Chapter 34: Interim
Hello, Onii-chan," Jake said to Sirzechs, trying to keep a completely straight face. Sirzechs, meanwhile, had tears of joy in his eyes. His brother had finally called him Onii-chan!
"Fia-tan!" Sirzechs said to his wife with glee in his voice. "He called me Onii-chan! This day is now amazing!" Oh, how Sirzechs wished he could vaporize all the evil paperwork in front of him and spend the whole day playing with his family! Unfortunately, reality was cruel to him as he knew he'd be stuck behind his desk for the next few hours at least...
Grayfia just sighed in embarrassment at her husband's antics. Where had Jake even heard that term? He'd never been to Japan as far as she knew.
"Is there something you needed, Lord Jake?" Grayfia addressed him properly as she was on the clock and in professional maid mode.
Jake had finished up his discussion with Rias and was now in Sirzechs, or the Maou Lucifer's, private office to ask him a favor.
"I was wondering if I could actually go visit Serafall," Jake asked. He was also somewhat surprised that she herself hadn't taken the time to visit him yet and voiced his concern to his older brother.
Sirzechs looked somewhat ashamed upon hearing Jake ask about Serafall and why she had not decided to at least send a message yet. "I'm sorry, Jake," he apologized to his little brother. "The truth of the matter is that Serafall doesn't even know you've actually returned from the past yet," he looked slightly guilty when he said that.
"What!? Why!?" Jake asked.
Grayfia answered for Sirzechs. "Serafall was slightly upset that she botched the mission twenty years in the making to capture the heroes who had caused you to initially time travel in the first place. She was actually in the park during your entire encounter. She obviously couldn't interfere lest she create a time paradox. So she had to wait to capture the heroes after you had vanished. What none of us were expecting, however..." Grayfia explained.
Sirzechs cut in, "the leader who goes by Cao Cao had the True Longinus."
Jake looked confused, and Sirzechs recalled that his knowledge of sacred gears wasn't exactly stellar.
"The True Longinus," Sirzechs said, "is the most dangerous of all sacred gears to us devils." He said that sternly towards Jake, who nodded in understanding. "Even I, the strongest devil, must be very cautious when facing an opponent with such a weapon."
Jake wondered how crazy strong that sacred gear must be to be taken as a serious threat by the Maous who can destroy continents!
"So what happened next?" Jake asked, concerned. If that guy hurt Serafall, Jake didn't care what fancy weapon he had; Jake would hunt him to the ends of the earth!
Grayfia saw the anger on Jake's face and spoke to calm him. "Do not worry, Serafall is fine. It's just that, to her and our shame, she was forced to retreat and has been holed up in her family manor depressed ever since. She hasn't been answering or responding to anyone's messages."
Serafall... depressed? She was one of the most energetic and cheerful girls Jake knew. That was shocking. He felt like he needed to go see her right away! "When did this happen?" Jake asked.
"About two days ago," Sirzechs replied.
"Wait," Jake said, surprised. "I spent over half a year in the past, and it was only two days in the present?"
Sirzechs nodded and chalked it up to time travel shenanigans. Apparently, Ajuka speculated that the timeline was trying to correct itself, which is why if Jake ever "traveled" again, he'd probably return almost right after he left.
"Honestly, I figured I'd probably run into those heroes again in the future, and I appreciate you guys trying to handle them for me, but I feel like they're enemies that I'm personally going to have to face," Jake declared. Sirzechs nodded at that. He, too, had that same feeling multiple times during the Great War. They were always powerful enemies that had pushed him to his very limits and forged him into the Super devil he was today.
Once their conversation came to an end, Jake asked Sirzechs to let him use his teleportation circle so he could visit Serafall. His brother acquiesced and allowed him to use it.
With a flash of light, Jake vanished from Sirzechs' office.
Sirzechs turned to his wife after Jake left. "You know, I was a bit hesitant that Jake and Serafall were probably going to be a thing in the future. But I can tell how much he cares about her and how much she cares about him." The whole reason she'd holed herself up the past two days was because she was ashamed she'd failed to "avenge" Jake.
Grayfia nodded to Sirzechs with a small smile. "Indeed, the fact that she went into depression for nearly three years after Jake vanished from that graveyard is all the proof you need to know that she truly likes him back. It was only the birth of her little sister that pulled her out of her slump… That and her discovering magical girl anime…" she trailed off.
Indeed, Sirzechs said with an agreeing nod. "...um...Grayfia," Sirzechs said with a bit of concern in his voice when he realized something about Serafall that Jake wasn't aware of. "Does Jake know about... Levia-tan?"
Grayfia's eyes widened upon a similar realization. "No... no, he does not."
Sirzechs just broke down laughing for a moment. "Hahahaha, well, Jake's going to be in for quite a surprise when he sees how much his girl has changed ever since she discovered magical girls."
"Indeed," Grayfia deadpanned. Jake was going to be in for a shock...
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With a flash of light, Jake found himself standing in a large room in another ridiculously nice manor. Instead of all the red-colored decorations found in the Gremory manor, though, this one heavily favored blues.
The door to the room he was in opened. "Hello there," a voice with a familiar accent spoke out. "We weren't expecting any visitors, but welcome to the Sitri manor. I am the pawn of Lady Sona, Fleur-" The girl—no, woman—froze upon seeing Jake.
Jake froze for a second upon seeing her as well. "Hi there, Fleur," he said to her while trying his best to put on a charming smile. It was a bit tough, though, considering the last time he saw her, she was staring up at him from the ground with those lifeless eyes...
"Jake!" Fleur cut off his bad stray thought as she launched herself forward and embraced him in a tight hug!
"Sorry I missed our date for so long," Jake whispered to her. To him, Fleur had looked just as beautiful as the day he last saw her. The only difference being that she appeared to be slightly older, maybe into her early 20s appearance-wise, the same as Luna and Serafall.
"It's okay," she replied. "We are immortal now, no? We have plenty of time to get to know each other. But I suspect you did not come to see me today." She said that last part with a bit of longing before she released Jake from her tight hug.
"Fleur, I-" Jake started saying...
"Eh-Ehm!"
A throat-clearing was heard from the doorway, and Jake turned and saw a beautiful bespeckled girl with a bob cut hairstyle. "And who might you be, sir?" she asked Jake. "You clearly teleported into our guest room, so you've used the teleportation circle of someone our family trusts, but I do not recognize you." She did, however, recognize that famous hair color and had a minor suspicion.
"Lady Sona," Fleur spoke up. "This is Jake Gremory. And Jake, this is Sona Sitri, my current king and the little sister of my previous king, Serafall. I had heard that you and her were quite acquainted with each other." Her voice had a hint of jealousy. Jake found that cute. He wanted to spend more time with her and catch up, but he was supposedly here to see Serafall today…
Jake took Fleur's hand before laying a kiss on the back of it, causing her to blush. "It was lovely seeing you again, Fleur, and I'm hoping the two of us can get together and catch up soon." She nodded at that. "How about after my upcoming duel?" Jake asked.
"...Duel?" She questioned tentatively. Jake just told her it was a whole thing to explain at the moment and that she'd probably hear all about it later anyway. He reassured her concerned look that he would be fine.
"If you are quite done flirting with my pawn," Sona interrupted them, "then I assume by your name you are here to see my sister?" Sona asked. Sona had heard plenty of stories about Jake from her sister growing up.
Jake nodded. "Yeah, I heard she'd been a bit down in the dumps after running into the True Longinus wielder."
Sona herself grimaced at the mention of that particular sacred gear. She, like all devils, naturally feared what it could do to members of their race. Sona was secretly thankful that her sister had chosen to retreat when faced with such a weapon instead of risking death by fighting its wielder by herself. Especially when she'd heard that the user of Dimension Lost was also there, along with two unknown sacred gear users!
"Very well then," Sona said. "Follow me, and I'll escort you to my sister's room. Be warned, though, she's pretty much spent the past two days doing nothing but eating ice cream and watching magical girl shows."
"Magical girl shows?" Jake questioned aloud with a small laugh. "That's cute. I wasn't aware that Serafall even liked magical girls."
Sona just looked at Jake like he was an idiot for that comment but chose not to answer as she led him to her sister.
-Canon Omake: Sinful Talks-
"So, Jake, what's your primary sin?" Rias asked him. She was quite curious. Was he greedy like her, a lustful playboy, or maybe he was proud like her cousin Sairaorg and never backed down from a challenge. Whatever his sin was, she was dying to know.
Jake was somewhat caught off guard by that question. "Isn't that a really personal topic or something?" he asked Rias.
Rias nodded. "It is very personal and is considered rude to ask people outside your family or peerage. But for members inside those two groups, it's important to know," she said seriously.
"Ufufu," Akeno cut in as she sat down next to Koneko, who, to Jake's shock, was STILL eating cookies. "Why don't we play a small game and you try and guess our sins?" Akeno said as she stared at him intensely while licking her lips.
Jake just deadpanned at his sister's queen. "Let me guess," he said. "Your primary sin is lust..." Akeno pouted at him guessing it immediately. Jake then turned to the loli cat and correctly guessed that her primary sin was gluttony.
"Wow, that's very good!" Rias clapped for him. "But those two are easy. Now comes the hard part," she pointed at herself in anticipation. "What is my primary sin?" She was sure he wouldn't guess it easily!
Jake just also deadpanned at his sister before looking around her absolutely cluttered room filled with anime merch. "Yeah, I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say it's greed," he said smugly, to which she pouted.
"Maybe if we weren't having this conversation inside your bedroom, Rias, it would have been harder for him to guess," Akeno said with a giggle at the end.
"So, are all devils' sins easy to guess? Well, I guess they can't be because you asked me mine..." Jake said curiously. Rias just nodded and told him that some devils truly embraced their sins, some indulged in them only a little, and some very rarely indulged at all.
"So what does it matter then if there are devils that can just completely ignore their sins?" Jake asked. He had pretty much been doing that with his.
Rias and Akeno both frowned at his question. "That's not good," Akeno said in an unusually serious voice. "Ignoring your sin completely like that can lead to it being extremely hard to control when it arises." Rias nodded along in affirmation to her queen's statement.
Rias's knight, Kiba, spoke up. "You might not know from my usually calm demeanor, but my primary sin is actually wrath. The same as Lord Sirzechs, and I suspect the same as you, Jake."
"Oh, so he's wrath just like Onii-chan, huh?" Rias said aloud, causing Jake to snicker at the word "Onii-chan." Rias puffed up her cheeks as she blushed. She had meant to stop calling Sirzechs that name aloud, but sometimes she slipped up and forgot...
"Ignore that last part," Rias said, still blushing. "So, is there anything else you wanted to know?"
Jake pondered for a second before he asked, "Are there any devils who refuse to tell anyone their main sin? Even their family?"
Rias smirked at that question. She personally knew someone like that. "Indeed, there are. In fact, you'll probably meet one of them soon since I go to school with her.
That devil would be Serafall's little sister, Sona. Sona's primary sin is unknown to everyone, believe it or not. Even Serafall and their parents don't know." The girl was just so stoic all the time no one could ever get a good enough hint.
Jake was confused at how that was possible. She laughed at that before explaining to him that Sona was an incredibly closed-off individual, and that everyone had their own theories as to what her sin was because of it.
"Ufufu, indeed I do have my own theory about little So-tan, as her sister calls her," Akeno said.
"So-tan?" Jake questioned aloud. "Nevermind," he shook his head, "so what is your theory on her primary sin?" He asked curiously. He wondered what this girl was like, especially since she was Serafall's little sister. 'His future sister-in-law,' he thought smugly to himself a bit there.
"Ufufu... I think her primary sin is the same as mine... LUST!" Akeno said with a laugh. She believed that Sona was secretly a truly dirty girl underneath those glasses and that standoffish personality...
Rias sighed. "And this is where Akeno and I disagree. I just don't see it."
Akeno pouted at her king. "You just don't want to see it. Sona's entire peerage is completely filled with girls. Specifically beautiful girls... she's clearly trying to form a yuri harem!" Akeno exclaimed.
"Pfft, what!?" Jake said with a laugh. Serafall's sister was trying to form an all-girl harem? 'Wait, wasn't Fleur in her peerage!?' He thought with slight worry.
"And I'm telling you, her primary sin is obviously envy!" Rias said, to Jake's relief. "Why else would she intentionally keep her chest smaller?" Rias noticed Jake looked confused at that comment, so she elaborated that devils were subtle shapeshifters, as most devils instinctually made themselves more good looking. They could also, over time, choose whether to adjust the size of their assets... "That's why Sona has always had a smaller chest, it's because she gets off on being envious of other women with larger chests," Rias said sagely.
Jake thought that was pretty weird, but who was he to judge? He, himself, had to watch his anger, or he could apparently go off crazily... at least he had a solution for that now though.
-End Chapter-
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