Issei's nude beach

The transport circle dissolved in a shimmer of crimson light, and suddenly there was sand beneath Issei's feet, warm and white and impossibly fine, stretching out toward water so blue it looked painted. He stood there for a second with his mouth slightly open, the kind of open that meant his brain had already clocked out and his eyes were doing all the work.

Rias stepped forward ahead of the group, her scarlet hair catching the afternoon breeze and fanning out behind her like something out of a dream. She swept one arm toward the water with the easy confidence of someone who had arranged all of this personally, which she had.

"The island belongs to the Gremory family," she said, turning back to face them with a smile that was equal parts satisfaction and mischief. "And it is currently under a permanent perception filter. No one outside this beach can see, hear, or detect us in any way. We are, for the duration of this trip, completely and utterly alone."

Issei looked out at the turquoise water, then at the dense tropical palms framing the beach, then back at Rias. "So this is literally a private paradise."

"Yes," she said simply. Then she reached for the tie at her hip and let her sarong drop to the sand.

What followed happened quickly enough that Issei's mind genuinely struggled to keep up. Rias pulled her top away and stood in the full golden light of the afternoon sun, completely bare, her skin pale and luminous, her posture carrying zero apology for any of it. She looked at Issei with those blue-green eyes sparkling like sunlit water and said nothing at all, because she did not need to.

Akeno was already laughing softly beside him. "Ara ara," she murmured, reaching up to release her long black hair from its tie so it spilled over her bare shoulders like ink. She let her wrap fall away with the casual grace of someone who had rehearsed this moment and found it entirely satisfying. "You might want to blink occasionally, Issei. Just a suggestion."

He could not blink. Blinking required closing his eyes, and closing his eyes was currently physiologically impossible.

One by one, the others followed. Asia with a shy smile and pink cheeks, her golden hair catching the light. Xenovia with her usual blunt efficiency, dropping her cover-up without ceremony and planting her hands on her hips. Irina with a laugh that rang out bright and clear across the sand. Rossweisse adjusting her glasses before apparently remembering she did not need glasses for this particular activity and setting them aside. Ravel with a dignified tilt of her chin that suggested she was doing Issei a personal favor. Ingvild quietly, watching the water with soft eyes. Roygun with a slow, knowing smile. Le Fey with wide eyes that darted to Issei and then away, her cheeks burning. Elmenhilde with cool composure that slipped slightly when Issei's gaze found her. Yasaka with a warmth and ease that suggested she found the whole thing genuinely delightful. Bennia with a grin that was all mischief and no embarrassment whatsoever.

Fourteen women. All of them his wives. All of them standing on sun-warm sand in absolutely nothing, looking at him with varying degrees of amusement, affection, and expectation.

Issei's face went a color that had no real name in the standard spectrum. His hands hung at his sides. His mouth opened once, produced no sound, and closed again.

Something pulsed on his arm. A faint red shimmer ran across the gauntlet of the Boosted Gear before fading, as though the sacred gear itself had briefly shorted out in sympathy.

A small hand tugged his sleeve.

Koneko stood beside him, golden eyes tilted up at his face with an expression that was perfectly flat. She looked down at his swim trunks, then back up at him.

"You're still wearing those," she said.

"Yeah," he managed. "I noticed that too."

"Everyone else isn't."

"I also noticed that."

She waited. The silence was remarkably pointed for someone who had said only twelve words.

Rias walked back toward him, the sand quiet under her bare feet, and stopped close enough that he could see every detail of her expression. There was no command in it, no demand. Only warmth, and that particular brand of Rias Gremory certainty that things were going to go exactly the way she intended them to.

"No ranks today," she said softly. "No duties, no battles, no titles. Just us." Her fingers brushed his jaw, tipping his face up when it had started to drift south again. "And today, Issei, you are absolutely allowed to look your fill."

Akeno appeared at his other shoulder, pressing close with a warmth that did nothing to help his ability to think clearly. "We all agreed," she said, her voice dropping to that particular tone that made his ears feel warm. "Every single one of us. So there is really nothing stopping you."

Issei looked at Rias. He looked at Akeno. He looked at Koneko, who had folded her arms and was still waiting with the patience of a creature that had genuinely infinite time.

He took a breath.

I must have done something incredible in a past life, he thought. Multiple past lives. A whole dynasty of incredible past lives.

His trunks hit the sand. The warm tropical breeze touched his skin all at once, and the sound of fourteen women laughing and cheering washed over him like a wave, bright and genuine and full of a joy that reached somewhere deep in his chest and squeezed.

Rias took his hand. The water glittered ahead of them, impossibly blue, impossibly perfect.

"Welcome to the beach," she said, and smiled like she had given him the whole world. Which, standing here in this moment, surrounded by every person he loved most, Issei thought she genuinely had.