James’ Jealousy

Scatter Cherry Blossoms Universe, Human World, Japan, Kuoh. 

While most people were completely taken aback by the interaction between Tio and the former monkey Yōkai, Ayame. There were a few whose attention was completely focused on Tatsuo, who was standing directly behind James after being teleported into this new reality. 

Chief among them was Kunou, whose face was covered in a blush, her ears were twitching, and her tails were wagging side to side, rhythmically. 

"Ara, ara, what is this?" Yasaka, Kunou's mother asked while covering her smile with the sleeve of her kimono. "Has spring time finally come for my little fox?" 

"Okaa-Sama~~~~~~!" Kunou whined after being exposed in front of her new crush. 

However, Kunou's reaction was not the biggest to Yasaka's teasing. Instead, it was James, Kunou's stepfather, who had the biggest reaction. 

"Nope! I don't think so." James said sternly. "Not gonna happen. I mean, Tatsuo, I know you're a nice guy and all, but there's no way." 

In response, Tatsuo, who had not even noticed Kunou's reaction, nor knew that she was James' stepdaughter, could only tilt his head in confusion. 

"James, what are you talking about?" Tatsuo asked curiously. 

"There's no way I'm letting you take my daughter away, you bastard." James said strongly. 

However, now that Tatsuo was looking at James, he could see the hint of mischief in his eyes. 

Meanwhile, the daughter James spoke of, Kunou was as red as Rias hair by this point. She was also trying her best to bury her face in James' shoulder so that no one would be able to see her embarrassment. At the same time, she was shaking James' arm, trying to get him to stop. 

Meanwhile, on another couch, a petite girl with long silver hair and purple eyes was shaking a girl with crimson red hair, pink eyes, and slender figure with large breasts as she stared at Tatsuo without blinking. 

"Oh, my Satan! Mio! Mio! Look at him!" The silver-haired girl said frantically. "He's gorgeous! He's absolutely gorgeous!" 

"Maria, stop shaking me!" The crimson-haired girl, Naruse Mio, shouted in an annoyed tone. "If you don't, I'll kill you a hundred times!" 

These two, Mio and Maria Naruse were a pair of half-sisters. They are also members of Rias' peerage, her [Bishop] and [Rook], respectively. And if it was not obvious based on the color of Mio's hair, they were also Rias' cousins. 

The last member of those present to have a powerful reaction upon seeing Tatsuo was a young, former vampire girl with red hair tied into bushy pig tails, green eyes, and fair skin. She, like Maria and Kunou, was unable to take her eyes off Tatsuo. However, unlike the other two, she was not really noticed by anyone else. So, no one was teasing her about it. Nor was she drawing attention to herself. She just quietly stared. 

"Anyway, now that I think about it, the big red dragon isn't going to kill us for being here, right?" Tatsuo asked, having just remembered Great Red's presence. 

"I... Uh... Hope not..." James said in an uncertain tone. 

"Perhaps it might be a good idea to return home until we're sure, Mast... *Cough* I mean, Tatsuo." Tio suggested, correcting herself with a shudder when Tatsuo turned to glare at her for her slip of the tongue. 

Yet, before Tatsuo could seriously consider Tio's perhaps good advice, Ophis turned her head in a certain direction with a frown marring her usual expressionless face. A moment later, she turned her head to look at Tatsuo, before turning to address James. 

"Baka Red said that she'll allow the visitors to stay." Ophis said monotonously. "However, you have to bring them to meet her." 

Ophis' message dumbfounded everyone, especially James. Great Red, or Aislynn as he called her, could be quite whimsical. So, it's not that much of a surprise that she let Tatsuo, Aletia, and Tio stay. Instead, what surprised him is that she actually went out of her way to contact Ophis to relay the message. 

"Well, I guess that settles that." James said while shrugging his shoulders. "And we should probably get your visit out of the way immediately. I mean, I wouldn't want an annoyed Great Red to just show up out of the blue. It would cause a lot of confusion, you know?" 

"I guess you're right." Tatsuo replied with a shrug of his own. "But where will we be meeting her? In the underworld? Does that mean we'll get to ride the interdimensional train?" 

"You're quite well-informed." Sona said while staring at Tatsuo as she adjusted her glasses. She then turned to look at James. "You haven't been divulging the Underworld's secrets have you, James?" 

"Oh, please." James replied while rolling his eyes as he started patting Kunou's head to try and calm her down after riling her up. "You know how I had information about the worlds I've been to, right? Well, why don't you think the same can happen with ours?" 

Hearing that, everyone present in a leadership position froze, starting to contemplate the ramifications of such information being readily available to other worlds. 

"Stop thinking about it so hard." Tatsuo said, cutting in on everyone's thoughts. "The chances of people like us coming to your world are really low." 

"But not impossible." Yasaka said. "And depending on how much they know, it could be a danger to our people." 

"*Sigh* That's if they can survive the big red Dragon of Dragons, that is." Tatsuo pointed out. 

Yasaka opened her mouth to retort. A moment later, however, she closed her mouth and raised a finger into the air. 

"Point." Yasaka said, agreeing with Tatsuo's statement. "And if they can handle Great Red, then there really isn't much we could do, is there?" 

"Exactly." James said with a shrug. "So, there's no point in worrying about it." 

"*Sigh* Sometimes you're too laid back, James." Venelana said as she shook her head. 

At that moment, the sound of baby noises could be heard, signifying that James' little sister, Aaliyah, wanted attention. However, when Leona, James' mother turned to her, she noticed that little Aaliyah was staring at Tatsuo with her arms extended as if she wanted him to hold her. 

Immediately upon seeing that, James' expression turned serious. 

"I was half-joking with Kunou." James said to Tatsuo in the most solemn tone anyone had heard from him. "But if you think about touching my little Aaliyah, I'll cut your hands off. Do I make myself clear?" 

*Smack!* 

"Knock it off." Leona, after [Flash Stepping] behind James and slapping him upside the head, said. She then turned to Tatsuo with Aaliyah in her arms. "It seems she wants to play with you... Your name is Tatsuo, right? Do you mind if I call you that?" 

"Uh... Sure." Tatsuo replied while shifting his gaze between Leona, Aaliyah, and James, who was glaring at him with great intensity. "I don't really mind." 

"Good." Leona replied with a nod. "Anyway, why don't you try holding her?" 

"Are you sure?" Tatsuo asked apprehensively. "I mean... I've never held a baby before." 

*Smack!* 

Before she replied, and without even looking back, Leona quickly slapped James upside the head again, as she could tell that Tatsuo was being pressured by her son. 

"Don't worry about him." Leona said. "he's all bark and no bite. Besides, we all know that if it makes Little Liyah happy, he'll fold like a piece of paper." 

"Mom, seriously?" James asked in a dumbfounded tone. "Are you really gonna tell my secrets like that?" 

Ignoring James, Leona held Aaliyah out to Tatsuo. And just like Leona, Aaliyah was also holding her arms out. 

Eventually, Tatsuo gave in, apprehensively holding his arms out, somewhat afraid of not holding the baby the right way. Yet, he still took Aaliyah from Leona and held her firmly against the right side of his chest. 

"Wahh~~~~!" Aaliyah cried after a few moments. 

Naturally, this surprised both Tatsuo and Leona. Meanwhile, James put on a smug smile, which got him slapped upside the head by his mother for a third time. However, it only took a moment to understand why Aaliyah started crying. And the reason was actually quite simple. 

As previously mentioned, Tatsuo held Aaliyah against the right side of his chest. And that was because his ponytail was hanging over his left shoulder. Yet, the reason Aaliyah wanted Tatsuo to hold her was because she was attracted to his long midnight purple hair. So, because she was unable to play with it, she ended up displeased and started crying to show it. 

"I think she wants to play with his hair." A relatively tall, fair-skinned woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes said casually. 

"I wanna touch it, too.' Another blond woman, this one with tanned skin and red eyes said while staring at Tatsuo's hair with desire while biting her lower lip. "I mean, look at it, Eva, it's o pretty." 

"*Sigh* Well, I can't really deny that." Eva, or Evangeline A.K. McDowell, replied. "Anyway, if you really wanna touch it, you should just ask him, Kalua." 

Hearing that, the tan-skinned girl, Kalua Shuzen, had her eyes light up. It seemed as if she had never thought about that. But now, the thought would probably never leave her mind until she did just that. 

Meanwhile, Tatsuo shifted Aaliyah to the other side of his chest. When he did, her crying stopped immediately, only to be replaced by a wide smile as she laughed and grabbed Tatsuo's ponytail. 

Unfortunately, this happy scene did not last particularly long, as no one wanted to keep Great Red waiting too long. So, after struggling to remove Aaliyah from Tatsuo's hair, and trying to calm her down after succeeding, Tatsuo, Aletia, and Tio stood with James and his two [Queens], Scáthach and Irene, in an empty area of the living room. 

*Snap!* 

James then made a show of snapping his fingers. With that, a [Teleportation Magic Circle] appeared under the six people's feet. 

"Alright, y'all, we'll see you soon... Probably." James said as the magic circle began to rise from the floor. 

A few moments later, after the magic circle rose past the tallest person's, James', head, Tatsuo, James, Aletia, Tio, Scáthach, and Irene were no longer standing there. 

And as soon as they were gone, the living room broke into a din of chatter. 

"Hey, Akua." Moka said after approaching a pale skinned woman with red eyes, slit pupils, and black hair. "That one girl, she was a vampire, right?" 

"From what I could tell, yes." The black-haired woman, Akua Shuzen, the eldest of Moka's sisters, replied in a taciturn tone. "And from what I can tell, she's older than most of us here, too." 

"Yeah, she's definitely got me beat." Evangeline said. "I wonder if she was turned as a child like I was." 

"Hmm... That's a possibility." Akua replied. 

"Actually, I know her story." An exceedingly beautiful young woman with long, knee-length hair tied into a ponytail and red eyes said while raising her hand timidly. 

"Oh, ara, ara, I forgot you were from the same world as that girl, right, Shizuku-Chan." Another girl with long black hair, though she had violet eyes instead of red ones, and a bombastic figure said while squinting her eyes and covering her mouth with her left hand. "It's still hard to believe that James had not lost his mind after all his talk about other worlds and the like." 

"that's right, Himejima-San." Shizuku, the girl James brought back with him from the Arifureta Universe just before its time froze. "Soramoto-Kun told everyone about it after getting Aletia-San's permission." 

"*Sigh* After getting proof from Master Scáthach, I kinda feel bad about doubting you before." A petite purple-haired girl, Mizore, said in a somewhat embarrassed tone. "But if you've known James as long as we have, you'd understand our misgivings." 

"Though I haven't known James for very long..." Shizuku said while shaking her head. "From the short time I've been here, I can understand why none of you believe either of us... he's quite the prankster, if I must say." 

"Yeah, yeah, everyone knows James likes to mess with everyone." Evangeline said, growing impatient. "Now, why don't you tell us about that vampire girl." 

With Evangeline getting the conversation back on track, everyone in the living room all turned to look at Shizuku. 

"Well, though her whole story is not mine to tell, I can tell you that she is much older than she appears." Shizuku explained. "Thanks to a powerful regenerative factor that she was born with, she stopped aging at the age of twelve. And from what I can remember, she should be three hundred and twenty-three years old right now." 

That statement caused the entire room to fall silent. However, that silence was broken not long afterwards. 

"Uh... Skiadrum asked me to ask about the other one." Issei said while holding up his right hand that had a blue circle glowing on its back. "You know, the really hot Kuroka look-a-like with the big knockers and the pointy ears--- Ow! Ow! Ow! Asia-Sama, I'm sorry." 

Like before, Issei was interrupted when his girlfriend, Asia pinched his side and twisted. 

"Oh, you mean Tio-San, right?" Shizuku said, having gotten used to Issei's antics already. "Well, she's from a race of demi-humans known as Dragonmen. Apparently, she has the ability to transform into a dragon. Soramoto-Kun had to fight her at some point to prove that his and James' group was worthy of helping her and her clan cleanse the world from the god, Ehit's influence." 

Reaching that point, Shizuku paused momentarily with an awkward expression on her face. 

"It looks like you have more to say." Rhea, Sona's mother, said gently. "Mind cluing us in on what that might be?" 

In response, Shizuku hesitated for a few moments. However, with everyone's gazes focused on her, she eventually exhaled a long sigh. 

"*Sigh~~~~~* Well... During that fight, that was when Tio-San awakened to her... Um... preferences." Shizuku finally explained, her voice growing quieter with every word. "That's also when she got so attached to Soramoto-Kun." 

Once again, the room fell silent. But once again, it was quickly broken by Issei. 

"Damn... that pretty boy bastard walked right into a trap." Issei exclaimed, his tone filled with a mixture of pity and jealousy. 

Scattered Cherry Blossom Universe, Dimensional Gap, Team DxD Base. 

While those left in Kuoh discussed Tatsuo's companions, Tatsuo, James, Aletia, Tio, Scáthach, and Irene arrived at the Team DxD Base, a space set up in the Dimensional Gap to be used as the base for Team DxD, a task force consisting of members of the Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, and a couple of independent groups who deal with threats to the factions they represent. 

This space was also the part-time home to the most powerful being in this Universe, Great Red or Aislynn to those she is close to, as she took a liking to it after being attracted to it when James and another member of Team DxD had a spar shortly after the base was created. 

"Well, we're here." James said after the [Teleportation magic Circle] faded out of existence. "Now, I guess we just have to wait for her to show up." 

As if she were waiting for him to say that, Aislynn, in her human form stepped out of the large, five-story building in the distance. Then, with a smile on her face, she took a step forward. However, that one step allowed her close the distance to the group of new arrivals. And instead of greeting James first, she appeared directly in front of Tatsuo. 

"That's new." James muttered while looking at Aislynn. 

"Maybe she got tired of you already.' Irene said playfully. "But you don't have to worry, you still have us." 

In response, James only shrugged his shoulders. Although Aislynn had shown some closeness with him, he knew it was only because she wanted to experience some of the things she saw in the dreams of those around him. In fact, James had no illusions that Aislynn had any feelings for him at all. Because... Though he hated to admit it, he was simply too weak for her to consider him as a mate. 

So, instead of getting jealous that Tatsuo was getting Aislynn's attention, he was only looking on with curiosity. Especially since Tatsuo was even weaker than he was. 

"You, what is your name?" Aislynn asked as she raised her right hand and gently placed it against Tatsuo's left cheek. 

Though Tatsuo could not deny that Aislynn was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, he still felt uncomfortable with the way she invaded his personal space. However, despite how much he wanted to pull away from her, he found himself unable to, thanks to the overwhelming difference in their strengths. 

"Soramoto Tatsuo." Tatsuo replied. 

"And why have you come to this Universe, Soramoto Tatsuo?" Aislynn asked as she began rubbing Tatsuo's cheek. At the same time, she said Tatsuo's name as if she was testing how it sounded to her. 

"To train with Master Scáthach." Tatsuo replied while still trying to get away from Aislynn's hand. 

"I see." Aislynn replied with a smile, seemingly amused at how Tatsuo was reacting to her touch. "And for how long to you intend to stay here?" 

"For a week, probably." Tatsuo replied, sounding as if he was on the verge of giving up on separating from Aislynn's hand. 

"Hmm..." Aislynn hummed with a smirk on her face as she suddenly pulled her hand away from Tatsuo's face. 

At the same time, Aletia, who was jealous of the way Aislynn was touching Tatsuo while being somewhat angry at how uncomfortable she was making him, grabbed Tatsuo's arm and pulled him away from the human-form Dragon God. 

Seeing that, Aislynn only smiled in amusement before opening her mouth to speak. 

"Well, I doubt you'll be able to get any real training done in that short amount of time." Aislynn said. 

"It was mostly to just get Master Scáthach to help me put together a training schedule." Tatsuo replied. "I didn't intend to stay here long enough for her training to actually bear fruit. I still have things in my world to do, after all." 

"That makes sense." Aislynn said, nodding her head in understanding as she did so. "Well, I might be able to help you with that. You see, I've come across a rather interesting concept in the dreams of more than a few people over my long life span. And it is most prevalent in a manga that has been popular in the Human World for quite a few years. And it's surprisingly not one drawn by James." 

Hearing that, everyone focused their attention on Aislynn even more than it already was, waiting for her to continue. Meanwhile, Aislynn, seeing everyone hanging off her every word, decided to draw it out, amused by the expressions everyone was making. 

"Hmm... How did it go again?" Aislynn asked, clearly just messing with everyone present at this point. "It had something to do with time dilation..." 

By now, Aislynn could see that everyone was getting impatient. So, she decided to end her fun for now. 

"Ah! Now I remember!" Aislynn exclaimed in mock excitement. Though, the amusement in her golden eyes could not be hidden. "It was something like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Though I can't stretch time to one year over a day, as time is not my domain, by overlapping a dream over reality, I could stretch time by about eight times its normal duration if I really put my mind to it." 

Hearing that, Tatsuo and James dropped their jaws in surprise. Meanwhile, Tio's expression showed that she was deeply impressed. At the same time, Aletia's emotionless expression did not change. Though, she started planning to read as many manga and watch as much anime as she could to get ideas that might help Tatsuo in the future. 

As for Scáthach and Irene, they were both pondering over the feasibility of doing something similar, even if to a lesser extent, with their own power. 

"Wait, are you kidding me?" James exclaimed in disbelief. "You mean, you could have done something like that all this time? But you didn't until Tatsuo showed up? Okay, I wasn't jealous before when you were so intimate with him, but now I'm definitely jealous! This is so unfair!"