A Life Kept Simple (DxD/Hentai Chaos Gacha OC-SI) — Chapter 27 (Patreon)

I ride up against the couch, wincing at its squeaky groan. Mary presses into the cushion, perched between my legs. She’s sucking me off with what you’d think was single-minded focus if not for her occasional smug glances up at me.

“...Mary?” I whisper.

“Mmm…?”

She looks up with half of me inside her mouth with the most innocent expression imaginable. My eyes flick towards the air mattress for what has to be the sixth time in the last minute. Ibaraki is still asleep somehow. She’s sprawled diagonally across the thing with one arm hanging off the side and her hair fanned out behind her. Sir Blob has moulded himself into a little puddle of fur atop her stomach, rising and falling with every breath she takes.

Mary slurps up and off me. She follows my gaze, and her lips curl upwards.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” I whisper.

“What?”

“Trying to wake her up.”

Mary’s shoulders shake.

I frown. “You fucking are!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You absolutely do.”

She giggles quietly, bending down to my glistening erection.

...When Mary gets in the mood, I swear half the blood in her body stops reaching her brain.

“Do you seriously want Ibaraki waking up to this?” I mutter.

“Maybe,” she says, pushing my cock against the inside of her cheek so she can talk. I can barely understand her even then.

“Because it’d be funny,” she says after taking it out of her mouth. “Now shut up. You left me hungry yesterday~!”

Sometimes, I get the feeling that if Mary had the choice, I’d live chained to her bed 24/7….

“Saki is right across the hall,” I hiss after she starts getting loud.

Mary stops briefly, finally seeming to remember that our house acquired another person yesterday.

Her face reddens. Then she starts laughing again with my dick in her hand.

“...You’re impossible. Like, seriously.”

“But you love me!”

“Unfortunately,” I mutter, running a hand through her hair.

Mary wipes her mouth and rises with a considerably more embarrassed expression than she started with. “...I got a little carried away.”

“Gee, you think?”

“Shut up.” She bends down and presses a quick kiss against my cheek and stands. “I’m showering with icy cold water.”

“Good.”

She smirks. “You could come with me.”

…So much for thinking she sobered up. Mary gets three steps towards the hallway before remembering something.

“Wait, Saki’s room is right across from the bathroom.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, you win this one.”

I pull my boxers back up. “Whatever you say, babe…”

Sir Blob makes a tiny bubbling noise from his perch on Ibaraki’s abs.

“Living the dream, huh?” I say.

For the first time since Osaka, I’ve actually got a few minutes where nobody needs anything from me—which reminds me.

“Alright,” I murmur. “What to do about you…”

A flickering window opens in front of my face.

Feat: Not On My Watch — Metamorphosis Averted!

+1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket

This was the first thing I saw this morning. I think the Gacha held out on me in case Saki ran off in the middle of the night. …Which is still a pretty realistic outcome, to be honest. The only thing keeping her with me is that sacred gear, I reckon. Serafall didn’t say whether she’d be back, but maybe she’ll check in with us once the Young Devil’s Gathering wraps up?

I stifle a yawn and tear the silver ticket in half.

Item: Hircine’s Ring [Rare]

Skyrim - A Daedric artifact of Hircine. The wearer of this ring is able to transform into a Werewolf at will. It also grants them greater control over any transformation-based ability.

I catch it against my chest before it can fall between my legs. It’s a thick silver band with a wolf’s head on the front, its mouth open around a dark stone. I turn it over between my fingers.

…It’s cool. Not particularly useful, but cool!

I slip the ring onto my finger. Nothing happens, obviously. I don’t suddenly sprout hair all over my body or feel an overwhelming urge to chase squirrels. Greater control over transformation-based abilities is probably the more interesting part, anyway. I don’t have any transformations now, but God knows what I’ll pull out of the Gacha eventually. Maybe it’ll work with Shape Altering? Though I’ve never exactly struggled to control that.

As for actually becoming a werewolf… well, I look down at myself. Between Hanma and everything else I’ve accumulated, I can’t imagine there are many situations where turning into a big hairy dog is my best option.

“Could be worse.” I tug the ring off and toss it into my inventory. I sink back into the couch, resting my head against the cushion.

My eyes close just for a second.

“Takezo.”

Something shakes my shoulder.

“Takezo.”

“Mm...?” I crack an eye open. Mary stands over me with damp hair hanging around her shoulders, dressed in shorts and one of my shirts.

“You fell asleep.” She smiles and drops onto the couch beside me.

“How’s Saki?”

“Still asleep.”

“Good.”

Mary leans back against the couch. “She was awake when I went to shower, though.”

I turn towards her. “You talked to her?”

“Only for a minute. She apologised for being in the way. She asked if she could help with anything before I told her to go back to sleep.”

I sigh. Yeah, that’s about what I expected. Saki isn’t exactly thrilled to be here. She probably isn’t thrilled to be anywhere right now. But if she has to be somewhere, I suppose a house full of supernatural weirdos is better than Hayato’s basement.

Mary bumps her shoulder against mine. “So what are we doing today?”

“Leaving. We need to get out of the house.”

She blinks. “Why?”

“Renovations, apparently. Serafall’s got people coming over today. I asked for a few extra bedrooms, another bathroom, and a bigger kitchen. Serafall started talking about putting everything underground so they don’t have to hypnotise everyone.”

“...That sounds expensive. Can we afford it?”

We? It’s adorable that she’s thinking of us like a package deal already… and that she’s sparing whatever sense of pride she thinks I might have. If this wasn’t free, I’d take up her implied suggestion that Baron Naamah foots the bill in a heartbeat.

I smile. “It’s free, which is why I stopped asking questions when she mentioned a swimming pool. Anyway, we can’t exactly sit around while a bunch of magicians tear open the foundations, so we need somewhere to go for the day.”

“I could take Saki shopping? Wanna come?”

“She only has one suitcase, so we’ll definitely need to take her clothes shopping at some point, but...” I scratch my cheek. “I was thinking of the Houjou’s. Can kill a good few birds with one stone. I can call all the guys over to have that peerage conversation.”

Her face immediately scrunches up. “Oh.”

“Don’t give me that look,” I say while poking her cheek.

“I just...” Mary sighs. “It feels weird asking them.”

“You’re asking if they want superpowers and immortality. They don’t have to say yes. We can get the guys together, Leona and her lot are already there, and Ibaraki can come...” I glance towards the hall. “And Saki.”

Mary follows my gaze. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“I dunno, but sitting around here all day probably isn’t gonna help her. She’s not exactly shy enough to melt if somebody talks to her.”

“No,” Mary agrees quietly. “Maybe having a bunch of people around will take her mind off everything for a few hours?”

“And we can figure out her sacred gear. I don’t want to invite her out and then go, ‘Surprise! We brought you here to experiment on you.’”

“Probably a good idea.”

“I have those occasionally.” I pinch her side. Mary squeaks and elbows me away, which finally gets a reaction from the air mattress. Ibaraki grunts, rolling onto her back. Sir Blob wobbles precariously atop her stomach before settling again.

“...Noisy,” she mumbles. One golden eye cracks open. Ibaraki’s nose wrinkles. “You smell like sex.”

“I showered!” Mary immediately sniffs herself to double-check. “...I did!”

Ibaraki props herself up on her elbows. Sir Blob slides down her stomach and lands between her legs with a soft plop. She scratches beneath one horn and looks around blearily.

“Food?”

I get up from the chair. “...Yeah, I’ll get to it.”

The floorboards in the hallway creak. Saki trudges into view a second later, still wearing the clothes Mary lent her last night. Her hair’s a little messy from sleeping, though she’s apparently made some attempt to tame it with her fingers.

“G-Good morning.”

Her eyes move from me to Mary before landing on Ibaraki sitting upright on the mattress. …Ah, right. Last night, Ibaraki was next door when we arrived. By the time she got back, Saki had already disappeared upstairs.

Saki’s gaze climbs slowly. “...Are those real?”

Ibaraki reaches up and taps one of her horns.

“Can I… touch them?” she asks.

Ibaraki blinks several times.

“I-I was just wondering what they feel like.” Saki immediately waves both hands. “Sorry! You don’t have to let me! That was rude—”

Ibaraki shrugs. “...You may.”

“Really?”

Saki approaches like she’s trying not to spook a wild animal. Ibaraki leans her head forward and Saki hesitantly runs two fingers over the side of one horn. Her eyebrows jump upwards.

“W-Whoa… it’s warm.”

“For I am alive.”

“...Right.” She touches the horn once more before pulling her hand away. “T-Thank you.”

Ibaraki nods solemnly. “You are most welcome. How was the sharpness? I care for my horns most preciously!”

“They were quite… sharp?”

“Good!”

Sir Blob chooses that moment to crawl into Ibaraki’s lap. Saki’s attention immediately drops.

“O-Oh! You have a cat!”

“That’s Sir Blob,” Mary says.

Saki crouches. “Can I—”

“Go ahead!”

Sir Blob stretches his neck towards her hand. She scratches underneath his chin, and his entire body starts vibrating. Saki jerks back.

“Is he okay?!”

“He does that sometimes,” I say. “He’s not a real cat.”

She gives him a second look. “What is he, then?”

“A man-eating mimic. Don’t worry, he’s harmless.”

She starts scratching him again. The vibrating resumes as I walk past in time to see the smile creeping across her face.

“Alright,” I mutter. “Breakfast!”

Saki immediately straightens. “Can I help? I-I can cook.”

“So can I. It’s fine. Take it easy.”

“...I could wash up, then?”

“You’re a guest.”

Her expression changes slightly. “...Oh.”

“You’re not doing chores the morning after you get here. Give it a week, and I’ll have you scrubbing floors with a toothbrush.”

“...Ah.” Saki smiles hesitantly. “I’m looking forward to it, then?”

“Don’t listen to him,” Mary says. “He barely cleans himself. He’s got a magic doll on the TV that does all the chores for him.”

“...How?”

“No one’s seen it move, but I bought it on good authority, and it does its job.” I head into the kitchenette and start digging through the fridge. “What do you guys want?”

“Meat,” Ibaraki says immediately, to the surprise of no one.

“Anything’s fine,” Saki says.

I stop and look over my shoulder.

“What?”

“Pick something. ‘Anything’s fine’ isn’t food.”

“O-Oh.” She looks genuinely caught off guard. “Um... eggs?”

“How?”

“However you’re making them.” Her cheeks redden at my raised eyebrow. “...Scrambled.”

“Done. Mary?”

“Same,” she says without looking up from her phone.

“Ibaraki?”

“Meat.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.”

She crosses her arms under her bust. “...Meat and eggs.”

“...Okay, you’re getting those scrambled, then. Here, you can start feeding Sir Blob!”

I toss the half-open pack of beef strips. Saki has settled onto the edge of the air mattress now, close enough to Ibaraki that Sir Blob can stretch between them. She’s asking something about her horns again. Ibaraki answers around a yawn before taking Sir Blob by the middle and dumping him into Saki’s lap while she goes off to brush her teeth. I hear Saki laugh when he immediately spreads himself across her thighs.

Mary wanders into the kitchenette beside me and bumps her hip against mine, smiling.

“We’re not done,” she whispers into my ear. “I’m getting my fix one way or another.”

“...Sit back down.”

I crack the first egg into a bowl.

【—〄—】

You know, in retrospect, I should’ve expected Leona to turn this into a whole thing from the very beginning. When you consider our last conversation and her general ire towards the shit Zephyrdor pulled, using her home to discuss recruitment for Mary’s peerage and whatnot probably wasn’t the best idea. Only because of… well, the strangeness.

Saki, for one, needs some normality... or as close to normality as I can manage. And, well, the boys were bound to find out eventually, so it’s better that I throw them into the deep end. That being said, getting everyone up to speed takes the better part of half an hour. Not with everything, obviously. Saki’s business is Saki’s business, so all the guys get is that we ran into her in Osaka yesterday and she’s staying with me for the foreseeable future.

Nobody pushes, thankfully. But the entire deal with Leona and her mother is another matter. Somehow, despite an actual oni sitting cross-legged on the floor and Sir Blob currently trying to eat one of Houjou’s cushions, they’re more taken aback by the prostitution. I get it, though. It’s been happening under their noses the entire time. Kyouka’s solo gig was an open secret, but an actual operation run by the student council is another thing entirely.

“Right.” I clap my hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Now that everyone’s sufficiently traumatised, can we get to why I actually called you here?”

Ironically, we’re in the lounge that Mary tried to Men in Black me in a few months ago. On one side, the boys sit next to each other on a long couch. Saki sits in an armchair directly in front of me with Ibaraki cross-legged on the floor at her feet. Mary, Leona, Hayami, and the treasurer, whose name eludes me, are dotted about on oddly shaped cushioned seats on the other side of the room.

“So—”

Kyouka slams the door open, announcing her presence with a booming laugh. “Make way for me, you fuckers!”

“You’re late,” I say dryly. “And you interrupted me, too.”

“...Oh shit.” She stops and stares at the guys. “You know, Leona told me we’d be having a big old get-together, but I didn’t believe you guys would actually come. They know about everything, then?”

Sasaki sighs as he ties his hair back. “Barely. It’s more unbelievable than the supernatural being real, somehow.”

“Who the heck is this? Are those horns?”

Kyouka walks up to Ibaraki, looking down at her curiously.

“...I am Ibaraki Douji.” She continues petting Sir Blob. “And this is Arima’s pet monster.”

“You brought your pet monster?”

“The cat,” I add, just in case Ibaraki gets the wrong idea… and everyone else, for that matter. I sneak a glance at Saki, and while she seems a bit nervous, she isn’t looking at me in terror or anything. “It’s not a cat. Not really.”

Seto raises his hand reflexively. “Then what is it?”

“A man-eating black ball!” Kyouka says all-too-cheerfully. “I watched it eat two people.”

“It ate two people?!” Murata and Seto ask the question in two entirely different tones.

Leona waves dismissively. “My aunt and her husband. They were horrible people.”

“Hey!” I clap my hands. “Eyes back here, please.”

Mary clears her throat. “Okay, so… you guys know I’m a devil. Now, I’ve got evil pieces, which is basically a magical chess set that lets me reincarnate people as devils to join my peerage. I haven’t used any of them yet. Takezo thought that I should ask you guys.”

Miyata leans forward. “...What’s a peerage?”

“You’re basically like my retainers, sort of? In return for the reincarnation, you serve me as your King. But as you get stronger and rise through the ranks, you’ll get your own Evil Pieces, too.”

“Retainers, like a knight?” Seto asks. “Why? Do we have to fight in wars or something on your behalf?”

She shakes her head. “Not anymore. Basically, we have these things we call Rating Games, which are sort of simulated wars, but there’s no risk of death. It’s like the Underworld’s national sport, more or less. You basically fight another King’s peerage. It’s more complicated than that, but I’ll explain it properly later.”

“The Underworld?” Murata’s grinning. “Like hell?”

“Kind of,” I say.

“Anyhow, you wouldn’t stop being yourselves or anything. You’d just… not be human anymore,” Mary says.

Murata chuckles. “And we’d get magic?”

“Technically, there’s nothing stopping you from getting magic now,” I say.

“Really?!”

Leona sniffs. “Bear witness!”

She lifts her hands, so they’re running parallel together, and closes her eyes. Her brow knits together in focus. Shoulders trembling as she focuses with a low exhale. Slowly, the space between her hands begins to glow. A faint ivory light takes form, pulsing slightly as she struggles to maintain it. Leona drops her eyes and grins at us expectantly.

“See!”

Mary twists around, grabbing Leona’s face with an elated laugh. “Since when could you do magic!”

“Hmph! I’ve had a magical tutor for these past two weeks in preparation for this very day. We spoke about it, didn’t we? How I’d be your Queen!”

“...You still remember?”

“Who do you think I am!” Leona turns her nose up. “...Well, what’ll it be, boys? As a devil, you’ll be immortal, gain the ability to fly, and have the chance to acquire a peerage of your own.”

Murata turns to Miyata.

Sasaki, meanwhile, raises a hand. “Wouldn’t that interfere with the Covenant?”

“The what?” Leona’s brow furrows.

I scratch my cheek. “Right. Forgot you guys don’t know about that.”

“What is a Covenant?” Hayami asks.

“It’s an organisation I founded that runs off a magical pact. Basically, I get to share my abilities with its members depending on how they contribute to the organisation. Breaking the terms means you instantly lose whatever abilities I’ve granted. I actually meant to ask Leona if she wanted to join, since she asked me to keep her updated on it.”

“...Wait, it’s—”

“Yes.” I nod. “It’s basically a for-human group. Sort of. Also, anyone can join so long as they aren’t evil and want to look out for the little guy. Would anyone like to join?”

Leona nods. “Yes. I accept.”

“I’d have to look at the terms,” Hayami says. “What about you, Ria?”

The short-haired treasurer looks away. “I-I dunno… I’m okay with things as they are.”

“All good,” I say, smiling.  I look towards Mary and Kyouka. “Offer extends to you two as well, obviously.”

Kyouka immediately points at herself. “Me? Fuck yeah, I’m in.”

“You stole my thunder!” Mary says, giving me a halfhearted glare. She jolts slightly as the eyes turn back on her. “R-Right! Being part of the Covenant doesn’t clash with being in my peerage. You don’t have to decide right now. Seriously. The gathering for the young devil nobles is at the end of the month, so there’s no rush. And even then, I’m not going to be upset if you say no.”

Murata claps his hands. “I knew you were some kind of aristocrat, goddamn it! Sasaki, gimme my money!”

“...Fuck.” Sasaki fishes a 1,000 yen note out of his wallet and smacks it into Murata’s waiting hand.

“I’m saying no.” Everyone looks at Tajima. He shrugs his broad shoulders. “Nothing against you, Mary. I want to stay human.”

“...O-Oh.” Mary pauses for all of half a second before nodding. “Okay.”

Sasaki scratches the back of his neck. “I want to think about it.”

“That’s fine too.”

“I’ll do it,” Murata says.

Miyata raises his hand. “Same.”

Seto follows immediately. “Me too.”

“...Really?” Mary blinks.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Murata asks. “You just said we get to fly.”

“And live forever,” Miyata adds.

I snort. “You can still be killed, mind you.”

Seto hasn’t said anything else. He’s got that thoughtful look on his face, though.

“What sold you?” I ask.

“...Well, Mary said I’d be her retainer, right? And retainers get paid.”

Mary nods slowly. “Mhm.”

“Then I’m definitely in.”

…Right. Seto is capital-P Poor and has too much pride to accept a handout from me. I try to do my best with his Covenant salary, but one can never have too much money, at least to a point.

Murata claps his hands against his knees. “So, we fight for you, right? In these Rating Game things. Well, the five of us have been talking about how we’re gonna fight as part of the Covenant.”

I stare at him. “You’ve been talking about fighting?”

“We figured we’d use our Hero Havoc roles.”

“No way, you’re turning the Covenant into an IRL PC café session!” I say with a laugh.

“It makes sense!”

Miyata points between himself and Murata. “We take DPS. Tajima’s a tank anyway, so he can fill that role.”

“I never agreed to this,” Tajima mutters. “But alright.”

“Seto and Sasaki can figure theirs out.”

I rub my chin. “So what does that make me? Healer?”

Across the room, Leona’s lips curl upward. “You’re not wrong,” she says. “In fact, Arima has a remarkably potent method of healing other people.”

Kyouka’s eyes light up. “It’s sex, by the way.”

Mary fails to hold in her laughter, nor do I think she ever really tried. I sink back into my seat and pinch the bridge of my nose.

…DPS, they said? My hand stops. “...Wait. I might have something for one of you.”

The laughter quietens, though it doesn’t entirely disappear either.

I reach into my inventory behind my back and pull out the Ring of Hircine. “This ring lets you turn into a werewolf whenever you want. No side effects, and you don’t actually become a werewolf. Dunno how you guys are gonna decide who gets this between you two, but maybe you can share—”

“Rock, paper, scissors,” Murata says firmly. “No hard feelings.”

Miyata nods. “Bet. Ready?”

“Rock.”

“...Paper.”

“Scissors!”

“FUCK!” Murata slams his head into his hands. 

Miyata catches the Ring of Hircine with a laugh. “Undefeated, baby!”

“This ring turns him into a werebeast?” Ibaraki says. She scoots closer to Miyata. “...Put it on.”

Miyata looks at me.

I shrug. “Go ahead.”

He slips the ring onto his finger, only for nothing to happen.

“...Well?” Murata asks.

Miyata turns his hand over. “I don’t know. Maybe I have to activate it somehow?”

“Think about becoming a werewolf,” I say.

“How?”

“...The fuck do you mean, how? Just—”

Miyata suddenly doubles over, his back arching with a series of horrible cracks as his clothes rip and tear against his bulging frame.

“What the fuck!” Murata, Tajima, Seto, and Sasaki jump away from him all at once, scooting to the girl’s side of the room. Ibaraki stays where she is next to him, rising onto her feet in anticipation.

Miyata’s shoulders broaden, his arms lengthening until his knuckles almost reach the floor. Dark fur bursts across his skin as his face pushes forward into a muzzle. His hands become enormous claws, ears sharpening above his head as he continues getting bigger and bigger until I’m craning my neck to look at him.

A low growl rolls through the room.

Kyouka chuckles nervously. “Whoa…”

Murata walks across the room towards him while Ibaraki circles him curiously.

“Quite the monstrous form. I approve~!” She grabs his forearm with both hands and squeezes. “Yes, yes! This shall do nicely for my first battle in this world!”

Miyata grins, which looks considerably more threatening when he has a mouth full of fangs. “Yeah?”

I reach out to take a gander at his life force and baulk a little. It’s definitely not an insignificant boost. He and all the boys were firmly edging towards superhuman thanks to the training they’ve been doing, synergising well with Hanma. But this transformation alone has made him as strong as Mary was back when I first met her. Mid-class is unimpressive in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a significant boost regardless!

Ibaraki’s grin widens. “Fight me!”

“No,” I say.

“Why not?”

“Because we’re in someone’s lounge.”

Leona nods approvingly. “We do have grounds, though, if you’d like to head there.”

“Not right now,” I say. We’ve still got to test Saki’s sacred gear, after all.

Murata stares up at him for several long seconds, giving the rest of the guys and girls enough time to crowd behind him.

“Best two out of three,” he says. “I can’t miss out on this!”

Miyata laughs, but it comes out as a growling bark that makes Saki and Ria flinch back and scurry to the couch.

Seto reaches out and touches the fur on Miyata’s arm. “Does it hurt? That transformation looked like it hurt!”

Miyata shakes his massive head.

“Can you change back?” Mary asks.

Miyata pauses before nodding.

“You should probably make sure,” I say.

He closes his yellow eyes. A moment later, the transformation begins receding. Fur disappears, claws pull back into fingers, and his muzzle recedes until regular old Miyata is standing in the middle of the room again.

Completely unclothed Miyata.

“AAAAH!” Mary spins around.

Leona covers her eyes in spirit but peeks through her fingers with a lewd smirk on her face. Saki makes a strangled noise and immediately finds the opposite wall fascinating.

“HA!” Murata collapses against the couch, laughing. “YOUR CLOTHES!”

“I fucking noticed!” Miyata throws both hands over himself. “Stop laughing and give me something!”

I double over, hands on my knees. “H-Hold on, hold on—”

“ARIMA, KYOUKA’S TAKING A PICTURE!”

Kyouka gives me a guilty grin as she lowers her phone. “What? That thing was so big as a werewolf that I had to see whether his regular one was the same!”

I’m laughing too hard to immediately admonish her. Seto throws his jacket across the room, which Miyata swiftly ties around his waist right as the door opens.

“Considering how much fun you’re all having, I thought everyone might appreciate some—” Mrs Houjou stops about halfway through the door. Behind her stands one of the servants with a trolley covered in tea and snacks. “...refreshments.”

Miyata closes his eyes. “...Please kill me.”

“...I see Leona’s made some interesting friends. Though I didn’t take you for a nudist, we accommodate all tastes in this house~!”

Murata makes a face. “Wait… who did you take for a nudist then?”

“If you must ask,” she says, giggling behind a hand, “I personally thought it of that one.”

“What, me?!” Sasaki straightens. “Why?!”

“Just my womanly intuition, dear.”

“Sleazy intuition more like,” I mutter under my breath.

Mrs Houjou smiles at Miyata. “I’ll have someone bring you clothes.”

“...Thank you.”

“Eventually.”

“Come on!”

Everyone’s laughing at the poor guy… even Saki, who I think is laughing more at the absurdity of the situation than anything else. Shaking my head, I reach back into my inventory behind my back and hurl the Cloak of Invisibility at him.

“Here.”

He disappears underneath it.

“Oh, thank fuck,” I hear Miyata sigh. He drapes the cloak down to his shoulders, turning into a floating head in the middle of the room.

“Whoa!” Seto leans forward.

Saki does considerably more than that.

“An invisibility cloak?!” She shoots out of her seat, running up right in front of Miyata’s disembodied head. “Like, an actual invisibility cloak? How does that even work? Does it bend light? Can you still see through it from underneath? What happens if you cover your head?!”

Miyata blinks at her. “I dunno. Lemme check… And yep, I can see the room just fine!”

“Can I see?” She takes two quick steps towards him before abruptly stopping. “...Oh.”

“...Yeah, I’m still naked under here,” Miyata says with a nervous laugh. “Sorry about that.”

Saki retreats twice as quickly as she approached, face burning. “Never mind!”

“Seriously~!” Kyouka cackles. “Aw, don’t let that stop you!”

Hayami watches all this with a face cut from stone. “An oni, a man-eating creature masquerading as a cat, and a naked werewolf.” She crosses one leg over the other. “President, your social circle continues to inspire confidence.”

Leona sniffs. “Don’t lump my social circle in with Arima’s.”

“We’re in your house,” I point out. “And the both of you are part of my Covenant. My social circle is your social circle.”

“Also, I’m your friend,” Kyouka says with far too much glee. “I ain’t the definition of class, I’ll tell you that!”

“...Damn,” Leona bites on her thumb. “I’ll concede momentarily.”

Murata reaches out and shoves Miyata’s floating head.

“Ow! What the fuck?”

“Just checking,” he replies.

“Checking what?!”

“Whether your head was, like, intangible. Is that the word?”

Tajima gives him a nod.

Miyata smacks a palm to his forehead. “You can see my head! The fuck are you on about?!”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t before. And the fact that your body isn’t there sort of makes me think you’re a ghost, you know?”

“...Actually,” Sasaki says, “I kind of understand what he means.”

“Thank you!”

Across the room, Mary’s glare is burning a hole into my side. “...Wait.”

“What?” I ask.

Leona slowly turns towards me too. “Is that how you disappeared that day?!”

“It must be!” Mary exclaims. “I couldn’t sense Miyata when he was under that cloak!”

I scratch my cheek. “...Maybe?”

Ibaraki frowns. “What is she shouting about?”

“Ancient history,” I say quickly.

“TAKEZO!”

Genuinely, I’m super-satisfied with the last string of chapters. Usually, school-years OCs tend to die quick deaths in fanfics as they’re introduced in a handful of chapters and then are never seen again. Canon school-years characters share a similar fate unless they’ve got pairing potential (cough, Aika Kiryuu, cough). I didn’t want that to happen here, hence why I made use of Covenant.

Aside from that, I think the string of chapters thus far has probably been my favourite of the fic so far. My enthusiasm for this story dipped a little after I wrapped up the Zephyrdor arc, I’ll admit it, but as I continued to write I felt the excitement picking back up.

Chapter 28 will probably be one a lot of you enjoy and it’ll be serving as a conclusion to this peerage-building mini arc. I can say with confidence that it’s on to the Young Devil Gathering with Chapter 29! ^^

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