"Hey, Uncle Dante. Been a hot minute, huh?"
At the gates of Haneoka Academy, Nero curtsies with a flourish of her skirt, her voice smooth as silk. "Thanks for checking in, and for making the trip to see me. I had no clue you were coming, so I couldn't roll out the red carpet. Hope you'll forgive me."
The sight of the elegant blonde teen facing off with a silver-haired, devil-may-care rogue like Dante draws more than a few curious glances from passersby.
Aine and Lamp, trailing behind Nero, hang back, eyeing the duo like they're sizing up a boss fight.
"Nerolo's uncle… he's got this crazy charisma, but he's not exactly screaming 'old-school aristocrat,' is he?" Aine whispers. And she's right—Dante's vibe is all swagger and charm, the polar opposite of Nero's refined grace.
That's exactly why the Order of the Sword never bothered inviting Dante to Fortuna. His larger-than-life attitude would clash hard with their dour, devout aesthetic. If they admitted the Son of Sparda was this guy, it'd probably shake the faithful to their core.
"No need to go overboard, my little princess," Dante chuckles, his magnetic voice making "my little princess" sound effortlessly cool instead of cheesy.
They're speaking the local language now—Nero had already briefed Dante over the phone, laying out some ground rules to keep him from blowing her cover. So Dante plays along, adding, "I wasn't planning some grand entrance, so I kept it on the down-low. Hope I didn't spook ya."
His gaze shifts past Nero to the two girls lurking behind her. "So, those two back there—your new pals?"
"Yo!" Aine, realizing they've been spotted, drags Lamp forward to face Dante. "I'm Ni—"
Noticing Aine's hesitation, Nero cuts in softly, "Nerolo's fine. Uncle won't mind."
Dante shrugs with a grin. "Yup, I'm not one of those stuffy island geezers. Relax, ladies."
Nero steps up to introduce them. "This is Chihaya Aine, and this is Takamatsume. They're my classmates—and friends."
Aine and Lamp, still a bit starstruck, mumble their names again, heads bowed.
After some small talk at the gate, Nero bids the others goodbye, adjusts her skirt, and slides onto the back of Dante's motorcycle, sitting sideways with her legs together. Haneoka's skirts are a bit too short for this kind of ride.
"Catch ya later!" Dante tosses a flirty wink, revs the engine, and peels out, leaving the school gates behind.
Aine watches the motorcycle roar off, kicking up dust, and blinks in confusion before locking eyes with Lamp.
"Nero and her uncle are, like, worlds apart," she says, shaking her head.
Dante, cruising the bike, keeps it chill to stay within traffic laws—mostly so Nero, clinging to his back with one arm around his waist, doesn't go flying. At a red light, he slows down and glances back. "Alright, kid, time to spill. What's the deal with this city?"
He pauses, then adds, "The demonic vibe here is thick, but everything's business as usual. No signs of demon activity. This is the weirdest damn situation I've ever seen."
As it happens, Nero just learned the identity of one of the two demons lurking in the city last night. "Uncle Dante, ever heard of a demon called 'Nanna'?"
"Nanna?" Dante mulls it over for a second before shaking his head. "Nope. A demon with that name's gotta be small-time. Never crossed paths with me."
Nero fills him in—Nanna, who calls herself the "Blood Princess of the Moon," created a massive mental world inside her and fused with a human. Then there's the other player, "Little Ace," who's been tempting girls with wishes to fight other demons, possibly wielding a slew of demonic artifacts.
"Two freaks, each weirder than the last," Dante sums up as the bike rolls to a stop outside Nero's rented apartment.
Since Dante just arrived in the Land of Harmony today, he's got no place to crash. Lucky for him, Nero's apartment has plenty of space, so letting him stay's no big deal.
"Which one's gonna be the bigger pain in the ass?" Nero asks.
"Little Ace," Dante answers without missing a beat. "Besides that one, I've only ever met one other demon who knew how to play humans—exploiting their weaknesses to get what it wanted. That was Mundus, the Demon King himself. So this Ace's weirdness? It's dangerous as hell."
He shifts gears to Nanna. "As for this Nanna… you said she fused with a human, and the human's calling the shots?"
Nero nods, confirming.
"Power like that…" Dante muses as they step into the elevator, the doors sliding shut. He glances at Nero. "I'm worried she might be some ancient, heavy-hitting entity—maybe older than human history itself."
"But you still think Little Ace is the tougher nut to crack?" Nero presses.
Dante nods again. "That's why Nanna's less of a headache. An ancient, powerful demon with no records, no activity, and now suppressed by a human's will? That points to one thing."
Nero's sharp—she catches on quick. "So, the real Nanna's long dead?"
"Exactly. That human probably just found Nanna's corpse in the depths of the Demon World and merged with it," Dante says, sounding almost impressed. "Willingly fusing with a demon's remains and actually pulling it off? That human's no pushover either. Still a pain to deal with."
But Dante's words spark a memory for Nero. According to Lamp's notes, Toyokawa Shoko didn't choose to fuse with Nanna—she was already on death's door. And the reason Shoko ended up in that state, tumbling into the Demon World, was because she'd made a deal with Little Ace, fighting demons under its manipulation.
What if… Shoko's near-death state, her finding Nanna's corpse in the Demon World… none of it was a coincidence?
Nero lays out her suspicions to Dante.