AN: Before we start, you do realize that the rumors spread by M&M are canon, right? It's pretty much a quote from the LN... I added the part with his classmates coming up with his parents sending him to therapy to account for his disappearance, and I changed how he reacted...
Ok, I made him overreact. This was supposed to show his troubles with controlling Dragon Rage or his emotions in general (and there's one little thing about "my" Issei and the rumors that made it even worse. I haven't yet said this detail directly but it's been hinted at. I'm sure many of you know what I am talking about. And if not, well, I am afraid you'll have to wait until Issei learns it himself (sorry not sorry)).
Issei is unstable. In canon, he had deep issues he tried to hide. This one? He's even worse. Unless he's being calmed down by Asia's aura the slightest stimulus pushes him to the extreme, be it anger, sadness, or joy. He proudly said how "dragons' presence alone strikes fear into their enemies' hearts" and then he learned what it really means, which turned him into a mess. I don't want him to stay like this, but I also don't want to make him perfect too quickly (if at all), it's his New Beginning and I'd like to show progress not the effects without the journey.
His classmates' behavior. Issei is a shameless open pervert, and they hate him for that. Maybe not to the point where they wish him any harm, but I doubt many students would miss him if he were to transfer to a different school (well, Murayama and Katase did beat him on principle in the Haunted House, it clearly shows what they think about him).
What do you mean "was"? He's a changed man and doesn't deserve such treatment anymore? We know this, they don't. I didn't write Issei coming to school and announcing "I am a better person now" for which he received a standing ovation and he's not suddenly the most popular guy in the school. Again, I wanted to show progress. Start with hatred and slowly move toward more neutral feelings and positive ones later on.
Why do I explain myself so much here... On with the show!
Rias Gremory was sitting in the classroom impatiently glancing at the clock, which has been refusing her wish to move faster.
It wasn't because the class was boring, Mr. Kazuma lecture about Japanese literature was probably as magnificent as ever, but no matter how hard she tried to pay attention, her thoughts wandered back to the earlier events and her [Pawn].
After a few tries, she accepted her defeat, used a simple suggestion spell to make her classmates and teacher ignore her presence, earning a glare from Sona in the process, and allowed her thoughts to roam freely.
Thankfully, humans in Kuoh Academy weren't nearly as sensitive to Issei's aura as the devils, and even those in close vicinity to him hadn't panicked. After the aura vanished, so did their fear, and most of the students tried to laughed it off or denied it ever happened.
To make sure it stays that way, Sona triggered the fire alarm and used her magic to make students believe it happened earlier, about the same time as the dragon's outburst. This was supposed to give the humans an explanation for the feeling of fear and, in the long run, make them forget about it as something natural.
At first, Rias wasn't sure it was enough, but seeing as her classmates moved on and returned to their normal routines maybe Sona was right to refuse to do anything more drastic.
There was one girl from Issei's class who was sent to the nurse by the teacher, but she claimed she must've exhausted herself with training during the weekend followed by an all-nighter to do homework. Sona said she'll keep an eye on her for a while, so Gremory heiress considered it handled.
Koneko. Rias wasn't sure if she was more worried about her panic attack or what caused it. Apparently, it wasn't dragon's aura, not directly at least. Her [Rook] panicked because her powers had awoken in response to Issei's aura and she felt like she was losing control.
She was fine now, but Rias had no idea how to prevent something like this in the future and was afraid it will cause Koneko to alienate from the world even more. She'll have to contact Youkai Faction again. Maybe the tension between them and devils caused by the Nekoshou Hunt decreased and they'll listen to her this time.
Overall, the day went better than she dared to hope, but considering how it started, she wasn't sure if she could say it went well. And it wasn't over.
When Yuto delivered the message that she'll see her [Pawn] later at home, she'd assumed that her brother meant [I'll take care of this, focus on the school] and her [Pawn] would be back for the second lesson or by the lunch, but it wasn't the case. Ise hasn't returned to school and she hasn't heard anything from her brother about it since then.
She trusted her brother with her life. She knew he would handle it better than she could, but... Why was Issei still absent? As soon as the lunch break started she went straight to the clubroom ignoring her sister-in-law's request to stay away, only to found it empty.
The bell finally rang and it took a lot of willpower, almost all she had, to not run to Issei's house immediately. The Goddess of Kuoh Academy running out from school mere seconds after the bell would cause a tremendous amount of gossip, and in her opinion, there was enough gossip about her little family already.
She followed her usual routine exchanging pleasantries with students around her, but as her luck had it, the students were unusually chatty today. Fortunately, Akeno came to her rescue and reminded her about the quests waiting for her in the clubroom giving her an excuse to leave the classroom.
However, she never reached the clubroom, instead, she teleported to Issei's house as soon as she walked into the Old School Building and was sure that humans can't see her.
Issei parted with Lucifer tired but relatively happy after a rather long day, even if he would have just finished lessons if he had stayed in school. The memory of morning events strained his mood slightly, but he learned it wasn't entirely his fault.
He vaguely remembered Ddraig telling him about dragons being susceptible to rage, but he hadn't paid it much attention at the time seeing how he rarely gets annoyed not to mention angry. Unfortunately, he underestimated how big the effects the combination of puberty and dragon blood will have on him. Nor did he accounted for the fact he had no experience with it and was thrown headfirst into deep water.
Dragon's rage and fire are connected; eternal rage comes from its fire, but rage is also great fuel for dragon fire. This dependence is creating a positive feedback loop, which means that something that normally would irritate him now is causing his anger to build up more and more until his fire reaches its limit. Or until he breaks and goes into a destructive fury until he's tired.
Given enough time he may learn how to control it, he may learn how to stop his flames from reaching that point and to stay sane even if enraged. But he hadn't even tried to learn how to control it if only because he wasn't aware of the problem.
There are many ways to anger a dragon, but in general, there are only four ways to calm it: the aura of a Dragon Tamer, dragon's treasure, a song special to a dragon, and exhaustion.
The last one was partially responsible for the problem. During his stay in the Underworld, he was either happy or too tired to get angry, so he never learned how to control his rage while his flames were growing stronger and stronger. However, after he returned to the human world he thought he deserved some lazy time and let the flames build up while being constantly in the presence of a Dragon Tamer so he had never noticed his fuse burning out.
This meant that he was again a walking bomb. This time figuratively speaking, but considering his raw power, it wasn't a stretch to assume he was as dangerous as a real one.
Not that this explanation makes his behavior in school any more acceptable, but it stopped him from blaming himself so badly.
He spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Lucifer, which surprised him, even if that was exactly what Satan said he wanted. However, Issei didn't expect a friendly conversation and certainly did not expect the Devil King to share his experiences from the Civil War.
It turned out that Lucifer's goal was to make him forget what just happened and focus on who he is rather than what he is. Crimson Satan tried to subtly convince him that he will be a monster only if he wants to be one.
However, in Issei's opinion, it was much easier to prove to the devils in the Underworld that the new Devil King isn't a tyrant who will punish those who stood against him during the war than it was to ignore what effects his aura had on humans.
On the other hand, if the aura was the only source of the problem, as the humans weren't even aware of why they feared him, he didn't have to convince them of anything. He'll have to learn how to control his rage, which he wants to do anyway, hide his aura just in case, and he should be fine.
Unfortunately, he was mostly on his own with this. When Ddraig had been free, he accepted his rage as the source of power and never bothered with it and Lucifer couldn't relate to Issei's situation and the connection between rage and dragon fire. He could ask Tannin or Tiamat for help again, but he didn't want to impose any more than he already had, and the dragons were busy.
Apparently, Riser wasn't the only Phenex disappointed with the result of his fight with the Red Dragon Emperor. Ruval, heir to the Phenex' Clan, challenged Tannin to prove that the Fire Bird is the ruler of the skies.
Or at least that was this year's theme of their annual charity event, where the result of the Rating Game was determined by the audience's vote. Each year they had different rules, events, and challenges prepared, but one thing was constant: the games were long. And because Tiamat was acting as a secret judge for Rating Games she was involved as well.
However, Sirzechs knew someone who might help. He took the dragon to the arena from the Rating Game with Riser, which wasn't badly damaged during the game and was kept as an emergency for the future games, to meet his [Rook], Surtr Second.
He wasn't a dragon, but he easily understood what the boy is going through as their stories weren't too different. He was the clone of one of the most powerful beings in history, the fire giant from Norse mythology, and he never had the chance to learn how to control his powers, which caused him to go berserk. He couldn't make the problem disappear, but he could act as an example and share his experience with Issei to push him in the right direction.
And he gave the dragon an opportunity to exhaust his inner fire. He challenged Issei to see which fire is stronger, his or the dragon's Ice Flames, but he didn't go all-in with his power. Instead, he kept his flames just beyond the boy's reach giving him the illusion that he can win if he'll push a little harder. On top of that, after each try, he threw in a mix of praise and taunt to keep the dragon motivated.
This worked perfectly. Each remark fueled his rage, but he was too caught up in trying to prove Fire Giant wrong to notice it, which caused it to slowly fade alongside his fire as he pulled more and more of it with each attack.
It would've most likely ended up with Issei lying on the ground utterly exhausted, but Lucifer stepped in and reminded him it's about time to go home.
Young dragon voiced his thanks to both devils present and teleported home using the magic circle prepared and powered by Lucifer to avoid his flames erupting on the other end.
"What do you think about him, Second?"
"He worries too much and doesn't recognize his own worth... he's soft steel that needs hardening, in his own fire probably gahahahahaha! what a beautiful fire this is..."
"Oh? I thought Fire Giant wouldn't like mixing fire and ice."
"I ain't talkin' 'bout this childish mockery of a flame. I'm talkin' 'bout the one it started morphin' toward the end, but you've noticed it, haven't ya, boss? That's why you stopped him." Surtr turned to his [King].
"Indeed." Sirzechs nodded "He's not ready for it, especially not when he's so tired that he can barely stand."
"Can't wait to see him ready. It's been too long since my fire was challenged. Blazing Inferno of Scorching Flames gahahahahaha that's the sight worth waitin' for."
"Close, but that wasn't it, Second, that wasn't it."
Issei appeared next to his bed, but before he got the chance to adjust to the new environment his super-sensitive hearing was assaulted by a loud shout.
"ISE!"
He glanced at the redhead, who was hugging him with enough force to crush the ribcage of a normal human or probably even weaker supernatural beings, and his good mood disappeared instantly.
This whole time he was only thinking about himself without any regard to how his actions affected those around him.
"I'm sorry, Buchou"
"I'm sorry, Ise"
Both redheads spoke at the same time causing Issei to look at Rias confused.
"Wait, what? Why are you sorry, Buchou? You did nothing wrong."
"The rumors... I didn't know. I should have known, I should have reacted and corrected them before they got out of hand, but... somehow I've never heard anything..."
"It's not your fault that people in Kuoh hate me, nor is the fact that my braindead friends spread the rumors that evolved into this madness. It's mine and only mine fault, don't blame yourself for your [Pawn's] mistakes."
"But-"
"No buts, Buchou. I've earned my reputation before we even met, so it's not your responsibility to fix it."
"But... fine, I won't argue with you about it. But I will try anyway."
Both devils stood in silence for a few moments before Rias decided that she can't avoid the topic any longer.
"Ise... what happened in the class?"
The dragon broke the hug and sit at his bed with a deep sigh.
"I am a dragon." he said quietly
Rias look at him confused how that was supposed to explain anything.
"And because of this, I am prone to anger. I had no idea it would be so bad... Ddraig told me I've been a dragon my whole life, and I never really got angry, so I ignore his warnings and..." he turned into his humanoid dragon form and looked at his hands.
"Well, apparently dragon's blood boils much easier than human's one." he shook his head and return to looking like a human.
Rias nodded in understanding. Hearing the rumors made her furious, so she couldn't blame him for getting angry. Even if his reaction was extreme... and effects were terrifying.
But it didn't explain why did he run. If anything, it would explain if he burned his classmates... not justify, but explain nonetheless.
"You know, when I was younger every other kid was afraid of me. I couldn't understand why, I was just a nice and friendly kid that was trying to play with others, but it didn't work. It always ended the same way, they either run away or bullied me. Apparently, kids are more susceptible to auras and they could sense Ddraig sleeping in my left hand and thought it's me. It wasn't a fun experience.
But today was different... It wasn't Ddraig's aura, it was mine. I got angry, showed them what I am, and my them afraid. Of me. It brought back memories from my childhood and I overreacted. Again. *sigh* Draconic puberty is shit, it really messes with one's emotions." he looked at his [King]
"Sorry I made you worry, Buchou. I disappear for two months and return only to cause you trouble. What a useless [Pawn] I am."
"Oh, Ise." Rias shook her head with a smile "You saved Asia's life. You saved me from an unwanted marriage and, in your own words, you gave me back my freedom. If that's you being useless then I can't imagine what would you have to achieve to consider yourself useful."
Rias' smile disappeared suddenly as she remembered something and she looked Ise dead in the eyes with a serious expression.
"Please promise me you won't seek a God to kill just so you can prove yourself to me. I can't lose my favorite [Pawn] for such dumb reason."
"I'm your only [Pawn]" Issei deadpanned in response.
"Yes, the only one I have, the only one I will have, and the only one I want." Rias stood her ground "You promise?"
"Of course, Buchou, anything for you."
"Good. Last question Ise, what my brother wanted from you?"
"Help me, I guess." Issei shrugged and proceed to summarise how he spent his time with Lucifer and what he learned in the process.
"That's good, really good." Rias hummed when he finished "All we have to do is to keep you well-fed, happy, and tired, and you'll be a good dragon that doesn't try to incinerate your classmates."
"That's quite patronizing... but yes, it seems so" Issei bitterly admitted.
"Ise..." Rias shook her head "that's good news. We know what the problem is, we know how to temporarily fix it, and, frankly, little anger management issue is not something we can't deal with."
"We?" Issei blinked confused.
"Of course. I'm your [King], your problems are mine too. Especially, when it's my fault-"
"It's not your fault, Buchou!" Issei jumped to his feet.
"You're dealing with consequences of your deal with the Welsh Dragon. The one you made so you'd have a chance fighting for me."
"It's not your fault... it's mine. If I wasn't so weak I wouldn't have to make this deal, it's... it's not your fault, Buchou."
"Fine." Rias rolled her eyes "It's not my fault. But it's not your fault either. It's Ddraig's fault-"
"Oi!" the spirit of Welsh Dragon protested causing Rias to glare at Issei's left hand "I warned him I don't know what will happen! Don't drag me into this."
"It's Ddraig's fault for making you this offer without knowing the possible consequences." the devil continued ignoring the dragon "But it doesn't matter right now." she added before Ddraig got a chance to protest. "How about we focus on solving the problem rather than looking for someone to blame?"
"But-"
"No buts, Ise. It's not your fault how your aura affects others." Rias used [Pawn's] words against him.
"But... fine, I won't argue with you about it. But I will blame myself anyway." Issei also mirrored her words.
"What a stubborn being we are" Rias giggled "Now, I think we've made our guests wait long enough, we should go to them."
"Guests?" Issei was yet again thrown for the loop during the conversation.
"Yes. Today's club meeting takes place at your house, remember? Since the clubroom was supposed to be empty to make upgrades for you."
"Oh, right. Kinda skipped my mind..." Issei chuckled scratching the back of his head. "Shall we?"
"We shall. Oh, and Ise?" Rias leaned and kissed the other redhead "You should work on your self-esteem. And if you don't believe in yourself, then believe me: you are an amazing person with many talents"
With that, Rias left the room leaving the shocked dragon next to his bed.
The small red dragon was sulking on the couch in his living room and wondering if anyone would notice if he left the room.
They were supposed to have a club meeting, but when he came down he found out that his mother was entertaining the guests with embarrassing photos from his childhood.
And they were definitely enjoying it way too much.
Especially Kiba...
To make things worse, his attempt of securing his place at Asia's lap and taking a nap was stopped by Rias, because apparently, it would be rude to sleep when you have guests.
Even if said guests were ignoring him in favor of his embarrassing past.
It wouldn't be as bad, as Rias tried to place him on her lap, but that was stopped by Asia, who tried to take him back.
And Akeno's offer to resolve the issue by letting him lay on her lap was shot down by both girls.
So, there he was, laying on the couch instead of a beautiful girl's lap.
Life is just unfair.
He contemplated laying down on Koneko's lap, but he didn't feel like testing the durability of walls...
"Do you remember this?" Kiba's serious voice broke his thoughts.
Issei looked at what he was pointing at. It was a photo of him and his neighbors and Kiba's finger was on something the man was holding. A sword.
"Hmm, no, since I was really small back then..."
"Things like this happen, huh. To find it in an unexpected place... This is a Holy Sword."
'I have a bad feeling about this...' Issei thought seeing how much hatred his friend's eyes had when he was staring at the sword.
The next day Issei went to school with Asia and Rias, which caused a ripple of whispers among the students, especially when Rias brushed his hair before parting with them in the main hall. Most of them were not pleasant, but a few students voiced their confusion or doubt about the rumors.
Issei tried to ignore the whispers, partially because a human wouldn't hear them and partially because he didn't want to go into a self-loathing spiral or get angry again. He escorted Asia to the class and excuse himself claiming he has to go to the toilet, but in reality, he hid around the corner unwilling to face his classmates. Both because he wasn't sure if his aura effects truly have passed, and he preferred to not deal with rumors and questions. Not yet at least.
He agreed with Ddraig that he acts like a coward, but what else could he do? If the students thought so lowly about him that they believed he forced someone to have sex with him, would anything he said changed their opinion? His parents and his Buchou want him to graduate so he will, but it doesn't mean he has to interact with students, and it'd be better for everyone if he stayed away.
'Man, I miss Dragon Mountains, everything was much simpler back there.'
This thought made him chuckle slightly. When he was there he missed school and now when he's here, he'd prefer to go back. Funny how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
"You've made Asia worry yesterday." Aika chastised as she came closer to the boy, causing him to sigh.
"Yea... I did..." Issei mumbled.
"You should make it up to her."
"I know. But I don't know how." Issei sighed again and dropped his head.
"If you are even half the man that she sees you as, I'm sure you'll come up with something. It makes me wonder though, does she think so highly about you because she sees this caring side of you more often?"
A small smile crept across Issei's face. There was some truth to it, he had tried to keep his perversion and lecherous behavior away from Asia even before his realization about his life after meeting Riser, and has always cared for her but-
"She just sees the best in people. Even me."
"If you say so... But speaking about the thing we don't see often; what happened yesterday?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't think I've ever seen you react to rumors or bad names you had received, like, at all, and yesterday you ran like a little crybaby."
Obviously, she didn't know what was the real reason for him leaving the class, and it didn't seem like a good idea to explain it to her. However, Issei didn't want to lie either.
"Well, they've never called me a rapist before, so..." he shrugged as he tried to force a small smile back on his face to show he's over it.
"No, but they called you Perverted Beast. Enemy of all women. The plague on mankind. They wished you death or claimed it'd be better if you hadn't existed in the first place. Shall I continue?"
With each name she said, Issei felt like a glowing hot needle pierced his heart. He always somewhat appreciated Kiryuu's directness, but she also had a habit of going overboard with it, and it wasn't pleasant to be on the receiving end.
"Those I deserve, but I've never. NEVER. harmed anyone... not like this."
"Oh really? So what you're saying is, you know that what you're doing is wrong and you deserve to be punished for it, but as long as no one is hurt it's fine? This is an interesting way of looking at your behavior, but I'm not sure if girls in school would agree."
"They don't. Especially not the Kendo Club." Issei chuckled "Huh, I wonder if they hadn't made an official complaint because in their definition it's fine as long as I got beaten for it. Probably not."
"Well, kinda." Aika hinted with a wink causing Issei to look at her in shock "Kaori once said that they don't want to get you expelled or face charges outside the school, and if you are willing to endure such pain for it there's not much more they can do. But I'm sure they would if you've ever done anything more... hmmm... physical."
"Huh, so thoughtful despite our behavior..." Issei shook his head "And to answer your question, that is what I used to think and two months ago I'd said yes, but now I'm not so sure."
"Well, well, well. It almost sounds like the rumors were true and the Beast went to the therapy." Kiryuu quipped "So? What happened two months ago? Care to share a story?"
"As Asia probably told you, my parents didn't send me to the therapy." Issei retorted with a smirk as he pushed himself from the wall. Ignoring the insults, the conversation turned out to be quite enjoyable "And I would, but it's a long story and the teacher is coming, so we should go to class."
Aika quickly followed the boy and to her surprise, the teacher actually was walking toward the classroom. She was sure it was just a lame excuse to run away from answering her questions, but it turned out to be true.
"Lucky guess, but you can't run away from me forever"
She noticed how despite his claim that they should hurry Issei stopped for a moment before opening the door and glimpsed at the teacher. Almost like he was trying to assess if the teacher is close enough.
Inside the classroom, she watched as Issei greeted the class silently and walked past his usual place to sit far in the back. He took the spot in the last row next to the window, which just so happened to be the one most separated from other students.
A bold move in her opinion, as the teacher will surely call him on that, but... with what happened yesterday she easily understood why he wouldn't be thrilled to be here.
Two resident morons tried to gain his attention but before they got a chance to do something the bell rang and the teacher walked into the classroom.
She suddenly hated how perfectly organized this school can be, oh well, the drama will have to wait.
Much to her surprise, the teacher seemed fine with Hyoudou changing his seat and instead of telling him to move closer, he only asked him to pick his make-up work.
'Damn, that is a lot of homework... If other teachers will give him a similar amount I doubt he'll have any free time this month'
Issei enjoyed the peace the first lesson had offered. The teacher didn't seem interested in what he's doing as long as he was quiet and, as he had no idea what the lesson was about (he'll have to hurry with make-up work or it will stockpile with more and more lessons he won't be able to follow), he let his thoughts roam free, but they seemed to bounce around one subject.
What now?
He still hasn't decided how to approach the situation with M&M. On the one hand, he didn't want to turn his back on his friends over something so silly like stupid rumors. On the other, whenever his thoughts even rubbed the rumors he could feel the anger creep up to him.
They used to be his only friends. But it doesn't mean it has to stay this way.
They always got his back. From a safe distance from Kendo Club or Student Council.
They accepted him for who he was. But they weren't willing to accept him moving on now.
As the list went on, he realized that the cons overweigh the pros, but he refused to accept that. After all, friendship doesn't have to follow reason or logic, it's something much more important. How could he abandon it over one mistake?
Lost in his thoughts he never noticed that lessons had ended and students began to leave the classroom. However, four of them moved to his desk instead, and the male two were first to reach it.
"Hey man, what was that yesterday?"
"Yeah, you disappeared after the evacuation training. On the first day of your return, this doesn't bode well for your stay, you know?"
"Yeah, Kaichou must've been furious. I don't even know why she let you stay after such a stunt."
"But seriously, are you ok? You haven't brought some exotic illness from wherever you've been, have you?"
"He's right, you know? It's dangerous to be close to you with your reputation, you don't need another thing to keep people away"
Matsuda and Motohama kept talking one over another until they unknowingly pushed the very wrong button on a certain dragon.
"Oh, it's so nice for you to worry, but it's unnecessary." Issei said, his voice dripping with sarcasm "I'm not sick, I left because there happen to be some rather unpleasant rumors about me. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
"C'mon, man! We've told you, we did not spread the rumors about therapy."
"I am not angry because people here hate me and reached conclusions. Hell, I would probably be fine with it if you spread them. I am pissed because the peanuts in your heads you call brains managed to come with the idea that telling people I'm a rapist is fine"
"We didn't say an-"
"I didn't bother to check, but I'm pretty sure [forcing someone to do sexual things against their will] is the damn definition of rape."
"Hm... maybe you're right, we didn't check either. But what do you want from us? We'll go crazy with jealousy if we don't do things like this."
"Hahaha! More like our heads are already fucked over!"
Issei's head slammed on the desk. While their reasoning was exactly what he expected, hearing them say it was still depressing.
"I should have listened to mom back then, my life would be sooo much better" he mumbled
"What was that?" four voices at the same time causing Issei to look up.
"Oh, sorry Asia, I promised you we'll eat lunch together and I forgot... How did I forget about food? Nevermind... Let's go. Kiryuu-san, would you like to join us?"
Before Aika had the chance to respond M&M shouted in perfect harmony.
"What? Are you crazy? Don't you know what she can do?" they took a step back and covered their crotches.
"Her glasses have similar power to Motohama's, they can calculate the size of guys', you know."
Issei shook his head and sighed. Does his friends' stupidity have no bounds?
"Again with the power of glasses... It's just his gimmick. Perceptivity and way too much time spent on porn. There's no way Kiryuu-san can do something like this with guys, it's not like it's visible like-"
While Issei was talking Aika leaned over and whispered to his ear.
"Do you want to get back at them for the rumors?"
"I take it back, she can do it." Issei said with a smirk unseen by his friends "Shall we?" he asked the girls.
"Wha.. what? You're not afraid of what she can do?"
"Why should he? It's not like he has anything to be ashamed for, unlike you and yours... well" Aika looked at her pinky finger before walking away taking very confused Asia with her.
Issei followed them barely holding back laughter as his friends were left behind crying about the injustice in the world. Maybe it wasn't very nice, but they deserved some punishment for their stupidity.
When Issei was sure they were far enough from the classroom he turned to Aika.
"That's a nice trick shut them up, shame I can't use it. But what made you come up with it? And what if they called your bluff?"
"After you didn't return with ORC they somehow got even worse, almost like they were trying to fill the lack of your perversion with the excess of theirs. It became unbearable so I had to act and, well, who said it's a bluff?" Aika winked.
"Please, Kiryuu-san, there's no way-"
"You weren't lying when you said that puberty was nice to you. Your size was already quite big, but now? Ooh la la. It's not too big to put down women, but a little more and it would be. Yes, Rias-senpai and Asia would definitely be satisfied with you."
"Nice try, but how do I know you're not making this up?"
Aika again leaned over and whispered to his ear, but this time it didn't leave him with a smirk. It left him petrified, with eyes and mouth wide open.
'N-no way... she really can do it... accurate measurements... in both states'
It was Kiryuu's turn to laugh at his expense, but the other girl with them was again looking between them confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh? We are talking-" Kiryuu turned to Asia.
"No!"
Issei pulled Asia to him and almost revealed his wings to shield her from all the evil in the world, currently standing in front of him in the form of a high school girl.
"Fine, fine, I get the message, no corrupting Asia." Kiryuu stated with a very satisfied smirk.
Issei hadn't been able to understand what was the reason for such expression until he stopped tunning off the students around him and bothered to try to understand what they were saying.
Unsurprisingly, they were commenting on current events. What surprised him, however, was that the comments were positive. Mostly. Kind of.
Girls were praising his behavior while simultaneously insulting him: "I wish I had a boyfriend who would treat me like that. But not him! I don't want the Beast touching me." He hoped that with time the second part will disappear as the girls will forget about his previous actions. Or maybe at least forgive him.
"B-boyfriend?" Asia squirmed embarrassed.
It didn't help that she tried to hide her embarrassment by burying her face in his chest. Nor did the fact that the dragon hugged his Tamer on instinct. If anything it helped by shifting the comments to a more positive spectrum about how cute they looked.
"Now then, I'll leave you two love birds to your date, but I'll hold up to your offer, Issei-kun~" Aika teased, clearly enjoying the situation. "You owe me some answers and I'll get them. Sooner rather than later."
"Don't get weird ideas Kiryuu-san, we're not together." Issei tried to argue.
"It sure looks like it" the girls countered as she disappeared into the crowd.
Issei had to agree that he was hugging Asia for a rather long time. In a public place. It definitely didn't look like a friendly hug.
"Asia, we should move"
Even with his stupidly good hearing, he didn't catch what she mumbled into his chest.
"C'mon, Asia... we're causing a scene..."
In response, he got only more mumbling.
"I'll carry you if you don't move" he jokingly threatened.
Asia didn't react as he wanted, instead, she clung to him even harder.
Issei had a decision to make. He could stay as they were, causing a scene until Asia got a hold of herself, which may take a while, or... he could go through with his threat.
Sure, it would cause a much bigger scene, but it wouldn't be long until they're outside and away from noisy students. Probably worse in the long run, but that's a worry for later.
He picked her up princess-style and realized his mistake the moment Asia let out a surprised squeak.
"Issei-san!"
The entire hall was silent. Everyone was glaring at him. He was sure that the only reason he was not beaten nearly to death was the possibility of injuring the girl in his arms.
"You didn't move" he winked at the nun trying to defuse the situation "So? Where now, m'lady?"
He hoped that Asia's response will pacify the angry mob. The girl glared at him for a moment, which under normal circumstances would make him chuckle at how cute she looks when she's angry, but now he was too worried about people's reaction, before she finally spoke.
"I have our bentos, and the weather is nice, so maybe we could go outside?"
"Your wish is my command"
The dragon walked through the halls as fast as he felt was comfortable for the girl in his arms, silently cursing his decision.
He tried to keep up the friendly conversation with Asia to show everyone that she was (mostly) fine with him carrying her, but it didn't stop the glares nor comments.
He was somewhat impressed by the amount and power of the Killing Intent Kuoh Academy's population managed to send his way, but he had to constantly stop himself from glaring back or growling at them.
"Why are you walking so fast, Issei-san?"
Issei smiled despite the situation. 'Always so clueless and innocent"
"You wanted to go outside. I'm getting you there as fast as possible"
Two unrelated sentences pretending to be the answer. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her, but he also didn't want to explain the real reasons.
"Oh... okay... but then it will end so fast..." Asia spoke quietly
Issei wasn't sure if she meant to say it out loud, but it didn't matter.
Just like that his walking speed was cut in half and his surroundings became irrelevant.
Asia's happy.
What else matters?
In the Kuoh Academy's gym, the certain redhead was mercilessly pummeling the punching bag.
pow pow pow
'Keep up the tempo, Issei'
pow pow pow
'Control your breathing'
pow pow pow
'Don't follow any obvious patterns'
pow pow pow POW!
He ended the series with a powerful kick that shook the rack.
'And whatever you do, do not turn around and annihilate the Kendo Club sneaking up to you'
"What are you doing here, pervert?"
He slowly turned to face them trying to hide his displeasure from the way Katase addressed him and trying to ignore the urge to respond with some clever innuendo.
"A mix of training and hiding from, well, everyone. I didn't know you're going to be here."
"We increased the number of training sessions per week in preparation for the tournament."
"Ah, right, I've heard about it. Congratulations by the way, and I'm sorry I missed the party." the dragon offered a friendly smile to the gathered girls.
"Yeah, like we would've invited you to it." Katase scoffed.
"I am trying to be polite, but you're making it hard, Katase-san..." he facepalmed inwardly. The innuendos seem to come on their own even if he wasn't trying. "Now then, I think it'd be better if I leave you and find a new hiding place for now. Enjoy your training, ladies."
He nodded and proceed to exit with the hope that the girls will ignore him and continue with their lives, but he didn't receive such gift from Fate.
"Hey, perv... Hyoudou, what martial art style are you learning?" Murayama asked.
Issei swallowed a sigh. He knew the answer will not give him any points with the girls and probably make him look like a liar.
"I'm not learning any particular, I take what I like from different ones and make my own."
Dubious looks he received made it clear that he was right and they didn't believe him or think he's crazy, but there were reasons behind this madness.
He promised to become the [Ultimate Pawn] and he intended to keep his word, even if it meant something else that he had in mind when he declared his vow.
Originally, he thought that the Evil Pieces are quite simple: Knights are fast, Rooks are strong and tough, Bishops are good with magic, Queens have all, and the Pawns have nothing, but as he learned more about them, he realized that, even if he was somewhat right, they are much more complex.
It should've been obvious, it's not possible to represent a predefined moveset on 8x8 board in the real world, but it wasn't something he had thought about previously. As Beelzebub explained it to him during the checkup on his pieces (which he suspected was more a bribe for Tiamat who was supervising them than Satan's willingness to share his secrets) instead of magically granting the recipient the buff, the piece defined how the demonic energy affects their body and what special abilities they can learn.
He was never told about specifics, be it the true stats describing a person, values of the growth of the stats, full capabilities of the pieces' type, or how the former species of reincarnated devil affects the growth, but it was enough to rethink his approach.
So he tried to model them like the classes from the RPG system, described by three stats: Strength, Speed, and Magic; and that opened a lot of new possibilities.
Knight - fast, but fragile. Increased growth of Speed, but reduced growth of Strength. The Knight will have a harder time increasing their muscle mass to increase their strength, and their body will be more susceptible to any attacks as it's not hardened by the demonic energy to allow them freer movement, but they'll be much faster and agile allowing them to dodge much easier and surprise their opponent with a fast attack. Their magic efficiency and magical reserves are not affected.
Knight's special trait is "Time Relativity". It enhances their perception and brain-power as they speed up making the second feel longer for them, which allows them to move and act the same when they are walking or running with the speed of the sound.
Rook - strong and tough, but slow and magically handicapped. Immensely increased growth of Strength, but reduced growth of Speed and Magic. Rook's body pushes the limits of "How hard you can hit, and how hard how you can get hit and keep moving forward". It was made for physical combat, demonic energy was focused on their muscles and made them denser, which allows them to increase their attack power easily, but makes them slower, and their magic efficiency and magical reserves are reduced.
Rook's special trait is "Iron Skin". Basically, a large amount of demonic energy is gathered in the outer layer of the skin creating a powerful barrier against any attacks.
Bishop - wizard, mage, witch, or any other class focused on spells. Increased growth of Magic at the cost of the rest. Bishop's body is not very affected by demonic energy, the piece focuses on their magic capability pushing it toward their magical reserves.
Bishop's special trait is "Arcane Focus". The piece amplifies the spell power allowing the Bishop to use less energy and achieve the same effect as someone without the piece.
Queen - Queens possess all the characteristics of Rooks, Knights, and Bishops, making them the most balanced piece as well as the most powerful. It doesn't affect stat growth in any special way, and it can use the traits of other pieces making it the ultimate piece.
Pawn - there is nothing special about the Pawn. Nada. Zip. It doesn't have any bonuses or special traits and the only thing it can do is Promote...
Those were just the basic and most common cases, but the pieces weren't just that, they can adapt to the user and be treated more like a suggestion and keyword than definition. As an example, Satan used the Dantalion clan heir.
He was a fanatic wizard and his entire peerage was mages, wizards, etc. His Knight was no exception and at the first glance he was at a disadvantage compared to his Bishop friends, but he found a way to overcome it. He used his piece connection to Speed and applied it to his magic. With it, he earned the title of "the fastest mage in the Underworld". There was no one who could rival his casting speed, and his fireballs were as fast as lightning.
After Beelzebub's explanation, Issei was ready to give up and accept his fate. His plan to become the Ultimate Pawn meant that he wanted to become the Strongest Pawn, which would make him a cheap knock-off Rook...
His only consolation was Rias had to use 8 Pawn Pieces to reincarnate him, which put him just behind the Queen in the value department, but it was immediately murdered by Satan's next words.
The value of pieces wasn't as important as devils tend to make it. It wasn't supposed to describe the person worth or say anything about how strong they were. It was only describing how much energy was used during the reincarnation and it did a terrible job at that.
How powerful a person can be resurrected or reincarnated with the pieces depends not only on pieces themselves but also on King's power to some degree, which meant that if he was saved by someone stronger than Gremory heiress they might've used fewer Pawns, or if someone weaker than her tried they might've been unable to resurrect him with Queen or even two Rook pieces.
The concept of piece value was only created to stop the powerhouses from reincarnating strong pieces and selling them to weaker Kings. And to make things worse, in his case, such high value came from the need to overcome Ddraig's influence on him and turn him into the devil rather than his strength.
Thankfully for his mental health, Satan must have noticed how depressed he looked and said one more thing about the pieces, Pawn's keyword: Potential.
What Issei failed to understand was that not all demonic energy in devils' bodies was used to increase stats, some of it was stored in it ready to be used accordingly to devils' wishes, but the efficiency of it depended on the piece. For example, Knight can easily use it to temporarily increase his Speed, but it'll be harder for him to increase his Strength. Because of that, the Pawn wasn't the useless piece, it was the blank piece.
The Pawn has the largest amount of this free energy in his body, proportionally to other pieces, and has no restrictions on how he can use it. He could increase all his stats with the same efficiency which allows him to use them all just like the Queen, but because the energy is not permanently allocated, he can adapt to the situation better than Queen.
The Promotion is not "the only thing the Pawn can do", it's Pawn's ultimate ability. He wants Speed? Go Knight. Strength? Rook. Magic? Bishop. He's not sure or needs all of them? Queen.
It also explained why would he ever choose a different piece than Queen to promote. The amount of free energy in his body was finite, each piece pushed it towards its main stat, but the Queen used it to increase all of them at the same time. It was similar to the way Boosted Gear worked, he could [Transfer] the power to something or use [Explosion] and let that energy roam free inside his body. The only thing the Pawn lacks is a special trait, but then again, what stops him from creating his own? After all, he had the Potential to be whatever he wants.
The question remained: what does he want to be?
Actually no, he knew what he wants to be, but he didn't know how to become the Ultimate Pawn.
At first, his thoughts drifted back to his original idea: to become the strongest pawn. There's no denying that even he was a Pawn the Rook was closest to his heart. Use your strength to power through any obstacles, no skill or talents needed just pure muscles and willpower. His scales were also a perfect way of replicating Rook's traits and defenses. But as he watched Ddraig's and his hosts' memories, he noticed something worrisome. Strength was not always the answer.
He saw heavily armored warriors cut through waves of enemies only to be taken down by one fast and precise strike or magician who hammered down their defense with spells.
Not that the alternatives were any better. He saw swordsmen dancing around their opponent unable to break through their defenses or taken down by a magician before they managed to get in range to attack. He saw wizards obliterated by a single punch when the opponent got close or mages unable to do anything as the enemy evaded their spells.
It wasn't a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors where one shape wins against one and loses against another, there were a lot more variables that decided the victor, but it was clear: if he chooses one, it may end badly. He even personally knew a perfect example of this.
Riser Phenex. A high-class devil dubbed Rating Game Prodigy and yet he lost to the novice who found a way to counter his flames: the only thing he focused on. Exaggeration, as Issei was using the power borrowed from Y Ddraig Goch, but the point stands: If Riser hadn't put everything on his regeneration and pure power of his flames, he'd put more resistance and Issei's victory wouldn't come so easily or maybe even at all.
The Ultimate Pawn needs Strength, Speed, and Magic. He needs all of them at the same time, but he also isn't the Queen, so he needs each of them separately...
A style focused on Strength designed to pummel your opponents into submission or designed to tank any attacks and finish the fight with one powerful punch.
A style focused on Speed designed to overwhelm your opponents with fast strikes or designed to evade any attacks and finish the fight with one fast and precise dagger swing.
A style focused on Strength and Speed designed to tank any attacks and finish the fight with one fast and precise dagger swing or a style focused on Speed and Strength designed to evade any attacks and finish the fight with one powerful punch.
Those were just the basic ideas not even taking Magic into consideration. The number of things he'll have to learn kept on growing and growing beyond his capabilities. If he chooses to go this way, he'll become the Jack of all trades, master of none... though oftentimes better than master of one.
This issue caused him to change his approach, to adapt as the Pawn is supposed to do. Instead of learning multiple styles, he'll create his own, the style of Ultimate Pawn.
The style to suit three stats, the style that can adapt to the situation, the style that can be strong, can be fast, or can be both, and is able to incorporate his unique magic in it. In short: one style to rule them all.
With Ddraig's help, he came up with a rough idea of how to achieve it. To create such a style he won't create one... not as a whole at least. Each move, attack, skill, or technique will be a separate piece. He'll build the style ad hoc during the fight accordingly to what is needed from the pieces created earlier.
Well, the same could be said about any already established one as fighting is not dancing where you perform purposefully selected sequences of human movement in the predefined order, but he wanted to push it even further to fully utilize the pawn's potential. He's aware it's a very ambitious goal, it's not something you can master overnight, but he has time.
As a dragon, he's biologically immortal so even if it takes him a few hundred years to create, refine, and master his style, it won't be a big part of his life. For humans, the time they had to achieve something like that was limited to a hundred, at best, so it was hard to see why someone would even think about doing it only to become the old master of an unknown and unrecognized fighting style in the world that didn't care about martial art as it used to.
But the supernatural world cares. It evolves much slower than the human world and fights are still a big part of it, so he'll have to be ready. Also, military technology isn't as important because, well... why bother with guns when you are faster than bullets?
Current issue? There was no way to explain any of it to the girls in front of him without revealing the truth about the supernatural.
Time for plan B: bullshit your way through life.
"I know it sounds crazy," Issei laughed "but it's not like I'm going to participate in a tournament or something." 'Not in the human world at least'
He hoped that the girls will follow his fake train of thought, that he's not serious about it and he's just doing it for fun.
"I see. Well, no matter your motivations I have to admit it works great for you. Have you thought about training with a sword?"
The dragon blinked surprised. He expected to be ridiculed, not to be complimented and asked questions. But then again, he was in the room with teenage girls who spend most of their free time training, so maybe it wasn't as weird for them.
"I've had few lessons, but it didn't work for me" he tried to politely shrug off the question without revealing too much.
Using weapons in combat was beyond him at the moment, he wanted to work on his base first, but he wasn't blind to its usefulness and wanted to make sure he can add them to his arsenal later. Besides, to be able to defend yourself from weapons you have to know what to expect. So, he took the time in his mindscape to learn the basics of every weapon-based fighting style that Ddraig has knowledge of.
However, his answer caused Murayama's interest to peak.
"You can't see the beauty of swordsmanship after just a few lessons!" the brunette countered "But if you know the basics, what would you say for a quick spar? Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."
Issei was tempted by the offer. It sounded like a nice way to spend the rest of the break, it could be classified as training so he'd have some free time later after completing his quota for today, and it might've been the perfect opportunity to start building a positive relationship with Kendo Club.
On the other hand, he likes winning and things may turn a tad too competitive, which may end badly.
As far as skill goes Murayama was his superior, but he could easily compensate for it with raw strength and speed. However, that didn't mean he should. And no matter if he'd be able to accept his defeat without showing too much of his real power, or he'd win, it would cause a lot of questions and gossip about how he was able to put that much fight or win he'd rather avoid.
"I appreciate the offer, Murayama-san, but I think I've felt enough of your sword swings to willingly walk into the next beating."
"Let's sweeten the deal-"
"You've really missed beating me" Issei laughed and again began walking towards the exit. "As I said before, enjoy your training, ladies."
"If you win... you can join us in the shower after the training."
"What are you doing, Kaori? Have you lost your mind?" Katase shouted echoed by the girls around them.
"Give me the sword."
Murayama was angry and disappointed to see the red-headed boy standing next to her. She's noticed that Hyoudou has been acting differently since his return, he seemed to be more mature and less perverted, but she wasn't sure if it was because he finally grew up and stopped behaving like an idiot, or just the result of how he was avoiding almost everyone in the school.
She hoped it was the former, she wanted to believe that there is hope for the boy, but he just murdered her dreams.
"Relax, girls. I won't lose to someone like him." the brunette scoffed "Let's find you fitting gear, pervert."
"This... won't be necessary, Murayama-san. Just sword is fine." Issei hesitated as he looked away from the girls.
"Are you mocking me, pervert?!" Murayama fumed as she threw him her sword. "Whatever, it will be only more painful for you."
The girls quickly formed a circle around him and his opponent creating the space Issei assumed was the provisory arena.
"Last chance to change your mind" the brunette warned.
The dragon shook his head. "I'm fine. But before we start, you promised me a reward if I win. What about you?"
"What? Like a promise that you'll never peep on us again? Like I would believe that. No, beating you will be enough for me."
"As you wish. Whenever you're ready." Issei responded as he took a stance.
He watched as the girl in front of him prepare herself for the duel and took a mental note to talk with her about it later if the circumstances allow it. Mere moments ago she was shaking from anger and now, with what looked like a few simple breaths, she was calm and again in full control ready to fight. He could use some advice on this.
Shame he'll have to disappoint her, but he couldn't give her what she wanted.
"Are you ready?" Katase asked. "Go!"
Issei expected that Murayama would rush forward with the intention to end the fight quickly and probably humiliate him in the process, but she clearly was smarter than that. No matter what her opinion of him or his skill was, she treated him seriously.
That doesn't mean she didn't attack, she just didn't dash blindly at him.
"I give up." the dragon announced before she crossed half the distance between them.
All present girls appeared stunned by his words, so he quickly left the gym leaving the sword in the arms of the girl whose name he couldn't remember before any of them would stop him again.
"What just happened?" Katase was first to break the silence.
"I... I'm not sure." Murayama stuttered. "Yui, do you think that-"
"Don't get your hopes up, Kaori. Maybe he is playing with us."
"But he didn't even try!" the brunette argued with her friend. "Almost like he didn't want the reward."
"Then why did he accepted the challenge in the first place? He got scared when you said you'll enjoy beating him and run. That's it, the Beast will be Beast even if it tries to hide behind fake politeness. Now, we've lost enough time, we have to train hard for the tournament."
"Maybe you are right." Murayama conceded "Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see."
~o0o~
Issei wandered through the empty halls in the gym pondering about his next move.
'Yard and cafeteria will be full of students, classroom probably too. Library? Maybe no one took the table at the back and-'
'Oi, hatchling! What was that back there?' voice of the Red Dragon Emperor boomed in his mind.
'What was what, Ddraig?' Issei inquired confused.
'Why did you accept the challenge just to throw it? If you don't fancy a fight you should just walk away and ignore the challenger.' Ddraig scolded his host.
'Not what happened back there' the young dragon sighed both in his thoughts and in the real world.
'Need I remind you that I live inside your soul and I was there with you?'
'And yet somehow you're wrong. Look Ddraig, I didn't accept the fight I had no intention to win. I accepted the fight to win because I am a total idiot who just got better at hiding it.'
'What's this supposed to mean, hatchling?' the elder dragon demanded.
'When Murayama-san mentioned her reward I... I acted before I realized what I'm doing. For old me, this would be a dream come true, something I'd die for or at least risked getting badly beaten by a wooden sword. I like to think that this is behind me, that I am a better person, but in truth? I'm not. I try to not think with my dick, but, as you just witnessed, I'm not doing too well. Any time I get comfy and relaxed my perversion emerges and I'm back to my old stupid self.'
'Whatever. Next time you accept the challenge I expect you to win in a glorious way.' Welsh Dragon huffed.
Issei stopped and looked at his left hand as if that would mean anything to the spirit living inside it.
'What's your deal, Ddraig? Even if we've fought, that would be nothing big. Murayama-san is just a human and no matter ho-'
'I'm bored!' Emperor roared 'Past week's been nothing but high school lessons, high school drama, your solo training, and stupid contracts. And the first chance I got to watch something even slightly resembling the fight you run with your tail between your legs!'
'Why I am sorry Ddraig, but this is my life. It ain't perfect, but I like it and I am not going to a worldwide adventure to find stronger and stronger opponents until I'll get killed or sealed in the gauntlet.'
'You think I wanted this?!' Welsh Dragon growled.
*bzzzt*bzzzzzt*
Issei quickly checked the message he received on his phone before answering the question, taking the moment to calm himself, turned on his heel, and run through the hall.
'No... I'm sorry Ddraig, I crossed the line. But the point stands, I died. Twice. And no matter how bored you are I am not going to try and find out if saying the third time's the charm is true.'
'Right... I keep forgetting that you are my first host who hadn't inherited my t... my desire to prove his strength and superiority. But keep your old man in mind and give him some entertainment.'
'Sure, I'll ask if someone is interested in more serious training. For now, let's see what Akeno-san meant by [Please come to the club room, Issei-kun. NOW.]'
AN
Evil Pieces description. Boring, I know, and I apologize to anyone not interested in my vision of them or Issei's training. It's kinda important as it leads to my version of Triana, but it's also not very different from the canon version, so... yeah. Sorry.
Kaori and Yui - names of Murayama and Katase are given to them after the names of their VAs. All glory to majik7 for that idea. Not sure if I'll stick with that though.
... it's been a looong time, I know. Life happened. Sorry, and thanks to those who kept bothering me about the story (don't overdo it, please)
Funny thing, I had most of the chapter done 2 years ago, I just couldn't finish it for some reason...
No promises on when the next chapter will be...
'Til the next time