[Romani Oyama]
Slowly, my eyes blinked as I observed the golden codex materializing in my hand.
Its gleaming cover was worked in shades of gold, adorned with engravings of golden vines that rose along the edges, intertwining in organic and living patterns, as if they were still growing. At the center, a symbol of infinity stood out, interlaced with another, forming a perpendicular cross that radiated with a shimmering flavescent hue, too deep to be mere pigment.
Beautiful...
That was the only word I could use to describe that codex.
Lazily, I opened it. My eyes fell upon its first page, equally laminated in gold, yet completely, and surprisingly, blank. Not just that one: every thick, silky page was immaculate, without a single mark upon its golden surface.
Blinking, I tilted my head to the side, observing the undisturbed emptiness. Generic as it was, it felt like staring directly into an abyss of pure gold and discovering that the abyss preferred not to stare back.
The most remarkable thing was that I wasn't surprised. I instinctively knew that filling a page required bathing it in my magical energy. Or, in my specific case, demonic energy.
The instant that thought crossed my mind, golden chains emerged from the codex's cover, serpentining and coiling possessively around my left arm.
Simply blinking at the sudden action, I remained silent as the chains that were squeezing my arm gradually relaxed. All three chains coiled around my body with a gentle, possessive grace, reverent and silent, before shattering into crystalline golden fragments that incorporated themselves into every piece of my soul, merging with my own essence irreversibly.
Hmm... It seems our contract has been established, hasn't it?
Smiling with a faintly melancholic satisfaction, I ran my fingers delicately over the silky page and closed the codex shortly after. With a simple movement of my hands, the ⟨Endless Codex⟩ dissolved into golden butterflies that scattered in the air like ashes blown by the wind.
As obvious as it was, I would not be using the ⟨Endless Codex⟩ right now. It would be excessively conspicuous and reckless to invoke a supernatural presence at this moment, especially when there was still a curious little devil with blazing red hair on the floor below, most likely attentive to any unusual fluctuation of demonic energy.
As for my other abilities, ⟨Ice Devil Slayer Magic⟩ and ⟨Abyssal Bonds⟩ were far too conspicuous to use right now without drawing even more unwanted attention. ⟨Adonic Beauty⟩ was a passive ability in constant effect, and ⟨Alchemy⟩ required meticulous preparation to be performed properly. So, for now, let's leave them all for later.
With a lethargic grin, I moved my heavy legs, walking lazily toward the door.
But...
My drowsy steps came to an abrupt halt. My gaze drifted involuntarily toward the mirror beside me.
Who is that?
Upon seeing my own reflection, my lethargy dissolved for a few seconds, replaced by genuine and slightly unsettled curiosity.
I had long, silky black hair that fell over my back like a cascade of liquid darkness, while a few rebellious strands slid gracefully over a pair of piercing and intense violet eyes that resembled amethyst gemstones. A slightly androgynous face balanced delicate features with sharper ones in a way that was almost irritatingly harmonious.
Is this guy really me?
Letting out a resigned sigh, I pulled my hand from the soft hair and grabbed the shirt nearby, putting it on with almost no resistance. After a few seconds, Kuoh Academy's uniform covered my slender body. Slightly curious about my complete appearance, I turned back toward the mirror.
The uniform consisted of a perfectly tailored black blazer with contrasting white details, worn over a long-sleeved shirt featuring subtle, elegant vertical stripes, and a perfectly adjusted black tie at the collar. On the lower half, black trousers that paired impeccably with polished brown shoes, which reflected the light with a quiet dignity.
Hmm... Clothes really do make the man.
Offering a slight approving smirk at the new appearance, I left the room silently and descended the stairs toward the first floor.
Thanks to this body's fragmented memories, I quickly reached the lower floor without tripping on a single step and without the added drama of having my head collide with each one in sequence. As much as that thought amused me, in just a few strides I had arrived at my destination.
Noticing me descending the stairs, Rias-senpai rose slowly from the black leather sofa with a graceful movement. Her skirt shifted slightly as she stood, offering a brief glimpse of red lace beneath.
I averted my eyes from those soft thighs and redirected my gaze to her beautiful face.
Please, whatever higher existence still cares to hear me: do not let me become some sort of perverted voyeur.
While a freshly reincarnated devil made a sincere plea to the universe, I heard the redhead's melodious voice fill the silence.
"Finally. I was starting to worry about you." She crossed her delicate arms beneath her full chest, watching me with a faint, amused smile resting on her rose-colored lips. "How are you feeling?"
"Mentally? So-so. Physically? In perfect condition." Letting out a yawn, I raised my index finger and scratched my cheek. "As for the delay... I was simply processing the overwhelming information of no longer being human." As much of a lie as it was, those words still carried a certain grain of truth.
"That makes sense." Rias uncrossed her arms and brought her index finger to her chin in a thoughtful gesture. "If you're still confused about your new reality, it would be prudent to offer an intensive course on our world." Placing her hands behind her back, she gifted me with a reassuring look that had probably disarmed creatures far more resistant than myself.
I was momentarily enchanted by that smile before recovering my critical faculties. This girl possessed charisma of an impressive caliber. And her beauty, let's be honest, contributed quite significantly to that effect.
"I would be very grateful for that detailed guidance."
So please, generously pour your knowledge over me.
✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧
I raised my heavy hand and massaged my throbbing temples with slow, circular motions.
Our dear redheaded devil had poured her encyclopedic knowledge over me with an absolutely overwhelming intensity.
Even if it was me who had missed it, you could have been a little gentler. It was my first time.
"Are you feeling alright, Romani-kun?" Rias asked with admirable innocence, as though moments before she had not just dumped a devastating informational avalanche directly onto my head.
My common sense had been shattered.
You practically just informed me, with complete casualness, that every religion and mythology in the world is literally real and coexists simultaneously.
In this universe, being skeptical about anything must be an absolute pain.
Unfortunately, my shock was even greater considering that every conceivable supernatural creature dreamed up by the most delirious human imagination also existed in this completely insane universe. Vampires, Dhampirs, Jiangshi, Ghosts, Banshees, Oni, Rakshasas, Devils, Angels, Werewolves, Kitsune, Nagas, Dragons...
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if an alien inexplicably showed up in my bathroom tomorrow.
There was, however, one single piece of information I had already possessed in advance: the devilish redhead before me was a pure-blooded devil belonging to the prestigious and powerful House Gremory, one of the seventy-two ancestral pillar lineages of the infernal underworld.
All the devils of the Ars Goetia are quite real in this disturbing universe.
Although a devastating war had occurred between the Biblical God, the devils of the Ars Goetia, and the fallen angels, the devil clans suffered catastrophic population reductions in that conflict. Not to mention that, years after the great apocalyptic war, a fratricidal and brutal civil war erupted among the devils themselves, which had again drastically reduced a significant portion of the pure-blooded devil population. Thanks to these two consecutive and equally devastating wars, several demonic pillars were completely wiped out, along with entire swaths of their population. And since the Devil race had quite a diminished fertility rate, the species was in genuine danger of demographic collapse. Furthermore, considering the possibility of a third war on the horizon, the Evil Pieces system was ingeniously devised. To think that magical chess pieces were capable of reincarnating entire other races as Devils, incorporating them into the peerages of pure-blooded Devils as servants, was an idea that hovered curiously between brilliance and madness.
"Don't worry, Romani-kun. Process everything at your own pace." She offered a reassuring warmth that could probably melt ancient glaciers without much effort.
I nodded in agreement, still massaging my temples with patience. "Rias-senpai..."
At that moment, I had accumulated so much stimulation that my ⟨Indolent Constitution⟩ had been significantly reduced in effectiveness.
She raised her delicate face in my direction, with genuine expectation in her eyes. "Yes?"
"Why are you helping me?" The question came out with a raw honesty, without any ornamentation, as I looked at her directly. She had saved my life in a literal sense. Although the process included reincarnating me as a devil without my prior consent, it was still infinitely preferable to the alternative of being dead.
"Well..." Rias offered a slightly uncomfortable expression, delicately biting her lower lip. "Because I desperately need your help."
"My help?" I furrowed my brow with a genuine confusion I did not need to feign.
How could an extraordinary woman, the biological sister of the supreme ruler of hell, need something that a newly reincarnated person like me could offer?
"I'm sorry, but there isn't enough time right now for detailed explanations. I simply ask that you trust me for the moment." She tilted her head slightly, casting a discreet glance toward the clock marking something close to the start of classes.
I furrowed my brow with a trace of distrust I couldn't entirely suppress. She was unequivocally my savior, but that didn't mean I was exempt from skepticism. Could I be getting manipulated in some subtle way?
On the other hand, I genuinely carried a considerable debt to her. Unpayable, in the most literal terms.
"Very well." I raised my arms and crossed them over my chest in a posture that was partly reflexive. "For having saved my life when I was on the brink of death, I will place my trust in you."
Rias flashed me a radiant smile that nearly made me involuntarily blush like an adolescent unprepared for such intensity. Her supernatural charisma must have been operating close to its absolute maximum.It didn't help that the diabolical creature was more stunning than any professional supermodel with years of experience.
"Perfect!" The glow on her angelic face widened over her rose-colored lips as she touched her fingertips together with an almost childlike satisfaction. "During the school break, please come to the occult club without fail. I'll reveal absolutely everything you want to know." Rias looked at me with a seriousness that didn't quite match the radiant, blooming smile that insisted on remaining on her lips.
Even though I wanted to ask a few crucial questions about how our relationship would function, because I flatly refused to be treated as a voiceless servant, I could leave those delicate matters for a more appropriate moment.
Although I harbored a certain skepticism toward her, Rias had given me no concrete reasons for total distrust... except for the small detail of turning me into a devil without prior consent. However, according to her own words, I had been dying, and reincarnation through the evil piece was the safest available alternative.
What genuinely left me a little offended was having been reincarnated as a pawn piece. Even if, by her apologetic words, Rias had generously spent eight pawns to complete the process.
Still, it was a rather insulting classification...
But for now, let's stop complaining. Answers can wait a little longer.
"Accepted." I nodded in agreement, deciding to bet on this beautiful demonic creature with every bit of pragmatism available.
"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands with a genuine and mildly contagious enthusiasm. "Before we head to school, we have enough time for a proper breakfast. And you can leave the cooking entirely to me." She puffed out her chest with an adorable pride that made her full, perfectly shaped breasts stand out even more dramatically beneath the fabric of her school uniform.
✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧
My demonic upperclassman's cooking was peculiarly mediocre.
It came nowhere near being bad or unpalatable. But it was not exactly good either. It was the kind of preparation that hovered in a comfortable culinary limbo, without ambitions or disappointments, satisfying without inspiring a single poem.
However, the important thing was that my perception of her had improved drastically and significantly throughout the process.
I'll admit to being a person starved of genuine affection. And having a beauty of her supernatural caliber cooking exclusively for me, wearing a domestic apron with a cute print and acting with the protective gentleness of an older sister, influenced my emotional perspective in ways I would rather not analyze too deeply.
In my solitary past life, I had no one who could do something like that for me. Not even anything close.
Setting that melancholy aside, during the quiet meal we got to know each other a little better, and she provided me with information that complemented my understanding of this universe with details I hadn't deduced on my own. The point that captured my attention most was about Sacred Gears: sacred artifacts forged by the Biblical God himself, which only a few lucky humans were born with, embedded directly into their souls as arbitrary and involuntary gifts.
Beyond that, she shared other valuable information while flipping golden waffles carefully over the hot skillet, as if she could divide her attention between the prose of the supernatural universe and the precision of not burning breakfast.
As for me, there wasn't much to share honestly. Except that in my past life, I had a considerably frail body, a detail that there was no need to reveal. I spoke only about the unremarkable life this body had led before my consciousness violently awakened inside it. Even so, Rias listened with genuine and focused attention, as if every mundane detail were precious and deserved her full gaze.
It was a little disconcerting, truth be told. Her deep blue eyes remained fixed on me with an intensity that oscillated between captivating and unsettling.
Hmm...
I attributed that to ⟨Euphonic Constitution⟩, which presumably caused supernatural entities to draw near me with a magnetic attraction inexplicable to those involved.
After a satisfying breakfast, and for some reason that was not explained to me, Rias had generously bought me some expensive artisan biscuits for the road.
I'm being financially sponsored by a wealthy devil teenager…
Smiling in a slightly ironic way to myself, we set off calmly toward school.
For some reason, the universe preferred not to justify, we made the journey arm in arm with Rias-senpai at my side, our steps synchronized with a naturalness neither of us had arranged.
It wasn't as though something even more extraordinary and impactful than all the surreal events of that day could still happen, right?
Right?
Author's Note: Today's lesson for Romani was a simple one: gods are real, devils are real, dragons are real, and skepticism is apparently a luxury nobody can afford in this world. Fortunately, his existential crisis was made a little easier by homemade waffles and the company of a beautiful redhead. Some hardships are far easier to endure than others.