to get naked and hold you the entire night. That's far too intimate a thing to do with her." Ria's said evenly.

He didn't know whether she said it as a cover for her just plain not wanting to help the woman, or if it was truly as simple as that. He was turned away from her, so he couldn't see her expression. Nonetheless, he sighed.

"You got any magic that'll work like anesthesia?" He asked tiredly.

Rias wanted to ask why, but upon seeing him reach into the grocery bag and pull out some thread, she knew what he wanted to do.

She . . . wasn't necessarily disappointed that he was going to try and save her, but a similar yet smaller emotion did appear before she squashed it.

"I can put her under a deeper sleep, and numb the area around the wound." She answered.

She wouldn't make things too difficult for him.

His eyes were tired, she could see it easily from this distance, yet, the warm smile he gave her after she agreed to help drove away any lingering feelings.

"I hope you'll stay for dinner."

He didn't know how the hell the kid did it, but it seemed that Kosuke had managed to clone himself.

Issei knew that his friend held a sacred gear, but no other knowledge than that. He'd have to ask him the next time he saw him.

Suddenly the door to his left opened and he saw Kosuke walk out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Speak of the devil-

"Oh hey Issei, you can get in, I'll even give you one of my uniforms to wear back home."

Issei just blinked a bit, he was tired and he really didn't have the energy to interrogate Kosuke on second thought. He'd be told the next day either way.

Rising up from the floor where he had been sitting, he trudged past the blue eyed boy into the bathroom which surprising didn't have any steam wafting throughout.

"Oh and Issei."

Not even bothering to turn around or stop, Issei's hand twisted the shower knob to what he figured would be a comfortable temperature.

Within a few seconds of letting his hand run under the current, the water began warming up.

That was certainly nice.

"Yeah." He finally answered.

"You wanna stay over for just a bit longer and have some dinner."

The water was a bit too hot so he turned the knob down a bit.

Food . . . certainly sounded good right about now.

"Yeah."

"Alright I'll leave your clothes on the toilet and bring a towel for you."

The door closed shut after that; Issei lazily stripped before stepping under the jet.

He already knew the night would be long before his clone had entered his room while he was hanging, and explained the situation.

The woman was fine, and Rias would be staying for dinner.

Issei would be staying over for dinner as well.

And most importantly, the thing he had forgotten up until this point-

His aunt was coming home today.

Fuck . . .

Pulling some pants on and a random long sleeve he had found in his closet, he prepared himself for the next event.

He only had one more scene before he could finally go to fucking bed.

"Wish me good luck." He whispered bitterly in a small attempt at humor.

"Good luck." Came Kusuri's soft voice.

He didn't even know she was there; turning to the voice he saw her sitting criss cross on his bed, playing with some blonde porcelain doll in a light blue gown.

Turning around again, he figured she had materialised just when he asked for luck.

He gave her a half hearted thanks before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

The room was thrown into darkness, the shadows instantly covered every object it could, halting at the rays of light periodically spaced throughout the room.

Kusuris golden eyes remained open, seemingly glowing within the dark.

"Sais."

The food had been given some time to reheat on the burner, the bread was doing similar within the oven.

Issei was out of the shower and dressed appropriately, and both he and Rias sat at the table. There was a magical barrier over the guest bedroom which would dissuade his Aunt from trying to enter. Kosuke had almost finished setting the table when he heard his Aunt pull into the driveway.

"I forgot to tell you guys but someone else will be eating with us even if it is rather late." Kosuke informed them unapologetically as he set food on everyone's plates and placed them on the table.

The keys made a loud sound within the lock as Kosuke finished placing the last plate down.

"Perfect timing." He muttered under his breath as he walked back into the kitchen to turn out all the unnecessary lights.

"Hey, Kosuke." Issei ignored the bags in her hand as he checked her out from his seat. "Who're your two friends?"

She had a lovely voice, and her demeanor just screamed dignity and grace. She was fairly tall, taller than Rias and Akeno easy, and her chest was nothing to scoff at either. Her face looked strikingly similar to Kosuke's, and it seemed like blue eyes ran in the family.

"They're club members, we had a meeting up until just a little while ago and I asked if they wanted anything before they went home." He heard Kosuke answer as he went up to hug her.

Damn! Issei wanted to be the one with huge tits being squished into his chest!

With them standing so close to one another, he realized they looked pretty much exactly the same. Their eyes and hair were the only real difference. While Kosukes eyes appeared a much darker shade of blue due to the almost half lidded gaze he slipped into on default, the other woman had much wider eyes, without much of a shadow falling on her iris', they appeared a medium shade of blue.

Sure whenever Kosuke smiled or laughed, kinda like now as he joked around a bit with the woman, his eyes lightened up to a similar blue, but it was only flashes. This woman held a continuous glint in her gaze.

Her hair was also a light blonde color, he noted once everyone had sat down and began eating. She had probably bleached it as he could tell from the highlights in Kosukes hair, he had natural black hair, she probably did under that dye as well. She did look striking with blonde hair though, he would readily admit it. With her blue eyes and soft facial features she was quite the charming older woman.

It looked like Rias and Akeno had some competition lurking around.

"Man," He grouched suddenly as he turned his head to his left and leered at the other boy, before turning his attention back to the main attraction. "Why didn't you tell me you had such a hot older sister."

Kosuke didn't know how to respond for a few seconds, Rias laughed in her hand in manner similar to Akeno, she must've known who the woman actually was.

"Idiot!" Kosuke was crossed between embarrassment, disgust, and anger and didnt know which emotion to accurately convey; his face twitched between them in indecision. "Thats my Aunt!"

"And don't think I didn't see you either." His face dropped embarrassment and just focused of disgust and irritation. "If you can't mind your manners just look down at the plate."

"Aunt?" Issei's shock seemed to amuse Rias even further.

"Oh I don't mind Kosuke," She spoke up, placing one arm under her chest and the other to cover her mouth as she looked away with a blush she had totally come out of her ass with. "I'm just glad to see even at this age I can still attract younger men."

'What kinda bullshit is that woman!' Kosuke didn't know if she was trying to tease Issei or him!

"Hmph." Looking away with a nasty smirk on his face, he decided to knock her down a peg. "He's got three times the hormones of the average teen, it isn't surprising he'd be attracted to old ladies like you."

The blush was gone and so was the shy demeanor, in an instant she had her hands placed on the table and had leaned menacingly over her nephew.

"What'd you call me, asswipe!" Issei was too focused on the swaying of her chest after the rapid movement to question the complete 180.

"Old~" He sung with that devious smirk on his face still, refusing to even look in her direction, shoulders shaking in a barely contained laugh. "Have you gotten to the age were even your hearings started to go bad, I thought you still had a couple of years."

"Are you sure the two of you aren't siblings?" Rias asked with nothing but good humor, a bright smile on her face. "You guys sure do act like it."

The woman sat down in her seat with a long sigh before fixing her hair slightly and calming down.

"Well, we're only about 7 years apart, and we grew up together, so we do kinda act like it." She answered honestly, gathering some pasta on her fork and shooting off a snarky remark before eating. "If it weren't for this brat and his big mouth though."

"You know you love me, Sayuri~"

"Love you enough to smother you in your sleep, yeah."

Issei could see from the similar smiles on both of their faces that they were just having fun teasing one another.

Rias huffed out a large sigh that was completely unlike her and seemingly deflated in her seat. "I wish my older sibling was as cool as you."

Ah, the great Devil himself. He was probably a total hard ass, Rias probably didn't get along with her brother whatsoever.

"Whats your brother like?" Completely oblivious was Kosukes aunt.

"I don't even feel like talking about it." It must've been pretty bad if she got that exhausted just thinking about him.

"Sayuri . . . Yuri Sayuri, Sayuri Yuri." Issei had figured out her name and the little quirk too it after Kosuke had addressed her, testing it out on his tongue. "What were your parents thinking?"

Now Sayuri deflated and looked just as worn out as Rias.

"I don't know what his grandparents were thinking."

Dinner became a quiet affair after that, the silence lasting a good 5 minutes as everyone truly began devouring the food Kosuke had prepared.

It was nice seeing so many people enjoying something he made.

"Hey, you two." His aunt looked pointedly at his two friends. "It's like, 11. Are your parents alright with you being out this late?"

"Uh." Looks like Issei was a terrible liar.

"Of course." Rias said immediately.

"Hmm." She peered a little closer at Issei, obviously suspicious.

"Look, If you don't believe him, why don't you just believe me, I'm pretty trustworthy." Rias covered for the boys slip up.

'Wow,' He was actually a little amazed at the sheer audacity; there was no chance in hell his Aunt would take that as a solid reason, Rias hadn't even really tried at lyin-

"Oh ok, that makes perfect sense." Sayuri Immediately responded, calmly eating some more food after that.

'Wait, how could she have possibly . . .' Kosuke was at a complete loss for words.

'The girl used magic to brainwash the woman into obeying her will.' Kusuri communicated with him.

Kosukes chest stopped for a couple seconds before his breathing resumed, even if it was a bit shaky after that.

He looked down and focused on his food and continued eating. He didn't trust his face not to betray the anxiety that had suddenly gripped him.

Rias had bent his Aunts will right in front of him, and he didn't notice. His aunt surely hadn't noticed and neither did Issei.

It was an incredibly valuable and dangerous skill she had. Especially if Kusuri had been the only one to detect it.

The simple fact brought some worries into his mind. What if everytime he disagreed with Rias, or didn't want to do something she had asked of him, she just hypnotized him into thinking he wanted to do it or agreed with her. After all he wouldn't realize that his choice had been taken away from him, it would feel like he made the choice himself.

It was entirely possible that he had refused Rias multiple times and she just used her magic to alter his will.

Braving the risk, he glanced up at her. When she noticed his eyes linger on her face, she smiled at him. He looked down at his plate again.

The gesture didn't bring him any joy, after all it was completely possible for her to turn him into a complete puppet without any freedom of choice.

It wasn't very long after that that everyone had finished eating and his Aunt had offered to take care of the dishes.

Issei had waved his farewell at the door and parted knowing he'd see him again the next morning. Rias was also heading out, she would be escorting the boy so she could finish with Issei's injuries.

She . . . didn't know why exactly, but at some point, Kosuke had refused to make any eye contact with her, and closed himself off. She had originally thought he was just tired, but he hadn't showcased that same behaviour with Issei or his Aunt.

"Kosuke, is everything alright?" She asked with sincerity, hoping maybe he'd say something.

No luck as he still averted his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired and worn out."

"Oh ok" She responded with a small voice that wasn't quite her.

The door closed softly and left her on the dark cold street to follow after Issei with worry on her mind.

The devils little sister . . . She was akin to royalty wasn't she. That meant it was only natural to get whatever she wanted.

Kosuke rolled onto his other side in bed.

He didn't want to think about her along those lines, but he couldn't exactly ignore it either.

It had been a long day and he couldn't possibly imagine it getting any longer.

It was 11:34pm, and unfortunately for the boy, he'd be having a hard time sleeping that night.

A.N. Ok one more chapter to go and we'll finally begin the first arc. That's where the action really kicks in. This chapter came out to be 51 pages and 17+k words. There was a ton of stuff that I wanted to get through in this chapter as well as the next, so the next chapter might be around this length as well, hopefully it won't take me nearly as long to finish it though. After chapter 6 is released I'll start publishing 10 to 12 page chapters with shorter intervals between updates. No promises though because I'm terrible at managing projects.

Kosuke traveled 1000 km which is about 621 miles. To put that in perspective I'll use my state California to represent it. It's the same as going from San Diego all the way up to Red Bluff. That's about 634 miles. Red Bluff is a 2 hour drive from Sacramento or 131 miles. So it's the equivalent of starting close to the border of California and Mexico and ending up well past the capitol, way up in north california. That's about a 9 and a half hour drive without traffic.

May seem a bit unrealistic, but I wanted to convey just how limitless Kosuke's Sub Species of Night Reflection is. The only thing really holding him back from throwing himself halfway across the globe with but a thought and a snap of his fingers, is reserves(does he have enough in the tank to get him that far, or will he pass out and die in a desert in the middle of china) and if he truly thinks he can (magic is pretty much only mental, so you can do anything with it).

Another big thing about this story you'll start noticing in this chapter. Issei. I can't stand that Issei's only goal was a harem. Every waking moment of his life was him being a pervert, the dude couldn't be serious even for life and death battles. It was kinda funny at first, but it lost its novelty fairly quickly. NO ONE and I mean no one in this story will be so one dimensional. There's a reason for the pacing of this story. So you'll notice a little bit of a change in Issei this chapter in terms of realizing that he can actually focus on his own self instead of perving out, and that he actually didn't care for the gymnastic captains feelings. I think everyone will be glad to see progress and will hope to see more transformation from the guy.

Im also sure some of you might ask, why Rias would ever let the person who nearly killed her servants to sleep in one of said servant's homes, and that will be answered a bit in the next chapter.

Also if you're following the flow of the story, it's only tuesday, however because I don't feel like going back and doing fat corrections, lets just say for the sake of the story, Issei and Raynare's little date happened on a monday night, thus making this wednesday.