A common negotiation tactic Kousei saw in modern media was to high-ball what you want, and the opponent would meet you in the middle. Basically, you ask for the stars and settle for the moon, knowing you only really wanted a cloud.
"Sure."
'So why the fuck did Rias Gremory just agree without even a little pushback?!'
He waited for the 'but'. A conditional clause, something reminiscent of that classic demonic cunning. But… she just looked at him, expectantly, as if waiting for him to continue speaking.
"You…" he trailed off, absolutely lost. "You're fuckin' with me?"
Now she looked confused, a pout on her lips. "No? You got hurt because of my oversight. It's the least I can do." She tilted her head. "Is it not enough, maybe? I can give you access to it maybe tomorrow, if that helps?"
Kousei's mind short-circuited.
He'd asked for ten million yen in a private, secure account under his name. Something only he could access, or at least, something they wouldn't be able to take back. And just for shits and giggles, he added that he wanted an expensive, paid-off apartment, away from his shitty father.
And she just… agreed.
'How loaded are they? I mean, it sort of makes sense since they're literally a several-hundred year old noble family, but… damn.'
He took a slow breath, forcing the dollar signs (yen signs?) out of his eyes.
If money wasn't an object for them, then maybe he should ask for something a bit more useful in a different way.
He willed his voice back to neutrality. "The money is… fine," he managed. "But I have another request."
Rias' confusion melted, and she simply gave a small smile. "Go on."
"You said you reincarnate humans. That you have a whole… Peerage system," he said carefully. "That means that as a species, you must be constantly bringing in people who know nothing about the supernatural, much less your own society. It must get tedious explaining everything from scratch every single time."
She lifted a finger to her chin. "I suppose it would be. But I haven't really needed to do that… much."
"Exactly. So someone must've gotten sick of it," he pressed. "And I'm sure someone thought, 'I could monetize this,' at some point," he said with a nod. "Therefore, there must be some book like that. An 'intro to the supernatural' type of thing. So I'm not like that one character in anime who has to have literally everything explained to him for the audience's sake."
Rias giggled. "I know exactly the trope you mean." She tapped her chin, thinking. "A book like that does exist, I think. 'A Civilian's Guide to the Unseen World', or something like that. It's… quite biased, if I'm being honest. Very pro-Devil. Almost too much."
He shrugged. "That's fine. I can read between the lines. Just… throw in a book about all the different species in the world too. Like Angels, Fallen, Devils, and whatever else is out there."
Smiling, she nodded. "Great! Consider it done."
Then she just… stared at him. A pleasant, expectant smile on her face.
He stared back. The silence stretched. Slowly, he raised an eyebrow.
Rias blinked. "Oh! Right!" she said, as if just remembering the conversation they literally just finished. "I'll just go and, uh… get those… for you."
She coughed awkwardly.
With a soft pop of displaced air and a shimmer of crimson light, she vanished from behind her desk, leaving Kousei alone in the opulent, candlelit room.
He stared at the empty space where she'd been, the faint scent of roses lingering.
"That girl ain't right…" he muttered to the empty room.
-=[DxD]=-
Finally.
He hadn't seen his girlfriend since their frantic lunchtime whispers, and he was definitely missing his girl. He needed to recharge his Aika batteries, pronto.
Though to be honest, it was mostly the need to talk about what just happened that was bubbling within him.
And with the toll of the final bell of the day, he was finally free.
He'd barely taken three steps toward the school gate when a warm weight latched onto his arm, enveloping him in softness.
"So?" Aika's voice was a low, urgent murmur as she fell into step beside him. "What happened? She didn't do anything bad to you, right?"
He let out a breath as they walked, the tension in his shoulders easing a fraction. "It went… fine," he said.
Understatement of the century.
"Fine?" she echoed, pinching his bicep. "First contact with other supernatural people and it went… fine?"
"Better than fine, if I'm honest," Kousei said as they crossed the street. "It was more a check-in than her actually wanting anything from me. And to explain a few things about the supernatural."
Aika slowly looked up at him. "...That's it?"
"Right? That's what I thought, at first," Kousei agreed with a nod. "But then she let it slip that it was actually their job to make sure monsters like that don't hurt anyone. And since she fucked up her job, I asked for compensation."
She frowned at Rias' failure, almost getting him killed, but then perked up at 'compensation'.
"Oh?" She squeezed his arm. "Like money, right? How much?"
"I got two books about the supernatural." He paused for dramatic effect, smirking at her immediate frown. "And you know, an apartment. All to myself. With a private bank account. And a decent chunk of change on it. No biggie."
Aika stopped dead, pulling him to a halt. He watched her brain visibly churn. "You're messing with me."
"Nope." Kousei grinned sharply.
Aika's mouth hung open. She closed it with a snap. "That… I mean… But you… Did you just join a cult, or something?!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "Who is she?"
They started walking again, her grip on his arm tighter now. "Apparently she isn't the actual demon Gremory. But she is his descendant, so her family is loaded beyond compare."
Aika blinked. "No clue who that is."
Now it was Kousei's turn to stop. He looked down at her, genuinely surprised. "Wait, huh? But… I thought that's why you nodded back at lunch. You connected the name 'Gremory' to the supernatural, right?"
Aika's expression melted into something fond and exasperated. She reached up, cupping his face in one hand. "Oh, bless your heart, you lovable idiot."
He scowled, a faint blush building. "What? What'd I miss?"
She shook her head, thumb stroking his cheek. "Kousei, I love you. Sincerely, I do. But you are about as plugged into the school social scene as a rock. Yet the moment you get into your first supernatural scuffle, the single most popular, richest, most mysterious girl in school – who just so happens to run the Occult Research Club – personally summons you the very next day?" She let go of his face to pat his chest. "Honestly, a toddler could've connected those dots…"
He stared at her for a long moment, then let out a sharp, snorted laugh, shaking his head.
"Whatever," he grumbled. He slung the arm she'd released around her, pulling her close as they resumed walking. "Point is, she's a Devil. And also genuine nobility. Apparently Devils nowadays are more of an endangered aristocracy, I think? I'm not really buying that, but she didn't seem evil, at least."
Aika hummed, absorbing that thought as she nestled into his side, seemingly content to let the conversation lapse.
The late afternoon sun was warm, the walk was quiet, and today…
Unlike yesterday, today simply felt peaceful.
-=[DxD]=-
Instead of going straight home, they'd decided to spend a while simply sitting on an empty bench in the park a few blocks from school.
Aika leaned against him, their hands linked on his thigh.
They had spent the entire walk either quietly enjoying each other's company, or making stupid jokes and simply talking.
It was… nice.
"So… what's the plan?"
Kousei stared ahead at a cluster of pigeons pecking at the pavement. "In general, you mean?"
She nodded against his shoulder.
He shrugged. "Same as before, I guess. Get stronger. That Stray Devil was apparently only a Low-Class being. No clue how weak that makes us, but Rias herself was High-Class." He squeezed her hand. "We don't even scale on the totem pole. Just ants on the dirt below."
Aika was quiet for a moment. "I think… that's a good thing."
He pulled back slightly to look down at her, brow furrowed. "Why the hell would that be a good thing?"
She didn't meet his eyes, instead watching the pigeons. "How many ants have you walked past in the last hour, Kousei?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
"Exactly," she said softly, finally turning to look up at him. "God is god. Dragons are dragons. Devils and angels are a world away from us. Literally, at times." She gestured vaguely towards the sky. "We're just… down here. Just people with a smidgeon of power. Beings with that much power at their fingertips will probably just let us live our lives, undisturbed. We're not worth the effort to step on."
Kousei's jaw tightened. It was a comforting thought. But it also felt like surrender. "…Or they'll wipe the board clean without a second thought. Not out of malice, but… just because they can."
Aika's gaze didn't waver. "We've lived our entire lives until yesterday without ever seeing a monster. The only reason it's here now is because you went looking for it. If you'd stayed mundane, would it have still attacked you?"
'Yes. Maybe.' He wanted to blurt out, but instead he bit his lip, the protest dying in his throat.
Because for the most part… she was right. The chances of a monster attacking a mundane weren't zero, but it was far more likely that they would never encounter one at all. It was only because he was flashing his life energy around that it finally took notice.
He couldn't refute her, but he couldn't accept the passive life she was describing either.
"What, then?" he asked, voice rough.
She hummed in question.
"I'm saying…" He licked his lips, looking into her eyes. "What do you think we should do? Just stop getting stronger? Put the magic up and get a real job?" He snarked.
Aika snorted, her thumb stroking the back of his hand. "You're thinking too linearly. Yes, we'll need enough strength so we don't get splattered by the next random mook like that stray. But do we really need to aim for the top, Kousei?" She shook her head. "That's just… a foolish ambition. One where you'll never feel satisfied, always looking for the next limit to break. Strength is good, Kousei, but too much of it and we'll always be a target. An ambition like that… the only time you'd ever feel safe is when you reach omnipotence."
He didn't reply, the silence stretching between them.
Eventually, he muttered, "I just… I just hate being weak, Aika."
They both knew it was about as childish a statement as could be, without a single shred of thought behind it. But it was the truth. The raw truth of how he felt.
She didn't mock him or call him out, she simply let the words hang in the air.
Then she asked quietly, "If you had all the power in the world. If you were the strongest person alive, with no one even close… what would you do?"
His lips thinned. "What would you do?"
She answered without hesitation. "I'd make a home. A safe place, away from all the bullshit in the world. Somewhere we can be as weird and genuine as we want, with no one around to judge us. Maybe I'd have kids. Maybe I'd get a job that doesn't crush my spirit, something that leaves me with enough energy for the things that actually matter to me."
"Like what?"
"You," she said instantly. "My hobbies. Any friends I cared to bring along."
Kousei slowly smiled. It was a simple dream. The sort of ambition that could survive any world or circumstance.
But it wasn't bad. Not at all.
"So?" she prompted. "Your turn."
His smile dimmed as he looked inward. What would he do with that kind of power? The image in his mind slowly formed… and it surprisingly wasn't anything to do with ruling, destroying, adventuring or fighting.
It was… a quieter image, born from two lifetimes of helplessness.
"...I'd write a book, I think," he said finally.
Aika blinked. "A book?"
He shrugged. "Or maybe open a school. I'm not sure, exactly, but…" He took a deep breath, the truth spilling out. "All my life, I've felt… helpless."
His death in his first life was traumatizing. He was unable to do a damn thing about the virus rampaging through his body. The only thing he could do was wear a big grin, bear with it, and hope to come out the other end.
Hope didn't matter in the face of reality, though.
And even this one wasn't much better.
"I couldn't do a damn thing about my dad. And a whole bunch of other small things that just make me feel… powerless. Time and time again, life has shown me that my input doesn't matter. That the outcome's already written, and destiny doesn't give a shit about me."
He looked down at their joined hands, grip tightening. "But then I found magic. The literal impossible. The thing everyone told me couldn't exist. And when that stray was about to kill me… I won. I broke the script." His grin widens. "So if I was that strong? Strong enough to do anything? I… would want to share that strength. To teach everything I've learned, and give other people the chance to break their destinies too."
Slowly, he became more enraptured by the idea, a burning in his chest that was far brighter than anything else.
'The flame of ambition…' He quoted internally. 'Is this what a real ambition, not one fueled by spite, feels like?'
He looked up, his blue eyes shining with a new focused light.
"I think… I think I want that, Aika. And I think… maybe we can combine our dreams, somehow?"
Aika's breath caught, looking him in the eyes. He didn't know what she saw when she looked at him, but whatever she did made her smile brighten.
"How so?"
He took both of her hands in his, his voice slowly building up with conviction. "Maybe we can create our own place. A home, like you want. But a place to share knowledge, as well?"
"Like… a human faction?"
He shook his head. "I don't know Rias well, but she's got a good heart. If a literal Devil can be good, why can't anyone else?" He smiled at her. "I see what you were saying now, Aika. Getting stronger for its own sake… for 'safety'… that's just an endless, hollow goal."
Then he gestured between them.
"But this isn't hollow. Our dreams aren't hollow. And I think…" He licked his lips. "I think a place like that would be wonderful. A place where no one ever has to feel as helpless as I did. Where they can learn to stand on their own feet, to gain the strength to fight their own battles. To change their destiny. But also, if they want, they can simply be. To exist in our refuge, safe from whatever wars are raging in the heavens above or hell below."
He met her gaze, the last piece of his ambition clicking into place.
"A neutral faction. A… safe haven."
Aika stared at him, golden eyes wide. Then a slow, radiant smile spread across her face. It was a smile he'd never seen on her before, but one that he immediately fell in love with.
A smile full of wonder, pride, and absolute belief.
She didn't agree. She didn't have to. She just leaned forward and kissed him, soft and certain, sealing the promise in place.
They might be ants for now.
But even ants could build a fortress.