Tale of Discovery

Chapter 58: Koneko Toujou

Seriously? This huge academy doesn't have a canteen? My disappointment is immeasurable.

As we can't exactly eat nothing and go on with our day, I use Creation to produce some sandwiches before we go exploring the school premises.

The three of us check out several clubs, with one of them catching my attention - The Occult Research Club.

We didn't go there, however we heard about it from the mouths of the other students. Boys and girls alike spoke highly of it.

It turned out that the reason for that was the president and vice-president club.

Having gotten curious, I use Clairvoyance to get a sneak-peek inside the club room. Inside, I see that the group that had fought against the monster the other night all gathered, except for but one.

Where is the strong petite girl? She was the most memorable one of them all... for several reasons.

Using my enhanced senses to roughly feel around ourselves, I sense that someone is hiding behind a wall close to us.

I observe them closely and see it's the petite girl that I just mentioned. She seems to be tailing us?

"Let's go check out the pool," I say to Sora and Asia.

As we walk, I keep a tab on the petite girl to see if she's still following us. Surprisingly, she follows us all the way to the pool.

Is she going to keep this up for the whole day? Well, I'll let her be for now. I can't raise any more suspicion in school. Besides, I'm trying to become "friends" with these guys.

------

School is finally over.

We are currently heading toward where our new "family car" is at. As for the petite girl, she is still following us.

After walking for a short while, we reach the car.

I drive back to the apartment. Once we all get off the car, I tell Sora and Asia to go on head.

Activation Godspeed, I make my way to where the girl is at.

---3rd POV---

Watching the three of them get off the car and about to enter their apartment, Koneko plans to head back to school.

However, before she can do so, she feels a gust of wind behind her as she detects the presence of someone.

Alarmed, she turns around only to be met with the sight of the one she was supposed to investigate, smiling at her.

"Hello," he simply says.

She steps back from him and stays on guard.

"Don't worry, if I wanted to do anything to you, the school would've already been nothing more than ashes," he declares in a friendly tone.

The declarance he just made isn't a joke, neither is it a lie.

Realizing that she can't possibly handle this on her own, she wants to call for assistance, however, a voice interrupts her thoughts,

"Don't call for help."

She can't tell why, but she doesn't want to do it anymore.

"You're coming with me," he says to her as he pats her small head, "and tell me about everything you know."

---1st POV---

I carry the unconscious girl all the way back to my room and place her on my bed.

Looking at her small body curled up on my bed, I find her to be adorable.

However, now isn't the time for that. First, I need to put all of what I learned from her into consideration.

Indoctrination is sure helpful for extracting information...

Anyway, I finally got to know that the bunch in the Occult Research Club are Devils. The president of said club is Rias Gremory, a devil from a noble family.

She was given her "Evil Pieces" which are apparently chess pieces for Devils to make other Devils a part of their peerage.

Now, this "noble" Devil ordered this girl, whose name is Koneko, to follow me as they found me suspicious.

As for the reason they were suspicious of me, it was related to the three light pillars that appeared in the sky, as well as the disappearance of several beings from all three winged races.

Leaving that aside, I got to know more about the current world. Including the existence of Nekomata - a race of cat-like "youkai".

Not only is Koneko one of them, but she is a special one.

Well, that doesn't really matter to me. What does matter, is that the "noble" Devil sent someone after me.

This did result in my finding out a lot more about the world, so I can barely forgive her.

Nevertheless, it's still a pretty rude thing to do.

So, how do I deal with her?

For now, I will use Memory Erasure to make Koneko forget all that has happened. However, before I do that,

I wonder how her ears and tail feel...

------

Ah, she's finally regained consciousness. That took longer than I wanted it to, but it works out.

Koneko seems to be really confused as she opens her eyes and looks around. Upon setting her sight on me, she jumps up from the bed and examines me before doing the same for herself.

Does she think that I did something to her while she was unconscious? How could I not?

"Calm down, I don't plan to hurt you," I say to her, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

She seems to not be taking my words seriously as she remains vigilant with her cat tail perking up.

I extend my hand slowly to her head. Koneko doesn't take any action and only watches my hand getting closer to her.

Once it's close enough, I lightly pat her head and say,

"You're quite adorable."

Koneko has gotten less vigilant as she closes her eyes and enjoys it. How cat-like.

"Please, don't get me wrong, but why were you unconscious right in front of our apartment?", I ask her after a few moments.

She opens her eyes and has look of contemplation coupled with confusion as she thinks about an answer.

"If you don't want to answer that," I say after a while, "why don't we begin with introducing ourselves?"

Koneko nods her head in response and says in a soft voice,

"Koneko Toujou."

My turn I guess,

"I am God. You may call me Victor."

My words stun her as she looks at me with a weird look.

Well, that's to be expected. However, now that I've really become one, might as well become the only one worthy of the name.

Raising my left hand, I casually create five Angels out of thin air. Of course, insentient ones.

Koneko is currently staring at them with her mouth agape.

Finding it hard to believe, she gets up from the bed and moves toward them. She waves her hand in front of them as if trying to check if they're real.

Then, she touches them all over to make sure one last time before turning around and looking at me, confused.

"Is there something wrong?", I ask her.

Koneko thinks before a few seconds and says,

"Why are they not reacting to me?", she asks back.

"That's simply because I have yet to create a soul for them," I reply.

She seems to have gotten less vigilant of me as she moves back to the bed and says,

"Why are you showing me this?"

I still can't believe how the only emotion I've seen on her face from the time I observed her tailing me until now is the look of shock and confusion she just had.

She has yet to smile, which bothers me for some reason.

"It's to build a little trust between us," I calmly reply.

"I am a devil?", she says, frowning.

Does she mean, why would God want to build trust with a Devil?

"That was a long time ago. Nowadays, I don't dislike Devils, as I've seen worse Angels," I say to her while extending my hand to her head once again.

"Ah!", she suddenly yelps before retracting the ears and tail.

"Why? You looked adorable with them."

She doesn't say anything and just looks at me.

Hah~

Well then, I should try to get some information out of her based on her emotions. Objective information without any bias is indeed useful, but if I want to go through with what I'm planning...

"So, are you going to tell me why were you in front of my apartment?"

She's beginning to get nervous a little, which I guess is because she's aware of how troublesome a godly entity is.

"I was told to follow you...", she softly says under her breath.

"And why is that?", I ask further as I move closer and sit beside her.

"You were suspicious," she continues.

I kind of feel bad for doing this to her, but I've got no choice.

"And who is it that's dumb enough to send you out like this without having any info regarding the capabilities of the target?"

She's getting a little fidgety as she doesn't know what to say.

"I saw you fighting the other night," I say to her, which seems to attract her attention as she looks at me.

"That fight against that monster; I've got to say you were very reckless. I mean, who would just want to walk into the mouth of a monster? Don't you value your life? And don't tell me that you have a strong physique, because that monster might've had a specialized trap inside its mouth that could've easily destroyed you.

"Your actions disappointed me, but what disappointed me more was how your teammates reacted. They didn't seem to think outside the box and continuously underestimated the monster. What I'm saying is that you and your teammates are the worst thinkers that I've come across ever since my return."

It might have to do with my claim of being a God, but she doesn't seem to wish to think of something to prove me wrong.

I want to keep her. For some reason, I've gotten quite fond of her, even though I've met her for only so long.

"I've decided that you're going to stay with me," I say to her which shocks her as she looks my way with widened-eyes.

"I find your current master unworthy of keeping you." I continue saying, while making sure to do it sagely. After all, I'm supposed to be wise, right?

She's even more confused now, unable to come to a decision over what to say or do. So, I place my hand on her left cheek and my right on the other, then make her face myself before saying,

"You don't need to worry, I'll be taking good care of you. This is for your good as well as your master's. If she were to remain so naive and ignorant, it's bound to end bad for you lot. All your master has to do is prove herself worthy and that's all it takes for me to return you to her. Agreed?"

It's like she decided to stop thinking and just nods her head while looking my eyes.

I move a little closer to her, and gently kiss her forehead before softly whispering,

"Good girl."

The plan is a simple one. Based on how reckless Rias Gremory acts, she's going to drag all over her peerage over without asking for any assistance. This, in turn will let me play around with them and perhaps put the second phase of my plan into play, which is, "All this was to teach you guys how to be stronger and better."

As for Issei Hyoudo I'm fairly certain that they wouldn't have any problems with me finishing him off and Plundering his Sacred Gear.

They practically invited the guy into their group with something as stupid as "becoming a harem king".

I would've lived just fine not knowing that there are people stupid enough to strive for such a title.

The most important thing, is that no one other than Kiba Yuuto can be considered to be close to him. As according to Koneko, the reason for Issei becoming a Devil is that he had died to a Fallen Angel.

That's not the end of it, as he was injured a second time by most likely the very same Fallen Angel, which resulted in him almost dying. However, they had to use one of the new "Health Potions" that were created as replica of "Phoenix Tears", whatever that is.

Basically, if I am to kill off Issei Hyoudo, I will be facing Kiba's wrath, while there is the possibility of the others as well.

I focus back on Koneko who's currently being held within my arms, and say,

"Let's go introduce you to the others, shall we?"