I feel like I'm forgetting something...
It was an ordinary day at Kuoh Academy. Leaves drifted gently from the trees, and the school's prestigious atmosphere was palpable.
There was a separate building at this school, ridiculous as it might sound, and it belonged to a Student Club.
The Occult Research Club, a place that inspired respect and caution.
A young man with gray eyes and white hair walked casually toward it, a shameless smile on his lips. His objective? He had come to deliver some documents on behalf of the Student Council President, Sona Sitri.
When he arrived, he looked at the second-floor window and saw a beautiful redhead with turquoise eyes looking out. She was the famous Rias Gremory.
He had only seen her from afar before and didn't know what was going to happen, but he decided to enter the building. By the time he reached the office, Rias was already at her desk, going through some papers.
The young man handed the documents to Rias without saying a word. She adjusted her hair with an almost ethereal beauty and a devastating charm.
"Thank you..." Rias said without looking at him.
The young man turned around and left, but Rias's eyes lifted and caught sight of his back. She sensed something different, something peculiar about this young man.
"Wait," she said.
"Is something wrong?" Allen asked with a half-smile.
Rias blinked for a moment, surprised at herself. She wasn't entirely sure why she had stopped him. There was something about that young man she couldn't identify: it wasn't a demonic aura, nor a sacred one, nor that of a fallen angel. It was simply... warm. As if his very presence loosened something tense that she hadn't even realized she was carrying inside.
She stood up with the natural elegance of someone raised among nobles, resting one hand on the walnut desk. Her crimson hair fell over her shoulder like a cascade of fire as she tilted her head, studying him with those blue eyes that seemed capable of disarming anyone.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," Rias said with a faint smile, though her eyes continued to examine him with genuine curiosity. "It's just that... I haven't seen you around here before. And I know almost every student at this academy."
"Well, that's what happens when you're transferred. I've only been here for a month," Allen said, his eyes slightly sleepy.
Rias folded her arms beneath her chest and took a couple of steps toward him, stopping at a reasonable distance but close enough to notice that strange sensation again. It was absurd. She had spent years surrounded by powerful beings and had never felt anything like this: a calm that didn't ask for permission.
"I see. I'm Rias Gremory, president of this club." She extended her hand with perfectly measured courtesy, the kind you learned in the demon world before you learned to read. "Sorry if I sound intrusive. It's just that the Occult Research Club doesn't receive many... unexpected visitors."
"Allen Walker." Allen took Rias's hand, and she felt as though a warm current ran through her body.
Akeno, from a corner of the room, had stopped pretending to organize some books. She watched the scene with one eyebrow raised and a barely contained smile, the kind of smile Rias knew all too well and which meant, "This interests me, President."
"H.... If you have a moment," Rias added, withdrawing her hand and ignoring that feeling as she gestured toward the sofa with a friendly motion, "we could have some tea. At least let me thank you for bringing the documents... and satisfy the curiosity of a girl who doesn't usually stop to talk to strangers."
She said it as a joke, but as the words left her mouth, Rias realized that she was being completely sincere. And that, more than anything else, unsettled her slightly.
"Huh? Well, I feel a little bad receiving so much courtesy just for bringing some documents as punishment for sleeping in class, but sure," Allen said shamelessly.
Rias let out a brief, genuine laugh, covering her mouth with her hand in a gesture she couldn't help. That direct comment, without pretenses or rehearsed compliments, was refreshing. Most men who approached her did so carefully, measuring every word, trying to impress her or curry favor with the Gremory heiress. This guy had just admitted without the slightest shame that he had slept in class and that it was the only reason he had come.
"Well, at least you're honest," Rias said, lowering her hand and returning his smile with a warmth that surprised Akeno herself. She sat on the sofa with her back straight, crossing her legs with an elegance that seemed as natural as breathing, and gestured toward the seat across from her. "Honesty is a rare commodity around here. Most people who enter this room do so with ulterior motives."
She poured the tea with precise movements from the fine porcelain set she used when she wanted to make an impression. It was a gesture she hadn't planned, an impulse. She gently emptied the teapot and pushed one of the cups toward him across the edge of the coffee table.
"And so, are you the professional napper who brought me Sona's reports?" she asked, resting her chin on her hand and observing him with those blue eyes that seemed capable of hiding more than they revealed. Something was stimulating about the effortless way this boy seemed not to care about everything she represented. "I'm curious to the point of being annoying, so you've been warned."
"Don't worry," Allen chuckled.
From her corner, Akeno closed the book she had been pretending to read and approached with the soft, feline gait of her Queen. She placed a folded napkin in front of him with a slight bow and a fox-like smile.
"Ara ara~, the president doesn't usually invite strangers to have tea," Akeno commented playfully, though her purple eyes were also analyzing the young man with the same restrained curiosity as her mistress. "You must be someone interesting. I'm curious too, you know? Akeno Himejima, nice to meet you."
Rias tilted her head toward her Queen with a look that said, "Do you really have to butt in now?" but there was no venom in it. If Akeno was interested, then the strange feeling she had experienced upon seeing him wasn't hers alone.
"Well, there's a lot to say. I'm still getting used to Kuoh's strict rules. Apparently sleeping is bad, seducing the kitchen lady for an extra serving of pudding is also bad, and wanting to fix a teacher's toupee because it was falling off wasn't just bad; it was considered sacrilege in their culture... Everything is so strict and complicated," Allen sighed.
Rias blinked once. Then twice. And afterward, unable to help herself, she burst into genuine laughter that filled the entire club room. It wasn't the practiced laughter of the Gremory heiress, but that of a seventeen-year-old girl who had just heard something genuinely funny. Akeno, from her corner, raised both eyebrows in obvious surprise: it had been a long time since she had seen her president laugh like that.
"Seducing the kitchen lady for pudding?" Rias repeated, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "Allen, do you have any idea that woman has been working at Kuoh for twenty years and has rejected more suitors than any idol in the country? The fact that she gave you extra pudding says a lot about you."
"What can I say? I'm charming~."
Rias took a sip of her tea to regain her composure and almost spit it out, although the smile never left her face. There was something about the carefree way this boy spoke that completely disarmed the façade she maintained with such care. It was exhausting being the Gremory heiress all the time, and he didn't even seem aware of the weight he was taking off her shoulders.
"But you're right about one thing," she continued, setting the cup down on the table with a soft clink. "Kuoh is strict. Too strict sometimes. I came here myself because I wanted a place where I could be... simply myself, without all the expectations I carried at home."
She stopped, slightly surprised that she had admitted that to a stranger. Akeno glanced at her with that silent intelligence they had shared for years, and Rias knew that her Queen had understood the meaning behind her words.
"I suppose that's why I stopped to talk to you," she added, recovering her smile but with something softer in her gaze. "I had a feeling you were one of those people who don't quite fit the mold. Although the toupee incident really was sacrilege. That man is sacred at this school."
She tilted her head, resting her chin on her intertwined hands, and observed him with a new gleam in her blue eyes.
"And what brought you to Kuoh, Allen? Aside from the pudding, of course."
"Huh? Really, nothing. It's just close to my apartment," Allen said honestly.
Rias raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. In her experience, nobody came to Kuoh "for no reason." Everyone she knew there had come for a reason: to escape something, seek something, or accomplish a goal. She herself had crossed half the demon world just to be able to breathe a little. The fact that this boy had simply appeared because his apartment was nearby was... bewildering. And strangely charming.
"Just because it's close to your apartment?" she repeated, with a crooked smile that hovered between disbelief and amusement. "Allen, you just entered the most prestigious school in the area purely because of rental convenience. That's either the laziest or the most honest thing I've heard in months."
She leaned back against the sofa, crossing her arms in a gesture that would have looked careless on anyone else, but on her still seemed like something straight out of a magazine cover. Akeno, who had finished pretending to organize something, approached to pour more tea and placed a cookie beside Allen's cup with a conspiratorial smile directed at her president.
"Ufufu, I like this one," Akeno murmured enough for it to sound like a shared secret. "He doesn't try to impress us. That's rare."
Rias pretended not to hear her, but a faint blush appeared on her cheeks before she regained her composure. She wasn't going to let her Queen embarrass her in front of a stranger, pleasant as he might be.
"Well, Allen of the real-estate convenience," she said, leaning slightly forward, and this time her voice had a warmer, almost inviting tone. "Since you're here and clearly aren't in a hurry to leave, would you like to stay and see what we do in this club? I can't promise you any pudding, but I can offer you something much more interesting than Kuoh's rules."
She looked at him intently, with those blue eyes that seemed capable of keeping enormous secrets behind a porcelain smile. The curiosity she had felt when he walked in hadn't faded; on the contrary, every carefree word he spoke fanned it a little more.
"That is, if you're not afraid of Kuoh's famous two Onee-sama of the Occult Research Club."
"Two what?" Allen blinked and looked at Akeno, then Rias. "Isn't it embarrassing to call yourselves that?"
Rias opened her mouth, placed a hand over her chest in feigned indignation, and then burst into laughter again, this time with a lighter tone, almost coquettish. That boy's frankness seemed to be peeling away layer after layer of her façade. In two minutes, he had made her laugh more freely than she had all week combined with Sona and the Student Council.
"Embarrassing?" she repeated, tilting her head with a smile curling at one corner of her lips. "Allen, those aren't words we chose ourselves. The students gave us those titles because Akeno and I have... a certain reputation at this academy. One that we maintain with quite a bit of pride, I must admit."
Akeno, who was still standing beside the coffee table, rested a hand against her cheek with a dramatically practiced gesture, but her purple eyes gleamed with genuine amusement.
"Ara, ara, I didn't know you found it embarrassing, President," she said in a honeyed voice, exaggeratedly hurt. "I carry my title with my head held high. Although it would indeed be much less fun if no one reminded us of it."
Rias shot her a look that clearly said, "Could you not help me win an argument for once?" but her smile didn't disappear. She turned her blue eyes back to Allen, resting her chin in the palm of her hand with deliberate slowness.
"And no, it's not embarrassing because it's the plain truth," she said, and this time her voice lowered slightly, with a hint of pride that wasn't entirely feigned. "In here, in this room, I don't need to hide behind my family titles. I'm Rias. Akeno is Akeno. And you, apparently, are the only person at this school who doesn't stand there with your mouth hanging open when you hear our names."
She paused briefly, savoring her tea and her own surprise at how easily she was confiding this in a near stranger.
"That, Allen Walker, I quite like," she concluded, winking at him with a naturalness that surprised even herself. "So if you don't mind staying for a while, you already have a seat reserved in the Occult Research Club. The curious are usually the only ones worth knowing in this world."
"Well, it's a pleasure. If you want me to stand there with my mouth hanging open, we can pretend, take a selfie, or something~" Allen joked. "That way, I can brag to everyone that I hung out with their beloved Onee-sama. It's just to annoy them, and in return, you get to keep your pride intact. What do you say? Am I a genius?"
Rias burst into vibrant laughter, this time without a trace of her usual aristocratic restraint. She placed one hand over her stomach while the other lightly struck the arm of the sofa, captivated by Allen's shamelessness. A genius? No one had ever dared propose such an absurdly cynical and entertaining plan to her at the same time. Akeno, for her part, let out a sound somewhere between a playful moan and a muffled giggle, elegantly covering her lips while her purple eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Oh, Allen! You're definitely a danger to public order in Kuoh," Rias finally said, catching her breath as she wiped away a little tear from the corner of her eye. "A genius of evil, perhaps. If you posted a picture like that, you'd cause a riot in the hallways before lunch. The second-year boys would challenge each other to duels just to find out how you managed to get us to go along with such a ridiculous stunt."
The redhead leaned toward him, slightly invading his personal space with renewed confidence. The scent of roses she carried was intoxicating, but her gaze held a challenging glimmer. There was something about Allen's proximity that made her feel strangely light, as if the heavy chains of her Gremory lineage turned to paper before his gray eyes.
"All right, I accept the deal," she continued, crossing her legs and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "But it won't be free. If we're going to pretend you leave us breathless, you'll have to come to this club more often to entertain us. I'm afraid that after meeting someone as shameless as you, the rest of my duties as an heiress will seem deadly boring. What do you say, Allen Walker? Are you ready to become the center of everyone's envy and perhaps discover that there are things in this club far more shocking than a simple pose for a photo?"
"Coming here often just to annoy the other students? Count me in, Onee-sama. But that last part sounds like an indecent proposal, so I'll have to think about it. I promised to remain pure and chaste until marriage or the end of the month; I don't know which comes first."