The next day, Issei and Asia went ho from their school activities without Rias as she has an urgent eting with the Student Council President.
Just as they're about to open the door to their house, both suddenly froze. They felt a very familiar aura coming from the inside of the house, the aura of an exorcist.
Issei hurriedly opened the door and called out to his mother in a panic due to rembering the first ti he t Freed who killed soone who made a contact with a Devil, "Mom!!!"
He and Asia ran through the corridor and reached the living room. They were greeted by Issei's mother and two unfamiliar girls who wore a standard priest clothing with one of them has a sword-like item covered in a bandage, "Oh, welco ho Issei, Asia. What's with that look?"
"M-mom?" Issei checked the condition of his mother first to see if she's hurt anywhere. Asia from behind sighed in relief after ensuring that Issei's mother is safe.
Issei then switched his attention to the two guests, 'Are they, exorcists?' He raised his vigilance to the maximum and got ready to call out his Boosted Gear if sothing is about to happen.
One of the girls stood up and greeted Issei with familiarity, "Hi there, Issei-kun~."
'She knows ?' Issei looked at her with a serious expression and confusion, "Nice to et you…"
The girl a beautiful young woman with violet eyes. She has long chestnut hair that is usually tied into twintails, each held with a blue scrunchy.
Beside her, sitting quietly is a similarly beautiful young woman with chin-length blue hair with a dyed green fringe on the right side and dark yellow eyes.
The girl with twintails noticed Issei's confusion and pointed to herself, "Huh? You don't rember ?"
Seeing that Issei is struggling to rember her, Miki put up the photo album they are view just a mont ago and pointed to the picture with the Holy Sword, specifically, the boy aside from him and Kisuke, "This girl here is Irina Shidou-chan. She might have been a tomboy back then, but she's grown into quite a lady. I was surprised too."
"…Huh?" It took Issei a few seconds to process her words, 'Girl?'
"Rember now~?"
"What!? I was sure you were a boy!!!" Issei couldn't believe it.
"I guess there was no helping that. I always liked playing with boys and I was kind of a trouble maker." Irina smiled wryly at his expression but it's her turn to be confused, "But I rembered that I dressed like a girl just a day before I went overseas."
"Ah… that… I thought for sure that you have so strange hobby like Kisuke…"
"What!? How rude! Stop putting on the sa level as that guy!" Irina retorted but she cald down imdiately, "Ehem… Anyway, a lot has happened since I left." The girl with blue hair beside her suddenly stood up prompting Issei to call out to Ddraig in his mind to materialize the Boosted Gear the mont they make a move. But as much as possible, he didn't want to do anything in front of his mother.
'I don't know how strong they are and looking at them makes my skin tingle. But the real danger here is coming from that wrapped up item. It feels like it'll kill if that thing hits .'
Irina saw Issei's expression when he looked towards the bandaged sword and said, "It's true. You never knew what will happen when people reunite."
'She knew that I'm a Devil… If she's anything like Freed, then I would have to risk my life to take away Asia and my mother out of here.' Taking a stance, he waited for their next actions.
Irina chuckled at his actions and said, "Don't worry. We're heading out now. I haven't been back to Japan in a while, so I'm feeling nostalgic and just had to co by and say hello." Irina faced her companion, "But it's about ti we left, isn't it, Xenovia?"
"Yes." Xenovia answered curtly.
They then both faced Miki and bowed down as a standard Japanese ethic and thank her for her hospitality.
"I wish you could've stayed longer." Miki escorted them to the door.
"Oh, we'll probably be by again at so point. But until then, see ya, Issei-kun~." They turned around and left. But before they could leave the backyard, Xenovia turned around while holding the wrapped sword and eyed Issei, "I'll be ready at any ti." There wasn't any interruption this ti and they left for good.
Those last words of her gave Issei a chill and now he knew he couldn't win against her. They went back inside and Issei hurriedly reported what happened.
A few minutes later, Rias ca running after them, "Issei! Asia!" She hugged both of them tightly, "Thank goodness you're all alright. Are you hurt? What did they do to you?"
It took a few minutes to calm Rias down. She explained that Sona called her earlier because so church affiliates made contact with her. They hoped that they could talk and negotiate with the Devils running the town which is them.
"Why would people of the Church negotiate with Devils?" Issei asked.
"In all honesty, I have no idea what they want. They are going to et us in the clubroom tomorrow after school."
"Is that really a good idea?"
"I heard that they vowed on their God that they won't attack us. For mbers of the clergy to co to Devils for help, they must really be in quite a pinch." Rias sat down on Issei's bed and put on a serious expression, "I've also heard that priests that visit the town were massacred. I wonder if they're here about that bit of trouble." She muttered.
.
.
"Where do you want to go next? Should we find a place to stay?" Xenovia asks Irina as they walk on the streets on the outskirts of the town.
"I want to go to another place. I was surprised that Issei-kun beca a Devil and I hope that's not the sa case with him. And more importantly, I want him to make sothing clear." Irina replied with a disappointed face, 'I guess we're enemies from now on… I hope Kisuke didn't beco a Devil…'
"Is it the other childhood friend of yours? What do you want to ask him?" Xenovia looked at her curiously.
"Rember that ti we first encountered a Devil and a stray one at that?"
"Yes… We almost died from that thing."
"I'm pretty sure that isn't the first ti I t one… And one with more hostility from the one we first t."
"What…? Then why are you still alive? Did the Devil let you go? Why did you keep this a secret?"
"Because I also don't know how to interpret that event on my own…"
"I see… So you wanted to ask that another childhood friend of yours who I assud is with you that ti?"
"Yes… Issei-kun is also with us but it seems that he doesn't rember sothing like that ever happening…"
"Tell your story…"
"When we're still small, I always played around pretending to be a priest like my father and would go around 'exorcising ghost'."
"So you've been like this ever since you're small."
"Let finish!"
"…"
"There is one instance that I dragged Issei-kun and Kisuke with to go to an abandoned factory that I accidentally found. And as usual, I pretended to be a priest while the two acted as my assistants. It's also served as a test of courage for us. Although it's really annoying that Kisuke would always walk around a scary place with a nonchalant attitude… He's a strange kid." Irina ended up laughing a little as she reminisces the past.
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