Chapter 1080 Permission Granted
At Kisuke's response, Masaomi suddenly started chuckling which surprised Kisuke even more, "If you genuinely don't understand that's fine too. In fact, that's better."
"Huh?"
Masaomi stood up from his seat and approached the confused Kisuke to pat his shoulder, "Let's just say that now I know for sure that you'll keep them safe and I trust you for that." He then went straight to the door and before exiting the room, he turned for one last time, "I'm going to go invite my daughter on a date with this old man. Discuss the rest with Cleria and Yasaka-san."
As he left the room, the heavy atmosphere also alleviated a lot while also leaving Kisuke hanging in the air with his curiosity.
"Don't think too much about it. It just means that he's approving of your plan." Yoruichi, with a small smile on her face, commented.
Kisuke was not satisfied and looked around but nobody was willing to resolve his confusion, "Haahh... Fine. But I'd like to hear why you're agreeing to this. I still don't see girls benefiting from this aside from maybe gaining experience."
Cleria took a sip from her cup first before answering, "It all comes down to safety. In my opinion, they are safer on your side."
Kisuke creased his brows but didn't interrupt her.
"You're busy so you probably don't know how messy the situation is right now. Everyone wants to gather as much power and influence as they can in this rapidly evolving world. And lately, some of their methods are already stepping on lines that they shouldn't cross." Claire continued while sighing and rubbing her forehead signifying her frustration with the situation but couldn't do much about it.
"According to the intelligence groups that I'm openly and secretly operating, there are some groups that have laid their eyes on the students of Ouroboros Academy as targets for easy manipulations." Yasaka added, "While they are safe within the confines of that floating island, that's not the same when they're outside of it and we're suspecting that some of these kids who don't know any better are acting as spies for these groups."
With that explanation, Kisuke could see where they were coming from, "As the top students, Claire, Tanis, and Kunou are the most vulnerable against these inside jobs. Aren't you underestimating them too much?"
Claire smiled wryly, "Protecting themselves? I'm not worried. It's true that they are skilled, but no matter how you cut it, they are just teenagers and bad adults don't fight with brute force. It's not like they learned territorial and risk management since childhood like Sona, Rias, and Akeno did, so I'm afraid that they'll be tricked by one of these bad adults sooner or later. It's especially worrisome that they seem to be hiding things from us now." She then looked at Kisuke straight into his eyes, "They actually trust you, the 'cool big brother', more than us."
The quiet Diehauser suddenly interjected, "Typical teenagers." He wanted to become a 'cool uncle' for Claire and the girls, but he only ended up as a 'strict uncle' in their eyes so he's very jealous of Kisuke.
Kisuke was about to say something but he could only leave his mouth open when he remembered what Claire, Tanis, and Kunou were hiding, "Ah... I would have to agree..."
Cleria raised her brows and asked, "What's up with that reaction? Are they hiding some big secret?"
Kisuke contemplated for a moment if he should show them that or not, 'Hmm... Oh well, it should explain why I have no problem with bringing them with me.'
Without another word, Kisuke took out a memory crystal and placed it in the middle of the table. A second later, their surroundings changed and a real-life projection of his underground training area was shown with Kisuke facing Claire, Tanis, and Kunou.
A few minutes later, the projection stopped and the room returned to normal, "That's the reason why I'm comfortable with bringing them with me and the only other person who knows about this is Aika."
After that, there was only silence as they were trying to process what they'd just seen. Even the corner of Yoruichi's lips was twitching, not knowing what to say.
With a strangely long few minutes passing, Cleria finally said something, "That's what I'm talking about... They're hiding something crazy yet we had no inkling of what's really happening..." But even after saying that, she still couldn't believe what she just saw, "...Are you sure that this isn't edited in any way?"
"It's not. It's true that they were able to injure me in that form."
"That's not even the issue here." Diehauser interrupted, "How is Claire using both Demonic Power and the Power of Light at the same time without any assistance to that degree!? And it looks like there's no adverse effect on her body?"
Yasaka turned to Sakura, who's an instructor at Ouroboros Academy and asked, "Sakura-san... Was no one able to catch a hint of this?"
Sakura shook her head, "No. Everyone knew that they were skilled and had a lot of potential. However, it was predicted that they'd only reach Satan Class after a decade or more with their current rate of improvement."
"But clearly, that isn't the case." Yoruichi turned to Serafall and asked, "What do you think?"
"They're not yet on the level of Satan Class because of sustainability, but they're not very far from it. Especially Claire. The way she handled the opposing attributes without support from any Soul Gear or Sacred Gear, she could be classified as a 'Super Devil'."
To give them more context, Kisuke explained to everyone how these past years, Claire, Tanis, and Kunou kept sparring against Ophis, Tanis, and Flanna on a weekly basis and how he had to watch them quietly since he wanted to see what was going to happen, "At the end of it, Ophis, Lilith, and Flanna stopped holding back against them and even managed to fight more effectively."
"...Unbelievable..." Yoruichi muttered, "Well, this is probably entirely possible because you decided to quietly watch over them. I think this is a lot better than them forcing themselves to improve through a literal conflict that could instantly take their lives if they're not careful since we can't really hope they'll do miracles like Issei and his friends were doing."
"...In any case, both me and Yasaka can breathe easier knowing that they have these kinds of capabilities outside of your protection." Accepting reality, Cleria was happy that her daughter had reached this stage even without her knowing, "I'm keeping this. I'll show it to Masaomi later." She grabbed the memory crystal and placed it inside the pocket of her suit.
Seeing that the discussion about Claire, Tanis, and Kunou's matter has concluded, Yoruichi pushed the conversation to the next topic, "Now then, let's move on to the next thing on the agenda."
Upon hearing that, Serafall's body twitched and she straightened her back. That didn't escape Kisuke's notice and wondered what they needed to talk about next since he was only here for their permission.
"Let's talk about who's going to babysit the girls when Kisuke is not around."
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