The luxury steak lunchboxes served at the occult research club were definitely a step up from my usual curry bread, and all of just enjoyed eating after a morning full of digesting the lore of the hidden supernatural world.
Kaori maybe less so, as when a single grain of rice is basically a mouthful you don’t really get the same blend of flavours to enjoy.
Although when Toujou offered her a piece of chocolate bigger than her head I swear I saw a flash of child-like joy behind those jaded eyes of hers.
“Right then!” Gremory claps her hands together after Kiba has disposed of our lunchboxes, “We got a little bit sidetracked, but now you’re all caught up with the supernatural world, we should talk more about your power, Jiro-kun.” We should.
But a thought had struck me earlier, and I really needed to get an answer to something that was otherwise going to bug me forever.
“Before that, you know how you hypnotised everyone earlier to forget what they’d seen?
Has that happened before?
Am I missing memories?” Mostly I was hoping she’d just wave it off, that was a freak occurrence, it’d never happen normally.
Unfortunately she looks me dead in the eye and asks, “You remember when we went to the museum on our Kyoto field trip last year?” I nod back at her.
Of course I remembered.
We’d went to the Kyoto National Museum, it was very interesting and made me want to learn a lot more about Japanese history.
I’d actually channelled that urge into binging Forbidden Ronin Isayu.
It was only okay, to be honest.
“No you don’t,” she tells me with a gentle expression on her face.
The other members of the occult research club are all looking away as if this doesn’t concern them while I feel a sinking sensation in my stomach, racking my brain to try and interrogate my memories of the day.
All I could really remember was… it was very interesting.
It made me want to learn more about Japanese history.
What was so interesting?
What had made me suddenly interested in learning more?
I tried to remember specific exhibits, but nothing had actually stuck in my mind.
“There’s no harm in me removing it now, the memories are there only blocked.
Just hold still, it’s a little more complicated to undo these things,” Gremory stands up and leans over to put her hands on my head, her eyes staring into mine in a way that’s almost unnerving.
I try to duck her gaze, but suddenly- The museum wasn’t interesting!
I’d been bored out of my mind!
Wandering around in a daze just following at the back of our tour group.
Until it suddenly got a lot more exciting when these spooky looking stretched out dog things came floating down from the ceiling and started herding us up against one of the displays.
All white fur except for their heads which were coal black, with burning red eyes.
They’d growled about devils having no place in Japan and then one of them struck, its whole body moving forward like a whip… Okay, I wish I hadn’t remembered the fact I’d wet myself a little, but that thing was coming right for me!
Only to bounce off of some kind of magical barrier that Shitori put up in its path, with a big complicated magical looking glyph in the air.
And then Shinra had whipped out a spear from nowhere and fought them!
She looked so cool too, even though she was outnumbered she was moving like an anime character, so fast and sure, that long hair of hers flowing behind her so prettily…
I might have developed a bit of a crush what with the impactful view and all the adrenaline.
There was even a kitsune that showed up to blast the dogs with blue fireballs, and she was really hot too, but after the dogs had been either killed or subdued?
Shitori’s voice.
You had an interesting trip to the museum, it’s given you a new appreciation for Japanese culture and a desire to learn more.
Leaving the museum in a daze with the rest of the group, if everyone was subdued and out of sorts on the way back to the hotel I didn’t really notice because I didn’t really talk to anyone.
I do remember people often did describe the museum trip as interesting, even if no one ever really talked details.
Sorry Shitori, I know you probably wanted to encourage my education but I just took that desire and turned it towards watching a mid anime.
“Wow,” I say aloud, slumping on the couch with this new understanding of how close I’d been to the supernatural all along.
Before belatedly realising, “Wait, Shitori’s a devil too?!” “The student council is her peerage, like the occult research club is mine,” Gremory confirms as she sits back down facing me, smoothing out her skirt in the process.
“We’re both responsible for Kuoh.
What happened on the trip was a rogue group of yokai trying to spark a diplomatic incident, but Sona-chan’s sister was able to sort everything out.” Even if this raises more questions, I’m still digesting all the stuff about the Three Factions and the Great War I already learned this morning, and the breakout of repressed memory is only adding to the mental load, so I decide to table it for the more straightforward if embarrassing discussion regarding my power.
“So, we want to try and figure out my power, yeah?
Well, the first thing I noticed was the statue yesterday…” I go over everything I’d noticed.
The statue.
The inexplicable kung fu skills.
Kaori.
The ice-based ninja technique.
Kaori turning into a fairy.
And finally Nanael the angel.
“So it’s not just summoning, it can affect people, and not just yourself,” Gremory taps her finger against her chin and stares at Kaori.
“Is it permanent?” “I’ve been like this since morning, if it’s going to change back there’s no sign of it,” Kaori answers, currently perched up on the backrest of the sofa to my side so she’s at an easier height to talk to people.
Speaking up into that I volunteer, “I’m wondering if it changed her because she’d already been summoned by the same power, or because-” and then my brain catches up with my mouth and I shut up before finishing that statement.
I see knowing smiles on the faces of the girls, except for Toujou who’s keeping up her poker face, while Kiba is looking up at the ceiling.
“Pervert.” Poker face or not, Toujou doesn’t hold back.
“I’m not- I mean, I didn’t ask for this power!” I look down, trying to defend myself but having trouble mustering up much.
Having people know exactly when I’m getting horny really makes it hard to play it cool.
“Well, we should try and figure out a way to control it better so there’s no risk of Akeno getting turned into a fairy next time!” Gremory says brightly, and when I look up I can see Himejima winking at me.
All I can do is grumble weakly as Gremory gets me to stand up, getting to a clear space in the room with everyone’s eyes on me.
“Close your eyes and try taking a pose that makes you feel powerful, the strongest in your mind,” she coaches me, and I have no idea what I’d have done yesterday, but what easily comes to mind is a kung fu pose now.
With a deep breath I sweep my arms around and plant one leg forward with my knee bent, the other leg stretched out behind and ready to be launched forward into a powerful kick while my palm is held out ahead of me to intercept any attacks that come my way.
It probably looks flamboyant and showy, but my balance is poised, my body responsive to either attack or defend if needed.
I just know how to do it, and what poses and techniques work best in what situations.
Not that I could do much with my eyes closed, but the pose is solid.
“Good, now I want you to imagine bringing all your power out through it, don’t hold back!” Gremory’s voice becomes more strident, maybe trying to shock me into something?
All my power though?
What’s my power?
My brow furrows, I know if I just think sexy thoughts that’ll do it, but it’s not really the point here.
There is some kind of power though, and following the sensation of it within my body I start to move, spinning around as my legs straighten up and my arms sweep through the air.
There’s a howl of wind and a noise of surprise from my audience that makes me open my eyes, just catching a flurry of glittering snowflakes and sharp icicles spinning through the air around me before they dissipate.
I’d known how to do it since this morning, but seeing really is believing.
Even so… “Ahh, that’s not really the summoning thing, that’s just the ninja technique I mentioned from before.” “Hmm…” Gremory taps her foot.
“The fact you already have spiritual energy you can manipulate should make it easier to pick out your sacred gear, you don’t feel anything different, aside from the ice power?” I think carefully on it.
I look deep within.
I hum and I close my eyes.
Nothing springs to mind though.
“Nothing,” I conclude.
“In that case I think we’ll need to trigger it normally and see if we can identify what’s going on with the process as it happens,” she says, making it sound all very respectable and above board.
Of course I just stare back at her with my best blank expression.
After a second she does get it, and I have the pleasure of seeing her look slightly flustered.
“Well, I mean, it’s the only way, right?” Surprisingly Toujou speaks up after being pretty much silent the whole day.
“Should we give him a magazine and step outside?” Even though it’s aimed at me, I can’t help but snicker.
Damn, didn’t know she had it in her!
“Well we need to see it!” Gremory huffs, crossing her arms and lifting up her breasts, which my eyes naturally dip towards but I’m not so monofocused I can’t see the smug look of triumph on her face.
Even though it feels like she’s looking down on me a bit, they are fantastic.
Still I chivalrously avert my eyes and protest, “C’mon, it’s embarrassing!
And it’s not like I can just turn it on!” “You weren’t so reserved when you burst out of the shower to show me everything this morning, Jiro-kun,” Kaori decides to get in on the teasing as she flies up through the air to hover along besides Gremory, a smug grin splitting her face.
“And I barely had to say hello to you before classes started, it can’t be that hard, can it?” Himejima also joins the girls ganging up on me, stretching her arms up above her head to push out her chest but then seemingly twinging something in her wounded shoulder as she lets out an erotic, “Anh~” sound and lowers that arm.
“Oh is it still sore, Akeno?” Gremory looks towards her, but she’s still looking at me out of the corner of her eye, “I’ll make sure you’re recovered tomorrow.
We’ll just have to share my energy with you by sleeping together, with nothing in the way to interrupt the transfer.
That’s how devils heal best, after all.
Lots of nice skinship!” Then as if that mental image wasn’t sufficient, she steps closer to Himejima who obligingly half turns so that their breasts squish together.
It’s a very nice view, but still I can’t help but feel insulted more than turned on.
“You’re all looking down on me,” I mutter sullenly, crossing my arms.
“All Akeno had to do was say hello this morning and you popped off your ability, it’s not like it takes much,” Toujou cuts in savagely, pure scorn in her eyes as the diminutive first year looks up at me.
I glance at Kaori, mentally willing her to shut up before she says anything about how easily I popped off earlier, but unfortunately she takes it as an invitation, “I know, I barely had to do anything this morning and he was so energetic.
I don’t understand where this shyness is coming from, Jiro-kun.
Are you the kind of boy who gets performance anxiety when surrounded by girls?” There is another guy here, but Kiba’s just looking up at the ceiling with an expression that tells me he’s entirely dissociating.
Can’t really blame him.
“Come on, we’re only trying to help you understand your power.
Don’t be shy, we won’t get mad whatever you do!” Gremory’s voice is pure sweetness and encouragement as she practices her symmetrical docking with her bestie.
You really can’t ask for a better golden ticket than that, can you?
“Alright, fine!
No take backs!” I blurt out, taking a heavy step forward and lowering my gaze to stare blatantly at the two best racks at Kuoh Academy as they jostle for position.
Himejima’s big meaty tits unmarred by whatever wound she took to her shoulder earlier, filling out her shirt in two pendulous globes with their curvature accentuated by the cunning vertical stripe pattern of her shirt.
And Gremory’s, almost as big, the slight difference in size nonetheless one I can properly appreciate with this kind of up close examination for my eyes to feast on.
As their bodies shift I can just make out a gap in Gremory’s buttons, a flash of skin underneath, pale and creamy…
[7-1 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Chapter 115 An episode where Tohru takes on a robotic vacuum cleaner.
The titular vacuum cleaner is summoned, but due to the low power roll it is irreparably broken.
Maybe Tohru’s jealousy got the better of her?] My reverie is interrupted by a faint thump from below, and everyone looks down onto the carpet at my feet where a strange object has manifested.
Matte black plastic, circular and squat… and very clearly caved in at the middle as if something crushed it from above.
“Ah, something came out!” Gremory declares in the most unhelpful phrasing that has me hunching a bit to try and better obscure the semi tenting up my pants.
She and Himejima detach from one another and everyone peers down at it.
“Is it one of those robot vacuum cleaners?” Himejima asks, picking it up only for several shards of plastic to fall off of it, the half not supported by her hand angling downwards to make clear the break which it’s barely managing to hold together through.
Kaori flutters in closer to examine it, “There are robot vacuum cleaners now?” she sounds somehow more impressed than she was when learning about the war between angels and devils and fallen angels.
I guess she always believed in the occult stuff but this is proof she’s living in the future.
“Where are its arms?
It looks like a piece of junk.” I guess they hadn’t been invented back in 2001?
“It’s not like the Terminator, it’s just a little vacuum cleaner that can move around by itself,” I tell her as we all study the curiously mundane object.
Even the statue had a ‘strange aura’ but this is… well, Kaori’s right.
It’s a piece of junk.
Its vacuuming days are behind it.
“There’s nothing magical about it, and I didn’t sense anything when it appeared either,” Gremory says, before she looks up at me.
“Jiro-kun, were you thinking about anything in particular before it appeared?” I mean I don’t want to say it, but either way before I can it’s Toujou who butts in, her voice scornful.
“I bet he was thinking about getting something sucked.” “Damn Toujou, where was all that this morning?” I ask bitterly.
She was totally quiet and checked out during the whole lore dump, but now I’m really seeing her savage side.
Her eyes flick towards Kaori and then she looks up at me and says, “Maybe you’re one of those perverts who gets off on being bullied by girls that are smaller than them.
I’m just doing my part to help the President since she’s interested.” “It seems like it takes time before he can use his power again, since the last time was this morning before classes started, but the timer resets faster if he cums,” Kaori clearly wants to bully someone if she’s volunteering that, but I take some satisfaction in the pink hue that shows on Toujou’s cheeks before she looks away in disgust.
“That’s good to know if we want to trigger it again,” Gremory cuts in, “But I think we should try and figure out if there’s a relationship between the trigger and the effect before we go any further.
Jiro-kun, if you would?” she gestures at me like I’m one of her club members ready to follow any orders.
This is almost worse than getting naked in front of them.
“You really want to know what makes me horny?” I ask bluntly, perhaps hoping to shame them out of this.
Instead I see Himejima has gotten a pen and a notepad ready and she gives me a sunny smile as our eyes meet, “Don’t blame us for how your ability works, we’re just trying to help.” I sigh in defeat, because honestly yes I would like to make sense of all this.
Although I haven’t noticed any particular correlation myself so far… “Alright, well… first was yesterday with the statue.
I was… reading a comic.
About…” ‘My Quiet Little Sister Turned Into A Gyaru Cock Destroyer’.
Yeah, I’m not copping to the incest plot.
“Gyaru,” I say after an incriminating pause.
Himejima’s pen scratches on the paper.
“So Jiro likes trashy blonde girls…” she mutters, causing everyone to look at the only blonde girl in the room.
“I’m not trashy!” Kaori insists in an affronted tone, tossing her hair over her shoulder and then putting her hands on her hips.
No one speaks up to argue with her, but no one supports her either.
There’s just an awkward pause filled with silent judgement before Kiba of all people speaks up distractedly while looking out the window.
“You don’t really see that style at Kuoh, the student council comes down hard on dress code violations.” Uh.
Yeah.
Thanks bro.
Good contribution.
So moving along… “The next one was at home in the evening when I got the kung fu skills, I was…” wait shit.
“Um… I was thinking about Gremory and Himejima…” I look off towards the window as well in search of whatever enlightenment Kiba sees in that direction, anything better than having to look at the girls in question after admitting that.
“Ara, what were we doing?” “Which one were you thinking about more?” The two of them speak over each other before their eyes lock with an unexpected frisson of competition.
“I’m not sure, and, does it matter?” I ask, desperately wishing we could just drop it and move along.
“I can’t really remember the specifics anyway, it was just… you know, you were both there, and… stuff, I hadn’t really gotten started before I got distracted anyway.” “Well it might matter.
The more details we have the better chance of solving this,” Gremory insists, pulling herself away from glaring at her friend.
“Also you can call us by our first names you know, we’re classmates, it’s fine.” “Uh, okay.
Rias-chan, and Akeno-chan,” I smile awkwardly at the two girls I’d just admitted to using as wankfuel and they both beam back at me.
I glance at the first year in the group and she just gives me a cold look in return.
“It’s still Toujou to you.” “Right on!” I agree, in some weird way relieved by her disdain.
It feels normal after all.
“Anyway, the one after that was when I woke up this morning.
I might have been dreaming but I can’t really remember, it was just… you know, morning stuff, and then I woke up and Kaori was there.” Akeno, as I update my internal monologue to call her, just hums as she writes that down, taking me at my word that I can’t remember any erotic dreams or the like.
I guess I wasn’t specifically horny, it was just a physical reaction, if that matters for how this thing works.
“Then I was thinking about her in the shower when I got the magic ice thing you all just saw.” “And do you remember what she was doing when you thought about her?” Akeno really isn’t letting that go, is she?
“I mean… y’know?” I answer evasively with a shrug and a smile.
She smiles back at me with a butter wouldn’t melt look on her face.
“I don’t, Jiro-kun.
That’s why I need you to tell me.” This fucking bitch.
“Okay fine!” I throw up my hands and let it tumble out, “I was thinking about bending her over and fucking her brains out, pulling her hair back and hearing her squeal as she lost all composure and turned into a bitch in heat for my cock!” “Damn bro, you were holding that in, weren’t you?” Toujou’s mocking voice asks while Akeno’s pen scribbles down her notes.
Kiba lets out a strangled cough and thumps his chest before mumbling an apology and going back to counting ceiling tiles.
I don’t blame him, I would not want to hang around a bunch of girls all interrogating what makes some other guy horny.
Kaori just makes a thoroughly unimpressed, “Pfffh,” noise and even if I’m not looking at her I can feel her rolling her eyes.
Which is a lot of attitude for someone that’s not even as tall as my dick!
“Thank you for being honest, Jiro-kun,” Akeno just keeps smiling, Rias nodding supportively next to her.
“Now lets keep going, next is when Saeki-san turned into a fairy?” This one at least isn’t so pathetic.
“That was when we were both in the shower, after she’d sucked my dick,” I glare briefly at Kaori who seems pretty unruffled, “We were cuddling up, I was squeezing her ass and rubbing my dick on her belly, it started getting hard again and then suddenly she shrank down.” “You two are that close?” Rias asks in surprise, even Kiba seems to have been drawn back into the present as everyone looks at me with new regard, surely recognising I’m not just a pathetic loser who only has fantasies and hentai as an outlet for his libido.
“Really not beating the trashy allegations there, sis,” Toujou snipes at the only person in the room smaller than she is.
“It was only natural, just like all of you I wanted to thoroughly investigate his ability,” Kaori says as though she’s above it all, though the way she’s phrasing it isn’t very flattering.
“I don’t really care about-” Toujou starts but I’ve had enough and I speak over her to get in a dig at Kaori for her failure to properly big me up in front of all the other girls.
“Well I made you cum too, didn’t I?” I blurt out with a mixture of pride and indignation, and blessedly she shuts up, her lack of a denial saying everything that needs to be said for the sake of my self-image here.
“Congratulations, Jiro-kun,” still the way Akeno says it makes me feel like I’m being condescended to.
“And you still had energy to greet me when you got to school, I’m impressed!” “Thanks…” I mutter, shrinking back in on myself a bit.
“And yeah, that was the last one before I got to school and you got all close and then Nanael appeared,” I wrap things up with the last ‘activation’ before the mysterious broken robot vacuum cleaner just now.
“So what have we learned, other than fatty here has a sex drive as big as his belly?” Toujou asks in a dismissive tone, but I choose to take the high road and accept the hidden compliment towards how energetic I am.
“Actually there is a pattern,” Rias announces, her finger tracing over Akeno’s notepad.
“The vacuum cleaner and the statue.
Both physical objects that appeared when Jiro-kun was looking at something directly to incite his libido.
A comic, or Akeno and I just now.
Then there’s the kung fu and the ice technique, both of them internal knowledge that manifested when he was solely using his mind’s eye to imagine something.
There’s no link between Saeki-san and Nanael’s appearances, and we only have one example of a transformation but that happened when he was in intimate contact with someone.
That gives us a few leads!” she straightens up and grins with the air of the detective who’s cracked the case, a satisfied gleam in her eyes.
And you know what, she’s actually right.
There are a few links when you think about it, so this whole exercise in humiliation might have been worthwhile.
Clearly I shouldn’t underestimate the occult research club’s skills when it comes to researching occult phenomena.
“Okay, well, I really like the new skills, so I guess I’m going to have to get in the habit of harnessing the power of my imagination,” I say, which is a much more polite phrasing for ‘I’m going to think about hot girls until my dick gets hard’.
“That’s the spirit, Jiro-kun!” Rias claps her hands together, “The power of imagination is undefeatable, it’s actually the basis on which all devil magic operates.” That makes Kaori perk right up, ever hungry for occult lore.
Even I’m a bit curious, the stuff Akeno and Rias were throwing around this morning looked a lot more my speed than a tarot reading.
As I’m thinking that, Rias’s black wings extend out from behind her body and she stretches out her hand towards us.
“Actually that’s a good lead in for what I wanted to ask next.
How would you two like to be reincarnated as devils and join my peerage?”