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Game of Monsters by Adrian King1

Anime » High School DxD/ハイスクールD×D Rated: M, English, Fantasy & Adventure, OC, Words: 773k+, Favs: 10k+, Follows: 11k+, Published: Feb 1, 2021 Updated: 8h ago

9,822Chapter 174: If I Didn't Have You-

If I Didn't Have You-

"Dad?" Kunou asked one morning while he walked in, yawning and blinking blearily. It was one of those mornings. Mornings in which he was more tired than when he went to bed and he felt like he'd gone through a workout… The best kind of workout though, of course, which was why even with how he felt, he had a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah?" he replied, watching Friday prepare him a cup of tea and he didn't even need to tell her to do it, or correct her… much. The spell was, much like Margalo, a very kind… creature? He still wasn't sure if she counted as such, but it felt bad to call even his other familiars that. She was very kind, that was the gist of it. She liked to help, which was why she often topped up his magic reserves from the ward arrays' own reservoir, or she'd hand him stuff when he needed them, like pencils or notebooks.

She was adorable, like a kid trying to help her father at work.

"Why are you more tired in the mornings sometimes?" Kunou asked and he was grateful that his tea wasn't ready or he'd have spat it out mid sip, he was sure. Yasaka, sitting beside the girl, wasn't quite that lucky. Even though she did choke on her own tea, she didn't let it show. She was impressive that way at keeping appearances.

"Well… your mother kicks in her sleep sometimes," he decided to go with, thinking fast. He could have said something else, he supposed, but seeing the Youkai leader's scandalized face let him know he'd made the right choice. "So, sometimes it's a little hard to sleep well. And Serafall can be a little too clingy while asleep," he added, and by then Jeanne was snickering like a little shit.

He didn't blame her much for that though.

Joshua was doing the same, although he had the decency to do so in the privacy of his own mind.

"I do not!" Yasaka protested when she finally recovered, half glaring and half pouting, with her face turning a little red. It was always a huge victory in Joshua's books when he could get reactions like that from her. Or from Serafall or Gabriel, for that matter.

"Sure do, the proof is written all over my face, apparently," he commented with a grin. Because, what was she going to do? Give the actual answer? Yeah, he didn't think so.

Thus, he grinned wider when he saw her realize this and turn even more red.

Whether that was in embarrassment or in anger or both, Joshua wasn't sure, but what he was sure about was that he'd pay for that later. He thought it was very much worth it though, if he did say so himself. The fact that his familiars and Jeanne were all laughing at them probably only added to his future punishment and that was a little less appreciated, but oh well…

It wasn't even like he was lying. Yasaka did kick in her sleep occasionally and Serafall was clingy. It was just that neither of those things were the reason for his morning weariness.

"Mom! Dad's tired enough already!" Kunou exclaimed, adorably angry on his behalf and concerned for him. He smiled warmly, now much more awake and off to a great start of his day.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo. I happen to think it's cute," he said with a grin, ruffling the girl's hair and drawing a protesting whine from her. Tellingly though, she didn't actually try to stop him. "So, anything of note in your day?" he asked, taking the tea cup that Friday floated in front of him and sitting next to Kunou.

Resolutely, he ignored the pointed stare that Yasaka was sending his way and the giggling of Jeanne. Asia, for her part, seemed a little unsure of what to do or say. The rest of the family seemed to be having fun, which was great. An already good day would start even better, by the looks of-

He blinked when thunder reached his ears and he looked out the window to see that a storm was overhead. 'It'll rain? Nice,' he thought with a slight smile. He'd always been a fan of the rain, actually. Somehow, it always worked wonders to quiet his ever working brain. Not very good for getting stuff done, but he liked it all the same.

"Classes," Kunou mumbled, suddenly whatever good mood she had evaporated as she deflated on her chair. He rolled his eyes at her, a gesture that he'd normally share with Yasaka but… Yeah… "But maybe we can do something afterwards? Or are you busy?"

"For you? Never," he told her, but apparently that wasn't a good answer. Why? Because Kunou narrowed her eyes at him, very much showing that she was her mother's daughter. "What's the matter?"

"Are you busy or not?" she asked, suspicion coloring her voice.

"Not really. I'd have to check with Ravel, but I'm pretty sure I have nothing but spell tinkering after I'm done teaching my classes," he said, blinking and looking off to the side as he wondered if he was remembering well. Either he was worse at keeping track of his schedule than he thought or he was coming to rely on the Phenex girl more than he'd thought when she'd initially been "hired", if it could be called that.

"That's great," Kunou replied, finally showing that happy reaction he'd expected from the very beginning. "I don't… I don't want to make you miss stuff if you need to go somewhere," she added in a mumble, looking down at a pastry that she'd been eating with her breakfast. Adorable as it was that she was concerned, considering her previous history with Yasaka, he was a little concerned.

"If I have something important to do, then I'll try to reschedule, alright?" he told her with a smile. "Most things I have to do can be moved around anyway. If it can't-" he continued when she went to protest. "-then I'll make it up to you, alright?"

"Promise?"

"Promise," he answered with a smile that Kunou returned with a beaming one of her own. Then he went to continue with his breakfast… and caught the look in Yasaka's face. Apparently, he might have escaped his punishment for later… or at least lessened it.

The day just kept getting better and better.

[}-o-{]

"Mr. Davis," Ravel insisted and Joshua had to hold back the urge to sigh.

The devil girl was great, truly going above and beyond what was expected of her role. She was also great at what she did. She was, by all means, a great employee. The problem was that she was too good, if that made any sense.

Which he was sure it didn't to anyone that wasn't him.

"Going to this event will mean a lot to you-" Ravel continued and he stopped what he was doing to look up at her and raise an eyebrow. "-and to your allies," she added, realizing her mistake. After all, he really couldn't care less for whatever this meeting or party or whatever was supposed to do for his reputation. "You won't even have to do much, Elizabeth and Agnes would take care of most of the talking. At most, you'll have to indulge a few magicians' questions and you seem to like that, right?" she continued, gaining some steam as she went on.

Joshua got the impression that he was being talked to like one would try to hype up a child to do something they really would rather not. He had to admit though, what Ravel was saying was rather appealing. Much as he'd rather stay at home and spend time with his family and such, gaining stuff for free or while having a good time was nice. It was just that "favor" or "reputation" was… rather meaningless for him, really.

He didn't much care to appeal to strangers when he could be having a good time with one of his partners or with Kunou or with his sisters or with his familiars. However, he did have plans that hinged on some things being pushed forward and for that he'd need more favor, the right kind of favor. So far, most of what he gained wasn't quite as much as he'd need or he got too much of useless "resources". Now, if he could get what he actually wanted…

"Fine, I'll go," he said, deflating where he sat and running his fingers through his hair. Despite his very unenthusiastic response, Ravel beamed at him all the same. "But," he continued and the Phenex tamped down on her excitement to hear him out. She couldn't quite contain herself though, which was odd, considering this wasn't that big a deal, from what he knew. "I have a mission for you," he added and that only seemed to please her further.

"Leave it to me," she said determinedly, even though he hadn't even told her what it was. Joshua rolled his eyes at her. "Before that though, maybe you'd like to prepare for going to House of Water? You'll have to arrive early if you want more time with Kunou, Mr. Davis," she told him, suddenly going back to checking stuff with her trusty notepad.

Joshua sighed and had Friday store all his stuff in spells. The living piece of magic really liked when he had stuff for her to do, so he tried to have her do as much as possible. Besides, it seemed to help her learning progress too, to actually be able to interact with stuff instead of just being told what things were. Besides, it wasn't like it was bad to have a hand or ten available for help.

"Right," he muttered, standing up and stretching a little. "Speaking of, you wanna stick around for that? I think I'll do an illusion show for Kunou," he commented, chancing a glance at the girl and seeing her perk up before her extra cheer disappeared together with some of her previous one. "Something the matter?"

"I don't think Kunou will appreciate me interrupting her father-daughter bonding, sir," she mumbled, fidgeting with her notepad and not looking at him. The fact that she called him "sir" instead of "Mr. Davis" was just as telling as her body language too. "But I appreciate the offer all the sa-"

"Hm, I guess inviting you without telling her would be bad," he agreed with a tilt of his head while she looked down even further. "I'll check with her and let you know what she says. Might as well invite Koneko too," he added, the last part making the Phenex's eye twitch. He wasn't sure what was up with that dislike of the reincarnated nekoshou, but oh well. He was likely to already have to deal with that attitude from Kunou towards her, might as well make it a three for three.

Maybe he could help them bond a little so that they'd stop being at each other's throats.

"A show should have an audience and that makes me think of several people. Wouldn't you agree?" he asked, knowing that she'd either give him a non-answer or what she thought was the correct answer.

"An audience can be of just one person, sir," Ravel said, just as he'd predicted.

"Sure it can. Doesn't mean I can't make it be more people," he replied with a grin on his face. "I'm gonna call Kunou now, we can discuss your mission for the House of Water event thingy afterwards," he told her then, cracking his neck.

She didn't appreciate the careless way in which he was talking about that, but the excitement for her assignment seemed to help smooth over her annoyance. That and she was still a little hung up on the Kunou thing. Silly Ravel, Kunou would enthusiastically agree to it, he was sure… after Joshua bribed her with ice cream.

Sometimes it wasn't necessary to focus on such small details though.

[}-o-{]

"I hate that guy," Kunou declared with all the loathing that her young self could muster, pout in full force and scowl in place. It was a shame that the whole effort was ruined by how cute she was, but Joshua wasn't going to be the one to tell her that. "He's a meanie."

"He is," Koneko agreed, succinct as usual.

"He makes most Wrath devils that I know look the picture of Patience," Ravel said, looking deeply offended. Joshua wondered if that was in some part due to the fact that… Well, the character of his new illusion display was showing up her species, somewhat… Although, it was probably because he was a nightmare for someone as neat and… political as her. Even more so than someone like Joshua himself.

"Pomeranian," Koneko announced intently and both of the other girls snorted before giggling while the nekoshou's lip twitched up into a smile. Joshua himself had to hold back a stronger reaction to that coincidence.

"The main character isn't much better, to be honest," Ravel commented, somehow looking even more upset about that. "Who gets that much power handed to them and continue to be… like that. And it's almost like he's supposed to be smart but he's… not."

"You're not wrong, I guess," Joshua replied. He didn't necessarily disagree with her on that, after all. On the contrary, really.

It was a relief that he never really showed Kunou – or anyone else that might be there for his shows – stuff that was fully original. Sure, he took some creative liberties here and there, but… Well, he didn't think he could take the kind of criticism that his latest show was getting.

"Well, I think we can take a break before continuing, yeah?" he said, cracking his knuckles and wondering if he should start making some serious changes to the story already. It wasn't a bad story, even if he wasn't a great fan. That's why he'd decided he might as well share it and see how it was received. He wasn't keen on forcing Kunou through a show she didn't like just on the off chance she might change her mind though, so…

'Well, editing a little might not be enough for this…' Something to think about, he supposed. And for that he needed time. Time that he could easily buy, even if it'd take some help to make sure it went smoothly. 'Margalo, can you…?' he started asking before his bird familiar interrupted him with a chirp, flying and settling on Kunou's shoulder. 'Thanks.'

"I'm gonna make some snacks while I consider our options, yeah? You girls can play with the cards in the meantime," he told them and immediately the mood changed to something much more… competitive. Expected, but that was why he had asked Margalo for help.

She was great at keeping the peace. Her songs were just that calming, after all. Worse came to worst, she could get them under control as an extension of his authority… And failing that, she could get her fellow familiars to help her wrestle the girls into behaving.

Not that he expected it to come to that. The three girls might not be fans of each other, but they were all relatively well behaved for the most part. He expected it to be an odd day when they escalated a situation in such a fashion, especially after it was pointed out to them that they were doing it.

The heat of the moment could be strong, but they wouldn't be that blind, he was sure.

So, Joshua moved confidently to the kitchen and started working. Idly, and to give Friday something to do other than watch him and the girls, he sent her to check on his cafe. Asia was having a nice night out with friends, Jeanne included. Shy as she still was, the nun was getting better and he was pleased to see that.

Issei was working a shift once more and he was… still Issei, of course, but it still baffled Joshua whenever he took a moment to consider how different the boy was from his canon self. He was really hoping that he hadn't screwed everyone over by changing the protagonist and the story so much, but he thought the entire thing was turning out a lot better. He wondered what the boy himself would think though.

On the one hand, he'd gotten a girlfriend much faster, so there was that, but he wasn't getting his harem… so far. It might still happen, considering the whole dragon thing. Hell, it might be happening for all Joshua knew. It wasn't like he paid special attention to Kuoh beyond checking on the people he knew and that nothing was wrong.

"Dad! Tell Ravel to stop cheating!" he heard Kunou cry out, her voice muffled by the distance, the walls and such. Taking a deep breath in, he held the air in before letting it out. Of course. On a good day, Kunou wasn't a good sport. Against Koneko and Ravel? If she didn't win at least one game relatively early…

Well, case in point, he supposed.

"Kunou, stop lying," he said, using some magic to help his voice carry over without needing to shout. He could almost see his daughter pouting in the other room, but it was what it was. It helped that he couldn't literally see her, or he might have caved somehow. At least he wouldn't have taken it out on Ravel though, he knew that much.

He wasn't that much of a pushover.

With a sigh, he moved as fast as he could to prevent more troubles after that.

"Can you change the story, dad?" Kunou asked him when he got back and she was still pouting. At least she wasn't playing anymore to continue making the issue worse, he supposed. Instead, it was Ravel against Koneko when he got there. "I don't like it," Kunou said and he grimaced. But he'd come up with an idea in his time away, so it wasn't all that bad.

He was already plagiarizing original stories from his old world, right?

Why not… plagiarize fanfics too?

"Okay, same world but I'll be adding a different character to the mix and changing some things. First of all, we're following this new character instead of the old protagonist," he explained, waving his hands and making the new set up appear, much to the shared interest of the three girls.

So, he set it up, the almost empty room, dull table with two metal chairs and a boy, sitting, waiting.

A pale boy with white hair and red eyes with black sclera.

[}-o-{]

The house was quiet already, late in the night.

Everyone had either gone home or gone to sleep or both. Joshua was the only one left, even Yasaka had said goodnight a while before then. It wasn't her night though, so she'd take the chance to sleep a little extra – her words, not his, but he was glad that she was taking care of herself – and he'd stayed back with a cup of tea and his trusty notes. Being home meant that there was literally no way for him to get bored too, so that was great, because someone was making him wait a whole lot.

Alas, at that moment, he was doing something very different. His tea had probably gotten cold already – which wasn't really a problem for him, he liked it cold too – and his notes had been forgotten for long enough that he didn't even know what they were about. He hadn't actually touched them since taking them out. It was a miracle that Yasaka hadn't noticed something was off and confronted him about it…

Although, she probably had gone off so that Kunou would go to sleep without issues. The girl had been with him the longest after his mind acted up, so she had definitely started to suspect something. Thus, if he wasn't overestimating Yasaka – unlikely – then the youkai probably planned to let someone else help him and make it easier for the two of them by taking everyone else away.

'I have to remember to thank her,' he decided, taking a sip from his already – now confirmed – cold tea.

"Sorryyyy~! I'm late!" Serafall cried out as she teleported in. Normally, one wouldn't be so loud in a house so full of people so late and with children sleeping… but the great thing about magic was that it could take care of a great deal of small little annoyances like that. "I'm so sorry~"

"It's fine," he told her with a smile. Immediately, the woman stopped and stared at him for a solid few seconds. Yeah, he was definitely that obvious, which confirmed his suspicions that Yasaka knew. "The stuffy people were more annoying than usual?"

"Yes," was the simple answer he got instead of a long, drawn out and dramatic narration of events. Serafall was all business, evidently. "Did something happen?" she asked, concerned, but not overly so. If something truly bad had happened, then she'd have been called or something else would be going on and she knew it.

"Just… thinking."

"So it's a day that ends in Y?" she asked with some humor in her voice as she moved to take the seat next to him. She was far from her usual self though, so he wasn't going to be getting off the hook just ignoring the issue, he supposed. Not that he wanted to, but… he'd have appreciated it. "Joshua?"

"The year is ending," he commented, leaning back on his chair and taking another sip from his cup. When nothing else was said, he continued, a sad smile on his face. "I was casting the show for Kunou, Koneko and Ravel and I just… reminded myself of something and it went from there."

"Do you need a hug, or a kiss, or…?" Serafall asked, her voice all softness and understanding despite her words and the smile on her face. "Anything I can do? Anything we can do?"

"I'm fine," Joshua told her, but he knew he couldn't leave it at that. "I'm sad and it… hurts, but… Well, I guess it'll always hurt. But I'm fine anyway. Does that make any sense?"

"It's weird, but yes, I do think it makes sense," Serafall told him, leaning on him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want to talk about anything else? I know I'm late, but I'm sure we can still go out and have that date."

"It's probably not that late somewhere in the world," he commented with a slight smile.

"That's the spirit," she told him and he could hear the smile on her face. The thought of it alone helped him feel better. "So…"

"A date sounds nice."

"Say no more. Do you want regular Levia-tan or do you want a special edition?" she asked him, all cheer once more as she hopped off her seat and twirled around like she was Kunou's age and not several… Better not to even think about it. "You were thinking something mean," she accused with narrowed eyes.

"I was almost thinking something mean," he clarified, which didn't really help, but oh well. Thankfully, he imagined what he wanted to say would get that attention away from him. Not that it was why he was doing it, but it was a welcome side-effect. "Would you go with me?"

Once more, Serafall stood there instead of Levia-tan.

"Of course, Joshua… We are all going, I assume?" she asked, moving to lean on the table and looking at him curiously.

"Yeah, we are," he confirmed with a slight smile. Because he couldn't think of any other way to go about it this time. And besides… "My mother would come all the way from wherever she is to have my head if I didn't introduce you all," he added with a chuckle, weak and low, but honest.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, somewhat of a calm day, huh? A bit of good fluffy fun, then some business with good fluffy fun, then regular fluffy fun and we finish off with some… sad fluff? Is that a thing? I don't think this counts as angst or anything like that, but I don't know.

What do you think?

Also, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What's the last thing you ate? I ate some barbecued chicken breast that was left over from yesterday. My dad always prepares a lot of barbecued something on Sundays so there's less cooking to do during the week.

See you.

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