"I can attend school?" Seele, rather Valerie Tepes asked with spark in her crimson orbs. The dhampir had been recuperating for a week now, and her body no longer looks thin and weak as it was when Kousuke found her in Underworld. Since then, she spent most of her time reading light novels from his collection, and occasionally helping him with perfecting the capsule. She seems to understand why she was house sitting, but whenever he invited her to get some fresh air, she appears very enthusiastic about it.
He did have a long talk with Rias and the rest about her circumstance before notifying her today, especially Gasper and they all reached mutual understanding. So in the end, Kousuke decides to just enroll her at Kuoh Academy.
"Yes, you must have felt very trapped in the house all alone whenever I had to go school aren't you? Plus, Morgan isn't the type to start a conversation after all." He said with doting smile, his hand instinctively pat her on the head. Seele shook her head, it was true that she occasionally had the desire to go out but never once did she felt lonely.
Reading actually helped her forget a little about her past, though temporary but it was good for her mental health. What's more, she was allowed to visit the virtual world whenever she wanted thanks to the custom capsule sitting in her room. Sometimes, she would even ran into Ophis casually sitting in the living eating pepperoni pizza while the TV were playing some slice of life anime. Seele quite enjoyed the Dragon God accompany since she loves to share her food with others.
"I'm just happy that I get to be going to the same school as you, B-Brother..." She said with flushed cheeks. It seems she still feels embarrassed calling him 'brother' to keep up with the disguise. He had told her countless times that it's fine for her to call him by his name privately, but she insisted in doing so. Reasoning she needs to get used to it so that she won't make mistake by accident.
"I feel the same way, now I won't have to leave you alone and I can go to school with my adorable little sister," he replied teasingly. Her face turned even redder than tomato at his words as she immediately looks away. She couldn't stop herself from feeling butterfly fluttering inside her stomach. She didn't know exactly why her emotions were acting like this, after all Valerie had almost zero experience in relationship. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before.
"P-Please don't tease me," she responded with a pout. Even though Valerie was supposed to be slightly older than him, at least physical-wise, but the disguise and the way he acts around her makes it difficult for her to act normal. Her eyes suddenly widened as if remembering something. "Ah, I was learning how to cook before you get home and... "
Valerie had never cook before, so their food were mostly made by Kousuke, and on rare occasion Morgan with her local cuisine. She had never considered it before but having all the time in the world, the young Dhampir thought of taking cooking as another hobby aside from reading. A few hours ago, she was watching through Youtube, learning how to make simple dish like egg fried rice. She didn't know who the guy was, but he called himself Uncle and dressed in an orange T-Shirt. He said it was the easiest dish, but she didn't underestimated it at all.
"H-Here," Valerie said shyly after placing her version of egg fried rice in front of Kousuke. It looks like an ordinary egg fried rice, no uneven cut vegetables, and the rice seems almost perfectly cooked. Almost, because he spotted some burnt rice, likely a mistake from using high heat. Every beginner cook had ran into that when they first learn how to cook, he is no exception, so he plan to go easy on her.
"Let's see," Kousuke muttered before taking a spoonful and threw it into his mouth. He had his eyes shut and his expression seems unusually serious, so Valerie looks like a nervous wreck. She had tasted it before, and she thought it was fine. However, what if due to her unusual diet during her confinement, she somehow developed strange taste? She can't ignore that possibility deep within her heart. Seeing him taking a while, her breathing growing heavy.
"...this is your first time cooking right?" When Kousuke finally opened his eyes, that was the first thing he asked. She nodded quickly out of anxiety, which was an adorable sight to him so he tried his best to not break into a smile. "Hmm, I can taste a bit of burnt on the rice and the egg and..."
"...Is it no good?"
"No no, it's good! I'm serious! I was just playing around!" Seeing her shoulders dropped coupled with sad face, Kousuke immediately caved in and tell her his honest thought. He was starting to feel guilty for trying to pull a prank on her. "Yes, there is some burnt part but that's to be expected from beginner, in fact, you did better than most! The good thing from your egg fried rice is not just that it's edible, but actually tastes good!"
"...really? You're not saying that just to make me happy?"
"It's true! Hold on," Kousuke suddenly closed his eyes and a few minutes later, Ophis materialized right next to him with her usual deadpan expression adorned her face. At first she look at Valerie and him, before turning her attention at the half eaten egg fried rice. He had contacted her for help and she agreed in a heartbeat. Then she slowly grabbed the spoon and took a mouthful of the dish into her little mouth, then again, and again. She didn't say a single word until she finished the whole thing.
"...It's good."
After complimenting Valerie's cooking with a thumbs up, she turned her head to Kousuke and he nodded as she vanished on the spot. Both were used to her nonchalant attitude at this point, the Infinity Dragon God is just chill like that. But thanks to that compliment, Valerie finally understand that he wasn't lying, and she has talent in cooking. And then, she suddenly give him a promise to him that she will prepare bento for him tomorrow. He wasn't the kind to refuse free meal, especially if it makes Valerie happy so he accepts her offer willingly.
While watching her back figure cleaning the dirty dishes and humming an anime song, Kousuke wondered what kind of chaos will erupt at school tomorrow once his classmates learned about Valerie. Some of his friends should've known that he had no little sister, so the disguise won't work on them. However, he could always makes things up so that their gullible mind would have no choice but to accept it as the truth. He wasn't that bothered if people close to him knew the truth, it was enough if the disguise fooled those who were after Valerie. He already talked with Sirzechs about enrolling her to his school, he is the Principal after all. The paperwork wasn't anything difficult for Satan, but the latter unexpectedly ask for something in return.
"Ajuka huh?" He mumbles, recalling a certain nerd amongst the Satans. He wasn't surprised that Ajuka would be interested in his capsule, in fact it was more surprising that it took him this long to request for a meeting. Kousuke is very interested to hear his opinions, who knows he might learn something new that could improve the capsule even further. So he didn't refuse to such a small request.