The Stars Above

Church Girls

Several days after his visit to the art gallery, Kuraima was idly perusing the library at Kuoh Academy searching for a book to make a book report about in English class.

Although for a moment, Kuraima briefly forgot why he was in here in the first place and wound up searching through the manga section- which had a surprisingly decent variety to choose from.

That being said, there was also the bargain bin material that the Manga Club often produced. The art style wasn't as professional as the rest, but that didn't stop them from making homemade manga that was more often than not a pretty decent hit with the female students of Kuoh.

Today, however, one of them caught his eye.

A homebrew manga called My Boyfriend was Stolen by a Mafia Girl! Oh no?!.

Kuraima, having grown up in America where titles weren't so enthusiastic, chuckled.

'Okay, that's a pretty funny title- hold up.'

Picking up a copy, he gazed long and hard at the cover that featured a trio of alarmingly familiar faces.

'That is 100% me, Champ, and Helenski. What the fuck? They didn't even try to change up the character designs to not look like us. How appalling. This feels almost predatory.'

...

...

...

He immediately opened it up and started reading through it, not really noticing that one of the manga club members was peeking out from behind the corner.

The club member in question had a mischievous smile on her face- She'd eavesdropped on his conversation with Champ and possibly secured both a lead on a potential new artist AND a juicy new idea for a self-produced manga series. Two birds, one stone!

Several minutes passed until he reached the last page. Looking up from the manga, he noticed the person spying on him.

He looked at her dead in the eyes as he got up and approached her, the troublemaker's smile shrinking as he got closer and closer."

"People back in America have sued for less, y'know. Would be a shame if my girlfriend saw this, because then your club could be held accountable for emotional damages on top of whatever this is."

The girl from the Manga Club paled. There was a dangerous glint in Kuraima's eyes, as the room suddenly felt a little chillier.

"If you want to avoid going to court, then I want every copy of this manga taken off the shelves. Lock 'em away or destroy them, I don't care, as long as you're not selling them. I might even not report you to Sona or Rias if you comply. Capiche?"

The thought of Sona taking action against the Manga Club caused the girl to pale even further. They were already on thin ice with the whole yaoi business. "C...Capiche..."

Before walking away to resume his search for book report material, he leaned in close.

"You weren't wrong about the mafia part. I'll give you that."

He walked away, the air seemingly losing it's oppressive aura.

The girl from the Manga Club felt lightheaded, stumbling towards the table. Her legs gave out just as she sat down.

She honestly wished she'd just gotten on Sona's bad side.

Kuraima, in the meantime, thought it was really weird that the club member had caved in so easily. He felt a little bad, figuring that she must've just been really shy, so he turned around with the intent to apologize...