They were standing outside while the moon was up in the sky, bright and glowing. The time was coming close to midnight already, and Serafall was just about ready to leave the home. Issei was the only person watching her off, and as she prepared to leave the Hyoudou household, she tapped her back. She turned around, to see Issei hold a sheet of paper between her hands. It read, " Can you be my big sister, too? " in cute little English.
Of course, it wasn't something that Issei wanted to show consciously. A good part of the motivation came from Nobunaga who saw the opportunity for them to get a bit closer, listening in to their conversation and thinking to herself that Issei needed someone else to take the reins from time to time. Although one could say that she was forced to do it, Nobunaga just goaded the feelings she felt deep inside of her heart to arise, so one could say this was exactly what she wanted. It didn't reflect as much in her face, though, a deep blush covering her entire face as she shivered, but any amount of embarrassment flew away the moment a hand patted on her hat, rubbing the hair underneath.
The action smudged the base just enough to cave it in slightly, and very quickly she held the hat on her hands to fix it, dropping the piece of paper. The piece of paper was caught by Serafall, who, despite her best efforts, Issei was unable to catch. Pushing Issei away at arm's length with one hand and using levitation magic to keep it in place, she wrote something down on the empty side of the piece of paper. Nodding once to herself, she released the grip to let Issei trip on herself, caught her then handed the piece of paper to her.
Picking herself up, she gave Serafall a quick glare at her smug face, then looked at the scrap of paper on her hand. Flipping it over, she saw what was written. " I can do just that, little sis! " She turned her gaze upwards, and watched as Serafall teleported away, her hands waving Issei away. Issei followed after, doing her best to wave her hand as rapidly as possible in order to show her gratitude just before she would be gone for the foreseeable future. The silly look on her face after that was more than enough for her to be satisfied.
Midnight was just about to approach when she began to feel sleepy, but it wasn't out of tiredness or fear for the future, but because she was trying her hardest to do something really cool. Issei saw in a lot of anime and manga that the main character materialized their battle clothing out of nowhere. She asked for Nobunaga's help in the matter, so she sat down on her bed with her uniform, hat, and sword on the other end of the room. She was ready to recreate that awesome sword wielding move she did the day before, only enhanced this time around by making it the whole set.
Just as she was about to make some progress with her hat, however, she fell asleep instantly, limping down into a mess on the floor. She fell to the floor unconscious, already in a deep sleep, the stresses of the day already the least of her problems. This was responded to with exasperation by Nobunaga, who didn't expect her to be that tired at the time. Thinking back on it, however, it was kind of her fault for doing the stress training late at night, when she was very tired and her eyes shut closed. She could vouch for the last one happening a lot herself, if an old narcoleptic gyaru friend of hers was any indication.
Stifling a yawn, she wondered to herself if she could kill a home invader with her sheer presence this time around. That would be a pleasant surprise if it was true.
Hyoudou Issei practiced in the big empty clearing where she first met Serafall Leviathan. She fashioned some training dummies by gathering up some grass and sticks that she found scattered all around the forest. Aiming at one of the dummies with her gun, she fired, annihilating most of the poor strawman in an instant.
She was getting used to the thought of being Nobunaga's successor now, and the thought of being a superpowered being who could hard counter other supernatural beings made her feel very special. It wasn't as if she had totally moved on from it now, but Nobunaga was right. She had to get used to the thought of her life changing forever from that moment forward, because if she didn't, what would her life be but pointless?
It wasn't something she was proud of having to do, honestly, casting away most of her former life for good, but there were no alternatives. When she woke up that morning feeling very detached and hungover, her depression settled in once more when she realized the discrepancies, and all she did was pull her knees close to her face and sat down on the bed in a fetal position, not quite crying but very obviously angsty. It was enough for Nobunaga to pitch once more, and she was actually furious at her for once. She could still remember what she told her that time…
"What the hell are you doing!? You're just sitting down, acting like the world was going to end and you couldn't do anything about it. Well, let me tell you something, Hyoudou Issei, but it isn't! You still have your destiny grasped by your hands, you can still have a future! I know life is going to be very different from this point forward, but that doesn't mean you should just give up, right? Give me an answer!"
Issei didn't have one to begin with, but she already knew what it was. The image of Nobunaga standing before her was material enough for her to just turn away from her problems, by twisting her to face the window. Before said image attempted to pull her away, she nodded, to make it quite clear to Nobunaga that she was actually listening.
Nobunaga sighed, disappointment stretched thin from her voice. "Issei… I want to help you. I've tried to help you multiple times for the past few days and you always pulled through… What makes this particular day different? Was it because you were given the chance to change your mind again? Did you—oh forget it." She lifted her head to face the ceiling, eyes closed and contemplating her options. She continued.
"Issei… I'll make this quite clear… You're my retainer. My friend. One of the people I trust enough to give my life for, and that's how much I trust you so far to give my life for you. I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore for something you had absolutely no control over… okay?" Issei nodded. "Okay."
Nobunaga willed herself to control her host once more, and Issei's body picked up, walking to the closet and changing into Nobunaga's military wear. Before Issei could protest, Nobunaga's voice piped in. "I need you to go to the clearing that Serafall friend of yours met you in, and I'll be able to teach you most of what you need to know. I won't be able to teach you everything I know in just a day, so only a good part of it would suffice. You can vent your frustrations there and I think I could finally teach you a thing or two about my body. Is that a deal?" The loosening of her body muscles was enough response for her to understand that she agreed with the terms. "Good."
They walked to the window and jumped out, doing their best to avoid any onlookers. The first call was to teach her a thing or two about basic combat. Namely, her sword and guns. Landing on a pile, Nobunaga ordered Issei to build a few dozen training dummies for her to play with as basic menial training, a warm up exercise, and the basics for her training. Upon being given direct control of her body after being given her instructions, she had to make sure she didn't accidentally fall into a pile of dog shit on the ground below her. Sighing, she looked at the surprisingly thick patches of grass on the field that she could work with, and groaned upon thinking about the work that needed to be done.
She prepared to fire another salvo and end its short life once and for all, but paused. She could sense someone, and if she wasn't mistaken, she also heard a very screechy voice coming from behind her. It was calling for her, saying her name somehow? Putting her gun down, she looked behind to look at the uninvited guest. She recognized that black hair and demeanor everywhere, it had to be Serafall! But when the light started shining on her silhouette, she put her hand down before she could accidentally misname someone who clearly wasn't the person they were referring to.
First thing on the line, her age. She looked much younger than Serafall despite having most of the general physique. Another, she was much shorter than her, almost looking like a loli mini-Serafall if she felt like calling their physical resemblances into attention. And lastly, she wasn't wearing that ridiculous looking magical girl outfit that Serafall was wearing just a day ago, noting mentally that she would probably be the kind of person to possess multiple copies of their favored attire just because. As it happens, she was wearing the girl's elementary school uniform of Kuoh Academy.
Clearly, this was someone related to Serafall, but what kind of relation was the question in her mind. The little sister she mentioned just yesterday, perhaps? A cousin? Maybe a niece? When she considered her viable options, the possibility of the seemingly younger girl being a clone of sorts to fill in her duties was actually considered seriously, although her mind soberly took down all of the fantastic elements that filled in her imagination, to consider only the first option as the viable options.
But she still didn't know who exactly the stranger was to Serafall, or what her purpose seeking her out was. The guns disappeared when the guest raised her hands in surrender, showing clearly that she wasn't seeking to be a threat. She asked her, "Who are you?" The stranger smirked, which wasn't a good sign.
The stranger raised her arm to the sky and a wand that looked very similar to Serafall's appeared on her hand. She crossed her arms and began to float 4 inches above the ground as baby blue light rays covered her every being like ribbons, before it all converged into one big ball of blue. A very elaborate magical girl transformation sequence actually happened inside of it, like her clothes morphing into the sailor outfit and making her somehow look a good deal more frilly, but Issei didn't see shit because everything important happened inside of that big ball.
The transformation over, and the ball slowly disappeared, dropping the girl inside of it. She landed on her two feet, and on Issei's end her appearance could finally be described. It was basically a mini version of Serafall's own magical girl costume, except blue and surprisingly frillier. She stood up, and gave her own rendition of a "Give me your hearts!" pose.
The absurdity of the situation gave Isse pause, as she was already in a pretty sour mood and the eccentric stranger's appearance threw her off. Just as she was about to respond, she was cut off, and the magical girl "humph"ed at her, with a typical tsundere behavior. The stranger opened her mouth. "Good question, young citizen! I am the vengeance that seeps through the night, I AM the night!—or was it something like that I'm not so sure—er, um. *cough*"
The newly minted magical girl crouched down to take a moment to do some magic tricks behind her back, and if what she was seeing was correct, it was a bunch of flashing lights. Seemingly, not every magical girl had the high budget to make things appear so fantastical. She had apparently just realized that Issei was looking at her, and very swiftly waved her away as if to tell her to pretend that she wasn't adjusting her performance.
She stood up once more, and continued as if nothing had happened. To Issei's credit, she just chose to not remark on it. It wasn't worth it.
"I, am Sona Sitri, magical girl in training under my elder sister, Magical Levia-tan! And you, Hyoudou Issei are… Wait… wait, no—!" Sona waved her wand to emphasize the effect just after saying her sister's name. Although the sparklers activated, they set off in the wrong direction. In fact, it sparked just below her, with just enough firepower to launch her a few meters away just before where Issei was standing.
Issei watched it all happen stoically, not having a particular emotion to show. She was actually pretty disappointed by what had just happened. Walking forwards, she picked up a stick on the floor then crouched down, poking the unconscious Sitri sister with it in a half-assed effort to wake her up.