They all sat down together on the dinner table, sans Issei and Serafall, her mother setting down plates for both the ragged girl and her companion. Issei went up the stairs in order to swap over to something that seemed a bit more appropriate, as well as dumping her now ruined school uniform for her mother to either scrap or mend. She did leave the letter but chose to let Serafall explain it once she went back down. Which wouldn't take too long, honestly, but a minute was plenty enough time for a brief interaction.
Serafall didn't necessarily want any food served for her, but both Issei and her mother insisted that she at least accept their hospitality. Sitting down alone without Issei was pressure enough that she shrunk a little bit to herself when seeing the blank stares of her friend's parents. She sipped a little bit of the fruit juice from her cup, and spread her legs a bit more, in an effort to feel a bit more at home. It didn't do that much, but it was a good effort.
She already knew that they both knew that there were ghosts and goblins out there running about if their indifference towards the girl's metamorphosis was any indication, so at the very least she didn't need to explain all that much. The most she could do then was telling much of the same stuff that she lectured Issei about the previous day at the park, and the warnings that she would probably tack in so that they didn't do anything that would risk any of their lives, God (ouch) forbid.
A few more seconds in, and the father decided to break the silence. Hyoudou Gorou, patriarch, considered the possible relevance of the girl's position in the supernatural world, or magical girl team, and thought to ask her something basic to begin with. Tapping on the table to call both his wife and the stranger's attention, he asked.
"How did you and Issei meet, anyway?" This, at the very least, didn't need reason to explain the motives. The concern was well appreciated from the responding party, who considered it briefly.
Ah, Serafall thought to herself, this I can answer. Taking a moment to think up some way to explain it as briefly as possible, she explained. "I found your daughter when she was poking on a monster's corpse in the park. I befriended her, gave her a few tips about life on the otherside of the world, and let her be. The only reason I was able to meet with her again today was because she managed to trip the wards that I left behind in that clearing, which was a good call because otherwise she would have been in much worse shape than she is now."
Putting a finger to her lips, she added inquisitively. "And before you ask, I already knew that Issei-kun used to be a guy. I found out myself when I thought about her posture and overall behavior, but yesterday I just thought she was a very rebellious and tomboyish type of girl. Kind of like me when I was around that age." A light chuckle escaped her mouth, and she went back to staring at her so far uneaten plate. Father nodded, satisfied with her answer.
The silence stayed for a while longer, a few minutes to be exact, up until the sound of steps tapping on the stairs was heard. Walking down them and seen by all was Hyoudou Issei, freshly bathed and in a new change of clothes. She was holding onto two things, the blade inherited from Oda Nobunaga, and the hat she had also grown attached to. She set the sword on a nearby desk, put the hat on, and sat down on the chair opposite her parents and next to her senior, and nodded them down.
By this point, they've already understood the stakes. There was no real need to extend their explanation any more than what they absolutely needed to know. Serafall did her best to run down all of the basics of the supernatural for them, the factions, the monsters, just about the basic idea. The thought of the possibility of another house invader coming into their rather defenseless home scared them both, but they had some precautions prepared.
At the very least, anyone gutsy enough to attempt to attack their home after the thorough ass kicking delivered to the first idiotic stray devil probably deserved to die anyway. The real problem came to the parents, who had neither the physical ability to suplex a demon, choke them to death, rip their limbs off, suffocate them, poke them with a particularly pointy-but-technically-blunt stick… You get the idea.
But, considering that they were well within the territory of devils, it wouldn't have taken long to just plant a few wards for any prospective home invaders to trip on. This was a simple enough spell that it didn't take long for Issei to learn from Serafall, who magicked a spell book from out of nowhere and taught her what to do. And so, she pointed out places that they would be most effective in and gave her the instructions to let her know when or how they were tripped. At the very least, neither of them wanted any more demonic energies that could potentially attract exorcists or particularly idiotic stray devils into the home anyway, which was why Serafall chose not to do it herself.
Breathing deeply, Issei stood up and stretched herself, finally done with the last ward that she planted near to the gate. She walked inside to the kitchen, and heard them talk about her potential transfer to Kuoh Academy, a school that wouldn't have come up in either of her parents' minds until the very convenient timing of the talks of its eventual transformation to a co-ed school. The explanation that Serafall had connections inside of the school that would allow Issei to essentially enter it in a completely blank slate with only the most minute of connections to her former school was enough to alleviate most of their concerns.
The calm mood dipped slightly when they brought up the question of the practicality of simply letting her dress up as a boy for school purposes anyway. They might have done just that the entire day, but the simple fact was that allowing Issei to enter school as she was in a school that just barely became coed and still had an overwhelming population of girls was risky to say the least, so even if the families in charge of the school had enough of an iron grip to quell the more creative of rumors, there would still be a massive risk of something leaking out. The fact that Issei was a female through and through though, would still be noticed by most of the girls, and some things would still come up no matter how much they try to hide them.
The question came up once more. Should they still go ahead with it? The fact was they still needed Issei's input towards the final decision as it concerned her entirely. No matter how practical of a decision simply teaching her life as a girl from that point forwards, it didn't really feel right to make such an important choice for her. Because she was leaning on the side while watching it happen before her eyes, Serafall noticed her and called for her to come over, but before she knew it, she ran away.
She didn't run that far, to be honest, just a little bit into the middle of the road outside their house, but it was still quick enough to catch both of them off guard. Although her mother vouched to come over instead, Serafall ran much faster than either of the parents, who just barely exited the house as she would already be in the middle of the street patting Issei's back. She tried to call for her attention, but from what she could tell, it was as if she wasn't there at all.
Unsatisfied, Serafall kneeled down and held the younger girl's face between her hands to Issei's shock and irritation. She examined Issei's face, the bruises having already been cleaned and healed for the most part, leaving only a few scabs, and decided that at that moment what she needed the most was a hug. Which was true enough, and so she embraced her at that very instant, giving her a much-needed place to lean on since her mother was already inside the home. She rubbed the girl's back to make her relax, and whispered comforting words to her ear.
"It's going to be okay, Issei. I'm right here with you." Looking to the side, Issei didn't necessarily respond, and was actually a little miffed because of the continuous stream of sappy hug scenes for the last few days, but at the very least she appreciated the sentiment. She probably wouldn't have been capable of handling the strain on her heart if they didn't happen so constantly, anyway. They stayed put for a few moments, and a heavy load on her shoulders felt like they simply floated away at that point in time.
Issei knew what she was preparing to ask, the question that eluded her despite getting used to the idea herself. She made up her mind, sure, but something inside told her that going ahead with either would never have satisfied her at the end of the day. She knew deep inside that she was still the same Hyoudou Issei, but Nobunaga's influence told her that she was a girl just as much. Those mixed feelings brought a sardonic chuckle to her lips, and gave her the courage to finally speak.
"You know I… I don't really know if this was going to be the best decision to begin with but… Something's telling me to go ahead with dressing up in the boy's uniform whenever I need to, then living life as either if I ever need to, then maybe just tell everyone a-at school the truth if I feel ready…" She gulped, then breathed in heavily. "I mean… It isn't much but then I could live life as I have for most of my life then swap over to the other side if I felt more in touch with myself… I don't know…" She sighed.
"Basically, I'm just trying to figure out a solution myself. None of them make a lick of sense, but I'm trying to find a way. Either way." Looking expectantly to Serafall who had stopped hugging her, began sitting down on the concrete and had her hand on her face with a deep look. And nodded.
"I guess that could work out. Once you decide on 'coming out'," She shuddered at the unfortunate wording, then continued. "I'll make your intentions clear as the day when you do, and make sure that no one tries anything funny, okay? You'll be fine, you can still play boy for as long as you want or need, but just give me a call if you need me for that or anything else." She nods. "Okay?"
They come back inside for them to finish the last pieces of paperwork before they could go ahead with enrollment, and Issei would be ready to go. A few dates were listed down to get the uniforms going from Elementary through College, both sexes, just in case. The designs were to be preliminary, and fitted as time went on. Most of the payments would be covered by Serafall and her family, one part her own generosity, the other mostly satisfied at gaining a potentially powerful ally as a result. They understood that much, and pretty much left it at that.
With the fallout of the sudden passing out of the entire school body who had been left behind after classes bringing most of the city going into panic, it was necessary for them to suspend classes for at the very least a week, which was more than enough time to transfer to schools and get used to her body. It would be depressing for Issei to need to essentially abandon her original lifestyle just to keep up the masquerade, but as much as she wanted to stay, it would be too unrealistic to believe that everyone would believe her ruse this time around. They had neither the connections or cunning to let her do it at first anyway, and the only reason she got away with dressing up in the boy's uniform and act as if nothing has changed was a stroke of luck that brought an assassin Fallen Angel so conveniently weaving a mind control spell to the entire school. Someone who had aimed to cut her head when no one would care or see the action.
It was either take the risk again and fail, take the risk but change their memories to think that she always looked like that (something that angered her sense of honour), or just up and leave for another school. The option always came up to their minds, but they wanted to avoid anything that could potentially damage the average joe's mind as it was. So, once more, they went with the last option. At the very least, they had more than enough time to acclimate to the new surroundings, and with the next few days they would capable of touring around the school, train her synchronization with Nobunaga a bit more, and if Serafall were correct, meet a certain someone that she needed to meet. For the future, she'll be very important to her interests at school at least.