"Why are you so damn nervous?" Ryu asked standing next to him with his arms crossed.
"Dude... you wouldn't get it." Issei responded still hesitant about ringing the doorbell of his own home.
"You're right, I wouldn't. Just ring the damn doorbell."
"Alright, Alright... give me one more second..."
Ryu sighed deeply, and rang the doorbell instead, "Whoops, my hand seems to have slipped."
Issei turned to him with betrayal written all over his face.
A brown-haired lady opened the door, and her eyes widened before a beautiful smile graced her face.
"Oh, my Issei... you've finally gotten rid of that abomination of a haircut... I'm so proud." She said while tears streamed down her face. Like actual tears, she then brought Issei into her embrace and rubbed his back.
Issei had that surprise pikachu face.
Ryu barely held in his laughter.
"C'mon mom!" Issei whined like a child, while his mother was staring at him with a face full of love. Motherly love. (Clarification... just in case some of you get 'Interesting ideas.')
Issei's mother then turned towards Ryu, who bowed before introducing himself.
"I'm Ogami Ryu, a friend of Issei and the others, we go to the same school, and yes I'm a student."
"My apologies, it's great that you specified the fact that you were a student... I thought you were a teacher at first..." She smiled sheepishly.
Ryu chuckled, "Not the first time it has happened, and it certainly won't be the last."
"Just get rid of the beard maybe?" Issei suggested,
"No, I probably won't and to be honest... I used to dislike facial hair, but then it just grew on me." Ryu said, still smiling.
"I dislike the fact, that I immediately understood that joke." Issei said while making a disgusted face.
"There will come a time... when you'll also be making such jokes."
"Yeah, yeah that is never going to happen."
Their banter was interrupted by Issei's mother, "As much as I enjoy watching you two I think it's best you come inside. The others are waiting." She ushered the two inside.
"Pardon the Intrusion." Ryu said as he stepped in.
"They're in the living room." Issei's mother said.
"...You think the others will like my hair?" Issei asked nervously.
"For the last time, yes." Ryu sighed tiredly while following behind him.
Issei took deep breaths, before walking in the living room, instantly all eyes were on him.
"...Issei?" Rias asked unsure.
"Issei!" Asia recognized him immediately and jumped in his arms.
"...Hello." Issei responded, blushing while holding Asia in his arms.
"Issei, you look even more handsome than usual." Rias said with a slight blush, she got up and hugged him like Asia did,
"Looks great." Koneko said with no emotion, but you could see that her eyes widened upon seeing him.
"Certainly better than your previous hairstyle." Kiba said with his signature smile.
"Agreed." Akeno spoke after.
Ryu walked into the room, noticed Issei and Asia and chuckled, seeing his close friend turning into a ladies man was great... considering his rather intimate relationship with wooden kendo swords.
I mean, dude wants to be the harem king and his circumstances allow that, such relationships are quite common in the supernatural world.
Ryu gazed at Akeno and unconsciously, a smile crept up on his face. Even though the two of them were almost always together, Ryu's entire being was filled with happiness every time he looked at her
Akeno quickly came up to him for a hug, which he gladly accepted. She then grabbed his face and observed closely for a few seconds, before breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't find anything different.
Akeno really liked Ryu's beard.
"Can you two just... NOT DO THIS AT MY HOUSE?!" Issei yelled angrily, but he got ignored.
Asia blushed a bit seeing their interaction, and covered her eyes but... she was peeking. Koneko, Issei and Rias all collectively clicked their tongues, while Kiba was desperately holding in a laugh.
After the two separated, still blushing they satdown together on the sofa, Rias was giving Akeno jealous looks... the red-haired princess wanted to hold her Issei like that too!
Akeno just smirked at her friend and moved closer to Ryu, and leaned into him.
Rias just sighed deeply, and decided that it would be for the best if she ignored Akeno for a while.
"Let's just begin our regular meeting, this month's contract numbers are Akeno 11, Koneko 10, Yuto 8, Asia 3." Rias announced
"That's great Asia, keep up the good work." Kiba praised her.
"Indeed, good job." Akeno praised her as well.
"Pretty good for a newbie." Koneko was next.
"And... Issei 1." Rias announced.
The silence was pretty loud, that's all I'm gonna say.
"Issei, you might wanna up your 'Contract game', otherwise... that Harem you dreamed of will remain a dream." Ryu said with a shit-eating smirk.
Over the course of time since Ryu and Issei became acquainted with each other, Ryu managed to 'Beat the pervert' out of the him, so that he wouldn't droll over every pair of legs he saw.
"...Next time, I'll take the top." Issei mumbled.
"What was that?" Ryu asked mockingly.
"I said next month, I'll take the top place!" Issei said a bit loudly this time.
Everyone chuckled at his determination, mentioning his dream was a great way to ignite his competitive spirit, and Ryu knew Issei well enough to know which buttons to press.
"Issei, your new haircut might help you with that." Koneko spoke.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Issei questioned.
"You looked ugly with your previous haircut, with this one you look a little better. Should be popular with older ladies... maybe rich grandmas even." Koneko explained, brutally honest with her thoughts.
An invisible arrow pierced Issei's heart, you could practically hear the impact.
"You might be on to something here..." Ryu said deep in thought while gazing at Koneko and Issei.
"You two are the worst." Issei said a single tear rolling down his cheek.
Ryu was going to continue making fun of Issei, but his mother came into the room holding a tray of cookies and a couple of photo albums, or something of that nature.
"Pardon the intrusion!"
She placed the cookies down on the table and sat with everyone, while holding an album.
"Oh no..." Issei's face quickly turned pale.
She opened the book, and everyone leaned in to see Issei's childhood,
"This is Issei when he was in elementary school!" She announced pointing to a picture of Issei completely naked while drinking a bottle of milk.
Rias stared at the picture with a smile and a giant blush, Asia was much the same.
"This is the bare-naked truth, about Issei's past." Koneko said looking through a different album.
"This is the worst." Issei said, without any emotion.
Ryu slapped him on the back while laughing silently, "It ain't that bad."
"Little Issei...! Little Issei is so cute!" Rias said with a lovestruck look on her face.
"She's completely smitten by Issei's childhood photos." Akeno said giggling quietly.
Ryu was smiling as well, he really enjoyed the atmosphere.
"Ryu, do you have any pictures from your childhood as well?" Koneko asked curiously.
"Koneko." Akeno warned, reminding her not to touch that subject.
Instantly the room got quiet all of a sudden, Issei's mother noticed the atmosphere seemed to have... darkened, she looked over at the large boy, who had a surprised look on his face.
"Well... I do have one photo." Ryu said digging into his pocket and took out his wallet before taking a picture out of it.
"Let me see!" Akeno immediately leaned in, and looked at the picture, and instantly a giant blush covered her entire face.
"Wha- What?!" She yelled looking back and forth at the photo and then at Ryu.
Everyone crowded her and looked at the picture, even Issei's mother got curious, and they were shocked as well.
"How does such a cute boy turn into... That?" Rias questioned.
"Rude. Hmph!"
"Grown ass man, acting cute... don't do that ever again." Issei said with a disgusted look on his face.
"Sorry."
"It's like a kitten turning into a tiger." Koneko said
"Okay that's a stretch, the difference is not that big, you guys are exaggerating." Ryu said while scratching his cheek.
"The kid in the picture and you are completely different people." Kiba said.
"U-Uhm, I can see the r-resemblance..." Asia tried.
"No you can't." Issei spoke.
"Such a beautiful boy! If I hadn't seen you first, I'd think you were a girl." Issei's mother commented, while giggling.
The picture depicted a 13 year old Ryu sitting next to a rather tall man with extremely long hair, and pale skin.
In the picture Ryu was eating an ice cream which had 4 different scoops on it, while smiling happily, and the man watched the boy with a gentle smile.
"Who's that guy?" Issei asked.
"My dad." Ryu answered.
Yuto seemed to be glaring at something in the book, he called to Issei and asked about something in the picture. They exchanged a few more words, and Kiba excused himself and left.
"What's up with him?" Ryu questioned.
"I don't know, something about a holy sword." Issei shrugged, meanwhile the others froze upon hearing his words.
The Club meeting went on for another 10 minutes or so before they all dispersed, and Issei also had to go because he was being summoned by someone, and he sure as shit would get his second contract.