When Issei Hyoudou met up with his two broke-ass friends at the café, he immediately furrowed his brows.
Matsuda and Motohama were laughing awkwardly while a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes seemed to be telling them some unfunny joke.
They forced themselves to laugh along anyway.
The moment the girl noticed Issei, she turned toward him and flashed a bright smile full of shiny white teeth.
"You must be Issei Hyoudou, right? Humph. I heard you wanted to beat up my brother. Care to tell me the details?"
Issei grinned wickedly.
"Little girl, I think you need a good spanking for sticking your nose into other people's business. Matsuda, Motohama, go outside and lock the door. I'm going to discipline this brat."
"Yes, boss!" they saluted and immediately left.
The blonde girl's smug expression vanished. She tried to chase after them, but they were faster. The door locked with a solid click. She slammed her fists against it.
"Hey, let me out! What kind of customer service is this?!"
Issei smirked as he casually sat down and crossed one leg over the other.
"Sorry, girl. I own this café. Normal people aren't supposed to be here. This is a gathering place for bad guys and people who make shady deals."
The girl glared at him furiously.
"Let me out right now or you're going to regret this!"
"No," Issei replied coldly. "You're going to tell me everything you know about DxD Online and why your brother's fiancée suddenly cares so much about it. Rias is an introvert who normally doesn't give a damn about letting regular people into her guild. Start talking… or we do this the hard way."
The girl suddenly burst into tears.
"Waaah! You're a bad guy! I hate you!"
Issei completely ignored her crying.
Instead, he turned on the café's speaker system and began singing along in a painfully off-key voice.
"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…"
"Make her the cutest that I've ever seen…"
"Give her two lips like roses and clover…"
"Then tell her that her lonesome nights are over…"
"Stop!!! Please stop the song!" the girl screamed, covering her ears. "I'm going to die from how bad your singing is!"
Issei stopped the music and snorted.
"What an uncultured girl. Now talk."
Humiliated and on the verge of real tears, the blonde could only snort back in frustration before finally spilling the truth.
"Rias actually hates my brother. She wants to escape the engagement by becoming a top player. If she has a powerful guild backing her, she's sure she can pull it off…"
Issei looked genuinely confused.
"Huh? How does being a top player or having a strong guild help her cancel an engagement? That doesn't make any sense. It's just a game."
The girl stared at him like he was an idiot.
"Are you serious right now?! This isn't just some ordinary game! It's a game that promises one hundred percent realism and total freedom! Think about it with that big brain of yours, can our current technology even create something like that? And if it can't, why would the government allow such a massive 'hoax' to be promoted this hard?"
Issei rolled his eyes.
"Still don't get it… Is there some hidden truth behind this game?"
The blonde girl sighed.
"I don't even know the full details. My brother doesn't either. But my parents and Rias's parents seem to know something. Rias probably knows more than most people, she's willing to bet almost all of her money and time on this. She's even openly defying my brother and mocking him over it."
She added after a short pause,
"My parents told me to quit school and focus everything on this game."
Issei looked genuinely envious.
"What great parents… If mine were even half as enlightened as yours, my life would be so much better."
The two of them exchanged a look.
In that moment they reached a quiet mutual understanding: school truly sucked.
Misery loves company, after all.
Her stance softened a little.
"Maybe you're not that bad. But give up on the idea of beating my brother. When the game starts, we'll enter as nobility and begin in a much higher position than someone like you, who'll just get randomly assigned."
"I'll beat his ass in the real world then," Issei replied coldly.
"Urgh… That's even more impossible. You don't even know who my brother is," the girl sighed.
She rummaged through her pocket, pulled out a small crystal, and tossed it to him.
"I don't know exactly what this does… but my parents said it will boost your luck when you're assigned a starting position and give you a better beginning."
A cunning glint flashed in her eyes as she continued,
"Now you owe me a favor. And I know you'll pay it back. From the way you've talked so far, you're a prideful man with a huge ego. Even the smallest debt or favor would bother you. So when you become successful, remember to pay me back, Issei Hyoudou. I believe you will."
She blew a playful kiss into the air, then laughed as she kicked the café door open.
"Our conversation was surprisingly fun. See you later, Issei Hyoudou. And remember this, my name is Ravel Phenex."
In the next instant, a pair of wings appeared on her back.
She shot into the sky and disappeared.
Issei rubbed his eyes in complete confusion.
What the fuck did I just see?
Was he dreaming?
Outside, his two friends also shouted in shock.
"Fuck… is she flying?! Are we dreaming?!"
Issei furrowed his brows, already analyzing the situation.
"I heard DxD Online had a beta test before. A thousand lucky people were chosen… Don't tell me…"
The three of them looked at each other in stunned silence before the realization hit.
"This game can actually give us powers like that?! Holy shit, that's amazing!"
"It's probably temporary," Issei said. "That girl could have kicked our asses long ago if she wanted to. The fact that she waited until the end and then ran so fast makes me think the transformation only lasts a few minutes or hours at most. She left in a hurry because she was afraid it would wear off."
A wicked grin spread across his face.
"Alright, you broke-ass losers. Follow me to Rias's party. She probably has more of these crystals. If she's offering benefits for joining her guild, we'll accept everything with our mouths… then ghost her afterward and build our own empire."
Matsuda and Motohama grinned just as evilly and saluted.
"Yes, boss! Don't worry about the ghosting part. No one is better at disappearing on people than us!"
With that, the three of them headed toward Rias's party, already determined to take every crystal and every advantage they could get from joining her guild without ever intending to commit to it.
What a trio of complete jackasses.