The Second Coming of the Messiah

It was another day of "Makoto Watching" as Koneko dubbed it. Rias was not sure what was going through the girl's mind, but she had started bribing an unknown entity for candy at the request that she did not follow him home. He may not have said or confirmed those were his intentions, but Koneko had a feeling it would not be a good idea to push it.

The younger sister of the current Lucifer agreed with the sentiment. That was why she had her familiar do it for her in her Rooks stead. She found him on the third floor of a new set of apartments built in the center of town, not far from the library Sona frequented. He did not own anything outside of a few pieces of furniture, the bat easily able to see into the apartment from two angles through the window.

He had no decorations, no personalization. He had a book on mythological figures left on his coffee table and that was it. Nothing else. No photographs of family or friends. No trophies, or memoirs on the shelves. He did not even own a television. It was like he was a wanderer, who only owned the clothes on his back and the books in his bag.

It made absolutely no sense. His transfer papers came back positive, his background, everything about him was there. But it wasn't. They were all forgeries as far as Sona could tell, as there was no evidence that he existed in things such as year books.

No teacher from his previous schools could say they recalled seeing him, yet he was in the records as having attended. It was a very good forgery, but it was the fact that no one remembered him that led Sona to conclude that his entire background was fake.

All the Gremory heiress could gather is that he has "no grievance" with the Devils. He indicated he knew that Koneko and the rest of the Occult Research Club were Devils, or inhuman at the very least, with the "You and Yours" of the statement.

He could have been confused for a human himself if not for that aura he let off, the energy he had coiled deep in his body. She wouldn't have felt it if not for the dark affinity it held, that harrowing darkness that lingered in his wake.

He was no human. He couldn't be. Yet he acted as if he were. No human wizard, no matter how adept in dark arts, gave off that kind of energy. It was not mana, or prana, or chakra, or even vril. Akeno could not identify just what type of energy it was he subtly leaked out. It was not Holy, that much was certain, nor was it the tainted light that the Fallen wielded. It was no Sacred Gear, either. There was no type of Sacred Gear that could grant its user that type of energy.

But it was not Devil Magic. It held different undercurrents, like only the surface threads were that desolate dark while the fabric beneath was different. No Devil at Kuoh Academy knew what to think.

All they knew is that he was not hostile unless provoked. That was good enough for her, for the time being. She had already made plans to approach him soon enough. If he proved to be a threat in any way, her brother was but a phone call away.

That was, of course, after she dealt with one small issue first.

Like the Fallen that was trying to get close with a pervert she wanted to recruit to her Peerage.

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Koneko was becoming more bold in her stalking, to the point that it could not even be considered stalking. Stalking inferred that someone was hiding their intentions, or at the very least doing it to intimidate someone. Makoto didn't know what to make of it. She did not ask him any questions, nor anything of the sort. Neither did he ask her any questions, either. They seemed to hold a mutual silence that was, while comfortable, unnerving.

After a while, he felt that she was not walking with him to spy on him. Instead, she was curious as to what type of person he was. Makoto felt there was something entirely wrong with the situation, if only for the fact that the Devils around him were sincere in their kindness to their peers.

Sure, there were some darker emotions that would sometimes show themselves, especially in the black haired female that had been dubbed one of the "Great Ladies of Kuoh", but nothing that would make them any different than a normal teenager.

The blond Devil, the only male of the Gremory Group as he had dubbed the five Devils Koneko associated with, was not malicious when he turned down whatever female worked up the courage to approach him for the day. Instead, he gave his sorry for not being able to hang out, and excused himself from their presence with a smile. It was not a fake smile, in the least. He seemed amused, and even flattered that so many teenagers were throwing themselves at him.

Rias, the crimson haired Devil that he assumed was Koneko's leader, would smile at the various boys that would proclaim their love for her, and turn them down politely. It was almost vexing, Makoto thought, that he could not bring himself to hate or even really dislike the group of Devils that had been eying him since he was enrolled in Kuoh. Causing him discomfort with their wandering eyes could be annoying, but certainly not enough to truly anger him.

His rounds around town when not in the presence of Koneko revealed that they were actively in contact with multiple different people, human people, very regularly. What they did was beyond him, but considering the frequent visits, it did not seem to be violent in nature. You can't visit the same people two to three times in a week if they were dead. He was sure he had even seen the petite Devil carrying around a long haired man bridal style, like some sort of heroic knight who rescued the princess.

He did not want to know. He really didn't.

It was when she brought HIM sweets that he grew worried. The look on her face was almost pained, like she was parting with a dear friend.

"Why?"

Koneko shrugged her shoulders in response. When he did not move to take the offered sweets, she elaborated. "As thanks… for buying me sweets." And not telling her to leave him alone. She didn't need to say the last part for him to infer her meaning.

Makoto was not about to tell the girl that he did not enjoy sweets in the slightest when he noticed it. It was almost as if it were a figment of his imagination, but when it happened again, it confirmed his fears.

Her lips quivered. She might cry. She might cry, and draw the attention of the crowd of students that lingered almost painfully around the two. His reputation was not something he cared about, but he would be all the more unapproachable if he were to make the "Mascot" of Kuoh as some of the more vocal students had dubbed her cry.

She was doing it on purpose.

He took the offered sweets wordlessly before looking into the bag. In it were all of her favorites, which he had deduced from what she ate first and what she ate last from the different amount of candies he had spent his money on in the past week and a half.

He felt bad about it, so he looked up at the girl just to triple check that she was really giving him candy when he saw it.

The hopeful look in her eyes.

That was when Makoto understood the underlying meaning of the offered sweets. She was asking to be friends. A Devil wanted to have rapport with him, and it was not a Persona under his command.

Well, when she put it like that… he supposed he would prefer the Devil he knew, than the Devil he did not. He nodded his head to the younger female and did his best to hide his discomfort. He had eventually befriended his fellow SEES members even while the world was threatening to come to a screeching halt. He supposed he could afford to form some sort of conversation while he waited for the event that could potentially end this one as well.

"Share?" He wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a statement or a question, but he said the word anyway. He figured it was the right thing to say when the girl nodded almost vigorously.

They departed for homeroom afterwards, and for lunch, Makoto had his normal prepackaged bento with dessert in the form of chocolates.

It was almost pleasant.