Setting aside a certain Phoenix girl's wasted half-month of budding romantic feelings—
With Bokue's assistance, the formal wear for tonight's gathering was sorted for Rias and the assembled girls.
After all, with his current mastery of magnetic field power, he could easily restructure matter—achieving creation from nothing or annihilation into nothingness.
Merely removing musty odors accumulated from prolonged closet storage? Child's play.
However, beyond gowns, other preparations remained—perfume, hairstyles, jewelry, et cetera.
Those fell to Rias and the girls themselves.
The entire day passed in evening banquet preparations. Before anyone realized it, dusk arrived.
Still inside Gremory Castle—including Bokue, Rias, and the assembled girls gathered in the castle's forward main hall. An enormous teleportation magic circle glowed beneath their feet, blinking to indicate readiness for immediate activation.
Outside the circle's perimeter, Venelana and Grayfia stood with hands clasped before them, seeing everyone off.
"Then Mom, we're heading out."
Standing beside the young man at the forefront, Rias nodded gently toward her mother.
As the Gremory family's heir apparent, even at gatherings involving only younger-generation devil nobles, she couldn't afford to lose composure.
Tonight, the red-haired girl had not only changed into an exquisite formal gown but also used a hairpin to arrange her usually loose hair into an updo—adding several touches of mature elegance to her appearance.
"Go on then. Come back early."
Venelana smiled faintly.
Standing diagonally behind her in her usual maid uniform, Grayfia simply bowed—offering a small curtsy to those about to depart.
As the ground's teleportation magic circle suddenly flared bright, dazzling magical radiance instantly swallowed everyone.
The next second, when Bokue reopened his eyes, their surroundings had completely transformed.
They'd appeared in another even more spacious and magnificent castle hall. Beyond their group, numerous other people occupied the hall.
Behind them, the castle hall's main entrance stood open. High-class carriages bearing various family crests lined up in two rows along the wide avenue outside the castle gates.
Judging purely by scale, the avenue outside these gates exceeded even the one before Gremory Castle's main entrance.
"This place... is pretty far from the Gremory household, huh?"
Bokue closed his eyes briefly, sensing before speaking.
"Eh~ you noticed that too?"
Beside him, the red-haired girl opened her eyes, sounding somewhat surprised.
"After all, this is 'Lilith'—the demon realm's entire capital. Naturally it's far from the Gremory household."
"Coming all this way for a gathering..."
Bokue felt somewhat speechless.
Among the 72 Pillar high-class devil families, each family's territory essentially equaled an entire nation. Traveling this distance was equivalent to flying halfway across Earth from Japan to America just to attend a party.
Ridiculous...
Rias smiled faintly. "Well~ if traveling by carriage, naturally it's rather time-consuming and laborious. But directly teleporting like we did? No big deal."
However, just as the red-haired girl finished speaking, suddenly from behind came a voice that sounded like it belonged to someone who'd definitely get crushed by a steamroller.
"Yo, Ravel, you finally made it! I brought your gown already—it's in our family carriage... ugh!"
Hearing this voice, the Gremory household members reflexively turned to look.
Meeting their eyes was a certain golden-haired fried chicken who'd once nearly been beaten into the ground by Bokue—requiring a shovel to extract him bit by bit. Riser.
Gazes meeting mid-air, Riser—who'd been waving while walking into the castle hall from outside—immediately froze mid-step. His words cut off abruptly.
"R-Rias, you all came too..."
Encountering the red-haired girl again after nearly two months, Riser's mouth twitched involuntarily.
Honestly, he'd long since made peace with that wedding disruption. Yet the agonizing memories beaten into his flesh by a certain someone wouldn't fade because of that—if anything, recalling them after so long made them even clearer.
That summer incident where the guy physically dragged him from home had barely cured his depression. But his fear of a certain self-proclaimed onmyouji whose fighting style was pure berserker warrior? That only grew with each passing day.
Still, Riser did his best to maintain composure.
He swallowed hard, forcing his eyes not to look at Bokue. Feigning calm, he shuffled step by step to his sister's side. His palm—already drenched in cold sweat—gripped her arm. His voice carried faint tremors.
"A-anyway, thanks for bringing my sister over. I'll take her to change clothes now!"
Finishing his words, he vanished before everyone's eyes with lightning speed—dragging Ravel along.
An aberrant appeared...
The aberrant disappeared...
"Seems he's still terrified of you."
Watching Riser's disappearing direction, Rias muttered quietly.
Bokue simply shrugged noncommittally.
"Whatever. Forget about him."
Rias had only mentioned it in passing before shifting her gaze elsewhere—surveying the hall's surroundings.
"We should probably head inside too. Though speaking of which, so many people came tonight. Lots of old faces I haven't seen in ages are popping up..."
❁❁❁❁
Moments later, beside the Phoenix family carriage parked roadside outside the castle hall—
Previously trembling with fear, Riser now stood with arms crossed over his chest, back against the tightly closed carriage door. After several deep breaths, he finally calmed down.
Behind him inside the carriage with drawn curtains, his sister was changing.
"Hey, Ravel, so how's life been in the human realm? Any progress with that guy...?"
Bringing up this topic made Riser's balls ache.
His own sister had fallen for the guy who'd brutally beaten him—her own brother—just months ago. She'd even gone to the human realm for school, traveling enormous distances.
Throwing herself at him from a thousand miles away—just... tch, whatever.
Yet what could he do? She was still his sister. He had to show concern.
However, after Riser's question, the carriage interior remained silent.
Only after considerable time passed—when Riser nearly wondered if his sister had fallen asleep changing—did the Phoenix girl inside finally drift out a single phrase.
"...Same as always."
"Eh?"
Outside the carriage door, Riser froze slightly.
He knew his sister's personality well. Though often somewhat tsundere and not entirely honest, her nature wasn't bad. Plus she tended to share good news while hiding bad.
If she was saying "same as always," that meant... no progress?
For some reason, despite his sister's romantic setback, Riser suddenly felt relieved.
At least his precious little sister hadn't been tricked by that playboy bastard yet.
But immediately afterward, flames roared back to life in his heart.
"Hey... so that means the guy still hasn't accepted you, Ravel? Damn it... who does he think he is, ignoring my sister like this? Your brother's definitely gonna have a proper talk with him later!"
"Forget it."
Inside the carriage, the Phoenix girl spoke flatly.
"First, this is my own business. Second, didn't he just beat the crap out of you before, onii-sama? You nearly collapsed seeing him in the hall moments ago. Now you're saying you'll 'have a proper talk'? Not afraid of another beating?"
"..."
Did you have to be so brutally honest?
Outside the carriage door, Riser silently covered his face.
Ravel's words reminded him of a human realm book he'd once read.
It went something like—the little girl who once held your hand calling you 'big brother' will eventually grow up. She'll increasingly resemble a woman, start learning makeup and fashion. When you ask who she's going out with or where she's going, she'll tell you 'mind your own business.'
Damn it.
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