Rias Gremory was sitting on the clubroom sofa, facing her older brother—one of the Four Maous of the Underworld: Sirzechs Lucifer.
The rest of her peerage had respectfully left the room in his presence.
"Brother? What are you doing here?"
"I'd like to say it's a family visit, but the truth is it's something serious. Suspicious individuals have been appearing in Japan lately."
"Suspicious?" Rias asked, her brow slightly furrowing at the word. If they were only suspicious, that meant there was no solid proof… and for someone to slip past the Maous' information network was nearly impossible.
"We haven't found anything on them. They're completely normal people. Every analysis confirms it: they're normal in every sense."
Her brother's answer only deepened her confusion.
"Then... they're completely normal? I don't get it."
"Neither do I," Sirzechs replied with a grim expression. "But I find them suspicious. That's why it's best to make sure they don't become a problem in the future... and eliminate them now."
Rias frowned—not at what he said, but at what it implied that he was telling her.
"Is there someone close by?"
"There's one at your school," Sirzechs replied, pulling out a document and placing it in front of her.
As soon as she saw the photo, Rias widened her eyes in surprise.
"Wait, brother! We've already investigated this person. He's completely normal. He doesn't even know anything about the supernatural world."
"You've already investigated him? Why?"
Sirzechs looked at her seriously.
"He's a friend of someone in my peerage. I won't let you harm him without proof," she replied firmly.
Sirzechs let out a resigned sigh.
"This isn't up for debate, Rias. He's suspicious. I'll take care of him."
"He's not suspicious! There's absolutely nothing suspicious about him! We already investigated! Even you said you didn't find anything! I won't let you hurt him!"
Rias raised her voice without hesitation.
Sirzechs, surprised by her firm defense, stayed silent for a moment. Then he spoke again.
"Listen, Rias. I already told you, this isn't something we can argue about."
"And I'll tell you this, brother: if you hurt him, I'll never speak to you again... and I'll definitely hate you!"
Of course, she couldn't allow Kaito to be killed. He hadn't even cooked for her yet! That's why Rias stood her ground with all her might.
Her declaration struck Sirzechs like a direct stab to the heart. Being hated by his sister would be the worst thing that could happen to him.
After a bit more arguing, Sirzechs gave in. But he warned her that Kaito would remain under constant surveillance, just in case he did anything suspicious.
Without Kaito knowing, Rias had just saved his life.
Though even if he had known, he wouldn't have been surprised.
After all... it was part of his plan.
As someone who knew the story and the characters, Kaito had decided to approach Rias's group for two reasons.
First: Rias was the direct sister of a Maou. Getting close to someone so connected to a faction leader meant greater rewards. Just approaching someone related to someone at the top was probably enough to earn a huge bonus—even if he died just a few days later.
Most of the participants, with their limited knowledge, didn't even know what factions existed, let alone how to approach their leaders.
The second reason was the relationship between Sirzechs and Rias. Sirzechs was a full-blown siscon—someone who would do anything for his sister. In the anime, that was just a comedic trait... but in real life, it was a tactical advantage. Being on Rias's good side meant being safe from Sirzechs, even if he wanted to kill you.
That's why Kaito chose to approach the group using Koneko, the easiest route thanks to her love for video games and her weakness for food.
While the rest of the Lords were struggling to survive or desperately trying to join a faction, Kaito was eating well and spending time with a cute girl every day.
If the other Lords knew how Kaito was getting through the trial, they'd probably explode with rage. But of course, Kaito couldn't care less.
Such were the perks of being a reincarnator.
---
And so, Kaito spent a quiet weekend in his apartment while the others fought for their lives. At that point, the only one still alive on "Impossible" difficulty... was him.
Meanwhile, in the server's group chat, conversations were still active.
"Is it even possible to beat Impossible mode?"
"It's not. Within less than a week, everyone was dead. No one's left."
"Exactly. Even on Hard mode, only one or two survive."
"Right. And on Easy, there's no one left because they've all completed their missions."
"Has anyone shown their rewards yet?"
"None. Maybe rewards don't come until everyone finishes."
"Makes sense."
"How can you all be so relaxed? I'm on Hard and I barely have time to type with all this fighting."
"LOL, your fault for picking that mode."
"Yeah, probably only like ten people will survive it."
"If you were on Normal like us, you could enjoy the scenery."
"True, this world is full of cute girls. Not being able to see them must be awful."
"x2"
"x3"
"Ugh, guys are the worst. That's all they think about."
"Hey! It's not our fault we appreciate beauty. Plus, there are hot guys in this world too."
"Totally! I saw this blonde dude in Japan who looked like he came straight out of a movie. And he turned out to be just a normal student!"
"Same here. Even the regular guys on the street look good. But sometimes you bump into real-life ikemen."
"x2"
"x3"
"How did we go from cute girls to hot guys?"
"Well, the server has both men and women. It's natural."
"What we all share is enjoying the view... while the Hard difficulty players fight for their lives."
"Those bastards! They're mocking our suffering!"
"At least I find comfort in knowing the Impossible players had it worse... before they all died."
"LOL, laughing at others' misfortune helps me forget my own."
"Actually, someone in my sub-server is still alive on Impossible."
"Are you kidding!?"
"Don't joke like that."
"I'm serious. Check sub-server 505."
"It's true!"
"Incredible, one's left."
"If that guy survives a little longer, his rewards are going to be insane."
"A little longer? Just staying alive already earns him more than the rest of us."
It's worth mentioning that each world accepted only 1000 participants, so parallel versions of the same world were created.
Thus, each server (with one million Lords) was split into 1000 sub-servers of 1000 people each.
Still, everyone could chat across sub-servers and see who was still alive in others.
And in server 26... only one remained on Impossible difficulty.
That's what they could see—truth is, across the entire world, there was only one person still alive on Impossible.
Meanwhile, that lone survivor was just walking around with a girl, teasing her a bit.
"I must say... you have pretty strange tastes."
"I don't like him!" Koneko replied, frowning.
"I don't see any other reason to follow a guy around every day," Kaito teased.
It had been a while since Kaito had been hired as the Occult Research Club's chef, and things had been routine. But soon, he noticed that Koneko was no longer at the club after school, so he asked.
They only told him she had "things to do."
Kaito, of course, knew exactly where she was—thanks to the plot—but pretended ignorance.
He said he'd go look for her, and no one tried to stop him. They probably thought it would be impossible to find a nekomata who moved so stealthily.
But for Kaito, it was easy.
Of course, if she really wanted to hide, it'd be impossible...
But if he tailed her before she vanished, it wasn't hard.
Knowing her objective, and with a bit of pursuit, he quickly found her.
He approached silently, startled her from behind, and then pretended to think she liked Issei—just to mess with her.
Koneko, unable to reveal anything supernatural, gave flimsy excuses, which only made Kaito tease her even more.
The two continued following Issei until they heard a voice.
"Excuse me..."
The voice wasn't directed at them, but at Issei, who was on a bridge at the time.
When he turned around, he saw a cute girl with black hair, an innocent look, and a shy expression.
"I like you! Please go out with me..."
She seemed like someone who had gathered all her courage to suddenly confess.
"Incredible... to think someone would actually fall for that guy," Kaito muttered under his breath, then turned to Koneko. "No offense."
"I already told you—I don't like him!" Koneko replied, more serious than usual, subtly sniffing the air.
On the bridge, of course, Issei accepted instantly. The girl smiled sweetly.
Kaito and Koneko followed them a little longer before heading home.
After parting ways, both had different thoughts.
Koneko needed to report to Rias what had happened. She immediately recognized that the girl who confessed to Issei was a fallen angel.
Kaito had his own thoughts too.
He knew that the girl was none other than Raynare in disguise.
That event marked the true beginning of the canon.
What was surprising was that he had expected the mission to end either before this, or right here. After all, this was a "recurring" world, and until now, it felt like a tutorial. Logically, the mission should end right before the canon began—leaving the canon itself for the real missions.