The Mandate of Khaos: Besto Friendo (ch. 4)

What the hell are they feeding these girls? They’re almost all drop-dead gorgeous.

It was with no small amount of bafflement that that thought passed through my head. Horniness too, of course, but mainly bafflement. I stood on my seat, as our homeroom teacher—a much more tomboyish-looking, much more stacked, Fujimura Taiga—made sure to walk us through how things were going to work from now on.

It was mainly uninteresting stuff which I won’t bother memorizing past the absolute necessary. It’s not like I’ll be needing to study anything seriously besides Japanese and maybe History. A matter that retained much more of my attention was Sakura. Or, that is, the lack of her in this classroom.

There were two first-year classes in Kuoh Academy. As a school that had just become co-ed, the number of female students to male students was more than twenty to one right now, though I expected it to become more equal as the years went on.

Anyway, in my class—that I recognized—there was Sona, along with some girl that I suspected would become (or already was) her Queen, whose name, for the life of me, I could not remember. In terms of oddballs, there were one or two that stood out, but I did not recognize them, and neither did Sona, so I assume they’re just teenagers being teenagers.

As the lecture ended and we were dismissed to explore the campus, I turned to Sona. "I'm gonna go get my sister. You coming?"

"Oh, certainly!" She gathered her belongings swiftly, seemingly exchanging quick farewells with the long-haired, bespectacled girl beside her before I intervened.

"You can come too if you want?" The girl blinked, appearing momentarily stunned by my invitation before, with a simple nod, she gathered her things and fell into step beside us. She and Sona quickly struck up a conversation about some evil spirits or whatever else it was that teenage supernatural chicks talk about.

"Ah, nii-san!" Sakura’s voice echoed down the corridor, and I couldn’t suppress a small smile.

"Oh~? So this is the legendary Shinji-nii-san?" A new voice purred—a laugh like velvet-coated venom. "Ufufufu—eep!" The sound cut off abruptly as Sakura pinched the speaker’s side, twisting what little belly fat there was on Akeno Himejima’s waist.

Sakura was beautiful. Apron Sakura, casual-clothes Sakura, gym-clothes Sakura—gun to my head, I would not be able to tell you which was cutest, for all of them had Sakura in it. Nonetheless, I was forced to admit that Akeno, as well as Rias… their beauty did justice to the race they were part of.

It was the type of beauty men would (and did) willingly go to hell for.

Sona was cute, and against common opinion, I did not believe that bigger tits would make her better. Yet, it was hard to say that Rias Gremory was not an absolute bombshell of a woman. She looked less like a high schooler and more like a photoshopped centerfold from a magazine too risqué for most teenagers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Asutaroto Shinji. Please treat Sakura well." I said, offering a slight bow as I introduced myself, only for my reward to be one of Akeno's classic laughs.

It was a very pleasant sound, actually.

"Ara ara~, did you hear that, Rias?"

"Umu umu, indeed I did, Akeno!" Rias beamed, eyes glinting.

In unison, they turned to Sakura with Cheshire-cat smiles, as if my request had given them just the excuse they needed to drag Sakura into some unknown plan of theirs.

Rias next sentence was quick to clear up what it was.

"Third member secured!" The crimson haired devil announced triumphantly. "We officially have enough to form the Occult Research Club!" Her grin then swiveled to me, widening dangerously. "How about you? Want in?" She slung an arm over my shoulder, already dragging me down the hall before I could reply. "It’ll be amazing—trust me! I’ve seen tons of slice-of-life anime. I know exactly what makes high school clubs fun."

Was she always this aggressively enthusiastic? Or was this a side effect of catching her at the dawn of her high school career?

"Infallible logic right there," I deadpanned.

"Right!?" Rias Gremory easily deflected my sarcasm with pure, happy-go-lucky charm. The battle was lost before it could even begin.

Still… I managed to extricate myself from the crimson-haired girl’s hold and turned back. "Are you not joining us, Sona-san?"

- - -

M. O. K.

- - -

"H-huh?" Sona had already begun to mentally prepare to leave when she heard his voice call out to her. She had to admit it though, she was surprised. Not many a boy would be able to ignore Rias, even if only momentarily, to look back at her.

"I already offered her the place of Vice-President, but she refused! Can you believe it?! How can you refuse such a nice way to spend your youth? We're only teenagers once!" Rias leaned heavily on Shinji's back, her voice bubbling with excitement as she spoke over his shoulder.

Sona could have accepted. She really could have. It wasn't as if she didn't want to spend more time with Rias. She was, at the end of the day, her best friend. But therein lay the problem. Sona just… wasn't sure if she was Rias' best friend in turn.

Rias Gremory had Akeno. She had Akame, Miyu, and Koneko. Meanwhile, Sona… was Sona. One of the main reasons she had embraced Rias' proposal of coming to the human world to study was the hope it would give her a wide variety of opportunities to expand her social circle and hone her people skills.

Intelligence was vital, but Sona Sitri had no intention of sacrificing everything else for its sake and becoming a female version of Maou Ajuka. For that, she needed a new environment—an independent environment—away from the sun that was Rias Gremory so that the lesser bright star could find a chance to be seen on the sky, too.

“You know I aim for student council president, Rias. I simply don’t have time for—”

"Don't you?"

Sona hadn’t expected him to interrupt. “I mean,” Shinji continued, a hint of dry amusement in his tone, “Couldn’t you spin the vice-presidency as proof of leadership? Or some similar bureaucratic nonsense?”

She could, of course, she could. That was, however, not the point—

"I don't know,” he shrugged. “I just thought it'd be nice if we were all together in the same club. At least for the first year. She can come, too, right?" Shinji asked, pointing at Tsubaki.

Tsubaki Shinra was supposed to be a prominent member of the Shinra clan, yet something had happened that ended up with her in this school, far away from the main base of her clan. Sona was intent on discovering what exactly had happened.

And, well, if in the process she got a new friend, that would be nice too, she supposed.

Rias made a show of deep contemplation, but Sona knew the answer before she spoke it. It was obvious the long-haired japanese girl was aware of the supernatural by the way she behaved and the fact Sona was actively engaging her, so the only thing Rias would be able to say at the mention of another new prospective member was:

"Of course! Welcome to the club… kuudere-chan!"

Sona looked back and found the previously expressionless girl suddenly looking very nervous and flustered at the attention. Truly, Rias Gremory was a different beast. And that was precisely why—

"Kyaa!" Suddenly and without warning, a red-haired weighty figure slammed against Sona, throwing her off balance and falling on top of her. "W-what are you doing, Rias?!"

"Why don't you want to come?" Sona's breath caught in her throat. Her face was close, and her breath as she whispered tickled Sona's nose. At the same time, the impact hadn't jostled her brain enough that she couldn't notice Rias was speaking in such a low volume mainly for Sona’s sake.

“…if I keep on orbiting around you like a satellite, how will I ever evolve beyond my current pitiful self?" It hurt her to admit, but Rias was far too smart (well, for stuff like this, anyway) to be tricked by her lies. Truth worked best in such cases.

"Eh?" Her childhood friend, the girl who’d been beside her ever since Sona Sitri could remember being Sona Sitri, tilted her head, genuine confusion in her eyes. "What are you talking about? I'm the one who's always trying to catch up to you, though?"

…what?

"I mean, my mother's always saying, 'You should study more like Sona-chan,' 'Look how much effort Sona-chan puts into her clan's magic,' and the ever-present 'Do you think Sona-chan would do something like this?'" Rias made a poor imitator of aunt Venelana, yet even so… Venelana Gremory said such things about her? And Rias… felt she was inferior to her? To Sona?

Insanity. Absolute insanity. After all, if that was true, if that was true, then what had she—

"You're my best friend, Rias." It was a mere statement of fact. Not a question for confirmation, not anything that would make her lose much prestige, even should the crimson-haired princess answer with an, ‘Of course I am! I'm Rias Gremory, after all!’

“Of course I am!” Rias declared instantly, her smile radiant. “We’re best friends after all!”

Sona's heart skipped a beat.

“…The bestest of friends?” A tiny, hopeful smile touched her lips.

"The bestest of friends," Rias Gremory confirmed with a firm nod.

“…the bestest of best friends?” The smile grew.

Frowning momentarily, and making Sona's heart skip a beat again but for the opposite reason—had she come off as too clingy? God, why was she so weird—before Rias Gremory put an end to such thoughts with a firmly delivered headbutt.

"The bestest of the bestest best friends!"

"Gah! What do you think you’re doing, cow-titted moron?!" Sona yelped, rolling around on the ground and pushing her best friend off her while nursing the red spot on her forehead.

“C-c-cow tits?! Look who’s speaking, you-you flat-chested dandere!"

It didn't take long for them to be both rolling on the ground, pulling at each other’s cheeks and ripping each other's clothes like their ages were still below the double digits again.

A soft, appreciative whistle broke her out of her euphoric state, and when she looked down, she noticed her blue polka-dot bra had become fully exposed where her blouse had ripped. Looking up, she gazed at a smirking Shinji, and, for the third time this day, she felt her heart skip a beat for an entirely different reason once again.

“So,” he drawled, amusement dancing in his delinquent eyes, “Shall I start calling you Vice-Prez then?”

"Well," Sona said, sitting up with as much dignity as she could muster while brushing the dust off her ruined blazer as if nothing had happened. "I suppose if I left this dunce to run such a club alone, she’d spend the entire time simply eating cookies, drinking tea, and reading ero-manga."

"Ah! How dare you, Sona!" There were at least three rebuttals on the tip of her tongue should Rias claim her words about her lackadaisical nature to be false, but she should have expected that not to be the part the deranged otaku took issue with. "I read a lot more besides just ero-manga! Don't believe her, Shinji-kun! I'm a cultured lady, I swear!"

Sona looked at Rias' tearful eyes, at Shinji, who even now was mostly ignoring Rias’ dramatics and offering her a hand to get up, at Tsubaki, who silently extended her a coat to cover herself—and she smiled.

Sona Sitri smiled, a genuine, unburdened expression, and laughed — a rich, free sound she hadn’t made in years.