It was the day after the duel, and everyone still had it concreted in their brains on how one sided the fight really was. Issei opened his eyes to see the spinning ceiling fan above him. He quickly turned to his clock and saw he had another hour till it was time to get to school.
Quickly getting up, he slowly walked towards the bathroom to start to get ready.
He was still fatigued from him starting his training again, he expected it too. Even if he could heal broken bones and injuries, it didn't mean that energy and stamina would be restored. No that was something he had to recover on his own time.
He recently had been thinking about Akeno, he admitted it to himself that she was unique and what it meant to him. He knew he needed to talk to her and pick her brain a bit, before he decided his course of action.
A part of him knew, if everything went well and he decided to do what he originally thought. There would be no going back whatsoever, if he was to let her inside, past his walls. That meant she had the potential to change everything he ever considered.
He wasn't opposed to change either.
Change was what drove people further, however it was the same fact of change that scared him.
Like everyone says, everyone fears the unknown. Whether it be devil, fallen angel, angel or humans. Everyone fears what they do not know or understand.
It is simple as that.
However, Issei wasn't really afraid of the unknown. No he anticipated it and grinned at the thought of it. It was a challenge for him, to overcome the prospect of what was to come. Like overcoming the obstacles that were laid ahead.
He would do just that.
Before he knew it, both Raynare and Kalawarner had already were awake and downstairs. It was obvious that they didn't know what to think of Issei's new behavior, however even they couldn't deny something was amiss.
They'd just have to wait and see.
Before anyone of them knew it, it was time to head to school. None of them knew what today would hold.
As they arrived in front of the gates, Issei instantly knew they were being watched. It was obvious to him that the devils saw his power and was no doubt weary of it. He chuckled on the inside, they had no reason to fear him, as long as they didn't provoke him.
If they did, then he would tear them apart.
However, he felt something else. It wasn't fear or nervousness. He looked up to see none other than Akeno, looking at him with an intense stare.
Like she was trying to see through every wall and mask he wore, to get to the truth.
It was interesting to Issei to say the least, for her to want to find out what was underneath him, was something unheard of. At first he may have hated that idea, but now, he didn't really care anymore.
So many things have changed, and this girl was something new and intriguing to him.
His thoughts however, were abruptly interrupted as he suddenly got tunnel vision and very dizzy. Quickly falling on one knee he gasped for breath as everyone around him saw it.
Akeno saw it from atop the roof and wondered what was going on. She knew he wasn't faking it, and a part of her was worried.
However, she didn't know yet just what he meant to her. She planned to talk to him again to get a better feel for her feelings, and if they were genuine, she would act upon them.
That's when the two girls rushed to him and picked him up.
"Are you alright?" She heard.
She saw Issei sighed and wave his hand, Akeno narrowed her eyes as she saw his expression.
He was hiding something.
"Just help me walk, I will be fine." He said quickly.
Both Kalawarner and Raynare took an arm and put it around their shoulders.
"How stupid can I be? How could I forget?" Issei cursed himself.
Akeno saw him shaking his head, her interest was only increased as the bell rang.
{Scene Break} {Lunch}
Issei was cursing himself the whole day for his stupidity. He knew what was wrong and how serious it was.
In short, he had too much energy.
His powers were balanced, they had to be. Or else the consequences were severe, and this was the start of them.
In his fight with Riser, he went half demonic and flooded his system with demonic energy, leaving his energy unbalanced. He usually needed to release the energy in order to balance it out.
However, he forgot to.
That's why he found himself once again atop the room in a meditating position. He knew he couldn't release it all at once, so the whole day he was leaking small amounts, nothing harmful though.
He now, was going to filter the rest out to balance it out.
However, before he could even do anything, he heard the door behind him open.
He was expecting her to come, honestly he knew she would come.
Akeno stared at him for a long minute before walking up to him.
"I knew you'd come to find me." He said quickly.
Issei stood up and stretched, it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to release the rest of his energy that needed to be. The moment Issei turned around to see Akeno, her eyes widened as she saw his features.
He was pale, almost like he was sickly.
"What happened to you?" She quickly asked, worried.
She was worried, for someone like Issei to suddenly show up to school like this, it was something to be worried about all right.
"It's kind of complicated." He shrugged.
Akeno snickered and looked at him.
"Well we got all of lunch to talk, so tell me what's going on." She said quickly.
Issei looked at her and chuckled, but nonetheless nodded.
"To start, what do you know of how my power exactly works? I don't think you ever really heard of it." He started.
Akeno shook her head and replied.
"Not that much, besides the fact that you are a nephalem." She said.
Issei nodded and started to speak.
"Well I'll start with this, my body is basically reacting like an immune system to overexposure of energy, and this is the result." He said quickly.
Akeno looked surprised at that, and worried at the same time.
"What do you mean overexposure?" She asked quickly.
Issei sighed and replied to her.
"My power has to be balanced, the demonic and holy energies ratio to be exact. When one is too high, this is the result. Well this is the demonic's result. It's corrosive and makes me sick, weak, and tired. When the fight with Riser peaked and I went into my half form, I flooded my system and I forgot to release my energy to balance it back out. So today, I've been releasing small harmless amounts, I'm sure you noticed it, a few traces of small demonic energy. Whiffs here and there. Basically my body is literally trying to get rid of the energy by itself, but it can't. That's why it's like an immune system, when I'm sick, it usually means my energy is out of wack and unbalanced." He explained.
Akeno gasped and widened her eyes and she digested the information that was told to her. It made sense, demonic and holy energies didn't mix, and with him being both species it was expected for them to have to be balanced or they would clash with each other.
Slowly, her feelings started to become clear to her, however, she wasn't totally 100% sure yet.
"That's sad to hear, what's it like?" She asked suddenly.
Issei was confused by what she said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
She sighed and spoke up in a soft tone.
"What's it like to be a part of two opposing species, and knowing that you don't really have a place? I know somewhat it feels like, I was outcasted by my own family for having fallen blood." She said.
Issei widened his eyes after hearing her question, he wasn't expecting that at all.
He quickly sighed and sat down.
"I'll be honest, it's tough. Your right when you say that I don't really have a place. Both devils and angels alike despise my existence, and because of that I'll never be accepted by them. That's all I really wanted honestly, however I knew it was a futile wish." He said softly.
Akeno was thrown for a loop again, to think there was so much despair rooted in Issei. It baffled her to no end, something needed to happen. Her feelings were concreted now.
She decided then, that she would do her best to uncover the real Issei.
She wasn't about to rush this either, she needed to ease her way and slowly get Issei to realize it himself.
Issei was shocked beyond belief as Akeno grabbed him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a embrace.
"Don't say that, there are ton's of people who accept you, including me. You're not alone." She said softly.
Issei didn't know what to say, she just kept shocking him more and more. The only thing he could think to do was just sigh and accept what was happening, it's not like he didn't want her hugging him. No it was the opposite, he already accepted that. It was just the fact, she kept surprising him more and more.
She would surprise him even more soon.
"Thank you." He said softly.
She nodded and pulled away, but she stopped a bit. He wondered what was going on, he felt her leave his personal space, since his eyes were closed, he couldn't see what she was doing.
That's when he felt something press against his cheek.
His eyes flew open and his mouth was agape, Akeno looked for any signs of hate, rage or rejection in his features.
It was evident by his blush, that those weren't present.
Akeno gave a bright smile as Issei looked up at her, it seemed she made some progress.
Issei on the other hand was shell shocked, he watched Akeno's retreating form with a slight smile and a blush. It was obvious now to him, she didn't just interest him.
However, he wasn't ready yet.
He needed to clear the air a bit and sort his feelings out, before anything happened between them.
For now he just sat back down in his meditating position and started to balance his energy again.
He needed to make sure that it was balance, for what was to come in the near future.
He needed to be ready.
{Scene Break} {Evening}
Issei found himself walking home currently, with Kalawarner and Raynare by his side. They looked at him worriedly, however, a part of them knew something happened again today during lunch.
It was obvious by the far off looks and sudden blushes at random times, like he was recalling a memory over and over again.
"Issei care to explain why this morning you were extremely sick and now you look to have just a minor flu?" Raynare asked quickly.
Kalawarner turned to him as well, both of them wanted to know. That was a given, so he sighed and began to explain how his power worked and how it needed to be balanced.
Needless to say, they were shocked. To think something like that was possible, to them was unheard of.
"So let me get this right. Your holy and demonic energies need to be balanced, or you become sick until you release the energy needed to balance it back out?" Kalawarner asked suddenly.
Issei nodded.
Both of them widened their eyes, how could he forget to do something that important? They both thought incredulously.
Before anyone of them knew it, they had walked in the front door and saw Kai sitting at the counter as usual. The moment he saw Issei though, he stood up hurriedly.
"Ise? What happened?" He asked quickly.
Issei sighed and spoke up.
"Nothing Kai, just a overexposure of energy that I forgot to release." He said.
Kai sighed and shook his head, inside he smiled. Issei wasn't one to forget something that important, so something, or someone else was on his mind.
"Well, you know what to do." Kai said.
Issei nodded and stepped back a few feet. Raynare and Kalawarner watched closely as he glowed a red demonic color, but it started to rise like it was being evaporated, soon it vanished into thin air.
"That was me releasing the last of the energy." He said.
They nodded numbly, Issei went towards the counter to get something to eat. However, he stopped when the door was knocked on it.
Everyone looked to each other, they wondered if it was someone like Serafall, wanting information. Issei sighed and cursed to himself as he got up and walked towards the door.
Opening it, he revealed 3 people. 1 was very familiar, she was Asia Argento, in her usual clothes. However, the other two made him wonder what was up. However, one girl looked familiar, but he couldn't figure it out.
"Issei!" The light brown haired girl said happily.
Issei furrowed his eyebrows.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" He asked seriously.
The other girl turned towards him and spoke up.
"My partner, Irina said you were childhood friends and that you could help us out. We need a place to stay." She said in a professional voice.
Issei blinked and he felt a massive headache coming on.
Gabriel was up to something, wasn't she? He quickly thought.
Why have Asia travel with exorcists then?
That he didn't know, but he knew the moment he let them into the house, there would be a fight between Raynare, Kalawarner, and them. He also couldn't deny them either, or he'd most likely hear from Gabriel about it.
"Fine." He said through gritted teeth.
He turned around and walked inside.
"We got guests!" He said loudly.
Both fallen angels stiffened as they saw the three women walk in the room.
"Ise what's going on?" Kai asked quickly.
The exorcists glared at the other women in the room.
"Fallen Angels! Prepare to taste my blade!" The blue haired girl said suddenly.
She quickly took out her sword and lunged at them, however, her blade edge quickly ended up grasped in Issei's hand. He could only hold it for a few seconds before he had to let go.
An holy sword still affected him like any other devil.
Squeezing his demonic hand as he looked at them, he went to speak up, however the same girl interrupted him.
"How could you catch my blade that easily!? It should of completely sliced through your hand!" She shouted.
That's when she noticed his hand, it was in a partial transformation.
Irina instantly looked to where her partner looked and gasped.
"Issei! Your a devil?" She shouted.
Issei groaned and his eyes started to twitch, this girl. He remembered her alright, he was starting to get annoyed.
"What?" Asia squeaked out shocked.
Issei sighed and spoke up.
"You're right, I'm part devil, but you don't need to know the rest. Devils aren't all bad." He said.
"All devils should purged of existence!" The other girl shouted indignantly.
Issei glared at her.
"You really think Gabriel would like to hear about this?" He said quickly.
The three women gasped and looked shell shocked.
"You speak lies! Lady Gabriel would have no reason to speak with you filth!" She shouted.
Irina looked to the girl sharply.
"Xenovia silence!" She said loudly.
Xenovia just glared at her.
"Lies? Please, I've met Gabriel and Michael on several occasions." He sneered.
Only Kalawarner, Raynare and Kai heard the edge in his voice when he said Michael.
The other girls looked at him as he spoke.
"Now, you have a choice. Tell me the reason Gabriel sent you here, or I can send you back." He said loudly.
They all looked at Issei as he spoke.
Xenovia looked down, while Irina spoke up.
"We're here to deliver the holy maiden to a Rias Gremory to be apart of her peerage, Gabriel said it was like a peace offering. The other reason is to get back the Excalibur's Kokabiel stole." She said.
Issei sighed and palmed his forehead, these girls were dense as fuck.
"You do realize you have no chance of getting back those swords right? Not unless you have help." He said.
Xenovia glared at him.
"You really think we can't handle ourselves?" She shouted.
Issei glared at her and spoke up in a cold tone.
"Not against a cadre class, you are nothing but ants to him. He would wipe the floor with you in a second." He said lowly.
That shut her up.
"I suggest you request help from the Gremory princess when you bring the girl to her." He said.
Xenovia went to speak up, but Issei's glare stopped her.
"Your arrogance will be your downfall, you can stay here for the night. Only this night though, your room is upstairs." He said quickly.
He quickly turned around and walked upstairs.
From downstairs, they could hear the door slam loudly. It was obvious Issei was close to blowing a fuse.
They just had to hope that they wouldn't do anything foolish that would provoke him.
If they did, they wouldn't know what hit them.
