Hello, my good fellows. I'm Rosso Angelo.
So, I actually wrote and posted this story before, a long time ago, but when I thought it wasn't possible to keep writing it, I just stopped and erased it. Sorry about that, for all of those who were expecting me to update.
But now I'm back, and with a brand new version! I hope y'all like this.
Clarification: yes, the main protagonist of this story is an OC. No, he's not an overpowered God or something. And no, there's NO harem.
I do not own High School DxD, but I own this story.
Prologue – Hollow
Pure darkness engulfed the world, devouring everything and all. It was black, dark, undiscernable. Golden veins pulsated through its vastness, flickering in and out of existence as it ate the light. It was eating him whole too, creeping up his body and leaving him sick and bewitched in the belly of the beast. In that empty, hollow place, he lost perception of his existence.
He was and then he wasn't. The darkness was and continued to be.
Alive or dead… these words made no sense, did not have an impact on his fading consciousness, as he was becoming nothing. Or so he believed.
"Wake up, Ayame!"
The door of his room was kicked open, or at least, the intensity in the action made it sound as such. An annoying noise he could begrudgingly categorize as a voice came right after, as if making sure to disturb his sleep for good. He cracked his eyes open in answer. The morning sunlight peering through the balcony's window greeted him and rewarded him with its warmth. Said light forced him to blink a few times to adjust his vision. He stared at an unimportant direction, bleary mind and blurry vision mixed into the best combination to adorn his violent awakening.
A simple action such as waking up became a terrible chore. And even then, the real challenge was found in getting up from the bed, regardless of one's tiredness. Some did sooner than others. A good amount of people left their beds made a mess, prioritizing their daily activities. Others took their times to inspire a sense of order from their perfectly clean rooms.
He, on the other hand, wasn't any of those. If he actually got the will to get up, it would be a miracle for his room to even look presentable at all.
His daily activities weren't important. His room wasn't important.
Nothing was important at all, and he cared as much.
He breathed in one time. He suppressed a cough caused by the sudden air intake. His chest slightly burned, lungs aching as they accepted air in their embrace, but it didn't exactly hurt.
The boy raised his upper body with unnecessary difficulty. He sat on the bed. One of his hands lazily travelled across his face, moving pieces of sprawled hair out of his line of sight.
With tired, half-lidded eyes, he scanned the place he was in. A dull grey color was painted on the walls of what he dismissively called his room. Against a wall to the left, opposite to his bed, was a desktop with a somewhat dusty PC set with its respective keyboard, monitor and a CPU. Alongside it was a book-shelf full of books, all put in place, although they weren't arranged in a specific order that made it easier to find one specific work. The dark brown door leading to the closet was in a lonely corner of the room, filled with clothes that made the boy look more respectable than he actually was when he accepted to put them on.
Anything else was unimportant and went unnoticed to him.
His eyes travelled to where the door was. The light coming from the hallway brazenly made its way into a hermit's place of choice. The dark ambient and obnoxious atmosphere of a lazy teenager's room was illuminated for all to see and admire.
A smiling teenager stood beneath the door's threshold. Either because of tiredness or reluctance to acknowledge said teenager, his mind failed to register his appearance at first. His wild brown hair, completely messy and untamed, pointed in all directions with many split ends, and its length managed to reach his nape. His brown eyes, vibrant and joyful, made a good mix with the color of his mane. He was of average stature, although he held himself with energy and vigor.
He wore a black blazer over an unbuttoned white shirt with vertical black linings, and a red T-shirt underneath. His black pants were loose, baggy, and the only thing keeping them in place was a belt. The dark blue shoes he was wearing were clearly out of place, as he had to wear black ones instead.
In the darkness of the room, the boy in bed stared at his opposite with an unreadable face.
He pursed his lips slightly. A tired scowl transformed his otherwise expressionless facial features.
"Good morning, Issei," came out a calm voice, almost inaudible. "I believe I already told you to stop waking me up like this. It's kind of annoying."
He covered a yawn with his hand. Issei seemed openly impatient; he was nothing short of a little kid wanting to go to the candy store. That candy store was actually their school, and, of course, the candies were…
"You wouldn't even wake up if I didn't help you, and we gotta make better use of your time. As your brother, it is my natural duty to introduce you to the world of beautiful women and harems, Ayame! I'll search for each and every single pretty girl if I must just to show you that it's not a waste."
…Female students.
Issei stomped his way into the dangerous territory of a lazy teenager, avoiding clothes that had been thrown haphazardly on the ground.
Ayame flopped back on his bed.
His scowl became even more unsightly for a second. It was almost painful to hear his sibling's dirty rambling. Anyone with enough lucidity, which wasn't much to begin with, could instantly conclude Issei wasn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen. Or if he could be a knife at all.
He was more of a spoon. A well-rounded idiot, more or less flat and without any actual depth, so to speak. And that was being awfully nice with him.
"…Not everyone shares your exaggerated tastes in women, Issei," he groggily muttered as he kicked his blanket away. "Is this part of that dumb bet you made with your perverted lackeys? To see if I'm actually a closeted pervert?"
Issei's friends were equally annoying—and perverted—as him. They were quite skeptic about Ayame's lack of lecherous attitudes compared to his brother's everlasting and overgrowing obsession for the female body. It was obvious they wanted another pervert in their tribe of social rejects. The gloomy teen just wanted them to disappear from existence.
"N-No." Ayame idly noted the small pause in Issei's response despite his tiredness. He should have figured it was something like that. "I'm just trying to add some flavor to your life, you lazy ass. Without me here, you would probably die a virgin!"
That sounded worse if taken out of context, in a way.
Ayame got out of bed. His feet stomped the ground with more strength than he intended to. He cracked his neck to one side, then to the other. Standing straight, he was definitely taller than Issei by a couple of centimeters. The later was kind of self-conscious about the height difference. The taller brother didn't care, except to bully his sibling into silence when his rants about bountiful lands full of single women became too much for his ears to bear.
Issei approached his brother and grabbed him by his shoulders. "C'mon, bro! If we hurry we can probably peak on the Kendo club and come out unscathed-"
Issei's shoulders were grabbed in return by skinny, pale hands, cutting his sentence short.
"Do get out of my room. You can tell me about breasts and whatnot later," Ayame ordered without missing a beat. He forced Issei out of his room roughly as his little brother spouted dumb phrases about women's bodies and their assets.
The door clicked as it closed after his brother was gone. The brunet's voice became distant. Ayame was left alone in his dark room. His steady breathing and the morning light peeking from the window were his only companions left.
A sigh filled with exasperation escaped his lips involuntarily.
For some reason, he thought it would be a good thing if one day he didn't wake up anymore. It was easier to just disappear rather than pretend he actually had energy to spare.
Although, he still found some things very annoying. His brother and his innate stupidity was one, for example.
He went to his closet to get his school uniform. His blue shirt and white shorts were thrown away, the boy not particularly bothering to put them somewhere else that wasn't the floor. He put on a white with vertical black linings and edges, not different from his brother's, and over it, a black blazer too. Black pants completed the uniform. A brand-new belt slid through the gaps, adjusting the cloth tight against his thin waist. Black shoes completed the uniform.
Before going out, Ayame's sight fell on the nightstand alongside his bed; more specifically, the object resting on the nightstand. He grabbed it.
It was some sort of stylized scarf. It was pure black in color, with golden edges and small gold patterns going across it.
He felt the cloth's softness with his fingers. His darkened face features slightly relaxed.
"Can't go out without you," he said to no one in particular, the tiniest hint of affection showing itself in his monotone voice. That scarf reminded him he actually could muster enough strength to do anything he proposed himself to, sometimes. Without it… well, he wouldn't be as eager to even go out.
Ayame neatly tied it around his neck, and stuffed its end inside his shirt in an ascot style.
He turned his head and stared at the slightly opened window of his room.
Reflected on the window's glass was the blurred image of a teenager. His wavy brown hair was long enough for it to brush his shoulders, and for some bangs to fall upon his face. His skin was sickly pale. It looked even more ghastly with the morning light of the sun passing through the window.
His brilliant blue eyes gleamed, even in the darkness of the room. If looked in a specific light, one could say they were even glimmering.
With nothing else to do in the place he would gladly use as his grave, he left the room.
He reached the dining room of the house in a matter of seventeen blinks—he did actually count—and was instantly greeted by two of the four people that bothered to even remember his name. Both his father, who was reading the newspaper of the day on the couch, and his mother, who was still making food, gifted him with the usual "good morning, son".
Ayame numbly acknowledged their salutations with an imperceptible nod and sat down at the table, across his brother. That one was wolfing down his breakfast with a clear lack of manners, as usual. A look of neutral disgust flashed on the older teen. So many years on Earth and yet, the teen he had to call brother still couldn't understand that being slightly more tempered would get him less hits and less jabs his way.
Issei gave him a weird stare in the following moment, before speaking up.
"You stif werin' thaft scaff?"
The brunet could only answer him with an appropriate expression of annoyance before the other actually realized his failure in delivering a simple message. Ayame refused to answer savages who spoke with their mouth full.
Gulp-
"Sorry," he apologized with a silly smile. "Why are you still wearing that old rag? You will never conquer good women with that kind of clothing, dude!"
If Ayame took offense in that remark about his scarf, he didn't really show it.
"You don't usually throw away gifts, Issei," explained the brother while softly caressing the item. "Maybe when you receive something from someone that isn't mother or father, you'll understand."
Issei hummed, either ignoring or not understanding the subtle insult thrown at him.
"So, that thing is a gift," he unironically declared the obvious, rubbing his nose thoughtfully. "From whom it may be…"
After a moment of thought, he almost jumped from his chair in a rather dramatically dumb manner while gasping.
"Don't tell me a pretty girl with big breasts gave you that!" Issei's stupid conclusion rewarded him with an emotionless glare from Ayame. "And you even kept her away from me… Sharing is caring, dude! I thought we were brothers!"
Some said that silence was worth more than a thousand words. Issei's rambling was just testament of how much you can talk about things without any actual worth. Ayame's unnoticed silence said lots of unpleasant things that could only be detected by someone who spent more time listening and watching rather than talking.
"Don't be an idiot and pull conclusions out of nowhere. If all you're going to talk about is breasts and butts, I doubt you're going to interest any person with half a brain considering the amount of neurons you possess."
Issei's conclusion was dumb at best, but Ayame had no way of knowing either way. That scarf was a gift without a giver, or at least not one he could remember.
The clinking sound of a plate settled on the table caught his attention. Ayame's breakfast laid before him.
"There you go, sweetie." Ayame's mother, Nozomi, smiled warmly at him as she placed a kiss on his head. The boy's lips quirked upward briefly, and he decided to start eating.
He felt how his mother ruffled his hair.
"You should smile more often, Ayame. You're pretty handsome. I'm sure you could make lots of girls swoon with that smile of yours," she assured while giggling lightheartedly.
He stopped his fork midway and shook his head. "Thanks, but I don't want a girlfriend."
"Then," Issei spoke again with a rather dumb grin, "doesn't that mean that Ayame is-"
"I'm not gay."
The younger sibling in question huffed disappointedly at the dry answer. "You're super boring, Ayame. You must have a secret fetish or a guilty pleasure I can exploit, and I will make sure to discover it!"
Ayame shook his head disapprovingly. Their mother kept smiling warmly at the exchange before going back to her own matters. Both of them kept eating as they had their usual one-sided conversation. Issei would converse about something that could be considered dumb or useless, and Ayame would either accept his brother's quirkiness in silence or respond in a not very gentle manner. All in all, it was their normal brotherly show of love or so Issei would call it while Ayame frowned in disgust.
They eventually finished eating. The 4 family members stood before the entrance, 2 of them ready for school, and the other 2 ready to bid them farewell for the day.
"Have a wonderful day at school, my big boys." Nozomi gave them both a hug. Issei returned it with a somewhat embarrassed expression. Ayame seemed stiff, but he did the same immediately.
"Don't get in trouble, kiddos." The father, Haruto, advised in a friendly way as he slapped them on the back. "And Ayame, make sure Issei doesn't get beaten up by another group of lasses. Again."
"Following my desires is not getting in trouble!" said Issei in a matter of seconds in a futile attempt to excuse his perverted tendencies. "It's the natural thing to do for a teenager. Ayame is the one who should be in trouble for not acting like a normal guy!"
Their parents smiled at Issei's silliness. Ayame remained impassive before his brother's crude lecherousness, and decided to not respond.
With everything said and done, the siblings went to school.
- ~DxD~ -
Before Ayame stood tall and towering the edifice of Kuoh Academy. A previously all-girls school that started to allow male students in its enclosure just in time for his parents to enroll him there.
Issei had already skittered away, stalking beauties and lecherous dreams, leaving him to his silent contemplation of the place.
The place was quite colorful, he had to admit. The main building was grand and beautiful. The students were all different and unique, so much a newcomer could even end up memorizing their name and appearance with enough time spent wandering halls and a sprinkle of socializing.
However, and that's where Ayame's dislike for the place stemmed from, the otherwise elegant buildings were the home of hormonal, gossiping teenagers, and it was absolutely asinine if you weren't accustomed to the antics of said teenagers by being one yourself. Ayame had the misfortune of being too laid-back in a place where people were anything but decent. Or, in his beastly brother's words, 'too boring'.
Combine the hormonal teenagers with the fact that the school was pretentious to no end, and you got an exotic mix of something that could accurately be described as a place for fancy-pants people with a collective intelligence that couldn't greater than a monkey's.
Luckily for the teen, he was very skilled in the art of not being a retarded clown. He wasn't going to stand out at all and bring unwanted attention to himself, unlike Issei, who had already earned the moniker of the 'Perverted King' and was well known in school grounds for the worst kind of reasons.
Sometimes, Ayame did feel kind of embarrassed when situations reminded him that he indeed had a disastrous, dislikable brother. Even his numb apathy towards the world couldn't get over the fact that Issei was part of a group called the 'Perverted Trio'. But, once he remembered that the problem didn't concern him, or tainted his inexistent reputation that much, he would end up forgetting about it rather quickly. At least until the next time his idiotic sibling got illegally beaten on school's grounds by a crowd of angry women.
It was good Ayame only had one year left in that joke of a school. It was just a matter of time before he left that useless, boring part of his life behind. And then… he would get to the next meaningless milestone.
He flickered his gaze around, finally bored with his observations. The source of most of his anxieties hadn't changed much since he walked out of it the day before. Ayame dragged his feet towards the establishment and stepped inside.
The halls inside of his school were as rich-looking as always. The floors were polished enough to reflect the distorted image of any person who decided to look down, and the windows were big enough to allow as much light as possible to enter inside. A wite hue that reminded him of marble was plastered on the walls and gave a somewhat royal air to the place.
Without Issei pestering him, Ayame had the chance to admire the architecture. It was a good way to spend his time peacefully, trudging towards his class for the start of another painfully inconsequential day.
Of course, Issei wasn't the only annoyance he had to withstand on a daily basis.
There was a second annoyance, and it was a most unfortunate one, because that annoyance had just enough intelligence to tick him off whenever she felt like it. That second annoyance went by the name of-
"My, my, fancy seeing you here, Ayame-chan~"
…
…
…
…'Speak of the Devil and he shall appear', goes the saying.
Ayame also had a curse. He could invoke the things that annoyed him the most by thinking about them. That, or God found his struggling amusing enough to lead his feet towards the things and people that annoyed him purely because they existed and liked to remind him they did.
"I can barely contain my happiness about it, Himejima," responded Ayame with a bit of sarcasm and a special touch of irritation. "Also, maybe I'm suffering from a brain disease that makes me unable to remember things correctly, but I'm pretty sure we aren't that close for you to use my first name."
He didn't bother to turn around and face the owner of the voice that hummed his name so sweetly it was making him sick. Said owner giggled in a girly manner as she matched her pace with the boy's.
"C'mon, don't be like that. I think it's cuter than just calling you Hyoudou-chan~" she said in return. "We can make things even, and you could call me Akeno in return. You have to take responsibility if people get the wrong impression, though~"
Ayame's eyes scrunched slightly as a thought flashed across his mind.
'I'll carve you open and throw you in the nearest river.'
Of course, he wouldn't do that. That was way too messy and way, way too merciful for the woman in question.
"Ayame-chan, you're thinking about bad things again~"
"I have no clue as to what you're talking about," he shot back.
He stopped walking and snapped his neck in her direction. The girl talking to him was indeed beautiful. Her raven black hair was tied with a yellow ribbon on the back of her head, producing a stark contrast that attracted the eye. The interesting violet color that adorned her eyes gave her a mysterious aura as she analyzed him. Even the female uniform he was so accustomed to seeing was worn a lot better by her than other girls, and her figure just accentuated that natural beauty.
The aforementioned uniform consisted of a white long-sleeved buttoned shirt, with black vertical linings all over it, a black cape over her shoulders with white edges, a matching buttoned corset of the same color, and a magenta-colored skirt. Around her neck there was a black ribbon, the last part of the Academy's dress code that both Ayame and Issei decided to break without a second thought.
She was Akeno Himejima. She was famous for being one of the most beautiful girls in school.
One of the most beautiful girls? Sure, he couldn't really argue with objective facts.
A pain in Ayame's ass? Absolutely.
Akeno just decided to appear in his life one day and began to passively harass him. The boy didn't understand her reasons for doing so, and he wasn't particularly eager to investigate either way.
"If you want to elicit some funny reaction, then I'm clearly not the best candidate for your personal entertainment," he told her, face betraying no emotion whatsoever.
"Hmmm? Oh, no, no, Ayame-chan. You got it all wrong," she assured while dismissively waving a hand. "I'm not trying to make you angry or something. I do enjoy talking with you, since your reactions can be quite cute and unique~"
She got slightly closer, and spoke in a whispery voice. Her breath tickled his neck and he wanted nothing more than to sidestep her and get out. He held his ground nonetheless for he knew he would simply elicit amusement out of her if he did anything to show she made him uncomfortable.
"Besides, you actually look at me in the eye while we're talking, unlike some guys I know." The smirk and the sneaky wink she dedicated to him were enough to make him feel twitchy.
Ayame looked at no particular direction as his lips quirked upwards in a small, pained smile. "I'm starting to believe this world feels delight in punishing me. It's one dumb thing after another."
Akeno giggled again as if everything Ayame said was joke material. "Don't be embarrassed, Ayame-chan. Any other person would have blushed at being called cute~"
"Well, I'm not any other person." His smile disappeared, replaced with an expressionless face again. A tactical retreat was in order and he couldn't wait to be out of her view and her reach. "As much as I want to enjoy your general existence around me, there's a class I need to attend. Goodbye."
Ayame felt a tug on his blazer as he tried to escape a fate worse than death. He was definitely failing.
"Ah, ah, Ayame-chan. I know that my beauty is making you lose your focus, but I think you're forgetting something." He could almost hear her smile between as she spoke lazily. "We're in the same class, Ayame-chan. If you paid more attention, you would notice me more often~"
Akeno couldn't notice, but Ayame's left eye was twitching.
Yeah, he definitely failed. He couldn't avoid the damned woman. What a torture.
- ~DxD~ -
"…And if you combine these, you'll get an acid salt. In this case, sodium hydrogen carbonate or NaHCO3 for short."
The chalk scratching the blackboard as the teacher wrote down chemical formulas and the constant scribbling of pens copying the content presented were the only sounds in the classroom.
Ayame enjoyed the gentle sounds thoroughly. No one was yapping. They were hunched over their notes, eyes flickering from the board to their chicken's scrabbles. His classmates had a hard time with chemistry. Most of them couldn't get a higher score than 70 percent on any test, not when they first shared desks in their first year of High School and certainly not now. Hence, the need they had of writing every single detail to at least get a passing grade later on.
He liked chemistry. Not the subject, of course. He liked the silence that came with chemistry class. One of the perks of having classmates that were 'living the life', but failed to pay attention.
Unfortunately, he also had to write. If he didn't do that, he would doze off and sleep, which meant his teacher would get angry at him and his classmates would actually realize he existed as more than a ghost lounging in the back of the classroom. It was a double-edged sword for a class to be so silent. Sleep was a sweet thought he had to reject with all his reason.
At some point, the teacher sighed and let his chalk fall noisily. "I suppose that's it for today."
A collective suspire of relief resounded across the classroom as everyone let go of their pens. "Now, settle down kids. I have your last test's results."
And just like that, relief turned into groans of exasperation.
Ayame sat with a straight back and a poker face—one he wore until it became his normal face—as he waited for the man to give him his test. He wasn't particularly preoccupied about it, given that he had tried to study. He got bored halfway and stopped to nap.
It was like a domino. With every test given, there was a groan, which made the next student flinch in anticipation, before repeating the sound louder, indicating failure or relief tainted with the bittersweet discovery that their parents were not going to be overjoyed with just passing grades. It was slightly amusing. They seemed aware of how bad their scores were before they even knew what they actually got.
The teacher approached Ayame. There was a short-lived silence as the teen observed the man who was bringing attention to his desolate and peaceful corner of the classroom.
"Good job, Hyoudou-kun. You got 97 percent," praised the man with a somewhat upbeat tone. "You tripped at some specific details, but aside that, your test was enjoyable to correct. I'm sure next time you'll get a perfect grade."
Ayame took that as a cue to smile.
"Thanks, sir."
And just like that, he stiffly retrieved his useless piece of paper with chemistry formulas orderly written on it.
Just when the man walked past Ayame, the latter's smile disappeared and was replaced with a slight scowl.
'Damned old fool,' he spat inside his mind. 'Say my name a little bit louder, and let everyone know Isse is the brother I would prefer to keep hidden.'
There wasn't much variation in the scores, with some people coming close to the 75 percent mark. It was almost pitiful. But of course, that didn't mean no one could get an actually decent grade.
"You're full of surprises, Himejima. You just keep getting better and better. You got 90 percent this time. Good job."
Ayame committed the error of diverting his attention towards the voice of the teacher. As the old man went away, the girl caught sight of the boy staring. She showed him her test while giving him a peace sign.
He visibly scoffed before looking away.
The classed passed by quickly. The bell rang all cross the school, signaling the end of a period. Almost everyone instinctively got up from their seats, ready to continue with activities they actually found interesting.
The eldest Hyoudou was just about to do that when an invisible force in the form of a high-pitched voice fell upon his shoulders, impeding his movements almost completely.
"Not so fast, Ayame-chan~" said the female pest. "I heard how big your score was. I might need the help of that cute little brain of yours to pass chemistry. Would you mind?"
He didn't bother to make eye contact. The pest didn't deserve his attention.
"You got 90 percent on the exam," he stated skeptically. "I'm pretty sure you're just asking for my help only to exert your ulterior motives, whatever they might be."
She showed a conveniently surprised expression. Akeno almost seemed like she was actually hurt. Ayame had the advantage of living with a buffoon every single day, so he had a knack to unravel clownish attempts to fool him. This was surely not the first from his brother or from her.
"No at all, Ayame-chan. I'm just an innocent classmate asking for you disinterested help~" cooed Himejima, clearly not trying to hide her dumb intentions, or maybe not having the ability to do so. "What could I give you in return for your oh-so mighty intelligence?"
Akeno ignored all the rules of personal space and put a hand on Ayame's shoulder. His mind screeched at the touch.
"Maybe I could give you food…"
She got slightly closer.
"…Or money…"
Her fingers started massaging his shoulder, dancing upon his black blazer and the muscles underneath. The boy could almost feel her sweet breath upon his skin, so close she dared to be.
"Or perhaps… you want… me?"
"Not in a million years."
Ayame shook her hand off of him.
"Go tell all of those things to your boyfriend or something, if you ever get one," Ayame told the girl, who didn't seem shaken in the slightest at the sudden change of tone.
She smiled again.
"My, my, Ayame-chan. Don't get too feisty with me because of a joke~"
He reclined on his seat. After some seconds of silence, he twirled his head on her direction. Dull-spirited blue eyes stared at her with an indiscernible look as brown bangs sprawled across his face.
There was a choked message in the air. The boy had lots of unpleasant commentaries to make, and he couldn't decide which one was more fitting for the conversation at hand. Before he was able to express himself, another voice overlapped over his malicious thoughts.
"Good morning, Akeno." The aforementioned girl's attention was drawn to the new partaker in the conversation. Ayame did the same.
It was another girl. A deep crimson color was the most eye-catching detail his mind had assimilated before anything else made sense. Her long, long mane was a shade of fresh blood, unnatural in all sorts of ways. Her hair cascaded down her back and sat atop her perfectly rounded shoulders, some bangs falling on her face. Despite being clearly unfixed, it had a perfectly recognizable form, as if it was already molded into that position, one which made sure to silently express the young woman's beauty constantly. Her skin was a stark white coat, smooth and silky, and her eyes, two emerald orbs. She was a mix of calm and passionate colors, all working in unison to make her appearance as remarkable as possible.
Quite funnily, Ayame didn't remember her name. He knew she was treated as some kind of celebrity in school grounds, but never bothered to investigate why. Beauty seemed to be the great reason behind one's power in his school. Yet again another fact that showed his classmates were all too hormonal.
"Good morning, Buchou," greeted back the raven-haired girl with her trademark smirk. "What may bring your highness to my humble classroom today?"
The other girl let out a lighthearted giggle. "Surely not just to enjoy your overdramatic responses, Akeno."
Ayame's presence became fully known moments later, which prompted her to follow her dialogue. "And who is this young man?"
"Oh, we're very good friends. His name is-"
"None of your business," interrupted the boy who remained silent until now. "Stop throwing my name around as if you're advertising my political campaign. We're not friends."
Both girls remained static at the dry response.
Akeno let out a very fake cough in her hand. "Don't mind his bold attitude, Buchou. He just expresses his shyness in a different manner. Quite the specimen he is~"
Ayame felt the twitches coming back to circle his eyes. "Don't treat me like a guinea pig."
Red girl put a hand beneath her chin, an understanding smile embellishing her face.
"…I see," she simply said. "Of course, it is natural to introduce myself first to know someone else's name."
She stretched out her right hand towards him.
"Rias Gremory. It's a pleasure to meet you," she spoke with an amicable smile.
The words slithered from her lips, a warm lilt accompanying each letter of her name and surname. It was welcoming, backed up with pride. Anyone could describe it as melodious, and Ayame would have imagined her as the Student Council President, one who spoke with authority yet didn't rely on it alone to add strength to her speeches; one who thought about others' words before delivering a nigh appropriate response.
Her voice was good, in a way. Enjoyable if one closed its eyes and listened intently, even.
However, it was… too good.
It sent shivers down his spine. It was like that voice was trying to get inside of his brain forcefully, disguising its true intentions by making him think it was just a guileless tone. He couldn't stand it. It was the voice of someone who didn't exactly mean what he or she said, much like Akeno's.
"I wish I could say the same," his unfitting response came out as he got up. "But, actually, no, I don't feel the same."
Ayame's hand never went to greet Rias'. The air turned awkward, and even Akeno had gotten strangely silent.
"I can see why Akeno enjoys hanging around you," said Rias while retracting her hand, smile still hanging on her face. "You're lacking in courtesy, but I suppose that acting respectful all the time would make interactions boring if there was nothing to talk about."
Ayame stuffed his hand in his pockets, walking past Rias.
"I'm not lacking in courtesy. I just don't have any reason to think you deserve my respect."
And quite anticlimactically, he left, cutting the conversation short.
They both remained completely speechless. Sounds of classmates talking near could almost be snuffed out by the uncomfortable silence that hovered over them. Rias crossed her arms, thoughtful.
"He has a higher awareness than most people. He seemed awfully quiet when I tried to give him a simple handshake."
Akeno hummed with clear interest on the find.
"Maybe that's the reason he doesn't like it when I'm around? Who knows~" Her upbeat tone of voice changed when her next thought was spoken aloud. "We do cause that kind of effect when we try to interact with people who either are too religious or those who have some kind of… natural affinity."
Rias bobbed her head to one side, wordlessly accepting Akeno's analysis.
"He doesn't strike me as a devout believer, so I'm bound to think he does have an affinity. Or untapped potential, if we want to go down that path," stated the redhead. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking…?"
The other girl shrugged. "As I said, who knows? It seems to be the most immediate explanation, but we're not going to know for sure if we don't keep an eye on him."
Akeno felt a hand on her shoulder. Rias was smiling again, charming her background audience all too easily.
"You seem to be acquainted with him already. I suppose I can trust you with that little mission, Akeno. We never know what kind of surprises we can find if we look hard enough." Her raven-haired nodded with subtle enthusiasm. Her smirk gave out what she obviously felt about the matter.
"Understood, Buchou," said Akeno as she gleefully accepted her task.
- ~DxD~ -
Ayame's days were mostly the same. Maybe there was some slight variations form time to time. Maybe he would talk some more or a lot less, depending on his mood and the annoyances that surrounded him. Perhaps he did talk with different people, or maybe he would do something different, or maybe he would go to a different place. Slight variations in a sea of monotony were still atrociously monotonous.
They were that. Unsubstantial changes in his routine that started and never seemed to end.
He was the same, everyone stayed the same, everything remained the same and he couldn't take it anymore. His rejection stemmed from nothingness, from a time he couldn't care to remember. The old garment he used too many times that was finally losing its once vivid, once beloved color. That delicious food with a wonderful taste that made him nauseous and gave him stomachaches, because he knew the flavor too well. Or that sweet perfume that made him wrinkle his nose at its putrid smell affecting his already overused nostrils.
All those things he had already tried blended into a mess of useless and uninteresting memories. Things he was getting tired of. And even if there was something 'new', he knew it would turn into another routine element of his life. Trying wasn't really appealing anymore, so he was stuck in a cycle. It was no different from a person watching its own life in the third person, a spectator constantly staring at its own body from afar, watching it do repetitive things for the sake of doing something, anything at all.
He felt… used. The world and its monotony was washing his colors and thoughts a dull grey.
The memory of the physicist Albert Einstein and one of his most famous quotes came to his mind. 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results'.
Ayame was aware that, no matter what he did, it would result in the same thing. He tried to not fall into that pool of repetitive insanity, but in consequence, he fell into another. One that, from afar, seemed like an infantile excuse to explain his lack of motivation. Yet, it went deeper than that.
Mental stability was far out of reach, belonging to those who cared and dared. The dullness his life was subjected to was maddening, and he accepted it with emotionless glee. It wasn't just frustration or sadness. It was a lack of sentiment. He wasn't even able to fake happiness, because there was no point. There wasn't anything to hide behind a false smile and pretty words. There was nothing.
If he hadn't had an ounce of respect for his worthless existence, Ayame would have thrown himself off a building a while ago to get it over with.
Looking at the other side of the coin with perverse tranquility, he also saw many flaws that impeded his plan to die on impact. Or prolonged the span of the miserable dark comedy show that was his life.
His parents would need to waste money for a coffin. His face would probably appear on the news, and he would be seen as a coward. Literally anyone else that wasn't him would be pitied and comforted, because no one cares about the dead. 'It's too late for him anyway' and stuff. His brother would cry and lose his shine, then bounce back because Issei was the very definition of a rubber ball. He would never stay down. He couldn't. He needed the light and the warmth of the sun, so he would stand again. Still, the time he would spend uselessly moping over a useless dead elder brother would sink his already passable grades, which would impede his future. It would worry his parents and they would all fret over a stupid death and a stupider existence they thought they knew.
Ayame's daily experiences were a vicious cycle. He didn't want to do anything because he knew it would be pointless. Not doing anything soured his mood even further, because he wanted to do something that actually made a big change in his meaningless day-to-day. This made him unable to definitely take that step forward to meet whatever was on the other side of life.
Ayame envied Issei in that regard. The later was so short-sighed he didn't need to think about lasting happiness and whatnot. He was just happy with carnal lust. An insatiable, superficial desire that would always leave him wanting for more.
The teen sighed. He looked around vacantly. Children and parents mingled in the somewhat full park where the swing chair he took as his own stood.
He found the children's playground numbly comforting. It brought him memories; times when he just enjoyed the present and wasn't pondering about things he didn't know how to fix.
The sky was darkening, the cloudy blue of the coming night mixing with the distasteful orange light of the hiding sun. It was getting late.
Ayame would have normally gone home with his younger brother by now. He felt slightly more susceptible than normal, which was the reason he decided to take a breath of fresh air.
He had enough of mindlessly admiring the scenery, though. His legs were starting to push him upwards, but…
He noticed a glimpse. There was someone staring at him, behind a tree. Peeking, there was a girl with raven-black hair curiously watching him from a distance.
'…You gotta be kidding me,' he thought drily.
Dealing with dumb shit on a daily basis was something he was accustomed to. However, there was a limit to his patience.
He grabbed a small rock on the ground. After calculating the shot a little, he threw the stone.
BAM!
"Kyah!"
It hit the tree, making a loud sound. The conspicuous stalker girl let out a surprised yelp and fell on her butt, making quite the ridiculous scene that Ayame had the misfortune of watching in all its glory.
Sighing, he got up and approached the girl with heavy steps.
He stared at her, unsure of what kind of insult he could use to express his annoyance.
"Who the hell are you? Why are you watching me?" he told her. "I don't exactly care about your weird fantasies or whatever is pushing you to stalk me, but I would appreciate if you directed it towards someone else."
After the initial shock, the girl seemed genuinely confused at Ayame's accusation. She stuttered some things as she struggled to get up.
"Oh, eh…I mean…I-I'm sorry…" she apologized, not actually managing to talk like a normal person. "It's just that… I…. T-This is not what it looks like…"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Explain yourself. Your answer will decide whether I go away or bother to keep listening to you."
She slapped the dirt away from her skirt and fiddled with her fingers.
"Eh… Well, my name is Yuuma Amano…" she said with the same nervous tone, albeit she kept some composure now. "I… I know it looks super weird for me to be watching you from afar, b-but… I do have a reason…"
"Which is?"
She looked down, unable to clear things up right away. After a bit of mental preparation, she actually spoke up.
"I'm… I'm in love with your brother!"
…
…
…
Ayame was, all things considered, pretty much impervious to almost anything. He just didn't care enough for anything to impact his conscience that much, no matter what it was.
But he was still a human. More or less functional, but a human nonetheless. Some things were able to make him question his own sanity, tickle his funny bone just a little, or just make him give up hope on humanity as a whole.
This situation managed to cause the 3 aforementioned effects on him, and he wasn't exactly sure which one was stronger.
"…You picked my interest, but I'm confused," he admitted while stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Why my brother? And most importantly, why are you telling me about this? I'm not Issei."
Yuuma started scratching her head with a quivering smile, seemingly trying to find the perfect explanation for such an unreasonable action.
"W-Well… I have been observing Hyoudou-kun for quite some time," she admitted. "I guess it's wrong to call it love just yet, but I like him. I like how honest he is with his feelings. I like how he doesn't back up from doing what he wishes, even if others tell him he's an idiot or such. And… well, he seems like a focused person. Maybe, if I make him fall in love with me, he will abandon his… perverted attitudes. Maybe he just needs someone who loves him in a way no one else does."
Ayame thought this girl was one of many idiots when he met her. And he was right, but she turned out to be an articulate idiot. Someone who actually believed her own lies.
'…Love. Yeah, right. As if such a thing made sense.'
The boy adjusted his scarf a little.
"You are aware that this is incredibly suspicious, right?" crudely said Ayame. "A girl I have never met in my life appears out of nowhere and claims she likes my brother, and I'm just supposed to believe it? What's more, why are you even telling me about this? Why should I care about your feelings?"
A faint blush could be seen on her cheeks. Her sight diverted to the ground again.
"I… I don't know how to approach him." Her voice lowered, product of embarrassment. "He's pretty straightforward, and I have the feeling he would be overjoyed if I told him my feelings… but I'm afraid he may take it the wrong way. I don't… want to be just an eye-candy for him… I thought you, his brother, would know."
Ayame huffed heavily in response. He never thought he would get involved in something that might as well come from a romcom for teens or something, but he disliked it already.
Yet, however acidic it may sound… this was beneficial for Ayame.
If Issei got a girlfriend, God forbid, maybe he would actually become a mildly dignified individual. He would still be an annoying pest, of course, but at least he would seem more respectable.
He didn't really care about the girl's feelings, or how his idiotic brother would accept them. He just wanted tranquility.
"…Just tell him."
Yuuma rewarded Ayame's quick response with a disappointed frown. He proceeded to explain himself slowly. He was never sure how stupid people truly were but he preferred to play it safe and consider most of them as 5 years old. It had proven useful more often than not. This particular girl seemed foolish enough to believe she could somehow 'fix' his brother's bad habits; therefore she had to be quite imbecilic herself. Issei's lust was all consuming and she would need a lot of patience and skills to curb it.
"Issei is not as complicated as you think he is. He's like a little kid. The thing he wants the most is attention. He will most probably accept your confession, and if you stay with him whenever he wants to do something stupid, he may just change." Ayame walked past the girl, not bothering to look back. "Don't talk to me again. If you want something, and you know how to get it, then do it already. It's not that hard."
Yuuma stared at the boy's back, who lost himself in the distance. The chilly winds of the evening blew every now and then, moving the trees.
The girl's lips formed a smile moments later. It wasn't the smile an innocent high-school girl would wear after knowing she could confess to the boy she liked.
It was the toothy, macabre smile of a predator seizing up her prey.
- ~DxD~ -
Ayame stared blankly the ceiling. His mouth was hanging open, making him look stupider than normal. He didn't care, for there were no other humans besides him in the room that would judge his current appearance in any way.
Long brown hair sprawled on his pillow and hands resting on his chest, the blue marbles that filled his eye-sockets looked at the specks of dust flying across his room. He tried to count them, to no avail for they moved with each breath that escaped his lungs.
He tried to remember what the day was, and what he did the day before. It was all fuzzy, distant. His mind was going everywhere. Just like always. His body felt the passing of time, a few days at most. Nothing too serious.
And, quite obviously, he didn't care.
BAM!
Yet, that didn't stop a certain annoyance from breaking down his calm environment.
"Wake up, Ayame!"
On the other side of the room, the older sibling scowled.
'Is it me or Issei's voice got more annoying than normal all of a sudden?' he thought. Not that it mattered if it was actually true, but a few pitches graver and his brother's voice would have been able to chip away his sense of hearing. Ayame liked to not be deaf.
"Wake up, lazy ass!" repeated the younger brother. "This is a new day and you're still the same sloth! C'mon, we're gonna be late for school."
The brunet craned his head and his sight rested on the digital clock on the nightstand. His eyes scrunched.
"It's 6:30 A.M., dumbass. Who goes to school at this hour?"
The other boy flashed him a dumb lecherous smile. "The early bird gets the pretty girl, hehehehe!"
Punching Issei and making him swallow his own teeth was a tempting idea, but alas, Ayame didn't want to dirty his fist. Stupidity was a dangerous and contagious pathogen, and its symptoms would definitely endanger his well-trained wits and skyrocket his body's hormone production. Turning into a mindless pervert was a distasteful idea.
After arguing a little over something stupid, Ayame woke up earlier than normal and waiting until going to school was actually inevitable. Issei being a little more hyper than normal didn't help the former to go through his sleep-deprived bad mood.
On their way to school, the younger teen giggled at nothing for no reason every now and then. The most mature one found himself confused at such an open display of happiness without clear motive. He felt compelled to ask, which was weird to begin with.
"What are you so happy about?"
Issei put his hands behind his head, humming upbeat tunes. "I may just tell you, but I want it to be a surprise."
And just like that, the conversation hit another standstill. Horny boy couldn't hold his overwhelming excitement inside and faced with Ayame's prolonged and disinterested silence, he revealed the cause of his good mood.
"Y'know what, I'll just tell you anyway!" he suddenly blurted out. "It's just… uuugh, it's so good and amazing I just don't know how to tell you about it!"
The older brother quickly struck his counterpart's statement with petty remarks. "A new pretty girl with big breasts? Or butt? Or both?"
"Yes! But, eh, not exactly! But definitely, yes! More or less… haha…"
"Just tell me, dimwit."
Issei didn't seem pressured in the slightest at his brother impatience, and cleared his throat before revealing the oh-so wonderful news.
"It's just that…. The other day, when I got out of school, this very cute girl appeared out of nowhere. She was from another school, I suppose. At first, I didn't know why she bothered to even talk to me from all people. I thought she was just asking for directions, but…"
The other teen quickly diverted his sight somewhere else, trying to hide his surprised, overjoyed expression.
"…All of a sudden, she literally confessed to me! Like, dude, a real, gorgeous girl actually confessed her feelings to me!" his incredible revelation was followed by goodhearted laughs and giggles. "I was so happy I couldn't even notice how good her figure was at first-"
Ayame tuned his brother's voice off.
So… that girl had actually done it. He had forgotten about Yuuma or whatever her name was, and her desire to confess to his brother, given that he hadn't taken her that seriously. It had been suspicious when she told him about her plans, but now, even though she did approach Issei… It only became more suspicious than ever.
Maybe, that feeling of distrust was born from the fact that he just wasn't capable of understanding such concepts as 'love'. He wasn't exactly attached to anyone, so he didn't know how it worked.
But, deep inside, the teen was uneasy. Sure, he could blame his own mediocre handling of human emotions, but there was something else. Everything was too sudden, too fast, even for the upbeat rhythm his sibling's way of living danced to.
And, for a moment, he thought of Akeno and Rias, whom he had talked with days before.
It was the same feeling. The idea that the person in front of you, talking to you, was lying so well, you could see through that lie from how good it was built up. It was too good to be true.
"Hey, are you listening?"
His sibling's boisterous voice snapped him out of his gloomy trance. He answered immediately.
"Sorry. I spaced out for a moment."
Issei caressed his chin, as if he had an invisible beard, grinning as he did so. "Hehehe, you must be seeing red from jealousy right now! How does it feel for your little bro to have a girlfriend before you do, eh? Want some love tips?"
Ayame snorted drily in return. "I will accept your love tips, as long as they keep any woman away from me."
"You use words that do not hurt anymore, my dear brother!" he quickly rebutted. "I have shown to the world that Issei Hyoudou is as capable of getting a girlfriend as anyone else! The whole 'cold and distant' guy routine hasn't done you any good, bro. You gotta start opening up a little more!"
"Don't say it as if I actually wanted a girlfriend," responded Ayame once again.
Issei ruffled his own hair, as if praising himself, even when his older brother didn't show much interest in his mind-blowing achievement.
"Hehe, I know. I was very happy, and… well, you're the first person I wanted to talk with about this." Recognition dawned on his face moments later, and he spoke. "Oh, right! I'm going on a date with her this Sunday. Wish me luck on my first romantic trip!"
The older brunet let out a non-committed hum of understanding.
"Sure. Try to not scare her off with your perverted ways."
He received a soft punch on his shoulder for his sharp words.
"Like you're one to talk, Ayame. You're even creepier than I am."
The overall mood of the conversation was lighthearted. Issei finally got a healthier way of occupying his time without bothering others. Ayame could be fortunate enough to not put up with him the entirety of his time, now.
Yet… there was anticipation.
Ayame couldn't explain it, but he was anticipating something. Deep inside of his conscience, his gut feeling was alerting him of something he couldn't understand nor exactly foresee.
What kind of unknown situation had he thrown himself into to feel so… out of it? He was always in control of normal situations for they were dull and predictable, but he felt he was being played a fool by someone else right now. The teen would have never been able to explain the sentiment correctly with his current knowledge.
In the end, he decided to ignore the frightened calls of his instincts, thumping in the back of his head, and drifted by throughout the rest of the day as he had done so many times before.
- ~DxD~ -
It was getting incredibly difficult to just ignore the alarm blaring in his mind. Ayame's awareness of time became increasingly clearer as the worries his mind had stealthily formed embraced reality.
Sunday had finally come. The silence that reigned on the Hyoudou household was a strange occurrence that wasn't experienced often. Any other time, it would have been a gift the boy would have gladly accepted with the same dull tranquility that characterized him. But this time was different.
His brother had left for his date early in the morning. There was no sign of him. No sign of his vigor or foolishness.
After double checking to make sure he and his parents were the only ones in the house, Ayame opted to waste away on his bed, looking at the ceiling with the same vague expression he always wore.
Over the past days, he had tried to not think too much about his brother and Yuuma and the rising dread it all brought to the front of his otherwise dull and grey life. But the closer Sunday came to be a reality, the more uneasiness he felt over something he couldn't, for the life of him, understand.
Why was he so shaken? His brother going on a date was bizarre, yes, but not something to lose sleep over. No, it was that girl that ticked him off. Just thinking about her was enough to make him lose it, however faint that nervousness may be.
Yet, no matter how much he turned the gears inside of his head, he couldn't get a straight answer. It wasn't something he could just rationalize. He couldn't explain his gut feeling to calm his troubled mind.
…But, even if he knew, would he be able to do anything? Would he want to do anything at all?
…
…
…
Just by thinking about it a little more, the urge to laugh at his own stupidity became utterly unavoidable.
Why was he getting so worked up over something so mundane? Experiencing something new after getting accustomed to a repetitive routine probably fried his brain. Maybe he was just overthinking about a situation that just didn't concern him that much, and he felt so bored he actually tried to convince himself he had to do something. His routine was so overwhelming he had tried to conjure a reason to move aimlessly to prove he was indeed a living being.
With a spark of mockery lighting his mind, he remembered it was Sunday. He had an entire day for himself, alone, his home bereft of his brother.
Well, his time alone wasn't very different from slowly rotting on the comfortable surface of his bed. He could be aimlessly walking for hours instead of lying down unmoving.
And that thought glued itself to the forefront of his mind, always coming and whispering about the outside world every time he tried to close his eyes and forget he existed.
Ayame got up with unnecessary effort. He put on a short-sleeved white shirt, his scarf, and black pants accompanied with brown boots. The trip from his room, down the stairs and to the front door was almost immediate.
He opened the door and got out. The dim sunlight that only appeared soon in the morning rested on his pale complexion, and a cold gust of wind made his skin tingle every now and then. The deep blue of the mostly uncovered sky, not much different from the color of his eyes, extended as far as he could see.
It was a sight most people would enjoy. Calm, peaceful, and tranquil.
He found it dull.
Without much else to do, he began to walk aimlessly.
- ~DxD~ -
His feet stamped on the pavement each time he took a step. His legs were on the brink of giving out because of choice, not exhaustion. It was somewhat hard to breathe, and the constant expressionless look he always showed to everyone else was somehow starting to hurt the muscles residing under the skin of his visage.
One hour outside felt like an entire day of activities. Two hours already were constraining for his boot-encased toes. By the fourth hour, a sharp pain was forming behind his eyes as the sunlight dried them and rendered useless, and thirty minutes later, his spine was finally failing to keep his back straight correctly. He just kept on going. Everything was meaningless. The pain he was going through was meaningless, but it was something. It existed, just like he did.
At some point, Ayame considered the idea of going home appetizing. Then, he suddenly started thinking about cars, and in consequence, how good it would be for one to run over him and put him to sleep forever.
He didn't have the guts to throw himself in the middle of the street while the automobiles were moving, so that train of thought lost importance, although it had a prominent influence in his subconscious.
Honestly, he was already regretting his decision to leave his favorite place to rot.
Why was he outside, again? Something, something, something about Issei. It was something about Issei and that stupid bitch, Yuuma.
The teen couldn't even think about her and remain calm. She was getting on his nerves. That damn skank… even though they talked one time in their entire lives, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted to erase that memory off his mind. No, better yet, he wanted to erase Yuuma from the known universe. He wished the rock he had thrown at her had hit her and snapped her neck in two, destroying her in consequence.
He grasped his scarf, searching for the familiar feeling of comfort in his precious possession.
The teen hated it. The feeling that he wasn't in control, that someone was above him, superior to him, he couldn't withstand it. How could anyone fool him at all? A stupid girl who thought his brother would change just because of love, at that.
That damned feeling wouldn't leave him alone, even tough he reasoned and reasoned with it. Yuuma couldn't be superior. She couldn't be anything of interest. She had to leave his mind alone. Now.
Yet her image stayed fresh and clear behind his closed eyelids. It was eating his conscience away, constantly reminding him that he had overlooked something. He had missed a crucial detail that affected him in a way he couldn't begin to describe.
The hours went by. With each second, his frustration only grew, and the more lost he was in his own thoughts, the fewer possibilities that he would return home anytime soon. If he had acknowledged the world around him at all, he would have known he travelled at least half a quarter of the city and a little more. He never stopped walking to admire his surroundings, for he found none of the things in his immediate vicinity interesting enough. His thoughts were all consuming and so was Yuuma, Yuuma, Yuuma and his brother.
At some point, he actually decided to snap from his inner daze voluntarily.
Ayame half-heartedly scanned the place he was in. It was a park. It was devoid of any other soul, with only the sound of leaves softly brushing against each other and the wind caressing, breezing through trees, as its lonesome residents.
The setting sun in the sky, scenery that the boy found disgusting, served as the only natural hint that gave away the constant flow of time ticking away, which Ayame had been consciously unaware of.
He spent most of the day walking, thinking, and yet managing to get none of the answers he so desired. It was a wasted day, a coarse fact that openly declared the uselessness of his decision. Wasted day he could have spent in bed, thinking all the same.
The brunet found himself strolling deeper into the open park, eyes darting from a place to another.
"What a goddamn waste…"
His voice was eaten by the trees. His vocal show of frustration didn't manage to get the strength he wanted it to have, losing itself between barks and leaves.
"…I have to return. This was pointless."
And so he wished. And he was going to do it. But his legs had carried him farther and farther to a place and time he wasn't meant to be at. Instead of turning around, he kept walking forward, and sooner or later, the soothing feeling of loneliness was replaced with the inevitable dread of something he couldn't handle.
He noticed. Many meters in front of him, shadowy figures he recognized were hidden by the subtle darkness of dusk, with a fountain of water separating them.
Ayame blinked and squinted, adjusting his eyes to the sudden twilight. His curiousness had gotten the better of him. The shadows didn't notice him, but he noticed them.
He stared at the taller, slightly bulkier shadow. Fancy clothes recently bought just to impress and a brown mop of hair wouldn't have been enough for anyone to notice who it was, but Ayame instantly recognized that person.
"Issei…" The words were drawn out, choked. Something was taking the air out of his lungs, impeding him from speaking up. His head found itself forcibly turning to the opposite side, the image of the second shadow acting as a lure for his subconscious curiosity.
Edges of a black dress fluttered in the wind. Upon said black dress was a white jacket hugging a smaller, more feminine body. The dark hair that cascaded down her back, and her violet eyes… It took him moments to remember.
Yuuma and Issei. They had gone on a date, and now, against all odds, Ayame was in the same place as them.
But something was not right. Both Ayame and Issei couldn't move. They were both oppressed by a force their weak, limited mind couldn't comprehend.
Issei was stiff. His older brother could see the shock on his face, the way he stared, horrified, at the person who looked the least harmful of the three. Ayame knew that expression. It was one of fear, of confusion.
It was a look of hurt.
Yuuma, who could be seen smiling from the corner of her face, seemed relaxed. She hadn't realized the blue-eyed boy's presence from afar. After the longest seconds of their lives, she spoke up.
"Do I have to repeat it again, Issei?" She giggled with a hint of condescendence. "Fine. I never expected your pathetic little brain to understand just by telling you once."
She took 3 accentuated steps forward, hands hanging on her sides.
"Ok, then. I'll repeat myself in a way you understand, and will never forget-"
Woosh-
With a sound akin to the wind blowing strongly for a second, two big shadows impossibly sprouted from the girl's back.
Feathered shadows. The dim moonlight peeking from the approaching night sky illuminated them, and the boy understood. Wings.
Yuuma raised her right arm. She opened the palm of her hand slowly, eyes gazing at her horrified date amusedly.
Ayame stared. Time slowed down for him as the unfathomable unfolded before him.
What appeared to be weirdly colored fireflies suddenly flew around and circled the girl's hand, gathering in a vibrant halo that made the teen feel like running a thousand years to get away from it. He didn't. He was rewarded with the view of an orb of pure violet light forming, floating beneath her hand. Said orb shifted, changed, and with a distorted noise, took another form. Slim and pointy it had become. The boy could only think of one way to describe it, that was as a 'spear' of sort. A dangerous one.
The spear made of light crackled, arcs of fiery electricity dancing around its surface.
Then, the voice that augured a terrible fate appeared again.
"-Will you die for me?"
Ayame tensed. His idiotic brother had to move. "Isse-!"
A flash cut off Ayame's sentence. Just an instant later, it was followed by a silent scream and liquid splatters' echoing throughout the place.
Ayame forgot to breath. His brother was on the ground. Issei hadn't been able to escape. The spear had carved his stomach all the way to the other side of his body, its strength so forceful it threw him to the ground after sending him flying in the air. Smoke and bubbling blood came out of the injury. The boy gasped like fish out of the water, crimson substance falling from his mouth.
He tried to grasp the light boiling his insides, only for it to disappear in thin air at the touch of his hands. The rest of his guts that weren't entirely damaged fell on the cold ground. Issei faltered, following suit, falling face first on a pool of sticky red ooze with a loud splash.
A high-pitched cackle resounded at the morbid display.
"Hahaha! I honestly thought you would put on more of a fight, but I suppose that's impossible for your kind," she declared arrogantly. "Potential or not, it doesn't matter. It will never change the fact that you're just a worm that only exists for our entertainment."
After admiring her work, her sight instantly fell on the other spectator, until that time unknown to the main actors.
She dedicated him a dangerous smile.
"Oh, what a surprise." She wasn't surprised at all. "If it isn't Mr. Lonesome himself, gracing me with his lowly presence. This must be destiny."
He had a lot of rebuttals for that snarky remark, but none came out.
His annoying, lustful, idiotic brother was on the ground, dead.
"You know," she continued, "I was planning on erasing you from existence after I finished with your brother. You made my job easier, I'll give you that."
One step towards him. He wasn't able to run. Just like Issei.
"I didn't know who to kill first, but after meeting you, I was sure. I wanted to see if you were able to keep cool and calm after I was done skewering your body to pieces. Wanna put that to test?"
The same distorted noise from before made a comeback, and with it, another spear in Yuuma's hand.
Ayame remained silent. It's not that he didn't want to speak. He couldn't.
But for a feeling so strong to make him unable to talk, to escape, to think… was this… fear?
It wasn't possible. It was not fear. It was… something else. Something familiar…
His gaze fell on Issei's body involuntarily, as a vulture would upon dead, rotting meat. Hadn't his brother become just that, exactly?
Yuuma followed his eyes, and laughed mirthfully again.
"Are you wondering why this is happening to you both?" she inquired with a sly intonation. "Well… it would be a waste of my time to explain it to a clueless vermin like you. But I'm not that cruel as to deny you the cause of your imminent death."
She got closer again. The air was getting heavy. His legs felt like bricks. His heart's slow thumping shook his sight every now and then.
"Let's say I got orders to get rid of you, because you may hold something potentially dangerous within yourself." She pointed a finger at him. "Your Sacred Gear, that is."
The boy couldn't understand at all. Orders? From who? Sacred Gear?
Too many questions, too little time to get answers.
She let out another dark giggle, seemingly enjoying herself with the obscure spectacle she was creating. "But… I will admit, meeting up with you and your brother wasn't part of the plan. The date wasn't part of the plan, either."
She ran a finger on her quirked, red, red, red lips.
"I guess I just wanted to have some fun with you two, hahahahahah!" As she finished laughing, the girl gave Ayame a look of contempt. "Don't worry, you piece of trash. You will be feeling so much pain you won't have any time to curse your own fate."
Yuuma's postured slackened for a moment-
"Here, catch!"
-And with a quick movement of her wrist, another light shoot out from her hand towards him.
Ayame's senses flared, sensing the danger he was being subjected to. With instinctual precision, he raised his arms in front of him in a futile attempt to protect himself.
SCHUNK!
Raw wetness splashed against his face. Stumbling a bit from the force of the impact, he uncovered his sight.
The spear had pierced through his elbow, bisecting his left arm and puncturing his left shoulder in the process. Small chunks of torn tissue held on from the exposed piece of bone. A strong smell of burnt flesh messed up with his senses. Pain and disbelief mingled in his mind, eclipsing any logical thought he might have had.
He stared at the severed limb twitching on the ground. The feeling was absolutely agonizing. It was burning his pain sensors to the point of soreness, and he couldn't withstand it. Numbness came swiftly after, when his nerves simply shut down.
But, no matter how much it hurt or elicited mysterious emotions out of him, he didn't scream, or cried, or changed his expression.
"Oh? Pretty impressive, trash. Anyone else would have been crying their hearts out, begging for forgiveness," remarked the sadistic woman. "But I'm not done. It's always exciting to play with the quiet ones. The moment when they break down and they reveal that weakness common to all humans…"
Another spear made its existence known.
"…That's the most exquisite thing there is to witness!"
And then, she threw it at him again.
Ayame's legs gave out. He lost his footing and fell to the ground. It was cold. Cold like him. Cold like death.
Slash!
The spear cleaved his right shoulder, barely missing his lung. If it had hit correctly, Ayame would have been breathing and coughing blood, drowning in what kept him alive for long.
"It seems my aim is a bit off. But I guess it can't be helped. I normally don't take things seriously when dealing with scum."
Again the distorted noise. Again another spear.
"Don't worry. Next time I won't fail!"
Schunk!
Right thigh.
"C'mon, cry! Scream! Let that wonderful voice filled with despair come out!"
Schunk!
Left shin.
"Drop dead, you little shit! Beg for your life!"
Schunk!
Right shoulder again.
She kept throwing spears at him. It came to a point when Ayame was almost completely covered in his own blood. From each and every wound was born an indescribable burning sensation.
She was missing vital organs on purpose. She was really trying to make him beg for his life.
But it was pointless.
Even if Ayame wanted to beg, he couldn't. Besides, he didn't feel the need to. He didn't feel the need to because what this prefaced was all too wonderful to be stopped.
"Haah, haah… You're a persistent type of insect, aren't you?" she grunted, panting. "Well, it seems you won't even talk. That's a shame."
His sight was blurry. He barely registered Yuuma's form in a world shrouded in darkness. But he saw, more or less, another blinding light held by the girl's hand. It was coming. It was finally coming.
"Boring until the end, eh? I guess I had the wrong expectations," Yumma said with a hint of disappointment. "I'll just put you out of your misery once and for all."
This was the end. Ayame couldn't do anything. Issei had died, and he would follow suit.
"Guh… Haah…"
A gurgling voice slipped from the boy's mouth.
"Oh? It seems you're finally going to talk. Fine, then. Let me hear your final words."
He took some seconds to adjust his exhausted voice. Air was stuck in his lungs, refusing to leave its refuge as he pushed his diaphragm, pushed until finally, his vocal chords could work with something else than wheezes and coughs. He crumpled on himself, unable to concentrate on anything but the pain and his organs that dared to go against his will. Trying to stand up was impossible. The blood was drying up, painting another crimson layer on his soon-to-be corpse.
"D…o… Do…"
His voice was calm, but raw. A mixture of inhuman indifference, even in a moment such as this, and overwhelming pain.
"…Do it."
It was nothing more than a whisper. Yet, at the sudden change in Yuuma's expression, he felt compelled to say it again.
"Do it."
The girl seemed shocked for a brief moment, and then, she glared at him with disgust.
"Are you mocking me, human?"
But he kept going, each time louder.
"Do it!"
She clenched her teeth. Her fist tightened around the spear, which grew brighter and larger.
"So you still think you're big and strong, huh?!"
Ayame knew what was coming. That was what he wanted more than anything, the only thing he desired, the only thing he had yearned for so long.
"DO IT!"
Any sign of patience was lost. Yuuma stomped her left foot forward, launching her ethereal weapon at him with much more strength than before. A blast of wind followed the spear's wake as it hungrily closed distances with its objective.
A blow with the strength of the world crashing against him struck him down.
Ayame stayed immobile. His mind was spinning. He couldn't think straight anymore.
He looked down.
Bloody and charred, there was a fist-sized gaping hole where the boy's heart was supposed to be.
Now, there was really nothing inside of him.
After tilting from back to forth, he finally fell on his chest in the same manner Issei did. Lifeless, and in a pool of his own blood messily staining the cold ground that served as his resting place.
He couldn't see anymore. He couldn't hear anything anymore. He couldn't breathe anymore.
.
.
.
Does it hurt, Ayame?
.
.
.
The blood vessels that had ruptured inside of his body were starting to drown him. His lungs couldn't function anymore. His body couldn't do the littlest he was so used to; living. He felt heavy.
.
.
.
Contrary to what many people believe, pain is not always bad.
.
.
.
There was a thumping sound thrumming through his ears. It wasn't his heart, which had been vaporized. It was Yuuma's footsteps as she walked away from her victims and the place where they had fallen, finding none of what she did interesting anymore.
.
.
.
Pain is not only a biological response. It doesn't mean we're just going to die.
.
.
.
Ayame's eyelids were closing with a shiver. His world was disappearing. His mind was vanishing. There was only a familiar voice. A childhood memory.
.
.
.
If it hurts, be happy. You're still alive.
.
.
.
The darkness was finally devouring him whole. His end was coming near and Ayame wanted to embrace it, to be engulfed and disappear in the nothingness that had crept over him for so long. His meaningless life was coming to an end and he welcomed it with something akin to gladness.
Golden veins beat alongside his own, drinking his blood and straining his heart. Darkness fell upon the world, obscuring his vision and his thoughts.
But… far away, distant, was a flickering blue light. It was weak, flimsy, coming and going as if it couldn't decide between appearing and vanishing, between living and dying. The boy who was about to conclude his existence watched it blankly for he couldn't close his eyes. The little light flickered with more energy. There was a hidden sense of strength in it. Something that, even in its last moments, refused to give in.
He stared as it grew wider. Stronger. Not enough to cover his sight completely, but enough for his dying consciousness to acknowledge its mystical presence.
His conscience was shutting off. And just before blanking out, he heard it clearly.
.
.
.
Be afraid, not of feeling, but of not feeling anything. The moment you feel nothing for anyone or anything… that's the moment you have truly died.
.
.
.
And, right then, the teenager known as Ayame Hyoudou died.
~Author's note~
Fin.
Sooo, that's it for today boys and girls. Tell me what did you think of this first chapter in the reviews. Try to make it concise and well written. Better reviews make for a better story in the long run, and I need the reader's insight. How did you like Ayame? Were the other characters well portrayed? Did you like the descriptions and dialogues? Tell me about anything that caught your interest. It really helps me.
D O N ' T ask for updates, 'kay? Quality over quantity, I say. It's better for me and you.
Also, kudos for everyone who actually read the author's note. You're all the real MVPs.
Have a good day. See ya.
(17/11/2019)