O- Chapter One -O
Today was looking to be pretty much the same as every other day. Get up about an hour and a half before I need to be at School, about 06:30. Eat a (somewhat) healthy breakfast before getting into my uniform and making sure I have everything I'll need for the day. At the point I'm ready to leave, it's about 07:20. Then it's about a half hour walk to Kuoh Academy from my house. It's only about thirteen minutes by bike, but I'm responsible enough not to need to rush like that.
Kuoh is a formerly all-girls school situated in well, Kuoh, Japan. It's a lavishly built thing, with the best of the best facilities one could imagine. Someone certainly had a lot of pull getting funding for this monstrosity. Given the number of objectively good-looking people, mostly women, that attend the school, I wouldn't be surprised if the fashion Industry had its hand in getting the place built.
Studying to pass the Kuoh entrance exams two years ago was probably the hardest I have ever applied myself to date. Getting into the school isbloody hard. Or at least it's supposed to be. Some of the people that managed to get in really make me question the admissions standards. I hear it might have something to do with trying to pump up the numbers of guys attending, what with only going Co-Ed two years ago.
Even with the supposed help, the male gender is still severely outnumbered. I'd give them one to five, male to female. At best.
Arriving at the front gates, which are way more ostentatious than a high school's front gates have any right to be, I run through what I need to do before classes start. Get my books in order. Drop off that paperwork that's coming due. Pretend that I'm a functioning member of society capable of forming meaningful relationships with my peers. Get to home room a few minutes early. Just normal everyday student stuff.
Wait, what was the second to last thing again? Oh, yeah, 'Pretend that I'm a functioning member of society capable of forming meaningful relationships with my peers', how could I forget. Let me tell you, going through school without close friendships is really a drag. What am I gonna do though, walk up to people and say 'hey, it's me, Hyuodou Issei, we've never talked or interacted with each other in the slightest, but let's be friends.' Yeah, no. I think I'll pass.
I refuse to self-diagnose with mental illness, but not having anyone to talk to sucks. Big time. I would put good money on a proper mental health professional being able to diagnose me with Chronic Loneliness if not outright depression. That is if I would ever get around to seeing one. Eh, throw it on the back burner. I might look into it later. For now, though, it's almost time for class. Still, would it really hurt for someone to at least say good morning, it's rude not to acknowledge your peers you know!
-O-0-O-
I'm not a bad student. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that I'm one of the better students in the class, if not the grade. Really doesn't help that none of my teachers will even acknowledge me unless I make a scene though. Have a question in class and raise my hand? Ignored for the others. Only student volunteering to answer the question? Someone else gets chosen against their will. That's how it's gone ever since I started attending elementary school, so it really isn't new to me.
I did get noticed that one time I managed to knock my desk over by accident. Got a few really confused looks for that one from my classmates, and a nice stern talking to from the teacher. Once everyone's attention was back on the lesson though, I was seemingly forgotten again.
Now, I can handle being ignored by my peers, kind of. It stings, sure, but they're here to learn, not to socialize with the weird kid. The teachers though, it's their damn job to pay attention to their pupils, and by extension me, so them ignoring me got me really pissed off within my first few days of class last year. I tried to bring it to the administration, but I think the secretary is going senile. I swear I tried to get her attention for a solid fifteen minutes, but she didn't notice me. After three days of that, I gave up and decided to just take it.
Sure, I had experience being ignored in elementary school, so I shouldn't have been that surprised it happened in high school too, but I can hope things would be different in a different building, I guess.
Ah crap, what am I doing? I really need to pay attention to this and daydreaming about my social problems certainly isn't helping me with that. Rotational dynamics is really kicking my ass, and it's going to be a huge part of the final. Time to get back to work, even if I can't really get any help out of the teacher.
-O-0-O-
Lunch break was more of the same. Though, I'm really not helping myself much on that front with my choice of venue. The school roof is usually empty. At least that means it's quiet. High schoolers are loud. I really don't understand why people can't just keep their mouths shut sometimes.
My lunch itself is homemade. That's mostly because I prefer homemade food to anything from the Cafeteria. The rest is that I just really don't want to test the lunch line. It would really suck if the lunch ladies just ignored me and I ended up going hungry because I didn't bring anything, so I find it better to just not risk it. I deal with being ignored enough, don't need it at mealtimes too.
Now, I'm certainly not the best cook, but I can still make myself a filling and tasty meal from scratch. People usually blow the difficulty of cooking way out of proportion. Same thing with baking. People just assume it's difficult, never try, and end up filling themselves with junk from vending machines. It really isn't that bad though, just follow the recipe. This applies to both baking and cooking. Turns out, the people who make food for a living know what they're talking about and are really good at putting it into words on the paper. Who could have possibly predicted that?
Lunch period's almost over now, so it's probably time I get going back to class. Packing up my box and utensils, I head down the stairs back into the top floor hallway. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, though, something, or rather someone, catches my eye. She's rather short with white hair, and though she's walking away from me, I already know that her eyes are a nice golden color. Toujou Koneko then. She's known colloquially as the 'school mascot', which quite frankly I find to be rather disgusting. I mean, I get it, she is unbelievably cute, but she still is a person under all of that.
That's only one of the less than savory titles people have around here. Most people refer to a group of objectively beautiful women as the 'Four great Onee-Samas of Kuoh'. I think that group is made up of Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima, Souna Shitori; our student council president, and Tsubaki Shinra; who is also on our student council. I don't really have many opportunities to keep up with the gossip though, so that list may not be accurate.
Come to think of it, most of the blathering about 'mascots' and 'Onee-Samas' I end up hearing comes from those two idiots in my class, Matsudo and Motohame I'm fairly sure, or as the rest of the students call them, 'The Perverted Duo.' Don't they also call Yuuto from 3B the 'Prince of Kuoh'? Man, what is up with people obsessing over titles at this school?
Back to Matsudo and Motohame though, they fall firmly into my 'question the admissions standards' category of students here. As far as I can tell, they just barely squeak by in all the classes, and the peeking, dear lord the peeking. Look, I get it, women are beautiful, yes. And Kuoh as a lot of abnormally good-looking women on campus, but that doesn't automatically confer a license to violate their privacy and sexually harass them. Hell, I'd even be capable of ignoring it, if the two could pull together a single ounce of subtlety between them. I mean, come on, who in their right mind openly discusses who they're going to violate next? They can't even be sexual predators correctly. I have half a mind that the two of them ae masochists and get off over the beatings that the Kendo club give them when they peek on them changing. And again, really, peeking on the club with melee weapons? Really not the best plan I've ever seen thought up.
Man, Toujou-san really is cute though. It would be really nice to get to know her…
Nope. I'm gonna cut myself off there. Down that road lies nothing but misery. Better just stay out of the way. Wouldn't want to bother her anyway.
And with those lovely thoughts out of the way, time to get back to class. Three more periods of being ignored, here I come.
-O-0-O-
The rest of the day proceeded as normal. Teacher lecturing, me absorbing the materiel and going through the motions of participating in class, even though I know it won't really matter. Helps keep me at least a bit sane, I guess.
As the last class of the day ends, I pack my bag and get ready to head home. I would have joined a club, probably the choir, but not knowing anyone really decreases the appeal. A club is supposed to be more than just a hobby, it's meant to be a social experience as well. Given my track record with those, I eventually decided I'd just take the extra time for studying. The trig-identities aren't going to learn themselves after all.
Walking out onto the front footpath, it's a pretty nice day out. 'Certainly, warmer than when I left this morning,' I think to myself as I take off my uniform jacket. Nice enough, in fact, that it looks like there are some people handing out fliers at the intersection. They seem to be getting a good stream of takers too. While I'd normally just ignore them, neither wanting an extra piece of paper to deal with or to deal with the crowd, I feel something nudge me to go pick one up. Maybe some part of me wants to act like the crowd for once. Strange, but I'll allow it.
Walking up and taking a flier, I fold it and put it in my shirt pocket. Hey, I'll indulge some subconscious nudge to act normal every now and then, but that doesn't mean I'll drop everything to read a flier in the middle of the path, that just wouldn't be good for traffic flow, because that's what I'm concerned about, of course.
-O-0-O-
"I'm Home!" I call out as I open the front door to the modest Hyoudou residence. With two floors, the first containing the living room and kitchen while the second contains my room; my parents' room; the two guest rooms; and the bathroom, it's certainly not a mansion, but it's no shack either.
"Welcome home Issei, how was school today?" Chimes my mother from the living room. She's your typical middle-aged housewife, with dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and lighter, hazel brown eyes. I love her dearly, I really do, and I am much closer to her than I am to anyone else, barring maybe my dad, but I get the feeling that I'm still not as close to her as someone normally is to their parents.
"It was good, I've got some homework to do tonight. Physics and English, might take me awhile." It's true, those two are probably both my most challenging and favorite classes. Probably something to due with the sense of accomplishment of succeeding after putting in the hard work. "What's for dinner tonight?"
"Food," she jests, smirking at my deadpan look. It's a little game we play, if I don't ask a specific question, I don't get a specific answer. As annoying as it can be at times, it's still fun, and nice interaction with my mom. After letting the jab sit for a bit, she finally relents, with "I've got some chicken curry going in the kitchen. It should be ready in about an hour, so why don't you go get started on your homework."
Agreeing with a smile, I head up to my room and get stuck into my work.
-O-0-O-
Dinner goes by much the same as every other dinner. Dad is in line for a promotion at work soon it seems, which is always good news. We might not see him as much as normal for a bit though, which is a bit of a bummer.
Back up in my room, it looks like I was right about my homework taking a good long while. The English was pretty easy, being a vocabulary assignment. Why everything needs to look and sound so similar, I'll never know. I mean, a lamp is a light fixture while a lamb is a baby sheep. All that meaning change from the direction the stem on the last letter goes. Crazy.
My physics on the other hand kicked my ass today. Rotational dynamics is the devil in the form of science I tell you. After watching a vaguely Indian accented explanation on the internet, I finally figured out that I was missing a negative in one of my calculations, which was screwing up the rest of the math. Looking over at the clock, I see it's getting rather close to when I want to be in bed. Deciding it's best that I just leave my work where it is for tonight and not work ahead, a begin to undress to get ready for a quick shower. As I take off my shirt though, the flier I picked up earlier today falls out onto the floor.
Well, I might as well look at it before it goes into the trash. Someone probably put a lot of work into making it. Unfolding the page, I see the, I don't know, hook? catch phrase? motto?, In bold first. "Make your wish come true", huh? Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all.
The second thing that jumps out at me is the crazy design on the bottom left corner. If I didn't know better, I might think it's some kind of magic circle, but surely that's ridiculous, right?, right?
Reading on down the page, I'm starting to realize that either someone is pulling a rather elaborate prank with these fliers, or maybe the magic circle idea wasn't as crazy as I thought. Some of the more eye-catching phrases include "Summon a devil to grant your wish," "Payments are made in currency or objects of value. Souls are no longer accepted as a form of payment," and "Our rates are automatically adjusted to match the value of your wish, no need to worry about overpaying!".
This… this Is crazy, right? I mean, who would willingly summon the devil and ask him to do something as minor as granting a wish? Wait, that doesn't say the devil, it says a devil. Is there more than one? And why am I even worrying about this? It's almost certainly just a long terms scam of some sort, surely. Can't hurt to try, just to make sure though.
"But what would I even wish for?", I mutter as I actually contemplate summoning a devil. The first thing that pops into my head is just someone to talk to. It is a bit of a mad house up here in the old brain, might be time to talk to someone else, even if it is a demon of some kind. I also wouldn't mind someone to hold while I sleep tonight…
Am I really considering paying someone to give me some (in)human interaction and to be my giant life-sized teddy bear? No, not really, that would require the flier to be telling the truth, which I highly doubt. Only one way to be certain though.
Scanning through the page for instructions on summoning, I find them in smaller print near the bottom. Mentally focus on your wish and direct it towards the crest on the bottom left of the page. Maintain for at least ten seconds. A devil should appear promptly, but we may be overbooked. In that case, the crest will flash twice. Please try again the next day if this happens.
Seems simple enough, even though it's almost certainly fake. Really well thought out for a fake to be sure, but a fake none the less.
Focusing on the desire for some one to talk to and to cuddle, I direct it to the crest as directed. After the ten seconds pass and nothing happens with the crest, I feel a bit of disappointment overtake me. I knew it wouldn't work, but I guess some part of me really wanted…
Crack
And then with a bright flash and a moderately loud pop, I'm temporarily blinded as something happens in my room. Finally rubbing the spots out of my eyes, I look up to see golden eyes and white hair, on a petite body.
"Toujou-San?"
O-(AN)-O
This is the second piece of fanfiction I've ever written, and the first one I've published. The only reason this is seeing the light of day is that it has been nagging me for a while and wouldn't leave me alone until it was out on the page. I may or may not ever update it. I do have a few plot ideas, but honestly, I'd mostly be winging it. I've never actually read or watched DxD canon, so all of my DxD knowledge comes from the wiki and fanfiction, so don't be surprised when there are lore discrepancies.
To be clear, the Issei I'm writing is completely OOC. Like, take away the entirety of Issei's personality and replace it with my own levels of OOC. Don't expect goofy harem king antics and boob jokes every other paragraph.
Speaking of harems, there won't be one. If I continue writing this, I'm going to struggle enough with one relationship. No need to throw in more to make my job even harder.
On the topic of relationships, the pairing, If I ever get around to it, will be Issei/Koneko. Additionally, on the issue of interpersonal skills and Issei's justification for not interacting with people, they're not supposed to make sense. That's the point. The brain can run some wicked gymnastics to keep things the way they are unfortunately.
On a final note, some of the concepts are tangentially inspired by a-shifty-sword's Gamer of the Void. It's a great work, so go read it. You won't regret it.
Feel free to leave any constructive criticism of my writing. I'm not expecting to put too much effort into this at any point, but it never hurts to get better. Please no flames though.