GREMORY MANSION – GASPER'S ROOM
"Gasper…" Rias murmured softly, still with her eyes closed, her body adjusting against something she recognized as familiar.
"Gasper-kun…" Akeno replied in the same tone, moving closer, maintaining the contact without realizing exactly with whom.
The silence continued for a few seconds, as their bodies remained close, both of their breathing still in the rhythm of sleep, without real awareness of the situation.
Rias opened her eyes first.
"Gasper…?" She stopped mid-motion, her gaze slowly focusing as her perception adjusted.
Akeno opened her eyes right after.
"Gasper-kun…" She froze the instant she realized the direct contact.
Both of them stayed still.
For one second.
Two.
Three.
"Why am I hugging you?" Rias pulled back first, moving her body away without completely losing the proximity, still processing the situation.
"That's also what I want to know." Akeno moved away next, adjusting her position on the bed, but without completely leaving the shared space.
They looked at each other.
Without speaking.
Trying to reorganize what had just happened.
"Where is he?" Rias looked around quickly, already searching for an answer within the environment itself.
"He's not here." Akeno replied without hesitation, analyzing the room with a sharper gaze. "And that means he left without waking us."
"How?" Rias frowned, still trying to understand. "I would have noticed."
"Did you notice anything?" Akeno tilted her head slightly, watching her reaction directly.
Rias didn't respond immediately.
The answer was already clear.
"No."
Akeno let out a faint smile.
"Then he left." She crossed her legs, relaxing a little more on the bed. "And the two of us kept sleeping like nothing happened."
"That doesn't make sense." Rias crossed her arms, her gaze still fixed on the bed, as if trying to find some missing detail. "He wouldn't leave without a reason."
"Training." Akeno answered instantly.
Rias didn't argue.
Because it made sense.
"And he left us here…" Rias looked at Akeno again. "Like this."
Akeno held her gaze for a second before answering.
"You were the one who got closer first." She said naturally. "I just kept the position."
"That doesn't make sense." Rias replied in the same tone, not accepting it. "I wouldn't do that while sleeping."
"You did." Akeno held her gaze. "And you did it without hesitation."
Rias looked away for a moment, letting out a light sigh before looking back, already reorganizing her posture without prolonging the discussion.
"Whatever." She shrugged, regaining control. "You stayed too."
Akeno didn't respond immediately, but her smile returned more clearly, accepting the point without stepping back from her position.
The sound of the door opening cut off the conversation before either of them could push further.
Gasper entered the room.
His gaze swept across the environment in a single motion, absorbing their position on the bed and the lack of any attempt to cover themselves before even speaking.
"What are you still doing naked." He closed the door with his foot without taking his eyes off them. "Asia, Koneko and Kiba are already downstairs having breakfast."
Rias turned toward him instantly, irritation returning quickly from the broken rhythm and the way he entered.
"You disappeared." She adjusted herself on the bed without getting up. "Where were you?"
Akeno tilted her head slightly, following the question without losing interest in the answer, because that hadn't gone unnoticed by her either.
"You left without waking us." She kept her tone light. "That doesn't seem like something you'd do without a reason."
Gasper didn't look away.
"Training." He answered directly, without detour. "There was still time before class."
Rias frowned slightly.
"No one is going to class today." She crossed her arms, already shifting the focus of the conversation. "We're going to the Underworld."
Gasper held her gaze for a second longer, organizing the information before responding.
"Why?" He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Did something happen?"
"Nothing happened." Rias replied in the same firm tone. "It's going to happen."
Akeno added without waiting.
"The ceremony." She looked directly at him. "You'll be officially recognized tomorrow."
Gasper remained silent for a moment.
The information wasn't new.
But the timing was.
"I didn't forget." He leaned his shoulder against the wall, maintaining a relaxed posture. "I just thought we'd be teleported."
Rias rolled her eyes.
"Your memory is terrible, Gasper-kun." She kept her tone direct. "Not everything is solved with teleportation."
Gasper didn't respond right away.
'Terrible memory?' the thought came clean. 'What exactly did I forget this time…'
Akeno observed his pause before responding.
"For that kind of distance, we don't use direct teleportation." She explained naturally. "We use the Gremory Express."
Gasper nodded slightly.
"Ah… right." He let out a slow breath. "For that kind of distance… it makes sense to use the train."
His gaze drifted for a second, mentally reorganizing what he needed to adjust from that point on.
'I can't keep forgetting basic things like this…'
The silence didn't linger.
He had already decided to change the pace of the scene.
"I'm going to take a shower." He pushed himself off the wall, heading straight to the bathroom without hesitation. "You can come if you want."
Akeno responded before even thinking.
"Of course." She slid out of bed naturally, without any hesitation. "I don't see any problem with that."
Rias turned toward her instantly, the reaction too immediate to ignore.
"You agreed too fast." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "You didn't even think."
Akeno simply smiled.
"I thought enough." She kept her tone light. "And I didn't see a reason to refuse."
Rias didn't respond right away.
But she didn't stay behind either.
"I'm going too." She stood up right after, maintaining her firm posture. "I'm not letting you go alone."
Akeno didn't argue.
There was no need.
Gasper was already inside the bathroom when they started moving, the sound of the water turning on making it clear he wasn't waiting for anything else to continue his own pace.
Rias moved first, but Akeno stepped in at the same time, and the two bumped into each other at the entrance before fully crossing the threshold of the room.
The impact was light, but enough to interrupt their movement for a second.
"You're in my way." Rias kept her tone direct as she adjusted her position so as not to give space.
Akeno didn't step back.
"You sped up." She replied in the same rhythm, sustaining the proximity without looking away. "I just kept going."
Rias narrowed her gaze slightly.
"Then keep going after me."
Akeno tilted her head, her smile appearing effortlessly.
"I'd rather keep going now."
Neither of them moved for a second.
Then they advanced together.
One shoulder brushed the other again as they crossed the door at the same time, without any attempt to make space.
The door closed behind them.
___
GREMORY MANSION – DINING ROOM
The table was already set, and breakfast continued without apparent interruption, but the atmosphere wasn't completely stable. Asia kept her gaze lowered as she brought the cup to her lips, her face visibly red, trying to act normal. Beside her, Koneko remained silent, but the faint blush was also present, indicating that neither of them had truly gotten over what they had heard.
"Senpai… got weird." Koneko said bluntly, maintaining a neutral tone while looking at her own cup. "Gasper made both of them… perverted."
Asia reacted instantly, almost choking on her tea before lowering her face even more, clearly affected by how directly Koneko stated it. The attempt to ignore it failed the very second it was exposed, making it impossible to pretend it hadn't happened.
"Ko-koneko-chan…" Asia tried to respond, but couldn't finish the sentence, the embarrassment evident in how she avoided looking at the others.
Kiba let out a low laugh, resting his elbow on the table as he watched them, clearly more relaxed in comparison.
"You two heard more than you should have." He kept his tone light, without pressing. "It's better to just forget it."
Koneko didn't respond immediately, but the slight shift of her gaze indicated she didn't completely disagree, she just wasn't willing to admit it out loud. Asia, on the other hand, nodded too quickly, as if accepting that was the only way to escape her own embarrassment.
"And one more thing…" Kiba continued, adjusting his posture. "You're not going to school today."
Both looked at him at the same time.
"What do you mean?" Asia asked, still trying to recover, but already shifting focus.
"There's going to be a ceremony tomorrow in the Underworld." Kiba kept his tone natural. "And from what I understood… it's something important for Gasper."
The reaction came differently between the two.
Koneko narrowed her eyes slightly, absorbing the information more carefully, while Asia simply blinked a few times, still connecting the dots.
"So that's why…" Koneko murmured softly, more to herself than to the others.
Asia didn't dwell on it for long.
"Underworld…" She repeated, now with genuine curiosity replacing her previous embarrassment. "I've never been there."
Kiba noticed the shift instantly, and a faint smile returned, because the tension had been successfully redirected.
"Then it's a good opportunity." He leaned back in his chair. "I can explain what it's like."
Asia raised her gaze for the first time with more firmness, clearly interested.
"Really?"
Koneko also looked at him, now more attentive, completely leaving the previous topic behind.
Kiba nodded without hurry.
"After breakfast." He kept his tone calm. "I'll explain everything to you."
The conversation changed direction.
Support here: patreon.com/22Mirko22
Thank you so much for reading - see you in the next chapter!