I didn’t want to damage that memento, so I made a replica to give to her. Mementos should be cherished.”
So that’s how it is. I learned another thing about Koneko-chan. The Ungaikyo said
<<Time is almost up, I need to disconnect.>>
In the mirror, Koneko-chan’s father—. […Ah, that research…what happened? After I died…were there any results…? …Anyone…. …Create Super Devils aside from Rizevim, Sirzechs, Ajuka…artificial Super Devils…please…]
The Ungaikyo’s ability was cut off, and our conversation with Koneko-chan’s father also ended. Until the very end…he was still just a man who only cared for his research—. After the conversation with him ended, we began to discuss the future. “Koneko-chan’s hairclip conceals research data on how to artificially produce Super Devils after birth, and just knowing this is an improvement…!”
In any case, we should communicate this matter to a trustworthy organisation and then allow them to analyse the information. Beelzebub-sama and the Grigori should be quite suitable. Everyone nodded in agreement with that suggestion. Whilst half-filled with the joy of reuniting with jii-chan, and also half-filled with the sorrow of hearing the story of Koneko-chan’s father, we embarked on our journey back—. Part 3
After returning to the Hyoudou residence, we told our comrades about what we had just learned. As for Koneko-chan, we avoided mentioning her father, we simply said that Koneko-chan’s parents once conducted research on artificially creating Super Devils and also talked about how to deal with that hair accessory. To Koneko-chan, this was a memento of her mother, but Koneko-chan agreed to hand it over, so we decided to lend the hairclip to Ajuka Beelzebub-sama. “Is this really okay?”
“Is it okay?”
Rias and I were both worried about Koneko-chan who had to hand over her memento. But, Koneko-chan smiled as she replied
“It’s okay. Because I still have the hairclip that Rias-neesama gave me.”
—She answered. …We hadn’t told her about the truth of her father…. An important game was coming up soon, so how could I tell her something like that? But, even if there wasn’t going to be a game, I don’t think I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that…! An ill feeling swirled around within my heart. Just at that time, Kuroka and Le Fay returned to the Hyoudou residence. There was a fair period of time during which we were unable to contact Kuroka and the others. Upon asking about the reason—. “We…went to a place that was in the depths of China’s Youkai world.”
Le Fay answered. After asking further, it turned out that they had gone to train with their team’s current Zhu Bajie and current Sha Wujing. They also had a large-scale battle with theBull Demon King’sfaction! There was a so-called riot that occurred. Because the Bull Demon King was rampaging over there, they deliberately went to the location of the riot so that they could supress it and at the same time, also enhance the cohesion of their team. After we told Kuroka about the Grim Reapers’ attack on Koneko-chan, she was rather surprised. She lightly pulled on Koneko-chan’s cheeks. “Well, it looks like you’re okay. I’m relieved nyan.”
“…Nya, pwease stwap.”
With her cheeks being pulled on by her older sister, her face seemed to be filled with displeasure. Rias said
“Thanatos is also after you, Kuroka, but I don’t think he expected that you would go to the depths of China to fight against the Bull Demon King.”
Since Thanatos was currently searching for that research data, it was certain that he was targeting both Koneko-chan and Kuroka. He only attacked us because he already knew where we were. “Kuroka, could I speak to you for a bit?”
“Arara, it looks like a serious story.”
Afterwards, Rias called only Kuroka over to a separate room to tell her the truth—. That night—.The match between Rias’ team and Vali’s team was about to begin, and so I asked the girls around the house if they had seen Kuroka. After finding out that Kuroka had been seen on the rooftop, I went towards the roof of my house—. Kuroka was sitting on top of the roof, enjoying the cool night breeze. When I approached, Kuroka noticed me and then said
“Sekiryuutei-chan also knows about our father huh.”
“Yeah.”
“For now, please don’t tell Shirone. Shirone has always believed that our mother fell in love and became pregnant with us, but then died in an accident.”
“Koneko-chan…she doesn’t know about the truth of her parents at all…?”
Kuroka shook her head. The expression on her face was clouded in mystery. “…Sekiryuutei-chan, you spoke with that person…our father through the Ungaikyo right? So you should understand. He isn’t a good person. He wasn’t even aware of the fact that we had been born in the past. I heard a lot of things from the Naberius House afterwards. He was a man who was very passionate about research. No—”
With eyes full of love and hate, Kuroka declared
“He was only interested in research, and anything outside of that wasn’t visible to him.”
Kuroka looked up at the sky as she continued
“Even our mother who gave birth to me and Shirone was also…it was only the result of a man who was carried away by a fit of lust and vented on a Nekomata. What’s more troubling is that our mother left us and ran off with that man.”
Koneko-chan and Kuroka’s mother — Fujimai-san, she had taken her daughters to see their father several times, but their father remained indifferent. Ultimately, due to a large-scale experiment, Fujimai-san was unable to bring Koneko-chan and Kuroka along, so all she could do was entrust them to that man’s former association — a research facility run by the House of Naberius’ branch family. And then — due to an accident caused by an experimental failure, both she and her husband lost their lives. With their mother unable to return back to their side, Koneko-chan and Kuroka both lost someone to depend on. “In the end, both of our parents died because of an explosion in the experiment nyan.”
But the story didn’t end there. The Devil of the Naberius House’s branch family still continued the research. “After the Naberius House learned about the loss of those two, they persuaded us to become their servants. …Back then, I had no family nor power, so the option to refuse didn’t exist.”
So that she could allow her little sister to have enough food, Kuroka became a servant Devil. Afterwards, when Kuroka awakened her powers, she killed her master and became a target of the Underworld’s government. Kuroka’s eyes were filled with sorrow. “Fujimai…I still remember when mother introduced me and the infant Shirone to that man. …Mother thought that we were the children born from her and her loved one, and she hoped that he would want to see us…but that man wasn’t interested at all. We were his children, but unless he was told, he probably wouldn’t have known.”
After saying that much, Kuroka’s eyes lost their lustre. “No, that man should’ve known. But he pretended not to know. …Aside from research, any other existence was simply in the way….