"Ask what you want, I am paying." Soma said as he and the girl sat in a simple bakery on the way to Kuoh Academy.

"We really shouldn't. We will be la-" ​​

"Either you choose or I choose for you. I won't be letting you go to school just to pass out in hunger." Soma said with a slight glare and the small girl looked frightened before lowering her head and nodding her head.

Taking the menu both went to choose what they wanted to eat, Soma asked for a filling meal since he still needed to get as many nutrients in his body as possible while the girl asked for just something small and light as well as some juice instead of the cup of coffee that Soma asked for.

After that, the two had to wait until their requests arrived. While waiting Soma spoke.

"... If you want to talk about whatever is happening to you, I will hear."

"Huh?"

"I may not look like it, but I know quite a bit about medicine. You have clear signs of hunger and lack of sleep, but not to the point of you passing out just like that. You falling there was no passing out, it was something worst." Soma was blunt about it, not wanting to go around circles in regards to this.

The girl clamped up hearing his words and looked down, she was shaking and was shrinking on herself as if to try and make as small a target as possible. Scratching his head Soma saw the food arrived and the waiter, who saw the girl's state, gave Soma a dirty look that clearly showed he thought he was making a kid cry.

Deciding to ignore the waiter Soma pushed the food to the girl.

"Here, it is getting cold." Soma said and she slowly pushed her hand forward, taking the food and slowly eating it.

Soma started eating as well, letting her slowly calm down before he spoke.

"How about this, we introduce ourselves first. No pressure, okay?"

"Um." She spoke, her voice little more than a whisper as she nodded her head.

"Good, I will go first. My name is Soma Hanakai, I am 17 years old and due to certain circumstances will be joining Kuoh's middle school program today. It is my first day of classes and I am going to be late." Soma said and chuckled a bit at that. After so long in the Throne of Heroes where, if he was late for training ANY day he would be forced to do even more rigorous training, being able to be late for classes with no big repercussions felt like a huge relief.

It almost made him laugh, he was so glad to no longer have those crazy instructors that made him work his ass off every day for 6000 years from early morning until late in the night.

Seeing Soma's relaxed expression the girl relaxed a bit and after drinking some of her juice she spoke.

"M-My name is Aya, Aya Asagiri. I am 14 years old and, and..."

Seeing her look more and more torn Soma raised his hand.

"Okay, okay, I won't pressure you. We will be going to the same school so whenever you want to talk or need something I am here." Soma said, he knew he was coming off too strong but he felt he needed to put SOME pressure onto Aya if she was to talk.

She nods her head and a very small smile on her face, it was an ugly thing like if her face didn't know how to make such an expression that well anymore. Soma just continued eating as Aya continued taking small bites of her food, soon the two starting to have a simple small talk.

It was a calm and relatively good time. When they finished eating Soma looked at the time and they were already late. Not that he minded, but knowing they were late he just decided he might as well walk around town for a bit since they would only be able to join the classes after lunchtime.

"So, seeing as we have until lunchtime to get to school, do you know an arcade or something around here?" Soma asked and Aya shook her head no.

She rarely ever got out of the house beyond school time and had no friends so knowing places like that was beyond her.

"Well, if it is like that, how about we just walk then? It is still early but there should be some shops around and I also need a chance to just walk around and relax a bit."

And as such Soma started pulling Aya along, the girl resisted a bit at first but soon she was having fun as they went to the park, to the mall, and even managed to find an arcade in the end and played a bit there.

By the time they were going to school, Soma looked like he had a dark rain cloud over his head.

"How? How could you move like that? I call bullshit, how did you beat me in the dancing game?" Soma said, he had reflexes that were honed for so long and he was much more physically able than Aya.

Aya, meanwhile, just gave a light laugh at his expression so over the top and spoke.

"I don't know, it just came naturally."

"Well, fine. But next time I will win, I am the worst loser out there and I refuse to accept a defeat! I will beat you in Dance Dance 7 Revolutions even if it takes 100 or 1000 years!" Soma said and seeing him take a pose worthy of Jojo Aya could only laugh.

She did not even remember the last time she laughed like that, it has been too long but this day was already better than any she has had in years.

'Maybe I did do it this time. Maybe I did manage to kill myself and this is heaven?' Aya thought, if she did die and this was what the afterlife was like then she rather liked it better than the hell she lived by to this day.

As they were passing by a bridge she seemed to remember something and asked to stop a bit. Soma nodded without any issue as she was the one to lead him for once, this time right to under the bridge. Under it, there was a simple cardboard box and a small kitten there.

"Oh, so this little one is your pet?" Soma asked to Aya who had taken out some cat food from her bag and proceeded to feed the little kitten it.

"N-No. My mother is allergic so we can't have any pets in the house. I just take care of it, it doesn't have any actual home." She said sadly and Soma nodded, understanding the situation.

The kitten moved and licked at Aya's finger softly and she smiled at it, happy for the affection of the little guy. Soon, however, the cat stopped licking her finger after Soma got closer and extended his hand, picking up the kitten as he started examining him over. Aya stood frozen, as if expecting for the worst, until Soma nodded his head and spoke.

"It is a bit small but it is quite healthy. It would be better to give it some vitamins as well, but besides that, it is a perfectly healthy and cute kitten." Soma said and Aya, without thinking, spoke.

"Would you give it a home?" She asked, quickly closing her mouth afterward as if she spoke something bad.

Soma, meanwhile, thought for a bit. In his house, he had one loud-mouthed asshole and a blond loli who is terrified of him but has a giant ego when he is not putting her in her place. Something soft and cuddly to spoil would do wonders for his sanity and he does like animals quite a bit. He blames Cat Tamamo for his love of animals, but that is beside the point.

"Sure, I have space in my room and I wouldn't say no to a request from a friend." He said easily enough. It was a bit quick to call Aya a friend but Soma's instincts told him she was trustworthy and they could become friends, and Soma trusted his instincts.

"F-f-friends?" She said, her eyes wide and Soma shrugged.

"Yeah, why not? If you don't want to I will understand but I wouldn't mind being your friend." Soma said and Aya nodded her head shily while looking to the floor.

There was a weird silence until the kitten meowed loudly for its size and Soma smiled seeing this and put it back inside the box.

"How about if, when going back home, we take this little guy back and we go in a pet store together to buy things for it?"

"Yes, that would be good." Aya said and Soma smiled, when Aya turned around he quickly cast a simple sleeping spell on the kitten so it wouldn't move around and also put a very simple bounded field to ward off humans from it. Just an insurance really.

Aya was on cloud nine as they walked and she spoke animatedly about the kitten. She truly felt like this was heaven she was at.

However, as they approached school grounds, Aya's mood worsened more and more, something Soma noted quite clearly.

Eyes sharpening Soma decided to look into this. He already bothered to help the girl until now and from the little interaction he had with her he was sure she was a nice girl, seeing her sad or fearful as she was right now did not feel good for him.

As Soma was about to enter school he saw someone in front of it with a very annoyed face. She had long silver hair, a nice figure, and beautiful blue eyes that adorned a sophisticated and gorgeous face.

"Hey, Momo-chan! What are you doing here?" Soma said and the girl looked at him slightly annoyed.

"You, can you not be more irresponsible?" She said in irritation.

"Sure I can, challenge accepted." Soma said and turned to Aya. "How about we go check the movies? I heard there is a good one out and I could use some company since Momo-chan seems to be in her perio-"

"THAT. IS. ENOUGH!" Momo said as she pulled both his cheeks to the sides making him stop talking. "You were supposed to have joined the middle school today and we even talked about it this morning, so why did I get a call from my parents about you missing the morning classes?"

Aya's expression relaxed seeing this interaction between the two. Well, she relaxed until Momo stopped talking to Soma and turned her attention to Aya herself.

"Hum, so this girl is the reason for you missing your first few classes. Kinda young, don't you think?" Momo said and Aya shrank a bit on herself. Aya was small for her age and was not overly pretty or even cute, in truth she was more average to ugly (if the comments from most girls in class and her brother were to be believed).

Seeing the girl's frightened expression Momo's face softened as she put a hand on her head.

"Don't worry, my stupid cousin may be annoying but he is a nice enough guy. Just don't let him lead you around or you might get in some troubles since he isn't the most attentive when it comes to rules."

"The only rules I follow are my own rules, and according to them I am perfectly right with getting to class late today." Soma said proudly and Momo pointed at him.

"He is like that, so please be patient with him. If he causes any trouble you can just kick him in the knees or something, that should stop him from going too far." Momo said and Aya nodded her head even if she did not know if she would be able to actually kick Soma.

Without thinking much about it Momo patted Aya's head, or tried to since she felt the girl flinch away at the contact just as she did when Soma first took her hand. And unlike Soma's rather rude way of just ignoring this Momo did not press on demanding this physical contact.

Seeing the girl agree Momo took Soma to the director's to explain the situation and to have Soma starting classes after lunch.

The director of Middle School, like most other high-ranking people in Kuoh Academy, knew exactly who the members of each peerage were and they were given explicit orders to obey all requests from them as long as it was viable. As such, when Momo explained the situation and requested for Soma to enter class late, it wasn't even a request worth thinking about it.

However, they had to wait for a good while until the teacher that would bring Soma to class arrived. When the teacher did Soma took one look at him and was not impressed. The guy was old, bald, and with a glance, Soma could tell he was a coward and unreliable.

"Mr Fujini, this here is your newest student. He will be attending class with your other students. As said in the documents I passed you he was in a coma until recently so he had to be held back but his scores and a test done showed he has the necessary knowledge to join your class. If he has any requests or doubts make sure to explain them properly."

"I see, I see. Nice to meet you, young Soma. My name is Hayato Fujini, your homeroom teacher. Now come on, the classes are about to start and we wouldn't like to be late." Hayato said and Soma thought he already was late and he wouldn't mind being late. He honestly doesn't care for this all that much, he already knew enough about engineering, biology, medicine, writing, painting, music, and a load of other things. School was more a social obligation than anything else really.

Following the teacher, Soma waited as the teacher made the usual introductions for class that one could expect. After a bit of waiting he was called over and he stood in front of the class.

"Hello, my name is Soma Hanakai. I am 17 years old and I will be honest here before any weird rumor can appear. I was stuck in a coma for a long time, years really, so despite my age, I have to enter this class. I hope to get along with you all. My likes are whatever I want to do and what I dislike are those thst annoy me in a variety of ways, those that go against me or those I consider close, and octopuses. I am a firm believer in gender equality so I don't care if you are a boy or a girl, try anything against me and I will personally introduce you to the ground, and trust me, your relationship will be intimate. That is all, hope I can get along with you all that manage to not be annoying bitches."

... Needless to say, this was Soma's idea of being a normal student that did not call attention to himself. After 6000 years stuck around the boisterous, powerful, explosive, and quirky personalities in the Throne of Heroes this introduction was downright innocent in his eyes.

Unfortunately, for everyone else, they felt like he looked a bit like a gangster or yakuza and there was already some gossip about this and that the story of him being in a coma was a comple lie to hide some darker past.

"Good, now for your place to sit, how about-"

Soma ignored the teacher, he had noticed that Aya was in this class sitting on the back right beside the 'main character seat', the seat in the corner of the back by the window so to say. Seeing a familiar face he moved to seat beside her, but when he got to her he saw something truly... unpleasant.

DISGUSTING

PIG

IDIOT

UGLY

DROP OUT

DUMBASS

PIECE OF SHIT

DIE ALREADY

STOP WASTING AIR AND DIE

DIE

GO COMMIT SUICIDE IN A DITCH

DIE ALREADY, BITCH

The whole table of Aya was covered with such words, there was also some glue all over it making the table look like a giant mess.

Aya looked at the table as if she was embarrassed by it, as if she did not want Soma to see it. A light glistening of tears could be seen at the corners of her eyes as she looked down and her small hands held onto the rims of her skirt.

Soma's vision darkened a bit seeing this.

"Can anyone explain to me why her table looks like this? Who did this?" Soma asked and there was only silence. Looking at the faces of the students there was no one forthcoming and there were even some snickers regarding it.

Looking at the teacher Soma saw that said teacher was not paying any attention to this and pretending to not hear the question at all.

Squinting his eyes Soma spoke to the teacher.

"Are there no more available tables in this class?"

"There is your table in the middle of the class." The teacher pointed out to the said table. Soma looked at it for a moment before asking Aya to get up.

The girl timidly got up, not understanding what Soma wanted.

Nodding at it he moved he made her hold onto her things as he got her table and chair outside the door and went back inside, taking his own chair and table and giving them to Aya.

The girl looked like a deer at the red lights as Soma petted her on the shoulder.

"Now it is better." He said and then turning to the teacher who was looking at him intensely Soma spoke. "I will go to the principal now and make a request for a new table since it seems like this class is lacking in supplies. After all, that thing that you were letting one of your students use is a piece of shit and if you are blind enough not to see this then I don't understand how someone like you is qualified to teach anyone, much less me."

And with that Soma turned around and even as the teacher tried to tell him to stop Soma did not give a single damn as he pulled the table and chair straight to the principal. Hayato on his tail trying to stop him and the other classes they passed by all stopping to look at what was going on.

///---///

After getting a new table and chair and informing the director of what he saw Soma left it for the teacher to see what would happen. Unfortunately, Soma could not simply leave a bug to listen in on the conversation since it would have to be a purely magical one and Soma had no doubts that the devils would have absolute control over the top of the school if they were in this place.

After getting an empty table and chair he went back to class and sat there, ignoring the students that were staring at him while he tried to act as inconspicuous as possible.

Hearing the murmuring of his classmates and their pointing at him got old really fast. With an annoyed tone, he spoke up.

"If anyone has anything to say to me or about me then speak up already. I don't want any weird rumors about me so ask whatever the fuck you want so we can get this over with."

Of course, no one asked him anything and the teacher returned to class, restarting the lesson as if nothing happened. Not one word about what happened or what was discussed, not one comment about anything, it was like what Soma did and what he saw, all that happened did not happen or simply didn't matter.

However, Soma took note of some of his new classmates expressing some anger towards him and especially glaring at Aya who was in the back of the class. He made a note of that but did not do anything right away, just gave a 'slight' glare to anyone who looked at him funny.

By the time classes ended Soma moved to Aya's desk and spoke.

"So? How about we go to that pet shop now?" he asked, showing his friendly smile and when the girl was about to speak up a girl appeared on her other side.

"Sorry, but I and my little friend here have plans for after class. Right?"

Soma looked at the girl and he felt a bad vibe in her. She was pretty enough, he supposed, as she is a fair-skinned girl with shoulder-length red hair tied in two pigtails with bangs hanging on the left side and red eyes. Her face had sharp features that did not retract to her good looks, but one look at her made Soma feel like she was not up to any good. Her eyes reminded him of Gilgamesh at his worst, and that alone was enough for Soma to not trust her.

"Well, I and Aya had made some plans as well. So, if you don't mind, kindly fuck off."

"Huh? You do have a big mouth, you think you are so great just because you are a bit older than me?" The girl said and glared right back at him. Soon two other girls that were apparently her friends came from both sides and stood behind Soma as if to threaten him.

He did not feel even slightly troubled by this, and he was about to say something when Aya spoke up.

"S-Sarina-chan is r-r-right. Sorry, Soma-kun, but you can go ahead without me." She said and Sarina, the red-haired girl, shot Soma a triumphant smile.

Soma just stared for a moment before speaking.

"Are you sure about that, Aya?"

"Yes, you can go on ahead. Until tomorrow, Soma-kun." Aya said as Sarina led her outside. Sarina's friends soon following but one of them slowed down and turned to Soma.

"Just a tip, don't get involved with that girl Aya. Nothing good will come of it, you will just be dragged down with her."

Without waiting for him to answer she followed and Soma stood there for a moment before moving to leave as well.

However, instead of going to his house right away, he stopped at the school's entrance. Momo was there and wanted to talk some more but he said he was not in the mood to talk and asked her to leave for now. She did not look overly pleased but let it slide for the most part since she noted his expression was quite serious.

"... Fine, but tell me if anything happens." Momo said and Soma nodded to her.

After about 40 minutes Soma saw those three girls leaving the school and as they passed him they snickered as if they found his 'white knight' act hilarious. After twenty more minutes Aya walked out of the school slowly, she was looking down and barely even noticed he was there until he put a hand on her shoulder. Looking at Soma she saw his expression being quite solemn as he looked right into her eyes and spoke.

"If you ever want my help, just come to me." he said simply and then the two began walking away from school.

Stopping at the bridge Soma and Aya took the small kitten and Aya took it in her arms, her body trembling slightly as she looked at the kitten and a slight sob sound could be heard for a moment before they moved away from the bridge. With the cat in her arms, Aya and Soma went to a vet shop and bought all the things the cat would need and they went their way until Soma's house.

Turns out his house was rather close to Aya's own house being only a short walk between the two.

"Until tomorrow, Aya-chan." Soma said and Aya gave a timid smile to him.

"Until tomorrow, Soma-kun." She said and went her way.

Soma entered his home, feeling slightly melancholic because of what he feels must be happening to that girl that looked so fragile one tight hug could break her.

However, such melancholic feelings got destroyed when he saw what awaited him inside his house.

"Huh? You are home earlier than I expected. Also, I kinda ate all your ice cream."

"What is up with the cat? I do want some pussy, but not of that kind. I want big titted human-looking pussy!"

Soma's forehead had a vein popping as Mittlelt was dressed in one of his shirts with a pot of ice cream in hand and some potato chips on her lap as she watched tv, on her side, was the stray exorcist who had no shirt on for some reason, had his hand under his pants, and was messing with Soma's personal notebook to see porn sites as if the notebook belonged to him.

"You two, I know I said to get comfortable, but WHAT. THE. FUCK!?"

The two just looked at one another and continued doing what they were doing.

Soma realized then and there, he really needed something that was pure and nice in his house since he would need something to take away the headache these two would certainly cause to him.

///---///

It was two in the morning. Soma's body was covered in sweat as he finished another session of transformation to his body. He had just finished turning the skin around his torso and now he had his torso and arms' skin fully transformed. With this, he could take normal bullets to those areas and not be pierced at all.

"Well, that was productive." He said and smiled. His body was now just about ready to be able to undergo physical training thanks to the potions he managed to make these last few days. And with his skin improving its quality he would be able to better hide any external signs of the damage made during the workouts.

DING DONG

Hearing the bell ringing Soma found it strange. Taking a deep breath he did not sense any demonic presence or anything like that, it didn't smell like anything really.

Moving to the door he cautiously opened it while holding one of the light swords he found in the church and modified thereafter to become much stronger.

However, he shouldn't have bothered since in front of him was not an enemy. No, instead it was Aya. The little girl was trembling slightly and looked up at Soma before speaking.

"C-Can I sleep here? J-J-Just for tonight, please." She said and Soma, seeing her state, nodded and brought her in. As she walked inside she did not see Soma's expression darkening considerably as he noted the very dark marks around her neck.

Marks only left in someone normally in one condition, when you were choking someone.