BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP BE-
"Really have to set that damn alarm to something else," a young man groaned from underneath his covers, arm outstretched and reaching out to turn off his alarm clock. How tempting it would be to just lay in bed, not even bothering to go to school today. Or better yet, skip school and trudge around his stomping grounds, see if anyone or anything new and worthwhile was around. Not an option though, Shitori would just find him the next day and give him trouble for it if he skipped. God only knows the amount of shit he'd get if the StuCo President got to snooping around and found out what he did in his downtime. "Go to school, have some fun when it's done," he told himself before peeling back the covers, slowly dragging himself out of bed and towards his bathroom. Brush teeth, shower, put on the required school uniform, make breakfast and brace himself for another boring day at Kuoh Academy, the usual morning ritual.
45 minutes later a significantly more awake teenager slipped on his brown dress shoes to finish his uniform and sighed, looking back at the empty house. "I'm heading out," he said to no one, grabbing his bag and opening the door to head out into the world.
"Yukimura-kun, we're heading to karaoke after class. Do you want to come along?"
An invitation to hang out? He hadn't received one of those in a while. He turned towards the speaker, a girl in his class that he barely paid attention to. Though to be fair, he paid attention to pretty much nobody in his class, barely remembering their names some days. That he remembered hers at all was saying something, never mind the fact that they somewhat regularly spoke to each other. Black hair done up in twintails long enough to go down to her slim waist, pale fair skin, red eyes, a cute face and a nice figure wrapped up in the standard Kuoh Academy female uniform. She wore an optimistic expression, probably hoping she'd be the one of the few to get him to say yes after an almost infamous track record of refusals.
"Sorry, Kutaragi-san. I was planning on studying today. Thank you for the invitation though. Maybe next time?" And just like that, the optimistic expression became one of disappointment. Shame too, any other day and he might have taken her up on the offer. Not today though. That familiar burning feeling he felt underneath his skin was starting to make itself known. He had no time for any extracurricular activities. Alright, that was technically untrue. He had time for one but it wasn't one he'd be inviting any classmates too anytime soon.
"You always say that. Studying all the time, doing classwork during lunch while eating alone, never really hanging out with anyone, you're wasting your youth, you know!" she finished with a frown, hands on her hips.
What a troublesome girl. If she could tell he wasn't being truthful about his intention to study couldn't she at least grasp that maybe he had something better to do? Well, whatever. He had already decided what he was doing today and there was nothing that could dissuade him. But appearances must be kept after all, so he put on as charming of a smile as he could muster before speaking, trying to let her down as gently as possible. "I know, I know. I'm just thinking about my future, okay? Next time, I promise." He smiled a bit inside as he saw her cheeks flush before she sighed.
"Fine, but I won't let you get out of it next time, no matter what. Don't forget that, Yukimura Shiki!" she finished with a smile before walking away, appeased by his promise of a "next time". And with that, his evening was no longer in danger. He thanked her once more before grabbing his belongings and doing his best to not just rush out of the classroom before anyone else could try to invite him to some other get-together.
CRUNCH
"FUCK! You little fucking brat, I'll kill you!"
"Yeah, yeah, "I'll kill you", "you're dead", can you third-rates get some new lines if you have to open your stupid mouths? Or should I break those too so I don't have to hear your squawking?"
A young man stood proudly in front of three would-be gangsters in a narrow alleyway, one of which he had just knocked flat on his ass. He had to travel pretty far downtown in Kuoh Town to find someone that looked like they could be goaded into a fight and he thought himself lucky when he came across three fairly tough-looking guys. 'Shame they're complete garbage. All flash, no substance. Same shit, different day.' Shiki thought to himself as he watched the older man rise to his feet. Looking at the man's face he didn't even bother to hold back a smirk. Broken nose, blood pouring from his nostrils, eyes wide with rage, the picture perfect image of a man defeated. 'Time to end it and go home. This wasn't much fun at all.'
"Your mother's not going to recognize your fucking face when I'm done with you!" the thug screamed before charging, hands balled into fists and ready to lay into the "brat" standing in front of him. A rush forward, no thinking, no planning, just pure burning anger and a need to rearrange the face of the kid that was currently beating his ass. He didn't get very far, a clumsy punch thrown met with a blazing fast counter to his temple and he was out like a light, dropping like a sack of bricks onto the street pavement. He hadn't even had a chance to dodge, one second the brat's fists were resting at his sides and the next all he knew was blissful unconsciousness.
"Mm, that was some nice feedback from that last hit. I was wrong about you, trash. You were good for one thing at least." the young man gloated over his unconscious opponent, though to call him an "opponent" would be a stretch. "Unwitting punching bag" would be a better choice of words. "Oi, Idiots 1 and 2 in the back!" Shiki barked at the two men watching in a mixture of surprise, fear, and awe as their leader went down, almost laughing when the duo turned to him and looked ready to run for it. "Grab your friend and leave. I'm not interested in any of you anymore." When they hurried to follow his orders he actually did laugh, even more so when they left and one of them yelled that they "wouldn't forget this!"
"Yeah, whatever. Do your best to remember it, losers. Don't ever forget it because God knows I will. What a boring fuckin' scrap." Shiki muttered bitterly to himself, running a hand through his messy brown hair out of frustration. "I go through all the effort to run home and change out of my school uniform to be inconspicuous, I walk all the way to one of the rougher parts of town and what's my reward? What do I get out of it? A shit fight! I looked forward to this all day too!" he finished angrily, kicking a trash can over before stomping out of the alleyway in the opposite direction the three wannabe gangsters left. No one gave him a second glance and it was fortunate they didn't, his mood had worsened enough already and he didn't trust himself not to bite the head off of anyone that looked at him funny on his trek back home.
'Should have just fought all three of those jack-offs at the same time. Might've at least made me work for it a bit more.' he thought, stopping in front of a convenience store. 'Might as well pick up something for dinner, I don't feel like cooking tonight. Mood's already shit, I don't need burnt food on top of it.' Stepping forward and through the parting automatic doors, he entered the shop and made a beeline for the frozen foods aisle.
Wrenching open the door to one of the freezer cases with more force than necessary he grabbed whatever caught his eye and threw it into the basket he picked up at the entrance. Fried chicken, onigiri, fried rice, he didn't pay it much mind, more preoccupied with his own thoughts than giving attention to what he'd be eating for dinner. 'At this rate I oughta just try starting shit outside of of Kuoh again. Starting to feel like there's nobody left in this town I haven't beat.' Closing the door shut, he turned and began his walk to the register. 'Maybe this Sunday? I don't have anything planned anyway, could at least give it a shot.' Standing in front of the checkout counter he began pulling his dinners out of the basket, passing them to the uninterested clerk to scan and bag them. 'If nothing else it gives me a reason to get out of Kuoh.' he thought before reaching down and grabbing two chocolate bars off one of the counter's shelves, putting one on the countertop and letting the cashier know he was buying two before using his teeth to rip the wrapping off of the one he held onto and taking a bite out of it. The familiar taste on his tongue always brought a smile to his face no matter how shit the mood. Chocolate truly was a gift.
One cash transaction and a mumbled thank you through a mouthful of chocolate later and he was out, plastic bag in hand. Unfortunately before he could continue his walk home in a slightly calmer state of mind he was approached by what he could only describe as one of the weirder girls he had ever seen. Short brown hair with two symmetrical tufts on the left and right sides, almost resembling wings, sharp gray eyes with ruby red lipstick. Her outfit was just as weird, a dress having some sort of bat theme or motif to it. Before he could even ask her what she wanted she offered him a flyer, likely an advertisement to wherever she worked. He took it unthinkingly and would have offered a half-hearted thanks in exchange if she hadn't just smiled and walked away immediately after he took it.
'This town's full of weird people, swear to God. I mean, not like I can talk but still. At least she was cute.' Shiki thought as he turned over the piece of paper in his hands. "We grant your wish!" stamped above some weird occult-looking circle, likely some sort of business icon, logo or form of branding. 'Yeah right, what a load of shit. You can't make my wish come true any more than anybody else in this town, lady.' Resolving to just throw the flyer away when he got home, he shoved it in the plastic bag containing his dinner and continued on walking. 'And that's lookin' less and less likely by the day.'
'It's days like this that make life feel so… boring.' Shiki thought to himself morosely as he walked across the pedestrian overpass on his way home. 'Wake up, go to school, work hard, try and find some fun, be disappointed, go home. Is this what the rest of the year's gonna be like? Next year? After I graduate, until I'm a full-fledged "adult" and working some boring job I hate just to get by?' He hoped not. Winding up a salaryman, dressed in some ridiculous suit and tie, going to work stuffed in a train car with a bunch of others just like him, slowly working himself to death every day just to carve out some meager existence for himself. No, not him. Never him. He had enough experience with that sort of life from his parents and he'd be damned if he went down that road. 'Maybe I'll give the pro fighting scenes a shot. There's definitely a higher level of talent there than running the streets. Might be exciting.' So caught up in his thoughts about his future that he didn't notice a girl calling out to him. It was only when she raised her voice that he finally snapped out of it.
"YUKIMURA-KUN!"
Shiki spun around on the balls of his feet, not recognizing the voice and cursing himself for being so in his own head that someone could so easily sneak up behind him. He was met with the sight of a stunning girl, almost breathtaking with the setting sun behind her. Jet black hair long enough to reach her waist, wide and innocent violet eyes, a hint of a blush on her cheeks, mouth set in a bright smile from finally getting the boy's attention. A dark red jacket over a white undershirt with a bow and a green skirt. The chest area of her jacket in particular stretching to accommodate her more than generous assets. 'There has got to be something in this town's water that makes those that huge.' he thought idly, eyes falling to the young woman's breasts before he snapped them back up to her face. He didn't need the trouble that came along with being caught staring, even if chest was enormous. He did note that he hadn't seen this girl's uniform before but wrote it off as her being from a school he was unacquainted with. "Hello. Do I know you?" He replied, trying to dredge up as much politeness as he could despite his dismal mood.
"U-um, no, you don't. But you're Yukimura Shiki, from Kuoh Academy, aren't you?" Red flags, red flags everywhere. Complete stranger walks up to him, seemingly seeking him out, knowing what he looked like, his name, his school and quite possibly his route home. He gave a cautious nod, careful to not the polite smile slip from his face as he kept a careful eye on this girl. She sighed and smiled a bit more, looking relieved. "Thank goodness. My name is Amano Yuuma and I-I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone?" the girl finished a bit loudly, looking embarrassed.
'Don't be a stalker, don't be a stalker, don't be a stalker. Fuckin' hell, is this some sort of divine punishment for complaining about my awful day?!' Shiki screamed internally. Oh how he'd love to just cut this conversation now and run for it. This Yuuma chick wasn't even from his school so it's not as if he had to worry about any rumors or damaging his reputation, but there was no telling what she might do if he pulled a stunt like that. Best to give her an answer in the kindest way he could and see where things go, hopefully anywhere but south. Hopefully in any way that didn't involve her pulling a knife before proclaiming her undying love for him. "No, I'm not. Why?"
"I'm glad then!"
'Okay, that's kind of rude to say. Kinda messed up to ask a guy if he's got a girl and then say you're happy when he says no. And judging by the way it looks like she's trying to stop herself from panicking I think she just heard it the same way I did.'
"Wait, that's not what I mean! C-can I please try that again?" Yuuma asked him, making him smile a bit more genuinely before giving her a nod. Poor girl really was trying hard and it was endearing in its own way. "Thanks." She took a breath to calm herself and began again, "I've seen you walk through here a few times, and I thought you were really cute. So, um, would you please go out with me?" And there it was, the question he was hoping she wouldn't ask. He didn't particularly enjoy what he'd have to do next but he also really didn't need anybody hanging around him, looking too closely into what he does or where he goes. It's why he spent his entire high school career staying in the middle of the pack, never dipping too low or soaring too high above the average, just blending in.
"Look, Amano-san..."
"Please, call me Yuuma."
And she's forward too. Great. "Yuuma-san. You're cute and I'm touched that you would ask me out. Unfortunately, my studies occupy a lot of my time and I don't really have the time to dedicate to a relationship. I'm sorry but I'll have to decline." There, done, short and to the point. Now all that was left to do was hope she's the type to take rejection well.
"O-oh. I see. All right, I understand." And now she looked almost ready to cry. Dammit all. Give him a grown man wielding a lead pipe trying to crack his skull open, he could deal. Give him three drunk college kids on vacation and looking for a brawl, he could deal. Give him some wannabe yakuza-type with a katana trying to split him from balls to brains, he could deal. Put a crying girl in front of him and the calm, collected facade he worked hard at crumbled to reveal the socially inept teen he actually was. Why couldn't he take to acquiring tact the same way he took to fighting?
"That's not to say I wouldn't have time in the future!" Okay, leading on a half-truth. He'd have time in the future, true. Didn't mean he'd be looking for a relationship then either. "I just really need to focus on school at the moment. You know how it is." God, please let her know how it is. Just don't start crying. He might really do something stupid if she does, like actually agreeing to a date just to make her stop. "I'm really sorry." Good, stop there now. No more words, you've done enough damage.
"Y-yeah, I get it. I'm sorry for wasting your time." Yuuma said before turning her back towards him, hands behind her back. No waterworks, thankfully. Shiki smiled awkwardly and bowed his head.
"Thanks for being so understanding, and I'm sorry. Maybe some oth-"
"I'm also sorry that you're set on investing time in a future you won't get to experience."
What.
Yuuma spun back around quickly to face him, smile going from cute, innocent and a bit downtrodden to cold, malevolent and mocking. Eyes that were bright before took on a cold, almost glacier-like look. Then the wings sprouted from her back and, for once his life, Shiki truly was at a complete loss for words as Amano Yuuma took to the sky, hovering several feet off the ground. "It's a shame too. If you had just said yes I'd have given you a pleasant memory. Oh well, my own fault for trying to be considerate of lesser beings. Consider this quick death a consolation prize."
What.
Faster than his brain could process she was in front of him, some sort of conjured up spear appeared in her hand. A spear that was quickly rammed into his stomach and out his back. Just as quickly as it had stabbed through him it was gone, disappearing as if it had never existed, leaving only a hole in his abdomen. There was no time to register the pain, no, it was more like he couldn't feel anything at all. Just weightlessness as he collapsed face first on the overpass, his bag of groceries dropping with him as blood gushed out of his open wound.
"If it makes you feel any better, none of this is your fault." What is she talking about. "The Sacred Gear inside of you, it's a threat to our organization. If you have to blame anyone, blame God for your misfortune." What the hell is this chick saying. This… this fucking bitch just stabbed him and, judging by the flapping sounds he could hear, is now flying off. Sacred Gear? Organization? God? None of that crap had anything to do with him so why the hell is he staring at the ground, bleeding out on the cold, unforgiving pavement?! Why was he dying?!
'No, no, no. Not like this.' Shiki thought to himself desperately. 'Anything but dying like this.' Cold, alone, no one to help him, no one to mourn him. If the circumstances were less dire he would have found it ironic. All of his life he pushed people away for the sake of chasing after whatever he wanted to do, never really giving a damn about how it affected others, but now when he's dying he'd kill for someone, anyone to be around. He didn't even message his parents to at least say good morning today. His stomach dropped, 'Oh god. Mom. Dad.' He wasn't ever going to see them again. The next time they saw him, he would be a corpse. Their only son, their only child, dead. It would destroy them. They spent their entire lives working to give him every opportunity they never had and he goes and dies on a goddamn bridge?
No. Not this way. He would not die in the streets like this, like a goddamn dog. No, he'd live. He'd live and he'd hunt down that winged bitch that gutted him and give her the same treatment. No grand fight, no enjoyment, no savoring the moment. Just run her through the same way she did him, only he wouldn't be so fucking stupid as to walk away before watching the light leave her eyes. And when the day came for him to die, to truly die, he'd do it on his own terms. A man's death. Not gutted by some piece of shit that thought so little of him they didn't even finish the job.
So caught up in his own thoughts, gradually transitioning from misery to becoming infuriated at the circumstances of his death that he didn't notice the flyer he had received earlier that day fly out of his bag and into the air before what could only be described as a magic circle appeared before it. It was only when the light emitted from that magic circle became unbearably bright even to his dimming sight that he noticed it, struggling to turn over and see what the hell was going on.
For the second time in the past few minutes or so he was astounded as he watched a girl appear slowly as if out of thin air. His sight was steadily getting worse as he lost more and more blood but he could recognize two things about whoever it was standing in front of him: she wore the Kuoh Academy female uniform and her hair was an incredible shade of crimson, one that could put his lifeblood to shame with its luster. He could have sworn he knew of a girl at the Academy with hair that color but he was no longer thinking clearly, only having the strength left to latch onto a single thought. 'I don't want to die today.'
"To summon me personally, you must have an incredible will." the girl spoke, not yet turning to face the dying young man. "Though in the future I would heavily suggest against calling upon any of us in public, but I suppose considering no one but us is around I can forgive it this once. So, what is your wish?" she finished, turning around gracefully before her eyes went wide with shock as she took in the sight before her. "You?! I hadn't expected this, or that they would make such a bold move. I suppose in a way that's my fault." she began, walking over to him before kneeling down, looking into his listless eyes while cradling his face. "Don't worry though, you won't be dying here." Shiki faintly felt the sensation of something being placed on his chest but he had no idea what and not the strength to move his head and see what was being done to him. "I'll gladly accept you. In exchange, please live for me."
The last words he heard before his vision finally failed him and the world went dark.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP BE-
'Ugh, my head is killing me. What the hell happened yesterday?' Shiki thought to himself as he flipped the switch to turn his alarm off, wincing at the movement. His head was throbbing and every part of his body felt sore. Shitty dream too. He dreamed he died, stabbed in the stomach and left to bleed to death on an overpass. Thinking about that nightmare wasn't doing his head any favors, thinking in general only seemed to make the pounding feeling worse. The last time he had felt this awful was the night he figured out how to pick the lock on his father's liquor cabinet. 'But I can't have gotten wasted last night, I actually woke up in my bed instead of on the bathroom floor.' he thought with a bit of humor.
The amusement at his own joke quickly disappeared when he heard someone else's light breathing. Someone else's breathing in his bed. He fought down feelings of panic, moving as slowly and as carefully as he could to slide out of bed without awakening the home intruder. Getting his feet on the ground he scrambled to move across his bedroom quickly and quietly, debating between checking his closet to see if he had a bat or to go at whoever was in his bed with his fists. His decision was made for him when his ears picked up a soft moan and the ruffling of his blankets, balling his hands into fists and getting ready to swing the moment whoever the hell this was raised their head. He got the shock of his life when they did, because "they" was a she.
He had seen a lot of attractive girls in his life. Hell, at Kuoh Academy it must have been some sort of unspoken requirement that every girl accepted be cute, minimum. This one though, looking at her was almost enough to make him forget to breathe. A face that was just the right combination of cute and drop dead gorgeous. Shining blue eyes. Pink, soft-looking lips. Long, magnificent red hair and smooth snow-white skin, skin he saw a lot more of when she moved to sit on the edge of his bed, cover discarded, revealing everything from her large breasts down all the way to her long legs that seemed to go on forever. Just seeing her was enough to make him freeze up but the realization that she was naked shut his brain down, only restarting when she spoke, smiling at him.
"Good morning."
Now if only he could remember how to speak instead of making incoherent choking sounds. Things only got worse when he felt a sudden draft and he looked down, finally realizing that he too was naked. Entirely nude. In front of a gorgeous girl that was equally as naked in his bed. He took a long, deep breath and finally managed to force out a response, not looking up the entire time while moving his hands to hide his manhood from sight. "Good morning." Good start. "Do you know where my clothes are?" Probably should have just stopped at the morning greeting.
Mystery Girl laughed before giving her reply, "The ones you were wearing were ruined after last night." Brain shutting down again. Did she mean that in the way he thinks she means that? Did he have sex last night? Wild, clothing-destroying sex? Did he lose his virginity to this girl who's name he couldn't recall in an act he couldn't remember? She continued on, heedless to all of the questions running through his head, "You were hurt pretty badly. It's a good thing I arrived when I did, otherwise you may not have made it." Hurt? Him? Never. From what he remembered of yesterday he came out of that fight without a scratch. "Last night wasn't a dream. You really did die."
He would have laughed in her face at that last bit if he could. Dying? Seriously? But at the word "die" everything came rushing back to him like a dam bursting. That girl, Yuuma, asking him out on a date. Turning her down. Black wings. Being stabbed and left to perish. Hearing someone speaking to him but being unable to make out what the words were. Finally blacking out, thinking he had died. But that couldn't be real, that was just ridiculous. He was just remembering some stupid dream that he had the night prior. Human beings don't have wings, they can't summon weird energy spears, and they certainly don't come back from the dead. There was no way he could believe that. His head slowly rose and when he made eye contact with the girl sitting on his bed she spoke again. "We haven't been properly introduced. It's nice to meet you, Yukimura-kun. My name is Rias Gremory and I'm a Devil. May I call you Shiki?"
He brought a crazy girl home. Figures.
Author's Note: Giving writing a try for the first time in years. Won't fluff up the word count with an overly large author's note, here are the bare essentials: Issei-replacement fic, OC protagonist, canon events that I include in the story are liable to being rearranged as I see fit (as you've probably already noticed), (probably) harem pairing but it'll be a gradual thing. If any of that isn't your cup of tea, you may want to leave. Or stay and see if I can change your mind, that's fine too. Anyway, read and review, tell me what I did wrong, what I did right, what interested you, etc. Have a nice day.