Chapter 146 — Courage And The Match Begins

Koneko

As I watched the two of them I decided that I would wait until a good moment appeared before I would interrupt.

Akeno-senpai had been messing with me over Yuki-senpai and this seemed like a perfect opportunity for revenge.

I just couldn’t wait too long, since Buchou had asked me to bring them back and we needed to get ready for the Rating Game to start.

Akeno-senpai was smiling at Issei-senpai while he was grinning at the idea of her wearing some kind of cosplay for him.

Then Akeno-senpai hugged him tighter.

He turned to look back towards her more.

“A-Akeno-san, what are you doing?”

Akeno-senpai was quiet for a moment.

Her face had lost its teasing smile, and she looked conflicted.

“…I’m getting courage from you, Ise-kun.” She said.

Even her voice had lost her normal teasing tone.

It sounded more raw.

I frowned, realizing that I was seeing something that should have been private.

Then Akeno-senpai continued.

“Holding you like this gives me more strength…. I… I need more courage to fight in this match. Because I will probably need to use the powers from my other half this time, and I’m scared of it. I hate that part of myself and I hate that I need to rely on those powers. Both you and Yuki-chan have encouraged me and told me that I don’t need to hate that part of myself…. but I can’t get. That’s why I need courage from Ise-kun.

Yuki-senpai must have talked to Akeno-senpai about her Fallen Angel powers like she had said she would.

But it looks like she wasn’t enough to get Akeno-senpai to accept them.

That made sense.

Akeno hated her father with a passion, and that hatred extended to herself and the things she had inherited from him.

She had been practicing with her abilities just like I had been with mine.

But she didn’t want to show them to everyone during a Rating Game.

I understood that too.

If it wasn’t for Yuki-senpai encouraging me and understanding parts of my fear, I don’t know if I would have been able to begin to accept my Nekomata powers.

I’ve been leaving my ears and tail unhidden, but I am still struggling with using my abilities fully.

Something like Akeno-senpai’s hatred, and my fear, aren’t things that are forgotten so easily.

Issei-senpai smiled back at Akeno-senpai.

“I don’t understand everything you are going through, Akeno-san. But if this helps you then I’m happy to give you courage!”

He took her hand and held it as he spoke.

“When I use the light I inherited, will you watch me, Ise-kun?” Akeno-senpai asked. “If you are watching, it may be more bearable for me to use.”

“O-Of course! I'll do whatever you need for me to help! If you need me to watch you, then I will!”

Akeno-senpai smiled gently at him.

“I’m happy that you ended up as part of our peerage… I know that you belong to Rias, but I’m still happy you’re here.” Akeno-senpai murmured.

Akeno-senpai moved around to Issei-senpai’s front.

She started to lean in towards him.

That’s when I decided to let out a cough to let them know I was there.

They turned towards me and froze.

“K-Koneko-chan! This is, umm….” Issei-senpai stumbled over himself after realizing I had seen them about to kiss. 

“Ara, Koneko-chan, I thought you were with Yuki-chan. Your timing sure is good.”

Akeno-senpai was still smiling, but she looked like she was forcing herself not to show any frustration.

I kept my face calm, despite wanting to give her a smug grin.

“Buchou asked me to come find the two of you. Our time for preparing for our match is almost over.” I replied evenly.

Akeno-senpai let out a small sigh.

“Well I guess that’s enough then. Thank you Ise-kun. I’m feeling better now.”

She turned to leave but glanced back at us as she went.

She looked at Issei-senpai with regret, and shot me a small glare before leaving the store.

I turned to Issei-senpai.

“U-umm, Koneko-chan, could you not tell Buchou about that? She might kill me if she found out. She can be really possessive...”

I gave him a dull look and glanced at the pile of erotic manga and books near him. 

He was still flushed from Akeno-senpai getting too close to him and he was still holding the manga they had been looking at.

He noticed and tossed it behind him.

“…fine. Now let’s head back to the others.” I replied. 

“W-wait, Koneko-chan! Is it alright if I ask you something?” He quickly asked.

I paused as I had been about to start walking away.

I turned back toward him and nodded.

“Talking to Akeno-san reminded me that you’re dealing with something similar too. Are you going to be alright with using your Nekomata powers during the match?”

I let out a sigh.

He seemed genuinely concerned about me right now.

It was impressive how quickly he could switch from a lecherous idiot, to a flustered boy, to a concerned friend.

It’s why it was hard to dislike him despite him giving me ample reason to with his perverted behavior.

It’s also why I could see that most of the girls in the peerage were interested in him.

“…I’m alright,” I replied after a moment. “Before the training camp, I had told myself that I would never use my Nekomata powers or show my traits again. I was sure that anyone I showed or told would be scared of me if they knew of what Kuroka-neesama had done. But Yuki-senpai talked to me and got me to open up about it,” I smiled slightly as I recalled that conversation. “…She wasn’t afraid or even worried. She asked to see my tail and ears because she was curious. She thought they were cute.”

Issei-senpai blinked. 

“She did? She always seems so serious, so it’s kind of hard to imagine her asking to see them like that,” Issei-senpai said. “But it makes sense that she would understand your situation, at least well enough. She had similar experiences in the past from what she told us. It’s good that she was the one to reach out to you.”

I nodded.

He was right.

If it had been someone else who reached out to me, I probably wouldn’t have reacted well and pushed them away.

Yuki-senpai had approached me and I knew what she had most likely wanted to talk about.

But instead of brushing her off like I had Issei-senpai, I agreed to talk and had chosen to open up to her.

It was easier to do so when it was with her. 

“Because of Yuki-senpai’s encouragement and the support of everyone else, I’ve been able to start to use my Nekomata powers. I’m still scared of them, and of what they could do to me, but I will still use them and learn to control them.”

“Well it sounds like you’ve got it figured out,” Issei-senpai said with a smile. “I just wanted to make sure you’re alright, but it looks like it wasn’t necessary. I’m not the best person at handling complicated things like that anyway. I’m better at supporting people by being there for them and making sure they know they’re not alone.”

I thought back to when he had tried to reach out to me at first.

“…I’m sorry for being rude to you before we started training, Issei-senpai.”

He waved his hand

“It’s not a problem Koneko-chan. You weren’t in a great place and I didn’t know how to help, so it was kind of inconsiderate of me. Plus after my hellish training I kind of forgot about that.”

“…you were inconsiderate.”

He chuckled while shaking his head. 

“You didn’t need to agree with me, Koneko-chan.”

He started to walk towards the exit to join the others.

I stared at him as he went.

I thought about what Akeno-senpai had said about getting confidence from him.

I also thought about how the other girls all seemed drawn to him.

How they all saw something more in him than I did.

“…Issei-senpai, wait.”

He stopped and turned back towards me.

He looked confused.

“What’s up Koneko-chan? Don’t we need to get to Buchou and the others?”

I walked towards him.

“Stick out your hand.” I said as I stopped in front of him.

He looked suspicious of me, but still slowly stuck out his hand towards me.

“You’re not gonna hit me or something are you, right? If this is about the manga and books I had, I was just ensuring they were accurate to the real world versions.”

I gave him a look at his lame excuse.

“…quiet.” I told him.

I reached out and held his hand with mine.

His hands were larger than mine.

They were rough and warm.

It did feel reassuring, like Akeno-senpai had said.

After a few moments I let go of his hand.

“Sooo… was that it?” He asked.

I nodded.

“I just wanted to check something.”

He rubbed the back of his head.

“I don’t really get what that was about, but if it helped you then I’m happy.”

He turned and this time I walked with him as we both headed back to meet where Buchou had told us to.

Issei-senpai’s hand did feel comforting.

But when I remembered sitting with Yuki-senpai in the other store and the smile she showed me, I felt much more confident about using my Nekomata powers in our match. 

I felt a small smile form on my face as we walked back to the group.

_________________________________________

Yuki

Everyone had gathered together in the food court again when Grayfia-sama announced for the beginning of the game rang throughout the mall.

[Time for the strategy period has run out. We will now begin the match. Additionally, this game will be a blitz-style match with a time limit of three hours. Without further ado, the Rating Game between Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, begins.]

The game being a shorter style match was news to us, but it shouldn’t change any of the plans we had made.

It just meant that each player lost from a team was much more impactful.

If the game hit its time limit instead of a [Checkmate], then the team that had captured more points worth of pieces would win.

Rias stood from the table we had been gathered at and immediately began giving orders in a confident tone.

“The plan we came up with hasn’t changed. We will be advancing directly through the center of the mall with two vanguard groups while a rear group follows behind them,” Rias said, looking over the group.

Seeing no one protest, she continued.

“Ise, Koenko, Yuuto, Xenovia, and Yuki will all be part of the vanguard groups. Ise and Koenko, you will advance through the interior of the mall on the first floor. Yuuto, Xenovia, and Yuki will advance through the parking garage and strike out opponents from a different route. Yuki, you are to act as a support to Yuuto and Xenovia, let them do the majority of the fighting so that you don’t exhaust yourself too early. Gasper will transform into a swarm of bats and perform surveillance on the movements of our enemy. Akeno and Asia will be with me in the rear group, following behind Issei and Koenko.”

We listened to Rias repeating our individual orders while putting on earphone transceivers/receivers that we would use to update each other as we progressed and to receive orders from Rias.

The plan Rias had come up with wasn’t extremely complicated, but it should work well enough.

Issei and Koneko would advance directly towards the enemy base.

This would lead to them drawing a large amount of attention.

If Issei was able to promote to [Queen] then our opponents would be hard pressed to stop him at that point.

Koneko was with him due to the detection ability and utility of her Senjutsu, as well as her durability and strength as a [Rook].

Gasper-kun would be scouting on his own, like Rias initially said.

I had volunteered to also scout, but Rias had decided that it would be better for me to stick with Yuuto and Xenovia.

Yuuto, Xenovia, and I were going through the parking garage.

Rias wanted us to look like a distraction or flanking attack while Issei and Koenko moved forward.

In reality, we were the main attack group, while Issei was the bait.

If we could push through the parking garage quickly and get to the enemy base, I could promote and then we could attack the enemy from behind as they attacked Issei and Koenko.

My only concern was that if something happened to Koneko and Issei, we would be separated from the rest of our team.

That means that Rias would only have Akeno and Asia to fight with her until we could get back to the main part of the mall.

“Now! Go my cute servants! We will not be defeated this time! We will claim victory!”

“Yes, Buchou!” 

Issei turned to Koneko and clenched one fist while he grinned.

“All right. We’re definitely winning this.”

The two of them started to head out.

Issei was loud and energetic.

He was pulling ahead of Koneko already.

Koneko was calm and stoic as usual.

She quietly followed behind him as they went. 

“Yuki, Xenovia, let’s go.” Yuuto said to the two of us.

“Understood.” Xenovia replied.

I nodded as we began to head on our own route.

Before I could move too far Koneko called out to me.

“Yuki-senpai.”

I stopped.

Koneko had turned back towards me and Isse was already decently far ahead of her.

He noticed her calling out to me as he turned around and stopped by the escalators.

Yuuto and Xenovia both paused as they had started to jog forward, but now needed to wait for me.

I turned fully toward Koneko.

“…Good luck, senpai. And be careful with how far you push yourself.” She said after a moment.

I nodded.

“You too, Koneko-chan. Be sure to keep an eye on Issei. He’ll let himself get in over his head if you’re not careful.”

“I will.”

For a moment it looked like she might say something more.

Instead she gave me a small smile before nodding once and jogging to catch up to Issei.

Once she caught up the two of them ran down the escalator together.

The two of them would be fine.

Issei was strong and despite being an idiot sometimes, he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

And Koneko didn’t need anyone to protect her. 

She was a powerful [Rook] and was coming into her own with her Nekomata powers.

Once she fully learned Senjutsu and Youjutsu, she would be a force to be reckoned with.

I turned back toward the others waiting for me.

Yuuto smiled faintly when I rejoined them, though the look in her eyes made me think that she had her own thoughts on our short exchange.

Xenovia simply asked, “Done?”

“Yes.”

She nodded before turning.

“Then we should move.”

The three of us broke into a jog.

We headed toward the parking garage route together.

We moved through the mall quietly.

We left the bright and open food court behind and made our way to the stairwell Yuuto had used early to scout the parking garage.

We entered a short hallway before we reached the stairwell.

We continued up the stairs with a bit more caution.

We were still fairly close to our own base, but we couldn’t know for sure that our opponents hadn’t rushed forward towards us.

Yuuto led the group, while Xenovia was a step behind her on her right.

I hung back a few more steps so that I would be able to let the two of them engage an enemy without getting in their way. 

I would need to stay back from them in order to properly support them with my abilities as well.

We slowed as we reached the entrance to the upper floor of the parking garage. 

It felt much quieter here already.

The lights were dimmer as well. 

Yuuto turned to the two of us as her hand rested on the door. 

“Once we go in, it will be much darker than the interior of the mall.” She explained. “It will be more difficult to spot our opponents and we will have to be ready for traps.”

Xenovia and I nodded.

We had already discussed this before.

The parking garage was enclosed and the only light sources were the cloning lights that were spaced far enough apart that there were plenty of shadows to hide in.

There were also a decent amount of cars I. The garage as well.

That gave us and our opponents even more hiding spots.

Yuuto looked at me. “Explain how you want to enter.”

She was a good teammate to work with.

She understood each of our roles and knew that I would be the one that would be the best situated in an environment like this.

She didn’t try to push ahead without our input just because Rias had chosen her as the leader of our group.

I looked through the small vertical window in the door to the garage.

I thought for a moment as I ran through our options in my head.

“I should go first,” I said. “I can use Illusions with my Fox-Glamour to stay out of sight. I’ll stay ahead of the two of you and guide us through the structure while I watch for our opponents. I will be able to call kings out to you over our earpieces.”

Yuuto nodded once.

“That will work.”

“I will wait for the two of you to engage any opponents we come across. That way, I will be able to support you in a fight without them being aware of our numbers from the start.”

“And if they find you?” Xenovia asked.

“Like I told Buchou. If I use Misstep and Shadow Briar, I will be able to easily avoid them.”

Xenovia nodded.

They seemed to be enough to settle her worries. 

Yuuto moved out of the way and let me move to the door, so I could enter first. 

She then created a sword with her Sacred Gear.

I glanced at both of them.

“All right,” I said.

I readied an illusion that would be able to conceal me as we moved.

I felt my demonic power respond and wait just under my skin, ready to be released.

“We go carefully from here.” Yuuto said. 

I pushed the door open and the three of us quickly entered the parking garage.