Spear Devil - 024

Chapter 024 – A Difficult Decision

[April – 2008]

Finally leaving Kuoh Academ around 4 pm after a rather exhausting first day, I had no desire to train after I reached my home, especially not considering that I hadn't slept a wink last night.

Preparing an early dinner consisting of a fresh salad and some stew from the day before, I quickly ate and took a shower, using a push of Dragon Aura infused with the fire attribute to dry myself off afterward.

And just as I was about to go to bed wholly naked, as I had discovered a few days prior that sleeping without clothes on could be insanely comfortable and relaxing, my phone rang.

The caller was displayed as 'Mom', so I knew who it was. Hesitating only for a moment, I accepted the call: "Hello?"

“Akira-kun! It's your mother!”, a melodious and mature voice called out energetically, “How was your first day at Kuoh Academy, honey?”

This was the first time I had heard the voice of my 'mother' in this world, and doing so caused a whole array of emotions to rise in my heart, the most pronounced being sadness. The tone of voice, the loving pet name, I could still remember my own mother calling out to me and asking about my day at school.

And while I knew that I wasn't really this woman's son, I didn't want to be cruel to her or break her heart by just hanging up, even though it felt strange and somewhat uncomfortable talking with her.

I didn't yet know if I should erase any memory my parents had of me from their minds after becoming a Devil, as while that may seem like the most reasonable thing to do, something inside me just refused to do something like that.

Even if they weren't especially devoted parents, I knew that they still loved their son, and just taking away any memory they had of him was the same as robbing them of their beloved son. I would take away something irreplaceable from them if they would remember or not.

This wasn't a decision I could make lightly.

"Akira? Akira, are you still there?", my mother asked, sounding a bit worried and causing me to stop my musings.

Shaking off those thoughts, I replied and told her that the new school was great and that I especially liked their facilities. We talked for roughly half an hour before she had to go back to work.

Telling me that she loved me and that she was proud of me, and that the same was true for my father, she hung up after I told her the same.

Staring at my phone for a good fifteen minutes after the call had ended, I finally placed it on my nightstand with a sigh, feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted.

Slipping under the covers after pulling the curtains shut and making sure that the door was open so that the air could circulate at least somewhat, I slipped under the covers and went to bed, hoping that I could find the strength to make a decision about my familial decision after a night of sleep.

…

Stepping into the student council office with Akeno, Koneko, and Yuuto following behind, Rias forcefully pushed aside her disappointment from her earlier meeting with Akira, his words still echoing in her mind.

It was the first time someone had told her so clearly what the peerage system looked like from an outside perspective. Rias knew that some Devils treated their peerage like slaves and sex toys, but she had always thought that they were just evil.

In truth though, these Devils did nothing wrong, as the laws in the Underworld were very clear on that matter. Peerage members had to obey their Masters under any circumstances, or they could be punished as seen fit by their Masters.

And if they escaped or harmed their Master, they were branded as Stray Devils and could be killed by anyone without consequences. Reincarnated Devils truly were slaves until they reached the High-Class and were given their own peerage. Suddenly trading peerage members didn't seem so innocent anymore.

It was the first time in her life that Rias felt sick to her stomach for calling herself a Devil. She had been naive and blind to such obvious cruelty before, and it made her realize what she had asked of Akira by joining her peerage.

At this point, she could even bring herself to feel even a tiny bit angry or disappointed in him for rejecting her so firmly, as she realized that her own situation with Riser wasn't that much different.

She also didn't want to be robbed of the freedom to choose her own husband, but just because her father was the Lord of House Gremory, he could force her into a life she dreaded more than anything, being nothing but a plaything for Riser, forced to bear him children by the law of the contract.

Akira had been right. How could she expect him to agree to join her and forsake his humanity and freedom if she ultimately only wanted him to join to fight for her own freedom?

If that didn't make her the greatest hypocrite in the Underworld then she didn't know what did.

“Rias, what brings you here to my office? With your peerage at that?”, Sona greeted with her whole peerage by her side, once the door was closed behind them.

"I just had a meeting with Sasaki-san and he told me about the Fallen in our territory. He said you were going to take care of it, though I thought that maybe my peerage and I could help to ensure that nothing goes wrong. It is both our territory after all that they intruded into.", Rias replied sharply, eager to join into the fight to vent some of her frustration.

"Hmm. I don't see why not. It's better to be safe than sorry, I don't want any accident to happen to my peerage after all. If we go together, I don't see how some wayward Fallen could possibly escape us. I do plan to capture at least one of the Fallen alive though.", Sone agreed after thinking about it for a moment.

"I want to know why they would choose to visit Kuoh to hunt Sacred Gear wielders, even when they should be aware of who our elder siblings are.", she voiced out with a slight frown, "I think there is more to this than simply them targeting Sacred Gear users."

"And after we are finished with them, my sister is sure to find a use for them when confronting the Grigori in her position as Satan for Foreign Affairs. Even if they are weak, they could come in handy as a bargaining chip."

After pausing for a moment and getting a nod of agreement from Rias, Sona added: "Though there are still a few hours until nightfall and I didn't plan to act before. Maybe we can have some tea and have a talk about our new transfer student until then."

“That is probably a good idea.”, Rias agreed with a sigh, as both she and Sona ordered the rest of their peerage to wait outside, only Akeno and Tsubaki staying behind to accompany their Kings.