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The silence in the immense living room of the treehouse was interrupted only by the soft hum of the appliances and the restrained breathing of the two girls.
Sylvie blinked several times, lowering her gaze toward her bunny slippers and thick pink fleece pajamas, then looking again at the beautiful young blonde woman dressed as a nun who stood beside her boyfriend. Sylvie's mind, which barely a minute ago had been focused on an incredibly romantic and daring evening, tried to process the drastic turn of events.
"A... new member of the family?" Sylvie repeated, her voice sounding a little higher-pitched than normal.
Asia swallowed, feeling as if she were invading a space that did not belong to her. She pressed her hands against her chest, shrinking slightly. She knew her presence was a burden. It always had been.
"I-I... I'm so very sorry," the nun stammered, her emerald eyes filling with nervous tears. "I-I didn't want to interrupt, truly. Kaiju-san was very kind to bring me here, but if I'm a bother, I can leave and..."
Asia could not finish the sentence.
Sylvie had taken three quick steps forward, closing the distance between them. For the briefest instant, upon seeing the foreign girl's undeniable beauty, a tiny needle of insecurity had pricked Sylvie's heart. However, when she looked straight into Asia's eyes, the gray-haired girl did not see a rival. She saw the same terror, the same exhaustion, and the same crushing loneliness she herself had felt for years in that dark basement before Kaiju saved her.
Sylvie's maternal and protective instinct ignited all at once, erasing any trace of jealousy or confusion over her strange pajamas.
Sylvie extended her hands and took Asia's trembling hands with extreme delicacy. The nun gave a small flinch, but the warmth of the touch froze her in place.
"Don't say that. Never say you're a bother," Sylvie told her, her voice distilling such deep sweetness and empathy that Asia's eyes widened. "You've been running, haven't you? You're scared and cold."
Asia slowly nodded, a treacherous tear sliding down her cheek.
Sylvie released one of her hands to wipe the tear away with her thumb, giving her the warmest and most comforting smile in the world.
"You don't have to run anymore, Asia. Welcome home."
That simple phrase was the trigger. Asia, who had maintained her composure in front of the Fallen Angels, excommunication, and the fear of death, finally broke. She sobbed openly and let herself fall forward, hugging Sylvie desperately, hiding her face in the shoulder of her pink fleece pajamas. Sylvie returned the embrace immediately, stroking her blonde hair while murmuring words of comfort.
Leaning against the hallway frame, Kaiju watched the scene with his arms crossed and a small crooked smile. His instinct had not failed him. Sylvie had a heart far too big to leave someone suffering in the darkness.
"Lala," Kaiju called in a whisper.
The elegant Shiny Gardevoir appeared floating from the kitchen, holding a tray with three cups of hot chocolate and, of course, a large basket full of freshly baked bread. The psychic fairy gave her master a look that mixed approval and slight reproach for bringing someone else home at such an untimely hour, but she quickly approached the girls to offer them warmth.
Minutes later, the tension had dissipated, and the immense dining room of the laboratory felt more homelike than ever.
Asia was sitting on one of the comfortable stools, wrapped in a wool blanket Sylvie had brought her. She held a steaming cup of chocolate between her hands, taking small sips while listening to the gray-haired girl speak with contagious animation.
"And then, when he tries to cook, he always ends up using his red aura and burns the pans," Sylvie laughed, exposing Kaiju's culinary disasters. "That's why I take care of the cooking. Ah, speaking of that! Kaiju told me you hadn't tried Kinako bread."
Sylvie took one of the golden buns dusted with soybean flour and offered it to her.
Asia took it shyly, remembering the strange conversation she had had with the boy in the middle of the destroyed house. She took a small bite. The crunchy texture on the outside, the softness of the dough, and the perfect sweetness burst across her palate.
Her eyes shone with pure fascination.
"It's delicious!" Asia exclaimed, bringing a hand to her cheek. "It's the tastiest thing I've ever tried in my life, Sylvie-san!"
"Right?!" Sylvie clapped happily, her chest swelling with pride. "I'll teach you how to make it tomorrow! And I'll also show you your room. We have plenty of space here, and if you need new clothes, Kaiju can fix it in a second with his eyes."
Asia looked around. She observed the immensity of the place, the technological magic, the elegant psychic creature serving tea, and then the kind girl treating her like a younger sister. Finally, her gaze settled on Kaiju, who was leaning against the wall, silently finishing his own cup of chocolate.
"Kaiju-san... Sylvie-san... truly, I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you for all of this," Asia murmured, lowering her gaze to her lap, feeling she did not deserve so much happiness.
"There's nothing to repay, Asia," Kaiju answered calmly, taking a step toward the table. "There is only one rule in this house: if you're here, you are part of the family. And family protects family."
Asia nodded, wiping away another tear of gratitude. For the first time since she had been expelled from the Church, she felt that she had a purpose and a place where she belonged.
Kaiju set his empty cup on the counter. He observed the blonde nun. He knew that keeping her locked in the treehouse for the rest of her life, hidden from the supernatural world, was not a real solution. She needed to live, experience the ordinary world, and have the youth her status as a "Saint" had stolen from her.
"Hey, Asia," Kaiju said, calling her attention.
The young girl looked up, still with her cheeks flushed from the warmth of the drink and Sylvie's kindness. "Yes, Kaiju-san?"
The teenager slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts and gave her a genuine smile.
"Since you're going to live with us now, and I very much doubt the Church let you enjoy your adolescence..." Kaiju made a small pause, letting the idea float in the air. "Would you like to start going to school with us?"
Silence took over the dining room. Sylvie let out a small squeal of excitement, clasping her hands together.
Asia froze. Her green eyes widened. The word "school" resonated in her head like a distant echo, a concept belonging to light novels or stories the other nuns told her, but one she had never experienced.
"G-Go to school...?" Asia stammered, her voice trembling from overwhelming emotion. "Me... with a uniform... and friends... and normal classes?"
"Exactly. A normal, peaceful, boringly human life," Kaiju confirmed, conveniently omitting the detail that Kuoh Academy was infested with devils. "I'll forge your papers first thing tomorrow using my eyes. We'll enroll you in our same grade."
Asia covered her face with her hands, and a cry of pure, absolute, unbreakable happiness flooded the laboratory. Sylvie quickly stood to hug her, jumping with joy at the idea of having her new "sister" accompany her during breaks and classes.
Kaiju watched them celebrate, feeling a warm peace inside him. However, his analytical and tactical mind was already working. He had snatched the bearer of Twilight Healing from the claws of the Fallen Angels, and now he was about to place her directly into the territory of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri.
Kuoh's chessboard had just received a new and unpredictable piece. But, for that night, the God of Destruction allowed himself simply to be a normal teenager watching his girlfriend and his new protégée share a sweet moment.
...
The next morning at Kuoh Academy felt unusually heavy for Hyoudou Issei.
As he dragged his feet down the hallway toward his classroom, the brown-haired boy had dark circles under his eyes that nearly reached his chin. His weekend had been an absolute nightmare. He was still tormented by the image of the sweet blonde nun, Asia Argento, staying behind in that destroyed house, resigned to her cruel fate with the Fallen Angels while the Gremory peerage fled under Rias's orders.
Issei felt a knot in his stomach. Guilt was eating him alive. Surely, by now, Asia was imprisoned or worse.
With a sigh loaded with teenage misery, Issei slid open the door to his classroom and entered, prepared for another boring and unbearable day under the sunlight he now hated so much.
However, when he took the first step inside the classroom, his brain suffered a systemic collapse.
Issei froze in the doorway, mouth open. He blinked once, twice, three times, and even rubbed his eyes with closed fists, convinced that lack of sleep and his new demonic biology were causing him severe hallucinations.
A few meters away from him, sitting at a desk right behind Sylvie and beside Kaiju, was a girl with radiant blonde hair and emerald eyes. She wore the Kuoh Academy female uniform perfectly.
It was Asia Argento. Alive, unharmed, and chatting animatedly.
"A-A-Asia?!" Issei shouted, pointing at her with a trembling finger, his voice cracking into a high-pitched squawk that drew the attention of half the classroom.
Asia gave a small jump in her seat, startled by the shout, and looked at him with evident nervousness.
"I-Ise-san!" the blonde stammered, pressing her hands against her desk and sweating buckets. "G-Good morning! What a beautiful morning the Creat... I mean, the weather has given us! The weather!"
Before Issei could demand an explanation of how she had survived the Fallen Angels or why the hell she was wearing the school uniform, Matsuda walked past him, patting him on the shoulder.
"Close your mouth, Issei, flies are going to get in," the bald boy mocked, walking toward his seat. "Good morning, Asia-chan. Hey, were you able to solve problem three from the math homework? It was impossible."
Asia went so tense she looked like a marble statue. Her green eyes moved frantically toward Kaiju in search of help.
"E-Eh! I-I...! The homework! Of course! By divine grace, Sylvie-san helped illuminate my path through the numbers!" Asia answered, laughing in an incredibly awkward and forced way.
"Haha, typical of you, Asia-chan, always so poetic when you talk," commented one of the girls in class, approaching to fix a strand of Asia's blonde hair. "By the way, I love how your ribbon looks today. Are we having lunch together later?"
"Y-Yes! It would be an honor to share blessed brea... lunch with you!" Asia squealed, on the verge of nervous hyperemesis.
Issei watched the scene, feeling reality itself crack apart. What was happening? Matsuda, the girls, the class representative... everyone was treating Asia as if they had known her all their lives. There had been no introduction of a transfer student. There were no murmurs about the foreign girl. They treated her as if she had always been sitting at that desk since the first day of classes.
The brown-haired boy slowly turned his head toward the only logical culprit behind such madness.
Kaiju was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed and wearing an expression of absolute laziness, calmly chewing gum. Seeing Issei's look of panic and confusion, the scarred young man simply tilted his head.
Issei ran toward Kaiju's desk and leaned over it, lowering his voice into a hysterical whisper.
"Kaiju! What the hell does this mean?! How is she here?! And why is everyone acting as if they've known her for months?! Asia almost exposed herself three times in less than a minute with her prayers!"
Kaiju let out a slight sigh, popping a bubble of gum with a snap.
"The 'new mysterious transfer student' trope attracts too much unwanted attention, Issei. Sylvie and I already went through that, and the Student Council almost put a surveillance beacon on us," Kaiju explained in his usual monotonous tone. "I wasn't going to let Asia go through that interrogation."
"But that doesn't explain why everyone remembers her!" Issei hissed, on the verge of collapse.
Kaiju stared at him. For a fraction of a second, the teenager's brown eye was replaced by a flash of pure, absolute Gold, the color of conceptual and mental manipulation.
"Last night, I simply overwrote the short- and long-term memory of every student, teacher, and administrative staff member of the academy, adjusting the digital and physical prefecture records in the process," Kaiju said, shrugging as if he were talking about changing the TV channel. "To the world, Asia Argento has always lived with us and has always studied at Kuoh. A little quantum-level mass brainwashing. Nothing out of this world."
Issei went speechless. He felt his knees weaken.
He had seen Kaiju destroy matter, fly, and fire beams of light that split the sky. But this... this was different. Altering the minds of thousands of people simultaneously, rewriting the history and memory of an entire city without the slightest effort... that was not the power of a warrior. It was the power of an absolute God.
Issei swallowed, looking at Kaiju with primitive terror and even greater devotion.
"You're... you're terrifying, Master," the brown-haired boy whispered, trembling.
"And you're an idiot drawing way too much attention," Kaiju replied coldly, pointing toward the door. "Sit down already. And if Rias Gremory asks about the nun... you know nothing. Act normal."
Issei nodded frantically, walking toward his seat like a robot on the verge of malfunctioning. As he watched Asia sweat cold while trying to explain to a classmate what a "rosary" was, the brown-haired boy understood that Kuoh's demonic factions had no idea of the true monster walking through their hallways.
...
The atmosphere in the Student Council room was so dense it could have suffocated an ordinary human.
Sona Sitri, usually the absolute embodiment of composure and reason, typed frantically on her laptop. Her violet eyes moved from side to side behind the lenses of her glasses, scanning line after line of code, databases, and encrypted government files.
A few steps from her desk, Rias Gremory paced from one end of the room to the other, biting the nail of her thumb with an anxiety she rarely showed. Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko remained silent near the windows, while Genshirou Saji swallowed, infected by the silent panic of his superiors.
"Tell me you found an error, Sona," Rias demanded, stopping her pacing abruptly. "A code failure, a residual magical signature, an illusion seal... anything."
Sona stopped her fingers over the keyboard. The slight tremor in her hands was imperceptible to anyone who had not known her all her life, but Rias noticed it. Sona closed her eyes and let out a sigh that sounded more like absolute surrender.
"Nothing. Zero. Absolutely nothing, Rias," Sona answered, turning the computer monitor so the Gremory heiress could see the screen. "I checked Kuoh Academy's internal server. I checked the physical files in the principal's office. I even infiltrated the Japanese government's Ministry of Education database."
Rias approached and read the file on the screen. Her face went pale.
There it was. A perfect photograph of Asia Argento, wearing the school uniform, smiling shyly at the camera.
"'Asia Argento. Transfer student. Lives under the guardianship of the Hano siblings, Kaiju and Sylvie. Perfect attendance record since the beginning of the semester. Average grades. Blood type, vaccines, dental records...'" Sona listed, rubbing her temples. "Everything is perfect. According to the human and digital world, that nun has been studying with us for months."
At that moment, the room's doors opened. Tsubaki Shinra entered with a clipboard in hand. Her usual serene expression was stained by genuine disturbance.
"President," Tsubaki reported, giving a slight bow. "I finished the survey with the students and faculty. It was... terrifying."
"Speak, Tsubaki," Sona ordered.
"I subtly questioned more than forty second-year students, the math teacher, and the homeroom teacher," Tsubaki explained, consulting her notes. "They all remember her. The teacher complained that Asia always forgets algebra formulas. The girls from the gardening committee talk about how she always helps them water the flowers during breaks. They have specific memories, anecdotes, emotions tied to her. For every human being in this building, Asia Argento is a lifelong classmate."
Kiba Yuto took a step forward, eyes wide.
"That's impossible. We saw her last night. She was in that destroyed house, terrified and surrounded by Fallen Angels. Rias-senpai, you yourself told Issei we couldn't take her with us because of the laws of the factions."
"I know, Kiba. I remember it perfectly," Rias clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. "And from what I can see, we devils are the only ones who retain our memories intact."
Akeno Himejima lost her characteristic playful smile. She crossed her arms and looked down at the floor, processing the scale of the power they were facing.
"Altering the memories of a couple of humans is high-class mental manipulation magic," Akeno analyzed in a solemn voice. "But rewriting the long-term memory of hundreds of people simultaneously, creating shared stories that do not collapse into each other, and also altering physical matter and government digital servers in a single night..."
"That is not magic, Akeno," Sona interrupted, her voice cold as ice. "That is rewriting reality itself. It is conceptual manipulation on a divine scale."
The Student Council room sank into overwhelming silence.
The implications of what they had just discovered were infinitely worse than the golden dragon or the blue beam of light. Kaiju Hano was not simply a "Ghost" with tremendous brute force. He was not a martial artist who used Ki, nor a monster who hit hard. He was an entity capable of altering the fabric of the world without emitting a single drop of detectable mana.
Sona removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Rias... if he could do this to an entire school and a national database simply to enroll a nun without drawing attention..." Sona lifted her gaze, her violet eyes reflecting pure and calculating terror. "What would stop him from rewriting reality to erase our peerages from existence if we anger him? He could make it so no one in the Underworld remembers that the Sitri and Gremory heiresses ever existed."
Rias felt a knot in her stomach. The idea of disappearing, not only physically, but from the memory of her brother Sirzechs, her parents, and her own peerage, was a horror that surpassed death.
"Issei was right..." Rias murmured, leaning against Sona's desk. "Kaiju stayed behind last night. He took Asia from the claws of the Fallen Angels, disintegrated the threat, adopted her into his own home, and today built her a new life as if it were nothing."
Koneko, from her corner, unwrapped a sweet with mechanical movements. "We're at his mercy. If we breathe in the wrong direction, he erases us."
"Covert surveillance operation... canceled," Sona ruled in a tone of absolute and total tactical surrender. "Recall every familiar. Kiba, Akeno, Tsubaki... no one is to approach him, Sylvie, or Asia with hostile or espionage intentions. If we cross paths with him in the hallway, we will greet him like a normal student."
Rias slowly nodded, agreeing with her rival and friend. Her high-class devil pride had been completely crushed under the weight of basic survival.
"Tell Issei to maintain his façade. He is our only 'safe' line of contact with him," Rias ordered, looking through the window toward the courtyard, where students walked normally, unaware of the god walking among them. "Kaiju Hano dictates the rules in this city now. And we... can only pray not to be on his list of enemies."