High School DxD: The Game Master

His first scenario would have to be the classic rats in the basement, it had to be. So, the real question was, where should be set it up? He could open portals to his scenarios anywhere within a certain range, which seemed to be just about the size of Kuoh itself.

So he could happily run them from home and not put himself at risk. Still... the best place for it would probably be right here at the high school. It was where the supernatural folks spent most of their time after all!

As he stepped over the threshold of the school gate, a familiar voice called out to him, "Okane-san, a moment please."

He came to a stop and turned to face Souna, she looked as serious as ever so he politely asked, "Is there something I can do for you Shitori-san?"

He did his best to not laugh at her name. Not because it was fake, but given his knowledge of English and Japanese, he couldn't help noticing that the first part could easily be truncated to 'Shit' while the second half could be truncated to 'Tori', which translated to bird. To his now multilingual mind, he couldn't help reading her chosen fake name as shit-bird.

Of course, she could have been going for the much edgier Shi-Tori or Death-Bird. Either way, he found it rather entertaining and it took some effort not to laugh in her face every time he had to say her name.

Souna gave him a polite tilt of her head, "As it's the beginning of your second week here, I wanted to invite you to the student council offices, after classes.

Just for a simple chat to see how you're settling in and if you have any questions or concerns."

Ryuji acknowledged her offer with a nod of his head, "Then I will see you after classes, Shitori-san."

They parted ways and Ryuji went back to his pondering. Hopefully, he hadn't drawn any attention from the Devils yet. He had no intention of ever joining any side.

His growth would be significantly better if he could spread it around to all the factions and have all sorts of people running his scenarios.

He liked to think that joining any one faction would be the same as cutting his customer base, losing all the members of the other factions as customers.

As a capitalist at heart, he couldn't have that! He wanted to 'sell' his product to everyone!

Aside from that, joining any one faction automatically made him the enemy of the opposing factions. He didn't want any enemies. So, 'just say no' to recruiting attempts was his new motto.

Ryuji knocked on the door to the student council offices. The school day had been sufficiently boring and felt like it had dragged on.

He was getting along with most of his class. Though Rias and Akeno seemed aloof, not just to him but to most of the school. He hadn't made any friends yet and didn't really wish to. He was happy with just some acquaintances.

The door to the offices opened and he spied the white hair of Momo. She gave him a polite smile and stepped aside with a gesture for him to enter.

He walked in and spotted the members of the student council, he didn't recognize a couple, which was fine. Souna, which is what he planned to call her at all times, even if he knew her real name, was sitting in a plush chair across from another exactly like it, with a chess board set up between them. Of course, Momo guided him to the empty chair.

Souna gave him a polite smile and gestured to the chess board, "I hope you're willing to indulge me in a game while we talk."

He just shrugged his shoulders and settled in the chair to get comfortable, "If you'd like."

Didn't she have some sort of fetish about chess? He remembered hearing something to that effect but couldn't remember the relevance. Not that it mattered much to him. He'd played chess a fair bit as a child against his father. He'd constantly lost, so in a fit of pique, he'd researched famous tactics used by chess masters.

Using one of them he'd managed to pummel his father. They'd never played again but he did recall one or two of those tactics. Well, if nothing else, it should provide some entertainment for Souna to pound him into the dirt.

After he settled in, Souna gestured to the board, "You're white, so you move first."

As he studied the board and tried to recall the moves he was meant to make for The Queen's Gambit. As he did Souna asked, "How are you finding your classes?"

The game began with Ryuji making the first move and already expecting to lose horribly, "They're fine, they're just classes."

Souna raised an eyebrow at his comment while moving a pawn to counter his, "I see. Do you not find them stimulating?"

Ryuji moved another pawn and shrugged his shoulders, "I've never really found school to be a challenge. At least eighty percent of it is pure memorization for the sole sake of passing a test.

The last twenty percent is either maths or science experiments where some actual work might be required. I've always had a decent memory so it's never really been difficult."

Souna thought over his words and nodded in agreement, he wasn't wrong. Ryuji didn't mention that his memory had been enhanced by his new powers so his already good memory had become great.

It wasn't photographic or eidetic by any means, just good. Though it could probably reach the realm of 'perfect' if he upgraded his power enough. Maybe. Souna made another move as she asked, "Have you considered joining any clubs?"

Another white piece moved as Ryuji shook his head, "Not really interested. I have no plans to go to college and this is my last year so it doesn't really matter all that much."