Chapter 3
"Hurry up, Josuke! We're gonna be late if you don't hurry!" Issei called out from the front of Josuke's house. Said teen was currently in his bathroom, furiously trying to comb his hair down. While he always maintained and took very good care of it, every now and then a couple of strands would stick up on top of his head. Whenever this happened, Josuke couldn't help but take precious time to fix it up. Sometimes this would take well over an hour, which made both him and Issei late to school several times before.
"J-just give me a second! I've almost got it!" Josuke pleaded almost desperately, sweating at all the effort he put into fixing his hair. He steadily and carefully combed a stray strand of hair on top of his head down, smiling when he saw it stay down. Several seconds later though, the hair popped back up on top of his head, making him cry out in frustration and slam his fists into the sink.
"Shit, why won't it just stay down?! I swear, it just doesn't wanna cooperate sometimes…" Josuke muttered as he continued to try and suppress the hair. His mother, Tomoko Higashikata, walked up to the bathroom door that Josuke had left half open.
"Hey, Josuke. Your boyfriend is waiting for you outside." She told him, crossing her arms as she leaned on the door frame.
"Yeah, mom, I know. I just need a few seconds to fix this up and then I'm going…" Josuke explained, never taking his eyes off the mirror. Tomoko rolled her eyes, knowing that a few seconds would likely turn into another hour if possible.
"Well, try not to keep him waiting. I'm proud of you, though. I didn't realize you guys finally got past the point of denying your relationship anymore." Tomoko teased, causing Josuke to stumble slightly.
"Sh-shut up, mom! I'm busy in here!" Josuke grumbled as he recovered, his cheeks puffed up in annoyance. Tomoko laughed, walking out of the doorway and leaving her son to finish. After another minute of combing, Josuke finally got his hair to the point he wished for. He smiled goofily, posing in front of the mirror to make sure that it wouldn't pop up even if he was moving around.
"Yosh! Great!" Josuke grinned, pointing at himself proudly in the mirror. He quickly ran out of the bathroom now, grabbing his school bag and finally leaving for school. "See ya, mom! Tell gramps I said bye!"
"Take care!" Tomoko called from the kitchen.
"Yo!" Josuke called out as he spotted Issei waiting for him at the corner of their street. The brunette looked at him with half lidded eyes, deadpanning.
"Oh hey, what do you know. It only took you half an hour to fix your hair right this time. Progress." Issei sarcastically drawled, causing the pompadour spotting teen to chuckle sheepishly and scratch the back of his head.
"Sorry about that, man. My hair just wasn't cooperating this morning." Josuke apologized, making Issei sigh and shrug.
"Meh, I've gotten used to it by now. At least we're not going to be late if we leave now." Issei said, checking his phone for the time.
"Great, let's go then." Josuke nodded and the two finally departed for school. It was relatively silent as they walked, neither having much to say. Much had happened in the past few days, and so this calm between storms was a bit refreshing for them. After the fight with the Fallen Angel, Rias had continued to explain Issei's position and responsibilities the night before. Since it was late, she had let him go home without any work, but the next day he was expected to do 'jobs' by making deals with humans.
"You know, Josuke…" Issei finally spoke up, causing the taller teen to glance at him. "Last night, I did a lot of thinking about… well, everything. I thought that things would take a turn for worse now that I am a devil. But…"
"What?" Josuke asked as Issei had trailed off. For a moment, the brunette seemed quite serious and sullen, but that suddenly changed when Issei looked back at the pompadour spotting teen with a perverted smile.
"But I think that it might turn out to be awesome!" He proclaimed happily, causing Josuke to slightly recoil in surprise.
"Se-seriously?!" Josuke asked in disbelief.
"Of course! Before, I would never even get the chance to hang out with the likes of Koneko-chan. Now, I get to hang aroundthree of the most popular girls in school! It's like a dream~!" Issei cheered, his cheeks turning rosy with color as he fantasized about each one. "It looks like my dream of a harem may actually come true… all the breasts I could ever want to squeeze..."
Josuke stared at Issei for a long moment, at first so utterly stupefied by Issei's reasoning that he didn't know what to say. Suddenly he burst out in laughter, holding his stomach as he did so. "Only you could reason losing your humanity with something like that, Issei." He declared through his laughter.
"And proud of it!" Issei huffed, pounding his chest and blowing air out of his nose. Josuke eventually calmed his laughter down, smiling at his friend.
"Becoming a devil really didn't change you at all." Josuke declared before holding his chin in thought. "Then again, your personality is devilish in a way…"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Issei complained, only to cause Josuke to smirk teasingly.
"So there you two are. I thought I might have come to the wrong neighborhood." The two suddenly heard someone speak ahead of them. After turning their attention forward they saw none other than Rias waiting for them at the corner of the street.
"R-Rias-sempai! What are you doing here?" Issei asked in surprise.
"I thought I'd walk with my new servant to school this morning. I arrived a little over half an hour ago, though I suppose I came a bit too early." Rias explained. Josuke slightly tensed up and whistled as he started to sweat, feeling Issei's deadpanned stare boring into him.
"Sorry you had to wait like that. You can blame that on Josuke. If his hair doesn't fit his expectations, he gets stuck on it like a girl and tries to fix it for hours." Issei declared, causing Josuke to flinch and Rias to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.
"Shut up, man! I only took half an hour!" Josuke retorted before quickly bowing in apology to Rias. "Sorry you had to wait!"
Rias only chuckled, nodding in acceptance. "It's alright. I suppose I should have let you both know ahead of time that I was coming anyways. Shall we go, then?" She asked, turning around and heading to school.
As the three entered the school grounds, every group of students around stopped and stared at them in shock. Josuke and Issei glanced around in question while Rias continued on without a care in the world.
"N-no way, it was one thing to hang out with Josuke-kun, but now Rias-sempai as well?!" A girl shouted in horror from the side.
"Impossible! He must have done her homework or paid her or something!" A jealous boy cried out.
"And so starts the spreading of rumors…" Issei grumbled in annoyance, trying to ignore the hateful glares he was receiving.
"Man, I didn't realize you were this popular. You're turning heads everywhere." Josuke said, leaning toward the crimson haired girl.
"No~! How can we compete with a girl like Rias-sempai for Josuke-kun's affection?!" Several of the tall teen's fangirls cried out in sadness, though the pompadour teen seemed ignorant.
"It seems like I'm not the only one who's popular." Rias said with giggle.
"This jerk has always been popular. He just doesn't know what to do with it." Issei said through grinded teeth.
"Well, I have to hang out with the least popular guy in school, so there's not much I can do with it anyway." Josuke shot back with a smirk, immediately causing Issei to stumble.
"Wh-what?! I am not the least popular guy in school!" Issei retorted weakly, knowing that it was probably the truth.
"We'll part ways from here, okay you two?" Rias declared as they entered the main school building, causing both teens to turn to her in question. "Issei, remember to head to the Clubroom after school so we can finish talking about your duties."
"O-oh, okay then. Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to class?" Issei asked, slightly wishing to stay by his new master's side.
"That's alright, I can make my way from here. I'm sure you've got your own class to get to." Rias chuckled, giving the brunette a serene smile that made him slightly melt. Josuke rolled his eyes and grabbed his collar to pull him along.
"I guess we'll see you then." Josuke nodded as he started to head to class with Issei in tow.
"Actually, Josuke, I would like for you to meet me after school. There's someone I'd like you to talk to." Rias declared, causing the pompadour spotting teen to raise a brow in question.
"Someone? Who?" Josuke repeated, but Rias shook her head.
"Don't worry about it, you'll know soon enough. You'll finally get a better understanding of your power's origin. Meet me by the school club rooms." Rias instructed before heading up the stairs to the next level. Issei and Josuke glanced at each other, sharing the same thoughts.
"Is there another devil at this school?" Josuke asked thoughtfully.
"Not that I know of. Remember, I just became one. If anything, I know about as much as you." Issei shrugged. Before the two could continue further, Issei suddenly found himself being socked hard across the jaw, flying into one of the support beams of the school. Josuke guessed who it was already and sighed as he turned to see a steaming Matsuda and Motohama.
"Hi guys." Josuke said, waving lamely.
"You bastard! We don't see either of you for one night and you end up walking to school with the most popular girl in school?! What the hell?!" Matsuda cried out in jealousy, gripping his fist as tears started to pour from his eyes.
"Why did you punch me and not Josuke…?" Issei grumbled as he rubbed his cheek.
"Because Josuke would kick our asses, duh." Motohama explained with a shrug.
"I would." Josuke nodded in agreement.
"Don't try to act all innocent either though, Josuke! You're just as guilty as he is!" Matsuda declared, turning accusingly back to the taller teen.
"Now, now, Matsuda. Let's at least give them a chance to explain." Motohama reasoned, pushing up his glasses despite the fact that he had tears streaming in his eyes too. "Now come clean! What were you two doing last night?!"
"I'll tell you what." Issei said before Josuke could even speak. He turned back to the duo and offered a sly smile. "We were rolling in double D's."
Immediately Motohama and Matsuda gasped in shock, while Josuke did his best to try and contain his laughter from bursting out. While he didn't like the perverse jokes Issei and the others made, he did take a lot of fun in seeing two of the Pervert Trio suffer like this. As the four continued to bicker, Rias couldn't help but laugh to herself after overhearing them talk.
"So they're the ones, huh?" She heard from the top of the stairs, causing her to turn curiously to the source. A girl with neck-length black hair stood by a pillar, a pair of purple glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She had a yellow hair clip in her hair on the left side.
"Good morning, Rias." The girl greeted, her demeanor rather serious but gentle.
"Good morning, Sona." The red haired girl greeted back.
"It's not like you to bring someone into your household so impulsively." The girl now identified as Sona mused, glancing back at the group of boys below them, who were now playing a game of four way rock-paper-scissors.
"Is that so?" Rias asked as she glanced down at them herself now. "Because it feels like I've gained a silly little brother. Well, two I suppose. But I'd say the other is almost like a protective, older one." She chuckled, causing Sona to raise a brow in question.
"I have heard they were close before. Tell me, are you planning to ask Josuke Higashikata to join your peerage?" Sona asked curiously.
"Not anytime soon, to be honest. He has a good heart and is quite kind, but right now he has his own reasons for sticking around us. I would like to gain more of his trust before asking something like that." Rias explained as the two focused their attention on the pompadour spotting teen, who was currently being made fun of for losing to all three boys.
"I see. To have such an ability is quite interesting." Sona chuckled before sending a challenging glance at the red head. "You better keep him close though, so that you don't lose him to someone else."
"Even if you were to ask him, I doubt he would say yes to you either." Rias retorted with a knowing smile.
"Perhaps, but you never know." Sona shot back with a confident grin this time. The redhead chuckled at her rival's actions, but her expression quickly became serious.
"There is something I'd like to ask for your help in with him, Sona. You have more knowledge on the subject than I do, after all." Rias declared, causing the black haired teen to turn to her in question.
Josuke waited patiently after school for Rias to meet him. He was currently standing outside of the main clubrooms inside the school, messing around with a game on his phone. "Man, no matter what game it is, I always seem to suck at them…" He grumbled as his thumbs quickly tapped away at the touch screen.
"Ah, so you're already here." He heard Rias from the side. He didn't bother to look up, still very focused on his game.
"Uh-j-just one sec, okay? I've almost… damn it!" Josuke exclaimed as he died again as usual. His shoulders slumped in defeat and he sighed, rubbing the back of his head in disappointment. "Sorry about that, I was really close to beating this level I was on." He said as he pocketed his phone.
"Don't mind me, you seemed quite into it." Rias chuckled as she approached him. "Follow me, I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine." She told him, motioning for the taller teen to follow. Josuke complied, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he trailed behind her.
"So you said this is about my 'powers', right? This friend of yours knows about it?" Josuke asked curiously.
"That's right. In fact, she knows more than I do on the subject. She takes a deep interest in many things." Rias explained as they passed several classrooms.
"I see. I'm guessing she's a devil like you are, then? Is she one of your servants?" Josuke mused, but the red haired girl shook her head.
"She is not. She is like me, a devil noble from another family. But I'll let her tell you about that if you want." Rias said, but Josuke only grunted in moderate interest.
"Maybe but… to be honest, all that stuff is still kinda confusing. I'll just stick to finding out about my powers I think…" Josuke muttered, rubbing his head. Rias chuckled at his plight, but the two were stopped short in their conversation when someone came into view. She was a tall girl with blue spectacles and incredibly long black hair, even longer than Rias' or Akeno's. She had pale skin, similar to Rias but she looked rather serious.
"Ah, good. You are both here. Sona is ready for you both, Rias-sama." The girl said before entering the room without another word. Josuke glanced up and saw that it was the Student Council meeting room, causing him to raise a brow.
"Student council head, huh? Guess I shouldn't be surprised…" He mused aloud as started to follow Rias into the room. The room was rather large, but empty, with several chairs set around a square of tables, most likely for meetings between the student council. At the head sat Sona, who offered a calm smile to her two guests.
"Right on time." She said as she stood from the table, extending a hand to Josuke. "You are much taller in person now that I see you up close, Josuke Higashikata. It's nice to meet you, I'm Sona Sitri."
"O-oh!" Josuke said, quickly shaking her hand before bowing lowly. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am! I hope that I'm not imposing!" He nearly exclaimed, causing Sona to raise a brow at his sudden outburst.
"He's quite prone to doing that when he meets people, from what I've seen." Rias chuckled from the side of the pompadour haired teen. Sona smiled before nodding.
"You have good manners, Higashikata-san. No need to feel nervous. Please relax and we may get started." Sona declared, causing the taller teen to raise his head and nod quickly.
"Well, I'll leave you to it, then." Rias declared, causing Josuke to turn to her.
"You're not staying?" He asked curiously.
"No, I still have to continue going over Issei's duties, remember? Come by the club if you like once you're done here." She told him, to which the teen nodded and waved as she left before turning back to Sona.
"In case you didn't know, this is Tsubaki Shinra. She is my Queen in my peerage." Sona introduced, motioning to the girl Josuke met earlier.
"It's nice to meet you." Tsubaki said, bowing politely. Josuke quickly bowed back before slowly raising his head in question.
"'Queen'? What do you mean by that?" Josuke asked.
"Oh, my apologies. I was under the impression Rias might have already explained that system to you and your friend Issei Hyoudou. Perhaps I'll let her tell you more about such things since you are friends." Sona reasoned before taking a seat down in her chair again, motioning for both he and Tsubaki to do the same. "After all, we're here to talk about you and your special abilities."
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, ma'am." Josuke nodded.
"You may call me Sitri-sempai if you like. After all, I am your senior." Sona offered.
"Yes ma-er, I mean, sempai. I can do that." Josuke agreed.
"Good, then let us begin." Sona started, crossing her arms over her chest. "First of all, may I see this Crazy Diamondof yours as Rias said you call it?"
"Sure." Josuke said, easily summoning his Stand to his side, the large pink and silver armored figure coming into sight. Both Sona and Tsubaki widened their eyes in surprise, the former standing up again to observe it.
"Interesting. Yours manifests so clearly, and it seems you control it quite well." She determined as she inspected it closely with her eyes. "You must have quite a strong will…"
"Rias told me it's completely different than what Issei has in him. I think she called it something like a Stand?" Josuke asked, to which Sona nodded.
"That's correct. This power is known as a Stand by those who possess this same ability as you." Sona declared, causing Josuke to widen his eyes in shock.
"Wait, there are more people with powers like this?!"
"Correct. Though to be fair, they aren't very common. Even less so than the Sacred Gears your friend has one of. And Stands come in many different shapes and sizes. They can be very different, some depend on the characteristics of their owner while others do not reflect the user at all. From what Rias told me, yours matches your personality." Sona explained before adjusting her glasses. "Let us start with the origins of Stands, then. Long ago, there was a battle between the Three Factions, the Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils, called the Great War. It was a devastating fight that cost many lives on all sides. Eventually, this conflict even spilled onto earth, and humans were soon becoming unneeded casualties. Are you keeping up so far?"
"Yeah. Big war between everyone and eventually humans got involved. Got it." Josuke reassured, motioning for her to continue.
"Good. The Angel Faction, of course, were tasked with defending humans as much as possible, but with such ceaseless attacks from enemies, it soon became terribly difficult for them to do. So they had to figure out another way to help the humans. The resolution they came up with was to give humans a way to defend themselves." Sona explained further, standing up to walk around the room. "Of course, weapons and turning humans into Angels was the original primary option, but they lacked the discipline or knowledge to use the weapons, and it was hard to weed out who was strong enough to fight and who wasn't. So Metatron, the Blacksmith of Heaven, came up with another solution: the creation of the Stands."
"Wait, so they were able to give people their Stand powers?" Josuke asked thoughtfully.
"That's right. You see, humans contain something special that no Angel or Devil possesses: a soul. Souls are incredible things with untapped potential most of the time, and even the smartest of all the factions were unable to harness this energy within humans God created. You can almost view a soul as an Angel's equivalent to a Nuclear Plant of sorts. Stands are the manifestation of the soul, which is why they are so powerful."
"That's pretty amazing…" Josuke muttered.
"It does depend on one's spirit and willpower, but yes. After all, think back to your fight with the Fallen Angel. You were able to overpower a supernatural being with ease, and you're only a human. By all rights, you should be unable to do so. But your Stand is a testament to their unruly power. Back to the Great War, Metatron constructed several items for unlocking Stands in humans in the form of a Bow and Arrow. It was a dangerous method for doing so, for not all humans were capable of wielding a Stand, and if they couldn't, they would die." Sona continued, making Josuke raise a brow. "But the benefit of the Bow and Arrow was that it could also pick its target, almost as if it felt one's soul calling out to it. With this, the humans finally had a way to fight a far superior enemy, and could be quite dangerous at that. Eventually, the Devils and Fallen Angels were pushed out of Earth and back to our main battlefield, and humans were left in peace once again. Once they were safe, the Angels ceased to create more Stand users, for it would be too dangerous to have so many powerful humans on earth. After time, the Stand users began to fade, and while some bloodlines were strong enough to carry on the power of the Stands, many faded long ago. Which brings us to you." Sona said, motioning to Josuke finally. "I am a bit curious since I've never seen one for myself before. Do you know how you gained your Stand?" She asked curiously.
"No, not really, but I do remember when I first got it. When I was little, I was sick for a little while, and no one could explain why. After I finally recovered, though, I could suddenly see Crazy Diamond's arms coming from my body. I thought I was seeing things at first, but when I could touch and move things with it, I knew it was real." Josuke explained, to which Sona nodded.
"I see. Well, so you know, only other Stand users and supernatural beings can see your Stand. Humans without one are completely ignorant to it." Sona declared, causing Josuke to widen his eyes.
"Issei has always been able to see it, though. Is that because of his Sacred Gear thing?" Josuke asked, causing Sona raise a brow in shock.
"Is that so? Well, that is news to me. This is the first known time that a Sacred Gear holder and a Stand user have come into contact before the awakening of the Sacred Gear holder's abilities. His powers were dormant, so it would be expected that he would be unable to see it. I'll have to remember that should I research it any further." Sona surmised, taking a seat again and leaning back in her chair. "Please take note of it in my log, Tsubaki."
"Understood, president." Tsubaki said with a nod.
"You said earlier that Devils and Angels can't have Stands, right?" Josuke asked, turning Sona's attention back to him. "What would happen if a human with a Stand was turned into a Devil? Would they lose it?"
"That is a good question. No, in fact, you would not. In truth, should a Stand user become a Devil or Angel, their powers would stack onto each other, and make them even more powerful. The full potential of Stands is still unknown, but there was one user long ago that did indeed become a Devil once. He died before he could reach his full potential, but that was because the Angels feared what he might become if left unchecked."
"I guess they're not particularly eager about something like that..." Josuke muttered in shock.
"Correct. Your question does make me wonder though, are you interested in becoming a Devil like your friend?" Sona asked with a small smirk, seeing a chance in the conversation.
"Not really, no. I was just wondering what would happen should something like that ever occur." Josuke declared, causing Sona to chuckle.
"You're quite honest. I expected you to be a little conflicted. After all, you would benefit quite a bit from becoming a Devil." Sona stated, crossing her legs. "Firstly, you'd gain unnatural long life that would make your human lifespan seem like a blink of an eye."
"I'm not really interested in living forever. Sounds like I'd lose a lot of family." Josuke countered easily.
"You would not lose your friend, Issei. In fact, should you become a Devil, you could fight side by side with him as long as you wish." Sona retorted, leaning on one hand.
"Maybe, but that would mean being under someone else's rule, wouldn't it?" Josuke asked, his expression rather serious. "Issei didn't really have a choice in the matter, but I do. I want to decide my own path, whether it's fighting for my best friend or die trying. I want it to be my choice." Sona and Tsubaki both let out a small breath in surprise. The two glanced at each other before the student council president grinned slightly.
"You're quite an interesting person, Higashikata-san. I can see why Rias doesn't mind having you around despite the fact that you're still a human." Sona said, readjusting her glasses and smiling at Josuke. The tall teen gave a smile of his own.
"You seem like a good person, sempai. Thank you for taking the time to explain all of this information to me." Josuke said, standing from his seat and bowing in appreciation.
"It was no problem at all. It's interesting to meet someone with your abilities." Sona complimented, bowing back.
"I should get going and see what the club is up to." Josuke said as he slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Before you go, there is something I'd like to ask you." Sona declared, causing Josuke to turn back once more. "What do you think of Rias? I don't mean to pry, but we have been friends for a very long time."
Josuke stared at Sona for a short time, mulling over the question in his head. "To be honest, I didn't really trust her at first. I thought she had her own agenda in mind, which she might have still. But now, it's fair to say I trust her." Josuke explained. "She's been nothing but good to Issei and me so far." Suddenly he chuckled and smiled. "Plus, she seems kinda cool."
Sona raised a brow at his answer before giving a small smile. "She is indeed. We have a bit of a rivalry, but know that I have always trusted her. I hope it stays that way with you as well."
"Me too. Anyway, I'd better get going. Again, thank you for telling me all this." Josuke said before waving as he exited the room.
"'Kind of cool' is usually not the impression Rias-sama leaves with most, especially men." Tsubaki commented neutrally.
"It's rare to see a man who thinks with his head and not with the member between his legs. He's smart, but he'd like to lead others to believe otherwise." Sona smirked before turning to several papers on her table and moving onto her work. "Let's keep an eye on him. You never know when an opportunity will present itself that we can cease before Rias does."
"Hey, I'm back." Josuke announced as he pushed open the door to the Occult Research Club room. At the center of the room, Issei was standing at the center of a glowing red magic circle while the others stood around him and were watching. Josuke was silent as he waited to see what was happening, watching as the red energy enveloped the brunette's body. Suddenly, it disappeared and left Issei to stand there looking like an idiot. Finally the brunette opened his eyes and glanced around in question.
"U-uh, what happened?" Issei asked, looking at the group around him in question. The others gave sympathetic smiles while Rias sighed and rubbed her face.
"Sorry, Issei. But it looks like you can't jump." Rias stated, crossing her arms. "Looks like you'll have to get there manually. We have a couple bikes for you to use if you want."
"So no teleporting? That sucks…" Issei groaned in disappointment.
"What's going on?" Josuke spoke up, turning their attention to him.
"Oh, hey Josuke. I have to go make a contract with someone. I was supposed to be able to teleport there, but…" Issei grumbled, scratching his head.
"It seems that he needs to get used to his new powers before he can take a magic circle." Rias finished for him, making Josuke smother a laugh from escaping.
"Hah! That's lame! You suck." Josuke taunted with a grin.
"Sh-shut up! I'll show you, I'm gonna go make a contract and then rub it in your face!" Issei growled before turning to Rias. "President, where are the bikes at?"
"In the back of the building. Please help yourself." Rias told him with a smile.
"Understood! I'll be back in a bit!" Issei exclaimed, a fire of determination in his eyes. "I'll catch you later, Josuke! When I bring back a contract, you're buying me snacks!"
"Hey, I never agreed to that!" Josuke argued, but the brunette bolted out of the room without another word. The pompadour spotting teen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I swear, he gets fired up too easily…"
"So, Josuke-kun, how did your meeting with Sona go?" Rias asked, turning his attention back to her as she took a seat behind her desk.
"Oh, it went good. I guess I've got an understanding about where my power comes from. Something to do with bloodlines…" Josuke muttered, mulling over it in his head.
"Sona took a great interest in Stand history when she heard about an incident that occurred around ten years ago involving Stand users." Rias explained, causing Josuke to raise a brow.
"Ten years ago? What happened?" Josuke asked curiously, but Rias shook her head.
"I don't know the details, but Sona does. Should you want to find out more, you can ask her. Careful though, she explained all of this to you as a favor to me. In the future she might expect something in return." Rias explained, causing Josuke to sweat drop.
"Uh, I think I'm good."
"I see. So then, is there anything you need?" Rias asked, leaning back in her chair. Josuke nodded and reached into his bag, rummaging through it.
"Well, since I'm gonna be sticking around here a lot, I thought I might as well turn this in." Josuke declared, pulling out a piece of paper and placing it on the table. "That's my club application."
Rias raised a brow as she grabbed the paper. Both her and Akeno, who stood next to her, examined it themselves. "You know that our club is only a front, Josuke. You didn't have to go out and do that."
"I know, but I thought I might as well have something that makes it official. Hope you don't mind." Josuke stated with a goofy grin. Rias looked up at him for a moment in question before smiling as well, placing the paper back on the table.
"I suppose I shouldn't waste such a gesture, then. Josuke Higashikata, welcome to the Occult Research Club." Rias stated as she stood up and bowed.
"I hope we can continue to get along, Josuke-kun." Akeno added as she mirrored her president's actions.
"Welcome to the club." He heard Koneko say quietly from behind him.
"It should be an interesting experience being club members together, Higashikata-san." Kiba declared, bowing from the opposite side of Josuke. The tall teen smiled before bowing back with his arms placed firmly at his side.
"Thank you for having me, president."
Across town was an old, abandoned church that was hidden from sight. Very few went near it, for it was almost as if people were warded away from it. This was more or less true, for it was now the home base of Fallen Angels in the area, specifically one named Raynare.
"I can't believe you were defeated by a human, Dohnaseek!" A small blond girl laughed. She wore a gothic attire and long white stockings, her hair held up in a large black bow and twin tails. In front of her was the same Fallen Angel that Josuke had fought the previous day.
"Shut up, Mittelt! You weren't there!" The man now identified as Dohnaseek growled in annoyance.
"Quiet, both of you!" Raynare ordered, drawing their attention to her. She was in her full Fallen Angel outfit, the very revealing black strip armor barely covering her body. "Are you sure the boy was tall, dark skinned and had a weird haircut?"
"That's right. I don't know what his power was, but it was definitely not a Sacred Gear. He was no devil, but he seemed to have knowledge of us." Dohnaseek explained, gripping his hand in frustration. "He had the nerve to declare war on us by himself. He also called you out by name."
"I've met him before. He is friends with Issei Hyoudou, the boy with the Sacred Gear that I killed." Raynare explained, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess it's true that he's still alive. It's a good thing I sent Kalawarner to confirm it. She'll finish him off should she find him."
"So what do we do about this Higashikata boy, then?" Mittelt asked, crossing her legs as she was now sitting on the table in front of them. "Should we all attack him at once?"
"Even if he plans to fight all of us on his own, it'd be dangerous to go after another human in the Gremory clan turf." Raynare said dismissively. "For now, it's best to just keep an eye on him. He may want to fight us, but he has no idea where we are or what our plan is. Mittelt, I want you to spy on him for me. Do not engage, but keep an eye on him. Perhaps we can learn more about his powers and capabilities if we watch close enough."
"Understood. I am also interested in seeing what kind of human could beat one of us." Mittelt smirked, her comment causing Dohnaseek to flinch.
"There is… something else you should know." Dohnaseek declared, causing both to turn to him. "His strength was not the only notable thing about him. It seems he has some sort of… regenerative ability."
"Oh? So he can heal himself?" Raynare asked curiously.
"No, something odder. During our fight, he was able to pierce my chest. I thought I was dead for sure." Dohnaseek explained, causing Mittelt and Raynare to widen their eyes in shock. "But what was weird was when he knocked me away, it was as if I had never been hit. Not only was the blood all gone, but so was the hole in my chest. Oddly enough, he had healed me."
"No human should be able to heal a Fallen Angel or a Devil. Twilight Healing is the only ability capable of that." Mittelt argued, but Dohnaseek only shrugged.
"Well he did. How he did it is still a mystery to me, of course."
"There is much we don't know of his abilities, yet. For now, he is not our concern. Our plan to get the next Sacred Gear will be done soon. The girl will be arriving tomorrow." Raynare declared with a smirk. "The last thing I need right now is a distraction. This Josuke Higashikata is just that. I just want eyes on him to make sure we don't have a problem and that he stays out of our way. Understood?"
"Yes." Both Mittelt and Dohnaseek agreed, turning to leave to their own business. Raynare turned around and smiled, glancing up through the main stained glass window. "It looks like I'll get to see my cute little 'boyfriend' again. And this time I'll take his friends life instead of his."