(Flashback, Unknown Parts of The World)
On a land that people could only describe as battlefield, numerous bodies were laid down on the ground. Those bodies had appearances of soldiers from various heteromorphic races; some resembled elves, orcs, ogres, giants, etc.
Walking on the battlefield through those dead bodies, were soldiers in ornate armour. The soldiers possessed more humanoid appearances, carrying various weapons such as swords, shields, and spears. Even there were dozens of those female soldiers in the same ornate armour who were flying in the air through magical means.
These were warriors and Valkyries of Asgard, the best of Valhalla could offer. They had been sent out to supress a rebellion from some renegades who refused to follow the rules and policies of Asgard. Among these ranks of warriors, there were two peculiar individuals.
One of them was a newbie Valkyrie, a young woman with a long silver hair. She was considered by her peers to be the nerd-beauty, stuck-up to rules, Valkyrie who had been single for like, forever. The woman was considered to be academically exceptional, but that was about all. She was not the most capable compared to others who were selected to join the campaign, but this particular young woman, had been selected by Odin, the King of Asgard himself; although the reason was unknown. There were rumours that Odin had intended to make her into his personal assistant, and this campaign would be her 'grand-audition'. So far, everyone in general had concluded that she was capable enough despite her young age.
The other individual was, not actually nobody from Valhalla. The man had been sent by Grigori, an organization consisted of fallen angels from Christianity pantheon, as a token of good-faith in forging alliance with Asgard. Nobody in the army could understand why would their King, Odin, was willing to include a man, a human to add, to join this campaign that required veteran soldiers to complete. The man did not look to amount much, his look was awfully simple thanks to his bald head; his outfit even looked ridiculous that garnered some laughs and even mockeries during his introduction. But out of pity, most of the troops had agreed to be kind enough to put this man at far behind instead of the front-lines, so he would not need to pointlessly kill himself in a battle that was not supposed to be his business.
It was during the battle that some troops finally began to grasp why Odin had agreed to include the human into the army. The man was apparently more competent than he let on as he used his bare fist to send some stragglers flying left and right. However, the fact remained that he was just a mortal that merely packed some punch. At least the mortal deserved some friendly pat on the back, as well as a cup or two of mead when they were held a banquet later on.
At the aftermath of the battle, everyone was scavenging anything that could serve as a worthy souvenir when they returned to Asgard, making sure that there were no stragglers that feinting death, as well as making sure that rebels who surrendered were lined up properly for imprisonment.
The leader of the campaign, Thor; the champion of Asgard, the god of thunder, lightning and storm; the wielder of the mighty hammer Mjolnir; was watching his soldiers rounding up prisoners of war and looking out for any stragglers. Believing that he could leave his subordinates on their own devices, the god of thunder then decided to reclaim his divine hammer, which he ended up throwing to a distance during dispatching some 'tougher' enemies in the war. Using the bond that had been forged between him and the Mjolnir, the god commanded the hammer to make its own way back to its rightful wielder.
Somewhere on the battlefield, the hammer responded the call of its master, started to levitate and flew with high speed towards its destination. As the hammer made its way towards its wielder, everyone on the battlefield noticed that the mortal was standing right in the line of the hammer's flight. They decided to keep silent, wanting to see some hilarious sight of the mortal getting surprised of a hammer suddenly hurled towards him.
The said mortal seemed to notice at the incoming projectile coming his way, and the only one who showed concern was the newbie Valkyrie, the one named Rossweisse, who reacted at the sight of the Mjolnir coming at the bald mortal.
"Watch out!"
Alas, it was too late for her, nor anyone to do anything as the hammer was getting closer and closer to crash at the man. The said man only blinked and raised his hand, his fingers warped around the hilt of the hammer in attempt to capture it.
Everyone was expecting some hilarious sight of the man to be dragged across the ground with his hand kept clutching at the flying hammer. However, what actually transpired caused their jaws to drop, as the sight would be forever ingrained into their hearts.
Mjolnir, the divine hammer of the great thunder god Thor, was no ordinary hammer. Forged by divine hands from the greatest metal in Valhalla, and enchanted by Odin himself to be powerful enough to easily summon lightning and thunder on its beckon and level mountains, the Mjolnir was believed to choose its own wielders. Those who were not deemed to be worthy would never be able to make it budge, let alone lift it, no matter how strong they were. So far through millennia, the great Mjolnir had only deemed Odin and Thor to be worthy enough to wield it and summon its power.
Imagine everyone's utter shock, including the thunder god himself, when the Mjolnir suddenly stopped its flight as soon as the mortal grasped his fingers around the hammer's handle, as if the divine weapon had landed itself on its wielder.
The said wielder, remained indifferent as he blinked at the hammer, then turned to look at Thor, whose face was still that of shock, confusion, and curiosity. The mortal wielder then seemed to realize about who was the original owner of the divine weapon in his hand.
"Oh, sorry, sorry!" The man, who had been introduced as Saitama, jogged towards Thor while easily waved the Mjolnir around before he handed it over to the thunder god. "This hammer belongs to you, right? Again, sorry about that, I just caught it by pure reflex."
Thor only took back his hammer stiffly as his curious and confused gaze remained on the mortal, causing the latter to furrow his brows in confusion as well.
"Is something wrong?" and when Saitama looked around and found everyone, allies and enemies/prisoners alike, even those who were busy playing dead, were staring at him with dumbstruck looks, he began to feel nervous. "Err… Why is everybody looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
And so, the Mjolnir had found itself another worthy wielder.
(End of Flashback)
It was a new day when Issei finally came back to school. Currently, in the room of Occult Research Club at the old school building of Kuoh Academy, the members were watching the unfolding scene before them with various expressions.
Rias was staring with utmost curiosity.
Akeno was covering her signature smile with a hand, and her overall expression was terrifyingly pleasant at the scene in front of her.
Koneko was eating her snack as usual, but the girl was sporting a dry look.
Gasper simply observed with worried look on his face from his cardboard box.
Irina was sighing with her arms folded under her breasts at the scene.
Xenovia was scratching her cheek lightly, wanting to interfere but not sure how.
Yuuto had his right hand under his chin, with his left hand was supporting under his right elbow. The handsome man was wondering how the scene in front of him would conclude.
The said scene in front of the devils were Asia and Issei facing each other, with the former sitting on the chair and the latter was prostrating with his head down on the floor. The girl's expression was definitely not amused, shown by Asia's puffed out flustered cheeks and her teary eyes. The boy's expression was not visible due to his head remained bowing down.
Everything began when everyone was assembled for the morning club activities. Everyone had accepted the fact that Issei and Asia had become a couple, and the couple had accepted their feelings towards each other. However, the ever-obnoxious Akeno could not help but to put up some cute and slightly hurt expression that Issei could not refuse, while mentioning the 'promise' that Issei had made during the battle with Diodora. The boy was frozen when he recalled the particular promise, and began sweating profusely. It was originally Koneko's idea, but in the end, a promise is a promise.
Asia, who was not around during the time when the promise was made, innocently asked her boyfriend about what sort of promise that caused such reaction.
It only took a second for Issei to decide being honest and began explaining to his girlfriend about what happened during the battle with Diodora's peerage, how dire the situation was and how he had to resort, on Koneko's suggestion, of 'motivating' Akeno so the Queen and Rias' victory could be ensured.
And here they were, Issei was on his fours, knees together, his hands were placed on the floor and his head was bowed down deep until his forehead touched the floor, begging Asia to understand, forgive and let him off just this once to keep his promise with their upper-class-man.
However, being a sweet girl with heart of gold she was, Asia could not bring herself to stay angry despite her boyfriend was about to 'cheat' on her after the two had recently been dating. After what it seemed to be 5-10 minutes, Asia glanced at Akeno for a second before she sighed and returned her gaze at Issei.
"…Okay."
Everyone blinked at Asia's answer, and Issei was looking up from the floor with wide eyes. "…Eh?"
"I…. I'd prefer if Ise-san not going out with another woman, even if it's Akeno-san, but…. I'll allow it this time." Asia said bashfully.
It was an expected answer, but everyone still a bit surprised that Asia actually allowed her first boyfriend to have a date with another woman. The said girl then turned towards Akeno.
"A-Akeno-nee-sama…" Asia started shyly before she bowed. "Please take care of Ise-san until then!"
"My, my, ufufufu…" Akeno giggled. "If Asia-chan said it like that, even one such myself could not help but feel bad… But I'll definitely take good care of Ise-kun…. Ise-kun as my boyfriend… Ufufufu…."
Note that until Issei had properly ended his 'affair'/promise with Akeno, the fact that Issei and Asia were going out would have to be kept secret from public in order to avoid further complications.
"Alright, so it's been decided!" Kiryuu Aika said with tone of finality. "The perverts plus Hyoudou, Asia, Xenovia-chi, Irina-san, and me will be in the same group on the upcoming school trip!"
"YEAH!" Everyone chorused in affirmative, with Asia and Issei particularly, hugged each other's shoulders. Of course, this resulted funny looks from the 'humans' in the group.
Aika, being the perceptive girl she was, fixed her glasses as the glass' frames reflected a glint of light and her eyes studied Issei and Asia. "Seriously, what happened between you two? First Hyoudou was absent for about a week, missing the whole sports festival in the process, and suddenly, you and Asia just became even closer than ever. Are you two officially a couple or something?"
"We are always together. Isn't that right?" Issei smoothly replied as he fed an egg-roll from his lunch to Asia, which the girl returned with her Vienna sausage. True, the two did not intend to reveal that they were officially going out just yet due to Issei's 'promise' with Akeno, but as long as they did not blatantly announced their status, people would just make assumptions of their own, which happened to work in Issei and Asia's favour.
After all, it was better to let people to make up their own stories instead of making some lies that were easily seen through.
"Suspicious…. But I guess we can leave it for another time." Aika decided to drop the topic for the time being, much to Issei's relief. "Then, in this school trip to Kyoto, I can leave Asia in Hyoudou's care. Irina-san and Xenovia-chi can also serve as back-ups. Are you two fine with it?"
The two in question nodded at Aika's proposition.
"Yeah. I also want to be with Ise."
"It will be more fun with Ise-kun!"
"Goddamn you, Ise! Why do you always have all the babes for yourself!?" Matsuda whined.
"O, God! Why hath thou forsaken us!?" Motohama also screamed towards the heavens while bawling his eyes out.
Issei did not want to bother to point out his friend's perversion to be the cause of their predicament, while at the same time, he also sweat-dropped at the irony that a certain god had already died long time ago.
Ignoring the perverted duo's misery, Aika then concluded the meeting. "Just like that, let's move as a group with these seven people. Kiyomizu-dera! And Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji are waiting for us!"
The group let out a collective affirmative, while Issei thought of something and contacted the Welsh Dragon. "Say, Ddraig. I heard that Kyoto has this place called Tenryuu-ji (Heavenly Dragon Temple). You wanna check it out? It's probably your temple."
[It's obviously from entirely different pantheon, but…. Sure, why not. It's been forever since the last time I went to sightseeing in Kyoto.]
oXo
Issei, Asia, Xenovia and Irina then proceeded to bring the discussion about the school trip to the clubroom after school. Apparently, Azazel, who was in charge as the advisor of the Occult Research Club was absent due to some important meeting in the underworld.
"That's right. It's nearly the time for the school trip for the second years." Rias approached the topic with a cup of tea in hand.
"Where did you and Akeno-san go last year, buchou?" Issei asked, then his question was replied by Akeno.
"We went to Kyoto as well. That time we both visited Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji and other locations together."
Rias nodded and continued where Akeno left off. "Yes. But there are only a limited number of places you can visit within three days and four nights. You should think of going everywhere and make a plan beforehand and move accordingly. If you don't include the time to eat and for sight seeing, you will regret it. You will mainly transport from one place to the other by using buses and trains, but lots of time would be wasted while you are travelling on transport."
Akeno then took over again in giving their juniors some advices about the trip. "It was bad that we didn't think about transport duration. Buchou wanted to go everywhere, so we lost the time to go to the Nijou-jou which we were planning to see last. So she was stomping her foot at the railway station." The raven-haired woman finished with a small laugh.
Rias' face then turned red in embarrassment. "Geez, you promised me you wouldn't say that remember? I was in high spirits. For a Japan lover like me, it was Kyoto that I admired so much. So I had my eyes taken by the town and souvenir shops more than necessary." Rias chided her Queen, who did not show any sort of remorse nor apology on her face while kept her signature smile.
"Hadn't you been to Kyoto before the school trip? You could have used the transport magic circle." Issei asked hypothetically to his King.
"No, no, Ise. You don't understand." Rias replied while wiggling her finger. "One doesn't simply travelling to Kyoto with magic. It's tasteless. For the place you long for, like Kyoto in my case, you should walk around with your own feet and feel the breeze with your own skin." Rias argued with sparkling eyes and dreamy expression. "Moving on, while it's important to prepare for the school trip, we also have to prepare for the school festival."
Issei nodded thoughtfully. "Hn, that's true. The time-span between sports festival, school trip and school festival is rather short. Second years like us are going to be busy in this semester."
Rias then received a sheet of paper from Akeno, which apparently was an idea submission form of Occult Research Club for the school council. "That's why we need to discuss about the school festival now and prepare for it. If decided before hand, the third year and first year members can prepare for it while all of you are away. There are so many members this year so it will be a big help."
"I'm looking forward to this school festival!" Asia cheered out enthusiastically.
"Yeah. I enjoy high school events too. The sports festival was also great." Xenovia also agreed with calmer expression, though her sparkling eyes said another thing differently. Apparently, Issei heard that Xenovia had dominated the sports festival in his place, resulting all sports club to scout her for membership.
"It will also be my first for these sorts of things so I'm looking forward to it. I sure did transfer in at a good time! This is also the guidance of Michael-sama!" Irina also put her two-cents with praying pose. It was official to everyone in the clubroom that the church-trio were looking forward to the school festival.
"Last year….. I heard it was the haunted house, right? I wasn't part of the club then, but I heard it looked realistic and was a hot topic." Issei asked, as he apparently did not visit the haunted house during his first year.
"Yes. We did use real ghosts after all, so it should have been scary." Rias replied as plainly as day.
"…Seriously?" Issei asked with slightly incredulous expression.
"Yes. I asked some harmless youkai to have the role of scaring people, those youkai were having some trouble for having no jobs, so it was a win-win for us. The haunted house last year was a great success." Rias declared with pride in her tone, followed by some elegant laugh from Akeno as well.
"We were scolded by student council, though. Sona, who was the vice-president last year, yelled at us about going overboard by using real things."
"Huh…" Issei replied with half-lidded, dry look. "…So, is it gonna be haunted house again this year? Or should we do a circus show including a Vampire-in-a-box?" the pawn snickered while glancing at Gasper.
The said vampire proceeded to hit Issei's head while making funny faces, making Issei laughed despite the assault. "Senpai is a meanie! You always use me as a joke!"
Rias was about to propose a different plan, but before she could have said anything, everyone's phones rang at the same time. As if on cue, everyone's expressions went serious, knowing what the ring meant, and Rias took a breath and gave her command. "…Let's go."
The sun had set and the sky began to get darker. The Occult Research Club: the Gremory group plus Irina, had made their way towards an abandoned factory within the town. As they walked within the complex, they sensed several presences.
However, those within the group who possess sharper sensors felt something was wrong. The presences, not only they were humans, those human presences were gradually fading. Not to mention that they heard some noises from the deeper parts of the factory, they were the sound of grunts, painful groans, and some bashings when two things collided.
Everyone became even more alerted at the irregular development. They kept following the noises until they arrived at a large warehouse in the middle of the complex. Strangely enough, it became quiet when the group were assembled. Taking the initiative, Issei glanced at his comrades, who returned with affirmative nods. Then, without wasting any time, the boy equipped his Boosted Gear, even preparing himself to unleash his Balance Breaker if needed, and prepared to bust the entrance door down with a his foot…
BAM!
Only to have the door to be flung right before him all of sudden.
"Oh, shit!" Issei dodged the flying doors at the nick of time while everyone letting out collective surprised shrieks and covered their ears from the loud noise and their eyes from the dust. Issei, however, realized that he did not just dodge the doors. There was something else that flew past him along with the doors.
It was a man in a black coat. As soon as the man hit the ground, he lost his consciousness and did not move anymore. The Occult Research Club was absolutely baffled at the unexpected development that took place right in front of them, and immediately turned their heads towards the building's inside, only to see a familiar figure standing with his fist outstretched.
Saitama was standing plainly with his smoking fist outstretched right in front of him, pointed at the direction of the entrance door. Around him, was several bodies of men with foreign, native clothing.
Everyone blinked at the sight of the bodies on the ground; Not only that they were all humans, they were all out-cold as well.
The group then turned to see Saitama, and it was Issei who was the first to speak. "What the hell are you doing here?" the boy asked with his eyebrows furrowed.
Saitama blinked, regarding all of the youngsters in the room, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "….Working?"
Issei narrowed his eyes when he heard uncertain tone in his father's voice. "…Okay, then why weren't we notified about this? We basically just wasted our time going all the way here!" Issei surmised and turned to Rias, who immediately began to contact their higher-ups in the alliance, presumably to ask about the current development.
"Well, it's not exactly work…" Saitama only shrugged as he looked away. "…I was just walking around the town when I suddenly felt this…. Weird sensation in my gut and I wandered around here… Then I found these guys were snooping around. They attacked me, and I took care of them."
"…Do you know who these guys are?" Issei asked again, gesturing towards the amount of bodies that were either sprawled on the ground, or had been thrown to some random craters.
"Some members of terrorist group, from what I heard during the meeting." Saitama shrugged. "Apparently, there is this bunch of humans who calls themselves as Hero Faction."
"Hero Faction… I see…" Rias trailed, having finished her report with the higher-ups. "Another faction in the Khaos Brigade aside of Old Satan Faction. The group consists solely of humans; possessing Sacred Gears and legendary weapons, as well as being the descendant of famous heroes…"
Xenovia and Koneko listened to the conversation occasionally while they were rounding up the unconscious bodies of terrorists. Gasper was also helping by preparing a magic circle to transport those bodies to the Underworld.
However, just when the teleportation magic that Gasper conjured up began to work, one of the humans began to stir.
"Ugh…"
Everyone became alerted when they noticed that one of the terrorists regained consciousness, but apparently the said human did nothing more than just stirring and fluttering his eyes weakly. However, what caught everybody's attention was that the human was glaring weakly at Saitama, and his mouth let out a barely audible sound before his body disappeared into the circle along with his comrades.
"Trai...tor…"
Everyone blinked at the word. Issei, who noticed that the human was looking at his father earlier, turned towards Saitama with narrowed eyes. "…Was he referring to you?"
Everyone else from Occult Research Club also turned towards Saitama with curious looks. Saitama's face remained stoic and plain as usual, while his expression looked rather serious. After few seconds, he closed his eyes while letting out a breath before replying. "…Nah, I think he just got a wrong person."
That reply garnered a sceptical look from Issei, while some others seemed to accept Saitama's reasoning. The said man only returned his son's look with a dry glare. "What? You think I'm the only man with bald look in the universe?"
Issei's pursed his lips and scoffed, decided to drop the topic for the time being. Yuuto however, seemed to be contemplating about something as his mind reviewed of things that had taken place.
"Humans with Sacred Gears… Things certainly had become troublesome…" the knight muttered before he turned towards Saitama. "Saitama-san, did you happen to see what they're capable of?"
"Err…. Well, nothing much. Their abilities are kind of like elemental powers. Some of them were shooting light arrows, flames, although…" Saitama paused, as if he recalled something peculiar. "The guy in black coat, who I just threw out earlier… His power was rather tricky."
The last sentence garnered everyone's attention, as the Gremory group plus Irina stared at Saitama with undivided attention, curious of what Saitama had experienced.
"He could conjure up and manipulate shadows. I saw he used his shadows as weapons, shield, even as a medium to redirect his friends' attacks elsewhere. It really gave me a hard time to land a hit on that guy."
Everyone nodded in understanding at Saitama's story and went into a deep thought.
"Light arrows…. Fire attacks… And shadow manipulation…" Issei mumbled. "The former sounds like designed to oppose devils like us. Say, pops… Did you get to know what they want in this town?"
Saitama blinked, he did not replied immediately as his gaze went to the ground for a moment. "…No, not much. They only said things about purifying this place or something."
Issei felt that his father was hiding something else, but chose to focus at the information at hand. It was Rias who spoke up next.
"….Purifying? What did they mean by that? It's as if they're seeing us as the bad guys here."
"Hero Faction…. Huh." Issei lightly scoffed, garnering everyone's attention as if the pawn had something to say. "This is just my speculation, but I don't think it's not that far-off the mark if they believe that they, heroes, are doing some good by killing us, devils, who tend to be seen as evil existence."
Everyone seemed to understand Issei's point, but it did not make them happy in the slightest.
"But for those who wanted to play hero… They're being way too reckless." Yuuto commented.
"Yeah, as if they don't really care of their own well-being…" Irina followed. "There's been so many opinions about this Hero Faction, yet we could not find anything concrete about them."
Everyone let out collective sighs as they knew that they had reached a dead-end. They decided to wrap-up and prepared to return to the clubroom via magic circle.
"Saitama-san, would you like to join us?" Rias offered with a small smile.
Saitama only waved his hand as he began to walk away. "Nah, thanks. I have to go somewhere else. I'll see you kids at home."
With that, the Occult Research Club and Saitama went on their separate ways.
oXo
When the Occult Research Club returned to their clubroom, Akeno began humming and singing happily while everyone else was preparing to go home.
"Ara, Akeno. You seem to be in a good mood. Did you find something which will satisfy your S-personality?" Rias asked her Queen.
The said Queen only replied with a big smile on her face. "No, that's not it. Ufufu. It's tomorrow. I can't help myself from smiling. The date. Tomorrow Ise-kun is my boyfriend."
At that statement, the girls, especially Rias and Asia (especially the latter), were sending glares towards Issei, who flinched slightly as he was aware that his official girlfriend was glaring with teary eyes. While the boy still chose to uphold his promise to be Akeno's boyfriend for tomorrow, he also somewhat relieved that Saitama did not choose to follow them, otherwise he would got a hold of this particular 'affair'.
Issei's deal with Akeno had been enough to get his hands full, and Saitama was surely one of the few last people that Issei wanted to get a hold of the situation.
It was during the evening at the Hyoudou Residence. In Issei's bedroom, two figures were huddled against each other. One was a figure of a male, the other was a figure of a petite female. Bluish aura akin to a flame was surrounding their bodies together.
"…How is it?" the petite female, Koneko, asked as she pressed her body against the male figure, Issei.
"Yeah, it feels good." Issei replied as he let out a breath in content.
Despite such intimate position, and Koneko's rather flustered face, the girl was deeply focused and the boy was relaxed, as the bluish aura was seen to be flowing from the girl into the boy's body.
At the moment, Koneko and Issei were having a healing-session using senjutsu. The girl was only wearing a thin white cloth, saying that it had been purified and allowed the 'ki' to flow easier; while the boy was topless, only wearing a pair of shorts.
It was an alternative to restore Issei's life-span after the boy had used the Juggernaut Drive during the fiasco with the Old Satan Faction. As Azazel and Ddraig had stated, thanks to the curse of the Forbidden Move, Issei would not be able to live past 65 years, if not shorter, despite being a devil that could have lived for thousands of years.
"While I'm removing the fatigue you have, the life energy which was consumed by Juggernaut Drive can be healed bit by bit if I use the healing-type senjutsu on you." Koneko explained while kept focusing on controlling her aura.
"…Yeah." Issei simply replied as he contemplated about his condition.
The thought of dying faster than he was supposed to kind of terrified him. He had been forbidden to use Juggernaut Drive, as well as Dividing Gear, since those two techniques took a great deal of Issei's power (not that he could use the latter again). And according to Azazel, using senjutsu could help restoring one's life-span as long as the core of life had not completely broken. So as long as Issei kept doing the senjutsu healing session on regular basis, his life could be prolonged although not by much.
"There will be many people saddened if Ise-senpai were to die…" Koneko spoke again. "…I would also hate it if senpai dies. That's why I am doing this to retrieve the life energy which has been lost, bit by bit… Even if it would take the rest of my life. So please…" Koneko looked up to Issei with teary eyes and begging looks. "…Don't ever turn to that form again."
Issei looked at Koneko's pleading expression, then few seconds later, he simply ran his hand on Koneko's head gently, stroking Koneko's spot as he pulled Koneko into his chest. "…Yeah, I got it. I'll make sure that I won't use that move again and worrying everyone… definitely."
"…Yes, please do." Koneko said with a soft purr, a smile crept up to her face as she hugged Issei tightly in return. The two maintained their position in a comfortable silence.
Few minutes later, with her face flustered slightly more, Koneko spoke up again. "…Actually, there is a faster way."
The sentence caused Issei to blink at looked towards Koneko. "Hmm? Really? How do you do that?"
"Bo…Bouchuujutsu…"
Issei blinked again at the funny-sounding name. The silence prompted Koneko to explain further. "A woman who specialises in using the 'ki' has to share her 'ki' to the man, and it heals the life core greatly."
"That…. Doesn't sound much different than what we're doing right now, does it?" Issei commented.
"No… It's different." Koneko replied with the red hue on her face darkened. "It… would be my first time to do that technique as well…"
That caused Issei to narrow his eyes slightly. "Err…. By you mean 'first time', how do people actually perform this… Bouchuujutsu in the first place?"
Koneko's body wiggled against Issei's bare body from embarrassment as her face started to fume. "…The man and woman… have to become one. It's a technique where the woman has to send her 'ki' directly to the man's body…"
"Man and woman…. Become one… different… Koneko's first time… Her flustered face…" Issei put the pieces of the puzzle together until his eyes widened in realization and slight horror.
"Wait a minute, that's sex!" Issei exclaimed.
Koneko quickly covered Issei's mouth with her hands. "I-Ise-senpai, your voice is too loud."
Issei realized his blunder as he removed Koneko's hands from his mouth, cleared his throat and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Um, Koneko-chan… Let's not… go to that idea, okay?" Issei tried to reason with the little girl. He had a girlfriend for fuck's sake! Having an intercourse with a girl like Koneko alone was already bad enough for the boy.
"W-why…? Are you perhaps… Dissatisfied with me?" Koneko said with sad expression, which also happened to be insanely cute in Issei's eyes.
It took everything for Issei not to lounge and embrace Koneko with his lean muscular body.
"No, that's not the point!" Issei replied. "This is just wrong, and… Look." Issei took another breath as he tried to reason. "Koneko-chan, I'm grateful that you're willing to go at such length for me, but we… we just can't. I mean, what if you got pregnant?"
Koneko looked down for a second, then she looked up again with still-shy, yet slightly more determined look in her eyes. "M-my body and breasts are small… But I should be mature enough to have s-sex with you… I-I'm fine having your babies… Even by force, I won't mind."
This time, Issei pinched his nose together in order to stop his blood from gushing out of it. "No, no! Seriously, Koneko-chan! You shouldn't be saying those kind of things! Besides…" Issei tried to pick the right words. "I… already have a girlfriend, remember?"
"B-but if I live in this house, it seems I have to know about those kind of things. Even Asia-senpai is trying her best. Besides…" Koneko looked away slightly, while placing her hands on her red cheeks. "…I heard that Haruka-san doesn't mind about who is giving her a grandchild…"
"GODDAMMIT, MOOOOOM!" This made Issei twitching as he could imagine his own mother of all people, influencing the more innocent girls in the house to after inside his pants. His hands were already full with Akeno and Rias, who were becoming more and more daring.
Before Issei could have said anything more, a new voice was heard in the room.
"What the hell's going on here?"
Issei and Koneko quickly turned towards the door, where Saitama was standing with slightly incredulous expression on his face. Rias and Asia were present as well, much to Issei's horror. Rias had her eyes narrowed at him, while Asia was desperately holding back her tears.
"What is this I heard about Bouchuujutsu?" Rias asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I-Ise-san…. So you will make babies with K-Koneko-chan?" Asia said between her sobs.
"Shame on you, Ise. You already have yourself a girlfriend like Asia-chan here." Saitama said as he put his hand on Asia's shoulder. "…And you have the gal to lay your hands on Koneko-chan. I thought this is supposed to be a healing-session."
"I-It is a healing session!" Issei stuttered, while Koneko only blushed while averting her gaze.
Rias then put on her 'smile' as she turned to her Rook. "Koneko, are you done with Ise's treatment?"
Koneko, who was scared by Rias' too-sweet smile, simply nodded her head quickly, and immediately left Issei and bolted out of the room with a quick, stuttered 'goodnight'.
Then, Saitama also prepared to leave as well. "I… guess I'll leave you three young'uns to settle your differences." Saitama said as he also felt slightly awkward of the situation. Although, before he closed the door, he turned one last time to his son and made a slit-throat gesture.
In return, Issei only twitched his eyes as he wanted to just lounge and punch his father in the face, or at least just giving him a finger. However, the thought was immediately forgotten when he took another look at the girls who were still glaring at him.
As the girls began to interrogate Issei, the night went on.
It was the day when Issei had to fulfill his promise with Akeno. The boy was standing at their meeting point, which was near the train station at Kuoh town. He would be lying if he said that he was not nervous, but he quickly calmed himself down with a single deep breath and resumed waiting for his date patiently. That morning Issei was wearing a casual outfit consisting of dark blue polo-shirt with matching trousers and a greyish purple dress-shirt as a make-shift jacket.
"Ise-kun!" a familiar voice was heard and Issei turned his head, only to have his eyes widened and found his breath taken away at the sight of black-haired girl who was approaching him. "Sorry if I made you wait too long…"
Akeno was wearing a casual red dress with short, white sleeves; it framed her slim waist perfectly and covered her to her knees. On her feet, she wore a pair of black slip-on shoes. Her long raven black hair hung loosely down her back, falling to her thighs easily. Around her neck, she wore a silver necklace with a heart-shaped accessory.
Issei's heart was racing like crazy as could not take his eyes away from the sight of Akeno's appearance.
[Partner…]
Ddraig suddenly spoke up in his mind. His tone was rather teasing.
[Keeping a promise might be one thing, but to get smitten with another girl when you are already seeing someone? Shame on you.]
"Fuck off, Ddraig! I can't help it! Akeno-san is just so… so… Adorable!" Issei furiously replied in his mind as he swallowed a big lump in his throat.
Noticing the flustered expression on Issei's face, Akeno asked with flustered cheeks. "H-How do I look? Do I look weird today…?"
Issei immediately snapped up from his reverie as he shook his head, cleared his throat to gather himself, despite his cheeks were burning. "Ah, err, no! Y-you look amazing, Akeno-san! Absolutely cute!"
Akeno giggled in return, as she put on a relieved smile. In Issei's eyes, Akeno's reaction was entirely different than her everyday attitude as Kuoh Academy's Two Great Ladies. That day, Akeno behaved just like any other teenage girl on her first date.
"Today Ise-kun will be my boyfriend for the whole day." Akeno told herself pleasantly before she looked shyly at Issei. "...Can I call you Ise?"
At Akeno's expression, Issei's heart skipped a beat once again. "Y-yes, of course. P-please do…"
Akeno's expression brightened considerably as she proceeded to hug Issei's arm, burying it into her bosom. "I'm so glad! Thank you, Ise."
Trying his best to suppress the blood from rushing to his face, Issei smiled as he led Akeno ahead. "Well… Shall we get going?"
The girl nodded happily, and the two walked towards the town.
oXo
Issei and Akeno were having a great time for the duration of their date. They visited various places; clothes shops, cafes and crepes store, souvenir shops, even Issei almost ended up bringing Akeno into a 'speciality' shop that was hidden from plain sight, much to the boy's relief. And during that time, Akeno was in perfect bliss, having fun together with the man she fell for. Issei on the other hand, while he only saw the date as an 'obligatory' one, he felt that seeing unknown sides of Akeno that he never seen before, where she acted just like girls around her age, to be a refreshing experience. Now that he was supposed to have fun with his senior, he would take it to the fullest.
Issei then took a hold of Akeno's hand gently, much to the latter's surprise and excitement, and proceeded to head towards the next destination in mind.
"Come on, Akeno-san. Let's go to the Aquarium, there are many fishes that are fun to make faces at." Issei asked with some joke in his invitation.
"Yes!" Akeno quickly agreed with her 'ultimate' smile.
oXo
The date in the Aquarium went on without a hitch. Both Issei and Akeno were enjoying the entire tour of admiring various kinds of sea creatures. Issei was about to invite Akeno to go to the game center before he spotted something that, as a matter of fact, he had noticed ever since the start of the date.
It was a crimson hair.
When Issei met up with Akeno that morning, Issei, presumably Akeno as well, had caught Rias, Asia, Xenovia, Gasper and Koneko had been stalking them. Issei was somewhat thankful that Irina and Yuuto had enough decency to give Issei and Akeno privacy, but that was beside the point.
Issei had to question the five stalkers' sense of disguising themselves, then again, perhaps their stalkers put too much work in their disguises that ended up making them stuck out like sore thumbs.
Rias was clad in a thick coat, wearing a fedora and putting a sunglasses on her face to conceal her face, but her crimson hair was still a dead give-away.
Asia only wore a simple casual dress with a pair of glasses. It did not do anything to disguise herself. In fact, Issei found she looked good with those glasses.
Xenovia, Koneko and Gasper's disguise had made them completely out of place. The former was wearing a medical mask on her face, making her looked no different than regular stalker, the middle was wearing a tiger-themed wrestler's mask, while the latter was covering his head with paper bag.
The five stalkers had been giving Issei and Akeno some intense pressure through their gaze, Issei himself could have sworn that Rias was gripping a electric pole so hard that it broke within her grasp. After throwing one last glance at the stalking group, Akeno put on a mischievous smile and grabbed Issei's hand.
"Let's shake off Rias and the others!" Akeno said as she immediately ran away with Issei in tow, the boy only followed by sheer reflex.
"Darn, we've been spotted!" Rias exclaimed when she saw the two running, not aware that she and her cohorts had been busted since the beginning. "Everyone, after them!" she commanded as she bolted out from her hiding spot.
Thus, the game of cat and mouse began with Issei and Akeno running to left and right, trying to lose Rias, Asia, Xenovia, Gasper and Koneko, who were hot on their tails.
Issei glanced behind him as he ran following Akeno. Behind the two, Rias and Xenovia were chasing them with fairly fast speed, followed by Koneko, Gasper and Asia in tow. Thinking that he could not afford himself and Akeno to be caught, Issei decided to step-up his game as well.
"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, Akeno-san!" Issei apologized in advance as he began to increase his own speed.
"Ise-kun, what are y-! Kyah!" Akeno yelped as she was swiped right from her feet.
Issei was now carrying Akeno bridal-style and started to increase the distance between him and his shell-shocked pursuers. He took another turn towards an alley, and saw an opening when he looked up.
"Akeno-san, don't talk for a moment! Otherwise you'd bite your tongue!" Issei said as he suddenly began to literally run upwards and jump around against the wall.
"Y-Yes!" Akeno let out a quick, stuttered reply as her face flustered in bliss. She suppressed her excited giggles as she took in everything she could feel while she was still cradled in Issei's arms; his smell, the warmth exuding from his body, his heartbeat, everything.
With his superior speed and agility, Issei managed to easily lose his pursuers as he finally landed on the road. "Huff… Looks like we lost them…" He said as he let Akeno back to her feet, much to her disappointment. The girl would not stop at nothing if she could have stayed even a little bit longer in Issei's arms.
Though the boy on the other hand, felt 'complicated' as he was not sure if it was the right thing for him to just left the others be, especially there was also the fact that he just 'ditched' his girlfriend.
"…I hope everyone will at least listen to me later…" Issei hoped.
[Sure, go ahead and hope.] Ddraig scoffed. [Though…. Right now I suggest you to move somewhere else.]
"Ddraig, what are you-… Oh." Issei's question about Ddraig's warning was answered immediately when he looked at his surroundings.
There were bunch of buildings with collection of signs, all colorful and filled with lights, attached to them; and each of them saying basically the same thing: Love Hotel.
Issei's eyes were widened as he knew the complications that would follow if he did not do something. "Akeno-san, let's leave this place! I actually wanted to bring you to this game center I know…" Issei began to walk away while looking towards Akeno at the same time, making sure that the girl was right next to him.
However, Issei was stopped when Akeno squeezed his arm with her own, preventing him to move further. With bashful expression, Akeno then slowly looked towards Issei right in the eye.
"I…I'm fine."
Issei blinked at the barely heard voice from Akeno. "…Excuse me?"
"If it's with you, Ise-kun… I don't mind." Akeno said as she tightened her hold on Issei. "As long as it's you, I don't mind to give up my chastity…"
Issei had to swallow a lump at Akeno's declaration. His mind was in turmoil, his face was sweating, flustered, and his head was fuming. Looking at Akeno's pure, determined and cute expression was just too much for his mind.
However, before Issei could have said anything, another voice interrupted them.
"Good grief, trying to make love with a woman this middle of the day? You are not as reserved as your father, Red Dragon Emperor brat."
Issei and Akeno turned towards the source of the voice and saw an elderly man with rough casual clothes and a hat. The monocle on his face made Issei felt familiar with the old man. However, it only took few seconds for both Issei and Akeno to recognize the elderly man through the divine aura leaking out from his body.
"Lord Odin." Issei said in greeting, both him and Akeno quickly straightened themselves in the face of the Chief of Norse Gods. "It's strange to see you in this town. What business do you have in Japan?" Issei asked as he tried to sound as polite as possible.
Before Odin could have replied, another voice was heard, followed with the appearance of a young woman with long silver hair, clad in a formal business suit.
"Lord Odin, you are the Head of the Norse God! Please stop wandering to places like this!" Rossweisse said as she made her way towards Odin.
At the Valkyrie's scolding, Odin only let out a small scoff. "Get off my back, Rossweisse. You are a Valkyrie that will eventually have to take care of heroes. You should learn and get used to these kind of places."
At Odin's rebuttal, Rossweisse looked taken aback and her eyes suddenly got teary. "I-I'm just a Valkyrie with no appeal, after all!" she said as she was about to cry, then she turned towards Issei and Akeno. "And what are you two doing here? Aren't you two supposed to be high-school students? You should go home and study instead of being in a place like this."
Issei and Akeno were taken a bit from Rossweisse's sudden mood-swings. At first the Valkyrie was scolding her superior, then she cried about herself, then she suddenly berating them, albeit with understandable reasons.
However, another voice was suddenly heard.
"Lord Odin, I implore you not to stray too far from me…" the one who spoke was a middle-aged man with black hair wearing black business attire not unlike Rossweisse's. When Issei looked at the man, he could tell that he possessed a large, strong body under those thick suites.
"Y-You are…" Akeno, however, widened her eyes as if she was looking at a ghost.
The said middle-aged man also froze when his eyes met with the girl's. "…Akeno, what is the meaning of this?" he asked with rather angry tone.
"It's none of your business! More than that, why are you here!?" Akeno replied with a yell, as well as with another question. Issei also noticed that Akeno was glaring with hateful eyes at the middle-aged man.
"That doesn't matter!" The man made his way towards Akeno. "Regardless, you should leave this place. It's far too early for you." He then proceeded to grab Akeno's arm.
"No, let go of me!" Akeno fought back to release herself from the man's hold.
Sensing trouble, Issei quickly grabbed the man's arm, causing the latter to let go of Akeno's own and the boy proceeded to place the girl behind him, shielding her from the middle-aged man.
"I don't know what's going on, but I must ask you to leave her alone." Issei said with a careful look. He also prepared himself if things turned out for the worse.
"Ise…"
When Akeno muttered Issei's name, the man regarded the boy for a moment before he calmed himself. "…I see, so you are Hyoudou Issei."
Issei blinked at the fact that the stranger recognized him. "…And may I ask who you are?" he started to feel that he did not like the way things were heading to.
"I am one of the leaders of Grigori, Baraqiel. Currently serving as Lord Odin's escort, and I'm also Himejima Akeno's father."
"No wonder he knows me. I guess it's because he also knows him…" Issei grumbled in his mind as he thought of Saitama's mentioning the fallen angel's name in the past.
To be Continued…