DXD: Catalyst of Legends

…..particular, her chest. More often than not, he found himself making conscious efforts to not stare at i-

"Connor?"

He blinked as Reya's soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Huh? What?"

"Are you alright? You spaced out. "

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry," he hurriedly apologized, embarrassed at his wandering mind.

She did not need to know what it was he was thinking about.

"It's fine. Now, what does the overall message say?" In her hands was a sheet of paper with six kanji perfectly drawn and spread evenly across its surface in black ink.

'Eien… Nagare… and Taiga. '

""Eternally flowing river. " It means that… you're at peace.

Your hand flows as freely as the waters of a river. Is that it?" Reya liked to reference nature with a lot of her work, so this was a half-guess at best.

"You're right about the hand," she credited before correcting. "It also means that my mind is unbroken, free of distraction, thus allowing my hand to be so freely flowing.

"

"I'm sorry you have to teach this overgrown man-baby how to read and write," he sighed and slumped melodramatically.

Reya merely smiled at the joke. "It's no trouble.

You're one of the only boys in the whole academy that shows an interest in calligraphy. All the others would rather join a sports club.

"

"With the exception of Matsuda, but we all know why he's in the Photo club. "

"Why did you decide on calligraphy, Connor? Not that I'm unhappy that you did, but…" she trailed off, not wanting to pry too deep.

"No, it's fine. " He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.

By this time, their conversation had garnered the attention of their nearest classmates as well. "First of all, I guess I wanted to improve my penmanship.

If you've seen the way I write normally, you'll know that it's garbage. I'm hoping this will help with fixing it.

As for clubs, well… with the way things are going back home, I don't know if I'm going to need to drop everything here and hurry back on a moment's notice. If that were to happen after I joined a sports club, or any club for that matter, I'd feel like I was letting the group down by ditching them.

"

Out of curiosity, he had wandered into the Kendo Club dojo a week after he had transferred. His new title had reached the whole school by this point, and the two co-captains, Mayu Katase and Setsuko Murayama, invited him for afternoon practice.

Before he realized it, he had spent over three hours with the group, observing their routines and socializing with them in between segments. The club members were pleasantly surprised that he made for good company, and Katase asked if he would be interested in fully joining the club.

To their disappointment, he declined, stating that he wanted to keep his options open for the time being, but would come by and visit every now and then.

"If it was an emergency, I'm sure they would understand," Reya reasoned.

He shrugged half-heartedly. "Maybe, but still, it's the principle.

"

"Fear of commitment, perhaps?" a teasing voice piped up beside them. With a roll of his eyes, he turned to the voice's owner, who was giving her trademark half-lidded dark gold eyes and broad grin.

Aika Kiryuu, the shameless female parallel to the Perverted Trio, and the one girl in the whole academy they were afraid to set their hormonal sights on. As he had heard, she was able to determine the size of a man's… equipment with a mere glance.

It made her something of a deterrent to the three, since she often turned the tables on their antics, but her own behavior made it a hassle trying to speak with her normally.

"Pray tell, how does that factor in?" he asked dryly.

"Well, aside from the fact that you've turned down every club invitation in the past week, for someone that enjoys the company they keep, you're pretty secretive. " She fixed her round-rimmed glasses as she continued.

"You go out of your way to make sure that you stay alone outside of homeroom. On top of that, you've always got your nose buried in your little notebook.

And every time somebody gets close, you snap it shut before anyone can see what's in it. "

Never let it be said that Aika Kiryuu wasn't as observant as she was incorrigible.

"It's… complicated," he calmly answered.

"Really?" she asked, unconvinced. "Then why do you keep bringing it to school, where so many have the chance to see it? C'mon, gaijin, spill it.

What's your secret? What is it that you're trying so hard to hide, hmm? Are you working on a doujinshi? An erotic doujinshi featuring your new schoolgirl fetish?" By this time, she had leaned toward him enough to where he could catch the faintest hint of lilac.

With an annoyed huff, he put two fingers to her forehead and pushed her away. "Keep dreaming, chijo.

"

"Okay," she chirped without missing a beat. He hadn't meant it as a challenge, but perhaps the tone he had used made it come off as one.

He just knew he'd come to regret saying anything to her.

With a sigh, he turned back to Reya, who simply nodded in understanding and began another drawing. Such was his daily life: slowly settling in, making new friends, and learning a language within a language, all the while trying to maintain personal space from a nosy pervert.

'Not what I was expecting to be doing abroad. '

The Student Council Room of Kuoh Academy, located on the second floor of the main school building, was ordinarily a quiet place. What used to be an old conference room was gutted, repainted, and carpeted to give a quaint sense of authority, and the two large windows overlooking the school courtyard only completed the perception.

Against the wall opposite to the windows sat a large desk with documents and utensils organized neatly on its surface, and spaced out in the center of the room, work desks and accompanying chairs faced each other in pairs…