Game of Monsters - 115 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

I Feel You Radiating Energy

Joshua brought his cup of tea to his lips and took a sip.

In front of him sat Yasaka, going through some paperwork with a slight smile on her face. It wasn’t much, but it might as well have been her singing or something, considering that he’d always seen her just working through things with a serious expression. He brought his cup to his lips and took another sip, this time to hide a slight blush.

For some reason, Yasaka had gotten very affectionate after he gave her the flowers. He wasn’t complaining, of course, but he wasn’t sure why that had happened. His best guesses were that she either had really liked the gesture or her senses were giving her a rough idea of how important the gesture was for him… Or both? Then again, Joshua didn’t trust his judgment in these instances anymore, so he’d rather appreciate some answers instead of having to try and figure it out.

Maybe he would ask her the next time they were alone.

As it was…

He turned to the side and looked at Kunou.

The girl was looking at her mother with furrowed brows and a tilt of her head. Evidently, she realized that something was going on, but she couldn’t quite figure it out. It seemed that Yasaka hadn’t told her yet. Joshua didn’t even know how to even go about bringing the subject up. Was there a good way to tell someone’s kid that you were dating their mother?

Granted, he was already acting as her father, so it likely wouldn’t be too bad, but still… Joshua felt like it’d be terribly awkward regardless of how things ended up. Just the act of having to tell Kunou that felt weird. Or maybe it was just him feeling out of his depth still? That was equally as possible.

“Something’s going on,” Kunou said then, pursing her lips. It seemed that she had figured that much out indeed, but nothing else. “Did something happen, mom? I get Joshua being happy. He’s been since he finished his spell, but you weren’t like that before,” she pointed out, narrowing her eyes.

Joshua, for his part, did the brave thing… And turned his eyes towards his own work, bringing his cup up to hide his face. It wasn’t that he was throwing Yasaka to the kit fox… but he totally was. Surely she would deal with the whole thing better, right?

“I don’t know, is something going on?” Yasaka asked and Joshua couldn’t help but look at the woman. She was still wearing that slight smile on her face but now she was facing him. He could almost see her telling him to man up and say it. Why did it have to be him? It could be her, right?

“So, Joshua is involved?” Kunou asked, getting a little more excited. Little one was probably already coming up with ways this could mean they were closer, he bet. She was easy to read like that, at least. If only Joshua could have realized that her mother was of a similar mind…

“I don’t know, is he?” Yasaka asked, having entirely too much fun. It was kind of new, to see her so… carefree. ‘She’s that happy now?’ Joshua wondered, a little surprised.

Because sure, he was pretty happy with things. No way he wouldn’t be, with two women like Serafall and Yasaka in a relationship with him. It was all a little muted down by the fact that he was constantly on the verge of freaking out and/or devolving into a pessimistic mess. Maybe once he got a little more confidence in things, he’d feel a lot more happy.

Still, it was a little weird to see someone that was usually very calm and collected like Yasaka looking so playful. Or maybe he was reading too much into things? She had shown sides like that before, right? ‘God, I’m a mess,’ Joshua thought, holding back a groan and dragging his hand over his face.

“Joshua! Mom is being mean!” Kunou whined, making him turn towards her and then giving Yasaka an unimpressed expression. The woman didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish. Instead, she just brought a hand up and giggled behind it. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“You are making me say it on purpose, right?” he asked Yasaka, temporarily ignoring Kunou. The girl was too curious with this new bit of information, however, so it wasn’t really a problem.

“A little bit,” Yasaka told him, still giggling. “A little fun revenge for making me wait and being so clueless.”

“I resemble that,” he grumbled, drawing a snort from the woman, who looked a breath away from going for a full on laugh. He didn’t remember ever hearing her do that, so it was tempting to try and push it. As it was, Kunou had grown tired and was poking him with her finger. “Stop poking me, will you?”

“Then tell me!” she demanded, to which he raised an eyebrow. “... Please?”

“That’s better,” he told her with a nod.

Then he looked at Yasaka, who was determined to be as unhelpful as possible, looking entirely too amused. Taking a deep breath in, he wondered how to best go about it. He looked at Kunou then, looking all curious at him and he remembered how happy she was whenever she saw him have a good interaction with Yasaka, even when it wasn’t anything remotely romantic…

‘Eh, fuck it,’ he decided.

“Serafall, Yasaka and I are in a relationship now. The two of us had a date yesterday,” he explained, smiling a little at the wide-eyed look on Kunou’s face. “But I think your mother looks like that because she likes making me suffer due to my very, very poor social skills… Or she likes teasing you,” he added, trying to steer things away from the awkward part a little bit.

“Or both,” Yasaka pointed out, making him look at her, unimpressed. The woman did her best to look innocent, which worked about as well for her as it did with Kunou. Not at all.

“Yes!” Kunou cried out, apparently having finished processing this new information he’d just thrown at her. “Yesyesyes! This is the best, you are the best!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Joshua and attempting to squeeze him to death, by the feel of things.

With a slight smile and a nervous chuckle, he wrapped his own arms around her.

“This is the best day ever!” Kunou said against his chest, her voice full of emotion. That made Joshua go from amused and nervous to touched and a little sad, he’d admit. He thought it said something about her that she was so happy to have a chance at a complete family now.

She was crying.

“Thank you,” she muttered. “Thank you, mom,” she added and Joshua turned his eyes towards the woman. Yasaka was still smiling, but she brought a hand up and wiped a tear that hadn’t managed to fall yet from her eye. “You are both the best.”

“Well, you are not so bad yourself, brat,” he told her softly, placing a hand on her head and as she continued pressing against his chest.

“Not a brat,” she mumbled. Still, Kunou couldn’t quite stop herself from giggling all the same with how happy she was. “... Does that mean I have to call Serafall mom too?” she asked after a long moment.

“You can ask her, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you don’t,” he answered before he could stop himself. That was probably something for Yasaka to decide, he was sure. However, when he turned towards the woman, a little alarmed, she just smiled at him and nodded her agreement with that.

“Ok, that’s fine then,” Kunou said then, her voice still muffled by his shirt. That response still sounded weird to him, but he guessed he’d have to get used to it. The type of relationship he was in now was at least kind of normal for these people, he had to remind himself. ‘Don’t complain about a good thing,’ he told himself. “That’s fine. This is great.”

“Well, glad you are happy,” he said, and somehow Kunou managed to squeeze harder.

“I cried on your shirt, dad,” Kunou mumbled then, sounding even more like a kid than she usually did. She pulled away a little then, keeping a hold of his shirt with her hands but otherwise making some space between them as she looked at the wet spot on his shirt. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Kunou,” he reassured her with a smile. “Now, how about we celebrate tonight, my place, full meal and a magic show.”

“And ice cream?” the girl asked, sounding and looking entirely too adorable.

“And ice cream,” he agreed.

“You are the best, dad.”

“The best or the best dad?” he asked with a grin.

“Yes,” she answered with a matching expression.

[}-o-{]

“Thank you for agreeing to this, sir.”

“Soren is fine, young man,” Lord Sitri replied where he sat. He probably would have looked a lot more prim and proper if he were fine. Affected by the Sleep Disease as he was, however, the man was slumped against his seat and looking like he was about to faint. “Especially since I can take a guess or two,” the man added and Joshua very purposely decided not to try and understand that.

Serafall, Yasaka and him were keeping things between themselves for the moment, and that was how he liked it, really. Kunou was the only one that knew what was up and if he could keep it like that, Joshua would be happy. It probably wouldn’t stay like that for long, but he could enjoy that while it lasted.

Regardless, according to both Yasaka and Serafall, things probably benefited a lot from them waiting too. On top of making things easier for him – which he felt a little guilty about, honestly – there was the fact that he was now a verified high ranked person in a Pantheon. The Egyptian might not be the strongest or most present at the moment, but they were known and had at least one very strong presence to speak of. That meant that he wasn’t some “peasant courting women out of his league” which would likely cause problems for everyone involved.

It was a bit… uncomfortable, to think about all that, but Yasaka and Serafall seemed happy to chat away about it all, so Joshua just let them be. If he needed to do something, they’d tell him. Politics were really not his thing and he’d been relying on them for that kind of thing since forever. No need to change things up now, especially when he was sure he’d mess things up.

“Wouldn’t that be disrespectful, Lord Sitri?” Joshua asked, trying to act professional as he checked the room to decide how to best set up his spells. He’d been allowed to check on Lord Sitri for his Sleep Disease research, which would be invaluable information, really.

Misla was a patient with the disease, of course, but knowing how it progressed and being able to see it first hand? That would give a lot of new information. He had theories on how the disease worked, but if he could confirm some of those… It’d certainly help his progress regardless, he was sure.

“I think it’s more disrespectful to ignore someone’s preferred way of being addressed, don’t you?” Lord Sitri asked, his tone joking, if weary. That actually made Joshua laugh, which seemed to surprise the man.

“Sorry, it’s just… I think I’ve had conversations about that. I was on the other side of things though,” he explained, shaking his head. “Everyone insists on calling me Mr. Davis and I’d really rather they don’t. I’ve gotten better about that, but I really didn’t like that some time ago.”

“So…” Lord Sitri prodded, making him roll his eyes.

“So, I guess I’ll do as you say, Soren,” he replied, making the man chuckle weakly. “Now, I’m going to start setting up the wards, ok? I might have to ask you a few questions once I start getting the information from those, alright? Just to make sure Serafall didn’t lie to me, you are okay with me setting up wards, hexes and boons here, right?”

“I am and I’m sure my daughter wouldn’t appreciate you calling her a liar,” the devil told him, looking fairly amused all things considered. “Now… I think you should get started. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay awake.”

“That’s fine, Soren. Readings will be different, but any information is good for me right now. I need all I can get to try and find a way around this,” Joshua told the man, finding the best spot he could and pulling out all the circles and foci from a storage spell that left them exactly where they needed to be. Once that was done, he started casting the spells in the necessary order.

As he did, he started getting the information sent straight to his brain. The spells only covered the one room, so there was literally nothing to pick up on other than Lord Sitri’s condition. Joshua was joining the devil in feeling tired, since this set of spells was entirely powered by himself. He might have had a major boost in his stats, but powering an array like the one he had just set up was draining all the same.

Too many different things that required too much power because of how specific and power intensive they were. On top of that, just as his magic reserves had grown, so had his skills in regards to magic. His spells were much more powerful now, and that meant requiring more power. If anything, he wondered if his magic boost hadn’t quite been enough.

However, it was worth it, because he was already picking up on a bunch of different readings compared to the ones from Sairaorg’s mother. Between his new and/or adapted spells and the boost on skills, things were already paying off plenty. Still, he needed to take a moment to process all that, taking a notebook to write down the highlights so he could more easily keep track of everything.

‘Magic doesn’t seem to be drained, even in small amounts. I need further info on that to make sure but it’s not ridiculously small or something,’ Joshua mused to himself, closing his eyes and checking on some other things. ‘Life energy seems mostly fine, weak but fine. Back to the magic, it seems to be a little… There’s something going on there… I need a more deep look into that. Something’s off but I’m not sure what. Physically, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong, even with added spells to Misla’s last results. So it’s almost definitely nothing to do with that-’

“Are you courting my daughter?”

Joshua blinked and then turned towards Lord Sitri with wide eyes.

“Are you, Joshua?” the man asked. He didn’t seem angry, or amused, or anything. Didn’t even seem curious, really. He just seemed… calm.

“What makes you say that?” he asked back, surprised. He was asking that honestly, really, because he had never seen these people. So, unless Serafall had given the game away somehow…

“A father knows this kind of thing, I’m sure you’ll find out someday,” Lord Sitri told him, which only made Joshua feel more awkward. And that was saying something, truly. “She was quite happy these last few days,” the man told him then, smiling a little. “And then her expression brightened even more when she brought you up about this.”

“We have been good friends for a while. You probably know that,” Joshua replied. He was fairly sure that he was giving the game away himself by not actually saying no, but he didn’t want one of his first interactions with Serafall’s father to be with a blatant lie like that. Serafall had never said anything bad about the man, so surely he was fine knowing too.

“I do know, which is why I know she likes you and that there was something different this time,” the man explained. “I guess I get why you are keeping it all under wraps for now. Serafall is in a difficult position and so are you, from what she says. Just… take care of my daughter, yeah?”

There was something there, something that he realized after but a second of thought.

“... You can take care of her yourself, Soren,” Joshua said then, keeping his tone even as he continued working.

“I could fall asleep right now and not wake up for who knows how long. My daughter believes you can do this, and that means I do, but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen soon,” Lord Sitri told him, not angry nor amused, but resigned. “It puts things into perspective, I guess. So, will you?”

“Fairly sure she’ll be the one taking care of me, but I’ll do what I can,” Joshua replied in the end.

“From the man that cracked a devil bloodline into a spell that humans can use, got the backing of an entire pantheon and is now attempting to cure an incurable devil disease… I don’t think you know how reassuring that is,” Soren commented, chuckling wearily. “I’m going to sleep soon, I think. It’s funny, really. I don’t want to, I never do now… And yet I can’t stop myself… Young one…”

Joshua wanted to reach out and keep the man awake, but that wasn’t how it worked. Victims of the Sleep Disease would fall asleep just like that, exhausted and all but passing out. There was no stopping it and trying to force the issue seemed to make things worse.

“Yes, Soren?”

Instead, he needed to focus and do his job. This was a great moment to pick up information from his spells. He just needed to focus and get all that he could.

“... Nevermind… I’m sure my wife will tell you…” Lord Sitri mumbled, very visibly drifting off. “You said… you would have… questions?”

“Yes,” Joshua answered immediately. After that, he started asking the devil all the questions he could come up with. He tried to make them as simple as he could, since Soren looked a breath away from passing out. He didn’t want to go for something that would need a long answer, but he needed as much information as he could get. So, he spent a good few minutes asking a lot of yes or no questions and others that would only require a single word answer.

Eventually though, he ran out of time.

“See you soon, Joshua Davis.”

“See you soon, Soren,” he replied, pausing his writing to look at the man. That felt like a goodbye, but it could not be one. Chances were that the man would wake up, maybe a little sooner, maybe a little later, but it was the most probable, given how advanced his Sleep Disease was.

And yet, there was always the chance that maybe he was unlucky.

Maybe he wouldn’t wake up.

‘But I’ll wake him up anyway,’ he thought, thinking of Sairaorg’s mother. He thought of Serafall, and Sairaorg, and Sona, and everyone that was affected by this besides the actual victims. He would cure them.

At the back of his mind, the Pantheon agreed.

And Joshua, going back to work, made a decision.

‘Break’s over, I guess.’

[}-o-{]

[Kuroka]

“Say, you haven’t been playing with us much~!” she said, skipping around Davis as he sat on the floor in the middle of the training facilities in his house. “You haven’t forgotten about us, have you? It’s bad manners to pick up strays and then-”

“I’d really appreciate it if you could leave me be,” Davis interrupted, not opening his eyes nor moving from his spot.

“But I get lonely. Don’t you get lonely, Josh~?” she asked, pouting at the man. She knew he knew everything that went on inside his wards, after all. They were always watching, every day a little more. “Because if you want company, I can help with that~”

She’d wear him down, she knew. She was more than attractive, after all, and men loved to have the attention of women like her. They were easy like that. He was just playing hard to get, that was all. Kuroka could be patient though. For a man of such strength, power and heart? She sure could.

After all, one didn’t need to be a genius to know that Davis was strong. Being in the presence of his spells at all times made sure Kuroka did know that. Especially as of late, when his spells seemed to suddenly be a whole lot stronger for some reason. Neither did one have to be a genius to know he held power, considering he seemed pretty close to some very powerful faction leaders.

And then there was his heart, which had taken a bit more but nowhere near a long time. There were plenty of examples in his house alone, with his sister or the nun. Besides that, however, the most evident clue on this were his familiars. The bond he shared with them, the feelings on that bond. That couldn’t be faked.

It was beautiful.

“I’ve told you, Kuroka. Stop with the jokes,” Davis replied stubbornly. Seriously, what was wrong with him? Especially with that response. He always seemed to say something along those lines, really.

“Who says I’m joking~?” she asked, smiling widely and leaning her body down when she saw that he’d opened his eyes. Sure enough, they darted down for a moment before they went back up. Men were easy. “Because I can tell you I’m not. We could ignore the audience and get acquainted,” she suggested with a mock-coy smile.

“I’d rather not,” Davis replied without hesitating whatsoever.

That stung a little, honestly.

“Come on~ We can just sit down and talk for a bit. I can tell you all kinds of things about myself that I’m sure you’d enjoy,” she offered, pushing her arms together to accentuate her chest. “And you can tell me some things about yourself. Like, I’d love to know what’s up with the illusions on your arms,” she pointed out with a wide smile that widened when his eyes did. Then she reached with her senjutsu towards that particular spell. “Are you hiding a friendship bracelet because that’d be very cute-”

Those weren’t bracelets.

The illusion snapped into place in a second.

Just as fast.

“You don’t know when to stop, do you?” Davis asked and Kuroka took a hesitant step back. When she saw him start to stand up, she wished she could make herself disappear. She might have miscalculated a little, it seemed. “Do you?” the man insisted and blue eyes locked onto hers, pinning her in place just as much as his spells did when they shifted.

Suddenly, she felt like she was in shackles, shackles that gnawed at her and burned at the same time.

“I asked you a question,” Davis said then, walking until he was face to face with her. Were the circumstances different, she might have really liked that. As it was…

“I don’t,” she whispered, feeling her heart clench as killing intent washed over her. “I’m very sorry.”

“I’m sure you are,” Davis growled and then something shifted.

The most glaring change was his eyes. No longer were they steely blue. Instead, they were pitch black now. When his lips pulled back into a snarl, she saw that his canines had grown longer too. “I’m a very busy man. I really, really can’t be bothered with your games. I’m not interested in you. I never was and I’m never going to be,” he told her then.

Kuroka would have felt a little hurt if it weren’t for the fear she was starting to feel. Not only from the spells, or Davis’ appearance change. No, there was more going on. There was a growing presence around them, around him. Something was going on there. She felt like she was in front of a…

A god.

Her eyes widened.

“So, you’ll stay the fuck away from me. You won’t do this stupid little joke about being interested in me. Because if you are playing games, then I don’t care. If you aren’t, then you are as dumb as I thought you were when I caught you being a Khaos Brigade member,” Davis told her, bringing his hand up and poking a finger harshly against her forehead. “Get it into your head. I’m not your friend. I’m not your ally. All I am right now, is the guy that offered his house to a criminal because he felt like there might be more to her than he and everyone saw.”

Taking a deep breath in and then letting it out with a sigh, Davis seemed to calm down a bit. His teeth and eyes went back to normal and the pressure all but disappeared.

“So far, I think I might have been wrong,” he added. “Now, go away.”

And away Kuroka went.

She might have miscalculated indeed.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Hm, all in all, I like this chapter. Certainly feel better about this one than I did the last one. Quite the change from how awfully uncertain I felt last week, I gotta say.

Speaking of, I want to thank everyone that reassured me about the last chapter. I really needed those comments and I want you to know that you made me feel a lot better about it. Thank you.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Announcement: I started another story in FFN that won’t make it to Patreon. The reason for this is because I’m working on it with Arclight from the Discord server. It’s also a “story” where we’ll post several different projects, just to get them out there and try to get opinions on them, so even if you don’t like what’s there, chances are that a new project will pop up later and you might like that one better than the others. So, please, give it a try and tell us what you think.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you like beer? I do.

See you.