Courage Is All You Need

(Heartfelt thanks to 'Eternal Chaos Truth', 'I'm Just a Shut-In', and 'Pokémon' for their rewards!)

After talking with Sirzechs and Azazel, Noah returned to Koneko's room.

To Noah's surprise, when he arrived at Koneko's room, there was someone else standing beside the bed, staring at Koneko with a somewhat absent-minded expression.

"Himejima?"

The one standing by the bed and watching Koneko was Akeno Himejima.

Hearing Noah's voice, Akeno finally came back to her senses. The gentle, yamato nadeshiko-like smile returned to her face as she turned her gaze toward Noah.

"Oh my, I thought Sensei had gone to meet the parents."

"Meet the parents?" Noah blinked.

"What parents?"

"Could it be that Sensei has already forgotten?" Akeno tilted her head and reminded him.

"By status, you're still President Rias's fiancé, you know."

Only after Akeno's reminder did Noah recall that such a thing existed, and he immediately laughed bitterly.

"What about you? Didn't you go with Rias to meet her parents too?"

"I've met the President's parents many times already. This time, the President mainly wanted to introduce her new peerage members to them, so I volunteered to come here and take care of Koneko." Akeno chuckled.

"The President's parents unexpectedly adore her. Once they meet, they probably won't be able to leave until evening. If you want to meet the parents, now's your chance."

Under Akeno's teasing, Noah could only roll his eyes. He walked to the bedside, sat down, gently smoothed the hair over Koneko's forehead as she slept, and spoke to Akeno.

"Sirzechs said Koneko can hear us talking right now. Is there anything you want to say to her?"

"Something I want to say?" The smile on Akeno's face slowly vanished, replaced by a complicated expression.

"I suppose there's a lot?"

"A lot?" Noah looked at