Toshio Perspective
I woke to warmth and softness pressed against my right side, a stark contrast to the cold forest floor where I’d expected to die. The ceiling above was familiar—my bedroom, not the hunting grounds where Ghom had nearly ended . My body felt whole, unbroken, the symphony of pain replaced by a strange, pleasant weightlessness that had wondering if I’d actually died after all.
Then I felt her breathing against , crimson hair spilling across my chest like liquid fire, and realized I was very much alive—with a very naked Rias Gremory curled against , skin against skin.
For several monts, I simply lay there, cataloging sensations. The weight of her head on my shoulder. The softness of her breast pressed against my ribs. The gentle rhythm of her breath ward my skin. The subtle strawberries-and-cinnamon scent that clung to her hair. My analytical mind docunted everything with its usual precision, but sothing else was happening too—I wasn’t just observing these details. I was experiencing them.
"Wow," I thought, heart thudding quietly. "This is... really nice."
My left arm was trapped beneath her body, pins and needles setting in from restricted circulation. I shifted slightly, preparing to extract it—my usual move would be to slip free, create distance, maintain boundaries. But halfway through the motion, I stopped and made a different choice. Instead of pulling away, I deliberately wrapped my arm around her waist, my hand settling at the curve of her hip.
"Mmm, Toshio," she mumbled, still half-asleep, nuzzling closer into my neck.
Then, like a switch had been flipped, she froze. Her breathing stopped. Her entire body went rigid against mine. A heartbeat later, she jerked upright, the sheet falling away from her chest as she stared down at with wide, disbelieving eyes.
From my vantage point, the sudden movent gave a front-row view of... well, let’s just say gravity was doing its thing, and her breasts were now in motion with enough bounce to defy several laws of physics. I stared for half a second too long.
"Rias?"
"You’re awake!" Her voice was a mixture of relief and shock. "But your injuries—"
She broke off, her gaze darting over my body with frantic intensity. Where lacerated flesh and compound fractures had been, there was only smooth, unblemished skin. No scars, no burns from her cauterization, not even a lingering bruise. Just , whole and intact, as if the previous night had never happened.
Her hands followed her eyes, skimming over my chest, my arms, my face—checking, confirming, marveling. I let her, watching the play of emotions across her features: confusion, relief, and sothing deeper that made my chest tighten in an unfamiliar way.
"How is this possible? How are you this healed?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "You were—I’ve never seen anyone hurt so badly who wasn’t already dead. Those were so of the worst I’ve ever seen. So of those wounds should have taken weeks or months to heal, if they healed at all. Even my demonic power wouldn’t heal my peerage mbers that fast..."
The morning light filtering through my curtains caught in her hair, turning the crimson to burnished copper. It also highlighted every curve and contour of her exposed upper body. I forced my gaze to stay on her face—mostly.
I gave her a warm smile, eyes still a little hazy from the sudden shift in tone. "I told you to trust ."
She let out a shaky laugh, the sound catching on the edge of a sob. Her eyes welled with tears, and then she collapsed forward, pressing her face to my chest.
I caught her gently, arms wrapping around her once more. Her tears were warm against my skin, but her breathing slowly evened out.
"I’m okay, Rias," I said softly, pressing my hand to her back in soothing strokes. "Thanks to you."
We lay like that for a minute, maybe more. Her body fit against mine in a way that felt... right. Like puzzle pieces finally slotting into place.
Rias seed to suddenly rember our state of undress. She rose off my chest again, looking around, maybe for clothes. One of her arms crossed her chest covering one nipple, doing interesting things to the rest of her breast. I thought nudity didn’t bother her?
"We should probably get dressed. I only—I an, last night you were so badly hurt, and your clothes were destroyed, and I needed to clean you, and—" I pulled her back down on my chest.
She squawked in surprise, her blush intensifying, but she didn’t try to escape.
"Nuh uh. Comfy," I interrupted, tightening my arm around her waist slightly. The words surprised as much as they did her, judging by the way her eyes widened. I wasn’t usually so... direct.
"What?" She blinked at , her lips parting in surprise. "Toshio, we’re both completely naked."
"Yes, that seems to be the case."
"So..."
"I’m comfy like this," I clarified, feeling a smile tug at the corner of my mouth. I tightened my hold just a little more. "And I think I’m catching up on what I’ve been missing."
Her cheeks flushed almost as red as her hair. "And what exactly have you been missing?"
"This," I said simply. "Closeness. Not analyzing it or calculating optimal distance or maintaining appropriate boundaries. Just... being here. With you."
Sothing shifted in her expression—surprise lting into a softness I rarely saw there. She hesitated for a mont, then settled back down beside , her head relaxing into its place on my shoulder. I adjusted my arm, drawing her closer, marveling at how right it felt.
She chuckled softly, resting her head on my shoulder again. We stayed there like that, our bodies intertwined, my hand tracing slow circles on her bare back.
Then she shifted slightly, her voice quieter this ti.
"What happened last night?" You said it was a stray, but what kind of stray could possibly do that much damage to soone like you? You’re pretty strong for a human after all."
I tensed slightly, the mory of Ghom’s laughter echoing in my mind. The iron mask, the hooks, the toxic miasma—all of it still felt too vivid, too present. Then that mont the world went black beneath its spear kick, then to the void where my spirit still wouldn’t speak her na. Waking up with my sword in hand with pain in every inch of my body...
How much should I tell her? The whole truth? Parts? Sothing comforting, or sothing honest. Instead of answering, I looked down at her.
"What happened after I passed out?"
"I rember you finding , cauterizing my wounds. Then everything went dark." Her face grimaced at the ntion of it, curling into my embrace just a little more. Her expression turned haunted.
Rias shifted against , her hand coming to rest on my chest, right over my heart. "I teleported you here," she said softly. "But you slled horrible, worse than death. You were covered in sothing green and toxic that was still actively trying to eat through your skin. Your injuries were—Satan, Toshio, you were covered in so much blood. I had to remind myself you were still alive. I took you to your shower and bathed with you to clean all of it off."
"So you decided the best approach was to join in the shower?" I teased, partly to lighten the mood, partly because I couldn’t help myself.
She pinched my side lightly. "Don’t be crude. I couldn’t clean you properly otherwise. You were completely unconscious, barely breathing."
She looked up at . "I didn’t even bother putting clothes back on after the shower. I thought I might lose you, even after the cauterization. So I stayed. All night. Just to make sure you were still breathing. I needed to feel your warmth to make sure you stayed with ."
My hand stroked through her hair, letting the silence hold us a mont longer before she spoke up again.
"That, and I can’t sleep with any clothes on." That got a snort of laughter out of .
I turned my head to look at her, really look at her. The playful facade had dropped, revealing a vulnerability I wasn’t used to seeing from Rias Gremory. Her eyes, those impossibly blue pools, held genuine fear—not for herself, but for . Sothing twisted in my chest, a feeling I couldn’t imdiately identify.
"Thank you," I said, the words feeling inadequate but necessary. "For staying. For saving . For everything."
She nodded, her eyes holding mine. "I would do it again. In a heartbeat."
I believed her. That was the strange part—I actually believed soone cared that much. About . Not about what I could do or provide, but simply about whether I continued to exist in the world. The realization was both novel and exhilarating.
"But... how? Toshio, even my healing magic for my peerage couldn’t do this. Not this fast. Not without leaving so much as a scar. How did you heal like this?"
I took a breath, feeling the comfort of her skin against mine, her voice so full of wonder and worry.
"My body’s special," I said. "If I can sleep for at least eight hours—really sleep, no interruptions—I can heal from anything. As long as I’m still alive and not bleeding out when I start."
"Though I will say, it’s never been tested quite this thoroughly before. You should have seen after my first encounter with a stray, Yomi. That was the closest I’ve co to this level of damage, and even then..." I trailed off, not wanting to relive the mory of either fight. "This was much worse."
She stared at .
"That’s... That’s insane. I’ve never heard of an ability like that. Not even in the Underworld."
"I did say I was special," I teased gently.
Her eyes dropped for a mont, and I noticed the way they paused—lower. Her gaze trailed down my chest, then further, catching sight of just how much of the blanket had slipped away during the night.
Her cheeks turned scarlet. She looked back up quickly.
"I definitely agree that it’s special," she muttered under her breath.
I blinked, then smirked. "Oh?"
"Shut up," she mumbled, hiding her face in my chest.
I held her for another long mont, savoring the peace. Her weight on my chest, the warmth of her breath, the sll of her shampoo mixed with lingering hints of clean soap and heat. My hand gently rubbed her back.
Eventually, I sighed. "As far as what happened... Let’s get up. I’ll explain over breakfast. I’m starving." She laughed softly, the sound vibrating against my chest.
"I suppose that makes sense, after everything you went through." We remained there.
"Um, Toshio, that ans you have to let go," Rias giggled.
"That’s correct. But I don’t want to." I retightened my embrace with her. She sighed in what I’m hoping was contentnt.
She smiled. I could feel it against my skin.
"You know, I’m starting to like this side of you," she said while tracing shapes on my chest. I smiled, closing my eyes.
"Noted." She snorted in amusent at that.
We stayed there a few minutes longer, basking in shared warmth, until my stomach betrayed with a loud, insistent growl.
Rias burst out laughing.
"Okay maybe we should get up now," I said. She giggled again.
She sat up, my eyes following the movent without conscious thought. She was stunning. Curves that defied reason, skin like porcelain, muscles subtle beneath the softness. Perfection made flesh.
She caught my gaze and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You’re so beautiful," I said honestly.
Her expression faltered. She looked away, lips parting just slightly.
"Thank you," she whispered. I know she probably heard that a lot, but I couldn’t help but reiterate it.
We both stood. Before clothes were found, I gently turned her toward , her expression harboring a hint of confusion.
"Rias..." I slowly and gently pulled her into a hug. "Thank you so much for saving . For taking care of . It’s been so long since... so long..." She quickly returned the hug, out naked bodies flush with one another. I could feel her smile.
"You’re welco Toshio... I..." her words died on her lips. She bit her lip. "I’ll be there if you need again. Just please, don’t co back to like that." I nodded.
"I’ll certainly try my best. Trust , it was just as difficult for you to see as it was to experience. Not sothing I’d like to repeat."
"Good." She playfully slapped my lower back.
"However...if it allows to wake up next to you like that again, I might not be so opposed..." She pulled back from the hug and slapped my chest this ti, giggling. My hands found her lower back, still holding her close.
"That’s not how that works," she said, still giggling in amusent. She looked down and blushed a little, likely feeling my lower mber pressing against her.
"You don’t have to be injured for this to happen again you know," she mumbled. That caused to smile.
"I’ll take you up on that then." Without overthinking it, my right hand found the back of her head and I pulled her in, placing a gentle, chaste kiss on her forehead, her eyes fluttering closed at the contact. I felt her small intake of breath.
"Co on, I’ll make breakfast. I’m not too bad in the kitchen." I released her, her face very red as she stood there in stunned silence. I went towards my wardrobe.
Not bothering to cover herself at this point, she asked, "Do you have sothing I could borrow? My uniform from yesterday is..." She trailed off, grimacing.
Rias looked down at her school uniform, which was draped over a nearby chair. The bloodstains had dried into brown-red patches. There were a lot of them.
"Probably beyond salvaging," I finished for her. "Check my closet. There should be a button-up shirt that’ll work until we figure sothing else out."
"You can have Akeno or soone bring you a new outfit."
She smirked, eyes glinting with mischief. "Oh, I’ll enjoy seeing Akeno’s reaction when she hears I spent the night here. Another first claid before her." That last part confused little, but I didn’t dwell on it.
She walked over to my closet, her body doing very interesting things. I’ve decided. This worlds jiggle physics are the best. I watched as she rummaged through my closet, eventually pulling out a simple white dress shirt. She glanced over her shoulder, catching watching her.
"You know," she said, a hint of her usual playful confidence returning, "most people would at least pretend not to stare."
I shrugged, not bothering to hide my appreciation. "I’ve decided to be more honest about what I want. Seems like the right ti for it."
Her smile in response was like sunrise breaking through clouds—warm and full of promise for what the day might bring. She slipped into my shirt, which barely reached mid-thigh on her. She didn’t seem to mind, and I definitely didn’t mind.
I found myself genuinely looking forward to breakfast for the first ti in longer than I could rember.
XXX
I moved through my kitchen with the precision of a laboratory technician, asuring ingredients by eye and adjusting heat with practiced efficiency. The eggs needed exactly seven minutes at a simr to achieve the perfect consistency—soft whites with yolks that remained liquid gold at their centers.
I whisked clarified butter with egg yolks and a splash of lemon juice until the hollandaise reached a silky consistency, then folded in a few drops of black truffle oil—an indulgence I rarely bothered with when cooking just for myself. A series of system notifications hovered in my peripheral vision, but I dismissed them for later. Right now, breakfast with Rias took precedence over whatever the system wanted to tell about last night’s disaster.
"I had no idea you could cook like this," Rias said from her perch at the kitchen bar, her legs crossed at the knee, one foot swinging idly. My dress shirt hung loosely on her fra, the top three buttons undone just enough to reveal the top of her cleavage and hint at what lay beneath. The hem barely reached mid-thigh, exposing long stretches of pale skin that I found myself glancing at more often than strictly necessary.
"There’s a lot you don’t know about ," I replied, a smile tugging at my lips as I sprinkled fresh chives over the eggs en cocotte. "Cooking is just applied chemistry with more imdiate rewards."
"Is that how you see it? As a science experint?" She leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand. The movent caused the shirt to shift, revealing a bit more of her collarbone.
I arranged the rakins on plates, adding a small side of dressed greens and slices of toasted sourdough. "Partly. But there’s also sothing... ditative about it. Focusing on a single task, creating sothing that engages all the senses." I paused, considering. "It’s one of the few activities I’ve found that quiets my mind completely."
"And here I thought you were just trying to impress ," she teased, accepting the plate I slid across the counter toward her.
"That too," I admitted, surprising myself with my candor. "Is it working?"
Her smile was answer enough, but she still said, "Maybe," before taking her first bite. The small, involuntary sound of pleasure she made sent an unexpected warmth through my chest.
She tasted it slowly, closing her eyes. "Toshio... this tastes amazing."
I smirked. "Well, I figured after everything, you deserved sothing better than rice and miso."
We ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only sounds were the soft clink of cutlery and occasional appreciative murmurs from Rias. I found myself watching her more than my food—the way sunlight caught in her hair, the delicate movent of her throat when she swallowed, the elegant curve of her wrist as she lifted her fork. Details I’d always noticed but never allowed myself to truly appreciate.
"This is honestly incredible," she said eventually, setting down her fork with reluctance after finishing the last bite.
"Glad you like it. I can cook for you any ti you want."
She laughed through another bite, dabbing her lips with a napkin. "I might take you up on that. If the rest of your als are even half this good, you’d put half the chefs in the Underworld out of business."
"Thank you. That’s... high praise."
"Where did you learn to cook like this?" She turned toward after pushing her plate forward a little.
"After my parents died I was on my own and I couldn’t afford to eat out all the ti, so I learned," I replied, then paused. I rarely ntioned my past existence so directly. But after last night—after nearly dying, after the emotional breakdown in my inner world—the usual filters seed less important.
"I studied a lot. Picked up techniques here and there. I had a good mory then too, so once I saw sothing done, I could replicate it."
"Your past," she said softly, her eyes studying with gentle intensity. "You don’t talk about that much."
"No," I agreed. "I don’t. But maybe I should start."
For just a mont, I wondered if this could beco a regular thing—mornings like this, quiet als, shared responsibilities. It wasn’t sothing I had thought about before. Now, I hoped.
After breakfast, we cleaned up together in a dostic rhythm that felt oddly natural. Rias washed while I dried, our hands occasionally brushing in the exchange of plates and utensils. Each small contact seed to linger a heartbeat longer than necessary, neither of us pulling away too quickly.
When the kitchen was spotless again—I’d always been particular about cleanliness—we migrated to the living room. I sat on the couch first, and when Rias moved to take the cushion beside , I caught her wrist gently and pulled her down across my lap instead. She made a small sound of surprise but didn’t resist, adjusting until she was lying comfortably across my lap with her head on my arm, her legs stretched along the length of the couch.
"This is new," she observed, looking up at with curiosity and sothing warr. "This new side of you might be dangerous."
"I’m trying new things," I replied simply. My hand found hers, our fingers interlacing with a naturalness that should have unnerved but sohow didn’t. "Like not waiting until I’m dying to recognize what matters."
Her expression softened. "And what matters, Toshio?"
"This. You." I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the harder part of this conversation. "Which is why I need to tell you what happened last night."
Her fingers tightened around mine. "I’m listening."
"I’ve been hunting stray devils," I admitted, watching her face carefully. "For months now. Tracking them through the forest, eliminating them, burning the bodies to hide the evidence."
"I knew about the hunting," she said quietly. "Kuoh is my territory. I notice when the stray population suddenly drops to near zero in the city."
"You never said anything."
She shrugged, the movent causing the shirt to slip further off one shoulder. "I figured you’d tell when you were ready. Or that you had your reasons for keeping it to yourself."
I nodded, grateful for her understanding. "Last night was different. I found sothing... worse than a standard stray. Much worse." I described Ghom in detail—the corrupted clearing, the miasma, the bloated form and rusted mask. Rias’s expression grew increasingly from troubled to horror as I spoke, her fingers tightening around mine.
"I’ve never heard of anything like that," she said when I’d finished describing the initial encounter. "A devil that can create its own domain of corruption? That’s rare, even among high-class strays, devils even."
"It wasn’t just powerful," I continued, the mory fresh despite my best efforts to compartntalize it. "It was ancient, around 400 years old from what it said. Malevolent in a way that felt... primordial. I tried to fight it—burned its entire domain—but that just forced it to transform into sothing worse. Faster. Deadlier."
I detailed the second phase of the fight, the transformation, the punch that had shattered my left arm and shoulder, the beating that had left broken and dying on the forest floor. Through it all, Rias listened silently, her eyes never leaving my face, her hand a steady anchor in mine.
"The strange part is," I finished, "I don’t know how I survived. I was dying—I know I was. Ghom was about to finish with an overhead spear kick. Then I blacked out."
"And just when I thought I was done—soone, or sothing, saved . I woke up at the forest’s edge. Still injured. Barely alive. I tried to reach the city, but couldn’t go on, then I rembered your flier and summoned you."
She exhaled softly, her brows knitting. "I’m sorry. I should have given you one myself."
I shook my head. "It’s not a big deal. But I’m definitely not going anywhere without one now."
She nodded and gave a snort of amusent, before returning to her questioning.
"Do you know what saved you?" she asked after a mont.
I hesitated, turning my thoughts inward. The mory of my spirit standing in the rising water—watching , silently furious—rose like a vision. I swallowed.
"I think... I might have an idea."
She tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing. "What is it?"
I shifted beneath her, gently urging her to sit up. She pouted but complied, nestling against on the couch with a reluctant groan.
From my inventory, I summoned the sheathed blade—my Zanpakutō. I drew it out with it’s normal dramatic lightshow, the hilt wrapped in black with a crimson tsuba, the sheath plain but elegant.
Rias’ eyes widened slightly. She’d seen it before, but never up close.
"That’s your sword."
I nodded. "Yeah. But it’s not just a sword. It’s sothing more. Sothing... tied to . Spiritually. It has a soul. A consciousness. A personality."
She blinked. "Like a Sacred Gear?"
"No," I said. "Not like that. It’s not bestowed. It’s born. A part of , but separate. It’s called a Zanpakutō. She has a will. And I think... she’s what saved ."
She looked confused, no doubt wondering about such a power that didn’t exist in this world. Then she did sothing surprising.
Rias sat up fully now, her eyes fixed on the blade. "May I?" she asked, her hand hovering above the sheath.
I nodded, and she gently touched the saya, her fingers tracing the subtle patterns etched into its surface.
"Thank you," she whispered to the sword. "For bringing him back to us. For not letting him die alone in that forest."
To my astonishnt, the blade vibrated slightly against my palm, a gentle pulse that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but acknowledgnt.
Rias’s eyes widened. "Did it just—," she breathed.
"Yes," I agreed, equally surprised. "That’s... never happened before, at least with other people. She does it with sotis, but it’s usually almost, sarcastic."
"She?" Rias asked.
I nodded. "Yeah she’s a woman, but I’ve never seen her face. Never heard her na."
Rias was quiet for a mont. Then: "Have you tried talking to her?"
"Yes. Every ti I see her. But she won’t speak. The only thing I feel from her is... fury. Sadness. Distance. But the more I feel emotions—really feel—the closer she gets."
Rias went still. Then she offered sothing so obvious it felt like a revelation.
"Toshio," Rias said slowly, her gaze moving from the sword to my face. "If your zanpakutō is a manifestation of your soul—of your emotions—then maybe the reason she won’t fully communicate with you is because you’ve been suppressing her. Suppressing your own feelings." Leave it to a woman to figure sothing like this out in an instant.
The insight hit with the force of revelation. Simple, obvious in retrospect, yet sohow I’d never connected those dots.
Of course. Of course she was angry.
She was my soul.
And I had ignored her.
"You think I should apologize to her," I stated, rather than asked. "To my own soul."
Rias nodded. "We all need acknowledgent. Even—especially—the parts of ourselves we try to keep hidden."
I set the sword aside and pulled Rias into a tight embrace, my arms wrapping around her back, my face buried in her hair. "Thank you," I murmured against her neck.
"You’re welco?" she said in confusion, but she returned the embrace with equal fervor, her body warm and solid against mine. We stayed like that for several heartbeats, the mont suspended in perfect stillness.
Then a sharp knock at the door shattered the quiet.
The knock ca again, more insistent this ti. Rias and I separated reluctantly, though her hand lingered on my arm as I stood to answer the door. I wasn’t expecting visitors—my social circle was limited by design—which ant it was likely soone looking for Rias.
The crimson hair and voluptuous figure of the Gremory heiress weren’t exactly inconspicuous, and her absence from Kuoh Academy would have been noticed by now. I opened the door to find Akeno standing on my doorstep, a serene smile on her face and a neatly folded stack of clothes in her arms. The smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, which were already scanning past into the apartnt, searching.
"Good morning, Toshio," she said, her voice honeyed and smooth as always. "Rias texted saying she needed a change of clothes, since she didn’t co ho last night." She tilted her head slightly, violet eyes fixing on mine with laser-like focus. "I hope I’m not interrupting anything... important?"
"Just breakfast," I replied, stepping aside to let her in. Rias was close by.
As she moved past , her shoulder brushed against my chest in a touch that lingered just a fraction too long to be accidental. The subtle floral notes of her perfu—lavender and sothing darker, maybe sandalwood—filled my senses, an olfactory signature as distinctive as Rias’s strawberry and cinnamon.
"Akeno!" Rias exclaid, sounding pleased but not surprised. "How thoughtful of you to bring clothes."
The mont Akeno spotted Rias wearing nothing but my dress shirt, her serene expression flickered. It was brief—a tightening around the eyes, a subtle tensing of her shoulders—but my enhanced perception caught it clearly. The temperature in the room seed to drop a few degrees despite the morning sunlight streaming through the windows.
"My, my," Akeno said, her voice still light but carrying an edge now. "You look quite... comfortable, Rias. That shirt suits you, though I imagine it looked better on its owner. Care to explain why you’re here and dressed like that? I don’t think Grayfia-sama would approve." That got an eyebrow twitch from the crimson haired girl.
"Everything went well with the ORC eting this morning I hope?" Rias asked, blatantly ignoring her question as she stretched languidly, the movent causing the shirt to ride up her thighs.
"Kiba and Koneko send their regards," Akeno replied.
"Sona was quite concerned when neither of you showed up for classes. I covered for you, of course." She set the clothes down on the coffee table next to her with deliberate care. "I told her you had urgent business to attend to and that Toshio had a Kendo event out of town."
"Thank you, Akeno," Rias said warmly, then added with practiced casualness, "So things happened last night, so I decided to spend the night with Toshio. We’ve had such a wonderful morning."
I watched the exchange with growing fascination. The words were innocuous, but the subtext crackled between them like static electricity. Rias’s phrasing deliberately suggested intimacy beyond what had actually occurred, while Akeno’s fixed smile thinned almost imperceptibly.
"Is that so?" Akeno turned to , her violet eyes glittering with sothing dangerous. "Good morning, Toshio~" she purred. "You look well."
"It must have been quite the night for you to keep our precious president so... occupied." Before I could respond, she closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my waist in a tight embrace.
"I’ve been so worried about you lately, Toshio. All those training sessions alone, all those late nights no one knows about..."
She pulled back just enough to plant a soft kiss on my cheek, her lips lingering against my skin. Over her shoulder, I caught Rias’s gaze, which had turned colder, but yet she still seed...prideful?
I took a step back, nodding slightly. "Hey, Akeno."
Akeno picked up and handed the clothes to Rias. "You need to change. We have to go to school and explain to Sona why you and Toshio missed today."
Rias chuckled at Akeno’s antics. "Akeno, thank you again for the clothes. Toshio’s shirt is comfortable, but I can hardly attend school like this." She started to change right there, but Akeno turned her around and started pushing her toward my bedroom.
"It’s only proper that Toshio doesn’t see you change in front of him, buchou~." Rias laughed again.
"I do hate that I have to change though, this shirt does sll wonderfully like him, doesn’t it?" Akeno seed to push her a little faster.
The door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving Akeno and alone in the living room. I expected her to sit down to wait, but instead, her eyes locked on mine with predatory amusent. She stepped forward until her boobs were pressed against , walking backward until my shoulders hit the wall.
Her body pressed against mine, the soft curves of her figure leaving nothing to the imagination.
"Now," she said, voice dropping to a whisper that managed to be both intimate and threatening, "are you going to tell what really happened last night? Rias’s magical signature was flaring like a beacon around 4am, and this morning, there’s no trace of the injuries that would have warranted ergency healing magic, which wouldn’t even work on a cute human like you."
I blinked, surprised by her perceptiveness. "You could sense that from your house?"
"I can sense many things others miss," she replied, her fingertips tracing idle patterns on my cheek. "Especially when it involves people I care about. So talk, Toshio. What happened~?" She asked it in a way that sounded innocent yet threatening at the sa ti.
I considered deflecting, offering so sanitized version of events. But the mory of my promise in those monts before consciousness faded—to be more open, more honest if I survived—weighed on .
"I nearly died," I said simply. The bluntness of my answer seed to surprise her; her eyes widened slightly. "I was hunting in the forest and encountered sothing... sothing ancient and monstrous. A stray called Ghom. It nearly killed . Would have, if Rias teleported to when she did."
"Ghom?" Akeno repeated, her playful deanor slipping to reveal genuine concern. "That’s impossible. Ghom was a Primordial Demon General from before the Great War. He was executed centuries ago for consuming his own kin."
"Apparently not," I said dryly. "Unless there’s another twelve-foot titan of rot and decay wandering the forests of Kuoh. It had a mask, hooks embedded in its flesh. It could create its own local domain of corruption. Though that does explain why he was so old and powerful."
Akeno’s face paled. "How did you survive?"
"I managed to escape, and then... Rias," I answered honestly. "She teleported to once I used her contract flier. She cauterized the worst wounds, brought ho and stayed with through the night. I’d have bled out without her."
Sothing shifted in Akeno’s expression—the jealousy still there, but tempered now with understanding. "She saved you," she said softly.
"Yes." I didn’t add that my zanpakutō spirit might have played a role as well. That was a conversation for another ti, with soone who already knew about her.
I felt a sudden, unexpected urge to connect—not just physically, as we already were, but emotionally. Without overthinking it, I pulled Akeno into a proper hug, my arms encircling her fully, my hand resting gently on the back of her head.
"Nothing happened last night though, excluding my near death experience," I said softly. "She was wearing my shirt because her uniform got ruined. I bled on it. A lot."
I felt her stiffen in surprise, then gradually relax into the embrace. Her arms tightened around , her face pressing into the crook of my neck. For a mont, we just stood there, the competitive tension replaced by sothing simpler and more genuine.
"Toshio," she murmured against my skin, "you can’t just—"
The bedroom door opened, and Rias erged, now properly dressed in her Kuoh Academy uniform. She paused, taking in the sight of us locked in an embrace, her expression cycling through surprise, jealousy, and finally settling on a resigned sort of competitive amusent.
"Well, isn’t this cozy," she remarked, straightening her skirt. "Should I leave you two alone?"
Akeno pulled back from our hug, but kept one arm looped through mine, her hip pressed against my side. "Don’t be silly, Rias," she said sweetly. "We were just discussing how Toshio nearly died last night. You know, the part you neglected to ntion when you were describing your ’wonderful morning’."
Rias’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I was waiting for Toshio to share that information if he wanted to. It wasn’t my place to—"
"Wasn’t your place?" Akeno interrupted, her voice maintaining its musical quality despite the sharp words. "You’re our King. If there’s a threat like the demon Ghom near our territory, don’t you think the rest of us should know? What if Koneko had been out there? Or Kiba?"
I felt a tension headache building. "Both of you—"
"You’re right," Rias said, surprising both of us with her imdiate concession. "I should have called an ergency eting first thing. I was..." She glanced at , sothing vulnerable flashing across her face. "I was distracted."
"I understand distraction," Akeno replied, her fingers trailing up my arm in a deliberately provocative gesture. "He is rather distracting, isn’t he?"
Rias approached us, her stride purposeful. For a mont, I thought she might actually initiate a physical confrontation with Akeno. Instead, she stepped close to , rose slightly on her toes, and placed a soft, lingering kiss on my cheek—re inches from the corner of my mouth.
"I need to call the others together," she said, her eyes never leaving mine. "We need to discuss this threat and formulate a plan. But you and I will talk more later, Toshio. About everything."
"Of course," I replied, my voice steadier than I expected given the proximity of two extrely powerful, extrely beautiful won who seed to be using as the rope in their taphorical tug-of-war.
"But don’t go after it yet. I need to tell you about its abilities, and... I want to be there." Rias sighed in resignation.
"I figured you’d say sothing like that. Don’t worry Toshio, you’ll be included."
Rias stepped back, turning to Akeno with the regal composure that reminded she was, indeed, devil royalty. "Shall we, Akeno? There’s much to prepare."
Akeno’s smile was perfectly pleasant and utterly false. "Of course, Buchou. After you."
They departed with final farewells that were cordial on the surface—Akeno’s fingers trailing across my chest as she slipped past, Rias’s aningful glance over her shoulder—but charged with undercurrents I was only beginning to fully comprehend.
When the door closed behind them, I collapsed back onto the couch, exhaling a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The apartnt felt suddenly empty, the silence almost oppressive after the intensity of their presence.
Yet I found myself smiling. Not because I enjoyed being caught between their rivalry—though I’d be lying if I claid it wasn’t flattering in a primal sort of way—but because for the first ti since arriving in this world, I felt genuinely connected. To Rias, to Akeno, to my own emotions. Near-death experiences and waking up next to the most beautiful girl on the planet had a way of clarifying priorities, it seed.
The system notifications I’d been ignoring all morning still hovered in my peripheral vision, blinking insistently. With a sigh, I turned my attention to them, curious what the Ga had to say about my catastrophic encounter with Ghom and its aftermath. Whatever they contained, they could hardly be more complicated than the situation I’d just experienced.
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