DxD: The Sorcery System Chapter 56

Chapter 56: A Kyoto Date (½)

[Blue Bottle Coffee, Kyoto]

{Sona Sitri}

Reo Takeda.

He’s different.

“I think I’ll go with a cold brew,” he calmly placed his order, unbothered by the crowd that had gathered. Then, turning to me, he asked, “Are you just going to stare at me?”

He chuckled, snapping me back to my senses. 

“I’ll have an espresso, please.”

Neither of us ordered anything else, mostly because we had just finished dinner.

We couldn't talk much during dinner; the previous restaurant was packed, and this place wasn't much better. 

But the other place had people constantly approaching us, which made it hard to maintain a private conversation. 

Here, once we had our coffee, we wouldn’t be disturbed.

No refills or side dishes needed.

“So, you want to know about the factions around here, don’t you?” I asked as our order was finally delivered.

He took a sip, turned his head slightly, and nodded. “Yeah, but they added too much sugar.”

“Reo?”

Reo Takeda was different—difficult to figure out.

I’ve been around plenty of humans, mostly girls, but none of the men I’ve encountered were like Reo.

And I’m still trying to decide if that’s a good or bad thing.

“Are you always this serious and straight to the point?” He swirled the coffee around, as if hoping to lessen the sugar.

“I think this is an important topic we’re discussing.”

“Ugh, I just mixed in the leftover sugar too.” He wrinkled his nose and set the cup back on the table. “I thought it was just unmixed sugar in that sip, but it’s excessive overall.”

Is he really more concerned about the sugar in his coffee than the gods and goddesses who have been keeping an eye on us?

Finally, he looked up at me and smiled again. “But yes, I do want to know about the Shinto faction and their ties to Japan.”

Given his expression, you’d think he wasn’t interested.

But I still had to do my part.

“Well then, since no one’s paying attention to us, let me explain the bits I know about the Shinto faction.”

This drew a raised eyebrow from him.

“Bits?” he caught on, “I thought someone with administrative rights from the Shinto faction would know more about them.”

“That’s the thing,” I admitted, annoyed by the situation myself. “We were given administrative rights under the authority of the Satans. So, while we’re the ones looking after Kuoh, it’s the Satans who hold the actual power.”

An easier way to explain it was—

“Think of it as an internship,” I said. “These rights aren’t permanent, and we’ll have to return them to the Shinto faction one day.”

He pondered that for a moment. “So you don’t have actual authority here?”

“We do, since the Satans appointed us to govern this place.”

We had power, just not absolute.

“That’s interesting,” he mused. “But it makes sense. I can’t see two devils who aren’t even twenty acquiring administrative rights from gods on their own.”

I couldn’t refute that.

While they might have agreed to meet with us, they certainly wouldn’t have entertained us further. If not for Rias’ and my family’s influence—especially our siblings—the Shinto faction wouldn’t have even considered us.

And that’s the sad reality, no matter how much Rias and I try to deny it.

“Then I guess it’s not surprising you don’t know much about the Shinto faction,” he nodded, “but I hope you know enough?”

“Enough to hopefully keep you out of trouble.” Because while trouble didn’t necessarily come to him, he certainly had a knack for finding it.

“That works. So…” he looked around. “Is there any god or goddess I should be cautious of?”

The answer wasn’t simple. Or maybe it was.

“Technically, none, because the gods don’t necessarily intervene directly.” They didn’t need to. “Instead, they have representatives and caretakers who oversee things on their behalf.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then I presume…”

“The Shinto faction, especially in Kyoto, has a representative named Yasaka, a nine-tailed yokai.”

This amused him. “So even yokai are real?” He answered his own question. “Of course they are. If gods, devils, fallen angels, and dragons are real… then so are yokai.”

It was good to see he was becoming more accustomed to the supernatural. It’s always a hassle explaining things to those who have no idea about the occult.

“Yasaka is strong, very strong,” I warned him. “So try to avoid drawing her attention. If she gets offended, our entire force combined couldn’t stop her.”

She was a monster.

“Unless the Satans or their associates intervene, we’re doomed.”

I’ve never seen Yasaka fight, but I’ve heard stories of her rampages. None of them are pleasant.

If devils are brutal, yokai are feral.

“Stay away from the nine tails. Got it,” he nodded firmly. “But what’s the political situation like? And what’s the Shinto faction’s influence over Japan?”

That… was harder to answer.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I really didn’t. “Every place has the influence of different supernatural factions, but each place has its own administrators. The Shinto faction just happens to be in charge of Japan.”

“Why?” he asked, as curious as anyone would be.

“Apparently, it was decided thousands of years ago, maybe even longer. No one questions it. We just know that Japan is under the Shinto faction, India under the Hindu pantheon, Scandinavia under the Norse, Greece under the Greek, and other regions have similar setups.”

It was hard to explain the politics of all the pantheons and factions, simply because I didn’t know much. I wanted to know as much as he did, but it wasn’t possible.

Some of these stories and political intricacies are only accessible to high-ranking individuals active in the supernatural world, and currently, I wasn’t one of them.

“One would expect a religion like Christianity to have control over everything. But I guess it doesn’t,” he sounded amused, understandably so.

“The conquests of the past did establish the religion, but the gods still retain control over the lands they once held.” A country might have Christianity as its major religion, but that doesn’t mean the Christian faction rules it. “Gods aren’t bound by faith. They enjoy the faith of humans, but it doesn’t change anything for them. They are individually powerful and wise, so even with humans praying to another god or gods, they still hold full authority over their lands.”

The people who worship the Mayan gods are almost extinct, but the Mayan gods still have the same power and authority over places like Mexico and Honduras.

And it’s the same for everyone.

He listened intently, clearly interested and amused by what I was saying.

Honestly, I felt the same way. When I first learned about the different pantheons, I did deep research to learn about them. And I found quite a bit, but not enough to satisfy my curiosity.

I guess it was the same for Reo, as he went back to the coffee he said was too sweet, seemingly lost in thought.

“You alright?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took his time, slowly turning to look at me.

“Who... who is the strongest among all these pantheons?”

This was a tough question.

“I don’t know the full extent of each pantheon’s powers. I just know they’re all terrifying—some could erase the world if they wanted to,” I said, hesitating. “But if I had to let my bias show, I’d say the Christian side, though that includes the Devils, Angels, and Fallens all together.”

“Really?”

Honestly...

No.

I knew there were gods out there so powerful that even the mightiest devils of all time wouldn’t dare challenge them. Thankfully, those gods seemed uninterested in fighting or causing trouble.

“Yes,” I lied. He didn’t need to worry about the gods of other pantheons—not yet. I’d been part of the supernatural world since birth, and even I didn’t concern myself much with the other pantheons, except for the three Christian factions and, maybe, a little with Shinto.

So, he certainly didn’t have to worry about getting entangled in pantheon politics anytime soon.

“That’s good to hear,” he smiled. “Since I’m already on the good side of two out of the three factions, I think I’m safe.”

I hoped the same.

“Anyway, thanks for answering my questions.” He somehow managed to finish the overly sweet coffee. “Thanks to you, a lot of my questions have been cleared up.”

At least I could answer a few, even if some of those answers were half-truths.

“Maybe you should head back,” I suggested. “It’s getting late.”

The sun had set, and Kyoto was illuminated with lights. It was beautiful but also a sign that we should be returning.

He looked out the window. “It is late, but it’s so pretty.”

It certainly was.

It almost felt like a crime not to enjoy the beauty of the place.

“How about we walk around a bit longer? And maybe hit the arcade we talked about earlier?”

His suggestion made me pause and think.

“Wouldn’t be a good look for the president to be late, would it?” I asked, though he already had an answer.

“And they’d believe the president if she said she was busy with work, wouldn’t they?”

That... yeah, they would.

“So, let’s go.” He grinned. “It’s not every day we get to enjoy ourselves, especially in a new place.”

“Well...”

He stood up slowly. “Let’s go. And maybe... consider it sort of like a date.”

Huh?

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind being on a date with a pretty girl.”

Oh, I hate his jokes so much!