Sacred Gear: Heavenly Crown

Chapter 7: An Abduction in the Name of Justice! (2)

"ISSEI~!" Yuuma exclaimed excitedly, jumping onto Issei's prone form and attempting to snuggle him to death.

"OOF!" Issei grunted, as her full weight impacted him. 'What did I do to deserve all of this?'

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It was now Wednesday and Issei was having a...less than pleasant week... He was 'forced' to skip school yesterday because Yuuma didn't want to let him leave and Michael came by with a mountain of work to do that would serve as his 'first round of punishment.' Between those two things, he just decided it wasn't worth going, so he stayed home. Unfortunately, that also meant texting Katase that he was skipping because of the mountain of work he had and begging her to not be upset. He received the most terrifying reply he'd ever gotten in his entire life. If you ask him the most frightening thing he's ever experienced, it wouldn't be the child-eating Bugbear he had to kill or the time he went to stop two chimeras from destroying a church only to catch them 'in the act' when he was just fifteen. None of those compared to receiving the text 'K.' from Katase. She even put a period at the end! Maybe being with the devils wasn't such a bad thing for her after all...

Today wasn't any better at all. After waking up to his new alarm clock saying, 'The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway,' which was Proverb 15:19 apparently, he had gone to ask Sona about getting Yuuma transferred into the school. She surprisingly agreed...in exchange for Issei joining Rias on a stray devil hunt and owing Sona one unspecified favor. Not that she really understood how much better off she was in this deal, but Sona essentially just accepted a student into her school in exchange for an unspecified favor from God. She really was a devil...

After that, he met with Murayama at lunch, asking her in front of a whole bunch of people to come with him alone, which did not help at all with the rumors going around about him 'seducing' various people in the school. In his brilliant mind, he decided the best place to go was the Kendo Clubroom...which allowed Murayama access to various weaponry to beat him with when he was trying to explain various supernatural happenings to her and the fact that he was indirectly responsible for Katase's death, resurrection as a devil, and subsequent departure from the Kendo Club. Murayama was more than happy to release her frustrations about losing her second-in-command on him. Especially when he offered to train her. Apparently, he was now a 'patronizing best-friend stealer' and she would be 'angry at him for all of eternity,' or something along those lines.

Going back to classes with some fresh new bruises earned him less than sympathy from Katase, who was still upset about him skipping school and training yesterday, and some wonderful rumors about being beaten up by a Murayama for reasons X, Y, and Z. After all of that, Katase decided they were going to be training. Now. Not after a brief moment of sweet respite with tea from Akeno in the Occult Research Club, not after a snack from Yuuma (who had been learning to cook from his mother), but right now. After giving him the look, Issei quickly complied and led her to his training grounds...in the middle of an isolated forest...which did even less for his reputation.

"Really, Issei? This is where we're training? Didn't you learn your lesson last time you dragged me alone to an isolated location?" Katase complained.

"You're the one who asked me to train her. This is where I trained all my life, with the exception of my time with Michael in Sixth Heaven," Issei informed her. 'Speaking of which, apparently Gabriel's been pestering him to convince me to visit her again or to tell her where I live so she can come to visit me herself. That would not go over well right now. I have more than enough on my plate as it is.'

"Watch it, brat. That's my daughter you're talking about," Yahweh warned.

"Ok, Sensei, I'm ready to begin," Katase bowed.