"Guh... what are you trying to do?"
On Toujou Shirone's cold little face appeared a strong unwillingness.
"Nothing, just want you to listen to me properly."
Whether Rias and the others were present didn't really matter. Stopping Shirone from notifying the others with magic was only because it would be troublesome.
If Rias and the others came, first he'd have to explain the misunderstanding, and besides, Rias and the others were indeed harder to fool than Shirone.
Inevitably, it would lead to extra and unnecessary conversation. Better to finish things first, and then let them know. When the facts were laid out, explaining would save a lot of effort.
"Come on, let's talk somewhere else."
"Uu..."
Saying "somewhere else" was really just finding a bench by the roadside to sit on.
Only, Zeroy had Shirone sit on his lap, then hugged the little one about to start purring as if petting a cat.
Of course, there was more to her sister Kuroka's story—
The sisters' father was a human researcher affiliated with the Naberius branch family, one of the 72 Pillars of Hell.
This branch maintained a secret laboratory for creating artificial Transcendents. Their father was one of the researchers there.
For his experiment, he chose a Japanese monster, a Nekomata, then among Nekomata the strongest variant, the Nekoshō, and within the Nekoshō, he chose the elite Fujimai.
This researcher deceived her feelings, joined with her, and fathered the sisters Kuroka and Shirone.
However, he saw their mother and the two daughters only as test subjects, burying himself in experiments.
In the end, during a failed experiment, both parents perished.
Losing their parents, the sisters depended on each other, but soon caught the eye of the higher devil of the Naberius branch family, who adopted them.
Kuroka, due to her outstanding potential, was reincarnated as a follower using two bishop pieces by that high-class devil.
After becoming a devil, Kuroka's talent in sorcery and senjutsu gradually revealed itself, and her power began to spiral out of control—
Although the cause of the rampage was that the high-class devil continued experiments to create artificial Transcendents, using excessive methods to draw out Kuroka's potential.
That devil didn't care about Kuroka's life and even planned to set his sights on her younger sister Shirone.
To protect her sister from repeating the family's tragedy, Kuroka killed her master and fled alone, becoming a stray devil.
Killing her master for the sake of her sister, she never meant to leave Shirone behind; regardless, the situation then didn't allow it.
The pursuit squad made it impossible for her to approach Shirone, so she could only escape by herself.
After her escape, Naberius's secret experiments were discovered by the upper echelon devils and were erased and sealed away.
"So, whether it's you, Shirone, or Rias, none of you know the truth here."
Rias's brother, Sirzechs, probably knew of this; even so, the matter was deeply entangled, and perhaps for that reason, he didn't tell Rias.
After all, the little misunderstanding between Shirone and Kuroka wasn't something a busy Maou like Sirzechs should worry about.
Rather, leaving it alone, letting Rias and Shirone resolve it themselves, could even serve as a kind of training.
"I... is that all true?"
Shirone's voice carried a faint tremble, filled with yearning and hope for the truth.
While Zeroy recounted the story, she had already completely turned to face him, her small hand gripping tightly at the hem of his clothes.
Her golden eyes held a restrained plea. That always-cold expression had long since melted, revealing rare nervousness, vivid to an unbelievable degree.
The shock of the information even caused her hidden silver cat ears to pop out, quivering lightly beneath Zeroy's gaze.
Lowering his head, Zeroy's emerald eyes softened, his lips curling into a teasing smile.
He reached out and lightly pinched Shirone's soft cheek. The tender feel beneath his fingers left him satisfied.
It also made Shirone's cat ears twitch slightly, though her expression remained controlled, staring intently into Zeroy's golden pupils, only flickering faintly.
Zeroy's voice was light, doting, with a playful tone: "Of course, little one~ At least as far as the intel I know, that's how it is."
Shirone's eyes widened further, a glimmer flashing within, as though grasping at hope.
The hand clutching Zeroy's clothes tightened unconsciously.
Her voice restrained, yet carrying persistent pursuit: "Still... how do you know this?"
"Mmm..."
Zeroy pretended to ponder, then helplessly shook his head.
"That's my personal secret. I can't tell little Shirone just yet."
"...."
Shirone pressed her lips together, immediately sinking into conflict, torn between believing Zeroy's words or not.
"No need to dwell on it. Why don't we go ask Kuroka directly? If it's all true, then how about we bring her back?"
"..."
Toujou Shirone hesitated. She hadn't let herself be carried away by the news.
"...Why would you do this?"
"Helping a cute kid doesn't need much reason. Though if I must say—well, I want a fight. To test out the new Longinus, I got?"
"...."
A simple reason. So simple, one couldn't help but doubt it, like a pie falling from the sky.
No cost, gaining such a huge benefit for nothing—instinctively, it made one suspicious.
But out of her longing for the truth, her care for her sister, Shirone ultimately chose to believe.
Kuroka was now a teammate of the White Dragon Emperor, Vali. Their team even included a monkey demon inheriting Sun Wukong's power, and the heir of King Arthur, humanity's strongest candidate.
As sparring opponents, they were undoubtedly an excellent choice.
Only, Zeroy didn't know where Kuroka was.
That's where Shirone came in.
Bringing Shirone to the all-capable Patchouli, and having her use the sisters' bloodline connection to locate Kuroka through Shirone—that would settle it.
In previous worlds, during the Purges, when innocents were transported away en masse, Patchouli had used this same magic to reunite those separated.
The only issue was that in this world, the magic might not work. The other side might have countermeasures or wards.
Or the distance might be too great, with too many interfering factors—like drawing on a blank sheet versus scribbled paper.
...
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