Rias was not having a good day.
The main reason was that Haruto didn't come to the school taking away her chance to corner him here. And for some unknown reason no matter what she was doing, the day was passing by at a snail's pace. Quite frankly, it was a very irritating day for Rias so far.
In the morning, Rias went to Sona and told her everything. Sona was her childhood friend and she lost count of how many times she helped her, so Rias didn't want to hide this incident from her. After hearing that Sona was reluctant to let Rias go alone but at the end, she gave into Rias's pleading. Although she advised her to at least prepare some quick summoning spells before meeting Haruto. So if Haruto would pull any tricks, Rias could immediately summon her peerage along with Sona and hers.
Rias looked in front to see Kiba explaining their roles and history to Issei. They were taking it slow for him. At first, she thought that she was going to tell Issei all about the supernatural world and him being reincarnated into a devil at a later date. But because she just wanted to do anything to pass the day, she ended up summoning him to her club and told him about the night before.
She smiled softly when she saw Issei listening to Kiba's words with full attention without losing his cool or raging about his situation. Then she looked at the clock and her smile vanished.
"You know," Rias turned to Akeno who looked at her knowingly, "Why don't you go meet him right now? You know his house and he is expecting you today, albeit at a later time. But I don't think he will mind much if you visit him a bit early."
Rias smirked at her queen's idea, "You are a genius Akeno."
"That I am." Akeno chuckled softly.
Rias didn't wait for a second longer as she got up and teleported to her destination, without giving an explanation to the other members.
Rias and Sona marked where Haruto lived long ago just like Issei's, so they knew where Haruto's house was and how it looked like. It was a small and old two storied house, situated in the isolated area of the town. But for some reason to Rias, the house screamed of loneliness.
Rias was teleported just outside the main door of Haruto's house. Taking a deep breath, she went to the door and pressed the bell. One minute passed and nothing happened. Rias groaned but before she went to press the bell again, she looked at the doorknob. Out of curiosity, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it around. And to her surprise, the door wasn't locked.
"Are you kidding me?" Rias groaned as she opened the door to go inside, "Doesn't he have any sense of…" But she couldn't finish her sentence as her words got stuck in her throat when she fully opened the door.
Right in front of the door, there was a huge dog with bright yellow fur. It was so big and feral looking that some might even mistake it for a large wolf. And the scary part was that it was looking right at Rias with bored eyes. It moved and Rias flinched, but to her surprise, the dog made way for her so she could pass.
With a gulp, Rias passed the dog nervously. The first room right after the doorway was the living room, where Haruto was standing at the other end of that room, topless with a loose trouser. Rias couldn't help but blush when her eyes fell on Haruto's naked torso. His body was a well build athlete type rather than that of a bodybuilder. It wasn't overly buffed but very attractive.
Haruto didn't notice Rias's appreciating eyes. He just scratched the back of his head as he looked at the clock with half opened eyes, and then back at Rias again, "You are early."
"I couldn't wait, and did you just wake up?" Rias asked angrily, trying to cover her flushed face.
Haruto yawned, "Had some work to do at night. Sit down, I will be right back."
Rias watched Haruto going upstairs. After taking a deep breath to calm down, Rias looked around the room.
The whole living room was painted with pure white color. And there was only one grey couch with a small table in front of it. Even the dining room next to the living room had one small dining table with two chairs. Only the refrigerator was large but the white color of it made it hard to notice since the dining room was also painted with spotless white color.
The only thing that was noticeable in these two rooms was the table by the window, which had no curtain. The table was small but was made of expensive looking glass. On top of it was a flower vase which had few fake white roses. But it was the crystal picture frame or more like the picture within it that caught her eyes.
It was an old worn out photo. It was of a man holding a woman closely while both were laughing at the camera, one could feel their happiness just by looking at the picture. Rias didn't know why but somehow her eyes were glued to the woman, her slight bulge in the stomach clearly showed that she was pregnant. Rias could feel a sense of familiarity coming from the woman but she couldn't pinpoint it.
"You shouldn't touch other people's belongings without asking."
Rias yelped when she heard Haruto's voice right behind her. With a blush, she stuttered, "Don't do that!"
"Then don't look at things without permission." Haruto sighed as he walked toward the door, motioning Rias to follow him, "Come on, I want to show you something."
Rias followed him but slowed down when she saw the dog once again. It was resting on the side with its eyes closed.
"Nice guard dog you have there."
"Thanks."
When Rias got out of the house, she finally had a good look at Haruto. He was wearing a golden colored jacket which had furs as a collar. He was wearing a white t-shirt but black pants. What caught Rias's eyes were the earrings Haruto was wearing. They were small but cross-shaped and their color matched his hair.
Rias shook her head to keep her flushed face in check, "Where are we going?"
"Like I said I want to show you something," Haruto replied.
With a sigh, Rias started to follow him. She wanted to ask Haruto few questions but her mind just kept going back to that photo, somehow to her it wasn't just a photo. It was like a puzzle that needed to be solved to see the bigger picture.
After ten quiet minutes later, Haruto stopped. They were in front of a ruined house which was located on top of the hill overlooking the Kuoh Town. Rias wanted to say something but the way Haruto was looking at the house told her she had to wait.
"Rias," Hearing Haruto's voice, Rias looked at him, "What do you know about the previous governor of Kuoh Town?"
Rias was shocked because she never heard anything about any other past governor. When Rias and Sona along with their peerage members came to this town to study, Rias's brother told her that the Kuoh town belonged to the devils and seeing that she was going to stay at the town, she was given the ownership of the town legally. As far as she knew, it was done as a mean of training for her as a clan heiress.
"From your expression, I can see that you do not know." Haruto chuckled, it was an empty quiet one and somehow Rias felt as if it reflected Haruto's heart.
Finally, he looked at Rias. Rias didn't know Haruto for long but she knew one thing about him, his golden eyes would always hold power and control but now those eyes held nothing but sadness, "Let me tell you a story Rias, a story about a gentle devil woman who fell in love with a noble-hearted exorcist. It didn't take time for her feelings to be returned. They lived happily with each other but because of their origin, they kept their relationship a secret for as long as they could. But ultimately, everyone found out."
Haruto paused and looked at the sky, "Can you imagine what happened to them?"
Rias felt her heart beating faster, her breathing becoming erratic, "They were banished?"
"They were killed. The two of them were disposed of by the leaders of the Devils and Church." Haruto chuckled sarcastically.
Rias didn't want to ask fearing the answer, she knew she shouldn't but she just couldn't stop those words, "How do you know all these?"
Haruto looked at the ruined building once again, "The name of the devil woman that got killed was Cleria Belial," Haruto then faced the stunned Rias and added softly, "She was my mother."
Haruto's answer solved the riddle that was bothering Rias since she saw that picture, although she guessed it halfway. The woman she saw in that picture, her hair had the same grey shade as Diehauser Belial, the rating game champion, and she had the same golden colored eyes like Haruto. And the man who was beside her in the photo had the same blonde hair as his son.
Now she understood why those two, especially the woman looked familiar to her.
Rias couldn't stop her tears, she didn't want to. Smiling sadly, Haruto touched her cheeks gently who flinched slightly at his bold move. Wiping her tears away, Haruto spoke in a tender tone, "If they were killed because of criminal charges or because they became a threat to their respective factions, I could have accepted it. I still would have gritted my teeth and accepted their death if it was somehow, anyhow properly justified. But killing them because of 'Status Quo', that I cannot accept."
Haruto withdrew his hand and turned around to face opposite of Rias. He needed to control his emotions. He couldn't let her see his current expression.
"I want to bring justice to them, but I am nothing but an exiled king." Rias's eyes widened hearing that. She couldn't help but ask, "Wait you have Evil pieces?"
Haruto didn't look back instead he stretched his arm to his side and opened his palm. A king chess piece appeared on top of his palm. It was made of pure white color with elegant black lines adorning it. Black and white, both of these should contradict each other but somehow they merged so well together in that small object that none would believe the magnificence of it unless they would see it firsthand.
"It's beautiful."
Haruto closed his palm and with it, the piece disappeared. When Haruto turned around, Rias felt her breathing stopped.
It was evening and the sun was setting right behind Haruto. The sky had a crimson tint to it and somehow Haruto really blended well with the crimson color, his carnelian red hair was sticking out more and so were his burning golden eyes.
Rias was shocked when she finally noticed the change, that Haruto's eye color was not golden but it somehow became crimson red. She didn't want to know how that happened but what she knew that it really suited well with Haruto. And then she understood,
She was falling for Haruto.
"So, Gremory Princess, will you help this exiled Belial King?" Haruto came closer and Rias blushed harder. Haruto carefully tucked a strand of hair behind Rias's ear keeping a proper distance from her, "I am not asking this for free of course. In return for your help, I will lend you my strength, Rias."
Rias looked away, she was sure her face had the same color like her hair, "Let me think about it."
"As you wish." Haruto stepped back.
Rias didn't wait for a second longer to teleport out of the place. And the moment she completely disappeared,
"Tsk, tsk, Haruto. To play with a fair maiden's heart like that." The man appeared out of nowhere and sat down on the rock facing the abandoned house.
"I don't have the time or the luxury, Kurama." Haruto looked back at his mother's house, the sadness in his eyes were replaced with viciousness.
"I know that very well Haruto, but do think of your steps carefully. She is Sirzech's little sister after all." Kurama said as he got up and stood beside Haruto.
"You think I can't take him on?" Haruto looked at Kurama from the corner of his eyes.
"You can defeat him and about that, I have no doubt. But you can't defeat his comrades, nor all the Maou together, nor the devil council alone. And we are not even going to the Church's part yet. Also, let's not forget about them. If you rush without proper planning, you will not be able to get the justice for your family that you desire." Kurama sighed.
Haruto looked coldly at Kurama, his crimson eyes were glowing now as if it was promising pure annihilation to anyone that would stand in his way, "Justice? In this rotten world where Heroes seek nothing but chaos and destruction in the name of equality? Where Archbishops experiment on innocent children to attain holy powers? Where gods do whatever they desire because they believe it is just? Where devils can massacre an entire race for their supposed self-protection without any retribution?"
Haruto laughed, it was filled with nothing but hollow and rage, one that truly reflected his heart, "No, this world has forsaken justice long ago."
Haruto then turned around and slowly started to walk toward his empty house, "This world doesn't need a savior to execute justice. What this world needs is a leader, a king who can rule over all the factions. What this world truly needs is,
'The King of Kings'.