Digital x Dragon: Final Patch

A High School DxD fanfiction by Yukikaze101

I don't own High School DxD. My bank account would look way different if I did!

This is based on the fanfic Digital x Dragon by KurobaraIto (with their permission/approval), and is intended to function as a conclusion to it (and possibly as a springboard for further stories in their continuity that incorporate ideas of my own. More on that at the end of the fic).

"What are you doing back here again?" Saji stood in the doorway. His glower seemed almost tangible, and Issei felt oddly (and amusedly) guilty for not catching fire from the sheer force of it.

"Just here to talk to sempai," he said, an awkward smile on his face. "C'mon, Saji, lemme through." He tried to scoot around the Council secretary, but Saji shifted again, resuming the in-your-face stance. "You may have the others fooled, but I know your reputation, Hyoudou."

"Um, everyone does, it's not like a state secret…" Issei was seriously starting to get irked. "Saji, you know I'm working with the Council and computerizing their records. Why're you hassling me about this?"

"Th-that's not important! You should just listen when I tell you you're not wanted - "

"Lighten up, Saji-kun." Tsubasa came up behind the secretary, gently nudging him to the side, and gave Issei a smile. "There you are, Hyoudou-kun. Keeping the kaichou waiting, for shame." She mock-waggled her index finger at him, making him chuckle.

"Thanks, Yura." Issei resisted the urge to give Saji a smirk as he squeezed past. It was close, though.

Sona was waiting at her desk, and gave Issei an old-fashioned look. There was no real heat or reproach behind it, though. By now, there never was. "Running late, Hyoudou-san?"

"Sorry, sempai. I didn't expect the traffic cop." He jerked his head in Saji's direction; the latter reddened and looked away sharply with an irritated sniff.

Sona shook her head. "I'll have a word with him." She nodded at the bulging binder under his arm. "It's so odd to see you carting around hardcopy. Is this research for that project?"

Issei nodded. "I'm afraid so. I had to make a bunch of copies at the library, and this sure wouldn't fit in the getabako, so..." He smiled sheepishly. "I'm starting to think RSS may be the key, but it's early days yet for that." He dropped the binder on the floor, and fished out his smartphone. "I have our notes from last time. Shall we begin?"

Sona set her laptop on her desk, opening it. "Let's."

Sona covered her mouth, imperfectly hiding a yawn. (With her eyes momentarily closed, she didn't notice Issei's quick, blushing glance as he fought to keep from staring.) "I think that will suffice for today."

Issei stretched and yawned himself. It was his turn to miss Sona's gaze resting fondly on him. "Well, you've sold me on that." His stomach growled, softly but audibly, and he had the good grace to redden. "Oops."

Sona gave him a gently chiding look. "Did you skip lunch again?"

He shrugged. "I had some programming notes I needed to jot down. If I don't get it written when I have the thought - "

" - it never happened," she finished. This was not a new conversation for the two of them. "I understand. Still, you shouldn't miss lunch." Her eyes glinted behind her glasses, with a faint mischief few would have believed the Student Council president capable of. "Otherwise, I'm going to require you to eat lunch with the Council every day."

"Then I'm afraid that's exactly what you'll have to do, kaichou," he said with perfect mock-gravity. The two of them smirked good-naturedly at each other. (Unnoticed by either of them, Tsubaki smiled faintly and wrote a brief reminder in her notebook.)

Issei's stomach decided to weigh in on the matter, louder this time.

"That's our cue," Sona stated, finishing packing up her school bag. "Oh, Hyoudou-san, go ahead and leave that binder here. That looks like it'll be a pain to take home."

"Thanks, sempai, but I had better get started going through these tonight." He laughed self-effacingly, unable to quite keep a bitter note out of his voice. "Maybe I'm a masochist or something. But I just keep coming up with projects so I have an excuse to see you. Well, to see all of you," he quickly amended, and stifled a yawn.

Sona gave him a wry smile. "Hyoudou-san, you're my friend… and a friend of the Council. You don't need a pretext if you want to come see us."

"Kaichou's correct, Hyoudou," Tsubaki chimed in, adjusting her glasses. "You're always welcome in the Council room."

"Saji doesn't seem to agree," Issei muttered. He couldn't quite keep a jealous note out of his voice, and for some reason that made Sona feel strangely warm.

Aloud, she said archly, "Whatever he may think, I run the Council, not him. And I say you can visit us whenever you like."

"Thanks," he said earnestly, the smile lighting up his face.

"But seriously, leave the binder here," she said, a stern note entering her voice. "I want you to relax and rest tonight."

Issei sighed, set the binder on the desk, and sketched a mock-salute in Sona's direction. "Yes, sempai."

This had become a habit.

At least once a week, Issei would wind up summoning a member of the Student Council to help him with his programming work, either to double-check his work or for moral support. It had been Yura several times, and Kusaka twice. (It had been a pleasant surprise to find that Yura shared his taste in music. That entire evening, they'd been listening to and singing along with MGMT's Oracular Spectacular while he plugged away at the keyboard.)

Once it had been Saji. That hadn't been a very good night; the Student Council secretary had spent the entire evening glaring holes into the back of Issei's head. The resulting effect on his productivity had been predictable.

But, far and away, Sona was the one who showed up most often.

It was probably a sign of her comfort level with him that she didn't appear in her school uniform. Instead, she wore slim-fitting blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt reading LILITH UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DEPT. The casual clothing made her look somehow younger and freer than the Student Council president in her school uniform, and he was enchanted by the sight of her.

"The last project is finished," Sona pointed out. "You're not starting the next one until next week. And developing the Devil Summoning App is something that's long-term, anyway. So, you just summoned me for… company?" She sounded surprised, but not displeased.

"Yeah!" Issei hesitated, then asked, "That's okay, right?"

"Certainly," Sona answered. Was it just him, or was she really quick off the mark to answer? "Whatever you like."

Silence hung in the air as the devil and the deviant contemplated what to say next.

"Can I get you a drink?" Issei finally asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Ah, thank you. Ice water will be fine."

"Be right back." Issei darted out of the room, returning quickly with two glasses of ice water and a bag of chips. "In case you're hungry later," he told her.

"Very thoughtful," she replied.

"Thanks," he said, his cheeks coloring.

The two of them lapsed back into semi-companionable silence.

"Um, do you play video games?" Issei asked finally.

"I never have," Sona replied. "Perhaps you can show me sometime."

"Definitely," he agreed, relieved by her apparent polite demurral. He'd forgotten that his eroge were still out in the open. "So. You play chess for fun, huh?"

"I do." Apparently, "chess" was the magic word, because Sona suddenly seemed… if it were possible to be both restrained and animated, that's what she was right now. "Do you, Hyoudou-san?"

That intense look of interest, the way she leaned forward with her eyes on his… Issei felt the heat rising to his face. He had to admit it, even if it was just to himself: Shitori-sempai was just too cute.

"I've played it some, yeah. It's been a really long time, though, and I was never very good at it," he answered, rubbing the back of his head. He was torn between wanting her eyes to stay on his, and wanting her looking elsewhere.

"Ah, I see." She broke her gaze, looking to the side for her bag, and he felt both relief and regret. After a moment's rummaging, she pulled out a small and remarkably well-crafted portable chess set. "Perhaps you'd play me tonight?" She smiled slightly. "If you like, consider this the payment for keeping you company."

"Sure," Issei said, her smile making his heart race. He tried to shove that observation to the back of his mind. "Just be patient with me. Like I said, I was never great at it."

"I have all night if you do." Sona opened the case and laid out the board.

Issei yawned and looked at the clock. "Oh, man, it's one already?" He glanced at the game board and sighed before laughing. "At least now I can blame my lousy playing on being tired!"

Sona chuckled. "You're a better player than you think, Hyoudou-san. That last game was more challenging than I expected."

"Nice of you to say - " He yawned again, this one accompanied by a full body stretch. (Unnoticed by him, his T-shirt rode up enough to briefly expose his stomach, and Sona's gaze lingered. Apparently, a regular regimen of running away from angry kendoka did a body good.) "Wow. Feel a little lightheaded now," he added in a tone of deep exhaustion.

"As you said, it's one in the morning," Sona said dryly. She patted the pillow. "It's time you went to sleep, I think."

"You're probably right," he agreed, sitting on the bed and immediately flopping over. His head hit the pillow, and Sona stifled the urge to stroke his hair.

Or to pull him in for a lap pillow.

The latter thought made her cheeks burn, and kindled a warm feeling inside her heart. It was kind of funny how often Hyoudou-san provoked that reaction in her. "Kinda don't want to, though. Not while you're here." Tired as he was, he didn't notice the way that made her smile.

"I'll be on my way, then," she said, and started to rise.

She stopped short, stunned silent by the feel of his fingers wrapping around her wrist. The next words he said, half-asleep and unfiltered as he was, sealed the deal. "Please stay. I like it when you're here with me."

She closed her eyes, her heart thudding in her ears like a kettle drum. "I feel… the feeling's mutual, Hyoudou-san," she managed, her face feeling even hotter now. "But there's always tomorrow."

"Don't want you here tomorrow. Want you here now." There was a childish quality in Issei's voice now, but that just made the emotions behind his words even more evident. "I want both. I don't feel like I can relax unless you're here."

"You flatter me," Sona said softly, not quite looking at Issei.

"Nah. Not flattery. Something 'bout you is - " Another yawn, and then, in a voice Issei thought too low for Sona to hear, "This keeps up, I won' be able to fall asleep 'less you're here…" The fingers around her wrist started to relax, finally going entirely limp.

Sona rested a hand on his shoulder, leaving it there until his breathing evened out into gentle snoring. She packed up her school bag, summoned a magic circle, but paused before stepping into it.

After a few moments of internal debate, she leaned down and kissed Issei's forehead, smoothing his bangs back from it. He murmured her name, barely audible even to her, like a prayer, and her breath caught for a moment.

Only then did she step into the circle.

"Sempai, did I say anything weird last night?" Issei rubbed at his eyes. It was odd, but last night he'd slept better than he hand in the last month. Even more odd, when he'd awoken he'd felt a faint, lingering warmth on his forehead. He couldn't quite keep from touching it.

"Not at all, Hyoudou-san," Sona told him. "You said nothing last night I found offensive."

"Good," he said, relieved. Then, he mentally rewound, reviewing her words, and hung his head. "That's not the same thing as saying 'no, you didn't say anything weird last night.'"

"No, it's not," she replied, looking faintly amused. Unnoticed by Issei, the other members of the Student Council glanced at them with amused - and, in most cases, approving - smiles. (Except for Saji, who was in a full-on sulk.) "Here. I have a proposal for you."

"Another project?" he asked, taking the sheet of paper.

"No. An open-ended contract. Every Thursday night, I visit you. If there is a project you're working on for the Council, I help you with that. If not, then we simply keep each other company." The room was oddly silent, save for Saji gnashing his teeth. "Maybe this Thursday, you can show me one of your video games."

"Yeah! That sounds great." Issei didn't even try to keep the shit-eating grin off his face. (Although he did make a mental resolution to bury his eroge somewhere deep in his closet.) His eyes flicked across the text of the contract, and his eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure this is a fair price, though? It seems like you're getting the short end of the stick."

"Believe me, I'm not." Sona beamed at him (a restrained kind of beaming, but beaming nonetheless). Once again, he was blown away by how she looked when she smiled. (Saji's sulk became so intense at this, that it achieved Balance Breaker in of itself.) "This is a price I'm quite satisfied with. I find it rewarding, playing chess with you."

Somehow, Issei sensed there was a subtext he was missing, a joke he wasn't in on. It didn't seem like he was the butt of the joke, though. If anything, it was the opposite. It felt like…

It's almost like this is a love confession, he realized with a start. And the rest of the Council - except for Saji - are her friends cheering her on.

Issei didn't know if he quite believed that. Or, rather, he was afraid to let himself believe that. It was too much something he wanted.

But he did know that he couldn't pretend anymore. He wasn't sure he'd been trying. He had a thing for Shitori-sempai. And if this helped him get closer to her…

"Whatever makes you happy, sempai," he said with complete honesty. He signed the contract and stood, offering her his hand. "I'm in."

After all, he was definitely getting the better end of the deal.

Sona rose as well, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "A pleasure doing business with you, Hyoudou-san." Her eyes were fondly amused, and her smile was still bright as she gazed at him.

After all, she knew she was getting the better end of the deal.

(I don't know if I'll write a further sequel to this, at least as a coherent storyline. I have plenty of ideas, but I'm notoriously bad at sustaining a series. A series of interconnected vignettes is not out of the question, though. If I do, it'll be called Digital x Dragon: DLC (Devil Lovers Chronicle). When/if it happens, expect lots of Issei x Sona fluff.)