*000000*

Chapter 5 : Geburtstag.

"À demain!" I wave goodbye to Shikari Momo and Hitadori Yuki, the two girls who quickly sympathized with me at the beginning of the week and with whom I became more-or-less fast friends, before walking away from Kuoh High.

It's only a couple of minutes later, once I've put enough distance between myself and the crowd, that I address the not-so-hidden dragon in my backpack.

"See? That wasn't so bad." I whisper quietly while making my way toward my apartment.

The Red Plushie Emperor grumble-squeaks a little before coming 'alive' in the corner of my eye, button-eyes locking with mine from above my shoulder.

"This was just as humiliating as I thought it'd be!" He cutely growls, curling his muzzle in a scowl.

I smile a little.

"But?" I ask knowingly.

Ddraig huffs, grumbles some more, says something about 'rubs' that I don't quite catch, before sighing.

"... But it was also a little bit funny, I admit. Especially when I caught the Nekoshou staring back at me all wide-eyed when you went for a meal." He snickers a little.

"Tsk." I click my tongue, suddenly not finding the situation as amusing as I had before, "So they should already be aware of you to some extent..."

"Of us, you mean." Ddraig corrects me, "Half of her attention was on you too. Maybe because of me, but you're still carrying part of Vritra's soul around, so I wouldn't bet on it."

"Merde. Nothing to it, I guess..." I sigh, before growing a little contemplative, "I still bet I could jerk them around for a while longer, though."

"Oh?" The dragon squeaks his interest aloud.

"Yup." I answer, a mischievous grin on my lips, "I'm going to act as clueless as possible for a while longer. I'd rather negotiate from the strongest position possible when they inevitably confront me about this, so I'm going to milk my 'clueless and innocent' act for as much as I can."

"How can you be so sure that they won't confront you about it as soon as possible?" He asks curiously.

"Mostly a gut feeling." I answer easily, "The two Kings are the kind who take their time observing a situation before acting on it, and I'm too much of an unknown at the moment. Oh, I've no doubts that my background will be looked at from every angle possible, but I don't think it'll give them even the beginning of an idea about what's wrong with me, sooo…"

"So they'll just keep an eye on you for the time being until they have a better understanding of the situation." Ddraig slowly words out, getting where I'm coming from.

"I mean, I could be wrong, but I got a good feeling about this."

"A smell of dragon, huh?" Rias' Gremory repeats aloud, sinking a little deeper in the couch of the Occult Research Club.

Her cute little Rook seating in front of her nods mutely, looking serious in spite of the cookie she's slowly nibbling.

"I'll try to give her a… closer look tomorrow if you want, Rias." Her Queen suggests, eyes half-lidded and a little smile on her face.

The Gremory heiress lets the statement sink in, taking a sip of her cup of tea, before eventually nodding.

"Do that, Akeno." Rias agrees, "I'll see if I can find something more on the second year transfer student in the meantime."

"What will we tell Sona?" The half-fallen asks, an eyebrow elegantly raised in askance.

Rias purses her lips.

"Nothing for now." She eventually says, "I'd rather we wait to have something more concrete than Koneko's instincts acting up."

She gives her Rook an apologetic look.

"I trust your judgment, really I do! But it's still a little too thin to warrant us ringing the alarm bell so soon." She tells the white haired girl.

"The plushie." Koneko says, eyes locked with hers, "Strong."

"Surely it must be some kind of magic." Her Queen reasons after trading a look with Rias, "Some kind of shikigami or remotely controlled golem, perhaps?"

"That's what would make the most sense, yes." Rias agrees with her right hand once again, before giggling, "After all, it's not like a dragon of all beings would willingly inhabit 'such a lowly vessel'!"

"I suppose we'll see." Ddraig hums, before suddenly remembering something, "What do you intend to do about him?"

"Hein?" I look back at him over my shoulder in confusion.

"Vritra, you know, the other soul you liberated?" The Welsh Dragon drawls.

"Oh." I voice aloud in realization, "Well, I have an inkling of a plan, but I can't enact it right this moment."

I don't give him the time to ask me to elaborate before doing it myself, a finger raised in the air as I keep walking.

"What's left of his soul isn't coherent in the slightest, as I'm sure you were able to tell while sharing my body with it." He wordlessly, albeit a bit jerkily, nods in assent, "Which means I'll have to do a lot of, let's call it 'soul surgery' on it before I can make use of it. The thing has been reduced to a gibbering, half-mad mess as far as I can tell, the only part left fully untouched being the one responsible for the inner workings of Absorption Line."

"How can you tell?" The dragon squeaks, eyeridges furrowed.

I pause, before shrugging.

"I don't know… I just… can? My power comes with an instinctive understanding of the inner working and making of a soul. I wouldn't be able to create Homies otherwise, since I need to put an emphasis on certain concepts when I create one from scratch without a fully formed soul such as yours as a baseline."

The Red Plushie Emperor makes his equivalent of an understanding hum, and I take that as my clue to carry on with my explanation.

"So, about that soul surgery. I kinda need to provide some materials for it." I explain further.

"You mean other souls." He points out flatly.

"I mean other souls." I confirm without batting an eye, "I mean, I could make use of mine, but I'd be incredibly weakened in the aftermath, so that's not really an option."

"What's the plan, then?" He asks, not really commenting about the morality of what I've said.

"Well, you'd know if you had paid close attention to my talks with Momo and Yuki." I wink at him, "See, there's a district in Kuoh where young women shouldn't walk alone at night…"

The Red Plushie Emperor looks back at me blankly for a beat.

"I don't get it." He squeaks.

I roll my eyes, before huffing.

"Don't worry too much about it. Let's just say that I have the beginning of an idea as to where I can find relatively guilt-free targets to repurpose." I cross my arms under my chest, my lips pressed into a flat line, "So, we're going fishing tonight!"

At first, Ddraig hasn't really got why the girl had called what she was about to do 'fishing', but now that he is overseeing the situation happening from on-high, silently fly-hopping from roof to roof as a 'safety blanket', he has to admit to himself that the comparison is apt.

The two of them had first made their way back to his partner's apartment, keeping busy until the night had truly fallen. Only then had the girl looked through what the witch had given her as clothing articles besides what she calls 'an attack against decency masquerading as a uniform', quickly finding an outfit which left even more of her skin on display, and asked him to follow her from above after making her way out of the window, easily landing from the three story drop without batting an eye or injuring herself.

The Welsh Dragon didn't really paid attention how she did it, but less than thirty minutes later, the smell of alcohol on her was so strong that he would have to be completely noseblind to lose her as she made her way toward the 'bad part of the town' as she had called it, only then starting to shambles without coordination while giggling loudly.

That's when a trio of rough looking mammals approached her. The girl and them got talking, his partner all bubbly and so vapid he thanked the skies it didn't take long before they all got a move on, or his ears would've fallen off.

That's when it hit him.

He had seen this kind of tactic before, long ago. One of his previous partners had gotten baited into a succubus' den because he thought he was about to get an easy lay. How odd to see it happen from the other side.

Still silently fly-hopping between buildings, Ddraig has to refrain himself from snickering aloud, because those humans sure as skies have no ideas what kind of monster they're inviting in their den.

He watches as the quarter finally seems to reach their destination, a badly kept building, whose walls are peppered with graphitis of dubious tastes, two other tough guys keeping watch in front of the main entrance.

Some words are exchanged once again, the quartet is let through, and, oddly enough, the two other guys follow in their steps, closing the door behind them.

Ddraig settles in to wait.

… Any seconds now.

There it is, his muzzle curls into a grin as muffled shouts start to get heard, promptly followed by the sound of breaking furniture, meaty impacts and decidedly less pleasant, other broken things for the unlucky mammals.

Let it be said that the girl was easily shaping herself to be the most interesting partner he ever crossed paths with, Godlike powers over the soul and his sort-of resurrection none-withstanding.

The sudden retort of a gun echoing in the building makes him pause and turn a little more serious once more.

… If the girl has gotten badly hurt, he is after all supposed to pull her ass out of here.

"-tirer dans le nichon, salopard?!" The sudden yelling, far louder than the other sounds so far, simultaneously makes him wince powerfully and reassures him as to the safety of his partner.

After all, if she has the energy to yell like that, she must not be feeling that threatened, the Welsh Dragon reasons.

… Maybe he should let her cool off a little before gliding her way in a bit?

I huff in disdain as the last of the gangoons fall for my Soul Pocus, a hand gingerly massaging my left breast while my other let the emaciated, desiccated body drop to the ground.

I wasn't expecting one of those assholes to whip out a 9mm in Japan of all countries, but it shows that I should always expect the unexpected rather than dismiss it out of hand.

"You alright girl?" Ddraig suddenly flies into the room through a half-broken window.

I huff once again, correcting my fedora's position from atop my head.

"Just peachy." I drawl, before kicking a corpse, "One of those pricks had a gun, kinda surprised me."

I tilt my head to the side a little.

"It scared them more when I just shrugged it off, though." I comment, realigning my swimsuit top strap a little.

"I bet it did." He drawls a little, hovering closer, before making his way to land across my shoulders like a particularly big and lazy cat.

"You comfy up here?" I ask sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He answers without a hint of shame, pumping his forepaws a couple of times on my shoulder before 'laying down'.

A beat passes.

"Are you okay, partner?" The Red Plushie Emperor squeak-asks suddenly.

I look back at him confusedly.

"Why would I not?" I ask back, my eyebrows having shot to the roof.

"... You kinda killed… Twelve people in the span of two minutes." He slowly points out.

I blink, straightening a little.

"I guess I did, huh." I ponder his words, tilting my head this way and that, "And I'm surprisingly alright with it? I mean, those buffoons clearly wanted to choo-choo my drunk ass, and I won't really bat an eye because I cleansed the local gene pool from a bunch of rapists."

He gives me a gimlet button-eye for a while longer, before shrugging, leaning his head against his paws.

"If you say so, then I'll trust you." He answers evenly.

"Thank you for your concern anyway." I sniff, before scowling, "Urg, I reek of cheap booze. I really need a bath before anything else. And I don't know why, but I'm feeling a little bloated. It never happened to the other."

"Then it's probably better if we go back to your apartment." Ddraig says sagely, "So you can clean and take a closer look at what causes this discomfort."

Another pause.

"You're going to stay on my shoulders?"

"Consider it my payment for watching over you tonight."

"... Sure, let's go with that." I roll my eyes, before about-facing in the door's direction, "Let's hightail it out of here. I don't fancy running into one of the peerages today."

"It's the magic." The Red Plushie Emperor squeakily says self-assuredly after I explained to him in detail what was making me feel 'off' about the souls I'd gathered.

"... Can you elaborate?" I ask, eyebrows furrowed as I look at him leaning in the sink while I enjoy my bath.

"There's a reason why the Devils used to be one of the most feared species in the world, before the current government made it illegal for them to take souls as payment for their contracts." Ddraig answers, waving a claw in the air, "Lucifer made them able to eat those to power up, you see? What made this an incredibly efficient manner to quickly grow for them was that they were able to integrate the magic leftover in the soul within their own. Nowadays, they just take a little part of the contractor's magic, so it takes them more time to grow."

"I thought the magic was in the body?" I ask, perplexed.

"And the soul is the blueprint of the body and mind. Hence why I'm still sapient after all this time and still have access to my magic. Or why Vritra's spell is inscribed in his soul shard in your body. So, yes, magic is in the body, but it is also in the soul." He explains further.

I make a little understanding noise while shifting around in the bathtub.

The thing is just a little too short to be properly comfortable for my one hundred eighty-three centimeters, as it turns out!

"And that makes me feel a little uncomfortable because…" I trail off in askance.

"Well, even if you got the body of a freak of nature, you're still not a Devil. So I suppose that you won't be able to integrate another's magic to your own easily." He tilts his muzzle to the side, thinking, "As a matter of fact, I'd even advise against it. Especially the ones of the supernatural out there. Who knows what it'll do to you?"

I frown a little, before slowly nodding.

"Yeah, I think you're right on that. Call it a gut feeling." I agree after a moment.

"So, what are you going to do with those souls?" He squeaks curiously after a beat.

"A third of those I'm gonna use to empower you, another third I'll use to empower myself, and the leftover I'm going to use to make Vritra's soul shard useful to us." I answer mechanically, before a lightbulb metaphorically turns on in my head, "In fact, I think I know what I'm going to do with this leftover magic…"

"Geburtstag." I intone respectfully as I bring the mass of soul, life-force, magic and Ancient Draconic PowerTM toward its designated vessel, before taking a step back.

I started the 'soul surgery' in the bath, and it still took me the better part of two hours to pull it off. Shredding everything that pertained to any kind of feelings beyond Duty, Obedience and Respect toward its maker - yours truly - before adding the magic to it after mixing it with Vritra's.

The Homie slowly stirs awake, two yellow, chameleon-like eyes roaming the room before stopping on myself, a thin, downward arc slowly opening to form a mouth full of triangular, serrated teeth.

"Mistress." It - no, he - greets me, a hint of reverence in his tone, his voice a little posh, akin to a buttler's, "What is to be my purpose?"

I grin a little.

"To be my armor and shield in the battles to come, and a second voice when I'm about to do something stupid and need some sense knocked back into me." I tell him quickly, "But for now, let's see what you can do."

"Very well." The Homie readily agrees.

I excitedly take my modified Kuoh uniform to put it back on, barely repressing myself from cackling in glee.

I take a good look at us through the bathroom's mirror, turning this way and that.

My uniform hasn't changed that much. Only the addition of two 'oddly shaped buttons' at the collar and the little stitched line drawing an arc on the knot of my tie hinting at something weird.

"Alright, this is impressive, I admit." Ddraig squeaks while hovering over my shoulder, "But what can it do?"

"He." I absentmindedly correct, "And don't you remember what Absorption Line can do?"

"I do, I fought against the annoyance who wielded it. Multiple time." He theatrically rolls his eye-buttons, "But he clearly is not Vritra. So, spill."

I grin, before locking eyes with my second Homie through the mirror.

"Do it." I give the order.

"Very well." My uniform answers in his posh accent, calme acceptance in his voice.

Suddenly, the fibers constituting him explodes outward, before redirecting themselves in my body's direction.

The first puncture makes me wince, the second is uncomfortable, and by the third I can freely give Ddraig his answers amid the light-show.

"As you know it, Absorption Line can give and take any form of energy, be it stamina, magic... You name it." I explain proudly, "So when thinking about a possible use for it and the magic I'm apparently able to rob but cannot use, I told myself 'what if I make it so it could just make me tougher, stronger and deepened my reserves?'."

"Oh, I see." The Welsh Dragon nods, pointing a claw at his 'colleague', "And since he is made of fibers…"

"... Then he can make multiple, simultaneous uses of the spell, reinforcing me internally continuously until his own reserves bottom. That's why I used four souls for him too, I can't have him giving up on me too fast. He needs to have enough depth in his tank." I nod back, right in time for the lightshow to end.

I turn back toward the mirror-

-only to pause, hard, my expression dumbfounded.

"... Is the result supposed to look like that?" The Red Plushie Emperor squeaks, just as flabbergasted as I am.

"... I'm just as surprised as you are, trust me on that." I answer back, more than a little mind-boggled, "Say, can you move the threads around a little?"

"To what purpose, mistress?" My uniform asks calmly.

"... Mainly to cover my tits, I'd say." I answer back flatly.

Ddraig snickers a little next to me, but my second Homie blessedly complies.

… The result remains more than a little risqué, though.

"... Better, I guess." I sigh aloud, eyes closed, before looking back through the mirror, "And I know now what your name is going to be."

"What will it be, Mistress?" The homie asks, a hint of interest slipping through his posh tone.

I grin, taking a pause to look at myself this way and that in the mirror.

"Senketsu." I declare with finality.

Chapter 6 : The natural order of the world.

"-and remember, don't react to the Devils' probings." I whisper to Senketsu as I near Kuoh High's gate for the last morning of the week, "They have yet to approach us in an overt manner, and I'd rather our future dealings with them aren't marred by any kind of aggressive misunderstandings."

"Understood, Mistress." My uniform answers quietly in his posh tone, while Ddraig quietly snickers from the backpack he has been once again stuffed in.

"Every other kind of misunderstanding is fine, though." The Red Plushie Emperor jeers in his squeaky voice.

"Hush, you!" I scowl over my shoulder, "Don't start corrupting the poor thing! He's not even a day old!"

"I could have sworn that he was already, what with his appearance in 'battle form'." Ddraig amusedly whispers back, "According to your mammal's criteria of public decency anyway."

I blush a little in anger, and I can almost feel my poor second Homie droop a little in shame.

"... I apologize for my failings, Mistress." Senketsu whispers dejectedly, his chameleon-like eyes slowly dropping downward.

"Don't listen to the overgrown lizard." I huff in annoyance.

"Hey!"

"You're perfect the way you are and I'm sure you'll fulfill your tasks more than adequately." I ignore the offended squeaking in my back to give the quasi-newborn the attention he deserves.

"... If you say so, Mistress." The living uniform perks up minutely.

"I have absolute confidence in your capabilities." I beam a smile his way, pulling a little on my collar to angle one of his eyes my way, "You've already proven yourself this morning with your little trick!"

That seems to finally do the trick, and I feel Senkentsu untense a little, while the Welsh Dragon grumble-squeaks while looking away.

And my second Homie did indeed prove himself this morning. Turns out he isn't restricted to one appearance only, but can sort-of register another 'setting' if I saturate an outfit with life-force before asking him to use his spell on it. Even better, it doesn't consume the clothes!

Did I use my conceptual power to find a way to always have an entire wardrobe's worth of clothes with me at all times? Yes, yes I did.

It apparently does nothing to his battle-form's look though, but that's something I'm willing to put up with for the convenience of always having him with me.

A few more reassurances sent my living uniform's way and a few grumblings from a certain draconic plushie later, and I finally greet my friends in front of Kuoh's gates.

The talk is easy, mostly inconsequential, far removed from anything supernatural and blessedly stress-free, which puts a smile on my face. I may still be pissed off at Circé for throwing me in this situation without so much as a by your leave, but I can't help but enjoy at least a little the opportunity for a do-over.

High school the first go around was… Awkward, to say the least. And despite my second shot at it happening in the dreaded boob-world, there is a little je ne sais quoi that makes it more palatable this time.

The bell rings and our little trio start making their way toward the school proper, chattering along the way, Momo and Yuki apparently still very intent on me crafting them a personal plushie-shaped hot water bottle.

… I probably should never tell Ddraig how exactly got the idea to use flax seeds for his innards or he's liable to throw a fit.

I'm so taken by our talk that I'm completely taken by surprise when something green flashes through my mind and I have to force myself not to instantly dodge out of the way.

I walk into someone.

Strength, sheer inertia and height differences make the rest, and the -un-lucky stranger ends up with their head firmly stuck in my cleavage.

I snap back to attention in their general direction while feinting a surprised yelp, even as said stranger windmills a little as they start to tilt backward.

My arms dart forward, easily snacking behind their back, and I give said stranger a closer look.

Long, silky dark hair gathered in a high ponytail, purple eyes, elegant traits straight out of a Kyotoite model-

-currently blushing like a maiden, her mouth hanging slightly open, one of my hands on the low of her back while the other is right between her shoulder blades, one of her legs almost at forty-five degrees with the ground.

A beat passes as who can only be Akeno Himejima and I stare at each other, the usually bold Queen visibly thrown off her rhythm by the situation.

Very understandably, my brain decides that it would be best if we simply doubled down.

"Bonjour, toi~." I sing-song, "My, my, so forward. Is this a local custom I am not aware of, or…~"

Akeno's jaw drops further down, her blush deepening a notch.

Momo and Yuki next to me, despite being taken aback by the situation at first, start to titter.

I distinctly hear a couple of outraged and horny bellows from afar, and I decide that it would be probably better if I release my impromptu catch.

I give Rias' Queen a big wink, before stepping away after pulling her back on her feet.

"Just joking~." I bring a finger on my lips to give her a coy look, before shifting my demeanor into a curious one, "My apologies, I wasn't looking where I was going. Who would you be?"

The classic Japanese beauty takes a hot second to reboot, before regaining her poise in a flash.

I hum approvingly, she is quite good if she can get back on her feet so quickly.

"The fault is mine, I should've stepped away." The half-fallen gives me a thin smile, just a tad too plastic to be honest, before dipping her head, "Himejima Akeno, third year."

"Linlin Marie-Charlotte, second year." I politely answer, before waving in my friends' direction, "And those would be Shikari Momo and Itadori Yuki, from the 2-C."

My friends and Akeno proceed to exchange greetings, which is apparently all the time Rias' Queen needs to go back to a non-flushed countenance.

"Could we help you with something, Himejima-senpai?" I ask, a bit demurely, and coincidentally totally at odds with the extremely forward attitude I showed less than a minute ago.

That throws her for a loop for the second time in a row, the girl clearly weak on defense when the innuendo-charged banter isn't traded with someone she knows, but she eventually settles on another thin lipped, polite and fake smile.

"Ara~ Ara~, not as such, no." And there she is back, her mask getting swapped for a more playful and flirty attitude, her eyes roaming my figure provocatively, "I just wanted to see how my cute little kouhai were doing, especially a fine specimen like you, see~?"

I don't even bat an eye at her words, her game being simply too mid to provoke a reaction after years spent bar crawling with friends whose minds are simply so deep in the gutter they must regularly wake up in the sewers!

My easy smile widens, and I take a step closer.

"Oh?" I loom over her, a hand ghosting along one of her arms, "And? Do you like what you see?"

I can almost pinpoint the exact moment where her mind flat-out blanks.

My grin turns a little predatory and I slowly close enough distance between the two of us to whisper in her ear.

"I could show you everything if you want~." I crank up the sultriness to the maximum for the span of a moment.

She's so quiet that I barely catch the little, breathy gasp escaping her lips.

I step away once more, punctuating my last sentence/overture with an exaggerated wink.

I'm positive that if I had an egg on hand, I could cook it on her cheek right now.

I say nothing more, only keeping a pleasant smile on my face as the girl who started a game she simply cannot win takes the situation in for a couple more seconds, before sharply inhaling.

"... I see that my cute little kouhai show promises." She ends up saying, her thin lipped smile back on her face, eyes crinkled up-

-which would have more of an effect if she wasn't red in the face, but oh well.

"Thank you for showing your concern, Himejima-senpai." I answer politely.

Rias' Queen seemingly decides that she already lost the game before it started, and politely bow out of the conversation after we trade another apology, about-facing with as much of her shattered confidence she is able to gather.

"... Ano, what was that, Linlin-san?" Momo asks from next to me, her head tilted and a finger on her lower lip in a 'cute' pose.

… I'm ninety percent sure at this point that the girl does it because she saw it in an anime but I haven't quite managed to make her spill the truth out yet.

"Scouting the competition." Yuki drawls in answer, her nose stuck just as deep in her cellphone as ever, "Linlin-san got publicly declared the third Hime by the three pervs. Himejima-senpai must've been curious."

I sigh dramatically, a hand on my cheek.

"The poor thing shouldn't feel this insecure." I slowly shake my head, "She is quite the beauty, after all."

And if a squeaky, barely muffled chuckle gets heard amid the murmurs of agreements that follow my heartfelt declaration, nobody seems to pay it any mind, which is lucky for a certain plushie or I would've been quite cross with him otherwise!

Akeno lands heavily, face first on the couch of the Occult Research Club, a groan of annoyance mixed with shame escaping her lips.

Rias Gremory merely quirks up an eyebrow at the unusual display, straightening on her chair behind her desk, putting aside her paperwork for the moment.

"... Is everything alright, Akeno?" The Heiress of Destruction ends up asking when her Queen doesn't move from her sprawled position.

"... The French girl…" The Japanese beauty mutters, before stopping herself.

"... Yes?" Rias probes, her curiosity now fully pricked.

"-absolutely no shame." Most of the sentence that follows is inaudible in virtue of her Queen's face still being firmly stuck in a pillow.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Rias bemusedly, yet kindly, points out.

Her Queen suddenly whirls on the couch, adopting a crouched position, arms crossed under her chest and, to the Heiress' astonishment, pouting.

"I said that the French girl has absolutely no shame!" Her Queen starts to rant, giving Rias whiplash, "First, while I was trying to catch her attention, she just walked into me, like a total airhead! Then she caught me before I could fall on my ass, like- like we're some kind of couple dancing the tango! And then- then she starts to tease me! Me! In front of the whole school! And when I give a good comeback after catching my breath? She instantly doubles down!"

The pouting having firmly transformed into scowling at some point tells Rias that she probably should not deliberately step on that particular landmine - even if the rare occurrence of her Queen blushing makes it a very tempting prospect - and so she wisely chooses to reorient the discussion.

"And while this is definitely… Notable." No, her lips definitely didn't twitch at that, and everyone that tells otherwise is a filthy liar, "I'm ultimately more interested in what you could find about her."

Her Queen huffs one last time, before recomposing herself.

"She's definitely a supernatural of some kind." Akeno answers, hands now on her lap, "Her strength and durability are no jokes. When we collided, I got the feeling that I met a solid wall rather than a girl. And I didn't know how we missed it earlier in the week, but she radiates magic. I barely needed to use a spell to feel it."

The Heiress' countenance turns serious while she settles a little deeper in her chair, bouncing her fountain pen against the fingers of her free hand.

"And what about the plushie that had Koneko so freaked out?" She asks.

"... I didn't pay much attention to it, but I can confirm there were two different auras." Her Queen hums consideringly, "I still think it is some kind of remotely controlled golem the girl uses in battle. The Jewish magical tradition has an entire branch dedicated to combat constructs after all. Maybe she adapted it to work with a less solid vessel in exchange to have it always with her? Somebody lugging around a stuffed animal is far less conspicuous than fifty kilos of clay, after all."

"... Maybe you're right." The Gremory Heiress agrees after a couple seconds spent mulling over her Queen's theory, "That still begs the question, though."

"... Why a magus wouldn't introduce herself to the two Overseers of the town she intruded upon?" The black haired girl completes Rias' thoughts for her.

"Quite so." The crimson headed Devil answers, eyes narrowed, "Something isn't right in this affair. I think we should look deeper into her history before making a move."

"Should I inform Sona about what I discovered?" Akeno asks intently.

Rias takes a moment to think it over, before nodding.

"Do so, but tell her that we're taking a slow approach with Linlin-san." The Heiress of Destruction says, "The priority remains the two unclaimed Sacred Gear users."

Her Queen stands up from her seated position, minutely dipping her head in Rias' direction.

"I'm going to the Student Council right away, then." She informs her King, before decisively walking out of the Occult Research Club.

Rias lets a beat pass, before she starts to quietly laugh to herself once her Queen has left the vicinity proper.

"So she can out-tease Akeno, huh? I wonder how that'd look from the outside."

"Your little stunt has kicked the hornet's nest, partner." The Red Plushie Emperor informs me as soon as we leave the school's premise, giving me an amused button-eye over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I kind of felt it, in a way." I answer back, squinting at nothing in particular, a hand cupping my chin, "My Observation Haki kept firing up at regular intervals the whole day. It was kind of annoying if I have to be honest, all those bursts of colors popping in my mind."

"If I may be so bold, what is this 'Observation Haki' you are talking about, Mistress?" Senkentsu politely whispers in his posh tone.

"In very simplified terms, acute senses and instincts wrapped into one package." I explain offhandedly, "Together with Armament Haki and Conqueror Haki, they form a trifecta of abilities the denizens of this world aren't aware of. To put it simply, by sharpening your willpower, you can learn to manifest it into different abilities. Armament is both offense and defense, Observation is everything related to instincts and senses, and Conqueror is the ability to overwrite the will of the world with your own."

I take a breath, before scowling a little.

"And, quite frankly? I'm only confident in applying the very basics of the basics with those." I grumble, "The original I'm based off of and of which we spoke last night didn't really push her limits after manifesting her Conqueror for the first time. Oh, she definitely is a decent hand at Armament, but nowhere good enough to manifest a Full Coating, and her Observation is barely worth the name. I have hunches about things going on in my vicinity, but that's it, really. So I'll have to train all that and hope that the foundations aren't too shaky."

"Let me guess, meditation?" The Welsh Dragon amusedly asks.

"... Yes, meditation." I groan aloud, "Something I've never tried before and am not confident in the slightest about succeeding."

"Is there an alternative method?" He squeak-hums interrogatively, and I can almost picture him cupping his chin with his claws.

"... Well, there's always the good old reliable sparring method." I hesitantly admit.

"How about you try seeing how far you can go with simple meditation during the next week and we go for a spar the weekend after?" He suggests, "This way, you'll at least get a proper grip on those abilities of yours beforehand, and we'll see what we can manage when beating each other bloody."

"... You seem oddly chipper about it." I cautiously remarks.

"Girl, I have a body back and have to endure being stuffed into a backpack most of the day. Of course I want to punch you in the face, that's the natural order of the world." The Red Plushie Emperor huffs.

I take that in, a smile slowly blossoming on my face.

"Oh, you're so on next weekend!"