Kuoh Academy's Counselor

Author's Note:

So this story came about do to one thought I had; someone should get the Gremory Peerage a damn therapist. From there, I ended up playing Persona 5 and found the perfect character for the job. These first few chapters are going to have little action and are going to be focused on character interactions and development. There will be action, and unique arcs in this story, which certainly won't follow the stations of canon, so be prepared for rather big butterfly effects due to Maruki's presence.

----

Within a hospital room, two figures were present. One was a young woman who was lying in bed. The various machines in the room were hooked up to her, monitoring her condition as she remained unconscious.

The young man standing over her grimly looked down at the woman before it was replaced with a loving one. He adjusted his glasses for a moment before his expression glazed over, his eyes beginning to glow yellow.

He reached out, his hand resting on the woman's head as a shadow rose behind him. Its form was indistinct, but it resembled a great beast's head, which opened its mouth and roared silently.

The woman's eyes shot open as she looked up at the man whose appearance had returned to normal in the blink of an eye. 

"How do you feel?" he asked in a soft voice.

The woman stared up at him, eyes blinking without comprehension. "Who are you?"

With that simple statement, the man's heart broke.

----

The entire population of Kuoh Academy was crowded into the large auditorium, rows and rows of seats prepared as they all pointed towards the stage in front of them. Within that crowd, Rias Gremory drew many eyes.

Her long, crimson hair blue eyes, and mature figure set her apart from those around her. The main exception to that rule is the girl who sat next to her, Akeno Himejima, whose black hair and violet eyes drew eyes, alongside a figure that matched Rias' own.

Next to Rias was one of her closest friends, the Student Council President Sona Sitri, or Shitouri as she was known to humans. She had short hair cut into a bob and violet eyes, with a slim figure. Next to her sat the vice-president, Tsubaki Shinra, who had long black hair and heterochromatic eyes; one violet the other light brown.

This group was the center of most people's attention whenever they moved. Currently, the students around them were excitedly whispering about the subject of their current assembly.

"I heard the new counselor is really young."

"Do you think he's gonna be hot?"

"Just the fact that he's got a degree that young is hot."

Rias had an amused smile on her face as she listened to the conversation going on around them.

"Everyone seems rather excited, don't they Buchou?" Akeno said to her side. "All this just because we got a new counselor?"

"They aren't wrong, it is impressive how young he is," Sona chimed in. 

That drew both Akeno and Rias' attention. "I'm assuming you saw his application then?" Rias asked.

Sona nodded her head. "Yes, I was the one who approved his hiring. He should be coming out in just a moment tho."

Their attention was drawn to the stage, where the principal of the school walked out. He tapped the mic a couple of times before he began speaking.

"Good afternoon everyone. The school has decided to take your mental health more seriously, and to this end, we've decided to hire an accredited counselor. I'd like everyone to welcome Dr. Takuto Maruki."

As he finished, a tall man in his early twenties walked out and across the stage. He had brown, unkempt hair and a small bit of stubble on his chin. There was a pair of glasses prominently on his face and he was dressed in a blue dress shirt which was tucked into a pair of khakis, a white lab coat completing the ensemble. 

He continued to walk before he tripped and stumbled slightly before righting himself, which caused several students to laugh. Maruki grinned, an awkward smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "Excuse me."

Once he made it to the microphone, he addressed the students. "It's nice to meet all of you. The principal already said it, but my name's Dr. Takuto Maruki. My room is open to anyone who wants to talk or just needs a place to vent. The school has decided to mandate at least one session for every student, but from there, it is strictly voluntary."

"Yes, we'll be going through the classes starting with the third years and working our way down in the next week," the principal chimed in.

Maruki grinned brightly and waved to the students. "Well then, that's all for now. I hope to spend plenty of time with all of you this year. Even if you don't have an appointment, feel free to stop by as long as I'm not with someone already."

With that, the students were dismissed from the assembly to return to their classrooms. As they walked, the group of four began to talk amongst themselves.

"He seems friendly," Akeno commented, amusement clear in her tone. "Excited, like a puppy."

"I'd hazard a guess it's to help students feel more comfortable speaking to him and help them feel less guarded," Sona suggested.

"He's certainly easy on the eyes and only a couple of years older than us," Akeno said, her tone suggestive.

Everyone in the group was well aware she was kidding, and she only said something like that because it was just the three of them listening, Sona still felt the need to chastise her.

"Akeno, please refrain from causing problems. The school is attempting to be serious about this mental health endeavor."

"Of course, Kaichou, I apologize," she replied, completely unapologetically. "What do you think about all this Buchou?"

Rias hummed lightly in a thought for a moment before replying. "I think the mandatory meeting will probably be boring for us. It's not like we can talk about the real causes for our stress."

That drew nods of agreement from the group, their inability to discuss the supernatural meaning they found little reason to take the session seriously.

----

Maruki sat in his office and leaned back on one of the two couches in his room. Within the room, there was a desk along one wall with a computer atop it and a variety of papers haphazardly strewn around. In the center of the room were two couches opposite each other with a short table in between them, a bowl of candy sat atop it.

He'd already gone through a majority of the third-year class and had a meeting with them. Most had issues regarding stress because of testing and the fact it was their last year in high school before college. It was rather odd to him, but he got the sense that some of the girls he interviewed were flirting with him. He'd just politely ignored their advances, and tried to continue a relaxed conversation about whatever issues they may have.

He heard a knock on the door and looked up. "Come in."

The door opened and Rias Gremory walked in. She took confident strides into the room and spotted Maruki lounging on the sofa.

"Please take a seat. Feel free to help yourself to the candy."

"Thank you."

Rias took a seat on the sofa across from Maruki, while he laid back, his arms spread out on his sides along the back edge of the sofa.

"So, is there anything in particular you want to talk about?" Maruki asked.

"Not really, school hasn't been too hard on me and I spend most of my time with my club."

Maruki hummed in interest, idly grabbing a piece of candy from the bowl and throwing it in his mouth. "That's fine, plenty of students don't have any issues, so I've just been using the time to get to know everyone. What's this club you're a part of?"

"The Occult Research Club." Rias' face lit up as she began to speak about it. "There's only 4 of us right now, but hopefully we'll grow more soon."

"I'm guessing you get along well with all of the other members then," Maruki said, laughing. "Why is it just the four of you? It can't be too hard for you guys to find more members."

Rias considered his question for a moment before responding. "I don't want just anyone to join. They have to fit in with the rest of the group."

"Fair enough, it sounds like you've got a good group already."

"Of course. Akeno always makes the best tea and helps me out with all of the paperwork I've got to do. Koneko is just adorable, she's quiet but she's always snacking on something and Kiba is always there to help out with whatever we need."

From there, Rias talked about the various members of her club more in-depth while Maruki listened and chimed in on occasion. A nice atmosphere settled over the room as the conversation continued until their thirty-minute session was finally over.

"Well, that's all the time we've got for today, but I enjoyed it. Like I said before, even if you don't have any issues if you ever feel like talking, my door is always open."

Rias stood up, a smile on her face as she nodded. "Thank you, it's always nice to talk about my precious peerage." She'd referred to them as such at one point during the conversation, and when he'd ask what it meant she'd simply said it was part of getting into the right mood as an Occult Research Club. 

When she left the room, she found Akeno waiting for her outside. "Well, you seem to have had a good time. Did you take my advice for an illicit counselor-student affair?"

Rias fondly rolled her eyes at her queen. "We had a pleasant conversation."

"Now it's my turn, although I don't know how much talking there will be." Chuckling at her queen's behavior, Rias lightly pushed her towards the door of the room. 

----

Maruki's first impression of Akeno Himejima was that she was too perfect. Everything, from her mannerisms to her tone and her demeanour presented the image of the perfect Yamato Nadeshiko. Which made it all the more apparent to him that it was at least partially an act.

He didn't comment on it though, well aware that people who put on an act wouldn't react well to someone calling them out about it. Instead, he allowed polite conversation to flow. It was much less smooth than his conversation with Rias, but there was still a calm atmosphere present.

She quickly asserted she had no issues with school, and they talked about various subjects, Maruki subtly testing out different topics to see if he could find out what her issue was until one comment in particular worked.

"You're parents must be proud of how well you're doing."

That idle comment had been the first time in the conversation that her facade cracked. Just for a moment, he could see a look filled with emotion he couldn't quite discern before the polite smile returned to her face.

"Unfortunately, they passed when I was younger."

Maruki was quick to dispel that rather dark mood that had fallen over the room. "Ah, I'm sorry for your loss. We can move on from that."

The last bit of their thirty minutes passed by, and Akeno left the room in a pensive mood. When she walked out the door, she found Rias waiting for her, who quickly noticed her mood.

"What's wrong, did he do something? I'll go-" she started to say before Akeno cut her off.

"No, he didn't do anything. He just brought up my parents without knowing."

"Ah."

Rias was well aware of what a sore subject that particular topic was, but she couldn't blame Dr. Maruki for bringing it up without knowing. 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's okay Buchou. I think I'm just going to head home."

Rias watched as her best friend left the building. She bit her lower lip, unsure of what to do.

----

Later that night, Rias teleported to the shrine where Akeno lived. She opened the door, stepped inside, and could hear quiet noises coming from another room within the shrine. Following the sounds, she found Akeno bent over in a shrine maiden outfit, her body rocked by quiet sobs as she bowed to a photo of her mother.

Rias moved forward as Akeno mumbled quiet apologies to her mother, her head never leaving the ground even as Rias reached her and put a hand on her shoulder. She cried for some time, continuing her prayer and apologies to her dead mother, until she finally lifted her head.

"I'm okay Buchou."

Rias looked rather unconvinced, but Akeno's facade appeared again, her torrid emotions concealed by a pleasant smile. 

"If you're sure?" Rias asked, unsure what to say at this moment. Her best friend had been dealing with these feelings since she'd met her when they were eleven, and to this day Rias still wasn't sure how to help her other than a hug and some comforting words, but that didn't seem to be helping her move past her trauma. 

"I am. Rias," Akeno replied, saying her name instead.

Rias spent some more time with Akeno before she teleported back to the Occult Research Building and sat behind her desk, her brow furrowed. 

She wanted to help Akeno, and this whole thing just served to remind her of the rest of her peerage's issues. Koneko still refused to use her senjutsu or speak of her sister, and the very sight of a holy sword would send Kiba into a flurry of anger.

"What do I do?" she muttered to herself.

She continued to ruminate on the subject before an idea presented itself. 

"Dr. Maruki doesn't know about the supernatural, so he can't help, but maybe I can learn how to do what he does. That way, I could help all of my precious family members."

The idea continued to stir in her head the rest of the night and into her dreams.

----

Dr. Maruki sat in his office, ruffling through some papers at his desk. He'd always been told he was a bit scatterbrained, and he was well aware of just how true that was. The papers on his desk were completely disorganized as he searched through them.

"It's no use, maybe someone in the teacher's lounge will have one."

He was supposed to be filling out a paper on his medical history, but he couldn't seem to find the paper. Sighing to himself, he ran his hair through his messy hair before walking out the door of his room and through the halls of Kuoh. The students were currently in class, so there was no one roaming the halls as he walked.

It was only as he walked that he realized he had yet to meet any of the other teachers or staff. He'd been so busy with all of his student meetings so far that he hadn't had the chance to meet any of them.

He was just about done with the third year and was about to move on to the second year. So far, the students have been rather interesting. The Student Council President had wanted to play a game of chess, which he'd obliged. He lost, but it'd been some time since he played the game seriously and she was rather talented.

Her vice president had a rather interesting fascination with naginata techniques and lamented the lack of a club dedicated to the subject. Then there'd been his meetings with the two members of the Occult Research Club, which had been rather interesting conversations.

Maruki finally made it to the teacher's lounge and opened the door to find only two members of the staff present at the moment.

One was a man around five years older than him who was around the same height as himself. He was dressed in a red tracksuit, with short-cropped black hair and a bit of stubble on his face. He was currently talking to the other figure in the room.

It was a woman around Maruki's age. She was stunningly beautiful, and Maruki had to take a moment to figure out how someone could be that flawless. Her hair was long and black, going all the way down her back to her hips with bangs hanging down and two ahoges sticking out. She was dressed in a green knitted turtleneck and tight black mini skirt, along with a pair of black, cross garter motif stockings and a white lab coat.

Green eyes turned to look at him as he walked into the room, and Maruki noted she had a small mole under her left eye and wore a pair of glasses. 

Somewhat awkwardly, Maruki raised a hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Takuto Maruki, the new guidance counselor."

A pleasant smile appeared on the woman's face, while the man grinned at him.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Chisato Hasegawa, the school nurse."

"Ken Tanaka, the gym teacher."

"I seem to have misplaced the medical form I needed to fill out and was wondering if either of you had a spare copy."

Chisato let out a small chuckle as she pointed her finger at a table where a variety of papers were present. "You can grab one from there, and whenever you're done just bring it by my office."

"Thank you." 

Maruki went over and grabbed a paper before returning to the two.

"Have you been adjusting to the school well?" Chisato asked. 

"I've mostly just spent my time in meetings with the third years. I haven't even seen much of Kuoh Town itself, I've pretty much been in the counseling room since I got here."

"Well that's no good, the two really are beautiful. You should take the chance to look around when you can, let me know if you need a tour guide," Chisato said, a polite smile on her face.

Maruki idly noted that her offer caused Ken to have a brief flash of jealousy before he buried it. 

"You're going to be starting on the second year soon right?" Ken asked. Maruki nodded and the gym teacher continued. "Good luck with them, that's the year with the Perverted Trio."

The mention of that group caused Chisato to helplessly sigh. "You'd think they'd have learned by now to not pretend to have an illness just to come to the nurse's office."

Listening to the two of them, Maruki already got an idea of what this group would be like. "Still, I'd prefer to form my own opinions."

He glanced at the time and realized that classes should be let out soon. "I need to get back to my room, thanks for the paper. I'll try to find the time to look around the town when I get the chance."

Ken and Chisato bade their farewells, an intrigued smile on the latter's face as they watched Maruki leave the room. He walked back through the halls, students now milling about who greeted him as he passed. Finally, he got back to his room and opened the door, surprised to find someone already waiting.

"Hello Ms. Gremory, what can I do for you?"

The tall girl turned to look at him for a moment and bit her lip. "Please teach me how to be a counselor."