Here goes, a Highschool DXD fanfic... an experiment fic.
Disclaimer: Highschool DXD is not mine, if it's mine why would I publish a fanfic of it?
Power brings wonder
hardship
and question to ourselves
What am I?
What I am meant to do in this world?
Life 1: He is a strange friend
The first word that came up to Rias to describe Hyoudou Issei when she saw him walking alongside Yuuto was strange, even though that was the first time Rias saw the boy in person. In a way that was strange too, because they were attending the same school for over a year and he was Yuuto's closest human friend but she never saw the boy even once before. What she knew of Hyoudou Issei was mostly came from Yuuto, because when asked about his human friend Hyoudou Issei was the only one he acknowledge as a real friend. Not that Yuuto was unsociable, but his looks made the girls adore him and the boys hate him for it so he couldn't make close friends with human students.
Hyoudou Issei somehow became an exception.
He also managed to piqued her interest, enough for her to start observing him discreetly from afar with her familiar's help. He was undoubtedly an interesting individual and fit to a T with her first impression of him. He was strange...
He was very popular with both male and female students, and unlike Yuuto whose popularity mostly because of his looks Hyoudou Issei was popular simply because he was very friendly. He was the type of person who with only one look giving you impression that he loves people, and so people loved him in return. Laughter and happy face colored the atmosphere whenever he went, worming his way into any gathering of people and spreading the cheer all year around.
But...
When you looked closer, he wasn't really close with anyone. Happy gathering he wormed his way in would walk away in cheerful chattering he started but he would walk away to opposite direction without even once looking back. Yuuto was perhaps the closest who interacted with him like a real friend, but even their closeness Rias afraid was one-sided. It as if he was wary to take the last step to get close with anyone, and he didn't let them either. Like aloof and whimsical cloud that could float away soundlessly, and before you knew it he was already gone.
"It feels like he'll disappear in a puff of air..." She murmured softly.
"Buchou?" Someone called her, snapping her out of her daydream.
"Ah, nothing… good work Yuuto." Rias thanked her knight as she accepted the paper of customer's feedback he handed to her. As usual Akeno was the most popular, followed by Yuuto then Koneko. Their popularity had nothing to do with their skill though, more with the size of their target market. After few months of their demonic career their range of regular customer usually shrunk to specific type, loli lover and otaku for Koneko, working women for Kiba and Masochist men for Akeno.
Yuuto nodded then with his usual gentle smile he asked, "If that's all for today, may I go now? I promised Issei-kun to drop by to his workplace."
Rias blinked owlishly at that, "Oh... at the bookshop in Kuoh shopping district? Then, can you pick up the book I ordered from there for me as well?"
Yuuto's expression turned sheepish, "Uhm... actually he is not working there anymore."
"Ara." Akeno cupped her cheek, "I saw him working at that flower shop near our school two weeks ago."
"Hyoudou-senpai?" Koneko paused from her munching her snack, "He worked at Yumeiro cake shop, he let me test-tasting new sweets... last week."
Yuto waved his hand in negative gesture, sweat-dropping. "Issei-kun is selling balloon in Kuoh Park now."
Rias's left eyebrow twitched, "He change part time job again?"
"Yeah..."
Another strange thing about Hyoudou Isses was, he kept changing part time job like changing clothes in daily basis. It wasn't like he was a bad worker, he was a hard worker with good working attitude. He just liked changing job for no reason other he want to try it. According to Yuuto, his parent lived oversea and in hope to teach him to be independent they only sent allowance enough to pay his school fee and rent so he had to work to pay for his food and bills.
Akeno giggled, "I believe I heard from one of our classmates that they saw him working as penguin feeder before."
Rias nodded, "I heard that too, and also... Sona said a bear who was giving kids balloon greeted her good afternoon and called her kaichou."
Yuuto laughed softly at that, "Oh that... that's his job three days ago, it's a one day kind of job."
"Yuuto-senpai." Koneko looked up to her senior who was also an older brother figure for her. "Your friend is weird." Then she added, "But he is nice."
The knight chuckled at that, "You say that because he shared his valentine chocolates with you."
Rias hummed, it seemed she now get it why Hyoudou-kun are friends with Yuuto. "So he is pretty popular with girls too, just like you Yuuto."
Her knight looked sheepish, no doubt he knew what she was getting at. He knew his lack of male friend was because male general population in their scool was jealous of his popularity, so the only male friend he had most likely was as popular. "Actually he got a lot of valentine choco, more than me."
"My..." Akeno giggled at that.
Then Yuuto added in amused tone, "All of them are giri choco though." Giri choco, as in friendship chocolate. "And by next month on white day he was in tears at the cost of cookies he had to buy." In the end they baked the cookies themselves to save money, although in the end it still cost a lot because of the sheer number of return gift they had to prepare.
Rias looked amused by that, "So he is popular as a friend rather than as a guy?"
Yuuto just shrugged, "Everyone likes him." He drawled on, and Rias could sense pride with a tint of envy in Yuuto's voice. Yuuto used to have a lot of friends back then when he was still a human, his days were painful but friends he had were true friends who sacrificed themselves to save Yuuto.
"Then, you may excuse yourself... go hanging out with Hyoudou-kun." Rias gave her permission.
Yuuto beamed at her. "Hai! Buchou!"
Kuoh Park
"Here, your coffee."
Yuuto thanked his friend as he accepted the warm can. "Thanks, Issei-kun..." He grinned, "That uniform suits you." He commented what his friend was wearing, a pink apron and a hat on top of his casual red shirt and jeans set.
Issei-kun snorted, "You say that for every single work uniform I wore... it gets old very fast. Kiba..."
Hyoudou Issei was a teenager with average height, around the same as Yuuto with brown haired and eyes in lighter color. His skin had healthy tan, a sign that he was outside a lot and striking contrast when he was near Yuuto who had fairer skin. It was a secret their male classmates kept to themselves that Issei-kun had toned and muscular build, in fear their female friends would change their mind about looking Issei more than just friend. According to female students Issei was cute but he was too friendly and carefree for them to see him as potential love interest, not to mention girls who tried to get close couldn't get him to notice their feeling at all. Akeno-san said Issei-kun was the type of guy who was popular as a friend, but as love interest, not so much.
"It's a good thing, you never try to work as a chef... and I don't recommend it." He said seriously, earning him a snort from Issei-kun.
"Yeah yeah..."
Their friendship started in unusual way, not when they introduced themselves to each other when they met as first year but when Yuuto caught his friend in home economic's kitchen making abomination that didn't deserve to be called a dish. Actually Yuuto was not sure what Issei-kun was doing could be called cooking, more like dumping ingredients and seasonings to be cooked together with rice in rice cooker in hope to produce something edible. In a sense it was edible, though the slap dash porridge might be the reason why food called grub. Issei-kun didn't care his food looked disgusting as long as it was edible and nutritious. In fear that Issei-kun might poison himselff, Yuuto volunteered to teach him to cook. Now Issei-kun could cook simple dishes, enough to sustain himself. At least he was not going to risk slap dashing something in his rice cooker again.
"By the way... didn't you come to tell me something?" Issei-kun's reminder snapped him out of his thought. "You know... when I was about to leave our class?"
Yuuto smiled at him, inwardly chiding himself for almost forgetting his original purpose to visit his friend. "Well... your apartment is on the west side, right?" Issei-kun nodded, "So you have to walk pass the area near the abandoned church." He nodded again. "You see... lately some seedy peoples are using that place as their haunt and doing questionable activities there too so..." Yuuto trailed off, "Don't go near that place alright? And don't take late shift part time job either."
Issei-kun raised an eyebrow, probably wondering where he got the warning from. He was not lying to Issei-kun, just not telling his friend the detail. Lately they spotted a number of Fallen Angels around the area, and they were using the abandoned church as their base of operation. Buchou and Sona-kaichou were displeased by the intrusion, but since so far the Fallen Angels hadn't do anything they couldn't just drive the unwelcome guests away. However it was obvious they were planning something shoddy.
"Alright, I will be careful." Issei-kun agreed without any fuss.
This side of Issei-kun was what made Yuuto comfortable around him. Issei-kun never pried on things Yuuto wanted to hide, not because he didn't care but because he was that considerate to let Yuuto keep his privacy. "I am glad to hear that, Issei-kun..."
Abandoned Church, that night
"Where is that crazy human again?" A blond girl wearing gothic lolita dress asked her companion.
The woman with navy blue hair and buxom figure shrugged, "Who knows? I don't care where he is going, Mitteld... hopefully he has enough sense to hunt only animals and stray devils no one cared about."
Mitteld huffed, "Maa... I hope so, why can't that nun come faster?" She wondered out loud. "I am tired of waiting, nee... Kalawarmer? It's boring..."
Kalawarmer, the fallen who was dressed in tight purple scoffed. "Don't complain to me, say it to Raynare... this is her idea."
She shivered, "Still..."
Their conversation continued, and none of them noticed they were watched by someone who was shrouded in darkness of night in new moon. A pair of light brown eyes narrowed at the two fallen angel, watching their every moves. The mysterious figure could also hear their conversation clearly through his earpiece. This was the weakness of mystical being, they rarely suspect anything that wasn't magical.
[I can't believe they think they can hide this from Azazel... idiots.] Circular green light beamed briefly on the back of his hand. [But partner... are you sure you're going to wait until their plan unfolded?]
"Yes, Ddraig... that's Shemhaza's order." The current Sekiryuutei said, "We have to catch them red handed, remember?" Because the conclusion of the last great war, or the lack of conclusion there was a lot of unsatisfied individuals on their side. So they couldn't just arrest anyone for speaking out their grudge if they had not done anything yet. "Beside... the two devils in charge of this town are already aware of them, we don't want devil to be involved." it would be to messy, Azazel wouldn't care but Shemhaza would scold him.
[You know what? I agree with them that waiting is boring.]
His host snorted, "Maa... just be patient Ddraig, we will move when the time is right and then... " He trailed off with a smirk, and the voice of dragon and its host overlapped as they continued.
"We shall shall drown them...
to the depths of the crimson purgatory..."
I have seen a number of Issei with different kind of personality so... my experiment is trying this kind of Issei. At least I am sure I haven't read dic with this kind of Issei. Of course I haven't flesh all of him out yet~ The summary will change after I finish the next chapter, the initial summary I planned would sound weird without the next chapter ^^
Here be Dragon is the only title popping up to my mind, referring to Issei's seemingly open but actually closed nature. An unexplored and dangerous territory of his, so to speak...
I will think up a better title later... once we have more chapter with broader picture for you readers to see what kind of story I am writing ^^
Review is soul food for writer, so feed me!
λ' REVIEW' λ
/ \REVIEW / \
( ` PLEASE/ ` )
`·.¸(Θ Θ)¸.·`
(VV)
Д ¯ Д