บท 28: Leviathan

"A magical girl?" I mutter in surprise. It definitely isn't the first person I would've expected my 'Alarm' Ofuda to be triggered by.

I'm not exaggerating either. It's a young woman, with long black tied in twin tails and eyes of ocean blue, dressed in a pastel pink magical girl outfit. She even carries with her a pink wand, held idly in her hands. Anyone would've dismissed it as cosplay, but that surging Demonic Energy isn't one I can ignore,

Oh, wait a moment. I know who she is. Isn't she-?

"Oh. Her." Yasaka says, slightly annoyed and completely unamused.

I blink, snapping out of my thoughts. "You know her?"

She sighs. "Serafall and I are…associates." She begins, grimacing. "Years ago, we had a conflict with the Devils due to a rogue, and it is her and I that worked together to appease the protesting." She looks physically pained, like she's pulling her teeth out due to the words she's saying. "She's a perfectly capable woman."

I raise an eyebrow. "What's with that expression then?"

"...I simply find myself incapable of fully trusting her."

I hum. My eyes tell me that there's a complicated mess hiding behind it all, a story she's keeping shut. A mess, both personal and political, dating centuries ago.

There's a lot to it. Too much to digest here. I'll need to do my search privately, lest I get caught because of a nosebleed.

"She's in Kuoh right now." I say. "My 'Alarm' Ofuda ticked me off just now."

Yasaka hums, thoughtful. "There might be a number of reasons. Although I've heard that the Leviathan has been spotted all around Japan, lately. She seems especially interested in the areas the Devils have yet to…take over." Her expression goes dark for a moment, before she shakes her head. "Kuoh is the same, I believe."

I nod, quickly through everything I know about Serafall Leviathan. When I used my eyes to learn about Devils, she and her fellow Satans were the first things my eyes forced into my head. Their names, their strengths, their histories, their lives. It was a jumble of memories and information and regrets, all front-loaded into the mind of a nine year old.

Suffice to say, I ended up discarding those old clothes. The tremendous amount of blood I'd lost had soaked into the shirt permanently.

Anyways, Serafall. Once Serafall Sitri, she took up the mantle of Satan Leviathan after the Devil Civil War. Specialized in terrifically powerful ice magic, capable of freezing entire countries in minutes. She also deals with Devil politics, and she'll often be the one to represent Devilkind to the rest of the world.

The one tidbit that my mind immediately latches onto is this;

Sona Sitri. Serafall's little sister. She's about a year older than I am, and if she is to come to Japan as a student, then she'd start highschool in several months.

An odd idea to be sure, but there's one important thing my eyes told me.

The Sitri Family and the Gremory Family are close. So are Serafall and Sirzechs Lucifer. And so are Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory.

And Rias Gremory is a massive fan of Japanese culture. I'm not sure why my eyes found that so important back then, but now a picture is building, and I can't help but be drawn into it.

Assuming Rias manages to convince Sona to attend school with her, would the two not do so in Japan? But letting the heirs of important families like the Gremory and Sitri without rhyme or reason would be strange.

Just now, Yasaka mentioned that Serafall has been spotted in towns that aren't governed by the Devils. Kuoh is one of them.

Could Serafall Leviathan be looking around for a good place for Rias and Sona to take hold? It'd be strange if the heirs went out for no reason, but if they were given reign over a town, would it not be the perfect excuse? Rias gets her time in Japan, the heirs gain important lessons on ruling, and Devilkind gains more territory in-

"Issei?"

I blink to find Yasaka staring at me with no small amount of concern. I look at my hands, and they're stuck to the table, trapped by wooden vines that'd somehow grown from the table's surface. My hands are glowing slightly.

I smile wryly. "Sorry. I got lost in thought again, didn't I?" I groan, quickly tearing my hands from the table. "Sorry about the table, by the way." I say, placing my hands on the disfigured surface. "I'll fix it real quick."

My hands begin to glow, and the wooden surface underneath begins to contort, falling under my will. And through a mixture of Primal Energy and Senjutsu, I begin manipulating the wood, turning the surface perfectly flat once more.

It's actually something I became able to do months ago. After passing a 'threshold', something inside me had changed. My Primal Energy and Senjutsu mingled together with a new, smoother chemistry. Pushing Ki out of my body had never been too tough of a job, and so I immediately tried mixing Ki together with Primal Energy to extend the latter out of my body.

And it worked! Senjutsu acted as a bridge that allowed me to push Primal Energy out of my body without cutting myself. Meditation came easier, and infusing Primal Energy into Akeno's body became a thousand times easier. But more than that, several ideas had sprung in my mind.

I knew that Primal Energy facilitated growth, and so I wanted to see if I could infuse something with Primal Energy, and to then make it grow under my will.

Plant Manipulation is the result. I'm still not great at it, but I'm getting better. Yasaka calls it my personal Youjutsu, which isn't totally wrong.

"Again, sorry." I say. "Need to better control myself."

She smiles gently. "It's fine. For us, Youjutsu is a comfort. It's not uncommon to use it unconsciously when we're doing something else."

"Yeah, sure. It's fun, for now." I shrug. "Just imagine what happens if I accidentally start growing a tree when I'm bored or something."

Her smile becomes a little sly. "Well, then it's imperative you continue training, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." I give her a lazy thumbs up. "Loud and clear."

Eventually, time catches up, and I need to head back home. Yasaka escorts me back to my summer house, and soon I teleport to my room. Akeno's still sleeping, visibly tired despite her Primal Energy propping her up. I silently change my clothes to my school uniform, and with my bag gathered, I head down to greet the rest of my family.

We share a quick breakfast, and they bid me good luck as I leave for my exams. I walk down a few streets, and I then stop before a seemingly normal house. I pull out a key and unlock it. I head in, and there on the floor of an empty living room is a teleportation array.

I lock the door behind me, and I walk onto it. The world turns white, and suddenly I'm an entire town away.

The day goes on slowly after that. I have two exams today. Nothing too difficult, and the few strange questions I get are easily solved with my eyes. I make one or two false mistakes, just to keep any potential suspicions off my back.

I clear the questions in record time, but it doesn't mean I can leave. So I'm forced to sit in class, pretending to ponder over my questions as I do my best to stave off my boredom.

And I ponder. Over things consequential and not. Over the past, present, and future. There's this feeling in my chest; a waking call pushing me to look forward to the future. A siren's call, both a warning and a gleeful wait.

It is coming, it says. It is coming.

The feeling is strange, and it passes before I can really understand what it means. But the mood remains, and I end up thinking back to the Satan who's happily prancing around my hometown.

Do I meet her? Do I avoid her? I can find many reasons why Kuoh would look favorable. The geography, the leylines, the mix of modernity and passive, townly regality. If the heirs of the Gremory and Sitri are to settle in Kuoh, what will I do then?

Of course, avoiding her is perhaps the best thing to do. It's safer, and keeps Kuoh tranquil for a little longer.

But at the same time, I can't deny that there's…something between us. A connection, much like the one I have with Akeno, but young and thin; nothing but a bud of a tall flower.

It's similar to the threads I once shared with Yasaka and Nurarihyon. We were but acquaintances, but as time went on, the connections my eyes could see between us grew stronger, and soon the fates that tie the Youkai leaders and I are just as strong as the one between Akeno and I.

Of course, a connection doesn't imply allyship. Just as I have connections with my family, so do I hold a connection with the entirety of the Five Principal Clans. They're my enemy now, and that'll remain until one of us bites the dust.

Yet, deep in my heart, I know my decision's already been made hours ago. Introducing myself to Serafall Leviathan is better than keeping myself away. Sudden introductions aren't too well received, and it'll only breed suspicion from the heirs when they do find out that I've been in Kuoh this whole time.

It's practical too. Cold as it sounds, it doesn't take much for me to dig into her secrets. She's as stressed as she is happy, and I think I can curry some favors if I present some help. Trying to help without being suspicious will be tough, but I'll make do.

And more than anything, the drowning exhaustion hiding behind her vinyl mask is intently familiar.

So the plan solidifies. Information swirls in my mind, words and conversations building like bricks of a house, and it neatly slots into my mind as the bell tolls. Cheers and groans of defeat ring around me, and I sigh in relief as my test is taken away.

Soon enough, I'm back in Kuoh. But I don't head home. Not yet.

I have a Satan to talk to.